AN: I'm really not happy with how the Wizengamot bit turned out, but I also don't know how else to put it. I find that politics and such things are very difficult to write. Mechanics? Easy. Slice of Life? Also easy. Fight Scenes? Eh, sometimes I do well with them. Politics and machinations? No, that's really not my forte. If someone can think up a way to rewrite that bit a lot better than it currently is, then I will dedicate an OC student just for them, and they can even help with creating said character and all of that stuff. Anyway, on with the story!
Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN
Chapter 14 – Wizengamot and Letters
Amelia Bones sat in her seat at the Wizengamot, looking over the others present and how they were acting. Only the youngest and most inexperienced of them were easy to read, those who actually knew how to play politics managed to conceal their thoughts better.
However, even then there were a few tells. It didn't help that there was a certain tension building up in the room, a certain feeling of anticipation. It was quite obvious that a lot of this tension centred around where James Potter was sat in his inherited seat, though Amelia was a little surprised with the feeling she was getting.
Obviously, there was a lot of curiosity directed at the raven-haired man, however she wasn't expecting as much wariness as she was sensing. There were also those who had a purposefully neutral air about them that were regarding James Potter, and that confused Amelia somewhat.
She knew that Harry would undoubtedly at least try and feel out some people that might agree with his way of thinking, and she also knew there would be those who disagreed with James himself – either due to their own beliefs and thoughts or simply on principle, and yes, some on the Wizengamot were just that petty – but she wouldn't have thought he'd be as successful as it seemed he had been.
Amelia checked the time once more. The Wizengamot meetings always started at one in the afternoon exactly, and if you weren't in the room by then, you wouldn't be getting in until the next meeting. It was less than two minutes to one right then, and the quiet murmur of conversation wasn't loud enough for Amelia to hear properly, nor where those sat near her people she particularly cared to chatter with.
Her eyes flickered over to a side door, behind which stood four people. There was Peter Pettigrew under guard by two aurors, and Sirius Black too. Amelia wasn't sure what had been done to Pettigrew, though she strongly suspected both Harry and Black had been involved, but when he'd ended up in her hands, he had been... damaged.
The healer who had examined both Pettigrew and Black had told her that the rat animagus' magical core had been both drained and broken in some way she couldn't explain, and she didn't know how one would go about healing such an injury. She had been able to tell Amelia that Pettigrew was now only just above a squib in magical strength, and that he would forever be unable to transform into his animagus self, which actually troubled Amelia quite a bit.
The knowledge that it was possible to damage someone's magic in such a way... if it became known, then panic would ensue. Many muggleborns came into the magical world thinking it would be just like the muggle one but with magic as an extra, while some others thought it would be like a fantasy game or novel. Neither were right.
The magical world, at least the places Amelia had been, depended on magic, and would completely collapse without it.
To think that there was a way to strip someone of their magic, not simply bind it, but actually damage their ability to use magic ever again, there'd be riots at the least, and people would be out for blood, seeking to erase such a spell from all records. Amelia could also admit that she found herself... troubled by it.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the doors closed and sealed themselves. Now they could only be opened from the inside, and only when the Wizengamot session was over with.
Dumbledore, in his official robes as Chief Warlock, stood tall and declared the monthly meeting now in session, asking if anyone had anything they would like to bring to their attention. Before Amelia could even open her mouth, James Potter was already on his feet, his strident voice certainly drawing attention to himself.
"Chief Warlock, I have a problem most troubling to bring to the attention of this esteemed body. It is with great regret that I must inform you all, that the body of my second born child is currently being possessed by the dark lord Voldemort!" James declared.
Amelia noted the reactions in the hall, filtering out the flinches and recoiling at the dark lord's false name. Once again, she was about to speak herself, but found someone had once again beaten her to the punch. This time it was... Jacob Aylett? A neutral was actually speaking out? That was unusual.
"Lord Potter." Aylett spoke, putting slight emphasis on his title, though it was said with mild disdain. It wasn't enough to be considered offensive, but it did make James Potter bristle. "I have heard that the current Mr. Ritter is no longer part of your family. Strange, considering how I've also heard how strong his magic is, and how sharp his mind too. Petty revenge on those who reject you, especially after your abandonment of them, is not befitting a member of this body."
