In My Head

Disclaimer:

I neither own the rights to the Harry Potter franchise, nor do I make any money by writing this; it is a work of fanfiction.

This one goes out to Oh I am Slain for pointing out where I let my standards slip in earlier chapters. I'd like to think that I hold myself to a fairly high standard of writing (for fanfiction at least).

Also, I'm currently looking for a BETA reader to work with on this and maybe other stories, if anybody here feels up to the task then send me a PM. Thanks =)

...~IMH~...

...~IMH~...

Chapter Eight

Enter Professor Snape

Harry's second day of classes started in much the same way as his first did. To start with, the whole first year boy's dorm was awoken by the obnoxiously loud and cheerful fifth year prefect, Gabriel Truman.

"Up you get sleepy heads," he called out in a singsong voice, all the while grinning evilly at the groggy first years. "We need to get you lot a good breakfast before your potions lesson today, Merlin knows you'll need a full stomach to handle Professor Snape!"

"All right! All right! We're up now!" Ernie shouted back as he crawled his way out of bed.

Gabriel watched the youngsters scrambling to get themselves ready with a laugh. "You've got twenty minutes before we head down to breakfast, make sure you're all set by then," he said as he left the room, content that all the firsties were awake.

"I really ought to teach you how to ward the door to the dorm," Tom mused aloud as Harry collected his things to go have a shower. "That would teach that damnable Prefect not to barge into people's rooms unannounced."

I thought you didn't need to sleep, Harry thought speculatively as he made his way into an empty shower cubicle.

"I don't," Tom admitted. "But I am perfectly capable of, as they say, 'zoning out' when nothing is going on; such as when you are sleeping."

So Truman startled you, did he? Harry needed good naturedly as he washed his hair.

"He did no such thing!" Tom huffed indignantly. "I don't get startled. I was simply vexed by his interrupting my relaxation."

Of course you were, Harry replied with a grin.

A few minutes later saw Harry, along with the rest of his dorm mates, heading out of the Hufflepuff common room and towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"I do hope that Professor Snape isn't as bad as everybody says," Hannah said to the group at large (the girls having left the common room at the same time as the boys).

"From what I hear, he's utterly horrible to Hufflepuffs," Ernie replied forlornly.

"But worse to Gryffindors," Zach piped up, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's not much of a consolation if he's still mean to Hufflepuffs," Susan pointed out.

"Point taken," Zach acquiesced.

That line of discussion continued all the way to the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, and by the end of it all the Hufflepuff first years had agreed that Snape sounded like he was unfair but that it could all just be blown out of proportion by rumours. That said, they accepted that, as head of Slytherin house, Snape would most likely be biased in favour of his house. However, the fact that they were having potions with Ravenclaw should make that point moot.

"Don't forget about Transfigurations after lunch. We should also find out about that teacher as well," Justin said as the first years tucked into their breakfast (Harry had opted for porridge with fruit and honey).

"Isn't Professor McGonagall the head of Gryffindor?" Megan asked.

"Yeah," Susan confirmed. "But everyone says that she's fair to all of the houses."

"But also very strict," Hannah added sagely.

"Can't you talk about something interesting, Harry?" Tom asked. "All this exposition is giving me a headache."

Rolling his eyes, Harry decided to humour Tom. "You know, guys, I'm sure that it'd be much better if we try to form our own opinions based on how the teachers treat us." This was met with general acceptance by the group. "So what does everyone think is on the third floor that we're not meant to find out about?"

"Good question," Ernie said as he leaned forward conspiratorially. "I heard Cedric Diggory saying that the Weasley twins have already been given a detention for sneaking around up there."

"Who are the Weasley twins?" Sally-Anne asked, not recognising the name.

"The red headed twins in Gryffindor," Harry announced. "I met them on the train," he added at the inquisitive looks he was getting from some of the group.

"Are they as strange as people say they are?" Susan asked curiously.

