I wake up at my usual time of 6:30 and head down to the lake for my morning run. I knew the importance of being physically fit, and after years of playing sports, a morning run was quite refreshing. It was still odd to be in this body that is more athletic than I ever was in my previous life. I can run faster and longer, which makes me slightly resent how lazy I was in my previous life. As I'm running around the lake, I can't help but use this time to think about potential spells that would be useful to make. I had recently dabbled into conjuration, which has been by far the easiest aspect of transfiguration for me to learn. I'm not quite at the point of conjuring walls quickly, but with time and focus it is definitely possible for me. However, I'm focusing on smaller object. One of my ideas is to learn to conjure something with a particular rune engraved inside that I could activate. This is definitely something I'm going to work on throughout the year. As far as my enchantment project, I'll need to practice engraving the rune sequence perfectly and finding the right base to carve into. I worked all summer to create a runic sequence and finally came up with something workable that needs testing. Creating a rune sequence is surprisingly a mix of language and art which makes it quite challenging. In a way, I'd relate it to learning how to write Mandarin coming from native English. One part of the sequence is figuring out how to craft the sentence, the best way to think about it would be breaking down a sentence based on the nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Then you have to find the proper sequence to frame the sentence. The truly tricky part is creating a symbol that represents other aspects of a sentence. Following the sentence metaphor, it's similar to trying to back into which adverbs, pronouns, and prepositions from the verb, noun, and adjectives. It proves to be quite a challenge with trial and error. However after a couple months of messing around, I believe I've found the proper formula.

After my run and a quick shower, I head down to breakfast. On my way I catch up with a couple housemates and make small talk walking through the halls. Now that the students in my class are getting older, it has become a lot more tolerable to be around them. For the past couple years, I've mostly interacted with older students because they are easier to socialize with. The 11-13 year olds had far more energy than I did and far less focus. It made it quite difficult to spend a significant amount of time with any of them. However that seemed to be changing now, with many of the other students calming down with age. I split off from the group I came with once we get to the great hall and make my way to a private corner for breakfast. I brought this years DADA book out and started reading because it was the first class of the day. Since DADA had a rotating teacher, it is the only class that has a booklist that regularly changes. I had bought the upper level books for the other subjects back in my first year, but this year had a book I'd never read for DADA. As I'm reading, I feel someone approach the opposite side of the table, so I look up to see Tonks again.

"Morning Tonks, did you need anything?" I ask as she sits down. She shakes her head and says, "Wotcher! Nope, I created a list of spells that I think would be useful for our dueling practice" as she hands me a piece of paper.

I glance down and see a bunch of OWL spells with a couple NEWT spells thrown in. There's nothing I don't know, but if she thinks these are the limitations of our practice then I should point it out.

"I know all of these spells Tonks, but I'd like to train combat rather than dueling. Are you interested?"

She seems confused and shocked, "what do you mean combat? And you seriously know all these spells?" She asks doubtfully.

To be fair it makes sense that she wouldn't think I could do these spells because I haven't publicly shown how advanced I was. However, I felt this year was the time to come out of my shell a bit.

"I can do all these spells.. and more. By combat I mean limited restrictions when we fight. I believe it will be good practice for when you're an auror. Criminals don't follow the rules after all."

She takes a second to think about it but agrees in the end. After a few seconds of silence I ask, "anything else?"

She seems a bit unsure but asks anyway, "how advanced are you?"

"I could probably pass my NEWTs now if I had to" I shrug

She gives me a stare that freaks me out a bit and I'm forced to remember she's a black so batshit crazy is a very real possibility. After a while she just shrugs it off and says, "okay, then I'll see you on Saturday" as she gets up and heads to the Hufflepuff table.

I'm about to turn back to my book when I'm surprisingly interrupted again by a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see someone I didn't think would approach me but I'm glad he came up to me.

"Hi… I'm Neville.. Neville Longbottom"

He's definitely shy, but not the level of movies or books which is promising. So I give him a smile and say, "Hey Neville, nice to meet you. What's up?"

He shuffles around his robes for a second before he yanks out a letter. He slowly hands it to me and is about to turn away when I wave him over to take a seat. I can hear some whispering as I open the letter to read it in front of Neville. I'm shocked to see it is from Augusta Longbottom, but I figured it would be from her once Neville pulled out a letter. I couldn't think of a reason for her to contact me, but it turns out that it's an invitation to spend winter break at the Longbottoms. I turn to Neville who seems to be far more nervous now. "Neville, does your grandmother expect a written response or can I tell you my answer and you pass the message?"

He seems a bit unsure, but eventually says, "She won't be offended either way if that's what you're asking."

Understanding what he was saying, I tuck away the letter and say, "I'd love to join you for winter holidays, please let your grandmother know that I'll join you until Boxing Day, but will have to leave for New Years."

It's pretty clear that he had no idea what was on the letter and was quite shocked by the topic of the conversation. He's silent for a moment before giving me a nod. As he moves to get up, I make him pause by saying, "Thanks, if you need any help let me know. I know our mothers were friends, so I don't mind at all."

