After Monday classes ended, Harry spent a few hours in the chamber with the founders' portraits, telling them of the success he had in class and they each congratulated him with mass praise; Harry had wondered in that moment if this what familial love really was as he had never truly experienced it before and he had to say it felt really good. They prepared him for his classes tomorrow, which meant putting his focus towards Transfiguration and History of Magic, which was the bane of every student in Hogwarts especially in Harry's case as it was his worst subject. The course was taught by a ghost, which sounds fun, named Professor Binns who had a monotone voice and always droned on and on during class, causing everyone except Hemione to fall asleep. Thankfully, this year, he had Helga Hufflepuff to aid him in learning history who was the complete opposite of Binns as a teacher as she was fun and upbeat and she helped Harry devise a new method for him studying the subject by creating timelines in his notebook and writing definitions on the back of cards for famous people, places, and events. Since the course was entirely written with no practical, Helga and Rowena teamed up to help Harry better construct a better written history essay than the sad excuse of essays he was doing before.
After his lessons were done, Harry was so exhausted from the day's events that he couldn't even make it back to the tower and had to sleep in the bed that was in the chamber's study. He barely heard the sound of the alarm to wake up the next morning and had to rush to get ready and get to the Great Hall to at least eat something before class. When he arrived, the Hall was only half filled with most people finishing their food, and he noticed Ron sitting at the table with a stupid grin on his face having eaten the Gryffindor table out of house and home, causing Harry to narrow his eyes before sitting down before snagging a muffin and some sausages with a few strips of bacon. Ron had asked where Harry was last night and this morning, but he just told the ginger bottomless pit that he got to the dorms after everyone else fell asleep and left before anyone else woke up; Ron seemed to buy it, but he didn't think Hermione would, so he hoped that Ron didn't tell her he was gone.
The two finished and headed to Transfiguration, which they would be sharing with the puffs this year, much to Harry's chagrin, and they stepped inside right before the class was meant to start and saw McGonagall had a stern expression on her face, but Harry could see her lips turned upwards.
"I see your yearly tradition of being late to my class on the first day has finally been broken, even if only by about a minute. You two may take your seats now.", she said to the pair. Harry was about to take the empty seat next to Hermione when Ron almost shoved him out of the way to sit next to her. Harry had begun to notice that in every class that all three of them shared together, Ron had seemingly made it his mission to sit next to the bookworm before he could; at first, Harry thought it was just another ploy of his to get her to do his work for him, but now he was beginning to think there was something else to it. Harry looked around and saw that because Lavender was sitting next to Megan Jones, a Hufflepuff, gossiping he could not sit next to one of his house mates but he did notice an empty seat next to Susan Bones as Hannah was next to MacMillan with his arm around her thigh, something that she looked slightly uncomfortable with. Harry decided to use this opportunity to both be proper friends with Susan and piss off Abbott and the rest of the Hufflepuffs for their treatment of him. So, Harry smiled very confidently and walked up to the front of the class and plopped down next to her and say hello, which caused the redhead to smile shyly and say hello back. He could practically feel Hannah's glare boring into the back of his skull, but she didn't say anything.
McGonagall decided to speak up, "Hello everyone and welcome back to school, today after we go over what we will be doing for the year, we will be practicing how to turn the glasses of water in front of you into solid ice. You will be working with your partner closely, so I hope you have chosen wisely this year." Harry looked at Susan and felt pretty confident in his choice as he knew Susan was one their years' top students and behind only himself in both Transfiguration and DADA, which isn't that surprising considering that her aunt is Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE and one tough badass lady all around. He looked over at Hermione who was annoyed since her partner was Ron and after yesterday in Potions, she probably was not looking forward to this; interestingly, Hannah also adopted a similar look and that was probably because Ernie was almost as bad as Ron in his schoolwork, but everyone loved him more due to his family name and money, as Harry thought he was only slightly less bad than Malfoy.
When it came time to begin the lesson, Harry and Susan took out their wands to begin practicing the spell. Harry was always good at this class, but it usually took a lot of effort to perform the spell as he used far too much magic, but now thanks to Godric's help, he learned how to perform these spells while conserving his magical core. He pointed his wand at the water and cast the spell by imagining the water solidify and letting his magic flow. He looked to see that he succeeded, but it wasn't perfect as the ice was thin and looked it would crack.
Susan saw and beamed at him, "Nice one Harry, brilliant as ever I see. Better than what I was able to do." Harry looked over to see she had done the spell correctly, but she froze the entire cup and some of their table.
