Time Turned Back- The Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 8: The Future, Muggle Defence, and Beasts of Hoof and Wing

Harry awoke around sunrise. Ron, Dean, and Seamus were still asleep.

But despite awakening at an ungodly hour Harry was still in a very good mood, Hunter had returned. Not at full strength, but it was a beginning.

Knowing he wouldn't get back to sleep Harry got a pair of sweatpants from his bottom drawer and pushed the tag of his t-shirt under the collar and got out of bed carefully.

Midnight, having been disturbed by the movement leapt from the bed and followed as Harry picked up the volume of his dad's journal he had been reading. It was from his final four years at Hogwarts. It detailed all the dates his father went on with his mother and all the quidditch tactics the Marauders put together for Gryffindor.


Slowly padding down the cold stone steps to the common room, Harry was surprised to find Neville Longbottom sitting on a chair by the window, gazing out over the forest.

As Harry set his feet in the ground in the common room Neville snapped his head around and drew his wand, Harry could tell he was in inch from hexing him.

Raising his hands in defence Harry said "Easy Nev it's just me"

"Sorry" Neville said as he lowered his wand

"What's up you're not asleep?" Harry said as he approached

"I'm not in the mood for sleep right now" Neville said "I wanted to remember"

"What?" Harry asked as he sat down, knowing full well what it was.

"What do you remember of your mum and dad Harry?" Neville asked as Midnight jumped into his lap

"Little things" Harry said "The smell of my mums Poet's Jasmine perfume, my parent's voices, the stuffed animal they gave me when I was a baby, I think it was a dog, and their final moments"

"Their final moments?" Neville asked "You mean the night they died?"

"Dad told mum to take me and run" Harry said as he closed his eyes "Then there was an explosion. My mum pleaded for my life, and Voldermort went a head and killed her"

"I'm the same" Neville said "I remember that high screeching voice casting the curse…but my parents didn't make a sound, they didn't give Lestrange the satisfaction of their screams"

"Then they went down with honour" Harry said "That's something you can be proud of"

"I know" Neville said "But the bitch is just in Azkaban, there's a chance she could get out"

"Well then we'll just have to make sure that on the chance that she does" Harry said "That you're ready to take her on"

"How?" Neville asked "I mean, my track record at this school hasn't exactly been great, I'm not sure that even with the Memory charm removed I'll be any good"

"You won't know until you try" Harry said as he stood up "Come on"

"Where?" Neville asked as he grabbed his robe and followed

"Just shut up and come on" Harry said as he walked back to the dorm.


Casting a quick silencing charm on the beds Harry led Neville to his trunk and opened it at the common room compartment "Follow me down" he said as he descended the stairs.

When he landed in the room Neville whistled lowly "Very cool" he said

"Wait till you see the training rooms" Harry said as he led Neville down the corridor.


After a moment they reached a door at the end and Harry opened it as he said "If your reactions when you heard me in the common room are any indication you'll be able to give any of the fourth and fifth years a run for their money on the runway"

"But I just acted" Neville said

"Exactly" Harry said as he crossed the room and picked up one of the drones and set it for target practice and power reading "You reacted, drawing your wand with speed to rival a wand holster. If the rest of you is up to that level of focus you'll end up being one of the best Aurors since our dads, your mum and my Godfather"

"You really think I can?" Neville asked

"Yeah" Harry said as he placed his hand on Neville's shoulder "But getting rid of that gut might go a bit further towards it"

"Hey" Neville laughed as he drew his wand

"I'm kidding" Harry laughed

"I know" Neville said as he undid the top button of his shirt "I'm taking Muggle Defence same as you so that'll help

"Plus we can do laps in here" Harry said "Or run the programmable assault course next door"

"So what does this thing do?" Neville asked as he nodded

"It's got a few functions" Harry said "First it's designed for spell practice and power measurement, you fire a spell at it and of you did it right the spell is registered and a power level displayed from zero to one thousand"

"Cool" Neville said

"Second function" Harry replied "It can be designed to dodge your spells, to test how well you can anticipate a movement, the third function is for solo duelling, you program it with a specific skill level and fight it, the drone will defend itself based on the skill level you set it at, from first year to Auror. It can also fight you by Muggle methods"

"You mean Martial Arts and weapons?" Neville asked

"Yup" Harry replied "I've set it for spell practice so you can take a crack at it while I run a few laps"


"Furnunculus" Neville yelled half an hour later when the Boil causing spell struck the Dummy at the far side of the mats and

Boil Hex

248

appeared over the dummies face in bright white lettering.

