A Better Plan
by Roff
Chapter Four
On that next day, but a bit later in the evening, Harry went with his father, mother, and Sirius into the training room after Izzy had been put to bed for the night. Fleamont and Euphemia were already in their portraits waiting on them.
"So, tell me, young Harry, what wand did you end up with from Ollivander's?" asked Fleamont. "Ever sense you came back from Diagon Alley without one and wouldn't tell us what it was old Ollivander was having to make for you, I've been anxious to find out."
"I can't believe you kept that from your grandparents," added Euphemia scolding, but with a smile.
"You've both been very patient," Sirius told them like he was talking to children. "Now, Harry can share it with you and I bet you'll never guess the core."
Harry pulled out his new wand from his holster. He had grabbed another holster from the extras in the castle and moved his spare wand to his left arm. Both had charms so they could not be summoned or seen while he carries them in the wand holsters.
The wand was practically a work of art. Ollivander wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to take his time and make it special. While the wand was white, it had dark markings on it. Most of the markings were around the handle which was a little bigger than the rest of the wand.
"That's aspen!" his grandfather exclaimed. "The same wood as my wand."
Fleamont and James both gave each other a look seeing as that question was answered.
"I knew you would recognize the wood right away," said James. "What do you think the core is?"
"I would say phoenix feather but that would be like my wand, even though no two phoenixes or aspens are alike so it could still be a possibility."
"No, it's not phoenix feather, Grandpa," Harry told him.
Euphemia guessed gryphon talon, then gryphon feather and a few more, but neither one guessed what it actually was so Harry told them.
"It's a shard from the horn of a Horned Serpent."
The portraits looked confused.
"Mr. Ollivander said it was exceptionally powerful and that it was sensitive to Parseltongue," Harry added.
"Oh my!" said Euphemia.
"That's exactly what Ollivander said," James told them. "I told him Harry speaks Parseltongue. Since he's customizing a wand for him that works with a Parseltongue speaker, I felt he needed to know that. I also asked him to keep that information to himself since many had weird ideas about speaking Parseltongue simply because they know Voldemort speaks it. He agreed to keep that secret."
"That's good," said Fleamont. "Harry will get enough attention as it is just from being a Potter and the son of the defeaters of Voldemort. He'll be lucky if they don't set the bar too high for him."
"Of course, knowing my grandson," added Euphemia, "he'll simply surpass that bar and shock them all to their core."
King's Cross and Platform Nine and three quarters was packed when they arrived. There were people everywhere. Harry had his trunk shrunk and in his pocket. He had also told Hedwig to fly to the school whenever she felt like leaving and she would be able to find him there.
Harry was accompanied by Sirius, his parents, and his sister. Harry had a special trunk with many compartments and a large house in one of the compartments. It also had portrait frames keyed to Potter family members so they could come and go from the castle to his trunk space as needed.
They knew Harry was ahead of the other first years but wanted him to stay with his age group and make friends in addition to Neville. They would make sure he continued to study ahead to keep him from getting too bored. The most important part was his training. They knew Voldemort was not fully dead and would come back one day. They needed Harry to be ready when he did, even if just to get away. The more capable Harry can be, the better chance he will have.
No one would expect someone so young to be so good at fighting either. It would hopefully give him an advantage.
He already knew how to apparate. They were surprised when he did it accidentally one day. He was only nine years old when it happened. He was out running to get his exercise and improve his endurance. The young gryphon was running beside him like always and accidentally bumped Harry when they ran through a narrower gap between two trees.
The two of them had been through that gap many times before but the little gryphon was not so little anymore and Harry had grown some too, so Harry fell down when he was bumped by the much heavier gryphon and ended up spraining one of his ankles.
He had never had a sprained ankle before. He felt the sharp pain when he tried to stand on it, which made him panic, thinking something was very seriously wrong. Wanting desperately to get back to his parents so they could help him, he apparated straight to the kitchen where he fell in a heap to the floor.
His poor gryphon friend didn't know where his buddy Harry had disappeared off to, but eventually sensed him back at the castle. Harry later found the young gryphon waiting for him in the back garden.
