I changed the part at the end with the muggle custom saying how some wizarding school adopted it already.
Chapter 11 First Day
"Harry! Come one I want to see what Dumbledore did!" Ron said shaking him awake.
Harry yawned loudly and looked at Ron. "You know I'm not a morning person" Harry mumbled.
"Who cares if you aren't! I mean neither am I but I want to find out what Dumbledore meant now get your arse up"
"Hold your hippogriffs!" Harry said as he stood up form bed. "How much longer until breakfast actually starts?" Harry's internal clock couldn't tell him what the time was, only the general time of day, like early in the morning.
"Twenty minutes" Ron said.
"Why are we waking up this early? Couldn't you of waited for another hour or so?" Harry questioned.
"Well I am curious you know! Not many magical schools adopt a muggle custom. He said it has something to do with its eating arrangement. I know most magical schools have some kind of house they get sorted into, since Hogwarts was the first actual magical school, most just copied off of it. From what little I have read and heard about other wizarding schools the 'houses' all have their own table to sit at" Ron rambled.
Harry looked at him shocked. That was the kind of thing smart people would do, not Ron.
"Ron stop doing that you are freaking me out!"
It was twenty minutes later that the Golden Trio and Neville made their way down to the Great Hall. A crowd was standing in front of the doors, mostly Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Gryffindors the house of the brave were usually the last to rise from their slumbers and Hufflepuffs, though earlier risers then the Gryffindors were usually always running late.
"Look Granger we get to see which one of your nasty customs get brought into our school in a couple of minutes" a voice snarled behind them.
The four Gryffindors whipped around and saw Malfoy and his group of idiots. Harry noticed that the only two Slytherins in his year who weren't hanging around Malfoy were Blaise Zabini and Nathaniel Moons. Some older and even some younger Slytherins were with Malfoy as well. Harry counted maybe 15 all together.
"The only thing nasty here Malfoy is your face" Harry replied coldly.
"I wouldn't talk if I was you Potter" Malfoy spat. "There are more of us then you"
"What was that Malfoy?" a voice said behind the Slytherin. Turning around the youngest Malfoy saw Harry's dorm mates, Lavender, Parvarti and most of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw 6th years.
"You haven't seen the last of me Potter" Malfoy said as he stalked away, his band of unpleasant looking cronies following.
"Unfortunately" Harry muttered.
"Harry are you starting the D.A. again?" Ernie Macmillan asked quietly.
"About that...you guys got the letter about the new club Dumbledore wants me to start right?" Everyone there nodded their heads. "Well in order to make it into the D.A. you have to be a member of that. The D.A. is actually going to be based off of that."
A few of them looked upset at the news. "Last year the whole purpose of the D.A. was to learn the practical side of Defense Against the Dark Arts. This year it is to create a small form of warriors, capable of fighting and defeating Death Eaters. I'll call the first meeting after the new clubs first day. You all still have your galleons right?"
A few shook their heads no but most nodded their heads yes. "Well have them handy"
The doors to the great hall opened. Instead of the four long tables many smaller round tables decorated the hall, kind of like what it use to be like at the Yule Ball. Along one side were several long tables loaded with food along with plates and eating utensils. House elves stood behind them, looking like they did not want to be there at all, probably to serve the food.
"Well...this is different" Harry said as he walked up to the tables that served food. Pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon, muffins and different kinds of eggs filled the room with a delicious aroma.
The four Gryffindors allowed the house elves to pile their plates with food, although Hermione was reluctant, and turned around to look at the tables in the hall. Several of them were occupied already with various houses, most of them sticking to their own house.
"Well I don't know about you but I want that table over there." Harry pointed to a table that was in the corner of the great hall, where the Gryffindor table use to be and several meter away from the food tables. There was only two other tables by it and so far no one was sitting in them.
"Fine with me" Ron said, agreeing with his friend. They made their way over to the table and sat down. The tables could fit twelve people each. Goblets and pitchers of cold drinks were the only things sitting on the tables.
Luna joined them seconds after they sat down and soon most of the D.A. followed, sitting at their table and the two that sat near them.
Small talk was made all around as the D.A. ate their meals. Half way through the meal the heads of houses made their way around handing out schedules to there students, who were scattered across the Great Hall.
