[September 2nd, Morning]
Tammy arrived at breakfast early for the first day of classes. The hall was almost empty with the noticeable exception of two red heads, huddled together, conversing in whispers. They caught her eye and one gave an almost imperceptible smirk before turning away.
Tammy narrowed her eyes. A place on one of the benches was calling to her. 'Sit here!' it seemed to shout.
She walked over to it, pulled out her wand, and waved it over the offending piece of furniture. It glowed faintly red. Another wave and the red glow faded into nothingness. A glance at the twins saw them gaping at her.
"You're going to have to do better than that," Tammy called, taking her spot on the bench and pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice. But before she could take a swig, a nondescript barn owl had dropped a letter in front of her, knocking the glass over.
"Arghh!" Tammy shot a glare at the bird before pulling the letter off, shoeing it away, and vanishing the mess.
"This better be good," Tammy muttered, ripping open the plain envelope, a split second before remembering she should've checked it for pranks first.
Luckily, it seemed to be clean. She unfolded the parchment inside and read. Her eyes widened in shock.
To she-who-has-been-cutely-named
There is a high chance some of your food/drink has been compromised.
If you're able to check for potions then I suggest you do so before every meal.
If you're unable to, I suggest getting breakfast directly from the kitchens. You can find them under the great hall, down the stairs leading to the dungeons. You need to tickle the pear in the painting of the bowl of fruit to reveal the door. The house elves there are very helpful and will be more than willing to help you out.
You should do this for every meal until you are able to learn the potion detection spell. It's quite a complicated spell for your level but doesn't require much power, so you can definitely learn it with practice. You can find the spell in 'The Standard Auror Handbook' In the DADA section of the library, or in 'Basic Healing Spells' in the Healer section.
Talking about this with professors or prefects would be a very bad idea.
I'm working on a more permanent solution but until then, trust no one.
Yours,
Coalcloak
'She-who-has-been-cutely-named?' Tammy thought, her face a picture of incredulity.
She picked up her wand and silently waved it over her food, ignoring the curious faces of the masses starting to fill the hall. Her eyes widened again as the flood of information filtered into her mind. Most of the food and drink in front of her was laced with at least one thing. A few select pieces that had appeared on her plate had loyalty potions, but most of the food lying around was spiked with some kind of modified sickness potion.
"Hi Tammy," Ron arrived and sat down next to her, "I hope we have a free period today," he continued, reaching over to take a helping of eggs and bacon. Tammy's hand shot out and snapped around his wrist.
"Wait Ron," She said, "Eating that would be a very bad idea right now. I think your brothers may have done something to all the food," while in the privacy of her head she added, 'Or possibly someone else.'
Ron paled.
She continued, "We should eat in the kitchens for the moment. We can come back up and get our schedules a few minutes before classes start."
"You know where the kitchens are?" Ron asked, eyes shifting from fearful to excited.
"Sure," she smiled, "Follow me."
A few meters away, behind a pillar facing away from the head table, a lone, disillusioned figure in green trimmed robes stood, watching the two Gryffindors go, confusion etched on his young face, before a wide grin started to spread from ear to ear.
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
Hermione was bouncing up and down in her chair with excitement. She'd just received her schedule and the first class was transfiguration. She was going to learn magic. Real magic! Like, right now! Well… in 15 minutes but still! Real magic! Of course, she'd already done real magic; at home and on the train, but this was different. It was going to be in a classroom! Her domain! Hermione beamed around at her fellow Ravenclaws who were looking bemused at her antics. She turned to the girl sitting next to her, a fellow first year who'd introduced herself as Su Li.
"Hey Sue, what do you think the first thing we'll change will be? I hope it will be something that takes advantage of Bramblehouse's emotional intent theory. I feel like I could touch the enchanted ceiling about now!"
Su gave a weak smile and spoke in a quiet voice that contrasted Hermione's rambunctious tone. "I don't think I've got that far in the book yet… It'll probably be something from one of the first chapter's exercises. And it's er… Su.
"What?"
"My name. It's Su.
"That's what I said… Sue."
"Um…No that's Sue, not Su."
"Sue."
"Su."
"Sue."
