Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that Harry Potter belongs to the amazing JK Rowling and that I am most definitely up to no good.
Previous Chapter Summary: Harry and his new friends experience their first week at Hogwarts and find out just what is in store for them in the coming years. Nick and Nell make lasting impressions on their new students as they get back into the rhythm of teaching again and Malfoy makes a spectacle of himself in one of Nick's classes.
A/N: I forgot to mention in the last chapter that, due to popular vote and my own personal preference, I will be making this an epic length story instead of posting the years individually. Sorry to those that were looking forward to the separate stories but I think this will work out much better all around. Thanks for the awesome reviews!
Harry's second week at Hogwarts passed just as quickly as his first and, before he knew it, Saturday had come and he was meeting Perenelle in an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor that she had claimed right down the hall from her and Nicolas' quarters. When he walked in he saw that the room was completely empty except for five targets set up against the right hand wall, a large mat in the middle of the room, and three dummies standing upright in front of the left hand wall.
"Good morning Harry." Perenelle greeted him as she walked up from behind, making him jump slightly.
"Morning Nell." He responded brightly. "What are you going to start teaching me today?"
Perenelle laughed softly at his eagerness and herded him into the middle of the room. "Today, I think I will teach you the very useful body-bind curse but that will not be the only thing we work on. You see the targets against that wall there?" Harry nodded his head. "Since learning how to paralyze someone is most ineffective if you fail to hit them, you will be using those targets to work on your aim. They are stationary right now but they are charmed to move around should I give the command for them to do so but we will see how well you do before we decide to use that setting."
"What are the dummies for?"
"Those are charmed to fire a very mild dye type charm, which will leave a dot of red wherever it hits, and we will begin using those to work on your dodging. I thought it would be best to work on your aiming on Saturdays and dodging on Wednesdays to mix it up a bit. The dots are so you can see how many spells you would have been hit with once the simulation is done and so you have a visual aid of your progress down the line."
"I understand." He said, nodding vigorously and drawing his wand, impatient to start. "So, how do I cast a body-bind curse?"
"Well, I suppose we can discuss your new exercise regimen at the end." Perenelle said and drew her own wand to go about showing Harry the proper wand movement and incantation for the curse.
An hour and a half later, as Perenelle conjured chairs for the both of them, Harry was contemplating just how difficult it actually was to hit the targets he was training on, especially in the last fifteen minutes when Perenelle deemed him ready to attempt to hit them while they were moving. His score, which had steadily been getting higher as his aim steadied and he began hitting the bulls eye more often than not, dropped significantly as the targets began to move around the wall. The movement was sluggish at best but still a big enough change from their previous stationary setting that Harry was thrown off for at least ten minutes before he began to get back his rhythm.
He was extremely glad she had made him use the spell to shoot red sparks at the targets rather than the body-bind curse, once he had successfully learned it, because simply jabbing his wand forward to say the quick incantation had been much easier than he imagined the wand movement coupled with the long incantation of the body-bind would have been. That feeling was short lived however, once she told him that next Saturday she expected him to use the body-bind instead so that he could learn to cast it quickly without jeopardizing the spells power and accuracy.
"So, do you have the parchment Professor Bennett gave you about the exercise regimen he thought would be best for you?" Perenelle asked as she sat.
"Yes." Harry said and went to his discarded bag where it sat next to the door, rummaged around for a bit before he pulled the sought after parchment out, and walked back over to hand it to her.
"Hmm, running for 30 minutes to an hour in the morning along with some form of calisthenics at least 3 times per week. This seems reasonable, especially when coupled with the training we will be doing as well as Quidditch practice once you make the team tomorrow." She commented as a huge smile spread across Harry's face at the mention of the very much anticipated Quidditch tryouts. Even if he only made the reserve team, he would still be expected to attend the practices so as to learn strategies and continue to better himself. "I think your training on Wednesday can count towards one of the 3 for calisthenics since you will get a bit of a work out when doing it but it will be up to you whether you wish to do more than that."
Harry bit his lip as he thought about it before he asked her. "What do you think I should do?"
She gave him a smile as she responded. "I recommend counting Wednesday for now and doing only 2 other days until you can determine how strenuous that, combined with the running, Quidditch, and the Saturday training, will be on you before deciding to add anymore on top of it. You might also want to think about taking two days off from running, perhaps Saturday or Sunday and Thursday since that is the day after your Astronomy lesson."
