There is No Place Like Hogwarts
19th of November, 1994.
Albus looked down at his desk. One of his little golden devices had just shut down. He had many of these little machines. This particular one monitored the wards around Number Four Privet Drive where Harry Potter lived during the summer.
Worry moved through him. Had something happened to young Mr Potter? He looked out towards the grounds. He would have to wait and see if the young teen was alright the next day. In the meantime, a trip to Privet Drive might not be out of order. He walked up to his fireplace and threw in some powder that turned the flames green. He asked Severus Snape, his resident Potion Master, to join him.
It didn't take long for Severus to walk in the door to the office. "You wanted to speak to me, Albus," he said coldly.
"I need you to go to Privet Drive and check on the Dursley household. It would seem that the wards have broken for some reason," Albus said.
Severus didn't show his displeasure with being used as an errand boy. He had more important things to do. He turned around and started heading for the door. He guessed he better get this out of the way so he could get back to his potions.
Out on the grounds, the scent of lush grass filled Harry's nostrils. The roars of dragons filled his ears. He breathed in. "Fuck," he groaned. His body felt like shit. He pushed himself up slowly. A hand travelled to his temple. His head was spinning, and he hadn't even opened his eyes yet.
"So you have daal, returned, Dovahkiin."
Harry had to open his eyes. 'Oh, Kyne,' he thought. He was lying right next to a full-grown dragon. "It would seem so," he said. He still wasn't quite used to Dragons simply speaking to him. This one was so calm. He reached out and placed a hand against her side. Her silver-blue scales gleamed in the torchlight. In the distance, he could hear human voices.
"I will protect you," the silver-blue dragon said. "They will not see you."
"Thank you," Harry said. He hadn't expected to feel this disoriented. He'd been sent back; he knew that. He had accepted it. He checked himself over. He had all of his things with him. That was good. His armour covered his glamour so he couldn't activate it. He would have to change out of the armour first. Since the dragons were there he guessed that it was still his fourth year at Hogwarts and that his theory on frozen time might have been correct. He guessed he could ask the dragon. "Excuse me, nonvul jill," he said.
The dragon tilted her head and looked down at him. "Geh, little one," she said.
"Did I come back to the same tiid, time, that I left?" Harry asked.
"Geh, little time has passed," she said.
"What is your name, nonvul jill?" Harry asked.
"Dufo, little one," she said.
"Thank you for helping me," Harry said.
"You are welcome," Dufo said.
Harry smiled softly at her. So he really was back on Earth in his fourth year. He was so glad they had made that glamour. Now he could just blend right in. He looked down at himself. Not in his armour though. He could just head up to the Castle invisible. It was probably better if he changed out of his armour first either way.
He moved closer to Dufo. He didn't want to be seen. He took his armour off one piece at a time and got some mage robes out of his backpack. He would have to make sure that no one else could get into his backpack at some point. Or he could just hide it completely he guessed. He activated the glamour. Back to Hogwarts then. This was not going to be easy.
Harry smiled at Dufo. "Pruzah vulon. I will see you another day," he said.
"Hahnu pruzah little Dovahkiin," Dufo said.
Harry turned invisible and walked out of the dragon pen. If he remembered correctly he had his invisibility cloak when he'd travelled with Hagrid to see the dragons. He had to find it. Thankfully he could simply use Clairvoyance to locate it. He walked through the forest and out on the other side. It had been six years since he'd last seen the castle. It looked very much the same as always which made perfect sense. Harry walked slowly. The good thing about his glamour was that it softly suppressed his newer memories. That made it easier for him to go back in time all those years. As he walked the halls of Hogwarts he slowly adapted back to the life that he had left behind.
Now, what was the password to Gryffindor Tower? He tried to remember as he stopped before the portrait of a sleeping fat lady. He could just guide her to open the portrait. The Fat Lady didn't like being interrupted while she slept so that might just be the safer option. He reached out and sent a wave of magic through the portrait.
The Fat Lady mumbled and moved as the portrait clicked open. The security of this place was just dreadful. He walked into the common room. The fire was burning in the fireplace. It cast a soft glow on the whole room. The smells and the familiarity of the room had Harry stopping in his tracks. It was almost like the past six years had never happened. He obviously would never forget them. He had done so much and met so many people that he cared for that those six years would be something he treasured forever. He couldn't live in those memories though.
