When Harry went to lunch that afternoon there was a slight spring in his step thanks to the fact that professor Sprout was now fully on board with helping him cultivate some of the herbal ingredients he had brought with him from Skyrim. Even those he had been unable to cultivate himself in the past.
Apparently his mood contrasted the rest of his house, as the other first years were all in a slump when he arrived. Even Hermione was staring ahead blankly, as if she were in shock.
"What happened to all of you?" Harry asked them with a furrowed brow.
"Snape." Ron spat out like it was a curse.
"All of us, even Neville, made potions that passed his criteria for the lesson today. But then he just vanished them all at the end of class and gave each of us zeroes, because it was obvious to him that we were somehow cheating." Lavender Brown added bitterly.
Harry's brow twitched irritably as he learned the reason why they were in a mood, which tracked with what he'd seen and heard over the last couple of weeks. Ever since he had given his house mates items to enhance their potion making.
Apparently not only was Snape's mood souring even more per class, but he was even cracking down and searching for every excuse he could to punish and attack Gryffindors. Maybe it was time for Harry to attack back.
"I'll be right back." Harry told them. And when several of them tried to ask where he was going, he had already vanished. Literally.
"How does he do that?" Seamus uttered in awe of the vanishing act, giving voice to what everyone else wanted to ask.
Sure enough, Harry reappeared a few short minutes later as if nothing had happened.
"What did you do?" Pavarti asked him curiously.
"What makes you think I 'did' something? Maybe I just went to have a chat with Albus about Snape's behavior." Harry replied without looking up from the sandwich he had started to eat. But it was obvious from the pointed looks that none of them believed him.
"Eat up everyone. We have flying lessons after this." Harry advised them, and they also began eating. Thankfully, their moods seemed to improve with every bite. Food was truly a wonderful thing.
"So does anyone else here want to play Quidditch next year? I'm hoping to make Keeper myself, though I guess I'll just be a reserve until Wood graduates." Ron asked them excitedly.
"Don't know much about Quidditch. I'm more of a football(soccer) fan myself." Dean replied, earning him a scowl from Ron.
The discussion then evolved into the Quidditch league, as well as the different teams that there were. Ron made it clear he was a devoted fan of the Chudley Cannons.
"What about you Harry?" Seamus asked him suddenly, catching Harry mid-bite into his fourth sandwich.
"What about me?" Harry asked, as he had tuned out most of the Quidditch talk.
"Are you gonna try out for the Quidditch team next year?" Seamus elaborated.
"Nah. I don't have the time." Harry replied.
"Come on mate! Quidditch is great!" Ron pressed, seemingly determined to pass on his enthusiasm for Quidditch.
"Never said it wasn't, though I wouldn't really know. Like I said, I just don't have the time. Not only do I have classes with the rest of you, but I also have our magic/combat training sessions that we do almost every night, and my own individual projects and crafts that I'm working on. Hell, I was even considering making myself a Philosophers Stone since they seem like a decent challenge." Harry said, ignoring the looks he got when he mentioned the Philosophers Stone.
"You're just gonna make one, just like that?!" Seamus asked incredulously.
"What's this stone thing?" Ron asked, prompting Hermione to roll her eyes.
"The Philosophers Stone Ron. It's a stone that is considered to be the pinnacle of Alchemy, capable of turning metal into gold and producing the elixir of immortality. And are you seriously going to try and make one?!" Hermione demanded as she turned to Harry after her explanation.
"Why not? Like I said, it seems like a decent challenge." Harry replied with a shrug, not seeing what the big deal was. The way Harry saw it, what was the point of being at school if not to push both his new magic and preexisting skills to their limit?
His comments however earned him various reactions from his fellow first years, ranging from awe in Neville's case, to disbelief and even lunacy in the others.
They quickly found something else to talk about while eating their meal, until it was time for their first flying lesson.
While Harry may not be enthusiastic about Quidditch, he was excited to learn how to fly on a broomstick. The few times he had flown in the past was on the back of a dragon, and Harry always loved the experience.
