A couple days later, Harry's books arrived with the morning mail, along with the catalog from Flourish and Blotts, which he tucked away into his trunk to look at later. He packaged one copy of 'Wandmaking 101' and sent it along with a letter and a small handful of wrapped-up food to Rose.
Still shaken from the whole burning-book debacle, he'd been avoiding studying at the library, and instead had taken to doing his homework in the slytherin common room. Today he did the same - he found a seat just off to the side of the fireplace at a usually-unoccupied table where he set out his things. The common room was fairly empty – there were a few students milling around the large couch in front of the fire, and a few others scattered here and there who were also reading or writing, or practicing wandwork.
Harry spent a good hour and a half working on first his transfiguration homework, then his charms essay. He was three quarters finished with the essay when he had to take a brief break and run to the loo.
He hadn't been gone for more than three minutes.
Coming back to his table, there was nothing more than his quill and inkwell. His parchment – both his completed transfiguration work and his charms essay – were gone.
Harry stared at the blank wood, heart beginning to beat faster.
A third year girl entering the room sniffed, wrinkling her nose. "Smells like burning," she complained to her group of friends as they headed to their rooms.
Ah.
Harry moved to the fireplace in a daze, barely feeling in control of his own body. There, among the flames in the center of the fire, was a rapidly crumbling piece of burning parchment. It turned to ash as he watched, all the hours and effort of writing just… gone.
He glanced around the room, which was relatively empty. It was getting late, almost time for curfew. Most of the students had already headed off to bed.
It looked like he wouldn't be sleeping much that night.
"You shouldn't leave your things unattended."
Harry glanced up warily to where the voice had come from, by a shadowed alcove to the side of the entrance. Theodore Nott, the quiet boy who he shared a dorm room with, sat holding a book, calmly observing the scene with mild interest.
"Lesson learned," he muttered, frowning at the fireplace.
Theo regarded him carefully. "It could have been worse," he said, his tone matter-of-fact. He glanced around the now-empty common room. "You shouldn't let them get to you. This is only a warning. It won't stop, especially if they think you're weak."
Harry sighed. "I'm not weak," he said.
Theo raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say you were," he replied. "But they'll try to make you think you are. It's how they assert their dominance."
Harry looked at Theo, considering his words.
"Thanks for the advice," he said, gathering up his quill and ink. "I'll keep it in mind."
Theo nodded, closing his book and standing.
They both walked in silence to their shared room. Draco and Blaise were already in bed. Theo climbed into his own bed, and Harry took out a new sheet of parchment and settled into re-writing his essay.
The next day, Harry walked into the library and spotted Hermione sitting at a table, her nose buried in a textbook. She looked up as he approached and gave him a small smile.
"Hey, I didn't see you studying yesterday," she said.
"I was working on my schoolwork in the common room," Harry replied with a shrug.
Hermione made a face. "I tried to do that, but it's just so loud in there. I come to the library instead."
"Yeah, it's better here," Harry agreed. After the previous night, it was safe to say he'd be doing all his work in the library for the considerable future.
He reached into his bag and pulled out the extra 'Wandmaking 101' book he had purchased for her. He'd already given the other copy to the librarian to replace the one he'd ruined.
"Here, I got this for you."
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise as she accepted the book. "For me? Thank you, Harry. You didn't have to do that."
He shrugged, setting his things out on the table next to her. "You seemed interested in it, so I thought you'd like your own copy."
"Well, thank you," she blushed, putting the book into her bag.
They spent the next hour silently studying next to each other.
When it was time for his next class, Transfiguration, he said goodbye and headed off by himself. Harry made his way through the castle, the stone walls towering around him. Tapestries adorned the walls, depicting various scenes from history. Harry passed by a suit of armor, its helmet nodding at him as he went by. He smiled, still not quite used to the magical objects that populated the castle.
As he walked, he overheard some students whispering behind him.
"-rry Potter, right? Do you think he's actually a dark wizard-"
"He's a Slytherin, he has to be-"
Harry clenched his jaw and kept walking, keeping his face smooth and devoid of emotion.
So, it wasn't just the older Slytherins who didn't like him, then.
He carried on to his class. When he arrived, he took a seat next to Draco and Daphne.
"Has everyone completed their homework? Place yours on my desk if you haven't yet done so."
Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the Transfiguration classroom, her wand at the ready. The students were all seated at their desks, and there was some shuffling about as a few students went up to put their homework on the Professor's desk.
"Good. I hope you all recall the theory from last class's reading, " Professor McGonagall began, "as today we will be practicing how to perform a physical alteration, also known as one of the most basic forms of Transfiguration. The incantation we will be using is "Acutillicus Mutatio." This spell will allow you to change one object into something sharp and metallic. As a demonstration, I will be turning this matchstick into a needle."
She held up a plain wooden matchstick for all to see and pointed her wand at it. "Acutillicus Mutatio!" she shouted, and with a sudden movement of her wand, the matchstick transformed into a shining silver needle. The class watched with rapt attention, their eyes fixed on the needle in Professor McGonagall's hand.
