AN:

I did some clean up work on the story, added a new chapter and uploaded everything so far into chapter. I will keep doing this every 10k words or so from now on. So what do you guys think so far? The latest chapter is called "First Classes". Just search for it on this page and start reading from there.

Thank you all once again for your continued interest in this story

Authors Note:

Hi,

This is my first attempt at writing a story so please don't be too harsh in reviews as I am still learning.

I don't own Harry Potter. He belongs to JK Rowling.

I would like to thank Ms Rowling for creating this wonderful imaginative world for us to play with. Thank you for reading this story and do give your feedback so that I can improve.

Sorting Ceremony September 1 1991

The sorting hat had just finished its song. Professor Mcgonnagal began calling the students one by one. Harry paid careful attention to where each student went and how their house received them.

Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones went to Hufflepuff. The students at their table cheered loudly. They all had friendly smiles on their faces as the new students approached them.

Lavender Brown went to Gryffindor. The table burst in to loud applause and a few older students had already moved to make room for Lavender to sit.

Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein went to Ravenclaw. There was a smattering of applause from the table. Most of them seemed involved in their own thoughts but a few did their best to welcome the new students.

That girl he sat with on the train, Hermione Granger, went to Gryffindor too. Harry was a bit surprised, she had seemed like a surefire Ravenclaw with the way she spoke and rattled of books for references.

Daphne Greengrass and Draco Malfoy went to Slytherin. There were some polite clapping noises. However the whole table smirked as one against the other tables when the new students joined them.

When Neville Longbottom went to Gryffindor, Harry was again surprised. The boy seemed like a friendly if accident prone person. Harry and Hermione had helped him find his toad on the train and Neville had sat with Harry for the rest of the journey. He didnt seem very brave but he was quite friendly and willing to share his food.

Then Professor Mcgonnagal called "Potter, Hayden".

A hush fell over all four house tables as the students all tried to catch a closer glimpse of the boy-who-lived. A few of them even whispered "The Hayden Potter" and "The-boy-who-lived". He saw Hayden Potter swagger up to the hat like Malfoy did. Harry was disgusted by everyone's behavior especially Haydens.

After settling the hat around his head, the hall waited with bated breath for the most important sorting of the night. Harry stared hard into the sorting hat as if he could influence the sorting somehow and send Hayden where he belonged, to a rubbish heap.

Instead the Sorting Hat called out "Gryffindor" in a guarded voice. He glanced towards the staff table and saw Dumbledore with a look of satisfaction on his face.

'The old coot must have influenced the sorting somehow. This must be the reason why Hermoine and Neville didn't go to where they belong'

Harry didnt bother looking at the Gryffindor table for their reactions. Hayden's sorting into Gryffindor had more than anything, decided where Harry wanted to be.

Then Professor Mcgonnagal called out "Potter, Harry". Harry walked up to the Sorting Hat. He could hear the other students whispering "Another Potter?", "A cousin perhaps.."

'Typical just typical' Harry thought as the sorting hat dropped over his head.

"Well well , I had the dubious pleasure of sorting your brother just now. I can see that you have already made up your mind on where you want to be."

"Um, before that" Harry interrupted "Can the headmaster hear what we are talking about?"

"Ah, you have figured out that the headmaster has somehow influenced the sorting. With this level of intelligence, I can see why you would want that house.

To answer your question, no he cannot, he can and did however nudge me a little bit to put some students where he wanted I could not have placed them in any house that they were unwilling to go to.

Remember this , only you can decide where you belong."

"Thank you ..., you dont have another name do you? Calling you Hat sounds silly"

"You may call me Alistair"

"Thank you , you know where I want to go right?"

"Yes, Let me just see if you are making the right decision"

Harry could feel the hat rummaging through his thoughts and memories.

"You havent been treated fairly by life, yet you still continue to work hard, Helga would have been proud to have you in her house.

Salazar would have fought tooth and nail for one with as many talents as you.

Godric would have been sorely disappointed that he lost a student with your courage..."

"I wont go to any place where Hayden is" Harry interrupted

"Be that as it may, your willingness do what is right without regard to the consequences, would have struck a chord with Godric's nobility and love of justice

It is too bad, for one student to sully the reputation of a noble house"

"Heaven knows, Slytherin's had one too many" Harry commented

The hat began chuckling. Outside, the rest of the hall were mystified by the hats laughter. 7 minutes had already passed since Harry sat under the hat.

"Ravenclaw is where you belong then, It is your desire to learn magic that helped you to meet your current guardian. Rowena would be quite happy to have one such as you in her house"

"Thank you for your kind words "

"I have some advice for you. Do not judge Dumbledore too harshly for his mistakes. He is still a good man, though he has lost sight of the trees in his quest to preserve the forest. The same goes for your family."

"I can understand that but I have no wish to respect or care about them anymore after the choices they made and what they did to my childhood"

"Yes, I can see that" said the hat sadly "I wished to see you reconcile with your family even though you have no desire to do so"

"It is too late for that now."

