Despite being one of, if not the first people awake, they were only moderately on time for breakfast given Fred and George's detour to the courtyard, and now everyone who walked over the grassy stones would have rainbow sparkles following them for the rest of the day like some fantastic cartoon animation in real life. It was originally supposed to be illusions of bees, but Neville's disappointed look convinced them to make it slightly more harmless than it already was. Or, it convinced Harry who then convinced the twins.
Harry also had a spontaneous surge of mischief when he asked for certain stones on the walking path to not get enchanted, so if the opportunity arose he could mess with people by walking through and seemingly not getting hit with the spell. And by "people" he meant the Slytherins because they would be the most annoyed by even this tiny spell and also that he would appear immune to it without them knowing why. Even if it was a small annoyance, he felt his snake friends deserved it and the twins were simply fascinated to listen to his logic of what would actually legitimately annoy the Slytherins—George even whipped out a small journal and took notes, much to Harry's amusement.
"This is good, this is really good." He hummed thoughtfully as they entered the Great Hall to a pretty decent size crowd already tucking into their meals.
"Yeah, you being part snake is actually bloody brilliant—you'll know what'll piss 'em off the worst." Fred chimed in eagerly.
"There is a difference you know, between annoying them and pissing them off." He pointed out, feeling if he didn't walk a careful line here somehow Blaise would find out he'd been "betraying" his new snake friends to their enemy number one: 'blood traitor pranksters', as they'd put it.
"Do we care?" George snorted.
"You should. Piss them off as a whole and retribution will come down on your entire family and probably be bad enough you won't even know it wasn't an act of nature." Harry raised his brows pointedly. "Just annoy them and you might actually have a prank war on your hands. Wouldn't that be way more interesting?"
Both twins blinked widely, exchanging thoughtful looks.
"Slytherins, pulling pranks?" Fred gawked owlishly.
Harry snickered. "They're pretty good at it you know, if even you didn't realize some of them are behind it, much less what it was. That's their favorite kind of pranks—the kind where they can laugh at you from a distance without you even knowing you're being pranked." He explained. "Besides, don't you want to open a joke shop? That's a quarter of your potential market you're excluding if you don't know how to make things Slytherins would like."
They were suspiciously silent as they plopped down at the table and seemed lost in thought over that, and it was amusing enough Harry almost didn't notice his attackers from behind.
He figured it out quick though, by almost jumping out of his skin as someone glomped him from behind, arms around him the only thing keeping him on the bench as he flailed in shock.
"Harry! First you miss the train then you ditch us!?" Seamus cried indignantly and Dean clapped him on the shoulder with a laugh as he sat down at the table too.
"You scared the life outta me Seamus!" Harry cried but just got laughed at—which was somehow nice since his heart was legitimately pounding out of his chest right then, but people taking it as a joke saved him for a moment so he could calm down. "Missing the train was an accident and I don't recommend it—and I was working on something this morning so sorry to miss you." He flashed them a grin and figured it was probably pretty believable. "Happy term you guys, nice to see you."
"You too, hope you had a good summer." Dean greeted casually, and be it Neville warm against his side or the nice morning he'd had, but Harry managed to just smile politely back at him instead of any other sort of reaction to that. He had to get over it—who knew how many people were going to say that today, and they did not mean anything by it. In fact many of them would not actually want a real answer at all, just like most people didn't expect a real answer when you said 'how are you' as a greeting.
It was just a greeting, nothing more.
"Eh, was fine. You?" He applauded himself for being fully believable there.
"Yeah, pretty boring. Back to the muggle world after a year at Hogwarts was dull—I even did my homework and read ahead I was so bored!" Dean complained and Seamus laughed at him while Harry took notes that that was a very generic, believable thing to say, especially to purebloods who were predisposed to think muggles a bit dull no matter if they were Slytherins or not. People knew he was back with muggles and if Susan had been spreading the fact his wards were blocked to people it'd be even more believable.
He figured that was a good lie and he would be copying Dean and sticking to it.
"Yeah same." He agreed as casually as he could before going about assembling his plate.
"And how far ahead are we in Transfiguration now?" Seamus teased, and Harry perked up because he liked that change in conversation direction.
"I actually just got a joke book of new Transfiguration spells and it's bloody awesome—most are fourth year and above I think."
The twins suddenly snapped out of whatever thoughtful spell they'd fallen under, immediately interested.
"Really?" They chorused, intrigued.
Harry laughed, "It's probably not to your level but one or two you might be interested in."
"I mean we are fourth years,"
"And we do love a good joke."
"I may be willing to trade," He grinned and given they were very familiar with his trading habit they just gave him a dual thumbs up.
"I'm sure we can think of something worthy of exchanging," One of them winked.
Harry was actually interested in that since he was pretty much on their level so far as Transfiguration, so whatever they were trading now would probably be prank-related. Or material related as they always seemed to be able to produce Filch-banned contraband and other goodies at the drop of a hat, and that could come in handy for sure.
