Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters
AN: So many negative reviews lately, so I thought I'd respond to the similar statements. Now people have been confusing this story's ideas with some sort of time travel story. Harry hasn't gone back in time, he hasn't got knowledge of the future, or advanced spell knowledge from Merlin. The knowledge that Merlin gave him in chapter 1 initially, was only to get him to agree to be trained, then it was removed. I've had quite a few people complaining that he should have outed Quirrel right away, should be doing insane magical spells etc, yeah, no, not gonna happen, yet anyway, read the story description again... he got potential, not skill. Also, to point out now, he doesn't know Legilmency and never will, despite his impressive Occlumency skills, the reason for that is explained later in the story. Merlin merely gave Harry the tools, again, the potential, to grow and become a very powerful wizard, but he has to get there on his own.
To answer another review, I didn't want to use the cliché time travel, so Harry didn't act bias to certain people or do annoying things like in other time travel fics. Like for eg, follow events exactly like canon, even when he knows he could alter things to be better. Where the person from the future, befriends or antagonizes people based on future behaviours of that person (coughdracohermioneronginnywe asleysdumbledoresnapeetccoug h), fall in love with the best friend that stuck by you in the last timeline (whether it be Hermione, Luna or some other future timeline friend, lover, girlfriend) etc. Then there is the fact that a Harry that has experienced a full other life, hitting on little girls... yeah, don't need to point out the problem there.
To the multiple similar complaints, this story was always meant to go slowly, it is an epic tale. I always intended it to go for at least 100-300k words per Hogwarts year at least. I was looking through many reviews, of people complaining that it's taking too long to go through the first book, or not covering canon events fast enough. Guys, this is going to be a long story, it's going to be very detailed, it's going to have way more events and information than canon for canon events. It is called 'playing with the timeline' for a reason, more events will happen, different people will be involved in events, more people will be involved in Harry's life, meaning more airtime etc. If you're looking for a quick 7 year Hogwarts story done in like 100k words, yeah this isn't for you clearly. Enjoy the edited chapter
AN2: Last edited Nov 2012.
Harry wasn't impressed by the first few classes at all. He might not have outwardly shown it, but he was eager to practice all the spells and theories that he had read during the last month. Unfortunately, all each class wanted to do, was basically a lesson plan for the term. It came as quite the shock, to find they wouldn't even cover everything in the texts assigned. Just the basics to get by year to year, to learn everything, they had to do it in their own time while asking for advice. However, regardless of how few spells they would actually cover in class, the young wizard was determined to learn everything he could from each text.
Suspicions entered his mind in waves during his first class of Defense against the Dark arts. During class, like the opening feast, he again felt something tap against his mental barrier, it was such a light assault though, that it was likely whoever was trying to get into his head, would chalk it up to natural defences. What through him for a loop though, was the fact that it kept happening whenever Professor Quirrell's back was turned from the class, Harry was fully aware that Legilmency required eye to eye contact.
The fact it kept happening only when he made eye contact with the man's turban, caused him to believe that the turban itself was the cause for the mind probes. Was his turban alive? Quirrel's constant stuttering and paranoia from the Professor told one story, while his eyes showed confidence, betraying his little persona. With the excess garlic around the room, plus the random scared reactionary jumping at every sound was odd as well. It seemed more and more like some sort of an act, but Harry couldn't work out why the man would need to act.
Another thing that began to annoy Harry greatly during that same class, was how the segregation between students had already started. DADA was with the Hufflepuffs, yet they all moved to sit together on one side of the room, while all Gryffindors sat down on the other side of the room. Don't get him wrong, he knew the whole competitive nature of being in a house, but considering these are people you would be spending time with for the next 7 years, well it made no sense to not mingle with as many people as you could. At the very least he expected Neville and Fay to be more receptive to trying to form relationships with the puffs, knowing how beneficial it could be.
Once he escaped the stuttering Professor's drawling when he dismissed them for the day, Harry caught up with the Hufflepuff students as they were leaving the room. It was lunch anyway so he decided to try to make conversation with them, do what he thought the other purebloods might want to do. Ron, who had taken a fancy to tagging along with him everywhere, caught up to him quickly too.
"Hey guys. Didn't get a chance to introduce myself properly to you all yet. I'm Harry" The group of Hufflepuff first years all stopped to look at the duo curiously. Scanning them quickly, Harry deduced who might be a problem and who might become possible friends. A habit he had gained from having potential friends scared away from Dudley, a skill to judge people fairly accurately very quickly, Merlin's pureblood training just reinforced that instinct.
One girl, a pretty redhead with uniquely violet coloured eyes, responded on behalf of the group "Harry Potter" Not getting the smug response she was expecting from such a powerful member of the wizarding community, she continued, her surprise and curiosity showing in her expression "Uh, hi, I'm Susan, did you need something?"
Susan talked to him normally, like any other normal guy in the school, something he immediately gave her great credit for. She got a few more bonus points for seeming to test him with saying his name the way she did. For Harry, it meant that she didn't think of him as some powerful legend like most of the wizarding world, although another quick scan of the group, made him believe that some of the others might believe the stories Hermione mentioned to him. Smiling back at the young, confident girl, Harry replied "Nice to mean you too Susan. To answer your question, nah, not really" At the questioning look in her eyes he continued "I just thought I'd introduce myself you know. Get to know some of my fellow first years and all that, after all, we'll be sharing classes for the next seven years"
He noticed Susan seemed to consider him seriously for a moment, before she smiled brightly at him, earning herself even more bonus points. They began to chat and get to know each other a little better on their way to the great hall. The other puffs introduced themselves, but besides Hannah Abbott and Ernie McMillian, they didn't really participate and just listened in. Ron had taken to glaring at Susan like she had done something wrong the rest of the way, making Harry curious. Hannah was shy, to the point that Harry couldn't help but compare her to Neville, thankfully she wasn't acting like a fangirl in any way, shape or form though, so Harry decided he liked her as well.
