Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize!
A/N: I know, I know, long, much too long wait… But I've just entered medical school, and let's just say that between the lessons and the amount of work needed to make it through the first year… Well, I'm lucky if I can take fifteen minutes a day to write…
Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter. Thanks to everyone one of you who reviewed this story and for your patience with little me. Thanks too to The Red Dragon Order for helping me. Go read her stories, it's great!
Well, not a lot more to say, besides enjoy!
Naia
Chapter SixteenThe past two weeks had been hard on Harry. The four founders had imposed him an heavy schedule that left him completely exhausted in the night, only to be woken up at dawn. Even if he now knew the ways and customs of this time period, he had to get used to a few a them. The clothes to begin with were different, the language was archaic and he had to be careful as the most simple word could have hidden meanings…
His tutorial had been brutal. Fortunately he hadn't lost much of the fitness he had developed in Odyeus time, with his friends. He had seen a students from time to time, but had been careful so he wasn't seen. The founders had been categorical, nobody was to know he was there. He was leaving in a disaffected wing of the castle, Sheitan was placed in a far away paddock, but tonight was the last day of his tutorial. Thorough the whole course, Harry had been careful not to show any of his special abilities, reserving them for the lessons. Anyway, the tutorial had been centered on the abilities he was supposed to have in fifth year; at first he had believed it was going to be easy, but he soon realized that the Magic and incantations had evolved a lot between this time and his……… He had to relearn most of the things. What a joy! He looked around the room he had used for the past two weeks.
"Great, where are they now?" he sighed, as his eyes spotted a small roll of parchment. "What's this?…"
He took and unrolled it, reading it.
"Dear Harry, It's Harold now! I know! Then say it! But his name is Harry! Yes, but here, he's Harold. Oh shut up! It's Rowena now, since none of these babies seem able to write this note. Your tutorial is over, as you surely know. But to be sure you have learn everything you need, here is a small test to see to it. You have five seconds to get ready, but remember, no elemental magic."
Harry cursed as the roll burst into flame. He quickly took out his wand and transfigured a chair in a shield, and a quill laying nearby in a sword.
He was barely finished when the room around him shifted in a maze.
Immediately memories flooded back to him.
Fleur screaming, Krum, Crucio, the spider, the cup, Cedric……… He shook his head, this wasn't going to help him here.
Looking around carefully, he saw that two paths were in front of him. Examining them, he noticed that one them held animals' prints. He chose the one on his right, with the prints. If animals preferred to go this way, he'd trust their instincts. He walked fast and overcame a few obstacles, such as vicious looking plants, some of which he recognized, like the Devil's Snare, but others he hadn't seen before. By the end of the course, he had to defeat several beast, like Kappas, Grindylows, a troll, a bunch of Cornish pixies, a Quintaped…, answer the question of a sphinx which surprisingly were only about history, heal some of his injuries and a few creatures he met on his journey out, cross a room using different charms to attract, repel, freeze, warm, enlarge, reduce, avoid or throw different items, an other one which looked like a chessboard, the only difference being that there was no chess pieces, but that in order to reach the next square, you had to do an imposed transfiguration. Then he found himself in front of three doors, on which runes were printed. Each of them was the recipe of a potion. Before each door, stood ingredients and a cauldron, as well as a potion kit and scales.
Shrugging, Harry started to translate the runes. The first door was the recipe for an invisibility potion, the second one, for the Corhosai, a acidic draught which could go through anything, be it stone, metal, diamond… anything. And finally the last one was a strong healing potion.
Shrugging, Harry started the potions, beginning with the more difficult one. All of them could brewed in about half an hour.
Finally he was finished and the room shifted to a Dueling ring. A figure started to form, seeming to be made of smoke, it got more and more consistent as it comes nearer. Harry saw the figure was holding a gleaming sword and the young man had barely the time to unsheathed the one Godric had lent him, clumsily paring, He had had fencing lessons everyday for the past two weeks. His training with sticks when he was in the volcano with his friends during his time in Odyeus' period had paid of. It had helped him with his reflex, but he had never learned the basis of sword's handling, which was quite different from knife-throwing or dagger-fighting, with which he was already familiar. Archery was easier as he had already trained with some teachers in Odyeus' time and with the guards at Karkana, same thing for hand to hand fighting. But the sword was another story and two weeks were not enough to learn everything. He was grasping the rules quickly, but had to build his arms' muscle which weren't used to hold the weight of this weapon for a long time. But Harry's determination was set on achieving a good level at fencing, something which had pleased Godric a lot, even if Harry's fencing skills were basic for now, he could see a potential in his young descendant.
