AN: Hello people its been a while, but here is: the next chapter! To all the people who dropped a review: Thank you, that's what keeps me writing! Also a large thank you to the harry potter wiki, for loads of good information! I also tried to keep it as close to canon as possible, so:
Disclaimer: Everyone and everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended.
Now that that's out of the way, on to the Story!
The Den
" Not Slytherin eh? Well, You needn't to worry, you might have a large thirst to prove yourself, but Slytherin is not the place in which you'll thrive. No, your other qualities would cause for a trouble with that over ambitious lot. No, I know exactly where to put you... With a heart so loyal and tough, none better than: HUFFLEPUFF!
The table with the yellow banner clapped as they welcomed him as their newest member. He felt everyone's stare as he sat down next to Sally-Anne. She was rather small and had brown hair. Harry could't really see anything more since she hadn't look up from her plate since he took seat next to her. The empty seat on the other side of him was soon occupied by one Zacharias Smith. The boy had blonde hair, bleu eyes and an upturned nose. He was also lanky, though not as much as the newest Weasely who got sorted into Gryffindor house. The sorting was finally done with Zabini being sorted into Slytherin. McGonagall rolled up the parchment and took away the stool and hat. Professor Dumbledore then stood up and spread his arms with a bright smile on his lips. "Welcome!" he said. " Welcome to Hogwarts, at the beginning of a new school year. Before the feast begins however I would like to say a few words. These being: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you." The Headmaster sat back down while everyone in the hall clapped and shouted. Harry clapped along, shaking his man was still as odd as always, and he suspected it had something to do with age, not that he'd ever say that to the man's face. Harry's mind went blank as his nose was bombarded with delicious smells, and his eyes were treated with the sight of what was possibly the largest quantity of food he'd ever seen on one table. Harry wasted no time and filled his plate to the brim. It was absolutely delicious, probably even more so since the last meal he'd had was his own made lunch. It was when he was taking his third helping that he heard the first words of conversation directed at him.
" H- how can you still eat?" came a soft and awed voice. He looked over at Sally-Anne, the one who had spoken. Her brown eyes, and slightly freckled face filled with a mix of awe and disgust. This was quickly replaced by a viscous blush. Various other badgers also seemed curious about this feat as well. " Two reasons: First off I didn't really have any lunch and second this," He indicated the whole laden table with his hand. " this is food from the gods!" he punctuated that statement by eating another drumstick. Laughter and sounds of agreement followed his statement. This led to a discussion of favorite foods and such. Zacharias Smith turned out to be a snobby and critical kid whose favorite food was his mothers apple pie. Sally-Anne was a quite and shy girl, so she didn't contribute much except for that her favorite food was lamb chops. Not that Harry added much either, he was busy stuffing himself full with his third helping. Sally-Anne kept looking at him only to blush, look away and fiddle with her food. Finally she seemed to have built up enough courage to speak. She looked at him with a blush gracing her cheeks and said: " N-not to be r-rude, but ummm.. why do you have purple hair?" He blinked, he had completely forgotten about his hair problem, again. He sighed and answered: " Same reason as for why I didn't have lunch. Anyhow, anyone know the counter-jinx to this?" The second year who was seated next to Zacharias nodded. " Sure do. Marilyn over there," he pointed to a girl further down the table. " uses it often to punish me for beating her at gobstones. She say's I cheat, but I don't. She just bad at, really bad. So I had to learn it unless I wished to walk around with pink and polka-dotted hair. Here you go: Multicorfors Finem!" and Harry felt his hair tingle. He pulled it down, and indeed his hair had changed back to black!
" Thanks a lot uhh.." Harry had no idea what the boys name was.
"Eugene Warmsley." supplied the brown haired boy with a smile and a hand.
" Thanks Eugene and nice to meet you! Name's Harry Potter. " is what he answered while he shook the offered hand.
Apparently this is what many had been waiting for this to turn up because the table had suddenly gone a lot quieter. " Are you truly?" asked the Zacharias in a somewhat skeptical tone.
He looked at all the interested faces and sighed, he'd eventually be interrogated about it so he might as well get it over with. " Yeah, truly."
" So you're the brother to The Boy Who Lived?" continued a girl on the opposite side.
" Thats right. Twins actually." The deserts appeared.
" Are you the youngest?" asked Eugene.
" Yes, I'm the youngest twin. He is however definitely not the most mature." Harry smirked, no Charles was anything but mature.
" Really? Whats he like then?" asked the same girl as before while he scooped some vanilla ice cream in his bowl.
" Exactly like my father used to be." he said before happily eating some of his ice cream.
