Chapter 2

In the weeks that followed, Neville and Susan had taken it upon themselves to acclimate Harry to the wizarding world. Their mission was largely a success. Susan and Neville, from ancient families, taught him the ins and outs of the magical world. Harry was still behind the curve, but was making steady progress. The scared, ignorant, almost annoyingly so, teenager was long gone as he continued to gain a grasp over his new surroundings.

Harry was looking forward to the flying lessons designed for first years. He had waited impatiently since hearing of it.

Malfoy was up to his usual tricks. He was harassing a bushy brown-haired girl about from Harry and Neville. He couldn't hear any of what was going on, but he knew that it couldn't have been anything good.

Lining all of them on the pitch, Madam Hooch began instructing them in the basics of flying.

"Stand astride your broom," the school had provided Cleansweep 7s for instruction. "Say 'up' and the broom will rise to your hand."

It was quite the comical sight. Students who were interested in flight from every house were all yelling choruses of up. Most brooms were barely moving. Ron Weasley was repeatedly getting slapped in the face with the knob of the broom every time he said up. His nose had begun to bleed, and Madam Hooch had to repeatedly fix the ailing redhead's nose.

On his first attempt, Harry was amazed the broom jumped into his outstretched hand. Of course, now he didn't know what to do. He looked around at the others struggling and the sorry image of Ron Weasley. Next to the Gryffindor, Harry saw a tall chestnut haired girl accomplish the same feat as himself. He recognized her to be Fay Dunbar. He knew next to nothing of her other than hearing her name at the sorting ceremony. She was a Gryffindor, as he noted by the red scarf she was wearing. Shortly after that, Neville's broom zoomed up. He seemed shocked that it moved at all.

"I'm only here because my grams thinks I should learn to fly. I never thought I'd actually be able to!"

"See, Neville. I'm sure your grandmother would be impressed with you. If she wasn't, she just doesn't know you." Harry knew from the little time that he knew Neville that he had serious confidence issues. He wasn't a clutz, he was just overly nervous. It seemed no one in his life ever gave him a legitimate chance. He was always compared to his mother and father. They were accomplished wizards. He had been inundated with negative thoughts since he was six. Neville's grandmother blamed him for the loss of her son and daughter-in-law. There was no basis for this blame, but it was a fact of life in his family.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the class were able to get their brooms, although, Harry suspected some of them of cheating and just bending down to pick it up.

"Step over your broom, and gently push off. Get used to balancing in the air. I don't want any of you flying off and getting yourselves hurt."

Harry did as he was told. His feet softly left the ground and he was amazed at the absolutely freeing feeling it gave him. He was disturbed of his new found serenity by yells in the direction of Malfoy. Looking over, he saw that Malfoy had a round object in his hand. Harry knew what was to come next. Draco whipped the object into the air. The girl who seemed visibly upset lost control of her broom and was being tossed and turned as she rose further and further into the air.

Acting purely on instinct, Harry pressed forward as the broom moved swiftly in the direction he willed it. Behind him he heard the distant call, "Hey! That's my rememberall!" coming from Neville.

Madam Hooch was yelling as she chased after the girl. Harry was more focused on the object that was making its descent back to earth. Harry had remembered Neville mentioning that he couldn't find the rememberall his grandmother had given him before the start of term.

The sphere was falling faster than Harry thought he'd be able to catch it. Stretching onto the knob of the broom, he corralled the object and pulled up a few feet from the ground.

Looking back at he classmates, he heard cheers as he lowered himself to the ground and hopped off his broom. Walking back to Madam Hooch, who had successfully saved the young girl, he grinned holding the rememberall openly in his palm.

Not too far from the pitch, Professor Sprout was tending to her plants in the greenhouse overlooking the grounds. When she heard all the shouting, she looked out the glass wall to see the entire scene unfold. Not even Cedric Diggory, a third year, who had much more experience flew with that type of confidence and finesse.

She excitedly rushed out onto the pitch. She knew Cedric was forced to seek out of necessity. Hufflepuff had never had a strong team so when a talented player was sorted into their house, they naturally put them in the most important position on the pitch.

