A/N Before you guys read the chapter, I should let you know that I changed Daphne's house from Ravenclaw back to Slytherin. Since I lost a lot of the work I had done, I redid some of my plans, and that means she needs to be back in Slytherin. Enjoy.
Chapter 6
Harry stretched his arms out as he and Ron exited the Herbology classroom and headed back to the common to change for broom practice, walking right past Gabriel, who was waiting for them.
"Okay, am I allowed to already say that I do not like Herbology? I'd rather be back in Potions than in that classroom."
"It wasn't that bad," admonished Susan, coming up to join the two boys with Hannah.
"I hate anything to do with plants," grumbled Harry.
"You're being overdramatic, Harry."
"No Hannah, I'm not being dramatic enough! I don't like working with plants. I had enough of that when I was living with my relatives. It was the worst." Harry emphasized this with extreme hand gestures
"Harry, calm down, you can't know that you hate the subject after one class. Give it a week and then you can say that you hate it and I will give you a whole hour to complain about it," responded Ron. "Wow, I can't believe I just said that."
"Why?" asked Harry as he slumped over in disappointment that everyone was reprimanding him. Ron raised his eyebrow at him.
"A month ago, I would have been too lazy to do any work on my own. Now I'm telling you to give a class a chance before hating it. If it hadn't been for that month we spent together, I would be right there with you on hating the class."
"Come on Ron, you couldn't have been that bad," said Hannah as she looked at the ginger-haired boy.
"Oh, I was bad. I was lazy to the point that I didn't care about anything unless it involved chess or quidditch," replied Ron as they got to the barrels. Ron tapped the password on the barrel and then climbed in before walking through the passageway to the door of the common room. "We'll see you down here in 5."
"Yep," replied Susan as she and Hannah headed up the stairs to go change for broom practice. Harry and Ron headed up to their room and opened their trunks to change their clothes. First, they took off their robes and placed it on their beds. Next, they undid their ties, and threw their dress shirts and pants into the dirty laundry. After he had taken off his shirt, Harry let Hedwig slither off of him and onto the bed.
"I'll stay here while you go to broom practice. I don't think I want to be up in the air."
"Alright, have fun then!"
Harry and Ron then put on some loose pants, and t-shirts. The two then pulled on yellow and black sweaters before finally putting their robes back on and heading down the stairs to meet up with Susan and Hannah. On their way down, they passed Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias.
"See you two in front of the castle." Harry and Ron nodded as they continued down to the common room. Seeing as Susan and Hannah weren't down yet, Harry just sat down in one of the chairs and waited for the girls to come down.
"Alright we're ready!" Harry turned to see Hannah and Susan come down dressed in similar clothes to what he and Ron were wearing.
"Let's go then!" Harry and Ron walked out of the common room with Susan and Hannah following closely behind. After they exited the barrel, the group started talking about Quidditch.
"So, Harry doesn't have a favorite quidditch team yet, despite having known about the sport for a month?" asked Susan. Harry nodded. Susan turned to Ron.
"How did you not convince him to support your team?"
"Cause he had me working with him to learn half of every single subject except Herbology and Potions. I didn't really have time to force a Quidditch team on him. And if you're trying to get him to like your team, don't bother. I already have to contend with Daphne and her Tushstill Tornadoes!"
"Wait," asked Hannah. "Daphne is a Tornadoes supporter?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Oh, that's brilliant. If he chooses them, then both Daphne and I win," crowed Hannah. "Tough luck Susie, looks like I already have one up on you!"
"Oh no you don't Hannah! Harry is going to be converted to Puddlemere United!" Harry stared at his three friends in shock as they argued over who he would support.
"Why would he go to your Puddlemere?" asked Ron in derision.
"Please, we have Benjy Williams. Besides, it's not like the Cannons have anyone good. You guys are where old players go to get one last paycheck, not to play for a top league spot."
"Oi, we have Galvin Gudgeon!"
"Who hit his prime when we were toddlers! Face it, Ron. The Cannons aren't a desirable spot for any Quidditch player." Ron growled at Hannah's statement and turned to Harry.
"You support me, right Harry?"
"Harry doesn't have an opinion! He needs to watch one game of each team before making a decision!"
"And when are we going to have time to do that?" asked Ron. "It's not like we can just tell Sprout, 'hey professor, we're going to three quidditch matches so Harry can decide who he likes'. We'd just get laughed at and told no!"
"Then we go during winter break and summer break," replied Susan dismissively.
"So, we have to wait until at least next year before he decides?"
"Yep." Ron narrowed his eyes.
"Fine. But I propose a bet. Whoever's team Harry decides to support will get a jersey for him or her and Harry paid for by the other three."
"Three?" asked Susan.
"We're including Daphne. We'll tell her at the study session tonight."
