Author's Note: Keep your eyes on Jack Towers. And don't think you've
figured him out: you haven't. He is both dark and light, as you could see.
Both of them. The Red Dragons Order suggested he was a vampire. Maybe yes,
maybe no, maybe. maybe something else. 50 points to whoever guesses who -or
what- he is! -hey, this is good! Maybe I should try having a contest here!
Yeah, on points. Oh, never mind, nobody will guess Towers anyway. But it's
a good idea for the future. Tell me what you think-
Towers' my favorite character in many of my stories and just couldn't see this story without him. Keep your eyes on him: it's worth it.
Oh, and Harry isn't gay. This is not SLASH.
Chapter 13: Defence beyond Defence
Towers put his other hand on Harry's other shoulder and leaned towards the petrified boy. When their faces were ten centimeters apart, the Professor whispered:
"I will teach you many things, Harry. because I like you."
Harry's mind stopped.
"And I don't want to see you dead, Harry!" whispered Towers, his face even closer to Harry's, mouth nearly touching his, breath on his lips.
A few more millimeters and Harry felt the man's lips on his own.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" he yelled and jumped from the chair, pulling his wand out of his pocket.
Towers was looking at him. smiling. He clapped his hands once and the light went on, hurting Harry's eyes.
"And you shall be easy to teach, you have good control of yourself and a certain. thirst for knowledge."
"What are you doing?!" Harry asked and Towers looked at him weirdly.
"Testing you. You show great courage, Harry. And fear cannot bring you down completely, I see. At first I was disappointed, but now I understand. When you have nothing to lose, then you show your real strength. A brave lion, I would say."
"What?" Harry's head was spinning. What on Earth was going on? Why did the Professor try to kiss him and now act as if. as if. nothing had happened?
"It was a test, Harry. Nor more, nor less. I tested your capability to face fear. Your intuition, I've heard, has done you great good in the past and so will it now."
"Why did you."
"Act as if I were going to kiss you?!" Towers said and burst into laughter. "It was part of the test. Quite ingenious I'd say. If I attacked you, you'd be in a situation you were in before. You'd know what to do. You have dueled Voldemort what. 3 times?! And survived encountering him. 5 times, if you count the last. And you fought with Death Eaters. So, attack was out of question. Dementors you can handle and you saw that before, so out of question. It had to be something you definitely had not encountered before. And my choice was best, in my opinion. You know, I should write an article about this: 'What Would You Do if Your Teacher Wanted to Kiss You and He Would Be of the Same Sex and You'd be Straight'. No,. too long for a title, don't you think?"
Harry was half listening. He still had his wand in his hand. His teacher was again acting as if nothing serious had happened. He was babbling now, seeming to have lost contact with reality. Who was the man? And what was up with him? How could he just change his personality from a second to another? How could he be so menacing this moment and so harmless the other? How could he sound so serious and then babble about. what was it? Oh, yeah, stupid articles.
"Leave your wand down, Harry, I won't hurt you. Or do anything you wouldn't want to be done to you. And just to assure you, I'm straight. I really am. I know I can be convincing at some moments" Towers said and grinned. "I might not have a girlfriend at the moment, but still."
Harry stared at him and lowered his wand, but still didn't let go of it.
"Thanks. So, Harry, I'm glad you're here, I wanted to teach you some things. I was serious about that part, although I doubt you really heard me."
"What do you want to teach me?"
"Many things. About magic that is a bit deeper than these things you learn at school. So, tell me, Harry, do you know any objects that are a legend to the wizard kind?"
Harry took a while to think. Not only about the question, but about the weirdness of Towers.
"The Philosopher's Stone" he answered, deciding that it had been long enough for the Professor to consider him a total retarded person.
"Good. I do believe you rescued it, didn't you? It has been destroyed, I do believe. Do you know what it did?"
"It could transform metal into gold. And it could be used to create the Elixir of Life." What did this have to do with anything????
"What does the Elixir do?"
"It makes the one who drinks it immortal." And what the hell was Towers' talking about? What was up with magical objects? Hello, teacher! You just tried to kiss me!!!
