Chapter 9
The remaining days left before school started were among the most exhausting in Harry's life. Sirius insisted on drilling him mercilessly in defense which generally left him bruised and battered. In addition to that were the daily occlumency lessons. While Harry had mastered the art of blocking his mind of from Legilimency attacks years ago, this would not do at Hogwarts. He knew that if Dumbledore or Snape attempted to read his mind and failed it would raise too many suspicions. In order to prevent that he had to perfect another occlumency technique called False Mind. The technique consisted of creating false memories, so that when a legilimens attacked they would only be shown the false memories and hopefully would not suspect that things were being hidden from them. The main difficulty in this technique was that false memories generally lacked the detail of real memories. It took an inordinate amount of imagination and attention to detail to create a false memory that would be able to fool a master legilimens. However Harry had one huge advantage here, he had been provided with the complete set of memories from his earlier life, so at least he didn't have to create memories from scratch. All he had to do was shunt and redirect any legilimency attack into his carefully selected memories so that Dumbledore would only see what he expected to see - a poor downtrodden boy who had not been shown the slightest amount of love his entire life.
While this was going on Quirrell was holed up in the black family library researching healing techniques that might be used to cure Harry's scar. Whenever he emerged he would insist on going over the plan again and again trying to find any flaws that might have existed. No detail was too small for Quirrell, ever little facet had to be examined to the nth degree until Harry was utterly exhausted. The way things were going Harry thought that going to Hogwarts would be a relief, even dealing with Snape would be preferable to the endless debates that Quirrell subjected him to. Finally with just a week left to go before he had to head to Hogwarts, Harry had had enough and insisted on taking a break. He decided to spend the remaining time with his family especially as Dudley had been feeling rather abandoned without Harry around all the time. As the two of them were so close in age they had always tended to do everything together and now that they were both headed to different schools Dudley had started to feel a kind of separation anxiety. He had been moping and sulking around the house ever since Harry got his Hogwarts letter. On top of that his mother seemed to be having some kind of nervous breakdown as the reality of him heading to Hogwarts started to sink in, she seemed to alternate between resigned acceptance and utter hysteria twenty times a day. Harry knew she was terrified of something happening to him, she had lost her only sister to a deranged homicidal wizard after all, and he tried his best to reassure her, but so far he hadn't had much success. All in all it had been a totally nerve wracking month for the young boy.
o-o00o-o
As September dawned Harry found himself being dropped off at Kings Cross Station by an unusually sombre Vernon.
"All right Harry, here we are, Kings Cross Station, you sure you'll be able to find the platform on your own?"
"Yes Dad, we discussed this, you know they expect you to be nasty to me, and since you can't act at all, better to avoid anyone else seeing you."
"Come on, I wasn't that bad..."
"Dad, you barely managed to convince Hagrid, and he's really gullible."
"I just needed a bit more practice that's all."
"You kept apologizing to me, not to mention you looked horribly unconvincing and embarrassed when we were practicing."
"Well, it's not that easy to pretend to be someone who hates their own son, still think I could have managed though, I did act in a few plays back in college you know. Now are you sure you'll be okay?"
"Its okay Dad, I'll be fine, stop worrying."
"You'd better be, I swear if your mother hadn't promised her sister that you would be educated at Hogwarts I'd never let you within a hundred miles of that place. If you get so much as a scratch at that place, I'm sending you straight to Smeltings, promise or no promise."
"Dad we've been over this a hundred times, I need to do this."
"You're eleven Harry, you don't need to do anything, Smeltings is a great school, and we could always hire tutors through your Uncle Sirius to teach you all that other stuff. Plus you'll be with your brother, always good to have family to rely on."
"I know Dad, but I have to go to Hogwarts, there are things I need to do there, and I'll be fine. You really shouldn't worry so much."
"Can't help it, that man Dumbledore, the one who set up those wards will be there, I still can't believe anyone would be that cruel to a baby."
"It's ok Dad, you know I've got a plan, he won't be there for long."
"Promise me you'll be careful though, and keep that emergency portkey and the shrunken down broomstick that Sirius gave you on you at all times. Remember the first sign of trouble; you get out of the grounds and portkey home immediately."
"Yes Dad, stop worrying, things will be fine, and if things don't work as planned we're going to get the hell out of there. No way am I spending 7 years in Hogwarts with that old coot in charge."
"Okay, now remember, you may be a Potter but you were brought up a Dursley, and what don't Dursley's do?"
"We don't take crap from anyone."
"Damn straight, we don't. Now if anything at all comes up, you contact me immediately, you've got Sirius's mirror handy right?"
"Yep, got it right here, Mum's got the other one, I'll call you'll on it tonight as soon as I can get some privacy."
"Okay, now give your old man a hug and go give them hell."
"They won't know what hit them Dad; I'll talk to you soon all right."
Harry grabbed his trunk from the boot of the car, waved goodbye to his father and headed off to find platform 9 and three-quarters. Unlike last time, he knew exactly how to get onto the platform and wasted no time in getting to the train.
"First things first, got to find Hermione" he thought.
Harry had spent a lot of time thinking about his memories of his friends from his previous life and despite her inclination towards bossiness and tendency to worship authority figures he was truly looking forward to getting to know Hermione again. Ron Weasely on the other hand he would be better off avoiding he had decided. Apart from his mothers warning about the redheads activities, on analyzing his memories Harry had been shocked at how easily he had forgiven the boy's betrayal during the Triwizard Tournament as well as his abandonment during the Horcrux hunt. The boy had called him a cheat, refused to believe the truth and on top of all that not even warned him about a dragon, a bloody dragon for god's sake, and yet he had taken him back without even a proper apology on the prats part. He must have been truly desperate for friends to put up with such behavior. The person he was now would never tolerate such a betrayal from a friend.
"Things were going to be different this time around" he vowed to himself.
o-o00o-o
Harry had jammed a hat upon his head to hide the trademark scar, hopefully that along with the fact that he was wearing muggle clothes would be enough to stop people from recognizing him. He definitely didn't want to deal with the whole Boy-Who-Lived crap today, even though he knew he'd have to at some point. However he was hoping to put that off as much as possible. He had arrived relatively early and the train had hardly any students at this point, he briefly debated whether he should look for Hermione first or secure himself a compartment. That choice was made redundant soon as he saw a familiar head of bushy hair in the distance.
"That's lucky" he thought, "Guess Hermione came early as well." He waited a moment before following her into the same compartment which luckily enough had no other students in it yet. He entered and silently cast a wandless notice me not charm at the door. Hopefully that would prevent anyone else from entering so that he could get to know Hermione without any interruptions.
"Hi, is this seat taken?" he asked her.
"No, go ahead. Are you a first year as well?" said Hermione.
Harry tucked away his trunk which had earlier been charmed weightless into a corner of the compartment, before taking a seat across from Hermione.
"Yep? So you're a muggleborn right?"
"Yes, how could you tell? Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you? " She said all this very fast.
"Name's Harry, as for how I could tell, it was the clothes. Kids from wizarding families tend to dress differently. Even the ones who don't wear robes all the time tend to dress differently from what we're used to."
