A/N: So, here is another chapter.

Enjoy.

PTSD
Chapter 4

2nd September, 1991
Monday
8:00 am
Hogwarts Dormitory
Room no. 7646

"Hey Boss, here's is your coffee-HOLY SHIT YOUR EYES!" Exclaimed Inky with wide eyes after seeing Harry's eyes.

At the moment, not only Harry's eyes had dark circles, but they were very red puffy. And Harry himself looked like shit.

"Yeah I know, they look bad," Said Harry taking the coffee mug from Inky.

"Bad? Boss you look terrible! I mean, have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"Well yeah, I did get out of the bathroom just now, so I had seen myself in the mirror," Said Harry. "Hmm, as good as ever," Thought Harry after taking a small sip of the coffee and being instantly energized by it.

"Have you slept at all last night?" Asked Inky worriedly.

"Nah, I was meditating," Answered Harry with a shrug.

"For occlumency?" Asked Inky with a raised eye-brow.

"Yeah, the faster I can learn occlumency the better," Said Harry, who sat down in front his own desktop while drinking his coffee.

"Didn't you say it would take a few months even with the shortcut the Sorting-Hat gave? I mean, when will you sleep if all you do is go to classes during the day and meditate for occlumency during the night?" Asked Inky worriedly.

"Listen Inky, I want to sleep too, but because of the nightmares I'm kind of afraid of going to sleep at this point," Said Harry.

"But you still have to sleep though, or else you'll have a burn-out and that's not going to be pretty," Said Inky, still worried.

"Yeah, I know, and that's why I want occlumency as soon as possible, it may have a solution to my… nightmarish problem," Said Harry.

"A solution to your nightmares? How so?" Asked Inky in confusion.

"Well, think about this, with occlumency I'll have complete control over my own mind, so it may be possible to just… shut off my nightmares with occlumency which would allow me to sleep peacefully," Answered Harry.

"Huh, now that I think about it, that may actually work," Said Inky with a thoughtful look. The shaking his head he said, "But you have to sleep for at least three hours, you're never going to learn occlumency if you die of sleep deprivation after all."

"Okay I'll do that," Said Harry, and then he started to change into his Hogwarts school uniform. "By the way, bring my breakfast into the great hall, I'll eat there."

"Why the great hall? I can bring the breakfast right here, you know?" Asked Inky.

"Well, we'll be getting our class routine during the breakfast, and I don't want to miss that," Answered Harry.

"Oh, okay," Inky nodded.

"…Hey look, there he is…"

"…He's still wearing those sunglasses…"

"…Hey did you see his scar!?…"

The whispers started the moment Harry came to the great hall. However, he just ignored those whispers and sat down on the Hogwarts table.

And instantly a beef steak, a glass of orange juice, pancakes appeared in front of him.

"Thanks Inky," Harry muttered under his breath.

"You're welcome boss," Replied the disembodied voice of Inky.

After that, Harry started dig into his food. "Hmm, as good as always," Thought Harry after eating some of the food.

It's at this moment, the heads of the respective houses started to distribute the time-tables to students.

In a few moments Harry too received his own time tables along with a map from Professor McGonigal, the Gryffindor head of house.

"The first class is transfiguration, and it's at nine," Muttered Harry while reading his time table. Then he checked his watch to check the time, "Eight thirty? Well it's time to go then."

After that he got up from the table and made his way to the transfiguration classroom.

"Ah! Mr. Potter, so glad that you could finally join us," Said Professor McGonigal, after Harry entered the large transfiguration classroom.

The classroom was occupied by Gryffindors at the left side and Slytherins at the right, and of course being rivals they were glaring daggers at each other.

Not all the students were present though, as some of them were probably lost in some god forsaken hallway wondering why there was a pitfall with deadly spikes behind that door after being scared out of their mind.

"Glad to be here Professor," Said Harry, while rolling his Hogwarts map, and putting it back in his school bag. "And sorry I'm late, the school is a maze, the map helped but only a little."

"Ah, I know how it is, we tried get rid of those prank rooms and doors, but new ones just seem to pop up, so we just gave up after a while," She said sympathetically. "But still, please be sure try to be in time in the future."

"Sure, I'll try my best," Said Harry with a nod.

"Yes, see that you do. Now why don't you seat with Miss. Granger over there?" She said, pointing to a bench in the left corner which housed a certain brunette.

"Thanks," Said Harry, then went to sit with Hermione.

