AN: Hello everyone. Here is my new story. This is a an alternative take on Harry's life after his adventure helping Sirius escape and failure of capturing Peter. A mentor story between Harry and Bathsheda(Sheda) Babbling. Main inspiration is from Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path, but a lot of stories truthfully and I hope to build on a lot of fanon and my own headcanon. (Please let me know if you figure out some of the stories where I pull some ideas.)
This story will be more grounded and expand on the book lore in ways that seem logical. An international war with actors from everywhere and different motivations. No god-Harry, No easy solutions and No cheap wins. Everyone, including Tom, will be competent and attempt to act with the information they have. No explicit bashing and no hate towards singular characters. Every character I hope lends itself to the lore we see in the books and or is built upon based off the information we have canon and non-canon.
NOTE Regarding my Head canon.
Hogwarts Legacy's castle and grounds are my castle and grounds. If you want I hope you can play the game and see where Harry is in my story during his time at Hogwarts. I will try to be as detailed as possible.
Hogwarts Legacy and the Fantastic Beasts movies have great building blocks that where not properly used. I will be using pieces of both sources for my story. Characters, magic, plot points, etc. Again I will build on it. I hope you like it.
The movies and books will be blended and hopefully ironed out as well.
The cursed child is not a big influence besides some concepts regarding growth and where people end up. Again I do not plan to use this as much.
I HOPE YOU ENJOY. 23 chapters currently all around 10,000 words. I will try to not come back and edit, but I will update in AN if something changes.
June 9th Tuesday
Harry woke up. It had been only a few days since he and Hermione had saved Sirius and Harry was tired. A tired seemingly no amount of sleep at the end of the school year seemed to help. He had missed many classes to the point that McGonagall had come to chastise him. Yet, he could tell that she stopped after seeing how he looked. She probably thought he was depressed or was told by Dumbledore to not punish him for the fact he would not be able to live with his new found family.
Although not wrong, Harry knew that there was something else wrong with him and something he himself had not been able to understand. Afraid to mention it to anyone; his magic had become short fused, seemingly having a mind of its own. He had even started "forgetting" his wand. The problem was his fear of accidentally casting a deadly spell especially when he accidentally sent a cutting curse to Draco and made him lose his pants in the great hall. Although funny, since he did not get caught, his fear that he would accidentally cast a killing curse made him terrified. Furthermore, when he did go to class with it it felt slightly cold to him and each passing day it was harder to cast spells.
Overall, his only clue was that ever since he saved Sirius from the dementors, his magic did not properly respond to him. The current symptoms being; he was constantly tired, spells were overpowered when he did cast them, his wand was becoming cold, he was hearing whispers and spells came out of nowhere without warning.
Ron's snoring finally brought Harry out of his thinking and Harry got up. He took some time to remember the time charm Hermione had shown him. Although it didn't tell him the time it showed the relative position of the sun and from that you could guess the time. Remembering it, he looked at his wand and was hesitant to grab it.
Quickly making up his mind he grabbed it and felt it colder than before. He casted tempus and saw it was early morning, the sun barely showing up on the charm. "I really need a pocket watch. No use going back to sleep. Going to get breakfast before people wake up and start making too much noise." Harry whispered to himself.
A new trait of Harry who had grown fond of silence due to persistent headaches and the far away whispers. As Harry stood up he was about to comment on going crazy when his wand casted a strong Lumos. Panicking he threw his wand onto his bed and decided to leave it along with his cloak. "Only History and divination today anyway." He thought to himself.
Break Break Break
As Harry made his way to the Great hall he looked to see who was present at the head table. Professor Babbling was sitting at the table. "I think she teaches Ancient Runes and Magical theory if I remember correctly. Hermione said it was so cool a professor could teach two courses at such a young age. Although they are extra curricular classes." He figured it was interesting, but Magical Theory was not taken by many. Also, after seeing professor Trelawney he figured the requirements as professor were not as stringent anymore. Especially after the first 2 years of DADA.
As he made his way to the Gryffindor table he saw a few students already up. Head Girl Clearwater and a few older Ravenclaws who looked to be studying for their OWLs, a dirty blonde who looked to have no shoes on, was also at the table reading a magazine upside down. Looking away and commenting on being too smart for their own good claws, he looked at the Slytherin table and saw only a platinum blood 3rd year looking at him very briefly and then looked down. Harry wondered what he knew about her. "Daphne Greengrass. Someone that Hermione mentioned had to be cheating because she could not understand how the girl was so good at Runes and Arithmancy. And just generally good at every other class"
Harry sat down and began to make himself a plate eating in silence. Thankful the whispers had stopped. After some time, seeing the biscuit tray about 6 seats away, he looked to stand up and walk over. Yet to his surprise the entire tray levitated and flew at him at blistering speed. He quickly ducked and the tray continued to fly over his head. He quickly turned around and saw it crash at the head table spilling Professor Babbling's food and drink on her lap.
Harry was shocked and his mouth was gaping at what just occurred and found his voice as the claws and Daphne looked shocked at him attacking a professor. "I am so sorry Professor Babbling I did not meet to do that. I actually don't know what happened. I panicked and I don't even have a wand with me. I….I….I" Harry was panicking; wandless magic. It was supposed to be hard and he seemingly just did it for a biscuit. Harry made it to the steps of the head table and Professor Babbling finally had overcome her shock but not over the spilled drink and food on her robes.
Break Break Break
Professor Babbling was in a good mood this morning. She had woken up, gotten her long Irish red hair under control and dressed in her customary light purple robes that she felt complimented her fair skin. At her young age of 33 she had the least seniority of the professors at Hogwarts with only 4 years at Hogwarts. As a result she was required to do the morning breakfast shift from 4:30 to 6:30 for the professors. She was used to seeing a few Ravenclaws and Slytherins during her shift. She especially got used to speaking to her new prodigy Daphne Greengrass who always talked to her after her breakfast was done. Yet, today she was shocked to see Harry Potter come in at 5am as she glanced at her pocket watch. He was seemingly looking worse for wear.
