Harry quietly followed Archades towards the Hogwarts grounds to where the first year students would learn to fly a broomstick. Their first week of school had finally ended, but instead of being able to do some independent study on this cold Saturday morning, they were dragged out of their dorms to participate in flying practise.
Their first week of classes had been interesting, in Harry's opinion, but not very exciting. Luckily for him, he had the foresight to map out where all of his classrooms were before classes began, unfortunately, a lot of his classmates didn't share the same foresight and wound up arriving late to class on more then one occasion and losing their respective houses valuable points.
The castle itself didn't really help matters in regards to students making their way around the castle, what, with the school's one hundred and forty-two staircases, doors that weren't really doors that would rather strike up a conversation with you then let you pass, and the constant menace which was Peeves the poltergeist, who still hadn't gotten over the fact that he couldn't get the jump on Harry.
Then there was the most miserable excuse for a human being on the planet, Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker and his demon cat Mrs. Norris, who patrolled the corridors constantly just waiting like a predator for someone to make the slightest of errors so they could leap on them and dish out their unholy justice. Harry was one of the unfortunate students to get on his bad side immediately in their Hogwarts career when he had his football confiscated by the lousy excuse of a caretaker for juggling it in one of the courtyards to pass time during a free period – that was his only football too!
If the ghost, the poor architecture, or Filch himself weren't enough to deal with, there were also the lessons which almost bordered on downright boring for the black haired youth. Harry had assumed that once he entered Hogwarts, he would be able to apply all of the magical theory he had studies in his life to practise and get to do some spells, but instead they were forced to stick to the basics, and for Harry, re-learn all the simple theory Remus had drilled into his head long ago.
Some of the classes, like Astronomy, were fun for Harry for non-academic reasons where they'd meet up in the astronomy tower Wednesday night at midnight to study the night, learning the names of planets, stars and other galaxy related phenomena. What Harry thought made the class so enjoyable was the absolutely stunning view the astronomy tower gives the students with their magically enhanced telescopes of outer space, unhindered by light or air pollution living near a city would provide.
Three times a week with the Gryffindors they would head out to the school's greenhouses to study Herbology with a dumpy little witch called Pomona Sprout - the head of Hufflepuff house – who taught them all about magical plants and fungi and how one would go about caring for and using them.
The one class, surprisingly enough, that Harry enjoyed the most was History of magic; surprising because so many people would think otherwise about the class. The subject was taught by a ghost by the name of Cuthbert Binns who had one day fallen asleep in front of the staffroom fireplace and woken up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind. Unfortunately for the spectral professor, Harry didn't much like the time he spent droning on about several names and dates of important historical events, so instead, he used the time in the class to sneak in his own books and have a quiet read. Harry was just thankful that no one from his own house or the Gryffindors had spotted him or they might just feel the need to stick their noses in his business and stop his free study period.
One of the classes Harry had been looking forward to was Charms, taught by his head of house and well known Duelling champion Filius Flitwick. Unfortunately, the tiny professor who had to sit on a pile of books to look over his own desk had spent the first week of classes going over the basic Levitation charm with the first years, a charm that Harry took one try to master – he didn't think it was that difficult. So, instead of listening to the endless repetition of the incantation 'Wingardium Leviosa' and Stephanie constantly trying to tutor Archades on how to perform the spell correctly, he would read ahead in the coursework and quietly practised the rest of the charms they were set to learn in their first year. When Professor Flitwick had asked why he wasn't doing any of the work, he had quietly responded by levitating his lesson's handout sheet to the shocked professor and continued with his independent study.
Transfiguration was amusing, but still lacked any of the fascinating new theory Harry was expecting to learn while under the tutelage of the renowned Transfiguration Mistress Minerva McGonagall. Harry's first assessment of the professor as one not to be crossed or annoyed turned out to be correct as she had given them a talking to as soon as they entered the class.
"Transfiguration is a branch of magic that focuses more on finesse then power" she had explained "it is a very dangerous branch of magic in the hands of a master and thus, one of the most complex branches of magic, so I warn you now, anyone caught fooling around in my class will not be welcome back in the future."
