A/N: Just another reminder that chapter 10 has been revised, so if you haven't already done so, you should read that update before continuing on with this chapter. Thanks and I hope you enjoy it.

-Virgo

Disclaimer: It's not mine

Eleven: First Day

September 3rd, 1997:

Before even the sun or the morning birds were up, Harry and his friends were up and ready for the day. They were each decked in the training clothes that they would wear back home as they silently exited their common rooms and made their way out of Hogwarts and onto the quidditch pitch. Mizuki had suggested the pitch as the perfect place to train whilst they attended Hogwarts. It was large and gave them an opportunity to spread their training around.

Harry, being an Elite Commander back home on Moon Island, quickly took charge of the training session. He and his friends first worked on physical training. They stretched thoroughly before running several well paced laps around the pitch. They then stretched again before alternating between several different forms of physical exercise, ranging from push-ups to martial arts.

Harry then had the group pair off for weapons training. Ginny and Mizuki were paired, since they were of the same power level, and Blake being a GreenMoon, went to train with Harry.

"You've got them on right?" Blake asked Harry warily.

Harry knew that Blake was talking of the power bracers that Harry always wore around his wrists. Everyone on Moon Island knew the intense power of a BlackMoon, and Harry's friends knew very well what he could do without the power bracers on.

Harry smiled wickedly at his friend, making the steel eyed boy even more nervous. Harry then lifted a sleeve, revealing the black metal band surrounding his wrist.

"Of course I have them on, you infant." Harry laughed at his friend as the boy let out a sigh of relief. Blake quickly stood straighter, glaring at his older friend.

"Just who are you calling an infant?! You'd be worried too if you had to battle someone hundreds of times more powerful than you, no matter if its only training!" Blake responded heatedly.

Harry just continued laughing at his friend. He of course knew that Blake did have a reason to worry, but still found it funny how the younger boy had practically wet his pants at the idea of challenging Harry.

"Whatever. Shouldn't we begin training now, Commander?"

Harry just shook his head in mirth before conjuring a sword to practice with. Blake did the same and they each took on the starting stance before engaging each other in a practice battle. When the swords had been broken in half and daggers had been thrown aside, and many other quickly conjured weapons either broken or tossed away, the two began using battle magic.

Although Blake was an excellent Weapons Master and could keep up with Harry enough to get by when it came to battling with weapons, he was no match for Harry when it came to magic. Whatever form of magic it was, be it battle magic or a simple household charm, Harry was a master at it. Even though all of the Children got some tutelage in how to use magic to aid your body in battle, Harry had mastered the art more than any other. He would use magic to enhance his speed and agility. Use it to increase the height of a jump or even, when it came to hand to hand combat, increase the distance and impact of a punch. Donovan Andrew Blackmoon wasn't called Commander and Master Magician for nothing. He knew his stuff, and Blake knew that he didn't have a chance against the clearly more powerful boy.

Almost as soon as they began adding magic into the fight, it was over. Harry would usually pull his punches when they got to fighting with magic, in order to give Blake more practice, but today he was feeling mischievous. Harry quickly disposed of his friend with a type of banishing charm that sent the other boy flying across the ground, landing in a heap halfway down the Quidditch pitch.

Harry winced as he saw his friend come to a rough halt in the dirt. Blake would be steaming mad when he was finally able to get up. Harry shrugged before looking to where Ginny and Mizuki had been practicing. The two had just finished their duel, and Ginny had a slight scowl on her face as Mizuki, smiling, offered her a handshake. It was clear that Mizuki had won this round. The two of them always practiced with each other and the turnout was never easily determinable. Half the time Ginny won and the other half Mizuki did. There were even a couple of instances where the two were tied. It was clear that the two were quite an even match.

The two girls joined Harry's side, laughing as they watched Blake pick himself up. They abruptly stopped as they saw the look on the boys face. There was murder in his eyes. Blake stood, wiping dirt off of himself as he stomped his way up the pitch, back to where his friends were. When he finally reached them, he stopped directly in front of Harry, who tried to affix a look of apology on his face, but was failing as looks of mirth and small snorts of laughter escaped his countenance.

"Look mate, I'm really-" Harry began but was cut off by Blake holding his hand up to silence him. "But I didn-" He tried again to no avail.

"You're a right bloody prick, you know." Blake uttered darkly before stomping off to the locker rooms.

Harry turned to the girls beside him with a raised eyebrow. The girls looked as if they were going to explode with laughter, and the three quickly descended into bouts of giggles and chuckles before making their way to their respective locker rooms to shower and change into school robes. Half an hour later the group was standing in the entrance hall of the castle.

