"She jumped onto it's back?" Daphne looks shocked. Harry had just finished telling the two Slytherin girls about the previous night, and it looked like Daphne thought he was pulling her leg. To be honest Harry really couldn't blame her.

"Yep," Harry replied. "You can ask Ron or Hermione if you don't believe me." Tracey started chuckling.

"Two things," Daphne said, her mostly emotionless expression coming back on. "One, I make a habit of not talking to Gryffindors outside of study groups as much as possible. Two, does your sister have a death wish?"

"I sure hope not. And most Gryffindors aren't that bad," Harry said defending his other friends.

"There is a reason that Gryffindors probably have the shortest life expectancy of the four Houses Potter," Daphne said. "I don't need to learn that."

"You have to admit she has a point," Tracey said as she stood up. "Now, I need to do Snape's latest essay." She stood up and walked to the door that Harry knew lead to the girl's dorms.

It was the afternoon after the troll attack and the school was abuzz about it. Rumors were flying everywhere, and Harry had been questioned a few times by people. One Hufflepuff wanted to know if Calypso killed it with the Killing Curse. Harry just laughed in her face and walked off.

There was one other change Harry noticed. Calypso and their Gryffindor pals had seemed to have added Hermione to their group. Harry didn't really have anything against Hermione. He knew that a lot of people in their year disliked her competitiveness, but Harry was probably worse so that wasn't an issue for him. His biggest issue with Hermione was that she could be a little in-your-face about it. Learning some subtlety would do her good, but Harry didn't really think that would be an issue.

Other than that, everything went back to normal within a day or two. Draco Malfoy stopped being a real issue when Harry learned the Stinging Hex specifically for him. He couldn't cast a very powerful one, but Draco had lived a pampered life so his pain tolerance was abysmal. The next few time he came over to annoy Harry or Tracey were the last ones. And in Slytherin it wasn't uncommon for people to exchange a few spells to "establish dominance" so nobody really cared. The whole House was a giant power ladder if you could climb it. And even if Draco did complain to Snape Harry did better in class and therefore had more of Snape's respect. It wasn't a great way to be a teacher when people were getting hurt but it helped Harry here so he didn't complain.

It also didn't hurt when Draco found his real wand over the weekend. He tried to blame Harry but there was no way to trace it back to him. And Snape didn't want to punish one of his top students so he didn't even look into it.

Harry was just disappointed that he didn't get to see another practical class of Draco failing everything.

The first Quidditch match of the year was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Harry made sure to make it clear in advance that he would be supporting his House despite Calypso flying for Gryffindor.

It was a good match, but Harry had some issues with his team. Slytherin fought dirty. Harry was a good sportsman. Also, his sister was out their on a broom.

There was a real big scare at the tail end of the game when for whatever reason Calypso's broom tried to kill her. "What the hell is happening?" Harry half screamed at Tracey over the roar of the crowd.

"I have no idea!" she shouted back.

To Harry's relief the broom stopped bucking after a minute and Calypso was able to get back on. A minute later Calypso swallowed the snitch, ending the game with a Gryffindor victory. Harry was bummed his team lost, but proud of his sister at the same time.

Harry congratulated Calypso after she came out of the locker room and asked her if she had any idea what made her broom act up like that. She didn't know, but Hermione Ron and Neville came over, looking like they had something to say. Harry listened as they explained that Snape had locked onto Calypso when her broom acted up and was muttering something. Her broom went back to normal after Hermione set his cloak on fire.

"So it had to be Snape!" Ron finished.

"What do you think?" Calypso asked Harry.

Harry thought for a second. "It sure seems that he was casting a curse. And Snape doesn't like Potters. But he respects our talent and I wouldn't label him as a murderer now. I don't know, it's a possible explanation I guess."

"Snape is an evil git!" Ron said, clearly set on his explanation.

"Snape isn't a great teacher," Harry replied. "But that isn't anywhere close to evil."

That evening in the crowded Common Room Draco tried making trouble again.

