Adam walked into the Great Hall and as he had expected, there were no students present in the great hall at this time. But just when he was about to sit on the table, he saw someone entering through the small door near teacher's table. A man with gloomy face, dressed in complete black entered the great hall. He walked to his chair and sat down as he continued to look at the newspaper in his hand.
Adam was surprised to see Professor Snape appearing in the great hall at this time. He saw that Snape didn't even notice his existence as he kept reading the newspaper. Adam didn't want to face Professor Snape and Dumbledore all alone. He was worried that his secret might be discovered if they looked into his brain with their legilimency. But he also wanted to see if his current progress in occlumency could help him prevent his memories from being seen by them.
Adam suddenly decided to go and greet Snape. It was a bold move in his regard but he knew that without knowing his current progress, it would get even harder to work on his occlumency skills.
Adam walked to the front of the hall and stood right in front of the teacher's table. He emptied his mind and put on a bright smile on his face before greeting Professor Snape, "Good Morning, Professor."
Snape glanced at Adam before turning his attention back into the newspaper. Adam knew it was going to be difficult to talk to this potion master but he didn't think that Snape would just simply ignore his existence. Adam was not going to give up so he stood there patiently looking at Snape with a smile.
Finally after a minute, Snape could not endure someone staring at him like that. He snapped at Adam, "What do you want?"
Adam was frightened by Snape's tone or atleast he had this expression on his face. He looked fearfully at Snape and said in nervous tone, "Professor, I just wanted to say 'Good Morning'."
Snape looked at Adam suspiciously before replying, "Good...Morning..."
Adam immediately turned his frightened appearance to the one full of cheerfulness as he introduced himself, "Professor, I am Adam, Adam Taylor. I heard you teach us how to brew potions, Is that true, Professor?"
Snape looked into Adam's eyes as if he was staring right down at Adam's soul. This time Adam really had shivers all over his body, looking at Snape's cold look. Snape opened his mouth, "Yes..."
Hearing Snape's slow and serious tone, Adam could not help but think to himself 'Now I know why everyone is afraid of him.'
Adam was wondering if he should continue or not but he still decided to continue as he was sure that Snape would simply ignore or mock him if he spoke with him next time in front of other students. And Adam also wanted to make sure that Snape tries to look into his mind, if he really wanted to see how his occlumency works against great legilimens like Snape.
"Professor, Can I ask you something?" Adam asked but didnt wait for Snape's reply as he saw Snape staring at him. He continued in nervous tone, "I never stayed away from home. I always had my breakfast with my parents. Professor, If you don't mind, can I have my breakfast with you?"
Adam was waiting for Snape's rejection but it never came. He saw Snape looking at him without any emotions on his face but Adam could still be sure that he was thinking about something. Snape finally opened his mouth but rejection that Adam waited for still did not come, "Come up." Adam was surprised by Snape's words. Adam never expected Snape to actually let him have a breakfast with him. He just wanted to act friendly but now, not only did Snape accept his request, but he also let Adam sit at teacher's table for the breakfast. Adam was thinking why would Snape accept his request then he thought about the duel, which was a possible reason for Snape letting him stay to know how he had cast those spells in the duel.
Adam was surprised but he did not delay Snape and walked to the table and stood opposite to Snape. Snape just waved his hand and a chair appeared for Adam. "Sit Down, Taylor."
Adam obediently sat down and waited for the breakfast to appear in front of him, which did not take very long. Adam saw that Snape had already started so he followed Snape to start eating his breakfast.
Adam could not bear the silence that lasted for few minutes so he tried to look for a topic to talk about which was not really hard as he knew where Snape's interest lies.
"Professor, When will be our first potions class? I am really looking forward to it. When I saw potions class textbook, I really wanted to try to make some potions but somehow I failed many times. I could barely make one potion throughout the vacation. But this really made me understand how beautiful and interesting potion making can be. I even read all the recipes and processes for different types of potions from the textbook. So that I can directly start making potion when you teach us in the class. But I also read about many ingredients and their uses, somehow many unique traits from some ingredients gets lost in the process..." Adam kept talking about the things he had read in the textbook. He had indeed tried making potions and Snape could easily understand it from the way he talked so Snape didn't feel like Adam tried to flatter him with fake words. Snape acted like he didn't listen to Adam but he didn't even flip to the next page of the newspaper since Adam started talking about the potions so Adam knew Snape was listening carefully to his words.
