Chapter 3
Harry was one of the first students in the great hall for breakfast, apparently no one else was that eager to get to class. Seating himself at the end of the table near the teachers Harry began piling up some food on his plate, out of no where a few trays of food had appeared. The sausages were particularly good, the bacon wasn't half bad either.
As he finished his meal he noticed the great hall had began to fill up, the Ravenclaw table was almost full living up to their reputation of being extremely studious, his own house was about half full. The odd thing was no one had sat anywhere near him yet, maybe all the other first years hadn't made it up to the hall yet, he thought.
He pulled out his wand, it always felt great to actually be holding his wand almost as if he was bursting to perform some magic, he decided he would try to test some spells while he waited. It wasn't as if he was in a hallway where magic was against the rules, was it? The table with teachers was nearby so if he was breaking some rule they would be quick to correct him, and he could easily feign ignorance of the rule if it existed.
He stood a piece of toast up and considered for a moment, with a quick twirl of his wand and a muttered, "momento" a misty blue spell poured out his wand. When it touched the toast the effect was immediate, the toast twisted and bent in movement almost as if it were testing out new muscles. Before long the toast jumped into the air and gave a spin, as it landed it seemed to grab a nearby sausage and slow dance with it, after only a few seconds of dancing though it collapsed onto the table back to its previous rigid state.
Harry couldn't help the grin that spread on his face, he had read that spell in his charms book and was eager to try it for at least a week now. He had spent most of his time with his mother learning about useful charms, not the she neglected other subjects or anything she just had a love for charms. The spell he had performed was hardly perfect but it certainly did the job, he was content with his efforts.
Professor Snape, his new head of house, approached him from where he had been sitting at the staff table. Harry eyed the piece of toast as if he could change his situation, his dad had talked about detentions as if they were a badge of honor, Harry knew enough to know it wasn't a good idea to get on this professor's bad side.
Professor Snape was a tall and pale faced man, he had greasy long black hair and a cruel looking face. A long pointed nose which lead up to sharp beady eyes gave Harry the feeling this man knew all about him. "Five points to Slytherin, for that well performed dancing charm." Said Professor Snape, his voice was crisp and curt, not rude exactly but it certainly wasn't kind.
Harry blinked and felt himself frown, but not to let the opportunity to make a decent impression on his head of house pass he replied. "Thank you very much Professor." He had earned points already, he knew he would earn some points here or there, it wasn't as if he were stupid but he had felt there was a bigger risk of getting in trouble than getting a reward. Professor Snape merely nodded in acknowledgment, he slowly pulled a piece of paper out of his robes and placed it in front of Harry.
"Your schedule for classes, Mr Po..." He cut off abruptly without realizing how rude it might seem. "If you show the same aptitude for your other classes, then maybe you wont embarrass Slytherin house." He said with a glance at the bit of toast, Harry would have chuckled and thought it a joke if he hadn't seen the vaguest hint of a threat in the professors eyes, and then he swiftly swept on down the table to hand out more schedules. Harry gulped.
Slytherin house wouldn't allow Harry Potter to simple get by, it would seem, maybe it was because of his surname but he got the feeling that he would be scrutinized much harder than his classmates. His thoughts strayed back to the conversation he had had with his parents the night before, he had to be smart about things, a lot of his classmates had reasons to dislike his family. Mainly due to how proficient his dad had been when You-Know-Who was around, that and his dad had a certain talent for standing out or so his mum had claimed, and that made people envious and intimidated of James Potter.
Unfortunately for Harry the people who didn't seem to feel that way were the ones who he was stuck in a house with for seven years, not that he was complaining, not exactly. He had never wanted school to be easy, but he had wanted to be tested a little bit less right off the bat. There was a feeling that most of the relationships he made in these next few days would last his whole time at Hogwarts.
Harry wiped his hands on his robes to wipe away the thin layer of sweat, he was only eleven years old and he was having to worry about things like being diplomatic to people who made his skin crawl with disgust. He took off his glasses and breathed on the lenses and began to wipe those clean too, there was little he could do to make his situation better other than being himself. His mum had said she expected him to be in Slytherin, so that meant he had to have some qualities that would make him fit in.
