HARRY POTTER :Dark Kingdom

"Should you fail your E.L.F. you will not be permitted to enter Hogwarts, and shall be held back a year or until you are capable of passing it, at which point you will assigned to a trade school of my choosing. So if you don't want to spend the rest of your life making candles and polishing broomsticks I recommend you pay attention."

Yes, Harry thought, that was definitely a good motivation to pay attention. Inside, Harry despaired his future. How could he possible keep up with the others in this class, when they all had at least three years more experience with the wizarding world than him?

"While some of you may think yourself already prepared for these tests, think again. As you are spontaneouswizards, you are held under a stigma of ignorance that must be dispelled before you ever enter the most prestigious academy of wizardry in Great Britain. Much of what you learn here is not even common knowledge for your pureblooded siblings or commonwealth adopted parents. If you wish not to make fools of yourself, and more importantly of your country, then I expect you to study. Alone, in groups, with your parents, tutors, and yes, even with me."

Well... perhaps he was on more even ground than he thought? Glancing to his right he could see Thomas and his friends looking green. Glancing to his left he saw Hermione leaning forward in her chair, eagerly awaiting the man's every word. He wasn't sure whose reaction worried him more, but it all had him feeling vaguely ill.

"Now, for formality's sake, we will begin by introducing ourselves in the proper wizarding fashion. Who here can tell me the proper way to introduce yourself in a formal gathering?"

Hermione's hand shot up so fast, Harry flinched away on instinct to dodge it. Professor Timbal pointed at her and she stood.

"First one gives their birth name, followed by their family association, and then any formal positions starting from active government positions and leading down to honorary titles."

"Correct. Now please introduce yourself to the class in the proper manner."

Hermione turned sharply to face them all, her head held high and eyes defiant.

"Hermione Louise Granger of the Malfoy family."

"Very good, now you young man," the professor said, pointing to Harry. Harry blanched. What was he suppose to say? He knew his own name, but he didn't think he had a family association. What the hell was a family association? Reluctantly, he stood anyway and faced the class.

"Harold James Potter," he said evenly, and then sat down quickly.

"Hey, he didn't finish it!" protested a girl in the back.

"If Mr. Potter was somehow lacking in his answer, I assure you I would be the first to point it out!" Mr. Timbal snapped, and the chalk on the board flew across the board, creating an ear-splitting screech. The entire class cringed and fell into dead silence, and Harry thanked god that it was not his error that had brought it on. "Now, shall we continue. You, sir."

The black haired boy stood up, looking almost as timid as Harry felt. "Clyde Houghton of the Stone family." The next fifteen minutes went on similarly, until everyone had named themselves. Harry doodled a little diagram of their names, family associations, and basic description determined to memorize it later, perhaps even makes some sketches so he would remember them better. After that was through, Timbal handed out their work books. They were heavy, bound in brown leather with the title 'The Ways of Wizards; Practical Exercises for Young Wizards' by Antonia Majora' printed in gold letters. This was followed by a syllabus and lecture on the general structure of the class.

Every morning would start out with a quiz of what was learned the day before, this would be followed by lecture, and practical demonstrations if necessary. They would break for lunch, and then return in groups of threes, fours, or fives to research the topic of the day and write a brief summary of their findings. The last part of the day would be dedicated to group discussion and off-topic questions. Fridays were for tests and reviews and Saturdays were for field trips- of which there would apparently be many.

Through it all Harry felt a mixture of trepidation and elation. He was becoming a wizard, a wizard for love of king and country! If only he had any idea what that meant!

Their first topic of study was wizarding government, which was of personal interest to Harry since he wanted to know more about WYRA and who exactly ran wizarding Britain. Unfortunately, Professor Timbal had only just begun on the history of the Wizengamot when it was time to break for lunch. The Professor instructed everyone to push their chairs together to form a single long table. Harry and the rest had no sooner tucked in their chairs when their giant table was suddenly laden with food that appeared out of thin ear.

"Why can't they warn us before they do this sort of thing?" Harry lamented quietly to himself. Lunch with his class was similar and yet different than that at WYRA. Everyone was certainly lively and chatty as they filled their plates, but their topics of discussions were more real. The jokes were dirtier or more clever, the emotions varied between ecstatic and deeply depressed, and they spoke of their past, their families, and their future plans in ways the WYRA children had been unable to.