Harry looked at his schedule.
Monday:
8:45-11:30 DADA
11:45-1:00 Healing
2:15-3:30 Charms
3:45-5:00 Transfiguration
5:15-6:30 Care of Magical Creatures
Tuesday
8:45-11:30 Dueling
11:45-1:00 Potions
2:15-6:30 Teach Defense Association
Wednesday
8:45-10:00 DADA
10:15-1:00 Free Period
2:15-5:00 Charms
5:15-6:30 Healing
Thursday
8:45-10:00 Free Period
10:15-1:00 Potions
2:15-5:00 Transfiguration
5:15-6:30 Free Period
Friday
8:45-11:30 Care of Magical Creatures
11:45-1:00 Free Period
2:15-6:30 Teach Defense Association
Saturday
2:15-6:30 Strategy and Simulation
"Double period of Dueling, period of potions and three periods Defense Association today!" Harry groaned. (Actually if you do the math and everything from when I told you that Harry's birthday was on a Tuesday then you would figure out that if it 2nd of September then it is a Sunday, but since Tuesday is much better for my story, it is what day it is)
"That stinks about Potions Harry." Ron said as he glanced at the dark haired teens schedule. "It seems besides when you have potions and I have Herbology we have the same schedule. Although I am attending D.A. and you are teaching it, plus I might not even make it. Um Harry...where exactly is the portrait of Sir Kendric the Knight" Ron asked him.
"Fourth floor corridor in the Southern tower on the Eastern wing" Harry told him.
"Oh...." Ron was confused.
"How about this, after lunch everyone meets in the Entrance Hall and I'll lead you there" Many heads were nodded in agreement to this. Honestly how the hell were they to find the fourth floor corridor in the southern tower of the eastern wing and besides how the hell did Harry know where it is!?
Hermione glanced at his schedule. "We almost have the same schedule. I have Ancient Runes when you have Care of Magical Creatures and during some of your free periods I have Arithmacy and History of Magic. Wait a minute... Harry you have so many free periods!" she said shocked, looking at it.
"Only five periods worth! Besides I am going to be getting lessons during those free periods and some of my other class periods on foreign forms of magic" Harry told her.
"You're missing class!?" Hermione nearly shrieked. Then she realized he would be taking foreign magic. "When? Can I come? Please Harry?"
"Sorry Hermione. You have to be approved by the guys that are teaching me or whatever." Hermione seemed like she was going to argue but stopped as a ringing noise was heard around the school.
"Looks like we should be making our way to our first classes you guys!" Harry said cheerfully.
"Harry our first period is here" Ron reminded him.
"Oh..." Harry sat down dejectedly and prepared himself for a Hermione lecture. 'Hmm...I wander what would happened if a an alligator and a chicken mated. What would you call that? Chator? Allicken? Hahaha allicken" Harry giggled. 'Man that is a good one!'
"Harry Potter are you even listening to me!" Hermione's shouts echoed through his mind.
"Of course Hermione!" he instantly replied.
"Then what was I saying?" she asked him, tapping her foot.
"How much you loved me and how great I was" Harry responded, grinning innocently. Hermione huffed as she folded her arms over her chest.
"And what were you thinking that was so important" Hermione sniffed.
"Um...about how great and smart and pretty and great you are" Harry told her.
"You are so lucky I take well to compliments" Hermione grumbled.
Harry just grinned in return. The doors to the great hall opened up and Kingsley Shacklebolt strode into the room wearing a red dueling robe.
"Everyone who has dueling this period should gather around" Kingsley shouted in his deep voice.
"Now from what I have gathered about past years it seems that the dueling skills of Hogwarts is lacking a great deal form when I was here. It seems that only a handful of you know how to duel properly and it isn't because of any teacher you've guys ever had" Here he gave a quick glance at Harry. "This class is going to show you the proper ways of dueling and the not so proper ways of dueling. Hopefully by the end of this year most of you can hold your own against the higher Death Eaters...or Aurors" the last part was mumbled under the Aurors breath as he quickly glanced at Malfoy.
Harry was close enough to hear the mumbled and catch the quick glance to ferret boy.
