Conquering Magic
Chapter 6: Classes
Susan and I headed towards our first class of the day after finishing breakfast. It was Herbology, with our head of house Professor Pomona Sprout.
The greenhouses in Hogwarts were large and spacious and it was hot and humid inside. In greenhouse 2 our Herbology Professor greeted us jollily. "Welcome Hufflepuffs, Welcome Ravenclaws. Today will be your first lesson in the subject Herbology! Can any of you tell me what this plant is?" she said, holding up a pot with a strange plant inside. It had purple leaves that were shaped like a heart and bore little blue fruit.
Some of the students, me included, held up their hands, waiting to answer the Professor's question. In the end, Ernie, my roommate, was chosen to answer. "That's a Tickleberry! The fruits make you feel like you are being tickled when you eat them", the boy answered, excited that he was chosen to answer.
"Very good Mr. McMilan! Take five points for Hufflepuff" the teacher said, smiling at the Badger. "Now, today we will learn how to handle the Tickleberry and what its parts are used for. Please put on your Dragonhide gloves everyone!" Professor Sprout announced, launching us into our first Herbology lesson.
Professor Sprout was a kind and trusting woman and I planned for her to welcome my leadership of Hufflepuff with open arms. The easiest way to achieve that was by endearing myself to the teacher. Her thoughts revealed that her opinion of me was already good, because of my friendly nature. She seemed to have noticed my closeness with children of other houses and was happy about the inter-house friendships I built.
On my way to Charmes, I met with my Slytherin friends, as Hufflepuff and Slytherin shared this lesson. I introduced Susan to Daphne and Draco. They seemed to get along easily.
Draco's thoughts revealed that he was nice to Susan because of her background and his desire to establish himself as a very close friend of mine.
Daphne and Susan got along very well, just like I anticipated. Both of the girls were levelheaded and calm.
Although I still noticed the competitiveness Daphne had towards all of my female friends.
"Daphne, what do you use for your hair? It looks so healthy and shiny" I heard Susan ask, while I was conversing with Draco. Daphne's chest puffed up in pride as she answered the redhead. They would become friends quickly, I thought, while both of them talked excitedly about some girly topics.
Draco and I conversed about our houses on the way to Professor Flitwick's classroom. "Would never have guessed you to be in Hufflepuff, Harry" the blonde stated. "You seemed more like a Ravenclaw or Slytherin to me!", "Draco, building friendships is the most important to me. I thought that I had the best chance of building them in Hufflepuff, luckily the Sorting Hat respected my wish" I replied to the confused boy in a friendly tone.
"Hufflepuff is the best, if that is your goal. The hate between Slytherin and Gryffindor stops us from making friends in the rivaling house, not that I would want to befriend one of these apes" a superior look graced the boys face as he answered.
Charms was largely uneventful. Flitwick was a good teacher, but he did not have that much to teach me. At least until the fifth year, when magical theory became more important in his class. Until then, I would just have to accomplish all the spells after a few tries, to avoid any suspicion. I also felt silly flicking my Amaranth stick around, but it had to be done to keep up appearances.
Transfiguration was largely the same as Charms, although we weren't allowed to do magic until everyone understood the basic rules of transfiguration. Theory was more important in Transfiguration. I hoped that this class would prove to be interesting in time. Transfiguring my match into a needle was accomplished on the first try, because I wanted to impress McGonagall. The Transfiguration teacher was my ticket to the animagus transformation, so I planned to slowly show her my talent in Transfiguration.
Potions with the Ravenclaws was more bearable than I expected. Snape was still a slimy git, but he did not try to read my mind or embarrass me in front of the class. He probably noticed that I was friends with Draco, his godson, and therefore thought that I was different enough from my father. Me being a Hufflepuff probably further discouraged him from thinking that I was like his nemesis.
Snape's subject was probably the most challenging for me, as potions simply did not interest me that much. I was not untalented, of course, but I would never achieve the brilliance Daphne or Snape himself showed in the subject. I was not mad at that, because sooner or later one of the prodigies would be brewing my potions for me anyway. If Daphne's crush on me increased, it would probably be sooner, rather than later.
In the evening, I invited all of my friends to sit with me at the Hufflepuff table. Naturally, everyone joined, but the two Slytherins of my group were required to return to their own table when supper was served.
Before they left, we all talked and laughed together at the yellow and black table. During one of the conversations I asked Neville: "Have you ever heard of a plant called Mimbulus Mimbeltonia? I read about it yesterday and wanted to ask you about it, as you are our expert on plants!" my compliment caused the boy to turn bright red, but I still noticed the pride that was hidden in his eyes.
"Y-Yes Harry, it's a very rare plant. It produces a puss that is said to stink quite badly! Why are you suddenly interested?" the shy boy answered. I then told him that I wanted to use the puss in a potion, causing the boy to laugh heartily. "What is it Neville?" I said, not understanding what was so funny.
"The puss is not useful in potions, apart from making a stink potion maybe!" the herology enthusiast answered between laughs. This caused me to laugh as well.
The Potters obviously found a use of the puss in their ritual potion. This knowledge was hidden from the world. Knowing that my family discovered this, made me positive that the ritual really was something special.
"Hey Daphne, your family owns a dragon reserve in Wales, don't they?" I asked the pretty Slytherin after finishing my conversation with Neville. "Yes, Harry. You want to visit?" the girl responded cheekily, not expecting a positive answer. "Yes, please! Daphne, you are the best" I said, just as cheekily, but with a clear seriousness in my tone. This made the girl's eyes widen.