"Depends on what people say," Harry replied with a chuckle. "But they are definitely a bit weird."

"You know, I wouldn't put it past the Headmaster to have set up the whole thing as a trick just to get those two in detention," Hannah said from besides Susan.

"Is he really that sneaky?" Sally-Anne asked.

"I think it's more that the twins are such big troublemakers than Dumbledore being sneaky," Zach said with a grin at the exact same time as Tom said "Yes."

"I doubt the Headmaster would close of an entire corridor just to catch two students out of bounds," Justin pointed out sensibly.

"I agree with Justin," Harry said with a nod. "Besides, it'd be much more exciting for him to have some sort of interesting magical item hidden there. Maybe we could make a quest of it at some point."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Hannah said with a frown.

"I think we should at least give it a go," Ernie said excitedly. "We just need to practice our magic a bit and then we could take on the challenges ahead."

Harry grinned while Justin and Zach spoke their approval of the idea.

"How about we take it under advisement for now," Susan suggested with a grin, placating both those who were in favour of and against the idea of questing for whatever Dumbledore had hidden on the third floor corridor.

Following that discussion, breakfast had progressed fairly peacefully, with everyone speaking of relatively inconsequential things. Towards the end of breakfast, Dumbledore made the strange announcement that the Merpeople of the lake had lost a number of their Hippocampus herd to an unknown assailant, and cautioned students to be careful when near the Black Lake.

After finishing breakfast, the Hufflepuff first years headed down into the dungeons for their Potions class. Upon arrival they found the the Ravenclaw first years were already lined up outside the entrance to the potions classroom. Spotting a familiar head of bushy brown hair, Harry made his way over to the girl he had met on the Hogwarts Express.

"Hi, Hermione," he greeted her with a smile as he approached the girl.

"Oh! Hello Harry," she replied as she caught sight of him and smiled widely, displaying her prominent front teeth.

"How are you settling in to Ravenclaw?" he asked as he fell into line next to her.

"Just fine, thank you, Harry," she replied, her tone formal yet warm that spoke of a girl unused to interacting with people her own age.

"Hermione! You never told me you were friends with Harry Potter!" a girl practically screeched from the other side of the bushy haired 'claw. Looking at the source of the screech, Harry reconsigned one of the girls Hermione had been sitting in the boat with on the day they were sorted.

"Padma!" Hermione blushed embarrassedly as the rest of the corridor all stared at them. "I never told you about it because you didn't ask."

"Hmmm, that's a rubbish reason, and you know it," Padma said with a mock frown at her fellow 'claw before turning to Harry. "Padma Patil, at your service," she said with a wide grin as she thrust her hand out to be shaken.

"Harry Potter, pleased to meet you," Harry replied as he shook her hand, much preferring a simple hand shake to the strange kissing thing that Susan had opted for when he first met her.

"You know, we were actually discussing you in our dorm last night," Padma started, completely ignoring Harry's horrified look and the amused sniggers of Susan and Hannah. "We were wondering if you had any sort of insight into what sort of magical phenomenon could lead towards the nullification of a dark curse while at the same time not disabling non-dark magic within the radius of-"

Harry just stared confusedly as the girl ploughed ahead with a long speech about magic at such breakneck speed that Harry couldn't keep up beyond the first few sentences. All the while the rest of the Hufflepuffs were watching him amusedly and several of the Ravenclaws were watching him with expectant expressions on their faces.

"-and of course you'd also need to account for the natural magical ambience of whatever location we are talking about, being sure to distinguish between magical residue that is left over from natural processes as well as those left behind by sentient magic users. So what do you think, Harry?" Padma finished with an excited smile as she looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"What about non-sentient magic users, such as magical pets?" Hermione interrupted, clearly having had no difficulty keeping up with her fellow Ravenclaw's babble.

