Chapter 5: The first few days

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Bioshock Infinite, they each belong to their respective owners.

The first thought that entered her mind upon waking was a simple one. Questioning how they made the beds so soft, she really didn't want to move when she woke up, truthfully, she didn't want to wake up, the bed she had was huge. She could stretch out; she could just relax in the privacy of her own room.

The Head Boy and Girl for the year were in Slytherin and Hufflepuff, so neither of the rooms were being used and so she had the run of the place to herself. It had all the basic amenities for a private room and study and even an ensuite bathroom. She had found her Trunk already here, sat at the foot of the bed and had put away some of the clothes to the Wardrobe provided but left a lot of them in the trunk until needed. She sat up, looking around the otherwise spartan room, she looked at the desk, the book that she had been reading sat face down, open on the page that she had left it. While probably not that good for the spine of the book It had been either that or have to try and remember where she was in the book, she had actually run out of bookmarks. Maybe she'd stop reading as many books at the same time. Dismissing that thought, she couldn't help it that there were so many things that were interesting to her, she pulled herself out the bed and dragged herself tiredly towards the shower as her mind begun to focus on what today would bring.

Assisting Professor McGonagall in first period, then nothing again until the afternoon where she would be assisting Professor Sprout with Herbology. This one wasn't with Gryffindor or Ravenclaw like Transfiguration, it was between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. It had surprised Bathsheda when the change around in certain classes was happening, normally it was split pretty much every class being Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and the other classes being Slytherin and Gryffindor which had help fuel no end of rivalries. This year though, Dumbledore wanted to try something else, break the tradition slightly and changed a few lessons around so that different houses interacted more in the younger years. The higher up classes were still the same but the lower ones, ones that would be less affected by the changes because they had yet to grow used to certain routines, were changed around.

In fact, at this time there was only one Gryffindor and Slytherin class and that was flying and that was only a handful of classes to teach the youngsters to fly and not kill themselves. Ravenclaw actually had more classes with Slytherin now, having Potions, Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was an interesting change, Bathsheda had said, this was class organisation that had been the same for generations and now it was changed. It was curious as to what caused the idea to crop up.

Down in the first year's dorm, Harry was waking up as well, he was anxious to start the day and had barely slept the night before but he was already up and starting to get ready to head down to breakfast. Around him he could hear the other boys starting to make a move, groans of annoyance at being awake so early in the morning but they also knew they had to get up, first to give themselves time to get ready and also to give themselves extra time to work their way down to the Great Hall. He could still hear snoring from one of the beds, looking over he saw it was Stephen Cornfoot who was still sleeping. "Should we wake him?" Harry asked as he was pulling his shoes on.

"I suppose we should, can't have him late on the first day." Terry spoke up, reaching down and grabbing the dirty socks he had discarded the night before. "Oy! Stephen!" He shouted throwing them at Stephen's head through the gap in the curtains.

"Wha!?" The confused sound of Stephen shouted out as he was hit by the stinking projectiles. "Oh gods! Why would you do that?" He shouted, catching a whiff of the odour from the socks, flinching backwards at the smell of it, flinging them away from him.

"To get you awake." Terry responded cheekily. "You don't want to oversleep on your first day do you?" Terry asked and Stephen rolled back over, pulling the pillow back over his head.

"I've got plenty of time to get things done! I'm trying to sleep, make sure I can stay awake in class." Stephen responded, his voice muffled underneath the pillow.

"That's fine, that's fine." Terry responded just as calmly as he walked by. "We'll try and save you some food but who knows what will be left if you don't make a move soon." Terry taunted disappearing out of the doorway down towards the Common Room. Harry looked at the other First Year, rolled his eyes and walked out after Terry.

"Wait up Terry." He called out as he reached the Common Room. "May as well walk down together." He said happily as they exited the room.

"Sure, sounds like a plan, that way we can both get lost together." He joked although the route they had been shown the night before was almost a direct route to the Great Hall and was easy enough to remember, they had been warned that stairs had a habit of changing and doors seemed to shift when they wanted to but the route they had taken, which even included a secret passageway was static and had not changed in years if at all. "So what subject you looking forward to most?" Terry asked, last night the talk had mainly been about families but Terry had noticed that Harry had stayed silent and had deflected questions when they were directed at Harry about that. Everyone knew that he was an orphan, his parents dying and Harry surviving, but no one knew what his family life was like growing up. He was gone from the world, all that was left of him were rumours and the childrens books that were made with his name. But from what could easily be seen they had to have been made up. He looked nothing like a child that had fought Dragons and saved people from disaster after disaster as he grew up.

"Transfiguration." Harry replied, "I've been told my dad was really good at it. That and changing something into something else sounds so cool." He said with a certainty and cheerfulness that brought a smile to Terry.

"I'm looking forward to Potions. My dad was good at them and my mum wasn't that bad at it. I've heard Snape can be absolutely evil to anyone that isn't in Slytherin though." He added the end bit as an added after thought.

"Well I know we have Transfiguration first period today." Harry said and Terry looked at him.

"How on earth do you know that before you get your schedule?" He asked Harry who just smiled.

"Oh I have my sources," He said elusively. "You're not jealous at my completely reliable inside source are you?" He teased lightly and Terry shook his head.

