Harry Potter and the Heaven's Feel
Chapter 4
Author's notes: Well, here's Chapter 4. Harry is likely to make waves at Hogwarts without really trying, what with his well defined ideas and already prepared plan on how to tackle his studies. While this one won't be a rebel, he was raised to stand up for what he believes in and to not be afraid to ask questions. This version of Harry Potter won't believe in the status quo and as I hate bullying personally, he won't stand for it either. It means that Luna's miserable time at Hogwarts will come to an end and the bullies will get a lesson that will stick.
Don't forget, this Harry has also many traits of his mother, including her infamous temper when he's angered. Ah, fair warning, when this Harry is angered, he tends to swear a lot. Also he won't replace "God" with "Merlin", in my opinion it kind of lost its impact when people do that. Now that's about all I've got to say, so let's take a look at the stats shall we? Right now we have 68 Reviews, 550 Followers, 482 Favourites, 15 C2 Communities and 19 162 views. Thank you very much for your patronage. Now, the show must go on!
Addendum: RegularWitches and Wizards generally mature a bit faster physically and mentally than their mundane counterparts once they entered puberty. Before puberty starts, a healthy magical kid will likely pass for a rather precocious but still normal child, accidental magic not included. Once puberty sets in though, their physical and mental developments are usually about six to eight months further than their actual age.
Once they reach their twenty-first birthday, they start to age from two to three times slower than non magicals, depending on their innate magical potential. Again, there are exceptions to the rules, since the magical body is even more unpredictable than a non magical one. After all, there are always some unresolved mysteries in the Supernatural world.
Also, since the global age of majority in the Magical Communities is seventeen years old, the age of consent for magicals all around the globe is now decreed to be at fifteen years old of age. Any sexual relationships prior to that age are formally forbidden. The first two bases are tolerated, but not encouraged. Also, to avoid teenage pregnancies, any drinks served to students in any Magical schools at meals time, be it by a Human staff or House Elves, contain a colourless, tasteless and odourless potent contraceptive potion. Caution is the mother of safety after all.
Ah, in many of my stories, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass with their parents and Tracey Davis and her parents live in Northern Ireland. They were likely born at Saint Mungo's but the Greengrass Estate is located there and the Davis Residence also.
Last Edit: May 22, 2017.
Harry Potter's first week at Hogwarts was strange. First of all, he had to get used to the weather. Having grown up in Tokyo, the temperatures of Northern Scotland even in the beginning of September were way below what he was used to. Then it was finding his way around the confusing labyrinth that was Hogwarts Castle. Was it too much to ask to put maps on the walls or a few indications somewhere? As it is, when he was fed up of getting lost, he had taken for habit to use his magic circle to go to the Great Hall. The next big hurdle was the God damn house tie!
He just wasn't able to put it correctly and the House Elves responsible for the laundry would always undo the knots after they came back from the wash! It was becoming so bad that people had started to gather in the morning in the common room to hear him cuss out loud in Japanese due to his frustration! Harry would usually rely on someone willing to spell it correctly tied when they were tired to see him struggle.
But this particular morning, a slip of a girl decided to act and approach him while he was losing his daily fight with his tie, all the while still cussing loudly in the native tongue of his adoptive mother. She was a bit younger than him and had waist-length, straggly, dirty blonde hair, protuberant silvery grey eyes, which often seemed to be dreamily distracted and also faint eyebrows. She had an aura of "distinct dottiness" about her, but Harry was not one to judge others by appearance. With her wand behind her ear, she looked like an artist that would do the same with his paintbrush.
It seems he was really a magnet to girls, since she was the second to approach him so far. The first one, Penelope Clearwater, the Head Girl, had took the initiative on her own to show him around to make sure he wouldn't get lost in the castle and be late to class. Well, she tried. Harry had just a bad sense of direction.
Without wasting a second, Luna took his tie from him, showing him how to do the right knot and said with a gentle and somewhat dreamy voice
"Look at my hands carefully, Harry. You see how I'm doing it? Have a little patience and you'll get it in no time. "
The boy was fascinated by the hands movements of the younger girl, but he was attentive even if he was silent. Luna was perceptive enough to know that she had all his attention.
When it was time for him to try, she gave him back the undone tie and said
"Here, now you give it a try."
He had quite a bit of difficulty at first, but after a few tries, he finally managed. Beaming, he then told her
"Thanks a bunch! You really helped me there."
She answered with a small smile and a
"It was nothing really, anybody else could have shown you how, but they were having too much fun hearing you speak loudly in another language. What were you saying?"
She asked while tilting her head on the side.
Harry smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and answered, a bit embarrassed
"Huh, rather bad words I'm afraid. I picked them from the neighbours whom are sailors. If my mother had heard me, I would have gotten a mouth washing with soap at the minimum."
Luna giggled a bit at that, both at his gesture (He was kind of cute in her opinion) and his sayings, but didn't say anything else. From that day forward, they became fast friends. Those two became truly inseparable. Even in face of her quirks, Harry never disparaged her. He would politely tell her that she was entitled to her opinions and he to his when they disagreed on something. She would tell him about her travels abroad and the fauna and the flora around her house and he would do the same.