"Hmmm. Shame he doesn't seem to have any interest in any of my classes. I would have enjoyed teaching him." Babbling thought to herself, squashing any memories of Sirius or her time with Lily coming up. She had resigned to herself to what had happened. Harry clearly did not know of her.
Yet, she felt she understood him somewhat. She did always feel a kinship to "fellow orphans" as she put it. Knowing the feeling of loneliness and the feeling like an outsider to the memories of love and family. She also understood the lack of trust that could develop within your peers and the adults in your life. Feeling that every adult either wanted you to be like your family or constantly mentioned them. Something that she knew the boy was dealing with.
She remembered the professor's meeting where many of the professors echoed a sentiment that the boy was at a critical point in his education and could become so much more if he only applied himself. Snape of course argued that it was clear that the habits of his father would only lead to a failure of his potential. A point that many in the meeting seemingly agreed upon; a rarity when Snape made an opinion. A point she did not agree with, but having never met the boy did not think she should comment on.
In many ways she argued that an orphan who never met their parents or had no idea who they were would come to have a better time in life. A bitter idea, but one she carried with age and her own experiences. Rumors that Harry knew the Patronus charm had already circled and she wondered if the boy was something more than just untapped potential, memories of Lily's feats with charms coming back to her. She shook her head at the unpleasant memories. "If he only had an adult in his life that he trusted to push him in the right direction." Babbling thought to herself.
She looked at him as he made his plate and began to eat. She noticed he didn't have his wand; at least based on what the Great Hall wards told her. His name had not appeared. A safety mechanic of the hall to not only see who had wands, but also, based on the students magic signature, report spell usage in the hall. Headmaster Black had implemented a ward from his own family's House magic during Grindelwald's Attacks, 15 years before the Global Wizarding War fully started. It reported every current student in the hall with a wand and wrote it in the Great hall ward book. A donation to the school to control the students when House tensions started to rise. A feat of runes and wards she had been glad to study during her Newt years here at Hogwarts.
Yet, her musing was caught off when she noticed the ward book report magic usage. Not just any magic usage but many charms and spells and according to the book even a transfiguration was occurring.
As she continued to read the ward book wondering what was occurring, she looked up. She saw Harry reach for a biscuit and the whole tray rose and launched at her. Shocked at the casual display of wandless magic, by a 3rd year no less, she did not respond quickly enough to stop the tray from hitting her drink and food, throwing it all over her chest. Babbling was surprised and looked down at the ward book and confirmed it was wandless magic that occurred and not accidental magic, as Harry's name finally appeared under the magic usage column. A feature that Headmaster Dumbledore had added to separate the emotional younger students from actual intended magic usage. She then noticed it fully fill in Harry's name for every instance of magic usage, everything that had occurred early was Harry.
Break break break
Harry was still shocked and looked around and saw Clearwater run out and Harry knew another professor was going to be called, possibly Flitwick. He resigned his fate on getting punished when Professor Babbling finally got up as she passed her wand over the book she had with her on the table.
"Come with me, Mister Potter." She got up and vanished the spilled food on her robes as she began to walk out of the Great Hall. She quickly scanned with her eyes both tables that Harry had walked by looking for anything out of the ordinary. Catching her eye was a fork that seemed to be half fork and half knife. The transfiguration that the book had reported. She quickly grabbed it and pocketed it.
Harry wasn't sure what she was doing and didn't understand why she grabbed a fork but walked behind her thinking what the consequences would be for attacking a professor. He did wonder if this was worse than killing a professor, something that he had already done. "I guess I can't use the voldemort defense this time around." Harry whispered to himself. Professor Babbling ignored his whispering and as they left the Great hall and into the reception area where they bumped into Clearwater and Professor Flitwick. The professor dismissed Clearwater who continued back into the Great Hall.
"Ohhhh Hello Professor Babbling. Ms. Clearwater had a fascinating story that Mister Potter launched a food tray at you." Flitwick stated clearly not believing that such an event would happen. A student blatantly attacking a student in the great hall was unheard of, but every year since Mister Potter's time at Hogwarts began, new festivities occurred as he called them.
"Hello Professor Flitwick. Yes, it seems Mister Potter here had a bought of accidental magic and seemingly launched a food tray at me. In my review of the great hall ward book I did not think that the tray would be coming at me. An oversight, but no harm has been done. I unfortunately had to vanish the record on the Great Hall Ward book to make sure no rune got ruined. It's no worry, I plan to take Mister Potter to Madam Pomfrey to get him reviewed. He must be under great stress for this to occur. Would you know anything about this?"
Flitwick nodded remembering the conversation he had with McGonagall regarding Harry missing classes. "Yes. Mister Potter has been missing classes ever since the capture and escape of Sirius Black. I have been brought up to speed that Harry had a run in with some dementors but was able to assist in apprehending Black. The exposure to the foul creatures and the stress of Black's escape again must be getting to him. Justice slipping away it seems."
Flitwick looked at Harry and smiled sadly. "It's not a problem about the Great Hall Ward Book Professor Babbling. We both know your expertise in runes is more than mine. I trust you can take Harry to Pomfrey, no discipline is needed I suppose."
Professor Babbling nodded and they were allowed to pass. Harry was confused on many fronts. Why had she lied? It was clear he didn't do accidental magic. Or was it? Maybe he did? When did accidental magic stop happening in Wizards? He was tired and maybe that was it. He kept walking with her up the grand staircase. Past the faculty tower and suddenly pass the hospital wing. "Ummmm professor the Hospital wing is by the faculty tower." Babbling nodded but ignored him as they continued walking.
Harry then realized that they were walking to her classroom as they passed over the suspension bridge and into the DADA tower. "Why does she want me to go to her classroom? Does she know what is happening to me? I don't know what kind of professor she is. Is she strict? I don't have my wand." Harry became worried as his racing thoughts got the best of him. After some more stairs they walked into the transfiguration courtyard and entered one of largest classrooms in Hogwarts and Babbling began to wave her wand, freezing the portraits and closing the blinds and lighting the torches. She then turned around and closed the door. "Sit" she commanded as she summoned a chair by her front desk. Harry sat down as he saw her command a house elf to bring tea.
