Thanks for all the feedback! Here's the next chapter!
The next day at breakfast, Harry received his timetable.
Professor Mcgonnagall had been advancing down the Gryffindor table but paused when she got to Harry. "Have you still not worked out your gift, Mr. Potter?" She asked in a clipped voice, before handing him his timetable.
"No. Not yet," he replied, miserably.
"Then I have some good news for you," Mcgonnagall was organising some of the parchment in her hands, not looking at him. "You won't have to take any more potions classes until next term."
Professor Snape, the potions master, hated him. Enduring long lessons down in the dungeons had easily been his least favourite part of his week. Looking over his new timetable, it seemed he had a new lesson to make up for it.
"Excuse me professor, what's magical research and philosophy?"
Mcgonnagall finally looked down at him. "Hogwarts, as you know, is committed to finding our students best abilities and enhancing them. Many wizards do not discover their speciality until later in life so these classes will help you to find other areas in which you excel."
"Oh, right," Harry said faintly. More magical theory classes, fewer practical subjects. Defence and charms were the main exceptions in that regard.
"Maybe these lessons will teach the three of you not to go rushing into danger this year?" Mcgonnagall added, looking sternly at him and his friends, who had been examining their own timetables.
"Half the time, the trouble finds us actually," came Ron's reply. He turned pink a second later. "Umm, Ma'am."
"Then I expect you to inform an adult," she replied. "Ideally one who is not a fake," Mcgonnagall added, referring to Lockhart. Lockhart had been a mentalist pretending to be a beastmaster.
"Of course, professor," Hermione replied, shooting him and Ron looks until they both nodded along.
It turned out that all three of them had history of magic together that morning. Usually not something to get excited about, except that they had a new teacher. Binns, a ghost with a voice that was sure to put anyone into a stupor, apparently only taught the first three years of history.
Hermione made sure the two of them were more than on time, despite their protests, and they were rewarded with the sight of their teacher gliding into the room. A tall dark-haired man with an ageless quality about him that many older wizards seemed to possess.
Harry could recall seeing him a couple times throughout his time at Hogwarts though he'd never heard him speak, nor did he have any idea if he was a good teacher. Well, any teacher was better than Binns. His eyes were quickly drawn to his robes, and the speciality they indicated.
"Welcome to History of magic, where throughout this year we will be covering the formation of modern Wizarding Society, focussing on the creation of the Ministry of Magic and other significant organisations," their new teacher began when the rest of the class had arrived.
"My name is Professor Ignatius Hickory. You have probably noticed that I am a Seer," he continued.
Seers were very good at seeing visions of the future. Maybe they sometimes saw visions of the past as well, which was why he'd become their teacher. No one had known what Binns' speciality had been, unless it was his perfect memory of Goblin Wars. Of course, maybe class was entirely irrelevant in his field of study.
"I doubt many of you have had much experiencing in divining the future, but it is a gift that serves me well. If your magic cannot aid you though, you may find that looking to the past will reveal how things will be in the future."
"Regardless," he continued. "This is a knowledge-based course and I expect by the end of it that each of you will have a better understanding of how magical society came to be, and why."
Glancing around the classroom, it would be an exaggeration to say that the other students looked enraptured but they were nonetheless listening. Harry hadn't felt very interested in learning history aside from very briefly in the second year when they'd learned all about the chamber of secrets. Learning about the ministry's formation sounded a little boring but knowing more about magical society certainly felt promising.
Professor Hickory continued by explaining his general expectations, which basically meant read the assigned readings before their lessons and hand in essays on time while assuring everyone that they could always ask for help. Harry had heard this sort of information many times before but was pleased to learn that there wouldn't been any homework aside from reading for the first few weeks.
Only once all this was out of the way did he start describing how before the statute of secrecy, there were actually very few wizards and most of them had kept to themselves. Many had not even been aware of the existence of other wizards. The formation of Hogwarts was an incredible event therefore, because it was a collaboration between wizards of four different families and showed that wizardry could be taught beyond any single person's individual gifts. Many specialities were instinctive and were less reliant on wands meaning they were often discovered.
There was no real wizarding society in those times because wizards were so rare. Magic was seen as a unique family secret. The creation of Hogwarts, at least in Britain, led to the formation of a community as it brought many magic users together. Argus Selwyn was a gifted Tracer at the time who managed to create a way for wizards to be detected at an early age and his work formed the basis for finding young wizards to this day.
Their new professor stood at the front of the class speaking while expecting them to take notes, much like Binns had, only Harry was keen to keep up this time. Maybe it was the subject matter, but he felt like Binns had touched on comparable topics before, they'd just utterly failed to keep his interest. It was nice having an effective teacher in History for once.
