Book 1 - Harry Potter And The Dawn Of Chaos
Chapter 7 - The first week
Neville sat at the Gryffindor house table, trying hard to get the last bit off sleepy from his eye. The other boys from his dorm seemed to be doing the same. The other two boys he now shared a dorm with had kept him up pretty late last night, the conversation had lasted pretty long and he was now regretting not going to bed a little earlier but he was glad in a way that he had stayed up. There were only three of them with the rest of his year's housemates being all girls. Dean Thomas was from the wizarding world, his dad had apparently disappeared before he was born so his mum had raised him all on her own. She was a muggle born, as was his dad apparently, and Dean spoke very strongly about the women. His other dorm mate was a loud mouthed Irish boy called Seamus Finnigan, who dad was a muggle and mum was a witch, according to Seamus it had been a pretty nasty shock to his dad to find out his mum was a witch but he had recovered pretty quickly and now wanted to know everything about the magical world. Neville couldn't help the slight sadness which he felt when the two boys had talked about how excited their own parents had been, he wished his mum and dad could understand and be proud of him for getting into Hogwarts.
Shaking those thoughts from his head Neville tried to pay attention to the conversations which were happening around him. Apparently the girls had been up just as late and one of them, Lavender Brown, was now gossiping to whoever would listen about this week's edition of Witches Weekly.
"Have you seen it? Apparently someone broke into Gringotts." At this Neville looked towards two third year boys who were sitting slightly to the left of him. Grabbing himself a copy of the Daily Prophet which the two boys were reading he scanned the headline.
Gringotts break in.
News has broken today that Gringott's has admitted to the Ministry of Magic that the prized bank has recently had its impenetrable walls broken. The Goblins are being very tight lipped on the details at the moment, which is understandable since the bank holds almost all of the wealth of Magical Britain within its great depths, but what we do know for a fact is that on the 31 July the guards were alleged to a disturbance on the lower levels and upon investigation found that someone had broken into an unnamed vault, the contents of which had been luckily emptied earlier that day. What it contained and who the vault belonged to is being kept a secret….
Neville stopped reading at this point. The article just went into a somewhat disturbing rant about the failures of the goblins. His head was struggling to understand what he had just read. He could imagine his Grans reaction to the news and he shuddered slightly, she would be in a rage that the goblins had kept this from the rest of the world.
"Wonder where Dumbledore has gone." Dean asked from beside him. Looking up at the main table where the teachers enjoyed their meals Neville saw that the golden throne was now empty. The old man clearly had left upon seeing the news.
"Makes sense. For something like this I am sure the Wizingamot has been called."
"The what?" Seamus asked from his other side.
"Oh it's sort of like the wizard parliament." Dean tried to explain.
Neville jumped in to save him. "It's a collection of the Lords and Lady's of magical families who form one of the two branches of our world's ruling body. They, alongside the Ministry of Magic, write the laws and in important cases pass judgement on criminal trials."
The two boys stared at him as he went over the rehearsed answer his gran had drilled into him from a young age. Realisation seemed to dawn on Dean's face. "Longbottom as in the Noble house Longbottom."
Blushing red Neville replied. "Yeah that's me, the heir to house Longbottom."
"Wait what, does this mean I need to go around calling you Lord Longbottom?" Seamus asked, cracking up even as he asked.
"Oh no," Neville stammered out. "Only proper traditional families use it in casual settings and technically I am just the heir, won't be the lord till I turn 16."
"Shame, would have loved to go home and tell my mum I made friends with an english lord. Think my dad would kick me out honestly." Seamus said, still smiling like an idiot at Neville.
"Shouldn't we get off to potions now anyway." Neville asked, desperate to get out of the conversation.
"Sure sure, come on my lord." Dean said, bowing as he stood.
"Please don't make this a thing." Neville pleaded, his embarrassment clear for all to see.
"Whatever you say my lord." Seamus replied before breaking down again into laughter.
The trio of boys made their way off to potions. Seamus and Dean thought of as many jokes at Neville's expense but for once he didn't mind, the light hearted nature of their comments meant Neville couldn't help but laugh along with them. It was nice to have friends, he thought.
LINE BREAK
Ron arrived in the charms class with Harry and Hermionie behind him. Potions had been awful. Snape, while never directly punishing him, seemed to enjoy making life hard for the youngest Weasley. Watching him like a hawk and making remarks about his poor performance. Obviously since he had been working with Hermionie, Harry had been stuck working with Blaise Zabini one of the few Slytherin boys who didn't follow Draco Malfoy around like a lost puppy, Ron hadn't been able to completely fail the assigned task as much as he had wanted too.
