The Hufflepuff first years were in the Great Hall eating breakfast all the while trying to ignore Jonathan's purple hair. Jonathan on the other hand was still glaring at Gifford.
"I can't believe you." Jonathan hissed.
Gifford smiled, and took a spoonful of his porridge. "What's wrong? I thought you liked playing jokes."
Jonathan rolled his eyes in annoyance.
All of a sudden Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Professor Slughorn standing there. "Er, hello sir." Harry mentally checked if he had gotten his potions homework done, and he did, so why was the Potions Master here?
"Hello my boy." Slughorn boomed. "Remember that little club I was telling you about at the beginning of the year?" Harry nodded, vaguely remembering Slughorn mentioning it. "Well I am having our first get together tonight, I will see you there, yes?"
Jonathan looked up from his eggs. "Get together?" Jasper looked interested at this too. Harry knew Jasper was very eager to learn everything there was to know about the Wizarding World. What would a magical party be like?
"I am sorry, Indigo." Slughorn said, looking at Jonathan. Gifford snorted into his orange juice. "It is very exclusive you understand?" He turned back to Harry. "I will see you there?"
Harry nodded slowly, not really wanting to go, but he wanted the professors to like him. He didn't want it to be like his old school. "Yes sir."
"Splendid!" Slughorn exclaimed, he walked back to the staff table, and Harry put his head on the table hoping this "party" wouldn't be too bad.
"Indigo?!" Exclaimed Jonathan incredulously. "My hair isn't even indigo, it's purple." He rolled his eyes. "Is this going to become tradition, or something?" The first years directed their attention to him. "Is everyone's hair going to change colour at some point? It started with Jasper, and his pink hair, now I have purple hair thanks to my dumb brother, and I guess Maryrose can have any hair colour she wants...so three people have had colourful hair so far." Jonathan's eyes scanned over the first years. "Who's next?"
"I vote for Harry!" Dorothy exclaimed. Harry looked over to her from where he was taking a sip of apple juice. "Maybe...neon yellow?" She took out her wand, and Harry took out his.
"Absolutely not!" He exclaimed. "Do you want blue hair?"
Dorothy snorted. "Try the spell, you'll fail."
"Are you sure about that?" Harry asked her, and he pointed his wand towards her.
Dorothy smirked. "Crunis Muto!" She waved her wand, and Harry shot the same spell at her.
Harry looked at Jasper and panicked. "What colour is it? Is it bad?" He looked at Dorothy who now had blue pigtails. "See I can do that spell!" He turned to the others. "What is it? Is it bad?"
Jasper stared at Harry. "It's...green!" Jasper smiled. "You look fine!"
"Green-" Harry started. He turned to Dorothy. "Really?"
Dorothy giggled. "Slytherin supporter!"
Harry laughed in exasperation. "I can't believe you." He paused, and added. "Then you are a Ravenclaw supporter!"
Dorothy laughed. "Ravenclaws are nice!" She turned to Jonathan. "Whatever the purple house is...supporter."
"Thunderbird." Muttered Harry. He wanted to melt into the floor, he didn't even know what shade of green it was, he needed to find a mirror.
Penelope looked over. "Thunderbird?"
"The American school." Harry said. "Purple is Thunderbird."
"Well of course the History geek would know that." Said Gifford, taking a bite of his pancakes.
Jasper looked at Harry, excitement plain on his face. "There is an American school?" Harry nodded. "Wow, I had no idea there were more magic schools! That is so cool!"
"Great, so now three of us, four if you count Maryrose," Harry said, signalling to Maryrose who actually had indigo hair today, "have colourful hair." Harry sighed. "The teachers are going to think we are nuts."
Dorothy giggled. "I think it's funny!"
Marty nodded. "I think it is sweet that you're matching."
Jasper had a thought. "Why don't we all just go to classes today with crazy hair colours?" The others looked at him. "If you want." He grabbed his wand. "Crunius muto!" His hair colour changed from black to pink. "Did it work?" The others nodded. "Awesome!"
"You like pink hair, huh Jaz?" Harry asked.
Jasper shrugged. "It's fun."