By the time their lesson had ended, Harry had taken up a large chunk of parchment in barely legible notes and he wasn't alone in that regard. Even Ron had written a few things down.
"It's strange, you know," Hermione began thoughtfully as they left.
"Should we be guessing what you're thinking?" Ron said, with an eye roll.
"It's just, Professor Binns has been the sole history teacher for years and years apparently, and then Professor Hickory joined in our first year," Hermione explained.
"Did he?" Harry asked; he hadn't paid any attention to the new staff announcements in his first year.
"Sounds like a good thing, I don't know if I could have survived another year with Binns," Ron said.
"Yes… it's just he claimed to watch the future, I wonder what inspired him to suddenly start teaching?"
Ron and Hermione soon left for their individual classes while Harry got ready for his first lesson of magical research and philosophy. He soon ran into Justin Finch-fletchley, another wizard who hadn't discovered his speciality. They hadn't gotten on well in second year, but by third year, most of their year had discovered their specialities and they'd begun to hang out. They'd both grown up among muggles and they both had something of a second home in the Wizarding world.
"Know anything about this course?" Was Justin first question, unsurprisingly.
Harry shrugged. "No idea. Is the class the same as last year?"
"Hmm? Probably. Well, I heard Eloise discovered her speciality was Rune Warding, so she'll be gone."
"Like, regular warding but powered by ancient runes instead?" He asked.
Justin shrugged. "I think so. She's drawn runes on all her possessions now, so presumably they're doing something."
Magical research turned out to be strange. Maybe he should have anticipated as much. Their teacher worked part-time at the ministry of magic and she wanted them to experience a flavour of some of the work. She explained that although they lacked the abilities of most wizards, they were still magical and ought to embrace it.
Their teacher was a generalist like them, a portly woman named Bianca Hawthorne. Her research was based around other sources of focus for magic aside from magic wands. It sounded good, but if Harry had expected anything remotely logical to follow, he might have been disappointed.
"All wizards are born with magic and yet all wizards are born different. It is from these differences that arises strength," she said.
"Yet, differences divide us, so it is in our similarities that there can be unity. None of us know what makes us different which means we are the ones who make our society," their teacher continued, sounding like she knew what she was talking about at the very least.
However, she was forcing the eight of them to sit in a circle on the floor, having already told them that their homework was to memorise ancient wizarding chants, which they were to practise next lesson until it sounded 'magical'. Her classroom was covered in strange artefacts, many of which had faces which seemed to stare at him though thankfully nothing had moved, so far.
"As such, it is up to us to discover new magics which will transform our society, this year we will be researching the many forms magic can take and with any luck, we will discover something interesting."
"We will begin with a meditation session, you all brought your meditation mats, right?"
Harry glanced at the others, relieved to see that none of them looked to know what she was talking about. Well, Lily Moon was unreadable as ever but she'd already closed her eyes without taking out a meditation mat.
Professor Hawthorne sighed. "How did you expect to strengthen the magical bonds between you without meditation mats?" That was what they were doing?
The lesson continued in that fashion for far too long. Their professor would make strange statements, expecting them to grasp exactly what she was talking about. Then she would elaborate on a seemingly unimportant detail and within a few minutes her original point seemed lost.
When Justin bravely asked what this course had to do with philosophy, Hawthorne actually shrugged and claimed that it would be something to do with knowing when to use magic, and what should be forbidden. Harry was not filled with confidence.
When lunchtime finally arrived, Harry was relieved.
Aside from his new lessons, Harry's first week passed just like any other. Moody's lessons on defence against the dark arts proved to be excellent, with him describing the unforgiveable curses and all the Classes who were potentially able to perform such spells. He hadn't expected to like the scarred veteran but Moody seemed more than knowledgeable, he seemed experienced.
His lesson on the unforgiveable curses also drove home how little Harry really knew about Voldemort's capabilities. No one knew precisely what his specialisation had been, except that it was both extremely powerful and extremely cruel. He was supposed to be out there somewhere, weak and defeated, but Harry couldn't forget his dream over the summer and how Voldemort was out there, plotting to kill him.
He didn't mention any of his worries to Ron and Hermione, who were in good spirits. Hermione had been looking up the Triwizard tournament in her free time and Ron had been drawn in when she noticed that a Spellblade had been one of the competitors years ago. Ron was oddly pleased about that fact considering the Spellblade in question had also died in the second task.
She also learned that each champion was permitted to choose a partner to aid them in four out of the five tasks. The reasoning for this was due to how specialised each champion had to be and how that led to tasks they had great difficulty in. A partner was therefore a complement to the champion's abilities.