Sure enough, the smoke-figure didn't have a very good level, so that Harry could have a challenge without being crushed by his ethereal opponent. His forte was improvisation, and it was this skill which often gain him the upper hand in a fight. After an exchange of blows, he decided to use his knives, Godric nor one of the other founder having said nothing about using different weapons, but before he could take them, his opponent took advantage of his hesitation to strike and his sword flew away from him. The smoky figure dissolved, replaced by another one, holding a wand this time.
A bit disgruntled by his loss, Harry was nonetheless rejoiced to see this. Magical Dueling was quickly becoming his specialty. Year with the Dursleys had made sure that he wouldn't be very tall. His frame, while being an asset when it came to reflexes or speed, was a drawback when it came to fencing or other form of combat as he couldn't be as strong as his opponents. In hand to hand combat, it wasn't that important as he had been taught techniques where strength wasn't needed and where he could make the best use of his skills. But in fencing, strength was needed. In Magical Duels, it was down to knowledge, speed, reflexes and magical power. Harry had the speed, the reflexes, was developing his knowledge of curses, hexes, jinxes, their counters and the charms used to heal. And for the power thing, well let's just say that Harry had come to realize that raw magical power wasn't something he was lacking…
Shortly, he was deeply involved in his fight. The rush of adrenaline was overwhelming him.
"Expelliarmus! Confusa." He barely whispered the second curse, as he sent it immediately after the obvious disarming one. He was beginning to learn curse dissimulation. Sure, the Confusion charm wasn't invisible yet and he still had to achieve wordless curse-throwing, but he was still pleased with his progress.
The figure dodged the first one on the left, as Harry had been careful to send it with a slight angle to force him to move where his second curse would land. And as predicted, he was hit. His eyes went out of focus and he wobbled a bit. Immediately taking advantage of this, Harry whispered another incantation:
"Reverto wand."
He couldn't curse him directly as this particular charm, while disabling someone for a short time also made him immune to charms for the same time period.
The confusion hex started to wear of, as his opponent managed to dodge his stunning hex. He raised his wand, missing the look of anticipation from Harry.
"Petrifictus Totalus!"
But to Harry's glee, the curse instead of shooting him, left by the end of the wand held by his opponent. His curse had worked. He had simply inversed the wand, so that the curse was now leaving by the handle.
The figure dissolved and the room shifted to its usual state. Clapping startled him. He whirled on his heel only to seethe founder clapping and Merlin pouting.
"Good Harry, there are still place for improvement, but it's very good for only two weeks of work."
"Thank you," said the young wizard, pocketing his wand an d bowing slightly to salute them in the proper way.
"I still don't understand why you couldn't let me train him too…" said Merlin, acting like a small kid who had been denied his favorite toy.
"We discussed this before," sighed Helga, "Now, Harry, you're going to rest, tomorrow we'll introduce you to the school. As you know we had originally thought of leaving you out of a House, but it'll be easier for you to be integrated if you belonged to one of them. We placed you in Gryffindor, for obvious reasons." Harry nodded, relieved to know that he was going to go to bed.
"For the coming week, you won't have extra-lessons, to adapt. But they will start in exactly one week and no excuse allowed. Salazar will fetch you tomorrow morning," added Rowena.
"Since when?" asked the The Slytherin Head of House.
"Since now!" the woman snapped, daring him to contradict her.
"Alright, hold you horses…" the man muttered, glowering at his Ravenclaw counterpart.
"Good, now that's settled, off to bed!"
Bowing, Harry left the room and went straight to his quarters. He had been given his own rooms and would keep the for the duration of his stay because of his different schedule. It would be to hard to explain the reason for his need of training without giving things away. If there were areas like fencing where it could pass as tutoring, soon his dueling skills wouldn't allow this excuse in this particular subject.
