CHAPTER SEVEN
Harry woke up to the sound of people moving around her. She groaned in irritation; it felt too early to be awake. But then again, she was in the dungeons. Time was likely to feel different since they were under the lake.
Forcing herself to get up and prepare for her first school day in the 1940s, Harry pushed her curtains aside and sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes. She locked eyes with Ophelia, who was already dressed and feeding her cat. "Morning, Harry!" the Rowle heiress greeted cheerily.
"Morning, Ophelia," Harry grumbled and stumbled out of bed groggily, much to the amusement of her dorm mates.
"Morgana, Harry – your hair!" Druella laughed as she ran a brush through her own hair. "It looks worse than a bird's nest after a storm occurred."
Harry stretched and yawned, not even bothering to feel self-conscious about her untameable mane. Athenaïs yawned and stretched in a manner not dissimilar to a cat and flapped its wings a couple of times before jumping down from her perch. "I know, it happens every single morning. I can brush it as much as I want but it will still be as wild as it is now."
"Maybe if you cut it, you will have more luck with it," Ophelia suggested, putting notebooks, quill and ink into her messenger bag.
"I doubt that," Harry sighed as she went over to her trunk to retrieve her uniform and got to the bathroom quickly. She frankly had better things to worry about in her life than her hair. Unsurprisingly the bathroom was just as ornate as everything else in Slytherin house. Grey tiles, a giant green marble bath, sinks made of the same green marble attached to carved pillars, and showers with deep green shower curtains. It was all rather excessive in her mind.
By the time Harry was done with the bathroom, the other girls were almost ready as well; Walburga was taking an almost eternity fixing her hair. Just watching the Black heiress made Harry dizzy; how many hair clips did someone need?! Ophelia and Druella settled for simple hairbands and Ygraine's hair was easy to handle so she didn't need to do anything with it.
After packing their bags with books they would need, the girls set of to breakfast. Sigyn, Seraphina and Athenaïs followed until they got out of the common room, and went their separate ways to hunt.
It was a pleasant walk up from the dungeons to the Great Hall. Ophelia was complaining about having to deal with Professor Binns on the first day of school, while Ygraine and Walburga happily talked about their Arithmancy professor. Harry and Druella distracted themselves from the prospect of Binns by taking bets if Orion's dorm mates had smothered him in his sleep because of his snoring this year.
The Great Hall was half full with students eating breakfast, chatting and reading the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. Ophelia, Ygraine and Walburga joined their friends, while Harry and Druella made a beeline for Orion, who was in his place next to Malum Avery as he had been yesterday at dinner. Orion waved them over enthusiastically. When Avery caught Harry's eye, he offered her a small wave too. Nott's face lit up too when he saw her. Druella's brother offered her a smile. Dolohov, Mulciber and Malfoy ignored her. Riddle watched her every step closely.
"Morning, Harry! Morning, Dru!" Orion chirped. "Did you girls sleep well?"
"Like the dead," Harry admitted, much to her surprise as she sat down. "Didn't expect to in a dungeon, to be honest."
"What? Do you get night terrors?" Dolohov asked in a faux caring tone.
"No, I just hate dark and cramped places," Harry answered back coolly, resisting the urge to throw a croissant in his face. "Comes from the amount of times I was put into a cupboard under the stairs as punishment."
Harry ignored the tense and stunned silence as she plated up some beans, bacon and eggs on her breakfast plate.
"You really are an idiot, Dolohov," Nott hissed. "And you have the nerve to call me thoughtless!"
"You are thoughtless," Dolohov shot back.
Nott smirked triumphantly. "Not this time."
Fortunately, any further confrontation was halted by the arrival of the Head of Slytherin; a man Harry had manipulated when she was sixteen. Lady Magic, Harry really had been a snake in lion's clothing all along! It was Professor Slughorn. The man had made a beeline for Riddle's group of merry men and for Harry.
"Good morning my Slytherins! Wonderful morning, isn't it?"
There were some polite choruses and affirmations from Riddle and his friends. Orion and Druella said nothing on the account of having food in their mouths and simply nodded.
Slughorn beamed at them. "I am so glad you are doing well. Especially you, Miss Evans. We have not been introduced yet. I am your Head of House, Professor Horace Slughorn. I also teach you Potions."
Harry smiled weakly but took the hand the man held out to her. "Pleasure to meet you, sir."
