Chapter 167: New Road
19th December 1995, Hogwarts Earth 2
(Harry Potter POV)
The last few months of Harry Potter’s life were weird. It was a good kind of weird, so he wasn’t complaining about it. It started with the mysterious new defense professor taking an interest in his education, and here he was, a few months later, chatting amicably with Daphne Greengrass, also known to many as the Ice Queen of Slytherin house.
Harry would have never thought that he’d be hanging out with a Slytherin of all people and enjoying it this much. Maybe it was because he internally pictured the entire house full of little Draco Malfoys that just looked different.
Greengrass ended up being offended at this remark and said that most of the house barely tolerated the blond ponce because of his father’s influence. Apparently, Malfoy senior could screw with a lot of their parents’ lives, and seeing how spoiled Draco was, his father could end up doing something drastic at his son’s request. They didn’t think that someone of Lucius Malfoy’s stature would involve himself in school matters, but after the man bought seven high quality Nimbus brooms for the Slytherin Quidditch team, they didn’t want to risk it.
So far, the house humored him, while laughing behind his back. Outside Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson, Draco didn’t have any friends. Everything was relatively peaceful in the house of the snakes. That was until Voldemort’s return. Slytherin house had accepted the Dark Lord’s return and sides were forming. There were the students who supported his philosophy that would end up joining his ranks upon graduation and there were students who chose to stay neutral and not involve themselves in the upcoming conflict. They were constantly pressured to join Voldemort’s ranks, either by empty promises of power or by threats against them or their families. Daphne was part of that group and was constantly fighting in every conversation down in the common room, so it was apparently very freeing to have someone to talk to outside her house that wouldn’t use everything she said against her.
After meeting up at Professor Sayre’s after a practice session, they kept meeting up every couple of days whenever she and her sister had a meeting with the Defense Professor. Harry still had no idea what those meetings were about, but for some reason both Daphne and her sister were very happy at the end of every meeting. The meetings kept happening for a good two weeks until they suddenly stopped. Daphne was starting to laugh more openly around him, and Harry found out that she had a wicked sense of humor, focused on sarcasm. On the other hand, her sister was a bubbly young girl who seemed out of place in Slytherin house. The girl had a knack at getting Daphne to drop her cold mask and chase after her in fury.
Truth be told, Harry was starting to get more comfortable with Daphne than he ever did with Ron and Hermione. Don’t get him wrong, they’re great, but Hermione should learn to talk about something that didn’t come from a book, and hanging out with Ron consisted of either playing chess, or just sitting around doing nothing. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but both of his best friends had taken it to the extreme, and seeing how much they both clashed, Harry ended up in the middle of their arguments half the time, to his dismay.
Harry ended up spending time with Daphne, even after her meetings with Sayre were over and they had met up many times since then. They both had decided to keep it to themselves, Harry not wanting to deal with the inevitable confrontation from Ron and Hermione who would probably say that Daphne shouldn’t be trusted, and that she was a secret Death Eater that wanted to know all his secrets to relay them back to Voldemort. Daphne, on the other hand, was in the very risky position of being in Slytherin house. If their friendship ended up being revealed to the rest of the school, she would actually be in serious danger from her housemates, especially the ones who wish to follow Voldemort.
But all of this, doesn’t seem to matter at the moment. Harry then received a Stinging Hex to the chest and yelped in pain. His opponent, Professor Sayre, sneered at him, “Do not be distracted in the middle of a duel, young Potter. A single distraction could end up killing you.”
Harry sighed, and nodded, “Sorry, Professor Sayre.”
The Professor in question had spent the past hour teaching him how to deflect a spell. It was a lot quicker and more efficient than casting a spell. The spell itself, a very small but very strong reflective shield that uses a spell's momentum to both reflect the spell and aim it as if it was cast.
The spell itself wasn’t that hard, but the timing was a problem. So far, Harry had spent the entire day learning how to redirect spells. Somehow, the Defense Professor was casting spells that were very slow. Harry quickly learnt how to deal with them, that was until she progressively started to speed up the spells. Harry ended up lost in thought at the monotony of the exercise and was surprised when she sped up for a second.
The Professor didn’t seem impressed with his apology, “It’s not about being sorry, it’s about learning from your mistakes. It’s easy to lose yourself to the tempo of the fight, but a single irregularity could end up messing your rhythm and surprise you. It’s a very common tactic in dueling tournaments, not in actual fights, though; people tend to try and conserve as much of their reserves as possible and to take down their opponents as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, Professor.”
The Defense Professor ended up casting a Tempus Charm and spoke, “Alright, that’s enough for today. I got a message from the Headmaster that he wants to see you. He’s expecting you at his office.”
“And why didn’t you tell me before?”
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“Because I wanted you to go to Dumbledore’s office as a stinky, sweaty teenager.” She answered with a grin.
Harry stifled a groan; the woman was really vicious when she wanted to. This was no doubt a way to irritate both himself and Dumbledore. The Boy-Who-Lived turned around and headed towards the Headmaster’s office. As usual, he gave a silly password to the gargoyle to enter the office, where he was met with a familiar old man with a long white beard and a weirdly colored robe. This would have been unusual if he hadn’t met Headmaster Dumbledore before.
