The Boys Who Lived

CHAPTER 6

As they walked down the parkway towards the entryway to platform nine and three-quarters just like it said in the introductory letter. Sirius wanted to make sure the kids had the full adventure of going to Hogwarts so they were starting at the very beginning and not just apparating onto the platform of the train.

Neville pushed a trolly with Hades’ cage and his carryon on it, Frank and Alice followed carrying Lillian.

Luna came next pushing a trolly with Rowena’s cage and her carryon, followed closely by Xenophilius and Persephone who was carrying Sebastian and Astraea.

Followed closely by Harry carrying Hedwig’s cage, yes he decided to name his beautiful snowy owl Hedwig, he named her for a female Saint, Hedwig the Duchess of Silesia who is the patron saint of orphans. He thought it fit some how. Remus and Sirius both came down with him to send him off to Hogwarts for his very first time.

Going to Hogwarts the first time is one of the most important steps in a young persons life, next to getting bonded and having a child that is. It is a huge change in everything you know, how you live, where you live, people you see on a daily basis, even what you do on a daily basis. It’s all new and different, all a new adventure, a new experience.

“There it is, the entrance to platform nine and three-quarters.” Sirius pointed over to a blank piece of wall between the edges of platform nine and ten.

Neville went up to the entrance and looked at it a little confused. “It is best if you get a running start at it your first time through.” Frank said. So he did, and through the barrier he went. Followed by his parents at a much more casual pace.

Then went through Luna, but they all decided to race through together.

Sirius went through first, then went Harry with the trolly followed closely by Remus. Then Harry saw it, the huge Hogwarts’ Express. It was every bit as beautiful as Sirius had made it out to be, steam and smoke were billowing out here and there underneath the wheels and people were getting on the train in every direction.

Harry was looking everywhere all at once, trying to capture this moment for the rest of his life, he wanted to have this memory for his pensieve so that he could show it to his kids some day. He looked around at all the excited faces and all the scared little first years that were getting ready to leave home for the first time, he could tell just by their expression which ones where first years and which ones had been to Hogwarts before.

There was a little red headed girl that was holding tight to her mother and father and not wanting to let go. Anther little blond that had a firm grip of her father’s shirt that he was trying to remove her hand and guide her onto the train. There were a couple of kids crying and a couple of kids yelling, but most of the kids just looked a little scared.

Then Harry spotted the boy from Madame Malkin’s that day and saw his parents. The boy looked like a smaller version of his father, cloak and all, the only thing missing was his father walked with a cane and had on gloves, while Malfoy, Draco Malfoy didn’t. Harry had to say that Draco’s mother was quite beautiful, Draco said that she was a Black; he wondered if it was a Black thing, since Sirius was quite handsome too, well as far as a dogfather goes that is. The boy looked quite arrogant and aloof from what Harry could see, like he though that all the other people on the platform were beneath him, a kid thinking something like that, it must be the way he was raised. To look down on everyone else, and see everyone that does not have a purpose to serve as being a pawn or peasant. A tool to be used and then thrown aside when they were no longer useful. What kind of life is that for a kid, did he even have any friends? Harry kind of felt sorry for the kid, but he brushed it off and focused on what Sirius was saying.

“Let’s get you guy’s on board and set up so that hopefully Susan and Hanna will find you and and be able to share the same compartment with you.” With that Sirius led the way onto the train and walked down the isle until he found an empty compartment and started putting Harry’s things inside. He made sure that Harry had Hedwig secure then gave him a big hug and told him how much he would miss him. Next it was Remus’ turn to hug Harry and tell him he would miss him and to be good, and not to prank to much no matter what Sirius had said. They left the train but stayed on the platform and watched Harry from there.

Frank and Alice, Xenophilius and Persephone did the same thing with Neville and Luna and they all met up on the platform outside then Harry spotted Amelia Bones and The Abbots, with Susan and Hannah right behind them. Sirius apparently spotted them too, since he flagged them down and pointed out where the kids were on the train and helped Susan and Hannah take their things over to the baggage car and then helped them take their carryons into the compartment where the kids were waiting.

Hannah had gotten herself a beautiful white kneazle she names Stardust, or just Star for short. While Susan had gotten a rather fetching barn owl she names Hermes because he was so fast, and he carried messages.

The girls got settled into the compartment and just as the train was beginning to pull out, everyone was leaning out the window or waving to their family and their respective family or friends were all waiving back. This was it, the first steps of the rest of his life, Harry thought.

They spent most of their trip playing exploding snap or chess, since Harry and Neville brought their chess set, and Luna brought exploding snap with her. Then they spent some time playing poker, since Sirius had taught all the kids how to play that a couple of years ago. When the snack cart came by they were all eager to see what all it carried, Harry splurged and got a few of everything and decided to share with everyone and make it a party. Jeeves had packed lunch for he and Neville with plenty to share so they had sandwiches and fruit, so it wasn’t a total sweets attack. But the boxes of Every Flavor Beans made playing poker much more fun, they had something to bet with now.

It was about half way through the trip when a teary eyed frizzy haired brunette knocked on the compartment door and opened it up, asking if they minded her setting there. Apparently some of the other children had called her a rather rude name and laughed at her then kicked her out of the compartment she was in; claiming her compartment as their own.

“Sure, come on in, my name is Neville Longbottom, this is Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, and Harry James Potter Black.” Neville introduced every one and they nodded and smiled as their names were called out.

“My name is Hermione Granger, and thank you. I honestly don’t know what I did wrong, I was just sitting there reading and this one blond boy opened the door to the compartment and began to harass me, he called me a mudblood or something like that and then started laughing at me. Then he and these others came into the compartment and sat down and kicked me out.” Everyone gasped when she used the word mudblood but she didn’t understand why, and just gave them a curious look.

“The word mudblood is the most foul word you can use to describe someone who is not of pure Wizarding descent. Let me guess, both your parents are non-magical?” Harry asked.

“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” Hermione asked.

“Everything to a boy like him, the boy you are describing is probably Draco Malfoy. He is a pureblood, although of lower ranking than anyone in this room. He feels that anyone of non-magical parents are beneath him and therefore he will use such a slang to show his distaste. It is just like calling someone in the non-magical world a ‘bastard’ - or being of questionable birth. Only in this world it is viewed socially, politically and financially as much worse; they are viewed as lower than the lowest in all ranks and standings within this world. It goes pureblood, half-blood which means you have one parent that is pureblood and one parent that has some new-blood status, and new blood or what most refer to as muggleborn which is when you have no magical parents at all. The only thing that has a lower standing is what most refer to as a squib, which is a non-magical child born into a magical family. They actually have no rights or privileges within the Magical World what so ever. New bloods are at least allowed to get an education, own a wand, have a Gringotts account, work for the Ministry, get married without Ministry approval, inherit family legacies if there are ever any found, all things that are refused to a Squib.” Harry explained.

“That’s horrible, and that boy called me that.” Hermione looked as if she was about to cry again.

“You have to remember that he is of a select group that believe blood is the most important thing. Not your achievements, not your grades, not your honor, not your integrity or your good name…just your blood, something that you had no control over at all. They have arranged marriages so they can make sure the next generation has pure blood, not for love or anything as foolish as that. It is either blood related, political, or financial or a combination of all three. It can be a cold and loveless marriage, and when there is a cold and loveless marriage there is a cold and loveless child, and the chain goes on. Built link by link.”

“That is so sad, so medieval, how can someone do that to a child?” Hermione gasped.

“The Wizarding World for all intent and purposes is living roughly one hundred to one hundred and fifty years behind the rest of the world. They take their time catching up with this world because they are set in their ways, some things are far more advanced than non-magical, like apparition, floo calls, some spells, some potions etcetera. But things like Astrology, Science, much of the Medical Sciences, clothing, common house hold conveniences, most basic forms of travel, things that are every day things or things that you would never think about because they are so basic to you don’t even exist in the Wizarding World. Things like ball point pens, flash lights, electricity, pizzas, telephones, televisions, movies, and a million other things that are too numerous to mention.” Harry continued.

“I never realized there was that big of a difference between the two worlds.” She stated.

“That is one of the problems that the pureblood have with new-bloods, they think they can come into the Wizarding world and everything they know about the Non-Magical world will just transfer over. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Halloween is Samhain, and Christmas is Yule. We have solstice and equinox festivals when the non-magical world does not. Some of us celebrate the old ways, while others do not, some do a mixture of both. It all depends on the family. But for a new-blood to come in and expect us to follow their ways in rude and impolite to say the least. It is like going to another country and expecting them to follow your ways.” Hannah said. She had always been very strong in her beliefs about New-Bloods and their expectations and interference in the traditions of the old ways. She may not follow them all but the ones she did follow she held dear.

“I’m sorry, is there a book that gives that information about that kind of thing out there? I don’t want to offend anyone.” Hermione stated meekly.

“There are many books about it. Everything from books on the ancient houses to manners and etiquette, to speech and language, and lifestyle and living in the modern Wizarding world.” Neville said.

Just then that aforementioned blonde, Malfoy, Draco Malfoy jerked open the door to the compartment and said “So this is where the great and mighty Harry Potter is hiding?”

“First, it is Harry James Potter Black. Second, I wasn’t aware I was hiding from anyone, especially from a child like yourself. Third, you do realize that barging into the conversation of others is just one more proof of the fact that you are a child and not an adult do you not?” Harry stated.

“You have no clue who your speaking too, but you soon will. My father is on the School Board and he will make sure that the likes of you will not be tolerated at Hogwarts. You and all those pathetic mud bloods will be a thing of the past.” Draco growled.

“Ah but once again you proved my point, your father is… you are not. Your father has power, you do not. Your father is the adult, you are the child. If you wish to make a statement that countermands my own you need to think harder Mr. Malfoy. For what you are saying is only coming up with a stronger, more firm standing to my already strong statement. By using your father as a shield you are proving that you yourself have no power and are afraid of that fact; if you continue to do so then it only proves that you are a helpless, and insecure individual that is uncertain of his own standing within this society. Think well before you use your father as a shield and his standing as your sword, it may be the very weapons that fail you in a battle of wits.” Harry stated with a smirk.