"May I first say how very profoundly sorry I am for your loss? To have to go through something like that, and at your age – war really is the most terrible affair," Slughorn's voice and eyes were soggy with emotion.
"Thank you, sir," Harry answered politely.
"I heard about your condition from Mr. Riddle and Professor Dumbledore. I have no idea what would affect it but if you feel the fumes of our potions would cause trouble-"
Harry's eyes widened. "Sir, I assure you potions have never once affected my condition. Even if they did, I would endure it. Potions are essential; I cannot and will not accept any special treatment. I'm sorry."
To her shock, Slughorn began dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief. "Your parents would be so proud of you."
Harry could only give him a grateful smile and a small bow of her head. What was she supposed to say to that with the man literally crying in front of her?!
The Head of Slytherin sniffed. "Let me reassure you, Miss Evans, my door is always open for you if you have any difficulties, any worries or any queries about anything. If you think your condition is rearing its head, you come to me immediately. I do not want you taking any unnecessary risks. I know I cannot ever replace your parents, but I will do everything in my power to make sure you're happy in Slytherin."
"Yes, sir. Thank you for your kindness." Harry this time could offer a genuine smile.
Slughorn beamed at her and turned to Riddle and his friends. "Keep her safe, chaps!"
Harry suddenly felt like hexing the teacher's retreating back for that comment. Like she needed protection from a bunch of fledgling Death Eaters and a very-likely Dark Lord! She distracted herself by returning to her breakfast.
"How was your first night at Hogwarts, Harry?" Avery asked amicably.
Harry stopped chewing for a moment; she had not expected Avery to address her at all. She finished her mouthful before answering. "It was fine. Thank you for asking."
"Your roommates – they treated you well?"
Harry blinked. "Yes. Why wouldn't they?"
"Walburga has a nasty temper in the morning," Orion shuddered. "And Ophelia's cat is pure evil. It tries to attack any one of us in intervals. I swear that thing is possessed with some kind of dark energy!"
Druella looked grave at this. Harry snorted with laughter. "Well, I have yet to see that. The cat ignores me."
"For now," Avery warned, sounding way too serious for Harry's liking.
Harry snorted. "Avery, it's just a bloody cat!"
A uncharacteristically loud chuckle ran around the baby Death Eaters, Orion and Druella. Lestrange was the first to speak up. "That cat might as well be the cat belonging to Persephone!"
Nott was the one who moved the conversation onto something else.
"Oh, Avery, we forgot to tell you. Harry guessed the password to the common room yesterday," Nott piped up randomly.
"Really?" Tom regarded her suddenly over his morning paper. He didn't look or sound remotely surprised or impressed or even bored. Harry couldn't discern what it was, but it made her stomach acid bubble.
"Yes! She was rambling her thought process and everything!" Nott informed. "Had I not known better, or been the one to challenge her, I'd say she sounded a little mad."
"Gee, thanks," Harry muttered as she poured some juice into her goblet.
"Oh come on, you sound like you had eaten too many chocolate frogs!" Nott exclaimed.
"Altair!" Rosier protested.
Riddle turned his assessing gaze back onto her. "So, Harry, what subjects are you taking, apart from self-studying Ancient Runes?"
Harry distracted herself by smearing butter onto her bread so as not to have to meet those eyes directly. "Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, Transfigurations, Herbology and History of Magic."
Nott perked up at the second to last mention. "Thank Merlin! No wonder you defended the subject yesterday."
Harry shrugged as she poured herself some coffee. "I am doing it because I like it."
Riddle finished his last tomato neatly. "Lestrange is taking Herbology as well."
Heron Lestrange looked up from his plate that he had been studying intently and blinked rather owlishly. "Yes, I am."
"Yes, we are the only seventh years in Slytherin to do so. Lestrange is the only reason I am not completely losing it with that pansy of a teacher," Nott lamented. "Evans, Lestrange – please sit with me this year. I really do not want to be left on my own with that snowflake."
"Well, he is as delicate as you, so you should get along just fine," Dolohov sneered around a mouthful of egg.
Harry braced herself for Nott to explode but before the boy could retort Rosier had shoved a piece of toast into his open and visceral mouth. Dolohov looked ready to burst out laughing but he caught the expression on Riddle's face and he quickly looked down at his plate as though it were a void.
