Bab 27: Second Year
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Summer is the worst time of the year. That was the opinion that had stuck with Potter when he lived with the Dursleys. As a child, he had dreaded counting the days until summer came, and in the spring he would begin to prepare - to look for any hiding places where he could hide from Piers and his company. All of Harry's peers loved summer for the same reason he hated it - graduation. In autumn, winter and spring, Dudley, Dennis, Piers and the rest of their group went to school, did homework, stayed after school and wrote all sorts of tests. In other words, there was a lot to do, and very often it happened that for lack of time Harry was left alone and untouched for weeks.
However, in the summer, as already mentioned, studies were over and all worries went away. There was free time, which Piers and his "friends" spent on their favourite pastime - bullying Harry. As time went on, Potter learnt to hide quite well. He found several hiding places where no one could ever find him, and the Dursle and Polkiss gang found a new victim - some short guy from a parallel class. But Piers still never forgot about the first victim, and together with a few of his mates he periodically raided Potter's known hiding places. Even then Harry became familiar with the concept of "constant vigilance", he was always looking around and expecting an attack from literally everywhere.
If you looked at the summer in that way, there hadn't been much of a change. Harry walked very slowly into the hallway, picked up his wand and began to wonder where he could hide. He knew full well that Moody was somewhere in the house and was already preparing another sneak attack. Potter realised this from faint traces, like an open window or a boot mark on the carpet by the front door that hadn't been there before. All of these things had obviously been left on purpose. Mad-Eye always left clues, you just had to find them. The game of Constant Vigilance didn't go on all summer, it wasn't until the end of July that Moody started to get weird. He had recently said that Potter wasn't ready for the constant tension.
June and July spent outside of Yew Street had seriously improved Harry's perceptions of such a time of year as summer. When Potter returned from Hogwarts, the first thing he did was show his final grades to Andromeda, who was satisfied with them, except that she asked Ted to tutor Harry in History of Magic. Potter never waited for a lecture, which meant that Mr Tonks had either forgotten about the request, or had safely forgotten about it.
In early June, Harry and Andromeda headed to Diagon Ally to shop for textbooks. Mrs Tonks tried not to put things off, and so all the preparations had been made at the beginning of the summer. New textbooks had been bought for almost every subject, only Defence Against the Dark Arts had to be bought five books at a time because of the new teacher. Mrs Tonks didn't like the new books, she flipped through them unhappily and didn't want to buy them at all, but Harry insisted.
The most interesting thing of the day happened at Gringotts Bank before the textbooks were purchased. Potter remembered that Hagrid had told him that he sort of had some money, but he didn't think it was "that" much. An incredibly huge pile of galleons - Potter got the feeling that it could buy all the sweets in the world with it. Harry immediately wanted to start spending them: to buy pens, chocolate frogs, Mars bars, another owl, two more wands, the just-released magical analogue of Yo-Yo, a golden sword - why? - a few books to give to Tonks for her birthday, and much, much more.
However, Harry's plans were not destined to come to fruition. Andromeda realised that it was dangerous to let Potter near the money, so she threw a handful of galleons into her small purse and left the safe herself. Potter made an indignant face, but didn't object - deep down he knew that was the way it should be.
Back home, Harry decided to read the new textbooks, but he never got any further than the Lockharts books. The books turned out to be so great that Potter managed to read all five in a week. Immediately afterwards, he began to mentally berate himself for reading them all too quickly without enjoying them properly. After a little thought, he decided to read Lockhart's "textbooks" a second time... And then again... And then again. All in all, June flew by unnoticed. On the first of July, Potter was caught reading by Tonks. Ten minutes of reading was enough for Nymphadora to call 'Holidays with a Hag' 'Merlin's crap'. Harry stood up to defend the 'honour of his books' and set about proving Nymphadora wrong.
All of Potter's arguments were defeated by Tonks' one extremely convincing counterargument, which was that she was about to bewitch him. Harry, unlike her, took the threat to heart and went from words to deeds and was the first to launch the Furunculus at her... Potter spent the rest of the day in front of the mirror, trying to clear up his pimples on his own. Thanks to Andromeda's help, he was able to get rid of the boils and, resentful of Nymphadora, went to visit Justin the very next day. With the permission and help of his guardians, of course.
Finch-Fletchley Mansion was incredibly huge, only Hogwarts was bigger than it. It had many spare rooms, decorated in a modern style as if it were only a couple of years old. Mrs Finch-Fletchley had allowed him to choose any room he wanted, and Harry opted for a small room with a fireplace and white pink floral wallpaper. Potter stayed with Justin for a week, most of that time they exchanged impressions of Lockhart's books. It turned out that there were actually not five books, but nine. And Finch-Fletchley, out of the kindness of his heart, had loaned Harry the other four, which were not on the list of required books to buy.