A quiet murmuring spread through the room at that. Part of it was due to a staunchly neutral family head standing up and offering an opinion, rather than simply voting as they usually did. A larger part of it, however, was because of what Aylett had actually said.
While it had quickly become common knowledge that Harry was no longer a Potter, neither he nor the Potters had actually released a statement regarding the reasons behind it. Now with Aylett's slant on it being the first one voiced, and it would undoubtedly spread once the session was over, James was on the back foot.
Three seats to James' right, Pollux Luxbrough got to his feet and added his own words to the growing discussion. "Regardless of the events prior to this information coming to light, it would behove us as upstanding members of the community to at least investigate this claim. Validating it would allow us time to act, before anything... insidious might have a chance to occur."
The noise in the room grew, before being cut off as Amelia finally got to her feet. She slammed her palms down on the barrier in front of, quieting the hall and drawing attention to herself.
"Throwing accusations around is not what the Wizengamot is meant to do. Even if this were a trial, we would see all evidence presented before coming to a decision. As this is not a trial, an investigation can only begin when a claim is given some substance." Amelia's stern voice chided them, before she levelled a mild glare at James Potter.
"I would also like to ask that any accusations of wrongdoing and evidence supporting it be presented to my department at the earliest opportunity." James looked like he was going to interrupt, but Amelia didn't let him. "If you truly wish the Wizengamot to begin action, Lord Potter, please provide us with some proof, or even an inconsistency to work off, not just accusations when the accused is not here to even attempt to mount a defence."
Dumbledore then spoke himself. "The matter is closed for now, unless Lord Potter would like to contribute his reasoning behind his claim?"
"Not at this time." James almost snarled, but managed to control himself for now.
"In that case, I have something that the Wizengamot may be surprised to see." Amelia stated. "It seems that the Potters aren't the only ones recently who aren't as dead as we thought they were." She indicated the door to the side room, which opened and out marched the two aurors and Pettigrew.
Amelia would never admit it to anyone, but she did glean some sadistic pleasure out of James Potter's expression at seeing his old 'friend' there and then. "Peter Pettigrew, presumed deceased at the hands of Sirius Black, and now he stands before us once again. His status as 'still living' brought up some inconsistencies in the case of Sirius Black, and so was questioned."
"What did you learn from him." Augusta Longbottom asked, looking at her younger friend, wondering what Amelia's angle was.
Amelia didn't start with that however. "Priori Incantatem used on his wand revealed a blasting curse, which was strangely enough around twelve years old. Also in his possession was a second wand, thirteen and a half inches long, yew with a phoenix feather core. It was the wand of our most recent dark lord."
Noise exploded through the room at that, and Amelia herself made no effort to quieten them down this time. She let them build themselves up, focusing on the information she had just provided and leaving James Potter's accusations of Harry to fade from their immediate recall.
A loud noise, like a cannon blast, was released from Dumbledore's wand, and he called the Wizengamot to order, before gesturing for Amelia to continue with what she had been saying.
"I wish to bring Peter Pettigrew to trial for several crimes, including but not limited to, the murder of muggles, the support of the terrorist known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and as an accessory in attempted murder." Amelia spoke clearly. "I also wish to review the case of Sirius Black, and grant him a trial too, one that he never actually received in the first place."
Once again, noise erupted from the Wizengamot.
Amelia had never been to such a loud Wizengamot meeting before. Usually, a handful of people would propose new laws, state their reasons for it, the idea would then be discussed, and after several months, it would either become an actual law or be rejected. Occasionally, there would be something new brought before the Wizengamot, things such as the results of the biannual meetings of the ICW, or the scheduling of trials that required the full Wizengamot's presence, but rarely was there anything worth kicking up a fuss about.
Amelia had to speak up to be heard for the next part, even after they'd quietened down a little. "As Sirius Black was never actually convicted of a crime, his imprisonment constitutes a breach of our laws, and as such, I move that he be given the right to claim his family seat on the Wizengamot."
Dumbledore scrutinised Amelia Bones for a moment before speaking. "I presume that you have brought Mr. Black with you then?" He asked. "If that is the case, please can you tell the Wizengamot about his state of mind, and whether he is rational enough to join us."
