Harry and the other Slytherin first years made their way to the transfigurations class, where they would start their first transfiguration lesson of the year and at school. Harry was looking forward to it as transfiguration sounded interesting, plus according to Olivander the thunderbird tail in Harry's wand would really help in this subject.
"So," Draco Malfoy spoke as he began walking alongside Harry. "you are going to bring him everywhere, are you?" He asked while gesturing to Jet who was calmly resting on Harry's shoulders.
"Yep." Harry nodded simply. "He liked to stay with me, I like it when he stays with me, just makes sense for him to stay with me, doesn't it?" Harry said with a small smirk.
"What about the teachers?" Draco asked in an interested voice.
"He's my familiar," Harry replied. "they can't take him away and I've already made it clear that I am leaving this school if they do."
"You'd leave this school for a snake?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought it was Hufflepuff's that were loyal."
"Are there any rules or laws that state Slytherin's can't be brave, intelligent or loyal?" Harry asked.
"No."
"Then I hardly see what the problem is." Harry said as they arrived at the classroom, they entered and saw a tabby cat sitting perfectly still on a desk but no other person.
"Where is the Professor?" Theodore Nott, a brown haired Slytherin first year, asked. "She should be here by now."
"I suppose we'll just have to wait until she gets here." Daphne said as she took a seat at a desk near the back, the other Slytherin's through an unspoken agreement also sat at the back.
"The class syllabus is on the board." Blaise noted as he gestured to the chalkboard.
"Well I guess we know what we need to do until she get's here." Tracy commented as she pulled out her book, with the Slytherin's joining her. Eventually the Gryffindor's began piling in, most took a single look at Harry's snake before quickly moving away from him. One chubby boy - whose name currently escaped Harry at the moment - nearly tripped in his haste to get away from Harry, something the Slytherin's found amusing.
"Where is she?" An Irish sounding Gryffindor asked a few minutes later when the Professor had not yet arrived. Before anyone could respond the class door had suddenly swung open and Ronald Weasley rushed in, clearly out of breath, he stopped once he was inside and took several moments to catch his breath.
"Made it." He grinned before he looked around for an empty seat, though his eyes stopped when he saw Harry who was casually sitting with Jet still resting on his shoulders.
"Can I help you?" Harry asked after Ron stared at him for several moments.
"I can't believe that they let you bring that snake in." Ron growled as he glared at Harry.
"Believe what you want, hopefully you'll end up believing something that might match with our reality." Harry replied in a calm voice.
"You shouldn't be allowed to bring that evil creature in here!"
"Do you think that cat is evil?" Harry asked as he pointed to the cat on the desk.
"What?" Ron asked, sounding very confused. "No."
"Why not?" Harry asked, sounding just as confused as Ron.
"Because it's a cat, they're not evil at all!"
"Not evil?" Harry scoffed. "They might not be, but they're more evil than snakes."
"What? No they're not!" Ron protested.
"Really? Because snakes only ever bite in self defense or to catch food, cat's on the other hand can kill for food and fun." Harry replied in a calm voice. "Do you know how many time's I've walked down a street only to have to sidestep a dead rat or mouse left by a cat?"
"But...but they're cats! Everyone knows that snakes are evil!"
"And why are snakes evil?" Harry asked. "My snake has been my one and only friend for years and has never tried to harm me, and he's never done anything evil."
"Why does this red colored baboon think I'm evil?" Jet hissed in an irritated voice.
"Beats me." Harry replied. He was about to say more when Ron gasped and jumped back as if Harry had a contagious disease.
"You're a parslemouth?!" Ron breathed out in a shocked voice.
"If that means that I can speak to snakes, then yes." Harry said just as Jet slithered off of his shoulder's and onto the desk.
"You can't be a parslemouth!" Ron protested.
"Why not?" Harry asked, he was quickly losing patience with the red head.
"You're the boy-who-lived!" Ron said as if that explained everything. "I can't believe it! Your parents would hate the fact that they..."
