Damn. My computer rebooted and all my work is gone! The twenty pages of ideas, the almost finished version of chapter 14. Chapters already posted from all my stories. Information gathered on different aspects and characters for the plot. And it is all gone. I think I am going to cry.
Chapter 14 First Teacher
Harry and Remus walked in silence down the main road of Hogsmeade and to Hogwarts. The trial had gone very well and Harry felt it was a victory long before Remus finished his opening speech. The judge was a big Harry Potter fan. His wife and children had been killed by Voldemort during the first reign of the heir of Slytherin and he was grateful that Harry had brought some justice to the self-proclaimed Dark Lord.
The representative from Witches Weekly said that the photos came from several girls at Hogwarts. They received the photos by owl mail the day before the subscription was mailed out. They stopped the original issue and redid the whole entire thing in order to fit the ten pictures into the subscription. They were to excited with having pictures of Harry Potter naked that they didn't evening think about getting his permission. Donovan Staster, the lead chaser for Puddlemere United was quite upset his cover spot was taken up by a 16 year old teen.
So from now until the year 2036 Witches Weekly was under probation. If any other complaints brought against the company, were deemed true, they could be effectively closed down. A sum of 50,000 galleons was to be deposited in a vault of Harry's choosing and every single issue was to be recollected from those who received it, which included, world wide, twenty three thousand regular subscribers as well as twenty five thousand people who purchased that single issue.
At the end of the trial Harry sent a note to Gringotts asking them to open up a vault for him and place the fifty thousand galleons from Witches Weekly into there, as well as fifty thousand galleons taken from the Potter Treasury vault. He also wrote that sometime in the next week he would be stopping by in order to discuss what he inherits as the new Head of the Scott family, Head of the Gryffindor Family and the political as well as social side of being Lord of the three families.
They reached the great doors of Hogwarts in a relatively short amount of time. "It was good to spend the day with you Remus, though it was short and mostly formal." Harry spoke, turning to his 'uncle'
"We should visit each other more often" Remus said, agreeing. They gave each other a quick hug, pulling away in enough time so no one would question their masculinity.
Harry pushed open one of the doors as Remus made his way back to Hogsmeade, where he would then journey to Africa. Harry made his way to Gryffindor Tower. When he walked into the common room he noticed that the only ones present in the room were D.A. members except for those who had graduated and Dennis Creevy.
"Do you think that the D.A. members have their coins on them?" Harry asked. Many in the room gave a startled jump at the sound of his voice.
"Harry! You scared us!" Parvarti breathed as she clutched her left breast. The others nodded in agreement, except for Colin.
"Do you really mean it Harry?" he asked excitedly.
"Yup. But Colin...Dennis can not come. No matter what. He most likely still has his coin and will most likely come to the call. You must intercept him and explain to him why he can no longer participate in the club, as well as take way his coin. What we are going to do is not meant for third or even fourth years" The eager look on Colin's face faded some and he nodded sadly before rushing out of the portrait hole, no doubt to find his younger brother.
Harry turned to the others and signaled for Hermione and Ron to get leaving. "Go to the same place we always meet" Harry said. He nodded to his two best friends as they to left via the portrait hole. The rest of the Gryffindor old D.A. members went at a slower pace then the two Golden Trio members.
Harry fished out the golden coin from one of the inner pockets of his robes. "September 7. Let's say in oh thirty minutes" Harry smiled as the coin glowed for a second before returning to it original appearance. He shoved it back into the pocket which it came from and slowly followed the others.
By the time he reached the Room of Requirements he was positive at least twenty minutes had passed. Opening the door he didn't know what surprised him more. The fact that the five graduating members were there or the fact that their were six new Gryffindors (The two remaining sixth years, three fifth years and a seventh year), six new Ravenclaws (Two seventh year, though Marietta was not there, three sixth years and one fifth year) and seven new Hufflepuffs (Three sixth years, one fifth year and three seventh years).
That brought the total up to 17 Gryffindors, 12 Ravenclaws, 12 Hufflepuffs and 5 Graduated members brought the total up to 46 members. Hopefully a handful of trustworthy Slytherins could be thrown in there along with some older wizards and witches to complete 'Dumbledore's' Army. Harry was looking for about 60 members including himself and then...then he would set his real plan into motion.