He had spent a lot of time thinking about his brother's words to him, Percy had made it clear how wrong he had been to allow himself to be sorted into Slytherin and Ron couldn't help but agree. What had he been thinking saying yes to the stupid hat. He was a Weasley and should have definitely been in Gryffindor alongside the rest of his family. If only he had been determined enough then he would have ignored the hats attempts to trick him and said no but he had failed. However Ron had a plan, it had come to him last night while he had been trying to fall asleep. Snape had said that failure wouldn't be accepted, that only those who excelled would be welcome in Slytherin so Maybe if Ron was able to fail so badly that Snape would kick him out then he would have to be sorted again, which would obviously result in him going to Gryffindor.
As he settled in the charms class the teacher, a small man who according to the other students was half goblin and a duelling master called Professor Flitwick, was standing on a pile of books so he could see over the lectern. The classroom was laid out in rows of seats, he sat down on the left of Harry. Welcoming them all in he started to do the register, getting to Harry's name his eyes flicked to his famous scar before continuing. Once finishing he rolled up the sheet of parchment which then floated over to his desk.
He began the lesson, his voice was squeaky but clearly he knew what he was saying as he didn't fumble at any point while talking.
"Welcome first years to your first charms lesson of your Hogwarts education." His wide black eyes scanned each child "Charms is one of the most important subjects in your education. You will be required to take it till the end of your fifth year, where you will earn an O.W.L in the subject and then if you do well you will have the option to take the study further but that is a very long way away so let's not worry about such a thing."
Ron had heard Charlie and Bill complain endlessly about their O.W.L's but charms was one that both brothers agreed was the most useful to have. Both of their jobs required extensive use and understanding of the subjects.
"In this first year we cover a range of different things, not all of it will directly relate to charms but all of it will be important for this subject and all of your other subjects later on. Now this first lesson will cover the basic principles of casting magic, this lesson is something that will obviously be useful in every wand based subject and such a lesson is taught every year in whatever subject you have first that requires a wand. Luckily it has fallen to me this year which is great because I love teaching this base principal and would honestly like to do it every year but scheduling denies me this."
Ron couldn't help the feelings of excitement which were beginning to form in his chest. Even though he wanted to fail and get kicked out of Slytherin he couldn't help but be excited at the idea of at least casting magic.
"Okay so let's begin, can anyone tell me the three basic components to simply spell casting?"
A handful of Slytherins raised their hands, among them was Hermione and Harry, the others were people Ron hadn't interacted with yet but he recognised them from the sorting. One he knew from outside the sorting, the cold blue eyes of Daphne Greengrass were locked at the front of the class. Ignoring his stares, to be honest he didn't even know why he was staring at the girl. Theodore Notts was the other one to have his hand raised. He didn't know him personally but knew he followed Draco around just like every other second or third child in their year did. Ron couldn't imagine any reason why someone would ever want to stick around that stuck up arse.
"Mr Notts, could you give me one?"
"The name of the spell sir."
"Brilliant, 3 points to Slytherin. Now the name of the spell or the incantation is actually the most annoying one to explain since it helps to have the other ones known first. So we will come back to that one." The chalk behind him rose up and scratched the word incantation onto the board. "Miss Granger, another please?"
"Wand movement sir" At this Ron watched Harry put his hand down with a disappointed look on his face. Ron was just as lost as well, he only knew of those two things needed to cast a spell. His parents didn't seem to use anything else.
"Fantastic, yet another 3 points. Now we have the final one and with it I can explain how these pieces fit together. Can I have the final one from you Miss Greengrass."
"Intent sir."
"Thank you, 3 points to Slytherin and another 5 for getting all three without any help. Now these three things are important for all spell casting, it doesn't matter what subject or what spells, everything involving a wand will require you to master these principles before you can move on."
Ron watched as everyone seemed to be scribbling this down on their parchment but chose not too. He wouldn't need them for ages anyway and he was sure the other Gryffindors would be more than happy to help him out when he got there. Well once they got over the whole reformed Slytherin thing.
"In truth only one of those three parts is actually crucial to casting a spell. You see all spells require intent. Just to different degrees. The wand movements and incantations are used to help focus your mind and magic's intent for the spell. All subjects you are taught at Hogwarts require a combination of the three. Do you understand?"
