Reviews:
Maverick123214685: Yep, the two will be strong when they're older. Not Harry level but strong.
DZ2: The inspiration for the smoke was actually from rewatching an episode of Power Rangers Mystic Force where Morticon tried to do a similar thing to Koragg.
Hey: It won't be seen for a while but yeah, hopefully.
Chapter 8 -
Harry walked down the halls of Hogwarts, feeling more at home than he did the whole summer. This was the closest thing he had to home right now, not unless you want to count his old house, but that was a little too blown up for his liking. The living portraits, wandering ghosts, enchanted objects and the feeling of how ancient and old this school was, it all screamed home for Harry.
Walking by his side as usual was Daphne, who as always looked like the perfect picture of a pureblood girl. She rarely ever looked anything less than perfect, something which Harry believed was a large part of why she was so desired in school. He had heard tales of girls spending hours on makeup and beauty charms to impress boys, Daphne did not need either of them. On those few occasions where she did makeup, it was only ever a little bit and she seemed annoyed at having to put it on.
The pair of them were currently on their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, Harry had always been an early riser, as had Daphne. Tonks hadn't been at first, but eventually, she built up a tolerance to it, which was why Tonks managed to meet them on the way there.
"Wotcher," Tonks greeted, coming up and lightly bumping Harry in the shoulder before walking along with them. "How was your first night back in the snake den?" She asked the two of them.
"Uneventful," Harry shrugged. Tonks gave him a doubtful look before staring questioningly at Daphne.
"A little first-year thought he was the king of Slytherin," Daphne said with a small sigh. "Potter decided to give him a little reality check,"
"Nice," Tonks said approvingly. "Meanwhile, the Hufflepuffs just chatted a bit and went to sleep."
"That's because you're all boring," Daphne replied with a roll of her eyes. "The majority of you are at least, I have often suspected that the hat wanted to put you in Gryffindor."
"It had thought about it," Tonks admitted. "And did you seriously say we Hufflepuffs are boring? You snakes are the ones that are constantly going on and on about your politics and bullshit,"
"Politics are important," Daphne glared at her.
"It is far too early for this," Harry told the pair of them before they could start another argument. Thankfully for him, they had arrived at the Great Hall and the promise of breakfast quickly stopped any more arguments from forming. Harry and Daphne took a seat at the Slytherin table, not even batting an eye when Tonks came to join them, she had been doing so since her first year. It wasn't long before the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses arrived, Dan had waved a quick goodbye to the boys in his year before heading over to Harry.
"Hi Harry," Dan grinned as he sat next to Harry.
"Alright, Sparrow?" Harry grinned back at him. "How's the first day with the claws going?"
"Awesome! The bed's nice and my room's nice and my common room has its own personal library," Dan smiled brightly. "I can't wait for classes to start, I'm going to learn so much magic,"
"Yep, he's a Ravenclaw, alright," Tonks smiled.
Meanwhile, the Gryffindor first years had just arrived in the hall, Iris took a look around the hall and spotted Dan sitting with Harry, she grinned and was about to make her way over when Ron spoke up.
"Iris, where are you going? The Gryffindor table is over there," He said, pointing to the Gryffindor table.
"I'm going to go and sit with my brothers," Iris said, sounding as if she was unsure why she had to spout out what should be obvious knowledge.
"At the Slytherin table?" Ron gaped at her in a way that made it seem like she had just suggested she'd perform heart surgery on herself with a fork and a rusty spoon. "But...you can't sit there," He said, aghast.
"I don't know, there's a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff sitting there," Dean pointed out.
"But we can't sit there!" Ron protested.
"Tell that to her," Seamus pointed to Iris who had already walked off, much to Ron's horror.
"I suppose we could ask the prefects," Hermione suggested as Iris sat down opposite Harry.
"Hi, Harry! Hi Dan!" Iris smiled brightly as she sat with them.
"Hello, Iris," Harry smiled warmly at her. "How are things in the house of lions going?"
"Alright, so far, the girls there are really nice, but they haven't chatted much with the boys."
"I'd advise against it, most boys are pricks," Harry told her before turning to Dan. "No offence,"
"I won't take any offence if you don't take any," Dan told him as he piled food onto his plate.
"Fair,"
"I'm really looking forward to transfiguration," Hermione Granger had told Iris as they walked into the transfiguration classroom and took their seats. "I heard that Professor McGonagall studied under Dumbledore himself. She's surely going to know a lot." Iris nodded as she looked around, the classroom had what every classroom could need, desks and chairs and a couple of boards up front. In between the boards was a large oak desk with a few piles of books, a pile of parchment, and a few small objects including an ink pot and a holder for a quill. But what most caught the young girl's attention was the cat sitting on the desk.
"Oh, I love cats!" Iris squealed as she rushed over to the cat and gave it a small wave. The small feline seemed mildly shocked by her reaction, so much so that she almost didn't notice the girl petting her. Once she recovered, she jumped out of arm's reach and sent a warning hiss at the girl. Iris simply grinned in response. "Don't worry, I'll wear you down," Iris told her with a giggle before Hermione pulled her to the closest desk.
"Be careful," Hermione said, sounding amused despite her best efforts. "Professor McGonagall might not like you playing with her cat."
"Nah, she won't mind," Iris said confidently as she sat down next to Hermione. "My brother told me all about her, said that she's really tough but extremely fair."
"Really?" Hermione asked as they both started pulling out their school books from their bags, along with their ink pots and quills.
