Clay Pinions
By LocharThe lights dim, and a spotlight appears. Lochar walks out onto the stage.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Just to let you know, I'm quite the narcissist." The author smiles. "Meaning, I check my stats page quite frequently. It has come to my attention that there are several people that have added my story onto either their author alert list, or story alert list but have not left a review. Did you perhaps not know you could do both at the same time, if you leave a review? I tend to thrive and write faster with more reviews."
Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, it wouldn't be considered fanfiction, and I'd be a cross-dresser.
Chapter 10
"Ohhhh." Harry groaned as he woke up. Opening his eyes, everything was a blur.
"Welcome back to the world of the waking, Mr. Potter." A familiar voice said. A hand appeared in front of his face, holding his glasses. "You may want these."
Harry took the glasses. "Thank you." He said as he put them on. He then turned to look at who it was. Professor Maison was sitting next to him. "What hit me?"
Maison frowned. "You hit yourself, for all intents and purposes. You're in the Hospital Wing." He waved his hand around, motioning to the room they were in. "You exhausted yourself."
"How'd I do that?"
Maison snorted. "Probably from turning the Slytherin table into a pig. Which, by the way took both the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall to change back."
The memory flashed back into Harry's mind. "Oh… oops. I wasn't aiming for the table."
"Be glad you hit it then. You would be in even more trouble if you had managed to hit young Mr. Malfoy. You'd have probably been expelled for a forced human transfiguration. As it is, Professor Snape was yelling for your expulsion anyways." He took a breath. "I'm disappointed in you as well."
Harry winced. "Why Professor?"
"You managed to break both of Sensei's rules at once. You started the fight, pulling your wand first. And then, you didn't finish it. You gave Mr. Malfoy the win." Maison explained.
"Both the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall want to talk to you as well. They allowed me to talk to you first, since there's other consequences to this as well that don't affect Hogwarts."
"What is that Professor?"
"You will not be learning anything new from me for the next two months. During your training, you will only be making sure you have not forgotten anything."
Harry was crestfallen. "Alright Professor."
Maison nodded. "I'll get the Headmaster." He got up from the seat next to Harry's bed and walked out of the room, quickly returning with Dumbledore and McGonagall.
McGonagall spoke first. "Mr. Potter, do you know what you did?"
"Turned the Slytherin table into a pig. Then I guess I passed out."
"It's not a surprise. You probably exhausted your magical core to the point of draining some of your physical strength to power it."
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed." There was a twinkle in his eye though. "All four of the House tables are enchanted to be resistant against other forms of magic."
"I did push all of my Chi into my spell-"
Harry was cut off by Maison. "You did what!"
"I pushed all of my Chi into the spell." Harry repeated.
"How idiotic! How-" He forced himself to take a breath. "You are not supposed to use your Chi for magical spells. There's a reason you have a magical core." Maison nearly shouted at him.
Dumbledore and McGonagall were looking between Harry and Maison. Dumbledore was the first to find his voice. "Excuse me?"
Maison sighed. "Sorry, Headmaster. It's no wonder Harry was able to change the table. He was using a magical spell, but it wasn't using his magical core. That's why the enchantments didn't take effect."
Dumbledore looked at Harry, and then slowly spoke. "So Harry, why didn't you use your magical core then?"
Harry gave a small shrug. "My wand connected to my Chi, so that's what I've been using for my spells."
McGonagall spoke up. "So in your Transfiguration class a week ago, the needles were changed because you used this, 'Chi'?"
Harry looked down. "Yes Professor."
"When did you first connect it to your Chi, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"When I picked up my original wand and let the Rune look for my core. It wasn't going to my Chi, so I pushed it in into my Chi, and then a whole bunch of sparks came out of my wand and it pretty much blew up. Then Mr. Ollivander had to remake my wand with a Rune of…" He sent a questioning look to Maison.
"Control. He remade Mr. Potter's wand with a Major Rune of Control, instead of the Minor Rune of Absorption that is on the rest of his wands."
McGonagall's eyes widened at this, and Dumbledore looked thoughtful.
"Harry, if we gave you another wand with a Rune of Absorption on it, would you allow it to connect to your magical core so you would know where it was at?"