As the conversation continued, Ernie seemed to lose his suspicious look. In fact, he was shocked that Harry hadn't known about wizarding world until one month ago, shocked even further that the so called hero of the wizarding world had grown up in the muggle world. Like all wizarding children from the last 10 years, he grew up hearing the tales of the great Harry Potter. The young puff obviously realized once he was old enough, some of the farfetched stories couldn't be real, but none of the stories being true at all was a surprise for him.
The vibe he got off Justin and Zacharias, were simply along the lines of, they were better than him. Harry wouldn't be surprised if they, or other muggleborn/half-blood students, somehow knew of him from the muggle world, who knew how far Surrey connections in the gossip ring went after all.
Naturally that annoyed Harry greatly, but the young wizard let it slide, since initial impressions on the first day didn't really affect anything in the long run. When they reached the Great hall, Harry thanked Susan for treating him like anyone else, not as the boy who lived. She seemed surprised at the genuine tone, but got a shock when Harry took her hand, than kissed the back of it. Harry was mentally laughing at causing the confident girl to flush red, enough that it seemed to match her hair.
Once reaching the Gryffindor table, Ron asked Harry a random question relating to his recent endeavours "Why did you talk to the puffs Harry? They aren't in Gryffindor"
Harry looked over at Ron strangely, memories of the redhead's bias descriptions from the day before ran through his mind "Yeah, what's your point Ron? In case you forgot we're going to be spending the next seven years with them in some of our classes, I'd like to get to know them" Ron didn't respond just shrugged and started to pile up his plate with food.
History of magic was literally a waste of time for Harry. Thanks to his Occlumency training he had basically memorized the textbook already. When he realized the ghost Professor Binns was literally reading word for word the text, probably from an attentive student in the past if he had to take a guess, he began scanning the room. Harry took to looking at the other Ravenclaws, when he saw a Ravenclaw girl looking just like Parvarti on the Gryffindor side of the room, he went over and sat next to her.
After preparing himself for potential fangirl tendencies, he got a surprise when he discovered that Padma was nothing like her twin. She even went to sit with her sister Parvarti on the Gryffindor side of the room with Harry following, after realizing he didn't get into trouble for doing the same. Something Harry was impressed by, as well as confirming his suspicions that you don't have to sit with your house during class, he had nagging thought that he might have gotten away with it being who he was. Harry couldn't help but notice, unlike her sister who tended to burst into giggles on a regular occasion when they talked, Padma actually spoke to him normally.
She also seemed to be the only other one that noticed Binn was reading the textbook, at least he believed so, when the young girl pulled her copy out and sighed loudly. Unlike the other Ravenclaws, she didn't bother taking notes. Harry noticed Hermione obviously didn't pick up on the fact, since she was writing furiously one row in front of them. Harry was sure the smart girl had read the book already too, so how she possibly couldn't have missed such an obvious fact baffled him.
Feeling a surge of cheekiness, Harry got a large grin during his conversation with Padma, he took her book from her, winked, then loudly began reading at the same time as Binns. After a few minutes of slight snickers from others in the class, Padma burst into laughter, causing others who had picked up on how Harry did it to follow suit. The ghost had actually stopped and looked on at the class in confusion, taking that as his cue to quite down again, the see through teacher began droning once more. Harry began to quietly continue to read the book though, that was too much for Hermione, as she began turning around, sending them furious glares at them both randomly, however, her glare held confusion since Harry was actually matching the ghost word for word.
In Harry's mind, the ghost was probably there for many decades, so an ex student had likely copied his words and made the assigned text, making him an easy income. Once class was over, Hermione stormed over to the two of them who were discussing what classes they had together in the future "How did you do that Harry, were you using magic to copy Professor Binns?"
The two new friends blinked at the rude interruption, processing her new friend's housemate's words, Padma couldn't help but burst into renewed laughter. Harry noticed Hermione was going red with rage, or embarrassment, maybe she thought Padma was just like Parvarti. Harry had a feeling his Gryffindor yearmate might be a bit of a bully towards the bookworm, since she appeared to be a worse Padma in a way.
Glancing over at said girl, he saw that Parvarti was looking at her sister in genuine surprise. It would seem that Parvarti missed how her sister became friends with him, since most of the students fell asleep during the lesson. Parvarti was surprised to see her sister next to her when she woke up after all, it would be hard being twins and getting separated by houses for 7 years.
"What's so funny?" Hermione hissed, Padma quickly tried to calm down enough, well enough to move somewhat normally. She pulled out her text, opened it on the page covering the topic Binn was discussing and passed it to the girl. The bushy haired girl was confused, as she looked at the open page, as she read, her eyes widened in shock. She began fumbling to pull her notes out, Harry saw her comparing her notes to the text, once realizing they were basically the same she began gaping like a fish.
Harry noticed tears forming in her eyes, looking genuinely distraught over this discovery, something Harry really didn't understand. Why would Hermione care that the ghost didn't teach properly? If what he taught was all in the text, then she could easily study it with ease in her own time. She thrust the book back to Padma and literally ran off. Harry looked at Padma who had stopped laughing completely seeing Hermione's face, thus noticed that she too was also confused. Shaking his head, Harry waved goodbye to Padma to head back to his common room, perhaps to discover what set Hermione off and help her out a bit.
