Chapter Six
"Cub, grip your wand tighter!" Slytherin reprimanded. It was class time and the rest of the Slytherin elites watched him distastefully. Not only was he a Gryffindor amongst Slytherins, he was a Gryffindor that had severely wounded one of their own.
"I know, but I cant!" Harry said frustrated, "this wand keeps trying to reject me!"
"Don't be stupid boy," Slytherin said as the rest of the class snickered. "The wand is perfectly fine. It is you."
"It's not even my wand!" Harry said hotly.
"For the last time cub, we looked everywhere. We couldn't find it!" Slytherin said with finality.
Harry just nodded dumbly, swallowing his anger at the unfairness. Everyone knew that using your own wand gave you a fair chance of defeating your opponent.
"Get back to your sloths," Slytherin said. "No one will leave this room until you turn them into glimmering tea sets."
Harry snorted quietly and sneakily glanced at the girl on the table next to him. She was waving her wand in a sort of 'O' shape. Harry hastened to copy her. The whole class was doing it non-verbally so he couldn't get the spell. Instead he willed it to transform.
It wasn't a surprise to him when nothing happened, he had never been good at Transfiguration, only passing because Hermione had helped him. Eventually he got bored from his attempts, and with his sloth still very much a sloth, he rested his elbows on the bulky old desk, and drifted off into thought.
He had settled into his life at the new – old Hogwarts well enough. He had been here for a week, and although he still got lost occasionally he was able to memorize everything quicker than his first year in the future. It got confusing thinking about futures and pasts. Harry found that if he thought about it too much, everything muddled in his head.
In the end Harry had to stay behind in class while the rest of the Slytherin elites packed up and left. His sloth had managed to its legs in a knot, and Slytherin was not amused.
"It is sort of funny," Harry said, his lips twitching.
"No it isn't," Slytherin scowled. "Did you learn nothing in the future? You can't even do a simple Transfiguration spell!"
"You didn't exactly…well we may have learnt it, I don't know," Harry said unsurely. "Why did you put me in the Slytherin elites? You know I'm not up to that standard."
"I put you in the elites because wherever you're from, whenever you're from, you'll need the training. I've worked with children for a long time boy, and your manner is different from most. It's like you're haunted by something," Slytherin said. Harry just sat at his desk in silence. Slytherin waited, but when he realized he was getting no answer, he looked annoyed. "Tempera Furor." Harry flinched, but the sloth was the one the spell was aimed at. With an odd squeak, it transformed into a tea set; glistening in the light.
"Wow," Harry said, examining the flawless surface of one of the cups. He hung it from his pinky, the delicate looking handle obviously much sturdier than it looked.
"Yes, wow," Slytherin said drily. "Tell me boy, is there something you can do?"
"Well," Harry fumbled, "I can play Quidditcth."
"Quidditch?" Slytherin's sharp blue eyes looked at him questioningly.
"I can ride a broom," Harry deadpanned. He knew the magic of Quidditch would be lost on Slytherin, and that having never seen a game of Quidditch, he wouldn't understand.
"A skill, but not a particularly important one," Slytherin said thoughtfully. "You are dismissed, go back to the common room."
"Do I have to?" Harry groaned. "All your House hates me."
"That's your fault. Though, if you prefer, you can go and play with the Gryffindors," Slytherin said, his blue eyes slightly mocking.
"Play?" Harry asked.
"What else do Gryffindors do? They play." Slytherin smirked arrogantly.
"Right," Harry said. He knew Slytherin was having him on. "Well I'll just go and 'play' then shall I?"
Slytherin gave him a very rare smile. It was amazing just how much it transformed his face. The sharpness and coldness of his eyes diminished, and his face looked younger and even more handsome.
Harry turned around quickly and left through the heavy oak doors. Slytherin smiling was still a little unsettling to him.
He mindlessly walked through corridor after corridor before he realized what he was doing. He backtracked a little, and went up several different revolving staircases to get to the portrait hole. Once outside he realized that he didn't know the password.
