September 1st
Harry and Calypso stood side-by-side looking at the Hogwarts Express. Around them were their parents, the Siriuses (is that even a word?) Emily, Moony, Charlus, and Dorea. They turned and each gave their parents a big hug. Lily was sniffing a little bit.
"I can't believe my little babies are growing up," she said.
"Make sure to do some pranks and have some fun in honor of us," Sirius said, giving each twin a one-armed hug after they were finished with their parents. "You have a legacy to live up to."
"But don't let that get in the way of schoolwork," Moony said, ever the most sensible Marauder. "If you let it pile up you'll regret it."
"Don't worry, you'll do fine," Charlus said.
"And if either of you get Sorted into Slytherin, I'll make sure to send you a batch of my homemade chocolate chip cookies," Dorea said. That got the twin's attention. Grandma Dorea's homemade chocolate chip cookies were legendary in the Potter family.
"Well it looks like there is going to be a letter going home tomorrow saying I got Sorted into Slytherin," Harry joked.
"Unless they say you would do horrible in that House." All the Potter adults had followed the tradition of not telling kids how they get Sorted, so the Potter kids had no clue about the Sorting Hat.
"Well there is still going to be a letter going home saying that."
"Alright you two," James said. "The Weasleys are coming over. Better join them and get on the train." And indeed the Weasley clan had come through the barrier. They were easy to spot because of the bright red hair.
The eldest Potter kids walked over and after giving Mr. and Mrs. Weasley a polite greeting, they got on the Hogwarts Express with Percy, Ron, Fred, and George. Percy, Fred and George all went off to find their own friends, and Ron, Calypso, and Harry found an empty compartment of their own. As they waited for Neville, the three kids excitedly talked about the upcoming. The train started moving and still there was no sign of Neville, as the conversation moved to House.
"I bet we all get in Gryffindor," Ron said confidently. "My entire family has gone there, and so did your parents."
"Yes, but Grandma Dorea was a Slytherin," Calypso pointed out. Ron made a face a bit at the word Slytherin. His family didn't have very good relations with families like the Malfoys, and Ron running into Draco at Madam Milkin's didn't help at all.
"Besides, lots of people get put in different Houses from family members," Harry said. "Your family is actually a bit of an anomaly. If I had to guess, I would say you two in Gryffindor, and I'll probably go to Ravenclaw."
Calypso looked a little shocked at that. It was clear she hadn't really considered the possibility she might be separated from her twin. "Why do you say that?"
"Well you have always been on the more impulsive side," Harry said. "And I'm generally more reserved and enjoy learning magic more." Calypso thought about that for a second. It was clear that she was a little scared his logic made sense.
Harry looked out the compartment door. "I'm going to see if I can find Neville." However, as he was standing up, Neville opened the door, accompanied by a bushy-haired girl.
"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said.
"Why didn't you tell us you lost Trevor mate?" Ron said. "We would have helped you."
"Yeah, I was just coming to find you," Harry said.
The bushy-haired looked surprised. "You guys know each other?"
"We are Neville's friends," Calypso explained.
"I tried to come find you guys, but Hermione said she could take care of it," Neville muttered. Harry looked at this Hermione. She seemed like the bossy type that always liked to be in charge. With Neville being a very timid and shy boy and so somebody like Hermione would just walk right over him.
"Well nice to meet you," Harry said, standing up. "But I'll help Neville find a prefect to summon Trevor for him."
Hermione looked a little surprised to be dismissed so quickly. She walked away with a huff and a muttered "How rude."
Harry just shook his head. "C'mon Neville, let's go find Trever."
A few minutes later, a Ravenclaw prefect summoned Trevor for Neville and and he and Harry went back and joined the Ron and Calypso, and passed the remaining hours of the trip talking. At one point Harry and Calypso had to calm down Ron because Fred and George had him half convinced he would have to wrestle a mountain troll to get Sorted. Harry bluntly pointed out that it sounded stupid and there was no way that was how it worked.
When their group stepped off the train; now in their school robes, they heard a man say "Firs'-years! Firs'-years! Firs-years over here!" They looked over and saw a giant of a man directing the first years. Harry and Calypso grinned. This must be Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts that their parents an uncles had told them about. He was just as big as they were lead to believe.
Ron, Neville, Harry and Calypso all shared a boat, and on the trip got their first view of Hogwarts. It was, to put it lightly, magnificent. A colossal fortress of magic and learning a wonder. The stories just couldn't do it justice.
