Chương 254: HPMM76-90
Chapter 076
"I'll prepare the ingredients while you add them to the
cauldron," Harry said softly to Neville as he set aside all of
the items needed to prepare the ingredients. The roundfaced boy nodded, the gesture seeming almost instinctive,
his mind not all there. Harry flicked his wand at the
cauldron as it sat over the bunsen burner to start a fire.
He picked up his notepad and flipped to the page with his
instructions for the boil cure potion, which they were
making, according to the board up front. The instructions
were written in elegant cursive, clearly visible and easily
legible. He set the instructions in front of Neville, who was
still looking at him in shock.
"Use these instruction to create the potion," Harry
instructed.
Neville snapped out of his stupor at Harry's words and
looked at the notepad.
"Harry," he said carefully. "These instructions are different
from the ones on the board."
"Yes, I would imagine so," Harry said dismissively. "I
created those instruction when I was experimenting at
home. Not only will the potion be of a much higher quality,
but it will also cut down half the time to make it. Just follow
the instructions."
Neville didn't respond at first, clearly still very confused by
everything that had transpired within the last few minutes,
but he seemed to hold in his curiosity and muttered a,
"right," before getting to work.
As silence descended upon the classroom, with nothing
but the bubbling of cauldrons and the cutting, scraping
and scuffing noise of people working on their potions to
break it, Harry finally calmed down. He allowed his hands
to work on their appointed task, and as Harry worked in
silence with Neville, he allowed his mind to wander.
Now that he was much calmer, Harry felt a hint of shame
at how violently he had reacted. He should be better than
this. Harry had dealt with insufferable people before. If he
could deal with his aunt, uncle and cousin on a daily basis
and not lose his cool, then surely he could deal with one
sour teacher.
Except this man wasn't just a surely teacher with a strong
amount of biased, was he? It was clear that Snape hated
him for some reason, even though they had never met.
From the very moment he had come upon Harry's name
during roll, the man had done his best to mock and insult
Harry. The potion professor's animosity for him was quite
astounding, and incredibly childish.
Which really just made Harry more ashamed of himself.
He was supposed to be above responding to such childish
taunts. A man who would resort to using elementary
school insults and taking points was beneath responding
to in a similar manner.
As Harry cleaned the horned slugs of any contaminants
that might adversely affect the potion, his mind went
through all it knew about Severus Snape thanks to his
mother's journals.
According to his mum, she and Snape had actually been
childhood friends when they were younger. They had met
before being accepted at Hogwarts. Apparently, it was
Snape who had informed his mother of her witch status.
When they arrived at Hogwarts, his mother had been
sorted into Gryffindor and Snape went into Slytherin.
Despite this, they still managed to remain friends for a
long time.
During their years at Hogwarts, Snape had come under
the assault of none other than the Marauders, who had
taken to playing pranks on him and the other Slytherin
students, though they had mostly picked on him.
Harry knew that a big part of this bullying was due to how
close Snape had been to his mother. From the moment he
had laid eyes on Lily Evans, James Potter had been in
love with her, and had taken every opportunity he could to
gain her affection. However, she had continued to spurn
his advances, claiming he was an arrogant bully for
picking on her friend.
Lily's spurning of his love had only pushed James to new
heights of bullying, and Snape had responded to the then
arrogant boy's taunts and pranks with equal fervor. This
intense rivalry between Snape and James lasted until their
seventh year at Hogwarts, when Lily began dating James.
However, Snape's friendship with his mother had been
broken two years before that. During their fifth year, after a
rather terrible prank that Lily had tried to defend Snape
from, he had called her a Mudblood: a derogatory name
for someone born from muggle parents, akin to calling
someone of African descent a nigger, or a Chinese person
a Chink. It was one of the vilest, most insulting words you
could call a muggleborn, and it had ruined their friendship
permanently.
Perhaps that was why Snape hated him so much.
Perhaps he saw Harry's father as the man responsible for
destroying his friendship with Lily. Maybe he saw Harry as
a symbol of James' victory over him.
If so, then the man was even more immature than he
thought. Blaming the child for the sins of the father was
incredibly childish, and to carry a grudge for so long over a
man whose been dead for 11-years was even more so.
Harry wondered why Dumbledore allowed a man like this
to teach school children. Surely the headmaster knew that
having someone so petty and petulant teaching would
only create more problems in the future?
"Harry," Neville said in a voice so quiet even Harry almost
missed him speak as he stirred the cauldron. The original
instructions said not to while on the brewing phaset, but
Harry's improved instructions called for the potion to be
stirred with two clockwise stirs and one counterclockwise
stir every minute for five minutes to hasten the mixing of
the ingredients after adding horned slugs.
"Yes?"
"What was all that about?" asked Neville. "You know, with
Professor Snape?"
"I don't know," Harry said honestly. He wasn't sure if the
other boy was talking about Snape's reaction to him, or
the end results of their little mental duel. In either event,
he only had a small bit of knowledge on both subjects, so
he wasn't really lying, even if he did have a few theories.
"You'd have to ask Professor Snape."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 077
Neville looked at Harry for a moment, before eventually
nodding and returning to the potion. He took the cauldron
off the fire, then added two porcupine quills that Harry had
chopped up and added them to the cauldron.
As Neville began to stir, Harry debated on what he should
do about man clearly couldn't be trusted with children.
Equally clear was that Snape's grudge against his father
still ruled his life. At the same time, Dumbledore must have
a reason for keeping him at Hogwarts.
That didn't mean much to Harry, not after discovering that
Dumbledore was the reason he'd been forced to live at the
Dursley's, but it did mean he couldn't do much. While
being the Boy-Who-Lived gave him great leeway with his
peers, and could be used to further his cause politically, it
would not help him win a fight against Albus Dumbledore.
The man had been a leader of the light for 100-years,
considered one of the most powerful wizards of the
century, was looked up to, respected, and had more
political acumen and pull than Harry did.
Perhaps it would be best if he did nothing for the moment,
then? Yes, that seemed to be the best course of action
right now. He would do nothing, and no one but him and
Snape would know what had truly transpired during those
few minutes. He would come to class, act exceedingly
polite and not let on that anything was wrong, and he
would secretly hold the fact that the man had tried to
unsuccessfully invade his mind hang over the potion
Professor's head like a dark storm cloud. Every time
Snape saw Harry, he would know that Harry could say
anything at anytime, that he could release the news that a
professor of Hogwarts had attacked a student using
legillemency, but for some reason wasn't. He would make
the man sweat.
In the meantime, Harry would look up the school rules
involving using Legillemency on a student. He would also
see if some of the law books he had yet to read had
anything on Legillemency and it's legalities in the magical
world. Hopefully, there would be something he could use
against Snape in the future, either as blackmail, or to get
him fired if the man became too much of a problem.
It wasn't exactly what he wanted to do, which involved
publicly humiliating Snape and having the man live the
rest of his life in shame, but it was the best he could do on
such short notice. It would be enough, for now. Harry was
nothing if not patient.
XXXX
Harry frowned as he read the book titled Legal Guide to
Proper Use of Magic. According to this book, using
Legillemency was illegal unless you were a member of the
Auror forces under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Magical Law Enforcement, and using Legillemency on a
minor could earn someone a ticket to Azkaban provided
the minor could give solid proof that Legillemency was
used on them.
This was both useful and useless information at the same
time. He was pleased to discover that what Snape had
done was illegal and could get him arrested. He was less
than pleased to discover that he needed to have
documented proof of Legillemency being used before
Snape could even be brought to a trial.
What was he supposed to do? Convince Snape to sign a
magically binding contract stating he had used
Legillemency on a minor?
Not that it mattered anyway. Harry may have a lot of
influence due to his status, but Dumbledore had more. Not
to mention the man had been on the political scene for
upwards of 100-years. Going up against a man like that
was political suicide, even for him—especially for him
since Harry was still learning the ins and outs of wizarding
politics.
Even if he could theoretically humiliate Snape, or at least
get him fired, it would take far too much time and effort,
which could be better spent furthering his goals. He had
no desire to fight with Professor Dumbledore trying to get
the Head of the House of Slytherin kicked out, and Harry
knew he would have to fight the man. There was no doubt
in his mind that the Headmaster would defend the Potions
professor should Harry try to charge Snape of committing
a crime. He wouldn't have hired such a loathsome man if
he wasn't willing to side with him when trouble came up.
That did leave him with a a problem on what to do about
Snape. The man clearly had very little in the way of moral
compunctions if he could delve into a student's minds
without regard to their privacy. He needed to be dealt with
somehow. At the very least, Harry needed to find some
way to neutralize the man's power at Hogwarts.
With a sigh, Harry decided to shelve his thoughts on
Snape for the moment. He snapped the book shut, shrunk
it, then pocketed it, before standing up and making his
way over to Neville, who had just entered the Gryffindor
common room.
The two friends shared a greeting before walking down to
the Great Hall for breakfast. It was around nine o'clock
when they arrived. Today was Saturday, which meant they
didn't have any classes and could sleep in. Even Harry
had slept in, or at least, he had lain in bed for an extra
hour while organizing his thoughts.
That was one of the many disadvantages to being so well
versed in Occlumency, he figured. When someone slept,
their mind was usually busy filing away everything that
had happened and been learned that day while the body
was recovering. That was the reason people generally
needed around eight hours of sleep. One half involved
resting the body, the other half involved the mind.