"That makes sense. I think I will go with that and take off Sunday." He said and then looked at her as if he was going to ask a question but stopped himself.
"What is it sweetheart?" She asked softly.
"I was wondering if maybe Neville and Hermione could join us for training." He asked hesitantly.
Perenelle was quiet for a moment as she thought it over. "I can understand you wanting to invite them but why don't you go ahead and give me your reasons for wanting to."
"Well, Neville is a great bloke and all but he doesn't seem to have a lot of confidence in himself so I was hoping training with us might help with that and Hermione just loves learning anything new but also…"
"Yes?" Perenelle prodded when it seemed like he didn't want to continue.
"I want to make sure my friends know how to defend themselves for when Voldemort comes back." He rushed out.
Perenelle gave a sad sigh at hearing this. It had taken her and Nicolas days after telling Harry the prophecy to convince him that he shouldn't attempt to hide himself away from everybody for fear of them getting hurt because of him. They hated that he had to worry about something like this in the first place but were immensely glad that they had finally gotten through to him and that he seemed to be making a solid group of friends here at Hogwarts.
The study group they had created was the talk of the staff room after its first meeting last Saturday, which had taken place in the Great Hall shortly after lunch, and many of the professors had sat back to see how it progressed and to make sure that there was no infighting during it. The group of first years had outdone themselves though and Perenelle could be seen, right along many of the others, beaming down at Harry helping some of his fellow students with their Transfiguration and DADA, Neville with Herbology, Hannah with Healing and Hermione flitting around helping with anything and everything in between.
"I think that's a wonderful idea Harry but what about your other friends?" She inquired.
Harry ran a hand through his hair. "They probably wouldn't mind joining, except maybe Hannah since she is pretty obsessed with the Healing internship Madam Pomfrey invited her to earlier this week, but I thought it would be better to start with just a couple and if they like it and find it useful then maybe we could start something separate but similar where everybody could join."
"You mean like a club?"
Harry nodded. "Hermione was telling me about all the different kinds of clubs that were listed in Hogwarts: A History and we think some type of Dueling club would work best."
"Very well, Neville and Hermione can start on Wednesday but be sure to warn them that it will be a bit strenuous. As for the club, if you guys can work up a report on how it will be organized as well as what exactly your goals for it will be then I will present the proposal to Professor McGonagall and if she approves, I will speak with Professor Flitwick about helping me sponsor it, perhaps starting next year."
"Thanks Nell! That would be great." Harry beamed happily.
"You are very welcome Harry. Now, I think we are done for today and it's almost lunchtime so why don't we start heading down to the Great Hall." She said and stood, making sure to lock the room behind them when they left.
OoOoOoO
Sunday afternoon found Harry standing nervously out on the Quidditch pitch with his Nimbus 2000 grasped tightly in his hands. Once he had spoken to Madam Hooch about trying out and she had seen him fly in their lesson on Thursday, she had given him her permission to both try out for the team as well as use his own broom, which Perenelle had brought along for him and held in their quarters just in case.
"You ready Harry?" Cedric asked from his left, smiling down at him.
"I… I think so." He responded and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.
Cedric gave him a pat on the back. "You'll do great. Just focus on whatever drills they put you through and forget about everything else. You're an excellent flyer for your age and you have great reflexes."
"Thanks Cedric." Harry was immensely glad that Cedric wasn't upset with him for wanting to go up against him for the Seeker position but even with the older boy's words, Harry was still nervous. He turned towards the stands, which were fairly packed due to so many people wanting to come out and "See the firstie get put in his place" or so some of the older Slytherins said, but he knew some of them were there to cheer him on and he waved to his friends, who were all huddled together and screaming his name.
"All right you lot." Dominic Chandler, the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain, barked. "Everyone who's looking to try out, I want you up in the air and give me a lap around the pitch."
Harry mounted his broom, along with about 20 others, and took off into the sky. As he sped forward, the wind hitting his face, Harry let out a whoop of joy and grinned at Cedric, who was easily keeping pace with his Cleansweep 7. The burly 3rd year grinned back and sped up slightly so as to overtake Harry, which immediately started an impromptu race between the two as they made their lap, zigzagging around each other, trying to get the upper hand.