Thankfully, Harry didn't have to make any sort of reply to the girls as the Potions class door suddenly swung open with a loud banging noise as it hit against the wall, causing all of the students to jump.

"I guess we'd best go inside then," one of the Ravenclaw boys said before leading the rest of the first years into the classroom.

The inside was just as dark and dingy as Harry had imagined a Potions class in the dungeons would be like. The room was almost totally devoid of light, save for the few candles on the desks and torches ensconced on the walls.

Filling into the room, Harry soon found himself at a desk with Hermione, who seemed to be walked rather close behind him, and on the same row as Padma and one of the other Ravenclaw boys.

Just a few moments after Harry had settled, having taken out his parchment, quill, potions book, and wand, the door once again smashed open and the dreaded Potions Master, Severus Snape, swooped into the room, stalking menacingly to the front of the class.

"I can't believe how dramatic he is being," Tom laughed contemptuously. "And he even has cloak that flutters! Come on, how much more overdone can his demeanour be?"

Shut up, Tom! Harry hissed mentally, completely disagreeing with Tom's disdain for the Professor. As it was, Harry found the man to be suitably terrifying for someone of his reputation.

As soon as the Professor reached the teachers desk he spun around suddenly, his cloak fluttering in his wake, and began to speak, his diction at the same time both lazy and insistent.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art that is potion making. As such there will be little foolish wand waving or silly incantations in my class. I don't expect those such as you to understand the beauty of the simmering cauldron, or the shimmering fumes of a well brewed elixir, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind and ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death. That is, at least, as long as you are not as big a group of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The class stared at him, many with eyes wide, barely daring to so much as twitch as Professor Snape glared imperiously down at them for what felt like an eternity. In the back of his mind, Harry wondered if Elvis was listening in on the whole exchange from within the pipes that ran throughout the castle.

It had been late yesterday evening when Harry had finally got the opportunity to return to the chamber (once again using the entrance like a slide instead of opting for Tom's preferred method of asking for stairs). Thankfully Elvis had returned from wherever she had been hunting and was sleeping on the floor of the chamber when Harry had arrived.

"Master!" the huge snake had greeted him excitedly upon waking up, thumping her huge tail on the ground in a way reminiscent of an excited puppy (and almost making Harry fall over from the ground shaking).

"Hi, Elvis," Harry had greeted the Basilisk in return, giving it an affectionate (or at least he hoped it was) rub on the snout. The huge snake made a slow hissing noise and snorted happily on him, causing a gust of warm air to blow over Harry's face.

"Did you manage to get something to eat?" Harry asked as he stepped away from the huge creature.

"Yeah," she answered simply, her tail once again thumping happily.

"Good, because I have a really important task for you to do," Harry had said, trying to sound grown up and serious.

"What it?" Elvis asked, cocking her head to the side as she watched him and waited for him to say more.

"I need you to follow the Potions Master and find out what he's up to," Harry told her. "You'll need to report back to me what sort of things he's doing and planning; so pay close attention. I think he might be-"

"Okay," the Basilisk answered before Harry could finish telling her about his hunch that the Potions Master could be dangerous, the huge creature slithering off towards the pipes as Harry watched her vanishing form.

Shaking himself from his memories, Harry realised that Snape was now about half way through the role call. The Potions Master would bark out a name and receive a suitably scared sounding squeak of 'yes sir' in response.

"Ah, mister Potter, our new celebrity," he said at last, having gone over all the other names (even Smith, Zacharias) before calling Harry out. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"

It took all of a second for Harry to break through his shock at being singled out by the Professor and remember the countless hours of potions knowledge that Tom had drilled Harry on while he was still at Privet Drive.

"Well, that would depend on the other ingredients, sir," he started while at the same time trying to recall all he knew about those two ingredients. "Wormwood has a wide variety of uses in all sorts of potions and can be used in just about any type of potion from curatives to hallucinogens. Asphodel on the other hand is almost always used in poisons and narcotics as it is used to drastically alter the heart rate and speed of other bodily functions when it is utilised correctly."

