CH 7
HPHPHP
The first month of Harry's sixth year was a mess. He still forgot sometimes that he no longer lived in the Gryffindor Tower. However he was still permitted to visit with his friends in the common room, only the password had been changed a couple times a week because of Ron's pissed off mood.
Prefects were permitted to change the common room password if they felt that it had been 'compromised' in some fashion. Unfortunately for Harry he never found out about it until he was barred from entering. After the last time of being refused entry due to a sudden password change, sometime near the end of September and complete with a bucket of water cold water being dumped on him, Harry stopped going to the Gryffindor Tower, altogether. Instead he chose to study in the library or one of the many study halls that were supervised. If he was really desperate to study away from other students, especially the Gryffindors, he'd stay in his rooms in order to successfully complete his assignments.
During the second week of October he received his exemptions for third year Arithmancy and Runes, but he was advised to take fourth year runes with extra independent study for the fifth year syllabus, as that would still allow him to take the O.W.L.s for Runes at the end of the year. He needed some practical lessons that the fourth year had in order to succeed with the fifth year program. He passed the fourth year Arithmancy, so he was placed with the fifth year O.W.L. students.
His fourth year classes for Runes were with Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, while the fifth year Arithmancy was with Ravenclaws and Slytherins. He was surprised that the younger year students didn't quite see him as a threat and they were happy to seek out his advice when they had questions about Defence Against the Dark Arts.
There was a gradual exchange of information that occurred when Harry had sought tutoring in those classes in order to catch up to the younger students. He sought them out during a period of study after the classes finished.
The students from these two classes chose to meet once a week in a study hall that usually contained either the Arithmancy Professor or the Professor teaching Runes. Both those primary Professors had been approached and agreed that during that particular period the mandatory silence would be suspended, but only when they were the teachers assigned to the room. The students were sternly told to respect the other Professors' requirements for the study hall, should another be assigned to the task due to circumstance.
The Professors usually rotated and during a regular Professor meeting they had learned of the extraordinary study methods taking place in that particular room. Most refused to disrupt anything that could lead to school unity. Eventually the student's luck would run out and much sooner than later regarding the particular teacher overseeing that Study Hall.
Professor Snape was in an irritable mood due to a meeting with the Dark Lord the previous night and now he was assigned to watch a study hall filled with fourth and fifth year mix of Slytherins with the two other non-combative Houses of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.
'At least it's not the sixth or seventh years,' he sighed silently. 'Not a Gryffindor in sight, thank Merlin.' He had that thought too soon!
"No that's not quite right," Harry Potter's voice drifted into the study hall. "The Patronus spell is an offensive spell and a defensive spell. It's usually used against Dementors, but you have to really be focussed to call forth a Patronus at a young age. It defends against the effects that Dementors have on you and it will attack the creature to chase it off."
"We heard that you managed to call one in your third year," a fourth year Slytherin said. "Is that true?"
"Yes," Harry agreed. "I was extremely motivated to learn. Now can someone please help me out with Engle's Runic Table of Russian - Gaelic, it just doesn't look like there's a common rune among them, so why is this known as one of Rosetta Stone Tables of Runes to be used."
A fifth year student, this time a Ravenclaw said, "It's supposed to be used in conjunction with Fargoth's Table of Norse - Early Anglo. They'll make sense if you put the tables side by side."
Harry frowned, but then set up his 'Rune Table Charts' of common word matches, as instructed and was surprised by the connections he could see. Even if his mind had a photographic memory now, it didn't help if things weren't viewed in a certain manner. He could memorize all the charts he wanted, but the logic of putting them side by side to note the similarities and differences never once occurred to him.
"Bloody brilliant," he said grinning at the fifth year Ravenclaw. "Thank you Winchester." He pulled out his wand and the students watched as he pulled the words with spell light and lined them all up to match their common translations with extra Rune words forming at the bottom of common words currently translated. They had nothing in common to any other on the chart. Then he sent the words to the far wall and asked, "Does anyone have another table that I could add?"
