A/N: and here is another chapter. Thanks to HowInMadeHowie for another great work revising this chapter and telling me when i make a mistake.
After Dumbledore had welcomed all the students to the school, including telling them about the Forbidden Forest and the list on the office door of Filch, the caretaker, about the forbidden items inside the school he dismissed them so they could go up to their dorms.
Fred and George said jokingly that they had hoped that Dumbledore would have forgotten about the list, so they could prank the others with all they had with them. Harry wondered, if it was a conscious or unconscious move from them as they walked on each side of their sister, with Ron walking with Harry just behind them. Harry looked around and saw Luna hopping while walking behind one prefect of her house while asking her some questions that caused the older girl to look at her strangely. He hoped that she would make some friends in the house of the smart ones, while Harry walked up the stairs with the rest. The last thing he saw was that Parvati's twin sister was talking to the little blond girl, surely because she heard from her sister that she would need some help to find friends due to her special outlook of the world.
When they arrived in the common room, thanks to Percy telling them the new password, he then proceeded telling the new students where they should go to sleep and the different places inside the common room. He also explained how they could go to breakfast the next day and when they should arrive there, as the timetables for this year would be handed out there. Harry walked to the fireplace during these explanations, as he wanted to relax a bit before he would go to bed.
"Harry, I saved the password just in case you would forget it. Of course, I know this would be a small possibility, but better be safe than sorry. Also, John and Cortana wanted to tell you that they expected for you to show up again on the courses on the weekends, just to test out how your mutation would affect your times and that you would get used to the higher reflexes and strength. Oh, and I also told them about your medallion vibrating stronger this year when you are in presence of the two younger Weasleys, John wanted to let you know that he trusts you to handle it and report back anything suspicious behavior. Also, I just received confirmation that Dumbledore and McGonagall were informed about the mutation you took, just for your information if some problems would creep up. That is it about today's reports, so when you go to sleep I hope you will have a good night." Callie spoke to Harry thanks to the neural link that Harry had now besides his mutation. Harry thanked her and looked around if they were now alone. To his surprise McGonagall was also inside the common room, looking over the students and looking for someone. Harry lifted his hand in case she was looking for him, to which he was now sure off when she began to walk over to him.
"Good evening Mr. Potter. May I speak with you for a minute?" This sentence alone caused all the students present to become silent, Harry even noticed that Hermione and Ron together with Ginny looked afraid as if something bad was going to happen. Harry just nodded, knowing that he did nothing wrong but was still curious on what she wanted to talk with him about. So, he walked behind her out of the entrance that was hidden from a portrait of a fat lady as she was called from all the Gryffindor students. They then walked to her office, to which she opened the door and let Harry in, only to closing it behind him and apply a privacy charm on the door.
"Now, Harry please forgive me for my secrecy, but I guessed that not everybody needs to know what happened over the summer. As you may guess, Miss Yennefer told us what happened with you and your body. I just wanted to make sure that you keep it to yourself that your senses are more sensitive, and also when you play Quidditch, please keep it as fair as you have until now. But rest assured, we will also keep it to ourselves, by us I mean the headmaster and myself, the rest of the staff does not know that you have made the choice to mutate yourself sooner than we expected." McGonagall was looking at him with sorrow, as if she felt guilty for what Harry had to do to become strong enough to fight against Voldemort. But she also saw the reason in him taking this chance to avenge his parents, she just hoped that he did not forget to be a child first and foremost. Something that Harry almost immediately squashed down as he smiled at her like a grown up like man would, just like his father.
"Don't worry Professor. I was raised to give everything a fair chance, except if it is a fight between life and death. When that happens, I will use every advantage that I have, including my senses for smell and hearing to find my enemy. Now, if you allow it, I would like to return to the common room to calm my housemates down a bit as they will be worried why you wanted to talk with me this soon in my second year in this school." Harry bowed a little, showing his Head of House that he respected her and left her office, missing the small smile that was on the woman's lips as she pulled a small picture of a man and a woman out of a drawer.
"Ah, James and Lily, you would be so proud of your son. He does what he knows it's right and gives everything he has at his disposal. Even if you are no longer around to raise him, but those who did should be welcomed by your side when their time comes." She had a small tear fall from her eyes, looking at the two people moving in the picture and waving at her.
When Harry returned to the common room, he was almost bombarded with questions on what happened, and he had to almost shout that he wanted to go to bed now so they cleared a path for him. Something in his tone was demanding respect and doing what they were told. Some older female's students even waved their hands to cool their faces a bit.
Harry laid on his bed, ready to sleep after the long day and as the next day was a Wednesday, he would have to get up early and go for breakfast early to make it for the first class. As he still did not know how his timetables would pan out, he would just do like last year and hoped that he still had enough time to make it back to his dorm to gather the books. But he was wondering if Hermione would make the same mistake as last year and carry all the books down to the great hall. Soon after Neville and Ron arrived too, Ron walked to his bed and just fell on it. He mumbled something why school had to start the next day, but soon his snoring was heard through the room. Harry shook his head, as the redhead was still in his school robes.
