AN Hello! I'm back with chapter 11! Nothing to put here (Again) I cri. This chapter: Defense Against the Dark Arts!
Harry walked into the DADA classroom and was immediately assaulted by the smell of garlic. Griffith was casting Harry odd looks, he hadn't believed Harry when he'd said he'd heard it mentioned in a book. Of course, Deadbush just had to overhear about the duel and had berated them for planning to go out in the middle of the night. It didn't help that Harry was seated much like he was in potions, he was sitting right between Deadbush and Griffith, Griffith to his right, Deadbush to his left. Harry looked at the professor at the front of the room. He had a turban on his head that he claimed was a gift for killing something. Harry seriously doubted it, as the man seemed like he wouldn't be able to kill a single pixie if it flew in front of his face and tried to steal his nose.
"H-hello c-class I'm y-your Defense Against t-the D-d-dark Arts Professor," the man stuttered, Harry frowned, the man stuttered a ridiculous amount, this was likely a stuttering record. It also made it practically impossible to understand what the man was trying to say at points.
"I-I'll j-just be s-starting t-to do at-attendance," the man stuttered, Harry blanked out until he heard the man say his name, "R-riddle, Praet," Harry snapped to attention, and he hid a smirk when he saw the man subconsciously rub his right arm, Harry marked him as a Death Eater. He wondered why the Dark Lord had placed the man there, as it was known that no Dark Arts professor lasted longer than a year.
No one else noticed at all though, and Harry tried to figure out why the Death Eater was there as the man fake stuttered through the lesson. Deadbush raised her hand and answered every question word for word from the textbook. Harry could do that if he wanted, but memorizing things didn't mean you knew them. Occlumency was extremely useful for studying, as Harry could just open up the memory of when he'd read the book. The class was extremely boring and by the end of class Harry was wandlessly and wordlessly levitating things behind the professor in boredom. Some people noticed, but they looked for someone with a wand out. At one point, Harry levitated the Professor's chair a millimeter in the air and the moment the man made a move to sit down Harry pushed it backwards and laughed with the class as the man fell on the floor.
Harry left the class with Griffith, who had seemingly forgotten about how Harry had known what a wizarding duel was. Harry, Ron, Deadbush, and Griffith all walked back to the common room. They were among the first people to appear in the room. Only a few fifth years, including Wood, were already in there. The second Wood saw Harry he jumped out of his seat and walked over.
"Riddle! Good to see you're here, let's go," Wood exclaimed, grabbing Harry by the wrist and dragging him off. Harry managed to wave goodbye to Ron and Griffith before he was out of the common room.
"Hey Wood, nice to see you too, you know, I can walk on my own," Harry told the boy after a moment.
"Oh, uh yeah! Sorry," Wood apologized, Harry smiled.
"No big deal, I'm super excited to learn about Quidditch anyways, maybe I'll actually be able to understand what Griffith and Ron are talking about most of the time," Harry told him.
The moment they stepped outside the castle, Wood led him to a box that Harry assumed held the different balls used in Quidditch. There were also two of the cleansweeps lying on the ground near the box. Wood opened the box and Harry was proved right. Inside the box, there were two brown balls that seemed to be trying to escape, Harry assumed they were the bludgers, balls that would try to attack people. There was also a big red leather ball, Harry forgot the name of it, but it was the ball that was supposed to go through the hoops. Lastly, there was a little compartment with fancy tiny doors that Harry assumed held the snitch. He knew for a fact the snitch was what he was supposed to go for.
Wood picked up the big red ball, holding it in two hands, "Quidditch is a seven vs seven game with three different kinds of balls. This, is the Quaffle. There are three chasers, who pass the quaffle and try to get it through any of the three hoops on a Quidditch pitch. I'm a keeper, my job is to guard the three hoops on our team's side and stop the enemy team from getting scores. A score of the quaffle means ten points to the team that scored," Wood explained.
"Quaffle, three chasers, keeper, hoops, ten points, got it," Harry listed.
Wood then unstrapped one of the bludgers, letting it fly into the air, "That's a bludger, a bludger will randomly shoot at a player and try to knock them off their broom. There are two beaters, they are equipped with bats and are supposed to try to keep the bludgers away from their teammates," He explained, Harry nodded and Wood tackled the bludger as it attempted to attack him once again. Once Wood had gotten it strapped back in, he opened the little doors and took out the snitch.
