Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. The members of the Secret Sealing Club are the creations of ZUN.
Within the stories of ZUN's Music CDs, the time period in which Maribel and Renko exist is implied to be in the near future, and not the present day. This has, of course, been changed.
Chapter 04 – Strange Bird of the Moon, Illusion of the Mysterious Cat
Harry found himself standing in an antechamber, looking at the attractive curves of Fleur Delacour…she seemed to be saying something, something…
"But e' is too young! E' is just a little boy!"
He reached for his wand and stepped forward…perhaps he would show her how young he really was…a spell rose to his lips…
And Fleur became Professor Trelawney, and they were seated at Divination, with a crystal ball in front of her…
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him…born as the seventh month dies.."
Harry looked around, and they were seated in an endless corridor, where shelves of crystal balls reached towards the ceiling…he reached for the orb in front of him, for the one that was lying around, somewhere on one of these shelves…
And the form of Trelawney became Voldemort, no, Tom Riddle, as he had appeared down in the Chamber of Secrets.
"We are not so different, you and I…even you must have noticed…the strange similarities…"
No, Harry shouted back, I'm nothing like you! He shouted back in defiance, but his voice was silent, against the Voldemort in the graveyard…
"Bow to death, Harry..."
No! I REFUSE!
"I refuse!" Harry shouted, only to find himself back in the Gryffindor dorms, half-upright and ready to curse the living daylights out of the curtains of his four-poster bed.
Shite, I did it again.
A few moments later, he slumped back down on his pillow and stared into the depths of the ceiling.
What the hell was that? He tried to think about what he had seen, but it felt like grabbing smoke.
Rubbing at his aching scar, he automatically reached over to his alarm clock, only to find that his hand was, somehow, already gripping his wand.
To hell with it. Out loud, he muttered "Tempus", and the time again appeared, in fainter numbers. Unsurprisingly, it appeared to be too bloody early, as the saying went.
Not that it wasn't already becoming something of a familiar routine. Grabbing a roll of parchment, Harry set out to work on the first entry of his dream diary.
Might as well, right?
Another moment of consideration, and he changed into his set of exercise clothes, as well.
Down in the common room, Harry made to begin writing, and stopped when he realized he had nothing to write. Images seemed to shift as he fought to remember, and the words seemed to stop, held back by some unknown force at the tip of his quill.
Slowly, slowly, he told himself. Try to remember…
An attractive blonde witch came to mind, but the name…Beauxbatons? On the parchment, he wrote "Triwizard champion", and he gradually started to remember.
Too young, he wrote. Trelawney, endless corridor, high shelves, crystal balls. He stopped, then wrote again.
Tom Riddle. Similarity. A few more words appeared on the page, before he realized that this was not very likely going to be accepted as a real piece of homework.
Besides, did he really want the rest of the class to think he was a nutter? Or more of a nutter, then he was already thought of?
He sighed and glared at the parchment. Trelawney had been saying something, but what?
Dark Lord…Harry growled as the words appeared. Maybe he should just ask Professor Hearn directly. She had given him that warning, after all, and seemed much more…well, sane, than his previous Divination Professor had been.
And there was the matter of how, last year, he had dreamt of what Voldemort had been doing as well.
"Bollocks," he said out loud, to the empty Common Room.
"Harry?" At the sound of his name, Harry turned and pointed his wand to a surprised Neville, who raised his hands in supplication. "Merlin's pants, Harry."
"Sorry," Harry lowered his wand. "Shall we go?" he said abruptly.
"Yeah, lets."
"Though I should probably put away my stuff first." Harry stood and gave a final glare at the paper, before rolling it up and heading upstairs.
~~~[q]~~~
"I'm actually surprised you showed, to be honest," Neville quipped. "I thought you would be laying in bed with muscle aches all day, yesterday being the first time you exercised that hard and all."
"To be honest, I didn't even notice," Harry said.
They were once again at the edge of the Black Lake, winding down their morning routine to the rising of the sun.
"I guess you heal faster than most, then," Neville replied. "The first time I tried this, I was dying in bed the morning after."
Harry stifled a laugh, imagining a rounder Neville groaning in his bed.