Su seemed to give up. "Ah, never mind, I guess it's not really that important."
"It is important! I want to get it right!"
Su's smile strengthened a little. "Thanks Hermione."
"No problem. I'm sure my name must be quite hard for people with certain first languages. Now, say it again?"
"Su."
"Sue."
"Su."
"Sue."
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
Ernie Macmillian was walking towards the Hufflepuff common room with the rest of the first year puffs when his stomach gave a warning rumble.
"Oh sweet Morgana, I really don't feel so good."
Susan Bones turned and looked at him, worried. "You don't look good either, I figured you shouldn't have gone for that last pancake."
Justin Finch-Fletchley brought his hand to his mouth and spun toward the wall.
*Bluahhhhhhhhhhh!*
"EEWWWWWW!" shrieked Hannah and Susan.
Wayne Hopkins was looking very green.
Ernie turned to Neville who was looking perfectly healthy. "Neville mate! Take the girls and go! We're done for!"
"Ummm, are you sure? You don't want some help to the hospital wing?"
"No! Take them! Only you can take care of them now!"
"You know, we are perfectly capable of looking after ourselves," said Hannah, carefully stepping away from the puddle now spreading across the hallway.
Ernie ignored her. "Neville! The honor of our houses demands it!"
Susan looked exasperated. "Oh Please! Stop being so dramatic. This is probably a prank by those Weasley twins. Auntie told me to watch out for them. You guys look dreadful, but no-one gets that sick that quickly of natural causes."
Wayne suddenly joined Justin's gastric bombardment.
In the face of continued revisited breakfast, Neville's timid posture fell away and his voice acquired a hint of steel. "OK! I'm convinced! Let's get out of here! I'll check up on you guys in 30 minutes! Hopefully you won't miss next class." And with that he grabbed Hannah and Susan's hands and, calling to Megan and Leanne, led them back towards the Hufflepuff common room.
Several barrels prodded with wands later and the fivesome slumped down in facing chairs next to the fireplace.
"That was…" Neville began.
"Disgusting?" Susan suggested.
"Revolting?" Megan added.
"…Weird," finished Neville. "Why was it they got sick? We were all eating the same food."
"No idea. Maybe just luck of the draw?" Hannah suggested.
"Maybe."
"Anyway, we haven't really had a chance to talk yet Neville. Why don't you tell us about yourself."
Neville was suddenly nervous again as four pairs of female eyes turned towards him. "Um… OK, I guess.
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
Hermione and Su had just arrived at the transfiguration classroom, several minutes early, to find many of the Slytherins already there. The rest of the classroom seemed empty except for a tabby cat sitting on the teacher's desk.
"Hey Hermione! Over here!"
Hermione spotted Harry motioning to an empty desk next to him. The blond haired boy from the train and his…friends… were sitting on Harry's other side.
Beaming, Hermione dragged Su with her, took the chair offered and turned to Harry. "Good morning! Isn't this exciting!? Our very first class! I hope everyone else gets here quickly; it wouldn't look very good if any of us were late. Oh! This is my friend! …Tsu!… li."
Harry reached over, offering Su his hand, and bowing slightly. "My name is Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you, Su."
Hermione's jaw dropped and Su's eyes widened, although whether from being introduced to Harry Potter or Harry getting her name correct was uncertain.
"Oh! That is impossible!" How did you get it right first time?! I didn't even pronounce it properly!"
Harry just smirked.
Draco looked pensive. "Harry," he hissed, "She is a pureblood. You should introduce yourself to her properly."
Harry maintained his eye contact with a still shocked Su. "I refuse to introduce myself as 'Most Ancient' anything to a Chinese family that has existed for four and a half thousand years," grinning, he continued, "That would be like playing with a blade in front of Cao Cao."
Su's eye's now narrowed slightly and her voice became suspicious. "You know Chinese culture? How?"
"I had a very good teacher, Su."
"Playing with a blade in front of Cao Cao?" Hermione looked confused.
"The western version would be 'teaching your grandmother to suck eggs'."
"Oh."
Su was still looking at Harry oddly. "Pleased to meet you Potter. You were not what I expected."
"Defying people's expectations is where I get my fun in life."
