AN:/ Well sorry it took so long, had a block with writing this chapter for some reason but whatever. Oh and just so you know I'm terrible at accents so I probably won't write any, well except for Maxine's name for Dumbledore, that just amuses me. Thanks for the reviews and on with the story
thoughts
/flamespeak/
Chapter 4
Over the next couple days the Fourth Years were treated to many comments on the new Defense teacher ranging from 'it was a cool class' to 'that teacher is insane' so rather predictably all of the Gryffindors were curious about how the man would actually measure up.
So when the first Defense class started with them waiting for Moody to show up in the class they felt rather let down. And so they waited, and waited...and waited. Eventually Harry started to feel uneasy and started to fidget and look around. The candles in the room seemed to emanate feelings of warning and amusement. So Harry looked around and eventually found a space on the wall where there was a faint distortion in the air.
"Well that's a bit suspicious" Harry thought as he kept searching the room for other distortions.
After several more minutes past Moody appeared in the spot that the distortion was at and let off a loud bang from his wand badly startling all but a few of the students.
"Almost all of you are dead." said Moody in his gruff voice.
"And I say almost all of you only because of the few who either noticed me and didn't jump or just weren't startled." Moody paused.
"This year I will not teach you about Dark Creatures or weak protection spells. I will teach you how to survive should any of you come across any Dark Wizards in the future." as he said this his gaze lingered on several of the Slytherins in the class.
"The best way to live in such a situation is CONSTANT VIGILANCE" he barked the last part cause several students in the class to push back away from him.
"To always be aware of your surroundings and be ready for an attack at any time. These are what I will teach you this year." and then he smirked "along with a few curses."
"Now who can tell me any of the 3 curses that with one cast on another sentient being will give you a one way ticket to hell on earth, otherwise known as Azkaban"
Nobody seemed to want to be the first and then Malfoy arrogantly raised his hand.
"The Imperius curse sir."
"Ah yes, of course you would know that one Malfoy, what with your father having been put under it by the Dark Lord." the second part of his sentence practically dripped sarcasm.
After that Moody pulled out a jar of what looked like spiders and levitated one out. He then made it bigger so that everyone in the class could see.
"Now you can all see correct?" There were head nods and sounds of affirmative throughout the class.
"Imperio"
The spider seemed to shiver and then stilled. And then it stood up on two off it's legs and started doing cartwheels and then a tapdance. Many people in the class laughed and Moody seemed to grow angry.
"Think it's funny do you!" he snarled at the class.
"I could just as easily have this spider drown itself or throw itself in a fire. Or if it was a person, go home and strangle their family or take their money out of their vault and give it to me" with that he stopped the demonstration "Next curse."
Neville shakily raised his hand and said "The Cru-Cruciatus Curse s-sir."
"Ah yes." Moody looked sympathetically at him
He pointed at the spider with his wand "Crucio"
The spider writhed and contorted under the spell. Everyone came to the conclusion that if the spider could scream it would be doing so. Moody let up the spell quickly and the spider collapsed on the table. "And the last one?"
Everyone held their breathe and then Hermione raised her hand and whispered "The Killing Curse sir."
"Avada Kadavra" and in a flash of green light the spider curled up and was still. The classroom was as silent as a graveyard.
"These 3 curses are known as the Unforgivable Curses and and no known magical shield is able to block them. They are able to be blocked by a solid shield so summoning something in the way of them or conjuring something in front of them will be sufficient."
"These curses are not the worst ways magic can kill someone but they are still illegal. Can anyone tell me why?"
No one seemed to have a real answer, although a few of the Slytherins looked to be holding their tongues.
"They are illegal because you need to actually feel a raging desire to use that curse on someone." Said Moody gravely as he surveyed the class. "The desire to control, to cause unimaginable pain or just to kill and since these feelings are among the worst a human can feel they will begin to color that person's judgement and actions more and more until they don't want to do anything other than that."
"Now before you think that I am a dark wizard" at this Moody smirked "it is possible to force these curses with your magic but the results are far weaker than if you have the emotions to fuel it."
"I tell you these things because Dumbledore thinks that this information is vital to you, but now-" he paused and flicked his wand and then the desks floated up to the ceiling "-I begin the real part of this class." at this Moody's smirk went from amused to downright malicious. He flicked his wand again and a clunk was heard and then several objects flew into the room and set down in front of the class.
There were 5 of the objects and to the muggleborn they looked like tennis ball machines but where the balls were supposed to go was just a long black tube that ended in a point.
"Now, these machines here are just some dodge training. How it works is that you will insert your wand into this slot in the back-" he demonstrated "-and then this uses it to send stinging hexes at you at a rate and power set by me and you will do your best to dodge them."
"Sir" Malfoy drawled "why do we need to practice dodging when there are shields and counter-curses."
"Because shields fail and if you think you could memorize the counter to every harmful spell then you're deluded and dumb" Moody barked.
"Now, everyone get into a line!"
Moody then raised walls between each of the lines so that there was only about 7 to 8 feet between them for them to dodge in.
"Now let's get started." Moody seemed entirely too happy to be doing this.