"Madam Hooch! I saw the whole thing from my greenhouse. Is everyone alright?"

"It seems that everyone involved is in one piece," she said glaring at the young Slytherin boy who had caused all the trouble. Madam Hooch wasn't a professor so she did not have the ability to give or take points away from a house.

Professor Sprout, on the other hand, could and did. "10 points from Slytherin." This was met with abhorrent shock from Draco Malfoy and his cronies. No one had taken points from them. "Mister Potter, may I speak with you, please?"

Madam Hooch quickly gave her approval. Nodding, Harry set down his broom after returning the rememberall to his friend.

"Did I do something wrong, Professor?" he asked his head of house.

"Quite the contrary, Harry!" She could hardly contain herself. "I've not seen flying like that in a long time. Normally, first years aren't allowed to play quidditch, but I think you'd be a natural. I'm going to have myself a talk with the headmaster and see if I can't get him to allow you to play seeker for Hufflepuff."

"I don't even know how to play, professor," Harry responded meekly. He knew the rules vaguely, but couldn't imagine playing since he just now had his first experience on a broom. He already knew he loved flying, but the idea seemed daunting.

"Nonsense. I'll get Cedric to teach you."

The matter seemed decided.

Harry was quickly coming out of his shell. Maybe too quickly for his own good. He had been made a member of the Hufflepuff qidditch team and the renewed popularity as a first year seeker went straight to his ever-inflating ego.

"Neville, how did Hermione Granger get your rememberall, anyway?" Susan asked as they recanted the story of that afternoon. It had been two weeks since the incident.

"I don't know, Susan. I hadn't been able to find it for days."

"She's saying you gave it to her."

This caused Neville to blush. He had been crushing on Hermione since he first saw her on the train. She was kind enough to help him look for Trevor. "I don't know what you're talking about, Susan."

Harry rolled his eyes. Neville and Harry had talked about Hermione at length one night in their room. He also was aware that Neville intended to give his remembrall to Hermione, a muggle born, who was fascinated with everything magic. Harry spared him further embarrassment. Neville had plenty of ammunition against him.

Seeing Fred and George Weasley across the courtyard, he made his way to them.

Harry had become quite the trouble maker in his new found freedom. Most of the pranks were rather harmless, but it gained the attention of the self-proclaimed prank masters of Hogwarts.

He remembered the first encounter fondly. It had been just after the remeberall incident. Harry was enamored with all the things he could do with magic. Add onto that, the prick that was Draco Malfoy was constantly putting his nose in places it didn't belong. Harry didn't want to hurt the idiot, but he wasn't beyond humiliating him. He quickly began looking up charms and incantations for hair color randomizers, underwear fire starters, and other gag spells to make the Slytherin squirm like the snake he was. He was getting quite good. He really enjoyed charms and transfiguration the more and more he learned about them.

"Oy, Harry! You're not doing it right!" Fred had told him for the millionth time.

"If we're going to take you on as an apprentice, Harry, you're going to have to do better than that!"

For the life of him, he had no idea how he had gotten in this predicament. He was just trying to light Malfoy's robes a little bit on fire when the fire headed Weasley twins interrupted his valiant attempt.

From then on, they took him as their squire. Mostly against his will. The pair began teaching him their own machinations.

"Well it'd be easier if you two bloody idiots would get out of my way!"

This naturally led to more badgering and the twins telling him exactly how they'd do it if they were going to pull the prank.

Getting fed up with the babying, when they got in front of him to demonstrate, he cast the ultimate wedgie spell the twins had perfected on Ron on the creators of the spell itself. The same spell they had been trying to teach him. Needless to say, this ended the babying of one Harry Potter.

"Brother!" they squeaked in uncomfortable unison.

Harry had spent weeks with the Gryffindors and was beginning to enjoy their antics, even if they were a bit crazy. He also found the Gryffs in general were trouble makers. One in particular he had met in happenstance when meeting with the twins.