Lily happened to be in the kitchen talking with Lucy when he appeared out of thin air. They explained it was just a sprain and what a sprain was, then fixed it right up for him. After that though, James and Lily looked to see if he could learn how to apparate on purpose. As it turned out, he learned pretty fast once he repeated his thought process from when he sprained his ankle.
Usually, children have to wait until they're sixteen or seventeen before learning how to apparate because they need the extra magic they get at that age and the better concentration that helps to prevent splinching.
Harry already had plenty of magic and his ability to focus on what he needs to do was second to none. He was particularly good at tense situations. Put him in a situation where he has to make quick decisions and fight his way out and you'll be surprised at how efficient and resourceful he is at doing that. While he does fine with learning and understanding the theory, he will simply shine with the practical.
When it was time to get on the train, James and Lily both whispered how proud they were to Harry in his ears as they hugged him and wished him a great first year. Sirius followed up by giving him a big godfather hug. Then Izzy got hers in.
She was very fond of her big brother who she liked to follow around when they were at home. She was going to miss her brother while he was at school. Lucy had already given him a hug before he left Potter Castle. They all watched as Harry climbed onto the train for his first ride to Hogwarts.
Harry looked for an empty compartment until he found one close to the end of the train. He entered and took his seat, ready for the trip to begin. It wasn't just a few minutes more before two dark-haired identical twins were at his door. They opened it and peeked in.
"Do you mind if we join you?" one of them asked. "We were wanting to sit together and most can't fit the both of us joining them. You're all alone so we were hoping it would be okay."
"Oh!" the other one said. "He's Harry Potter. Maybe he just wants to sit by himself?" she asked her twin.
"And maybe he doesn't," the other countered.
"I don't want to bother Harry Potter," she countered back.
"Pad, he has plenty of room and most everywhere else is full, except for some older kids who I don't want to even ask to sit with."
"Excuse me?" they heard him say.
They both turned their heads and looked right at Harry, their eyes widened as they both fell silent. He was standing now and inviting them in. Harry was wondering why he was such a big deal when it was his parents who offed Voldemort. He guessed the stories had taken on a life of their own and he was a big deal just because he's their son.
"Would you two care to join me?" he asked nicely.
They both nodded timidly.
"I'd be happy to take care of your trunks for you. May I?" he asked holding out a hand.
They nodded again.
"Come on in and have a seat, then I'll get your trunks situated in the overhead bin for you."
They quickly made their way into the compartment and sat on the bench opposite from the one Harry had been sitting. Harry whipped out his wand in a flash. The girls both noticed how white and fancy it looked. Suddenly both trunks floated up at the same time, easily gliding into the overhead bin above them. The girls watched him carefully, impressed with his use of magic and it was silent too.
After that was taken care of and his wand disappeared quickly back into its holster, he bent over from the waist and offered his hand to the twin on the left.
"How do you do? My name is –"
"Harry Potter! Yes, we know who you are already," she said quickly.
"Then you have me at a disadvantage. May I know your name?" he asked putting his hand out again.
"I'm Parvati Patil," she said placing her hand in Harry's as she remembered her manners. "It's nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine," he said then kissed the back of her hand.
"This is my sister, Padma Patil," she said gesturing with her other hand.
"It's indeed a pleasure, Miss Patil," Harry said, also kissing her hand.
"Please, just call me Padma," she insisted.
"And, you can call me Parvati," her sister added.
"In that case, feel free to call me Harry," he reciprocated. "Are you first years?" he asked.
They both nodded but then the door opened again suddenly and another student entered just as the train started moving. She was struggling to get her trunk up into the overhead bin. Harry saw her so turned to help.
"Allow me," he offered taking the other end and they lifted it easily into the overhead bin.
"Thank you," she said tiredly and sat down heavily on the bench where Harry had previously been sitting. "I'm usually not late but I barely made it before the train left. The Weasleys were running late too, but that's not unusual for them, so we all had to get on in a hurry. I looked completely out of place amongst all their ginger hair," she noted with a quick smile.
"Well, we're very glad you made it," Harry assured her.
"I'm Katie Bell, by the way. I take it the three of you are first years?" she asked.