"Mister Potter. I am Professor Bathsheda Babbling. I do not have the pleasure of having you in my Ancient Runes class or my Magical theory class. Either way here we are. Can you tell me what happened this morning from your point of view?" Harry sighed and recounted what he experienced. Babbling nodded as she sipped on the tea brought by the House elf. Harry also sipped on some.
She responded. "So you just looked to get a biscuit and the whole tray floated and flew to you at top speed. You ducked hoping to not hit your head and as a result it came flying towards me?" Harry nodded. "Did you experience anything else this morning in the Great hall?" Harry shook his head.
Professor Babbling put her tea down and sat on it on her desk. Trying to show that she was not mad nor looking to punish him. "Mister. Potter I need you to be honest with me. Did anything else happen?" Harry again shook his head, Babbling sighed again with some frustration and reached into her pockets. She pulled out the half knife and half fork she grabbed from the table. "Can you explain this?" As she reached over and put it in front of him.
Harry looked at it and was confused. "Ummmm Professor I don't know what that is nor what you expect me to answer. I came down from my tower and looked to get some breakfast. I then sat down after seeing who was in the Great Hall and looked to make my plate. I don't even have my wand." He said with some frustration at the end. Babbling looked down looking at her boots and then felt her own classroom wards warn her of magic being cast. She quickly looked at the sheet and much like the Great Hall saw that charm spells were being cast and another transfiguration spell being cast.
She quickly got up and looked to see what charms were being cast with her wand. She quickly identified a hair fixing charm, a levitation spell, an alohomora, and finally many small underpower Lumos spells. Sensing the Lumos spells she quickly blew the torches out startling Harry.
Quickly her room became pitch black except for the occasional small lights dancing in the center room that dipped lower than the rest of the room. Fascinated, she continued to look as though she had hundreds of small lights dancing in her classroom.
Her face became gloomy as the only explanation she could come up with was verified in her head as she looked at the boy.
Harry was startled by the torches being cut off. Yet, he looked in wonder at all the small lights in the room. He realized how tired he was becoming and in that realization he noticed the lights begin to fade. Professor Babbling then looked at him as she turned the torches back on. She pulled a chair and sat next to him and for the briefest moment Harry thought she was going to hug him. But she looked at him and spoke in a calm voice. "Harry. Is it okay if I call you Harry?"
Harry nodded and yawned. "You can call me Bathsheda or Babbling then in private okay?. Now I want you to tell me, have you always been tired and have you always had issues with your wand and magic."
Harry was shocked. How did she know? Harry tried to play it off as if he didn't know what she meant. Fully not knowing if he should trust her. "I just did not sleep last night, Bathsheda and I forgot my wand." Harry said with another yawn. Bathsheda shook her head realizing the boy wouldn't trust so easily. Her earlier assumption in the Great Hall was right.
"Harry I know you don't want to trust me and it's clear something is also at work. Talk to me. I am a professor and one that is only looking to help." Babbling responded hoping to not only get a response from Harry but also the magic she feared was in him.
Harry looked up at her with some anger. "Professor looking to help." Harry responded. "Pfft. No professor has helped me. No Professor even has looked to talk to me over what happened in my first two years. No professor cares about me. One even tried to kill me and another blames me for the "sins of thy father" or whatever he would say. Dumbledore acts all cherry, but even this year I realized he was just like every other adult in my life. Keeping information from me." Harry finished looking down. His customary green eyes flashing between red as his magic began to float items.
Babbling had not caught his eyes changing color, since she looked at the items, mainly paper and quills, floating. She looked down only coming into contact with green eyes. "Harry. I know you must feel like people have failed you and the magical world is evil, but you can't have those feelings. Magic has done wonderful things in your life would you not agree? Your mom loved her magic even though she experienced hatred for being a muggle born."
Harry looked confused at her comment but grabbed onto the knowledge of his mom. "You knew my mom?" Babbling, understanding that the boy yearned for a family and realizing that if he was an obscurial, his life at home may not be good.
"Yes. I knew your mom. She was a year older than me. She was a great witch. I even have some memories of our interactions since we shared a few classes. I gave her a run for her money in those classes but she still had 1 year experience over me. She was a friend. Your father called us the firecrackers whenever he saw us together, especially after what happened to me." Harry saw she was uncomfortable talking about whatever happened to her.
In turn he didn't pry any further but he was shocked. Someone else who knew his family and by the looks of it someone who had at least been his moms friend. He was going to respond but was caught by Bathsheda. "You know what. I will make a deal with you. A promise, hmmmm? I will show you the memories in time. I have to locate a pensive, not easy mind you, but you have to answer my first question on whether you have always been tired and always having issues with your wand. How's that sound Harry?"
Harry was thinking and figured that if his mom spent time with her and even helped her maybe he should trust her. Breathing in, he responded. "I have been tired and having issues with my wand for about a few days. Ever since my adventure. The one Flitwick mentioned"
Babbling raised an eyebrow. That didn't make sense. How could all this happen in less than one week? It took time for an obscurial to grow based on her research. Maybe it was suppressed? "Do you mind telling me what happened on your adventure? I know you had a hand in capturing Sirius."
Harry in his thinking didn't notice the casual name usage of Sirius. He then went on to explain what happened that night and how it ended, leaving out portions of Peter and Sirius's feeling it was not appropriate. It then became a story of catching Sirius and his eventual escape once again. They had tried to use the time turner to lock him up but quickly learned nothing could change it.
Break Break Break
Babbling got up and began pacing. "You do know Harry that you just told me something no other person has ever done. You pushed back every dementor that was stationed here. Over 100 of them with corporal Patronus all while using a time turner?"
Harry nodded. "I know it sounds crazy but it's true. I can show you my Patronus if I get my wand."