Dominic nodded his head in satisfaction when they both came to a sudden but controlled halt right in front of him. "Good show chaps. Keep it up and I'm going to have a difficult time choosing my main Seeker. Now, let's see how you do with the small obstacle course I set up." He said and pointed towards an area of the pitch that had moving vertical and horizontal bars floating around the oval shaped course, along with rubber balls the size of Bludgers appearing out of nowhere to shoot from random directions. "This will show me how well you can dodge Bludgers and players alike."
Cedric went first and Harry gave a small groan as he made it through the obstacle course without being hit once, even when the bars and balls seemed to speed up the closer he got to the end. Harry didn't do as good as his competition and ended up getting grazed by one of the balls and nearly flew smack into one of the poles as he tried to dodge two balls that came at him at the same time and just barely managed to avoid the collision with a hurriedly executed Sloth Grip Roll.
Once everyone had made their way through the obstacle course, some being asked to leave and try again once they could handle a broom properly, Dominic started them on their individual position drills. Harry, Cedric, and a 4th year by the name of Hollie White, who was the only other one to try out for the Seeker position, were called up one by one to catch golf balls that were banished towards them before they hit the ground. Cedric and Harry ended up catching all 10 while Hollie only managed 6 out of the 10 and they watched in not a little bit of sympathy as she walked dejectedly off the pitch with a "Better luck next year" ringing in her ears.
After putting the other position hopefuls through their paces, it finally came time for Cedric and Harry to go head to head with a real Snitch while a mock game went on with the others.
"Ok you two, this practice Snitch is set to come back to me after 15 minutes if it's not caught so that's how long you have to try and impress me even more. Treat this as a real game and do what you must, without fouling, to try and catch the Snitch before your opponent. Get up in the air and I'll release it with the others when you're in position." Dominic said, holding up the practice Snitch, which looked just like a regular Snitch but with the word Practice written across it in black.
After a brief handshake, Harry and Cedric took off into the air once again and went their separate ways to get into position. Dominic released the Bludgers and Quaffle then finally let go of the Snitch, which disappeared instantly, and they were off zooming around the pitch, eyes constantly scanning the area and never focusing on any one thing for longer than a second before moving on.
It wasn't until the 10 minute mark, as Harry was dodging a well aimed Bludger, that he saw a glint of gold hovering near the goal posts at the opposite end of the field. As he was deciding whether to try and fake not seeing it and glide innocently over or to just make a break for it, he saw Cedric perk up from out of the corner of his eye and knew that the decision had just been taken out of his hands so he burst forward towards the Snitch, quickly followed by Cedric.
They were neck and neck as they closed the distance, weaving through the other players, and Harry lay flat on his broom to try and give himself that few extra inches that would help him against the larger boy's longer reach and just managed it as they approached the goal posts and were in reaching distance of the Snitch, when it suddenly lurched upwards and began zooming up and behind them.
They put on the brakes as they spun around as quickly as possible, Harry going a little wider than he meant to, and took off in a steep climb towards the sky after the elusive golden orb. Circling each other as they climbed higher and higher, they were both completely vertical, standing rather than sitting on their brooms with their foot pegs the only things keeping them from sliding off the end. The other players had stopped playing completely at this point and sat motionless in the air to watch their battle and, had Harry been aware of anything but the Snitch just out of his reach, he would have heard nearly every first year screaming and cheering him on down in the bleachers.
The Snitch was climbing ever higher as they closed in on it and both boys reached their hands out to grab it but Harry's wide turn had cost him and he hadn't managed to regain the few inches he had lost before Cedric's hand closed around the golden Snitch and he raised it above his head in victory.
As they both came back to the world around them, they finally noticed the other players and those in the bleachers going wild. Harry's eyes grew wide as he saw that there were much more students, and even professors, than there had been at the start of the try outs.
"It's not every day a first year gets permission to try out for a house team." Cedric said when he saw what Harry was staring at. "Come on, why don't we head down and see what Dominic has to say about the match."
"That was brilliant you two. I haven't seen flying like that in Hufflepuff since I was a firstie." Dominic grinned as they landed and Cedric handed him back his practice Snitch. "Now I'm sure you are eager to hear what I have to say in regards to my selection of Seeker and since there is only two of you, I'll go ahead and tell you now."
Both Harry and Cedric leaned forward slightly in anticipation.