Here Harry paused for breath, thinking about how he would word the next bit while Tom cheered him on ('excellent Harry! Keep going!) and the rest of the class stared at him in shock. Even Hermione was looking open mouthed at him, her hand still straight up in the air.

"Of course, seeing as this is a Potions class, I would assume that you are looking for neither a poison or narcotic," Harry continued. "So I'll have to assume that the other ingredient in your hypothetical potion would be juice from the sopophorous bean which, when combined with asphodel would induce a coma so deep as to appear dead, while at the same time slowing the body's functions to the point where a person would seem to be truly so. That just leaves the wormwood which would act as a curative in this instance, making sure that the effects wouldn't be fatal and that the coma would only last for a short period based on the dosage. So to answer your question, Professor, the answer is the draught of living death."

Snape stared at him with a look of pure shock, and barely disguised loathing. At length, Snape managed to collect himself enough to remove both emotions from his face, replacing both with a blank mask of indifference.

"Five points from Hufflepuff for wasting class time with useless trivia," Snape finally said, totally ignoring the outraged cries of the Hufflepuffs, Hermione's shocked gasp, and not at all hearing Tom's verbose retort . "Let's try again, Potter. Where would you look if I asked you to find me a Bezoar?"

"The belly of a goat, sir," Harry answered through gritted teeth, trying to appear calm and not affected by Snape's blatant negative bias and unfair treatment against him. Beside him, he could just about make out Hermione trying to stretch her hand as high as she could in an attempt to get the Professor's attention.

"A little vague there, Potter," Snape smirked nastily at him. Harry forced himself to remain calm. This man was nothing compared to Vernon at his meanest (although Snape was certainly smarter about it).

Suddenly Snape about faced, and with a swish of his wand had words appearing on the blackboard. "On the board are the names of ten different potions ingredients," Snape addressed the class. "You will all have ten seconds to note down which two on the board are different names for the ingredient known as monkswood. Any cheating will be punished severely. Your time starts now."

Harry looked up at the board and identified options c) aconite and h) wolfsbane in less than two seconds, jotting both answers down on his parchment.

"Time is up," Snape said after only five seconds before flicking his wand to summon all their parchment's to the front. "Oh dear," he drawled lazily as he looked through the sheets of paper. "It seems that Hufflepuff will have to lose twenty five points, for gross incompetence, while Ravenclaw loses fifteen. For those who wish to actually learn, the correct answers were aconite and wolfsbane."

"What! That's not fair," Shouted someone from behind Harry. "That's not even in the book-"

"Silence!" Snape barked ferociously. "Five additional points from Ravenclaw for disrespecting a member of staff."

"You know, Harry, I have the feeling that this is going to be worse than Binns would have been," Tom muttered morosely as Harry seethed at the treatment the class was receiving from their Professor. The only consolation was that it seemed like Snape had realised that Harry wouldn't be an easy target to pick on. What a rubbish silver lining.

...~IMH~...

...~IMH~...

There was a great deal of discontented grumbling and complaining about a certain Potion's Professor at lunch that day, with the entire group of first year Hufflepuffs having something to say about the now hated Professor. Some even went so far as to flash a dirty look towards Snape's spot at the high table when they thought he wasn't looking.

"I can't believe he took points away for 'useless trivia!'" Susan exclaimed angrily. "I mean, that was probably the best potions answer he's ever gotten from a first year, how utterly ridiculous is it that he took points for that?"

"I'm glad you guys are so up in arms about it," Harry replied, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

"Well someone has to be, I don't see why you're not more angry yourself," Hannah said with a slight frown.

"That man just makes me so... URGH!" Susan folded her arms grumpily and pouted, causing a few of the older students nearby to chuckle good naturedly and the grumpy looking redhead.