"Alright..." Jonathan said. He took out his wand, and quickly did the spell on Gifford turning his brown hair to orange.
"Hey!" Yelped Gifford.
"Serves you right!" Jonathan laughed.
Penelope chuckled, and turned her blonde hair red. "There."
They turned to Marty. "Changing my hair colour won't do anything since no one will see it." Marty told them.
"Why don't you take your scarf off today?" Jonathan asked.
Marty shook her head. "I don't want to do that, but I can change my hijab from black to yellow." She looked at the group of them. "Does that work?"
Harry nodded. "We will be a rainbow...plus pink."
Marty laughed. "You're right." She said looking at Harry. "The teachers are going to think we're crazy."
Maryrose was excited. "This will be fun!"
At that moment Harry realised something. "Wait!" He exclaimed. "The Slug Club meeting is tonight, and I am going to have green hair." He banged his head on the table, not even caring that it hurt a little bit. "Oh this is just fantastic."
Maryrose chewed her lower lip. "Maybe a hat?"
Harry looked around, and a few people in the hall were already staring at the first years. "Oh this is great. God." Harry rested his head on the table again. Harry hated when people stared at him, and now it was because he had green hair, not even a normal colour. Please stop staring, please stop staring. Harry felt like he was being judged for it. Was he overreacting? Maybe, he didn't care, he had a tendency to overreact, and worry too much.
Jasper touched his shoulder. "Hey..." He said softly. "They could be staring at any one of us." He looked at the people in the Great Hall. "We do all look like a...rainbow of puffs."
Harry laughed, and murmured. "Rainbow of puffs?"
Jasper flushed. "Well, we each have the colour of the rainbow...and Hufflepuff...puff." Jasper shrugged, and laughed nervously. "I don't know."
Harry buried his face into Jasper's shoulder laughing. "That sounds so dumb...I love it."
"What if we add glitter?" Dorothy asked. "Then we can be a sparkly rainbow of puffs."
Harry looked up. "Don't even think about it."
Dorothy giggled. "Okay fine."
Maryrose said "I think if you wear a hat to the party, you will be fine." She got up, and shouldered her bookbag. "Come on, class is about to start."
Harry, and Jasper were sitting in potions class when Ian came up to the both of them. "Nice hair guys." He commented. Harry flushed, still embarrassed by it. "I see your whole year is just well...bright?" They nodded. "Did you hear that Lily Evans hexed James Potter yesterday? I heard it was quite the hex."
"What hex was it?" Jasper asked.
"A bat bogey hex." Ian replied.
Jasper shook his head feeling sorry for James. "First a bat to the head, and now a hex."
Ian looked confused. "Potter got hit with a bat?"
"Dorothy." Replied Harry, and Jasper at the same time.
Ian chuckled. "I should have known." He looked back, and saw Slughorn was about to start class. "I'll see you after!" He went to his seat beside Quinn, who was talking to Gifford, who was sitting behind them.
They both started to work on today's potion, and Jasper shook his head. "James just can't get a break."
"Well we will be seeing him in Herbology this afternoon, so-"
Jasper gasped. "We are?"
"Yeah..." Harry said slowly. He didn't know why Jasper seemed so surprised, it was in the schedule they had been following for over a month now.
Jasper groaned. "Oh no, he is going to see me with pink hair, he is going to think I'm weird."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "You had pink hair the first time you met him." Harry reminded him. "I don't think he will care."
"Maybe...what if he thinks I'm weird?"
"Jaz..we all have colourful hair." Harry said. "Not just you, James probably doesn't care, why do you care if he cares?"
"Because James is so cool!" Jasper exclaimed. "He is so good at flying, and quidditch, and he caught the gumball on the pitch!" Jasper was shaking with excitement. "Like who could do that? He is so talented!" Jasper sighed. "I wish I was that cool."
Harry chuckled at how much Jasper seemed to look up to James. "You're very cool Jaz." Jasper looked over from where he was stirring his potion. "Not everyone would rock pink hair like you do, plus you're a good flyer. Best in our year." Harry put frog spawn in his potion, making it change from yellow to light orange. "Besides James has had years of experience at flying I'm sure, you've only had a month."
