Hello again, welcome to the 6th chapter of 'Like a Lightning Bolt'.
Just saying, working out a class schedules on specific times is hard.
To the people that pointed out about the scar, I hope you realize that Harry himself would have gone out of his way to not only keep it out of view, but to ignore it as much as he could. Not only that, but the people he interacted with would have ignored it themselves in order to not upset their friend.
Someone pointed out the accidental magic being brought up, I feel the need to point out that in the series nobody other than Harry shows accidental magic at that age, I was explaining what causes it in my story, while also giving it the proper reaction that it should have.
Now, onto the chapter.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Spells"
Book Names
Disclaimer: Did Harry not try and make friends with people outside of Gryffindor? If so, I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 6:
"Harry, Harry," The urgent but whispered voice of Neville woke Harry from his dreamless sleep, "Harry wake up, we need to go to breakfast to get our class schedules." Realizing that Neville is right, Harry props himself up and waves Neville off, sliding off the bed and beginning to get his things ready for the day.
"You ready Neville?" Harry asks quietly, realizing all the others are still asleep.
"I will be in a minute, why?" Neville asks, as he places all of his books on his bedside table, ready for when he comes to get them when he has his schedule.
"I'll meet you in the common room then, I need to have a shower." Harry replies, pulling his uniform out of his trunk and moving to the bathroom. After having a shower and putting his uniform for the day on, Harry made sure his bag had all of the ink, quills, and parchment he might need throughout the day. He also made sure to put the Marauder's map in his bag in a different section so it was within reach if he needed it.
When Harry came down to the common room, he saw Hermione and Neville sitting in two of the chairs, Neville appearing to nod off, clearly still tired from the late night, while Hermione is reading a book.
"Shall we go to the Great Hall? I really want some food right about now." Harry stifles a laugh as his words cause Neville to jerk out of his seat, while Hermione simply places a bookmark in between the pages and slips the book into her bag.
"Food sounds wonderful." Neville grumbles out, clearly not completely awake. The trio made small talk as they moved towards the Great Hall, being joined by Luna as she came skipping from the direction of Ravenclaw tower. Upon arriving, they see that only a few students have actually arrived at the Great Hall.
Sitting down to eat at the Gryffindor table, the four of them continue making small talk while they began eating. Harry looked around the room, trying to see who he knew out of the early risers. At the Slytherin table Harry could see some of the Slytherin Quidditch players, while he could see the same at the Hufflepuff table. At the Ravenclaw table he could see quite a few student, most reading their class books. At the Gryffindor table there isn't anyone sitting there that Harry recognizes. At the staff table Harry can see that most of the teachers have arrived, with the exception of the Headmaster.
"So, when do you think the Professors will come by with the timetables for this year?" Luna inquired, seeing the four Heads of Houses all present at the staff table.
"Probably when more of the students have arrived. Although, Professor Flitwick seems to be getting up from his seat." Neville comments, seeing the diminutive Professor walking down from the staff table. Surprisingly, he headed over to the Gryffindor table as opposed to the Ravenclaw table.
"Good morning all, Ms Lovegood, I have here your class schedule for this year, with you sitting here at the Gryffindor table, I figured I would give you your timetable when I came to do this, 5points to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw for a show of House Unity after the unfortunate incident last night on the train." With that, the Professor nodded to the group while handing Luna her schedule, the third years of the group looking and seeing that it matched the timetable they themselves had the year before, except Luna's had a note for when the first and second year Duelling class was on.
"Huh, it never occurred to me till now that they might just keep the same timetables, well, technically the same, we didn't have Duelling last year." Hermione muttered as she read the timetable, comparing it to her memory.
"Would have been really helpful to have an actual Duelling class." Harry grumbles, thinking of how it could potentially have helped against the Basilisk.
"I'm sure they would have, looks like the rest of the third year Gryffindors are awake." Hermione observes, seeing the group of third years sluggishly moving into the Great Hall. A familiar head of red hair moved at the back of the group, perking up when he sees Harry and Hermione sitting there, slowly walking over to the four of them.
"Harry mate, why didn't you wake me up?" Ron asks, not paying attention to the others as he sat down.
"You hadn't apologised Ron, you had the option to last night after the Feast, or at any time on the train. Had you apologised, I would have woken you up." Harry spoke completely calmly, trying not to anger Ron.
"Why did I have to apologise? I didn't do anything wrong?" Ron mumbles through his food.
"You insulted Luna and Neville on the train Ronald." Hermione reminded Ron, hoping he would apologise to her friends.
"I did not!" Ron huffed, going slightly red in the face.
"Yes Ron, you did, you called them both names when they hadn't done anything to deserve it." Harry's calm tone continued unwavering as he spoke.