"Who wants to explore?" Ginny suggested with a wicked smile. The others smiled and the Troublesome Foursome quickly moved forward to explore every nook and cranny they could of their new surroundings.

By the time eight o'clock rolled around, the four had a very good idea of the layout of the castle. They found several secret passages and learned which staircases were tricky. They had even managed to find a hidden room on the seventh floor that seemed to provide whatever the occupants wanted.

The castle was awake with students when the group made their way into the Great Hall for breakfast. They chose to sit at the Gryffindor table this morning. They picked a secluded corner of the table to sit at and talked in low voices while they ate.

"I didn't think this place would have such interesting features." Mizuki said. "It's got a ton of secret passages and the forest looks great."

"Yeah, not to mention the library. Although it's nowhere near the size of the one back home, it's got some interesting books on spell work and theory." Blake responded happily. "There's also lots of old tomes in the Ravenclaw common room."

Mizuki just rolled her eyes at the boy. "Bloody bookworm." She muttered to herself.

Blake glared at her, but before the two could get to arguing Harry intervened.

"I think that secret room on the seventh floor will be of great use to us." Harry stated with a serious look. "I sensed that it had an unplottable charm around it. We can use it for training while we're here, instead of putting a security charm around the whole quidditch pitch."

"Good idea Don." Mizuki smiled. "This way we won't have to be out in the cold. This place is nothing like home. I frankly don't understand how the people can stand it here." The girl shivered.

The others just shook their heads and laughed at her antics. Mizuki was always the first to complain about unsatisfactory weather conditions. Whether it was too hot or too cold, you could always count on Mizuki to complain about it.

As they were finishing their meal a girl came up behind Harry and cleared her throat. It was that Hermione girl who had showed them to the common room the previous night.

"Good morning" Hermione said smiling. "I just wanted to give you all your class schedules before you head off. It's great to see you all sitting together. As seventh years, our lessons will be combined with four houses attending at once. Make sure you arrive to each class promptly as to avoid detentions and loss of house points. If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask me." She handed them each a sheet of parchment before waving goodbye and walking back to her seat at the table.

"That girl sure can talk a lot." Blake commented before looking over the piece of parchment Hermione had handed him.

Harry smirked and checked over his own parchment. His smirk quickly turned into a frown and he groaned in frustration.

"What's the matter Don?" Mizuki questioned. "I know you can't be groaning over the schedule. This stuff'll be a cakewalk for us, you especially."

Donovan shook his head before answering with a frustrated sigh.

"It's not the classes Zu. Look at whose teaching them, specifically Defense and Charms."

All three of Harry's friends looked closely at their own parchments. There it was. Next to the classes were listed the instructors' names. J Potter was the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"Oh." Blake said simply. Mizuki also nodded in understanding.

"But who is L Evans?" Mizuki inquired about the Charms Professor.

Ginny decided to answer for Harry seeing how frustrated he was getting about the schedule. "That's Lily Potter's maiden name." Ginny said to Mizuki in an undertone. The older girl eyes went wide for a second before she once again nodded in understanding.

"Must be to avoid the confusion of having two professors with the same name." Blake mused.

"I was hoping that they'd be teaching some nonsense class like Divination or Care of Magical Creatures." Harry groaned. "I didn't want to have to deal with them as of yet, but now I'll be seeing at least one of them every day."

Ginny put her hand on Donovan' shoulder in a comforting manner and their other two friends gave him sympathetic smiles.

"That is a tough break mate, but don't worry too much, we'll be with you." Blake tried to reassure.

Harry gave a feeble smile back. He really didn't like this.

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After breakfast the group headed to their first class—Potions. They easily found the classroom down in the dungeons, as they had already discovered it while exploring. No other students had arrived yet and the professor was missing as well, but the class room was open so the quartet went in and assumed seats in the back of the class.

After about five minutes passed, students began filtering noisily into the room. Hermione took a seat near the front of the room, though it seemed that everyone else, other than the Slytherins, was avoiding sitting anywhere near the front. Within minutes the class was full and the professor had yet to appear.

The division of the houses was clearly shown as the room was quickly separated into four sections. With the exception of Hermione and one or two others, the seventh years had grouped together by house. Harry and his friends were in the Gryffindor section, which seemed to cover most of the back of the room, without even realizing it at first.

