And here's the sixty second chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
magitech, Clavyus, nkh1, Yaw6113, Luiz4200, BillBrink, griffin blackwood, iamshinydragonmist, mizzrazz72, Fuck Names, DarkRavie, Brockster550, BMS, FotoDi, Grammar Fiend (guest), thank you for your reviews, folks!
Greatazuredragon, I haven't actually decided on whether Sirius will travel to Hogwarts. I will see how the story flows. If there is a good plot for him to go there - he will, otherwise...
Urgazhi, that is a possibility. Though it will depend a lot on how and when his meeting with Harry happens. But if he sees him interacting with the Carrows or the Greengrasses before actually talking to him directly, he will definitely think Harry has been corrupted by the slimy snakes and needs saving. Or, if he learns that Harry is a Slytherin himself, he might just write him off as a lost cause.
Fox Boss, yeah, I wonder which 'Sirius' will win: a hardcore Slytherin-hating Gryffindork or a horndog happy that his godson got himself twin girlfriends.
Asharzal, I think I will include that one into the story.
jascoe, I'll think about that. Though, I'll probably be too lazy to go back and update all previous chapters with these notes.
Separ, I think I'll do one better and have Harry actually meet Lucius face to face sometime during the summer and they'll have a civil conversation about what's going on at Hogwarts with Lucius learning that his son is not being very Slytherin, like TheGreatBubbaJ suggests. For added kicks, I think this should happen before the Quidditch World Cup.
* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells
A Year Too Soon
Chapter LXII: The First OWL
Surprisingly enough, Draco Malfoy actually got the message and stopped bothering Harry and his friends, at least for the time being. Thus, the weeks that followed flew by without much conflict to ruin the young Potter's day, allowing him to focus more on his schoolwork and his girlfriends. And on his Magical combat lessons too.
Around mid-April, Professor Flitwick had invited another guest, this time a middle-aged witch by the name of Amanda Savage. She was a freelance Explorer and Curse-Breaker who sometimes joined the tomb-scouting parties organized by Gringotts. The very nature of her occupation and the hazards she had to face on a daily basis meant that she had to be very good with her wand, even if it wasn't always for the straight-up fighting. And it showed.
Unlike Mr. Moore, whose desk job left him without much practice and dulled his skills, Ms. Savage was at her peak and had little trouble beating either of the three teens in one-on-one fights. Harry came the closest to being able to keep up with her, but the gulf in their experience and spell repertoire was huge and a single mistake from the green-eyed teen - something that didn't take too long to happen - was enough for Amanda to solidify her victory.
Afterwards, Professor Flitwick announced that with the end of the academic year approaching he will, unfortunately, need to focus on the numerous tests he had to administer and then grade as the Charms Professor. Thus, their Magical combat lessons were coming to an end. At least, for now. They might continue the next year, if there was interest and free time for that.
And as a final test to check the progress they've made so far, Professor Flitwick had Harry, Flora and Hestia take him on together while he fought them off with the many skills he had from his youthful days of a dueling champion.
For a short while the three of them were able to keep up with their teacher. Then, the Charms Master started breaking out the more esoteric spells, such as waves of ghostly bluish-purple that he used to split them apart in a divide and conquer strategy. And once they were separated and no longer able to effectively support each other, the Slytherin trio quickly went down, starting with Harry, whom Professor Flitwick picked as his first target.
Nevertheless, the Charms Master declared that they did really well against him and he was happy with the progress they've made over this year. He also said that he wouldn't mind continuing with these lessons next fall, assuming he has free time in his schedule for it. Harry, Flora and Hestia, for their part, thanked the Professor for all that he had done for them and promised to take him up on his offer. Even if they won't ever need to use the skills they've learned there, these lessons have been interesting and taught them a lot of things even Professor Moody didn't in the DADA class.