"Deal."
"Do I get a say in this?" asked Harry, feeling very left out of the conversation.
"Nope," said Ron. "You may get to make decisions about studying and learning, but I get full control over your wizarding immersion, and this is an important part of your immersion." Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"Fine. But you guys are paying for the tickets." Ron froze.
"Oh, I'm going to need to find a way to pay for the cannon tickets. Wait, I'm getting paid by you for helping with studying still, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Sweet! I'll use that money to pay for our tickets. I got it all covered!" crowed Ron as he grinned happily. Any further conversation was cut off as they arrived at the field where Madam Hooch was waiting with all the Slytherins already there, though they were still in their formal attire.
"I'm glad to see at least the Hufflepuffs thought ahead and decided to change into easy to move clothing. Find a broom and stand to the left of it. We'll give your classmates a few more minutes before we start." Harry went over and stood next to Daphne.
"Hey Daphne."
"Harry. Are you ready to help me with my learning at 7 tonight after dinner?"
"Yes, yes. I'll see you at the library at 7. But we'll have Susan, Hannah, Justin, and Ernie joining us as well." Daphne shrugged.
"That's fine with me." It didn't take long for the remaining Hufflepuffs to come down to the field. Madam Hooch walked down the line of students as she talked.
"Welcome to Flight class. I am Madam Hooch, your flying instructor. In this class, you will all be learning how to summon broom, how to take off, how stay in the air in a safe fashion, and how to land. Today's lesson will be summoning your broom from the ground and taking off safely. Stick your right hand over your broom and in a firm voice say 'up'. Got it?"
"Yes, Madam Hooch."
"Good. Get to it." Harry extended his right arm over the broom besides him and in a commanding voice said, "Up!" The broom reacted immediately, jumping up into the air and into his hands. Harry grinned at the fact that he had been able to do that correctly.
Harry looked around and saw that only a few of his classmates had been able to do it on their first try as well. Terry Boot was smirking at Crabbe and Goyle, who was struggling to summon his broom into his hand. Wayne's broom was just rolling around. Harry snickered at Ron who had been hit in the forehead by his broom's handle before it went back onto the ground. Ron glared at Harry before trying again.
Daphne too was having trouble. When she said 'up', instead of going right into her hand, it went up a few feet off the ground, but wouldn't go right into her hand.
"Up!" growled Daphne as she glared down at the floating broom. The broom went up another few inches, but not high enough to be in her hand. Daphne took a deep breath before letting out a more pronounced and focused attempt. "Up." The curt command was said with all the intent that she could muster, similar to how she had pictured the feather floating in Charms class earlier in the day. Almost immediately, the broom shot up into her hand.
"Finally," snickered Harry as he watched Daphne struggle with her broom. "Only took you three tries."
"Shut up, Harry. Not all of us get the easy path." Harry shrugged as he held his broom. Madam Hooch walked down the line again as she started give out her next set of instructions.
"Good. Now that you have summoned your brooms to hand, you will mount your brooms. But do not push off." Madam Hooch mounted her broom and floated into the sky as the entire class mounted their brooms. "Now, I want you all the gently push off. And only float a few feet off the ground."
Harry, having already placed his broom in between his legs gently pushed with his right foot. Harry slowly floated up into the sky, though he struggled not to go much higher than a few feet. Around him, Harry noticed his classmates also having the same problem. Justin was about level with Madam Hooch and had to be forcefully lowered by her. Hannah had somehow found herself underneath Susan. Meanwhile, Ron was somewhat shaky, but still floating with a bit of confidence. Harry shook his head as he watched the disaster that was bound to happen.
Harry turned his head to see Daphne floating in the air with grace and practiced ease. Harry raised his eyebrow ins shock.
"Don't look at me like that," said Daphne. "Just cause I couldn't easily summon my broom doesn't mean I've never ridden one. I could probably outfly most of the people here except maybe Madam Hooch."
"Wow, you sure are confident."
"I'm a Greengrass. It's expected of me to do well in everything. And fortunately, that includes flying."
"If you are so good at everything, why do you need my help to start learning our first year material?" asked Harry as he watched Madam Hooch rush around to make sure that there were no accidents.
"Because you already have learned it and I want to get ahead of the curve, just like you and Ron are doing."
"You do know that Ron would be totally okay not getting ahead of the curve, right? He is doing it because I pay him to study ahead with me. He'd be just fine learning it at a normal pace and playing chess all day."
"…you're paying him to study ahead with you? Why?" asked Daphne, incredulous. Her respect for both Harry and Ron dropping a little.
"Hey, I get a great deal. He learns a lot, I get a study buddy, and my happenstance, we became good friends. I even got to meet his older brother, Charlie." Daphne was about to respond when they heard Madam Hooch yell at them.