At the last sentence, he sharply turns towards me, "were they really?" And I answer, "Yes, they were in Gryffindor together and by all appearances they were best friends."

"How come I've never heard that?" He asks

"My mother unfortunately passed away giving birth to me before her seventh year of Hogwarts. I'm not too sure the situation at the time but I'm sure your mother was devastated."

"I'm sorry" he says softly.

I had decided to help the Longbottoms but I'm slightly more invested in finding a solution now. But I can tell this conversation is dying and classes are about to start so I start to get up and say, "Neville, I've got to go, but don't forget if you need any help to ask me."

He smiles gratefully and says a quick thanks. As he's heading off, I quickly hand him a piece of paper that I scribbled while we were talking that says:

The entrance to the kitchen is behind the portrait of a bowl of fruit and to get in you tickle the pear

I chose to give him a little gift for his invitation for winter holidays. I'm sure he'll be grateful for a way to sneak snacks, anybody would.

As I'm walking towards the DADA class, I can't help but think of the Marauders Map. I had looked for it in Filch's office my first year but couldn't find it. I'm not even sure the marauders were a thing in this universe, but Fred and George might have found it somehow. They are amazing at getting around and tracking people, but I'm not sure if they have it or if that's natural skill. It is definitely possible that I missed it in Filch's office because that place is a mess and I didn't want to move everything around. Unfortunately for me it seems that I won't be getting my hands on that artifact.

I enter the class and find a seat in back like I usually do so I can work independently. There's already a few students around, but I notice James Potter glancing my way every few seconds. He definitely remembers Lily, but he doesn't look proud, scared, or guilty, just a little sad. That makes sense so I'll just leave it for now, hopefully he won't be weird.

As the class gets going, I realize that we won't be covering anything interesting and zone the professor out for the rest of class. I was thinking of approaching him after class to ask questions about my mother, but that might be a little forward for the first day. However, as I was packing up my things I hear, "Mr. Evans, please stay after."

Of course I'm curious to see where this goes so I sit back down and wait for everyone to file out. After everyone is gone, it's quiet for a few moments then he whips his wand out and casts Muffliato. My wand slid into my hand when he whipped his out but I had returned it to my hostler once I saw what he was doing. Unfortunately, I don't think my action went completely unnoticed. He gives a small nod in acknowledgment, but puts on a big smile and says, "Hi Harry, may I call you Harry?" After I give a nod he continues, "I noticed you weren't paying much attention in class today" he pauses waiting for a reply but I don't offer anything in response. He continues on, "I have heard you are quite skilled for your age, was the topic today not a challenge for you?" I smile back at him and say, "Today's lesson was good professor, but I have previously studied the topic."

He seems glad with my response and chuckles, "I remember your mother saying something similar."

He immediately lost his smile after mentioning my mother, but since he brought it up, I might as well fish for a little information. "Did you know her well professor?"

He's clearly struggling to come up with a reply but eventually says, "yes, we were the same year in Gryffindor. I knew her quite well.."

"Really professor, can you tell me some stories?"

I butter him up a bit and listen to a story about a prank he played that she caught him as a prefect but once she found out who the targets were she helped him. Apparently they had hexed her friend Marlene and she felt they needed a stronger punishment. I let him reminisce even though I don't particularly care much for the anecdote. Eventually his story finishes and he seems to be in a better mood now that he's told his story.

Maybe it was reckless, but I've been wanting to know for years so I asked, "who do you think attacked her?"

He instantly closes off, I can tell my question shocks him. He stares a bit as if not really understanding the question before whispering, "you know?"

To that I'm pretty surprised, the other professors knew that I was aware. "Of course, but I would like details from someone closer to the situation. My understanding is that I'm the product of a rape, but my mother was obliviated and there was no investigation."

My honesty seems to hit him physically as he leans back against his chair. It takes a couple moments for him to react but eventually he says, "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened."

He seemed to be reluctantly hiding something, so I pushed one more time, "did you have any suspicions?"

Now I can tell he really doesn't know what to say. I'm sure he has some guesses, but I doubt he'd tell me. As far as he's concerned, he has no clue what I'd do. A fair assumption. He glances at me carefully before saying, "I had some suspicions but I voiced them and they were investigated. However nothing concrete was found." I wanted names, so I pushed one last time but I knew it was futile to even ask. "Who did you think?" And he quickly responds, "I won't make any accusations... Now back to the topic at hand. If your work stays Outstanding then you are free to study whatever you wish during class, however if your grades slip then I will make sure you pay attention during class. Understood Mr. Evans?" To which I give a quick nod. "Great, you're free to go to your next class, and here's a note for being late." I get up and snatch the paper from his outreached hand and move towards the door when I open it, James calls out to me, "don't do anything rash." Seemed completely unnecessary, but I guess from his view this conversation went quite poorly. I had learned that there were suspects and an investigation. Something to look into.

A/N: Alright here's another chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments and like/follow if you enjoy reading.