"Get ready!" Bellatrix shouted at Harry as she pulled out her wand. He pulled out his wand and they started circling each other, the tension in the air growing thick as they did.
Bellatrix shot the first spell, it was a simple disarming charm, she followed it up with a spell chain consisting of a shield breaker and a stunning charm. Very simple stuff and not what she would regularly use, but for the sake of giving Harry a chance she was dialling it down a bit.
Harry cast a quick shield to block the disarming charm and then shrunk it before catching the shield breaker with his wand and spinning out of the way of the stunner. He then threw the shield breaker back at Bellatrix who casually whipped her wand up sending it to the ceiling "Good, you're learning the best way to defend and counterattack," Bellatrix said before she started sending spell after spell at Harry with increasing speed. She refused to teach him any other spells before he mastered these to what she considered to be an acceptable degree; Harry had proven he could control his magic to the point of altering spells easily, so until he could make his spell his own and then proceed to use to great effect in their duels they wouldn't move on. She had high standards and wouldn't let someone with as much potential as Harry slack off, no matter how much the boy seemed to want to.
Harry channelled magic to his legs before jumping up into the air and over her spells. 'Ascendio.' He pointed his wand directly to Bellatrix and he zoomed right towards her. The shock at seeing this manoeuvre made it so she couldn't dodge in time and so she collided with Harry; the Young boy smirked as he pushed himself from on top of her "Does this mean I win," he said as his grin started to grow.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at the young boy's antics before casting a stunner at him. As he was directly on top of her he had no way to dodge it and so he collapsed, his face landing right in her chest —which only served to annoy her more. Rolling the boy off him she stood up and cast a rennervate on him and he immediately woke up as if he'd been asleep for hours "You did well, very unorthodox, in a fight you'd catch any traditional duellist off guard, but you left yourself open at the end there, that stunner could've easily been something more deadly," she said in a chiding voice as Harry stood up.
"We will go five more times then you can head off for dinner," Bellatrix said casually making Harry groan but nonetheless take up a stance.
...
When Harry left Bellatrix's classroom his muscles ached and he longed for the sweet relief of his bed. But his stomach growling gave him other ideas so he headed towards the Great Hall to have some dinner; When Harry arrived in the Great Hall he took a seat next to Susan who was surprised to see Harry suddenly drop in the seat next to them.
Sitting opposite them were Cedric, Hannah and Tonks who looked at Harry with amusement. He'd had two sessions of detention with Professor Black and it amused them every time to see him so tired and achy. "Feeling okay Harry?" Cedric asked in an amused tone.
"I'm sure he's fine Cedric, we all know Harry, he's the greatest wizard to walk the earth," Tonks said in a sarcastic voice.
"Something as simple as running wouldn't get our little hero down," Hannah added with a giggle.
Harry looked up at them and scowled, before turning to Susan and looking at her with a sad look "Susannnn they're being mean to me, you care don't you?" Harry asked.
Susan laughed nervously before doing the only thing she could think of and rubbing him on his head. Though as soon as she did it she regretted it as touching his silky smooth hair sent a warm feeling throughout her body. Harry smiled before turning around and sticking his tongue out at the others "At least someone's on my side, and they say Hufflepuff is the house of the loyal," Harry said in a regretful tone. He then picked up his fork and started spooning piles of mashed potato into his mouth; even fighting Cursed Spirits at home had never been so exhausting for him. 'She's a real taskmaster, but at least I got to feel... certain things,' he thought to himself as a weird smile made its way onto his face.
"A week in and you're already acting like a creep, this isn't the famous Boy-Who-Lived we all grew up reading about," Tonks said dramatically as she looked at the grin on his face.
"Pfft, you guys keep mentioning those stupid books, what are they?" Harry asked with a snort.
"Only the most famous book series ever sold, the Harry Potter books sell even more than Lockhart adventures, though it isn't hard to see why," Cedric said with a chuckle.
"And you all read them?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow to his friends. They all nodded, especially Susan who was a Harry Potter super fan, she was wondering how she could broach the topic of getting him to sign her books, but felt that the mere act of asking might in fact kill her.
"It can't have been that interesting of a read," Harry snorted. His life was incredibly boring, or it was before he came to Hogwarts, he didn't know why anyone would want to read about his life then. 'Does this mean they were spying on me the entire time?' He asked himself.
"What do you mean! Reading about your life before Hogwarts was amazing, every child was jealous of you," Susan said a little childishly. The others nodded their heads with the exception of Tonks as, unlike the others she had seen where Harry lived and was old enough to know that most of the stories were not real.
Harry just barked out a laugh "I had no idea there were such a long line of people who wanted to live in a cupboard under the stairs."
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
Even Tonks was caught off guard by the revelation that Harry had spent his entire life living in a room under the stairs. She thought he had a normal room, in a normal house, in a normal suburb; finding out he lived like a house elf was a bit of a shock to the system. The others believed he lived in a castle somewhere, had regular adventures with magic folk and friends, and that he was trained by Albus Dumbledore himself.
