Hermione explained.Harry Potter Z: And the Sorcerer's Stone
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. I offered to wrestle a troll for it, but they won't give me the rights. JK is a sissy!
Chapter 5: No Holds Barred
The next day Harry had something to consider. He remembered Hagrid saying that there was no better place than Gringotts to keep something safe, except for Hogwarts. He was pretty sure that whatever had been in that little sack was what was now guarded by that three-headed dog. He didn't have any proof, but everything fit together too well for it not to be.
Harry tried to share this information with Ron, Hermione and Neville at breakfast, but Hermione seemed to be torn about whether or not she was speaking with him and Neville didn't want to know what was under the three-headed monster as if knowing what was under it might one day make him have to go near the beast again. Ron on the other hand seemed to think it had been a great adventure now that he had the benefit of a night's sleep and no reason to have to go back. Unfortunately without more clues it didn't look like they would be solving the mystery of what had been in the grubby bag.
Malfoy however wasn't at all pleased about their adventure. He'd been shocked to see them when he'd come down for breakfast. They were shoveling away food and talking animatedly like they did every morning. By the time he sat down Draco was furious and glaring daggers at Harry, which he seemed to ignore.
Sitting at the Gryffindor table Harry did his best to look oblivious to Malfoy, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being acknowledged, but the more he thought about it the more furious he was. Draco didn't know about Harry's powers and why he needed to learn magic so he couldn't claim the boy was trying to put the world in jeopardy. And to be fair if he couldn't catch up with his brother's power his brother was still there, so Harry wasn't needed; he just didn't want to be useless again while people he cared about fought. But if he and Ron were expelled they might not be able to learn magic anywhere else. And Malfoy had no way of knowing that Harry could work in the Muggle world and he was sure Ron couldn't. So the boy was willing to ruin their lives and for what? Power…prestige…in a school? The more he thought about it the more he thought that Malfoy was scum and he wanted to teach the punk a lesson with his fists.
Harry wasn't looking forward to the start of the day, because it was Friday and that meant potions and Snape again. Draco and his two cronies got up and followed Harry and Ron out. Draco was obviously still miffed, but he'd calmed down when he'd received another package of homemade sweets delivered by their stately eagle owl that morning. He was munching on one of the baked goods his mother had sent when he started to taunt Harry. "Don't seem to get mail much do you Potter?"
Harry stopped. Of all the things Malfoy could have commented about he hadn't expected that. "Draco, I'm touched that you're so concerned about me that you watch how much mail I get," Harry put a hand over his heart. "But is it really healthy for you to spend so much time following me around?"
Draco ignored Harry's insult and the laughing in the hallway that accompanied it and pressed on acting shocked himself. "Well I was just worried. I heard that they'd shipped you off to live with muggles and it doesn't look like they like you much since they don't seem to ever even write you."
Despite being adopted, Harry had never questioned his family's love for him. How could he? Through the years they'd all risked their lives to protect each other. So, Harry looked at Malfoy like he was stupid for a minute before he finally realized what the boy had been insinuating. When he realized he just laughed. "My family," Harry stressed the word, "lives a long ways away, it takes a long time for Hedwig to get there and back."
"Oh come on Potter do you expect us to believe that excuse? My family's owl can get all the way from London to here and back in a day." Malfoy reached out expansively and got a lot of positive nods and murmurs from the small crowd that was gathering.
"My family lives on the other side of the world." Harry replied
"Yeah, right Potter, you may have an accent, but you don't sound American." The crowd still seemed to be eating out of Malfoy's hands.
"My family lives in asia," Harry replied before he thought better of it.
"Oh and I suppose they speak English over there or do you speak Asian?" Malfoy taunted as if he'd caught Harry in an obvious lie.
Harry was about to ask the idiot Malfoy if he spoke European, but he saw a couple of girls walking through the slightly crowded hallway. They looked to be a year or two older than him, but one of them was of obvious Asiatic decent. "/Pardon me, but do you speak Japanese?/" he asked the Asian girl in flawless Japanese. Not that Malfoy could have recognized the difference and apparently neither could the girl as she just blushed and shook her head. Malfoy just laughed but before he could say anything Harry asked again, this time in another eastern language. Everyone stood in shock as Harry asked in two more languages before he got to Mandarin.
The girl blushed even redder and smiled widely before responding that she did speak Mandarin and asking if Harry had ever been to China. Harry replied that he had and wanting to steer the conversation away from the possible location of his family told the girl that she had a pretty smile.
That was when the pretty Asian girl started acting strange. She squeaked and lunged forward kissing him on the cheek and then grabber her friend and ran. Harry may have been a couple of years younger than her, but he was still a celebrity after all.
Before Harry could spend any time trying to figure out the girl, whose name he hadn't even had the chance to ask, Draco interrupted his thoughts with a displeased noise and stomped off toward potions.
"You dog, what did you say to her?" Ron asked.
"I just said she had a pretty smile, was all," Harry replied and grinned. "Maybe you should see what would happen if you told Hermione that she had a pretty smile," Harry suggested.
Ron nearly choked before warning that they didn't want to be late for potions and started dragging Harry along. Once there, Harry's elation at his victory over Malfoy was short lived. Snape didn't treat him any better than he had the first time. And when he'd caught the piece of cod liver that Malfoy had tried to throw into his cauldron Snape had berated him for trying to add it to soon and had taken another point away from Gryffindor.
After a weekend of scouring the castle looking for secret passages the next week started looking better for Harry. One morning during breakfast six of the loudest and most colorful owls he had ever seen carried a long narrow package into the great hall and dropped it in the middle of the table in front of him. There was a note attached to the package, which Harry was surprised to see was addressed to him. With everyone's eyes on him Harry opened the note.