"It's less funny if you were being hit with Stinging Hexes while being told to get out of bed. Anyway," Neville soldiered on, "Umbridge."
"What about it?" Harry replied lazily. "I said what I wanted to say, and that'll be the end of it. If people want to think I'm a liar, then so be it. I don't care any longer."
Neville was now nursing a small, worried frown on his face, but decided not to press into undoubtedly what would be a can of worms. Instead, he remarked, "And Quidditch?"
At the sound of the Q-word, Harry sighed, knowing it was just a matter of time before someone would bring it up. Deciding to be straight with Neville, he got to the point.
"Voldemort's back," he simply said. "Trelawney was attacked from right under Dumbledore's nose in Hogsmeade." He looked right at Neville, and stared him down. "There's no time to play around any more."
Neville met his gaze with equal measure. "That's not how the others will see it, though. Especially Ron – he's always been a fanatic."
"Too bloody bad," Harry replied, a tinge of venom in his voice. Not noticing Neville recoil slightly, he continued in a more level tone. "There's something I realized, especially after last year with the whole Triwizard fiasco. The Gryffindors were cheering when my name came out of that Cup, but they renounced me right after I said I didn't enter myself. People are idiots."
"Yeah, but…" Neville trailed off. "You mind if I say something, Harry?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"People don't exactly know you as a person," said Neville. At Harry's look of indignation, he held up a hand. "I don't mean that whole Boy-Who-Lived business. I mean, you don't exactly hang around much with people other than Ron, Hermione, and maybe the Quidditch team, do you?"
Harry had no reply, at which Neville continued. "And you don't really talk much to people from other Houses, too."
"And you do?"
"I'm in the Gardening Club, Harry," Neville chided. "There's people from all four houses there. Yes, even Slytherins. Malfoy is a git, but those who aren't within his circle aren't that bad, and you'll be surprised at how many people only reluctantly follow him because of his father's prestige."
"Which includes running around in a skull mask?" Harry quipped back. "Alright, I get the point. Bit of a fine time for me to start making friends this year, though."
Neville only nodded back. A few moments of silence passed between the two boys.
"Time to head back, I guess," Neville finally said, giving his arms a final stretch.
Harry was about to agree, when he saw a familiar figure traipsing into the Forbidden Forest. "I'll catch up with you later."
"If you say so."
"Oh, and…" Harry continued on a whim, "I have a plan. For DADA, I mean."
Neville raised his eyebrow slightly. "I'll be looking forward to it."
With the other boy now gone, Harry began to make his way towards the Forbidden Forest. If his suspicions were right…
Arriving at a small clearing, he saw a few Thestrals milling about, and a small, blonde, barefooted figure feeding them scraps of meat.
"Hello there, Harry Potter. I was wondering when I would see you again."
Completely nonplussed, the formulated reply that Harry had prepared died a quiet death in his throat. By sheer conversational instinct, he replied. "You were?"
"Yes, I was. When you meet someone, don't you ever wonder about when you'll next see them?"
Harry opened his mouth, and again found that he could say nothing.
Luna continued speaking in the same airy tone. "Then again, I'm not quite sure you're Harry Potter. Maybe just an oddly-shaped Thestral? You look as if you're waiting to be fed, after all."
Harry shut his mouth, which he realized had been half-open. Finally, he remembered what he had came here to say.
"No, I'm definitely Harry. And you're Luna Lovegood, right?"
"I am, and maybe I'm not. Some people don't call me that, even though that's what my parents named me," presumably-Luna said, in the same airy fashion.
Fighting off what he thought was the beginnings of a headache, Harry spoke before the conversation could take any more turns to unexpected dimensions. "Okay, Luna. I just wanted to thank you, you know. For saying that Thestrals are real."
That was…not exactly how I would have phrased it, Harry thought to himself, immediately after the words came out of his mouth.
"Why would you thank me for saying the obvious? Of course they're real, Harry. You can see them right here, can't you?" Luna said, patting the head of one of the nearest aforementioned creatures.
"That's not…I mean…"
"I think what you wanted me thank me for was…" Luna looked off into the brightening sky, then looked back at Harry, "for convincing you that you haven't lost your grip on reality?"
"I…hey, that's actually a good way of putting it." Harry said, both to himself and to Luna.