Malfoy was getting furious, there was a bright red spot showing on his cheeks proving just how mad he was getting. He growled and tried to not show that Harry’s words were getting to him but he lost. He motioned to the two walking book ends beside him and pointed to Harry, “GET HIM!” He shouted.

The two large boys tried to step into the compartment but there wasn’t enough room, and besides Neville and Harry had different ideas. Two swift kicks and the boys were thrown back into the walkway and then Neville promptly slammed the door in Malfoy’s face.

A wave of Harry’s hand later and the door was sealed against intruders.

“Enough of this serious stuff, who is up for another hand of poker?” Harry asked and as he sat down, picked up the deck of cards and began to shuffle the deck again. Everyone agreed to play, except Hermione who they had to teach how to play, but that was okay, the were patient and still had fun with it.

“Ten minutes until we reach Hogwarts. Please change into your Hogwarts Uniforms and make yourself ready to depart.” A voice came through the compartment. It had been an arduous trip, taking eight hours of mostly boredom if it hadn’t been for good friends to pass the time with. Neville and Harry got up and exited the compartment, giving the girls some privacy. Then it was the boys turn and finally they all got back together to wait for the train to arrive at the depot. It didn’t take long and the voice came back on, telling them to leave their baggage it would be taken to their rooms for them, although Harry was a little trepidatious about leaving his carryon (his only luggage) on the train, since it had his seven compartment trunk in it, but he did it any way. Neville also felt a little anxious about leaving his bag on the train but he did so as well.

“Firs’ yers this way, firs’ yers follow me.” A huge booming voice called out. The voice fit the equally huge man it belonged to. Sirius had told Harry and Neville stories about Hagrid and so they weren’t scared of the big man but it was apparent that some of the smaller kids were. So with confidence Harry went over to one of the boats that Hagrid was indicating they should get into and sat down with Neville, Luna and Hermione. Susan and Hannah got into a boat with a set of twin girls.

The little boats traveled across a lake towards Hogwarts and then about halfway across the lake the lights of Hogwarts came into view. It was one of the most breathtaking sights that Harry had ever seen, everywhere twinkling lights, from what he assumed were torches and candle lights. The effect was amazing, golden hues outlined the ancient castle on all sides as the little boats made their rounds through the lake and under a big tunnel.

“Heads down!” Hagrid shouted. Although why Harry didn’t know, his head was no where near the top of the low bridge that they needed to duck, but he did it anyway, just in case.

Soon the little boats approached a huge winding staircase that led up to an equally massive set of doors. Hagrid led the group of children all the way up to the top and knocked three times on the door with his huge fists. Slowly the door opened and a small man with a white hair and a large smile opened the door.

“Firs yers Perfessr.” Hagrid said.

“Thank you, Hagrid I have them from here.” The little man stepped forward and cleared his throat. “My name is Professor Flitwick and I am your Charms Professor and Deputy Head Master. You are all about to enter the halls of Hogwarts but before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your house, they are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has a rich and notable history. The house you are placed into will be your new family, and any achievements and accolades that you receive will earn you points, but just so, any misbehavior will see points deducted. The house with the most points at the end of the school year will receive the house cup, a prized achievement to be sure. Now I will go in and check and see when they are ready for you all.” With that he turned and headed back through the huge doors.

“Well that was interesting, I wonder how they choose what house you go into?” One brunette girl asked.

“My brother said you had to wrestle a troll.” Ron Weasley stated. Harry just knew it had to be something the twins told him.

“You fool, it has nothing to do with trolls. Only an imbecile would believe something so harebrained as that.” Malfoy chimed in.

“I hope it isn’t a test, I have memorized all the books but I don’t think I am ready for a test.” Hermione stated quietly.

“They would never give you a test on the first day of school you stupid girl.” Malfoy once again lending his opinion.

“Mr. Malfoy have you considered the possibility that the others here have heard quite enough of your drivel and wished to be relieved of it in the future?” Harry interjected.

“No one asked your opinion Potter,” Malfoy snarled,

“Once again that is Potter Black or just Black…your preference. And I should point out that no one requested your unsolicited statements either but you appear more than eager to provide them. Perhaps we could all just wait in silence until we are directed into the school by the Professor and find out exactly how we are sorted, unless you Sir, would like to do so now, since you seem to be so knowledgeable about the process.” Harry stated.

Malfoy simply glared at Harry and said nothing more.

“Since it is tradition to keep the means of sorting hidden from all new students; I think it is wise that we follow that tradition and wait and see for ourselves what it is, and enjoy the experience.” Harry said then turned back to Neville and Luna who were waiting quietly beside him.

Just as Malfoy was about to say something the huge doors opened and the little Professor was back. “If you will follow me, we are ready for you.” He said and began to lead the way for them into their first site of the inside of Hogwarts.

The children began to file into the long hallway that led to two huge doors and the Professor opened the doors with a wave of his wand, which brought about several oohs and aahs in the crowd of children. Then he led them into the this huge dining hall. There were four long tables full of other children all ages and one table cross wise at the front of the room full of adults. The tables seemed to be divided up based on the color of ones ties and badges on ones lapels, greens, blues, golds, and reds. Of course Harry knew this stood for Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor.

The were candles lighting the whole room floating below the ceiling, and the ceiling itself had an area made of glass and looked like the night sky. Which was beautiful and star light night and the moon was not quite full but it was defiantly bright. There was a walkway down the middle of the room that all the first year were herded up to the front of the room where a small stool and with a hat atop it sat.

The hat was introduced as the sorting hat, and the hat began to sing, truly a singing hat. It sang of house unity and the strengths of each house and how each house should work together for a common goal. Then Professor Flitwick began.

“When I call your name you will come up here, I will place this hat atop your head and you will be sorted into your proper house. Hannah Abbot” Professor Flitwick announced.

Harry, Neville and Luna were only half listening because there before them behind the big table at the front of the Dining Hall were Sirius, Remus, Frank, Alice, Xenophilius and Persephone. The three were whispering very quietly amongst themselves until “Harry James Potter Black” was announced. And Harry was called forth.

Harry went forward to the front of the room and sat down on the stool then was handed the hat by the Professor. Once the sorting hat was placed there Harry began to hear a second voice in his head.”

“Impressive, yes impressive indeed. But I will need to get past your wall’s if I am to sort you young man.” The voice called out.

“Who are you?” Harry thought.

“The sorting hat of course, although my name is Alistair in truth. I normally just go by hat. The barriers if you please.” Alistair requested.

Harry thought about it for a moment, then cautiously lowered his barriers.

“Ah yes, here we go. I see, Harry James Potter Black, how nice to meet you. Fascinating life you have led, yes fascinating. Now, where to put you? Let’s see cunning, quite true…but not the proper fit. Intelligent to be sure but not the strongest point either. Loyal, my my yes, but would you fit in there… I don’t believe so. Brave, without a doubt, but is that the right place to put you.” Alistair pondered.

“I honestly don’t care where you place me, but if I may ask for two things. First, I have two friends Neville Longbottom, who is my brother in all but blood and Luna Lovegood who is my good friend, can you place all three of us in the same house. And two can you make sure that what ever house we get into Ron Weasley doesn’t get into that same house?” Harry thought.

“We shall see, we shall see. Hmm. With loyalty like that you should be in Hufflepuff, but the adventures you have been in tell me there is only one place to put you and that is…GRYFFINDOR.” Alistair shouted out, and the Dining Hall erupted in applause. Harry got up off the stool and handed Alistair back to the Professor and then headed over to the table where everyone with the red badges and ties were, as soon as he sat down he notice his own badge and tie had changed colors. His badge was now that of the Gryffindor lion and proudly stated Gryffindor across it.

Susan was called up next but Harry was too focused on his new badge to pay attention, so he never noticed that she was placed in Hufflepuff just like Hannah was. The names got called and children placed without Harry really paying attention until a name he was actually interested in called. “Neville Longbottom!” And Neville made his way up to the stage and sat down on the stool, placing the hat on his head.

“Well another amazing mind! You will have to lower your shields for me to see where to place you.”

“Who are you?” Neville asked.

“Always with the questions. My name is Alistair, or you may call me hat, which ever you choose, the shields please.” He requested.

Neville lowered his shields and the hat took a look, then agreed there was only one place to put this young man. “Well, well, well, the fine young minds we have this year. You too would do well in all houses but there is just one place to put you young man… “GRYFFINDOR!”

Neville took the hat off and handed it off to the waiting Professor and rushed over to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Harry.

Next came Luna and each boy was anxiously waiting to see what would happen, Luna sat down on the stool and put the hat on her head and waited.

The hat attempted to look into Luna’s head and was nearly bowled over by a twenty foot bunny with fangs. Then came the Blibbering Humbdingers, they started chasing hat every where, until Luna closed off her mind and left a nice blank spot for them to talk in.

“What in the name of Merlin’s baggy britches was all that!” Alistair screamed panting loudly.

“Oh the fanged bunny is Horacio, and the other little things are Blibbering Humbdingers, you have to be careful of those. They eat stray thoughts.” Luna said dreamily.

“They are what!” Alistair shrieked.

“Blibbering Humbdingers. Rather pesky little things, an infestation can be particularly nasty. That is why I use them as a defense.” Luna stated.

“Oh for heaven’s sake. Wait, what was I thinking?” Alistair had this confused look on his weathered face.

“Oops, one must have gotten stuck,” she then reached into the hat and pulled out one of the little buzzing creatures and set it loose, with a wave of her wand she banished it and then focused on Alistair again.

“Never mind all this… GRYFFINDOR!” The hat shouted out. He wasn’t risking his mind going back in there again.

Luna returned the hat to Professor Flitwick and skipped over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Neville. The two boys clapped excitedly, they were all three in the same house, just like they wanted. It was unfortunate that Hannah and Susan were in Hufflepuff, if for no other reason than they were not in the same house as Neville, Luna, and Harry. The only other individual that Harry recognized so far was the other girl that was in the compartment with them Hermione Granger was her name and she had gone into Ravenclaw.

Now it was Malfoy’s turn. The hat had barely touched the boys head when it screamed out SLYTHERIN! Of course the arrogant little boy had to strut over to the Slytherin tables and act as if he expected for someone to pull his bloody seat out for him Harry noticed.