"Yes, allow me to introduce you to Parvati and Padma Patil," Harry said gesturing to each of the twins as he said their names.
"Hi!" they both said at the exact same time.
Katie smiled as Harry stopped in front of her.
"And, I'm –"
"Oh my!" Katie said as she sat up straighter and gave Harry her hand.
"—Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Bell. I'm guessing you're a second year?"
"Yes, I am, but you can all call me Katie."
The other three insisted on first names too as Harry sat back down again on the same bench as Katie.
"You know, Harry," started Parvati, "you don't look anything like how you were described."
"Described where?" he asked as he knew the pictures they took of himself when he visited Diagon Alley with Sirius were not allowed to be printed. Only the ones of Sirius were allowed.
"The Daily Prophet, of course," she answered.
"Oh, you mean that ridiculous paper that only wants to sell itself whether they report facts or not?"
"They had you wearing glasses in the paper," Katie said.
"I understand they went with me taking after my dad but having my mum's eyes which was a really good guess. Dad wears glasses, but Mum doesn't. I may look a lot like my dad in the face, but I not only received my mum's eye color but her perfect eyesight too. I don't need glasses."
"That's good," Katie replied then looked over at the twins. "The last thing he needs to do is cover those babies up, right girls?"
They both agreed as they nodded and smiled at Katie. Harry, other than a slight smile, pretended he didn't hear a thing and continued on like nothing was said.
A little later Neville joined them. He got on the train before Harry and had been sitting with some other first years getting to know them a bit before he decided to find his friend.
The rest of the trip they all got to know each other better. There were a few people who came by and looked in the window at Harry but for the most part they didn't interrupt. A couple of people did but Harry was nice to them and they moved on. They noticed though, that overall, while Harry was nice and spoke well, he tended to stay fairly quiet and not speak overly much. He didn't appear shy though or lack confidence, just quiet.
Neville, on the other hand was very outgoing and would talk to anyone. He was just a very friendly guy.
After they pulled into Hogsmeade station and received their instructions, they all left the train and made their way toward the castle. Hagrid was there calling for all the first years so Harry and Neville made their way over to the half-giant and introduced themselves.
Hagrid was happy to see them and promised to invite them over for tea soon. For now, though, he needed to get all the first years to the castle. He instructed them all to climb into the boats with no more than four to a boat. Harry and Neville, along with their two new twin Patil friends climbed into a boat together and rode across the lake to the castle while Katie took the carriages.
Soon they were instructed by Professor McGonagall about the houses and led into the castle so they could be sorted.
As expected, most eyes were on Harry when he entered the Great Hall. Then when he was called up to put on the sorting hat, many murmurings were heard. He tuned them all out though and paid attention to what the hat was saying.
"Ah! You are very interesting, Mr. Potter," Harry heard inside his head. "I could place you in any of the houses and you would do well. It's all right here in your head. I believe though, you would do best in Slytherin. It would be a great fit and you could go very far. I have no doubt about that."
The conversation was long between the two. People were wondering what was taking so long. The hat finally agreed with him though that Harry belonged in Gryffindor.
Harry knew Slytherin would have him showing his skills far too soon as he would be having to defend himself. Not to mention, he was well aware that Severus Snape was the head of Slytherin. Given the rivalry between Harry's father and Snape when they both attended Hogwarts, not to mention the falling out between Snape and his mother, he was not wanting to be under that man's thumb as head of house.
Harry was wanting to keep his true abilities a secret for a good while longer too, so it would be more of a surprise in his favor when he actually needed it.
The hat, of course, pointed out how that was very Slytherin of him.
Ravenclaw would be okay, but, while he was smart enough, his personality and outlook on life in general didn't fit very well with that house.
Hufflepuff was a house of loyalty and group support. Harry was more of a loner and not interested in being a pack member nor did he have a desire to be a pack leader.
Gryffindor, on the other hand, was a house of individuals and people not afraid to jump in on the deep end. Harry's personality, although quiet most of the time, was one that was fond of jumping in feet first given the opportunity. He had confidence he could handle whatever was thrown his way. Plus, both his parents were Gryffindors and it was expected that Harry Potter would be sorted there.
