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Harry Potter/Granger and the Philosopher's Stone

The next week or so of school were a mixture of the sometimes mundane and sometimes interesting. In general, Harry and Hermione found, much to their surprise, that it was even a challenge trying to find their way around the place to get to their classes, rather than the relatively straightforward affair they'd expected. The castle itself was fairly easy to get your head around after a certain amount of time, but the stairs had an annoying habit of moving around whenever you wanted to get anywhere, and the fact that the people in various portraits seemed to wander off and visit other portraits whenever they wanted made it hard to find distinctive landmarks that could be used to navigate around the place.

The lessons, however, were always enjoyable, although the degree of challenge they faced during their lessons varied Thanks to Harry and Hermione's early reading at home, they were managing to cope better than some of their fellow students at various tasks, although they still had their weaknesses in a few areas. Astronomy, for example, was never going to be something either of them particularly engaged with; Harry couldn't particularly see the relevance to most of their other subjects, and while Hermione found any aspect of wizarding life fascinating, after learning about what had happened to her brother's parents, she was more interested in learning something a bit more practical than studying the stars.

For the same reason, the two of them sometimes found it hard to engage in their Herbology lessons. It was interesting work, no doubt about it, but some parts of it, such as the lessons that simply focused on trimming various plants, could get a bit repetitive after a time. The two of them knew that the lessons would probably become more relevant once they had potions for the first time, and thus had a better idea of what the various ingredients should be used for, but until then neither of them could engage with the subject on many levels; none of the plants were even especially dangerous, so the potential risk factor was limited.

As far as History of Magic went, the less said about the subject, the better, as far as Harry and Hermione were concerned. Hermione generally managed to stay awake long enough to make notes on the topics that may come up in exams, but Harry generally only managed to stay awake long enough to absorb the first few minutes of each lesson before his brain fell into a daze and he felt more like dozing than working. He genuinely tried to stay awake, but he wasn't quite as much of a sponge for information as Hermione was, and, as far as he was concerned, there was only so many times you could hear about goblin rebellions before it became dull…

By contrast, however, Charms and Transfiguration were proving highly enjoyable for both of them. Charms in particular had proven to be particularly intriguing, with Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, managing to make the subject highly entertaining while at the same time still getting across what he was attempting to teach them. The only downside in the class so far had been the first lesson; when he'd been reading the register and came to Harry's name, he gave an excited squeak and subsequently toppled off the back of his chair. Hermione had teased Harry about it in the common room that night, but she'd subsequently left it alone; if nothing else, she wasn't exactly eager to have anyone overhear her technically making fun of a teacher, even if she was focusing more on teasing her brother in the process.

Transfiguration, on the other hand, was a more serious subject, but it still proved enjoyable, even if they would take some time to get on to the more interesting aspects of the course. So far, their lessons had consisted of such small Transfigurations as turning matches into needles, but despite the apparent simplicity of the task, it actually proved surprisingly difficult. Even after almost a whole lesson of trying the first time around, Harry and Hermione's best efforts had only resulted in one or two transfigured matches, although it was better than some of their classmates had managed; Dean Thomas, one of Harry's dorm-mates, had only managed to give the match a silvery colour while leaving it with the other details such as it being made of wood.

Defence Against the Dark Arts, unfortunately, wasn't as interesting as the name would suggest. Quirrell had the potential to be an interesting teacher, but his constant stutter often made it hard for anyone to understand what he was talking about; it was one of the few occasions where Harry and Hermione had to agree with Malfoy on anything. Of course, the two of them firmly disagreed with Malfoy's claims that the school should replace Quirrell on the grounds of incompetence at his job; he knew what he was doing, at least. The teacher may have found it hard at times to get his point across, but Quirrell still seemed to be a pleasant enough character, although his obsession with garlic seemed to be more than slightly over-the-top at times.

Friends, however, were still proving a matter of difficulty for both Harry and Hermione. Hermione was finding it hard to find any girls in her dorm with whom she could have a decent conversation, and although the boys in Harry's dorm were at least easier to talk to, he'd never managed to really hit it off with any of them. Dean, Neville and Seamus seemed to be slightly unnerved by Harry, as though a part of them just couldn't believe that he was being treated like any normal student, while Ron, although more willing to talk to Harry than the others, still seemed a little uncertain about the young wizard.

Still, Harry and Hermione didn't mind too much; so far, they were just grateful to have avoided too many confrontations with Malfoy, the self-proclaimed 'Prince of Slytherin', so far. He'd tried to accidentally-on-purpose run into them on some occasions outside of classes, and insulted muggle-borns and muggles in an even louder voice whenever the two of them were near him, such as at dinner in the Great Hall, but Harry and Hermione generally just ignored him; they had no idea why he wanted to provoke a confrontation, but they weren't going to give him the excuse no matter how hard he tried.

