A New Potter - Chapter 9

Casting -
Katie Bell – Emily Grey
Penelope Clearwater – Heidi Romanova

A coil of nervous energy woke me up early the next morning. I went through my morning routine and found myself in the Common Room waiting until the others woke up. Ron grumbled about me not waking him. Instead of replying I just rolled my eyes at him and left. The walk down took longer than I had expected. Either the stairs had moved, which was a possibility, or I wasn't paying attention.

Once we were down in the Great Hall I took a seat and served myself up a plate. A quick glance at the staff table told me that Umbridge was not there. Unfortunately, that didn't mean my plan had worked. Some of the staff preferred to take their meals in their private quarters. Professor Vector rarely came down for meals aside for special occasions. I didn't blame her since all of her classes were at night.

My mind began to wonder as I ate mechanically. If my plan worked then Umbridge was the second person I had arranged to be killed. Somehow she had gotten away with sending the Dementors to Privet Drive even with proof that she had signed the orders. My guess was that she had blackmail on important people. Regardless, she would be dead if she had gone into the forest looking for Aragog. That depended on how strongly my little suggestion had taken hold. It was possible that she simply spoke to Professor Grubby-Plank and left it at that, or she could have called in the Aurors to take care of the nest.

That circled back to my main thought. I had sent Snape to his death and now I was arranging Umbridge to meet her end. They weren't just names on a page anymore. I had met these people, spoken to them, and they were as real as I was. Their deaths were on my hands. It didn't bother me one bit. That bothered me a little. I didn't have the same connections to people as someone who had lived their entire life in this world. Maybe that made me more pragmatic in my approach to the situation. Hell, I was planning on killing Dumbledore and that hadn't given me any pause.

"Harry," Hermione whispered beside me.

"Hm?" I asked turning to look at her.

She motioned behind me. I followed her hand to see Professor McGonagall. Her stern gaze bore into me, and I got the impression that she had been there long enough to be annoyed.

"Sorry, professor," I flashed her a small smile. "I was lost in thought."

"I can appreciate a student taking time to consider things, but I do not like to be ignored," her voice brokered no room for a reply. "Madam Hooch accepted your request to transfer to her class. Miss Bell will show you to the classroom."

"Thank you, professor," I replied.

"You're welcome, Mister Potter," McGonagall gave me a small nod before she walked away.

"What has gotten into you?" Hermione whispered. "You've been acting strange since this summer."

"It's almost like I've had a life changing experience," I said staring at her flatly.

Her face went pale at my words. She seemed to finally remember what had happened at the end of last year. I rolled my eyes and walked away. Was it a little underhanded to use Cedric's death as a smokescreen? Probably, but he wasn't around to take issue with it. Damn, that was cold. Was I a psychopath? I didn't think I was a psychopath. Of course, no one ever thinks they are.

Muscle memory took me to the Potions room only to find it completely clash with the image I had with it. The usual stuffy, dark room had been rearranged. Hanging rows of candles lit the area completely, there was a series of large fans on the ceiling, and each station had two packages. There was a new raised platform with another workstation at the front of the room. What really stood out to me were the two frosted glass windows that hung on either side of the new piece of equipment.

Penelope Clearwater stood at the front of the room waiting. She was tall and had bright red hair. Any further details of her figure were obscured by her robes.

"Choose a workstation and open the packages," she instructed in a warm tone.

I chose a station in the second row and did as instructed. Thankfully, it was Neville who joined me rather than Hermione. My patience with her was starting to run thin. The package contained a thin pair of gloves, headband, safety glasses, and an apron. I set each piece out on the workstation. The selection of equipment reminded me of safety gear for a chemistry lab.

"I'll explain once everyone is here," Penelope said before we could ask any questions.

Every single one of the students that entered, regardless of their house, stared in confusion for a few seconds before finding a spot. Malfoy and his little crew were too distracted to make any disparaging remarks at the changes.