Babbling stopped and realized she would trust the boy. At least in his story. "Harry I want you to tell me how close did your past self get to being kissed before you used your Patronus." Harry was once again shocked. She believed him. "You believe me?"
Babbling nodded as she sat down again. "I do at least trust what you told me is somewhat true. The rumors about what happened have already reached the professors. There is always some truth in lies and rumors, Harry. At least the best ones. Misinformation always works off of that. Also, based on what I have heard from Professor Remus, before he left, you could cast a Patronus mist at least, so it's not far-fetched that you could do a shield after a while, which a corporal one under high stress. So tell me. How close did your past self get to being kissed before you saved him?"
Harry looked down not believing that an adult would believe him. Only Dumbledore had done this for him before. "Close but not close enough, clearly since I am still here. But it did look into my eyes and begin to pull me forward. It looked like a dead man or how the muggles describe the reaper of souls. It felt like I was being released and then It looked away as my future self did the Patronus and was hit by the magical wave."
Babbling looked shocked as she stopped her pacing. "Harry, what do you mean you could see its face? And what do you mean you felt released? Being kissed is not just having happy emotions being pulled out. It's the actual act of seeing its face and I suppose being released as it sucks your soul out. Did you future self see a gray smoke like substance lift from your face?"
Harry nodded. "I did not see the gray at first, it was black and then as I panicked and ran to cast my Patronus that's when I saw the first pieces of gray being pulled along. Once I casted my Patronus both the black and gray smoke slammed back into me." Babbling was even more confused but she decided to discuss her assumptions.
"Harry, tell me. What do you know about magical creatures and magical entities? I know you have the class with Hagrid, but have you explored more than what he has taught you so far."
Harry nodded. "I like magical beasts. I looked ahead and will probably say I am most well versed in nifflers since there were rumors that a nest exists on the grounds because of a boy housing them back in the late 1800s. I wanted to catch one for fun. I also went looking for Newt Scamander's book after I felt Hagrid's assigned book was a tad unyielding. I read about every other magical beasts and some new theorized beasts that have appeared since the book's writing, like a sandworm found in Africa and the Magical Caliphate of the Arab Worlds. There wasn't much more. I was going to begin exploring Scamander's life work but school and another adventure took my time."
Babbling nodded. "Seems you have an affinity for magical beasts Harry. Don't go getting expelled like Newt did because of his curiosity."
Babbling smiled as Harry looked shocked. "He got expelled. Why? I didn't even know you could get expelled."
Babbling responded. " He got expelled because he endangered or rather took the blame for Leta's Lestrange's unsanctioned Jarvey that she had while on campus. Newt tried to capture it and take it off campus after it escaped but he was caught in the action. Dumbledore tried to stop his expulsion but it was too late and as a 7th year student who was already over the age of 17 it was the easiest thing for the school to do." Harry was fascinated by history. And was going to ask more questions but was caught off by Babbling as she continued. "Tell me Harry. What do you know about Obscurials?"
Harry looked lost in thought. "Obscurials." He couldn't remember anything at first and then remembered it was classified in the same section of dark magical creatures like the dementor and lethifold. Yet, his understanding of magical creatures made the thing sound like a magical entity rather than a creature since as far as he knew the Obscurial could not exist without its host. "It's a dark magical entity born out of one's hatred of their own magic. It feeds off the host until its 10 or 11th birthday and seemingly kills the host in a burst of magic. There is no documented case of an Obscurial lasting into adulthood."
Babbling nodded and responded. "No documented case in Magical Britain. There was one in America. Something I studied while at Ilvermorny doing my masteries. You are correct that it is more entity than creature. Do you know the characteristics that an individual shows when they have an Obscurial?"
Harry looked lost in thought as he tried to remember the book and was shocked when he remembered. "They are constantly fatigued and their magic begins to haywire. Seemingly having a life of its own. This frustration of being unable to control their magical power continues to build and fuels the hosts' rejection of magic." Harry caught on to what Bathsheda was thinking. "Wait, are you saying that I may be an obscurial? I love magic though. I have never been happier than when I am here at Hogwarts. Although recently the drawbacks are growing."
Babbling nodded. " I believe you are an obscurial or at least you developed one, but now I am unsure." Babbling looked lost in thought and realized that her door charm stated there were students at the door. Quickly looking at her pocket watch she realized that it was now 7am and her first double class was about to start at 7:30. Third year Ancient runes. Wanting to keep an eye on the boy and knowing the history that magical Britain and even Dumbledore had with Obscurials; she did not want to leave the boy alone, much less take him to . "I have class starting in 30 min. I suppose you also have some classes starting soon, no?"
Harry looked to get up but was stopped by Babbling. "I will excuse your absence to any of the professors. Chalk it up as you came across a book on ancient runes and became curious, okay?" Babbling handed him her notebook and continued. " You asked to shadow my class after our talk regarding your magical accident this morning. I agreed with you on shadowing since these last few weeks are just classes that are reviewed for the final exam anyway."
Babbling was about to open the door, but decided to warn Harry of why she was doing what she was doing. She squatted down to be at his level and put a hand on his shoulders. Harry was slightly confused on whether it was affection being displayed, but suppressed the emotion. Feeling an equal amount of hatred of feeling the confusion. "Harry, regardless if you are an obscurial or not. It's clear you are showing symptoms of being one. Please don't let anyone know of what's happening to your magic. I am keeping you here because it's clear your magic is starting to go haywire even more. If nothing is done it could become unstable. Unstable magic is deadly; it breaks the very ground around you with pure magical force. Your spells become beacons of pure destruction. I have a plan but can't act on it until after today's classes are done at the earliest okay? If anyone asks during or after class what's wrong just ignore or lie, remember let rumors grow. Rumors are better than people knowing fully. It's better to hide in plain sight then be discovered or give reason for others to fully dig. No one and I mean no one can know what is happening. Not even Dumbledore. Especially him. Okay?" Harry looked stunned but nodded.
