FicWad

Sunlight filtered through the large windows, and landed on a sleeping boy. Harry sat up, and rubbed his eyes sleepily. Sheets rumpled round him, and seemed confining to Harry, who had never used them before. He wondered groggily where Aunt Petunia was, as by this time she had usually whacked on his cupboard door to wake him up. Then he remembered that he was at magic school! As he opened his eyes, the light shone in and he grimaced at the glare.

A quiet knock came on his door and he sat up straight.
"Come in!" He called out. Adele came in and smiled at him.
" I just brought you your timetable. Just go through and follow the instructions."
"Where will you be?" Harry asked curiously.
"I'm history professor here, and I'm going to attempt to get some people to visit the class. I can't tell you who, because that's a surprise," she said, tapping her nose, "but they are a very interesting couple. Living history you might say." She grinned to herself, and patted Harry's leg before getting up. "At the back of that book, there's a map, although there are a few secret areas you won't find on there. And, because that won't take you all day, I'll send in the potions professor's son to keep you company. He's in your year, so you might see him more this year."

Harry grimaced slightly but nodded. Adele left with a wave, and Harry picked up the booklet.
"Tap your wand on the subject you wish to learn more about. Your subjects are:
Transfiguration
Potions
Charms
Defence Against Dark Arts and Dark Creatures
Defence Against Light Arts and Light Creatures
Etiquette/Dance
History
One Physical Class (Printed in red)
Two Other Classes (Printed in green)" Harry read out loud. He looked down the list and tapped on rhythmic gymnastics with his wand, as it blinked in red.

Rhythmic Gymnastics
Taught by Professor Grenwich
Best for: Those who are flexible, or wish to be, those who enjoy dance.
Necessary for: Advanced Rhythmic Gymnastics

Harry smiled and tapped slowly down the list. He spent the next hour going through, but in the end decided on Tae Kwon Do, Yoga, and Politics. He had wanted to try Martial Arts ever since some black belts had come to his primary school and shown off their moves. And Yoga was necessary for Tantric magic, which he could start once he hit 16, and which sounded very interesting. The Politics on the other hand sounded rather dry, but necessary for later life.

Harry walked over to the large wardrobe, which was filled with the clothes Adele had got for him while he was getting his wand. He pulled on some black pants and a green shirt. He looked dubiously at the robes, which seemed rather girly, but put on a long black robe with smooth green trim. He patted down his hair in an effort to keep it manageable, but gave up.

"You know, those robes make your eyes look gorgeous." Harry jumped at the voice, and looked around. He couldn't see anyone, but with magic who knew? He pulled out his wand and stared around the room.
"Who's there?" He said nervously. "I know you're there!"
A giggle reverberated around the room.
"Don't be a silly boy!" The voice came again. "Yoo-hoo! Over here!"

A ghostly face appeared in the mirror and waved at Harry.
"What's the matter handsome? Never seen a mirror before? I find that hard to believe, considering how you look." The face winked.
"Well, no actually. I mean, I have seen a mirror but they don't usually talk..."
"Oh. Muggle born." The mirror didn't phrase it as a question, but Harry shook his head. "No?" The mirror sounded intrigued. "Spill."
"I was raised by my aunt and uncle, they weren't magical, but my parents were."

The mirror looked disappointed at the lack of detail.
"What's your name?" Harry asked, and the face looked surprised.
"Echo." She appeared to be waiting for something.
"I'm Harry." He said slightly belatedly.
"Pleased to meet you Harry." A loud knock came from outside. "See you hun!"
Harry waved and hurried to his door and opened it. A scowling face stared up at him.

"Hmmph. So you're the new first year. Just because we're the same age, don't expect me to like you." The boy glared at Harry.
"Well, I probably won't like you either." Harry said calmly. It seemed to infuriate the boy more.

"Chad!" A voice came from further down the hall. The boy, presumably Chad, sighed.
"Yes Dad?" A harried looking man rushed down the hall.
"Where were you? I was going to bring you to meet the new boy, and I couldn't find you! Your mother would have killed me." Chad rolled his eyes.
"Dad, new kid. New kid, Dad." Harry smiled and waved slightly as the man turned to look at him.
"Hello. Harry Potter I presume? Pleasure to meet you, Trent Tugwood. Well, Professor Tugwood to you." He smiled, removing the frazzled look.

