Hey Guys :)
I know the last chapter wasn't really that great I admit that. I just needed to move along with the story. The first year was really just about Harry making friends. Also I wrote it mostly in the middle of the night while I am ill.
I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Harry Norwood
Chapter 8
The rest of the summer passed by quite fast. Harry sort of dreaded going back to Hogwarts. He didn't want to leave his family but he was also excited to learn more about magic. He arrived quite early at the platform. He found a compartment somewhere in the middle of the train. He passed the time waiting reading one of his new school books. Soon the others arrived and the train took off. They spend most of the train ride playing games and catching up. They arrived later that evening. They heard Hagrid calling out for the first years as they made their way to the horseless carriages. When they arrived at the great hall there were quite a few students already there. They sat down near the end of the middle of the table. It didn't take long for the sorting to start. The first one sorted was a Ravenclaw. Harry soon zoomed out of the sorting but cheered whenever a Hufflepuff was sorted. Suddenly McGonagall called Weasley, Ginevra. Harry looked up and saw the red headed girl slowly walk up to the hat. Unlike her brother the hat needed its time to sort her. Harry wondered why but then the hat called out Gryffindor. Harry watched as she sat down at the Gryffindor table. Her older brothers cheering the loudest but Harry noticed that one brother was missing just like a certain look alike of Harry.
"Has anyone of you seen Potter and Weasley?" Harry whispered to his friends. The shook their head no. The sorting was over soon after that. The last one sorted was another Hufflepuff. Dumbledore made another short speech and soon the food arrived. Harry was still amazed by it. He never ate so good.
"I'm surprised Dumbledore is still here" Harry said.
"Yeah sadly. But my aunt did say that he has always found a way to get away with everything" Susan said. The others nodded disappointed.
"So where do you think Potter and Weasley are?" Hannah asked.
"Don't know Maybe their parents changed their minds about taking the from school" Neville said.
"I doubt it" Harry said before taking a bit of his chicken. "So what do you guys think about this Lockhart guy?" he then asked as the pudding appeared.
"Not much to be honest. I read one of his books already and it seemed that some of it was a bit off" Hannah said.
"Like what?" Neville asked.
"Well I read Magical me and in it he said that during the summer of 1985 he saved a village from a werewolf attack but at the same time he later wrote that he also banished the Bandon Banshee" Hannah explained. "Sounds a bit weird if you ask me". The others slowly nodded.
"Maybe we should keep an eye on him. I have a feeling we aren't going to learn much this year" Harry said just as Dumbledore rose again. He gave another speech, they sung the school song and then left for their common rooms. One in their dorm rooms they noticed that their schedules were on their beds. Tired Harry took a look at it.
Monday:
1st: Defence against the dark arts w/ Gryffindor
2nd: Charms w/Ravenclaw
3rd: Magical Theory w/Slytherin
Lunch
4th: Transfiguration w/Slytherin
5th: Free
Tuesday:
1st: Double Herbology w/Gryffindor
3rd: free
Lunch
4th: double Defence against the dark arts w/Gryffindor
Wednesday:
1st: History w/Ravenclaw
2nd: double Charms w/Ravenclaw
Lunch
4th: double Potions w/Ravenclaw
Thursday:
1st: Astronomy w/Gryffindor
2nd: Herbology w/Gryffindor
3rd: Free
Lunch
4th: double History w/Ravenclaw
Friday:
1st: Potions w/Ravenclaw
2nd: Magical Theory w/Slytherin
3rd: History w/Ravenclaw
Lunch
4: double Transfiguration w/Slytherin
Harry sigh. It was fuller than last year. He put it on his nightstand, got ready for bed and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. But sadly he didn't stay asleep for long. During the middle of the night Harry awoke sweating and panting. He had that nightmare again. He didn't have it for over a year. he thought he got rid of it for good. He looked at his watch and saw that it was just pass 2am. It was raining outside Harry noticed. Quietly he made his way to the bathroom. After a few gulps of water and a few splashes to the face he felt better. He was still very tired so he decided to do some meditating in the morning instead of now. Fortunately the nightmare did not appear again.