"Damn," he mumbled. He wasn't having a good time in this place.
"Cat got your tongue?" said a bored voice.
Harry looked up to see the Fat Lady watching him. Or what should have been the Fat Lady.
She had a slender figure, and was most definitely not the voluptuous woman Harry knew. Instead of the over-the-top hair piled on top of her head, she had light brown curls running down her back and a smooth porcelain face with none of the wrinkles the Fat Lady had. In fact the woman in the painting was very attractive, and was currently staring down at him looking annoyed.
"You lost weight?" he said stupidly.
"What? How dare you!" the Fat Lady cried, looking highly affronted.
Someone chuckled behind him. Harry spun around.
"Did you really insult her weight? You must be a Gryffindor," he grinned.
The boy must have been a few years younger than Harry. He had a baby face with pink lips, round blue eyes and golden curls that surrounded his face. "I'm Alistor," he said. "Third year."
"Harry Potter," Harry said, and was caught off guard when Alistor just nodded. Of course, I'm not famous here, he thought to himself. "Sixth year."
"Sixth year? I haven't seen you around before," Alistor said puzzled.
"I just arrived," Harry said quickly, "Late enrolment."
"Hm, I didn't know you could enroll late. So are you a Gryffindor?" Alistor asked.
"Yes, I am, but I have to stay with the Slytherins and Lord Slytherin until Lord Gryffindor – er - returns," Harry said.
"That doesn't sound too nice, the Slytherins are so…exclusive," Alistor said.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Well –" Alistor began.
"Are you going to stand there and have a conversation, or are you going to say the password?" the Fat Lady demanded impatiently.
"Um, yes of course," Alistor said hurriedly.
She snorted. Nice to see she hasn't lost any charm, Harry thought.
"Beezlebub," Alistor said.
The Fat Lady clicked and swung open. Harry and Alistor scrambled through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor Common Room.
The difference between the Slytherin Common Room and the Gryffindor one was stark. While the Slytherin Common Room was exquisite and classy, the Gryffindor Common Room was much homier.
It had a large fireplace (though no fire had been lit yet), and squashy armchairs that were a deep burgundy colour. None of the furniture was mismatched and there were huge red banners with a lion mid-prance hanging down from the rafters. It was not the Gryffindor Common Room Harry had become accustomed to, but it's similarity helped quell some of the homesickness he had been feeling lately.
The room wasn't packed so everyone turned and looked about at their entrance. A couple of girls whispered excitedly to each other, giggling and watching him out of the corners of their eyes.
Harry swiftly guided Alistor near the fireplace and away from them. He had had more than enough of giggling girls in his own time. That's why he liked Ginny so much; you would never catch her giggling. His stomach dropped at the thought of his girlfriend. He could have slapped himself for forgetting all about her. He thought miserably about what she'd be doing now.
"What do you think, Harry?" Alistor said, after watching Harry's face with some confusion.
"It's nice," Harry said. "Very nice."
Alistor nodded in agreement. "What subjects are you doing?" He just kept insisting on a conversation.
"Oh, erm, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and Herbology," Harry listed.
"Then how come we haven't seen you in any classes?" A brown haired boy asked, shamelessly admitting to eavesdropping.
"I'm with the Slytherin elites," Harry said clearly, immediately regretting it. The whole room went silent and a hiss went through the Gryffindors.
"You're with them?" the boy said disgustedly.
"George stop it!" Alistor said hotly. "He's only with them 'til Lord Gryffindor gets back."
George's eyes narrowed. "Why would you have to wait until Lord Gryffindor returns?" The rest of the Gryffindors nodded with him, some shooting Harry dirty looks.
"Because- I don't know!" Harry said. "I just have to!"
"Where are you from?" one of the giggling girls asked.
"Far away," Harry said vaguely.
"Be specific," George snapped. "You act like you already know this place."
"I've been here for a week! I know most of this place," Harry said defensively. He knew it was out of the question to tell them where he was from, but this George was getting on his nerves.
