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Thud! Harry woke up, startled by a loud noise that seemed to be coming from above him. Harry rubbed his eyes and tried to remember his dream. It had been about a nose-less maniac who killed his mother with a stick. However, the Dursley’s had always told him his parents died in a car crash. Harry rubbed his eyes and sat up on his bed. He was in a cramped cupboard under the stairs, with a large spider in the corner of his cupboard and a yellow stain on his mattress from when he was 5. Harry was now 10 and skinny as ever. Harry’s thoughts where interrupted by his cousin Dudley opening the door and without warning landed a strong punch on Harry’s stomach. Harry gasped for breath before heading into the kitchen. “Good morning” he said to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. “Cook us breakfast you fat pig,” said Vernon. Harry sighed but didn’t argue since he was used to this kind of treatment. They all sat down to eat and Harry quickly ate and headed to the cupboard. He hated spending time with the Dursley’s and stayed out of their way as much as possible. After playing with his toy horse action figure for a bit, Harry decided to take a walk to clear his mind. He headed to the door and told Vernon he has heading out for a bit.

Harry lived in a small town, hence the name Little Whinging. There was not much to do, and Harry had already explored everything. He headed to the outskirts as there where some cool woods nearby. He walked around and picked blackberries of some bushes. Since Harry was always starving, he took whatever he could get. He walked on the smaller side paths, to avoid people. After an hour or so, Harry had gotten bored. The hot sun was causing his neck extreme pain, since the Dursley’s never gave him any sun cream. Harry decided to head to the playground, where he could hopefully take shelter at the top of a slide. As he arrived however, his plans changed. He saw Dudley’s gang beating up a 9-year-old child. He was covered in bruises and scratches and was only not yelling because of Piers’s hand on his mouth. This was a normal activity for Dudley’s gang. Their bikes were propped up against the fence of the playground. Harry quickly hid and stared at the bully’s faces with hatred. He decided that he was going to steal one of their bikes so they chased him and left the boy alone. He snuck up to Dudley’s bike and hopped on it. He then rang the bell to get Dudley’s gangs attention. “Potter” said Dudley, “Get off my bike”. “Make me” said Harry while smirking. They instantly dropped the kid and jumped on the remaining bikes.

“Bring him back here” yelled Dudley, who couldn’t wait to beat the shit out of Harry. The kid had ran away and Dudley was too fat and lazy to chase after. Harry had no clue what he was going to do now. He had never really cycled before, but he knew that if he got caught then he would get beaten up. Harry started peddling as fast as he could, heading towards a residential area of the town. He knew these roads well, unlike Dudley’s friends who spent all day at the playground. Harry took a sharp right as soon as possible, trying to shake his pursuers off. It didn’t work and now they were even closer. Harry took another right and started peddling as fast as he could. He could feel the wind rushing past him. Harry was approaching a grassy area, where there was a hill. He knew that Dudley’s gang weren’t very fit so he started peddling up. This would have been a good plan however Harry lacked experience. He got up the hill fine but tumbled down and fell off Dudley’s bike. It fell on top of him. Harry tried to get back but felt a punch land straight in the face. He then got grabbed and dragged all the way back to the playground where Dudley had smashed a bottle and prepared a knife of some sort.

“I got him here,” said Piers. “Hold him down and I’ll ez him”. Harry had no clue how it happened, but somehow, he was at the top of the slide. “What the hell?” yelled Dudley, who was extremely surprised. Harry held back a big grin. He watched as Dudley’s gang bickered and then he quickly slid down the slide, hopped over the fence and yelled “See you soon Big D”. Harry was surprised himself, but happy he hadn’t got hurt. He strolled around the streets of Little Whinging before returning back to number 4 privet drive just before 5:00. Vernon told him to vacuum the house. Harry sighed and did as he was told, and then Dudley arrived. “There you are my little Dudleykins” exclaimed aunt Petunia. “Tonight for dinner we are having pizza and Harry’s having salad and our leftovers!” “YES” yelled Dudley because he loved it when Harry had to eat something less nutritious than them. Harry on the other hand, was very angry about this because both the male Dursley's ate very disgustingly but Harry’s groaning stomach forced him to eat the pizza crust and the tomatoes Dudley picked of his pizza (he only liked cheese on his pizza). Dudley teased Harry all dinner as a sort of revenge for escaping him earlier on that day. After dinner Dudley went to go and play on his Nintendo NES and Vernon and Petunia went to go watch the news. Having nothing better to do, Harry secretly listened in to what the news reporter was saying. “Expect temperatures of up to 30 degrees tomorrow” said the weather man.

Harry went to his cupboard and drew his theory of what happened earlier that day when he had escaped, along with some sketches of the chase. Harry wrote on the paper a bit of an explanation and then hid it under a lose floorboard where he stored all his other drawings. Harry took out a drawing of a day something strange had also happened. It had been the second to last term and the half term was very close. Harry had been sitting in maths class at the back corner because no one wanted to talk to him, not because he wasn’t nice but because of Dudley. “The head teacher has asked me to hand out your report cards,” said Mr Pythalgebra. “Dudley, Piers, Samuel, John, Harry…” he mumbled under his breath as he handed out the envelopes. “You need to show these to your parents” he said in a stern voice. Harry opened his envelope and smiled. At least he got decent grades in school. He looked at his card:

Maths: A
Science: B
History: B
Geography: C
PE: E
Religious studies: C
Engineering: B
Computing: E
Art: A
English: B

Harry thought that it was unfair that he wasn't good at computing or PE because he was starved and never got to use a computer at home. Oh well, at least he hadn’t failed PE like last time. Harry glanced up at Dudley who was muttering angrily with Piers. “How did I get and E in maths, I should have at least got an A*” grumbled Dudley. The bell rang which signified lunch. Harry had always been a loner which meant lunch was the worst for him. He stuffed his maths book and report card back into Dudley’s old bag and headed off to his usual spot, a sort of hidden area of the field. It was at the back of the field and covered by trees. In fact, Harry had only discovered it because he was hiding from Dudley. It was a little shed which Harry had cleaned up to make himself a chair and a little eating area, since he knew he would be bullied if he sat alone at the cafeteria. Harry took a seat and pulled out his lunch. It was nothing special, 2 sandwiches made using spare ingredients that were about to go out of date and a packet of crisps. While Harry was eating his crisps, he heard someone open the door, and to his horror it was Dudley’s gang. “Found you” said Dudley, grinning stupidly and snatching Harry’s crisps away. Harry stuffed his lunch box into his bag and tried to leave but was stopped when one of Dudley’s friends pushed him back. “Leaving so soon?” asked Dudley, grinning evilly. Harry just about dodged a punch and somehow barged through Dudley’s entire gang. He never knew how he had done it, but suddenly he was in the safety of the boys toilets. Harry sighed.

He then jolted out of his memory and looked at his watch which said 10:00. Harry sighed and fell asleep.

Harry woke up the next morning feeling rather miserable. He had dreamt about living a normal life with his parents. He walked to the kitchen and began cooking breakfast for the Dursley's. Harry was never a good cook, so he just prepared eggs on toast. Dudley came downstairs and started taunting Harry. Eventually everyone sat down to eat. Vernon was talking about how well his company was doing because someone just bought 1000 drills from him for no apparent reason. Harry couldn’t care less as the money was never used on him.

After breakfast Harry quickly left the house and walked over to the woods. Although he had explored every single nook and cranny in them, Dudley’s gang never went there so he felt a lot safer. He walked off the main path into a little side path that he had made himself by trampling the grass there for so many years. As Harry was walking, he thought he heard a twig snap behind him. I must be being paranoid thought Harry and continued. He continued to walk aimlessly until he heard a voice that sent shivers down his spine. “Potter” sneered Dudley. Harry turned around and saw Dudley and two of his goons. Harry took a step back. “What do you want Dudley?” he said. “To beat you up!” “Get him” yelled Dudley. Harry made a run for it. Unfortunately, there was a fallen tree blocking his way and Dudley caught up to him. They surrounded him and began to taunt him. “Scar-head,” said Piers Polkis.

Dudley’s face lit up. “Let's kill him” he said. Harry had heard Dudley threaten to kill a couple of times, but this time his voice sounded a lot different. Harry froze with fear, not knowing what to do. Dudley grabbed a sharp stick and stepped back, preparing to charge. When he was just about to impale Harry, a large gust of wind threw Dudley and his goons away from Harry. Harry took this opportunity to run into the woods and Dudley was too lazy and scared to follow. Harry was very surprised. This wasn’t normal. He was scared that Dudley might tell Uncle Vernon. After a couple of hours, Harry returned home.

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The next day he woke up to Dudley and Aunt Petunia discussing something called a “Smeltings stick”. Dudley was going to a fancy school that Vernon went to for secondary school, while Harry was going to a school for mentally ill kids. The Dursley’s sat down for breakfast and Harry served them food, before sitting down with his own portion. Just as he was about to take his first bite, he stopped because he heard the letter box opening. “Get the post Dudley,” said Vernon. “Make Harry get it” retorted Dudley. “Get the post Harry,” said Vernon. Harry got up and went down the hallway to the door. He sifted through the letters. News, bills, letter from school, mysterious letter with my name on it. “Huh” thought Harry. The letter had exactly where he lived on it. He pocketed it and gave the other letters to Vernon.

Harry wolfed down breakfast and rushed to his cupboard. He locked it and opened the letter. To Mr Harry Potter. You have been chosen to go to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Harry read the full letter and gaped in awe. There was no way the Dursley’s would take him to London though, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He pulled up the loose floorboard and took out his school bag from the corner of the cupboard. He decided that tomorrow he would run away. He went to sleep and had a dream about finally being free from the Dursley’s constant abuse.

The next day Harry prepared a large breakfast so that he could have as much energy as possible. He also prepared lots of toast as he was going to stuff his lunch box with it. Harry had intended to walk to London, but this would take way to long and he was too skinny and unhealthy to do it. After breakfast Harry successfully sneaked the toast to his cupboard and he put it in his lunch box. Harry rummaged through his possessions which lay under the floorboard. His diary was pretty pointless, so he left it behind. Harry rummaged further and found his secret money stash. He had £3.62 which Harry doubted that it would be enough to buy a train ticket to London and buy school supplies. Harry decided he would steal from Vernon’s wallet. He didn’t want to do it, even if the man had abused him for his entire life. Harry stole £200, put on his backpack and rushed out the house.

Harry took a train to London since it was cheaper than a bus. After arriving Harry went onto a street which contained a strange looking pub which the letter had instructed you go to. Harry entered nervously and heard roars of laughter as he saw a giant man, with a mangled beard and scruffy hair chugging down a barrel of some sort of alcohol. “Is that Harry Potter?” said an old man who had been sipping on something. Heads wheeled around. “Ello ‘Arry” said the large man. “Yer going to Hogwarts I suppose”. Harry nodded shyly. “I’d help yer out with buying stuff but I’m ‘aving a drink ya know,” said Hagrid. Harry asked him to show him how to get onto Diagon Alley and Hagrid pulled out a pink umbrella and tapped a brick. The wall disappeared and Harry saw a bustling street full of witches and wizards. Harry looked around in amazement but then saw that the wizards had different currency than muggle currency. Harry nervously walked into Gringotts, the wizarding bank.
He approached a goblin and asked timidly “How many galleons for £200?”
“That would be 40 galleons; What’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m Harry Potter,” said Harry.
“You are rich, follow me.”
Harry arrived at his vault, which was far underground, and saw piles of money.

