I do not own Harry Potter nor World of Darkness
Great Hall, Hogwarts, 3rd September 1991 (Tuesday)
Professor Snape wasn't sure what to think of Harry Potter. He was expecting either a loud-mouth inconsiderate asshole like his father or a kind-natured child like Lilly, but this Harry Potter was neither. This Harry Potter was a highly disciplined, oddly charismatic religious zealot. He heard the story about the muggle 'disc man' that apparently could work within Hogwarts, unlike anything else made by muggle, as well as the rumors about this mysterious Sir Harold, a non-wizard, yet very clearly non-muggle, who was apparently an expert in magic, vampires and knew how to bind spirits, for some reason. Oh, and was the leader of some exceedingly rich American muggle company, apparently.
"You look… unusually contemplative, Severus. Problems with one of your snakes?" commented a witch wearing red robes and a matching pointed hat.
"It's Potter."
The witch raised an eyebrow.
"I thought the boy was rather well-behaved. Did he make trouble already?"
"No, Septima, he did not. - he paused - Have you heard about his tutor?"
"The mysterious American non-muggle, non-wizard that makes muggle technology works at Hogwarts? I've heard rumors. - She took a sip from her cup - Are they true?"
"I can only confirm the one about muggle technology. Potter and Nott were playing with it yesterday evening in the common room."
"Fascinating. Would you mind me having a look at it? Trying to figure out how it works?"
"Potter claims there's a spirit bound to it. A 'Rust Spider', whatever that is."
"Fascinating. Do you think this will convince Dumbledore to resume the Phantoms and Spooks class?"
"If we can get enough students interested then maybe. But after professor Mane brought that Neverborn to class…"
Septima shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, that was bad. I still have no idea what Edward was thinking. Poor Sybill hasn't been the same ever since."
"She should be in St. Mungo's to recover, not here in Divination. She used to be our best teacher, now..."
Septima elbowed her colleague, glaring at him while gesturing to professor Trelawney at the other end of the table, looking in their direction.
"So, you think he'll be willing to let me analyze it? I am sure Professor Burbage will be thrilled to inspect that particular piece of technology."
Severus nodded.
"I'll mention it to Potter tomorrow during his morning exercises."
"Morning exercises?"
"Potter specifically requested them. Since he seems so eager to get sweaty, I have him do them while I prepare my potions in the morning."
Septima looked at the Slytherin table, where Harry Potter was eating dinner and chatting with Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott and Sally-Anne Perks.
"How curious. Severus, should you ever need to meet his tutor, please let me know. I'd like to meet the man."
"Don't we all?" muttered Severus, shifting his focus back to his dinner.
Training Grounds, Hogwarts, 4th September 1991 (Wednesday)
Harry was carefully listening to Professor Hooch's instructions on how to fly a broom. He wasn't particularly thrilled about the concept of a flying broom, but if you could make something as silly as a flying broom, there was nothing preventing wizards from making other things fly. Like cars. Or tanks. Or… why not an entire fleet of battle cruisers and submarines? Now, that would be something.
While Harry was only mildly interested, he could see that many other students were very excited, talking about how they flew on brooms in the past. Hermione and the boy who had lost the toad on the train, a Neville Longbottom with features Harry could have sworn he'd seen somewhere in his heraldry lessons but couldn't quite place, were instead extremely nervous.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom, and say: UP!" called Professor Hooch
"UP!" everyone shouted.
Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, together with Daphne's and those of a couple of Gryffindors. Hermione's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms could tell when you were afraid?
Professor Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips.
"Now, starting from Miss Bulstrode I'll cast a Cushioning charm on you. Once I'm finished, you kick off from the ground hard to start floating. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly."
Neville pushed before the professor had even the time to pull out her wand.
"Come back down, boy!" she shouted, but a terrified Neville was rising straight up.
Twelve feet. Twenty feet. Harry saw his scared face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and…
A thud and a nasty crack.
Neville lay face down, his broomstick still rising higher, slowly drifting toward the forest and out of sight.
"Broken wrist. - Harry heard the professor mutter. - Come on, boy, it's all right. Up you get."
She turned to the rest of the class.
"None of you move while I take this boy to Professor Pomfrey! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'!"
Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Professor Hooch.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Malfoy burst into laughter.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?"
A few other Slytherins joined in.
"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?- said Pansy Parkinson, a Slytherin girl that had been orbiting the Malfoy scion since day one. - Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
Malfoy, darted forward and snatched something out of the grass. "Look! It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."
The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.
This was a bad idea. Malfoy was antagonizing the Gryffindors. Ron and a few others were already reaching for their wands.
"Put that down, Malfoy." said Harry quietly.
Everyone stopped talking to watch. The Gryffindors who had reached their wands lowered their hands. Malfoy smiled nastily.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find. How about… up a tree?"
