The Midnight Lord
Harry rested on his bed, enjoying the peace and quiet for a change now that the day was over. This gave him a chance to reflect on everything that had happened since that first evening.
The first couple days were amazing; they just flew by in a mix of excitement and awe. Even if most of the lessons were just introductions to the courses, basic lectures on what the subject was about and the planned material for the upcoming year; it did nothing to kill his excitement.
The only subject that was disappointing was History of Magic, which was taught by the ghost of the former History teacher who had happened to die during his sleep.
Professor Cuthbert Binns seemed to have permanently cast a sleeping spell over the room, and all the students in it, even he himself wasn't immune! This frankly was a bit of a disappointment, since he considered himself a rather good amateur historian. After all, he had read most of the history section at his local library during his time living with his relatives.
Ultimately, he ended up asking several older Ravenclaws about the ghost during lunch time. Frankly their advice wasn't promising, it turned out that it happened to everyone Most of them ended up doing self study instead and just skipped History all together, before dropping the subject later rather than endure the ghost. Others charmed their quills to write down the notes for them instead. Unfortunately the charm wasn't taught until the end of the fourth year, which didn't help solve his problem.
Fortunately, Herbology had turned out to be far more interesting than he had originally expected. The subject was taught by Professor Pomona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff House.
Professor Sprout seemed a rather easy going person, which in hindsight should have been expected. She was a person of the earth, who clearly embodied her house's values of fair play and hard work. Listening to her lectures on magical plants, it was clear that they were her passion and it explained why she was considered one of leading experts on British magical flora.
The highlight of the lesson came from the Slytherin students, and how they reacted to the thought of getting their hands dirty. Thinking about it again caused him to chuckle quietly at the memory of the day's event. Their reactions made it clear which of them could be considered spoiled and who had relied on their servants for such tasks.
However, their reaction was even stronger when Professor Sprout ordered them to pair up with another student from a different house in order to promote student unity and encourage the seeds of friendship.
A couple low voices whispered complaints about being partnered up with their Ravenclaw counterparts. He heard one say, "Wait till my father hears about this." Fortunately, he and Padma were paired up with a couple of Slytherins who were the exceptions to this rule. His partner ended up being a blonde girl named Daphne, while Padma was paired with a Slytherin named Tracy.
The two groups went about their collective tasks, which made it clear in hindsight that both Tracy and Daphne had previous experience in magical gardening. He had managed to scrape by, mainly due to his own previous experience from maintaining his relative's garden. After all, a plant was a plant. He had mainly followed Daphne's lead, due to her more extensive knowledge of magical plants.
By the end of the lesson, both of them had earned good number of house points since they, unlike other pairs, just got to work rather than bickering over the task. During the task they made minor small talk, nothing personal, just light talk to help pass the time while working.
Looking back on the lesson, he was more than willing to admit he was grateful for being paired up with a partner that he could actually work with. It was a small blessing, and it made it easier to be motivated for class when your partner wasn't a pain in the backside.
Frankly, Harry didn't know what he would have done if he had been stuck working with the brat he had met on train. He actually felt sorry for Terry for having to work with him. If he was in Terry's position, he probably would have ended up jinxing him, or asking whether he could work by himself rather than suffering the brat's company.
...
The Next Day
Finally, they were heading to the class he was most looking forward too, Charms. The class was taught by his Head of House, Professor Filius Flitwick, Charms Master of Hogwarts and retired duellist.
Professor Flitwick was short, only about four foot in height and from what he had heard from his fellow housemates this was due to him being part goblin. This was extremely odd, due to how rare inter-species marriages were, to the point of being nearly unheard of, in British culture.
Harry took a seat at the front of the class, so he could see better and was joined by Padma. After a couple minutes, the Professor walked in and jumped up onto a stack of books, before beginning his introduction speech about the subject and the material, just like the other professors.
Watching his Head of House, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of the little professor balancing on books, trying not to fall off.
When his name was finally called out of the register, the Professor literally jumped in excitement. However, this display of energy, whilst embarrassing for him also resulted in Professor Flitwick losing his balance, sending the book stack scattering across the floor.
The tiny professor however, showed his former duelling skills by landing gracefully like a cat, getting him a round of applause from the students.
Whilst the professor recovered and composed himself, several other students in the class were looking at Harry with curious eyes. They were clearly wondering why his name had triggered such an energetic response from the professor. He knew the reason the Professor was excited about seeing him, since his mother had been one of Flitwick's favourites during her school days. She had eventually gone on to get her Charm's Mastery under the professor's guidance after completing her NEWTs.
After seeing Flitwick's response, he hoped he could live up to his mother's legacy. Leaning over to Padma, he whispered in explanation, "My mother was one of his favourite students during her time at Hogwarts. Under his guidance, my mother went on to get her Charm's Mastery, and became an Unspeakable." This answered the unspoken question he could see in her features.
"Cool, so he probably has a soft spot for you then," she said with smile.
"Maybe, we will see how it goes. Hopefully I can live up to his expectations," he admitted.
However, before Padma could reply, Flitwick started going through the class register again. After the register was completed, Harry listened with interest as the professor showed several of the charms they would be learning over the course of year, which was received with a series of "awws" from some students.
Watching the professor, he could remember reading about the spells on display, and the theory behind them. Smiling as he watched, Harry felt confident that he would live up to his Head of House's expectations. After all, he had already managed to cast several of them before coming Hogwarts. Right then and there, he made a silent promise to himself to learn the rest of first year spells by Christmas.
The first half of the class was about the theory behind the basic Lumos light charm. Professor Flitwick stated it would take a couple of lessons to master the charm, simply due to their lack of the necessary experience and focus required to control their magic. Naturally their work rate would increase as they progressed through the school year, due to their magic becoming easier for them to wield.
All too soon the classroom was filled with students shouting, "Lumos," in an attempt to create a light on the tip of their wands. They began to shout louder as their frustration increased, in a vain attempt to force the spell to work, not realizing it would make no difference.
However, having already learnt the spell he whispered the incantation, "Lumos," whilst visualizing a bright light coming from end of his wand. Just like he had practised over the summer and in his dorm room since arriving at Hogwarts, his wand pulsed into life, flooding the room with light. The sudden light took the room by surprised, causing the Professor Flitwick to jump up in excitement, giving him the image of a kid who had eaten too much sugar.
"Impressive Mr Potter, just like your mother. Have you cast the spell before?" Flitwick asked, observing him with interest and excitement.