After they arrived at the castle, Professor McGonagall explained the Sorting ceremony to the first years. Everyone seemed kind of relieved they would just have to put on a hat. Ron even seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Then they were all lead into the Great Hall.
Everyone seemed amazed by the enchanted ceiling. Harry heard the bushy-haired girl Hermione tell somebody it was enchanted to look like the sky above it. And the floating candles added to the magical vibe the place had going on.
After some impressive rhymes from a hat, the Sorting started with "Abbot, Hannah!" being called up and getting placed in "Hufflepuff!" Down the alphabetical list it went. Harry and Calypso were kind of surprised to find out there was another set of identical twins in their year; Padma and Parvati Patil. Eventually, Calypso was called up. Harry gave her hand a squeeze as she walked up and put the Sorting Hat on her head. The Great Hall erupted into whispers at her name. Harry scowled a little. It is kind of annoyed when you can't seem to go anywhere without everybody staring at your sister. Almost a full minute and a half later, she was placed in Gryffindor. The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers as Calypso walked over and sat next to Neville. Harry thought that was the perfect fit for her. She had a tendency to sometimes act first, think second and always wanted to be in Gryffindor like most of the rest of her family. Honestly, he was surprised it took so long.
Next it was Harry's turn. He walked up and put the Sorting Hat over his own head.
He heard a voice in his head. Ah, the other twin of this set. Now, where to put you?
Sorting Hat? Harry thought, hoping he wasn't hearing random voices because of stress or something.
Yes, this is me. And no, I am not some stress-induced voice. Harry mentally wiped his forehead in relief. Hufflepuff wouldn't do, you don't possess the inherit generosity to flourish in that House. Gryffindor like your sister perhaps?
Harry thought about that. It would be great to be with his sister, but he just didn't think Gryffindor really suited him. No, I don't think so.
Yes, I have to agree. Now, you would do well in Ravenclaw. A raw drive to learn. But, you possess large amounts of ambition as well. Want to beat your sister I see. And rather sneaky was some of those pranks I see.
What? No, I don't want to beat my sister at everything. I'm just... competitive.
The Sorting Hat seemed to mentally chuckle. You can't lie to me. Harry cursed a little in his head. It was true, ever since that birthday party at Neville's, Harry's goal was make sure people knew his name, not his sister's when they saw him. You know, I wanted to put your sister in Slytherin but she was rather insistent she went to Gryffindor.
Really? Harry was more than a little surprised by that. It didn't fit with his view of his sister.
Yes, indeed. Now, if there aren't any more objections? Harry couldn't really think of any off the top of his head, so the hat said, "Better be... Slytherin!"
The Great Hall looked shocked, and then started whispering in earnest again. Harry knew what they must have all been saying. "The brother of the Girl-Who-Lived in Slytherin? The Death Eaters came from that house!" Harry locked eyes with Calypso, who looked shocked as well. Harry just shrugged and walked over to the Slytherin table. He sat down at the very end next to a fellow first-year he remembered to be called Tracey Davis by Professor McGonagall.
At least he would be getting some first-class cookies.
The Sorting finally wound down his Ron predictably going to Gryffindor and Blaise Zambini getting sorted into Slytherin. After Dumbledore said a few weird words, the Welcome Feast started.
During the Feast Harry ended up talking mostly to Tracey. Harry was a little surprised to find out she was also a half-blood, he was worried he would be the only non-pureblood in his year at Slytherin. He also ended up chatting a bit with Tracey's best friend from childhood Daphne Greengrass. However, overall he found Daphne pretty cold and not very good at continuing a conversation.
After desert was over, Dumbledore gave a speech about what wasn't allowing and telling everyone that the Forbidden Forest and the third-floor corridors were good places to die painful deaths and were therefore out-of-bounds. Harry thought it was a little weird to have a school where you could die "a most painful death," but overall he was just happy to be at Hogwarts.
Then everybody headed to their dorms. This was the moment Harry was really dreading. Nobody had said anything to his face yet, but he had no doubt that would change in the safety of the Slytherin dorms. And sure enough, as he climbed through into the Common Room, everybody was kind of just waiting for him.
A boy from either sixth or seventh year stepped forward. "What are you doing here Potter" he spat.
"This is my dorm as well, or have you forgotten already?" Maybe it wasn't the best idea to provoke the older students on the first day, but Harry was tired and irritated and just wanted to go to bed.
"Potters don't belong here in Slytherin," he said. "And your mom is a mudblood. The Hat must have made a mistake."
"Tell that to my Grandma Dorea," Harry shot back. "It would actually be weirder if I ended up in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, as no Potter has gone there in three generations."
