All characters are the property of JK Rowling
Once the boats were all docked and the students were on the shore, Hagrid yelled out, "Everyone follow me please," before leading the students up to the doorway with a stern-faced elderly witch waiting for them with pursed lips. "Here they are, all accounted for, McGonagall."
The witch named McGonagall thanked Hagrid before turning to the students and saying, "Please follow me." As the students were following her into a small side room from the entrance hall, she said, "For the next seven years, you will be sorted into a house which will be your family and determine where you sleep. When you do well, you will get rewarded with house points that determine which house wins at the end of the year." After looking over all the students to make sure they were listening, she continued by saying, "The four houses each have their own traits that they prioritize: Gryffindor favors the brave and chivalrous, Hufflepuff favors the loyal and hardworking, Ravenclaw favors the knowledgeable and intelligent, while Slytherin favors the cunning and ambitious. All four houses have produced outstanding wizards and witches throughout the history of Hogwarts."
"While I go into the hall to check if they are ready for you to be sorted, please clean up and make yourself presentable," she said with a pointed look at Ron, who had dirt on his face and chocolate on his robes.
As Harry turned to Neville and Hermione, there was a scream which caused him to spin around before seeing ghosts come through the walls. "Oh, you must be the new first years," one said, "I was a Hufflepuff myself; I hope to see you in my house," before floating through the other wall with the rest of the ghosts.
Before being able to speak again, McGonagall came back into the room and said, "Everyone is ready now; please follow me in an orderly manner, and when I call your name, come up to me, then sit on the stool."
As all the students followed her through the large doors, they saw the entire school looking at them. Harry walked with his head held high and back straight with a confident stride. Hermione was walking along while looking up at the ceiling, which was now a starry night without a cloud in sight. The floating candles added to the magical feeling of the place, and Harry could just make out Hermione nervously rambling out facts from Hogwarts: A History. Neville, on the other hand, tripped as soon as he walked into the hall while trying to copy Harry until he lowered his head and looked down as the group walked through the tables to the front.
As McGonagall started reading out the names, the students would go up and sit on the stool one by one until it was Hermione's turn. After pausing for a minute, the hat finally yelled out, "Ravenclaw." As she walked over to the bronze and blue table, she looked back at Harry and Neville, who smiled at her encouragingly.
Harry whispered to Neville, who was starting to look nervous, "Don't worry if we are in different houses. No matter what, you, me, and Hermione will still be friends, okay? So, listen to whatever the hat tells you will make you into the best wizard you can be." And as Neville's name was called out, Harry whispered, "Walk with your head held high and know that you will do great no matter what house you end up in, and Hermione and I will always have your back."
With a more confident walk, Neville started moving towards the stool. After a very brief pause, the hat yelled out, "Gryffindor." As Neville walked towards the Gryffindor table, he made eye contact with Harry, who nodded at him with a small smile as he saw the approval in his eyes.
Finally, after a few more students, the hall went silent as McGonagall read out, "Potter, Harry," until there were lots of rustles of movement as all the students tried to glimpse the famous first year.
While walking up to the stool with his head held high, Harry heard lots of voices saying, "He's a bit small for the vanquisher of you-know-who," one said. "He's a first year, idiot; of course, he's short." Harry laughed a bit at that one, even if he was above average height. "He's kind of cute," another voice said, which made Harry blush a little.
Once Harry turned around to face the rest of the hall, he saw all of the stares before the hat came down and covered his view. "Hmm, an interesting mind, very ambitious, wanting to become the best wizard you can, very hardworking but only loyal to those who earn your trust, brave but not willing to jump into danger without thinking first, values knowledge and power above all else and very logical. You could fit in and do well in any house, but I think there is a clear decision here, don't you think?"
"I think Ravenclaw would be the best; don't you agree, hat?"
"If that is what you wish, I'm sure you will do great things," the hat replied in his head before yelling out, "Ravenclaw!"
As another round of whispers went around the hall at the shock of Harry not going to Gryffindor like his parents.
As Harry walked with his head held high over to where Hermione was seated, he sat down and waited patiently for the rest of the students to get sorted.