There was a mumble of agreement around the room.
"A subject like charms focuses more on the delicate wand movement and the correct pronunciation of the incantation than the intent of what you want but I know from the many lectures I have gotten from Professor Mcgonagall that Transfiguration focuses more on intent and wand movement then pronunciation. You see that's what's so interesting about magic, as beginners such as yourself you will need all three to do anything but for a master you can do it without the other two." To prove his point Flitwick raised his wand and every object in the classroom began to float, there were cries from the few members of the class as their tables floated up. "Silent casting is something you might learn later on and wandless casting is on another level of difficulty all together but I better stop now. You will cover more of that in later life."
Ron looked around the room again, keeping his eyes in one place was kinda boring to be honest so this was how he was going to entertain himself for a couple of weeks. Watching Harry and Hermionie's reaction to magic. Hermionie seemed to be enthralled by the idea of such complex magic. Ron hadn't known the girl for very long but had a feeling she was probably going to leave this lesson and attempt silent casting. Harry however had a different look on his face, he looked almost in awe at the basic display of magic, like it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Now I know you are all excited for casting spells but I can't have you casting spells without knowing the theory so please can we all get out your charms books. Please read and make notes on chapter one. I will give you 25 minutes and then we can discuss the plan for charms this year."
Ron opened his book and quickly glanced at the page, every so often turning it. Scribbling whatever rubbish he thought would look good enough to not catch the teachers ire. A jab to the side made him look to where Harry was sitting, his roommate had just poked him in the ribs.
"What?" he whispered.
"Write something down."
"I have."
"Something actually useful."
Quickly scribbling down a reminder not to sit next to Harry since he apparently had a habit of poking those near him Ron showed Harry. A small smile spread across Harry's face but before he could offer a reply Hermione told the two boys to focus.
Eventually their time was up and Professor Flitwick called for their attention again. "Now can anyone explain to me what charms as a subject is and what a charm is?"
The same people put their hands up however this time a few others joined them.
"Mr Weasley, explain what you read?" Ron froze, he hadn't put his hand up and from the look Flitwick was giving him the Professor knew he hadn't properly read the chapter.
"I didn't do it sir."
The Professor's face dropped, "why not?"
Ron couldn't think of any excuse, he just awkwardly shrugged his shoulders. With a disappointed look Flitwick reprimanded Ron and asked that in future he take more of an active part within the lessons and not sit lazily and expect to be ignored. Letting him off with just a warning due to it being the first day Flitwick moved on.
"Miss Davis, can you explain properly what the chapter said about Charms?"
A pit seemed to form in Ron's stomach, for some reason the disappointment for this teacher he barely knew was worse than losing points.
"Well…ummm… I think, not too sure though but I think charm is a spell which can change what an object can do but not change what it is because well I think that is transfiguration."
"A bit more certainty would be appreciated but a solid answer overall. Just for those who didn't pay enough attention to the reading," The Professor's eyes flashed to Ron who felt his already red cheeks redden more. "The branch of magic we call charms includes any spell or enchantment that either added too or changed the physical properties of an object without changing what the object itself is. It can also refer to any spell which affects an object psychically." At this point Ron decided it was best if he at least wrote something down.
"Now I want to make one thing clear. These definitions are not strict rules. They are just basic ways for us as Wizards and Witches to classify what a spell is and how best to learn it. if you want to go deeper into the theological discussion around magic and how to define it that is best done in your free time and honestly I would wait till you are further along in your studies." The small half goblin clapped his hands together. "Now that you all have a basic understanding of what a charm is and what this subject is about I can start to prepare you all for actually casting one. Today we will be casting the unlocking charm, now before you all get excited. All of the important doors in Hogwarts are spelled against this charm so don't go thinking you can use it for mischief." Waving his small arms the Charms Professor summoned a number of padlocks from behind his desk, then began to float towards and land in front of each student. "The incantation for this spell is Alohomora, pronounced ah-LOH-ho-MOR-ah, and the wand movement is as follows." Flitwick then moved his wand in a backward S, repeating the gesture three times before speaking. "Now please spend the rest of the lesson attempting said spell, if you complete it then please call me over. Let's say, the first person to do so will earn 50 points. Begin."