"Today I'll just show you the how to start a duel properly, though I don't see why you need to learn it seeing as how Death Eaters don't play by the rules"
The rest of the period they were taught dueling stances and how to properly start a duel, with the bowing and all that other crap.
Soon the double period was over and the 6th years were dismissed to go to their next period classes.
"I think the Ministry might be giving him some hints on what to teach us. You can so tell by Kingsley's not so quiet mumbling" Harry said as soon as Ron, Hermione, Neville and him left the Great Hall.
"Yeah but maybe this time they wizened up and are actually giving him good things to teach us" Hermione said hopefully.
"Who is Minister of Magic again?" Harry asked.
"Fudge" Neville piped up from where he stood.
"Exactly! So therefor nothing he wants us to learn will be useful for this war" Harry explained. The dark haired teen glanced at his watch. "I better hurry, you too Hermione. I don't want to be late for my first Potion class" The quartet split up, Ron and Neville going out to the greenhouses and Harry and Hermione going to the dungeons.
"Snape better behave" Harry growled as he walked to the classroom. "I'm sick of tired of him making fun of my parents. If he goes to far I won't be blamed for my actions"
"Harry you can't do anything rash..."she stopped at the look on his face. "Well at least not to rash!"
They arrived at the Dungeon 6 where there lessons were going to take place for the first half of the year. A small crowd was gathered outside of the room and Harry could see blondie among them.
The door to the classroom swung open and the small crowd made its way into the stone room. Harry sat as far away from the desk in the front as possible. Harry, Hermione and surprisingly Lavender were the only Gryffindors in the class. Crabbe and Goyle were the only Slytherins not in there. Terry Boot, Padma Patil, Su Li, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Mandy Brocklehurst were the Ravenclaws there and Susan Bones and Ernie Macmillan were the only Hufflepuffs.
"I don't know how some of you got into NEWT level potions" Snape's oily voice filled the room as the man walked into the classroom. When he mentioned the word "some" he openly glared at Harry. "The next two years you will learn to brew some of the hardest potions in the wizarding world. Some of the potions like Polyjuice, will require that during odd times of the days you must come down here to work on them"
"Yeah more time with the greasy git" Harry muttered.
"Do you have something to say Potter?" Snape spat.
"Just how great it is going to be being able to come down here to work on our potions not during class and see your smiling face!" Harry said with mock cheerfulness.
"Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek" Snape snapped at him. "Today you are going to be brewing Skele-Gro seeing as how Madame Pomfrey is out and the price of it has doubled over the past couple of months. Turn to page 129 in your books and get started"
The potion wasn't a long one, only taking fifteen minutes to brew however when to add the ingredients and their precise sizes were enough to make up for the shortness.
"Ten 3 centimeter cubes of dragon liver" Harry mumbled to himself. He sliced the ten pieces and measured them again just to make sure. One of them was .1 centimeters to small so he had to cut a new one. If the ingredients were not precise then the potion could explode. "10 milliliters of salamander blood. Oops, to much" Harry poured a little bit back into the container "Good. Now let me see. I put in five of the dragon liver cubes, then pour in all 10 milliliters of the salamander blood. After that I wait exactly two minutes and thirty one seconds before adding the last five dragon liver and the boomslang I am suppose to shred. The potion should turn a bluish green after that." Harry did all of the following and after everything was done, he was happy to see that his potion was in fact a bluish green.
Snape was heading his way and Harry gritted his teeth prepared for some serious concentration efforts about to come up. However he was saved from the problem when Pansy's cauldron started to bubble and the potion was shooting all over the place.
"You fool! You added all ten dragon liver cubes at the same time!" Snape shouted as he rushed over there.
"Wait a minute and thirteen seconds after adding the boomslang and then stir the potion counter clockwise for nineteen cauldron rotations" Harry muttered to himself as he followed the instructions and blessed his good luck. "Add one gram off puffer-fish eyes and after waiting eight seconds add one frozen ashwinder egg. Let the potion settle for five minutes over a flame of 120 degrees and then stir it clockwise for three and a half cauldron rotations" Harry lowered the temperature of the flame with his wand and sat back. So far his potion was coming along great. When it was done heating it should be a gray color.