Dear Harry,
Congratulations on making the team. Your father would have been very proud. I can't wait to tell Moony about this! When Professor McGonagall told me how you got on the team, out flying that ponce, Draco your first time on a broom, well I just wished I had been there to see it. Well I won't be missing your first big game, and maybe we'll get a chance to talk and you can tell me about all the trouble you've caused and the secret passages you've found so far. I might be able to even show you a few and give you a couple of ideas for pranks.
Well anyway I'm supposed to be writing this note so you don't open your late birthday present at the table where everyone can see. It's a prototype Nimbus 2001. Next year it'll be the fastest broom on the market, but yours will be a little faster. Right now they're looking to slow the next version down because it's so powerful it accelerates over four times faster than the best deceleration charms they can make right now. You're mum, bless her soul, would have had a fit if she knew I was giving you a broom that wasn't safe enough for mass production, but from what I've heard you can handle it. And if I know Potters you'll want the broom with the most power in the air.
Inside the package you'll also find a pouch with the 10 galleons Moony and I owe your father. I bet you'd play beater because of the way you used to bop all of us except your mum when we were playing with you when you were a baby. I think you dad would have bet chaser, but Moony beat him to it, he said you'd want to be a chaser like your dad, so your dad picked seeker, because it requires a lot more skill at flying than keeper.
McGonagall doesn't want you to open it in the great hall. She says that if you open in where everyone can see it all the first years will be pestering her to let them have a broom too. I don't see what the big deal is. They'll see you on it during your first game anyway. So I say go ahead and open it.
Your friend in Marauding Excellence,
Sirius Black
P.S. I almost forgot, you're supposed to go to the Quidditch pitch at 7 tonight. The captain will give you your first practice then. Bring your broom.
Maybe it was the way Harry chuckled when at parts of the small letter, or maybe it was the amount of time he took staring at the note as he read it twice, or maybe it was just because Professor McGonagall could smell trouble brewing at a thousand paces, but when Harry looked up from the missive he looked straight into McGonagall's stern eyes.
"I suspect you'll want to head back to your dorm to open that before class starts Mr. Potter," McGonagall's tone of voice made it clear that he wasn't going to get away with opening the package in the great hall.
"Yes ma'am," Harry replied instinctively. He might have wanted to stay and have another serving of breakfast, but he didn't want to press his luck with Professor McGonagall. He'd just have to have a bigger lunch if he was hungry.
Nodding to Ron, Harry stood up and spun the new broomstick, still in its paper wrapping, in the air to get a feel for its weight before slinging it over his shoulder and walking out. Ron got up to follow, but fell behind as he buttered several muffins to take with him.
Ron hadn't quite caught up when Harry found Malfoy, complete with his two stooges blocking his way up stairs. Harry thought about walking right by them, but even though they couldn't stop him, they could stop Ron.
Malfoy stalked over to Harry and attempted to grab the package out of his hand, but all he managed was to rip the paper revealing the deep cherry wood finish of the broom's handle and causing a pouch to fall out. Malfoy tried to grab it, but Harry's hand was much faster.
Malfoy looked incensed that someone would snatch something away from regardless of who it belonged to. He proceeded to glare at the package in Harry's hands. Harry couldn't tell if he was more upset or jealous of what Harry was holding. "That's a broom stick Potter. You'll be in for it this time Potter; first years aren't allowed to have one."
Harry glared at the ponce in front of him. Malfoy was still trying to ruin his life by getting him expelled. But Ron was still caught up on the fact that Harry had gotten his own broom. "You got a broom, what kind?"
"It's a prerelease for the Nimbus 2001," Harry smirked, knowing he was really rubbing it in to Malfoy
"That's not even going to be released until next year," Ron's unabashed excitement was evident in his voice.
"That's what it's like to be Rich Weasley," Malfoy sneered trying to cover up his jealousy. "People give us stuff nobody else can get."
"Yeah, I bet Comet owled you that 260 you've got at home and asked you to tell them what you thought of it," Ron bit back.
Draco simmered in his own jealousy for a moment before he could come up with something biting to say. "At least I could afford it, instead of having to save up for it twig by twig."
"You mean your daddy could afford it," Harry acted bored when he said it, trying to show that he didn't think your parents having money didn't make you very important.
Before Malfoy could retort, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow. "Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he sounded friendly, but Harry wasn't sure that Professor Flitwick could sound intimidating with his squeaky voice.
"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," Malfoy said loudly as soon as he realized there was a professor present.
"Yes, yes, that's right," Professor Flitwick grinned at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"
"It's a prototype Nimbus 2001." Harry answered.
"A prototype, really!?" Professor Flitwick eyed the package Harry still had over his shoulder.
Harry smiled seeing the professor's obvious excitement and the shocked look on Malfoy's face. "Professor McGonagall didn't want me to open it in front of everyone, but I could bring it by your office some time if you want to have a look at it."
Professor Flitwick licked his lips before with a pained expression he said, "No that won't be necessary." Harry was about to offer again when Flitwick smiled at him. "What I'll really want to see is the full capabilities of that broom in use and I don't think you'll disappoint me there Mr. Potter."
"No sir," Harry replied quickly, nervous that another teacher's good will might be hinged on his performance playing a game he'd never even seen before. Malfoy looked even more confused, giving Harry an idea. "But I really need to thank Malfoy here; it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I got it," Harry told the professor right before he walked past Malfoy and his stooges.