The sorting went on for quite a while, the next individual of note that Harry was interested in was about to go up to the little stool “Ronald Weasley!”

It took a moment or two for the hat to think and then it shouted out… “SLYTHERIN!”

Weasley screamed and ripped the hat off his head and stomped it a few times then turned to the demure little Professor and screamed at him. “You better fix this or my Mum will!” Sticking his finger right up in the Professor’s face, then he marched over to Gryffindor house and sat down at the Gryffindor table and had a look about him that just dared anyone to try and moved him. And that is exactly what happened. Persephone walked over to where the Gryffindors were sitting and reached up and grasped the back of Ron’s collar and lifted him up and frog marched him over to the Slytherin table.

“That will be forty points from you Mr. Weasley, twenty for damaging school property and twenty for disrespecting a Professor.” Persephone stated as she walked Ron over to his new house table.

“No! No! I won’t go! You can’t make me! I want you to call my Mum right this minute! I demand it!” Ron screamed.

“Very well, if you won’t sit at your house table then you will stand in the corner until I am ready to deal with you.” With that she escorted him over to a corner and placed him in the corner and put a sickle on the wall and stuck his nose to it. Then put his hands behind his back and whispered something in his ear that made his ears turn bright red.

With that Persephone went back up to her seat and the sorting continued.

“Blaise Zabini” After a minute or so the Hat Yelled out “SLYTHERIN!” Once again.

“Well as many of you know we had some changes taking place this year. I am the new Head Mistress, my name is Minerva McGonagall. The new Deputy Headmaster is Filius Flitwick. We also have some other new faces that I wish to introduce you to. The School Board has finally made their choices on several things. First, Professor Binns has left us for the great beyond, and taking his place is Professor Remus Lupin. Taking my place as Transfigurations Professor will be Professor Sirius Black. Professor Severus Snape has been removed from his position at Hogwarts and taking his place will be Professor Persephone Lovegood she will be your new head of Slytherins as well as Potions Professor. The Defense Against the Dark Arts Position was indeed found to be cursed and that curse has since been removed and our new Defense teacher is Professor Frank Longbottom. Professor Grubbly-Plank has decided to retire and in her stead we have Professor Xenophilius Lovegood. And finally we have taking over the place of Head of Gryffindor House is Professor Alice Longbottom. Now that we are all introduced why don’t we all eat.” And with a wave of her wand the tables were filled with foods of all kinds.

“Did you know about any of this?” Neville asked the other two.

“Not a clue, you?” Harry answered.

They both turned to Luna who smiled. “Yes I knew, but it wasn’t my place to tell you. They didn’t tell me so apparently they wanted to keep it a secret until we got here. So, surprise!” She just smiled her ever present smile and began to pick her way through her favorite foods.

Both boys just rolled their eyes and did the same, their first day of Hogwarts was afoot.

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Head Mistress McGonagall stood up at the end of the meal and began. “Just a few start of semester notes that I should mention. First, the forbidden forest is exactly that, forbidden, all students are restricted from entering it without an adult to accompany them. Next, no wand use in the hallways between classes. Third, tryouts for quidditch will be held the second Tuesday of the month. Now, if the prefects could escort the students to their appropriate houses.”

With that the kids all began to flow out of the room in a relatively calm manner heading to each house as they went. The new Gryffindors all followed behind Percy Weasley whom the kids had known for a long time. He was the Fifth year Prefect so it was one of his duties to lead the first years to the Gryffindor common room. Soon they were working their way through the castle and winding their way up flight after flight of stairs. Seven flights in all. When they reached the top floor they were met with a painting that had a fat lady in it who was dressed in all pink.

“This is the fat lady, her name is Elizabeth Spriggs but everyone merely calls her the fat lady. She is the guardian of the Gryffindor Common room, to get in you give her the password, if it correct she will open up and let you in, if not you have to either wait until someone who knows the password comes along or find a Professor.” Percy walked over to the painting and stated ‘Valor and Honor’. The painting opened just like a door and allowed entrance into the common room, where everyone else was gathered.

Throughout the room everyone was gathered in little clusters of three or four here and there. Each group had seemed to pick their certain area and stake it out. When the new first years came in they really didn’t know where to stand. Harry, Neville and Luna went to stand over by the fireplace and waited to see what was happening. It didn’t take long for their new Head of Gryffindor to make an appearance.

“Hello one and all. As was stated, I am Alice Longbottom, my husband is Professor Longbottom. And before you all ask yes Neville is our son.

“Now each of you have a list of rules placed on your beds so you will have no excuse as to not know them. All first years have a curfew of eight o’clock, second years is eight-thirty, third years is nine o’clock, fourth years is nine-thirty, fifth years is ten o’clock, sixth years is ten-thirty, and seventh years their curfew is eleven o’clock.

“Breakfast is at seven o’clock until eight-thirty, lunch is from noon until one-thirty and dinner is from five to six-thirty. All detentions will be served either after dinner or during the weekend depending on your Professors discretion.

“Also any major point reduction or two or more detentions and your parents will be notified in writing. If the original offense is of an appropriate level that it is warranted, your parents may be contacted at any point prior to that rule. You are responsible for your homework and seeing that your assignments are done in a timely manner, you are not small children you should be responsible enough to be able to finish it and hand it in on time. I forgot is not an excuse here at Hogwarts. Laziness is a problem that is quite frowned upon here, and you will find that none of your Professors have the patience to deal with it, a zero for the day won’t look good in your records.

“Now it is time for you all to head up to your rooms, all first years will find your trunks at the end of your bed in your rooms, girls to the left up the stairs and boys up the stairs to the right. Alright you all, get to your rooms, and good night.” Alice finished and then Neville, Harry and Luna went over to Alice and said hello.

“Mum, what are you all doing here, where is Lillian? In fact where are Sebastian and Astraea?” Neville asked.

“Headmistress McGonagall asked us if we would help and since you would all be here this year, we agreed. The little ones are here too. And before you ask, Xenophilius is going to work on the Quibbler on the weekends while he teaches here during the week.” Alice stated then she added, “Now you three need to get to bed, and I need to make sure the rest of the students are all doing all right.”

With that the three headed up to the respective rooms, with Harry and Neville on one side of the room and one boy named Dean Thomas and another named Seamus Finnigan on the other side of the room. Each boy’s carry on baggage was placed on their bed and waiting for them, but when the other boys didn’t see any other luggage they asked about it. Both Neville and Harry got their seven compartment trunks out of their bags and put them at the foot of the bed then enlarged them. Then they got their night clothes out and went about getting ready for bed.

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The Head Mistresses office was a little crowded with both Molly and Arthur Weasley and Headmistress McGonagall, Deputy Headmaster Flitwick, and Professor Lovegood as the Head of Slytherin as well as Ronald Weasley in it.

“What is going on here? Why were we called here? Why is Ronald in this meeting, what did he do?” Molly started drilling Minerva.

“If you will give me a moment I will explain Mrs. Weasley.” Minerva began, “Earlier this evening at the sorting there was an incident that involved Mr. Weasley and you were called due to his insistence that you are the only one that can resolve this issue.”

“What is the issue?” Molly asked, glaring at her son as she asked the question.

“Apparently Ronald has some reservations about being placed in Slytherin House and insists on being re-sorted, which is only done in extreme cases, and a child not liking the house they are placed in is not an extreme case. However, Ronald at the sorting, proceeded to damage school property, by ripping the hat off his head and stomping it several times. Then he threatened the Deputy Headmaster stating that he had better fix this or else.

“First, I will state that that hat was worn by Godric Gryffindor himself and the abuse inflicted upon it by Mr. Weasley is uncalled for and unacceptable. The Hat is irreplaceable and is over a thousand years old, to say it is delicate is an understatement in the extreme. Thankfully, it is well protected by magic or else we would be having a very different conversation right now. But in the least we are going to be discussing the problem with Mr. Weasley’s actions tonight and his placement into Slytherin House.” The Headmistress stated.

“Slytherin!” Molly shrieked. “My son! A Slytherin!”

“I didn’t do it Mum! It was that bloody hat I tell you!” Ron shouted.

“Don’t you say a word young man! You’re in enough trouble as it is!” Molly threatened her son from across the room.

Arthur reached over an put a calming hand on his wife’s arm. “My son will of course apologize for his actions tonight without reservations. As far as getting into Slytherin…” Arthur looked down to his wife.

“My son will be resorted or we will take him home…simple as that. There has never been a Weasley in Slytherin and there never will be.” Molly insisted glaring at her son, who at least had the good thought to look abashed.

Headmistress McGonagall shook her head, “As I stated earlier, re-sorting is used only in extreme cases. Like violence against a student. Attempted rape, repeated assaults, repeated harassments, shunning by his housemates, things such as this. Not because it is a house that the student doesn’t like. I am sorry, the answer is no.” McGonagall stated firmly, leaning back in her chair.

“Then we are taking our son home with us, have an elf deliver his things to our house if you please.” Molly stated raising her chin a little.

“But Mum I want to go to Hogwarts!”

“Well you blew that chance now didn’t you?” Molly asked snidely.

“Molly don’t you think we should discuss this a little, removing Ronald from Hogwarts and teaching him at home is a big step.” Arthur said trying to calm his wife.

“There is nothing to discuss, they refuse to be reasonable and resort my son. And therefore I am removing him. Just be thankful I am not pulling them all out of school right this very moment. But I am not going to punish them for Ronald’s behavior.” She said stubbornly. At this point Molly Weasley wasn’t listening to reason at all and therefor she was right and everyone else was wrong. Molly had a tendency of being that way and it frequently got her into trouble, but we shall see.

“We are not refusing to be reasonable Mrs. Weasley, we are simply refusing to break the rules for your son. That rule was put in place over seven hundred years ago and has yet to be broken for something so childish as the student simply doesn’t like the house they are being placed in. It has been broken a total of five times during its history, twice because of rape, once because of repeated harassment, once because of multiple attempts on a child’s life and once because of shunning. Now does Ron’s case fit into any of those situations, for if not then I am afraid I must state that he does not qualify for a resorting. And no amount of threatening or high handedness will achieve that goal. Remove your son if you wish, but I would like to remind you that if you remove Ronald he must go to the Ministry at the end of the year and pass his yearly qualifications or he will have his wand snapped and be restricted from using magic. Now if there is nothing else you need Mrs. Weasley I have a teacher’s meeting to attend to.

