AN: New Chapter! And an important notice: most of the time scenes will be told three times, but sometimes the same scene, or series of scenes, will cut through the perspectives. i.e. the different Harrys.

DavidoDaVinci

Chapter 3: Lessons

As Harry walked down to the great hall, chatting with Cedric about Herbology, he did his best to ignore the whispered conversations arising in his wake.

"There he is!"

"Where?"

"Next to Cedric!"

"Did you see his scar?"

"Do you think he'd sign my hat?"

Cedric snorted as he watched a group of girls debating silently. The trend was to continue throughout the year. As he sat down at the Hufflepuff table for breakfast, he found Hannah already waiting.

"Morning." he said, helping himself to scrambled eggs.

"Have you tried the bacon? She asked him, one leg resting on the other as she laid back.

"Why? Should I?"

"Absolutely!" she exclaimed, pushing it over to him.

He had to admit, the bacon was really good.

Harry glanced around the Great Hall. He spotted Ron talking to Dean Thomas over at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, do you mind?" he asked Hannah, rotating his head towards Ron.

She shook her head. "I'll watch from a distance."

Walking over to the Gryffindor table, Harry counted half a dozen eyes per table following his movements.

"Hi, Ron."

Ron jumped. "Oh! Hey mate. Hufflepuff, eh?"

He spread his arms out, displaying his robes. "What do you think? Is yellow my colour?"

He surveyed him. "Whatever you say, Harry."

…

"Hi Harry." Padma said.

Harry jumped, nearly causing considerable damage to the sausage mountain he had accumulated on his plate. "When did you get here?"

"Last ten minutes. I must say, of all the mountains made of breakfast food I've seen in my time, that cracks the top eight."

Harry grinned at her. "Right behind the Heinz Beanz Hill?"

Ron managed to catch him as he walked off to his first lesson of the day.

"Hey, Harry!"

He whirled around. "Oh! Hi, Ron."

"How's life?"

"Alright, in a general sense," Harry replied, shrugging, "Now! Shoo!"

…

Harry sat down next to Draco.

"Hi." he said, stiffly.

"Morning!" Draco replied, cheerfully. "What's our first lesson?"

"Can't be bothered to check." Harry answered, truthfully. "We'll get to that when it comes to that."

Crabbe and Goyle were watching, stupidly as Draco and Harry interacted like friends. Draco glanced at them, and shrugged.

…

Had Harry been asked, he would have described his first few days at Hogwarts as 'good'. When lessons began to happen, it became clear that magic was a lot more complicated than saying 'Abra Cadabra' and taking a rabbit by the ears out of a hat every Wednesday.

One of Harry's first lessons, for instance, was Herbology, which was taught by the head of Hufflepuff house, Professor Sprout. In their first lesson, with the Gryffindors, they watched Devil's snare, a black, almost tentacle-like plant which would suffocate anyone unfortunate enough to fall into them to death, from a distance. Harry noticed throughout the lesson that Hermione was the one who consistently gave the answers to any questions posed by any professor, leading to an amassed 62 points to Gryffindor in the first day alone. Hannah had taken a liking to her, and Harry couldn't blame her.

"She knows an awful lot, doesn't she?" she asked him, on their way to lunch.

Harry was in a rather good mood going into their next lesson, History Of Magic, a feeling exacerbated by everyone else in the class. Their teacher was Professor Binns, the only ghost to teach at Hogwarts, who made an impressive entrance by floating through the blackboard in their first lesson. It quickly became apparent, however, that every lesson of this subject would consist of Binns talking about goblin rebellions, and that they would be expected to take notes.

The teacher was the only one unaware that half of the students were asleep.

…

Both Harry and Padma were glad when their first charms lesson was taught by a living, breathing human. Flitwick was short, and kind, and very good at his job. When he reached Harry's name in the register, he fell off the pile of assorted books he had used to make himself taller.

Professor McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor house, and deputy head. She taught Transfiguration, and was stricter than any teacher Harry had come across up to this point. She opened the lesson by turning the desk in front of her into a pig, and then, even more impressively, herself into a cat, and back. After writing a lot of notes, everyone was eager to get started, until they reached the first hurdle. Turning a match into a needle.

The class that everyone had been looking forward to the most was Defence Against the Dark Arts, however, it became clear very early on that lessons with Quirrel were… iffy, at best. His stutter had somehow become even worse since Harry last saw him, and he was now sporting a rather ridiculous lilac turban. The Weasley twins were set on telling anyone who would listen that it was filled with garlic, a self defence mechanism in case he ever ran into any vampires.

…

He laid back at the Slytherin table. His back ached. He wasn't really sure why.

"What do we have next?"

"Double Potions," Draco answered, pointedly. "With the Gryffindors."

Harry nodded. "Great. We'll be able to make soup with Ron."

Draco snorted.

Just then, a flurry of owls soared through the large windows at the end of the hall.

"Mail!" Draco exclaimed.

Not expecting anything, Harry returned to his food, only to be interrupted by Hedwig landing in his head, and sticking out her leg, on which lay a letter. Harry grabbed it.

Dear Harry,

I know you get Friday afternoons, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.

Hagrid.

Harry wrote his answer back immediately.