Four more were given to him for his spell and then a voice interrupted him and startled the students that were watching the process with curiosity. "Mr. Potter what do you think you are doing," Professor Snape asked. He had been told that this study hall was one where students were permitted to speak and interact, but he couldn't understand why Potter was there. "Why are you even here?"
"Sir," Harry said looking up from one of the Rune Tables. "I'm sorry if we're disturbing you, Professor Snape. These are my classmates for fourth year Runes and fifth year Arithmancy. This won't take long, if you'll allow me to finish?"
Severus looked at the young man who was at ease in a room full of younger students with the majority House being represented by his Slytherins. There was only a smaller mix of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.
"Very well," he said. "I'm curious to see just what you hope to accomplish with that."
'That' was a massive table of Common Rune Words, with the language alphabet listed at the top in proper order. It was painted in spell light on the wall with the common denominators or words or rune letters highlighted in a copper glow.
The four volunteered tables were added and soon the students were mesmerized by the image and the knowledge that it could come together like that. They had been studying the various independent tables and learning the origins of various Rune Alphabets and the most common words found in old texts, but this was like having one massive 'cheat sheet'. It would definitely cut down their time trying to find a word on one particular Rune Table when it was clearly on another Table for another language.
Harry then paused to consider the students in this hall. They were not his true year mates, but they had welcomed him to their classes. Even the Slytherin students were slightly welcoming because he didn't immediately do what the older year Slytherins had always accused him or other Gryffindors of doing. It was like the Boy-Who-Lived did not care that he was a Gryffindor and generally he acted like he had no House when he was with them in class.
He nodded at his own thoughts, 'Despite the advantages or disadvantages they have with their families, these children are here to learn and this will help them.' He paused and then shrugged his shoulders. 'They are my classmates for this and perhaps for next year too, so Family status or political association shouldn't count or matter, especially in a school situation.'
Harry came to the slow realization that, 'I would have done this for the any other student in the same class that I'm taking. Plus there is one big bonus to displaying my magic like this, especially to those inclined to only follow someone they believe is powerful.'
He smiled and then pointed his wand at the wall. He cast a spell at it with his thoughts and intentions clear in his mind.
The students in the room knew that he was powerful, but most only knew it in the abstract because he was known as the Boy-Who-Lived and they believed that he should be powerful although they never saw proof of it. They knew that he had abilities that they hadn't achieved yet because he was older and they also knew that he was somehow involved in the fight against the Dark Lord... You-Know-Who.
Still the magic that they were witnessing was beyond what they had ever heard of from their parents, siblings, family or friends. It was something else entirely, to actively know that Harry Potter was 'that' powerful. Even their Professors have never mentioned anything like this to them before.
Harry had just conjured up the largest piece of parchment that they had ever seen, lined it up behind the floating runes in spell light and then he transposed the spell-writing onto the paper. It was complete with the highlighted common words or symbols and the supplemental rune words or those that had nothing in common were placed at the bottom of its particular language table. All words were separated by dotted and faded lines. The faded lines were formed under the words and looked like they extended passed the word, stopping at some unseen limit.
The front and back of the wide parchment were clear of any tables except that more small faded and dotted horizontal lines appearing. The parchment then folded itself like a Muggle map, fan wise on the long end, with each language table hiding in its own column or fold. The whole thing then it folded over and over more compactly for carrying purposes. The front and back cover, included an extra fold of the paper, thickening into solid covers. The covers hid the lines which were added for taking and making notes when needed.
He then did a series of complicated wands movements and hissed a few Parseltongue words that had the students looking at him in surprise because of it. They were never witness to the events of Harry's second year duelling disaster when Lockhart had been the Defence Professor. They knew he spoke the snake language, but they had never heard it before today.
(...Copyright, Theft Defence, Complete Copy, Conjure Copies Times One Hundred, Permanency-preservation, Duplication Prevention, Permission Personal Note Addition, Magical Claiming one time only and Total Preservation...) He hissed, pouring great magical power into his intention, focussing on the creation of something that might be considered brand new to the Wizarding World.