"Harry, this is Chad, my son. Don't let his attitude fool you, he really is a nice boy." They both looked at Chad, who was having a furious argument with a portrait Harry had been introduced with the night before. Professor Tugwood's smile became slightly strained but he continued. "Well, I'll leave you two to explore. Chad knows a few secrets around the place, he's been coming here for the past few years in the holidays and such, but he's a first year like you."

He left hurriedly leaving the two boys looking warily at each other. Chad broke the silence.
"Do you have the standard map still?" Harry nodded.
"Huh, it's awful. Doesn't have anywhere good."
"Well, could you show me?" Harry asked tentatively. Chad's face came alive.
"Well, if you really need to know..." He said, pretending reluctance.
"Really!" Harry nodded fervently. "I do need to know."
"Alright, follow me then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dumbledore sat at his desk and snoozed. His head bent over his desk and his beard rested in a curl on some paper work, which lay in a high stack. He looked like the model grandfather, apart from the long violent green robe with cherries and pineapples dotted all over.

His office was filled with glittering objects, which twirled and moved in distracting ways, but didn't detract attention from the large gold and red bird, which sat in the corner. He gave a loud trill and Dumbledore sat up sharply in time to hear a loud thudding noise came from outside.
"Come in Minerva." He called out, and the door opened to admit a stern looking woman dressed in deep blue.

"I'm concerned." She cut straight to the chase.
"What about Minerva?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily.
"About Harry Potter. You keep saying he will come, but he still hasn't replied. And Severus said someone had come to collect him from another magic school."
"Don't worry." Dumbledore dismissed her with a wave. "That's impossible. My wards wouldn't let anyone through with magic unless they were invited, or I specifically allowed them. And they couldn't be invited, as owls have a small amount of ambient magic, and aren't allowed through."

Minerva's brow creased. "That's incredibly illegal."
Dumbledore shrugged. "No one will know, so it doesn't really matter. Thank you for sharing your concerns Minerva, but you can see I have a lot of work." He gestured towards the pile of paper, and Minerva looked apologetic and backed out through the door.
"Where was I?" He mused. "Ah... I remember..."

Soon the only alert creature in the room was Fawkes the phoenix, and soon even he tucked his head under his wing and slept.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Purple nose hair?"
"Yeah. After that Dad stopped insisting I learn about potions before school. He said that he would have to teach me for seven years anyway, he refused to teach me any earlier."
Harry burst into laughter and Chad looked pleased with the reaction. Harry got the feeling he hadn't had many people who were willing to listen, which was a shame because once you got past his prickly shell he had some funny stories.

"School starts tomorrow, we should probably get to bed." Chad grimaced at the idea, but nodded reluctantly.
"Do you think we can compare decorating tips tomorrow?" Chad asked, and Harry looked at him strangely.
"Why?"
"Well, you don't want to keep the rooms they assign us do you?"
"Erm, why not?"
"You have a guest room. They give us horrible ones, and you have to transfigure or bribe older students to change them to look better."
Harry nodded in understanding.
"So it's a test?" Chad laughed.
"Everything here is a test. From the seating plans, to the dueling arena, everyone is trying to advance."
"That seems really serious. But you and me will still be mates?"

Chad appeared to be considering. A grin spread over his face.
"Chad Wulfric Tugwood doth pledge formal alliance to you." Harry looked puzzled but copied.
"Harry James Potter doth pledge formal alliance to you." Chad smiled and shook his hand. "Now we won't be fighting. That's good, because you night be a very talented wizard. That's the problem with muggleborns, you never know how strong they are."
"You think I might be strong?"
"Good pureblood line the Potters. Your mother negates the possibility that you might have been almost squib-like, which sometimes happens when the bloodline stagnates. You should be fairly powerful, but then sometimes suprises happen."

Harry's eyes widened, he felt like a horse being judged at a fair with this talk of bloodlines and dams and sires.
"So, bed time?"
"Sure." Chad waved, and wandered off down the hallway. Harry headed back to his room and lay down in his bed, tired after walking most of the day.