《Villainous》 Prologue Matthew stared into space thinking in a vain attempt to get rid of writer''s block. This always happened to him. He had been an avid reader of Fantasy and Science Fiction ever since he was a kid, and about 2 years ago he had finally been convinced by his friends that he should just write his own book. What they and himself hadn''t realized at the time was that writing is mind-numbing work with constant temptations. Sitting in front of his laptop for hours constantly second guessing what he had written just killed his motivation. He''d get distracted and an I''ll do it laterwould turn into a Wouldn''t it just be better if I just started over with a better idea? In the 2 years he had been doing this off and on he still hadn''t completed a novel to his satisfaction. If nothing else it had left him with a whole new level of appreciation for those people who write for a living, even that one guy who keeps putting off the last book in his trilogy. He was 19 now, and if he didn''t have a workable novel by the time his college was up he''d have to just get a job at whatever work he could find, which would be kind of a waste of that literature degree he''d been working towards. That thought kept spurring him back to his latest train wreck of a novel, Supers. It was supposed to be a doomsday setting kept afloat by people who had superhuman powers, but it just wasn''t going well. Cynicism kept bleeding into his writing ever since he had called it quits with Stacy, which kept affecting his characters and making them seem like jerkasses even to his own eyes.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. After grumbling for a bit he did what he always did when he got writer''s block, which was bring up some flash games and screw around. He had just logged on to his favorite site when he got a popup.
¡°Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live¡­ a real life?¡±
YES / NO
Leaving aside how a popup got through his legion of blockers and it''s appeal to the depressed, he actually recognized the inspiration for this one. Chinese novels had been picking up a cult following on some of the forums he visited, and he''d actually read some of the Infinite genre, starting with Terror Infinity. He didn''t really like them though. It was probably a joke by one of those guys down in tech, but better safe than sorry. He decisively clicked NO.
Distrustful of people? We now have a new offer. Play alone today!
YES / NO
Ugh, not one of those again. With a brief internal promise to just exit off whatever webpage it sent him to and run the antivirus software again later, he clicked YES. His vision went dark. Harry Potter Gone Wrong? (1) Matt woke up with a pounding headache and laying on cold hard pavement. I don''t remember getting mugged? Something felt off with his body, and after some quick examination his body turned out to be a few sizes shorter. Almost like he had been as a kid before the years and lack of exercise had gotten to him. A dream then. He stood and looked around, noticing that he was in an alley that he didn''t remember ever being in. Huh, it''s weird to dream about places I don''t recognize. As soon as he thought that, a bunch of floating blue screens out of sci-fi popped up in front of him, adding a surreal feel to the dream.
Villainous System Activated! Novice Package Granted!
Tutorial Movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer''s Stone (Easy)
Primary Task Steal the sorcerer''s stone
Reward: 5000 pts and C-level ticket Penalty for Failure: Death
Optional Task 1 Go undiscovered by all characters during theft
Reward: 2000 pts Penalty for Failure: N/A, but may include failure of Primary Task
Optional Task 2 Place first in the end of the year exam
Reward: 2000 pts and D-level ticket Penalty for Failure: 1000 points
Optional Task 3 Help your chosen house win the House Cup
Reward:3000 pts and D-level ticket Penalty for Failure: 1000 points
What? Just as I finished a memory hit me and I was sure it wasn''t mine. It was an abridged version of a messed up childhood going from orphanage to orphanage and eventually running away to live in the streets as a petty thief. Heavy stuff for an 11-year old. Luckily this other me had a tough streak and strange things happened around him to help him through things, like food randomly appearing when he was starving and a bum who wanted to beat him tripping and breaking his leg while chasing after him. He recognized it as signs of a yound wizard, which wasn''t that strange if this is supposed to be Harry Potter''s setting. Adults had realized the strange things only happened around other-him and had shunned him for it, doing just about everything they could legally get away with to make him as uncomfortable as possible. This had led to him running away and his inability to take any under the table small jobs. He felt a bit indignant at the memories even though he knew logically that this was a fake history. Matthew idly realized this couldn''t possibly be a dream, or if it is it''s the strangest dream he had ever heard of. Pinching himself yielded nothing but pain, so he decided to think back on to the last things he could remember. Right, the popup! Dread sunk in as everything started looking familiar. He''d only read the first arc of Infinite Terror but this looked somewhat familiar. Okay, be calm. Let''s think, what can we do if this is real? Presumably I should be getting a letter from Hogwarts soon, but I don''t know exactly when. I need a place to stay and get some food first. After checking his pockets he discovered about 100 pounds in assorted bills, which he supposed was part of the "novice package" mentioned. Mighty nice of that asshole god. He didn''t really know much about currency exchange, but consulting his fake memories let him know a pound had the purchasing power of roughly 2 dollars in 1991. Still not a lot if I need to live more than a week here, but I doubt it will leave me hanging for long.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