Harry had had a wonderful time buying school supplies such as a magic wand, cauldron, trunk and numerous books. He had even got himself a beautiful snowy white owl as an early birthday present. He named her Hedwig. Harry booked himself a room at an inn and couldn’t believe what had just happened.

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On the day of the Hogwarts express Harry woke up early and packed his trunk. He headed off to Kings Cross Station nice and early as he didn’t want to miss the train. He saw lots of people rushing around, but no one seemed to be going to Hogwarts. Harry stood between platforms 9 and 10 almost crying in worry. Then he saw a family of red heads with trolleys loaded with stuff. He heard a plump woman say, “Platform 9¾ here, Fred go first”. He saw a tall red headed boy charging at a wall and disappearing. Harry walked over to them feeling rather stupid. He watched as all the kids disappeared apart from a tall, freckled boy who looked to be Harry’s age and a small red headed girl, clutching her mother's arm. “Do you know how I can get onto the platform?” Harry asked nervously.

The woman smiled kindly at him. “Of course, my dear, just run at that wall.” “You can do it with Ron, he’s also going for his first year in Hogwarts”. Ron smiled at him, and Harry returned the smile although he couldn’t help but notice a bit of dirt on Ron’s nose. Harry ran into the wall and looked in awe. He saw a large train and lots of boys and girls of different ages, talking and getting onto the train. Harry was eager to make friends, so he asked Ron if they can sit in a compartment together. “Sure” said Ron excitedly. They made their way onto the train and found an empty compartment. Harry settled down next to the window and Ron plonked himself opposite Harry. They started chatting about their past lives and how excited they were to go to Hogwarts. “I’m shocked this stuff is real,” said Harry. Ron explained how he grew up in a wizarding house. Harry felt like Ron was teasing him. “You have something on your nose” said Harry grinning. “I know” grumbled Ron.
Suddenly the compartment door opened, and a bushy haired girl walked in. She smiled at Harry and Ron.

“Have any of you seen a toad?” she asked. “Nope” said Ron “All I’ve got is Scabers”. Scabers was Ron’s rat, and before him his older brother Percy’s. Hermione sat down next to Harry and glanced up at Ron. “You’ve got something on your nose,” said Hermione. “I know” said Ron rather angrily. “Any-ways I’m Hermione, your Harry Potter and you are?” she said glancing up at Ron. “Ron Weasley” said Ron. “Nice to meet you both,” said Hermione. They chatted until the train arrived at a small village train station. “First years over here” bellowed Hagrid. Harry eagerly walked over, and Ron and Hermione followed. They got into boats and set off. Harry looked up and saw a giant castle in his view. Harry gasped. They arrived at the boat house and the first years walked up to the castle. They walked into the entrance hall, which was already larger than the Dursley’s entire house. Harry looked around and gazed as he saw the tall ceilings.

“I’ll take them from here,” said a stern voice. Harry looked and saw an old woman who looked rather strict. They followed the professor into what seemed to be a waiting room. “I am Professor McGonagall, wait here and we will call you up for sorting”. Harry started asking Ron about the different houses but then a drawling voice interrupted them. “Hello Potter, my name is Draco Malfoy. I can help you befriend the correct kind” he said glaring at Ron and Hermione. “I think I can spot the wrong kind myself” he said coolly. “The sorting hat is ready for you, follow me” said McGonagall”. Everyone followed. Harry saw an old hat that to his surprise spoke. “Hannah Abbot” it said. A scared looking girl walked up and sat down on the stool and put the hat onto her. After a couple of seconds, the hat yelled “Hufflepuff”. Hannah rushed over to her respective table. After a bit it was Hermione’s turn. She walked up to the stool and sat down. The hat seemed to spend around 2 minutes with her before yelling “Gryffindor!”. The Gryffindors clapped and cheered. Draco Malfoy however instantly got put into Slytherin. Then it was Harry’s turn. He nervously walked over and put the hat on. “Tough choice, you could do well in Slytherin or Gryffindor”. “Please not Slytherin” thought Harry. “Not Slytherin eh, well in that case GRYFFINDOR”. Harry rushed over to the table as the entire table clapped. He sat down next to Hermione. Ron also got into Gryffindor.

An old man stood up from the staff table. “That’s the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore” Ron whispered to Harry. Dumbledore cleared his throat and then loudly said “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Before we begin our feast, I have two things to say. The third-floor corridor is completely out of bounds unless you wish to die a painful death and the forbidden forest is also out of bounds. Now EAT.” As he finished speaking, tons of food appeared in the empty plates. Harry saw Ron shovelling mashed potatoes onto his plate, so Harry followed suit and helped himself to a ton of food, since he never got the opportunity to eat well at the Dursley's.

Soon the plates where emptied. Ron looked disappointed as he had been eating a brownie. One of Ron’s brothers stood up and introduced himself as Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect. “Follow me to the Gryffindor dormitories.” he said rather pompously. Harry was amazed by the moving portraits and how big the castle was. Percy told the first years the password, which was “Lion”. Harry walked into the common room and saw a cosy fire with plenty of armchairs and sofas, as well as some tables and chairs. Harry met his dorm mates; Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas who was a football fan, Neville Longbotom who was a shy kid and Ron. They spent some time chatting and roasting Marshmallows by the fire which Dean kindly provided.

Soon, Harry was in bed and was experiencing tons of emotions. He felt happy, sad, angry, amazed and tired. Harry drifted off into an uneasy sleep. He dreamt about Snape (his scar had hurt when he looked at him) and Draco Malfoy teasing him, his mothers screams, evil laughing and a flash of green light. Harry woke up, drenched with sweat. He took a sip of water and fell asleep, forgetting about his nightmare.

The next day he found Ron in the common room chatting to Seamus. After chatting about magic for a bit, Harry and Ron went to the great hall to have breakfast. Harry was amazed to see just as much food as the beginning of the year feast, however the food was more breakfasty (cereal, toast etc.). As Harry was buttering his toast, McGonagall handed him two sheets of paper. One was his timetable and the other was a sheet of basic Maths. McGonagall then said, “You will receive maths problems to do every breakfast, and the top 5 scores will be read out to everyone.” Harry grinned at every pureblood's horror.

The top 5 students ended up being: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Erny McMillan, Hannah Abbot and Terry Boot. Everyone clapped and returned to their meals. Harry glanced at his timetable and saw he had Charms first thing after breakfast.

After Ron had finished stuffing his mouth with toast and hash browns, they headed to the charms classroom. Harry and Ron sat next to each other in the middle row so they could still mess about but also pay attention. “Welcome to charms class, I will now do the register” squeaked Flitwick. “Hermione, Neville, Dean, Ron, Harry, Harry Potter?” he said. With that he fell over and yelled “OUCH”. He stood up and apologised before welcoming Harry to Hogwarts. “We will be learning Lumos today, can anyone tell me what it does?” he asked. Hermione’s hand shot up.

“Yes Miss Granger?” said Flitwick. “Lumos is the light spell so when you cast it your wand essentially turns into a torch,” said Hermione. “5 points to Gryffindor!” Flitwick exclaimed. Harry and Ron spent the rest of the lesson practising Lumos, although Harry’s Lumos was way brighter than Ron’s. Harry couldn’t help but notice bits of salt on Ron’s face and he smirked. “What?” Ron asked. “Nothing” said Harry happily.

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Harry and Ron exited the Transfiguration classroom, both feeling rather stupid. They were meant to transfigure a pencil into a rock however Ron’s pencil blew up and Harry’s rock was a bit of scrunched up paper. It hadn’t helped that McGonagall had been very strict, and she nearly yelled at Ron who had tried to stroke her Animagus form when McGonagall demonstrated how cool transfiguration could be. They had potions next, and Harry had a bad feeling about Snape. They walked into the classroom and sat down at the back. “OY, I HAVE A SEATING PLAN YOU KNOW, GET UP AND SIT AT THE FRONT” Snape yelled.

Harry and Ron stood up and quickly sat at the front. When Harry’s name was said on the register Snape sneered “Potter, our new celebrity. Let's see if fame means brains. Where could I find a bezeor?”

“I don’t know but I think Neville does”. Harry had said it randomly and turned to see Neville looking horrified. “Well, Longbotom, what’s the answer?” said Snape in a silky voice. “I uh, I uh don’t….. I think it’s… um in a Potions cupboard?” stammered Neville. “INCORRECT” Snape screamed. Neville looked at Harry with a betrayed look on his face.

The rest of the lesson went just as badly, with Harry, Ron and Neville losing 20 points off Gryffindor because their cauldrons had exploded. Crabbe and Goyle got detention because they brewed their potion incorrectly, got angry and poured their potion on Dean Thomas.

“That lesson was horrible” said Harry, “Snape doesn’t even do any teaching and he hates me.” Ron nodded. “Oh well, at least none of the other teachers hate you,” said Ron. Harry made a mental note to apologise to Neville. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly until it was time for dinner. Harry and Ron made their way into the Great Hall to sit down and eat, but Harry was surprised to see Neville and Parvati Patel walking towards him, an angry look on Neville’s face. “Look I’m so-” Harry started to say but Neville roughly pushed him. Harry stumbled and was utterly in shock. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT POTTER” Neville said angrily. “I’m sorry, I panicked” Harry stammered.

“Calm down guys” said Ron, however Neville ignored him. “SCREW YOU POTTER, I THOUGHT YOU WHERE A NICE GUY BUT CLEARLY NOT” Neville yelled before storming off. Parvati spat at Harry and turned away, but at this point Harry felt quite angry. Harry grabbed her hair, and with strength that he didn’t even know he had, pulled her down onto the floor. “You can’t do that, I’m a girl” Parvati said angrily. “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do” said Harry coldly. He spat in her face and walked off, Ron hurrying to keep up with him.

They sat down and to Harry’s shock he saw Draco Malfoy walking up to Neville and they muttered some words to each other before Malfoy walked back to Crabbe and Goyle, who had already eaten 5 plates full of food and didn’t look like they were going to stop any time soon. Neville and Parvati sat down far away from Harry and Ron. Lavender looked rather sad that her friend had abandoned her but cheered up when Hermione sat down next to her. Harry and Ron enjoyed their dinner and Harry even forgot about Neville and Snape as Ron cracked jokes and told him more about his family.

Harry was just about to go to sleep when he heard footsteps coming towards his dormitory. He saw Neville and ignored him, but Neville walked over to his bed. “You’ll pay for that Potter” he said in a salty voice.

The next day, Harry waited for Ron in the common room to go to breakfast together. He saw Neville and Parvati muttering to each other and occasionally throwing him dirty looks. Soon Ron came to the common room, and they set off to breakfast. “Oh, I’ve just remembered that we have flying class today!” said Harry happily. “Coooool” said Ron. They saw Hermione pouring over books about brooms and flying, but this was pretty normal for her.

McGonagall stood up and cleared her throat. “Hello everyone, I will be handing out your times tables in a moment, however I will now be announcing the bottom 5 scorers as well.” Harry watched as the Hufflepuff table started whispering anxiously. Harry easily did the times tables, and his sheet of paper was automatically summoned so no one could cheat from him.

“The top 5 scorers are: Harry Potter, Susan Bones, Cedric Diggory, Ernie McMillan and Hermione Granger,” said McGonagall. Everyone clapped. “The bottom 5 scorers are: Ron Weasley, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Parvati Patel and Cho Chang.” Everyone jeered and went back to their meals. Harry smirked at Ron who grimaced. “Cmon mate, I wasn’t trying” he said. Harry returned to eating his toast.

