The next day was Monday the second of September. Rubeus woke up early, before the sun was even up, judging by the lack of light outside the window. He felt wide awake, though, so he got up.
Digging around in his trunk, he changed into his voluminous robes for the day. Picking up his 16 inch English Oak and Unicorn hair wand and getting a feel for it, Rubeus thought about what Ollivander had told him. Or rather his memories of Hagrid's interaction with the young wand maker, about his custom made wand when he picked it up.
"Now, then, young Rubeus Hagrid. The things you should remember about your wand, is that it is rather bendy, which means it should be able to grow and change with you quite nicely. I've found that Unicorn hair, as a wand core, produces the most consistent magic, and should prove quite useful in doing what you want with it as you learn at Hogwarts."
The young man's silver eyes had stared steadily up into his own while he had held his wand reverently, just feeling it.
"Now, the English Oak that your wand is made of will be as loyal as the wizard who deserves it. Such wands demand partners with strength, courage, and fidelity. And, like it seems to be the case with you, they often times have an affinity with the magic of the natural world, easily connecting and interacting with the plants and animals of the magical world."
"Wow! I sure like the outdoors, Mister Ollivander. That sounds great." Rubeus had responded cheerfully, which brought a small smile to the wand maker's face.
"That's good, then. Be sure to take good care of your wand, young Rubeus."
"I will, thanks!" Rubeus called as he ducked out the door.
Rubeus chuckled at the fond memory of getting his wand. From his memory of the sensations of first connecting with his wand, he could tell why everyone would be quite sentimental about their first wand. There really was nothing like making a friend so young that would be with you for all your life, if you took care of it.
He carefully pocketed his wand. He would have to get himself a holster of some kind soon, instead of just sticking it in a pocket. He didn't want it to break accidentally.
Picking up his school bag, he chuckled quietly so as not to wake up his fellow Gryffindors. His bag was of a size with him, so he put all his books in. He had no idea which classes he would have, and he wanted to get a chance to start reading his books before class.
Unfortunately for him, the young Rubeus wasn't very studious on any topic that wasn't animals. So he would have to pick up the slack himself to fill in the blanks he had on various topics. Adding in parchment, quills, and ink, and he was ready for the day.
As quietly as he could, he slipped out of the room. And that was surprisingly quiet. Even though he was big, he had lots of practice hunting in the forest for game. He had to be sneaky to get anything, even if his method of bringing down rabbits and birds was to chuck a rock at them. If he couldn't get close enough to chuck that rock, then it was all for naught.
Just because he was big, didn't mean he couldn't be stealthy. Lions, tigers, and polar bears also had to be sneaky to catch their prey. So size was really no indicator of stealth ability.
Rubeus sat down on the couches in the common room. He saw from the clock on the wall that it was a quarter after six. He had an hour and a half, so he pulled out his charms book to read the first chapter. He figured he would read the first chapter of each book for the core topics before breakfast, if he could.
Holding the very small book in his enormous hands, Carl shook his head. He almost felt like he was holding a little toy, instead of a book. He could already envision his large size being a detriment when everything was sized for normal humans.
With a sigh, he carefully opened the book and brought it closer to his face to begin reading. It didn't take too long before he had finished the introduction to Charms, and pulled out his Transfiguration book.
After he got through the introduction chapter of both Charms and Transfiguration, he paused for a bit to think about the topics and skills introduced that needed practicing.
There were some similarities and some differences between the two disciplines. Both subjects required a student to get a good feel for their magic and how much of it and in what manner they manipulated it to make a successful cast.
But after that is where it differed between Charms and Transfiguration. Charms required a wizard to focus on the results and push the desire to succeed while doing the incantation and wand movements. Transfiguration, on the other hand, had the wizard imagining the change in their mind and letting their magic flow through the image as they used the incantations and wand movements.
'Charms seems more like pushing a rock to the place you want it, while Transfiguration seems more like letting the magic flow in the path you visualize.' Rubeus thoughtfully thought. 'I'll have to keep this in mind as I go through the classes.'
Rubeus was surprised to find that he had managed to easily read through the Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and Herbology first chapters by the time the first of his fellow first years arrived in the common room. Even with the time he spent in thinking about what he read, he had read those chapters quite quickly.