By the time had bought a decent set of clothing and booked a room at a nearby hotel for 1 week(the guy barely balked at his story and lack of I.D.) he was starting to get hungry. He went to a roadside stall he had seen in the park on the way here and bought 2 hot dogs along with a bottle of coke from the vending machine. 40¡ê gone already. He resolved to be a bit more financial minded in the near future, but he needed the comfort now. After finishing his awesome food he found an open bench and sat down. Time to get to work. He brought out a pad of paper and pen he had found in his hotel room and started jotting down everything he could remember about the first Harry Potter movie. It had been almost 4 years since he read the book or saw the movie so his memory was a bit rusty. Nevertheless, he thought he remembered all the major points even if the names weren''t all there. Matt felt getting past all the traps on the stone would be child''s play, but the bigger problem was that he was pretty sure those traps were deliberately made easy so that Dumbledore could train Harry. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort would rather violently object to a third party barging in and taking the stone out from under their noses, and either could squish him with ease. He brooded over things for hours with no good solution presenting himself. Stealing it from Gringott''s or Hagrid as he transported it was obviously out of the question with the time he had, which left only getting past dozens of alarm magics and stealing it without anybody noticing in some kind of Ocean''s Eleven stunt. Wonderful. The only thing that he had come to terms with was that he couldn''t be Gryffindor if he wanted to pull this off. Making friends with the main cast had some appeal to make this easier, but it was drowned by the extra scrutiny he would be subjected to. Dumbledore wouldn''t be so easy to fool and Matt had no occlumency to protect his thoughts. He had to be as unassuming as possible and strike where it was least expected. He had the beginnings of a plan, but he needed to see if it would be feasible or not. It depended on magic he wasn''t even sure existed, but he had no better ideas at the moment. He would train like his life depended on it (it did) and see where it took him.
He stayed until the sky turned dark brooding, but after making his way back to the hotel he was surprised to find he had a letter.Damn, they work fast.The letter was addressed to a Mr. M. Forrester, 1045 Browning Street, Star Hotel, Room 8. After opening he got the expected message. HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) Dear Mr. Forrester, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress Inside was a book list and an extra note that a representative would be showing up next Sunday to talk to him and go with him to get a wand should he agree. Books would be loaned by the school in light of his circumstances. That''s unexpectedly...modern. He resolved to get some more money somehow tomorrow and went to sleep early. Harry Potter Gone Wrong? (2) He thought hard on what he could use to make money in the weeks to come, but most of them were closed due to child labor laws. He briefly considered stealing like his predecessor before discarding it. His reason wasn''t because of morality, but because it would ultimately bring him bad attention if Hogwarts found out. He was fine with working if he could, but he was alone here and money would increase his chances of surviving. That gave him some moral leeway in his mind. After a lot of internal wrangling he finally decided to just go above-board and make use of one of his hobbies, which required an investment. After a trip to a music store (and ¡ê40 lighter), he unwrapped his new cheap acoustic guitar. This was a guitar he wouldn''t be caught dead with before, but it would serve for his plans. He had learned to play from his aunt when he was going through the band phase of early high school and kept it as a private hobby all the way into college as a way to relax as well as impress girls. He was pretty good at it he was told, but he had never tried to make money off of it before. He spent all of Monday practicing to make up for his smaller hands before setting out with some trepidation to the same park he bought the hot dogs at before. He unpacked in a corner of a square, layed out the case like he saw on tv once, and started playing. All the passerbys started looking at him like he was crazy, but Matt had always heard audacity was the hallmark of any entertainer. Turns out those sayings were only half right. Matt did make some money, despite his total unfamiliarity with the local songs, but after about 2 hours some asshole called the cops for "begging." He was still raging about that when he got home after explaining to the officer. He wouldn''t be able to play there again, but he had made about ¡ê20 of his investment back. Not bad for a couple hour''s work. The officer had also kindly mentioned that there was a flea market about a mile away where he could continue tomorrow if he wanted, which was nice. Probably make more money there anyway.