Unfortunately he couldn't find her in the common room and he couldn't go and barge into the girls dorms. Although one benefit of heading to the common room, was Harry had the chance to lose Ron, basically he ran from the common room to the Transfiguration classroom early, knowing full well Ron wouldn't be able to catch him. Although he had an ulterior motive of trying to catch up to Hermione, the girls in the common room said she wasn't in her dorm, so figured there was no more point trying to find her.
Harry arrived near the corridor to the transfiguration classroom 20 minutes early. Ron was a nice kid, but Harry was very quickly getting annoyed by little things he did, how he would glare at everyone he talked to, follow him wherever he went. It was like Ron thought that he was the only person in Hogwarts that Harry should be talking to.
Harry slowed down his run to a slow jog as he neared the classroom, immediately he saw some of the Slytherin first years already there, standing outside the room. His eyebrows shot up and he inwardly smirked, when Tracey saw him approaching, waving with a sly grin. After he waved back, he saw her whisper something in the girl who had to be, Daphne's ear, who had her back turned, not allowing him to see her face. That didn't last long as the blonde girl spun around 180 degrees quickly, eyes wide in surprise, it only lasted a few moments, as they narrowed in suspicion soon after.
Having a feeling Daphne was expecting him to react as the other Gryffindors, ie. The stupid prejudice beliefs that all Slytherin are dark or evil, the common opinion many lions seemed to have. Harry shocked her again though, as he merely waved with a grin on his face. He began heading towards the duo but he was cut off by 3 boys. A blonde boy that he recognized from Madam Malkin's shop, and two larger boys flanking him stood in his path, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"So you're Harry Potter huh. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy" The boy named Draco stated, holding out his hand.
Harry was sorely tempted to say 'You don't watch muggle movies do you?' but refrained from doing so, it was clear that purebloods wouldn't take kindly to that. Taking hold of his hand, Harry gave it one firm shake "Nice to meet you Draco, just call me Harry, not a fan of the whole surname greeting thing that I've noticed is popular around here"
Draco actually looked surprised that was Harry's response, looking at the joined hands oddly for a moment, as if believing some sort of trick, hex, or curse would occur shortly. Harry quirked a questioning eyebrow at the two gorillas behind him, who looked confused, then at the surrounding Slytherins, all who had shocked looks upon their faces. Scanning further he wasn't sure to be annoyed or pleased that Hermione or any other Gryffindor was present to witness his little personal Slytherin greeting. Might have made them realize that Slytherins aren't all bad. Draco after almost a full minute, seemed the first to recover, removing his hand "Uh, oh this is Crabbe and Goyle by the way. I gotta say Harry, you really weren't what I was expecting"
"Oh and what were you expecting?" Harry knew what he was thinking though. He had received similar opinions all day. Everyone assumed he would be a cocky and arrogant brat, believing the wizarding world's stories of how great he was, as much of the fangirls and boys. Stories that pretty much, stated that he vanquished the dark lord, so everyone should bow down and treat him like a prince. Or maybe the shock he was seeing was due to the fact that the traditional 'Don't trust Slytherin' mentality of Gryffindor house didn't take with him. Or they thought he was acting more traditionally pureblood then other Gryffindors, forming alliances and the like just like a Slytherin.
"Uh, never mind, how did you end up in Gryffindor?" Draco was openly curious, Harry was acting more Slytherin than a stupid Gryffindor and he couldn't help but wonder why.
And there was the question confirming the latter theory, Harry leant over and whispered "Actually, the hat wanted me in Slytherin, but because of the bias opinions of most of the wizarding world. That wouldn't be very smart of me to join you guys would it? Anyway, we can discuss that another time, excuse me Draco" He left Draco with a genuinely shocked look upon his face, making the rest of the distance to Daphne and Tracey. Both of whom had been watching the exchange between the boys in surprise, clearly like the rest, not expecting that result.
"Miss Greengrass, what a pleasant surprise" Harry stated, as he kissed her hand "Miss Davis" He winked at the second girl who was eyeing him, well amusingly he thought.
"Hey Harry, what no kiss for me? That's twice now, you're going to make me feel all unloved" Rolling his eyes, he made no move to kiss her hand that she had out, mock pouting she stated "Fine, be like that. How's your classes been so far?"
Running a hand through his messy hair, he let out an annoyed sigh "Honestly, utterly unimpressed so far, Quirrel and Binns are both useless from what I've seen" With an inwardly sly grin, he thought of how to answer the girl's first question. Harry put on his best shocked expression while looking over her shoulder. That caused both girls to turn to see what he was looking at, taking the opportunity, he pecked Tracey on the cheek, causing her to turn bright red.
"Oh so I can embarrass you too Tracey, good to know" Grinning victoriously at catching her off guard, he had an eerily cold feeling creep up once he saw the look in her eyes, like he had just started some kind of war with the girl somehow.
Although when Harry heard her mutter "Sneaky prat", he laughed loudly in his mind, shrugging away the odd feeling. He saw Daphne looking at Tracey oddly, as if sensing she now held his attention, she muttered "Something on my face Potter?" Without even making eye contact with him, or giving him a chance to get her, like he got her best friend, she nodded towards the general direction of Malfoy "What was that about?"
Harry got a cheeky grin on his face at the innocent question, deciding not to do the same to Daphne "Well if I go around making enemies in your house, how could I, in good conscience, keep being so friendly with you two?" Tracey giggled, he noted the gleam return to her eyes though. Daphne simply narrowed her eyes, holding up his hands in surrender he stated in a panicky tone "Ok ok, seriously though. It's more beneficial to have Draco on neutral grounds, than as an enemy pissing me off constantly. He's obviously got some sway in things through his family, if he's walking around like that with a couple of gorilla bodyguards. Made more sense to me to make peace before a war broke out, save me time and hassle" The blonde girl nodded in approval.
