Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 24 - Adjusting to School
After a good laugh at Ginny's sentiment about Tom not being a Gryffindor, the four of them walked to the Great Hall for lunch, and decided to sit by Ron, who looked severely depressed.
"Hi Ron," said Ginny, trying not to sound too happy.
Ron looked up for a second and muttered, "I'm doomed."
"Your day couldn't have been that hard, Ron. After all, you have been to those classes before."
"What classes did you have?" asked Harry.
"My first period was Divination, and my second class was Potions."
Hermione said, "Who's teaching divination? Professor Dumbledore didn't announce a new teacher for that subject yesterday."
"That's because he just arrived," answered Ron. "His name is Professor Stewart. He got rid of the incense in that room. It's actually possible to stay conscious in there now. He's an ok bloke that doesn't act weird or anything.
"He says he doesn't have the gift of sight, but he has worked with genuine seers. He also said that if you don't have the gift, most methods used to attempt to cause a vision are futile. He also said that the gift would manifest itself without any help from a class, and that if anyone felt they had manifested the gift, he'd be happy to give them private lessons.
"He said we're going to be studying predictions that have been made that came true. He claims that the Ministry has a bunch of them somewhere at their headquarters, but no one but the people referred to in the prophecies can remove them. The ones we're going to study were made by some of the seers he knows. We're going to concentrate on interpreting prophecies. He claims that some people have heard a prophecy and then caused the event to happen by trying to stop it."
Harry and Hermione gave each other a significant look. "That sounds interesting," said Hermione.
"So," said Harry, "How did you like Sirius' class?"
"Well, it's a lot better than Snape's class, but it still seems confusing to me. I partnered up with this weird girl from Ravenclaw. She's nice enough, though. She claims she knows you three. Her name is Luna Lovegood."
"I've known her since my first year, and Harry and Hermione met her at the world cup. She's a very nice girl, so I hope you don't pick on her like the other kids."
"Of course not," said Ron. She's my only friend in my year. I first tried to partner of up with Colin Creevy, but he won't speak to me for some reason."
"He knows you've had fights with his hero," said Ginny. "You know that he's the biggest Harry Potter fan on the planet. He can't seem to think about anything else. He even makes sure he sits at the same desk Harry uses. It's pathetic!"
"Maybe I'm better off without him speaking to me," said Ron.
Before they could reply, Dumbledore made an announcement. "I'd like to introduce you all to our new Divination teacher, who arrived this morning, Professor Stewart." He then motioned toward a middle-aged black man as the students applauded.
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Later that day, when Ginny, Harry and Hermione went to Arithmancy class, Professor Vector seemed very pleased to see them.
"Welcome to your first official arithmancy class, Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley," she said. "If you put forth the same effort this year that you put into the summer, you'll do splendidly."
The trio sat close to each other, and Harry and Hermione took out their laptops to prepare for class.
Professor Vector looked at the strange devices and walked up to the couple. "Er, what are those?"
Harry answered first, "They're computers, Professor."
"They're muggle devices that store information. We've put the contents of all out textbooks in them," Hermione explained. "Look."
She turned her laptop to face the fascinated professor, who saw the contents of the textbook clearly shown on the screen. Hermione quickly showed her how to scroll down and mentioned some advantages.
"How did you get them to work here?" asked the professor.
"We charmed them so that they're powered by magic instead of electricity," answered Hermione. "Professor Black has one as well."
"I must have him show me his computer when I have more time," she said, and then began her class.
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Their next class was Charms, and Professor Flitwick was completely fascinated with the computers as well. When it was time for them to practice their new charms, Harry was about to perform wandless nonverbal magic when Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Harry," she whispered, "Remember you have to use your wand and say the spell. We don't want anyone to know about our new abilities."
"Oh yeah, sorry," he said with a smile as he pulled his wand out of its holster. "It just seems so ridiculous to use it now."
"I know," said Hermione, but we've got to keep up appearances.
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Later that night, after training with the older Marauders, while Hermione was talking to her parents on her new phone, the twins started handing Harry muggle devices to charm. Since Hermione was busy and most of them needed the simple battery charm, he decided to start on them, making sure to record them all on his computer (to make sure Hermione didn't kill him when she got off the phone). They both agreed that they needed to keep their own records, just to make sure they weren't being cheated. It's not that they didn't trust the twins; they just felt it was good business.) He charmed about a dozen Game Boys, five cd players, and a small portable dvd player. He now had just one device left - a radio-controlled model helicopter that actually flew. It even had a type of clamp on the bottom that could grip or release small objects. Harry thought it would probably be used to transport dungbombs. He charmed the batteries, and then waited for Hermione to handle the remote control. He didn't have any idea how to make that work, and hoped she did.
While he was looking at it, and considering buying one for himself, Hermione came up to him. She smiled at her boyfriend. "Hi Hero, Mum and Dad said, `hi,' and they'll be glad to pick you up a hot pink phone with red roses all over it."
"Very funny, Mine," said Harry.
"Where'd you get all this stuff?" she asked, indicating the pile of devices he'd charmed.
"Fred and George dropped them off for us to charm."
"Ok," she said, as she went to grab one of the Game Boys.
"I already charmed them," said Harry. "All but this helicopter. I don't have a clue how to get the remote to work."
"You shouldn't have done them all, Harry," Hermione protested. "I'm supposed to be the one earning the money."
Harry smiled at her. "I thought I'd do you a small favor. I hope that's alright."
She grinned back, "It is. Thanks. Let me take a look at the helicopter."
After reading out what frequency it transmitted at, she had no problem, so fifteen minutes later they were delivering the devices back to Fred and George.
Harry asked, "Who gave you the helicopter?"
"Actually," said Fred.
"That one's ours," said George.
"To deliver dungbombs," said Fred.
"To Filch's office," said George.
"Among other things," they both said together.
"We'll give you your money tomorrow," said Fred.
"As soon as we get ours," finished George.
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The weeks passed quickly, and before they knew it, September was coming to a close. More and more students from all houses seemed to be acquiring Game Boys, cell phone, and many other muggle devices. It was fortunate for Harry and Hermione that charming most of them didn't take much time. They were steadily keeping a few weeks ahead in their class work while their earnings steadily grew. All of their professors approved of the laptops, so they were saved from having to carry their books around, which they found made it easier to fit inside broom closets. The Slytherins didn't seem as bold as they used to once they learned that Sirius wouldn't let them get away with everything. Their attitude seemed to have been properly adjusted. Some of the younger ones seemed to be getting along with kids from other houses. To Harry, it really seemed like the school had changed for the better, and he was proud to have been a part of it.
On a particular Saturday afternoon, Harry and Hermione were in the room of requirement practicing defensive spellwork with Sirius and Remus. The young couple now had perfected their wandless magic so much that they were fighting each other, while the professors were taking random shots at the both of them. The teens weren't allowed to do anything but block or dodge the professors' spells. Both teenagers found it difficult to concentrate on fighting the wandless opponent at the same time as the professors. These duels usually ended with one of them getting distracted and hit by a wandless spell.
This particular day, it was Harry who lost after an hour and a half - the longest duel they'd ever had. After Hermione helped him up, Sirius said, "You both did extremely well today, and I'd honestly be surprised if any Death Eaters could beat you with less than ten of them for each of you. While you're destroying the others wandlessly, one might get a shot at you."
Remus then said thoughtfully, "It might be a good idea to wear some kind of armor to protect you from something like that. I'll look into it."
"Anyway," said Sirius with a broad smile on his face, "I thought I'd tell you that the animagus potion is now ready!
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