"Not at all, I already know who it is." Terry responded as they walked down the stairway into the Entrance Hall. "It isn't difficult to work out, word spread on the train about you with a mystery woman on the train. Though the rumours as to what she was got quite outlandish." He said with a chuckle. "Some of them were even convinced she was your wife." He paused as Harry stumbled, laughing loudly at his reaction.

"You're joking right..." Harry practically pleaded. "That has to be a joke, right." Harry said again as he recovered his footing, mock glaring at Terry.

"I joke, I joke." Terry responded at the now highly embarrassed Harry who was frantically looking around to see if anyone heard him speak up like that. "But many things are being asked about her." Terry said glancing up at the Head table to see only a few professors there and not the new Teaching Assistant.

"Asked about who?" A voice behind Terry spoke up and Terry jumped, spinning around to see the woman in question standing there, Elizabeth dressed in basic black robes was looking at the two with a raised eyebrow. Terry went silent, suddenly finding himself blushing but Harry recovered and smirked.

"Apparently you are." He said in amusement.

"Me? and how did I become the centre of attention?" She asked with a look at Terry who shied away from the look. "Or Is it because of my association with you? Mr Boy-Who-Lived." She teased and Harry shrugged his shoulders, not really wanting to listen to the title. "Or would it be rumours flying around with no regards to context about what is going on in the world?" She asked and the two stared at her in confusion, not fully knowing what she was trying to say.

"Erm... Yes?" Terry questioned in response, sounding really unsure, Elizabeth just smiled and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, there are rumours about you, but more because of how you arrived instead of what you are." Terry explained and then blushed again at how he said it and the pointed look that was sent his way by Elizabeth.

"What I am?" She asked curiously and Terry blushed a deeper shade of red and quickly excused himself. "Boys." She muttered jokingly and turned to Harry who still looked confused. "You better get to breakfast." She said and he quickly excused himself before following Terry into the Great Hall. She stood in the doorway for a moment and watched Harry take his seat and smiled again, shaking her head and rolling her eyes as she walked in making her way up to the Staff Table again. Yes, she could choose to sit with the students but at the moment she had just decided to try and get on with the Professors a bit more before she started mingling with the students both new and old.

At the Ravenclaw Table, Harry was still talking to Terry, a grin on his face as he thought about how he had reacted to Elizabeth. "So what were you saying before, because of what she is?" Harry asked jokingly.

"Didn't you hear some of the older students Harry?" Terry asked and Harry shook his head. After he had finished in the Great Hall and had been taken to the Common Room he had pretty much just sat in his bed thinking about what his parents would say about the house that he had been sorted in. In the back of his mind he knew they would be proud about what happened, they'd have been proud regardless of what happened but at the same time, the bit of self-doubt was making him wonder whether or not they would have been disappointed with how he wasn't sorted into Gryffindor. "The older years have already started talking about the... and I quote here so don't blame me for this 'Really Hot' Assistant. She's already turning heads and she's only just arrived." Terry explained and seeing the look on Harry's face started chuckling, he looked so taken aback at that, the look shifting from one of disbelief to one of disgust and annoyance. "That's just what some of them were saying, it wasn't me." Terry held up his hands defensively before turning back to the food in front of him. "Pass the salt Harry." He said and Harry, without looking reached back, his hand grabbing the salt shaker before dropping it just as quickly, flexing his hand painfully as he did. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, it must have been a static shock or something, that hurt!" Harry cursed as he picked it up again, none the worse for wear and passed it to Terry.

"Could have been a minor prank, there were warnings about the Weasley Twins, they're pranksters in Gryffindor." Terry spoke with a glance at the Gryffindor table, seeing no sign of the Twins in question and then looking back at the pot. "I said salt Harry, not Pepper." He groused and Harry looked confused.

"I did pass the salt..." He said glancing at the pot in question and seeing it was indeed a pepper pot. He looked back at where he had grabbed and found another pepper pot. "That's strange... I guess there was a second pepper pot. Sorry bout that Terry" Harry trailed off trying to play it off as nothing major but the shock he felt alongside the second pot appearance made him wonder.

Had he really just been zapped by a little joke created by the Weasley Twins or had it been something else. He chanced a glance up at Elizabeth, she was in discussion with Professor Sprout about something and wasn't looking his way at all. He sighed, it would have to be something he spoke to her about later.

"Your timetable Mr Potter." The squeaky voice of Flitwick spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts as he looked to see Professor Flitwick holding out a sheet of parchment to him.

"Thank you sir," Harry said politely, taking the sheet and glancing down at it. Confirming his suspicion that his first class was Transfiguration. "See I told you." He said to Terry and the boy just nodded his head, barely looking up from his own schedule even though it was exactly the same as Harry's.

"Hi Harry, hi Terry. Managed to find your way down here easily enough I see?" a female voice spoke and Harry looked up from the schedule he was looking at and glanced at the newcomer to the table who was now sitting opposite the two.

"Hi... erm..." Harry trailed off, his mind now drawing a blank as he tried to remember the girl who was sitting there, she looked at him, an eyebrow raising on her features and Harry suddenly felt the name click to the forefront of his mind. "Su Li wasn't it?" Harry asked double checking on the name.

"You do remember things then Harry... eventually." She teased and he ducked his head.

"A lot of names to remember, I'm sorry." He apologised and she waved him off as she started her breakfast.