Harry shuddered. "Do I have to? Every wand besides this one," he pointed to his wand on the stand beside his bed. "felt dirty and wrong."
Dumbledore nodded. "You won't have to constantly use it, just find where your magical core is at, so you can use that instead of your Chi." He snapped his fingers, and a small creature appeared, clothed in a tea cozy with the Hogwarts crest on it. "Would you get me one of the Ancient Runes class test wands the older students keep please?"
The creature nodded, and disappeared again, reappearing moments later holding a wand. It handed the wand to Dumbledore and disappeared once more.
Noticing Harry's curious stare, Dumbledore smiled. "House-Elves are very useful creatures. Anyways, if you would hold onto this wand, Harry?" He held out the wand.
Harry took it, holding it gingerly. Immediately going into the Void, he pushed the feeling of wrongness into the Flame. He felt the probe from the Rune on the wand's handle, but this time didn't open his Void and push it into his Chi. The searching feeling meandered around inside him, and then he felt it tap into something. The wand heated up and a few red and gold sparks came out of the wand.
"Excellent Harry. Did you feel what it touched?" Dumbledore said.
Harry smiled and nodded. Inside the Void, before the Rune could pull back the seeking energy, Harry grabbed it and pulled it completely inside what it had tapped into.
The wand Harry was holding flared when the Rune of Absorption disappeared, and turned to ash. A unicorn hair fell out of the air, and Harry screamed.
The magic of the Rune seemed to be pulsing inside of him, trying to draw his magical energy, but it didn't have anywhere to deliver it to. The pressure inside of Harry's magical core kept building, as Harry kept screaming.
The three teachers hadn't been idle in the meantime. As soon as the wand had turned to ashes, Dumbledore and McGonagall had lifted their own wands, and were shielding the area. Maison stood to get the nurse, but it was unnecessary as she was already bustling in, drawn by Harry's first scream.
Harry's magical core pulsed, and the magical potential in the room doubled.
Shakily, his mind still almost being overwhelmed by the pain, Harry started feeding the Flame his pain, in an attempt to bring up the Void. The more he fed the flame, the less his core pulsed, but it seemed to be drawn to the Flame.
The nurse started casting diagnostic spells at Harry. "Headmaster, what in the world happened?" she asked as she starting rummaging for something to calm him down.
"I'm not quite sure Madam Pomfrey. I had one of the house-elves bring a spare wand the Ancient Runes class keeps for training, Mr. Potter grabbed it, and moments later it turned to ashes." Dumbledore said.
The nurse, Pomfrey, shook her head. "It's nothing I've ever seen before. One moment the spell says he's physically exhausted, and then he's fit. Then he's magically exhausted, followed by an abnormal amount of power for an eleven year old."
At that moment, Harry was unaware of what they were saying. He was concentrating on his newfound magical core, and feeding the pain into the Flame. His magical core seemed to embed right next to it, outside of where his Void would form. Once it settled completely, the pain stopped.
Harry opened his eyes to see the Headmaster, his Head of House, his martial arts Professor, and an unknown lady staring at him. "Ohhh, that hurt like bloody hell."
That seemed to snap them out of their trance. The unknown lady is a nurse's outfit tsk'ed at him. "Language Mr. Potter. And such a young age to be saying words like that."
The Headmaster shook his head. "Madam Pomfrey, I think in this case, he may be allowed. May I ask what you did, Mr. Potter?" Everyone seemed eager to find out what he had done.
"Um, when I broke my first wand, I pushed my Chi at it; this time when it touched what you said was my magical core, I pulled at it. It took a second, but I think I pulled all of it and then it started going crazy and hurt." Here Harry rubbed his arms, shivering in lingering pain. "I tried to get the Void," another strange look from everyone but Maison, who shushed them with a promise to explain later, "and pushing the pain into the Flame seemed to move my core. It stuck itself somehow next to the Flame, and the pain quit."
Dumbledore looked at Maison. Maison shrugged. "I don't know. My Chi energy is so low it's next to nothing. I couldn't do anything that Mr. Potter's talking about."
