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With that being said, enjoy and let me know how you feel about the chapter….
Chapter 7- A Public Apology
"Sit down Alastor." Dumbledore sighed rubbing his eyes tiredly. He donned his glasses once again and stared at his old friend. "Do you have something to tell me about the events in the class?"
"Potter?" When the older man nodded, Moody shrugged. "I think you are asking the wrong man, Albus. This question should be posed to Potter, not me."
"For all your quirks, Alastor you never learnt how to curb your tongue amongst people." Dumbledore shook his head. "It would be fine if you were amongst us. But I don't think others would be okay about that."
"So I am at fault here? I am a professor and they are my students. Students who are beyond stupid. I just spit out the truth and if that is supposed to hurt them, then these kids are more stupider than I assumed."
"We are 'educators', Alastor," Dumbledore stressed the word educators as he regarded the man.
"Our job is to teach them what they don't know. They are not your regular auror trainees. They are being introduced to a lot of concepts for the first time. We are supposed to be patient. Patience is a virtue, especially for a teacher."
"And I am not an educator, Albus. I am an ex auror. I did make it clear when you came looking for me to take this job. I don't have the patience and the composure to deal with kids like you or Minerva or even Filius."
"Nevertheless, we don't speak to anybody that way." Dumbledore held up his hand to stop the man from talking. "I am sorry to say this, but you should apologise to Mr Potter."
"This is ridiculous," Moody exclaimed as he chuckled in disbelief. "You expect me to apologize for a teenage tantrum?"
"This is not a teenage tantrum, Alastor." Dumbledore cut in. "Your words were wrong. There are things about young Harry that would contradict what you seemingly put across."
"Harry is not pampered, Alastor. Far from it. He has not had the best of conditions growing up with his muggle relatives."
"You put Potter into a muggle household?" Dumbledore nodded. "I had no options. A blood relation was necessary; the closest and preferred one was his Aunt. Her being muggle would keep Harry away from all the buzz around him and his name until he was ready for the wizarding world."
"Let's just say that his family was less than kind to his presence in the house. He lived in less than pleasant conditions." Albus explained.
"I would never forgive myself if I put young Harry in the same boat as Mr Malfoy or Mr Weasley. One had everything handed to him and the other despite their financial difficulties has people he can always fall back on and receive support."
"You will apologize, Alastor. He will be here in a few moments and we can be done with this issue."
Right on point, McGonagall led Harry into Dumbledore's office.
"Good morning Professors." Harry greeted as he stood in front of the two veterans. "You wished to see me, Headmaster?"
"Please sit down, Mr Potter." Dumbledore waved towards the seat ahead of him.
"I believe Professor Moody has something to tell you," He eyed the man critically who snorted.
"I apologise, Potter. It was wrong of me to speak out of " Harry shook his head. "No professor. I don't accept your apology."
"I am sorry?" Moody scoffed questioningly and Harry stood up. "Your insult was public, Professor. I would expect nothing less than an apology among the public."
"Curb your arrogance, boy. Who do you think you are?"
"This is not my arrogance. This is a question of my self-respect. I don't pacify a third party in my life. I live to myself and nobody else. Your words won't let me live with myself. I want this apology to be loud and clear. My heart demands an apology in front of all the students who were present there. I don't care about the rest. I just need an apology for your disrespect."
"As to who I am, that is insignificant. I don't know what to say if this is how you talk to people. I asked for an apology. You need not give it to me. You are certainly not obligated to do so. I will see you around, Headmaster." Harry nodded as he got up and left the room.
"Well, that went well," Dumbledore said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Do what you think is right, Alastor." The man nodded curtly as he stood up and left grumbling incoherently.
"As much as I appreciate Alastor, I would guess that you could not have expected anything else from him when it comes to his social skills," McGonagall added, who had chosen to remain silent for the duration of the conversation.
"I concur, Minerva. But I expected him to curb his tongue by some measure, but in hindsight, I should have expected nothing else." Dumbledore replied.
