Vicis Vulnus

Chapter Two. Broomsticks and House-Elves

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Early the next morning- or that morning, more accurately- Harry got back up and went down to wait for his new/old friend. He wasn't sure how late she would be sleeping in, taking into account their late night and her excitement for that day. The Hermione he knew always woke before he did, and he wanted to make sure he didn't miss her. Students came down and left for breakfast, not many other students actually sat down to wait like Harry did. He opened a book to keep himself occupied and other students away from him. Almost every Gryffindor that came down the staircases cast a glance in his direction before going out, and Harry determinedly ignored them all.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the two of the girls from his year come down, and looked up as they were about to pass his chair. "Hey, erm, Lavender." He said, catching both the girls attention and they began flushing at being addressed by the famous wizard.

"Yes?" she asked over her giggles. Harry resisted rolling his eyes.

"Do you know if Hermione's up yet?"

Both of the girls exchanged glances before Lavender replied. "She's up, she's still in the dormitory though."

"Thanks." Harry said, and the two witches departed in a fit of giggles. He never understood those two and doubted he would this time around either. After waiting for a few more minutes the bushy haired witch came down the staircase carrying her bag and books. She glanced around the common room quickly, Harry wasn't sure if she was expecting him or just looking around, but her eyes lit up when she saw him reading on one of the chairs. She cautiously walked over and Harry looked up at her, breaking out into a grin when she got close.

"Are you going down to breakfast?" Hermione asked, looking at his book.

"Yeah, I was waiting for you." As soon as he said it Harry noticed Hermione's cheeks glow with a soft blush. She beamed at him and they got up, walking out of the tower and making their way down to the Great Hall. Despite not being the first of the new students to leave the tower they were the first ones there, and Harry bit back a laugh thinking that some of the others must've gotten confused on their way down. He remembered it took him a full week to get the directions from Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall right during his first lifetime. They started talking about their courses as the rest of the hall filled with students eating breakfast, and eventually other first years joined them. Neville saw Hermione and came up cautiously to sit across from her, but gave Harry a few apprehensive glances. Knowing the boy's inferiority complex he gave him a smile that was mirrored by Hermione and the round faced boy sat down with them.

Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Ron enter the Great Hall and avoided making eye contact when he saw the redhead look over. He sighed quietly when he saw him sit down with Seamus and Dean. After the owls came flocking into the hall- something that surprised most of the Muggle-born students to Harry's great amusement- McGonagall went around the table and passed out their schedules.

"Oh, look." Hermione said once she got her time table. "We have History of Magic first, then Herbology, lunch, and Charms."

Harry looked at his schedule, she was right of course. He sighed. "History of Magic in the morning? I think I'd do better in that if it was right after lunch."

Neville glanced nervously along the schedule as well. "W-well, Herbology doesn't sound bad." He said with a small quiver in his voice.

"Oh, the both of you." Hermione sniffed. "You'd be fine if you looked at your books."

Neville seemed to flush a little, but Harry just propped his chin up on his hand. "I did look through my books. Besides, I doubt any of the first few classes will be that hard, they don't want to kill us when we get here. But I heard someone mention that History of Magic was pretty boring."

"How could magic's history be boring?" Hermione asked aghast.

Harry shrugged. Neville was the one to volunteer the answer. "It's the way the class is taught I think. One of the older students said it was taught by a g-ghost, and that all he did was lecture the students."

"It still doesn't sound that bad." Hermione said stubbornly. "I'm sure it'll be fascinating."

"I think I'm looking forward to Herbology today to." Harry said, glancing at Neville, who smiled at him gratefully. Looking at the clock they quickly finished their breakfast and went off in search of their classroom. With Harry's help they got there without any problems, they were the first ones to enter the empty classroom. Assuring Hermione that they were in fact in the right room, they choose desks near the front of the class and waited as more students began straggling in.

