Chapter 18: (3/3) First Day at Hogwarts
(Word Count: 3,183)
"Are you sure you aren't in trouble?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Of course. Like I said this morning, Dumbledore's a family friend, there's no need to worry," Harry said.
They were making their way up the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry was walking her back before he made his way up to the headmaster. It was held in one of the highest turrets coming off the large central tower, just above the trophy/artifact room, so he would have to climb all the way up. Coincidentally, it was also held near the Room of Requirement. He would have to check it out on his way back.
Although, the castle designs like to shift around sometimes. It's why in the movies the location of the Fat Lady's portrait, and thus the entrance to the common room, change. In the first movie, and now in real life, the entrance is at the end of a long hall. But in the third movie, we see the entrance at the top of one of the flights of stairs in the chamber of the moving staircases. Physically, the rooms stay in the same place, which is why the Marauder's Map still works, but the entrances move around.
Back to Hermione, she was worried about him because, while she had trust in teachers and administration from her own experiences in the muggle world, the only reason she had ever been called to the principal's office was when a serious incident occurred.
"Okay, then… take care." And with that, she disappeared behind the portrait of the Fat Lady.
Harry made his way up to the gargoyle. "Licorice wand."
The gargoyle and the stairs began spinning upwards, so he hopped on the top stair to hitch a ride. This way, he didn't have to climb a whole flight of stairs. When he got to the top, he didn't really bother with knocking, and just walked right in.
Dumbledore's office was a large circular room, with the walls lined top to bottom in shelves full of books and strange devices. Toward the back was a large desk, where Dumbledore sat, and Fawk's perch, where the phoenix was currently sitting.
Dumbledore was scribbling away at some documents, but as soon as I came in, he smiled and set them aside. "Ah, Harry, my dear boy! I hope it's not too late to say welcome to Hogwarts!"
Harry smiled, "No sir, it's not too late at all."
"Then, welcome to Hogwarts!" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "How was your first day? I trust you haven't been too bored with the material?"
"Well, aside from Professor Binns putting everyone to sleep, or getting gawked at in the hallways, I've filled the day with trying to make some new friends. I've become friends with Neville so far, but I don't know if I can count Daphne Greengrass as a friend yet. She seems to keep anyone she doesn't know at bay. Either way, I'm wanting to start up a study group, to help each other with homework, or just in general with anything they're currently interested in. I want to include students from every house."
"Ah, yes, Professor Binns. I've tried to get a new teacher for years now, but the board won't approve of the salary that a new professor would require. They've gotten too used to not having to pay Binns," Dumbledore said regretfully. "I'm glad you're making some new friends. That study group sounds like a wonderful idea, Harry."
Harry shrugged, "Well, you already know what I would suggest to solve that." They've already had this talk for a while. Dumbledore had spread himself too thin, taking on three full time jobs of Headmaster, Chief Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump. He doesn't have nearly as much influence as he would if he could just pick one and focus on that. The board can walk all over him because he's hardly in the castle! The Minister, and thus the Malfoys, get away with a lot of things because he's hardly there at the Ministry! Harry didn't even know what sort of stuff was going on behind Dumbledore's back over at the ICW. He didn't want to know. Harry made sure Dumbledore knew his opinion on this many times.
"Anyway, I'm not one to rehash old arguments. About the study group, do you think we can get official permission to use one of the old rooms? I don't think Madam Pince would appreciate us crowding around in her library," Harry asked.
Dumbledore chuckled, "No, I don't think she would be very fond of a crowd of students. You would definitely need a room if you intend to practice the practical side of classes. I can assign you a room for you to use, though that would require me to assign a professor to check in on you once in a while. Hmm… Let's see… Filius has the school choir and the arts club, Severus needs to watch over after school potions practice and the potions club, Minerva has too many duties as it is right now… Septima needs to keep her eyes on her NEWT student's projects… How about Bathseda? Yes, Bathseda will check in on you every once in a while."
"Bathseda is the professor for ancient runes, right? That sounds great," Harry sighed in relief, glad it wasn't Snape or Trilawney. Or Quirrell. Definitely not Quirrell.
"Yes, you may want to consult her on your quest to better understand the influence your parseltongue has on your spells. She may provide some unique insights," Dumbledore suggested.
"That sounds like a great idea. I was thinking the same way."
"And how is your studies in the Mind Arts coming along? Any new insights since we've last talked?"
As a matter of fact, he did. Since that last time they've met, which was just before his Hogwarts letter came, meaning all of his dream stuff came after, including the two levels in the Mind Arts class he got as a quest reward. But more important than that, was his prophetic visions.
"Actually, I was hoping to talk about something else, now that you've brought up new insights. I've been having a lot more dreams lately, prophetic ones, that I can't quite understand," he began.
Dumbledore leaned forward, intrigued. "More visions?"
"Yes, there were some I've already seen and understood, such as seeing this year's sorting. Last night I've had the clearest one that I've seen, but there were some details that I don't know."