As the sun rose on Friday morning, Harry and Hermione found themselves sitting in the Great Hall eating their breakfast, both secretly proud of themselves for having finally managed to get down for breakfast without getting diverted by a moving staircase or missing landmark such as a painting or statue.

"So, double Potions now, huh?" Harry said, glancing over at his sister; she practically had the timetable memorised by now…

"Yes, that's right; with the Slytherins, first thing in the morning," Hermione replied, sighing as she chewed on a piece of toast. "This should be… well, interesting, anyway."

"So long as Snape isn't quite as bad as he's seemed to be so far…" Harry said, half to himself, as he glanced up at the table at the Potions master, only to once again turn his head away from the table as the teacher in question looked towards him; something about that guy just unnerved Harry, although even he couldn't be precisely sure why that happened all the time.

It was at about that point that the owl post came, flying in from a hole in the wall at the back of the hall to deliver various letters. To date, Harry and Hermione hadn't received that much- they'd been waiting until the first week was up to send anything to their parents- so it was quite a surprise when Hedwig flew down towards them with a letter clutched in her talons, albeit a rather tatty letter. Opening it, Harry and Hermione found themselves looking at a piece of paper covered in a rather large, untidy scrawl, which said;

Dear Harry and Hermione,

I know you get afternoons off, so would you like to come down to my hut after lunch? I'd like to know how your first week went

Hagrid

Harry and Hermione instantly agreed, Harry quickly grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment to scrawl Yes please, see you later and give it to Hedwig before they had to stop eating and head off to Potions.

Once they were down in the dungeon, however, Harry quickly realised that his original assessment had been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry- he loathed him.

As Snape entered the classroom, Harry was left distinctly reminded of a large, greasy-haired bat, although whether this was because of his expression of just because of the way his cloak flapped in the air behind him he couldn't exactly say. Like Flitwick, Snape began the lesson by taking the register, and, like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah yes," he said, a grim expression on his face. "Harry Potter. Our new- celebrity."

Harry was briefly tempted to point out that he was just famous- 'celebrity' implied that he wanted to attract attention, when really he was perfectly happy just being himself- but he stopped himself in time; it wouldn't do him any good to start insulting the teacher, especially when the teacher in question didn't seem to like him that much anyway.

"There will be no foolish wand-waving in my class," he said, looking around at the students sitting before him with an expression of cold contempt, as though he had already decided that he was wasting his time here but was going to do his job anyway. "As a result, I doubt most of you will understand the subtle nuances of potion-making. However, a few- a very few- of you may indeed prove to have some talent. I can teach you how to brew fame, bottle glory, and even put a stopper on death- if you aren't such a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

As Snape glared around the classroom, Harry swallowed slightly, as Hermione itched to start answering questions and prove that she was not a dunderhead.

"Potter!" Snape roared, glaring at Harry. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"Uh… Draught of Living Death?" Harry answered uncertainly; Potions had really been more of Hermione's strong points during their practice sessions at home, but he still liked to think he knew what he was talking about.

"Where would I find a beozar?" Snape continued, not even bothering to confirm whether or not Harry had actually answered the question correctly.

"Uh… that's a stone that'll save you from poisoning, right?" Harry asked. Taking Snape's silence as him being stunned at Harry getting that detail right, Harry continued. "Just, if I remember right, that's in the stomach of… a goat, correct?"

Snape was by now staring angrily in Harry's direction, as though he couldn't believe that a 'mere' Gryffindor could be this good at his subject.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" he said, his temper evidently getting close to breaking point as he leaned forward slightly, clasping his desk with both hands.

That does it; I really don't like this guy… Harry thought to himself, as he glared back at the Potions master, ignoring the sudden slight headache in his scar.

"Aren't they the same thing?" Harry asked, looking at Snape in mock surprise. "Oh, and my mum uses it sometimes in her cooking, although I think muggles call it aconite."

Snape glared in frustration at Harry for a few moments, during which time Harry felt his headache get worse and worse. For some reason, he found himself reminded of all the times he and Hermione had lied to Alan and Jane about what they'd done that day at school, omitting some of their more unusual incidents that Harry now knew to be the result of accidental magic, constantly trying to maintain the 'blank face' that made it appear as though they didn't know what their parents were talking about…

"Ten points from Gryffindor!" Snape roared.

"WHAT?" Hermione said, standing up and glaring back at Snape. "But he answered everything correctly!"

"Another ten points for speaking back!" Snape roared, glaring at Hermione. She was about to stand up and say something else, but Ron, who was sitting next to her, put a hand on her shoulder and held her down.

"Don't push it," he whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth. "I hear that Snape can turn very nasty."

Hermione still looked as though she wanted to hex the potions master regardless of what Ron told her, but, taking a few deep breaths, she gradually calmed herself and got back to work.

