Chapter 7: Surprise my Godbrother
This time of year was well known for new horror films being released, of which Holly had a healthy enjoyment of. It surprised her a little bit, as Percy led the first year Gryffindors to potions class, how remarkably similar the Hogwarts dungeons were to the castle dungeons she had seen in some of the movies. She supposed it made sense, as Hogwarts was built in the medieval era along with other castles in Great Britain that muggle filmmakers had access to for their inspiration. One thing that genuinely surprised her was that, for a magical castle, it was rather cold. Surely someone could enchant the dungeon to be a little warmer, so why hadn't they?
Holly's musings were cut short as they found themselves in front of a classroom door, which was open. Percy spoke up at that time, "this is where your potions class will be held this year. Now hurry inside, Professor Snape values promptness highly. I'll be back at the end of your class to take you to your next class."
At Percy's recommendation, the first year Gryffindors scurried inside. They were greeted by the sight of the Slytherin first years already seated on one side of the room. By process of elimination, the Gryffindors took the remaining seats on the right side of the room facing the chalkboard. The rows were two slate topped tables pushed together with four stools. With four per row, there was one seat left to fill after Holly, Dean, and Seamus took up seats on the second from the front row. With the empty seat being next to Holly, it only stood to Mr. Weasley's reasoning that the empty seat was for him, to which he acted accordingly and sat down. That left Neville with the option of sitting next to Hermione and the rest of the mean girls, of which Holly wasn't entirely sure they liked the prospect of that but they couldn't complain about it because there was nowhere else to sit.
The door to the potions classroom must have closed at one point because it slammed open again as Professor Snape barged into the room, stating, "there will be no silly wand waving or incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few who possess the predisposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."
His greased up hair, his billowing black robes, this tall, pale, lanky professor knew how to command the attention of his students. His black eyes swept the room, scanning all of the students. When he noticed Holly, Professor Snape tilted his head slightly, slightly confused by the undivided attention he was receiving from her. Here was Potter's brat and yet, aside from her eyes, resembled no other physical characteristics of her parents whatsoever. Even the eyes were of a more intense shade of electric green than her mother's intense green. It was the attentiveness that betrayed her as Lily's daughter, as Lily was exactly like her in that regard. She lived for soaking up information. Yet she also sat there confidently like her arrogant father. Holly, the professor mused, would be a mystery wrapped up in an enigma.
"Let us, therefore," Professor Snape continued, as he took his position behind his desk at the front, "commence with roll call. Afterwards, we will see who among you even deigned to open your textbooks before the term began. When I call your name, you will answer with a simple 'present sir' and nothing else."
Making his way down the list of students, which was mostly a formality as the only students who would be missing from any class would be excused by their head of house. Reaching the end of his list for this group of first years, Professor Snape looked up and began his pop quiz, "Longbottom!"
"S-sir?" Neville responded, his nerves betraying him.
"What plant is both used in making treacle fudge and the forgetfulness potion?"
Neville sat for a moment before answering, slightly distracted by Hermione's dancing in her seat and the raised hand she thrusted upwards, "Valerian, sir."
"Correct," the professor drawled, "clearly the Longbottom's still take pride in their craft. Greengrass!"
"Yes, sir," a blonde from the slytherin side of the room answered.
"Name me one ingredient from the 'Cure for Boils' potion."
Once again, Hermione's hand was stretched to the sky as the slytherin blonde answered, "Flobberworm mucus, sir."
"Correct, Miss Greengrass, you do your house a great service with your potions ingredient knowledge," Professor Snape all but heaped praise on the girl, "Very well, Granger, what is the purpose of Polyjuice Potion?"
Hermione came up short, swearing to herself that there was no mention of it in the first year potions text, "I don't remember that potion being covered in our textbook for this year."
"It's not," Professor Snape replied nonchalantly, "but seeing as how you have a propensity for trying to answer questions being asked to other people, I had assumed you had read all of the book already and therefore might have read ahead to other years. I take it that you have not then?"
"No, sir," Hermione answered timidly.
"It does not do well then to force people to recognize your intellect when showing it with your actions will speak much louder," Professor Snape lectured, "but I suppose that may be a more Slytherin trait than a lion can handle, isn't it?"
Hermione remained silent, face burning with embarrassment, as he continued, "Nevertheless, Miss Granger, I do believe you will focus more on the latter proposal from now on, won't you? Let's see now, Potter!"
Holly had been prepared for this moment, her godfather having informed her of his past with Professor Snape and how they'd both been gits to each other in their youth, "Yes, Sir!"
