CHAPTER 6:
IS THAT AN EINSTEIN-ROSEN BRIDGE?!
On his first full day at Hogwarts, long before heading to breakfast, Harry Evans was already causing comment. And not just because of his fame as the Boy Who Lived. Harry knew that he had aroused a lot of interest at the table last night talking about Aperture. Hermione, Cho and Marietta were already up, so he decided to do a bit of show and tell, bringing the Portal Gun out, as well as the Gels.
Hermione frowned as she peered at the gooey, greyish-white substance. "So, this is a colloid derived from what can only be described as artificial lunar regolith?"
"Yep," Harry said. "Cave Johnson used actual moon rocks to create the first Conversion Gel, but it was easier to create a substitute. It's one of the few things that can reliably conduct a portal's event horizon."
"And this stuff?" Marietta asked, looking at the blue gel.
"Repulsion Gel. Funny story that, it was originally designed as a diet aid. It was supposed to bounce excess food out. Unfortunately, it wasn't a success. It's got some untested chemicals and elements in it, and it's apparently not fond of organically-formed calcium hydroxylapatite, so as you can imagine, anything with a skeleton ingesting it, or getting covered in it, is not going to be happy. Don't worry, it's safe as long as you don't get your whole body covered by it."
"What do you use it for?" Marietta said, handing the vial back over.
"Spread some on the floor, and you get an instant trampoline," Harry said.
"And this stuff?" Cho said, looking at a vial of orange gel.
"Propulsion Gel. Like Repulsion Gel, a diet aid that backfired. Meant to make the food simply zoom through without any calories being absorbed. Tended to stop people from getting any nutrition. Spread it on a floor, and it effectively becomes frictionless." He then picked up the Portal Gun. In order to help it being more portable, GLaDOS had modified it so that it could fold away into a box the size of a few VHS cases. Most of the space, in fact, was taken up by the small black hole in the middle of the Portal Gun. The resulting cube was kept in a mokeskin pouch, which Harry had bought in Diagon Alley to hold his bulkier items.
He unfolded it. "Now, this guy's the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, or ASHPoD for short, though we generally call it the Portal Gun. This one has been modified to see whether surfaces can sustain a portal." He put it on his arm, and then found a surface on a stone wall. He then placed another on the ceiling above them.
The three girls gaped in surprise, looking up at the portal, then across to the other one. "Is that an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?!" Hermione yelped.
"Of sorts."
"A wormhole," Hermione murmured. "That's an honest-to-God wormhole."
"What does your great-aunt get up to in this…Aperture?" Cho breathed in awe.
"Lots of stuff," Harry said.
It was at that moment that Flitwick, hoping to talk to some of the more eager students, walked in. He boggled at the portals. He had been told of the Portal Gun, of course, but to see it in action was another matter. "My word, Mr Potter…that's really fascinating. Is it possible to move through them?"
"Yes, but I wouldn't try it. You'd fall."
"Oh, indeed I wouldn't," Flitwick said. "They aren't permanent, are they?"
"No, I can cancel them." He clicked one of the triggers within the device, and the portals shrank and faded.
"What a fascinating device. And Muggles created it. Which only goes to show," Flitwick said. "One of these days, I should arrange a meeting with your great-aunt. If what Albus and Severus have told me is true, then she would be most fascinating to talk to." After a moment, he added, "Preferably on neutral ground, though."
After their slightly bad start yesterday, Harry and Hermione were soon chatting away as if they were old friends. Many of the other Ravenclaws, who weren't as well-versed in the finer points of Muggle physics, thought that they might as well be speaking another language. Hermione, for one, was relieved to have someone she could talk to on her level, and didn't talk down to her, or else look like they had just fallen into catatonia.
"So how is Barney, anyway?" Harry asked.
"Uncle Barney? He's fine. He doesn't like Dr Breen, though."
"The Administrator of Black Mesa? Of course not. Don't get me wrong, his papers on dimensional physics are astonishingly brilliant, but he was part of Black Mesa's corporate espionage unit before he became head of that place. So GLaDOS says, anyway."
"You really trust her, don't you?" Hermione said as they sat down to have breakfast.
