Guess who's baaaaaaaaack! Yes, I have finally returned from the vat and unknown wilds of writer's block.
So, I've already tried writing this author's note once and I don't particularly feel like doing it again, so I'm just going to give you the general gist of what I said. If you have questions, put it in a review and I will try my best to answer.
So, basically, my inspiration took a month long vacation, and then I had to move. Was exhausting, took forever, and basically sucked overall. That's about it.
Alright, time for my questions to you, my lovely readers. First, should I make Dumbledore evil in this story, or just a misled old fool? I'm mostly leaning towards evil since it would allow for a lot more interesting plot points and whatnot as the main characters are forced to deal with him, but I know that a lot of people don't like the idea of making him evil, so tell me what you think and I will take it into consideration since I don't have any personal preferences.
Second, I am unsure of who to pair Draco with, so I thought I'd ask for your advice. Basically, it's between Susan, Ginny, or Hermione. Susan, because she was my original idea, and I could definitely still work with that. Hermione, because Dramione is a very big thing in fandom, and while I don't particularly care for it, doing so would be an interesting challenge because of that very reason. Ginny, I had actually never considered until I ran into a random story that paired them, and i actually realized that it would be highly interesting for multiple reasons, and their characters would actually make for a very fun romance.
Also, at the end of this chapter there is a bit of Ron bashing, but it is for a good reason. Basically, he really isn't needed for this story and would only muck things up, so I have to start giving the other characters a reason to drift away from him very early on. Don't worry, i don't actually dislike him even if he can be a prick sometimes, and the other Weasley's will have very big parts to play, especially Ginny, and Ron himself might actually show up still from time to time. He just won't be a big player, and I apologize for that to any Ron fans, or fans of pairings involving him.
So, i think that may have actually still ended up almost as long as last time. Oh well, I guess i should let you all get on with the story you have patiently waited a month for. Read, Review, and Relax. Enjoy!
When Susan woke up the morning after the Sorting Ceremony, it took her a few moments to fully register where she was, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. The sensation wasn't completely new to her, considering the Bones family had several different homes and often went on vacation, but the glowing runes scrawled across the ceiling were a big difference. She traced them with her eyes for a few seconds as her brain finished waking up, giving her access to the memories of the night before. After the feast, she had followed the Prefects of her new house to the Hufflepuff common room before quickly retiring to the girl's dormitory and collapsing in exhaustion. Honestly, she hadn't even bothered to undress!
Jumping up quickly from her bed after kicking aside the covers, Susan set about preparing herself for the first actual day of classes. It was a good thing she had always been an early bird, because she was able to finish and be on her way to the Great Hall quickly, barely even pausing in her quest to satisfy the gnawing hunger that was eating at her stomach. The pain was so great she would've sworn she hadn't eaten for days if she didn't vividly remember the embarrassing display she had put on at the feast the previous night.
After dodging several greetings from some of the older students who were more used to the exhaustion from the opening feast, Susan finally made it to the hall less than an hour after waking. Honestly, she would never understand those girls who took all morning just getting ready for the day. Still, they could primp themselves all they wanted. It just meant more breakfast for her. Settling herself down at the Hufflepuff table, she reached for a large plate heaped with eggs. Before she could serve herself, though, she was interrupted when a loud squealing voice called her name just as a blurred form crashed into her side.
"Susan! There you are!" Susan, struggling not to drop the plate of eggs, fought to keep her balance as an excited Hannah Abbot attempted to crush the breath out of her lungs. Hannah was another first year Hufflepuff, and was also somewhat of a friend to Susan. Their family's had always been close, and there had been many play dates between the two girls, but Susan had always known it was primarily just politics at work. Still, that didn't stop Hannah from being convinced that they were the best of friends, not that Susan was complaining.
"Sooooooooo, how's your first day going?" Susan, having finally extricated herself from Hannah's tight grasp, sighed at the girl's super hyperness. Wasn't there some rule saying people couldn't be all perky before nine in the morning?
