Harry found himself amazed by the food provided for breakfast. 'How can they afford all this without payment?'
'The Ministry.' Tom responded. It was likely that the corruption within the Ministry aided the funding of several branches of the government, hence why repecussions were so rare.
The head of Ravenclaw, Filius Flitwick, walked by and handed them their schedules.
"Yes!" Julian almost jumped out of his seat. Harry and Harlow turned to face him.
"Are you okay Julian?" Harry asked whilst Harlow gave a raised eyebrow. Julian excitedly turned to face them. "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts as our first class."
Prompted, Harry looked down at his schedule.
Breakfast is at 7:30 am - 8:50 am.
Lunch is at 11:45 am - 12:45 pm.
Dinner is at 7:35 pm - 8:35 pm.
Curfew: 10:00 pm.
MONDAY
Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Free Period
Class 2: 9:55 am till 10:40 am: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Class 3: 10:50 am till 11:35 am: Charms
Class 4: 12:55 pm till 1:40 pm: Transfiguration
1:50 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time
TUESDAY
Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Free Period
Class 2: 9:55 am till 10:40 am: History of Magic
Class 3: 10:50 am till 11:35 am: Magical Theory
Class 4: 12:55 pm till 1:40 pm: Potions
1:50 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time
WEDNESDAY
9:00 am till 11:35 am: Free Time
Class 1: 12:55 pm till 1:40 pm: Transfiguration
Class 2: 1:50 pm till 2:35 pm: Potions
Class 3: 2:45 pm till 3:30 pm: Potions
3:40 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time
THURSDAY
Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Potions
9:55 am till 11:35 am: Herbology
1:50 pm till 3:30 pm: Free Time
Class 2: 3:40 pm till 4:25 pm: Flying
FRIDAY
Class 1: 9:00 am till 9:45 am: Free Period
Class 2: 9:55 am till 10:40 am: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Class 3: 10:50 am till 11:35 am: Herbology
Class 4: 12:55 pm till 1:40 pm: Charms
1:50 pm till 7:25 pm: Free Time
Class 5: 12:10 am till 12:55 am: Astronomy
SATURDAY
Quidditch Game: 2:45 pm till end of game.
SUNDAY
Free Day
'Seems like Quirrel will be teaching DADA. I must ensure that I remain vigilant. Something tells me that Quirrel is no ordinary teacher.' A frown graced Tom's features as he kept his concerns private. Something about Quirrel disturbed him. It was something... Familiar. He focused back onto Harry' s schedule. 'I wonder how Professor Dumbledore has changed the school since becoming headmaster..'
Come 9:50, the three of them decided to head over to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
As soon as they entered, Harry wrinkled his nose at the strong smell of garlic.
"This smell is horrid." Muttered Julian. They sat themselves down at the second row of seats to the left.
Soon Professor Quirrel entered.
As the lesson progressed it became evident that learning anything in this class was going to be near impossible. Quirrel's stutters rendered anything he said incomprehensible. Even Tom was beginning to lose hope in learning anything about Quirrel.
It was as Quirrel turned to write on the chalkboard that Harry's scar suddenly flared into pain. He bit his cheek to prevent hissing in pain. Massaging his scar gently, he looked at Tom who was analysing him with concern.
'Again?'
Harry nodded.
Tom shifted his gaze onto the back of Quirrel's head as his thoughts ran rampant.
The familiar magic seemed to prod at Tom. It felt connected to his own, almost entangled in a dance yet separated by a barrier. A realisation struck Tom.
'It's me..Voldemort.'
Anxiety was not a familiar emotion to Tom. His bond with Harry had grown strong. They were alike in many ways, both in upbringing and attitude.
If Voldemort was still alive then he was a threat to Harry. Though his apparent disembodied soul intruiged Tom. 'Dumbledore must be aware.' Though the thought provided some comfort, Tom was still aware that Dumbledore was now far past his prime. 'It appears I will have to teach Harry much faster than initially intended.'
His thoughts strayed back to Dumbledore's speech. '3rd floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death.' A joyous laughter escaped Tom. 'You'd given us the answer since the beginning.' It was evident that though Dumbledore was no longer physically in his prime, his mind remained sharp. Harry perked an eyebrow at Tom's sudden laughter.
'I will tell you later. I believe I've figured something out.'
Harry nodded and went back to focusing on the non-sensical lecture.
Harlow had begun to draw on his piece of paper, accepting that he would not learn anything from this lesson. Julian was throwing small paper balls at the back of the Professors head as soon as he turned around, amused as he inflicted revenge for the headache that Quirrel had given him with his stuttering.
Finally the lesson ended.
A sigh of relief escaped all of them as soon as they exited the classroom. "I was hoping that this class would actually be interesting." Julian complained. "It is a shame. I don't understand why Dumbledore hired someone like him." Disappointment coloured Harry's words. "Maybe Charms will be more fun." Harlow said, hoping to provide encouragement.
Charms had instantly shown itself as superior to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Professor Flitwick walked the Ravenclaws through the wand motions for the Reparo charm before leaving a cracked cup on the desk of each student.
"Now try it yourselves."
Harry felt confident. Tom had taught him more complicated spells with wand less magic. Though claimed that Reparo would best be left until he acquired a wand since wand less magic responded to emotion, therefore Reparo would have a higher chance of failing.
