A new "multipleshot" short-ish fanfic idea that sprung into my mind the other day. I know there are a lot of Heta-Harry crossovers, but I think that this is original enough. I just love the thought of Italy Assisting Snape's class. Reviews are very much appreciated, Enjoy!
Year 6:
"Did you see him?"
"Yeah, isn't he adorable, his accent is so… so foreign!"
The Patil twins giggled behind their hands as the new boy walked by with an armful of books. He was a dark ginger with a funny curl and squinty eyes. Luna couldn't take her eyes off him.
"Hey loony, getting off or are you just going to sit there all night?" Ron's voice cut through her thoughts and brought her back to "reality."
"Yes, I'm coming… just wait one moment please." She lifted her basket and looked around for the strange boy as she stepped off the Thestral carriage, but he was gone.
"Oh dear, I suppose I'll have to find him later. He looks like such an interesting person." She sighed to herself and glided up the walk quickly to catch up to her friends.
= . =
V
"So Slughorn's the new Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher?" Ron asked through a mouthful of chicken, clearly to the disgust of Hermione and Ginny on either side of him.
"I guess so, wonder how long he'll last though." Harry had just gotten back from the Infirmity Ward and was glaring daggers at Malfoy who sneered back.
"Maybe he isn't here for defense against the dark arts at all" Hermione suggested, still wrinkling her nose from the disgust of having to watch Ron pile food into his bottomless gut.
Harry reached for a chip but just as he did, the dinner platters were replaced with dessert and he cursed under his breath.
"God, I hate Malfoy."
"Ciao there friends!" A strange looking kid sidled up to the Gryffindor table, scootching in between Neville and Luna, who had a strange expression (well, stranger than usual) on her face "You don't-a happen to-a know where the dining hall-a is, do you?"
"Err, yer kinda in it…" Ron looked at the darker non-freckled ginger with something like jealousy.
"Wha?" the weirdo opened his eyes for the first time since he'd arrived.
They were a soft shade of brown with a bright, confused expression. He looked down at the pudding laden dishes slowly lessening in their contents as Ron gorged himself incessantly.
"This is food?" His brow wrinkled in adorable disgust. Ron stared with an open (and full…) mouth.
"Yer joking, right?"
Before their new friend could answer, the dishes were cleared and the hall suddenly became silent as Dumbledore stood, arms outstretched.
"Welcome back for another year! Now that we have all filled our bellies with food and drink, I'm sure you're all ready to go to bed and rest your weary heads, but first, some announcements. For those of you who are new, the Forbidden forest is off-limits and no magic is to be used in the hallways outside of classes. Our Caretaker Argus Filch also wishes me to remind you all that any products purchased from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes will be confiscated and the individuals found with them given detention. Also, we have some new staff assignments for this year."
Here he paused and gestured to Slughorn who stood up and bowed (with difficulty over his bulky middle) to all four tables, his eyes landing on Harry with a wink.
"Professor Horace Slughorn will be graciously resuming his old role as Potion's Master-"
Here he had to pause again from the gasp and mutterings from the students.
"What? But what about Snape?" Ron and Harry exchanged a look.
"And Severus Snape will be taking the position of Defense against the Dark Arts Teacher."
Another loud exchange of voices as the sneering teacher locked eyes with Harry from up at the head table. Harry growled to himself.
"Now, one last thing before we disperse to bed, this year because of the looming threat of Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort (the hall shuddered collectively) we will be having a number of teaching assistants aiding our senior professors. Two of the three are still on their way here, but I believe that some of you have met the Potions assistant-"
The hall murmured again. Who could it be? There was the same number of teachers up at the head table as usual so who…?
"Feliciano, are you there?"
Dumbledore's twinkling eyes rested on the boy next to Neville and all as one, the students and teachers turned to get a look at him.
"Hmm? Oh! Me, I mean, yes-a, that's me! Ha ha ve~" He tried to get up, tripped over the bench, grabbed on to Seamus Finnegan from behind to steady himself, (pulling the boy backwards by accident) stood up straight and rushed up to the head table, passed through a ghost, yelped like a puppy, stripped on the steps and (after upsetting Professor McGonagall's goblet) managed to stand between Snape and Dumbledore. Snape looked incredulously back and forth from Albus to his new TA.
"Staff, students, ghosts; it is my honor to introduce Feliciano Vargas as our newest staff member and assistant Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts."
He had to be Joking.
=).( =
U
"Seriously I mean, what is this school coming to? It's bad enough that he's a muggle, but an ITALIAN muggle? Honestly, sometimes I think Dumbledore has gone perfectly mad."
Malfoy's familiar drawl was, as usual, loud enough for the world to hear. Hermoine glared daggers at him, Pansy, and the rest of their snickering gang.
"How dare him! Not only is he being openly racist, he's being openly racist about a teacher! The nerve of that git!" She hissed into her porridge.
"Yeah well, doesn't seem like the guy minds all that much. Mind you, he's not exactly the most aware chap in the world." Ron nodded toward the head table where Feliciano was making little moats in his porridge and happily staring absently into space with his mouth open. This seemed to annoy the crap out of Snape, much to Harry's pleasure.
"Wonder how old he is," Harry mused out loud. The TA only looked 16 and acted at least ten years younger. How he was a teacher, Harry couldn't figure.
"Oh, he's probably an immortal," Luna answered, making Harry jump. She'd been standing right behind him, staring dreamily at the TA, "They often have an air of childish innocence hiding their wisdom. Father published an article on them once."