The Gryffindors and a few Slytherin stragglers began to arrive at that point, so they began filing into the room. Harry decided to follow the example of Padma in his last class, following the Slytherin duo to a table on the left side of the room. Tracey sat first, followed by Daphne, neither girl seemed to realize Harry had followed after them. Harry himself, had paled slightly, realizing that Ron would still be able to sit next to him. It was a four person table and since he hates Slytherins, he wouldn't hear the end of the complaints all lesson if he made a spot available for the redhead.
Coming up with a quick solution he picked up Daphne, earning a squeak of surprise and gaining the attention of the entire room. Harry ignored the glares, curious looks and pure shocked reactions, as he placed Daphne on the outermost seat. He then sat down next to her, smirking at the shocked look on her face, momentarily breaking her expressionless mask. Harry then looked to his left, patted the seat next to him, indicating Tracey to move over. She too had a look of surprise, before getting a sly grin and sliding over to him, very close to him indeed.
Harry nudged her lightly in the side with his elbow and she merely shuffled even closer, rolling his eyes, he gazed around the room. Noticing he had all eyes on him, he said "What?"
Making note of two of the Slytherin gazes that seemed different to the rest, more angry than surprised, he finally noticed the cat on the teacher's desk. Quirking an eyebrow at its piercing gaze in his direction, he merely shrugged and turned back to Daphne, whose face had managed to get control back "Potter, explain why you are here?"
Turning to his other side he saw Tracey smile innocently at him. Smiling back, just as 'innocently' he once more turned to Daphne "Whatever do you mean Miss Greengrass? I'm in this class too" With the most innocent expression on his face he could muster.
She sent him a glare as he didn't elaborate, just kept on staring back at her blankly. Her lips twitched upwards slightly but she fought off the smile trying to escape. Meanwhile her best friend snorted on Harry's other side. Sighing out loud she calmly stated "Let me reiterate then Potter. Why are you sitting here, next to me?"
Harry gave himself a pat on the back, as he kept on looking back at her innocently "Why not? Do you want me to move?" He added a slightly hurt tone into his voice. That was apparently too much for Tracey and she burst into laughter at Daphne's wide eyes. Around the room there were a few quite chuckles and giggles going around as well.
Harry picked up rushed footsteps outside, he put on a bright smile, lent over to her ear and whispered "You're my bodyguard Daphne" She sent him a questioning look just as Ron burst into the room huffing and puffing, with an almost fearful look in his eyes. Turning her attention to newcomer, she missed how Harry immediately ducked his head behind her form, effectively blocking Ron from being able to see him.
Ron stated looking frantically at the Gryffindor side of the room, then at the front desk, his eyes looking at the cat on the desk oddly. "Good she's not here yet, wait a minute, where's Harry?" In a, what most would consider a genuinely worried voice.
The room all looked to where Harry was now hiding from Ron's view, most in the room burst into laughter. Whoever didn't laugh, looked on suspiciously or curiously. Draco Malfoy was the loudest in his laughter though, when Harry snuck a look over at him, he looked close to falling out of his chair, hell he was even struggling to breath, one of his bodyguards tapping his back. All eyes then turned to the front of the room suddenly though, when the tabby cat leaped off the desk and turned into Professor McGonagall, earning shocked sounds and expressions from almost everyone. Harry simply looked on with a curious expression.
"Ok that's enough children, quiet down, Mr Weasley take a seat please" Ron was about to retort before she sent him a glare "Now Mr Weasley, or do I need to take points?" The redhead begrudgingly went and sat down next to Neville.
She went on to explain in great detail the art of transfiguration and how difficult it is. When Harry answered the question on the animagus transformation in great detail, he gained 5 points for Gryffindor. Hearing "Mr Potter" allowed Ron to finally realize where Harry was seated, the boy stared at him in shock, Harry merely waved back cheerfully. Most of the class groaned when McGonagall assigned homework since they didn't expect any on the first week.
After class Harry stuck back behind to talk to the Professor about his parents, he waved to his friends from both houses. When Ron tried to stay behind not wanting to lose Harry again, McGonagall ordered him to leave the room, resulting in rude grumbles under his breath on the way out. Harry had a feeling he would be outside when he left the room though.
"Now what did you wish to talk to me about Mr Potter?" The Professor asked, her tone softer than it was during class.
Harry turned to make sure the door was closed before he asked. "Well, uh, I've heard you've been teaching here a long time, so I was wondering, if you could maybe, tell me a bit about my parents? I don't know if Hagrid spoke to you or not. But I wasn't exactly given the best information about them from my relatives"
Professor McGonagall's eyes widened in surprise at the question, as her whole posture seemed to relax, knowing this was personal and not an academic discussion "Of course dear, did your Aunt not tell you of your mother at least"
"No offense Professor. But if I were to say what I was told about my Mum by my Aunt, well, I would probably lose my house a lot of points for the language alone"
Harry literally saw the controlled rage dancing behind the stern woman's eyes, he clearly heard her mutter under her breath "I told him they were no good" So for the next 30minutes she spoke about Lily Evans and James Potter to their son. Harry was very pleased about the session. She made the offer to tell him more any time he wished, since she knew them quite well, even after they had graduated, Harry readily agreed. She also made mention to ask Professor Flitwick and Sprout as they were teachers during their time at Hogwarts as well.
