Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JKR. I don't own her publications.
Chapter 7
First Day
Harry quietly lay on his bed in the Gryffindor Fourth Year Dorm Room. He could hear Ron's snores all the way from the other end of beds.
He was a bit restless today, and preferred the time at night to think. He was recounting today's events.
James Emerson was one of the things that he was thinking about.
Harry Potter had finally found the family member that didn't hate or abuse him. James was polite, friendly and fit in really well. He wasn't afraid of the V-word like Ron, or prejudiced against parseltoungue or werewolves.
Through him, Harry could finally learn about his parents, his grandmother and father.
Harry had only met him for a few hours, but he felt connected to him somehow, like a brother he never met. He was so familiar… Or maybe it could just be his appearance.
What he said on the train bothered him as well.
When he thought about his first year, he always thought about how fun it was, and the adventure. He never really thought about what could've happened if he wasn't lucky, or not careful. What would've happened if Dumbledore never came? Or Quirrel succeeded in cursing him?
"First thing is about the stone. What makes you think it's the real stone? Why would the six-hundred year old Nicholas Flamel give his most treasured possession to a guy whose several hundreds of years younger than him just so they could 'nick' it? Dude, what were they thinking putting such a powerful thing in a school full of children?"
Now that he thought about it, I didn't make sense at all. Why would Nicholas Flamel put it in Hogwarts? In a whole school of children, and the only warning was from the Headmaster? Why was the door so easily opened, just with a first year unlocking charm? It was as if they wanted them to rescue the stone.
He sat up in horror, but calmed himself down. This new revelation was shocking.
Did Dumbledore want him to beat Riddle? He knew that he had the blood protection and that Riddle would be after it, so why did he put it in Hogwarts? Why were the traps so easy that the trio could get pass it?
"And also why do you even believe the fact that Flamels are dead? Did you know that every decade there's someone that says they have stolen or destroyed the stone and claims the couple are dead? Every decade! But they proved them wrong every time!
There's also the fact that the Headmaster gave POINTS to you for killing a member of the staff."
Harry thought that James's words made perfect sense. But in a world of magic, does common sense even exist?
Relax, he told himself. You shouldn't get so tensed up at just a few words!
He smiled suddenly as he thought of how crazy this year was gonna be.
A Tri-wizard Tournament, a mad retired and paranoid auror as the DADA teacher, and a new relative to get to know.
Meanwhile in the same dorm room, 'James' was also thinking about his future.
Aunt Petunia had taught him like this. She taught him the way of quick thinking, ruthlessness, organization, psychology and tact. His mom- no, Aunt Lily had taught him the benefits of kindness, emotion, truthfulness and how to appreciate.
As he always did when thinking, he organized his thoughts. It made everything much more clear.
He had compiled a list of things to accomplish in this world.
Ever since coming to this place, he had researched mercilessly into the history books from the Flourish and Bolts place. He had learned that the main difference in this world and his home one was on 1981, when Riddle AK'd his parents, (who never gave birth to Aden,) rather than knocking his father out with a accidental blasting curse, and stunning his mother for Snape.
That meant that he never went to the Dursley's, Harry was never homeschooled, Aden was never born, never was sorted into Ravenclaw, the Longbottom's were never saved from the death eaters by his parents, therefore Neville lived with his grandmother, and Bagman wasn't arrested at the World Cup by his dad.
With the Potters dead, the Longbottoms insane and the Malfoy family taken over by Lucius after he killed his father, Abraxas, the neutral and well-known Potter-Longbottom-Malfoy side was broken, and their supporters scattered as the remnants of the old group were either absorbed into Dumbledore's or Riddle's side. Amelia Bones, the strongest supporter of the grey remained neutral, but it seems like she had little power.
Dumbledore had a free reign, not being restricted by the watchful and powerful families, and was therefore much more bold and cruel.
In fact, James, using his little amulet, had detected potions near Harry at the welcoming feast, on the treacle tart and in his pumpkin juice. Thankfully he had used his wand to discreetly vanish the stuff before his companions ate it.
Hopefully, off of Dumble's potions, Harry would change more this year and discover the lies that surrounded him.
But overall, the timeline was pretty much like his own. So that meant his plans have changed a bit.
1. Research how to get back to his own world.
2. Find out about the Prophesy.
3. Help Harry get out of Dumbledore's claws.
4. Learn more, use time to train, make new friends.
5. Learn about more of the different timeline.
6. Use future knowledge to predict and help.
And that was pretty much everything. Harry had no doubt that he would have more later, but he could always improvise.
For now, all he could do is meditate and sleep.