"Yes and yet not quite. It makes your life longer. Of course, if you keep taking it, you become immortal. Do you know any other object?"
Harry thought about it. Oh, well, he might just go with Towers. so, an object. The Green Flame Torch! But he wasn't going to mention it, since he wasn't supposed to know about it. But still, what the hell was up with the Professor?
"Well, do you?"
"No"
Towers looked at him and Harry felt as if he was x-rayed. Then, he smiled.
"Have you heard of Golden Amulets?"
"Yes" Harry remembered. He also had one!
"What do they do?"
"Umm. Well."
"Um.Well. you don't have the slightest idea" concluded Towers. "No problem. You're not going to lose anything if you say you don't. They glow red when there is danger around their barer. And they summon great light forces if you are in great need."
Harry suddenly remembered Hermione saying this.
"Can.can you tell if one is real or not?" He asked.
"I think I could. And I think I'm not greatly mistaking when I guess you have one yourself."
Harry stared at him. How did he know? Towers smiled and continued:
"I should know. It was a good friend of mine that sold them to you. They are real. He also stuck around you long enough to hear your friend say that real ones valued at least ten times the price."
Harry gaped.
"And your friend was wrong, Harry. They're worth at least two-hundred times the price. And these ones even more."
"Why?"
"I know the force they serve. It is not one that helps mortals easily. But they were given to you as gifts. A small price was needed. As a symbol. Wear them and convince your friends to wear them too. They might help."
Harry nodded.
"Oh, sit down." Towers said, noticing that they were still standing. He took the chair Harry sat down on and placed it in front of his desk and then sat down behind it. "And make yourself comfortable." Yeah, as if that was possible when your teacher is acting like at least two different people!
Harry sat down and looked at Towers. He slowly put his wand back in his pocket.
"Now, Harry. I know you've heard of the Green Flame Torch."
O.K., this was annoying. Did this man know everything?!
"Do you know what it does?"
"It keeps evil away and helps fight against it."
"More or less. It keeps darkness away from it through its light power. It can only be found by the good side. It will only serve good. But it can be destroyed by evil. An evil person, powerful enough to do it. Would you happen to know one?"
"Voldemort." Harry said in a whisper.
"Correct! But he can't find it. He's evil, it won't let itself be found by him. But if it is found, it can be seen by any person and it can be destroyed."
"How can it hide?"
"Ah, Harry. Everything in this world is alive. Even death is. The thing that depends is how conscious is the thing and in what way. The Green Flame Torch is quite conscious. Of course, you will never be able to talk to it or understand it. But it is alive and it knows who is good and who is evil and it can hide itself or un-hide itself."
"Aha." Harry said, not quite understanding.
"The one who has found it will be able to summon it from nearly anywhere -well, in certain limits, actually, but they are very large-, if it isn't entrapped with spells and from the same room or twenty meters in diameter if it is entrapped."
"And how can it help?"
"In many ways, Harry. It could make your spells stronger, or cast a shield over you, or carry you away from danger. It can do many things, but not without you telling it. And after it feels its job is over, it will disappear."
"Just like that?"
"Let's just say that when you go to bed at night, it's still there and wake up it isn't. Or that it disappears when you use it the last time."
Harry looked at him weird.
"I want you to call your friends tomorrow. This will not be detention, this will be special training. My heart tells me that you will need it. Of course, Harry, trouble seems to like you very much, so it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone if you get into it again. I will teach the great arts of war and battle." He looked at him and sighed. "God knows I've been in enough to know how it goes."
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
The next morning, Harry got up and woke up Ron. He had told him, Hermione and Amala all about the detention he had had and Hermione suggested that everybody who had been in the 'rescue party' at the end of the last year should go there. And that maybe even Amala should join.
Amala was just telling them about her meeting with Snape.
"The man is a block of ice." She said and sighed. "I wish he'd stop looking at me with his usual glare."
"Now you're wishing for the impossible" commented Ron.
"Yeah, I do know he's a greasy git and all that, but still."
