Chapter 7: The First Week

By the time Friday afternoon arrived, Harry wanted nothing more than to just lie down and relax. Hogwarts was incredible, but it was a big adjustment and he just wanted to relax a bit and let his brain calm down.

Unfortunately, Draco had other ideas.

"C'mon Harry, Theo, Blaise and I are gonna go explore the castle a bit. Come with us!" He whined.

"I just want to lie down" Harry complained, but the others weren't having it.

"Harry, stop acting like a Hufflepuff" That was Theo.

"Yeah Harry, if you don't take part in any social activities, no one will want you to in the future" Blaise threw in. Harry noticed Blaise thought things through way too much.

"Fine" Harry finally agreed "At least this way I'll get to know the place a bit better. I was almost late to Transfiguration on Tuesday, McGonagall would have thrown a fit. Probably would have gotten detention"

"Never mind arriving at classes on time Harry," Draco said in his drawl, "My father's told me a bit about some of the rooms in Hogwarts. There's all type of secrets hidden around this place!"

"Like what?" Somehow when Theo asked a question it came out sounding slightly accusatorily.

"Well, Father's told me there are all types of secret passageways and secret rooms scattered around. He says there are rooms full of lost treasure and hidden magical objects" Draco said quite excitedly.

"That does sound pretty cool," Harry said dubiously

"Don't worry Harry, I think he said there's a secret library hidden somewhere also. Books that are too dangerous to be put in the Restricted Section even"

"Now you've done it Draco, all he needs is another library to hang out in" Theo snidely remarked, "You made your way through the normal one yet?"

Harry blushed. It was true, he'd been to the library every day since they had arrived at Hogwarts. The place was just so cool, he couldn't help himself. All that knowledge… It was mindblowing. He felt he could walk for hours doing nothing but looking at titles and breathing in the musty smell of old books.

"I would spend a lot more time in the library if that girl wasn't always there," Harry said.

"Which girl?" Blaise asked

"That mudblood, Granger. She's trying to memorize the whole library and impress everyone with her brilliance" Draco remarked.

"Yeah, she is terrible. I'm glad Professor Snape took her down a notch this morning" said Theo

"Granger, if I wanted Mr. Jiggers definition I would have opened the textbook," said Blaise, in a brilliant impression of Professor Snape.

"She's not that bad, she just won't shut up," Harry said

"Aaaw, Harry likes the Mudblood" Theo chimed

"Do not"

"Do so"

"Do not"

"Will the two of you shut up? I'm trying to remember where this staircase goes" Draco said

"I think it went to the third floor yesterday, so it must go the fourth today," Harry said.

"Brilliant. Let's go" Draco said.

"Mind the trick step Harry," Blaise said

"Thanks".

"What've you guys thought of classes so far?" Blaise asked.

"They've been pretty cool. Although honestly, Herbology is only for weirdo's who like plants, and History of Magic could be fun if taught by a competent teacher" Draco answered him.

"You could definitely say the same for Defence. I was expecting so much from that class, and Quirrel just stutters for an hour! I think I'll just read the textbook in class. It's what I'm doing for History"

"Yes, Harry" Theo said "Any advice for those of us who don't enjoy reading textbooks?"

"Maybe you guys should learn to?"

Having friends was definitely a strange experience for Harry. People who voluntarily included him in stuff they were doing was totally unknown to him. Oh, he knew of the concept of friends, and he had even known one or two kids in the orphanage who may have become his friends if people like Joseph hadn't turned them off him.

' But that's alright Harry, you killed him, didn't you? No friends for Joseph now, no, he's dead because you murdered him'

' Shut up! Remember what Professor Snape said'

Reminding his guilt of what his house head had told him seemed to help with the voices. It shut them up for a bit at least, and really, what more could he ask for?

Harry had made friends in Hogwarts. He marveled at that as he lay in bed that Friday night and thought of the week. He enjoyed his bickering with Theo and Blaise, and Draco, Pansy, and Daphne were cool to hang out with. That girl Tracey Davis had hung around them as well, but she didn't really talk much.

