Reality Check
~* The story continues =). This fic has 69 reviews lol! Sorry, outburst, I'll write this chapter now! Don't forget to review! Lol. Oh, and to those who are wondering, yes, I am following the story line of Philosopher's Stone, but Harry doesn't find out about the stone on his first day at Hogwarts! *~
Chapter 8 ~ His First Day
Harry left the dormatories with Ron, and since that moment, whispers followed him everywhere he went.
'There, look.'
'Where?'
'Next to the tall kid with red hair.'
'Wearing the glasses?'
'Did you see his face?'
'Did you see his scar?'
Harry wished they wouldn't stare, whisper, of pay the slightest amount of attention to him at all. It was a hard enough job trying to find his way to class let alone worry about people staring and whispering about him in the process.
Harry and Ron walked into their class a few minutes late. They had Herbology. In each class, the Gryffindors shared with another house. Hufflepuff was their fellow house in Herbology. In this class, they were to learn how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and find out what they were used for.
The most boring lesson was easily History of Magic, which was the only class taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staffroom fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. Gryffindors had History of Magic with the Ravenclaws.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of the lesson, he took the register, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.
'Welcome, welcome Harry, it's a shame you missed the first day.' He said when he reappeared over his desk once again.
Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking.
'For those of you who missed yesterday's lesson,' she stopped to stare at Harry, 'Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,' she continued, 'Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been lucky to receive a second warning due to Mister Potter's late arrival.'
After making a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. Come end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any change to her match. McGonagall showed the class how it had gone silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile. Hufflepuff shared this lesson with the Gryffindors.
The class everyone had been really looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed his story.
'How did you defeat the zombie Professor?' Seamus asked eagerly, however, Quirrell proceeded to ramble on about the weather. Gryffindors shared this class with Ravenclaw.
Harry was very relieved to find out he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have a head start.
'What have we got now?' Harry asked Ron when lunch was over. Ron looked at his timetable and groaned.
'Double Potions with Slytherins,' said Ron. 'Snape's Head of Slytherin house. They say he always favours them - we'll be able to see if it's true.'
'Wish McGonagall favoured us, ' said Harry. Professor McGonagall was Head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework.
The Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that happened to Harry since Dudley and his gang shoved his head down the dirty school toilet a few years ago.
Potions lesson took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.
'Ah, yes,' he said softly, 'Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity.'
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Caprice looked at him wide eyed. She hadn't noticed him before Snape had mentioned his name. Caprice got the sudden urge to run over and hug him, but she restrained herself, knowing what Snape could be like.
Harry glanced quickly at Caprice, before looking back down at his parchment. He couldn't let his guard drop while the Slytherins were around.
Snape finished calling the names, and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
'You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art that is potion making,' he bagan. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had tha gift of keeping a class silent without effort. 'As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, and the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.'
More silence followed this little speech. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. Harry glanced over at Caprice, but her eyes were fixated on the Professor, who seemed to be walking over to Harry.
'Potter!' said Snape suddenly. Harry didn't realise he was standing right in front of him. 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?'
Harry glanced at Ron, who looked just as puzzled as he did; Hermione's hand had shot into the air.
'I don't know, sir,' said Harry. Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
'Tut, tut - clearly fame isn't everything.' He ignored Hermione's hand. 'Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?' Hermione stretched her hand as far into the air as it would go without resulting in her leaving her seat.
Harry tried to ignore Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle who were shaking with laughter. Caprice however, was not laughing. She felt bad that her best friend was being humiliated, and she couldn't do a thing about it. She tried to meet Harry's eyes, but he wasn't looking in the direction of the Slytherins.
'I don't know sir.' Harry said finally.
'Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh Potter?' Snape barked. Harry forced himself to look the Professor right in the eyes, without quivering. He hadn't had time to look through his books, after all, he had been dragged out of a Muggle school to come here.
Snape, still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand, went on.
'What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?' At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretched to the ceiling.
'I don't know,' Harry said quietly. 'I think Hermione does, though, why don't you ask her?' A few people laughed, however, Snape was not impressed.
'Sit down.' He snapped at Hermione. 'For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well, why aren't you all copying this down?'
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, 'And two points will be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter.'
As they climbed the steps out of the dungeons an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. Then, he remembered about Caprice. Harry stopped at the top of the steps. Ron stopped next to him.
'What are you doing?' He asked.
'I'm going to see Caprice.' Harry replied. Ron's eyes widened.
'You can't!' He protested, grabbing Harry's arm.
'Why not? I haven't seen her since the night she came to my house to say goodbye.' Harry said, almost pleading with Ron, who let go of his arm.