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 078
Harry was different in that he did not need to rest his mind
much, if at all. He organized and cleared his mind every
night before he went to bed. If anything the act of sleeping
made his mind more disorganized than it did when he was
awake, which explained why Harry's body only needed
four hours of sleep to run at peak efficiency.
Sometimes he cursed having such a well-organized mind.
Since it was Saturday, Harry had taken to wearing muggle
clothes: blue jeans, a white undershirt and a dark green
button up shirt combo. While he wouldn't deny that he did
kind of like the cloaks, as they reminded him of his favorite
space opera trilogy, he still preferred muggle clothing.
Mainly because his non-magical clothes didn't restrict his
movements like those heavy cloaks did.
They were soon joined at the Gryffindor table by Hannah
and Susan, and Harry was pleased to see they hadn't
needed any prompting to join them. That meant they were
growing more comfortable about not following the crowd.
"So what do you guys think we should do today?" asked
Hannah as they finished piling food on their plate. She
took a fork full of eggs after speaking, chewing slightly and
then swallowing before she continued. "I mean, it's
Saturday. We don't have any classes. We should do
something fun."
"We could go exploring the castle," Susan said, her tone
softer than wind chimes. Harry wondered if she would
remain that demure and shy forever. Ah well. At least she
wasn't blushing anymore.
"We could explore the castle," Harry began, watching the
smile growing on Hannah's face. He decided to pop the
girl's bubble before she could get her hopes to high.
"Provided everyone's finished their homework."
"Homework? On a Saturday?" Hannah wrinkled her nose
in mock disgust. The girl was clearly adverse to the idea of
doing homework during the weekend. "Our homework's
not due until next Thursday. We have almost a week
before we need to finish it."
"Better to get it out of the way now, so you're not rushing
to rushing to finish it the day before you have to turn it in,"
Harry said. "Trust me on this, if you wait until the last
minute, your homework will be nowhere near as good as it
could be."
Hannah looked like she was about to protest, but Susan
cut her off.
"I think it's a good idea," the redhead said. At least she
seemed to be thinking sensibly, but then, he suspected
that Susan, despite her shyness, was much more
grounded than her friend—a side effect of living with her
aunt, he suspected. "If we finish it now, we won't have to
worry about it again."
"You can't be serious, Susan," Hannah looked aghast.
However, the moment she saw her friends look, which
Harry noted was surprisingly stern for someone so
demure, the blond girl slumped, heaving a large sigh of
defeat as she hung her head. "Oh alright, I know when I've
been beaten. I suppose we could head up to the library
after breakfast to finish our homework." She was silent for
a moment, before mumbling a little anecdote. "The sooner
we finish the better."
Harry could barely constrain a chuckle at the crestfallen
look on Hannah's face. It was so reminiscent of Lisa's
expression whenever he told her the same thing that he
couldn't contain his amusement.
Thinking of his friend also brought back the tight pain he
felt in his chest that came from no longer being near her.
Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. As he
suspected, it was getting a little easier to deal with; the
once gaping hole in his heart had healed somewhat.
He suspected it had something to do with the three sitting
with him. They were very pleasant and he enjoyed
conversing with them, so much so that he was even willing
to open up more than he believed he should.
It was a new experience for Harry. While he had always
conversed and interacted with other people at school and
sporting events, he never allowed himself to open up to
anyone other than Lisa. He wondered if this had
something to do with the people around him, or if it was
just because they were magical like him. Perhaps a
mixture of both?
It wasn't long after breakfast started that a flood of owls
flew into the Great Hall. Everything from Barn Owls to
Screech Owls to Tawny Owls swooped into the large hall
where students and teachers were enjoying their
breakfast.
Harry looked up to see that the enchanted ceiling was
nearly blocked out by the large flock of nocturnal avions.
His eyes picked out the many letters and parcels various
owls carried as they descended toward the recipients of
said items. Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy received a
large parcel filled with various wizarding candy and letters,
and was currently bragging about how his father and
mother were rich and only sent him the highest quality
goods. Seamus and Dean had both received a letter from
their parents, which somehow ended up with Dean trying
to explain what football is to Seamus. And Susan received
a letter from a large Eagle Owl and was currently reading
it.
"Is that from your aunt?" asked Harry. Susan looked up at
him from the letter and nodded, a smile on her face.
"Yes, I promised her I would write and tell her what house I
was sorted into."
Harry smiled, prompting a light blush to spring to Susan's
pale cheeks. "I bet she was proud to hear you were sorted
into her house?"
"She was." Susan fidgeted a bit, her blush nowhere close
to receding. "I... I also told her a little bit about you. She
was... very pleased to hear that I'm making friends outside
of my house."
Harry nodded. "She sounds like a smart woman. It's
always good to have friends that come from different
walks of life—or friends that belong in different houses.
Diversity allows people to grow and learn in ways they
couldn't if all of their friends were like-minded individuals."
That was another problem Harry had with the House
system. Diversity helped people grow. When so many
different people with different ideas and different ways of
thinking combined their efforts together, it most often
resulted in the creation of something new and wonderful.
That was why scientists in the non-magical world had
advanced enough to send ships into space. With likeminded individuals being segregated into separate
houses, Harry feared the wizarding world would never
advance like its non-magical counterpart.
Which was really a shame because magic seemed so
much more versatile than science. Harry could only
imagine what it would be capable of if people could put
aside their differences and work together.
"You know, you sound kind of like my dad when you talk
like that," Hannah informed Harry, giving him a strange
look. "He's always saying similar things whenever he
talked about all of the people he's met."
"From what you've told me of your father, he's fairly welltraveled," Harry said with a hum "And considering he
works with a lot of different people due to being in the wine
industry, he's probably a lot more open-minded as well."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 079
"I guess," Hannah said, shrugging. "I've never really
thought about it, but then, I've never really seen what he
does when working. I mean, sure, mum and I have
traveled with him during the summer, but it's not like we
actually go near the vineyards. Usually, mum and I just go
into the nearby towns and do some sightseeing and
shopping."
Harry nodded, understanding that Hannah probably wasn't
interested enough in her father's business to go with him
while he worked. It was that way with most children. At
least, it seemed that way. Lisa had never been interested
in what her father did either.
Just then, Hedwig descended from above, landing right
next to his goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Hedwig," Harry greeted with a smile as he reached over
and ran his fingers down her fathered back. "How are you,
girl? I haven't seen you since I sent that letter off to Lisa.
Where have you been?"
Hedwig gave a soft hoot, her amber eyes not leaving
Harry as she presented him with the letter attached to her
leg.
"Harry, is this your owl?" asked Hannah, staring at the
snowy owl while Harry took the letter from Hedwig. The
pig-tailed girl looked at Hedwig with what could only be
construed as awe. Harry would not have been surprised in
the least if cartoonish-looking hearts randomly replaced
her eyes.
And who knows. With magic, perhaps such a thing was
actually possible.
"Yes," Harry answered as he looked over the envelope,
and smiled when he saw who the letter was from. Without
wasting time, he opened the letter and began reading.
"She's so beautiful," Hannah breathed as she stared at
Hedwig. The snowy owl preened under the compliment,
puffing out her chest and hooting proudly. Harry would
have laughed if he were the sort to let his emotions show
more. He knew Hedwig loved getting attention. She was
quite possibly the biggest attention-whore he had ever met
in his life bar none.
"She is," Harry agreed absently, his eyes skimming the
letter, a soft smile working its way onto his face. "Just try
not to give her too many compliments or she may get a
big head."
Hedwig gave him an angry sounding hoot and tried to nip
his finger as a reprimand, but Harry was ready this time
and swiftly moved his hands away from the angry owl.
"I'm just kidding, Hedwig," Harry told her soothingly as he
grabbed some bacon and offered it to her. Hedwig looked
at the bacon distrustfully, prompting Harry to say,
"everyone knows you're the most beautiful owl here."
Hedwig continued to stare at him for several more
seconds, before taking the peace offering. She then
nipped his finger gently and allowed him to stroke her
feathers.
"Can I pet her too?" asked Hannah.
"That's up to her," Harry said, looking up from his letter to
stare at Hedwig with a raised eyebrow. "How about it,
Hedwig? Can Hannah pet you?"
Hedwig blinked her large amber eyes. Her head twisted so
she could look at Hannah, who had a hopeful expression,
then looked back at Harry, eyes staring at him
unblinkingly. After another second, she hooted, then
bobbed her head up and down.
"Hedwig said sure," Harry informed Hannah, who promptly
reached over and began stroking Hedwig's back. "Just be
careful not to ruin her feather's. She spends an awful lot of
time on them."
Hannah gave Harry an amused look. "Right," she said.
"I'm sure she said all that."
Harry shrugged, not really bothered if Hannah didn't
believe him. It wasn't like Hedwig had spoken or anything,
not in words at least.
And it wasn't like the blond girl had the connection he had
to Hedwig, so she couldn't know how they communicated
with each other. The truth was, even Harry wasn't 100
percent sure how he could understand Hedwig so well,
though he did have a working theory. Legillemency, or at
least, an animal variation of it. Whenever Hedwig 'spoke'
to him, she did so by presenting images into his head to
convey thoughts and feelings. That was how he
understood her.
Of course, this did present an interesting number of
questions. Namely, why was he able to understand her
when none of the other owls he had seen so far seemed
to display any kind of magical aptitude? What was it that
made Hedwig special? Or did her ability to telepathically
communicate via images have something to do with his
own aptitude for mind magic? Perhaps, rather then her
being the one to present images in his head, he was
simply pulling them out of hers. He supposed it was just
one of those great mysteries he would need to discover
for himself.