"You know, I hope Snape has some sort of challenge on whatever loot is being hidden on the third floor," Ernie whispered to the group, once again leaning in in a conspiratorial manner. "Wouldn't it just serve him right if we beat his challenge and won the day?"

"Wait, you genuinely think there are challenges and loot on the third floor," Justin suddenly asked, eyeing Ernie as if he had gone a bit mad.

"Of course there are," Ernie replied, rolling his eyes. "Everyone knows that you have to guard hidden treasures with increasingly difficult traps, wards, and challenges. How else would you protect your most valued belongings?"

"Safe deposit box," Sally-Anne said straight away.

"Is that a muggle thing?" Zach asked, arching his eyebrow. At Sally's nod he said, "Then I doubt it would be any good at hiding something from a Wizard."

"Do you know what a safe deposit box is, Zach?" Asked Sally, levelling a glare at her fellow Hufflepuff.

"Well, no-" Zach said before he was cut off by the young girl.

"And do you, or any Wizard you know have a working understanding of the muggle banking systems?" she pressed on, not giving him more than a moment to reply.

"Again, no, but-" Zach tried again, speaking slighly faster in an attempt to finish his sentence, but to no avail.

"Then I think a safe deposit box is exactly the right thing to do in order to hide something from Wizards," Sally said triumphantly, tapping her hand against the table to emphasise her point.

"She has a point, Zach," Harry said to his grumpy looking room mate. "Besides, why would anyone think that just throwing a load of challenges at someone would be a good idea?"

"You know, I'm not quite sure," Susan answered before any of the other magically raised children could reply. "I guess it's always been that way. You can see the evidence in how curse breakers have to constantly undo traps in ancient tombs. Almost always finding the treasure trove after defeating some sort of necromantic dragon, or an army of inferi."

"Is that like a Wizard version of Indiana Jones?" Justin asked, intrigued.

"Maybe, what's Indiana Jones?" Megan replied.

And so the conversation moved on from hypothetical revenge on the malevolent force that was Professor Snape, and onto a comparison of muggle and Wizarding popular culture. The realisation that Wizards didn't have films was seen as shocking by both Sally-Anne and Justin (Harry wasn't really that bothered, never having been to the cinema before), whereas the Wizards found the idea of physically doing all the housework was the height of barbarity.

As it was, Harry was glad when the end of lunch came about and the group of first years headed off towards transfiguration. He had found it rather awkward to talk about muggle culture while so many of its more enjoyable facets had been denied him all his life.

Knowing McGonagall's reputation as a strict disciplinarian the Hufflepuff's made sure that they got to her classroom in good time for their joint lesson with the Gryffindors. It was a wise plan that clearly (when the lesson started without any male Gryffindors) none of McGonagall's own house had thought of.

"Well done for all of you for arriving on time," the transfiguration Professor said the second lunch break ended and lesson time began. "I want you all to take out your text books and read over the introductory chapter while we wait for your absent classmates. I will have a surprise for them once they deign us worthy of their presence," the stern woman finished with the tiniest hint of a smile as she promptly turned into a tabby cat and went to sit on the desk.

Did that really just happen? Harry wondered as he started rereading the beginning of the Transfiguration text book. The entire first chapter, as it happened, was nothing more or less than a list of different horrible ways Transfiguration can go wrong, tips on how to avoid this from happening, and constantly reiterating how important it was to take proper care when practising Transfiguration.

"I get the feeling that today is going to be little more than a safety lecture," Tom told him, sounding slightly morose. Harry wondered if Tom had been hoping for something a little more exciting now that he was back in the magical world.

"Yes, I was," was the glum reply. "No offence, Harry, but being stuck in the mind of a child for so long can get just the tiniest bit boring at times."

Harry cursed Tom's ability to hear his thoughts even when they weren't directed at him.

"I heard that!"

Harry scowled.

Soon enough the four absent Gryffindor boys arrived, looking out of breath, making it seem like they had rub because they were very late, or because they had been very lost.