"Oh, don't worry" Hermione said, trying to comfort her. "And have a bit of patience."
"Yeah" continued Ron, "he's a greasy git, you've said it yourself, and he has absolutely no idea that people actually have hearts out here. Come on, even his name involves snapping."
"A greasy git, yes, but a nice greasy git. With a killing glare and a rock heart and slimy hair and always snapping. A nice horrible monster" she laughed, remembering some of the names Snape had been called.
"Ah, Mrs. Wright" she heard from behind and froze in the spot. "How nice to see you here"
They turned, horror stricken, seeing the 'greasy git' right in front of them. He was looking angry and his voice had been dark and menacing. Like the person in front of them.
"Forty points from Gryffindor. And see you in tonight's detention, Mrs. Wright" he added and walked away, robes fluttering behind him, making him look like an awful large bat.
"Oh, no" Amala said and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Oh, no, oh no, oh no!"
"You're in trouble" said Ron.
"Deep trouble" added Harry.
"Very deep trouble. He thinks you're making fun of him" said Hermione.
Amala tried to compose her face so that it wouldn't be horror-stricken and then walked to the Great Hall, nobody able to comfort her.
/*/*/*/*
They ate breakfast and went for their classes. They had Defence that morning and everybody was eager to find out what Towers had planned for them. They entered the classroom and he was already there.
"Good morning, class!" he said and smiled. "Today, many of you may be facing their worst fears in their class!"
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Lockhart had said something along the same lines and he was a horrifyingly bad teacher. Towers also had a covered cage and Harry and Ron started wondering if the man would also show them Cornish pixies.
"No, wait, that was the speech for the third years. Oops." He said and chuckled. "I was going to show them a Boggart."
Draco was looking weird at Towers and Harry recalled that he had had a detention with Towers too, probably after he had left. He wondered what the blonde Slytherin had done in his detention.
"But many of you may fear this creature" he said as they sat down in their benches. "Behold a creature of the dark! Behold a death bringer! Behold a Necrow!" He said and pulled the cover off the cage. Inside there was a black, ugly bird with reptilian skin.
Towers smiled darkly and said:
"This bird calls the name of the ones that will die in the next three months. You could call it a dark Seer."
The classroom shivered. It seemed to be cooler in the classroom. The bird looked like Death itself, with that awful black skin and small, red eyes. It gave a few screeches like a strangled child, sending chills down their backs. Then it looked at Towers and he smiled evilly, his eyes shinning with something Harry couldn't describe. maybe madness. Harry watched it turn its head towards the classroom and knew what would happen. His heart gave a painful throb. The bird's eyes were looking evilly at everybody in the class.
Its eyes scouted the classroom, slowly, under Tower's more and more evil look and smile. There. Malfoy. Crabbe. Goyle. Blaise. it's look had passed Neville and was coming to him. Seamus, Ron.him.
"Harry Potter" it said in a voice that sounded like a strangled child. The classroom stared at Harry in shock and he gulped. Then, it looked at Hermione and said in the same voice: "Hermione Granger"
She started shaking badly. The class looked at Towers, who had a very evil smile on his face. His eyes were narrowed and he looked like an angel of death.
"So, it is the two of you that shall die in the next three months. Be sure to meet me on the other side, mortals!" his voice was dark and dangerous. "I will be there to witness your weakness and fear, be sure of that. And I shall lead you into despair and hell. Ask for the demon of fear."
Hermione stood there on the edge of fainting and Harry just stared at the man. His glare was nearly unbearable. Then, suddenly, his eyes relaxed and his smile changed into a large grin and then into a happy laughter.
"Gods, I love scaring the hell out of people! Calm down, kids, you're going to be fine. It's just my sadistic sense of humor. Now, please relax. I'm no demon of fear and I've never been in death, I just like to scare people. Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Harry and Hermione let their breaths out. How could anybody joke about that?! And what was with the names???