Jasper nodded, stirring his potion. "Do you think James would give me tips if I asked?"
"If I recall correctly." Harry said, measuring out more frog spawn. "He offered you one time."
Jasper gasped. "You're right! That's so nice of him."
Harry nodded, though he had a suspicion it was more so the fact that James could show off, and impress others. Not that he needed to impress Jasper, Jasper already thought James was the coolest person to ever set foot on the Earth.
So in Herbology Jasper went up to James, and asked how he seemed to catch the gumball with no trouble at all.
"Still amazed by that eh?" James asked. Jasper nodded. "Well I would be too." James smiled. "And I see your whole year has colourful hair?" He ran his hand through his, making it messier then it was before. "So, pinkie-"
"Pinkie?" Asked Jasper.
"Your hair..." James started. "It's a nickname Odair, don't worry about it."
Jasper flushed.
Lily rolled her eyes from where she was working beside Harry. "He is such an egotistical prat, what does Jasper see in him?"
Harry shrugged. "Jasper thinks it's cool how James caught the gumball on the pitch a few weeks ago, he won't shut up about it." He dug through the dirt. "Jasper is just excited."
"It isn't as if him catching a gumball was the most impressive thing in the world."
"To Jasper it is." Harry told her. "He is just excited to learn about everything." Lily looked over. "And since James did do something not many kids can do, Jasper is very..." Harry looked over to where Jasper was watching James with wide wondrous eyes, as James chatted to him. "...enthusiastic about it all."
Lily nodded understanding. "I think I get it." Harry looked over. "Severus, my best friend introduced me to magic. He showed me how to make a butterfly out of leaves...I guess what James did was impressive to Jasper, like how Severus turning a leaf into a butterfly was for me."
Severus? Thought Harry. "Isn't he a Slytherin? Severus I mean?" Lily nodded. "And he is friends with you?"
"Is that a problem?" Lily demanded.
"No, not at all." Harry told her. "I just had no idea Slytherins were actually...nice."
Lily said, "Well a lot of them are bullies, but-"
"I wouldn't just call them bullies." Harry said. Lily looked at him quizzically. "You call James a bully yeah?" Lily nodded. "Well James may be full of himself, and call others names, but he doesn't hate people for their blood status." Harry continued to dig. "The Slytherins do, or at least the ones me, and Jasper have run into." He looked at Lily. "That is just plain bigotry."
Lily nodded, comprehending this. "Well Severus isn't like that."
Harry nodded. "Good."
"Mr. Odair!" Professor Virindi called. "Please go back to your station, you can talk to Mr. Potter after."
Jasper went back to Lily, and Harry. "Sorry Professor."
"It's alright." She replied, and she went to survey how the other students were doing.
After class Harry went his separate ways, and went down to Slughorn's office. He was wearing a dark grey beanie to cover up his green hair.
He entered the room, and there was music from the 1920's playing. There were big velvet green curtains draped around the walls to make the room feel less like a dark dreary dungeon. On the shelves there were jars filled with different types of potion ingredients, and Harry wondered if the jar with an eyeball in it was human or not.
There were twelve other people in the room, and they were all sitting in green chairs surrounding the fire. Harry grabbed a cup of pumpkin juice, and sat down.
"Ah Mr. Warbeck!" Exclaimed Slughorn. "So glad you can join us."
Harry gave a quick smile, as Slughorn continued to talk with the Ravenclaw quidditch captain Gwen.
Harry looked at the others in the room. He was the youngest in the room, and that made him feel a bit nervous, especially when the Slytherin beater Issac kept glaring at him, and the others in the room.
All of a sudden there was a knock on the door, and Slughorn got up, and in came Remus Lupin, and Lily Evans. Harry was glad he wasn't the only first year of the bunch.
Slughorn went around the room, asking, and praising students about either their grades, quidditch talents, or their parents. Issac, and Gwen were here because they were really good at quidditch, Lily was here because of her talent in potions, and other subjects, and he, and Remus were here because of their parents.