As Odahviing once told Harry, his envy of the Dova would only increase the moment he saw the world through their perspective. And it had. It truly had.
The group of Gryffindors made their way onto the Quidditch pitch where their classmates were already waiting for them, the Slytherin first years.
"Look who it is. The flunkies who have to cheat their way through Potions!" Draco sneered as soon as they arrived, making the Gryffindors bristle angrily while Harry cocked a brow.
"That's a bit much, don't you think Draco?" Harry asked while simultaneously grabbing Ron by his robes before he could storm up and deck him.
"Time and place." Harry whispered to the Weasley, even as he fumed at Draco.
"I decide what's 'a bit much', and what's enough, Potter." Draco sneered as he stalked towards Harry, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him as always.
"Is that so?" Harry asked with a smirk, finding the situation a little humorous.
"What's so funny, Potter?" Draco demanded irritably.
"It's just, have you ever raised hounds, Draco?" Harry asked him, confusing the Slytherin.
"What?"
"Have you ever raised hounds?" Harry repeated, yet it was obvious that Draco didn't understand what Harry was getting at.
"You see Draco, there are two types of hounds in general. There are the ones who bark the loudest and most often, and the ones who barely bark at all.
"The ones who barely bark don't need to. They know what they are capable of, and know they can either deal with the threat or make it pay for daring to challenge them. They do not bark a lot, but when they do the world stops and listens.
"Then there's the hounds who bark all the time. They bark, and bark, and bark in an attempt to sound tough, but these hounds are typically cowards. They bark to intimidate, because they know that if a fight broke out, they would lose immediately.
"Tell me Draco, between these two types of hounds, which one do you think you are?"
Silence prevailed in the wake of Harry's little monologue, in which several Slytherins were watching to see what Draco was going to do.
"Grab him." Draco snarled, and Crabbe and Goyle automatically moved to grab each of Harry's arms and bend them behind his back, making it to where he could not defend himself as Draco swung his fist.
"MR. MALFOY!"
"!!!"
It was too late for Draco to stop his fist before it hit Harry in the face, all while Harry didn't even try to fight back as madam Hooch, their flying instructor, approached.
"Twenty points from Slytherin Mr Malfoy!" She declared, while Crabbe and Goyle quickly let Harry's arms go like they had been burned.
"But professor-"
"No buts Mr Malfoy! I watched you punch Potter while these other two held him down. Rest assured, I WILL be informing both of your heads of Houses about this matter." Madam Hooch declared while giving Draco a look that dared him to argue.
"You'll pay for this Potter." Draco snarled as he slunk away with his two cronies.
"That was a pretty pathetic punch Draco." Harry whispered back, making the Slytherin pause slightly. "Maybe if you want to come to one of my lessons sometime, I can show you how to throw a proper punch."
Harry didn't see Draco's expression to his offer, but he did see his ears turn completely red with what Harry presumed was anger as he stormed off.
"You alright Potter?" Madam Hooch asked him worriedly.
"I'm good, professor. No need to worry about me" Harry assured her, as the spot where he'd been hit didn't even hurt in the slightest. Draco truly was pathetic when it came to punching.
"Let me know if you feel dizzy in the slightest." She ordered him, before turning her attention to the rest of the class.
"Now then, welcome to your first flying lesson. I want you all to line up on either side of me in two lines. Hurry up now!" Everyone moved to do as she said, quickly forming two lines of, you guessed it, Gryffindor and Slytherin students.
"Alright then." Madam Hooch stated once they were in place, before waving her wand to summon enough brooms for them all and line them up beside each of them.
"Now then, I want all of you to hold your right hand out over your brooms, and say 'up'. Get on with it!"
Immediately the field was filled with the sound of students practically yelling at their brooms, trying to will them to jump to their hands.
"Up." Harry commanded with a tone of authority, and his broom immediately shot up into his hand.
"How did you do that?!" Hermione demanded beside him, as her broom was just kinda rolling on the ground.
"Just use authority." Harry stated with a slight smirk, making Hermione huff as she went back to trying to make her broom rise to her hand.
