Chapter 004

"Because it's interesting?" He really didn't understand why people kept making such a big deal out of this. It wasn't rocket science! It was just a language, a set of power symbols and a series of interactions!

Ron just grumbled and walked away shaking his head as if in a daze, his chess set hanging limply from his hand. Hermione frowned but also wandered off frantically muttering about being so far behind. Harry shrugged and was about to go back to his research when Neville sat down beside him. "You know, they are right, Harry. Runes can be pretty dangerous if you're not careful. My Gran said my dad once almost blew up the house because he etched one wrong." Neville shook his head and drooped a bit lower. "I'd probably actually blow up the house if I ever tried it."

"Don't sell yourself short, Neville," Harry said with a soft smile and a pat on the other boy's shoulder. "They really aren't that difficult. If you ever want help with them let me know."

"I will. But I think I'll wait until we actually get to that class," Neville smiled shyly and moved off to the dorms.

Harry's first two months at Hogwarts had practically flown by. He was enjoying most of the classes except Potions and History of Magic. History was good for a short nap though and when he wasn't tired it was the perfect opportunity to work on improving his developing clusters. The Extinguisher hadn't quite worked out but he figured weaving in a Soften rune to the scheme should offset the effect enough to make his Extravagance Rune Show impressive but harmless. It would be perfect for Dudley!

It had taken Harry less than a week to realize that he didn't have the same luck with any of the other magical topics that he did with runes. It was a bit disappointing that he hadn't seemed to inherit his mum's skill in Charms or Potions. At least he could at least partially blame the latter on Snape.

The first Potions lesson was…well getting run over by a lorry would probably have been more fun. Snape's first few questions were trick ones to see if Harry had read the year's textbook. From cover to cover. And memorized it. When he – somehow – managed to get those few right Snape had moved on to more complicated questions – things from the 4th and 5th Year curriculums according to Hermione later on. Harry still managed to get those questions right thanks to remembering some things from his mother's notebook. Snape then proceeded to take points off for being "insufferably superior" and "reading dangerously far ahead". When Harry had had the audacity to actually ask why stirring clockwise vs. counter-clockwise made such a huge difference Snape had vanished his potion since "obviously if you cannot grasp such a simple concept than there's no point in seeing the horrific results of your work." When Harry afterward tried to stay quiet and avoid eye contact Snape picked on Neville instead, leaning over the boy's shoulder and degrading him for his shaking hands and fumbling of ingredients. By the time the class had ended Harry had been sorely tempted to set off his defective Extravagance Rune Show in the man's cauldron.

When one's teacher took every opportunity to insult and degrade you there was little point in putting forth any effort. Harry had agreed in principle that learning Potions was important though so…on the weekend after that first class he had grabbed Neville, commandeered an unused classroom and set about teaching the coursework to each other. Harry had invited Ron as well but the red head just laughed hysterically at doing any extra work. Within a few weeks Neville and Harry had made excellent progress and Harry always cackled like a madman when thinking of the end of term exams and how they was going to show the bigoted teacher exactly what they could do!

Transfiguration and Charms were topics that, while interesting as hell, seemed to be a huge waste of energy. Something that he finally decided to bring up during the lesson on Halloween.

"Professor, why use a charm for this when a rune would be just as easy and more permanent?" Harry asked while most of the rest of the class was attempting to get their feather levitating.

"Well it would be quite difficult to etch a rune onto a feather, Mr. Potter," Professor Flitwick responded with a chuckle. "Besides, runes are far too advanced for a first year course."

"Well yeah, you can't etch the rune on the feather but still it seems silly to try and memorize such a precise wand movement when I can just draw and link the rune to it in a few seconds instead. Here, watch." Harry shifted his feather over to the side and inked a quick Flight rune onto his paper before adding a small Synchronization rune and a Feather rune entwined within. Less than thirty seconds after he started, Harry touched his wand to the paper and energized the cluster. Harry smirked as his feather floated off the desk and hovered neatly in the air for about five seconds.

Then the parchment with his cluster burned to ash.

Scowling, Harry glared down at the parchment. "Stupid paper. Horrible conductor. I should've torn a strip from my robes instead. That would've lasted at least a minute." He sighed as the feather floated back down in front of him. "Well it made my point at least right?" Looking up at Professor Flitwick Harry's eyes widened a bit and he jerked back slightly in his seat. The little man's eyes were bulging out of his skull, his mouth was hanging open, his hand was clenched so tightly on his wand it had gone white and his entire body seemed stiff as a board. Harry had seen that expression enough from his relatives. The Freak had shown his true colors yet again. Frantically blinking Harry desperately started to mentally draw and recite the most complicated runes he could think of. He would not cry in class. He had stopped crying years ago. It was not going to happen!

"Mr. Potter, how…how did you…?" Before Professor Flitwick could finish his thought, from several seats down Hermione loudly corrected Ron's pronunciation and her feather soared into the air. "Five points to Gryffindor for excellent spellwork, Miss Granger," the Professor commented without even taking his eyes off Harry. He opened his mouth to try again before Seamus Finnegan's feather literally exploded in his face. Professor Flitwick shook his head and moved off to make certain the boy was alright.

Harry slowly exhaled and stopped his mental exercises. 'I should've known not to ask questions. I'll just do the clusters on my own and study the normal things with everyone else for now.'

The bell signaling the end of class sounded and Harry grabbed his bag walking out with Neville and Ron before Professor Flitwick could try to stop him. He was not going to let the Freak come out again. Not here. Not with people who knew and liked his parents. Not with someone his mum had liked.

"She's mental! Mental, I tell you!" Ron prattled on beside Harry and Harry just nodded not bothering to listen. "Levi-OH-sa not Levi-oh-SAH! She's such a bossy little know-it-all! Why can't she just mind her own business for once?! I'm not surprised she has no friends. No one's ever going to be able to stand her!"

Hermione pushed past Harry's shoulder and the sound of sniffling broke through his reverie. "Hermione?" She practically sprinted down the corridor and disappeared before Harry could do more than extend a hand in her direction. Frowning he turned to Ron. "What did you say to her?"

"Weren't you listening? I just said the truth! It's not my fault if she heard me."

"That was really mean, Ron," Neville said quietly from his other side. "She was just trying to help you. And she was right."

"She should mind her own business!" Ron's face had gone as red as his hair. "I didn't ask for her help and I didn't need it! She's too bossy. She thinks she knows everything just because she's the best in class and because she turns in double the homework that we do. She wants to go and cry about it, well serves her right. Maybe now she'll stop making the rest of us look bad!"