"We? So you're muggleborn as well."
"For all intents and purposes. Technically I'm a half-blood, but I was muggle raised."
"Oh." Hermione said, not quite sure if she should ask about why he was muggle-raised if he was a half-blood, then she pressed forward.
"Do you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad."
"Well, any house would do I suppose, except for Slytherin, I really don't like the whole snake thing they have going for them. But you said you've already learned the course books by heart?"
"Yes, I've even tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me."
"Okay, that's it, I'm calling dibs."
"Dibs?"
"Yeah, I'm calling dibs on you sitting next to me in class, also as a study partner."
"You can't call dibs on that?"
"Why not?"
"You just can't."
"That's not a reason, I'm calling dibs."
"Why? Just because I tried a few spells?"
"Not just that."
"Then why?"
"Well the spells and the fact that you've memorized all your text books simply proved one thing. You're smart, and if it's one thing I've learned is that smart people are way more interesting to hang around with than dumb people. Secondly you're really pretty which doesn't hurt at all."
"You think I'm pretty?" blushed Hermione.
"Yep, hell in a few years I'll have to beat the guys off you with a stick. I should write a reminder down actually, note to self - get a big stick."
"Very funny."
"And finally there's the fact that you're muggle raised like me."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Have you tried hanging around with some of these so called pure blood kids?"
"Well, I haven't really met any yet."
"Trust me you're not missing anything, I mean I don't want to be rude, we are entering their little world after all, but some of these kids are absolutely hopeless."
"Really? How?"
"Well, for one thing most of them don't know anything about what's happening in the rest of the world. For instance they probably have no idea who Margaret Thatcher is, and if they do they'll probably tell you she's still the PM."
"They can't be that ignorant surely?"
"You have no idea. Most of them lead these horribly insulated lives. A bit like the Amish I would imagine."
"The Amish?"
"Yeah you know like in that Harrison Ford movie."
"Witness?"
"Yeah that's the one, and this is just another example. If I talked about a movie with some of these kids they wouldn't know what I'm talking about. So any kind of cultural reference is totally lost on them."
"Get back to the Amish, how are they like them?"
"Well think about it. Now I don't really know that much about the Amish, I'm just going off the movie here. But wizards are just like the Amish. They tend to live on their own away from normal people. They have a term for the normal people, in the movie the Amish called everyone else the English, wizards call everyone else muggles. They dress funny in an exceptionally old fashioned way, the Amish clothes were simple slightly old fashioned, these guys go around in dresses for gods sake. And the worst part is they don't use technology at all. You know what that means?"
"Uh, no computers or cars?"
"Worse. No TV. Can you imagine a life in which you've never seen an episode of Doctor Who?"
"That would be terrible, but they still have books."
"Yeah, but they don't read the same ones. I asked one kid what his favorite book was and he started talking about something called Babbity Rabbity and her cackling toe or stump or something. "
"Babbity Rabbity?"
"I know, right? And you can't even talk to them about football or cricket. No, if they're into sports at all, its some game called Quidditch which believe it or not is supposed to be played on brooms."
"I guess they can't help it, I heard that magic interferes with electricity in some way so you can't get muggle appliances to work in magical homes."
"I heard that too but I think that's total rubbish. I know someone who enchanted a motorcycle to work off of magic. Made it fly and everything. Now if he could do that, why can't someone enchant a television. The thing is, they've made that kind of thing illegal. They claim its because of the statute of secrecy, supposedly they're worried about an enchanted item falling into the hands of muggles, but you know what I think it really is?"
"What?"
"Information control. They only have a few newspapers in the magical world and something called the wizarding wireless. All of these are tightly controlled by the ministry. That way the ministry can control the sources of information. You know thats the first thing that any group goes after when they have a coup or revolution in a country right. They alway's try to get control of the television and radio stations. Control the flow of information and you control the public."
"That's a bit paranoid isn't it?"
"You've got a better explanation for why they seem centuries out of date?"
"No, but I've just entered the magical world, I barely know anything yet."
"You'll learn, but anyway, back to the main topic, do you agree I've got dibs?"
"I guess, but what if we're not sorted into the same house?"
"In that case we can still have our study group, but don't worry, as long as you don't get sorted into Slytherin, which is so not likely to happen, I'll make sure we're in the same house."
"How will you do that?"
"The sorting's alphabetical so you'll go before me and I'll just make them put me in the same house. Do you know how we're sorted?"
"Oddly enough it wasn't covered in Hogwarts, A History, even though they had a section on Sorting Songs. And none of the people I asked would tell me, they all just said - 'you'll see'."
"Yeah, I hate it when they do that too. Okay, it's a bit of an unofficial tradition not to tell kids how they'll be sorted, but what happens is that they make you wear a magic hat."
"A hat? You're kidding right?"
"I wish I was, anyway the hat reads your mind and decides on which house to place you in based on your personality. You know Ravenclaw for the smart, Gryffindor for the brave blah blah. That's the way its supposed to work anyway."
"Supposed to work?"
"Well, it seems that certain families always tend to be sorted into the same houses. Do you see that family of red heads just coming onto the platform?"
"Hard to miss them, seem to be a lot of them."
"Yeah, Seven kids, 2 of them have already graduated, the sixth should be in our year. Anyway all of them have traditionally been sorted into Gryffindor. Now I don't know about you, but I refuse to believe that the 5 kids who've been sorted so far all had exactly the same personality, not to mention the fact that their parents had the same personality as well. Does that seem feasible to you?"
"I think if you've been brought up in the same environment then..."
"Let me guess. Only child right?"
"Yes, but..."
"Well, if you'd have had any siblings you'd know that's just not true. Even twins can have wildly different personalities."
"So how do you explain it?"
"Obviously the hat takes your wishes into account. Some kid's heard stories about his parents house and how great it is his entire life, so when he comes to Hogwarts he wants to enter the same house and the hat obliges him, then the kid's sibling enters and want's to be in the same house as his brother etc., etc."
"So basically if you really want to be in a particular house, the hat will put you in it?"
"Yep, after all who has their personality set in stone at eleven anyway. The hat will put you in a house, you start identifying with that house's attributes and you start acting in the way you're supposed to. Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy if you ask me. So choose carefully because whichever house you're going in I'm going to tell the hat to put me in the same one."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Sure, why not. You're way better than any of the pure blood kids I've run across so far."
"So which house should we choose?"
"Truth be told, I think Ravenclaw would be the best fit for you. I know you said that you think Gryffindor's the best, but think about it - Gryffindor tends to attract the loud kids, the ones who'll only study if you force them to, kids who would never ever read a book for pleasure. Does that sound like someplace you'd want to be stuck for the next seven years?"
"You're right, those don't sound like the kind of people I'd be friends with."
"Or you could take your chances with the hat, if you don't request a house it should just put you in the house that's best suited for you. I bet that'll be Ravenclaw."
"You think so?"
"Hermione, I'd bet anything you want that no other kid on this train has already memorized all their books. How could you not be sorted into Ravenclaw?"