All in all, breakfast actually went rather well. Be it everyone having already talked about their summer's yesterday on the train without him and moved on from that by now, them happy to buy his implication his summer hadn't been worth mentioning, excitement for the new year so close upon them, or a combination of all of it, but this particular group was more than happy to talk about classes and the magical world in general instead of anything else. Harry was almost surprised how easy it was to switch back into 'social mode', the persona he'd worn all year last term as he went around meeting everyone he could in attempts to convince them he wasn't just his famous title or a stupid rumor.
Bantering with Dean and Seamus, double checking that Neville was included in the conversation, even trying to keep track of the twins who were always a whirlwind in every situation… it was almost easy to regain something he'd thought he'd lost for a moment there. He did wonder how long it would last, but he enjoyed it while it was here.
He also enjoyed Neville quietly pointing out the new first years as they started to wander in, each looking a little frazzled/relieved since clearly they'd just been tasked with navigating the labyrinth that was Hogwarts for the very first time under threat of being late their first day. A few even had sparkles around their heads which meant they'd gotten really lost if they'd been in the courtyard already.
He didn't see the so-named Colin with his camera but he did see a tiny little red head that was clearly a new Weasley, but she kept her head down and slipped into the table near the end and way too far for Harry to say hi. He didn't want to ask the twins what their sister was like since he wanted to meet her himself but he was dead curious on if she was more like them, or Ron. Guess only time would tell that…
Before he knew it, his favorite professor was there and in her stern way making the trip down the table to hand them their timetables. Harry was thrilled to see her but just grinned widely as McGonagall handed him his schedule and she nodded back—noticeably softer given she'd just been glaring at the too-innocent twins immediately prior.
And on that note, Harry was thrilled that the second class of the day was Transfiguration. A bit concerned he had Defense right after the morning break as Draco's reaction to the new professor was worrying to say the least, but still, it was a great start to the term. First class was Herbology, but he had never minded that—especially now, since he was pretty sure Neville would still be okay with being his partner this year and it just meant he wouldn't have to leave his friend's side even longer.
"What's got you so happy over a timetable?" George leaned over his shoulder to see his schedule, and made a face. "Bwah! I forgot how nice the schedule was for first and second years!"
"Ah, the good old days." Fred sighed in mock weariness.
Dean frowned, a bit unnerved. "How much worse does it get?"
"Depends on how crazy you are, and clearly we're insane." Fred snickered.
"Yeah we took up two electives and one is not the easiest. Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy." George sighed.
"Not Divination? I heard that's an easy grade." Dean pointed out.
"It is, but Arithmancy would be way more useful for our… ah, business endeavors."
"I don't want to know." Seamus deadpanned, earning some snickers. "What are the easy electives then?"
"Well Care of Creatures is hard for hands-on work but homework and tests are a breeze, if there are any. Muggle studies is apparently a joke for muggleborns and actually not that accurate—we get enough of that at home anyway from our dad so not interested. Divination too I hear you can literally make anything up and so long as it's dark and creepy, Trelawney will love it." George grinned. "Lee's taking it and has predicted my death ten times and got Os on all of it."
"The hell?" Dean blinked but Harry was highly amused.
"Sounds interesting."
"You can't take Divination or McGonagall will disown you," Fred immediately warned him. "She hates divination with a passion and it's hilarious. Never seen her twitch like that when it's brought up."
"Oh good to know," He blinked, immediately putting down any plans he had in his head about considering it. Not that he really was, he knew Arithmancy was in his future since it'd clearly already come in handy for his work before. But that meant… "I was thinking of Arithmancy, Runes, and Creatures. You think that's too much?"
"I mean probably, if you're not overly bookish." George allowed. "Aside from Creatures those are the two hardest by far, among most of the classes Hogwarts offer even, and also the classes happen at the same time I think."
"Although Marissa took both for sure, though no idea how she did it." Fred pointed out but they just shrugged. "Wouldn't recommend it—the kind of work load for even two electives, much less Arithmancy and Runes, is insane, trust us."
"But you didn't take Runes?" He challenged, and they got a sly, slightly guilty look on their faces.
"Well," They allowed with a bit wicked grins.
"One of us took Arithmancy…"
"The other took Runes." They admitted and everyone did a double take while Harry just laughed. "So trust us when we say it takes two brains not to go insane." They grinned.
"Wait, let me guess," Harry put his hands up and glanced at their plates subtlety. He had gotten pretty good at gauging which was which by the way they talked or their attitudes towards certain things, but the sure-fire way to be sure was double-checking what the ate as they definitely had preferences and were probably confidant no one had caught on to it yet, so they didn't even hide it.
Last year he'd put together a decent theory that George was better at Transfiguration while Fred was better at Charms. He already knew Arithmancy was good for Transfiguration work and these two were decent students who definitely understood the concept of understanding to be able to do things with their magic not just take a test on it—particularly for pranks and the joke shop they one day planned to open. Harry could have faith they'd already figured out that it would only be sensible for the Transfiguration expert to have Arithmancy too, as that's how the best pranks would one day get invented.
Therefore…
"George is in Arithmancy and Fred is in Runes." He pointed to each of them in turn, and predictably they grinned devilishly back.