The hooting of an owl flying into the Hall saved the tension from rising any further. Everyone looked up and pointed at the owl, that was clearly late. It was closely followed by an Eagle owl that Harry immediately assumed was Endor, Druella's owl. To her surprise, the owl closely followed Endor over to the Slytherin table. Both birds landed in front of her gracefully and stuck their legs out towards her. In fact, the two birds started to glare at each other, silently arguing which delivery Harry was going to untie first. Druella shook her head fondly at her familiar's antics.
Harry untied the letters and the good-sized package, feeding the owl and Endor some of her bacon. The strange owl hooted appreciatively before taking off again; Endor glared after it but was soon distracted by Druella's pats. Noticing the seal of Gringotts on one of the letters, Harry decided to deal with her employers first.
Dear Lady Peverell,
We are fully aware that as of yesterday you have begun your Hogwarts education. However, all of our Curse-breakers have been unable to solve the riddle that is currently before you wrapped in seemingly cheap brown paper and the King is getting quite impatient. Don't worry, the paper blocks the magic so while it is in there, you are perfectly safe.
However I should warn you before you begin that this is not a trifling trick. It was taken from the house of one of Grindelwald's men in one of the French Ministry's latest Auror raids. This statue has been responsible for three of the Aurors to be admitted into St. Mungo's with delusions and for several of Grindelwald's men to attack each other. TREAD WITH CAUTION!
Hope to hear from you, and that you keep safe,
Griphook.
Harry blanched at the letter and re-read it three times to make sure she wasn't going insane. She then turned to the package and audibly swallowed quite hard.
"What is it, Harry?" Druella asked carefully, seeing Harry's deathly pale face.
"My newest assignment," Harry managed to answer. "Gringotts has apparently decided I am up to dealing with a cursed object that has just put three Aurors into St. Mungo's."
"Sorry, come again?!" Orion squeaked, looking at the package as though it were about to blow up. Avery and Nott also suddenly had their eyes glued to the package in fear. "And they just send that here?!"
Harry shrugged and quickly stuffed the letter and the statue into her bag. "I am a freelance Curse-breaker and I made a deal with them that they could contact me whenever they had an assignment, no matter where I am."
"Curse-breaker?!" several people chorused in disbelief. Dolohov and Malfoy even spat out their mouthfuls to stop themselves from choking on their morsels in shock, which earned them disgusted looks from Riddle and others around them.
"No wonder you are self-studying Ancient Runes!" Orion exclaimed. "You may want to work for Gringotts itself!"
"I technically already do. Currently it is only a trial period, though," Harry answered with a smile, sipping what was left of her coffee and taking the letter delivered by Endor. The Eagle owl pecked Druella's hand affectionately before taking off.
"You didn't ask your Gargouille to deliver the letter," Nott commented, eyes still on Endor.
"I am not sure how far she could fly," Harry replied. "I also don't want to risk offending her. I would like to avoid an angry dragon, no matter how docile the genus may be."
"Why is yours so small?" Rosier asked tentatively.
"Ophelia thinks Athenaïs has a growth defect of some kind, which is why her chapel – her group – exiled her," Harry informed him with a smile. "Gargouilles of her size are treated with suspicion by the rest of their kind because of the fact they look different and are regarded as weak."
Nott nodded ponderingly. "So where is she right now?"
Harry smiled. "I suspect she's out hunting. She left at the same time as Sigyn and Seraphina."
Riddle's eyes were on the unopened letter in Harry's hands. "Who is that one from? Another one of your employers?" There was a coldness to the tone that Harry couldn't quite discern why it was there.
"Yes, actually," Harry answered haughtily, stuffing the unopened letter quickly into her bag. She couldn't quite believe she opened the Gringotts letter in front of the Slytherins as though it was the most normal thing she could have done. Harry really needed to be a bit more careful!
"Urgh. Binns first," Druella groaned after breakfast was finished and Endor had retired back to the owlery. "Come on, Harry. No matter how much you love History, the man will lull you to sleep with his droning."
Harry had to resist the urge to snort with laughter. She played the part of ignorant home-schooled girl as best as she could. Harry smiled at Druella. "Oh come on. I am sure that it isn't that bad."
That earned a collective snort from all the Slytherins.
"You will be snoozing in ten minutes," Avery promised her as he stood up and gathered his things as well.
Harry stifled a grin. Ten minutes was about right. She could remember the awful drowsiness that she felt listening to Binns all too well. Only Hermione had ever been immune to falling asleep in that class; Harry's passion for History stemmed from Hermione, that was for sure.
To her surprise, Harry and Druella were accompanied to the class by Riddle, Avery, Dolohov, Rosier, Mulciber and Lestrange. Nott and Orion both had electives at the same time as History of Magic so they were the ones missing from the group. The march to an hour long slumber fest was quiet. Harry, Druella and the boys were met outside the classroom by a very resigned looking Walburga.
"Ready to suffer?" Druella asked cheerfully.
"Spare me," Walburga cried in exasperation. "It will be a miracle if I manage to pass this stupid course."
"Why did you take it then?" Harry wondered.
"Because I wanted to spite my brothers," Walburga answered with a small smirk. "They all got EEs. They made a bet I wouldn't do better than them if I took the course."
"Cygnus and Alphard will eat their words soon enough," Druella promised.
The Slytherin seventh years were joined not too long by the Ravenclaw seventh years. The Ravenclaws regarded Harry for a moment before they all began to praying to the deity of their choice for the strength to not fall asleep and to be able to keep up with Binns' droning so as to not mess up their notes. Harry still acted completely oblivious.
At nine o'clock sharp the doors to the classroom swung open and the students trudged in as though they were walking straight to their execution. Druella guided Harry to the left hand desks, followed by Walburga. The boys took the whole row behind them. Druella and Walburga exchanged flabbergasted looks when they saw this happen. Apparently this did not happen often.
Harry distracted herself by getting all her books out, her notebooks, quill and ink. She was sitting directly opposite a serene looking girl with silvery blonde wavy hair who reminded Harry startlingly of Luna Lovegood. Harry had to double take to make sure she wasn't going completely mad – apart from the fact the girl had glowing golden eyes, the same wacky energy and aura of dottiness was around this girl that had been around Luna. She had her wand tucked behind her ear, much like Luna always did. And like Luna, the girl was being isolated by her own House.
Harry was quickly knocked back into her senses by the arrival of the dreaded Professor. The ghostly form of the long dead man was all too familiar but Harry made herself sit stock stiff at the sight of him.
As she had planned, her reaction was noted.
"Don't fret, Harry. He's perfectly harmless," Avery whispered from the row behind her.
"If only he did moan or groan or rattle chains. It would make him less boring," Rosier added.
Binns – completely oblivious to the gossiping students – picked up the chalk and wrote on the black board: ANCIENT MAGICAL HISTORY. Almost as soon as he had written that, Binns lurched into a droning lecture about rituals of old, the uprisings of magical creatures under the Romans and the spells created by the magical ancestors. As Harry watched the class being put under the thumb of Hypnos quicker than she had ever seen, she found herself becoming angrier and angrier by the minute. Why? Because how obvious biased it all was.
Finally, when Binns started on the Vestal Virgin ritual etiquette, Harry had had enough. She did the one thing she never did in class, ever.
Harry raised her hand.
Binns, however, continued droning on and on, completely oblivious to the fact one of his students had a query.
Harry started tapping her fingers on the desk impatiently, hand still in the air. Merlin, so this is what Hermione felt like when she was being ignored.
Binns, after more than a minute, still droned on and on, utterly and completely ignoring Harry's hand, but she wasn't having it. "Excuse me, sir?"
That made Binns halt his rattling for a moment, before he simply looked at her in disbelief, as though this was the first time any student had dared to interrupt him. He regarded her for a moment – and then promptly began reciting again.
Big mistake.
"Sir, I have a question," Harry stated firmly through gritted teeth.
Clearly annoyed, the ghost teacher halted in his fact-filled lullaby and glared at her. "Yes, Miss Stevens, what is it?"
Harry's eyes flashed silver. "I am Miss Evans, sir. I was just wondering when you will be discussing Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Illyrian, Paionian, Gaulish, Germanic, Celtiberian or Ancient Briton sources. After all, Ancient Magic is not the sole boon from the Romans."
There was a stunned silence and Harry felt the eyes of her fellow students bore right into her, but she kept her gaze on the professor, trying to stay as stoic as possible. Binns looked a mixture between shocked and angry.
"Miss Kevins-"
"Evans-"
"Sir."
Harry blinked at him. "No need to call me 'sir', sir. I am neither a professor nor a guy."
All that sass training with Severus Snape was paying off. A few splutters of laughter echoed around the room. Some of them had originated from right behind her and next to her, but Harry didn't dare to turn around to look. Professor Binns looked like he was trying his best to keep his temper; it reminded Harry of that time she and the rest of her year had managed to worm the truth about the Chamber of Secrets out of him, much to his own reluctance.