Babbling tapped his shoulders and mumbled. "I can't have you looking like you just rolled out of bed for my class." She tufted his hair with her wand and fixed it up with some charms and then passed her wand over his clothes, cleaning them and making them fit properly. A first for the boy who always had baggy hand me down clothes. "Go sit in the back. I have a spare cloak there. Put it on. Don't disturb my class, okay? I heard how you are in the other classes."
Harry got up and had a sad smile. Although Babbling did not know it. Harry had limited exposure to people showing care of how he looked or felt. He was never shown such affection from an older individual besides Mrs. Weasley, who he considered to be overbearing with how she handled his appearance. She always commented on his clothes loudly and complained about how his aunt cut his hair. She never looked to inquire and always made the comments assuming it was his style. In truth he didn't know how to handle it and in some ways he was too ashamed for letting it go this far. Overall it was something he was very self conscious about.
He turned his head as he heard his name be called by Bathsheda. "Mister Potter. Please remember that it's Professor Babbling in class okay?" Harry nodded as she lifted her wand allowing the door to open and the curtains to open, the painting also coming to life with some whispers and running out of frame. He heard Bathsheda mumble about a headmaster that had no idea of privacy as she walked up to the door and out into the hallway as she greeted the students coming in. Hearing the first two names he knew that he would get stares from the first one and questions from the second one.
"Harry!?" Hermione questioned louder than needed when there were only 3 other people currently present as she ran to him. "What are you doing in Professor Babbling's classroom? I didn't even know you knew what she thought, much less where her classroom was. You are missing a class by being here Harry aren't you? You have missed many classes now that I think of it. How many points are you losing us?"
Harry began to turn around catching the eye of Daphne Greengrass who looked at him with a raised eyebrow and looked to comment but stopped herself as she was called by Bathsheda. Harry then looked to Hermione who continued not even allowing him to answer her first questions. "Your hair looks good and did you get new clothes? They seem to fit you, I always thought the baggy clothes were a dumb look and made you look unrefined but figured you liked it soooo. Wait, what is that notebook? Is that Professor Babbling's notebook? You can't have that Harry you will get in trouble." Hermione reached over and sighed angrily, reaching for it. Harry at this point was beginning to get angry at her comments, but also her admittance of how he dressed and his supposed laziness.
He was caught off guard by sneer from Daphne Greengrass who also startled Hermione as she stopped reaching for the notebook. "Rather rude don't you think Granger to tell your friend that he not only has bad taste in clothes, but is also not smart enough to know teachers and the Hogwarts grounds? Whispers within the halls argue that he is the only person that gives the twins a run for their money in the knowledge of Hogwarts secrets. Furthermore, why do you yell when you can tell that he has a headache and has been grimacing ever since you started talking. I understand it's early and most of us do not like being up so early, but rumors are you both had a run in with some dementors in the forbidden forest just a few days ago. You do know how that affects an individual, correct? Or do you also think yourself better then him for mentally recovering before him even though everyone knows he faints at their presence? He has missed most of his classes in the past days and the first thing you do seeing him out of the dorms is to chastise his interest in other classes? God forbid someone decides that an elective such as runes is more interesting than other electives, especially divination." Hermione and Harry were both shocked by the Slytherin's support of Harry.
Hermione collected herself but clearly was conflicted. Yet, in believing herself to always be right she doubled down on her comments as she responded. "I know my friend Greengrass and who are you to comment on what I can and cannot say to him. Its constructive criticism on how he acts and carries himself, which I feel is allowed unlike how your group treats him. It's not like you people calling his mom the M-word or even painting him as a dark lord. I tell him that he is being lazy and is costing us house points, points mind you that we both won for our house because of what WE did. We as in not just him, without ME we wouldn't have been able to do what we did. What we did also was over 1 week ago and if he had any problems he should have gone to Dumbledore or Pomfrey rather than mope around in the dorms as we prepare for our final exams. It's clear he is just skipping classes for the sake of doing so and once again costing us points. As for how he carries himself, I once again criticize him because it's clear he likes muggle styles that your group does not understand. Styles that are characterized in the muggle world as being unrefined, unbecoming and most of all lazy and uncaring. I like to push my friends to be the best of themselves and not just some followers that hang on every word their precious ferret says." Hermione had a smirk as she finished her long winded statement not realizing that Harry was not even looking at her but was staring down while fighting tears at her words.
Hermione continued. Clearly enjoying the verbal beat down she was giving Greengrass who had become a thorn in her side as they competed for top marks in the school this year. What she took as a humiliated Greengrass was in actuality Greengrass trying to ignore what was happening to Harry and trying to give the boy privacy. "Furthermore, why do you care that he faints at the sight of the dementors? Don't you have enough fun making fun of him for it? Well you know what? He faints because he hears and relieves that night. The night his mom sacrificed herself for him. Now how do you feel-"
Hermione was stopped as she felt a hand grab her wrists and she turned around to see Harry very angrily looking at her. "Be quiet Hermione and do NOT mention my secrets to people as a way of proving yourself to be better." Harry was clearly losing his hold on his magic, Daphne's eyes widened as she saw around her quills and paper starting to float, something that Hermione did not see due to her shock at seeing Harry so angry.
Unbeknownst to the three teenagers, Babbling had already frozen the portraits and quickly came up behind Harry and casted a sleeping charm and caught him as he went to sleep on the desk. "Miss Granger. I have never seen such an inconsiderate friend in my time at Hogwarts both as a student and as a professor. 20 points for lack of House unity. I want a 3 foot length paper on the folly of pride and the ways it eats at one's character both within and with peers. Do you hear me young lady?"
Hermione nodded in shock at the loss of points and the assignment. She moved away from Harry not even realizing that Harry had just been put to sleep by a Professor. Losing points and getting reprimanded being a first for the girl.