~/ *** \~
"This is a complete and utter disaster, Amelia. We have to keep quiet about this. If the people,.. If the world learns about this fiasco… We can't risk having the Quidditch World Cup finals or the Triwizard Tournament getting canceled because of this. Our political images will be destroyed if that happens" Minister Fudge cried rather pathetically as he finished reading the report on the first-in-history runaway from the Azkaban prison. No one was sure how the man managed to accomplish it, but the facts were undeniable: Sirius Black wasn't in his cell deep in the bowels of the ancient fortress - or anywhere else on the island for that matter - anymore.
"With all due respect, Minister." The Director of the DMLE said. "Black has to be caught and returned to his cell, after we ensure he can't escape from it again, as soon as possible. And finding and capturing him just can't be done without drawing the attention of the people. They will be asking why there are so many Auror patrols out for seemingly no reason."
"Then give them a reason that is plausible and doesn't mention Black in any way." Fudge shot back. "And make sure that no reporter learns about this incident. We can't have the faith our people and international guests have in us shaken at such an important time." Amelia Bones let out a deep sigh. It wasn't even Monday noon yet, but the Black Incident has already caused her more stress than the entire previous week - nay, entire previous month - did.
"It is really wise trying to keep the public unaware of this, Minister?" She asked. "In my experience, it is all but impossible to keep something as big as this from the reporters. And when the truth is out, the Ministry will be in a very uncomfortable position for trying to suppress such information. It would surely damage the Ministry's image way more than if we were to admit the Black's escape from Azkaban now." Fudge considered this for a few moments.
"No, we can't let the Black's escape become the public knowledge." He finally resolved. "Do what you can, Amelia, but we must maintain the public's trust in the Ministry for being an unparalleled beacon of stability that holds up our great society." Madam Bones let out another sigh. She really wanted to argue that this was a very, very bad idea, but she knew Cornelius Fudge well, unfortunately. And if the man couldn't get things going his way nicely, he would start using threats like replacing her with someone more, ahem, agreeable. And not as interested in actually doing the job. Wizarding Britain didn't need a Minister's yes-man at the helm of the DMLE, especially right now.
"Very well…" She said finally. "I will do what I can." She made a non-promise.
"Good, good." Fudge replied. There was a brief pause, before he spoke again: "Now, if there is nothing else, I believe both of us have important businesses to attend to, Amelia." Thanking her lucky stars that the Minister was willing to just let her do her job without any more interference, Madam Bones decided that it was the time for her to return to her department and start thinking on a way out of this mess.
"By your leave, Minister." She said. And once he nodded, she quickly retreated from his office.
Friday morning saw the girls of the Clique deciding to sleep in a little, so for the moment the only members of their little group in the Great Hall were Harry and Blaise. And between the two of them, the young Potter was the only one actually eating his breakfast while his friend busied himself with reading the freshly-delivered newspaper instead.
"Well, this is interesting…" The dark-skinned wizard muttered under his breath as something on the Daily Prophet\s pages caught his attention. Curious about what that might be, Harry set his plate aside and picked his own copy of the newspaper up. Quickly flipping through the pages, he soon found the article that got the reaction from his friend. It was a rather small piece on page six titled 'The DMLE announces an anti-crime campaign'.
Apparently, the Ministry decided that it was the time to clean up the streets for the upcoming Quidditch World Cup and was asking the citizens to be extra vigilant and report all suspicious activity and individuals to the Aurors. A good idea, but the timing was rather strange as the event was still more than three months away.
"Aren't they doing it way too early?" Harry asked no one in particular. Blaise nodded in agreement. It indeed was before time for the DMLE to start this campaign right now, unless they were planning to run it all the way up until the World Cup finals. And if so, did the department even have resources for a massive undertaking like that?
"The World Cup reasoning might be just a facade to hide the real reason for this operation." Blaise said then. That… sounded very plausible, Harry had to admit. But if so, what was the real objective of this campaign? And why was the DMLE hiding it from the public?
"And what would that be, then?" He asked. "Do you think there is a new Dark Lord on the rise? Or, perhaps, an Azkaban breakout they want to keep a secret?" The dark-skinned wizard across the table from him shook his head.
