Awakened 5
A few weeks after Harry's birthday Professor Dumbledore came to see him. They went out to the edge of the Potter estate to a small wood that Harry had found the week before. They talked as the wandered along the pathway.
"So, how are you coping with the real world?"
"It's, surreal. My family are amazing, and Ginny is as well. Mrs Weasley was really great about the whole thing. Sirius is not exactly the person I knew. He keeps trying to protect me or something, won't tell me anything about what's going on."
"He doesn't know what you have to do, it will come as a shock when he realises."
"Sir, could you explain your theory again? I don't think I really took it in the first time."
"Of course, the way it seemed to me was that somehow, whether by God or fate, you were placed into a waking dream that allowed you to grow up learning about our world. It forced you to confront Voldemort, and my belief is that the entire purpose of it was to prepare you to fight Voldemort in this world. I gather that you did defeat him in your last encounter."
"Yes, as soon as he was dead I was pulled here."
Dumbledore smiled.
"You our indeed the hope for this world, and I do not doubt you will do it admirably. Now, about your lessons starting in September do you know which subjects you would like to take?"
Harry grinned at the thought of going to Hogwarts, but it quickly faded when he thought of the grade limit that had been set for Potions.
"Well, I'd like to do Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms and, well Potions. But isn't there a grade boundary to get onto the course?"
"There is indeed my dear boy; you will need no less than Exceeds Expectations to be accepted for Potions at NEWT level. Professor Snape is adamant on that ground. Now, to be accepted for Auror training when you leave you need 5 NEWT's, I suggest you take Herbology which will go well with Potions."
With Harry's lessons settled Dumbledore apparated away leaving Harry to wander aimlessly on his own. His wanderings took him to the broom shed where he took his Silverfire and took to the air.
The last few weeks of the holidays flew by for Harry who was eagerly awaiting the start of the new term. Finally the day came to travel to London to catch the train. James took Harry and Megan down to the station and they made their way onto the platform. They said a brief goodbye before the two of them clambered into the train and started to search for a compartment. They quickly found an empty one and settled themselves in. In a matter of minutes they were joined by Ginny and they immediately started chatting. Almost as soon as the train started moving the door opened and Hermione entered followed by Ron. He grinned at his sister but froze when he saw that Harry's arm was slung round her shoulders.
Hermione sighed and shoved Ron into a seat. She sat down on the other side to Harry.
"Hi, I'm Hermione and you must be Megan's brother. You're coming into our year aren't you, what subjects are you going to be doing?"
"Erm, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology and Defence. What have you taken?"
"Potions, Charms, Defence, Ancient Runes and Transfiguration. I guess we'll be in most of the same classes then."
As Ron watched them talk, he got angrier and angrier. Hermione noticed and glared at him.
"Honestly Ron, what on earth is your problem?"
"My problem, my problem! The only problem I have is you talking to this bloke like you're old friends without knowing anything about him. Paying more attention to him than to your own boyfriend!"
"Well, pardon me for wanting to make things a bit easier for him on his first day, and if you're going to be like this all year then maybe I don't want you for a boyfriend!" Hermione yelled.
"Well, maybe you should have gone with Corner in the first place!" All too soon, Ron realised his mistake as Hermione stiffened at his words.
"Hermione, I…"
"Just get out Ron." She whispered.
Ron looked at her in bewilderment.
"I'm sorry, but…."
Ginny stood and forcefully removed her brother from the carriage.
As soon as the door slide shut Hermione broke into tears. Harry awkwardly put his arms around her and she wept into his shoulder. He looked at Ginny questioningly.
"Hermione was friends with Michael Corner, Ron thinks she liked him. His family was killed over the summer."
At her words Hermione sobbed harder into Harry's shoulder. He comforted her and after a while the sob subsided. The rest of the journey was relatively uneventful. The evening was a blur to Harry; everything seemed to happen so quickly there wasn't enough time to take it all in. Hermione introduced him to Dean, Seamus and Neville who looked him over with interest. He found it harder and harder to act as though he didn't know them. Ron kept shooting glares in Harry's direction but every time he did he received three back from Harry Ginny and Megan. Harry spent most of his time trying to keep Hermione's mind off of the events from over the summer and away from Ron. When the came for them to go up to Gryffindor Harry was hard pressed not to punch Ron in the face. Somehow he managed it and fell asleep almost as soon as he went up to bed.
The next day after breakfast Harry walked with Hermione to his first lesson of the day. Double potions with Slytherin, although the class had only four people, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Draco. It was the lesson Harry had been dreading the most. From his previous experience he had no reason to believe the real Snape was any different from what he was used to. Although, admittedly he had been hoping that Megan's view of Draco was true to form. He noticed immediately that there was a difference as they walked straight into the classroom without waiting for Snape to arrive. Draco was already there when Harry and Hermione walked in. He was sporting a large bruise over one eye that reached down over his cheek. Hermione frowned when she saw.
"Draco, you've got to at least try and stand up for yourself."
He tried to glare at her but couldn't manage it without grimacing in pain. She laughed and stepped to one side.