' Maybe she should make friends with Crabbe and Goyle, they don't really talk either.' Harry sniggered at the thought of the three of them having a conversation with their seemingly limited vocabularies.

Transfiguration and Charms had been seriously cool. McGonagall scared Harry a little, she seemed to focus on him a lot. But the thought of being able to change things into other things was just so frigging cool.

Their charms professor seemed nice. He had started teaching them how to make objects move, and said that they would be soon moving onto levitation.

Harry had asked about taking the Magical Theory class after he saw a sign about it, but Jeremy had told him it was only available third year and up.

Potions was pretty cool as well. Harry liked it because from what he could see, it made sense. Once you understand the properties of the ingredients, then it should make sense that adding the different ones together would have specific results.

History really was annoying. He would have thought having a ghost teach history would be great, but it really, really wasn't. Binns just carried on, not noticing anything. Halfway through his lesson, everyone was sleeping. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Defence was also pissing Harry off. He had been so excited for that class, only to find their teacher a stuttering mess. Even the textbook was cool, talking about countercurse and jinxes, but Quirrell had barely spoken about any of them. Harry still wasn't sure what exactly the Dark Arts were, and he resolved to ask Quirrell after their next lesson.

' If he can't even answer that, I'll ask Professor Snape. I'll tell him Quirrel couldn't tell me. Imagine what a sneer he'll give to that'

Potions had been fantastic. Seeing that arrogant Ron Weasley and that know-it-all Granger get their asses handed to them by Snape had been one of the highlights of Harry's week. Thinking of such pleasant things, Harry nodded off to sleep.

Harry woke up to the blue shaded light, streaming through the lake and into his windows. He clicked his neck and got out of bed, rubbing his head. He had some strange dreams the previous night. Lots of high pitched laughter, and pinpricks of pain in his forehead.

"Hey Harry, what took you so long to get here?" Pansy demanded as he finally walked into the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Overslept a bit, came in a hurry, took a wrong turn and almost got mauled by that stupid cat" Harry grumbled as he slid onto the bench.

"I hate that cat. Do you think anyone's ever tried to poison it?" Daphne asked.

"Don't be stupid Daph, Professor Snape would poison you!"

"Hey Harry, catch!" said Draco, throwing a bag to Harry, which he snagged out of the air.

"Thanks, where'd you get the BBB's from?" Harry asked.

"BBB?" Theo piped in, sounding puzzled.

"C'mon. You can't really expect me to call them Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans whenever I mention them? That's like" Harry started counting on his fingers, mouthing the words "seven syllables!"

"Mother sent them. Had you actually been here earlier, you would have gotten some of the other stuff she sent as well. The rest of it is just for me"

Harry shrugged, snagging some toast just before whatever was left on the plate disappeared.

"What do you want to do today? I was thinking of going up to the upper floors and-"

"Draco, relax. We'll have years to search the castle. Why don't we just relax outside a bit? I wouldn't mind swimming in the lake to be honest" Blaise said

"Yeah, let's go swimming!" Theo said "You in Harry?"

"Mmph," Harry said, nodding with his mouth full.

"You sure? You could go to the library instead"

"Relax Draco. I'll probably just go the library later" Harry said with an impish grin.

Harry yawned, carefully hiding it behind his fist. He didn't want McGonagall to have any reason to pay more attention to him than she already was, and he definitely didn't want to lose Slytherin any points.

' Although I've already gained us ten points. I don't know if any of the other first years have done that much so far'

There was something in the way Professor McGonagall's eyes went soft when she looked at him that gave Harry the feeling that she also knew about his life in the orphanage.

' How many people did Dumbledore tell?'

' Afraid that they all know you're a killer? They should. You don't deserve to be here. You should be in that Azkaban place Draco was talking about'

' JUST LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!'

' Like you left Joseph alone? Like you left Mr. Roberts alone? You disgusting boy you'

' SHUT UP! THEY DESERVED IT!'