The week passed in a blur of playing songs and brushing up on the common sense in order to blend in. It was finally Sunday, and he had taken the day off so that he wouldn''t miss whoever came to talk to him. They could probably find him at the market with their uncanny ability to locate people, but better safe than sorry. The doorbell rung, which interrupted his train of though and sent him jumping. He opened the door and was greeted with the sight of a portly lady he remembered as Professor Sprout from the movie. He did his best to seem like an anxious and scared 11-year old, which wasn''t very hard considering he was pretty anxious truthfully. Just for very different reasons.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Hello..?" "Hello deary, my name is Pomona Sprout and I''m here from Hogwarts. Can I come in?" "...yes." After a quick conversation where Mrs. Sprout explained what kind of school Hogwarts was and Matt explained his own fake sob story, they got down to business. He signed off on some kind of acceptance form and she offered to take him to Diagon Alley. The school would pay for the wand and she mentioned the goblins of Gringotts offered an exchange on the british pound for the galleon at about 5/1 for muggle-born wizards. Not bad. He had about ¡ê100 left over from his week''s work, which would net him about 20 galleons. A considerable sum if he remembered right. "Mrs. Sprout, with that exchange you mentioned I don''t think I''ll need the school''s support after all. Would 20 galleons cover it?" "Yes deary, you should be able to get all your school supplies for first year new for about 10 galleons. Less if you know how to bargain." "Thank you, I''m all set. Shall we get going?" He signed out with the hotel staff (he would pick somewhere closer to King''s Cross when they were done) and followed Mrs. Sprout out to the parking lot. When he got there he was dumbfounded though, as she pointed out an honest-to-god bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle as hers. The car looked totally out of tune with her image, but she seemed proud of it so he did his best to hide his incredulousness. How does she fit? He stuffed that rude thought in the back of his mind. "What do you think dear? I bought this device last year so I could pick up students of muggle origin since they aren''t connected to the Floo Network." "It''s...colorful." Please tell me we aren''t going to crash on the way there. After a horrifying but thankfully accident-free 10 minute drive, they pulled up on to the curb near The Leaky Cauldron. Matt wasn''t entirely sure how they made it, because Mrs. Sprout seemed to have little concept of traffic laws. There must''ve been some kind of charm on the vehicle to make police ignore her. Matt got out and felt like throwing up. Never again. "This way deary." He shook off the nausea and followed her into the ugly looking bar. A quick wave to the bartender and they went right out the back. "Pay attention to the order, as you''ll probably have to do this yourself next year." Matt doubted that, but he payed attention anyway. She pointed to an off-color brick in the top right and tapped it 3 times with her wand. Why even have the entrance concealed when you can only see the bar if you''re a wizard? Ignoring Matt''s rambling thought, the bricks peeled back in a way that defied physical laws. This was his first real show of magic and he was stood there wild-eyes despite the fact that he knew it was coming. He couldn''t wait to get into the books and see how it worked. "Welcome to Diagon Alley deary! You can find just about everything along it''s street." "It''s amazing." He followed her down the wildly colored street while taking note of everything he could see. He recognized some of the wares on display from the books, but seeing it in a person was a very different experience. As a cathedral-like building came into view midway up the street, Mrs. Sprout stopped and pointed. "First stop, Gringotts." Harry Potter Gone Wrong (3) Good lord the goblins were tightwads. It took 5 minutes of going back and forth to get them to finally understand that no, Matt did not want to open an account with them. Whatever rates they were offering were unlikely to benefit him, and he needed what little money extra he would have left over. They seemed really put off with that and grumpily rushed through his