"What are you two doing?" the snarky girl said as she saw the whispering trio. "I know you three are never up to any good."

"Oh lay off, Fay. You know you just want a piece of the action!" George snidely retorted.

"You wish." Rolling her eyes she began to walk away when she finally recognized who the third person was. "Wait a minute, you're Harry Potter, aren't you? I saw how you flew last week. It was amazing!"

"Don't look now, Harry has an admirer," Fred whispered discreetly behind a raised hand.

Harry kicked Fred in the shin before walking over to the cute girl. "Harry Potter, at your service," he said with a mock bow.

"You're a clown, Harry!" George yelled.

"He learned from the best, though, George," Fred countered.

"True..."

"Fay Dunbar," she said with a giggle. "I wish I got to play on the Gryffindor team. You're the first first year in over thirty years who has been allowed to play quidditch for their house."

"If you were on Gryffindor's team, you'd just have to spend more time with those two," Harry said glancing at the twins.

"Very true. Maybe I should just count my blessings."

Harry was content continuing his conversation when he was picked up by both armpits and dragged away, "That's enough, Romeo."

"Hey..."

The trap of foolhardy 15 year old boys was clearly taking a firm grasp on Harry Potter.

Harry, Daphne, Susan, Neville, and Fay, who had joined their little group, were walking through the school on a quiet Saturday afternoon. Daphne and Fay had hit it off. Apparently, they were more into quidditch than most boys their age. "Would you two shut up?" Susan asked hopefully.

"What would you rather talk about, Susy?" Daphne asked sticking out her tongue at her long time friend.

"Anything but that."

A devious look grabbed Fay's eyes.

"Harry, I don't like when she has that look in her eye. It always means we're about to do something stupid." Neville commented as he saw the expression that was now spreading across Fay's face.

"I say we go see what Dumbledore is hiding on the third floor."

"That's a great, idea, Fay!" Daphne quickly agreed.

"See! See!"

Being normal fifteen year olds, bored fifteen year olds at that, they decided it wouldn't hurt to grab a peek at what the hub bub was about. They were quickly dissuaded from that notion when they came face to face with the three headed dog that was chained inside the clearly locked door. A quick alohomora had changed that, though. Harry was still unsure why Dumbledore would put a dangerous canine in the school.

"Oh comon! Why is there a massive dog in the school now!?" Harry wondered to no one in particular.

"Didn't you notice?" Susan asked as the group caught their breath after sprinting away from the clearly hungry dog.

"Notice what? All the heads? And all those mouths with sharp pointy teeth?" Harry asked snidely.

"Sharp pointy teeth?" Susan responded rolling her eyes.

"Yes, sharp and pointy. What's your point?"

"He was standing over a trap door."

It had been two months since the the events on the quidditch pitch and three headed dog. Harry, Neville, Susan, Fay, and Daphne, had settled into a routine as the Halloween feast approached.

They spent as much time as they could with Daphne and Fay. It was made significantly easier to see Daphne since the Puffs and Snakes were paired together for their classes. Not much had changed on the unity front. There were still sideways glances when Susan would partner with Daphne in class. Draco Malfoy, in particular, had been harsh on the two girls. Harry and his group had seemed to be the only ones willing to branch out at all.

Sitting in Snape's potion class making a simple calming potion, Draco decided to have a little fun.

"Why do you bother humoring the worthless Hufflepuffs, Greengrass?" he said with a sneer toward Susan. "Bones there isn't fit enough to pleasure me let alone be graced with the presence of a Slytherin."

Harry had heard this type of language one day too long. It was a broken record since he turned down the blonde boy's offer of allegiance. "Malfoy, with the way you talk about your penis, it makes me think you're trying to convince yourself you even have one."

Draco swiftly turned his head to Harry. "Just because you turned down the opportunity to be in my circle," he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "doesn't mean you can't step in Bones' place."

Rolling his eyes, Harry rose from his stool. Getting into his face, practically nose to nose, Harry paused holding the gaze of his foe. Stepping back, he waved his hand in front of his nose, "Do you even know what a toothbrush is, Malfoy?"