"That's it" Neville said as he walked towards the piece of parchment with a quick quill writing what Neville called out.

Removing the quill Neville picked up the parchment and read the results.

They were extremely promising Neville had gone through all the hexes and curses they had learned from first and second year three times and called out the results. The results for the eight spells had fluxuatted (sp?) very little between 240 and 260.

"Pretty good" Harry said over Neville's shoulder "If you keep practicing that'll increase more, especially as we learn more powerful duelling spells"

"Do you have anything in mind?" Neville asked as Harry out the drone away.

"A few" Harry replied "But I'll need time to go through my parents and my aunt's books before I start"

"Are you gonna bring Ron and Hermione in on this?" Neville asked as they walked down to the kitchen

"Eventually" Harry said "But for now we'll just work between the two of us and bring them in later"

"OK" Neville said as he drank a glass of water.


After breakfast Hermione went to Arithmancy, Ron went to Divination, and Harry went with Neville to Muggle Defence in the Defence Against the Dark Arts corridor

Nodding Harry saw Neville and Seamus standing outside the door along with Justin Finch-Fletchley and a few others, no Slytherin's though, in total there were only twelve people including himself.

When Harry's watch struck 9AM the door opened and they filed in.

And floating a just off the ground was what Harry could describe as a Monk, he was wearing what Harry could guess was the robes of a Taoist Monk, but he couldn't tell the colours.

"Greetings" the monk said "I am your new Muggle Defence professor Li Zhuzhen, simply call me Li and it will make things easier. Now today there are stalls in the corner for you to change into the clothes you were asked to bring, this will not be so, on Friday night or in any of the preceding classes, so you will be required to change before coming to this class"

"Yes sir" the class said as they walked towards the changing stalls.


Harry emerged a few minutes later wearing a black t-shirt, a pair of loose grey tracksuit bottoms, and a pair of trainers.

After they lined up along the edge of the mat Li said "Alright, since you're here you know that this class will not involve the use of a wand in the beginning, however, as the class progresses over the next two years what I teach you will help you in combat where magic is used, now I need to know, who here has had any experience with weaponry?"

Harry's hand was the only one that went up

"Harry?" Li asked

"Last year in the Chamber of Secrets" Harry answered "I somehow managed to pull Godric Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat, when the Basilisk lunged at me I rammed the sword up into the roof of its mouth"

"No question of the strike being a fatal blow" Li said "What happened to you?"

"One of the fangs broke off and got lodged in my arm" Harry said "If it hadn't been for Professor Dumbledore's Phoenix I never would have got out of the chamber alive"

"Well you still did, be it by luck or not" Li nodded then he looked at the class "OK for a start I want you to give me four laps around the room at a jog then we'll do some stretches, push ups, and sit ups, and start on Tai-Kwan-Do"


Two hours later the twelve students walked slowly out of their muscles burning and sore from exertion. Li warned them that they should start exercising everyday on their own or it would just get worse.

"That were bloody murder" Seamus groaned as he flopped down on his bed after having a shower.

"Tell me about it" Neville replied

"You guys don't know hard work" Harry chuckled as he closed his trunk "Try getting up at dawn to do laps around the quidditch pitch with Wood. That is murder"

Seamus chuckled slightly as he buckled the belt of his trousers "Yer own fault fer bein such a good flyer"

Harry glared at him as he tied his shoes and picked up his copy of the Monster Book of Monsters and left for lunch but as he left Harry called back "It's not my fault Malfoy couldn't catch a snitch if it flew into his hand"


In the Great Hall Harry found Ron and Hermione talking about Divination

"The class as the biggest fraud I have ever seen" Hermione argued

"That's just cause you can't lie to save your life" Ron counter, his mouth full of fried chicken.

"What're you two arguing about this time?" Harry asked as he sat down "And don't try and drag me into it"

"We're talking about Divination" Ron said

"Then I don't wanna know" Harry said as he grabbed some chicken for himself "Trelawney's out of her mind"

"Never mind" Hermione said "How was Muggle Defence?"