"Stop everyone, Harry's a Gryffindor, he's one of our own," Alistor said. "Come on George."
"If you were bigger, I would say let's take it outside, but a skinny lad like you wouldn't last three seconds," George sneered.
"What do you mean' 'take it outside'?" Harry asked, his temper flaring. He was a Gryffindor, and this wasn't how Gryffindors acted. They were almost as bad as the Slytherins.
"Well that just proves it," George said. "Take it outside means a race." He paused. "On brooms if you can't figure that out either."
"Then let's take it outside," Harry said at once.
"Harry no!" Alistor cried.
"Don't worry Alistor, I've got this," Harry said in a low voice. The younger boy shut his mouth, looking worried.
"Fine," George said as the rest of the Gryffindors snickered. "Outside, ten minutes."
He walked away quickly, a gaggle of supporters following him through the portrait hole, throwing Harry amused looks. Harry just watched grimly. These Gryffindors needed to be taught a lesson. He never thought that he would say that about his own House, but it was true. This sort of behaviour was unacceptable from them.
"Harry," Alistor said as soon as George was gone. "That's George Redwood, he's the best flyer in Hogwarts! You can't just challenge him!"
"I know a George," he said absentmindedly, not listening to the younger boy. "He was much nicer than that prat."
"But Harry, you don't understand, he's good," Alistor said. Harry looked at the boy's earnest face and smiled.
"Come watch me," Harry said grinning. "I promise you, it'll be a treat."
"If you say so," Alistor said resignedly, giving up trying to talk sense into him. The boy followed Harry out of the portrait hole, and, when he realized that Harry had no idea where to go, he took the lead.
They made their way to the Entrance Hall. Nothing much was changed about it. It was still a huge cavernous room, but there was an eerie glow to it, and Harry noticed that the roof was lit by tiny twinkling lights. Harry squinted up at them. No, they weren't twinkling, they were moving.
"Faeries," Alistor said once he realized what Harry was looking at. "Hogwarts has heaps of them, and they're easy to catch too, you just tempt them with a bit Grindlewurst."
"What's Grindlewurst?" Harry asked looking curiously at Alistor. He had seen faeries in fairy lights in his fourth year, but never thought that they could have a permanent placement at Hogwarts.
"It's like milk, but instead of coming from cows, it comes from the bladder of a unicorn," Alistor explained, taking a left out of the Entrance Hall.
"You mean unicorn pee?" Harry said horrified.
"Yes, and it's easy to get as well, you just follow the unicorns, and – " Alistor said enthusiastically, quickening his pace as they walked down the slope towards where the Quidditch pitch would.
"I don't want to know," Harry said cutting him off. "Do the faeries stay here everyday?"
"No, they die at the end of each day," Alistor said.
"What?" Harry said.
"Don't worry," Alistor said quickly, seeing the look on Harry's face. "They have very short life span. They only live for a day. Then the house elves get more of them."
"How come I haven't seen any bodies, I mean they'd probably drop like flies," Harry demanded. Maybe Hermione would get off her case about house elves if she heard this, though he was sure it didn't happen in his time.
"They disappear when they die. Like a 'poof' sort of thing," Alistor said, leading him to a little cupboard on the side of a small clearing. Harry could see a grassy platform elevated in the middle of it, with the Gryffindors from the common room and some students from other Houses gathering around it. "There are no bodies."
"How do you know so much about them?" Harry asked. Alistor flushed slightly.
"Don't tell anyone," he whispered glancing around nervously, "But I'm rather fond of Care of Magical Creatures."
"They still have that?" Harry said. He shook his head a little. "I mean the have it now? Oh nevermind. What's so bad about it?"
"People don't think it's an important skill, and I'll get teased for sure," Alistor said, his baby blue eyes widening.
"Who cares what they think?" Harry said. "Look, do whatever you want, it's not like it's anything to do with them."
"I don't know where you're from," Alistor said shaking his head, "but things don't work like that here."
Yeah, Harry thought, I've noticed.
