More Than What Meets the Eye – Chapter 6 (The Hidden Room and Classes)
There was something different about being at Hogwarts for Harry's second year. He wasn't sure if that was because his eyes had literally been opened because of his summer. But he tried not to let that get in the way of learning. He did still have six years left of school at Hogwarts to worry about. And he rather not have where he failed a year and have to repeat it. He didn't want to imagine the looks of disappointment that he would get for that one.
And that was something new, he actually had someone to make proud. But that also meant that it was possible that he may disappoint them, and he didn't want that. And he knew that his marks last year weren't bad per say… but he didn't really have someone to show on how well he did. It made him want to do better.
Though he hadn't gotten a chance to look at that hidden room on the seventh floor yet. It had been a few long days of lessons. Though he knew that he needed to soon, he had been used to training every day and could already feel the slack.
He knew when Quidditch started up again, that would help some. And he was really looking forward to the tryouts. Especially since one of his friends would be trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. He could see Dean pumping with excitement about it. But tryouts wouldn't be until October, so they technically did have almost an entire month before then. He wondered if that was so that the Captains could plan and get everything organized? Or was that for the Prefects and Headboy and girl? He knew that they did help organize a lot of the stuff in the school, which included Quidditch. He wondered if Percy may know the answer to that, he was one of the fifth-year prefects after all.
Though despite how the professors wanted to pile them with homework, Harry was enjoying the way the year was starting. There wasn't even a warning for death at the feast. Did that mean whatever was on the third-floor last year had been removed?
It was these thoughts that were swarming around in his mind as he made his way to breakfast. He had Charms in the morning. But that had been before he had been stopped right before he walked through those doors to the Great Hall.
"Ahh… Mr. Potter, if you would follow me for a moment."
Harry had instantly recognized the voice, how could he not? It was Ignatius Black, his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He hadn't had his class just yet and was looking forward to it. He had heard countless stories from Lucretia, and he knew that he was a dueler. He wondered if maybe they would learn any this year? But he doubted that Ignatius would tell him if he asked.
"Ignatius?" Harry questioned.
"Do not let me ask twice," the man warned.
The Assassin turned back to towards the Grand Staircase and Harry had to dart after him.
"While not in the presence of your friends and such, you will call me Professor Black. Unless I am personally with you," Ignatius remarked as they pass the second floor.
Harry nodded; the man hadn't said anything before and hadn't seemed to mind it on the first night. But he knew that it was his way to keep the relation between student and professor strictly professional. Ignatius had always had a sense of being professional, even as an Assassin. It was one of the things that Harry had sort of admired about him.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked as they passed by the third and fourth corridor.
"I thought it would be a good time to show you where this room is," Ignatius answered.
Harry's lit up in excitement. He had gone pass the corridor once to find what they were talking about. But he had felt so lost, not sure what tapestry they may have been talking about. Because the seventh-floor corridor had quite a few of them. And being only a second year, Harry only went to the seventh floor because that is where his Common Room for Gryffindor was.
So, the Gryffindor watched as Ignatius paced back and forth down the hall three times. That was when he saw the tapestry… so that was the one they were referring to. It was good to know for future reference if he was going to be using this for the rest of his years at Hogwarts. And he knew he would be using it for years to come, that was to be expected. And he knew he would be needing it while in Hogwarts, there were only so many spots where you could have total privacy.
That was when the door appeared. Harry watched amazed as Ignatius grasped the handle and pulled it open. Harry followed after him and was starstruck on how much it looked like home.
"Its… its like I never left…" Harry turned around.
There were in one of the rooms he had used to train with knife throwing.
"The Room of Requirement is able to create anything you are thinking. Even while in this room, you could be thinking of something and can watch as it transforms before your eyes. But yes, I thought of the room where you practice with Lucretia. And you are going to show me how far you've improved. And then we'll see about working on your climbing skills."
Harry winced at that; he knew he wasn't the best climber yet. But he knew an order when he heard one. He just hoped that perhaps that breakfast wouldn't be over by the time he was done. Perhaps this was Ignatius' way of motivating him?
Despite that Harry only spent just a little time throwing knives, it was a bit amazing to see them just appear for him. It was after a few throws that Ignatius called it quits for that and then he moved to climbing. And he watched as the room disappeared and was replaced with the outside courtyard that he used for climbing practice.
So, it was one thing for Ignatius to say what this room was capable of, it was another to see it in front of his eyes.
But the thing was about climbing, he had gotten to the phase where he could lift himself up, as if doing a pull up. But he wasn't at the part being able to pull himself up on a roof quite yet. And perhaps his impatience wasn't helpful most of the time because he wanted to be at that stage.
"When Dorea had said you had gone far, I hadn't realized how much you have excelled. Well done, Harry," Ignatius praised. "Despite the bit of a lapse that you had this week. But given that you did not know of this room, this is acceptable. I will stop by time from time, but I wanted you to know this room early on. Though I believe only thirty minutes of breakfast has passed. You still have two hours of breakfast left, I will see you soon, Harry. Though when you find the room, make sure you are very specific. That includes on thinking to make sure nobody can find you in this room."
Harry nodded as his stomach growled. He darted out of the room and made his way back to the Great Hall. Perhaps Ignatius had a good idea about going before breakfast, it definitely gave him an appetite. Though he knew that he would have to have some time during the day as well to practice. And that wasn't counting trying to work that around Quidditch practice. It would definitely be tricky, but he was up to the task.
Though he was thankful that none of his friends had seen Professor Black pull him aside. He didn't really want to try to explain on what Ignatius had wanted to show him. Because honestly… Harry wasn't even sure what he could say. Providing that he could think of anything to start with. And not knowing what to say would be bad. His friends would know something was up. And that would be a poor way to start the year. Plus, he didn't want to have to lie to his friends, but he knew it was necessary at times.