"Yes" agreed the hat "Fortunately your current guardian is more than upto the task of caring for you. It is very rare for someone like him to take on an apprentice, let alone a ward"

"I know I am very lucky to have met him. I know that I would still be suffering in that hell if I hadnt met him."

"Are you sure that you wont consider Hufflepuff for your loyalty to him or perhaps Slytherin, with your many talents and your guardian, you would definitely be welcome there"

Harry stayed silent and considered what the hat said before he made his final decision.

"If you are sure, , I wish you all the best in-"

"RAVENCLAW" announced the hat to the entire hall.

Harry took of the hat and thanked it politely before moving towards the Ravenclaw table.

The sorting continued again with Ronald Weasley being placed in Gryffindor and ended with Blaise Zabini being placed in Ravenclaw.

The Sorting Feast

Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome to our new students and to our old students, Welcome back!"

All the tables cheered loudly, the Gryffindor table was especially raucous with a pair of red headed twins contributing most of the noise

"Our old Muggle Studies professor, Professor Quirrel has returned from a two year sabbatical and will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year"

A few cheers erupted here and there. Harry observed Quirrel. The man was trying to appear timid and harmless but his eyes briefly filled with malevolence as the old coot introduced him. Harry resolved to watch him carefully. The man was dangerous and he was hiding it, whatever he was up to couldnt be good.

"The castles caretaker, Argus Filch has requested me to remind you that no magic should be used in corridors and that items from Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade are banned"

Harry noticed that the first years seemed disappointed by this.

"The forbidden forest is still forbidden, especially at night. Some of our older students would do well to remember that"

He looked sharply at the redhead twins. One of them was whistling while keeping his eyes away from the headmaster, while the other one was sniggering with his hand covering his mouth.

Dumbledore sighed.

'Those twins must be insane to go into a dark forest at night especially one with a name as ominous as the Forbidden Forest'

"And last of all, the third floor corridor is banned to all those who wish to avoid a painful death"

The hall began whispering "Is Dumbledore being serious?"

"I wonder whats going on in that corridor..." "May be there's some treasure there and it's guarded by a dragon"

Harry was curious about the corridor too. He looked around and saw the red head twins at the Gryffindor table whispering to each other. From their faces, Harry could see that they were planning to sneak into the corridor sooner or later. 'Thank goodness I am too sensible to act on my curiosity'

"Let the feast begin"

And the plates on table were all filled with food.

-Scene Break-

Harry was a vegetarian. After finding out that he could talk to snakes, he didnt want to eat any animal that might be able to talk, so he stuck to the vegetarian side of the menu.

The boy sitting next to him, Blaise, was tactful enough to notice this and passed him some vegetarian dishes.

"Thank you, My name is Harry Potter" said Harry politely

"I am Blaise Zabini"

Harry already knew who the boy was from the sorting. He thought it was poor manners to

interrupt his introduction.

"You are very interesting Potter" Zabini continued jarring Harrys thoughts.

Harry wasnt aware he had done anything of interest so far.

Blaise saw the confusion on Harry's face and supplied "You were a Hatstall"

Harry grew more confused. An older student joined the conversation seeing the expression on his face.

"You had the sorting hat on your head for a long time. Only those who have the traits of more than one house become hatstalls. Both Professor Flitwick and Professor Mcgonnagal were hatstalls."

Harry looked once more at the staff table to see the two professors seated there chatting amiably with each other.

"I am Penelope Clearwater by the way" She addressed both Blaise and Harry.

Both Blaise and Harry introduced themselves to her.

"No need for formalities, Please call me Penelope"

"Okay, then please call me Blaise"

Harry not wanting to be left out, quickly responded "Please call me Harry"

Penelope began "So where do you live?"

Blaise answered "I live with my mother near St Andrews"

Harry frowned slightly as he said "I live with my father in the states"

It wasnt a really a lie, thought Harry. His guardian had acted in more ways as a father than Harry's biological father ever had. He still remembered an incident where called his guardian "Dad" by accident and his guardian had nearly smothered him with tears of joy.

Blaise asked "I wasnt aware James Potter had any siblings"

Harry shot him an annoyed look "He's my adoptive father and my magical guardian"

"Then the Potter name?"

"Coincidence"

This time Harry had to lie. He had tried to cut off all ties with the Potters but his guardian wouldnt let him change his name yet. According to him, Harry was still too young to take that kind of decision.

The feast was at an end. All the food had disappeared, Harry's eyes were starting to become heavy. Penelope stood up and began to calling out for the first years. Harry noticed a blue and bronze badge pinned to her school robes.

"I am Penelope Clearwater, the 5th year Ravenclaw Prefect" she introduced herself "Please follow me to Ravenclaw tower"

All the first years filed after her. She took them up a pair of moving staircases to a tower. There was a door with an eagle head attached to hit. After she knocked on the door, the eagle head seem to come alive.

