Disclaimer: The author of this fic doesn't own the HP universe. It is owned by our queen, J.K. Rowling.
It was as if the whole great hall had been hit with a Silencio. Nobody moved, all had expected the Boy-who-lived to get in Gryffindor. To find him in Ravenclaw was a surprise but soon the Eagle house started cheering. Harry made his way next to Hermione and sat down, immediately being greeted by all his new housemates. He recognized the prefect who had helped him summon Neville's toad who introduced herself as Penelope Clearwater.
Soon the sorting ended with a boy Blaise Zabini being sorted in Slytherin. McGonagall stood up and clinked her goblet, "May I have your attention please, the headmaster would like to say a few words." Dumbledore stood up and waited till all eyes were on him. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."
All the first years exchanged confused looks while the older years just rolled their eyes. Dumbledore clapped his hands and suddenly all the tables were filled with food. Harry, who hardly received any food at his relatives, stared at it but started eating after a prompt from Hermione. He glanced at the staff table to see his teachers. McGonagall was engaged in a talk with Dumbledore. All other teachers were talking among themselves while one single teacher was watching him curiously. He had a pale hollow face with a large hooked nose. Behind him, a man wearing a turban dropped his fork and dropped down to retrieve it when Harry felt a tingling on his mind shields. He could only identify it as a leglimency attack that a book had described. He quickly shut his shield hard and suddenly the man with the turban fell off his chair. Harry turned to Penelope, who asked him to call her Penny, and asked, "Hey Penny, who are those teachers," pointing to the two.
"The one with the black robe is Professor Snape. He teaches potions though he is biased against other houses and always supports Slytherin. He is the reason we haven't won the house cup for a long time. The one wearing the turban is professor Quirrel, the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. He used to teach muggle studies but I guess he changed his mind." Penny informed him before returning to her conversation with her friends.
Soon another clap from the headmaster resulted in the food to be replaced with deserts. Harry could now say that his favourite dessert was treacle tart. They ate their fill before Dumbledore stood up and began to speak again, "I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note, that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to remind you that the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to all who do not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you"
Penny then stood up and with a quick talk to a redhead boy led the first years to the Ravenclaw tower.
They were now standing in front of an eagle knocker. "This is the entrance to the common room. To enter, you must answer a riddle asked by the knocker. If you answer wrong, you wait for someone else to answer it. This way you learn." Penny said and then knocked on the door, the eagle head suddenly coming to life and asked, "What thing is served but never eaten?" Penny thought for a second before answering "Justice". The door swung open while Harry muttered, "Tennis balls too". A few kids, probably purebloods, looked at him strangely not knowing what Tennis was.
Penny and the male prefect showed them their dormitories before they were called for a meeting with their head of the house, Filius Flitwick. "So firstly, I welcome our new Ravens to the house. I hope you continue the noble reputation of our house and bring laurels to it. We have a whole library here but I warn you that reading past your bedtime will get you more homework." Flitwick said sternly while a few older students chuckled. "We have monthly reviews to make sure you don't start slacking so don't get your grades down. On a lighter note, remember that my office is always open for you, whether it be for your troubles with class, your peers or just a nice chat." Flitwick finished smiling. There was light applause and they were given some time to get used to the new surroundings.
Harry and Hermione made their way to an unoccupied couch and sat. The previous few hours had been eventful yet tiring. They made small talk before it was soon time for bed. Both made their ways to their dorms where Harry met his dorm mates Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Terry Boot and Stephen Cornfoot. They talked very little though that was because of the initial ice. Harry made his way to his Blue and Bronze four poster bed, the past few hours were very tiring even for his fit body. Before he succumbed to sleep, his final thought was, 'Well not bad for the first day. Let's just see how magical life can now be.'
Harry awoke the next day with the sun rays falling on his face. The fact that his bed was the nearest to the window and the Ravenclaw tower was just that, a tower, the sun would soon become his natural alarm. He freshened up and went downstairs. He was one of the few students who had woken up this early. Seeing how there was still two hours before breakfast started, he decided to get acquainted with the castle. It was not as difficult as he had expected due to a few helpful older years. With the help of some general directions to the classrooms of the basic classes, he was done roaming within an hour. He then started searching for a place where he could exercise. All he required was a running track of sorts and the black lake proved to be ideal though he decided to start the exercise after a few days and get settled in first. He then went to the Great hall for breakfast.
There Hermione was already waiting for him and greeted him with a smile. He smiled back before sitting next to her and started to eat. He filled his plate with some eggs, a few strips of bacon and got a glass of pumpkin juice which he was beginning to like. He glanced at the other tables searching for his new friends. He gave a friendly nod to Daphne and Tracey and found a nervous looking Neville trying to get food while maintaining his distance from the boy Ron who was piling his plate with every type of food that he could find. Food was being dropped everywhere he went but he was oblivious to it and kept getting more food. Harry waved to Neville who smiled back before starting to eat.