"Well… we do need to make sure that Mr. Potter's magical core is alright." Dumbledore said.
Pomfrey rounded on him. "Oh no you don't! He's been through quite enough. I won't allow you to have him try anything at the moment."
"So what is he to do about class tomorrow?" McGonagall asked.
The nurse looked to argue for a moment, but then she relented and sighed. "Fine. But keep it short and simple." She scowled at McGonagall.
Maison stood up at this. "Maybe I should lead? I at least know a bit about what Mr. Potter is using." Dumbledore nodded, and Maison turned to Harry. "Alright, bring yourself into the Void."
Harry nodded, quickly doing so.
"Alright, now, where is your magical core at? Outside or inside the Void?"
"Outside of it, next to the Flame." Harry replied.
Maison handed Harry his wand. "What I want you to do is try to channel it into your wand, like you were doing with your Chi earlier."
Harry tried to channel it into his wand, but it was like nothing was there. "It's not working like my Chi does."
Maison nodded. "Alright, try imaging it a different way. Maybe imagine tapping it with your wand, drawing the energy into it."
Harry closed his eyes, and tapped his wand in midair. "Still nothing."
"Can you think of a different way?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't know."
Dumbledore spoke up. "Harry, what is your wand connected to, right now?"
"My Chi." Harry replied.
"I read a report filed by the Ministry about part of what happened a few days after you got your wand. Did you remove your connection from your Chi at one point?"
"Yes Headmaster, I did."
"Do you think you can remove it again and tie it to your magical core instead?"
Harry nodded, and closed his eyes. He saw his Chi, and channeled a slight amount, enough to make the gold wire appear. Grabbing it, he moved the connection outside of his Void and touched it to his magical core. The gold wire turned silvery-red color, and his wand appeared at the other end of the connection. "I did it Headmaster, but it changed."
Dumbledore nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. You just changed your wand's magical signature. Now, can you channel energy into your wand? Try the Lumos spell if you can."
Harry nodded, and concentrated on his newfound magical core. The energy seemed easy enough to manipulate into his wand, but there was nowhere near as much as he had in Chi. He held his wand up. "Lumos."
It was a very easy spell, no need for wand movements. A soft, warm glow lit the tip of his wand.
"Did it hurt at all, or was it hard to do?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, it was easy."
Everyone looked relieved that Harry hadn't hurt himself or his magical core. McGonagall sat down. "Now Mr. Potter, there is still the matter of your punishment."
Harry's head hung, and he let go of the magic he was channeling into his wand. The light vanished. "I'll take whatever punishment you decide I should face."
McGonagall smiled. "Alright then, you will have two weeks of detention. And since it was the Slytherin table you changed, you'll be serving those two weeks with the Slytherin Head of House, Professor Snape."
Harry looked up at this, panic in his eyes. "Instructor Snape?"
Maison's eyes boggled, and he nearly choked on his laughter holding it back.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. And it will start tomorrow night. As long as Madam Pomfrey allows you out today, of course."
Madam Pomfrey nodded. "If he checks out, he'll be out of here in about thirty minutes. Now you three shoo and leave me with my patient."
Maison, Dumbledore, and McGonagall nodded and left the room. As they left, Harry could faintly hear Headmaster Dumbledore talking to Professor Maison. "Would you kindly share the joke that Mr. Potter said when he said Instructor…"
A tap on his shoulder and Harry turned around in the bed. Madam Pomfrey was looking at him. "Alright you, up. Let's make sure you can still walk."
Harry got up easily enough, and asked the question on his mind. "'Still walk'? How long was I asleep?"
Pomfrey looked at him. "Right at twenty-four hours."
Harry hung his head. "So it's Sunday morning now?" A nod. "No wonder Professor Maison was so mad at me. I missed a lesson with him."
Now it was Pomfrey's turn to question him. "What lesson would that be? You won't be able to take his class until third year. And turn around while you answer, I need to check your back."
Harry turned. "He's supposed to be teaching me martial arts in place of my Sensei back at home." He felt her wand lightly touch his shoulders.
"Turn back around."
Harry faced her again.
