Categories > Books > Harry Potter > A Time of Happiness
Chapter Three
0 reviewsExpecting this summer to be the worst of his life and possibly his last, Harry receives the ultimate surprise and chance of a life time
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Chapter Three
As Max had arrived at the station an hour early it was practically empty apart from the Hogwarts Express and the people who worked on it. He decided to load his trunk into a back cabin and read his latest book on potions.
He wasn't sure how long had passed when someone knocked on his carriage door. Waving it open, he saw two boys about his age, one was definitely a Malfoy by his looks and the other one made Max freeze. Tom Riddle. It hadn't occurred to him that he would be in the same time as Riddle. "What can I do for you?" Max asked them keeping his voice neutral.
"Do you mind if we sit here? All the other carriages are full or have idiots in them," Tom said in a similar tone.
"Sure go ahead," Max said before heading back to his book keeping half an ear on the conversation going on between the two of them. They seemed to be talking about harmless things about the teachers and classes for the upcoming year but Max had a feeling it was because they didn't know him and didn't want to say anything too incriminating. Though Max did find out one interesting fact- the three of them were all going to be in the same year at Hogwarts.
Awhile later when the Malfoy boy got up and left the carriage Tom looked at him and smirked. "Tom Riddle, sixth year prefect," he said holding out his hand for Max to shake. "That idiot who just left is Abraxas Malfoy, the other prefect. I haven't seen you around before…" Tom added before trailing off clearing expecting Max to explain who he was and where he was from.
"Maxwell Jones. I've just moved here from the United States. I'm going into sixth year too. What house are you in? I have to say I'm hoping for either Ravenclaw or Slytherin." Truth be told Max was hoping to go into Slytherin. He had always regretted not letting the hat place him in it, in the first place.
"Then let me be the first to formally welcome you to Hogwarts. Both Abraxas and I are in Slytherin though I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad either. Just as long as it isn't Gryffindor or Hufflepuff- you don't want to go into those two houses."
For the rest of the trip the three of them talked about what was going on in the world. Max started to reassess his opinion of them when he realized that he was starting to like them as friends, which shook him. He had expected them to be like their future selves though he didn't know Abraxas personally he knew he had been one of the original Death Eaters and there was the fact that he was a Malfoy too. It didn't take long until they were pulling up at Hogsmede Station where Max said his farewells to them and made his way to where the first years were per the headmaster's instructions.
Max successfully made his surprise sincere when he saw the castle for the first time- well second time but for everyone else it was his first. He had truly forgotten how magical it looked from the lake. Professor Dumbledore gave the same speech that McGonagall would give 50 years in the future, amusing Max to no end. He hadn't realized to the extent that McGonagall had worshiped the future headmaster as he had a feeling it shouldn't be word for word between the two of them.
He made his way into the great hall behind the first years knowing he would be sorted last. Half an hour later it was his turn. After an introduction explaining he was a transfer student he was called forward to be sorted.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A Time traveler? It's been awhile since one of you has graced these halls. I see that I will want you in Slytherin and I can see why I thought that," The hat told Max, causing him to snort. "Now, now no need to do that. You will find true happiness in their midst, which is why you'll be going to SLYTHERIN!" The hat announced to the rest of the hall.
Max placed the hat back on the stool and made his way to his house table amongst the applause. Tom shoved Abraxas over and motioned for him to sit next to him. The two of them graced Harry with a smile.
"I had a feeling you were going to be in Slytherin," Tom informed him at which Abraxas rolled his eyes and snorted.
"You always say that."
"Well, I'm glad I'm here and not Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, I have to agree that they look horrible," Max said looking over at those two tables with a disgusted look upon his face causing the two other boys to chuckle.
"You'll fit in fine here," Abraxas informed him grinning.
For the rest of the feast the three of them chatted about a lot of things- from how idiotic Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were, to explaining to Max about how things ran at Hogwarts.
It wasn't long before the feast was finished and they were heading back to the Slytherin Common Room. Max followed Tom and Abraxas down to the common room making sure he remembered the way down. Once there, Professor Slughorn, their potions professor gave them a speech about what was expected of them while they were in the house of Slytherin. They were expected to stick together as a house of unity despite that they had a bad reputation with the rest of the school and the wider community. They were to keep their disputes inside their house and treat one another with the respect they deserve. Blood and money did not matter in their standing. There were potions labs and other study rooms to the left of the common room with the dorms to the right with the senior students getting a room between two or three instead of the whole year. Max had ended up sharing with Tom and Abraxas.