Glancing around Harry saw that most were up to his step of the potion. Snape had finished doing whatever he had to do over by Pansy and was now making his way over to Harry.
'Why?!' Harry asked whoever was up there.
'It isn't my fault! I can't control the greasy git all the time!' a voice in his head answered.
'Who the hell are you!' Harry asked as he looked around quickly.
'Shit you can hear me?' the voice asked.
'Yeah' Harry replied.
'Umm...gotta go!'the voice shouted.
'Hey! Who are you!?' Harry receive no answer and sighed. This kind of stuff only happened to him.
"Potter!" Snape snapped. "Pay attention to your potion and stop day dreaming! Five points from Gryffindor"
Harry glanced at his watch and saw he still had a good minute before he had to stir it and then he would be done. Harry smiled to himself. He had made a hopefully perfect Skele-Gro. It turned out to be the color it was suppose to and from what Harry recalled of it, it was also as thick as it was suppose to be.
"Time to stir" he muttered to himself as he stirred counterclockwise for three and a half rotations. Once he was done stirring Harry took the potion off the flame and regretfully raised his hand.
"What do you want now Potter?" Snape sneered.
"What do you do when you are done...sir" Harry replied through gritted teeth.
"Let me see" Snape stalked over to his cauldron and look at it.
"It seems Potter that though it is a little to thick, for once you have made a potion worth using." Snape drawled. "Spoon them into the flask that are sitting on the front table."
Harry nodded his head before he walked over to the front table and grabbed a couple of the warm flask. 'Snape must have a heating charm on them so the potion doesn't spoil' Harry thought to himself as he walked back to his work area. With a small smile of satisfaction the potion was spooned into the flask. He was able to fill up five flask worth of Skele-Gro.
"For those of you who are done you can start on your homework. I want a foot and a half about why the ingredients for the Skele-Gro have to be a precise size and amount" Snape said to those who had finished.
The rest of the period Harry worked on his homework, his quill scratching against the parchment as he went. Surprisingly he was able to finish half of his assignment before the period ended and it was time for lunch.
Ron and Neville were both seated at the table they sat at for breakfast by the time the last two-thirds of the trio arrived. Harry followed Hermione as she walked up to the tables full of food and allowed the house elves to pile all types of food on his plate.
"I think I should start knitting more hats" Hermione said as they walked to the table. Harry pulled out a chair and placed his plate on the table before sitting down.
"Hermione do not start knitting hats!" Harry warned.
"But they worked so well last year!" she cried.
"No they didn't!" Harry exclaimed.
"Then how come they were all gone?" she challenged.
"Because Dobby took them!" Harry shouted. "The house elves refused to clean Gryffindor tower because of your hats and Dobby was forced to do it all by himself! You aren't helping them, you are making there lives harder!" Hermione looked like she was about to cry. "We were raised by muggles, which means, though it still exist in the muggle world e grew up being told racism and those kinds of things are bad. But you have to realize the house elves don't know any other way of life besides ones of solitude. You can't change their ideas so quickly. If you work slowly Hermione, and less forcibly then maybe after some time the house elves will realize that they don't have to be slaves. You just have to realize it won't happen right away and the way you are going about it is not working"
Hermione nodded her head tearfully and went to eating her food. Harry sighed as he picked up his fork.
"So Harry" Ron said through mouthfuls of his food. "How many do you think will turn up for you little class"
"I don't know, maybe fifty" he said off handedly.
"That isn't what I heard." Lavender said as she sat down next to the green eyed wizard. "I heard almost everyone from the four houses who can are showing up"
"Everyone?" Harry asked frowning slightly. If it was opened to 4th years and above for everyone from every house Harry guessed around 160 people would be showing up, which was a hell of a lot. "Hmmm...only thirty or forty will probably still be left at the end"
"Any hints on how you are going to weave us out?" Lavender asked hopefully.
"None what so ever" Harry replied. He looked at his watch. "Anyone who wants to be a part of the Defense Association meet me in the Entrance Hall and I will lead you to the classroom" Harry shouted. The hall quieted as he shouted those words out.
After twenty minutes lunch was over and a huge crowd of students were gathered in the entrance hall.
