Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Harry Potter universe. It is the property of Joanne Rowling. The only things that belong to me, are the original characters and stories that I have written.
Long before the sun rose over Hogwarts on the first morning of classes, in the first-year Gryffindor dorms, one young boy was already awake and actively scribbling away behind the curtains of his bed.
Harry Potter was seated crosslegged in his bed nibbling away at the end of a ballpoint pen, a notebook placed on the bed in front of him. Under the dim light of one of his failed Lumos spells he was fully concentrated on his to-do list. His brain was working overtime trying to work out a way to accomplish all of his listed goals.
Listed first among the objects on his very long and complicated list; freeing Sirius Black from Azkaban.
He had spent many sleepless nights agonizing over the fact that Sirius Black – an innocent man – was spending the past ten years in what probably amounted to hell on earth. Even with being an animagus and spending most of his time as a dog, being surrounded by demons that sucked every good feeling out of you couldn't be good.
The fact that he had been unable to do anything for the man tore him up inside.
Now that he had arrived at Hogwarts and seen the rat on Ron's bed and slept in the same room as him he had decided to abandon his original convoluted plan to force Peter Pettigrew to reveal himself. That plan had too many moving parts and relied on a lot of external factors that were going to be out of his control.
Instead, on Saturday afternoon, during his tea with Professor McGonagall, he was going to make a comment about Ron's rat and how it was more magical than Ron, despite the fact that the redhead proclaimed that Scabbers was a normal rat. That should hopefully put his Transfiguration teacher on the prowl.
Speaking of prowling, Minerva - the cat, not the professor - had been very vocal about her dislike for the rat. And had it not been for Harry explaining that he needed the rat alive and well to help an innocent man, he did not doubt that the rat would have been lunch by now.
Harry took a moment to scratch the sleeping Minerva behind the ears. She lazily opened an eye and purred at his touch, then she looked around with a turn of her head before going back to sleep again.
Looking at his list again, Harry took the pen out of his mouth and crossed off number two; making friends. Despite being over thirty mentally, and literal children being his only choice, he had no intentions of being a loner at Hogwarts, seven years completely without companionship would drive even the most introverted people insane.
However, number three was the one that had vexed him all morning, how to expose Quirrelmort? He could do it in a number of ways and as soon as tomorrow, simply touching the man would be enough if Lily's protection was working as intended. Considering Dumbledore had placed him with Petunia, it probably did.
But how to do it without the man harming anyone else in the process? Or without revealing his future knowledge? He had zero doubts that if his story wasn't squeaky clean, Albus Dumbledore was going to find him out. A grown man had stolen the body of young Harry Potter? No matter that he had no choice in the matter? He didn't want to know how that story ended.
Maybe it was best to just let it go the way it did in the story from his old world… Though, he could remove the stone as soon as Dumbledore placed it in the mirror. Then Voldemort's plans would be ruined before they even had a chance to start, and it would only ever be his own life he put on the line.
Making up his mind, he placed that topic aside for the moment, he needed further information before he could make a decision he'd be happy with.
Next up was the fact that there was a whole heap of Horcruxes out there, and he had no idea how he would go about destroying one. Fiendfyre and basilisk venom was wholly beyond his reach at the moment, and he wasn't going to take his chances with Salazar's old pet. At that thought Harry froze, he had completely forgotten to find out if he was able to speak parseltongue or not.
Shaking his head at his foolishness, he refocused on the task at hand, it wasn't very often you met a snake in suburban Britain after all. And considering that Harry from the story hadn't been able to communicate with the basilisk in the chamber, it was a longshot solution anyway. Maybe he could try enchanting something that would be able to destroy a Horcrux? That was worth further pondering.
The final item on the list of things that were of considerable importance was finding himself a teacher for Occlumency. His interaction with the Sorting Hat had reminded him that there were people that could read minds in the magical world, and Harry knew of at least three that were capable of it at Hogwarts. One of the many extra books he had bought from Flourish and Blotts was essentially a large list of the many magics that existed in the wizarding world and their various uses.