"Malfoy! - shouted Harry, channeling all his indignation toward making the best impression of both Instructor David and Sir Harold - You are the scion of a noble house! I don't give a rat's ass if you want to act like a goddamn barbarian and drag your house's reputation into the fucking shitter, but you are not representing house Malfoy here! You are a Slytherin! Your actions make us, all of us, look like fucking Neanderthals with the manners of a shit-flinging monkey! You are from a noble house! Start behaving like a noble! Weasley's fucking rat has better manners than you!"
The training grounds fell into a tense silence. Ron stared at Harry, mouth open in shock. Draco dropped the Remembrall, stomping over to Harry, red in anger. The two Slytherins stared at each other, not even blinking, for an interminable minute. Then, Draco smiled
"You want war, Potter? Fine. Tonight. Wizard's duel. South Courtyard."
Harry frowned. Normally, he would have accepted the challenge, but there was something in Malfoy's smile that told him the blonde had a plan. Besides the fact that he had absolutely no idea what a 'wizard duel' entailed, something felt… fishy. Was Malfoy going to jump him with his cronies and simply outnumber him? Harry would need to bring someone to make sure that didn't happen, but… It was at night, in an open area… Was Malfoy trying to set him up? Have him taken to detention for violating curfew? Was Malfoy even going to show up or just claim Harry chickened out after he got caught out of bed? Harry frowned, now realizing there was no way for him to win this confrontation. Even if Draco showed up and Harry somehow got there without being caught, he had no clue what were the rules of a wizard's duel, Malfoy could have claimed victory on a technicality and Harry would have had no way to object to it. He had no idea what Sir Harold would do in his position, but… he knew exactly what Instructor David would do.
"Why wait for tonight?"
Draco couldn't respond. Harry's fist flew upward, hitting Malfoy square in the jaw, causing him to stumble and fall on the floor. He coughed up blood, as Harry's punch had caused him to bite his own tongue.
"MR. POTTER!"
Shouted professor Hooch, stomping toward the boy.
"I leave the class for barely a minute and you are already throwing punches!?"
Harry bowed to the professor. There was no point in denying anything.
"Apologies, Professor Hooch. I lost my cool and acted without thinking. It wasn't my intention to cause you distress."
"Cause distress?! You punched a fellow Slytherin! Apologize to him right this instant!"
Harry shook his head. He couldn't show regret. That would be admitting a fault in judgment and Sir Harold had been very clear about the consequences of bending one's beliefs in the face of authority. He had to show 'moral fiber', whatever that meant, and double down in his conviction.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible. If I were to apologize I feel like the lesson I was trying to teach Malfoy wouldn't sink."
The flying professor halted her advance, now only a few feet away from the two boys.
"And what would that lesson be, Mr. Potter?"
"The fact that if one doesn't learn when to shut their mouth, they get punished for it."
"DETENTION, MR. POTTER!"
Harry had spent the rest of the day with professor Hooch cleaning old brooms and scrubbing the seats of the Quidditch field. As he failed to show any degree of remorse, like Sir Harold instructed him, Professor Hooch had decided to keep the boy working until late at night and without dinner. He was tired by the time it came to head toward the Astronomy lecture, but as he had yet failed to show any sign of remorse, professor Hooch had decided that he would be spending the next day cleaning as well.
Astronomy was not particularly interesting to Harry, but he tried his best to focus on the lecture despite the gossiping. Rumors of his confrontation with Malfoy had spread like wildfire and at this point everyone had heard about it. A few of the Gryffindors, Neville Longbottom in particular, were sending him what he assumed had to be nods of approval, and Harry caught a few glimpses of conversation as to how he 'was not bad for a snake', or 'the one good Slytherin'. Perhaps they thought he confronted Draco for Neville's sake? Or did they just hate Malfoy? As for Slytherin… his house was divided: some people, especially the older students, seemed to appreciate Harry's scolding of Malfoy for 'dirtying the honor' of their house, but they seemed rather cross about the fact that he had punched a fellow house member in the open instead of confronting the boy privately like a good student should have. Others didn't seem to care that much about Slytherin's honor, believing that attacking a fellow snake was a much worse offense than whatever perceived slight the Malfoy scion had committed. Or at the very least, that was what Sally told him she overheard during dinner. Ultimately, whether they believed Harry's actions were justified or not seemed to be determined by the opinion they had of the Malfoy family before the accident. Of the first year, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinsnon and Davis were clearly on Draco's side, while Theo, Sally and Daphne sided with Harry. To his surprise, Blaise hadn't scolded Harry for hitting Draco, merely commenting how he should have checked to make sure Professor Hooch wasn't watching.
Once the group got back to the common room, Harry got an earful from Professor Snape, as expected, and was saddled with extra detention with him once the one with Professor Hooch was completed.
History of Magic classroom, Hogwarts, 5th September 1991 (Thursday)
Despite his tiredness, Harry was determined to pay attention during the lecture. He had downed an entire can of Thaw Soda and, despite the product not having any caffeine, he hoped the fact it was 'carbonated enough to singe the hair off a dog's nose' would be enough to keep him awake. He had brought five more cans with him, just to be sure he would stay awake for the rest of the day.