"Don't be ridiculous, Harry. No one has ever managed to escape from Azkaban in the three centuries it has been used as a prison, and I don't think anyone will succeed in our lifetime either." He said. "And if there was a new Dark Lord running around, how come there were no reports on mysterious attacks or disappearances? No way the Prophet would keep quiet about such juicy stories."
"I suppose." The young Potter agreed. He made a short pause, before asking: "What do you think is going on then?"
"Hm…" Blaise began unsurely. "The Ministry might be trying to shut down a black market network without immediately alerting them to their plans, Merlin knows there are a few of those operating in London alone. Or it could be a reverse situation where someone running such a network used their Ministry connections to send Aurors that were getting too close to their businesses on a wild goose chase while they make sure that the future investigations will not find what they shouldn't."
"I think you might be right." Harry said, nodding thoughtfully. The other boy just shrugged and went back to reading the newspaper, occasionally taking a bite of his toast. Deciding that he should finish his breakfast as well, the young Potter laid his copy of the Daily Prophet aside and went back to his meal.
~/ *** \~
Before long, the academic year neared its end, and the time for the end-of-the-year exams came. It was a busy and nerve-wrecking time for the students, and doubly so for Harry, Flora and Hestia since they were taking the Muggle Studies OWL test as well. At least that one came after all of the 'normal' exams, so their schedules weren't a complete mess because of that.
They still had to study hard in order to get the good marks, as was expected from them. Slytherin was not a place for those without ambition and drive to achieve greatness - even if it was measured by the number of Exceeds Expectations and Outstandings one got on their exams.
Most of those exams were the standard two-part tests with theoretical and practical portions covering the relevant Magical theories and their applications, such as spell casting or potion brewing or carving of runic arrays, respectively. Professor Moody, however, decided that testing the theoretical knowledge was a waste of time and parchment - at least for the students in Harry's year and above - and so his exam was one hundred percent actual spellwork. In particular, he had each student do a one-on-one duel against him with the final score depending on how well that student could defend themselves against his Hexes, Jinxes and Curses.
And because the exam was set up like that, Harry, Flora and Hestia had no trouble acing them thanks to all of the training they had done under Professor Flitwick. This obviously didn't go unnoticed by the retired Auror and the man commended them for going above and beyond what he taught in the class.
Another end-of-the-year exam that was entirely practical was, unsurprisingly, Care for Magical Creatures. Professor Hagrid only tested their ability to handle and care for a selection of creatures. And as much as the man loved big and deadly beasts, this exam didn't have anything too dangerous for students with just two years of experience under their belts.
Meanwhile, Arithmancy was the only exam where even the practical portion - solving numerology problems and doing some very simplistic spell formula derivation - was done black and white. It was a lot of writing and Harry could definitely feel his wrist screaming at him in protest for this abuse by the end of the exam.
Once the week of 'normal' exams was over, it was the time for OWLs and NEWTs. The core subject exams took place first, so Harry, Flora and Hestia had a couple of extra days to relax and get ready for their Muggle Studies one.
Finally, Thursday afternoon came and the Slytherin trio found themselves in front of a normally-unused auditorium on the second floor, waiting alongside seven fifth year students for their exam to begin. At exactly three o'clock, the auditorium door finally opened and a rather elderly in robes bearing the emblem of the Department of Magical Education invited them inside.
Most of the desks had been removed from the room: only ten remained inside and were set as far apart from each other as was possible. On each of those desks, there was a small inkwell, three quills, and several rolls of parchment - to prevent cheating, the students taking the OWL exams weren't allowed to use their own writing utensils. The Professor's table, meanwhile, had been expanded and three more wizards from the Ministry were now seated behind it.