Bathsheda fixed her cloak to cover Harry's face and let him hopefully sleep for a while. Babbling was worried. It was clear that his magic was getting worse but was it in waves or erratic, it made no sense. All the research she read stated it would become more erratic and based on strong emotions, yet the fact he was calm in the morning shows it's not that erratic. Furthermore, he was still able to use a wand based on what he told her. She quickly pulled her wand out and quickly created a simple but weak rune sequence on her coat to at least help Harry temporarily.
Catching that Daphne had seen what Harry had done she knew she would have to talk with the girl. "Daphne 20 points to Slytherin for displaying great inter house relations and defending a peer. Can you please come with me before class starts at my office?"
Daphne nodded, shocked at what she had seen but also at the points awarded to her, she followed Babbling to her office. She noticed the Portraits come to life just before the door closed behind her.
Babbling stood standing as Greengrass came in. "Miss Greengrass. I did not know you and Mister Potter knew each other in any meaningful way. I know we had already discussed what happened before in the Great hall when you came into the classroom."
Daphne showed no emotion. "I understand that what he did was accidental magic both here and in the Great hall, but it's just shocking to see someone with such magic have it not be fully under his control. As for my relations with Potter, I do not have any. I just did not like the way Granger talked about him much less her ignorance on how deeming she was being. Especially after what you told me about what happened. Furthermore, If rumors are true and it's clear that it is, he is probably the strongest 3rd year magically he doesn't deserve that level of demeaning." Daphne finished clearly in thought.
Babbling continued to look at her and questioned how truthful the girl was being, but decided she couldn't do anything about it regardless. "Miss Greengrass, thank you for your understanding. I hope you understand that accidental magic is a very private and embarrassing thing for both witches and wizards, and although I know some other students saw it earlier today. I ask as a mentor that you keep Mister Potter's confidence in what occurred today."
Daphne nodded in affirmation and as they left the room she took her seat at the front of the class. A class that was quickly filling up with more students all looking at the sleeping body at the back of the class. Daphne herself also looked across towards him as she began to think , what was a 13 year old doing that he was having accidental magic twice in one day.
Break Break Break
All Harry remembered was anger and seeing red and then a dreamless sleep coming over him. A sleep that was now wearing off. He shuffled slightly as he realized his head was covered by another cloak, a purple one and one that smelled like lilies. Finding the scent pleasant he got up and made sure to stop the cloak from falling to the floor as he remembered where he was. Professor Babblings' classroom which was clearly still in class. He yawned as he stretched and kept the cloak on seemingly finding comfort in it. His shoulders and body finally felt rested.
Looking around he saw that he was essentially left alone in the back right corner from the classroom if you came in via the door. Although he was receiving curious looks by everyone who was in the class. Some faces he recognized; Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Terry Boot, and of course the ones he saw before he went to sleep; Hermione and Daphne. Seeing Hermione he could see that she looked conflicted as she looked at him and then looked back to Sheda in a Huff. Not looking to humor her, he looked at Daphne who only gave him a raised eyebrow. With no way of knowing how much time had passed he decided to make himself small and pulled Bathsheda's notebook to where he could read it and began to explore it. "Might as well look into runes for however long I am here for he thought."
As he began to turn the pages he found the note extremely easy to follow which brought him to the lecture. Clean and concise the notes critiqued the runes while also giving ideas on how they worked. Harry observed Professor Babbling as she walked around. Realizing she was pretty tall for a witch at what looked to be 5 '11 without the heeled boot she wore and with the boots she was reaching 6'2. She had no cloak on and wore a tight light purple 2 piece suit he believed they were called. No suit jacket but a vest. Very fashionable in his opinion for a professor. He observed as she walked around while using the same style projector used by Snape earlier in the year when he substituted for Remus in DADA. Its mechanical nature allowed it to be used within the halls of Hogwarts with only a simple Lumos to project the images against a canvas. Or so he thought.
He quickly looked at it again and saw that Babbling had modified it to use a stone as a light source. A rune stone with a magic capture rune based on what the notebook stated. Rune stones could only hold simple charms, the stone failing it seemed. He listened to Bathsheda as she lectured and read her notes. Finding runes not only interesting but easy to grasp in his opinion. Suddenly it seemed the 1st half of the double period was over.
"So in review. Last week we covered the basic Nordic language and the overall applications of runes in our world. Today we reviewed each major symbol in rune making for the first half of our double class. Does anyone have any questions?" Professor Babbling asked, receiving no response she continued. "Okay we will have a 10 min break before we start the 2nd part. Please go to the restroom if need be and get refreshments if so needed but please be back promptly. As we will be reviewing rune drawing and sequencing." Babbling, having stopped, opened the curtain to let some light in and opened the door to the hallways. Yet, to her surprise just as she did Dumbledore walked in in his stereotypical manner of looking like merlin.
"Hello Professor Babbling. I heard an interesting statement today from Professor Flitwick and based on the help from portraits made my way to see what had occurred since it seemed Mister Potter had some issues earlier this morning." Harry, seeing Dumbledore come in, thought back to what Professor Babbling had stated. Bathsheda stopped him from talking as she walked up to him and Dumbledore.
Realizing that the purple cloak he was wearing was Bathsheda's he looked to take it off thinking she wanted the cloak. A blush creeped to his face remembering that he liked how it smelled. She waved him off, much to his confusion, a silent conversation to keep it when he looked at her eyes. "Headmaster, I expected you to come at some point. Your pesky portraits never give me any privacy. Let's have this conversation in my office. It's a personal matter that I do not think students should hear no?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled on the comment of the portraits. "Yes I believe it is prudent to do so in private. Your office then. Come on Mister Potter."
Harry got up and saw Hermione put her face down and he wondered if he saw her grinning. "Did she really want him to get in trouble so badly?" He sighed. "A rules follower through and through he thought. No room for a difference." As he entered the office to the right of Bathsheda's desk he prepared for the conversation.
Break Break Break
Dumbledore stayed standing as he looked at Harry wondering what could be happening. He knew Harry had power and he understood that accidental magic happened yet he had summarized that the last bout for Harry should have been the one he had last summer right before this school year started. Harry had shown great growth this year and his use of the Patronus clearly pointed to a wizard who could control their magic. Yet, the wonders of magic always baffled him and Harry was one of them.