But now, Harry needed to focus on eating his breakfast and heading to Charms. They were supposed to be revising about Wingardium Leviosa and then learning about the Disarming Charm. That in mind, he grabbed some toast and juice to start the day.
Charms class wasn't really all that bad. And they did do a revision about Wingardium Leviosa, as Professor Flitwick called it… to refresh their memories and education.
Harry never had an issue with casting this spell and unlike in their first year, they weren't going to use feathers. Feathers were used to start you out on the spell and to prevent injury. The professor decided to make it a bit interesting and placed several random objects for everyone. One of them had been the teacher's podium, though that was under supervision in case a Reparo was needed. So, there was a lot of getting up and moving around the room. But it did keep the class' attention so they could move onto his next lesson. So, it wasn't going to be all on revision on what they did the prior year. That part was a silent relief for some students. But he would also be going over the Disarming Charm.
Harry had been excited about that one. Though he knew that Professor Black would most likely go over that same spell in his own class. His Grams Rea had explained to him that there were some classes that did overlap a bit and that was one of the spells that did. He wondered if that was because Flitwick was a dueling champion. It wasn't something he really had asked about and probably wouldn't have known if someone hadn't mentioned it to him while at the Brotherhood. And that had been his grandfather Charlus, apparently, he had been a dueler when he was younger. That it had been Professor Flitwick that had intrigued him about it and it definitely helped him in his career, especially in a time of war.
And he had seen him do mock duels with some of the other Assassins. It was truly a thing to witness and he wanted to be that good. He could barely imagine what potential his grandfather had when he was still in Hogwarts. And he had already seen what level Ignatius Black's dueling was at. Or least he thought he did. He and the Mentor even had a mocking duel that he got to watch. His instructors thought it would be a good idea to see what dueling was like. It was definitely impressive, and he felt that he knew why Ignatius got the post this year. Maybe he would actually learn something, Quirrell stuttered too much to understand much of anything. It was because of Hermione and his friends that he probably did well on his exam for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Though he felt that was mostly because of Hermione, she did love to study, and he did pick up a few study habits that helped him. Though he felt this year that his professor may even give Hermione a challenge. He had already heard of countless stories from Lucretia about him. Though he would have loved for him to be part of some of his lessons and tutoring. But he had a feeling that it would change this year and he would have a more prominent role while at Hogwarts.
That in mind, Harry focused on what Professor Flitwick was saying.
"The incantation for the Disarming Charm is Expelliarmus. Which is a very useful charm when you are dueling. The Disarming Charm that wind up saving your life one day, so pay attention. The use for this charm is to force whatever your opponent is holding, to fly out of their hand. Usually it will be their wand. If it is powerful enough, you could send your opponent flying. But for now, we will go over the wand movements and have a practical lesson in pairs. Pay close attention, as this spell actually helped me along further as a Dueling Champion, which I hope that some of you will decide to follow in as well."
Harry actually found the idea of dueling appealing to him. He still wasn't sure what type of job he may have in the Wizarding World, but he could see the use in this skill. He already knew on how useful dueling could be, especially in his Assassin life. Though he doubted that Flitwick's words had as much of an impact on his classmates. Perhaps to them, this was just another lesson and spell that they needed to learn to pass their exams. He wondered if Ignatius would be doing any duels during his class, he was only in his second year after all. There weren't really many spells that they knew to use in a duel. They did learn the Knockback Jinx last year and Expelliarmus would make a second spell you could use in a duel.
If anything, he supposed he could learn more about dueling during the summer. There was an abundant amount of wizard and witches that he knew would love to instruct and teach more about dueling. And it wasn't like he couldn't approach Ignatius or Professor Flitwick more about it later. Even if Ignatius decided that he was only going to teach this year before going back to his career in Curse Breaking.
Harry was soon paired off with one of his friends, Dean. He gave him a reassuring grin since the fellow Gryffindor looked a bit nervous. Most of the room had been cleared in order to give them some breathing room. Didn't want anyone to go crashing into any desks.
He noticed that Hermione had been paired with a Slytherin that he didn't know. As did Seamus and Neville, but it seemed they didn't mind who their partner was. There were several Gryffindors that got paired with other Gryffindors as well. Just like some Slytherins got paired with those in their own house. Though his attention shifted back to Dean.
"Ready?" Harry asked.
Dean squared his shoulders, "give it your best shot, mate."
Harry nodded before making the proper wand movements and ending the spell with a jab.
"Expelliarmus!"
Dean had been blasted back, given it was only a few inches. But his wand had been jerked out of his hand. It rested just a couple inches from him. He shook his head, not expecting the sudden movement before unsteadily getting back to his feet. Thankfully a cushion charm had been put in place for this reason.
"Professor Flitwick wasn't kidding," Dean commented.
Harry gave an embarrassed smile, "sorry about that, Dean."
"Splendid use of Expelliarmus, Mr. Potter. Try to focus on a little less power behind the spell so you don't hurt your classmates. Ten points to Gryffindor!" the tiny professor exclaimed.
Harry let Dean get back up so that he could try the spell against him. But when he did, he only felt a slight jerk in his hand.
Dean sighed.
"Try jabbing your wand at the end," Harry recommended.
Dean frowned before getting a serious look on his face. But he tried the wand movement again, while placing a jab at the end of the movement. He had shock on his face when Harry's wand was jerked from his hand. It landed a few inches behind him.
"Well done, Mr. Thomas. And a very well done for instructing him, Mr. Potter. I believe Gryffindor gets another 15 points," Professor Flitwick said as he came back around.
Harry grinned at Dean, "ready to go again?"
"Long as you promise not to throw me on my back again," Dean joked.
Harry laughed, "no promises there, mate. Maybe you'll do the same to me."