Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing great. First of all thank you all for coming out to read the first two chapters of this story. Seeing that there are people interested in this take on the HP story was a definite push for me to keep writing and completing chapters. Summer still hasn't truly arrived for me over here and it's basically raining day in and out. Perfect weather to do some reading!
So without further ado, here is chapter three "A Private Lesson."
Susan wiped the sweat off her brow. She had long since discarded her outer robes. Despite the fall weather having taken a turn for the colder, the lone fireplace was enough to turn the room of requirements into an oven as the D.A practice picked up in intensity. Before the girl stood a large boulder, riddled with small holes all of equal size. Spotting an area of rock without any damage, the girl leveled her wand to fire another Reducto when a voice called out across the room. "Good work everyone. Curfew is in 30 minutes, so we better get to our common rooms."
All spellfire in the room seized at Hermione's call. The rest of the Hufflepuffs sighed in relief at the announcement. Hannah let herself fall dramatically to the ground, sending a small cloud of dust up into the air. "Finally. We've been at it all night."
"It was only two hours." Susan said as she vanished some of the dust around them with a flick of her wand.
"Speak for yourself." Besides her, a wobbly Ernie struggled to stay afoot. Judging by the groans of agreement from the rest of the group, Susan was alone in her judgment.
"You guys have nothing to complain about. Susie and I started an hour earlier than you." Turning onto her belly Hannah glares towards her best friend. "How are you not tired yet?"
The redhead smiled at the glares her friends were sending her way, when suddenly someone speaks up behind her. "Really? That's perfect." Turning around Susan found Hermione, hands clasped before her chest, smiling at her.
"We still need to clean up all the dust." Hermione stated. She wasn't wrong. With so many students practicing their Reducto spell, the entire room had been covered in rubble and dust. Cleaning it all up would take hours and not something the redhead was looking forward to. "Everyone else is too exhausted to continue casting cleaning spells. So it would really speed things up if you could help us Susan?" The Gryffindor deployed her best puppy eyes at the girl who quickly found her conviction wavering.
"The more people that help right?" She gave Hermione a sheepish smile. Hopefully, with the rest of the Puffs helping out they should be done quickly. As she looked over her shoulder to ask the others to help as well, she found all of them gone without a trace.
Frantically looking around she spotted her fellow Hufflepuffs swiftly making their way out of the room. "We will keep the fire burning for you Susie!" Hannah and Justin sent a quick wave to the girl before dragging an exhausted Ernie and Megan out of the room.
"Perfect. We can start over by the mannequins." Giving her no chance to escape Hermione grabbed Susan by the arm before dragging her over to the other side of the room. "Also, how did you do that to the sword? I was still struggling with the rocks by the end of class let alone steel. I even made sure to read the Reducto chapters at least three times before today but it said nothing about being used to destroy metal."
Over the next ten minutes, the rest of the D.A slowly made their way out of the room of requirements while the two girls worked their way through vanishing more and more of the ruble. The work was slow going as Susan's spell could only clean up a small square at a time and Hermione... well. The bushy-haired girl proved less than helpful in the endeavor as she kept forgetting about the chore in favor of asking Susan about anything from her spell work to the girl's thought on magic theory.
Trying to keep up with the girl's enthusiasm was a doomed endeavor from the start and Susan found herself struggling with the speed at which questions were thrown at her. Looking back at it she was sure she hadn't been able to answer more than half of the Gryffindor's questions before another one was already asked. At least the redhead now had more sympathy for Harry's attempt at explaining his own magical achievements. The best answer she was able to provide the bushy-haired girl so far was "I just tried doing the same thing."
Finally, when the last stragglers left, in this case a laughing Gryffindor quidditch team followed by a shouting Ron, did someone relieve Susan from Hermione duty. "Uhm Mione you might want to check up on Ron. The twins got him again." Harry looked towards his friend with concern, but Susan was sure she saw the corner of his lips twitch.
Hermione, annoyed at being interrupted, threw her hands in the air. "What did those two do this time?"
"I'm not sure. You should ask Ron, he looked quite mad." Now Susan was convinced the boy was trying to stifle his laughter. Hermione, missing the simple clues, immediately rushed past her friend and out of the room. As the door closed behind her, Harry's facade broke as he started to laugh.