Soon, Harry and Ron headed to the courtyard for flying class. Harry easily summoned his broom when saying “up” but to his amusement Ron’s broom bashed him in the face and Hermione’s broom didn’t lift up at all. “Now, on the count of three I want all of you to gently kick off the ground.” “Three, two” said Madam Hooch. To Harry’s amusement, Neville kicked off early and rocketed up into the air. Neville rocketed up into the air, Harry could see the fear on his face. Eventually Neville slipped off his broom and plummeted to the ground, and everyone heard a nasty CRACK as he hit the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a glass ball roll out of Neville’s pocket and onto the ground.

“No one is allowed to fly until I return, or you will be expelled” said Hooch sternly, dragging a screaming and crying Neville into the castle. Harry saw Malfoy pick up the glass ball. Although Harry didn’t like Neville, he still didn’t want his stuff to get stolen by Malfoy. “Give that here Malfoy” he said loudly. “Nah I don’t think I will Potter, come get it” Malfoy said. With that said he kicked off and flew up into the air. Harry instantly kicked off into the air. He streaked over to Malfoy and took out his wand. “HAND IT OVER” he yelled. Malfoy looked shocked and lobbed it away before landing onto the ground.

Harry could feel the wind rushing past him as he streaked down to catch the glass ball. It was getting dangerously close to the ground. He could feel adrenaline pumping through his veins. At the last-minute Harry grabbed the ball and smoothly landed on the ground. He heard cheers and claps all around him. He didn’t really care though. He was more focused on the figure of Professor McGonagall rapidly coming closer and closer to him. “Follow me Potter” she said. Harry tossed the ball to Ron, who caught it but fell over in the process. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malfoy and Parvati high five.

His heart sank. He was going to get expelled.

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McGonagall was walking very fast, and Harry had to jog to keep up. McGonagall didn’t even glance back at Harry, instead opting to completely ignore him. McGonagall led Harry to the charms classroom and rudely swung the door open. “Oy Wood get over here” she said. A tall kid stood up and walked over to McGonagall looking rather confused. McGonagall turned around and led them into an empty classroom.

“What’s this about?” asked Wood. “Wood, I’ve found you a new seeker” said McGonagall triumphantly. Harry’s stomach did a somersault. He wasn’t going to be expelled after all. Harry instantly agreed to become seeker and McGonagall said, “I’ll have to talk to Dumbledore and get you a nice broom, maybe one of the latest clean-sweeps or the Nimbus 2000.”

Harry headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. He sat down next to Ron who looked rather surprised to see him. “Mate, I thought you were gonna get expelled” he said. “I’ll explain later” said Harry grinning. He was just about to load some food onto his plate when he saw Malfoy, Neville and Parvati walking over to him smirking. “Last meal huh Potter” said Neville grinning. “Nah, I’m not even in any trouble,” said Harry. “Sure you're not,” said Neville. Ron complained about not knowing what had happened, but Harry promised he would find out at breakfast the next day.

The next day Harry and Ron went down for breakfast. After the times tables, Harry heard the unmistakable sound of owls coming to deliver the post. An owl that was carrying a long package flew down to Harry. The owl wasted no time and pushed Harry’s bowl of cereal onto his robes and then flew off. “Coooool” Ron said. Harry glared at him. “I’ll clean it Harry” said Seamus excitedly “CLEANIO.” Harry felt himself get thrown out of his seat and onto the floor and Ron had gotten thrown right into his bowl of muesli.

“Sorry mate,” said Seamus. “All good,” said Harry. Hermione cast the real cleanio spell on Harry and Ron before returning to “Post NEWT Charms”. Harry saw a note attached to the package and read it.

“Potter do not open the package in the great hall. Inside is a Nimbus 2000. Dumbledore has made an exception for you”. Harry grabbed Ron’s hand and dragged him out of the great hall and to an empty corridor. “What” said Ron angrily. “I’m on the team and McGonagall got me a Nimbus 2000” he said excitedly. “Cooooool, my brothers Fred and George are also on the team as beaters,” said Ron.

Then Harry saw Neville walking over to him and grinned at Ron. “Thanks to you I’m now on the Quiditch team and McGonagall got me a Nimbus 2000” he teased. Harry could see salt falling out of his hair and hands and grinned. “SHUT UP POTTER, YOU KNOW WHAT IVE HAD ENOUGH. DUEL ME IN THE TROPHY ROOM AT MIDNIGHT” Neville yelled. “Sure, your absolutely pathetic any ways” said Harry coolly. Neville looked like he wanted to murder Harry but instead turned around and stormed off.

“I’ll come with you just in case he tries something,” said Ron. “Thanks” said Harry, although he doubted if Ron would manage to even cast Lumos. The fight drew closer, and Harry was getting more nervous after every minute. Soon Harry, Ron and Neville where the only people left in the common room. It was 11:30 and Neville stood up and left. Harry just waited for a bit and motioned for Ron to follow him.

They clambered out of the portrait hole and into the dark corridors of Hogwarts. The castle certainly had a different feel to it when it was dark, and no one was around. In a way it was creepy, but Harry had always felt alone and alienated, so it felt familiar to him. Harry and Ron made their ways through the empty corridors, with only the light from Harry’s wand to guide them. Soon they arrived at the trophy room.

“Oy Neville c'mon then fight me,” said Harry. No reply. Harry checked his watch, and it was 11:58. This was concerning since Neville had left the common room a lot earlier so he should have arrived ages ago. “Maybe he chickened out, I think we should go,” said Ron. Harry ignored him. Then he heard a voice that made his blood run cold. “They should be around here somewhere” muttered Filch.

Harry and Ron froze and looked at each other in panic. Harry could hear Filch getting closer so without wasting another minute he yelled “RUN”. Harry and Ron took off, however Ron somehow managed to fall over, taking Harry down with him. Harry quickly scrambled up and gave Ron a hand before continuing to run. Harry knew Filch was gaining on him. Harry went to a random door and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge. “Lumos” Harry muttered and started looking around for anything that could help him.

Then he saw it. A random key was lying in a corner and Harry snatched it up and tried the door. To his surprise it worked, and Harry and Ron rushed into the room and closed the door. “That was close” said Harry panting. “Yeah mate” said Ron “Can’t believe Longbotom fooled us again”. Harry heard Filch cursing for a bit before leaving the area. He turned around to check out the room they were in, but he froze in horror.

In front of him was a giant three headed dog, that was sitting on a trapdoor and seemed to be waking up. Harry looked and saw Ron also staring at the creature, seemingly frozen in terror. The beast woke up and let out a loud growl as it saw Harry and Ron. Instantly, Harry and Ron flung the door open and ran. They didn’t stop until they were in the safety of their dormitory, where they saw Neville sleeping. Harry resisted the urge to punch him in the face but decided against it. Harry collapsed into bed and fell asleep instantly.

Chapter Text

Days went by and nothing of note happened between Harry or Neville, except occasional arguments. Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quiditch team captain had explained Quiditch to Harry, who found it fascinating. Harry quickly got to grips with flying and catching the snitch and enjoyed training with the other team members.

To Harry’s disappointment, Ron had managed to become enemies with Hermione, calling her a nerd and a bookworm. However, Harry was ready to forget all of that. He was excited. Today was going to be the first Halloween he would actually celebrate. Whilst there were still lessons on that day, he knew that there would be the Halloween feast, which he was excited about because he had seen the Pumpkins Hagrid had been preparing.

The last lesson before the feast was charms. Flitwick welcomed everyone and started demonstrating “Wingardium Leviosa” which was a spell that made objects fly and could even be used to levitate people which Ron had looked rather excited about. “Alright everyone, for this activity I am going to be splitting you in pairs”. Squeaked Flitwick “Hmmm Harry you go with Dean, Neville with Seamus and Ron go with Hermione”. “Ugghhh” Ron groaned. Hermione glared at him.

Harry and Dean worked well together and managed to make their feather fly pretty quickly (by dropping from a height and then blowing at it). Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione. “It’s not Wongirdium Lavosa it’s Wingardium Leviosa”. Hermione said rather angrily. “Shut up nerd, just cos I don’t read all day doesn’t mean your any better than me, at least I have friends” Ron retorted angrily. Hermione gasped and let out a sob before running out of the classroom. Ron grinned triumphantly.

Harry wasn’t very surprised; neither was the rest of the class. Ron and Hermione had been arguing pretty much since the start of Hogwarts, and it was clear that Ron was winning, so it was just a matter of time before something like this would happen. Harry did feel bad for Hermione though, after all she could miss the Halloween feast. Soon the lesson ended, and everyone started heading to the great hall. “Oy Lavender, do you know where Hermione is?” asked Harry. “Oh, apparently she’s in the girls' toilets near the dungeons crying, Ron really hurt her feelings you know” she said. Ron smirked.

Harry considered going over there to apologise to Hermione, but he had been looking forward to the Halloween feast so he wasn’t going to miss it. Harry walked into the great hall and was glad he hadn’t gone to get Hermione. Hundreds of candles lit up the great hall, with ghosts flying around and the enchanted ceiling was the night sky, with stars lighting it up. Harry sat down in awe. “Believe me, the Christmas feast is gonna be better,” said Ron.

Harry had just been about to give himself a second helping when Professor Quirell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher ran in, his face completely white. “TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS” he yelled before fainting. Instantly there was an uproar. “HOW DID IT GET IN” “WHO LET IT IN” “THIS IS SUCH A BAD PRANK” where being yelled across the great hall by various students. “SILENCE YOU RETARDS” yelled Dumbledore “PREFECTS, TAKE YOUR HOUSE MATES TO YOUR COMMON ROOMS, FOOD WILL BE PROVIDED SHORTLY, TEACHERS FOLLOW ME.” Harry and Ron followed Percy, both feeling rather confused. Harry felt like something was off though. His heart sank. Hermione.

“Ron” he hissed. “What?” asked Ron. “Hermione is in the bathroom in the dungeons, we have to save her” he said urgently. “Oh shit I forgot, maybe we should just leave her to die.” he said. Harry shot him a look. “Ok ok let's go.” Harry and Ron quickly ran down to the dungeons and to the girl's bathroom. Harry opened the door cautiously. “Hermione, it us” he said. “GO AWAY HARRY AND FUCK OFF RON” Hermione yelled hysterically. “Jesus she still hasn’t gotten over it” muttered Ron smirking. Harry ignored him, although he couldn’t help but think Ron was right.

The bathroom absolutely stank. It smelled of troll, but it also smelt like salt. Harry looked to the cubicle Hermione was locked in and saw piles of salt on the floor. Then Harry saw a troll walking over to the cubicle and busting down the door. Hermione screamed. Harry snapped a tap off one of the sinks and threw it at the troll while yelling “OY YOU GREAT BRUTE, GET ME INSTEAD”. The troll turned around and roared in rage and started walking over to Harry and Ron. Ron rushed over and snapped another tap off the wall and threw it at the troll. The troll turned at him instead.

“WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA” he yelled, aiming it at the troll's club. He levitated it above the troll's head and dropped it on the trolls' head. The troll stood there looking rather confused. Then it started spinning its head and wobbling. Finally, to Harry’s relief it fell on the floor, clearly unconscious. “Thank you,” said Hermione. “No problem,” said Harry. Ron didn’t say anything and just nodded at Hermione.

