Hi everyone!
This is a new idea I had for a fanfic for Harry Potter. Please have a read and let me know what you think!
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Harry Potter: Slayer
Chapter 1
How to kill a troll in 20 minutes
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"So, Mister Potter, tell me, how does a child kill a troll in twenty minutes?" asked a man with whitening grey hair, and a short French beard.
"Well, at that point, it was just me, really, sir. And it did seem kinda dizzy when I got there. I spotted it getting up, I ran back to the chessboard, and yelled for Hermoine to get Ron out. She dragged him away and I levitated one of those big swords the pieces were using."
"You mean the stone chess set Minerva had set up?" the man enquired back.
"Who's Minerva?" Harry asked, with an expression of curiosity.
"That would be your professor McGonagall, young man." The man replied back, a smile on his face at the naiveite of the child in front of him.
"Oh! Uh, right! Of course! I knew that!" he hastily attempted to reassure, and the man chuckled. "So, last time, we levitated the troll's club and used that to knock him out- "
"Last time?" the man asked, confusion colouring his expression.
"A troll broke in over the Halloween feast, and nearly killed Hermoine. She was crying alone in a toilet. Me and Ron, we went to save her, and then we sorta used the troll's own club to knock him when he dropped it."
"Interesting. Continue, please." The man replied, his face neutral.
"I hope you aren't too angry sir. Aunt Petunia has a face like when she says she's not, but she's really mad. She even chucked a frying pan at me once."
"And does she do that often? Throwing things at you, I mean." The man asked, his eyebrows raised in askance.
"No sir, not really. Dudley, my cousin, and I had tracked mud in that day when she was just done cleaning. Apparently, they'd had a hard time at the psychological counseling Aunt Petunia made them do when I was seven. Before they were... a bit hard? Hard, on me. But since then, they've been better. Though she does punish us by making us do more chores than usual if we do manage to annoy her, which Dudley does more than me. Honestly, trying to get frogs to fight in the park…" The man chuckled at that.
"Interesting." The man said once more, his face going to the neutral expression again. It looked like Albus hadn't royally cocked this up after all. "Pray continue with your story, young man."
Harry nodded. "So, when the troll came in, I dropped the sword on it, but that didn't knock it out, though I didn't notice that."
It was true, he hadn't noticed and instead yelled "Take that, you ugly troll!" at the dropped Troll, then paused. "Huh, you are a troll. I guess that just makes you ugly!"
It was then that Hermione chose to interrupt his spiel with some thoughtful advice, which according to Harry would have served him better a few seconds earlier:
"It's not fainted yet, you twit!" she had said, dragging Ron off the chessboard to a corner.
"Aw, biscuits!" Harry had said before hightailed it out of the board.
The troll woke up, and it was not amused. It yelled a roar of gibberish, though rage seemed to ooze out of it, along with some gross saliva, Harry had noted. "Honestly, don't creatures have any way to maintain hygiene? I mean, Hagrid says trolls have some level of intelligence I think, but this is a mountain troll, not a cave troll. Now which one has a bigger brain, he said…"
Harry's musings were interrupted when Hermione yelled another warning, "Look out, you twit!" rather loudly. Healthy set of lungs on that girl, Harry had thought before dodging the troll's heavy swing with a leap back into the middle of the board.
The troll turned towards Hermione, who was, at this point, scared, Harry noted. Picking up a nearby rock, he chucked it at the troll's head. "Hermione, get out of there!"
The troll growled, and drew its club once more. "Aw, biscuits!" he yelled.
He ran around the pieces of debris with the grace of an acromantula on rollerskates, while the troll chasing him, shattering each piece of debris, one by one with wild swings of his club.
"Harry, I found some levers over here!" Hermione yelled.
"Bully for you! Help me out here!"
She looked around. "Run behind the debris with the pike!" she called out. She pulled a lever, and the board began to rotate.
He tried to run and slipped due to the now flipping board. He slid right through the troll's legs. "Hermione" he yelled.
"Sorry!" she called back, pulling another lever that restored things back to normal.
He made a break for the debris with the axe. The Rook or the bishop, or whatever carried a pike axe. Wizarding chess could be complicated. Merlin knew how Ron kept up with it.
At this point, he chucked another stone he had picked up along the way. The angry troll yelled a cry and swung its weapon once more.
