Chapter 5
They arrived downstairs early and waited along with a few other students to come down. By 7 a.m. all the Ravenclaws were downstairs when Flitwick walked in. He handed all the Ravenclaws their schedules, a map, a leather-bound book, an a Quill. He dismissed the older students but held the first years back.
"I would like to say, welcome to Ravenclaw. I am only giving you a short speech as I know you would like to get to breakfast soon." said Flitwick.
"Beside you schedules, I have given you a map that will tell you where to find the Great Hall and such like different classrooms will be. I advise you to keep them as classrooms tend to change each year and this map is self-updating. At the beginning of the book has the rules that govern Ravenclaw house, you may notice it is split up by subjects along with areas noted for journal or projects. Well that is where you can write you notes or assignments for lessons. You can write in it as a journal to remember your time here and on your progress on a project. It has spells on it so that only you and anyone you want can read it. Also it has a never-ending supply of paper. What ever you write in that book is private to you. And last is a enchanted Quill. It is a dictating, quick quotes along with spell and grammar checking qualities. They are charmed to only work for you along with spells on it to make it tamper proof."
He paused for a moment to allow them to absorb what he just said before continuing.
"As Ravenclaws, we are known of our intelligence. People expect us to always have our heads in some book and receive the best grades. While it is true to a certain expect, I do encourage you to venture out. You are much more that a bookish claw, you can be brave, loyal and cunning. It is just the hat sorts you on just one aspect of your character not all of it." said Flitwick.
"I expect you to do well in your lessons but I understand that not everyone is good at everything. If you give you all to a subject and still only receive an Acceptable, I am proud of you. Just do your best and if you need any help, ask. We will have are house meeting Friday evening and I would discuss more things with you in detail. Now follow me to the Great Hall"
Making it to the Great Hall, they sat down and began enjoying breakfast. They noticed that only the Slytherins, Ravenclaws and some Hufflepuffs were her but didn't see any Gryffindors.
"Where are the Gryffindors" Hermione asked Penny.
"They are still in bed and that is how we like it" said the Prefect.
"Why" asked Hermione.
"Because they are rather loud and more than a few have so horrendous eating habits that make it hard for us to eat. You will see when they come down. They are just to much for someone to deal with this early in the morning" said Penny.
Hermione believed her and went back to enjoying her breakfast. By the time, the owls bringing the morning mail all the students where in the Great Hall.
"Hermione, why are you having more than one newspaper delivered" asked Penny.
"I have found that the integrity of some newspapers is questionable so I order more than one to compare them. You would be surprise by the differences you find in newspapers if you read them" said Hermione.
"I have never thought of that" said Penny before turning back to her friends.
"So what do we have first today" asked Harry.
"Transfiguration." said Hermione.
Before leaving Harry received a letter from his parents. He already knew what it said and just placed it into his bag before heading to the classroom.
They decided to leave early so they would have time to find their classroom and so they wouldn't be late for their lesson. Thankfully, they had all their things inside the book bag so no unnecessary trips back to the dorm.
They sat in the back near the doors and got out the necessary items which consisted spiral notebooks, the quill Flitwick had given this morning, pencils and pens. They did also take out some parchment encase they teacher rather they use parchment.
They quickly looked over the first few chapters again before the bell rang and students came pouring inside. The tardy bell had already rang when Jake and Ron came racing into the classroom.
"Thank Merlin, she isn't here, yet" said Ron loudly sitting down, in one of the three remaining sits left. They were right in the front and near McGonagall's desk.
"Yeah or we would have been in big trouble" sighed Jake in relief collapsing in the chair beside Ron.
"Or perhaps I was just waiting to turn you two into pocket watches. Maybe then at least one of you would get to my lesson on time." said Professor McGonagall sternly after she returned to her normal form as she had been in her animagus form which was a cat.
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall but we got lost. I promise it will not happen again" said Jake giving her a charming smile. For a moment, Harry could have sworn her eyes soften before she went back to the stern teacher look.