Then Snape, McGonagall, Quirrell and Dumbledore rushed in. “What happened here” asked Snape as Quirrell fainted. “Uhhh” Harry said. “It was me Professor, I thought I could defeat the troll but then Harry and Ron came and saved me. “YOU IDIOTIC GIRL” Snape yelled. “Calm down” said McGonagall sternly. “Granger 5 points off Gryffindor. Harry 8 points and Ron 2”.

They walked together back to the common room in awkward silence. Just before they came in Hermione said, “Do you guys want to be friends?”. “Sure!” said Harry excitedly. “Fine” grunted Ron. They enjoyed the rest of the Halloween feast in the common room, although Harry was slightly annoyed that the troll had snuck into the castle.

Chapter Text

Days flew by and Harry had been very busy. He was busy with his schoolwork, which Hermione forced Harry and Ron to keep up with and Wood was also making the Quiditch team train extra hard since there was an upcoming Quiditch match, which would be against Slytherin. The weather had also drastically changed. Gone were the days where you could casually take a stroll to Hagrid's hut or have a picnic outside. It was now cold, although this made the castle and Hagrid’s hut (who Harry, Ron and Hermione occasionally visited) seem a lot cosier.

As the Quiditch match got closer and Harry constantly complained about how stressed he was, Hermione suggested that he should read some books on Quiditch to pick up any tips or learn some cool strategies. And on a Saturday morning Harry finally agreed. Originally, they planned to read in the library, but to Harry’s horror a bunch of 7th year fan girls where there. Instead, they opted to sitting outside since no one would disturb them there.

Hermione had suggested “Quiditch through the ages” which Harry started reading to Ron and Hermione, although Ron was preoccupied with a large stack of toast he had taken from the great hall. To make it warmer, Hermione cast a spell that put some fire in a jar she just happened to have.

After a little bit of reading Harry saw Snape limping over to him. “Potter” he sneered “You're not allowed to have library books outside the library.” With that Snape snatched the book and limped off. “Wonder what happened to his leg,” said Ron. “He probably went to that three headed dog” said Harry angrily. “I hate that guy”.

Since they were bored, they decided to head down to Hagrid’s hut. “Yer alright guys?” Hagrid asked. “Yeah, I just have a question for you,” said Harry. “What do you know about the three headed dog?” Harry knew that Hagrid was drunk, he could smell the stench of alcohol. “Oh, that’s me three headed dog fluffeh, he is guarding the philosophers stone innit. Oh fuck I shouldna said that. Piss off,” said Hagrid. He also mentioned Nicholas Flamel.

Harry, Ron and Hermione ran off. Harry suspected that Snape was up to something and wanted to find out what. “I’m going to get the book back” he said. Harry rushed up to the owlery and ran over to Hedwig. He handed her a stack of money. “Buy me a camera and bring it here. Be quick” he said.
Hedwig hooted and flew off. Harry passed the time by stroking all of the other owls. After a bit of waiting, Hedwig flew back with a camera.

Harry rushed off to Snape’s office, with his camera at the ready. He arrived and heard Snape cursing loudly. The door was slightly open, and Harry sneaked a peek inside. He saw Snape’s leg had been completely mangled and Filch was sitting there for some reason as well. Harry snapped a picture. Unfortunately, Harry hadn’t turned on the silent setting, so it made a loud click.

Snape quickly rolled his trouser leg back down and walked over to where Harry was. Snape grabbed Harry’s jumper and dragged him into his office, getting even more enraged as Harry was spamming pictures of him. Snape pushed him onto a chair and tried to grab the camera off him, but Harry dodged him. “WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM POTTER, DELETE THOSE PHOTOS RIGHT NOW. THIS IS WHY I DON’T LIKE YOU, YOU’RE A HORRIBLE LITTLE CREATURE AND I WILL KILL YOU. HERE’S YOUR DAMN BOOK BACK” Snape yelled and shoved the book into Harry.

Harry rushed off. He felt triumphant. Harry rushed to the Gryffindor dormitory and started developing the pictures and printing them. Then Harry got some spellotape and started walking around the corridors sticking Snape’s pictures up on the walls. Harry was especially happy with the ones that showed how much salt was lying around Snape by the end of it. Harry walked around every floor sticking the pictures up and then went back outside where Ron and Hermione were.

“What took you so long?” asked Hermione. “You’ll see” said Harry grinning. They chatted for a bit and then it was time for dinner. On the way to the great hall Ron and Hermione saw all the pictures Harry had stuck up. Ron grinned and Hermione glared at Harry. “You’re going to be in so much trouble” she said. “I know but it’s worth it” he said. They headed back into the great hall and saw all the staff sitting there cluelessly.

Harry wondered where Snape was but brushed it off and started piling potatoes onto his plate. After Harry had almost finished a plate of food, he saw Snape walk in and snapped a picture. Snape had salt pouring off him, a cigarette in hand and by the smell it was clear he had been smoking copium. Snape’s face was red in rage. “POTTER” he yelled. Harry had to duck under the table so Snape wouldn’t see him laugh. Harry emerged, still fighting back laughter as Snape rushed over to him.

Harry’s fingers clicked the “photo” button on his camera as Snape rushed over to him. “GIVE ME THAT CAMERA” Snape yelled. “No” said Harry, “I don’t want to.” “WELL, YOU HAVE TO” yelled Snape and tried to snatch Harry’s camera but Harry jumped off his seat and stepped away from Snape. Harry glanced at the staff table and saw all the staff trying to hold back laughter, even Dumbledore.

“Come on grease head” Harry taunted. Snape grabbed Ron’s bowl of soup and lobbed it at Harry. Harry dodged it and grinned. Snape had made a massive mistake. Behind Snape, Harry saw Ron stand up with a bowl of boiling hot soup. Harry nodded at Ron and suddenly Snape was covered with boiling hot soup. “AHHH” Snape yelled. “I’LL KILL BOTH OF YOU”. Snape ran at Harry. Harry made the impression of being slower than Snape to let him catch up. Then he turned around and slid on the floor, tripping Snape up with his legs and ran back to Ron and Hermione. To piss Snape off even more Harry started munching on some garlic bread.

However, to Harry’s horror Snape wiped out his wand. Harry also saw Malfoy, Neville and Parvati stand up with their wands out. They ran to Snape who nodded at them. “STUPEFY” Snape yelled. Harry threw himself out of the way. “Ron, Hermione help me” yelled Harry. Ron grabbed his wand immediately, but Hermione shook her head. “This is your fault” she said. “I don’t want to get into trouble.” A barrage of spells narrowly missed Harry and Ron.

Harry knew that he didn’t stand much of a chance because Harry and Ron didn’t know many spells. “Wingardium Leviosa” Harry yelled but Snape easily blocked it. Spells were exchanged back and forth but Harry and Ron where being pushed back because they had to dodge spells instead of blocking them. Then Harry had a brilliant plan. He muttered it to Ron who nodded eagerly. “Wingardium Leviosa” said Ron, levitating a large saucepan of soup. “NOW” Harry yelled. Ron spilled the soup all over the floor, causing a miniature flood. Harry ran into the soup and started sliding over to Snape, Malfoy, Neville and Parvati.

Harry easily dodged any spells. “Wingardium Leviosa” he yelled. He levitated Malfoy up and smashed him down onto Parvati, knocking them both unconscious. In the meantime, Ron levitated a heavy saucepan full of water. While Snape and Neville where focused on Harry, they didn’t notice the saucepan above them. Then Ron dropped it and it hit Neville, but Snape dodged it. “YES” Harry and Ron yelled. Snape looked horrified. “PERTRIFICUS TOTALUS” he yelled, and it hit Ron, making him fall onto his back, unable to move. Harry was about to yell a spell at Snape, but he slipped on the soup and fell onto the floor.

Harry then felt himself unable to move. Then he saw him and Ron being levitated by Snape and Dumbledore. He saw a fancy room and a Phoenix. He felt himself being placed onto a chair. Harry then realised what he had actually done. “Were in so much trouble” he told himself in horror.

Chapter Text

Harry woke up feeling absolutely terrified. He had been forced to drift into a quick sleep by Dumbledore. Harry glanced to his right and saw Ron waking up as well. He saw that he was tied down onto his chair. Harry struggled, but the ropes held him down firmly. “Now now Mr Potter, this is for your own safety and so you don’t do anything else that you will regret,” said Dumbledore. Harry glanced at Snape and saw him rummaging through a bag which seemed to be full of torture devices. Harry shuddered.

Dumbledore sighed. “Harry, Harry, Harry” he said disappointedly. “You realise how serious your actions where?” Harry nodded. “Well Mr Potter, Mr Weasley” sneered Snape. “This will result in a very severe punishment. Dumbledore looked at Snape gravely and nodded. Snape pulled out a sharp knife out of the bag. “Clearly you two having arms is way too dangerous for everyone in this castle.” he said evilly. Snape walked towards Harry. Harry felt a sense of dread wash over him. He couldn’t let this happen. Harry liked his hands quite a lot and he was sure Ron also did. Harry struggled even more as Snape stood right in front of him. Then Snape was pushed back into the wall furthest away from Harry.

Dumbledore clicked his fingers and Harry and Ron where released. “That was your punishment, you handled it well Mr Potter,” said Dumbledore. “Off you go.” Harry and Ron ran out of Dumbledore’s office and to the Gryffindor common room. Harry saw that all the pictures he had put on the walls where gone. Harry and Ron rushed over to Hermione and explained. “Holy shit,” said Hermione. “That’s barbaric.”

Harry went to bed early that day, trying to calm his nerves. Admittedly, the punishment had worked flawlessly but he was also angry at Snape and Dumbledore. The next day Harry went to the great hall for breakfast like normal. He heard everyone whispering and pointing at him and Snape and Dumbledore acting like nothing had happened.

Then he saw Wood running over to him. “Harry, it’s the Quiditch match today,” said Wood. “FUCK” said Harry loudly. His appetite was completely gone. He would be playing against Slytherin. “You got this mate” said Ron, clapping Harry on the back. Harry forced himself to have some hash browns so he would have energy to play.

Harry and the rest of the Quiditch team was gathered in the Gryffindor team changing rooms. Wood was giving them a pre-match lecture and discussing strategies because they had completely forgotten to talk about tactics in their practice sessions. Then they walked out of the changing rooms. “Captains, shake hands” ordered Hooch. Wood and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team Captain shook hands. Harry saw both of them wince and walking away with several broken fingers which were healed instantly.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and released the box full of quafles and other thingies. Harry really wanted to beat the Slytherin’s. To be fair, all of the Slytherins where land whales so it wouldn’t be very hard. The Gryffindor team was doing very well. Down at the stands Hermione and Ron were sitting next to Hagrid and cheering. The score was 50-0, the Slytherin’s where only defending because their beaters attacked the Gryffindor chasers with their bats.

Harry was looking down on the game when he felt his broom shake. He didn’t think much of it. Then he realised he couldn’t control his broom anymore. The broom started shaking. Harry held on as tight as he could. “It must be Snape” he thought. He had embarrassed Snape in front of the whole school, so it made sense. The crowd had noticed and where gasping. “HA HA POTTER” yelled Neville. He had a smirk on his face. Ron grimaced. Then Hermione noticed Snape muttering something.

“Ron, it’s Snape I’m going to go set him on fire,” said Hermione. “Coooooooool” said Ron. Hermione ran towards the staff table. In the meantime, Harry was now hanging off his broom with one hand. The broom was shaking even more violently now, and Harry couldn’t hold on much longer. Hermione ran towards Snape, knocking over Quirell and Flitwick on the way. “incendio” she whispered and ran off. Snape soon noticed and put the fire out, but Harry was now back on the broom.

