Harry knocked twice on the door. He supposed that Moody would be eating lunch just like everyone else, and wanted to be as kind as possible in case he disturbed the man.
"Enter" came the growl from the office. Harry opened the door just enough to slip in. He didn't know what it was, but it was becoming a habit. Maybe he was subconsciously becoming paranoid. "Ahoy, lad. Have a seat" Moody snarled. It was a friendly snarl. "What can I help you with?" Harry really didn't know what he needed help with, so he figured he'd start with the obvious.
"I was hoping that I could receive training on dueling, and defending against dark magic. I read the entire auror's handbook, but, well, practice is very different from knowledge." Moody was munching loudly on what appeared to be a sandwich on a very hard and very crusty bread.
"I can't, laddy. I have enough making up this year as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and to top it off, I'm too old. Never thought the numbers would catch up with me. No lad or lass does, but it happens. Eventually it does." Moody took another large mouthful of his sandwich and munched messily. Pieces of crust flying everywhere, and piling up on the desk.
"Oh," Harry said while getting up. "Thank you for your time, Professor." Harry made it back to the door and turned around. "Does it really get better? I mean, with the killing?" Moody sat back comfortably.
"Put your arse in the seat." Harry obeyed. Moody put the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth and chewed a few seconds before swallowing it down. Moody stood and walked around his desk, until he was between it and Harry. He leant back against the flimsy wood piece of furniture, and looked at Harry carefully. "This here is the best advice I could give yeh. Back in twenty five? No twenty seven. That's right, twenty seven. I was on my second mission as an auror and we got found out before we had a chance. Now we were a strong bunch of lads, and we stayed together and won. It was a terrible cost. We lost one. I lost my eye. A dozen others were life threatening hurt. We were so cornered, we resorted to the unforgivables. Killen' and stabbin' and beaten' and hurtin'. Damn, those were some good times…anyway, so it was horrific. We musta killed, and I mean killed at least twenty of 'em. There was blood everywhere. The smell of death in the air…" Moody looked strangely euphoric, and it was frightening "…we had won on our last legs, and we brought all the bastards down to the ministry, and 'BOOM,' Overnight we were known by half the wizardin' world. Anyway, most of us was messed up pretty bed, yeh know, in the head. So some did nothin', and some tried everythin', but I quickly found out the cure. I found the cutest lass who was willing to talk with me, and she took me back to her place. She screamed so loud…" by now it was not possible to hide the wide smile on Moody's face, "…that the neighbors thought someone died, they did. She screamed and yelled and moaned like I never heard a girl moan before. It was the best night of my life. The next morning. Damn, the next morning was hell. I woke up and saw her tight little body laying there all cozy and like, and I threw on some clothes, just 'nough to cover the necessaries, and went off to find the bathroom. I walked out of her door and smacked right into the scariest man I have ever met. I knew him beforehand, o' course, but the look on his face. I knew I wasn't going to live five more minutes. He had nearly everything in the room pop from his anger. He was one scary bastard. The only reason I lived was because I noticed his clothes were in the same condition as mine. He had the same idea as me, and I laughed about it. He caught on but didn't see it as half as funny as I did. You see, Albus never liked it when someone shagged his sister. He-"
"You slept with Dumbledore's sister!?!?" Harry had not expected that.
"Yup, I suppose I did. I was lucky to get away with my life. He had gotten the same amount of action I did. In fact, of the twenty two of us, the only eight who never went insane with guilt and fear got laid our first night back. I don't think it was a coincidence. Now, I noticed you're quite the hunk about with the ladies, and they seem to fancy you. Just pick one you don't really care for, but has a nice rack, and take her for a ride. It'll get all the evil outta yeh faster than a Golden Elixir." Harry was absolutely astounded. He had never expected a would-be professor to tell him to have sex for a remedy to his problem. There was just nothing to think of to say. Moody seemed lost in his own thoughts. Harry didn't even try to look for an answer. There had to be another way of stopping it from getting to him to snap. 'Lets look at this logically' as he supposed Hermione would say. What does sex do? It relieves stress, stimulates the pleasure regions of the brain, and effectively eliminates any feelings of loneliness. Stress. He could exercise or something. Run around. Swim. Next would be…stimulating the pleasure regions of the brain. Now, a it was given that someone made a potion which simulated it. But perhaps the results would be less than desirable. He could deal with that later. Finally, there was the loneliness. He did have Agni, but he inferred that curling up with a snake after running and taking a pleasure potion would not be so……appropriate, or effective.