He realized he was trying to convince himself that things would be alright, he let out a laugh and shook his head. He would bet none of his fellow first years had even given him a single thought so far today.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when a pair of girls sat down opposite him, Tracey and Daphne looked a bit red faced as if they had been running. He gave them a genuine smile and was about to greet them but was cut off.
"Malfoy was waiting for you in the common room, he's seriously angry that you got passed him." Tracey Davis said, Harry took a second to notice that she had given her long black hair some curls this morning. She was pretty and from what Harry could tell so far she was friendly too, although he didn't know if he could trust what he thought just yet.
Harry realized he had been caught staring while he had been lost in thought, he hoped they thought he was thinking about what to say and not admiring Tracey's hair. "What does he want with me?" He said sounding perfectly natural.
Daphne and Tracey caught each other's eyes and giggled slightly, not in a mocking way just as thought they found something amusing. Harry took a large drink of his pumpkin juice to hid the warmth in his cheeks, when he put it back down they had stopped giggling. "He was saying he was going to take you to Professor Snape's office and make you join Gryffindor." Tracey answered.
"Huh, that's really stupid." Harry said without thinking, it would seem Draco Malfoy was as sour of a person as his father was said to be. Both girls laughed as though he had made a great joke, well it had been pretty funny if he said so himself, he mused.
"As stupid as it was the other first years were listening to him Harry." Said Daphne, her blue eyes were fixed on him, Harry felt the smile on his lips fade away. She had spoken in a way that made it sound more important to her than it did to him, it worried him a bit. Not that Malfoy had a little gang of friends already, that was almost to be expected, no it was the matter of why Daphne thought it was significant.
There was a layer to this conversation Harry was starting to dislike, almost as if they were testing him and trying to test him. He was thankful for his mum in that moment, if he hadn't heard her warning, and especially from her, he wouldn't have been on edge to catch these things.
Harry tried to make his voice light, to not tip off what was going on in his head, he even gave the girls a grin. "So why is it I'm the one sitting here with the two prettiest girls in the year?" When Tracey giggled and her face went pinkish he felt himself sitting up a bit straighter, he really had to thank his dad and uncle Sirius for that one.
Daphne gave him a hard look, she had a trace of pink on her cheeks too he noticed, but she wasn't laughing. "We felt that you cant be nearly as bad as a Gryffindor." She said playfully, but he noticed her eyes were still watching him in that hard unreadable way.
Harry glanced to see the group of Slytherin's in question entering the great hall, the short blond haired boy leading them was Draco Malfoy. He had seemingly oiled his hair back, which made Harry thank Merlin for his own messy hair, he also had a sneer openly on his face as he walked between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables. Harry turned to the girls and gave them a rueful smile, he had been enjoying their company even if the conversation made his head hurt.
"Reckon he's going to make a fool of himself in the great hall, and in front all our teachers?" Harry asked quietly, Malfoy was getting close enough that his words might reach him. Harry realized that he wasn't entirely honest about the teachers, Professor Snape was still handing out schedules as were all the other heads of house. Both girls grinned at him but before they could speak Malfoy had reached them.
Harry noticed that other than Malfoy the others had decided to hang back a little way, there was two girls in the group, both of which almost made him wince. They stood as pillars of brutish strength and seemed to mirror that boys next to them, he didn't know their names yet or even care, he figured that alongside Crabbe and Goyle anyone would look defined and interesting. Harry was proven wrong.
Other than the thuggish looking members of the group two boys stood together, they seemed slightly awkward about the situation, but they still decided to join in with Malfoy Harry noticed. Nott seemed like the kind of person who would go along with anything while Zabini was as much a mystery to him as... well a lot of things really.
Draco Malfoy stepped closer with all the confidence of a peacock. "Potter, you chose a good seat, you wont have to walk as far when you go to beg McGonagall to let Gryffindor take you in." His smirk was as oily as his hair, not to mention the way it made Harry's skin crawl.
