Chapter 8: Chapter 8
[T/N, You guys did it so enjoy!]
It turned out that in the end, they did not allow him to join the team, the Headmaster considered that it was not fair to let him be able to play as a first year and the rest not. That was why the captain of the team, a sixth year, got him to promise to participate in the tests that the next year would do for him. He had already seen him fly before and couldn't wait to have him on the team.
What perhaps amused the little boy the most was the indignation of his friends, no matter what house they were from. In fact, it had been the Weasley twins, who are part of their house's Quidditch team, who were most outraged that they had not allowed them to join their house's team.
"I don't understand," Terry said in a quiet area of the library where the entire group had gathered, including Draco Malfoy, who in the last few classes had developed a strange friendship with the rest of the group based on his usual classmate. "Shouldn't you want him not to come in and therefore be happy?"
"Well, the normal thing is that yes..." Fred Weasley said indignantly. "but above all, we enjoyed playing quidditch and after seeing him fly, what we wanted was to be able to play against him."
"Although I don't even believe it myself." Malfoy stated. "I agree with Weasley, when you meet a player like Harry, you want to be able to play a match with or against him. The fact that you already got the idea that you could play and then it turns out that they don't allow it yet, makes you die of rage. I hope to be able to join the team next year so I can play against you."
"It's not yet known if I'll make the team next year," Harry murmured.
"Are you crazy?" Athenea was amazed. "Morris is already counting on you! How can you say it's not safe?"
The truth is that although he really liked flying, he was grateful not to be on the team. He needed that time to study and prepare for his classes, after all, he was doing three times as much work as the others. Furthermore, he also wanted to make the most of his room and be able to experiment with its magic.
Inside his room he was concentrating on two things, the first, potions. At this time, he was practicing all kinds of potions, especially those that were outside the curriculum, but also trying to create his own potions and recipes. For now, he was content with making the recipes as indicated and then improving some of those recipes. He felt very proud of having managed to improve the 'Felix Felicis' potion, achieving thirty-six hours of luck instead of the standard twelve... Quite an achievement. He also had the Wolfbane potion in mind, he wanted to make it for his uncle Remus, however, what he would like would be to improve it to maintain sanity and increase pain tolerance... although the best would be if he managed to prevent transformation, but that was still too much.
[T/N,...Really, a potion that Snape, a prodigious potions master, struggles just brewing was improved by a 10-year-old who is still busy with the school curriculum. Ugh!]
Another thing that was focused on at that time was meditation and relaxation. This was the best way to get to know yourself, especially to know your own power and magic. The boy knew that his power and knowledge were not average. According to many of his books, some of his powers were just a myth or, it was rumored that no one had had them in many centuries... it was for that reason that he could not trust any of his elders to help him control them, and he could only trust Remus with this knowledge. No matter how you looked at it, the point was that he had to manage it on his own. Furthermore, the fact that his regular studies were already disconcerting his Professors made it clear that it was not the best idea to reveal his true abilities.
The course was going slowly but steadily, and before Harry knew it they were already at the beginning of December. It was easy to see how the cold had taken over the castle, the vast majority of students on more than one occasion refused to go out on the grounds during breaks and during potions classes, they used to gather with each other around the fires that fueled their boilers. The fireplaces were lit and many of the students used to spend their free time there.
Furthermore, the castle was gradually filling with an increasingly festive atmosphere. As December progressed, you could see how some decorations were being put up, Hagrid, the gamekeeper had cut down a few trees to decorate the Great Hall. Flitwick had spent much of the weekend decorating various parts of the school with different charms. Harry himself had decorated his own room to get into the Christmas spirit.
The bad thing about the approach of the Christmas season was the fact that the exams were approaching, or at least for Harry they were approaching. His head of house had approached him at the beginning of the month to inform him.
"Mr. Potter… wait a moment. I would like to talk to you."
"I'll wait for you in the common room." Jonathan murmured.
Harry waited for the rest of his classmates to leave the greenhouse and then for his Professor to stop tending to some of the plants that the rest of his classmates had been studying that day.
"Well, Mr. Potter," the woman finally said. "I wanted to talk to you about the level of your studies. I don't know if you know it, but you have practically finished the first year's study plan."
"No, ma'am, I didn't know."
"Well, the point is that at the end of the quarter, you will take the corresponding exams, giving you the result the day before the Christmas holidays." Sprout told him and added, handing him a parchment. "This will be the schedule of your exams."
The exams were scheduled to be taken outside of class hours, in the offices of the different Professors, and as his head of house had indicated, they were scheduled to take place around five in the afternoon the week before Christmas. Which gave him only three hours to be able to prepare for them.
After that day, much of his time was spent preparing the material he had learned, and even perfecting it. He intended to get good grades, he wanted to make Remus proud of him. He didn't care about his parents, but Remus, his uncle's opinion of him was different. He used to spend most of his time in his room studying, mostly because of the resources he had there, but also because that way he could concentrate better. In his common room or in the school library there were too many people, many of them offering their help that more than often made things worse.
His friends had noticed his disappearances, but although they were dying to ask where he was going they finally decided not to, coming to the conclusion that if Harry wanted to explain it to them he would do it himself and when he felt ready, they would just be therefor him.
On the day of the first exam, the poor guy was like a custard. He was a nervous wreck and although all his friends (including the twins) tried to calm him down, they couldn't... Those days, Harry was exempt from class, so when his friends went to class, he went to his room with such to give the final review of his transfiguration material, in order to make everything perfect. However, when he entered and prepared to leave his things on the central table, he was surprised to discover an envelope on which he had written his name in an all-too-familiar handwriting, Remus. Hogwarts must have realized that he was going straight to the room and had made the letter arrive there, away from the prying eyes of the Great Hall. He opened it and smiled.
