AN: Again, thanks to the people who reviewed. I appreciate your comments
:) Happy reading! I won't be able to update this frequently, I've just
had a lot of time on my hands. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out in
a few days.
As they entered the Great Hall they were relieved to find that the only person still eating was Ron. He glanced up at them.
"How come you didn't tell me you practically killed each other in the Great Hall?" he asked. "I come in here, and Sirius asks me if I've found Harry's body yet," he said. Harry and Hermione burst out into laughter. It'd been a long day.
~~~~****~~~~
The next day went smoother than the day before, obviously. Things were still tense between the trio, but Ron seemed oblivious to it. Hermione would send a glance towards Harry every so often, which he would counter with his own. It usually became a staring contest, both avoiding the subject that hung in the air. Ron, being the dense person that he was, didn't catch these glances.
Something else was making Harry tense. Or rather, someone. The woman assigned to 'assist' Harry and Hermione in classes. Harry grumbled as they told him that they were adding a professor to help Harry and Hermione with the workload. Harry didn't know where they got the idea that he and Hermione needed help in the first place. He thought the lessons were going quite well, apart from the fact that he still had yet to prove anything. The things he were teaching were all far below his level of performance.
Hermione was assigned to teach the harder subjects. She sent Harry apologetic glances when she was teaching something. Sarah Toombs, their 'assistant', was the one assigning the lessons. On a day that she had to miss, ('can't help you all the time') things were getting out of hand.
"NO! Don't touch him! Don't you know the effects of the Dragon Curse?!" Hermione grabbed a seventh year girl back as she tried to run to her boyfriend, who had been hit with the Dragon curse and was now shriveled up in pain on the floor.
Harry, who had been on the other side of the room teaching a group of sixth years how to get rid of a Bogart (yes, that's right, a Bogart) raced over to help Hermione out. Ignoring her warnings of the effects of the curse, he went over to the boy who was still in obvious pain. The curse was designed to make your body flow with blood like a dragons. In other words, your body felt on fire. If one got too close to the poor victim of this curse, the victim's body would react like that of a dragon, and they would release a very powerful magical fire. Needless to say, it was not pleasant, and there was no known cure; the victim had to let the curse reduce by itself.
"Harry, be careful!" Stepping to the boy's side, he cast a complex freezing charm on the boy. The boy did not freeze, like one would expect, but he stopped shaking. Harry muttered two healing spells, which seemed to relax the boy further.
Hermione held the now sobbing girl back, just in case any side effects still remained. Once Harry okayed the boy's condition, she released the poor girl, who ran immediately to the boy's side. Harry looked at the class, who had fearfully grown silent.
"Why, may I ask, was such a curse performed?" he growled. "Surely it was not in the curriculum."
Hermione stepped forward. "We weren't working on the curse, we were working on the object of working as a team." She glared at her class. "Obviously, someone did not hear me when I said 'No Dark Magic'!"
"Hmmm, doesn't look like the 'team' part worked out either," Harry said. Hermione rolled her eyes at him as if to say, 'well, clearly not'.
This was the situation that Sarah Toombs found when she walked into the classroom.
"What is going on here?! Why are you all standing around?" she walked over to them, to spot the boy and girl, who still sat on the floor. "And why are two of my students on the ground?"
Harry, whose eyes had narrowed at 'my students' (her students? What rubbish!), was the first to answer her.
"Well, one of YOUR students thought it'd be funny to cast the Dragon curse on Jacob here," he said, bitingly. "Maybe you should teach your students acceptable curses, Toombs." Toombs' eyes narrowed.
"Hmph, maybe we should get a new professor who would be more capable to handle the students, Professor Potter. I can't have my students fearing for their lives, now can I?"
Harry's eyes flashed dangerously. Hermione didn't know whether to stop him or to let him pummel the crap out of this annoying witch. She chose the former option, sighing.
"Sarah, what happened here was an accident, one that happened under my supervision, not Harry's," she said, causing Harry to momentarily forget Toombs. He looked over at her with shock. She was sticking up for him? "The students did not follow my orders, but I should have taken better precautions."