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," sang Luna again. The final few scraps of bacon disappeared into a Thestral's mouth. At Harry's curious expression, she elaborated. "That's one of the mottoes of Rowena Ravenclaw, inscribed on her famous diadem."
Dusting off her dress, she made to leave. "I look forward to seeing you again soon, Harry Potter. Also, breakfast is going to end, so you might want to Harry-hurry up to the Great Hall."
As she walked past him, Harry could hear her humming "Harry-hurry", chuckling quietly to herself, before she stopped and turned around again. "Don't worry, Harry. Ravenclaw also said to always accept reality as it is, never as it appears." Giving Harry a last, unexpectedly meaningful look, she left for the castle, still humming to herself.
Now alone in a clearing full of Thestrals, Harry stood for a few moments in utter bamboozlement, before uttering several loud swearwords and running off towards the castle.
~~~[q]~~~
It was only after an extremely gruelling session of Double Charms followed by Double Transfiguration that Ron and Hermione caught up with him.
It was also one of the few things that he had been dreading.
"Harry, what were you thinking?" Ron said first, incredulously. "Quitting Quidditch? Gryffindor's going to be steamrolled!"
Resisting his first impulse to Stupefy his (was it former?) friend right there and then, Harry instead opted to slowly turn around while counting to five silently in his head. In a low voice, he replied.
"Ron. Voldemort is back. Umbridge is breathing down our throats. I have no bloody interest in playing Quidditch right now."
"How the hell can you just say that? What about the Quidditch Cup? And the House Cup? You're just going to abandon us like that?"
Noticing the growing interest of the people around the three of them, Harry finally drew his wand, giving a wave before tracing a small circle above his head.
"Silencio Circumta. There's more important things that I need to do, and-"
"Bloody hell, I was going to try out as Keeper, and now I find that you're leaving? Some sort of best mate you are!"
Harry closed his eyes, and checked that the magic of the Silencing Ward had taken hold. Good, it had. With that-
"How dare you call me your best mate, when you didn't even write to me all summer?" Harry retorted.
"Merlin, you're still angry about that? I thought you were over this!"
"YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY! YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO FIND A WAY AROUND THE RULES! YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO BLOODY UNDERSTAND HOW I WAS FEELING, SHUT OUT, ALONE, RIGHT AFTER BLOODY VOLDEMORT RESSURECTED RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE! AND NOW YOU'RE JUST GOING TO SPEAK OVER ME AND CALL ME SELFISH WITHOUT EVEN HEARING ME OUT?"
At the mention of Voldemort Ron went deathly pale and stumbled backwards, and Hermione gave a panicked cry of "Harry-!"
In the part of his mind that was the oasis of calm, rational thought, Harry noted that his anger from Grimmauld Place had not yet abated, no, was not even close to being extinguished; he also noted how funny it would be for onlookers to see his mouth opening and closing without hearing any sound emerge.
At that thought, his anger slowly drained away, once again bringing a wave of pure, unadulterated exhaustion.
"Harry, we already said we were sorry," Hermione muttered desperately. "And I'm sure Ron didn't mean what he said."
Harry thought about pointing out how Ron had never actually apologised back at Grimmauld Place, but thought better of it.
"I'm sure he said exactly what he truly felt, Hermione. I just…I just need some time alone, okay?"
Hermione glanced at Ron, who had, thankfully, fallen silent, though there still was a hint of resentment on his face.
"Harry, you've been avoiding us ever since yesterday. I don't think you should just be doing everything alone, with the state you're in and all."
Who says I've been doing everything alone, huh?
"Thanks, but I'll be fine. Just leave me be-"
"But Harry, you shouldn't just be going around by yourself, and…" she frowned at Harry, "learning dangerous magic? Harry, what was that spell?"
The one time I actually want to be left by myself, and she insists on following me around. Well, I've had enough.
"Finite Incantatem," Harry intoned clearly in lieu of a response. Saying nothing more, he turned and headed for the library, ignoring Hermione's further protests.
Briefly, he thought of turning around and simply Stunning the bushy-haired bookworm, but he held his wand. He didn't need Umbridge to give him another detention that would eat into his already-diminishing free time.