He headed up to his dormitory and pushed his backpack under his bed. It was strange to be there again. He could hear Ronald snoring from his bed. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to do with Ron. He didn't hate him. Ron was just a foolish child. That was all. He didn't feel as if he could ever truly trust him again, but he didn't dislike him.
Harry sat down on his bed and brought forward the dragon egg he had been given. He would have to do his best to take care of them. He closed the curtains to his bed and sealed them. He deactivated the glamour and laid down.
This was going to be rough.
20th of November, 1994.
Harry was up early the following morning. He was doing his best to get his old life in order in his head. He didn't want to live it as he had. He knew he wanted to include Neville in his group of friends, but he also wanted to stretch out further than that. Why should the Boy-Who-Lived only have two friends? That made no sense to him. Not anymore.
He knew that he wanted to learn as much as he could. Over the years he had shifted between being very studious and very adventurous and he knew he would want to do both still, but he could probably adapt it to his current predicament.
He went back upstairs after his run to shower and get dressed before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It felt strange to sit in the Great Hall and eat again. It felt strange to look and physically feel fourteen again too. He wasn't sure how to handle any of it really. He could remember things just fine so he wouldn't have a problem that way. Maybe some things weren't crystal clear, but with the way they had made the glamour, he would remember his past before Skyrim, especially the things that had happened recently.
Harry smiled at Neville as he sat down not that far away from him. "Good morning Neville," he said.
"Good morning Harry," Neville responded.
"Any plans for today?" Harry asked.
"I'm going to help Madam Sprout with greenhouse seven after breakfast.
"Oh, okay that sounds like fun," Harry said. He had no idea what was in greenhouse seven so he wasn't sure what else to say about it, but it was obvious to him that Neville had appreciated the interest in his favourite subject. Harry knew that if he moved too fast now it would look weird so he would have to slowly shift from the person he used to be to the one he was now. Being friendly with Neville was a good first step because he had already sort of been doing it. Only that back then he had done it to replace Ron and now he had no interest in that. Ron would come around or he wouldn't. It didn't actually matter to Harry. The only one who mattered as such was walking along the Gryffindor table until she stopped right in front of him and sat down.
"How did it go last night?" Hermione asked.
"They have four dragons hidden in a glade in the forest," Harry said in a low voice. "One for each Champion. Hagrid thought we would have to fight them, but I don't know."
"Dragons?" Hermione sounded worried. "That is insane."
"I was thinking fireproofing spells," Harry said. "I'd rather not burn to a crisp."
"Oh, certainly," Hermione said. "But how do you handle dragons?"
"There are a bunch of books in the library about that," Harry said. "Remember that Hagrid was researching them during our first year for Norbert."
Hermione nodded slowly. "So, we figure out what dragons are down there and what their characteristics are. Then we prepare you to face one with just your wand," she said. She gave Harry a strange look. "You don't usually volunteer to go to the library," she said.
"They have dragons, Hermione," Harry said. "Big fire-breathing angry dragons. If I don't take this seriously I will die."
"He has a point," Neville said softly.
"Of course he does," Hermione said. She was smiling. Maybe something good could come off this stupid tournament after all.
They finished breakfast and said goodbye to Neville who headed outside in the grey weather. Harry and Hermione headed up to the library. They gathered books and started going through them.
"Thank you for doing this for me," Harry said softly as he returned to their table with a new pile of books. "I know I might not have been the nicest with everything going on lately and only you believing me, but that is no excuse to be so angry all the time. I'm sorry and I really appreciate your help."
Hermione sat there speechless. She wasn't quite sure what had happened to Harry down by those dragons, but she very much enjoyed the change. He seemed more mature somehow like he was finally going to take a life-threatening situation seriously for once. "You are welcome, Harry," she said before turning to the tomes on the table before her. They started rummaging through the books and tried their hardest to find things that could help Harry face his dragon.
"Hermione, how do I take notes?" Harry asked after they had been sitting there for a while. "Yours always look so neat and ordered and mine looks like a jumbled mess." He knew how to take notes, but that was one of those things that he couldn't simply show. Hermione knew he was a mess at it so if he was suddenly fantastic at taking notes and ordering his thoughts she would notice.
Thankfully, Hermione loved teaching people how to order things. She helped him with the layout and started flicking at him whenever he messed up his writing, which he did mostly on purpose.