exchange. He was still unfamiliar with the coinage, but as he counted up everything while they were leaving he figured out they had shorted him 2 sickles. Was that supposed to be some kind of goblin stealth insult? He briefly considered going back to complain, but Mrs. Sprout was still standing there and he really didn''t want to get into it with these people over change. Getting back out into the street did wonders for his mood, and they did the rest of his shopping over the next 2 hours. The process of getting a wand had been without the theatrics of Harry Potter''s, and after 5 tries Mr. Ollivander had somehow figured out the right combination that had conjured a burst of motes of light when Matt held it. Ebony and Phoenix feather, whatever that meant. There had been a large temptation at the book store, but in the end he stuck with just school books. He figured Hogwart''s library would be more than enough to keep him busy, and he really couldn''t afford to fit more books into the wheeled trunk that he was pulling now. He also chose not to buy a pet, on account of "normal" animals not being very useful once he had to leave. It was a distraction he didn''t need. "Hear you are deary, I''ve talked to the innkeeper Tom and you''re covered to stay here until the 1st. Please keep in mind to make curfew and not wander far from Diagon Alley''s main street. There are some seedy places there where young boys do not belong." Matt looked around the seedy bar and wondered what Mrs. Sprout considered seedy, but he let the thought go. He went out to the car to fetch his belongings, which wasn''t much besides the guitar. "Thank you for your help, Mrs. Sprout. I''ll be seeing you at Hogwarts then?" "Yes deary, but next time we meet you should call me Professor. Well, see you in 2 weeks Mr. Forrester. Maybe you''ll be in my House." She said that with a wink and left in her Beetle to who knows where. After going back inside and talking to Tom to see which room he was assigned, a room number 3 on the ground floor, he wheeled his trunk to his room and locked the door. It was threadbare but surprisingly clean despite how the tavern part had looked. He at on the bed and started unpacking the trunk. He had specifically chosen here rather than a muggle hotel nearer the station for one purpose, which was an early start on his learning. He didn''t know exactly how the so-called Trace worked or when it was placed, but living in a building full of wizards would provide him cover if the original books were to be believed. So with great aplomb, he opened up The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk and got started on his law-breaking.
A well-honed speed reading as a lit major and long time reader came in handy, as he finished The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), Magical Theory, and A Beginners¡¯ Guide to Transfiguration in the 2 weeks he had with time to spare. He was torn between breaking his own ban on buying more spellbooks or finished off the other texts, as he really didn''t really care about potions or history. He didn''t forget that he still had a task to be the first on the end of the year exams, but facing a bunch of 11 year olds didn''t give him much of a sense of crisis. Shouldn''t be that hard to just make up later along with everyone else. I at least have confidence in my cram studying. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. In the end he decided on neither and focused on the practical use of what he had learned. He probably had more fun than he should have trying to levitate his own shoes while he was wearing them, but by the time it was ready to leave he had at least passing familiarity with all the charms in the first year book, and could turn a match into a needle as well as shoot out a stream of blue-colored birds with transfiguration(useless as far as he could tell, but still interesting). After a conversation with Tom he found out The Leaky Cauldron had another benefit, which was free tickets for the Knight Bus to anywhere in London. Matt was severely debating whether he really wanted to go there. Memories of the movie kept coming back to haunt him, but he didn''t have any normal money left to get a taxi. Walking the 2 miles to the station was a bit much with a trunk in tow. Besides, it''s only 2 miles. That''s like 30 seconds in the bus, right? He could handle this.