"Good try, but you got it wrong," Fred huffed.
"And no way we're admitting to who is in who! We even switch our names in class despite the other not being in the same subject and the professors hate it." George chuckled.
Harry just lifted his chin triumphantly. "No way, I'm right." He declared confidently, earning him some odd looks. "I spent all last year taking notes to be able to figure it out and I know I'm right."
"You cannot tell us apart."
"Our own mother can't," They dismissed him.
"Well no offense to Mrs. Weasley but the hat didn't almost put her in Slytherin. I'm right, and you can't tell me otherwise." He argued, and that made them pause for a second to reconsider.
"But still." Fred frowned.
"Remember I got you different presents for Christmas last year. Properly labeled, didn't I?" He reminded them and they froze for a second, exchanging surprised looks.
"Oh shit." George did a double take. "Wait yeah, you did! Holy shit, what the hell!? I thought that was an accident!"
"Oh my god really!?" Seamus chimed in, everyone paying attention to this now because this was news. Many probably didn't know about the Christmas presents since it'd been a really low attendance at the castle last year so it really was all new to them.
"So will you confess that I was right now?" He pushed playfully and Fred smiled in surprised amusement while George got an annoyed look—the difference startling everyone present aside from Harry who had definitely been expecting that.
"Fine, yeah I'm in Arithmancy," George pouted, actually admitting he was George for once and everyone's head spun at the rare occurrence. "How on earth-?"
"No way, I'm not telling you how I do it or you'll quit it immediately and where's the fun in that?" He stuck his tongue out at them and they were abruptly back to being in sync when they both mirrored the motion immediately.
"How does you almost being in Slytherin mean you can tell them apart?" Seamus demanded curiously. "I thought Ravenclaw were the observant ones."
"Speaking generally, I wouldn't say Ravenclaws are observant exactly, they're just really good at deduction. Slytherins are the ones who don't miss a damn thing and frankly it's annoying. I had to get really good and interpreting what subtle looks meant or I'd be eaten alive over there," he complained (and also flaunted, because he'd worked hard on those skills and was happy to brag a bit about it). "These two really are identical but they are different. People can't control the little reactions they have to things if they have different preferences after all."
"Yeah well we knew that." Fred scoffed.
"No one else did before you though," George huffed a bit. "Go on, do it again. This is fascinating."
Harry considered it and settled on something safe. "Fred's favorite color is orange, George's is pink."
"No way," They chorused in just as much indignant surprise as earlier and everyone leaned in as they realized this was a thing.
Harry preened, and enjoyed displaying his party trick for them as breakfast wound to a close.
000
"Alright then, Harry?" He turned, and thanks to Neville was prepared for Susan jogging up to them and nipping his sleeve gently as she pulled him from the stream of people walking down to the greenhouses for their first class of term. He let it happen, shooting Neville a smile as the blond watched him go, before heading on towards Herbology. He knew the blond would save them a space—Neville already knew Susan wanted to talk to Harry and the greenhouses were his safe space anyway so there was a lot less hesitation than there'd be any other time.
"Hey Susan," He smiled blankly at her as she cornered him. "Heard you've been fielding questions about me—sorry about that."
She waved him off, unbothered. "No worries, what you do with your mail wards are none of my business. Could've warned poor Neville though." She scolded him and he winced a bit.
"Yeah, I honestly forgot. To change them or tell anyone, that is." He admitted and she seemed to accept that. Or, that was clearly not what she wanted to talk to him about and they were under a time crunch so she moved on quickly.
"I figured. Did Neville tell you about Dumbledore then?"
"He said he was trying to get in contact with me, though I wouldn't know why. McGonagall can, so if it's from Hogwarts then she could do it." He tried to act clueless but she either she didn't buy it or didn't care, she just pressed a little harder.
"My aunt works for the DMLE and she made me promise to tell you about it—apparently when she checked your mail wards for me she found wards were already in place. Not goblin wards."
Harry almost did a double take, but immediately caught on.
"Would she be able to tell who put them in place?"
"No, it's not illegal for people to use their own wards, but goblins do a much better job in general so it's not common. Goblin wards need Ministry approval though, so there is some preference in doing it yourself as it won't be tracked. Given you live with muggles though, Auntie was concerned over who did it."
It made so much sense—it's been nearly a year and Axeclaw had still not been able to find out where his original mail had been sent for the first ten years of his life, and Gringotts was usually was more on top of things than that. If the manager was looking for goblin wards or something on the record then he was looking in the wrong places—and if the wizard whose put the ward up was, say, Albus Dumbledore… he wasn't a normal wizard and those wards might just be something to give even a goblin a run for their money. Harry knew nothing about wards but he knew the Headmaster's reputation as a "great wizard" probably wasn't faked until otherwise proven so—or at least it'd be the cautious thing to do to assume he was not only a prick but a legitimate threat magically as well as politically until he had evidence to prove differently.
"She suspects though, doesn't she." He frowned, and Susan nodded seriously.
"You might not like to hear it, but she thinks its Headmaster Dumbledore." She confessed.