"First question. Are those of you who are still in school in the new D.A.?" They all nodded their heads. "Good. Since this is the first meeting for the new year I guess the old members can review what they did last year while I teach the new ones what we did"
Three hours later everyone was tired and it was time for dinner. Harry had to create a list of all the spells they went over last year, copied it and handed it out to all the newbs. They had to be able to cast half those spells in two weeks time. The old members were able to effectively cast all spells learned last year, except the Patronus. It seemed that no one could cast it properly yet. All though Cho and Hermione were close last year to getting a full fledge Patronus they could only get wisp of silver this time.
"That is all. It is time for dinner after all, so you students can get a move on. I need to talk to you graduates though" Everyone filed out, chatting happily amongst each other. As soon as everyone exited the room Harry turned to the five former Gryffindors. "Listen guys. I need to know if you are serious about staying in this"
"Of course we are serious Harry!" one of the twins said.
"We wouldn't of come if we weren't" the other twin stated.
"Well if you guys are really serious about being in this you are going to have to know several things. One this is going to be a continuation of this newer D.A. I'm teaching. I guess I could give you the list of spells I plan on teaching them throughout the year. You guys would then have to learn them all on your spare time I guess. You have to also need to know how to physically fight"
"You mean like muggle duels?" Angelina asked. Alicia swatted her on the arm.
"Why must you purebloods insist on calling them muggle duels?" she asked.
"Cause that is what they are!" Lee said. "What else would we call them?"
"I don't know! I don't even know why you wizards look down on physical fighting. Besides muggles also fight with other types of weapons likes swords and guns." Lee opened his mouth to retort.
"Yes I mean muggle duels" Harry cut in quickly. "You can either go out to muggle gyms and other places to get lessons or I can teach you somehow"
"Don't worry mate."
"We'll figure it out" Harry hated when the twins did that.
"On another note I need to ask you twins a big favor. I need to purchase two buildings preferably in either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. I was wondering if you two could search out some buildings that are for sale in either of the two places and then alert me of the places so I can check them out and see if they are good places for what I have in mind"
The two beaters looked at him for a second. "Of course we can!" they both said it at the same time.
"We were looking to expand" one started.
"Our business into Hogsmeade anyway" the other finished.
"Thanks guys. I appreciate it" Harry said gratefully.
"Man I feel bad for you Neville" Ron said as they walked to the DADA classroom. Harry, Ron and Neville were leading the group of sixth year D.A. members and having a discussion about their partners.
"Tell me about it. I wonder if I can put up with him the whole year" Neville complained.
"Well with your new wand your spells should be better and you can just hex him into oblivion" Harry reasoned. "We all know he doesn't have as much magical talent as either of us three, and most likely all of the D.A."
"But I still can't believe I have Malfoy!" Neville whined like a little kid.
"It shouldn't be that bad" Ron said. "After all there are only three Slytherins in the class."
"Ron is right. This class should not be too bad at all" Harry added.
"Yeah you can say that. You got Blaise Zabini!" Neville exclaimed. "One of the best looking girls in the school!" Neville blushed at what he just said. A shy look came upon his face as he glanced around.
"Do you like her?" Harry asked raising his eyebrow.
"No of course not! I like someone else" Neville said, he looked over his shoulder as he said this.
"Who?" Ron and Harry asked curiously.
"No one" Neville mumbled.
"Neville has a crush! Neville has a crush!" the green eyed teen crowed.
"Shut up!" Neville shrieked.
"Looks like someone is touchy huh Harry?" Ron asked with a grin on his face.
"Neville you might as well tell us. I mean after all we are going to find out sooner or later so you should just spare us the work" Harry pointed out. "We promise we won't tell the person or scream it in the Great Hall during mealtime or tell it using the millions of different ways that involve Quidditch or tell it to anyone you don't want us too or post bulletins in the common rooms"
"Post bulletins in the common rooms?" Ron asked. "Never thought of that"
"Well it is pretty obvious so most people don't think about it. Many people don't look at the obvious. That is why it is the perfect thing to use when you want to spread secrets. You promise all these things and accidently forget to mention that and people don't even know."
"Guys cut it out. We are at the classroom anyway" They both turned to the slightly pudgy boy.
"So Neville. You going to tell us?" Ron questioned.
"No!" was Neville's answer.
Harry shrugged his shoulders "Fine then"
"Can you three walk into the classroom and stop blocking the classroom?" Hermione asked. The rest of the 6th year old D.A. members were staring at them.
"I guess" Harry sighed as he walked into the classroom and to his desk by the teacher's desk. Behind Harry sat Susan Bones, because she was second in the class, behind her sat Neville, who was third and then Ron who was fourth. Susan's partner was Theodore Nott, a weedy looking Slytherin whose father Harry had several run ins with.