"What are yeh thinkin' 'bout? The lucky lass?" Moody cut into Harry's thought. And Harry had a new development. What in bloody hell was he doing? Had he sunk so low that he would sleep with any random girl just so he wouldn't go insane. He was of a strong will. He wouldn't go insane if he wouldn't let himself. No, he would beat this on his own. And thinking about it, it was only the loneliness that posed any kind of a challenge. But he would get through it fine. He didn't need sex. H was too young anyway. Only fifteen. Sure he had those urges, and those instances in the early morning when he thought it would make a rather nice sundial, but it was mind over matter, and he would force his mind to beat it.
"Come to think of it, Albus was never an angel in his younger years either…" Moody continued, apparently to himself, "… I remember, way back in nineteen thirty two, I think it was. I was hanging out at the new years party in Diagon Ally. We were all around the fountain yelling a few minutes after the new year. Albus was trashed from the cheering potions he'd been chugging. Of course he didn't know they were cheering potions, but we won't grant him that. He was laying flat on his back on the ground when a nerdy looking girl with thick glasses, ahem 'fell' onto his nether-regions. Albus didn't seem to mind. I fact, he rather enjoyed it as they made it right there on the street in Diagon Ally. I knew the name of that bat, too. A ditzy one, really into the mystical and what not. She was a few years above me at school…Trelawney, that's it. Her first name had an S, I think. She was a crazy one. I remember that. Afterward we painted them both when they passed out. We tied their hairs together, so when the woke up, they couldn't get more than three inches from each other. Oh it was brilliant. The best part was that Dumbledore thought she did it, and nearly curse all of her hair to fall off. Oh my, we were laughing so hard I thought I was going to die. Here's a reminder, boy. Never drink a laughing draught when something funny is happening. It'll kill you faster that the killing curse." Harry couldn't help but let a small chuckle come out. Dumbledore was actually a youngster once. That was amazing. "Oh, and then this other time, we bet him a hundred Galleons that he couldn't shag a very attractive girl we'd found. She was a gorgeous woman. Nice size melons, slender figure, in a dress that flowed to the ground. We all would have like a shot at her, but a friend of mine, Herman, he seemed to know who she was and bet Albus on hundred galleons he couldn't get her in the sack. Albus took the bet and as soon as he introduced himself, she introduced herself as his cousin. You should have seen the look on his face. Oh, it was priceless. I wish I had a picture of that one. He turned so red in the face, he looked like a cherry with a nose. Bloody amazing. The poor girl had no idea what was going on, and started panicking. There was a whole outcry and it was a bloody mess. We enjoyed every second of it. The best part was when Albus paid up. He was so humiliated. He had to be the most fun person there was to tease. He only reacted if you got him bad, so we tried more than anything. Oh, bloody amazing." Moody finished with a sigh. Tear were coming out of his eyes from holding back laughter.
"Didn't you ever think that maybe your teasing would have a bad affect on him?" Moody looked scandalized.
"Bad affect? Look at the man now, the most worshiped wizard in the world, behind you. I think we did a right proper job with him." Harry just shook his head smirking. He was very glad he came. He needed the laughs. "Oh, I just remembered. Ludwig Schmidt, he recently retired. He was a German auror who moved here a few decades back. If you need an auror trainer, he's your man. I will warn you though. He dabbles in dark arts, for his own experimental purposes. He doesn't harm anyone or anything, so if you see anything, jus' ignore it. The man is brilliant. I'll send you to him when you leave. When's that gunna be?" Moody inquired.
"Tomorrow. I need to sort out a few things first" Harry sighed. Being brought back to reality wasn't worth it.
"Like?" Moody pushed.
"I need to see what's happening with Pettigrew. I need to see that Hermione gets in the habit of eating. I need to find a place to live. I need to get my Firesnake from Gryffindor tower, and I would like to see Professor Dumbledore before I go" Harry said.