He arrived to the portrait guarding his entrance. It was a painting showing the four founders with their wives or husbands and children. He had talked a bit with the picture and had learned a few things which had stopped him from asking too many questions.
Godric Gryffindor was married to Lady Leanne of Holters and had two sons, respectively nine and four. Lady Ravenclaw was married to Sir Derik of Eltos and had a seventeen-year old daughter also married. Helga was a widow as Sir Theran of Kard had died in a skirmish a few years earlier, leaving his domain to his wife and three children. Her twenty-year old son was taking care of the family land and of his siblings, a fifteen-year-old boy and a twelve-year old girl who were both attending Hogwarts. Finally, Salazar was also married to Kala of Ceridan and had a ten year-old daughter who was to come to the school next year and a five-year-old son. His rooms were done in rich color, each room supporting a House theme: the bathroom was done in Slytherin colors, the living room in Ravenclaw, his bedroom in Gryffindor and the small room he used to work in Hufflepuff.
He cast a spell on the small statue on his bedside to wake up early as he had to go train Sheitan. Falling asleep he couldn't suppress a small feeling of dread, his last stay in a school hadn't gone well as far as his relations with others were concerned… He tried to ignore the thought, but couldn't banish it completely.
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His sleep was peaceful. He had been plagued by nightmare during his first days at Odyeus' camp, but after a while they had come less and less often, to stop when he arrived at Karkana. If he was relieved to be spared from witnessing the tortures Voldemort was keen of, he was also cut from his only source of information of his time period. Coming back to Hogwarts had only amplified his homesickness. He missed his friends, Sirius, the Weasley, the Professors, hell, even Snape and Malfoy! As he woke up, he was a bit resentful towards Odyeus. After all, he was the reason of his abandoning his world and friend to Voldemort… As he got up and dressed, Harry vowed to find a way to contact his friends while being here…
He finished quickly and headed towards the paddock where Sheitan was staying. Until he was presented to the school, nobody was to see him nor Sheitan as the presence of the stallion would raise a lot of question. He had had a few close calls, but had avoided being seen. It took him about ten minutes to jog to his mount. The black stallion was waiting for him. Deciding against the tacks, Harry jumped lightly on the back of his four-leg friend and urged him forwards, keeping him in a comfortable walk to warm him up. Then some trot and small exercises and jumps and came the moment both of them were waiting for: Harry leaned forwards and directed him towards the forest where he had set up a small course. Small but difficult. It was a quick sequence of jumps, turns, walk down and up, with traps like fire balls shooting from nowhere, water cutting the way where you least expected it, rocks falling, branches pushed on the way by a strong wind… Harry had inspired himself from he race Dezer had made them do.
An hour later he was back to the paddock and taking care of Sheitan, brushing, cleaning him while checking for any injury. Satisfied, he let the stallion rest and eat, leaving him some water and food, before jogging back to the castle. He had to be more careful now as students were now up and around. He managed to slipped in his room and went straight to what was used as shower: a large tub, placed under an hole in the ceiling, magically sealed. Harry raised his wand and muttered the small charm Rowena had taught him:
"Wafella hot and quick"
Water fell on him and he wasted no time knowing that Salazar wasn't going to appreciate him being late.
He dressed in what was the Hogwarts attire here: black pants, black tunic with the symbol of his house, the neck and hems red to show his belonging in Gryffindor's House. Leather boots and belt, his wand tucked in his left sleeve and a sword hanging at his side. Until his training was over, he was to keep this one. He would find his true blade when he'd be ready to handle it. He made a move to place his glasses on his face, only to remember that he had had his vision corrected before. He quickly put his hair in a ponytail. He had grown used to this length and at least his hair more manageable like this, instead of the usual mop sticking in every direction he used to have. The only drawback was that he made his scar stand out… As he left the bathroom, he heard a knock on the door.