"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Lips curled in a slight smirk, Holly answered, "Draught of Living Death, Sir!"
"Where, Miss Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"
Smiling, Holly said, "Stomach of a goat, Sir!"
"Lastly, Miss Potter, what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"
"Don't you mean Aconite, Sir?"
"As I expected, Miss Potter, it seems your godfather seemed to impress the importance of this subject upon your mind," Professor Snape nodded, "However, five points from Gryffindor for your cheek."
And there it was, the infamous unfairness of Professor Snape lauded by all the older years in Gryffindor.
"Now then," Professor Snape moved on, walking up and down the aisle of the desks, "It would behoove you to pay attention to all of your potion classes, as I will not repeat myself. It would behoove you to take meticulous notes. And most of all, it would behoove you to pay attention to the instructions in your textbooks when we are brewing, as failure to follow simple instructions will result in disastrous results. Results which, at a minimum, will end up with a visit to the hospital wing. At a maximum, it could be the last mistake you ever make. Consider yourself warned."
The lesson proceeded as follows: instruction on proper potions equipment care and maintenance, proper ingredient preparation, why it was important to pay attention when stirring, what happens to the ingredients when you change directions when stirring. Some of this was advanced potioneering, which he told them as much and also informed the class as they progressed in their years at hogwarts these would be the sort of things that will make or break them as the only potions he accepts from his NEWT level students would either be of Outstanding level or or it would be graded as a troll.
At the end of the class, which had been two hours of nothing but notes and instructions on what to expect in the coming days and years, Professor Snape began his closing remarks for the day, "For those of you who may think I'm unfair or being incredibly harsh, know this: Potioneering is a very meticulous and exact branch of magic. Failure to follow instructions or know how ingredients interact and react to each other when modifying or creating new potions most times ends with your potion becoming inert. On occasion, it will erupt, covering you and your equipment in whatever it became at that moment. You could be out of commission for as little as a day or permanently and everything in between. Your magical core could become damaged permanently to where you can no longer perform anything magical. Your first five years in this class will teach you everything you need to know to safely brew anything found in a book but will not give you the knowledge to alter or create anything new and, as such, you will not be able to have a career as a Potioneer."
He moved about the classroom, looking at each student as he passed by, "Maybe I am unfair. Maybe I am harsh. I promise you that you will appreciate it later when I am not hovering over you and you have to do this on your own. Your homework is to write eighteen inches on everything that we covered in class today, to include specific details on equipment care and ingredient preparation but specific details about everything covered would not be a bad idea. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Professor," the class replied, some dreading the homework already.
As he sidled behind his desk at the front again, "Now, onto something a little more formal. Seeing as how I have the pleasure of being your first class for the term, there is a little something we need to cover. Each year has a house representative who is in charge of calling the room to attention when the Professor enters the room. As much as it pains me to include this, another duty of the class rep is to keep track of all of the homework your year has been assigned, on the off chance that someone might have forgotten what they've been assigned. You all have the week to decide who will be your house rep for your year. Whether you decide to do political posturing, which is unseemly behavior for children, or put it up to a vote amongst yourselves is of no concern to me. By this time next week, I want each house rep at the front of the room calling the room to attention when I enter, is that clear?"
"Yes, Professor," the room intoned.
"Very well then, class is dismissed," Professor Snape said as he exited the room, the whole class rising to their feet as he left.
As the class exited the room, Percy was standing there in the corridor, saying, "Gryffindors on me, let's go. We've got a bit of a hike to get you to History of Magic on time."
The journey to History of Magic didn't seem all that bad to Holly. She supposed that it was due to Percy making sure they had their book for the class when they went to grab their books for the morning. She'd make sure that she had all the books she needed for each segment of the day so that she could save time in the future. Before long, the Gryffindor first years were standing in the corridor outside of the classroom for History of Magic with the Ravenclaws.
Percy began his explanation once again, "This is the classroom for History of Magic. Lunch follows after this class so I will leave you to your devices to ensure you get to lunch on your own. Whether you decide to bring your books back to the dormitory is your choice, Lunch does last for an hour and you have a considerable amount of time before lunch starts when you get done with your class. Your flying class is out on the lawn of the castle on the way to the quidditch pitch but I shall show you where it is anyways. I will see you all at the end of lunch."
With that, Percy briskly walked down the hall towards the direction of his next class. It wasn't a few moments later that the door to the classroom opened and the first years filed in. The room was set up amphitheater style, with a dais front and center of the classroom. Taking their seats wherever, as it didn't seem to matter much in this classroom, Holly, Dean, and Seamus sat on one of the middle tiers of seats. As it happened, Mr. Longbottom also had picked this tier and was already seated there.
