My Way's the Fun Way
Chapter 7
-Harry-
Stepping out of the first-year boy's dormitory, Harry worked to hide his smirk. He'd been putting up wards around his four poster and trunk every night before bed, not trusting his 'Roommates' not to try anything. Given that Malfoy had tried breaking into his trunk that same night it was definitely warranted. The wards he could put up himself weren't the best, for now, but Deek's House Elf Magic was much more thorough and the little elf was a Prankster at heart, a true Potter.
Spotting Malfoy out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw that Malfoy's hair was the normal platinum blond and the prick was smug as he 'held court' among part of the first years. That meant Malfoy himself had most likely removed the color changing charm the wards inflicted him with, but Harry was positive Malfoy didn't have the skill to detect the second hidden trap in that curse. Moving past Malfoy to the exit, not wanting to risk his smirk slipping through and giving away the game, Harry noted one of the Carrow twins from his year fall into step beside him.
"Morning." He nodded, remaining polite as she hadn't done anything to him yet, "Flora right?"
"Yes, actually." His fellow first year blinked in surprise for only a moment before schooling her features and returning his nod as they exited the common room together. Slytherin's rarely travelled alone given how the other houses saw and treated them, whether deserved or not. And with Flora's twin currently being the one Malfoy was trying to rope into his 'court' he could see why she'd joined him. Breakfast waited for no one after all.
The two walked in comfortable silence until they reached the Great Hall, Harry nodded to Dean over at the Gryffindor table who was sitting with Seamus as usual, Susan and Justin over at Hufflepuff, and Hermione who was by herself at Ravenclaw. From what the bushy haired bookworm among his friends had said, a lot of those in Ravenclaw apparently didn't appreciate those who thought outside the norm. Sitting down at the Slytherin table, Flora taking a seat across from him, Harry pulled out the canister holding his new wand.
"I've noted you, Thomas, and Granger carrying those around for a while." Flora was eyeing the container with mild curiosity "What is it anyway?"
"It has my new wand inside as it soaks in the binding potion." Harry explained with a grin, "It should be good to come out today actually." He was eager to start trying out the Cherry wand, and to not have to rely on the Holly one.
"Is there an issue with your old one?" Flora tilted her head, eyeing the cylinder with curiosity "A bad match?"
"It made my scar ache." Harry's blunt statement had Flora actually flinch back at the implications, her shock rapidly masked behind a neutral expression as she nodded.
"I can see why you would require a new one then. Although who made it? I'm not aware of any bespoke wand makers in England."
"Hermione, Dean, and I actually made these ourselves." Harry grinned proudly "We had to get a bit of help for some parts but for the most part it was our own work. We're even thinking of going into business about it once we graduate if the wands work like we hope."
"Hoping to give Ollivander some competition, I see?" Flora's mouth twitched as she gave the barest hint of a smirk, "I must admit, I'm curious now. What sets your wand so apart from any other?"
"Besides what it's made of being a powerful combination according to Headmaster Dumbledore?" Harry grinned, "The wands Dean, Hermione, and I made have an extra ingredient." And hopefully it wouldn't be just a very expensive accessory to the wand, he'd feel quite silly if the goblin silver didn't actually do what they had theorized.
Checking the timer charm on the canister, Harry grinned and opened it, the potion having fully been absorbed by the wand leaving it completely dry as he took out the wand. The Professor had said the potion would often affect the color of the wood as it bound the wood and core and this time was no different. The Cherry wood, normally a light color, was now a dark, almost black, purple that stood out starkly against the gleaming Goblin silver.
"Oh my." Flora looked surprised at the unique appearance of his wand, Harry noting Hermione and Dean opening up their own over at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, "That is indeed quite the wand." As Flora spoke, Harry reached forward, wrapping his fingers around the handle of the wand that lay on the Slytherin table. A gentle breeze picked up from nowhere, ruffling his hair as he felt the thrum of power in the air. It knocked the breath out of his lungs as he processed the difference of how this wand felt compared to the one Ollivander had foisted on him.
"Now I really can't wait to see it in action." Flora's voice snapped him out of his daze as he looked her way, the doors to the great Hall opening as most of their fellow first year Slytherins made their way inside.
As he glanced their way, a draft was let in by someone else entering the Castle front doors that were right by the Great Hall ones. The draft hit Malfoy's whose hair all blew away in said breeze, leaving a shiny bald head behind as the platinum blond ponce let out a panicked screech which only served to draw more attention to the situation.
At the knowing look Flora gave him, amusement sparkling in her eyes, Harry just gave her an innocent grin.
-Snape-
"It's his fault! I know it is!" Draco insisted, pointing at Harry who was calmly sitting while clearly trying his best to tune out Draco's ranting as it kept getting higher and higher pitched.
"Draco, sit down." Severus finally had enough of the boys screeching, "We are just waiting for Madame Pomphrey and the Headmaster." Normally a matter like this would just be handled by himself but Draco had insisted that this was a personal attack, meaning the school's Headmaster and Medical professional had to be present for the interview of the two students. Thankfully, for his eardrums, they were both quick to arrive.