Harry had to stifle his laughter as he sensed Malfoy storming off toward the dungeons. "But it's true," He said to Ron in between chuckles. "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team..."
"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" Hermione asked angrily as she stomped up the stairs behind them.
"No," Harry replied instantly. "I think this is a result of Karma after doing what was right."
"You hold yourself above the rules and decide what's right and wrong for everyone?" Hermione put her hands on her hips imperiously.
"No, I live by a set of principles like honesty, kindness and integrity and I'm willing to follow them to the best of my abilities no matter what the cost," Harry's voice was intense with emotion.
"You didn't have to break the rules," Hermione was adamant.
"I couldn't let Malfoy bully Neville if it was within my power to do something about it."
"You could have told a teacher."
"And when would they have stopped him?" Harry looked Hermione in the eye. "Don't you use your eyes? Bullies like Malfoy know how to keep from being caught and use the rules to their advantage. The teachers were never able to stop them from bullying you did they?"
"What?" Something Harry couldn't recognize flashed in Hermione's eyes.
"Don't tell me you weren't bullied in school," Harry's voice was cold. "I've met one of them remember? You weren't complaining when I was stopping him. How does it feel to know that you stood by and did nothing while Malfoy was trying to hurt Neville?"
Ron blinked, confused about how Malfoy could have hurt Neville when Neville was already gone. But Harry's supposition was correct Hermione having experienced being bullied understood exactly how Malfoy was hurting Neville. And Hermione's eyes filled with tears as memories of teasing and harassment that no matter what she'd done no teacher or any other adult had ever been able to stop. And once the first tear fell, Hermione couldn't stop crying, so she fled up the stairs trying to distance herself from the memories of her tormentors.
"You made her cry," Ron said dumbly.
When Harry responded his voice sounded pained. "But hopefully she'll realize that justice is a universal constant, and has nothing to do with laws or rules."
Harry and Ron followed up to the Gryffindor common room much more sedately, their excitement about the broom lying forgotten like the wrapped broom underneath Harry's bed. Harry breathed a sigh of relief when a red-eyed Hermione came in a few minutes late to their first class. Harry hadn't been doing well in the class and wanted to ask Hermione if she was ok, but she seemed unwilling to meet his eyes. Harry was glad that McGonagall decided not to take off a point for being late and hoped that she was able to help Hermione when she held her after class.
Harry was distracted through most of the rest of his classes worrying about Hermione. He didn't see the bushy haired girl again until dinner. She looked better, but when he tried to sit next to her to apologize she got up and moved. Harry was so worried that he didn't pay attention to what he was eating and would have been late for his appointment on the Quidditch pitch if Professor McGonagall hadn't reminded him.
In the end Wood was late and rather than wait for him Harry decided to clear his mind by flying. The Nimbus handled much more smoothly and turned much more readily than the school broom he'd used. And it was so much faster. Compared to the last broom this one felt like he was holding on to a rocket. Harry knew he could still fly considerably faster. And the broom didn't give him that weightless free feeling that real flying did, unless he was diving. But there was something really fun about riding the broom full blast and throwing the broom into another position to change direction. After some loops, turns and a corkscrew maneuver to get a feel for how the broom steered Harry started to throw himself and the broom in radically different directions to see what he could make the broom do beyond its limits.
Harry was hanging weightless at the top of his arc, about to perform his first power dive when he sensed someone else coming onto the field. As Harry plummeted faster and faster toward the ground he saw Oliver wood lugging a large trunk over his back staring transfixed at the blur that was Harry. At the last moment Harry pulled up from his dive and parallel to the ground then swerved the broom all the way around to stop himself in a skidding motion like some kind of crazy motorcyclist.
When Wood finally came back to his senses he called Harry over to show him what was in the trunk, the four balls used in Quidditch. The first was a big red leather ball called the quaffle, three players called chasers attempt to throw the quaffle past the opposing teams keeper through one of the three hoops. Each goal was worth 10 points.
The next two balls were a little less than half the size and made out of metal. They were called bludgers and when Wood let one of them loose it flew into the air on its own and then back to attack Harry who using one of the small bats swatted it away like the annoying insect that it was and thoroughly impressing Wood who had a difficult time catching the ball when it came back.
Two players called beaters, which Harry learned were played by Fred and George on the Gryffindor team, used the bats to protect their teammates from the bludgers and send them toward the enemy players.
The final ball was golden and tiny, about the size of a walnut. It had two wings and it also flew around on its own, but unlike the bludgers this one attempted to fly away from everyone. Harry's job as the seeker was to spend the game searching for and attempting to catch this ball, which Wood explained would not be easy due to its size, maneuverability and speed. The seeker who caught the snitch would get 150 points for their team and end the game and usually winning it due to the massive amount of points catching the snitch garnered. Quidditch had no time limit, so the game didn't end until the snitch was caught.
After that explanation Harry practiced catching golf balls threw across the pitch. Harry didn't let a single one hit the ground until a half hour later when it had gotten too dark to see and they had to quit. And it looked like Wood was impressed. Well actually it looked like Wood thought he was about to conquer the world. He told Harry to be at regular team practices, which were held three times a week as they walked back to the castle.
After that the days blurred into weeks and weeks and before he knew it, it was Halloween and Harry had been at Hogwarts for two whole months. Maybe it was having Quidditch practice three times a week. Or maybe it was all the homework he had from his classes and his mother who thankfully enough didn't send him more, though she did send him a couple of extra books she thought would help. But for whatever reason time had flown by.
