Harry hurried through his homework as fast as possible. He'd sat down to get to work as soon as they had finished classes for the day, to the delight of Hermione who quickly joined him. Her enthusiasm faded somewhat when she realized that Harry's motivation wasn't so much dedication to his studies as trying to get it finished as fast as humanly possible. Even by his standards, he cut more than a few corners getting the essay due tomorrow 'finished' and his reading for potions was more a quick skim and the hope that enough would sink in to keep him from exploding a caldron, coupled with the bone deep knowledge that even if he studied it in detail it still wouldn't be enough to pass Snape's scrutiny.
"You're skipping an entire section!" Hermione bemoaned at one point as Harry flipped through his book.
"It's just sympathetic pairs," Harry reassured her. "I don't have to have that memorized for tomorrow and there'll be plenty of time to study it later."
"But-"
"Almost done with the chapter, 'moine, talk after!"
Except as soon as he finished, Harry hurried to shove all of his school work back in his bag. "I'm off!" he announced, both immensely grateful to be done already and sort of impressed with himself. That was the fastest he had ever gotten his assignments completed. Maybe he was getting better at juggling all of the different demands on his time.
"Harry Potter, you're not going to remember a thing you just read two minutes from now. In fact, I severely doubt you actually read any of it. You mostly just flipped through the pages!"
"Close enough!" he called back as he rushed out the door. He had an hour before curfew and a lot to get done in the meantime.
Tonight was more training with Team 7. But Kakashi-sensei said he had a new plan for how to learn magic. He claimed it came to him doing their first DA meeting. Harry had just known that DA club was going to be what helped! So he was far too excited tonight to waste time on homework or feeling exhausted. They had a plan! Finally!
Too bad it was a really stupid plan.
"From now on, we're going to work on curses," Kakasi announced as if that made any sense or was in any way fundamentally unique from what they had been doing.
Harry normally enjoyed working on curses, hexes and protection against them. It was, after all, his favorite class and he had plenty of experience. But curses and Kakashi-sensei just seemed like a bad idea. "Maybe we should stick with something simpler?" Harry tried. "We still haven't managed basic charms yet." They hadn't managed anything yet. "Curses are a bit more complex," Harry added diplomatically.
Kakashi seemed to find that entertaining. "Oh, no, we're not casting today. Clearly that isn't working. We're going to go back to the more straightforward way to learn a thing."
Harry glanced at his cousin but the other boy was scowling. That could mean anything, from he didn't think this was safe enough for Harry to participate in or it was going to be an embarrassment for the other boy or someone might actually die from it. Naruto, however, looked a bit like he'd eaten something bad and that was not a good sign.
"What way's that, sir?" Harry asked carefully. He felt like he was back in potions or dealing with one of their more questionable DADA teachers. He wasn't going to like this, he just knew it, but he also knew the chances of him getting out of it were probably pretty slim.
Kakashi-sensei had one of the brown squib wands in his hand and was twirling it around. "Trying to figure magic out from this end isn't working. Time to try the other way around. You said you can use magic freely as long as you are in your school, yes? That you used to practice on your own frequently?"
"Yes, but about that – "
"Great! Time to test that out."
Harry looked around helplessly again. This was not how he had seen this morning going. He was happy to lead DADA club on his own, but this wasn't that. These weren't wizards and he still didn't understand how he was supposed to teach them more advanced magic when they couldn't even manage the basics. "I guess," he agreed hesitantly. He started to move away from the knot of the others, taking up a more open position that would allow him to curse harmlessly at the far stone wall without accidentally spilling over on the others. "We can go over Northstein's list again, if you want?" He suggested, warming up to the idea. It felt weird casting simple spells at a blank wall, but if watching him helped them out then Harry was on board.
"Great!" Kakashi said before moving to stand in front of Harry.
Harry's wand dropped back down immediately. "Um, Professor Kakashi?"
"Yes?"
Harry gritted his teeth. He didn't know what game the other man was up to now, but he didn't like it. Maybe long exposure to this man was why his cousin was always frowning. "You're sort of in the way. Sir," he tacked on at the end because he wasn't used to telling adults what to do but clearly it was something he was going to have to get used to.
Kakashi-sensei made a show of looking back and forth. "No, I'm not. Unless you think you can't hit me this far away," he added before deliberately taking one step closer, still centered right in front of Harry.
Harry huffed, before looking at his cousin for support. But Sasuke was watching both of them without even a hint that he found anything about this wrong. He almost seemed to be waiting patiently. No help there. Harry groaned in frustration before arguing "we've sort of already done this before, haven't we?" he asked, directing the question to Kakashi but hoping any of them would wise up.
Kakashi shrugged. "My lovely students have gotten knocked over a time or two. And while they've done an excellent job of balancing trying to looking merely stupid and not powerless, the situation hasn't really lent itself to a more focused approach. We have the time and space now, away from prying eyes."
Harry mulled that over. He could see why practicing in secret would help. No one liked an audience when they failed at something and it avoided awkward questions. "But I still don't understand why you want me to curse you. That doesn't seem helpful. Sort of the opposite really."
"For a civilian, maybe," Kakashi-sensei agreed and by that it was clear he meant someone like Harry. It wasn't the first time one of them had said something like that and Harry was learning not to take it personally. Most of the time. It still kind of rankled, like having the teachers or other Order members suggest he didn't know enough or should be involved in fighting Death Eaters. Like Harry hadn't done enough yet to prove himself.
"Nin learn differently," Kakashi explained. "And the most effective way a nin learns is through pain."
Harry grimaced and backed up. "No way."
"Now, now, don't be like that, Harry-kun. This isn't that much different than your own training on chakra. A little incentive to avoid bodily harm is a great motivator. I'm not asking you to do anything maiming. I don't trust you that much," he added. "But training isn't training unless it might kill you. Trust me, the lessons sink in much faster that way."
Harry shook his head. "That's ridiculous! This is magic, not some kata you learn by repetition. You either can or can't do it. Banging your head against a wall isn't going to help."
"Really? Because your own texts suggest that children often do accidental magic when endangered."
Harry felt his stomach drop and turned to look at the research laden table with a new sense of dread. They may have been here for a while now, but Team 7 was still hindered by the limitations of the translating jutsu. How much reading could they have done? How much trouble could they have already gotten themselves into? The answer to that was plenty, judging by the ridiculous plan Kakashi-sensei had.
Kakashi rolled his one visible eye. "You can handle it," he ordered him. "We won't be able to keep this charade up much longer. It's time to try something more aggressive. Even if we can't duplicate it, knowing what we're up against will give us an edge in counteracting it. Or do you want the first time one of us runs into something like this to be on the battlefield?"
And damn it if it didn't sound really logical when Kakashi-sensei put it like that. Harry wasn't a fool, he was well aware that behind the buffoonery Kakashi liked to pretend at was a skilled manipulator. It was hard to argue with him when he was actually acting serious.
Harry looked to his cousin again but Sasuke only nodded. He clearly thought this was a good idea too. "Try something small," he suggested.
Kakashi-sensei huffed as if Sasuke was being ridiculous. "Fine. Something small to start with. We can work our way up."
Harry took a deep breath. A stunning charm should be fine, right? Kakashi-sensei wouldn't let him hurt him. It wasn't like he hadn't caught a friend or two with something during a duel. It just seemed worse because Kakashi wasn't even going to try to defend himself. If Kakashi-sensei thought this was the best way to learn magic, then Harry guessed he could at least try it out.
"Petrificus Totalus."