With some actual timing, he dodged and the club had gotten stuck to the pike.
"Now what?!" he yelled to his bushy-haired friend.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" with a cry, another sword hit the troll, courtesy of Hermione, who was panting with the exertion.
"Harry, get over here! I've figured out these levers!"
The troll was down, rubbing its head with its large hands. Harry had an idea. "Be right there!" he called back.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" the pike and the club were up in the air now. The exertion was killing him.
I guess kids aren't supposed to lift this much weight, he thought.
He swung it down violently after it reached a height, on the now unsuspecting troll.
The improvised weapons hit the downed troll with a sickening squelch and the thing was now bleeding. But still not unconscious, Harry noted.
Hermione yelled something which was becoming her mantra for the day. "Get back here, you twit!"
"Coming!" he called back, as though he was catching up to her in the library. He half-ran, half-limped to the girls on the side of the board, glaring at him from behind a couple of levers.
"What is it?" He asked her.
She smiled and pointed at a lever. Harry's expression turned to a smirk. It said 'RESET'.
"Do it." He had said, and She pulled the lever.
The board literally began to flip, turn over vertically. The troll was just getting up when it noticed the ground turning upside down. It cried out and got up, and suddenly was pinned to the ground. The board flipped faster and faster, with all the dust from the broken pieces attracting themselves as though it was magnet and they were metal.
The board spun faster and faster, and hit a crescendo, and then began to slow down.
The troll got up dizzied, its hands somehow finding the club it had had earlier. It noticed the children who it was trying to eat, and swung the clubs angrily.
CHUNK.
It turned around confused, to sell the face of a white stone chess piece. It pulled the club back, to no avail. It yanked harder and harder, and with a yell of exertion, pulled out and swung the club back and lost its grip.
CHUNK.
The club had hit a black chess piece.
Seeing that the assailant on the board was dangerous enough to damage the pieces themselves, all of the pieces drew their weapons and marched towards the troll.
Harry and Hermione stared in morbid fascination for a minute, before snapping out of it.
"Hermione, get Ron and go." Harry said to her.
"But Harry- "
"Before they finish the troll off! Go!"
Hermione ran off, dragging Ron off.
Harry ran toward the door, trying to ignore the sound of the battle, which was getting kind of messy at that point, he noted. Before he exited through the door to the next room, he watched for a moment, and shook his head. This looked like a scene from one of those movies he and Dudley watched when Petunia wasn't supervising. Dudley and he had watched a Bond movie one time.
"I guess that's checkmate." he said, inspiration for a one-liner striking him. Then he chuckled and moved on.
Having recanted this tale to the elderly man, along with the other details of his confrontation with Voldemort, he now sat in silence.
"I guess that's checkmate?" Nicholas said, with a guffaw.
"Well, it seemed cool to say." He replied back, some embarrassment colouring his cheeks.
"Uh sir, Can I ask you a couple of questions?"
"Of course."
"Who are you, and why did you ask me all that?"
Poppy Pomfrey, who was standing next to the bed Harry was sitting on, facepalmed, and Dumbledore, who was standing next to the man, chuckled.
The man himself smiled.
"I am… you could say, headmaster Dumbledore's teacher, Mister Potter- "
"Does that make you my grandteacher, then?"
Madam Pomfrey groaned. "Honestly, mister Potter, where do you come up with this nonsense?!"
"Uh, Dudley and I got caught up watching too much TV.." he tried weakly.
"Children these days..." she said, frowning, and shaking her head, though there was a hint of humour in her voice.
Nicholas chuckled. "As I was saying, mister Potter, I was the headmaster's teacher at one point. I am also the maker of the artifact you so valiantly saved."
"Wait, that means you're..."
"Nicholas Flamel is my name."
Harry gaped.
"Oh my God! You're the creator of the philosopher's stone!" He yelled out. "Or was it the sorcerer's stone? I can never really get that one right…"
"Neither can I, Harry. The press really botched that one up!" Nicholas laughed.
"Now, getting to the point, Harry," the man's face became serious once more. "I fear your headmaster has placed you and your friends in an inordinate amount of danger. Danger, that, as you have recanted to me, you have with no small difficulty overcome, and protected an artifact that happens to be my life's work. For that, young mister Potter, I owe you my thanks."