What was I thinking? Matt was severely reprimanding himself as he vomited into a trash can in King''s Cross, as his experience had let him know of whole new lows to driving. Mrs. Sprout drives well in retrospect, at least by wizard standards. I think I''m good for any roller coaster in existence now. Squeezing between cars at drag racing speeds and being tossed around on the floor had left him just squeezing his eyes shut and hoping no bones were broken. He had payed 5 sickles for the pleasure of his 30 seconds of terror, and he vowed to never do it again. He only had about half an hour before the train was supposed to take off, so he found himself a drinking fountain to rinse the taste away before heading for Platform 9 3/4. He kept expected people to look at the crazy little red head kid walking right into a wall, but nobody did and he found himself face to face with the black and red steam train from the movies. He had never actually rode on one of these before, but it was easy enough to ask a passerby where he could find the first year compartments. After finding an empty box, he settled in and propped open a book. He''d have to shut it once the train got moving as it would make him sick otherwise, but it passed the time. After 5 minutes, a brown haired kid who introduced himself as Terry Boot joined him, followed by another kid who introduced himself as Michael Corner. The names rang bells in the back of his head, but they weren''t important enough to make his notes. Ravenclaw, if I remember right. They made small talk but there wasn''t much to say to a group of 11 year olds until the trolley went by. With their help he''d managed to pick out a sack of Every Flavor Beans, licorice wands, and some cauldron cakes. He avoided the chocolate frogs despite their recommendation because moving food kind of grossed him out. The train ride passed peacefully while the other 2 talked and Matt listened. He was fine with that really, as it let him pick up on tidbits of what a wizarding household was like so he ouldn''t make a fool of himself later, but it was interrupted by an announcement over an unseen speaker system. "Hogwarts coming up in 15 minutes, please change into your uniforms if you haven''t already." Matt changed as quickly as he could despite some embarassment with the uniform that looked like a halloween costume and looked out the window. He could see a village he assumed was Hogsmeade, but Hogwarts wasn''t in view yet. It might be visible from the other side. The train was already slowing down and impatient people trying to get into the hallway. Despite his excitement, Matt knew that trying to beat the throng to the punch wouldn''t accomplish anything so he was content to wait. Once the halls were somewhat clear, he left the box with the other 2 and made their way to the exit. There was a group that was obviously separate which were surrounding a giant of a man he recognized could only be Hagrid shouting for all first year students to come here, so he made his way over to them. "¡°Firs¡¯ years! Firs¡¯ years over here! All right there, Harry?¡±" Matt took a few seconds to look at the protagonist, who had just appeared out of the train door. Harry Potter looked just like Radcliffe had in the movie, which Matt guessed shouldn''t have been surprising. Honestly he looked miserable as everyone turned to stare at him and started whispering, but Hagrid seemed oblivious. ¡°C¡¯mon, follow me ¡ª any more firs¡¯ years? Mind yer step, now! Firs¡¯ years follow me!¡± Harry Potter Gone Wrong? (4) The lake crossing should''ve been an interesting scenic experience, but Matt was too busy trying to stay balanced on a rocking boat to appreciate it much. The 3 other midgets he was stuck with didn''t seem to have the good sense to stay still and were acting like the hyperactive children they were. Any politely asking them to stop was ignored. How immature would it be to just kick them into the lake? He forced himself to remember that one of these kids might be a roommate in the future, and that there was no point setting himself up for a pointless grudge later. Though that worry was probably superfluous since kids did that shit to each other all the time now that he thought about it.... Maybe it is stranger if I don''t get angry here? He was starting to come up with some pretty good self-justification to put things into action when they suddenly stopped. Matt figured the thought must have appeared on his face, or maybe they finally found some awe in their thick skulls as the details of the castle came into better view. Probably the latter. Matt knew that Alnwick Castle was the setting for Hogwarts and had seen pictures before, but it just wasn''t the same. This Hogwarts had a cleaner and more fantastic feel to it, especially at night with all the lights. The rest of the ride passed in blissful silence as his erstwhile boatmates watched the castle wide-eyed. Thankfully it hadn''t rained, but it was still pretty chilly. Matt hoped they could get inside as soon as possible now that his appreciation of the castle was done. After the boats came to a stop, they all awkwardly assembled onto the gravel shore. Hagrid checked for any stragglers and then they all followed after his lamp as he led them up a stone passageway that ended in a stone landing before a large wooden door. He knocked on the door 3 times and it immediately opened to reveal an old lady he immediately recogniced as Professor Mcgonagall. ¡°The firs¡¯ years, Professor McGonagall¡± ¡°Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.¡± She led them into a hall where the predictable schoolyard drama between Harry and Malfoy happened, but Matt had already decided to steer clear of that mess and just looked on disinterestedly. After Professor McGonagall came back and berated them and them all line up before leading them through a doorway into the hall. Matt belatedly realized a very big gap in his plan as an old patchy hat was brought out. I don''t know exactly how the Sorting Hat works, but if it reads my mind I''m in a very big trouble. Trying to not look like he was panicking and internally yelling at himself for not thinking of something so obvious sooner and considered his options while the hat sung it''s song. It was either gamble while doing his best to keep to keep focused on what he wanted to make himself harder to read, or pretend to faint right here and endure the embarassment later. The problem was that fainting probably wouldn''t solve anything when they could just hit him with a spell to "wake" him up. A gamble it is then.