Chapter 10 – First Day of Classes

Harry Potter and the Valeru

By Lady Urquentha

PG – 13

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologise.

Telepathic speech

Beast speech

Chapter 10

The morning of September 2nd, Harry woke up at five o'clock. He leapt out of bed; he had two hours of training before he had to be down for breakfast. He hurriedly changed into his training robes, and then concentrated on the Phoenix Hall. He couldn't apparate from outside wards into them, but he could apparate inside wards. He had to call on Ingrid's teleportation abilities to transport himself into the wards.

He appeared in a stone room about third the size of the Great Hall, made of gold stone. The walls, floor and roof were smooth and almost sparkling with cleanliness. At the end of the hall was a tapestry of a phoenix soaring through a blue sky, over mountains, grass and hills. Like all wizarding images, the phoenix and clouds moved. At the opposite end of the hall was a second, portrait, this one of a tall, black haired man. He had brown eyes, messy black hair and wore red and gold robes. Red curtains were held open to reveal it by gold rope. Along the walls were middle-sized paintings of numerous different scenes, including Hogwarts, a small cottage, three different people, lions, and battle scenes. In the middle of the golden floor were four red stones sunk into the floor, measuring a total area of a square meter. In this depression, a fire burned merrily, fueled by magic. Around the fire were four soft red couches, each long and wide enough to be comfortable to lie down on. Nearby were four perches made of gold with rubies, and four wicker baskets with soft red blankets. There were two bookshelves filled with books that Harry knew weren't educational, but fiction. It was a largish, but cozy room, a feeling enhanced by the soft golden glow given off by the orbs floating around and the heat from the fire. It was the Phoenix Chamber, Godric Gryffindor's favorite room. Gryffindor had designed it, and had it built, although all four founders used it to meet and talk. Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets had been built initially, not as a way to purge muggleborns but as a place for potions experiments, in case they went awry. When they exploded down below the school, they couldn't be heard or felt up in the school itself. Hufflepuff's room was a private greenhouse that only the Founder's had access to, tended to by Hufflepuff and the house elves. It ensured a constant supply of whatever the Founder's needed. Ravenclaw's room was a private library of rare books and volumes from around the world that were thought to be lost. Books that not even Hogwarts Library or the BSS had, of dark, light and neutral tendancies.

Harry strode towards the fire, dropping his illusions as he went. He stepped past the couches and reached his hand into the fire, his ring on his finger. About four years into his training as a Valeru, he'd been given the Gryffindor ring. The ring that would allow him access to everything in Hogwarts that Godric Gryffindor had once owned, and Hogwarts herself would now know him as one of her master's. It would also allow him access to his private cottage, a cottage he hadn't bequeathed to his heirs.

"Take me home," he whispered, before stepping fully into the fire.

He stepped away in a bed-chamber. The room was roughly the same size as the Phoenix Chamber had been, and done again in gold stone. Against the far wall, in the middle, was a king sized canopy bed made of mahogany with red sheets. Next to it, on either side, was a pair of bed-side tables of the same wood as the bed. A large bookshelf was against another wall, stacked full of books. The fireplace he'd just stepped from was embedded into the wall this time, sending warm air into the room. Next to that was a double couch, and not too far away was a study table and chair. Hanging from the roof was an owl perch, and in the corner was a stand similar to the one Fawkes used, and beside the perch was a wicker basket lined with red blankets. Light filtered in through a pair of windows, and there were the crystal orbs floating around for at night. A trio of doors led away from the room, and a pair of sliding doors opened out onto a balcony over the grounds. It was, of course, all enchanted so that no-one could see it from outside. The other doors led to the bathroom, the sitting room and the wardrobe.

Harry entered the bathroom, to explore it. It was the same size as the prefect bathrooms, with a large golden swimming pool sized bathtub in the middle. There were the familiar taps along the sides for him to choose what bubbles and water he wanted as well. Off to one side of the room, there was a golden shower as well, in case he wanted a quick shower. The floor was made of red tiles, as was the walls and ceiling. There was a golden toilet in one corner, and a large golden sink nearby. A golden bench was tucked away to the side, with many little vials, stones and soaps around it, clearly for massages. A towel rack was hung with fluffy gold and red towels, and the crystal and diamond spheres gave off a soft gold light. There was even a long golden rope hanging from the ceiling, and Harry guessed it was to summon house-elves.