"Mr. Potter? Have you made any progress with the match?"

McGonagall's voice cut through Harry's reverie.

"Sorry ma'am, I was distracted. I'll try again" He said, trying to seem repentant.

"Please do so," She said and walked away.

"Mutatium" Waving his wand, Harry tried to keep a needle in mind as he spoke the spell.

By the end of class, Harry had almost managed the change. His match had gone all silver, but it wasn't sharp yet.

Tracey won five points for Slytherin for being the first to finish the transfiguration completely. Apparently, she was the first out of all the classes to manage it. Harry resolve to manage it by the next class.

They were given 8 inches of homework, as well as instructions to carefully practice the spell by the next class.

Defence was the same as it had been, but Harry was going to ask Quirrell about the Dark Arts after class. Had been going to at least, until he felt a headache developing towards the end of class, while Quirrell was writing their homework on the blackboard.

' I'll ask him another time. Maybe I should ask Draco first, he's mentioned it before. I'll see if any of my books talk about it also'

The days easily passed, until the end of the week was approaching. Before they could have a nice relaxing weekend though, they had flying lessons.

Harry had been alternating between being excited and nervous for flying lessons. He had heard that his father was a talented flier, and found the idea of flying to be cool, but at the same time-Flying on a broomstick did sound pretty dangerous. Add to that the piece of news he had been told when he heard about flying lessons:

"What do you mean we're having flying lessons with the Gryffindors?" Draco had demanded.

"I don't write the timetable" Jeremy had replied calmly "and stop whining"

The Slytherin and Gryffindor first years were all lined up in the grounds, not far from the Forbidden Forest. The flying teacher and quidditch umpire, Madam Hooch stood in front of them, behind the row of brooms the students were all standing behind. She had just finished giving them a short lecture about flight safety.

"Now, hold out your wand hand and say UP!" She commanded, her broom flying to her hand at the word.

Harry stretched out his right arm "UP!" He said, forcefully.

He was pleasantly surprised that his broom flew straight into his hand. Not everyone was so lucky.

Draco, Theo, Blaise, and Crabbe had their brooms in their hands, as well as some of the Gryffindors, but that seemed to be everyone.

"Try again if you didn't get it already. Remember, say it calmly but with strength" Madam Hooch announced.

There was a chorus of "UP!"'s and most of the brooms were in peoples hands by now.

Harry looked around. Most of the Slytherins and some of the Gryffindors were mounting their brooms, so he did so as well. Madam Hooch was walking over to all of them and making sure that they were sitting properly and holding the broom correctly.

"When I blow my whistle, you will kick off hard. Do not fly too high, just try float around about ten feet high or so. Three, two, one, PAAARP"

Harry kicked off, and before he knew it he was flying. It felt so right, the wind blowing his hair and robes back. He looked down and laughed.

' Muggles can keep their planes, this is amazing!'

Suddenly there was a loud thump and a high-pitched scream. Harry looked towards the sound and saw one of the kids on the ground, with Madam Hooch kneeling beside them.

"Everyone come back down! You will wait on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the Infirmary"

' Of course, it would be Neville that fell. Seriously, that guy is an accident waiting to happen'

As Madam Hooch helped Neville hobble off towards the school, Draco kneeled down and exclaimed loudly

"Hey! Look at this! It's that toy his gran sent him"

"Give that back Malfoy, it's not a toy" Weasley said loudly.

"Tell you what Weasley, how about we race for it?" Draco smirked "Or I could just keep it if you're scared"

"Draco, someone's coming! Just give it back" Pansy whispered urgently.

Sure enough, the figure of McGonagall seemed to be making its way down to them. Draco quickly threw the Remembrall to Weasley, scowling at him.

That night, Weasley came past the Slytherin table during dinner.

"You're only brave when you're surrounded by all your friends Malfoy. One on one, you know I would crush you" He said, not seeming to care about all the Slytherins watching.