Dominic let out a chuckle before he answered. "Well, as great as both of you did, due to his catch of the Snitch, his experience, and his flawless pass through the obstacle course, I'm going to have to go with Cedric here, with Harry as reserve." Harry's face fell at hearing this, even though he had known he wouldn't make the starting position, it was still a disappointment to hear. At seeing Harry's look Dominic put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Harry, you did really well and had Cedric not been trying out then you would obviously be my first choice but I have to think about the team as a whole and Cedric just did better."
Harry nodded to him and managed a small smile.
Dominic gave his shoulder a pat before he pulled his hand back. "You are still going to be the reserve, which means you will officially be a part of the team and will be required to attend all practices and Hufflepuff games. I would like you to attend all non-Hufflepuff games too, if you are able, so Cedric and I can feed you info on the other Seekers and their various styles. By the time we are done with you, you will be the prime pick for the open Seeker position when Cedric graduates. And who knows, maybe you will even get it next year if you practice hard enough."
When Harry gave him another nod, Dominic turned towards the other players, who had since landed. "All right, I have some decisions to make on you lot too and since there are so many great candidates I will be thinking over everything tonight and you will see the new team list on the notice board in the morning. Why don't you all go get cleaned up and ready for dinner."
A cheer went up from all of them and they made their way off the pitch.
"Do you hate me now?" Cedric asked from his right.
Harry looked up at him and saw that the dark haired teen was slightly nervous but he couldn't fathom why. "Of course not. I figured my chance as slim to none in beating you but wanted to at least put my name out there for the future."
Cedric let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He and Harry had spent some time hanging out over the summer when Cedric was invited over to fly and the younger boy was easily becoming the little brother he never had. Cedric was extremely glad that he didn't hate him over this. "Good. I just wanted to check."
Before Harry could respond, he was set upon by his friends, who tried to congratulate him on his great flying all at once.
"Thanks guys." Harry said as they quieted a bit. "I obviously didn't make the main team but I will be playing reserve."
This set them all off again until a condescending voice broke through the noise. "Think you're special don't you Potter?" Everybody turned to see Malfoy, his ever present bookends standing menacingly behind him, with a sneer etched across his face. "They only let you on the team because of your fame you know. I could have done a better job than that pitiful attempt at what you call flying."
"Then why didn't you Malfoy?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes.
"I was told first year aren't allowed. Then again, I don't have a great ruddy big scar on my forehead do I?" He retorted.
"That's rubbish and you know it. Besides, if one of the professors had told you that, we all know you would have gone running to daddy to come and complain for you again." Harry quipped and Malfoy went pink.
The showdown between Lucius Malfoy and Nicolas had been the talk of the castle for the past week. Ever since Malfoy senior had come to confront Nicolas about his punishments against Draco.
It was their second Monday morning in school and breakfast was well under way when a man with pale blond hair and a pointed face, who could be none other than Draco's father, stormed into the Great Hall. He paused a second to scan the High Table, while the room went completely silent, before he began making his way to where Nicolas and Perenelle sat calmly reading their Daily Prophets.
"Ah Lucius. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Dumbledore asked, standing up.
"I am not here to see you Dumbledore." The man snapped and finally came to a stop in front of Nicolas. "Just what do you think you are doing Flamel, giving my son detention and a zero for his perfectly made potion assignment?"
Nicolas brought his newspaper down, folded it neatly, and took a sip of tea before he finally chose to look up and speak to Malfoy, who was seething at the blatant snub. "I'm deeply sorry but do I know you?"
"My name is Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco Malfoy." He spat.
"I see." Nicolas, who knew perfectly well who he was and why he was here, responded and took another sip of tea. "And what can I do for you Mr. Malfoy."
"You can tell me why you have unfairly punished my son."
Nicolas tilted his head to the side and looked deep in thought. "I don't seem to recall distributing any unfair punishments lately and I have only had your son in my class twice so far."
"It was on Friday and you removed 38 points from his house, gave him a detention, and gave him a 0 for his potion assignment, you imbecile. Surely you remember that?" He asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"Oh of course. That was for a very good reason I'm afraid. Your son attempted to sabotage another students work, which could have resulted in injuries to said student and others had I not erected shields over all of the student's cauldrons."
"Well I do not think it a good enough reason and neither does the Board of Governors." He said with a sneer and threw down a rolled up piece of parchment and continued as Nicolas picked it up to read it. "That is a petition signed by over half of the other Governors to overrule your punishments regarding my son."