What cemented an already solid friendship was his reaction when he found a few older housemates "working" her for daring to befriend the "Boy-Who-Lived" and rising higher than her station in their House.
It seemed that with Professor Flitwick being so busy helping Deputy Headmistress McGonagall pick up the slack of Headmaster Dumbledore's paperwork due to his two other full time jobs taking most of his time, the part Goblin professor had little time left to run his House correctly. Thus the more ambitious and capable students had successfully taken the reigns of the House in his absence. While they had started genuine, without proper checks and balances for too long, the older students soon became corrupted by the power.
After the new arrivals were being explained how things were working in Ravenclaw House and the consequences for those who try to be a do-gooder, almost no one tried to change things and those who defied the rules were quickly marginalized before things could get better. Very harsh examples were made if you disobeyed the golden rule. The going-on of the Common Room stayed inside of the Common Room. It was all about to change drastically though.
Seeing the horrible spectacle of his first British friend with her clothes torn when he came back into the Common Room, her modesty almost not covered anymore (and Harry was a bit embarrassed to note that Luna was an early bloomer in the chest area…) and her face and arms covered in bruises had him unleash his tightly reigned in temper and power. The fact that no one present was doing anything against the spectacle made him even angrier. First of all, his emerald green eyes started to glow ominously. His fists tightened so hard that his knuckles creaked. His jaw was clenched hard and a fire like aura jumped out of his skin!
At each step he took, the fight or flight instincts inside the students around him activated, firmly on the flight choice, except for the two older students tormenting his first friend. It didn't help that most of the furniture was now hovering, spinning randomly all around the room and cracking ominously, sometimes even colliding loudly together!
Then there was the howling of the unnatural wind that had just risen; now unleashing gusts all around at random. It was like a train wreck. You know you had to leave, but for some reason you were just incapable of not watching what was going on. Cho Chang, a witch a Chinese descent and Marietta Edgecombe a British born girl with curly, reddish-blonde hair were Luna's principal tormentors. Both were one year above him and two above Luna.
Without moving a muscle and with a simple exertion of his willpower, Harry's green flame-like aura shaped two energy arms with very big hands that flew at high speed, seizing both girls violently by the waist, immobilizing them. Not wasting any time, he mentally commanded the energy constructs to bring the now struggling and shrieking in vain older girls close to his face and said to them with an angry voice once they were near
"Who gave the both of you the freaking right to bully my friend?! When did the both of you have come up with that load of bullshit that you could decide who was "worthy" or not of associating with me? You both should be ashamed of yourselves! Luna was outmatched and outgunned from the very beginning, what with the both of you being two years older than her and you just had to keep humiliating her when she couldn't even defend herself!? What would have you done if some parts of her body better left covered were exposed for everyone to see?
I couldn't care less about the stupid "Boy-Who-Lived" moniker even if I could be bothered to even try! I will make friends with whoever I want and no one has the right to chose for me! Not the both of you, not the teachers and not even the God damn Ministry of Magic! Well, starting from today I say no more! I now have zero tolerance for any type of bullying! Luna Lovegood is my friend and I protect my friends! Hurt her again and I won't play nice anymore, do you understand?
I just happen to possess in my repertory a nice bunch of Eastern Style curses, jinxes and hexes that are just begging me to find a few good opportunities and targets to use them. This is your first and only warning. Do it again and you will both regret it severely!"
Not waiting for an answer, he mentally commanded the energy arms to throw both girls on a couch further away from the fireplace, not caring if they were alright or not or even noticing that their terrified shrieking had turned into sobs. With his eyes still radiating with sheer magical power, he looked at the now cowering forms of the rest of the Ravenclaw House's students and spat
"You are nothing more than a bunch of cowardly sheep! Letting two bullies doing such disgraceful acts without doing anything against it because they are baaing louder than the rest of the herd and on a younger girl too! I absolutely loathe bullies! Wake the hell up! That case of bullying just there almost turned into sexual assault, God damn it! Did you really think that there wouldn't be any punishments for things like that?! Innocent bystanders my ass! You are just as guilty as those two for not stopping things when her intimate body parts started to be visible!"
He then added on a mock serious and sarcastic tone of voice
"Ooh no, the Prefects will assign us detentions with Mr. Filch if we talk about what's going on in here or if we try to do something against their authority! Polishing old trophies or cleaning toilets without magic for a few hours! The horror! "
Back on a very serious tone of voice, he continued
"Well, I say better the detentions with the cantankerous old man than have a hand in a sexual assault and bullying! The next person who hurt my friend Luna or steal her things again will know great pain and public humiliation! You let those two arrogant bitches degrade and hurt an innocent girl just because she has different beliefs than most? You all disgust me. The House of the intelligent my ass, it's rather the House of the close minded cowards!"