"Greengrass! Potter! Get down here!" yelled Madam Hooch, who had noticed that Daphne and Harry were floating in a controlled about 10 feet off the ground. Obliging, the two floated down. Harry wobbled as he tried to make sure that he didn't land too fast and hurt himself. Daphne, on the other hand, gracefully landed before dismounting. "Wonderful job, Mr. Potter, Ms. Greengrass. 20 points to Slytherin and 10 points to Hufflepuff."
"Mate, why are you so god damned good at everything?" asked Ron when Harry landed.
"Daphne was better than me though! And you were doing just as well as I was!" protested Harry.
"Yeah, but that was your first time on your broom. I've ridden a broom quite a few times. No one should be that good at everything!"
"Herbology."
"Oh and what about charms and transfiguration? And don't try the 'we studied our butts off' excuse. I was there with you and you picked those two subjects up like a fish in water."
"Uh…I have no idea?" asked Harry as he backed away from Ron's incessant questioning.
"Honestly Harry. Your ability to learn everything super easily without struggling all that much is enough to make me green with envy. If I cared more about academics, I'd be so envious of you."
"Wait, you're not? I thought that was the whole point of this stupid conversation."
"Nah, it's just me being an idiot and incredulous of your freaking ability to learn things on the fly. That's what I'm jealous of."
"…of course that's what you'd be jealous of. Not the fact that I can pick up magic more easily than normal, but because I can fly like it's second nature despite this being my first time on a broom," deadpanned Harry as he looked at his friend with an exasperated look, rolling his eyes.
"What? I haven't changed that much that I am no longer obsessed with quidditch. And to be good at quidditch, you have to be good at flying." Harry just smiled at his friend as he listened to the next set of instructions from Madam Hooch.
"Alright you lot, since the majority of you have demonstrated that you are at least able to take off and land, you are free to fly around at a slow pace around the field. If I see anyone going fast, you will be taken out of the air and in detention faster than you can say 'Hogwarts'. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Madam Hooch!"
"Good. Enjoy yourselves but meet me back here in 20 minutes." Lazily, Harry and Ron kicked off again, floating through the air so as not to incur the wrath of Madam Hooch. Soon enough, the class was over, and Harry returned to the ground to return the broom to Madam Hooch. After landing, all the first years took their brooms to the nearby shed.
"Do you guys still want to meet at the library after dinner?" asked Harry as he, Daphne, Ron, Susan, and Hannah walked back up to the castle.
"Yeah," replied Daphne. "Do you mind if I bring one of my classmates, Tracey Davis? She and I were discussing transfiguration during lunch and I mentioned how you agreed to help me and now she wants in as well. Sorry about inviting someone without asking."
"That's fine," said Harry, brushing Daphne's concerns off. "I'll you at the library around dinner. I'm going to back to the common room to change out of these clothes and maybe do some studying. I don't really don't want to do the homework."
"Why?"
"Cause I already know most of it. I could do it easily, but the action of having to write it all down when I know all the material reasonably well is a pain in the ass."
"So," said Susan from behind Harry, spooking the boy-who-lived, "You're being lazy."
"Jeez, Susan, how long have you been right behind me?"
"Since we left the field."
"Whatever. Yes, I guess I am being lazy, but only because I already learned all this stuff! I just don't want to write the freaking homework."
"Just do it, you big baby," grumbled Ron. "If I have to do it, then you have to do it, Mr. I want to learn everything." Harry pouted at Ron.
"You don't have to throw my love for learning right in my face," moaned Harry.
"Well, this is where we split," said Daphne as they reached the entranced to the great hall. The Slytherin dungeon is in the opposite direction of where the Hufflepuff common room is rumored to be located. Any chance I can know?"
"Not before hedgehogs can fly without magic," called Harry over his shoulder as he waved bye to Daphne and headed in the opposite direction. Harry and his friends entered their common room through the barrels and they all headed up to their respective rooms to change.
Harry grabbed his charms, herbology, and transfiguration textbooks and brought them down to the common room where Susan and Hannah had already taken a table and spread out their textbooks and taken out a piece of parchment, ink, and a quill to start their homework.
"You two already starting?" asked Harry as he and Ron pulled a chair over to their table and set up their work space.
"Yeah, we're starting with charms. How would you utilize the levitation charm?"
"Oh, that's an easy one. First, there's how I used it in potions, where I got Neville's cauldron off of his stove before the quills entered the potion, preventing an explosion in the potion's lab, but that is one that wouldn't be a very common usage as there are probably better spells that could raise the potion off the fire much more quickly and easier. The next purpose I can think of is to carry objects that you don't have the strength to lift. This would be especially useful for people who are recovering from a severe illness and don't have the strength to pick anything up or the elderly, who again, have no strength left in their bodies."