"Harry, this is Draco Malfoy. The only decent Slytherin."
Harry stared at him incomprehensibly. Draco waved a hand in front of his face.
"Is he ok?" he asked Hermione.
Harry shook himself; it seemed Megan's view of Draco was true after all.
"Sorry, I was miles away. Are we the only people in this class?"
Draco looked around.
"Well, at the minute, yes. But Longbottom should be here as well. As if on cue Neville walked through the door.
He grinned at them all and took a seat next to Draco.
"Snape late as usual?"
Draco grinned.
"You know my god-father, always on time for everything."
"I'll take that as a yes then."
Draco laughed. Harry watched bewildered as the two of them fell into conversation. Hermione pulled him down onto a seat next to her. She began to get her books out. Draco and Neville did the same.
"Shouldn't we wait for Snape to tell us what to do?" Hermione shook her head and pointed to the board. Harry looked over and saw an ingredients list for what looked like a complicated potion. It was called dreamless sleep.
"We're making a sleep potion?" Draco rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Why don't you look it up?" Harry looked over at him and saw he had his potions book open in front of him, reading the instructions. Feeling foolish he did the same. It was a tranquillising potion, designed to knock the victim out a period of roughly 24 hrs depending on the person.
After about half an hour, the two pairs were about a third of the way through making their potions when Snape walked in. He was greeted with hellos from Neville and Hermione and a nod from Draco. Harry watched astounded as Snape walked over to him.
"You must be Harry Potter. I'm Professor Snape, the Potions master at Hogwarts. I hope the talent for potion making runs in your family. Your sister is quite exceptional." Harry gaped at the praise for his sister. Was this really the real Snape?
He also saw Draco, out of the corner of his eye, grin at the mention of his sister. That was something to look into.
The rest of the lesson was almost a dream to Harry. As he took the bottle of liquid up to Snape who was marking papers at his desk he was greeting with a smile and more words of praise.
"Very good, I could see today that you excel in Potions. I'm curious to know why you only achieved an Exceeds Expectations and not an Outstanding on your OWL but never mind." Harry grinned; already he was getting used to the new form of Snape and liking it a lot. After the lesson he waited behind to talk to Draco.
"What have you got now?" he asked as they walked out of the classroom.
Draco looked at him in surprise.
"You do know I'm a Slytherin right?"
"Yeah, but Hermione said you a decent guy, so did my sister and I trust her opinion."
Draco grinned.
"She said that?"
"Yeah, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Have you got a lesson now?"
"No, I'm free till lunch."
This time Harry grinned.
"Me too, want to go fly?"
"Of course!" The two of them headed out to the grounds talking.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
"Do you like my sister?"
"Wow, you don't beat about the bush do you?"
"Not when it comes to Meg, no. I'm a tad protective of her."
"Fair enough. Yes I do. Do you think she does?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I know she likes you as a guy but I don't know if it's romantic like or just like like. You'll have to find that out on your own."
Draco's face fell.
"Just ask her, it's not that hard. Now are we gonna fly or not?"
Without a word Draco set off at a sprint towards the broom shed. Harry grinned and sped after the other boy. Draco was already inside when he got there. Harry walked inside to see Draco lifting up a golden coloured broom. It was almost the twin of his own but with subtle differences.
"What make it is?"
"It's an Amberfire. The predecessor to the new Silverfire that came out last week. It's the best broom in the school." Harry grinned at that statement and wandered over to his where his own broom stood in the shadows.
"I'll meet you out there." Draco called over his shoulder. He walked out leaving the door wide open. Harry's grin grew wider. He straddled his broom and rising into the air flew like a bullet out of the shed and up into the sky. Draco watched open-mouthed at Harry's broom.
"I don't think yours is the best in the school any more Draco." Harry yelled to him. Draco stuck his tongue out at the other boy. Harry grinned again and flying higher, went into the wronski feint. Draco watched in amazement as Harry pulled out of the move less than a metre away from the ground.
"You should try out for the Gryffindor team." He said when Harry was back level with him.
"I intend to. But, would you mind helping me teach Ginny? She's come on a lot, but I'm not a hugely good teacher."
"I'd love to."
And so the weekly training sessions began. They'd practise from 7 in the morning until they got bored. With Draco's help Megan came on in leaps and bounds. Soon, it got to be that neither Harry nor Draco could teach her anything more so they spent the time playing or just lounging around. Both boys had the same ambition to be an Auror when they left the school, so consequently they were doing almost identical subjects. With the exception that Harry was doing Herbology when Draco had Ancient Runes. Because of this, the two of them came to have a steady friendship. It was something that Harry had never even dreamed would happen, but Draco had become his best friend. The difference between the real Draco and the one he knew was astounding.
When the try-outs for the quidditch team came up, both Harry and Megan were bags of nerves. Megan because she was so anxious to prove herself and Harry, well, just because.
They arrived at the pitch much too early, the team weren't even there. So the two of them took of and just flew aimlessly around. Harry decided to get rid of some of his nerves by doing the wronski feint. As he pulled up about half a metre from the ground he looked up and saw the Gryffindor team staring at him in amazement. Well, with the exception of Ron. He was glaring at Harry with a look of resentment.