Wait… does she think she's breaking news to me? Harry blinked widely in surprise that she didn't already know how much he hated the headmaster, and she must've taken his expression to mean he was in any way shocked that it was Albus Dumbledore who was sticking his nose where it shouldn't be.
"I know it's weird, but Auntie and him have been at odds for a while—she thinks he's so nosey and as Supreme Mugwump, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock and how many seats he holds on the Wizegamont… well Auntie is head of law enforcement and she doesn't agree with a lot of what he does as it doesn't follow the book on the most part. People like that about him but she's super strict so it normally just pisses her off." She explained like she was trying to defend her aunt's distaste of the man everyone else loved, but honestly Harry was suddenly Amelia Bones' number one fan.
"I mean it would make sense that he put wards up to protect you at some point since you do live with muggles but Auntie is mad about it for some reason. And she wanted me to warn you." Susan finished in a huff. "Do with that information what you will."
"Thanks, Susan. And seriously, thank your Aunt for me. In fact what kind of sweets does she like? I'll send her a gift basket as thanks." He was dead serious, and Susan did a small double take in surprise.
"Wait what?"
"I thought you were warning me because you already knew how much I didn't like the Headmaster." He admitted and her eyes widened almost comically.
"You don't…?"
"Your aunt is dead right—he isreally nosey. And I'm an orphan… I don't have a magical legal guardian who knows shit about the wizarding world to protect me from all the crap he's done. I don't really want to get into it but part of the reason I'm not opening my mail wards is because I don't want him getting any more involved than he already is. McGonagall can reach me because she really would keep it to important school stuff—the headmaster wouldn't."
Susan stared at him, her mouth a little open in shock as she tried to absorb that. She probably grew up knowing her aunt was in the far minority for not liking Dumbledore, and to suddenly hear someone agreeing with that sentiment probably took her off guard.
"But why-"
Suddenly the clock tower rung out loudly at the perfect time to avoid continuing this conversation, with the unfortunate side effect of realizing they were about to be late to their first class. Harry took off down the pathway and Susan was hot on his heels as she collected herself to realize now was not the time to get into this conversation.
And frankly Harry wasn't interested in continuing it at a better time either.
"I don't want to talk about it," He called as they ran, and she didn't answer but he knew she got the message as they slipped into the greenhouse as everyone was pulling on their protective gear already, although they missed the order for what it was they were supposed to be doing. Luckily Sprout either didn't notice their late arrival with all the chaos or didn't mind as they just got down to work, Neville handing them a pair of earmuffs each without a word.
"Chocolate." Was all Susan said instead as she pulled on her protective smock and Harry made a mental note to put in an order with Honeydukes for Madam Amelia Bones.
000
Herbology went well, until it didn't.
Be it Harry's lovely morning, Neville solidly by his side as a grounding presence, or how distracted he was over planning how to get around the bloody Headmaster (and at this point it felt so routine, to slip back into his cold calculating mindset and forget to actually be angry about it instead of just calmly planning how to fix the old coot's meddling) but he had almost totally forgotten that he wasn't totally fine and normal and happy to be back at Hogwarts.
I mean, he was totally fine and normal. He felt back.
Until very suddenly he wasn't, and he remembered in a shock like a slap to the face that maybe he should've stopped by the hospital wing before classes started to at least have a calming draught on him.
Everything had been fine. Herbology was not his subject but it was so much like gardening and so hands-on that he could get down to work without needing to feel or think too hard at the moment. Pulling on his gloves and earmuffs as Sprout kicked off the semester with a lecture on mandrakes felt fine, hearing about the crazy little roots that had a paralytic cry was entertaining. Hearing that they'd needed to start right off on repotting them because they'd take all year to mature and this would be their term project was pretty cool actually—nothing like starting off the year with solid expectations and if this is what they were doing this year he could handle this.
But then the first mandrake was unearthed, and not ten seconds later, Neville went down beside him in a heap to the earthy floor of the greenhouse.
Logically, his earmuffs probably weren't on right. Logically, as Sprout had just explained, it was a paralytic cry and in a couple minutes once the roots were replanted the unconscious blonde would be right as rain.
Logic flew out the fucking window as Harry's solid presence next to him suddenly disappeared.
"NEVILLE!"
Harry may have freaked out a little bit, and it was clearly a more violent reaction's than Sprout who blinked widely at the scene.
"Oh dear," She noted far too calmly for Harry's panic.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OH DEAR?" He spun at her none-too-kindly, definitely loud enough to be heard over everyone's earmuffs and she seemed taken aback by that for a second.
"Don't worry, it's just a temporary paralysis; let's get these potted and he'll come round in a couple minutes." She did not seem alarmed by either a student of her's passing out nor another student freaking out, and for some reason that pissed Harry off to unbelievable levels. At least he was suddenly angry though, instead of terrified out of his mind.
It was just that her response was so not good enough for Harry, who outright disregarded that gentle order to shove his pot towards Susan beside him in a silent command to take care of that while he bent down to inspect the now unconscious Neville on the ground beside him. He had just enough rationality left to recognize what Sprout had said and put his hands over Neville's earmuffs, pressing them tighter in hopes the screaming of the mandrakes would be fully blocked out this time. He wasn't strong enough to just pick the blond up and flee from the greenhouse, but he sure as hell wanted to.