"Harry, can you please tell me what occurred this early morning in the Great Hall?" Harry went through the story as he had done with Professor Babbling. "Hmmmm interesting. Great stressors in life we have no Harry? I am no fool to not know that young individuals like yourself could have stressors just like I do." Professor Babbling stood off to the side. Clearly the Headmaster and Harry had many conversations throughout the years, yet she hoped Harry heeded her words regarding telling Dumbledore anything else that had happened.
Harry nodded as Dumbledore continued. "Anything in particular that is happening that is out of the ordinary? I have heard you are missing classes? Not a small issue, but one I could ignore after your successful removal of the dementors from Hogwarts."
Harry looked down and wanted to tell him the issues he was having with his wand and magic. Yet, as he caught the scent of lilies he remembered what Bathsheda had stated. "No Headmaster. I am just stressed about going home to my family of Muggles and was downtrodden about not being able to spend time with my new found family."
Dumbledore smiled sadly. Understanding the boy. Having found a family, no matter how distant, clearly had made the boy happy. His continued issues with his muggle relatives had begun to take a toll on the boy. He wondered if was wrong in his assessment of what happened after his 1st year. Maybe pushing him to his found family would see him stop from going down the path of Tom. It's clear the possibility of finding family was great for Harry unlike Tom when he found his family. Although, meddling maybe could see it become worse.
Maybe it was time to evaluate the wards and see what could be done. It was clear something else was happening, but he could not put his finger on it. Looking to Professor Babbling he continued his train of thought. "Professor Babbling I heard the bout of magic had a direct impact on you and in review of the Great Hall ward book nothing showed for this morning. Care to say what happened from your Point of View from when the tray hit your food?"
Professor Babbling had experience with Dumbledore, it was clear he wanted to know how they had come to be in her classroom. "I vanished what happened in the Great Hall ward book because the food had spilled all over it and on me. As we looked to leave we bumped into Professor Flitwick and I brought him up to speed. We then left the Great Hall. My own experience with being an orphan clearly showed itself as I saw a boy not wanting to get over-beared and given potions, but possibly talk about what he was feeling. As a result, I ultimately decided that Harry had spent too much time in Madam Pomfrey's care and he needed just someone to talk to. I offered to talk to him in confidence of course after I told him I knew Lily and he agreed. We came into my classroom and I wanted to give him some privacy regarding his bout of accidental magic so I froze the paintings. As you know, accidental magic is not only embarrassing because of its action, but also the possible emotions behind them. As we talked about that subject, I guided us to his interests and he told me his fascination with magical creatures and that he had picked up on some runes while in the library and had gotten curious. He asked if he could stay for this class, yet he did mention how tired he was. I told him it was okay to take a nap in my classroom if it would make him comfortable."
Bathsheda looked at Dumbledore. "In reality it was more so I could keep an eye on him. Along with him talking about his emotions, the use of magic must have taken a lot of him. I gave him my cloak so he would be given some privacy while he napped."
Dumbledore nodded. "Excellent care of a student, Professor Babbling. I would have done the same. I do also agree that although Madam Pomfrey is an excellent healer, issues of the mind are more sensitive in nature. I commend you, but I must ask, did the Great Hall ward book say anything else out of the ordinary?"
Professor Babbling now knew that Dumbledore was fishing for something else. "The Great Hall ward book only recognized the levitation spell and that it was Harry's Magical signature, which it placed under accidental magic, after that nothing else."
Dumbledore looked deep in thought yet surmised he could not come up with anything else. A quick check of the blood wards at Harry's relatives should clear his worries. He would then review this memory in his pensive at a later time to see mannerisms and if there was anything out of the ordinary with Harry, but a conversation with Sirius was needed on the emotions of the boy.
Clearly Harry was becoming depressed and as much as he worried about what could happen. He wanted to make sure that Harry had every opportunity to not follow down the path of Tom in regards to his melancholy and feelings of abandonment. Not just by the muggle world but also the magical world. Maybe he had truly misjudged what he saw after 1st year and the boy was still being mistreated. Maybe stepping in here would be okay. "Maybe." He whispered to himself.
"Well Harry, my boy, do look to learn from Runes and or Magical Theory as much as you can. Runes are a fascinating subject that your mother was very good at along with Professor Babbling. Magical Theory is the one class that truly teaches you the wonder of magic. I had hoped you would take it your first year. Please let me know if you want to switch over to any of the two and I would be glad to work something out for you." Harry nodded at Dumbledore. "Thank you Headmaster. I will if my interest grows."
Dumbledore beamed at the comment hoping that the boy would look to expand his horizons and look to push himself in unknown areas. "Professor Babbling, again I commend you for your actions and look towards our year end meeting. Hopefully to plan the addition of a new student to at least one of your classes." Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes. "Well I shall make haste, the end of the year always has me running around. Have fun Harry, do not worry about your other classes okay? Take time for yourself. I will be in touch." Dumbledore stated as he left the door closing behind him.
Harry was left alone with the professor in her office, a somewhat tense energy between the two. The energy coming from both lying to the Headmaster. Harry spoke up first. "Thank you for the cloak professor but you can have it back." Harry looked to take it off but quickly felt his exhaustion catch up and hit him as he began to fall on the ground.
Babbling caught him. "Shite. Harry. stand up! You can't take the coat off. I put a rune sequence into it very quickly when you got angry early."
Harry nodded as he pulled it up, his body rejuvenated. Looking at the runes seemingly woven haphazardly to the side he noticed the 4 runes and quickly translated them in his head after feeling their magic not knowing he mumbled them out. "A rune of energy to keep me from feeling tired, A magic suppression rune to stop any outgoing magic, a magic absorption rune to absorb that very same magic, and a rune battery to power the whole sequence and slowly leak out the magic being absorbed."