"Welcome to Fifth Year Potions," Penelope said in a loud, steady voice. "For those that don't know, my name is Penelope Clearwater. I'm a recent Ravenclaw graduate and I was the Head Girl before then. This year is your OWLs, and we will be focusing on preparation for your testing. Professor Snape, while admittedly a genius at Potions, lacked a certain disposition for teaching."

That got a little laugh. The Slytherin students didn't join in, but there were a couple of sly grins.

"Today, we will assess your abilities and discuss how this class will work from now on," Penelope set each student with a gaze that brokered no argument. "The equipment before you are for your protection and to prevent unintended contamination. Those of you with glasses will find that these will adjust to fit over them as to not impede your sight. The gloves are a thin weave of Manticore fur meant to protect you from accidental contact with harmful ingredients as well as prevent any of your biological material from finding its way into the potions."

She paused.

"Blood and skin," She clarified. "The headband will protect your hair as well as hold it out of your face. The apron is simply an apron to prevent any splashing on your clothes." Her tone turned hard. "I will not put up with any sort of sabotage. Potions are an exact magic that can be deadly if done incorrectly and I you will respect it."

Penelope let the words hang in the air.

"Now," her voice swapped to a chipper tone. "Let's get started. We'll start out with the basics."

The frosted glass cleared. Each showed a magnified image from different angles of her workstation.

I was too far to hear the words, but Draco said something.

"Mister Malfoy," Penelope said with a flat smile on her face. "When I went over Professor Snape's note it mentioned you had private tutoring with him."

"Of course," Draco scoffed.

"Perfect," Penelope stepped to the side. "I'm in need of assistant. Join me."

The flash of confusion on his face was quickly replaced with his smug sneer. He strode to the front of the room like he owned the school.

Penelope asked him to demonstrate various techniques, making sure to briefly explain the reason for each, and then instructed the class to replicate it. Her corrections were concise without being condescending. So much so that Draco didn't even realize she was doing it. Most of the Slytherin students appreciated her machinations by the end of class. Everyone else was too engrossed in what was their first real Potions lesson.

~§~

Transfiguration was next. It turned out that this year was going to be prep for OWLs in every class. Today was review to make sure everyone was at a baseline before continuing. Professor McGonagall ran us through a quick catalogue of the first four years. It was surprisingly easy to pull off the various spells when the inherited memories showed some struggle learning them. I discovered that my version of magic meshed great with Transfiguration as class went on.

The magical pathways I had carved through my body connected with Transfiguration fluidly. It gave me precise control of the transformations. Rather than simply changing a matchstick into a needle, I made it a silver one with a tight swirl running the length. It continued from there. I wasn't able to pull the spells off wandlessly, but I had greater control. It made me think that I had been approaching things wrong. Learning silent and wandless magic would be priceless. They were goals that I was going to continue to pursue, but this discovery could not be dismissed. I needed to see if I could do the same with other schools of magic. I'd give Charms and Defense a closer look once I had time.

Lunch brought me back to the matters at hand. Umbridge wasn't at the staff table. The word was that she hadn't showed up for her first two classes either. Rumors were already starting about her disappearance. Quite a few revolved around Dumbledore making her vanish, some were about me getting revenge for my relatives by luring a Dementor onto the grounds, and then there were other boring ones about her simply being ill. Personally, I liked the Dementor idea. Whispers stopped when I got close and picked exponentially when they thought I wasn't paying attention.

Professor Grubby-Plank was at the staff table for lunch. He didn't look bothered. In fact, he was busy showing Professor Vector his new arm and explaining the various enchantments. Either he didn't care if Umbridge was missing, or he thought she was handling the situation. I hoped it was the first option. No one should be naïve enough to trust her.