"Hermione, she used to be my Great-Aunt Caroline. And she loved me more than anything. Okay, she's somewhat on the crazy side. But the most interesting people usually are, aren't they? I mean, look at Dumbledore."
Hermione nodded. They had gotten their class schedules, and Harry was intrigued to find that they had Double Potions, and then Charms in the afternoon.
"By the way, Hermione, what do your parents do for a living?"
"They're both dentists. Well, my mother's a top oral and maxillofacial surgeon(1), and my father is a forensic odontologist. But telling people that they're dentists is simpler."
"Neat."
Potions was held in one of the deepest dungeons of the castle. It was cold, but Harry didn't mind. Even the things pickled in jars fascinated him, and he resisted the urge (with considerable difficulty) to gawp at what they preserved. They were with the Hufflepuffs for this class.
As Snape, their teacher, took the roll, he paused at Harry's name. "Ah, yes. Mr Evans-Potter…our new celebrity."
Harry just met his gaze. The man seemed to be sizing him up, and Harry had gotten more intimidating glares from his own great-aunt.
After taking the roll, Snape began what seemed to be a well-practised introductory speech. Harry had to admit, Snape worked well with an audience, his deep, nasal voice resonating around the room. Snape, when he called them a lot of dunderheads, was peering at Harry. He intended to prove Snape wrong.
"Evans-Potter! What would I get if I combined asphodel with wormwood?" Snape's voice barked out.
"The base for a few potions, though the most noteworthy one is the Draught of Living Death, sir. A sleeping potion so potent, only the antidote can revive the imbiber."
Snape blinked, then raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. Clearly fame isn't everything. Very well. Where would you look should I ask you to find a bezoar?"
"A bezoar is a gastrolith, a stone that can be found in the digestive systems of many animals, even humans, but a goat bezoar is the one you're looking for. It's one of the most potent antidotes."
Again, Snape blinked. Eventually, he said, "It seems that you can read outside the scope of your assigned text." There was the faintest hint of grudging approval in the man's voice. His eyes flickered over to Hermione, who had her hand up. "As you are so eager to share your knowledge, Granger, please be so kind as to tell me the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane."
"There's no difference. They're the same plant, aconite, a key ingredient of many potions. And poisonous if not handled carefully."
"Indeed," Snape said. After a long silence, he said, "Ten points to Ravenclaw. And why aren't you copying this down?" This last was added sharply.
He then put instructions up on the blackboard, for a boil-curing potion. Harry partnered up with Hermione, and between the two of them, they managed to brew a potion that got a nod of grudging approval from Snape. A few Hufflepuffs, however, felt the lash of his tongue, especially as he caught one of them about to put porcupine quills in while the cauldron was still on the heat.
Afterwards, Harry stayed behind briefly to ask Snape a question. Snape looked down at Harry from behind his desk. "What do you want, Evans-Potter?" he asked.
"I'm just curious, sir. Why are there no reaction tables in the book? You know, to show what ingredient may react badly with another, or with some process?"
Snape, once more, blinked. Eventually, he said, "Sadly, Evans-Potter, most potioneers neglect to think of such things. They believe it easier to learn through trial and error, which is imbecilic. Arsenius Jigger's text is the best of a bad lot. When I put potions recipes on the board, I expect them to be followed to the very letter. You are one of the few students who bother to ask about such things. Are you interested in experimenting with potions?"
"I'm always interested in experiments, sir."
"Then some advice, Evans-Potter. For the time being, stick with the basics. Should you prove that today was no fluke of luck, then I will point you and any interested parties to texts of interest. And experimenting with potions can be dangerous. From what the Headmaster has told me of your…home situation, you seem to have a rather skewed sense of what is dangerous. But I am sure that your knowledge of Muggle chemistry is enough that you know that mixing certain chemicals is extremely dangerous. Stick with learning what I set out in class for the time being." He seemed to consider Harry for a moment, before saying, "You and Granger work adequately."
Harry seemed to realise that this was high praise coming from the dour man. "Thank you, sir. I'll leave you be now."
As Harry left, Snape watched him go. While his personality was, superficially, like James Potter, all smiles and cheerfulness and brimming with confidence, he also had the serious, no-nonsense attitude of his mother when he needed to. And he had shown Snape nothing less than respect.