"Good Morning, Heir Longbottom," Holly greeted pleasantly, "would we be allowed to have the privilege of sitting next to you in this class?"
Neville was somewhat of a timid thing, almost seeming to be scared of his own shadow. At least, that was Holly's first impression of him. He stammered out, "Th-that's fine, H-heir P-Potter."
"Lovely," Holly said as she took a seat next to him, "by the way, I found out from my Dogfather yesterday that you're my godbrother?"
"Y-yeah," he stammered again, "we are. I-i was hoping to get to meet you finally."
"Well, Neville," Holly said, "I should think that if we're god siblings that we should at the very least be friends then, don't you?"
"I-i'd like that," Neville answered, smiling slightly.
"Terrific," Holly beamed, causing Neville to relax some more, "Neville, meet the mates."
"Hey Neville," Dean and Seamus said at the same time.
Holly scowled slightly at them, causing them to elaborate who they were, "Sorry, I'm Dean Thomas"
"Hello," Neville timidly said.
"And I'm Seamus Finnigan," he said, extending his hand out to Neville, who took it and shook it like a wet noodle, "Woah, mate, we're gonna have to work on that handshake. Just a firm one time thing is good enough."
After the handshake was worked out, Neville smiled a little and said, "S-so, how do you all think this class is going to go? I've heard it's taught by a ghost who just kind of drones on and on."
"They let a ghost teach?" Holly asked.
"I don't know if it's so much let him teach, rather Professor Binns died and his ghost just went to class the next day and continued teaching," Seamus explained.
"You'd think they'd have done something about it by now," Holly said looking at Dean, who just shrugged his shoulders.
It was then that Professor Binns rose up through the floor, "good morning, class."
The students rose to their feet, "good morning, Professor Binns."
"Very good, children," the professor replied, "it seems that Professor Snape managed to pass along that little bit of information. As you have been told, House Representatives will be at the front of the classroom beginning next week. Now, let us begin."
When he said that, a girl who looked like she just barely graduated came out of the door that was embedded in the wall at the front of the room, "This is my assistant, Emilie Porter. She is doing a mastery in History and will be present to help me do all of the things I cannot do because, you know, I'm a ghost and all. Emilie, if you please proceed with roll call."
"You all know the drill by now, a simple 'present Ma'am' will suffice," Emilie stated as she dived into the roll. After she completed the roll call, she nodded to Professor Binns and took up a position at the blackboard, tapping it with her wand.
As the chalk animated and began writing out History of Magic on the blackboard, Professor Binns began his lecture, "Now then, children, what is History of Magic? Is it just facts, dates, people, places, things? Is it just fanciful tales written by people who are no longer living? Or is it how magic has been used to shape and mold the people and places around them, for the good or the bad? Or rather, is it how magic came to be and our role in using this gift in our daily lives? I can tell you this, it is all of what I have said."
As he looked over the room, Professor Binns grinned, "I can see that I'm not what you were expecting. This is by design. I've had the rumors of a boring ghost of a professor circulating since before your parents were born for this very moment each year. History is such an important topic, which is why you get it three days a week. There is so much to go over before your fifth year to help all of you know about the gifts you have and how they came to be. Magic is more than goblin rebellions and dark lords or light lords. Magic permeates our entire lives, fills our magical cores from our surroundings. At least, those of us who are yet living."
That last comment got some polite laughter out of the students, "and so, children, let us begin by pointing out what History is not. History is not just battles, goblin rebellions, or Merlin. These are all important dates, facts, and people but History is the why behind these things. The what is easy to find, just buy a historical text about a topic you're interested in. The why, however, is found in multiple texts on the same topic and its using these multiple texts that helps us get over the bias of the writer, for History texts have a tendency of being viewed through a simple lens of those people are the bad guys and these people are the good guys."
Indicating to Emilie, she tapped the board again and the chalk began to write out American Civil War, "Let's take, for example, our friends across the pond and their fight to eradicate slavery from their shores. Would anyone want to venture a guess as to who the bad guy was in this conflict?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air, to which the Professor called on her and she began, "Why the confederates, of course. They were slave owners after all."
"And here we see the classic 'north good, south bad' argument when it comes to the War of Northern Aggression," the Professor countered, looking around the room, "I bet you didn't know that it was called by another name than the Civil War, did you? That's what I'm talking about. Most of the American school systems historical texts will break down this bloody period in their history into such a simple statement. But why did brother fight brother and father fight son? Why did so many people more than the wars that would follow die in this battle of ideals? Was it as simple as the historical texts say? Or was the text written with victor bias? This is the job of the historian, to cut through the biases and do their best to find the truth of the why behind dates, facts, and people. Sure, slavery is bad but there was so much more to that period of time in America than just that."