Viktor Krum and his fan club eventually showed up and Hermione gave up. What was the point in trying to learn something when you couldn't concentrate past the giggling?
"I'll go for a bit of a fly and clear my head I think," Harry said. "Then we can meet back up for lunch and maybe continue from there."
Hermione nodded slowly. She was too into the book she was reading to really pay attention to him.
Harry fetched his Firebolt and headed outside. This was something he had missed. Dragons in all their glory, but they would never be as agile as him. He paused. Agile. Dragon. He only had his wand. He could probably outfly a dragon if he put his mind to it. At least that was a plan. He'd tell Hermione later.
Harry flew around for a good long while getting used to the movement of his broom again. He dived deep and flew high. He did some really sharp turns and pulled the broom to a complete halt in seconds. He loved flying and he had not realised how much he had missed it until he was back on a broom.
"Oy, Harry!"
Harry saw Neville on the ground and flew down next to him while jumping off and landing before the broom stopped. He was grinning wildly and his hair was windswept. "Hey Neville," he said.
"Shower and then lunch?" Neville asked.
"Sure," Harry said. It was good that Neville was pushing for friendship too. That would make it a lot easier to achieve.
While they were heading up to the tower, Neville told Harry about all the plants that he had helped Madam Sprout with. Harry listened intently and did his best to file the information away for later. You never knew when you needed to know things about a flesh-eating ravenous plant that enjoyed humming and petting, but only on Tuesdays after sundown. Harry shook his head. Some plants must have come into existence as a joke.
They showered and got dressed in clean clothes and Harry realised that he needed to increase his wardrobe by a fair amount sometime soon. Maybe there was some way of mail ordering clothes?
They headed down to the great hall while Harry told Neville what he and Hermione had figured out and his idea on how to deal with the dragon.
"I think it sounds crazy, but you are excellent on a broom and if you use strong enough fire shields then maybe it can be done," Neville said while thinking he was very happy he wasn't the one going up against a dragon.
Harry stopped by Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil on his way over to Hermione. "Would either of you two ladies know if it is possible to owl order clothes?" he asked. He realised just a little too late that he was laying it on just a bit thick, but it would seem that they didn't mind.
"Oh you certainly can," Lavender said. "You just send them your measurements and the preferred item and colour."
"How do I pay?" Harry asked.
"There are a few ways," Lavender said. "If you buy from Madam Malkin's you could just pay the next time you get there. She does allow it for one purchase."
"You are a lifesaver," Harry said. "Thank you." He continued walking until he reached Hermione and Neville.
"What was that about?" Hermione asked. She had been too far away to hear him, but the way that Lavender and Pavati acted once he had left worried her. It looked almost as bad as those fangirls that Krum had trailing after him.
"I just needed to know if it is possible to owl order clothes," Harry said. "I figured they would be the best ones to ask."
Hermione looked at him disbelievingly, but she didn't say anything else.
Neville joined them in the library that afternoon, and they focused their efforts on homework. Homework. The one thing Harry had in no way missed. It was mostly pointless and didn't teach anyone anything. Part of him wanted to just not care about it, but he guessed he should at least perform for Hermione's sake. The problem was that if he used his entire brain for this he would improve in such a way that it wouldn't make any sense to anyone. He was just that much better at focusing his knowledge. He also had six years of studying under his belt that he had not possessed the day before. He had to be at least a little careless with his homework for now. He would improve with time.
That evening Harry was writing up an order of new clothes. He guessed he would have to buy clothes that fit the adult him later and just manage for now. He couldn't think of a good excuse for young Harry to buy clothes that much bigger than himself. He didn't buy as much as he had considered buying because of that though. His glamour made bigger clothes adapt with him, but it didn't actually work the other way around though he could wear clothes that fit his current form… he wasn't quite sure how they had managed that to be honest, but he wasn't about to start messing with the glamour now that it worked exactly how he wanted it to.
Harry could see Ronald glaring at him as he headed off to bed that evening. He didn't even care. Ron's problem was just that, his problem. Harry didn't need to give a single thought to that. He moved his curtains aside and checked on his dragon egg. He had made sure that no one else could open those curtains that morning before heading off. He didn't want them to find the egg and he didn't want them to see him without his glamour on.
21st of November, 1994.