Harry blushed a bit, embarrassed by the man's praise and thanks. "It wasn't much for me to get the stone, so as to prevent Voldemort from getting his hands on it."
"Yes, I am aware of that detail as well. Honestly, Albus!"
The headmaster looked guilty at that. "It was never my intention, Nicholas to have this happen the way it unfortunately has. I will endeavour to ensure that such a happenstance never again happens in our hallowed halls." The man intoned with the air of a remonstrated child.
"You left the school unguarded. Your deputy, from what I understand, simply shooed these children away when they came to warn her. Severus seems more interested in scaring the snot out of any kids here, than actually teaching to brew a potion. Honestly, Albus!"
"Er, headmaster Dumbledore would have stayed, had we informed him before, sir. It wasn't his fault…" Harry tried.
"Nonsense, Harry! Albus was supposed to guard the stone properly. It seems he laid out some cockamamie plan to draw out Voldemort instead." Albus looked guilty at that.
"You would do well not to trust someone blindly unless they well give you reason to, mister Potter." Nicholas told him.
"Harry, I must apologize." Dumbledore said, with a sad expression. "You have done the school an invaluable service, in my stead, my boy. I hope you shall give this old man a chance to do better by you."
"Honestly, Albus! What, did you go to the drama academy in Paris?" Nicholas heckled.
"Nicholas! I must insist you not interrupt me."
Nicholas gave him a stern look.
"Fine, I'll drop the formalities." He turned to Harry. "I am sorry, Harry. I will ensure more precautions and defenses for the schools from now on." Harry gaped at the now not-so-grandfatherly tone.
"Uhh...why were you talking like that before, sir?" he ventured to ask.
"One picks up the manner while teaching for as long as I have, Harry. Nicholas does love to poke fun of me however, so I must watch my oration while he is around." Dumbledore replied once more in his pedantic tone of voice, casting an indignant glare on his old friend and mentor.
"And also, you must know, young Harry, that once upon a time, Albus didn't have the ridiculous beard. He too is human, and makes errors." Added Nicholas.
"Like any other one of us, Harry, I, too, am prone to my own mistakes, which, I have made my share of in my long life."
"God, Albus! Cut that pompous crap already!" the aged man smirked. "You know, maybe you and I should have a lesson, for old times' sake."
Dumbledore actually paled a bit at that, and Harry couldn't hold down a giggle.
Both men smiled at the child's laughter. Albus smiled at Nicholas. That had been the point.
Alright, old man, I'll tone it down a bit. Albus thought looking at his mentor.
You better. What are you, speech-impaired?
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"And that's what he said." Harry told Ron and Hermione, who were seated opposite to him in the great hall for breakfast.
There were still a few weeks in the term, and Harry had been let out from the hospital wing a few days later, with a regiment of potions to keep him healthy for the week, courtesy of Madam Pomfrey. They had come down quite early and there was barely anyone else there.
"I can't believe he had the nerve to talk to Dumbledore of all people like that." Hermione muttered angrily.
"Yeah, mate, Dumbledore's one of the best wizards of our time. Not too much about Flamel fighting dark lords, as far as it goes." Added Ron, stuffing a piece of bacon in his mouth.
"But he was his teacher, guys, so wouldn't he be the one to know?" Harry retorted.
"Teacher or not, mate, Dumbledore's old enough to handle whatever. He's been headmaster forever, Harry." Retorted Ron.
"I don't see how that matters, Ron. It's not like your brother stops being your brother when you grow up." Replied Harry, getting some jam on a piece of toast.
"Honestly, Harry, Dumbledore's saved the wizarding world several times! It's in Hogwarts: A History." said Hermione.
"Of course it is." He muttered. "Still doesn't mean he's going to be right all the time, Hermione. He can make mistakes too is what I'm saying, Hermione." Replied Harry, taking a bite of his food.
"I don't know, Harry, it seems like Flamel was just mad at Dumbledore for the whole thing rather than Voldemort." Said Ron, thoughtfully. "was Quirell-Voldemort's fault! You can't blame Dumbledore for that!" He added, a bit hotly, though Harry thought it might be the effort expended in talking with that much food in his mouth, Harry thought.
"I don't know, Ron, McGonagall didn't even check the stone when we told her about the stone and everything…" Harry murmured, thoughtfully.
