Hey guys :)
New chapter. Enjoy
Harry Norwood
Chapter 4
Harry awoke very early the next morning. He was the first one up. The first rays of sunshine were coming through the window. He checked his wrist watch, which was on his nightstand, and saw that it was just past 6am. He knew that school didn't start until 9am so he slowly got up to get dressed. When he got back to his room he saw two of his dorm mates rise. It were Neville and Ernie. Neville's bed was on Harrys left whereas Ernie was on his right. Next to Ernie was Justin and next to Neville was Zacharias. Harry greeted them and sat down on his bed. He grabbed his schedule to see which books he would need.
Monday:
1st: Herbology w/Gryffindor
2nd: History w/Ravenclaw
Lunch
3rd: Defence against the dark Arts w/Gryffindor
4th: Free
Tuesday:
1st: Defence against the dark Arts w/Gryffindor
2nd: Magical Theory w/Slytherin
Lunch
3rd: Herbology w/Gryffindor
4th: History w/Ravenclaw
Wednesday:
1st: Double Potions w/Ravenclaw
Lunch
double Transfiguration w/Slytherin
Midnight: Astronomy w/Gryffindor
Thursday:
1st: Defence against the dark Arts w/Gryffindor
2nd: Charms w/Ravenclaw
Lunch
3rd: Herbology w/Gryffindor
4th: Free
Friday:
Double Charms w/Ravenclaw
Lunch
3rd: Transfiguration w/Slytherin
4th: Free
Flying at 3:30pm w/Ravenclaw
Harry sighed. It looked pretty full. But he was so excited to be learning about magic. He quickly grabbed his books and packed them in his backpack. It was the one he got for his birthday. It was a plain black one. Just as he was done he saw that Neville and Ernie were coming back in. The commotion woke up the other two boys. Harry waited for Neville to quickly pack his bag and they walked out into the common room together. They saw Hannah and Susan sitting on one of the sofas so they decided to join them. They chatted for a while until they saw a large group of older students heading out of the common room. Figuring that breakfast has already begun they followed them. On the way to the great hall they discovered a few more fascinating things about Hogwarts that they failed to see last night since they were so tired. They marvelled at how beautiful everything looked with the morning sunshine coming in from various windows. It was only when they reached the main level that they realised how huge the castle was. When they looked up they saw various students heading downstairs from so far up that they could only see the distinctive shapes of people. Ghosts were flying around and through walls and paintings moved and occasionally greeted the passing students. They made their way to the hall and quickly found seats in the middle of the Hufflepuff table. Harry had never seen so much to eat for breakfast in his entire life. There were different kinds of cereal, lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, toast, different kinds of Jams, sausages, beans, eggs and even fish. He decided to take some yogurt and fruits for starters.
"So what class are you looking forward to?" Hannah asked them.
"I don't know really. Growing up muggle I mean. But I think that transfiguration and Potions sound quite interesting. You?" Harry said.
"Definitely Potions. Even with Snape as a teacher. My mum is a healer so she needs to be really good at potions and she taught me the basic already" Hannah said smiling.
"I'm looking forward to Charms and History" Susan said happily. Hannah laughed.
"Only you would find History interesting." Hannah joked. "What about you Neville?" she asked.
"Herbology. I have my own greenhouse at home" Neville said proud.
"Then it's a good thing we have that first" Susan said. "Pity that we have it with Potter and Weasley" she added. Hannah and Neville nodded. Harry looked at them.
"I take it you two know him as well?" he asked. The girls nodded.
"Our families are quite known in the wizarding world. All the important families host gatherings and parties over the year and everyone important is invited. Especially Grants birthday. That is considered the biggest event of the year. Next to the day he defeated you-know-who of course. Since we are the same age we had to go whether we liked it or not. Some kind of matching thing you know...seeing who gets along...arrange marriages. Well lets just say we didn't have very good impressions of Grant or his best friend Ron." Hannah said with a hint of disgust in her tone. "The other Weasleys are okay though except for maybe Percy...he takes everything to serious." she added.
"And don't get me started on Grants parents...they are even worse. They make Grant look like a god who can do no wrong. They give him everything he wants and more. My aunt says that they even gave Grants twin away so he wouldn't ruin everything but of course they deny everything and with Dumbledore behind them everyone believed them." Susan added. Harry looked at them a little shocked.