'Fine, but she's with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, you don't want to go messing around with those guys.' Ron said warningly. At that point, Malfoy, Caprice, Crabbe and Goyle walked up the steps, followed by their large gang of Slytherins. Harry gulped.
'Harry!' Caprice yelled out, and ran up to him to give him a hug, but one look from Ron stopped her. Malfoy strutted up behind Caprice, and sneered at Harry.
'So Potter, Gryffindor you chose, you're loss.' Malfoy jeered. 'You could have been great.'
'Sod off Malfoy.' Ron said sternly. Malfoy shot a warning look at Ron, before turning back to Harry.
'Come on Jenkins, we don't have to waste our time on this loser.' Malfoy said, pulling on Caprice's robes. Caprice gave Harry a small smile, before letting Malfoy and the other Slytherins pull her away.
Ron and Harry watched as the Slytherins walked away, most likely headed for their common room before dinner.
'Oh dear, is that the time? Come on Harry, we have to go to dinner.' Ron said, walking off in the direction of the Great Hall.
~***~
After dinner, students swarmed out of the Great Hall in a large mass. Harry struggled to stay close to Ron as they were knocked around by the sea of students. Someone rudely pushed Harry from behind. He turned to complain to whomever had comitted this act, when he saw Caprice and Malfoy. Malfoy sniggered.
'Good work Jenkins, you're not so soft after all.' He said, patting Caprice on the back. As they walked off, Caprice bumped into him, hard, as to appear she was trying to hurt him, instead, she pushed a note into his hand and winked slightly as she stalked off with Malfoy.
Harry looked down at the note in his hand.
~
Dear Harry,
I'm sorry we haven't had time to catch up. Meet me outside the Entrance Hall, on the Hogwarts grounds, at exactly midnight tonight.
Caprice.
Ps, sorry about the Slytherin act, I'll explain tonight.
~
Harry looked around excited, when he realised he'd lost Ron. The croud had thinned, so Harry made his way up to the seventh floor to tell Ron about this secret meeting with Caprice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
~* What did you all think? Most of the chapter was classes, boring I know! Lol, but please review anyways. Next chapter is Harry's meeting with Caprice, and a lot of information will be given there ^_~, Philosopher's Stone wink wink. Until next time. *~
~Gryffindor Gal~
~* The story continues =). This fic has 69 reviews lol! Sorry, outburst, I'll write this chapter now! Don't forget to review! Lol. Oh, and to those who are wondering, yes, I am following the story line of Philosopher's Stone, but Harry doesn't find out about the stone on his first day at Hogwarts! *~
Chapter 8 ~ His First Day
Harry left the dormatories with Ron, and since that moment, whispers followed him everywhere he went.
'There, look.'
'Where?'
'Next to the tall kid with red hair.'
'Wearing the glasses?'
'Did you see his face?'
'Did you see his scar?'
Harry wished they wouldn't stare, whisper, of pay the slightest amount of attention to him at all. It was a hard enough job trying to find his way to class let alone worry about people staring and whispering about him in the process.
Harry and Ron walked into their class a few minutes late. They had Herbology. In each class, the Gryffindors shared with another house. Hufflepuff was their fellow house in Herbology. In this class, they were to learn how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi and find out what they were used for.
The most boring lesson was easily History of Magic, which was the only class taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staffroom fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up. Gryffindors had History of Magic with the Ravenclaws.
Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of the lesson, he took the register, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.
'Welcome, welcome Harry, it's a shame you missed the first day.' He said when he reappeared over his desk once again.
Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking.
'For those of you who missed yesterday's lesson,' she stopped to stare at Harry, 'Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,' she continued, 'Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been lucky to receive a second warning due to Mister Potter's late arrival.'
After making a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. Come end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any change to her match. McGonagall showed the class how it had gone silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile. Hufflepuff shared this lesson with the Gryffindors.
The class everyone had been really looking forward to was Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed his story.
'How did you defeat the zombie Professor?' Seamus asked eagerly, however, Quirrell proceeded to ramble on about the weather. Gryffindors shared this class with Ravenclaw.
Harry was very relieved to find out he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have a head start.
'What have we got now?' Harry asked Ron when lunch was over. Ron looked at his timetable and groaned.
'Double Potions with Slytherins,' said Ron. 'Snape's Head of Slytherin house. They say he always favours them - we'll be able to see if it's true.'
'Wish McGonagall favoured us, ' said Harry. Professor McGonagall was Head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework.
The Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that happened to Harry since Dudley and his gang shoved his head down the dirty school toilet a few years ago.
Potions lesson took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.