No need to rock the boat.
At least the two ginger-haired twins were happy he was joining their house.
"We got Potter! We got Potter," they were chanting over and over.
Harry found a seat next to Neville and Parvati. Padma had been sorted into Ravenclaw, while Katie was just a few seats down next to some kids he assumed were second years. She waved at him as he walked to find a seat. Then she had to explain to her friends how she ended up sharing a compartment on the train with Harry Potter after she boarded late. They had been wondering where she was.
The food was good and they finally ended up in the dorms after they were dismissed. Harry was sharing a room with four other boys – Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas. They were all nice enough but a bit talkative for Harry's taste. He was used to Neville so he assumed he would get accustomed to the others soon enough.
Harry was a smart child who liked to spend a good bit of time alone and learn new things. As he grew older, he much preferred peace and quiet and had grown accustomed to not talking unless necessary. He liked to observe people, study them, and figure them out. Often times, while he was part of a group discussion, he usually said very little and instead observed the others in the group. As long as he was not asked a direct question, then he was content to let everyone else do the talking.
Some of this came about because he was the only kid while growing up for a good while, at least until Izzy came along. Everyone else was an adult so he did more listening than talking. Of course, the biggest reason had more to do with his personality. That was just the way he was. He had no problem talking and sharing his thoughts if it's needed. He simply preferred to keep quiet most of the time.
His parents and grandparents had spent a good bit of time as he grew up training him on everything, including proper etiquette. They helped him to realize that there will be times when he would be required to speak so he needed to learn how to speak properly. Being a quiet person was perfectly okay they assured him, but one had to be careful and not appear rude or standoffish, they explained.
During all this training he found out that his grandmother, Euphemia, was a quiet person too. She also preferred to observe rather than to speak. She did eventually learn how to be sociable and appear as the nice person everyone knew her to be. She assured Harry, that if she could do it, then he could too.
So, Harry learned when speaking was necessary and when he could sit back and just observe. He saw so much when he did that. He could pretty much read people like a book. In fact, he often saw things other people missed. His observational skills were just tuned to a higher level and he was constantly improving them.
The next day, when Gryffindor entered History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs, Harry saw Susan Bones find a seat then went over to sit with her. Susan was very cute with auburn hair and blue eyes. He recognized her from the sorting and remembered what he was told about her.
His parents had explained how Amelia Bones brought Susan over quite a bit when the two of them were babies crawling around and how they both played together at the Godric's Hollow house.
"May I sit here?" asked Harry.
Susan gave a start seeing that Harry Potter wanted to sit next to her, but nodded just the same. She had been told by her aunt, once news came out about Harry being no longer in hiding, how she was a playmate of Harry Potter's when they were babies. She was still trying to get her head around that information and now Harry Potter from out of the blue wanted to sit next to her.
Some of the Gryffindors were wondering why Harry wanted to sit with the Hufflepuffs, but Harry knew that the majority of them were more interested in him due to his parents. The ones that weren't concerned were the ones he was more interested in getting to know. He hoped that fascination with his parents' deeds would fade with time as they grew accustomed to him being around.
There was a bushy-haired girl named Hermione Granger in Gryffindor that appeared to be very smart and helpful to others. She likely could be a good friend but that would have to wait. Today he wanted to reestablish contact with the Bones family and his playmate when he was just a baby so he sat down next to Susan Bones.
"Susan," he said turning to her, "since we played together as babies, I feel it my right to call you by your given name. Of course, you can feel free to call me Harry by the same token. Are we agreed?"
"Yes," she said timidly.
"Great!" replied Harry. "I believe we can be good friends if you're willing to give it a try. I would hate to know we were friends as babies but couldn't get along now."
"Thank you, Harry, and I believe we can be friends too. I just found out recently that we played together as babies so I've been thinking about it a lot lately and wondering how you've been doing. However, I didn't know if you knew so I wasn't going to push it," she said with a smile. "I didn't want you to think wrong of me."
"Well then, I'm glad we got that out of the way. Let's discuss more after class, shall we? I see that the ghost is ready to begin. From the look of him, I have a feeling it's not going to be very exciting."