"I take it you're not so fond of Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"It's not that. He used to be a great wizard, the best there was, but a lot of people think that he is getting old and senile you know. They say he should retire or at least give up some of his positions" Hannah explained.
"Yeah my Gran says that Dumbledore is paranoid and scared someone will take over and destroy all his work and ruin our world so something" Neville said.
"My Aunt is the head of the Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry and Dumbledore is constantly interfering with her work. He thinks everyone is entitled to a second chance or a third or fourth one" Susan said.
"Wow that sounds terrible. I'll sure be careful of him" Harry said. The others nodded and they continued their breakfast. After a few moments Hannah spoke up again.
"You know...you sort of look like Potter." Harry nodded.
"I know. Thats why I got a hair cut over the summer. I saw his picture in a book and was like no can't have that" Harry answered. The others laughed.
"Whats so funny?" asked a sweet voice from the side. They turned and saw Megan and the other first years sitting down next to them.
"Oh nothing really" Harry quickly said. "So what classes are you looking forward to?" he added quickly changing the subject. The rest of breakfast was spend chatting and getting to know each other. At around half past eight they made their way to the greenhouses. Luckily they thought to asked some of the older students otherwise they might have been lost. They arrived with ten minutes to spare. They saw a few Gryffindors already inside. They quickly made their way inside and stood next to the very long table in the middle of the room. The table was decked with lots of white and light blue flowers with black stems. Neville smiled from ear to ear.
"These are Moly plants. I have lots of them in my Greenhouse at home. They are very useful in protecting one against dark enchantments" he explained to his friends.
"You are correct Mr. Longbottom. 10 Points to Hufflepuff for the correct identification and explanation." Professor Sprout said coming from a back room. Neville smile grew even bigger and he blushed a little bit. Hannah patted him on the back with a smile. The other Hufflepuffs smiled at him.
"Alright. Good Morning first years. Welcome to your first Herbology class. I am Professor Sprout. During the first few weeks you will be learning the basic and theory of Herbology. We will cover some of the lesser or non dangerous plants and also some charms and spells that help in tending to plants. Now today I would like you to read pages 7-9 in your textbook, answer the questions on page 9 and then carry out the task described on page 10" she explained. They all looked at her and nodded. "Okay begin" she added and they all opened their books. Out of the corner of his eyes Harry saw the door to the greenhouse open. Through it came Grant Potter and Ron Weasley panting.
"Phew we made it" Ron said breathing heavily. Grant nodded.
"Well your 5 minutes late so thats 5 points from Gryffindor for each of you" Professor Sprout said. The other Gryffindors, besides Fay and Joanne, glared at them.
"What why? We were hardly late Professor" Grant protested loudly.
"Yeah and besides he's Grant Potter the boy-who-lived" Ron tried to argue.
"I don't care what name or title someone has. If you're late I'll take points. 1 point for each minute. And if you're late for half an hour or later, without an excuse, you'll either get detention or extra homework" Professor Sprout explained. "Now please find a place and start working" she added. Grant and Ron sat down at the far end of the table right next to Fay and Joanne. They quickly explained the task. Harry heard the boys groan about doing woman work. The class went by pretty quickly after that. Harry carefully read the pages and with the help of Neville answered the questions. The task on page 10 was the repotting of the plants, which wasn't so difficult in Harrys opinion, though you had to be pretty careful with the rots. After cleaning up the Hufflepuffs made their way to History. They had 10 minutes between every class. The classroom was on the third floor on the left-hand side. This class they shared with the Ravenclaws. When they arrived they saw that most of the Ravenclaws were already there and seated in the first and second row. Harry and Neville took the bench in the centre of the third row with Hannah and Susan on their left and Justin and Megan on their right. Professor Binns came right through the wall, which gave Harry and a few others a little shock.
Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming round long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again. Harry tried to stay awake but was unsuccessful. His head hit the table and he doze of. Susan and that Ravenclaw girl Hermione were the only ones to sort of stay awake. They kept reading the History book. Luckily the class came to an end and they had lunch.
"How did you stay awake during that lesson?" Harry asked Susan while he was making himself a chicken sandwich.
"Dunno. My Aunt warned me about Binns and I like History so I just kept reading the book" she answered before taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.
"My Mum said that History is mostly self-study so I didn't even bother to try and stay awake" Hannah said.
