Notes: This chapter is a bit later than my others, by about four days or so. Not to bad, but I did a bit more expansion on this than some of the others. Snape also needed to be ajusted a bit. I also tried to do better job on Hagrid's accent, let me know if it works a bit better now.
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Potter – The Stone
Chapter 08
By Cory D. Rose
(c) 2005
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There were times when Harry was a bit shocked at his own actions. Ever since the Dursleys, his anger would always cause him problems. He learned early that keeping his head down and doing what he was told was the best way to keep out of trouble. It only worked when he could fade into the background. Missing dinner with his family, a bit of starvation, was usually better than the beatings he used to endure at their hands.
His Aunt had never hurt him physically, but she certainly got into a habit of ignoring him. He couldn't recall the number of times they went to the park when he was younger and she would just wander off with her son Dudley. She usually left him by the lake or a fountain. He would be forced to walk home and get a beating for getting lost.
It taught him to keep out of everyone's way. He figured this was why he didn't like his fame. The more he thought about it the more convinced he became that it was the root cause of his agitation. This was only the second day of school, people were staring at him, and he kept thinking that his Uncle Vernon was going to show up. Harry knew he was being irrational too.
Back then, he had been too small to understand that he was being abused. All he understood was that he hated his family and his heart told him that hating family was wrong, but just being around his Aunt and Uncle made him scared and angry. They never gave him a chance and turned the littlest things into excuses to beat him or punish him in some way.
As he stalked back to the Gryffindor tower he didn't really pay attention to anything around him, but he eventually made his way up to his room. He passed Ron on the stairs and didn't say anything when he called out to him. Harry sat down on top of his bed and spent fifteen minutes in deep meditation to bring his anger under control. One thing Ranma always stressed was that he could be as angry as he wanted, but if he allowed it to get in the way during a fight it could have deadly results.
After listening to several examples about people with weird names, like Herb, Saffron, and some dork named Ryo; Harry took the lesson to heart. He came to the conclusion that his fame was just a pain, he couldn't do anything about it either. Therefore, he would have to find a way to just accept it and move on before it caused him problems. By the time he opened his eyes he was much calmer and an aura of confidence radiated from his eyes.
He remembered the time that Ranma had taken a year to break him of his habit of hating himself for the actions of others. Aunt Petunia and his Uncle nearly drove him to suicide with their actions and was one of the reasons Ranma took Harry from them. These days Harry didn't hate himself and was more than willing to fight for what he believed in.
A little too willing to fight at times.
Climbing off the bed he quickly grabbed his books and made sure his wand was still in the inner pocket of his robe. He walked out of the portal a few minutes later and made his way to his first class of the day, Transfiguration. He met up with the class a couple of minutes later and entered the classroom. He was determined to put his anger behind him for the rest of the day and just enjoy school and learn a few things.
He started thinking about the people teaching at the school. The teachers for the school were quite the eccentric lot. They seemed to be quite different from people in personality and looks. For example, the History of Magic teacher was ghost and was obsessed with Goblin Rebellions. Harry wondered if there was any truth to the rumor that the man was killed by a Goblin. Another teacher was Flitwick who taught the magic of charms and was incredibly short and loud.
Transfiguration was taught by McGonagall and she had a reputation for being strict, but fair to the students. At least according to a couple of older students Harry talked to the night before. Harry saw her walk into the room and look for him almost instantly. Now that she was in front of the class she seemed to have altered her views a bit. He wasn't sure what to think of her at the moment. After what she said to him earlier, he wasn't willing to trust her yet. She seemed to be one of those people that wouldn't change their opinion no matter how much evidence was presented.
"This class is the most difficult subject you will take at Hogwarts. It takes lots of time, practice, and a good imagination. If you aren't here to learn the subject then you can leave. If you screw around in my class I will throw you out. Now make up your minds, stay or leave." She snapped at them, glaring at every one of them to see if they would take her up on the threat.