Harry told him of his dream of his older self delving in some cave with the upward flowing water stream, holding a sword. He described the sword as best as he could. "Have you ever heard of a sword like that?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brightly. "I'll have to double check, but I'm quite sure that the sword you saw was the legendary sword of King Arthur, Excalibur! It's known for having the two golden manticores for its crossguard."
Excalibur!? Harry's mind raced on how in the world he would come into the sword's possession. Some sort of Merlin's inheritance? There was a ding, telling he's got a new Magic Quest.
[Magic Quest: Find Excalibur!
The most famous sword in the world has not been seen since Arthur died. It was returned to the Lady of the Lake. Find her and prove yourself worthy of wielding the sword!
Reward: A Special Perk]
Dumbledore got up, scanned along one of his bookshelves, and pulled off a bright red book titled Arthurian Legend, and opened it up to a page with a painting. It was King Arthur, holding Excalibur. "Is this the sword you saw?"
He nodded, and Dumbledore smiled brightly. "Harry, my boy, you are a wonder! To think you will find the lost sword of King Arthur!"
"Well, I haven't found it yet," Harry murmured.
"Ah, but you will!" Dumbledore laughed.
"But what about the cave? Do you have any idea about that?"
"Unfortunately, there's not enough clues to know the importance of the cave. I'll look into it, but it may take me a while. I'll start with the Arthurian Legend," Dumbledore said, hoisting the book in his hands. "Were there any other dreams that you've had?"
"Well, yes, but I don't even know where to start with those. I'm not even sure that they're prophetic, or just normal dreams."
"Hmmm," Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully, "You may want to start talking with Professor Trelawney about this. I know she doesn't have the best reputation among the students, but her skills in Divination are among the best."
Harry cringed. "Do I have to?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "I believe it is for the best. It's after class meetings with Trelawney, or I can register you for Divination class early."
He'd rather avoid any one on one meetings with the woman. "I think I'd rather enroll in Divination early, if that's alright with you."
"It's no issue. Luckily for us, third year Divination classes already work around your first year classes. They're Monday at 3:15-4:00, just after your Monday classes begin, and Thursday after lunch! It works out perfectly!"
Harry groaned inside at even more work, but he sucked it up. With his Seer abilities it was important to learn. "Thank you, Dumbledore."
"I believe that will be all for today, Harry, I don't wish to keep you here all evening. If you have any other questions, you are free to come back any time," Dumbledore said.
"Have a good rest of the evening," Harry said, and left.
Harry sighed. Well, wasn't that a productive meeting! Got a room for his study group he's putting together, got an answer to his dream, and got himself enrolled in Divination.
Now to check out the Room of Requirement! He did have a quest for it, after all.
[Magic Quest: Room of Requirement (Repeatable)
Use the Room of Requirement to get the most out of your school year!
Reward: +1 skill point per academic year.]
It wasn't much, but it adds up! The main benefit wasn't the quest reward though. It was the room itself.
It was at the end of the hall from where the headmaster's office was, where it came to a "T," this new hallway was a large circle that went around the entire tower. He walked the circle until he found the dancing trolls tapestry, then walked back and forth.
The RoR opened up, revealing a large open space. In the corner were some training dummies on wheels, to practice dueling, and on the other side of the room was a lounge area with a large fireplace. It was perfect. This was going to be his personal workspace for the next 7 years.
He still had some time before curfew, so he began running through some spell chains he learned. Switching spells immediately after casting one was a lot harder than one might think. If you didn't practice it, if you went too fast you may end up casting the same spell twice. It's why the first "spellchain" you learn when dueling was actually just three stupifies in a row. Then "Stupify-Expeliarmus-Stupify," to practice switching. "Leviosa-Accio-Depulso" was a common next step, or, if you were trying to harm your target, "Leviosa-Accio-Incendio-Depulso."
Leviosa was a common opening move to leave the target helpless in the air. It was much harder to try and cast spells when you were floating in what felt like zero gravity. Only those really used to it can really focus, so only experienced duelists can still return fire. Even then, you're stuck in place and can't dodge, so they'll have to rely purely on their shields. But shields were quick to be overwhelmed with a quick barrage of shieldbreakers. It's why if you were hit with a Leviosa in a duel, you basically lost already.
The spellchain he was practicing now was some spells he was casting in parseltongue. Parseltongue spells weren't the same thing as just saying "stupify" or "diffindo" in parseltongue, because then he wouldn't be speaking parseltongue, now would he? He would still be speaking the Latin derivative, but maybe with a hissy accent. No, there were other incantations he used were various hisses and breathy noises which roughly translated to "Sleep!" or "Cut!" or "Float!" or "Ignite!"
Things like that.
Because of the different etymology of the different languages, the spells didn't end up working the same way. For example, parseltongue's spell equivalent for "Stupify" was "Sleep." Because of the connotations, the parseltongue spell didn't force the target unconscious, but rather lulled the target to sleep. It still worked, but it took just a bit longer and the target could be woken up with any jostle or noise that would normally wake a person. The benefit was that it didn't hammer the target's brain into unconsciousness, so the target would wake up without the bad headache. Nor would it damage the target's mind in any way, even if they were hit with several at once, which was a very real danger with stupify.