The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion, the three of them arriving to every class first and probably the only students not to have gotten lost on their first day. By the time lunch came Hermione and Harry were the only two first years who hadn't been overwhelmed by everything and Hermione chatted endlessly about the classes that they'd had so far. Harry, for his part, was beginning to feel the childish excitement he had the first time he had gone to Hogwarts, and echoed her enthusiasm. Neville sat with the other boys from their year during lunch, leaving the two of them alone. The two of them left for their next class together, waving to Neville as they departed.

The rest of the class followed in a similar fashion to that day. Neville would hang interchangeably with them and the other first year boys, something that Harry didn't mind all that much. Hermione seemed to notice, but she didn't say anything about it either. During their first Transfiguration class, both Hermione and Harry proved themselves to be the best of their year's students, being the only ones to change their matches into needles. Harry had made his slightly worse than hers had been, to allow her the feeling of being the best in class. When Friday finally came he waited in the common room for Hermione, as had become their custom. They walked down to breakfast without much conversation, and Harry waited expectedly for Hedwig to come with Hagrid's letter. Once he'd started eating breakfast the morning mail came and he received the invitation to lunch, which he showed to Hermione and invited her along. She nodded happily, and immediately began asking about Hagrid not knowing much about him herself.

They continued the conversation all the way down to the dungeons for their first Potions class and Harry dragged Hermione to sit in the back, much to her chagrin. He was vainly hoping that by staying out of Snape's line of vision he could avoid being called on. He knew it was pointless, but felt he had to try something.

Snape entered the classroom with his cloaks billowing out behind him, and closed the dungeon door with a quiet snap. The entire class fell silent and looked at the professor with a type of cautious awe. He started the class with a roll call, and paused at Harry's name, making a snide comment before moving on. Any hopes of not being the target of his insults flew out the window as Harry heard his name called, although he did notice the lack of laughter from a certain blond Slytherin. It looked like his actions on the train were paying off, sort of.

Snape looked around the classroom, glaring at the students in turn. "You are here to learn the subtle science of potion-making." He began in a quiet voice, immediately demanding everybody's attention. Despite how Harry felt about the man, he had to admit the potions master was great at intimidation- a skill he himself hadn't learned the value of until late into the war. "As there is little foolish wand waving here, some of you may not believe this is magic at all. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Harry saw Hermione lean forward on her seat excitedly, wanting to prove herself already. Snape swerved his head toward Harry suddenly and asked, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry felt Hermione's hand fly into the air beside him and thought for a moment. He had checked back on these questions, getting ready for this encounter. He answered calmly, trying to seem as modest as possible. "They would make a sleeping potion…Draught of Living Death, sir."

Snape stared at him for a long moment. Hermione had beamed at Harry for getting the right answer and he tried to remain looking as innocent and non-arrogant as possible. Harry was surprised at what happened next- the professor looked away and snapped at another student, "Longbottom! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Neville's fact turned a bright shade of red and he glanced back at Hermione and Harry sitting behind him nervously, as though he'd be able to see the answer written on them. Hermione's hand was in the air again. "Err…" Neville squeaked nervously. "I-I don't know sir."

A group of Slytherins sniggered and he turned a deeper shade of crimson. Snape sneered at him before turning to a member of his own house. "Mister Malfoy, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"They're the same plant, professor." Malfoy answered casually, sending a smirk over to the opposing house members.

Snape nodded. "Good. Five points to Slytherin for the correct answer."

The Gryffindors opened their mouths in outrage, but Harry just shook his head. He was figuring Snape would show him some amount of dislike- this was better than being humiliated.

"As for Mister Longbottom, the correct answer is that a bezoar is found in the stomach of a goat and is an antidote to most poisons." Snape sneered. Then he glared at the class. "Well? Write this all down!"

Afterward they were put into pairs to make a simple potion, and again Harry watched as the blonde Slytherin was dotted on- or as much as Snape could dot on someone- by the professor. He was commenting on his potion when a loud hissing issued from the Gryffindor's side of the room, revealing that Neville had somehow managed to melt his cauldron and send potion spilling all across the floor. Seeing the boils that were beginning to appear on his friend's skin Harry quickly pulled out his wand and cast Scourgify to remove the potion from him. The liquid was still flowing over the floor, and Snape rushed over to see the commotion.