The small room was filled with the sounds of children quickly pulling out their wands and attempting the assigned task. Ron stared at the padlock in front of him, it had clearly been used as a prop for this lesson for a long time as rust had covered most of the lock and the paint was peeling off it revealing the cold steel. Ron started at it for a few seconds before raising his willow wand, pointing it at the lock. He could feel his magic rising within him, warming his body like it had in the wand shop, tracing the backwards S Ron attempted his first ever spell "Alohomora" the warm feeling quickly fled from his body into the willow wand, a blue faint light flew from his wand hitting the lock and with a soft click it popped open. Excitement over the fact not only had Ron been successful but he had been the first to do so quickly disappeared, being replaced with the dread of realisation about how this would mess up his plan. Quickly before even Harry, who was intently focused on performing the task himself, could notice that he had succeeded Ron closed the lock, bitterness that he wasn't able to claim credit filled him but he pushed it down.
The plan needed to work, he needed to do everything in his power to make Slytherin fail until the kicked him out, that meant not trying, missing every homework assignment and trying to lose as many points as he could for the house. This meant not claiming credit for the task.
However when he had made this decision he hadn't fully realised how much it would annoy him not getting the praise, luckily for Ron before he could wimp out of his plan and try again someone else claimed credit.
"Professor, I have done it." Ron knew who the voice belonged to before he had turned to look, still he turned and his eyes met with the icy blue eyes of Daphne Greengrass. she smiled at him, it was a smug smile, one that was filled with confidence and the knowledge that she had the ability and knowledge to back that confidence but her eyes seemed to tell a different story, Ron was unsure but the looks she was giving Ron was one of annoyance at him, why? Ron had no idea and felt his anger rise and spun back around to the front of the class. Not only was she going to get credit for something he had done first but she had the audacity to be annoyed at him for some reason. He tried to push down the anger, he had more important things to worry about and anyway so what if she was annoyed at him, the opinions of a snake shouldn't bother him, still he could stop the bitterness that came with the knowledge she thought herself better than him.
"Well done Miss Greengrass, was this your first attempt?" The small half goblin had been looking over the work of someone on the other side of the classroom but now made his way over to Daphne.
"No professor, it took me two attempts," a slight spark of satisfaction rose in Ron's chest, he had been before her even if he was the only one who knew it.
"Brilliant, it's rare a student gets it so early, definitely 50 points well earned. Keep trying until you can cast the spell 5 times in a row than let me know and I will give you a new task, that goes for everyone else." The Professor went back to marking the work and everyone else got on with the task.
"I DID IT." Harry's exclamation caused a few people to turn to look at him. Ron sighed and shook his head. It had been five minutes since Daphne had done it and Ron had been watching his roommate attempt the spell with increasing frustration, a couple of others had done it but the majority were still trying without any real progress.
"Well done Mr Potter, your mother was quite frankly a prodigy at Charms so it is wonderful to see that you have inherited not just her eyes. However in future it would be preferable if you kept your excitement to a lower volume." The Charms Professor was in front of the boys, having just finished marking Harry's work. His eyes seemed to be filled with energy as Harry muttered a half hearted apology. The walk to the history classroom was filled with more annoying conversation, Hermione was overwhelming Harry with questions about asking how he had done the spell and Harry was being unhelpful in his description which was annoying her. Ron didn't blame him, it was hard to describe how casting magic felt and from the poor description Harry had given Ron figured it was a different feeling for everyone. He had just turned into the corridor where there the classroom was located when he felt a small arm wrap around his and pull him back, he spun around, fumbling around in his pocket trying to locate his wand but as his eyes fixed on the person who had grabbed him, he found himself for the second time today looking into the icy blue eyes of the Heiress Greengrass.
"Why didn't you tell Flitwick you managed the spell?" She said accusingly.
Ron's eyes widened, she had seen him, he quickly recovered. "I don't know what you're talking about?"
A mocking smile graced her lips, "You can't lie to me, you're a pretty rubbish liar."
"Leave me alone," Ron turned back around and ripped his arms out of her grip, he began to storm off but Daphne's voice cut through his anger.
"Slytherin is the house of ambition and if you're not willing to excel then you are going to suffer, don't be a fool."
LINE BREAK.
The walk to defence had been a little uncomfortable for Harry. Hermionie had been peppering him with endless questions about how he had managed to perform the unlocking charm to which he had no answers. Ron had been out of it, walking ahead of the group and not saying anything to them. This is probably why he and the other two arrived before the rest of the Slytherin class. The classroom was bare, a wooden desk at the front and a black board were the only items the teacher had set up, rows of chairs and tables also lined the room. A man sat on the wooden desk, his eyes closed and could have been mistaken for being asleep if it wasn't for the fact his body was completely rigid.