"Enter," he replied as he gathered the books and parchments needed for the day.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Good… Come on." Salazar motioned for Harry to follow him. The young wizard did so, without speaking, closing his portrait carefully behind him, before joining the founder who was waiting for him. As they walked, Harry pondered other the man. Salazar Slytherin was puzzling him. He was so paradoxical: one minute he was bickering with Godric Gryffindor like a four-year-old and the next one he was debating a magical theory with Rowena Ravenclaw. He was discreet about himself, sarcastic and witty. Harry had trouble linking this man with the terrible dark wizard history was depicting him as. He hadn't seen a trace of discrimination against Muggle-borns in his words either. Their arrival in front of the grand door of the Hall halted his thoughts as he grew quite nervous.
"Nervous?" asked Salazar.
"Yes," nodded Harry, knowing it was useless to deny.
"Let's go then."
He pushed the doors open with a bang, making Harry roll his eyes. The dark-haired young man added theatrical to his list of adjective for the Slytherin founder.
Harry was faced with a lot of curious faces who were starring at him. He fidgeted a bit. Looking around, he noticed there was a bit less students than in his time as the table seemed a bit smaller. But the other difference shocked him. There seems to be no rivalry. He could see that students were mixed at each table and he could see two Gryffindors sitting with a Slytherin for example! Something which was regarded as a joke in his time, where both Houses were reducing the contacts between them at the minimum possible.
"Students, a new student is joining us for a few months. He'll stay in Gryffindor's House for the duration of his stay. I trust you to help him fit in and welcome him." Rowena motioned to Harry to go sit at a table.
Not knowing where to sit, Harry looked around and saw a group of people waved at him: two Slytherins, one Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff. He went to sit at the open place near them, aware of the eyes of nearly everyone in the room on him.
One of the Slytherins, a boy with thin dark brown hair and grey eyes, offered his hand which Harry shook.
"I'm Andrew Mallon. This," he pointed to his House comrade, "is Catlin of Dorhs, the one on her right is Henry Ferg," he designated the dark auburn-haired, hazel-eyed Hufflepuff, "and this is Gina Callan." The light blond Ravenclaw looked at Harry with her dark bluish green eyes as she saluted him.
"I'm Harold MacCallister," answered Harry tentatively.
"Glad to meet you. Where are you from? Why did you come here? What do you like?" Gina was asking question after question, barely breathing between them.
Harry raised his eyebrow. The girl blushed.
"Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away…"
Turning to Henry, Harry saw him mouthing 'She always does that'.
"Well, I'm from England. I came here because my guardian had some business here and I had to tag along. I like flying, riding, and, to some extent, reading."
Andrew frowned.
"Why are you living with your guardian, couldn't you stay with your family?"
"They're all dead."
"Oh, sorry." Andrew seemed really upset at having asked about it.
"Don't worry, I was very young when they died and I don't really remember much," said Harry trying to ease his worry.
"Do you like it there?" asked Henry, changing the subject.
"Well, so far, it seemed quite good to me – even if I have a lot to catch up to, in particular in fencing. My guardian was quite wary of blades so I didn't get to learn a lot about their handling…"
"We'll help if you need, but most of the students here will give you a hand if you have a problem."
"So how is the school here?"
The four students launched themselves on a tirade about the classes and the teachers. Besides the four founders, who taught a class each: Rowena history, Helga Charms, Godric Defense, and Salazar Potions, there were several other people: Anne of Eltos, a cousin of Rowena's husband who taught Transfiguration; Philip of Holters, the Herbology's teacher, the uncle in law of Godric; Cassilde Herbert and Astronomy's expert; Emily Teran who taught Runes, her twin, Gerald Teran, the Arithmancy's professor. The CoMC's class was directed by Valentia of Arcail, and Divination was under the responsibility of the Seer Julian Mallon who was Andrew's cousin, as he proudly told Harry. Flying lesson were not compulsory but advised and supervised by Lady Rowena Ravenclaw. Duelling was taught by both Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. Healing was also an elective, taught by Lady Helga Hufflepuff.