Harry dismissed him with barely a glance and he went back to talking to the girls. "What class are you most excited for Tracey?" He refused to let Draco Malfoy try to intimidate him, he seemed to want to be his enemy so Harry wouldn't waste his breath trying to win him over.
Before Tracey could respond Draco cut in with a venomous tone. "Listen hear halfblood, you don't belong in Slytherin and our whole house knows it." Malfoy was pointing at Harry, not with his wand but his finger Harry was pleased to see, it either meant he wasn't a complete idiot or he wasn't confident with magic yet.
Daphne broke the rising tension with a laugh, she was looking at Malfoy as if he had said the sky was green. "You do realize you're implying Potter either outsmarted an ancient magical artifact, one that the founders personally enchanted themselves, or better yet that he deliberately convinced that same artifact to place him in Slytherin for his own gain." She looked back to Harry triumphantly, Harry had to respect her logic, either she had just thought of it and if so he was very impressed. Or else she and been thinking on it for a while, Harry felt the need to wipe his hands again.
Malfoy turned to her with a glare. "I would be very careful with how you talk to me, Greengrass, I reckon your father would have something to say about your company." He said with a meaningful glance to Harry. "Although i wont tell him if you stop playing around with these halfblood's."
Daphne snorted in amusement, though Harry noticed she gave a small worried look to Tracey. He had heard blood status was a big thing with certain members of Slytherin, but he had hoped that was mostly his dad and Sirius being silly. It would seem that Tracey was a half blood like he was, not that it made any difference to him, but it might explain why she at least was friendly to him.
"My father isn't afraid of your father Malfoy, just like I'm not afraid of you." She replied tartly, Harry believed her too, the way she held Malfoy's eyes made Harry think not much scared Daphne. Tracey though suddenly seemed diminished in the company of Malfoy, Harry didn't like that one bit but he understood it, Malfoy could make her life at Hogwarts very hard. If Harry let him that was, he mused.
"Fine, Greengrass play with your pet Gryffindor." Malfoy sneered and turned away from Daphne to look back to Harry. "Be careful Potter, Slytherin isn't for weaklings." This time it was Harry's chance to laugh.
"I'll take my chances Draco, my godfather did the same thing just the other way round, so i feel pretty good about my odds." Harry felt pretty good about himself, although Sirius was hardly an accurate depiction of the Black family, that name still held a certain gravity in certain circles.
Unfortunately Malfoy took that as his turn to laugh at him. "My mother always said he was a worthless mutt." He spat, then he turned to walk off, with one last smirk he added. "Thought my father says that's an insult to dogs." And Malfoy was walking off to sit as far away as he could.
Harry couldn't hold in his laugh, as much as it annoyed him he had to admit that one was good, he'd have to remember that for later. Before long Tracey and Daphne were laughing too, though each for their own reasons. Harry was pretty happy with how things turned out, he had gotten a grip of where Tracey was coming from and he respected that. Daphne was a harder nut to crack but there was plenty of time to try, though he would have to watch himself until then, her eyes might be a very pleasant blue but they still scared him a bit.
As Tracey and Daphne ate their breakfast they talked hard and fast about almost everything, apparently Harry didn't know as many spells as either of the girls, not that he didn't trust them or anything he just didn't believe them.
They made their way to Professor McGonagall's transfiguration classroom as that was their first class, along the way they talked about the hundreds of enchanted portraits, Tracey had a gift for making up their backstories. When they reached the hallway with the classroom they fell quiet, they all seemed eager to learn, they weren't even the first ones into the class, half of the first year Ravenclaws they had this class with were already sat down.
Harry looked around, much to his dismay he realized the table only sat two per table, he was under no illusion as to who of the three would be sitting apart. Terry Boot was in the class, Harry noticed but he was sat next to a boy from his own house, when Terry spotted him looking at him he gave Harry a sad smile then looked away.
He decided to just sit in the table behind the girls, that way he wasn't completely alone. As the rest of the students filed their way into the class Harry realized he would be sitting alone as everyone else had a partner to sit next to. Crabbe had taken a step towards the table Harry was sat at before Malfoy hissed at him, and he scurried off to sit next to a now miserable Ravenclaw girl.