He finished by spiting on the ground at the feet of a girl of his age, called Su Li, who flinched back from the vicious affront and cowered on herself when she made eye contact with that unexpected magical juggernaut. Reining back his power and his temper, Harry undid his robe covering his uniform and put it on the shaking shoulders of his still shell shocked friend, not caring a single iota that he had trashed the Common Room or put the fear of God into the cowards.
When he was certain that everything in need of being hidden was indeed correctly covered, he put a protective arm around her small shoulders and start guiding her toward the Hospital wing once outside of the dormitories but not before summoning back her wand from wherever it was stashed and give it back to his friend. Well, he had to rely on Luna's instructions, much to her amusement, since he was going toward the Library. They should really start working on his sense of orientation sometime…
After that outburst, things would change drastically into Ravenclaw House. It started with a shaking in barely restrained fury Madam Poppy Pomfrey, the school nurse, after Harry explained to her in which state he found his first friend in this country. Then she Floo called their Head of House, informing him that one of his students was in her care once Luna was properly settled in a bed. When the Charms Professor arrived to the Hospital Wing, both men were then promptly booted out in the adjoining corridor by Madam Pomfrey to give Luna a chance to change into something else than her thorn clothes in private.
Once outside, the young man repeated his tale once more. Harry wasn't afraid of much, but seeing a powerful and skilled wizard, no matter his size, like his Head of House shaking in restrained fury and struggling to contain his rising magical power due to his anger, Harry felt a bit afraid and took a few cautious steps back.
Flitwick seemed to forcefully calm himself when he saw how his newest student was getting nervous and asked with a forced calm tone in his voice
"You are absolutely certain of what you're saying Mr. Potter? Miss Chang and Miss Edgecombe were "working" Miss Lovegood for "rising higher than her station" and for "Daring to befriend the Boy-Who-Lived"? And the rest of the House were watching without doing anything against it? I do not wish to doubt your word, but you are casting some serious accusations on many of your Housemates Mr. Potter. You have to be very certain of yourself; it wouldn't do to punish the innocents in this horrid affair."
Harry answered with a determined and serious nod of his head
"Yes, sir, I'm very sure. I kinda lost my temper at the show and with my magic running free, I grabbed them and then yelled at them before throwing them away. I'm sorry, my temper just exploded when I walked on them and I made a big mess out of the Common Room. Luna's clothes were in ruins, sir! I had to do something; I couldn't just let things continue! I could even see part of Luna's naked chest on the sides!
The rest of the House were doing absolutely nothing; they were just sitting or standing there, watching what was going on in silence. They are nothing more than a bunch of cowardly sheep too afraid to stand up for themselves!"
With his head now clear from his earlier anger, he then remembered some important details and was quick to divulge them
"There were two other persons that were restrained, sir! Padma Patil was held at multiple wands point and couldn't even intervene and Penny, err I mean Penelope Clearwater that is, had been knocked out in some fashion and put in an out of the way corner. The others were either too afraid to do something for fear that the Prefects gave them detentions with Mr. Filch or agreed with the treatment administered by those two bitches. I refuse to bow to some bullies! I will befriend whoever I want to and there is nothing they can do about it! I couldn't care less about my supposed fame even if I was willing to try!"
Flitwick was becoming incensed all over again to the point that he didn't even think of penalizing his student for his use of coarse language. He though he had left the day-to-day operations of his House into good and responsible hands. It seems that he was sadly mistaken. The situation would have to be rectified post haste. The fallout that was bound to ensue from this would have been way much worse if Luna had been seriously hurt. Her tormentors had had the good sense to keep the administered blunt trauma to a relatively low level so it would only hurt thus not being dangerous for her life.
They were bullies, not Dark Wizards. They had only just started to rip her clothes to make her react, since she wasn't giving them the satisfaction of crying and/or begging them for mercy. In the end, every Ravenclaw Prefect currently appointed from Fifth to Seventh Year lost their positions, much to their displeasure. A pointed remark that they had made their own bed and now had to lie in it from Flitwick kept them to seek revenge on Luna and Harry. Well that and the threat of suspension and possible expulsion. Any student expelled before having passed their OWLs would have their wands snapped and forbidden to use magi for the rest of their lives.
Those who would be expelled after passing their OWLs could keep their wands but it would be a black mark in their record that would follow them all their lives. Penelope Clearwater had kept her Head Girl badge when it was confirmed that she had effectively been stunned from behind by a fellow Seventh Year that didn't want her to ruin the show when she made a move to put an end to the "lesson".
The Ravenclaw hourglass in the Great Hall containing the sapphires that represented the House Points was empty and even showed a negative score for the first time since the school's founding! Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe had been saddled with so many detentions for the rest of the term and with the possibility to extend them for the rest of the school year that it would be impossible for them to resume their bullying acts. No one wanted to test their Head of House after such an example and the tongue lashing he gave them in a House meeting.
After the Potter boy's reaction to the Ravenclaw's way of doings things, Flitwick had found his students strangely eager to make amends. No one wanted to poke the sleeping dragon that was Harry Potter's temper lest it woke up again and rip them to shreds.