He handed the small golden ball to Harry, "This is the snitch, during the game, it flies around unpredictably at high speeds. You are a seeker, your job is to catch this as soon as you can. Catching the snitch ends the game and gives us one-hundred and fifty points extra. Some games have been known to last days as seekers can't get the snitch. Never catch the snitch if we're down by one-hundred fifty or more points unless the other seeker is obviously about to get it," Wood finished, Harry nodded along as he went.
"That's simple enough to understand, but I have a feeling playing the game isn't as easy as understanding the basics," Harry wondered.
"It isn't, and although I trust Professor McGonagall, I'd like to see how you fly for myself before I let you officially join the team," Wood told Harry.
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Harry asked, picking up a broom after he'd given the snitch back to Wood.
Wood released the snitch into the air, "Wait a few seconds then try to get the snitch, I put it on its most challenging level, which makes it a bit harder to catch than it would be during a game. Usually though, the most important part of being a seeker is being able to spot the snitch," Wood told him, Harry smiled and nodded, his blood bond with Goliath gave him slightly better than normal eyesight, which would likely benefit him on the Quidditch pitch. "Okay, go get it!" Wood told him. Harry darted into the air in a flash, out of the corner of his eye he saw Wood mount the other broom to watch. Looking around, Harry was able to spot the snitch fairly quick, as it hadn't had much time to get away. Harry turned his broom about forty-five degrees to the left and dived towards the glittering ball. At the last moment, it dashed to the right and Harry was forced to turn and pull up at the same time. Harry leaned back so that his broom was attempting to climb and the moment he stopped falling he flew straight at the hovering snitch.
The snitch darted forward at its top speed, which almost matched the speed of Harry's broom, almost. Harry flattened himself onto his broom, his right arm stretched forward and his left arm holding the broom in a firm grip. The snitch shot upward and Harry immediately followed, he was only a few inches from reaching it. Harry placed his feet so that they were secure on the metal ring holding the thick bristles together. Then he pushed himself so that he was standing straight up on his diagonal broom. Bending his knees slightly, Harry jumped from the broom, grabbing the snitch in his right hand as his left grabbed the front of the broom before it got too far away from him. Harry took a breath and swung himself on just like he got onto Goliath.
Then Harry dived back towards the ground again where he found an amazed Wood cheering, "That was amazing Riddle! You really are better the Charlie was!" he exclaimed. Then Wood proceeded to give Harry a hard and slightly hurtful pat on the back. Wood pulled out his wand and cast a tempus, "Well, dinner's soon and then it's time for bed, so I guess we'd better head for the Great Hall," he decided.
Harry nodded and followed the boy into the castle and the Great Hall. Most of the students were already inside, and Harry quickly spotted Ron and Griffith munching away on some bread rolls. Griffith looked up and saw Harry, elbowing Ron, they both waved him over. Harry gave a double thumbs up and pasted a smile on his face. Walking over to where they were sitting, Harry plopped down on the seat to the left of Griffith. He grabbed an orange and a chicken leg before turning to talk to Griffith and Ron.
"So, I take it went well?" Griffith asked.
"Yup!" Harry said, popping the 'p'. "Wood said I was even better than Charlie!" He told them happily.
Ron frowned a tad before smiling, "That's great! I can't wait to see you at the first Quidditch game! Sadly, they start after Winter Break though," He exclaimed.
Griffith also was smiling, "I bet when you get out of school you're going to become a professional Quidditch player!" He told Harry excitedly.
Harry smiled modestly, "I'm not that good…" he said, trailing off.
"You are too that good! Next year I'm going to be a chaser and I bet you'll be catching snitches so fast there isn't time to shoot a hoop!" Griffith reassured him.
Harry grinned, "Anyways, are you all up for that duel tonight?" he asked in a lower tone after a moment.
They both nodded excitedly, "I want to see that bloody idiot make a fool of himself!" Ron exclaimed happily.
Harry grinned, "Oh don't you worry, I'm thinking about using a levitating charm called Wingardium Leviosa on his underpants," Harry chuckled, Griffith let out a laugh as well. Oh Harry would love humiliating Draco, of course, his adopted father would disapprove if Harry discredited the family of one of his Death Eaters, so Harry wouldn't make it public. Just knock Draco down a notch or two. Harry was a tad sad he couldn't use any of his favorite spells, as they all happened to be very dark magic.
