Warning: Official policy states that no spoiler tags should exist on recap pages. Read at your own risk.
Making Waves / Back to Hogwarts
Harry meets Draco Malfoy on the train as before, and attempts to intimidate him into rethinking his ways, but only manages to escalate the encounter into a fight, which Harry wins handily. Despite not making any headway with Draco, he does make use of it to introduce Ron to the idea of learning martial arts, and Hermione learns about the existence of blood prejudice. Once at the school, he makes sure to introduce himself to Neville and encourage him despite his fears.
The Sorting Hat is able to see Harry's future memories in his head, but promises confidentiality, and sends him to Gryffindor as he's already been sorted. Harry is also able to persuade it to send Luna Lovegood to Gryffindor next year, if she's amenable, so he can ensure she's not bullied.
Throughout their first few days, Harry's sleep is frequently interrupted by vivid nightmares, reliving the horrors he experienced in the future. His dorm mates are concerned, but Harry does his best to reassure them that he'll be okay, and lets his feelings out by writing long letters to Ginny about everything that's happening at Hogwarts.
As with Draco, Harry attempts to make a stronger impression on Professor Snape, but only succeeds in escalating hostilities, as Snape merely finds his ability to answer every question infuriating. When their conflict is escalated to the Headmaster, Snape's use of Legilimency — and Harry's ability to block it — are revealed, raising suspicions about whether Harry is being possessed by Voldemort, but the Sorting Hat assures the Headmaster that there was "Nothing between his ears but Harry James Potter." Neville's opinion of Professor Snape is also cemented by the incident, with less fear of him and more confidence that Snape is in the wrong, and Harry raises with Professor McGonagall the possibility of making a formal complaint and seeking to have Snape dismissed.
Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:
- Bullying a Dragon:
- Draco unknowingly does this in his attempt to "befriend" Harry and put down Ron, earning Draco a right-hook to the jaw and Crabbe and Goyle eating the carpet when they try to retaliate.
- Snape tries pulling his Sadist Teacher act on Harry like he did in the Bad Future timeline, unaware that he is Bullying a Dragon. When Harry manages to accurately answer all of his questions, he throws a tantrum, deducts enough points from Gryffindor to get McGonagall's attention and ends up outing himself as using Legilimency on the students in front of her and Dumbledore.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Snape deducts 100 points from Gryffindor for Harry's "bloody cheek", i.e. calmly answering every question he gets truthfully in as polite a manner as possible.
- Everyone Has Standards: While Snape's Sadist Teacher tendencies and favoritism is public knowledge, McGonagall is understandably horrified when she finds out that he had been using Legilimency on her students.
- Headache of Doom: Downplayed. Harry's use of Occlumency to block out Snape's attempts at probing his mind gives him a headache.
- Metaphorically True: Dumbledore tests to see if Snape's theory — that Voldemort body-hopped into Harry when he died — by using the Sorting Hat. The Sorting Hat answers by saying that there is "[n]othing between his ears but Harry James Potter."
- Mundane Fantastic: Harry compares potions to cooking; throw ingredients into a pot, cook them in a certain temperature for a certain amount of time and voila.
- Past Experience Nightmare: During his first night at Hogwarts, Harry has a nightmare from the old timeline where the Death Eaters burned down an orphanage in Manchester, waking up everyone in his dormitory with his screaming.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Snape accuses Harry of being a pawn of Voldemort, citing how he could have overwritten the infant Potter's mind before he died. He's right that Harry's mind was overwritten, but wrong that it was the Dark Lord who did it.
- Secret-Keeper: The moment the Sorting Hat lands on Harry's head, it knows exactly what he is and agrees to keep it secret for him.