Harry still hadn't found a way out of the castle, but he had found a secret passage to a large room with a vaulted ceiling and straw mats on the floor. It was located under Gryffindor tower and had a large set of doors leading to an armory chock full with every type of ancient armor and weapon imaginable.
Harry started training there early in the morning before everyone else got up, because it was easier to sneak out in the morning than to sneak in and out at night and he figured he was less likely to get in trouble for getting up early than staying out late. Though he didn't give up looking for a way out of the school, there was just only so much he could do in that small of a space without wrecking it.
Though despite Harry's success, not everything went smoothly. A couple of days after their argument Harry apologized for upsetting Hermione. But she still wouldn't talk to him much. It wasn't the best apology, as he refused to apologize for his priorities, but he had been sorry he'd upset her. He tried to make it up to her by helping her with her new math and science books, but Hermione was determined to learn it without his help.
Harry did well enough in most of his classes without Hermione's help. They were getting a lot more interesting now that most of the basics had been covered and they were now practicing practical spells. But potions classes were still abysmal. Snape continued to take every opportunity he could to criticize Harry or take away house points. Consequentially it wasn't very long until Harry decided that he didn't care what the greasy jerk thought. He did his best to lay low and keep from giving the punk excuses to dock points, not that it stopped the greasy haired professor.
But Professor Snape didn't stop with just insults and docked points. He seemed absolutely determined to break into Harry's mind. At first he only did it when he was looking Harry in the eye. So grudgingly Harry stopped looking the Greasy Haired Professor in the eye. He didn't like acting submissive, but it looked like eye contact might be required for whatever technique Snape was using.
But it didn't stop there. Once Harry was no longer meeting Snape's eyes the attacks got weaker but started to come randomly. Harry had to be constantly ready with a painful memory to use to push him out. Harry found that part of the battle against Cell was the best. Nappa's fatal attack had been more painful but had been over so quickly it was hard to focus on the pain. But Harry had a memory of a pain that lasted much longer…
Everyone that was there could tell when the battle against Cell was about to end. Gohan and Cell were each trying to destroy the other with immense beam attacks. The beams had hit each other and Gohan and Cell were giving it everything they had to overpower the other's attack.
The others had tried to stop Harry when he decided that he was going to help his brother. But Harry had told them that his life was not so precious that he was willing to live it at the expense of those he loved.
Eventually everyone had jumped in to help Gohan. Everyone else had blasted Cell from behind hoping to force him to split his concentration and his power. But Harry stood right beside his brother.
Harry knew that he was no longer his brother's equal. Since Harry was only adopted, unlike Gohan, Harry didn't have their father's Saiyan blood running through his veins. So when they had trained in the time chamber, where one day outside could be a year inside, Harry had hit a plateau that at the time he couldn't surpass and Gohan had undergone the Super Saiyan transformation and received all the power that transformation granted. Then during his fight with Cell Gohan had ascended beyond even the Super Saiyan transformation and reached a level of power that had never been seen before. Gohan became the most powerful being on the planet!
But despite all that Harry was determined that if he would die that day he would die fighting by his brother's side. Even if the best he was doing was moral support he fired his own energy beam at cells attack in and did his best to help Gohan Push it back.
He couldn't stand too close. He was much weaker than Gohan and the heat radiating off his brother's attack burnt him. But Harry refused to move, even when his brother begged him too. The pain was almost unbearable, but Harry held on and pushed as hard as he could against cell's powerful attack. When it was finally over Harry had been burned terribly and nearly died.
The memory of that pain was much easier to hold on too, forcing the intruder out of his head much faster. Though twice he'd had been stubborn and stayed in Harry's mind as long as he could. Both times Snape had cried out in pain, collapsing in a heap on the floor. The potions professor had been furious but he'd been weakened by the encounter too much to make his displeasure felt. And now that Harry had a way to fight back against Snape in some way it was much easier to deal with his class. In fact it was the only thing that made potions classes bearable.
Fortunately Halloween wasn't on a Friday, so Harry didn't have potions that day. In charms everyone was excited. They were finally going to be moving objects with magic using the levitation charm. Harry wasn't worried, he'd been moving objects around however he liked since before he was six. In fact hurling ruble at Piccolo had once been one of his primary methods of attacking the alien while he was being trained at Yonzabit Heights. He'd blast at Piccolo and when the namek dodged he'd throw the debris at him while he distracted him by attacking him from a different angle. Though, it definitely didn't always work. Piccolo would try to grab him or Gohan and throw them into the paths of Harry's rocks whenever he caught on.
They'd been practicing the wand motions for a couple of days now. Harry had been full of questions about whether the motion needed to be done only with the wrist or needed the forearm. Professor Flitwick had been delighted by his questions and explained that it was easiest to learn the motions in large motions, but eventually they would be able to do most spells with just slight movements of the wrist. He also told them that many spells could be made more powerful by making slight changes to the way the wand motions were performed, but this was usually learned with either a lot of arithmetic work or experimentation. And further eventually once they'd mastered the spell they could even learn to do them without even doing the wand movements or saying the incantation of most spells out loud. But this was very difficult and wouldn't be covered until after fifth year. He then went ahead and demonstrated moving several objects including Neville's toad Trevor around the classroom using large, small and even no wand movements or even the incantation.
Today they divided into pairs. Harry got paired up with Hermione and Ron was left with Neville. Ron was disappointed by his luck in partners. Harry was hoping that he'd finally be able to get Hermione to start talking to him again now that they would be working together.
Confident that he could levitate the feather they had been given Harry invited Hermione to go first. After Hermione had insisted he go first a couple of times Harry finally gave in and confidently swished his wand over the feather and flicked. "Wingardium Leviosa," Harry incanted and the feather stayed still.