Once all of the examinees were seated, the wizard that let them in spoke:
"Good afternoon and welcome to the Ordinary Wizarding Level exam for the Muggle Studies. I'm Professor Tofty from the Wizarding Examinations Authority, and I will be presiding over this exam." The man introduced himself. "The exam consists of two parts that will test your knowledge of the non-Magical world and the way it operates. The first part will be a written test of five questions that you will answer using the provided parchment and quills. You will have ninety minutes to answer those questions, though if you wish you can submit your answers earlier. After that, one of my colleagues or I will ask you to demonstrate certain skills you are expected to have when venturing into the Muggle world." Here, he paused for a moment. Then, he asked: "Any questions?" Somewhat surprisingly, there were none. "Very well." Professor Tofty said, before waving his wand around, sending the sheets of parchment to the examinees' desks. "You may begin." And with that he flipped the hourglass on the Professors' table.
The exam has started.
Picking up the parchment from his desk, Harry read the questions. The first one had a rather large Magical photo, probably taken in the late fifties or early sixties, depicting several people on a street. He was asked to identify wizards and witches that were failing to pass themselves as Muggles in this photo and explain his reasoning.
It wasn't a hard question as one man still had a pointy hat, the likes of which were worn only in the Magical world, while another wore a ridiculous combination of jockey pants and a waistcoat over a Hawaiian shirt. Then there was a woman in robes that were poorly transfigured to resemble a coat. And Harry swore he could see her wand peeking out of her handbag. Looking more closely, the young Potter spotted a few more details outing two more people in the photo as Magicals, but those details were really minor and something that could be easily missed in the real world at a brief glance. Thus, he decided not to focus on them too much.
The second question asked him to name three appliances or other things that could be found in a Muggle bathroom but not in a Magical one (where Magic, such as runic arrays would be used instead) and explain their functions. This wasn't a topic Harry gave much attention to during his 'lessons' with Flora and Hestia, so he hoped they wouldn't have too much trouble answering this question.
The third question provided a list with several pairs of locations, some of them within the same city, while the others - in different parts of the country, and a list of Muggle modes of transportation, and asked him to pick the best mode of transportation for each route.
The fourth question was once again about Muggle fashion and asked one to describe which clothes they would wear in certain situations, such as going to a theater, visiting a beach or picking some groceries. The final question was about outdoor usages for electricity.
Overall, the written portion of the exam didn't feel too difficult for Harry. He didn't know what the 'practical' portion would be like, but he doubted it would be something that he - or anyone raised in the non-Magical world - would find hard. At least, as long as he remembered that wizards were a bit behind the times when it came to the advancements of their Magic-less 'neighbors'.
Banishing the unnecessary thoughts out of his mind, Harry focused on writing down his answers. He needed to get good marks on this exam, and the first step to achieve that was actually answering the questions. Correctly and with as many details as he could manage in the allotted time. And while the questions themselves weren't hard for him, there was still a lot of writing for him to do…
And a lot of writing it was. It took Harry over an hour to put all of his answers on parchment and then proof-read it all to make sure he wouldn't lose points over some silly mistake. All in all, only about twenty minutes were left of this portion of the Muggle Studies exam by the time he was ready to hand in his answers. And while he was the first one to do so, out of the corner of his eye, the young Potter could see that the two Ravenclaws taking the exam were about done with this portion of the exam as well.
"Ah, Mr. Potter." Professor Tofty said, doing his best not to show his surprise at one of the 'extra' students taking the exam actually finishing the first part ahead of the others. "Done already?"
"Yes, Sir." Harry replied as he gave his parchment to the Professor. The said man then quickly scanned through his answers and finding them all to be sufficient - at least at a first glance - gave him a nod.
"I see…" The Ministry wizard said. "Would you like to move on to the practical demonstration of your skill, now, or would you rather wait until this portion of the exam is officially over?" Harry thought about it for a moment. And, well, since he planned on waiting for Flora and Hestia after the exam if he went in first - and, by the looks of it, that would indeed be the case - he might as well take the second part of the exam now. Otherwise… He has gotten pretty good at controlling his nervousness by now, but he still feared that it might overcome him if he had to sit and do nothing for twenty minutes right now.
"Right now, please." The green-eyed teen said finally.