"Ah First years" said the eagle "I do hope one of you can answer my riddle. What has Oceans without water, Countries without land, Cities without people and Deserts without sand?"

Penelope smiled at the first years "Come on, answer the riddle"

"The door will only open if you answer the riddle. If none of you can figure it out, then I will answer it, so dont worry about giving wrong answers"

While the other first years were all hard in thought, Harry stood in a relaxed manner. Blaise noticing this nudged Harry with a questioning look.

Sighing Harry stepped forward. He looked at the eagle and said "Is it a Map?"

"Correct!" said the eagle "I look forward to seeing what you do in our house young man" Harry blushed slightly at the praise.

"Remember children, Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" said the eagle before finally opening the door

As they walked in, Penelope said "Wait here in the common room for a moment, Professor Flitwick, our head of house would like to have a few words with you"

Professor Flitwick turned out to be an extremely short wizard. He was so short that even Harry, one of the shortest first years was still an inch taller than the professor.

"Students, I hope to see you all do Ravenclaw house proud. We pride ourselves on knowledge in this house.

However there are things, often forgotten, that should go hand in hand with knowledge. They are the sharing of knowledge with others and using knowledge to aid others.

In recognition of this truth, the senior years at ravenclaw help their juniors with their magical studies. The fifth years tutor the first years. The sixth years help the second and the seventh help the third. Fourth year students and above are free to ask any upper year for help.

Of course, all of you may come with academic and non-academic queries to me as well, It is after all my obligation as your head of house to ensure your needs are taken care of during your schooling at Hogwarts

Ravenclaw house also has its own private library with books donated by students. Please feel free to take books from the library. The book ledger will be magically updated with who has the book and its return date. Post the return date, the book will automatically return to the library. Students are allowed to have a maximum of one book at a time from the library. Anyone interested in donating books can contact me

My office visiting hours are Wednesday and Friday Afternoons from 3-6PM

I can see that I have kept you from your sleep long enough.

Goodnight students, You will need your rest for your classes tomorrow"

The students wished the professor goodnight before finding their dorms. The first year boys were led to a dorm with plaque showing 'First Years' above the entrance while the girls were led up a staircase.

After they walked into the dorm and found their beds along with their trunks. There was a brief round of introductions. Harry and Blaise introduced themselves to Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein. They wished each other good night.

Harry closed the curtains around his bed and changed into his night clothes. He sat on his bed for a few minutes trying to clear his mind like his guardian had taught him.

'Not guardian' a voice in the back of his mind hissed 'Remember the discussion you had with him before coming to Hogwarts. You are in Hogwarts now and need to be able to talk about him without suspicion from others. Call him 'dad' from now on.'

Harry considered writing a letter to his 'dad' about what happened tonight but as soon as he lay down on the bed to relax, he fell asleep almost immediately.

Reactions to the Sorting Ceremony:

Dumbledore's Reaction:

Dumbledore was relieved when the hat called out Gryffindor. He had requested the hat to place the boy in Gryffindor but the hat might have had other ideas. Now he could begin training the boy in earnest.

He would not teach the boy magic of course. The boy was prophesised to be Voldemorts equal. Since the boy had survived the killing course, he had theorized that the boy must hold a powerful light magic in his body, a magic strong enough to counter a killing curse backed by Voldemort's will. The boy had power in spades. There was no reason to teach the boy magic. Instead the boy must be made to see that power is not everything.

Lost in his thoughts as he was, Dumbledore was startled by the name of the next student to be sorted. "Harry Potter" mused Dumbledore. Another child with the possibility of being the chosen one.

After the attack on the Potters by Voldemort, Dumbledore had tested both the children to see if they had escaped the attack unharmed as well as to detect if either of them had any abnormal power hiding inside them.

Both the children were soaked in the dark aura of the killing curse but that aura was clearing up quite quickly in the case of Hayden while it was slowly dissipating in the case of Harry. Curious, he had begun delving deeper and found out that while Hayden possessed a large and healthy magical core, Harry's core had been nearly non-existent.

Thus, while Hayden was recovering the dark magic faster, Harry was still struggling with the after effects of the curse. Harry would most likely be a squib as he did not have enough magic to even use a wand.

Dumbledore had declared Hayden to be chosen one while he secretly informed the Potters that Harry would most likely be a squib. He did not pay any attention to the boy who was being sorted.

Lily Potter's Reaction:

Lily Potter had accepted the job of the muggle studies professor 2 years ago when Quirrel had gone on his sabbatical.

She was happy that her son had been sorted into Gryffindor. She had done her best to raise her son without letting the fame go to his head but had failed dismally.

After Harry had gone, in their guilt, she and James had lavished all their affection on Hayden. It did not help that he was the poster boy for the light, idolised by children everywhere. He had attended press conferences as a child just after the voldemort attack, he had grown up very sheltered surrounded only by the members of the Order of the Phoenix and their children who treated him with deference as the chosen one.

