The next day Harry woke up early and decided to finish his morning rituals before the others woke up and joined him in the communal baths. He was already unhappy with the fact that he has to share a room with the obnoxious fool along with two more boys. The other two were Muggleborns, so the two of them didn't pester him much. That is why he didn't mind the two of them as they were alright in his books.
The two of them were a bit childish, which was to be expected. After finishing all of his rituals, Harry decided to get dressed and look around the common room. According to the prefects, breakfast would be available from 8.30 am, so Harry still had almost two hours in his hands to explore. Harry arrived in the common room, only to find it completely empty. For whatever reason, the lamps were still, not that Harry was going to complain.
So, without wasting any time, Harry made his way toward the shelves filled with books. Most of the books on the shelves were present in the library, so Harry lost most of his interest, but there were still some books that Harry hasn't seen in the library, but none of the books seemed to be anything dangerous. Harry wasn't expecting to see any of the dangerous books here on the shelves in the first place, but he still felt a bit disappointed.
After some consideration, Harry grabbed the second year Defense book and slumped down on one of the couches to relax… Harry opened the book and slowly he got lost in the book. The second year book consisted of the second half of the second year Hogwarts curriculum along with the whole third year curriculum. Harry was already familiar upto the fourth year Hogwarts curriculum, so he simply browsed through the book in his hand.
The book did have Spells, which weren't in the Hogwarts curriculum, so he decided to etch them into his mind for the time being. His Occlumency wasn't that good, but it was still good enough for him to memorize such elementary Spells in a matter of few seconds…
"It is quite rare to see someone up so early" Harry was brought out of his trance when he heard someone's voice. He looked up from his book to find the fifth year male perfect standing in front of him.
"I am used to getting up early and I also wanted to check out the collection" Harry answered back with a smile as he tapped the book with his fingers.
The prefect gave him a nod as his head trailed toward the spine of the book. "Reading in advance… Hmph! That's enough proof of why you were sorted into our House. You belong right among us!" The boy exclaimed with a grin as he went beside the fireplace and grabbed a book after looking around for a bit from one of the stacks.
The prefect smacked the book and blew at it to remove the dust… "Give this a read, whenever you have some time. It will do you a lot of good" The prefect said as he handed over the book to Harry. Harry grabbed the book and took a look at the title. 'Our Progress'.
Harry wanted to ask some questions about the book, but before he could, the boy extended his hand toward Harry. "Osmund Slate" The boy revealed his name even though Harry knew his name as the prefects introduced themselves last night.
Harry placed the offered book beside him and accepted the offered hand. "Harry Potter" Harry introduced himself as he shook Osmund's hand.
"I gotta go, Potter, and don't get lost in the books. Classes start from today" Osmund said as he walked away toward the entrance of their common room. Osmund arrived in front of the entrance and tapped it with his Wand. The door swung open and Osmund walked out of the common room… Harry simply shrugged and went back to his reading.
Harry got so lost in his book that he didn't notice how the time passed away until he was finally broken out of his trance… "The school hasn't started yet and you are already reading a book?! Why?!" Owen whined loudly as he approached Harry and plopped down beside him.
Harry couldn't help but wonder how Owen was sorted into Horned Serpent and that is when he remembered the keyword, 'usually'. So 'usually', bookworms are sorted into Horned Serpent, which means sometimes, someone like Owen can also get sorted into Horned Serpent.
Thankfully, Harry was saved by the arrival of Brittany. "It is almost 8.30. I don't want to be late for breakfast or the classes" Brittany pointed out primly and Harry nodded his head in understanding as he stood up. 'Our Progress' was a nice read even though he was yet to finish it, but Harry couldn't understand why Osmund decided to hand him a law book…
"Oh, come on! Can you be any less of a teacher's pet?!" Owen growled, looking extremely annoyed as he glared at Brittany. "I don't want to be late for breakfast or classes" Owen mocked Brittany, who didn't even bother to look annoyed at Owen.
"Listen, Curtis, I am not your friend, nor do I want to be… Can you please stop bothering me and Brittany?" Harry asked nicely, as nicely as he could when he was kind of annoyed.
Owen turned toward Harry and gave him a betrayed look, before huffing. "Fine! I can't do anything if you don't want to be awesome! I simply wanted to help you become an elite, but I guess a fake is a fake!!" Owen exclaimed with a scowl, gathering everyone's attention who was present in the common room before walking away.
Harry simply stared at the boy's retreating back with a dumbfounded look on his face. |What elite? If he thinks of himself as an elite then I don't want to become an elite… ever| Harry vowed inside his mind.
That is exactly how most of the Purebloods acted back in Britain. I still wonder how I was able to endure them for so long| Lily sighed in regret, but she already knew the answer. She was quite mellow and kind-hearted at that time, if the current herself was there, then would have probably become a Dark Lady with an agenda of removing every inbred fool from the face of the earth.
"I hope that was enough for him to stop bothering you anymore, but I think it is a fool's dream" Brittany sighed as she pushed up her glasses.
"I can't help but agree with you" Harry muttered with a grimace. "Okay… Let's go" Harry said as he placed the book on one of the stacks.
The two of them made their way out of the common room, and they were followed by some of the other first years along with students of different years. Harry was quite glad that he was left alone for most of the time in his House or maybe they were simply testing the waters before trying to approach him. Except for Owen, Harry didn't have any problems with any of the other first years even though he didn't know them in the first place.
"Which is the class you are looking forward to?" Harry asked while walking beside Brittany. He also noticed that students from other houses were also making their way toward the dining hall in droves.
"Charms and what about you?" Brittany returned the question to Harry.
"Defense" Harry answered after thinking for a bit. He wondered for a bit if he should answer truthfully or if should he say something random. Ultimately, he decided to go with a half-truth. He was excited about Curses, he wasn't interested in the subject as a whole.
The two of them arrived in the dining hall and as soon as the two of them sat down, food appeared in front of them. "What is this dish called?" Harry asked as he picked up the knife and fork.
"Red Flannel Hash" Brittany answered, but didn't bother to give him a detailed explanation. Harry simply shrugged and dived in…
After some time, the prefects arrived and started to hand over timetables to everyone. Fifth year prefects were responsible for handing over timetables to the first year, second year, and third year while sixth year prefects were handling the fourth year and the fifth year, and finally, the seventh year prefects were handling the sixth year and the seventh year.
"The classes end before lunch every day, do you want to hit the library after lunch?" Harry asked as he took a look at the timetable.
"Sure, I was also planning the same" Brittany answered with a nod. In fact, she was just like Harry, and she was quite excited about making a friend who was a bookworm just like her.
"Okay then…" Harry nodded his head and placed the timetable inside one of the pockets in his robe. After that, the two of them continued to chat about different classes. Harry also learned that Brittany was quite good at Herbology and it was her second favorite subject.
After the two of them were done with their food, they decided to head toward the Charms classroom even though the class wasn't supposed to start for half an hour. Thankfully, they had maps behind their timetables so the two of them weren't going to get lost and that is also why they decided to take the scenic route…