Poor Dumbledore… He has no idea what I'm gonna do to him…
When Harry, Ron and Hermione came down together for breakfast, they found James already at the table waiting for them. They could see the gray weather from the Great Hall's ceiling, the only remnants of the storm last night.
Fred and George Weasley were sitting on one side of him, Lee Jordan opposite to him, the four talking and chatting about magical ways to cheat into the Tourney.
Harry sat down on the seat right of James.
Professor McGonagall passed the Golden Trio's schedule to them, Ron groaning when he saw what was on the parchment.
"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures… damn it, we're still with the Slytherins…" Hearing that, James became interested in their schedules too, peering over Harry's shoulder.
What James saw amused him. The courses that Harry got were the exact same as Aden's. But he disapproved of the courses that Harry had.
It upset him to see that Harry wasn't a really smart student. Maybe good enough to handle himself in tough situations, his counterpart chose all the easy courses.
Dumbledore probably put him up to Divination, to try to make him believe in predictions more, so he would more likely believe in the prophesy, so that made sense.
Hagrid's class was to bind him to the light side and also slip him hints for the Tournament, but didn't really teach anything.
All of Harry's electives were a joke.
"Double Divination this afternoon," Harry was groaning, looking down. James chuckled silently. Trelawney was probably going crazy with the death omens.
"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?" said Hermione briskly, buttering herself some toast. "Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy." James nodded and joined the conversation. He had Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures, two of the easiest classes.
He could do the basic arithmancy homework in his sleep, and Hagrid never gave them much homework. He liked doing independent studying anyways.
"Arithmancy is a good subject, and it's useful in almost all aspects of magic." Hermione beamed.
"You're eating again, I notice," said Ron, watching Hermione adding large amounts of jam to her toast too. James decided not to look at Ron while he was eating and talking at the same time, because he didn't want to see all the food flying out of his mouth.
"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights," said Hermione haughtily. James almost banged his head on the table like Dobby. Wait a minute… was there Dobby in this world? Elves detected the magical 'DNA' of a wizard to identify their master, and if Dobby met him and Harry at the same time...
Unknown to him, Harry was worried too… But not about the same thing.
Harry was casually eating breakfast when there was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Instinctively, Harry looked up, but there was no sign of white among the mass of brown and gray. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed.
Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his stomach, Harry returned to his porridge. Was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and that Sirius hadn't even got his letter?
James read Harry's expression on his face as easily as an open book. Using surface legilimency, he could feel his thoughts.
Where's Hedwig… Snuffles my god-father… Black dog… Buckbeak the Hippogriff… Did Sirius get the letter? Ah. It seemed like the Golden Trio in contact with the uncaptured fugitive!
Sirius was one of the people that James knew well, but didn't really like. He was too hot-headed, too aggressive for Jame's liking. He wasn't even James god-father in his world; Remus was. But he trusted Sirius. He might be irresponsible, but loyal to a fault. If James revealed to him who he really was and where he came from, there might be a chance that he would believe him.
That is, if he was the same man from being in Azakaban.
Harry, Hermione, James and Ron all trekked down the castle grounds, heading towards the greenhouses for their first lesson of the year.
Harry's preoccupation lasted all the way across the sodden vegetable patch until they arrived in greenhouse three.
Today, Professor Sprout decided to show them some of the more disgusting creatures in Herbology.
Bubotubers!
Indeed, they looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid.
"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout told them briskly. "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -"
"The what?" said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted. James grimaced at the thought of redoing this class.
"Pus, Finnigan, pus," said Professor Sprout, "and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus." The students immediately got to work.
The four grouped together, and started squeezing the hell out of the poor bubotubers. James's new dragonhide gloves were shiny and new, but at the end of the lesson they were matted with the stuff.
Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints, James collecting the most.
"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."
"Like poor Eloise Midgen," said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. "She tried to curse hers off."
"Silly girl," said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. "But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end." James snorted at the thought.
The four also went to Hagrid's hut, where they made introductions for James.
There wasn't any trouble, just an encounter with Malfoy.
"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid was saying proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"
"And why would we want to raise them?" said the blond ponce.
Hagrid looked stumped at the question. There was silence, except for the skittering of the Skrewts.
"I mean, what do they do?" asked Malfoy. "What is the point of them?" James went to the rescue.
"Why else, dunderhead? He's breeding them to use in the Tri-wizard Tournament!" Hagrid was surprised James knew. Malfoy backed off, clearly wary of the boy, not to mention James had used Snape's favorite insult against him. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked relieved at his quick thinking to get them out of a confrontation. They obviously didn't think he was telling the truth.
Hagrid looked quite satisfied, and unknown to James, he would start using the term 'it's classified' against the more curious troublemakers in the future.