"Indeed it is." Nicolas said, rolling the parchment back up once he was done and set it down next to his plate. "Most unfortunate it's not valid."
"Excuse me?"
"It's quite simple Mr. Malfoy. As a parent, you have every right to petition the Board of Governors to investigate and pass judgment if you feel your child has been unjustly punished by a professor." When it looked like Malfoy was opening his mouth to speak, Nicolas simply rode over him. "However, when a parent is a member of that same Board of Governors they must first take their complaint to the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Unless their complaint is against the Headmaster, at which point, they would go to the Deputy Headmistress instead. This is to ensure that there is no… friends helping friends, if you would allow the phrase."
"How dare you!" Malfoy barked.
"Did you receive anything regarding such a complaint Headmaster?" Nicolas asked, ignoring the outburst and turning to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling like crazy but he kept his face solemn as he responded. "I am afraid not. Deputy Headmistress?"
"I have not." McGonagall replied crisply.
Nicolas turned back to their visitor. "Well there you have it Mr. Malfoy. Your son's punishment stays unless you would like to take it up with the Headmaster. Furthermore, I find it highly disconcerting that you care more about young Mr. Malfoy's punishment than you do with the fact that he could have seriously hurt his fellow students. Especially when you are the current Chairman of the Board of Governors, which is meant to help the school run efficiently as well as ensure the safety of the students. Perhaps an investigation into Mr. Malfoy's appointment on the Board is in order, seeing as he doesn't seem to care about the student's well being and he attempted to use his connections within the Board to achieve his own personal goal." Nicolas directed at Dumbledore.
"I agree entirely Professor Flamel and I will send them an owl as soon as I am able. I too find it troublesome that they either ignored the rules of the Board or Mr. Malfoy fooled them into believing he had already spoken with me on the matter." Dumbledore said.
"If there is nothing else I can assist you with then I bid you a good day." Nicolas said genially, nodding to the man standing in front of him, who was now beet red in anger. "Oh and should you have any issues with any possible future punishments, I would suggest you send an owl rather than interrupt the student's meal."
Malfoy's face morphed into surprise, as if he had just now remembered that he was currently standing in the Great Hall, which was packed with even more students than before, watching him being taken down a peg. "This is far from over." He said and turned abruptly, storming back out of the Hall, quickly followed by Draco, both aware of the laughter and whispers that started up as they left.
Draco had been taking jibes about the confrontation ever since and continuously sent glares Harry's direction, as if it was his fault the blond ponce had gotten in trouble in the first place.
The Slytherin didn't have anything to say in response to Harry's taunt so simply turned around and walked off, after giving them all severely dirty looks of course.
Cedric shook his head at the blond Slytherin's antics. "Come on guys, it's almost time for dinner." He said and began herding all of the first years back up to the castle as they chattered excitedly about the tryouts.
Wednesday's training started at 7:30PM sharp for Harry, Neville, and Hermione, who was practically jumping up and down in excitement, and after Perenelle went over how the targets and dummies worked, she started the two new arrivals on the body-bind curse to catch them up while Harry began dodging spells being fired from one of the dummies.
After only a few minutes of jumping, rolling, sliding, and tripping over his own feet, Harry was panting and beginning to sweat from the exertion and decided that he would definitely be keeping up with his running and other exercises if only so he wouldn't seem so utterly pathetic and out of shape. By the three minute mark, he was glad that Perenelle had put some kind of cushioning charm on the mat or he was sure he would be covered in various bruises by now and as five minutes passed and he rolled out of the way of another spell, he had difficulty getting back up on his feet in a hurry.
Perenelle , who had been watching for this, quickly deactivated the dummy. "That was very well done Harry." At the disbelieving look he gave her as he tried to catch his breath she gave him a sharp nod to reinforce her statement. "It may not have seemed like it but you did very good for your first time and you lasted a few minutes more than I originally thought you might. Remember, you're using a lot more muscles and moving much more than you do when you run so it's not very surprising that you get tired so quickly."
Harry thought about it and realized she was right, his running on Monday hadn't felt nearly this tiring, nor had the various calisthenic exercises he had done.