"When I first visited Mr. Black in Azkaban, I found him to be lucid and aware. His recovery since then has gone well, and he is now presentable. The only issues he currently has are nightmares and some memory loss due to dementor exposure. A mind healer has declared him fit to rejoin society." Amelia stated.
"Are you not going beyond the limits of your department there, Madam Bones?" Gerald Cauldwell spoke up. "Surely such a significant investigation should not have been obscured like this?"
"I was fully within my right to complete this investigation." Amelia responded. "I came across the files when looking into... other matters." Her eyes flickered across to James Potter, and it was blatantly obvious what she was looking into. "As the file was never completed, I took it upon myself to collect all of the relevant information, and it was kept relatively secret so that no evidence was contaminated."
"You have assembled all of the evidence regarding Pettigrew and Black?" Dumbledore asked, getting an affirmative from Amelia. "In that case, I propose that it will be examined and taken to trial. All in favour?" The majority of wands were raised. "It has passed, and it is now the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's responsibility to organise."
Amelia accepted that with grace. While she could push for the trial to occur then and there, or have the evidence examined, the Wizengamot was not purely a group that judged innocent and guilty. As traditionalists would say 'everything in the right place, done the right way, and at the right time', which she would follow so as to not make things difficult with that particular group.
She gestured to the two aurors who had brought out Pettigrew to take him away and relay to Black that he should remain where he was as he would not be permitted to take his seat until after the trial. She would schedule it soon though, she had a lot of evidence already collected, so it wouldn't be a difficult trial. Perhaps she could even have everything over and done with before the next weekend?
She settled down to listen to the next thing brought up, hiding her frown as she heard what it was. The Umbridge woman who held one of the ministry seats – though why the Under-secretary of the Minister rated a place alongside Department Heads, she'd never know – was calling for more restrictions for werewolves again.
xxxxx
On Monday morning, Harry cautiously made his way down to breakfast, once again with Bast and not the other two. He hadn't actually seen much of his other familiars over the weekend, the two of them were apparently constantly training. Of course, he and Bast had trained quite a bit as well, and the cat-girl's speed and strength was definitely growing at a decent pace, not to mention she was in the process of creating a technique of her own that would enhance her own speed and strength.
The shade's report regarding the Wizengamot meeting was why Harry was making sure to be careful and wary. Harry didn't want James Potter to be able to get any 'evidence' on him to support his claim. True, he could always bring up how Harry had been turned into an explosive magical zombie by James and Lily themselves, but he doubted he'd be particularly willing to do so.
While it wasn't actually illegal for him to animate Harry's corpse like that, or turn it into a weapon like he had, it would severely damage the Potter family's reputation and make people question them, which was something that James would want to avoid, especially with how Harry had done his own part in undermining his 'parents'.
While he was eating, Harry pulled out a muggle binder from his bag, and began to check over his holiday homework one last time. Everything looked fine to him, and he couldn't find any spelling or grammatical errors in his essays, so it should be fine. Even the extra stuff some of the professors had suggested he do was done.
By this point, the Great Hall was filling up with people. Harry kept a wary eye on James Potter as he headed to the staff table, but thankfully the man did little more than glare at him as he passed by. Harry wasn't looking forward to Transfiguration classes from now on, and he was also hesitant regarding Charms lessons. Lily Potter didn't seem to actively hate him as much as James did, but then again, he really didn't know her that well, and neither did she know him.
~Just focus on one thing at a time, Harry.~ Reinforce chided him. ~You have Defence Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, right? I wonder how good of a teacher Lupin will turn out to be?~
~He achieved an O in his Defence NEWT.~ Harry replied. ~He's also a werewolf himself, so he should know a few things. Still, ability to learn does not equal ability to teach. Look at Snape. It's easy to see that the man is a remarkable brewer, and he understands the higher level stuff that's way beyond me, but...~
~He's not really very good at passing that knowledge on, not to a class at least. Perhaps he might be better as a tutor, or for a higher level class.~ Reinforce finished for him.
"Good Morning, Harry." Fate greeted Harry, sitting down across the table from him.
"Morning, Fate." He replied, Bast echoing him. "Looking forward to today?"
