Capítulo 42: Chapter 46: 3-3: Fright Night
Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.
The first full moon of the term (technically the second, as Professor Lupin had needed to beg off soon after the Leaving Feast because of his transformation) saw various faculty members covering Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Iruka ended up teaching four of these lessons, none of which included members of S.E.N., and each went similarly:
"Good morning, everyone," he said to the group of fourth-year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, "Professor Lupin has been taken ill, so you've got me covering for today's lesson. We're going to be almost purely practical work, and I won't be assigning any required homework, but I will be giving you something to do going forward that will make you not only better at defending yourself, but also healthier."
"I'd like to start off with a question for all of you: What is the first step in defending yourself against a threat?" Several hands rose in the air, and he pointed to a Hufflepuff student.
"Cast a shield spell?" the boy ventured
"Nope," Iruka replied, "that comes later."
"Cast a curse?" came from a Slytherin girl.
"Also no, that kind of response is around the same time as a shield spell would be. Other ideas?" A lot fewer hands were still up.
"Apparate away?" tried a boy in green-and-silver.
"No, but take one point for Slytherin for a decent, if overlooked response; if you can get away from a threat, be it person or beast, that's often the best action to take. The first step to defending yourself is noticing the threat. You can't protect yourself effectively from an attack you don't know is coming. Technically one could say that preparing yourself is the true first step, but that's more something that you do long before any threat comes. Regardless, remaining aware of your surroundings lets you notice danger sooner, giving you more time to react."
"The second step," he continued, "is to identify the threat. You'd defend yourself very differently from a Dark wizard than you would from a creature like a Boggart. Once you know you're in danger and from what, then you respond to the danger as appropriate."
"Also, fighting against an attacker, human or not, should be your last resort. Only fight if you can't escape, or if you have to protect something or someone. Never start a fight unless you either need to do so or have an overwhelming advantage."
"Those are the basics that are so basic many instructors don't even think to teach them. Now," the chuunin said with a toothy grin, "it's time to get to the first part of the practical - exercise! I can see by your expressions that you're confused. What does exercise have to do with Defense? The answer, children, is stamina. If you're in good shape, you can fight longer or run away longer. I had a student back in my homeland who defeated many powerful opponents in large part by outlasting them; they'd be tiring out and getting weak and sloppy while he was still going strong. So, to work on your stamina," his grin became even wider, "it's time for some calisthenics!"
Twenty minutes later, Iruka was fairly certain that at least a quarter of the class was trying to murder him with their eyes. Witches and wizards were mostly fairly indolent, doing things by magic or having things done for them rather than putting hard work into them, so only a handful of students weren't looking half-dead by the time he ran them all through cooldown exercises. "If you do this at least once or twice a week, you'll soon notice it getting easier, and it won't be too long before you start feeling the benefits elsewhere as well. I won't demand you do it, and couldn't even if I wanted to, but I will recommend keeping fit. Even if you never need it to defend yourselves, I'm sure your boyfriends and girlfriends will appreciate the effects on your physique." He definitely got a kick out of the sudden epidemic of blushes.
"Now, for the rest of the class, we'll be doing some drills. Everyone find a partner, and stand across from each other in two lines five meters apart. Make sure to space yourselves out far enough that your outstretched fingertips can't reach those of your neighbors on either side." As the students began pairing off, he continued. "When I say 'go' this line," he indicated the group to his left, "will begin casting low-powered stinging hexes at their partners. The partners will attempt to dodge; no shields, counterspells, or counterattacks. Once one of your spells misses or is dodged, put your wand away - it's your partner's turn to cast at you and your turn to dodge. Keep switching back and forth like this."
"This is to help you train your accuracy and your ability to dodge unfriendly spells. After all, it doesn't matter how powerful a spell is if it never hits."
The rest of the class was spent on the accuracy/evasion drill. Iruka did have to step in a few times when someone cast with too much power, or used another spell, but by the end of the class he was satisfied that he'd given the students a start at becoming more able to keep themselves safe.
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Things apparently became a bit tense among the third-year Gryffindors around mid-October: Crookshanks had begun hunting after Ronald Weasley's elderly pet rat Scabbers, leaving the boy angry at Hermione for her cat's actions. She, in turn, defended with the fact that cats naturally hunted rodents, and that they were on the approved pets list, unlike rats. Neither had managed to sway the other, and it had led to a flare-up of the acrimony that had been quietly simmering in the background for the past two years. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun situation, and Ginny was in a particularly difficult position due to her friendship with the older bookworm. It also didn't help Ron's temper that his sister was starting to favor Hermione's side of the argument over his, which just meant that the youngest Weasley was also in a less-than-stellar mood.
"At least he's stopped bragging and going on about his new wand," the young redhead groused during weekend training. "I mean sure, he was using an old wand of Charlie's before, and it's nice he's got a wand of his own now, but he just wouldn't shut up about the bloody thing!"