"So who's the letter from?" asked Neville. He blushed
when he realized what he asked could be considered
invasive. The round-faced boy had already learned that
Harry was an innately private person. He was never rude,
but when someone asked Harry something that he didn't
want to answer, he would smoothly redirect the topic of
their conversation away from him. Most of those around
them didn't seem to notice, but Neville had, and he was
sure Susan had too. With this in mind, he hastened to
add, "that is, if you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all," said Harry, smiling as he set the letter down.
He was in a good mood now. The letter had gone a long
way to easing his mind. "The letter was from my friend,
Lisa. I sent one to her our first night here. I wasn't
expecting to hear back so soon."
"Wait," Hannah said suddenly. "Isn't Lisa that muggle
friend you were talking about on the Hogwarts Express?"
"Yes." Harry gave her a nod. "She is. I wanted to keep in
touch with her, so I found out how the wizarding world
sends letters to the muggle world without breaking the
statute of secrecy."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 080
"That's really sweet of you." Hannah's comment actually
made Harry blush. No one had ever told him he was
sweet before. Well, Lisa had, but he had long since been
desensitized to anything she said. Harry wasn't sure
whether to be embarrassed or flattered. "You're a really
good friend."
"I guess."
Harry shifted a bit as he regain control of the blood flow to
his cheeks. He did his best to finish eating before Hannah
could make anymore comments about him and how sweet
he was.
Once he finished eating, he looked over at the others to
see if they were done as well.
"So... to the library then?"
Susan and Neville agreed, while Hannah merely sighed
and slumped her shoulders. "I guess."
The group of four stood up and walked out of the Great
Hall. Because none of them had brought their books or
school supplies, they separated and went to their
respective dorms to get their supplies, before meeting up
again and making their way to the library.
The library was one of the few places Harry had been
dying to see since coming to Hogwarts. The library was
very large, nearly twice as large as the one in Surrey. The
dozens upon dozens of shelves filled to the brim with large
tomes nearly had Harry drooling. The mere thought about
all the knowledge contained within those books was
almost enough to make him lose his composure. Only his
iron will and determination not to look like a raging
bookworm having book withdrawals kept him from running
up to the nearest shelf and grabbing the first book he
could get his hands on.
"Well," Harry started, his body tingling with the desire to
snatch a book and start reading. "Why don't we find some
place to sit. The sooner we can finish our homework, the
sooner we can go exploring."
Near the back of the library Harry, Hannah, Susan and
Neville came upon a small area for people to read and
work. Several tables were evenly spaced around this
section of the library in a neat and orderly fashion.
It seemed they weren't the only ones who had gotten the
idea to complete their homework at the first opportunity. A
number of students were already sitting at the tables,
writing down on sheets of parchment or reading from
some of the ancient tomes. Most of them were from
Ravenclaw, Harry noted.
Most were older students that Harry didn't know the
names of, but recognized by face. However, sitting at a
table near the back, he saw two first years working
diligently on their homework: Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin.
Terry was a skinny boy with short cut brown hair, pale skin
and steel gray eyes. He wasn't very tall, but neither was
he short. Standing head and shoulders shorter than Harry,
he was about average in height. Nor did he look very
athletic, judging from what Harry could see of his thin
wrists.
Sitting across from him, Lisa Turpin's long, raven-colored
hair framed a face with thin pink lips, a button nose and
dark brown eyes. She stood several inches shorter than
Harry, though it was hard to tell with her sitting. Her fair
skin indicated her as someone who stayed indoors most
of the time.
Deciding that this was the perfect opportunity to make two
more allies outside of his house, Harry led his group over
to the pair.
"Excuse me," he said in a polite voice. When Lisa and
Terry looked up, their eyes widening upon seeing who was
speaking to them, Harry offered a charming smile and
affably inquired, "do you mind if we sit with you two?"
Terry and Lisa both blinked, then looked around at the
several empty tables near them. They were probably
wondering why Harry wanted to sit with them when there
was plenty of space available. At least, that's what Harry
assumed they were wondering. They appeared confused,
but it could have been from something else, though he
doubted it.
Whatever they were thinking, the pair eventually decided
that having Harry Potter and his friends sit with them was
perfectly acceptable.
"Sure," Lisa said, waving her hand towards the empty
seats at their table. "Make yourselves comfortable."
Harry grinned and sat down. Behind him Hannah, Neville
and Susan looked at each other, before following suit.
When they were all settled, Harry decided that
introductions were in order.
"It's nice to meet you two. My name's Harry Potter, and
with me are my friends Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones
and Hannah Abott." Neville, Hannah,and Susan gave their
own greetings as Harry introduced them.
"It's nice to meet you too," Lisa said with a smile. Terry
gave them a nod, but still seemed too surprised that Harry
Potter wanted to sit with them to say anything. "I'm kind of
surprised to see you guys here. I thought we Ravenclaws
were the only ones who would be coming up here to get
our homework done the first chance we got."
Harry carefully masked the frown he wanted to show.
There was that house stereotyping again. If he weren't so
intent on gaining allies in other houses and people like
Susan and Hannah, he would have wondered if there was
some kind of loyalty charm to ensure that people only got
along with those in the house they were sorted into.
"I find that it's best to get homework out of the way before
doing anything else," Harry replied. "That way we don't
have to worry about it for the rest of the week, and can
use that time to relax and have fun."
"I never thought of it like that," Terry said, looking
thoughtful. "But I guess it makes sense."
Susan looked over at Hannah with an expression that
could almost be considered smug. The blond girl threw her
hands up in exasperation. "Alright, alright, I get it. Work
first, play later. Sheesh, perhaps you should have been in
Ravenclaw."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 081
"Actually," Harry corrected Hannah with a small smile.
"Hufflepuff is the House of hard work. So if anything, you
should be more than happy to do your homework first and
to the best of your abilities." Hannah just pouted at him,
prompting a few mild chuckles from the others.
"Speaking of homework," Neville added as he looked at
the blank parchment that he would be using to write his
potions essay. "We should probably get started on ours."
"Right."
Harry's three friends quickly settled down and began to
work. Susan dipped her quill into her ink jar and began
dutifully writing on her parchment, using the book in front
of her as a reference. Hannah looked at her own sheet,
chewing on the tip of her quill and appearin lost on how
best to get started. Surprisingly enough, Neville seemed to
be doing decently and had already started writing.
Terry and Lisa proved their position as Ravenclaws quite
well by burying themselves in their books and parchment
the moment introductions were over. Harry wondered if
this was just how they were, or if perhaps their
personalities were already becoming subsumed by what
was expected of them as Ravenclaws. He thought it far
too early for them to have completely conformed to their
house standards, but couldn't say for sure. For all he
knew, they could just want to get their homework out of
the way as expediently as possible.
Soon the sound of quills scribbling on parchment filled the
table as everyone started working. Harry watched the
others for a moment before getting out a book of his own,
though it was not any of the school books, but instead the
one Professor McGonagall had given him.
He started to read, allowing himself to get lost within the
knowledge contained in the pages. Out of his peripheral,
he saw Lisa and Terry occasionally looking up from their
work to give him inquiring glances. He offered them his
best friendly smile when they did, which caused Terry to
look down at his work and Lisa to blush as she followed
her fellow Ravenclaw's example. They both seemed
curious about him, but were unsure of how to speak to
him.
Hannah on the other hand, had no trouble talking. The girl
seemed to be having trouble with her assignment and,
after nibbling on her quill, looked up to see Harry not only
not doing any homework, but also reading a book she
didn't recognize. Naturally, she was curious.
"Wasn't the whole point of coming up here to finish our
homework?" she asked, looking torn between pouting and
glaring. "Why aren't you doing your homework?"
"I'm already done." Harry smiled and flipped another page
in his book. His words caused everyone else to look at
him in surprise. Lisa and Terry seemed especially
surprised that someone had already finished their
homework. "That's part of the reason I wanted you guys to
finish your work as well, that way none of us have to worry
about it, and we can spend the rest of the weekend
exploring the castle."
Hannah's mouth formed into a tiny 'o' of surprise and her
eyes widened a bit. The others didn't look much better.
Lisa and Terry both gaped at him; Susan also stared at
him in surprise, and perhaps even a bit of admiration;
Neville, on the other hand, furrowed his brow in thought.
"When did you have time to finish your homework?" he
asked curiously, eyes squinting as he strained to see if he
could remember seeing Harry ever do his homework
before.
"This morning," Harry answered. "Before you and the
others woke up."
"Oh..." Neville blinked, then just seemed to accept his
eccentric friends words. "Well, you do wake up pretty
early. You're always gone whenever I wake up."
"I've always been an early riser," Harry said in agreement.
"I suppose I just have more energy than most, and I don't
like lazing around when I can use that time to do
something productive."
"If you're finished with your homework, do you think you
can help me with mine?" asked Hannah, looking at him
with wide, hopeful eyes.
Harry carefully closed his book and set it on the table.
"I don't see why not," he said, standing up and walking
over to Hannah. He stopped beside her and leaned down
a bit to see what she had written. It was currently blank,
though the potions book sitting next to her let him know
what she was working. Still, for the sake of starting the girl
along, he asked, "so what are you working on?"
"Potions," Hannah said. "Professor Snape wants us to
write a one-foot paper on the Boil Cure Potion."