Sarah's glare hardened, but it was aimed at Harry. "Oh, Hermione dear, you don't need to cover for Potter," she said. "I think I'll have a talk with Minerva after class, and we'll-"
"Class dismissed," interrupted Harry. "Everyone is free to go. We'll," he said, looking at Toombs, "discuss this later. I've had enough." With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving a flabbergasted Toombs and a smiling Hermione.
Things did not get better between Harry and Toombs. Toombs insisted on supervising Harry, pointing out things she noticed.
"Well, actually Harry, if you don't mind, the wand movement goes more like this," she said, interrupting him one day. He'd learned his lesson and refused to let himself blow up at her. Strictly speaking, he was on probation. Minerva had told him if he had one more outburst (which, in Harry's opinion, was more of a sarcastic remark) that he'd be transferred to the charms department.
Harry was beginning to forget why he had come back in the first place (if he had even had a good reason to begin with). Minerva insisted on having him present at the Order meetings as well as staff meetings, but he was rarely allowed to comment. Nobody felt like taking him seriously. He took all his frustration out on his Death Eater camp raids. Recovering Aurors was harder than he thought it would be. Most were transferred to the main camp right after their capture.
At the next staff's meeting (which Harry was not present for), Hermione was slightly loosing her cool.
"So, as long as Hermione and Toombs can keep up the good work then we should be fine for the fall exams for the younger children. The next matter to discuss is-" Minerva was interrupted by Snape.
"Harry Potter," he said. The people that were in the room at the moment were surprised.
He continued on as if he'd been talking about the weather. "If you don't stop what you're doing, he's not going to be here much longer. He'll disappear, just like he did last time."
"What are we doing, Severus?" Toombs asked, with a slight smirk on her face.
"You know bloody well that Harry can handle things by himself. He certainly doesn't need YOUR help," he sneered.
"I'll take that into consideration, Severus. I must admit that I haven't seen anything of the sort, and that's why I have placed him with Hermione and myself," she said. Maggie, the charms assistant, agreed with her.
"I'd have to agree. I don't want you guys to get your hopes up on some child hero who's nothing but a normal wizard like the rest of us," she said kindly, as if this would all wound them deeply. Hermione's eyes were glazed over, as if she was thinking about something. Ron's eyes were blazing with anger. He'd seen his friend's power time and again. They might not be the best of mates at the moment, but he still felt defendant on his friend's behalf. He and Hermione had their own suspicions that the man who had rescued Fred, 'Henry', was none other than their friend.
Several news articles had been out, singing the praises of this mysterious man. He'd saved over fifty Aurors by now, some that had been captured for as long as ten months and were presumed dead. He wouldn't stay around long enough for anyone to ask him questions.
Many people then started putting in their own opinions about Harry Potter, and a strong debate came into issue. Was he as strong as Snape thought? Or was Snape just loosing his touch? Why did Harry leave anyways? Was he a coward?
Hermione was loosing her patience, and Ron's was already gone. He stood up abruptly.
"Well, since none of you seem to have faith in Harry, I would hate to imagine what you think of me. I'll be going now," he said, leaving the room silent. Hermione stood up and followed him, glaring angrily at the other occupants of the room. Before she went out the door though, she turned around and added viciously, "you'd better hope I can bring him back. Actually, you better hope I want to."
Minerva glanced as her former students walked out the door. This was not what she need right now. She dismissed the meeting, saying they'd meet later. Walking back to her room, she wondered for the first time if she had underestimated Harry.
Unknown to Minerva, the other teachers were plotting behind her back. They wanted proof that Harry was really the powerful wizard that his friends said he was. They couldn't rely on someone who was just a fluke, now could they?
Maggie didn't approve, but she sat quietly at the secret staff meeting.
"We can't send him out to battle someone because if he dies then the rest of the wizarding world will die too," someone said. "We'll just have to test his powers here, someway, where he can't get hurt."
"Why doesn't someone attack him by surprise?"
"Or maybe ask him to demonstrate his own skills?"
"How about someone duels him?" This suggestion got a good response from the small group of professors.
"Well, its got to be someone who we know is powerful, like Snape or Maggie. Minerva's too old, I think."