"D'you think that might be why he was having so much trouble in Charms and Transfiguration?" Harry asked. "When I got my wand, Ollivander told me that I'd never get as good results from using a wand that didn't choose me."
"It's possible," Luna replied dreamily, "though personally I suspect it's due to Wrackspurts. Ronald has always had a particularly severe infestation."
While his students were mostly paying attention to the byplay, Iruka noticed Neville looking oddly downcast. A suspicion developed in the chuunin's mind, and he whispered a question to Filius during the next spellcasting portion of the training session. After subtly taking a good look at the boy's wand, the Charms Professor gave the shinobi a firm nod.
When the session ended, as the students were on their way back to their Houses, Iruka called out, "Neville, could you hold up a moment?"
The young Gryffindor waved his friends off and approached the two Professors. "What is it, Sensei?"
"I feel like I need to ask this, Neville: The wand you use - it was someone else's first, wasn't it?"
While he may have been growing more confident and self-assured over the past two years, his reaction to this question proved that the timid version of Neville Longbottom that first arrived at Hogwarts was far from being completely banished. He seemed to hunch in on himself a bit, his head drooping, as if expecting to be punished or berated. "It's my dad's;" the boy said quietly, "Gran says it's a way to honor him, that it's a powerful wand for a powerful wizard."
Filius shook his head. "That is not how wands work, and Madam Longbottom should know this. Wands must be individually matched to the witch or wizard in order for both wand and wielder to work at their fullest potential. I'd thought your struggles in my class due to a mental block, a lack of confidence in your own magic, and your marked improvement over time seemed to validate that hypothesis. Knowing that you're using a legacy wand, though... That certainly explains your difficulties, and makes your progress quite impressive. If you're this capable with an ill-suited wand, I should very much like to see what you can do with a wand of your own."
Approaching the student that already towered over him, the Charms Professor continued gently. "Mister Longbottom... Neville... That wand chose your father. You are not your father, nor are you your mother, although you bear aspects of both of them - you are your own wizard. If you wish to honor your parents' love and heroism, do it by becoming the best wizard you can be. If you agree, one of us will speak with your grandmother about getting you to Ollivander's at the soonest opportunity to find a wand of your own."
Neville's head rose slowly, and he measured both Filius and Iruka with a gaze mixing hope and trepidation before giving a single hesitant nod.
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With a Hogsmeade weekend coming up shortly, it was decided that Iruka and Neville would meet Madam Longbottom in the Three Broomsticks, then Floo from there to the Leaky Cauldron and walk to Ollivander's, where they were greeted by the proprietor. "Ah, Iruka Umino, beech and unicorn hair, eleven inches, springy, and Augusta Longbottom, elm and dragon heartstring, ten and a quarter inches, stiff, welcome. And this must be young Neville? I had expected to see you over two years ago, but better late than never. May I ask what wand you have been using until now?"
"Um, my father's," the nervous boy replied.
"Hmm... Frank Longbottom's wand, aspen and unicorn hair, twelve and one quarter inches, firm. May I see it?" Neville hesitantly, reverently handed the wand over. "Ah, yes, it has been quite well cared-for, still in excellent shape, but it still pines for your father's hand. No, this wand is unlikely to ever recognize any master but him, not unless things change rather drastically; I dare say it's probably been giving you a great deal of trouble in your spellcasting. Perhaps you should hold this, Madam Longbottom," the wandmaker said while passing the wand to the witch, "while we find a wand that chooses your grandson as its master?"
It only took about a dozen tries before they found a match. As soon as Neville's hand closed around the handle, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped as a warm wind that smelled of freshly-turned earth swirled around the shop. "Cherry and unicorn tail hair," Ollivander announced, "thirteen inches, resilient. A wand suited for a wizard of great potential." Madam Longbottom scowled, prompting the man to continue with a bit more haste. "Many European witches and wizards dismiss cherry wood because of the tree's showy blossoms, but such wands garner great prestige among the wizards of Japan, and are in fact capable of truly frightening power. This wand is neither frivolous nor ornamental, nor would it have chosen a wizard of less than exceptional potency. In fact, I would advise you, Mister Longbottom, to take some care in your spellcasting until you grow accustomed to your new focus, as your spells will likely manifest with far greater power than you have previously experienced."
Iruka gave a polite cough. "There's... well, there's another aspect to cherry trees that I ought to mention: They all bloom around the same time, and the blossoms last for only a couple of weeks at most before the petals fall. It can be spectacularly beautiful, but is also very brief. Because of this, my people view the cherry blossom as an emblem of mortality, the fragility and brevity of life, and of the beauty of impermanence. Such concepts are, sadly, not as foreign to Neville as to most of his peers." He gave his student a sad smile, one mirrored by Madam Longbottom as she placed a hand proudly on her grandson's shoulder.
