Chapter 21

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table. As with the day after his arrival, it was near deserted, though the other houses had a few more students present. He was focusing on his breakfast, but promptly looked up at the sound of the bench opposite him creaking under someone's weight. Most of Gryffindor were afraid to have any interactions further than congratulating him upon his defeat of Malfoy - the news of which had spread fast. It had gained their respect, though.

As predicted, it was not a Hogwarts student, but instead one of Beauxbatons. "Maria," he greeted after swallowing a mouthful of food. "Nice to see you." And it was, though it was nicer to see Fleur, and mainly from behind, though he didn't think it was prudent to mention that.

"You haven't talked to me since you got here," she said bluntly.

Not stopping eating, Harry cast his mind back over the past few days. "That is correct." After it remained silent for a few seconds, he continued, "Do you want me to say anything about that?" He frowned. "There wasn't really any reason for me to speak to you - unless you know how to swordfight-"

'You are many times stronger than her and not exactly very good at concealing your strength in physical combat.'

"Actually, never mind the sword-fighting." Once again, he paused. "I'm still thinking of reasons for me to speak to you, by the way."

Maria rolled her eyes, and Harry suspected she thought that he was joking. "Anyway, I was wondering if you have any plans for the First Task."

With a nod, Harry said, "Yeah, I'm going to turn up, kill everything in my way, and then bask in the audience's awe. I do actually know what the task is, though."

"Really?"

For a few seconds, all was silent. "Oh," Harry said, as if shocked. "Did you want me to tell you?" He hummed thoughtfully. "Na, I don't think I trust you not to run off and tell Delacour."

Maria stared at him incredulously, and said, "I kept your other secret for years."

"You did," Harry confirmed, "but you didn't have anything to gain from telling that one."

"And what, exactly, do I have to gain from spreading this one?"

"You give your school a higher chance of doing well in the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you really think I care about my school?"

"No, but I know that it would gain you political favour, and I think you care about that."

"I'm honestly not going to tell anyone," she said. "I just wanted to make friends with you."

As he glanced over to the Ravenclaw table, at which a few Beauxbatons students were sat, not so subtly glancing at them, realisation suddenly dawned upon him. A grin slowly spread across his face. "So you want your friends to think you're friends with the oh-so-mighty Boy-Who-Lived?" The slight reddening of Maria's cheeks immediately made him aware that he was correct. "Is this for some underhanded political reason? Somehow, I don't think so." With a smirk, he narrowed his eyes. "Does the Mafia princess want to look cool?"

"No, it's just-"

"Or perhaps, her friends have encouraged her to go and talk to the amazing Boy-Who-Lived because of his amazing attractiveness, and because she has a crush on him." He paused as she reddened further. "Am I doing this whole teasing thing right? I hear friends do this to each other, but Marco might have been lying, seeing as he's pretty much my only friend."

'I am deeply offended, Harry. How could you ever say anything like that?'

"Oh, I stand corrected. I also have an imaginary friend, but he doesn't have any friends except me. Anyway, speaking of Marco, he's also the reason I can't return your eternal affections and have sex with you, no matter how much you may want to." He paused and hummed thoughtfully. "Actually, maybe I will, but only if you beg. If I'm going to piss off Marco, I at least need a bit of an ego boost."

By this point, Maria was extremely red, and had stood to walk away. "That's a no then?" Harry called after her, attempting to not break out into laughter.

'You certainly have a way with women,' Loki commented.

'I know, I'm a complete casanova.' He watched her leave, wishing the Beauxbatons uniform was a bit tighter. 'Hopefully this'll mean she won't bother us again - for a while, at least.'

'Maybe. Now I believe you intended on attending a few lessons today?'


A while later, Harry felt himself entering the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom with a group of Slytherins and Gryffindors, which much to his amusement, included Malfoy. For some reason, he had allowed Loki to convince him to go to the class in case it included anything he didn't already know, though he thought that very unlikely.

Glancing around the classroom a bit, Harry sat down on what appeared to be the Gryffindor side of the classroom. Other students piled in, and then finally came the teacher. Harry had only seen the man once or twice, seeing as both of them frequently skipped meals, and he was quite glad of it, for if there was a living representation of ugliness, this man would be it. His face seemed to composed entirely of scar tissue, with one particularly large injury having taken his eye, and another his leg.

Mad-Eye Moody was apparently his name, though Harry felt that the adjective didn't only apply to his magic optical replacement.

"Right," he bellowed, his voice deep and raspy as he waved his wand at a piece of chalk and it began to write upon the blackboard, "the Ministry didn't want me to do this, but today we will be learning about the three Unforgivable Curses."

'That's...odd,' Loki commented. 'Though now that I think about it, he probably isn't actually going to teach the children how to do them.'

'Still though, I suspect this isn't the regular curriculum. Maybe it's a special treat for me?'

Loki snorted. 'Pay attention, he's going to speak.'

'I already know the Unforgivables.'

'Yes, but his inevitable rant about their innate evil will undoubtedly be amusing.'

He snapped back to reality as Moody began to prowl around the room, his wooden leg clunking against the floor. "You there!" he suddenly snapped at Ron. "Tell me one of the Unforgivables!"

Wide-eyed, Ron stuttered for an answer before finally managing, "The Imperius Curse, sir."