It took a couple of very long minutes from Harry's perspective, but in short order Neville's blue eyes blinked open blearily, and then widened as he immediately realized what happened. He muttered something, but with the earmuffs and all the mandrake screaming, Harry had no hope of hearing him. He pressed his hands tighter and Neville got the message, replacing Harry's hands with his own to hold them down tighter as the redhead bodily pulled him up—and if Neville thought they were going to go back to potting mandrakes, then he was an idiot.
Ensuring Neville was keeping his hands over his ears tightly he grabbed both their bags and abandoned their pots to Susan who looked to have it covered and all but dragged him from the greenhouse despite Neville realizing halfway through what was happening and attempting to put up a mild fight.
"-rry! Harry."
They were a distance from the greenhouses and well safe from the screams when he felt his earmuffs come off, turning to the quiet demand to see Neville having taken his off and removing Harry's own for him, wide eyes concerned.
"We didn't need to leave, it was my fault I didn't put them on right." He sighed, but Harry pretended not to have heard him.
"That quack of a professor!" He declared, still shouting although they were now the only ones in earshot on the vast grounds around them.
"Harry, forgive her," Neville seemed annoyingly amused by his reaction while Harry was still pissy and worked up about the whole thing.
"No! She's as bad as Hooch!"
"She's not as bad as Hooch." Neville repeated him calmly and Harry deflated.
"Be more annoyed!"
"No."
"Argh!" He tossed his hands up, recognizing a losing battle, but still too full of… emotion and things and nowhere to put it to be reasonable.
Neville liked Sprout and Herbology too much to be swayed now and if he were calmer Harry would've realized it would've been like someone trying to tell him not to like McGonagall if she messed up in class one time, but he wasn't exactly calm right then. Not panicking anymore as Neville was awake and talking once more, but he still agitated to hell.
"She told us what was going to happen and about the safety precautions we have to take. It's my fault my earmuffs weren't on tight enough." Harry felt like Neville might as well be patting him on the head for the tone he was speaking in, and he didn't much like it but recognized he was the last person to be arguing on the side of safety.
"We're not going back there." He switched tactics, but Neville caught it easily.
"You can't keep me away from the mandrakes forever. They're our term project." He raised one eyebrow pointedly. "Or were you planning to do the whole project yourself?"
Harry gave him a positively aghast look, which caused the blonde to dissolve into laughter himself. "I resent the implication!"
"Is it wrong?"
"No!" He cried indignantly, Neville just laughing harder. "But still! Rude!"
"Well if you don't want to go back for today, what do you want to do?" Neville pointed out, and Harry realized they'd missed the majority of class. Sprout's lecture hadn't been nearly as long as it felt like so there was too much time between now and their next class—and if McGonagall saw them loitering outside her classroom an hour before class time started when she knew darn well her second years should be in Herbology right now… well, that wouldn't be the best way to start term.
He glanced out across the grounds and had an idea.
"Let's see what Hagrid's up to."
000
Before he knew it, Harry was walking towards the Slytherin table as people crowded into the Great Hall for lunch.
After his scare in Herbology, having a literal gallon of tea with Hagrid and Neville had done wonders to calm him back down, and then of course Transfiguration had been a highlight which further centered him. It was easy to flip back into a more clinical persona, there to talk magic and spell equations more than emotions or holidays.
And Professor McGonagall hadn't asked them about their summers aside from wishing they were good, before jumping right back into course work for which Harry was thrilled. He was less thrilled that the actual work was boring as hell—he really was far ahead and thanks for this magical core issues wasn't allowed to even perform magic beyond exactly what was being asked of them in class. Meaning a second-year spell he'd perfected since before last Christmas and could do with his eyes closed (and running around, and behind his back, and several times at once… you got the point).
McGonagall was already very aware he could already do this spell and they'd already talked about it at length in the past too, so she spent most of the time helping others instead of fighting (ahem, discussing) with him. He in turn spent most of his time helping Neville beside him but apparently he was a pretty good teacher because Neville actually had it before class was over, so they actually managed to start their homework. All in all it wasn't the most exciting class ever but it wasn't hard and the small sense of peace that came with knowing exactly what was going on and that he could fully handle it was a rather nice boost to his morale.
And then… Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Woo boy, that's going to be a wild ride, Harry thought wryly. Lockhart was, essentially, a vain idiot of epic proportions. The first quiz he'd given them about his favorite colors or 'most impressive' achievements, and if reading through Transfiguration textbooks and being able to already understand that most authors didn't need to be saying anything true to get it published into a book told him anything, then Harry was 95% sure Lockhart hadn't written any of the works they'd been required to buy. Or, maybe he had as it was appropriately juvenile, flourishing language that in no way got to the point anytime quick like they were adventure novels instead of textbooks, but him actually having done any of it… yeah, probably not.
