Chapter 12: Adjustment
After being sorted into the same house as Acquila, Harry took a seat next to her. After the sorting ended, one of their fellow first-year Ravenclaws approached them and introduced himself. "I'm Terry Boot."
"I'm Harry Potter."
"And I'm Acquila Black."
Terry ignored Acquila and focused himself on Harry. "So, Potter, how can you be friends with her?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Harry asked in confusion.
"After everything her father did…" Terry said until Harry interrupted him.
"Everything my Godfather was accused of doing, Boot." Harry argued. "He's innocent. Does Peter Pettigrew have to be found before people finally accept it?"
"Pettigrew is dead!" Terry exclaimed.
"I won't accept that notion until somebody finds enough of his body he cannot live without." Harry replied.
"Me neither." Acquila added.
"Everything but a finger was destroyed by the explosion." Boot argued.
"Or fled." Harry counter-argued.
Whatever Terry Boot would say was interrupted by Dumbledore's welcoming speech. After the feast, the students were led to their dorms.
The next day, the students were enjoying breakfast when Harry and Acquila received letters from their families. "Father is disappointed that we didn't become Gryffindors but he is glad we didn't become Slytherins."
"Shouldn't he want you to become a Slytherin?" Ravenclaw Prefect Penelope Clearwater asked.
"My father doesn't want me in a House headed by Professor Snape, Prefect Clearwater." Acquila explained. "He doesn't believe Headmaster Dumbledore's reassurances that Professor Snape regrets being a Death Eater and neither do I."
"Hypocrites." Penelope muttered while thinking of Sirius and Acquila.
Professor Flitwick showed up to distribute the Ravenclaws' schedules and talk to Harry and Acquila. "Mr. Potter. Ms. Black. The Headmaster wants to meet the both of you at his office."
"In that case, Professor Flitwick, we request your presence at the meeting." Acquila replied.
"Ms. Black, is that really necessary?" He asked in surprise. He never expected a student to want their Head of House's presence while meeting the Headmaster.
"We think so, Sir." She answered.
"And the rules give us the right." Harry added.
The school's rules did say students had the right to request their Heads of House' presence during these meetings. "Correct, Mr. Potter."
After breakfast, Professor Flitwick lead Harry and Acquila to Headmaster Dumbledore's office, where the Headmaster and his Deputy were expecting them. "Thank you, Filius." The Headmaster cheerfully said. "You may leave now."
"Actually, Mr. Potter and Ms. Black requested my presence here for the meeting so I mustn't leave, Headmaster." Professor Flitwick replied.
"Your presence here isn't necessary, Filius." Dumbledore argued.
"The school's rules say I must grant their request, Headmaster." The Charms Master explained.
The Headmaster tried to argue but his Deputy gave him a "get to the point" look. "Mr. Potter, I am very concerned about your friendship with Acquila Black."
"She's a friend and my godsister." Harry defended her.
"Mr. Potter, Sirius Black might have kept it hidden from you but he's the one who betrayed your parents to Voldemort." Dumbledore said.
Harry frowned. "Peter Pettigrew framed my Godfather and you played along as part of a failed attempt to become my sole magical influence." He accused the Headmaster.
"Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would never pretend to fall for such a frame up." Professor McGonagall defended her employer.
"He lied about me being killed with my mother." Acquila argued. "Who knows what else he lied about the crimes attributed to my father?"
"I only said that to protect you from your father's relatives, Ms. Black." The Headmaster defended his actions.
"The joke is on you, Headmaster." Harry commented. "Had my Godfather not needed their help to be free from his wrongful imprisonment, he wouldn't have allowed any of them other than the Tonkses near Acquila."
"Or so he wants you to believe, my boy." Dumbledore said.
Harry stood up. "After all those years with my Godfather in my life, did you really think I would believe somebody I never met before telling me he's a criminal?"
"Spoken like a true Ravenclaw, Mr. Potter." Professor Flitwick commented.
"Filius, whose side are you on?" Dumbledore asked.