It had turned out in Harry's favor to be honest, he had no distractions and was able to fully listen to Professor McGonagall. He could tell right from the start when his dad and sister thought she was a great teacher, she had passion that poured out when she spoke of the subtle art of transfiguration. He had preferred leading charms back at home, he had though it was because they were more interesting and useful, but now he was starting to think it was all because of his mums passion for the subject.
He found himself wanted to try and prove to McGonagall that he could live up to her expectations and even surpass them, just to make her proud. The way she talked about her art had swept Harry up so entirely that when she told the class to try to turn their match sticks into needles he had hardly noticed. He had been paying attention of course, but to actually try and not it now was something else, he had managed to turn flour into salt at home under him mums watchful eye, but Professor McGonagall's eyes were much sharper and more intent than he was used to.
The first time he tried he fumbled the wand movement, it was meant to be a curved sweeping motion, he had managed to basically stab his match stick. Professor McGonagall gave him a tight smile and moved on quickly, maybe not disappointed but Harry sure was.
Professor McGonagall stood back at the front of the class and gave another demonstration, as it seemed no one had managed to accomplish the task without a little helping nudge. it didn't take Harry many attempts to get it down, much to his delight he was the first in the class to perform the spell correctly. Professor McGonagall even gave him ten points for his spell work.
By then end of the lesson he had been able to turn the match stick into a needle and back again without much struggle, he had noticed McGonagall looked pretty proud when he took the next step without being prompted to. He had loved the class, it was pretty much everything he had been expecting it to be and more, Professor McGonagall was a much better teacher than his mother was. Hardly surprising considering she had been teaching longer than his mother had been alive for, but it still had a large effect of what Harry was able to do.
She seemed to know how to push just that little bit extra out of him, and she did it in a way that had Harry thinking about how he could apply it to more than just the spell in question. If he hadn't heard he explain how to envision the changes they were trying to make to Daphne and Tracey, he never would have tried to change it back. Apparently the act was worth another ten points to Slytherin, Daphne and Tracey gave him smiles at that point and even Malfoy didnt look too miserable.
As his classmate left the room he lingered behind, he had been wanting to have a word with Professor McGonagall for a while. She looked surprised to see him waiting behind her, he just gave her a grin. "That class was brilliant Professor, I'm so glad my first class was with you." He laid it on a bit thick, but he did owe her that much at least. McGonagall gave him a quick smile and walked back over to her desk.
"What did i say about not having favorites Mr Potter? On you go, I don't think Professor Flitwick would enjoy having to dock you points so early in the year." She said cheerfully, Harry almost missed a step he hadn't thought she meant all that, he had figured she just said it to make sure he didn't try to take advantage.
With a grin and a hasty "Of course Professor." He dashed out of her classroom, Daphne and Tracey had waited for him, neither looked particularly happy about the delay but the joy being at Hogwarts did enough to counter their ire. It didn't take them long to reach the charms classroom, McGonagall had clearly exaggerated to make him leave without a fight.
They shared this class with the Hufflepuff's, much to Harry's pleasure, he had enjoyed his time with Susan and Hannah. They hadn't made him nervous or cautious over what was or wasn't being said, they were just good fun. The charms class was different to the transfiguration class, Professor Flitwick had decided to seat the class in two long rows on either side of the room, Harry wasn't sure why he had done this but at least he wouldn't be sitting on his own.
The Hufflepuff's weren't there yet, so it left the Slytherin's to choose their seat, Harry wasn't surprised to notice Draco Malfoy and his group of trolls had taken one side of the room and gave clear signals they weren't welcome to join them. Harry could hardly believe his luck, not only would he be getting to share a class with some more friends but he could save them from the company of Malfoy.
Before long a herd of disheveled looking Hufflepuffs wandered in, Harry waved to Susan as they made eye contact and pointed next to him, and they shuffled over without even glancing at the other seats. He gave her and Hannah warm grins and introduced Tracey, who was seated next to him, and Daphne, who was at the end of the row.