"The Necrows are very powerful birds with great intelligence. They attack quickly and try to confuse and maybe even kill their opponent. Now, they call names to scare the ones around and they choose the ones that they would attack. Usually, those ones are the ones who have had encounters with darkness and yet are still white and are a threat to it. It is a simple reason, actually. The Necrows were created by dark wizards to kill their enemies, but the birds would eventually be killed, since it was easier to get rid of them in those times. So, they taught them to attack the ones that were of a greater danger and then fly out. Eventually, some Necrows escaped and started to breed in the wild and to grow in power, becoming quite dangerous and independent."
They all looked at the bird, who was staring at them with its great, red eyes, now and then giving small screeches. Towers opened his mouth to continue, but the door of the classroom opened and they heard Snape's voice:
"Mr. Towers, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with you."
"Of course, Professor Snape. Be good and try not to tempt the Necrow"
Towers got out the classroom and the bird gave a few screeches.
"What a weird-looking thing!" Harry said, looking at the caged creature. "Ugly, too"
"No kidding, mate?" asked Ron, looking at it.
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
That night, a rather large group was going towards Tower's classroom. Harry had announced everybody who had been on the 'rescue mission' last year and Amala to come, but Amala had to decline because of her detention with Snape.
"It's actually the first time I actually fear it" she said and then left.
So, now Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny were heading towards the classroom.
The door was closed and Harry knocked gently.
"Come in, children" they heard Towers from inside.
Harry entered first and his look circled the room. Towers was arranging some papers.
"Good evening!" he said, after they all entered and greeted him. "Nice to see you all! Well, I've heard that you dueled quite a few Death Seekers last year" he said and giggled. "That takes power, preparation and courage. Thank you Harry for maintaining the level of a few students up with DA."
"You know about that?" Harry asked, shocked. Or, maybe, he wasn't so shocked. The man seemed to know everything, in a Dumbledore way, or even better.
"I know many things" came the reply. "Well, thank you. Here you will learn more than in class. Consider this.private lessons. I will call the best of all years here. Even the first years, even the last. I hope you don't mind."
The others looked at him weird. It was his idea, he could call whomever he wanted. Couldn't he?
"I will train you for I am afraid that your journey into the dark is far from finished."
"How do you know?" Harry asked and slightly noticed how the man started talking a bit like in the books with old kings and knights when he was talking about certain things.
"As I said, I know many things. And many of them are from sources I couldn't tell."
"Aha." Harry said, not understanding
Towers smiled.
"Please take your wands out."
/*-/*-/*-/*-
Oh, well, this is it. A whole chapter basically about Towers. It won't happen again. Or will it? Well, I'll have to check how much I want to write about that part. Yeeees.. Does it deserve a chapter? Hmmm, probably. Yes, a chapter will do.
Well, I'm done teasing :-). And I'm starting to talk about something else: how's weather? -Stupid question, I know :-)- I start thinking about this whole 'Global Warming Process'. I think they might be right, with one exception: hello, meteorologists around the world! It was SNOWING here a few days ago and it's supposed to be autumn. Fall. As in hot enough to wear light clothing -or at least relatively light- and a perfect weather to pick up apples. You know, at the middle of October!
Could you imagine the surprise you have one morning when you wake up and look out the window and see snow? Especially since the meteorologists said it would be hot weather until November, at least? Of course, here they also said that the weather will be cooling gradually. As a great friend of mine said: "But it did cool gradually! From one day to another". Kind of a, since there were at least 20 degrees outside in one day and the most ten in the other.
So, it snowed here for one night, now it's gone. It wasn't a thick layer. But still.
So, you're probably wondering why I'm writing this, eh? It's because, being a writer -even amateur one- gives you a lot of freedom. You can even babble about weather for a while! *chuckles*. So, I hope all of you are fine. -Gods this sounds like a letter-. And if you think that this Author's Note is the least bit peculiar, please keep in mind that I've wrote this at 11 P.M. So, please forgive the authoress who becomes very talkative -or should I say writative- in the evenings.
So, moving to my favorite part: the thanks. Please review, even if it is just to say 'I've read it'. It's a great feeling.
So, thank you: Naomie: Thank you for reviewing. Yes, maybe I'll fit Lucius in this somehow.
