Reviews:
Devilsummoner666: Yeah, this story is going to be fairly long.
Hakuorofan7: Canon Snape was pretty blind as well.
Spiritblade89: Thanks.
Chapter 17 -
"I'm looking forward to transfiguration," Hydrus admitted to his Slytherin year mates as they all walked into the open transfiguration class, they were evidently the first there as there were no other living beings in the class with the exception of the cat sitting on the teacher's desk.
"You just want to start changing things into snakes," Theo accused
"Guilty," Hydrus grinned. "Though, from what I understand, that's apparently too advanced for first years. Shame."
"Where is Professor McGonagall?" Daphne wondered.
"I don't know," Hydrus replied before looking around. "The board says to start reading our books so I'm just going to do that, I guess." He added before walking over to the front of the classroom and sat on the right side.
"Might as well," Daphne agreed before she followed and sat next to him while the other Slytherins sat down along with him, all of them sitting on the right side of the classroom.
"Hi Kitty," Hydrus waved at the cat before opening his book and starting to read.
Roughly a minute later the Gryffindors arrived, Hermione Granger headed straight to the front and quickly plopped down into the front seat on the left side, she took one glance at the board and the Slytherins before quickly pulling out her books and started to read. A second later Liv slowly followed and sat down next to Hermione, taking her book out as well. She glanced to her right in time to lock eyes with Hydrus. Hydrus gave the girl a questioning look, she sent the same look right back at him. An amused expression appeared on Hydrus's face before he looked back down at his book.
Five minutes later the peace and quiet of the classroom was interrupted as the doors slammed open, Ronald Weasley and Neville Longbottom quickly rushed in like the hounds of hell were nipping at their heels.
"Wow," Ron let out a massive sigh of relief upon seeing that Professor McGonagall was not there. "We're lucky we made it, could you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?" He asked Neville. Neville didn't really get a chance to respond as the cat on the desk leapt forwards and transformed into Professor McGonagall in mid-air. The transfiguration teacher landed gracefully on her feet and walked up to the two late students. "That was bloody brilliant!" Ron blurted out. Hydrus stared at Professor McGonagall with wide eyes, he had no idea that the woman was an animagus.
"Thank you for that assessment, Mr Weasley, perhaps I should instead transfigure yourself or Mr Longbottom into a pocket watch." Professor McGonagall replied. "If I did then at least one of you might be on time."
"We...we got lost," Neville stuttered.
"Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats," She looked at the boys expectantly, the two quickly rushed into their seats as fast as they could and pulled their books out. "Good," Professor McGonagall said as she walked up to the front and stopped in front of the students.
"Hi Kitty," Hydrus smiled at her, giving her another small wave.
"Very amusing, Mr Black," She said with the air of someone trying not to roll her eyes, meanwhile Hydrus's smile just got brighter thanks to her being the first person in this school who could apparently remember that his last name was Black. "Now," She said, speaking to the whole class. "Transfiguration as you will be hearing many, many times throughout your school years, is not an easy subject and should be treated with the utmost respect. I will not tolerate any foolishness in my class, nor will I tolerate any messing around. In this class, you will obey my instructions or you will not be in this class. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor McGonagall." The class chorused.
"Good, now we will start with a simple transfiguration. It will not be very exciting, I admit, but it is what you will be doing." Professor McGonagall continued. "You must practise simple, basic and even boring transfigurations to succeed at the bigger ones. Now, in a moment I will be handing each of you a matchstick, from there I want you all to work on transfiguring it into a silver needle. I will teach you the spell to do so."
Five minutes later, many of the class were struggling to change their matchsticks. Hermione Granger had managed to nearly get it the right shape, Liv had managed the shape but not the colour. Hydrus saw his friends struggling with it as well, Theo was in the same boat as Liv, while Draco had just managed to get the colour right. Hydrus saw Daphne's attempt and saw that she had gotten the shape perfect with only half the needle being the right colour.