"I Guess you don't have to worry too much about people forgetting your name now do you?" She teased and he groaned in frustration dropping his head into his hands. Terry smiled, reaching over and patting him on the back condescendingly. "Lifestyles of the rich and the famous mate." He said cheerfully. "You'll get used to it." He added as an afterthought. They continued eating in silence, still trying to wake up and Harry largely because he was focused on the pepper pot he had passed.

He was certain it was a salt pot. Looking down the table he saw several more, they were exactly the same. Why was this one different? He took the chance to glance at it, it looked identical to the other pepper pot it now sat right next to. Had it been because of the tears that he could see? was it the power that he was developing? he sighed, pushing it out of his mind for the moment. He had to focus on the magic for the moment, not whatever power this was. But at the same time a thought crossed his mind. 'What if this comes into effect during classes?' He thought and quickly banished it. Elizabeth had implied that it relied on willpower, her will to interact with the object and pull it into the dimension, to open the door so to speak. So all he had to do was focus, to make his way through the day and be careful that nothing happened. That he didn't subconsciously activate any more of these tears, if that is even what happened, it could easily have just been a case of him mistaking a second pepper pot as a salt pot, but he was sure it had been salt when he reached for it. "Harry... Earth to Harry." Terry called, snapping him out of his thoughts, he looked at him in confusion.

"Sorry, was in my own world there." Harry said apologetically, Terry rolled his eyes but repeated his question.

"You're looking a bit lost, are you okay?" He asked seriously and Harry nodded his head.

"I'm fine, just a lot to take in all at once." Harry said half-heartedly. Trying to draw Terry away from what he was thinking about and playing more to the fact that they were in an entirely different world, at least they were to Harry. "We should probably head back to the dorm soon, get the books for class." Harry finished, checking his watch for the time. "We don't want to end up late before we even begin. That surely can't go over well." Harry added as he stood up making his way out of the Great Hall.

Terry and Su Li stopped for a moment and shared a look, "he seems a bit distracted." Su commented calmly as she watched him exit the room. "Is it because of all the whispering?" She asked looking at the students that were already here for breakfast, many of whom had watched Harry as he walked out of the Great Hall whispering and talking quietly to each other.

"It's possible, he seemed fine earlier though. Even had a joke at my expense with what the new assistant overheard earlier." Terry explained as he pulled himself out of the seat. "Though I'm loathe to leave this food behind, it's so nice. He's right, we should probably head to the dorm and get our stuff." Terry finished, walking out the Great Hall as Stephen quickly moved by him. "Woke up then Stephen?" Terry asked jokingly.

"Shut up, I don't have long for food, no one said that the food disappears ten minutes before class." He called as he ran to take a seat. Looking at his watch, Terry saw that Stephen only had five minutes to take some food and eat it before the food would disappear. Su Li watched him shovelling food onto his plate and shook her head, standing up and walking after Terry.

"He does realise that doesn't happen right?" She asked. "How else would the older students with free periods get food if it disappeared this early?" She asked and the two quickly made their way up to the Ravenclaw Tower.

Elizabeth had also departed the Great Hall, shortly after the three had left and made her way to the Transfiguration Classroom, she smiled at a couple of students, acutely aware that they were rushing to get to their own subjects but didn't say anything. She walked into the classroom, glancing around, no one else was in although a cat was sat on the Desk for the professor. 'Perhaps it was her pet?' She said looking at the cat, walking over and gently petting it before moving over to the side of the room, she leant against the wall, folding her arms as she looked around the desks, there were no names on the tables so she assumed they could sit where they want. She sighed, her thoughts on the future, how long would she stay here? At least a year at minimum, she had agreed to do this and she'd do it to the best of her ability. the first of the students entered, seeing her standing there she nodded her head in greeting. "Pick a seat, Professor McGonagall will be here soon I'm sure." Elizabeth said and the students started to take seats. "Until she does, if you get your books out and start reading the first chapter, it'll fill up a bit of time and have the added bonus of being relevant to the lesson when she arrives." Elizabeth finished and slowly the students did as they were told, as others trickled in, she saw that the cat was staring at her, 'and did it just nod its head at me?' Elizabeth thought in confusion, looking intently at the cat. 'It does seem to have intelligent eyes.' Elizabeth continued, checking the clock that sat at the back of the room. Lessons had begun.

Harry sat with the book in front of him, pretending to read, he had already looked into this before the year had started and felt he could quote some of the chapter, he looked at the other students, there were a couple of spaces open and he couldn't see the red head that he had met on the train... Ron Weasley, if he remembered the name properly? He shrugged his shoulders slightly, it wasn't his problem if he was late to the lesson, he was curious as to where the Gryffindor Tower was, perhaps that was the cause of it? A brown haired girl raised her hand, Lisa Turpin of Ravenclaw. She was looking at Elizabeth intently.

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, she was only an assistant, not even properly trained in magic, she was not a hundred percent sure that she should give the answer to any question that was asked but at the same time her own pride wouldn't let her refuse the challenge. "Yes miss..." She trailed off not knowing the girls name.

"Turpin, Lisa Turpin," She said quietly and gestured at the book. "I've read this already but there's something I'm not sure about. In the book it refers to three things. Will, Power and Imagery, what does it mean? it never really evolves from there in the book." She said in confusion and Elizabeth agreed, the book was a bit on the vague side, but it was something that she had been able to piece together, both through her own reading and talking with Bathsheda.