With a huff Molly grew red and looked as if she wanted to say something but didn’t, instead she reached over to grab Ronald by the ear and escort him over to the fireplace and through the floo.

——————————————————————————

Harry and Neville walked down the stairs of the common room and spotted Luna sitting near the fireplace reading and headed over to her.

“Good morning Luna, what are you reading?” Neville asked as he sat down on a soft sofa perpendicular to where the one she was sitting in was.

“Hogwarts a History.” She stated smiling “And good morning to the both of you as well. Are you ready for your first day of school?”

Harry nodded. He was very excited, he wanted to see just how different school could be learning from a bunch of people he had never met in comparison to learning from friends and family. Plus there was all the new kids to think about.

He wasn’t worried about how good he would do since Luna had made it into Hogwarts and she had been doing the same level of classes as he and Neville, Susan, and Hannah had for two years now. Harry couldn’t help but wonder how many classes they would have with Hannah and Susan, or if they would have any with them at all. They were fun to work with, they always worked well together and when they had to do special projects it was like everyone had a predetermined role and they all took to it immediately, no arguments were ever between the five of them, they all just had always got along great. It was like some hidden agreement to work together and strive to do their best in all things, no one slacked off or made anyone else carry their load, it was always equals in all things. Each had their specialty though Neville was Herbology, and Defense; Susan was Arithmancy and Defense; Hannah was Runes and History; Luna was Zoology and Charms; Harry was Defense and Charms.

“I can hardly wait, I wonder how many classes we will have with the different houses and which ones we will have with which.” Harry stated.

“I wonder which house we will have charms with?” Luna pondered, “I like Professor Flitwick. He seemed to have a very happy personality.”

“Yeah, but we have Sirius for Transfigurations, Persephone for Potions and my dad for Defense, as well as Remus for History and Xenophilius for Care of Magical Creatures so we have a pretty good idea of our teachers already. In fact the only new teachers we have are Professor Flitwick for Charms and Professor Sinistra for Astronomy. The main difference is that we aren’t taking all the extra classes we took at home, like Latin, and French, Penmanship and Calligraphy, Runes, Arithmancy, Etiquette and Manners, Music, Literature, Dance, and Non-Magical 101 (which is what they called their outings into the non-magical world), although I think Remus has a tutor coming for our new lessons, in Karate. As long as we keep our physical training in Taekwondo up to par and hopefully keep rising in levels in it that is. I want to make black belt by Yule if I can.

“I’m looking for that brown belt still,” said Luna, smiling. “That board is still giving me problems, I just can’t seem to gather enough energy to push through my feet to break the board properly on the first try.”

“I’ll help you focus. I’ll just be a matter of mind over magic at this point Luna.” Neville said. That was a phrase that their trainer told them a lot when they worked with him.

“Which reminds me, we need to find a room to work out here that will be ok in.” Harry stated, we need to not loose our edge.

“Well let’s head down to breakfast, it should be starting shortly. Mrs. Longbottom stated they give out the schedules at breakfast the first day and I am excited to see what our schedule will be like.” Luna pushed herself up from the couch and put her book into her book bag then threw it onto her shoulder. Her father had bought her a bottomless bag for her books to take to classes, and then Frank and Sirius went and got the boys each one too. They were expensive but considering how useful they can be, it is well worth it to have. Both boys had their book bags with them as well, so they tossed them over their shoulders and followed Luna as she headed out the Passageway into the corridor and down the stairs.

There were only a few people in the Dining Hall when Harry and the others made it down there, although there were people trickling in all the time, it was early yet. Even the teachers weren’t all there yet.

Harry, Neville and Luna headed over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat, breakfast was already on the tables for the few that had started showing up. While Luna stuck mainly with fruit this morning, Harry and Neville ate a common English style breakfast in all its splendor.

As they were sitting there Alice came over and handed out their timetable to them and smiled, “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” They all responded smiling back and accepting the little cards. Harry was definitely interested in finding out how many classes he had to deal with Malfoy in.

Gryffindor First Year Times Tables
MWF 9:00 - 10:30 Transfigurations (Slytherin)
MWF 10:30 - 12:00 Charms (Ravenclaw)
MWF 1:30 - 3:00 Potions (Slytherin)
MWF 3:00 - 5:00 Defense Against the Dark Arts (Slytherin)
TTH 9:00 - 10:00 History of Magic (Hufflepuff)
TTH 10:00 - 12:00 Herbology (Hufflepuff)
TTH 1:30 - 3:00 Care of Magical Creatures (Ravenclaw)
TTH 3:00 - 5:00 Study Hall/Free
W 10:00 - Midnight Astronomy (Ravenclaw)
S 10:00 - 12:00 Flying (Hufflepuff)

“Three classes with Slytherins, wonderful.” Harry deadpanned.

“Slytherin isn’t a bad house Harry.” Alice reminded him “Just because someone specific in Slytherin is an issue, don’t let it cloud your judgement on the whole house.”

“You’re right. Sorry.” Harry sighed, he has limited experience with Slytherins at this point so it would be wise to judge them on a case by case situation.

“Besides we have three classes with Hufflepuffs as well. If you include Flying as an actual class that is. Which they do here.” Luna stated. “And three classes with Ravenclaw too.” She said as she counted all the classes and their opposing houses.

As they all sat and ate and talked about their class schedule the rest of the school managed to make an appearance. Harry looked around to see Ron and didn’t see him and wondered where he had gone to, So he asked Fred and George.

“The little whiner decided that if he couldn’t get into Gryffindor he didn’t want to go to Hogwarts at all; and Mum had to come and get him and take him home.” Fred said.

“He threw such a fit demanding the hat resort him into Gryffindor, in the Headmistress’ office no less, that he made a complete fool out of himself.” George said.

“By the time he was done, the Headmistress didn’t even argue with him, when he said he was going to leave Hogwarts.” Fred said.

“Something about a rule that they can’t resort unless under extreme circumstances, like rape or something.” George said.

“And Mum thought a Weasley in Slytherin was an extreme circumstance, but apparently the Headmistress didn’t.” Fred said.

“So Mum took little Ronnikins home, and is going to homeschool him.” George said.

“He will not do well at that in the least, Ron is lazy in the extreme.” Fred said.

“He won’t do the work unless forced to do it”. George said.

“Oh Mum will try, but he won’t do it; he will try any excuse in the book to get out of doing his homework, always has.” Fred said,

“Dad said that he has to pass some test at the Ministry at the end of the year; same kinda tests that we take, and if he doesn’t pass the test then he gets his wand snapped and will be restricted on using magic,” George said.

“Never being able to use your own wand, how horrible; dad didn’t know if that was restricted until Ron managed to pass the tests or forever but he is afraid it is forever.” Fred said.

Harry decided he had had enough of Weasley ping-pong and turned to focus on Neville and Luna again. “I can’t believe that he actually decided to leave rather than go into Slytherin House. How can one person be so childish?”

“Harry, really? We grew up with Ron he was always childish, always selfish, or self centered. He punched me in the nose at my own seventh birthday party because I wouldn’t let him ride by birthday present for Merlin’s sake. We have known he is immature for years; we just didn’t know how bad he could be, that little tantrum he had in front of everyone here in the dining hall was embarrassing. Think of how his brothers must feel. I would feel so embarrassed if I were them; I know that Lillian will never behave anything like that. There is no way my parents would tolerate such behaviors, not from me and certainly not from my sister.” Neville stated.

Luna nodded. “That is true in my house as well, my parents are very lenient when it comes to discipline but they would never tolerate Sebastian acting like that. You saw how Mummy put Ron in the corner, she would do the same to Sebastian and I bet she told him if he let that sickle fall or moved, that she would spank him right there in front of everyone. And she would do it to, she wouldn’t care who was watching or what trouble she would get into for doing it. She doesn’t tolerate disrespect to teachers or temper tantrums.”

“None of the other Weasleys ever acted like that though, only Ron. I wonder why he thinks he can get away with it and not get punished. Even shy little Ginny doesn’t behave like that and she is the youngest, that is the one that usually misbehaves. But she always behaves so nice and well mannered. But she is so shy still, so that causes problems sometimes. But other than that she is a nice friend.” Luna stated.

“Even the twins, who can be the biggest troublemakers in the world, don’t act like that. Get into trouble yes. Throw tantrums, definitely not. They think stuff like that is beneath them, and they are right. That kind of behavior is for two or three year olds. Certainly not for eleven year olds.” Harry stated.

“I would have expected such behavior from Malfoy if he had gotten any house but Slytherin, definitely. But even the bully that Ron was I didn’t expect that.” Neville said.

“Oh well, enough about them, we have transfiguration in ten minutes; let’s find the room.” Harry suggested.

So the three headed out to the transfiguration classroom and followed the map that had been provided by Professor Longbottom, their Head of Gryffindor, which was written on the back of their copy of the rules. They made it with a good five minutes to spare, now they had a basic idea of how long it took to get from the dining hall to the transfigurations classroom. They decided to sit in the front the room was set up with bench and table type desks so that would be easy for all three of them to fit at one area.

As they entered the classroom the Gryffindors seemed to naturally organize themselves over to the side of the room that Harry, Nevill, and Luna had chosen. While the Slytherins seem to choose the opposite of the room without really realizing it.

Pavarti Patil came over and wanted to sit next to Harry if it was possible, since there was room, there was no reason not to let her sit there. While she got out her book and writing material, the others just got out their writing material, quills and ink. When she noticed this she was a little taken aback by the fact they didn’t have their books out.

“That’s easy we read that book about three years ago, we were going to be working in level four this year. So this is all pretty much review for us.” Harry stated.

“That’s not fair.” Stated Pavarti “I just got my books this year.”