"You can't be serious! Do you know how dangerous it is? How do you even want to visit? The school year has just started, you can't just leave!" the girl shouted at me, clearly shocked by my willingness to visit the dragon reserve.
"Daphne" I whispered in her ear, causing her to shudder. "Please write to your father and help me visit the Dragon reserve" I continued, making the girl blush heavily. "If you do, I will even show you the secret passage I will use to leave the castle. It will be a secret between just you and me", this promise made the madly blushing girl nod eagerly.
"O-Okay Harry, I will make it happen. But remember what you promised!" the girl whispered shyly.
"I knew that I could count on you!"
Once the food appeared, everyone ate eagerly and my eyes roamed over the Gryffindor table, until I found two heads of identical bright red hair among the lions. Fred and George, and more importantly the map that the two possessed, were my target this evening. Today the Marauders Map will find itself back in the hands of its rightful owner, the son of Prongs!
I scanned their bodies with my magic sense, and noticed a rectangular bright red light in one of the twins' pockets. I was lucky, they had the map with them. If they had left it back in the Gryffindor dormitories, I would have needed to sneakily follow them and steal the map from there. This would have been more risky and a lot more work.
After the feast, I followed them as they were making their way out of the Great Hall.
Just when they were both distracted by talking to their friend Lee Jordan, I made my move. I summoned the piece of parchment towards me and immediately hid it in my robe. Fortunately no one noticed my thieving activities and I could leave for the Hufflepuff dorms without a problem.
On my way, I checked for any tracking or revealing charms the twins might have placed on it, but I found none.
Back in my room, I tapped the parchment with my stick and whispered "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!" This revealed Hogwarts and all of its inhabitants to me. I then scanned the map for any secret passages.
The perfect passage was behind a mirror on the fourth floor that led to Hogsmeade. As far as I knew, this passage had a cave-in, leading to a blockage. I hoped that Filch would not check the passage, because it did not lead anywhere.
After curfew, I donned my Invisibility cloak and made my way up to the fourth floor. I used the map to look for any ghosts or patrolling prefects and teachers.
I arrived at the fourth floor without a problem and headed to the spot I saw on the map. After tapping it three times with my stick, I whispered "Patefio". This made the mirror slide to the side, revealing the spacious passage to me.
After a short walk, I arrived in front of a massive wall of rubble that cut off the way. Finally, I had the opportunity to let my magic flow freely again!
It felt wonderful to let it rush through my whole body, it filled me with warmth and happiness to let it out again. After loosening my hold on my magic, the feeling of my presence changed. The air in my surroundings seemed to crackle with electricity and my presence felt more imposing and domineering. This aura could never belong to a normal eleven-year-old child, and because of that I decided to hide it through containing my magic within myself.
After enjoying the relishing feeling of my magic, I started to work on the wall. First, I tossed the stick into my pocket, as I did not need it. Then I reinforced the ceiling. Apart from just charming it to be more durable, I also conjured wood arches to supported it. Finally, it was time to move away the rubble. I reached out to it with my magic and pushed. This had the effect of blowing all the dirt and stone away from me, deeper into the passage. Apart from the rubble-filled floor, the passage was now open once more. After vanishing the stone and dirt that made the tunnel difficult to traverse, I reinforced the rest of the ceiling.
The tunnel led me to a ladder. Once I climbed it, I found myself on top of a hollow tree at the edge of Hogsmeade. I then placed a notice-me-not charm on the tree before going back to the castle.
Inside, I placed another notice-me-not charm and a few concealment charms on the mirror that served as the entrance to the secret passage. After admiring my work for a moment, I reigned my magic back in and made my way back to the dorm.
The next week passed quickly, and as I was sitting at the Hufflepuff table and ate my breakfast, Daphne approached me. The girl's long luscious hair was styled in a relaxed ponytail, very fitting for a lazy sunday. "Hi Harry, could we speak in private?" the girl asked, her blue eyes locking onto my own emerald ones. "Of course" I answered, already expecting what our private talk would be about.
After leaving the castle and making our way to the lake, we sat down in a secluded spot between a few trees. While looking at the large lake Daphne said: "My father's reply was delivered this morning. He said that he would be glad to arrange a tour of our reserve", "That's wonderful Daphne, thank you so much!" I replied with a smile, sensing that there was more that she did not reveal yet.
"It's alright. Well… my dad kind of, he kind of set a condition" the girl continued nervously. "I can't imagine that it will be something bad, Daphne. What is it?" I was intrigued. "My Father, Head of House Greengrass, asked you, the Potter Heir, to have a private meeting with him. Furthermore, he would like to show you the Dragon reserve himself, together with me, Lady Daphne Lysandra Greengrass!" the girl blurted out, obviously scared of my reaction.
"Well, that is certainly surprising. How does your father want to meet? He should know that we can't just leave school and go on vacation together!" I said laughing about the unexpectedness of the request.
This caused tears to well up in the girl's eyes. Noticing that I hurt her by being insensitive, I swiftly approached the girl and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I didn't mean to make make fun of you or hurt you, Daphne" I whispered soothingly. After a few minutes, I released the Slytherin, "Now tell me about your dad's plan".
Daphne revealed that her father planned to request a short leave from school for Daphne and me. If everything worked according to Mr. Greengrasse's plans, we would be able to visit the reserve for three days in the last week of September. The reason he would give for taking us away was unknown.
"Even though your Dad probably plans to talk about something boring, I am glad to be able to spend my first vacation ever with you Daphne!" I told the young witch while grinning. She blushed and smiled happily at that.