THE LIGHTNING LORD

Chapter 8 : First day

Once the feast was over, Dumbledore said something about the third floor which would be the cause of a painful death. Harry snorted to himself. What a thing to say to a group of teenage rebels. He followed the prefect to Ravenclaw tower where an eagle knocker asked a riddle "What is greater than Magic, more evil than killing a unicorn, the poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it, you'll die?"

The prefect turned towards the newly sorted Ravenclaws and asked , "You'll have to answer a riddle every time you enter the tower. If you don't know then someone else can come and help you. That way, you learn, see? Can any of you answer it?",

"Nothing", Harry instantly replied.

"Correct. You have a keen mind young one", said the eagle and the door opened, amidst his classmates, gawking at Harry. The Ravenclaw Common room was beautiful. It had high windows and the ceiling was similar to the one in the Great Hall, showing stars and planets. Unlike the other houses, Ravenclaws and Slytherins got their own rooms. They were small, but it was better than sharing your room with others. Harry was grateful for this. He did not like sharing his room. Once the prefect finished her speech, the new students all walked to their respective rooms. Harry entered the one which had his name on it. It was small but looked homely. It had a large window, a four-poster bed, and a desk.

"Toby", he said.

The elf popped in front of him. "What can Toby do for Master?", he said.

"Can you please increase the size of this room and change the wall colours to red and silver like the one back home?" he asked.

The elf nodded and snapped his fingers so the room expanded into a good size. The walls were also changed to deep red and silver. Toby nodded to Harry and then disappeared. Harry looked at the room and was happy with it. He took his wand and made a few movements. There was a flash of light and an enormous Potter crest appeared on a wall decorated red. He opened his multi-compartment trunk by hissing in parseltounge and had been surprised to discover this trait when he had spoken to a garden snake he found in the grounds of Potter Castle. Not that he would ever tell anyone of this discovery as he prized his secrets. Plus, he knew the trait was classified as dark. He pulled out a large picture frame from inside his trunk. He took it and stuck it on the wall above his desk with a strong sticking charm. It was a picture of Charlus, Dorea, James and Lily Potter on the day of his parents' wedding. He changed his clothes and went to bed for he knew that tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Harry got up early like he always did. He changed into his exercise clothes and took out a tatty piece of parchment. He touched it with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good". The parchment expanded and showed the map of Hogwarts. Harry saw that Dumbledore was still in his office and after browsing for several minutes, he was about to deactivate it but saw something which he thought wasn't possible. Harry couldn't believe his eyes. "Well, well, well", he whispered to himself. "Look who I found."

Once he had arrived at Potter Castle four years ago, the elves had begun to recover things that had belonged to the family. There were several items belonging to James and Lily that they had found in the possession of Albus Dumbledore, including the precious invisibility cloak that had been in the family for centuries. That was when Harry had found a tatty piece of parchment. While reading his father's journal, he found out that it was the Marauder's Map and thought it was quite an incredible piece of magic.

Once his morning exercises were done, he took a bath, dressed in his uniform and made his way to the Great Hall. He gracefully sat down at the Ravenclaw table amid stares from everyone in the hall and started eating breakfast. His Head of House, Professor Flitwick came around passing everyone their timetables. He looked at his and smirked. The first class was Herbology with the Slytherins, a perfect time to talk to Daphne he thought to himself. He had Charms and Astronomy with the Gryffindors, Defence against the Dark Arts and Potions with the Hufflepuffs and Transfiguration again with the Slytherins. It was a well-rounded schedule he mused to himself.