AN: Thank you to the reviewers! To the peanut gallery, got a problem with unfinished works? There is this nifty thing where such fics are marked as complete or authors promise update schedules, I am not one of those people. Sad day, pansies, sad day. And to the Snape haters…
Fanfiction is not canon. Is Snape a bad person? Yes. Is he sometimes more interesting to write as a character with depth? Also yes. Anyone who has a burning desire to rant about Snape, please go troll asshat commenters on YouTube who bully kids for making videos. I promise, it will be time better spent rather than telling anyone in the disabilities community about how shitty real life teachers can be; we know.
Chapter 3 - Simmer
Afterwards, the class went rather well. Having sat so far away from Hermione and between Harry —who had done this all before in class and during a test— and Parvati —who also cooked— their potions was next to perfect.
Snape couldn't even accuse him of cheating.
"What the hell?" Ron asked as they walked to History of Magic.
Harry shrugged, "Sorry, I figured no one would bother me in Snape's classroom."
"Aside from Snape," Ron replied flatly.
"He was at breakfast," Harry countered.
"You shouldn't be skipping meals," Hermione said.
"I've been mostly starved almost my entire life, Hermione. I promise you, one skipped breakfast isn't going to kill me."
Ron and Hermione came to an abrupt halt and she asked, "What?"
Harry winced, "Sorry, I'll shut up now."
He really needed to get a hold of himself. Ron and Hermione were the last people who deserved his ire.
"Those—" Ron snarled, catching up to him. "Pigs, starved you?"
Harry didn't answer.
"Harry, you have to tell Dumbledore," Hermione said
Harry had to close his eyes against the rage, and he was rather proud of himself when he found his voice before they got to the next classroom, "He knows, Hermione. He already knows."
She didn't try arguing with him after that.
Harry was beginning to wonder if the reason he was so angry, if the reason he felt like nobody understood him, was because he had never been open with anyone well enough for them to even begin to understand him.
Him, his past, the things that truly mattered to him…
And why they mattered.
He hadn't wanted to share everything he was ashamed of, even Mr. Weasley hadn't seen it. Probably, only Fred and George really had a clue how bad it was. Ron had been too young in second year, and perhaps had down played it too much.
Cho came around the corner, "Hi, Harry."
"Hi, Cho," Harry said without stopping, walking right past her to History of Magic.
Hermione elbowed him, but Harry didn't budge by even giving so much as a contrite look her way. Hermione let it go as the class started.
Like most people, Harry didn't like History of Magic, but he had just taken the test yesterday, and knowing what the questions would be, he flipped through his book, underlining headers that mattered.
Hermione seemed aghast at him 'ruining' a book, but the sixth year Potions book in his bag had given him an idea.
Anything Binns said that wasn't already in the book, he could write in the margins. Otherwise, he could highlight sections —well— circle, star, and underline, important sections.
It was a lazy way of taking notes, but it was easier to read along with Binns, who seemed to follow the text rather closely, than it was to try latching onto Binns, individual words.
Still, as this class was all reviewed, Harry found himself drawing in the margins.
Ron sat completely dejectedly beside him as he attempted and failed to take notes and not fall asleep in his sleep.
Once the class was released, Hermione chided, "Why are you writing in your book?"
"Because it's my book," Harry said. "I thought you would be pleased with my effort to pay attention."
She huffed, "You're acting so weird."
"Why is everyone looking at Harry?" Ron asked as a handful of girls giggled as they passed them.
"Harry got taller," Hermione said.
Harry sighed, "No, I haven't."
"Yeah, you have," Hermione said in turn. "I don't know how I didn't notice it this summer."
Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that.
"Why did you blow Cho off like that?" Ron asked.
"Because she wants to talk about Cedric," Harry said. "But instead she's acting like she's interested in me."
"She is interested in you," Hermione said.
"I'm not interested in the ex-girlfriend of the guy I helped get killed," Harry said, he was still rather mortified by Cho crying through their first kiss.
He was such an idiot, Hermione could say all she liked about the emotions of girls, but it was cruel of Cho to lead him on, compare him to Cedric, and use Harry's feelings for her and his guilt over Cedric against him.
"That's harsh," Ron said.
Harry shrugged.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked as they entered the Great Hall and he headed toward the other side of the room.
"To lunch," he answered, going to the Ravenclaw table.
No one was sitting beside Luna, which meant that he had a seat without asking anyone to move.
Hermione and Ron hesitated, and either they were worried about his temper or they were still mad at him because of Potions, but neither Hermione nor Ron followed him to the Ravenclaw table.
