Chapter 86: "End of the First Month"

Time flew by for Harry as he settled into his new routine at Hogwarts. His days were filled with classes during the morning, hanging out with friends in the evening, and then sneaking off to study at night in the Room of Requirements, with the help of the Ravenclaw diadem to boost his learning.

To make sure he wasn't caught on his late-night adventures, Harry decided to secure the Marauder's Map. He remembered one day using a slime bomb to distract some Slytherin bullies, which conveniently created a mess for Filch, the caretaker, to clean up. With Filch occupied, Harry sneaked into his office, rummaged through a cupboard labeled 'Dangerous Items', and swiftly located the old parchment he was looking for, along with a few prank items he thought might come in handy later.

Harry had heard many things about the Marauder's Map from Sirius, who had regaled him with stories from his school days. He was curious about how it was created, especially since the item was very useful, and even Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts did not have a similar item to monitor the castle.

Sirius mentioned they had help from a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at the time. The map utilized sophisticated magic, including the Homonculous Charm for tracking everyone's movement in the castle and another spell for real-time updates. Normally, such magic shouldn't work within the heavily warded castle, but it seemed their DADA teacher knew a way around it. Harry suspected that the teacher must have had a deep understanding of wards and perhaps exploited a loophole since it was the only way he could think of for the map to work.

To activate the Map, Harry knew he needed to tap it with his wand and declare, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." This revealed the map's detailed layout. After checking for any nearby people, Harry then used "Mischief managed" to blank the map again before leaving Filch's room, careful to erase any signs of his presence to avoid being tracked by Filch's cat.

Another clever trick Harry employed to avoid detection during his nocturnal studies outside of his dorm involved using magical two-way mirrors, similar to those Sirius gave the canon Harry in his fifth year. Harry didn't have the original magical mirrors with him, thinking they would be more useful to Susan when she started at Hogwarts. However, Harry remembered how the mirrors worked and decided to create a similar set himself. After dealing with Voldemort, Harry even thought of creating a magical version of a mobile phone using this technology.

With the new two-way mirrors in hand, by placing one mirror in a hidden spot within the Ravenclaw common room, Harry could check from the other mirror if the coast was clear before making his entrance unnoticed.

Thanks to these precautions, Harry managed to visit the Room of Requirements every night without alerting his dorm mates. He would quietly close his bed curtains, leaving the inside of his bed hidden, and then slip away into the night. This gave him several hours of peaceful study time, far from the eyes of his fellow Ravenclaws.

As Harry settled into his Hogwarts routine, he became familiar with the different teaching styles and subjects offered. In Transfiguration and Charms, the focus for first-years was largely on understanding the theory behind the magic rather than practicing spells. This meant a lot of reading and not as much wand-waving as Harry had expected.

Potions classes showed improvement after their rocky start. Snape began to share his own potion recipes on the blackboard, complete with detailed instructions that deviated from the standard textbook. These modified recipes resulted in better potions, and Harry found himself intrigued by Snape's knowledge and spent time analyzing the changes to understand their benefits. This deep dive into potion-making became an unexpected source of learning for Harry.

Harry found more use in Snape's class than in any other class he attended at Hogwarts.

Talking about the other classes, Astronomy, a core subject, was kind of dull. It dealt with the study of stars, planets, and other celestial phenomena. This class was a lot like how the non-magical people learn about space, but the wizarding world's way was a bit old-fashioned. They didn't know as much as Muggles did and still used old-style telescopes. 

Even though learning Astronomy mainly helped with timing magical rituals correctly and was an important class at Hogwarts, it didn't seem very useful in everyday life, especially since the Ministry of Magic had bans against a lot of magical rituals.

Herbology was a better experience, with Professor Sprout leading engaging lessons on plant types, cultivation techniques, and their myriad uses. Her expertise and passion for the subject made these classes enjoyable and informative.

Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) was another class that Harry found troublesome. He wondered how Dumbledore always ended up choosing such unreliable teachers. The current teacher, Professor Fletcher, seemed even less interested in teaching than Snape was. All he ever did in class was pick a student to read from the textbook aloud to everyone else, while he just sat at his desk, fiddling with some odd trinkets. So far, they hadn't even practiced a single spell in his class.

Seeking to optimize his time, Harry approached Professor Flitwick to discuss his History of Magic classes. With OWLs in the subject already under his belt, Harry proposed skipping these lessons in favor of independent study, promising to sit for the final exams. Professor Flitwick, understanding Harry's unique situation, granted his request.

Originally, Harry planned to use the History of Magic class time for alternative learning, but his priorities changed with the help of the Ravenclaw diadem. With the diadem's power to enhance his understanding, he saw no point in staying in class and reading books the old-fashioned way.

Hogwarts also became a lot more interesting in the past month. In the wake of Harry's initial prank, the school witnessed a surge in pranking activities.

The Weasley twins, not ones to be outdone by a mysterious prankster, launched their own mischief the very next day, setting off beautiful fireworks in the Slytherin corridor. Although it caused quite the spectacle, no one was harmed. However, their antics didn't go unnoticed, and they quickly found themselves in Snape's detention.

This, however, didn't deter the pranking spirit at Hogwarts. Harry took it upon himself to investigate bullies across all houses, targeting them with a series of harmless pranks aimed at embarrassing them. The smarter bullies quickly understood the reasons behind these pranks and made efforts to change their behavior. Those who were slower to understand found themselves frequent targets of Harry's playful schemes. Busy dealing with the aftermath of the pranks, like changing their skin color back or regrowing their hair, these bullies had little time left to bother anyone else.

The Weasley twins, meanwhile, embarked on a pranking spree without a specific target in mind, simply seeking to spread chaos and laughter. Harry remained vigilant, careful not to fall prey to their unpredictable pranks. He was particularly impressed by their ingenuity in discovering secret passages to Hogsmeade and acquiring prank supplies in such a short time, all without the aid of the Marauder's Map.

As time progressed, pranking became a common pastime among students, fostering a more lighthearted atmosphere at Hogwarts. Professors generally turned a blind eye to these antics, so long as they didn't escalate too far or provoke complaints from the victims.

The pranks at Hogwarts led to some unexpected good outcomes. One of them was that Warrington didn't end up as the leader of the Slytherin first-years. After the first day's prank and several more embarrassing moments caused by Harry, Warrington lost his cool status and became somewhat of a joke in Slytherin. 

Arabella and Elvinia, due to their association with Harry and students from other houses, also didn't emerge as the leaders. Instead, Adrian Pucey, who was one of the more well-behaved among the Slytherin first-years, became their leader. Harry was quite happy with this turn of events.

By the end of the month, everyone at Hogwarts had gotten used to the place. Getting lost in the corridors was a thing of the past. Harry began to shine among his classmates as the year's prodigy, earning recognition and even some special allowances from his professors.

Harry was far from reserved about showing his talent, bolstered by the strong backing of Arcturus Black, Sirius, and Amelia. This network of support made him feel untouchable.

As the days filled with assignments and classes flew by, Harry truly enjoyed his time at Hogwarts. Harry hoped nothing unusual would happen this year, but deep down, he wasn't too optimistic. After all, every year in the stories of Harry Potter, something big always seemed to happen.