Professor Binns was, much to his dismay, as sleep-inducing as everyone had made him out to be. Despite that, Harry tried to power through the lecture about Uric the Oddball. After about one and a half hour in, Harry slapped himself, trying to stay awake.
His actions drew the attention of professor Binns, Susan Bones, Blaise Zabini, and another Hufflepuff girl, the few ones who were still awake.
"There is no need for that, Mr. Potter. While I appreciate your efforts in trying to stay awake, if you wish to, you are welcome to sleep."
The students took a pause at the professor's defeated tone, the first hint of emotion the ghost had shown since they got into his class.
"Professor, if you know people sleep during your classes, why don't you do anything?" asked Susan.
The ghost sighed.
"Mostly a habit, if I have to be honest. Ever since I was alive, History of Magic has been relegated to the worst time slot possible: the morning after Astronomy classes. Students are always tired and the faculty has decided that handling the wandwork necessary for Charm and Transfiguration or the potentially deadly plants of Herbology and Potions while sleep-deprived was far too dangerous. Thus, all my students have always been tired to the point that even if I were to engage them they are all but guaranteed to fall asleep. I believe this year only nine students managed to keep their eyes open, and I have the distinct feeling that number will be halved by the end of the month."
"Why don't you change the schedule to let the students sleep more?"
"That, Mr. Zabini, is a very good question. Ten points to Slytherin. If any of you can answer that question for me I'll be glad to grant you a thousand house points."
Harry frowned. Blaise looked insulted and the Hufflepuff girls grumbled under their breath.
"Now, now, I'm not trying to be cheeky, my dear students. I myself do not know the answer and would very much like to know it. - he paused, looking at Harry - I recognized that look. What do you wish to ask, Mr. Potter?"
As the students turned to look at Harry, he pondered. He wanted to know about the Massasa wars since sir Harold had mentioned them, but he hadn't seen them anywhere in the curriculum.
"Sir… I know it's not part of the curriculum, but I was hoping to learn a bit about the Massasa war."
The ghost smiled. "A very interesting subject, Mr. Potter, a very interesting subject. - Professor Binns looked around - I suppose if you or your colleagues with their eyes still open don't mind working on the ministry-approved subjects on your own time like the rest of the class, I could indulge you in the history of House Tremere and their fall to vampirism."
Harry smiled, spying the glint of curiosity in Blaise's eyes and the posture shift in Susan. He would be sure to make mention of the ghost in tomorrow's letter for Instructor David. Speaking of letters… he wondered where the owlery was located.
Notes
this week chapter come out a few days early because I'll be travelling to my parents during the weekend and I won't have access my computer. Next week we'll be returning to the usual weekly Saturday chapter
As you might have noticed, I made a few changes in regarding to some of the minor Hogwarts professors
- Hooch and Pomfrey had their title elevated to Professor. Hooch teaches Broomaking (elective for 6th and 7th year students), while Pomfrey also teaches Healing magic (elective for 5th, 6th and 7th year students). If you have a better name for those classes I'm open to suggestions.
- Binns is not incomptentet, just... disillusioned about his subject. He might have a particularly domaninant Somnambulist Shadow tho...
- Trelawney... we'll speak about her in Prisoner of Azkaban. No spoilers yet
- As you might have seen, I added an elective specific for Ghosts, Poltergeists and other creatures from the Wraith splat. I'm not that big of a WtO fan, but I know enough to (hopefully) not break canon more than I already have done to force the crossover into existence.
Harry vs Draco: BOY, you have no idea how many iterations that scene went through. I knew they had to fight and it had to be spectacular enough to have Ron consider the possibility of a good Slytherin, but as always the devil's in the details. I am satisfied with how it turned out and I don't think I could have done much better even if had gone through a few more iterations of that scene.
Answering PM/Reviews
I'll expand a bit more about ghosts and Wraiths as the story progresses, but they aren't exactly the focus on the story, so unless I decide to make Harry go on a school trip to Stygia, you won't really get anything more than winks and nudges. I am still writing the story, so I might just decide to send him to Stygia (which even if i dedide to go for it, it probably won't happen until Deathly Hallows), but don't get your hopes up. Wraith is my second least favourite splat (my least favourite is Hunter)
Squibs are non-awakened, meaning they can (potentially) use sorcery. The issue is... figure out what spells are sorcery and what spells are Sphere, which can be a problem because the line in the wizarding world is far more blurred than it is in the Mage splat. What i can assure you is that everything in the Kwikspell course is 100% sorcery and can (in theory) be taught to everyone
You are so very close to learning what is probably the most important Wizarding World secret and I'm so very tempted to just spoil it... but I won't.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
As of yesterday, I finished writing Prisoner. When it comes to Chalice, expect some BIG changes.
For totally unreleated reasons, if you have... say... a Verbena, a Chorister or a Sahajiya OC that you don't mind me butchering for the sake of the story, feel free to share them. So long as you don't give them something insane like 10 Arete, 5 dots in all Spheres and 5 dots in all attributes and abilities, I'd like to hear about them.
No reason in particular