She waved her wand at him and said something he didn't catch, and a light blue mist formed at the tip of her wand. "Hmm, that's odd. Mr. Potter, does your magical core feel any weaker from earlier? Any less than what it was before you cast that Lumos?"
Harry thought for a moment. "Not really."
"Ah, okay. You must be quick at regaining your magical strength back. I'm showing absolutely no drain on your core, even after casting a spell. I suppose you're free to go; but if you feel the slightest bit dizzy come straight here, understand? Now Mr. Weasley was looking for you last night, so I suggest you go see him."
Harry smiled, thanked her, and ran out of the Hospital Wing as fast as he could.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Oi! Ron! What's up?" Harry asked, as he made it back into their common room.
"We've got flying lessons tomorrow. I was hoping you'd be out in time." Ron grinned. "Too bad you missed Malfoy though, it would have been fun to see him as a pig."
Harry smiled, but shook his head. "I would have been expelled if I had hit him."
Ron winced. "Oh, not good." Harry nodded. "Oh well, it was still a great thing to watch."
"Yeah, but what's even worse is I've got two weeks of detention with Instructor Snape."
Ron shuddered slightly at the thought. "Ouch. Maybe being expelled would have been better."
"No, I'd rather be here. Two weeks won't be too long."
"Alright. Hey, wanna play some Wizard Chess?"
0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
At breakfast, all the first years could talk about were the flying lessons.
"You know what the only bad thing about this whole thing is?" Ron asked.
"Hmm?" Harry replied, trying to ignore the vicious, victorious glares he was receiving from Snape at the High Table.
"The fact that we've got to have flying lessons with the Slytherins."
Harry whirled around at Ron. "What? You've got to be kidding me." Ron shook his head. "Great. Just great! And I was looking forward to learning to fly, too."
Ron grinned. "Hey, we can still have fun. Won't let them ruin it for us."
Harry nodded, and grinned a bit, just as the owl post flew in. A beautiful snowy white owl landed in front of Harry, with a note tied to its leg. When Harry removed the letter tied to the owl, it promptly bent down and stole a piece of bacon off of his plate.
"Hey! That was my bacon!" Harry laughed at the owl, before looking at the note.
Harry,
While you're still in trouble, this is your belated birthday present from your Sensei and I. Her name is Hedwig, and I hope she will serve you well.
Harry looked up at the owl. "Hedwig?" The owl looked at him, hooted, and then stole another piece of bacon. He laughed.
She seems to be pretty smart, and I thought she'd make a fine carrier for you. Just don't treat her like that's all she is, as you'd probably end up with mail taking a few extra days to get delivered, at a minimum.
Sensei Uzuki & Professor Maison
Harry looked to his new owl. "Well, since you're mine now, I guess stealing my bacon is ok." Hedwig hooted, and Harry grabbed his plate quickly. "But not all of it. I want some too!"
Ron laughed at this. "Better be careful mate, or she'll take it all."
Then they both heard Neville exclaim, "Oh, a Remembrall! It glows red when you've forgotten something…" He sputtered to a stop as the Remembrall started glowing. "Oh bother. Now if I could only remember what I forgot." He stuck it in his robes. "Oh well. It'll come to me eventually."
The Great Hall started clearing, and all of the first years quickly raced outside to the Quidditch pitch, eager to begin their first flying lesson.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Outside, they were all lined up, Gryffindors on one side, Slytherin on the other. The Flight Instructor, Madam Hooch, walked around the students, making sure everyone was lined up to their assigned broom and ready to begin.
"Alright class, put your right arm out over the broom, and say 'UP!'" She announced when she got back to the front of the class.
Everyone said it, with differing degrees of success. Neville's broom just flopped over, while Ron's broom came up about three quarters of the way and fell back down again.
Malfoy's broom came straight into his hand, but that wasn't a surprise to anyone that had heard him bragging incessantly about having flown plenty before coming to Hogwarts.
Harry's own broom also came straight into his hand. When it hit his palm, he grasped it and felt a tingle go down his arm.
All of the rest of the students who hadn't gotten the broom to fly on the first try keep saying 'Up!' and after a few tries, everyone had finally gotten their brooms in the hands.
