Shattered Illusions Chapter Five: First Day of Classes
When Freak woke up, he could feel something poking his arm and somebody was calling for Harry. He jumped when he realized that he was supposed to be Harry and he opened his eyes. He looked around wildly before he spotted who was poking him.
Ron was crouched by the side of the bed, his head under. "What are you doing under there?" He asked. Freak crawled out from under the bed and shrugged, giving a shy smile.
"Do you always sleep under your bed?" Ron asked. Freak shook his head. It was technically true, he never really slept under a bed, because there was never a bed to sleep under. Just a corner.
"Ok, well get dressed and meet me in the common room." Freak nodded, he could do that. After Ron left, Freak went to his trunk and got some clothes and went to the bathroom.
Freak cautiously looked into the mirror, a bit afraid of what he'd see. He breathed a sigh or relief when he saw that all his injuries were hiding again and quickly got dressed. Freak was about to put his old clothes down the dirty clothes chute when he noticed blood all over the inside.
He closely examined it and noticed that it was in the patters of his injuries, but his injuries were hiding, so Freak didn't understand how they could be bleeding. He shook his head and stuffed them into his trunk and went to the common room.
"C'mon Harry." Ron said once seeing Freak, "Let's go get some breakfast, I'm starved." Freak cocked his head, thinking. Starved? Freak vaguely remembering Ms. Figg using that word once to describe himself, but he didn't really know what it meant. So he nodded and they made their way to the Great Hall. They were one of the lasts to get there, and they took their spot at the Gryffindor table.
Freak was eyeing all the food on the table, there was every kind of breakfast type of food he could have ever imagined, but he took none. He had already eaten supper the night before, even though he knew he shouldn't have. He just couldn't help it, it had looked so good. Now Freak felt guilty.
"Aren't you hungry, Harry?" Ron asked, stuffing his face with egg. Freak shook his head. He was hungry, but he couldn't admit that now. He knew he was wrong for it, Freaks shouldn't eat that much. Ron shrugged and continued to eat.
Suddenly Hermione came up from behind Freak, causing him to jump. "I've picked up you classes." She said to them and handed them their papers, then walked from the Great Hall. Freak scanned the paper and frowned, he didn't recognize any of the classes. Of course they wouldn't have the same classes at a freak school than a normal school. Freak thought and put the paper in his pocket to wait for Ron to finish eating.
When Ron did finish almost he whole hall was empty. "Bloody hell." Ron said, jumping out of his seat, "We're going to be late for Transfiguration!" Freak felt his stomach drop, being late was never good, especially on his first day. They grabbed their bags and ran for it.
Not only did they leave late, but then they got lost along the way. When they finally found it Freak was shaking in fear, surely Professor McGonagall was not going to be happy with them.
"We made it." Ron said, happily panting. "Could you imagine McGonagall's face if she noticed we were late?" Freak didn't say anything, he was too busy looking at everyone else. Everyone was in their seats with their books open and were writing on parchment.
Suddenly the cat that was sitting on the desk jumped off and turned into their professor mid jump. Freak started shaking more, the professor didn't look very pleased.
"Whoa, bloody brilliant!" Ron said, Freak was horrified. When in trouble you don't say things like that, you apologize and hope you get off without a beating! McGonagall took a step closer and Freak started whimpering softly and put his hand in front of his face to protect himself.
"Sorry ma'am, we got lost." Ron said, noticing his friends fright.
"Well maybe I need to transfigure you into a map, I trust you don't need one to find your seats." She said, glaring.
"No ma'am." Ron said and pulled Freak to their seats.
"Calm down, Harry." Ron said worriedly. Freak was having trouble breathing. Everything was just to much! He had gotten friends, been fed, and haven't been beaten at all since being at Hogwarts, it was getting to much for Freak. He knew he deserved a beating, he had broken so many rules. The longer he had to wait, the harder it got. He didn't know what to do or how to act.
Finally he was able to calm himself and he pulled out his transfiguration book and some parchment. Then looked at Ron, to see what he was supposed to be doing. Ron caught him looking.
"Read through the chapter, then answer the questions at the end." Ron whispered, Freak nodded. That wasn't hard, except for answering the questions. He felt dread well up when he remembered that he never learned to write, but shook it away and started reading the chapter.
He got through it pretty quickly, but got stuck on some of the bigger words. When he did finish, he noticed almost everyone was either done or at least half way through their assignment. He swallowed and picked up his quill and looked at the parchment. He had to write his name.
Freak remembered that he would have to put, 'Harry Potter' instead of 'Freak' and tried to remember how it had looked on the envelope. He knew 'Harry' started with an 'H' and had an 'A' in it and an R. And he knew 'Potter' started with a 'P'. Eventually he put down, 'Hary Potr' and looked at it. It looked a little off, but not much so he smiled and was about to start the rest of the assignment, but McGonagall stopped them.