"Idiot boy!" he hissed. Neville was holding his arms were boils had already begun appearing. Snape swept his wand and cleaned up the potion from the floor. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" without waiting for an answer he turned and snapped at Seamus, "Take him to the hospital wing."

As Seamus helped Neville out of the room he turned and glared at Ron and Dean, who had been sitting next to Neville. "Weasley! Thomas! Why didn't either of you stop him from adding the quills? Thought you could look good if he failed? Ten points from Gryffindor."

The Slytherins looked completely joyous at seeing so many of the other house's students being punished, and Harry quietly begged whatever might've been listening not for Snape to turn on him. Unfortunately, the potions master glared toward the raven haired boy next. "Potter. You used a spell to clean the potion off of Longbottom, tell me, why didn't you use it on the floor as well?"

Harry's mouth dropped open. What?! He was going to get punished for helping a student over cleaning up a mess. Brilliant. "I don't know sir, I was worried about Neville, not the floor." He answered as soon as he could without sounding defiant.

"A point from Gryffindor for lack of common sense." Snape snapped. "Everybody get back to your potions."

As Snape walked away Hermione comforted Harry quietly. "Don't worry, I'm sure plenty of first years wouldn't have thought about cleaning the floor when a friend was in trouble. What was that spell you used, anyway? A cleaning spell, right?"

Harry nodded glumly and described the spell to her. It would figure that Hermione would still defend a teacher's actions than thinking they were simply unfair. He wondered how long it would take to break Hermione of that habit in this lifetime as they continued with their potions. Finally they were released and the two of them made their way up to the Great Hall for lunch. After doing some homework in the library- a place that Hermione had quickly discovered and claimed as their hangout spot- they left the castle to see Hagrid.

Knocking on the door they heard loud barking, and Harry smiled as he saw Hagrid open the door while holding back Fang. Hermione seemed a little nervous at the overanxious boarhound, but as soon as they were inside it began licking them and being generally friendly.

"Hello Hagrid," Harry started cheerfully. "This is Hermione Granger."

"Another first year, eh?" Hagrid asked, glancing at her from where he was putting the kettle on to boil. "Nice to meet yeh. Make yerselves at home."

They sat and talked about their lessons, enjoying- or pretending to- the food and tea that Hagrid provided. Finally Harry noticed the Daily Profit clip out and picked it up in feigned curiosity. "Hagrid, this was the same day we went to Gringotts. That's kind of odd, isn't it?"

"Eh?" Hagrid said, not meeting Harry's eye. "Yea, yea. S'pose it is. So Hermione, what're yer parents like? Muggles righ'?"

Harry looked down at the paper clipping while keeping a detached interest on the conversation. So far everything was checking out like he knew it would- but he had to make sure the timeline hadn't been altered by anything he'd done up to that point. He wasn't going to risk everything on a Butterfly Effect.

"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed, watching the curse he would relive the sight of for the rest of his life.

She turned, trying to dodged the green light, but moved to slowly. The Killing Curse hit her straight in the ribcage, sending her falling backward as the life left her eyes. So easy. With a single spell, the entirety of a person could be ended, making their dreams, accomplishments, feelings, all mean nothing. It wasn't Harry's first time seeing someone he knew die- he'd seen it all too often during the war. Half of him blamed Dumbledore- the man had been wrong when he thought love was the great power that the 'Dark Lord knew not'. Another part of him blamed himself. He wasn't strong enough, smart enough. He couldn't do what Voldemort could, and people died because of it. The only thing he was good at was surviving- and what was the point of that when everyone else he knew died?

"Hermione!" He called again, seeing her body crumple to the ground. There was no way- they were best friends, ever since Ron left during their hunt for the Horcruxes- she couldn't die. She just couldn't. "Hermione!"

"Harry!" Luna called, running over to him through the rising dust. The town was under attack and the destroyed buildings and flying spells made the air clouded and hard to see in. Harry tried to take off over to his best friends body, but a fallen building was in his way.

"Harry!" Luna called again. "We need to get out of here!" Her normally dreamy composure was gone, replaced by a wartime look of determination and dread. "There are too many of them."