"Lucky that McGonagall isn't here, can you imagine the look on her face if-" Ron Weasley started as he looked about the room for chairs. Unfortunately for him, the Professor chose that time to leap from her desk and transform back into a human, levelling a glare that could rival Snape's (minus the malice and contempt but with an extra dose of disapproval) on the young Weasley.

Ron stared open mouthed for a good long moment, his eyes wide. All about him the rest of the class was applauding the Professors excellent transition from cat to woman and chattering excitedly amongst themselves about what animals they would be if they could transform themselves.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron said at length.

"Thank you for your most eloquent praise, Mr Weasley," McGonagall replied, arching an eyebrow. "Perhaps I should transform you or Mr Thomas into a pocket watch, that way at least one of you would be on time."

"Please, Professor, we got lost," an Irish boy (presumably Seamus Finnigan) spoke up in defence of his friends.

"Very well, but be sure to arrive in good time to your next Transfiguration class. I shan't be so lenient a second time," she cautioned. "Now take your seats."

Harry, having anticipated a situation like this occurring, had saved the space to his left for Neville and promptly waved the boy over.

"Hey Harry," the young boy whispered as he took a seat between Harry and Hannah, "Hi Hannah."

"Hey Neville," the others replied in unison before quietening themselves lest they risk the ire of Professor McGonagall.

In no time at all the Professor had finished doing a role call and begun a lecture on, as Tom had predicted, the dangers of transfiguration. It even included the proviso that anybody caught using transfiguration inappropriately, or even just messing around during lesson time, would be banned from future transfiguration lessons. All this did was to solidify Harry's opinion of McGonagall as an authoritarian and strengthen his resolve to be on his best behaviour during her lessons.

After a good long time listening to McGonagall talk, they were eventually given the task of turning the matchsticks on their tables (which had appeared from seemingly nowhere) into needles.

Harry found this to be a silly task as (no matter what anybody said) he didn't think that needles were in any way similar to matchsticks, and that if one simply looked closely at two of them together, one would see that they were totally different shapes.

Regardless though, Harry soldiered on, and after a while even succeed in changing his matchstick into a wooden needle (although the ability to change wood into metal eluded him) earning Hufflepuff five points by the end of the lesson. He even managed to find the time to help Neville with his own casting, enabling the boy to sharpen one end of his matchstick.

As the lesson ended and the group of first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs made their way towards the joint literacy workshop that was mandatory for all first years, Harry found himself and Justin talking with Neville and his friend, Dean Thomas.

"To be honest, our house is pretty tightly knit," Neville said in reply to Harry's inquiry about how he was finding Gryffindor. "We've all been getting on really well, so far. Although Ron and Seamus really hit it off straight away. They're both rather loud."

"Yeah, they keep egging each other on about challenging Draco Malfoy to a duel," Dean piped in with a chuckle.

"A duel? Sounds interesting," Harry mused as he looked ahead towards where the two other Gryffindor boys were talking with Ernie, and Zach (probably about Quidditch). From here it seemed clear to Harry that a friendship with Seamus was a good thing for Ron; here was a boy he wouldn't be jealous of, and could truly enjoy spending time with without worrying about being overshadowed.

Harry allowed himself a small smile. Sure, Ron Weasley might not have been a good friend for him to have, but he was glad that the other boy was able to find somebody he could be friends with. After all, having had no friends apart from Tom for most of his life, Harry was never going to begrudge somebody else that chance of happiness.

...~IMH~...

...~IMH~...

A.N. Well there you have it. I thought I'd end this chapter on a high note. I'd like to give a special big thank you to everyone who has patiently waited for this chapter to arrive (and to noamg whose message reminded me to get a move on).

Once again, I'd like to ask anybody who would be able to work with me as a BETA reader for this story to send me a message. Oh, and also leave a review ;)

Thanks for reading,

blddmn