The rest of the game went well, and Harry caught the snitch because the Slytherin seeker was too busy seeking girls. Harry landed and everyone cheered. “GRYFFINDOR WINS” yelled Madam Hootch. Harry was swarmed by his teammates and the other Gryffindors who had run down onto the pitch. Eventually Harry broke free and headed over to Hermione and Ron. “It was Snape,” said Ron. “He made my broom try and knock me off?” asked Harry. “Yeah, especially after what you pulled yesterday,” said Hermione. This made perfect sense to Harry. Harry wanted revenge.

“Let's go down to Hagrid's hut and see what he’s up to,” said Harry. They headed down to Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door. There was a loud scrambling and it seemed Hagrid was trying to hide something. After three minutes he opened the door. “Oh, it’s yeh three” he muttered. “Come in”. They sat down. Harry was rather cold and shaken after the first match, so he sat close to the fire which noticeably made Hagrid look quite worried. “Something wrong?” asked Harry. “Nothin’ wrong lol,” said Hagrid.

The fire wasn’t doing Harry any good, so he decided to remove the blanket that was covering the fire. “WAIT STOP” yelled Hagrid. It was too late. Harry saw a weird looking egg above the fire. Hagrid looked horrified. “It's an easta’ egg ‘Arry” he said. “That’s a dragon egg,” said Ron. “COOOOOL”. Harry looked pretty impressed. “Don’t worry we won’t snitch” he told Hagrid. “Send us an owl when it’s going to hatch,” said Hermione.

They ran back to the warmth of the castle and to the Gryffindor common room where a party was going on because of the Quiditch match. Harry had a fun time at the party, his first ever party he had been in. Harry went to bed feeling pretty satisfied with himself. He would need to get revenge on Snape, but this could all wait until tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Days passed and Harry got no word from Hagrid about the dragon. Harry was beginning to think Hagrid had just forgotten to tell them. On one frosty morning on the way to the greenhouses Harry saw Hedwig flying over with a letter. He took the letter and stroked Hedwig. Hedwig flew away in the direction of the owlery. Harry opened the letter and whispered to Ron and Hermione “The egg will hatch later today, come after dinner”. The rest of the day went by slowly but eventually it was dinner. Harry wolfed down some food and got up. Ron looked very disappointed.

They ran down the path towards Hagrid’s hut and knocked. Hagrid opened the door. “Come in yeh three” he grunted. They got in. Hagrid beckoned them to come to the fireplace. They saw the egg was almost fully hatched. They saw a dragon slowly pushing the eggshells away. Soon it got out. “Isn’t he beautiful?” asked Hagrid. “I mean he is kinda cute,” said Ron. Hagrid took the dragon out of the egg and put him on the table. The dragon started walking around before it looked at Hagrid and roared. A small bit of fire got on Hagrid’s beard.

“He’s just playin” chuckled Hagrid. “Stroke him guys, he’s friendly. Harry and Hermione got away without any injury. Ron however was different. He cautiously reached out and stroked the dragon. Norbert didn’t seem to like him though and bit Ron. “OW” Ron yelled. “Ah calm down it not like dragon bites are poisonous or anythin’, you’ll be fine,” said Hagrid. Harry highly doubted it. Then he saw something. Malfoys face, watching them through the window. Harry quickly closed the curtains.

“MALFOY SAW WE HAVE TO GO” he yelled. Harry, Ron and Hermione bolted out the door. To his horror it wasn’t just Malfoy. Neville and Parvati where there as well, running back to the castle. Harry started running after them. Soon Harry and Ron were catching up, with Hermione slightly behind. “OY MALFOY” yelled Harry. “Dragons, Potter?” sneered Malfoy. “You’re going to be in so much trouble” jeered Neville. They were about three quarters of the way to the castle. Harry knew they would expose Hagrid. He pulled out his wand. “Wingardium Leviosa” he yelled at Malfoy. Malfoy was sent up into the air. “RON HELP” Harry yelled. Ron was clutching his arm and looked like he was about to faint. Hermione caught up and tried to levitate Neville, but Parvati managed to cast Wingardium Leviosa first, and Hermione was sent up in the air. Neville grinned and taking advantage of Ron’s weakness, he sent Ron flying up into the air. It seemed to be a losing battle for Harry. “Let Malfoy down and we’ll let your dumb friends down” yelled Neville. Harry thought for a moment. He had a better idea.

Still keeping focus on Malfoy, he ran at Neville and punched him. Ron fell to the ground with an oof. “Wingardium Leviosa” yelled Ron and Malfoy was now under Ron’s control. This let Harry run at Parvati, but she started running. Harry decided Malfoy and Neville were bigger threats. He ran back. Neville got up panting, it seemed like Harry punched him very well. “Let Malfoy down and we won’t snitch on Hagrid,” said Neville. Harry knew he couldn’t keep them here and they needed to get Ron medical attention. Harry motioned for Ron to let Malfoy down. Ron lifted him a bit higher before letting go of him.

Harry, Ron and Hermione ran off. It wasn’t really a victory though and it just showed that Malfoy, Neville and Parvati could fight them pretty evenly. “We need to get Ron to the hospital wing” said Hermione looking concerned. “NO” said both Harry and Ron. “If Madam Pomfrey realises what bit Ron, she will tell Dumbledore,” said Harry. “We go to the library and try and figure out a cure and how to get rid of the dragon”. Ron groaned and clutched his hand, it was turning a nasty shade of green.

The trio started running towards the library, as Harry could tell Ron was getting weaker every second. The few students who remained in the corridors after dinner looked at them weirdly, but Harry ignored them. They ran to the library and slowed down to a brisk walk as Madam Pince would surely kick them out if they were running in the library. “Curing Ron is a priority,” said Hermione. They quickly got to a more covered reading area of the library. Ron fell down on the armchair. His face had turned white, and his mouth was frothing. His hand was shaking.

Harry and Hermione quickly split up, looking for books on dragon bite cures. Although it was a fairly niche subject such things did happen, and the Hogwarts library had all kinds of weird books. Besides, there was bound to be some research published that could give them a good idea of how to cure Ron. They both grabbed some books and rushed over to Ron, who looked even worse. Harry’s books seemed pretty useless. However, Hermione seemed to be digesting the contents of one of her books. “Ok, the reason why Ron is so bad is because the dragon bit him in less than 24 hours of its birth” she muttered hurriedly. “It seems like it’s a defence mechanism since baby dragons are quite helpless when they are born, and they lose it after 24 hours”. Ron seemed to be blacking out by now. “If you have been bitten by a newborn dragon, it is important to seek medical attention as soon as possible, however due to the research of Dr Willian Hanson there is a potion you can brew and drink to cure the bite”. Said Hermione. “Well, what do we need for the potion?” asked Harry. Hermione looked at the book and looked disgusted.

“Ok Harry follow me, Ron hide here and pretend like you’re reading a book. Hermione quickly walked out the library with the book and Harry struggled to keep up. They seemed to be walking aimlessly until Hermione stopped at some girl's toilet. “Get in, no one uses this one” she said urgently. “Now hide here and wait until I come back”. Hermione quickly swung the door open and rushed out. The toilet certainly looked run down. The floor was oddly wet and it seemed like very few people had used it for a while now. Either way he waited around, pacing back and forth. Hermione came back in 20 minutes, although they had felt like an eternity for Harry. Hermione was carrying a cauldron. She quickly set it on the floor. Inside was some grass, snail shell powder and pumpkin juice. Hermione quickly started stirring the mixture and then used a mortar to start grinding the grass into powdered chunks. The potion smelt quite nice because of the pumpkin juice and Harry had half a mind to drink it himself, although he knew if he did that Ron would quickly die. After about 5 minutes of stirring the potion started bubbling. “Now for the last ingredient” said Hermione looking quite disgusted. “You need to piss in the cauldron,” said Hermione. “WHAT?” said Harry, “I don’t want Ron drinking my piss”. “Well, if he doesn’t he’ll die, the urine has to be male as it’s stronger,” said Hermione. Harry picked up the cauldron and took it into one of the two cubicles in the toilet. Perhaps that was why it wasn’t used thought Harry. Harry pissed in the cauldron and took it out to Hermione. “Alright, use this stick to mix it” said Hermione, who noticeably was staying quite far from the potion. Harry mixed it for around 2 minutes until Hermione told him to stop. Hermione poured the potion into a flask since it would look weird carrying a cauldron full of some potion around the castle. “I’ll take my cauldron back up to the dormitories and you get Ron to drink this,” said Hermione.

Harry quickly rushed to the library and headed to where Ron was. Ron’s face had turned blue and his hand was shaking. The area around the bite had turned purple which was probably a bad thing. Harry quickly opened the flask and gave it to Ron, deciding not to tell him what was in it. Ron drank it without question. His face was now just pale. With seemingly all his will power he grabbed a quill and wrote “Owl Charlie he so gets Norbert” before fainting. Harry sat there feeling a bit stupid. They probably should have taken Ron to the hospital wing, but he was sure the potion had worked.

Ron lay there motionless. Harry sat there waiting for Hermione. Harry was stacking all the books they had left by Ron when searching for a cure when he heard footsteps. Finally, Hermione’s here Harry thought happily. His happiness was short lasted as he came face to face with Madam Pince. She looked at him disapprovingly. “Why is Mr Weasley sleeping here?” She asked sternly. “Oh he’s just uhm yeah he’s just you know he’s just sleeping” stammered Harry. He realised how stupid he sounded. Thankfully he heard more footsteps coming closer to him. He saw Hermione. Madam Pince turned at Hermione and stared at her. “Perhaps you can explain why Mr Weasley has decided he can sleep here” said Madam Pince. “Well, we were all researching dragons and he fell asleep while Harry took a break and I went to the toilet,” said Hermione. “Get out the library and don’t let it happen again” said Pince with a huff. With that she strode away. Harry and Hermione shook Ron until he woke up. He certainly looked a lot better now. “We need to go to the common room,” said Harry. “Pince kicked us out”.

They headed off to the Gryffindor tower. Rob collapsed onto an armchair while Harry headed off to the owlery to owl Charlie, leaving Hermione to stay with Ron. He headed up to the owlery and searched for Hedwig amongst the sea of owls. He finally spotted her next to a spotted hooter owl. He called her over and wrote the letter. He requested that Charlie pick the dragon up from Hagrid as he was way too lazy to help Hagrid. Besides, Harry mused while walking back to the common room, he needed to plot his revenge on Snape and Neville. He certainly had a lot to do. He also had to Christmas holidays to look forward to, he hoped that Ron and Hermione would stay for the holiday as he didn’t want to be a loner.

Chapter Text

There were a few lessons before the holidays. Potions was a nightmare after what Harry and Ron pulled off, Snape constantly picked on them but at least they could stand up for themselves. Harry had earned himself a reputation as someone who stood up to Snape’s tyranny. Sadly, Harry had to do this in moderation as Snape would never miss an opportunity to take points of Gryffindor. He decided that he would ask Ron and Hermione if they wanted to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas so he could think of some way to mess with Snape. Harry headed down to staircase to the common room with Ron, who Harry had woken up since he was going to miss his lessons if he didn’t wake up. They headed off to breakfast with Hermione who had been awake earlier than them, as usual. They took a seat. “Quick question, are you guys staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?” asked Harry. “No, I’m going skiing with my parents, it’s a tradition,” said Hermione. “I’m staying,” said Ron. Harry was most certainly relieved to hear this, Ron was more likely to agree to any plan Harry came up with, where as Hermione wouldn’t want to get in trouble.