" And that is?" said the boy opposite of Eugene. The need to know practically filling the air.
Harry closed his eyes as he ate another spoon of vanilla. He wanted to say: An arrogant, spoilt brat who has too much energy! He knew however that if he did they would peg him as jealous, and he wasn't, not of the BWL status anyway. So he went for a diplomatic answer: " You'll see for yourself in the next few days I expect. Enough about my family, you got any siblings Sally-Anne?"
She blushed, apparently not used to being included in many conversations. She shook her head and said: " N-no its j-just me and my parents."
" Same here. You however also have a sister one year your junior right? " Said Smith
" I do." Harry answered.
" She's the genius right?" asked the boy across from Eugene.
Harry frowned slightly.
" Yes she is. So Sally, is it ok if I call you Sally or do you prefer Anne?"
" S-sally is fine." She was blushing even more now. He saw Zacharias roll his eyes.
" So Sally I was wondering are you muggle?" continued Harry regardless.
" Y-yes." she answered softly while again looking down at her lap.
" Well if you ever need help with something, you can come to me." he gave her a warm smile.
" T-thanks, I-I will." She was again blushing brightly, but her smile was perhaps even brighter.
Harry decided then and there that he liked that smile.
The deserts had by now disappeared and the headmaster stood up again. "Ahem- A few announcement at the beginning of the school year, now that we are fed and watered. This is mostly for the first years: the forbidden forest is as it name states, forbidden. This warning might also need to be committed to memory by a few older years." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes focused on the Gryffindor table. "Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind you that between lessons there is no magic to be used in the hallways." Harry snorted, that was impossible to achieve. " In the second week of the school year quidditch try outs shall be held for the house teams. Students who want to apply need to get into contact with Madame Hooch. And finally I want to stress that the right corridor on the third floor is explicitly forbidden for everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."
A few thought that last announcement to be joke and laughed, but Harry thought it wasn't. And if it was a joke, it was a very bad one.
" Let us now, before I send you off to bed, sing our school song!" Dumbledore conjured a golden cloth which formed the lyrics. " Everyone choose your favorite melody. Alright, a one , a two and a three!
The great hall was filled with a cacophony of voices. All singing the same thing:
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."
Harry had chosen to do it with the Tune of ' Magic works' , so he was one of the people who was done rather early. In the end only the Weasely twins, for they could be nothing but twins, were still singing a slow and sad funeral march. Harry watched with amusement as Dumbledore guided their last few lines with his wand. Everyone clapped at the end, although most of the teachers did this more out courtesy than anything it would seem, if their sour expressions were any gauge. "Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes. "A magic far beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" Harry could not help but agree, music was a magic of its own.
" Come on First years, Follow me!" Said the hufflepuff prefect, a tall blonde fellow with brown eyes. They did as told and followed him trough a corridor that went to a smaller set of stairs than the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had gone up on. It even turned into a spiral staircase at one point, only to become normal again a few steps later. They went through three more corridors, one ending in a 3 way split, they took the middle one. While they walked the prefect pointing out what would help you remember how to get to the common room. " That there is a painting of Artemisia Lufkin, first female minister of magic, she was a puff! Means you're close." He also spoke of random facts of the castle. " Just for your information, were directly below the Great hall. Close to the kitchens."
The middle corridor had been very narrow at first but now it resembled more of a hall, large and spacious. Suddenly they turned left into another corridor, it was quite dark and looked rather deserted. Finally they stopped in front of a pile of large barrels, which lay on the right side of the corridor.
" This is it: the entrance to our common room. Its the barrel thats two from the bottom, middle of the second row. Tap on it in the rhythm of ' Helga Hufflepuff, which goes like this." The rhythm was fairly simple, you had to hit it in the same way you would pronounce her name. So five time in total. " If you tap the wrong barrel or the wrong rhythm you'll get drenched in vinegar, which I assure you is not a fun thing. Its the reason were the only house whose common room hasn't been breached." Stated the prefect rather proudly while the barrel rolled back and the wall opened up.
All of them entered it and suddenly the cold, and bleak corridor faded from their minds. The common room was large and round. In the hearth, which was opposite of the entrance, a fire crackled merrily. Bronze oil lamps that hung from the low ceiling illuminated the black and yellow patterned chairs and sofas which were occupied by the other students, who curiously looked at them. Plants hung everywhere, a pair on his left trying to outdo each other in tap dancing.
"Welcome to the Den! I'm Gabriel Truman, and I'm one prefect, the other is.."
" Me!" Said a small and somewhat pudgy black haired girl, with warm brown eyes and a welcoming smile, " Welcome to Hufflepuff! Im Kathleen Prattle, nice to meet you! Took you long enough Gab, I've been waiting here for ages!"