At the sound of a glass being tapped, all noises trailed off as the students looked to the head table. A man in what Harry thought of as outrageous blue robes that wouldn't have looked out of place in the 1800s stood up, and a long beard that went down to his waist said, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
Once the old man had stopped speaking, Harry tapped an older student on the arm and said, "Who was that?"
"That was Albus Dumbledore, greatest wizard of our time and supposedly the only one you-know-who ever feared."
"Is he a bit crazy?" Harry replied speculatively.
"Oh yes, but he is still a great wizard," the student replied.
"Would you mind telling me who the teachers are and what they teach, please?" Harry asked.
"Of course, my name is Roger Davies, by the way, I'm a third year if you're interested, but about the teachers, you already know McGonagall; she teaches transfiguration and is the head of Gryffindor house and the deputy headmistress. The short and happy-looking teacher who McGonagall is talking to is Flitwick, who teaches charms and is the head of Ravenclaw. The kind-faced woman to the left of McGonagall is Sprout, who teaches herbology and is head of Hufflepuff, and the greasy-haired, hook-nosed, surly-looking teacher is Snape, who teaches potions and is head of Slytherin. Then there is also Sinistra, who teaches astronomy, to the right of Flitwick, and the one with the turban who is talking to Snape is Quirrell, who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. There are other teachers, but those are the ones for first years who are here right now." The boy responded while pointing to each teacher.
"Thanks, who are the good ones, and who should I not get on their bad side?" Harry asked curiously.
"Well, Snape hates everyone who isn't in Slytherin. Quirrell has a stutter and smells so much like garlic that you can't focus on what he is teaching. McGonagall is very serious but understands her subject and teaches it well. Flitwick is very good at what he does and is a good teacher. Sprout is nice and helps everyone while also knowing her stuff. Sinistra is good as well, and you will have to experience History yourself to know what Binns is like.
"So from the sounds of it, the 'premier school' in the world has at least three bad teachers for like three of the core subjects, which just means that we'll have to self-study, isn't that right, Hermione?" Harry said while nudging her.
"I'm sure they are fine teachers and that Mr. Davies is exaggerating," she replied uncertainly.
"Nah, Mr. Potter's right; the people who are getting good grades in potions either self-study or are Slytherins who Snape is very biased for, so for a few subjects you should definitely self-study if you want good grades," Roger said. "But then again, studying ahead for all subjects is good for people who want to do really well; no matter how good the teacher is, what they are teaching in class should just refine your understanding of the subject which you should already have a grounding in from the books that you bought and some from the library."
"Thanks, Mr. Davies, that's some good advice," Harry responded politely. "And you can call me Harry if you'd like."
"And me Hermione," she interjected.
"You can call me Roger too," he responded.
As Dumbledore stood up again, the noise slowly trailed off as the students noticed him waiting. "Now that you are all nicely watered and fed, I won't keep you here too long so that you can go to sleep. But first, I have a few announcements to make. There is a list of banned items that is on the office of our cleaner Mr. Filch. All new students, and some of our returning students should know that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden." He said with a pointed look at a pair of redheads at the Gryffindor table. "And finally, the third-floor corridor is now out of bounds unless you wish to die a horrible and painful death."
"He must be joking, right Harry?" Hermione said in a shaky voice.
Harry pondered for a moment before replying seriously, "I wouldn't really be willing to test if he was joking so we should probably do our best to stay away from it if we can."
Before they could continue their conversation, they heard a voice saying, "First-year Ravenclaw's this way, we are going to our dormitory now, please keep a lookout for some landmarks to help you figure out where you are going."
As the first years were being led to the dormitory, Harry and Hermione were looking around to try and remember how to get to the Great Hall in the morning. But before they could get too stressed out, the other prefect said, "Although it is good to get acquainted with the castle, we will be taking you to your classes for the first week, so don't be too stressed. If you ever get too lost, you can always ask some of the portraits or ghosts, and we will be giving you a tour as tomorrow everyone has classes off so that we can show you guys around."
As the group got to the statue, all of a sudden, it said, "What can a child make but never see?"
The first prefect said, "Unlike the other houses, we don't have a password but instead, we have to answer a riddle to get in, and if you get stuck and desperately need to get in, generally you can knock and someone will open it for you. But would any of you like to give this first riddle a try?"