Harry woke up to the sound of chattering. He slowly sat up and saw that everyone else was already up and dressed. He looked at the time. 6:52. He was late. The nightmare kept him up longer than he liked. He quickly showered and got dressed. Than he did his meditating for fifteen minutes. It always made him feel better. Than he packed his back. he was kind of glad that it was Wednesday as he only had classes with the Ravenclaws that day. That way he could avoid the nasty comments of the Slytherins as well as some of the annoying Gryffindors. Breakfast was already in full swing once Harry and his friends arrived. There was quite the buzz going around.
"Whats everyone talking about?" Hannah asked the other second years as they sat down at the table.
"It's about Grant and Ron. Apparently they arrived here late last night. Filch caught them when they were trying to sneak in. At lest according to Dean and Seamus." Megan explained.
"How did they get here late?" Harry asked no one in particular. The other shrugged their shoulders. Ten minutes into breakfast the mail arrived. Hannah got the daily prophet, like every morning. She unrolled it and started laughing. The others around her looked at her confused. Around them others started laughing too. Hannah showed them the front page. It showed a blue car flying over London and in the front seat were non other than Grant Potter and Ron Weasley. They also started laughing. They all looked over to the Gryffindor table just in time to see both boys leaving the great hall.
"How can they be so stupid" Susan laughing.
"I don't know. I also can't believe that they were seen by Muggles. The ministry won't be happy about that" Hannah said.
"What's the worst that can happen?" Harry asked.
"Well they sure will be fined quite a bit of money. I think around 200 Galleons or something like that. If they can't pay that they will have to work for the ministry for free until it's payed of" Susan explained.
"What kind of work will they have to do?" Harry asked carefully.
"Mostly things that no one else wants to do like sorting paper work, cleaning or stuff like that. And they can't use magic at all" Susan said. Harry nodded slowly.
"I just wonder if the Weasley can pay that" Neville said. The other nodded.
"If they can't they will just take it from Mr. Weasley's pay check" Hannah said. They continued talking all they way through the rest of breakfast and on their way to class. The first class was History. The topic was Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. Harry already started reading his History book during the summer as the class is useless. He found the topic rather interesting. Harry was surprised how many other countries had magical communities. After that they had double Charms where they started learning the shrinking charm Reducio.
The charm seemed quite useful and easy when Flitwick demonstrated it. First they started practicing the pronunciation. Behind him Harry could hear Hermione helping Terry out as he had some problems with the pronunciation. He, like most of the students, pronounced it Re-duc-io instead of ruh-DOO-see-oh. Harry had to admit he also had a bit of a problem with it. Halfway though the class most of the students were hungry, Harry included. 'It'll take a while to get used to the new lunch time' he thought. By that time everyone had the pronunciation right and they moved to the wand movement. It was a quick 'V' movement with the wand pointed at the object one wishes to shrink. By the time class finished most had mastered the movement. There homework was a two foot long essay about the proper use of the shrinking charm and how it can be used to help others. While the others went of to lunch Harry excused himself as he had to use the facilities.
Harry was on his way down to lunch when he heard Malfoy's voice around a corner near the great hall.
"You better stop it Greengrass or you'll face the consequences" Harry heard him say in an angry tone.
"Just because your father is a High Lord doesn't mean I have to listen to you Malfoy" a female voice said that Harry recognised as Daphne's.
"Just you watch Greengrass. My father will hear about this" Malfoy said and Harry heard someone walking away. He figured that Daphne was alone now and went around the corner.
"Harry" Daphne exclaimed surprised. "How long have you been standing there?" she asked nervous.
"A few seconds...minute maybe" Harry said. "What was that all about?" Daphne looked at him. She didn't know what to say. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Harry quickly added.
"No no it's just difficult to explain. Maybe later? At our study group?" she asked. Harry nodded. Together they went into the great hall. After lunch Harry had double potions. Snape seemed to be in a rather foul mood that afternoon. He simply told them to set up their equipment and start on the potion. As usual he wrote the recipe on the board and of course it was different than the book. Luckily they had all stopped using the book and used the recipe on the board. Todays potion was a Sleeping Draught.
Crush the wormwood, add to cauldron. Stir slowly.