"Come in" his voice was clear and sharp, no trace of the stutter the man had when Harry had met him in Diagon Alley. The trio sat down at the seats near the front of the class. Professor Quirrell said nothing else. Eventually all members of Slytherin house filled the classroom and still the Professor said nothing, simply sitting there with his eyes closed. It wasn't until exactly 10:45, the exact time the lesson started that he moved. His eyes snapped open and he stood up moving away from the desk until he was positioned directly in front of everyone, then he began to speak.
"Welcome to Defence Against The Dark Arts, my name is Professor Quirrell for those of you who remain unaware of it. This subject is one of the most important subjects you will ever study at Hogwarts, not just for the spell I will teach or the facts you will learn but for those who master this subject you will have a better understanding of magic than anyone else." His voice remained unaffected by the man's usual stutter. "You see it is more than just learning how to best defend yourself, it is about learning to identify magic, learning how to feel and how best to nullify it. You will learn a lot if you give me your undivided attention." It was hard not to, the man seemed to almost draw everyone's attention to him. "Now before we learn how to defend, we must first learn about what we are defending against. So can anyone define the dark arts for me."
The question took Harry by surprise, he had expected the dart arts to be brushed over, all the books he had to read for the subject had barely mentioned what they were. Annoyed that he would be unable to answer the question Harry watched as a few members of his house carefully raised their hands. With the reputation Harry knew about Slytherin this would be interesting to see what their answers revealed.
"Mr Malfoy, what do you believe them to be?"
"The dark arts is a name for powerful magic which certain members of our society see as too dangerous."
Professor Quirrell's eyes narrowed "Interesting answer." behind him the words magic deemed dangerous by society appeared on the black board society.
"Miss Parkinson, if you wouldn't mind. giving your own answer or perhaps expanding on Mister Malfoy's poor attempt." To his left Ron snicked but was quickly silenced by a sharp look from the rather intimidating professor.
"The dark arts is the classification for any magic the ministry of magic has deemed unsafe and harmful to wider society. It does not just refer to spells but entire branches of magic, such as blood magic."
"A much more detailed and interesting answer, Miss Parkinson. 5 points to Slytherin." Behind him the board rubbed out Malfoy's answer, replacing it with Parkinson's. Harry watched as Malfoy's face twisted into a sneer and he glared at Pansy.
"Now both Mr Malfoy and Miss Parkinson have focused on the legal definition of the dark arts, can anyone think of another way to define them?" He looked around the room. "Mr Notts"
"The dark arts are classed by those who study magic as anything which draws on negative emotions to cast, this often results in the spell being dangerous."
"Well done, but you are missing on key components of this definition, Mr Zabini"
"They are addictive."
"Correct, 5 points."
The word addictive was added to Notts definition. "These two key definitions are how many people in our society class dark art, the interesting thing is they are both somewhat correct and both lacking. You see, the Dark arts is a legal term, you can be put on trial for use of the dark arts by the ministry of magic and the Wizingamot. However this does not mean what you did can be classed as dark magic. Dark magic is the correct word that fits the second definition. Dark magic is any magic which is addictive in nature and often draws on negative emotions to cast so can you see the clear distinction?" At this point the man paused, waiting for a response. A few nodding heads was all he received so he carried on.
"With that understanding comes the question, which one does this subject focus on, the dark arts or dark magic?" He let the question linger in the air before continuing "in first year you will learn a lot and this question will be the focus of what I want you to think about. If any of you by the end of the year can come to me with an answer that is well thought out then I will award that person 100 points. Now let's begin on our first topic, learning how to identify the use of the dark arts."
Harry was fascinated, this meant there was some magic that the ministry had deemed dark that might not actually be dark but then why would they make it illegal, Malfoy had said the dark arts were powerful and looking at someone like Voldemort, who had been a master of the dark arts, Harry could understand why the minister would want to stop people from engaging with the type of magic which had caused so much harm however Harry couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling which formed in his stomach at the idea of any part of magic being blocked off. It just felt so wrong.
The blackboard changed again, no longer did it have the definition but a simple title sensing dark magic.
"Now can anyone tell me what dark magic feels like?" At this no one raised their hand. Yet for some reason the professor seemed impressed with this answer, or more accurately their lack of an answer.