Josh, Ron, and Dean took the seats in the row in front of the four new students. Seamus and Neville didn't appear to be in the class. As he sat down, Josh waved briefly to Harry and Blake and shot Ginny and Mizuki a charming smile. Harry narrowed his eyes at the back of his brother's head.

The talking in the room came to a sudden halt as the potions professor swept into the room, his black robes billowing behind him. He was a tall, pale man with a hooked nose, greasy black hair, and glaring black eyes that swept over the room quickly.

"Welcome to NEWT level potions." The Professor said in an icy voice that wasn't very welcoming at all. "This will be one of, if not the, hardest class you have ever taken in your entire school career." He gave a quick glare to his assembled students.

"As you can see, not all of your year mates were qualified to take this course. You lot are apparently the best in the school." Here he looked around disdainfully, as though the 'best in the school' were actually quite lacking in his opinion. "We shall find out the validity of that by the end of the year. I accept nothing less than the hardest work and the very best results from this class, so if any of you feel that this will be too much for you I suggest that you leave now." He slowly looked around the room, an icy glare of challenge given to every student his eyes turned to.

The class was completely silent. No one moved even an inch as everyone stared apprehensively at the Potions Master. Harry, unseen, raised an eyebrow at the professor and turned to his friends. Ginny and Mizuki both had small smirks on their faces and Blake a determined look on his. Harry rolled his eyes at the younger boy, knowing that each of them could probably pass this curriculum in their sleep.

Turning back to the front of the room Harry saw that the other students had relaxed a little but there was still a great amount of tension in the room. Professor Snape turned to the board waving his wand and instructions appeared indicating the assignment. It seemed that they were to get right into brewing on the first day. The assembled students sat staring at the board until the Professor once again glared at them. "Well?" He said coldly. This seemed to wake the class up as students quickly began setting up cauldrons and rushing to the cupboard at the front of the room for ingredients. Harry shook his head in mirth before setting up his own station.

An hour later, class had ended and many of the students looked quite pale and shaken. Professor Snape had stalked through the rows throughout class, commenting on several people's potions as he went along. He would always take the opportunity to embarrass and take points away from anyone who was brewing the potion incorrectly, or being what he deemed a distraction to the class—this did not include the Slytherins. If someone in any of the other three houses was doing the potion right, he would simply sneer and walk past, not saying a word.

When the Professor reached Josh, he immediately started crossly commenting on the boy's potion brewing skill. The young Gryffindor said nothing, only nodding his head in response to the professor's comments, and Snape quickly took fifteen points for 'blatantly ignoring a professor.' Harry had a feeling that had Josh responded to the remarks, he still would have been punished. Snape had glared and quietly stalked to the next row upon coming to Harry and his friends. They had each done their potions perfectly.

Now, most of the same group from the Potions lesson was heading toward the fourth floor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry held an apprehensive look as he walked toward the class that was to be taught by the man he once called father.

As the four were walking, Josh, Ron, and the other three Gryffindor boys from Harry's dorm came up beside them.

"Hey mates." Josh smiled at them all in turn. "Sorry your first class here had to be potions." He grimaced slightly. "Snape has a reputation for being the most hated professor in the school…Well except for by the Slytherins of course, seeing as he's their head of house."

"He's a dirty old bat, that's what he is." Ron interjected. Harry gave a slight smile at Ron's comment as others laughed lightly at their professor's expense. Harry subtly looked toward Ginny. She had a slightly guarded look in her eyes as she observed her brother. Harry knew that she missed her family and wanted to see them, but didn't know what her immediate reaction would be to her youngest brother, considering their relationship before she left. She now seemed to be avoiding getting close, observing him from a distance and gauging how she should deal with him.

The group finally reached the classroom and filed in behind other students making their way to their seats. Unlike in their potions class, everyone seemed to crowd more toward the front. There were also a lot more people in the class. Hannah and Ernie waved at Mizuki as the quartet passed, while Ginny noticed some of the Slytherins sending her icy looks.

Josh, Ron, and their other friends all picked seats near the front row, with Seamus and Neville joining them. Josh had turned to motion the four new students to sit up with him and his friends, but Harry and the others pretended they didn't see and headed toward the back. Josh frowned a little but then shook it off and sat.

James Potter entered the room with a broad grin just after the last few students had taken their seats. "Morning all, and welcome to seventh year Defense." He said jovially.

The professor's eyes roamed the room until he came upon the back row where Harry and his friends were sitting. "Ah, if it isn't our newest additions to the school. Welcome to Hogwarts," he said by way of greeting. "I hope that you'll enjoy your stay here, and that you can leave with a greater knowledge of how to defend yourself after taking this class." He gave the four a smile then turned back to the rest of the class.