"This was surprising from Potter," Minerva spoke up. "I had never expected him to do something like this. He was never one for such antiques, Potter. He would rather avoid any interest from the rest of his peers if possible from what I have seen. For him to speak out and call out a professor of all people in front of a classroom full of students was surprising. This was something Charlus would do."
"I concurred the same." Dumbledore nodded. Charlus Potter was a prideful man. He was somebody who would not let an insult slide despite how small it seemed to be. The man was widely respected among his peers even before he left Hogwarts and went on to become the commander of the British forces in the war against Grindelwald.
"This development is better for young Harry, Minerva. As much as I admire James Potter, Harry focuses more on his development than playing pranks. The conditions are not the same for both of them. Harry has a big responsibility going forward, something that was not the same for young James. His growing up like Charlus Potter is a blessing. We will see that in the coming days. For now, all I know is that he has a tough road ahead, but immortality etched all over his legacy."
BREAK—-
He had expected Dumbledore to tell him otherwise, but the man didn't question him. What surprised Harry was when Dumbledore was quiet through the entire ordeal. If the man agreed, he didn't show it to Harry.
He didn't know why he felt that way, but the moment Moody called him a pampered boy, he burst out. He felt insulted. He felt irritated. He felt the urge to fight back immediately and he did. He didn't care that he was speaking to a man many many years older than him and a man who was his teacher. He had let all the nonsense Snape spew fly by, but when Moody spoke, he couldn't take it.
What he was certain was he didn't feel it was wrong. He was adamant about that apology. The man might not apologize, but he was not letting him get away with calling him privileged.
Harry closed his eyes briefly as he shook his head trying to clear his thoughts when he bumped into somebody. He stepped back a few feet and opened his eyes.
"I am sor…" His voice died in his throat when his eyes fell upon the person he had crashed into.
The first thing that came to his mind when he laid his eyes on the person in front of him was angelic. The girl he had bumped into was the most beautiful person he had ever laid his eyes on. Harry held out his hand for the girl to take and she did, glaring at him.
As Harry looked at the girl he had bumped into, he was immediately struck by her beauty. She had long, flowing blonde hair with a slight touch of silvery sheen to it. Her eyes were a piercing blue that seemed to stare right through him. Her skin was fair, and her features were delicate and fine. She was tall, and her figure was slender and graceful. The pale blue of the Beaubaxton's uniform accentuated very well with the girl. Harry had never seen anyone so beautiful before, and he was momentarily stunned.
"My hand?" The girl nodded towards her hand which was still in his grip. Harry let go of her hand immediately. "Sorry about that." He apologized, stepping back.
"Like you did not do it on purpose." She mumbled, her face twisting into a scowl. "Weak-minded fool."
That did it for Harry. "What did you just call me?" Harry whispered as he stepped forward towards the girl. The girl was level with him in height and Harry stared directly into her eyes as he stopped a few inches away from her.
She went for her wand as Harry stepped closer, but Harry slapped her hand away harder than what both imagined leading her to drop her wand.
The girl's eyes widened considerably as she stared at Harry. "I don't know who you are, and I don't care. Never speak to me that way. The next time…" Harry leaned in closer to the girl whose eyes had gained an interested look as he paused. Harry felt a slight niggle in his head, but he managed to clear his senses.
"The next time, that slap would be on your cheek and not your hand." The girl's expression morphed into one of disbelief as Harry stepped away and walked away.
BREAK—-
Fleur was free for the rest of the afternoon and she was deep in thought thinking of ways to spend the rest of the day. She had been to her classes and was back in her carriage right after all the while she had been at Hogwarts and today, she decided that she would see around the school.
She didn't see somebody walking towards her and crashed into the other person. She would have not paid any attention to it had it not been a repeating occurrence for the past week. She was fed up with boys bumping into her as she went to and from her class to her carriage. At Beaubaxtons, the boys knew not to pull stunts for fear of retaliation and she had put a number of boys into medical help when they managed to make similar passes at her.
She recognized the person in front of her as Harry Potter. She could not hide her displeasure as the boy pulled her up by her hand. When he did not let go of her hand, her displeasure morphed into anger and she lashed out.