Harry raised an eyebrow "You guys said you read the books of my life didn't you?" He asked.
"Yeah mate... but you lived in a castle full of servants and went on adventures all the time," Cedric said a little uneasily as he was able to recognise the implications of what Harry just said. Hannah and Susan were more shaken that the books they believed their entire lives were lies.
Harry snickered "I wish, my life was full of cooking breakfast for my family, washing dishes and then staying outside to avoid them, though I guess I did have an occasional adventure when I hunted Cursed Spirits," He said tapping a finger to his chin.
His friends just sat there looking at Harry in shock. None more than Susan who felt that she had just gone from knowing almost everything about Harry to knowing nothing about him at all, she found herself being a bit relieved that she never asked him to autograph her books. "We should tell Dumbledore?" Tonks said with an angry look on her face.
Harry shrugged "I'd reckon he already knew about it, though even if he didn't it doesn't matter," he replied.
"How can you say it doesn't matter! You're living like a damn house elf!" Hannah whispered loudly. Even if Harry annoyed the hell out of her she did enjoy spending time with him and she wouldn't forget how he saved her and Susan from the ghost. She didn't count the forbidden forest since Harry was the one who took them there in the first place.
"It doesn't matter cause I won't be going back after this year, I don't think I could spend my entire summer in such a boring place," Harry said confidently.
"Though I do wonder if there's an efficient way for me to travel on my own," Harry said to himself as he tapped the table.
"Hey Tonks, can you teach me how to turn into a bird, that would be brilliant," he asked.
Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. To act so blasé about being abused was not something they were expecting. What they didn't understand was that Harry had lived in the cupboard his whole life, it was more normal to him than having a room or even a proper bed; Harry didn't see it as abuse in a subjective sense, for him a bed is a bed no matter how bad it is. Since Harry was taking this whole situation with a pinch of salt Tonks didn't really see any other option but to move on "My bird form comes from my magical ability, though you might be able to if your animagus form is a bird," she replied with a sigh.
Harry looked interested now "How do I get an animagus form!?" He asked with a wide smile on his face leaning over the table directly in Tonks vision.
Tonks rolled her eyes and pushed his head back into his seat "Slow your roll there buddy, it's been a week into the school year, why don't you try learning the basics before you get into advanced transfiguration," she said, making Cedric snicker.
"Somehow I don't doubt Harry will pull it out of his arse anyway," Cedric commented with a chuckle.
"You guys are just jealous, aren't they Susan?" Harry said as he shuffled closer and put his chin on her shoulder. Susan blushed and absentmindedly nodded her head up and down, both girls saw her embarrassment and giggled at her, but Cedric didn't seem to notice and kept eating his food.
After they finished dinner it vanished from the tables and in its place were a large number of desserts that the group started placing on their plates. "Are you firsties excited for Monday?" Tonks asked as she took a bite out of her chocolate cake.
"What's happening on Monday?" They all asked at the same time.
"Flying lessons for first years," Cedric answered.
"Sounds fun, maybe after that, I'll try out for the quidditch team," Harry said with a smirk as he looked towards Cedric.
Cedric smiled back "You won't have as easy a time as you think if you're applying for the seeker position," he stated.
"Oooooh is this a new rivalry forming, I love it, as captain I approve," Tonks said.
"I'm glad we only have to do it once," Hannah chimed in as her face looked pale.
"Not a fan of flying?" Harry asked.
"No/No!" Both Hannah and Susan said at the same time.
"Hey don't worry I'm sure it'll be fine," Harry said with a smile as he patted Susan on the head almost drawing a pur of contentment from her.
———————————————————
"Good morning class, I'm Madame Rolanda Hooch and I will be instructing you on how to fly," She said loudly as she looked across the courtyard to the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students that all stood in front of the brooms that were laid across the ground.
Harry who had shown up late stood next to two girls he didn't know from Ravenclaw. One was of Indian descent and the other of Asian, though Harry honestly thought he was going crazy as he thought the Indian girl he was looking at was in Gryffindor; Padma Patil noticed Harry intensely staring at her and started to fidget under his gaze, she was a lot more quiet and studious than her sister was and so dealing with this sort of situation was not in her skill set.
Luckily for her Sue Li who stood next to her was not shy in voicing her opinions "Can you stop acting like a creep, you've been starting for nearly two minutes!" She whispered aggressively.
Harry snapped out of his thoughts and gave them a nervous chuckle "My bad I just thought I saw you before in Gryffindor," He said to her with a sheepish smile.
"I'm Harry Potter nice to meet you," he said holding out his hand to the victim of his intense stare.
Padma politely accepted his hand "I'm Padma Patil, the girl you saw was probably my sister Parvati," she said in a quiet voice.