"You lot look like you've been fighting, what happened?" He said with a chuckle.
Susan grimaced and Hannah giggled. "We had our first herbology lesson, Professor Sprout wanted to see what her new Puff's were made of." Susan said sounding tired but not unhappy.
Hannah picked up where Susan had left off. "Justin nearly lost an ear, although Professor Sprout said he was never in any danger." The boy Justin let out a nervous laugh, Harry gave him a grin it sounded like herbology would be a lot more fun than the books made it sound. Hannah and Susan took it upon themselves to introduce the other members of their house, they seemed a pleasant bunch but Harry struggled to remember all their names.
"How come you three aren't sitting with the other Slytherin's?" Susan asked Harry.
"I much prefer the company of you and Hannah than those... things over there." He joked, it was maybe a bit unfair to Zabini and Nott but it wasn't untrue. "Malfoy thinks I'm some Gryffindor spy, naturally i think he's a bloody idiot." He finished with a laugh, he was pleased to see Susan and Hannah laugh too.
"Hem hem hem, yes well now i have every bodies attention." The tiny charms professor spoke in a gentle tone, he stood on a stack of books in the middle of the classroom. Harry felt his cheeks redden as he had been admonished, a glance at Susan told him she was feeling the same embarrassment, they shared a grin before looking back to the Professor.
Harry quickly learnt why Flitwick had the class laid out the way it was, precision was absolutely key to charms work, and Flitwick made sure everyone could clearly see what he was doing. It had been different when his mum was showing him what to do, but that had been one on one sessions. They were trying to learn the 'Tempus' charm, a handy little charm that would tell the caster the time.
The first person in the class to cast it successfully was Harry, he had been confident it would be him as his mother had actually shown him this spell before. A surprise came when Malfoy had followed him very closely as the second person to cast it, if the daggers he glared at Harry meant anything he would guess Malfoy had knew the spell too. Harry tried very hard not to grin at him, his mum had been very clear that being boastful was as polite as it was endearing, but Malfoy was too annoyed not to goad.
Most of the class had learned the spell pretty quickly, the ones who hadn't Professor Flitwick was helping them figure out what was going wrong, he seemed to have the patience of a saint Harry thought. That left time for the ones who had been proficient at the spell to talk amongst themselves and so Harry was wedged between Tracey and Susan who were arguing about some singing sensation from the wireless.
Harry rolled his eyes when the girls abruptly began praising some other witch for their music, he was happy they were getting along but they could talk for ever if they had the chance. He caught Daphne watching the girls, she wasn't involved in the talking but she was listening intently, Harry assumed she was a fan of this 'Celestina' person.
Most of his other classes had passed without much incident, unless you counted Terry Boot getting attacked by a shrub in herbology, Harry had been pretty underwhelmed with most of the classes. He understood the need for the slow pace of certain subjects but he felt that sharing classes with Crabbe and Goyle was doing his own learning a huge disservice.
Other than those two buffoons he was pleased to learn that both Tracey and Daphne were both skilled with their wands, they had clearly not been lying at breakfast that day. It as just a shame that as well as they did Malfoy was almost just as good, the boy seemed to be burning with a desire to beat Harry at everything.
He had earned more points than Harry for day of the first week of school, a fact that he let Harry know repeatedly, and he had also been quiet proficient in defense against the dark arts. Despite Professor Quirriel's fanciful tales of dealing with certain dark creatures and dark magic's the man seemed utterly useless at teaching, he had little patience for anyone who dared ask a question or got an answer wrong. But that was the least of Harry's concern, the real issue came when Slytherin first years were taught how to fly a broom.
Harry had been flying for as long as his dad had been able to prop him up on a broomstick, if the baby pictures he had seen were any indication it may have been before he could even sit up as a baby. The class was held outside in the middle of the day, they were sharing this class with the Gryffindors. The tensions were always high when the two houses shared a class, Harry mused.