She had ended her introduction by transfiguring her desk into a living pig that even gave out a few startled squeals, something that definitely did pique Harry's interest. While Remus had been attempting to help him learn Transfiguration theory from his father's school books – someone who had been quite the Transfiguration expert – the man had never been one to be very good at the obscure branch of magic so he had only bared witness to the most simple of Transfiguration spells himself. Something like what McGonagall could easily be useful in a duel, he surmised, as a distraction or a way to attack if she had instead used her magic to turn her desk into, say, a rabid Rottweiler.
After returning her desk back to normal, she had them copy down from the board the basic principals of Transfiguration theory, also known as 'Norton's Transfiguration Law of Focus. The law was the basis for all Transfiguration based spell work, explaining how the caster's focus was directly related to one's ability be able to perform the branch of Magic – basically, the more easily you could focus, theoretically, the more easily one could transfigure something into something else.
To practise, McGonagall had given them all a matchstick to attempt to transfigure into a steel needle, the exercise would work on students being able to not only change the shape but the basic composition of the stick. After performing an example of how it was done, she had set them to work. Harry had taken a good five tries to get it done, his first attempt only allowing the matchstick to change shape. He found, as he got used to manipulating his magic to his will, that the more complicated his change from 'Object A' to 'Object B' was the more focus it required. Harry had continued to change the matchstick in to a needle and vice-versa for the remainder of the lesson and had learned something else about Transfiguration that he found interesting; the more times he performed the same spell, the easier it became to do.
When McGonagall had seen him turning his match stick into a needle and needle into a match stick repeatedly at the end of the lesson, her eyes widened slightly before offering Harry a rare smile that looked foreign on the stern witch's features; the attention served to embarrass him slightly.
The one lesson during the week that served to baffle and yet amuse him the most was definitely Potions with the Slytherin head of house, Professor Snape. During breakfast that particular morning, when Archie had informed him – rather giddily – that they hey had Potions in the dungeons first for the day, Harry had looked up to the Potion's master sitting at the head table.
At first, Snape seemed to be looking elsewhere but when their eyes met, the man seemed to scowl viciously at him before Harry felt a tingling sensation in his mind. Recognizing it as a Legilimency probe to peer at his surface thoughts, like Remus had done on him several times, Harry held the gaze and quickly cleared his mind. The action served to surprise the Potion's master and anger him further at the same time.
Harry had just then realized that Professor Snape didn't dislike him, he seemed to loathe him!
Later in the Potion's classroom, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were waiting for their professor to arrive, when suddenly the doors to the room burst open admitting a scowling Professor Snape striding up to the front of his classroom and to his desk with his black billowing robes flowing behind him.
The image of Professor Snape glaring down from his elevated position at his desk surrounding by several bottled animal parts and other Potions ingredients in the cold dark dungeons of Hogwarts served to intimidate several of the more timid first years; Harry however, sat unfazed, ready to learn while Archie seemed to be squirming in his chair beside him.
The odd thing was, Archie didn't seem scared in the slightest, not even nervous.
Like every other professor, Snape went through the class registry, stopping briefly on Harry's name to comment on his presence.
"Ah yes, Harry Potter" he began, spitting out his surname as if it were a disease "a true phenomenon that you would end up in the house of the intelligent, clearly the apple falls far from the tree…" he finished snidely. Many of the first years looked on between the two in confusion while Harry's eyes merely narrowed slightly, not willing to take the bait ad give this man a reason to punish him.
After finishing with the registry, Snape put it away before locking eyes with the rest of the class. His eyes were as black as coal and held no emotion or warmth. Harry thought that they reminded him of two dark tunnels. After several moments of silence, he began to speak to them in a voice that was barely above a whisper but seemed to cut through the silence of the room like a hot knife through butter.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art that is Potions brewing" he began, his voice just screamed, despite its low tone, that if you interrupted him there wouldbe pain "As there is very little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will believe that this isn't magic. I hardly expect for you to see the beauty in the softly simmering cauldrons with their shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that seep through your veins that can bewitch your mind or ensnare your senses…If you pay attention in my class, I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory or even stopper death – that is of course if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
There was silence met with his declaration. Most of the Hufflepuffs seemed to be quite intimidated and self conscious after his 'introduction' while many of the Ravenclaws seemed to be determined to prove they weren't like the usual 'dunderhead'. Archie, for some reason, seemed to be acting weirdly to Snape's presence but before Harry could ponder on it more, Snape interrupted.
