At the end of the first week, Harry stood atop the Astronomy tower at 10 PM looking at the Forbidden Forest with undisguised interest. Being a shadow mage definitely had its perks as it allowed him to see perfectly well in all kinds of shadows, and that included the night. Every now and then he saw a centaur gaze his way trying to see if there was anything different about the boy on the tower. He'd used an ocular enhancing spell to see further than normal so as to get a better view of the creatures of the night. There were plenty to see and several he couldn't identify.
He was only glad he wasn't part of their nightly hunts. The only downside of the spell was that while it brought far images in close, it brought close images in even closer which played havoc with his equilibrium. Imagine looking at a door approximately 10 feet away in real space, only with his vision enhanced he was looking at the individual slivers of wood on the door.
In a word, it gave him a headache to look at any close images which is why he only used it when he had a good view of the countryside. Or the night sky. He looked up and the stars hadn't been brought any closer, but they were certainly brighter. Harry was glad Hogwarts was outside the light pollution of Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Harry took in the closer view of the moon and its dead seas and contemplated his first week of being back in the school groove.
It had been seven years since Harry had to think about being 11 and in school as a first year again. He'd contemplated what it meant over the summer; he knew he'd lived through it once before and had full confidence that he could do so again. But he never really gave it any serious thought.
He should have.
For one thing: it was absolutely boring. He already knew the material like the back of his hand. If he'd thought ahead, he could have transfigured the covers on some more interesting books and taken them to class when he wanted a quick read. Books like Art Haugh's: Re-charming Transfigured Charms, or Bob Bell's: Rituals Made E-Z, or even John Sheppard's: So You Think You Know Everything, Eh? Boy Are You In For A Surprise .
As expected, Harry had the traditional courses of Astronomy, Charms, DADA, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions (ick) and Transfiguration. And as mentioned in the previous chapter, his scheduled mirrored Hermione's and the rest of the Gryffindors for the most part. What actually caught his attention, however, was that when Professor McGonagall gave out schedules, she sat down and talked about his. As he was an apprentice, he was actually offered entry into several more classes than the rest of the first years if he so chose at any time. The Deputy Headmistress downplayed Divination (naturally) but said he would probably benefit from Muggle Studies - after all, she'd spoken to his parents earlier in the summer and they mentioned his limitations with the muggle world, never having left Godric's Hollow for anything other than routine medical checkups at St. Mungo's and the like. Harry agreed and also asked to sit in on Arithmancy and Runes when his schedule permitted, explaining he may not take them this year, but next year it sounded very interesting.
The final thing she had asked him before getting back up and moving to the rest of the students to hand out their schedules was to inquire about what classes he wished to attend with what students. Quickly catching her drift, Harry admitted he was going to attend the regular classes with the Gryffindors the first week, possibly even stay in that dorm until next Monday before checking out the other houses.
"I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Potter," she had replied. "Perhaps you might find that Gryffindor suits you after all."
Harry could see what she was trying to do. She was trying to influence his decision to stay in her tower and gain her students extra points. Harry remembered reading in the Hogwarts history book that students received points and had them taken away based on which house they stayed in. Not specifically which ones they were sorted into as there had been over a hundred requests to change houses over the centuries.
After breakfast Harry went with his friend on her way to classes.
Transfiguration Class
The first day for first years in Transfiguration certainly brought Harry back. Professor McGonagall was identical in every aspect to her counterpart in his world. Truthfully, most of the teachers he'd met were the same, or nearly identical. Although the classroom Harry had to go to for his first class with his old teacher was a room he'd never been in before, he knew the general layout of the castle from his first time around so was able to guide Hermione and himself to the classroom without too much of a hassle. Later years would have that classroom moving about the castle. Like the stairs that kept changing positions, the classrooms also tended to do that. When Harry had quested Albus about it last year he'd actually gotten a refreshing straight-forward answer: it was to ensure the students had to sprint to get from one classroom to another and not get fat from all the sweets they were packing away every day. It also kept everyone on their toes when trying to locate a classroom.
Basically, it all boiled down to his familiar catch-phrase: it was for your own good. Bollocks. If he were in charge of Hogwarts, he'd certainly put a stop to the classrooms moving around.
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