'This is all so strange,' Harry thought to himself while he looked around the long tables in between bites. It seemed that practically every action he took was enough to draw attention from people even across that hall. 'Surely they've seen boys before?'
As he swept his gaze around, he did in fact see a few faces of older boys that had previously been lost in the sea of girls. They all seemed to be chatting quite amicably with the girls around them, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Of course this disparity between the sexes would be something Harry wanted to learn more about but he didn't know the right questions to ask or even who.
Harry barely caught the headmaster's announcements for the start of the year because he was so focused on the fact that there were maybe a dozen or so boys in the entire castle. Looking down the table he was pretty sure there was only one other boy in Gryffindor and he was talking quite animatedly with some other girls, to his best guess it involved a sport that he was unfamiliar with.
It was almost otherworldly when he finished his dinner and started walking with the other Gryffindors up to their common room. That was when reality had to come back in.
Professor McGonagall was a stern woman who broached no nonsense, at least that was the impression that he got as he stood with the other first years. "Now then, here in Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. I expect that you treat each other with kindness and respect."
Then the older witch turned her attention solely to the girls. "And I will say this once, you are not to go up into the young lord's rooms."
Being young and unused to such intense glares from adults the girls just nodded quickly before being dismissed to bed.
Harry looked around the large room that the older boy named Oliver Wood brought him too. "It's not too bad, you get all this space to yourself, only downside is you have to redecorate every year since you move up a floor each year. Oh hey," walking over to pull a Quidditch poster from behind a bare dresser. "Thought I lost this years ago. Well I'll let you get to unpacking and setting up all your clothes and kits and stuff."
Blinking in confusion as he watched the older boy leave the room, Harry just turned to his trunk and pulled out the meager belongings that he owned, a few school uniforms, his books, and the worn out hand-me downs from Dudley. It took him all of two minutes to have everything put where it should go and that left a room so much more massive than his cupboard that he didn't know what to do but he did know that he needed to get some sleep and maybe in the morning he could try to figure things out.
Waking up in the most comfortable bed he'd ever slept in made him want to not get up but then he remembered where he was. Hurrying to get himself dressed he rushed out of his dorm in the hopes of seeing more of this amazing castle before his first class. Everything he passed by was so interesting but the next thing was always more so and that kept him moving around until he turned a corner and crashed right into another body, knocking him to the ground.
Rubbing his forehead he looked up to see a shocked looking pink haired witch. "Sorry about that," Harry muttered and moved to stand himself up when he was gripped by the arm and hoisted up.
"No it's my fault, I should have been paying more attention," the witch cringed out a quick apology.
"No really, I was the one running around and I shouldn't do that inside," Harry patted the dust off his robes. "I'm Harry Potter," holding out his hand.
"Course you are, everyone knows you?" the witch chuckled. "Tonks." Instead of getting a handshake she kissed his knuckles. An action that he still hadn't a clue why the girls were doing to him.
"Umm, I was just exploring the castle, it's so… incredible." Harry smiled up at the older witch. Who stared down at the young famous wizard before a sly look crossed her face.
"How about I show you something really cool?" Tonks started to grin when she saw the wizard's eyes widen.
"Yes please," Harry nodded happily and reached out to grab Tonks' hand. He failed to notice the reddening cheeks on her face as she stiffly led him down some corridors until they stopped by a portrait of a bowl of fruit.
"A-and you just tickle the pear," demonstrating what she meant, which was the password to get into the kitchens. "Now you can get a late night snack if you manage to sneak out and not get caught by the prefects."
Harry watched in amazement as the portrait moved out of the way like the one that guarded the entrance to his common room. Inside was a massive kitchen with hundreds of stoves and ovens all working to cook immense portions of food. But what caught his attention were the chefs. These little gray skinned, floppy eared creatures that barely came up to his knees. "Tonks, what are these?"
"These are house elves, they work in the castle to keep it clean and feed the students," proudly informing Harry about Hogwarts' unsung heroes.
Harry's eyes passed over the elves who were busy prepping the breakfast for the students when a pair scurried over and asked if the young lord was hungry. "Oh no, I can wait until breakfast, my friend was just showing me this wonderful place. You all really keep everyone here fed and the entire castle clean?"
"Yes my young lord," the elf nodded her head.