"Noise," Harry said while stepping forward.
"Correct," the bronze knocker said before opening up.
"Welcome to your future home away from home for the next seven years," the first prefect said. "Now before you all go rushing around to your rooms, we like to have a small meeting for all of you while you're all here, so feel free to sit down around the fireplace and we can have a quick chat before you all go and explore."
While all of the first years started sitting down, the other students were starting to come in and fill up the common room or go up to their rooms, while a couple of them came and chatted with the current prefects. "Alright, now that our other prefects are here we can start. My name is Hannah," the first prefect said, "and I am one of the fifth-year prefects. Going from youngest to oldest prefects, this is Jamie, my fellow fifth-year prefect, Kat and Dylan, the sixth-year prefects, and Kai and Kara, our seventh-year prefects."
Jamie stepped forward before saying, "If any of you need help, we are here for you, whether you're struggling to make friends, study for specific subjects, or are just interested in learning more about magical culture, we are here to help."
Hannah cut in and said, "Now as I'm sure you've noticed, the staircases behind you lead to the dormitories; the ones on the right are for boys, left are for girls, and there are wards that will alert the prefects and Flitwick, our head of house, of any attempts of boys going into the girls' dorms. Everyone gets their own separate rooms, but it is encouraged to study together in the common room as long as people are quiet. We do have a private library as well, but that is only to be used as a reward for those who do well in classes or other activities. These books are all available in the library, but there are a few that Flitwick will give personal permission for you to use as they are more advanced."
"We hope that you will all make lots of friends both inside and outside of our house and learn lots in your time here," Jamie said, stepping forward once more. "We are all here to help if you want help with homework or need some advice, so feel free to come and say hi whenever we are around."
"Now you can head upstairs and find your rooms; it will have your name on the doors and it should have anything you need. Feel free to customize it later on once you have learned enough magic to do so," Hannah said over the stampede of excited first years running up the staircase.
Line Break
After looking around his room, he realized that it was quite small but had everything that he would need, although he would definitely be customizing it on the weekend once he got bored of it. There was a four-poster bed, a wardrobe, a vanity, and a small bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. Before going to bed, Harry meditated for half an hour as was his tradition, looking in on his core he smiled and recalled just how much it has grown since he first started. During his meditation, he starts off by sorting his memories of the day; he is now very efficient at it, and with the time dilation now being at least 3 minutes inside to 1 outside, it takes him about 5 minutes outside time to sort through them. After that, he went to the basement of his mansion and looked over his core. It had definitely grown in the past years, and his magical maturity had made it grow even more. Harry had realized quite early on that magic was like a muscle and if one worked it hard enough from a young age, then they could be much more powerful than the average wizard or witch.
Having now had two of his three magical maturities, he was now in the zone where his magic would grow fastest and it would continue to be like that until he was past his physical prime, which as a powerful wizard would likely be past his 60's. He had one little exercise that he liked to do to work his magic a little bit before sleep. He touched it, like he did the first time that he saw it, and tried to hold it for as long as he could. While his eyes were closed everything in his room floated. His wardrobe, vanity, his trunk, all loose items, even the bed with himself on it. After nearly 20 outside minutes of it, he was exhausted and let the items drop slowly and with his eyes drooping set an alarm for 6 am before falling asleep.
In the morning, Harry got up at his alarm and did a quick workout consisting of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, and a few others that his sensei encouraged him to do. By 6:30, he was dressed in running clothes and walking out of the door to the common room and decided to just run around the castle to try and learn its layout. With his eidetic memory, he already knew the way to the Great Hall and decided it would be a good starting point to branch out from. While exploring he looked around at all of the portraits to remember and the classrooms to try and learn his way around. By the end of his run, it was around 7:30 and he walked back into the common room before going to get changed. When he came back down he saw that Hannah was up and decided to go and talk to her. "Hey Hannah, what are you waiting for?"
"Oh hey Harry, you don't mind me calling you Harry, do you?" When Harry signaled negatively, she continued "I'm waiting for all the first years so that I can take them to the Great Hall; normally most will be here around 8 so I have a bit of time to kill."
"Well, do you mind answering some of my questions?"
"Of course, it's what I'm here for."