The following morning started very much like the first with a run, but Harry didn't eat breakfast in the great hall after his shower. He packed some things and headed over the grounds to the place where the dragons were hidden. He walked up between the cages and slipped in next to Dufo.
The other dragons stirred and turned to look at him. A big black one with so many spikes that Harry wondered if the dragon itself wasn't more dangerous than its fire breath.
"Calm sister," Dufo said.
"Who is this jul, human?" the other dragon asked.
"This is Krinahkro. Kaan's chosen. The Dovahkiin," Dufo said.
"It is an honour to meet you," Harry said. "May I ask your names?"
"Zu'u Ninriik," the big Hungarian Horntail said.
The other two were Britkrein and Gravuun. Harry greeted them all separately once he knew their names.
Ninriik found this human quite different from the little pests that usually ran around her and messed with her scales. Firstly he could speak a proper language instead of the strange bird noise they often used. Then there was the fact that he felt like dov. That had been a good word to relearn. One that they had all lost with time. It gave her a sense of belonging that she had missed.
"What bothers you Ninriik?" Harry asked.
"Cold," Ninriik said.
"She isn't the only one," Gravuun said.
"This isn't good for our eggs," Dufo said.
Harry nodded. He wasn't sure he could do anything about that, to be honest.
"Do you know why we are here maljul?" Ninriik asked.
Harry sighed. "I do not know exactly why you are here and no one will tell me. All I know is that you will each face a maljul. One will be me, but I do not know which of you I will face. What we are supposed to do when we face you I do not know and they will not say," he said. "You have been brought here as part of entertainment for the julle."
Britkrein growled. "They think of us as animals as raanne," she growled. "They have no care for us or our young."
"It is not us that wishes for this," Harry said. "The other maljul wished to compete to show their strength, but they did not know that the kinbokke would wish for us to face you."
"We will remember this Krinahkro," Gravuun said. "What happens will not be blamed on the maljul but rather on the kinbok."
"I appreciate that," Harry said. He turned invisible as one of the handles rounded Ninriik's cage. Thankfully she didn't stay for long. "I must return to the castle," he said. "Classes will start soon."
"Kaan be with you," Dufo said.
"Kaan is peaceful," Harry responded. He hurried back to the castle and entered it just as Hermione and Neville left the great hall.
"There you are Harry," Hermione said. "Where have you been?"
"I took a walk," Harry said.
"You have a free period before Charms you should go see if you can find anything else in the library that we might have missed," Hermione said.
"Will do," Harry said.
"Oh, look it's pothead."
Harry glanced over at the doors to the great hall and rolled his eyes. He was not fighting with Malfoy. It didn't matter how strange that would be. He just was not going to participate in that childish exchange of insults. Bad insults at that. He had lived with Rashall. Malfoy's insults were nothing in comparison.
Neville followed Harry to the library. He still needed to finish his potions essay for that afternoon. Harry spent half that period helping Neville and half looking at fireproofing spells. He wished that he could just use his armour, but he didn't want people to know about it.
Then it was time for Charms. They headed down to the classroom and settled down as people joined them. They were going to be practising the summoning charm. It was perfect. It was just what Harry needed to gain access to his broom for the tournament. He actually had to struggle to get it right. Just because he could perform many different types of magic, that didn't mean it was easy. He was a little rusty with his wizarding magic after all.
Not to say that Harry didn't manage. It just took him a little longer than he might have liked though that was probably better since he wanted to keep his new talents hidden.
Hermione had managed just fine after only a few tries, and she tried and failed to explain things to Neville.
Harry laughed as they left the classroom. He was about to start explaining things to Neville in a way that would be easier for him to understand when he stopped himself. He couldn't do that either. Not yet at least. He would have to leave things like that to Hermione.
After lunch they had Potions.
Harry did not look forward to it. He was standing down in the dungeon with Neville and Hermione when Draco Malfoy came walking down the corridor with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum.
"Just shut it Malfoy," Harry said before Draco could even open his mouth. "No one but you wants to listen to you right now. You are not that special."
"Really, Potter. What crawled into you?" Malfoy said. "Maybe the wittle boy is scared?"
Harry raised an eyebrow in true Rhavaniel fashion and just did not respond. Instead, he simply looked at Malfoy like Rhavaniel would look at something she was about to dissect. It seemed to creep the poor boy out.