As expected, Ron was indeed waiting outside for him, wanting to know what he was doing talking to a professor outside of class. Harry merely deflected the question, than told him there was no need to wait for him, as they headed to the great hall together. Once Ron had eaten some food, his brain must have rebooted to what he saw in the classroom. He tried to lecture Harry on all Slytherins being evil, but Harry turned it around on him, when he asked what the sorting hat said to him. Ron didn't answer but turned as red as his hair, Harry went on to state the hat wanted him in Slytherin, but he asked to be placed in Gryffindor instead.
Unfortunately that didn't seem to work, as Ron said it was because he wasn't evil like them. So Harry had to go into great detail, trying to get through to him, that Slytherin doesn't mean evil house, it means cunning and ambitious house. After dinner and two hours in the common room with other inputs from his housemates, Ron finally seemed to accept that not all Slytherins are completely evil, but warned Harry to watch his back. It wasn't what Harry wanted, but it would keep the complaining down for a while anyway.
The next few days passed by rather uneventfully. In charms they merely were told how much of the text they would cover. Harry decided he would begin sitting next to other members of other houses in all his classes, so in this one he sat with Padma again, Parvarti and Lavender sat wath him. This allowed him to actually see a different side to Parvarti, as she acted more, normal, around her sister. Lavender too showed she could be more than a giggling mess, she was actually a nice girl once you got past that childish behaviour.
Harry learnt some more about his parents from the excitable, Goblin sized Professor after class. Astronomy was just learning how to fill out star charts, they were told after the first week, the period would be used to correct there charts from practical sessions. Herbology was just a discussion on what plants they would be covering that semester. They were told they would work in groups of 3 and Harry joined Susan and Hannah to form a group.
Harry sat with Daphne and Tracey during the Transfiguration practical on Wednesday morning again. Fay actually went and sat with him, curiosity of the two Slytherin girls catching her attention. Tracey seemed to like this, as she talked in hushed tones with Fay, Harry chose to not listen in. Thankfully Ron didn't make a fuss and he didn't go sit near the Slytherins either, so worked on changing his match to a needle next to Neville. Harry surprised everyone in turning his needle within an hour of the task being set, earning 15 points for Gryffindor and Professor McGonagall stating he had inherited his father's skill in transfiguration.
Sensing someone's glare, he turned to see Hermione on the other side of the room glaring at him, when she noticed his gaze on hers, she flushed and looked away. He cocked his head to the side, wondering what her problem was this time. Harry had tried to track her down to explain what happened earlier, but she was never in the common room, plus always seemed to run out of class quickly. Then he remembered that guy from his school, so figured it was because she wasn't the best in class and she didn't like it one bit, so might be studying somewhere privately to beat him in the future.
Harry began whispering hints and encouragement to Tracey, Fay and Daphne for the remainder of the class. Despite the latter pretending to ignore him, by the end of class she had turned it into a needle giving him a small smile in thanks. Tracey almost did since it was silver and pointy but still had a woody like texture, earning 10 points for Slytherin and earning even harder glares from Hermione and some of his housemates. Fay made her match pointy and had the right texture, but it looked wooden still. Harry saw that Hermione had only made her match silver, but Harry felt she would have done fine if she wasn't getting so frustrated over his own performance.
The reason Harry was able to get the exercise so quickly was because he needed no more than 5 hours sleep. Possibly even less but it would be far too suspicious if he was ever caught not sleeping, they would think it was potions or muggle drugs. He would wake up early in the mornings and practice spells. To make it look like he was making steady progress, Harry actually had to think of the match being silver, then silver and pointy but still with a woody texture, before finally making it a needle. He would then practice trying to do it wandlessly, this usually came to him faster than using a wand surprisingly, but he remembered Ollivander saying his wand wasn't a perfect match.
Harry was actually curious as to whether doing his method of learning was easier or harder, since he was technically doing multiple transfigurations. But he had to do it that way or it would cause suspicions with his yearmates and the professors.
Charms the following day was even more infuriating for one bushy haired Gryffindor, at least in Harry's opinion. They had the class with Ravenclaws, who tend to be just as studious as she is, so when Professor Flitwick showed them the Lumos charm. Well basically Harry and nearly all the Ravenclaws got it to work before Hermione did. Even Lavender pulled it off before her, the poor girl looked like she was going to start hyperventilating by the end of class.
At breakfast on Friday morning when the morning owls flew in delivering mail, Harry was surprised to see Hedwig come down. She had a letter on her surprising him further, thinking she just came to visit him, curiously, he untied it before feeding her some bacon "Hey girl, sorry I haven't come up to see you, you should fly down here in the mornings though with the other owls even if you don't have mail. There's plenty of bacon after all" She hooted happily before helping herself to the rest of his bacon on the plate, rolling his eyes, he stroked her gently as he read the letter. It was Hagrid asking him to come visit him after breakfast, since he had a free period next, he scribbled a reply and sent Hedwig off.
Harry headed down with Ron following breakfast, down to Hagrid's hut. The big man was ecstatic to see Harry again, he even made some muffins and gave him a rough one armed hug. They had a talk about the classes so far, to include Ron the big man asked about Ron's family as well. Harry tried the 'rockcakes' and found them quite tasty, if a little difficult to chew. When he saw Ron struggle to even bite into one, he made a note to not eat them so easily in the future. Around more observant people anyway, clearly they were not meant for normal people, likely some sort of specific recipe given to Hagrid, for whatever species or condition that he has.
During the talking, Harry noticed the article about a break in at Gringotts the day they went there. Not believing it to be a coincidence, he was sure whatever Hagrid got for Dumbledore from Vault 713 was the reason. What was odd was how anyone got in and out undetected, the goblins could literally see magic. So either it was a muggle or someone that was going to another vault and got away from their goblin, or cursed the creature.