"Um, I don't know yet. It sorta just started." Hannah, who seemed shocked by this revelation, gasped in surprise as Susan fought the urge to shake her head in exasperation.
"Oh, by Merlin, you're right! didn't think of that, sorry. So instead, how do you think it's going to go?" Susan easily allowed the other girl to start going on a ramble, tossing in a few comments here and there to make it seem like she was paying attention. She had long since grown used to Hannah's perky nature, and quickly put that knowledge to use as she continued to eat, not really paying close attention. She only really looked up from her food when she suddenly noticed that the other girl had gone quiet and was subtly nudging her in the side.
"Hey, look. It's him. By the tall kid with the orange hair." Susan glanced up to see who the 'him' was, but instantly regretted it. Her eyes were quickly drawn to the mentioned red haired boy entering the Great Hall, and then almost as if by instinct, shifted to look at the somewhat smaller form beside him and its messy black hair. She couldn't see the eyes of the smaller boy, but she instantly recognized the face, even without the glasses they had been wearing the night before. It was Harry Potter.
Susan watched with mixed feelings as the boy walked through the Great Hall, looking somewhat uncomfortable with the stares and whispers he was receiving as he made his way to the Gryffindor table. She quickly had an internal debate for a few seconds before she came to a decision, turning to Hannah, who was still staring almost glassy eyed at the black-haired boy.
"Hey, watch my plate for me will you?" Without waiting for a reply, Susan determinedly stood up and started marching towards the red and gold table. She honestly wasn't sure exactly what she planned on doing once she got there, but Susan knew that she needed to talk to Harry. It was silly, she knew, expecting to be able to just walk up to one of the most famous people in the entire wizarding world, but the instant any doubts crossed her mind she quashed them with memories of the previous night. If he had been willing to talk to her then, surely he wouldn't mind talking to her now, even if it was in front of everybody else? Either way, she really didn't have much time to think about it as she finally stepped up to the table, causing him to look up warily and meet her eyes. Gods, those eyes were striking, the golden irises reminding her of some kind of predatory animal. They were certainly exotic enough to fit a hero as famous as him.
"You never mentioned you were Harry Potter." Oh, did she really just say that out loud? Gods, she sounded like a prissy child, and she'd said it in front of the whole school! Well, most of it, anyways. Harry, at least, didn't seem bothered by it, instead choosing to look her straight in the eye as he responded in a level voice.
"You never asked."The simple statement increased Susan's embarrassment tenfold as she realized that he was right. She really hadn't asked. The girl struggled to come up with something to say for a few seconds, before blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.
"But you're famous!" The only change in Harry's expression was the raising of an inquisitive eyebrow as his tone turned almost bored.
"And?" Susan sputtered again, frustrated with the uncaring attitude the boy seemed to display towards the fact that a little Hufflepuff like her really had no place interacting with someone as famous as Harry Potter. In fact, those very thoughts started to spill straight off her unguarded tongue, slipping out in her confusion.
"And you talked to me! You can't just talk to people like me!" Susan slapped her hand over her mouth the instant she realized what she had just said, afraid she might have offended him. Instead of the expected reprimand or comeback she had been expecting, however, Harry only sighed wearily and shook his head before looking back to Susan, only the glint in his eyes betraying the boy's amusement as he locked eyes with Susan.
"Look, I don't care about the fame or the glory. I was raised by Muggles who hated magic and told me my parents died in a car crash, so I'm probably even further behind than most muggleborns." Susan, suddenly going through several stages of shock as her mind processed that not only had she not offended him, but Harry was actually talking to her yet again, and even telling her about his past. She almost missed the curling of his lips upward as the amusement that had been shining in his eyes previously spilled over onto his face as he watched Susan try to come to terms with the fact that Harry Potter was talking to her like an equal. The young boy was nothing like how she had imagined him, a cool, suave young man that would hardly even notice the lesser beings like her even if she ended up splattered across his windshield. Her idea of The Boy Who Lived was so heroic he would just wipe her off and continue driving down whatever baddie had thrown her there. This kid, however, was actually smiling at her. The image didn't truly shatter however, not until he opened his mouth once again as the smile turned into a smirk.