In the book, which was aptly named: 'The many forms of Magic'. Occlumency was shortly described as one of the many magics related to the mind, in this case, the protection of it. There was no description of how it was practised, or how one would go about learning it on their own. Instead, there was a very noticeable warning about how you should always learn it with the aid of a teacher. According to the book, there was a very real risk of doing considerable amounts of damage to your mind if you did something wrong.
Where he was supposed to acquire a master of Occlumency to teach him the craft he had no idea at all. Of course, there were Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts, but asking one of them to teach him would defeat the entire purpose of learning the skill in the first place.
Thankfully Harry had at least begun with the first step many years ago, every night when he went to bed, he emptied his mind when he immersed himself in his magic. So by the time he found himself a teacher, he wouldn't have to start entirely from scratch.
Outside the door to their dorm, he was starting to hear the castle come awake. Deciding he had done enough work on his grand plans for the morning, he packed his notebook away in his mokeskin pouch and leapt out of his bed.
It was time for his first day of classes.
"Welcome students," greeted Professor Flitwick joyously as they trooped into his classroom. "Take a seat wherever you would like."
As everyone was finding themselves a seat Professor Flitwick was taking a quick roll call, when he reached Harry's name, with a squeak the teacher fell off his stack of books, to much laughter all around. It was a nice icebreaker Harry realized, because suddenly the tension in the room was broken.
"My name is Filius Flitwick and as you probably know, I teach Charms." Flitwick began to introduce himself as he climbed back up to his lectern.
"In this class, you will learn various charms that will be a necessity in your daily life. After your Ordinary Wizarding Levels in your fifth year, this class will also lean more heavily into magical theory. I hope that all of your will choose to learn with me for all of your seven years here, but I know that not everyone has my love for Charms." Their teacher chuckled softly at his own words.
"Today we are learning a very useful but also very simple charm," Flitwick raised his wand and a soft light spewed forth from the tip of his wand. "Does anyone know the name of this spell?"
Several hands rose into the air, including Harry's and all of his friends in response to the Professor's question.
"Miss Brown?" Flitwick pointed towards a girl a few rows behind them.
"It's called the Lumos charm," she replied nervously.
"Splendid, a point to Gryffindor," he incanted Nox and the light disappeared from his wand. "The counterspell to Lumos is as you just heard, Nox, and there are no wand movements… Well, what are you waiting for? Start practising."
Harry looked at his classmates all getting various results from their first couple of tries. Some, like Ron, were shouting their spells, and others were waving their wands around while trying, despite Flitwick's clear instructions.
"Mr Potter is something the matter?" He was brought out of his people-watching by Flitwick appearing in front of his desk.
"Not at all Professor, I was merely observing my friends," replied Harry.
Nodding his head in acceptance of Harry's words. "Would you give it a try, please." The professor said in that a-question-but-not-a-question way.
Doing the professors bidding he raised his wand in the air and focused his mind on the image of bright light and willed his magic through his arm into his wand.
It was like the sun had suddenly risen in the classroom, pandemonium broke out, everyone was shielding their eyes and many were crying out in pain. Harry quickly cut off his magic from his wand and closed his eyes. There were bright spots all over the inside of his eyelids and it took quite a few blinks of his eyes before he could see properly again.
"Oh, my," Professor Flitwick squeaked out. "That was quite the Lumos spell you managed there."
"Sorry," mumbled Harry red-faced.
"No harm done Mr Potter, this happens sometimes. Might I suggest you try again but with quite a lot less force?" The professor chuckled before walking over to another desk.
On the next try, instead of letting his magic fill himself like he usually did when casting spells, he pushed the smallest amount of magic he could into his wand. This time, he got the result he expected; a small ball of light at the end of his wand. Why was it that it worked correctly with his wand and not with his wandless magic? He raised his hand in the air to call Professor Flitwick over.
"Yes, Mr Potter?" asked the diminutive teacher.
"Well, you see, erhm… Long before we came to Hogwarts I managed to do magic." Professor Flitwick raised an eyebrow at that. "I tried to do something similar to the Lumos charm, but instead… It's probably easier if I show you." Harry rushed out the words while cupping his hands together.
Out of his hands rolled the usual failed Lumos charm, a ball containing ethereal light.