"Weasley..." Harry interrupted, his voice colder than ice. Harry stood up and stepped in front of Ron, Ron was taller than Harry but that didn't matter to Harry at that moment. "let me make something clear, you don't get to mention my parents."
"But I..."
"My parents," Harry cut him off once more. "died trying to save me, that's what everyone says. They did not die just so people like you could use their names as a weapon every time I do something you don't like. I didn't chose the ability to speak to snakes, I've always had it. Don't ever mention my parents again or I will show you that I don't need a snake to be dangerous." Harry gave him one final glare, he was about to sit back in his seat when he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Ron and Harry both turned to see Professor McGonagall standing in front of the teacher's desk.
"Huh? Where's the cat gone?" Ron blurted out.
"I am what they call an animagus, Mr Weasley." Professor McGonagall replied. "For those who do not know, an animagus is a witch or wizard with the ability to turn into an animal."
"You were the cat." Harry realized.
"Excellent deduction, five points Mr Potter." Professor McGonagall nodded. "Now Mr Potter if you will please sit down, also that will be three points from Slytherin for threatening another student." Professor McGonagall added. Harry, for a moment, wanted to protest but stopped himself. When all was said and done, he had just gained Slytherin two points, better to take the reward. Harry nodded and sat back down. "As for you Mr Weasley, that will be fifteen points from Gryffindor and a detention."
"What?! Why?!"
"For not only coming late to my class, but also immediately starting trouble with another student. And I am in agreement with Mr Potter, Lily and James Potter were two of the finest that the wizarding world had to offer, they laid their lives down for their son and they deserve better than to simply have people use their names whenever they wish. Now sit down before you continue to dig the hole you have found yourself in."
"Fine." Ron grumbled under his breath as he took a seat.
"Now then," Professor McGonagall spoke to the class. "shall we begin?" She asked but continued before anyone could respond. "Now, transfigurations is one of the more difficult branches of magic that is taught at Hogwarts. It is also one of the more dangerous branches, that means I will not tolerate any fooling around. I will not hesitate to kick out a student if I think you are misbehaving. Is that understood?" She said in a stern voice.
"Yes Professor." The class chorused. Professor McGonagall stared at the students for several moments, as if checking to see that they were all being truthful. Eventually she nodded and continued teaching, after a short while of simply talking about transfiguration along with what it could do and how dangerous it could be if people messed around, she had the students attempt to turn a matchstick into a needle.
It sounded so simple yet it was much harder than it looked or sounded as none of the class were able to do it on the first try, Harry after several attempts was still unable to do it. It helped that the others were unable to do it yet, but not by much. His frustration was clearly detectable as Jet began hissing at him.
"Calm down Harry," Jet hissed. "you'll do yourself no favors by getting angry, calm down and think about what you need to do."
Harry was tempted to argue back but did as Jet told him to, he took a deep breath and thought for several moments before he was hit with a realization. Harry waved his wand once more and was rewarded with half of the matchstick turning into a needle, Harry happily waved it again after being spurred on by his already visible improvement. A second later he found a perfect needle in front of him.
"Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall spoke, Harry nearly jumped in his seat as he hadn't noticed her approach, Jet had though as evidenced by his lack of reaction to her. "show me your needle." She said, Harry nodded and handed it to her, she began examining it before giving Harry an approving nod. "Well done Mr Potter," She said as she placed it down in front of Harry, she waved her wand and turned it back into a matchstick. "five points to Slytherin for being the first to get it, can you show me how you did it?"
"Um...sure." Harry nodded, he focused and cast the spell again, thankfully this time he was able to get it to turn on the first time.
"Excellent Mr Potter." Professor McGonagall gave him a rare smile. "Keep practicing it while I go help the other students." She said before giving him a nod and walking off.
"How'd you do it?" Tracy whispered to Harry.
"Don't just imagine it as a needle, imagine it turning into a needle. Magic is also about intent, you've got to really want it to turn into needle." Harry explained before he continued practicing.