" I wouldn't say that Susan, your ice is a lot more solid than mine, even if you did almost turn our classroom into the North Pole." he said smirking. Susan playfully slapped his arm and she turned her attention to look over at Hannah, who was chatting with Ernie while he was fumbling in doing the spell and Harry noticed her frowning at them.
Curiosity getting the better of him, he asked "Is everything all right? I noticed you staring at the prom king and queen over there."
Susan took a breath and said, "She and Ernie have been a lot closer lately and his parents are trying to set up a marriage contract between them, but her parents have been hesitant because there have been rumors that they're pureblood supremacists like Malfoy. I have been trying to tell her that she should be more cautious around him but she thinks he's perfect."
Harry filed that information away for later critical thinking as he just came to the realization that the Death Eater cause has possibly spread beyond Slytherin; a dreadful prospect, especially in wake of the World Cup. I guess Ernie is a loyal Hufflepuff, just loyal to the wrong side. He turned his gaze to Susan again.
"Hey, I am sure it will all work out, but if there is one thing I have learned, it's that when you try to control someone's life, it never ends well. Let Hannah figure out her own stuff and only step in if you think something terrible is going to happen. If you need any help, you can always ask me.", Harry said. She went wide-eyed and thanked him.
Class eventually ended with Harry and Susan earning ten house points each for mastering the spell quickly, much to the grimace of others. The Golden Trio made their way to Binn's class, or rather Harry and Hermione had to drag Ron with them and entered the class to see all of their classmates seated already. Harry was about to walk over to the Gryffindor side when he saw Su Li by herself and decided to sit next to her, much to the surprise and annoyance of Hermione and the glee of Ron. Su seemed surprised by the willingness of Harry to sit with her but she also seemed happy. Binns floated in through the wall and already began droning on and on, but everyone was quickly surprised when he announced a pop quiz on the first two chapters they were supposed to read over the summer. Binns passed out the test and Harry had to calm himself, as he remembered how Helga helped him review last night and he began to fill out his answers. He eventually finished third with Su and Hermione finishing before him, and Binns collected the papers as Harry noticed all of his fellow Gryffindors except Hermione and Neville, as well as some of the Ravenclaws about to burst into tears.
Binns finished grading them, Binns said "Well it seems many of you still have a lot to learn if you want to pass this year, however, I would like to congratulate Ms. Granger, Ms. Li, Ms. Patil, Mr. Longbottom, and Mr. Potter for receiving an O to start the year." Every Gryffindor had their jaws dropped when they heard that Harry, who hated this class more than anyone, received an O on a pop quiz; meanwhile, Su and Harry just congratulated each other at a job well done and when class ended, the two of them said farewell and would see each other in Double Charms later. The Golden Trio walked out towards the Hogwarts Grounds after lunch to get to Care of Magical Creatures, taught by Hagrid, and the class went pretty good for Harry as he correctly identified the creatures Hagrid was showing them and how to subdue them should they attack; he didn't notice it, but Harry's new attitude towards school was attracting the attention of everyone and people were already starting to believe that the Boy-Who-Lived was cheating in order to get more attention, mainly MacMillan and Malfoy. Double Charms also went well for Harry as he and Su were successfully completing everything Flitwick could throw at them, while developing a good repour with each other. After dinner, Harry went back down to the chamber to prepare for DADA and Astronomy tomorrow; afterwards, Harry went to bed with a smile on his face that night for the first time since the night he first entered Hogwarts three years ago.
The next day, Harry got up at a more normal time and entered the Great Hall with Ron as they went to sit with Hermione, who looked like she stayed up all night studying, which apparently she did as she didn't want to lose to Harry for a third day in a row. Harry frowned as he felt Hermione was going to take their academic 'rivalry' too far and burn herself out, but he wasn't going to dumb himself down again for anyone again, even her. Hermione decided to head to the library before class to review some material before class and, much to their shock, Ron had decided to join her but they quickly realized why as Ron said he wanted some help in preparing to be the Hogwarts champion for the tournament; why he still thought he would be picked over everyone else continued to be a mystery. Harry himself decided to head to class early in order to avoid running into the Slytherins he would be sharing the class with; however, his bad luck had seemingly returned in full force as Draco and his two bodyguards approached him, along with a stoic and seemingly reluctant Pansy.
" Alright there Scar head? You appear to be without the weasel and the mudblood today, trouble in loser paradise?", asked a mocking Draco, who laughed with Crabbe and Goyle while Pansy looked annoyed at her future husband's childishness.
" Actually, I'm better than I ever have been Malfoy, now that I have no problem standing out in class just to avoid people's ire. How do you feel Draco, being even lower on the classroom leaderboards than before? I doubt dear old Lucius isn't to happy that his son is producing yet another failure that disgraces a pureblood family of your caliber, to a half-blood no less.", Harry mocked back.