Shocked Harry used his whole arm to perform the movements more slowly and gracefully saying the incantation as clearly as he could. Still nothing. He tried snapped them out very quickly with just his wrist and nothing changed. The feather just sat there.
Harry turned to Hermione with a confused expression on his face. "Can you do it?" he asked.
Harry watched Hermione's wand as she slowly swished it over the feather and smiled as she said the incantation. The feather slowly lifted into the air and moved to where ever Hermione pointed her wand as if it was some how stuck to it with an invisible string.
"Oh, well done!" Professor Flitwick cried out. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"
Harry was happy for her of course, but he didn't want to forget how she'd done it. Holding his wand loosely in his hand like Hermione did and moving his wand as gently as Hermione had Harry swished it and flicked toward the feather on Parvati's desk in the row in front of them. He even smiled as he said the incantation the exact same way Hermione had. Parvati's feather didn't move either
Turning back to Hermione he watched her lower the feather back to the desk. "Go ahead," she said as she smiled, satisfied with herself.
Harry tried again concentrating as hard as he could on visualizing the feather moving. That time he thought it looked like there had been a breeze blowing over the feather. He tried again and again varying everything he could think of. He tried closing his eyes, he tried concentrating on the incantation silently, even remembering exactly how Professor Flitwick said it, but nothing happened. He tried just jabbing his wand at the feather while thinking about the motions. That scorched the feather with sparks but the feather didn't even twitch.
Finally getting a bit exasperated he turned to Hermione. "You did it, what am I doing wrong?"
Hermione told him to calm down and start over from the beginning. Many would have gotten upset at this, but Harry had been told to do so many times over the course of his training. So Harry took a few deep breaths and then nodded to Hermione to continue. They broke down each step in the spell and practiced it once before Hermione asked him to try it. She looked really confused when it didn't work.
"Are you relaxed?" she asked puzzled. He definitely looked relaxed.
Harry took three deep cleansing breaths and tried again, the feather only twitched. Hermione suggested he enunciate more clearly, and the feather didn't move. She made suggestion after suggestion until she was baffled and Harry was once again fed up.
"What's wrong?" Harry slapped his wand down on the desk. "I've been levitating bigger objects since before I was six!" Harry pointed with his first two fingers and jerked them up. Hermione gasped when the feather flew straight up and quivered right in front of Harry's eyes. Harry jerked his hand around and the feather quickly swished around in a figure eight. Then with another jerk of his wrist the feather flew across the room where it struck one of the stones in the wall, disintegrating and leaving a small scratch on the stone.
Harry turned toward Professor Flitwick, who like everyone else in the classroom was watching him with awe. "I think we're going to need another feather over here professor," Harry said abashedly now that he noticed all the other eyes on him.
"Was that you Mr. Potter?" Professor Flitwick squeaked.
"Yes," Harry replied quietly.
"And you mean to say that you've been able to successfully levitate objects without a wand since you were six?"
"Yes," Harry replied again.
"Fantastic," Flitwick squeaked.
"I'm sure it's great, but whenever I try and use my wand to do it properly nothing happens. It's like my wand is blocking my magic."
"Yes, in a way it is," Flitwick gripped his wand behind his back with two hands as he began to lecture. "Now class if you'll remember back to when we were first discussing the purpose of wand movements you'll remember that their purpose along with the incantation was to both focus your intent and mold the magic into the proper form for whatever spell you are attempting. Now can anyone tell me what Mr. Potter used to mould the magic needed to make that feather levitate if he wasn't using his wand?"
Hermione was the only one who raised her hand. "He was using his hand," Hermione answered when the Professor nodded to her.
"Close, but no Ms. Granger," Flitwick squeaked. "If he was using his hand to mold the magic, he would have needed to make similar hand motions to what's required with a wand. The hand movements only helped him focus and visualize his intent. But the answer is Mr. Potter molded the magic inside himself without the wand."
"Then why do we use wands if we can mold the magic inside ourselves without it?" a female voice Harry didn't recognize asked.
"We use wands, because it's incredibly more difficult to mold magic without the wand. Not only does your wand focus and amplify the magic, making it far less draining on the witch or wizard preventing them from suffering magical exhaustion, but it's the only way we know of to teach how to mold the magic in the necessary patterns. It's very easy for me to teach you how to swish and flick your wand, but I have no idea how I'd teach you how to describe the different way your magic has to feel to perform a illumination charm as opposed to a levitation charm. As I told this class before when you practice a spell without the wand motions you have to visualize the wand motions. You have to concentrate hard enough that you can feel what it feels like to perform the motion. This allows you to use your mind to mold the magical energy before it's sent through your wand where the wand simply focuses and amplifies. Eventually if you pay attention you may be able to feel how the magic is shaped and you'll be able to do it by just making your magic feel that way."
"So shouldn't I just be able to do it like I've always done and just focus my magic through my wand?" Harry asked as he gestured toward Parvati's feather again. This time it shot up into the air and pressed itself flat against the ceiling.
"Yes, Mr. Potter you obviously can," Flitwick chuckled. "But it will be easier for you to learn other spells if you can learn to do this one with the wand movements. And the safest way to get over this block will be to practice the wand motions and the incantation until you can do them without thinking about what you're doing or what you're trying to make happen so you don't subconsciously mold the magic before it enters your wand." Harry nodded at the Professor's words. "And that practice wouldn't be bad for the rest of you either," Flitwick addressed the whole class before dismissing them.