Harry couldn't properly identify what he was feeling at that moment. It was the first time he had been so near his first father since he was six years old. Seeing the older man smiling and talking to him so easily was almost more than Harry could bear. James Potter didn't know that it was his oldest son who sat before him of course, but Harry still felt that the man had no right to smile so freely at him.

Before Harry could fall deeper into his thoughts he felt Ginny give his hand a light squeeze underneath the table. He looked at her and saw her give him a small smile and reassuring look. Harry smiled back lovingly at her. He truly didn't know what he would do without her.

As Harry turned back to the front of the class he caught the rest of Professor Potter's introduction speech. The man briefly outlined what they would be doing that semester and how, like in Professor Snape's class, they would be doing much harder work and much more of it. The rest of the class was spent briefly reviewing what they had done in previous years and explaining how they would expand their theories on these things and learn more advanced defense.

After class was lunch. The Troublesome Foursome quickly left the class ahead of the other students and headed down to the Great Hall.

"Well that was interesting." Mizuki commented with a sly grin.

"Yeah, loads of fun." Harry replied with sarcasm. Mizuki merely laughed at him.

"Don't worry Don, I think this will be better than you think. You just have to be optimistic about it." Blake said to his friend. "Professor Potter actually seems sort of nice." Harry sent a steely glare to the younger boy, who paled a little. "Or not…" Blake quickly replied.

Ginny lightly slapped Harry on the arm. "Stop that." She told him. "Blake's right." Harry now looked at her disbelievingly.

"Right?! bu-" Harry started but was cut off by Ginny putting a finger to his lips to silence him.

"I'm not saying that you should just forget everything that happened before and look past it right away, but you should act in a more reasonable manner. You can't go around glaring at the Potters every time you're near them or else people will start to notice and bring too much attention our way. You know how protective everyone is of them, so for now, you need to put on a happy face and play nice."

Harry put on a sour expression and mumbled to himself. "I do not glare at them every time I'm near them."

"Oh please Donovan" Ginny responded having heard him. "I saw the way you looked at Josh earlier when he smiled at Mizuki and me. And the way you would narrow your eyes in Defense almost every time the professor would smile or make a joke."

"Whatever." Harry responded childishly. "Well what about you then? I also saw how you were looking at Ron earlier. It feels just as odd for you to be back here as it does for me." He said defensively.

Ginny rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Alright." She conceded. "How about this—we'll both try our best to act perfectly normal around the people we used to know. No odd looks or acting like anything other than new students who just met them for the first time when we are around them ok?"

The group had reached the Great Hall by now and had taken their seats at the end of the Gryffindor table once more. Harry looked like he was contemplating Ginny's terms for a second before responding. "OK" he said simply before digging into his food.

Ginny and Mizuki shared a look and simultaneously rolled their eyes. "Boys." They both sighed heavily.

"Hey! I resent that!" Blake replied indignantly, shooting glares at the two girls. The two just rolled their eyes and laughed. Harry just ignored them and continued with his meal.

It was harder for Harry to ignore his agreement with Ginny as the group headed off to Charms.

"What kind of sick person made it so that I have their class's one right after the other? Is this meant to torture me?!" Harry whined on the way. Ginny shot him a look. "I know, I know." He replied. "Perfectly normal new students, blah blah blah." The other's just shook their heads at him and continued on their way.

Charms class was much more difficult for Harry. He didn't know why, but for some reason, he felt more on edge when he was around his former mother. He felt as though he wanted to reach out to her and push her away at the same time.

His group had once again sat in the back, again ignoring Josh's beckon for them to sit up near the front. When Lily Potter, or Professor Evans as she was known, entered, she had greeted the class with a small smile. She, like her husband, had stopped for a moment to greet and welcome the four new students, but her eyes had lingered on Harry for a second longer than the others and he saw a strange look of familiarity pass across her face quickly before disappearing back into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

The rest of the class passed much like the last, and the whole time Harry felt at odds with himself. He knew that there was no possible way that Professor Evans could know who he really was, but that one moment when their eyes had met disconcerted him a great deal. He didn't know that being around the woman who had birthed him would fluster him this much. He expected to be angry yes, but now he was becoming more confused than anything. The Potter's just weren't what he expected them to be so far, especially Lily.

When the class ended and he was heading out he looked back slightly to see that Lily was looking at him once more. Upon meeting his gaze looking back at hers, Lily did not turn but held it for a moment, that look of familiarity passing across her face once more before she shook herself and turned away.