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Matt could be decisive enough when backed into a corner, and right now he didn''t see any other choice. Thankfully he was reasonably confident in his mental discipline to pull this off as long as it didn''t see more than surface thoughts. He wanted to go to either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff in his plan, and right now thoughts of books and wanting to learn seemed easier to imagine. It would even be genuine. After the song ended, names started being called but nothing unexpected. ¡°Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" ¡°HUFFLEPUFF!¡± "Forrester, Matthew!" He walked up to the stool with all the confidence he could project and put the dusty hat on his head while summoning as much memories as he could of hours spent enjoying reading. "Now where should we put you? Loyal, but not particularly brave or hard working. A scholar then?" "RAVENCLAW!" He was so relieved he almost pulled a Neville before remembering to take the hat off and put it back on the stool. His heart was still beating like it was trying to jump out of his chest as he took a seat at the Ravenclaw table with the other first-years. That was a bit too close. Thankfully the Sorting Hat doesn''t seem to pry too much to most students. I need to go over my notes again to make sure there''s nothing else I''m forgetting. Dinner passed in a rush of introductions with his new classmates between eating. He had heard horror stories about British food, but at least the things he recognized were pretty good. None of that liver shit though. He had always been a quick eater and finished in 5 minutes, and now he was just waiting on everyone else. He decided to implement an unflattering hobby since he was bored; eavesdropping. He didn''t really care about people talking about how their summer went, but Matt hated seeming ignorant on anything. This was a bad habit that he''d picked up in the high school social scene as a way to seem in the know and kept with him ever since, even though he was never even part of those circles and didn''t want to be. An interesting conversation between 2 seniors about Ravenclaw''s near miss of the Quidditch Cup last year had been holding his attention when Dumbledore stood up and began his announcements. No going into the death forest, no attacking each other in the corridors, and no going into the third floor right hand corridor if we didn''t want to die. What a set of school rules, huh? They sang the school anthem with Matt mumbling along since he had no clue to the lyrics, and then they were collectively dismissed to go to their House''s rooms. What he presumed was the fifth-year pair of prefects called for them all to follow, and they scrambled to keep up through a maze-like labyrinth of staircases and corridors that led to a coiled staircase up one of the towers of the castle. Oh, you''ve got to be kidding me. There must be at least a thousand steps to the top of this thing. Don''t they have a magical escalator or something? After a quick shattering of his confidence that he was in shape, they arrived at a wooden door with a bronze eagle-shaped knocker. The boy prefect stood out and rapped the ring 3 times. "First-years, pay attention. You''ll have to solve a riddle whenever you enter the common room from now on, or be forced to wait for others to let you in. Trust me, you don''t want to do that as it''s Ravenclaw''s pride to answer them." No sooner had he said that the eagle came to life and gave it''s riddle. "Flat as a leaf, round as a ring; Has two eyes, can''t see a thing. What is it?" "A button." "Wisely spoken." Impressive, he only took a few seconds for that one. Or maybe it was deliberately easy so as not to embarrass him? The door swung open and they were admitted to a nice room decked out in vibrant blue and bronze surrounded by bookcases. The prefect pointed to a door that led to the wing for boys while the girl took the girls through a different one. I want to get into those books I saw in the common room, but it''s really been a long day. I need to get up an hour early to figure out that absolute mess of staircases too. Being late on the first day would be distinctly unimpressive. With that thought he said the bare minimum for politeness to his roomates, the same kids he had sat with on the train, and went to sleep. Harry Potter Gone Wrong? (5) It felt like ages since Matt had been forced to wake up at 7 in the morning and he was not happy with the fact he was doing so now. His plan had been to look around and confirm the classroom locations before breakfast, but his pillow was still looking heavenly at the moment... Get it together! I''ve got work to do. With an effort of superhuman will he managed to get dressed without waking his roommates and went out into the common room. There were already a few early birds from other years sitting on the sofas reading, and he gave them a greeting before leaving. His class schedule contained a crude map, so he set off to the south tower where the Charms classroom was supposed to be. 15 minutes later, he was praising his own foresight as the Charm''s classroom finally came into view. The labyrinthine maze of a castle had seemed simple enough in the movies, but Matt had been thoroughly lost there in the middle before simply asking a painting for directions. How were you supposed to tell east from west when the castle changes every few minutes? Does that mean children have a better sense of direction than me? Shaking off that depressing thought, he took note of his route before heading off to the Transfiguration classroom.