"Now, what seems to be the issue?" Albus asked, woefully unprepared for what was to come.
"THAT DAMNED POTTER DID THIS TO ME!" Draco screeched, pointing furiously at Harry who was giving his best innocent expression, "I demand that he be expelled!"
"Indoor voice young man!" Pomphrey scolded, putting up with none of Draco's shit as she began casting diagnostic charms, "Well, his hair definitely fell out because of magic."
"See?! See?!" Draco was triumphant but at least kept his voice down after the look Pomphrey gave him, "Now expel him!"
"She said your hair fell out through magic, not that I was the one who did it." Harry pointed out calmly, "And I don't appreciate such baseless accusations." A younger Severus would have been incensed at seeing a Potter make such a remark. Now he was just happy that at least someone from his first-year crop was showing proper Slytherin traits.
"You did this to me you-!" Draco's rant was cut off by Madame Pomphrey coughing.
"I just checked; it looks like it was a spell case by you yourself that caused this young man." Unimpressed Nurse is unimpressed.
"…What?" Draco gaped at that statement as Severus and Albus both cast their own diagnostic charms, confirming what Poppy had stated.
"Your own magic is the cause of your hair falling out. What on earth did you cast?" Poppy shook her head as she cast a few more spells to check.
"All I did was remove the hair color curse he put on me again!" Draco insisted, pointing at Harry once again, "He's the reason my hair fell out!"
"Hair color curse?" Albus raised a questioning eyebrow.
"My trunk and my bed have security charms on them." Harry explained, "Nothing dangerous, but along with preventing people from breaking in, they'll also change the hair color of anyone who tries so I know who attempted to do so. If Draco had his hair color changed by that then it means he tried breaking in to my bed in the middle of the night or my trunk, and then did something wrong when he tried to hide the evidence of his misdeed." Severus was positive there was something more but from what he could tell, every word Harry had stated was technically true. Draco paling at the mention of where the color charm was and the realization that he'd essentially admitted to his own infraction only helped further cement this.
"Is there anything else sir, or can I go to charms?" Harry gave an eager grin, "I finally have a new wand and I'm eager to try it out in class."
"You are dismissed, Mr. Potter." Albus nodded, "Mr. Malfoy, you stay behind. We need to have a talk about this situation." Harry hurriedly departed while Draco whimpered and declared that 'his father would hear about this'.
-Harry-
Grinning at both the excitement to use his new wand, and the satisfaction of Draco not noticing the second layer to the security charms where the color curse would trigger a hair loss jinx if not dispelled correctly, Harry entered the Charms classroom.
"Ah, there you are Mr. Potter." Professor Flitwick looked up as Harry entered, the other students looking at the door too "Is Mr. Malfoy not with you?"
"Headmaster Dumbledore asked him to stay behind to discuss things more." Harry shook his head as he approached his usual table, noting Flora was sitting in the chair that was usually empty, Susan Justin clearly unsure how to react to that.
"Well, go on and take a seat then. Today we will- oh my!" the Professor looked startled as Harry sat down and pulled out his new wand, the Goblin Silver gleaming, "The Headmaster had mentioned you getting a new wand, but I didn't expect that. I assume it's a much better fit?"
"I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it feels better." Harry nodded.
"Hmm, well we can't just leave things untested now can we, and I do find myself curious. Do you still have your old wand with you?" when he nodded, Flitwick cast a quick charm to pull out a dummy from their first lesson where he'd taught them the 'basic cast' to help them all get the feel of magic going through their wand "I'd rather make sure that new wand of yours is functional before we try any new spells on it. Please perform the basic cast with your old wand and then try it with the new one."
"Alright." Harry nodded with a grin, eager to try them out. Grasping the Holly wand with a wince at the, unfortunately familiar, pain in his scar, he cast the basic cast. It was about the same as most of his classmates, roughly the size of a gobstone and not that fast.
Pulling out his new Cherry wand, Harry performed the basic cast again and this time the ball of magic was roughly double the size and three times as fast as it impacted the dummy with greater force.
"Oh my!" the part Goblin professor clapped excitedly, "That is indeed a much better fit for you. And it seems to be in working order. Now class, today we'll be going over the Levitation Charm."
Walking into the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, he frowned when he noted Dean heading to the Gryffindor table but no sign of Hermione anywhere.
"Hey Dean, where's Hermione?" Harry called out to his Gryffindor friend.
"Upset stomach, she said she'd catch up once she escapes the bathroom." Dean grimaced at the bad timing of having such a thing happen on the feast day. Accepting that, and planning to drag her to see Madame Pomphrey if needed later, Harry went back to the Slytherin table, noting Draco was pointedly wearing his official Hogwarts pointed hat to hide his still bald head.
They were halfway through the first course of the feast when the doors to the Great Hall burst open, Quirrell running in panicked "Troll in the Dungeon!"