"Harry, you can't seriously blame the teachers and Dumbledore for what happened?" Hermione asked, aghast.
"Well, if the boot fits, Hermione." He replied, with some sass. "If the boot fits."
"Come off it, Harry! Dumbledore and the teachers put all those protections to prevent anyone from getting the stone, and you want to blame them, of all people!" Ron yelled angrily.
"Well, the three of us did get past those protections, Ron! Not to mention we almost got killed, what, ten times?!" Harry replied, tersely.
"Why should we have to do that then!" he nearly yelled. "We're not the police!"
"The what?" asked Ron, perplexed. Hermione sighed.
"The aurors, Ron." She explained, looking at him.
Dumbledore had made the announcement that Ron, Hermione and Harry had assisted with the whole debacle of the stone a few days earlier, though he did not disclose many details, and awarded the three of them with a number of house points. He also awarded them with some fee waivers in private which could be renewed yearly if they performed properly, and considering the cost of Hogwarts, the books and so on, for Ron's family it was a boon, financially speaking. Ron has also used his newly found status to brag in the common room several times, about the incidents with the troll and the chessboard.
"You might think he's great because he gave us the waivers," he said to them in a whisper. "But that doesn't mean he's perfect."
They all looked down at their food for a moment.
Well, this blows. Harry smiled sadly.
"Agree to disagree?" he said, thinking back to something he'd heard back at Privet Drive.
They smiled back at him - Ron, a bit sadly and Hermione, a bit crookedly.
"Agree to disagree, Harry." They intoned together.
They continued to talk for a while, going into things that had happened over the year.
Harry shook his head. "I mean, honestly, keeping a stupid philosopher's stone and telling people to not go to the 3rd floor or they'll die, ahem, 'a most painful death' or whatever. Why would you even announce that?! That's so dumb!"
"Harry, stop insulting the headmaster!" Hermoine cried, shrilly.
"Oh look at me, I'm Snape! Look over there, Gryffindors! A million points from Gryffindor since your hair's not as greasy as mine!" he taunted. "Oh, a Slytherin threw a book at a Gryffindor! A hundred points from Gryffindor for dodging that one correctly!"
"HARRY!" Hermione cried, startled. "Stop insulting the teachers!"
"Oh, another Slytherin threw a book and it hit the Gryffindor! A million points to Slytherin!" he continued.
"HARRY!" Hermione cried.
"Calm down, Hermione. He does dock points from you too, though it's very, very rare." He said to her, though the tension from earlier hadn't quite dissipated. "Right Ron?" he said turning to his friend, who was surprisingly quiet. Harry knew they agreed with him, thought Hermione could be a bit uptight about it.
It was then he noticed the shadow of a taller person behind him.
Oh crap.
"So, Potter, would you care to repeat that for me?" said the bland voice of a very, very pissed off potions master.
"Yes, Mister Potter, I would also love to hear that tirade once more as well." Came a staunch voice, from professor McGonagall. Her face was set in stone, and her mouth was set in a thin line.
"Ah, good morning, professors." Harry replied calmly. "Have you tried the jam, it's even better than usual today?"
"With me, Potter!" McGonagall basically yelled. "Come Severus!"
"Aw, biscuits!" he intoned.
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Well, the hundred points lost came at the price of seeing the vein in Snape's forehead look like it was going to jump out and become a different person altogether, and the look on his face at that moment, along with McGonagall sitting in on some classes with Snape, was so worth it.
In Harry's perspective, the next few days went by in a blur. Harry was noticeably less involved with Ron and Hermione, though he and Ron still played some chess every now and then. But it looked like Hermione dragged Ron along with her most of the time, so they didn't talk as much. Harry mostly went to class alone, and sat a few seats behind his friends sometimes. Hermione sometimes sitting with either Ron or Parvati, and Ron with Dean and Seamus occasionally.
He had improved a bit more in class though, now that he and Ron weren't skiving when they saw their chance. Ron, because Hermione would have his head if he did, and Harry, because he had nothing else to do at that point. In fact, they actually got better grades on their latest essays on Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Charms that week, which pleased some of their teachers and earned them some house points, to the appreciation of their housemates.
That night, he and Ron were sleepily playing one of their usual games of chess.
By playing, of course, he meant he was losing horribly, and not caring too much at that point, and Ron was sleepily trouncing him.