"Wow, that's really impressive and you all do such a great job, thank you," Harry quickly bowed respectfully to the elf who looked stunned at such a kind gesture. When the two left the kitchens Harry felt he had a better understanding of how the school ran itself. "Thanks Tonks for showing me this, it was really cool."
Tonks smiled down at Harry, "Not a problem little lord."
Harry pulled out his wand and cast the time keeping charm and was shocked to see they had spent so much time just wandering the castle that breakfast had already begun. Reaching out to grasp Tonks hand in his own, he pulled her along behind him. "We don't want to be late for breakfast Tonks," he worriedly said that they would miss their meal.
When they arrived into the Great Hall Harry sheepishly smiled to everyone staring at him and his new friend. "I have to go sit with the other Hufflepuffs, Harry," Tonks nervously said because she was on the receiving end of a number of glares from the other girls.
"Okay," Harry smiled and let go of her hand. "Thanks for showing me those wonderful things. We should go explore more parts of the castle again."
Tonks couldn't keep her features under control from the embarrassment of Harry making their excursion to the kitchen out to be like she had dragged him into a broom closet. "Yup, anything you want Harry, just gotta go. Like right now, bye," running to a far corner of the table.
Oblivious to how the other witches were reacting he was just happy that he had managed to make a friend so soon. He'd never had one before and Tonks was really nice and she knew so much about Hogwarts. After eating his breakfast Harry quickly thanked the table once the food was cleared off then took off after his classmates since they had the same schedule as him.
His classes so far were incredible, each lesson was new and interesting, and while he was certain that the magic being taught wasn't really going to impress anyone being that it was first year charms and transfiguration but for Harry this was proof beyond words that he truly found a place that he belonged.
And with how nice every witch in the castle was, Harry just felt so relieved.
But like all good things Harry knew something had to come up to bring him back to the real world.
Stepping into the cold, damp dungeons for potions was a bit unnerving to say the least. The classroom was dimly lit and despite all the space between the tables, it still managed to feel cramped with everyone huddled next to the bags and cauldrons. So it wasn't a surprise that everyone in the room jumped when the door slammed open and a tall, dark haired witch slunk into the room. "Put away your wands, there will be no silly wand waving in my classroom," Professor Snape commanded her students.
Harry quickly stowed his wand away and folded his hands neatly on the countertop. It would seem that this professor was not going to be as playful as the others had been. Her lecture about what she could teach them with her craft wowed him because that all sounded so incredible but also really difficult.
"Harry Potter, our new celebrity." Professor Snape said while giving him quite a sour look.
"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" quizzing the young boy who scrunched up his features in thought. It infuriated her that he would act so uncultured just to stand out for attention.
"I think that's the living dead potion ma'am," Harry answered after a moment, he had read quite a bit of his text books and this one he recalled but could not remember the name properly.
"There is no 'living dead potion' Mister Potter, and that will be five points from Gryffindor for mocking me," Severia hissed at the wizard. "The 'Draught of Living Death' is a powerful potion, once brewed properly will put someone into a coma like sleep, brewed improperly and it is no more than a poison."
Harry shrank back in his seat for getting the question wrong, he thought he did fairly well getting close to correct, considering this was his first time and he'd only gotten his books recently, but it seemed he had guessed wrong and this class was going to be very strict. But that just meant he should put in the effort to succeed.
The instructions on the board for the potion Professor Snape had given the class, Harry read through them carefully before even starting and by the end of the lesson even with a few mistakes he felt confident in the potion he produced. It didn't look that much different than the potions made by the other witches in the class. "Unsatisfactory," Professor Snape said to Harry as she looked over his potion.
Harry felt his heart drop, even as other girls gasped in shock. "I'm sorry professor, I'll study to do better next time," he replied to the criticism. He didn't think that this professor was going to be this tough on him, but considering that he was famous and from what the Sorting Hat had said, his mum was brilliant so the expectations that others had for him must be high.
"See that you do," Severia said shortly before dismissing her students. It burned at her that Lily's child, her son, would do well in potions. The craft that she shared the best memories with Lily, her only true friend in the world. For Harry Potter to be just as good as Lily had been when she first came to Hogwarts, both uninitiated in the world, the similarities caused a pain she had buried far down over the years.
Over the following days Harry found that if he put in the effort to study and practice the spells, he would get excellent grades and much positive feedback from the professors. He was a bit thankful that he had a room all to himself, there was no one else that his casting could annoy.