章節 22: Mad-Eye
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***
- Ennerweit.
Harry woke up suddenly.
Potter didn't even really feel the loss of consciousness - it seemed to him that he had literally closed his eyes for a second, and only the changes in the surrounding space told him that he had indeed blacked out. The ceiling was above him, and if memory served him correctly, the last thing Harry remembered was being hit by a red beam in the forest.- Here, drink this," came a gruff, harsh voice, and someone's hand held out a glass of greenish liquid to Potter.
Harry obediently accepted it, not even bothered by the accidental touch of someone else's fingers, and drained the contents in a few gulps. It felt like apple juice, except it was mixed with something... Something sour.
Harry looked at the owner of the hand and immediately recognised him as the man responsible for his recent adventures. And he didn't look even close to Pierce. But the information that he was facing the man who had attacked and terrified him some time ago made no impression on Harry. It was as if all his negative emotions had faded into the background, and only interest remained.
- Who are you? - Potter stood up and dared a simple question.
- My name is Alastor Moody. But that's not important right now. First you answer my question and then I'll answer yours. Are you Harry Potter?
- Is Alastor Moody the Mad-Eye?
- I suppose you could say that. So you're Potter?
- Yes, I am.
- When's your birthday?
- Thirty-first of July.
- Hmmm... Okay, that was a stupid question - a lot of people know, better tell me what you went over in spells in first year.
- We're on theory mostly... There's spell classification and stuff. Of the spells, just Diffindo, Lumos, Spanjifai and... Why is that?
- I just wanted to make sure you're really Harry Potter.
- Yeah, I really am him... It's weird, I'm not scared of you at all, but the first time I saw you I was scared shitless.
- That's normal, I gave you a calming potion to dull your emotions. And you're used to it. Okay... Anyway, I'm sorry, Harry," Moody was clearly trying to keep his voice soft. - I didn't expect to see you here, and I attacked you by mistake.
- What do you mean 'by mistake', how can you attack someone by mistake? Do you let that... What's its name... Tupefai into everyone you don't know?- Harry tried to feel angry and unfairly offended, to put indignation in his voice, but he failed miserably. No matter how hard he tried, he didn't feel any negative emotions.
- Stupefy, it was stupefy... Listen to me, Potter," Moody's soft voice was beginning to slip a note of irritation. - I've already apologised to you and I can calmly explain my reasoning. If you listened to Ted carefully, you must have got the wrong impression of me. I admit I was wrong. I came two days early to catch Nymphadora by surprise - she's my apprentice, and I check on her periodically. Sneaking into the house in an invisibility cloak, I discovered you. Notice I didn't attack you. I assumed that maybe you were here as a guest, and that was even though no one but Tonks and Lupin had ever been here. And despite that, I decided to wait for you to leave. You threw something out and were going to go back to your place. If that's what happened, I would have quietly continued my search for Nymphadora. But then you noticed me. You're an incredibly observant boy, let me tell you. I decided to stun you lightly, Stupefy, if anything, it's a spell of unconsciousness, it's practically harmless in itself, except that it throws you off if you overdo it. And that's where you surprised me. Not only did you spot me in time, but you were able to defend yourself from the attack, and I know for a fact that Protego is not a first year spell. And you confirmed it yourself when you told me what you were studying with Flitwick. Well, I made a mistake, I thought you were Nymphadora.
- What?
- What's not to understand? - Moody said harshly, but immediately picked himself up again and lowered his tone of voice. - You know Tonks is a metamorphomancer, don't you? Well, tell me, what's more likely, a freshman who's been here for some reason and has amazing powers of observation and knowledge of third year defence spells, or Nymphadora who's turned into Harry Potter for fun in order to look at the scar left by the Dark Lord... Or... Hmm, well, you don't know that yet... Anyway, who knows what's in her head? I thought Tonks was running away from me in a different guise. That's all. Actually, I threw a weak stun, and that's the only reason your shield held; then you dodged another spell, locked the door with Colloportus, and then tricked me by using the same trick again. Then you broke a window, jumped from the first floor and escaped. Well, it wasn't hard to track you down. If you were Nymphadora, I'd give you credit. What's up? Are you satisfied with my story?
Harry believed it. The story sounded very plausible, and he looked around a bit for any logical inconsistencies and nodded his head.