Behind him the board seemed to be filled with lines and lines of text. The rest of the lesson was a blur. All of the information Harry scribbled furiously down on pieces of parchment. No homework had been set for defence
Harry had high hopes for this lesson, the idea of learning about the history of such an interesting world really appealed to him, learning it was taught by a ghost only increased his interest so it was such a shame the class was incredibly boring. The ghost didn't even take the register, simply faded into the classroom and began a lecture on goblin history, something Harry was pretty sure they weren't meant to be learning about. Clearly the message of how boring this lecture was was well known as many of his fellow housemates proceeded to get out different textbooks and some even started on the homework from the previous Charms lesson. Ron decided to take a nap, resting his head on the table and not moving until Harry kicked him awake at the end of the lesson. The only one taking notes was Hermione, something which didn't shock Harry at all. So Harry sat at his desk, bored out of his mind waiting for the lesson to be over.
LINE BREAK
Hermione awoke early on Tuesday, she had done so yesterday as well, being away from home for longer than she had been before was harder than Hermione had expected it to be. As a result her sleeping schedule was shopping up to be dreadful and she could almost hear her fathers voice in her head reminding her that healthy sleeping led to a healthy life. The thought brought a faint smile to her lips, her dad always seemed to have a motivational line for every problem her and her mother faced, be it sleep or stress or disappointment.
Figuring that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep since she hadn't been able to yesterday Hermione turned until she was on her back and just stared at the top of the wooden bed frame. She stayed like this for a while, not moving. Lost in her thoughts and memories of home, the stillness of the room she now called her own meant it was easy to stay lost within her own mind. What would her parents think of all of this? To the magic she was loving learning about, the teachers who mostly had been kind and welcoming. What would her parents think of her sharing a room with two boys? Oh god, they would throw a fit when they found out. When would they find out? Hermione was yet to write to her parents, she wanted to. often finding herself writing out the start of a letter yet the excitement died quickly once she thought of what to say, how could someone explain the amazing things she had seen, how could she explain the amazement and wonder that seemed built into the very stones of Hogwarts, Hermionie in all of her vocabulary couldn't find the right words to explain such a thing. Perhaps it was simply too soon, maybe by the end of the week she would know what to write. Patience she told herself, it is one day three.
A rustling from her left told her that Harry was awake, that meant it was probably around 6:30, that had been around when he had woken up yesterday and he seemed to be very ridged about when he awoke. She thought of her only two friends at Hogwarts, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. She had only known the celebrity of the wizarding world for 1 full day but felt she had finally found who would be friends with her, he was quite most of the time but when Hermionie got him talking about something he had enjoyed Harry became extremely passionate, after their first defence class he had not stopped talking about it for ages; she was excited to see how he felt after their second defence lesson today. One thing she had noticed however was that Harry didn't talk about his home life at all, unlike herself who would often bring up fond memories every time something remaindered her on home or Ron whose family seemed to follow him around like a shadow, every attempt she made was quickly shut down or the conversation changed before she could push for answers and as much as she disliked not knowing something Hermionie had given up asking. The desire to find out what he was hiding was not greater than the risk of ruining the friendship by pushing her luck. It was hard enough having one roommate not talking to you, she would hate to have two.
She felt her anger rising as her thought drifted to Ronald, the red headed boy had been so nice to her on the train. In fact she was pretty sure that if it wasn't for his kindness she would have broken down multiple times during the sorting ceremony but that had all changed after his sorting, no, she corrected herself. Ron had been fine after the sorting, the first night had been lovely, they had spoken for hours about the most bizarre of topics yet it was after his conversation with his brother Percy that Ron had changed. The loud mouthed boy had disappeared being replaced with a withdrawn, lazy and quite rude boy who wouldn't talk to either Hermionie or Harry, even if asked a direct question Ron would now give a half arsed answer and then turn back to whatever he was doing, which was usually nothing.
Stopping her rant before she could fully get lost in it Hermionie decided to move and start getting ready, she knew it was early but since Harry was up she could get ready and then chat to him. Pulling back her bed covers she got out of bed, her bare feet were cold against the black marble floor so Hermionie grabbed her slippers and slipped them on. Harry was sitting on his bed, the drapes pulled back. His hair was as messy as ever and Hermionie knew that even after he got into his robes that wouldn't change, she had watched the boy attempt to control it on the first day and had laughed with Ron when he had given up, her eyes drifted to the still closed off bed and she knew Harry's gaze was following her own. That first night had been fun and Hermione wished she could have more like it.