A week later, Harry returned to the Tonks' house and apologised to Nymphadora. He really shouldn't have attacked her, at least not until he had learnt strong enough spells to definitely not lose.
During his time at Finch-Fletchley Mansion, Tonks had passed her Aurorat exams, and so it was decided to have a small celebration. Mad-Eye, Cedric Diggory and someone called Remus Lupin, he was something of a family friend. Moody wasn't in the mood for surprise attacks then, he was terribly proud of Nymphadora and was interested in the details of the exams.
Towards evening, everyone gathered around the festive table, which was laden with various viands that only Hogwarts could boast of. Tonks had got a few bottles of firewhiskey, white wine and gin, which livened up the party. Ted was probably the worst affected by the alcohol, he was the most drunk on firewhiskey and after a while he started laughing out loud at Diggory. Mad-Eye didn't touch the firewhiskey or the wine, but he was pretty good on the gin, which he had tested with a few spells before.
Only the three remained in their normal state of mind. Andromeda had declared that she would not drink and wished to remain the only normal person in the house. She had gone to bed after Ted had just started to get groggy. Lupin had somehow unfathomably managed to remain adequate, even a few bottles of white wine had no effect on him. And Harry himself was too young to drink with everyone else, so he just sat nearby and read Lockhart's books. Alastor came up to him and began to argue that he should start his own flask now to avoid being poisoned. Harry didn't budge, so Moody was left with nothing and went to bed.
Potter was forgotten about, and no one really cared that he was awake at three in the morning. Tonks passed out right at the table, Cedric staggered off to the kitchen where he laid down on the chairs. Only Ted and Lupin remained at the table, sharing life stories with each other. Harry could have sworn he heard his last name, but he wanted to sleep so badly that he didn't care anymore. He closed the book with the title 'Holidays with a Karg' that he had been trying to read for the last two hours and went to bed as well.
Waking up early in the morning, Potter found that 'early morning' had come at two in the afternoon, but despite that, everyone but him and Andromeda were still asleep. While everyone was waking up, he was doing his Potions homework with the help of Mrs Tonks. Slowly all the inhabitants of the house began to wake up. Mad-Eye came over to Harry and told him that he had a lot of free time on his hands after successfully passing Tonks' Auror exams, and he decided not to clutter his head with "useless theory" for the time being, but to teach him how to be on guard at all times. Under Moody's guidance, Potter quickly completed his homework and mastered a few elementary, but useful, according to Moody, spells. It was only after Harry had learnt how to use a stun spell and maintain a small magical shield in front of him that Moody began training.
The training looked like this: most of the time, when no one was in the house, Moody would leave some clue and hide in the house, intending to stun Harry. Potter's goal was not to be stunned. Harry didn't like this kind of training, especially because he had never been able to detect Moody before the attack, so he turned to Nymphadora for help. She tried to talk to Mad-Eye, but was unsuccessful, and told Harry that Alastor didn't do that to her, and if he was fed up, he could complain to Andromeda.
Potter didn't complain, instead he decided to play by Moody's rules. Beginning to carry an invisibility robe with him. Harry put it on when he noticed the kitchen door suspiciously ajar. The cloak didn't help, apparently Harry was breathing too loudly underneath it, and because of that he got a stunner as soon as he stepped across the threshold of the room. As it turned out a little later, it wasn't Mad-Eye who sent the mantle: Alastor praised him for a good attempt to trick him and asked about the origin of the mantle.
For his birthday, Harry had received a tiny keychain from Tonks that was supposed to protect him from moderately powerful spells. The opportunity to test it came the very next day. The amulet failed miserably - it did not protect against stun spells.In mid-August Harry switched tactics, he decided to be constantly on guard. To become the paragon of constant vigilance that Moody wanted him to be. He tried not to let go of his wand even in his sleep, and when he went outside of his room, he kept a magical defence with him, purely just in case. However, these measures didn't help either, his shield spells were easily broken by Moody's first spell. And then Potter switched from defence to attack, he began to cast a stun spell at all suspicious places. By some miracle he never once hit Mr and Mrs Tonks, but Nymphadora was less fortunate. One time she decided to scare him and stood outside the door with a piper - where did she get it from? - the second time she decided to turn into Mad-Eye and stood in the bathroom in front of the mirror looking at his scars. Because of these mishaps, Harry had been forced to learn the Enervate spell that brought people back to consciousness.