He put away his books cheerfully enough and began conversing with the girls that came down first. He learned that the four girls in his year in Gryffindor were Emma Weasley, Dew Prewitt, River Prott, and Blair Hornbeam.
Emma had a sister, Julia Weasley, in second year, and a cousin, Rachel Weasley, was their female prefect. Dew's cousin Jules Prewitt was their male prefect.
He had a good time chatting with them while waiting for everyone to assemble. Once they were all there, Jules and Rachel guided them down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Rubeus was quite pleased to be getting there early, so he could fill up his cavernous stomach while waiting for the schedules and classes to start. Everyone talked about their family lives, what their hobbies were, and what their favorite topics. It was a good bonding time for the young kids, and he was pleased that his housemates never said a bad word or even looked at him nastily.
Unlike a lot of those in Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
But he didn't worry overly much about it. He could easily smack them around if they got too uppity. He was pretty tough so he could probably shrug off their more minor curses and hexes.
The only problem was that he would get in plenty of trouble with the professors and make enemies that way. Better to just ignore the prats. His confidence in his physical toughness and strength to see him through gave him a lot of the courage that his lack of magical knowledge would have robbed him of in this totally new environment.
And while he could probably withstand the lesser curses, he was still worried about provoking some of the upper years who could probably use some of the nastier Dark Arts spells and even Unforgivables on him.
He didn't want to one day take a Killing Curse to the back just because he was being belligerent because his size and strength made him think he could push anyone around and they would just take it.
Rubeus continued shoveling food into his mouth while thinking of all these issues he would have to deal with in this wizarding world. He was interrupted by the arrival of their head of house.
"Good morning to all our new first years. I hope you're settling in well?" Professor Dumbledore asked with a cheerful smile.
"Yes, Professor." Most of the first years answered in concert, except those like Rubeus who had their mouth full.
"That's good. Here are your schedules. Be sure not to be late on your first day."
After assurances that they wouldn't, Professor Dumbledore handed out their schedules. Rubeus looked his over and saw they had Charms first thing in the morning. Strangely enough all their classes were separated out into two hour blocks. None of that single and double hours, at least not for them this year. It was all doubles.
They had Charms with Professor Webster Light first thing at 9:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Transfiguration with Professor Albus Dumbledore first thing at 9:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Their flying lessons were on Friday at 9:00 with Professor Jacinth Robin.
They had Herbology with Herbert Beery at 11:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Potions with Professor Horace Slugthorn at 11:15 on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Defense Against the Dark Arts with Galatea Merrythought was at 2:00 on Mondays and Fridays.
History of Magic with Cuthbert Binns was at 2:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
They had a free slot on Monday at 11:15 and Wednesday at 2:00.
Each afternoon of the week at 4:00 they had two hours of Study Hall.
Breakfast was from 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning.
Lunch was 1:15 to 2:00 in the afternoon.
And Dinner was from 6:00 to 7:00 in the evening.
After dinner it was free time until curfew at 9:00 in the evening.
And they had one Astronomy lesson a week at 10:00 in the evening on Wednesday.
Looking at the lesson plan, Rubeus figured he would be kept busy most of the weekdays with classes and homework. Even their free time he would probably use at studying or practicing the spells. Because unlike the original Hagrid, Carl/Rubeus was very, very interested in learning as much as he could and mastering as much magic as he was able to.
"Come on, Rubeus, Eugene, Aaron. Time to get to Charms." Charlus called out while looking at his watch and picking up his bag. The first year Gryffindor girls had already left them behind, having not eaten nearly as much as Rubeus had.
They all trooped out of the Great Hall, following the directions they had to find the Great Hall. As they were leaving, Rubeus was satisfied with his full belly. It felt good. Like usual, he stayed at the back of the group so as not to block everyone's view of where they were going. It also let him sit back and watch the group dynamic as the four of them chatted on their way to class.
Charlus seemed to be slightly more the leader of the group, in that Eugene and Aaron seemed to naturally look to him. Rubeus thought it impressive for the Potter boy, especially with him to be around, with his unusual size.
Eugene seemed a bit more socially focused, as he kept up the conversation and continued to keep a flow of talking and asking others questions that got them to open up. Smart and social kid, that.
Aaron seemed to be mostly focused on Quidditch, even though he too was excited for classes.
