A Nameless Bit

After the feast finished, Harry and the rest of the first years were shuffled off to their respective dormitories.  The Gryffindor’s were led through winding corridors to the main stair hall.  Harry was startled to see some of the stair cases moving platforms as if on whim.  The uncomfortable feeling that someone was watching him wouldn’t go away. 

Harry’s eyes darted back and forth trying to find the source of the sensation.  It took him several moments before noticing that the paintings were, in fact moving.  Many of them were staring at the train of first years, others went into other portraits, whispering amongst themselves, and  giggling. 

Soon enough the first years came to a full sized portrait of a woman in some of the oddest clothing Harry had ever seen.  Then again, she was also one of the largest women depicted or otherwise Harry had ever seen too.  The woman was fanning herself lazily.

“Password?”

“Caput Draconis,” The older boy, Harry vaguely remembered he was called Percy, said.  The portrait nodded and swung open, revealing a hole in the wall.  The small group scrambled into the hole and found themselves in a plushly decorated common room.  The girls were directed through one door while the boys another.  Beyond the portals were spiral staircases that led to doors every flight or so.  The five boys stopped at the small plaque that had “First Year” written on it. 

The room held five four poster beds with deep red velvet hangings.  The trunks had been brought up and Harry noticed his pack resting beside one.  There wasn’t any small talk made as the boys changed into their pajama’s and got into their respective beds. 

Harry woke up slightly disoriented, and his back was aching.  He sat and looked around the dim room and realized several things.  First he was in a western style bed, which meant that either A, he had in fact drowned while chasing after Ranma and Genma with Hibiki-san.  B, getting transported to the weird train station was not a dream.  Or C, he was still asleep and searching for his wayward relatives.  The stiffness and aching in his back told him that C wasn’t likely, and he was pretty sure that if he had died, he wouldn’t be mentally complaining about his back and staring around dumbly, so it was probably option B.  Second, by the dimness of the room, it was early in the morning.  Finally, his dorm-mates snored.  

Standing, he looked around in the darkness of the room.  The moon was out and some of its light peeked into the room.  Giving Harry enough to make his way out of the room.

Somehow he managed to find his way outside without running into anyone or anything.  Seeing as he now didn’t have anyone to spar with, Harry decided that he’d have to try to keep his skills up the best he could, and so started working on Katas.  He practiced in the moonlight until the eastern horizon started to brighten. 

He was finally pulled out of his exertions by the voice of Hagrid. 

“‘arry?!  What’re you doin’ out ‘ere so early?  Yeh should be in at breakfast.”

Harry gave a petulant “Hai” which for some reason didn’t get a translation, before walking back into the castle.  Unfortunately for him, his way back wasn’t as easy as his way out and was soon lost.  Fortunately, he was found by Nearly Headless Nick and led back to the Tower.  Where he had to do a quick change and bolt to the great hall, just in time to be handed his schedule and sent off to his first class of the day. 

He didn’t make it to the classroom on time though, but when he entered he didn’t see a teacher.  His eyes swept the room then he froze.  One of those Demon things was sitting on the table.  He wanted to back away and hope it hadn’t seen him, but he was frozen in fear, eyes locked on the vicious fur-ball resting on the table.  Time seemed to streak towards infinity when it gave an evil smile and leapt towards him.  Harry shrieked, turned and ran, strait into a wall, which brought him into blissful oblivion. 

The cat morphed into the form of Minerva McGonagall by the time it hit the ground, and she ran to Harry’s still form.  The rest of the students had started to laugh at the scene.  Minerva gave the class a sharp look that worked to quiet the laughter.  She lightly brushed Harry’s hair aside, only to pull her hand back as if burnt. Her hand flew up to her mouth as she saw the crisscrossing mesh of pale scares that covered the boy’s face.  Even his right eye hadn’t escaped, the eyelid was stuck half open due to scar tissue. 

Harry’s form started to move and he spoke, “Ranmaaaa, Chotto Uchitsukesugitaaaa.”   Apparently his translation amulet only worked when he was fully conscious of what he said.

Minerva put a gentle hand on Harry, trying to keep him from sitting up.  Harry sat anyway, his hair fell back over the scars.   He blinked owlishly at the rest of the class before looking down and tugging on his rattail nervously. 

“Etouuu, sorry about this.” 

Minerva gave Harry a disapproving look and stood.

“Mr Potter,” she seemed to ignore his disgruntled “Saotome,” “Don’t be late for my class again.”

“Hai” Harry stood and found his way to a seat amongst the snickering students.  Professor McGonagall turned sharply and the snickering subsided.  She gave the class another stern look before speaking.

“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts.  Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back.  You have been warned.”

She then transfigured her desk into a pig and back again.  Harry felt his eyes pop out in disbelief.  Sure he had seen some odd things since coming here, but he didn’t expect anything like this.  This class had managed to spark his curiosity.  A lot of complicated notes, many of which Harry didn’t understand but wrote down anyway, later, the class was given matchsticks and told to turn them into pins. 

Harry tried unsuccessfully to follow the directions he had been given, and ten minutes til the end of class raised his hand.