Not having much else to talk about after a while, the boys left to go back up to the castle, Harry promised to visit again if he could. It was only 10am but Ron decided to go to the hall for lunch while Harry headed off to the library. He decided to look up some potions from a higher tier, just in case Jean was right about Snape possibly targeting him, based on who he was and what the other teachers might have told him about his advanced knowledge thus far.
Walking into the library he inclined his head to the librarian Madam Pince "Hello Madam. I was wondering where I could find some good potion texts?"
The woman eyed him keenly for quite some time, as if expecting it to be some kind of ruse or trick. After a few minutes she finally sighed "Row 18 Mr Potter. I do hope you are nothing like your father and more like your mother, you do have her eyes, hopefully her good sense too" Blinking in surprise, tucking that extra piece of information away, he smiled kindly at her.
Heading into the aforementioned aisle, Harry pulled out a few books and studied for the next few hours. He noticed Hermione on the other side of the library looking up at him on occasion with curious eyes, turning into glares each time he caught her, he ignored them and her in general to read on. He was tempted to go and talk to her, but something made him believe that would be the worst thing to do at the time.
At 12 he headed down to the hall to have some lunch, meeting up with his yearmates. Harry shook his head noticed that Hermione didn't even bother leaving the library for lunch. He hoped she somehow snuck some food or something, it wasn't healthy to be that obsessed over learning after all.
Harry was disappointed further when he noticed the girls didn't even comment on Hermione's absent status, going to show what impression she had already made on them. Once they finished eating, they all headed to the potions room in the dungeons. When he arrived, he gave friendly greetings to some of the Slytherins he didn't know. The door was already open so unlike his yearmates, he entered, they all followed him in. When he saw his house mates heading to the right side, he went to the left. Ignoring the mutters of the Slytherins, he waited for his two favourite serpents to come to him. He wasn't disappointed. Once they sat either side of him he whispered loudly while looking at Daphne "Is it always like this down here? No wonder you're so cold" She just sent him an icy glare that he grinned cheekily at.
Only a few minutes passed of idle chatter before Professor Snape made a dramatic entrance into the room, from a door Harry guessed was his office. He loudly slammed the door shut, instantly silencing everyone immediately, Harry felt the urge to whistle but held back. The dark haired man didn't even look up as he began to call the class roster, however he paused at Harry's name "Ahh yes, Harry Potter, our new celebrity" His eyes finally lifted and flickered to the Gryffindor side of the room and looked confused when there was no clone of his rival sitting there.
When he heard "Present" his eyes travelled to the noise and widened in shock. The shock quickly vanished, to be replaced with rage, he loudly remarked "10 points from Gryffindor! What are you doing there? Leave my Slytherins alone" Harry narrowed his eyes but said nothing, knowing saying anything would probably lose his house more points. He was clearly much worse than Jean told him. He noticed the shocked look in the Professors eyes return when he gazed as his students, as not one of them chuckled at the Gryffindors loss of points.
Ignoring the silence, Harry kept his eyes on him, the Professors rage filled dark orbs locked onto his green. Suddenly he felt a powerful probe, stronger than the one he used at the opening feast smash against his barrier. The man's eyes widened again, mouth actually opened in pure shock, Harry didn't bother lightly knocking the probe away, he smacked it around like a toy, before knocking it back out with a little more force. The Professor was still gaping like a fish for nearly a full minute, suddenly he said very coldly "Why are you still there Potter, get away from my students and join your Housemates. 5 more points for not listening to instructions"
Looking at Daphne who raised an eyebrow and Tracey who shrugged with a confused expression, he packed his stuff and moved over to sit next to the only space that was left. Next to Hermione, who glared at him since a Professor told him off. Still sneering in Harry's direction, Snape finished the roll call. He then began a dramatic speech about various uses of potion making, with his back to the class, Harry used to the time to lock eyes with Tracey, Daphne and Draco even, to see them looking at him with just as much confusion on their faces for their head of house's behaviour.
At the end his speech, Professor Snape whipped around dramatically, looked straight at Harry and barked "Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Hermione's hand shot up next to him immediately, seriously, didn't she hear the man call him out. Or was the girl so used to no one else knowing the answer, that she is the first to get called on next. Ignoring the bushy haired girl he replied "A potion that puts the user into a sleep so strong they appear to be in a death like state. It is most commonly known as the Draught of Living Death sir" Snape's eyes widened in shock once more, Harry was curious why everything he did was so surprising for the man.
Noticing the rage quickly returning, Harry inwardnly rolled his eyes, knowing he was likely going to ask something much harder to embarrass him, when the man's eyes narrowed at him, Harry knew he was right "And where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Harry remained calm, but inwardly he was trying to work out what this Professor's problem was. He was trying to refrain from tying down Hermione's hands to the table, since one of them was flailing around frantically, well like a fool in his mind but he answered the question anyway "In the stomach of a goat sir. It has a few uses in various antidote potions but is primarily used on its own to cure most common poisons" Snape's eyes now began twitching irritably, Harry was curious what he was thinking.
Meanwhile Snape was completely furious, the Potter brat was making him out to be a fool. No Potter should be smart enough for that, even if they had Lily's genes. Especially the spoiled arrogant boy who lived, but not only was he answering the questions he was being respectful. A Potter respectful, Snape couldn't believe what he was seeing of hearing. Not only that but the brat had Occlumency shields, shields strong enough to not only block him but outright repel him. Something was amiss with the boy and he would not be beaten in his mental game. Calming himself down, his eyes gained a gleeful look, he would not let no spawn of Potter beat him. "Impressive, then answer this Potter. What is the difference between Monkswood and wolfsbane?"