Harry was still frustrated when he left the class. At least he knew what was wrong now, but he was doing this particular bit of magic better than most witches and wizards alive and he still was going to have to work relentlessly to be able to do it the inferior way. It had better not interfere with him being able to do it the way he'd already been doing it. He didn't want lose the ability to do the magic without a wand. In fact he decided that he was going to talk to Professor Flitwick at lunch to make sure that wouldn't happen before he started practicing.
But as frustrated as Harry was Ron seemed to be even angrier on his behalf. Or maybe he was just upset about not being able to perform the charm himself either. "Calm down and start over from the beginning! She didn't have the slightest clue what was going wrong and she just tells you to start over from the beginning!" Ron ranted. "It's no wonder no one can stand her, she's a nightmare, honestly!"
Harry was so busy thinking about what he had learned about magic that he hadn't been paying much attention to what Ron was saying, so he didn't respond until he felt someone pushing past him. Instinctively Harry swayed to let that person past; he didn't want to knock them flat on their back. Also on instinct Harry turned to see who it was and when he did he saw tears in Hermione's eyes as she past.
"That wasn't a very nice thing to say," Harry turned to Ron. "You should apologize."
"Why? She must've noticed she's got no friends." Ron's words were biting, but he didn't look completely convinced.
Hermione didn't show up for their next class. Harry expected her to show up for lunch, but she didn't. Nor was she in any of their after noon classes. Harry had decided that he'd start looking for her if she didn't show up for dinner, but as he was entering the great hall he and Ron could hear Parvati telling Lavender that Hermione gone off to cry in the bathroom and didn't want anyone to bother her.
Harry didn't know what to do now. Should he bother her if she wanted to be left alone? In the end it was really Ron that needed to apologize. And he seemed to forget once he saw the thousands of bats flying around the floating jack-o-lanterns that had replaced all the candles in the great hall. Harry just thought that if he thanked her for trying to help him, hoping that it would make her feel better, but he didn't know if it was best not too if she wanted to be left alone.
Unable to come up with a clear solution Harry decided to stay and try to enjoy the feast. But before he could get the first bite into his mouth Professor Quirrell ran into the great hall looking terrified and slamming the great double-doors against the wall as he ran up to the head table. "Troll!" He screamed. "In the dungeon…thought you ought to know…" then the bedraggled professor fainted dead away.
Harry ate the bite of food he'd been holding in front of his mouth, closed his eyes and leaned back as the great hall broke out in pandemonium. Reaching out with his senses, Harry searched for anything with a dangerous power. And not finding anything remotely intimidating Harry was about to take a bite of something else when several purple firecrackers shot out of Dumbledore's wand as he tried to get the students' attention.
"Prefects lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!" The headmaster's voice boomed.
It looked like this was the type of thing Percy lived for. His nasal voice could immediately be heard giving out commands. "Follow me! Stick together first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders!" Harry wondered why they weren't staying in the Great hall if the troll could be dealt with so easily by a fifth year.
"Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect." Percy was still calling out orders as they were climbing the stairs past some confused Hufflepuffs. One of them was a burnet and looked like she'd been crying in fear. That was when Harry remembered Hermione!
"Ron," Harry grabbed his friends sleeve and whispered in his ear. "Tell Percy I went to get Hermione. She wasn't in the great hall; she doesn't know about the troll."
Harry was about to vault over the rail when Ron grabbed his arm. "Are you crazy?" Ron whispered. "We can't tell Percy, he'll give us detention."
"Then cover for me," Harry smirked back and was about to leave, but Ron didn't let go. When he turned back around Ron seemed to be coming to a decision.
"I'm going with you," Ron said a little more loudly than Harry would have liked, but when he looked around the group they were with seemed to have turned a corner leaving them behind.
Harry's first response was to tell Ron that he couldn't come, but he could see that Ron seemed to feel responsible for the danger Hermione was in. And Harry couldn't detect anything powerful so he figured he could protect Ron as easily as Hermione if they actually ran into the thing. So instead he just nodded his and they quickly ran back down the stairs.
Thanks to Hermione's unwillingness to speak to him, Harry hadn't spent enough time around her to learn to recognize her energy. But with everyone heading back to their dorms there were only two energies that were by themselves and one of them didn't feel human. So after a few seconds to sort out which powers were the teachers Harry led Ron straight to Hermione.
Harry was so focused on finding Hermione that he wasn't paying attention to anything else until Ron pulled on his sleeve. "Harry, Snape just ran down the corridor behind us, I can't believe he didn't see us."
Taking a second to look around at where they were Harry realized something. "Why isn't he with the teachers?" Harry asked. Ron was about to turn back to follow Snape when Harry grabbed his arm. "We don't have time for that, we've got to find Hermione."
Chastised, Ron nodded, but his face immediately took on a far away look. "Do you smell something?"
Taking a sniff, Harry smelt it too. It smelled like his dad's dirty clothes after he'd been training and the bathroom after Gohan had eaten Lime's cooking. Following the smell down the corridor Snape had just left they saw the source of the smell. It was easily 12 feet tall and as grey as concrete. Its body was lumpy with muscles and it wore only a filthy loincloth. The monster's legs were short, but were as thick as tree trunks and its bald head looked small on its shoulders. The mountain troll didn't seem to see them and instead it peered into a doorway and after trudging through a few seconds of thought it started to step into the room dragging a large wooden club behind it.
"Hermione's in there," Harry yelled as he ran toward the door. Ron didn't even think to ask how Harry could have known that and just followed. They heard Hermione scream and a large crashing sound just before they burst into the bathroom.