"This one I can start, but Professor McGonagall would be better for explaining it. Transfiguration in its most basic form, changing one thing to another." She started, it was a very vague description of it, not that good and the Professor would probably have killed her for it. But it worked for the moment. "To change something though you need what that book tells you, the Will to change one thing into another, including living into an inanimate object. Power, the power behind the spell to change an object, breaking its current form and reshaping it into something new and the third part, Imagery, let's see if anyone else knows." She looked at the class, "Mr Potter, as the only name that I know here, you can answer." She teased and he nodded his head, he had a feeling he'd be picked by her.

"Imagery, the ability to mentally picture the change, to see the object in your mind changing into something else. to see the steps in your head of the change so that you can then focus your magic and make the change." Harry explained, pausing as he heard footsteps dashing heavily towards the room. He turned his head towards the doorway to see Ron and another Gryffindor run into the room panting and out of breath, very red in the face.

"We made it before the professor." Ron declared breathlessly.

"Not entirely." his friend said pointing at Elizabeth. Ron paled, looking at her as she stared back, an eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

"Sorry we're late Eliz... Miss DeWitt." Ron muttered, switching to a more professional approach rather than refer to her by her first name in a classroom.

"It's not her you need to be apologising to Mr Weasley." McGonagall said, having jumped off the table, shifting from a cat into the stern looking professor, there were several gasps from the students and Ron and the other Gryffindor standing there slack jawed in surprise.

"That was incredible!" Ron called out after a moment of silence.

Thank you and now I ask you, why are you late?" She asked.

"We got a bit lost on the way down here Professor." The other boy said, a slight Irish lilt to his voice.

"Then maybe I should transfigure one of you into a map." She said, her voice steely and serious and everyone stared at her in shock. "Or perhaps a pocket watch. That way one of you may be on time." She said before gesturing for them to take their seats. "The rest of you, congratulations on arriving and starting on time." She said with a kindness and then turned to Elizabeth giving her a slight nod of approval. "You do well with children Miss DeWitt," McGonagall complimented, "And excellent answer to the question, if you were a student I'd give you points." McGonagall complimented again and Elizabeth smiled bashfully, ducking her head slightly. "And you Mr Potter, take five points for Ravenclaw with that answer, you show a good understanding of the work." She said before moving to her desk. "Transfiguration is one of the most dangerous schools of magic to learn, the risks with the spells are high, with many risks that come from this class I will not tolerate misbehaviour." She finished her initial statement and then begun to take the roll call to make sure everyone was here, Elizabeth listening intently as each student responded putting a name to a face. After the register had been checked and everyone was accounted for. McGonagall started the first lesson, "the first spell is a simple one, but it's practices can be considered the stepping stone to everything in this class." She withdrew a matchstick, placed it on the table and pointed her wand at it, she called out the spell and the match turned into a pointy, shiny metal needle. She reached down, picking it up. "A simple Transfiguration but challenging to start with, can anyone explain why using this spell is a starting step?" She asked looking around at the students, a few hands raised.

"Miss Granger." McGonagall called after a second of seeing who had their hand up.

"It applies all three aspects for transfiguration to something small, it will allow us to see the power needed on this scale, the will we need to change it and allows us to mentally picture the change of the match to the wand." Hermione explained and McGonagall nodded.

"correct, five points to Gryffindor." She said with a small smile. "Miss DeWitt, if you hand a match out to everyone on this half," McGonagall ordered and handed her a handful of matches before handing one out to each student on the other half of the class. Elizabeth walked down the gaps between the desks and handed each of the students a match. "Anyone able to do this by the end of the lesson will receive points." She said as she moved back to the front of the room.

Elizabeth reached the back of the room, handing the last match to Harry. As she turned to head back to where she had been standing, Harry stopped her for a second. "I need to speak to you later." He said quickly, his voice barely above a whisper. She leant down closer, to hear him speak. "I think your power has evolved." He muttered and she closed her eyes in resignation before nodding her head.

"Ok, I'll talk to you later, depending on how the rest of the work goes." She said before walking away, looking at each of the students' progress as they worked on their spell. Elizabeth knew Latin, she had studied it as she was in the tower and helped a couple of the students with their pronunciation of the words, McGonagall focusing on correcting wand movements. As she walked around, she made sure she wasn't over stepping her boundaries with the help she was giving with a slight questioning glance at McGonagall but with a slight smile and a nod she knew that she was okay.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson and students had made little progress, though a couple had managed to make the change, Harry and Hermione being the quickest of the two. they each earned five points for their house and quickly left when McGonagall dismissed them, giving Homework for a foot of parchment to be done on the practicality of the spell. Elizabeth waited as the last student walked out and faced McGonagall. "You want to know how you did, don't you?" She asked and Elizabeth nodded. "Overall, you have done well for your first support. You took control of the class when you saw that I was not here so to speak." She smiled at that, Elizabeth didn't say anything though McGonagall could see the question was already there. "I am an Animagus, I have the ability to turn into an animal, a cat as you saw. It is a little trick I do every time I have a new class, to show them what can be done with Transfiguration and to also see how they act when they believe no teacher is present." She explained, "You have the understanding for the class you're going to be helping with, you spent a lot of time reading during the last month didn't you?"

"Pretty much every day, I thought I was going to get tired of doing the research for it but I found it so interesting." She said happily.