Due to the form of the magic and the words used in the spell it could never be duplicated or claimed to have been created by anyone other than Harry Potter. Also it must be noted that the format of the device having been 'copyrighted' by the Boy-Who-Lived, which meant that should a company or business have the need to use the same device then monetary compensation would be required. The Goblins were going to have a field day when Harry had the time to notify them about this. The idea would garner attention and might be requested for use in new Rune Texts, but that is not for the here and now.
Stacks of ten began to appear beside the original document that Harry had created, until he had ten stacks of ten. He was sweating profusely by the end, but he had a slightly pleased smile on his face. It was a great feeling to know that he had successfully done a complicated working of magic and that it turned out just like he wanted.
He took the original, plus a second copy that he planned to work with and then using his wand in a sending motion, he distributed a copy to each of the students in the room, plus one to a very surprised Professor Snape. He put away the extras in his backpack because he planned to keep them until someone complained about the lack of fairness to the other students. He was also planning to give his Runes Professor a copy, but the others technically belonged to him because of the 'Copyright' aspect incorporated into the spell.
Harry looked at the shocked students' faces and then said, "Sorry about the Parseltongue, that is if you guys were disturbed by it. It was just the quickest way to cast the spells and to get the result I was looking for. If you use your wands like a pen and mark your name on the top cover of the parchment they'll become yours permanently, but they are not transferable to anyone else."
A couple of the Hufflepuffs did it and watched as the spell light marked the papers with their names. One of the brave Ravenclaws opened it up and noticed that it contained all of the tables that they currently use. "What are the lines for?"
"Notes," Harry said. "You can either use your regular quills or your wands to make permanent notes. You could also choose to use a Muggle lead pencil before making anything permanent and that way you can make sure that your notes are accurate before making them a permanent part of the parchment."
"Why would we need to make notes," one of the Slytherins asked.
"At the bottom of the table for each language on this sheet are some Runes or words that have no common connection," Harry explained. "I just thought that with the dual-language dictionaries in the Library we'd be able to look up the literal meaning of the words after we figure them out and could make notes about them."
"Bloody brilliant," one of the Ravenclaw fifth years said, looking over his sheet and beginning his school-work. "This is truly brilliant! Now I don't have to go through those different books to find the table I need."
The Potions Professor was astounded by the sheer power that Harry displayed so freely to a group of fourth and fifth year students, especially to his Slytherins. The Gryffindor then had the audacity to turn and wink at him, as though he had sensed his thought, when all of the students were looking over the parchments and writing their names to claim them magically.
'What is that brat up to,' he thought scowling and then turning his attention to his own copy. It was compact and not at all cumbersome to manipulate. He decided to sign his name too because he didn't want to lose something unique like this by any means. It just wouldn't be Slytherin of him to outright deny the 'gift'. If he were to lose it because he refused to claim it, well that was just plain foolishness in his mind.
He turned to look at the Boy-Who-Lived and noticed that he was absorbed in the chatter of the students. The Slytherins were looking at the Gryffindor in a new light and it was clear that none of the younger students were scared from the display of powerful magic that they had just witnessed. It was like nothing that they had ever seen before, but the Gryffindor was putting them all at their ease and leading the students back to their school-work by asking questions that required their input.
'What is he up...,' he paused in his thoughts and really looked at the Gryffindor.
Harry Potter was fully accepted by these younger students. Even the Slytherins were accepting of him and his uniquely non-Gryffindor ways, like the snake language.
The teachers had praised the boy's alternate view points and the fact that he asked interesting questions during those classes. The boy was taking all of the students' questions about Defence Against the Dark Arts, answering them correctly, while asking his own regarding their shared classes of Runes and Arithmancy.
A question from one of the Hufflepuffs caught his attention. "Do you think you can do one of these for the Arithmancy Tables?"