"How about Maggie? She's more powerful than Snape," someone said. They all looked towards Maggie. She was shaking her head no.
"Guys, we can't just go up to him and say, 'hey want to duel me to prove your not some weakling?' We have to have a logical reason," she said, hoping to get out of it. She didn't want to beat the most known wizard in the world. It would ruin their hopes, and right now they needed every bit of hope they could get.
"Why don't you say it's a demonstration? You know, for his classes? We'll have someone duel Granger so it looks like we didn't just single him out. Get Weasly or someone like that. That will be interesting. And it will provide useful examples for the kids. They'll learn how to properly duel." Sarah, the ringleader of this whole project, looked excited and smiled viciously. She was really getting into it. Maggie wondered why she even wanted to do this anyway. It was sure to ruin public morale. This just wasn't going to get them anywhere. Maggie truly felt sorry for Harry. He was just a normal wizard born unluckily into a life of fame and expectations, and this was just going to humiliate him.
~~~~****~~~~
Harry wiped the sweat off his brow and walked into his room, exhausted. He'd just returned from another mission. He'd found two Aurors that had been stranded and left for dead without their wands. They were barely alive when he found them, and he hoped they would survive the night.
He heard a knock on the door. With a small flick of his hand, his clothes were clean and unwrinkled and the dirt and bits of blood were gone from his elbow. There had been vicious scorpions. He went over to the door and opened it, surprised to find one of the younger professors, a couple years ahead of him. He couldn't quite remember her name, Megan or Molly, or--
"Harry, I'm Maggie, remember? I help out with the charms' classes?" Oh yeah, her name was Maggie. He wondered what she wanted.
"Can I come in for a second?" she asked. He nodded and stepped out of the way, allowing her to come into his room.
"Listen, I just want to warn you about something. Some of the professors feel that the children would benefit from a duel, so they can see how it works, and they've chosen Hermione, Ron, you and I to demonstrate. Hermione and Ron will go first, and then you and I."
Harry nodded patiently, wondering what the warning was about.
"I just wanted to let you know so you could prepare or something," she said quickly, her voice implying something else. Harry held back a biting remark-she thought she was going to walk all over him!
"Thanks for the warning," he said. She nodded, like she'd done him some huge favor, and left quickly. Harry quickly called Hermione through the fireplace.
"Mione, come here for a second, you won't believe what I was just told," he said.
He waited for her to come to his room, and when she knocked, he found Ron with her as well. Both looked extremely agitated at something.
"I was just informed that I'm going to duel er-Maggie, that's her name-next week sometime. It's supposed to be a demonstration for our classes." He relayed the rest of the conversation to them, and the angry look in Hermione's eyes flared up again.
"I'll bet you anything that horrid Toombs woman is behind this. We just came from a particularly frustrating staff meeting, which by the way, you missed."
Harry's looked darkened. "I was busy."
"Well, anyways, it revolved mostly around you." She explained what had happened at the meeting, and Harry was shocked to find that Snape was standing up for him.
"Snape? As in our evil greasy-haired potions professor? Hmmm, very ironic. He's the first person to do so." An angry look came onto his face, which was quickly wiped away and replaced by a cheerful one.
"So, dinner anyone? I'm bloody hungry," he said, leaving two guilty friends behind.
Dinner was a tense affair, but no one, not even Harry, was prepared for what happened.
As the trio approached the staff table, all conversation fell silent. Harry acted as if nothing was going on, and went to sit by Snape. The professor looked shocked as Harry turned to talk to him.
"So, Snape, how were your classes today? Irritate anyone? No? Hmm, guess you were too busy defending me. Thanks for that, by the way," he said, good-naturedly. Snape just glared at him, which, for some reason, made Harry's smile wider. He turned to Malfoy, who was on the other side of him.
"How was the staff meeting?" he asked innocently. Malfoy choked on his food and started coughing.
"Fine, Potter," he said. Another voice stepped into the conversation.
"Of course, you wouldn't know because you were skiving off somewhere, Potter."
Harry's grin disappeared, and he turned to look at Toombs, who was standing over him.