He had wanted for nothing and as a result, had grown up to be even more arrogant than James was at his age. She had hoped that one of his friends school would set him straight and deflate his head like she had done for James when they were at school.

Then the next name was announced "Harry Potter". Lily for a moment hoped that her own son had found his magic and attended Hogwarts. She looked at the boy who stepped forward and was disappointed.

The boy looked nothing like her Harry. He had gray eyes, not her green ones and while his hair was jet black, it fell neatly around his forehead ina fringe unlike the tangled birds nest that her husband and son sported.

Her thoughts were filled with her Harry, how has a child he used to smile so vibrantly. After Lily had sent Harry to live with the Dursleys, her guilt made it impossible for her to face him. Another reason was that she could not let him enter the magical world where he would be ostracized while his twin would be vaunted as a savior.

She had first hand experience of how a sibling relationship could turn hateful when one child had magic and the other did not. She did not want her children to suffer through that even if that meant she could never see her own son again.

Despite all these justifications, Lily felt her resolve waver when she heard Harry's name out loud for the first time in years. She remembered that she had not seen Harry in the past 7 years. Feeling even more guilty, she decided to visit him secretly in the coming Christmas.

Severus Snapes Reaction:

Severus Snape face shone with loathing as he looked at the spawn of nemesis. Though he had mended his relationship with Lily in the intervening years till they were once again as close as they had been when when they had been children. James Potter still lorded it over him that he had Lily while Snape had nothing.

Seeing Hayden Potter swaggering towards the sorting hat had brought back all of his memories of a young James Potter and his bunch of cronies. He swore he would make the boy's time in Hogwarts as miserable as his had been.

When the next name was announced, he was perplexed. He had known that Lily had had a second son named Harry but the boy being sorted looked nothing like Lily or Potter. He was probably some muggleborn who had the misfortune to share the last same name as that of the lout sorted before him.

After the boy's sorting into Ravenclaw, Severus decided that he would not hold the boy's last name against unless he did something extremely stupid in the Potion's classroom. He would treat the boy as same as he would any other student for now.

Hayden Potters Reaction:

Hayden was grumbling loudly. The sorting had been surprising in more ways than one. First the Hat had offered him Slytherin for his ambition. He had refused of course but the blasted thing kept on hounding him saying that he would do well in Slytherin and that Slytherin would help on his way to greatness.

Thankfully, Dumbledore or as Hayden liked to call him 'Grandpa Albus' had told him the secret of the sorting hat. As long as he requested a house and refused all others, the sorting hat would ultimately place him where he wanted to go. He had spent his entire sorting protesting all the hats choices and haggling for Gryffindor till the hat agreed to his demands.

Then something unbelievable happened. He had come here expecting to be the star of the sorting ceremony and his thunder had been stolen from him by the very next name - Harry Potter.

Hayden knew that the kid sorted after him was not his twin. He could not remember Harry clearly as he had played very little with Harry as a child. He had prefered to play with Ron Weasley while leaving Harry alone in the house. But the new kid looked nothing like Harry, so Hayden suspected that this was just a case of a muggleborn having the same name as a pureblood.

He could not tolerate some unknown person getting popularity that rightfully belonged to him. He decided that he would confront the new kid and remind him where his new found popularity had come from.

'Yes' thought Hayden 'I will show him who really is the king of the school.'

Waking up in Ravenclaw Tower

Harry woke up early the next day.

'I have always gotten up early but never this early. Its still dark outside'

Harrys thoughts drifted back to the nightmare he had had before waking up. It was the usual mix of the Dursleys, his parents and his brother tormenting him.

'I thought I had gotten over them while growing up'

He remembered his mother from last night, while he was looking at the staff table during the old coots speech, he had made a note of all the teachers there, his mother looked worn out and tired, the past 7 years had not been kind to her

'Its still not close to what she deserves for what she did to me' thought Harry darkly.

Harry tried to clear up the dark thoughts from his mind and found himself wishing for the presence of his 'dad'. The man had a calming soothing presence and a perpetual smile on his face. After being rid of the Dursleys, he had leaned on his 'dad' a lot for emotional support.

Sighing, Harry began clearing his mind again, the nightmare had torn through his defenses if it left him in this kind of melancholy mood when he woke up.

After clearing his mind and getting ready, Harry noticed that the sun had begun to rise. He decided that he might as explore the castle and search for the Hogwarts library before going down to breakfast. He resisted the urge to skim through the ravenclaw library and told himself that he could go through the ravenclaw library in the evening.

As Harry left the tower and began exploring the castle, his mind was busy thinking about his childhood and his obsession with magic.

Growing up, Harry had always been alone. He knew his parents didnt love him like they did Hayden. So he spent most of his time in the Potter library while Hayden had played outside with Ron Weasley or went outside the wards with his parents. He had read several story books about magic and was very eager to learn and practise magic.