The bell that signaled the start of class rang and the cat sitting on the teacher's table leapt onto the floor, changing, mid-leap, into professor McGonagall. Su, Hermione, and Draco looked shocked. Harry smiled.
"Welcome to transfiguration. I'm glad you are all on time. That must be a first for a first year, first class. I expect all of you to maintain such discipline over your time here in Hogwarts. Transfiguration is some of the most dangerous magic you will learn. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back, you have been warned."
One desk to pig transformation, and plenty of note taking later, Hermione found herself working on turning a matchstick into a needle. She'd gotten the color to change and it was a bit pointier too.
"Oh well done Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall had walked by and noticed her work. "Can everyone see the effect at this stage of the transformation?" She called out to the class, holding her work up. "Three points to Ravenclaw."
Hermione beamed as Professor McGonagall took one step to her right to look at Harry's work.
Harry's as yet unchanged matchstick suddenly turned silvery and pointy.
"Ah, well done Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said, after examining the still wooden, silvery, pointed thing. "You seem to be keeping up well with Miss Granger. Two points to Slytherin." The last words were said with some reluctance and a wrinkled nose.
As the professor moved on Harry whispered, "Hey Hermione, I've had a thought. Check chapter 7 section 4 of 'A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration,' and then page 155 of 'Magical Theory'.
Hermione almost dropped her wand in her eagerness to rip open the books at the suggested sections.
After ten minutes of reading and a few moments of intense concentration, she flicked her wand at the new matchstick in front of her, picked up the result and dropped it on the flagstone floor. It tinkled.
Thirty seconds later, Harry followed suit with a perfect copy of Hermione's perfect needle.
Professor McGonagall was completing her final round of the classroom to find the two front row students smiling at her, one with unashamed enthusiasm, the other with a slight smugness that reminded her of a certain other messy, black haired student. Her eye's focused on the two needles in front of them, presented together with geometric precision. She picked one up. "Did you both do this?"
They both nodded.
McGonagall pulled two more matchsticks out of her pocket and placed them in front of them. "Please demonstrate."
Hermione focused intensely on her matchstick and gave a precise wand movement, while Harry just gave a lazy flick. The result was the same though. Two perfect needles had replaced the matchsticks.
McGonagall took a step back and breathed out. "Well. It's very rare that any student manages that transformation successfully in their first class. In fact, I can think of only a handful of cases in my whole teaching career…"
'And they were all purebloods who'd been breaking the underage magic laws, which is obviously not the case here,' she added to herself.
"…For two students to manage it. Well. Very well done, the both of you. Five points to Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
Hermione was very happy. After a lifetime of being singled out as weird and unlikeable she was finally making friends who not only tolerated her love of books and learning, but were actually able to keep up with her! Her world seemed to get a little brighter as she beamed towards Harry who grinned back.
She felt a slight heat on her cheeks and wondered, not for the first time that day, what exactly it was that those green eyes could see.
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
Neville and the Hufflepuff girls were walking into transfiguration class just as the Ravenclaws and Slytherins were leaving. Harry gave him the thumbs up and grinned as he walked past. Hermione was beaming. Neville stared. The beams shone out from her skin and cast a faint light on all they hit.
Neville wasn't the only one watching the bushy haired girl. The Ravenclaws and Slytherins were casting furtive glances at both her and the boy-who-lived, who seemed totally unconcerned his friend seemed to be imitating a full-moon-lit-window into a darkened corridor. Draco walked by looking very nervous. Some of the other Slytherins were looking decidedly hostile.
He sat down at a desk with two girls on either side of him and cast his gaze around the room. They were the first to arrive. His trip to the hospital wing to check on his friends had revealed just how many people had been affected by the prank. It seemed all the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first year boys were lying on beds, moaning, with a very irritable Madam Pomfrey bustling around muttering darkly about pranks gone too far.
"Did you see that Ravenclaw girl?!" Susan asked the group.
"That was Hermione Granger." Neville replied.
"Oooohhhh, how do you know her?"
"We sat together on the train with Harry."
"Harry Potter?!"
"Yeah."
"Tell us about him! Is he all the books say he is?" Hannah entered the conversation and the other girls looked on, suddenly very interested.