"Why should I be present for a meeting where I don't talk?" he asked.
~~~~~
Hermione and Ron glanced over at their friend, who was now in a heated conversation with Toombs. Why he had chosen to sit with Malfoy and Snape baffled Ron. Who would willingly sit by both Slytherins? Ron caught part of their conversation.
"I have every right to talk to you like that," Harry said, angrily. "If it seems disrespectful, that's because it's meant to be. You can't demand respect, you earn it."
The whole time Hermione had know Toombs, which wasn't very long ('thankfully'), she had never seen the witch speechless. Toombs stuttered for a bit before glaring at Harry and changing the subject.
"You are under my supervision, Potter, and I would suggest you-" whatever she was going to suggest he do was interrupted by the slamming of the doors to the Great Hall. A large man with a red complexion stormed into the Great Hall, looking for someone.
"Where the hell is Harry Potter?"
~~~~~~
Harry groaned inwardly, this was not what he needed right now. What was Richard, his boss, doing at Hogwarts anyway? Wasn't he still supposed to be in America?
"Who are you and what do you need with Harry Potter?" Minerva asked cautiously.
"I'm Rich, supervisor of the ALA. I need to speak with him," he said, his face getting redder.
"What would the ALA want with Potter?" asked Toombs viciously. The ALA was the American League of Aurors, the best group of Aurors around the world (besides those left at Hogwarts). They were responsible for nearly seventy percent of all Death Eaters captured or killed. The Aurors in the ALA were recruited from all over the world, so technically they weren't the 'American' group of Aurors.
Richard had spotted Harry and totally ignored Toombs, which seemed to irritate her greatly.
"Potter, we need to speak. Privately," he added. Toombs cleared her throat loudly, and Harry's boss turned around, as if he just remembered she was there. Then, much to Harry's dismay, he got an evil gleam in his eyes. Harry let his temper get the best of him.
"I think, Sarah," Harry said, almost spitting her name, "that this is a matter between 'Rich' and I. It is, if I may say so, none of your bloody business." Harry glared at Toombs, and then his boss, who was surveying the situation with humor.
"What do you mean 'what would the ALA want with Potter'? He's the head Auror!"
As they entered the Great Hall they were relieved to find that the only person still eating was Ron. He glanced up at them.
"How come you didn't tell me you practically killed each other in the Great Hall?" he asked. "I come in here, and Sirius asks me if I've found Harry's body yet," he said. Harry and Hermione burst out into laughter. It'd been a long day.
~~~~****~~~~
The next day went smoother than the day before, obviously. Things were still tense between the trio, but Ron seemed oblivious to it. Hermione would send a glance towards Harry every so often, which he would counter with his own. It usually became a staring contest, both avoiding the subject that hung in the air. Ron, being the dense person that he was, didn't catch these glances.
Something else was making Harry tense. Or rather, someone. The woman assigned to 'assist' Harry and Hermione in classes. Harry grumbled as they told him that they were adding a professor to help Harry and Hermione with the workload. Harry didn't know where they got the idea that he and Hermione needed help in the first place. He thought the lessons were going quite well, apart from the fact that he still had yet to prove anything. The things he were teaching were all far below his level of performance.
Hermione was assigned to teach the harder subjects. She sent Harry apologetic glances when she was teaching something. Sarah Toombs, their 'assistant', was the one assigning the lessons. On a day that she had to miss, ('can't help you all the time') things were getting out of hand.
"NO! Don't touch him! Don't you know the effects of the Dragon Curse?!" Hermione grabbed a seventh year girl back as she tried to run to her boyfriend, who had been hit with the Dragon curse and was now shriveled up in pain on the floor.
Harry, who had been on the other side of the room teaching a group of sixth years how to get rid of a Bogart (yes, that's right, a Bogart) raced over to help Hermione out. Ignoring her warnings of the effects of the curse, he went over to the boy who was still in obvious pain. The curse was designed to make your body flow with blood like a dragons. In other words, your body felt on fire. If one got too close to the poor victim of this curse, the victim's body would react like that of a dragon, and they would release a very powerful magical fire. Needless to say, it was not pleasant, and there was no known cure; the victim had to let the curse reduce by itself.