When he overheard his parents discussing that he, Harry, would never be able to do magic. His heart felt like it shattered. He had stopped going to the library for a whileand spent most of his time shut up in his room in despair.

His parents never bothered to check up on him as he huddled in his bed and he knew that without magic, they would never consider him worth their attention like Hayden. So he tried to deny it, he tried to deny that he wanted his parents love and affection, he tried to deny that he wanted magic.

Curiously, the more he tried to deny it, the more he became obsessed with magic. As everyone began favoring his twin more, he resolved to prove himself better than his twin, he returned to the library and began reading book after book on basic magical theory and attempted as much magic as he could.

When he was sent to the dursleys, he was barely tolerated by them until they found him talking to a snake in their garden. Then began his hell, his first punishment was to be locked in the cupboard under the stairs. That night his fat lout of an uncle came and whipped him with his belt until he bled and began apologizing for being 'a no good freak'. But Harry didnt care, 'He' was a parseltongue, anybody who could talk to snakes was obviously magical.

Within weeks, he was forced to work in the kitchen, clean the house and tend the garden by his aunt. His cousin dudley proved to be even worse than Hayden. While Hayden had ignored Harry, Dudley took a vicious pleasure in getting Harry into trouble.

If his cousin blamed him for something or his aunt found some fault in his chores, his uncle would backhand him into the wall when he came from work. Despite this Harry continued to secretly talk with the snakes in the garden and began attempting to do magic in secret.

Harry woke up from his memories and found himself standing before a massive pair of doors. On the doors, there was a carving of a witch and wizard holding open a massive book with the spine of the book coiciding with the crack between the doors. Above them was inscribed "falsa scientia periculosius".

Harry had found the library, it was still locked but the sun was shining quite brightly now. He expected the library to open soon enough and sat on a plinth that a nearby statue has graciously vacated for him while it went for its morning jog.

While waiting for the library to open, Harry's thoughts turned towards his 'Master', the man who had gifted him his magic and began instructing him in its use. While his 'Dad' and 'Master' were both the same person, Harry could very clearly differentiate between them in his thoughts.

Unlike his 'Dad' who was caring and loving , his 'Master' was a stern unrelenting task master. In all his time with his master, he had never been taught a spell. His Master had shown him that magic was more than just saying a few words and waving a wand. There was so much more to magic than he could have imagined.

Harry didnt want to let his dad down, he would make his dad proud by learning as much as he could in Hogwarts. It was thanks to his dad after all that he had the chance to come here.

The librarian came from around the corridor, She found a first year sitting where the statue of "Eldorad, the Alchemist" was supposed to be. She noticed the blue pin on his robes and his blue colored house tie and thought 'Ravenclaw, no surprise there'

-Madame Pince POV-

Irma Pince, having been in Ravenclaw herself, got along with that house better than all the other houses combined. Only Ravenclaws could understand the value of her books and treat them with the reverence they deserved, unlike those idiotic Gryffindors who would tear apart a priceless book for something so lowly as cheating on an exam. She had known the names of every ravenclaw in the past ten years during her tenure as Hogwarts librarian and she could not remember a first year Ravenclaw so eager to get into the library that he came before the librarian on the very first day of school.

As she passed by him, the first year wished her good morning, she responded with a good morning of her own before. She pointed her wand at the library doors and murmured the password for opening the doors

Before the student could enter the library however, she shooed him away saying that she need to clean the library for dust and other detritus that had accumulated during the summer vacation before she would let students enter.

-End-

Harry didnt consider the trip a total loss, he had found the library as well as discovered 2 or 3 shortcuts that would let him travel fairly quickly from Ravenclaw Tower to the Great Hall and to the Library. He quickly made his way back to Ravenclaw tower using one of these shortcuts and entered the common room to find the rest of the house already awake and doing some early morning reading.

When he made his way to the first year dorm, he found his fellow first years fully dressed.

"Harry, where were you?" asked Blaise "When we woke up, you were already gone"

"I just went to visit the library"

"Already visiting the library one your first day here, I am impressed Harry"

Both Blaise and Harry looked back to see Penelope enter the dorm with the first year girls behind her.

Penelope then began to address all the first years at once.

"You will get your class schedules from Professor Flitwick during breakfast in the Great Hall today. Dont worry, you will have enough time go back to the dorms and get your school things. Now, follow me to the Great Hall for Breakfast"

The first years all marched out behind Penelope to the Great Hall except this time. She led them through some secret passages behind tapestries including one Harry had found earlier in the monring.

"Hogwarts is riddled with secret passages like these. If you know the right passages, you can get to anywhere you want in the castle very quickly. Be careful though, Filch knows all the passages in the castle, so you will still get caught if you decide to mess around in the castle. Some of the passages are also quite old and thus may cave in very easily, so if you find an used passage, explore it very carefully.

The Explorers club prides itself on discovering secret passages in the castle. Interested students can talk to Noah Sycamore, sixth year Ravenclaw and President of the Explorers Club about joining"

Penelope quickly led them down to the great hall where they had their breakfast and received their timetables from Professor Flitwick.

