Harry Potter and the Aliens
Part 11
A few days later: Emiko was at breakfast, sitting with Fred and George, and talking about what the first task of the Triwizard Tournament might be. It was due to take place in about two weeks. "I think they'll start with something at least fairly easy and then work their way up to really hard and really dangerous," Fred commented.
"I hope Harry will be okay," Emiko said quietly. "He's been getting more nervous lately."
Before the twins could respond, Minerva came over, and said, "Emiko, will you come to my office after breakfast?"
"Sure," Emiko said. "I don't have to help out Professor Flitwick until second period."
"Good," Minerva said, and went back to the Head Table.
~XXXX~
After breakfast, Emiko headed up to Minerva's office, and went in. Minerva looked up and said, "Good, you're here. I was wondering, does Professor Moody still feel 'off' to you?"
"I haven't thought about it much lately," Emiko said. "He's always felt off to me, but I have to admit I forgot that you wanted me to go through his mind."
"I don't blame you; it's been busy lately," Minerva said. "But an idea struck me recently, and I was thinking that maybe the reason he feels off to you is that he isn't who he says he is. Normally I'd think that that would be something Dumbledore had noticed, but judging by what we've learned about Dumbledore, he either was too senile to notice, or simply didn't care."
"You're thinking he's the person who put Harry's name in the Goblet, right?" Emiko asked.
"It's a possibility," Minerva said.
"What do we do if it turns out he is a spy for Voldemort?" Emiko asked.
"We keep an eye on him," Minerva said. "Have you heard the saying, 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'?"
"No, but I assume it means keeping your enemy somewhere where you know what he or she is doing at all times," Emiko said.
"Very good," Minerva said. "If Moody- or whoever it is that looks like him- is in fact working for Voldemort, it's better that we know where he is, so we can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get up to anything nefarious."
"Alright," Emiko said. "Did you have any ideas on how I can get close to him, or should I try focusing on him from here?"
"I didn't have any ideas besides sending you back to his class, which is risky," Minerva admitted.
"I'll try it from here," Emiko said. She closed her eyes and focused on Moody, slipping her consciousness into his mind.
After fifteen minutes of searching, she had all his plans, and his true identity. She carefully slipped out of his mind, and opened her eyes, then announced, "Barty Crouch Jr."
"But…. he died in Azkaban!" Minerva said, shocked.
"His mother took his place, and she is the one buried there," Emiko said. "His father kept him under the Imperious Curse as his mother's last wish, so no one knew he was alive. Soon after the Quidditch World Cup, he somehow regained control of himself, put his father under the Imperious Curse so he'd go about his life normally, and escaped. He captured Alastor Moody the morning of September 1st, and took his place, using Polyjuice Potion to appear to be Moody. He entered Harry in the Triwizard Tournament on orders from Voldemort, conveyed to him by Peter Pettigrew."
"Is that an indirect killing method?" Minerva asked.
"No," Emiko said. "During the third task, Barty's orders were to enchant the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, which would take Harry to the graveyard of Little Hangleton. That's where Voldemort is going to be resurrected, and apparently Voldemort needs something from Harry to get his body back. Barty was also ordered to find some way of making sure the other champions don't get in the way of Harry taking the Triwizard Cup, though he hasn't exactly decided how to do that yet. Voldemort apparently wants to kill Harry personally."
Minerva looked actually scared. "What should we do?" she asked. "I'm not sure it's safe to have him in the school."
"He's under orders not to harm other students, unless they do something to harm Harry," Emiko said. "He knows better than to disobey those orders. If we kick him out now, it'll protect Harry, but if we keep him here, we can thwart his plans. However, it's going to be hard to make sure he doesn't turn the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey; just asking someone else to put in place means that he could get there alone and turn it into a Portkey."
"If we get him arrested, though-" Minerva started, but Emiko shook her head.
"Voldemort's helper, the person who found him after I got Pettigrew, has orders to gather help and attack Hogwarts should Barty get captured," she said. "The best we can do right now is keep him as far away from the third task preparations as possible. And we've got time; the first task hasn't even happened yet. What we need to do is inform the other Hogwarts teachers, Harry, and the Heads of the visiting schools. Whatever we do, we can't give this information to Crouch Sr. or Ludo Bagman. The Ministry will try to arrest Barty, and that will put everyone in danger."
"But how do we tell people without Barty finding out?" Minerva asked.
"Individually," Emiko said. "It's too risky to call a staff meeting and not invite Barty. He'll get suspicious."
"Alright," Minerva said. "But I don't think it's a good idea to inform Kakaroff and Madame Maxime. They'll both want the Ministry to know."
Emiko considered, then said, "You're right. If we can thwart his efforts it won't be a problem anyways."
Minerva nodded and said, "I will tell the teachers; you should get to the Charms classroom. I hear you're quite adept at explaining wandless magic."
"I guess, 'cause everyone seems to understand in Sirius's classes," Emiko said. "Now let's see if the sixth years in Professor Flitwick's class can do as well." She waved and left.
Professor Flitwick was alone when Emiko came in, and said, "Oh good, the students should be arriving soon. Are you ready?"
"Yep," Emiko said.
"I hear you're a good teacher, have you ever considered that as a career?" Flitwick asked.
"You mean you didn't hear what happened when I got my wand?" Emiko asked curiously.
"No, what happened?" Flitwick asked.
