Harry was pretty big on accepting other people as they were, but Ronald Weasley was managing to rub Harry the wrong way. First was the boy's complete lack of anything resembling table manners, but compounding that was the way he spoke of the other houses and the prideful attitude about the superiority of magic over muggle, as was demonstrated by his reaction to Dean Thomas' football posters. It was almost pureblood nonsense minus the mention of blood. But for Harry the final straw came shortly after he took Harry to task for wishing Draco "goodnight"on their way past the Slytherin table.
"What were you talking to a slimy snake like Malfoy for?" the other boy demanded as soon as they had been shown to their room in Gryffindor Tower. His angry face making Harry believe the other boy was thinking of trying to hurt him.
Harry counted to ten, then twenty just to be sure he was in control when he answered. "He's my cousin. Are you one of those unthinking prejudiced bigots that think all Slytherins are evil?" The other boy was eight inches taller but scrawny. If he took this disagreement physical he would regret it, because Harry knew it wasn't your size so much as what you did with it.
"Yeah at least I'm smart enough to recognize evil when I see it, so keep your slimy self far away from me. Got it, Potter?"
"With pleasure, Weasley."
Harry levitated his trunk, despite Winry's strictures, over to where Seamus Finnegain was. "Seamus, do you mind switching? I don't think me and Weasley sharing the same twenty feet is a good plan."
"Sure thing. How are you… you know doin' tha' ?" He said pointing at the trunk.
"Levitation charm, want a hand with your trunk?"
"Please."
Harry noticed that Sheba, who was still riding on his shoulders, was taking a bit of an extraordinary interest in both Trevor and Ron Weasley's rat so he cast a compulsion charm on Sheba so she'd leave them alone. "Sorry girl they're off limits." Harry half wanted to not protect the rat, since they reminded him of his parents' betrayer but there was no point to making an enemy of his roommate, if he hadn't already.
He pulled out his cellphone and wandered close to the window on his side of the tower. He dialed for Sirius. It had barely rung when He heard." Black."
"Hey, Sirius."
"Kiddo! So what house?"
"Gryffindor, Sue and Neville too."
"Way to go! What happened to the plan of being a badger?"
"I think if the Hat were a person it would have died laughing."
"You know that's funny, I had the-"
"same reaction, I know. I just thought I'd tell you I got here safe and sound and Riza's right. The old fart is completely looney tunes."
"Stay as far from him as you can, unfortunately it'll take something pretty dire for us to get a competency hearing done."
"That might not be as far from now as you thought. Apparently he brought something dangerous into the school."
"Don't go near it but find out what you can and remember Minerva is an ally."
"Will do. Goodnight."
"Night night kiddo."
Harry was surprised when he got off the phone to see Dean Thonas staring at him. "What?"
"That"s a cell phone, but I was told electronics didn't work at Hogwarts."
"Most wouldn't. They would short circuit in the magical fields; this" he raised the phone in his hand, "is not your normal cell phone. DuSablePotter Industries makes magically adapted electronics. While not widely available in the UK yet, they do exist. Sirius plans to start marketing them here in six months. He figures by that point the restructure will be far enough along that he won't get strung up for his "sacrilege". Would you like to call your parents and let them know you got here safe and sound?"
"Could I? That would be great!"
"Sure." Harry extended the phone then turned his attention to settling in, ignoring the glare that was being sent at him by Ron Weasley.
An hour and a half later Harry was hailed a hero by his roommates when he silenced the curtains surrounding Ron Weasleys four poster as the boy snored so loud he was keeping everyone else awake.
The next morning they were handed their schedules at breakfast, and they headed off to Herbology. Harry was happy to discover that Herbology was to be very hands on, and a class he would learn things in.
Susan was happy because it was a class they had with the Hufflepuffs which meant she could spend time with Hannah.
Neville was happiest of all because he already knew how to handle himself in a greenhouse.
The remainder of Harry's classes that week didn't go nearly so Charms he was bored out of his skull, so he decided to try and recreate the Maurader's Map of his godfather's stories. In History of Magic he watched in dismay as most of his classmates fell asleep and he struggled not to join them. Astronomy threw his sleep cycles off . He was also dismayed that really all that was going to be taught was thirty to forty years behind what he'd learned in Astronomy club at S-C. He resolved to get Sirius to sponsor the addition of a planetarium to the castle, and to order some modern books for the professor as soon as possible. Transfiguration was boring like Charms was. Thankfully Professor McGonagall dumped a fourth year text in front of him. Defense was worse than a joke. Harry fought the urge to hex the teacher just to see if the man knew how to shield. Friday brought Potions class and the person who seemed to hate him, Professor Severus Snape.
After a slightly poetic but overly dramatic introduction to what potions were capable of, he changed his focus to Harry. "Mr. Potter. Our new celebrity. Can you tell me what you would get if you added powdered asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry stood respectfully as was required by most professors at S-C for a verbal quizzing. "Draught of Living Death, sir."
"I'm amazed you have just done more than your father ever did, you cracked a book before coming. Can you tell me where you would find a beazoar?"
...
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