On the plus side, he was able to study and learn more about Magic here. There was already so much he wanted to know about and even more he wanted to breakdown to figure out how it worked. The wealth of knowledge here at Hogwarts would definitely help him achieve at least part of his goals.
On the negative side, the Magical World had almost no technology to speak of. Everything was either purely mechanical or ran on Magic, there was nothing like electricity or even batteries. Harry already knew that Magical Items couldn't be mass produced; they were literally a work of a Magical's mana woven and bound to a physical object. If a group tried to assembly line that it would leave you with a failed enchantment and most likely a destroyed item. But surely some Witch or Wizard somewhere had tried to make a Magical battery at some point, right? If not, then why? Surely it was possible with the right runic sequence? Those were questions for later.
But at least Ravenclaws got single rooms. Having to share a room with someone would have sucked since Harry had his own room for as long as he could remember. For now he'd put the questions aside and get some sleep. Classes started tomorrow and he wanted to be well rested for them.
The next morning the school year got started in much the same way as a non-magical one would, though with much different subjects. Harry's thoughts on his classes varied greatly depending said subject.
Herbology wasn't something that Harry could claim any real interest in. He also wasn't impressed by Astronomy and its old fashioned telescopes. Magic made up for a bit of the difference between the old telescopes and modern ones. However buying some newer Muggle telescopes and enchanting them would produce a far greater degree of clarity. He had quickly decided that History of Magic was either a free period or a time to do something else. Their ghostly teacher was literally quoting the book verbatim which made the class itself completely redundant. Not to mention that Binns seemed obsessively focused on the Goblin Wars, to the exclusion of the rest of their textbook in fact.
Charms class was interesting, but they hadn't done anything more than the Lumos Charm and the Color Changing Charm so far. Harry had already mastered the Lumos Charm to a degree that most adults hadn't and wandlessly at that. The Color Changing Charm was a fun novelty but nothing more than a parlor trick by comparison to the spells Harry had already read about.
Transfiguration was equally interesting and near the end of his last class Harry had been staring at the silver needle on his desk in quiet contemplation. The other students were struggling to get even a minor change in their matchstick, while he had managed to do it on the first try. He had attempted some small wandless transfigurations after returning from Diagon Alley. It had been incredibly difficult, but Harry had hoped to be able to alter the properties of materials to make them easier to work with. Wandlessly he hadn't managed anything significant, maybe a slight change in color at best. With his wand it had been almost easy by comparison. Did his previous wandless practice accelerate his magical ability with a wand? Or was the magical focus just multiplying his meager wandless skill with this branch of Magic?
"Well done, Mr. Potter!" McGonagall had praised him sounding very impressed. "I haven't seen anyone manage their first transfiguration attempt that quickly in many years. Ten points to Ravenclaw."
"Thank you, Professor." Harry had replied. While it wasn't actually his first try at Transfiguration he didn't think she'd believe him if he told her he'd been practicing it wandlessly.
Then Potions had come around and Harry found out what a bad teacher looked like for the first time. He still remembered his first Potions Class. It had all gone downhill when Snape got to his name during attendance.
"Ah, yes," Snape said softly when he reached his name during roll call. "Harry Potter, our new...celebrity." Harry held back a sigh, that tone portended nothing good coming from this man. Potions Class was most likely going to become his least favorite course soon.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," Snape continued in a near whisper. "As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death. If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
Harry thought that speech sounded kind of rehearsed. Snape probably used it for the first class every year. He would probably use it on the Slytherin/Gryffindor class too, when they had their first class. It wasn't a bad speech though, just a little over the top.
"Potter!" Snape called suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"I have no idea, sir." Harry answered. He hadn't spent very long going over his Potions textbook. It just wasn't as interesting to him as conjuring lightning or the myriad of other spells he could start learning. Not to mention the vast amount he was still learning about Runes and Arithmancy.
"Tut, tut, clearly fame isn't everything. Let's try again Potter..." Snape drawled.
More questions came and Harry was unable to answer any of them. Truthfully, he probably should have actually read through his Potions books, but learning how to hurl spells from his hands was a much stronger desire for him than learning about stirring a collection of odd ingredients inside a cauldron. He was an eleven year old boy, after all. With one last disdainful sneer, Snape rapidly went over the answers to the questions and instantly demanded to know why the rest of the class wasn't writing them down.
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