Babbling stared at him in shock. He had just deciphered the runes as if they were nothing. "Harry, could you always read runes?"
Harry shook his head. "No. But I guess I never tried though. Your notes were simple and easy to read though on what runes do."
Babbling laughed. " Maybe you have an affinity for runes. How about you participate in the next part of class? I want to see what you can do. What I did on the robe is super simple and will probably break so it's not a long term solution hence why we will meet after class."
Harry fixed himself and nodded as he left the office with her. All the students were already back from the break. Harry felt everyone's eyes on him, but paid them no attention as he made it to the back and picked up Babblings notebook.
Looking to move up to the front he looked for a seat and noticed that Daphne Greengrass had a free seat next to her. Ignoring the open seat by Hermione one table next to Daphne, he went to sit next to the Slytherin much to the surprise of everyone and another huff from Hermione.
"Okay everyone, sorry for the delay. We will start with examples of rune designs and go from there. First and foremost I will start by showing it in the middle and everyone will be given time to decipher the runes on a piece of paper and name each rune and give an idea on where we would see the sequence. Hint: it will be something you handle throughout the school year. Afterwards we will discuss it. Please let me know if you have any questions." Babbling stated as she waved her wand and a table appeared in the center dip of the classroom. The table then had two large rocks summoned and placed on top. The rocks had runes which were drawn with blood to his surprise. He figured animal blood, as he began looking at the notebook he had from Bathsheda.
He explored its pages trying to understand why Blood was used and he figured it out. "The blood is just so the magic takes hold without carving it. The type of blood determines the strength of the markings."
Harry looked at the rocks and understood what each did, it felt like he had done a translation in the same way as he did with parselmouth last year. The magic physically showed him what it did with the runes. He decided to wait and give others time in the class before he raised his hand. It was a simple 4 rune sequence and based on her hint, he knew it would be their own potioneer's cauldron that would have these. "A rune to absorb magical energy either from ambient magic or from the potioneer, a rune to mend and keep the cauldron from rusting and scraping bits of itself into the potion under normal stress, a rune to dispel magic energy and finally a rune that connected it to other rune sequences. Like ones you would find on a potion table." Harry whispered to himself. Babbling was walking past and heard him and smiled mouthing "Good job." Harry blushed but sat back and waited for a few min, before the 1st hand launched up.
Hermione kept her hand up as she waited, but huffed when she saw Greengrass raise her hand after a minute. "Darn Greengrass. It can never stump you it seems. I swear she always gets it. Never having an issue with one thing. I know she has to be cheating. Last year no one was close and now she suddenly is? At least I was faster. " Bathsheda passed by her and called on her. "Thank you Professor. What we are seeing is a 4 rune sequence made to protect kitchen items. The first rune is to absorb magic, the second rune is an anti-destruction rune, the third is the same so it's redundant and the last one connects it to other runes, like a stove and or sink." Hermione smirked but noticed that Daphne kept her hand up and out of nowhere Harry raised his to the surprise of everyone.
Babbling smiled hoping he would raise his hand. "Mister Potter, our resident guess. Can you please give some insight to Hermione's observations?" Hermione huffed not knowing how Harry would have any idea what the symbols showed. Her anger about his treatment getting to her. His actions had led her to look bad in front of her professor and she did not know how to feel. "How was pride a bad thing? Pride in being a muggleborn? That was a good thing? She knew that other terms existed. Did she mean hubris? She did not have Hubris. She was the smartest witch of her age besides Daphne who she knew had to be cheating." Hermione was lost in anger until she heard Harry begin to respond.
"Although Hermione is right about the first and last rune, her observation on the two middle ones is inaccurate. As a result, the usage of the sequence is wrong. The sequence would be put on a potioneer's cauldron which can be explained by the two runes in the middle. Although I will admit I do not know how the others look, I can only translate what I have in front of me."
Harry responded by scratching his head admitting that his knowledge was limited but he continued. " The 2nd one is a mending rune not an anti-destruction rune as Hermione put it. It's meant to stop the item from rusting, but also from scraping which is important for a cauldron since you do not want your potion to be ruined with scraps of iron. The third rune is a rune to dispel magical energy. It essentially leaks magic while you work on a potion. I guess that is why potioneer work is time consuming and has so many steps that need to be followed in the proper order. It's not that the cauldron can't take the pressure, it probably could, but rather the rune is a failsafe to stop a magical explosion. Mainly magic becoming too concentrated. The rune allows magic to leak out, but if the rune becomes overloaded the whole potion fails and the rune breaks the cauldron stopping the reaction." Harry finished realizing a lot about how potions worked in his explanation of the importance of that specific rune.
Babbling smiled. "Correct Mister Potter. I cannot give you any points since you are not officially in my class, but just know you would have gotten them if you were. Miss Greengrass, can you tell the class what the differences are between the runes that Hermione mentioned and the runes present here?"
Daphne nodded. Her own surprise of Potter's knowledge went away as she spoke. "There are subtle differences, but it's mostly in the rune crafters signature or the way you drew them for us. I think I see slight differences in the curves for rune 2 and rune 3 and each of those would cause the differences in order to get the runes Potter mentions. Honestly, it's such a small difference and I have problems with signatures. It's why I took a tad longer to review it than usual. I am impressed, Potter." Harry was surprised by the compliment and nodded.
Babbling spoke up. "5 points to Slytherin. Remember everyone. Always look at the details. The smallest things can make a big difference both in what you do and see. Onto the next one."
The rest of the class went in a similar manner. Harry and Daphne trading their knowledge. Harry usually got the Runes and what they did, but Daphne got the details. It was clear Harry had a knack for the physical runes, but as the class began to wind down he realized that the application of runes was rather easy and important to the magical world. It felt strange having missed such an important ability the first two years. Considering that he could now sense the rune magic and just all magic it seemed all around him. He did feel much closer to magic than ever today. Almost as if it was growing or allowed to grow. Almost as if a dam was released. He decided to keep his observation to himself. Sensing magic, a new one for Harry.