Harry held his wand in his teeth, swaying it a little. He wasn't the only one. It seemed most of the students around him were eager to make use of their wand, swishing them about with anxious energy.
"Class." There was Professor Flitwick. "I'm glad to see you're all eager today, and..." The short little man was studying them. "Everyone has their wand ready, good. This is a spellcasting class, if you weren't aware, so we'll need those out. However!" He put out his hands, palmside down. "Let's pause that waggling until we're doing the spells, and only the movements I show you. Like magic words, motions have power."
Harry kept his wand still, even if the rest of him was vibrating a little. Finally, a new spell, of a whole new variety!
"This is considered a classic," assured Flitwick with a warm expression. "As useful as it is traditional, this charm's functionality is truly limited only by your imagination." Their eyes were on him, an eager class, his favorite sort. "But, beware, you can damage things, or yourself, if you're careless about it." He produced his wand from nowhere, already directing it at a flower pot that at on the front desk. "Wingardium Leviosa." With a swish and a flick as he spoke the power words, the pot rose up, defying gravity as if it wasn't there.
"Like a broom," blurted Harry without thinking.
That got Flitwick's attention. "It is a little like that, but the charms involved between the two are very different. For one, a broom is a permanent charm, and this is very much not." He lowered his wand, gently guiding the pot back to the ground and safety. "You can use this to lift and move all manner of object, but we'll start easy." He gestured broadly across the classroom. "Your quills. Get them into the air, gently, and set them back down."
And the class became quite busy as young wizards began wagging their wands with new purpose, trying to cast that new spell.
Harry felt a bit odd. Floating things was basically a natural unicorn trick. "Wingardium Leviosa," he spoke despite not... actually needing to. It still felt better to say the spell. With a glowing horn, he lifted his quill, and his book, and an inkwell for fun, spinning the three things about confidently. A unicorn did not need levitation lessons! Well, unless they were still new at it, he supposed.
"Mister Potter." Flitwick had approached while Harry was busy. "You don't appear to be using the wand you're holding." His eyes were on Harry's horn, its glow giving away that it was being used. "Is this a natural charm of unicorns? I wasn't aware of that. I thought their magic was of a more personal variety."
"Oh, um... yes." Harry set the items down with a sheepish blush. "Sorry."
"I won't lecture a student for doing what I ask. However, I didn't ask for extra credit, Mister Potter. Just the quill." He pointed at it. "And do it with the wand, if you would. While natural charms are a wonderful thing, you're here to learn magic, and each you learn properly will help sharpen your technique for others moving forward."
"Yes sir, of course." Harry nodded firmly, wobbling his wand a little. "Could you show me the motion again?"
A lady wizard was instructing Ron, going over the phrasing and gestures as she got her feather floating. First in the class! Well, the first to do it properly with their wand and not as a cheating unicorn. Hermione earned attention for her feat, and made a new friend.
Flitwick gestured to her. "She seems to have it. Why don't you ask her?" And off he want to oversee other student's attempts.
Harry's equine ears flickered. Well... "Hello." He rose to his hooves, his quill floating beside him with his horn's magic as he made his way towards the girl. "Hey Ron."
"Harry! This is Hermione, and she already got the spell down. I can't even believe it." He gestured at the smug girl.
"And you are Harry... Potter was it?" The girl was studying their unicorn student curiously. "You have it working too?" She flicked a finger at the floating quill there beside Harry.
"Oh, no." He set it down in front of her, his horn ceasing its glow. "I have to do it with my wand and not my horn. Can you show me the motion again? I have the words down."
Ron threw up his hands. "The word's the hard part! She was just tellin' me I was getting it all wrong."
"Because you were," she chastised. "Go on, try again." Her eyes were on Harry. "So you can already float things?"
"For years now." Harry sat on his haunches, a confident look on his face that dissolved a moment later. "But I never did it with a wand before." He turned it in his mouth and with a flick of his head. "Can you show me?"
"Well isn't that curious..." She lifted her wand into easy view and began the motion slowly. "A swish and a flick." She repeated it, a bit faster. "Just like that. You sure you have the phrasing right?"
"I think I do. Let's... try." He made the motion, he hoped. "Wingardium Leviosa!" But the quill didn't move. Harry frowned, but Hermione put a finger on his snout.
"Your swish is off." She guided him through the motion, not shoving, but touching and nudging as he repeated it, correcting him. "Like that. Try now."
So he gladly did, but the quill just flopped over as if someone had gusted air at it.
"Almost!" assured Hermione.
"Got it!" Ron was proudly holding his wand aloft, a quill dancing just in front of it, following its motions. "Told ya I could nail it."
Harry and Hermione clapped appreciatively, even if one of them had more of a clopping noise. Harry was more determined than ever before. Imagining Hermione's motions, he tried with a swish and a flick. "Wingardium Leviosa!" And then did the quill perk up and start following his wand. He was doing magic, without his horn!
Excitement over the very idea of it brought about a new moment of clopping. "Look look!" He was a little boy, eager to show off what he had done, but so too was much of the class, so few held it against him.