"I did not, I didn't insult anyone at all." Ron's face had gone a mixed red, partly in embarrassment, partly in anger. Before Ron could object anymore a pair of arms wrapped around each of his arms, hoisting him up and away.
"Well now little brother," "I believe it should be away with you," "Wouldn't want to make a scene first day." The twins' timely arrival and removal of Ron prevented what could have potentially been a very large incident had the argument continued. The twins carting him off and putting him down next to Dean and Seamus.
"I was hoping that would have gone better." Harry mutters, talking to himself.
"I'm sorry if being friends with me is causing problems with your friend Harry." Luna comments, slightly downcast.
"Y-yeah I'm sorry too, I mean, Ron and you are best friends, and I'm sorry that you being friends with me is causing the two of you to argue." Neville also seemed downcast as he spoke, seeing his two friends both reacting negatively was making Harry even more annoyed at the situation.
"Firstly Neville, Ron is not my best friend, he was my first friend, but not my best. Hermione is my best friend," Harry was looking intently at Neville and Luna and therefore missed the beaming smile that Hermione sent his way from beside him, "And secondly, the two of you have nothing to apologize for, Ron knows how I feel about people calling others names. He was needlessly rude and mean, and the fact that he didn't apologize when he could have and even denied that he needed to is not helping the situation."
"Thank you Harry, I've, I've never had a friend to stand up for me before." Neville commented, his head bowed with a slight tinge of red to his cheeks showing his embarrassment at Harry's declaration.
"I've never had one either, so to go from not even having a friend, to having three is a wonderful experience." Unlike Neville, Luna has a small smile upon her face, looking at all three of the people she considers friends, not a hint of embarrassment on her face at her admission.
"While I would love to continue our little emotional conversation," The smile on Hermione's face showed there was no mean intentions behind her words, "I can see Professor McGonagall handing out schedules and she looks to be nearly here." True to her words, McGonagall was just finishing handing Dean, Seamus, and Ron there timetables for the year.
"Mr Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr Longbottom," As McGonagall listed off the trio of names, she pulled out three separate pieces of parchment, tapping each with her wand, "Here are your schedules for the rest of the school year, I suggest you go and get your things for the day now that you know what classes you have." After speaking, she gave the group a quick nod of acknowledgement before moving onto the next group of students who still needed their class schedules.
Harry looked at his class schedule, seeing that for a Thursday the classes he had were Charms in the first period, Arithmancy in the second followed by lunch. After lunch he had Defence Against the Dark Arts for his third period followed by an empty period. After checking with Hermione and Neville he found that his blank period was when Care of Magical Creatures was on for those who took the elective. Making a mental note to go and see Hagrid about seeing if he can help with the classes for Care of Magical Creatures.
"We should go and get our books, then head to the Charms class room before the class begins to get our seats." Hermione commented, having finished examining her own timetable, which when Harry looked he saw had no free periods.
"I best be off as well, I need to go and get my books before I have my classes. See you all at lunch?" Luna perked up when the other three all nodded to her as she got up and left, the three remaining doing the same as well shortly after.
"Who do we have Charms with anyway?" Neville asked, having not actually checked the fine print on his timetable which had the class composition written on it.
"Slytherin. We also have Defence with them after lunch." Harry replied, the three currently standing on one of the staircases as it moved.
"Speaking of Slytherins," Hermione began. Catching the attention of the other two, "I noticed two things, one, Malfoy didn't try and bother us this year, I told you that he had come looking for you last year, and so I was surprised when he didn't come this time."
"Well, I may or may not have had a chat with him before I got to the compartment." Harry sheepishly added.
"Harry," Hermione adopted a stern tone, "You didn't attack Malfoy on the train did you?"
"Honestly why would you jump to a conclusion like that?" Harry asked, trying to make a joke of the situation.
"Because if anyone was going to have a duel on the train before Hogwarts even started for the year it would be you and Malfoy?" Neville's slightly amused tone showed that he was also making a joke of the situation.
"Hey, I take offence to that." Harry muttered, jokingly pouting as Hermione and Neville were both stifling laughs.
"It is something that could happen though considering how the two of you argue." Hermione pointed out as she managed to get control of her laughter.
"Well we did not have a duel. Although if we did it would have been amazing and you would have missed it," Harry stuck his tongue out at the other two before a more serious expression came over his face, "I just had a chat with him. Apologized for how I insulted him in our first year without realizing it, pointed out to him that we are pretty close to family, considering his mother and my father were cousins. I also agreed that we could at least try and be neutral with each other for now."
"That's, very mature of you Harry. However, I feel like he owed more of an apology, I mean, after last year with how he acted when the Chamber opened." Hermione didn't need to elaborate for Harry to understand what she was talking about, he remembered clearly how much of a bigot his cousin had been during the last year.