The Red Dragons Order: Towers? Vampire? Hmmm, I'll have to consider. Oh, and Akvar said he sent it to you. You don't want the quote.
Meggs: Well, I'm glad you like it and I will keep up the evil.
Towers' my favorite character in many of my stories and just couldn't see this story without him. Keep your eyes on him: it's worth it.
Oh, and Harry isn't gay. This is not SLASH.
Chapter 13: Defence beyond Defence
Towers put his other hand on Harry's other shoulder and leaned towards the petrified boy. When their faces were ten centimeters apart, the Professor whispered:
"I will teach you many things, Harry. because I like you."
Harry's mind stopped.
"And I don't want to see you dead, Harry!" whispered Towers, his face even closer to Harry's, mouth nearly touching his, breath on his lips.
A few more millimeters and Harry felt the man's lips on his own.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" he yelled and jumped from the chair, pulling his wand out of his pocket.
Towers was looking at him. smiling. He clapped his hands once and the light went on, hurting Harry's eyes.
"And you shall be easy to teach, you have good control of yourself and a certain. thirst for knowledge."
"What are you doing?!" Harry asked and Towers looked at him weirdly.
"Testing you. You show great courage, Harry. And fear cannot bring you down completely, I see. At first I was disappointed, but now I understand. When you have nothing to lose, then you show your real strength. A brave lion, I would say."
"What?" Harry's head was spinning. What on Earth was going on? Why did the Professor try to kiss him and now act as if. as if. nothing had happened?
"It was a test, Harry. Nor more, nor less. I tested your capability to face fear. Your intuition, I've heard, has done you great good in the past and so will it now."
"Why did you."
"Act as if I were going to kiss you?!" Towers said and burst into laughter. "It was part of the test. Quite ingenious I'd say. If I attacked you, you'd be in a situation you were in before. You'd know what to do. You have dueled Voldemort what. 3 times?! And survived encountering him. 5 times, if you count the last. And you fought with Death Eaters. So, attack was out of question. Dementors you can handle and you saw that before, so out of question. It had to be something you definitely had not encountered before. And my choice was best, in my opinion. You know, I should write an article about this: 'What Would You Do if Your Teacher Wanted to Kiss You and He Would Be of the Same Sex and You'd be Straight'. No,. too long for a title, don't you think?"
Harry was half listening. He still had his wand in his hand. His teacher was again acting as if nothing serious had happened. He was babbling now, seeming to have lost contact with reality. Who was the man? And what was up with him? How could he just change his personality from a second to another? How could he be so menacing this moment and so harmless the other? How could he sound so serious and then babble about. what was it? Oh, yeah, stupid articles.
"Leave your wand down, Harry, I won't hurt you. Or do anything you wouldn't want to be done to you. And just to assure you, I'm straight. I really am. I know I can be convincing at some moments" Towers said and grinned. "I might not have a girlfriend at the moment, but still."
Harry stared at him and lowered his wand, but still didn't let go of it.
"Thanks. So, Harry, I'm glad you're here, I wanted to teach you some things. I was serious about that part, although I doubt you really heard me."
"What do you want to teach me?"
"Many things. About magic that is a bit deeper than these things you learn at school. So, tell me, Harry, do you know any objects that are a legend to the wizard kind?"
Harry took a while to think. Not only about the question, but about the weirdness of Towers.
"The Philosopher's Stone" he answered, deciding that it had been long enough for the Professor to consider him a total retarded person.
"Good. I do believe you rescued it, didn't you? It has been destroyed, I do believe. Do you know what it did?"
"It could transform metal into gold. And it could be used to create the Elixir of Life." What did this have to do with anything????
"What does the Elixir do?"
"It makes the one who drinks it immortal." And what the hell was Towers' talking about? What was up with magical objects? Hello, teacher! You just tried to kiss me!!!
"Yes and yet not quite. It makes your life longer. Of course, if you keep taking it, you become immortal. Do you know any other object?"