Soon enough, routine resumed but that incident showed to the Headmaster that he was neglecting the running of his school for his political seats in the Wizengamot and the ICW. While Albus would have liked to resign from those posts on the spot, he had to first find adequate candidates to take his place. While Albus was many things, he prided himself to be an educator first and foremost.
Seeing his beloved school suffer from his absence and from his now overridden inability to say "no" when he first came into his fame was a big blow for him. He knew he could do better. His colleagues and students deserved better from him. Yes, Hogwarts deserved better and Albus swore he would take back the reigns so his beloved school would shine once more. Minerva, bless her forgiving heart, was willing to "hold down the Fort" for one more year. She said as much to him during their weekly staff meetings
"I forgive you, Albus. I understand that you are a flawed individual, no one is perfect. We all tend to forget that you are just a man. You are a great man, but one with his qualities and faults, just like everybody. You held the line with the best of your abilities against anything that could threaten our community for so many years; it's time for you to pass the torch to the new generation Albus.
I will hold down the Fort up here, so to speak, for the rest of the year but starting for next year, you'll have to either nominate another Head of Gryffindor or a new Deputy. Merlin knows that we were lucky enough to still have a roof over our heads after the Marauders graduated and now with the Weasley twins trying to surpass them. I'm burning the candle from both ends as it is. Three full time positions are too much to handle for me. "
Albus was quick to answer
"I understand. I thank you Minerva and everyone else, for your patience. I will endeavour myself to rectify the situation as soon as possible."
The rest of the Staff Meeting was routine once those subjects were cleared up.
Life moved on, but when you just finished dealing with one thing, another one presented itself. This time, it was the many complaints of non attendance in certain classes for one Harry Potter. He was always present in time for Transfiguration, Charms and Defence against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes and also Arithmancy. The problem was stemming from the fact that the kid hadn't attended any History of Magic, Potions, Herbology and Astronomy classes since the second week of term.
He was also assigned quite a few detentions because of his absences, but once again he opted to not attend them. Otherwise no one had really anything negative to say against the boy. He was on time to the classes he was attending, did his work with minimal to no fuss, was usually polite with the Professors and made great effort to not rock the boat so to speak except if anything or anyone was upsetting young Miss Lovegood deliberately. The young man was very protective of his friend. Now why would Lily's son act like that?
As his Head of House, Flitwick had called the boy to speak with him in his Office to get at the bottom of this affair. After the pleasantries were over, the teacher started things up
"I called you to my Office today for a particular reason, Mr. Potter. I received alarming news from many Professors that you didn't show up to a few core classes since the second week of term and also had been ignoring both the detentions issued to you stemming from those absences and the homework assigned. I would like some clarification before I act, if you please."
Harry wasn't even slightly nervous. He kept looking all around the Office with genuine interest, how it was furnished and the personal touches here and here, those sorts of things. When his Head of House talked to him, he did the polite thing to do and listened and paid attention to his teacher. When it was his turn to talk, he answered, trying to stay calm on his chair, but having too much magic flowing through him made him a bit hyperactive. He would have to remedy to that, rather sooner than later before the problem worsen.
The teachers didn't know it yet, but they would absolutely not want to deal with a hyperactive magical prodigy with access to Clow Reed's powers. When he was overflowing with magic and had too much time on his hands, he became creative. In that state, he was his father's son alright.
"Well first of all, I didn't even know that those classes were mandatory. So I only decided to go to those I felt could benefit me after auditing them. Seriously, everybody is harping about the School's Rules but they aren't posted anywhere! I checked on the bulletin board in the Common Room and it's mostly the lost and found ads, the schedule of the various approved clubs and the announcement of dates of the next Hogsmeade week-end that take the most of the place.
Secondly, my mother wasn't very keen to let me go this far away from home since it would mean that my regular education would suffer and she wouldn't see me for months at time; which would be very hard on both of us. I also had to promise her that I would keep up with my mundane school work before she accepted to let me go. So I decided to only take what I feel that I will need from the classes Hogwarts offer to fulfil my goals.
It was a rather hard sell, but my mother finally accepted to let me come here after learning and confirming that Hogwarts was an excellent school of Western Style Wizardry, where the Charms, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Herbology and Arithmancy courses were among the top ten internationally speaking.
Thirdly, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus err I means Professor Lupin, sorry; both told me that Professor Snape loathed my father and his friends with all his being because they personally made his school years here a living hell. They also added that he would be very likely to seek revenge for their antics on me since the rest are out of his grasp, what with having reach adulthood and/or living in another country. I also saw his venomous and hateful glares directed on me each time we were physically close enough to see each others. I have absolutely zero intention of antagonizing that man further than he already is.
In my humble opinion, It's a win-win situation for both of us. Professor Snape doesn't have to tolerate the constant presence and teach the child of his long dead "mortal enemy" and I don't get to be on the man's bad side more than I am already are simply because I'm James Potter's son. That's the reason why I'm not going in Potions class.