After few minutes, Snape finally could not bear it and started explaining about some of the things that Adam made mistakes in. Snape spoke limited words but those were enough for Adam to solve his problems. Somehow even Adam started enjoying this conversation with Snape. It lasted even after they had finished their breakfasts. Most of the speaking work was done by Adam, while Snape only added few words once in a while but it was still a great conversation, even for Snape who never talked like this with anyone.
Students started to gather in the Great Hall. But when they saw Adam sitting in front of Snape, all of them were completely shocked. They were surprised to see that someone was actually talking with Snape with so much interest and even Snape did not turn them away.
Adam noticed that Snape was getting impatient with all those looks that they were receiving from everyone so Adam decided to end this conversation. Many teachers were also looking at them so Adam felt uncomfortable as well.
"Professor, thank you for having breakfast with me. I did not even feel like I was not with my family. I will join my friends now. Have a nice day, Professor!"
All those words were spoken from his heart, as Adam was really happy to have this conversation about potions with Snape. He even asked about some of the ingredients from the dreaming potion, which made him realise how he had not used them properly. He was now sure to make a better quality dreaming potion.
Just when Adam was about to leave, Snape asked, "Taylor, I heard you had a duel in the Diagon Alley and you were also injured?"
Adam froze in his place when he heard these words. Adam knew Snape was Lucius's friend and the duel was also one of the reason for Snape letting him stay here so he was stunned but recovered quickly when Snape asked about the duel. Adam looked at Snape and replied truthfully, "Yes, Professor. I had a duel with Draco Malfoy."
Snape looked at Adam silently before speaking, "And you won the duel?"
"Yes, Professor."
"Your injuries were quite serious?" Snape continued with his questions.
"They were not that many deep wounds, Professor. But I lost so much blood. Somehow blood was not stopping even when wounds were really small." Adam answered as he thought about the duel. It was really a bloody duel.
"How did it feel when you were injured? Do you remember the incantation of that spell?" Snape's voice had a faint anger in it but Adam felt like it was just illusion.
"Professor, it might sound ridiculous but I felt like someone threw knives at me. My wounds were also like someone cut me with knives or swords. Oh and incantation for the spell that Draco cast was 'Sectumsempra'. I looked for it in many books but never found anything about this spell. Professor, do you know this spell?" Adam asked as if he knew nothing about this spell. He did not even mention about Lucius using this spell on him. He just looked at Snape with curious look on his face.
Snape looked directly into the Adam's eyes. Now Adam could finally feel the barrier formed by occlumency warning him of the intrusion. He quickly thought of the duel and created exact scene in his mind which was really not that hard with all the practise he did with the dreaming potion in the past week. And it was also easy as Adam had the actual memory of this event. Snape intruded into his mind just for few seconds before withdrawing. Snape had quickly seen the process of the duel and also the spells cast by Draco in the duel. Adam didn't know why but he felt like Snape was really angry when he saw Snape clenching his fist.
"This spell is not known by many people so don't think too much about it. You were lucky to have Professor Flitwik by your side or you would've already been sleeping peacefully in your grave. Except for him and those who know about the counter spell, no one can cure those wounds. Don't challenge pure-blood families." Snape warned Adam. This was probably the only time when Snape actually said so many words during their conversation, which showed Adam that Snape had now put down his vigilance around him.
"I will not challenge them, Professor. It was only those circumstances that made me act like that. Professor, do you know this spell? Can you teach me? It was really powerful, I couldn'teven dodge it." Adam asked Snape with excited look. Adam wanted to see if Snape would actually teach him this spell. He knew it was impossible but he asked about it anyways.
'It never hurts to try.' Adam thought to himself.
"It's a dark magic." Snape gave a simple reply as he once again picked up the 'Daily Prophet' Newspaper in his hands.
"So?" Adam asked, making confused look on his face.
"Dark magic is considered as the worst type of magic in the wizarding world." Snape said without looking at Adam. Adam could guess that Snape didn't want him to know about this spell but Adam was not going to give up.
"Is there also good and bad magic? I thought there is only magic. If we can save people with Dark magic, then is it still the worst magic, Professor?" Adam asked with innocent face. After the conversation with Snape, Adam now knew that Snape atleast didn't hurt the feelings of innocent students, even if his words were not that soothing to their ears.