Harry just gazed back at her calmly. He wasn't about to let a challenge like that get the better of him. Ranma would kick his ass if he tried to turn the challenge down. The teacher just nodded a little as she moved onto the next student, as if she was reading his mind.
"This is an example of what all of you will be capable of doing eventually. Now pay attention." She said sternly.
Then she took her wand out and transformed her desk into a big lazy dog that just looked at them, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Harry was amazed that he could feel some kind of life force coming from the dog and was impressed by the feat. Instead of learning that though, McGonagall passed out a match to teach of them their first lesson.
"To do transfiguration you must learn to stand before you walk. We will take this in steps and by the end of the year you will have a clearer idea what Transfiguration truly is. Now pay attention." She sat a large dowel in the table in front of her and pointed her wand at it. The thing slowly turned into a large needle. "That's how it's done."
From there they spent the next couple of hours trying to turn the simple match into a needle. For some reason the transformation was a lot harder to do than anyone thought. McGonagall went around the room clarifying and encouraging all the students. She gave helpful hints but never clarified anything. By the end of the class no one had managed to pull it off, but Harry and a couple of others had turned there matches into metal. Harry would ask Ranma about it later and see if he had any tips that might help. He had an idea what he was doing wrong, but wanted to practice a little more.
Ron wasn't in a good mood by the time the class was over, so Harry kept to himself mostly and let Ron rant and rave under his breath. A quick check of his schedule showed that the class after that was with Professor Quirrell, Defense Against the Dark Arts, something a lot of students were looking forward to. It was also the biggest disappointment. The teacher was an idiot could barely talk, and miss cast several spells. Harry could tell that he was going to be putting his book reading to many practical uses over the next few months.
Everyone was glad to get out of the class by the time it ended. Most of them were tired of listening to the constant stuttering of the fool. He did make a point to write down the spells that were taught, he found them in his book, and spent a couple of hours going over them later. After that, he made sure no one was around and made his way into the trunk after making sure to shut the curtains on his bed.
"Ranma!"
"What's up kid?" Ranma asked from the one spot where Harry seemed to always find him these days, in the kitchen. He was making a very large sandwich with about six different layers of meat.
"Do you know if those meditation techniques will work for magic?"
Ranma handed Harry a bowl of rice, part of the sandwich, and sat down at the counter. "I would think so."
"I didn't want try it without getting your okay." Harry said. "That little incident with the water a couple years ago taught me that."
Ranma laughed nervously. "Good idea. Give it a try."
"I don't have the match anymore."
"Then use something else. The books say that you need to build up your magical strength for Transfiguration so that it can turn anything into something else. The match is just what the teacher uses. Use a shoe lace or a hair."
Nodding, Harry decided to use his chop stick to make a large needle. Taking out his wand, he was about to start, when Ranma interrupted him.
"Harry, run through the wand Kata I taught you and focus your mind. Once you finish you should be in the right frame of mind."
Harry got up, stepped away from the table, and slowly went through the moves three times before he felt himself enter his center. He instantly felt more relaxed and focused, exactly what he wanted. If he hadn't done this a couple of times before he might have been shocked when he felt his magic bubbling away inside him. Reaching for it, he brought his wand around, pointed it at the chopstick, and muttered the spell.
Ten seconds later he relaxed and sighed. The chopstick was still a chop stick and it hadn't even changed color. "I don't understand."
Ranma stood up and walked over. "What did you do different that you did in class? I could sense the energy surging as you tried to do the spell so you were doing something right."
"Noth…" Harry started, and then realized his mistake. "I think I understand."
"Then do it again."
Taking a deep breath Harry ran through the simple move again, found his center, and let the magic fill his body. Then he channeled a bit down his arm and pictured the chopstick turning into a needle just as he said the spell. The two of them watched as a large needle slowly formed.
Picking it up, Ranma examined the needle and flung it at the wall. It embedded nearly an inch. "Good job! And you can make an effective weapon now so that's even better. Once you get this mastered you can learn how to do it without being dependent on the wand."
Harry nodded, grinning. "McGonagall didn't tell us how were supposed to channel our magic. That's why I was having problems."