First Classes

Harry quickly skimmed through his timetable, he found out that he had charms, transfiguration and potions for the day all with the Hufflepuffs.

Professor Flitwick had begun the class by discussing about the definition of charms and their uses.

"Charms are magicks that allow one to modify how an object interacts with its surroundings.

There are 2 kinds of charms - passive charms and active charms for the two kinds of interactions - passive and active"

While all the other Ravenclaws were busy taking down notes, Harry did not bother, he had already memorized the classifications of charms. He instead devoted his entire attention to what the professor was saying while having his left hand poised over a notebook with a pen, ready to take down anything not in the text book.

"An example of an active charm would be the Summoning Charm"

The professor pointed his wand at a book on his desk and intoned "Accio Book"

The book soared through the air towards Professor Flitwick who caught it with his other hand. Harry quickly jotted down the incantation and the wand motion in his notebook. He would look up the spell in his textbook and may be do a bit of research on it later on.

"Notice how the book falls down when i release it from my hand"

He then dropped the book back on his desk. Professor Flitwick then went on to explain more about active charms and their uses. He told them he would be quizzing them on Active charms at the beginning of the next class.

"Not bad" Harry thought while leaving the class. He had noted down some of the more interesing uses of active charms that Professor Flitwick had mentioned in class.

Transfiguration was pretty much the same. While Professor Mcgonnagal had impressed them with her animagus form at the beginning of the class, they spent the rest of the class taking notes about the safety hazards associated with transfiguration.

While entering potions, Harry sincerely hoped they would be allowed to perform some kind of magic today. Harry had studied the various magical ingredients and their properties under his master. He had never been allowed to prepare a potion but he hoped his experience of cooking for the dursleys could aid him in this class.

Harry was quickly disabused of any notion of competency in the subject by the Potions Professor Severus Snape, who called the assembled students dunderheads as soon as he had entered.

"Potter" called the professor with some amount of distaste in his voice.

Harry was confused. What had he done to antagonize the professor he wondered.

"Where would I find a bezoar?"

'Thats from the first chapter of "Magical Drafts and Antidotes" ' thought Harry 'The bezoar is a stone found in the stomach of a goat that can protect from most poisons'

"In the stomach of a goat sir"

'The boy has read his books' Snape was pleased 'Already unlike the other Potter'

He frowned on the outside as though upset that Harry had managed to answer the question correctly

"What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

'This one is an example in the first chapter of "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi". It was mentioned that the same ingredient can have different names in different places'

"There is no difference Sir, They are the same plant and commonly go by Aconite"

"Looks like you have read your textbooks at any rate"

Snape turned away from Harry and looked around the class instead. He then barked out "Why are you all not noting what he said down".

Snape had then sorted them into pairs (Harry was paired with Blaise) and then put the instructions for a simple boil cure potion on the black board.

"You will brew in silence" he walked to his desk and sat down there

To Harry's surprise, Blaise began wiping the cauldron first with a black cloth first instead of heading to the ingredients cupboard.

"Blaise, What are you doing?" asked Harry

"I am wiping away any stray magical energies in the cauldron with the 'Cancelling-cloth'" Blaise indicated the black cloth he was holding in his hand.

"Why?" asked Harry

"Stray magical energies arise when the cauldron is left unused or dirty. These energies can reduce the effectiveness of a potion"

Harry nodded and left to get the ingredients from the cupboard. While he prepared the ingredients, Blaise started the fire underneath the cauldron and began boiling water for the potion. Together they were able to brew the best potion in the class.

Professor Snape had taken their potion wihout comment. Others in the class werent so lucky. Justin Finch-Fletchly from Hufflepuff got an earful when he nearly forgot to take his cauldron from the fire before adding the porcupine quills. Thankfully Professor Snape had warned him in time.

After leaving the class, Blaise mentioned that Hayden had lost 15 points and earned a detention in Potions yesterday. Harry changed his mind about Snape. Snape would be his favorite professor from now on.

Harry went to the library that evening with Blaise and found Hermione Granger sitting at a table by herself. Harry moved to join her and Blaise followed him. Harry had met Hermione on the train, they had both shared a compartment with Neville and had spent the time talking about what they would learn at Hogwarts.

She had told him that Hayden and Ron were rude to her when she asked if she could sit with them before coming into Harry's compartment. Later Harry defended her when Malfoy insulted her after being told to piss off by Hayden.

When Hermione saw Harry approaching her, she allowed a small smile to form on her face. 'I should have gone to Ravenclaw. I would have had at least one friend in my house' she thought

Harry introduced Blaise to Hermione. Though Blaise was a pureblood, he didnt believe that muggleborns were inferior. Seeing that his two friends were getting along well with each other. Harry spent the rest of the his time in the library looking up the summoning charm and its variants as well as some other basic spells. He would practice them tonight in the common room.