By now the train had started moving and all the students seemed to have been seated so Harry removed the Notice Me Not charm from the door of their compartment. He didn't want to miss the lady with the cart full of sweets after all.
o-o00o-o
A little while later after the sweet cart had been by Hermione and Harry were both on a bit of a sugar high after overdosing on Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Harry had had to persuade Hermione to try some of the sweets, there was something creepy about biting into a moving frog after all, but eventually she had not been able to resist them.
There was a knock on the compartment door and a young boy came in. Harry recognized Neville Longbottom right away even though he looked quite different from his memories. In his other set of memories the first time he had met Neville, he had been a tearful round faced boy who had been looking for his toad. This Neville looked a lot more athletic and not at all tearful.
"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all? I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
"Guess some things always remain the same" thought Harry.
"No, but I'll keep an eye out for him, what did you say your name was?"
"Neville Longbottom."
"Longbottom? Any relation to Frank Longbottom?"
"He's my Father" said Neville.
"Wow, that's so cool" said Harry, turning to Hermione. "Frank Longbottom's an auror, he's famous for capturing Bellatrix Lestrange back during the last war. She was this really vicious terrorist, belonged to this group called Death Eater's."
"I've read about them in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. Did your Dad really capture one of them. That's amazing" said Hermione.
"Yeah, but he always gives the credit to my Mum. Claims that without her warning of their attack he would never have been able to capture them. Mum had a vision before the attack, you see, warning her that it was going to happen. Dad's been half convinced she's a Seer ever since."
"Your Mum had a vision? Wow?" said Hermione.
"Yeah, she was asleep and she dreamt that a friend of hers who had just passed away came and spoke to her about the attack. She never says who the friend was but she's always very sad when she talks about it."
"So what do you think it was?" said Harry, "Is your Mum really a Seer?"
"She always says no, she thinks her friend managed to give her the warning somehow."
All this time Neville had been looking at Harry strangely. "Excuse me, but you kind of look like the pictures of one of my father's friends. You wouldn't be Harry Potter would you?"
"You're Harry Potter" gasped Hermione. "Why didn't you say so, I've read all about you in those same history books."
"That's exactly why I didn't say I was Harry Potter" said Harry, "I prefer to get to know people first before I bring all that Boy-Who-Lived crap into it."
"But you are the Boy-Who-Lived" said Neville looking a little intimidated.
"Oh don't be like that Neville, most of that stuff was made up to sell books."
"Made up?" said Hermione, shocked that history books could have been filled with inaccurate information.
"Yep, out of all the people there that night, I'm the only survivor, and I was a little over a year old at the time so I couldn't tell you what happened. Yet there are all these books which claim to know exactly what happened. Ever since I heard about it, I've seriously been considering suing the publishers."
"You should definitely do that." raged Hermione. "How dare they make up stories and sell them as fact."
"I should probably be going" said a nervous looking Neville, he seemed to be slightly perturbed by Hermione's outrage. "I really should find Trevor."
"He'll turn up" said Harry.
Neville left the compartment but unfortunately it seemed that he could not keep the information that the Boy-Who-Lived was on the train to himself as hardly any time had passed before Draco Malfoy came knocking on their door.
"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes" said Harry looking at the three boys that had entered the compartment. He pushed down the surge of anger that had come over him at seeing the three idiots that had been responsible for so much destruction during his previous life.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Hermione gave a slight snigger, no doubt thinking the boy was trying to introduce himself in the James Bond manner. Unfortunately this caused Draco to round on her in fury.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. You're obviously a mud..." Draco never got to finish the sentence however as before the word mudblood was even fully out of his mouth, Harry had leapt up and dragged the boy out of the compartment leaving Hermione behind with a befuddled Crabbe and Goyle. A few minutes later a visibly nervous Draco reentered the compartment with Harry following close behind.
"My dear Miss Granger, please permit me to apologise for my outburst earlier. I don't know what I was thinking and I do hope that you can kindly forgive me for my rash words" said Draco.
"It's quite all right I'm sure" said a puzzled Hermione.
"Thank you so much, now if you don't mind I'll take your leave" said Draco before hurrying out of the compartment flanked by his two minions.
"What just happened?" said Hermione, "Why did you drag him out of the compartment like that? And why did he look so nervous? Did you threaten him or something?"
"Do I look like the kind of guy who would stoop to threatening someone?" said Harry.
"I don't know, I just know you did something. Now spill."
"He was about to call you an extremely rude word, and I couldn't let him do that. Draco's a prat and if you're not someone important then you don't matter you see. He's one of those pureblood kids who thinks that a muggleborn is somehow inferior to them you know. His father's a former Death Eater so he's got his head filled with all sorts of crap."
"So what exactly did you do?"
"Well, if he had finished calling you that word, I'd have had to hit him at the very least, and getting into a fight before you're even in school didn't seem like the wisest move. So I just convinced him that he was making a huge mistake by being rude to you."
"How?"
"I told him that since he was my godfather's cousin's son, he was practically family and as such I felt I had to prevent him from making a big mistake."
"Is that true?"
"That he's related to my godfather? Yes. However Sirius actually told me to avoid him, he totally disapproves of the Malfoys. Anyway, so I told him that he was making a big mistake and that he SO didn't want to get you angry at him since it would have had terrible repercussions for him and his family."
"Really, how?" said a puzzled Hermione.
"I may have insinuated that you might be the long lost heir to the Ravenclaw line."
"WHAT? But-But the Ravenclaw line died out centuries ago, how could I possibly be the heir?"
"The thing is many pureblood families tend to disown any squibs born to them. However any wizards or witches born to these squibs can be reinstated into the family. If the rest of the family has died out and the person can prove that they're still related then they can in effect resurrect and take over the family as they're the only magical person left in that family. If the line of squibs is long enough it's possible that the current generation has totally forgotten that they're descended from a magical family. So it's totally possible that a muggleborn is really from the squib branch of a long dead family. You see?"
"I'm not sure... So you told him that I'm the heir to the Ravenclaw line, and he believed it?"
"I insinuated it. I let him fill in the blanks on his own. No doubt he's writing to his father right now about how he's just met the Ravenclaw heir."
"What happens when his father tells him I'm not?"
"How will his father know that you're not? I told him you're keeping it quiet because you're very shy and don't want all the extra attention. Besides all I have to do is have my godfather start the same rumor in the ministry and before you know it his father will be totally convinced as well."
"But-But why go to all that trouble?"
"No trouble at all, besides you heard how rude he was, now we're going to be at school with the kid for the next seven years. You really want to put up with his insults for the next seven years?"
"No, I guess not, but it still seems dishonest."
"Not really, only if you accept his gifts."
"Gifts?"
"Yeah he asked me to find out what you like, so that he can apologise properly. So what do you want? Chocolates? Flowers? Jewellery? Rare books? I'm sure I can arrange for any of those, the kid is loaded after all."
"But-But-But we can't just go around doing things like that."
"Sure we can Hermione. Stick with me and you'll be surprised at what all you can do."