Snape looked at Adam for a while before looking down at his newspaper. Adam knew that he would not get this spell from Snape so he finally gave up.
"Sorry for asking, Professor. I will head back now." Adam greeted Professor Flitwik and Professor McGonagall who had arrived at the table before turning around to go back to the Gryffindor table.
Adam just took few steps before he heard Snape's voice, "Taylor, Get O in my potions class with perfect marks in theoretical part. I will consider teaching you this spell."
'Just a little compensation for the duel.' Snape had this thought in his mind.
Adam's eyes lit up when he heard these words, he quickly thanked Snape before walking excitedly to the Gryffindor table. He sat beside Hermione and asked her, "Did you finish your breakfast? And our timetable?"
Hearing Adam's excited voice, Hermione was surprised. Adam was rarely excited. It was even rarer for him to show this excitement on his face.
"Yes, I was waiting for you. I got one timetable for you. I wanted to get one more for Neville but professor McGonagall refused to give it to me saying that he had to come to the great hall by himself. Neville probably did not wake up yet. What happened to you? What were you talking with professor Snape? Everyone was surprised to see you sit there and chat with him. I heard he is really scary and also the worst professor in the entire school." Hermione said as she glanced at Professor Snape.
"If you are done with your breakfast, let's go back to common room. We'll get ready for our classes and also wake up Neville so he would not miss his breakfast." Adam said excitedly and led Hermione out of the great hall. On the way he told her about his conversation with Snape. "I asked professor Snape about the problems that both of us faced in potions for the past month. I got many answers from him, I will tell you about this during lunch. And also, don't listen to these rumours, Professor Snape is really a good person and maybe the best professor in the hogwarts, you just have to have interest in potions and he will teach you everything about it. He won't talk to you if you don't have any interest in potions and if you perform badly in his class, then he is probably the king of hell. So let's do our best in his classes."
"Let's do our best in all classes." Hermione chuckled as she heard how Adam praised Professor Snape. Both of them returned to the common room. Hermione went back to her room while Adam looked for Neville and woke him up. Neville was surprised to see Adam in his room but he just thanked Adam and quickly entered the showers as he noticed the time. Adam also went back to his room for the shower.
Adam didn't know if the timetable had changed but Herbology was the first class for Gryffindor first years which was shared with Hufflepuffs, followed by Defence against the dark arts. They were not taught anything in these first two classes as it was just their first day. Professor Sprout let everyone look around in the greenhouse without touching anything. She also introduced some of the plants.
As for the stuttering Professor Quirrell, he just introduced about his class. He told them about the dark arts and dark creatures that they were going to be studying about in their First-year. Adam's eyes kept drifting towards the back of the head of professor Quirrell. He kept looking at the turban that covered Quirrell's head, which also exuded heavy garlic smell. He knew that Voldemort was hiding under this turban but he could do nothing about it. In fact he didn't intend to do anything about it as everything was going to be fine at the end of the year.
Next class was the Transfiguration, unlike other teachers, Professor McGonagall did not spend too much time on introduction and started to teach them about the factors that affected the Transfiguration process which included Body weight represented by letter a, viciousness represented by letter v, wand power represented by letter w, concentration represented by letter c and also an unknown variable represented by letter z in the mathematical formula. Adam could use Transfiguration with the help of his system so he only had limited knowledge about this difficult and deep branch of magic which made him pay attention to Professor McGonagall's words.
Everyone listened to it carefully but to everyone's disappointment, they were not taught to actually cast any spells. It was still normal as it was just their first class in the Hogwarts.
After the lunch, Adam along with Hermione and Neville went to the charms class. Adam and Hermione were excited to go to the professor Flitwik's class as he was the teacher who had been in contact with them for the past month. Even after the duel, Adam and Hermione were visited couple of times by Professor Flitwik in the leaky cauldron. He forbade them from using magic without any supervision but still explained many things about various charms during his visits.
It was funny to see Professor Flitwik fall down from the stack of books that he was standing on when he saw the Harry Potter's name during the attendance. He explained briefly about the spells that they would be learning during their first-year before demonstrating levitation charm on Neville's toad to make it fly all around in the classroom. He also taught them little bit theory about this spell before ending his class.