Some things ran true… Harry had actually read most of the book prior to term because, as he said they read like adventure novels and were easy to get through even if it was more for a laugh than for education, so he did know some parts of it weren't totally made up. The chapter on facing a mountain troll had been a little too real if also a lot less graphic than his own encounter, which meant there was a thread of truth to them buried beneath all the flowery bullshit but… Harry wasn't entirely sure what to make of that.
He knew Lockhart himself definitely did not face a mountain troll though because 'talking it down to have tea before surprise attacking it' was not something one did with a troll, period.
Still, the class itself was probably going to be a breeze. One look at the farce of a quiz he'd been given and Harry already knew how to get a top score without studying a damn thing—he simply gushed about how brave and heroic his idiot professor was, pulling out all the stops to flatter an inhumanly large ego with small anecdotes from his books that he could recall and Lockhart had actually started reading his quiz results as an example of a 'great score'. Dean and Seamus had looked horrified before Harry shot them a mocking wink and they'd caught on quickly, reevaluating how they handled this class themselves.
Were they going to learn anything this year? Probably not. But they'd coast happily on easy 'O's for the time being if they could make it though the long classes of him boasting about himself.
So while not an actual good class, the whole experience had been rather entertaining.
He figured he wasn't going to get a better shot as being put-together than now, and he did need to put in an appearance at the Slytherin table sooner rather than later. Better now when his mood was the highest it'd probably get for a while, rather than wait for the next thing to throw him off guard and make this all the harder later.
And besides…
"Harry!" Draco spotted him first, obviously, but he noted that a lot of Slytherins took visible notice of him at the blond's call even if they didn't react. The new first years he spotted looked at him with wide eyes but also didn't do anything—so clearly the house of snakes had been talking, not that he ever assumed they wouldn't.
Harry felt a sense of nostalgia slipping into the bench beside Draco and looking at his fellow second years across the table, even though it hadn't really been that long.
"Happy start of term, Draco," he greeted with a smile, instantly relaxing when Draco just flashed him a quick smile of his own. That's right… he probably knew what happened with his parents and wasn't about to rat him out in front of Blaise of all people, so for this meal he at least had one ally and he wouldn't just be dumped into the deep end with the sharks.
Speaking of…
"Potter, nice of you to grace us." The Zabini in question sniffed a bit pompously at him, the obvious implication and sass automatically making Harry smile. He hadn't even realized how easy bantering with Blaise was, but it snapped back into place like a switch turning on, much to his joy.
"Couldn't go half a day of term without me Blaise? Knew you'd miss me."
"As if." He sniffed again, somehow looking down his nose at him despite sitting.
"I had things to do—mad you don't rank in my priorities?"
"As if." It was indignant now, but Harry seemed to have passed whatever test the boy had posed and now he grinned widely in more reasonable greeting than his faked cold indifference. "I was merely missing my morning entertainment is all."
"Glad I could be of service to you, however as I said there was mischief to be had elsewhere this morning and you don't rank compared to mischief." Harry stuck his tongue out at him oh-so-maturely and the Zabini snickered. At the casual air Harry couldn't help himself from asking. "Aren't you going to ask? I thought you'd ask."
"What, that you missed the train? Please, everyone knew as soon as we left the station and Draco already confirmed that his father confirmed it was a fluke with the barrier so it's not even good gossip. That was so yesterday, do try and keep up." Blaise dismissed him rather rudely, helping himself to the food laid out in front of them like he was already bored of the conversation. Harry let out a rather amused sigh.
"Is it weird to say I missed you?"
"Yes." Theo deadpanned without even pausing as he turned the page in his ever-present book on his lap. He didn't even have any food in front of him.
"Theo!" Harry lit up at the reminder that the quietest Slytherin actually had a voice. "You still like me right, summer didn't change your mind? I'm allowed to call you Theo?"
The small boy sighed once as if very put upon, but his eyes were a lot softer than they'd been historically as he glanced up once.
"Yes." He allowed simply, before turning back to his book and honestly that was all Harry needed from him to be on cloud nine.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Draco butt in as he too noticed Theo's lack of plate and the blue eyes lost all their warmth as he shot the blond a glare. "Don't give me that!"
"I assume Draco told you about our new Defense Professor." Blaise ignored the two immediately and addressed Harry who blinked at the sudden change of pace. Last year he was really here for Draco alone, and Blaise put on a show of lowering himself to talk (bicker) with him, while Theo never said a thing and no one aside from Harry himself ever actually tried to entice him into a conversation (and given how little success he'd had, he now knew it was because the rest of house had already acknowledged a losing battle for what it was and hadn't bothered to try). Draco suddenly bothering Nott like the mother hen he was and Blaise drawing him into an actual one-one-one conversation was, not brand new but definitely a new dynamic that was not how the status quo had always been.
He certainly wasn't complaining though as Blaise had sat up straight and his tone implied this was going to be gossip and if he was in on the Slytherin grape vine, all the better.
"I had him third block. Bit of a glory hound?"
"To say it lightly," The Zabini sniffed delicately. "Fourth years had him second block and said he's a vain idiot." He declared bluntly.