"I know, however, he was raised to believe that was right, and while it infuriated me that he called you that, I can't hold it against him. Don't think I don't want to, I do, it's just, he is family, it's not like I have a lot of that to work with. I want to make him apologize, and I figure that if we're neutral with each other, I can slowly change his mind when it comes to his beliefs, so he will apologize on his own." Harry's tone conveyed the small amount of hope he had as he spoke of changing Draco's ways. He also missed the small wince both Neville and Hermione had when he mentioned his lack of family.
"Well, if anyone is going to make Malfoy change his bigoted ways, I would have to put my money on you Harry," Neville cracked a grin as he tried to lighten the mood, "However, on the subject of Slytherins, what was with you last night Harry? Should we be concerned that you are going to leave us for some Slytherin ladies?"
"Oh haha Neville, cheap shot," The grins Neville and Harry sported as they shoved each other made Hermione smile as she noted how the two seemed like natural friends, "I am attempting to increase the number of people I can call friends. Considering Malfoy and I agreed to be neutral with each other, I figured I could try and make friends with the Slytherins who themselves are considered neutral, when the opportunity presented itself, I acted."
"That's very cunning of you Harry, maybe you should have been in Slytherin." Neville comments with a grin on his face.
"I don't think the House of Snakes would have reacted well to a Basilisk being let loose among them." Harry laughed as he finished, enjoying his own little joke. Hermione's laugh joined Harry's as Neville tried to stifle his own laugh.
"Think so highly of yourself Harry, do we need to take you to Madame Pomfrey for a big head?" Neville finally let loose his laugh when Hermione got out her reply, drawing the attention of some of the Gryffindors who were coming out of the portrait hole.
"We will meet you in the Common Room after we grab our books Hermione." Harry called as he and Neville began walking towards the boy's stairs.
"See the two of you in a minute." She called in reply.
The two of them ran up the stairs to the boys dorms, grabbing the books they would need for the day before heading back down to the Common Room where Hermione was already waiting for them.
"Honestly boys what took you so long?" Her joking tone made them all laugh again as they began the trek to Charms from the Gryffindor Common Room, simply enjoying some small talk with each other as they went.
As they approached the classroom, Harry saw Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise standing just around the corner from the classroom, from where they were standing, Harry could see that while those three were there, the rest of the Slytherin contingent was lined up outside the Charms classroom. Catching Daphne's eye and seeing her twitch her head in a manner Harry realized meant 'over here' Harry asked Hermione and Neville to go and wait, getting them seats if they were allowed into the room before class actually began.
"Miss Greengrass, Miss Davis, Mr Zabini, I take it you two ladies have decided on my offer of friendship?" Harry bowed as he greeted the three snakes, his tone both formal and friendly as he spoke.
"It's Blaise, Potter, assuming I can call you Harry?" Blaise spoke, his calm aristocratic tone revealing no emotion.
"Of course Blaise, after all, friends cannot go around calling each other by their last names." Harry's grin was matched by Blaise's own, causing Harry to do a mental victory dance at having the normally calm and reserved Blaise showing emotion so blatantly. Truthfully the only greater achievement he could think of in this situation is making Heiress Greengrass, the Ice Queen of Slytherin, react with just as much emotion.
"I spoke with my sister this morning Potter, she seemed to have enjoyed the small amount of time she spent with your group. So, I will, tentatively, accept your offer of friendship. I just hope that you do not cause me to regret my decision." Daphne's face revealed nothing, neither did her tone, Harry realized that if he intended on making her react he was probably going to have a hard time on his hands.
"I will, unlike my friend here, accept your offer of friendship, I trust Astoria's judgement of you enough to believe you about your motivations for offering your friendship." Tracey, unlike Daphne, revealed small flashes of emotion as she spoke, clearly not as used to hiding her emotions as her friend.
"May I call either of your by your first names," A small grin made its way onto his face, a look that Harry had been told during his stay at the Cauldron was 'charming', "After all, names as beautiful as those the two of you have been gifted with should not be ignored in favour of unnecessary formality between friends." The reaction caused by his words and grin both entertained and annoyed Harry, although he made sure to prevent his annoyance from flashing across his face. Tracey broke out into a bright blush, which earned a small chuckle from Blaise who himself earned a flared from the lady in question. Daphne on the other hand, had amusement flash through her eyes, her lips twitching into a grin, and a small red tinge making its way across her cheeks. The part that caused Harry's annoyance however, was the fact that these three reactions only lasted upon her face for a few seconds, had he not been looking to see how the two ladies reacted, he would have missed it.
"W-well ok, just like Blaise though, as long as I can call you Harry." Tracey stuttered at first, still recovering from her blush.
"The same response from me, if I may call you Harry, you may call me Daphne." The curt nod revealed no more information.