"Great, I was wondering what I would need to bring down to the Great Hall today because I don't know what classes I'll have and I don't want to bring all my books down?" Harry asked.
"Well on the first day classes start about an hour later than they normally do, so at nine, and this just lets people catch up and get back into the school mindset. This also allows the professors to hand out the timetables and the prefects to get the first years to class." Hannah replied. "So don't worry about bringing all your books down today, but during the next few days, we recommend that you bring all the books for the day down to breakfast because you just won't have the time to come back up at lunch to get books and still eat. Later on once you have found some of the secret passages then you will have enough time to get books at lunch but it's a tradition to let you find them yourself."
"How are we meant to find secret passages though? Do we just ask all the older students? Or cast detection spells against all of the walls, paintings, and statues?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Personally, I followed some of my older friends to find them originally, but I did find some for myself by just walking around the castle and asking some of the portraits or ghosts if there were any near where I was. Most portraits are happy to talk. Some of the ghosts aren't quite as friendly, like the Bloody Baron and you definitely shouldn't listen to what Peeves says. He is a poltergeist and likes to prank everyone, so definitely don't trust what he says," Hannah said in a serious tone.
"Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to ask the portraits if I ever need a quick way to class. But I think that the other first years are coming down so I think we should head to the Great Hall soon," Harry replied.
"Of course, feel free to come and ask me if you need help with anything Harry, or the other prefects," she said quietly to him before saying a bit louder. "Alright first years please follow me, I will be leading you to the Great Hall, you don't need to bring anything just yet as we will come back here for your books and writing supplies before I take you to class. Please try and start learning your way around as we will only be leading you to class for the first week, after that you will need to ask the portraits for help and some are less helpful than others."
During the walk down Harry walked over to Hermione and she said to him excitedly, "Isn't it exciting, Harry? Getting to learn magic!"
"Yes, Hermione it is, and I'm sure you and I, along with Neville, will be at the top of our grade. But for now, let's just have some breakfast and maybe say hi to Neville before our first class," Harry replied with a smile.
Once they were down in the Great Hall, they noticed that almost all of the people there were first years along with what looked to be the prefects of each house. Once they were all seated a short professor hopped off his stool and started making his way to the Ravenclaw table where the first years were seated. "Good morning, new Ravenclaws. I'm Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw House and your Charms instructor. Starting next week, I'll hold monthly meetings to ensure you're happy and keeping up with schoolwork. If you need extra help, older students can assist you more often. Here's your class schedule—remember your books and supplies. Tonight, I'll meet with the entire house; yesterday, I let the prefects talk to you so that you will know who they are and that you can go to them if you need some help.
Most classes will be with another house, depending on the subject. Enjoy your first day and get to know your classmates from all houses. Pursue your interests, but remember magic's power—use it wisely. Explore outside class safely and be inventive with spells, but be cautious in your research and practice."
Once Harry got his schedule he looked down and saw that it said:
Period Start Time End Time
Morning Period 1 (MP1) 8:00 AM 9:00 AM
Morning Period 2 (MP2) 9:15 AM 10:15 AM
Morning Period 3 (MP3) 10:30 AM 11:45 AM
Lunch 11:45 AM 1:00 PM
Afternoon Period 1 (AP1) 1:00 PM 2:00 PM
Afternoon Period 2 (AP2) 2:15 PM 3:15 PM
Afternoon Period 3 (AP3) 3:30 PM 4:30 PM
Monday
MP1 - DADA - Hufflepuff
MP2 - Charms - Hufflepuff
MP3 - Herbology - Gryffindor
AP1 - Potions - Hufflepuff
AP2 - Potions - Hufflepuff
AP3 - History - All
Tuesday
MP1 - Transfiguration - Slytherin
MP2 - Transfiguration - Slytherin
MP3 - Charms - Hufflepuff
AP1 - History - All
AP2 - History - All
AP3 - Free
Wednesday
MP1 - Herbology - Gryffindor
MP2 - Herbology - Gryffindor
MP3 - Transfiguration - Slytherin
AP1 - DADA - Hufflepuff
AP2 - DADA - Hufflepuff
AP3 - Potions - Hufflepuff
Thursday
MP1 - Charms - Hufflepuff
MP2 - Charms - Hufflepuff
MP3 - DADA - Hufflepuff
AP1 - Transfiguration - Slytherin
AP2 - Herbology - Gryffindor
AP3 - Free
Friday
MP1 -Charms - Hufflepuff
MP2 - History - All
MP3 - Potions - Hufflepuff
11:00 pm - Astronomy - All
"After he walked off, most of the first years were quiet for a moment before Harry spoke up confidently, "Well, future family, my name is Harry Potter. I was raised without magic but learned of it when I was around 10. Some of my hobbies are karate and reading, and I am most looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts."