The wardrobe was so big, it was almost funny; it was practically half the size of his bedroom. Robes, shirts, trouseurs, shorts and underclothing were stacked on shelves, hung on racks, and draped on hangers everywhere. Shoe racks beneath them contained boots, slippers, flip-flops, formal shoes, casual shoes and sneakers by the hundreds. Hovering in the middle of the room was an illusion that looked exactly like Harry, for him to try outfits on and see what they looked like. Again, everything was gold, except the red carpet and the painted walls and ceiling.

The sitting room was large, probably half as large as the Great Hall. A large fireplace big enough to floo in was against one wall, with two three-seater couches around it and a coffee table as well. Above the fireplace was a large image of a shield, with a red lion rampant on the gold background. A six-seater table made of mahogany touched with mother-of-pearl was at the far end of the room, with six matching seats around it. Three doors led away from this room. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, throwing refracted light around. Red and gold rugs lined the floor, the walls were golden and the rest of the furniture was covered in red. Locked onto a wall was a shield with the red lion rampant on the golden background.

He returned to the bedroom, which was now his by right, and headed for the fireplace. He stepped into it, feeling the flames lick up around him,

"Take me to the Dueling Rooms," he murmured.

This time, when he stepped from the fire-pit, he emerged in a white room. It was immense, and clearly for fighting use. Ten targets were at differing distances from the wall, and some moved, others didn't. Lining one wall were humanoid dummies, each armed with different weapons. Swords, axes, shields, maces, staffs, glaives, spears, bows and wands, all were carried in different combinations. There were a further two dummies that were unarmed, but still intended for the same idea, to fight him. A human shaped, 3D target was also against the wall, and would measure the accuracy and the power behind spells he sent at it. The opposite wall had an impressive array of weapons in racks. Harry went through the single door, and found himself in a virtual reality room. It was meant to teach in a real-life situation, where you'd have to avoid and overcome natural obstacles that you'd encounter in the outside world.

Harry flicked his wrist, drawing his sword, and at the same time he activated a sword wielding dummy. Over the dummy's head flashed glowing numbers that changed rapidly, going from -50 up to 50.

"Level 0," Harry said clearly, wanting to test it's capabilities and thinking that half way would be as good as any. The glowing number halted at 0, and then the dummy leapt at him. Harry blocked swiftly, admiring the spells that had made it. The spells had given it faster reflexes than was humanly possible, and strength that surpassed anything Harry had ever seen. It would never tire as well, but it didn't remember previous fights and so didn't learn as it went, to keep testing the fighter. Harry made a mental note to see if he could adjust that when he had the time.

Harry parried, struck and dodged constantly for an hour, constantly evaluating and correcting his own work as well as checking the dummy's level. He was always hard pressed to stay on his feet as their swords met, and to parry or dodge a swing. He wondered what it'd be like at level 50, but didn't particularly want to find out quite yet.

When he left the Dueling Chamber, five minutes before eight and returned to his dorms, showered and changed, Ron was fast asleep. He was the only one still in bed, and Harry shoved his friend,

"Get up!" Ron mumbled something under his breath and just rolled over. Grinning, Harry drew his wand and conjured a bucket of water and turned it upside down above Ron's head. He Vanished the bucket, and then fled the dorms to the sound of Ron's yells and the rest of the boys' laughter.

Still laughing, Harry descended the stairs, his bag slung over one shoulder. Hermione was waiting at the bottom of the boys stairs, and raised an eyebrow at Harry's laughter.

"What's all the screaming about?" she inquired," and where's Ron?"

"Ron...he's in a soaking wet bed. And the screaming is because he just woke up," Harry chuckled.

"Let me guess, you woke him up?" Carmen laughed as she joined them. Harry nodded, and then jumped the last two steps as Ron came tearing down the stairs in his pajamas.

"HARRY POTTER!!!" he shouted, brandishing his wand threateningly, ""WHY DID YOU DUMP WATER ON MY HEAD?!!"