"It's good to state your goals before you start on 'em. Makes yeh more likely to follow 'em through. Wonderful thing 'bout Albus. Any other man would deny it, but not Albus. He'll tell yeh the truth, just make it hard as hell to make sense of it" Moody snorted. Harry shook his hand as he rose from his seat. He pulled out a manila envelope and Handed it to Moony.
"I've taken some precautions, actually on my way to your office here. I have in there, a will, for my meager possessions, just in case anything happens to me. Also I have a parchment while will always have the location of my brain, in both humanistic and co-ordinate terms." Harry said solemnly. Moody looked a bit puzzled. "Like, it has both Ten Wilbur Road as well as 65° 22' 13" N, 2° 05' 08" W. That way you can always find me. I was going to give it to Hermione, but I know she cannot be trusted." Harry finished. Moody looked at him queerly.
"How do you mean?"
"She'd open it just to know where I am. It is not to be opened unless absolutely necessary. An I mean, absolutely necessary." Moody seemed unruffled. "I mean life threatening" Harry added.
"Just who's life are we talkin' 'bout?" Moody asked with a sly grin. Harry looked away and his eyes unfocused.
"Anyone's who you people can't save" Harry said softly.
"Well, I'll tell ya somethin', I knew this man named Wrigfeld. Good man. He was a mass murderer, but just about the nicest mass murderer you ever met. When yeh couldn't save someone's life, he took it for 'em. When he became sick, and was gunna lay with the worms, he decided he was gunna go out his own way. Tried to summon some fire to test out a charm he was making. The bastard was testin', 'cause he knew it wasn't gunna work, and knew he was goin' to die in the process. We all watched him do it. He did the last step and BOOM!!! The bloody thing exploded. He stood up and looked around. Countin' his lucky stars, he walks over to use, and he says 'Mates, if I'm alive, I did the whole bloody thing wrong.' We's smilin', 'til a large chuck from the cauldron falls on his head. His body was crushed like a grape, and his parts flew all over the place. They buried him in a large vase. 'think some reckoned it was cruel to the worms to let them eat him." Moody was laughing full blast now. Harry now discovered the vital difference between Moody and the impersonator of the prior year. The real Moody was a hell of a lot more interesting, if not vile, cruel, disgusting, nauseating and amusing. Definitely more amusing.
"This was a really, fascinating, experience, but I must get moving now. I have bunches to do. And didn't you say you'd have me see Ludwig Smith, for training?" Harry was beginning to feel hungry himself. He could always go down to the kitchens if he missed lunch. In fact he preferred that route. But he didn't think his stomach could hold on much longer.
"Schmidt. Schmidt, Harry. It's German. Yeah. He lived in Germany for a while. You know, Germany, it's a country on the mainland. They drink lots of be-"
"Oh, bugger off. I know what the hell Germany is. Are you going to tell me where to find him or not?" Harry scowled.
"Yeah. Good ole Schmidt, or Shit for short, he'll be at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow at around lunchtime" Moody smirked. Harry got up and nodded a good-bye before leaving. He didn't want Moody to be able to say anything else. Harry went to the Great Hall. It was beginning to empty out, but he pleasantly noticed that Hermione was no longer there. She had eaten. What she didn't know, was that the curse lasted for two weeks, and as long as caring people filled her plate, she wouldn't go hungry. Harry swaggered downstairs too the kitchens to get a bit to munch on. He found the portrait of fruit and tickled the pear, as was necessary. He was stunned at the sight that met his eyes as he opened the doorway. The elves were running around like a school of fish under a shark attack. Most were covered in ash, and others were what appeared to be carrying around fires. Harry grabbed the nearest elf.
"What happened?" Harry said in the softest tone he could use to keep his volume above the clatter.
"The soup fell in the fire, sir!" the creature squeaked before running off. Harry shook his head and made his presence known.