He had been talking to his friends about flying ever since the notice had gone up, but both of the girls had little interest in flying or quidditch, much to Harry's misery Malfoy was the other enthusiast in his house. The only other person attending the class who would talk to Harry was Hermione and Neville, and they both seemed to be afraid of flying not just indifferent.
It came as no real surprise to Harry that Draco Malfoy was good at flying, he had been proving himself as a capable wizard so far and was trying to beat Harry at everything. It turned out Harry had a bit of a competitive streak, he hadn't really ever noticed what with having an older sister who was always better at flying than him, and a dad who could outfly a bird or two.
So when Madam Hooch was blowing sharply on her whistle at himself and Malfoy, who were both speeding up towards the open sky, Harry thought it was almost a silly situation to get himself in. Malfoy had only stolen Neville's remembrall it wasn't as if there weren't witnesses to prove it, but Harry had been swept up in the moment. They were luck Madam Hooch had overlooked bringing her own broom, apparently these 'beginner' classes were limited to hovering.
When Malfoy threw the remembrall high in the air with surprising force Harry shot after it, he wasn't much good at catching the snitch back home but this was a bit bigger. The ball was hurtling towards the ground at an incredible speed, Harry realized he couldn't reach it in time pulled his broom up from its shallow dive.
Only to watch in utter shock as Draco Malfoy snatched the ball out of mid air, he had followed Harry after throwing it he realized. Malfoy pulled in cleaning to a landing and shot a smirk as wide as his ugly little face could stretch, Harry sped towards the ground, his grip on the broom was too tight for normal control and so he landed a bit wobbly. The glare he sent Malfoy's way was met with laughter from the blond.
Madam Hooch was beside herself with rage, before either boy knew what was going on they found themselves being dragged towards the castle. Professor Snape wasn't exactly pleased to have his class interrupted, Madam Hooch ignored the dangerous stare he sent her way and walked past the third year class to have a word with the Professor.
Harry's eye landed on a familiar auburn haired girl, and felt his embarrassment deepen, not only was he in big trouble, his older sister was here to watch it. Her grin let him know that he wasn't going to get away with this one.
Professor Snape seem to bother with the space in between himself and the two first years, he was simply suddenly soaking the door behind himself and Madam Hooch before launching into a quiet tirade. "You utter fools, acting like a pair of Gryffindors over a remembrall. Mr Malfoy you are lucky there's an opening for the seeker position or else you would be in serious trouble." Madam Hooch let out an indignant squawk but was shut down by a hard look from Snape.
"You on the other hand Potter, not only were you seen acting the fool, you were seen being beaten. In Slytherin house we have standards, you would do well to learn that when you serve detention with Mr Filtch tonight." His words cut like a knife. Harry had no idea what Flitch would set him to do for a detention but Jasmine had made the man sound like a lunatic out for student's blood.
And so Harry found himself cleaning and polishing old trophies in the trophy room instead of having dinner in the great hall that night. Filtch had started by making him clean the oldest one first, so by the time he got to a name he recognized his arms already ached. Headmaster Dumbledore had managed to earn a number of trophies in his time at Hogwarts as a student.
After the third consecutive trophy for Albus Dumbledore's excellence in spell work Harry was starting to get a bit annoyed, no one was that good not even Dumbledore. Four more awards for Dumbledore later and Flitch came to let him go for the night with a nasty grin on his face. Harry had hoped that would be it, but apparently he had to come back the next day to finish up all the ones he hadn't got to yet. The trophy room was one of the least visited rooms in the entire school, Harry mused, maybe Jasmine had the right of it and Flitch really was just an evil old man.
It hadn't taken long for the homework to start building up for the first years, it seemed to Harry that the teachers thought they had nothing better to do with their time other than to study. Harry wouldn't have minded if the homework was interesting, but it was usually recapping something he had already done in class or a slight variation of a spell already learnt.
Harry had tried to make the homework fun by having Tracey and Daphne do it together with him, but Tracey usually just talked about other stuff and then they got nothing done. Daphne seemed to want to do her homework but she also didn't provide any solutions to the arduous task.