After a moment of silence, with the first years looking around at each other wondering who was going to go next, Hermione, who was on the right of Harry, spoke up and said, "Hi, my name is Hermione Granger. I was raised without magic, and I learned of it when Professor McGonnagall came to my house on my eleventh birthday, which is the 19th of September. My favorite thing to do is to read, and I am really looking forward to Charms and Transfiguration."
With a smaller pause this time, the next student on Hermione's right said in a timid voice, "Hi, I'm Su Li. My family comes from Korea, but I was born in Britain. I am looking forward to learning Potions the most, but I've heard that Professor Snape is really mean."
"My name is Padma Patil. My family is from India. I have a twin sister named Parvati who is in Gryffindor, and I am really excited about History, but I have also heard some bad things about the Professor," Padma said confidently.
"I'm Stephen Cornfoot, a pureblood and an only child. I really enjoyed flying when I was younger and am looking forward to getting to play Quidditch next year."
"I'm Anthony Goldstein, a half-blood, and I am looking forward to Defense."
"I'm Terry Boot, a half-blood, and I am looking forward to Transfiguration."
"I'm Mandy Brocklehurt, a half-blood, and I am looking forward to Herbology."
"I'm Morag Macdougal, a half-blood, and I am looking forward to Charms."
"I'm Lisa Turpin, a half-blood, and I am looking forward to Astronomy."
"That was a good idea, Harry," Hannah said. "And well done to all of you for sharing so maturely. If you all work together, I'm sure that everyone will be able to keep up and get really good marks. So make sure that you all eat up and try to get to know each other a bit better. In about half an hour, I will take you all back to the tower to grab your books, quills, and parchment before leading you all to Charms."
Line Break
While the first years were standing outside the Charms room, Harry and Hermione started talking to the other girl that they rode the boat with. "So, Susan, what subject are you looking forward to the most?" Harry asked.
"Well, I am really looking forward to Charms. Oh, and this is my friend Hannah Abbott; we've known each other for most of our lives because of our families," she replied happily.
"Hello," Hannah said with a shy wave.
"It's nice to meet you, Hannah," Harry said, while giving her a small kiss on her hand, "My name is Harry Potter, and I hope that we can become good friends throughout the rest of our schooling."
"And I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione interjected before turning to Harry and whispering, "More pureblood etiquette?"
"Yes, it is considered proper to kiss a lady's hand when meeting them. It is normally done when meeting for the first time or if it is a formal event," Harry replied. "What are you most looking forward to, Hannah? I'm more of a Defense person myself."
"I quite like Herbology from what my parents have shown me," she responded with a bit more certainty.
"That's great. I'm quite excited for Charms and Transfiguration, to be honest," Hermione said.
Before the conversation could continue, the students all heard a squeaky voice from inside the classroom saying, "Please come in and take a seat, everyone. I am Professor Flitwick, and I will be teaching Charms for you throughout your years at Hogwarts. I have taught here for over 20 years now and was a world dueling champion multiple times. I am now the Ravenclaw head of house and will be here to answer all of your Charms questions, but I would like to encourage you to seek out your own answers. I will just be here to guide the way for your learning."
Seeing that he had all of the students' attention, he called the roll before starting the lesson. "Today, we will be learning one of the most simple charms. It is a charm which lights the tip of your wand, and the incantation is Lumos. To cancel it, you just say Nox. Let me give you one demonstration before you all try it yourselves." With a small swish of his wand, Flitwick clearly said, Lumos, and the tip of his wand lit up. "Now, this spell is more than just about the wand lighting up. You can work on your control with this spell and see a marginal difference in power between the students, but I would like to emphasize that power does not make people better wizards, as hard work is always key. Now get started, everyone, and I will be coming around in a few minutes for those who are struggling.'