"Hermione." Harry repeated hollowly, not hearing the girl who had come over beside him. Finally realizing what the man was saying she looked over in the direction he was staring and saw an unmoving body laying on the ground.

"Oh, Hermione…" She gasped. Before she had time to react further, another blond appeared beside them.

"Potter, we have to go, there are too many Death Eaters and the Order is retreating. We can't stay here alone." Harry felt a hard line appear in his jaw and he nodded, desperately trying to hold back his emotions. She wasn't the first person he'd seen die. He had learned that losing control during a battle could lead to more than just one death, and he couldn't let anyone else die. Not on the same day she had.

"What? What is it?" the blond male asked, seeing his comrades expressions. Luna nodded over to the body, wiping tears away from here eyes with her hand not holding her wand. The male looked over. "Oh."

"I need to get her." Harry said quietly, and broke out into a run before either of them could stop him. He heard the man behind him shout, before two sets of running footsteps followed him. Curses were sent his way, and he heard one of the Death Eaters call his name which drew even more attention to him. Uncaring he dove to the ground, avoiding curses and sliding over to grab Hermione's body. He felt another body land beside him and swerved to stare at the male who had thrown himself beside him.

"Let's go Potter, you arse." The man said. Luna, seeing the two men ready to leave quickly disapparated away with a loud crack. Harry watched her go, and knowing that she was safe, nodded. They both grabbed onto Hermione's body, and concentrated on where they wanted to go.

Before disappearing, Harry said quietly, "Thank you, Draco."

The ex-Death Eater rolled his eyes and ignored him.

-:-:-:-

The two children bid their farewells to Hagrid and made their way back up to the castle for diner. Since neither had really eaten any of the rock cakes they were both hungry. Hermione had brought him out of his contemplation at Hagrid's when she was getting his opinion on Snape's class. He had quickly covered up his drifting thoughts and they had left shortly after.

For the rest of the weekend Hermione had set time aside to complete their homework, something which Neville joined them in, needing help in almost every subject. The two best year students were able to help him out enough without actually giving him the answers, something he was extremely grateful for. Harry was thankful that Ron hadn't tried to make any contact with him save exchanging brief comments in class like he did with the rest of the students.

It wasn't until a few days later when they noticed a posting in the Gryffindor common room declaring flying lessons that anything of interest happened. Both Hermione and Neville seemed extremely nervous about the upcoming event, and Hermione went through a lot of trouble to find any books she could about flying before they would have to learn. Harry's laidback and cheerful attitude about it made Hermione very snappy whenever the subject came up, and Harry tried not to grin too much whenever she got into one of her moods. He remembered how he would've thought it was annoying if he didn't know her as well as he did. The morning they were suppose to have their lessons Hermione was ranting off everything she had read about brooms, Neville clinging to every word she said while a number of the other students rolled their eyes and tried to avoid listening.

The morning post came and an owl landed in front of Neville carrying a package. Harry remembered immediately what it was and glanced around for the approaching Slytherin. Neville opened the parcel, revealing the smoke filled orb and showing it to the others at the table. "It's a Remembrall! It tells you if you've forgotten something…you hold it like this and if it turns red…oh…" The smoke glowed scarlet, making the boy's face fall. "…you've forgotten something…."

Neville frowned as he tried to remember what he'd forgotten, and a hand suddenly snatched the ball out of his grasp. Harry looked up calmly to see Malfoy standing there, inspecting the ball with interest. As expected, Ron jumped up and a few of the other Gryffindors made sounds of protest. McGonagall strode toward them as she noticed the trouble brewing. "What's going on here?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor"

Malfoy scowled and dropped the ball back onto the table. "Just looking." He said as he left, with Crabbe and Goyle following.

The group watched him walk off. Harry seemed to be the only one who wasn't showing annoyance toward the blond. Ron spat out insults, showing his displeasure for the boy. "That prat thinks he can do anything. He's always going on about how he's so much better, bet he's all talk."