"Because you wouldn't wake up. Now, if I were you, I'd go change. We've got breakfast in three minutes and there are some girls down here," Harry responded between bursts of laughter. Everyone currently in the common room tittered as Ron turned bright red and literally flew back up the stairs.

Two minutes later, Ron was down, changed into his school robes. He had to go back up when Hermione pointed out he'd forgotten his books, and by the time they arrived in the Great Hall, it was nearly quarter past eight. They sat down at the table, and began to eat. Ron pointedly said nothing to Harry for the next ten minutes, only glared at him. Harry wasn't all that worried, Ron would get over it, he had when Fred had done the exact same thing the morning before. It had taken twenty minutes for Ron to forget, and they were back to being friends.

Sure enough, at just past half past eight, Ron started talking to Harry again as if nothing had happened. At the end of breakfast, McGonagall came around to hand out their schedules. Harry nodded his thanks to her, and scanned his schedule. Ron groaned,

"Double Potions first." Harry grinned, "and then we've got double Transfiguration." Ron sighed.

"It's only a double," Harry reminded him, "and we don't have Potions again until...tomorrow afternoon." Ron muttered under his breath.

"We don't want to be late," Hermione dragged them off to the dungeons.

They took their seats, and slowly the rest of the class filed into the room. Moments after the last Gryffindor had taken their seat; the door slammed open again and in strode the black bat. Snape's cloak billowed behind him as he spun to fix the class with a death glare. Used to it by now, the only one who cringed was Neville. Somehow, Neville had managed to scrape an E in Potions, and Neville said that McGonagall had forced Snape to take him on. McGonagall was a good friend of his Gran's, and had done it as a favor for her.

"Welcome to NEWT Preparation Potions," his menacing gaze swept the class, "now that I have most of the dunderheads from my class, we can get down to some real work. But I want to warn you now, just because you managed to scrape an O doesn't mean you are ready for this class. A fluke is enough to grant you an O, and each year some students who don't deserve it get into this class. Regardless of your OWL results, if you are not up to standard constantly, you will be removed from this class, and it is not uncommon for many students to leave before Christmas Break." Harry smiled inwardly, there was no way he was leaving. His level of potion knowledge and expertise was equivalent to any Potions Master, and in some areas above and beyond a Master.

I see what you mean about his temperament, Carmen agreed, he's a bit like Donmensic was.

Not quite as bad though, he hasn't actually gone out of his way to kill me yet. He actually tried to save me in my first and third years, Harry remarked. He waited for the moment when Snape would pick on him, as the teacher's gaze landed on him. He was mildly surprised when Snape simply continued on; maybe he was learning not to provoke Harry.

"The first half of this term will be devoted to Healing Potions, as many of you are hoping to one day end up as Aurors or Healers." Harry wondered who had opted to become a Healer, and then remembered Hermione. She hadn't decided whether she wanted to be an auror or a healer and as such had taken classes for both of those career paths.

"In your NEWTs, you will work alone, and as such we will no longer use partners. The instructions are on the board, get started!" There was a lot of scraping as people began pulling out ingredients and cauldrons. Harry scanned the list on the board, it had no title, but Harry was sure he recognized it. The only problem was he wasn't quite sure what potion it was. He had this problem often, especially with the simpler versions of potions. He'd learnt them all, but he made the more complex and powerful more often and so remembered them better. He rarely had reason to brew the lesser potions, as he used the stronger healing potions. Especially when ancient potions and foreign potions seemed to be more powerful then modern ones.

With a sigh, he began to cut the ingredients. As he worked, he thought over each ingredient, trying to remember what potion this was supposed to be. He added a single unicorn hair, and began chopping up some bat liver. He frowned, he couldn't figure it out. Slowly the potion changed from brown to blue and then to pink as he added more ingredients.

As he added the last ingredient, he suddenly remembered it. It was the Healing Dreamless Sleep Potion, which was basically the Dreamless Sleep potion but with a healing potion added into it. It was a middle-rated by modern levels, but simple compared to ancient levels. He personally used a more advanced version, with a much stronger healing potion. He rarely used potions except when injured quite badly, and so needed the stronger ones rather then the weak ones. He stirred the potion five times, and then smiled. It was a dark pink color and looked almost perfect. He glanced at Snape, who was wandering among the Slytherins, and quickly bottled up several vials of his potion, pocketing them. He was likely to have dreams of Voldemort, and they'd come in handy.