"You don't really need one for Arithmancy, do you Gregson," Harry returned. "The texts and resources are more complete for Arithmancy. In fact, there is a book on the market called 'Arithmancy Structure & Tables by Level - written by Maximillion Tremont' (...i...). It contains all of the known Arithmancy tables in it, even some that have not been used in years. It's nothing like the Rune texts, which are all language specific and varied, plus they change every time a new word is discovered or a new meaning is found for the same word. I only put these six Rune Tables together because we're using these ones right now in class, but I'm quite certain that in the New Year during the new semester that the Rune classes will make us use different Rune Tables or Charts. I might have to create a different chart or else figure out how to add more to this one."
"How did you find out about the book by Tremont," Gregson, who was a fourth year Hufflepuff, asked. "I was looking for something like that, but no one was mentioning it. Is it available at Flourish and Blotts or some other book seller?"
Harry paused and then said, "You know what, I'm not sure that it is available in Diagon Alley. I'll have to look that up and see where it can be ordered from, but I do know that it's not out of print so it should still be available to the public. Why don't you talk to the older years about it and see if they know about the book? Maybe Madam Pince will have heard of it or know how to acquire a copies for the school. She be able to find out where they can be ordered from and if you ask her nicely, she might tell you her sources?"
The students turned back to their schoolwork and continued working on the essays. All of those in Harry's Runes class were using their new charts and only a few were double checking to see if the information was transposed correctly.
By the time the study hall session was almost over every student using the new Rune Table Chart or Sheet, had noticed a strange mark in the form of a small letter c inside a circle. It was in the bottom right hand corner of the parchment followed by the letters HP and today's date. Only those students who were Muggle-born and Muggle-raised knew what that meant. The students had also noticed a large watermark over the whole of the parchment in the form of a Family Crest, which was strange to see.
"Potter, why are there additional marks on the parchment?" A fifth year Slytherin asked.
"Hmm, gimme a minute," Harry mumbled finishing up the last sentence on his essay for Runes completely written in Runes just as the Professor had demanded from her students. He shook the drying powder on the paper to seal in the ink. It imbedded the ink in the parchment and prevented smearing when the parchment was rolled up. He looked up and noticed that several were looking at their new table again. "What was the question?"
"Why are there additional marks on the parchment?" The question was repeated.
"Let me see," Harry said taking his secondary copy and that's when he noticed that the copyright logo was there in the right hand corner with the date. He smiled and said, "I'm glad it worked. The small letter c inside a circle is to indicate that something that belongs to the author or originator of whatever it is you have. Copyright could be used for names, places, books, types of parchments like maps or this table. Since no one in the Wizarding World had thought to protect their idea and I was the first to put this together in this different form and protect it, it technically means that these belong to me and cannot be duplicated without being compensated for them."
"What about the watermark in the form of a Family Crest?"
"What watermark?" Harry questioned with his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Show me."
A couple of the students opened up their parchments in full and sure enough in a very faded ghost-like image, there was a watermark of his complete Family crest. This he had not expected, but then again this past summer he had taken things to the Ministry of Magic to a special Department in charge of Magical Family Names and their Protection. It included the prevention of his personal name being used to promote items, objects, people etc… His own name, Harry Potter and any variation of it, was now Copyrighted, for all legal purposes and that process included ensuring that his new family crest was protected in the same manner as well. He had checked with the Wizard Family census and found that his name was entirely unique in the Wizarding World.
Therefore he copyrighted it completely and in doing so would prevent its use in any Wizarding paper, magazine or article. This law also protected the term Boy-Who-Lived as it was deemed to belong to him and he was the only designated as the Boy-Who-Lived and therefore that too was protected from further use in the media. He couldn't wait to see how the Wizarding population and media hounds would react to the stretches of black bands that would now overwrite any use of his names or titles.
"Sorry about that," he said. "I guess that it's linking these originals to the House of Potter. I didn't mean for that to happen." He rubbed the back of his next in sheepish shyness. "I don't know how to correct that, but I'm guessing that this is what happens when something new is introduced to the Wizarding World."
"That has happened a few times in the past Mr. Potter," Professor Snape spoke up without any menace in his voice. He explained the situation to the students in the room. "It certainly looks like an appropriate spell is cast to protect against the infringement on the originating creator and the item created. Things like a Family Crest of the original caster will appear on objects or in the form of a background watermark, until it is altered for sale en masse to the general public. Your Family Crest seems to have changed quite a bit since I saw it last."