Chop the valerian, add to cauldron, and apply a high heat.
Juice your Flobberworm and add its thick mucus to your cauldron.
Stir vigorously, apply a low heat and then give it another stir.
Chop the Sopophorous bean and add to cauldron.
Stir the mixture quickly, then heat.
Add a sprinkle of powdered asphodel petals and a dash of essence of nettle.
Heat the potion a final time, then stir slowly.
Wave your wand over the cauldron to finish the potion.
'Seems easy enough' Harry thought and started on his potion. The potion turned out to be just that. Quick and easy at least for him and Hannah. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw that Anthony was stirring to slowly and a light red smoke came out of it. Harry tried to get his attention by hissing at him quietly. Hannah noticed him and also tried to get his attention. Just when he was looking up and Harry told him non-verbal that he should stir faster the potion started bubbling and overflowing the cauldron.
"Thats a zero Mr. Goldstein. Clean up your mess" Snape said with his usual sneer.
"We tried to warn you" Hannah whispered to him. He hung his head. By the end of the class most of the potions in the classroom were light purple. Only Harrys and Hannah's were the correct colour, a dark purple. There they also got homework. A three foot essay on Flobberworm mucus and it's uses in Potions.
"I'm sorry about your potion Anthony" Hannah said once they were out of the classroom.
"It's not your fault. I'm just terrible at potions. You were only trying to help" he said with a small smile. Hannah returned it. Together they all walked up to the library. Once they were all there Daphne turned to Harry.
"Look about earlier. I don't know where to start but...well it is about me giving you those books about politics and telling you about our ways. During our Potion class earlier before lunch. I was talking to Tracy and Blaise about how unfair it is that you guys don't know any of those things and that you don't learn about them. It is true when I say that your simply not told. There is no actual law about is but rather an unwritten law. For as long as the ministry exists Purebloods have taken it up themselves to make sure their or rather our world isn't infected by muggles or muggelborn. Simply because they think of them as lesser people" she explained. Every muggleborn looked at her. The other looked away in shame.
"Why hasn't anyone stopped it?" Harry asked confused and slightly angry. Daphne looked at the other.
"Well it's not that easy. You have read about the purebloods have you not?" she asked him. Harry nodded. "You have also read about the noble houses right?" again Harry nodded. "Well ever wondered why those numbers aren't the same?" she asked him. Harry blinked in confusion. He never noticed that. He new some families lost their statuses because they associated with muggles and muggleborns but he never really questioned it. "Well quite a few got their title revoked because they tired to change it and because they spend to much time around muggles and muggleborns. Some of them tried to hard. Look at the Weasleys for example. Ever wondered why they are so poor? Well their family has always supported muggles and Muggleborns. One time it went to far and they got their noble status revoked. Also the other noble families made sure that no Weasley will ever hold a powerful or meaningful position at the ministry again. There are other families that got removed from the list of nobles for these reasons or for other reasons like murders, treason or they died out. On the bright side however there are some noble families that still support muggles and muggleborns like mine and possibly every other pureblood family at this table" she finished. The others nodded.
"Is there anything we can do about it?" Hermione asked shocked.
"Sort of. We can't change there minds but we could teach you...in secret of course" Daphne said.
"Was that why Malfoy corned you earlier?" Harry asked. Daphne nodded slightly a bit embarrassed.
"That is why we have to do it in secret. And we can't start right away. we should wait a bit until it cools down a bit and Malfoy forgets about it" she said.
"We all talked to our parents this summer and they agreed to with our plan and want to help up in secret" Tracy added. Daphne nodded. The others looked at them.
"I think it's a great idea" Megan simply said. Others nodded in agreement.
"Then it's settled. We only need a place to do it. The library is a bit to open for it" Hannah said.
"We could all keep an eye out for a perfect place. In the meantime why don't we start on our Homework" Susan said. They all nodded and started their work.
So another chapter done. It's again not the best I agree but I am getting somewhere. The whole Noble Houses and Ministry stuff is made up by me as there isn't much information about politics in the Wizarding world. Also it plays along with the main plot later in the story.
I hope you liked it.