~~~[q]~~~
As Harry nursed his right hand, he reflected on how much Dolores Umbridge resembled the bullies he had faced back before he knew about magic.
With that in mind, he had kept himself submissive, saying nothing more than "Yes, Professor" and "No, Professor". Bullies, like animals playing with toys, always got bored sooner or later, and Harry had dulled himself down significantly. With that, he had escaped a second detention.
Mentally, he added "stealing that black quill" to the list of things he needed to do, along with "think of ways to quietly foment insurrection".
Unfortunately, it was already quite late, which meant that he couldn't follow his original plan of finding an abandoned classroom to begin practice.
Shame, I wanted to try out those spells that I looked up. At least I know the Silencing Ward works, though I still need to test out the Secrecy and Notice-me-not Charms. And I need to get started on my homework. And I need to get up early to exercise tomorrow…I also get the feeling that I'm forgetting something very important…what is it?
An unfamiliar crisp voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Potter? What are you doing up so late? It's almost curfew."
It was a brown-haired woman, in a white blouse and black skirt, with a round hat with a white bow. "Professor…Usami?"
"You got my name right! Ha, now Merry owes me a cup of coffee…but really, what are you doing up this late?"
"Coming back from detention, Professor," Harry responded. "Professor Umbridge's, if you need to know."
"I doubt that woman has the qualifications to be called a Professor," the dark-haired woman snorted, "though if she asks, I didn't say that," Usami continued, as if she hadn't said anything that might have gotten her in trouble.
Harry's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Well, you should probably be on…your…" Usami's eyes narrowed, and her expression morphed into a scowl. "Potter, follow me to my office, if you would."
"Professor?"
"Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Usami drew her wand as she walked, and muttered a familiar incantation.
A Patronus?
The assistant professor spoke a few rapid words to the silvery crow on her wrist before sending it flying down the length of the corridor; Harry thought he could her the syllables "Merry" in the stream of the unfamiliar language.
After a few turns, they reached a plain door, on which a placard was written "Hearn" and "Usami" in English letters. Unfamiliar but complicated runes took up the rest of the rows on the card.
"Inside, please." Usami opened the door, lamps lighting up with a wave of her wand.
Harry had never been to the office of the Divination or Astronomy professors. The room was cluttered, with complicated looking devices and globes lying around on the tables and floor. A bookshelf, filled with complicated titles such as Symposium of Post–Mysticism and Linear Algebra – Concepts and Techniques on Euclidean Spaces, stood next to a table on which sat a crystal ball. Almost all the wall space was filled with star charts or posters of complicated mathematical diagrams, the rest of which was occupied by a blackboard on which equally complicated diagrams and runes were drawn.
Along with a cute cartoon of a bird perching atop a cat.
As Harry asked himself what he had gotten into his time, Professor Hearn arrived, slightly out of breath. There was another muttered conversation in what was presumably Japanese, and then Professor Hearn sat down across the desk in front of him.
With a grave expression, she spoke. "Potter, are you alright? Is there anything that has been bothering you of late?"
At her words, Harry gave a snort, which turned into a cough. Was he okay, really? He thought back to his nightmares, which had been bothering him since summer began, and to how he had all but fallen out with his two closest friends.
No, he was definitely not fine. But could he trust two adults whom be barely knew with that sort of information?
Instead of a yes or a no, Harry replied, "What makes you think I'm not alright?"
The professors exchanged a glance, after which Hearn spoke, somewhat carefully. "The marks on the back of your right hand. Have you been hurting yourself?"
Harry looked again at the remnants of Umbridge's detention. "Oh, you're referring to this?" he waved his hand nonchalantly. "It's from the detention with Professor Umbridge that I had…just…now…" he trailed off, for the Divination professor had stood up and was emitting a palpable, foreboding, aura.
"Merry, you can't! She's with the English Ministry!" Usami had stood up too, and had placed her hand on Hearn's arm, on which the blonde witch had drawn her wand. "You'll be fired!"
"Not if she doesn't realise that she's been cursed in the first place," Hearn retorted. "Still, I better not do anything too lasting, so I suppose I'll have to be content with this." With a wave of her other hand, and what appeared to be an expenditure of significant magical effort–
–a gap opened in space, revealing a void that was eldritch and purple, filled with glowing red eyes. Pointing her wand into the gap, Hearn intoned clearly.