"H-Hello," Hesitantly greeted Hermione, after Harry sat beside her.

"Hi," Harry greeted back with a nod.

"So, you are Harry Potter, right?"

"I am."

"You know, I've read all the books about you."

"Please don't tell me you believed any of that," Said Harry.

"No of course not, those books are only for entertainment after all," Said Hermione with a smile.

"Oh thank god! Because you wouldn't believe just how many idiots actually believe what's written in those books as though they were universal truths," Said Harry.

"That's ridiculous! And shouldn't you thank Merlin?"

"I've thanked god and Jesus my whole life, not going change now just because the culture is different," Said Harry.

"Ah, that makes sense," Nodded Hermione. "So, you are a religious person?"

"If I was religious, then I never would've come to a school that teaches what the vast majority of the believer Christians believes to be the Satan's gift," Said Harry.

"Oh, that's true I guess," Said Hermione with a nod. "So, why are you wearing shades? Everyone's been speaking about it," She asked.

"I have some eye problems," Said Harry.

"E-Eye problems!?" Asked Hermione worriedly.

"Yeah, don't worry I'll be fine. The problems are temporary," Said Harry.

"Oh, that's good then," Said Hermione in relief.

After almost fifteen minutes, the remaining students have finally arrived.

After that, professor McGonigal stood from her tables "Ahem! Attention students!" Said Professor McGonigal.

After everyone started to pay attention, she started her lecture, "Many of you were late. But that's understandable, seeing this is the first day of school, and the school itself being… not so easy to navigate shall we say."

At this, a lot of the students nodded and voiced their agreement.

"However, please understand that this shall not be tolerated in the future, so do try you best to remember your way around here, and you can ask the older students for help, they can point you to some shortcuts," She said. "Is that clear?"

""""Yes Professor!"""" Said everyone at once.

"Good, now on with the class…"

After that she begin her lecture about how transfiguration is one of the most dangerous branches of magic and anyone caught fooling around would earn a permanent banishment from the class. Then she proceeded to turn her table into a pig and back to table again. After that she gave them matches to turn them into needles.

Harry took out his wand from his wriest holster. Then he took a moment to observe it.

The wand was featureless, metallic silver coloured and it was thirteen inches long and quite durable looking.

When he got it from Olivander, he noticed that it had a spell attached to it at its tip. He later learned that the spell was the tracking spell that is attached to every wand belonging to minors to track underage magic.

However, as the spell was attached to the tip of the wand it was easy enough to remove with phenomenon-magic especially with his mage-sight.

Finished with his observation, he took out a matchstick from the match-box, to do the spell.

After that he pointed his wand to the match-stick, and spoke the incantation after doing the necessary wand movement and channeling some magic into the wand, "Compositus Verto."

And instantly the single matchstick turned into a small featureless silver needle.

"Gasp! How did you do it so quickly!?" Whispered Hermione in surprise after seeing Harry successfully turning his matchstick into needle on his first try.

"Having trouble with yours?" Asked Harry.

"Potter, everyone is having trouble with theirs," Said Hermione, gesturing to… basically all the students as they were still shouting the incantations with zero success.

"Do you want my help?" Asked Harry.

"Yes, that'd be appreciated," Said Hermione with grateful smile.

"Alright, picture the matchstick slowly turning into a silver needle in your head while performing the spell, that ought to do the trick," Advised Harry.

"Wait, that's it?" Asked Hermione in surprise.

"Yeah that's all, oh and try to keep the needle simple for now," Said Harry.

"Okay," Said Hermione. Then she tried do the spell following Harry's instructions, "Compositus Verto."

And just like Harry, Hermione's match too instantly turned into a silver needle.

"It worked!" Exclaimed Hermione.

"Well done Mr. Potter Miss. Granger, 10 points to Gryffindor for getting the spell on your first try and five more points to Gryffindor for helping a fellow student," Said Professor McGonigal with a pleased smile.

After a while the class was over. And by the end of it, the other students still didn't have any success with the spell, even with the imagination tip.

Anyway, Professor McGonigal, assigned some homework and then dismissed the class.

After that the students packed-up and went to the potion's classroom in the dungeons as it was the next class.

The Gryffindor students released a collective sigh of relief when they reached the potion's classroom. This time nobody got lost in the way, and everyone was in time. But the Gryffindors were still worried as they were following the Slytherins to reach the classroom. And Slytherins as a general rule aren't very trustworthy.