The lesson was filled with Blast-ended Skrewts hurting other students. In the end, James decided to drop a hint on what the Skrewts ate.
Because he knew that the little monsters would be used in the Third Task, he wanted them as small as possible. Since Hagrid didn't know what they ate yet, he could misguide him.
"Hagrid, if you don't know what they eat, try using a growth potion!" The half-giant nodded appreciatively at them before dismissing the class. James knew that growth potions decreased the rate at which they grew, the wizard-brew magic clashing with the native magic core of the creature.
He and Hermione went to Arithmancy, Professor Vector already there. Hermione whispered curiously to James when they were seated early.
"James, don't you know that since Hagrid cross-breeded Manticores and Fire Crabs to make the Skrewt? Growth Potions don't work on a Manticore's innate magic! In fact they'll make them smaller and stunt their growth!" She said urgently.
"So you want them to grow bigger? You saw what a small one can do to a student!" He shot back. Hermione could be so dim-witted while clever sometimes! She looked quite affronted, but became suddenly afraid. He realized that his aura was showing, a sign that his temper was rising when she squeaked nervously. He quickly calmed himself with occlumency.
He just wasn't in the mood to deal with her today. He never liked Granger or Weasley, who in his own world were much more nice and tactful.
Dumbledore seemed to want to make everyone dumber, and so lowered the standard of class. Here, an Outstanding was just an Acceptable back home.
The Arithmancy class continued without a hitch, and the teacher looked quite surprised at how proficient the home-schooled student was at math.
When they got out of class with a long sheet of parchment due next week, they heard Ron's voice in the Great Hall and caught up to them. Ron was raging about divination.
"Miserable old bat," said Ron bitterly as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner. "That'll take all weekend, that will…"
"Lots of homework?" said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!" James was indigant.
"No! She gave me a feet of parchment!" She laughed.
"No, that's just because you're a newcomer and she wants to test your basics. The rest of us got off with no homework."
"Well, bully for Professor Vector," said Ron moodily. He had no idea what was coming next, but James did when he saw Malfoy coming towards them. He quickly ushered them towards outside, desperate to get out of the blond ponce's sight.
They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them. Too late! James groaned.
"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"
"What?" said Ron shortly. The rich pure-blood had a sinister smile on his face.
"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!"
"FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley,of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."
Malfoy looked up. James felt his anger getting out of control, but Petunia's lessons were hard-earned and he used them to stay cool. Ron however, wasn't.
"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed.
Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:
"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.
"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?" She could, in fact, James thought dryly, but he wasn't going to say that. Ron was shaking with fury.
"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron…"
"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"
Both James and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy. Harry seemed to have taken James's words to heart on the train. He didn't draw his wand or punch Malfoy.
"You should know better as a self-respecting pure-blood to say that. Do you have no shame?" He turned around haughtily, as if Malfoy was lower than him, and walked with his friends away. James could see that it had done no use; Malfoy was going to curse him!
BANG!
From Malfoy's hastily drawn wand emitted a dark-purple hex; a borderline dark curse that seared flesh. His aim was off however, and James quickly deflected it with a protego that bounced it sideways to a wall harmlessly.
Harry heard it and spun around, plunging his hand into his robe to search for his wand.
"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" Just like last time, with equal fervor, Professor Moody (or perhaps Crouch) jumped onto the scene, and began using transfiguration on the bewildered child.
Viola! Malfoy the Ferret was instantly created.
There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Harry — at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head.
"Did he get you?" Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly.
"No," said Harry, "missed." For no one had seen James act.
"LEAVE IT!"
"Leave - what?"
"Not you - him!" Crabbe was trying to coax the ferret into his arms. James smirked at the expression on the dumb bodyguard's face.
Moody started to limp menacingly towards the three, pointing his wand at them. Malfoy realized the danger he was in, and like any coward, gave a squeal as he dashed at top speed for the dungeons.
"I don't think so!" roared Moody - it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. Malfoy the Ferret was officially the Amazing Bouncing Ferret! Ron watched in awe.
"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. James almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"Well, you just did it yourself." James muttered.
Same as last time (he was using the phrase a lot today) Professor McGonagall rushed to the scene, and turned Malfoy back to the human he belonged as. James thought Moody was trying to impress her, bouncing the ferret like that.
After the excitement, the three made their way to the Great Hall once again.
"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.
"Why not?" said Hermione in surprise.
"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."
"You got that right." James added.
Overall, his first day in class was going great!
Author's Notes: Please suggest ideas. They help me write.
Review on your way out.
No?
Crucio!
I knew we would come to an agreement.
:)