“Yes Mr. Potter,”

“Saotome, Professor could you show me the transformation again please?”  Professor McGonagall stood and came over to his desk. 

“Watch closely, because this is the last time I’ll demonstrate it today.”  Harry nodded and unfocused his eyes, he remembered that a person could see auras if they let their senses go free.  He had been practicing since that monk at the Shinto shrine had taught him a couple years ago.  The idea worked a little, and he saw how the Professor’s energy flowed out of the wand and around the matchstick, remolding it.  He nodded confidently and gave his thanks.

Turning his gaze onto the match stick, he tried to push his own energy out through the wand and use it to change the match.  Something was off because as soon as he felt his energy take hold, the stick made a loud pop and gave off a puff of smoke.  All that was left on his desk were shreds of silvery material. 

Harry’s brow furled in displeasure, and McGonagall stating that she didn’t know how he did it, refused to give him another matchstick, and so he had to sit and watch as the other students tried unsuccessfully to change their own sticks.   The only near success was Hermione Granger, the bushy haired girl from the train, as Harry privately thought of her.  Her stick had gone a little pointy and silver.  McGonagall gave the bookish girl a smile and showed off the stick to the rest of the class. 

His next class, which most people seemed excited about, was Defense Against the Dark Arts.  The only thing that kept Harry awake in the class was the pungent aroma of garlic and the feeling of wrongness around Professor Quirrell.  Harry left the room with an odd sense of being watched. 

The days passed quickly, with his early morning practice sessions and the once weekly late night astronomy class, Harry started to fall asleep in the more uninteresting classes, History of magic, and DADA seemed to be the two that dragged his conscious mind into sweet night.  Another unfortunate thing was the cats, especially Mrs. Norris, whom upon noticing his fear of anything feline delighted in torturing the poor boy by finding him during the day.  A loud screech and thud became all too common between classes. 

Friday came around and Harry was happy to have managed to get to breakfast in time to eat for the first time in the week.  That’s when he also found out about the post.  The snowy Owl he picked up in Diagon Alley when he first met Hagrid landed by him and gave him a loving nip. 

“So, you’re sticking around even though I let you free?  I guess I’ll have to name you something.”  Harry looked at the owl in the eyes.  “How about Kazema?”  The owl tilted its head and Harry took that as a yes.  Harry gave the owl a thoughtful look while eating a bit of sausage.  “You’re a post owl, so could you get a letter to my bro?”  The now named Kazema puffed up in indignation as if to say “of course you nutter.”  Harry laughed lightly.  “Then get some rest girl, I’ll be sending you to China tonight.”  The owl seemed to nod and flew off, presumably to the Owlery. 

Harry finished the rest of his breakfast before following the rest of his classmates down to the dungeons, where he would have his first potions lesson of the year.  It was quite chilly down in the dungeon, but Harry didn’t pay attention to that, instead preferring to study the oddly shaped creatures floating in pickling jars.  He didn’t recognize any of the animals or plants.  He ended up in a seat next to Neville. 

Snape’s cold coal black eyes swept over the gathering of students before in a cold voice started to call roll.  He went quickly down a list of names, looking up at whomever raised their hand.  After a few names, he paused and his face took on a peculiar look that reminded Harry of someone whom was just forced to eat an earthworm. 

“Ah yes,” he scanned the class, “Harry Potter.  Our new – celebrity.” Snape glared at Harry when he didn’t raise his hand, but continued on.  When he started to put the list down, Harry raised his hand. 

“Professor, you skipped my name, does that mean I can go?”

Some of the Gryffindor’s snickered behind hands.

Snape's glare quieted the classroom. "Certainly Mr. Potter, Celebrities get special status, and that will be ten points from Gryffindor."

Harry glared at the teacher before smirking.

"Thank you Professor Yamada,"

Harry watched as Snape's face darkened. "Mr. Potter, that will be a detention for your cheek."

"Professor Yamada," Harry emphasized the name, "You said I could go, and so I will." he swiftly collected his things before Snape interrupted his exit.

"It's Professor Snape"

Harry paused only momentarily before waving a hand in the air.

"Whatever you say Professor Yamada" and the door closed with a soft thump. Moments later the class heard a loud shriek and a more distant sounding thud.

Bit number ? Silly me I stopped counting.

Harry wandered the stone halls after escaping the feline.  The moving staircases were of particular interest because they seemed to like to move away from where a person wanted to be.  Which is why he found himself staring at a closed locked door on the third floor.  Harry smiled as he remembered something from the sorting, “I must tell you that this year,” the headmaster had said, “the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish a very painful death.” 

Harry knew what that sort of warning meant.  There had to be something interesting and probably challenging within.  Pulling some lock-picks from his rat tail he said a quiet thank you to Genma for teaching both he and Ranma this particular skill.  Seconds later, a quiet clank told Harry that the door was now open.  He slipped the picks back into his hair before sneaking into the room.

The moment he entered he knew he was right, and he hit training ‘pay-dirt.’  For standing, or rather laying, in front of him was one of the largest dogs he had seen.  Not to mention it had three heads.  It was snoring, and Harry could see spiked collars on all the three necks. 