"He gave us that assignment as well," Harry said,
hunkering down and beginning to help her by explaining
the best way to write an essay. He didn't tell her anything
about the potion itself, as that not only wouldn't help her,
but may be considered cheating if she wrote down what
he said verbatim. He wouldn't put it past Snape to spot
something like that and dock points for cheating. Instead,
he told her how best to organize her essay and allowed
her to write down the information in her own words.
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 082
The others snuck glances at the two as Harry helped
Hannah.
"This is actually pretty easy," Hannah said, sounding
surprised after finishing her essay nearly half an hour
later.
"Writing an essay is actually a lot easier than people
think," Harry told her as he checked her essay for
grammar mistakes. "The problem most people get stuck
on is usually the beginning. They waste too much time
trying to figure out how they should start their essay, which
means they have less time to write it."
"Uh huh," Hannah said, nodding at him like she
understood everything he said when she really didn't.
"So... what do you think?"
"It's good," Harry said after his eyes skimmed it over. He
handed the essay back to her and gave a congratulatory
smile. "I can't see Snape giving you anything less than an
O on it, though knowing him, he might end up giving you
an A."
"He is kind of unpleasant," Lisa spoke up, looking away
from her work to eye the pair. "Terry and I shared that
class with Hufflepuff and he was really rude. He kept
insulting everyone for not being up to his standards, and
he never answered any of the questions we had about the
potion he wanted us to make. I'm surprised he's even
allowed to teach here."
"If you think he was bad in your class, you should have
seen him in our class," Neville quipped. He looked almost
done with his Potions essay, Harry noted with a bit of a
smile. He wondered if having been partnered with him
helped the boy some, or if perhaps he just had a natural
talent for potions. "He wasn't just mean, but seemed to
have it out for Harry."
"Really?" Susan asked with a small frown as the others
perked up. Terry only looked slightly interested, while Lisa
and Hannah both leaned in, as if Neville's words were a
piece juicy gossip about a famous actor or actress
cheating on their spouse. It just proved to Harry that most
women, regardless of age, were into gossip. Lisa Crawft
was the same way.
"Yeah," Neville said in a hushed tone. He looked around
for a second, almost like he was afraid Snape appeared
out of thin air and give him detention, then leaned in.
"When he got to Harry's name when taking roll, he was all
like 'Ah, Mr. Potter. Our new celebrity.' and then he started
asking these really hard questions that apparently weren't
on the first year syllabus, and then he took points from
Gryffindor, claiming that Harry was cheating because a
first year shouldn't know the answer to those questions."
"You're joking," Terry exclaimed in shock. Hannah and
Lisa gasped. Susan held her left hand to her mouth, her
wide eyes speaking volumes about her thoughts on the
matter.
"He's not," Harry answered for Neville.
"What kind of teacher would do such a thing?"
"The kind who holds a grudge against a dead man," Harry
muttered darkly.
"What was that, Harry?"
"Nothing," Harry said, shaking his head. He wasn't willing
to get others involved in his fight against Snape. "Anyway,
Snape's just biased. From what I hear, he hates every
house except his own, and has a particular hatred for
students in Gryffindor. Some of the older students I spoke
with said he's always taking points for doing things like
breathing incorrectly, and giving points to Slytherin for
doing something like 'setting out their supplies correctly.'"
Of course, considering it was Fred and George who told
him this, he wasn't quite sure whether to believe it or not.
Though his encounter with the potions professor did lend
evidence to support them.
"It makes you wonder why Professor Dumbledore allows
him to work here," Terry commented.
"I'm sure the headmaster has his reasons," Harry spoke
with a shrug. Though just what those reasons were, he
didn't know. Deciding to change the subject, he said,
"would any of you also like help on your homework as
well?"
"I would," Lisa, Neville, Terry and Susan all said at the
same time. Lisa and Terry looked at each other, while
Susan and Neville promptly flushed.
"Why don't I just walk around and see what you guys need
help with, hmm?" Harry said with a smile. Things were
looking up. He now had allies in three of the four houses,
which meant he only had one house left to go.
Of course, Slytherin would be the hardest house to get an
ally in because he was a Gryffindor. But then, that was just
another reason he had decided to go into the House of
Lions. It would create a much larger impact on his peers
than if he had gone into Ravenclaw.
After all, if a Gryffindor could befriend a Slytherin, then so
could anyone else.
XoX
The rest of Harry's time in the library was spent helping
the others finish their homework. He helped Lisa with
Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Terry with
History of Magic. Susan also needed some help on her
Charms homework, but only in getting the ending of her
essay right. Neville had some trouble with Transfiguration,
which seemed to be his weakest subject. Thankfully, he
had been able to get the Potion assignment done easily
enough. The amount of time they had spent in the library
was close to two hours. Harry was a little disappointed that
he had not been able to read his book, but figured he
could read later that night.
By the time they had finished their homework it was nearly
time for lunch, and the group that now consisted of six
made their way to the Great Hall. Once again on Harry's
suggestion, they all sat at the same table, the Ravenclaw
table this time. This decision brought a large number of
stares from everyone, but considering Harry was already
known for doing things most would consider abnormal, the
gawking they received didn't last long.
During their time eating lunch, Harry did his best to keep
conversation flowing so he could learn as much about
Terry and Lisa as possible, and also so the other three
wouldn't be left out. He learned quite a bit about the pair of
Ravenclaws, and felt he was well on his way to earning
their friendship.
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 083
Lisa and Terry were pureblood's from minor Houses.
Neither family owned a seat on the Wizengamot. Lisa's
mother worked as a Nurse at Saint Mungo's Hospital for
Magical Maladies, and her father was a small time
businessman who worked for a company that imported
magical items. Terry's parents were both authors who had
written several fictional novels and a few thesis papers on
magical theory. Neither were very well known, but they
made enough money to live comfortably.
He also learned a bit about the two as people. Much like
himself, Lisa was a history buff. The only difference
between the two was that where Harry knew everything
there was to know about the history of the non-magical
world, Lisa knew everything about the wizarding one. Or
at least, she knew enough to make Harry feel
incompetent, something that did not happen very often.
That did bother him a bit due to his competitive nature, but
seeing as Lisa grew up in the magical world, had to
concede that she would know more about its history than
he did. He was actually kind of glad that she was so into
history, even if it meant she knew more than him, because
it gave them something to bond over.
Terry was not much for history, but he did enjoy reading
magical theory and fiction. It probably had something to do
with his parents influence, but the male Ravenclaw was a
big fan of stories like Enchanted Encounters and David
Copperfield.
On that note, Harry found it very interesting when he
learned that Jane Austin and Charles Dickens were
actually squibs.
Their time after lunch was spent exploring the castle's
halls and rooms. All in all, Harry the time spent with his
friends to be fascinating and enjoyable, though a part of
him still wished he could read his animagus book.
XoX
The very first thing Harry did upon entering the room they
would learn Defense Against the Dark Arts in was to
crinkle his nose. The room held a heavy stench of garlic,
as if someone had mashed garlic into a paste and
smeared it across the walls, floor, ceiling and tables, then
sprayed the air with garlic scented Lysol for good
measure.
With his nose wrinkled in disgust—he wasn't the only one
—and promising himself to find out if there was a charm to
freshen the air around him, Harry walked further into the
class room.
The room itself was pretty standard; it had several desks
and tables, a large set of windows that gave a view of the
grounds outside. An iron chandelier hung from the ceiling,
as well as a dragon skeleton. At one end of the classroom
was an old projector of some kind, and at the front of the
class was a large desk with a staircase behind it leading to
what Harry suspected was the professor's private
quarters.
"W-welcome to D-D-Defense Against the Dark Arts," the
teacher, a man named Quirinus Quirrel stuttered out as he
surveyed the students. He appeared young, mid-twenties
maybe, with pale skin, light blue eyes, and what looked
like a really bad case of eye-twitching. Harry noticed the
paranoid tick right off the bat and couldn't help but wonder
what this man had done to contract such a reaction. The
eye would twitch at random, irregular intervals every few
seconds. He also wore a large purple turban on his head,
and Harry wondered if he was hiding some kind of
disfigurement. "M-my n-name is... Quirinus Quirrel, and I
w-w-will be your t-t-teacher for your time a-a-at HoHogwarts."
Harry frowned as he listened to the man's stuttering. Was
this fool really the person who was going to teach them
how to deal with the Dark Arts? He looked like the kind of
person who was afraid of his own shadow! How could
someone who looked so easily frightened possibly teach
them how to defend themselves from the Dark Arts?
"N-now," Quirrel continued after bumbling through his
speech. "P-please turn to page s-s-sixteen in your books."
It wasn't long after the lesson started that Harry
determined this class would be a complete waste of time.
The man before them wasn't a very good teacher, and
Harry could glean bits of knowledge from the professor's
incessant stuttering. The fact that Professor Quirrel
seemed to be paraphrasing the book without even adding
any personal anecdotes merely added to Harry's
conclusion: he would be better of doing self-study in this
class.
So while people like Hermione Granger dutifully took
notes on, Harry used his parchment and calligraphy pen to
get started on the homework he knew would be due next
week thanks to Lisa and Terry having already had this
class.
It was during this time, after nearly finishing his homework,
that Harry felt a sharp pain entering his scar, along with
the unmistakable feeling of someone using legillemency to
try and poke around in his head.