"I can't wait for tonight!" Griffith told him, "It's going to be so awesome! I wonder if it will be like the duels I had with dad during my training."
-= Midnight, Gryffindor Common Room =-
"C'mon! We're going to be late!" Harry heard Griffith whisper to Ron, who was taking his time getting his robes back on.
They all crept quietly down the stairs, Harry looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was following them. A few embers were glowing softly in the fireplace, casting an eery glow on the common room, making normal objects cast long dark shadows. Harry carefully made quick steps to get across the room. He was reaching out for the door when a voice sounded behind him, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Praet!" Deadbush exclaimed. A lamp flickered on revealing a frowning Deadbush in a pink bathrobe.
"You!" Ron whisper-yelled, "Go back to bed, we're going whether you like it or not."
"I considered telling your brother," Deadbush told him, "Percy, he'd have put a stop to this recklessness. Of course, I decided you were probably going to realize what a stupid idea this was, but apparently I thought to highly of you," she snapped.
"You little-" Griffith started, but Deadbush interrupted him.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor? Do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the cup another year, but apparently you must really want it, going out in the middle of the night without permission! You'll lose all the points I earned so far this year!" She added to what she'd said before.
Harry climbed through the portrait hole, followed quickly by Griffith, then Ron. Sadly, Deadbush followed after Ron, Harry turned towards her, "Go. Away," He growled.
"I saw the award your dad got in his sixth year, I'd bet he'd be very disappointed!" She exclaimed. She had no idea what she'd just said though, and watched as the three boys looked at eachother for a second, then Harry turned to Deadbush.
"Good! I don't want to be ANYTHING like my father. And you wouldn't want me to be like him if you knew what was good for you!" He exclaimed, "Now go back to the common room, please," he commanded.
Deadbush turned towards the portrait of the fat lady only to find it was empty, she turned back to Harry, "What did your father ever do?" She asked.
Now Griffith turned to her, "You don't want to know," he said with a sigh.
Now she looked regretful, "He abandoned you didn't he? Oh I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed.
"We're already late!" Ron exclaimed, "Can we please get going?" he asked.
"Yes, we'd better," Harry agreed.
"I'm coming with you," Deadbush said after a moment.
"You are not," Ron snapped at her.
"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all four of us, I'll tell him the truth," She argued.
"Shut up both of you!" Griffith exclaimed, "I heard something."
Turning around a corner, they saw Neville curled up on the floor, fast asleep. The moment they stepped toward him, he snapped awake, "Oh thank goodness you found me! I forgot the password and the fat lady wouldn't let me through and… it was horrible!" He exclaimed.
"Keep your voice down Neville!" Griffith whispered.
"The password's 'Pig snout'" Harry told the boy, "But I'm afraid the fat lady's wandered off somewhere, so it won't help you much."
"Thanks Praet, I'm glad you're more trustable than your brother," Neville sniffed.
"Good. Well, Neville, we've got to get going, see you later?" Harry asked.
"N-no!" Neville said, Harry raised an eyebrow, "I'll come with you, I don't want to be left alone. Bloody Baron's been past twice already."
Ron lifted his arm and looked at his watch. He glared at Deadbush and Neville, "If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until both of you have been subjected to the curse of bogies Quirrel told us about."
Deadbush opened her mouth for a second, but was silenced by Harry, who was quite annoyed by their new companions. Griffith jumped ahead and set off at a quick pace down the moonlit corridors. Every moment, Harry looked over his shoulder, expecting Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they never appeared. They practically sprinted up the staircase to the third floor and tiptoed to the trophy room. Harry held his wand, Ron checked his watch.
"He's either later than we are or he chickened out," Ron whispered.
A noise in a room nearby made them jump. Harry raised his wand so that it was pointed towards the origin of the sound. A moment later he heard a voice that most definitely didn't belong to Draco.
"Sniff around my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner," they heard Filch whisper to Mrs. Norris.
Harry's eyes widened and he gestured for the others to follow him. They all silently dashed over, then ran away from where Filch's voice had sounded. Harry heard the voice sound again, but he and the others were already hurriedly running away. Griffith then waved them in a different direction and they dashed down a long gallery full of suits of armor. Harry could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville let out a frightened squeak and tried to sprint forward. Seeing as it was extremely dark though, he crashed into Ron and they toppled into a suit of armor. The armor toppled over loudly, crashing into another piece, they continued to fall with deafening clangs like dominos until the last one fell.