They got up and Harry followed Andrew and Caitlin to the Defense class, as they had it first thing this morning. From what Andrew and Caitlin said, the class was great and they were to learn the Patronus. Apparently the classes were more advanced here than in Harry's time. But the young wizard wasn't worried about this particular charm as the two Slytherins were. They were joined by a few others, Gryffindors or Slytherins. The two youths seemed quite popular there. Harry was presented to everyone and he exchanged a few words with everybody. They reached the classroom. As he entered it, Harry found it hadn't changed a lot over the years. Sure the decoration was different, but besides this, there wasn't much differences. Sir Gryffindor was already there.
"Come in, come in, quick!"
Soon, everyone was here and seated. Harry was at the third row near the wall on Andrew's right side.
"So, today as you all know, we're going to learn a few things about Dementors and how to fight them. We'll do some theory first, then we'll practice a bit"
A few murmurs welcomed his words. Shushing them, he started an explanations of the Dementors powers, their effects on people, their living habits… most of it Harry already knew. He was only too familiar with these creatures… Then Godric spoke of the way to repel them. Harry took notes about some ways he didn't know of, the most important one being the retreat… When the man reached the Patronus, he only took a few lines about some aspect he hadn't been taught before tuning the teacher out. Dementors weren't exactly what he wanted to think of…
A kick in his ribs brought him back to reality.
"Harold? Since you seemed to know so much about this charm, as you didn't take notes about it, you won't mind trying first."
Harry could see Godric was quite annoyed at him, but what was the point on listening to something he already knew?…
He stood up and took out his wand. Concentrating on the moment he had hold the Quidditch Cup, in his third year, he said the incantation, almost lazily.
"Expecto Patronus."
A bright silver stag shot out of his wand and walked around a bit before coming to Harry. The young wizard extended his hand to pet him only to touch thin air as it faded away.
"Very good, you can sit down." Godric seemed a bit disturbed at this demonstration, but hid it quite well to his credit. "Well, this is what a good Patronus must look like. It takes a lot of practice to manage it. The presence of a Dementor would probably help you, but I don't have one at hand for you to practice on…"
He instructed the students to work in pair and motioned to Harry to come.
"How do you do this?"
"I was taught this charm in third year, as Dementors were placed as guards at Hogwarts and I had a very strong reaction at them which usually ended with me fainting…"
Godric seemed to restrain himself from asking why.
"I hear my parents being murdered each time I see one."
It seemed to be enough for the man, but he seemed quite irked at the fact than someone had murdered one of his descendants.
"But how did you practice? You couldn't have learned it quick enough without a Dementor to try it on…"
"A Boggart."
"What?"
"My greatest fear is fear."
This seemed to interest Godric a lot.
"Really? So the Boggart transform into a Dementor when he sees you… Would you mind if?…."
Harry was torn. He wanted to help, but that meant he would have to stay near the Dementor-Boggart the whole time… Well, it could be used as a way to steel himself against them, but on the other hand…
"Alright, but could you make it quick?… I really have a bad reaction to them…"
"Well, I've by chance a Boggart in the room next to this one. I was planning to use him only for the third years, but if he can serve for this too why not? I don't think any of them will be able to produce a Patronus strong enough to destroy it."
Harry only nodded.
"Stay here, I'll be back in a few seconds… You won't have to practice, so go help some others."
Another nod as the man left by a door on the side which Harry knew led to the office of the DADA teacher in his time. Immediately he became the target of everyone's eyes. Cursing slightly, he tried to avoid their gaze.
"That was great!" exclaimed Andrew, clearly enthusiastic. "How did you do this?"
Before Harry could answer he was crumbling under the questions from Caitlin. She didn't even let him some time to answer. The young dark wizard didn't know what to do and slowly backed away, before the girl. People watching the scene started to smile, then laugh at seeing this guy who was obviously quite powerful back away from the small Caitlin. The laughter brought said girl to her senses. To her credit she didn't lose her composure and walked calmly to her seat as Godric Gryffindor came back, levitating a cupboard before him before placing it in front of Harry.