"Alright class. Mount up. Swing your right leg over the broom, and sit on it just slightly ahead of the twigs. Grasp the end of the broom firmly with both hands." She started walking around, correcting people who hadn't done it right.
"Mr. Weasley, your hands need to be a little higher up." She pointed about six inches up the broomstick. "If you keep your hands down there, you'll eventually strain your wrists."
Ron nodded, and she walked to Harry. "Mr. Potter… hmm, you seem to have corrected yourself from what I showed Mr. Weasley." Harry nodded. "Good enough then." She finished correcting the Gryffindors, then walked over to the Slytherins.
"Mr. Nott, do not sit on the twigs of your broom, you'll end up falling right off." She corrected one of them.
She went up the line, mostly making minor corrections to the group.
"Mr. Malfoy… Where shall I start? First off, wand hand over weak hand will give you much better control over your broom. And sitting that far up your broom will cause you to slow down in your speed as well." She corrected him for another minute or so, finally acknowledging him as well enough on his broom to continue. As she walked off, Malfoy was glaring holes into her back.
She turned around to face the class. "Alright class, on the count of three, I want you to push off with your feet, and turn the broom level with the ground so you hover about three feet above it.
"1, 2,…" She never got to three, as Neville, in a desperate attempt to not be left on the ground kicked off a moment too soon. He kept going up and up. "Silly boy!" Hooch yelled at him. "Point the broomstick down towards the ground slightly!" Neville apparently hadn't heard her, as the nose of the broom tipped up a bit more, and Neville fell off from forty feet in the air.
He landed on his stomach, but had an arm out to seemingly try to stop his fall, as Madam Hooch ran over to him. She looked him over, and noticed his hand turned in an odd manner. "Broken wrist." She turned to look back at the rest of the students. "Drop the brooms. If anyone is in the air when I come back, you'll be back on the train before you can say Quidditch. I've got to take Mr. Longbottom here to the Hospital Wing."
Everyone stood around for a few minutes, until Malfoy walked over to where Neville had fallen. "Look at this. Isn't this the thing his Gran sent him? Maybe I should put it somewhere he'll be able to find it… Like up a tree!"
Harry walked over. Remember the rules. Don't start anything, but don't let him win. "Give it here Malfoy, I'll make sure he gets it back."
Malfoy shook his head. "I don't think so Potter. If you want it, come and catch me!" With that, he quickly mounted the broom he was still holding and flew up into the air about thirty feet and hovered there. "Coming Potter?" He called down.
Harry grimaced, and then looked around. A broom was lying near him. He grabbed it and mounted. Feeling the little tingle again, Harry entered the Void, ignoring someone's calls for him to put the broom down.
A faint glow was coming from his magical core, and it seemed to be slightly reaching out towards nothing. He had the feeling that it was reaching out towards the broom. Smiling, he pushed it slightly in the direction it wanted to go, and he felt the broom under his hands echo outside the Void.
Opening his eyes, Harry had a cheshire grin on his face. Pushing off quickly, he easily rose to Malfoy's level. Malfoy's eyes widened as Harry spoke. "Now we're all alone up here, and we play by my rules. Rule one. You started it, so we're playing now. Rule two, I'll win, but we keep it to what you do. Don't pull your wand and I won't pull mine. And you don't have any protection up here from the two mini-Goliaths."
Malfoy's eyes narrowed as he seemed to suddenly realize that he didn't have any protection. He smirked. "Fine Potter, you wanna play? Then CATCH!" Malfoy threw the glass ball directly at one of Hogwarts' towers, apparently intent on breaking it.
Harry didn't even think. Pushing the broom forward, he immediately accelerated to the max the broom was capable. Chasing after the little object, he noticed it was going straight for a closed window. In his mind, he pushed the broom a little down, and it went into a steep dive, directly at the window. Spinning the broom around quickly, he put his hand out and the Remembrall landed right into his hand.
Smiling, he descended to the ground, not noticing a white-faced Professor McGonagall standing at the window. Who then quickly turned around and nearly ran out of her office.
Landing, Harry grinned triumphantly, holding Neville's Remembrall. He was about to walk back to Ron and the rest of the Gryffindors, when he heard a loud voice.