Looking up, Harry frowned and tried to find out who was
using legillemency on him. His first thought was the
teacher, but when he looked at Professor Quirrel, the
man's back was turned to the students and he was writing
on the chalkboard, which immediately scratched him off
the suspect list.
Harry knew very little about legillemency, but did know that
eye-contact was required to initiate a mind probe. At least,
the more passive form was. It could also be done with a
wand, but that was only for the more aggressive form of
invading the mind and only something a master
Legillemens could do.
Taking a discreet glance around the room, Harry's frown
deepened when he saw no one who could have possibly
used legillemency on him. Not only were none of the
students even looking at him, busy as they were writing
notes—or at least pretending to—he couldn't see anyone
hiding inside of the classroom either.
Then again, that meant very little. With magic it may be
possible for someone to hide in the classroom using some
kind of spell to remain invisible. That wasn't a pleasant
thought, and Harry decided to research on how someone
could become invisible, as well as spells to counter it. It
would not only prove useful in finding out if there was
anyone hiding in the room, but also help him with
something else he was planning to do later in the year.
"You okay, Harry?" asked Neville in a quiet whisper.
"Just fine," Harry said just as quietly. He looked over at
Professor Quirrel, who had just asked the class what they
could tell him about the wand-lighting charm.
Naturally, Hermione Granger's hand was the first one in
the air.
"Y-y-yes, Ms. Granger?"
"The wand-lighting charm, or Lumos, is a light-creation
spell used to illuminate the tip of the caster's wand, and
creates a very warm light. It was created in the eighteenth
century by Levina Monkstanley. It is also used to repel
certain spectral creatures such as Gytrashes and
malevolent spirits." Hermione's answer was concluded
with her sending Harry a smug look, as if being the first to
answer the question somehow made her a better student
than him. Harry just sighed as he realized the girl really
was jealous about how easy he made their previous
classes look, and was apparently looking for a way to
even the score.
Granted, he could be just as competitive as her, but even
then he usually tried to let his grades do the talking.
"V-v-very good," Quirrel stuttered out. "T-take f-f-five
points for Gryffindor."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 084
The rest of the class was spent casting the Lumos spell,
which was actually the simplest of all the spells they would
learn this year. Everyone in the class managed to get it on
their first try.
After class was over, Harry told Neville to head back to the
Gryffindor Common Room without him. The round-faced
boy only looked at him for a second before agreeing and
heading off with the rest of the Gryffindors.
Harry then followed the Slytherins or, to be more specific,
he followed the three snakes he had met before the
sorting. Gryffindor only shared Potions and DADA with the
Slytherin's, and with how much Snape seemed to hat him,
this was his only chance to speak with the trio.
Blaise, Daphne and Tracey were in the back of the group.
The dark-skinned boy walked a little ahead of the other
two, and all three were far enough away from the other
Slytherins that he doubted the others would pay them any
mind. It let him know a lot about their position within their
house.
"Blaise, Daphne, Tracey," Harry called out as he caught up
with the trio. The three stopped and turned around. While
Blaise only expressed mild surprise at seeing Harry
coming up to them, Daphne gave him a look that could
probably freeze hell. It made him wonder if he had done
something to offend her. At least Tracey didn't react with
such hostility.
"Harry!" Tracey said in surprise. "Why are you here?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought that would be obvious.
I wanted to speak with you."
"Oh." Tracey had the decency to look embarrassed. She
perked up a moment later and sent him a mild pout. "I
figured that. What I meant was, why are you talking to
us?"
"What do you mean why?" Harry asked, adopting a
confused expression. "Why wouldn't I want to talk to you?"
Tracey flushed a bit. "Well, you know, we're Slytherin and
you're, well, you're a Gryffindor. It's common knowledge
that Gryffindors and Slytherins don't get a long."
"And who told you that?"
"What do you mean who told me that?" Tracey frowned.
"Everyone says that. It's common knowledge! Snakes and
Lions don't get along. They just don't."
"That's just stupid, Tracey," Harry said chidingly. While
Tracey's right eye actually twitched in annoyance, Blaise
hid a snicker behind a cough, and Daphne's glare seemed
to gain another level of iciness, for reasons he couldn't
fathom. "There is nothing that says Gryffindors and
Slytherins can't get along. People who say that are foolish
and ignorant, believing that because Salazar and Godric
had some kind of argument so long ago it's probably been
taken completely out of context by now, that all Slytherins
and Gryffindors are bound to be mortal enemies. Why
should we care what happened long before our many
times great-grandparents were even a twinkle in their
many times great-grandparent's eyes?"
Tracey stood there, blinking at Harry as if he had grown a
second head. Meanwhile, Daphne had furrowed her brows
and Blaise looked thoughtful.
"You do make a good point," the dark-skinned boy said,
rubbing his chin. Out of the corner of her eye, Daphne
glanced at the Italian boy with a small frown. "I mean, it
has been a long time since the Founders were alive..."
"Exactly," said Harry, "their rivalry was a long time ago,
and just because they had some kind of argument that
ended their friendship doesn't mean we can't be friends,
right?"
"Well..." Tracey shifted a bit, worrying her lower lip as she
pondered Harry's words. He could tell she actually did
want to be friends, unlike Daphne, who looked like she
wanted nothing to do with him. "I guess that's true..."
"Of course it is," Harry said with his most charming smile.
It seemed to have the desired effect because after a few
moments, Tracey was smiling as well. And while Blaise
was not necessarily giving a bright smile like the brunette,
he at least had a smirk. Daphne was not smiling,
unfortunately. "Which means we're still friends, right?"
"Right!" Tracey said with a nod. Harry grinned, then looked
over at Blaise with a raised eyebrow.
"Sure," Blaise said, shrugging nonchalantly. "It 'll be
interesting to be friends with a Gryffindor."
"Don't think for one second that we're going to be friends,
Potter," Daphne informed him in a cold voice the moment
Harry looked at her.
"Daphne!" Tracey admonished her friend, though she
looked somewhat resigned. Daphne just gave the other
girl a surprisingly cold look before turning on her heel and
walking away.
"So... what's the deal with her?" asked Harry. He was
seriously beginning to wonder if he had committed some
great sin against the blond pureblood. For all he knew her
issues regarding him could have been caused by
something his great-grandfather had done against her
family. Grudges amongst purebloods were notorious for
lasting decades, sometimes even centuries, or so
Andromeda had informed him when mentioning how the
Potters and Blacks had been bitter enemies before Sirius
and his father became friends at Hogwarts. And even
then, Sirius had betrayed his father in the end so that
wasn't much to go on.
"Don't mind her," Tracey reassured him. "It's not you she
hates. Daphne acts like that around everyone she's not
friends with. It's just... how she is."
"I understand," Harry said, resisting the urge to sigh. It
looked like befriending the Slytherins, or at least one
particular Slytherin, would take a lot more effort than he
had assumed.
Well, if he were honest with himself, he had thought it
would take a bit more effort to befriend all three of them. At
least with Tracey and Blaise on board, he would have the
chance to speak with Daphne some more. Maybe he
would be able to thaw the girl out in time?
Then again, maybe not. It was hard to say for sure.
Wouldn't stop him from trying though.
"Well," Harry started in an attempt to relieve the somewhat
awkward tension Daphne's cold attitude had brought. He
shifted his stance, putting most of his weight on his left
foot. "I wanted to inform you guys that I'm creating a study
group. We meet every Saturday for breakfast before
heading to the library to do our homework. You two and
Daphne are welcome to join us. I really hope to see you
guys there."
Tracey and Blaise looked at each. The male of the duo
shrugged his shoulders and Tracey turned to Harry with a
bright smile. "We'll be there, and I'll make sure Daphne
comes too."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 085
"Great," Harry said with a relieved smile. While Daphne
presented a bit of a problem, at least Blaise and Tracey
had hopped on board easily enough. "I'll see you guys
then."
"Right, bye Harry!" Tracey offered him a parting smile
while Blaise gave him a silent nod. The two soon walked
off, Harry watching as they moved out of sight. before he
turned around and heading to the Gryffindor common
room.
While he walked through the hallways, Harry let his mind
wander to his plans. His first plan to gain allies in each of
the four houses was coming along nicely. Daphne posed a
problem, but he felt that with some time and effort, she
would become his ally eventually.
It was a good thing he had come to them only a few days
after school started. He figured at least part of the reason
they were so willing to join him was because they hadn't
been given enough time to conform to the ideals of their
house. Granted, he didn't think hating everyone in
Gryffindor simply because they were in Gryffindor was an
original ideal for the house of snakes, but something that
had simply developed from long years of intense rivalry.
However, the fact remained that most everyone—except
for him it seemed—was of the belief that Gryffindors and
Slytherins couldn't be anything but intense rivals at best,
and bitter enemies at worst.
He hoped to eventually dissuade people of that belief.
One of his goals while studying at Hogwarts was to gain
the respect of everyone, not just the teachers and those in
his house, but the respect of every single student of every
single house. If he wanted to make inroads in this
particular goal, he needed to have allies in each house.
Slytherin would be the hardest to earn respect from
because he was in Gryffindor.
XXXX
"I'll probably end up falling off my broom and breaking
something," Neville moaned miserably as he and Harry
walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. The young,
round-faced boy had been like this ever since the morning
began, when they had first noticed the post on the bulletin
board claiming they would have flying lessons after
Herbology. Apparently, he was not looking forward to their
flying lessons.