Chapter 10
The remaining journey sped by and before Harry knew it he was once again before the doors of Hogwarts. He was assaulted with memories, a lot of them unpleasant, after all the last time he had seen the place he had been leaving it to go to his death, but interspersed with them were quite a few happy ones. In the distance he could see the Quidditch pitch that had been the setting of his best times at Hogwarts. There was the Whomping Willow that he and Ron had crashed into in second year. The lake from which he had had to rescue Ron. Flying on Buckbeak with Hermione. Dementors attacking him on the quidditch pitch. He remembered friends dying, others being horribly injured, the memories crashed over his consciousness in an unending stream until he ruthlessly crushed them and hid them away in the furthermost recesses of his mind. He could not afford to dwell on his previous life, he had to live in the here and now.
And now the sorting was going on and most of the people had already been sorted into the same houses that he remembered them being in, and Hermione's name was about to be called. He held his breath and crossed his fingers.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. *
"Damn what was with that girl. He went out of his way to steer her away towards Ravenclaw and she still ends up in Gryffindor. Guess her bravery won out over her cleverness. Stupid bloody Hat. Can't it see that she'd make a better Ravenclaw. Should have scrapped the damn thing years ago. And I was really looking forward to living in another house, stupid stupid hat. Oh well guess I'll have to be in Gryffindor too" he thought.
Soon enough it was his turn.
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.*
"Gryffindor Gryffindor Gryffindor Gryffindor"
"Hmm, haven't seen occulemency shields on a first year in quite a while. Excuse me young man but you'll have to drop them if you want me to sort you properly."
"No need for that just put me in Gryffindor.""
"That's not quite how it works you know, I am supposed to read your mind for this."
"Not going to happen. Just put me in Gryffindor."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, now quit fooling around and put me in Gryffindor."
"Well, if you're sure then it'd better be GRYFFINDOR"
o-o00o-o
Dear Mum and Dad,
I'm already missing you'll lots? I've reached the school and gotten sorted into Gryfiindor which is supposedly the house for the brave. I was expecting Ravenclaw as that's supposed to be the house for people who love books and learning but Gryffindor is also supposed to be good. I made a friend on the train, his name is Harry and he's also been sorted into the same house. I wanted to ask for some advice about him. The thing is he's quite nice and all but at the same time he told me a conspiracy theory about why he thinks Wizards don't have television. Something about information control. And there was this other boy who started being mean to me but then Harry convinced him that I'm the heir to Ravenclaw, which is sort of the wizarding equivalent of being related to the royal family and after that the boy started being all apologetic. The thing is, do you think this is normal? Is he just a little bit strange or is he totally crazy?
Love,
Hermione.
Dear Father,
You will never believe who I met on the train, I met Hermione Granger who is the heir to the Ravenclaw line. Oh and I also met Harry Potter, I think we're well on the way to becoming great friends even if he had the misfortune to be sorted into Gryffindor. I do need to get a great gift for Hermione though, just a little something to impress her. Just before the sorting I heard her quoting stuff from Hogwarts, A History, so she seems like the type of person who would appreciate a good book. Do you have any idea what I can give her.
Your obedient son,
Draco.
Hey Mum,
I know I was supposed to sit with Harry Potter on the train but I went over the whole train twice and never saw him. The first time I saw him was at the sorting, he must have flooed directly to the castle or sumting. But not to worry he and I are both Gryffindors so I'm sure we'll be best mates very soon. We are both in the same dorm but he's right on the other side of the dorm from me, maybe I can get one of the guys to switch with me later. Can you send me some cakes or chocolate biscuits, they just don't have enough dessert here.
Luv,
Ron.
o-o00o-o
Harry settled into his bed, thankfully he'd been prepared in case he was sorted into Gryffindor and he'd had Dobby make sure that Ron's luggage was placed on the furthest side of the dorm from him. He closed the curtains around his bed tightly, cast a few privacy and silencing spells then called Sirius.
"Hey Sirius"
"Hey Pup, why so glum?"
"Nothing, just I'm in Gryffindor."
"Oh come on that's a great thing, Gryffindor is the best."
"Yeah? You're not the one that has to listen to Ron Weasley snoring."
"Well, that's what silencing spells are for aren't they?"
"Yeah I guess so, anyway, just wanted to check in and let you know that everything went all right. I've reached the castle safely, no legimency attacks or anything like that so far."
"We didn't really expect Dumbledore to do anything like that on your first day, but keep your guard up."
"Will do, goodnight, and I'll check in again tomorrow same time, got to call Mum and Dad now."
"Okay Pup, take care."
o-o00o-o
My Dearest Son,
Never have I been prouder of you, rumors of the Ravenclaw heir resurfacing have been all over the ministry but no one had any idea of who she is. For you to find out who she is before school has even started properly is a great achievement. Do not tell anyone else who she is at the present time, if she is trying to keep it quiet she will resent you if you let everyone know who she is. I shall be attaching a signed first edition of Hogwarts a History with this letter. You must start laying a foundation with both her and Potter right away. It would be a wonderful thing if we can influence them to support our pureblood causes. No doubt Potter at least has had his head filled with Dumbledore's muggle loving propaganda, so be patient with him, and do not disparage muggles or muggleborns in front of him. We must wean him away from Dumbledore's influence gradually.
Your Father,
Lucius Malfoy
Chapter 11
Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. *
While he had been expecting it he still found it incredibly annoying. He was actually quite thankful for having been brought up in the muggle world. He couldn't imagine how horrible it might have been if he had had to endure this level of scrutiny his entire life. On the other hand perhaps if he hadn't been away for so long they would have gotten used to him by now and the intense public interest in him would have died out. Another thing he was amazingly thankful for was the fact that his other set of memories included tons of knowledge about Hogwarts. The other first years were constantly getting lost thanks to Hogwart's moving staircases and corridors which seemed to change constantly. He also kept having to dodge Ron Weasley who seemed hell bent on getting to know him. To avoid him Harry had been forcing himself to get up earlier than the others in his dorm. It helped that Ron was already notorious for being the last one out of bed in the mornings. In addition he made sure that he always sat next to Hermione in class so that Ron couldn't accost him there. Instead of hanging out in the common room he spent a lot of time with Hermione in the library. He had managed to avoid the red-headed menace till then but he knew that was a state of affairs that couldn't last forever.
So far that week they had already had Herbology, Astronomy, Transfiguration and History of Magic (which was just as soporific as Harry remembered) so he'd asked Hermione if she wanted to study with him that evening. She had been a little ticked off at him because Draco Malfoy had cornered her earlier that day and insisted on giving her a present and had refused to take no for an answer. Of course Hermione being Hermione came right out and told him that she was a muggleborn and not related to Ravenclaw at all. Fortunately Malfoy had still refused to believe her and instead started insisting to her that she had nothing to worry about as he would never ever dream of revealing her secrets to the other students. Hermione found it all terribly embarrassing and blamed Harry for the whole thing. He was hoping to get back on her good side before long. After the usual delicious Hogwarts dinner, Harry and Hermione got together in the Gryffindor common room. He saw Ron coming towards him but he quickly pulled out his books and sure enough that was enough to deter Ron from approaching them.