And Rubeus shared with them his enjoyment of wandering the Forest of Dean growing up, so he looked forward to when they could take the Care of Magical Creatures elective in third year, since that was the original Hagrid's love.
He seemed to have picked up quite a bit of that love for animals himself when he took over the half giant's body and memories. But unlike the original Hagrid, he knew what it was like to be a normal human, so he wasn't about to start thinking that the more dangerous magical creatures were just misunderstood cuddle bunnies.
They arrived at class on time, and he was pleased to see an oversized chair waiting for him. The bench seating at the dining tables had been a bit difficult for him, though he managed. But he was very glad he would have a more comfortable desk and chair for classes.
Another thing he was surprised by was that all four houses were present. He was under the impression that they would be split into two house classes like in the original Harry Potter story, but all 32 new students easily fit into the classroom.
'Well, it makes sense really.' Rubeus thought. 'Seven years of students, if even only the first five years was split into two different class schedules, especially with only a single teacher per subject, the Professors would soon need time turners to do all the teaching they need to do for that kind of schedule.'
Their Professor started off with an introduction, explaining their class rules, grading guidelines, and what he expected from them in class. Then he began delving into the theory of their first spells, the Lumos spell, which would create a glowing light at the end of their wand. And the Nox spell, which would put that light out.
And Rubeus found himself a bit shocked that part of the theory behind the spell involved going over the math of the Arithmancy of the spells. Based on the descriptions of the Harry Potter world that he got from fiction in his old world, he thought that wizards left all logic, Maths, and Sciences behind once they got to Hogwarts.
He was pleased to find himself wrong on that score. They just didn't have a pure maths classes, apparently, and mixed it in with the various subjects. But it seemed that everyone had to learn the basic magical math behind the spell for the theory parts of their education.
It made him wonder just what they would be covering in the Arithmancy elective starting in third year. He was now quite interested in the subject.
Eventually, after the theory was covered, they pulled out their wands at the Professor's order and began practicing the spells, focusing on the feeling of their magic being pulled from their wizarding core to their wand to power the spells.
Rubeus was quite interested in looking for books on the subject of wizarding cores, since Professor Light mentioned it. Everything was new and exciting to him in this world. He wanted to learn and understand everything. He would have to look for it in the library some time soon.
He was pleased when he cast the Lumos charm that he was able to easily do it. His magic felt responsive to him, and he could feel the magic moving from his core to connect to his wand and continue to trickle out while spell was active.
Looking around at his classmate's faces, he did notice one or two that looked like they felt some amount of strain from the continual casting of the Lumos charm. He didn't feel any fatigue whatsoever from the continual casting, so Rubeus assumed he had a good bit of magic, based on that. At least he wasn't magically weak, at any rate.
Eventually the class ended with an essay assigned to cover the Lumos charm that created a bit of light at the end of their wand, and the Nox charm that put it out, and they were released from class.
While Rubeus desperately wanted to go check out the Room of Requirement and see if it was all it was cracked up to be, he held himself in check for now. It would be better to do that early in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday when he had the whole day free to do so.
Besides which, he couldn't think of a good excuse to ditch the rest of his new friends, the other Gryffindor boys, in order to go exploring alone. He didn't want to tank any chance he had of making friends with his new peers in this new world. And he didn't mind the conversation of the three boys, so it was all good.
'I'll get my chance to explore the magical Holodeck soon enough.' Rubeus thought while trailing along behind the other Gryffindor boys as they talked and explored the castle.
After lunch the Gryffindors found themselves in their DADA class, going over the curriculum that they would be covering over the year for the first bit of class. Once done with that, Professor Merrythought looked over the class in a sober manner which somehow caused the class to sit up and pay attention.
"What do you think is the best defense against Dark Magic or Dark Creatures?" The blond haired and orange eyed middle aged looking woman asked.
Many of the first years were thinking deeply. Some were raising their hands with an immediate answer. Carl simply sat there, thinking.
"Mr. Bones." The professor called on a red haired Hufflepuff that had his arm raised.
"A shield charm." He answered.
"Wrong. Some spells go right through a shield charm." The Professor shot it down. "Ms. Greenwood?" She called on a black haired Ravenclaw.
"A good offense is sometimes the best defense." The girl replied. "So cursing them before they can get you would be the best."