"What did they do to him?" Susan wasn't sure what to make of the boy. Ron looked quite mad, so why was Harry laughing at that?
"They... they used a spell..." Trying to explain the joke, Harry just started laughing harder. "They hit him with a spell that makes him talk backwards."
"That's not very funny." Susan frowned as the prank was explained to her. She never got why the Twins and their pranks were so popular around the school. Most of them always sounded a bit mean to her and this was no exception.
Seeing the girl's reaction, Harry quickly stopped laughing and tried to explain himself in a slight panic. "They didn't mean anything bad with it. They always do that kind of stuff."
"Even to their own family?" She was doubtful about his explanation. Sure, everyone knows the twins loved their pranks but targeting your own siblings?
"Especially against family, except their little sister of course. They learned their lesson there a long time ago. No Ron is probably their favorite target behind the Slytherin quidditch team and Snape." Harry couldn't help but grin at that. Their pranks against the Slytherins and the potions professor were some of his personal favorites after all. "Ohh and me of course."
"You?" This took Susan by surprise, especially how he stated the last part with a bright smile. Here was someone seeming glad to be included on the Twins prank list.
"Definitely. After spending some time in the summer at the burrow before our first year they made me an honorably Weasley. Basically painting a target on my back. A week before we left for Hogwarts they even dyed my hair red. I stopped them at the freckles though." Picturing Harry with the traditional Weasley features caused the girl to snort.
Hearing her reaction, the boy quickly burst out into laughter and Susan could no longer hold hers back as she joined in. It was nice to just laugh with the boy like he was one of her fellow students and not the country's biggest celebrity. Thinking back, Susan found herself wondering if this wasn't the first time she had seen Harry so carefree.
As their laughter died down, Susan looked around the room with a slight frown. There is still a lot of debris to clean. It would take hours to do it with just the two of them.
"Ohh, we don't have to worry about the cleaning." Harry answered her unspoken complaint. "The house-elves know where the room is. They will clean it when we leave."
As his words settled in Susan turned towards the boy dumbfounded. The house-elves cleaned the room? "But you, Hermione, and Ron always stay behind to clean after lessons?" She, along with the rest of the D.A, had heard Ron's frequent complaints about how there was always so much cleaning to do.
"Well, I might not have told them about the elves." Harry rubbed his arm as he looked away to hide his sense of guilt. "Hermione would explode if she learned they were the ones repairing all the damage we did."
"Good point." Susan replied as both teens shivered at the thought of Hermione on a house-elf justice rampage. The girl's work with S.P.E.W hadn't escaped the redhead's notice just because she was in a different house. She had almost been guilt-tripped into helping the girl knit hats for the Hogwarts elves a few years earlier. Luckily Ernie had pulled her away just in time. That was actually the event that led the two of them to go on their first Hogsmeade date. Maybe she should thank Hermione for that during the next session? "How did you find out about the elves though?"
"I befriended one during our second year. He helps out in the kitchens these days." Harry chuckled at the thought of his elf friend. "He was the one who showed me this place."
He was friends with an elf? The unseen workforce that kept Hogwarts running usually avoided the students as much as they could. Yet here was one of them who went out of his way to help Harry and showing the boy one of the castle's secrets. Once again Susan found the story of Harry Potter grew just a little more intriguing.
Still, there was one lingering question for the girl. "If the elves clean the room, why did I need to stay and help?"
"Oh yes. Of course." The boy coughs to get over the embarrassment of forgetting what he came for in the first place. "I thought this would be a good moment to help you with your uhm... problem." He wanted to help her again? The boy quickly continued at her lack of a response. "I told Hermione we needed help cleaning this all up and suggested that she ask the Hufflepuffs. Figured you would still have the energy to help. After that, I might have asked the twins to show me how to do that talking backwards spell."
Susan wasn't sure what she was hearing. Not only did he trick both Hermoine and herself he also set the Twins loose on his best friend. "Why didn't you just ask me to stay?" This was all rather convoluted just to help her practice. All of them joined the D.A just to get his help after all so it wasn't like anyone would decline any help he would offer.
"I wasn't sure if-" Harry adverted his eyes. "Your friends can be rather protective. And Hannah's stunners look like they hurt."
Susan chuckled at the boy's reaction to her best friend. He fought the dark lord on a yearly basis but was too scared to confront a fifth-year witch. But knowing the blond as well as she did, she could see his point. "You might be right. But I don't think they would have minded you helping me practice."