Hermione walked over to them, and pulled up a chair.
"Ron, did you finish your potions essay?" she ventured to ask the red-haired boy.
"No, Hermione, I'll do it later." He replied lazily.
"It's due in two days, Ronald. You had better get started if you want me to look it over tomorrow." She informed him archly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Oi, Seamus! Dean! Want to start writing the potions homework? Harry, you can come too, if you want."
"Sure, mate, thanks." Harry replied, getting some books out of his bag.
They went to a nearby table and began writing whatever it was that Snape has assigned them that week.
Hermione watched, somewhat annoyed. She had gotten used to Ron and Harry asking her for help, and it felt a bit weird to see them do their work by themselves.
For Ron, the house points and the latest letters from his family spurred him to work more, and it looked like he was on the road to improvement.
But she and Harry hadn't talked much about their disagreement. She knew she was being childish by not talking to him, but she couldn't stand the idea of teachers not doing their duties correctly. While Snape may be biased against the Gryffindors, she knew he wasn't as bad with the other houses, and he seemed to dislike them for some reason.
Probably because of that time they had set his robes on fire.
Harry seemed to have become a bit jaded, she thought, with all that happened since they started the year, she couldn't entirely blame him either. He had fought trolls, a dark lord. But that didn't give him the right to so dismally dismiss the faculty. She had read up on their qualification in Hogwarts: A History, and all of them, save Binns, the ghost who taught them history of magic, were some of the best in their fields.
She opened up a book and began reading. If Harry wanted to be dismissive of the faculty and Dumbledore, that was his choice. She didn't want to be a part of that though.
"So, mate, tell us that story of the chess board again!" Dean said excitedly.
Ron smiled. It was rare that he got to be the center of attention. His housemates had been quite interested in his tale of the chessboard, with his heroic sacrifice at the end. It was refreshing for him – usually at home, Ron felt overshadowed by brothers, with their amazing achievements, and the cool things they did. The twins, with their funny pranks, Percy being head boy, Charlie working with dragons; it felt like he needed something to call his own. And this was a something that made him feel that way.
And the scholarship was important too. His parents had come to Hogwarts to check on him, and while they had yelled at the headmaster, for not putting more protections, and then him, for going down with his friends, chasing after madman, in the end, they were proud of his bravery, and what he had done. However, they were not okay with how he had put himself in danger. They had warned him not to do so again.
They also had separately, privately, asked him to study harder so he could maintain the scholarship he was awarded. The money would help him renovate the house and buy him and Ginny some things, they had said. Ron was many things, but he wouldn't back down from anything that would help his baby sister. So, he had agreed. But that meant he had to avoid doing anything that would put him in bad light with any of the faculty, or any other major rule-breaking.
It was still good to be able to brag though, after all. For the all the trouble they'd been through, he felt he deserved it.
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Aw, biscuits.
Harry just walked into the dungeons a minute late to see Snape standing near the board, a sneer, or cruel smile on his face.
Sometimes, it's hard to tell with his face the way it is.
"Ah, Potter. Our resident celebrity here in Hogwarts, how delightful of you to join us." He spoke silkily. "That will be 5 points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, Potter."
Harry looked to the back to the class to where McGonagall usually sat when she monitored Snape. It looked like she wasn't there today, so the class was going to be just great.
He walked to his usual seat only to find Ron with Dean, and Hermione already with Parvati, sporting some sad expressions his way. Looking around, he looked for a someone without a partner desperately.
"What's wrong. Potter? Don't know where to sit without your other two musketeers being available?" came the mocking voice of the potions master.
After McGonagall's first few sessions observing, and quite a few Slytherin students caught trying to throw things into the Gryffindor's cauldrons, the schedules had been switched. Gryffindor no longer took potions with the Slytherins, in any year. His current year now had potions with the Hufflepuffs. There were some other changes as well, but this was the major one for now.
Looking over, he saw a red-headed girl standing alone at the back of the class. Susan Bones, one of the Hufflepuffs in his Herbology class.
He walked over to her. "Mind if I sit here, Bones?" he asked politely.
"Sure, Potter." She said, quietly.
Snape, before he went with his usual method, of 'Instructions are on the board. You have whatever amount of time! I have no further shits to give!', had to actually give them some information of what the potion was for, and what were the tricky bits involved in it, as per McGonagall's mandate.