Soon it was time for everyone to leave for the holidays. Harry watched as most of the students went out of the castle, saying goodbye to their friends and heading off. He wondered what life would be like if his parents hadn’t died. Maybe he could have even come home for the Christ holidays. At least Ron was with him. Besides he needed to through any negative thoughts away, he needed to get back at Snape after all. Snape had given him a very hard time in lessons and the corridors. Harry knew he couldn’t really do any public stunts as there where barely any people staying over Christmas. To Harry’s relief Neville and Malfoy had left so only Parvati and Snape where real threats.

Harry and Ron settled down in the empty common room. Most of the other students were out having snowball fights and doing other fun things but Ron had insisted he taught Harry wizard chess. Harry had played chess before, their teacher had once done a fun day when they played various board games. Harry had grasped chess rather quickly. He had always been quite academically smart, but he had to hide that from the Dursley’s as they would always get angry if he did better than Dudley who mostly got E’s and D’s. To Harry’s shock he had once gotten a B in English, although he suspected Dudley had cheated. Wizard chess was a lot more exciting than normal chess, as Harry had to order the pieces and Ron’s chess set wasn’t very good. He made a mental note to get Ron and himself a nice chess set for Christmas. Harry doubted that he would get many presents. Ron simply wasn’t in a good enough financial situation to get him anything nice and Hermione would probably get him a book. The Dursley’s would probably not get him anything.

After dinner Harry and Ron joint Fred and George in a snowball fight. The lake was frozen and Harry wanted to ice skate on it, but he didn’t know if the ice would hold and how safe it was. Either way, he had a lot of fun fighting Fred and George with Ron. Naturally they “lost” as Fred and George had many tricks up their sleeves. Harry and Ron headed into the castle, cold and happy. Fred and George had stayed outside since they wanted to cause some mischief, or so they said. Harry figured he could include them in the fight against Snape. They were already in detentions a lot of the time, most from Snape and Filch. He would have to ask them later, although he needed to make a plan first. He wanted to slowly screw with Snape, maybe over the course of a week or a day. He didn’t want Snape to know it was him at first, but then he wanted to humiliate Snape again and get someone to record it so he could show everyone when they came back from holiday. This would definitely make Snape angry, but Harry didn’t really care. He had no lessons so he would have a lot of free time.

One day, Harry and Ron were carrying some toast from breakfast up to the common room. They figured it would be nice to sit next to the fire since there weren’t many people there and sit and chat.

They settled down and Ron instantly started eating the toast. Harry took a slice and slowly chewed on it. “So” said Harry. “I was thinking that we should get back at Snape after his constant bullying. “I don’t know mate; wouldn’t that make it worse?” asked Ron. “Besides he could take a ton of points off us”. Harry gave him a look. “You’re acting like Hermione right now, besides what did you get in your last charms test?” said Harry. Ron scratched his head. “I mean I guess I would live up to Fred and George’s reputation so why not. Harry thought for a moment. “I don’t really have a plan, but I think we should slowly drive Snape insane such as having his potions ingredients going missing and then we’ll do a big prank that will make him rage. We should also record everything and spread the videos and pictures around the school to embarrass him,” said Harry. Ron nodded. “Maybe we should save the riskier stuff for after Christmas,” said Ron. “If he catches us before Christmas we’ll probably be in detention on Christmas Day”. Harry agreed.

They finished the stack of toast although Ron had eaten most of it. Harry decided that they should start of by stealing one of the most common potion ingredients from Snape’s cupboard so he would have to get more. Naturally Harry knew Snape had a lot of ingredients so they couldn’t steal all of an ingredient, just steal enough for Snape to notice and get angry. Harry decided they should steal Gurdyroot, which was a purple plant sort of thing. He told the plan to Ron who agreed to help. “Sadly we can’t really record his reaction as we don’t know when he’ll check the cupboard but at least we will ruin his mood,” said Harry. Both Harry and Ron had noticed Snape had seemed a lot more cheerful on the last days before the holidays, although Hermione had been too busy tryharding to notice. Harry didn’t like to see Snape happy. It was now time for lunch, and a quick look into the great hall was enough. Snape was there eating at the staff table as usual. He didn’t even seem to notice Harry peeking into the great hall. Harry also noticed he had a piece of paper sticking out of his robes. It seemed to be a letter. Snape looked very happy indeed. He almost felt bad for him but remembered that Snape was the worst teacher in the school. Harry nodded at Ron, and they headed off to the dungeons. The corridors where completely empty apart from the occasional portrait. They headed into the potions room. Everything seemed in order. Snape had a cauldron on his desk with some bubbling mixture in it. There was a large wooden spoon automatically stirring it. “Let’s go to the ingredients cupboard,” said Ron. Harry nodded and he half expected an alarm to go off when they came in, but nothing happened. Harry could see Ron looking relieved as well. They quickly found the Gurdyroot. Harry took out a bag he had brought and started piling it in the bag. He didn’t want to damage the ingredients, so he figured he’d just shove them in his trunk, after all it didn’t seem to run out of space for some reason. Harry figured he had taken enough and then they ran to the dormitory. Harry hid the bag at the bottom of his trunk. “We can’t turn up to lunch now or Snape will get suspicious, let’s just stay here,” said Harry. Ron looked disappointed but nodded.

Harry and Ron anxiously waited for dinner, but no one came to tell them they were in trouble, so they figured they had gotten away with it. They headed down to dinner and looked up at Snape. He certainly looked quite annoyed. Harry was satisfied until he heard an owl flying in around 10 minutes into dinner. It flew over to Snape and dropped a letter before flying away. Why would anyone want to write to Snape thought Harry. Harry watched as Snape opened the letter. He read it and smiled, before getting up and leaving. Harry was horrified. Who on earth was writing to Snape? Forget messing with Snape, he needed to know who was writing to Snape. Harry and Ron ate dinner and discussed Snape. Ron seemed clueless as well.

They headed up to the common room, wondering who this mystery person was. Snape had seemed so happy as well. It was the first time he had seen Snape actually smile, instead of the sour and angry looks he normally gave. After a lot of games of wizard chess Harry headed up to bed. He lay in bed thinking about what he should do. He had ruined Snape’s mood, but he was super happy after the letter. He figured he should post pone the plan until he at least had a good idea of who this person was. Harry didn’t really know if today should be classed as a success or not. They had succeeded in stealing the ingredients but that wasn’t the point. It was meant to ruin Snape’s day, but it hadn’t. Harry sighed and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Time was flying by to Christmas. Harry had been having a blast with Ron and the twins. He still couldn’t get the thought of Snape out of his mind. Snape seemed to be getting a lot of letters that always improved his mood. He was the happiest he had ever been. He had overheard this from Flitwick and McGonnogal while walking to the great hall. He didn’t really know what to think about this. He now just wanted to know who Snape was writing to.

On Christmas morning Harry woke up because Ron was shaking him awake. “Harry, PRESENTS” said Ron excitedly. Harry rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t excited at all because who on earth would get him presents. Definitely not the Dursley’s, they barely ever gave him gifts and if they did it was old socks that he swore they ripped apart unpurpose before giving it to him. It didn’t matter though, there was always the feast to brighten his mood. He slowly sat up on his bed. Ron had ran off to his bed and was ripping apart some rapping and opening a box. To Harry’s shock, he saw a pile of presents by his bed. It wasn’t as big as Ron’s, but it was the most he had ever gotten.

Harry got a hand-crafted wooden flute from Hagrid, several boxes of sweets from Hermione, a feather from Ron with a note saying, “sorry mate that’s all I can afford”, and a Weasley jumper. He was very happy. There was also a dirty 1p coin from the Dursley’s, which Ron seemed fascinated by so Harry gave it to Ron. Ron had gotten a maroon jumper with a large R on it. Harry’s jumper had a H, and he put it on. It felt good to wear something that was actually intended for him, instead of wearing Dudley’s old clothes. He also had got a small package. He opened it saw something silky fall out. Ron looked while munching on a “chocolate Santa”. Ron looked before gasping. “That’s an invisibility cloak, there super rare and valuable,” said Ron. Harry just stared at the cloak in awe. He didn’t really know what to do. “Well, put it on,” said Ron. Harry put it on around his shoulders and saw that everything apart from his head was invisible. “Coooooool” said Harry and Ron in unison.

Harry put the cloak in his trunk as he didn’t want anyone else seeing it. He would tell Hermione when she came back from her skiing trip. Harry and Ron headed down to the Gryffindor common room. The common room was full of people comparing and exchanging gifts and eating sweets. It was a nice atmosphere that Harry had never felt before. Fred and George walked over, both wearing their Weasley jumpers. “Ayy Harry got one as well,” said Fred. They looked at Ron, who wasn’t wearing his. “Oy ronnykins, put your jumper on” said George. “No, I hate maroon,” said Ron. “Put it on or I’ll hex you,” said Fred. Ron grumbled and headed to the dormitory and came back a couple of minutes later wearing the jumper. Fred and George looked satisfied and walked off.

Soon it was time for breakfast, as Ron’s stomach kindly reminded them by growling. Evidently the sweets Ron had eaten weren’t enough. Harry walked into the great hall and saw it and was all decorated for Christmas. He remembered that Ron had told him the Christmas feast was better than the Halloween feast and he couldn’t help but agree. There where multiple Christmas trees, all fully decorated around the great hall. Holly was hanging off the ceiling and walls. He saw there where tons of Christmas crackers on the tables. Harry looked up to the staff table. He saw Dumbledore wearing a Santa hat and chatting to Flitwick, who had dressed up as an elf. His eyes drifted towards Snape. To his surprise Snape looked very happy and was chatting to Professor Sprout. Snape mostly kept to himself so this was very unusual. Harry and Ron sat down. They piled some food onto their plates and opened some crackers. The toys in the crackers where much more exciting than the ones in the muggle crackers. Most where small pranks or chocolate frog cards. Harry even got 3 live mice, but they scattered before Harry could do anything. He suspected Miss Norris was going to eat a lot of mice today.

The rest of the day was also very fun. Harry and Ron spent the day eating various sweets, playing exploding snap and daring each other to eat weird looking Berty Botts every flavoured beans. Harry got vomit, petrol and rotten egg while Ron got faeces, spinach and human flesh. Harry and Ron also had another snowball fight with Fred and George. As Harry went to bed, he felt like he had missed out on a lot of similar experiences because of the Dursley’s but at least he had a wonderful time this Christmas. Normally he had to clean up all the Dursley’s mess and he was only allowed to eat what the Dursley’s didn’t want to eat, which was mainly vegetables and a bit of gravy.

Boxing day, on the other hand was slightly miserable, everyone seemed tired from Christmas. Harry spent the day reading and playing a few games of wizard's chess with Ron. The Christmas cheer was gone because it was now a whole year until Christmas. Everyone was just doing there own thing, while Christmas had been loud and cheerful boxing day felt gloomy. Harry figured that the feeling would leave when all the students returned to Hogwarts. The time slowly crept to the evening. Soon Harry and Ron headed up to their dorm. Ron soon fell asleep, but Harry lay awake. He felt he was forgetting something. Then he remembered, the cloak! Harry sat up, and quietly took it out of his trunk. He contemplated asking Ron to come with him but he decided he could do that the next night.