A silence formed between them as Harry remained quiet. Susan could sense that something was left unsaid but she wasn't sure what. "So what did you want to try?" She finally broke the stalemate.
That was enough to bring Harry back to his professor mode as he quickly explained his plan. "I've been thinking of a way to help you during the session." Over the last two weeks, he had become quite a bit more confident in his teaching skills. At first, he didn't seem to have any idea where to start but now he was coming up with personalized teaching plans like it was nothing. "That's when I remembered something that might work."
With a quick Wingardium, Harry lifted one of the mannequins up and placed it before them. The tall wooden man stood in an exaggerated dueling pose with his wand arm pointed straight ahead just below eye level and his left arm out wide to the side. Taking a step back he examined the target before reaching for his wand. "Colovaria" Casting the color change charm he turned the Mannequins face to an off-white color.. Nodding proudly to himself he stepped aside, clearing Susan's path. "Could you try disarming him?"
Taking a deep breath, Susan leveled her wand and called out. "Expelliarmus." The scarlet spell shot out of her chestnut wand, directly striking the mannequin's fake wand. Said wand easily popped out of the puppet's grasp before dropping to the ground with a soft clatter. Right at the mannequin's feet.
Harry nodded at the results with a slight frown. Susan looked away embarrassed. Both from the lackluster strength of her casting and the fact that the boy didn't even seem surprised anymore. "What were you thinking about when you cast the spell?" Harry spoke up.
"The incantation. Where I wanted the spell to hit." Susan shrugged. She could at least say with some pride that she didn't have to think about the wand movements anymore. Her hands had memorized those a long time ago. "Just what you need to make the spell work."
"You didn't think about what you wanted the spell to do?" The question caught her off guard. Turning her gaze back to Harry she saw him look at her like she just spouted a riddle. "Not even a little?"
"Isn't that what the incantation is for?" Everyone knew what the disarming spell did. What else would you use it for but, well, disarm someone?
"I guess you're right but... This is a bit different than what I thought was wrong." Harry shook his head, his brow furrowed as if faced with a difficult puzzle. "But maybe it's easier to fix. Here let me show you."
After rearming the target, the duo switched places. Drawing his wand, Harry turned towards the mannequin. "I will disarm my target. Expelliarmus!" The scarlet spell made direct contact with the mannequin's hand forcing the wand out of its grasp. It flew towards Harry who snatched it out of the air without a missing a step. Susan groaned at the ease of it. Stupid quidditch playing show off.
What was he even trying to tell her? She did the exact same thing as him. She could even say that her aim was even better as she managed to directly hit the wand itself instead of just the hand. Before she could go further down that thought spiral, Harry snapped her out of it.
"Catch." The boy tossed the wand towards her. Quickly snapping out of her thoughts Susan reaches out to grab it just a second too late. She completely missed the wand making it softly clattered on the ground. Harry chuckled at her failed catch but a small glare from the redhead quickly shut him up. "Could you put it back? Please?"
Snatching the wand from the ground, Susan walked up to the mannequin and feeling slightly vindictive placed it in the harder to hit left hand. Stepping aside she looked back to a bashful Harry. Good at least he felt bad about laughing.
Taking a deep breath the boy leveled his wand. "I'm taking down a death eater. Expelliarmus." Finishing his incantation with a slight growl, the spell shot out of his wand at high speed, slamming into its target. The light completely enveloped the mannequin's left hand and the spell hit with such force that the wand shot out like a bullet. The Mannequin itself was sent flying ten feet back before crashing into one of the mirrors lining the walls. Harry flinched at the sound of breaking glass. "The elves are not going to like that."
Susan looked on in shock at the power being displayed. While it was hard to believe that the ministry was so afraid of a single student, after this she couldn't help but feel a glimmer of understanding. "What do you think was different?" At his words, she tore her gaze away from the broken mirror to look back at Harry. The skinny boy who was a little shorter than her and could easily blow her to kingdom come with just a single spell.
"You used more power..." The redhead knew it isn't the answer he was looking for. Almost like answering one of Professor Sprout's Herbology questions with 'It's a plant.'
"And what did I do to get more power?" Harry even had the same infuriating look that her professor had. The one that said 'Take your time. You know this one.' Who knew the boy had something in common with her head of house?