He paused for dramatic effect, continuing, "Much like our own history on this side of the pond, for we had our own version of a civil war. How could the Dark Lord Grindelwald manage to convince so many people to join his cause worldwide?"
And so it continued, the Professor asked for opinions of famous historical events, be they muggle or magical, and then presented a different point of view that usually wasn't presented when the stories were told. Before long, the hour was over and the students were shuffling out after standing for the professor when the ghost exited through the blackboard.
Holly and company made their way back to the tower to drop off their books for the morning class and then pick up their textbook for charms after their flying lessons. As they did so, each of them were a little more than surprised by the ghost who was dressed as though he was from the renaissance era. Holly had been expecting a feeble looking ghost who droned on about goblin rebellions and yet here he was, looking as though he was in the prime of his age and fiercely knowledgeable about the world around him. She was definitely going to have words with her godfather, even though she probably will continue to further the story that the Professor was pushing. Maybe she'd be a little lenient with Sirius, after she pranked him back for this.
"I can't believe I actually am looking forward to having history four times a week," Seamus remarked in his thick Irish accent, "me mam is going to hear about this for sure."
"I'm sure she's in on the joke, Seamus," Holly commented, hefting her bookbag over her shoulder as they made to leave the common room, "You coming Neville?"
Neville, a little shocked by Holly's inclusion of him, nodded as he gathered up his things as well and fell in behind Seamus and Dean. Having heard what Holly had said before she asked him if he was coming, Neville decided to get a little out of his comfort zone and said, "My gran told me that Professor Binns had been a ghost since she was a little girl. She was told stories of a boring ghost of a professor and was shocked when she arrived at school for her first history lesson."
"Was she as surprised as we were for our first history lesson?" Holly asked as they began their trek down to the Great Hall.
"She didn't say but she must've been impressed by it or else she would have told me to not waste any time with history," Neville replied, "she's pretty straightforward when it comes to expressing her ideas."
The quartet continued down to the great hall, having remembered the way from earlier this morning when they had gone down for breakfast. Lunch was a pretty simple affair, with plenty of foods found from all over Great Britain to make all of the students feel at home. As Holly took a few sausages and some potatoes, she asked, "So who's looking forward to flying lessons?"
There were nods of ascension from Dean and Seamus. Neville, however, was looking a little green in the gills, "I'm not sure I'm going to do very well at flying."
"Well that's the beauty of flying lessons," Holly said cheerfully, putting her hand on Neville's shoulder, "it's to help you learn how to be passable at flying at the very least."
"For sure, mate," Seamus said, "If everyone knew everything then there would be no point to school, would there?"
"Besides," Dean interjected, "it's not as though they're trying to make you into a quidditch player on the first lesson, or at all for that matter."
Neville sat in thought for a moment, "I suppose that's true. Thanks guys."
"It's what friends are for, Neville," Dean said, digging into his shepherd's pie.
The rest of lunch carried on in light conversation about the lessons they had so far that day, with the boys lamenting the amount of homework they had from potions. Holly helpfully pointed out that it was only the first day and that the amount of homework was only going to go up from there. That observation was met with the appropriate amount of disdain.
As lunch was wrapping up, Percy showed up near where the first years were sitting at the table, "first years, on me please."
Mr. Weasley, who was still busy stuffing his face, had a hard time showing his disappointment at having to leave the small feast behind. Reluctantly, he got up from the table and walked around to stand with the other first years who were gathering up around the fifth year prefect. Once everyone was present, Percy stated, "now then, we're going out onto the grounds for your lesson, as I explained earlier. Lucky for you the weather is quite nice out today so you shouldn't need much more than your regular school robes. Follow me, please."
Led by the prefect, the first years ambled out the entrance to the castle and down the well maintained lawn, heading in the direction of the quidditch pitch. After a minute or so the group happened upon two rows of brooms that appeared to be ancient, at the head of which was a woman who was doing a very good impersonation of a hawk. The Slytherin first years were already lined up next to one of the rows of brooms.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley," the woman called out as the group of Gryffindors approached, "right on time. If you Gryffindors would please line up next to the empty row of brooms we can get started."
"This is where I leave you in the care of Madam Hooch," Percy said as the Gryffindors passed him by and lined up by the brooms, "After this class you have charms. I will be back before the end of class to escort you there."