"Okay, but that is for in the home and in a classic retail job. But how would you use it if you were an auror?" asked Susan.
"A what now?" asked Harry.
"Magic police, Harry," said Ron as he wrote his own ideas on his parchment.
"Oh, well for the aurors, I'm not exactly sure how they would use it. Maybe levitating a body, but again, there's probably a better spell for that. The other use I could think of is if they are levitating a fellow auror up to or down from a high perch and they have no access to others of getting up there like a broom or that instantaneous teleporation. What was it called, apporition?"
"Apparition," corrected Susan.
"Yeah, that. And I guess it could also be used to carry a bunch of different items at once as well from crime scenes and whatnot. What were you thinking it could be used for?" asked Harry as he began to write down his answers.
"Well I was thinking along the same lines for you in terms of the spell being helpful when it came to manual labor. But I was also thinking it could be especially useful when handling potions ingredients that can't be touched by human skin due to the fact that our skin could contaminate the ingredient."
"There are ingredients like that?" asked Harry in surprise.
"Yeah. I think the best example is a Harpy's feather. It is so easy for them to get contaminated from human touch. And my other idea is that it can be used to levitate physical objects to block spells. Let's say someone is sending a lethal spell at you, but is not one that will cause the object to explode. You could levitate an object in front of you to block spell instead of dodging."
"So, if it was a knock-back spell, you could use a rock to block it instead of actually dodging?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, that's the idea. My aunt mentioned she used to do that when she was an active auror before she took her job as Director of Magical Law Enforcement."
"Hmm, well then wouldn't mean if you can identify each spell based on its color, and you could make that split-second decision, you would be able to determine whether you even needed to dodge and use a physical shield instead rather than an actual shield spell?" asked Harry.
"I guess. But no one could accurately identify each spell. Some spells don't have a color, like silencio. And many spells have similar colors. The stunning spell is known to be red and it's not like it's the only spell that creates red."
"Okay, so maybe knowing what most spells look like to make that split decision isn't possible, but known the major incendiary spells wouldn't be as hard, right?"
"Maybe. I wouldn't know since I've never seen any of those spells performed. That's something that we would have to look up," replied Susan.
"Uh, guys?" Susan and Harry turned to Hannah. "You're getting a little off topic. Aren't we supposed to be working on our homework so we don't have any to do later and we can just focus on learning new material and reinforcing what we learned today. If not, we'll have to do our actual homework after Harry's teaching session."
"Alright," grumbled Harry. "but that dueling conversation was just starting to get interesting."
"Harry!" Harry looked down to see Hedwig had slithered all the way down from his dorm room. Harry reached down to pick up his pet snake and let her slither up and around his arm.
"Hi Hedwig, what's up?"
"I'm bored. What are you doing?"
"Going over homework," replied Harry, oblivious to Susan and Hannah staring at him like he had grown a second head. Ron wasn't paying attention.
"Harry, can you understand her?" asked Susan slowly.
"Yeah."
"You speak parsletongue?"
"Mhm."
"Has Ron not told you the connotations associated with a wizard or witch that speaks that language?"
"Hey, I told him! He's just an idiot. Has no sense for reading the room. He probably thought you two would be totally okay with it since you readily volunteered to help him with the book problem last night and the fact that the common room is completely empty," replied Ron, not taking his eyes off his parchment.
"Hey! I'm not that bad…though you aren't wrong?"
"Of course I'm not. I know you better than these two. What was McGonagall's homework?"
"Uh…how to use the needle-changing spell in the real world," replied Harry as he reached into his bag to grab his transfiguration textbook and another piece of parchment seeing as how he had finished his charms homework. "So what do you want me to do about you being bored, Hedwig?"
"Can you let me out it into the grass?"
"Couldn't you get Minunn to take you down?"
"Stupid bird won't even listen to me. Just flew out the window earlier this morning and hasn't been back since."
"I'll take out to the fields after I finish my homework. And if we're not done by dinner time, I'll stop outside before heading to dinner. We're going to have to figure a way for you to do this without my assistance."
"Get the bloody bird to help and it wouldn't be a problem," hissed Hedwig before disappearing under Harry's clothes.
"I get the feeling that she was bored," grinned Ron.
"Yep. And Minunn apparently was being a jerk and left her in the room without taking her with him when he decided to go flying. Pretty sure he's staying with the owls tonight seeing as how Hedwig said that he hadn't returned yet."
"Oh, I bet she loved that."
"Totally."
|2 hours later|
Harry stretched as he put down his quill and stood up. Finishing up the charms and transfiguration homework wasn't that hard. Harry was already pretty well versed in both subjects. Potions was also easy enough.