The next morning they headed down to breakfast at about 7:00 despite the fact that breakfast didn't start officially until 7:30 they wanted to be down early to beat the rush of students- especially the Gryffindors who always had to rush to get there on time, like a stampede of elephants or so Tom informed Max grinning madly at the imagery.
Sitting at the end of the table closet to the teachers, they sat in a comfortable silence for awhile. "What classes are you guys taking?" Max asked curious.
"I'm taking Potions, DADA, Transfiguration, Charms and Arithmacy," Tom said not bothering to glance up from his breakfast.
"I'm taking the same but I also have Ancient Runes," Abraxas added. "What about you?"
"Just the main ones of Potions, Defense, Transfiguration and Charms, I thought about picking up Arithmacy or Ancient Runes but I thought it would be too hard since I've never done them before and I had absolutely no desire to study the other subjects." Truth be told Max didn't think he could have continued the other ones without going mad.
"Lucky. You'll have a lot of free time," Abraxas said putting on a fake pout causing the other two to chuckle.
About half an hour later Slughorn brought around their timetables for the year. Glancing down Max's looked like
Monday/Thursday: 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
9:00-10:00 Potions
10:15-11:15 Free
11:15- 1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30 Charms
3:45-5:45 Transfiguration
5:45-7:30 Dinner
Tuesday/Wendesday: 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
9:00-11:00- Defense
11:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Charms
2:45-4:45 Transfiguration
5:00-6:00 Free
6:00-7:30 Dinner
Friday: 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
9:00-10:00 Free
10:15-11:15 Potions
11:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Charms
2:45-3:45 Transfiguration
4:00-5:00 Free
5:00-7:00 Dinner
Max had to suppose it could have been worse. At least he had quite the number of free periods and he had the majority of his classes with the friends he was sitting with so that was an added bonus. Max suddenly sat up- 'friends?', he didn't know when he had started to think of Tom and Abraxas as friends but he had and that scared him slightly.
Not long after that they made their way to their first class of the day which was Potions. It turned out to be completely different from potions in Max's time. For one thing the teacher wasn't biased and he could actually concentrate on his potion without fear that it would be sabotaged. It could have been the difference in class or the fact that he was in Slytherin. He wasn't sure but whatever the reason was he was grateful for it.
The rest of the classes were quite similar to the ones in the future but for one other major difference. Binns was alive and not a ghost and he didn't go on and on about Goblin rebellions but actually taught useful things. It wasn't long until he had been there a month but what really got him was that he didn't miss the future at all…
As Max had arrived at the station an hour early it was practically empty apart from the Hogwarts Express and the people who worked on it. He decided to load his trunk into a back cabin and read his latest book on potions.
He wasn't sure how long had passed when someone knocked on his carriage door. Waving it open, he saw two boys about his age, one was definitely a Malfoy by his looks and the other one made Max freeze. Tom Riddle. It hadn't occurred to him that he would be in the same time as Riddle. "What can I do for you?" Max asked them keeping his voice neutral.
"Do you mind if we sit here? All the other carriages are full or have idiots in them," Tom said in a similar tone.
"Sure go ahead," Max said before heading back to his book keeping half an ear on the conversation going on between the two of them. They seemed to be talking about harmless things about the teachers and classes for the upcoming year but Max had a feeling it was because they didn't know him and didn't want to say anything too incriminating. Though Max did find out one interesting fact- the three of them were all going to be in the same year at Hogwarts.
Awhile later when the Malfoy boy got up and left the carriage Tom looked at him and smirked. "Tom Riddle, sixth year prefect," he said holding out his hand for Max to shake. "That idiot who just left is Abraxas Malfoy, the other prefect. I haven't seen you around before…" Tom added before trailing off clearing expecting Max to explain who he was and where he was from.
"Maxwell Jones. I've just moved here from the United States. I'm going into sixth year too. What house are you in? I have to say I'm hoping for either Ravenclaw or Slytherin." Truth be told Max was hoping to go into Slytherin. He had always regretted not letting the hat place him in it, in the first place.
"Then let me be the first to formally welcome you to Hogwarts. Both Abraxas and I are in Slytherin though I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad either. Just as long as it isn't Gryffindor or Hufflepuff- you don't want to go into those two houses."
For the rest of the trip the three of them talked about what was going on in the world. Max started to reassess his opinion of them when he realized that he was starting to like them as friends, which shook him. He had expected them to be like their future selves though he didn't know Abraxas personally he knew he had been one of the original Death Eaters and there was the fact that he was a Malfoy too. It didn't take long until they were pulling up at Hogsmede Station where Max said his farewells to them and made his way to where the first years were per the headmaster's instructions.