"Oh yeah," Iris nodded. "Harry really likes her, he says she's probably one of his favourite teachers." She said. The cat on the desk seemed to preen with pride. "He also thinks she's quite pretty," She couldn't help but add, the cat squeaked at that, staring at the girl in shock as she continued to talk to Hermione.
"Oh, but isn't Professor McGonagall a little old for him?" Hermione frowned.
"Doesn't mean he can't have an opinion, does it?" Iris countered with a shrug of her shoulders.
Soon, the other students started piling into the classroom, the class seemed to be made up of Gryffindors and Slytherins. She couldn't help but notice that a couple of Gryffindors were missing, but she didn't get too long to think about that when she was suddenly approached by Draco Malfoy and his two friends, 'Crabbe and Goyle' if she remembered their names right. The cocky blonde walked up to her with a big smirk on his face while the other two stood behind him like they were his personal bodyguards.
"Hello, Iris," Draco drawled. "I'm glad to see you again," He said, reaching over and pulling her hand to his lips, planting a kiss on her knuckles, only to cough and spit on the floor, looking down he realised that he had just kissed a fresh ink stain.
"Oops," Iris blinked as she also realised that she had spilt some ink on her hand. "Sorry, I guess,"
"I..." Draco paused to spit again on the floor. "...It's fine," He forced the words out, glaring for a moment before plastering on a neutral expression. "As I was saying, Iris, we met before the sorting ceremony."
"I was there," Iris nodded with a completely serious tone.
"And our conversation was unfortunately interrupted by that...by your brother," Draco said, sounding quite unimpressed.
"He just asked you a question," Iris glared at him. "You were the one that started being mean to him,"
"Debatable,"
"No, it isn't,"
"Anyway, I wanted to offer my hand in friendship to you, like I said, you don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort," He said, sending a pointed look at Hermione. "I can help you there," He said grandly.
"How am I the wrong sort?!" Hermione demanded crossly.
"You're a muggleborn, aren't you?" Draco asked rudely before turning back to Iris. "It's people like her that are ruining our world, let me tell you, they come in and try to change everything, make everything like their precious muggle world, which is pretty stupid since they left that world to come here anyway. They don't appreciate our ideas, our ways of life. They're ruining our world and trust me, you don't want to start spending more time with them than necessary." Iris stared at him for several seconds with a blank look on her face before she spoke in the driest and most bland voice she had ever used in her life.
"My mother was a muggleborn, you twat-face,"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean that I..." Draco paused as her words finally registered in his head. "...Hey! What did you just call me?!" He demanded.
"I called you a twat-face, you hob-knob!"
"What the hell's a hob-knob?!"
"I don't know, but probably you," Iris replied.
"You better watch who you're talking to," Draco said in a threatening voice. "Or else," At that moment, the cat on the desk leapt into the air and transformed into Professor McGonagall, who took a few steps forward before standing in front of the now-shocked Draco Malfoy.
"Or else what, Mr Malfoy?" She asked in an unamused voice as she stared down at the blonde.
"I..." Draco stuttered for a moment before staying silent.
"Just as I suspected," Professor McGonagall nodded, looking more disappointed with the young Malfoy boy than anything. In truth, she had hoped that the boy wouldn't behave exactly as his father did when he came to school, but apparently, the apple fell pretty close to the tree in the Malfoy family. "Now, Miss Potter, that'll be ten points from Gryffindor for insulting a fellow student." She said, Iris blinked Draco looked briefly smug before Professor McGonagall turned her attention back to him. "I advise you to retreat to your seat, Mr Malfoy, and wipe that look off of your face. You will lose ten points for insulting a student, another ten for blatant discrimination and another ten for threats in my classroom."
"That...that's thirty points!" Draco said, outraged.
"Your mathematical skills are impeccable, Mr Malfoy," She said dryly. "But let us not forget the extra two points I will be taking for you spitting on my floor," She added before waving her wand and cleaning the floor. "To your seats," She told the boys. The three stared at them for a moment before Draco huffed and went to sit down, the other two following after him. "As for you," She turned to Iris. "How long did you know I was a cat?"
"Me? How would I know?" Iris asked innocently. Professor McGonagall gave her a long stare before she sighed and walked back to her desk.
"Did you know?" Hermione whispered to Iris.
"Oh yeah, Harry told me," Iris whispered back.
"Now," Professor McGonagall said, standing at the front of the desk. "If there are no further interruptions, perhaps we can start with our lesson-" The doors to the classroom burst open, and Ron and Neville ran in. Both of them panted heavily as they stopped in the middle of the classroom.
"We got lost," Neville coughed heavily, hands on his knees.
"And then Filch started harassing us," Ron added, red with exhaustion.
"So...this is a typical year so far," Professor McGonagall whispered to herself, massaging her forehead.
"Mr Potter," Professor Flitwick stared with amazement, as did the rest of the class. He had suspected that the young boy would be excellent in charms, his mother was after all, not to mention how talented his older brother was. It turns out he was right. "You see when I asked you to experiment with the wand-lighting charm, I had pictured you perhaps changing the intensity or size of the light...maybe making it float up into the air...but...this was most definitely not what I had in mind."
"You just lack imagination," Dan told him apologetically, tapping the charms master on the shoulder before he too stared up at the multi-coloured lights that were flying around the room. Dan had apparently decided that one ball of light was not enough and had made several which were now chasing each other around the room, flying in seemingly random directions. Professor Flitwick blinked before looking at the first-year student standing next to him.
"You cheeky little bugger," Professor Flitwick said before pausing. "You're definitely a Potter," He decided.