What if...

Absolutely Spiffing

Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays with a passion, more than any other time of the year, rivalled only by the end of school. For another, he really, really wanted to do his homework. This alone was strange enough, but coupled with the fact that the homework was assigned over the summer, Harry was completely different from a normal boy his age.

However, he was forced to do it in secret, lest his relatives find out. His relatives weren't exactly the most welcoming of Harry's magical talent, so he was forced to do it at the dead of night when everyone else was asleep.

Speaking of the dead of night, it was currently midnight, and Harry was enjoying History of Magic without Professor Binns being the teacher. It was much easier to learn.

Harry flipped the page of his textbook, A History Of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, and read the black words that were printed on the page.

Non magic people (more commonly known as muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognising it. On the off chance that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. A simple flame-freezing charm was performed, allowing the witch or wizard to shriek in pain while enjoying a light tickling sensation. In fact, one particular witch, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burnt so much that she allowed herself to be caught no fewer than forty seven times in various disguises.

Of all the wizards and witches of the magical community Harry wanted to meet, Wendelin the Weird had now been shifted to the near-bottom of that list.

As Harry reached for his ink bottle, he listened closely for any sound whatsoever, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on the dry parchment on their way to the bathroom, he'd most likely find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs without food for the rest of the summer.

The Dursley family of number four, Privet Drive, were the reason Harry never enjoyed his summer holidays. Between Vernon's beatings, Petunia's impassive yet violent nature, and his whale of a cousin's habit of chasing him round the house, Harry's summers were always utter nightmares compared to his school life.

Now at his school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his life was completely different. While no one knew his name in Surrey, everyone knew his name in the wizarding world. He was Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, except to a select few that he liked to call his friends.

So far, Harry had fought off his parents' killer, Voldemort, three times now, in a different way in each instance. Although Harry liked to argue to himself that if it wasn't for Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, his two best friends, he would not have made it far.

Neville Longbottom was what you'd call a jewel wrapped in plastic, meaning that after you got past his slight stutter and round face, you got to know the real Neville Longbottom, the Neville that deflected a memory charm from a fully grown wizard to prevent Harry from losing his memories.

Hermione Granger. Harry could talk about her for days on end. Much like Neville, she didn't look like much, but to Harry, she was a diamond in the rough. His first real friend, Hermione was a shy bookworm that didn't usually talk to anyone and kept to herself, but Harry changed that.

They had met at Kings Cross, where they had accidentally clashed school trollies. Their friendship then evolved into something more as they went through things together. Like when Harry had no idea which potion to choose to save the Alchemist's Stone, as three were poison, two were nettle wine and one sent you back, but Hermione had given him the correct potion.

Granted, Harry simply put out the fire in the end, but without her extensive research and notes, Harry would never have figured out that it was a basilisk that was petrifying people. And she was a fast learner. Not to mention, once she had swiftly learned how to perform a spell, she quickly became very consistent at it. Only Harry could rival her.