"So did you want to get the homework out of the way? We've got the herbology essay and the transfiguration essay as well" asked Hermione.
"Nah, finished those already."
"When did you get the time to do that? We just got the transfiguration assignment today."
"During History of Magic of course, what were you doing during that class?"
"Harry! Why weren't you taking notes? What will you study from for the exams?"
"Oh for gods sake Hermione, don't tell me you took notes for that class."
"Well, of course, we'll need them."
"Crap, didn't I tell you about this? Binns has been giving the same lectures ever since he became a ghost, they haven't changed at all ever since he died."
"Still, you do need to take notes."
"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione. Wait just a second." Harry ran up to his dorm room and returned a few minutes later with a ridiculously thick file folder.
"There you go, that's your copy."
"My copy of what?"
"History of Magic notes for the next seven years of course. They were compiled by a Ravenclaw student a few decades ago and ever since they've been available from the upper year Ravenclaws. I'd have gotten only this years, but they only sell them as a set. So there you go, you're all set for History notes. I already verified, they're word for word exactly what he said in class, plus they have additional material on stuff that he forgets to cover but which generally shows up in the exams."
"That's - that's...why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
"Sorry, sorry, must have slipped my mind, but hey I get points for picking up an extra copy for you don't I?"
"Yeah, I guess you do. How much do I owe you for this?"
"Forget it, Malfoy can't be the only one allowed to give you gifts now can he?"
Hermione gave Harry her best glare which unfortunately for her just seemed to amuse him.
"Anyway, so if you've already finished your homework what did you need help with?"
"Who said anything about me needing help?"
"Arghh, then why did you want to study together?"
"Cause it's better then studying alone, isn't it? So what do you need help in?"
"Me? But-But I thought you would need my help?" said a surprised Hermione.
"That's remarkably egotistical of you Hermione."
"But you said you wanted to be friends with me because I was smart. Why then if you don't need help?"
"Hermione, that was only one of the reasons I gave. I prefer hanging out with smart people because they're more interesting to talk to, and I want to be friends with you because I like you not because I need you to do my homework. Now do you want help with the herbology essay or would you like to do something else?"
"Well, I guess since you've already done the essay we could do something else."
"Okay, I've got an idea. Tell me, you must have done accidental magic as a child right? Did you ever get something, any type of object to come to you?"
"Yes, that was one of my first incidents, there was this book that I wanted to read but it was on a shelf that was too high for me to reach, I kept jumping up but I couldn't reach it and then it just fell off the shelf."
"Great, that kind of thing is one of the most common types of accidental magic, although for most kids it's because they can't reach the cookie jar or something." Harry pulled out a book from his bag, hiding the cover from Hermione. "This book is the best book you will ever read. No, No" Harry said pulling the book out of Hermione's reach. "You can't just be handed it, it is a very special book and the only way you will ever get to read it is if you make it come to you. Now I want you to imagine the book coming to your hands. Visualize it flying from my hand right into yours."
Hermione glared at the book. "Nothing's happening."
"Hermione, this book holds the answers to life, the universe and everything. If you don't get to read this book you might just fail all your exams and then they'll send you back to a non magical school. Do you want that? Do you want to fail? Come on Hermione, unless this book comes to you, you will never ever be able to learn magic properly. Are you a witch or not? Now make it come to you."
The book flew from Harry's hand and smacked into Hermione's hands with a thump. Harry smiled at a surprised Hermione.
"Congratulations Hermione, you just performed a wandless summoning charm."
"Wandless magic! But that's supposed to be terribly advanced. They don't even teach it here at Hogwarts."
"What is accidental magic Hermione? It's all wandless, right? The only difference is that one is controlled and the other is not. Now, how do you feel?"
"A bit tired."
"That's to be expected, wandless magic does require a lot more effort. You should rest a bit before trying again."
"Okay." Hermione finally got around to looking at the book. "Hey, this is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
"I did tell you that it held the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything."
"Yes, but I didn't think you meant 42. That was amazing Harry, you have to teach me more stuff like that."
"Not a problem."
o-o00o-o
The next day was their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson which everybody had been looking forward to. Unfortunately it was yet another class with the Slytherins. Professor Quirrell was still sporting the turban which he told everyone had been given to him by an African prince as a thank you for getting rid of a zombie. It looked absurd but Quirrell thought that since he had started wearing it to hide the face in the back of his head he might as well continue in case Dumbledore asked him why he had stopped wearing it. Thankfully he had decided to forego the stutter.
The first years entered the DADA classroom to find Professor Quirrell waiting for them. He waited until they had all seated themselves before starting.
"Good morning class, I am Professor Quirrell and today I will be introducing you to Defense Against the Dark Arts. For now please put your wands away. Now who can tell me...Mr. Weasley you seem to be wearing some of your breakfast" said Quirrell pointing at a spot on Ron's Robes.
"Do you mind?" said Quirrell taking his wand and pointing it at the spot. On getting an embarrassed nod from Ron, he cast a scourgify which vanished the spot.
"That will be one point from Gryffindor Mr. Weasley. Would anyone in the class like to inform Mr. Weasley of the mistake he just made?"
"He shouldn't have dropped food on himself" sneered Malfoy.
"That was a thoroughly useless answer Mr Malfoy. Anybody else? No? Let me give you a hint then. Mr. Weasley do I look like your Mother? Your maid perhaps? No? Am I here to teach you Defense Against The Dark Arts or to do your laundry? Then why did you let me cast a spell on you Mr. Weasley? When a wizard points his wand at you IT IS A THREAT, and you have to treat it as a threat."
"But you're a professor" protested Ron.
"And? What do you know about me Mr. Weasley, Apart from that useless fact? Have I taken any oaths not to harm you? No! I could just as easily have cast a cutting spell that would have left you bleeding to death. For those of you too slow to understand my point let me be absolutely clear. When you were handed your wands you were being given a deadly weapon. A wand can be used to torture, maim or kill. Magic is not all unicorns and rainbows. This piece of wood is also the deadliest weapon that most of you will ever handle and it must be treated with respect. Now Mr. Weasley, what is Rule No 1?"
"Uhh, never let anyone point a wand at you?"
"Almost correct Mr. Weasley take five points for Gryffindor for helping me illustrate my point. Rule No 1 is that if you see a wand pointed at you - it is a threat and you will treat it as such. Duck, run away, do whatever you have to but do not let anyone you do not absolutely trust cast a spell on you. For our muggleborn students, when a wizard points a wand at you it is exactly the same as someone aiming a loaded gun at your head. Now can anyone guess what Rule No 2 is?"
The class was silent and absolutely no hands were raised.
"Rule No 2 is that you never ever point your wand at a person. Whenever you are holding your wands they must be pointed straight down at the floor at all times. If I see any of you wandering the halls with your wands pointed anywhere else but at the floor I will deduct points. Repeat offenders will be banned from my class. Is that clear? I said - Is that clear?"
"Yes, Professor Quirrell" chorused the class.
"Good. Now Rule No 3 is also very simple. Be aware of your field of fire. Right now you are just starting to learn and will have little or no control of your magic, so you will never ever cast a spell where it might hit a person, you will only practice spells when your field of fire is absolutely clear. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Professor Quirrell" chorused the class.