Harry was so tempted to make a jibe about why he didn't like him then, but barely refrained. He needed information and pissing off the hand feeding you wasn't the best move.
"Yeah, I've already confirmed we're not getting anything done in Defense this year either." He sighed wearily. "At this rate our OWLs are going to suck."
"No one's done great on the DADA OWLs in years," Blaise dismissed promptly. "Not without a private tutor at least." And by the smug implication he did have one, Harry made note that maybe he should look into that. He had half a mind to get a muggle math tutor, adding another wouldn't be that bad probably.
He was not about to ask Blaise for references though—add it to the list of things to ask Daphne later.
"I'm more concerned about our grades for now though, forget fifth year." Theo chimed up—clearly mid-way through Draco saying something by the blond's indignant squawk at being interrupted. "You said the first quiz was about his favorite colors and stuff, right? How the hell are we supposed to not fail that in the mean time?"
"Just tell him what he wants to hear." Harry shrugged. "I did read his book and it was stupidly easy to get through—like a child wrote it. His favorite color is blue and just talk about how fantastic and brave he is on the quiz and he loves it. There—easy O."
Theo frowned deeply while Blaise tisked in annoyance.
"Bit free of information from the Gryffindor." He complained, Harry just rolling his eyes in response.
"Lockhart is not the hill I'll die on—he's really not worth trading anything for." He waved it off. "Besides I'm still just happy Theo is talking to me."
Said boy flashed a wry smile as he mulled that advice over while Blaise got even more annoyed.
"Hey, I was the first Slytherin who'd talk to you!"
"No, Draco was."
"Well I'm the most important Slytherin who talks to you!"
Harry couldn't help but laugh at that and ignored the complaints as he started eating, the conversation swiftly moving to other topics as it always did at the snake table and he chimed in here and there. Most of it was class related with the occasional observation into house politics—just some minor stuff but Harry was thrilled he was actually allowed to sit here and listen in on at least a portion of it instead of them censoring themselves while the Gryffindor was at the table.
As it was he didn't learn anything useful as most snakes were in the same boat: it was only the first day so most of their plans and plots hadn't even taken form yet, much less been started. They couldn't gossip about others plots if no one actually had them yet.
He got so caught up in listening and taking notes, he almost didn't notice his goblet replace itself with some distinctly not pumpkin juice.
Madam Pomfrey had warned him his drink at meals would magically supply him with the potions he was required to take for the next couple weeks, and she would know if he ignored it or didn't take it somehow, and he didn't doubt her. It had taken some doing to convince her that he'd be fine for quidditch when the season started, but she was not above using keeping him off the pitch as a threat if he started skimping on any of the orders she'd given him, potions regimen included. Given almost all of what Draco had wrote to him this summer about was him training to try out for the open spot on the Slytherin team, Harry was not about to miss his first match (which would be against the snakes, and therefore Draco) for the world.
The way Pomfrey had talked, it sounded like she had a way of getting McGonagall, who was even more quidditch obsessed than Draco, to agree to keep him grounded if he put up a fuss and if that wasn't a terrifying thought Harry didn't know what was. He actually could not conceive of what the mediwitch had on the Transfiguration Professor to give her that kind of leverage and it was kind of frightening.
He didn't plan on messing with his health just because these potions tasted like actual vomit in any case. If they could magically fix him and get him back into shape enough to play quidditch in only a couple short weeks, then by all means he'd down a hundred of these nasty things.
The hard part was keeping his face straight as he drank it, and luckily the Gryffindors around him at breakfast this morning noticed neither his drink suddenly becoming not-pumpkin-juice, but also were too busy laughing at something the twins did to notice his expression when he downed it quickly (he'd been waiting for everyone to look away after all).
At the Slytherin table though, that was too much to hope for.
"What's that?" It was only kind of surprising that it was Nott who noticed and brought it up—but then again if Neville had a wallflower superpower, Theo was just as good at fading into the background with the added bonus of also being observant as hell. He'd never exercised or shown he could be so observant, but given how he would immediately disappear into thin air when shit was about to go down long before even Harry realized what was happening, he shouldn't be surprised the guy was sharp as a tack when it came to his surroundings. No matter if he was literally always pretending (or maybe not pretending, it was hard to tell) to be reading.
Still, it coming from Theo being a surprise, the question being asked was not. He knew he couldn't get away with it for long at the snake table, and while he hadn't expected to be caught literally two seconds after his drink changed, he still had an excuse prepared and ready to go for this very situation. So it didn't take him off guard and he made a point of looking slightly abashed, like he'd been caught. Going by Draco's frown and Blaise perking up in interest like he smelled gossip, he knew they bought it.
"Ah." He cleared his throat and they seemed to pay slightly more attention. "So, recall that I'm pretty good at Transfiguration?"
"You destroying Montague over a Transfiguration paper is literally seared into my brain, so yeah." Blaise scoffed, but did seem rather dreamy about the statement much to Harry's amusement.