"How did you sleep?" Harry's voice came from her left, she could guess he was trying to distract himself from similar thoughts to her.
"Alright," a lie "you?"
"Well, thank you. Are you looking forward to today?" Hermionie was and she answered as such before moving to the bathroom, she started to prepare herself for the day and thought over how her first two days had gone. So far she loved it. The lessons were all pretty fascinating. She revised her time table for the day as she finished getting herself ready, Hermionie had never put much time into her appearance, feeling there were more important things to focus on such as one's education. Bringing her mind back to her time table she began to think it over. Charms, History of magic, Lunch, Herbology , Transfiguration.
She found Harry already ready, he showered in the evening so had just put on some clothes and grabbed his bag. "Shall we go or wait for him to wake up?"
"If we wait there is a high chance we miss breakfast and I am not doing Herbology on an empty stomach." Harry raised a good point. Leaving their room and making their way through the common room, which was quiet, most students didn't wake up till 7 so Hermionie and Harry were ahead of the game. A comfortable silence fell over the two as they headed to breakfast. Hermione's mind drifted back to the missing member of their little group, Ronald. Breaking the silence she asked Harry what his opinions on their third roommate were.
He took a minute to ponder the question before answering. "Honestly I'm not so sure, the first night he was funny and a little blunt but nothing too bad but now, well now he has completely changed. I mean I sat next to him in the charms lesson and he did do anything, same with the other lessons honestly. He just sat there for the entire lesson, ignoring everything going on around him. He could just be taking longer to adjust, it is only day two, I don't know, you spent more time with him."
"Only slightly longer though, I sat with him on the train journey and I was there for the sorting ceremony but didn't really talk much, he mentioned you though. Said he was excited to meet you."
"Of course he mentioned me, everyone mentions me. I am a bloody celebrity." His tone of voice suggested not arrogance but bitterness.
Hermione looked at him. "You're okay?"
"Yeah yeah," he dismissed her concern. "Just it's been three days since I got here and I'm already sick of the whispers, I hate to think that they are gonna act like this the whole seven years I am here."
Hermionie considered his words, she had noticed the strange looks Harry got but hadn't thought much about them, clearly it had been bugging him. "I wish I could say I understood but I am not exactly used to attention of any kind, you are sort of a hero to these people so it makes sense they would be interested in you."
"Yeah I guess, anyway I think it's best if we just leave Ron for now. If he is still acting like this by the end of this month then maybe we could do something but I don't think we should interfere right now, he's clearly going through something."
Hermionie agreed as the silence returned to the two, they entered the great hall and sat down, Hermione couldn't help thinking to herself that maybe leaving Ron wasn't the best idea but what did she know, she had never had friends before and Harry probably knew what he was on about.
Neither of them saw Ron until Charms.
However they didn't actually get a chance to talk to him until the end of the day, between each lesson he disappeared off somewhere and since they were too spread out to really talk in the other classroom's Hermione and Harry had to wait to catch up with him. Finally came transfiguration, where Hermione honestly put thoughts of Ron to the back of her mind. This was one of her most anticipated lessons and the grumpy redhead could wait. As they arrived at the class Hermione was shocked to discover no teacher at the front of the room. Instead sat a large tabby cat, it wasn't one she had seen around before. Must be Professor McGonagall's. As the last of the students made their way to their seats Hermione couldn't help but be confused as to where the transfigurations teacher was, she hadn't striked Hermione as someone to run later. To Hermione's wonder the large tabby cat got up, walked the edge of the desk, jumped and transformed into professor McGonagall.
"Welcome to Transfiguration, my name is Professor McGongall, the deputy headmistress, head of Gryffindor house and most importantly for this lesson your transfigurations teacher." The women voice demanded everyone's attention "transfiguration is the branch of magic focused on change"
The woman drew a wand from the sleeve of her robe, pointed it at the desk behind her and before the classes very eyes the desk changed into a pig. Hermione couldn't help but smile, she knew she probably had the biggest grin on her face ever. was left speechless, she could see the surprise in her roommate's eyes. What was more amazing is she had done so without saying anything. The pig changed back into the desk and McGonagal seemed to draw everyone's attention to her without saying a single word.
"Can anyone tell me what a Branch of Magic is?"
Hermione could answer this. Hands, including hers went up and Hermione desperately hoped she was chosen. The Professor picked Mister Notts.