He was lying, of course, because he had seen it on every correspondence that Harry had sent to him this summer. Still if he hadn't mentioned it now, didn't believe that many of his Slytherins would notice the Black Family symbols or the incorporation of a third Family symbol into the new crest.
The Slytherins had noticed the family crests, but upon looking at it again they realized that Potter was in charge of a known Dark Family and yet he didn't seem to enforce their known practices of Pureblood tyranny. "You added the House of Black," one fourth year Slytherin stated. "You added them to the Potter crest, why?"
"It's just the form it took when I claimed the Family and House," Harry stated as a matter of fact. He shrugged, which was a clear indication to the students that he didn't believe this to be of any significant value. He then said, "I didn't know how it would look, but I accepted the responsibility for that House when I accepted the one for the House of Potter. Is this important for some reason?"
"Taking responsibilities for the any Magical Family or House means that you can basically dictate how the other known family members behave in society and it will indicate their place on the Social Ladder," a fifth year Ravenclaw stated.
"I'm already considered to be at the top of the Social Ladder without having claimed any Family House," Harry simply stated. Many of the Slytherins realized that this was true and were shocked by his next statement. "However I don't care about that rubbish. As for any true Family members, I don't have any that I know of that are currently linked to the Potters who could be considered immediate, so what possible influence could I have on rest them? As for the Blacks, those that were disinherited have to remain on the outside the familial, social influence and those that are on the inside, well from what I know about what's left of them, they just suck. I might just disinherit them on the same type of prejudicial whim that dictated the expulsion of those who didn't follow the old Black motto of 'Toujour Pur'."
The chimes sounded in the room to indicate that the period of study was now over and that those that had classes had to go to them, while others like Harry moved to another location for more study.
Harry was anxious to get to the Room of Requirement because he was looking forward to exerting himself physically in learning hand-to-hand combat and in learning more about falling without getting hurt in the process. He was also learning to tumble again which he remembered as a fun activity when he was a kid in primary school and that had been before he was stuck taking classes with Dudley.
He had given all of his classmates something to think about. Even his Professor for Potions was curious about the reasons why that infernal Gryffindor winked at him after he had cast his spell. He managed to catch a few of his fifth year Slytherins' conversations which slowly made him understand that something or the reason.
'Potter's getting to them,' he thought, listening to one of them comment about the power that had been displayed.
"Did you ever see such power," Mathias Durmontly said to his fellow snakes.
"Do you think he has the power to defeat You-Know-Who," a small fourth year by the boring name of Amelia Thompson, asked.
She was usually quiet and unassuming, but when questions needed to be asked of a serious nature, she was the one that nearly always did it. There was something in the way that she spoke that made the Slytherins of her year think before answering. It was now catching on and being accepted by the older and younger years that asking such questions meant that an alternative answer could exist, even if it opposed the standard, automated familial upbringing or political leaning.
The question made them pause a moment and then another fifth year said, "It might seem like it."
"But..." Amelia asked.
"I guess it depends on his magical training and what he actually knows," Mathias said. "From what I understand and from what the older years have said and believe. Potter was never once given any additional training or supplemental classes to improve his combat spells here at Hogwarts."
"He had remedial studies last year didn't he," a fourth year Slytherin by the name of Raphael Tattersall asked. "What was the class he needed remedial studies in? Could that have been a cover up for an actual class in something else?"
"I think it was in Potions," Burijas, Raphael's older brother said. "I don't think it lasted that long though so he must have been shite at it."
"Language Mr. Tattersall," Professor Snape said to his students, hoping to stop their reflection about the 'Remedial Potions Studies' that failed when the infernal Gryffindor had looked into his private pensieve. "If all of you gain a detention for dawdling in the halls when you're supposed..."