Harry had been there when this happened. Snape outrage cry of 'They have the books, Minerva, if they weren't such dunderheads, they could read!' didn't quite hold up in front of the glare the deputy headmistress had thrown his way.
And so, Snape had to now lecture before he went with his usual war cry, which was something all the students in his class actually appreciated, from what Harry had heard from the grapevine. Well, for him, the grapevine was Ron and Hermione. He chuckled, unnoticeably.
They began brewing slowly, with Harry letting Bones do the tougher tasks, which she seemed happy to do. 'So, Bones," he attempted to make conversation. "Classes have improved these days, huh?"
She looked at him with an amused smile. "Yes, Potter." She said quietly. "Since your little show in the great hall, and McGonagall sitting in on potions, things have become better."
Harry looked up to her in silent shock. "You knew about that?"
"Yep, I was there, Potter. Most people, except for the Slytherins were happy to hear the whole story." She replied cheekily.
He sighed. "Well, McGonagall wasn't happy once she heard about what had been happening. The 'show' cost us about seventy-five points though." He chuckled.
"You're cutting that root too finely, by the way." She nodded to the ingredient he'd been chopping. "And that newt essence hasn't been mixed well either. Stir it a few more times."
He looked back at his work, then the redhead, and then nodded. He finished powdering the asphodel root, and then moved to fix his mistakes.
"Asphodel powder's not fine enough too." She added.
"Sorry, don't mean to hold you back." He said to her, a bit embarrassed at his own lack of knowledge.
"It's alright." She replied back with a smile. "I had trouble too. My auntie and I went over a bunch of potions stuff over the Christmas holidays. There are plenty of basics that Snape didn't cover, by the way, like the powdering technique he told us about today. He's actually one of the experts in the potions field, the youngest potions master in centuries, from what she told me."
"Really? He acts like an old codger." Was the rather eloquent response she received, sending her into a fit of giggles. "Good one, Potter."
"Thanks." Bones wasn't that bad. Harry smiled.
An hour, more corrections from Bones and several bouts of coughs later, they were done with their potion, and class was ending. "You're not too bad with potions, Potter." She commented, after dropping off the vial of potion on Snape's desk.
"Thanks, uh… Susan." He said, with all the smoothness of James Bond, he thought to himself sarcastically. Aunt Petunia hadn't been amused when he'd learn sarcasm, through a James Bond movie. He and Dudley had been grounded for two weeks for that.
"You're welcome, uh, Harry."
He looked for Ron and Hermione, but it looked like they'd already left. What class did he have next…?
"We've got Charms, next, in case you were wondering." She said, with a chuckle. "Don't remember without Granger to tell you?"
"Well, with the changes McGonagall made, it's been a bit hard to keep track." He replied, a bit indignantly.
She laughed. "Come on, then Harry." She said, picking up her books.
"Sure." He replied, following suit.
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Harry looked around again. His friends had become quite cozy with their new…friends. Gah! That sounded so weird to say! Harry had some friends back at Privet Drive, but most kids had mostly become friends with Dudley, and he just hung out with them as a result. It had been a bit sad when he never got picked for games until the end when Dudley would nudge the other kids into doing it. Dudley hadn't been too bad since the divorce, and after they had attended some weird counseling thing.
While he didn't really mind Dean or Seamus, they had a strange fascination with some really weird shit that just wasn't his cup of tea. While Ron may be all for changing water to Rum (God knows why) with them and consequently blow up any liquids in their general vicinity, Harry was more interested in Quidditch, or spell work. The fight with the troll had been quite scary but, in the end, it was pretty cool, and at this point, he was more interested in learning some new spells to defend himself.
Susan had to gone to sit down with her friend Hannah, with the other Hufflepuffs, leaving him to find a place to sit once more. Gah! This wasn't so much fun when everyone took the higher up seats! He didn't mind Charms too much, so might as well pay more attention.
Hm, that's weird, he thought, what's Parvati doing over there all alone? Doesn't she usually sit with Lavender or Hermione?
He went over to sit next to her, not saying anything else.
Ron and Hermione, who were seated on the completely occupied row behind them with Lavender, Dean and the other Gryffindors, waved a greeting his way.