"Now, Harry, if you are done causing poor Tracey to get flustered," Blaise ignored the indignant response from Tracey at his words, "I believe we may wish to head into Charms," A quick wave of his wand and a muttered 'Tempus' showed the time to be 8.55am, "As the class will be beginning in five minutes, as I don't wish to earn a detention for being late on the very first class of the very first day."
"Of course, would you like me to walk with the three of you in, or would you prefer we go separately, after all, our housemates may not exactly react in a positive way if we walk in together." Harry commented ensuring to word his sentence in a way to not be insulting or to suggest that he was ashamed of them.
"That may be best, at least for the first few weeks, our housemates most likely have had their prejudices reinforced over the holiday break, we should give them time to readjust to life in the castle." Daphne comments as she picked up her bag, Tracey and Blaise following suit.
"Well then, the three of you may go in first." Harry bows once more, though this bow was friendlier than the formal one he gave at the start of the conversation. A nod of the head and a wave goodbye were offered by all three as they moved towards the classroom ahead of him, Harry watching them go. After a moment of thought Harry realized he now had friends in three of the four Houses. A Tempus of his own showed Harry that he had three minutes till the class began, so he began heading over to the door, walking in and seeing a seat saved for him between Neville and Hermione.
"How did it go?" Hermione enquired, a raised eyebrow showing her curiosity.
"Well, I managed to make Blaise laugh, made two new friends, made Tracey blush, and nearly melted the Ice Queen's exterior." Harry's grinned at his own achievement.
"Impressive, I didn't think anyone would be able to do something like that. Wait, actually, define melted her exterior." Neville looked genuinely curious at the end.
"Made her crack a grin and put a light blush on her cheeks." Harry smiled as he answered Neville's question.
"Well, ignoring the circumstances that caused them to blush, what happened?" Hermione asked, a small look of annoyance on her face when she mentioned the other girl's blushing that was missed by Harry and Neville.
"Well, they spoke with Astoria, and as a result, Tracey agreed to my offer of friendship and Daphne tentatively agreed to my offer." Harry explained, not noticing Neville's reaction at him calling them both by their first names.
"So it's Blaise, Tracey, and Daphne now hey Harry? Might want to be careful oh mighty 'Basilisk', some people might react strangely to hearing you call them that." Neville's mocking tone at the end showed that he meant the entire thing to be a joke.
"All right everybody, class is about to begin, so can you all please quiet down!" Professor Flitwick yelled from his spot at his lectern. Running through the class list Flitwick found that every student was there and so began the lesson.
"Now, some of you might be hoping we will be moving straight into new work, but we will not be. I wish to spend this lesson recapping the spells we have learnt over the last two years, not only to help enforce the lessons you learnt throughout those two years but to help you get used to using magic again before learning new spells," Flitwick announced, tapping his wand on the board in order to reveal the spells he wanted them to recap, "I will be moving around the room and providing assistance when it is needed."
"Well, I think this will be a rather easy lesson, anything else we need to talk about?" Harry asked as he read the list of spells.
"No, I'm all good, I haven't really got anything else to talk about, you Neville?" Hermione replied.
"Nope, I'm all good, let's get the work done." Neville finished off their small conversation by beginning to practice the levitation charm.
The class moved through the different spells, with only a few mishaps caused by various students messing up an incantation or a wand movement and causing a differing effect, thankfully nobody was hurt. Before they knew it the first class of their first day was over and the trio split off, Harry and Hermione going to Arithmancy while Neville went to go and see Professor McGonagall, a note arriving just before the end of Charms requesting he go to her office after the class finished.
The Arithmancy class mainly consisted of Ravenclaws, with a few Hufflepuffs, the Slytherin trio Harry had befriended, with only Harry and Hermione there representing Gryffindor.
"Welcome class, to your first lesson of Arithmancy. In this class you will learn how to analyse the properties of spells, wards, enchantments, etcetera. By breaking down these spells it will help you to understand how spells in your differing classes work, while also allowing for you to eventually be able to modify spells you already use and make your own." The Arithmancy teacher, Professor Vector gave a starting spiel for her class, before starting them on an assisted breakdown of one of the easier spells to break down, the Lumos spell.
When the class itself eventually ended they moved out to go to lunch, looking forward to seeing how Professor Lupin would be teaching his first Defence class for the third years.
And that's the chapter finished. I apologize for the delay between my usual posting time and the time this chapter is being posted. I also apologize for another smaller than 5000 word chapter, as I did not intend on anything happening in Arithmancy and Charms other than the classes themselves, and what I would have done for the lunch break will be the start of the next chapter.
I will clarify this at this point. As it currently stands there is still no set pairing for this fic. Anything that suggests a pairing is purely due to how the words flowed from my muse to myself to the page.
Until next time,
Lucison.