Binns' ectoplasmic countenance flushed a nasty shade of purple. "Miss Evans, this is History of Magic."
Harry folded her arms. "I am aware, sir, hence why I am confused why you are only discussing the Romans."
"Latin is the primary magical language, the magical lingua franca-"
Harry resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, primary. It is not the only one, or would you go up to Professor Babbling and tell her that Old English, Ogham, Old Futhark and Pictish symbols are lesser languages than the one shoved down our throats? Or how about you write to the Fae and tell them that their language is beneath ours?"
Professor Binns' face suddenly began turning a very bright red. Harry almost smirked with satisfaction. Finally, she was getting somewhere. "Listen here, Miss Evans, I teach History – the most important areas of History of Magic. I deal in facts-"
"No, you deal in standardised facts!" Harry shot back, also getting frustrated by the minute. "You deal with the facts presented in history books written by people with their own agendas and their own ideologies, and then you shove them down our throats and expect us to sit here and write them all down without so much as question what we are writing. What you tell us, sir, is only one side of the story. Or do you think that we should take Tacitus' word on what happened when the Romans invaded Ynys Môn? I just listened to every word you said, and you didn't mention the Druids and their culture once."
Binns was now bright red and physically shaking in the air. "The Druids are a footnote in the History-"
Harry scoffed. "And yet, it is because of the Druids that we have Transformation magics; it is because of them we are able to become Animagi. It is because of the Druids that wars were won or lost! The Battle of the Trees may be a footnote to wizarding history but to the Fae, it is almost as important as the damn Norman Conquest of 1066! You yourself will one day be a footnote in the History of Hogwarts. Just because something can be considered a footnote, whether it be the case or not, is not a fact, but an opinion!"
The argument between Binns and Harry continued for most of the lesson – where Binns cited the Roman writers as the most thorough, Harry shot back with the Ancient Egyptians with the richest array of sources on magic, its uses and the culture alongside the Muggles. When Binns went onto the subject of Ancient defence magic, Harry immediately supplied the example of the Night Legion's disappearance due to angry Fae, the Druids using their magic to defend their Nemetons with an alliance of Fae, the magic used by the Oracles to defend Delphi against an invasion of Keltoi, and the magic used in the Battle of Thermopylae. In each case, the battle of the historical sources commenced; Binns favouring the Romans and Harry favouring sources on both sides of the conflict.
Not a single person fell asleep for the duration of their debate. All the while they bickered, the class was animatedly writing as much as they could in an attempt to keep up. In fact a few of the Ravenclaws had dared to ask questions, which got sometimes got two answers; one from Binns and one from Harry, if she happened to know the exact answer.
After class, Binns was fuming and Harry walked briskly out of the classroom, looking just as vexed. In fact, the steam was practically coming out of her ears and her magic was liable to explode. Druella, Walburga, Riddle and his merry men caught up with her quickly and guided her towards Charms. All the while, Harry was vibrating with frustration.
She had not missed Binns a jot!
"That odious toad of a man!" Harry raged. "How dare he snub other historical sources just because it doesn't fit his narrow minded view of the world. Is it any wonder that no one wants to take his subject? How has anyone managed to pass this Merlin-forsaken class is beyond me!"
"He won't forget this," Druella warned her. "No one has ever spoken to him like that."
"Well it is about time someone did!" Harry exploded.
"Indeed," Avery, who had been trying to recover from laughing, wheezed. "Merlin, you really showed him! If only you had come here sooner; you may have been able to get Binns to move on earlier and save us the world of trouble."
"Please tell me the Charms professor isn't an incompetent buffoon," Harry begged. She missed Professor Flitwick and rather hoped that the 40s didn't have a dunderhead for a Charms teacher.
"Don't worry, my dear," Druella reassured with a smile, lacing her arm through Harry's. "You won't be getting an aneurysm from Professor McCullagh. In fact, you might get a headache from her enthusiasm but that's about it."
Harry sighed and prayed to any deity that would listen Druella was right. She couldn't take another argument with a teacher any time soon.
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Oooof! History was more exciting than Harry had thought it would be; it seems dying has given Harry a bit more of a backbone. Binns indeed will not get over this shock of his unlife. Though it was extremely funny.
Harry: No it wasn't, Umbreon!
Yes it was. From where I and the readers are sitting!
Harry: I hate you.
Love you too. Stay tuned everyone!
Kingmaker'sUmbreon