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Shortly after the Halloween Feast that night, the castle was put on high alert. Apparently Sirius Black had somehow made it not only to Hogwarts, not only into the castle proper, but all the way to the portrait guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. When she had refused him entry, he slashed at her canvas with a knife. All of this was discovered by the Gryffindor students returning to their House after the feast. Iruka spent the night protectively watching over the student body, who had all been gathered in the Great Hall and were sleeping in purple sleeping bags conjured by the Headmaster.
"Shouldn't one or two of us stay here, Albus?" the chuunin had asked. "If Black is so dangerous, I'm not comfortable leaving the students to defend themselves. I have the least knowledge of the castle, so I wouldn't be much help at finding all the hiding places a Hogwarts graduate might know."
Dumbledore had considered for a few moments. "A good point, Iruka. You remain here and watch over the children. Keep them safe, and handle any other matters which require adult intervention. The rest of us shall search in pairs, so that those who aren't fighters will be safe and those who can fight will have extra eyes and ears aiding them."
The rest of the staff had soon been paired up and departed, and Iruka secured the Hall doors before taking up a position that gave him a good view of the Hall while also being in prime position to ambush someone coming in.
Fortunately, the night passed without further incident; unfortunately, Black made a clean getaway.
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The Headmaster called a staff meeting the next day to discuss the previous night's incident. After everyone had confirmed that they'd seen no signs of Sirius Black, Iruka floated a question: "How could he have gotten so far? Obviously he's got some method of bypassing Dementors, since he managed to escape Azkaban, but to get all the way to Gryffindor Tower unseen and unimpeded?"
The first response was Severus Snape shooting Remus Lupin a venomous glare. "Likely he had inside help."
Albus shook his head. "As I said last night, Severus, I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it. Regardless, the portraits, ghosts, and elves reported seeing nothing out of the ordinary last night, with the obvious exception of the Fat Lady. I am afraid that Hogwarts Castle is a hive of secret passages and hidden ways, one that even after nearly a century I have yet to fully explore and understand. It is quite possible that the man knew of routes that would avoid many of the eyes and ears of the castle, particularly given his experience as a prankster."
This gave the chuunin an idea. "Professor Lupin, you and Black were part of the same group of pranksters - do you have any ideas of how Black got in and out?"
"A few," the werewolf admitted, "the four of us mapped out a lot of the secret passages into, out of, and within the castle while we were students. There were so many that I've probably forgotten a lot of them, but I'll share what I do remember. The trouble is, can we really go around blocking off all those passages? A lot of them serve as useful shortcuts for getting around the castle, and I'm sure the students use them today as much as my generation did."
"There are too many of them for monitoring charms to be practical," Filius chimed in, "even if we divided them equally among the staff. We'd all be getting scores of alerts every time classes changed. It might be possible to restrict the charms to only operate after-hours, but that wouldn't have made any difference last night; Black was in and out before the Feast had even ended."
"Maybe we should start by focusing on ways into and out of the castle?" Iruka suggested. "It won't matter if he can get around the castle unseen if he can't get in in the first place. That would make things much harder for him without affecting the students much; we could just tell them that for security reasons, the outer doors are being locked at night. A few couples will miss out on moonlit evening strolls by the lake, but those are probably less romantic than they used to be thanks to the Dementors."
"That does seem a reasonable compromise," Albus said as several other staff nodded their agreement. "Very well, we will lock the castle's entrances from dinner through breakfast, and block off all known passages into and out of the school, until Sirius Black has been apprehended. I shall inform the students at lunch today."
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While they waited for the Fat Lady to calm down enough to allow repairs to be made, the entrance to Gryffindor Tower was being operated by a particularly irritating portrait of a man named Sir Cadogan. The painted knight was obsessed with challenging people to duels, and changed the password to the portal with such frequency that students were often caught on the hop.
Harry was now being followed around the castle almost continuously by the staff (and occasionally Percy Weasley). He was chafing at it fairly badly, though Iruka volunteering to handle it more often seemed to make the whole thing more bearable. The third-year Gryffindor would probably have gone insane if he hadn't managed to convince his Head-of-House to allow him to attend Quidditch practice as long as an adult supervised. Even over two years out of the cupboard, he was still understandably not fond of any form of confinement, and flying was still his favorite form of relaxation.
A/N: That staff meeting scene was written by basically having the characters voice my thought process in close to real time. Seriously, whatever ideas or arguments I came up with ended up in the mouth of a character before I did much consideration further.
Between car shopping, Thanksgiving, and various other interruptions, I have gotten literally no writing done in the last few weeks. Times like this are why I keep such a large buffer of un-posted chapters.
Fic Recommendation: "Harry Potter, et al, and the Keystone Council" by OlegGunnarsson - It's still a work-in-progress, but a brilliantly unique story. Basically, it follows five versions of Harry (including one that would be Canon!Harry were it not for their link) that are able to communicate mentally with each other. It's very well-written and does an amazing job of balancing the overlapping and divergent events between the five different realities.
Posted 02 December 2018
Current WIP Chapter: 69
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