Harry thought about it. Oh, well, he might just go with Towers. so, an object. The Green Flame Torch! But he wasn't going to mention it, since he wasn't supposed to know about it. But still, what the hell was up with the Professor?
"Well, do you?"
"No"
Towers looked at him and Harry felt as if he was x-rayed. Then, he smiled.
"Have you heard of Golden Amulets?"
"Yes" Harry remembered. He also had one!
"What do they do?"
"Umm. Well."
"Um.Well. you don't have the slightest idea" concluded Towers. "No problem. You're not going to lose anything if you say you don't. They glow red when there is danger around their barer. And they summon great light forces if you are in great need."
Harry suddenly remembered Hermione saying this.
"Can.can you tell if one is real or not?" He asked.
"I think I could. And I think I'm not greatly mistaking when I guess you have one yourself."
Harry stared at him. How did he know? Towers smiled and continued:
"I should know. It was a good friend of mine that sold them to you. They are real. He also stuck around you long enough to hear your friend say that real ones valued at least ten times the price."
Harry gaped.
"And your friend was wrong, Harry. They're worth at least two-hundred times the price. And these ones even more."
"Why?"
"I know the force they serve. It is not one that helps mortals easily. But they were given to you as gifts. A small price was needed. As a symbol. Wear them and convince your friends to wear them too. They might help."
Harry nodded.
"Oh, sit down." Towers said, noticing that they were still standing. He took the chair Harry sat down on and placed it in front of his desk and then sat down behind it. "And make yourself comfortable." Yeah, as if that was possible when your teacher is acting like at least two different people!
Harry sat down and looked at Towers. He slowly put his wand back in his pocket.
"Now, Harry. I know you've heard of the Green Flame Torch."
O.K., this was annoying. Did this man know everything?!
"Do you know what it does?"
"It keeps evil away and helps fight against it."
"More or less. It keeps darkness away from it through its light power. It can only be found by the good side. It will only serve good. But it can be destroyed by evil. An evil person, powerful enough to do it. Would you happen to know one?"
"Voldemort." Harry said in a whisper.
"Correct! But he can't find it. He's evil, it won't let itself be found by him. But if it is found, it can be seen by any person and it can be destroyed."
"How can it hide?"
"Ah, Harry. Everything in this world is alive. Even death is. The thing that depends is how conscious is the thing and in what way. The Green Flame Torch is quite conscious. Of course, you will never be able to talk to it or understand it. But it is alive and it knows who is good and who is evil and it can hide itself or un-hide itself."
"Aha." Harry said, not quite understanding.
"The one who has found it will be able to summon it from nearly anywhere -well, in certain limits, actually, but they are very large-, if it isn't entrapped with spells and from the same room or twenty meters in diameter if it is entrapped."
"And how can it help?"
"In many ways, Harry. It could make your spells stronger, or cast a shield over you, or carry you away from danger. It can do many things, but not without you telling it. And after it feels its job is over, it will disappear."
"Just like that?"
"Let's just say that when you go to bed at night, it's still there and wake up it isn't. Or that it disappears when you use it the last time."
Harry looked at him weird.
"I want you to call your friends tomorrow. This will not be detention, this will be special training. My heart tells me that you will need it. Of course, Harry, trouble seems to like you very much, so it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone if you get into it again. I will teach the great arts of war and battle." He looked at him and sighed. "God knows I've been in enough to know how it goes."
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
The next morning, Harry got up and woke up Ron. He had told him, Hermione and Amala all about the detention he had had and Hermione suggested that everybody who had been in the 'rescue party' at the end of the last year should go there. And that maybe even Amala should join.
Amala was just telling them about her meeting with Snape.
"The man is a block of ice." She said and sighed. "I wish he'd stop looking at me with his usual glare."
"Now you're wishing for the impossible" commented Ron.
"Yeah, I do know he's a greasy git and all that, but still."
"Oh, don't worry" Hermione said, trying to comfort her. "And have a bit of patience."
"Yeah" continued Ron, "he's a greasy git, you've said it yourself, and he has absolutely no idea that people actually have hearts out here. Come on, even his name involves snapping."