Harry looked at Hermione and Susan, who he was seated between, before looking around the classroom. Most students looked both excited and nervous and didn't want to be the first person to cast the spell in case they messed up. Harry gave a small shrug before clearly saying, Lumos. Once the rest of the students heard Harry say the spell, they looked over in his direction before immediately looking away. The light was almost blinding, and all the people sitting on the opposite side of the room covered their eyes, while everyone else looked away. "Nox," Harry said quickly.
"Well, Mr. Potter, that was definitely one of the brightest first attempts I have seen in a long time," Flitwick said in an excited voice. "But you should definitely work on control. Try and hold back a bit to make the light smaller. You should be able to control the amount of magic going into the spell later on, but this is a good starting activity for you as control may become more difficult in the later stages of your education if you don't work on it now. As for the rest of you, give it a try. I doubt that anyone else is going to be quite as bright as Mr. Potter was, but it is still wise not to stare right at the lights if you can avoid it."
Around the room, a smattering of voices said Lumos, and the class lit up. There were some small pockets of the room that were slightly brighter, but there were none that were anywhere near as bright as Harry's.
"Well done, everyone," Flitwick said happily. "Since you have all gotten it so fast, let me explain a bit more of the theory behind it, so that you can control the brightness. While for most of you, it won't be too much of an issue at this age, later on, some spells need more finesse to work better, and it doesn't hurt to start practicing now."
While walking around the classroom, most of the students sat forward in anticipation to hear more about what Flitwick was saying. "In essence, when a spell is cast, it draws magic from your core. Everyone has a slightly different sized core. Some, like Headmaster Dumbledore, have very large cores, and others will have smaller ones. These cores grow as we grow and when magic is used. For most people, they will not use magic a lot in their everyday lives, which means they are less likely to be extremely powerful than someone in a profession like an auror, who fights dark wizards and needs to be powerful. When a core is used more regularly, it grows, and in essence, this is like something taking your magic, and a little bit more comes back once it is recharged. Then people also go through three magical maturities, which signal a bit of growth in core size. At the age of seven, children's cores will grow quite a lot and start to stabilize. At eleven, it will become nearly completely stable with a small amount of growth. This is why school starts once you are eleven, because your core is now stable and in the prime age for growth. At seventeen is the final and largest magical maturity. Depending on the person and how large their core is, the longer this maturity will take. If it happens early or for longer than around three days, then the wizard or witch is likely to be very powerful. For example, my maturity was when I was sixteen, and I am one of the more powerful wizards. It lasted for five days. I know that Dumbledore had his when he was younger, and it lasted longer, but I do not know the specifics, as some people like to keep it private.
When casting a spell, a little bit will come out of your core, through to your wand, which will then shape the magic into the spell. For some rare people, their body is able to do that process without a wand, which is more draining, less precise, but in some cases more powerful. When using a spell like Lumos, a little bit of magic is taken constantly while the spell is being used, but for another spell, say the knockback jinx, it only uses a small bit of magic once. When trying to reduce the amount of light that your wand is emitting, you are trying to reduce the amount of magic coming out of your core. For me, my light would be about as bright as Mr. Potter's if I am not reducing it, but with my control, I am able to make it smaller and less likely to blind someone. When reducing the magic, it can be done in two main ways. One is much easier than the other but might not be as effective when trying specific spells. The first method is to visualize the intended result. In simple spells like Lumos, visualizing a smaller light will dim the light. But on more complex spells, such as a blasting curse, it won't do quite as well. The other, much more complicated way, is to find your core. This is very difficult, and most people never do unless they are aurors or hit wizards. The way to reduce the power is to imagine a funnel draining some magic from your core when casting a spell. This is very difficult to do and requires lots of practice with every spell, but the end result is that you can shrink the funnel to have a smaller effect or widen it to create a regular effect. But to overpower it, you need to push the core into the funnel. For those of you who have seen the core, then you will know that this is all metaphorical, and you will need to create your own method of doing it. But this is just the basics and theory that you should make your own.
For now, I want you all to just visualize a smaller light, especially you, Mr. Potter," Flitwick said with a grin. "I will give you one attempt now, and if not, then I will put you in a small side room until you can change it."