The gathered Slytherins thought this was a good point. While Dorea Potter was Dorea Black while she was at Hogwarts, Harry Potter did have Slytherin blood. A seventh-year prefect stepped forward. While he didn't really care about Potter, if a fight broke out on the first night it would reflect badly on him. "Alright everybody, that is enough," he said. "Time to show the first-years their dorms."
Harry was lead along with Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, and Blaise Zambini to this year's first-year Slytherin boy's dorms, which were last year's seventh-year boy's dorms. Inside were six four-poster beds.
Once the fifth-year prefect left, Draco turned to face Harry with his wand drawn. Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him, acting like bodyguards. "You may have gotten away tonight Potter, but don't make the mistake of thinking you belong here."
Harry also had his wand drawn. "Can you even cast a single spell using that Draco?" he asked coldly.
Draco just blushed, which told Harry everything he needed to know. "I'm not in the mood for this right now," he said lamely, even though a few seconds ago he was very much in the mood for it. As Draco went to claim his bed, Harry just shook his head and went to do the same on the other side of the room.
After everybody had changed and gotten into bed, Harry cast a Locking Charm on his trunk. It wasn't a very good one, but it would hopefully keep out his fellow first-years if they decided to try to rummage through it. Then he too climbed into bed and promptly crashed.
Harry woke up the next morning to the sound of people around his bed. He drew his wand, which he had kept with him as he slept, and opened the curtains around his bed. Sure enough, Malfoy was trying to break into his trunk while Crabbe and Goyle watched stupidly. Harry just smirked. It was clear Malfoy was frustrated. The most weak powered alohomora would have broke through Harry's extremely shoddy Locking Charm, but it was clear that Draco didn't know how to use his wand yet.
Draco looked up. "Potter," he growled.
Harry just got out of bed. "Malfoy," he said smugly. Then he went over and cast an alohomora, got his robes for the day, then closed his trunk and locked it againt. To his suprise, Draco didn't try to do anything, just stood there and watched. Harry then went to take a shower and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast and his schedule.
However, as he got the the Great Hall, instead of heading straight to his table, he went over to Calypso who was already down and eating at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Neville. "Sis," he said by way of greeting as he sat down next to her. People gave him weird looks, but figured they were twins and needed to figure things out. In fact, that was exactly the case.
"So," Calypso started. "How was your first night in the Snake Den?"
Harry chuckled a little at the nickname. "A little hostile but I reminded then that Grandma Dorea is a Slytherin, and I don't think the prefects wanted a fight the first first night. Malfoy was a bit of a pain as well."
Ron scowled from the other side of Calypso as he shoveled food into his mouth. Harry did his best to not look at him as he ate. "I don't like Malfoy."
"Well neither do I," Harry said.
"Harry," Calypso said, looking a little shy.
"Why did the Hat decided to place me in Slytherin?" Harry said, already knowing what she was going to say. Calypso nodded. "Well, we both agreed that Hufflepuff and Gryffindor didn't really fit, and so that left Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Ravenclaw would have fit; in fact that was what I was expecting, but that Hat focused on my ambition and cleverness. I've always wanted to try to be the best. And you have to admit that my pranks are usually better than yours. Calypso gave Harry a dirty look. It was always a bit of a sore point with her that his pranks on average were harder to see coming. And she absolutely agreed that he was competitive. Calypso was as well, but Harry was a whole level above her.
"Well, just stay safe," she said.
"Oh, and I thought of a few more benefits afterwards," Harry said.
"The cookies?" Calypso said, having already thought about those. Those were really good cookies.
"Yes, that was one of them, but I also thought of something else. All the stories we have heard about Hogwarts have Gryffindor and Slytherin sharing most classes. I'll see more of you from Slytherin than if I was in Ravenclaw."
Calypso brightened. She hadn't thought of that. "Sit with me during the classes we share?"
Harry gave his twin a hug. "Of course." At this point, schedules were starting to be passed out and Harry was hungry so he headed over to his table.
He was once again chatting with Tracey, the one member of his House that didn't seem to be trying to avoid him, when Professor Snape came and gave them their schedule. Because electives didn't start until third year, all members of Slytherin in their year would have the same schedule.
