Author's note: Harry recounts his first lessons and shows a certain professor why he shouldn't be messed with in this chapter. Harry also does some training in martial arts that you get to read about. Now, let's continue...
Chapter 6: First Lessons and First Impressions
Harry was practicing his bōjutsu in the Room of Requirement as he hadn't done any training with his bō staff for a while. Once of the many martial arts that he had learned over the years was bōjutsu, and he had become quite a master at it, but as they say, practice makes perfect, and he wanted to stay perfect, so he had to keep training. He had purchased a bō a few years back just after he first began training in martial arts. He started with training in the ways of karate, taekwondo, and judo, before picking up more martial arts. Not far into his training, he saw a bō and became interested in it. His instructor explained how the bō was used as a weapon, then gave a bō to Harry. Needless to say, he instantly became a natural in the ways of bōjutsu, and he eventually bought one himself (after he took control over his life and didn't allow the Dursleys to trample over him, they gave him an allowance, just like Dudley, so he used that money to buy his bō) to train with at Privet Drive.
Anyway, the other reason why Harry was training was that he needed to burn the stress of today off. He had his first lessons today and he couldn't believe some of the professors were actually qualified to teach! His first lesson had been Transfiguration, which he found to be an interesting class as it was obvious that McGonagall didn't get her post without skill. Their task had been to transfigure a match into a needle. Many students struggled with this, even with some of them being exposed to magic early on, and only managed to get a sort of half-transfiguration by the end of the lesson. Harry fully transfigured his match into a needle on his first try, and if he was honest, it was all too easy for him. He could've easily done that wandlessly and wordlessly without even breaking a sweat, but again, he didn't want to reveal too much about his powers just yet. Being a magical prodigy, and topping the bookworm, Hermione Granger (who was fuming as it still took her a few tries to get the spell right, so she didn't understand how Harry could do it so easily), was enough for now. Harry's efforts also earned Gryffindor 20 points for doing something no-one had ever done before in the first lesson of Transfiguration; fully transfigure an object on the first try.
The next lesson was Charms. Professor Flitwick also seemed to know his charms, much to Harry's approval and relief. Flitwick had the students do the levitating spell, Wingardium Leviosa, this lesson on feathers. Once again, the same people struggled again, Hermione levitated the feather after the first few tries, and tried to teach Ron how to do it properly, but due to the idiot's affinity for magic, it did him no good. Harry again, levitated the feather on the first try, annoying Hermione once more, and earning another 20 points for Gryffindor. Flitwick was quite impressed with Harry and asked him to try to levitate other objects in the room, including himself. Harry left the half-goblin Charms professor giddy with excitement when he left as he had levitated books, bag, stools, tables, Flitwick himself, and anything else he could think to conjure before the lesson ended.
The lesson after Charms was Potions, and Harry could already tell by the atmosphere of the classroom, and by the way that Snape carried himself, that this would not be a good lesson at all. Straight away, Snape began his monologue on how good Potions was and what he could do with different potions. Harry had a feeling that the Potions Master probably could do all of these things, but he'd never actually teach them to anyone due to the pride and resentfulness in the man's eyes that said that he was better than everyone else. Then, Snape saw Harry and a smirk appeared on his face. Harry didn't like where he believed this was going as he knew what that sort of look meant, but he was going to enjoy humiliating him...
"Mr. Potter...Our new celebrity...Tell me; when I add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood, what does that make?" Snape sneered, obviously believing that Harry couldn't know the answer.
"The Draught of Living Death, sir..." Harry answered quickly. He had read all of this before he even got to school, but he found it odd that Snape would be asking a first year student questions that older years needed to know the answers to instead.
"Lucky guess. Where would you go if I asked you to find me a bezoar, Mr. Potter?" Snape growled, obviously not happy that Harry answered his question, so he tried again.
"It's a stone from the stomach of a goat. It can save you from most poisons as well..." Harry replied, mentally grinning as Snape grew increasingly angrier.
"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?!" Snape growled again as he was running out of questions for Harry.
"There isn't any difference...They're the same plant..." Harry answered, almost losing all interest in this one-sided battle of minds where he was winning by a landslide against Snape.
"10 points from Gryffindor for cheating! There's no way a first year could know the answers to any of these questions!" Snape bellowed.
"Number 1, you shouldn't have asked a first year student those questions if you didn't expect an answer; number 2, you can't take points off for unjust punishments! I did what's known as read ahead as it was a nice reprieve from some annoyances, so I merely memorized and remembered the answers! It'll do me well when I'm older, won't it?! And number 3, what is your problem with me?! Once you saw me, you try to humiliate me by insulting me, yes I heard your tone of voice as I've been known to be very perceptive, and then ask me questions while ignoring everyone else! I will not stand here and be insulted by a so-called professor just because he feels like it! So, either you cancel your unjust punishment, or I'll have you sacked for gross behaviour! Do I make myself clear, Professor Snape?!" Harry retorted, shocking every single student in the room. They had heard from their parents, older friends, and older siblings that no-one had ever dared to stand up to Professor Snape, especially a Gryffindor! Everyone knew that the man was unfair, except for the Slytherins as he was their Head of House, but they knew better than to challenge his unjust punishments. However, this changed for the first years as they saw Harry Potter call Snape up on his unjustly behaviour, and the greasy-haired, cruel man actually had what seemed to be a fearful expression on his face.
"Y-you're h-house p-point d-deduction is c-cancelled, Mr. P-Potter...Now, let's continue the lesson..." Snape replied fearfully.
For the rest of the Potions lesson, Snape set out a task to create a simple potion and merely told the class to turn to page 1 in their textbooks, where the potion method was to be found. Harry scowled as Snape continued to teach, if letting the students find out everything for themselves was even called 'teaching'. Despite that, Harry still managed to create a perfect potion, whereas everyone else, including Hermione, were never able to complete their potions as they either did a step wrong, or the Slytherins would try to sabotage the Gryffindors. What surprised the Slytherins most off all was that Snape never insulted the Gryffindors over their sabotages, rather he remained quiet, possibly a side effect of being scared by Harry. Speaking of him, since he finished early, he merely sat back and began to read his other textbooks, which made Malfoy and his cronies believe that they could get something past Harry and get their revenge. Unfortunately for them, Harry expected such disgraceful behaviour and had charmed his cauldron to absorb any unfriendly spell without being harmed, much to the annoyance of Malfoy and his cronies, who threw spell after spell at Harry's cauldron, only for them to be absorbed by his defensive shields.
After Potions, Harry walked around to get away from everyone, and that's how he found the Room of Requirement, which altered its interior to fit its occupant's needs. For Harry, the Room of Requirement became a dojo for him to practise his martial arts. Back to the present, he had decided that he had had enough just practicing the moves of bōjutsu, so he conjured a training dummy that he had read about in one of his Transfiguration textbooks, and conjured a second bō for it to use. Harry programmed the dummy to fight like a true martial artist, so he automatically put his guard up. It was a good thing too, as the dummy almost immediately attacked him after it was programmed. Harry trained with the dummy for a few hours, parrying its strikes, swipes, and lunges, before fighting back with his own attacks. Eventually, he decided to finish by swiping for the dummy's legs, knocking it to the floor before stabbing it, rendering it defeated. He proceeded to remove the dummy and second bō before shrinking his own and pocketing it before heading off to the Gryffindor common room to rest. It had been quite an eventful day, but Harry was one step closer to learning more about the plot against him, who he could trust, and who were against him.