" Kathleen don't you dare complain, you wanted to go here and wait us up. Anyhow, this is my partner so if you have any problems, come to us! Also before we send you off to bed, a few things you should know! Our head of house is Professor Sprout, she's the herbology teacher. So she's also available if you need her, she's always willing to talk."
" Yeah, she's real sweet! Gab here should know, she let him off easy in third year didn't she? "
Gabriel nodded and said: " That she did indeed. I should have gotten a week of detention for that."
"What he do then?" asked a brown haired boy, who was Finch-fletchley if Harry remembered correctly.
Groans in the rest of the room indicated that it was an often told story.
Gabriel glared at them and started speaking: " Ahem- It was on a saturday like any other, a normal day. The sun was shining brightly, the black lake reflecting it brightly into our commons. I left in an uppity mood and-"
" Long story short, he fought with a Ravenclaw Prefect who insisted the Bridget Warlock belonged to their house. They got caught and he got let off easy with only a warning and a box of coconut ice. I though," and here she put her hand next to her mouth conspiratorially" think that he got let of so easy because Professor Sprout found it to be righteous, protecting house honor and all. More a prize than punishment really. Worst is that he didn't even share the ice with me!"
"Prize? It was so cold, so unbearably cold! 't was my punishment, I had to face it alone!"
"Its you're favorite type of ice." she said in a deadpan voice.
" That has nothing to do with this at all. But I have digressed, back to the introduction. We as Hufflepuff are often looked down upon, said to be the weakest house. Thats not true, we have had great wizards in our house. Why last year graduate Nymphodora Tonks is in Auror training!"
" Yeah if that goof can get in, so can we! Show the others what were made of!" said Kathleen with spirit.
" Now on to the rules: you can stay in outside of the commons till 8, and its advised you guys go to bed at 9. The girls go left, the boys go right. Thats about it right Kathleen?"
" Yeah, just two more things. You'll get your schedules tomorrow, from Professor Sprout. Lastly don't sit in front of the the plants left of the hearth, they bite."
It was on that cheerful note that they went to their dormitories, which were also round. Large four poster beds, in the hufflepuff colors. On those beds lay their possessions. Harry had the bed that was furthest from the door, in front of a small window which looked out at a small grove of trees. The bed on his right was taken by a brown haired boy, while the left was taken by Finch-Fletchley. Harry hadn't noticed before, but he was very tired. Warm from all the food and his eyelids heavy. It seemed the rest felt the same because they all went to their respective beds after they had completed their evening rituals. Harry hit the bed and was out like a light, as was the rest although he was not aware it.
The next day Harry woke up at 7, since Finch-Fletchley's alarm clock went off. Wayne Hopkins, the boy who slept on Harry's right, fell off his bed in surprise and asked with a groan: "What is that blasted noise?"
" I don't care what it is! For the love of Merlin, just make it stop!" came Earnie's cry from across the room.
Justin turned it off while apologizing: " Sorry about that people, but otherwise I don't wake up!"
"Earnie poked his head outside of his curtains. " No kidding! No one can sleep through that devilish noise!"
" I agree with you completely, but this guy here ruins that theory." said Harry pointing to a still snoring Zacharias smith.
" You're joking!" said Wayne.
Justin had meanwhile come over to Smith's bed as well. " What the hell? Is he dead?"
Harry poked the boy in question, multiple times. As a result the boy grumbled and turned over. " Nope, he's alive alright."
" Justin, has anyone ever done this before?" asked Ernie to the brown haired boy.
" No one, not even my father. He's the first alright."
" If he can sleep through this, what will wake him up?" muttered wayne.
" Gentlemen, I dare say its time to find out. Don't you think?" said Harry with a widening smile.
No vocal answer was needed, the smirks appearing on the other's faces were more than convincing enough.
"You know Justin, at first I wanted you to get rid of that blasted thing as fast as possible. " said Ernie while he put some eggs on his plate.
" Did you now?" said Justin with mirth.
" Yeah I did as well, but now I see its not as bad as I first made it out to be." continued Wayne.
" Children, they don't say ' the last one up is on whom the water will drop' for nothing." Said Harry trying to keep a straight face. He failed miserably and joined the rest in their laughter.
" Scoot over Ernie, we want in on the joke!" came a new voice. Harry looked up and saw a red head that had her hair in a plait and on her arm was a blond girl with pig tails. The redhead looked really familiar, now if he only could remember.
" Ah Susan, Hannah! Sure no problem, take a seat. Justin could you scoot a bit? Thanks." said the somewhat pompous boy.