"Yes, I am actually, but I'm also looking forward to some of my other classes, like Defence." Fate said. "I'm hoping that we get the opportunity to spar in class, if not tomorrow then later in the year. It should be interesting to see how wizards fight."
"Strangely enough me and Rein were just talking about that class." Harry chuckled, slight amusement glinting in his eyes.
He understood that Fate meant she wanted to actually see how their methods differed from the Belkan and Mid-Childan methods she knew, the strange fighting style Harry had, and what he'd told her of how they did things. Hearing about it from someone who'd read up on the subject was one thing, but a practical demonstration was definitely more useful.
"Wizards don't 'spar', Fate, they duel." Harry chuckled. "There's a lot of rules and formality involved, and it's actually nothing like what aurors are taught, or what is really possible. Think about it like this; if fighting is two soldiers on a battlefield, duelling is like two nobles fencing. One is about what works, can be over quickly, and will probably involve a lot of dirty tricks, while the other will usually last a while and revolves more around finesse and technique."
Fate shrugged lightly. "Either way, it should still be interesting."
"It should." Harry agreed. "Lupin will likely focus on Dark Creatures and how to combat them though, rather than hexes and curses, as that's his speciality and preference. I have it on good authority that he's strongly considering purchasing some creatures, such as grindylows and hinkypunks, for the classes to see first hand."
Fate gave Harry a wry smile. "I'm not even going to ask how you know that." She shook her head, thinking about something with a slight frown. "grindylows are water demons, aren't they? What's a hinkypunk though?"
"Grindylows aren't true demons." Harry corrected her. "They're water animals that eat pretty much whatever they can get their hands on, and they have a rather strong grip. If they find larger prey in their territory, such as humans, they will drag it down until it drowns and then eat them. Hinkypunks look like smoke with a lantern, and are mostly harmless. They'll lure travellers into bogs and swamps, but if threatened, then they start throwing fireballs from their lanterns. Hinkypunks are often mistaken for wisps manifested on the material plane."
"Those don't sound too bad." Fate commented. "I mean, we're learning about them in third year, so they can't be massively dangerous, can they?"
"They're quite easy to deal with as long as you don't panic, yes." Harry confirmed. "They're also rather common in Europe, which might be another reason we learn about them earlier than others, like acromantula and quintapeds, neither of which are native to Britain."
"Okay." Fate nodded, thinking to herself.
Just then, the morning post arrived. One owl amongst the parliament of them stood out though, as it seemed to be weighed down with a stack of letters, perhaps two dozen all told, rather than one or two. The fact it landed in front of Harry just made it more interesting to everyone else.
"Oh, I didn't expect a response so soon." Harry muttered to himself, offering the owl some bacon while he relieved it of its letters.
"Were you expecting a lot of mail?" Fate couldn't help but ask, wondering who Harry knew that would send so much to him in one go.
"Yes, but not for a while." Harry paused, erecting some anti-eavesdropping spells in case anyone was listening in, but neglecting to put up privacy charms so it didn't look too suspicious. "I sent a letter to Mahoutokoro in Japan, their magical school, about the possibility of enrolling there if everything goes south in Britain."
"That looks like a lot more than a simple yes or no to me." Fate said, eyeing the stack of letters.
"Hmm." Harry replied non-committally, opening the letter on top of the stack and reading it.
Fate waited for him to finish, briefly initiating Telepathy with Nanoha and Hayate, so they could chat without talking across tables. She looked back at him when he chuckled and folded the letter back up, giving him a curious, inquiring look.
"They basically said that I won't get any favouritism." Harry explained. "If I want to be a student there, I'll have to complete entrance exams just like every other applicant. There was also a bit there about some of their current students hoping to improve their English, and whether or not I'd be willing to be something like a pen pal for them."
"So that's what all of the other letters are about then?" Fate asked.
"Most of them. Two of the letters are different though, one is the curriculum for the classes I'm interested in, and the other is the coursework associated with those classes." Harry told her. "I get the feeling they're curious about me, but don't want to appear too interested."
Harry searched through the stack of letters until he found the two relevant ones. When he opened them and laid them flat on the table, Fate could see that there wasn't actually anything written on them. Instead, there was what looked like a circle with a lot of symbols and squiggly lines in it on each of them.