The other Gryffindor boys agreed, Neville staying nervously out of it as he put the orb away into his pocket. Hermione just rolled her eyes at the others and opened Quidditch Through the Ages to get some last minute studying done. At three fifteen Harry dragged Hermione down to the pitch before the rest of the Gryffindors, hoping to be able to pick out the best brooms. She went along, trying desperately to cram as much knowledge as she could into her head as Harry was literally pulling her from the common room.

Once they were down onto the field they noticed a number of the Slytherins already gathered and standing beside broomsticks. Seeing the two Gryffindors coming down before the rest of their house a few of the other students sneered. Harry ignored them as he quickly inspected the broomsticks that were left to find the best ones. He hadn't bothered looking at any of them during his first flying lesson, being lucky enough to get one of the better brooms. What he really wanted was a good pick for Hermione and Neville since he knew they would need all the advantage they could get. Finally he picked two that looked reasonable, and stood Hermione beside him, leaving a space open to his other side. The Slytherins had been watching with a detached interest.

"Think you've got the best brooms now, Potter?" Malfoy asked with a slight sneer.

Harry smirked over at him and shrugged. If anything this action created more interest than watching him look at twigs because more of the Slytherins looked over. Unfortunately it was about then that the rest of the Gryffindors began making their way down to the pitch so any prospective conversation was halted. Neville looked at the two nervously and walked over to Harry's other side. Ron also looked at them suspiciously before glancing at the Slytherins, and chose a broom furthest away from them. Madame Hooch arrived and ordered everybody to stand by a broomstick before telling them to call their brooms up.

"Up!" Everybody shouted at once. Harry didn't bother shouting, he simply twitched his wrist and it went up to him. He noticed tremors in the voices of both students beside him as neither of their brooms responded, although they weren't the only ones to have a lack of response. In fact, very few of the brooms actually did as they were told. Everyone else had to quickly bend down to pick up their brooms. Madame Hooch quickly told them how to mount and hold the handles properly. Harry watched as she corrected the grips of most students. He was even more annoyed when she fixed his. Fact was, once a person got used to flying having the correct grip wasn't as important as knowing how to handle the broom, and Harry had ditched the 'correct' way for a more comfortable grip that allowed him to make quick maneuvers better. Changing back now was extremely irritating, although he did it as best he could so he wouldn't start trouble.

"Alright, now everybody get ready to kick off the ground, hard. Rise a few feet and come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle- three- two-"

Harry caught Neville's eye and smiled reassuringly.

"one-"

The whistle was blown, and everybody kicked off the ground. A few students shot up faster than others while some barely left the ground at all. Neville made a hard shove and got up a few feet, but as soon as he started rising he leaned forward in a minor panic and almost fell back to the earth.

"Now everyone lean forward slightly- slightly!- and come back down."

Harry smiled as he landed, pleased that he had avoided the broken wrist. Now he was just worried about how he was getting onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Without Malfoy throwing the Remembrall he wasn't sure how he'd be noticed and simply figured he would have to turn up for tryouts. That was going to be an awkward experience.

"Good." Madame Hooch continued, looking around at the gathered students. A number of Slytherins were exchanging sneers at the simple instruction, something that Hooch was quick to pick up on. "I know many of you have flown on brooms before, but don't get ahead of the rest of the class. You are here to be taught the proper way, and I can assure you all from what I just saw that many of you need to adjust your style."

The Slytherins glared at the teacher, obviously not liking the criticism. She ignored them all and continued with her instructions. "Now, we're going to try that again, except this time you'll be staying in the air. Just straighten out your brooms when you get a few feet up. On my whistle-"

As soon as she blew her whistle the children kicked off again, stopping at random heights and hovering in the air. Some of the students continued moving up or down very slowly, while others seemed to be vibrating oddly. Neither of the brooms on Harry's side had any problems and Harry smiled again at his good choices. Malfoy, who was hovering next to a badly vibrating Crabbe, looked over and noticed Harry's smug look as he was glancing at the brooms beside him and glared. Harry noticed and shrugged guiltily. It wasn't his fault no one else had looked at the brooms they were picking. Neither Hermione nor Neville seemed to be noticing they had the best broomsticks there however, both too nervous about falling and trying to keep straight to pay attention to what was going well.