He didn't have to say anything else as the remaining Slytherins apologized to him and took off for their next class, leaving him to stand there in their wake. He slowly shook his head and then internally he debated on whether to bring up the idea of Occlumency with the Boy-Who-Lived. He didn't want to, but he felt that Dumbledore was going to ask him to teach it to the brat again.
'Perhaps it's better to find out if Potter wants to learn that technique first,' he thought, heading in the direction of his office. He had a stack of six year potions essays to slog through, plus he needed to be there in case his Slytherins came looking for him.
'Next time I see him in my capacity as Wizard Counsellor, I might suggest it.'
HPHPHP
The Room of Requirement was quite a unique room. In order to find it you had to know where the door was located and then you had to pace in front of it three times thinking of the type of room you're looking for.
Harry's school schedule was drawn up to his specifications and he received permission to use that Room for his independent study in the Defence Against the Dark Arts. He used the Room to call forth a Muggle gym with a cushion floor mat to use for tumbling and his hand-to-hand training. There was one complete wall of books related to Defence in many different forms, including Muggle defence in the forms of various martial arts, strategy books and games of war.
The games and books related, he wasn't too sure about, but because of his improved memory he could essentially memorize the layouts of winning strategies before he even thought of playing against some opponent. There were boxes of magazines related to the games too, all dating back many years, depending on the Country that the game originated in.
A fine example would be the Japanese board game called GO which originated in China with the name Weiqi approximately 2000 years ago. He liked the fact that a game of this nature was actually older than Hogwarts, but it did raise some interesting factors in his mind regarding these kinds of games.
The room acted like his net-book when he chose to study a game like that. His plan was to read the books and learn the moves using his memory and then have the room create a faceless ghost player that helped him to conquer the game or at least learn it with some competency that allowed him to realize the style of play and strategies most commonly used.
He used this knowledge to build a strategy to potentially use against Voldemort. The Dark Lord is a festering pustule in his mind and he strongly disliked the fact that this was the kind of stuff he should have been learning all along.
He was currently learning a dive and roll tumbling routine that would get him out of the line of enemy fire when there was a knock at the door to the Room. He finished his roll with a twist to avoid the spell light being fired in his direction by the Room's ghostly opponent.
"Pax," he said out loud. It was the word that he figured would never be used during a battle unless someone planned to surrender, so he programmed it into the Requirements for the Room's training situations. It caused his opponent to stop, disappear and be replaced with a couple of standard solid battle dummies with painted targets on them.
Harry waited to hear if there was another knock on the door and when it happened again he used the revealing window on the door in order to know who was out there. He was surprised to see who it was and suspecting no ill intent he opened the door.
"Malfoy," he said getting the attention of the Slytherin who knew that the room was occupied, but had been hoping to convince whoever it was to leave.
"Potter," Draco said shocked by the Gryffindor's appearance, as much by what the room looked like behind the boy.
"Do you need the Room or something," Harry asked. "You weren't looking for me I hope."
"No," the blonde Slytherin said. "I was planning to convince the person in this Room now to leave, but I'm curious about why you are here, isn't this the time for you and the lions to be in D.A.D.A.?"
"They are," Harry said waving for the Slytherin to come into the Room so that he could close the door. "I have an independent study period for that course. Why does that matter?"
"No reason," Draco said looking at the Room more closely.
One corner had a strange board with chips of black and white stones mapped out and it looked like the game was still in play. It looked like Othello, but it obviously wasn't. One wall near the board was filled with books and the floor that he was standing on didn't feel like it was a stone floor, but somehow it felt flexible.
He turned to look at the Gryffindor who'd let him into the room and then watched as the boy flexed and stretched his arms and legs in strange movements. When he was done, the lion walked over to a table that appeared with two chairs, a glass of cool water and a towel. He watched as the boy wiped the sweat off of his body and drink from the glass.
Harry put the towel around his neck and looked at the Slytherin wondering what he was thinking about the Room's look. "Have a seat," he said as he held onto the glass and then he asked, "Do you need the room all the time in this time-slot or is this just for today?"
Draco frowned, as he sat down and wondered, "Why do you need to know?"