"A good answer, in that like you said, sometimes a great offense is the best defense. But I'll have to say, 'no'. That maxim doesn't always hold true. Sometimes a good defense is the best defense. Other times, not so much." Professor Merrythought denied. "Mr. Bell."
"Uh, calling for the Aurors to stop whatever is trying to get you?" Aaron, the brown haired Gryffindor asked more than answered.
"No! Relying on someone else to protect you is a good way to get cursed before help can arrive. Or rather, there is a more likely scenario. The Aurors arrive just in time to witness your tragic death. Don't worry; they will be sure to notify your next of kin. But it doesn't matter to you, since you are DEAD." The Professor paced back and forth on the stage at the front of class, not impatiently, more like she was prowling back and forth as she considered her class and their potential intelligence. "Mr. Hagrid, do you have an answer for us?"
Rubeus scowled on the inside. Had she called on him because unlike the other first years he didn't seem stumped, but was just waiting?
'Great. Teachers.' Rubeus sighed to himself.
"Don't let the attack hit." Rubeus threw out. He wasn't surprised when most of the Slytherins and some of the Ravenclaws started laughing at his answer. Even a couple of Hufflepuffs had smiles on their faces. Thankfully, his fellow Gryffindors were glaring at those that laughed at him in solidarity for their house member. He felt so loved.
"Quiet." Professor Merrythought snapped at the class, shutting them up. "Explain, Mr. Hagrid."
"Well, the problem with all the answers before is that they would work in some situations, but not others." Rubeus began. "At first I was going to say dodging is the best defense, but sometimes I'm guessing that it would be impossible to dodge, or that there would be too many curses coming in at one time to dodge. Not to mention that some creatures are just plain faster than a Wizard or Witch. So, I figured there wasn't any one answer that would be the best defense, but a varied approach that would be used according to the situation."
The students from the houses of the smart and cunning were staring at him with their mouths ajar in shock, never having expected the "big brute" to actually have such a reasonable answer. More so because they finally saw a small smile on their strict looking teacher's face.
"Excellent reasoning. Take five points for Gryffindor." The professor smiled as she waved her wand at the black board behind her and all the previous methods appeared written up on the board, including Rubeus' discarded 'dodging' answer.
"There are times where cursing first, and cursing hard, is the proper response. There are times where dodging is appropriate. There are times where shielding is the only way to survive. And there are other times where running away and calling in all the backup you can get to take care of the problem is the only way to live."
"With all that in mind, this first year class will focus more exclusively on three methods. Curses of your own. Shielding, which includes deflecting or reflecting an attack back on the attacker. And the final method, dodging."
The Professor waved her wand and a previously unnoticed double door appeared on what seemed to be an empty wall.
"Now, everyone leave your bags here. We will be going to the obstacle course to practice the third method today, namely dodging." The sadistic grin on her face didn't give Rubeus a good feeling.
And he was proven right.
The large room they entered had all kinds of obstacles that looked like they had to balance walk over, climb up, crawl under, or dangle from as they crossed the course.
"Now, everyone will get more than one chance to try out the course, don't worry." Professor Merrythought cheerfully announced. "Oh, and do try to dodge the balls that will be flying your way as you make your way through. The time it takes you and the number of hits you take will determine your score, which will go towards your final grade in class. So do take it seriously."
That announcement resulted in groans from the students which brought a wider smile to their teacher's face.
"Now, we'll be going alphabetically by last name. First up, Irma Bay."
A Hufflepuff girl with mousey brown hair stepped up. She began following the course, since it was pretty self explanatory where to go, and small golf ball sized balls started zinging out of the walls randomly.
Looking closer, Rubeus saw that they were coming out of some kind of box with what looked like Ancient Runes carved into them. Looking at the ground, he saw the balls would disappear shortly after they came to a stop on the ground.
Rubeus shook his head and groaned too. With his big size, dodging these balls was going to be a pain in the butt. Maybe he could grab one of the desks to use to block the balls? The teacher didn't say anything about not using anything else.
But she did say this was dodge practice, so she probably wouldn't accept any "loose" interpretations of instructions.
'Oh, well. Best to deal with it as good as I can.' Rubeus thought as the next person, Aaron Bell was sent through. 'Looks like the balls are leaving bruises. At least they're not breaking bones or anything like that.' Rubeus winced and shook his head as one of the balls smacked Aaron in the nose, causing him to start bleeding and his eyes to darken to raccoon like black eyes.