What she didn't expect was the response from the boy. She had expected to see glazed eyes. She had expected to see incoherent mutterings and an expression of awe and lust. But instead, she was met with anger.
The boy stepped closer, glaring at her which made her go for her wand to defend herself when he slapped the wand away from her palm. Fleur nursed her palm from the blow as she stared at the boy in surprise not expecting that reaction from him. When he stepped closer, Fleur assumed the worst and went for her wand, but when he slapped her wand away, Fleur observed him closely.
To her immense surprise, there was no reaction to her allure from the boy. He was completely in his senses as he stepped closer. She could see nothing apart from rage.
In her curiosity, she let her allure loose trying to gauge the reaction of the boy and was genuinely surprised when she received no reaction apart from the inherent anger that she had noticed a moment ago.
Despite her control, she was told that her allure was powerful enough to cause a slight problem to the best-of-mind magic practitioners. She expected the boy to be shaken to an extent, but he seemed to be capable of pushing away her allure without effort.
Once again, Fleur could not help but think that Dumbledore might be onto something when he stated that he would choose Harry Potter over most of his seventh years.
The boy stepped away and walked off leaving behind a very thoughtful Fleur. It had been some time by now when she had met somebody who could fight off her allure with nary an effort and for Veelas like Fleur, it was a matter of interest.
This was the third time that she was around the young man and he had managed to shake things up every time. Fleur found the young man interesting, especially now that he had casually shrugged off her allure and threatened to slap her.
"Interesting." She muttered as she continued on her way, her attention gradually turning towards her earlier conundrum.
BREAK—-
He did not find a problem in attending Moody's class once again as opposed to what Angelina and Fred had thought. The news about his altercation with the Professor had spread around the school and things had reverted to how it usually was. People muttering and staring at him while he went about his day.
This time, the class was being held in a bigger room, the reason being that the class today will be held from the fourth year to the seventh year and will also include the Beaubaxtons and Durmstrang delegations.
Harry once again decided to stay away from the eyes of the masses and took a seat at the end of the classroom and only a moment later was joined by Fred and George.
"Harry…" Fred smiled as he slapped the young man on his back playfully taking a seat each on his side. "And why are you sitting all alone while the rest of your classmates are upfront?"
"No reason." Harry shrugged. "Just a change, I suppose. What are you two doing here?"
"Change." George grinned as he looked around and nodded towards the front of the class where Moody had entered.
"I will not be repeating my words so make sure that you listen to me and listen well," Moody warned as he stood in the centre of the room, his magical eye whirring in its socket.
"You learnt about the unspeakables in the past week and today, we will be stepping up further. Today, you will be experiencing the effects of one of the unforgivables." Gasps of shock rang around the classroom at the declaration.
"But professor…" Hermione jumped in her seat. "It is illegal to use the unforgivables. You taught us about that a few days ago."
"And how will you learn?" Moody barked as he glared at the girl. "You would be sufficient with learning about the theory of the subject and not care about the way the curse works. What about defending yourself from them?"
"A day might come when you might be held under the imperious curse and would be ordered to kill your parents. The way I see it, you Granger would be left with no choice and would kill them in a heartbeat because you could not defend yourself from it."
"Is that what you want, Granger?" Moody asked the girl who had frozen in her spot, her eyes wide with fear at his insinuation.
"I have managed to receive special permission from the Ministry and the Headmaster to place you under the imperious curse. The Headmaster feels that placing you under the curse gives you a better understanding of the nature of the curse and gives you insight into how to fight the curse."
"If we are learning about defending ourselves, isn't it better to learn about the killing curse and the cruciatus curse and how to defend against them?" Justin Finch Fletchley questioned.
"So, if one of you fails to defend yourself, you will be in a new home, you dunderhead. Six feet under the ground." Moody roared causing the boy to flinch. "So what do you say? I am ready to cast a cruciatus or even the killing curse. Which will you be willing to test out?"
"Taking a moment longer to decide will end your life, Fletchley." Moody approached the boy and stared directly into his eyes.