Then Snape opened the door and they headed into the classroom. Harry sat down and waited for Snape to give them the instructions for the day's potion. He had placed his finished homework next to him before he started on the potion. Helping Rhavaniel brew had at least left traces.
Harry realised that he should probably have been more worried about the first task as he sat there. He couldn't bring himself to worry though. He had killed dragons. Facing one that wouldn't even really try to hurt him didn't seem that scary to him. He did his best to follow Snape's instructions. The potion wasn't perfect but it was only a little off. He ignored Snape's insults and walked out of the classroom with Hermione and Neville.
That evening once everyone else had gone to bed Harry sat alone in the common room. He had finished the essay for Potions on plants used in memory potions that Snape had given them earlier. Handling Snape would be tricky. He wasn't quite sure how to do it without pissing the man off. Snape was so hard to read. He was also the most dangerous out of all the teachers when it came to figuring out that something was off.
Harry looked through his notes and tried to figure out what he needed to do next. There really was quite a lot of magic that Hogwarts could still teach him. He wanted to learn it all.
"Harry!"
Harry looked up. 'Where?' he wondered. He lowered his notes. His godfather's head was hovering in the fireplace. "Hello Sirius," he said. He moved down closer to the fireplace. Sirius looked better than Harry's somewhat faded memory of him could recall. "How are you doing?" he asked.
"Never mind me," Sirius said. "How are you doing?" He was a bit surprised. Harry seemed so calm. With everything that was going on, he'd expected his godson to be a little more ruffled.
Harry shrugged. "I'm alright, you know apart from the dragon that I have to get past in the first task of this stupid tournament," he said. "I can deal with Skeeter's dumb article and people being idiots I guess. You know I decided not to care about all the unimportant stupid shit. Ronald being a jerk. People just being on my case. Surviving this tournament is way more important." Harry sighed. "I actually think I know how to deal with the dragon. Hermione and I have been looking into fireproofing spells. But I think that summoning my broom might be the best route for me to take. I'm a good flyer. I could just fly circles around the dragon."
"Oh, that sounds good," Sirius said. He guessed that might be why Harry didn't seem that worried. "There is something else I want to talk to you about," he said.
"What is it?" Harry asked. Sirius seemed worried.
"Karkaroff, he was a Death Eater. You know what the Death Eaters are, don't you?" Sirius said.
Harry closed his eyes. "With everything that has been going on," he said, shaking his head. "I have heard about them but…"
"Oh, alright," Sirius said. "They were Voldemort's followers. They did a lot of horrible shit back during the war. Either way, Karkaroff got caught. He was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year, to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff last time around, put him in Azkaban."
Harry rubbed his forehead. "That's just great," he said. "How did he get out if he was one of Voldemort's followers?"
"He made a deal with the Ministry of Magic," Sirius said bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names … he put a load of other people in Azkaban in his place. He's not very popular in there. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."
"I promise I'll be careful. I assume you think that Karkaroff might have put my name in the Goblet?" Harry said.
Sirius nodded. "It is very plausible," he said.
They kept talking for an hour or so. Sirius had opinions about all kinds of things. One of which was that the attack on Moody before the start of the school year had been real. Harry wasn't sure what to say about that. So much had happened that didn't seem important to him.
Sirius was about to give him some advice for the dragons when Harry heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "You better go," he told Sirius. "I can hear someone coming." He stood up and walked over to his bag.
It was Ronald. "Who were you talking to?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "I don't see how that is any of your business," he said. He walked past the redhead and headed up the stairs to their dormitory. He really needed some sleep.
As Harry lay down beneath the crimson bedspreads, he placed his hands over his face as tears gathered. Katla. Rashall. Naya. Rhavaniel. He missed them so much. He slipped into his mindscape. He wouldn't make them appear. It would just be harmful. All he would get was a sliver of who they were but at least it helped to look at his mind's version of Skyrim.
22nd of November, 1994.
The sun dawned bright for once in the Scottish hills. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, sat down in his high-backed chair and sighed heavily. The wards around number four Privet Drive had fallen. The family that lived there, Harry's Aunt Petunia and her husband Vernon Dursley, were fine, but the wards were gone for some untold reason. Albus wasn't sure what to do about it. The blood-wards were supposed to have stayed up until Harry either had another place to call home or he became of age. Harry obviously wasn't off age yet. The last option which was Harry's death was clearly not the one since Albus had seen him himself during meals. Harry seemed to be doing fine.