Harry too turned away and continued on with his friends without saying a word. The others felt his frustration and confusion and silently agreed that they wouldn't bother him and just wait for him to speak when he was ready. Ginny grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze without looking up at him. Harry looked sideways at her and allowed a small smile to tug the corners of his mouth. They walked on hand in hand, Blake and Mizuki on either side of them, in companionable silence.

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The rest of the day was uneventful. The quartet had gone to Ancient Runes after Charms and then had the rest of the day free until dinner. They had gone to the Room of Requirement to train for a while and then gone to dinner. They sat in their same spot from earlier and conversed lightly with some of the people around them.

When the time came for them to head to their separate dormitories, they said goodbye to each other and planned to meet in the Room of Requirement for their morning training. Harry left Ginny with a kiss before making his way up to Gryffindor tower.

When he got to the common room Dean and Ron waved him over to where they were sitting with a Neville and a couple of girls Harry had yet to officially meet. Figuring he ought to start making some headway in getting to know these people, he made his way over. It would be an added bonus to get to know his girlfriend's brother a little more as well.

"Hey Donovan," Dean greeted him "We were just thinking of getting some exploding snap going. You in?"

Harry shrugged. "Sure, I guess. I've never really played before though." At this, the three boys gave him weird looks, and the two unknown girls giggled as if scandalized. Harry suppressed a frown.

"You've never played exploding snap?!" Ron sounded almost offended.

"What's that?" A voice said from behind. Harry turned to see Josh and Seamus heading over to join the group.

Ron pointed an accusing finger in Harry's direction. "Don here has never played exploding snap!" Harry was almost concerned with how important this game seemed to be to the red head. He shook his head and shrugged again.

"We had different games where I grew up." He stated simply. Ron just continued to stare disbelievingly at him.

Josh chuckled at his friends antics and smiled up at Harry. "Well why don't we teach you? It's a pretty fun game." Harry had to try hard to suppress the glare of disdain he wanted to give his brother for bestowing him with such an easy going, charming attitude. Remembering his discussion with Ginny and his promise to try to act normal, he took a seat amongst the others.

"I'm Lavender by the way." The blond girl giggled at him. The darker girl beside her was giggling as well, before she introduced herself as Pavarti. Harry couldn't help but wonder what in the world could be so funny.

"Donovan. Nice to meet you." Harry responded, smiling to each of them in turn, setting the girls off into a new set of giggles. Harry could see Seamus frowning slightly at this, and he spotted Hermione at a table across the room look over briefly and roll her eyes. He suppressed a grin, sure that any such move on his part would cause the girls to go into some kind of fit.

The others taught him how to play exploding snap and they played a few games before eventually heading to bed. Harry had to admit, he had had some fun hanging out with the group. Josh didn't seem to be the stuck up show off Harry remembered, and Ron—though certainly somewhat obnoxious at face value—actually seemed to be a pretty funny and laid back guy. Dean was good for a laugh and Neville was a kind guy overall.

Harry could certainly have done without Lavendar and Pavarti's constant giggling and Seamus' needless glares in his direction, but other than those couple problems, the night hadn't been too bad.

As Harry lay in bed with his curtains drawn he thought about his first day back. It had been odd interacting with his old family. He really couldn't gauge what kind of people they had become yet. He expected Josh to be just as stuck up and attention hungry as ever, but so far, the red head had been acting very kind and humble. Harry couldn't believe for one second that his brother had changed that much. Harry decided he would continue to watch him closely.

James and Lily Potter were also an enigma. He couldn't decide what he really felt toward his former parents just yet. His interaction with Lily was an especially complicated matter. He had caught her looking at him for a moment at dinner and he was getting worried by it. The two times that their eyes had met made Harry feel as though the woman was looking right into his very soul and could see who he really was. He knew that it was ridiculous to think that she could know who he really was, but those looks were very disconcerting.

Harry rolled over in bed. The Elder had arranged everything so that Harry and the others could get into Hogwarts without trouble and get closer to the heart of the war. Harry knew that this would involve getting near Josh, since he was thought to be the Boy Who Lived, but nothing was going as Harry thought it would as far as his old family was involved. He decided that one day was just not enough time to really find out what these people were like, and that he needed more time to think on it.

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POSTED: 11/16/2012

A/N: Thank you all for sticking with me so far. I really appreciate all of your feedback and reviews. Your support has been really great. I will see you next chapter.