"Norohareta Nemuru." A spell of pale grey shot out of her wand into the gap. With another wave of her empty hand, the gap closed, and Hearn dropped back into her chair.
"Now you've done it," Usami sighed. "How strong was it?"
"About the same as if you ate too much at dinner, and had a mild guilty conscience, I suppose."
"And the duration?"
"About three days. Or should I say three nights?" Hearn quipped. "Maybe I should have waited until young Mr Potter left."
The Potter in question, however, was staring, open-mouthed, at what had just happened.
Lupin was great, and Fake Moody got points for bouncing ferret Malfoy around before he dragged me off to the graveyard, but I think I might have a candidate for new favourite teacher.
"You'll have to take a magical vow, then. Can't risk the memory of my little prank being stolen by someone else."
"Merry…" Usami start to growl. "You can't just make magical oaths with students! If the Headmaster finds out-"
"Anyone tries to Legilimens us, and they'll see nothing but the void." The blonde professor shrugged. Turning back Harry, she continued speaking. "It'll be something like 'I, Harry Potter, swear to never reveal, volitionally or inadvertently, until the end of the school year, the fact that Professor Maribel Hearn cursed Professor Dolores Umbridge on my, Harry Potter's, first visit to Professor Hearn's office.' Is that acceptable?"
As Harry opened his mouth to agree, Maribel spoke again. "Don't agree so quickly. Magical oaths are quite serious. Take some time to think it through." She glanced at the clock on her desk. "Though not that much time, seeing as you're already past curfew. Guess I'll have to write you another note."
Inwardly, Harry ran through the wording of the oath again, before concluding there was nothing wrong with it. He raised his wand and started to say the words-
"No, you have to write it down. Use your own parchment and quill, and make sure there's nothing else on it before you tap your wand against the bottom."
When Harry had finally done what she had asked and passed the professor his paper, she nodded. "Right, and here's your excuse note. Now, before you leave, is there anything you want to ask? Anything at all?"
Harry, who was by now longing for the comfort of his bed, couldn't really think of anything except for the obvious.
"What spell did you use?"
"Minor nightmare hex. It's in Japanese, of course, so you'd be better off looking for an alternative in a Germanic language, which will be easier to learn since your first language is English."
Harry nodded – that seemed to make sense. But there was one more thing…
"What's Legilimens ?"
With the last word of his question, Harry swore and snapped to a duelling stance, finding himself at the wand ends of both professors who had wary expressions on their faces.
After a few moments of confirming that nobody was going to suddenly attack, Maribel lowered her wand.
"Sorry, instinct." Maribel was slightly apologetic. "As I mentioned briefly in our first lesson together, there are two main branches of mind magics. Legilimency is the art of reading minds, though that is a gross oversimplification. The incantation, of course, is that word you just spoke, which I would ask you not to say unless you want someone to think you're attacking them."
Settling into a lecturing tone, Maribel continued. "Skilled Legilimencers can access your thoughts through mere eye contact, and for those who are very skilled, like Headmaster Dumbledore and Potions Master Snape, they can enter and exit your mind without you even knowing. The converse of that is Occlumency, which is the art of defending your mind from magical intrusion."
"Of course, Occlumency has numerous other uses, such as passively improving one's ability to retain and absorb information." At Harry's gobsmacked look, Maribel sighed. "You can remember more things and learn new things faster."
Looks like there's a new thing on the menu.
"For fifth years, I actually planned to go into the beginnings of Occlumency closer to the end of the year, once the OWL material had been covered, so you'll have that to look forward to."
"Do you think you can teach me?" Harry blurted out, before he could stop himself. "I mean-"
Maribel exchanged another look with her partner. "I will make no promises," she stated flatly. "And I think that's all the time we have for today."
As Harry stood to leave, Maribel gave a few parting words. "Remember, Mr Potter, that our door is always open for you if you ever need a listening ear. That is, I think, the least of what I can do as a professor in these troubled times."
With that, Best Girl (which is Luna) is finally here. I hope I can do her character justice.
Also, don't murder me for using the phrase "bushy-haired bookworm".
Review please!