"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Harry with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class."

(C6 – PoA)

Transfer

When Transfiguration class had ended for lunch, instead of joining the crowd heading to the Great Hall for lunch, Harry turned around at the door at the last second.

He had been thinking in between everything during Transfiguration about Divination and what Professor McGonagall said about the integrity of the class and its teacher. He came to a decision but he knew he had to ask Professor McGonagall as she was his Head of House.

"Professor," he asked, walking up to her. "Can I talk to you about Divination?"

Professor McGonagall looked up at him surprised. "Of course, although I must remind you I know very little about Divination. I have always found it to be a rather woolly branch of magic."

"Well it's not entirely about Divination per se," said Harry. "But since this is just the first week could it be possible for me to change my elective."

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed. "You may be asking at the right time now but how do I know you likely won't goof off during the other class."

"Professor," gasped Harry.

"I'm not going to transfer you to another class just because you don't like it, especially with your report," she said.

"My report?" questioned Harry.

"As your head of house," she continued. "I am entitled to see the reports of all students under my care. You have maintained a steady score of 'Acceptable' in the last two years. Your poor results in Defence are understandable though, given the quality of instruction in recent years. Bloody useless Gilderoy was."

The last part was muttered quietly, but Harry heard it. He couldn't help but smile. No teacher liked Lockhart last year, but none ever said it.

"Your potions results are not bad," she continued. "But they're not great. They're better than what most of your classmates got though."

The woman's voice was sounding very angry now. Harry had a good feeling her anger was more directed at the greasy member of staff than his fellow students.

"Your other subjects though leave much to be desired," she said. "I can very much tell you can do great at them, but something is holding you back at getting great results. Why are you holding back, Mr. Potter? It appears to me you're trying to get the same result for everything."

Now Harry was scared. He knew exactly why he was holding back. There were two reasons.
One was because of his long-time instruction by the Dursley's to not do better than Dudley. He always tried to dumb himself down intentionally so he wouldn't be shoved into the Cupboard and be yelled at. But he also now realised the Dursley's wouldn't care about his results at Hogwarts.

The second reason was that he valued his friendship with Ron. Although he loved Ron like a brother the lad had a jealous streak a mile wide. He'd always felt that Ron hated him out shadowing him. Ron was highly ambitious to be the best at everything, despite making no effort. So Harry decided to make no effort.

He didn't want to tell Professor McGonagall any of this however, so he made up an excuse.

"I don't want to be a teacher's pet," he said quickly.

Professor McGonagall snorted. She would deny it all the way to her death though.

"Mr. Potter," she said pityingly. "Having great grades doesn't make you a teacher's pet. It makes you a hard worker. There was once a student here who deeply impressed me with his talents. He was one of the best students to grace these halls. He was brilliant at Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Herbology. Basically everything."

"But I am absolutely certain he was also responsible for giving me gray hair. He and his friends were notorious pranksters. His name was James Potter, your father. A great student, but not mine – or anyone elses – pet."

Harry couldn't help it. He laughed. He had heard a few stories of his parents, but he had no idea his dad was a notorious prankster.

"Maybe I should team up with the Weasley twins. I'd say that'd up the scales," laughed Harry.

"Don't even joke about that," scowled McGonagall. "I'm not ready for a heart attack."

Harry enjoyed this side to Professor McGonagall. She didn't seem like a full-time strict teacher anymore.

"What are my options for an alternative class?"

"Go to lunch Mr. Potter," she said. "I would like you to come to my classroom tonight after dinner at seven sharp. We'll talk then."

lIlIlIlIl

Harry spoke to Hermione after classes ended, asking to see her notes on Arithmancy.

He and Hermione sat in the Common Room for an hour looking over Arithmancy notes. She was delighted he was showing more interest in a more complicated subject. Ron just sat playing chess with Crookshanks who was beating him. He wasn't happy with Harry's decision to leave Divination and was giving him the silent treatment.

Harry was horribly confused at first with the number chart and the magical propriety of the significance of numbers. Hermione explained it easily though and he now had a deeper understanding of the subject.

So that night at seven sharp he entered Professor McGonagall's class and was introduced to Professor Vector. She was sharp and strict. She handed him a book titled Arithmancy! Number It!

"You have thirty minutes Mr. Potter to read the basics and some small advanced Arithmancy," she spoke crisply. "If you think you can handle my class I'll ask you some questions by then to test your competency at the subject. Me and Professor McGonagall will be next door having some tea."

And with that they were gone. Harry opened the book and started to read.

lIlIlIlIl

"Well Mr. Potter," Professor Vector said, stepping back into the room thirty minutes later with Professor McGonagall. "I take it you've ingested enough information since your book doesn't seem to be open. How about question time?"

Harry nodded.

"Very well," she sighed. "Tell me of the magical significance of five and how it can be correlated into a three graph."

Minerva McGonagall stood there smiling as Harry answered each and every question with his own words instead of repeating the book verbatim. He clearly had an excellent grasp on the subject.

"One more question for you," she said. "What is the magical significance of the number twenty seven."

"Other than being your age," said Harry with a winning smile, sending both women into shock.

Septima Vector only listened half heartedly as Harry spoke at length but Minerva noticed the lady was blushing. She chuckled in her mind. Harry clearly had his father's charming charisma. There was no way Septima would let the boy out of her sight now.

"Well Mr. Potter," she said. "I am impressed. Be in my class during your Divination period from here on out."

"Thank you," said Harry. "I promise I will do my best in your class. It was lovely to meet you."

Before he left he turned to look at Professor McGonagall. "Your Majesty," he said, giving her a curtsy and a bow.

"He's a sweet boy," said Septima.

"Charismatic would be the word I would describe," said Minerva. "And I think it is my fault."

lIlIlIlIl

Harry made his way into the Arithmancy classroom with Hermione with a smile.

He wasn't sure how it happened, but he had become bolder and more charismatic since his talk with Professor McGonagall the other day. He also felt a need to do better in school. He believed McGonagall was correct. He was a lazy student, always wanting to just play Quidditch.

"You can't sit with me Harry," said Hermione. "We're teamed in two. I've already been paired with Padma Patil. Susan Bones doesn't have a partner, go sit with her."

"See you at the end of class," said Harry.

He made his way over to Susan.

"Hello Susan," he said smiling at her. "It seems we're now partners."

Susan looked up from her book to look at him.

"Hello Harry," she said kindly. "It's about time I had a partner."

"We'll be great together," he smiled at her, suddenly feeling butterflies in his stomach seeing her angelic kind face.

Harry found his first crush.

AN: I never liked Divination myself. Dumbledore has clearly only hired Trelawney to protect her. The woman is a drunken fraud and shouldn't be allowed children. Harry should have transferred out. Taking a class for an easy O is lazy. I despise Harry being a lazy student in the books, but then again, he's got no self-worth. I blame Dumbledore for that. Nearly every one of Harry's issues can be traced back to him.