It just took a little bit of reading the textbook for Harry to write an overview of the next potion and understand what the porcupine quills did to the other ingredients that caused it to explode while being exposed to heat. And coming up with uses was incredibly easy. It was herbology that gave Harry the most trouble. All the while Ron was laughing at him that he was struggling with the subject related to plants.
"This is so hilarious," laughed Ron as Harry frowned at his friend. "The one subject that you struggle with is one of the easiest! This is pure gold."
"Herbology isn't that easy Ron," growled Harry.
"Yes it is, Harry," said Susan. She then pointed to all the other Hufflepuffs who had since come to the common room, with all of them nodding their heads that it was indeed their easiest subject.
"I hate you all."
"Cheer up, Harry. At least now we know you are human. You are terrible at something!"
"…is that something to cheer up about?" asked Harry in confusion.
"It is when so far you are good at Charms, Trans, and flying. So far you're just so-so at potions. And we'll see how DADA goes."
"Whatever," grumbled Harry. "Can we go to dinner now? Plus, I need to let Hedwig out."
"Sure," replied a humored Susan as she packed her bag. Harry did the same, throwing his textbooks and parchment into his bottomless shoulder bag. Harry went up to his room to see Minunn pruning on Harry's bed.
"Minunn, can you take Hedwig out and bring her back?" asked Harry, looking at his raven. Minunn just cocked his head and stared at Harry before extending one of his claws.
"He better not drop me and kill me," grumbled Hedwig as she slithered out from under Harry's clothes and into the snug grip of Minunn's claws. Cawing, the raven flew out through the open window to let Hedwig roam for a little bit. Harry grinned as he came down the steps.
"Good news! I don't have to worry about Hedwig now. I got Minunn to take her out. Now we can just go to the library after dinner." The four friends headed down to the great hall, not having many problems as they were more familiar with the layout of Hogwarts than they had been that morning. That being said, they were forced to consult the map a few times when they accidentally got moved to the wrong floor when a staircase moved.
|Great Hall|
"Harry, Ron, Susan, Hannah!" Harry grinned when he saw Justin and Ernie had saved a seat for all of them. The four friends took a seat next to Justin and Ernie and began serving themselves some food. Harry grabbed a leg of roast chicken, some asparagus, and mashed potatoes. He then poured himself some water.
"How's your guys evening been?" asked Harry as he dug into his meal.
"Pretty good. Ventured into the library to get some of the homework done. This way, we wouldn't have to do anything after the study session we're having this evening."
"Which, by the way is a terrible idea," grumbled Harry, "I have no idea why we are having. It's only the first day. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be teaching all of you."
"I'm sure Daphne has some idea though," countered Ron. "It was her idea in the first place."
"Why does this sound like I'm just going to be showing everyone how to do the spells that we learned over the summer?" asked Harry as he picked up the chicken.
"Cause, it probably will be," replied Ron with a face-splitting grin. "You get to do the whole charms, trans, and DADA textbooks all over again, while somehow finding time to teach yourself the new spells from where we stopped after the summer."
"Why are you smiling? You're helping me." Ron's grin faltered and he looked at Harry in confusion.
"What?"
"Yes."
"No! I don't want to help."
"You're my best friend. This is a mandatory obligation. If I have to suffer through this, then you do as well."
"Whatever. Bloody slave driver of a friend. Makes me learn half the curriculum with him in a month. Now makes me help him teach everyone else what we already learned. Could have been lazy. Could have just minded my own business. Just had to make friends with the bloody boy-who-lived," grumbled Ron.
"Too late, Ron," said Susan as she picked stabbed some asparagus and put them in her mouth. "But look on the bright side. At least you have friends and aren't a rude Gryffindor that would have just cared about eating and flying. Cause let's face it, based off of what you have told me about yourself before coming to Hogwarts, that's exactly what you would have ended up as."
"…mean but true," conceded Ron.
"So, you guys are still having the study session?" asked Justin. "Is it still fine if Ernie and I tag along?"
"Of course," said Hannah. "Ron will be delighted to have more people to teach." Ron gave the Hannah the stink eye who only eye-smiled at her friend.
"What is this about a study group?" Harry turned to see Cedric standing behind him.
"Uh, for some reason, these idiots think that I can teach," replied Harry, pointing at his group of friends, who just waved at Cedric.
"Well, if you all ever need any help, don't hesitate to ask one of the upper years. Most of us would be more than happy to help you with studying for your classes. But it's the first day, you shouldn't be having that much work…"
"Exactly!" yelled Harry. "Yet these buffoons want me to teach them."
"Actually," commented Susan, "We didn't originally ask you. That was Daphne. And it's your fault for showing off and having multiple objects rotate around you this morning at breakfast. You shouldn't have drawn so much attention to yourself."
"But-"
"No buts Harry," interrupted a grinning Ernie. "Now let's hurry up and finish dinner so we can head over to the library."