"Good, it'll help to stay ahead of what the other students are learning. Did you perform any spells before you came here?" McGonagall asked and Elizabeth nodded. She had done the first handful of spells that would be covered in the classes and was working on her own to advance things but she also knew that would slow down in the near future. "Keep up this level of work and everything will be fine." McGonagall said in a dismissive tone and Elizabeth turned to leave. "Oh Elizabeth." McGonagall called out as she reached the door. "Good Work on your first lesson, if you find yourself struggling, my door will always be open for you to come to." She said politely and Elizabeth thanked her again before heading off.

She felt warm inside at the compliment she had been given, all she had done was what she felt was right given the situation and it had worked out fantastically, she made her way back up to the Ravenclaw Dorm, she had a free period so was going to spend the time looking over things in preparation for the lesson she would be helping this afternoon.

She turned the corner slamming into someone and staggered back, wobbling slightly as her heel caught the edge of the stone tile before she recovered. "Oh, I'm sorry... I wasn't paying attention." Elizabeth spoke looking at the person she had bumped into, who had barely flinched at the impact.

He was taller, taller than her in fact, short black hair and cold eyes, eyes that studied her as she looked at him. He smiled, his teeth stained and Elizabeth resisted the urge to grimace at the poor dental hygiene. "Forgive me Miss DeWitt..." The guy spoke the tone of his voice sending a chill down her spine as he lifted her hand, placing a kiss on her knuckles, lingering slightly longer than appropriate. "I'm Marcus Flint." He spoke as he let go of her hand. she let her arm drop, surreptitiously rubbing her hand clean against the side of her robe. "I thought I'd introduce myself to you, I don't think you've had the chance to meet many of the older students." He said, not being subtle in the slightest as he eyed her up and down.

The look made Elizabeth's skin crawl but she steeled herself. "Thank you Mr Flint," she said, her voice tense, "but I'm a bit busy at the moment, so perhaps we can talk at another time?" She asked, trying to give him the hint to go away. The smile on Flint 's face faltered but he recovered and nodded his head, stepping away from her to let her pass.

"I've been told you're not confined to the Staff Table for meals." He spoke as she stepped away, stopping her dead in her tracks. "I would be honoured if you would join me at the Slytherin table for a meal in the near future." He said and she hesitated.

"I... will think about it, I do plan to try and speak to people in several houses, but for now I'm quite alright sitting at the Staff Table." She finished, walking away, acutely aware that Flint's eyes were watching her as she left. He could lead to be a problem, or he could just be this creepy because he has no actual clue as to how to talk to a woman. Elizabeth didn't really have any intention to find out either way. Reaching the Entrance to the Ravenclaw Head Girls room, she said the password that she had given the door. The password being Songbird. a word that had so many connections to her, so much history, so many emotions both happy and sad. She pushed the thoughts out of her head, sitting on the desk was a book with a note placed on top. She wondered who was responsible for it, no one should have entered the room to drop it off but here it was.

She took the letter, looking at it and opened it up. She relaxed, smiling at her own over exaggerated paranoia, it was a letter from Professor Sprout, she had the House Elves... whatever they were, deliver the book to her room so that she could be prepared for her lesson later on. she flicked it open, her eyes widening as she saw what it was. It wasn't just a few notes that she could peruse to prepare for any possible questions that might come about, it was a book full of lesson plans for the year. She closed the book, her brow creasing as she frowned, "why didn't they all just give me one of these?" She asked aloud, moving and sitting on her bed as she flicked it open again, turning to the first couple of pages. "Let's see what she has planned today." She muttered, falling back onto the bed, holding the book above her as she read.

Time passed quickly as she read the lesson plan, using the first year Herbology book to look up more of the relevant information on the plants that they were going to be caring for and before she even knew it, the first bell to signal the start of lunch had begun ringing through the tower, loudly. She closed the book, placing it back onto the desk, making sure to put a couple of other books on top to try and hide it in plain sight. If a student did get in here, she didn't want them running off with all the lesson plans. That would go over about as well as a house on fire.

For Harry, the last lesson had proved problematic, he liked history, he liked learning about the past. How the hell could you make brutal Goblin Rebellions sound so boring as to make people fall asleep. The teacher was a ghost. An actual Ghost! How could something as cool as that be so mind numbingly dull? He yawned again, struggling to stay awake as he made his way down to the Great Hall for lunch, Terry staggering to the side of him and Stephen half leaning against him and half shuffling still attempting to wake up properly after having fallen asleep about five minutes into the lesson.

Harry had at least lasted fifteen minutes before falling asleep, his quill discarded to the side and his head resting in his arms. The Professor didn't even notice. No points were deducted, no acknowledgement of the blatant misbehaviour and lack of attention. He just kept talking, in the same dull monotonous tone of voice. Even when the bell went, he didn't stop, seemingly running on his own schedule, not even paying attention as students left the room.

If that was how History was going to be taught then he didn't want to even bother attending the lessons, he just wanted to do independent study.

They sat down at the Ravenclaw table, sounds of exhaustion and tiredness still predominant as they reached for food, barely communicating with each other or anyone else for that matter.

"First lesson with Binns?" One of the older students asked, Harry couldn't remember if he had introduced himself the night before but dismissed the thought as he nodded. "Yeah... even the most studious person doesn't stay awake long in there." He spoke with a laugh and Harry couldn't disagree. "The Ravenclaw's generally have a bit of a study session on Thursday nights to cover history, the older years help the youngsters like yourself." He said with another laugh before returning to his food.