"Good, now I want you all to turn to your left slowly and begin moving forward in a circle. Stop when you get back to your current positions. Go." Madame Hooch had gotten onto her own Cleansweep and went around making sure the students were flying properly. Once they were all back into their positions Harry began feeling the same restlessness some of the more experienced flyers were having. His first time on a broom had been snatching a small glass ball after a fifty foot dive. This…funeral march flying was getting on his nerves. He had never been forced to fly this tediously before. It seemed like Madame Hooch understood this. "Now, everybody who feels comfortable on your brooms fly over to the right. Everyone who needs more work stay on the left. We're going to split the group up, let's go. Avoid hitting each other."

Harry grinned and flew back, waving to a horrified looking Hermione and Neville- both of whom were staying on the left for more work.

"Wait- Harry-" Hermione started nervously. Harry felt a rush of affection for her as he noticed her slight flush.

"Don't worry." Harry said, waving off whatever she was about to say. "I'll be fine, and plenty of people aren't good at this. Look." He gestured around to the people who were making their way to the left slowly. By far it was most of the class.

"Harry, be careful! Use both hands!" Hermione squeaked. He grinned guiltily as he noticed he had let go of his handle.

"Sorry Hermione." He said, then looked over to his right. "You don't mind if I go over there though, right? You can come over once you get the feel of it too." Hermione stared at him doubtfully, obviously not under the impression she would ever get the feel of flying. Finally she sighed- her friend's cheerful and carefree demeanor had brought back some of her bossy show of confidence.

"Go do what you want, it really isn't my choice, is it?" She said carelessly. "Just be careful. It'll be your own fault if you fall and break your neck." With that she and Neville made their way over to the left with the rest of the stragglers, and Harry quickly flew over to the right as he felt a rush of excitement. He knew Hermione would never really understand the joy of flying, but he really hoped she would be better about it this time round.

He noticed that Ron was the only other Gryffindor on this part of the field and was reminded that the Weasley's could play Quidditch all they wanted over the summer, and he had probably learned how to fly from his older brothers. There were three Slytherins, Malfoy, Zabini and Parkinson. Ron was scowling at them, and Harry felt that if he hadn't come over when he did there might've been a fight. Ron noticed him appear but didn't say anything. Harry had to wonder if Ron was mad at him simply because he hadn't immediately tried to be friends with him after meeting on the Hogwarts express, but shoved the thoughts aside.

He glanced over at all the other students who Madame Hooch was busy giving directions to and looked around at his assembled group. He broke the tense silence with a simple, "What're we suppose to be doing exactly?"

Malfoy sneered at him. "We are doing whatever we want. As to what you are doing, I have no idea Potter."

"Hmm." Harry didn't respond to Malfoy's comment, instead looking back at the other group. Madame Hooch saw him glance over and called to them, "If you five feel you're up to flying on your own, then you can start practicing. There are some Quaffles right over there if you feel like passing, otherwise just fly around, I'll come and check your progress when I'm done over here."

Harry nodded and looked around for the Quaffles she had point out. Seeing them, he made a quick dive and scoped one up. He turned back around to see the small group watching him, and held up the large ball. "Anyone wanna play?"

Despite what any of them thought of his house or fame, he knew they couldn't deny he was the best flyer there. The Slytherins exchanged glances, but it was surprisingly Ron who asked the question Harry had been expecting.

"Exactly who are you asking?"

Harry raised an eyebrow as Malfoy turned to sneer at the redhead. "Are you implying something Weasel? It's not like you would know how to pass with a real Quaffle, you've probably only played with stolen apples before."

Ron turned crimson and swerved to glare at Malfoy as the other two Slytherins sniggered. "Shut it, Malfoy!"

Harry sighed, so much for a simple game. Noticing, Parkinson glanced over at him disdainfully. "Why should we play with you anyway Potter? Don't think we have better things to do?"

Harry looked over at them carefully. "I just wanted to do something. It's more fun to do it with more people, that's all. You all came over here because you were already good at flying, I figured we could have a good game."