"MISTER POTTER!" It was almost a bellow. Turning around, Harry saw Professor McGonagall rushing up to them. "Come with me."
Harry nodded and gave the ball to Ron. Turning to follow her, he saw Malfoy grinning and waving at him. Waving goodbye, arrogant git.
Following his Head of House, she walked to the Charms classroom. Opening the door, she stuck her head in. "Professor Flitwick, do you mind if I borrow Wood?"
Wood? If she thinks she's going to beat me, I may end up getting myself expelled. Harry's fears were unfounded, as a young man in his fourth or fifth year came out of the classroom.
"Mr. Wood, I have found you a Seeker." She told him. Wood's eyes were wide enough to make you think Christmas had come early this year.
Wood walked around him, peering at him. "You've got the right build, if a little tall. Very lithe though." He turned to McGonagall. "He any good at catching Professor?"
"Very. He caught a glass Remembrall on a fifty foot dive, without taking a scratch." And I could swear that Cleansweep 3 was going a bit faster than it was designed to. She added mentally.
"Great! But…"He looked at McGonagall. "He's going to need a broom. A Cleansweep 7 or a Nimbus."
She nodded. "I will see to that." She looked at Harry. "Oh, and Mr. Potter? You are not to tell anyone that you will be getting a broom."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
That evening, Harry had his first detention with Snape. It promised to be horrible for Harry.
"Ah, Mr. Potter. Glad to see you could make it. I wasn't sure you'd be able to come, from what my students have told me." Snape smirked at him.
"I'll be here every evening until my detention is done, Instructor." Harry replied.
"Then the first thing you will do is repair everything you broke in class a week ago." He pointed to a shelf where all the broken glass was sitting. "The incantation is 'Reparo', but you'll need to separate the different phials and tubes apart."
Harry looked at the pile. "Is there any wand movements for the spell, Instructor?"
Snape sneered. "I would think a boy of your esteemed intellect would be able to figure out such a trivial thing."
Harry sighed. "Yes Instructor." He went over to the shelf and started separating the pieces.
An hour later, Harry had managed to put together most of the pieces of everything. But in a few cases, there seemed to be a missing piece or two. Sighing, he started trying to repair the ones he had all the pieces for.
"Reparo!" He pointed his wand at one of the phials as he channeled some of his magic into his wand. And nothing happened. "Reparo!" He tried again, with the same results.
"Alright, you want to play that way?" Closing his eyes, he drifted into the Void for a moment. His magical core seemed to pulse as he watched it. Alright, there's probably fifty or sixty phials and tubes. I managed to put together about forty of them. Concentrating, he channeled a good-sized portion of his magic into his wand and opened his eyes.
Remembering how he'd seen Maison fix his glasses once, Harry dropped his wand down slightly, and then pushed it at the broken glass. "REPARO!" Pushing all the magic he had channeled into his wand, almost a dozen different phials flew together, looking no worse for the wear.
In his office, Snape looked up. Idiot boy, can't even get a simple repairing spell to work right for him. Shouting won't make it work any better boy. Chuckling darkly to himself, he turned back to the papers and potions he was grading. He heard several more "Reparo!" coming from the potions room, and then a tired looking Harry Potter appeared at the office to his door.
"Instructor, I've fixed as many as I'm able. I can't find the rest of the pieces for thirteen of them though." Harry said.
Snape's eyes narrowed. "You've finished already?"
Harry shook his head. "No Instructor, but I've fixed as many as there were whole pieces of."
Snape nodded. "Let me see them then."
Harry led him back to where he had been repairing the glass containers, and Snape was surprised to see all but thirteen of them were completely repaired. He turned to Harry. "Alright Potter, get out of here. You can finish the rest tomorrow, as your time is up tonight. And since you didn't put them back on the shelf yourself, they're just going up there in a big pile." Waving his wand at the still broken pieces, they all piled up on the shelf. "I'll find the rest of the pieces for you tomorrow. Don't worry, you'll still have plenty to do."