"Alright class, I came with a substitute for a Dementor for you to practice on. Harold, if you're ready…"
Bewildered, the students looked at the young dark-haired man, as Gryffindor opened the cupboard. Immediately they felt a cold feeling crept up to them. Shivering they tried to find the source of this. Gasps erupted when a cloaked figure came out of the cupboard, approaching Harry slowly. The young man was deadly pale but managed to hold his ground and backed away calmly, his knuckles white. Godric called his students one by one, to stand before the Dementor look alike and try the charm. No one managed to get anything but a faint silver smoke for two of them. The whole time, Harry was near, as the Boggart would shift to an other form if he got too far. This proximity with the creature, even if it wasn't really the real one was putting a strain on him and by the end of the lesson he was shaking and only standing by a pure effort of will.
Once everyone had had a go, Godric motioned to Harry to step back. As he obeyed, the founder banished the Boggart back to his cupboard before looking up to his descendant, worried at his appearance.
"Alright Harold?"
Harry could only nod numbly.
"So, class, practice the charm on your own. Due to its complexity, the practical part won't be part of your end of the year exam, but I want an essay on the Dementors and the charms used against them. Three rolls of parchments." Groaning, the students started to pack their books, quills and parchments and left, chatting excitedly with each other. Harry's next lesson was Care of Magical Creatures. Andrew and Caitlin were waiting for him as well as a boy who had introduced himself as Richard Demar and his girlfriend, Ylane Selik.
"Well, we'll see you at lunch, we have Transfiguration now, and Eltos transfigures every one who comes late to her lesson into a watch for ten minutes," said Andrew, dragging Caitlin away, as she wanted to ask Harry some things.
"Well, let's go," said Richard, taking Ylane's hand.
They walked outside, talking quietly about the lesson to come. Apparently Valentia of Arcail was a good teacher if you didn't mind her weird taste for creatures. They arrived quickly and joined the students already present. This class was held with the Ravenclaws, meaning that Gina had started to submit Harry to complete interrogatory as soon as she saw him. Fortunately for him, he was saved by the teacher.
"Good morning class, as you all know, except for Harold," she looked at him, "we'll start on a new creature today, but before having you work with them, you'll practice with some of their smaller, and to some extent less dangerous cousins. Ten points to the one who guessed what this lesson is about. One clue before you look in this boxes," she pointed to those placed on the grounds next to them, "Cold blood."
"Snakes," blurted Harry, without thinking really.
"Very good, so now we'll take care of these little fellows. You each have different kinds of serpents, none of them is magical, but some are poisonous, so be careful. A charm was placed on them, but their bite, even if it won't kill you, will hurt."
By now the class's enthusiasm had decreased a lot.
"Snakes?" whispered Gina, disgusted.
"Once we'll be done with them, we'll go take care of your horse and work them a bit," added Valentia.
Seeing Harry's confused look, Ylane offered an explanation.
"The class is divided in two parts: one about the creatures and their handling in general, and the second on Horse's handling."
Nodding Harry was looking forwards riding Sheitan, and hoped that the founders had thought of bringing him back near the castle.
"Now, come and take one box," said the teacher, clearly excited about it.
Nobody moved.
"Come on, they won't hurt you……… much," she added in an afterthought which did nothing to reassure the youths before her.
Shrugging, Harry stepped forwards and took a quite big box. He knew he had nothing to fear from a snake, as long as it wasn't one controlled by Voldemort. This was the only gift, if you could call it a gift from the Dark Lord that he had come to enjoy.
Opening it, he starred at the sleek ebony body of the snake, recognizing it immediately at his head's form, a black King Cobra. Slowly, the reptile raised its head to Harry's waist, balancing menacingly, his fangs ready to strike, hissing threats.
"Hello"The snake looked startled at being addressed
"You ssspeak? How issss it possssible?"
"I ssspeak. And I'd like to know if you would let me touch you?"
"Why?"
"Becausssse we need to learn how to handle thosssse of your kind."
"You are a sssspeaker, you are worthhhy."
The Cobra wasn't really big, so he managed to slithered his way up Harry's extended arm, settling his head on the young man shoulder.
"SSSo what de we have to do, ssspeaker."
"My name issss Harry"
"Harrrry" the snake rolled the 'r' "A proper name… My kind call me SSSSyarisssss"
"Fitting"
Harry looked up to Valentia, only to meet gawking faces.
"What, you've never seen a snake before?"
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Well, I hope this was at least worth the wait, and that you enjoyed reading it.
Thanks again.
Naia