He seemed to be doing better now than he had in several weeks. Unfortunately for Albus, he didn't actually have time to look into the matter further. With all the paperwork surrounding the tournament and everything else that was going on. The Dursley situation would have to come later. As long as he had a solution come summer everything would be fine.
While Albus was trying desperately to deal with the growing pile of papers on his desk, Harry was on his way down to the Great Hall. He had taken his morning run before showering and he felt refreshed. As he entered the Great Hall, he looked around. His eyes moved over the house tables. It hit him that Cedric Diggory, the real Champion of Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, didn't know about the dragons. That wasn't fair. He had personally seen both Madam Maxine and Headmaster Karkaroff out the same night he had been and they probably had told their champions.
Considering Harry didn't even want to compete in the first place, it made perfect sense to him to tell Cedric about what he knew of the first task. He sat down by the Gryffindor table and grabbed breakfast. Hopefully, Cedric would show up soon.
By the time Harry finished his oatmeal and scrambled eggs he could see Cedric sitting by the Hufflepuff table. He stood and headed over there. He didn't care that almost everyone at the table flashed silly little badges that said 'Potter Stinks' on them. If he let that scare him off, he wouldn't be much of a Gryffindor.
"Piss off Potter."
"Excuse me Diggory. Could I have a word?" Harry asked once he reached Cedric.
"Are you going to start…?"
Cedric raised a hand and glared at his friend who shut up. "Sure," he said with a shrug.
"It's about the first task," Harry said. "They have four dragons just past the treeline of the forest. I'm guessing it is one for each champion. I don't quite know what they want us to do with them though." He watched Cedric's facial expression go from panicked to suspicious.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.
"Because you are the real Hogwarts Champion. I'll compete because I have to, not because I want to. I don't care about winning," Harry said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, right."
Harry just rolled his eyes. "You can believe me or not, that is up to you," he told Cedric's friend. "Just know when you stand there facing a dragon that I did warn you."
"Thanks, Potter," Cedric said. He figured that if Potter was right then he had been given information for free. If he wasn't, that wouldn't really hurt him that much. It would be worse for him to ignore the threat being a dragon than to incorporate that in his research and training.
"You're welcome," Harry said as he backed off from the table. "Have a nice day."
People were still entering the Great Hall when Harry left. He headed for the History of Magic classroom. He had already decided to give Professor Binns one more chance before he just self-studied the subject. He was actually interested in History. He had loved studying historical things in Skyrim, but from memory, Binns was so boring he sucked all joy out of the subject.
His memory did not deceive him. Harry was not impressed with Binns. Thankfully, he could just tune the ghost out and study on his own. He was slowly going to shift the way that Hermione had taught him to take notes into the way he did it himself and this was a perfect class for it. By the end of the lesson, he actually felt like he understood certain things about the goblins that he hadn't known before. Though he still wanted to know about these events from a goblin perspective since the victor seldom got it right, and while humans hadn't won, they had definitely convinced themselves that they had.
"You didn't fall asleep this time," Hermione said happily as they left the classroom.
Harry chuckled. "I guess not," he said.
"So what did Snuffles say?" Hermione asked.
"He warned me about Karkaroff being a Death Eater back in the day," Harry said. "Then he was going to give me some tips on how to deal with the dragon, but we were interrupted. I still think the broom is the best idea."
"I guess," Hermione said. She didn't sound too certain, but then she wasn't an amazing flyer so she wasn't sure what to think.
They walked into the Transfiguration classroom and sat down. This was one of those classes that Harry was still very much interested in. On Nirn there was Alteration and Conjuration both affiliated with Transfiguration but not quite the same. Harry realised very quickly that he wanted to study the differences, but he certainly didn't have the time to do that during class. Thankfully, he had a good enough idea of what needed to be done to actually do it before the end of the lesson. He was deep in thought as Hermione led him down to the Great Hall so they could eat. After lunch, they only had one period, charms, together before Hermione disappeared off for Ancient Runes.
Now there was a subject Harry wished he had taken. Just imagine what he could do with dragon runes. He would have to look into learning that somehow at some point.
Harry wandered around for a bit just getting used to the castle as Hermione had her lesson.