"Now do it a dozen more times." Hermione folded her arms. "Then we can say you've got it down."
Ron's quill flopped to the desk. "Really?"
Harry laughed a little as he set his own quill down. "I don't think she's wrong. But you have to practice too."
"Yeah yeah." Hermione swayed her wand with a firm cast, causing her quill to perk into the air. "This shouldn't take too long."
And so went the rest of that class, perfecting that introductory charm, at least on little quills. Heavier things would come in later attempts.
"Gryffindor," announced the cap atop Harry's head.
He had been sorted, and not into Slytherin. Thank goodness! He hadn't heard a single good thing about that place, or the people in it! "It seems we're stuck together."
Ron laughed and swatted his equine friend on the shoulder. "Looks like it." Both Ron and Hermione had also been sorted there. "Need any help moving your things?"
"Arnavon'll handle it."
"Oh, right." Ron turned to Hermione. "You got to see this! He has an owl, right, but it isn't no regular owl." He spread his hands wide. "Big as a person, and furry. Like a big rabbit, really."
Harry chuckled at the description. "If rabbit had horns, and talked."
Hermione's eyes shined at the description. "I would like to meet your owl, if they like talking. They sound interesting." She considered Harry as other students were sorted. "About that... Your parents."
"My parents?" Not that Harry knew much... or anything... of them, the biological ones at least. "What about them?"
"They had to be human." She nodded confidently. "We have students and teachers with other things in them. Remember Professor Flitwick? He has goblin in him."
Ron held up two fingers close. "Is that why he's tiny?"
"Don't be rude." She rolled her eyes. "But yes. We wouldn't have a goblin student or a teacher. And I feel sure we wouldn't have a unicorn either. No offense or anything."
"Well, yes..." Harry shuffled in place a little. "My parents, the first ones, they were human."
Hermione's confusion could but grow. "First ones? You have more than one set of parents?"
Ron air gunned at Harry. "Is that a unicorn thing?!"
"No!" Harry half-laughed. "My mum was given me when I was a little thing... I don't know who my 'real' parents are, but they're human."
"I knew it." Hermione looked smugly vindicated. "So you are human... with some unicorn mixed in. That makes a lot more sense than them just taking in a random unicorn for a student."
Harry thought of home in that moment and what he had left behind. "Oh yeah." Both of the others looked towards him. "I have a sister, and she really wants to join the school. I don't know if she'll manage it or not, but she'll try. She's an alicorn."
Ron frowned at that. "She's a horn?"
Hermione lifted one hand, the arm largely static as it swiveled. "I'm going to hazard a guess she's not a horn. What does that word mean?"
Harry inclined his head. Alicorns were clearly not a human thing. "It means she has wings and a horn. She's a princess. Princess Flurry Heart."
Hermione burst into a fit of little giggles. "That sounds incredibly adorable. And she wants to learn magic?"
Ron gestured at Harry. "If she's like him, she'll take to it natural enough. If they accept her. She's a, uh, winged unicorn all the way right? No human parents?"
"Not a one." Harry knew Flurry's parents, who were his parents because they were both nice ponies. "But she can be really stubborn, and she's good at magic. So... if you see another, you know who it is."
"Students." The presiding wizard had signaled for them to cease their chatter. "It is time to go to your new dormitories. Your things have already been moved. Good luck with the remainder of the year. Remember, excel and bring accolades, and points, to your new house."
They started off towards the Gryffindor dorms. Harry craned his head left and right as they went. "Did they take Arnavon? He's a bit more willful than a random owl. I hope they asked nicely."
"I still want to..." They had arrived at Harry's dorm, which allowed Hermione to lay eyes on the big rabbit enjoying some light reading of a magic book. "see.... this?"
Arnavon looked up, tossing the book aside onto the bed as he had a habit of doing. "Harry! And you've made new friends." He charged them, arms spread. "Hello! I'm Arnavon."
Ron was less surprised. Harry least of all. Hermione was not expecting a sudden rabbit attack, squeaking and backing up, causing Arnavon to capture the boys alone in an intense bout of hugs. "Excuse you?!"
"Did I sneeze?" As if maybe Arnavon hadn't noticed that he had. "Sorry."
Harry laughed as he wriggled past Arnavon. "You just startled Hermione, is all. Oh, that's her name."
"Hermione Granger," she introduced properly. "And you are... Arnavon?"
"That's me." He bowed properly to the lady wizard. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. Sorry for scaring you like that. Hugs are a thing we do a lot." He rubbed behind his head awkwardly. "Especially around people we're happy to see, and it's so nice seeing Harry make new friends."
Hermione's guarded stance relaxed a little. The big horned rabbit seemed to be devoid of any ill intent that she could determine. As big magical creatures went, it gave off not a whiff of hostility. "A pleasure to meet you too, Arnavon. I would ask that you not hug me without permission, however."
"You got it." He turned to Harry. "I have your things put away."
"One thing." Eyes turned to Hermione. "You are not an owl."