“Hey, Puppy” he called to the dog.  “Time to wake up and play.”

Two of the three heads snorted but seemed to ignore him, while the third growled.  Then barked insistently enough to wake the other two heads.  The one head lunged but because the other two were groggy, it was a clumsy lunge and easily dodged by the petite Harry.  Minutes passed with the dog lunging and Harry dodging.  As the time flew by, a carefree smile grew on Harry’s face.  More time passed and as he got more tired from the speeds he was keeping, the dog’s swipes came closer and closer.  Luckily the dog was tiring too, and only got one successful swipe of Harry’s upper arm before the boy backed out of the dogs range. 

The hallway was crowded when Harry exited the room.  Luckily no one noticed his exit of that particular door as the students were mobbing the Great hall.  Must have been lunch time.  Harry’s smile followed him all the way down and he was going to polish off quite a quantity of food.

Just after sitting down, someone came by and slapped Harry’s arm.  His eyes crossed and he gave a small groan but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the injury. 

“Hey Harry,” it was one of the Weasley twins.  “We heard about what you said to Snape today” the other one chimed in.  “It had to be classic.”  Back to the first, “Wish we could have seen the greasy git’s face.” They both said in unison.

They looked like they were going to continue when a stern voice interrupted. 

“Harry, Ms. Granger, The headmaster wants to see the both of you.”  Professor McGonagall glared at the twins before in a more commanding tone said, “Now!.”  Harry looked over at Hermione, whom seemed to be near tears at the pronouncement, before standing up and waited for Professor McGonagall to lead the way. 

The walk through the corridors to the stone Gargoyle was quiet.  Hermione was walking stiff backed while Harry slinked behind the two.  When they arrived, Professor McGonagall leaned in and whispered something to the gargoyle, it jumped to the side revealing a moving staircase.

McGonagall ushered the two eleven year olds up the stairs and knocked on the door at the top.  There was a quick jovial “Come in.”  To which McGonagall opened the door and motioned the children inside.  Harry was almost overwhelmed by the intense feeling of power coming from the room. 

“Ahh, Harry, Hermione, please take a seat.”  Albus Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled while he motioned to two plush chairs.  Hermione was the first to move.  She stiffly moved into the chair on the left and sat down.  Harry followed her example, but instead of sitting at attention, he instilled the belief that he didn’t have a solid bone in his body by sprawling all over the chair and looked rather like a limp kitten.

“Thank you Minerva, you can go.”  Albus said, and as the door thunked quietly he turned his attention to the two figures in the chairs.  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you two to my office.”  Hermione looked like she was going to say something when Albus cut her off.  “I assure you that it’s not because you are in trouble.”  He gave Hermione a grand fatherly smile. “Hermione, all of your teachers have said that you are the brightest student in your year and that is why I’m going to ask you to tutor Harry in English.”

The tension in Hermione’s posture drained and the distress in her eyes turned to pride at the compliment.  Harry started to scowl, what was with this man, deciding his life for him?  He almost said something before realizing that on his honor, he would have to do what this man wishes.  The mad did “Hire” him of sorts.  Maybe it would be good to learn English, he’d take it if he was in school anyway.

“Of course sir, it won’t be a problem.”

Hermione was graced with another smile and dismissed.  Harry was getting up to follow her when Professor Dumbledore said, “Harry, please stay, I need to discuss something else with you.”  Harry flopped back into the chair.  His visible green eye half lidded as he waited for the other to speak. 

“Harry,” Albus paused as if deep in thought, “It has come to my attention that you were disrespectful to Professor Snape before walking out of his class today.” His eyes developed a hard glimmer. “Would you care to explain why?”

Harry didn’t change position, in fact it seemed that whatever bones the boy had melted as his body seemed to splay even more on the chair.  To any observer it looked like the arms of the chair were the only thing keeping him from oozing onto the floor.  His visible eye held a hard edge for a fraction of a second. 

“I only gave him the respect he gave me.”

“What do you mean by that.”  The headmaster’s eyes softened.

“The man refused to acknowledge my name, and instead choose one of his own liking.” Harry sat up strait far faster than should have been possible from that boneless sprawl.  “I have struggled for the Honor to be a Saotome, and I’m not very happy when someone refuses to acknowledge it.”

“But Harry, you were born a Potter.”

Harry glared at the old man.  “I am NOT a Potter.”  Harry spit out the name. “On the train here, a boy told me of this Harry Potter, a boy with a lightning shaped scar on his head.”  Harry stood and stalked up to the desk.  He lifted the hair from the scarred half of his face, revealing the patchwork of scars and halfway stuck eye.  “Does it Look like there’s a scar in that shape on my forehead?” 

Albus sat back, shock swept across his eyes.  He covered it quickly, but Harry had noticed and put his hair back. 

“How did you get those scars?” The man had managed to put that twinkle back into his eye, but it didn’t hold as much mirth as it once did.

“What’s past is past and it’s none of your business.  If you’ll excuse me.”  Harry turned and left the office without conformation from the Headmaster.