"Shame your sister didn't fall off. Blood traitors like the Potters deserve it," she said, while most of the other first year Slytherins gathered around him. Some second and third years were also paying attention. The older years didn't care about first-year squabbles. Harry didn't say anything, just stood up and walked over to Draco. "What are you going to do Potter? My father..."

He didn't get any further when Harry kneed him in the crotch as hard as he could. Draco squeaked and bend over in pain. The males watching winced in sympathy. Harry bent down so he was eye level with Draco. Draco didn't have a very firm grasp on his wand so Harry took it. When Draco tried to stand up Harry knocked him over. "Malfoy, I am only going to say this one more time. I don't give a crap how much money your daddy didn't earn. You leave my family and I alone, I don't hurt you. You don't leave them alone, I hurt you. Simple." Draco stood up to say something but Harry just held up his wand. Everyone could see Draco visibly deflate. Without his wand he was helpless.

Harry tossed the wand somewhere randomly to the side of him and an older student caught it and handed it back to Draco. Harry sat back down next to Tracey and Daphne. "Well done Harry," Daphne whispered back to him. Harry could hear real admiration in her voice. It was also the first time she called him Harry, not Potter.

A month later, Harry finally succeeded on gathering a number of the thin strands of magic around him at the same time. After reading the next part of the book he brought the bundle of strands up his own magic into his wand and recast lumos. It was brighter than he had ever managed before.

Harry looked at his wand as its tip glowed and grinned victoriously. With a little practice he would take undisputed top spot for his year. Hermione would be pissed.

A few days later in Charms, after multiple classes going over the theory and safety procedures, the Slytherins and Gryffindors finally got to practice the Fire-Making Charm, incendio. People who usually payed attention to Harry, like Calypso and Flitwick noticed a change in Harry. He cast the spell first as per usual, but he didn't struggle nearly as much to put power into the flames. In fact, he was in the top half of the class in terms of how large his flames were, about six inches.

The next practical Defense class was the same. Quirrell had cast copious amounts of Cushioning Charms on the floor, had the class pair up, and had them practice the Knockback Jinx. The previous week they had practiced on mice to get the concept of working on a human down. On his first try casting the spell Harry sent Calypso flying back three feet.

Hermione gave him a sour lock as Neville stood back up after going back only two feet. The two along with Calypso Daphne and some Ravenclaw members were in an unofficial contest to get the top spot for the year during the winter exams. They all wanted it, but if the last week had been any indication, Harry was going to get it.

Potter Manor, November 28th

Lily read Harry's latest letter allowed to James Sirius Jr. and Emily. Harry and Calypso didn't have a schedule for letters so sometimes they sent one on the same day, most of the time it was different. The little kids loved getting news of their big brother and sister, and of course Lily and James loved hearing from their kids. They had both been terrified after learning about the troll. Lily had wanted to rage at Dumbledore (she heard that Molly Weasley did) but controlled her temper enough to hold a reasonable discussion.

Other than that, it seemed that both twins were doing very well in school. Minerva had informed the Potters via letters that Harry was a natural prodigy at Transfiguration and she was even pretty sure that he was practicing spells several months into the second-year curriculum outside of class. Calypso on the other hand as far as she could tell was a Charms lady.

Lily sighed. She was thrilled that her kids were doing well at Hogwarts, but she missed them more.

Hogwarts, December 1st

Harry, Calypso, Daphne, and Hermione were lined up along the wall of an abandoned classroom. All the desks had been pushed off to one side and Ron had a magical stopwatch that Calypso had. They were in a competition to see who could make the biggest ice cube using the Ice Jinx in a minute.

Daphne, Hermione, and Calypso all started casting right away. Daphne had the biggest ice cube out of the first salvo but Hermione quickly topped it. Then Calypso did then Daphne again.

Meanwhile Harry wasn't casting. He had his eyes closed and was gathering as much natural magical energy as he could. During the last few weeks he had gotten pretty good at it.

When Ron started counting down from five, Harry finally cast the jinx. With just a few seconds left he created an ice cube that was barely larger than Daphne's, who had been about to win. Not only that, but the ice was in the shape of a sphere when the spell normally either just coated the surface in a layer of ice or made a square ice cube. There were nearly forty ice cubes on the ground, but the final standings were Harry winning followed by Daphne then Hermione then finally Calypso.