*WHACK!*
On the other side, Ron was just smacked in the face with his own broom as it shot up too quickly for him to react.
"Maybe tonight we'll work on hand-eye coordination a little." Harry told him, earning himself a scowl as Ron rubbed his tender nose.
This went on until everyone managed to get their brooms to rise up to their hands, with Neville being the last one to do so.
"Right then. Now I want you to swing your leg over your brooms, and mount them while holding on tightly."
There was a quick flurry of activity as everyone did that, before madam Hooch nodded in approval.
"Now when I blow my whistle, I want you all to kick off from the ground, hover for a moment, and then lean forward to touch back down. Three, two, one!"
The shrill tone of her whistle sounded, and everyone kicked off as she commanded. They all hovered there for a moment with varying degrees of confidence and ease, Hermione's arms were trembling the entire time, before madam Hooch gave another tweet with her whistle.
One by one they gradually landed back down onto the ground, with Harry doing so first with grace, followed by Draco and then Ron. Soon there was only one person left in the air, who didn't sem like they would be coming down any time soon.
"Mr Longbottom, swiftly return to the ground with us!" Madam Hooch barked.
"Its not listening to me!" Neville cried as he leaned forward to the point that he nearly fell off the front, but his broom actually seemed to be rising even higher instead.
"Neville!" Harry called out, jumping up and grabbing the front of Neville's broom with his hand. The combined weight of the two of them finally seemed to be enough that the broom slowly began to drift down, and Neville was able to land safely on the field.
"Thank you mr Potter. Five points to Gryffindor for your quick thinking." Madam Hooch stated as she hurried over, checking on Neville before examining his broom.
"Faulty Levitation charm. That's part of the problem with these old brooms." She said while shaking her head, before putting the broom off to the side and waving her wand to summon a new one for Neville.
The next couple hours were spent with madam Hooch putting them through various beginner level drills, practicing taking off and landing, going forward and back, side to side. And while there were a few kids who did fall off their brooms, they were barely more than a few feet off the ground when they did so.
"Alright! That was very well done for everyone's first flying lesson! Now let's put away your brooms, and we'll meet again next week at the same time!" Madam Hooch declared, prompting them all to march off to the broom storage to return them.
"Potter." Draco sneered as Harry tried to walk past him, intentionally bumping into him as he did so.
"Oh?" Harry murmured as he noticed madam Hooch preoccupied with one of the girls. So Draco WAS capable of learning after all.
Deciding to return the favor, it took Harry less than a second to transfer something onto Draco. Something Draco didn't notice, nor would he for about six hours. When it finally took effect.... Well, let's just say that Harry felt sorry for anyone in the same room as him.
That made Harry remember something. He wondered how Snape's lesson was going about now?
***
"Five points, from Gryffindor." Snape sneered as he waved his wand and automatically Vanished Fred's Shrinking Solution altogether, despite it being the perfect acid-green that the book described.
In fact, the Potions master had been doing the same to all the Gryffindor students potions, despite them being the best in the class. Thanks to Harry's items of course.
They were naturally losing a LOT of points thanks to Snape's pettiness, but each of them felt it was worth it as they watched the vein in his forehead throb in anger.
"And as for you, miss Spinnet..." Snape leered as he prowled to her cauldron next. "Looks like another five points-"
*PRBBBBBBBBBBBBT!*
"""..."""
The entire class, both Gryffindor and Slytherin, froze as a horrendous sound trumpeted from Snape's backside. Followed promptly by a truly attrocious smell.
"!!!"
Alicia Spinnet, who had been right next to Snape, desperately fought the urge to gag as the smell enveloped her first, before filling the rest of the room.
In an instant, Snape's complexion went from ghastly pale to bright red as fury overtook him.
"OUT! ALL OF YOU!" Snape roared, and neither House had to be told twice as they quickly vacated the smelly dungeon. But not before another trumpet blew, filling the dungeon with a fresh wave of stink.
Meanwhile, a certain Boy-Who-Lived was casually walking back to the castle with his housemates, wondering just how Snape will behave when he gets to dinner.