"So, Mr. Warbeck." Slughorn directed his attention from Remus to him. "Most of us know about your mother, a very talented singer, and musician."
Harry nodded. "Yep." The complete opposite of me.
"So do you have any plans to go into music when you're older?" Slughorn asked him.
Harry held back a laugh. "No, I don't sir."
"Well I am sure you're very talented." Slughorn said merrily. "What instruments do you play?"
Harry didn't play instruments, he didn't know how, and if he did, he was completely out of tune. His mother had tried a lot to teach him, but it never stuck. She tried to teach him piano. No. Guitar. No. Violin. No. Drums. No. Any instrument on the face of this Earth? No. He couldn't hold a rhythm at all, and he most definitely did not sing. "I don't play sir." Harry told Slughorn honestly.
Slughorn chuckled. "Well I am sure you do, you're just being modest."
No, definitely not. Harry thought to himself.
Slughorn finally moved on to Lily, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. This get together was almost over. It wasn't like he hated it, it was just he didn't like speaking about his mum to other people, because they all assumed that he should have the same talents. The food was good though.
After the get together, Harry started to head back to the common room, and he was almost there until he felt someone pull off his hat. He turned, and saw Issac Horan holding it.
Of course it's a Slytherin. Harry thought bitterly.
"Give me back my hat Horan." Harry demanded.
"Why? So you can cover that green disaster." He signalled to Harry's green hair.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't you have better things to do than to torment first years minding their business?"
Issac cackled. "You got a bit of an attitude?" He squatted down so he was at Harry's level. "I would be careful seeing as you're a halfblood."
Harry scoffed. "Stop thinking you're better than everyone else, you're not." He realised the corridor was empty. "And if you're thinking of beating me up, I wouldn't, famous mum you know."
"Aw, using your mum's fame, because you can't defend yourself." Issac said in a baby voice.
"I can defend myself." Harry said. "I just think it's kinda stupid how you like bullying people because of their blood status. And just because I have an odd hair colour, doesn't give you an excuse to make fun of people." Harry grabbed his hat out of Issac's hands, and started to walk off.
"Well at least you picked a more boyish colour unlike your mudblood friend." Issac called. "Is he going to wear a dress next or something?"
Harry turned slowly, so he was once again facing Issac. The anger was plain on his face. "Don't call him that!" Harry marched up to Issac again. "And by the way, in history pink was considered a more masculine colour, and people dressed boys up in dresses." Harry stated. "So if you want to be insulting, at least be historically accurate!" He pushed Issac.
Issac went to the floor, and anger slowly made its way to his face. That was not a good idea. Harry thought. Time to run. Harry ran to the Hufflepuff common room, and luckily someone was just coming out, so he slipped through the door, and ran to his dorm, and opened the door.
"Stupefy!"
The spell hit Harry, and he went to the floor.
"Oh!" Yelped Jasper. "Sorry!" He went to help Harry up, and he noticed there was a stack of pillows now knocked down on the floor. "I was just practising the stunning charm on this dummy I made, and you kind of got in the way."
"It's fine." Harry said, seeing the panic on Jasper's face. "I am glad you finally got it."
"Thanks! How did the party go?"
"It was a bit boring, but it was okay. Where are the others?"
"Gifford is helping Jon with his potions work in Ravenclaw tower." Jasper said. "Apparently Quinn has a fancy potions set!"
"And you're here practising Defence?"
"Yeah..." Jasper started. "And promptly ignoring my History essay."
"Do you want help?"
Jasper nodded eagerly. "Yes, please." He headed downstairs with Harry to the common room. "A few others need your help too."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Marty, Penelope, Dorothy, Maryorse...Tim-"
Harry did a double take. "Isn't Tim a second year?"
Jasper nodded. "Yeah?" He chuckled. "Also Rayna-"
"That's a third year!" Harry exclaimed. "Isn't she a Ravenclaw too?"
Jasper looked at him sheepishly. "Your talent for History may have spread?"
Harry shook his head. "Is my knack for History the only thing I am wanted for?"
"To them, yes." Jasper replied.
Harry chuckled. "I should charge them."