Tonks wasn't the only one who fell victim to Potter's overly suspicious nature. Once Harry didn't like the overly dense air in the corner of his room and decided to launch a stunner there. The spell somehow flew off and hit him in the head. Another time a phoenix painting he had just bought was affected. Potter didn't know about the purchase and when he noticed some movement of the bird out of the corner of his eye, a Stupefy immediately flew there. The third time went to the house elf. Hearing a suspicious noise and mumbling in his room, Harry, without even looking, fired at the sound. There was a small scandal - it turned out that the house elf, whose name was Dobby, had been sent by Draco Malfoy to ruin Potter's life in some way. Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, had to pay a small fine.
Anyway, for the entire month of August, Harry had been diligently busy bombarding anything that moved with Stupefy. Tonks was preparing to go to work as an Auror, chatting with Potter and Diggory and occasionally arguing with Moody. Harry hadn't forgotten about school: once he'd received a letter from Ron Weasley inviting him to visit, Potter had declined. Once from Justin - he called him to Diagon Ally, where Lockhart was supposed to sign autographs. But Harry had to refuse, because there was no one to take him, and he couldn't move yet. And one more time a letter came from Zhou Chang, she was just interested in his affairs. Potter replied that everything was fine, he was visiting a friend, he was trying to learn his lessons and didn't understand potions, he couldn't write that there was a Constant Vigilance virus infection going on here, with himself as the infected person, Mad-Eye Moody as the virus, and the one guy who was immune was Tonks. No, seriously, what would a letter describing what he was doing look like.
"Hi Zhou, I'm doing well. My paranoia has reached a new level, today I've launched twenty-three stun spells - it's a stable routine, I need to bombard places where it's convenient to ambush. Tomorrow I'm going to triple the number of stuns, because it's been three whole days since Moody's last attack, and on average it takes him exactly three point seven days between visits. So, as you can see, I'm doing great, how are you doing?
P.S. Do you think if I climb on the chandelier it won't fall off?"
It looked rather silly, so Harry's answer of "I'm fine" seemed more appropriate, although the chandelier did need to be clarified, in case it couldn't support his weight and fell, it wouldn't be worth climbing it just yet. With all these trials, the holidays ended quietly, and on the evening of the thirty-first of August Potter stared in surprise at Ted, who had asked him to set his alarm for seven in the morning. He'd spent the entire night of the last day of summer repeating schoolwork. Not surprisingly, waking up had not been easy
- Get up quickly, you overslept! - came a woman's voice through the shroud of sleep.
At first Harry didn't immediately realise what it was all about, he was still absorbed in a dream where he was King of Hogwarts and ruled England.
- I... No..." Harry tried to object, but Tonks began to shake him violently and he had no choice but to open his eyes and crawl away from Nymphadora. - What's the date today?
- The first of September, it's time for you to go to Hogwarts. You won't have time for breakfast, so you'll have to go hungry, it's your own fault.
- Fine, then I'll sleep for a few more minutes instead of breakfast," Harry tried to cover himself with the blanket, but it wasn't to be.
- I know those two minutes, get up quickly and go pack your things," Nymphadora was adamant.
- Piss off, Tonks, you don't actually have to go to Hogwarts anymore, don't disturb my sleep.
- I have to go to the Ministry of Magic for work and that's why I have to get up early in the morning too, and because of you I might be late on my first day.
Harry ignored her and tried to go back to sleep.
- Ah so! Aguamenti!
A large jet of water hit Potter's face directly, knocking the remnants of sleep from him.Harry got out of bed, wiped his head with the blanket and stared at Tonks with cold fury. She was smirking at him.
- I'll be sure to remind you of that, I'll do the exact same thing to you one day. Let's see how you like it!
- I'm sure you will," Tonks struggled to keep from laughing. - But I'll have to wait a long time for your revenge, it's a sixth year spell.
- When I get to sixth year, it'll be the first thing I learn. Or some analogue, or I'll ask Moody, but you'll be in trouble.
- I look forward to it, Harry," Nymphadora stopped smiling. - Now, if you'd be so kind as to grab your things and get your arse into the drawing room.
* * *
All the way to the train station Potter dozed off. When he got on the Hogwarts Express, he took a seat in the compartment with Justin and Ernie and went to sleep. Finch-Fletchley woke him up - the train had arrived at its destination. Harry changed out of his uniform, exchanged a few lines with Justin about 'Holidays with a Hag' and got off the train. After a few more naps in the carriage, Potter finally felt awake and rested.