"Dumbledore didn't mention anything about partners," Ron pointed out.
"The tournament doesn't begin until Halloween, I'm sure it'll be brought up soon," Hermione replied, eyes not leaving the old book she'd taken from the library.
The teachers were being very tight-lipped about the Triwizard tournament in general. Many students had been inquiring about the event but no one seemed to know how the champions were being chosen, or any of the tasks. Hermione's diligent reading informed her that there was an impartial judge, but nothing else.
Still, the whole school was buzzing about the Triwizard tournament and he heard lots of seventh years debating between themselves about competing. Without needing to worry about that himself, Harry could enjoy the atmosphere, and attempt to guess who would be chosen from Hogwarts.
At the same time, the tournament was still far off, and he knew they wouldn't be getting any answers until then. Not that some people weren't pretending otherwise.
"My father has told me all about the Triwizard tournament of course. My great-grandfather competed in one, you know?" Malfoy said to Pansy, but loudly enough that the entire class could hear.
It was care of magical creatures and once more they were with the Slytherins. Hagrid was teaching them again, in good spirits now that the Buckbeak fiasco of last year was over. He had declared that they were going to work on a project, raising some Blast-ended Skrewts. This lesson was dedicated to trying to feed them and no one had had much success given that they lacked mouths.
Malfoy had soon gotten bored of the work and was talking loudly with his friends. Harry ignored them, quietly hoping they didn't feel like bothering him.
"So, Potter, I bet you were thinking of entering the tournament too, you have your reputation to live up to, right?" Malfoy sauntered over, lips curling.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron cut in, hand on the handle of the sword at his waist.
"Oh, was it you planning to enter? Well, you have more of a hope than Potter, not that you're a proper wizard, either."
Ron was silent.
Malfoy was openly grinning now. "You're both pretending to be wizards but one day you'll realise that you're as useful as these Blast-ended Skrewts." He and his friends began laughing, like he'd said the most hilarious thing.
"None of us will be entering the tournament, we're not old enough," Hermione said sharply, putting a hand on Ron's arm to stop him from doing anything.
"Not gifted enough, you mean," Malfoy sneered.
"Shut up Malfoy," Harry said dully, turning away.
Malfoy tended to always say the same things but somehow, he always got under his skin. Ever since they'd seen each other on the train, Malfoy had thought it hilarious that he hadn't worked out his speciality and the start of the year wasn't complete without him pointing it out once more. There wasn't much he could do about it however. Malfoy usually stuck to insults and usually out of range of any teacher not named Snape. Hagrid was assisting Dean and Seamus with their Skrewts on the other side of the field, at that moment, in fact.
Not that duelling would have any better results. Malfoy knew a lot more magic than he, all of it classed as mental magic but there was a plethora of minor curses that he could use. Every year, he was learning more severe spells as well and Harry simply didn't possess the means to compete. His only hope would be a quick disarming spell before Malfoy could do anything.
In his first year, he'd been so determined to discover his speciality, one that would allow him to be stronger. By now though, he was becoming resigned to not ever finding out. Even if he did, an ability so obscure that it took this long to discover was probably practically useless.
"Ignore him, he's not worth it" Ron had somehow calmed himself down and seemed to have noticed his frustration.
A bit ironic coming from Ron but Harry appreciated his words nonetheless. Malfoy continued chuckling behind them but Ron resolutely went over to his bag and started packing up his stuff.
"Besides, I think he's just about the only terrible thing this year, no dementors, no chamber of secrets, a good Defence teacher, we don't even have lessons with Snape anymore," Ron continued.
"Quite right, Ron," Hermione said behind them. "I'm looking forward to this tournament, remember how Dumbledore mentioned other events alongside the main tournament?"
"And the other schools," Harry added, curious about seeing students from another wizarding school himself.
"Yes!" Hermione's face had lit up. "I hear they're normally very secretive, this will be a great chance to see what they're actually like."
Before Hermione continued, Ron quickly broke in: "we still need to get the Skrewts back in their box."
That put a halt to their conversation as they stared at the multitude of strange creatures wandering across the grounds, occasionally exploding. Harry wondered if they'd be able to convince Hagrid to teach them about something more normal this year.
This was essentially another introductory chater where I wanted to establish the setting and it turned into a collection of lessons, all of which were probably a tad rushed because I didn't want to spend too long on this yet I sort of felt necessary to include. As such it's a bit of a relief just to post something. I hope it wasn't too terrible.
Next chapter I want to skip over to the triwizard tournament.
Thanks for reading and please feel feel to review; I appreciate each one.