"It was pretty good" Harry said "We're gonna learn Tai-Kwan-Do this year, and Kickboxing next year"

"How is he going to test you at the end of the year?" Hermione asked

"Li, (the professor) mentioned something about match ups" Harry answered "It won't be about who wins, just who shows the most skill over the course of the fights" then he went back to his lunch.


When they reached Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures Harry did his best to ignore the pleading notion in his mind to break Malfoy's jaw

But he succeeded as Hagrid came up from a pen near the trees.

"Welcome" Hagrid called "To yer first Care o Magical Creatures class, now before we start, who 'ere's figured out how to open the Monster book o Monters?"

Harry grinned evilly as he raised his hand

"'arry?" Hagrid asked

"The book is more or less an animal so you treaty it like one" Harry replied "You just run your fingers down the spine and it'll calm down"

"Right" Hagrid said with a smile "Five points ter Gryffindor, now open the book at page 28"

One by one the class did what Harry said and opened the book

A grin crossed Harry's face as he opened the book at a picture of a Hippogriff.

"Who can tell me what a Hippogriff is?" Hagrid asked

Instantly Hermione's hand shot up, with Neville's not far behind.

"Neville?" Hagrid asked

"Hippogriff's are a close relative of the Gryffin" Neville said "Except instead of being a hybrid of a Lion and an Eagle, the hybrid is a Horse and an Eagle, but occasionally you get a hybrid of a unicorn and an eagle"

"Right" Hagrid said "Ten points ter Gryffindor" then Hagrid walked down towards the pen and opened the gates before he disappeared out of sight.

And a moment laterhe returned, walking slowly out of the pen with a rope in his hand, leading something out.


Harry smiled as he watched Hagrid lead the massive creature out into the open

"This is Buckbeak" Hagrid announced "I found 'im wounded in the Forbidden Forest over the summer and fixed 'im up"

As the class stared at the magnificent creature before them Harry sighed wistfully, it had been two years since he had seen Buckbeak.

"Now" Hagrid called "Who wants to take a crack at getting close?"

Almost at once the class stepped back, bar Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ron.

Then Harry said "I'll do it"

"Trust Potter to offer himself up for something this insane" Malfoy jeered

"If I wanted your opinion I'd had shoved it down your throat" Harry growled

Malfoy glared at Harry's back as he walked towards the Hippogriff

Everything proceded exactly as Harry remembered it. He approached Buckbeak, bowed and the Hippogriff took him for a spin over the lake, and despite the discomfort to his knees pressed between Buckbeak's wings and shoulders, Harry was able to enjoy the flight.


Things changed when he got back to the ground though.

As Harry walked back to Ron and the others Draco stalked up to Buckbeak, an insult on the tip of the Slytherin's tongue, when Buckbeak reared back, startled, Harry reacted, snapping his wand out Harry growled out "Accio Malfoy" and a few seconds before Buckbeak's talons came down on him, Malfoy was jerked backwards, off his feet and straight to Harry.

Luckily Harry stepped aside a moment before Malfoy hit him and the snake slammed into the ground.

"I warned you not to startle him Malfoy" Hagrid bellowed "Five points from Slytherin for disregarding a Professors instructions" then Hagrid stalked away to try and calm Buckbeak down.

"That Oaf can't do that to me" Malfoy argued as he got up "That beast almost killed me"

"Because of your own stupidity" Harry snapped "And if I hadn't summoned you away from him Buckbeak probably would have killed you"

"Then you should have let it Potter" Malfoy snapped "Maybe we can finally get rid of that Oaf once and for all"

"And make you into a fucking martyr?" Harry growled "I'd sooner dance the tango with your daddies Half-Blood Master" then Harry walked back towards where Ron and the others were standing.

"My father was right about you Potter" Malfoy called after him "One day you'll meet the same end as your fool of a father and your Mudbloo…" but he never finished the sentence

Harry was back in his face in a flash with his right hand around Malfoy's throat holding him a food half a foot off the ground.

"Finish that sentence" Harry hissed "I DARE YOU" then with a glare harry dropped Malfoy coughing at his feet and said "Duel. You and me, no seconds. After dinner TONIGHT" and Harry stalked away, his robes swirling behind him as he snatched his COMC book off the wall he had set it on.

Authors Notes: Done.

Next time Malfoy gets his ass handed to him and Harry has a new experience with the Boggart