It was hell. The average stinging hexes dodged sat at about 3 and the periodic shouts of "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" seemed to hinder the students more than help them.
When class ended there was a stampede for the door as everyone tried to escape the mad professor. But Harry hung back and when the class was empty approached Moody.
"Professor?"
"What is it Potter."
"Is there a way to be able to get to dodge better? Cause well, I think I can speak for all the students in saying that stinging hexes really hurt after awhile." said Harry as he rubbed a particularly sore spot.
"Well-" Moody grimaced as he sat down in a chair "-you could always take up running, and the best way to learn how to dodge better is to practice."
"It might be wise for you to take that up anyways Potter." for the first time both of Moody's eyes fixed on Harry.
"You can never have too much stamina, but you especially will never have a shortage of dark wizards after you so you could use all the advantages you could get."
"I'll give it some thought sir."
Moody just grunted and and Harry taking it as a dismissal left and headed for dinner. Ron and Hermione were waiting in the hallway for him.
"What did you want to talk to the Professor about Harry?" asked Hermione
"Yea mate, what could be more important than dinner?"
Harry answered as he started walking towards the great hall "Well I asked Moody if there was any way to get better at dodging, cause I don't know about you guys but I did not enjoy getting hit over and over again."
"Alright mate! How do we do it!"
"Well he said the best way is to take up running and practice."
Ron's excitement faded away.
"Oh, well that sounds like a lot of work."
"I was thinking about doing it, what with all of the crap I find myself in every year I figure it could only be beneficial."
"When would you find time to do it?" Hermione enquired curiously.
"I'd probably have to wake up earlier and do it then I guess" Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
Ron just looked scandalized at having to wake up earlier than he absolutely had to. After that the trio entered the Great Hall and grabbed their seats for dinner. The main topic of discussion at dinner was the older years asking about their opinions on Moody's class and him in general.
After dinner Ron and Hermione headed to the common room and Harry headed to the library for his first meeting with Daphne. Once Harry got to the library he looked around and not finding Daphne in the immediate area headed deeper into the library for the more secluded tables. He eventually found her in a corner of the library that seemed to not be accessed much if the dust on the books was any indication.
"Potter." Daphne greeted coolly without looking up from her parchment.
"Greengrass."
"Have you been reading the notes I gave you."
"Yea, and Hermione gave me some of her notes as well."
"I hope you haven't mixed hers and mine up." at this she leveled a glare at Harry.
"No! I mean no, I make sure to keep hers and yours separate."
"Good. Now let's see how much you've managed to retain."
What followed was a gruelling rehash of the 3 main runic languages, those being Ancient Greek, Egyptian and Norse, and what kind of idiosyncrasies each language had. Like the norse runes being very rigid but could hold lots of power or the greek runes being more flexible but could hold less power. And after that came a basic lesson on how they were used to power runic circles and wards.
Daphne eventually stopped the session and allowed Harry to rest.
"You are doing acceptable allowing into account the fact that you just started this year."
"Thanks ever so much."
"In fact, if you continue at this rate you might be done with the third year curriculum by Christmas." at this Daphne allowed a smirk to cross her face.
"You might even catch up by the end of the year"
"You know if I didn't know better i'd think you were being nice to me."
"It's good you know better then isn't it. Here are some more notes for you to work with."
"I assume you'll do something horrible to me if i lose them."
"It would be worse now because I know that you can take care of them."
"And on that pleasant note goodnight Greengrass."
"Goodnight Potter."
Harry left the library and headed over to Gryffindor Tower hoping to just relax and maybe get some of his other homework done. When he entered the Common Room he found Ron and Hermione waiting for him with Hedwig.
"She won't give either of us the letter." Hermione told Harry
Harry walked over and held up his arm for Hedwig to get on and when she did so took the letter from her.
"It's from Padfoot from when I sent him that letter about my scar."
Dear Harry,
In response to your questions no curse scars are never reported to have hurt after being made but yours might be different considering its origins. I am back in the country and I am in a safe location (so don't try to get me to leave). I'll try to get in contact with you through other means but until then wait to send me another owl as they won't be able to find me at where I'm at.
Love,
Padfoot.
"He says he's back in the country but he's in a safe location and is gonna try and contact me some other way." said Harry.
"Oh I hope he's actually safe, I'd hate for him to get caught." worried Hermione.
"Well the only thing we can do is wait because it sounds like he won't be leaving."
The next few weeks Harry established his routine. He started getting up a couple hours earlier so that he could start running and after running he'd take a shower and get ready for the day. He'd go through his classes paying attention as much as he could, cram as much about Runes as he could into his head and try to survive Moody's crazy teaching style. He also had sessions with Daphne twice a week and she'd cement the knowledge of runes into his brain. And every night he could sneak off from his friends or when he couldn't sleep Harry would throw on his invisibility cloak and find an abandoned classroom to try push how much he could do with his fire.
The lack of progress in that area of his life was a constant irritation to him. He could feel all of the fire inside of him and knew that he could do so much more but every time he reached for it it slipped through his fingers. That isn't to say that there wasn't any progress at all it was just a very slow buildup.