Harry offered the hand to the other girl but she turned up her nose at it "I'm Sue Li, that's all you need to know, I'm not here to make friends," She said bluntly.
"Sounds kinda boring," Harry said which was followed by an unintended yawn.
"Now if you will stand in front of your brooms, raise your hand out and say up! The broom will fly into your hand and you will be ready to mount it," Madame Hooch shouted out interrupting them.
Harry and the other students followed her instructions. Harry lazily put his hand over the broom "Up!" He said loudly and the broom flew into his hand as naturally as if he'd done it a hundred times, though not everyone else has the same success that he did. He looked over and saw Hannah and Susan struggling, and next to him, Padma's broom didn't even make it off the ground. However, Sue Li managed to get it into her hand on the second try which was impressive.
"You need to be a bit more forceful, don't ask the broom, command it," Harry suggested to Padma, though it was only a theory based on how successful people had been at calling the broom to their hands and what types of personalities they had.
"Up!" Padma said a bit more forcefully and to her surprise it flew up halfway off the ground before falling back down. Padma looked up to Harry with a grateful smile before trying again. Once everyone had managed to get their brooms off the ground Hooch moved on to the next part of the lesson "Now! Mount your brooms and when I say so, kick off the ground, but make sure not to go too hard," Hooch instructed.
Harry for some reason felt excitement run through his chest as he mounted his brook. He didn't know why but it felt as natural as breathing when he felt the broom between his legs "Now push up!" Hooch said, and eagerly Harry did so —a little more forceful than necessary. Harry flew off into the sky and in less than a few seconds he was already over 20 metres in the air.
"This is bloody brilliant!" He said as his breathing started to become ragged from the excitement he felt.
"Careful Mr Potter! Don't fly off on your own yet!" She instructed. However, her attention was called away when a Ravenclaw fell off their broom and landed badly on their arm.
"Keep low to the ground while I take Mr Boot here to the Hospital Wing," she said in a loud clear voice, daring anyone to disobey her.
Harry however did dare to disobey her and as soon as she left he urged his broom forward and shot up into the sky. He felt amazing as he felt the wind rushing against his face, he had truly never felt anything like this before and he even considered never coming back down again. He flew higher and higher as he passed Hogwart's tallest towers and started to ascend into the sky. He took his class off and was greeted with the beautiful vision of Hogwarts and the forbidden forest, he could see the magic of everyone and everything and it looked marvellous; though his head soon started to throb as there was a lot more to see in Hogwarts than there was in privet drive.
Aiming his broom down he went into a nose dive. His glasses nearly blew off his face as he flew back down to the courtyard, he flew at such speeds that the students who saw him thought he was about to crash, however at the last second he pulled his broom up shooting horizontally across the courtyard and sending a gust of wind through all the students. He the. Pulled up next to Susan and Hannah who were barely 5 meters from the ground.
"Come on let's race," Harry said excitedly.
"Pfft no way, as soon as this lesson is over I'm never getting on a broom again," Hannah said as she clutched tightly onto the shaft of the broom.
"Seconded," Susan said as she held just as rightly, she looked a bit nauseous from where Harry saw her and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Fine be boring, I wonder how fast I could go on a new broom," he mostly said to himself as he looked down at the old and damaged shaft of his broom.
"Brooms are very expensive Harry," Hannah said chidingly.
"I'm very rich," Harry replied as he stuck his tongue out at her.
As the two of them argued Susan began to involuntarily ascend into the air. She tried to catch her friend's attention but she couldn't speak over them; Hannah eventually noticed that Susan was drifting off and her eyes widened "Susan what're you doing!" She said in a panic.
"Being cool it looks like," Harry said to her with a grin.
"I'm not doing this!!!" She said in a panic as she started to float up higher at an even faster pace, and then a moment later she shot off into the sky.
"Susan!!!" Hannah shouted out in a panic.
Harry laughed in amusement but he shot after her on his own broom. Susan screamed as she was flying like a maniac high above the courtyard, and if it hadn't been for her tight grip she probably would've been flung off the broom. However, she soon found that her hands which had been sweaty from her nervousness were now causing her to slip.
"AHHHHH!!" She girlishly screamed as she was flung off her broom, though she wasn't allowed to fall far as Harry had caught up with her and with a bit of magical enhancement he plucked her out of the air and onto his broom where she was sitting facing him.
"See I told you it could be fun," he said with his patented grin.
Susan breathed heavily as her heart felt like it was gonna beat out of her chest and a moment later she ended up passing out on the broom into Harry's chest.
"I guess a bit too much fun," Harry said with a chuckle.
(AN: Another chapter done. Btw if any of you guys think Harry is being lazy and doesn't care about his studies and just wants to have fun. You're right, Harry is a genius among geniuses he doesn't care about studying cause he knows he can be better than everyone else with minimal effort. He is gonna have fun and hang out with his friends and not take things too seriously. Though very soon he will be in for a rude awakening. Halloween is gonna be completely different from what you know. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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