Nodding to them, he pulled out some things to take notes for the lecture. Arranging his things neatly, much to Hermione's pleasure (she actually smiled at him), he sighed, and looked up, ready to focus.
Parvati tipped over her ink bottle.
"Oh no!" she tried to pick it up, rather valiantly, Harry noted, and successfully managed to turn her hands into a passable imitation of a lava monster if it was made of ink. Not realizing the nature of the inky substance, she reflexively flexed her hands, trying to rid them of the invasive black substance without realizing the implications for the person to her left.
The result was a smattering of spots on Harry, who jumped out of his chair with the elegance of a dancing hippopotamus, knocking over it over in a clatter. Their other classmates were laughing at this point, as the girl desperately looked for something to clean her hands. Harry pulled out a handkerchief and proffered it to the girl, who took it with a look of both intense remorse and thankfulness. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his robes, hopefully getting most of the ink off.
"Sorry, Potter!" she said, trying to sound polite but it came out sounding like she was about to cry.
"It's alright, Patil." He tried to calm her down, by helping her clean the desk. They quickly got the mess cleaned up, though Harry's robes still had some flecks of ink here and there.
After a few minutes, Professor Flitwick started their class.
Charms was a subject that at this point, Harry felt he owed his life to, seeing as the levitation charm had saved their collective behind twice. He had been paying more attention to it since getting out of the infirmary, and while it wasn't as interesting as Defence Against the Dark Arts, it was pretty fun to learn what things magic made easy.
Over the course of the class, he noticed that the Parvati seemed to be getting more and more nervous, especially when she was called on to answer a question, which she usually did correctly, but seemingly struggled with even though Harry was able to see that her notes had the right answer. She gained quite a few points for Gryffindor, and much more attentive in class than usual, Harry noted. As far as he could recall, she usually was chatting with Lavender about something or the other.
He narrowed his eyes at her directly. She noticed and her countenance grew panicky. At this point, they were supposed to work on the execution of the latest charm, the ice jinx, glacio lapis that the professor had just demonstrated. "So, Patil," he said conversationally. "You like charms?" he asked.
She became calm once more and nodded. "Yes, Potter. It is one of my favoured subjects." He informed him, in a somewhat shaky voice. "Why are you so nervous? Is it because you were holding back on answering questions before today?"
"…Y-yes, if you must know. I get nervous around people."
"I know what you mean. Once I had to read a story in front of my class in school. I was so nervous, I wound up running away and teleporting myself to the top of my school with accidental magic." He replied in attempt to assuage her nervousness.
"Really? But people say you jumped on a troll during Halloween! And you got into a fight with Malfoy over Longbottom's rememberall too!" she asked back, interestedly.
"Doesn't mean I wasn't nervous then." He replied back, before focusing his wand on the plate in front of him. "Glacio lapis!" he intoned softly, waving it in a circle-flick motion, and watched with satisfaction as ice cubes appeared on it.
"Good job, Mister Potter! Ten points to Gryffindor!" enthused Professor Flitwick, and Harry smiled back at the diminutive man. "Thanks Professor." He replied respectfully. Professor Flitwick approached his place, and then looked at him and the girl next to him, who seemed to be sweating bullets, he noted with some curiosity. "Well done, Mister Potter." He said to Harry. "Meet me after class, please."
He turned to Parvati. "Are you alright, Miss Patil?" he asked her. The girl whimpered a bit and nodded. "You look like you're not feeling well."
"I-I-I'm fine, Professor." She squeaked out. Her face was a bit red, and she seemed shaky.
"Professor! I have a question!" Hermione yelled out, from the row behind them. Harry started for a moment, and he noticed that Parvati was trying to pass him a note.
Hermione began asking a rather long-winded question.
Her eyes panned over to him, an edge of desperation colouring them. "..me" she whispered.
What was going on?
He took the note, opened it and realization dawned.
He looked back at the girl and she nodded.
Right. Time to do what we do best.
His eyes flicked over to Hermione, and he nodded. She imperceptibly nodded back. He gestured to calm the almost hyperventilating girl next to him, and grabbed her hand. He nodded to her.
The professor was now done answering Hermione's question. His hand shot up instantly. "Professor, I have a question!" he said loudly. The professor came over to him, and his mind grasped wildly for any possible thing to ask.