"Mr Black," Professor McGonagall's voice pulled him out of his observations. "Is there a problem?"
"Do you mean with something specific?" Hydrus asked curiously.
"I am referring to your ability to perform the task, a task which I believe you have not yet attempted." Professor McGonagall said, looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"Ah, I was thinking and observing, Professor McGonagall," Hydrus answered honestly. "I am ready to attempt it now."
"Well, go on then," She said, giving him an expectant look.
"Yes, Professor." Hydrus nodded before aiming his wand at the matchstick. He took a deep breath before performing the spell, a second later he had a perfect needle on his desk. "Done, Professor." Hydrus nodded.
"Well done, Mr Black," Professor McGonagall said, looking suitably impressed. "How did you do this on your first try?"
"I thought and observed, Professor McGonagall," Hydrus answered. "I thought about your instructions, I had read the base rules of transfigurations. I saw what other people were doing and took guesses about where they were going wrong."
"Well, that will be five points to Slytherin." Professor McGonagall said, giving him a small nod before continuing to go around the class, helping students.
"I bet it helped that your mother taught you that spell," Daphne whispered once Professor McGonagall was far enough away.
"Just a bit," Hydrus grinned.
"I heard that Professor Flitwick is a duelling champion," Daphne told Hydrus as they neared charms class.
"Me too," Theo added. "He's apparently also one of oldest teaching professors here."
"Father told me that he's half-goblin." Draco whispered, sounding a bit bothered by that fact.
"That's disgusting," Pansy hissed.
"Who gives a crap?" Hydrus scoffed. "The man's a multi-winning duelling champion, he's got my respect." He added as they neared the charm's classroom.
Once they entered, they took a look around the classroom. Instead of having desks facing forward as Professor McGonagall did, Professor Flitwick's classroom had a set of seats on the sides of the classroom with a set of higher perched seats behind the first set. The walls were all covered in hundreds of differently written words, opposite the door was a large window and in front of that window was a desk and a chair, both of which were surrounded by what felt like hundreds of books.
Hydrus immediately rushed to take a seat at the front on the right side of the classroom, Daphne and Draco followed after him. The former quickly slid in next to Hydrus before Draco could, earning a small glare from the Malfoy heir before he sat next to her while the other Slytherins sat down next to and behind them. A short while later the Gryffindors arrived and immediately went to sit on the opposite side of the classroom. Once again, Hydrus noted that Hermione Granger rushed to the front while the Cooper girl slowly followed and sat next to her and they both started pulling out their books. The Cooper girl looked up at Hydrus and gave him a questioning look, Hydrus sent her one back, and an amused look appeared on her face before she looked back down at her book.
'There's something off about her,' Hydrus thought to himself.
At that moment, Professor Flitwick came in. The man looked to be under four feet tall, he had combed grey hair, and green robes and was smiling as if there was nothing better for him to do in life than to teach in this particular classroom.
"Good morning everyone," He smiled as he walked up to the front of his desk where he began climbing up a pile of small steps and onto his chair before climbing on top of his desk. "Now, who is ready to start learning charms?" At once, Hermione Granger quickly shot her hand up into the air with an eager expression on her face. "That was a rhetorical question, my dear," He told her, causing her to blush slightly as she lowered her hand. "Now, let's get started with the register, shall we?" With a flick of his wand, a scroll flew into Professor Flitwick's hands and he started taking the register. "Let's get started, oh look, Hydrus Black!" He smiled and looked around before finding Hydrus. "Ah, there you are! I must admit, young man, that I was looking forward to meeting you. I was there during the tournament finals, you were very impressive for your age."
"Oh, thank you, Professor," Hydrus said, a pleased smile on his face.
"There's no need to thank me, dear boy, your performance was simply marvellous." Professor Flitwick smiled kindly at him. "I knew Lily Potter personally, she was a truly remarkable witch and a master of charms. As for Bellatrix, she was also undeniably a very talented witch. She preferred defence against the dark arts if my memory serves me right, though given that a large portion of that involves charms I am sure that you can see why she made sure to pay attention to my class. I'm expecting good work from you, Mr Black." He told him before continuing the register while Hydrus continued smiling at him.