"Very well." Professor Tofty said. He then addressed one of his colleagues, a slightly younger wizard with short graying hair and an old Dutch beard. "Edmund, if you will please." The said wizard let out a small sigh before getting out of his chair.
"Please follow me, Mr. Potter." He said, before heading out of the auditorium. Harry hurried after him. A minute later, the two of them were in a much smaller classroom two doors down the corridor. "Alright, let's begin." The man said. Next, he waved his wand, conjuring a mannequin dressed in simple black wizarding robes and a pointy hat. "I believe Minerva - Professor McGonagall - has taught at least basic clothes Transfiguration to your year, Mr. Potter?" He asked then. Harry nodded. "Then, please change these robes into something that can be worn in the Muggle world without endangering the Statute of Secrecy."
"For the current season, or can it be for, say, winter?" The young Potter asked after a second or two. The question caught the Professor a bit by surprise, but the man recovered quickly.
"Current season, please." Letting out a small sigh at having to do a bit more work - changing robes into a long coat would be much easier than into something more summer-appropriate - Harry got to work. First, he transfigured the pointy wizarding hat into a Gatsby hat. Then he turned the robes into a light denim jacket. It wasn't exactly the most inconspicuous set of clothing, to be honest, given how some people would associate it with delinquents, but at the very least there was nothing screaming 'Magic' about it.
"Acceptable." The examiner said flatly, not giving a single hint at whether he was impressed or disappointed with his work. "Now, moving onto the next part." He continued after a brief pause. "Are you familiar with lifts, Mr. Potter?"
"I've lived most of my life in the suburbs, so there weren't many of those around but, yes, I have ridden them on several occasions." Harry replied.
"And do you know how a lift works?" The Ministry wizard asked next.
"Only on a very basic level." Harry said. Then, upon a silent cue to continue from his examiner, he added: "Well, there is a cabin into which the passengers go, and a counterweight. Those are connected by a cable through a motorized wheel that makes the cabin go up and down. I'm not sure exactly how the wheel motor is controlled, though. I mean, there are buttons inside the cabin, and on the floors, but…" Apparently, this explanation was good enough for the man, since he asked the next question:
"Are there any lifts in the Magical world?"
"I know, the Ministry's building has several." Harry replied. "If there are any others, though, I'm not aware of them." The Professor nodded.
"It appears that you have a good grasp on how the things are done in the Muggle world, Mr. Potter." The man said then. "If you use that knowledge well, you will not reveal the existence of Magic to those who don't and shouldn't know about it. But what should you do if you witness someone less careful break the Statute of Secrecy?"
"Well…" The question actually caught the young Potter a bit by surprise and it took him a few long seconds to come up with an answer. "I don't believe I'd be allowed to detain the one who broke the Statute, so the best I can do is notify the Ministry about the incident and give them as many details about the lawbreaker as I can." He paused for a moment. "And if it won't break the Statute even further, I believe I'm allowed to stun the non-Magicals so that the Oblivators needn't go looking for them." The examiner nodded.
"Good." He said. Then, after a brief moment of silence he continued: "That would be all, Mr. Potter. Your results will be sent to you by an owl sometime in July."
"Thank you." Harry said with a nod.
Perhaps taking the second part of the exam early wasn't the best decision he had made today, the young Potter thought as he sat for nearly forty minutes in the corridor waiting for Flora and Hestia to finally finish the test themselves. Finally, the girls emerged from the classroom, both looking pretty worn out by the exam.
"That was brutal." Flora complained with a heavy sigh. "That second question was totally unfair and I'm not sure I wrote enough for the fifth. I listed lighting, advertisements and powering trains, but I'm not sure if there is anything else." Her sister nodded in agreement.
"Don't Muggles use traffic lights that are powered by electricity?" She asked.
"True." Flora agreed.
"Why don't we go and get something nice from the kitchens and put this whole exam behind us for now?" Harry suggested. The twins exchanged a glance before nodding.
"Sounds good." Hestia said.
"Let's go then." Harry said as he took their hands.
That's all, folks!
Read and review.