“It’s not fair that we happen to have parents that are teachers; or not fair that we worked our asses off at a much earlier age, taking a lot more classes than most people and working a lot harder, longer hours, more days and with no summer breaks really to get where we are now. We didn’t just ‘poof’ and there we were at our level. We worked hard to get to where we are today, it wasn’t something that come naturally. It was work, a lot of work, and hard work at that. Taking seventeen classes including Dance, Taekwondo, and Gymnastics, eighteen if you include Non-Magical Studies.” Harry said.

“Non-Magical studies? Why wouldn’t you include Non-Magical Studies?” Pavarti asked looking perplexed.

“Non-Magical Studies was mainly field trips to museums, art galleries, places of note in the non-magical world, like the London Stock Exchange, Harrods’ Department Store, The University of London, St. George’s Hospital of London. Places Like that. We would spend the day exploring the non-magical way and it was extremely educational I think, but some people would think it was a waste of time.” Harry explained.

“I think it sounds brilliant, my family sometimes go for drives and explore the countryside and see what famous sites there are along the way, old castles, churches, armories, battlegrounds, and villages. We find some of the best little shops and antique stores that way.” Pavarti said nodding.

About that time someone at the front of the class cleared their throat. Sure enough it was Professor Black, to the nines in his black silk teachers robes with black under robes, the colors for house Black. He was a striking figure to say the least, to the point he probably had some of the older girls going gaga in his class if not some of the boys. He walked and talked with an air of strength and knowledge like he always did when he was teaching at home. As if he knew all the answers and he was just waiting for the right question to be asked.

“All right everyone, I am Professor Black. First, I will tell you right now that after today when the bell rings for class to start I will seal the door and no one else will be allowed in. You are responsible for being here on time to my class, each and every class if you are not, you are responsible for getting the notes from someone who was here, doing the appropriate homework and being ready for the next class. Failure to do so will see a zero on your score for that day.” Sirius announced. “If you have a valid excuse though, like a teacher’s note. I will definitely consider it.”

“Second, your grades will be divided by forty percent in class participation and ability, to twenty percent homework, and forty percent test and that included finals. I want to know you can actually do what I am teaching you more than I want to know that you can paraphrase what I am saying and putting it down on paper. I do want you to be able to write a good detailed theses, and turn in something readable though; so turning in bad homework consecutively can lower your grades by at least two levels. So think about that while you think ‘what do I care it is only twenty percent of my grade…’.” Sirius continued.

“Third, Transfigurations can be a dangerous yet rewarding subject; I will tolerate no shenanigans in my class. The first time it happens you will be asked to leave the class, the second time it happens you will be removed from the role, and be forced to do self study and take the Ministry issued test on this subject.”

“And fourth, I do have special extra credit projects for those interested in them. They are available to anyone but I will say that they are difficult, and I expect a lot of hard work put into these projects in order to earn that extra credit. They are not available until the second month of any semester, so don’t ask. At that point there will be three extra credit opportunities that you will have to choose from. Make sure you choose the one that suits you best, not the easiest or the one you think will impress the most but the one that is the most interesting to you and put all your heart and soul into it. Do it good enough and I might even see about getting it published.”

“Now on to today’s lesson. We are going to focus on visualization. The key to transfiguration is the ability to visualize what you want the end result to be and pour your magic into that desire, to get the result you want. A good imagination will get you far in this subject, just as far as all the book learning in the world. If I tell you to turn a tea kettle into a toad that is fine, since you know what one looks like. But if I tell you to turn it into a flubber worm, which most of you have never seen yet, you won’t know what to do. You have to use your imagination and make it happen. Make up in your mind what a flubber worm should look like, get the details down pat, figure out the little bits and pieces that make it real and wallah you have the real thing…who said it was going to look like what a real flubber worm looked like or not … well that depends, but the fact that you made the attempt and you came up with something is the point.” Sirius stated excitedly.

“This morning we are going to focus on a spell called Acusignis pronounced ‘aku-sig-nis’ it means ‘match to needle’. I am going to pass around a matchstick for everyone to practice on, and I want each of you to work on turning it into a needle. Now I am quite sure each and every one of you know what a needle looks like, what if feels like, how shiny it is, how big the eye is, how straight or curved the needle is, is it gold or silver or steel, is it a darning needle, or an embroidery needle, or a quilting needle, or an upholstery needle. Get the details down in your mind and then attempt to make your match into a needle. If you have problems don’t worry, sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right.

All three of her sitting companions closed their eyes for a moment and then smiled as they focused on what they wanted their needled to look like. Luna was the first to open her eyes and with a wave of her wand she said “Acusignis” and a beautiful but odd looking needle appeared. There was something strange about the eye of the needle, it was deformed in some way that Padma had never seen.

Then Harry opened his eyes with a smile and stated “Acusignis” as if he had said it a thousand times. And he had an antique looking darning needle that had a dragon on it up where the eye was located, was it’s open mouth and the needle part was it’s long tail, it appeared to be maid out of brass or something.

Next Neville opened his eyes and with a similar smile he called out “Acusignis” again as if he had said it many times before. His matchstick changed into a long, blunt needle made of wood with winding vines wrapped around it and a huge eye. Pavarti had never seen a needle like that before either.

Sirius looked over to the three of them then smiled and walked down the isle and looked at what they had created.

“Very good Luna, a self stringing needle, complex and intricate work today I would say.” Sirius smiled.

Then he looked at Harry’s. “Wonderful Harry, a darning needle of old, with artistic details and forethought.”

Next was Neville needle. “Excellent Neville, a basket weaver’s needle, complete with carvings and all, one of the best examples I have seen you make.”

Then Professor continued down the isle helping the others work on their needles, saying no more about the three or their successes. Pavarti didn’t understand this at all. He didn’t give them any points or accolades, nothing. He didn’t even draw everyone’s attention to it, she didn’t think that was fair, so she turned to Harry and asked him why.

“Because we have been doing this transfiguration since we were seven, and to praise us now is a little redundant don’t you think. Besides it would be unfair to the rest of the class to give us points for something we have done hundreds of times when you all are working so hard to do it once, no we get points when it something we have never tried or when it is above our skill set. He has to be fair to everyone, and to praise us for work we have already done is not fair to the rest of the class.” Harry stated with a smile.

Pavarti still didn’t understand, oh she understood the logic of it. But how could that be fair to Harry, Neville and Luna? Were all their classes going to be like that? They work the same as everyone else but get no praise for their work.

Then Harry told her not to worry about it, they weren’t, and that they understood the necessity of it. Then he offered to help her with her needle.

Three tries and she had it, with Harry’s help that is. Pavarti proudly raised her hand and Sirius came over to her and looked down at her perfect needle. “Excellent, Miss Patil. The first to complete the assignment, ten points to Gryffindor. Here is another matchstick in case you want to keep that one and try for another one.” Sirius said proudly and walked around to the next student whose hand was raised.

Harry smiled really big at her, “See a little imagination and focus and you did it. I told you, you could. Here ‘bocis’.” he said and a perfect sized little box appeared in front of her for her needle to fit into. “You always keep you very first transfiguration. It is like an award of something. Make sure you put down the time and date and put it into the box with it. That way you can compare it with your sister’s and see who got their’s first.”

Pavarti thanked him for the little box and did just as he suggested ,and put the little box in her bag to show to her sister later. Then she turned to her other match stick to see if she could do something else, like they had.

Harry, Neville and Luna had all created little boxes for their creations and put them in their bags and asked for new matchsticks as well. And were working on a second creation themselves. This time it was Neville that opened his eyes first and his matchstick became a brightly colored, layered needled. Each layer was a different color, or different metal, or both. It was so small, Pavarti couldn’t tell. But the work to make it would have been intricate in the extreme.

Then Harry opened his eyes and he looked down at his matchstick and said, “Acusignis”, and a beautiful crystal needle appeared, it almost looked like a small icicle all sparkly and delicate, she almost wanted to touch it to see if it was cold.

“Luna opened her eyes next and looked down to her matchstick with a mischievous smile and stated, “Acusignis”, then in the blink of an eye a tiny snake like needle appeared on the table. About two inches long and the snake was ingrained into the needle but you could tell the two apart. The snake was bright green and the needle was brilliant silver, the snake’s head folded over to make the eye of the needle and its tiny eyes were beaming black globes that stared out at you watching what you were doing, it was eerie.

Sirius noticed they had finished again and came over to check and see what they had done this time. “Luna, brilliant, that snake is Slytherin to the end. And extremely detailed, love the eyes.” Professor Black said proudly.

“Neville, a multi layered silver, copper, brass, and gold needle. Excellent work, I love the intricacies of the layering, especially on the tip, kept it separate down to the very end.” The Professor leaned in close to get a good look at the intricacies of this one.

“Harry, Extremely artistic, a crystal needle, looks so much like a icicle I had to take a second look. Excellent for working acromantula silk it being so fine and all.” Professor Black looked down and gave a small whistle at Harry’s work.

Pavarti couldn’t believe there were so many different types of needles, or designs you could make one in. She never really thought about a simple needle being so…so…interesting before. Now it was something she had to try to make it more different. So she sat back and thought about it, then an idea came to her head and she focused and focused some more then opened her eyes and “Acusignis”. There it was a rainbow colored steel needle. It went from purple up by the eye down to pink at the tip, with layers of all the colors of the rainbow in between. She shrieked when she saw it and this brought over Professor Black who clapped his hands and called out to the class getting everyone’s attentions.

“Class, class, Miss Patil, has made a very unique needle. A multi-colored steel needle, each layer of steel a different color, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Pink. Each color separate and distinct from the next. This is the kind of work each and every one of you can accomplish with just a little imagination and a small amount of magic. Twenty points to Gryffindor!”

Several of the students came over to look at the needle that Pavarti made and praised her for her ability to make it, Although Lavender Brown seemed to scour at the whole row of them for getting praise although she seemed to glare the most at Pavarti for some reason; which really didn’t make sense, since they had been talking and eating together just that morning and getting along famously. Apparently, something had changed.

About that time the bell rang out and Professor Black told the class to keep trying and to read chapter one and two in their books and be prepared for the next class.

Harry, Neville and Luna made boxes for their creations and Harry once again made a box for Pavarti and handed it to her for her to keep her new needle in. She smiled at him and proudly put her new prize in it and placed it carefully in her book bag, then put everything else away.