As the lesson continued, however, it failed to go very well on any level. Harry was partnered with Ron, but his attempts to make conversation with the red-haired boy still failed to go as far as he'd like, Ron always appearing to prefer to focus on the potion rather than keep talking to Harry. Hermione had speculated to Harry that Ron may be feeling as though Harry was only talking to him out of pity, given Harry's own celebrity status and his close sibling relationship (While Ron always felt overshadowed by his brothers) but Harry still persevered, determined to make Ron see that he genuinely wanted to make friends rather than just trying to show sympathy to the poor guy.

Hermione, on the other hand, was faced with her own problem; she had somehow ended up getting paired with Neville Longbottom, generally regarded as one of the poorer students in the class. It was nothing against Neville personally- he had shown a good degree to skill in his Herbology classes, and his problems in Charms and Transfiguration seemed to be just a lack of confidence- but for some reason, just the sight of Professor Snape seemed to have turned the boy into a stuttering wreck that looked more like some kind of humanoid jelly rather than a real person. Twice already Hermione had been only just in time to stop him adding the wrong ingredient to the potion, and they still didn't seem to be coming along as well as they should be capable of.

Of course, Snape's condensing attitude towards everyone who wasn't in Slytherin probably had something to do with Neville's own fear of him. He seemed to spend half the lesson criticising the Gryffindors, even when Harry was sure that he and Ron had added the correct amount of gnats' wings to the potion, and the other half inviting everyone to look at such details as the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his slugs.

Personally, Harry thought that the slugs could have done with a few more minutes before Malfoy used them in the potion; a few of them still seemed to be a bit juicy to his mind…

Quite frankly, Harry was just relieved to get out of the dungeon and back up to the Great Hall for lunch; even if the afternoon hadn't been free, at least he wouldn't have to put up with Snape any longer.

"What was he thinking?" Harry said, looking over at his sister in bemusement. "I mean, taking away twenty points just because we answered a few flipping questions correctly? What is his problem?"

"I don't know…" Hermione said, sighing as she shook her head in bemusement before shrugging and looking back at her brother. "Anyway, shall we head down to Hagrid's now?"

At five to three, the two of them left the castle and headed off down to Hagrid's small stone hut, located on the outskirts of the castle grounds, on the boundary of the nearby Forbidden Forest. As Harry knocked on the door (Hermione being slightly distracted by the large crossbow off to one side) a loud barking was heard from the other side of the door, accompanied by a "Back, Fang, back!"

Hagrid's large bushy face peered out of the window, looking at them both with a small smile.

"Hand on," he said, cheerily. "Back, Fang!"

After a moment's pause, the door opened, revealing a small stone room with a table, assorted chairs, and a fireplace, Hagrid straining to hold onto a great black boarhound.

"Make yerselves at home," Hagrid said, as he let go of the dog and turned to look at the kettle. The dog bounded over to Hermione and immediately began liking her ears eagerly; like Hagrid, Fang was clearly far less dangerous than he looked.

The rock cakes he offered them almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Hermione just smiled and assured him that they were enjoying the cakes. The tea, if nothing else, helped to make up for somewhat poor condition of the food, even if it was a little hotter than the stuff they had at home. Despite this, they enjoyed the chance to talk to their friend about the lessons; Hermione was already taking the chance to organise her thoughts to prepare a letter for their parents. Hagrid mostly seemed willing to listen to them, but when it came to Snape's treatment of Harry in Potions class, he simply told Harry not to worry about it; Snape never seemed to like any of the students outside of Slytherin.

"But he seemed to really hate me."

"Rubbish!" Hagrid said. "Why should he?"

But neither Harry or Hermione missed that Hagrid didn't seem to meet Harry's eye when he said that.

As Hagrid steered the conversation back to Hogwarts as a whole, Hermione started talking to Hagrid about a few of the other teachers, leaving Harry free to glance around the hut. While Hagrid was distracted, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying underneath the tea cosy, noting to his surprise that it was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break-in of Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said Gringotts' spokesgoblin this afternoon.

Harry's eyes widened slightly in surprise. He vaguely recalled hearing something about a recent theft in Gringotts, but nobody had mentioned the date…

Now that he knew, however, his suspicions were aroused.

That theft had taken place on his birthday.

He briefly thought about mentioning the fact to Hagrid, but decided against it; if the gamekeeper wouldn't satisfy his curiosity about a minor thing like Snape, he probably would be even more reluctant to talk about something like a theft of the only wizard bank in existence…

Glancing over the story again, Harry's hovered over the line emptied the same day.

It can't be a coincidence… he thought to himself.

Hagrid had 'emptied' (If you could call it that) the mysterious vault seven hundred and thirteen that day, by removing the small grubby brown package and putting it in his pocket. Had that been what he was there for?

As the two of them walked back to the castle, Harry was just waiting for the chance to talk to Hermione in private about his recent 'deductions' regarding the package. The odds of figuring out what the secret of the package was with just what they knew at the moment were slim to none, he knew that much, but he still needed to talk about what they'd learned now.

And, as long as they were talking about unusual things they'd discovered today, what did Hagrid know about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?