"Susan, last night you said you wanted friends. Has that changed?" Stunned by the sudden question and the fact that he had actually remembered what she said, Susan could only nod numbly. She quickly grew even more confused and lost as the smirk widened into a full fledged grin and Harry gestured for her to sit down across from him, Susan automatically complying with the unspoken request. Once again, the young girl struggled to figure out what had just happened as Harry calmly piled her plate with a similar amount of food to his, before continuing his meal almost exactly like before she had interrupted it, the only difference being the offhand comments he threw Susan's way. The girl started to answer and eat mechanically, still trying to sort out the whirlwind of thoughts swirling around her head. There was only one thing she knew for certain in all this mess, and as the thought crossed her mind, she smiled for the first time since she had gone to sleep the previous night, still worrying over the first encounter she had with the black haired boy.
Hannah was going to have a field day with this.
Harry had to work hard to ignore the somewhat awed look on Susan's face as he led her and Ron through the halls of Hogwarts in their quest for the Transfiguration classroom. The girl had been staring at him ever since she sat after the confrontation at breakfast. Honestly, Harry was starting to worry that he had broken the brunette with his lack of fame-mongering. She had barely even responded when McGonagall gave them their schedules, and Harry had to literally pull her away from the table when it became time for them to go. He was going to have to deal with those self-esteem issues at some point, but it was far too early in the morning, let alone year, for that.
"Is this it?" He asked, gesturing at the classroom where a few of their fellow year mates seemed to be gathering. Susan, shocked by the question, nodded meekly, while Ron simply shrugged and stuffed the last of the roll he had been eating in his mouth. Harry, taking that as a probably, leaned against the wall, content to wait until either the teacher showed up, or the group moved on. Either way, he thought they were likely in the right place, even if a bit early. As he settled down for a wait, he studied the other students. Really, there were only a couple. That girl from the train, Granger, if he remembered correctly, was there, looking to be lost in a book. On the other side was a little Slytherin girl, though Harry couldn't quite place her. He hadn't paid close attention during the sorting ceremony after all. The last of the other's, however, was what really interested him, especially as the silver haired girl quietly stepped in front of Harry and bowing to both him and Susan.
"Good morning, My lord, My lady." Luna, the girl who had seemed to recognize him during the sorting ceremony, spoke the greeting in a dreamy voice, a soft smile on her face as she rose from the unexpectedly formal bow. Harry, unsure of what to do, glanced towards Susan and Ron for help. Before either of them could offer anything to the confused boy, Luna continued speaking, drawing his attention back to her. "Strange, you're still glowing. Perhaps you don't know how to stop it? That's unfortunate. I was rather hoping you could tell me. Oh well." With that odd commentary, the girl drifted further down the hall, stopping in an alcove and starting to talk to herself. Harry, still completely at a loss as to how to react, stared after her. Only Ron's voice breaking into his subconscious managed to bring his attention back to the others.
"Bloody hell, mate, what was that all about? And why'd she call you a lord? You haven't been holding out on us, have you?" Harry, eyes shifting back to his new friend, just shook his head.
"No, I've got no idea. I don't even know her. And as far as I know, I'm no lord."Susan, the new shock appearing to have pulled her out of her previous reverie, gave a small laugh before interrupting.
"Actually, Harry, you are. The Potters are a very old, and very noble house. My own house, the Bones, are purebloods as well, although nowhere near as prominent." That explanation earned her sharp looks from both boys, Ron's awed while Harry's was a mixture of both disbelief and curiosity.
"So I actually am noble?" He questioned, not completely sure he had heard right. It couldn't be possible, or he would've known, right? If nothing else, Hagrid would've told him, even if he had been distracted by getting Harry his school supplies. Unless he hadn't actually known. That could've been true.
"Yes, extremely. The Potters are practically royalty. Only a few houses have lineages going back as far as yours, such as the Longbottoms or the Malfoys. Black was another, but from what I've heard, they're almost wiped out."