Hermione's actually stood up and began to move closer to Harry trying to get the teacher's attention. Harry had to concentrate hard to keep his face impassive from the girl's antics. "There is no difference sir, they are the same plant. Muggles also call it aconite, my relative actually tried to grow some of it a few years ago"
Hermione sat back down and was glaring at Harry just as hard as Snape was right now, it was starting to grate on his nerves a bit. But he wasn't trained to deal with idiots by Merlin, well 'dumbass training' according to the ancient legend, for no reason after all. He noticed the insane gleam starting to appear in his Professor's eye and he let out a loud sigh mentally. What was this guy's problem with him? "And what Mr Potter does Wolfsbane Potion do?" Hermione's hand did not shoot up and she looked distraught that she didn't know the answer.
Harry happened to look at this potion earlier by chance, purely because he has enhanced senses like a werewolf infected person. He was curious of what it did and if it might be used to weaken him or something in the future, it was apparently a rare and not well known potion though, the specifics on how to make it, not in the books. However what it did was in there though "It is a potion that allows a werewolf to regain his sense of self after they transform during a full moon sir. Allowing them to hold onto their humanity while in their beastly form"
Snape's mouth actually opened in shock for the second time in only a few minutes. This time it stayed open for quite some time. He couldn't believe a first year and the spoilt brat of Potter could know such things. He looked at the boy's eyes which were so like Lily's, Lily who would have studied and learnt such things before a class. The guilt began to work its way to the surface, with a mournful look he gave a soft sigh and closed his eyes. Muttering to himself quietly he whispered "He's more like you than I thought Lily, maybe this will be easier than I first thought" Out loud, missing the shocked look on Harry's face "Very good Potter, take those points back for Gryffindor. Well, what are the rest of you dunderheads doing? Why haven't you copied that all down?"
Harry was quite shocked, he knew no one else likely heard him mutter what he did, but he himself surely did. This Professor Snape did look young enough to know his parents in school, he also seemed to know his mother if that soft way he muttered her name was any indication. He pushed back the urge to speak to him about them though, even if they were close, there was still that rage he saw earlier, he would need all the facts before approaching the man with questions. He listened intently as Snape went on to explain what potions they would be covering that semester for the first half of class.
For the second half of the lesson, he noted how Snape was looking at his Slytherin friends intently when he asked the class to pair up, seeing the man's eyes widen again slightly when both girls looked at Harry before moving closer together. After putting instructions on the board, he got the class to begin making a simple boil cure potion. The class was an odd number, which of course meant Harry ended up working on his own for the task. Hermione was with Dean, while Ron got paired up with Crabbe.
Harry ended up being the 3rd 'group' to finish his potion and no matter how Snape tried to find a fault in it he couldn't, it was a perfectly made potion. Harry could see him grind his teeth in frustration for not being able to find a fault, after all, since the man put him on his own, he couldn't even give all the credit to the partner. Hermione's potion ended up getting graded down slightly due to the colour being a shade off, seeing her waving her arms frantically earlier. Harry made a guess that Snape thought she gave him the answers to the earlier potions, Hermione though looked as if Snape had stabbed her in the heart.
Neville had a close call when he almost added the quills in while it was still on the flame, Harry noticed it and was able to stop him from adding it just in time, saving the potion and a major potential accident. Although their potion still didn't turn out the way it should have anyway, at least it didn't blow up in their faces.
Once class was over Tracey dragged a reluctant Daphne to Harry, when he was casually making his way out of the dungeons "Harry! What was that all about? Why does he hate you?"
Harry turned to the two concerned looking girls, ignoring Ron's sudden dramatic, snake repelling dance he seemed to be doing at the moment he saw them. Shrugging, as he wasn't entirely sure on the reasons himself "Honestly, no idea. Might have something to do with my parents, maybe he worked for Voldemort so hates me. Maybe he wants you two and got jealous that I was so close to you, who knows"
The girls gasped at 'Voldemort' and Tracey smacked his arm "Don't say his name" She hissed while looking around cautiously.
Harry just grinned at her and leant in close "Don't worry girls, I'll protect you if he comes back from the grave" Enjoying seeing the pink tint on each of their cheeks, he loudly continued "Oh please, why fear that name anyway? Seriously don't you two think it is such a retarded name, seriously Voldemort, who comes up with something like that" He noted the muggleborn and some halfblood students laughed at his comment, while the purebloods, and Hermione, looked quite scandalized and shocked.
Well until Tracey giggled randomly "Well Mr Big bad dark wizard slayer, how will you keep me safe?"
Noticing the tension easing at her statement, Harry's grin came back full force "Awww, well for you beautiful. I'll not only take on Lord a-two-year-old-can-think-of-a-better-name, but even his fanboy followers at the same time" Causing her to smile brightly, looking at the twitching lips in the crowd, he continued "Now I'm going back to warmth, dunno how you guys can stand actually living down here. Although it might explain the urge to get warmer when we get old-" Harry looked at Daphne cheekily as she glared at him hotly "Oh, time to run, I'll see you guys tomorrow for the flying lesson" With that Harry took off running down the hall, Ron struggling to follow calling his name loudly.
When Harry got to the common room, the other first years hounded him with questions about Snape's harsh attacks on him, the older years getting involved once they got the gist of it. Shrugging off their concerns like it was nothing important, it seemed too much for Hermione. The young Gryffindor was actually in the common room for once, surprising Harry as he had yet to see her in there since he told her of the library, though his head tilted to the side as he saw her marching over to him with a furious expression on her face.