He took a single vial of the liquid and took it up to Snape's desk. He put it down on the desk, and returned to his seat. He poured the rest of his potion into a large jar he had brought with him, and pocketed it as well. Throwing it out would be a waste, and he could find uses for it anyway.

Snape stormed to the front of the class,

"Your homework is four feet on this potion. Find out its name, its uses, list its ingredients etc." he snapped at them, "it's due tomorrow at the beginning of class." Harry scribbled that down, and then started packing up. This would be an easy assignment.

Easy, easy, Carmen sang in his head.

"A warning; anyone who gets less then an 'E' on both assignments will be sent for Remedial Potions," Snape said dangerously, glaring at Neville. Neville gulped, and hurriedly fled the classroom. The trio finished packing their things up, and left the dungeons, making their way up towards the Transfiguration classroom.

"It's a double Transfiguration," Hermione told them, "and then...?"

"Double Charms," Harry answered,

"You'll have to start arranging Quidditch Try-outs," Ron reminded Harry in a louder tone.

"I was thinking about this Saturday," Harry replied, "so we can start Quidditch practice on Sunday." Ron nodded,

"Sounds good."

By now they had entered the Transfiguration classroom and hurried to the front of the room. Professor McGonagall was sitting at her desk, writing. The class slowly filled up, and only when the last student had arrived did the Head of Gryffindor look up. She swept the classroom with a stern look,

"Welcome to NEWT Preparation Transfiguration," she began, "this year you will be beginning to prepare for your NEWTs, which will be next year. We have a lot to cover, so it is necessary that you pay attention, complete your homework and practice. Anyone caught fooling around, or if they are not up to standard will have to leave this class."

"Animating is when you make things move that shouldn't normally move," she explained, "hence the term 'animate'. These things that you animate have no free will or soul, and simply do what you animate them to do. They have their own mind, so to speak, as they will decide in what order they do things, but they can only do what you tell them to. Before we begin the practical aspect, I would like you to read Chapters 1 and 2 of your text book 'Advanced Transfiguration' by Emric Switch."

Harry opened his book and began to skim the chapters. He'd read all this before, and was an accomplished animator, but he needed to appear as though he was reading. Knowing that Carmen was also skimming, he linked their minds.

So, what do you think of your first Potions class? he inquired.

The teacher could be better, a lot better, she grumbled, and the work is really easy.

Well, we have studied to a Mastery level in pretty much every subject, Harry pointed out, of course it's going to be easy. Which leaves more time for us to do what we want. There was a pause, and then Carmen spoke up,

I have an idea for the DA. Voldemort will attack Hogwarts eventually, and we'll be hard pressed to keep his entire army back, as he'll no doubt have several thousand beings under his control before he attacks us. What if we trained the DA to fight him? Choose the best and train them hard, so they can help us.

We'll call down the BSS agents, there will be enough people, Harry stated, I don't want to put other students in that sort of danger.

Harry, even calling in every other BSS agent above the age of seventeen and below fifty from all over the world, there are only a couple of thousand agents. Voldemort will have ten or twenty thousand. We're good, but not that good, Carmen argued, we need as much help as we can.

The Aurors, Harry suggested.

The Aurors, Carmen snorted mentally, they are barely trained and there are only a couple of hundred. And that's even assuming we can convince them to fight.

The elves then, Harry reminded her.

We can't ask them to fight our war. The elves are untouchable where they are, they are not dependant on the outside world for anything, Carmen shook her head, we could call in maybe a couple of thousand archers and fighters, but no more. Remember that the elves don't have a standing army; they haven't had a war for four thousand years. With all that, it'll be maybe four and a half thousand fighters against ten thousand. That's more than two to one odds. With the DA we might only be able to get another fifty fighters, but they'll be fifty fighters who were trained by the Valeru.

The Order of the Phoenix, though, Harry said desperately, not wanting to send his fellow students into danger.