"Constant vigilance!" He roared as the boy jerked back in his seat. "Never approve of anything with consequences to be used on yourself, no matter how trustworthy they are. They might not mean to, but some spells going wrong will have astronomical consequences that cannot be reversed, no matter how simple or how easy they seem on the outside."
"Always be vigilant. Constant vigilance." He snapped, looking around the class and nodding in satisfaction when he was sure that he was being heard attentively.
"One by one, you will come up and I will cast the imperious curse. You will learn of the effects of the curse and will try fighting the effects of the curse."
"Weasley!" Ron, George and Fred stood up immediately. "Not you two. You." He nodded towards Ron who looked like he was seconds away from running away if given the chance.
"Get over here, Weasley." Ron nodded as he swallowed in apprehension joining the man in front of the classroom.
"Imperio!" Moody cast, his wand trained towards Ron. There was no indication of the curse and if it took effect.
"Pull on your hair, Weasley." Ron's face had a smile etched on his face as he grabbed his hair and began pulling on it.
"Punch yourself on your arm." Ron reared his right hand back and punched hard on his left.
"Start tickling yourself." When Ron complied, the majority of the class burst into laughter when he tried to keep himself from laughing and breathing.
"Funny isn't it?" Moody scoffed as the class continued to grin at Ron. "Walk to the window." Ron complied and walked towards the open window towards the side of the classroom.
"Stand up on the window sill." Ron didn't try and fight the man's words and complied, climbing up onto the window sill, all the while, a silly grin etched on his face.
"Hold onto the windows but lean forward." Ron held onto the side of the window and leaned forward which seemed to show that he was about to dive.
That brought the class up short as the magnitude of Ron's actions began to set in. The class watched horrified as Ron readied himself for a jump to his death.
"Not laughing now, are you?" Moody laughed. "Did you realise what you are dealing with? Will you be laughing when your enemy finds you in a weak moment and uses the imperious curse ordering you to kill your father and mother by poisoning their food, or by using the killing curse? How about making you torture your family?"
Nothing else could be heard around the classroom besides the clunking of Moody's artificial leg. The magnitude of the danger that the imperius curse was setting down on the classroom. The imperius curse had the power to make your trusted ones turn around on you and none would be the wiser. A father can kill his child, a wife her husband and a son, his family. Torture them if necessary all the while, not having any resemblance of control over their minds.
"Get back down, Weasley," Moody ordered and Ron dropped back into the classroom from the window. Moody swiped his wand towards the young man and the class could make out Ron's eyes clearing from their previous hazy state.
Ron looked around in confusion, as he tried to regain his bearings. The entire class was staring at him in horror which was confusing at first.
"What's wrong?" He questioned, a frown on his face as he faced Moody.
"What do you remember, Weasley?" The man questioned.
"You called me to test out the imperious curse, Professor. You said that the entire class had to be tested with the spell to learn about how it works. You are yet to start, Professor."
Moody chuckled as the class stared at Ron in disbelief. "You will not have any memory of whatever took place. If the person controlling orders you to forget anything before the curse takes effect, your subconscious is made to comply with the magic. If the imperious is used, it is nearly impossible to find the castor."
"As I said, the killing curse and the cruciatus curse are tame when compared to what could be achieved with the help of an imperious."
"Go back to your seat, Weasley." His eyes picked up another person from the mass of students.
"Malfoy!" Said boy sneered at the man as he stood up. "Come on up here." Malfoy glared at the man and looked towards Ron for a second before he shook his head vigorously.
"I will not be subjected to this madness. I refuse to comply. My father has taught me well enough to know that I should never let anybody use the imperious on me, that includes for a class activity as well."
"Your father would be the advocate about the curse is he not?" Moody questioned stepping close to the boy. "What did he tell you? That he was weak enough to let somebody use the imperious on him?"
"Is that what he told you, Malfoy? Did Lucius tell you how he pleaded innocence?"
The boy was red in the face, seeming about to burst in anger as the man taunted his father.
"This activity is a requirement to sit your examinations at the end of the year, Malfoy. If you don't participate, you will fail your Defence examination. Simple as that." Moody shrugged as he walked back to the centre of the classroom.