"I'm booked for this time-slot every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, including several other times in the mornings and nearly all day during every other Saturday," Harry stated taking the chair opposite the blonde.
"Of course they're willing to accommodate their pet, the Golden Boy of Gryffindor Tower," the Slytherin sneered in disgust at the indulgence. "Back on the Quidditch team yet, Potter?" He lashed out.
"Nope," Harry answered calmly. "As far as I can figure, no one has asked for use of this Room and that's why I got the slots, what's it to you?"
Draco blinked and looked away. "I was hoping to use the room for training in D.A.D.A."
"So pick some other times," Harry said.
"My Head of House suggested that I come here at this time," Draco told him while looking him in the eye.
Harry's eyes widened at that. It was not a lie. Then he hissed out, after looking at the snake on the crest of the blonde's school robe. (...Sneaky, Slytherin, Sly, Professor...)
He had startled the Slytherin which surprised him, but then he realized that he was hissing out his words. 'At least it covered up what I was saying,' he thought. 'Why would my Counsellor send Malfoy to here at this time? He knows I have the Room booked.'
"Are you taking D.A.D.A. classes in school too," Harry asked.
"Yes, but..."
"Last year didn't really prepare you and the O.W.L. you received in D.A.D.A. sucked," the Gryffindor stated.
"Pretty much," the blonde admitted with a frustrated sigh. "I'm not going to fail, but with my father in prison, no thanks to you, I have no choice and I can't fail."
"So your Head of House sent you here," Harry re-stated. "He sent you at this time, when he knows about my independent D.A.D.A. schedule?"
Draco Malfoy heard the statement and then he looked up at the other boy and realized the same thing. "Manipulative, admirable snake," he hissed in a mix of awe-anger. "He told me that it was the Headmaster..."
"Stop," Harry said. "Did Snape go to the Headmaster to request time in this Room on your be-half?"
"He said that he would have to discuss it with the other Professors first," the blonde confirmed with a nod. "He came back and told me about it today. I'll admit he was a little miffed, but he told me that if I sincerely wanted to learn anything about D.A.D.A. that the Headmaster had approved me being here for two hours starting at two thirty Wednesday afternoons only." He paused and said, "Come to think of it, he really didn't look at all happy about it when he mentioned that this was the Headmaster's time suggestions."
"This is the Headmaster's doing then," Harry muttered. He drank the remainder of his water and threw the glass to shatter against a far wall. He targeted one of the dummies and began to attack it while saying, "Manipulative, son of a... a... 'Blibbering Humdinger' or would that be 'Fwooper'?" (...ii...)
Draco pursed his lips to stop from bursting out in an immediate reaction of laughter. His eyes sparkled with the suppressed expression, but he couldn't help it. He started chuckling at the rage that the other six-year student was displaying by striking the obvious practice dummy in a series of complicated moves with his fists and feet.
It was funny to the Slytherin because he had never seen the boy so frustrated before and for some reason it was clear that he was just as helpless against some of the forces at play in their lives. However, that thought sobered him up right quick and lead to the thought, 'I never realized that he was helpless too against the adults. He always looks so controlled? Impassive? Or maybe just stupid.'
Harry was done throwing a fit of anger, but as long as he was only attacking the dummy he could slow down gradually in order to relax the tension he was feeling. He stopped with a wide stance, his fists falling to his side and he was breathing heavily from his impromptu exercise.
One large sigh and he was back in his chair looking at the way the blonde was dressed. He then said, "You'll need to wear proper training clothes."
"What are you talking about," Draco asked in confusion.
"You were sent here during one of my longer time-slots in this Room," the Gryffindor explained. "Obviously 'someone' is thinking bloody stupid thoughts about promoting school 'unity'. They set you up in order to actually try and make us get along or work together or some such rot."
Harry then yelled loudly, startling the Slytherin again, by saying, "Meddling senile old prick."
He turned to look at Draco and said, "I'm not giving up this time-slot, so it looks like we, either share the Room and use it together to learn at the same time or else plan to alternate in order to avoid one another. I'd leave that choice up to you, but to be honest if you choose the last one I'm still going to show up to do my exercises and train while you're in here anyway."