"Harry, be careful!" Stepping to the boy's side, he cast a complex freezing charm on the boy. The boy did not freeze, like one would expect, but he stopped shaking. Harry muttered two healing spells, which seemed to relax the boy further.
Hermione held the now sobbing girl back, just in case any side effects still remained. Once Harry okayed the boy's condition, she released the poor girl, who ran immediately to the boy's side. Harry looked at the class, who had fearfully grown silent.
"Why, may I ask, was such a curse performed?" he growled. "Surely it was not in the curriculum."
Hermione stepped forward. "We weren't working on the curse, we were working on the object of working as a team." She glared at her class. "Obviously, someone did not hear me when I said 'No Dark Magic'!"
"Hmmm, doesn't look like the 'team' part worked out either," Harry said. Hermione rolled her eyes at him as if to say, 'well, clearly not'.
This was the situation that Sarah Toombs found when she walked into the classroom.
"What is going on here?! Why are you all standing around?" she walked over to them, to spot the boy and girl, who still sat on the floor. "And why are two of my students on the ground?"
Harry, whose eyes had narrowed at 'my students' (her students? What rubbish!), was the first to answer her.
"Well, one of YOUR students thought it'd be funny to cast the Dragon curse on Jacob here," he said, bitingly. "Maybe you should teach your students acceptable curses, Toombs." Toombs' eyes narrowed.
"Hmph, maybe we should get a new professor who would be more capable to handle the students, Professor Potter. I can't have my students fearing for their lives, now can I?"
Harry's eyes flashed dangerously. Hermione didn't know whether to stop him or to let him pummel the crap out of this annoying witch. She chose the former option, sighing.
"Sarah, what happened here was an accident, one that happened under my supervision, not Harry's," she said, causing Harry to momentarily forget Toombs. He looked over at her with shock. She was sticking up for him? "The students did not follow my orders, but I should have taken better precautions."
Sarah's glare hardened, but it was aimed at Harry. "Oh, Hermione dear, you don't need to cover for Potter," she said. "I think I'll have a talk with Minerva after class, and we'll-"
"Class dismissed," interrupted Harry. "Everyone is free to go. We'll," he said, looking at Toombs, "discuss this later. I've had enough." With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving a flabbergasted Toombs and a smiling Hermione.
Things did not get better between Harry and Toombs. Toombs insisted on supervising Harry, pointing out things she noticed.
"Well, actually Harry, if you don't mind, the wand movement goes more like this," she said, interrupting him one day. He'd learned his lesson and refused to let himself blow up at her. Strictly speaking, he was on probation. Minerva had told him if he had one more outburst (which, in Harry's opinion, was more of a sarcastic remark) that he'd be transferred to the charms department.
Harry was beginning to forget why he had come back in the first place (if he had even had a good reason to begin with). Minerva insisted on having him present at the Order meetings as well as staff meetings, but he was rarely allowed to comment. Nobody felt like taking him seriously. He took all his frustration out on his Death Eater camp raids. Recovering Aurors was harder than he thought it would be. Most were transferred to the main camp right after their capture.
At the next staff's meeting (which Harry was not present for), Hermione was slightly loosing her cool.
"So, as long as Hermione and Toombs can keep up the good work then we should be fine for the fall exams for the younger children. The next matter to discuss is-" Minerva was interrupted by Snape.
"Harry Potter," he said. The people that were in the room at the moment were surprised.
He continued on as if he'd been talking about the weather. "If you don't stop what you're doing, he's not going to be here much longer. He'll disappear, just like he did last time."
"What are we doing, Severus?" Toombs asked, with a slight smirk on her face.
"You know bloody well that Harry can handle things by himself. He certainly doesn't need YOUR help," he sneered.
"I'll take that into consideration, Severus. I must admit that I haven't seen anything of the sort, and that's why I have placed him with Hermione and myself," she said. Maggie, the charms assistant, agreed with her.
