A/N: And here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Godzilla. I only own my original ideas
Chapter 40: 3rd Year Begins
The next few days progressed as usual for the students of Hogwarts, or at least as normal as could be considered when the school is being guarded by soul sucking wraiths. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape were much the same as ever. Things became more interesting for Harry when it came to his new classes.
He walked into the Arithmancy classroom, and took a seat next to Daphne and Hermione. Professor Vector stood from her desk once all the students were assembled and looked them over.
"Welcome to Arithmancy," said Professor Vector, "here you will learn to understand the how and why the spells we cast work as they do. You will learn to dissect the formulae through which your magic is channeled, why a spell's incantation is what it is, and why a particular wand movement is required. If you choose to continue your studies of the topic, advanced Arithmancy can even allow you to create new spells. Let us begin with one of the simplest formulas, the Lumos Charm. Who can explain the Arithmantic formula behind this spell?"
Several hands shot up, including Harry's.
"Let's see here," said professor Vector, "Mr. Potter?"
"The Lumos charm is based off a simple linear expression," said Harry, "the more magic you put into the spell the, brighter the light the spell produces".
"Correct!" said professor Vector, "10 points to Gryffindor! Let us move on the next point of order…"
The class proceeded quietly after that, and Harry realized he had a bit of an advantage here, as he'd already created new spells (or at least derived the formulae for them). For homework, they were asked to select a spell of interest to them, and calculate the absolute value of raw magic require to fuel it.
Ancient Runes was also in interesting class, with Professor Babbling teaching them what was partially a language class, mixed with learning about warding and how you could store a spell in a rune tablet. This idea intrigued Harry, the concept to storing a spell for later use seemed quite useful.
Upon his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the term, Harry immediately knew that Professor Lupin was the best DADA professor he'd had so far (though that wasn't much of a competition seeing as the other two were possessed and a complete fraud). Harry was actually looking forwards to having a competent professor in this position this year.
Several weeks into the terms, after the class ended, Professor Lupin asked him to stay for a moment longer.
""What do you need, professor?" asked Harry.
"Mr. Potter… Harry," said Lupin, struggling to get out what he wanted to say, thinking about how best to phrase this… time to be a Gryffindor, "I knew your parents".
"You did?" said Harry, "could you tell me about them?"
"Your mother, Lily, she was incredibly brilliant," said Lupin, "she excelled at every piece of magic she tried".
"Sounds like Hermione," said Harry, "unfortunately, some people can't see past her parentage".
"Yes, people were the same towards Lily. Some things never change," replied Lupin with a sad smile, "but Lily, she had fiery hair and a temper to match. Everything she did, she did it with all her heart. James, he was smart too, and quite the troublemaker. The two of them… well let's just say that the two of them didn't get along when they first met, in fact I believe Lily called him an 'arrogant toe-rag'. It didn't help that James had a bad habit of bullying one of Lily friends, a Slytherin student in our year".
"Let me guess," said Harry, "one Severus Snape?"
"How did you know?" asked Lupin.
"When I went to Gringotts for the first time, the goblins helped me understand about my heritage," said Harry, "they also allowed me to access my family properties, where I found my grandfather's portrait, who in turn told me some things about my parents".
"Ah, of course. Charlus was a good man," said Lupin.
As Remus looked over Harry, he could see a weight behind his eyes, a sense of that he had had a troubled life in the past. There was also a fire there, a determination to keep fighting. Again, he could feel the power Harry concealed within.
"I do have one question for you, something that's been bothering me since seeing you on the Hogwarts Express," said Lupin, "what, exactly are you?"
Harry tensed: Lupin knew he wasn't truly human anymore, he knew he hid something within. However, Harry felt Lupin was trustworthy.
"Not here," said Harry, "meet me later in the 7th floor corridor, near the painting of Barnabus the Barmy. One thing I can promise you, though: I am Harry Potter".
Remus thought on what Harry had told him. His wolf was still worried about angering Harry for some reason. He came to a decision: he would trust Harry on this.
Later that day, after dinner, Harry made his way up to the 7th floor corridor, finding not only professor Lupin, but his friends gathered in the hall.
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry.
"I suggested they should come," said Luna, "I see you have invited our newest professor".
"Well Harry, we're here," said Lupin, "what did you need to show me?"
"One moment," said Harry.
He walked back and forth three times in front of the painting, and the door appeared. Lupin's eyes opened wide… he hadn't known about that secret room. Harry opened the door, and they all went inside. Remus was struck by the muggle devices on the walls, some sort of protective suits and sensor devices.
"Now then," said Harry, "as of a little over four years ago, something occurred to me, changing what I am. As such I am not technically 'human' any more".