"Good. Rule No 4 is that you will never ever use what I have to teach you against another student. If I ever catch a student hexing another student I will have that student in detention for the rest of the year, and I will refuse to ever teach that student anything ever again. I don't care if your father is on the board of governors" this was with a quick glare at Malfoy, "or the Minister of Magic himself, if I hear of you hexing another student I will make sure you are punished most severely."
"Now, there is a small circle on each of your desks. Does everyone see it? Good, take out your wands and touch the circle with them." Quirrell waited a few minutes then waved his wand at the blackboard which filled with the names of the class. Each name had a time next to it.
"That is the amount of time taken by each of you to touch the circle. I see Mr. Potter managed to touch the circle first with a time of 2 seconds. That is very good Mr. Potter - for a beginner anyway, take one point for Gryffindor. Miss Brown could you tell me why it took you more than a minute to touch the circle with your wand?"
"I had to get my wand out of my bag Professor."
"And that leads me to my final rule. A wand is useless unless you can get to it quickly. If you had been in a combat situation Miss Brown, in that one minute you could have been killed many times over. Always make sure your wand is easily and quickly accessible. You might want to look into wand holsters and their like. Remember to take good care of your wand, keep it clean and well maintained, it may mean the difference between life and death someday. I want each of you to write these rules down now. Remember them for I will not be repeating this lesson but I will definitely be enforcing these rules."
Quirrell gave the class a few minutes while they all copied down his rules.
"Now, the name of this class is Defense Against the Dark Arts, can anyone give me a definition of what the Dark Arts are?" Hermione's hand was reaching for the sky. "Yes, Miss Granger."
"The Dark Arts consist of spells and rituals that are used for destructive purposes. It can refer to any type of magic that is mainly used to cause harm."
"Very good Miss Granger, take a point for Gryffindor. Now class, if I simply teach you all how to defend yourself against dark magic, do you think that is enough to keep you safe? Is Dark Magic the only thing you have to defend yourself from? Can you give me an example of a purely light spell? Yes, Mr Finnegan."
"Well there's Lumos."
"Very good Mr. Finnegan, the Lumos charm can of course can be used to provide light, as such I'm sure you'll will all agree that it is purely light magic that could never be used to harm anyone. Correct? Put up your hand if you agree."
Almost the entire class raised their hands. Professor Quirrell raised his wand and a bright flash of light blinked from the tip of his wand leaving the class blinking with watering eyes.
"How many of you are now seeing spots? That was just a variant of Lumos that was developed for photography. Just a little more power and I could have blinded all of you for at least several minutes. Extending that spell could permanently damage your eyes. Now in the dark arts there is a blinding curse but why would I ever need it if I can blind you with a simple Lumos? Even that simple flash I just did might give me an edge in a duel. It does not matter if magic is Light or Dark children, what matters is how you use it and what you do with it."
Professor Quirrell then went on to demonstrate several other offensive uses for some common charms and spells, even going so far as to conjure up a training dummy to demonstrate upon. Finally he called the class to a close.
"For your homework assignment you will each select 5 spells from The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 textbook and describe how you would use it in an offensive manner. In addition you will also select 5 spells from the examples of Dark spells provided in Chapter 4 of your DADA textbooks and describe how you might use them to help someone. In our next class we shall be covering basic jinxes and their counters so read ahead on those, but do not practice them on your own."
Quirrell dismissed the class but signaled Harry to stay behind for a minute.
"What did you think of your first DADA class Mr. Potter?"
"It was great Professor, although I did see some of the students looking a bit green when you showed them how to drown someone using the Aquamenti charm."
"Excellent, it's very important to impress upon them exactly how dangerous magic can be. Can't have foolish children playing around with spells they don't fully understand. A little nausea now may save their lives someday."
Chapter 12 - The Potions Master
That Friday was their first Potions lesson, it was a double class with the Slytherins. Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.
Snape started the class by taking the roll call, he paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity."
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black, cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
More silence followed this little speech. Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Hermione's hand had shot into the air.
"I don't know, sir," said Harry.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer.
"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything."
He ignored Hermione's hand.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
"I'm sorry Professor I must have missed the announcement that there was going to be a quiz. When exactly did you make it?" said Harry. He turned to the other students and asked "Did the rest of you hear about it?"
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" sneered Snape.
"Actually sir, considering that this is the first class of a subject that I'm sure is absolutely brand spanking new to most of the people here, I expected to be taught something before being quizzed. At the very least I should have been informed that we were expected to read ahead before coming to class. I mean that is the way most teachers do it, or did they not cover that in whatever the magical equivalent of teaching school is?"
"Teaching School? I'll have you know that I am a Potions Master Potter" said an apoplectic Snape.
"Ah, so you know your Potions but no one ever taught you how to teach then, that certainly explains a lot. I do apologize Professor, I shall remember your shortcomings in future."
A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased.
"Why you arrogant little... That shall be ten points from Gryffindor and detention this evening with me for your cheek Potter. As for the rest of you - for your information, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
As the Potions lesson continued Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.
"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus.
Then he rounded on Harry and Hermione, who had been working next to Neville.
"You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."
This was so unfair that even Hermione was outraged. She opened her mouth to protest but subsided at a look from Harry.
oo00oo
"I can't believe it, you lost eleven points for Gryffindor and got detention as well. What were you thinking? Talking to a Professor like that, honestly" said Hermione as they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later
"It was the principle of the thing Hermione. He had no right to single me out like that. And why are you so hung up on house points anyway?"
"What? How can you say that? You heard Professor McGonaggal didn't you? The house with the most points wins the House cup. It's a big honor."
"Yes, the house wins? But what do YOU get? Personally I mean."
"Uh, the honor of being in the house that wins."
"Okay, let me back track a bit. Have you seen the records of house cup wins for the last few years. It's up on a board in the Great Hall."
"Yes, Slytherins been winning consecutively for the last few years."
"And yet the smartest kids in school are all supposed to be in Ravenclaw right?"
"Well, yes but maybe the the Ravens are just more book smart and if the Slytherins are better in practical magic then they would earn more points in class."
"Not if you look at the OWL and NEWT results, which have both practical as well as written exams. They have a record of the top scorers in the library and they're almost always Ravenclaws. So tell me Hermione - why is it that the Ravenclaws don't win the House Cup every year?"
"I don't know, people do say that Professor Snape is biased towards the Slytherins and awards them more points."
"Snape is biased, that's a fact, but he's also just one teacher, the other teachers should be more than enough to counteract him. So why does Slytherin win more house cups than Ravenclaw?"
"I don't know."
"Have you considered the fact that the Ravenclaws just might be smart enough to realize something that the rest of the school doesn't?"
"What?"
"House points are meaningless Hermione."
"But-But how can you say that?" said an outraged Hermione.
"For one thing they're not tracked at an individual level. They never show up on a report card and they don't affect your grades at all."
"They don't?"