So now Harry had plans for Thursday nights, the history lessons may have been pointless but the evening studies with the other students could prove useful and really help him with future tests and lessons.

The rest of the first day passed peacefully for both Harry and Elizabeth, their respective subjects going well, with Harry having Defence Against the Dark Arts, which while slow was relatively interesting, the dark creatures that Quirrel managed to stutter out. He was interactive with the class, having asked students questions and put notes up on the board for them to cover, with homework to look into Grindylows. All in all, a successful lesson that didn't leave him asleep. It was definitely a positive note to end on.

In Herbology Elizabeth had done the same that she had with McGonagall, she stood to the side of the Greenhouse, kept an eye on the students as they did their repotting of the plants that Sprout had for them, stepping in to help them before they either destroyed the plant or the plant lashed out at them. It was a relatively harmless plant but it's vines could leave a mark if they weren't too careful. After that, dinner and then independent time for the students. Again she found herself returning to her room, with no intention of leaving for the rest of the evening. Not to be antisocial but just to think, she wanted to try and avoid getting dragged into the House Rivalries that were going on and she knew that there was going to be some lingering situation because of where she was staying but didn't think anyone would make any comments about house bias.

Dumbledore had explained her power as an assistant, she could assign detention but take no points, it was fair enough, that way there would be less chance of Bias being shouted due to her being in the Ravenclaw Dorm.

A knock on her door drew her away from her thoughts, she walked away from the window she had been looking at and opened it. "Oh, Harry, I forgot you were coming here." She said happily, stepping back and letting him into the room. "You said earlier that you wanted to talk about the power?" She asked as he entered, walking over to her desk and taking a seat, turning the chair to face her.

"I think it's evolving." He said and she nodded her head, the smile diminishing slightly but still remaining in place.

"Evolving? How?" She questioned, walking over to her bed and sitting on the edge, focusing on him.

"It was something that happened at Breakfast, it could be a coincidence, a simple prank that was pulled to mix them up when someone picked them up but I don't think so. I think this was something that changed because of what I did."

"Hold up, you're not making any sense... what object? what mix up?" She asked calmingly.

"At breakfast, I was talking to Terry, he asked me to pass the salt, I knew where it was so I reached without looking, went to pick it up and felt a shock," He spoke and she nodded her head, gesturing for him to continue. "I passed it to him and it wasn't the salt pot. it was the pepper pot." He continued and the raised eyebrow showed her doubt about this being affected by the powers. "Maybe I'm over reacting about it, maybe I've not used the power but it was something I felt I needed to talk to you about it." Harry said and Elizabeth again stayed silent, he could see the cogs working in her mind, her eyes glancing around.

"Can you see any in here?" She asked, he looked around, focusing on trying to find out if there were any tears in the room. "But not near the wardrobe." She added jokingly. "I don't want you changing all my clothes into something that doesn't fit." She teased, a memory of one of her old incidents where she had updated her wardrobe as a kid... with clothing about three sizes too big.

"There's one by the window," he called standing up and walking towards the window, "The cushions are different," He explained, reaching up to the tear.

"Try and open it." She said quietly, watching intently. "focus on pulling the object through, if it helps, try reaching up with your hands and pulling as if you were opening double doors." She suggested. Harry stared at the rift, focusing on it, picturing the rift opening, he reached up, trying to grasp it but of course as it wasn't physically there, he grabbed nothing but air. He closed his eyes, thinking about the rift and mentally pictured himself opening it. he felt a tug on himself, a slight crackle of energy and he opened his eyes again, the cushions that had been a plain blue before, sat in the windowsill were now blue but with the Ravenclaw Eagle imprinted in the corner. "This shouldn't be possible..." Elizabeth muttered in disbelief.

"What shouldn't?" He asked, Elizabeth had been quite tight lipped on how she had acquired her power, she had told him what it was and how it worked but she never said how she got the powers to begin with.

"My powers come because of this." She said slowly, after a few minutes of silence, holding up her hand and showing the missing tip of her pinkie finger, the thimble that rested on the end of it covering it. "When I was younger, there was a... situation, I don't want to talk about it right now." She firmly stated and he nodded. "When that happened, I lost the end of my finger, it was left, in another time, another dimension. With it though, I was able to pierce the barriers of time and dimensions, it's confusing but I believe the best way that summed it up was that the Universe doesn't like mixing its peas and its porridge." She said, remembering the audio diary that had been found that explained a theory as to why she had her powers back in her attempt to escape Columbia. "That is the only reason I was so certain that you wouldn't have access to the powers." Elizabeth explained and Harry nodded his head though he still seemed confused about it. "Keep this quiet Harry, others can't know how you do this, it would put both of us in danger." Elizabeth quickly said and Harry promised.

She had done nothing but help him, she had trusted him and he wasn't going to let her down.

The rest of the week passed quickly they both settled into routines and they had started to make a few friends, Harry with Terry and the sense of humour he seemed to have, taking things relatively laid back while still being attentive to what was going around. It seemed like every morning he had some new bit of gossip that he had heard. If he didn't know better Harry would have thought that he was meeting up with the gossips in the school purely to find this out and torment him. Especially about the rumour of a Harry Potter fan club.

Dear God, Harry really hoped that it was indeed a rumour.

Su Li was another that he had started to talk to, she had an interesting perspective on things, having come from a magical family from outside of Europe, she found a lot of the culture strange but had been willing to talk about variations and also about variations between Muggle and Magical culture. He was still amazed at just how detached the wizarding world was from the non-magical world. He wondered if they knew half the dangers that existed or whether they dismissed it all without much concern.