"Really? How about a duel then?" Draco answered.

"Fine, you're on"

"Tonight at 11? In the trophy room?"

"Sounds good. Who's your second Malfoy? You'll need them"

Draco looked at his friends appraisingly

"Harry," He said after a long moment "Who's yours?"

"Seamus". Weasley gave them a scowl and left.

"What do I need to do in this duel?" Harry asked

"Well, in an actual duel a second takes over when the main dueller can't fight anymore. Tonight you won't have to do anything because I'm not going"

"You're not?" Harry said confused.

Draco gave a huge smile

"I think Filch is going to get an anonymous tip-off about students out of bed. What do you think?"

Theo roared with laughter, Harry smiled a bit and said

"That's pretty smart"

"Cunning Harry. Cunning"

And so the time passed at Hogwarts. Lessons took up a lot of time, but Harry found he quite enjoyed most of them. He wasn't exactly top of his classes, but he was in the top five in most of them, and in Herbology he at least could hold his own in the theory. He had stopped going to the library every day. Even though he knew it was good natured and just joking, he still tensed up whenever one of his friends gave him a jibe. Blaise may have noticed that he had eased up a lot with his mocking. Harry had started to taking a bunch of books out at a time and reading them in his spare time instead. Some days he felt like his brain would just explode from all the new information, but then he would go to the common room where there was always someone playing exploding snap or chess, or otherwise just relaxing and talking nonsense. All in all, he felt completely at home.

As the days drew closer to Halloween, Harry's headaches had been getting worse. He had debated going to Madam Pomfrey about it, but he didn't really feel comfortable with that. Even though her check-up had been very relaxed, he still felt a bit weirded out by her worrying about him. He had to go there every Saturday anyway for a nutritional potion, and he really didn't want to spend more time with her clucking over him than necessary.

The day before Halloween, at the end of his Defence class, Harry hung back while the other students filed out.

'Just want to ask him a question' Harry mouthed to Daphne in response to the girl's questioning look.

"Sir? May I ask you something please?" Harry asked, his head pounding.

' I don't care about this damn headache, I'm still going to do the things I want to'

"Mr. P-P-Potter. How can I he-he-help you?"

"I was wondering sir, about what the Dark Arts actually are?"

For a second Harry's head pounded so hard he thought his skull was going to burst. Immediately afterward though, his headache receded until it was only a minor, dull ache in his forehead.

"What do you m-m-mean Mr. Potter?" Quirrell asked, looking at Harry curiously.

"Well sir, it's just that, this subject is called Defence Against the Dark Arts, and people always talk about Dark Wizards and people using the Dark Arts, but no-one says what that actually means! What makes a spell be considered Dark? At first, I thought it was that it causes harm, but most spells can cause harm and-"

"I think I u-u-understand your question, Mr. Potter. Let me th-think for a minute. What you have asked has a very c-c-complex and complicated answer"

Quirrell closed his eyes for a few minutes, deep in thought.

' Finally!'

"The first thing you must understand P-Potter, is that there is no one d-d-definition of what makes something Dark. There are very, very many, and the ministry in their wisdom combined all the definitions when they decided what would be legally considered dark. F-Firstly, there are many spells and rituals the ministry consider Dark, which are technically not but are simply too powerful for the ministry to allow anyone to use. M-Many of the spells and R-R-Runes used in the construction of Hogwarts Castle fall into this category. There is nothing wrong with using these spells, they will not cause harm to their caster, but they are exceptionally powerful and thus, are illegal."

"That's quite unfair isn't it?" Harry asked.

"Many would agree with you. Still, the ministry's mind is made up. I must tell you though, almost every country uses different definitions of Dark, and thus what is illegal in England may be perfectly fine to use in Spain. England does indeed have the strictest Dark Arts laws, to speak truly"

"So there's nothing inherently bad with the magic? It's just illegal?"