Fourthly, History of Magic is a veritable joke, sir. Professor Binns drone on and on about Goblin rebellions endlessly and he's only quoting the book. We learn absolutely nothing in his class. Add to the fact that almost no one stays awake in that class, I simply decided that my time would be much better spent elsewhere. I have no need for the knowledge of Goblin rebellions for my goals and if I really need the info for a test that I can't escape, I'll just read the book at the relevant chapters or just fail it if I can't be bothered to read about it. It's not like it's the end of the world.
Fifthly, for Herbology, I don't have anything against Professor Sprout. She looks like a very nice person and from what I've heard sge seems to really know her stuff. But there's nothing she could teach me that my mother didn't taught me already about regular and magical plants and fungi growing around the world. So I decided to give her class a miss also. I have no need of studying what I already know after all."
When he was a young child and he had just been adopted, Harry hadn't liked to be read muggle or even magical fairy tales, so in desperation to tire him enough to sleep a few hours so she could do the same, Yūko had started to read him books about plants. They also discovered later on that he had a very good memory, remembering much of what he was being told. Thus, his favourite excuse at the time for not doing his chores of "I forgot" became invalidated.
After taking a break to formulate in his mind what he wanted to tell his Professor, Harry took back the parole once ready
"Sixth, Astronomy is at night and as far as I'm concerned, night is for sleeping, not for going to class. I already have a hard time falling asleep as it is with the curfew/lights out being so bloody early, I won't mess with my sleep schedule even more only to go look at the stars with an outdated telescope and trying to make annotations on Stars Charts made of parchment with a pot of ink and a quill. If the class shifted to a day schedule, I'd be more likely to attend it; at least I would see better what I'm doing.
As for the detentions, well I haven't done anything I felt was wrong. Why would I go waste my time there otherwise? If I did do something wrong, like beat the snot out of that annoying Malfoy brat from Slytherin House for no reason other than he was getting on my nerves per example, I would own up to it and serve my due punishment unflinchingly. Otherwise, you really shouldn't count on me to show up to serve them."
Filius had to admit, if only in his mind, that he was very impressed with the boy's reasoning and also rather amused by his carefree attitude. The kid seemed to be a good mix of both his parents and he likely took some traits of his adoptive family too and then add his own personality to the mix, well...you get what he currently had in front of him. Harry's arguments were well thought off and also very logical. Too bad for the kid that the rules were set against him in this case and that as a teacher and more particularly as a Head of House; Filius was more or less duty bound to enforce them.
Flitwick was impressed despite himself with the Potter boy's drive though; no student with a Muggle background had ever managed to keep up with their Muggle schooling at the same time of their Magical education in all of his years as a teacher. Curious about those famous goals the kid kept hinting toward, he decided to take the bait so to speak and ask about it.
"I admit that I'm curious now, Mr. Potter. What are those goals you kept hinting about?"
Harry blinked owlishly, surprised that someone would ask him about that and then answered readily
"Oh, I'm only attending Hogwarts to learn about what is of interest and likely to be useful to me in the near future, nothing more and nothing less. It's also a life experience I can put on my application for Clock Tower, the Mage's Association Headquarters, where I intend to apply to attend after I took my OWLs. If I can't enter Clock Tower that early, I might stay here in Hogwarts until the end of Sixth year if I'm in the right mood.
My mother tutored me in Eastern Style Wizardry since I was around eight years old, so while my uncles could and have tutored me in many subjects for Western Style Wizardry so I could have the level of education necessary to enter here as a Third Year student, they felt that I should experience life in a magical castle, if only for a scholastic year or two."
Flitwick frowned in thought in light of the information he just received. Clock Tower? The Mage's Association? Where had he heard of those before? Then it came back to him. Magi. The boy sitting in front of him was initiated to Magecraft! Wizards and Magi usually didn't associate with each other's anymore than necessary due to their shared dislike of the others. It was even considered a social taboo in Magical Britain to learn and practice Magecraft.
Flitwick had no doubt that many open minded witches or wizards would look up what Magecraft was for curiosity's sake but he didn't know any one personally. But it wasn't his place to tell the boy which type of magic to study outside of school. So as long as their laws were respected, he would hold his tongue on the subject. Shaking his head, Filius brought the original subject back from where it had wandered
"You have rather interesting and very laudable goals Mr. Potter, but I'm afraid that you will have to put most of them on hold for at least a few years. You have very logical arguments I must admit, but the Hogwarts Charter, the Board of Hogwarts' Governors and the Department of Magical Education all require for a student to attend all core classes up until their Sixth year, no exceptions made for any reason except declared blood feuds.
It means that you and Professor Snape will have to learn to tolerate each other's until the end of your Fifth Year at least, that you both like it or not. You have also accumulated a very high number of detentions and I have the regret of informing you that you will have to serve them all to the very last one. As for your Muggle schooling, I would seriously recommend you to drop it totally or at least to pick it back up only during the summer holidays when Magical school won't be in session. You will be very busy making up for lost time in your other classes after all."