"Well so is my family, right? I mean, it's not like I've got any other family members." Harry suddenly threw her a fierce look as the thought entered his mind. If he actually had other family out there… Harry wasn't sure what he would do. "Do I?" To Harry's disappointment, however, Susan shook her head.
"Not that I'm aware. However you, at least, are still around to carry on the name. Supposedly the last few Blacks are serving life sentences in Azkaban, though I'm not sure why." Harry started to respond to that, but was interrupted by the sight of Professor McGonagall sweeping down the hall in her emerald robes. The crowd of students, which had grown considerably while they talked, followed in her wake, entering the classroom. It was a simple thing, wooden desks arranged in straight rows. At the front of the classroom was a much larger desk than the others, and more ornate as well. Harry figured that must be McGonagall's both by the placement and the style. It looked just as severe as her.
As the students filtered out to find seats, Harry managed to grab three off in the corner for him and Ron. Somehow, while he was doing that he failed to notice Luna sneak up and take another adjacent seat, only seeing her once they were finally seated. Glancing around the room while he waited for McGonagall, who was now standing right in front of her desk and scanning the classroom, to speak, Harry quickly took stock of all the people he knew. Obviously, Ron, Susan, and Luna were all sitting by or near him. Hermione, who had now put away her book and looked to be bouncing in her seat as she waited for the Professor to start talking, was located just a few rows away. Most curiously however, was Draco, who took one glance at him and the others before smoothly taking a seat located all the way across the room from them. It almost looked like he was purposely avoiding their group, although Harry had no idea why that would be the case. Maybe it had to do with the whole Nobility thing Susan had been talking about. She had mentioned that the Malfoy's were on equal terms with the Potter's, so rivalry perhaps? That would also explain why he went in their compartment on the train, if he was scoping out the competition. Still, it seemed a bit strange for an eleven year old boy to be so involved in politics already, but then again, they were wizards. From what Harry had seen, the magical community seemed to be firmly rooted in the dark ages, so it might not be all that uncommon, especially with purebloods like him. Either way, Harry quickly shoved those thoughts out of his head so that he could listen to McGonagall's inevitable speech. They weren't all that important anyways.
Harry honestly expected the aged witch to give them this long speech about respect and safety, and all that stuff teachers normally go on about, but he was sorely disappointed. McGonagall merely stated that she would brook no messing about in her classroom, gave a short demonstration on the spell to turn a match into a needle, and then passed out several of the former to the students, making it clear that she meant for them to attempt the same. If she's always this efficient, Harry thought to himself as he took his own match, she might just earn my respect by the end of these seven years. As soon as the students all realized that they weren't going to be receiving anything else, the class suddenly filled with the noise of several dozen eleven year olds shouting and waving, trying to force their matches to become sharp and pointy through whatever means they could come up with. The only pause came about twenty minutes after the class had already started, when two boys resembling fat gorillas walked into the room, still stuffing their mouths with what was left of breakfast. Everybody suddenly stopped what they were doing to stare at them, making the whole room turn so quiet, you could hear a pin drop- if anyone had actually managed to transfigure their match, that was.
As the students all watched the two boys, who seemed oblivious to the fact that not only were they ridiculously late to the first day of class, but they had also interrupted the lesson, Harry noticed that something else wasn't exactly right. As soon as this registered, he began to scan the room, mentally cataloguing everything he saw. There were the few students he recognized by name, another few who's faces at least seemed familiar, the two latecomers that Harry vaguely recognized as the ones that had been bothering Draco at the opening feast, the Professor's desk with the cat on it... wait, what?
Harry instantly zeroed in on the ornate desk. There, on the corner, was a grey striped tabby cat, with strange markings around the eyes, sitting as still as if it were carved from stone. What the hell it was doing there, Harry had no idea, but he figured it probably had something to do with the fact that as he also glanced around the room to see if anyone else noticed the new addition, he couldn't seem to find Professor McGonagall. She couldn't possibly be the cat, though. Right?
