Harry woke up early the next morning. He was very excited. He finally felt at ease, like he had control over his life. Exiting his room, he went and waited for everyone else to wake up. Out in the main room of the chamber sat several chairs and tables. They were spread haphazardly around the room. It reminded him of the Gryffindor common room.
Several minutes passed before Daphne made her appearance. Her hair was a tangled mess. She was dressed in the sweatpants he gave her and a large sweater.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Harry said
Daphne was not amused. She was cold, tired, and hungry. Plus, Daphne was definitely not a morning person, and it wasn't even 6:30 yet.
"Do not speak, you oaf. I've told you time and time again that I need my beauty sleep." She started ranting
Quite lively for someone who's tired and in need of beauty sleep.' Harry thought.
Ultimately, he decided to speak up before she really got going.
"Daph, you do realize I didn't even wake you up, right? You woke up this early on your own." He said amused
Daphne could only blush as she scowled and looked away. She didn't get to say much else as one of the tutors appeared. It was Ms. Young. Daphne thought the woman was incredibly intimidating.
Ms. Young stood at 183cm or just over six feet tall. She had short white hair styled in a pixie cut. She wore a muscle tee and biker shorts, exposing her muscled arms and legs. Daphne felt her golden yellow eyes trying to pierce her very soul.
"I'm Penelope Young, as you were told yesterday. You may refer to me as Professor or Ms. Young. I am your defense against the dark arts teacher as well as charms. Not only do i hold a masters certificate for each subject, but i am a 6x world champion in the womens dueling league and 3x world champion in the mixed league."
Daphne was right. This woman was a monster. Harry could only stare in awe and wonder. This woman was everything he could ask for in a teacher.
"Now, as the schedule stands, you'll spend a day with each professor barring myself and Ms. Davis. Since we each teach two subjects you'll spend two days with us one per subject. Now, admittedly, I don't really care how you do in your other classes. But in my class I expect your absolute best. By the time we leave here, i want you two to be vying for the world champ title of the junior dueling league."
Harry couldn't help the large grin on his face. Daphne saw his exuberance and was in disbelief.
"You can't seriously be entertaining her. She'll make mincemeat out of us." she exclaimed.
"Daphne, while that's probably true, you forget I have fought and killed several different magical creatures."
"Oh ho, and just what kind of magical beasties have you slain." Penelope asked her interest piqued
Harry blushed, embarrassed with the sudden attention. Daphne, seeing a moment to get back at him for all the times he made her blush, she took it.
"He's fought and killed quite possibly the largest basilisk the world has ever seen as well as an Elder Hungarian Horntail. Not just any Elder Horntail, a nesting mother." Daphne boasted
Harry was glowing like a stop sign. Hearing Daphne speak of his accomplishments to someone else with such pride and respect in her tone made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
"He's even got a piece of the dragon to prove it." Daphne continued
"May I see it?" Ms. Young asked
Harry pulled the leather cord out of his shirt and showed off the dragon spike hanging from it. Penelope started casting diagnostic charms, which confirmed that it was a piece of an Elder Horntail. She cast one more charm, this one right at Harry. He glowed green for a moment.
Penelope young gasped, almost dropping her wand. Her reaction worried Daphne.
"What, what's wrong?" Daphne asked
"By all rights, Harry should be dead. And I'm not referring to his fabled survival of the killing curse. The last diagnosis I ran is used to determine the presence of basilisk venom. You see, basilisk venom is so potent it doesn't dissipate on its own." Ms. Young said
"I don't get it." Daphne said
"To give you some depth, mostly all snake venom magical or not only attacks organic matter. Plants or animals. There's a reason the basilisk is called the king of snakes. Basilisk venom is so potent that it attacks all organic matter as well as magic. So even if your body somehow survives the venom, your magic won't." Penelope explained
"But what does that have yo do with me?" Harry asked
"The charm I cast reported that your blood is 83% raw basilisk venom."
Silence reigned as the weight of her words. Daphne looked scared, like she was waiting for Harry to drop dead any second. Harry was mixed between upset and resigned. It really was just another thing that set him apart from everybody else.
"Am I in any danger?" Harry asked
"Admittedly, I'm not sure. Such a thing has never happened before. The best we can do is keep an eye out for anything while we're locked in the time chamber."
"How do you know so much about basilisk venom?" Daphne asked, wanting to be rid of the thoughts the danger Harry found himself in
"Ah well technically I'm not a professor. While I hold master certifications for Defense and Charms, I actually work as a cursebreaker for Gringotts. They have several branches in countries where snakes aren't seen as evil. Like in Brazil, they carefully breed basilisks to milk their venom to be used in potions and such." Penelope explained
"Huh, maybe I should look into that being a parselmouth and all." Harry said
"Ooo, you can speak parseltongue? I'll put in a word for you if you want. It won't guarantee anything, but they'll at least give you a chance." Penelope offered
"Uh yea, I'll think about it. I'd like to finish my 'newts' first."
"Right 'newts', well first, let's go eat breakfast then we can start today's lesson." Penelope said, leading them to a round table with several seats around it
As soon as they sat, a small elf appeared with breakfast. Each plate had eggs, potatoes, bacon, and toast. And it smelled divine. After breakfast, Harry and Daphne got their books and spent the rest of the day reviewing first year material.
When Daphne groaned, Ms. Young told her to get used to it as the first several of their lessons would be a basic review of what they already learned. Harry was willing to do whatever to get his 'newts' even if it meant slogging through the last three years of schoolwork.
The following days were very similar. Each tutor was focused on a quick brush up on old lessons. Ms. Thompson was a rather fun transfiguration teacher. A rather stark contrast to how Professor McGonagall's class was. Another polar opposite was Ms. Davis. She actually taught potions to start. She explained in depth the properties and reactions each ingredient held.
Harry had learned more about potions in a single day of review than over three years' worth of Snape's classes. Daphne was, unfortunately, feeling the same. Snape may have been biased towards Slytherins in terms of discipline and points, but the man didn't teach anybody.
Mr. Mueller honestly didn't have to try hard to be better than Binns. He was alive for one, and Binns was not. He taught more than goblin rebellions and kept his audience awake. As far as Harry and Daphne were concerned, Mr. Mueller was the best history teacher in the world.
Mr. Yuki had proven to be a task master. Review for runes and arithmancy was rather quick. So, continuing lessons was paramount, and Mr. Yuki demanded near perfection. Harry was enjoying the finer arts of runes he hadn't been able to learn from someone who actually knew the subject well.
Harry couldn't help but grin once the first week was over. He was that much closer to his 'newts'. That much closer to his absolute freedom.
-- AN: happy holidays everyone. also for anyone wondering why i described the appearance of only one teacher is because i didnt want to waste story space with useless descriptions of people that are going to be around for maybe 3 chapters at best. But that being said i will give short descriptions here
Ms. Skylar Thompson is 155cm or just over 5'1, she has a pale complexion, bright wavy auburn hair and blue eyes
Ms. Tia Davis is 162cm or 5'2, she has an olive complexion, black hair tied in a bun and hazel eyes
Mr. Hayato Yuki is 170cm or 5'7, he has a fair complexion, thin grey hair and brown eyes
Mr. Grayson Mueller is 180cm or 5'11 he has a fair complexion, wavy black hair, and grey eyes
i also want to say i may simply refer to the teacher as the first names or by solely their last name without the mr./ms. in front
