Harry climbed aboard the Hogwarts express with a mile wide grin and a confident stride. It only took him a few minutes to find the compartment Susan, another girl, and Neville were sharing.
"Harry, come join us!" Susan called.
"I planned to. Can we make room for Draco too?"
Susan made a slight face, but nodded.
"Susan, I know Draco is a bit of a…" He searched for the correct British slang term, "prat, but he just needs a few friends and proper motivation to change his ways. It will be up to us as his friends to motivate him. If he steps too far over the line feel free to remind him where it is. Who is your friend?"
"Harry Potter, may I present my best friend, Hannah Abbott."
"Miss Abbott, a pleasure." Harry took her hand and brushed a light kiss across the knuckles. Inwardly he snickered. Britain's Magical Society lagged two thirds of a century behind America's and their manners reflected it. But since had Beth stressed that good manners smoothed the way and bad ones caused problems, he made sure to put his best foot forward. Moments later a knock came from the door and Draco was there.
"Harry, what was up with your godfather?" came from the blond haired boy. "My father was stunned speechless. If you were responsible, I should thank you for that. He was too surprised, to give me another lecture about who I should and shouldn't be friends with and how I should go on."
"Not much just a little prank, he was trying to embarrass me by drawing the goodbye out. I just turned the tables."
Susan, Hannah, and Neville darted to the window to see the spectacle Harry's prank had created. All of them sat back a moment later giggling. "What was that?"
"Morphing charm and a mild compulsion spell imbedded onto a band-aid, sorry a plaster, powered by his own magic. Once he takes the plaster off it ends. Beth saw me do it. She'll let him take his lumps for trying to embarrass me then she'll end it."
"That's really advanced stuff. I thought you were going to be a first year like us?" Hannah said.
There it was, the sticking point he and Sirius hadn't quite figured out a way around. " Yeah, um…"
"Yes, cousin do tell how you know so much magic. Or are the rumors of Black taking you away and teaching you dark magic true?"
Harry shot Draco a dirty look and the other boy just gave him an unrepentant smirk.
Susan and Neville both glared at the blond, Hannah looked nervously at Harry.
The train gave a little jerk and started to move. Harry made himself comfortable because he knew the next half an hour would wind up being critical to how he would be perceived at Hogwarts.
"You all know, how I survived the killing curse, well it left my magic… off, you know, strange and prone to being a problem. As a result, it became necessary for me to learn magic early. I've gotten loads of private tutoring. I'm actually probably closer to a fourth or fifth year in knowledge than a first. Charms, transfiguration, potions, defense I've gotten the basics in most every subject. Some like arithmancy I've liked enough that I might be higher than that.
"Sirius and I have almost always pranked one another. It was a way for us to connect and remember my dad. He tried to get the Headmaster to agree to let me take classes at my level but the old… man in his vast wisdom has decreed I should be treated as a first year. Supposed to strengthen my ties to my peers and all that rot. I'm just thankful I have a magical talent that's not taught at Hogwarts. It requires me to get private tutelage, so I'm guaranteed to learn something this year. Hopefully the rest of the professors will let me study ahead. If not, oh well, I'll just have to find ways to entertain myself won't I."
Neville looked at the smirk that was accompanied by twinkling eyes and was sure that if Harry entertained himself it would mean interesting times for those around him. He remembered all too clearly Ollivander's words about great things. "Harry, if you're advanced, will you be willing to help the rest of us?"
"Sure, Neville. Although I should probably warn you: I really like magical theory. I tend to get into breaking down magic and really tearing into the why and how it works. Sirius says I'm obsessed with it, the way my mum was. That's why I'm looking forward to my tutors. Miss Parker is going to be teaching me advanced magical theory and and Jarrod Moran will be teaching me elemental magic."
"That's all well and good Harry, but what if we're in different houses?" Draco drawled. "After all there hasn't been a Malfoy not sorted into Slytherin in three hundred fifty years and Potters are historically Gryffindors."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Susan blinked at him.
Hannah sat there with her mouth hanging open.
Neville looked uncomfortable.
Harry could tell he'd pulled a major faux pas based on the silence and shocked looks on his companions faces. Even Draco, who loved to present a polished, suave, and vaguely cynical air that he copied from his father, was wearing a startled look.
"Okay, obviously there's something I'm missing here. Could one of you take pity on a poor mostly foreign and mostly muggle raised boy and explain?"
Finally Susan said, "Harry, didn't you read any of Hogwarts: A History yet?"
"Um, no. I had the dinner at Balmoral Castle after shopping, then I spent most my time with the triplets cause I won't see them again until Christmas. Then there was a long meeting at Gringotts. Also, I have been really tired lately…" He sighed. He knew not reading that book during the last couple of days was going to come back and bite him on the butt.
"Okay," Susan said. "You know how Hogwarts was founded right?"
...
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