Susan giggled and turned to pay attention to the see-through professor.
About five minutes later, they both turned and looked at each other, blinked their eyes, shook their heads, and smiled. Harry then reached into an inside pocket he had in his robes and pulled out a book that appeared too big to fit in that pocket. Susan leaned over to see what he was reading and was surprised it was an advanced book on defensive spells.
Taking a hint from Harry, she reached into her book bag and pulled out her History of Magic book. If the ghost was going to be this boring, making it difficult to stay awake, then she better read the text for herself to learn it. Many of the kids were outright sleeping with their heads down on their desks. The ghost didn't seem to notice, or even care for that matter. That Granger girl was the only one diligently taking notes.
After class was over, it was time for lunch so Harry walked with Susan toward the Great Hall, the both of them chatting the whole way. Well, Susan did most of the talking. When they arrived and Susan headed over to the Hufflepuff table, Harry just followed along and sat with her. The other Hufflepuffs were in shock that Harry Potter chose to sit with them, but he just ignored that and continued to talk to Susan.
Neville and Harry agreed before going to Hogwarts that they would both add some new friends once they got to school so while Harry was working the Hufflepuff angle with Susan, Neville was working on others in Gryffindor. He was currently talking to Ron Weasley who he sat with in class when Harry sat with Susan.
Hannah Abbot, a close friend of Susan's sitting on her other side, asked "How do you know Harry Potter?"
"Susan and I go way back," Harry answered for her loud enough for many to hear. "We've been friends since we were babies, after all."
"Really?" Hannah asked Susan.
Susan nodded. "We haven't seen each other in a very long time so we're trying to catch up," she explained.
After that, it was common to see Harry and Susan hanging out together whenever they got a chance. They had fallen into an easy comradery and enjoyed each other's company like two good friends would normally do.
There were still many in the school who wanted to be Harry's friend, but he saw right through their reasoning and refused to let them get any closer than a mere acquaintance. Harry refused to be used by anyone for their own gain, especially when it didn't benefit Harry at all. They didn't like it but there was nothing they could do about it.
Harry was impressing all of his teachers with his wand work and silent casting. He at first started to pretend he wasn't that far ahead but nixed that idea quickly. He didn't want to play games so he did his best and performed the spell on his first try in all his wand classes. He also did the extra and made the spell do even more than the basic everyone else was doing.
He was getting strange looks from some of the students, especially the Slytherins. His professors though were thrilled to have someone perform far above the norm. They kept asking him questions about where he learned so much but he was not forthcoming with the information, other than saying he just studied ahead.
When they wanted to start having him work ahead of the other students on more advanced spells, he declined. They were disappointed but he explained that he was still studying ahead on his own just like he has done in the past and already had a schedule worked out to do that while maintaining his classes with his fellow students. It helped him to stay focused, even though most classes were too easy.
It was most classes because he never really enjoyed Herbology or Astronomy, plus they never spent much time at home on those subjects. However, Neville and Susan were good at them so he relied on those two if he had a question. Neville was a natural in Herbology and Susan loved studying the stars. Of course, he helped them with the other subjects if they needed it.
The one class that did not go well was Potions. Harry was expecting Snape to be a little difficult, but the last thing he expected was for the professor to treat him as if he was his dad who only wanted to make the professor miserable. Harry was far ahead in Potions because his mother was great at it and he found it a very interesting subject to learn.
However, when Snape started in on Harry on the very first class with him, Harry simply packed up and left without a word. Snape was still insulting him as he was leaving but Harry refused to rise to the bait and left without speaking one word to the professor the entire time he was in his class.
Snape was insisting he come back and sit down since he had not dismissed him, but Harry just ignored him and left. Snape even threatened to have him expelled if he didn't come back and sit down, but Harry just smiled and continued on his way. He knew that wasn't going to happen.
His parents taught him better than to sit there and be abused by someone who was using their authority over them. Since Harry was already significantly farther ahead in Potions than his other classes, besides the wand classes (Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense), he felt no need to waste his time with someone like Snape.
The headmaster and his head of house saw differently though.