A few seconds later, that question was answered as the tabby suddenly jumped off the desk, and he was witness to one of the strangest sights he had or ever would see. The cat's skin seemed to flow outward, expanding into a vaguely humanoid shape before a ripple went through it, molding that shape into the form of McGonagall, fully clothed and a rather stern expression on her face as she stared down the two boys, whose mouths were now hanging open so wide the pastry's that had been stuffing them fell out onto the floor with an audible plop. Harry didn't blame them, really, since he was struggling to keep his own jaw from hitting the floor. Several seconds went by as the Professor continued to glare at the boys, causing the tension in the room to build as everyone practically held their breaths in anticipation of the coming reprimand. It had almost become unbearable, and Harry was starting to think of some witty comment just to break the silence, when McGonagall finally spoke.
"Well, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, It's a pleasure for you to finally join us. I trust you had no problem finding your way here?" Crabbe and Goyle gave her dull looks, like they were unable to decipher the thick sarcasm layering her words, before the one on the right, Harry wasn't sure which it was, shrugged.
"No, we were found it okay, Professor." Harry, a grin already growing on his face in amusement, had to slap a hand to his mouth to prevent himself from laughing at the utterly oblivious answer, as did several other students. What, were they complete idiots? Harry's mirth disappeared a few moments later, however, when he saw the rather terrifying frown that had twisted the Professor's face. Yikes, he did not want to be on the receiving end of that. The sight of it made Harry start to doubt his attempts at cheek the night before. Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea to anger this particular teacher.
Harry watched as McGonagall studied the two large boys with narrow eyes, before turning to walk back to her desk, cloak sweeping behind her as she said with barely concealed anger, "Twenty points from Slytherin, and a detention each. Do try to be on time to your next class, and perhaps this will convince you to finish your meals before arriving. Or at least think of an excuse." This time Harry and most of the class couldn't stop at least a few sniggers from creeping out. A few students weren't laughing, though. The other Slytherin's, excepting Malfoy, were instead glaring balefully at Crabbe and Goyle, who were now looking quite shameful. Thick-skulled though they seemed, at least they were smart enough to realize they were in big trouble. Harry didn't envy their reception into the Slytherin common room that night.
Harry barely watched as the two attempted to sit by Draco, but were quickly sent away by a rather venomous glare as the class continued their work now that the temporary entertainment was done, instead letting his thoughts turn towards the changes to himself he hadn't had the time or energy to contemplate the previous night.
The most obvious change, at least to anyone else, was his eyes. When the eleven year old had checked this morning in the mirror, they remained their new golden color, and he was still unable to figure out why. Harry intended to fix that as soon as he had time to find the school library. Surely it would have some kind of hint. Another change to do with his eyes, although it wasn't outwardly visible and most people likely wouldn't notice it, was his sight. Harry had always had rather bad sight, everything being far too blurry to even attempt to identify if he wasn't wearing his glasses. Now though, his sight was far better than even when he wore them. Harry had no idea if it could be classified as perfect, since he himself had never experienced such a thing, but it must be so. Surely whatever it was that had fixed his sight wouldn't have done so only to quit the job halfway, right? Either way, it was the only change Harry didn't really mind, even with all the questions it brought to mind.
The next change was his strange new sensitivity to magic. He could feel it humming in the air, and see it twisting around the walls of the castle. He had found, as he was now fully awake enough to process it all, that he could not always truly see the magic permeating the castle, as it move and hid, but Harry had no doubt that he definitely saw more than most of his classmates, if they saw anything. The only constant source of magical light were the various runes that seemed to cover nearly every inch of the castle, which Harry was starting to suspect the others couldn't see either. The one time he had mentioned them at breakfast, Susan was the only one to understand him, Ron and the other Gryffindors only giving him confused looks. It was interesting to look at them, but Harry had found the most interesting aspect of this gift was the aura's of his classmates. While the boy couldn't quite see them, he felt like he almost could, as if they were hiding just out of sight. He definitely got a feeling as to what color they would be not to mention how 'bright' it would be, if he could see it.