"Potter!" Snape barked "what Potion would I administer to someone to cure Petrifaction?"
Recalling what he had read in his first year books, and the actual Potion he remembered from his second year books, Harry answered "A Mandrake Draught, sir" he answered respectfully, despite the shock the answer instilled to the Professor, who clearly hadn't expected Harry to know or the others who had no idea of the answer either. Many Ravenclaws in the room could be seen scribbling down the question and answer fiercely on a spare piece of parchment.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer "Lucky guess" he replied "Let's try again, for what purpose would I use shredded boomslang skin for?"
Harry, after hearing the question, frowned in annoyance, but those around him merely assumed he was thinking. He knew the answer; it was to create a Polyjuice potion, a potion that allowed you to take on the appearance of someone else if you had a sample of their DNA for one hour. The problem with knowing the answer though was simple…he really shouldn't. What reason could he possibly come up with for knowing the answer to such an advanced question that no first year should know unless they had been reading ahead to fifth year material – which he had not done for Potions.
Deciding that it would be safe to take a dive, he answered "I don't know sir."
Surprisingly enough, Archie's hand shot up like a rocket after he had said that. Snape, having been ready to reprimand Harry for having the audacity to not know the answer to an advanced Potion's question paused and looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow.
"You can use it for Polyjuice Potion Professor Snape sir!" he said, and Harry finally realized what was wrong with the boy, he seemed excited to gain Snape's attention…
His attention from Harry finally leaving, he turned to Archie and asked another question "Mr. Montague, name an ingredient used in the makings of a Love Potion."
"Frozen Ashwinder eggs, eye of newt, a unicorn tail hair, and powdered horn of Garaphorn" he listed off automatically, which weirded out Harry slightly – did the boy have any 'nefarious' plans involving a love potion and a certain Zabini?
Snape too, seemed a little dumbstruck, but continued nonetheless "What are the ingredients of Draught of the Living Death?"
Harry honestly didn't know this one, from memory; Remus had mentioned it in passing saying how James – his father – had blown up a classroom trying to brew it…in sixth year.
"Asphodel in an infusion of wormwood, valerian roots and sopophorous bean" he answered, ticking off the three ingredients with his fingers as he went on "I would advise though that if you wanted to get the juice out of the sopophorous bean more efficiently to use the flat end of a dagger rather then slicing them, it works much nicer that way!" he exclaimed with pride and a little twinkle in his eye not very different to Dumbledore's.
Harry looked to his new friend in a new light. Despite how retarded he may come off at times, he clearly was well versed in Potions, incredibly so. Harry couldn't help but show a sliver of respect to the youth for his knowledge – perhaps the hat did sort the boy correctly after all. He also idly wondered if Stephanie was aware of his skills.
Snape smirked slightly at the answer, though, Harry mused, it wasn't as cruel as his other smirks – this was probably as close to Snape would ever come to being pleased.
"20 points to Ravenclaw for an excellent knowledge of advanced Potions and brewing" he said then he turned to Harry with a smirk "and 5 points for not reading ahead like your classmates."
Harry just dismissed it, the man obviously hated him, so let him have his fun and take points – he could easily win them back in other classes anyway.
"Well, why aren't you writing this down?!" he barked to the Hufflepuffs who had looked at the knowledge battle with confusion mostly. There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment as those who hadn't been taking notes began to do so.
For the remainder of that lesson, Snape had them brewing a simple potion to cure boils after having them pair up and set up their tables correctly. Harry was amused at how much care Archie took in setting up his cauldron, burner and ingredients that he gathered from the class's stores.