Harry pulled out his books as the Slytherins entered the class and walked to their seats, scowls on all of their faces. As his good looking partner sat down next to him, Harry leaned over and asked quietly "Why must you Slytherins always scowl when in the presence of others?"
"Because it shows others not to mess with us" she said it like it was obvious.
"Actually it makes me think you guys are just an angry lot who one should be weary of, especially if you want to go out with one of you or be friends" Harry stated. "Who told you the not messing part?"
"Professor Snape" Blaise replied.
"So you guys are taking advise from a greasy, friendless git who never got a date in his life?" Harry didn't wait for an answer. "Real smart"
"I don't need you sarcasm Potter" Blaise seemed to be angry.
"Class, please pass up the 'Get to Know Your Partner' assignment" Professor Nisha Kamana's voice brought the two out of their weird argument/conversation.
"I feel the need to end some rumors spreading around about me. I am not a vampire nor am I a veela. My mothers family moved to America from France during Grindewald's years of terror and my father is from India."
Harry heard some shuffling behind him and saw Ron hand Anthony a galleon. The professor seemed to be amused at that, the expression clearly on her face. "From now until mid November we'll be going over the various shield charms and discussing their uses and disadvantages. Then we will be going over the more dangerous dark creatures out there that you did not cover in third year. That should take us to the vacation in March. After that it will be offensive spells till the end of the year
"Today we'll be going over the Retex Shield Charm. This shield appears as a rectangle in front of you, is size depending on the power of the person casting it. The incantation is Retexo and the wand movement is a sweeping motion left to right, left to right. If done correctly it can reflect most of the spells you have learned throughout Hogwarts." She did a demonstration of the spell and a transparent dark green rectangle, a reaching from the floor to her forehead and several inches wider then she, appeared in front of her.
Harry watched as several people tried to do the spell. It seemed that no one could do the spell correctly. After several minutes of watching everyone fail miserably he just shrugged his shoulders and gave it a go. "Retexo" The transparent dark green rectangle that appeared in front of him was a lot bigger then the professors. It was several inches taller then Harry and about a foot wider in each direction.
"Very impressive Mr. Potter. I must say that is quite a big shield you got there." She gave him a look that did not make him all that comfortable. He could feel warmth creep up his neck and make its way to his cheeks. The professor stared at him for several more moments before moving on to help a disgruntled Malfoy.
"Oh man. Please tell me I am imaging things." Harry mumbled to himself. 'There is always something wrong with a defense professor. Always! And they all seem to take a interest in me! WHY?' his thoughts were interrupted by a growl coming from his partner.
It seemed that no matter how hard she tried she could not get the spell correct and her anger was only making things worst.
"You aren't doing it correctly" Harry commented. Blaise either ignored him or didn't hear him. "You aren't doing it correctly" Harry repeated.
"The how pray tell Potter, am I suppose to be doing it then?" she snapped at him.
"Well first of all, you getting angry is not helping you at all. You're a Slytherin, you should know how to control your emotions already" Several minutes later, Blaise did indeed calm down, no longer angry, or at least no longer letting it show like an idiotic Gryffindor, as most Slytherins would say.
The problem was however that she still could not do the spell correctly. Harry only had to observe her for a minutes before realizing what the problem was. "You have to move your whole arm in the sweeping motion, not just your elbow" She only sneered at him.
"Can you just bloody listen to me! I know what I am doing and you do not. So suck up your damn Slytherin pride and except my damn Gryffindor help! Effing Slytherins thinking they are too good for us Gryffindors because were brave and sometime irrational. What?" she was looking at him in a funny after his little rant. "What?" he asked a little louder this time.
"Nothing you need to worry about Potter" was her reply.
"So you gonna take my advice?" he questioned.
"If only to stop you from ranting again" the Slytherin drawled. She used her whole arm fro the sweeping motion and pronounced the incantation properly. A transparent dark green wall about the size of the teachers appeared.
"Oh yeah. Tell me how great I am" Harry said proud of himself. Not hearing anything coming from his partner Harry looked at her. "Slow down with all the compliments, I'm overwhelmed"
"You have five minutes left in the period. For those of you who don't get it, practice it for homework" Professor Nisha said, walking to the front of the room again.
"You know you could of at least said thank you" Harry pouted to the strawberry-blonde Slytherin.
"Thank you" was her haughty and sarcastic reply.
"Man sometimes I find it so hard to believe that you Slytherins are hated by the other houses" Harry returned sarcastically.