"You can walk away if you want. Anybody else wants to join him? You are more than welcome to do so. Start packing your things, get out of my classroom and make it quick. I don't have all day."
None budged from their seats as Moody observed the class expectantly to see if any would take the bait. "Get over here boy!" He roared as Draco flinched before complying all the while, glaring daggers at the man.
For the next three hours, Moody placed every student under the imperious curse making them do odd and embarrassing stuff. That was until the girl that Harry had bumped into the last afternoon was called up.
Harry sat up and watched in interest as the girl barely showed any apprehension as she approached the Professor. The man cast the curse and Harry watched, waiting for the girl to lose herself in her senses.
There was no reaction from the girl and Harry let his eye wander towards the Professor who winced in pain as his wand hand dropped to his side. Moody tried again and cast the curse only for the same result.
"So it was true. You are a veela aren't you, Delacour?" The girl nodded, her expression reserved, not giving away too much, but Harry could make out the slight disapproval in her eyes.
"Veela minds are different from the usual minds," Moody explained to the rest of the class, though Harry doubted half of the class was listening, judging by the dazed expression on their faces.
"A veela is immune to mind magics, from what I know. There has never been information about the veela that reveals everything they are capable of. So, I am short on details. Can you elaborate, Delacour?"
"I am not supposed to." She denied it with nary a thought. "Nothing personal, Professor, but I am not at liberty to answer."
"No issues, no issues." He shrugged as he nodded to the girl to go back to her seat.
'So a veela?' Harry thought now understanding the weird sensation he felt when he met her for the first time. 'Delacour. Interesting.'
He knew about Veelas. At least the general information regarding them as Moody put forth and what was acting upon his mind was supposed to be the veela allure. He had instantly pulled up his rudimentary mental shields thinking it was an intrusion into his head.
Harry had begun working regularly on building his occlumency shields, something that should not be treated lightly. Occlumency is the process of shielding your mind from mental probes that let the attacker see into the mind of the victim. Every secret, every incident despite you not remembering it would be in the hands of the attacker, who is called a legilimens.
The Black grimoire had stressed upon using occlumency to a very high level and Harry had complied, learning everything that he could about it. It was hard. Harry rarely found a lot of information about occlumency and legilimency, the reason being that the mind arts were the most dangerous form of magic to learn.
When asked Sirius, he had warned him to tread carefully around the mind arts. The Janus Thickey Ward in St Mungo's which houses patients with long-term damage or permanent magical damage was half-filled with patients with permanent brain damage due to the improper practice of Occlumency and Legilimancy.
Sirius was a right bastard when it came to legilimency. Being an occlumens was easier when compared to learning legilimancy. Harry had slept with headaches after he was done with his teaching sessions. But it was necessary. Occlumency helped Harry a lot in his spellcasting. His spells possessed the finesse that would not be possible without occlumency.
Spells are overpowered and underpowered constantly while casting, but to keep up consistency in your spells, occlumency is the most effective method known. But it is not easy. Occlumency shields are always present in every magical, but the strengthening of the shields is what requires work.
Consecutive practice of emptying the forefront of his mind of any stray thoughts and keeping it void was necessary. For an hour every day, Harry lit a candle in front of his bed and stared at the flame, clearing every other thought apart from the dark orange-brown part of the flame.
"Potter!" Harry felt Fred nudge him in his side as he became aware of Moody calling him out.
"Come on up, lad." Harry stared at the man momentarily and then complied with him as he got to the middle of the classroom.
"Imp…!" Harry's wand was off in a flash as a disarming charm left his wand, striking the unsuspecting man as his wand flew out and Harry caught it out of the air.
The class stared at Harry in shock as Harry dangled the newly disarmed wand in his hand. It was turning into a regular occurrence, more so than the first three years of his at Hogwarts.
"I am sorry Professor, but there is no way I am handing over my head into your hands to control." Harry denied shaking his head. "You did tell us that we will be defending against the curse and this will be my first form of defence. Make sure that my opposition is powerless."