"I reckon that I could live with seeing you once a week to practice Defence spells," the Slytherin told him. The chimes that Harry programmed in the room indicated a change of class. Draco frowned and looked at his watch. "I have one more hour here so what's the plan going to be?"
"We'll use the hour to test your level and to find out what you need to brush up on," Harry said. "The reason you're going to need more comfortable clothing is to join me in some of the training I do in here, unless you 'only' want to focus on practical spell work?"
"Let's start with finding out how far behind I am," Draco suggested. He removed his outer robes and Harry shook his head at the other set of robes underneath. They were pressed, squeaky clean and looked expensive. The shoes didn't look too comfortable either.
"You're going to get those dirty," Harry said looking at the robes.
Draco just shrugged and said, "The house-elves will take care that stuff."
"All right let's start with year one," Harry said.
"Why," Draco asked.
"We'll see if you're missing any spells from the earlier years," Harry said. "I made a list based on the texts in the books of all spells that as first year students we 'should' have learned with that idiot Quirrel. This is how I began my independent study, however you do have the choice to figure out how you're going to choose what to study or not."
Draco was surprised at that and then he nodded because it sounded like quite a logical and practical method to begin with. The Gryffindor handed him the list and pointed to the testing dummy. The dummy rotated in place waiting to begin its purpose which was to act appropriately when specific spells hit and to record the effectiveness of the spells.
"Primary dummy," Harry said. "Activate year one." He received a quizzical look from the Slytherin, but he just motioned the other boy to give him back the list and to begin sending his spells. "I'll call the spells out, you do them and then we'll see where you are at."
"Right then," Draco said taking up his position at a distance similar to what a formal duel would be and waited for the name of the spell to be called out...
Forty-five minutes later the blonde Slytherin knew that Harry Potter was a harsh task master. He didn't let up for that whole length of time. He called out to the training dummy, "Activate year two," in the middle of Draco's last first year spell and began calling out a list of second year Defence spells with a mix of first year spells.
'Bloody bastard called out most of the spells several times too,' Draco thought, trying hard to remember the wand movements for a tricky second year spell. 'He better not do it for all the years.'
Harry stopped him when he was in the middle of the third year list of spells, mixed with first and second. He watched dispassionately as the blonde collapsed on the floor. A cool glass of water with a twist of lime and chips of ice appeared in front of the Slytherin who was momentarily startled by it, but took a grateful sip of its soothing contents.
The Gryffindor walked over to the practice dummy, said a few words with a wave of his wand and soon had two scroll-lists in his hand with an analysis of the Slytherin's strengths and weaknesses for specific spells. He kept one.
"Here," he said handed the second list to the other six year student. "If you find this helpful, then we'll begin again from where we left off at our next meeting. We'll start with the third year spells and all of the other years until we get to sixth year spells. Then you'll know what you need to study in order to catch up and perhaps actually pass D.A.D.A."
Draco took the piece of paper and pocketed it in a hidden pouch inside his robes. He looked at the Gryffindor who was drinking water too and asked, "Did you do this too?"
"What," Harry said sipping his water. "Analyze the spells and how I was casting them?"
"Yeah," Draco confirmed. "Did you?"
"I did," Harry told him. "I have to."
"Why," the Slytherin asked.
"Some other time," Harry said. "Did you have any questions about the process or did you want to train on another day? You'll still be complying with the scheduled meeting in this Room, but if it's more convenient to come during a time when you know your year-mates are occupied elsewhere, just let me know what you'd prefer." He handed the blonde a copy of the schedule he had set-up in the Room of Requirement for his independent study.
The Slytherin pocketed the schedule too, next to the analysis sheet of his spells. He stood up cast a drying spell and a refreshing spell on his body. Only then did he put on his Slytherin robe for school and looking back before leaving the Room, he said, "I will."
HPHPHP
TBC...
(...i...) Made up name of book and author
(...ii...) Found on the web's A-Z Lexicon of Harry Potter. (I used that web site often for canon stuff.)