"Oh ho, Mister Potter, this is a perfect teaching opportunity," said Flitwick. "Would you mind me taking that from you for a bit?"
"Eh, okay…?" Harry replied uncertainly.
Professor Flitwick jumped up on his stack of books behind his lectern again, "Everyone quiet down please."
As the students settled down and looked towards the front of the classroom, Flitwick began speaking. "I have here in my hand the result of Mister Potter's try at a Lumos charm. We all experienced the impressive one he made with his wand earlier, this one however was made without the use of a wand."
Every eye in the room turned to him in an instant, and the whispering began a fraction of a second later.
Professor Flitwick continued his lecture without missing a beat, "This phenomenon happens to a muggle-born every couple of years and has for the last hundred or so years. Would anyone care to take a guess as to why that is?"
Nobody raised their hands for the first few seconds after the professor's question, and then Draco Malfoy raised his.
"What is your theory, Mister Malfoy?" Asked Flitwick.
"Well, it's obviously because the Mudbloods can't cast a simple Lumos charm," the near albino boy drawled, drawing a smatter of snickering from his sycophants and shocked gasps from the rest of the class.
"MISTER MALFOY!" Shouted Professor Flitwick with clear anger in his voice. "Fifty points from Slytherin and detention with Mister Filch for a month. Never again will you utter that horrible word in front of me or I will have you in detention until the day you graduate."
The pale boy turned even paler at hearing his punishment. "When my f-father hears of this-"
It happened in an instant when Draco threatened him, the tiny professor's entire countenance turned – for lack of a better word – sharp. "When your father hears of this he is more than welcome to challenge me to a duel. I am willing to face your coward of a father any day on the piste, and I have no need of a mask to hide behind." In the place where their tiny and adorable Charms Professor had been, now stood the battle-hardened duelling champion Filius Flitwick.
"You will present yourself to your Head of House and explain how you lost fifty points on your very first day." Ordered the angry professor.
Draco Malfoy looked so terrified that Harry was afraid that he was going to have an accident in his robes. The boy was rooted to the spot and didn't move at all, despite what the professor had just commanded.
"OUT WITH YOU! OUT!" Filius Flitwick screamed while slamming the door open with a flick of his wand.
The Slytherin boy scrambled out of his seat and ran out of the room in terror.
As Professor Flitwick closed the door behind Draco Malfoy, he sighed, "I apologize for my outburst…" he paused for a moment, his fingers tapping against his temples. "I fought against Voldemort and his followers in the last war," the class gasped, "They espoused the same dogma that young Mister Malfoy just did. To allow him to speak as he did – would be a disservice to everyone who gave their lives in the fight against those monsters."
"You might not know, but I am not short, or suffering from dwarfism as the muggles call it." The professor said solemnly. "I am half-goblin, you see. Therefore I, myself, am an abomination to those vile people. I did not volunteer during the last war, I had to fight for my right to exist."
Their first Charms class, which had started with jokes and laughter, continued in a solemn mood all the way until the bell rang, signalling that it was time for lunch.
The Hogwarts rumour mill was truly exceptional. During lunch, the only thing on anyone's lips was Professor Flitwick's outburst. Harry and his friends had been questioned about it dozens of times, by random people in the hallways, older Gryffindors, and even Percy Weasley, who assured them he needed to know in his role as a prefect.
At the teacher's table, everyone could see Severus Snape glaring daggers at Professor Flitwick, who was acting like the other teacher didn't even exist as he happily consumed his meal.
No one outside Slytherin had seen Draco Malfoy since he fled the Charms class earlier that day. According to the rumour mill he had locked himself in his room after running off to send a letter from the owlery.
"D'you reckon anything is going to happen?" Ron asked between bites of his food.
"I d-don't think so," said Neville "Mister Malfoy has nothing to gain by coming here and causing a scene. Professor Flitwick is well respected and there was an entire class that heard what Draco said."
"Agreed, there might be a private conversation in the headmaster's office, but we will probably never know the outcome." Harry continued.
Ron's shoulders slumped dejectedly when hearing their words, he probably wanted to see Draco further humiliated.