" Well I suppose I have to introduce you two!" continued Earnie "This here on my right is Susan Bones and next to her is Hannah Abbott." Suddenly it clicked, Bones! Of course, family of his Father's boss! The resemblance was definitely there, how could he not have noticed?
"Now Hannah, next to you is Justin Flinch Fletchley. Across from him is Wayne, who I think you already know. The black haired guy next to Wayne is Harry Potter and thats about it."
"Nice to meet you, Justin, Harry!" Said Hannah jovially.
" I think you forgot someone Earnie. where's Zach?" asked Susan.
" Oh we didn't forget him, anything but, right guys?" answered Earnie happily.
" I think we gave him too much attention, if anything." said Wayne with a grin.
" Why isn't he with you guys than?" asked Hannah.
" Well, you see..." and so Justin started the story, with all of them adding their own comments to it.
It was in this comfortable atmosphere that they went to their first class, whilst being joined by the rest of their year. Zacharias still in a foul mood, arguing with a girl whose blonde hair fell down in waves. She was rather short and she had dark bleu eyes. Her name was Megan Jones and they'd been doing that since they'd entered the great hall, having gotten lost but neither willing to back down. Zacharias started losing though when this morning's water spectacle was mentioned. Leaving him miffed while Megan looked rather victorious. They got to Transfiguration without too much trouble, the fat Friar having helped them a bit. They had it with the Ravenclaws, who were already there when they found the class room .
As he had heard from his family, Professor McGonnagal was not a woman to cross. He had know that Transfiguration was one of the harder classes, but to take such detailed notes on the process of turning a match into a needle was something new to Harry. Finally when the notes were done they got to try it. The process was a lot harder than he'd thought, half an hour and no progress whatsoever. Sally, who sat next to him, was also having trouble with it. ' Imagining and carving a dragon is so much easier than this.. Wait a moment... Imagination!' Harry could just about as well hit himself. Magic was driven by power of will, thus only waving your wand around and saying the incantation wouldn't get it done! Charles ' tutors had said that over and over! He needed to want it to happen! Imagine, visualize the whole process of the change! Just like he did with his art pieces! He tried it and suddenly the match was slightly shiny. He smiled, by the end of class he'd have it!
Sally's whisper of "Wow." marked the creation of Harry's perfect needle. It was 5 minutes before the end of class, and he'd gotten it done! Not even the Ravenclaws had gotten a perfect needle, although two were close. Proffessor McGonagall seemed surprised, but pleased and awarded him a full 10 points.
Their next class was a block of History, once again with the Ravenclaws. It was whilst they were walking towards room 72, which was located on the third floor, that he got asked about his accomplishment.
" H-how'd y-you do it Harry?" asked Sally.
" Yes, I'm quite curious about that as well." came another girl's voice. It was Padma, the girl he'd tried to befriend on the boat trip.
" Well, its rather simple: Imagination." answered Harry happily.
" Imagination? What are you playing at? You got tutored thats all. " scoffed Smith.
" I'm Playing at nothing, Zacharias nor did I get tutored." countered Harry with a frown.
" Thats impossible, I heard your sister got tutors, read that in the Prophet! So you must have had them too!" argued the blonde.
" My sister, yeah. Charles? Definitely. Me? Nope, I got sent to St. Peterson's if you must know. But anyway, back to the question at hand. Think for a moment, what is the definition of Magic?"
" What does that have to do with anything? Although, I am rather interested in what that definition is." said one of the Ravenclaw boys.
" How do you know the definition if you went to this ' St. Peterson's' '? said Earnie with a suspicious look.
" I might have read it, of course accidentally, in a book that lay open on the table and its not like they put silencing charms on the door." replied the lightning-scarred boy with a smile.
" Enough about that, what does it have to do with Imagination?" asked a curios Hannah.
" Pretty much everything! So who's willing to tell me the definition, Wayne?"
" No clue. I never heard it, went to muggle school even if my mother is a witch. She wanted me to have that side of education as well."
" Alright, Hannah do you know?" asked Harry.
" No, Susan might though." replied the pigtailed girl.
" Well it think it was defined as : 'a constant flow of ever present energy.' right?" said the plait wearing girl.
" Its not wrong , but theres something missing. Just wondering, are we even going the right way?" asked the bespectacled boy.
" Of course we are." declared Megan.
" Says the person who made me miss most of my breakfast." muttered Smith.
" I heard that! Besides it was you who said to go right at that second split!" countered the blonde girl."
" P-please d-don't fight. " came Sally's soft voice.
" Yeah grow up you two, it happened this morning. Sheesh!" agreed a black haired hufflepuff girl with a nod.