Take the Hermione girl for example. Her aura gave him a sense of deep chocolate brown, warm and intelligent. It was also rather powerful, almost overshadowing those of the students closest to her. She was nowhere near the golden, blue, or even twisted green and silver of Susan, Luna, or Draco though. It was a direct contrast to the faint orange of Ron, who had practically disappeared in the sea of colors around the classroom. While Harry quite enjoyed looking at the different colors though, the strange new sense also brought many questions to the forefront of his mind, such as why he had it, and why it had only appeared the day he left for school?
Aside from that, there was another change, one which spawned more questions than ever, and also felt like it could be the answer to all of them. The strange marking on his chest, which even now he hid underneath his robes, seemed likely to be at the center of this matter. After all, the other changes had only appeared after it, and Harry had a strange feeling it was very important. Funnily enough, he felt marked as important by it, even more so than his scar. Perhaps the lion drawing was something similar, the mark of some powerful magic that was giving him all of these abilities? If so, that brought to mind three important questions. First, who had cast this magic on him? Second, Why had they done so? And lastly, most definitely not the least important, what abilities might either his magical markings be granting him that he had yet to discover? Harry had no idea, but he intended to find out.
Once Harry had finally sorted out all his thoughts, he quickly realized that there really wasn't anything he could do at the moment to answer any of his questions, so, frustrated, he turned to frown at the match that had stubbornly refused to react to his various attempts to cast the simple transfiguration spell on it. Perhaps he was doing something wrong? With that thought, Harry decided to instead of foolishly wave his wand at it and say a few words hoping for it to do something, perhaps he should try to think about it. To do so, he set his wand down and instead wrapped his hand under his chin to rest his head on them as he stared at the match, contemplating the assignment. McGonagall had shown them the wand movement and taught them the incantation, but when Harry really thought about it, there surely had to be something more to the magic than just that/ Otherwise, people like the Dursleys could just pick up a wand and use it, if shown how. No, there had to be something that separated the Muggles from the Magicals.
That last thought was what finally told him what he was looking for, and the realization sent him mentally reeling at his idiocy. His magic was inside of him! It was what separated him and the people around him from everyone else, so of course the only thing that could make sense was that it was actually inside of his , if he was to manage to cast a spell, he would have to actually pull on it. Really, how could he have expected something to happen just because he waved a stick and said a few words. The wand was a tool to direct his power, and the words instruction for it, or maybe just a way to focus his intent, but the power had to come from him directly. As such, he had to purposefully harness his magic and feed it into the spell, but how to do so?
It wasn't long before Harry remembered the one and only time he could recall ever feeling his magic, when he had bought his Holly and Phoenix feather wand from Ollivander's. As soon as he had gripped it, the wondrous sensation that Harry would never forget had washed over him, allowing him to truly feel magic. Now that Harry could remember that feeling, he set about digging deep into himself, reaching for that warm feeling. It wasn't long before he found it, interestingly enough in the same place as the lion tattoo, directly over his heart, beating in time with it.
As Harry for the first time became consciously aware of his magical core, he realized that Luna was right, he did glow. The magic was a deep crimson, far too vast for his eleven year old mind to fully comprehend. As he tentatively reached into the well of power, he suddenly recoiled his consciousness as it started to flood out into his body, feeling him with power. Harry froze for a second, marveling at the feeling of his magic flooding through him once again. He was so enraptured by the sensation that he barely even noticed that it was far more than the last time he had felt it, instead slowly taking up his wand. Now that he had managed to access his magic, Harry was determined to see if he was right in his idea.
Calmly facing the match once more, Harry grabbed hold of his magic and channeled it through his wand as he waved it in the correct manner, repeating the incantation McGonagall had given them at the beginning of class. He watched in awe as the power wrapped around the match, transforming it into a bright silver like the one that was still on McGonagall's desk. Harry could hardly believe his eyes. He had actually done it! He had cast a spell, successfully turning his match into a needle. Glancing around, Harry looked to see if anyone else had managed it. Only Hermione had made a difference, her match having turned all shiny and pointy, but even then it was still a match. He was, however, getting strange looks from the other three sensors in the class, and Harry looked away sheepishly. He had probably attracted their attention with his little show. He really had used far more power than he had needed to make the spell work.