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Harry entered the Three Broomsticks in a foul mood. Hermione didn't take it well that he was leaving. Again. But hell, life went on. She just had such an issue with holding onto lost articles. She never seemed to let go. He honestly wondered if he should have written a short story for her to read it in. Maybe she'd understand. It's not like he was knocking on Voldemort's front door, asking for a fair fight. He was going for bloody training. He couldn't think of her reaction when…if he ever told her he was going after Voldemort. When he thought about it, Voldemort wasn't such a bad guy. He had killed a little over a thousand people, yes, but you have to break the glass to get the ship inside. He had made sacrifices, and wouldn't let anyone in his way. That, and he held a vengeance for a long time. Other than that, he just wanted to rule the world. Was that too much to ask. Maybe they should just let him. Perhaps he'd get bored with it, it would loose it's novelty. That's the problem with ambitious people, one they get to the top, they have nothing more to do.
Harry realized he had been standing in the middle of the restaurant for a few minutes, and decided to look around. He was told to look for someone "totally into the blue." Not out of the blue, into the blue. They he was. Harry saw an older looking gentleman wearing a bold blue robe. He had on a matching blue hat, which had a teal feather. The man's wand was blue, as were his eyes, his slacks, and his shoes. Hell, the drink he had was blue.
"What a freak" Harry mumbled under his breath. Regardless, Harry approached the man at the bar, and sat down next to him.
"You want to learn, eh?" he said in a very strong accent. Harry was surprised at his knowledge and directness.
"Yes" Harry said quickly, not wanting to look like a fool.
"Yes, sir!" the man said shortly.
"Yes, sir!" Harry repeated.
"You only call me not sir, when you can make me sleep" The man said. He didn't appear to be intoxicated, but who knew what potions they mixed in his drink. Harry figured out what he had to do. He lowered his wand arm under the table, and cautiously whipped it into his hand. He saw the muscle in the mans arm twitch, and knew what would happen. Harry put his left hand up as he drew his right hand with his wand. The man was already turning his wand towards Harry. Harry grabbed the arm of the man, stopping his wand movement. This gave him just enough time to jab his own wand into the man's side, and whisper "stupefy." The man slumped off his stool and fell onto the floor in front of Madame Rosmerta, who was carrying a large tray of pitchers of various beverages. She stopped soon enough to avoid tripping on him, but one of the pitches slid off the tray and landed right next to the man's head, covering him in the sweet smelling liquid. She rolled her eyes and said something about 'men who can't handle their own potions' before stepping over him and continuing on her way. Harry snatched the man's wand and examined it. It wasn't made of wood. Rather, it wasn't made of anything at all. Harry's hand went right through it. 'Cool' came to mind. Harry pointed his wand at the man and muttered 'ennervate.' The man stirred and sat up in surprise. He stood briskly and returned to his seat, while Harry finished off his drink. It was fairy water. Tasty.
"Good. You call me anything. Schmidt is my name" The man mumbled, obviously disturbed by something.
"Or shit for short" Harry said aloud, recalling Moody's comments. The man scowled at Harry.
"Schmidt is fine enough. We go now. Follow me" Schmidt said. He was even more upset now. Harry wasn't sure this was such a good idea. It would have been a perfect trap. 'If it's my time to die, it's my time to die' Harry thought with a small grin. As soon as they were out on the road, Schmidt wiped the drink off his face. He pulled out a thread, and bid Harry to touch it. Harry obeyed, and was in for the ride of his life.
It was a portkey, of course. They flew over the Forbidden Forest, over hills and mountains, rivers and streams, a herd of deer, and then over the cliffs and above the ocean. Harry was stunned that they were above the ocean. He was sure no portkey could make it entirely across. As soon as the thought came, the portkey took them under water, at stunning speeds, narrowly avoiding fish, both large and small, until it was nearly pitch black. The portkey took them into a cave lighted by glowing creatures. They bounced harshly off the walls until finally they came up through a magical field and fell into a dry cave, deep below the ocean floor. Harry staggered around in dizziness, and saw that the man had no intention of leaving the bleak room they had entered. It was about seventy feet long, and forty feet wide, with a five foot diameter circle in the bottom, where the water was kept below the magical field.