"I know most of the people here," began Clyde who had sat across from him, loading up his plate with more sweets than nourishment. "Or at least recognize their family associations. But I don't recognize you... and you didn't have a family association, which is a bit odd, eh? So what's your story?"

At this several of the other kids, including Hermione who pretended (rather badly) not to care, leaned closer for his answer. Harry shrugged, and tried to ignore them.

"I was never adopted. I don't have a family association... That's the family that adopts you right?"

"What do you mean you weren't adopted? Everyone gets adopted eventually," Clyde protested. "Did you get sick or something?"

"Clyde Houghton, really!" Hermione objected. "Could you be anymore rude?"

"Oh, like Ms. Know-it-all isn't dying to know it all too!" remarked a blonde girl, smirking. Harry hoped they would start a fight and he would be forgotten, but he had no such luck. "So what's the deal? Sickness, runaway, reject? Come on, we'll find out sooner or later."

Harry threw her a dark scowl. "Weißt du was, du Wichtigtuer. Ob ich adoptiert bin oder nicht, geht dich einen Sheißdreck an."

The blond looked at him with some alarm. "Did you just put a curse on me?"

Hermione broke out into a laugh, covering her mouth with her napkin as if it could possibly hide her amusement. "It's German, Natalie. I thought he had a little bit of an accent when he introduced himself."

"Oh, wow! A German wizard! How on earth did you get here?" asked Clyde.

"How can he be German with a name like Harry Potter? It's obviously an English name," griped Natalie.

"I'm an English citizen, but I was raised in Germany until I was eight," Harry said finally, realizing things could get out of hand if he didn't offer some answers. "I was only picked up by WYRA about a month ago."

"You're kidding? Your that green and they still had you sent to Hogwarts? How did you pull that off?"

Harry shrugged and tried to focus on his sandwich.

"Aw come on, fess up Potter. Inquiring minds want to know!"

"Will you all just leave him alone?" snapped Hermione. "Isn't it obvious he doesn't want to talk about it?" Reluctantly, the rest of class backed off and went to talking other things, all though they glanced at him often. Harry gave her a thankful smile.

"You know, I think sitting next to you was a stroke of good luck on my part?" he said. The smile Hermione gave him was bright and beautiful, and so much different from the cool curve of lips she had been wearing before. It was gone a moment later, replaced by a neutral expression and she nodded to him in acknowledgment and returned to her own meal.

Harry finished before the others and left the tent to get some fresh air, taking his new school books with him. He found a quiet spot beside the lake, only a short ways from the classroom. He spent the lunch hour skimming his books for answers to his thousand and one questions. Though the new books were much more detailed and informative than his first one, Harry still felt like he was missing a large piece of common knowledge that prevented him from truly understanding what the wizarding world was like. Frustrated, Harry returned to the class without any definitive answers.

The tables had all been moved back into place and people were already starting to form into clusters for their group assignment. Harry automatically went to stand by Hermione who once again had her nose buried in her book. Natalie, who had been at the far end of the class to begin with, moved all the way to the front to join them. The same sly smile was still on her face, and Harry couldn't help but suspect she was up to no good.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked. Hermione stiffened beside him, but did not look up from her book. Harry, having no real reason to object, merely shrugged.

"Get into six groups of four and two groups of three!" Professor Timbal ordered. It took less than a minute as most groups were already formed, and Harry, Hermione, and Natalie remained where they were. "Most of you come from families with members in the Wizengamot. I want you all to look up one person of your family in the Wizengamot, find their term of office, any laws or bills they proposed, and cite the source of your information. If you or one of your group members doesn't have an associated family member in the Wizengamot, you will look up a law that was passed by the Wizengamot but overturned by You-Know-Who. You have an hour and a half. Begin."

"I'll get the books," Hermione said, jumping to her feet and heading for the book case.

"I'll help." Harry got up to follow, but was stopped when Natalie took his elbow.

"Why don't you let her be? Let her be alone with her books. That's all she cares about anyway."