"Fine," grumbled Harry. Harry looked up to see Daphne watching him from the Slytherin table and he indicated with his head that they'd be heading out of the great hall soon to go to the library soon. Daphne nodded and went back to her meal and conversation with her housemates.
"So are we just going to go over the next spells that we are going to be learning in class or we are doing anything specific?" asked Ernie.
"Um, like I said I have no idea what I'm supposed to be teaching you all. Come on, let's head to the library. I'll think of something," said Harry, standing up and grabbing his book bag after finishing his cup of water. As they walked, Harry took out his wand and began spinning it in his palm.
"You do have some idea, right?" whispered Ron as he caught up to Harry and kept pace with him.
"Mhm. I'm thinking we start them on applying the transformation spell to other objects. Transforming matches into needles is all well and good, but that is terribly useless in the real world. We'll have them transform the match into staffs or we could make them transform simple pencil cases into decorative and fancy pencil cases."
"Sounds good to me. But do you have enough pencil cases for everyone to use?"
"Uh…I could use the duplicating charm on it?"
"Do you even know how to use it?"
"No, but it was a suggestion. It doesn't seem too hard. I think I could probably do it. Barring that, we can just have everyone take turns."
"Alright, but that's not going to take a whole hour."
"Well do you have any ideas, Mr. Smartypants?"
"Your favorite spell, the disarming charm?"
"No, that one requires space to move in order to learn it. It's not as simple as sitting at a desk and practicing. You need to have space to practice on someone else. No, I think that we should something that needs a little less space. Like say, the lumos and nox charm?"
"Works for me," replied Ron.
"What are you two discussing?" asked Ernie as he caught up to the two boys.
"Figuring out what we're going to do. Cause I'm sure that Daphne doesn't have a plan of what she wants me to teach." It didn't take that long for the group to reach the library. Harry walked over to Madam Prince and asked for the study room. Madam Prince led the seven students over to the study room where there was a long table with about 12 chairs for people to sit along with a chalkboard at the front. Harry put his book bag down and immediately reached into his bag and grabbed a matchbook and distribute a match to everyone as well as putting out another two for Daphne when she arrived.
"What is this for? Are we practicing the spell from class today?" asked Ernie.
"Yes, but not quite," replied Harry as he took a match for himself. "Instead of changing it into a needle, you will be changing it into a wooden staff. Watch." Harry placed the match in his hand and focused on what he wanted the match to turn into.
"Communtocus." Harry looked at his hand as he watched the match change shape and grow. Instead of a match, in his hand was oaken staff. The wood was smooth with different hues of brown running along the staff. At the top of the staff was gnarled head.
"That spell can do that?" asked Susan in shock.
"Yes- oh, hello Daphne!" Harry looked over to the door to see Daphne, and who he assumed was her friend, Tracey Davis, enter the room.
"Harry. Why are you holding a staff? What are we learning?"
"Nothing of that sort. I mean, I'm not really a teacher, but I'm just demonstrating how you can use the spell we learned in class today in a different way than what McGongall showed us. Yes, you can use it to turn matches into needles and vice versa, but you can do so much more. You can turn a match into a staff or anything else."
"That's it?" asked Daphne.
"Try it, if you think it's so easy, Daphne," offered Harry, turning his gaze to his Slytherin friend. "It's not as easy as it seems." Daphne picked up the match and stared down at the match. Everyone in the room watched the Slytherin girl in anticipation. Daphne withdrew her wand from her bag and pointed it at the match.
"Communtocus," incanted Daphne. The match started to grow in length but stopped growing at about a 4 inches. And instead of looking like it was made out of a tree, the object just looked like a really long match.
"Easy, huh?" asked Harry. Harry placed his staff down and walked over to Daphne. "This is how you do it. Listen and feel the magic. Feel it flowing through me, the magic that exists within me. And now, communctocus." Harry waved his wand over the giant match and Daphne's eyes widened as it lengthened to about 6 feet, taking on the appearance of a worn oak tree, with rough and uneven surfaces.
"So, what was I doing wrong?" asked Daphne.
"When you used the spell, you used the same amount of magic to transform the match into a staff as you would to transform the match into a needle. With the amount of magic you used, you were lucky it grew that much. While the spell is the same, the amount of magic needed to power the spell is completely different. Think of it like the effort it takes to cook a bowl of pasta compared to the amount of work required to cook a cook." Daphne stared at Harry.
"How the bloody hell do you know all this? You barely know any of the magical pureblood customs, yet you know all this about magic. How much time did you spend on customs compared to magic?"
"A lot more on the magic," said a grinning Harry. "By the way, are you going to introduce your friend?"
"Ah, yes," said Daphne as she stepped to the side. "This is my friend, Tracey Davis. Tracey, this is Harry, Ron, Susan, Hannah, and who are you two?" asked Daphne as she got to Ernie and Justin.
"Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley," replied Ernie. "So, Harry, back to mastering the spell. Theoretically, we could transform this match into anything, right?"
"Yes, but remember the bigger and the more detailed the object you are transforming the match into, the more magic that will be required."
"Wait, I had another question. Does the amount of magic needed to perform the bigger transformation stay the same." It was here Harry adopted an questioning look.
"I'm…not exactly sure. This is just what I think, but I assume that it wouldn't. Obviously, now we have to use a lot more of our magic in order to successfully execute a bigger transformation. But I suspect, that as we grow older we won't have to use as much."
"Why?" asked Tracey.
"Um, think of it like exercise. When you first start running, you can't run a mile without being super out of breath. But as you continue running, your stamina begins to improve and soon you can run a mile much more easily. Using our magic is like that, I assume. The more you use it, the easier it is, and the less magic you would have to use for each spell."
"Oh, that makes sense," agreed Tracey. "So let's say that a big transfiguration, like what we're doing takes 15% of our magic, if we practice it, soon it would become only 10%, right?"
"Theoretically, yes. Again, I'm not sure about that, but that is my guess."
"Something to ask Professor Flitwick tomorrow," commented Hannah as she pulled out her wand and waved it at her match. Ron and Harry took out their charms textbook to start learning the softening charm. Harry levitated the staff that he had created onto the table and split into two with a quick diffindo.
"Here, you practice on this part of the wood," said Harry as he passed half of the staff over to Ron.
"Thanks. How soft do you think the first attempt will make it?" asked Ron.
"It won't be soft enough for me to hit you with this."
"Want to bet? I think it'll be soft enough that we will barely feel a thing if we smack each other on the head the wood pieces."
"A galleon?"
"A galleon," confirmed Ron, reaching into his bag to place a galleon on the table. Harry reached into his bag to also place a galleon on the table.
"Spongify," declared both boys, jabbing at their respective half of the staff. There were no visible changes to the pieces of wood, but when they felt the pieces of wood, there was a difference. Harry and Ron both put down their wands and grabbed the pieces of wood. They then smacked each other as hard as they could And unfortunately for Harry, he couldn't feel a thing.
"Take the damn money," grumbled Harry. "Of course I would bet against myself."
"You should know better than to bet against yourself," said Ron, grinning.
"What spell are you two working on?" Harry and Ron turned to Hannah who had finished turning her match into a long version of it, but was still trying to make it take on the wooden appearance of a staff.
"We, are learning the softening charm, and I just lost a galleon," grumbled Harry. "Need any help?"
"Um, yeah, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I can lengthen it to the length of a staff, but every time I've done the spell, I can seem to make the match take on the appearance of a wooden staff after it lengthens." Harry frowned.
"Hmm, try not making the match lengthen as long. That should decrease the amount of magic needed to make the spell work. If you can't get it to transform, maybe it's because you don't have the ability to draw out the amount of magic necessary just yet?"
"Is that a question?" asked Hannah.
"Kind of. I'm just theorizing on why it could have gone wrong. But I don't really know that much. I just know what I did in order to make it work."
"Okay, let me try again." Hannah undid the lengthened match and held it in her hand. Closing her eyes, Hannah concentrated solely on what she wanted the match to transform into. Hannah blocked out everything around her and focused on her magic. This time, instead of imagining doing two different actions, Hannah envisioned the match lengthening, though just a few inches short of 5 feet and transforming into an oaken wood at the same time. Hannah also focused all of her magic into the one spell. "Communtocus," intoned Hannah.
"Congratulations Hannah!" cheered Susan from beside her. Hannah opened her eyes and saw that in her hand was a fully formed staff, though not as long or as intricate as the one that Harry had made, but still it was better than the long match that she had been doing earlier.
"Yay Hannah!" cried Harry as he threw his hands up into the air. "Now, undo it and do it again. When all of you can do it consistently 5 times in a row, then we'll do an actual new spell." With that said, the six students practicing the transfiguration spell quickly threw themselves into carefully and diligently practicing the spell. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron continued to practice the softening charm.
"So, what other ways do you think we could use the spongify charm other than making something soft that it feels like foam?" asked Ron.
"Well, it could be used to make a seat more comfortable, like a hardwood chair seat becoming soft enough that it doesn't hurt when you sit in it."
"Or maybe making tough meat really tender?" Harry stared at Ron.
"I don't even know how that work. How would the softening charm make meat tender? From what we've read, it wouldn't affect the food in that way."
"But you don't that it couldn't. Just think! If we ever have a tough piece of beef or turkey, we can just use this spell to make it much more tender and that much more delicious."
"That is crazy!"
"But what if it is true?"