Max successfully made his surprise sincere when he saw the castle for the first time- well second time but for everyone else it was his first. He had truly forgotten how magical it looked from the lake. Professor Dumbledore gave the same speech that McGonagall would give 50 years in the future, amusing Max to no end. He hadn't realized to the extent that McGonagall had worshiped the future headmaster as he had a feeling it shouldn't be word for word between the two of them.
He made his way into the great hall behind the first years knowing he would be sorted last. Half an hour later it was his turn. After an introduction explaining he was a transfer student he was called forward to be sorted.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A Time traveler? It's been awhile since one of you has graced these halls. I see that I will want you in Slytherin and I can see why I thought that," The hat told Max, causing him to snort. "Now, now no need to do that. You will find true happiness in their midst, which is why you'll be going to SLYTHERIN!" The hat announced to the rest of the hall.
Max placed the hat back on the stool and made his way to his house table amongst the applause. Tom shoved Abraxas over and motioned for him to sit next to him. The two of them graced Harry with a smile.
"I had a feeling you were going to be in Slytherin," Tom informed him at which Abraxas rolled his eyes and snorted.
"You always say that."
"Well, I'm glad I'm here and not Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, I have to agree that they look horrible," Max said looking over at those two tables with a disgusted look upon his face causing the two other boys to chuckle.
"You'll fit in fine here," Abraxas informed him grinning.
For the rest of the feast the three of them chatted about a lot of things- from how idiotic Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were, to explaining to Max about how things ran at Hogwarts.
It wasn't long before the feast was finished and they were heading back to the Slytherin Common Room. Max followed Tom and Abraxas down to the common room making sure he remembered the way down. Once there, Professor Slughorn, their potions professor gave them a speech about what was expected of them while they were in the house of Slytherin. They were expected to stick together as a house of unity despite that they had a bad reputation with the rest of the school and the wider community. They were to keep their disputes inside their house and treat one another with the respect they deserve. Blood and money did not matter in their standing. There were potions labs and other study rooms to the left of the common room with the dorms to the right with the senior students getting a room between two or three instead of the whole year. Max had ended up sharing with Tom and Abraxas.
The next morning they headed down to breakfast at about 7:00 despite the fact that breakfast didn't start officially until 7:30 they wanted to be down early to beat the rush of students- especially the Gryffindors who always had to rush to get there on time, like a stampede of elephants or so Tom informed Max grinning madly at the imagery.
Sitting at the end of the table closet to the teachers, they sat in a comfortable silence for awhile. "What classes are you guys taking?" Max asked curious.
"I'm taking Potions, DADA, Transfiguration, Charms and Arithmacy," Tom said not bothering to glance up from his breakfast.
"I'm taking the same but I also have Ancient Runes," Abraxas added. "What about you?"
"Just the main ones of Potions, Defense, Transfiguration and Charms, I thought about picking up Arithmacy or Ancient Runes but I thought it would be too hard since I've never done them before and I had absolutely no desire to study the other subjects." Truth be told Max didn't think he could have continued the other ones without going mad.
"Lucky. You'll have a lot of free time," Abraxas said putting on a fake pout causing the other two to chuckle.
About half an hour later Slughorn brought around their timetables for the year. Glancing down Max's looked like
Monday/Thursday: 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
9:00-10:00 Potions
10:15-11:15 Free
11:15- 1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30 Charms
3:45-5:45 Transfiguration
5:45-7:30 Dinner
Tuesday/Wendesday: 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
9:00-11:00- Defense
11:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Charms
2:45-4:45 Transfiguration
5:00-6:00 Free
6:00-7:30 Dinner
Friday: 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
9:00-10:00 Free
10:15-11:15 Potions
11:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Charms
2:45-3:45 Transfiguration
4:00-5:00 Free
5:00-7:00 Dinner
Max had to suppose it could have been worse. At least he had quite the number of free periods and he had the majority of his classes with the friends he was sitting with so that was an added bonus. Max suddenly sat up- 'friends?', he didn't know when he had started to think of Tom and Abraxas as friends but he had and that scared him slightly.
Not long after that they made their way to their first class of the day which was Potions. It turned out to be completely different from potions in Max's time. For one thing the teacher wasn't biased and he could actually concentrate on his potion without fear that it would be sabotaged. It could have been the difference in class or the fact that he was in Slytherin. He wasn't sure but whatever the reason was he was grateful for it.
The rest of the classes were quite similar to the ones in the future but for one other major difference. Binns was alive and not a ghost and he didn't go on and on about Goblin rebellions but actually taught useful things. It wasn't long until he had been there a month but what really got him was that he didn't miss the future at all…
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