"Ah, yes. The Imperius, a spell for controlling others. It was used by supporters of the Dark Lord" - one of Moody's eyes focused on Malfoy for a moment - "during the war to claim that he had made them do it, and that they were in fact innocent."

'They can't have been. Even one as powerful as Lord Voldemort wouldn't have been able to sustain the spell over so many at once. It is also obvious when one is under the Imperius, so it would have been easy to detect,' Loki explained.

'Yes, I already know that, seeing as you told me it last time. You just like the sound of your own voice.'

'Oh, please. That would be to imply that there is anyone who doesn't like the sound of my voice.' Loki snorted. 'Anyway, I was saying that as I was wondering whether or not Voldemort managed to create some kind of mass mind-control spell, but it is unlikely.'

With a nod, Harry once again went back to paying attention to the lesson. Moody was now preparing to use the Imperius on a spider, and Harry somehow wasn't surprised he had deemed it a good decision to go around using dark magic in front of children.

After a while of making the spider leap about, most of the class was laughing, and Moody boomed, "Do you think this is funny?!"

Harry tuned out once again as the crazy ex-Auror went on a rant about how this could be done to any of them, and then began to call people up for demonstrations. It was then Harry began to pay attention. He was using Unforgivables on children? Mad indeed. After a quick discussion with Loki, he had his defence planned out, so when Moody barked, "Potter," he was well prepared.

As he got to his feet and moved over to the man, he resisted the urge to smirk.

"Imperio," Moody incanted, and bliss settled over him. A mere millisecond later, a wave of ice came crashing down upon it, obliterating it, though leaving the telepathic link between Harry and Moody. Through it, Harry could hear Moody's instructions, yet they were easy to ignore, and a moment later he was backtracking the link.

Moody was woefully unprepared as Harry turned his own Imperius on him, ordering the man to throw his wand out the window. Unfortunately, he hit the frame, and the wand simply bounced back into the room as Harry released him. He blinked a few times before suddenly turning furious and bringing his hand up as if he still had his wand. It only took him a second to realise he didn't have it, and he swore in a voice nowhere near as gruff as his usual tone before going to collect it.

Subtly taking his wand from his sleeve, Harry prepared to defend himself if need be. He had no doubt that if Moody attacked, it would be fast. Luckily, he didn't attack, instead choosing to go onto the next part of the lesson: the Cruciatus.

Like the Imperius, Harry didn't really care for it. Sure, it could be useful, but it practically reeked of dark magic, making it incredibly easy for it to sense if it had been used recently. He could quite easily replicate its effects with illusion, anyway. Nonetheless, it was amusing to see Moody take his rage out on a spider using it, or more specifically, to see the class cower away in fear from it.

Eventually, Moody ended the creature's life with a spat Killing Curse and flash of green light, prompting Harry to cut off Loki before he could go off about why it was useless. 'Moves slowly. Asgardian magic can go through shields as well. Takes a lot of concentration. Can only kill one person at a time. Did I cover everything?'

'Yes, I think so, though I would still like to listen to the sound of my own voice. Would you like me to recite some poetry?'

'No, because then I won't have time to prepare for the first task and will be eaten by the dragon, resulting in the deaths of both of us.'

Loki hummed thoughtfully, before saying, 'Well, the only thing I love more than myself is self-preservation, so I suppose I'll have to go along with it. Are you going to go to another class?'

'Well,' Harry began, 'if all the teachers are as crazy as Moody, I don't see why not.'


"20 points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter," hissed Snape, his black eyes alight with cold fury.

"That's Lord Potter to you, you bloody pleb!" Harry resisted the urge to start laughing, keeping a purely serious expression upon his face. The rest of the class had considerably less resolve, and most of the Gryffindors had already burst into fits of giggles, apparently over their fear of him. For once they had the ability to do so freely, Snape's ire focused entirely on Harry. That was a result of the numerous insults he had given him.

Snape, of course, had been the one to start the verbal war, calling Harry a celebrity in a way he felt was wholesomely mocking. Taking offence to that, he had to defend himself with answering every one of Snape's potions-related questions with flawless answers recited from Loki's memory. This had, of course, caused Snape to begin issuing detentions and taking points, at which point Harry had politely informed the man he wouldn't be accepting any punishments.

For some reason, this had drove Snape mad with rage, and Harry had been forced to defend himself with a string of "witty" barbs, such as "bloody pleb." Sure, he could've been more creative, but these kind of insults seemed to irk the professor more, judging by the flushed state if his face. He could've also not insulted the man in the first place, but when he saw an opportunity to get himself further into the Gryffindor good books, he was going to take it. He also really didn't like the man's haircut.

"Honestly," Harry said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Snape isn't even a pureblood name, so I can't blame all of your ugliness on incest. Perhaps your mother decided to breed with a house-elf? Or perhaps it was your father?"

From the way Snape strode forward, brandishing his wand, Harry guessed that it was a sore point for him. Subtly, he slipped his wand into his hand under the desk, ready to cleave Snape in two, if need be. Even the Potions teacher, brash might he be, was not going to use overt magic against the Boy-Who-Lived, however. Instead, he tried to make eye contact.

And Harry allowed him to.

In a moment of woeful ignorance, Snape launched a Legilimency attack upon Harry, and tried to penetrate the mind of a god.

A/N: OOOOOO SUSPENSE! So, what will happen to Snape? Tell me what you thought!