'All I need to do is focus my magic.'
He copied the wand motions, forgetting to utter the phrase. The cracks filled themselves rapidly. Professor Flitwick started lightly clapping, accompanied by the impressed stares of the rest of the Ravenclaws, excluding the few jealous looks. "10 points to Ravenclaw for excellent execution."
A blush spread on Harry's face. "Thank you professor."
Tom found it fortunate that Flitwick had not realised that it had been casted wordlessly. For now, it was best to keep more advanced techniques such as that hidden. His past experience at Hogwarts had made him realise how open one should be about their skills depending on what they endeavour. It was a mistake he had realised he had started with Dumbledore.
The rest of the lesson progressed with Harry assisting other house members with the spell as instructed by Flitwick.
Harlow was expressing some difficulty with the spell and so Julian walked him through it again, holding Harlow's hand so that he could memorise the movement. A small smile etched itself on Harry's face. 'So this is what having friends is like?' Tom placed his hand, as he usually did, upon Harry's shoulder. 'Yes Harry. It is.' Harry remained oblivious to Tom's somber expression.
Next, they were off to their lunch.
Harry helped himself to some roast chicken, an apple and a cauldron cake for dessert. His goblet was filled with a Berry smoothie. Throughout the meal, they discussed several upcoming lessons and Harry prodded Harlow with questions about the wizarding world.
Harry had spotted Ron and Hermione during lunch and decided to speak with them. They heartily discussed how they had found their first day and Hermione was ecstatic at the sight of all the books in the library. She conveyed her live for knowledge so clearly that it left Harry wondering at why she wasn't placed in Ravenclaw.
Once they were done with their meals they headed towards the final lesson on their schedule which was Transfiguration.
Professor McGonagall had proven herself to be a living dichotomy. She was both strict and understanding in a some-what puzzling way.
They had begun their first lesson by attempting to turn a match into a silver needle.
Harry found himself struggling. He had always been used to having a free flow of his magic and though his wand helped focus it, transfiguring a match into a needle required a finer control. The result of this was a simply a silver matchstick. Julian, on the other hand, showed much more success having been able to transfigure it into a much more slimmer silver matchstick but it did not yet meet the requirements. Harlow managed to closely resemble the needle yet his did not stay straight and instead had a small bend by the tip. He had been awarded 3 points by Professor McGonagall for a good start.
By the end of the lesson, Harry felt himself fatigued. He was not used to using such a constant focused stream of magic. 'Go somewhere private.' Tom reminded him.
"Hey guys, I'm going to take a stroll around Hogwarts."
Harlow and Julian turned to face him. "Can we come with?"
"I'd rather just have some silence if that's okay." Harry spoke nervously.
"Of course Harry." Julian smiled softly whilst Harlow gave a thumbs up. "We'll be at the library if you need us. I got so close to managing the spell so I'd like to practice it."
With that they went their separate ways. Harry went up to an empty room within Hogwarts, something that it seemingly had in spades. Tom manifested Infront of him.
'So what did you want to talk about?"
'I believe that Voldemort did indeed not die after his disappearance.'
Harry's eyes widened. It was not largely unexpected but he felt the small fire of hope die out.
'Why?'
'The reason your scar keeps burning. I felt a familiar magic emanating from Quirrel and I've deduced that Voldemort is currently in some sort of disembodied physical state and has possessed Quirrel.' A small wave of guilt embraced Tom at the white lie. He knew his secret would not last forever.
A shiver crept up Harry's spine as the dangers drawned on him.
'Surely Dumbledore knows? He must've felt something familiar after having fought against Voldemort for so long.'
Tom nodded proudly, glad to see that Harry had learnt to analyse all possibilities.
'I thought that as well. During the opening speech he gave us a clue. Whatever the reason Voldemort is here is held in the forbidden room in the 3rd corridor.'
Harry nodded along.
'I'd rather not have you fall at the hands of a disembodied dark Lord and so I've decided to change my initial plans on what to teach you.'
'What are you going to teach me instead?'
'I am still thinking. It would be foolish to attempt teaching you a high level spell until you can focus your magic for prolonged periods of time.' An idea spawned in his head.
'On second thoughts there is one spell I shall teach you. It is called Evanesco which is used to vanish things. Once I show you I want you to practice it for 40 minutes every day until you can successfully vanish 25 objects without exhausting your magical core due to inputting too much magic into the spell. Then I will teach you another spell to refine that control.'
'I understand.' Harry felt excitement building up again. Learning a new spell always made his blood pump. Tom waved his wand in the air in a pattern and uttered 'Evanesco'.
He turned to Harry expecantly. Facing a piece of chalk by the chalkboard, Harry followed the wand movements. "Evanesco." Nothing happened. 'You need to focus on the thought of it vanishing. Empty your mind of any meaningless distractions.'
Challenging himself, he continued for another 10 minutes before Harry began to feel his depleted energy. 'That's enough for today. Rest and tomorrow we will continue.' They had made some progress. The chalk had broken in half and disappeared whilst the other half remained.
He walked to the library and joined his friends in a game of wizards chess, basking in their peaceful quiet conversation.