Parvati, oddly did, and took a seat beside her twin sister across from Harry.
Padma seemed surprised but pleased.
"How were your morning classes?" Harry asked Luna and Padma.
Luna shrugged, "Tired, bored. Umbridge isn't a good teacher."
Harry looked her over, and she did indeed have dark shadows under her eyes, but she seemed otherwise alright.
"Not too bad," Padma answered. "I'm already worried about my OWLs though."
Harry offered her a half smile, "Just don't fall behind in homework, the Professors basically have the revision assigned to us already, and getting too stressed about it is only going to make you do worse."
Padma blinked, "Wow, I think that's the most optimistic thing I've ever heard you say."
Harry gasped, "Me, optimism, perish the thought."
Luna giggled. A moment later, she reached into her bag, pulled out a grey-black ostrich feather quill then handed it to Harry.
"Oh that looks soft," Parvati said.
"It's a pig-latin quill," Luna said.
"Pig-latin?" Padma asked.
"For taking notes, it disguises whatever you are writing in pig-latin and basically is illegible that you can undo it later," Luna explained, looking at Harry. "Say if you want to write something for another class."
Harry grinned, "You are a genius."
"Do you have a book with you that you want disguise as the DADA book?" she asked. "I know the spell."
Harry let out a huge sigh of relief. Easiest way to ignore Umbridge? Do something actually productive. "You are my favourite person," he said, pulling his DADA book and his Transfiguration book out.
Luna smiled, pulling out her wand.
Padma and Parvati stared at them.
Parvati asked, "You don't think Umbridge is going to be that bad, do you?"
"She isn't teaching practical magic," Luna said.
"But it's Defence Against the Dark Arts," Padma said.
"And we got the ministry reject," Harry said. "I have a feeling she's going to fail me on purpose so I'm not doing any of her homework, at least not well."
"But your OWLs!" Padma exclaimed.
Harry shrugged, "I started learning OWLs level stuff in third year, and then NEWTs stuff last year for the Tournament. Besides, from what the Weasley twins said, half of the DA quiz is Magical Creatures material, so we aren't completely screwed."
"Will you help us study, closer to the exams, I mean?" Padma asked.
"Of course," Harry said, already having designs to teach them. "What electives are you taking, Luna?"
"Care of Magical Creatures, Runes, and Arthamancy," Luna said.
"I took the same and now I have regrets," Padma said.
"I'm glad I didn't take Runes," Parvati said.
"I dropped Divinations," Harry said.
"Wouldn't you have to take a third year class to replace it?" Padma asked.
"No, McGonagall and Flitwick are having me TA a few of their classes so my resume doesn't look too pitiful."
"Teacher Assistant?" Padma asked. "That sounds like a ton of work."
He shrugged, "I would rather be busy, I'm not exactly looking forward to the future at the moment."
Parvati and Padma winced.
Luna pushed some more food onto Harry's plate.
He gave her a mock glare, but stabbed a green something on his fork and ate it. Broccoli cooked in caramelised onions, very good.
Cho and her friends showed up then.
"Harry!" Cho greeted, excited, her friends giggling.
"Hi," Harry said more soberily.
"What are you doing here, I mean— not that you're not welcome, but—"
"Just eating with friends," Harry said, gesturing to Luna, Parvati, and Padma.
Luna slipped something into his pocket and Harry speared another broccoli eating it as he kept his gaze on Cho.
Not at all helping her out of her awkward ramblings.
Cho wasn't a mean person, and Harry was fully willing to be a shoulder to cry on about Cedric, but he didn't want to date her again.
Harry decided to screw with Slytherin Third Years;
By being nice to them.
Sitting on the Slytherin side of the room, Harry was struck by how much this group of kids had grown up over this school year. He was still shaky from time travelling and everything that had happened at the ministry that had happened less than forty-eight hours ago.
The Slytherin girl he sat beside kept giving him askance glances.
"And finally," Flitwick said after his traditional greeting. "This is Harry Potter, a fifth year student who will be your Charms Class Teaching Assistant. It is not his job to edit your papers or to do your homework for you. However, Mr. Potter will be a resource for you if you need direction in a research project, assistance in learning Charms outside of the curriculum, and further practising your assigned material. In this classroom, he has the power to grant and take away house points, so I would advise that this should not be the class you 'goof off' in."
Harry hadn't known that was true, but it seemed right that he could grant points to students who deserved it when someone like Malfoy had been able to for pointless reasons.
This is when Flitwick seemed to decide he would be putting Harry to work when the spelled chalk wrote out the banishing charm.
It was one of the hardest spells of third year, and when he caught Flitwick's gaze, eyes sparkling with amusement. Harry grinned, rising to his feet and spotting out who was the best and worst at the spell and who they were sitting next to.
From experience, he knew it was important that students struggle on their own before you offered help, it gave them time to try and time for him to establish what aspect of any given spell they were struggling most with. Harry gave it a good ten minutes of watching them struggle before stepping in.
The first person he approached was a pair arguing at the joint table of Ravenclaw and Slytherins.
They fell quiet when they noticed him.
Harry really hated the fear he saw on the Slytherin's face, the boy's face scrunched but his eyes wide.
"Try it again," Harry coaxed, keeping his voice kind.
The Slytherin boy swallowed hard but brandished his wand, casting it against the block of wood on the table.
Nothing happened, but a yellowish-red light that appeared and disappeared at the end of his wand.
"Your pronunciation is good," Harry said. "However, your motions are too tight. Think of it like a punch. If you start too tense, then a lot of your energy is just going back into your arm. You want to be loose until the last moment. A banishing charm shoots an object forward and then targeted. Like hitting a ball with a bat. When you perform this charm, you aren't just hitting the object, you're hitting this object toward something."
Harry had spoken loud enough, not to silence the entire room, but loud enough that anyone around them could hear.
The Slytherin boy blinked up at him, exchanged a look with the Ravenclaw boy, then performed the charm again.
The block of wood skidded along the desk. Not quite off it, but it was a definite improvement.
"Now you just have to believe it will work," Harry said moving onto a Ravenclaw girl across the room who looked as if she was about to cry from frustration.
And that's how the class went.
One enterprising Slytherin girl banished her block of wood at his head.
Catching sight of it out of the corner of his eyes, Harry spun, wand raised, "Wingardium leviosa," Harry cast the first year spell effortlessly, catching the block. A gasp sounded around the room. Then Harry cast the banishing charm, saying the words clearly and slowing down his wand work.
The block shot straight back toward the brown haired girl.
The charm being still active, he raised his wand at the last moment, pulling the block skyward before dropping the spell. It clattered harmlessly against the desk in front of the girl's stunned expression.
"Ten points to Slytherin," Harry said.
The girl's stunned expression shifted to something pleased and amused. She tipped her head in his direction, as if to say, Well played, Mr. Potter, well played.
Harry shook his head, turning back to the Ravenclaw boy he had been helping.
After class, Flitwick seemed to radiate pride and Harry found it difficult to not smile as wide as he wanted to.
Umbridge and the Minister had punished him for teaching and helping his classmates, it felt beyond good to be thanked for helping others. And Flitwick's pride felt much better than house points.
On Harry's way to DADA, Ron asked, "Where the hell were you?"
"I quit Divinations," Harry said.
Hermione smirked, "Smart."
"No, not smart," Ron said. "My mum would kill me if I quit a class. Especially as we bought the book already."
Hermione shrugged, "Now Harry has more time for studying."
"He already quit Quidditch," Ron muttered bitterly.
"Actually," Harry said, figuring he would get this out of the way. "I'm TAing for Flitwick's Third and Fourth year classes and for McGonagall's Fourth years."
Ron and Hermione came to an abrupt halt and they asked in unison, "What?"
Harry paused, "I'm a teacher assistant. When I asked what options I had instead of taking Divinations, they offered the position to me. I took it. Simple."
"Hogwarts doesn't have TAs," Ron said.
Harry shrugged, "I'm told it's rare but that it happens. There just aren't that many students who want to take on that much extra work."
Hermione ran through it in her head, "Wait, do you even have a free period?"
"Nope," he answered.
Hermione shook her head, "Harry, I wouldn't want to do that. You realise there are going to be a ton of students asking for your help?"
"Hermione, I know I don't have many friends, but I don't dislike people. I just hate being a sideshow freak. I don't mind people asking me for help with spells and I was specifically told my job is not to edit essays."
She blinked at him, deflating a bit, "Oh… I always thought you were, I don't know, sort of shy."
Harry shrugged, "I'm awkward."
She blinked, then asked, "What about your OWLs?"
"The OWLs are on all five years of curriculum, Hermione, helping others study is literally the easiest way to review," he answered.
"Um, easiest? You have to deal with little kids," Ron said.
Harry shrugged, "I like teaching. And maybe there aren't a ton of teacher positions in the magical world, but surely I could hire myself out as a private tutor or something. I'm trying things out for my future. You know, on the off chance I survive long enough to have a life post-Hogwarts."
Hermione and Ron exchanged a worry look and Harry decided he was not going to tell them about the prophecy.
At least, not until after exams.
When they continued to say nothing, Harry went ahead into the class, claiming a seat by the far back corner near the windows.
Which turned out to be on the Slytherin side of the room.
Harry sighed as Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini closed in around him, cutting Hermione and Ron off.
Hermione and Ron gave him panicked looks but Harry waved them off as he took out his Transfiguration book Luna had helped him spell to look like the DADA book. He loved the quill, it looked ridiculous.
Harry wasn't going to fall behind in any of his classes this year. He was going to get an O in everything if it killed him, he had literally no excuse not to and no shame at all about taking advantage of being a year old or knowing the answers on the exam.
Considering how many times he had been tortured and almost killed by terrorists, he felt fully entitled to the extra leg up.
"You're on the wrong side of the room," Nott sneered.
Harry looked up at him slowly, then looked at the other side of the room, then looked back at him and asked innocently, "Am I?"
Nott's eyes narrowed, "You're no Slytherin."
"And yet," Harry drawled. "Which one of us can speak to snakes?"
Nott's expression hardened, and he turned round in his seat as Umbridge entered the room.
Harry didn't greet Umbridge with the others, he kept his head down and didn't stop looking at his book and writing his essay while Hermione started her spat with the new teacher.
Dean spoke up, so did Parvati.
Harry remained silent along with the Slytherins. He kept his scarred hand below the table and considered getting a tattoo.
No one got detention, and he was pretty sure Umbridge was disappointed.
After class, Ron came up to him angrily, "What is wrong with you, mate? What happened? Why are you keeping so many secrets? And why are you—"
"I had a fucked up year, Ron," Harry cut him off. "And I'm done dancing to everyone else's tune."
"You let that toad—" Ron argued.
Harry scoffed, "Trust me when I say, Umbridge will get what's coming to her."
Ron gaped at him, at the severity of his tone.
Hermione squeaked, lowering her voice, she asked, "What are you going to do?"
He smiled at her, "Nothing you wouldn't."
Again he felt like a monster in the face of Hermione's hurt and confused expression that he had caused, but his scar was hurting, and he knew, knew he wouldn't be sleeping tonight.
So as tired as he was, and knowing that Voldemort wouldn't be allowing him any rest tonight, Harry didn't bother to take back his angry words.
He wouldn't be as ridiculous as he was last time around, but he also wasn't going to pretend to be remorseful for the things he could actually enjoy at Hogwarts.
TAing wasn't something Umbridge could take away from him, and for the first time ever, Harry felt like he had a way to prove himself and something to be proud of.
He was a good teacher, and every student, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin was going to learn that. He might not be the brightest, or the strongest, but he cared about people, and unlike the Dursleys, Snape, and Umbridge insisted on believing, he was far from stupid.
And maybe, just maybe, if Harry could win over enough of the Slytherins, Voldemort might find he had a lot less in common with this new generation of witches and wizards than he had in the old days.
Harry was walking to dinner when he remembered the note Luna had put in his pocket. He pulled it out and after reading it, his spirits lifted.
Astoria Greengrass sat down beside her sister at dinner, "You are never going to guess who's TAing my Charms class."
All of Daphne's friends Tracy Davis, Theodore Nott, and Blaise Zabini, looked up with interest.
Daphne raised a brow, "I didn't know there were any TAs."
"No one TAs," Theodore said. "It's extra homework and unpaid labour. There's no benefit to it."
"Well, we have a TA," Astonia said.
"Who?" Blaise asked.
"Harry Potter," she said.
"What!?" Draco Malfoy asked, leaning over to glare down the table. "But he's too stupid—"
"He's really good at Charms," Astoria said. "He's also nicer than I thought he would be."
"Potter isn't nice," Pansy said, who was also eavesdropping from down the table. "Least of all to Slytherins."
Astoria shrugged, "He was really nice to us."
"But you're a Slytherin," Draco said.
"He didn't treat us any differently from the Ravenclaws," Astonia said. "He even helped us get house points."
They all stared at her in silence.
"Potter hates Slytherins," Draco said finally.
"Or maybe he just hates you," Astonia said, before standing up and rejoining her friends.
AN: Whew, and yet we aren't even done with the first day of classes. Thoughts on the chapter, pelicans, or feedback, pretty please?