"I'd have to agree. I don't want you guys to get your hopes up on some child hero who's nothing but a normal wizard like the rest of us," she said kindly, as if this would all wound them deeply. Hermione's eyes were glazed over, as if she was thinking about something. Ron's eyes were blazing with anger. He'd seen his friend's power time and again. They might not be the best of mates at the moment, but he still felt defendant on his friend's behalf. He and Hermione had their own suspicions that the man who had rescued Fred, 'Henry', was none other than their friend.
Several news articles had been out, singing the praises of this mysterious man. He'd saved over fifty Aurors by now, some that had been captured for as long as ten months and were presumed dead. He wouldn't stay around long enough for anyone to ask him questions.
Many people then started putting in their own opinions about Harry Potter, and a strong debate came into issue. Was he as strong as Snape thought? Or was Snape just loosing his touch? Why did Harry leave anyways? Was he a coward?
Hermione was loosing her patience, and Ron's was already gone. He stood up abruptly.
"Well, since none of you seem to have faith in Harry, I would hate to imagine what you think of me. I'll be going now," he said, leaving the room silent. Hermione stood up and followed him, glaring angrily at the other occupants of the room. Before she went out the door though, she turned around and added viciously, "you'd better hope I can bring him back. Actually, you better hope I want to."
Minerva glanced as her former students walked out the door. This was not what she need right now. She dismissed the meeting, saying they'd meet later. Walking back to her room, she wondered for the first time if she had underestimated Harry.
Unknown to Minerva, the other teachers were plotting behind her back. They wanted proof that Harry was really the powerful wizard that his friends said he was. They couldn't rely on someone who was just a fluke, now could they?
Maggie didn't approve, but she sat quietly at the secret staff meeting.
"We can't send him out to battle someone because if he dies then the rest of the wizarding world will die too," someone said. "We'll just have to test his powers here, someway, where he can't get hurt."
"Why doesn't someone attack him by surprise?"
"Or maybe ask him to demonstrate his own skills?"
"How about someone duels him?" This suggestion got a good response from the small group of professors.
"Well, its got to be someone who we know is powerful, like Snape or Maggie. Minerva's too old, I think."
"How about Maggie? She's more powerful than Snape," someone said. They all looked towards Maggie. She was shaking her head no.
"Guys, we can't just go up to him and say, 'hey want to duel me to prove your not some weakling?' We have to have a logical reason," she said, hoping to get out of it. She didn't want to beat the most known wizard in the world. It would ruin their hopes, and right now they needed every bit of hope they could get.
"Why don't you say it's a demonstration? You know, for his classes? We'll have someone duel Granger so it looks like we didn't just single him out. Get Weasly or someone like that. That will be interesting. And it will provide useful examples for the kids. They'll learn how to properly duel." Sarah, the ringleader of this whole project, looked excited and smiled viciously. She was really getting into it. Maggie wondered why she even wanted to do this anyway. It was sure to ruin public morale. This just wasn't going to get them anywhere. Maggie truly felt sorry for Harry. He was just a normal wizard born unluckily into a life of fame and expectations, and this was just going to humiliate him.
~~~~****~~~~
Harry wiped the sweat off his brow and walked into his room, exhausted. He'd just returned from another mission. He'd found two Aurors that had been stranded and left for dead without their wands. They were barely alive when he found them, and he hoped they would survive the night.
He heard a knock on the door. With a small flick of his hand, his clothes were clean and unwrinkled and the dirt and bits of blood were gone from his elbow. There had been vicious scorpions. He went over to the door and opened it, surprised to find one of the younger professors, a couple years ahead of him. He couldn't quite remember her name, Megan or Molly, or--
"Harry, I'm Maggie, remember? I help out with the charms' classes?" Oh yeah, her name was Maggie. He wondered what she wanted.
"Can I come in for a second?" she asked. He nodded and stepped out of the way, allowing her to come into his room.
"Listen, I just want to warn you about something. Some of the professors feel that the children would benefit from a duel, so they can see how it works, and they've chosen Hermione, Ron, you and I to demonstrate. Hermione and Ron will go first, and then you and I."
Harry nodded patiently, wondering what the warning was about.
"I just wanted to let you know so you could prepare or something," she said quickly, her voice implying something else. Harry held back a biting remark-she thought she was going to walk all over him!