-Dear Harry,
How are you? I guess I'm too nervous to stay still in one place right now. Have you taken refuge in your room? I guess so.
Above all, I want you to calm down, and remember that you know how to do everything they ask you, so it's okay. Better to treat it as if it were homework or some kind of routine check, that way you will be calmer. You told me you have transfiguration first, right? If so, rest assured, McGonnagall will not give you any tests beyond your capabilities. The same for everyone else, they are good Professors and they are surely doing everything possible so that you are the beneficiary.
Have you decided yet if you are going to stay at school over Christmas? Think about it, Christmas at Hogwarts is something fantastic and worth living, on the other hand you want to come home, Padfood and I will be here like every Christmas, you choose.
Wishing you all the luck in the world for your exams, I say goodbye.
Remember that I love you.
'Moony'-
Harry smiled when he read the letter, he felt much better now, count on Uncle Remus to make you feel good despite being on the verge of a hysterical attack. I was still nervous, but not to the level I was before, during breakfast, thinking that it would be best to finish calming down before starting to review for the exam, and for that reason, he decided to think about his uncle's letter.
The truth is that until that moment he had not decided what he was going to do, stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, or return home? He knew for a fact that if his family weren't the way they are, he wouldn't hesitate to go there to spend the holidays, but since that wasn't the case, he hesitated. On the one hand, Hogwarts would be a lot more fun and he would have a cozier Christmas for a change, but his friends would come home and he would be alone, on the other hand, he would certainly not be welcome at home and he would not be able to practice or research his magic, but Remus would be over there. He sighed, he knew it was illogical, but he decided to go home... Merlin, he wished he wasn't wrong.
That afternoon he found himself knocking nervously on Professor McGonagall's door for his exam. He wasn't as nervous as he was that morning, but he still couldn't take the exam calmly.
"Ahhh... Mr. Potter, ready for your exam?" Professor McGonagall said as soon as she opened the door, smiling.
" Yes ma'am."
"Very well, go ahead." The woman said, moving away. "Sit at the desk... no, that one, at the other Mr. Potter."
Harry blushed at his mistake and at the Professor's amusement. It's not that he wanted to be wrong, but he didn't think that the Professor had evoked a desk, although he should have imagined it. He sat at his desk and waited for her to give him his test and the anti-cheating pen he was sure would come. Yes, he was right, the only thing she would allow him to have was the inkwell. Sighing to give himself strength, he began to read his theory test and blinked in surprise. Was she really going to ask him that? It was very easy! Already more relieved, he began his exam.
The following week rather flew by for the little boy. Just as Remus had assured him, his exams were not as difficult as he had imagined... on the contrary, they were very easy although his Professors thought it was quite complicated, and from their expressions, his classmates and friends did too, because Hermione, who was a mouse of the library and who had memorized almost the entire syllabus had put on such an air of fright when explaining to him what they had asked him. Although without a doubt, what had gone 'too' well had been potions. He hadn't been able to resist, he had to make a basic healing potion, one of the ones that Harry had experimented with and improved, and of course Professor Snape had noticed, questioning him even more to know exactly what he had done... That one would surely have his approval.
So he found himself looking forward to getting his grades, and his friends were as eager as he was. Hermione had extracted a promise from him that, as good as they were, he would meet them in the library to share them with the others. Thinking about it, he didn't know who was more excited, him or his friends… well, he did know, his friends, especially Hermione.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." Professor Sprout greeted him when she went to his office the day before the holidays. "Please sit down."
Harry sat in silence, his heart racing and his palms sweating from nervousness. He watched as his Head of House sat right in front of him and smiled kindly at him, and at the same time he felt how the school was trying to calm him down... not that it did much, he was still extremely nervous.
"I understand that you will be very nervous and quite anxious to know what your grades were." she laughed. "So I'm not going to make you suffer anymore. Here you go."
The Professor handed him a parchment on which the results of his exams were written. He looked at him impatiently and smiled widely, although somewhat surprised. He had Outstanding in everything.
"Congratulations Mr. Potter, your grades are excellent." Professor Sprout said with a smile. "You have reasons to be happy. Now, Professor McGonagall has asked me to give you this… it is the list of books for the second year. I see that you will be home for Christmas, so we hope that when you return you'll have all the material available. You will have to work hard to catch up with the rest of your second-year classmates, but I am sure you will achieve it very quickly."
"Yes ma'am! Are you sure there hasn't been a mistake with my notes?"
"No, Mr. Potter, there hasn't been. Come on, now go enjoy your free time."
Acknowledging the dismissal, Harry nodded smiling, and left his Professor's office to practically fly to the library where the entire anxious group was waiting for him. Seeing him, they surrounded him and Harry had a vision of vultures circling their prey.
"Well, spill! How did it go?" Hermione asked.
"You! Don't keep us waiting!" Added Malfoy
[T/N, The hell does keeping someone on tenderhooks mean?]
"I passed everything," Harry said. "I'm a second year!"
"Let me see!" Athenea exclaimed, snatching the parchment from him, taking a look at it and whistling. "outstanding? You've made it through every damn subject! Keep this up and you'll earn a place of honor in the history of Hogwarts."
[T/N, This was a great chapter in my opinion. If you enjoyed it then drop some stones and leave a comment and if you didn't, try to start a fight with me in the comments.]
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