"Some teachers forget to tell their students the simplest of things. My old man used to do that all the time. It took me years to understand some of the things he told me about because he expected me to just know it all. It got quite irritating at times." Ranma explained as he fingered the large needle.
"I'll have to explain this to Ron and the others. I don't recall reading about that bit of useful knowledge in the books either."
"It wasn't."
They watched at the large needle slowly turned back into wood a few seconds later. It looked like it wasn't even scratched or roughed up in anyway. Ranma pulled it out of the wall and handed it back to Harry. "Practice one hundred times, there are more chopsticks in the box over there."
Harry would have groaned, but knew if he did, Ranma could make him do it five hundred times. Ranma's motto, don't complain, just do it.
"Practice makes perfect!" Ranma said. "Then I want you to try to turn the chopstick into a ball or a square."
"Yes sir." Harry said. "I'm going to finish lunch first."
"Hey good idea, I was feeling a little hungry myself." Ranma said. "Maybe another sandwich."
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The next morning Harry was in a lot better mood. After all that hard practice he got the needle down and could do it almost instantly with any object. This exhausted him magically, but it allowed him to sleep better than he had in days. Even better, people weren't gawking at him as much.
On top of that, he and Ron managed to make it down to the Great Hall without getting lost once. Harry considered this a miracle in itself. Ron was reading their schedule for the day as they had a large breakfast.
"What's first again?" Harry asked.
"Double Potions. I've heard some bad things about the teacher from Fred and George."
Harry stopped stuffing his face and gave his friend a look. "Such as?"
"He's head of Slytherin house and they told me that he's the biggest jerk they've ever met."
"He's a teacher, so I doubt that. He's probably just tough on the students."
"Well I don't take anything Fred and George say to seriously anymore. It's usually a prank with them anyway." Ron said with a shrug, but I've noticed that a lot of people want to avoid the class.
Harry eyed him for a second. "I hope it isn't that bad. After yesterday I just want a normal day."
"I hear ya, mate." Ron agreed.
They looked up as about fifty owls flew into the Hall to deliver the morning mail. Harry was surprised when his own owl Hedwig dove down and landed on his shoulder. Being a pure while owl she was a little hard to miss among all the other owls. She had a letter tied to her leg and seemed overly pleased with herself.
Harry laughed a little as he took the note and gave her a little of his breakfast as payment. From the side Ron eyed the note curiously as Harry read it.
"What's that?"
"Note from Hagrid. He wants me to stop by on Friday during the afternoon."
"Good thing we have that time off." Ron said.
"That's what he says here. It's the best time for me to visit him without getting in trouble."
"Cool."
After writing a quick reply, Harry sent Hedwig back into the air and finished his meal. That left him to think about the upcoming class. Harry recalled that at the Start of Term banquet that Snape seemed to dislike him. He could recall the man scowling at him and making Harry uncomfortable. All he needed was some excuse to deck the guy.
He wondered what the class was going to bring. He had a bad feeling about it, the same type he got when Ranma looked at him during a practice session and took it up a notch or introduced him to some other odd form of training. Harry was officially worried, but didn't want to mention anything to Ron.
"Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Harry muttered.
They got up and headed down into the dungeons where the class took place. Harry's first impression was that it was cold, dank, and way to dark to be lit by useless torches that didn't give off enough light or heat. They were all at their tables when Snape came in and took a quick roll call.
Harry could feel the tension in the air triple the instant the man saw Harry's name on the roll. The man, still dressed in those pitch black robes looked up at Harry with pure hatred in his eyes. "Potter."
"Here."
"You may as well leave; you aren't going to going to pass this class because you're famous." He snarled.
Harry was too shocked to say anything as the man finished taking roll. Off to the side several of the Slytherins were laughing. The tension officially turned to loathing as the long haired man turned to glare at the class. Then he turned to look at Harry once more.
"Potter, the resident Celebrity." Snape sneered. "What would I get if I mixed powdered root of asphodel and a bit of Wormwood?"