"Oh please the other houses don't understand us no matter how hard they try. Humans don't like that which they do not understand" she snapped at him, as they both gathered their things and shoved them into their bag.
"Humans can't understand that which those will not let them get to understand" Harry stated, swinging his bag over his shoulder. "In order for them to understand certain things one must be willing to let them get to understand these things"
"Do you have any idea what you just said Potter?" Blaise asked, an eyebrow raised.
"No clue. But I thought it sounded good" Harry answered. They exited the classroom together and continued their bickering as they made their way to Healing, a class they both shared.
Healing was being held in a fairly large classroom in the same corridor as the Hospital Wing. The whole female population of the 6th year was taking the class. Total number of males in the class...six. Harry, Ron, Nathaniel Moon, Kevin Entwhistle(a new D.A. member), Justin Finch-Fletchley and Jason Summers. He was told guys rarely took the class and that fie was the average number of guys taking it every year.
They were told that they should expect the lessons to be interrupted periodically since Madam Pomfrey still had her nursing duties and they were top priority. Poppy Pomfrey was one of the leading Healers in Europe. Trainee Healer for four years before working at St. Mungo's for thirteen years before the opening at Hogwarts became available. Since the job was better paying and required a fairly good Healer she accepted the position when offered to her and has been working at the school four thirty years. At the age of 64 years old she was looking to retire and rumor had it that next year she would have an apprentice working under her to take over the job, sometime in the next five years.
They learned a spell that was useful if you had children. It healed minor scratches and cuts. Now Harry knew why so many girls took the class for. The book had said most women have an affinity for healing magic because of their mothering nature and basically all of the girls wanted to become mothers one day. They realized that learning to heal wounds would be a good idea. Especially with young witches and wizards who seemed to get tons of injuries as they grew up.
Lunch was a rather loud and boisterous affair. Girls were complaining that they had to return there issue of Witches Weekly. The boys were discussing Professor Nisha and how great her class was. (In other words how great it was to be in close proximity to her for so long)
In Charms they started to learn the Armor-bewitching Charm. There were several necessary steps needed in order to get the armor to behave the way you wanted it too. It was also very draining to do, which was why some of the armors during Christmas sang the songs with gaps between lyrics.
For Transfiguration McGonagall gave them a long lecture on making inanimate to animate ones. They would start to learn it in their next lesson. Starting with small objects like quills and hopefully by Halloween doing it on couches and statues. This year they would ne learning about turning inanimate to animate and vice versa for the first term. Followed up by human transfiguration, which usually took up the rest of the year and some of next.
In Care of Magical Creatures they were still learning about Acromantulas. Though today instead of touching it and how to take care of it, they were learning about its weak spots and how to easily defeat it. Acromantulas were hard to kill. They had a type of chemical on their hair that while not inflammable was still pretty resistant to fire. The person either had to keep a basic fire spell on one designated spot for a while or use one of the more powerful darker spells, most which were considered Dark Arts, that was a minimum of eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit hot. Using one of those spells would take care of the creature in seconds. The Killing Curse worked on it, like basically all creatures, as did muggle means like guns, swords and the likes.
Thursday arrived quickly enough, the Native American shaman was due to arrive sometime during his Transfiguration class. The African manticore hunter was to arrive on Monday and the Japanese wizard ninja in a week.
That is why Harry Potter stood outside of Hogwarts dressed in casual muggle clothes instead of robes. Dumbledore stood next to him, sucking on his lemon drops in content. They had been waiting for ten minutes already and Harry was getting nervous.
'What if he decided he didn't want to teach a stupid British kid?' was his main thought as he shifted from foot to foot. After three minutes and thirteen seconds of waiting later a man pushed open the gates of Hogwarts and walked slowly up the road, admiring the area around him.
He wore trousers made out of a type of lion like hide. His shirt was made out of a soft wool and he wore a vest made out of the same material as his trousers over the shirt. The purple feathers of the thought to be extinct (well for muggles anyway) diricawl or dodo bird, the name muggles gave it, graced his vest. His feet were covered by moccasins that looked pretty comfortable.
He had long black hair pulled into a ponytail that reached his shoulders. Several braids decorated with beads and diricawl feather adorned his hair. His skin was a deep bronze color and several wrinkles could be seen around his eyes and mouth. He appeared to be in his early forties though his brown eyes still shone with youth, much like Dumbledore's did.