"What do you mean?" said Remus, his werewolf side on edge (he blamed the upcoming full moon), "who hurt you?"
"No one you could take vengeance on, at least not without utilizing necromancy," said Harry, "After that night when I lost my family, I was left on the doorstep of the Dursleys".
"Dursley? I remember Lily said her sister married a Dursley," said Remus, recalling how badly Petunia had reacted to them, "I remember meeting him once… he was a whale of a man with a foul nature. You were placed with the Dursleys?"
"The very same," said Harry, "they took me into their house alright, but abused me terribly, treating me worse than some pureblood families treat their House Elves".
In the back of his mind Remus could hear his wolf snarling… someone hurt his cub!
"That changed when Vernon went too far, and nearly killed me as my magical core began to collapse. However, something changed, something broke loose and instead of destroying me, the power changed me, took me away to where I could be safe".
"Changed you into what?" asked Remus cautiously.
"Into this," said Harry, "offline limiter!"
There was a flash, and Harry began to change, his form morphing and twisting as it grew larger and larger. As the transformation completed, Remus Lupin found himself looking at the largest dragon he'd ever seen. Asulmagus… yes, that was this creature's name. He also realized that this was actually Harry… his true form? He recalled having seen news stories about this creature, it showed up in London, and later just outside Hogwarts. Remus just stood and stared as his mind was reeling, trying to rationalize what his eyes were telling him. As a result, his brain jumped a few cogs.
"You look good in blue," said Remus, stunned, "so this is real?"
The dragon nodded, and looked down at him with its emerald green eyes, Harry's eyes… Lily's eyes. His brain finally fully reengaged, and he took in Asulmagus in better detail. A full 75 meters long, and if he was correct about what he was seeing, he wasn't full grown yet!
"Bloody hell!" shouted Neville, "you've gotten bigger, a lot bigger!"
Asulmagus just smirked, a somewhat terrifying sight with those massive, sharp teeth. Remus steeled his nerves slowly stepped forwards, and gently brushed Asulmagus' snout. It was solid. This was real. Harry really was Asulmagus. After a moment, Remus began to laugh, now he understood why his wolf wanted to bow its head to Harry: he really was the more dangerous predator.
"How… is this possible?" asked Remus.
Asulmagus rumbled out a deep growl, and swiftly changed back into Harry.
"Well, I've already told you part of it" said Harry, "but the rest…"
Harry went on to tell Remus about his life post-transformation, and his time living with the other kaiju, meeting the Flamels, and his return to the Wizarding World. By the end, Remus was reeling over how bizarre Harry's life had been.
"Who all knows?" asked Remus.
"The people in this room, the Flamels, some of the other native kaiju of Earth," said Harry, "Drake Silverscale of the Welsh dragon preserve as well as a Norwegian Ridgeback named Norberta, Fawkes the Phoenix, oh and Ithnari".
"Who's Ithnari? Asked Remus, not quite sure he wanted to know.
"She's the Basilisk that lives in the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry, "she's actually quite nice".
Remus massaged his temple… his cub, James' son, was friends with a bloody basilisk!? Then again, Harry was secretly a creature large enough make a Hungarian Horntail seem diminutive… and was still growing. Who was he to judge Harry's choice of friends? That said, Remus noticed a few specific people not mentioned.
"So, Minerva and Albus don't know?" asked Remus.
"Knowing professor McGonagall, she'd likely be impressed by my form… and then give me detention for the rest of my life," said Harry.
Remus chucked… yes that did sound quite like Minerva. Merlin knows how well he'd learned that from how much trouble they caused her when they were students.
"As for the Headmaster," said Harry, "He cannot be trusted. He wears a mask of light but beneath is nothing but malice and darkness. In my first year here, he tried to use Flamels' Philosopher's Stone as a lure for someone, maybe me, maybe for Voldemort. In either case, He's not to be trusted".
"What happened to the Stone?" asked Remus.
"I returned it to Nicolas," said Harry, "needless to say, he was quite perturbed to learn what Dumbledore was using his stone for, and cut contact with him".
"As for the other professors, Snape doesn't like me because I look like my father, and I don't wish to give him any ammunition if I can avoid it," said Harry, "Flitwick is pleasant enough, and I don't know whether he knows or not, seeing as he's half goblin. As for the rest, I don't feel close enough to share this information… especially knowing how the Ministry would likely react to my status".
Remus nodded, in grim understanding. His own lycanthropy was trouble enough, but Harry's form? That was a whole other matter entirely.
"Thank you for trusting me with this… all of this," said Remus, "I think... after they got over the shock of what you've you've become, your parents would be proud of you".
Harry smiled, and their group left the Room of Requirement… and ran right into the Weasley Twins.
A/N: And there we go! Next time, Marauders. See you then!