"That will be all for today class, remember what is due for next time." Flitwick happily called out, earning a few groans and several excited whispers from his students. "Mister Potter, please wait behind for a moment."
Eyes glanced back towards him, but the half-goblin shooed the other students along before closing the door behind them. "I would like to give you a bit of an extra assignment Mister Potter. Nothing too harsh or time consuming, but if you could begin going through this book and seeing what you recognize and what you don't, I would appreciate it. It is a generic course syllabus for my class covering all seven years. I don't expect you to know it all, but I want to see what you do and don't understand to get a better gauge on how to continue your education. I would be a poor professor if I ignored your studies just to ensure you had privacy."
Harry nodded, it was a fair request and he had been worried about becoming bored in school if the next few year were going be to like this one. As he placed the object into his bag, however, a thought occurred to him. "Professor, could you look at a book of mine? To see if there is anything wrong about it, any darker Charms that might have been cast on it."
The man's eyes narrowed, "Of course, do you have it with you?"
"No, I didn't want to touch it. I... had a bad experience with something resembling it from my own time."
"How bad?" the man pressed.
Harry returned the serious look, "Multiple students almost dying bad."
The Professor's postured straightened, his form becoming almost rigid, "Then it would not hurt to get a second opinion. I will let the Headmistress know we have an object that needs investigating. Who gave it to you if I might ask?"
"My Head of House."
****
Despite his concerns neither adult could find anything more than a few 'convenience Charms' used for weatherproofing the object. Dumbledore, once again, assured him that Grace Riddle was not up to anything fiendish, and suggested that he take the woman up on her offer for supplemental aid on the weekends.
She had argued it would help sell the 'prodigy' story. But Harry did not seek her out the first weekend, or the second. In fact, he purposely made himself scarce on those days, often working in empty classrooms on going through the review material provided by the other professors.
It hadn't just been Flitwick, after all, to be informed of his skill level, and the other Heads of House, along with Snape, had given him similar material to read over and find out what his exact level was.
The Potion's Professor had received a bit of a different response from the boy, however, when he had merely grinned and told her that his level would not be fifth year.
"I had a rough time in my Potions class." he had explained, "Professor Snape and I didn't get along."
Instead of belittling or shifting blame the woman had merely quirked an eyebrow, walked to a nearby bookcase, and pulled two additional texts from it. "These," she replied, "are supplementary material that should help. We give them to students not raised in Magical society or who miss extended periods of time and need to be caught up. If you have any questions my door is always open."
Not only had it been the nicest interaction Harry ever had with someone named Snape, but also one of the strangest.
Regardless, school was looking up for the dimensional traveler. Without Quidditch or focusing his concerns on solving the puzzle of the stone he had far less stress and more free time to work with. His grades, and more importantly knowledge, were increasing day by day, and his social circle was probably the largest it had ever truly been.
Sure, Slytherins were still major prats and other than the occasional greeting Crabbe and Goyle ignored him, but he had Hermione, Ron, Neville, Amaryllis, and Harriet to talk to.
More and more he wished he had just been sorted into Gryffindor to begin with.
Still, with all the positives there had to be negatives to balance everything out, and he certainly was dreading one of them.
Halloween
It was right around the corner, and where the other students were excited, he was on guard. If history repeated itself, he would be ready.
What he was not ready for was a fact he had long since put out of his mind.
"Harry," his dark-haired sister began, "you do know that Halloween week is when parents come in to talk with us and the professors, right?"
****
It was one of the times during the school year that Augustina looked forward to most. Not only was Halloween an enjoyable holiday, when the Magical world came together in celebration and decorations were in every window, but it was also when parents would visit Hogwarts, meet with staff, and discuss how their children's education was progressing.
The entire process took a week, with one day dedicated to each year of students, but the loss of time was well worth the individual communication. Normally it would be the Head of House who spoke with the parents whose children they were directly responsible for, but Dumbledore took pride in being as involved as possible.
This year, however, there was one encounter she was not looking forward to, and sure enough one couple made straight for the older woman.
"Headmistress," Lily Potter greeted, "we need to talk."
_____________________
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