Harry remembered that he also needed to find a private place to practice his other magical abilities. While his dad had not trained him with the use of wands, incantations or potions saying he would learn these in school. He was trained in the family magic as well as the other abilities he had inherited when his dad magically adopted him.

That night Harry and Blaise both asked Penelope if she would tutor them. Penelope agreed on the condition that both Harry and Blaise would do their best in their studies. She explained that the upper years took a lot of pride in how the younger years performed. She didnt want to be embarassed in front of her classmates if they did badly in their studies.

Penelope asked them to meet her every saturday afternoon from 3-6 PM in the Hogwarts library. She would be preparing for her OWLs during that time but she would be happy to answer any questions Blaise and Harry had about their classes. She also clearly stated that she no intention of helping them with their homework. She would however check to see if they had done their homework correctly or not.

After their talk with Penelope, Blaise began playing chess with Anthony while Harry then went over to the Ravenclaw library to see of they had good fiction books, he needed a break after studying for the past 3 hours. Some of the muggleborn students had left some novels there. Harry picked up a book called "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" as the title seemed amusing to him.

He performed his mind clearing exercises again and went to sleep peacefully. The nightmares did not trouble him.

He woke up sometime just after dawn.

'I really need to get a clock to tell me the time' he thought as he got ready.

He tried waking Blaise up but Blaise just rolled up over and mumbled something about waking him up an hour later.

He began exploring the castle again, this time searching for a place that would be private enough to train his other abilities. After an hour of exploring, he gave up. He decided he would probably need to find an abandoned class room and research some privacy charms and wards. He was also curious if there was a charm that could mimic the effect of The Somebody Elses Problem Field' he had read about in "Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy". That would be really useful once he had found a nice training place.

He went back to the Ravenclaw tower and woke up Blaise and the others. While they were busy getting ready, he looked over the classes he had today (History of Magic, Defense against the Dark Arts and Astronomy at night).

-Blaise's POV-

Harry and Blaise were walking towards the History of Magic. Blaise was smiling widely. He couldn't help himself. He was really excited about the History class. He had told Harry that he had studied a lot of wizarding history at home and he was excited to study it at school.

When he was younger, his mother used to spend a lot of time with him and tell him lots of stories of ancient battles. He had loved these stories as a child. When he had gotten older, his mother stopped telling him stories and often left him alone while she spent time with his stepfathers. He had begun reading some history books in their family library to find some other stories and that had been the start of his love for history.

"After my mother married my 4th stepfather-" Blaise stopped at the look on Harry's face "Oh I forgot to tell you, my mothers been married seven times" Harry's eyebrows had disappeared into his fringe.

Blaise felt uncomfortable. Harry was his friend but he felt embarrassed to reveal something about his family like this.

"I can see its private, Blaise" Harry said gently "We just became friends and you don't need to tell me everything right away. I used to have a difficult situation at home too, though now its better"

Blaise nodded. He was grateful that Harry didnt push further. He also made a note that Harry mentioned a difficult home situation. He would ask Harry about it when they were closer. For now, they would keep their family life private.

As soon as the History class started, Blaise was horrified. This was not the subject he loved. Binns had managed to make the subject as dead and lifeless as he himself was. Blaise struggled to stay awake in class and take down notes while Harry and the rest of their class gave up and went to sleep.

After the class, Blaise didnt speak to Harry at all. Harry understood and didnt say a word either.

-End-

The Defense class had been horrible as well. The classroom smelled strongly of garlic and Quirrel had been stuttering the entire time making it impossible to understand what he was saying. The left the class without learning anything useful.

Harry was feeling disappointed that today's classes had been so useless. He had kept an eye on the man after the Sorting feast but Quirrel had managed to maintain his facade of being a nervous inexperienced professor every time he saw him in the halls.

He momentarily felt a dull ache in his back as Quirrel passed by him on his way to the teachers desk but he then disregarded at as something he had got from Binns class while sleeping with his head on his desk.

Blaise did not seem in any mood to study after the horrible classes so they went back to their dorm after lunch and spent the rest of afternoon playing wizards chess.

After Blaise had defeated Harry three times in a row, Harry asked how Blaise was so good at wizarding chess. Blaise explained that he had a huge interest in ancient wizard battles and that playing wizards chess was a bit like being the general in a battle. So he had started learning wizards chess from a young age and had become pretty good at it. Blaise offered to teach Harry some chess strategies to improve his game.

That night, the ravenclaw first years made their way to the Astronomy tower for their first Astronomy class. Harry had already memorized most of the stars, constellations and celestial bodies in the night sky.

Professor Sinistra had been delighted with his knowledge. She awarded 15 points to Ravenclaw and gave him a smile when the class was over.

They had the next day morning off to compensate for their astronomy class the previous night. Instead of afternoon classes however, there was a notice for flying classes put up on the Ravenclaw notice board for that afternoon.