"They're seals." Harry explained. "Sort of the eastern equivalent of runes, and supposedly some of the most complicated magic in the world. Unless I'm mistaken, these are storage seals, so if I pump a little of my magic into them, like so..." Harry placed a hand on each of them and did so, resulting in two puffs of smoke that quickly dissipated. "I should be able to retrieve the contents."
Fate saw that there was now two stacks of papers on top of the letters, one several inches high, while the other was much smaller. "Wow, that looks very useful." She commented.
Harry waved her off. "Storage seals are nothing special. Western wizards tend to shrink things down and use internally expanded bags instead of seals. Neither method is really superior to the other." Harry sighed. "I've have to look at all of this later though, we've got classes to get to."
"Charms is first, a double period, and then I've got a single of Arithmancy and Divination. After lunch I have a Care of Magical Creatures double." Fate said, after she'd looked at her timetable.
"So I'm in Charms and Care with you. Nanoha and Hayate both took Arithmancy, and Hayate took Care as well, didn't she? Did Nanoha take Divination?" Harry wondered aloud, trying to remember which subjects the girls had chosen.
"Yes, she did." Fate confirmed. "She also chose Runes. Hayate is taking Care of Magical Creatures, and of course Arithmancy, but decided not to take a third elective."
"I'll try and remember that." Harry said. "For now though, let's head to Charms, we have it with Hufflepuff, don't we?"
Harry re-sealed the stacks of paper back into the letters, before putting them all in his bag. He then got up from the table, as did Fate, and headed off to the first lesson of the day. Nanoha and Hayate quickly finished eating breakfast before joining them by the doors.
As always, Bast stuck close to Harry, but remained mostly silent.
xxxxx
Nanoha had so far found Hogwarts to be rather interesting, though that could just be the novelty of everything. It wasn't the magic, as she took far more pride in her Mid-Childan spells than she did the Terran ones she currently knew. No, it was the castle, the ghosts, the moving portraits, the talking suits of armour, and the suddenly appearing food that enraptured her.
Hufflepuff house was also proving rather friendly, which Nanoha was really happy about, and they already felt like they could be good friends. Of course, a side benefit of this could be the fact that now people might shut up about her 'befriending' people with violence, though she doubted that it would ever truly die.
She'd been asked a lot of questions about Japan, and if she needed any help settling in, and all sorts of things like that. Apparently, almost every Asian student that attends Hogwarts ended up in Ravenclaw for some reason, so they were doing their best to help her out without really knowing all that much about her home country.
Of course, not every Hufflepuff was friendly and inviting. There was one in her year, Zacharias Smith, who was a bit of a conceited prick. He had told her about how she had 'obviously' done the right thing in coming to Hogwarts, because of course, as everyone knows, British is best. She'd also heard, four times already, how he was descended from Helga Hufflepuff, and how that made him practically royalty in the Wizarding World.
Nanoha was considering the pros and cons of simply punching the git in the face.
Still, a few annoying or condescending people aside, things had been going well for Nanoha. She might have only had one day of actual lessons so far, but learning from someone who knows what they're talking about, or actually practising something, was infinitely better than simply learning from a book in her opinion.
Oh, Harry might learn a lot by reading a book - the logical and direct way he thought allowed him to apply theoretical knowledge to a practical situation to get results quickly – but Nanoha had always preferred a more 'hands on' way of learning. She learned best by trying things out, and most of the time she succeeded, and when she came across a problem, she could quickly work out a way around it, that is if she didn't power straight through it of course.
Now, here she was, heading towards Charms class, chatting merrily with Fate and Hayate. Harry and Bast were walking walking in front of them, the two quietly discussing something themselves, while Harry pretty much lead the way to the classroom.
Charms... wasn't a class that Nanoha was particularly interested in, if she was honest. She didn't see much use for it in her day to day life, and she doubted she'd really use them in her job, but Charms was a core class, and so she had to go just like everyone else.
When they entered the Classroom, they found that professor Flitwick and Lily Potter had somehow gotten there before the students had. It was likely they'd taken another, more direct route to get there, or perhaps used a secret passage or two. She'd ask Harry later how many of them he knew of and where they were.