Percy then gave the group a curt nod and headed back to the castle, presumably to make his way to his own class. Madam Hooch cleared her throat, commanding the attention of the first year students, "Now that you all are here, let us begin. Welcome to Introduction to Flying. For some of you, this will be the first time you've touched a broom so be sure to pay attention. For others of you, it would behoove you to pay attention as well, as sometimes those who are self-taught have taught themselves bad flying habits. There is no shame in this, for how are you supposed to know you're doing something wrong if there is no one to teach you. Now, let us begin."
Madam Hooch took a couple steps forward next to the broom that was at the head of the two rows in the center, put her right hand over the broom, and said, "up!"
The broom nearly teleported into her hand due to the speed at which it rose up from the ground. Many students looked amazed at yet another display of magic, mostly the ones who weren't familiar with how brooms worked. Madam Hooch spoke again, "I've just demonstrated how you call your broom into your hand. This use of your magic is very dependent upon your own confidence in yourself. These brooms are set to be decommissioned after this year due to their age. As a result, they will require more firmness than newer models. Make sure to speak clearly and convey your intentions to the broom. Don't be discouraged if you don't get it on the first try. Now all of you give it a go."
Holly was lined up next to Seamus and Dean on her right side, with Ronald having decided to line up on her left and Neville was next to him. Holly had only heard of magical brooms from her Godfather, who didn't think it was a good idea for her to get acquainted with them due to where she lived. Concentrating for a moment, Holly put her hand over the broom and said, "UP!"
Like Madam Hooch's broom, Holly's had zoomed straight to her hand. Looking across the way, Holly noticed that Malfoy was standing directly across from her with a broom in his hand as well. Glancing around at her housemates near her, she saw that Ronald hadn't seemed to struggle at all to achieve the same result. Nor had Seamus and Dean. Neville, however, seemed to be having a crisis of confidence, as the broom was just rolling around on the ground back and forth. Glancing further down the line, she noticed that the Gryffindor mean girls were also struggling, with Hermione's broom acting exactly as Neville's.
Turning towards Neville, Holly said, "Neville, are you afraid of the broom?"
Neville had flinched a little bit, as he'd been focused on his current situation, before sheepishly saying, "Not exactly…"
"What are you afraid of then?" Holly asked.
Holly barely made out his whisper, "heights."
"Ronald, would you please switch with me?" Holly asked.
"Sure thing, Holly," Ronald replied, trading places with Holly.
Glancing down the line, Holly noticed that Madam Hooch was busy with the mean girls, trying to help them achieve the desired outcome of the exercise. Standing next to Neville, Holly said, "Look, Neville, you're a Gryffindor, right?"
"Yeah, though sometimes I wonder if the hat got it right," Neville responded.
"Well, obviously it saw the qualities that Gryffindor favored in you or else it wouldn't have placed you there," Holly said, pointing at his chest, "so somewhere in there is some courage Nev. Courage isn't never being afraid, it's the ability to act in the face of fear. The best way to overcome your fear is by facing it. What if you needed to get somewhere quickly and the only way available to you was to travel by broom? You wouldn't want your first time facing your fear to be when you needed to do something important, would you?"
Neville thought for a moment, then replied, "No, I suppose not."
"Then make that broom do what you need it to, Neville," Holly said excitedly, "after all, you might find that you enjoy flying after you get over your fear. Courage is like your muscles, it only grows with use. It's time to start exercising that muscle."
Holly nodded at Neville and then stood back, giving him room to try again. Neville closed his eyes, gathering up what little courage he did have. Opening his eyes, he stuck out his hand and shouted, "UP!"
Neville had to shake his hand out after how fast the broom rose up into it. He looked over to Holly and said, "Hey, I did it."
"Congratulations, Neville," Holly said, patting him on the back, "however, the hardest part is coming up. I'll stick by you when it's time for us to actually get into the air."
"Alright then," Madam Hooch's voice cut through the air, "we all seem to have our brooms in our hands now. The next thing we will do is learn how to kick off."
As Holly had promised, she stuck by Neville throughout the rest of the lesson. As they flew next to each other doing some low elevation, low speed flying, Holly thought that while Neville was enjoying a small victory now that there would be more things that he would need to face in the future. For now, however, she was enjoying this moment that she was having with her Godbrother.
Author's Note: Holy cow guys and gals. It's been a moment since I updated and for that I apologize. I'm a much better reader than a writer lol. Well here we are finally, the first day of lessons. Please let me know how I did. I promise to do better in updating. Hopefully I can get a chapter out every two weeks.