'Ah, yes,' he said softly, 'Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity.'
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Caprice looked at him wide eyed. She hadn't noticed him before Snape had mentioned his name. Caprice got the sudden urge to run over and hug him, but she restrained herself, knowing what Snape could be like.
Harry glanced quickly at Caprice, before looking back down at his parchment. He couldn't let his guard drop while the Slytherins were around.
Snape finished calling the names, and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
'You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art that is potion making,' he bagan. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had tha gift of keeping a class silent without effort. 'As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, and the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.'
More silence followed this little speech. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead. Harry glanced over at Caprice, but her eyes were fixated on the Professor, who seemed to be walking over to Harry.
'Potter!' said Snape suddenly. Harry didn't realise he was standing right in front of him. 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?'
Harry glanced at Ron, who looked just as puzzled as he did; Hermione's hand had shot into the air.
'I don't know, sir,' said Harry. Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
'Tut, tut - clearly fame isn't everything.' He ignored Hermione's hand. 'Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?' Hermione stretched her hand as far into the air as it would go without resulting in her leaving her seat.
Harry tried to ignore Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle who were shaking with laughter. Caprice however, was not laughing. She felt bad that her best friend was being humiliated, and she couldn't do a thing about it. She tried to meet Harry's eyes, but he wasn't looking in the direction of the Slytherins.
'I don't know sir.' Harry said finally.
'Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh Potter?' Snape barked. Harry forced himself to look the Professor right in the eyes, without quivering. He hadn't had time to look through his books, after all, he had been dragged out of a Muggle school to come here.
Snape, still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand, went on.
'What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?' At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretched to the ceiling.
'I don't know,' Harry said quietly. 'I think Hermione does, though, why don't you ask her?' A few people laughed, however, Snape was not impressed.
'Sit down.' He snapped at Hermione. 'For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well, why aren't you all copying this down?'
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, 'And two points will be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter.'
As they climbed the steps out of the dungeons an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. Then, he remembered about Caprice. Harry stopped at the top of the steps. Ron stopped next to him.
'What are you doing?' He asked.
'I'm going to see Caprice.' Harry replied. Ron's eyes widened.
'You can't!' He protested, grabbing Harry's arm.
'Why not? I haven't seen her since the night she came to my house to say goodbye.' Harry said, almost pleading with Ron, who let go of his arm.
'Fine, but she's with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, you don't want to go messing around with those guys.' Ron said warningly. At that point, Malfoy, Caprice, Crabbe and Goyle walked up the steps, followed by their large gang of Slytherins. Harry gulped.
'Harry!' Caprice yelled out, and ran up to him to give him a hug, but one look from Ron stopped her. Malfoy strutted up behind Caprice, and sneered at Harry.
'So Potter, Gryffindor you chose, you're loss.' Malfoy jeered. 'You could have been great.'
'Sod off Malfoy.' Ron said sternly. Malfoy shot a warning look at Ron, before turning back to Harry.
'Come on Jenkins, we don't have to waste our time on this loser.' Malfoy said, pulling on Caprice's robes. Caprice gave Harry a small smile, before letting Malfoy and the other Slytherins pull her away.
Ron and Harry watched as the Slytherins walked away, most likely headed for their common room before dinner.
'Oh dear, is that the time? Come on Harry, we have to go to dinner.' Ron said, walking off in the direction of the Great Hall.
~***~
After dinner, students swarmed out of the Great Hall in a large mass. Harry struggled to stay close to Ron as they were knocked around by the sea of students. Someone rudely pushed Harry from behind. He turned to complain to whomever had comitted this act, when he saw Caprice and Malfoy. Malfoy sniggered.
'Good work Jenkins, you're not so soft after all.' He said, patting Caprice on the back. As they walked off, Caprice bumped into him, hard, as to appear she was trying to hurt him, instead, she pushed a note into his hand and winked slightly as she stalked off with Malfoy.
Harry looked down at the note in his hand.
~
Dear Harry,
I'm sorry we haven't had time to catch up. Meet me outside the Entrance Hall, on the Hogwarts grounds, at exactly midnight tonight.
Caprice.
Ps, sorry about the Slytherin act, I'll explain tonight.
~
Harry looked around excited, when he realised he'd lost Ron. The croud had thinned, so Harry made his way up to the seventh floor to tell Ron about this secret meeting with Caprice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
~* What did you all think? Most of the chapter was classes, boring I know! Lol, but please review anyways. Next chapter is Harry's meeting with Caprice, and a lot of information will be given there ^_~, Philosopher's Stone wink wink. Until next time. *~
~Gryffindor Gal~