" We are going the right way, we just passed class number 60." stated Padma.
" Ha, I was right. Take that Smith!" said Megan with a smirk.
The blonde boy in question just huffed and muttered angrily to himself.
" I still want to know what you mean Harry." said Earnie.
" Anybody want to add to Susan's definition?" asked the youngest potter. " No? Well let me put it this way than. Magic isn't only just waving your wand and saying the incantation is it?"
" Of course not!" said another raven claw boy. " The Magic we perform is a complex process of it weaving to a certain result, a spell or jinx for example. This weaving effect, the spell, can only be explained by a complex arithmic function and a runic scheme, if not a combination of the two! The incantation and the wand movement are usually based off, if not a direct translation of these formulas! So no, its not simply waving your wand around and saying it out loud! If it were that simple many accidents wouldn't have happened."
Everybody had stopped moving and was looking at the boy in wonder. The boy looked triumphantly at Harry.
"Umm, thats.. thats something I can't deny. It's however not what I meant, even if it is directly related to it. What you brought up about the accidents happening, its the same reason as for why many of your match sticks didn't change."
" You mean you understood what he said?" asked Justin in awe.
" The gist of it. What he pointed out, in a most elaborate manner, is that if you don't do things right, magic will do what it wants, not what you want."
Padma gasped: " Of course! It's an intent based, if not somewhat sentient form of energy!"
" That's right." said Harry with a nod.
" Oh, I get it!" exclaimed Earnie.
" Well, I don't. So could you than please explain to me and Sally ooks like she could use the explanation as well. " pointed out the other hufflepuff girl.
" What it has to with Imagination, or force if will if you want to call it that, is that Magic needs to be told what to do, not only by the incantation and the wand movement, but also by your mind. For example with the transfiguration of the match, you have to want it to change, maybe even go as far as to completely visualize the process of the change. You have to show the magic your intent, and the magic will most likely follow it. Am I right Potter?" said a black haired ravenclaw boy.
" One hundred percent. You all get it now?"
Nods and sounds of agreement followed.
" Thats good and all, but i think we need to turn around." said Susan.
" Why?" asked Megan.
"Because we walked past room 72 and class starts in a minute." said the redhead.
And indeed they had walked past it. They all ran back down the hallway, and burst into the class expecting to find a teacher, all they found however was one smug Zacharias smith.
"Finally found it have you?" said the blonde haugtilly.
They all took seat, everyone except Megan ignoring Zach's barb.
History of Magic turned out to be one of the most boring classes Harry had ever taken. The droning tone in which Proffessor Binns spoke was anything but motivation for paying attention. So it was in this class that Harry got to know some of his classmate. From Ravenclaw he got to know Terry Boot, the boy who sat behind him and next to Terry sat Michel Corner, the boy who had given the last answer. Padma also joined their conversation, pulling alongside her Lisa Turpin. Padma was a quite talkative, though serious girl. Lisa on the on the other hand was quite, but she made killer comments that cracked him up. Terry was a very nice and straightforward fellow and Micheal was an odd guy who knew a bit too much, but nice nonetheless. While the four of them talked in the middle of the room Anthony Goldstein, the one who had given the long explanation, was in conversation with Earnie. In the left corner the duo of Kevin Entwhistle and Stephen Cornfoot, the other ravenclaw boys, were having a doodle war with Wayne and Justin. Harry watched with a smile as on the first row the shy Sally-Anne talked happily to the other hufflepuff girl, whose name was Leanne Hall, and an asian Ravenclaw who went by the name of Seu Li. That was good, friends were exactly what would help her get out of her shell.
An hour and a half later and the bell tolled. They all happily went to get some lunch. They ate with soft conversation even Zach joined in, having ditched his foul mood. After their appetites had been taken care of, it was time to go to the next block, Herbology. It would be the first class they would not have with the Ravenclaws, instead it would be with the Gryffindors. It was back to the South tower, however instead of in room 99, in which they had Transfiguration it would be in class 102. Harry was looking forward to it, it being about nature. On top of that it would be with his Head of house! That good mood left him as soon as they arrived.
" Well Harry, how has your first day been so far, better than St. Peterson's I expect." came a drawling voice. Harry stiffened, he'd forgotten about that, his brother was in Gryffindor.
Indeed there waiting stood Charles Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, in all his elven year old glory.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm not entirely sure what to think about the chapter, I have so many ideas, so tell me what you guys think!
Next time: He made some tentative contact with his peers, but what will happen now that the Twins meet for the first time? Also just what kind of school is St. Peterson's? ( to Reader AZ: Daniel will make an apearance)
- S.K.