A quick flash of an idea surged is his head, and he wound up asking, "What happens if we remove the lapis from the spell?!" Professor Flitwick looked at him appreciatively, and launched into an explanation.
"Very interesting question, Mister Potter. The Glacio lapis is, in truth, a modification of a stronger spell, the freezing spell. That spell is in your third-year curriculum and this spell serves to introduce you to the aspects of casting and…"
Hermione looked around frantically between Ron and Seamus.
"Seamus!" she said, carefully.
"Yeah?"
"I think you're doing it wrong. Ron, you've almost got it, show him the wand movement." She said carefully. Ron moved to correct Seamus and turned away from her.
She then frowned, very, very surreptitiously pointed to Seamus' robes with her hand behind the desk and muttered an incantation.
Harry caught her from the corner of his eye, and mentally smirked.
The effect was almost immediate – Seamus' robes caught fire, and the consequence that followed was also quite quick. He lost his focus on the incantation, and instead hummed it out in his usual way.
BOOM!
The plate on which his chips were supposed to appear exploded. A small fire smoldered there.
"Fire!" he yelled.
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A few minutes later, the Professor had left the room to escort Seamus and Ron to the hospital wing to get them checked out.
Hermione came over to sit next to him. She smiled. "I didn't like having to do that, Harry, but there wasn't any other go."
"How did you know?" he asked.
"I saw Parvati standing outside the classroom there, and then turning around and running away." She replied.
"I am so, so sorry!" Padma said, emphatically. "We thought it'd be fun to try it for once at school, but it turned out to be really scary, and I was about to lose it there!"
Harry sighed, and pulled the note out of his pocket. It read:
"Help, please
I'm Padma not Parvati.
Need to get out of the classroom"
"Class should be over in a few." He replied. "We can leave then."
"And the two of you can tell us, what on earth you were thinking?!" Hermione added. Padma winced at the tone. Harry winced at her volume, which was somehow loud to his ears but not to anyone else in the room. He sighed, and looked up to see Susan smirking at him. He smiled back, and shrugged.
About a half-hour later, they were having lunch at the great hall, seated at the Gryffindor table with the twins opposite them and a now completely normal-looking Ron and Seamus stuffing their faces a few seats away.
"So," Harry started. "Why the switch?"
"Well, Parvati here," began Padma, and her sister winced. "and I used to switch back in India with some of our tutors. It's one of the reasons she's great at Charms and I'm good with Potions and Herbology."
"We thought it'd make sense to try it here so we can get some extra classes on subjects we're not quite good at." Added Parvati. "But, Padma, er, tends to get a bit nervous at times." She gestured to her Ravenclaw twin, who blushed and nodded.
"I noticed." He replied, with a smirk at the blushing girl.
"And the whole incident with the ink bottle put her on edge," Hermione surmised. Padma nodded. "And then, the golden trio saved her!"
"The golden what-now?" asked Harry, with a bewildered air.
Parvati proceed to explain that due to their involvement with the third-floor incident, they had been dubbed the 'Golden Trio' by the rumour mill, and were now expected to be able to do backflips and cartwheels without any practice, or something, Harry noted with irritation. As if they farted rainbows, or whatever!
"Anyway, Good thinking, you two!" Parvati said to them, with a tone implying gratitude. "I wouldn't have wanted her to get in trouble because of her silly ideas."
"As if, Parvati! This was your idea to begin with!" they began squabbling.
Harry turned to Hermione, who was still blushing at the embarrassment of their new nomenclature.
He sighed, then smiled at her. She smiled back.
This touching moment was interrupted by Padma pulling Parvati's hair. This of course, led to intensification of their squabbling. Harry and Hermione sweat-dropped.
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After that, things went on rather quietly for the rest of the term for Harry, which would have been great, but there was only one week left in said term.
Standing at the platform with his trunk, Harry looked back at the castle which over the course of the year, he came to associate with a warm feeling is his chest. It was truly a beautiful place, and he'd learned quite a bit and made new friends.
Well, kind of. I guess the incident with the stone sorta pulled us apart a bit?
He sighed, and then smiled.
Wonder what the next year will be like? Maybe less with the trolls? I really should practice some more defensive magic…
He continued his musings as he lugged his trunk around and boarded the train.
It'll be nice to head back to Privet Drive for a while.
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### End of Chapter 1 ###
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