Not that Harry could blame him. The boy's lack of
confidence and general clumsiness definitely made the
idea of putting him on a broom seem like a bad one. It
didn't help that Neville's grandmother never let her
grandson even make an attempt at learning to fly for fear
that he would kill himself.
Again, this was understandable. Neville was clumsy
enough on land, Harry could only imagine how bad he
would be in the air.
Of course, he was sure that most of the boys clumsiness
coincided with his lack of confidence. People who had no
self-confidence tended to be more clumsy than those who
did. Still, it would not do for Neville to begin putting himself
down after all of the progress he had made thus far.
"Have you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy, Neville?"
asked Harry, his voice just as mild as always, his tone
laced with minor curiosity. Neville stared at him.
"What?"
"A Self-fulfilling prophecy," Harry repeated, sitting down at
the Gryffindor table. Neville sat down beside him and they
began piling food onto their plates. "It is the act of creating
a prediction that comes true simply due to the fact that the
prediction was made in the first place. For example; if you
tell yourself that you are going to injure yourself during our
flying lessons, you will, simply because you are so sure
that this event will happen that your mind and body
responds accordingly to make it so. By telling yourself that
you will do horribly in something, you are already making it
happen. Belief is half the battle when it comes to
accomplishing anything. Particularly, belief in oneself. If
you do not believe you can do something, you won't be
able to do it because your mind is so set on believing you
cannot accomplish your task that it works against you."
Harry paused, watching Neville looking at him with the
same gaze he always did when Harry gave him advice of
this nature. Letting Neville take a moment to think about
his words, Harry let his eyes take a quick scan of the
Great Hall to see if any of their other friends had arrived.
A little ways away from them, Seamus was telling Dean
Thomas about how he had spent almost all of his
childhood flying around the countryside on his broom. Idle
boasting. Harry knew for a fact the boy was lying by
looking at his tells. Whenever Seamus lied, he made
grand gestures with his hands as if conducting an
orchestra. Little things like that let Harry know who was a
braggart and who was being honest.
And Seamus wasn't the only one boasting. Over at the
Slytherin table Draco Malfoy was telling anyone who
would listen about how he had been chased by muggle
helicopters. Quite frankly, Harry was surprised the boy
even knew what a helicopter was.
While many students from Slytherin and Gryffindor
bragged about how exceptional they were on their
brooms, just as many looked nervous.
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 086
Hermione Jean Granger was one of those people. He
could see the girl a little ways away from him, sitting next
to Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Fay Dunbar. The
bushy-haired witch was currently talking the ears off of the
other girls about what she had read in the book, Quidditch
Through the Ages about flying. None of the girls seemed
to be paying attention to her. If anything, the three witches
seemed more than a little irate listening to the girl's
constant chatter.
Harry almost shook his head. This was one lesson you
couldn't learn from a book. Learning to fly on a broom
could only done through the physical act of practicing with
an instructor, something Hermione did not seem to
understand. It was very much like his martial arts. Just
because someone read a book on Chinese Kenpo, Jiu
Juitsu or any other form of hand to hand combat, didn't
mean you would become a master without practice.
The second of observation soon passed. Harry turned
back to Neville, who was wearing a attentive expression.
"Consequently, if you tell yourself that you are going to do
well, that you are going to get on that broom and be one of
the best fliers in our year, it will become so because you
believe it to be so."
"Granted, you may not actually become the best flier in
our year simply through belief. Flying is an acquired skill
that few gain through natural talent. But at the very least,
you can be assured that by believing in yourself, you won't
do anything that will potentially injure and humiliate you."
"So you think if I just act more... confident," Neville began
unsurely. "Then I will do better during our flying lessons."
"Certainly," Harry said with a nod. "Confidence begets
surety of movement and action. When you are confident,
you act with less hesitation, less fear, and only when you
are lacking in the necessary information to make informed
decisions will you ever make a mistake." He tilted his
head, then added, "well, a mistake that could be
embarrassing or harmful at least."
"There is also skill to consider," Harry started again after a
few seconds. "I understand that some people just don't
have a natural aptitude for certain activities. You may not
have a natural propensity for flying." Seeing Neville begin
to look worried again, Harry quickly added, "but even if
you're not capable of pulling off any of the tricks and aerial
stunts of a professional flier, the basics should be fairly
simple to accomplish."
Those words seemed to set the boy at ease. Neville
nodded, more to himself than to Harry, and began eating
slowly, digesting the information Harry imparted to him.
While his fellow Gryffindor contemplated his words,
Hannah and Susan entered in the Great Hall and walked
over to them.
"Hi Harry! Neville!" Hannah greeted with a cheery smile as
she and Susan sat down. Neville looked up from where he
had been drilling a hole into the table, and Harry offered
the two witches a smile of his own.
"Morning you two," Harry said, leaning forward a bit as he
looked at them curiously. "I heard you and the Ravenclaws
had flying lessons yesterday." Neville perked up and
looked at the pair more interestedly. "How was it?"
"It was great!" Hannah answered his question with great
enthusiasm as she began eating. "I was really nervous at
first, and Madam Hooch was kind of a kill-joy, but once we
got on our brooms it was pretty fun."
"Terry was a lot of help," Susan added to the conversation.
"He helped correct the way we were holding the brooms
and showed us how to properly sit on them."
As if being summoned by words alone, Terry appeared for
breakfast with a few of the other Ravenclaws, including
Lisa Turpin. The brown-haired young man and the ravenhaired witch broke off from their Housemates and made
their way to the Gryffindor table where both sat down.
"Hello, Harry," Lisa greeted, smiling at him. Harry returned
it. Out of all the people he had met so far, she was the one
he got along with the most, mainly because of their shared
love of history. When they had been exploring the castle
during the weekend, he and Lisa had shared historical
facts and debated the merits between muggle and magical
histories. It had been a fascinating discussion.
"Salutations," Harry said.
"Morning," Terry added in a slightly gruff voice.
"Rough night?" asked Hannah, noticing the slight bags
under Terry's eyes.
"We had Astronomy last night," Lisa answered for the tired
looking boy. "And according to Kevin, Terry stayed up all
night trying to finish our homework for the class."
At this, Terry's face, still looking slightly haggard, took on a
light pink tint, his embarrassment obvious to those who
looked.
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 087
Harry chuckled. "I suppose I can understand, though
considering Astronomy lasts until one o'clock, that might
not have been the wisest move."
Terry grimaced a bit, the blush on his face becoming more
prominent. "Don't remind me."
"So Hannah was telling us that you know how to handle a
broom," Neville said, bringing a change in topic. Harry. He
was probably seeking the other boy's advice. Terry
seemed grateful for the subject change.
"I've flown on occasion," Terry admitted. "When I was nine,
my dad bought me a cleansweep and taught me how to
fly. Mum wasn't too pleased with him, but decided I could
learn so long as we were safe and flew where muggles
couldn't see us."
"Do you have any tips?"
Terry proceeded to speak with Neville about flying, offering
what tips and information he could. Neville hung on his
every word, listening with a rapt attention that he usually
reserved for when Harry gave out his own brand of
wisdom. He looked like he wished he had a piece of
parchment and a quill so he could take notes.
While the conversation on flying went on between the two,
Harry started his own conversation with the others. For
most of that time, Hannah seemed to dictate the
conversation, speaking about anything and everything that
took her fancy. This was not very surprising as she was
the most talkative of the three girls. Despite this, Harry
made sure to allow Susan and Lisa to get a word in
edgewise by directing questions and statements towards
them. He didn't want Hannah hogging all the conversation
to herself.
It was nearing the end of breakfast when a barn owl
bearing a package flew into the Great Hall and landed in
front of Neville. It stretched out its leg and Neville took the
package, opening it up eagerly while the others looked on.
Inside was a glass ball large enough to fit in the palm of
ones hand. The white smokey substance inside of it was
constantly in motion, roiling around like a storm cloud. It
vaguely reminded Harry of those crystal balls he saw at
fortune teller stalls at certain theme parks.
"A remembrall?" Harry raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He
knew what they were, having seen them in a 'novelty' shop
at Diagon Alley. Remembralls were items that were used
to help someone remember something they had forgotten.
To activate that particular feature, the remembrall is held in
the palm of the hand, and if someone has forgotten
something it turns red. Harry thought the whole thing was
a bit of a waste. After all, it may inform you that you have
forgotten something, but it never tells you what it is you
have forgotten. "I take it that's from your gran?"
"Yeah, gran knows how forgetful I can be and bought me
this to help," Neville said. "When the remembrall is held
like this it will turn red if you've forgotten... some... thing?"
As Neville trailed off everyone else looked at the
remembrall as it turned a bright red. "Oh..."
"Looks like you've forgotten something," Harry said,
frowning, wondering what the boy had forgotten this time.
Last time he had forgotten where Trevor was. It would be
something similar, Harry was sure. That toad always
seemed to be skipping off to somewhere.
"Did Trevor disappear again, Neville?" Susan asked in a
not unkindly way, her eyes showing compassion for the
forgetful boy.
"I don't think so..."
As Neville scrunched his eyes in thought, trying to
remember what he had forgotten, Malfoy came up behind
him and snatched the glass orb out of the boy's hand.
Harry turned his head to look at the boy. Crabbe and
Goyle were standing behind the blond trying to look
menacing and doing a poor job in his opinion. Malfoy was
looking at the remembrall with something akin to mocking
amusement.
"What's this? A remembrall?" he sneered at Neville who
quailed under the look. "You really are pathetic, aren't
you? Needing something like this to help you remember
where you left that disgusting toad of yours. But then, I
guess a squib like you needs all the help he can get."