"You sounded angry." She might have been grasping at straws, but Susan was keenly aware of the effects emotions could have on your magic. There wasn't a witch or wizard alive that could say that they have never caused a magical accident because they were sad or angry.
"I uhm... I might have overdone it a bit." The boy bashfully rubbed his arm, clearly aware of his own reputation. The Potter temper was well known in the castle. Susan herself was first subjected to it in her second year when she had screamed after hearing him hiss during a Potions class. Apparently, he just flinched from touching a hot cauldron and wasn't calling for his monster... a basilisk.
She shuddered at the thought of the beast. After the Hog's head, she had quickly scoured both her own book collection and the library on anything regarding the reptilian creature to get a better idea of just what he had faced. It left her with the feeling that maybe the Potter luck should be more famous than its temper.
"But you are close. Why do you think I said that stuff before casting the spell?" Susan blinked at the question. That was the part she needs to focus on? She was sure that was just part of the showcase.
"You wanted me to know what you were doing?" Even as she said it, she was still in doubt. After all, it was clear what he was going to do just from saying the spell out loud. No that couldn't be it, there had to be more to it. He never explained the uses of his spells before... At least not out loud. "You were telling yourself what you wanted to do?"
Harry smiled brightly and his eyes glimmered with a sense of pride. "Exactly. The words and movements give the spell its effect, but we still decide its power." With a quick Accio, the boy summoned the fake wand and rushed over to put the mannequin back in place. He was giddy and filled with the energy of being on the edge of a breakthrough. "We need to determine how much power we use for every spell. You do that by thinking about what we want to happen."
Setting the wooden target on his feet he turned back to the redhead. "You already know how to control and cast the spell." Putting the wand back in the target's hand he took his place at the girl's side. "Now try to think about what you want the spell to do."
"But a spell just does one thing." Choosing what a spell did? The thought sounded insane to the girl. Just one look at Hannah and Ernie's atricimancy homework made it clear to Susan that every spell she had ever used was meticulously designed for its purpose by wizards and witches way smarter than her. There was a reason she picked Ancient Runes over that as her second elective class. How could she then go and change what a spell did?
"You saw me do it, didn't you?" Harry's smile turned from excited to reassuring, sending a feeling of warmth over Susan. Her doubts slowly made way for trust in what Harry was teaching her. "Try it again. But focus on what you want to happen."
While she wouldn't have called herself exhausted yet the previous three hours of practicing had left Susan longing for a warm bed. She has already made a fool of herself more than enough that night she didn't want to do it again.
But as she was about to call it quits, she looked to Harry. Not only had he spent his entire night teaching such a large group by himself, now he stuck around to train her personally. All the time smiling with the excitement Susan would normally reserve for little kids and Quidditch fans on game day.
She knew she wouldn't be able to throw in the towel now. At least not without giving it one last try. She leveled her wand with the target once more and took a deep breath. "Send the wand flying to me." She closes her eyes and whispered. "Expelliarmus."
She felt the small pull on her core as the magic traveled through her body. Her wand twitched in her hand as the spell shot out. Fwoosh. The sound of her spell connecting with the mannequin echoed through the empty room.
Tick, tick. Wood softly clattered onto the stone floor. She hung her head and bit down on her lip as the failure crept through her. There was no sound of crashing objects or cracked glass as there was with Harry. As the boy remained quiet. Susan exhaled, the least she could do was look him in the eyes before she walked out of the lesson.
Opening her eyes Susan took a sharp inhale of breath. Laying at her feet was a small practice wand. "It worked?" Excitement and disbelief mixed as the girl threw her hands into the air with a large grin. "It worked."
Harry smirked. "See. You have both power and control." The statement was quickly cut off as the redhead crashed into the boy.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Susan enveloped Harry in a deep hug. She felt light and full of energy as the stress and anxiety around her magic fell away. She tightened the embrace as she thought of how excited her aunt would be when she saw this next Christmas.
"No... no problem." An embarrassed and blushing Harry pat Susan on the back in a weak attempt to return the hug. "Like Hannah said. It's why I am here."
"Hannah!" The pair of brown eyes shot open wide as Susan broke the embrace. She had almost forgotten about her friends. They must have waited for her all this time. "I need to go. Everyone is waiting for me."