"The rules are simple," a loud voice said, hushing the crowd that had gathered. From the air, Harry could see a mix of red, yellow, blue and green. He moved slightly to the left, so the sun was out of his eyes and he could see the small platform clearer.
His jaw dropped. There, elevated above the students were the unmistakable figures of the Founders. Well, three of them anyway. He could see Slytherin impatiently tapping his feet, and most likely whispering to Ravenclaw to hurry up her speech.
"What are they doing here?" Harry whispered to himself.
"The Head of Houses come to watch every race," Redwood answered.
"You really need to stop eavesdropping," Harry glared at him.
"And you need to get yourself a faster broom," Redwood retorted.
"Oh Merlin, most of the school is out here," Harry groaned. Redwood just smiled. Harry ignored him and tuned back into the speech.
"…three times around the castle, and that includes the Lake, as well as the Forest. Is that understood riders?" Ravenclaw looked up at the pair of them. Redwood gave a shout of affirmation. Harry followed suit, though from the laughter that rose up to greet him and the sight of Slytherin shaking his head, he felt he had given more of a yodel. Georg guffawed from his broom.
"On your marks, get set go!" Ravenclaw said in quick succession.
Redwood sped off immediately, but Harry caught by surprise at how fast Ravenclaw had begun the race floundered in the air before shooting after him. The broom he was using, a school broom, was obviously not as good as Redwood's, but he noted Redwood was not as good a flier as he was.
Harry had a natural gift for flying. As soon as they had maneuvered around the west side of the castle, he had his broom down packed. He knew just how much pressure to add where to make it turn left, or go right. He knew the speed in which he should swerve, and he knew how he could outfly Redwood. Taking a sharp left, Harry suddenly swerved in front of the brunet, causing the other boy to halt for a split second, nonetheless it was enough.
Harry continued at a steady pace, and tilted his head to glimpse Redwood struggling to catch up with him. He knew he was the superior flyer, and Redwood had no chance.
Redwood attempted a few take overs of his own, getting more and more desperate, only to be easily thwarted each time. Every time they passed the crowd of watchers, they could hear cheers, and yells of encouragement.
On the third and final lap, comfortably in front, Harry chanced a look at Slytherin who was watching him thoughtfully, and, Harry thought, slightly impressed. Even though he didn't care what Slytherin thought, it still gave him a jump of joy to have impressed one of the Founders. Harry powered on with a new kind of happy energy.
The race was over in a mere half an hour. Redwood touched down ten full minutes after Harry had finished, and watched resentfully as admirers swamped Harry.
Harry however, tried to push them away as gently as he could, most of his admirers being girls. His back was numb from all the claps on the back he had received, and all he wanted was some peace, and the company of his only friend.
With clenched fists, Redwood pushed his way through to the champion and held out his hand. Everyone quieted down.
"You flew well," Redwood said brusquely. "Well done."
"Thanks," Harry said awkwardly, shaking the brunet's hand.
Redwood nodded at him, turned on his heel and left.
"Come away everyone," Slytherin said, striding along the students, who created a path for him. He stopped when he reached Harry. "You weren't lying when you said you could fly cub," Slytherin said. "Congratulations, the race is yours. You replace George as our new champion flyer. In fact, you flattened the poor boy." Slytherin smirked like he couldn't care less. "Never liked him anyway."
Harry pretended not to hear.
"Alistor!" Harry exclaimed enthusiastically, glad to have an excuse to move away from Slytherin. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were dispersing the crowd, and both gave Harry beaming smiles, which he returned. Harry turned his attention back to the third year. "Alistor, I said you were in for a treat, didn't I?"
"Y-you – y-you completely flattened him! Demolished him! Where did you learn to fly like that?" Alistor asked, his eyes shining brightly.
"Oh here and there," Harry said waving his hand. "Never mind that now, let's go up and have some supper, I'm starving."
"Okay," Alistor said, looking at Harry with reverence.
Together, the both took the long walk back up to the castle for a quick shower and some food to fill their stomachs.