Harry sat down in his usual seat at the Hufflepuff table, noting that there were quite a few empty seats behind him, all the seventh years had graduated and now would most likely never come back here again. Samuel Park had taken a job in the Department of Mysteries, and his place as Head of School had been taken by Percy Weasley. The seat next to Potter was empty too - Nymphadora Tonks had taken a job at the Aurorate, and now all six years of his schooling would pass without her. It was sad...
Harry didn't follow the assignments - he was already tired of watching unknown freshmen being sent to different faculties at 'B'. Potter pulled out Meet the Vampires, which he had absent in his luggage because he had slept on it on the train, and began to reread it again. In the middle of the distribution he was pulled away by Colin Creevey, a new freshman at Hufflepuff. He sat down across from Potter and started asking him about all sorts of insignificant things. The second time Harry was distracted was when he heard a familiar surname.
- Ginny Weasley! - McGonagall said loudly.
How many children are there in that family?
Harry saw the red-haired, terribly pale short girl approach the wizarding hat uncertainly. The namesake option was out. Red hair and excessive attention from her brothers gave her away. I wonder where she'd end up? Harry realised that all the Weasleys he knew were in Gryffindor, and he had a fair question.
- Justin, are all the siblings in the same department?
- All the Weasleys consistently get into Gryffindor, but the siblings... I don't know," Justin replied.
- At Hogwarts, they divide by personality, not by blood relation, Moody said," Harry remembered.
- Not necessarily," said the dark-haired boy, whose name Harry had embarrassingly forgotten. - The Lawrence twin brothers, who had graduated last year, had entered Hogwarts in the same year and ended up in three different faculties: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. I'm pretty sure that if they had a fourth brother, he would have ended up in Slytherin.
- How are the Weasleys different from them? - Harry didn't understand.
- The Weasleys always get into Gryffindor. It's a tradition, but it's probably genetics, they have a very strong heredity, so all the children turn out to have roughly the same character," Justin said. - Fred told me that all his brothers are Gryffindors, and he has, like, three or four others who graduated from Hogwarts. His parents went to Gryffindor, his grandparents on his dad's side are also there, his great-grandparents with....
- Thanks, Justin, I got it," Harry interrupted him.
- You're welcome," he smirked.
- Hufflepuff! - Spreading Hat shrieked loudly.
Finch-Fletchley raised his eyebrows in surprise, the dark-haired boy laughed.
- Excellent logic, I agree with you completely. Now move over," Harry said, noticing Ginny Weasley approaching them. - Hey! It's free!
The girl sat down quickly and stared at her empty plate. She was much paler than she had been when she went to the Distributing Hat. Not an easy thing to do, breaking a family tradition.
- Hello, Ginny, right? - Harry started the conversation.
Weasley replied quietly and inarticulately, not taking her eyes off her plate. Harry considered it a sign of agreement.
- Don't worry, we have a good faculty too, as does Gryffindor. You know, I've got plenty of free time, I can explain it all to you. My name is Harry Potter.
The said phrase made a serious impression on Ginny. She looked up sharply and stared at the scar. In the same second, she fell off her chair.
Justin laughed, Harry kicked him under the table and the latter pinched him in return. Goosebumps ran down Potter's skin from the unpleasant touch, but he pretended as if nothing much had happened so as not to further embarrass the newly minted Hufflepuff student.
Though there was nowhere else to embarrass her. Ginny's face looked like it had just been scrambled with two pieces of bacon.- Don't mind that idiot, he's just a little sick to his stomach," Harry tried to smooth things over.
Justin pinched him under the table again, Potter immediately responded with a hard kick.
- Quiet," the dark haired boy hissed. - 'Dumbledore is giving a speech.
- 'Greetings everyone! - said the headmaster. - Greetings and congratulations on the start of the new school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I am happy to introduce to you two of our new and old teachers. Firstly, Professor Lockharts, who has kindly agreed to take up the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Gilderoy stood up, took off his hat and made a low bow to his students. Harry applauded loudly along with Justin and the female part of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff faculty tables.
No way! Lockharts himself will be teaching them!
- The second appointment, I don't think will surprise anyone, Professor Snape is returning to his position as Potions teacher, he will also be returning to his position as Dean of the Slytherin Faculty.
The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables greeted this news with silence, but the Snake Faculty table, on the other hand, broke up loudly. Loud clapping, cheers of joy. Malfoy drummed his goblet on the table as the Slytherins welcomed the return of their Dean.
Harry looked at Snape with rage, and Snape was staring straight at him, his eyes filled with a thirst for revenge.
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