I take back what I said about British food. At least they do breakfast right. Matt had already finished confirming the classrooms he''d be going to today and was currently sitting at the Ravenclaw table in the main hall. He was dunking some toast in some over-medium eggs, and a side of hash browns and bacon completed the ensemble. I get to eat this every day? Awesome. I really need to figure out how to get the kitchens later to give a proper thanks to the poor little guys. The Hall seemed mostly empty of first-years and Matt was going to bet they had all slept in. He debated going back to the tower to make sure his roomates woke up in time for class, but Charms was in 20 minutes and he didn''t have time to make the trip both ways. He''d just have to trust they managed it somehow. With that thought, he took one last bite before slinging his pack over his shoulder and heading off.
Matt walked into the Charms classroom only to find Terry Boot already there, along with all the Ravenclaw girls and most of the Hufflepuff first years.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. "Hey, why didn''t you wake us?!" "Did you really want to get up at 7? I figured it would be fine to let you sleep in. Where are the others?" "Why''d you get up that early then? Michael and Anthony were a bit behind me, but I don''t know about the others." He described to Terry about his little tidbits for directions and about the breakfast available, but no sooner had he finished that the others finally showed up. Not late then. Thay of course asked the same exact questions as Terry did, forcing Matt to repeat himself before they all sat down to wait. Professor Flitwick came in through door behind the central podium and took a perch on a stack of books to give a speech. It looked kind of comical really, but Flitwick was one of the more normal teachers in this school so he kept it from showing. The class was slightly boring since Matt had already read ahead, but he tried to look alert as possible and answer whatever questions he could. God, I feel like a teacher''s pet already. This goes against the grain so much but I don''t see where I have any choice. Unless I somehow score a boat load of points Ravenclaw will never be able to overturn Dumbledore''s last minute rewards for Gryffindor. Matt could tell he was going to have to go full-on loner this year already from the looks his classmates were giving him. Maybe I could pull off the ''thousand miles away'' driven look? Ravenclaws are known for their eccentrics after all. He was still thinking of stupid things when Flitwick called the class to a close. Matt grabbed his bag before heading off to Transfiguration with Gryffindor.
Classes in Hogwarts were not much different than he expected, and weeks passed as Matt spent every waking moment absorbing what he could. He barely interacted with his roommates and stayed in the library as long as he could. He had never studied so hard in all his life, and Matt didn''t think he could have managed it if he didn''t keep telling himself his life depended on it. Nevertheless, all work and no play had started draining him and he was starting to develop dark circles under his eyes. His roomies avoided him when they could and probably talked about him when he wasn''t there, but Matt decided to ignore them in turn while he walked his own single planked bridge. At least he had earned a reputation as a bright student and earned about 40 points from various teachers during these weeks, which was some comfort. He had even somehow gotten 5 out of Snape, despite his own disinterest in Potions(it reminded him of cooking) and Snape''s disinterest in actually teaching. Frankly Matt would call it a win as long as he didn''t get buckled in that class. Something was happening today that threw off the monotony however, which was Flying class. Gryffindor and Slytherin had already gone yesterday and the school was awash with everyone talking about Harry Potter being Gryffindor''s new seeker and blah blah blah. His classmates were excited with dreams that they could duplicate the feat, and while Matt did not share their optimism he was still interested in trying to fly. He just hoped the broom wasn''t as painful as it looked to ride.