Draco and his goons bristled at the comment while Pansy had a slight smirk on her face, which was removed when she caught Harry looking, and he noticed Draco reaching for his wand and so he was about to do the same when a new voice stopped them both.
"Now now, what's all this then? Are you getting into fights again little cousin, with Harry Potter of all people?" Harry and Draco both turned to the newcomer and their eyes widened when they saw who it was, Nymphadora Tonks. The presence of an auror was enough to snap both boys out of their mutual hatred and they moved their hands back from their wands, Draco sneered and decided to open his mouth again.
"What I do is not your concern, blood traitor spawn. This isn't over Potter." With that, Draco walked away his entourage and Harry almost swore he saw Pansy give him an apologetic look. Harry turned around and was once again taken with how beautiful she looked. Harry decided to work up that famous Gryffindor courage and decided to talk to her.
"Hi, I'm Harry Potter…er, but you probably already know that. You're Tonks right? I remember you from first year when hexed someone for calling you by the wrong name."
Tonks snickered, "Yep, that's me and let that be a lesson to you if you call me by that name. Sorry about my cousin, he is such a little git like his father."
"Cousins? No way, you're far too beautiful to be related to the ferret.", Harry said.
Tonks' hair seemed to turn red slightly, not expecting that, and said "Ferret huh? That's a perfect name for him, but yeah we're related as our moms are sisters. Anyway, off to class are you? What you got next?"
"DADA with Moody, I have to tell you, I'm both excited and terrified about going", Harry said.
Tonks just laughed and said, "Yeah, that's Moody all right. He was my instructor during Auror training and I still have nightmares, but I learned things that would save my life ten times over, so don't get too discouraged, no matter how barmy he acts."
Harry just nodded and said, "I'll keep that in mind, but I have to get going because I don't want to know what Moody will do to me if I'm late. I guess I'll be seeing you around."
Tonks grinned and said, "If even half of the stories I've heard concerning you are true, I'm convinced we will be seeing a lot of each other while I'm stationed here since someone will have to keep you out of trouble."
Harry smiled back and said, "Trouble finds me Tonks, although I wouldn't mind the good kind of trouble finding me for once." Harry winked at her and ran off, not noticing the stunned Tonks he left behind who now had vibrant bright red hair.
Harry entered the DADA classroom and sat down next to Neville, ignoring the glare he was getting from Malfoy. Tonks wasn't kidding when she said Moody's methods were barmy as the man decided to show them the three unforgivable curses in class using an enlarged bug of some kind. His use of the Imperious curse caused laughter despite the seriousness of the subject as he made the bug jump from person to person to freak them out, his use of the Cruciatus curse caused discomfort when he tortured it especially with Neville next to him as Harry and most of the people in class knew what happened to his parents. However, when he used the Killing curse on it, Harry froze as he suddenly clammed up and his senses were going berserk, as if he was experiencing PTSD; it didn't help that Moody just had to point out that he is the only known survivor of the curse, which reminded him of why he was freaking out to begin with.
The rest of the day went by as normal with Harry still acing his schoolwork even in Potions, but his thoughts constantly drifted to what happened earlier at how he froze when he got reminded of he was working so hard to begin with, which sucks because he was finally starting to feel like a normal kid. But I'll never be normal, will I? Even when I'm finally free, I'll have never known what could have been; after all, that's been the story of my life ever since that night thirteen years ago. Harry decided after classes to take a nap since he had Astronomy later that night and to try and clear his mind of these bitter thoughts.
Harry woke up around eight and got some dinner from the hall before heading to the chamber to get some practice in. After telling them the days events, Helga and Rowena were quite put out that Moody showed the unforgivables in a fourth-year classroom, but Godric and Salazar were a little more understanding. After going over Astronomy with Helga and practicing some of those combat spells Salazar was teaching him, he decided to head for the Astronomy Tower where he found all of his fellow year mates already there. Hermione seemed incredibly curious as to where he was, but he just avoided her questions and that was when Professor Sinestra walked in, one of Harry's favorite teachers as she could be stern but also fair and since she taught by year instead of by house, she presented no biases towards or against anyone.