For practice, Harry would switch between the normal Latin based spells, and Parseltongue spells. He even had a spellchain where he used both in the same chain, which was a lot harder to make that mental switch to a different language. It was likely he wouldn't use it when he actually got into a fight or when he dueled, because of that slight pause, but it was good practice.
He didn't want to spend too much time right now, so he only did a few practice runs before calling it quits.
Last but not least, he had one last thing before he could turn in for the night. He had a Magic Quest to prevent Quirrelmort from killing any of the Unicorns. He didn't have any sound idea of when Quirrell began hunting them, so he had to take some measures as soon as possible.
Throwing on his invisibility cloak, he snuck outside to the edge of the forbidden forest. It was getting late into the evening by now, and the sun was low, so there weren't a lot of students on the way.
When he got a decent way into the forest so he wouldn't be seen, he cast "Serpensortia!" It was his only 5th level spell he had. Because of this, he could summon as many snakes as he wanted, each one a magical familiar. He chose to summon the Horned Serpents, which had the ability to fly and turn invisible. Perfect for sneaking around the forest to spy unseen. About 30 Horned Serpents shot out of his wand, some landing on the ground, some stayed flying in the air around him.
They were all hissing, wondering what they were supposed to do. "Go find the Unicorn herd in the forest! Watch over them unseens and protect them from any dangers! There is a dark wizard that wants to kill them and drink their blood! Do not let that happen! If you see anything, tell me!" Harry hissed out.
All of the snakes turned invisible, and shot off.
[Name: Harry James Potter-Black
Level: 20 49.5%
Stats:
Power: 55, [7], [30]
Control: 74
Focus: 82
Classes: Mind Arts 12, Magizoology 10, Dueling 1
Skills: Occlumency 3, Legilimency 1, Serpensortia 5, [+2]
Perks: Potter Family Magic, A Mother's Love, Horcrux, Parselmouth, Black Family Magic, Animagus, Natural Occlumens, Magical Growth, Emotional Empowerment, Harvester, Empathetic Sensing, Insight, Seer, Wide Wormhole]
The [7] was his horcrux, it was slowly using up more of his magic over time, and the [30] was used to sustain all of the Horned Serpents. Normally it would use about 5-10 power each to sustain the magic snakes, but since his control and focus were so much higher, he was able to cut it all the way down to just 1 each. Even then, it was the most power that he's ever channeled for such a long time, since he would need to sustain it for weeks, if not months. He was used to the draining feeling of holding a spell already, so he wasn't too worried. Besides, he loved the feeling of channeling magic.
With that done, Harry finally made his way back to the common room. It was just before curfew, and most of the students were already in their dorm rooms, so he was surprised to see Hermione sitting on a couch by the fireplace waiting for him. As soon as he came in, she shot to her feet and ran over to tackle him in a hug.
"Harry! How'd it go?" Hermione asked.
"It went well, I was able to get us a room to use for that study group. Though that does mean that we have to have a teacher to come and check in on us, just to make sure we're using the room responsibly. Professor Babbling, the Ancient Runes professor, will be in charge of that for us," Harry said.
Hermione smiled, "That's great!"
"I'm also going to be enrolled early into Divination class," Harry sighed.
"What! You can do that? Is it because of your… dreams?" Hermione asked. She wasn't the biggest believer in fortune telling, because of all of the fanfare seen in muggle media around it and hippies. Though since she's learned about magic, she decided to be a little open minded about it, especially since her closest friend was having dreams. Harry hadn't really hid the dreams from his close friends, so they all knew about it. Luna was the biggest fan of them, since one of the "dreams" he's had had saved her mother.
"Yes. You know the one I had about me searching a cave with a sword?" She nodded. "Dumbledore recognized the description of the sword I gave. Apparently, the sword in my dream is Excalibur!"
"No way!" Hermione gasped. "King Arthur's sword? It was said to be made by the Fae, or the Lady of the Lake. In legend, at least. Do you think she's real? Wasn't the sword returned to the lake after Arthur's death? Do you think you'll get to meet her? What does it mean for you to get the sword? I don't think it's to become the King of England!"
Harry chuckled at all of the rapid fire questions. "Well, we do know that fairies are real. Wizards like to use them as beautiful decorations. There are some other magical creatures that we classify as being 'Fae.' So the Lady of the Lake is likely to exist. Whether or not she's alive is another matter. Either way, I'll have to refuse being king. It sounds like way too much work!"
She giggled. "Well, I think you would be a great king!"
"Ugh! No way! I'd rather be the court wizard, like Merlin. Though, if I am king, then you could fill that spot."
"I'd rather be the qu-" Hermione cut herself off as she realized what she was about to say.
Harry smirked, "Oh? You'd rather be my queen?"
Hermione blushed red. "NO! I mean… That's not what I meant, shut up!" And she ran back upstairs to her dorm room. Harry laughed.
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