The lesson itself turned out, mostly, to be a recap of things that they should know already. That wasn't too much of a problem, and was in fact quite easy, so it went rather smoothly. Towards the end of the lesson, Flitwick collected in the holiday homework the students had done, and told them what topics to look up if they wanted to read ahead for his subject.
Nanoha was kind of surprised how demure and lady-like Lily Potter was acting though. From what little Nanoha knew, the redhead hadn't been from a particularly affluent family, had had some sort of strange hybrid of tomboy and preppy attitude in school, with a supposedly fiery temper.
What she was seeing wasn't anything like that at all. The Lilly Potter she was currently seeing seemed rather... bland, if she was honest. It was like Lily was a trophy wife or something, and she was here to support her husband. Where was her fire? Where was her drive? What had happened to her over the past decade and change to make her like this?
Well, it wasn't really Nanoha's business anyway, but she couldn't deny that she was curious.
She mentally shelved her thoughts and opinion as she headed towards Arithmancy without Harry.
xxxxx
Harry's third period that day was a free, and so he headed to the Hospital Wing. He greeted Madam Pomfrey, who returned it, before taking a seat himself. As no one was in the Infirmary, Harry decided to have another look through the stuff he'd been sent from Mahoutokoro.
He went through the letters he'd been sent in English first, and found that they were mostly the same. Each letter was an introduction, telling Harry who was sending him a letter, their race, what their interests, hobbies, likes, and dislikes were, and an almost generic request to continue correspondence.
It wasn't difficult for Harry to write up some replies himself. He gave an introduction of himself, his likes and all of the rest of it, and commented on what he knew of their own hobbies and interests.
There was one Yuki-Onna who had said she wasn't having much success with Ice Elemental Manipulation, despite her race having a natural aptitude with it, though she was doing rather well with illusions and was placed fourth in her year in that particular class.
There was an Oni, a male, who told Harry about his interest in musical instruments, and his desire to one day form a successful musical group with some of his friends. He also told Harry about his dislike for spicy food, though his best friend loved Thai curries.
There were more obviously, but Harry answered each of them individually. His introductions weren't identical from one letter to another, and Harry thought that they would become more individual as he exchanged more letters with these students.
Once all of them had been responded to, he set them aside to send off later. He then pulled out the two letters that held the curriculum and coursework in storage seals. He unsealed the curriculum first, before going through it. Harry began to tick off things he already could do, or that he'd already done.
The Spirit Calling course expected students to be able to contract with three daemons by the end of their first year. That was daemon, not demon, referring to a supernatural existence of nature or manifested force with a will of its own. Harry already had one contracted, as his Shade counted for this, despite being an Astral being and not a material one or a demon.
The Elemental Manipulation course, however, Harry doubted he would be able to enter. While he could use plenty of elemental magic and elemental spells, he could not directly manipulate the element, and neither did he have the time needed to dedicate to it, as a lot of meditation was involved in it. Even with his Magic Clones, he simply didn't have enough time with everything else he was having them study.
Harry looked up as three students walked into the Hospital Wing, getting to his feet alongside Madam Pomfrey. Both of them hit all three with diagnostic charms without hesitation, finding that all three of them had several magically caused cuts and bruises.
That was easily solved though. Harry took the first one off to the side and explained what he was doing as he healed the injuries. First, he purged the foreign magic from the minor injuries, before knitting the flesh together, followed by the skin. The last thing to do was apply some bruise balm to the remaining injuries.
Seeing that Madam Pomfrey's patient was being skittish and pulling away from her wand, Harry got the last of the three healed up, before pulling out a file from under Madam Pomfrey's and filling out an incident report. He noted down all of the injuries, how they were healed, and who had the injuries, as well as what time they'd turned up for healing. He then had his two patients fill in a statement of their own each to explain where the injuries came from.
Harry only glanced at what they were writing. It wasn't his responsibility to find out who had done it and punish them, that would be up to the heads of their houses when they received a copy of the report that evening. Madam Pomfrey would probably have a house elf take it to them or their offices.
Once the students were gone, Harry went back to what he was looking over before. Madam Pomfrey also went back to what she was doing, a comfortable silence falling over them as they used their time productively.
Bast also settled down when Harry pulled a book on martial arts for her out of his bag.
xxxxx
Harry had a single period Arithmancy lesson before lunch, and that went as well as he expected it to. After lunch itself, Harry headed outside, having also signed up for Care of Magical Creatures this year, which was being taught by Hagrid.