"Now, isn't this surprising!" thought Harry in surprise after he entered the classroom and looked around.

The classroom was like a chemistry lab. It had pearly white walls, a white-board instead of black-board and even the benches and the teacher's table were painted white. The benches were equipped with magic stoves, and the air smelled staler and more sterilized then the hospitals.

Anyway, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins took their seats and promptly started to glare daggers at each other. And Harry sat with Hermione just like before.

After a while the potion's teacher Professor Snape had finally showed up. He was still wearing his white lab-coat. He had greasy hair, shallow skin and hooked nose just like in cannon. Aside from that he also had a bag with him.

Seeing him enter, everyone in the classroom stood up in greeting.

"Sit down!" Said Professor Snape in his drawl tone. Once everyone took their sit again, he put his bag on the table and asked, "Now, can anyone tell me, what is the most important part of potion brewing?"

At this question everyone was stumped. Nobody knew the answer. And some brave idiots from the Gryffindor suggested things like, the ingredients, the utensils and what not. This caused the Gryffindor house to lose an extravagant amount of house points.

"Well, well, it seems that the more things change the more they stay the same," Thought Harry, after he realized that Severus Snape was still biased towards his own house. After that he raised his hand to answer the question.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, do you have the answer?" Asked Snape after noticing Harry.

"Yeah, it's hygiene," Said Harry.

"Why, Mr. Potter, do you believe it to be hygiene?" Asked Snape with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, introducing an extra unneeded element while brewing a potion can make the resulting potion ineffective, turn it into poisonous sludge or it can explode which can kill the brewer. And brewing a potion in an unhygienic location has a higher chance of introducing unneeded extra element like dust or filth," Said Harry.

"Correct answer, you can sit down Mr. Potter," Said Professor Snape. Then facing the other students he began his lecture, "As you've heard, hygiene is most important part of potion brewing. And believe it or not a lot of brewers died because they chose an unhygienic location for brewing potions. So, today I won't teach you how to brew any potions, but a few methods to keep your potion from getting contaminated while brewing." Then he opened the bag to reveal first year sized white lap-coats. "For those of you who do not know, these are called lab-coats, they are enchanted to always remain clean, for now I'm giving them to you for free, always wear them when brewing potions."

After that he proceeded to distribute the lab-coats among the students. Then, for the whole two hours he taught them spells and hygiene methods to keep potions from being contaminated.

By the end of it, Harry had to admit, the Snape of this world maybe as biased as cannon, but he was also a more effective teacher when it came to potions.

It's like this guy worshiped potion or something.

After that came flying lessons. The first year Gryffindors and Slytherins were all on the Hogwarts quidditch ground waiting for Madame Rolanda Hooch the flying instructor. And as usual, they were glaring daggers at each other.

"Seriously, I can understand the pure-blood Gryffs and snakes hating each other as they were probably taught by their parents to do so, but what's with the muggle-borns? What's their deal?" Thought Harry in exasperation and confusion after he noticed some muggle-born Gryffindor students showing open hostility towards the Slytherins. "Well, at least Hermione is being smart," Thought Harry, after seeing Hermione being very calm and polite.

"Alright everyone, line up!" Barked Madame Hooch, who has finally arrived with the school broomsticks for the students.

Madame looked just like she did in the movies. She had silver hair, pale skin, hawk like eyes, a bit short for a British woman, her build couldn't be ascertained as she wore a black robe, but Harry was pretty sure that she had a typical sports woman's build.

Once all the students were in a formation (Harry was standing between Hermione and Neville) Madame Hooch put all the broomsticks beside them.

"Now rise your hands above your brooms!" She Barked. "And say up!"

Everyone followed her instruction. Everyone was saying up, some students were actively shouting at the brooms. and Hermione's broomstick was actually rolling on the ground.

Seeing everyone else Harry too brought his hand above his broom. But unlike everyone else Harry released some magic from his hand and then said up. After which, the broom practically shot up to his hand.

This is one of the very few downsides of being conscious of one's own magic. Almost all the magical tools are enchanted to automatically siphon the wizards magic to fuel itself. However, if the wizard in question is aware of his magic then he has to manually provide his magic tools with it, as a magically aware wizard instinctually prevents such siphoning attempts. It's a bit inconvenient but easy enough to get used to.

"Alright, pick up your brooms!" Said Madame Hooch, after seeing… most of the students weren't able to pick up their brooms with just their magic. "Now listen very carefully! We won't be doing any actual flying today. We would only hover above the ground for a minute and then get down. Is that clear!?"