"Potter, now where might you be heading?"
Harry turned around. It was Professor Moody. "Professor," he said politely.
"Come with me Potter," Moody said as he started shuffling towards his office.
Harry raised an eyebrow and wondered how smart this was, but he followed anyway. It wasn't like he was actually worried Moody would hurt him.
"You are a decent kid, Potter," Moody said as he sat down next to his desk. "Sit down!"
Harry almost laughed. Moody sounded so much like a field marshal that he wasn't quite sure what to think. He sat down and looked around the office. It was littered with many strange objects. Some emitted power fields that Harry could feel while others were dormant.
"Like my Dark detectors, do you?" Moody asked.
Harry nodded. "They are interesting," he said. "But I somehow doubt you asked me in here to talk about those, sir," he said.
"True, true, you are a sharp one," Moody said. He leaned back in his chair. "So, you found out about the dragons, did you?"
"I did," Harry said. "Most people tell me not to wander around, but you know I can't help it."
Moody chuckled. "Cheating is a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and always has been," he said. "I'm surprised you told Diggory though."
"I figured since everyone else knew I would just level the playing field. Besides, he is the real champion," Harry said.
"And that is why you are a decent kid, laddie," Moody said. "So… got any ideas on how you're going to get past your dragon?"
So that was why Moody had asked Harry to join him. That made Harry suspicious. Now it could be that Dumbledore had asked Moody to do this considering they were old friends, but it could also be that Moody was invested in his success himself. Harry was going to keep a bit of an eye on their Defence Professor. It wouldn't be the first time there was something strange going on. Thinking back there had always seen something strange going on. In his first year, Professor Quirrel had carried Voldemort around on the back of his head. His second year their defence teacher had been a fraud. In his third year, he had been a werewolf. So considering the odds it wouldn't be that strange that Moody might not be who he was presenting himself as. He would have to get to the bottom of that at some point. Preferably without Moody noticing. "I was considering flying," Harry said. "Dragons are quite a lot slower and less agile than me so I figured I might be able to outfly it. We are looking at fireproofing spells as well just to have some extra protection," he said honestly.
Moody nodded. "That's a good lad playing to your strengths," he said.
Harry wanted to roll his eyes. His actual strengths in this area would have had him just talking to the dragon, but he didn't want people to know about that considering how they reacted when he had spoken to snakes. "Thanks for looking out for me Professor," Harry said.
"Don't mention it," Moody said. "Go ahead and get those spells under control." He motioned for Harry to leave, and Harry did just that.
Hermione was waiting for him in the library when he finally got there. "Runes went well?" he asked.
"Yes, we had so much fun I really wish you were taking it too. It is so interesting," Hermione answered.
"Yeah me too," Harry said.
Hermione did a double take. Had she heard that correctly? "What is it Harry?" she asked.
"Nah, I just figured that taking Divination would be like Ron said easy, but now I feel like it is just a waste of time. I would much rather have been studying something useful than that drivel, and I have looked at some runes books. It looks kind of interesting," Harry said as he slumped into a chair.
"Oh, I'm sure we can do something about that," Hermione said. "You don't think you could ask McGonagall if you could drop out of Divination?"
"I could certainly ask," Harry said. It didn't seem like that bad a thing to do. That would give him more free time to study the things he wanted to look into. Maybe a talk with McGonagall was in order. In a few weeks or after the holidays even. If he did things too quickly people would start asking questions that he did not want to answer.
The two of them closed their books and headed down to dinner together with their homework well underway.
23rd of November, 1994.
Harry was watching Moody during the lesson. There was something about the man that was bugging him. He wasn't sure what it was and he didn't want to risk using mind magic in case Moody could detect that. Unfortunately, he didn't come to any conclusions that day.
He did not ask McGonagall if he could drop out of Divination which set Hermione off on a small rant and had her storming off when he wouldn't tell her why he hadn't asked. He figured he better do it by the next lesson just so she wouldn't get really angry with him.
That evening he sat with the dragons and told them what little he knew of what was to come the next day. They deserved to know just as much as anyone else.
"So you will fly," Ninriik said.
"I will fly," Harry said.
"Good. Flying is good for dov," Ninriik said.
Harry smiled. He bid them a good night not long after that. He was hoping everything would turn out alright. He didn't want any of them to get hurt. Neither dragons nor champions.