The Order of the Phoenix does nothing. They are too few and none are in prominent positions except Dumbledore, who doesn't use his power to do what he needs to, Carmen shot back, a total of another fifty fighters, poorly trained fighters at that. Harry, I'm sorry, but we need the DA. You know that as well as I. Harry gave the mental equivalent of a sigh, and there was a long pause.

At the first DA meeting, we'll see what their response is, Harry said finally.

Certainly, Carmen's relief was obvious, even without his empathy. Harry knew she didn't want to do it either, but she'd always been better at looking at things practically.

Harry switched back to the outside world, and continued scanning. There was silence in the room, other then the occasional rustle as a page was turned, or a startled exclamation of understanding.

Half an hour later, most of the students were finished and waiting. McGonagall looked up finally, as the last person placed their book down.

"For the remainder of this class, you will spend your time attempting to animate your figures," she informed them, "remember that the more moves you give the object, the harder the spell is to cast. Miss. Granger, please hand out the figurines." McGonagall gestured to a box of muggle toy animals on her desk. Hermione collected the box and began going around the class, handing out the tiny toys.

Harry chose a stag in memory of his father. He felt tears begin to prick his eyes as he gazed at the stag standing proud and tall. He felt a phantom embrace surround him, and pure love flow down the mental connection between Carmen and himself. He smiled faintly and looked up to see Hermione looking at him worriedly. He gave her a half-smile, and then flicked his wrist to loosen his wand.

"Animo," Harry watched as Ron flicked his wand. His Gryffindor lion shuffled up and down the table, although it wasn't very 'walk' like.

"Good, Mr. Weasley, five points to Gryffindor," McGonagall said, appearing beside him, "please try to add more actions now." Ron nodded, looking happy.

"Animo," Hermione muttered, swishing her wand. Her eagle flapped its wings and took off into the air. Harry watched as the eagle circled once and then landed.

"Very good, Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor," McGonagall nodded to her, "see if you can get it to dive." Hermione nodded. McGonagall turned to Harry expectantly.

He pointed his wand at the figurine, clearly imagining the moves he wanted, but trying not to overdo the power and showing he already knew how to do it.

"Animo." He flicked his wand, and waited with baited breath. The stag's head was the first to move, turning to regard Harry. Then it started moving across the table, its hooves making sound as they came down on the table. It wasn't very smooth, but you got the idea. By now, the class was silent as everyone turned to watch the stag moving smoothly across the desk.

"Impressive, Mr. Potter," McGonagall broke the silence in the classroom, "twenty points to Gryffindor for that amazing display. Well, what are you waiting for? Get back to work!" This last was aimed at the rest of the class. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking at him in awe and surprise, and a faint tinge of jealousy.

You know what, I think you need to work on controlling how well you do, Carmen noted, you'll attract too much attention if your level of work suddenly sky-rockets.

I know, Harry replied glumly.

That lesson Harry spent most of it watching the rest of his class-mates attempt the spell. Hermione got it quickly, and was soon moving her figure well, if not as well as Harry. Ron was a bit slower, but by the end of the class, he too was comfortable and confident with the spell. Carmen was being overly careful, making sure she was just behind Hermione.

"For homework, I'd like a foot and a half on this spell, remember to include his uses, effects, and variations," McGonagall called as the bell went and people scrambled to pack up, "it's to be on my desk at the beginning of class tomorrow."

The next class was Double Charms. Harry, Ron and Hermione slid into their seats mere seconds before the bell went off, and Professor Flitwick hopped onto his stack of books.

"Welcome to NEWT Preparation Charms," he squeaked, "for the first part of this term, we will be learning healing charms. Healing spells are very important to know if you are considering a profession such as a mediwizard or an auror, as these jobs often require you to heal either yourself or someone else. Even a Potions Master will need to know these spells in case of a potion gone wrong, or an accident in the laboratory. Please open your books to Chapter 1 in Charms for Use in the Home, and start reading that chapter." Harry sighed, and pulled out his book. More boring reading, they seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

Half an hour later, the students placed their books down and turned back to the Charms Professor.