Both Hermione and Harry had finished eating and were talking to Padma Patil when Flitwick came to them and gave them their schedules. They had Transfiguration first followed by Charms and then they were free for the day. As everyone finished their breakfasts, most students started to move to their classes. Harry and Hermione would have been lost in the huge castle had Harry not roamed around earlier. They soon found that they were the first to reach the Transfiguration classroom. They knocked on the door and entered when asked to.
McGonagall was quite surprised to see that two first years let alone one had managed to find the classroom on time. She had decided to give the class a show using her animagus form but they had already seen her. She decided to still go one with her 'plan'. "Good morning Ms Granger, Mr Potter, it is a surprise that you found the class on time." McGonagall said in her usual brisk tone.
"Good morning professor, we wouldn't have if Harry had not tried to get familiarized with the castle." Hermione replied, always the one to tell the truth while Harry ducked his head in embarrassment. McGonagall's face remained passive though Harry could swear he saw her lips twitch. They sat in the front of the class and were shocked to say the least when, after finishing her work, McGonagall leapt on the table and transformed into a tabby cat, her animagus form. She had spectacle markings around her eyes and gave them a cat wink.
A second later, the other first years started to pour in. As all the first years settled in, Hermione couldn't spot Ron. McGonagall waited for him before starting the class and was soon rewarded as he came crashing, ten minutes late. His face showed relief when he couldn't see the professor and sat down. his comment of 'look on old professor's face if she caught him' was not missed by the class. McGonagall, on the arrival of the redhead, then leapt into the air and transformed back. She went to the Weasley's seat.
"That was bloody brilliant" Ron exclaimed. "Well, thank you for that assessment, Mr Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure yourself into a pocket watch? That way, you might be on time." The Slytherins sniggered while Ron's face started matching his hair in redness. "I got lost," he said simply. "Then perhaps a map." McGonagall said coolly before she went to her table and began her lesson.
The first part of the class consisted of the basic theory of transfiguration. Harry, having read this already, paid half attention to it while his mind started wondering about the Leglimency attack on him. According to the books, such an attack required eye contact and only the potions master was looking at him that time. But Harry had learned never to take things as what they looked before knowing all the facts and so he decided to wait before trying to take any action. Soon the practical portion of the class came.
This was the first time that Harry would have done magic with a wand and he was very excited at the prospect of learning the difference between using a wand and wandless magic. Harry had learned that the wand movements were just to maintain the focus of the caster so as soon as he got his match from McGonagall to change to a needle he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He placed his wand tip over the match and closed his eyes focusing on the change he wanted. He spoke the incantation softly and opened his eyes. He was rewarded with the sight of a shiny, pointed needle which was missing the eye. Harry, realizing his mistake, did the spell again and found a perfect needle in front of him. He showed it McGonagall who had a hard time believing that someone, let alone a first year, had completed the assigned work in a minute after receiving the class.
"Well Mr Potter, it seems you are more like your father than what just meets the eye. But even he wasn't this good in transfiguration. Tell me what were you thinking when you attempted the spell?" McGonagall asked giving him one of her very rare smiles.
"I just imagined what I wanted to change professor. I read it in a book that transfiguration was all about imagination." Harry answered awkwardly. He was hardly ever complimented and he never learned how to handle the appreciation. McGonagall let him sit back down while she wondered whether the child knew that what he just said was learned by experts during their mastery. And this child was using the concept in his first year. Excited was a small word to describe her feelings when she thought about what he could do in his later years.
Harry went to his seat and was surprised to see that all others were having troubles with the spell, even Hermione. He approached his seat next to her and asked, "Hermione, what are you thinking about when casting the spell?"
"I know about the imagination part Harry but I don't seem to get it. I picture both the objects in my mind but it doesn't work." Hermione said dejectedly.
"Hermione, just picturing the objects won't work. Imagine the matchstick changing into the needle. The colour changing slowly, getting lighter. The eye forming from the thick end. The change should be gradual." Hermione got a look of concentration and the next time she cast the spell, another perfect needle joined Harry's. Hermione smiled another of her million watt smiles that showed her perfect though slightly big teeth, most probably the result of having dentists as parents.
Hermione and Harry then turned to Neville who was struggling with his match. After a quick lesson on the use of imagination in transfiguration, the results improved as the match changed to silver and became a little pointed though it was still clearly a match and not a needle. When they took the problem to McGonagall, she inspected Neville's casting and asked, "Is this your wand, Mr Longbottom? Your pronunciation and wand movements are perfectly alright."
"N...no professor, this is my f..father's wand. My g...gran thought that it was better to use this wand." Neville replied stuttered.
"I see, well Mr Longbottom it seems that the wand is what is stopping you from casting the spell correctly. I believe you should change it and if needed I will have a talk with Augusta regarding not moulding you into a copy of your father, no matter how good he was." Neville squeaked but didn't say anything and the lesson soon got over. As the first years left, McGonagall thought about the class. One imperfect needle would have been a surprise but two perfect ones along with it were simply unheard of. She should have realized that things were never normal when Harry Potter was concerned.
AN: This chapter took a little long, but it is longer so I think it is a good deal. I will try to make the chapters longer from now on. I credit by betas Enss and NushaK for their work. Without them, there would have been a lot of mistakes. R R