"Mr. Ollivander offered me an apprenticeship," Emiko said. "I'm still thinking, but I'm leaning towards taking him up on that. My great-grandfather was a wandmaker."
"That's incredible," Flitwick said. "When would you start?"
"When I'm thirteen," Emiko replied.
"Ah," Flitwick said.
The class started filing in then, and Emiko noticed it was a double class with Slytherins and Gryffindors today, and that Fred and George were coming in. They looked startled, and Fred asked, "Emiko? Are you sitting in on this class today?"
"Nope, I'm the guest speaker," Emiko said, smirking. "Professor Flitwick's request. I thought I'd surprise you."
"Wow…" the twins said together. They sat down at desks, and soon after, everyone was there. After all the students were settled, Professor Flitwick came up to the front of the room and said, "As I'm sure you're all aware, we're doing things a bit differently today. Today's lesson is on wandless charms, so wands away, please."
There was a rustle as people put their wands away, and Professor Flitwick continued, "Not all charms can be done without a wand; a prime example is Wingardium Leviosa, the Levitation Charm. Since it requires a special wand movement, it can't be done wandlessly. However, spells like the Color-Changing Jinx, which is what you'll be working on today, can be done wandlessly- as I assume most of you remember from the 'pink bat' incident. The seventh years are working on wandless Transfiguration, but as most of you probably aren't ready for that, you'll be starting out with wandless charms. Keep in mind that this is not an easy skill to learn, and that some people never learn to cast wandlessly. However, starting young is a good way to make sure that you do someday learn to cast wandlessly. And with that said, does anyone know what wandless casting entails?"
George Weasley raised his hand, and Flitwick called on him.
"Wandless casting requires more concentration than normal casting, because you can't rely on your wand, you have to rely on your concentration skills," George said.
"Correct, five points to Gryffindor," Flitwick said. "The key in wandless casting is concentration."
A Slytherin girl raised her hand and asked, "Professor, why is the first year girl up there with you?"
"Emiko is going to explain in more detail how to cast wandlessly, because that is her speciality, not mine," Flitwick said. "I myself prefer using a wand, and can't cast very many spells wandlessly. And I purloined her from Professor Black for you with no small amount of effort, so I would appreciate it if you were respectful."
This caused a lot of sulking among the Slytherins as Emiko stepped forward and said, "Most witches and wizards believe that a wand is everything; that all magic has to have a wand to be used. There aren't very many people who realize that wands aren't necessary for the majority of spells; all you really need is the ability to concentrate. A wand is a useful tool, but that's all it is; a tool. True, some spells can't be performed without one, but that's really a minority- and most of them are either curses or spells that have fallen out of use. Some simple spells also need a wand, but there aren't as many as you'd think. The majority of spells that we know of don't require a wand."
She paused, letting that sink in, then continued, "Now here's something else to think about. What gives a wand the ability to perform magic? Does anyone know?"
A girl from Gryffindor raised her hand, and Emiko said, "Yes?"
"The core," the girl said.
"Exactly," Emiko said. "If wands didn't have a core, they wouldn't be much good. A piece of wood without a core is a stick, not a wand. Now think about where your magic comes from. Magic is a part of you, if you're a witch or wizard. Wandless magic requires you to realize that in essence, you are wands, and magic itself is your core. If you can focus your core, you can perform wandless magic. Generally wandless magic requires a hand sign of some kind, since it would take an inhuman amount of concentration to both focus your magic and expect it to do what you want. Focus your magic, and make a hand sign at what you're trying to change. For example, I can use a Stunning Spell just by pointing at the person I'm attempting to Stun. For most spells, though, I prefer snapping my fingers."
One of the boys in Slytherin raised his hand, and Emiko nodded to him. "Why isn't this taught early on?" he asked.
"Because most people don't realize that wandless magic is a possibility these days," Emiko said. "From what I've learned, once wands were introduced, wandless magic fell out of style. Admittedly it made sense; wandless magic is much harder than magic done with a wand. Nowadays, it's only the most powerful who can use it properly- unless you're trained from an early age like I was."
"Why now, though?" a Slytherin girl asked.
"Because Voldemort might make a comeback, and the more defenses people have against him, the better," Emiko said. "If there's a war, and you get caught up in it, this is a good thing to learn, because if you get Disarmed, you'll be in trouble."
The class was silent, and Professor Flitwick said, "If there are no further questions, I believe all of you should start working on wandless casting. Your task today is to turn the pink flower in front of you blue- without your wand."
The class got to work, and Emiko watched. By the end of class, the only people who had made their flowers turn blue were the girl who had answered Emiko's question correctly earlier, and surprisingly, Fred and George. None of the Slytherins had managed it, and were irritable as they left for lunch.
"It's strange," Emiko commented to Fred and George as she went to lunch with them. "In all the classes I've helped out in with Slytherins, there hasn't been a single one who could do the assignment properly."
"Really?" Fred asked. "Maybe they're too hung up on the idea that a first year is better than them to concentrate."
George, Emiko, and Lee Jordan, who had joined them, laughed. "Maybe," Emiko giggled.
I know it's probably too short, but I thought I'd get in the part about Moody/Crouch Junior before the first task. I have a question, though. I'm still planning on the graveyard scene, but do people think it's okay to leave Cedric alive? I'd kind of like to save him, but although I know this is a bit premature, I thought I'd ask. Please let me know, and I'll try to get a longer chapter out soon. Review plz!