"Good evening students, tonight is a good night for our class as there are no clouds in the sky to impede our work, so we're going to be working hard tonight to identify the pattern of stars visible to us. Before we begin, I'll be partnering you up with someone new tonight and it will remain that way for the year, NO exceptions.", she said leaving no room for argument. Everyone seemed annoyed, but they knew this was coming as Sinestra was the only professor to actively ensure splitting up house mates as she believed the hatred between them was folly and she has been assigning partners like that for years. Hermione was paired with MacMillan and judging from the look on his face, there might be some truth to what Susan had told him earlier after all about his blood biases. Ron got paired with Malfoy of all people, which resulted in many of the lions and snakes both laughing as they looked like they were constipated when they were told. Harry waited patiently and was shocked when he got paired with Tracey Davis and he looked over to her to see that she was also surprised but she wasn't upset, but Daphne who was next to her looked annoyed. They walked closer to each other and exchanged a quick hello before waiting for the professor to finish and assign them their stations.
Once there, the two began working and only talked when needed, and after an hour passed he looked around to see how his friends were faring and while Hermione was managing, it looked like Ron and Draco were going to strangle each other; he also noticed Daphne, who was with Susan Bones, looking back at him with a scowl on her face and that is when he heard Tracey speak as she had also seen it.
"Sorry about her, she's been even more rough around the edges than normal lately and your sudden academic prowess is driving her up a wall."
Harry nodded and said, "I don't know why she cares so much, it's not like she's failing like my ginger mate and the blonde ponce over there."
Tracey giggled and said, "She's just been under a lot of pressure lately from her family and the news she got about her little sister Astoria over the summer didn't help."
Harry couldn't help himself, "What news, if you don't mind my asking?"
Tracey hesitated but relented, "I guess there's no harm in telling you since people are bound to find out soon enough. Daphne's parents sat them both down about a month ago and told them that the Malfoy family approached them about entering a marriage contract between Draco and Astoria; they probably would have tried for Daphne if they weren't sure she would probably kill Draco before the 'I Do's'. So far, her parents have been refusing, but Malfoy Sr. could always bring it before the Wizengamot with enough money to bribe."
The news caused Harry to go wide-eyed and ask, "I thought Draco was supposed to marry Pansy?"
"Technically yes, but no contract has been signed yet as Pansy's Grandfather, who is still the Lord Parkinson, refuses to sign it yet as he disagrees with the dark practices of his son who is Pansy's father. However, once he dies, Pansy's dad will happily sign over his daughter to his Death Eater buddy Lucius and his spawn and she'll become Lady Malfoy. I meant that Astoria would become Lady Black when Draco takes up the lordship in a few years and her parents are likely going to have no choice but to sign the contract when he becomes Heir Black by next Christmas when he turns sixteen.", she said sadly.
Harry froze for the second time today and pondered his next move as, on one hand, if he spoke up now, he could save a girl from a terrible fate and screw Malfoy over. On the other hand, he risks making himself a bigger target than before as the Malfoy's might retaliate in some fashion. He needed to find some kind of middle ground that would protect himself and Astoria until the time was right to reveal what he was, and then an idea popped into his head, but hesitated since it would require him to trust Tracey and Daphne to remain quiet. It also wasn't foolproof, but it would ease their fears and buy him time.
His Gryffindor chivalry got the better of him and he said, "What if I were tell you I know something about the Black heirship that no one else knows? Could I trust you and Daphne to keep it a secret?"
Tracey went wide-eyed but nodded. Harry took a breath and said, "Everyone believes that Draco is going to be Lord Black one day because there is no one else of Black blood eligible for it, but that is actually a lie, as there is someone else who is eligible and that person has already secretly taken the heirship; the Godson of Sirius Black."
Tracey's jaw dropped but she soon recovered enough to ask, "How can I trust your telling the truth?"
Harry just responded with, "I could get the heir to agree to have the Goblins send Daphne a confirmation letter stating there is in fact a new heir that wishes to remain anonymous for now, if you can get Daphne to hold her parents off from signing any contracts without telling them what I just told you."
Tracey stared at him for a long moment as her face shifted through different emotions as she looked happy, afraid, conflicted, and confused all at once. However, she eventually smiled and nodded and then shocked Harry by hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek before turning back to their work, not noticing she just fried his brain. Eventually, class ended with him and Tracey easing into a partnership without awkward silence and making some small talk. Harry hoped it would put Tracey and Daphne's minds at ease and just maybe get him an in with the Slytherins should the need arise for intel.
The rest of the week went by much smoother as Harry continued to excel in class thanks to the founder's help, not once caring about what people thought about this new Harry Potter before them. Even Arithmancy went well for Harry's first time, as he and Hemione finally partnered up to tackle the classwork, finishing long before anyone else. For the first time in his life, Harry was in a good place both academically and socially and nothing could ruin it; little did he know his bad luck was about to rear its ugly head once more.