Harry put the cloak on and crept out of the portrait hole, the fat lady seemed to have gotten drunk again. Harry wandered the castle, with the light from his wand to guide him. He had the same feeling from when he went to fight Neville but this time he felt truly alone, and that was fine. Harry headed into the library. He figured he could find something on Nicholas Flamel and the philosophers stone in the restricted section. He snuck into the library and into the restricted section, which was surprisingly easy. He found a book that might have information and pulled it off the shelf. Then suddenly a high pitched voice yelled “ALERT ALERT STUDENT OUT OF BED, NAME UNKNOWN DNA IS BEING COLLECTED”. Harry looked at the book in horror and quickly wiped it with his robes and then ran. He saw Filch rushing over and searching.

Filch was waving his arms around like a lunatic so Harry had to duck out of the restricted section. He slowly started walking away, but suddenly Miss Norris started following him, as did Filch. “Can cats see through invisibility cloaks?” he thought horror. Harry crept down a corridor. He saw a room with the door slightly open. He snuck in and quickly shut the door. Harry stood there, nervously waiting for Filch to leave. Finally Harry heard “Ah screw it lets go snort cocaine and catnip.” Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He had gotten away with it. Harry turned around to look around the room. At one point it had been a classroom, based on the positioning of various desks and charms books lying on them. It clearly hadn’t been used in a long time. However, what caught Harry’s eye the most was a mirror. It had elaborate engravings and looked very fancy.

Harry took the cloak off and walked over to the mirror. He looked into it, seeing his reflection staring back at him. Just as Harry was about to leave, he looked in the mirror one last time and gasped. He saw his parents, one arm on each of his shoulders looking at him and smiling. Harry was overwhelmed with emotions. “Mum, dad?” he asked. His mum and dad just stood there, smiling at him. Harry spent ages looking into the mirror, since he didn’t know when he would see them again. After about an hour Harry waved and turned around to leave. As he walked over to his cloak, which he had put on one of the tables he turned to look at the mirror again. He couldn’t see his parents. Harry quickly left the room and headed back, trying to remember the route as much as possible.

Chapter Text

Days flew by, and Harry was desperately trying to distract himself from the mirror. He wanted to show Ron eventually but Harry was sure he would burst into tears if he looked into the mirror again and this would be very embarrassing. Harry was also very annoyed that Snape was so happy, he kept receiving letters that made him smile. Harry desperately wanted to find out who was writing to him. Soon, the Christmas holidays came to an end and the castle was suddenly filled with the students who had come home for Christmas. Harry told Hermione about the cloak and she was very impressed.

Harry decided that he needed to intercept the owl that was bringing these letters to Snape. If he did it while he was invisible then Snape would never know it was him. Harry decided he would tell Ron and Hermione. He walked over to them. Hermione was reading a book (Post NEWT charms) and Ron was copying her transfiguration homework. “Hey guys, I’ve got an idea on how we can mess with Snape”. Ron looked up excitedly but Hermione glared at them. “I will take absolutely no part in this, we all know how your last attempt went” she said angrily. “Well this time, I’m going to intercept his letters using the invisibility cloak”. Harry knew what owl delivered Snape these letters, it was a small barn owl that stood out because it wore glasses for some reason.

Harry planned to do it at breakfast. Since he didn’t know how to summon owls, he would just have to jump and grab it. Harry waited until the Gryffindor common room was empty. He then put on his invisibility cloak and rushed down to the great hall. Harry had been looking at this owl delivering Snape letters for a while now so he knew the route it took the get to Snape. Harry awkwardly stood behind Hannah Abbot, hoping no one bumped into him. Soon he heard the flurry of wings as hundreds of owls soared into the great hall. Harry quickly spotted the owl with glassed, and climbed onto the Hufflepuff table. This was the only way he could reach it. Harry was standing in between various plates of food, every now and then dodging hands. The owl would soon be directly above him. Harry readied himself and jumped. He grabbed the letter (he didn’t want to hurt the owl). However, Harry’s landing was not very graceful and he came crashing down, thankfully onto the floor and not the table.
Everyone heard a loud thud. Then a loud “ah shit”. Harry scrambled up, stuffing the letter in his pocket. Miraculously, he was still covered by the cloak. Harry saw Snape striding over. He started walking away, before realising that he could barely see. Harry realised in horror that he must have dropped his glasses. He rushed back and carelessly grabbed them. Snape probably saw his hand but he wouldn’t have enough proof to get him in trouble. “I know that was you Potter, HAND THE LETTER OVER” Snape yelled. Harry started running in zig zags and a barrage of “acio letter” was being sent in his direction.

Harry ran out of the great hall, with an enraged Snape behind him. Harry knew he couldn’t go to his dormitory so he decided to hide somewhere on the shore of the lake and read the lake. Soon, Snape had taken a wrong turn and Harry arrived at the lake. Harry sat down under a tree and took the cloak off. He would be safe here. Harry took the letter out of his pocket and looked at it. In fancy handwriting it said “To Severus Snape”. Harry was about to open the letter when he heard Hagrid yell “ELLO ARRY POTTAR”. Hagrid stumbled over, clearly drunk. Harry wondered how much of an alcoholic Hagrid was, since who drinks so much in the morning. “YO ARRY I WUS THINKIN WE SHOULD GO FOR A SWIM OR SOMETHIN YA KNOW?” Hagrid practically screamed. Harry looked horrified and shook his head. He realised that Hagrid was probably going to do something stupid so he quickly sat up and ran. Hagrid staggered after him, with surprising speed and his arms flailing everywhere.

Harry decided his only chance was to put the cloak on. As he ran, he quickly started rapping himself up with the cloak. Unfortunately, one of Hagrids flailing hands finally hit him and Harry fell to the ground. “CAUGHT YA FANG YE BAD DOG” bellowed Hagrid. Harry tried to crawl away but Hagrid ripped the cloak off. “NOW, WHATTA WE DO WITH BAD DOGS HUH?”. To Harry’s horror, Hagrid started unzipping his trousers. Harry quickly stood up and staggered off, leaving Hagrid to take his trousers off and start screaming various profanities. Harry went back to the Gryffindor common room, where he saw Ron and Hermione anxiously waiting. Harry collapsed in a chair, looking horrified. “Well, what happened?” asked Hermione with a stern look on her face. “I I need m-my memory w-wiped” Harry stammered, still trying to process what just happened. “Why?” asked Ron. “He tried to rape me thinking I was Fang” said Harry. “COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL” said Ron. Harry slapped him while Hermione looked disgusted. “Sorry guys” said Ron. “In his defence he was VERY drunk but still, anyways lets open this god damn letter”.

Harry opened the letter and it exploded in his face, with red sparks erupting all around him. Then Snape’s voice said “Potter, I knew that you would do that, I’ll see you in class to discuss your punishment”. Everyone in the common room looked at him weirdly. “Well we conveniently have potions next, I guess we should get going”. Harry stuffed the remains of the letter into his trunk and they walked to the dungeons. Harry felt himself dreading the lesson as they walked closer to the dungeons. Ron grimaced. “Well, good luck mate” he said sympathetically.

Ron and Hermione entered the potions classroom first, and Snape glared at them but didn’t say anything. Harry took a deep breath and quickly walked into the classroom. Snape stared at him, not breaking eye contact for even one second. Harry quickly sat down next to Ron. Snape did the register as normal and set everyone a potion to do. Harry had just finished gathering the ingredients when Snape said in a silky voice “Potter, follow me”. Snape strode out of the classroom and Harry hurried after him, generating an industrial amount of sweat as he did so. Snape led him to his office and beckoned him inside. “Now sit here while I go get something” said Snape. Harry sat down on a chair that had been positioned in front of Snape’s desk and looked around. Snape had weird jars containing putrid looking liquids.

Snape came back, this time with Dumbledore. Dumbledore sighed. “You know Harry, I thought we taught you a lesson the last time, but I guess this punishment will have to be A LOT worse” said Dumbledore sternly. Snape flicked his wand and Harry felt invisible ropes holding him down. Why did he even sit on the chair, Harry thought angrily. Once again, Dumbledore took out a metal tray which had tons of sharp knives, and even a saw. Snape picked up a jar of purple liquid and opened it. He flicked his wand and suddenly Harry’s mouth opened. Harry tried to close it but he couldn’t. Snape opened the jar and a horrible smell filled the room. To Harry’s horror, Snape brought the jar up to Harry’s lips and slowly started to pour it in. The potion tasted so bad that Crabbe and Goyle’s faeces where probably tastier. Suddenly Dumbledore scratched Harry’s forehead with his nail. It shouldn’t have hurt at all, but it felt like Dumbledore was using a knife that had been dipped in to acid. Harry screamed in horror, but after that felt that he couldn’t utter a single sound.

Dumbledore peered down at Harry sadly and shook his head. Snape then took the smallest knife and brought it up to Harry’s hand. Harry braced himself, knowing that the knife would be 100 times worse. Snape poked Harry with the knife and Harry felt like Snape had full on stabbed him. Snape dragged the knife across Harry’s hand. Harry felt like he was about to faint due to how painful it was. He suddenly felt rage bubbling up. He saw Dumbledore standing in the corner of room, looking almost lovingly at a picture of Grindlewald, while Snape was busy picking the next knife to use. As Snape settled on a full on butcher knife Harry knew enough was enough. He focused all of his hatred on Snape, but nothing happened. Snape then dragged the knife across Harry’s other hand. Harry had now generated an industrial amount of sweat. Suddenly, just before Snape was about to stab his arm, Harry felt like he was able to move again. He quickly pushed Snape onto the floor and grabbed the saw. He started sawing Snape’s arm off but Dumbledore flicked his wand and Harry dropped the saw. Dumbledore sighed. “Obliviate” he said, before leading Harry out of the room. Harry only remembered that Snape had yelled at him, and Dumbledore hadn’t been there at all.

Harry saw Ron and Hermione in the great hall since lunch time had just started. Harry headed over to Ron and Hermione who looked at him with concerned expressions. “Well what happened?” asked Ron impatiently. “Honestly I got off really lightly, Snape just shouted at me and that was it” said Harry happily. “COOOL” said Ron very loudly, earning him some weird looks from the other first year Gryffindors. “My question is how did he even know that you where going to intercept a letter?” asked Hermione. Harry though about it for a moment, but shrugged it off and started loading jacket potatoes onto his plate. Harry knew that he had to see who was writing to Snape, but clearly he somehow knew Harry’s plan. Maybe he fed some potion to me that let him see my thoughts, Harry wondered. At least Snape didn’t murder him.

Chapter Text

A couple of days had passed since “the incident” as Hermione called it. None of them had gone down to see Hagrid because of his activities with fang. Harry finally decided that he needed to sort this out, because it was really annoying him. After breakfast he dragged an annoyed Ron and Hermione to Hagrids hut. They stood next to the door awkwardly. Finally Harry knocked. “WHO’S THERE?” Hagrid bellowed. “It’s us” said Harry nervously. Hagrid opened the door. “Well, come on in” said Hagrid. To Harry’s relief, fang was laying on the floor, trying to eat 10 rock cakes at once. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down. “Can I get ye a drink or sommat?” asked Hagrid. “No thanks” said Hermione. “Hagrid, do you remember what happened when you where drunk 3 days ago?” Asked Harry. “Ye, I took fang for a walk and he tried to run away from me, so I chased him then he vanished” said Hagrid. “So you didn’t try to do anything to him?” Asked Ron. “Oh shit” said Hagrid. “Listen, I may behave like an idiot when drunk, but I would never do anything to Fang.” Hagrid sounded genuine, so Harry decided to forget about what Hagrid tried to do. After chatting about other things, Harry, Ron and Hermione said their goodbyes and left the hut, feeling a bit better about fang.