"Alright, let's test it out tonight," said Harry.
"How?"
"We live right next to the kitchens. We can just ask the house elves for the toughest piece of meat that they have and use the spell on it."
"Fine. A galleon?"
"A galleon," agreed Harry, shaking on it. The two nodded to themselves as they got up in order to test the spell on the seats to see if they could control how soft they could make something. At the moment, they were attempting to make the seats softer, but not to the point where they would sink into the seat. Meanwhile, the rest of the room's occupants were staring at them.
"Do they always argue like that?" asked Tracey.
"Apparently," replied Daphne. "I've only known them for a day, but that was how they argued on the train ride. They always bet on their arguments."
"Strange."
"Yeah, well Potter is strange. His hunger for knowledge of magic is insatiable. When we were on the train, he was reading about using runes in dueling. He doesn't even know a single rune!"
"Then why is he not in Ravenclaw?"
"Beats me," replied Daphne, eyeing the two Hufflepuff boys practicing the softening charm. Daphne turned her eyes back to her match and intoned the spell, creating a flawless staff. "Probably cause he's too crazy. Do you think a Ravenclaw would ever act like that?"
"Uh…yeah, no."
"Exactly." Harry and Ron continued to practice while they waited for everyone to reach the required number of attempts that Harry had put as the standard.
"Harry, we all got it." Harry and Ron turned from their attempts to use the softening charm in varying degrees of softness, and experimenting how much magic was needed for any given softness level.
"Right, then we'll move onto learning the wand-lighting and the wand-extinguishing charms. The incantations are 'lumos' and 'nox'. Now, the basic gist of the first is to create a light source at the tip of your wand. The light isn't going to be that bright, so it's more useful to be used as a flashlight than a main source of light. In order to use the wand-lighting spell, just concentrate on creating a source of light at the tip of your wand. The same with nox, except think about extinguishing the light. Ron, can you get the lights?" Ron went over to the front of the room and pressed a button, extinguishing all the torches in the room.
"We're good Harry." Harry nodded, unseen by everyone due to the dark room.
"Lumos." A bright light appeared on the tip of Harry's wand, revealing the young wizard in the darkness to his friends. "This is what the spell should like. And, nox." With a single word the light disappeared, plunging the room back into darkness. Ron pressed the button once more, lighting the torches once more, giving light back to the room.
"Alright, if that is all," said Ron, "I'm going to head back to the common room and see if I can't find someone to play chess with me. Maybe Cedric will. I'll see you all either tomorrow or in the common room. Night."
"Later Ron," murmured Harry as he took his seat. "I'll come grab you when we want do the meat experiment."
"Good."
"If that's the last spell that we're doing tonight, I'm going to head back with Ron as well," said Ernie, with Justin nodding and standing up as well.
"Okay. Daphne, since this was all your idea, you get to help plan the next session. We'll do this every other day so that Daphne and I can come up with an actual plan of what we'll go over. I just threw this together while we were walking here from dinner." Daphne nodded.
"That's fair." Daphne walked over to sit next to Harry as he pulled out his charms, transfiguration, and DADA textbooks and placed them in front of Daphne.
"Tell me what you want me to go over, what spells we should be learning, and all that stuff. I'd suggest one transfiguration, one charm, and one DADA spell. Also, we're going to need a bigger room next time."
"Why?"
"Because Ron wants to teach the disarming charm, but we can't do that if we don't have ample space. Plus, I have a feeling that this group is going to get bigger. This is the biggest study room in the library, so we're going to have to find a bigger place to study."
"I see your point. What about the teachers?"
"Do you honestly think that they would be okay with students flinging spells at each other without supervision?" asked Harry. "And if it's all the same, I don't want supervision. This is where we can practice and be free. Not for a teacher to watch us the entire time."
"Hmm, I'll ask my father if he knows for a private place for us to learn. But you could also ask the elves when you go to do your meat experiment. As the ones who clean the castle, they probably know every nook and cranny."
"Okay, I'll do that. While you come up with a list of spells I need to teach you all on Wednesday, I'm going to practice my runes."
"No need. I'll do this in the common room. I'll give you the list tomorrow morning." Harry shrugged and packed away his books into his shoulder bag. He looked over and saw Susan and Hannah finishing up their packing.
"In that case, we'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, night," murmured Daphne as she and Tracey packed their things and all five first-years left, with Harry pressing the button on the wall to extinguish the light in the study room.
A/N Wow, that was a long chapter. About 21 pages in word. Sorry that it took so long, but it was just real life. I had guests staying over for about a month, went through a session of lay offs at work, so I was pulling long nights, and I had a serious case of writer's block for this chapter. I went through a few drafts, and I deleted the entire thing about two or three times. I'll try to have the next chapter up by mid to late March. Thanks!