"It helps, when performing an alteration spell, to choose your base object as one with properties similar to your intended object. In this case, the matchstick is long and narrow, and light in weight, both qualities that a needle also possesses."
"Now, it is your turn," she said, and with a wave of her wand, a matchstick appeared on each student's desk. "Again, the incantation is Acutillicus Mutatio. Try to focus on the item you want it to become, and remember the wand movement I showed you. You will find that, while this is indeed one of the simplest forms of Transfiguration, it is a bit more difficult than charms and hexes. But, with practice and focus, you will master it."
Harry picked up the matchstick and held it between his fingers. He concentrated on the image of a needle in his mind and raised his wand, repeating the incantation, "Acutillicus Mutatio." He flicked his wand, but nothing happened. He tried again, this time really trying to focus on the shape and feel of a needle, but with the same results. Frustrated, Harry turned to his notes, scanning the page for anything useful. He stopped at a spot that mentioned the importance of understanding all of the traits of the object you are trying to create, and the difficulty of keeping all of the individual qualities of the item in the mind at once.
Oh, of course.
He was focusing on the wrong thing. It wasn't the overall shape he should be thinking of – the matchstick, like the Professor had said, was already long, thin, and lightweight, like a needle. Since it already embodied those qualities, they weren't something he should be concentrating on. Instead, maybe if he tried focusing on the qualities that a needle has but a matchstick doesn't…
Harry took a deep breath, cleared his mind and focused on the color, pointiness, and feeling of a needle. This time, when he said the incantation and flicked his wand, the matchstick reluctantly sharpened slightly at the tip, and the surface took on a bit of a grayish shine. He picked it up to examine it, pleased.
"Excellent, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall praised, seeing his progress. "Very good! Keep working at it and you'll have yourself a needle in no time."
Harry smiled, and glanced around the room. Most of the other students were at various stages – some had made some headway, while others had made none at all. Beside him, Draco was smugly showing off his pointy matchstick to Daphne, who politely nodded along.
Harry returned his attention to his own, and carried on. By the time class was almost over, he'd managed a darkened, shiny matchstick with a fairly pointy end. It wasn't quite a needle, but it wasn't a matchstick any longer, either. Almost all of the other students had at least accomplished a sharpened point or a darkening of the wood. Harry was surprised to notice Theodore Nott with a completely untouched matchstick, the normally calm, collected boy looking rather frustrated.
Harry thought about it for a moment. Professor McGonagall was on the other side of the room, flitting between students, altering praise and constructive feedback. Everyone else seemed to have their attention fully on their own matchsticks, so Harry jotted down a quick note on the corner of his parchment, and carefully tore it off.
'Focus on the color and feel, not the shape', it read. He folded it over once, and walked over to the bin by the door to pretend to sharpen his quill. On the way back to his seat, he subtly slipped the note onto Theo's desk.
From the corner of his eye, Harry watched Theo open the note. He read it, frowning, but then he turned back to his matchstick. After a pause, he tried the spell again – and this time, the matchstick must have changed ever so slightly, as Theo's face lit up with relief. He casually glanced at Harry, and the two boys met eyes briefly. Theo gave a single nod, a tiny smile being suppressed on his lips. Harry smiled warmly in response, before turning back to his desk.
When class ended, Harry trailed along with a group of the first year Slytherins and Draco, who was boasting about his progress.
"Did you see how easily I turned that matchstick into a needle? Professor McGonagall was impressed, I could tell," Draco said, puffing out his chest.
"You made a pointy piece of wood, Draco. Harry's the only one who came closest to an actual needle," Daphne scoffed.
Draco shrugged. "I'll admit, you did surprisingly well," he said to Harry. "But mine was more than just a sharp piece of wood, Greengrass! There was a shine to it!"
"If you say so," Daphne said, flipping her hair back.
Harry smiled. As they walked, they passed by some Hufflepuff students huddled in the hallway. One of them had on robes that were clearly more old and worn compared to the rest of the students. Draco sneered at them.
"Look at these losers. Those robes are so ratty, they must be hand-me-downs." he said with a smirk. The Slytherins laughed along.
The Hufflepuff student looked down, embarrassed. The others glared.
"Shove off, Malfoy," one of them said, stepping forward. Crabbe and Goyle stepped up to meet them, and the other student cowered back.
"Oh, I wouldn't hang around your group any more than necessary," Draco said, already walking away. "Who knows what kind of creatures might be crawling on that fabric."
The other Slytherins added their own snide comments, mocking the Hufflepuffs as they walked down the corridor. Harry followed, saying nothing.
He felt his stomach knot.
What was the difference between Draco and Dudley? There really wasn't much, he thought. The only difference was that Harry was friends with one and the target of the other. They were both bullies, that was undeniable. But Draco was his friend… right?
He didn't want to imagine how much worse it would be at Hogwarts if he was on Draco's bad side.
So, he did nothing but watch when Draco bullied the other students. There was simply nothing to be done.