Next was charms class and professor Flitwick, Harry was excited about this class. Having a new teacher and all.

This classroom was set up like a stadium, with tiers of desks and chairs on levels encircling a center area where Professor Flitwick would stand. That area had a huge desk and tons of big books stacked around everywhere. Soon people were filing into the room and the room began to fill.

Harry, Neville and Luna, and once again Pavarti, this time she sat next to Luna though, sat down in the front center area of the room. Again the three didn’t get out their books but Pavarti did again, since even though she had read the book she still hadn’t memorized it or anything. Unlike her sister she didn’t have an endemic memory and still needed to look things up occasionally. With all of her writing things on the desk in front of her she was ready for class.

Just then the small Charms teacher appeared up in front of them from behind a stack of books. “Welcome one and all to your first Charms class. I am Professor Flitwick. Now Charms includes several areas of magic, so we will be covering spells, charms, some jinks’, a few hexes and the counters to some of them during our first semester together. It may seem to be a lot and this class does move rather quickly, so if you have problems I can find you a tutor or study group that will be more than happy to help you along the way. I do not give out extra credit work for first years so make sure you do your work well if you want to get the grades you are looking to get. Your grades are divided up forty percent in class participation and ability, thirty percent homework, and thirty percent tests and finals. I want to make sure you know the how to do the charm work even more than how to describe what you are doing, but I still want to know that you can tell me what you are doing and that you know the process you are going through. And I have three test per semester to make up that thirty percent, two five percent tests and one twenty percent test which is your final.” Professor Flitwick explained.

“I do call role each day, if you are late you get a mark against your score for that day which will lower your grade for that day by one level. If you do not show up for class, without just cause that is, you will get a zero for that day.” He continued.

“Today we are going to begin with the first charms in your book if you could turn to page nine in your book. It is the ‘Lumos’ charm. Lumos means ‘light’ so this charm will cause a ball of light to form at the end of your wand and radiate outward if done properly. How bright it will be depends on how much magic you pump into the spell. Now I want everyone to bring up your wands and say it with me, with this charm there is no wand movement merely hold your wand out in front of you and say “Lumos!” Nice and clear.” The professor explained.

The three sat there and looked toward Pavarti who turned to the appropriate page in her book and then lifted her wand and stated, “Lumos!” A nice cheerful yellow glow appeared as soon as she said the word.

“Excellent, excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss Pavarti Patil has done it first. And Miss Padma Patil is a close second, Ten points to Ravenclaw.” The little Professor was practically dancing about clapping his hands.

Then Luna called out “Lumos” quietly and a gentle pink light appeared at the tip of her wand. Neville did the same and a green light appeared at the tip of his wand. Then Harry’s turn came and he called out “Lumos” and a nice cheerful blue erupted from his wand. Each one held their lit wands in front of them and smiled at each other, Pavarti looked at Luna and asked how she did it.

“Well what color did you want your light to be?” Luna asked.

“I didn’t really think about it.” Pavarti stated.

“That is just it, I did, and I wanted pink. So my light is pink. All you have to do is think about the color you want when you say the word and the color will match what you are thinking.” Luna explained simply.

Pavarti nodded and tried again, “Lumos” and a nice purple color joined the other three wands that were lit on the first row.

“Brilliant! Brilliant! Look class, not only did Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Black, Miss Lovegood, and Miss Patil light their wands but they discovered the secret to turning the color of your light a different color.” The little man got so excited he actually fell off his stack of books and had to climb back up and was still smiling as he did so. “The whole secret to getting a different color to come out of your wand when you cast Lumos is to merely think of what color you wish the light to be as you are casting the spell. This spell is intent based and will recognize your desire and will make the light any color you want it to be.

With that the room was lit in a multitude of various colors and the little Professor was handing out points right and left, to both Ravenclaws and Gryffindors alike. All except Seamus Finnigan who ended up blowing up his light and setting his eyebrows to smoking for his effort.

The class was fun with everyone trying different colors and waving their wands around to get glowing rings of light. Harry had known he would love this class, and he did.

Again Lavender Brown looked menacing at the four of them sitting on the front row, she had only been able to get a standard lumos, with no other color to her’s and couldn’t understand why not. But that didn’t matter, what mattered is that who she thought was going to be her friend was showing her up in class and that was unacceptable.

After lunch was Potions with Professor Lovegood, and Harry loved potions. He had loved them since he had first been exposed to them, how adding one little thing to a mixture could cure someone or kill someone depending on the ingredient or what part of the plant you used. He loved how each ingredient interacted with the next and how just the tiniest variant should spell perfection or disaster.

As they walked into the room they went to the front table and this time Harry took the far right seat with Luna in the middle and Neville on the Left, then Pavarti asked if she could sit next to Neville, he smiled and said of course. So she got out her supplies and set up her area to get ready along with them.

Professor Lovegood was writing something on the board so her back was turned when everyone milled into the room, Slytherin taking the right side of the room with Gryffindor taking the left side of the room. Malfoy, his friend Pansy Parkinson sat in the middle of the classroom with his two book ends right behind them. Why Malfoy thought he needed an entire workspace for him and Parkinson is beyond me, Harry thought, but he ignored it and looked around to see who else was seated where. Brown was sitting all the way back on the right, by herself. Seamus and Thomas were right behind the four of them… he didn’t understand why she didn’t join the other two from Gryffindor and decided to sit alone. But he just shrugged his shoulders and ignored it. On the Slytherin side the from the front work station was occupied by Zabini, Nott, Bullstrode, Greengrass with Davis on the end. Then next row was Malfoy and Parkinson and the back row was Crabbe and Goyle. Looks like they have two more Slytherins than they do Gryffindors this year, If Ron would have stayed they would have had three more Slytherins.

When the bell rang the doors shut and sealed and Professor Lovegood turned around to face the class, it was then that Harry saw what she was writing on the board, the potion for the boil cure. A standard first year potion, it helped you learn the basic methods of chopping, slicing and grinding then when and how to add your ingredients. It also taught you the dangers of getting a potion wrong if you didn’t pay attention.

“Greetings everyone, my name is Professor Lovegood and, and yes your Care of Magical Creatures teacher is my husband. First, I want to say that Potions can be the most dangerous class you have. Any pranks, or clowning around in here… you are given one warning with a write up to your parents and if it happens again you are expelled from the class. If anyone is injured due to your idiocy, including yourself, it goes strait to being expelled. I will. not. tolerate. idiocy in my class room. Someone could be seriously hurt or even die for something you think is a prank or a joke.” The Professor looked around the room, making sure that each and every student understood that she was serious before she went onto the next.

“Safety in this room is absolute, the instructions on this board are a little more in-depth than what you will find in your book, but I want you to use your book as a guide; however, use the recipe I have placed on the board. Pay special attention to the safety precautions that are in red for you to notice them better, if I see you haven’t followed those precautions you will get a zero for your work for the day, plain and simple. Make a habit of reading the red writing first, write it down in your potions journal if you have one that is, or note it in your book if you prefer.” She explained.

As she continued Professor Lovegood went over to the new central island that was present at the front of the classroom and began to set it up as a workstation. With that encouragement everyone else began to do the same. They got out their cauldrons and scales and then spent a moment calibrating their scales.

“What are you doing” Pavarti asked Neville.

“Calibrating my scales. One gram off could destroy a potion, and if your scales is not calibrated every time you use it, how will you know if it is correct or not?” Neville place the tiny weight on the scales with a pair of tweezers, then adjusted a knob or two then went about doing it again with a different weight.

“I don’t know how to calibrate my scales.” Her scales didn’t have all the fancy knobs and levers that the other three’s had; but it was the one the store clerk recommended so that is the one her parents had purchased.

“Just a moment and I will help you.” Neville finished with his scale and set it aside then pulled her’s over and showed her how easy it was, she had only one calibration knob so it would be easy to do. He placed the appropriate weight on the scales and then looked at the little arrow to see what it indicated, then adjusted the knob to the left ever so slightly. Then he put a slightly bigger weight on the scale and did the same thing and repeated the process. When he was finished he smiled at Pavarti and said, “See quick and easy. All you need to do is get a set a calibrating weights, and you can do it yourself anytime you need to. Which I recommend is every time you take it out of your pack. It can loose some tightness or balance when it is crammed into a book bag for a few hours. The weights are relatively cheap and you can mail order them, so it shouldn’t be a problem to get them.” Neville pushed her adjusted scales back over to her and then turned to get his potion vials out of his bag, along with his stirrers and a mortar and pestle. With that his station was set up and he took out a clean cloth and began to wipe everything down with it, starting with the cauldron.

Pavarti noticed that Harry and Luna were doing exactly the same things, so she thought she had better follow in their footsteps, and did the same as well. After she had wiped everything down she laid it all out just like they had it, mimicking their lay out to the tee. Then she looked around and noticed that the rest of the class was already started brewing so she was a little worried about that but just went ahead and followed what Harry, Neville and Luna were doing. They all got up and went over to the little storage room and picked out the necessary ingredients and brought them back to their station and sat them down.

Pavarti noticed immediately they placed each one in a specific order and place, so she did the same. Then they went about preparing each ingredient as directed on the board. They all set the cauldrons to boil and as soon as they reached a slow boil they started adding in their ingredients, slowly stirring with rhythmic ease, never missing a beat. Each ingredient went in on time and each resulting change was noted and approved of with a nod and a smile.

Suddenly there was an loud explosion in the back of the classroom and a scream. Professor Lovegood raced towards Lavender Brown’s station and immediately knew what she had done, she had added the porcupine quills without taking the cauldron of the fire first. This caused the potion to explode and the cauldron to melt, sending potion all over the place and splashing hot, boil cure on her face and arms. Unfortunately, the potion at this stage, without it’s nullifying agents in it, will actually cause boils instead of cure them. So Lavender was now covered in painful boils on her arms and face. Thankfully, she had listened to the warnings about safety and had put on the safety goggles that had been placed at her station and none of the potion had gotten into her eyes.