As the man reached them he extended his hand, somewhat awkwardly. "My birth name is Eyota Nocona. Among fellow shamans I am called Nirvelli, it is from the language of the Tudas Native American tribe and it means Water Child. I am a Water Elemental and the youngest member upon the Elemental Shaman Tribunal" Harry and Dumbledore both shook his hands.
"Good afternoon. My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry amongst other things." Dumbledore stated.
"Harry Potter sir. Thank you for coming. It will be an honor to learn under you." Harry said kindly.
"Do not mention it young warrior. You would of gotten a formal invitation to learn with us after your graduated this school. After all, we do offer to teach all Elementals once they are no longer in school whether they are expelled or had graduated" the Native American explained.
"So that means I am an Elemental?" Harry asked excited.
"Of course it does! Though we do not know which one you can 'manipulate' yet. One of the Tribunal has a dream when a new Elemental is born. That is how we know who they are and what their face will look like unmarred."
"You said manipulate...I thought Elementals control their element?" Harry questioned.
"There is really no word for what we can do with the Elements. But we have no control over what it does. There is no way I could just make water appear in the palm of my hand, it is impossible to do so. The power a Elemental has over their element depends upon how abundant that element is. Earth, Air and Water Elementals have the weakest power over their elements. Fire and Electricity, the fifth element, Elementals have the most power."
The man pointed to the lake. "If I could control water like you thought Harry then could I not raise the water into the air and disperse it throughout the forest?" Harry nodded his head at the question. "Why would mother nature give one of its beings the power to destroy it so easily? Why would she give enough power to something over one of the basic things of life?
"I can make the water rougher so that waves big enough to make it unsafe in the water rise. I could direct a jet of water to rise from the lake and shoot at people. And if I needed to I could direct the flow of water as long as it isn't too big. Also if I put enough power in it, I could separate a body of water, much like Moses did, Moses was a Water Elemental. I can't cause tsunamis, I can't raise any body of water bigger then a small pond out from its resting place and I can't make water appear in my hands. Many think since you don't have much control over the element being an Elemental is useless.
"Ask any one of has these powers and they will tell you. Being an Elemental is good for gaining the upper hand, escaping somewhere, distractions and as my son has proven, great for pranks"
Harry perked up at the last one. "Pranks huh? What kind of pranks are we talking here?"
Nirvelli chuckled "I see you are very much like my son."
"His father was a Marauder" Dumbledore stated.
"IS he?" Harry wondered why Dumbledore mentioned that and why the man was shocked. "My son would be honored to meet you. The son of a Marauder!"
"I don't get it? Why is my dad known because he is a Marauder?" 'No one has ever mentioned this!' he thought to himself.
"Harry you don't think us teachers from other school do not talk with each other do you? Four times a year five teachers from every school meet up to discuss where the students are and sometimes see if other schools might be interested in an inter-school competition of some sort. While there we usually brag about our best students and your father, Sirius and Remus were some of our best. Tales out told, word spreads around. Students tell their relatives and soon the whole magical world is aware of the tales of the Marauders" Dumbledore explained to him.
"So how come know one knows who the Marauders actually are then?" Harry asked.
"Sometimes people want to forget and sometimes the stories are so changed by the time they pass on to people that names are not known" Dumbledore repsonded. "Now come Mr. Nocona. I will show you to your room"
The man in question got up to follow Dumbledore into the castle but before walking through the doors turned back around. "Tomorrow morning at six in the morning I would like you to meet me by the lake, Harry. We will find your element there"
Harry nodded his head and watched as the man walked into the castle and disappeared from his line of light. It was good the man wasn't like Snape or else he might of just had to end his life. He just hoped the others were like this man and nothing like his greasy haired git of a potions professor.
As he stood there he pondered on his future plans. Once the old D.A. had at least a year of training he would lead them to battle, if they were willing. He only had to make sure they were good enough. But a year of dueling, being in the new D.A., having the club running again and with a hopefully competent Defense teacher most of them would be ready by the end of the year. He on the other hand, he was hoping to be able to participate in battles around Halloween. He could handle new Death Eater recruits, that he knew for sure. He just wondered what he could handle fighting Aurors and the more veteran Death Eaters. If he couldn't even handle them by Halloween then how was he ever expected to take on Voldemort? I mean after all the snake faced bastard had more power and skill then everyone in the world besides Dumbledore.
What if Dumbledore was injured? Then who would hold off Voldemort long enough for his Death Eaters to be subdued and forcing him to retreat? or long enough for the forces of the light and Ministry to flee the battle in still good condition?