"I'm not going to play anything with a bunch of greasy Slytherins." Ron snapped. "I'd rather fly by myself."

The rest of the group watched, the Slytherins hissing at him slightly as he turned his broom to take a flight around the pitch. Harry turned to the other students, waiting for their answer. Zabini and Parkinson both glanced at Malfoy, who seemed to debate his answer. After a moment he sneered, "I think we can find something better to do, Potter."

With that they turned to get their own Quaffle, and Harry sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. At least he was trying. Feeling eyes on him, he looked around and caught Madame Hooch watching him. Behind her he noticed a few other kids having witnessed what he'd done, and he frowned. Even in the first year they wouldn't leave him alone. Brushing it off he caught Hermione's eye and waved.

"Hey Hermione!" He called, internally grinning as he noticed all the eyes on him turn toward her. "You ready yet? I need someone to play with!"

She turned a bright red and Madame Hooch blew her whistle. "Mister Potter, bring that bag of Quaffles over here. Everybody over here get with a partner." As Harry swooped down to pick up the bag and do as he was told he noticed the teacher say something else to his bushy haired friend which made her go scarlet.

Madame Hooch thanked Harry and began throwing out Quaffles to the groups as she saw them. "Since there seems to be an uneven number of students who needed help Mister Potter, perhaps you'd be kind enough to pair with Miss Granger so no one's left out."

Harry grinned, and turned to motion Hermione over closer to him. He still had his own Quaffle. They were directed to begin passing the ball back and forth, then they were left to their own devices for the rest of the lesson. A number of the students landed before the entire lesson was over and chose to sit in groups talking, but Harry nagged Hermione into staying in the air for as long as they could. Without any serious injuries it wasn't turning out to be that bad of a class, and Hermione didn't seem quite as nervous after being taunted by Harry a few dozen times into stealing the Quaffle from him. He doubted she would grow into a star player, but he was relived to know that she had lost some of her fear. He figured it must've been seeing Neville get injured before ever stepping onto a broomstick that made her unconsciously despise flying in later years. Or maybe it was him crashing to the ground and having his arm broken in various Quidditch games that did it. He wasn't sure. Before the lessons ended Harry approached Madam Hooch on his own about tryouts, since he wouldn't be getting on the team any other way. She seemed to consider him briefly before telling him when Gryffindors were holding theirs. Harry was happy to note that she didn't seem to think his question was a lost cause.

They made their way back to the castle in good spirits at the end of the lesson, going to the Great Hall for dinner. Throughout the meal he noticed a few of the teachers, including Dumbledore, glance at him. He knew it was about what he did during the lesson, but none of them seemed upset in the least so he didn't care. The other Gryffindors, however, were another matter.

"Why," a voice hissed from his side as he began eating, "did you invite that slimy git to play with us?"

Harry looked out the corner of his eye and saw Ron glaring at him. Honestly, Ron was as bad as the Slytherins sometimes, and he shook his head before responding. "I didn't invite anyone to play with 'us'. I invited all of you to play with me, I never said you had to be involved."

"What, you don't think I'm worth hanging out with Potter?" Ron demanded, raising his voice slightly.

The raven haired boy turned to glare at him. "I wasn't the one who flew away at a game invite Weasley. Just because you can't get over you're little ophiophobia doesn't mean I'm going to have the same problem. If I'm bored, or I want to hang out with someone, or I think I might like someone, I'm going to try to be their friend whether or not they're in the same house as me. Now get over it or bugger off."

Harry turned away and went back to his meal, ignoring the eyes that were suddenly on him. He had kept his voice as quiet as he could as not to drag attention to them, but a number of the other Gryffindors sitting around them and the Hufflepuffs at the next table still heard him. Before Ron could explode like he knew he would Harry shook his head and stood up.

"Hey Hermione, I'll see you later alright?" he said, grabbing his bag and making to leave from the hall. Hermione stood up and run after him.

"Harry wait- I'll come too."

He paused for a moment for her to catch up and together they walked out, a number of the eyes from the hall on them- students and teachers alike. They walked silently for a few minutes before Hermione looked around in confusion. "Where are we going?"