"We start now" Schmidt said. He just threw curses at Harry at a decent pace. Harry blocked nearly all of them, and the ones he could not block he dodge easily. Schmidt seemed vaguely pleased, and started throwing all the curses known to mankind at Harry. Harry was in his element. He was doing as his seeker instincts told him. React. He dove, rolled, crawled, ran, blocked, jumped, ducked, sprinted, and even threw a few curses of his own in retaliation. What did this guy think he was doing? Harry realized he had no time to think as the 'petrificus totalus' narrowly missed his arm. Hesitation was death in the world of dueling, and Harry was not ready to die. Becoming bored with the grunts and countless spells that he just kept avoiding. He was beginning to get tired. He decided to try something new. 'Grappigus' Harry yelled as he aimed his wand carefully at the man's leg. The pants of the man became taught as if a dog had latched it's teeth on and was yanking. Schmidt hesitated just long enough for Harry to enact his plan. Harry carefully dropped Agni to the ground. Agni did his bidding, and in seconds their was a protective flame surrounding Harry. He knew Agni could only maintain it for seven seconds. He was a small Firesnake. Harry took over maintaining the field of fire. It was surprising cold in the flame, but he could see Schmidt using all sorts of Ice and water spells to try to quench the heat. Harry used it to attack. Instead of preserving his ball of fire, or letting it die, he compressed the ball into a small orb and sent it at Schmidt. As it approached it seemed the fire burned itself out, a second before it exploded in an eruption of orange flame. Harry had braced himself to the floor with magic, but the floor had cracked and Harry fell backwards. He checked to make sure Agni was safe back in his pocket. As the smoke cleared, Harry set his feet free from the rock and approached his trainer who was getting to his feet very slowly.
"Good. We move on. You are good with wand. He will be better. You must beat wand without. You must have true strength" Schmidt said in a harsh tone. "You have much work."
"Yeah, I bet I do" Harry grumbled.
"What if you no have snake, eh? You die. You be dead. You no live. Bang, dead. Huh? You have much work." Schmidt snarled. He took Harry into the next room. There were numerous objects in the room. Schmidt went up to a sword and tossed it on the floor. "You lift" Schmidt said. Harry bent down to pick it up. "NO! You lift. Magic." Harry stepped back and took out his wand. "No, no wand" Schmidt said. Harry had attempted wandless magic before, but it had always been in spurts. To lift something he would need consistency. Something he just didn't have. Harry slipped his wand into the sheath, and focused as much as he could He held his hand out to it. Nothing happened. He stood there for ten minutes, twenty. Nothing. Finally he looked up at Schmidt. "You must feel it in head. Like love in bed. Thick about it. Relax about it. Just feel it with head" Harry didn't have any idea what he was talking about, but tried a few new things anyway. None of them worked. Schmidt took Harry's hand and waved it through the air.
"You must see it in your head. You must feel it with magic. Like a girl in a bed. You must feel in. Feel it in here" Schmidt said while tapping Harry on the forehead.
"I've never been with a girl" Harry said, perhaps louder than he needed to. Schmidt was awestruck. Harry could only assume the words he was saying were curses in German. Finally, he turned back to Harry.
"You love a girl?" Schmidt said with a subtle smirk. Harry nodded, not really wanting to know what he was getting at.
"You see her in your head. You see her with you, you dream of her?" Harry again nodded slowly in response. Schmidt's hopes seemed to slowly return.
"When you see her in head, you can feel too, yes? You feel her. She not there, but you feel her?" Schmidt guessed. Harry nodded again. He was beginning to worry about possible brain damage with shaking his head.
"It is same. You must be loose. Relax. Breathe. Try with eyes closed. Feel the sword. Let yourself feel it, when it is not there." Harry followed his orders, but when he felt nothing he let his mind wander, and wander it did.
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"…the beauty of becoming an Animagus, is that not only do you gain certain characteristics, but you become free as a wild creature. You loose many of the expectations of you, and can survive in nature significantly better than in your human form…" There was no denying it. It was boring. She already knew of all of this, and the sympathetic looks she was getting from McGonagal only confirmed that she knew it too.