The Charms Professor was expecting a halfhearted protest from the child and maybe negotiation attempts to keep his current arrangement. But what he wasn't expecting at all was a very Marauder like grin to appear on the boy's face without warning and his emerald green eyes shifting in an instant to a warm and playful black colour. Then a pulse of raw magic emanated from the pre-teen's body and Filius Flitwick knew no more.
Harry was feeling rather annoyed at his Head of House right now. While he understood that they were rules to follow, Harry had been raised to see the majority of rules as mere guidelines to help you navigate the situation. You also had to understand that for Harry, the words "Rules" and "Laws" were two very different concepts, again due to his upbringing. He always had been a trailblazer anyway. Who wanted to take the beaten path anyway when he wasn't in any hurry?
Contemplating how to get out of this mess, he was surprised by his ancestor's voice
"Would you let me come to the forefront Harry? If I use my power, I can hypnotize him into letting you keeping your current arrangement and stop making a fuss."
Harry was quick to answer Clow.
"I don't mind Uncle, but what about the others teachers though? They're bound to get involved one way or another after a while."
Clow had a solution ready for that scenario too.
"You will only have to let me take the front seat when needed and I will hypnotise them into accepting your choices one after the others. If the Board of Governors and/or Officials from the Department of Magical Education come around to complain, I'll take care of it too, don't you worry. I'm not one to brag usually, but I doubt even Dumbledore and Voldemort could resist me. It's too bad that I was already dead around World War II. I fell asleep and woke up as a spirit at New Year's Eve, at the very dawn of the 20th century.
Not that I wished for two World Wars but I would have really liked to duel against Grindelwald. From what I heard over the years, he was very crafty and not always relying on brute force, torture and terror like Voldemort. Oh well, what's done is done. In case that the normal dose is not enough, I can always put more power behind the hypnosis. If there's one thing that we both have, it's power aplenty."
Reassured, Harry permitted his ancestor to take control, thus his green eyes becoming a warm and mischievous black colour. Harry/Clow was rather quick to put into the educator's mind the notion that Harry was on an experimental program due to his previous education in both Wizardry styles, what with having grown up and schooled in Japan. If it worked well, the program could be offered to other students in time, since Harry was testing the prototype.
Clow/Harry also used his powers for a bit of mischief by transferring Harry's scheduled detentions to the already heavy workload of Luna's former tormentors and most grievous offenders among the rest of the House. Once everything was done, Harry's eyes became green again, signifying that Clow was no longer in control. The Charms Teacher came back to the waking world a few minutes later and there was the proof that the hypnotism had worked like a charm, since Harry had been dismissed after assuring his Head of House that he was acclimating rather well to the life in the castle.
In the following days, Harry/Clow would successfully repeat the procedure on every member of the staff that came to enquire about his continued absence in their classes, well except the ghostly Professor Binns; since said ghost didn't take attendance, but a free teacher would pass by once class was in session and take said attendance for their paperwork. Clow wasn't even sure if you actually could hypnotize a ghost and Harry wasn't curious enough to test it.
Remus was in Harry's corner anyway, so he was told the cover story Clow and Harry came up with so he could avoid squealing the truth by accident. Not that Harry had to fear for that, Remus was a former Marauder; he knew when to keep his mouth shut when confronted by the authority over something you really don't want them to know.
Now that he had already established a good routine between his western, eastern and mundane studies, Harry decided that it was time to explore the castle more. To date, he had only explored the important locations, like the Kitchens, The Great Hall, the Owlery and other class rooms. Clow had finally come clean with him, telling about the visions he had had about his descendant since a few months before that fateful Halloween 1981. Harry was the first in so many generations who could find the entrance to Camelot and awaken her.
After King Arthur's fall, his Kingdom fell in chaos and darkness, what with the Saxons' invasion and the Knights of the Round Table fighting each others. Merlin and Morgan were locked in deadly combat of ideals and Magics, but the Lady of the Lake, Viviane, after taking the agonizing King Arthur and the Holy Sword Excalibur back to the isle of Avalon, was now free to act. With the High King's "death", every piece of the Kingdom would be up for grab by every noble with a smidgen of power.
As devastating as it was for the populace at the time, it was the perfect cover needed to seal away Camelot until the once and future King's return. Nobody truly knows how she went about it, but one day the castle and the town near it were gone. Vanished into thin air! Since the villagers had already deserted the place when the fight between Morgan and Merlin became more than words, nobody was left to be expelled/relocated. Once done, Viviane locked Avalon out of reality, into the Mists, waiting for the right person to open up once again.
As a Fae/ Minor Celtic Goddess, she was Immortal, thus she had all the time in the world after all. With Arthur's (Arturia) spirit gone to the Throne of Heroes due to his/her contract as a Heroic Spirit, Viviane put his/her dying body in stasis and would use the following centuries to slowly heal the King of Knights, knowing that one day, he/she would return.
Centuries later, the four greatest Wizards of the Age wished to open a school to teach to their race's children their crafts. They found the perfect spot far in the Highlands of what would be one day known as Scotland. But while the spirit and magic of Camelot was protected, the outer shell of the castle was not. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff built Hogwarts Castle upon the ruins of what was once Camelot.