Thankfully the rest of their week had been less exciting than the first class of the year had been. Draco had sullenly returned to classes the next day, he had kept to himself and rarely said anything out loud. It would seem that Neville's prediction had been correct.
Tomorrow he was meeting with Professor McGonagall for tea, and that meant that today, unfortunately, was Friday. Double Potions and then History of Magic, Harry was wishing painful warts in unmentionable places on the person or persons who had assigned his class that schedule.
As they waited outside the Potions classroom Harry was preparing himself to at least try to make nice with Severus Snape. But if the man behaved as he did in the original story, all bets were off, especially if he went after Harry's friends.
The door slammed open and the Potions Professor stalked around the room, Harry after finding a seat next to his friends, tuned out as Severus Snape went through his rehearsed speech. All of it was too melodramatic for him. This was Potions class, not drama club.
"POTTER!" Their potions teacher bellowed.
"Whassa?" Harry snapped his head straight towards the front of the classroom. He heard muted laughter coming from those around him.
"That will be one point from Gryffindor for your inability to pay attention," said Professor Snape. "I asked you what powdered root of asphodel and an infusion of wormwood would make."
"Draught of the Living dead," answered Harry instantly, naturally he had prepared himself for this part.
Professor Snape's face reddened, "Everyone can get lucky once or twice I guess. Where would you find a bezoar."
"Stomach of a goat," Harry continued with another instant answer.
Their professor was turning an ugly shade of puce, "What. Is. The. Difference. Between. Monkshood and wolfsbane." Professor Snape ground out through his clenched teeth.
"They are the same plant, also known as-"
"That is another five points from Gryffindor for cheating, Potter!" Severus Snape snapped. "You will find none of your usual worship in this classroom."
Hermione burst out of her seat, "That's plain unfair sir! Harry answered all of your questions correctly, and if you had paid even the slightest attention to him while in the Great Hall, you'd know that-"
"Sit down and be quiet you silly little girl!" Professor Snape hissed dangerously.
Hermione instantly shut her mouth and sat down, she seemed to be on the verge of tears after Professor Snape's hurtful words. Harry had more than enough of this man-sized toddler masquerading as a teacher. He rose from his chair and slung his backpack over his shoulders while walking towards the exit of the classroom.
"Potter! Where do you think you are going?" The dungeon bat growled.
"Well, a class requires a professor to teach it, and I can't find anything but a belligerent man-child in here, so I'm leaving." The rest of the students held their breaths after hearing Harry's response.
"What. Did. You. Say?" The professor seethed as he moved to stand between the door and Harry.
"I said, that since there's no professor in here to teach the class, I'm leaving. Are you hard of hearing in addition to your horrible personality and temper?" He responded lazily.
"You are just like your father-"
"Well thank you, though I'm confused as to why you're suddenly complimenting me. Do you suffer from some sort of bipolar disorder?" Harry interrupted.
Trolling was an art form, and as someone who in their previous life had grown up with the internet at their fingertips, he had naturally mastered it.
"IT'S NOT A COMPLIMENT YOU IDIOT BOY!" Professor Snape roared at him. "Your father was a blight upon the earth, and I hated him with every fibre of my being." Several people gasped at that, which wasn't any wonder, since James Potter was considered a minor hero in wizarding Britain.
"Well you know, that's just your opinion man. I happen to like my father quite a lot. Now could you please step aside so I can go do something productive with my time?" Harry asked with the most infuriatingly calm tone he could muster.
Severus Snape was by this point almost frothing at the mouth, and Harry saw that for a moment, the man thought about going for his wand. Bracing himself, and readying his magic in case a fight were to break out.
It would seem that the professor thought better of it. "You're coming with me to see the headmaster. Class is dismissed for the rest of you."
Harry tried to walk past the man but was stopped when a hand gripped his shoulder like a vice. "The headmaster's office, now," came the menacing voice of their Potions professor.
"I do not like you touching me, let go of me please," Harry said with an edge to his tone.
The belligerent man was beyond any reason and didn't pause for a moment to listen to his words. Instead, he started to drag Harry with him towards the exit.