"Now, look at yourself and see how you did on dodging." Perenelle advised and flicked her wand at the dummy, making a large red 32 appear above its head. "The dummy was working at its lowest setting, meaning that it fired 6 spells per minute, or 1 spell every 10 seconds, so it looks like you lasted about 5 minutes and 20 seconds. How many dots can you count on your front?"
Harry looked down and was disheartened to see a multitude of red dots all along his person, counting 13 total that he could see and he said so to Perenelle, who made him spin around so she could see if there were any on his back. She announced 3 more on his back, one on his face, and one on his neck making a total of 18 spells he had been hit with and only 14 he had managed to dodge.
When Perenelle saw Harry's look of disappointment at his numbers she was quick to reassure him. "Again Harry, you did exceedingly well for you first time and you will only get better as time goes on." She raised a small dark red journal up for them to see and directed her next statement at all three of them. "I am going to keep your scores in this journal so that you can have a visual of how your progress is going so if you would like to know your numbers, just ask me and I can show you at any time.
"Why don't you go and get a drink of water Harry and rest for a bit before you practice using your body-bind curse on the targets while Neville tries his hand at the dummy and Hermione continues her practicing." All three nodded and went their separate ways in the room.
While Neville turned out to be worse than Harry, only lasting 3 in a half minutes and dodging 8 out of 21, Hermione was actually even more so. She had managed to last longer than Neville at 4 minutes and 43 seconds but had gotten hit 23 times out of her 28, only dodging a total of 5 spells. They could all see how much this upset the girl and rushed to try and make her feel better, though it wasn't until Harry suggested that she start running with him in the mornings that she got her determination back and gave the dummy a dirty look that promised retribution on this injustice.
They each managed to go three rounds with the dummies before calling it quits for the night, as they were all very tired and sweaty and Harry still needed to get cleaned up and take a nap before Astronomy at midnight. Before splitting up, Neville and Hermione thanked Harry and Perenelle for letting them participate with them and promised to be there on Saturday to work on aiming and casting.
The next morning brought a surprise for Hermione as she nearly bowled Harry over after stepping out of the portrait hole that lead to Gryffindor tower because she was turned almost completely backwards as she animatedly explained to Neville how an electric alarm clock worked. "Harry? What are you…" She began but trailed off as she saw the wrapped present in his hands.
"Happy Birthday Hermione!" He sang and handed the gobsmacked girl her present.
"You guys didn't have to get me anything." She said but looked very pleased and as if she were about to cry. That she had actually started crying when she had come down the girls staircase and Neville had been nervously waiting for her at the bottom while holding something behind his back was not spoken of. The girl had been utterly speechless as Neville handed her a tall rectangular box with holes throughout and grew impossibly red as he stuttered out a "Happy Birthday" of his own.
When she had opened the box, it was to find a very beautiful, very vibrant red flower, that looked somewhat like a hibiscus, within. She oo'ed and ahh'ed before going quiet when she could have sworn she heard quiet humming coming from the flower and got excited when Neville proceeded to tell her that the plant was called a Singing Echronna and, if taken proper care of, would grow enamored with their owner. As the bond grew between person and plant, the Singing Echronna would get used to their owner's schedule and start to sing when it was time for them to wake, becoming a very effective substitute for the alarm charm, for people who kept to a certain schedule most of the time.
Harry had known what Neville planned on giving Hermione for her birthday and figured that that is how they had gotten on the topic of alarm clocks. It was a very Neville present to give someone but it was also a very thoughtful gift.
As Hermione opened her third birthday present of the day, her parents having sent theirs with the return owl from her last letter, she couldn't believe that she had made friends that actually cared enough to get her presents, even if she figured that either one of the Flamels had had to tell them about it since she hadn't said anything herself. As the wrapping came off, shortly followed by the lid of the box, Hermione nearly dropped the present entirely when she saw what was inside. "H… Harry, is this really…" She whispered but lost her voice completely as she gazed in surprise and wonder at a very old but well taken care of 1st Edition Hogwarts: A History.
"It sure is." Harry crowed, happy she seemed to like the gift. "Nick and Nell have the entire series up to the most recent 39th Edition and they even have double copies of some, which that one is. While we were talking about possible birthday presents, we of course came around to books, and when I told them how much you seemed to love the current edition of the book, Nick went home and retrieved that one for you."
"But Harry, are they sure they want to give away such a priceless book?" Hermione asked but held the book to her chest as if she wouldn't part with it even if Dumbledore himself came up and demanded she give it back.