"Nope. You're graded on your essays, assignments and tests only. And when you try and get a job after graduation, do you think they're going to ask you how many house points you won or lost. No - they're going to ask you about your OWL and NEWT scores."
"Then why do they have the house point system at all?"
"Come on Hermione, wake up and smell the manipulation. The house point system is simply a method for the teachers to enforce discipline through peer pressure. Nothing more than that. They know that if you lose too many points that the other students will get on your case and they use that as a means of making you behave the way they want you to."
"Then we should still try to earn points otherwise everyone else will hate us."
"Nobody will hate us if we don't earn points Hermione. Sure they might be mean if we lose too many points but not if you don't make points. They will hate someone who keeps showing them up in class though."
"You really think so? Are you saying that you hate me now because I tried to answer the questions Professor Snape asked you?"
"No, I don't hate you Hermione. Far from it. I was talking about the other students okay, they're the ones likely to resent you if you show them up in class. Just do me a favor and give someone else a chance to answer a question sometime. I'm not telling you to dumb yourself down or anything like that. All I'm saying is that when a professor asks a question - wait a bit. You can't always be the first one to jump up with your hand in the air. Kids tend to hate students like that, they start referring to them as teachers pets and the like."
"But I like earning house points."
"I know Hermione, I know, but consider this hypothetical situation. Say you get a reputation for being the top house point scorer in the entire school. Now say there's some subject you need some help with and the best student in that subject is not from our house. When you go to that student to ask for help do you really think they're going to help you? Why would they help you if it means you'd earn yet more points and their house ends up losing the house cup because of that? So what happens? Gryffindor might win the house cup but you personally lose by doing badly in that subject."
"I see what you mean."
"Good. Now remember I am NOT asking you to do badly in class. Go all out in the practicals, knock them out with excellent essays. Just tone it down a bit in class when it comes to answering the teachers questions. That's all."
"Okay" said a rather subdued Hermione.
"Cheer up Hermione, tell you what - let's go to the hospital wing and check on Neville."
oo00oo
After visiting Neville and then dropping Hermione off at the Gryffindor common room Harry went and found Professor McGonagall in her office.
"Professor, could I have a few minutes of your time?"
"Of course Mr. Potter, I always have time for my Gryffindors. What did you want to talk to me about?"
"It's about Professor Snape, he gave me a detention today and..."
"Let me stop you right there Mr. Potter, I do not interfere with another professors disciplinary actions. Whatever problems you have with Professor Snape you will have to take it up with him."
Harry just stared at his head of house for a moment.
"You know the other students did tell me that it was useless to talk to you about this, but I thought you'd at least hear me out before dismissing my concerns" lied Harry. He had not needed to talk to anyone about this. His other set of memories let him know exactly how McGonagall was going to react to this situation. In all his memories she had only stood up for him once, during his career counseling session in fifth year, and that time had been more because of her dislike of Umbridge rather than anything else, even then she had refused to listen to him when he had gone to complain to her about Umbridge's blood quill detentions. She had been no help when they went to her with their suspicions about the philosophers stone. Nor had she done anything when the entire school was calling him the heir to Slytherin and accusing him of attacking the muggleborns. Not even when he had been dragged into the Triwizard tournament and half the school had been wearing Potter Stinks badges had she been of any help.
"Mr. Potter, you will show respect when you talk to me. I will not be spoken to like this by a student."
"In my book respect has to be earned Professor, and as you don't like being talked to like this by a student, let me make it easy for you. I'm withdrawing from Hogwarts effective immediately. Kindly see to the refund of my fees. Goodbye."
With that Harry walked out the door and started down the corridor. He counted to himself. One - Two - Three and - "Mr Potter. Get back here immediately and explain yourself" shrieked McGonagall. Harry smirked to himself and turned around.
"I don't see any point in explaining anything to someone who does not wish to listen Professor. You had your chance to hear me out. You didn't take it and I am not in the habit of handing out second chances."
McGonagall hurried over to Harry and ushered him back into her office.
"All right Mr. Potter, I apologize for not hearing you out. Now would you like to tell me what happened?"
"Like I said before, Professor Snape gave me a detention earlier today and I just wanted to inform you that I will not be attending any detentions with him."
"Mr. Potter you cannot refuse to do a detention."
"Professor, why exactly am I famous?"
"What does that have to do with detention? Just because you are the Boy Who Lived does not mean that you are exempt from any disciplinary actions handed out by the teachers at this school."
"Did I say that? No, what I meant was I'm famous for supposedly defeating Voldemort when I was a baby, am I not?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter, but again I fail to see..."
"Now since I supposedly am responsible for the death of a Dark Lord, it's only natural to assume that his former followers don't look too kindly upon me. In fact I'm sure most of them would jump at the chance to do me harm. Wouldn't they?"
"Mr. Potter, I hardly think you have any reason to be concerned about that, Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain."
"Professor Snape has been glaring at me ever since I walked into this castle. He has been looking at me with undisguised loathing in his eyes and today he singled me out in class, tried his best to humiliate me and jumped at the chance to give me detention. Since I have never met the man before, the only reason I can see for his attitude is the fact that he is a former Death Eater and obviously blames me for his master's death. Therefore I refuse to attend detentions with him as I do not feel safe being alone with a Death Eater."
"Mr. Potter, just because someone does not like you does not mean that they are a Death Eater."
"Professor - do you take me for a fool? Just because I was raised by muggles does not mean that I am totally ignorant of the wizarding world. Once I found out about Voldemort and my status in the wizarding world I made it my business to find out as much as I could about what happened ten years ago. The Death Eater trials got extensive coverage and back issues of the Daily Prophet are available for a small fee. During the trial of a Death Eater named Karkaroff, Severus Snape was clearly named as being a Death Eater. Only Professor Dumbledore's intervention kept him out of Azkaban."
"Mr. Potter, not only has Professor Snape reformed but he also helped our side during the war. I assure you that he means you no harm, Professor Dumbledore has the utmost faith in Professor Snape."
"Professor, in order for me to accept that assurance I would have to have faith in the Headmaster's opinion. Unfortunately I do not."
"Mr. Potter, that is Albus Dumbledore you are talking about. You will not disrespect him."
"Professor McGonagall I am well aware of the Headmaster's reputation. However I have always been taught not to base my opinions on what others think. My parents always told me to only judge someone based on my own observations and not on hearsay. And well, so far all I've seen of the Headmaster was at the opening feast where his opening words were Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment and Tweak! This was followed a little while later by a statement that a painful death awaited me on the third floor of this school. What exactly in that was supposed to fill me with confidence in the Headmaster?"
MJcGonogal groaned silently to herself, she had known that Dumbledore's predilection for eccentric opening speeches would someday come back to bite him in the ass. However she had not expected him to be called on it by a eleven year old student. As for the third floor corridor, that was something she really did not want to talk about.
"Be that as it may, you cannot refuse to attend a detention."
"Well, in that case as I've already stated I shall be withdrawing from Hogwarts. I'm sure that some home schooling options are available. If not, I believe there is another school in France, Beauxbatons is also supposed to be quite a good school."
"Mr. Potter you cannot-I mean-What about your parents? They would have wanted you to attend Hogwarts."