Hermione closed her eyes and let herself go. She felt a warm tingling on her belly, and ignored it. Slowly, the tingling became more substantial, and seemed to take a certain shape. It was on her belly, and part of it moved. It was a hand. She opened her eyes in shock and looked down nothing was there. But she felt it, she could still feel it. She slowly moved her hand to where she felt the warmth of the hand. There was nothing there, but she could feel it. It fascinated her. She was being touched by no one, but feeling it. She became absorbed in sensing it, to the point of closing her eyes and enjoying it. The hand began to move, and she sighed comfortably.
"Hermione?"
"WHAT?" Hermione screamed as she jumped up. She quickly became flushed and looked around. It had to have been a dream. But she knew it was real. Something had happened. She had no idea what, but she knew, somehow it was important. "S-sorry professor. May I please speak with the Headmaster?" Hermione thought he should know. Even if it was insignificant, and she was just being paranoid, she had to tell Dumbledore. Hermione received a curt nod from Professor McGonagal, and gathered her books and left. She walked briskly towards the hall of the gargoyle.
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"Whoa. That was amazing" Harry exclaimed as he opened his eyes. It was like he had really been there with her, and she had let him do it, and- a cough reminded Harry he was not alone. "Sorry sir, I mean, shit, I mean, Schmidt" Harry said nervously.
"You did it. I could feel it. But you didn't do it here. Now that you know how, do on the sword" Schmidt almost seemed pleased. Harry returned to his feet, his mood filled with vigor. He closed his eyes, and let himself relax. He let his eyes open, and had his hand feel the sword. Sense it's cold steel, touch it's sharp blade, feel it's weight. His hand began to feel it. To know it. He grasped what he was feeling, and found his hand was still in the open position, despite it feeling like it was wrapped around the blade. He lifted his arm in his mind, but his arm stayed in place. The sword, however, slowly lifted itself, and hovered a few feet off the ground. Harry had his other hand grab the hilt, and hold it upright. His hands didn't move, but the sword turned into an upright position. Harry felt himself take a few steps. He never moved, but the sword did. He had his feeling hands swing the sword around, and behold, it swung. Harry's eyes were wide in surprise, but not nearly as wide as Schmidt's. Schmidt looked like it was the first time he could see. Harry let the sword go, and it clattered to the ground. Schmidt approached him slowly.
"Good. Very good" Schmidt said as he started leading Harry into the next room.
"What am I going to do now?" Harry asked, now wanting more than ever to progress.
"Now, my boy, we drink."
Yay, one more chapter out. Ok. I took my health and english midterms. On english I got an 88. That's respectable, considering my teacher is a decedent of the Salem Witches. Weird. Here goes to all my beloved (meaning of my real name) reviewers.
Shdurrani- Harry will come back on occasion, until Hermione goes out to get him. Don't want to reveal too much. The H/Hr won't happen till the end. If I could have realistically inserted it earlier, I would have. Sorry. Thanks for reviewing.
Zoot Vampiric Vampire- I will do more with rebel Harry, but rebel Harry won't really be a rebel for the usual causes. He won't do it for show or popularity, or even for fun. He'll do it because it is what he feels is right, and if it requires breaking rules so be it. I won't get into Peter's case until later. He needs time to, what word does my teacher use? Simmer. Peter will simmer in his own pot of $&!#. Thanks for reviewing.
NAPPA- I am happy I have grabbed your attention. It's nice to know even an insignificant guy like me can be noticed. Thanks for repeatedly reviewing.
Confused- I can't tell you why he's getting shorter until later on. I would, but it happens at a pivotal point in the story.
Silverleaf- You are correct, that magic is undetectable in the floo. It would be like trying to find a molecule of water in orange juice. Yes, Harry can only do it short distances, so we think. There will be some clarification later on. It should be relatively soon. I think people are having a hard time grasping my style. If it doesn't make sense, it'll be important later. Thanks for reviewing.
Bob33- Yes she did. But do you think her "crush" of Harry is going to stop Ron? Hell no, and with Harry on Hermione's bad side, it would only be time before she would shop around. Ron wanted to be there first, was there first, and got the first shot. He wasn't so succesful, though.
Everyone else, Thank you for reviewing as well. Have a Happy Day, and I wish you all Happy Reading.