"Hey pal, the lady's with us," Harry yelled at the troll and raised his ki level in the time honored signal for 'I'm going to kick you butt.' The troll however didn't seem to be able to sense it and it kept walking toward Hermione, it's club breaking sinks as it dragged on the ground. The brute was too stupid to recognize the danger it was in.
Harry was about to try and get it's attention again when Ron took care of that for him. "Oy, pea-brain!" Ron yelled as he threw a piece of broken pipe at the monster. In response the troll slowly turned its head toward Ron and Harry and looked at them stupidly. It didn't seem to even notice when the broken pipe bounced of his forehead.
"I'll get its attention; you get Hermione out of here." Harry yelled at Ron as he drew his wand and sent a spray of red and gold sparks at the troll face.
The troll howled in rage and fear and covered its face with its hands. Ron, seeing his chance, ran underneath the troll's arms to get to Hermione.
"Come on," Ron yelled as he grabbed Hermione's arm, but she wouldn't move. The terrified girl's face had gone as white as stone. And she stared transfixed at the howling troll, hypnotized with fear.
Harry smirked as he whipped his wand around throwing sinks at the walls and through a bathroom stall, hoping the noise would keep the trolls attention on him while Ron tried to coax Hermione into moving again. Spraying the Troll in the face with sparks one more time Harry began backing up slowly to draw the troll out of the bathroom so Ron and Hermione could escape. It was the wrong thing to do.
Instead of being enraged and following Harry out of the bathroom the troll seemed to be terrified and turned around to run away. And when it saw Ron and Hermione in its way standing against the wall it bellowed even louder than before and raised it's club to clear it's way through Ron, Hermione and probably the wall too.
Realizing he'd over done it, Harry ran and jumped on the troll's back wrapping his arms around the monster's neck and trying to figure out how to grapple with something three times as large as he was.
The troll's body rocked with the force of Harry's body slamming into it. It tried to grab Harry to throw him off, but couldn't manage to break Harry's hold. Harry dug his knees into the monster's back and leaned back trying to get leverage to choke the troll. Desperate the troll raised its club to swat at Harry.
Hermione was still paralyzed with fear, but Ron seeing the troll raising its club to hit Harry reacted. Drawing his wand with a swish he flicked it toward the beasts club and yelled: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The troll's club shot straight up into the ceiling with a crack and immediately bounced back down. Unfortunately Harry had climbed up the troll's back to get better leverage to choke it. The club fell and hit Harry on the head dazing him.
Once the troll realized that it didn't have its club it reached behind its head with both. Grabbing Harry with both hands, it threw him through him through the wooden stalls.
The crunching sound of the splintering wood seemed to draw Hermione out of her reverie. She screamed in terror.
The troll took two steps bringing it to where its club lay. Its arms were so long it didn't even have to bend down to pick it up. Then without hesitating the troll lifted its club to swing it at the still screaming Hermione.
Hermione heard a loud crack as the Troll's club broke the tiles in the floor where she had been standing before Ron tackled her. It took them a moment to get untangled enough to move, but before they could the troll was raising its club over them again. Ron wrapped his arms around her and threw his body back over hers.
Hermione heard a loud crunching noise, but didn't feel anything. All she could see was Ron's chest and his arms were still wrapped around her so tight she couldn't move. She breathed in deeply, unsure if she was still alive and her nose was filled with a musky, earthy smell along with the sweet smell of candy that she assumed Ron had been eating. She wondered if Ron had given his life for her. Would this be the last time she smelled this particular scent?
She needn't have been so concerned confused Ron loosened his grip on her and looked up. Hermione looked into his face and blushed at the contact they'd just shared despite the seriousness of the situation. Turning her head she saw Harry's black loafers where he stood right next to them. Looking up she could see his black robes billowing in the breeze. His hands hung limply at his sides. But as she looked higher she saw the troll's giant wooden club resting on his shoulders instead of his head.
Hermione was about to scream when Harry's hands suddenly rose up and slapped the sides of the club shattering it to free his head that had punctured the club. The scream died in her throat. Even the stupid troll looked shocked.
"Attacking my friends was a big mistake!" Harry yelled at the troll and then began to growl loudly. The wind picked up out of nowhere making Harry's robes billow out and his hair flutter. The troll took a step back and Harry yelled and leapt at the monster, punching it hard in the stomach.
The troll was lifted into the air and hit the wall with a loud thudding noise, but Harry wasn't done. As the troll slid down the wall and began to fall Harry took two steps forward, jumped and spinning around send one of his feet out in a kick that sent the troll flying out the door.
With a squeak the troll skidded to a stop with its head sticking out the door. The sight elicited a girlish shriek from beyond the door as well as some colorful invective.
Harry glared down at the motionless troll to make sure it was truly unconscious. Whoever was outside seemed to do the same, but after a few seconds Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell gingerly stepped over the troll and into the bathroom.
Professor McGonagall took in the scene of destruction and began to make clucking sounds to herself. Quirrell seemingly overwhelmed by the sight shuddered and sat down one of the only remaining toilets. Snape however ignored the destruction and looked at the room's occupants and nearly gasped in shock when he saw Potter's eyes. He'd only ever seen eyes that hard on the Dark Lord Voldemort. But almost as fast as he could blink it was gone and Harry looked just like the other children. He must have imagined it.
"What happened in here?" McGonagall demanded once she was finally able to make a coherent sentence. But once she started she didn't stop. "What were you thinking? Why weren't you all in your dormitories?" Professor McGonagall looked furious. She crossed her arms and stared down at Harry and Ron. Her lips were pressed so tight together they were white.