The pair, surprisingly enough, worked well together – to Snape's chagrin – with Archie doing the actual brewing, having proved how skilful he was at the task while Harry prepared all the ingredients to the specification of Archie's instructions. Snape, meanwhile, glided around the room observing the other student's potions, taking, in Harry's opinion, a sick glee in tormenting the Hufflepuffs.
As Harry was crushing the snake fangs he had been instructed to crush by Archie, a loud sizzling and bang was heard from across the room. It seemed that Cedric's partner, a rather chubby boy, had done something wrong causing their cauldron to melt.
"Idiot boy!" chided Snape, as he inspected the damage "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire? Why do you dunderheads make this mistake everyyear?" he asked rhetorically in exasperation "Diggory, take him to the infirmary and that will be one point from Hufflepuff for not stopping him blowing up my classroom!"
Harry narrowed his eyes in anger at the blatant unfair treatment Snape was delivering to the other students in the class.
"Why do you suppose the Professor deems it necessary to belittle and verbally attack all of the first years…he seems rather childish and immature for doing so."
Harry was surprised when the comment almost caused Archie to mess up adding an ingredient, but he regained himself and finished the final step of the potion before turning to Harry.
"I'm sure Professor Snape has a good reason, he is the greatest Potion's master on the planet after all!" he gushed, like some fan-girl idolizing the newest pop sensation coming out of the States.
When Harry looked at him, slightly weirded out, Archie continued "Professor Snape is my hero! One day, I'll be a Potion's master as great as him, or at least I hope – he is the greatest after all…" he trailed off, Harry noticed with amusement that Snape was now standing right behind Archie with an annoyed expression on his face. Seeing his line of sight, Archie turned around and let out a startled gasp when his 'hero' was standing there and observing their completed Potion, nodding slightly as he looked it over.
"This is a perfectly brewed Potion" he admitted grudgingly before he got a wicked gleam in his eyes that Harry recognized and attributed to someone losing house points very soon.
"Thought you could mooch off of Mr. Montague's hard work did you Potter? That'll be one point for your laziness" he said before bottling a bit of the potion and stalking off.
Harry hadn't even bothered to argue his point at the time; Archie was earning them more then enough points for his excellent brewing abilities and Potion's knowledge and he could earn back the points he lost in any other class if he so chose to.
Harry finished his recollecting when he realized that he and Archie had arrived at the clearing on the Hogwarts grounds dedicated to their flying lessons. They seemed to be, much to his annoyance, the last two to arrive, if the annoyed stares of the first year of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were anything to go by.
On the ground stood two dozen evenly spaced school broomsticks separating the group of curious and eager students, and the flying instructor and Quidditch referee Madam Hooch. Madam Hooch stood with her arms crossed in her Quidditch gear staring them down with yellow, hawk like eyes.
"Well, now that everyone's here" she said, sending a scathing look at Harry and Archie "everyone stand by a broom – come on, hurry up!"
Everyone scurried over to a broom at her impatient tone and stood beside it waiting for further instructions. Harry looked down at the broom he stood beside; it was old and rather weak looking with the twigs pointing out at odd angles.
"Now, I want you to place your hand over the broom" Madam Hooch yelled from the front of the group "and yell UP!" she demonstrated by doing it herself and having her broom jump into her hand.
Harry did as he was told when they were instructed to begin. To his surprise, the broom jumped right into his hand instantly, however, not many shared his success. The only other people who seemed to get it on their first tries were Roger Davis, another boy in his year and Cedric. Archie's broom wobbled for a bit before it simply rolled over – this of course, didn't sit well with the boy.
"Up…up…UP!" Archie yelled, but to no avail, the boy then turned to look at Harry in surprise when he saw the broom resting in his grip "How did you do it Harry? I've been yelling 'UP' forever…" Archie began to question while walking over to Harry, however, as soon as he mentioned the magic word, the broom shot up like a rocket. Unfortunately for Archie, he had just taken a step over the broom and it rocketing into a place no man would ever want it to.
"Oh…that's just not nice…" was all he managed to say before he fell to the floor clutching his groin in pain. Several people standing around them erupted into giggles at the sight; even Harry wasn't immune to this.