"A greasy git, yes, but a nice greasy git. With a killing glare and a rock heart and slimy hair and always snapping. A nice horrible monster" she laughed, remembering some of the names Snape had been called.
"Ah, Mrs. Wright" she heard from behind and froze in the spot. "How nice to see you here"
They turned, horror stricken, seeing the 'greasy git' right in front of them. He was looking angry and his voice had been dark and menacing. Like the person in front of them.
"Forty points from Gryffindor. And see you in tonight's detention, Mrs. Wright" he added and walked away, robes fluttering behind him, making him look like an awful large bat.
"Oh, no" Amala said and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Oh, no, oh no, oh no!"
"You're in trouble" said Ron.
"Deep trouble" added Harry.
"Very deep trouble. He thinks you're making fun of him" said Hermione.
Amala tried to compose her face so that it wouldn't be horror-stricken and then walked to the Great Hall, nobody able to comfort her.
/*/*/*/*
They ate breakfast and went for their classes. They had Defence that morning and everybody was eager to find out what Towers had planned for them. They entered the classroom and he was already there.
"Good morning, class!" he said and smiled. "Today, many of you may be facing their worst fears in their class!"
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Lockhart had said something along the same lines and he was a horrifyingly bad teacher. Towers also had a covered cage and Harry and Ron started wondering if the man would also show them Cornish pixies.
"No, wait, that was the speech for the third years. Oops." He said and chuckled. "I was going to show them a Boggart."
Draco was looking weird at Towers and Harry recalled that he had had a detention with Towers too, probably after he had left. He wondered what the blonde Slytherin had done in his detention.
"But many of you may fear this creature" he said as they sat down in their benches. "Behold a creature of the dark! Behold a death bringer! Behold a Necrow!" He said and pulled the cover off the cage. Inside there was a black, ugly bird with reptilian skin.
Towers smiled darkly and said:
"This bird calls the name of the ones that will die in the next three months. You could call it a dark Seer."
The classroom shivered. It seemed to be cooler in the classroom. The bird looked like Death itself, with that awful black skin and small, red eyes. It gave a few screeches like a strangled child, sending chills down their backs. Then it looked at Towers and he smiled evilly, his eyes shinning with something Harry couldn't describe. maybe madness. Harry watched it turn its head towards the classroom and knew what would happen. His heart gave a painful throb. The bird's eyes were looking evilly at everybody in the class.
Its eyes scouted the classroom, slowly, under Tower's more and more evil look and smile. There. Malfoy. Crabbe. Goyle. Blaise. it's look had passed Neville and was coming to him. Seamus, Ron.him.
"Harry Potter" it said in a voice that sounded like a strangled child. The classroom stared at Harry in shock and he gulped. Then, it looked at Hermione and said in the same voice: "Hermione Granger"
She started shaking badly. The class looked at Towers, who had a very evil smile on his face. His eyes were narrowed and he looked like an angel of death.
"So, it is the two of you that shall die in the next three months. Be sure to meet me on the other side, mortals!" his voice was dark and dangerous. "I will be there to witness your weakness and fear, be sure of that. And I shall lead you into despair and hell. Ask for the demon of fear."
Hermione stood there on the edge of fainting and Harry just stared at the man. His glare was nearly unbearable. Then, suddenly, his eyes relaxed and his smile changed into a large grin and then into a happy laughter.
"Gods, I love scaring the hell out of people! Calm down, kids, you're going to be fine. It's just my sadistic sense of humor. Now, please relax. I'm no demon of fear and I've never been in death, I just like to scare people. Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Harry and Hermione let their breaths out. How could anybody joke about that?! And what was with the names???
"The Necrows are very powerful birds with great intelligence. They attack quickly and try to confuse and maybe even kill their opponent. Now, they call names to scare the ones around and they choose the ones that they would attack. Usually, those ones are the ones who have had encounters with darkness and yet are still white and are a threat to it. It is a simple reason, actually. The Necrows were created by dark wizards to kill their enemies, but the birds would eventually be killed, since it was easier to get rid of them in those times. So, they taught them to attack the ones that were of a greater danger and then fly out. Eventually, some Necrows escaped and started to breed in the wild and to grow in power, becoming quite dangerous and independent."