Harry stopped. Where were they going? Glancing around he saw they were in a corridor with portraits of food hanging all over the walls. Dear Merlin, what had he done? Hogwarts wasn't ready for SPEW yet. Looking guiltily at his friend he decided it would look suspicious if he suddenly turned around, especially since he hadn't gotten lost in the castle once so far. "Sorry, I, erm, heard the kitchens were down here and thought I'd grab something since I didn't really get to eat in there."

Hermione frowned at him. "Are we allowed to go straight to the kitchens for food? Isn't there a rule against that? It seems like there would be, or students would be going to the kitchens all the time."

"Well, I, err, don't know if it's allowed," Harry began, hoping he sounded more sure of himself to her than he did in his head, "but I don't think there's anything against it either. I heard the Weasley twins talking about it before, I guess the kitchen staff doesn't mind at all."

Hermione frowned again at the mention of the twins. They weren't exactly the most reassuring of people to be following for role models. Harry nudged her, grinning. "Come on Hermione, I'm sure it's fine. Besides, we're already there practically. If they don't want us there, we'll never go there again, okay?"

Hermione bit her lip as she conflicted over the choices, then let out a rushed "Fine! But we're making it quick, agreed?"

Harry nodded and began walking over to a portrait of a bowl of fruit. He inspected it, trying to make it seem like it was his first time there, and slowly reached out to tickle the pear. It gave off a giggle and promptly turned into a doorknob. He felt Hermione tense up nervously behind him as he pulled the door open.

Suddenly they were bombarded with the sounds of utensils and dishes, as well as high pitched voices that were floating around the large room. The two Gryffindors glanced at each other before stepping inside and closing the door behind them. As soon as they entered the room a number of the workers rushed over. Hermione squeaked and Harry tried to hide a grin.

"What can we be doing for you?" one of the creatures asked, bowing. Another came up with a tray of tea followed by a house-elf with a tray of small sandwiches.

"Oh, thank you." He said taking some of the food, knowing Hermione was still in shock from never seeing a house-elf before. The elves beamed at him before they held the tray out to Hermione, who also took some and muttered a thanks. Harry looked over at her reassuringly before turning back to the elves. "We didn't get any supper at the hall, could we by any chance have something to take back to our common room with us?"

"Of course!" the first elf exclaimed, and another group of elves rushed over with various trays of dinner foods and bottled drinks. They quickly wrapped up a large bundle of food- far too much for the two first years, but neither of them wanted to say anything- and put it into a bag with some drinks before handing it to Harry. "Is there anything else you be wanting?"

"No, thank you." Harry replied, beaming at them. "This is great, thanks!"

The house-elves all gave excited comments of it being their pleasure and the two students made their way out. They walked in silence for a moment, Hermione still holding her miniature sandwich in one hand and looked as though she had been informed of her expulsion from Hogwarts. Harry looked over at her with concern, and asked in a cautious voice, "Hermione?"

She blinked, and slowly turned her head toward Harry. "What…who were they?"

"I…think they were elves." Harry replied. "They looked like it. But I was right, you know. They didn't seem to mind us going there at all."

Hermione made a strange sound in the back of her throat and Harry decided not to push the subject for now. Instead, he glanced at his wristwatch and asked her, "Want to go up to the Astronomy Tower to eat? We have time, and nobody's using it right now."

"Oh, okay." Hermione said, finally beginning to regain her composure. Harry smiled and they made their way to the tallest tower.

-:-:-:-

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Author's Note

Like the last chapter, some things are taken either directly or very closely from the book. It's only in the first and part of the second book that things stick so close to canon, after that it becomes completely AU. Also, the flashbacks are suppose to follow a rough stream of consciousness theme, meaning they appear when Harry would think of them. At points this might seem a little odd since they appear in the middle of chapters or such, but it's what I'm going for.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this. I update fanfics when I have the time, so these aren't on any schedule. Feel free to e-mail me and review if you want. Or, you can just give your opinion as to whether or not I should post it on Fanfiction.net. I already have an account there, I've just never posted anything. I think I will later.