"Today we will be working on minor cuts and bruises like we did last year, as a refresher, before we move onto more major spells," the tiny man informed them, "you know the spell, 'Anducin'. You may also practice any other minor healing spell we have learnt, such as numbing spells. You can start now." Harry paired up with Ron immediately, leaving Hermione to join Carmen from somewhere else.

"Do you want to start?" Ron offered. Harry shrugged,

"why not?" he tapped Ron's arm with his wand, "Anduc." A small cut appeared on Ron's arm, which Harry promptly healed again with another charm.

"Engourdi," he tapped again, numbing Ron's arm before muttering the counter charm. A couple of minutes later and he'd run through all of the charms he could think of that they'd learned in Hogwarts. It was proving difficult for him to remember what he'd learned at Hogwarts, and what he'd learned at the BSS.

"My turn," Ron said, drawing his wand. Like Harry, he quickly and mechanically ran through the list of spells he knew, which was somewhat shorter then Harry's. He clearly hadn't studied at all over the summer, or even reviewed the spells from last year, as it took him several tries to get the cutting charm right, before even attempting to heal the wound.

They were among the first to finish, with Hermione finishing last because of her wide variety of spells that she used upon her partner, not to mention Carmen, who showed off further by going through numerous major spells. Carmen and Harry had decided together that her forte was going to be Charms and Care of Magical Creatures, while Harry's would continue being DADA and Dueling. They would let Hermione remain top in Transfigurations, Potions and Herbology, as well as her other classes that the two didn't attend. Carmen, like Harry, was taking DADA, Dueling, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, COMC, Herbology, as well as Ancient Runes. Hermione looked rather stunned that Carmen knew all the spells and could pull them off without a hitch.

Moments after Carmen had completed it, the bell rang for the end of class, and in the mad scramble, only a few people heard Professor Flitwick calling out,

"For homework, I'd like two feet on the properties and uses of the healing spells that you know already!" Harry grinned, few people would do the homework because few people had heard the instructions. Flitwick climbed down from his stack of books, and the quartet escaped the room just as the next class poured in.

"I didn't know you were that good in Charms," Hermione said as soon as they'd left the room. Carmen shrugged,

"Charms and Care of Magical Creatures have always been my strengths," she answered.

They made their way outside the school building, towards the greenhouses. It was time for Herbology, and they were in Greenhouse 2 today. They entered the familiar glass building, and took their seats. The rest of the class dribbled in, a mixture of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Most people had gotten into Herbology, as the necessary mark had only been an Acceptable.

Professor Sprout entered and went straight to the front of the classroom, where she turned to face them all.

"Good morning," she greeted them, "and welcome to NEWT Preparation Herbology. Like in your other subjects, this first part of the term will be covering mainly plants that are used in a variety of healing potions. Herbology will be useful in professions such as Potion Making, Healing, and Aurors." She glanced around the class,

"Today we will be learning about a specific plant found only in New Zealand. Now if you look over at that shelf over there, you will see some plants. Can anyone tell me what they are called?" Hermione's hand shot up, as did Neville's. The plant was a pale blue moss with tiny yellow flowers in it. Harry had not clue what it was.

"Mr. Longbottom?" Sprout inquired.

"It is called Endagne," Neville told her.

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor," she said approvingly, "now, can anyone tell me what properties it has?" Again, Neville's and Hermione's hand shot up, as well as a Hufflepuff's.

"Mr. Elspeth?" Sprout asked.

"The moss itself is used in potions due to its ability to relieve both pain and discomfort," the boy answered, "without damaging nerves. The flower is very useful in slowing the spread of minor illnesses such as coughs and colds. The pollen in it is inhaled to heal lung damage caused by pneumonia or other such illnesses."

"Very good, ten points to Hufflepuff," Sprout awarded him, "now, what potions is it included in? Miss Granger?"

"It is generally found in healing potions that are intended to relieve pain, slow spreading illnesses and poisons, as well as healing internal organs. The most common potion that it is used in is the house-hold cold potion," Hermione explained.

"Correct, ten points to Gryffindor," Sprout agreed, "now, is there anything special about the way it is picked?" Neville's hand was the only one in the air, even Hermione looked puzzled. Harry and Carmen knew the answer, but wouldn't put their hand up while hiding their talents.