Moody burst into laughter. "Sixty years of my life and somebody had the gall to disarm me. Sixty years of my life and not many decided that taking away the enemy's wand as quickly as possible was the first thing we should look to do if we get into a fight. Good one Potter."
The murmurs around the class grew in volume and Moody held up his hand to stop them.
"Act first in a dangerous situation. There is always something you can do if we make haste and look for ways to get out of such situations. A quick action can become decisive."
"Winning a duel or a fight is not all about throwing jaw-dropping spells found in ancient tomes that are obtained with great difficulty. A simple stunner, a levitation spell or even a water jet fired from your wand would become crucial when used right."
"The imperious curse is dangerous and requires a lot of mental fortitude to overcome after being used, but that is not the only way. Can you think of anything, Potter?"
"Pain," Harry replied. "When in pain, you lose focus. You won't be able to think for much longer without ignoring the pain. So if you do something as bite into your tongue or your lip, or slam your fist into a hard surface at the first moment that spell is cast when your mind is in a dilemma, the curse passes away just like that without any effect."
"Excellent," Moody smirked as he regarded the class once again. "But what Potter didn't mention is that we should be very quick. There is always a moment of uncertainty where you should be acting."
"Anybody here, tell me what you felt as the curse took effect? Bones?" Moody pointed towards the red-headed Hufflepuff.
"I felt…light, Professor. Free from everything. A pleasant sensation filled my head. The pleasant feeling was probably the factor that compelled us to follow your commands. A small voice, I think it was mine, interfered in between the sensation telling me to ignore the feeling, but a moment later, it was gone and your voice overpowered any desire to fight back."
"Very good, Bones." The girl smiled as she sat down.
"That is the first step after the imperius curse. The fightback starts from the moment the voice is heard. That point where you hear your voice trying to tell you not to follow my voice is our minds battling for control. That is where you are supposed to exercise control and block my voice out. When you do that, the spell fails and is neutralised."
The man stepped closer to Harry. "So, are you ready, Potter?"
"Sure." Harry shrugged. Moody was instant to act this time as he cast the imperious as soon as Harry gave his approval.
"Punch yourself, Potter," Moody ordered and the class expected to see Harry hit himself, but the reaction never arrived.
"Punch yourself, Potter. Do it!" Moody demanded but to the immense surprise of the class, Harry shook his head casually. "You think I am a fool, Professor?"
"You fought it," Moody growled in disbelief. The man barked a laugh in disbelief as he regarded the young man. "He beat it," Moody announced as he looked at the rest of the class.
"He managed to nullify it. Is this the first time you are trying this, Potter?" The man questioned with a frown.
Harry couldn't stop himself from snorting. "I don't fancy myself being subjected to the imperious curse frequently, Professor. I like to remain sane, thank you very much. I had no idea how the imperious works other than the basic knowledge from a book."
"It was very much similar to the way, Miss Bones explained. I felt a sensation overtaking my senses, but for some reason, I never heard your voice as she said, we would. All I heard was myself telling me to get something to eat as soon as I got out of the room."
Harry heard a few chuckles from his classmates as he finished speaking. But he was not joking. That was exactly what he heard from his supposed inner voice. He couldn't hear Moody's voice as Bones told the class.
"Go and take your seat, Potter," Moody grumbled as he began to return to the front of the classroom.
"And Potter?" Harry waited for the man to speak. "I apologise."
He was genuinely surprised by that. He had not expected the man to apologize. He had put the incident behind him, but Moody had come through. Harry had felt the need to deliver a message that he was no pushover. It was irrelevant who it was that insulted him. He was sure that had it been Dumbledore himself, he would have done the same thing.
"Water under the bridge, Professor. Water under the bridge." Harry nodded at the man respectfully and returned to the seat he had occupied. It was a productive class. Experiencing the imperious curse for the first time was a good experience that might come in handy in the future.
'A productive day.' Harry thought as he waited for Moody to relieve them from the class. He was hungry and he could do with a sandwich.
BREAK—-
"Sit down, Alastor." Dumbledore wondered what the man wanted to speak to him about and with such haste.