After Archie recovered, Madam Hooch instructed them on how to grip their brooms correctly and how to mount them without slipping off the end. Harry, apparently, didn't need any aid with his grip as he had gotten it right instinctively – something that their instructor praised him on.
"Ok" Hooch began, interrupting the class "when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off the ground – hard – and just hover a few feet off the ground before landing immediately" she instructed "Ok, one – two – three!" she blew her whistle and everyone rose of the ground a few feet, some more steady then others. Harry just hovered there in mid air for a few moments, enjoying the feel of floating on the piece of wood before looking around to see several students standing on the floor and standing as far away as possible from their brooms, probably scared from their first flying experience.
As the lesson progressed with more and more people dropping out, not wanting to proceed further, Harry really got the hang of flying around on a broomstick and immediately enjoyed flying around in the air as fast as the rickety school brooms would take him alongside Cedric, Roger and another Hufflepuff student Harry didn't know the name of.
When their lessons finished, Madam Hooch dismissed them, advising the four students who performed the best to definitely try out for their house Quidditch teams next year.
Harry sat in the great hall with Archie to his right eating a sandwich for lunch when he heard the fluttering of wings from above. Pausing with his meal, he looked up to notice Bartholomew flying down with a letter attached to his leg. The powerful eagle owl landed on the table in front of him and stretched his leg out, so Harry could take the letter, and waited for his next order.
Harry tore open the envelope to notice a piece of parchment with Remus's handwriting on it:
Dear Lucky
Congratulations on getting into Ravenclaw, not that I hadn't expected it, it's something I should probably say anyway.
I'm glad to hear you're making friends at school like I knew you would. That Archie boy sounds like quite the character, I hope I can meet him some day as well as any other of your friends.
I've been spending most of my times at Knockturn Alley cleaning up the store front you bought for me. I've come to the decision that I'll make it a pub/inn like the Leaky Cauldron, seeing as there are no real reputable ones within the alley save for the Cauldron itself, but people like me tend to be wary of such establishments, especially with ministry personnel coming and going through there constantly.
I have no doubt you'll be coming home for Christmas, so if you want, I can show you what I've done so far here and you can help with the renovations. I don't expect it to be ready to open until the end of your school year.
Once it's ready to open, I think I might sell our home because you'll be at school most of the year anyway and I will have to remain here to work. I will wait until Christmas so we can discuss the matter face to face though in case you disapprove.
What do you think of your classes? I hope you haven't caused any trouble yet. Have you had your flying lessons yet? What did you think? Do you think you'll take up Quidditch next year?
I miss you and look forward to your reply. Send it back with Bartholomew whenever you want.
Moony
"Who's that from?" asked Archie after swallowing his food and taking a sip of Pumpkin juice.
"It's from my uncle Archades" answered Harry, raising an eyebrow when his friend winced slightly.
"Do you have to call me that?"
"Call you what?" Harry asked back, feigning confusion.
"Archades – it's such a crappy name!" he began, sounding annoyed "All my friends call me Archie, so…you know, you should too!" Harry dismissed him with a wave, though, slightly pleased that Archades thought of him as a friend.
"Whatever you say Archades" he answered with a smirk.
Seeing his smirk, Archades smiled in response "You know, if you keep calling me that I may just have to hex you" he said, with a smug grin.
"You know, if you keep annoying me, I may just have to tell Stephanie how implicitly you know the ingredients of and how to brew a Love Potion" he said, as the boy's face drained of colour "as a matter of fact, you are rather annoying, I may just go tell her now, now she may never have feelings for you because she'll just think you manufactured them if she actually does…" Harry responded with a grin as he got up and started to walk off.
"No, no, Archades is fine; actually, when you say it, it sounds AWESOME! In fact, I insistyou call me that" Archades said, stopping his friend as he chuckled nervously. Harry just shook his head in amusement and pocketed Remus's letter.
"Bartholomew, go rest in the owlery, I'll have a reply for you to take back tomorrow, ok?" Harry said to the large eagle owl. The bird's shockingly intelligent and piercing orange eyes seemed to bore into his own before it fly to his shoulder and nipped his eat slightly and flew off.