"RUN!" Griffith yelled, then they all took off sprinting. Griffith led them randomly corridor to corridor. Harry wandlessly cast a short-lasting silencing charm behind them. It made it so that although to them it seemed like their feet could be heard in front and behind them, Filch was unlikely to hear. At one point, they dashed through a tapestry and through a hidden corridor appearing near the charms classroom. Which they all knew was almost on the opposite side of the school as the trophy room.
"I think," Harry started, "That we lost him," he proclaimed.
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor Tower as fast as possible," Ron said.
"Malfoy tricked you," Deadbush told Harry, Harry held back rolling his eyes, if he could go back and change his decision he wouldn't. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you, Malfoy obviously tipped Filch off that someone would be in the trophy room around midnight."
"Let's go," Harry decided, ignoring Deadbush.
Sadly, it wasn't going to be that simple Harry realized. Only a moment after his declaration a doorknob rattled and a pale gray-blue form came shooting out. Harry immediately realized it was Peeves. He watched as the mischievous ghost turned towards the group. The ghost let out a squeal of delight.
"Peeves, please don't say anything, you'll get us thrown out!" Deadbush begged.
Peeves cackled, "Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut, naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."
"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please," Deadbush begged.
"Should tell Filch, I should," Peeves said in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."
"Get out of the way!" Ron snapped, swiping his hand at Peeves.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
Ducking under Peeves, the ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door, and it was locked.
Griffith looked back in fear, "This is it!" Ron moaned as he and Griffith tried to force the door open, "We're done for! This is the end!"
They could hear footsteps, Harry pulled out his wand, he was about to cast an alohomora, but Deadbush beat him to it, "oh, move over," she snarled, she grabbed Griffith's wand out of his hand and pointed it at the lock, "Alohomora,"
The lock clicked and the door swung open. They piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening. "Which way did they go Peeves?" Filch asked, "Quick, tell me!"
"Say 'please,'" Peeves teased Filch.
"Don't mess with me Peeves, now tell me WHERE DID THEY GO?" Filch thundered.
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," Peeves said in an annoying singsong voice, completely unperturbed by Filch's tone.
"All right, please," Filch said in a tone that showed he obviously didn't mean it.
"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" Then they heard the sound of Peeves wooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.
"He must think the door's still locked," Griffith whispered, "I think we'll be okay, get off Neville!" he exclaimed as Neville had been frantically tugging his robes since they'd entered the room, "What?" he asked in an annoyed voice.
Harry turned around to see a humongous cerberus standing on a trapdoor in the room with them. Harry caught a glimpse at the others, for being in the house of the brave, they all looked quite afraid. Turning towards the door, Harry swung it open. He then held it open as the others squeezed through, with one more look at the cerberus, Harry went through the door and took pleasure in silently sending a powerful dark stinging spell as he slammed the door on the dog's nose. He heard a loud whimper and held back a smirk. He then turned to the others, who were all staring at him like he was crazy.
"We are Gryffindors are we not?" he chuckled at their fearful expressions.
Griffith just shook his head and they jogged all the way back to the common room, once there, Griffith turned to Harry, "If we ever have a vote for who's the bravest, I think my vote's on you," he said.
"What do they think they're doing keeping that, that beast in a school!" Ron exclaimed, "If there was ever a dog who needed exercise it was that one, it was huge!"
Deadbush sighed and rolled her eyes, "Didn't you see what it was standing on?" she asked.
Everyone looked at her stupidly for a second before Harry spoke "A trap door," Harry said, "That Cerberus is guarding something, and I bet ten galleons it's whatever Hagrid got for Dumbledore."
"Thank you! At least someone here is observant!" Deadbush exclaimed.
"How could you look at the floor? I was too busy looking at it's three drooling heads!" Ron told them with an expression Harry assumed was horror.
"Living on the streets taught me to be observant. It's kind of like a muggle magic trick," Harry started, "In a muggle magic trick, there are two places, the place of action, where the supposed magic is happening, it's the place your eyes are drawn to. In these tricks though, the muggle of the trick is usually in the second place, the place that's hard to see and full of weird muggle contraptions."