"Yeah, apparently that's not so good." He 'admitted', 'reluctantly', and all three of them raised their brows almost in sync. Draco gave him a look but before he could get scolded Harry continued quickly. "I'm fine, but ah, yesterday Pomfrey insisted on checking me out since, you know, I ran into a wall—" He ignored the snickers form Blaise at that "—and she noticed my magical core was a bit off. Apparently using upper year magic too early messed with it so she wants to give me potions and blocks and all that until it settles."
They all stared at him for a beat too long, before Blaise shrugged noncommittally.
"Well you did have bouts of accidental magic after getting to Hogwarts, and they were kind of hard to forget." He teased dryly, and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Harry seriously obey whatever she says—magical core issues are super dangerous to both you and everyone around you." Draco's frown was a thing to behold and Harry had a slightly horrifying thought that he looked like his mother right then.
He was thankfully more distracted by realizing that was the second time someone had implied he might explode over this issue, so he wasn't exactly about to put up a fight.
"I wasn't going to argue I was just explaining why this suddenly appeared in my cup. Knowing that one in particular, if I didn't just come out with the reason he'd make something up to tell everyone." He pointed at Blaise who made a face.
"Excuse you, I do not do fake gossip. If you hear it from me then it's damn credible and that's why I'm the best source of information." He boasted proudly.
"But you'd happily tell everyone I was taking some unknown potion at meals and let them conjure up their own assumptions of what it was."
He paused as he considered that for a second… then grinned as if that mental image was highly attractive to him.
"Yeah, probably." He allowed far too cheerily to be sane.
"But that's a nutrient potion." Theo was not to be swayed and essentially ignored Blaise's interruption to get back on point.
Damn Slytherins, being so good at potions. Isn't that supposed to be a stereotype? Harry grumbled internally, slightly at a loss as he hadn't thought up an excuse to why he needed this specific potion, more that he just needed potions and true to his words to Blaise, was going to let them assume it was some high level potion to fix blocks they didn't know about yet.
Luckily, Draco unknowingly saved him.
"Theoretically if his magical core is being taxed it might stunt normal growing so it's probably just to be sure. Better safe than sorry and nutrient potions only help, even if you're not deficient: if you have blocks on your magical core it's not supporting your health normally so it may also be a reassurance you're still getting everything you need even without your magic. They're nasty tasting but can only do some good." He explained automatically and Theo seemed to accept that logic.
Blaise looked far too gleeful at it too.
"Ha. You're stunted."
"I take it back, I didn't miss you at all."
"Deficient then." He decided with a smirk.
"In fact my time away from you is a joy!"
"How far ahead are you reading to be able to know that, Malfoy?" Theo once again ignored them to turn back to the blond, who just shrugged.
"Not that far, I don't know how to make it or anything. And says you—you could recognize it too."
Nott didn't answer that in a silent touché, but instead turned back to Harry with a small frown. "But she put blocks on you?"
"Yeah. Only for a couple weeks until she's sure it's fine, I think." He winced, not even pretending to as he knew Draco wasn't going to like this next part. "I'm also not allowed to play quidditch until then either which sucks."
As expected the blond seemed to spasm a bit, but collected himself rather quickly to simply be tense beside him on the bench, expression grumpy as hell. "Well if you'll be fine by the first game that's okay." Although he said it like it was pulling teeth rather than him being generous, but Harry figured that was the best case scenario with his cactus-like friend.
"Yes Draco, I'm pretty sure it'll be fixed by then, don't worry I can kick your ass without any damage to my health."
"Over my dead body." He shot back instantly.
"The blocks won't affect classwork?" Theo was not to be deterred, Harry was amused to note.
"She said it shouldn't, I'm just not allowed to do my Transfiguration work much less read ahead like I have been." He pouted at that, and it was not a lie in the slightest this time. He wasn't done with his joke book after all! "I mean I can read, just not practice it without supervision. McGonagall knows so she's excusing me from practical work for now, I'll just have to show it all to her at a later date to make up for it." Which would be trivially easy, honestly.
Harry was pretty sure he'd already showed her all the spells he could do last year after giving her his duro paper, which included every single second-year Transfiguration spell and quite a few third-year ones too. If McGonagall would ever allow it (which she wouldn't) he could probably skip every class this year and still ace the final exam. Hell he could probably take it tomorrow and do fine, so missing a couple weeks of work literally did not matter to him.
And he wasn't interested in working ahead in any other class so the blocks were a non-issue for now.
"What about like Charms and Defense?" Draco wondered.
"Do you honestly think we're ever going to get to practical work in Defense? Because having met Lockhart, I don't." He scoffed. "And Pomfrey wasn't worried about Charms; she said second-year Charms' spells were light enough it shouldn't bother me. It's mostly because I've put too much emphasis on Transfiguration."
Draco narrowed his eyes as he digested that information before abruptly deciding he bought it and nodding pointedly at the potion in front of them.
"Okay so obey her and drink that."
"Oh my god I was going to! I was explaining first!"
"Do it now."
"Shut up!"
Be it he was arguing too loud or the general volume of the Great Hall, but whatever it was he wasn't sure if he just imagined Theo muttered quietly under his breath, 'he's gotten worse.'