This had the desired effect as Draco wound back and drilled Harry across the left cheek. Falling like a sack of potatoes, Harry sprawled back.

Managing to garner the attention of Snape, he rose from his desk and walked over to the commotion. "15 points from Hufflepuff for inciting conflict," he said off hand as Susan stood up in indignation.

"You must mean Slytherin. Draco just hit Harry!"

The greasy haired professor turned around and chuckled, "I saw the entire thing, Miss Bones. Mr. Potter clearly started the trouble. Another 5 points from Hufflepuff for talking back to a professor. And detention for you Potter. See Filch tonight at 6."

"What about the feast?"

"Looks like you're just going to miss it this year. Perhaps you should practice self-control in the future, Mr. Potter."

Fuming, Harry got up off the floor and wiped himself off, cursing the damned Snape under his breath. What kind of person get his jollies from harassing teenagers? He wondered inwardly to himself as he went back to his cauldron to at least try and complete the assignment for the day. It seemed that no matter what he did, Snape always found a way to make his life miserable. As if he'd done something in a previous life that only Snape could remember. Quickly apologizing to Neville for losing his cool, they got back to work before they got themselves into any more trouble.

After class, as they were heading to Charms, Susan pulled Harry aside. "Thank you for standing up for me back there. I'm sorry it landed you in detention."

"It was no problem. He deserved it. Draco needs to learn eventually that he can't talk to people like that all the time and expect nothing to happen. I suspect he will get what's due to him soon enough. Or at least he'd better..."

Shrugging in hopeful agreement, Susan squeezed his shoulder and went back to talking with Daphne on their way to Professor Flitwick's class. Harry suspected that charms would be a good way to get his mind off of detention. Flitwick had been his favorite professor and he was looking forward to at least doing something with his wand. Potions could be so boring.

Flitwick came through with an interesting class period that helped them learn the an altered version of the levitation spell, wingardium leviosa. Simple steps. Extraordinary results. He thoroughly enjoyed the intricacy of performing charms.

Dismissing the class, Flitwick asked Harry to stay after. "I'm glad to see you are grasping the concepts so quickly, Mr. Potter. Your father would be proud. He was one of the best students I've ever had the pleasure of teaching."

Harry didn't have the heart to tell him that most of his mastery had come from prank spells and such. Harry didn't know much about his parents and was happy to learn more. "Honestly, sir, I don't know much about them. I lived with my relatives and they didn't tell me much if anything. And if they did, it was usually an insult."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Filius had quite enjoyed the days when the Marauders were on the grounds. He had caught them with that map of the school, but couldn't bring himself to take it from one of his most talented pupils. The school was so different then. Part of him wished he could return to that time. Magic was truly learned and understood in those days. "When I learned of your parents' death I was heartbroken for you. Your father was one of the last duelists I had the fortune of teaching."

"Duelist?"

Jumping from his platform, the diminutive professor walked across the room putting away the feathers they had been using. "Yes, yes. A fine one, indeed. Before the war with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Hogwarts had a dueling club and class."

"Let me show you something." He led Harry across the room to a set of double doors. Opening them, he found a large elevated platform in the center of the room. "This is where I used to mold the fighters of tomorrow. Sadly, the board of governors had the class removed when students' parents began complaining of the minor injuries they were receiving. I hazard to guess that it was part of the reason there were so many deaths during the conflict. Many weren't prepared to fight for their lives, or even knew how."

That seemed odd to Harry. "Why would Dumbledore allow that to happen? Wouldn't the last war have shown them the foolishness of cutting the program?"

"There was very little discussion. I was just told that the class was being dissolved." Flitwick sighed as he shut the doors again. Filius knew for a fact that Lucius Malfoy's father, Draco's grandfather, had more to do with that decision than the rest of the board. Flitwick knew it was a losing battle to challenge a person who had as much power as the Malfoy family. Being part goblin, his voice didn't carry like a human who had similar credentials would.