If they did, they were remarkably foolish.

Today they had Potions as their first lesson, a double lesson at that. Harry had been hesitant about it, they were sharing it with Slytherin which wasn't too bad, though having to deal with Blaize Zabini was a chore. The guy had taken coming second to Harry in Transfiguration and Charms as a personal challenge to one up him where he could. With the Potions professor being the head of Slytherin House, he wondered if Blaize would feel emboldened by that fact and try to do something.

He had an ally though. Even if she wouldn't do anything, a set of eyes to keep track of the class was all he needed if he needed to defend his actions against Professor Snape. He was prepared and ready to go.

They arrived at the classroom, the door was open but neither Elizabeth or Snape were there. They entered, taking their seats, sitting in the middle of the room. Others quickly filtered into the room sitting down, withdrawing their wands and their potions books.

Snape had a reputation, everyone knew it and although the Slytherin's had a slightly easier time, they knew when to push their luck and when not to. The very first lesson would not be a good time to turn up extremely late.

The bell rang.

Chatter in the room died in an instant, they waited in silence for the arrival of Snape, taking the time to look around the room. Harry saw Draco sitting at the front of the class, the blonde having turned in his seat to study who else was here and nodded his head in silent greeting to Harry. Since the train they hadn't had the time to actually talk but it was one that he wanted to get back to. Ever since he had found out about the blood discrimination he wanted to find more information as to where it started, who caused the problems to be such a large focal point at the moment and whether or not they could ever stop it. Only a month into the Wizarding World and he was already on a crusade to save the innocents and remove intolerance.

"Put away your wands." Snape snapped as he walked into the room, "you will not need them here." He added walking straight to his desk, the register sat open on his first class. Immediately he started to go through the list calling out each name for a very succinct response. As he reached Harry's name he stopped, a sneer on his features. "Ah yes, Mr Potter... our new class... celebrity." He growled out and Harry frowned. He expected bias but not like this. This wasn't just bias that was showing with Snape as he spoke Harry could hear the bitterness in his voice, this was more hatred than just ordinary bias. Snape continued the list quickly reaching the end of it before he stepped around the front of the desk, looking over the students. "As there will be no foolish wand waving here, many of you will doubt that this is magic." He begun, watching each of the students carefully, "I don't expect you to understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate and subtle power of liquids that creep through the human veins." His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper and Harry found himself leaning forwards slightly both to hear what he was saying and in fascination. The man had a way with words, insulting as they were when directed at a person, he could draw attention to himself with how he spoke and Harry had to admit that it was impressive. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, ensnare the senses and even put a stopper in... death." He paused their attention still focused on him before he sneered again. "That is if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." He said degradingly and Harry found himself disappointed that he had finished with that, he had started to edge up on being interesting and a good teacher even with the underlying hatred and then he went for a personal attack against the students. "Potter, tell me what I would have if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" He asked and Harry frowned. If it was first year potions that the question would be related to, then he had yet to get that far in the book.

In the back of his mind though, the cynical part of him pointed out that this was a test that Snape had already decided that he had failed. "I don't know Sir." Harry responded calmly, the smirk on Snape's face showed him all he needed to know.

"You don't know? Let's try another one, where would I find a bezoar?" Snape asked and Harry responded, almost as quickly as Snape finished.

"It's a stone found in the stomach of a goat." Harry had to bite back a 'take that.' After answering the question, a glance and a subtle shake of her head from Elizabeth who was standing at the back of the room after she had followed Snape into the classroom.

"Correct, clearly the hat wasn't completely mistaken with where you were sorted." He taunted and Harry felt his hand clenching under the table. "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?" He asked and Harry was again stumped by the question.

"I don't know sir." He bit out.

"Pity." Snape commented, "clearly fame isn't everything."

"That's out of line." Elizabeth snapped, interrupting before Snape could say anything else. There was a gasp from the students, their eyes darting behind Snape to Elizabeth, then back to Snape who didn't say anything at first before barely glancing back at her. She wasn't going to let him push Harry around with whatever problem he had with the child.

"You are here to assist in the lesson not to try and tell me how to teach. Keep quiet until you are needed." He said, his voice deathly calm. Elizabeth glared, her own frustration at the actions already reaching breaking point. She should have better control than this, she knew she should but at the same time, it was how he acted, a man in his thirties belittling an eleven year old was not right. "To answer the questions though, adding powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood will create a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as Draught of the Living Dead. A Bezoar is indeed found inside the stomach of a goat and will save you from most known poisons." He paused again, the students were still watching him but their eyes kept darting to Elizabeth to see if she was going to act. "Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant that also go under the name of Aconite." He finished with the third answer, seeing none of them react. "Well, why are none of you writing this down?" There was a dash for Quills and parchment to write down the information given and Snape watched over them as they wrote in silence.

After they had written the information he had the class begin to make a simple cure for boils, the text with the instructions appearing on the board. It had been going relatively smoothly, the talk kept to a minimum with them each working on their own separate potions. Elizabeth had watched silently from the back of the room, eyes locked intently on Snape as he moved around, overseeing the students, giving quiet words of direction to Slytherin students and barely saying a word to the Ravenclaw's.