"I expect your assignments to be done by tomorrow, you're dismissed." Freak frowned slightly, he had hopped to get some of his assignment done. He shrugged and shoved his book and things into his book, and stood.
"I already finished my assignment." Hermione said. Ron rolled his eyes and mutter something that sounded like, 'Know-it-all.' "How much did you guys get done?" She asked.
"I got about half way through." Ron grumbled.
"What about you Harry?" Hermione asked. Freak looked away embarrassed.
"Name." He signed.
"You only got your name down?" Hermione frowned, "You really should work more on your studies." Freak nodded.
"Give him a break Hermione, it's the first day." Ron said.
"Yeah, but you don't want to get behind, do you?" Freak shook his head but Ron looked away annoyed.
The rest of the day until lunch went by pretty nice. After Transfiguration, they had Herbology then lunch, then after lunch they would have potions, then history of magic.
"Why aren't you eating?" Hermione asked Freak at lunch, Freak shrugged his shoulders.
"Aren't you hungry?" Freak hesitated. He was hungry, but he didn't dare say it, so he shook his head.
"Well, you should try to eat a little bit." She pressed. Freak nodded and picked up a roll. She watched him worriedly out of the corner of her eye for the rest of the meal but said nothing more.
"Come on, we've got to get to potions." Ron said once they finished lunch, "Don't want to be late for Snape's class. Heard he's a mean one."
When they first got to potions Professor Snape wasn't in yet and they took their seats. Ron was telling Freak about how mean and awful Professor Snape was, when the door banged open rather loudly, causing him to jump in his seat and start trembling. Everyone in the room straightened up.
He went through roll call, then began his speech. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making." Snape began. Freak sat on the edge of his chair, trying to take in every word. He wanted to learn about everything and didn't want to upset the professor.
"Potter!" Snape suddenly snapped, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Freak swallowed and glanced at Ron and Hermione. Ron's eyes were wide and he looked lost, Hermione on the other hand, had her hand in the air.
Freak slowly shook his head, signaling that he didn't know.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" A what?
Freak shrugged. Hermione was basically bouncing in her seat with her hand in the air.
"What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked coldly. Again, Freak shook his head.
"What's the matter? To good to speak up?" Snape asked. Freak was confused, why would he be too good? He knew he was bad, and that's why he wasn't allowed to talk. Freak shook his head.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor." Snape said and turned back to the rest of the class to continue teaching. The rest of potions class was terrible, Freak could feel the intense loathing whenever Snape looked at him, kind of like Uncle Vernon. He wondered what Harry Potter had done to make Snape so angry.
The rest of the day after that was fine, stressful, but fine. None of the other teachers had the hatred that Snape did. But they all paused at his name during role call and look at him, before continuing. A couple times he heard people calling his the 'famous Harry Potter' or The Boy Who Lived. Both of those titles confused him. Why was Harry famous? Because he lived? Why would that make him famous?
That evening he was in the common room with Hermione and Ron, working on assignments. Freak was still working on the one for McGonagall and Hermione and Ron were both finished with that one and were working on the essay for Snape.
Even though he was behind, Freak was a little proud of himself. For never writing before, it was coming along nicely. He often had to look in his books to see what some of the words and letters looked like, and it did look like chicken scratch, but it wasn't all that bad.
By the time he had finished all his assignments it was way passed bed time, Ron and Hermione had already gone to bed. Freak picked up all his book and put them in his bag, then went to his dorm. Freak put the bag at the foot of his bed and changed into some pajamas.
Freak had crawled under the bed and layed down. He tried to fall asleep, but his mind wouldn't stop thinking. He was worried and scared and excited about being at Hogwarts, he didn't know what to do with himself.
Freak had come from a home where he was kept in a cupboard, where he wasn't allowed to eat, or go to school. He wasn't allowed to even look at book (even though he did sometimes), or write anything. He hadn't been allowed to eat or speak, and now he had been put into a school where he was allowed to sleep under the bed, he was allowed to eat sometimes, and people talked to him.
Everything he had known had been turned upside down and nobody noticed the distress he was in. Nobody noticed there was anything wrong at all, they said he was shy and quiet, not realizing that he was terrified and mute.
Nobody, not even Freak, realized that night as he fell asleep, the change happening deep in his mind. Nobody noticed when 'Harry Potter' was born, and 'Freak' would be pushed to the back.
Harry wouldn't remember the abuse that he went through, he wouldn't remember being hit or belted, kicked and slapped. And subconsciously, Freak knew it was ok. That he was safe. Safe from having to deal with all the people, of having to eat, and sleep, and hopefully one day to talk.
Harry smiled as he finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.