Nothing truly interesting happened until a sign appeared in the Great Hall at breakfast announcing that the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegates would be arriving on Friday the 30th of October. Throughout the week not much else could be heard in conversations except speculations about what the people from the other magic schools would be like and how many people they would all be bringing. And when the time arrived everyone gathered and was lined up on the lawn to wait for them to arrive. As the students waited they speculated on how they would arrive until someone pointed up at the sky.
"Look it's a flying house!"
Unfortunately for the first year who said that it was in fact a giant carriage being pulled by flying horses. And when it touched down a door in the side side opened and guy in a light blue uniform jumped out and lowered some stairs and was followed by the biggest woman Harry had ever seen. The only person who compared in size was Hagrid.
"Huh, maybe her and Hagrid are similar." Harry wondered as he watched her walk over and greet Dumbledore with a line of blue uniformed students following her.
"Dumbly-door how good to see you again" rumbled the woman in a deep voice.
"And you as well Madame Maxine, I hope you had no trouble on your way here?" Dumbledore took her hand and kissed it
"No trouble, no trouble. We will head into the castle as we are not dressed for this weather." Maxine waved her students into the castle.
And then another person shouted about the lake and everyone's attention was diverted to the lake as it boiling and frothed as an old ship thrust itself up from under the water and came to rest near the shore. Then a gangplank was lowered from the ship and a group of people in large fur coats started their way over to the castle.
When the group got to them a sleazy looking older man walked up to Dumbledore and shook his hand vigorously.
"Ahh Dumbledore, good to see you and old Hogwarts once again."
"Yes, good to see you as well Igor."
"Well I hope you don't mind but Viktor here has a slight head cold and I'd like to get him inside."
Looking closer Harry thought this Victor looked familiar and Ron started hyperventilating.
"Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry! That's Viktor Krum! Oh sweet Merlin and Morgana! Do you think I could get him to autograph something for me!" Ron seemed almost like he was about to rush Krum more than some of the girls.
"Ron I don't think acting like that will do you any good." Ron wasn't listening though, he seemed off in his own mind.
Harry just shrugged and followed the rest of the students heading inside for the Welcoming Feast. The Beauxbatons students had settled at the Ravenclaw table and Durmstrang seemed to be settling in with the Slytherins. Ron groused at the missed opportunity to buddy up to Krum and Harry just listened amused by Ron's slightly obsessive rants. At the Head Table Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands for silence.
"Well I must say welcome to our visitors and I hope that your stay will be to your satisfaction and I will divulge the information as to tournament particulars after dinner" and with a smile Dumbledore lowered his hands and sat down then the tables were filled with food.
Ron immediately went for his favorites but Harry looked around and noticed that there was many different dishes there than usual. Harry figured that they were dishes from the other schools home countries and decided to try a few. A few minutes later someone spoke from behind Harry.
"Are you done with the bouillabaisse?"
"Hmmm?" Harry turned around and when he saw the person who had asked a wave of heat washed over him. This heat seemed to curl around him and draw forth his own fire, tempting it with promises of freedom and to burn unchecked. His fire singing through his veins Harry was pulled into his fire and his eyes changed to the fiery orange of when he was manipulating it and the girl gasped. This gasp drew Harry back to the present and he groggily shook his head.
"Um, what was it that you wanted?"
"The bouillabaisse" the girl answered hesitantly.
Now that Harry wasn't drowning in the fire, although it was still burning through his veins in need to be free, he noticed this girl had platinum silver hair and a willowy figure.
"Yea, yea. Go ahead and take it"
He handed her the bowl and she left taking the aura of heat and passion with her. Harry's eyes changed back to normal but the fire still burned through his veins although not as bad as before.
"She's totally a veela mate." Ron said still staring at the girl.
"Don't be silly Ron, you're the only one who acted like that around her." Apparently Hermione hadn't noticed Harry's lapse.
Hermione and Ron started bickering and Harry just sat there thoughtfully.
"I'll have to look up more about veela to see if there was anything that might explain what just happened" Harry thought to himself.
Once everyone had their fill of food, except Ron but he was always hungry, Dumbledore stood up again and everyone quieted down for whatever he was going to say. Dumbledore gestured with his hand and Filch came in from a side room with a pillar of jewel encrusted gold on a cart which Dumbledore levitated and set up in front of the students. He then tapped the top of the pillar with his wand and the gold seemed to melt until a large wooden cup was shown which then burst into blue flames.
"This is the Goblet of Fire, this will be what those hopefuls will submit their name to for a chance to be chosen as a Champion. Each of us judges will be adding a protection to prevent those under age 17 from entering the tournament." At this there were many groans and complaints but they died out quickly.
"You will have one day to submit your name then tomorrow night the Champions will be chosen. I would hope that those who are entering their name will think carefully before doing so as these challenges will not be for the faint of heart." Dumbledore surveyed all of them with a serious look
"And now, I bid you all a good night" Dumbledore finished with a smile and twinkle in his eye
As everyone headed back to their dorms, and for the foreign students back to their carriage and ship respectively, the question on everyone's mind was who was entering and who would be chosen.