An idea popped into Harry's head. He had a sinking feeling that even if Voldemort were vanquished, there would always be another person vying for power. "Do you think you could train me?"

"Am I not already?" Flitwick asked, assuming he was referring to charms.

"No, I mean how to duel. Fighting magic."

Flitwick pondered it for a moment. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to privately tutor the art or not. "I'll have to ask Dumbledore and tell him a student approached me about it. Perhaps we can work something out."

Harry was in no rush to head to detention, so he hung around, "How did you get into dueling in the first place? You don't seem to be that old. And from the way you talk, the class hasn't been offered for some time."

"I'm over 100 years old, Mr. Potter. In my youth I was a world champion for Hogwarts. They used to have an inter-school competition. Some would see my size as a disadvantage, but it made it that much harder for my opponents to hit me." Flitwick grinned at the memories sliding quickly through his mind.

"There's a professional circuit as well. I made a nice living for myself dueling. Many great friends, many devastating losses." He paused deep in thought as if remembering something that he hadn't for a very long time. "Sadly, all good things must come to an end." Harry could tell there was more to the story that he wasn't being told, but knew he wasn't going to privy to that quite yet.

"Best be off to the feast, Mr. Potter. You won't want to miss it this year!"

Not bothering to mention his detention knowing there'd be nothing he could do about it, he said his goodbyes to Flitwick and headed to the dungeons to serve his punishment.

Argus Filch was there to meet him. An evil glare was present in his eye. Almost a twinkle. "I always love when Snape decides to send me first years. It's too bad the headmaster did away with corporal punishment. Could've hung you by your thumbs for the night." The maniacal gleam returned to his eye at the proposition of such a punishment. "You'll be cleaning the 2nd floor tonight." Harry brandished his wand but was told to hand it over, "You won't be needing that." Filch summoned a mop, scraper, and bucket of water, for Harry. "Better get to work."

Harry was used to this type of work, so it didn't really phase him to be handed such a seemingly demeaning task. The Dursley's had used him as their own cleaning service for the past 15 years, so he was no stranger to these particular devices. Above, he could hear the rumblings of the Halloween feast above him.

Forty minutes into his detention, he heard a significantly different rumbling. The type of rumbling that shook the very insides of his being. There was no way that had come from the Great Hall. The ground began to shake as he tried to set his balance. At the far end of the hallway he saw what he had recently learned was a troll. His defense teacher, Quirrell, had taught them about trolls in a lecture last week. Magically impervious and dumb as a box of rocks. What in the world was it doing in the school? Club brandished, it began swinging its way into the abandoned girls' bathroom that Harry had just cleaned.

An ear-shattering scream broke him from his gut reaction to run. There was someone trapped in the bathroom with the troll. Sighing to himself, Harry did the noble thing. The stupid thing. But very noble, depending upon who you ask.

Filch had taken his wand so he didn't exactly know what he was going to do, but he figured a distraction would do until the teachers realized that there was a monster on the grounds. He would have no such luck.

The troll seemed to have a brown haired girl trapped in a corner. She would be killed if Harry didn't do something fast. Picking up a piece of rubble from the now destroyed doorway, he threw it as hard as he could at the back of the monster's head. It made a hollow thunk as the troll turned around stupidly trying to figure where it had come from. The club came flying around before Harry could react. Catching him in left shoulder and sending him across the room, he felt bones pretty well disintegrate as his body electrified with pain. Harry was stupid to think that a first year could ever handle a troll, let alone with no wand. It took a few moments for the beast to even realize that he had hit something.

Stumbling over to the now crippled form of Harry Potter, the troll put its foot on his chest as he raised his club as high as he could. Coming down with amazing force, the brute missed and instead hit the row of stalls next to Harry's head. The girl in background continued to scream as she left the bathroom altogether. Debris smashed into Harry's flesh, ripping gashes in his torso and face. If Harry didn't do something quickly, his newly found life was soon to be over.