Susan Bones had been the one to suggest they meet up in the library once a week to work together, Harry had jumped at the plan, he had far too few classes with his Hufflepuff friends and he had been missing their time together. Harry was surprised to see that more than just Susan and Hannah were there, but then he realized he had invited Tracey and Daphne along with him so others would do the same.
There was Hermione and Neville from Gryffindor, Harry was pleased to see them both, their other house mates were not too friendly to the Slytherin's but that was their loss. There was also the entire Hufflepuff first year group, they wasn't anyone as stupid as Crabbe or Goyle in that lot so Harry didn't mind, although he was slight disappointed it wasn't a bit more exclusive.
He wasn't going to complain thought, Susan had invited him into the group after all and he was thankful for it. After they had met a few times and grown more comfortable with the arrangement they had realized they couldn't use the library anymore, according to Madam Pince they were 'far too loud' whatever that meant when older student could cast silencing charms or other helpful spells.
After a couple of days Susan had found him, Tracey and Daphne and let them know she had managed to get an old classroom for them to use, Professor Sprout had been so proud of her student she had given her a key to an old herbology classroom. Harry had managed to drag another little bit of information out of Susan that she had tried to keep hidden, Professor Sprout had also given her fifty points for her efforts at inter house unity.
Susan had blushed wildly at that part, Harry was amused to see her face turn as red as her hair was, it struck him as funny how her being embarrassed could be considered attractive, but he knew she looked pretty when she was blushing. It wasn't as if he tried to embarrass her more often since then, its just she seemed to take any compliment as a reason to turn pink.
Harry had been enjoying his charms and transfiguration classes the most, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were both excellent teachers and really tried to push the best out of him. The matter of fact was due to the class size he was feeling a bit held back by some of his peers, he knew it would sound a bit arrogant but he had considered asking them for some way to learn more in their subjects. He hadn't forgotten McGonagall's change in attitude since arriving at Hogwarts, it was mostly that fact that had stopped him from asking, also he didn't see how they could do more for him. So what would it accomplish for him to reveal that he was unsatisfied with the speed he learned from them.
It wasn't as if he couldn't learn on his own or with Tracey and Daphne, as both were showing signs of passion for at least one of the subjects each, he also had his sisters old notebook from her second year at Hogwarts.
His other classes weren't progressing as much as charms or transfiguration, not that he wasn't expecting it, he put the most effort into those two classes after all. But defense against the dark arts was a frustrating class, they spent little time doing anything practical and most of it was copying notes from lectures.
Herbology and potions were a strange type of class, neither exactly needed magic to be proficient at, so Harry had underestimated them. He was still feeling the affects of his poor attitude a few months into the school year, although Neville and Hannah were very helpful with the respective classes.
History of magic was an utter joke, Professor Binns was a joke of a teacher and the only people in their study group who paid any attention were Hermione and Justin. Both were muggle born students so they were very eager to learn of the history of magic, it was just a shame it had only covered goblin rebellions so far. When they got to the Grindlewalt stuff class was sure to get interesting.
Before he was really aware of it they were approaching the Christmas holidays, it was still a couple of weeks until they were done with classes but things seemed to reach a natural dulling. Even professors like Snape and McGonagall who were infamous for their hard work ethic were struggling to keep classes serious.
They had recently even learned how to transfigure socks and other small things into stuff like pine cones, that even gave off the same smell as real ones, Harry was especially pleased with managing to turn a hat into a Christmas wreath. After all it had gotten him an extra five points for Slytherin.
So when Professor Snape had asked for names of people who intended to go home for the holidays Harry was one of the first to sign up, Christmas at the Potter house was not something he would miss lightly. Even if he wouldn't be able to use magic for two whole weeks. He could think of a lot less pleasant ways of spending his holidays.
AN: there's another chapter, as always please review and let me know what you think. I really hope you guys enjoy it.
So you will have noticed I'm already about a third of the way through this year I'm not planning on slowing down anytime soon. I intend to use these first couple of years as setup and relationship building for the most part.
Thanks again you will see from me again soon.