History of Magic was actually interesting. Learning about the multiple Goblin Rebellions made me wonder how they didn't rule the country. I guess, technically they did since they controlled the money. Regardless, each time the Goblins decided to fight the magical world lost in some way. Even their 'defeats' paid off from them somehow. The law against them using wands was a joke, they had their own form of magic that didn't need them. Plus, I'd rather face a goblin with a wand rather than a spear. If I was lucky, he wouldn't cover the same ones repeatedly. That would turn the class into a school-approved nap time. Best case scenario I could use it as a study hall. Binns did his level best to make the subject as boring as possible. The room was nice and warm with low lighting. It was practically designed to knock students out. I was listening to everything he had to say and still found myself nodding off.

I snapped awake from dozing off when class ended. Hermione flashed me a brief smile as I gathered up my supplies. Ron stumbled over to join us. The little bit of dried drool on his cheek told me how he had spent the period. I couldn't blame him, most of the other students had fallen asleep. The few that had stayed awake had focused on other things rather than Binns.

"How did you stay awake?" I said stifling a yawn.

"I can't sleep sitting down," Hermione replied with a shrug. "Also, with my socks on. Just too uncomfortable. You stayed awake a lot longer than you usually do."

I shrugged.

"I'm sorry about before," Hermione added after a moment. "It was uncalled for. I was… am worried about you."

"I get it," I replied with a nod. "Doesn't mean you should question every choice I make."

We were interrupted by the arrival of Katie Bell before the conversation could progress. She was cute with shoulder length brown hair, an athletic build, and a little smile that tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Hey, Harry," she said coming to a stop in front of us. "I'm your guide to Theory."

"Right," I smiled at her. "I almost forgot."

I gave Hermione and Ron a small wave as I set off. Katie and I fell into an easy pace as she led me through the halls.

"How are you holding up?" Katie asked after a moment.

"I'm ok," I answered. "I'm keeping busy. Spending time alone with my thoughts would probably make me have a mental breakdown."

"Sorry," Katie said softly.

"Eh," I shrugged. "I'll manage. How was your summer?"

"Nice," she replied. "We didn't go anywhere, but it was nice to hang around the neighborhood and catch up with old friends. It feels like a different world now."

"It is," I said. "Or, at least another country."

"Exactly!" Katie said with a bright smile. "I couldn't figure out how to say it."

"What can I say?" I flashed her an exaggerated smirk. "I'm amazing."

"You're a goof," Katie laughed. "What made you try Spell Theory?"

"I didn't want to do another year of Divination," I chuckled. "I could just foretell my death every class, but it's a bit too morbid with how things are."

"Understandable," Katie muttered. "Are you excited for Quidditch? Angie is going to run herself mad now that she's captain. Hopefully she won't be as bad as Oliver."

"I am, yeah," I answered, surprised that I actually was looking forward to it. "I'm sure we can come up with some way to keep her sane."

"We?" Katie teased. "You and me? It seems like yesterday you were a shy little firstie and now here you are planning our year together."

"Please," I chuckled. "You're boyfriend would kill me."

"Boyfriend," Katie snorted.

"Girlfriend?" I asked carefully.

"You wish," Katie laughed. "Contrary to the rumors, the showers aren't full of soapy orgies."

"That is a shame," I sighed.

Katie hit my shoulder. I flashed her an honest smile.

"Do you want to do something together?" I asked. "I know it's a while until the first Hogsmeade trip, but we could do something on campus. A picnic, or something."

"Are you asking me on a date?" Katie asked.

"Yes," I replied. "I am."

"Yes," she said copying my tone. "I would."

"It's a date then," I held my arm out for her to take. "This weekend? Something casual. If I can't think of something else we could go flying."

"Agreed," Katie hooked my arm with hers. "Then I can show you how to really fly."

"You want to play that way?" I teased. "Don't start something you can't finish, Kitty cat."

"Try me," Katie countered.

I leaned closer to her, ready to pull her into a sweeping kiss. That was until someone cleared their throat nearby. We both turned sharply, suddenly aware we weren't alone. Madam Hooch stood nearby in a doorway.

"Class is starting soon," she stated with a knowing look.

"Yes, ma'am," we said in unison.