"I don't know sir, perhaps you should teach us?" Harry snapped. He wouldn't put up with this kind of treatment. He even knew the answer, but he sure as hell wasn't going to give this git the satisfaction. Hell, he wouldn't give the moron the time of day.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor!" Snape said and smiled evilly.
Harry didn't even blink. He could care less about the house points and was starting to get angry again. Staring into the man's eyes allowed Harry to focus and reach for his center again. When that happened something odd happened.
The potions master looked away, a hint of fear in his eyes. Harry decided right then and there that he would learn how to stay within his center at all times if he had to, just to survive this class. He didn't know that several of the students around him suddenly backed away an aura formed around him. Their robes rippled under the power being generated.
"Can't even open your book and read Potter." Snape snapped. "Another twenty points from Gryffindor for being an idiot! Asphodel and Wormwood are used to create the Draught of Living Death."
It was official, Harry was seriously thinking about leaving the school completely. The day before he had put up with people following him everywhere he went. They were even talking about him behind his back. Now one of the teachers seemed to be trying to make his life hell again. He put up with this crap when he was with the Dursley's but he wouldn't tolerate it here.
He hated bullies with a passion and usually went to some effort to make sure they never bullied again. This man was going to pay for treating him like this.
"WRITE IT DOWN!" Snape yelled. "Ten more points from Gryffindor for ignoring me!" By this time the Slytherins were openly laughing at Harry and the Gryffindors. Snape didn't do a thing to stop it.
Harry slowly stood up from his seat and Snape had to stop himself from moving back a few steps. Then Harry slowly reached into his robe and pulled out a bit of parchment and a quill to write down what Snape was saying. On the inside Harry was already making plans of his own. Ranma would be more than willing to help him out as well.
By the time the class was over Gryffindor lost over one hundred and fifty points. Thirty points were taken because Harry was breathing, apparently. Fifty went up in smoke when Neville Longbottom managed to screw up a potion to cure boils and melt his cauldron.
Ron was physically holding Harry back by the time they left the classroom and had a hard time looking at Harry, whose eyes were glowing with fury. "Don't do anything, or it will just be worse."
Nodding, Harry restrained himself from belting one of the convenient suits of armor standing along the hallway. Shaking off Ron's hand Harry forced himself to forget about the potions teacher. "Want to come with me down to Hagrid's hut?"
"Sure."
"I need some fresh air anyways. I have some things to consider if this is the kind of treatment I'm going to receive from the teachers."
Ron gave him a worried look, but didn't say anything.
They made a quick stop at the great hall to each lunch. After that, they took about an hour to do their homework before setting out for Hagrid's place. According to the directions, his house was near the edge of the Forbidden Forest and they quickly spotted it as they stepped outside. Harry noticed that there was a massive crossbow leaning against the house, nearly as tall as they were.
"Whoa." Ron said as they looked at it. "That thing is huge."
"It's a Siege weapon." Harry explained. "My guardian explained it to me several years ago and had me memorize the various kinds of weapons and their weaknesses."
Ron gaped at him. "Wicked."
Raising his hand, Harry knocked and had to jump back as the door flew open and a large dog poked its head out and barked at them. Hagrid's large hand grabbed the dog's collar and pulled him back inside. "Back Fang! Back!"
"Hiya kids."
They nodded and stepped inside as Hagrid pulled the dog to the side. Once the door was shut, the massive thing flopped over and went right to sleep a few feet from the fire place.
"Lazy mutt!" Hagrid said and patted its stomach. The tail wagged lazily.
Hagrid's hut was one large room, it had the fire place, a large chair, a table and a giant bed set towards the back covered in a quilt. They eyed everything as the larger than life man started to pour them some tea. "So Harry, 'ow's school going?"
Harry snorted and growled under his breath.
"That bad?" Hagrid said as he handed them some tea and sat down in his chair. It groaned under the man's weight.
"The Transfiguration teacher seems to dislike me for some reason and hasn't said a nice thing to me yet, the students stare at me, and the potions teacher wants me dead. So, no problems at all." Harry growled.