"Good to know" Harry said and took a bite of his sandwich. They continued chatting about this and that until it was time for their next class. Defence against the dark arts which they also shared with the Gryffindors. The classroom reeked of garlic and the Professor had a terrible stutter which made it very hard to understand him. Throughout the class Harry developed a strong headache which only went away once they were far away from the classroom. He suspected it was the strong garlic smell. Luckily they had no further classes after that so they went back to the common room to relax a bit. Harry thought that now was a good time to write his family. He grabbed his notebook and a pen and started writing. He told them everything that happened so far. He explained the school and it's system as far as he understood it, explained the classes he had so far and told them about his new friends.
"Hey Harry we thought about checking out the rest of the school you want to come?" Neville asked just as Harry finished his letter.
"Sure I just have to send this first" he answered.
"Well the owlery is somewhere on the grounds so we could start there while the weather is still good" Megan suggested. They all agreed and left the common room. The grounds were pretty impressive and huge. They found the owlery easy and after Harry send Hedwig of with the letter they strolled around with no destination in mind. The area was surrounded by huge mountains which is fitting since Hogwarts is located in the Scottish highlands. There was also a huge dark forest and the large lake that they crossed the previous day. They saw Hagrid in front of a hut by the forest tending to some plants. They saw a huge stadium which Zacharias explained is the Quidditch Pitch. Harry marvelled at the beauty of everything. When looking up to the castle he was in awe as to how big and magnificent it was. They discovered some bridges and courtyards as well as a waterfall which the girls loved. The ground itself was uneven and sometimes steep but thats what you get if you put a castle in a mountain area. After a good two hours exploring the grounds they decided to head inside again.
They knew that dinner would start at 6pm so they had a bit under two hours left. They decided to look for the library and some other classrooms. On the ground floor they found the transfigurations classroom where McGonagall was apparently overseeing a detention with the Weasley twins at that moment. On the first floor they found alongside the Defence classroom, the Hospital wing and the office of Professor McGonagall. On the second floor was the Magical Theory classroom. They found the library on the third floor which was so huge it had another entrance on the fourth floor. The library was already packed with students despite it being the first day. They mostly saw older students and Ravenclaws. Also on the third floor was the charms classroom. On the fourth floor they found the second entrance to the library which held a study room and the restricted section. On the fifth floor they surprisingly found ordinary art and music classrooms. The sixth and seventh floor had the common rooms of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw as well as some classrooms for subjects that they didn't have yet and the staircase to the astronomy tower.
When they arrived in the great hall for dinner it was already quite full. They sat down at their table and started filling their plates. They were eating and chatting peacefully when a boy with dark skin and dark hair bumped into Hannah. He was reading a book while walking.
"Oh sorry" he said and walked further down the table.
"Who was that?" Susan asked confused.
"Oh that's Rolf Scamander. Second year. Always has his nose stuck in a book about some creature" Gabriel explained.
"Scamander. You mean like Newt Scamander?" Hannah asked. Gabriel nodded.
"Yeah. Thats his grandfather. Rolf worships him" he said and continued eating.
"Excuse me who is Newt Scamander?" Justin asked confused.
"You haven't read your book list properly have you. Newt Scamander is a famous Magizoologist. He wrote Fantasic Beasts and where to find them. He also helped a great deal in defeating Grindelwald. He has an second class order of merlin" Hannah explained. Justin nodded sort of understanding.
"You know what I have been thinking about?" Harry asked after a while. "I bought a Muggleborn guide in diagon alley and they suggested starting a study group in order to help understanding everything. When we were at the library earlier I saw some people studying together. Maybe we should do that you know. Maybe even with people from the other houses?" Harry suggested. They all looked at him.
"Well as good as the idea sounds I highly doubt many of the other houses would join but other than that it sounds great" Susan said. The other nodded.
"Great. We can still asked them and see what they think. How about we start tomorrow after class?" Harry asked. The other nodded and Harry smiled. After dinner they went back to their common room as curfew would start soon. Luckily they hadn't had any homework yet but they knew that would change sooner than later. They found a few games stored in some shelves, both magical and muggle, and decided to play. That night in bed Harry felt extremely happy. He was glad he made great friends that fast though he missed his family pretty much.
I hope you enjoyed.
I know this was quite short but i promise to try and make the next one longer again.
Let me know what you think.