"Well, I don't know about that… It's not as though there were any dragons, nundus, or dark wizards in there with us… He did help Hermione learn a fourth year spell to help find my toad though."
"WOW!" the girls chorused.
"I can't believe he's in Slytherin." Susan continued, frowning, "I would've thought-"
"-He's really nice you know." Neville cut in, feeling the need to defend his friend.
"I hope so. I don't think I could stand it if Harry Potter turned out to be a dark wizard."
"So Neville, did he say if he likes anyone?" Hannah asked.
"W-w-what?" Neville started to go red.
"Does he like anyone, you know, does he have a special someone?"
"I-I-don't know. He… he didn't say anything about that."
At this point a cat jumped up from behind the desk.
"KITTY!" Screamed Susan.
The cat jumped down and turned into Professor McGonagall.
"Epp!" Susan squeaked.
"Thank you Miss Bones. Might I enquire as to where the rest of your male classmates are? It would seem only Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Weasely have decided to honor us with their presence." She glanced to where Ron was sitting with Tammy.
Neville raised his hand. "Um, all the other boys got sick from a prank played in the great hall. They were all still in the hospital wing when I checked on them a little while ago."
"I see," the professor said, while mentally vowing eternal suffering on a certain pair of red headed trouble makers, after all, who else would it be? "Well then, lets start the lesson then."
After the usual desk to pig routine and lecture with note taking, the class got settled down to the matchstick to needle exercise.
"Miss Riddle?"
"Yes professor?"
McGonagall was looking down in utter shock at the perfect needle the girl had produced on the very first wave of her wand.
She pulled out another matchstick and asked her to do it again.
The same result.
Inside Professor McGonagall's mind the wheels were spinning fast.
"Miss Riddle. You ARE muggle raised aren't you?"
"Yes professor. I was raised in an orphanage and never knew my parents. Probably muggleborn too."
McGonagall's eye twitched slightly at that last comment, but kept her first thought to herself.
"Well, there were a lot of orphans at the end of the last war… but you haven't had any contact with the wizarding world before you got your letter?"
"No professor."
"Have you been practicing this spell before you came to class?"
"No professor."
"Can I see your wand please?"
"Um…" Tammy suddenly looked nervous. "OK professor."
She handed the wand to Professor McGonagall.
#Priori Incantato#
Two transfiguration spells emerged from the wand, followed by a magic detection spell, a vanishing spell, a finite incantatem, another magic detection spell, and then nothing. McGonagall was at a loss. Those spells were beyond the capability of any first year, trained or otherwise.
"What were the magic detection spells for?"
"I was afraid my seat in the great hall had been pranked and it turned out I was right."
"Ah—Well then… An… An incredible performance, Miss Riddle. Ten points to Gryffindor."
From the other side of the room, Neville looked on, as Tammy effortlessly became a one-witch needle factory. His matchstick hadn't changed at all. "This is depressing," he intoned.
"Look up Neville!" Susan was smiling at him with encouragement. "There's obviously something you're doing that's not quite right. We'll figure it out."
Neville gave a weak smile that quickly firmed. "Yeah, you're right." He picked up his Father's wand with new energy, determined to impose his will on this miserable excuse for a bonfire.
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
[Lunchtime]
Reginald Carter, the King of Slytherin, surveyed his domain in the great hall. The table of Slytherin house had a strict hierarchy as to who sat where and he was right at the top. Exactly where he knew he should be.
It had been a tough fight, two years ago, when the last queen left and he'd wrestled the title from his fellow snakes, all of whom thought the king should be someone from one of the ancient houses, not some upstart who could only trace his line back four generations. It hadn't mattered. Despite being only a forth year at the time, he'd plotted, tricked, and beaten them all into the ground to claim the ultimate prize, the lounge by the common room central fireplace and the title of King.
His gaze swept over his allies and enemies to fall on one of the forth year witches, Ashley Atkins, one of the rare muggleborns in Slytherin. Reginald reflected that she'd definitely started to fill out in all the right places over the summer. He didn't understand many of his peer's aversion to sexual relations with mudbloods. Sure they needed to learn their place, but there was no reason their place shouldn't be on their hands and knees. Anything else would be a waste of witch. He smirked.