“Alright Miss Brown we need to get you down to the Medi-Witch and she can take care of you. You apparently didn’t read on the board where it stated to remove the potion from the flames before adding the porcupine quills, perhaps since it was written in red… We will deal with that another time, right now let’s deal with your injury. Mr Finnigan, since what ever it is you are making in your cauldron is apparently not boil cure, why don’t you take Miss Brown down to Madam Pomfrey and then return and you may try again.” Professor Lovegood waved her wand and banished the potion and the destroyed cauldron and removed the potion from the front of Miss Brown’s clothing then banished what ever it was that was slowly boiling in Finnigan’s cauldron and set it aside for now, saving it from boiling over. With a quick scourgify she cleaned the cauldron and the two work areas and made them both ready to use again when needed.

“Now this is the first example of not reading the instructions properly. Miss Brown will get a zero for her assignment today since she ignored the instructions that were in red that were written on the board. Mr Finnigan will get the opportunity to remake his potion and see if he can do it properly this time, since it was a matter of improper mixing, and adding the ingredients in the wrong order. But those are things that can be remedied easily.” Professor Lovegood stated.

Just then another explosion happened, this time on the Slytherin side of the room. It was Vincent Crabbe’s cauldron this time and not two minutes after his exploded and before she could get over there “Blam!” Greg Goyle’s cauldron blew apart as well. Each boy was shrieking in pain and holding their face, neither one had worn the protective eye gear that was one their station to put on so they had gotten potion in their eyes and all over their face and arms.

Professor Longbottom quickly removed as much of the potion from their skin as she could and then ordered Mr. Malfoy and Miss Parkinson to escort the two of them down to the Medi-Witch and get them healed then return and finish their potions, and put their potions under stasis charms. Malfoy wasn’t happy about it but he quickly shut his mouth with a stern look from Professor Lovegood, that said ‘say something and a detentions waits for you’. So he did what he was told, with a scowl on his face, but he did it any way.

“Now I would like to tell everyone that Mr. Goyle and Mr. Crabbe will be getting a zero for today and a letter to their parents as well. Because not only did they ignore the red writing about the porcupine quills after you remove your cauldron from the fire, but they did not have their protective eyewear on. Their healing time is about triple that of Miss Brown because of that. If they have not permanently damaged their eyesight that is. This will be their only warning, the next time they do not follow the safety notices, and procedures they are expelled from this class. I will not have a student injured because of their own laziness or ignorance.”

“I want everyone to read chapter one of their book and give me a ten inch review of the boil cure, its parts and procedures as homework. When you finish your potion I want you to bottle it up and put a proper label on it for me with your name, date and what is in the bottle, on the label. Then bring it up to my desk when you are finished.” With that she proceeded to walk the isles and help those that needed it or comment on the potions of one or two students as she saw fit.

About that time Finnigan came back into the room and Professor Lovegood decided to help him, and walked him through step by step each part of the potion as he remade the potion. He was almost halfway done when Harry, Neville, Luna and even Pavarti finished their potion. They all looked the perfect shade of cobalt blue which is the color of the boil cure. Which turns flesh color once applied to the skin oddly enough, something to do with the salts excreted through human sweat glands, that become over active with the boil curse.

They bottled and labeled their potions for class, then bottled the rest of the potion to keep for themselves. They liked to have a stock of potions on hand just in case. Neville showed Pavarti how to label her potion properly and even helped her come up with a design that would be her logo to stand as her stamp on the bottle to signify her signature on the bottle.

Professor Lovegood finished with Finnigan and went walking around the room, then noticed the four in the front were finished. She walked up to their station and examined each potion picking it up and shaking each one, then putting it down with a nod and a smile. Then she reached Pavarti’s she smiled real big and said “Excellent, now class this is the color that you should all see in your potion, you will notice the exact color of cobalt blue that Miss Patil was able to achieve here. When this potion is applied to the skin of the patient it will turn flesh tone within a moment or so, and the healing effect will begin to take effect almost immediately. Ten points for Gryffindor Miss Patil.”

Harry, Neville, and Luna went about cleaning up their station and putting away their equipment, and Padma decided to follow along and did just what they were doing. It had worked to her benefit so far, so she might as well keep doing so. She had gotten so many points for Gryffindor today, she couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t wait to write Mata and Papa tell them about it. She always assumed that Padma would be the one making all the good grades and getting all the points but just look at her go. She was by no means stupid, oh no. But her sister had an eidetic memory and could remember everything she has every read or heard. They were both smart, but with her sister’s memory she would be brilliant. It seems with her new friends help she just might be brilliant anyway.

It was almost time for the bell to ring when Malfoy and Parkinson returned to the classroom. Apparently they had gotten lost on the way to the Medi-ward and it had taken them longer to get back than expected, so they didn’t have time to finish their potions. Which really agitated Malfoy and he let everyone know about it, including Professor Lovegood.

“Well if you had followed the map that I put on the back of your rules sheet you would have been there and back in plenty of time. But not to worry, a few of your class mates will be remaking this potion along with you on the next class as well. So while the rest of the class moves on to the next potion, you and Miss Parkinson, Mr, Crabbe, Mr Goyle, and Miss Brown will be making the Boil Cure again.” Professor Lovegood stated.

“That’s not fair, if it wasn’t for you telling us to take those two morons down to the medi-ward then we would have finished. Why should we be held back for something you did?” Malfoy nearly shouted.

“Mr Malfoy that will be ten points for disrespecting your teacher. And to answer your question, Mr. Finnigan was able to make it back and restart his potion and complete it from scratch, while it is not the best quality, it is an acceptable shade of blue and that is the score he will receive. You merely had to finish what you had already started. But you didn’t. Because you didn’t look at your map, that is no one’s responsibility but your own. Yell and scream all you want, but a temper tantrum in my class will get you nothin but sent out of class with more points removed and a detention to boot. Now clean your station and get ready for the bell.” The Professor stated.

“Wait until my father hears about this.” Malfoy stated as he glared at her.

“Twenty points, Mr Malfoy and a detention on Saturday with me at five o’clock. Oh and your father will definitely be hearing about this young man. Definitely!” Professor Lovegood turned and headed up to the front of the class and proceed to call for everyone to hand in their work and clean up their station at that time. If they had not finished their potion then they could stop what they were doing and bottle what ever they had finished then they would have the opportunity to remake the potion next class. She reminded everyone to label their bottles and then proceeded to get out her grade book and started marking down somethings in it while she waited.

Harry, Luna, Neville and Pavarti walked their potion up to her desk and placed them in the waiting racks that she had there, she looked up with a smile and just beamed at all four of them as they approached. She really was proud of them, but she wouldn’t expect anything but the best from her three, that they had found a new friend that was good at potions as well just made her smile even harder. With a nod she sent them on their way.

“After you turn in your potion and cleaned up your area, you may leave.” She told the class, but she was looking at the four of them.

They just smiled and nodded to her, going back to their stations they gathered their book bags and headed out the door. Next class was Defense, Harry’s favorite class, and Neville’s second favorite. Neville liked Herbology best but Defense came in as a close second. Luna liked Transfiguration and Charms about equal, because she loved them both. For Harry it was Defense first then probably Charms class, or maybe Potions he could never decide between the two, he kinda liked the two equally as well. Although Transfiguration took in a close third. Back home it was always Music as one of their favorite classes to take but they didn’t have that opportunity here, so they would have to suffer on that one. Harry had shrunk his piano and put it in a packing box so that if he had found a room they could play music in then they could all enjoy playing again, since Neville and Luna also brought their instruments.

They all made it down to the Defense class room well before anyone else did and had a moment to speak with Professor Longbottom before anyone else got there. So they put their book bags down at their chosen seats, this time they chose the right side of the class room front row, this classroom was set up in groups of four desks on one side of a central isle and four desks on the other side, going four desks back. So it allowed for a big class if necessary, thirty-two kid if need be.

“So how are classes going so far?” Frank asked.

“Wonderful,” Neville grinned to his Dad. “I made two really cool needles in Transfigurations and got a perfect score in Potions. Charms was a blast too, we had the class making different colored Lumos’ by the time the class ended and everyone loved it. It was the coolest light show you could see.”

“And I see you have made a new friend,” Frank looked over to Pavarti who blushed at the attention, but nodded.

“This is Pavarti Patil. She has sat with us in each class, and had gotten top marks in each class! You should have seen her needle, rainbow colored steel! It was beautiful, hey Pavarti why don’t you show it to my Dad…we have the time.” Neville encouraged.

Pavarti smiled and nodded then dug through her bag and got out the little box that held her precious needle, and brought it out.

“Oh my! That is a beauty! And this is your first day at doing that particular transfiguration? If so you have a wonderful imagination, your parents will be so proud of you.” Frank smiled at the young girl.

Pavarti couldn’t help it, her shoulders squared and she stood up taller as the Professor said that. All she ever wanted to do was make her parents proud of her, Mata and Papa were always praising Padma, and sometimes praised her, but less so. So her getting praise for her hard work made her feel so gratified. She knew that she was going to sit with the three of them as often as possible from now on, they taught just as well as the Professors did, if not better. They were patient and explained things in a way she could understand them. It made her able to finish the assignments easily and quickly, and she was sure with their help…homework would be a breeze.

As they were talking students started to filter into the room and take up seats here and there. Harry and Neville’s dorm mates sat right behind them while Lavender Brown once again took a solitary seat, by her self in the back of the room. Thankfully she made it to class though, although she was covered in bright orange bandaged on her arms, at least her face appeared to be clear of boils.

The Slytherin side had Davis, Greengrass and Bullstrode at the front, followed by Nott and Zabini, then Malfoy and Parkinson, and finally space for Crabbe and Goyle was reserved at the back, since they were still in the medi-ward. Why they decided to do two or three per row is beyond me thought Harry but what ever. He focused on getting his desk and ready for class, getting out his writing supplies and again he left his book in his bag, as did Neville and Luna. Pavarti gave him a look but took her book out and placed it on her desk, just in case.

“If you guys have already had this class too, won’t you be board in this class?” Pavarti asked Harry in a whisper.

“We had it with Professor Black and Professor Lupin, so Professor Longbottom may teach totally different and stress different things and have different goals for us. It is exciting to see what new teachers have in mind and what they have you do, I don’t care what the class it is. Just like Professor Black has never taught us Transfigurations before, so it made the class exciting even if it was something we had done before. Now Professor Lovegood has always taught us Potions but it is a subject we all three enjoy a great deal so it didn’t seem to matter. We still had a lot of fun in class. Even though four people blew up their cauldrons.