It wasn't until about half way through the potion making process that something went wrong. Elizabeth had spotted it, barely a second before it happened, Zabini had something in his hand, she couldn't tell what and with Snape's back turned he threw it into the cauldron on the table across from him. Up until this point Padma Patil, the girl on the table next to him had been preparing ingredients for the next step, her attention away from the potion but she had heard the splash of the object hitting her potion.

She turned just in time for it to explode in her face.

She screamed, covering her face as the hot liquid splashed across it, boils already starting to form up on her face. Snape and Elizabeth quickly made their way over. "Stupid girl, Miss Turpin, Miss McDougal, take her to the infirmary." Snape ordered, the two Ravenclaw girls quickly grabbing Padma and getting her out of the room. "Potter! Why did you not tell her to take her cauldron off the flames before adding the Porcupine Quills?" Snape snapped and Harry blinked in surprise, how was he supposed to have known what she was doing? She was sat at the table behind him on the opposite side. In the back of his mind something popped to the forefront, a mental image of this scene playing out but different, Snape speaking about another boy and lecturing Harry about something. It threw him off, preventing him from responding but that was the window that an already angry Elizabeth used to cut in.

"That's enough!" Elizabeth snapped again, drawing the Professors attention to her. "I will not let you blame someone for something that is not their fault."

"Miss DeWitt, you are out of line." He sneered in response, throwing the line that she had used back at her but she didn't back down.

"I'm out of line? You're belittling students and trying to pass blame for something that one of yours was responsible for." She snapped gesturing to Blaize Zabini who was doing his best to not be noticed and keep from looking guilty.

"I would thank you to not try and interfere with how I run my class."

"Run your class? that would require you to teach and not bully." Elizabeth retorted disdainfully. "How could Harry have seen what had happened even if Padma had made a mistake, which she didn't!" Elizabeth snapped. "His own potion is in front of him and she isn't near him." She continued.

"Everyone out." Snape snapped, the students quickly recovering from their shock and quickly bagging their books and hightailing it out of the room. "Miss DeWitt, I do not know how you were taught but in this room I am in charge."

"Then you're a blind and terrible leader." Elizabeth responded. "From the moment he stepped in the door you were not going to give him a chance were you?" She asked and Snape sneered, giving her the answer that she needed before he even spoke.

"Potter does not need any more help than he no doubt has already received," Snape responded and Elizabeth laughed.

"Help? he was introduced to magic roughly a month ago now. What help could he possibly have received? His aunt and uncle who hate magic? His cousin who is also completely not magical… perhaps you mean myself who has the same level of education that he does? So which resource pool did he get it from?" Elizabeth challenged before sighing and waving it off. "Anyway, that doesn't matter. Zabini sabotaged that Potion and he will be serving detention." Elizabeth snapped and Snape glared at her.

"You don't have the authority to assign detentions to my students." Snape growled out and Elizabeth again felt the urge to laugh.

"You left too soon when I was here before. I have the authority to give detentions to ANYONE that breaks the rules." She responded triumphantly. "He will be serving detention, this Saturday with Professor Flitwick." She reinforced. "And I advise you Snape, whatever grudge you have against Harry, whatever has caused this hatred, I will not tolerate it. Neither will he." Elizabeth snapped and turned to storm out but Snape pointed his wand at the door and it slammed shut and locked with a loud click.

"This conversation isn't over." Snape growled in anger.

"Bigger people have tried to stand in my way Snape." She growled, turning to face him a look of pure venom in her eyes. "I am not some school child that will let you push me around and be intimidated by petty scare tactics." She pushed back angrily, a cold smirk on her features. "And this will be the first and last warning to you... and everyone else that would try this." She growled out, turning back to the door, a bang echoing through the room as the door swung open again, hitting the wall with enough force to bring it off its hinges, the door hitting the floor with another loud bang. "I will NOT, be locked up again!" She finished, walking out of the room leaving Snape to his own thoughts.

To him though, the argument had already gone from his mind as he stared at the damage done to the door. It looked like something had blown it open from the outside in. the door was burnt and charred.

How had she done that without a wand?

TBC

There is the next chapter done and dusted, it's slow and I really wanted to rush further into the year but I felt the initial bit needed to be done.

I both like the Snape and Elizabeth encounter and I dislike it at the same time. It went well and I don't think an angry Elizabeth would give him the chance to actually speak or do anything if she really went off and I think that a blatant injustice and bias from Snape would be enough to get her angry. Next chapter will be a bit of a time skip me thinks, I want to get the early years done relatively quickly but I also want to go into it more at certain points. So next chapter: Flying lessons and Halloween.

Chapter 13 is completed fully and Chapter 14 has been started, things have been a bit hectic again for me at the moment, work shifts dramatically changed and car troubles kind of kept me distracted. I'm going to be working on it the moment I upload this chapter though. And to think I wanted to rush through Year one and yet I'm on Chapter 14 and not even at the Easter Holiday part yet. Still a story flows better when not forced to skip parts and just writes itself naturally.

I want to thank everyone who has left me a review and added my story as their favourite and those who have added me as a favourite author. It's a good feeling everytime I see one of those email notifications.

If you have any questions for me that you want answering feel free to PM me or leave me a review. I reply to them as I see them and try to answer as much as I can without spoiling the story as a whole. Though it's kinda been scary how some people have managed to call several scenes that are going to appear in the future… I'm beginning to think some of you have got a hold of my notes :P