Neville meanwhile just hoped that the first lesson tomorrow would be herbology, as this was his favorite subject of them all. It was also one of the few where he did not have to use his wand. Harry then remembered Neville was with Ron and Ginny getting new wands, he wondered if his new wand was much better fit. Although Harry didn't understand why Neville didn't buy a new wand before coming to Hogwarts, he asked Neville why they did that.
"Oh, that was my father's wand. Gran thought that I should show some respect for him by using it. This new wand is perfect, it feels like a wand should and thanks to that, my self-esteem also got a boost as I know that I will do better in the future. But I am a bit nervous on how much I have to adapt to it, as you sure know that now my magic will act differently. So hopefully, nothing will explode right in the first lesson." Neville was smiling at Harry, glad that someone was listening to him and wanted to help, as both boys laid down on their beds and drifted off to sleep.
When the sun rose once more over the horizon, hitting Harry with its rays with an accuracy like it was a sniper. With a small grunt, he sat up and took his glasses to see what time it was. It was still early, so he would make a small run through the grounds before he would go to breakfast. To his surprise, as soon he had his training clothes on after leaving the bathroom, Neville was also awake and put on some sturdy clothes, telling Harry after he noticed him that he would go to the greenhouses to see how the plants were faring. Harry nodded and told him not to get carried away before breakfast as he left the dorm and was going to the portrait hole across an empty common room. While walking through the castle, he noticed that even some portraits seemed to sleep through the castle before he would arrive at the main entrance to the castle. Just as he was about to open it, he heard his name called from up the stairs, as John came down for the same reason as Harry did.
While Harry and John were jogging in the grounds, Hermione also woke up and yawed a bit while stretching her arms. She liked these beds just like her dormmates did, but she was always an early riser. So, she walked over to the bathroom and took a morning shower before she put her school robes on and grabbing a book to read before breakfast would be served in the Great Hall. When she grabbed the book, she saw that it was one written by Lockhart, she frowned at it and just hoped that he was a good teacher. She then remembered that Triss would also be in the classrooms during the lessons, so maybe she could learn more from her then from him. That is, if he really would only make them read these books and not show them how he did those deeds. She begun to doubt it after she had read through those books twice and asked Luke if he could check those dates again if this really happened. He found out that some were off, but mostly they did line up. What he did not tell her though was, that Lockhart was always in another place, but he did tell this information to his sisters and Halsey for further investigation.
That was the reason why the black-haired sorceress was in the countryside, looking for an older wizard that according to the information that she gathered should live here somewhere, but they could not find the correct address. So, she walked through the small village looking at the people and compare them to the picture she held in her hand. She even had some help, as her sunglasses were connected via a satellite with Kalmiya back in Kear Mohen, who could see the people thanks to a small camera imbedded in the glasses. The rest worked just like Harry's glasses, they only looked different, but the help the AI gave her was appreciated. As she walked over the small-town square, she saw a little café and decided to take a small break. Maybe she even could get some additional information for her search, so she sat down and ordered some coffee and a croissant when the server came to ask her what she wanted. When her order arrived, Yen took the opportunity and asked the server if she knew the man from the picture.
"Ah yes, that is Mr. Lingley. A nice man always gives us a nice tip whenever he drinks coffee in this cafe. He lives just down the street in the old building over there." She pointed at an old brick building with a nice front garden behind the fence facing the street. Yen thanked her and asked if she would know when he would be home, to which she told the sorceress that he should be at home right now, as his car was parked outside. Yen wondered why a wizard needs a car, but she surmised that he had one to keep his heritage a secret as their laws demanded. Yen then paid for the coffee and left the small café and walked down the street, ignoring the young man whistling after her.
She soon arrived at the small house, seeing that the front garden was well taking care of and the wizard she was looking for sitting in a lawn chair. "Mr. Lingley, I presume. I hope I do not disturb you." Yen leaned on the fence, well knowing that her charm could help her greatly. The old wizard looked up from a book he was reading and smiled at her.
"No, my dear. How can I help you?" He laid the book on a small table next to his chair and stood up, walking over to the entrance to his property. He had a small wobble in his walk, as he was slightly overweight and rather short, but his smile was nice and giving the same impression as the server of the small café described him to Yen. But this smile did not affect Yen, as she would have questions for him and hoped that he could answer them.
"Well, Mr. Lingley I am here for a small magazine, and I am looking for interesting people to interview for a small article on Who is Who from the wizards who lives in the muggle world." With this sentence she told him that she knew what he was and that she came from the same society. Mr. Lingley looked up and down the street and opened the fence gate and invited her into his house. As she walked onto the property, she noticed that the house seemed to enlarge, so she surmised that there had to be some wards to make the house seem smaller to the nonmagical people in the village. She then noticed the runes on this side of the fence, so she would have to ask Dumbledore if she could ask Professor Babbling if she could explain this to her. Until then she would need to be patient and see what she could find out from her host.
While this was happening, Harry sat in the Great Hall and ate his breakfast after he had showered back up in the dorm after his run with John, who had pushed Harry to run faster than he would normally do this early in the day. But as he was not as tired as he thought, he told Callie that tomorrow she should tell him to pick up the pace while running to match today's time. Soon after that, Hermione, Parvati and Lavender also sat down at the table next to him and filled their plates. They soon were talking about what classes they could have today, when McGonagall walked up to them and gave them their timetables for this school year.