"If you've finished showing off Harry we'll start. The positions open on the team are as follows, chaser, beater, seeker and beater. We'll be starting with Seeker." Harry looked around. He was the only person standing in front of Ron, the rest had moved to the stands. Ron glared at him again.
"As you're the only person who wants it Potter, I guess you're on the team. Just don't screw up." Harry turned to look over at Megan and Ginny and grinned with his thumbs up. They grinned back and Ginny walked over to him.
"I'm up next for beater," she said as she neared him. "Wish me luck!"
Harry hugged her and she moved over to stand with the other beater applicants. There were about 5 of them. Ron sent each one up onto the air and let the two bludgers go.
"Hit them towards the goalposts!" he yelled up towards each one. The first four managed to hit all of the bludgers that came close to them but only one managed to direct any towards the goals. Then it was Ginny's turn. She set off into the air and Harry could tell immediately that she was nervous. As the first bludgers shot towards her she swung wildly at it, missed and it hit her in the head. She slipped from her broom and fell towards the ground. Harry ran out onto the pitch and managed to slow her fall by letting her fall on top of him.
"You ok Gin?"
"Just a bit dizzy that's all."
Ron came storming over.
"What the hell was that? Are you trying the make the name Weasley a laughing stock. We have a quidditch reputation here."
Harry glared at him.
"Leave her alone idiot. It's not as if she did it on purpose!"
"If we didn't need a seeker so badly I'd hit you Potter. Get off the pitch Gin, and get that head looked at, you might have concussion. If you plan to try-out again next year, I suggest you get a lot better."
With that he stood up and walked off the pitch. Harry helped Ginny up and together they made their way off the pitch. As soon as they were in the stands the chaser try-outs started. There were 7 people waiting to try-out for the position. After waiting patiently in line Megan finally got to the front. Ron looked at her and laughed.
"You're here again? Jeez, you must be a sucker for humiliation. All right, you know the drill. Try and get as many shots past me as you can. The best so far is 20 out of 35. At least try to get one past this time."
Megan glared at him and shot off into the air. Ron followed her and tossed her the quaffle. To his surprise she caught it one handed and flew up to the goalposts. Ron took his position and yelled,
"Start!"
Filled with determination, she hefted the ball and threw it as hard as she could towards the left post. Ron swooped to catch it but missed and it went in. Harry whooped and Ron threw it back to her. It carried on, sometimes she was a blur even to Harry but Megan outsmarted Ron every time and scored 35 out of 35 times. The stands filled with cheers and Megan flew down to the stands to hug her brother. Ron stayed motionless in the air staring in disbelieve at the change in her flying ability's.
Katie and Angelina came over to where Megan was with her brother and Ginny.
"Well, I don't know how you did it Potter but that was incredible. Welcome to the team."
Megan screamed and threw herself on the two seventh year girls.
"We practise every Thursday night from 7 till 9. See you two there."
Megan walked of with the two girls and they started to discuss tactics leaving Harry and Ginny to make their way to the hospital wing.
"Hey Gin,"
"Yeah?"
"Would you like some flying lessons?"
"Oh, that'd be fantastic. Do you know anyone who'd want to help me?"
Harry face fell. She hadn't even thought that he'd meant himself.
"Well, I really meant me, but I'm sure Draco would give you some pointers if you'd rather."
"Are you serious? I thought you meant you knew someone who would. I'd love it if you could teach me."
He grinned.
"Well, that's settled then. How about early Saturday mornings?"
During the first few weeks of term Harry gradually became good friends with Ginny, Hermione and Draco. Harry and Draco could be seen together after most of their lessons either in the library or by the lake talking. Draco was the only person Harry told everything about his life. He also became mates with the other boys in his dorm, Neville, Seamus and Dean. Life was almost what it was before he was woken. With one exception. Ron, it seemed, could not accept Harry as a person let alone a friend. He blamed Harry for breaking himself and Hermione up and was trying his best to keep Harry away from Ginny. This would have worked if Ginny had not seen through her brother completely. She had been playing chess with Harry one evening when Ron approached her to play exploding snap with Seamus and Dean.
"No thanks Ron."
"But…"
"I'm busy."
"Of course you're not. It's only Potter."
Ginny eyes flashed and she stood up and faced her brother.
"What the hell does that mean!"
"Gin, it's obvious what he's doing. Trying to take you away from your friends, like he took…"
"Don't you even think about saying that again! Harry did not break you and Hermione up. You did that all by yourself. If you hadn't been so stupid and selfish you'd still be together. You can't blame other people for you own mistakes and if you're so damn upset about the whole thing why aren't you trying to get her back!"
"Ginny, I…"
"Oh save it Ron. I don't want to hear it. Just go away and leave Harry alone."
She sat down and Ron turned and walked slowly up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.
"You know, I could have defended myself." Harry said in amusement.
"I know. I just wanted to yell at him. He's been acting like an idiot for too long."
"You certainly yelled at him. Although I doubt it'll do any good."