Looking around as fast as he could, he found a piece of re-bar sticking out from the pieces of the damaged stalls. Acting on pure adrenaline, he grabbed it with his good arm and jammed it into the beast's foot. It took a few seconds for the beast to realize he had a piece of metal sticking out of his foot and even longer to realize that he was in pain. Stepping off Harry, it stumbled back and fell onto it's backside screaming in pain.

Regaining his breath slowly, Harry rolled to his side and onto his feet. He couldn't figure why the troll didn't just squash him with his foot rather than try to use a club that was bigger than he was. Not that Harry particularly minded the choice. There really wasn't much left for him to do and he didn't fancy being a troll meal. His best course of action was to run. He had never been in so much pain in his life. Even the beatings at the hands of the Dursleys was nothing compared to this.

Making it to the outside of the Great Hall to warn the school, he was met by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape, who had been informed by the screaming girl of the troll in the dungeon. Harry collapsed in pain as he found his message had already been delivered.

Harry awoke in the hospital wing in the most pain he had ever been in his life. He looked around blearily. "Hello?" he croaked. His mouth was completely parched. It felt as if he had apparently swallowed a desert.

A heavyset nurse came rushing into his bedside. "How are you feeling dear? You took quite the beating from that troll... What were you THINKING trying to take it on by yourself?! You're only a first year!"

Nice to meet you, too. Harry thought to himself.

"It looks like the bones are healing quite well. Your upper arm and shoulder were completely shattered. Pair that with the cuts and abrasions on your face and torso, and you did quite a number on yourself." She began fussing over spells checking his vitals.

"My name is Madame Pomfrey. I'm the nurse for the school. I've never seen a boy so brazen in my life. The last one I even remember to be remotely like this was Sirius Black. Of course, he and your father were best of friends."

Harry groaned to himself, but perked slightly at the mention of his father and this Sirius Black fellow. "I had no intention of fighting the damned-"

"Language, Mr. Potter!" she scolded.

Trying not to burst in anger, Harry took a few calming breaths and a scream of pain before continuing. "I had no intention of fighting the troll by myself... I was in the dungeon serving detention for Snape when I saw the troll burst into the bathroom I had JUST cleaned." Harry didn't know why that was such a big deal to him. "I was going to run away, but I heard a scream and better judgment was pushed aside."

"Severus gave you detention during the feast? That isn't allowed in the school charter..." she mused to herself under her breath. All students were supposed to be accounted for during major school events. It was a mandatory assembly of the student body. "Yes, that was the same story we got from the Granger girl. She was in a right mess when she burst into the Great Hall. Very dramatic, if you ask me. Seems to be getting a lot of trouble lately, what with the troll and rememberall incident."

Harry gasped in pain as he felt as if a metal rod was being jammed into his arm. From what Madame Pomfrey had been telling him, there was next to nothing left of those bones.

"Oh, best get you back to sleep. You woke up a few hours before you should have. We'll talk when you wake up."

Giving him another potion and moving her wand in an odd pattern, Harry drifted into a painless and dreamless sleep.

What seemed like minutes later, Harry awoke again. He arm still throbbed and he realized that his face was in pain as well. Most of his torso seemed to hurt.

Sitting up, he realized that his left arm was stiff, but was working with relatively little pain. Madame Pomfrey rushed in after hearing him stir. "Let me inspect your other injuries, Harry. I was more concerned with your arm and shoulder that I didn't get a chance to look over the rest of them to see how they were healing."

Harry pulled off the shirt that was partially sticking to his body. Madam Pomfrey walked around to get a better look at the back of the boy and dropped the entire tray of utensils she was carrying.

(A/N) Alright! I had to pack in the canon storyline into this chapter. I swear that the rest of the chapters will have a better fleshed out storyline. The faster I could get through those first few months up to through the discovery of the cerberus and the troll on Halloween, the better I could set up the rest of the first year events. I'm sorry if some of it felt rushed, but there were very few portions of this chapter that were mine and not just regurgitation of the actual story. Anyway, PLEASE review. Even if it's a simple "HELLO" or whatever. I love hearing from readers.