And Harry did. For the next two weeks, Snape would put him through meaningless chores; scrubbing cauldrons by hand, hand washing beakers, and precutting simple ingredients for his personal use.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Last night of detention. Harry thought to himself, as he trudged down to the dungeons, afraid of what Instructor Snape might have in store for him as a last night of torture.
"Ah, Mr. Potter. Just in time." Snape grinned malevolently. "One of my fifth year Hufflepuffs managed to so thoroughly ruin a potion, they managed to create a sludge that is almost completely magic resistant. So tonight, you're going to be cleaning the entire dungeon, by hand." Snape conjured a few buckets of soapy water and a pile of cleaning rags. "Get to it Mr. Potter, you won't be leaving until you're done." He walked off, back into his office.
Harry sighed. I'm going to be falling asleep in Astronomy tonight. With another huge sigh, Harry got to work.
Four hours later, Harry was finally finished. Getting up, Harry muttered to himself, "Magic resistant nothing, it was clean resistant, period." He walked over to Instructor Snape's office, and knocked.
"Are you about done then, Mr. Potter?" Snape's voice came through the door. It then opened up. "I would have figured you'd have been done an hour ago." He looked back to something in his office. "As a matter of fact, I do believe you have an Astronomy class that begins in ten minutes."
Harry paled. He quickly turned around and ran to the exit of the classroom.
"Mr. Potter!" Harry turned around. "Five points for not asking to be excused."
Harry grimaced. "May I be excused then, Instructor Snape?"
Snape seemed to think for a moment. "Oh, I guess you are excused then."
Harry turned again, and raced for the exit. I'd better change. I'm going to lose points either way, but the smell on my robes would make Professor Sinistra take triple the points.
He quickly raced up to the Gryffindor Tower, changed, and ran as quickly as he was able to the other tower where the Astronomy class was being held.
He was thirty minutes late by the time he got there.
"Glad you could join us Mr. Potter. Oversleep?" Professor Sinistra asked.
Harry shook his head. "No Professor, finishing up a detention with Instructor Snape."
"Ah. Well then, only five points off for such tardiness." She said.
Harry nodded, thankful it wasn't more. Quickly taking a seat next to Ron, he caught a glare from… Hermione, he thought her name was.
"Thought you'd never get out of there." Ron whispered.
"Neither did I. If I find out which Hufflepuff it was who made the mess, I may do Instructor Snape a favor and strangle them. I spent four hours cleaning potion gunk by hand."
Ron winced. "Ouch."
The rest of the class went by smoothly, with Harry slowly trying to nod off as Professor Sinistra lectured.
At the end of the class, Ron nudged Harry. "C'mon mate, we've got to get back to bed."
Harry looked up, slightly bleary eyed. "Bed sounds really good."
They both got up, and stumbled down the stairs to the ground floor, before heading towards their own tower. They took it slow as to rest, so most of the other first year Gryffindors were well ahead of them.
Unfortunately, Hermione decided she was going to follow them and berate them. "I can't believe you! You finished a detention, only to get more points taken off of Gryffindor. How could you?" She demanded.
"Oh hush up. It's not like he was trying or anything. The git Snape purposely kept him there until he'd be late." Ron snapped back, as they reached the base of the Gryffindor tower.
"Professor Snape is not a 'git,' he is just a very strict teacher. You'd do well to pay more attention in his classes." She sniffed.
"Whatever. Can we argue about this at a more reasonable time?" Harry asked plaintively, hoping to get to bed sometime soon.
"Fine." Hermione said, walking ahead of them, and up the second floor stairs.
Walking up behind her, Ron and Harry shrugged. "Girls." They both said. Once they got to the third floor, they found Hermione looking about.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"This floor... It's the corridor we weren't supposed to go down! The stairs must have changed after the rest of the class got off them!" Hermione whispered panicky. "We're going to get in trouble! We need to get off of this floor, now!"
Harry, not wanting to get in any more trouble tonight, nodded. Ron agreed as well. "Well, where do we go?" Ron asked.
Just then, they heard a voice, and saw a light coming. "Ah… where do they be Mrs. Norris? Students up and about, running around the forbidden corridor?"
"It's Filch and his cat!" Ron hissed.