Later on, when the class was leaving the DADA room, Rubeus was suffering the most bruises out of anyone. It was nearly impossible to dodge the freaking balls that were designed to attack regular sized 11 year olds. Obviously when he had limited space he couldn't dodge nearly as well as a four and a half foot tall eleven year old. Maybe if he had more room to move around, he would have been fine. But his movements had been confined by the obstacles.
The obstacles themselves had been very easy for him to climb over. Only the ones requiring him to crawl under had been impossible for him to go through normally, so he had simply reached up and climbed over them, to the laughter of everyone watching.
The professor had simply smiled and spelled a large number of boxes to target him as retaliation for not going through it properly. Not that he could have fit. Crazy old bat of a DADA teacher.
They arrived at the Great Hall and sat down for study hall. There were some teachers there that that were grading the summer homework while keeping an eye on everyone and being available to answer questions. They could also spend their study hall time in the library, but everyone had voted to go to the Great Hall on the first day, rather than the library.
Rubeus sat with the rest of the Gryffindor first years and pulled out his books to get started on the homework for Charms and DADA. Once he was done with the essays, he got started on reading the next chapters of the Transfiguration, Herbology, and History books, since they would be his classes the next day.
He planned to get ahead and stay ahead of his school work so that he could work ahead and get to the more interesting stuff sooner. The voices of the students that filled the hall talking over their assignments and occasionally joking was actually soothing for Rubeus, after having spent so long in the void. He was definitely going to live a long life and enjoy every minute of it.
He had done some reading on the teachers of Hogwarts, and he had found out something quite interesting. Headmaster Armando Dippet was three hundred and three years old. He was born in 1637. So if some wizards could live for over three hundred years, even aside from someone like the Flamels that had the Philosophers Stone, then he was damn well going to as well.
And Dippet wasn't the only long lived wizard or witch. Their Astrology professor, Winter Greytwig was 167. Their Charms professor Webster Light was 126.
There were plenty of examples of wizards and witches living for well over a century, some for two or three. Magic was cool like that. It could also explain just how very conservative magical society could be.
Soon enough it was dinner time and the hall filled up. Sitting at the table, stuffing his face, Rubeus had a smile on his face. This was great. He was happy to be alive. He had magic to learn. He was making friends that would be allies for life.
The only real fly in the ointment was currently sitting over at the Slytherin table, "sitting court" with his fellow third years Slytherins. Tom Riddle. A Dark Lord in the making. He will inflame the ire and passion of the purebloods. He will gather terrorists, rapists, and murderers. And he will do what he can to tear down this very interesting world Rubeus found himself in.
Oh, and there was also the fact that World War II was currently raging and Grindlewald was terrorizing the continent with his wizard superiority nonsense, killing thousands of people.
And the London Blitz was going to start in the next week where Germany will bomb London and continue doing so intensely for the next two months. Then they will continue attacking Britain in random bombing runs all the way into May of 1941.
So, yeah. Life all around in this particular year wasn't exactly peachy for the world. But there was nothing he could do about the world's problems as an 11 year old wizard that would remain in Hogwarts until all that was over with.
But what was within his purview was one Tom Marvolo Riddle. Future murderer. Future Dark Lord. Who was currently chatting and enjoying his life at Hogwarts like he wasn't a psycho in the making.
Looking around at all the students and staff who were enjoying their meal and who would be the first to condemn him for taking preemptive action against a third year student who admittedly wasn't yet a monster, and who was so much smaller than him, Rubeus started crafting a plan.
It was very nebulous at the moment, since he didn't know a lot of information. Like how to sneak around the school without anyone seeing him. Or how to hide or vanish a body. Or whether or not Tom Riddle really was going to become Voldemort in this world.
Cause he's got to admit that with him having taken over Hagrid's body, it really wasn't the canon world anymore. He wasn't sure if there weren't other, larger, differences about this world.
So. He would wait and plan. He had two years to get better and wait. When, or if, a certain someone starts releasing a basilisk on the student population, then it would be time to act. And most importantly, he would need to make sure that he got off without blame.
This time around Rubeus Hagrid wasn't taking the fall for Tom Riddle's crimes.