""""Yes ma'am,"""" Everyone collectively answered.

"Good, now mount your brooms!" She ordered. Once everyone mounted their brooms, she said, "On my mark! 3…2…"

However, before she could finish her count-down Neville, who was already too nervous, took off from the ground in panic.

But before he could go too far off the ground, Harry who was already expecting it, grabbed broom and brought it under control by channeling his magic into it.

"Thanks…gasp! gasp! Harry!" Said the gasping Neville.

"You're welcome, and calm down, would ya?" Said Harry patting Neville on the back to calm him down.

"Twenty points to Gryffindor! well-done Mr. Potter!" Praised Madam Hooch, who saw the whole thing.

"Thanks ma'am," Said Harry with a nod.

There was some other reason why he helped Neville aside from the pure desire to help someone. One, he didn't want to be put in the Hogwarts quidditch team as that would end up taking too much of his time, time he could use to get stronger, and there is a chance that not helping Neville like cannon may lead him to get into the Gryffindor team. Two, do you really need a reason to help someone if it costs you nothing? And besides it got him some brownie points from his house, which is always a good thing no matter how you look at it.

It was finally lunch time. The great hall was filled with the students who was chattering with each other.

Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione. He was mostly talking about this and that with Hermione.

It was at this moment several owls came with some Daily Prophet newspapers aka gossip rags.

"Harry look," Said Ron pointing to his own newspaper.

"Hmm? What is it?" Said Harry looking at the papers.

THE GRINGOTTS
BREAK IN!

"Huh, that happened," Said Harry nonchalantly after reading the headline, then he went back to eating his food, but inwardly he was thinking about a certain two-faced bastard and a red stone.

"Harry, someone broke into one of the Gringotts vault, how can you be so relaxed about it!?" Asked Ron.

"Um guys? Is that really a big deal?" Asked Hermione in confusion.

"Well, it kinda is. It's the only wizarding bank in Europe, and the goblins takes real pride in their security and nobody had ever managed to break in before… until now that is," Said Harry after swallowing some food. "But to answer your question Ron, nothing is impenetrable, so this was bound to happen sooner or later. And besides, it's written right there, the vault was a low security one and was already emptied out earlier that day."

"But still…"

"And, as I've just said," Said Harry interrupting Ron. "The security of Gringotts is a matter of great pride to the goblins. And the goblins in general are a very prideful bunch. So, even though it was a low security vault, the very fact that somebody had managed to break into one of their vaults is already a huge stain on their honor, but this fellow somehow managed to avoid being captured by the goblins after doing the deed, and that's like a slap on the face to the goblins," He said. Then turning to face Ron, Harry said, "In other words, insults on injury. So, how do you think the goblins react to this?"

"Um… they'd be very angry?" Said Ron who was unsure.

"Angry doesn't even begin to describe it," Said Harry shaking his head. "The goblins would be utterly pissed! But as they couldn't capture the culprit, they'd do two things instead. One, they'd put a huge bounty on the culprit's head, whoever he is. And two, they'd rise their standards of security."

"Umm… that's… good?" Said Ron hesitantly.

"It's great actually, as that means both my family vault and trust vault are getting some serious security upgrades, even though they weren't even touched," Said Harry.

"Oh," Ron nodded in understanding.

"Oh wow! Mr. Potter you are so smart!" Said Hermione… with stars in her eyes.

"Umm, thank you," Nodded Harry, nodded Harry slightly taken aback. After that, he returned to his food.

04:00 AM

"Hey, you're back," Commented Inky who was playing a video game on his computer after Harry entered the room. "So, how was your classes?"

"They were interesting… well except for history of magic, that one was boring as hell," Said Harry, after putting his bag on his desk (the other one that came with the room, and not his computer desk).

"Ah, I've heard rumors that the magical history teacher is a ghost, and only drones on and on about only the goblin rebellion, guess the rumors are true," Said Inky with a nod.

"Yep," Nodded Harry.

"So, want play some video game," Asked Inky.

"No," Harry shook his head. "I'll take a shower, then I'll do my homework and then go back to my meditation, so I don't think I'll have time for that."

"Okay," said Inky with a shrug.

After that, Harry took off his robes and went to the bathroom.

End Chapter 4

A/N: Yeah, this chapter was shorter and duller than my usual ones. But don't worry, things will start to pick up from my the chapter.