Hermione's face turned white. "I can't get into trouble!" They ran away from the light, coming to a door. Ron grabbed the handle and pulled, but there was a lock on it. Hermione shook her head. "Oh, move out of the way." Pulling her wand, she pointed it at the door. "Alohomora." She said, and the lock unhooked. Opening the door quickly, they ran inside and hastily the door behind them.
Putting their ears to the door, they didn't hear anything. "I think we're safe." Harry said.
Ron turned around. "Uhh.. uhh.. uhh.. H- Harry… I don't think we're safe yet!"
Harry and Hermione turned around, only to see a gigantic three-headed dog, bending down low to stare at them. It growled.
All three screamed, and quickly went back through the door, throwing the bolt back.
"Merlin! What was that thing?" Ron asked.
Hermione was breathing hard. "I don't know, but it was standing on something, did you see?"
Harry shook his head. "The only thing I saw were three heads trying to decide which head got to eat one of us first."
"It must have been guarding something, but what?" Hermione wondered.
Ron shook his head. "I'm for never finding out. I'm going to bed. C'mon Harry."
All three managed to make it back to bed without any further problems.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Harry awoke the next morning, almost as tired as he had been when he went to bed. Groaning, he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled into the shower area. Thank god and Merlin that I'm done with my detentions. Getting done with his shower, he managed to slowly make the trek down to the Great Hall for breakfast. And that stupid dog didn't help any, either.
Sitting down to eat, his new owl Hedwig came in with the rest of the post owls. She had a letter tied to her leg. Landing, she allowed Harry to take the letter while she stole a piece of bacon from his plate.
Harry,
Thought you might like to come down and talk about your parents like you said you wanted to. Bring your friend with you.
Hagrid
"Hey Ron…" Harry started, just as another three owls dropped a package in front of him. It was a long, thin package, and Harry knew immediately what it was. Grabbing it, he nearly ran out of the Great Hall, all previous fatigue forgotten.
Ron quickly followed. "What's up mate?"
Harry turned around, grinning. "Remember when I got into trouble during the flying lesson?" Ron nodded. "Well, Professor McGonagall took me to Oliver Wood; you know, the Gryffindor team captain? I got stuck on the Quidditch team as Seeker."
Ron's eyes went wide. "Bloody hell! Then that's a broom?"
Harry nodded, and tore into the paper. Carefully, he pulled out a brand new broom. It almost seemed to glow, and Harry was grinning ear to ear.
"Wow." Ron's voice was filled with reverence. "It's a Nimbus 2000. It's one of the best brooms out there."
"What've you got there Potter?" Malfoy came into the hallway. "A broom? First years aren't allowed to have brooms." He smirked gleefully. "And you just got off of your detention too! You'll be back on it for sure now!"
Malfoy rushed off and came back with Professor Flitwick quickly. "See Professor? Potter's got a broom! It's against school rules."
Flitwick nodded. "I'd heard about it. That's one of the new models, isn't it?"
Ron spoke up. "It's a Nimbus 2000, Professor."
"Well, enjoy yourselves then. I'd like to see what you can do out on the Quidditch Pitch Mr. Potter." Flitwick walked off, humming to himself.
Malfoy's face was red. "Alright Potter, I don't know what you've done, but you'll get what's coming to you eventually." He stalked off.
Ron turned to Harry. "Come on, let's go try it out!" Harry grinned, but then shook his head. "Hagrid wanted me to stop by his hut. He wanted to talk about my parents. You can come if you want to."
Ron thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, but we're trying your broom out afterwards."
Grinning, Harry readily agreed and they walked out of the school, down to Hagrid's hut.
A/N: Thanks to all of you in advance for reviewing and for those of you who reviewed my last chapter. You make this much more fun to do. Also, as an added bonus, what should I do next? The next chapter of Clay Pinions, or "Nine Months without my Cousin," which is Dudley's side of Year 1.
Tiny Tiny Hermit: No, Evanesco isn't an invisibility spell, but Harry thinks it is. grin
Wytil: No thank you, I already have enough bunnies running around my head as it is.
As usual, Dr. Gero beta'd this, and found my misc. plot holes. They seemed to be more of plot pitholes, but eh. Thanks. :D