"According to Nick, books are meant to be read and enjoyed, not be hidden away on a bookshelf. He also said that you are more than welcome to borrow the other editions if you would like, one at a time of course, and he thinks you will find it interesting to see what each edition cuts out from the one before it and what new stuff gets added."
Despite her best efforts, Hermione started crying again and rushed at Harry, but since she still refused to take either hand off of the book, it was left to him to give her the hug she was obviously requesting. Deciding to go ahead and get it over with Harry added on. "They also have similar books for many of the other major schools from around the world, most notably Beauxbatons since, as Nick was a former Headmaster, he is sent a copy of the newest edition whenever it comes out. They are in different languages though and since the translation charm becomes less effective the more you use it, unless you know the language it would be difficult for you to read them."
Hermione stepped back at hearing this, with curiosity burning in her watery eyes. "Why does it become less effective?"
Harry tilted his head to the side as he tried to remember what the Flamels had told him about the charm. "When you use the charm, you are pretty much tricking your brain into believing that you can speak, hear, and read foreign languages when you actually can't. When your mind catches onto that fact, it subconsciously starts to fight the effects of the charm, therefore reducing its effectiveness over time.
"I used it the entire time we were in Egypt and by the end of the week I started noticing that sometimes words that should have been translated actually weren't, though I could figure them out easily enough from what the rest of the sentence was. Nell said that as time goes by, more and more words will stop being translated until I will be missing whole sentences and finally, the charm stops working all together."
"That's so fascinating!" Hermione exclaimed, wiping tears off her cheeks. "And I can speak rudimentary French but can only read a bit."
"Well, they have plenty of books in French if you want to practice and I'm sure they would be willing to help you out with speaking it. Nell has been teaching me off and on since my birthday but it's kind of slow going with everything else going on." Harry said.
"Thanks Harry. We should probably get down to the Great Hall, I want to get started on the book." She said in excitement. "Ohh, I wish Neville and I had a free period right after breakfast."
When they finally made it to breakfast, Hermione immediately went up to the High Table to thank Nicolas and Perenelle for the present and verified that Harry had been telling the truth about borrowing the other books. Not that she didn't believe him but it really was an incredible thing to offer, to her at least, and she wanted to make sure that they were really ok with it.
It was a beaming birthday girl that made her way back to the Gryffindor table and her smile only grew wider as her fellow first years, who hadn't seen her yet, wished her Happy Birthday, Susan and Hannah even giving her a small present of Pepper Imps, Candyfloss, and Sugar Quills.
She was very grateful that Professor Flamel had pulled her aside after their second DADA class their first week there and spoken to her about her eagerness to answer every question the professor asked, nearly dislocating her shoulder in order to do so, and how it could discourage other students from answering, as well as make them resentful towards her for not allowing them the chance to answer themselves.
Since that talk, Hermione had been waiting 5-10 seconds when a question was asked before raising her hand and found her classmates hostility towards her dialed down considerably, though Ron Weasley still had the nerve to roll his eyes whenever she did answer a question. She had also been trying to work on the way she spoke to people, since Harry had not so subtly, in typical clueless boy fashion, told her during one of their morning runs that she sometimes came across as if she were speaking to an ignorant child and that it wasn't a particularly nice feeling being on the receiving end of that. After only a few days she noticed that people responded better to her and were more willing to ask her questions now that they believed she wouldn't come across as degrading and make them feel stupid.
As much as it hurt to hear these things at the time, Hermione was immensely glad that they had been brought to her attention. She still thought that her roommates sat around and gossiped way too much and some of the boys in their dorm were just plain lazy but at least most of them weren't trying to avoid her or be mean to her. All in all, Hermione was enjoying her time at Hogwarts so much better than she had at any of her previous schools and couldn't help but think that the reason was because she now had actual friends.
A/N: I know, this chapter was a bit random with events but it was just some stuff that I wanted to touch on and then it kind of took on a life of its own. I so wanted to put Harry on the Hufflepuff team but as I was writing the Quidditch scene, which I wasn't completely happy with, I realized that a lot of things have been going Harry's way so far and decided to spice it up a bit. I also am not very good at writing Quidditch but it will still pop up every now and then. I have some action planned for the next chapter and things should start picking up a bit more so I hope you guys can bear with me as the story continues to unfold.