Harry clapped Calypso and Daphne on the back. "Well nice try ladies. Maybe you will lose by less next time."

Daphne slapped Harry's arm off her back. "Touch me again and I will use this jinx on your balls," she said, holding up her wand. Harry held his hands up and backed away a few steps.

"Can we do a spell that doesn't involve conjuring next time?" Calypso asked. "Also Harry, making that a sphere is just showboating."

"You used to always struggle with power," Hermione said. "What did you do?" Her question was part demand over academic curiosity part demand over competitiveness.

Harry just gave her a cheek answer back. "Magic."

"Is it that feeling magical energy thing you were telling me about?" Calypso asked.

"Is that what you are doing when I find you just sitting in the library with your eyes closed?" Daphne asked. "You never answer my question when I ask you what you are doing, and you do it all the time."

"Yes, and ninety-two hours so far," Harry answered.

"What is feeling magical energy and can you teach me?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Just check out The Book of Magical Forms by Andrei Marcu," Harry replied. "I don't have time to teach somebody."

"Andrei Marcu? He was one of the best wizards of his age. I bet he wrote down a whole bunch of stuff," Hermione said.

"Well I've read the first part of the book so I know he has," Harry replied. Hermione quickly headed out of the room, almost assuredly to go straight to the library.

"She can be mental when she finds something new to learn," Ron commented.

In the final months before the end of the first term and the winter exams, the level of homework that the first-years were given was increased. Even Harry started to have a little trouble with it. It cut into his time he could practice spells ahead of the class which annoyed him a little bit.

Harry also had his first trip to the Hospital Wing after a spiky bush got him in on the arm Herbology. It was only a single puncture wound but it was nearly two inches deep. The wonders of magic really came in handy in fixing it within just an hour.

Harry stopped having problems with people shooting Stinging Hexes and whatnot at him because the younger years were afraid of his skill and the older years respected it and the points he brought in for the Cup.

He also started getting a little cocky, and he knew it. He wasn't arrogant, his mild bragging was after his skill was demonstrated and there wasn't a ton of it. But at the end of the day he was simply better than his classmates in most subjects and they knew it.

Hermione had little luck feeling magic flow. She came up to Harry one day and asked for tips, only her questions came out a little like demands. That was just how Hermione was, her friends got used to it.

"Look Hermione," Harry explained. "This isn't for everybody, and even if it is I highly doubt you will get much success as a first-year."

"You can do it," she countered. "And it is making you the best in our year with a wand."

Harry shrugged. "I'm an exception I guess, what can I say?"

Hermione huffed and walked away. In the past few weeks Harry had broken ahead of the rest of the year in wand subjects. He wasn't years ahead of everybody else, but it was still annoying to competitive people like Hermione who just couldn't seem to catch up anymore.

A week before the winter exams was Gryffindor's second match of the year, versus Ravenclaw. After thoroughly trouncing Hufflepuff in their first match, Ravenclaw had emerged as the team to beat for the year.

It was a good show. Ravenclaw's beaters were their teams strongest point, but without the dirty plays Slytherin pulled, Gryffindor's Chaser trio was able to give their team the lead for most of the match. In the end, it came down to the Seekers. Two hours into the match, Ravenclaw's new Seeker Cho Chang took off after the snitch. Calypso had a better broom and took off in pursuit, but her opponent had managed to keep the lane directly behind the snitch and wasn't giving it up. After a thrilling two-minute chase Cho got the snitch and Ravenclaw won 470-390.

Slytherin cheered loudly for the team that beat Gryffindor while Harry clapped politely.

After the game, Calypso was bummed but Harry managed to cheer her up. "As long as Ravenclaw loses to Slytherin and you beat Hufflepuff you still got a chance at the Quidditch Cup."

"That's true," Calypso said, still looking a little down. "But we were really looking forward to a victory against them."

"Well your schedule gave you two early games and one late in the season so you have plenty of time to prepare. You'll get'em next time," Harry assured her. "And I'll be rooting for you."

"Thanks Harry," Calypso said gratefully, giving her twin a big hug.