"That's an interesting way of thinking of it," Deadbush said.
"Well then, I think we should figure out how to get past the cer- whatever Praet said, and then we can see what it's guarding for ourselves!" Griffith exclaimed.
"No! I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed, or worse, expelled!" Deadbush exclaimed.
Harry thought about addressing her directly, it always seemed to help, it took him a minute to remember her name, "Hermione, don't you have any sense of adventure, it wasn't like we were at any real risk, there's only been one student expelled in the last fifty years," Harry told her.
"Really? What'd that student do? Oh, right! They were probably out when they weren't supp-" Deadbush started.
"Murder," Harry interrupted, "The student was found to be responsible for the death of another student."
"Oh," Deadbush responded, eyes wide. "We still could've lost points or gotten detentions though," she added. After a second, she looked at Harry, "Didn't your father receive an award for services around fifty years ago?" she asked.
Harry pretended to ignore her, Griffith stood up, "Can you please stop mentioning his father? It's a rather tender subject," He explained.
"What even did he do that was all that bad other than leave Praet at an orphanage! He likely had his reasons. Say, I looked it up, where does he work? I couldn't find his name anywhere," Deadbush said.
Harry suddenly turned back towards her, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill, "How about we do a little anagram?" Harry asked. Deadbush opened her mouth, but she saw that Harry was writing down Tom Marvolo Riddle, "Let's see, I'll put the I in the front," Harry said, writing and I and crossing out the I on riddle. "Oh look! The beginning of Marvolo works perfectly for an AM!" he added, crossing out the MA and adding it as AM next to the I. "Let's see, ah, there just happen to be the right letters for LORD!" he exclaimed in fake happiness, "How about you try Griffith?" he asked.
Griffith gulped, and took the paper, each watched as he crossed out letter after letter and put it on the bottom, when Deadbush saw the solution she gasped, "HIM? Your dad is HIM?" she exclaimed, Harry nodded sadly.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" She exclaimed, "The way you reacted to what I said before makes so much more sense," she added.
"Son of a killer and twins with a boy who ruins lives," Harry told her, glancing at Neville, who had watched the whole debacle with wide eyes and a closed mouth. "Now the only first years in Gryffindor who don't know are Dean and Seamus," he told them, "Malfoy found out on the boat ride and I think all of Slytherin knows now."
"At this rate, everyone'll know by the end of the year," Griffith added.
"Why don't we just tell everyone ourselves?" Ron suggested nervously, "I mean, it'd be better if they found out from us than someone else."
"No! They might think differently of me, or think I'll turn out like my father, I don't want to be judged from who my dad is!" Harry exclaimed.
"Well," Deadbush started, "I don't think I'll think of you any different now, although I do know how I should talk about your father," she told Harry.
"Well you're special Deadbush!" Harry exclaimed, everyone gave him a weird look, "Uh… It's a nickname I came up with, sorry."
Then Deadbush stared, "Deadbush? Really? Is that the best you could come up with? Not even like Bushy or something?" She asked, "So boys are rule breakers AND uncreative."
"Well then Bushy, how about we call you that?" Griffith asked sarcastically.
She glared at him, "No! I was just saying it was uncreative! I don't want you to start calling me names like I joined your little band of crazies!" She exclaimed.
Harry decided he'd call her Bushy from then on though, "Bushy, how ab-" He started, but she cut him off.
"I'm going to bed, and I'd recommend you do too, we do have classes tomorrow, and I'd hate to be the cause of our house losing the house cup," she growled, storming out of the room.
Harry turned to the others, "All for calling her Bushy?" he asked, raising his hand. Neville had left at some point, but everyone else (Ron and Griffith) raised their hands with evil grins on their faces. "Cool, well we'd better all get going to bed though, Herbology and Charms tomorrow, and I'd prefer not to get my hand bit off by a mad flower or whatever evil plant she'll have us working with," Harry told them, before heading to his room.
Before going to bed though, Harry quickly reviewed the layout of the ministry, then nodding to himself, he slipped into bed.
AN So yeah! Chapter 11! Also, I'm going to be gone on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, although I'll try to post, no promises! Next chapter is going to be the troll incident and Halloweeeeeennnnn! Yay!
-Ariana Flynn Riddle