"Very well, today we will be discussing the theory behind Transfiguration" said Prof. McGonagall. That is how they spent their time, writing notes and talking about the theory until almost the end of class when she placed matches on everyone's desk.
They were told to try to turn the match into a needle.
"If anyone gets their match transfigured on the first try, I will award you, 50 house points. If anyone can get it transfigured by the end of class then you will be awarded 5 house points, You may begin" said Professor McGonagall.
Hermione and Harry was able to get this spell down first but no one noticed as they were busy concentrating on theirs and Prof. McGonagall was hovering around Jake helping him. No one noticed the 100 sapphire stones falling into the glass jar in the classroom or in the Great Hall. It was recorded for Hermione and Harry turning the match into a needle on the first try.
The duo were upset by Prof. McGonagall's behavior as they noticed a few students struggling and needing help but she was too busy with Jake to even noticed.
Neville was having difficulty trying to transfigure his needle. He tried to get the teachers attention but she was too focus on Jake to notice. Harry who was sitting nearby, noticed that he was having difficulty and Prof. McGonagall wasn't about to come and help so decided to take pity on the boy.
"Do you need a little help" asked Harry.
"Yes" said Neville.
"Firstly you need to remember to pronounce the incantation properly along with getting the wand movements as accurate as possible. The most important thing is visualization of what you want to happen. You need to want it to happen and allow you magic to do it for you" said Harry.
After a little correction, Neville was able to turn his match into a needle by the end of the lesson.
When the bell ranged everyone began packing up their belongings and heading to their next lesson. Prof. McGonagall began to look around the classroom to gather up the matches and was pleasantly surprise to notice that eight students had gotten their match transfigured into a needle.
She thought that only Jake had been able to do it but was happy to see that she had a promising class this year. She would have to find out who did it to award the points to the correct people. She didn't realize that the points had already been awarded and recorded.
She didn't even realized she had given Jake all her attention while annoying the other students. But Jake as the boy-who-lived needed all the help as he was the most important student she had. With that thought in mind she didn't realize the grievous mistake she made by doing such a thing.
Transfiguration was okay if you overlooked the fact that Prof. McGonagall favored her house and more importantly Jake Potter.
D.A.D.A. and History of Magic turned out be a joke. Quirrell was a strutting mess that you could barely understand. You learnt more from the book than you did from him. Binns was a three hundred year old ghost that talked in a monotone voice that put students to sleep on top of the fact his lessons were three hundred years out of date.
Charms was quite enjoyable with Prof. Flitwick as the teacher. He was a fair-minded teacher and his lessons were entertaining.
Herbology was interesting and the teacher Prof. Sprout was nice. She like Flitwick seemed to be very fair-minded.
Astronomy was an okay lesson but the teacher seemed a bit redrawn. She did know her subject.
Finally Potions, which he was very thankful was with the Huffelpuff's and not the Gryffindors. He really only had Astronomy and Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. That was a blessing as the less time he seen his brother the better.
Sitting at the back, Hermione and Harry took there things out and were ready when Prof. Snape came in. His entrance was quite dramatic and made an impression.
"Listen up, you are here to learn the complex science and exact art of potion making," he began. He voice was quiet just a slightly louder than a whisper but the class heard and understood every word he spoke. He like Prof. McGonagall could easily hold their students attention without yelling or even threatening.
"As there is no foolish wand-waving in my class. I doubt many of you would see potion making as magic. I do not expect any of you to see the beauty of a simmering cauldron or the gentle power of liquids running through human veins, ensnarling his senses. I can teach you to bottle glory, brew fame, even put a stopper of death – as long as you aren't a big bunch of dunderheads as I usually forced to teach."
"The Potion is on the board begin," snapped Severus with a wave of his wand the instructions to the potion appeared.
Severus watched quietly as the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws worked quietly on their potions. This was his favorite class as these students didn't give him any problems unlike the Slytherins and Gryffindors. Severus just wished that Dumbledore would stop pairing those two together as he is placing two rival houses that live to hurt the other.
Severus was a little curious about Harry Potter. From what he heard from the other teachers, he was hardworking and didn't cause any trouble. He was going to wait until he had an opinion of them.