"Yeah of course." The boy's smile slipped from his face as their lesson ended abruptly. Was Harry always so disappointed at the end of a session? Susan was glad to think that while he seemed reluctant at first, he must be enjoying it more now. It was good to see that he was getting something out of these classes too.
Susan looked around them. They hadn't gotten far with cleaning. The room was still a mess and with the added damage dealt to the mirrors it might have only gotten worse. "The elves can clean all of this right? Even the glass?" Hermione's activism must have gotten to her as Susan started to feel a bit of guilt about all the mess they had made for Hogwarts' little helpers.
"Don't worry. Dobby should be able to fix it." Harry reassured her. Susan was surprised at hearing the name. That must be the elf Harry was friends with.
Putting that information away for now, Susan grabbed her outer robe and made her way to the exit. "Good night, Harry."
"Susan?" Harry called out, as the stone door opened before her. She turned back to face him, but the raven-haired boy was instead focused on the mannequin. "Make sure to keep practicing. We are going to duel next time. Maybe Hufflepuff even has a chance to win."
"Thanks Harry. I will." She shot the boy a final smile before setting off towards her common room in a run. Dueling. It was a word Susan has long dreaded. Back in the second year, the only reason why she attended Lockhart's class was because Hannah forced her to. Merlin her best friend had such a massive crush on the man at the time. Purposefully ignoring her own crush on the man, Susan thought back to how her feeling of unease had indirectly been proven right when Harry revealed his ability to talk to snakes.
None of the rumors from the first year could hold a candle to the impact this had on the castle. It was the first time the boy had become like a plague victim. A person to be avoided at all cost.
It was what set up their confrontation later in the year. The reason why they never became friends and why Harry was closed off from the other houses for years.
This time it all felt different. Susan was optimistic, excited even. Harry's words echoed through her mind. As she made her way through the castle's hallways she too began to wonder. Could a Hufflepuff be the strongest dueler in the D.A?
A bit of a smaller scale chapter this time all focussed on one more personal sit down and talk scene. So I am very curious what did you guys think of the teaching part? I won't claim to be an expert on the HP magic system nor do I intent this story to really resolve around magic theory and practice. I wanted to keep the solution to Susan's problem simple in nature and primary caused by internal issues, instead of being born with lesser powers or blood. Harry will basically be the personification to my approach of magic. He will teach it to the people as a coach or personal trainer instead of an academic professor. He is teaching a skill first and foremost.
I tried this chapter to flesh out Harry's teaching style some more. We know from the books and movies that Harry did have a talent for teaching defensive magic so I wanted to explore how he would create a teaching style that is both in-line with his action over words character and is a clear act of rebellion against Umbridge's curriculum.
Before I go to the review respond section thingy I had one quick question. What is your thoughts on the chapter lengths? I am working on chapter 6 now and it has already crossed the 10K words. Would you mind sitting through such a novel or would you rather that I find a good spot to split it up and turn it into 2 smaller chapters?
Now for the review!
Sadhaka: I have good and bad news. To get the bad news out of the way, Susan will remain the main character of the story. There are some chapters with another POV character but at least for the main story that won't be Harry. Maybe if I ever do some one-shots set in this world but not right now. The puzzle of who is Harry Potter and seeing how people outside of the inner circle of the books look at the boy and his reputation is a big part of the story. So to keep that theme flowing correctly I can't dive into his POV.
The good news is that Harry will definitely remain the more seasoned and powerful wizard. He isn't all powerful, that isn't this kind of story, but his many adventures have made him experienced in having to use magic to protect himself. Just like in this chapter with the mannequin he will show people glimpses of his power but don't expect him to put on a firework show to make everyone see he is the best. He just isn't that kinda guy I think.
Susan won't become more powerful or important than him, she will just be another piece of the puzzle. A counterweight to balance Harry out. Where he is a powerful warrior and symbol, she is a diligent worker and a compassionate listener. They help cover each other's weakspots, making both stronger. I love your Dumbledore and teachers analogy. Borrowing that for a split second I think the best way to so Harry and Susan's relation would be to Dumbledore and McGonagall if the headmaster kept less secrets at least.
So I can't promise that this story will be exactly what you are looking for but I hope that I can at least create something interesting enough for you to give it a chance.
As always thank you for reading my scribbling and have a great weekend!