"Hermione," Liv said as she was sat in the Gryffindor common room with the other Gryffindor first years after a long day of school. "That boy, what was his name? He-drus Black? Do you know anything about him?"
"It's 'Hydrus Black' actually," Hermione said, her eyes lit up in a way that Liv realised they always did whenever she got to chance to teach someone something. "Well, it is now, he used to be called Harry Potter."
"Wait, as in that boy-who-lived kid?" Liv asked for confirmation, having already heard about the boy-who-lived in her limited time in the wizarding world.
"Yes, after defeating you-know-who, he was taken away to live in the muggle world for a bit before a trial where he was adopted by Bellatrix Black," Hermione said, sounding like she was reciting her knowledge directly from a book. "There's not much more known about him but he did compete in a duelling tournament,"
"Yeah, he won the British under twelve tournament," Lavender Brown, a blonde girl said, sitting next to her friend, Parvati, an Indian girl with a twin sister called Padma that was in Ravenclaw. "I didn't go, but my daddy was there, he told me that Black beat Cormac McLaggen."
"Wait," Dean Thomas, a dark skinned muggleborn said, sitting next to an Irish Half-blood called Seamus Finnegan. "Isn't that a guy in the year above us?"
"Yep," Lavender nodded, seeming pleased to have the attention of everyone on her. "Daddy told me that Hydrus beat him easily. Apparently, his new mother taught him very well."
"That monster is no mother," Neville sniffed angrily before getting up and storming out of the common room.
"What's his problem?" Seamus wondered.
"It's Black," Ron spoke up. "Bellatrix Black I mean, it's a bit of an open secret in the wizarding world that she was part of the death eaters."
"The death eaters? You mean Voldemort's followers?" Liv asked.
"Don't say his name!" Ron hissed, looking alarmed for a moment. "But yeah, and she was part of a group of them that attacked the Longbottom's manor, left Neville's parents in the hospital, I reckon permanently."
"Then why isn't she arrested?" Parvati wondered.
"Because she told the courts that she was forced," Ron scoffed. "Troll rubbish in my opinion, I reckon she just had enough money to pay her way out. Then she took Harry Potter, a national hero, and adopted him. Neville's probably hoping to convince Harry to see that she's actually evil."
"I don't think she can be that evil," Hermione frowned. "I mean, if the courts let her go then maybe she wasn't evil. There's no real proof that she bribed anyone."
"She's a Black," Ron said as if that was more than enough proof. "That family is one of the oldest in the wizarding world, and they've pretty much all been dark wizards since the beginning."
"They can't all be bad," Liv replied, finding the idea of an entire family being forever bad to be a bit ridiculous.
"Maybe there are a few good ones," Ron conceded. "But I doubt there are many, the majority of them are probably evil, I'd bet my life on it. Bellatrix Black is definitely one of them. Everyone in the wizarding world knows it. I think Neville's got the right idea."
"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned.
"I think we should try and get Harry Potter away from the Slytherins, show him how evil Black really is."
"His name is Hydrus," Liv reminded him.
"Yes, besides I don't really know if that's a good idea," Hermione admitted. "I mean, he hasn't really done anything to any of us, has he?"
"Yeah," Liv agreed. "Besides, I saw him in class. He looked pretty happy to be learning here, pretty healthy all things considered."
"So what if she treats him nice?" Ron snorted. "What would that matter if he ends up trying to kill muggleborns?" Ron added as he stood up. "Don't believe me if you don't want to, but trust me, he's serious trouble." He told them before turning and walking away, heading up to his room.
"I just...don't think he would do that," Hermione frowned, though she did concede to herself that she didn't really know the boy, having not even spent a week in the same school as him yet.
"Hmm," Liv hummed thoughtfully. "For what it's worth, I don't think so either."