Tracy nodded and took his advice, the other Slytherin's also took Harry's advice and continued practicing. By the end of the class Tracy, Daphne and Blaise were able to get full needles. Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy were able to improve their work to the point where they almost were able to complete it. As for Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode, the less said about their work the better.
Harry and the other Slytherin first years made their way to charms class, Harry was admittedly excited at the fact that he was going to charms class. The subject sounded very interesting to Harry and it was a very useful one as well as charms could be used for many things including simple day to day tasks. Harry had also been told by Angela that not only was Professor Flitwick a great teacher, he was also a former dueling champion.
Harry had sat between Tracy and Daphne once they had entered the class, the Gryffindor's followed after. Harry was not really sure why the classes would be split between the two houses that hated each other the most but decided to just deal with it as he really didn't have the power to change that fact. Harry saw Weasley glare at him but ignored him, as far as Harry was concerned he hadn't done anything wrong.
Eventually Professor Flitwick arrived, the professor was without doubt the smallest person Harry had ever met, not including goblins, in Harry's eyes that just made it more impressive. It was amazing to know that despite being physically smaller, the man was still one of the best teachers in the school and a powerful wizard. With that being said Professor Flitwick still had to stand on top of a pile of books. He started by doing a roll call of all the students, when he got to Harry's name his eyes quickly darted to Harry and he fell off his books.
After a few students helped him up, the roll call and then the lesson continued.
"Now everyone," Professor Flitwick said after the roll call. "as this is the first lesson, I am not expecting very advanced spells from you all, all I ask is that you try your best. I want to start you all off with a simple but useful spell, the wand lighting spell. An example for when it can be used is if you ever find yourself standing in the dark. The spell creates a small light on the tip of your wand, I should warn you that it is fairly warm so be careful that you don't use it near something that can easily catch fire, it's a very small risk but still possible. The incantation for this spell is "Lumos." Upon saying the incantation, Professor Flitwick's wand tip lit up and small white light rested on the tip. "There you see, now I want you all to try."
Professor Flitwick had the class practice the spell and also the spell 'nox', which was the wand extinguishing charm, AKA the counter to lumos. Once Professor Flitwick had done that he had them go over some theory of spells, admittedly Harry wished they could learn more spells but he understood the need to at least do some theory.
Harry was also glad that Professor Flitwick didn't make a big deal about Jet being in the class, the professor did stare at Jet for several moments before simply deciding to act like it was the most normal thing in the world to have a snake.
Harry had enjoyed his first day at school, he truly had, but now he was nervously following behind Professor McGonagall who was taking him to the headmaster's office. Jet was on his shoulders and was whispering some calming words into his ear.
"Milky way." Professor McGonagall said when she stopped at a large gold gargoyle, Harry was briefly confused about why she would say that but then the gargoyle moved to the side, reveling a staircase.
"I'm sorry Professor, but 'Milky Way' was the password to the headmaster's office?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Professor Dumbledore is a fan of muggle confectionary." Professor McGonagall replied in an almost exasperated tone before she went up the stairs with Harry following after.
They both entered the headmaster's office and Harry's eyes went ever so slightly wide as he looked at the room he was standing in. It was a large circular room with many windows and many portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses. There were many spindly tables that held delicate looking silver instruments that whirred and emitted small puffs of smoke, there as also an incredible collection of books, which made it look like a private library. Harry noticed a perch but couldn't see a bird or any other animal using it.
Harry's eyes quickly landed on the headmaster's desk, standing by the desk where three other teachers. One of which was Professor Sprout, a squat witch with grey wavy hair, the other was Professor Flitwick who smiled upon seeing Harry. The last person was the glaring man from the feast - who was still glaring at him - Harry knew this person to be Professor Snape, head of Slytherin house and potions teacher.
They were all standing while one person sat behind the desk, it was none other than Headmaster Dumbledore. The man had blue, twinkling eyes and was looking at Harry with a soft but warm smile.
"Ah Mr Potter, good to see you." Dumbledore greeted. "Shall we begin?"