Harry's frown deepened. This was only the second time he
had the displeasure of meeting Draco Malfoy up close.
More and more the boy reminded him of his cousin,
Dudley Dursley, and that was never a good thing.
Neville shrank in upon himself. The other boy's words
were like steel barbs, painful and damaging.
"Why don't you go back to your den of snakes, Malfoy!"
Hannah spoke with more than just a little vitriol. Terry and
Lisa scowled at the boy. A hushed silence descended
around the Gryffindor table, and many of Neville's
housemates glared daggers at the blond. Not that Malfoy
seemed to notice. "No one wants you here!"
Malfoy produced his own scowl, though it looked closer to
a sneer. "Still don't know how to speak to your betters I
see. Filthy little half-blood."
Before things could get ugly, Harry stood up, gathering the
attention of those around him and most of the hall, who
had grown silent to watch the confrontation. Over by the
Professor's table, Professor McGonagall stood up and
began making her way toward the confrontation in the
hopes of defusing the situation before it got ugly.
"Heir Malfoy," Harry intoned, and the words had Draco
instinctively stiffening as he was called by his formal title
as the heir to a powerful pureblood family. "You would do
well not to insult my friends, especially if you have any
hope of gaining my allegiance." Harry had no plan of
forming an alliance with the blond boy. He was too
arrogant and too set in his way for Harry's taste, but that
did not mean he would not use the alliance trump card to
make the boy back off.
"You should also know that the families of Potter and
Longbottom have been allied with each other since
sixteen-fifty-two," Harry continued. "Our families have
forged a powerful alliance, and any slight against the heir
to the Longbottom name will be seen as a slight against
me. Do remember that in the future." He watched as
Malfoy's face grew pale everywhere except his cheeks,
which turned red with either embarrassment or rage; Harry
didn't know. Maybe both. Harry held out his hand. "Now,
hand over the remembrall and I will forget this incident
ever happened."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 088
Draco looked at Harry's hand, then at the remembrall,
then back to Harry's hand. Finally, a sneer appeared on
his face as he non to gently set the magical glass orb in
Harry's outstretched appendage.
Whirling around, Draco stalked back toward the Slytherin
table, Crabbe and Goyle following behind him with
matching expressions of confusion. Many stares followed
the trio as they passed the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw
tables, most of them showing disapproval of the boy's
actions. Malfoy just glared at everyone as he sat down
with a heavy thump.
With a soft sigh, Harry placed the remembrall on the table
in front of Neville and sat down.
"Thanks, Harry," Neville said quietly.
Harry gave the boy a smile. "You're welcome."
"That was so cool, Harry," Hannah gushed. "The way
you're constantly showing up Malfoy whenever he shows
his ugly face is enough to make my day."
Harry's eyes shone with amusement.
"Glad to be of service."
"It was pretty impressive," Terry added his own input into
the conversation. "The way you handled Malfoy."
Harry shrugged and took a bite of his food, chewing a bit
before swallowing.
"Malfoy is actually easy to deal with once you understand
how he thinks," Harry began to lecture; it was something
he really enjoyed doing—lecturing, that is. "You see,
Malfoy is a pureblood, one of those who have been raised
to believe he is superior to those with dirty blood, or
muggleborns and half-bloods. Status is everything to him,
and because of his father's position within the Ministry, he
has come to the belief that he is at the top of the food
chain."
He noticed that all of his friends were listening with rapt
attention, even those he was not as well acquainted with
were leaning in to hear what he had to say. Harry smiled.
It was good to see that his peers were always so
interested in listening to him. This feeling of respect and
admiration really was the best.
"But the truth of the matter is no matter how much money
his father throws around, there are those more powerful
than he. The Malfoy family, for all the money they bribe
people with, are not the wealthiest family in Britain. That
honor belongs to the remaining families of the Founding
Five, the Bones." Harry nodded to Susan who blushed
bright red. "The Longbottoms." he gestured to Neville.
"The Potters, and the Blacks. Each of these four families
have accrued more wealth than the Malfoy's could hope to
gain within a hundred years."
"Then how come you guys don't do anything about him?"
asked Lisa, frowning. "If you three are richer than Malfoy,
then surely you could just out bribe the Ministry out of his
hands, right?"
"Right now none of us have control over our finances,"
Harry told her. "All three of us are minors, and we would
need to be an adult or legally emancipated in order to
access our vaults. Because of that, none of us have the
ability to use our money to our advantage."
"But even if we did have the ability to toss money around
like it was going out of style, we wouldn't," Harry
continued. "Not only is it morally wrong to use ones
accrued wealth to get what you want, it's also dangerous
politically. You must understand that using wealth to bribe
your way to the top will eventually lead to your downfall.
What happens when someone who doesn't take bribes
ascends to become Minister of Magic? Or if you use all
that money you have acquired and keep spending it on
bribes, only to realize you've run out of money?"
Harry paused, allowing his friends time to let that sink in.
"Then there is the fact that, before now, the Founding
Families have never really needed to use bribery to get
what they want." He looked at Lisa. "You know about the
Founding Five, don't you?"
"Of course." Lisa looked offended that he would even
suggest she didn't know the history of the five most
important families to the Ministry of Magic. "The Founding
Five was the name given to the five families that created
the Ministry of Magic, and they were the ones who
accomplished what the Four Founders started when they
built this school: the complete segregation of the magical
and non-magical worlds."
"Exactly." Harry nodded. "The Founding Five were the
creators of today's Ministry, and they were the ones who
gained the first five seats on the Wizengamot. Our word
holds a lot of sway over magical Britain's government."
"Of course," Harry added. "We've lost a lot of power since
then. The war against Voldemort decimated many
pureblood families, including those of the Founding Five."
He ignored the flinches and paling faces his casual
mentioning of the Dark Lord's name invoked. They would
have to get over their fear eventually, because he had no
intention of giving that man anymore power than he
already had. Especially since he was dead.
"As of this moment, the Blacks are all but extinct, with the
only remaining male heir currently incarcerated in
Azkaban prison. Only Susan and her Aunt remain of the
Bones family after the war, and Amelia Bones is the head
of the Department of Magical law enforcement, so the
Bones family seat is currently in stasis until Susan reaches
the age of majority. Neville's family managed to survive, I
know that he has a couple of aunts, uncles and cousins
who had not been in the country during the war, but the
main branch only consists of him and his Grandmother,
who currently holds the Longbottom seat. And you all
know that I am the last of the Potter family."
"That's pretty sad." Hannah looked downtrodden at the
turn this conversation took. "To think that so many
important families were killed off like that."
"That's war," Harry informed her with a shrug. "In war,
people die. And if you think that's bad, you should read up
on some of the muggle wars that have taken place. The
non-magical community is possibly even more apt at
finding new ways to kill each other than we wizards are."
XoX
Potions class that day was a lot different for Harry than it
had been last Friday. The moment class started, Severus
Snape wrote his instruction on how to brew a basic
antidote to common poisons, told his class to start
working, then sat down in his desk and proceeded to glare
at nothing. Or at least, that is what it looked like to
everyone else.
Good thing Harry was not everyone else. The entire time
he and Neville had been brewing their potion, the ornery
Potions Professor had been sending him strange looks.
Harry didn't know what to make of the man's staring, but
decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and simply
proceeded to make his potion with Neville.
The potion itself was very easy to make. Harry already
had six vials worth of Antidote to Common Poisons locked
away inside of his trunk. The standard way of making it
was to add four measures of crushed Bezoar to the
cauldron, then add two measurements of Standard
Ingredient—a mixture of herbs with many magical
properties that were often used in potion brews. Once the
ingredients were added, the cauldron needed to be heated
to a medium temperature for five seconds, and afterwords,
a small application of magic was required to get the
ingredients to mix properly. Since Harry used a pewter
cauldron, the brew needed to sit for 40-minutes, and then
you added a pinch of ground Unicorn Horns followed by a
clockwise stir, two mistletoe berries, two anti-clockwise
stirs, and then another application of magic to complete
the brew. If someone followed the instructions correctly,
the entire process would take a little under the hour of
class time they had.
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 089
Harry's process of making this particular potion was a little
different. While he still used Bezoar and Unicorn Horns, he
cut out the Standard Potion Ingredient and mistletoe
berries and instead added Honeywater, mint srpigs,
stewed Mandrake, and essence of lavender. The
Honewater and mint sprigs decreased the time the
cauldron needed to sit be heated by fifteen minutes, and
the stewed Mandrake and essence of lavender increased
the potions potency by a factor of two. The overall result
was a potion that was not only far better than the original,
but also cut the time it took to brew the potion by a third.
Harry filled up four vials worth of the potion in vials
charmed to be unbreakable. One went to him and another
to Neville just in case either of them ever needed to use
the antidote (you can never be too careful), one was used
as a back up potion in case Severus Snape decided to
sabotage the one they gave him, and the last Harry
handed to the potions master and Head of Slytherin
House.
When he handed over the potion, the greasy-haired
professor had stared at him with that blank yet confused
look for nearly five minutes before taking the offered
potion. The man then dismissed him, and Harry had gone
back to his seat next to Neville. On the way back he'd
noticed Hermione giving him another nasty look.
Snape's actions had confused Harry, though it would be
more accurate to say his lack of actions confused Harry.
