Quidditch

Harry thought there was one boy at Hogwarts who was a complete mystery: Draco Malfoy.

Harry simply could not figure out what went on in the boy's head.

Calling him a bully like Dudley did not quite fit, since he hardly ever bullied the other students. In fact, Harry had even seen him being bullied by a third-year named Rowles Prewett.

Nor could he be called a poor student. His marks in Potions Class were excellent, and he did well in Charms and Transfiguration too. He only seemed a little dim in Herbology.

What Harry could not understand was why the guy kept coming over to make his presence known, whether he had a reason or not. Every few days, he would turn up in front of Harry and make snide remarks.

But whenever Harry actually stood up, cracking his knuckles and preparing to have a little discussion with him, the guy always fled at top speed.

All that attitude, and nothing to back it up.

That was Harry's verdict on Draco Malfoy. He found it rather annoying.

Fortunately, Potions Class was the only lesson the first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins shared, so they did not cross paths much otherwise.

Speaking of Potions Class, Harry had been a little surprised.

He had originally assumed that his clash with Snape would have some sort of repercussions. That would have been normal.

But Hogwarts was a magic school, so being abnormal was normal here. Neither Professor McGonagall nor any of his other teachers had changed their attitude toward him.

The only change had been in Potions Class, and even that was very different from what Harry had expected.

During Potions Class now, Snape completely ignored Harry, along with Neville, who was Harry's partner.

Neville was still slightly better off than Harry, though. At least Snape marked his homework. Even if his criticism made it sound worse than dog shit, that was probably better than Harry's homework, which vanished without a trace once he handed it in.

Harry suspected that Snape simply threw his homework away. Of course, he might have used it to wipe his arse instead. The parchment they used at school was quite soft.

That made Harry consider not doing his Potions homework anymore, but after much deliberation, he decided that the knowledge he gained was his own, after all.

So he kept doing the homework, but asked Padma and Hermione to mark it for him instead.

Harry felt a little embarrassed about leaving Hermione out when he had bought desserts last time. He thought he had been rather petty. She was one of the first friends he had made after coming to Hogwarts, after all, so he later asked the twins to buy a small portion especially for her.

He had no idea how the twins managed it, but whenever Harry wanted something, they could get him desserts or other things from Hogsmeade in half a day at the quickest, or a day at most.

Hermione seemed to have cooled down too, and was no longer giving Harry the silent treatment. When Harry offered her the dessert and asked her to help mark his Potions homework, she hesitated briefly before agreeing.

Hermione still advised Harry to apologize to Snape, but Harry did not take it seriously.

While Harry's life was gradually settling into a routine, things were not going quite so smoothly for his friends.

First there was Hermione, who had only just started talking to Harry again.

Hermione was an outstanding student, with no weaknesses in any area of her studies. Even Potions Class, which made the Gryffindors miserable, and History of Magic, which sent every student to sleep, were a breeze for her.

But while she had no blind spots academically, her social skills were nothing but blind spots.

In just two weeks, she had managed to offend every girl in her year. None of them particularly wanted to hang out with her-though Hermione generally spent her time reading alone anyway, and was not fond of playing.

In fact, apart from Harry, Ron, and Neville, whom she had known before, hardly any of the first-years wanted to talk to her. Even Ron's willingness to speak to her was probably due in large part to his need for help with his homework.

Hermione's problems were social, and she herself did not particularly care about them. Ron and Neville, on the other hand, were struggling with their studies.

Harry was doing reasonably well in every subject, even performing above average. Although he was no academic star, he could just about be called a top student. Ron and Neville, however, were struggling across the board.

Ron's marks in Charms and Transfiguration were poor. He performed badly in class, and Professor McGonagall often criticized his homework too. As for Potions Class, that went without saying. In the three lessons they had attended so far, he had been told off more than five times...

Neville was doing even worse than Ron.

Ron's magic worked only sporadically in class. Neville's did not work at all!

In fact, Neville had yet to perform even a single successful spell in class. Only after practicing many times afterward could he barely manage one. Even then, he could not match Ron, whose performance could already be described as abysmal...

Neville was doing all right in Potions Class, though, probably because he was partnered with Harry. His History of Magic marks were utterly dreadful. His memory really was rather poor, and he kept forgetting things.

His Herbology marks, however, were excellent. He had not stood out in the first week and had been average in the second, but by the third week, the points he earned in Herbology had even caught up with Harry's. Of course, he was nowhere near Hermione.

Apart from classes and homework, Harry devoted more of his energy to meditation, Occlumency, and the other form of Occlumency he had stumbled across in the library.

After trying to learn this other form of Occlumency, Harry was surprised to discover that, to a certain extent, it complemented the version he already practiced.

His original Occlumency acted as a shield, blocking outside attempts to peer into his mind while also allowing him to detect them.

The other form of Occlumency could not detect attempts to peer into his mind, and it seemed somewhat less effective at blocking them than his original version. However, it could create false thoughts.