"You are getting a-a-ahead of yourself there. It is a matter of d-d-debate about whether there is anything inherently bad with any magic, but we will not discuss ph-philosophy now"

"Ok. So some magic is just illegal because it's too strong. What else makes something dark?"

"Basically, any spell that has no other purpose but to cause harm is Dark. As you said, most spells can hurt someone. But while I can kill someone with a cutting curse, I can do nothing with a killing curse other than kill. You see the difference?"

"Yes, sir. That makes sense. But why does no-one talk about this?"

"I'm not qu-quite finished yet Potter. To answer your last question, you need to hear another definition of Dark. This is the oldest, and to be honest, most accurate definition of Dark Arts I know of. By now, you are surely aware that to correctly cast a spell, you need to have a certain desire or emotion in mind. In transfiguration or charms, merely saying the words and moving your wand is not enough unless you have the result in mind. Later in Defence, you will learn about Boggarts and Dementors. The spells to combat these creatures require one to have humor and happiness in mind. In order to cast spells that are truly Dark, one needs to have 'negative' emotions in mind. Instead of thinking of love, happiness or the desire to protect, one would need to feel lust, sadness and the desire to cause pain. These spells are far more powerful than other spells. They are almost alive, they actively fight back against healing. The use of these spells also changes the user. They make him more prone to feeling the 'negative' emotions, and thus, he is more prone to using them, causing a neverending cycle. These spells are the true Dark Arts. We simply use it as an umbrella term for any harmful magic"

"Wow" Harry half-whispered, half-spoke. It was really a lot to take in. Coming to Quirrel had been the right move.

"There is more. Some branches of magic have been deemed Dark due to the possibility of their misuse. Necromancy, for example, can be used for the creation of Inferi, and so the entire branch is banned. Soul magic can be terribly dangerous, and so is banned and deemed Dark, even though historically it never was."

"Why doesn't the ministry just judge based on what the magic was used for?" Harry asked. He could kind of understand Draco's indignant comments on the train about Dark magic being illegal.

"Some people want that. Unfortunately for them, our current ministry is rather liberal-leaning, and so this will not be changed. Many of these laws were put in place during the time of Aeunulus Wattle, a Dark wizard in the mid to late 1800's. They were only strengthened and increased, first during Grindelwald's time, then during the Dark Lord's"

"Thank you, sir. That helps a lot. I've been very confused about this"

Professor Quirrell seemed to shake his head very slightly before answering.

"Its m-m-my pleasure Mr. P-P-Potter. I'm always available to h-h-help"

"May I ask sir, what you think about the Dark Arts? I mean, about whether or not they should all be illegal or just judged on how they are used?"

Professor Quirrell leaned in slightly before answering, his eyes intent on Harry.

"I believe Mr. Potter, that within magic there is no good or evil. There are only varying levels of power, and those capable of wielding it safely"

"Thank you sir," Harry said a bit uncertainly

' What the hell does that mean?' He wondered to himself as he left the classroom, not noticing that his headache was totally gone.

After Harry had left the classroom, Quirrell waved his wand around until he was satisfied that no one could be hiding in the room or listening in from the outside. After this, a voice spoke in the room. The voice was such, that if someone had actually been listening in they would have run screaming.

"Very interesting. I may have reason to allow the brat to live after all" The voice said, chuckling.

"My lord? What about our plans?" Quirrell asked.

"They remain unchanged. However, when you next have the opportunity you will discretely examine Potter with these spells" and the voice continued, explaining to Quirrell how to cast spells the vast majority of wizards had never even heard of, and that were only even described in extremely rare tomes.

Harry spent his afternoon break sitting alone, thinking about what Quirrell had told him. The real problem was, he could understand both sides of the debate. Magic should be free! Every nerve in his body told him that, the very feeling magic gave him told him that. But at the same time, if people really weren't afraid to use such powerfully dangerous spells the world would be way more dangerous. But other countries had different laws about it, and surely they were ok? Harry was so lost in his musings about their conversation that he didn't even remember the fact that Quirrell barely stuttered during it.