"Carter."
Reginald turned to see Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin quidditch team.
"Yes, Flint?"
"Just thought you should know, I've been hearing that one of our firsties may be having problems understanding rule one."
Rule one of Slytherin house was that all house members presented a united front while outside the common room, and that internal politics remain internal. Almost all the Slytherins also interpreted this to mean Slytherins shouldn't help students from other houses.
"Really? Who?"
"Potter!" Flint snarled. "Word is he was choosing to help a mudblood Ravenclaw girl earn points rather than his house mates in class."
Carter sighed. "I was wondering if we were going to have problems with him. Who is his mentor?"
"Cole Spenser. Forth year. Tried out for beater last year, but didn't make the cut."
"Well I'm sure he can have a word with Potter and if Potter seems to be slow on the uptake… well, I'm sure he'd like to keep his beater skills sharp."
Flint smirked. "Right. You want I should ask him?"
"Yes. Please do so."
Carter turned back to his Lunch, noting with satisfaction that as word of their conversation spread down the table and reached Potter, the snakes around him started to discreetly shuffle away, forming a ring of isolated space. Yes. Potter would soon learn his place, just like the others. His gaze shifted back to the pretty forth year muggleborn witch, still discreetly shuffling away from Potter's position. Reginald Carter bit into an apple and smiled.
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
Harry had given Draco the slip—not hard given the blonde's mounting unease—and headed up to a familiar tapestry on the seventh floor.
The beat down was coming, earlier than expected, and Harry needed to be ready.
Harry had a lot of options, but little time.
During his time as Master of Death he'd acquired many powers and many magical forms, but that didn't mean he got to take them with him when his soul traveled. It also didn't mean his raw magical strength automatically traveled with him either.
Sometimes it did. Sometimes the dimension he was in felt that, as master of death, he should automatically win the super power lottery.
However, most of the time, the reality he found himself in used a combination of four things to determine raw magical power: Magical Core, strength training, spell casting efficiency, and rituals.
A core was usually fixed at birth and grew until the wizard was mature. In a world with only magical core strength you were either powerful or you weren't and if Harry didn't roll the correct dice on birth, then his master of death status meant little.
Worlds based on the strength training principle allowed a magical to increase the amount of power they could wield by using incrementally more over long periods of time, much like developing muscle strength in weight lifting. Because of the meritocratic nature of these worlds, people like Voldemort and Dumbledore couldn't be all that much more powerful than everyone else and could probably be taken down by a well-trained team. The only reason people like Voldemort were actually threats to society, in and of themselves, was because of horcruxes, and the like.
Efficiency focused worlds gave everyone similar amounts of power, and what determined difference in strength was how efficiently you could wield it, putting only the exact amount required into each spell for the desired result. Like strength training based worlds, these worlds tended to have fairly even power distribution. Power came from skill, range of spell knowledge, and creativity of spell usage.
And finally worlds based on rituals allowed wizards and witches to increase their power by performing rituals with permanent effects on their bodies. Most of these were almost always considered 'dark' and illegal in most worlds with traditional ministries. In these worlds, the Master of Death ruled, since Harry could bring his combined knowledge of ritual magics with him, knowledge that had been repressed by governments, hoarded by families, or simply lost.
This world seemed to be a fairly standard combination of all four. Everyone got a magical core and his wasn't outrageously large, a little bit above average for a boy his age. The older students who were planning to lay down the law all had cores at least twice the size of his, if not quite a bit larger.
This was offset by his being able to wield his magic with very high efficiency. That alone closed the gap between them and put him at the level of the average forth year. Of cause, there were limits to that advantage. He could hardly be expected to go toe to toe with the entire of Slytherin house and come out on top.
His vast knowledge of magic and how to creatively combine spells gave him a further advantage, but this was offset by his current physical underdevelopment and lack of stamina, another thing that would have to be remedied.
Until he could get some serious rituals going or invest some serious time in reaching out across the worlds to re-connect to an appropriate animagus form, he was going to have go full on defensive and evasive. He simply didn't have the strength to do anything else and refused, on principle, to compromise his games with his friends in other houses. Hermione was doing FAR too well to allow that, and Tammy was FAR too interesting of an enigma.