"How can you make jokes about a Professor's actions? He is a teacher, he wouldn't have acted like that to you for no reason, you did something didn't you? Speaking of, how do you know the answers to every question they ask Harry? I've been in the library every day since we got here, looking up on the different subjects from different sources, yet despite all I do, you are able to answer every question they ask you, do every spell we are taught and all you do is just socialize with everyone, even during classes! You said you grew up with in the muggle world like me, so how are you better than me?" She started off breathing heavily and glaring at the boy that is the source of her strife. But as she continued she seemed to get more and more distraught, by the end she looked close to tears.
Harry ran a head through his messy hair and a quick glance around the room showed no one was planning on jumping in to help him out. Merlin, it looked like Hermione hadn't realized yet that she just broke down in front of all her housemates. Looking at Hermione, who was still glaring despite the tears forming, he calmly responded "From the start, I did nothing to deserve that bias treatment. Unless Snape is a follower of Voldemort and is pissed I supposedly killed his oh so precious dark lord"
The girl reared back as if she had been slapped "W-what do you mean if you-"
"Hermione?" She looked up at him with wide eyes when not only did he cut her off but said what he did, as she turned slightly red, she opened her mouth to retort "You've always been the smart girl in the muggle world right. The person with all the answers, that was able to answer when the other kids had no idea. It made you feel special didn't it, being able to answer when they couldn't. The feeling you have now Hermione. That's the feeling every kid that has no idea has, whenever you answer the question they couldn't answer. They feel stupid, like they don't know enough, that they aren't good enough"
Hermione was literally looking at him with a gaping mouth, eyes seeming to sparkle as if her mind was running a mile a second to find a retort "You felt better than them, so you kept doing it, feeling superior to the others, but they started to push back, to bully, push you away for your know it all attitude. Instead of stepping back and trying to contain yourself, you became bossy, pushy, a teacher's pet. You isolate yourself, study hard, give the teacher the right answers and bask in the temporary happiness it gives you when they praise you. Then here I come, in a place where there are people who have grown up with knowledge you didn't ever know. Yet I know and can do more than you, despite growing up in a similar setting to you, plus I actually make people like me while I do it, students and teachers? You think it isn't fair right?"
Her eyes got wider and she tried desperately to find the words to refute his claims but nothing came to mind so she simply shook her head in denial. "Tell me Hermione, what was did Professor McGonagall tell us about what the houses represent to each of us?"
She looked away not able to meet his eyes, she mumbled out "She said they were like our family"
Harry responded with "Yes, she also said triumphs get the house points. You for some odd reason only saw that as a way to be accepted by your new family. If you got lots of points then they would have to like you. So instead of becoming friends with all of us, you decided to lock yourself in the library, learning as much as possible, to try to win points in each class. If you kept winning points, everyone would love you, right? Because of that you didn't even try to get to know us or become our friends. I'll admit, I thought the same thing at first, but having friends is different from peers"
Looking around she saw everyone watching them, albeit many weren't actually looking at them, she knew that they were listening. Even Percy didn't jump up to defend her, he was looking at Harry wide eyed, almost as if he was talking to him, not Hermione. Hermione's eyes sagged, she looked vulnerable like she wanted to go run off and hide somewhere. Harry wasn't going to let her get away with it, not yet anyway, he needed her to understand. "Hermione, I'm not trying to bully or demean you. But how you're acting isn't going to make your stay here easy. You are in a world where people are going to know more then you, be better then you no matter how hard you try. Many were raised in this world, you don't want to stand alone. You're a first generation witch in a world with old, powerful families going back generations"
Seeing his words seemed to be working he quickly changed tactics. "Look, it's our first week here, we really don't know much about each other yet. I didn't have anyone I considered a friend before I came here to be honest. Now I have many, if I can do it so can you, but you have to put the effort in, don't expect them to seek you out like in the muggle world. No matter how much you know, few people would seek advice or help from you, no offense. I'm not trying to upset you, or make you angry. But I will continue to do better than you, as will others who are naturals, smarter, have more knowledge or simply have more power behind them. I want to be the best wizard I can be, you should aim to be the best witch you can be. So please stop isolating yourself and actually become our friend, you'll quickly find you'll do much better with friends by your side then standing alone"
The bushy haired girl actually tried to make a run for it, but the twins blocked her way giving her big grins and brought her back over to the other first years. "Don't fight" "Us, young miss" Seeing no way out of it, Harry managed to get the others to start talking to her. After talking for a while with them, he was glad that Hermione seemed to have a lot in common with Fay and Kellah. She was actually laughing and joining them in discussions of muggle vs wizarding worlds, albeit it did seem a little forced. The others sat in the common room playing various games chipping in on occasion. Fay actually got her to play a game of Gobstones with her instead of getting her head stuck in another textbook, in a short time she visibly looked happier.
Harry felt himself grabbed and pulled to a corner, he instinctively nearly reacted a little violently but squashed the urge down. "You know that was mean Harry" Blinking, Harry turned to see Alicia and Angelina glaring at him.
Trying his best to look as innocent as possible he muttered "I guess"
Snorting in a very unladylike manner she replied "Well can't argue against results, for whatever reason the girl listened to you. Me I'd have probably punched you before yelling at everyone to mind their own business. We were going to give you such a talking to as well, but she does actually look happier, you probably should have talked to her in private still"
"Uh my precious Alicia, what if that was his reason" A male voice sounded behind. Another identical voice followed "For doing it in front of us all, he influenced more than just little Miss Granger"
Confused when they all looked at the twins, the boys motioned their head towards a few different areas in the common room, where people who would do their own thing were now mingling with others. Angelina gasped "You did it on purpose didn't you Harry" The young wizard blinked, tilted his head slightly, winked before rejoining his friends, where even Neville was animatedly talking to Seamus about something. Something he probably wouldn't have done even an hour before.
AN: Last edited Nov 2012, read and review. I love the feedback