Harry quickly realized that Professor McGonagall's earlier apoplectic reaction wasn't from shock or awe, but from fear and now she was angry at them for being in danger. Seeing Hermione and Ron were too shocked for words after his display he also realized he was going to have to be the one to answer, which was good, because he still didn't want everyone to know about his inhuman power. "Well, I tried to distract it so that Ron and Hermione could run, but it almost hit me with its club. But Ron levitated it out of the troll's hand and hit it over the head with its club knocking it out."
Fortunately McGonagall didn't seem to notice the clatter of Ron's wand as it hit the floor. "But what were you doing here in the first place? You're lucky you weren't killed. Why weren't you all safe in your dorms like everybody else?" McGonagall's stare didn't waver, if anything it intensified.
Harry didn't know how he was going to answer that one. Inside he was seething. That insignificant pest hadn't been a danger to him! He'd been fighting things stronger than that since he was a little kid. And he was definitely skilled enough to keep any one with him safe from that thing.
But before he could get angry and tell McGonagall what he thought about her questions Hermione spoke up.
"Please, Professor McGonagall…they were looking for me."
"Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall said aghast.
"I went looking for the troll because I-I thought I could deal with it on my own…you know, because I've read all about them. If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."
It took all of Harry's will power not to fall on his butt he was so shocked. Hermione was lying to a teacher. Not only that, she was taking the fall for Harry and Ron. Hermione was the biggest stickler for following the rules he knew. He had expected Snape would give him a hug before he heard Hermione claim to have broken a rule!
"Well…in that case..." Professor McGonagall sounded as surprised as Harry was. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermione hung her head down in shame, real or feigned Harry couldn't tell.
"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," Professor McGonagall sounded more normal. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."
With that dismissal Hermione left quickly, only pausing to make sure the troll was still unconscious before stepping over it gingerly.
Professor McGonagall watched Hermione leave and once she was gone turned to Harry and Ron. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll." Ron nodded dumbly at this. He didn't know what to think about what Harry had done, but he was under no illusions that Harry had needed any luck against the troll. "You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."
Ron didn't need to be told twice. With that dismissal he all but ran out the door jumping over the troll. Harry reached out his hand and caught his wand as it flew back to him, then followed at a more sedate pace jumping silently over the troll as he left.
Harry was only a few corridors away from Gryffindor tower when he found Hermione and Ron waiting for him. Hermione looked anxious. But Ron looked like he was only there because Hermione made him. Thinking about it Harry figured he was lucky he even got half way back before Hermione started to question him. Unfortunately there weren't any rooms they could hide in, so he just stopped in front of his two friends and waited for the questions to begin.
Hermione didn't seem to know where to begin. She stood on one foot and then back to the other back and first a few times biting her lip before she finally just asked, "How did you do that?"
Harry laughed. It was an awful lot of build up for such an obvious question. "I'm a martial artist," Harry explained.
"What kind of martial art can do that?" Hermione was flabbergasted. "I've gone to some self defense classes with my mum, but none of the masters I ever saw could punch someone across the room and definitely a 12 foot mountain troll!"
Ron just watched the two of them confused. He had no idea the marital-arts were that powerful. But he didn't really know what they were at all, so he didn't have any reason to disbelieve what Harry said. He'd just have to ask Harry to explain it better later.
"I study my family's martial arts style," Harry wasn't really sure what to say to satisfy Hermione, but not reveal too much. He definitely couldn't talk about his dad being an alien. Gohan cold defend himself if people found out, but mum and the new baby wouldn't be able to.
"I've read a lot about all sorts of amazing things that people that study kun-fu can do. There are all sorts of schools and styles that focus on all sorts of things, like how to use someone's momentum against them or hitting nerves or pressure points and how to move so that you hit with as much speed or force as possible. But what you did was inhuman. No matter how efficiently you moved you shouldn't have been able to do that!" Hermione had started off lecturing, but by the end she was getting a little hysterical.
"Look Hermione," Harry sighed, he was going to have to tell her more than he really wanted to. "My dad's style of martial arts is derived primarily from Kame-Senin style, which was created by the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi." Hermione nodded her head; desperate to drink in everything Harry was telling her. "The style is mostly about training your body to surpass its natural human limits."
"That's really nice sounding Harry, but by definition that's impossible, the only thing the martial arts can do is teach you how to move so that you generate as much force as possible and don't waste it in unnecessary parts of the movement." Hermione crossed her arms waiting for Harry to explain what it was he was really doing.
"Well there's a trick to it naturally," Harry tried not to be upset. He knew that most martial artist in the world had no idea how to control their energy and just used tricks of movement. And most of those that did use their ki barely had any at all. Resigning himself he knew if he wanted to keep his secrets he was going to have to at least explain it to her or she'd be so dogged trying to find out that everyone would know he was hiding something. "And I'd like to keep everyone from knowing about it and what I can do if I can. So if you want I'll explain it to you later when we can go somewhere we won't be missed or overheard; not out here in the halls were anyone could walk by including Professor McGonagall."
With that Harry started walking back to the dorms. He really didn't want McGonagall to catch him loitering in the hall after she had sent him back to the dorms. Ron and Hermione followed silently behind him.
When they got back to the common room the feast was in full swing. Food was everywhere, but Harry ignored it and headed up to his dorm. Ron and Hermione followed right behind him.
Sighing Harry turned back to face them. "Look I'm going to take a shower to get all the wood chips out of my hair. I'll explain all about it tomorrow."
"I'll probably be flossing slivers out of my teeth for days," Harry muttered to himself as he turned around and started to divest himself of his robe. Hermione blushed scarlet, but didn't leave until he started to remove his pants.