Not that they knew that until Godric Gryffindor somehow stumbled upon the stone in which Caliburn, the Sword that Choose was once embedded, resting deep in what would be later called the Forbidden Forest. After that discovery, Viviane used the water of the nearby Loch to appear to the Founders to explain exactly what exactly Hogwarts was now protecting even if the Castle was meant to be a school. The rest was, as they said, history.
Harry was effectively flabbergasted by the impromptu history lesson. Clow had had visions that he, Harry, would be the one to rediscover and awaken Camelot from its millennia slumber, and then when he had proved his mettle by awaking the Mythic Castle, he could unlock Avalon? (More precisely, it would serve as a signal for the Lady Viviane to shift back the isle and its last sanctuary to the old Celt Gods into an accessible reality, but better not sweat the small details right?)
Well, he could now understand why his tenant was so mysterious about the things that awaited him at Hogwarts. Now, he knew that logically, he should explore the lower levels of the school in search of a secret passage leading to the legend sleeping beneath since Hogwarts was built upon Camelot's ruins. But this was not a regular castle; it was a magical one, where a thousand years of immature magic users had graced these halls and now the castle was also sitting on a few lay lines.
Hogwarts was also somewhat sentient, what with the stairs moving on their own and the corridors shifting on various days. So logic would not be his ultimate tool on this adventure.
Harry answered his ancestor in his mind, while his body was eating his supper with his Housemates at his House Table in auto-pilot.
"Well, at least I know why you were so annoying each time we spoke of this place."
Clow's answer was quick to come
"Hey! I'm a couple of hundred year's old, kiddo! Living such a long life becomes quite boring after a while, so I had to find things to keep myself occupied and entertained. Being a Gadfly or a "Troll" as the young'uns says these days, is exactly what the doctor ordered! Face facts, without my experience in mischief you would have been overwhelmed and ultimately defeated in the last Prank War at home!"
He finished a teensy bit offended.
Harry was quick to apologize since Clow had a point and took the conversation back where he wanted
"Do you have any idea on how to find the way to Camelot?"
Clow was silent a moment, likely thinking and then answered
"No, I'm sorry but my visions hadn't showed me how you accomplished the feat. They just showed me that you were the only one capable of unlocking it and access it since it was sealed away by the Lady of the Lake many centuries ago. Give me some time; I'll try to find something for you to work with. In the meantime, you can continue your exploring of the castle. Maybe Hogwarts itself will help you? You never know after all."
Harry acquiesced mentally and when he felt Clow leave the forefront of his mind, he could now focus on what was going on around him. Most people on the Ravenclaw table where still trying to make themselves look as small as possible, it was mostly because that even with the efforts of everyone, they still were in the negative for the House Points. Gryffindor were loud and exuberant, as always, what with the Weasley Twins holding court in their corner. Hufflepuff was animated, but not as loud as the Gryffindors. Slytherin was calm and collected, acting with decorum and grace.
Those were definitely Scions from the Old Families. Done with eating and in the mood to get some exercise, he left the Great Hall after asking if Luna wanted to go for a walk around the Castle before curfew. No, it was not a roundabout way to court her. While Harry knew that Luna was a girl (His friend was often prompt to jump on his back when she was in a playing mood, thus pressing her developing assets on him.) he was not interested in her that way. She was a great and funny friend, but there was nothing romantic between them. For now that is. To be honest, Harry felt he wasn't ready to start dating just yet.
Deciding to explore the Dungeons and other lower levels, the two Ravenclaws went down a few set of stairs before Harry had an idea to make the walk more interesting. He turned toward the younger girl and asked
"Do you want a ride on my back? That way I can go faster and it will be more entertaining."
Not waiting for her answer, he assumed his Animagus form. His form was of a Grey Wolf. While the species was called "Grey Wolf", Harry's fur was a midnight black colour with a few splotches a white on his torso and neck. His eyes were still the same piercing emerald green though. He was also quite tall for his age, since he was already at seventy five centimetres high at the shoulder! Needless to say, Luna's reaction didn't make itself wait. She managed to restrain the decibels level of her squeal to not hurt his sensitive ears and was quick to hug him around his neck, burrowing her face into his fur.
Feeling mischievous, Harry sneaked in a lick from her chin up to her forehead when she was distracted, making her splutter and spit the drool from her mouth. Harry gave her a very doggy grin while she tried to be offended; while her words had a bit of heat behind them, her smile said otherwise
"You're lucky that you're cute or I would have changed you into a fur coat for that stunt you mutt!"
Hinting at what he wanted, he lowered himself just enough for the young girl to hop on his back. Generally, such a thing would be impossible. A human was way too heavy to ride a wolf like a horse, but here, magic was one of the greatest equalizer. Harry was a Wizard who had borrowed the form of a wolf, thus his power flowing through his veins made him somewhat sturdier than a mundane wolf and the result was that he was able to run around with someone on his back, so long as it was a child or a young teen.