Before casting the spell, Harry closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and thought about what he wanted to do. First, he decided that he would try the visualization method. So, he imagined a small ball of light on the end of his wand. He remembered looking at Flitwick's and realized that it was bright enough to illuminate where he was pointing the wand but not too much around it. He thought about how the classroom lit up with all of the successful casts and decided that he was ready. "Lumos," he whispered. As the whole class held their breath and looked out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a small light coming from his wand that was slowly getting brighter. Then it stopped, and they all cheered at Harry's success, with his fellow Ravenclaw's who were sitting around him clapping him on the shoulder, and the Hufflepuff's on the other side of the room clapping politely.
"Nice job, Harry," Hermione said with a hug. "What were you visualizing when you cast the spell?"
"I thought about my end goal and how Flitwick's looked," Harry responded while flashing a quick thumbs-up to Hannah and Susan on the opposite side of the class. "As long as you know what the end goal is, half the time magic will pick it up. Go on, give it a try. Just cast your regular Lumos then imagine that it gets darker."
"Lumos," Hermione said. As the light started off at her regular brightness of a bit over the class average, it eventually went down to where most others were at. "Did you see that, Harry? It worked, it actually worked," Hermione said excitedly.
"You say that like you doubted me," Harry said in a fake offended tone with a hand on his chest.
"Well done, Harry; five points to Ravenclaw for a spell well controlled." After a couple more minutes with everyone making small changes to the size of their lights, Flitwick said, "Alright, kids, that was a great lesson, even if it was a bit shorter than usual because it is the first day. We now have about five more minutes. First, I wanted to say thanks for being very respectful and willing to learn. Second, I want to say that I do not go through all of the spells in the standard book of spells in class. Some I will, but most of the ones that I teach will be in exams, and it will be beneficial for you to practice them in your own time. Lastly, for homework, please read through the theory for the next spell, which will be the color-changing charm, and have 10 inches of parchment on the theory," Flitwick said. "Now, please wait outside the classroom for your prefects to lead you to your next lesson before lunch."
As all of the students talked to their friends, the prefects of each house walked up to them and told the firsties to follow them to their next class. While walking to Herbology, Hermione and Harry walked up to Jamie, and he asked them, "How did you find Flitwick's class?"
"Oh, it was just amazing. We cast Lumos, and Harry's spell lit up the entire room so much the first time; then he managed to make it get less bright, and it was so amazing."
"Woah, slow down, Hermione," Jamie replied before turning to Harry and saying, "It is quite impressive that you managed to control your power in the first spell on your first lesson, and also quite unusual for a light from a firstie to be that bright. I would need to overpower my spell even now to get it to be as bright as you described."
"Thanks; it wasn't that impressive though. Hermione just makes it sound really impressive," Harry responded.
"Don't listen to him," Hermione interjected, "You can ask any other person in that class; the light was blinding, and then he managed to control it so that it looked like any of ours."
"Even if you don't find it impressive, Harry, it doesn't mean that others don't. There are some people who just find magic simple and understand it in ways that none of us could imagine, and it might be that you are one of them, which will just mean that the teachers push you harder to become the best wizard that you are," Jamie said seriously, then in a lighter tone said, "Anyway, come on, guys, let's get you to Herbology in the greenhouses; you don't want to be late on the first day."
Authors Note
I wanted to try and give a reason for why Harry was so powerful in this chapter like I said in the first, if you didn't catch it the reason is that the horcrux kept stealing small amounts of Harry's magic for seven years and each time his core would grow a little bit. The bindings meant that it was stealing a larger percentage of the accessible part of the core which increased the growth more. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I have realized that I may be able to update more regularly than I said originally but there is still no guarantee aside from at least one per month. I know that I put a lot in here about their first lesson and some magical theory but that will change a bit in the next chapter where it talks more about him making friends and some of his experiences in classes but they won't be as detailed as this one because I don't think that most people would want to read it. The chapters might also be a little bit smaller as this one is about 6.5k words and the first about 7k but I'm not sure. Please leave reviews with any feedback that you might have for me to improve my writing or some of the things that you might want to see in the story and I'll see if it fits with what I'm aiming for.