"Blimey Harry, what did you do to them?" Hagrid asked as he rubbed his beard nervously and noticed Ron. "Yer a Weasley?"
Ron nodded.
"I knows yer brothers. Nice to meetcha!" The man said and grabbed Ron's hand to pump it a few times. For a few moments there Ron wondered if he was about to lose his arm.
"So I take it you avne't been avin a good time of it?" Hagrid asked Harry.
"Not really. I'm seriously considering going home. I don't need this place that much." Both Ron and Hagrid were surprised to hear this and looked quite saddened by it. Harry didn't notice.
"But 'arry, you need to learn yer magic." Hagrid said. "Plus yer parents went 'ere."
"I can't even recall what my parents look like." Harry snapped. "In the last two days I've been attacked, belittled, and insulted from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed by the very teachers of this school."
"Dumbledore wouldn't do that to yeh." Hagrid said and Ron nodded.
Shrugging, Harry looked away. "The only class where no one did anything to me was Charms and even then Flitwick took one look at me and fell off his chair with a squeak of shock. Then there's Snape, the git hates me so much that he took…"
"Professor Snape does not 'ate ya!" Hagrid yelled. "He doesn't like anyone! So you get that thought out of yer 'ead."
Now Harry had to give Hagrid a weird look, which the large man avoided by looking at Ron. "Yeah right."
"So Ron, how's yer Brother Charlie." Hagrid asked, his voice a little higher than normal. "He was great with animals…"
"Charlie's in Romania right now." Ron explained.
Ignoring the two for a second, Harry looked to the side and saw the paper open to an article about a recent break in at Gringotts Bank. Harry checked the date and gasped. "Hagrid, this break in happened on my birthday, the day we were there!"
Grunting, Hagrid offered them more tea. Then he ushered them out of the house and shut the door with a friendly wave goodbye. Harry suddenly remembered that Hagrid had emptied a vault that day as well. The little package that he stuffed in his pocket. Was that the same vault that was robbed? The paper didn't give the vault number, but Harry was sure of it.
"You best be gettin back to the castle." Hagrid said, taking the paper from him.
"But?" Harry said.
"Get going." Hagrid rumbled pushed them out the door before Harry could say anymore.
Ron gave Harry a look. "That was weird."
"Yeah, but why would he want us to leave so suddenly?"
"Got me." Ron shrugged.
Several thoughts ran through Harry's mind as they walked back to the castle. Hagrid seemed to know more of what was going on than he was willing to let on, that was for sure. The giant man knew something about Snape as well, something that he didn't want to talk about. What did the man pull from that vault and why was it so valuable?
"Well we have the afternoon off now, want to play exploding snap?" Ron asked.
"Sure, once you tell me what that is."
Ron laughed. "Sure, it's dead easy."
Harry nodded as they headed for Gryffindor Tower.
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Notes: Ah Snape, don't you just feel the love? Heh. He's actually a bit meaner than normal here, but it's for a reason that will eventually be explained in a later chapter. Harry won't be leaving school, but his actions with the people around him will be quite different as the story goes on.
Ranma isn't going to take to kindly to the way Snape is acting around Harry. Just wait till next chapter to see what Snape's actions will cause. If there is one thing that Ranma won't tolerate, it's abuse of any kind. Not after what he suffered through during his own childhood.
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Omake:
Hagrid grabbed Fang's collar and pulled the large dog back into the shack. "Back Fang, Back!"
Harry opened his mouth to say hi just as Fang made a weird sound, pulled out of Hagrid's grip, and jumped at the large man.
"Fang! Bad boy! Down I say!" Hagrid yelled as the dog latched onto the man's leg and started to hump it. It barked, happily, tongue lolling out.
"Down!" Hagrid yelled as he tried to yank the large dog off. "No, don't do that!"
Fang started to go to town. Humpa Humpa Humpa!
Hagrid looked mortified as Harry and Ron rolled around on the ground about died laughing.