"Err… right," They should have been used to her ponderings by now, but they weren't.
A flash of red suddenly caught everyone's attention as the infamous envelope sailed into the hall clutched in the talons of a barn owl. The hall immediately hushed and all eyes watched in dreaded excitement as the howler dropped into the porridge of a certain oblivious TA.
With a confused, curious look, the poor boy picked up and slit open his scarlet letter. And all hell broke loose.
"VENICIANO YOU DIRTY RAT! WHAT DO YOU THINK-A YOU'RE-A DOING? HUH? CHIGI! YOU DAMN JERK, HOW CAN YOU JUST-A UP AND LEAVE AND LEAVE ME WITH ALL-A THE WORK! AND THAT IDIOT SPANIARD KEEPS OFFERING TO HELP LIKE I CAN'T-A FUNCTION ON MY OWN! STUPID LITTLE BROTHER!"
A stream of vibrant curses followed causing the older students to hurriedly cover the ears of their younger peers. McGonagall was clearly fuming, but Dumbledore simply looked amused. Feliciano, on the other hand, was desperately waving the envelope around trying to make it shut up while knocking over his chair and porridge as well as (for the second time in 24 hours) Professor McGonagall's goblet. It was a comical scene.
The howler's voice changed suddenly to a different accent, though the original voice could be heard in the background still screaming in Italian.
"Hi Ita, que paso?" the cheerful voice asked, although since it was a howler; it was still screaming, only friendlier. "Sorry about Roma, he bullied Romania into giving him one of these so he could bother you. Lo siento. Hope you do well in your new job, Buenos Suerte!" This sender obviously didn't understand the purpose of a Howler.
Feliciano yelped as the message burst into flames and crumpled into ashes. His eyes started to tear up and he ran out of the hall (after crashing into a suit of armor and sending it clattering to the floor) as he wailed apologies in his heavy accent.
"I'm-a so sorry! Wahh!"
Silence followed his exodus for a long moment. Then, laughter erupted through the hall. Only Snape and McGonagall kept straight faces, though a hint of a smile played on the transfiguration professor's lips. Snape, it seemed, was simply thinking about how, in a few hours, he would be forced to share a classroom with the blundering walking disaster. Suddenly, the day's prospects seemed a lot brighter for Harry and his friends.
Only later would they realize that Luna had left the hall at the same time as Feliciano.
It was either Italy or Germany. Since no one trusted Prussia to take care of finances and country affairs while Germany was gone, the vote was unanimous. Personally, England would have preferred the potato muncher to be at Hogwarts, but he didn't have much of a choice. Italy would at least serve as a distraction.
He'd been contacted by Dumbledore over the Summer almost out of the blue. Arthur Kirkland had been busy baking in the kitchen when he got the feeling that someone was watching him. So he'd turned around, and nearly suffered a heart attack.
"Ah, Albus don't do that!" He gasped for breath as the tall old wizard bent over his stove and dipped a finger in the scone batter. He immediately winced.
"Have you ever considered using magic to help you cook?" The Professor asked merrily, while adding salt to the batter with his back to England.
"My cooking is perfectly fine thank you very much!" The younger (looking) man huffed.
Fine for poisoning harpies The wizard thought, but refrained from saying out loud as the nation removed his apron and offered his guest a seat.
"I understand that you know why I'm here?" Albus Dumbledore asked as the other man brought over and poured him some tea. "Thank you, Arthur."
'You're welcome and yes, I have a pretty good idea of why you've come. It has to do with Riddle, doesn't it?" The blond sat across from his guest and sipped his own tea slowly.
"Yes. As you know," the old man looked at the bandages just barely peeking out of the neck of England's shirt. "Voldemort is back."
"Yes, I've known for two years since you first told me," he nodded "But the ministry, both ministries have only just recognized the threat, true?"
"Very true. He has also been acting in secret for a time, but it seems that he has finally chosen to act. The hurricane in West Country-"
"The bridge and the Bones/Vance murders. Yes, I've felt them." He grimaced "But I suppose you didn't just come here to tell me this?"
"No. Actually, I have a favor"
"So I need three nations to volunteer to help out." He finished explaining and looked at the congregated nations. England had finally managed to grab their attention through a floating banner which magically wrote out what he was saying behind him. It was the first time that the entire room had actually paid attention (or at least looked in his general direction) to what he was saying. Even America was staring at him with a gaping mouth.
It gave Arthur England great satisfaction to know that they finally believed he was a wizard. Doubt my magic, will you He thought to himself smugly.
"Any takers? Eh, come on, anyone? You can nominate a friend or enemy if you'd like."
And so, through lengthy debate, they had picked three. Since it had been short notice (getting all the UN together was a tough task) two of them were still preparing to leave by the start of term. Truthfully, England was slightly nervous with the line-up, but Dumbledore had needed at least three in case of the worst. And from what he'd been told, England desperately hoped that the worst wouldn't happen. If it did…
Something else was bothering the nation. When they'd talked, he'd noticed Dumbledore's hand was black and shriveled. This had led to the mistake of his asking about it. From what he could tell, the explanation hadn't been a lie. He wished it had. Now, in addition to the looming threat, they were racing against the clock.
He sipped his tea now, by the window of his parlor, looking out at the ever present rain. Another convulsion gripped him and he reached for his pills. Come on Harry, pull through. I need you, lad.