With his work done, Harry considered telling McGonagall, but quickly discarded the thought. He didn't really feel like looking like some kind of genius when all of his other classmates had barely even managed to touch their match. McGonagall herself had said she didn't expect any of them to manage a full transfiguration that day. He would just wait until the end of class when he wouldn't attract as much attention. God knew he had enough already. Instead he decided to wait quietly for the bell, only looking up when he felt flares from three already familiar sources of magic Well, it looked like at least some people had managed to figure it out. Harry wondered if perhaps the whole point of the class was just to test the students on their ability to harness their magic. If so, McGonagall was going to be in for a surprise.
It didn't take long for the class to end, Harry already having spent much of it thinking before he finished the assignment. McGonagall, who had been silently fuming at her desk after the arrival of Crabbe and Goyle waved most of them out before saying, "Potter, Malfoy, Bones, and Lovegood, if you would stay behind a moment." For a second, Harry worried that he was already going to be in trouble, but then he realized that the Professor had also picked out the other three who had managed the transformation. That probably meant that she was planning on congratulating them instead. Worries abated, Harry calmly lined up in front of the stern Professor's desk with the other three, a small smile widening his face as McGonagall inspected the four of them. Her eyes seemed to tighten just a bit when she saw it, but it didn't look like it was in anger, so he refused to drop the smile. After a few seconds of watching them, the woman finally seemed to complete her intimidation routine, letting a small smile play across her lips.
"Dumbledore warned me that there would be some very talented students in my class, but I had not truly expected it to be so. Good job, all of you, and twenty points to each of your houses." Harry raised an eyebrow in curiosity. First of all, it was almost creepy to see the normally stern woman smile, Harry had to suppress a shiver at the sight of it. Secondly, Dumbledore knew about their… abnormalness? Maybe he would have to go talk to the old man at some point. For some reason though, the thought didn't sit well with him, especially as he remembered the calculating aura from the previous night. Maybe he shouldn't interact with him, lest Harry get caught up in some sort of magical politics he knew nothing about.
Harry and the others all waited a few more seconds for the Professor to continue, but after a bit it became obvious that she had meant her reward as a dismissal. Even as Harry made his way out of the classroom with the others on his heels, he almost snorted at the thought. Wasn't it actually kind of pointless to give all the houses the same exact reward? You might as well have given them nothing since the change had been even. Still, Harry supposed it was a nice acknowledgement of their success without treating one better than the other. It would seem McGonagall was a fair woman after all.
It didn't take Harry and Susan, who was following him, long to find Ron since he had apparently been waiting outside the classroom for them. The redhead seemed relieved when they told him the teacher had merely wanted to congratulate them on their work, but was envious when he learned that they had managed to fully transfigure their matches. "Oh, come on, how'd you do it? Mine didn't change a bit, and that Hermione kept rubbing it in my face. 'No, you're not supposed to swing it that hard!' Honestly, she's full of herself." Harry had to stop himself from giving the other boy a glare. He didn't understand why Ron thought that giving someone advice meant someone was full of herself. Even Susan was frowning slightly as Ron continued to go on and on about Hermione. Still, Harry pushed it out of his mind as they continued walking towards their next class. Eventually though, Ron got past the bushy haired girl to start gloating over the punishment of Crabbe and Goyle. "And did you see the look on McGonagall's face? I'm glad you seem to know your way around this place, mate, or we'd have suffered the same fate." Harry just shook his head at the redhead. Sure it was funny, but he didn't really see the need to gloat over the punishment of two boys they didn't know, even if they were in Slytherin. Ron really needed to get over the whole house rivalry thing. Harry could already see it causing problems.
As they walked though, Harry thought about the class they had just finished, and the magic he had had felt so good to do magic. Hopefully, the next class would be just as fun. Hogwarts was already starting to feel like home.