"Thanks for the warning," he said. She nodded, like she'd done him some huge favor, and left quickly. Harry quickly called Hermione through the fireplace.
"Mione, come here for a second, you won't believe what I was just told," he said.
He waited for her to come to his room, and when she knocked, he found Ron with her as well. Both looked extremely agitated at something.
"I was just informed that I'm going to duel er-Maggie, that's her name-next week sometime. It's supposed to be a demonstration for our classes." He relayed the rest of the conversation to them, and the angry look in Hermione's eyes flared up again.
"I'll bet you anything that horrid Toombs woman is behind this. We just came from a particularly frustrating staff meeting, which by the way, you missed."
Harry's looked darkened. "I was busy."
"Well, anyways, it revolved mostly around you." She explained what had happened at the meeting, and Harry was shocked to find that Snape was standing up for him.
"Snape? As in our evil greasy-haired potions professor? Hmmm, very ironic. He's the first person to do so." An angry look came onto his face, which was quickly wiped away and replaced by a cheerful one.
"So, dinner anyone? I'm bloody hungry," he said, leaving two guilty friends behind.
Dinner was a tense affair, but no one, not even Harry, was prepared for what happened.
As the trio approached the staff table, all conversation fell silent. Harry acted as if nothing was going on, and went to sit by Snape. The professor looked shocked as Harry turned to talk to him.
"So, Snape, how were your classes today? Irritate anyone? No? Hmm, guess you were too busy defending me. Thanks for that, by the way," he said, good-naturedly. Snape just glared at him, which, for some reason, made Harry's smile wider. He turned to Malfoy, who was on the other side of him.
"How was the staff meeting?" he asked innocently. Malfoy choked on his food and started coughing.
"Fine, Potter," he said. Another voice stepped into the conversation.
"Of course, you wouldn't know because you were skiving off somewhere, Potter."
Harry's grin disappeared, and he turned to look at Toombs, who was standing over him.
"Why should I be present for a meeting where I don't talk?" he asked.
~~~~~
Hermione and Ron glanced over at their friend, who was now in a heated conversation with Toombs. Why he had chosen to sit with Malfoy and Snape baffled Ron. Who would willingly sit by both Slytherins? Ron caught part of their conversation.
"I have every right to talk to you like that," Harry said, angrily. "If it seems disrespectful, that's because it's meant to be. You can't demand respect, you earn it."
The whole time Hermione had know Toombs, which wasn't very long ('thankfully'), she had never seen the witch speechless. Toombs stuttered for a bit before glaring at Harry and changing the subject.
"You are under my supervision, Potter, and I would suggest you-" whatever she was going to suggest he do was interrupted by the slamming of the doors to the Great Hall. A large man with a red complexion stormed into the Great Hall, looking for someone.
"Where the hell is Harry Potter?"
~~~~~~
Harry groaned inwardly, this was not what he needed right now. What was Richard, his boss, doing at Hogwarts anyway? Wasn't he still supposed to be in America?
"Who are you and what do you need with Harry Potter?" Minerva asked cautiously.
"I'm Rich, supervisor of the ALA. I need to speak with him," he said, his face getting redder.
"What would the ALA want with Potter?" asked Toombs viciously. The ALA was the American League of Aurors, the best group of Aurors around the world (besides those left at Hogwarts). They were responsible for nearly seventy percent of all Death Eaters captured or killed. The Aurors in the ALA were recruited from all over the world, so technically they weren't the 'American' group of Aurors.
Richard had spotted Harry and totally ignored Toombs, which seemed to irritate her greatly.
"Potter, we need to speak. Privately," he added. Toombs cleared her throat loudly, and Harry's boss turned around, as if he just remembered she was there. Then, much to Harry's dismay, he got an evil gleam in his eyes. Harry let his temper get the best of him.
"I think, Sarah," Harry said, almost spitting her name, "that this is a matter between 'Rich' and I. It is, if I may say so, none of your bloody business." Harry glared at Toombs, and then his boss, who was surveying the situation with humor.
"What do you mean 'what would the ALA want with Potter'? He's the head Auror!"