"Alright everyone follow me. If you get lost then talk to one of the portraits on the wall and they will either give you directions to the classroom or back to the Entrance Hall. Harry led them up the set of stairs until they reached the fourth floor where he led them through twisting corridors.
They finally came upon a narrow corridor that it seems no one has ever been down. "The only way to reach where we are going is by this corridor. There is no way to reach the fourth floor from the Easter wing." Harry explained as he led them down the narrow corridor.
Soon they came upon a portrait that featured a handsome man in a suit of black armor. He had a sword hanging from his hip and a black wand in his hand. "Password?" the man asked in a gruff voice.
"D.A." Harry replied. The man nodded his head before the portrait slid to the side and a archway became present in the stone wall.
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Students In Harry's Year
Gryffindor:
Boys
Harry Potter
Ronald Weasley
Seamus Finnegan
Dean Thomas
Neville Longbottom
Girls
Hermione Granger
Parvarti Patil
Lavender Brown
Blair Wood(Mentioned in Second War, mentioned though not directly in PoA(Book) made up name)
Melissa Royale(Same as above. Look on and go to the Gryffindor students page there they give explanation about the two mysterious Gryffindor girls)
Ravenclaw:
Boys
Terry Boot
Michael Corner
Anthony Goldstein
Stephen Cornfoot(Appears in HPM, whatever the hell that is, but not in book)
Kevin Entwhistle(Same as above)
Girls
Mandy Brocklehurst
Su Li
Morag McDougal
Padma Patil
Lisa Turpin
Hufflepuff:
Boys
Justin Finch-Fletchley
Wayne Hopkins(HPM)
Ernie Macmillan
Zacharias Smith(year not mentioned)
Jason Summers(mentioned in OP but not first name or year)
Michael Summerby(Same as Jason Summer)
Michael Stebbins(mentioned in Second War as a year ahead of Harry, a;so same as the two Summer people)
Girls
Hannah Abbott
Susan Bones
Megan Jones(HPM)
Sally Ann Perks(House not mentioned)
Slytherin:
Boys
Draco Malfoy
Vincent Crabbe
Gregory Goyle
Theodore Nott
Nathaniel Moon(neither house nor first name mentioned)
Girls
Pansy Parkinson
Tracey Davis
Millicent Bulstrode
Daphne Greengrass
Blaise Zabini
Eloise Midgen(doesn't give year or house)
Hogwarts Population:
J.K. Rowling says 1000 thousand students but that is most unlikely.
Many, including estimate around 290.
This is what I am saying. Harry's year is one of the smallest number of students Hogwarts has ever seen, with only 39, 40 or 41 students.(We don't know the actually Ravenclaw number) There is usually more of each of the different blood types (ie. pureblood, muggle-born and half-blood), especially muggle-borns.
Let us see in Harry's year for Gryffindor we know that there are at least one muggle-born, Hermione and three half-bloods, Seamus, Dean(though he doesn't know. J.K., at least I think J.K. says his real father was a wizard but Dean never knew because he has never seen or really been told about his father) and Harry(though in my story Harry is pureblood). Neville and Ron are both purebloods and although Lavender and Parvarti's bloods have not been mentioned most assume they are purebloods. We don't know the two mysterious Gryffindors because they were never really mentioned except one time in passing, during the boggart scene in the third book.
For Slytherin we assume they are all purebloods though maybe a couple of half-bloods and even a muggle-born or two may indeed be in the house. We don't know the bloods for the people in the other houses(this is still all Harry's year) but we can assume a fair amount of them are purebloods. We can not also forget that Harry's year, the year after his and a good amount of years before Harry's are years of war where parents who would have kids are killed and others decide they don't want to bring kids up in a world of war.
So I am going to say that lately Hogwarts has been having a slump in the population of its students. I would like to say that average amount of students Hogwarts usually has is 51 students per year. So times that by 7 and you have an average students population of 357.
As for teachers we know that there a teacher for Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Potions, Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, History of Magic, Herbology and Flying. There is also a caretaker, headmaster/headmistress, nurse, librarian and except when Hagrid took position as CoMC a grounds keeper. So about 18 teachers there, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
Total Average Hogwarts Population(at least according to me. Only including humans): 375