"You will not believe what I am about to tell you, Albus." The man began recounting the events of the previous session that he taught.
Albus was not a fan of the idea that his friend brought to him, three days ago. He had proposed a plan to teach the students about the Unforgivables in a better way than a purely theoretical approach. He was still unsure why Alastor decided to jump into a very advanced topic such as the Unforgivables. He could understand the necessity of teaching the NEWT students, but he didn't see the appeal in doing the same to younger students.
If he had the power to do so, he would never allow any information regarding the Unforgivables to be introduced to his students, but the rational part of him denied the thought instantly. The students should be ready for them. In an ideal world, there would be no necessity for Defence against the Dark Arts, but that was not the case.
He could not think of somebody better than Alastor to teach the students about the unforgivable curses. A man with the experience of Alastor Moody is the ideal person to learn from.
He had not expected the man to bring in the idea of using the curse on the students. That was something that Dumbledore was hesitant to do. But Alastor did have a point when he explained that this might save somebody someday.
After a lot of effort, he had managed to obtain permission from Griselda Marchbanks who was genuinely happy that there was something competent being done by the Defence professor in a long time.
He wondered how the class went. Alastor had talked to him about conducting the class in one go with every student from the fourth year and higher along with the students of the Beaubaxtons and Durmstrang. Dumbledore would have been present in the class if it was possible, but he had another commitment that he just could not ignore.
"How did the class go, Alastor? Knowing young minds, they would have enjoyed the lesson."
"That they did," Alastor grumbled. "Students making a fool out of themselves, what is there to not like about it? I still don't get how times have changed, Albus."
"That is the way of life, my friend." Dumbledore sighed. "It is not necessarily as bad as you make it out. Change is a necessity, Alastor. Good or bad, we will never know beforehand do we?" Moody grunted his agreement. Leave it up to Albus to make every situation seem positive.
"You had something to tell me?" Dumbledore questioned.
"Potter." Dumbledore nodded, signalling the man to continue. "He threw off the imperious."
The Headmaster's eyes widened in surprise. "Truly?" Moody nodded. "Without any effort, might I add. The curse didn't take hold of him for one second despite my effort."
"Interesting." Dumbledore's statement was met with a snort from Moody.
"That is an understatement, Albus. There are Aurors who have been in service for decades that fail to throw off the imperious despite their abilities and today, I watched a fourteen-year-old boy do it with practiced ease."
"Clearly, I have underestimated the young man's ability. I had expected his growth to be gradual, but faster than usual. But I didn't think that the growth would be exponential. I should have seen it coming after the Patronus charm."
"He can cast a patronus as well. I don't know why I am surprised anymore." Moody grumbled.
"If the lad does agree, I would like to see what his limits are. It would be nice to see a capable hand amidst a lot of disappointments."
"I expect he would be open to that. The task that he has on his hands is not easy, Alastor. He requires a lot of help and we should give him that. Talk to him. See if he is open to some tutoring. If I knew the young man and his thoughts, I would expect that he would be far ahead compared to his peers."
"Very well." Moody complied as he stood up. "And what about you?" Moody questioned.
"I believe that it is time for me to take an active approach to the young man's future," Dumbledore replied, his voice steeling slightly.
"I would not let a bright future go to waste. If I could somehow prevent everything that would invariably happen, I would have done so, but sadly, that is impossible. However, I can always provide the young man with as many tools as necessary for his survival."
"I have kept secrets from many, but certain secrets I have kept from the young man pains me. It is not right on my part to do so, but it is not right to burden him with information that no young minds should possess. I fight every day with myself not knowing what to do."
Dumbledore released a deep breath of frustration and Alastor observed that the man instantly aged a few more years in front of his eyes.
"I had hoped the young man would have turned out like the rest of his peers. I had hoped to postpone this mess until he was an adult and had the childhood that he deserved. But since that is not the case, I must act."
Dumbledore stood out of his seat and walked to the perch that housed his trusted companion and friend. He stroked the plumage of his phoenix who thrilled somewhat reassuring the man who smiled slightly.
"I must act."
TBC—-