Final two classes of their first day were astronomy and history of magic which had the duration of 45 minutes, just like the Herbology class. Everyone was also very surprised to see a ghost teaching the history of magic.
First day classes were finished without learning any magic which made Hermione dissatisfied. She really wanted to learn new magic. There many students who arrived late in the class. Some students had even reached classes after it was about to end so Adam felt it was reasonable that professors did not teach anything important on their first day.
Teachers did not give them any homework so that they could explore and remember their ways to the classroom so Adam took Hermione and Neville to walk around in the castle. Along the way Adam kept touching portraits and statues in hope of finding some secret passages. Hermione and Neville were puzzled by his actions till he finally found a secret passage. Both of them were surprised at first, then they started following Adam's action and helped him touch around the statues and portraits. Many students saw them do these things which made them known as weirdos in the First-years.
Neville didn't look as nervous as he was in the train. He talked freely with Adam and Hermione. He even told them how his grandmother told him to stay away from the student named Adam Taylor and also how nearly all of the wizarding families wanted their children to keep distance from Adam, just because they thought he was from some hidden pure-blood family. It was also probably the only time when Neville had ever disobeyed his grandmother's words.
Adam had read some things about hidden pure-blood families but he still didn't know many things as he could not read the book that Sophie had given to him. Adam asked about these things to Neville who knew many things as he was also from the pure-blood family. Hermione who knew nothing about these things walked quietly, listening to their conversation with great interest.
Few days passed by but Professors still did not teach any magic spells, but rather taught them about the basics. Professor Flitwik taught them about the wand movements and incantation without the involvement of any kind of magic.
Professor McGonagall made them memorize the Transfiguration alphabets and many precautionary rules. She also told them about the Gamp's Law of elemental Transfiguration and five principle exception to this law.
Professor Quirrell was probably the only one who taught them the magic which was not really enough to satisfy all the curious first-years. He only taught them how to make Red and Green light from their wands which could be used in many situations to signal others.
On Wednesday, they even went to observe stars and planets through their telescopes. They learned about the names of different stars and planets, And also their movements.
Somehow the potion's class that Adam and Hermione were looking forward to was postponed to Friday as professor Snape had to go on a leave. Hermione had learned many things about the potions from Adam which he had discussed with professor Snape so she was also looking forward to this class. Adam didn't know what had happened as there was definitely no mention of Snape going on a leave in the original story.
Hermione who had not practised magic for a week now was pestering Adam whenever they met. She really wanted to practise magic instead of learning the theory that she already knew. But Adam did not let her take him to empty classroom for the practise but rather pulled her to check out the secret passages that they found during their exploration.
On Thursday, all the professors announced them that they would be starting to teach magic spells from the Monday. Professor Flitwik even mentioned how he actually never taught magic spells so early to the first-years. He always taught them about the wand movements and incantations for a whole month before teaching them their first spell before the Halloween. And it was only because of the announcement of the advanced classes after their graduation that he decided to change his teaching pattern so everyone could practise and master more spells before their graduation as they needed to have complete control over many magical spells before they could actually study and research new magic.
Every Gryffindor cheered loudly when they heard this announcement but they soon calmed down when they remembered that they had two periods of potions class early in the morning on the next day. They were not afraid of Snape as they had not seen him for the past few days but they were silent because they had to share their potions class with the Slytherin. The rivalry between first year Gryffindors and first-year Slytherins had started right from the very first day when Draco mocked Harry about his scar and his dead family.
Gryffindors shared some classes with other houses but Slytherin was the only house that they didn't want to be with, especially in the potions class which was mentioned as hell by many seniors. Weasely twins also had their enough share in spreading scary rumours or maybe facts about Snape.
Draco still avoided Adam which made Adam be thankful to him for not creating trouble for him.
'It is really nice to enjoy peaceful school life.' Adam thought to himself whenever he saw Draco leaving as he appeared in front of Draco.
During these few days, Adam enjoyed so much that he even forgot about the conversation that he heard in the train. He also forgot about the task that Sophie asked him to complete. He would only remember it when he saw Daphne but he did not have any clues about the trial left behind by Rowena Ravenclaw so he calmly waited for Daphne to contact him.
Adam just hoped that these peaceful days would go on forever.