Somehow working his magic THROUGH Susan had made everything, including sensations, more intense.
Also, Harry suspected that Hermione, Padma, and Hannah had gotten some sort of feedback of his feelings through their mental connection, because they kept blushing when they looked at him now.
Thankfully his blush was so solid no one could tell when it got worse as he looked at the girls. Well, he hoped so anyway. Still, a pretty amazing day all things considered.
Harry led his team to their towers and followed Terry up to the dorms. As he reached his bed he could feel the strain of all that magic finally settling on his bones. Today had a LOT of magic usage in it, but it had all been a fairly amazing adventure really. The boy fell asleep with a bit of song in his heart and a smile on his face.
Harry fought gravity, sunlight, and an overly polite Wrath as he stumbled into the common room. The only new class today was Astronomy, although there was a one time Flying class after lunch. Flying...
He frowned. Flying seemed cool, but he would be vulnerable. On the ground his ropes could hold him in place, in the air... well, much harder to defend himself at least, probably.
Further thought was pushed aside by Padma poking his neck. "Yeah, he is awake, just grumpy." Harry swatted her hand and turned to Terry and Hermione who were REALLY trying to be quiet as they giggled.
"Food. Otherwise, let me sleep."
Padma began poking faster, matching some song in her head. "Yes, Harry. Food."
He sighed and moved out of the common room, being poked along the way.
Terry gave a smirk. "Look at it this way Harry, you have a new day to try some strange combination of food, right?"
Hermione's face of horror actually made Harry give a rough chuckle. "Thanks Terry, sometimes I forget the important things."
With an absent wave of his hand a wall opened and once again his friends followed the twists and turns of a magical building in a desperate attempt to find bacon. Padma had been pretty quiet, happy to randomly poke Harry or watch the old portraits that they passed. "Hey, I think I remember this passage... didn't we go this way a day or so ago?"
The boy nodded as he ducked under a floating plant. "Yes, this passage only opens on Sundays and in the morning when the previous evening had no one in the fifth floor hallway." He waved a hand vaguely pointing to the right. "Took me forever to figure it out, but something in that hall is counting people. Probably a painting or something."
Terry was now watching the twisted path they were wandering with more awe. "Man, how do you keep track of it all?"
Harry absently reached between them and acted like he was plucking a string. Bright light shimmered in a thread between the two boys. "As I meet people, I tag them with a thread. Let's me keep track of my surroundings. Really useful when I was younger and trying to avoid bullies, although I apparently did it unconsciously back then."
Hermione had a spark in her eye. "How many people have you tagged?"
He shrugged. "Above a couple of thousand so far. Not that many in the castle of course, well not yet. Mostly people I went to school with, friends and their families, you know." He waved a hand absently at the corridor, and they saw a pair of threads floating up through the roof. "Those two are the Weasley Twins. They used this passage way a couple of times before I got interested in it. They really seem to know their way around."
There was a bit of a discussion about privacy, why Harry didn't really care about it that much, and how useful it could be for maps, finding people and things, and so forth. Thankfully most of the conversation started falling into other topics when Harry got to the Great Hall and began putting peaches in his milk.
First came the dreaded flying class. The idea of Harry thrusting wood between his legs and LIFTING himself that way sounded... painful. The fact that no one else wanted to protect their bits was also more than a little disturbing to him.
Everyone was outside where some really old brooms were laying on the ground, clearly waiting to be shot and put out of their misery. This class was Harry's first one with Slytherins, and so far it wasn't the best impression.
In an effort to NOT continue years of segregation, Harry dragged Padma over to the side that the green robes were waiting.
The witch next to him was actually quite pretty, although her face was set with a raised eyebrow. "Lost, Potter?" He gave a grin. "Why no, but thank you Greengrass." He gave a small chuckle at her suppressed shock at him knowing her name. "That aside, I was a bit annoyed at how... one sided this class is becoming. Us and them is not exactly the best atmosphere to build friendships and future connections, no?"
A cautious nod brought another smile out of Harry, for a moment.
"HEY RAVENCLAW DORK, back off from her." Inwardly Harry sighed and turned.
Draco's face fell like a brick. "W... oh. Sorry, I was... bye."
Padma giggled a bit while Harry rubbed his eyebrows. "That boy just does not learn, does he? How many times will I have to reprimand him before he grows up?" He gave a surprisingly old look at the stunned Slytherin beauty beside him. "Do I have a sign that says 'Please bother me' on it, or do I just attract this stuff?"
Her face twitched before she could hide the smile completely. "I am sure you earn all your troubles at some point, Mr. Potter."
His face relaxed into a smile. "Please, call me Harry. And would you be Ms. Davis?"
Daphne Greengrass realized that right behind her, bouncing on her feet like she had a question with a huge smirk on her face, was her FORMERLY best friend Tracy Davis. Soon to be formerly ALIVE friend if she said anything...
"SO you two dating yet?"
Yes, dead. Her self control almost completely blocked the blush, thank goodness.
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