They all looked at the bird, who was staring at them with its great, red eyes, now and then giving small screeches. Towers opened his mouth to continue, but the door of the classroom opened and they heard Snape's voice:
"Mr. Towers, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with you."
"Of course, Professor Snape. Be good and try not to tempt the Necrow"
Towers got out the classroom and the bird gave a few screeches.
"What a weird-looking thing!" Harry said, looking at the caged creature. "Ugly, too"
"No kidding, mate?" asked Ron, looking at it.
/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-
That night, a rather large group was going towards Tower's classroom. Harry had announced everybody who had been on the 'rescue mission' last year and Amala to come, but Amala had to decline because of her detention with Snape.
"It's actually the first time I actually fear it" she said and then left.
So, now Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny were heading towards the classroom.
The door was closed and Harry knocked gently.
"Come in, children" they heard Towers from inside.
Harry entered first and his look circled the room. Towers was arranging some papers.
"Good evening!" he said, after they all entered and greeted him. "Nice to see you all! Well, I've heard that you dueled quite a few Death Seekers last year" he said and giggled. "That takes power, preparation and courage. Thank you Harry for maintaining the level of a few students up with DA."
"You know about that?" Harry asked, shocked. Or, maybe, he wasn't so shocked. The man seemed to know everything, in a Dumbledore way, or even better.
"I know many things" came the reply. "Well, thank you. Here you will learn more than in class. Consider this.private lessons. I will call the best of all years here. Even the first years, even the last. I hope you don't mind."
The others looked at him weird. It was his idea, he could call whomever he wanted. Couldn't he?
"I will train you for I am afraid that your journey into the dark is far from finished."
"How do you know?" Harry asked and slightly noticed how the man started talking a bit like in the books with old kings and knights when he was talking about certain things.
"As I said, I know many things. And many of them are from sources I couldn't tell."
"Aha." Harry said, not understanding
Towers smiled.
"Please take your wands out."
/*-/*-/*-/*-
Oh, well, this is it. A whole chapter basically about Towers. It won't happen again. Or will it? Well, I'll have to check how much I want to write about that part. Yeeees.. Does it deserve a chapter? Hmmm, probably. Yes, a chapter will do.
Well, I'm done teasing :-). And I'm starting to talk about something else: how's weather? -Stupid question, I know :-)- I start thinking about this whole 'Global Warming Process'. I think they might be right, with one exception: hello, meteorologists around the world! It was SNOWING here a few days ago and it's supposed to be autumn. Fall. As in hot enough to wear light clothing -or at least relatively light- and a perfect weather to pick up apples. You know, at the middle of October!
Could you imagine the surprise you have one morning when you wake up and look out the window and see snow? Especially since the meteorologists said it would be hot weather until November, at least? Of course, here they also said that the weather will be cooling gradually. As a great friend of mine said: "But it did cool gradually! From one day to another". Kind of a, since there were at least 20 degrees outside in one day and the most ten in the other.
So, it snowed here for one night, now it's gone. It wasn't a thick layer. But still.
So, you're probably wondering why I'm writing this, eh? It's because, being a writer -even amateur one- gives you a lot of freedom. You can even babble about weather for a while! *chuckles*. So, I hope all of you are fine. -Gods this sounds like a letter-. And if you think that this Author's Note is the least bit peculiar, please keep in mind that I've wrote this at 11 P.M. So, please forgive the authoress who becomes very talkative -or should I say writative- in the evenings.
So, moving to my favorite part: the thanks. Please review, even if it is just to say 'I've read it'. It's a great feeling.
So, thank you: Naomie: Thank you for reviewing. Yes, maybe I'll fit Lucius in this somehow.
The Red Dragons Order: Towers? Vampire? Hmmm, I'll have to consider. Oh, and Akvar said he sent it to you. You don't want the quote.
Meggs: Well, I'm glad you like it and I will keep up the evil.