They headed down to the lake to sit down and eat some of the rock cakes Hagrid gave them. Even though it was the winter and it was cold, Harry found it strangely relaxing. “So Harry, what’s your next plan to get Snape back?” asked Ron. Harry thought for a moment. “Honestly I’m going to wait for a month or so and then do something big. I could use a bit of peace right now. Hermione nodded in agreement. “If you stop trying to mess with Snape, maybe potions will actually be bearable” she said. “I really don’t care about potions, I need to get back at Snape for embarrassing me in front of all the Gryffindors in the common room” said Harry. “Maybe we should do some research on the Philosophers Stone and Nicholas Flamel” said Hermione. “Sure” said Ron and Harry nodded. They sat in silence for a few seconds.

WHAM! Suddenly Harry felt something slimy sliding down his hair. Harry took a deep breath, making sure that he wouldn’t become salty. Then he turned around. He saw Neville, Malfoy, Parvati, Crabbe and Goyle standing behind them laughing. “Ha, got you Potter” said Neville
sniggering. Harry stood up and pulled his wand out, Ron and Hermione followed suite. “Oooo, angry are we?” sneered Malfoy. Goyle threw another egg, this one at Ron. Surprisingly, Ron caught it and ate it. Parvati looked shocked. “What the hell do you guys want?” said Ron angrily.

“We want to make your life a misery, just like you’ve been trying to make Snape's life a misery” said Neville, looking at Harry with hatred. “Wait, we’re making Snape’s life a misery?” asked Ron. “COOOOOOOOOL.” That seemed to trigger something, and Malfoy and Neville pulled out their wands, with Crabbe, Goyle and Parvati pulling theirs out a bit later. “So you really want to duel huh?” said Harry angrily. “WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA,” he yelled, sending Crabbe flying up. Ron and Hermione started dodging a barrage of Wingardium Leviosas, while firing back. In all of the commotion, Ron and Hermione didn’t notice Goyle seemingly disappearing. Harry heard a crunch behind the tree he had been siting under, but it was too late. A strong punch landing on his face, sending him flying to the ground. Harry dropped his wand in the process, which released Crabbe. Harry landed painfully, his head spinning and he heard a weird static sound. In the corner of his eye he saw Ron picking up his wand, but getting punched by Crabbe. Thankfully, Crabbe seemed to be to stupid to pick up their wands, and instead starting kicking Ron in the stomach. “WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA” yelled Hermione. She levitated Ron on top of the tree they had been sitting under. Hermione then started running away, knowing she couldn’t take on five people. Malfoy and Neville ran after her, the other three a distance behind.

Harry got up, still feeling dizzy. Harry rushed over to the tree Ron was on, and started climbing. He had plenty of experience in climbing trees because of Dudley, so he easily got to Ron. Harry grabbed his wand and jumped down and started running after Hermione, who seemed to be leading them into the forbidden forest. Hermione soon disappeared into the forest, and her persuers hesitated for a moment, before running after her. As Harry rushed into the forbidden forest, he realised he had no clue where Hermione had gone. He couldn’t hear anything, and felt hopeless.

-Hermione ran through the forest as quick as she could, desperately trying to shake Malfoy and Neville off. She was pretty sure that Parvati, Crabbe and Goyle had given up since she could only hear two sets of foot steps, maybe a third pair if she paid attention. Hermione’s mind was also full of worries much more serious than Malfoy and his gang. She had read in “Hogwarts: A history” that there where many dangerous creatures in the forest, including werewolves. However, she could hear Malfoy and Neville behind her, although they sounded more distant. Hermione ran further into the forest. She was now pretty deep inside the forest. Before she could see small paths, probably made by Hagrid and students such as Fred and George but now she couldn’t see any human activity. Suddenly, Hermione thought that she heard hooves. She wondered if it was a unicorn, but they where rare. The hooves seemed to be heading closer, so Hermione started looking for a place to hide.

For a first year, going this deep into the forbidden forest was like a nightmare, especially for Hermione. The trees towered over her, and the bitter winter wind was starting to set in. She quickly ran, hiding behind a tree as the hooves got closer. Then, they suddenly stopped. Hermione heard Malfoys voice, coming closer. “Let’s kill that stupid mudblood” said Malfoy. “Yeah, and then potter” said Neville. Hermione stayed still, breathing as quietly as she could. Then she caught a glimpse of Neville and Malfoy, who where looking around the area. “She couldn’t have gotten much further, after all she’s a girl” said Neville. Malfoy and Neville started pacing around, before, to Hermione’s horror, started checking behind the trees. At this point Hermione was frozen in fear (but the cold also didn’t help). Then, Neville and Malfoy started walking over to the tree where Hermione was hiding behind.

Then, the sound of hooves, again. Neville and Malfoy stopped. Suddenly, a group of around 10 horses with men’s heads appeared. Hermione had read about these, they where centaurs. “Ew, halfbloods” said Malfoy, crinkling his nose. The centaurs looked surprised. “Hello, my name is Firenze” said a centaur, in a loud and calm voice. “Just tell us where that stupid mudblood girl went” said Neville. The centaur raised his eyebrows. “You are only younglings, so I’m giving you a chance to run before I lose my temper and attack you” said Firenze. “What the hell are you going to do, I can use magic, you stupid horse. Go eat grass or something” said Neville, laughing. The centaurs raised their bows. “Ok, we should probably go” said Malfoy, and him and Neville made a run for it. “MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS” yelled Malfoy as they ran.

Harry ran into the forest. He had heard some kind of commotion. He got even more worried, when he spotted Malfoy and Neville running towards the exit of the forest.. Perhaps they had killed Hermione and wanted to hide evidence. Harry ran into further, until he saw Hermione, hiding behind a tree, shacking. She didn’t seem hurt. “You alright?” asked Harry. “Yeah, some centaurs scared Neville and Malfoy away” said Hermione. Harry, who had no clue what a centaur was, just shrugged. “Ok well let’s get out of here and find Ron” said Harry. “Yeah, why isn’t Ron with you?” asked Hermione. Harry grimaced. “I might have left him on that tree” he said. Hermione glared at him. They continued walking in silence, keeping their eyes on the ground so they wouldn’t trip on any roots.

Finally, they got out of the forest. Malfoy, Neville, Crabbe, Goyle and Parvati where nowhere to be seen. They walked back to the lake, where they saw run gorging down the rock cakes they had been eating. “There you guys are” said Ron, grimacing as one of his teeth fell out. “Oh for fucks sake Ronald. Reparo Teethio”. Harry and Ron looked surprised but didn’t question how Hermione knew how to do that. “Let’s get inside, I’m freezing” said Hermione. Harry wondered why she didn’t just use magic to cast a fire, but he did want to go inside anyway. Unfortunately, they had missed lunch, so Hermione headed to the library to research Nicholas Flamel while Harry and Ron went to the Gryffindor common room to play wizards chess. Then, Harry felt a bit hungry, so he headed up to the dormitory. He grabbed some chocolate frogs for himself and Ron, then walked back down to the common room.

“Hey Ron, I got some chocolate frogs for us” said Harry, sitting back down. “Cooool, thanks mate” said Ron, before grabbing all of the chocolate frogs out of Harry’s hand and started unwrapping one. Harry glared at him. “Don’t worry, you can have the cards. Oh look, it’s Dumbledore” said Ron, and popped the chocolate frog into his mouth. Harry sighed, and picked up the card. Bored, he read through it. Then, he saw something. Dumbledore was known for his partnership with Nicholas Flamel, the inventor of the philosophers stone. He nudged Ron. “Look, I found Nicholas Flamel!” said Harry excitedly. Ron looked up at Harry in shock and quickly swallowed the chocolate frog he had been eating. “So Snape must be after the philosophers stone to give it to Voldemort” continued Harry. Ron nodded. “Let’s go tell Hermione then” said Ron, smirking at the thought they had beaten Hermione in something.

Harry and Ron rushed out of the common room, Ron cramming two chocolate frogs in his mouth as they left. They headed off to the library, getting a dirty look from Madam Pince as they ran into the library. They found Hermione sitting at a table, reading a large book. She looked up at Harry and Ron. “Have you come to help me search?” she asked. “No, we’ve found out about Nicholas Flamel” said Harry. Hermione looked shocked. “What, how?” she asked. “I found him on Dumbledore’s chocolate frog card” said Harry. “Yeah, and I ate the chocolate frog!” said Ron happily. “Well, I highly doubt Snape could get past the three headed dog, but we should keep an eye on him from now on” said Hermione. Ron looked around impatiently. “Well let’s go to the common room now, this is boring” he said, slightly annoyed. Hermione sighed, put the books she had been reading back on their respective shelves, and followed Harry and Ron out of the library.

Walking through one of the corridors, they saw Dumbledore talking to a blonde man. “That’s Lucius Malfoy, Draco’s dad” muttered Ron. “Ah, Harry, Ron, Hermione I need to speak to you guys. Go to my office, the password is Humbug” said Dumbledore. Harry exchanged worried looks with Hermione, and the trio walked away to Dumbledore’s office. “Do you think they know we went into the forest?” asked Hermione. “I don’t know” said Harry, and they walked in silence the rest of the way. They arrived at two gargoyles. “Humbug” said Harry, and the Gargoyles moved to the side, revealing a grand door. Harry opened the door, and stepped onto a spiral staircase, which started moving automatically. Hermione and Ron followed. They arrived in Dumbledore’s office, where a large amount of chairs had been prepared. Harry and Hermione sat down nervously, while Ron looked around grinning. “I’m going to be rich!” said Ron happily, and started looking around the office, pocketing small items he could hide in his office that he thought where valuable. Eventually he got bored, and sat down. The previous headmaster’s portraits stared at him in shock.

After a few long minutes, they heard Dumbledore’s voice. Harry looked up to the area the spiral staircase was. He saw Dumbledore, Lucius, Draco, Neville, Parvati, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry stared in horror. He was so screwed. “Take a seat” said Dumbledore, gesturing to the remaining seats. Neville and the others sat down, leaving only Dumbledore and Lucius standing. “So, what happened earlier today?” asked Dumbledore. Everyone stayed silent, apart from Malfoy. “Me and Neville chased that stupid mudblood into the forbidden forest, and then we got attacked by some stupid halfbloods” said Malfoy in a smug voice. “Yeah, and I saw Potter going into the forest as well” grunted Crabbe. Harry glared at him. “Well, Dumbledore, clearly Draco and Neville where provoked by Harry and Hermione. Punish them” said Lucius. “Lucius, you must understand I have to punish Malfoy and Neville as well” said Dumbledore. “Very well” said Lucius, but Harry spotted a few bits of salt falling off him. “Harry, Hermione, Draco and Neville” you will receive a letter detailing your punishment later. The rest of you are not in any trouble. Please leave” said Dumbledore. All the first years hurried out of Dumbledore’s office. “Ha, screw you Potter” said Draco, smirking. Harry ignored him, and walked back to the Gryffindor dormitories.

Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the day anxious about what their detention would be, and when. They hadn’t gotten an owl about it yet. The day came to an end, and still nothing. As Harry drifted off to sleep, he wondered if Snape had somehow orchestrated this to throw them off his trail. He would catch Snape, and defend the stone from him.