The first thing that struck Harry was just how many students had signed up for this class, including the likes of Draco Malfoy and his posse. Hermione, Ron, and Brian from Gryffindor had taken it too, if them being there was any indication.
Harry headed over to Fate and Hayate, saying hello to them when he got there.
"She really is like your shadow, isn't she?" Hayate commented, indicating Bast who was stood just behind and to the side of Harry.
"She's the only one of three I've really seen since we got back to Hogwarts." Harry responded. "Isis and Loki haven't stopped sparring except to eat and sleep all weekend. I'm starting to get a little worried about them, I don't want them to hurt themselves taking things too far."
"Do you want help staging an intervention?" Hayate asked.
"I'll give it a week or two." Harry replied. "If they don't relax by then, I'll interfere. I'd appreciate if you'd lend me a hand then, if the offer is still open."
"Of course." Hayate affirmed, Fate adding her own support as well.
Hermione and Brian then got close to Harry and said their own hellos.
"Do you have any idea what we're going to be learning about?" The bushy-haired girl asked. "I mean, that 'monster book of monsters' hasn't been too useful so far, I haven't been able to read it."
Harry winced. "I had to magically force it open and pin it down to read it." He told her. "Thankfully, once I'd read it, I could add it to my Tome, so I'm not going to have any more trouble with that book."
Hermione sighed. "I wish I had something like that." She glared mildly at Harry's Tome of Shadows. "It's like an entire library in one book."
Brian chuckled a little unsurely. "Well, I think we'll find out in a minute anyway. That's Hagrid there, isn't it?"
Indeed it was, Hagrid was striding out of the Forbidden Forest, which didn't really set Harry's mind at ease regarding the danger level of this lesson. After all, there was a lot of rather nasty creatures in that forest, though there were some good ones as well, like unicorns.
"Alright, everyone, I've got a cracking lesson for you today." Hagrid called out. "Now, first thing's first, has everyone got their books with them?"
Harry held his Tome loosely in the crook of his arm, while everyone else revealed their own textbooks. Every last one of them was bound up in some way, either with tape, rope, belts, or something else, one of them had even kept it shut with a clamp.
"Has no one been able to open them?" Hagrid asked, looking forlorn, until he spotted Harry. "What about you, Harry, did you get yours open?"
"With force, yes." Harry admitted. "Seeing as the book acted like an animal, I'm guessing we were supposed to either intimidate or coax them into opening, dealing with them like you would a living creature?"
"That's right." Hagrid nodded. "Either of those would work, but the best way to do it is to stroke their spines. Here, let me show you lot how it's done."
With that, Hagrid reached for the nearest book, tearing off the tape as he did so. The book shook violently in his hand, but the large man ran one finger down its spine, resulting in it immediately shivering, as if in pleasure, before falling open in Hagrid's large hand.
Slowly, other people copied him. However, they all looked rather warily at the books even after they'd been pacified, and Harry couldn't blame them. For all they knew, the book could snap shut at any time, and given just how feral the books acted, it was probably not a good idea to let one get a good grip on your hand or fingers.
"Right, you've got your books now, so come and see your creatures. Follow me, their just round here." Hagrid called out to them, before turning around and leading them towards the forest.
Draco Malfoy, when Hagrid had his back turned, made several derogatory comments about their new professor, making several other students, mostly Gryffindors, bristle. Harry, not wanting Malfoy's comments to mess things up, as Care of Magical Creatures wasn't a lesson you should really mess about in, especially with the type of creatures Hagrid was likely to show them, silenced the blonde boy with a spell.
He then used a leashing spell, normally used on toddlers and small children who are liable to wander off, to ensure he kept up with the class as they wandered towards the forest. Thankfully, said leashing spell wasn't visible, as it was meant for use while amongst muggles, and so Draco didn't know who had shut him up and dragged him along with the rest of the group.
Harry's snickering at Malfoy halted when he saw what Hagrid had been leading them towards.
Hippogryffs.