"Everyone in here heard me ask Professor Snape to let me go nicely, yes?" Harry asked the class as a whole. He received several nods in confirmation. "Sir, if you do not let me go right now, I will consider you hostile, and I will defend myself with force."
"I would like to see you try-" CLANG! With a twitch of Harry's fingers, a nearby cauldron had flown off its table and struck Severus Snape straight in the head. The Potion's professor flew into the wall with a sickening crunch and crumpled down to the ground in a heap – unconscious.
Turning towards the stunned students in the room he spoke, "One of you should probably go get Madam Pomfrey. He'll definitely need some healing after that. I'm off to get an early lunch, see ya." He waved a jaunty salute as he stepped over the downed professor.
Professor McGonagall had approached him roughly an hour later while he was drinking tea in the Great Hall after finishing his early lunch, and informed him that she was to take him to the headmaster's office. He was expecting it and followed along diligently.
"I don't know what happened in that classroom," said Minerva "but you should know that Professor Snape is claiming that you attacked him unprovoked and is demanding your immediate expulsion."
"I did attack him, yes, after he manhandled me and I warned him. There's an entire classroom of witnesses that can attest to that." Harry replied testily.
Minerva seemed to be about to say something else, but she hesitated long enough that by the time she had made up her mind. They had already reached the gargoyle that hid the entrance to the headmaster's office.
"Honeycomb Toffee," she said crisply to the gargoyle and it quickly hopped aside to let them up the rotating staircase.
They came to a stop in front of a regular-looking wooden door, and the professor rapped her knuckles upon it two times. A muffled "Enter." later and she led him into a large circular office, the walls were lined with bookshelves and the shelves were filled with books and trinkets.
On the opposite end of the door was a large wooden desk covered in papers and gizmos. Albus Dumbledore in all his glory was seated behind it, peering intently at them from over his half-moon glasses.
"Greetings, Harry, Minerva." The old man nodded his head towards them.
"Headmaster," said Harry while Minerva merely nodded back.
"Sit down, sit down." The headmaster invited. "Would you like some tea?"
Both Harry and Minerva answered in the affirmative and Albus Dumbledore called for a house elf, a few moments later they were all sitting and sipping their tea. They passed the time in comfortable silence while emptying their cups.
"Now, Harry, I asked you here because Severus Snape has levelled some very serious allegations towards you," Albus Dumbledore said while setting down his empty cup. "He proclaims that you attacked him unprovoked after refusing punishment for acting up during class."
"Yes, I guess one could see what happened in that classroom like that… That is if one is completely and utterly detached from reality." Harry chuckled.
"This is no laughing matter, Harry." The headmaster admonished.
Harry merely raised an eyebrow in response before he began to properly explain what had happened in the Potions' classroom earlier that morning. At the end of his explanation Minerva McGonagall was almost spitting with fury.
"He has crossed a line that can't be uncrossed Albus, I've warned you again and again that he was going to go too far, you'll have to fire him for this." Professor McGonagall hissed out. "I can already see the Daily Prophet headline for tomorrow's paper. 'Former death eater disparages parents of Boy-Who-Lived during class at Hogwarts'. This is catastrophically bad Albus."
"Yes, it does seem quite bad, does it not?" Dumbledore hummed lightly while stroking his beard. "He will have to be put on probation at least, we cannot have teachers trying to physically or magically assault the children after all."
"Probation?!" Minerva shouted.
"Yes, I'm afraid it's a necessity that Severus remain at Hogwarts." The headmaster replied placatingly. "Even if I wanted to fire him, I can't. Lucius has a firm grasp over the board of governors, and if I were to even contemplate firing Severus, I would be the one without a job instead. Lucius will most likely make sure nothing is printed in the paper either, Severus is Draco's godfather after all."
"As that may be, you'll still have to find another teacher for Mister Potter. He needs to learn potions and you can't allow that man to be in the same room as him." Minerva demanded.
"Hmm, we'll have to come up with some sort of solution, yes." Albus Dumbledore replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps Poppy would be willing to teach him the first-year curriculum until another, more permanent solution can be found."
Short chapter today, and probably the only one this week. I've got stomach flu and it's really nasty this time, so I don't have the energy to do much at all except for laying in my bed.
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