"My parents died trying to protect me from Voldemort. They died trying to keep me safe. I hardly believe that they would have wanted me to dishonor their sacrifice by allowing myself to knowingly put myself in danger by being alone with a Death Eater during a detention. The man could tie me to the top of a lit cauldron and bugger me senseless. A few healing and memory charms later and I would not even be aware that anything had happened. I refuse to take that risk."
"Watch your language Mr. Potter" snapped McGonagall. "I didn't want to bring this up but I am certain that Professor Snape does not hate you because he is a former Death Eater." She softened her tone slightly - "The fact is, Professor Snape and your father did not have the best relationship when they attended school together and you do look a lot like your father. I'm sure he is simply reacting to that."
"So you seem to think it is acceptable for him to pick on me because he hated my father. Is that the level of professionalism I can expect from all the teachers here at Hogwarts? That they will feel entitled to carry out grudges against a man who has been dead for a decade?"
"That is not what I meant Mr. Potter" said an exasperated McGonagall.
"Then please do explain to me Professor - why exactly do you think I should endure abuse heaped on me by Professor Snape? I'm telling you right now that I have no intention of ever stepping into his class again."
"Potions is a required subject until you take your OWL's Mr. Potter."
"I have seen his teaching methods Professor. I would be far better served by studying the subject on my own. Even self study would be better than having to put up with that man. If and I emphasize IF I decide to continue at Hogwarts, that is the route I will take and I will expect a refund of my fees proportional to what I would be paying for Potions classes."
"Mr. Potter, will you please stop threatening to withdraw from Hogwarts. You simply cannot do that."
"Why not Professor? Last I checked this was a school not a prison."
McGonagall sighed in exasperation, she was torn between banging her head on her desk and throttling Severus Snape for creating this mess. If the Boy Who Lived withdrew from Hogwarts after attending just one week of classes the press would eat them alive. Especially if he told anyone that he was withdrawing because he didn't feel safe at Hogwarts. They would never be able to live it down. She could only imagine what someone like Rita Skeeter would have to say about the situation.
"All right Mr. Potter, I see I cannot convince you about Professor Snape. What can I do to persuade you to continue your schooling here at Hogwarts?"
"You can start by ensuring that Professor Snape never comes near me again. He is to be banned from ever interacting with me in any way. That includes house point deductions etc. I do not want to have the man even speak to me ever again. Ideally I would like you to arrange for another potions teacher but barring that I want you to authorize me to study potions on my own. Arrangements will have to be made for tests and exams to be graded by someone else. If that is not possible I would rather skip the yearly exams as I'm sure he is quite unable to grade me fairly. I will prepare on my own for the OWL's and NEWT's as they are graded by external examiners."
"All right Mr. Potter, I shall talk to the Headmaster and see what can be done."
"Please inform me of any decisions as soon as you can. If I have to arrange for alternative schooling I would prefer not to waste any time."
oo00oo
Professor McGonagall stormed up to Dumbledores office. She marched into his office and practically screamed at him.
"Albus get that greasy idiot up here right away. I want to know exactly what he was thinking."
"Greasy idiot? Who are you talking about Minerva?" twinkled a bemused Dumbledore.
"Severus of course. Get him up here, I want him to explain to me exactly what he was thinking. Thanks to his behavior in class today I have had to spend the last hour convincing Harry Potter not to leave Hogwarts."
"WHAT?" exclaimed a shocked Dumbledore. For Harry to have been willing to leave Hogwarts and go back to an abusive muggle household was unbelievable. Clearly Snape's behavior had been beyond the pale to warrant such a reaction. He knew that Severus would have had a problem with any son of James Potter but at the very least he had expected him to hold it together for longer than this. Just then the floo lit up. Frank Longbottom's face appeared in the flames.
"Albus, can I come through."
"Of course my boy, you know you're always welcome" said Dumbledore clearly grateful for the interruption. A minute later Frank Longbottom was stepping out of the fireplace.
"What can I do for you my boy?"
"You can start by explaining how my son wound up in the hospital wing after his first potions class. Then perhaps you can explain exactly what your pet rehabilitation project was thinking when he insulted the heir to the House of Longbottom by calling him an idiot in front of the entire class."
"He did what? So that's makes two of my Gryffindors he abused today. Get him up here Albus, I want to see exactly what he has to say for himself" snapped an infuriated McGonagall.
Dumbledore groaned. It looked like a bad situation had just gotten immeasurably worse. What had Severus been thinking to antagonize not only the Boy Who Lived but the son of Auror Frank Longbottom as well? The man held notoriously dim views of any Death Eater who had managed to escape imprisonment after the last war. For Severus to bring himself to his attention was just begging for trouble.
oo00oo
As Harry was leaving the Gryffindor common room for dinner he was hailed by Neville who was already looking like he was back to normal.
"Harry, Harry, wait up. My father wants to talk to you." Neville hurried up to Harry followed closely by an older man who from the family resemblance was clearly Neville's father.
"Hello Harry, it's wonderful to meet you after so many years. The last time I saw you, you were just a baby. You know whenever your parents came over you and Neville used to share a crib."
"I didn't know that. It's a pleasure to meet you as well sir."
"Oh no, please Harry there will be no 'sir'-ing me. Your parents and I were very good friends once upon a time and well, if things had been different you'd have grown up calling me Uncle Frank. I'd appreciate it if you could call me that instead."
"Of course sir, I mean Uncle Frank," smiled Harry.
"Just wanted to let you know that I've spoken to the Headmaster, after hearing about Neville's potion class today I've decided to pull him from that class and hire a tutor for him. After I heard about what happened with you and Snape I wanted to let you know that you're welcome to join Neville in those classes."
"Dad ripped Snape a new one. Wish I could have seen it" said Neville.
"Really? That's great. You have to let me chip in on the tutor's fees though."
"No-No, none of that, I'd be paying the fees for Neville anyway and the fees are the same whether its one student or twenty and I'm sure Neville would appreciate the company."
"In that case do you think it would be all right if I asked our friend Hermione to join us as well."
"The more the merrier Harry, the tutor will probably be coming in every Saturday for a couple of hours. I'll be owling the details to Neville so he'll let you know the times. Now one last thing, Neville's mother, your Aunt Alice would love to meet you, so perhaps you and your guardians could come over for dinner, say during your Christmas break."
"I'll send them an owl and ask them sir."
"It's Uncle Frank remember, now go on and have your dinner, I'll be expecting your owl with respect to your plans over Christmas so don't forget."
"I won't and thank you again Uncle Frank."
"No need to thank me at all Harry, it's the least I could do. I've heard from Neville here that your guardians are muggles so anytime you need help or advice in the wizarding world I want you to know that you should feel free to come to me. In the future if you ever have another problem with any teacher here please send me an owl immediately. I'll come over at once."
Harry was extremely happy to see Frank Longbottom alive and well. His memories had the man in an almost comatose state in the long term spell damage wing at St. Mungos. He looked forward to getting to know him and Neville's mother better. It was an unusually cheerful Harry Potter that went down to dinner that night.