This was the first time Harry had met the Headmaster this year, the elder man pretty much ignoring him ever since he returned to Surrey the previous summer. He was quite angry and disappointed with his abandonment, but he realized with Professor Sayre’s help that he had nothing to be angry about. His relationship with Dumbledore was nothing more than Dumbledore telling him that he did a good job at the end of every year, after he had almost died in some weird quest. Dumbledore didn’t abandon him because they were barely more than headmaster and student to each other, no matter what the rest of the world thought. Even Daphne was surprised on how distant their relationship was and had told him that the rest of the school pretty much assumed that he’s Dumbledore’s apprentice or something.
The old man smiled his grandfatherly smile, “Ah, Harry, my boy, I’m so glad that you came to see me.”
“Thank you, Headmaster. Professor Sayre said that you wanted to see me?”
“Ah, yes, I tend to forget a few things in my old age. Oh, right, I wanted to see how you were doing this year. I know that I have been distant; I have been distracted with Voldemort’s return, I have many things to do, and the Ministry’s stance on it doesn’t help much.”
Harry shrugged, “I’m alright. Nothing really bad happened, especially with Umbridge gone. I’ve been focusing on my classes and Professor Sayre is teaching me how to fight.”
“I had heard a lot of compliments for your performance in the last staff meeting. The professors have been very impressed with your improvements. Your parents would have been very proud of you. As for your lessons with Professor Sayre, how are they?”
Harry shrugged, “Not bad, I guess. She’s teaching me a lot. Nothing extremely dangerous outside a few spells, she said that it’s better to master a dozen spells completely, than to know hundreds of spells.”
Dumbledore nodded sagely, “many wizards and witches have dedicated their entire lives to mastering a single spell. People could actually win duels with just one spell, if they have mastered them well enough. You need to learn every possible tactic you can use, and how to use them for both offense and defense, as well as a distraction.”
“Yeah, I first thought that she was going to teach me the spells she used against Flitwick during their duel, but she just focused on a few techniques, the Mind Arts and how to use spells appropriately.”
Harry then felt a sudden probe attempting to enter his mind and immediately repelled it. Before he could complain, the Headmaster laughed jovially, “Ah, quite impressive. Your professor has taught you well. Lord Voldemort often uses Legilimency to break down his victims and to discover their deepest secrets and desires. I am relieved that you’ll be able to resist him on that front. Now, back to the lessons, I wanted to ask you if Professor Sayre made any mention of family magic?”
Harry stiffened, “you mean the Peverell family magic, sir?”
Dumbledore nodded, “Yes, what did she tell you about it?”
“Nothing much. She just explained what family magic was and said that I’m not ready to learn it properly.”
For some reason, Dumbledore looked disappointed, “Harry, do you even know anything about the Peverell family?”
Harry shook his head, and Dumbledore continued, “Truth be told, no one knows a lot about it, only that the family was very powerful long ago and was very feared, especially on the battlefield. However, today, the family is rather infamous for three artifacts of incredible power, an unbeatable wand, a stone capable of speaking to the dead and a cloak of ultimate invisibility. All these artifacts were supposedly created by Death itself and given to the three Peverell brothers. These artifacts ended up having a very bloody history over the centuries. The details are in a fairy tale story called the Tale of Three Brothers.”
“I don’t understand, it’s just a story, right?”
“I don’t know the exact facts, no one does, but I do know that the artifacts are real. I knew for a fact that they existed when James Potter lent me his invisibility cloak for study.”
Harry looked shocked, “my cloak is made by Death?”
Dumbledore chuckled, “probably not. I don’t think that Death itself took a form just to give gifts to three mortals. I simply believe that the Peverells were genius wizards who were able to craft items with such power that they turned into legends. But this isn’t the problem, the issue is that the Peverell family is very dangerous and very powerful. When Professor Sayre starts to teach you this type of magic, you’ll have to be very careful, which is why I’m asking you to keep me informed of the content of your lessons. Professor Sayre already gives me a copy after every session, but I think it would be prudent for you to tell me as well.”
Harry wasn’t an idiot and knew that Sayre wouldn’t respect Dumbledore enough to just send him reports every single day about what she covered with Harry. It was completely unreasonable on the Headmaster’s part to ask for details about family magic of all things, “I don’t think that asking for details about family magic is a good idea, sir”
The Headmaster chuckled, “I don’t want to know specific spells, just the subject in case it’s a dangerous one. I will admit that I would love to know more about Peverell family magic, since it's been a curiosity of mine since childhood, but in my old age, I don’t think that learning it will change anything for me. I have to say that should I have been a few decades younger; I would have actually pressed you to tell me all the details about the magic. I was quite obsessive over that family during my younger years, only calming down after a string of tragic mistakes that showed me that there were things more important than power, and fates far worse than death.”
Harry didn’t know how to respond to that. This was the first time Dumbledore actually revealed something about his private life or his past. If the Headmaster saw his astonishment, he didn’t comment on it, instead he continued, “Oh, and you’ll find that the rest of the Weasley family aren’t in the castle anymore; they were sent home because Arthur Weasley was attacked last night during a mission for the Order.”
“Is he alright?”
“I’m afraid that’s yet to be seen. His screaming was enough to alert the authorities and save his life. He was bit by what we can only assume to be a very large snake with some sort of cursed venom. His wounds couldn’t be healed and kept bleeding and he lost consciousness before the healers got their hands on him. They seem to be optimistic though; he seems to be out of critical condition and we’re just waiting for the curse to fade and for him to wake up.”
Harry thoughts were very quick, “Can I see him?”
“As you are not an immediate relative, I can’t allow you to leave early, but Christmas break is starting in a couple of days, you’ll only have to wait until then.”
Harry nodded, understanding the dismissal, turned away and left the office with thoughts swimming in his head.