"Mr. Longbottom?" Sprout inquired.

"For the moss to be effective, it must be gathered whole on a full moon in the first or sixth month of the year. The flower itself can only be collected on a moonless night, on the winter or summer solstice," Neville answered, "and from there the pollen can be taken any time."

"Good, ten points to Gryffindor," Sprout nodded, "now, please do not inhale the pollen. When you are not ill, it is dangerous, and may cause you to become ill or send you unconscious for a while. We will be using tweezers to take the pollen, please use your dragon-hide gloves."

Harry nodded his thanks as the teacher set a pair of large pieces of moss in front of him along with a pair of tweezers and about ten vials. Harry picked up the tweezers and began to remove the pollen from the plant, as the rest of the students began to work.

A few minutes later there was a cry, and a thud. Harry peered down the table, and saw a Hufflepuff collapsed on the table. Sprout clucked her tongue disapprovingly,

"He inhaled the pollen," she shook her head, "Mr. Elspeth, could you please take Mr. Gregorn to the hospital wing?" A Hufflepuff boy levitated the boy and headed out of the greenhouse. Harry's last glimpse of him had him heading into the school building. Harry turned back to his work, carefully removing the pollen from the flowers and placing it in the vials. After filling each vial with pollen, he stopped it up and placed it in the tray provided for it.

An hour and a half after they entered the greenhouse, the class exited again, chattering happily. The quartet left the greenhouse, chatting as they headed to Care of Magical Creatures. It was only a single period, and then they had the next period off before dinner. Ron and Harry finished classes for the day then, while Hermione still had double Arithmancy after dinner, before she was finished.

Harry turned his brain off during his last class, unable to concentrate as his mind drifted from subject to subject. Not that he really needed to, he knew all the stuff anyway.Every so often he would nod absently in response to whatever Hagrid said. By the end of the class, the only thing he could say about the lesson was that they'd been reviewing everything they'd learnt the year before. Hagrid had quizzed them on different things they'd covered, and awarded and removed points accordingly. Harry had noticed that he always gave more to and took away less from Gryffindor then any other house.

He had roused himself sufficiently by the end of class to take down the homework (write 3 feet on what they had reviewed that day) and follow his friends up to Gryffindor Tower for the single period they had before dinner. Eager to get rid of their homework and start reading the Animangi books, Harry and Ron started their homework without Hermione's prompting. It was lucky no-one else was in the Common Room or they would have wondered what was happening. Carmen had started her homework anyway, as she was used to getting it out the way.

Harry started with the Potions essay, thinking over what he knew of the potion. Ron still hadn't figured out which potion they had made earlier, and Hermione had to explain all about it.

"The Healing Dreamless Sleep Potion is like a Dreamless Sleep Potion mixed with a Healing Potion. It puts the drinker into dreamless sleep and then the healing potion speeds up the body's natural healing and lets the body heal itself while the drinker sleeps," Hermione explained, "look it up in Healing Potions." Grumbling under his breath, Ron flipped open the book and began to write his essay, constantly referring back to his chart.

Harry began to write, starting with a description of what the potion was intended to do. He was careful to avoid too much detail, which would make his teachers suspicious, but put in enough to scrape him an O.

Harry stretched and rolled his neck to release tension as he pushed aside his Transfiguration essay nearly three hours later. Even though he knew a lot of information, it didn't help his homework time. He had more to say now, which made up for research time. It had taken him an hour to complete two essays. The extra time had been spent in the Great Hall, having dinner. He was comforted by the fact that Ron was still struggling through the first part of the Transfiguration essay. Hermione, on the other hand, had finished her third essay and was currently in her last class of the day, Arithmancy. Her days were completely filled with classes, each day she worked from 9:00 until past 8:30. Carmen had completely finished her homework, and was currently lazing around, smirking at Harry.

Harry pulled a fresh piece of parchment towards him, and opened his Charms book to start on his Charms essay. Sighing, he missed the nine years where he hadn't had homework, he lowered his quill to the page and began to write.

A/N: I am currently working on the next chapter, so it shouldn't be too long in coming. Please review though.

E.N. Love it, love it, and love it! Now, if people don't review no new chapters will be put up! So......REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Please?)