"The side of logic and I do believe Sirius Black might be innocent." Professor Flitwick answered.
"It's true." Acquila added. "He even defended my father to students giving me a hard time over it."
"He certainly believes making people doubt your father's guilt is the only way to keep them from judging you for his crimes." Dumbledore argued.
"May we leave now?" Harry asked. Seeing how they weren't willing to listen to more arguing, the Headmaster agreed and Professor Flitwick guided the two students away.
"Severus was correct, Albus." Professor McGonagall told the Headmaster. "You couldn't have convinced any of them."
"I had to start somewhere, Minerva." The Headmaster replied.
The first week went relatively normal for Harry and Acquila. The Professors were being strictly professional and the students weren't doing anything worse than glaring at Acquila except for Ronald Weasley. "Potter, how can you be friends with people like Black and Malfoy? They're Death Eaters in training!"
"Neither Acquila nor Draco are responsible for anything their parents were accused of doing or forced to do, Weasley." Harry strongly answered.
"Well said, Potter." Gryffindor Prefect Percy Ignatius Weasley replied. "Now move away, Ron. You don't want to get late for Professor McGonagall's class."
Already knowing how strict Hogwarts' Transfiguration Mistress is, Ron quickly did as his brother asked. Harry and Acquila thanked Percy and also left.
The only Professors (other than the Headmaster) they really didn't like were Professor Cuthbert Binns ("How can anyone make a goblin rebellion sound boring?" Acquila asked Harry.) and Professor Severus Snape. The supposedly reformed Death Eater seemed to be out to get both Harry and Acquila. "Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"The Draught of Living Death, Sir." Harry answered.
"Probably a lucky shot but five points to Ravenclaw for a correct answer." Snape said while frowning. "Black, where would you get a bezoar?"
"In the stomach of a goat, Sir." Acquila answered.
"Correct." Snape begrudgingly said. "Five points to Ravenclaw for another lucky guess."
Snape would ask a tricky question about monkshood and aconite but figured out Harry and Acquila would be "lucky" again so he instead skipped to the part where he split the students into pairs and ordered each pair to brew a batch of the cure for boils. "The instructions are on the board." He said. "Begin."
After the students finished brewing, Snape examined the batches. "Potter and Black, each one of you lose ten points for cheating." He said upon finding nothing wrong with their batch.
"We didn't cheat!" They said in protest.
"Twenty points each from Ravenclaw for lying to a teacher." Snape declared.
"Why do you think we're lying?" Harry asked.
"Detention tonight, Potter!" Snape replied.
Harry and Acquila went to Professor Flitwick's office to protest the punishments. "Did Professor Snape really say the detention was for asking what made him believe you both were lying?" The Charms Master asked.
"Actually, he didn't say what the detention is for but he gave it right after I asked him why he believed Acquila and I were lying, Sir." Harry explained.
"Every Professor must explain what each detention is assigned for, Mr. Potter." Professor Flitwick replied. "I'll talk to him."
Later on, at the dungeons, Professor Snape was responding to the accusations. "The dunderhead should know what he did but I admit I overlooked that rule." Snape said. "The dunderhead got that detention for disrespecting me."
"What did he do to disrespect you, Severus?" Professor Flitwick asked.
"The brat dared to ask why I thought he and Black were cheating." Snape answered.
"It's obvious we have a different definition of what constitutes disrespect, Severus." Professor Flitwick commented. "Why do you think they were cheating?"
"There's no way Potter and Black could brew such a good batch of the cure for boils, Filius." Snape answered.
"Why not?" Professor Flitwick asked.
"Because they're the spawns of James Potter and Sirius Black." Snape explained. He knew his colleague could see through any lies he told.
"Professor Snape, I am hereby revoking the punishments you've issued for Harry Potter and/or Acquila Black during their first Potions lesson." Professor Flitwick declared.
"Yes, Filius." Snape begrudgingly replied. 'I'll catch those two troublemakers even if it's the last thing I do as a Professor.'
End chapter.