“Alright everyone, I have you all down as present. First, let me introduce myself I am Professor Longbottom, the other one that is. Second, I will tell you now that if you are late for my class, you will end up sitting in the hallway; since I will be sealing the door when the bell strikes for the class to start. And if that happens three times you will find yourself having a letter being sent to your parents and your letter grade lowered by one level. So make sure that you keep that in mind if you dally between classes. And before anyone asks yes I know about the potions accident and Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Boyle not making it to class today. Don’t worry about it, they will get notes on the assignment and the reading assignment information. Also I will be offering extra tutoring to anyone who wishes to take advantage of it after classes, six to seven o’clock each night during the week. It will be held here in this classroom and is open to all houses, and the time slot is specific for this year, so don’t be late or you will not be allowed in.” Professor Longbottom explained

“Third” He continued. “Any fooling around in this class will see a zero on your score for the day, also if I find out that you that you have used anything that I have taught you in this class against anyone else you will automatically get fifty points docked and a detention, as well as a letter sent to your parents. If it happens twice you will be expelled. Plain and simple. No pleads, no I’ll do better next time, no I’m sorry I won’t do it again. Nothing, The Headmistress and I have already discussed this and she agrees with me on this one. So don’t risk your eduction on something stupid. Also the excuse I was defending myself won’t work either, a simple shield will defend yourself until a Professor or Prefect shows up to take care of the situation. Also since the use of magic in the halls is forbidden to begin with you will get a detention for using magic in the corridors before we even get onto the topic of what type of spell you used. So you will get one detention for using magic in the hallways to start with and if I find out that you have used one of the spells I have taught you to do anything except to shield yourself you will receive fifty points off and another detention. If you are on the defensive side and merely put up a shield to protect yourself you will not receive the detentions or the point dockage. So think wisely before you act.” Professor Longbottom explained.

“Next, all your test will be fifty percent written and fifty percent practical, so don’t think that skill alone will get you a good grade in this class. I want to know that you can explain what a curse or spell does, what it’s counter is and what wand movements it takes to cast the spell. Your overall grade is a combination of in class participation of thirty percent, homework…thirty percent, and tests…forty percent. There is an opportunity to do an extra credit essay after the first month of class, I will have a list of subject that you may choose from or you may choose your own and if it is approved you will have the opportunity to write on your own topic. Now since it is extra credit if you get a poor score on it, it will not effect your overall grade, however it will have taken up allot of your time you could have been studying or working on your regular homework. So think hard about whether or not you want to take on the challenge before you even start.” Professor Longbottom looked around the room to make sure that everyone understood exactly what he was saying and that no one raised their hands in question.

“The first thing I am going to teach you all is ‘Protego’ it is a simple shielding spell that is the most basic spell in Defense and I personally think should be the first spell that any of you learn. Now do any of you already know how to cast Protego?” Professor Longbottom asked.

Harry, Neville, and Luna of course raised their hands, but so did Malfoy and Zabini. Everyone else just looked around the room to see who had raised their hands. Lavender Brown scowled at the three of them again and crossed her arms in front of her and sat back with a huff.

“Mr. Malfoy, why don’t you join me up here and we will see if you can demonstrate what Protego looks like for the rest of the class.” Professor Longbottom stated waiving his hand for Malfoy to join him at the head of the class.

Well Malfoy wasn’t going to let a chance to show off slip by, so he strutted up to the front of the class to the cleared off area that the Professors used to exhibit what different spells should be like. “One thing I should point out is that the more magic you pour into this shield the larger and thicker this shield will become. It is an amazing spell, in which quite a few variations have been created over the centuries and while you will be introduced to some of them before you leave Hogwarts, I doubt you will have the pleasure of seeing them all. That is something that would make an excellent topic for a research paper at some point so keep that one in mind for the extra credit ideas.

Harry had already grabbed his quill and was writing away before the Professor had even finished with what he was saying and he kept writing as he spoke, grinning up a storm.

Neville just nodded and rolled his eyes, as if he knew Harry had gotten one of the best subject topics already and wished he had gotten it first. Luna just smiled at both her friends antics and shook her head, deciding to pay attention to the Professor instead.

Pavarti watched Harry writing down several things and didn’t quite understand what had gotten him so excited but decided to ask him later in the dorm. He seemed to really be writing away though so she was definitely curious.

“Now this is what the wand movements for Protego looks like, a slash with a small upwards hook, alright everyone I want you to try the same wand movement with me. Slash and hook, again. Slash and hook, one more time, Slash and hook. Okay good. Now let’s see what Mr. Malfoy can do with this spell. The floor is your’s Mr. Malfoy.” And with that Professor Lovegood stepped to the side and waited.

Malfoy got this smug look on his face and called out. “Protego!” A fair sized shield appeared in front of Malfoy but he had almost no side coverage at all. And his wall was rather thin to begin with, telling Harry he wasn’t putting much magic into the end product at all. What was embarrassing was that Malfoy still had that smug look on his face. As if what he had done was something great. Then his shield dropped, it had held for all of maybe a minute and a half, maybe two minutes at the most.

“Okay, let’s have Mr. Zabini up here and see what he can do, if you please.” Professor Longbottom motioned for Zabini to come up to the front of the classroom and try his hand at the same spell.

Blaise came up to the front of the classroom hesitantly as Malfoy retook his seat. Then took Malfoy’s place and turned to the rest of the class and stood there ready. Then he raised his wand and called out “Protego!” This time the shield was quite a bit fuller and it was visibly thicker than Malfoy’s as well.

“Okay can anyone tell me what Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini did differently that got the different results?” Professor Longbottom asked. Then he noticed Harry’s hand up and he pointed to Harry and nodded.

“Mr. Zabini used a longer slash and wider hook so it covered a larger area, and he put more magic into the spell which got a thicker shield.” Harry explained.

“That’s right, the longer the slash the more area you will cover, so you want to cover your body width at least in order to get, the wider hook gave Mr. Zabini some side coverage as well, which you will see comes in quite handy. The thickness is based on power, the amount of magic you pump into your shield is a direct correlation to the thickness of the shield. So bare that in mind when you are working with upper level spells or higher powered low level spells, like a higher powered stinging hex. Now if you would all get up and move to the center isle I will move the desks out of the way and we can all practice this spell together. Thank You Mr. Zabini.” Professor Longbottom instructed waving his arms to the for everyone to get up out of their desks and leave their things as they have them, just to move to the center of the room. Once everyone was in the center of the room he waved his wand and the desks neatly moved to the sides of the classroom and out of the way.

“Now I want everyone to practice the wand movement until they area comfortable with it, and once you are I want to see you pump you best into the shield that you can manage. If you have to take a moment to focus your magic that is alright, right now we are just learning to do the spell, as you gain practice with it, it will become second nature and you won’t have to think about pushing power into it, you will do it automatically. It will be entirely instinct at that level, and easy as breathing.” Professor Longbottom encouraged watching each student as they practiced their wand movements.

Harry noticed that Pavarti’s wand movement was off slightly and he reached over and adjusted her hand to the right angle and then told her to try again when he thought she had it down pat he gave her a thumbs up and a grin then showed her how he did it and let her compare. She watched him do it and began to copy exactly what he was doing, motion for motion until she had it down pat.

“Oh by the way ten points to Slytherin for Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini, for your shields, good job.” The Professor stated just realizing he hadn’t given either boy points for getting up in class and preforming a shield.

“Very well, let’s start with Miss Greengrass.” And the Professor went around the room correcting little things he saw was wrong in their form or pronunciation of the spell, until they could cast ‘Protego’ correctly. By the time he got around to Pavarti she was a little nervous but he said just do your best and Harry said just take three deep breaths before you pump your magic into the spell, it will help you build up your magic level somewhat. And that is exactly what she did, her shield was the best in the class. It was well rounded and nice and thick. Very good for someone who has never tried to use the spell before. Then the Professor began to discuss the homework that was due on Wednesday and was rudely interrupted by Malfoy.

“Why didn’t you have them do the shield, can’t they even do that. All that fancy magic and can’t even do a simple shield? Ha ha ha ha.” Malfoy laughed as he pointed to Harry, Neville and Luna.

They ignored him and simply looked up to Professor Longbottom for what they should do, when he nodded they all called out at the same time “PROTEGO!” And immediately a dome like shield formed around each one of them. Unlike the simple shields that the others had, these were more dome shaped and covered most of their bodies on all sides with only a little area in the back left vulnerable. Each one was three times as thick as even Mr. Zabini’s was, and visibly shimmery, almost as if was made of liquid of some kind.

“That, Mr. Malfoy is why I didn’t call on them to perform the spell. I knew if you saw how well they did the spell it might discourage you somewhat; and make you feel as if your meager attempt at a Protego was less than standard. These three can hold that spell as long as necessary, I have clocked them for up to thirty minutes without any falter in strength or any coverage dissipation. They learned that spell years ago and have perfected it quite well. And so can you, with practice and some hard work, which is all they did. Although they were younger than you, so it was a lot harder for them to get it done and took longer to get it right, than it should take you now. Thank you Mr. Black, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Lovegood that will be fine.” And the three lowered their wands and their shields went down and they nodded to their teacher. “Now back to that homework….”

Lavender Brown was seething where she stood with her arms across her chest, she had managed to get a thin mist of a shield but that was it, and it barely covered the front of her body. It wouldn’t protect against a butterfly let alone a strong spell, and here are these three that look like they could deflect a bullet aimed at them. All day these three had been showing people up in class; being nothing but the teachers’ pets. Each and every class. She could almost understand it in the classes where they were related the teacher, but they even stole the spotlight in Charms class with Flitwick, making different colored Lumos’ when no one knew you could do it but them. This was getting intolerable. She hated show offs, now Patil was just as bad. She had worked with them all day and had done high scores in all her classes, getting points in each class for her work. Even for that ugly needle she made. She was going to have to do something about this before it got to intolerable to bear, she had two of them in her room and that was two too many.