"Oh, look at that, today we have only Transfiguration, Herbology, History of Magic and Potions. So similar to last year. Oh boy, tomorrow will be fun when we are in Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts." Harry chuckled a bit when he noticed Parvati and Lavender looking at him with a questioning look. They all had the same view on the books from Lockhart and decided to wait for his class to see if he could back it up. Harry doubted it, but he was ready to be surprised.
During the first class, they were tested on their knowledge from the last year and if they had done their homework. Harry looked over to Ron, seeing that he was surprised but somehow relieved that he did it together with him, so he would not lose any points today. When McGonagall was by Hermione, she looked at the pile of paper in front of her and asked the girl if this all was her homework. Blushing, Hermione nodded and answered that she may have overdone it.
"May have overdone it is an understatement, Miss Granger. As glad I am that you take your studies seriously, if you write so much in your essay, we teachers have not enough time to grade it properly. This could lead to a poorer class in the future as we still have to prepare the next lesson. So please, condense your homework to what is needed. But don't misunderstand me, I still encourage you all to learn more then we tell you to do. After all, it is never wrong to be prepared." McGonagall looked at her with her stern gaze, but you could hear in her tone that she only meant well. Hermione nodded and looked down at her book, just a bit ashamed that she had not thought about it for herself. Harry meanwhile hoped that it would not hurt her too much, he may ask her later after dinner when they are doing their homework if she could help him to boost her self-esteem again. Looking then over to Neville, he was now certain that his new wand did boost his performance significantly as almost every spell they were tested on, after McGonagall took their homework to grade them, did succeed almost immediately. It seemed that, while he had his father's wand, he used to make the spell work somehow and as he has the perfect match for him, it was almost too easy for Neville to perform all the spells from first year. Even McGonagall was praising him, something she rarely did. Ron meanwhile was wondering how Neville did all that as he was so far behind by the end of their first year.
They soon were walking out to the grounds towards the greenhouses they had herbology in. When they arrived, they heard someone talking with Professor Sprout, trying to explain to her how she would have to cater for the different plants in her greenhouses. When those people came around the corner, they saw that Lockhart tried to make Sprout believe him how to handle a venomous tentacula the best.
"And I tell you, you should just bind those tentacles together so it can no longer move freely. Ah, hello to you all. I just was explaining to your teacher how to be safe in her profession." Lockhart was getting on her nerves, as she only told the students that they would go to the Greenhouse number two for today. As Harry was eager to get far away from Lockhart before he had the time to talk with Harry, he almost sprinted through the door together with Neville who seemed to know what was inside this Greenhouse. And all that Lockhart saw of them was a small cloud of dust.
When they were inside and in their gardening robes, Harry noticed that this class was together with Hufflepuff, and that Hannah Abbott was once again standing rather close to Neville. Harry just shrugged as he knew that the best place in this class was either next to Hermione, himself or Neville, as they would know how to make sure that nothing bad would happen. Soon, the professor stood in front of the class and begun to explain what they would do in this lesson, as they would replant some mandrakes.
"Well, who knows what a mandrake is?" Sprout asked and to no one's surprise, three hands were lifted, as Harry, Hermione and Neville knew what this plant was. The professor pointed at Neville, who answered.
"The Mandrake is a root plant that as a potion ingredient is used in to cure people who have been transfigured or curse. But the downside is that it cries when pulled out of the earth and its scream can kill you." Neville's confidence was showing and now everyone in this class would know that he was very good in herbology.
Sprout was happy that her prime student answered it correctly and gave him 10 points before she continued the lesson.
"Now, these mandrakes are still young, so their cries would not kill you. But you would be knocked out for some hours, and I am sure that no one wants to be out for the rest of the day in the hospital wing." She then pointed over to a basket with ear protection inside and told them to grab one and place it firmly over their ears. After she made sure that everyone had protected their ears, she showed them how to replant the mandrake before she would assign them to go at it for themselves.
Harry was worried a bit if these ear protections were enough for his sensitive hearing, but Callie was a step ahead of him and temporarily shut down his ability to hear. She then took over the role of "hearing" so Harry could still "hear" but through Callie.
Harry worked together with Hermione, Ron and a boy from Hufflepuff who introduced himself as Justin Finch Fletchley, while Neville helped Hannah, Susan and Ernie MacMillian to do their task.
Justin was not one to work quietly and was talking about himself to the three Gryffindors. "I must say, that Lockhart is quite something! I had no idea that Hogwarts gets celebrity teachers. Nothing against you, Harry, of course. I was up for Eton, you know? But when Professor McGonagall shows up at our home in Cambridge it was quite a shock."
Harry grunted at the mention of Lockhart, thanks to Callie he was able to understand what Justin was saying. "I would rather not be known for my fame Justin. I would prefer to be judged by my abilities, my character, and how I treat people. We have yet to see if Lockhart is what he claims to be."
Justin looked at Harry like he was stupid, but he did not care. After all they would see tomorrow how good Lockhart could teach.