The next week was taken up by the winter exams. They didn't matter nearly as much as the summer ones at the end of the year, but they were still a good indicator of where everybody stood. All of the end-of-term exams were modeled after the O.W.L and N.E.W.T exams to get students used to the format.

Monday was the Transfiguration and Herbology theory. For the winter exams the theory was larger than the practical, and the opposite was true for the summer exams. Harry was a bit of a bookworm, so the theory was pretty simple, especially in Transfiguration where he was beyond the first-year curriculum in many things.

On Tuesdays, the Gryffindors and Slytherins had a single-length Charms class and therefore had the practical Charms before the theoretical. Flitwick called them up in groups of four and had them perform a randomized set of charms they had practiced so far. Needless to say, Harry did just fine here. After that was History of Magic. Harry didn't focus very much in the class, but he was still confident he got an E. The final class for the day was the Potions practical. For somebody who had already made a near perfect Strength Potion earlier in the year it was a breeze.

Wednesday started off with the Herbology practical. They each had to subdue an immature bouncing bulb and transplant a spiky bush. Herbology wasn't Harry's strong suit but he was still pretty sure he managed an E in this class as well, or maybe an O. Next was the Defense theoretical, which wasn't very tricky. After that was usually History of Magic but since there was only one exam for that the class period was being used for the Defense practical. They either practiced against some dummies or on mice. No humans in exams yet. And they didn't start learning counters until second-year because parents didn't want jinxes and hexes shot at their eleven-year-old kids. That night was the Astronomy practical. Harry thought he did rather well, but Astronomy wasn't a focus for him so he didn't know for sure.

Thursday started with the Charms theoretical. As with all the other theoretical tests, this one was no major challenge for Harry. That afternoon was the Transfiguration theoretical, which Harry hadn't even bothered to study extra for. He saw no reason to waste him him, and there was none. The exam wasn't even remotely difficult. Calypso and Tracey both called him a show off.

Friday morning was the Potions theoretical. Harry had loved to read books about the effects of different potion ingredients before Hogwarts and therefore had very little trouble. But he knew that lots of others wouldn't be so lucky because Snape didn't teach theoretical, he only assigned it as homework. Usually the first-years had a free afternoon on Fridays but the afternoon was taken up by the Astronomy theoretical.

After everything was finally done, Harry Daphne and Tracey discussed the exams in the Common Room after dinner.

"Well my best subjects are Herbology and Transfiguration so I think I did really good there," Tracey said. "But my Charms wasn't the best and neither was Potions. That theoretical was hard. I don't even remember learning some of that."

"Studied before Hogwarts so the Potions theoretical wasn't to hard," Harry said. "Other than History, Astronomy, and maybe Herbology I think I got O's."

"Well no duh Mr. Perfect," Daphne said, rolling her eyes. "I know I did fine on Charms, Defense, and Potions. I don't know about Herbology. Transfiguration was hard. I don't you dare say anything Harry," she said raising a finger in warning. Harry had been about to say something about how easy Transfiguration was but decided to shut his mouth instead.

"Well at least we can basically start winter break now even if we don't go home until tomorrow," Tracey said. "That's what I feel best about."

"Did you see Granger's face when you beat her in Charms?" Daphne asked. Daphne rarely smiled because of a hard home life but Harry could tell she was amused.

"She was so intent on beating you," Tracey said. "It looked like she would get revenge for you killing her cat afterwards."

"I'd like to see her try," Harry said, not concerned at all. He knew his power and skill level, and he doubted Hermione could match him. It was just a simple fact of life for the moment.

The next day Harry and Calypso got on the Hogwarts Express for the holidays. "Ready to see the family again?" Calypso asked Harry.

"Yeah." As great as Hogwarts was, family was better.

A/N So, the shortest chapter so far, hope you don't mind. I tried to focus this chapter a bit more on Harry's interactions with other people, but I'm not the best at long conversations. That will definitely be a goal to work on over the course of this fanfiction. I have a longer chapter planned for seven.

Anyways, as always leave a review if you have something to say or a suggestion to make. See you in a few days like always.