Had Harry ended up in Gryffindor, and hadn't answered the questions the way he did, Snape might have reacted differently. Even with Dumbledore's admonishments, he might have. But not only did he answer the questions correctly (though he didn't see the hidden message in the language of flowers), he even asked a moderately intelligent question afterwards.
Definitely more Lily's child than Potter's, Snape reflected, and he hoped that was a good thing…
The rest of the day, and indeed the week, went by somewhat variably. Charms and Transfiguration were excellent, given both the subject matter and their teachers, Flitwick and McGonagall respectively. The latter was a strict teacher, but she was also an interesting one, and if he was honest, she was more interesting than Snape. Herbology he had mixed feelings about. He didn't like doing what was glorified gardening, but the plants themselves were interesting.
Harry didn't have much interest in history, and what there was was killed off by the ghost teaching History of Magic. It was the one class where Hermione put in more of an effort than he did. In fact, he tended to read the textbook more, as Professor Binns was so dry and boring. It was either that, or have a nap. Defence Against the Dark Arts was a joke: Quirrell stuttered and stammered, and it was hard to learn anything other than from the textbook.
On the occasions that they had classes with the Slytherins, Harry noted that Draco seemed to have taken what had happened on the train as a rejection, and so tried a few subtle and not-so-subtle things to get him into trouble. So immature. He was seriously considering asking Ron's twin brothers for help in keeping the blonde ponce on his toes. According to Ron (whenever they had lessons together, they'd talk to Ron and Neville), they were inveterate pranksters.
Harry got an invitation from Hagrid, via Hedy, to have tea on Friday afternoon. Hermione decided to come with him on his invitation, and Harry brought along Ron and Neville.
The huge man seemed particularly pleased to meet Harry. The last time they had met, Harry was but a babe in arms. He had known Harry's birth parents, and reckoned that his mother, in particular, would have been proud of him being in Ravenclaw.
It was while Hagrid and Ron were discussing the work Ron's brother Charlie did with dragons that Harry noticed a newspaper clipping about a break-in at Gringotts. He frowned. McGonagall had stated during their trip to Diagon Alley that there had been no such thing as a successful break-in to the wizarding bank.
Even so, it was probably nothing that would need to concern him. Or at least that's what he thought…
CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:
The first week of classes. Next chapter will be when GLaDOS begins raising doubts about Sirius Black.
Also, note how Snape is less of a git. This is partly because Harry answers the questions correctly, and partly because he's in Ravenclaw. This'll be one of the fics where Snape (gradually) becomes a better person.
Review-answering time! HelenTheMoon: We probably won't have the Resonance Cascade go on at all. That being said, we might have an appearance not just from Barney, but also Gordon Freeman. In fact, it'll probably be the Gordon Freeman from Freeman's Mind. I can just see him outside a vault in Gringotts: "I am Captain Gordon Freeman of the Intergalactic House of Pancakes, ORDERING YOU TO OPEN!"
Lydia-Hood: While he goes into Gryffindor in a few of my stories, I view Harry (and indeed many other characters) as being malleable enough to go into other Houses. One of my favourite stories, The Best Revenge, has Harry going into Hufflepuff, while a crossover with Black Lagoon, Harry and the Pirates, has him, and many other characters, going into Slytherin.
ultima-owner: Lunar dust is potentially capable of that. Nobody has suffered from silicosis from lunar dust yet, but it's thought to be capable of doing so over long-term exposure. It makes sense that silicosis is the illness Cave Johnson dies from.
Rebmul: I've tagged it as such, and put it into my foreword. So, yeah, pretty bloody obvious that this is a Harry/Hermione fic.
nushadir: People have done this crossover before. I just hoped to do a decent story. As mentioned before, I was inspired particularly by Raised by GLaDOS, but I thought I could do it in a somewhat different manner, somewhat more serious, and with less bashing. As for your comment regarding Half-Life events, see my reply to HelenTheMoon above.
BlazeStryker: See above comments for HelenTheMoon
1. I think Hermione's mother was this, or something like this, in Sympathetic Properties by Mr Norrell. I could be wrong. I know I saw something along these lines in another fanfic somewhere.