After a moment, Harry's mind caught up with what he was seeing, and he felt a slight gnawing worry inside. True, hippogryffs were beautiful and impressive – and would have made for a wonderful demonstration – but he didn't think it was best to bring them out for a first lesson. They were, after all, noble and proud creatures, which basically meant they were easily offended, and with how intelligent they were, they knew when they were being insulted.
Harry tuned Hagrid out for the most part, keeping a careful eye on the equine-avian hybrids, but his attention was pulled back when most of the class took a step backwards. Taking a moment to recall what Hagrid had been saying, Harry remembered that he'd been asking for volunteers.
Sighing, Harry stepped forwards, deciding to simply get this over with.
"Good man, Harry!" Hagrid cheered. "Why don't you come on up and say hello to Nightclaw here?" The large man indicated a darkly coloured hippogryph that had piercing amber eyes, and ferocious looking talons, along with a sharp beak.
"Just climb over the fence, approach him, and bow." Hagrid told Harry. "Don't blink a lot, that makes them nervous. Just wait for him to bow back to you."
Smoothly, Harry hopped over the fence, and did exactly as Hagrid said. Maintaining eye contact, Harry bowed to the hippogryph and waited for a response.
The hippogryph did not return the bow immediately, but slowly walked up to Harry, who heard Hagrid tell him to remain perfectly still and not to provoke it.
Nightclaw came so close that his beak was right by Harry's head, when it gave a sniff. Harry wondered what it was about him that the hippogryph could smell that made it so curious, but he couldn't really think of anything. He was very relieved, however, when, after a few moments more of consideration, Nightclaw sunk into what was, unmistakably, a bow.
"Nicely done, Harry, give him a pat on the beak." Hagrid told Harry, which he did. However, he wasn't expecting what Hagrid said next. "I think he'll let you ride him now."
Harry was considering declining that when Hagrid came up to him, picked him up with one hand, set him on Nightclaw's back, and then slapped his rump to set him off.
It wasn't that Harry was particularly scared of flying, because he wasn't, and even if he did fall, he had a flight spell that would easily catch him. No, Harry was simply still unaware of why Nightclaw had sniffed him, and being alone in the air with the hippogryph made him... uneasy.
It turned out that nothing bad actually happened on the flight. In fact, Harry found it rather pleasant, even with the rhythmical up and down motion of the wings and body, as well as the expanding and contracting chest of the breathing hippogryph.
Once he was back on the ground though, he dismounted and returned to Bast's side. Said cat-girl was looking ever so slightly worried, probably regarding Harry's safety, and stuck even closer to his side than she did before, throwing the occasional glare at Hagrid for taking her master out of her immediate reach.
The two of them watched as the rest of the class practised bowing to hippogryffs, and either stroking them if they returned the bow, or backing away if they didn't. Harry's eyes fell on a, now no longer silenced, Malfoy, who was stroking the beak of a grey-feathered, orange-eyed hippogryph named Buckbeak.
"This is easy." He drawled. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. If a nerdy Ravenclaw can do it, there's no way that a proud Slytherin pureblood couldn't." He sneered at Harry, having seen him look his way. "Why, there's nothing dangerous about you at all, is there, you stupid chicken?"
"Panzerschild!" Harry called out immediately, knowing exactly what was going to happen before it actually occurred.
Hagrid had told them about how easy to anger hippogryffs were. Granted, it had been when Harry himself had mostly tuned him out to keep an eye on the creatures, but he'd still said it, and Draco Malfoy goes and does the exact opposite of what he's told. Does this idiot even have such a thing as basic survival instincts? How the bloody hell did someone so clueless end up in Slytherin?
"Chain Bind." Harry added another spell to keep Buckbeak from injuring Malfoy, while he himself headed over to check the blonde for any injuries. As he was the assistant healer, he had the responsibility to do so, especially as he was already present.
"Idiot." Harry growled. "Next time you try and kill yourself, do it when there's no one around. I have no desire to see your corpse, Malfoy. Thankfully, you don't have any injuries on you this time, but if you feel shook up later, go to the Hospital Wing for a dose of shock potion."
The blonde sneered at him, but it didn't seem quite as firm as usual, and his face was even paler than it normally was. Of course, with how fact everything had just happened, and how close he'd come to having his throat torn open, that was understandable.
Harry sighed and palmed his face.
Not even a full week into the year and already he wanted it over and done with.