He remembered well what happened the first time they'd
had potions class. How the man had insulted them before
class even started. How he had singled out Harry and
picked on him because of who his father was. How he had
taken points from Gryffindor for the littlest of things and
given points to the Slytherin's for 'looking smart while they
worked.' None of that happened this class. There were no
insults being bandied out, no points given or taken, no
potions master stalking between desks and intimidating
the Gryffindors. And most importantly, he hadn't insulted
Harry once.
Harry wondered if perhaps their confrontation last class
had made the man wary of him. Had their battle of the
minds caused Snape to approach the class more
cautiously? Or maybe he was trying to think of an
explanation as to why Harry, a young boy of 11, was
capable of Occlumency when most pureblood children
only just started learning it? It could even be something as
simple as the man keeping quiet due to knowing that
Harry could, at any time, let out the knowledge that he had
used Legillimency on a student. Doing such a thing may
not get him thrown into Azkaban or even fired, but it would
most certainly ruin his reputation and the board of
governors may decide to crack down on his teaching
method. In the end, Harry supposed the real reasons
didn't matter, and decided to put it out of his mind. There
were more important things to think about than why Snape
was acting so unusual.
"Snape's acting pretty weird, don't you think?" Neville
asked, breaking Harry from his own thoughts. He gave the
boy a small nod.
"He is. I was expecting him to try insulting me like
yesterday, or at least give Slytherin some points for
'putting in their potion ingredients with flare' or something
along those lines."
"What do you reckons wrong with him?"
Harry glanced at Neville out of the corner of his eyes, then
shrugged.
"Who knows. It's probably best not to think about it and
just accept our good fortune while it lasts."
"I guess."
His gaze sweeping around the classroom, Harry noticed
that all of the other students were still working diligently. A
few would look at him and Neville, but once they realized
he saw them they would look away. He wondered if they
were trying to figure out how they'd completed the potion
so fast.
Over at the Slytherin side of the classroom, Tracey Davis
caught Harry's eye when she looked at him from where
she was working with Daphne. He offered the girl a smile
and was pleased when he got one in return. Daphne also
seemed to notice the two making eye contact and her lips
thinned into a line of displeasure. Harry was sure she
would have sneered if doing so wouldn't have ruined her
icy image.
When class let out, Harry and Neville followed the other
Gryffindors to the entrance hall where they would head to
their first Herbology lessons. The sun shone clearly when
they reached the world outside. A pale blue sky with thin,
wispy cirrus clouds sparsely populating the atmosphere
greeted them.
Harry and Neville and the other Gryffindors reached the
Greenhouses to see the Hufflepuffs already there. The
greenhouses were long, rectangular buildings made of
windows and a steel frame. Long, serpentine dragon
statues ran along the roofs. From inside two of the three
greenhouses, Harry could see vines of various thickness
and sizes writhing and pressing against the glass
windows.
"Susan, Hannah." Harry and Neville walked over to the
pair of Hufflepuff girls. Hannah offered them the sunniest
of smiles, while Susan gave them her own small smile.
"So how was potions?" Hannah asked curiously, eager to
know how bad Professor Snape was to them this time.
"It went well actually," Harry said. "Professor Snape didn't
say anything for the entire class. Just put the instructions
on the board and told us to get to work. No insults, no
taking points, nothing. It was rather nice, to be honest."
"Really?" Hannah blinked in surprise, then puffed her
cheeks out. "That's not fair, he docked ten points from
Sally-Ann Perks the other day when she asked him a
question."
"I don't know what to tell you." Harry shrugged. "I guess he
was just having one of those off days or something."
"I guess," Hannah sighed as Susan hid a smile from her
friend. The red-haired Hufflepuff looked from Harry to
Neville, then frowned.
"Are you alright, Neville?"
The smile that had been dotting Neville's face since
potions ended grew larger.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"It's just..." Susan paused, searching for the right word.
"This morning you were so worried you looked like you
were going to be sick, but now you look really happy."
______________________________________________
___________
Chapter 090
"That's because we're having our first Herbology lesson,"
Harry said with a mild chuckle. "Neville's been looking
forward to this lesson since the start of school. Right
Neville?"
"You know me too well," Neville said, nodding. "I've read
the entire course syllabus for this class, and the only thing
I'm disappointed about is that we won't be using any
greenhouse other than greenhouse one. I heard that
greenhouses two and three are the ones that have all the
rare plants in them."
"They would also have the more dangerous plants in
them," Harry added. "Which is probably why we're not
allowed inside."
"I know." Neville looked very disheartened. Harry withheld
a chuckle. It seemed that the boy's Gryffindor bravery only
came out when faced with the possibility of interacting with
dangerous plants capable of killing humans.
There was no more time for conversation as Professor
Sprout arrived, padding lightly down the dirt path and
stopping in front of the students.
"Good day everyone!" The Professor greeted in a cheerful
voice. "For those of you who do not know me, my name is
Pamona Sprout, and I will be your Herbology teacher for
your time here at Hogwarts. Now then, if you will follow me
into greenhouse one we can get started."
Professor sprout unlocked leading into greenhouse one
and walked in, the students following behind her dutifully.
The greenhouse was currently empty, save for a few
weedy looking plants that Harry recognized as mundane
weeds. The Herbology professor had the students like up
on the opposite side from the plants while she stood in
front of a large desk.
"Herbology," Professor Sprout began once everyone was
situated, "is the study of magical and mundane plants and
fungi. In this class, I will be teaching you how to properly
care for, handle and utilize various types of plants. You will
learn about their magical properties, and what they can be
used for in our society."
The first half of Herbology class was essentially a lecture
on what they would be learning during the year. Harry was
a bit disappointed when he heard they would not be
dealing with very many actual plants, but focusing on
lectures and theoretical knowledge on how to deal with
certain plants such as the Devil's Snare.
If Harry was disappointed then Neville was downright
gloomy. A quick glance at the boy revealed how
disparaged he felt. His shoulders were drooped, sagging
and lowered in disappointment at hearing they would not
be physically handling many plants.
After the lecture on the course syllabus, Professor Sprout
told them the best way to handle most plants: fire.
"Which among you can tell me the best spell to use when
struggling with an unfriendly plant?" Naturally, the moment
Professor Sprout posed her question, Hermione Granger's
hand was in the air, the appendage shaking with
eagerness.
"Yes, Ms. Granger?"
"The incendio charm, professor," Hermione stated in her
lecturing voice. "The fire-making spell. In order to cast it
you have to point your wand at whatever you want to set
on fire and chant, incendio."
"Marvelous work, Ms. Granger!" Professor Sprout praised.
"Take five points for Gryffindor."
Hermione sent Harry another one of her smug looks.
Harry ignored her.
"Now then everyone, I want you to point your wands at
those weeds you see on the other side of the greenhouse
and say incendio."
At once many of the students made to follow the
Herbology professor's instructions. None of them
managed to get the charm right, though Hermione's wand
did produce a puff from its tip.
Once again, Harry didn't cast the spell immediately, but
instead thought about how a spell like the incendio would
work. Given what it did, it was obviously a fire elemental
spell. A lower level one since it was being taught to first
years. It probably didn't need much more than intent and
an incantation to cast. You had to want the fire to come
out and burn your target. At least, that's what he assumed.
"Incendio," Harry muttered as he pointed his wand at the
weeds across the greenhouse. From the tip of his wand, a
bright, orange and red flame roared into existence. On
either side of him, Neville and Hannah jumped away in
shock. The cylinder of flames spewed from the tip of
Harry's wand, crashing into the weed he targeted, and
burning it until there was nothing but ash. Only then did
Harry cut off the power he put into the spell.
A small frown appeared on his face as he checked his
core. That spell had used more energy than he thought it
would. At least two times more energy than any of the
charms he had cast so far, even some of the more
advanced charms they wouldn't be taught until third year
hadn't taken this much energy.
He wondered at this. Was it because this was an
elemental spell? Perhaps creating an element simply took
more magic? Well, he supposed it didn't matter for the
moment. So long as he could cast the spell everything
would be fine. He could always do an independent study
on elemental magic later.
"Excellent job, Mr. Potter!" Professor Sprout cheered
loudly. "I did not expect anyone to get the spell right today,
much less master it on their first try. Take ten points for
Gryffindor."
"Thank you, ma'am," Harry replied, absentmindedly
nodding in her direction. Several students away, Hermione
Granger glared at him.
After lunch Harry and Neville found themselves making
their way to their first flying lesson with the other
Gryffindors. They walked through a hall and out of an
archway that expanded into a large courtyard. Harry
estimated it to be about fifty square meters in total. It was
a clear field of green grass with no trees or shrubs of any
kind, probably so students wouldn't crash into them while
learning to fly, Harry guessed.
He noticed as soon as he and the other lions entered that
the brooms they would be using were already there, laid
out on the ground in a single file line.
A frown crossed his face as his eyes zeroed in on the
condition of the brooms. He had heard from the Weasley
twins that the brooms the school gave them to use were in
horrible condition, but he had not been sure if he should
truly believe them until now. The broom were not just in
bad shape, they were horrendous! The wood used to
make of the shafts of the broom were scratched and
scuffed and looked like they had not been serviced in
ages. Several even had large cracks on them that would
probably hamper their ability to make drastic course
corrections. Many of the twigs at the ends were broken or
bent, which from his father's lectures when he would take
Harry flying let him know that would affect their
aerodynamics. In short, the brooms being used by the
school were not only pieces of crap, they were also
incredibly dangerous, especially to first timers.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực