Sorry about the length of this chapter I decided I wanted to have the first time the students met their teachers be described in the book. I will be skipping astronomy class. For most future chapters I will just have the classes mentioned in passing conversations or I will announce what they learned in the classes. I had one suggestion that I wanted to mention. Littleemberlou, I like the suggestion about having Voldemort trick someone. Hagrid is a good suggestion, but I think I will wait for the chamber of secrets to involve Hagrid. You have given me an idea for a way forward and will be using Voldemort to trick someone. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my story, this is my first attempt at fanfiction.

Important note: Due to Harry having lived with the Weasley's for several years he considers them to be his brothers and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are often referred to as mom and dad by Harry. When talking about Lily and James he says my Mother and Father.

Ahsoka

Chapter 5: Classes

Harry woke up early in the morning and sat in the common room with his occlumency book. He had just finished reading the book when Ginny and Hermione came down and asked how he slept. Harry responded saying "great. I woke up a little too early, so I decided to finish reading my book on occlumency. I guess I'm a little worried about our classes this morning." They went together to breakfast and found that they could either eat whatever was mass produced in front of them or they could request what they wanted, and it would appear on their plates. Most mornings Harry had asked Elizabeth to cook for him and Ginny at Potter Manor, so he was used to special ordering his meals. This morning he chose to request biscuits and gravy. While they ate breakfast Professor Flitwick came down and passed out their schedules. The three Ravenclaws looked at their schedules and were surprised to see that they had a break in between each class. If they had a class before lunch, lunch would be considered the break in between classes. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the Ravenclaws had Defense, Charms, and transfiguration. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they were to attend Potions, History of Magic, and Astronomy. Each of the classes on these days were 90 minutes. On Friday they would attend all six classes. These classes would last 45 minutes, and they would attend 2 classes before they had a break. On these days they would either review the material learned for the week or they would practice casting the spells that they had learned up to that point.

Their first class was defense with Professor Black. Harry sat at the front of the class with Ginny on one side and Hermione on the other. Professor Black started the class by asking them to either call him Professor or Sirius. Sirius hated to be reminded of the family that he was born into. Harry smiled at his godfather and Sirius winked at him. He had brought a box with him and asked each of the students to come up to the front of the class as he called them and grab a wand holster. When he called Harry and Ginny, they explained that they already had one. Sirius explained that each of these holsters were a gift from him for his students and said that they would help them to draw their wand quicker when they needed to use them and that they would give the students an advantage if they ever faced another wizard in a situation where they would have to fight. "For most of the year I will be teaching you defensive spells/skills. The first half of class you will either take notes on the material that you read or the material that I have on the board. During the second half of the class, you will be paired with someone else and you will be casting the spells on each other." The person that you are paired with will be your partner for the rest of the year. Harry was paired with Ginny and Hermione was paired with Ron. Sirius continued "The first spell you will learn will be the disarming spell (expelliarmus). When cast properly the spell will cause the opponent's wand to fly out of their hand and propelled toward you. Please take the remaining 10 minutes of the study portion of the class to take notes on the chapter." To start the practical portion of the class Sirius asked for Harry to come to the front and stand in a stance with his wand pointing at Sirius. Sirius mumbled the spell and Harry's wand flew toward him. Sirius easily (almost lazily) caught Harry's wand and handed it back to him. Thank you, Harry please return to Ginny and start practicing the spell. By the end of the class, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were able to successfully cast the spell.

After that class they all went back to the Ravenclaw common room and the three of them discussed occlumency. Having finished the book about occlumency Harry and Ginny told Hermione that occlumency was the art of organizing and clearing their mind while also protecting their mind from external penetration. Harry and Ginny started organizing their thoughts and memories while Hermione took the time to read the book. At one point Ginny looked over and saw Harry shaking. She scooted closer to Harry and put her arm around him. She tried to comfort him saying "It's ok, I'm sitting here with you. You're not really there, you're sitting here with me and Hermione. After sorting their memories, Harry and Ginny found that they were able to think more clearly and multitask better. As they walked to charms class Ginny told Harry that she is always there for him and if he needs someone to talk to she would be happy to help him. Harry told her that he would talk to her later knowing that if he tells someone what he went through it will not bother him as much.

As they entered the charms classroom they saw Professor Flitwick already there levitating objects around the room, rearranging the room. Flitwick had the desks arranged in the back of the room with a large open space in-between the desks and the front of the classroom. Flitwick stood on a raised platform. "Today we are going to be learning the levitation charm. This class and transfiguration will help you in many similar ways. The biggest difference is that the spells in my class will allow you to change the attributes of objects while transfiguration will allow you to change the object itself. Due to their occlumency skills and their advanced reading of all of their textbooks the trio quickly learned and exhibited successful casts of the levitation charm. The speed at which they were successful earned each of them 10 points for Ravenclaw. Since the three of them finished the assigned material so quickly Hermione used the free class time to finish her occlumency book and Harry and Ginny used the time to finish sorting their thoughts and memories. Both Ginny and Harry used books and bookshelves for their thoughts and memories. Each bookshelf was labeled with the overarching summary of the memories/thoughts included in the shelves. By the end of the class period, only a few students were unable to successfully cast the spell. Those students were assigned homework assignments in which they were asked to practice the spell and be able to successfully cast it by the time they had their next class.

Back in the common room, Hermione sorted her memories and Ginny asked if Harry would like to talk about what was bothering him earlier. Harry nodded and began. "I've never told anyone else before, but dad and McGonagall already know as they are the ones that found me. My relatives treated me awfully my entire life. McGonagall and dad found me in the cupboard under the stairs. There were several occasions where I went hungry because they would not feed me. They often treated the lack of food as a punishment. If I did eat it was usually whatever was left over and usually not more than a mouthful or two. My aunt and uncle knew that my cousin was beating me and often forced me to wear the clothes that he could no longer wear instead of spending money to buy me my own clothing." Ginny was shocked to hear all of this. "When I was shaking and you comforted me I was reliving one of the worst punishments that I had ever experienced. My aunt had cut my hair, and I didn't like how short it was I went to bed upset wishing that it was like it was before the haircut. My uncle gave me a beating and my aunt called me a freak and locked me in the cupboard for two days without food." Ginny had tears in her eyes and told Harry that she was sorry that he had to go through that. She told him "I will always be here for you. You can tell me anything that you need to talk about and I promise that I will keep anything that you tell me from everyone else. With that said, I think that you should talk with Flitwick about what happened to you after we go to transfiguration."

When the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor first years arrived, they did not see McGonagall. However, there was a cat sitting on the desk. Ron was the last person to enter and said, "of all of the professors here I never thought that McGonagall would ever be late for her class." The cat meowed angrily, and everyone looked at the cat. They were shocked to see the cat leap of the desk and land not as the cat but as Professor McGonagall. "For your information Mr. Weasley," Ron blushed as she said this, "I am never late to my classes." Ron apologized, "I'm sorry professor. I had no idea that you were an Animagus." McGonagall started her class saying, "Animagus transformations are the pinnacles of transfiguration. Usually only the strongest and brightest individuals become animagi. These people must also register with the ministry informing them of the animal that they transform into and the markings that identify them. Now to get back on topic, most of the material that you will learn in this class will involve changing one item into another item. By the time you graduate you should be able to transfigure not only inanimate objects and animals, but you should be able to transfigure yourselves and use it in battle. Today I would like for you to take the feather and turn it into a needle. Again, the three Ravenclaws earned 10 points each by becoming the first three students to hold up a fully transfigured needle.

Ginny and Harry quickly went to the Great Hall and approached Flitwick, before all of the other students arrived for dinner. "Harry shared with me earlier that he was often neglected and sometimes went days without eating. Is there anything that we can do to correct the malnourishment that he experienced while he was growing up with his relatives." Flitwick was shocked to hear what Ginny was saying and finally understood why Dumbledore was in such trouble with the ministry. Flitwick asked for them to meet him in his office after dinner and explain what happened to Harry as he was growing up. When they arrived in Flitwick's office, they saw him sitting at his desk looking at the wall angrily. "First off, Harry, I would like to apologize for your upbringing. We had no idea that you were living in the way that you were. We were told by Dumbledore that he had found a family for you to stay with. As for the malnutrition, we can take you to Madam Pomphrey in the hospital wing and she can help you with that. I would like for you to tell me what happened to you so that we can fix whatever problems may have occurred while you were living with your relatives." Harry told him the same thing that he had told Ginny earlier. Flitwick said that "Madam Pomphrey should definitely be able to help you, but I have a question to ask before we go. You mentioned that you got punished for regrowing your hair overnight. That is not usually something that can be done by just thinking about it. Most underage magic happens when you are angry or scared. Have you ever heard of metamorphmagi?" Ginny gasped. Harry nodded and told Professor Flitwick that when he was introduced to the magical world, he bought every book that he could while he was in Diagon Alley. He told him that he and Ginny had read most of the books that Harry had bought at that time, saying that the books he bought included almost everything except for the stuff that they learned at school. "A metamorphmagi is a person who can change their appearance at will," Harry started. "They can change their appearance to make themselves look like anyone. They can change any part of their body to complete the change, including making themselves taller or shorter." Flitwick told them that he would like a list of all of the material that they had read so that he could work with them on some of the things that they had learned. "Before we leave I would like to test whether or not you are a metamorphmagi. I would like for you to think about your hair and I would like for you to imagine it down to your shoulders." Harry did as he asked and as he thought about his hair lengthening his hair grew to that length. "What about the color and your scar?" Flitwick asked. Harry looked at Ginny with a grin on his face and she looked back with a mischievous look on her face. Harry would have to ask her about that later. He thought about Ginny and as he did he decided to mimic her hair color. The second he thought about the color change his hair change to the exact shade of red as Ginny's hair. He also found that although he could not completely remove his scar, he could make it more transparent and less visible. "Congratulations Harry, you are definitely a metamorphmagus. You have one of the rarest magical skills in the magical world." Flitwick definitely thought that they had spent enough time with their discussion and led Harry and Ginny to the Hospital Wing. Harry told Madam Pomphrey about what had happened to him, and she said that she could definitely help to fix his malnutrition and growth. She also told him that while she could provide him with a potion to help, he would have to take it for two weeks and would have to exercise for at least the two weeks. If he did not exercise, he would find that the added nutrients from the potion would cause him to gain more weight than just the amount that he was missing from the malnutrition. Ginny told him that she would be right there with him helping him along the way. They went back to the common room and spent the rest of the night reading about legillimency so that they could test each other's occlumency shields.

Ginny woke up at six the next morning and asked Elizabeth to wake Harry and give him the potion so that they could start their exercises. When they both appeared in jeans and a t-shirt Harry got an idea. He called Elizabeth and asked her to get him and Ginny some exercise material. Elizabeth brought Harry some exercise shorts and a sleeveless shirt in purple and brought Ginny some emerald-green leggings and a green sports bra and sleeveless shirt. They started their exercising on the grounds of Hogwarts and ran into Hagrid and Sirius during their run (at this point it is more of a fast walk/jog). They explained to the both of them that Harry was taking a potion that he needed to exercise with and would probably continue to exercise once he was finished taking the potion. Hagrid invited them to join him on Saturday after their quidditch lessons. Sirius told them that it is great to start the morning with exercise and told them that he would show them a room in the castle that would allow them to enhance their exercising. Knowing that the clothes that they were wearing were the only exercise material that they had he promised them that they would go shopping on Sunday. He also told them that the headmaster told the professors and would be telling the students at breakfast that they only had to wear their school robes during feasts. The rest of the time they could wear their school uniform or fancy muggle clothes to their classes. They would also go shopping for clothes on Sunday. Sirius knew that Ginny fancied wearing Emerald Green and Navy-Blue robes while Harry preferred to wear purple and red robes.

After breakfast they had potions and history of magic was after lunch. They picked up Hermione at breakfast and the three of them walked to the dungeon where potions was located. Due to the reputation that Professor Snape had with the older students, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny sat in the back of the classroom. Snape started the lesson by saying "many of you will do just as horrible as the rest of the students I have taught and will barely pass this class. I will attempt to teach you the potions that you will need to be able to function as an adult witch/wizard. If you are smart enough to keep up you will have the necessary skills to pass your wizarding tests, if not I will not coddle you by helping you to improve your grades. Harry raised his hand and said "Sir, you are putting most of us down and are disrespecting many of us before we have even brewed our first potion. Shouldn't you give us a chance before you start judging us?" Snape sneered at him and said, "I am the professor here, I will decide how to teach and talk to my students. You are just as arrogant as your father. I will be taking 10 points from Ravenclaw for cheek, and I expect you to not talk to me in that manner again. Today we will be brewing a potion to cure boils. If done correctly your potion will cure the boils, if it is done wrong, it will make the boils worse and a lot more painful. By the end of class, Hermione had the best potion in the class with Harry (despite Snape's attitude toward him) and Ginny had potions that were almost as good as Hermione's.

They ate a quick lunch and walked to the History of Magic classroom where Bill was already in the class putting his own touch on the classroom. He started the class by saying "due to the amount of Weasleys at the school I think that it would be most appropriate if you referred to me as Professor or Bill. This year I will be teaching you about many of the events from the past that you should know about. This will include historical events, past and present dark wizards, and relationships that our nation has had with other magical beings or creatures. I expect the things I teach you to help you to learn from the mistakes that many of our predecessors have made. My hope is that the stuff that I teach you will help to improve the relationships that we have with many of the other beings and creatures that you will meet. I am planning on starting with goblins. Goblins are proud beings and create most of the armor and jewelry that many of us use. They are also some of the most intelligent beings when it comes to matters of finance. There are many individuals who have become friends to the goblin nation, as a matter of fact, there are two of them in this room. I work for the goblins as a cursebreaker and due to my skill at cursebreaking I have become a friend to the nation. The other person in this room is Mr. Potter. When he gained access to both his and his parent's vault, he gave the goblins all of the goblin made objects that were stored in the vaults. They allowed him to become a friend of the nation because many of them believe that any items that they make and sell to us belong only to the person who bought it and expect it to be returned to the goblin from whom the witch or wizard bought the object from. For homework, I would like for each of you to think about what I said and how you could improve your relationship with the Goblins. Due to your previous actions, you are excused from this assignment Mr. Potter."

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny retired to the common room and the three of them discussed the classes over the last two days. They all agreed that they liked all the classes but think that Snape will make potions one of the hardest classes. Harry and Ginny told Hermione what had happened when they spoke with Flitwick and that they would continue to exercise after the two-week period. They invited her to join them, but Hermione was unsure at the moment if she wanted to join. Due to the lack of exercise in the wizarding world, Harry and Ginny would talk to Sirius over the weekend and see what they could do to add options to their exercises. That night Ginny and Harry both finished the legillimancy books and agreed to test each other during their free time on Thursday after History of Magic.