Monday-
9:00 Double Transfiguration (Classroom 1B)
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Herbology (Greenhouses)
Tuesday-
9:00 History of Magic (Classroom 2D)
11:00 Charms (Classroom 3C)
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Potions (Dungeons)
Wednesday-
9:00 Herbology (Greenhouses)
11:00 Defense Against the Dark Arts (Classroom 1C)
1:00 Lunch
2:00 History of Magic (Classroom 2D)
12:00 (Midnight) Astronomy (Astronomy Tower)
Thursday-
9:00 Double Charms (Classroom 3C)
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Transfiguration (Classroom 1B)
Friday-
9:00 Double Potions (Dungeons)
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Free Period
"That's kind of odd," Harry remarked. "We only have one period of DADA a week."
"My dad is on the Governor's Board," Daphne said. "He told me that it stays that way until fourth year when you only get one period of History of Magic a week and two DADA. He explained that it didn't make sense to give eleven through thirteen-year-olds two periods of learning dangerous spells."
Harry thought about that. It actually made a whole lot of sense. Pretty soon after that he got up to head to his first ever class at Hogwarts; Double Transfiguration. When he got there, he sat down next to Calypso. Tracey sat down on his other side.
Ron and Neville walked in a minute late. Ron remarked how they were lucky the Professor wasn't there yet, but McGonagall was a friend of the Potter family and so Harry and Calypso knew the cat on the front desk was actually her. Ron and Neville were much more surprised when she changed back into a human and reprimanded them for being late though.
After that she gave a quick opening speech on the dangers of Transfiguration before launching into the theory of changing a match into a needle. Most of the class was paying close attention and writing down notes, but Harry and to a lesser extant Calypso were getting bored. Both had already done this spell plenty of times, but some of the theory of it had gone over Calypso's head. Harry on the other head already knew everything.
Transfiguration didn't require much magical power to do. It was more about focusing on what you wanted to transfigure, and visualize it flowing into what you wanted it to become. Just looking at something, thinking about something else being there, waving a wand and saying the spell wouldn't work. For turning a match into a needle, you had to imagine seeing the match get longer, turning a different color, becoming sleeker, getting a point. That is what most people struggled with. Witches and wizards could easily direct their magic, it was almost like second nature to them. Oh sure, some could do it easier than others, but all could do it. The problem with Transfiguration was that a witch or wizard had to direct their magic the entire way. With other things like Charms, a person's magic could complete the spell without needing so much direction from the caster. But in Transfiguration, partial transfigurations were extremely common. It got even harder when living things got involved.
At one point towards the end of her lecture, Professor McGonagall stopped and looked at Harry. "Care to explain why you haven't written anything down Mr. Potter?"
"I already know all of this Professor," Harry said, trying to be polite.
"Very well then," McGonagall said, placing a match on his desk. "Please demonstrate."
Harry shrugged. He focused on directing his magic on morphing the match in front of him into a needle, moved his wand a little bit, and said the incantation. He then had a bit of fun for a minute changing the color from silver to green to red to orange. Professor McGonagall stared at Harry in shock for a minute before recovering. "Very good Mr. Potter. Twenty points to Slytherin."
Tracey leaned over and whispered "Good job." Calypso looked a little torn between pride for her brother and annoyance that he got Slytherin so many points. Harry smirked at her.
A few minutes later everybody else received matches and were told to transfigure them into needles. Harry, having already done this started helping his friends. Ron, Neville and Tracey needed a lot of help, and after about twenty minutes Daphne begrudgingly came over for assistance as well. Calypso didn't have much of a problem as she had practiced this spell already as well, but she couldn't make the needle anything but silver.
Harry explained the problem to her. Even though she was envisioning the match being changed into a red needle, that wasn't enough. She was imagining the needle becoming steel like all the needles she had seen were. Steel is silver. And simply adding paint over the needle would be a whole different level what even Harry couldn't do yet. She needed the needle to be made of a slightly different type of metal, still steel, but red. And because she was so used to changing the match into steel, she was directing her magic the same way. To change the color, it was a slightly different spell. For Harry, subtle things like that came easily. For Calypso, it was much harder, and at the end of the class she had only managed to make her needle a very pale pinkish color. It probably didn't help that Harry wasn't a great teacher. Luckily, Harry, Calypso, Ron, and Hermione didn't get any homework. Everyone else didn't manage to complete the transformation.
After a nice lunch, the Slytherin first-years headed down to the greenhouses for their first Herbology class. This was a class where Harry was in basically the same boat as everybody else. Sure, he had read plenty of books on magical plants, but he didn't have any to practice on.
It started off very easily with a lesson on an overview of the plants they would be covering that year. Ones that liked sun would be covered in the mid-afternoon class on Monday, and plants that preferred shade in the early morning Wednesday class. Nothing to serious would be covered, the worst was devil's snare. After that, there was a short lesson on different fertilizers (dragon's manure fertilizer was considered the best) and the class was over. Due on Wednesday was a short six inch essay on the pros and cons of different magical fertilizers.