While the Ravenclaw students were nervous, they had not been unprepared. They had read a small booklet on flying for beginners in the Ravenclaw library. Madam Hooch had informed them that they would be using the old school brooms for the class. She instructed them to stand next to their brooms and call them to their hand.

Harry and Blaise had both been successful the first time they tried. The class had no problems with flying as Madam Hooch led them in a series of aerial manouvers around the Quidditch pich.

She had then let them free to see what they could do. Harry from the first instant had enjoyed exhilarating thrill of flight. As soon he was told he could fly however he wanted, with a whoop of laughter, he quickly performed a series of loops, spins and rolls in the air.

He finally amused himself by pulling into a sharp dive in mid air before pulling out of the dive at about 3 feet above the ground. The rest of the Ravenclaws and Madam Hooch were in awe at his skill on a broom.

After that, Madam Hooch had questioned him if he had prior experience on a broom. He truthfully told her that this was his first time on broom.

Madam Hooch looked extremely impressed and awarded him 30 points to Ravenclaw for his excellent flying and then gave him a note to pass on to Professor Flitwick before he returned to his dorms.

She then ended the lesson by giving telling them that those interested in joining the Flying Club should talk to Oliver Wood, Gryffindor 5th year and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

This was the second time somebody had mentioned the clubs in Hogwarts. Harry wondered about what other clubs were there and decided to ask Penelope about them later that night.

After class, both he and Blaise wentto see professor Flitwick. Blaise stayed outside while Harry went to meet the professor inside his office. Harry handed over the note to professor Flitwick who immediatley opened it and read the note in silence

-Professor Flitwick's POV-

'What is it with the name 'Potter' and Broomsticks' he thought.

While he and Minerva were good friends since their sorting, they were also rivals of a sort.

Being the head of Ravenclaw house, he was to intelligent enought to see that this was a good opportunity to pull over Minerva by beating her house for the Quidditch cup. Minerva was already bragging that she had the-boy-who-lived in her house.

Keeping that in mind, he knew he wanted the boy in front of him to join the team.

He looked at Harry "Madam Hooch tells me that you are a natural flyer, Harry. She wants you take part in the trials for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."

Before the boy could open his mouth to protest, Filius decided to headed him off

"You wont be the only first year to be given the chance to be a part of a Quidditch team, Harry. Professor Mcgonnagal has already asked Hayden Potter to become seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team"

He noticed that Harry had made a face, as though, he didnt approve of such blatant favoritism by a head of house towards her own students. Filius was inclined to agree with him but he really wanted to pull on over on Mcgonnagal.

So when Harry explained that he didnt want to be favored like Hayden. Filius decided to extend the trials to all Ravenclaw first years.

'The boy should be in Hufflepuff for his sense of fairness. I should tell Pomona about Harry later.'

-End-

'First week of school and my brother is already being favored this much' thought Harry 'I really dont want to be like him by joining the Quidditch team'

Harry had nothing against joining the Quidditch team. He just felt that it wouldn't be fair for him to receive the same preferential treatment even if Hayden Potter had accepted it.

When he mentioned this to Professor Flitwick. The short professor nodded in understanding.

"I understand, I will allow the rest of the Ravenclaw first years to participate in the trials as well."

Harry walked out and saw Blaise was still waiting for him. When he informed Blaise what had happened in Flitwicks office. Blaise began smiling in glee.

"Wait till Hayden Potter finds out about this tomorrow. You stole his thunder Harry"

Harry couldnt help but smile back in response. He realised Blaise didnt like Hayden Potter either.

Together they went for dinner and informed the rest of the Ravenclaw first years about what had transpired. All the first years were grateful to Harry for giving them the chance to get into the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. They were much friendlier to Harry from then on.

That night Harry asked Penelope about the various clubs in Hogwarts.

Penelope thought for a moment before replying

"There are clubs for each of the subjects, so theres a Charms club, a Transfiguration club and even a Potions club. Each club is overseen by a leader and some executive members. They determine who is allowed to become a member of the club.

Of these clubs, the Defense club is especially important. Currently there is no regular Defense Professor as there is a curse on the position which causes the Professors to leave after one year. Because of this, most of the student body have become members of the Defense Club to learn DADA by themselves. The defense club is currently under the leadership of Nymphadora Tonks, Seventh Year Hufflepuff. She is training to be an auror after leaving Hogwarts. I think that both you and Blaise should definitely join this club. There is also a separate Dueling club to practice dueling as a sport and for combat.

Then there's the explorers club, the flying club and the chess club for fun.

There are other clubs too like the Chocolate club whose members like sampling various kinds of chocolate and the Hayden Potter Fan Club"

Harry was amused that his brother had his own fan club. He was wondering if he could pass this information on to Professor Snape somehow.

He knew Blaise would want to join the History Club and asked Penelope the name of its leader. After that Harry bid her goodnight and went back to his dorm. He wanted to tell Blaise, Anthony and Terry about the clubs and ask them which clubs they wanted to join.