When he was looking over the potions this class produced, they were all acceptable but two stood out. They belonged to Hermione and Harry. They were good enough to use in the infirmary. He would have to keep a close eye on them. It wasn't all the time that he found students that had talent for Potions and he would encourage them to pursue it.
In the library, Hermione and Harry were discussing their first week at Hogwarts.
"I still can't believe that the headmaster only told us silly words on our first night. He should have said something profound" said Hermione still upset about their first night at Hogwarts.
"Hermione, you shouldn't be acting so disappointed as his words did have meaning but in a different way" said Harry.
"But Harry, what meaning could they have" said Hermione.
"Did you look at the reactions of students around us especially the Gryffindors" said Harry.
"Well the Slytherins didn't really react but I notice some look at him with disgust in their eyes. I noticed some Ravenclaws trying to analyze the words, some clapped and others just ignored him. The many of the Hugglepuffs and most of the Gryffindors reacted the same way by clapping rather loudly and cheering him on." said Hermione.
"That is the point" said Harry but Hermione still looked a little confused.
"Hermione, the words didn't have any real meaning but Dumbledore was doing that to impress the students that would most likely follow his lead and those would be…" said Harry.
"Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. I must say that is brilliant in a rather manipulative sort a way. I thought he was a Gryffindor." said Hermione.
"Hermione, he is a very influential man in the wizarding world and he didn't just get that power sitting around drinking tea. He is known as a grade A politician and for people like that manipulation is second nature" said Harry.
"Yeah, I know but I was still hoping that maybe things would be different here" said Hermione.
"Then we will just have to try and fix it" said Harry.
"I wonder why two core courses are being taught by incompetent teachers. For a muggle-raise students History is very important since normally you are kept ignorant of the magical world until you are eleven. With that class being taught by Binns, it will keep muggle-students from ever wanting to learn on their own." ranted Hermione.
"You answered your own question. Most Purebloods are very prejudice against muggleborns and by denying them history, they are denying them an important part of their magical heritage. But if you want to learn it than you call always do it on your won." said Harry.
"As for D.A.D.A., I overheard some of the older students talking about how there is suppose to be a curse on that job as no teacher last more than a year. I believe those two course are best for self-learning"
"Also why are we not being taught Ancient Runes or Arithmancy. In the books we bought on them, they are important part of spell casting and even potion making. Unlike spells that could be easily cancelled, a spelled casted using a Runes is harder to break" said Hermione.
"We can learn those on our own and take the classes in third year but I agree with you. I see us doing a lot of self-studying in the future" said Harry.
"I still can't believe how McGonagall favors Jake Potter more than the others. I saw one of the students having their hand up for a good ten minutes but she was so focus on him to notice. That is just unacceptable" ranted Hermione.
"Then we will have to can that. How about when we see a student struggling we try to help. Maybe the shame of other students helping each other might make her change" said Harry.
"Good idea" said Hermione.
"Thanks, so do you want to know how Jake did in Potion today" said Harry a little amused.
"Yes" said Hermione.
He went about describing how Jake couldn't answer simple questions that even he knew. You could find them in the first chapter of your Potions book or One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. When he to described the question, Hermione agreed with him. If Jake had read a bit than he would have known the answers.
"But that is not the best part. Jake and Ron were partnered together to make the Boils Cure Potion but added the Porcupine Quills at the wrong time and melted their cauldron. It got all over them and everyone else had to get on their stools while Prof. Snape banished the mess. He doesn't like them very much" said Harry
"I can understand" said Hermione
AN: I am very conflicted about how I will portray the Potters from now on. I don't want to go overboard like I seen many of the stories were James and Lily are complete arses but I don't want them seen as saints either. I might redeem them at the end of the story but I am not sure as James and Lily were never my favorite characters.
I will add on friends for Harry and Hermione as time goes on. If you want a future pairing tell me and I see if I can fit it in but I will tell you now that I will not do most of the canon pairings like Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron. Also, I see Hermione and Harry as siblings so will not write them as a couple. Also any pairings will not be until at least fourth to fifth year.