Luckily, Slytherin house politics gave an option to 'opt-out' of the current king's rules while protecting those he was playing with. Of course unless you were the Master of Death, trying to pull what he was about to attempt would be so monumentally stupid no one would EVER try it.
Right now, however, he had the first 'Harry-Potter-lucky-dip' to go through—the come and go room.
Harry walked back and forth in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy thinking I REALLY need the lost and found.
The door appeared and Harry entered, walking swiftly into the heart of the massive room, and whipped out his wand.
#Accio moleskin pouch#
Nothing. 'Nuts.'
Harry waited a few moments to get his magic back, the room was quite large after all.
#Accio extra-dimensionaly charmed bag#
Nothing. 'Bah.'
#Accio empty bag#
Dozens of bags of all kinds flew at him forcing him to jump out of the way as they dogpiled where he'd been standing. Among the haul, harry quickly spotted a VERY nice dragon skin pouch. After checking it for curses he found it was just what he needed. He lay it in front of him, open to expose the lining on the inside—dragon hide WAS magically resistant after all—and cast the charm to create the same extra-dimensional space effect as standard moleskin pouches had.
That took a lot out of him, and he had to wait a good five minutes before he could cast the next charms to make it keyed only to him and to allow easy retrieval of items by thought. He'd like to make it invisible too, but hey, dragon hide.
The final charms were to make it weightless and to allow the opening to expand to fit large items, which also took a lot out of him.
Happy with his new acquisition, Harry stood back up, slung the bag over his shoulder, and resumed casting.
#Accio money#
A small pile of galleons, sickles, and knuts resulted, which Harry dumped into the pouch.
#Accio jewellery#
Another small pile resulted. Some of the items looked quite good, which was a surprise. Most expensive jewelry was charmed with anti summoning spells for obvious reasons.
#Accio t-shirts#
#Accio jeans#
#Accio corduroys#
#Accio socks#
#Accio jumpers#
#Accio shirts#
#Accio coats#
#Accio glasses#
#Accio shoes#
#Accio exercise clothes#
#Accio dress robes#
'I really need a mirror! I really need a mirror! I really need a mirror!' A full-length mirror appeared before Harry.
30 minutes later, the improvised Hogwarts thrift shop produced a wardrobe far better then the oversized rags of Dudley's old throw-offs. He even managed to find a pair of glasses with a more accurate prescription than his current ones. Not that that would matter once he'd done the ritual for perfect eyesight but every little helps.
He threw his old clothes to the side and moved onto the big prizes.
#Accio potion ingredients# produced moderate results but would allow him to brew a good number of standard potions for a good few months.
#Accio potion equipment# gave a large number of vials—some of which smashed as Harry wasn't quite fast enough to charm them all unbreakable as they flew toward him—and a medium sized iron cauldron, but little else.
#Accio runic inscription kit#
"YES!" Harry jumped and thrust his fist in the air. 'A full NEWT level inscription kit! SCORE!'
#Accio Pensive#
Nothing. 'Damn. It's always nice when I get one of them.'
#Accio Armour#
Nothing
#Accio Sword#
Nothing
#Accio gun#
Nothing
#Accio bow#
Nothing
#Accio magical raw materials#
A bundle of acromantula silk the size of his body dumped itself in front of him.
'Wow. First time I've seen that.'
He thought for a moment…
#Accio loom#
Nothing
'Oh well, it was worth a shot.'
#Accio timeturner#
Nothing
#Accio candles#
Success
#Accio ritual dagger#
Success
Harry grinned but was getting tired. Most of the free period was used up and, with what he'd found here, a trip to the kitchens before potions this afternoon would be his best chance to survive tonight. He really didn't want to be forced to back down.
- W:PSBPnIoFP -
A/N: Thank you to everyone who follows and reviews! You keep me motivated to write more and keep me accountable to my errors! Thank you!
A/N: Canon Sue Li is a half-blood. In this fic, she's pureblood and prefers her Chinese name. Deal with it. Fun fact: Li and Su are both last names.
A/N: I take the political structure and culture of Slytherin House from one of my favourite fan fics: The Travel Secrets Series. Currently in at the third year.