Even magical reinforcement had its limits. For some reason, Harry was able to use a bit of magic in his Animagus form, but outside of Reinforcement, Magecraft was entirely out of his grasp in this form. So after some good natural grumbling about disrespectful fur balls and cheeky walking carpets, Luna had managed to climb on the black wolf's back and with a yip and a squeal of joy from Harry and Luna respectively, they were gone from their previous spot.
They were running fast, so fast that anybody who would be likely to see them would only see a bolt of yellow and black. Each time Harry went for a sprint, he would let out a short bark and Luna would let out a squeal of joy. But something happened to cut short the enjoyment of the evening. Both wolf and girl had stumbled upon a quintet of Third Year Slytherins since they looked about Harry's age. Since the meal was not over when they left, Harry and Luna could assume that they had left their table earlier than the rest of their House.
The color of their ties and the badge on their uniforms was a given, but they were rather far from the entrance of the Slytherin Dorms. Curious but cautious, both wolf and lass on his back stayed back in the shadows and watched what was going on. Three boys were trying to either pressure or impress the two girls and seeing the twitching smile of the brunette and the visible roll of the eyes from the blonde, it wasn't very successful if it was the latter.
Of course, the two bigger ones were about as dumb as rocks but the smaller one, that Malfoy kid who made a bad redo of the famous James Bond's introduction, had some brains since he clearly saw that the girls were not impressed. Harry was about to come out of his hiding place just to gave the boys a good scare for the simple fun of it when the situation resolved itself. Clearly the girls didn't need a hero or a saviour right now.
Draco Malfoy wasn't having a very good week. First of all, his father had cut his funding citing that Draco should learn to recruit followers and allies by his own merit, so he couldn't pay the rest of the House to follow him like the two previous years. He learned it the hard way when he went to antagonize the Blood Traitor Ron Weasley. The rest of Slytherin House left him to the Lions' mercy, with only Crabbe and Goyle as backup. Needless to say, they had to drag themselves to the infirmary after the Weasley Twins were done with them.
Secondly, his plan to win Potter's support had backfired in his face. The Half Blood had obviously being raised outside of the United Kingdom and not knowing of his heritage, Draco could teach it to him in exchange of his support in his future endeavours and obedience, as it was proper for their stations in life. A Half-Blood was inferior to a Pureblood after all. But no, the filthy Half-Blood had the sheer gall to laugh in his face the second he introduced himself with all the flair of his superior heritage and to refuse his generous offer!
Then he was dismissed like he was a vulgar commoner! To add insult to injury, the last Potter had the gall to use his filthy foreign magic to teleport to another part of the castle to not have to deal with him!
Lastly, he had tried to make understand to Heiress Greengrass that she should be honoured to be courted by the purest of pureblood like him. He was in a mood for a prettier arm candy than Pansy, but no, the Irish girl had the gall to refuse him again and again, even in front of her half blooded twit hanger-on Davis! It was too much for him. But even if he had wanted to curse both of them, they proved that they were more dangerous than him and his bodyguards by disarming the three of them in a flash since by the time that all three boys were about to cast, both girls had already drawn their wands and cast three disarming jinxes! In the back of his mind, Draco told himself
"I knew I should have practised my duelling skills…"
Draco had been rather skilled when he was learning the inns and outs of Duelling during the previous summers, but he had gotten out of practice since he had been so busy securing his Rule over Slytherin House with his allowance and showing the Mudbloods and other various riffraff's their rightful places. Hence Draco's lack of training resulted in his humiliating loss and his even quicker retreat with the well known empty threat, after his bodyguards and him had taken back their wands
"Wait until my father hears about this!"
Tracey could no longer contain herself once the prat was gone with his tail between his legs, his two thugs following him and after a quick laugh, she said to her friend
"What an idiot! Geez, you told him already three times you weren't interested and he still hasn't gotten the hint?"
Daphne let out a loud breath with pursed lips, having for effect to send flying a few loose hairs. She too, was getting tired of the Malfoy Heir's attentions. Yes, she was one of the first girls in her year to have gotten breasts and shapely hips, but it didn't mean that she was interested in letting boys have their ways with her new assets. They then both tensed again when they heard another voice, but calmed a bit at the feminine tone
"Draco must be infested with Wrackspurts. He still thinks everything revolve around him. Somebody should really tell him that he's not the centre of the universe before someone not as nice as us hurt him badly to make him understand."
Both Slytherins girls saw something they wouldn't have thought possible if it wasn't right there in front of their eyes. A female Ravenclaw underclassman, sitting on the back of a very big midnight black wolf who was watching everything in what looked like a serene manner and talking about Malfoy's attitude in a soft voice like it was about the weather. It was Tracey who resumed the situation nicely.
"What the fuck?!"
Both Daphne and Luna said in one voice to her
"Language!"
They were answered by the sounds of an amused bark coming from the wolf and the target of the reprimand's loud groaning. Life sure loved throwing them curve balls these days no?