Harry was kind of annoyed by that. They literally just talked about that in class. What was the point, to make sure nobody was sleeping with their eyes open during class?
When everybody was walking up the path back to the castle, Calypso asked Harry if he wanted to write the essay together now that classes were over for the day. However, Harry wanted to read more of that book by Geraint Ollivander. Calypso looked a little disappointed, but covered it up well. When they got to the library, Calypso went left and Harry went right.
When Harry reached a table he grabbed the book out of his bag and started to read. He remembered reading that Chapter 3 had something to help with Charms so he started there.
Chapter 3
Directing Magic
Acacia wands are a little backwards from most other types of wands. There are two types of magic, the magic that flows directly in living things, and the magic that connects those living things together and flows through the very air.
The vast majority of wand woods are best suited to direct the stronger flow more concentrated flow of energy in their weilder's body. This allows for a witch or wizard to simply use their wand to direct the flow of magic in their body.
Acacia wands however, are the opposite. They can't handle the full flow of energy directly from a living thing, and are best suited to direct the softer, more natural magical energy that connects everything together. There are advantages and disadvantages to this.
In the short term, it is better for a wand to draw directly from a witch or wizard. It is far easier to contact, and far easier to direct and use. In the long term however, acacia wand users will have a clear advantage if they learn properly. It is harder to grab a hold of the natural flow of energy, and harder to direct into the wand. And as the flow of magic in a living being is more concentrated, harder to get the same amount of power.
However, if a person draws only from themself, they are limited. The amount of magic a magical person contains grows as they age, but will eventually cap. For a select few, they are so naturally powerful it doesn't really matter. But for the vast majority, this will draw a line where they can't cast spells that require more energy than they contain.
But if one draws from themself and from the magical energy around them, in theory is is virtually no cap to the amount of power they can draw upon. The more experienced and skilled a person is at reaching out beyond themself, the further they can "travel" to gather magical energy. However, this takes patience and practice.
Step 1: Reach Within Yourself
A friend of mine who is very proficient with this gave me these exercises to practice for myself.
This is a basic step that virtually all wizards learn at some point by their adult lives. By feeling your own magic, you can gain a greater amount of control over it. However, it also allows somebody to go a step further and feel the natural magical energy that connects to their own. For a complete beginner, start by clearing your mind. Don't think about anything. Focus only on what you feel.
It is second nature for somebody with magic to be able to direct it. When your mind is clear, cast a simple Wand-Lighting Charm. Feel where the magic being directed into your wand and try to trace back to there, your core.
Don't expect to get this right away. It could take days or maybe even weeks to get just this far.
Harry set down his book and tried to do what it said. He took a deep breath and did his best to "clear his mind." He focused just on his breathing and the feel of the chair beneath him. It took awhile. Whenever he would raise his wand to cast a lumos his mind would wander. It took four attempts to cast the spell with a "clear mind." He could feel the magic flowing into his wand to make it light up and tried to "follow" the flow "into" himself. He could feel it was coming from within him, but couldn't follow it back.
After awhile, Harry opened his eyes in frustration and used nox. Oh well, the book said he wouldn't be able to do it first time. Seeing it had been almost forty-five minutes since he arrived in the library, he decided to put Geraint's book away and just do that essay for Herbology.
After a calm dinner, Harry was walking down the corridor to the Slytherin Common Room when he got hit by a Sting Hex from behind. He looked around, but their were several groups of people, and all of them were just snickering at him. Harry quickly got to the Common Room and went upstairs. He got to his bed and put his trunk on top of it. He then closed the curtains, grabbed his Charms textbook, and practiced doing a better Locking Charm for a few hours before setting his trunk back at the foot of his bed. By now, everyone else was also in bed, either going to sleep or reading. Harry just laid back down and went to sleep. There were some problems with being in Slytherin, but overall it was fine. And besides, he was at Hogwarts. Everything was going to be ok.
A/N So a slightly longer chapter, you guys should like that.
I hope you enjoyed me diving a bit more into the theoretical side of magic, I hope to do that more throughout this book.
Also, I don't plan on going into detail about every single class, but for the first week, I will. I just want to give you guys; as readers, a good sense for where Harry and his friends stand compared to the rest of the year. After that, I will only go into detail if it is important. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, the next one or two will be similar.
Update in the usual 3-5 days, see you then.