"A branch of Magic is a general term used to describe magic of similar kind."
"2 points, now to expand on Mr Notts answer, a branch is the term used to collectively describe any magical act or spell which functions within the same rules and performs connected tasks. For example every spell you learn in Transfiguration performs the task of manipulating and changing the physical world."
Mcgonagall then looked around the room expectantly but it wasn't needed as Hermione was already inscribing the information in her quickest, yet messiest handwriting. Around her everyone was doing the same. Including Ron which Hermione noticed and was happy to see, though if she knew that the only reason Ron was writing stuff down was due to how intimidating Professor McGonagal was then she might have been less impressed.
"Now within a magical branch we have arts, these are more specialised than branches. Now can anyone tell me the four arts of transfiguration?"
Hermione's hand shot up, she had read the transfiguration book three or four times so she doubted she would get this wrong if called upon.
"Miss Granger." Relief flooded through her.
"They are Conjuration, Vanishing, Transformation, Reverting."
"Correct, 2 points. In the first year we focus on the art of Transformation." Professor Mcgonagall turned around and placed a box of matches on her desk. Tapping it with her wand the matches began to fly out one landing on each table. "This is a simple task. A very good intro to transformation magic. Simply turn this match into a needle. The incantation is Acusignis. Does anyone know latin?"
"Yes Mister Malfoy."
"The word is derived from Latin, acus meaning needle, and ignus meaning torch since the Romans didn't really have matches."
"Correct, 5 points to Slytherin. Now I recommend trying to picture the final image of the object. Begin."
Hermione was very excited about the challenge and before starting she made sure to keep her breathing steady, practised the pronunciation a few times, making sure to emphasise the correct parts of the words before tracing the wand movement a few times, this was her chance to prove to herself that she deserved to study at Hogwarts and she was going to make the most of it. She tried to picture the final product just like Professor Mcgonagall had instructed them, she remembered the needles she had used in the sewing arts and crafts at her school, she had hated threading them, never managing to quite do it. So while the rest of the class were attempting the spell, getting annoyed as nothing happened Hermione simply pictured a needle, she raised her Fir wood wand and clearly stated the incantation, she felt the knot in her chest tighten as if someone was pulling the two ends, a strange feeling flowed from her and into her wand and she watched in disappointment as instead of changing into a complete replica of the needle she had pictured it instead sharpened slightly at the end. She felt the disappointment wash over her, she had done everything correctly, why wasn't it working.
"Well done Miss Granger, 3 points to Slytherin." McGonagal's voice came from right behind her shoulder. Confusion replaced the disappointment Hermione had been feeling.
"But Professor with all due respect, I didn't do it."
A light chuckle came from the Professor, "Miss Granger if you had performed this first time you would have been a prodigy on the level of Merlin, you have never performed magic this complicated before, transfiguration is one of the hardest subjects for a beginner to get into and as such what you have done is impressive."
"Oh" Hermione took a few minutes to form a reply "but I just made it pointy"
The stern-faced woman raised an eyebrow "look again Miss Granger and keep trying, I have my eye on you from now." With that she turned and continued her watch of the other students. Hermione turned back to the needle, looking closely she noticed a slightly silver tint to it, parts of the wood had changed to silver.
"Wow, Hermione, that's really good." Harry's voice made her smile, she had impressed Mcgonagall and she didn't think that was an easy thing to do.
"Yeah well done" the voice to her left made her look, Ron was staring at her needle, his own unchanged. Deciding to try something Hermione asked a question. "Do you want some help?" Their question seemed to confuse him so she clarified "with the spell."
"Oh no thank you, I am just making sure I got it all right" Hermione could tell he was lying.
"Honestly I don't mind, more than happy to help especially since this is our last lesson."
Harry seemed to be looking back and forth between the two of them.
"I am fine, just leave it."
"Hermione maybe just drop it." Harry tried to interrupt but Hermione didn't need to hear it. Ron was clearly struggling and she needed to help him.
"No, tonight let us help you."
"No." Ron snapped, a few heads turned to look at the trio and Professor McGonagall began to make her way over to the group. Hermione felt heat flush her face. She had tried to be helpful and he had been rude to her so that was it. Turning back to her work Hermione tried to focus on the spell. When Mcgonagall came over to them and asked if everything was alright her question was met with an awkward silence until Harry finally answered.
"Yes Professor, just a disagreement about the work. All sorted now."