- Yes, it does.
- That's good, I need your help. Am I to understand that the Tonks have gone somewhere and will be back soon?
- Ted and Andromeda are at the shop and Tonks is at a friends, I don't know when they'll be back.
- That's what I thought. Anyway, I don't really want this little battle between you and me to reach the ears of your guardians. They're your guardians now, right?
- Yeah, that's right. You want me not to say anything to them?
- That's right. You realise I'm not to blame for this situation, right? That's why I need you not to say anything. You can say that we were just having tea," Moody let out a hoarse chuckle. - And see if I've tidied up your room properly, will you?
- Okay, I'll help you," Harry wasn't sure if he liked Mad-Eye, but he could see the general logic behind his actions.
Harry looked around his room: some of the things from the cupboard next to the door were lying on the floor, the door itself was still there, but the only thing was that the handle was on the left side of the door, not on the right as it should be. From this fact Potter made a simple conclusion - the door had been kicked in, but then put back in place, but only on the wrong side. The window looked as if it had just been glazed.
- My things were lying on the floor, neatly folded, and the door was on the wrong side.
Moody gave two swings of his wand: the door turned and things flew up and into place.
- Cool! - Harry said. - It's all right now.
- 'Well, that's good. I've already cleared up downstairs. Do you want tea?
* * *
Fifteen minutes later Harry and Mad-Eye were having tea in the kitchen. First Alastor asked Potter about school, and then he got interested in the incident with the troll - it was worth noting that he knew how to keep a conversation going. Finally, Moody broached the subject of the incident.
- Tell me, how did you find me? I don't understand it, and you were able to defend yourself in time.
- Well... - Harry decided not to reveal the contents of the unfortunate letter to anyone. - The window was closed, I closed it myself. But I didn't know you could turn invisible, so I knew there was someone here right away. I entered the first floor and thought that the intruder was somewhere in the house. And then the tip of my wand appeared out of thin air, so I defended myself at once.
- You know, I don't think any of the idiots I deal with could do something like that. And when I calculate and watch out for such incidents, all I get is misunderstanding and contempt. And I've saved my life more than once. And if it were some dark wizard in my place, you would be saved, but they are not.
- Do dark wizards still exist? I was told they've been gone since the death of You-Know-Who.
- Dark wizards were, are, and will be. And Dumbledore says it's not death at all, and I prefer to trust him... - Moody thought of something in his head, looked at Potter carefully and spoke in a different, more interested voice. - Listen, lad, are you by any chance interested in learning more about Defence Against the Dark Arts?
Harry's heart thumped sharply.
- Interested, of course I am.
- Well, that's good. I've never had a first year student before," Moody smirked. His grin could only be mistaken for a smile when the lights were off. - I'll show you some spells and tell you some stories. I won't be able to do it this holiday, but I'll visit you at Easter, and we'll see what you can do, your experience in destroying Dark Lords might come in handy... And I have to come here to see Nymphadora anyway.
- Thank you, I... Yes, thank you very much. - Harry didn't know what to say to him. - What do I have to do for the Easter holidays?
- Nothing. I'm not a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, thank goodness, so you'll just have to switch on your brain. And then we'll see what you are," Mad-Eye said and drained his cup in a gulp.
Harry had heard the Tonks beforehand. He could hear Andromeda arguing loudly with Nymphadora from the kitchen through the open window. Potter tried to make out the words, most of them he didn't quite understand, but he got the general picture: Tonks and her friends were having a wand fight and had been caught by the Muggle police. So Ted had to go to the station and get Nymphadora out of there.
When they entered the house, the conflict stopped abruptly, which once again confirmed Harry's assumption - the Tonks try not to swear in front of him. Ted was the first to enter the kitchen, and when he saw Harry and Moody peacefully drinking tea, he froze for a moment, but quickly pulled himself together and sat down at an unoccupied chair as if nothing had happened.
- I thought you were coming back after tomorrow? - he asked calmly, without addressing anyone in particular.
- You know, I changed my mind," Moody replied with a grin.
- Why didn't he tell us?
- I wanted it to be a surprise.
Ted gloomed, but he didn't have time to reply, because an upset Andromeda and an angry Nymphadora had just entered the kitchen. However, as soon as Tonks saw her mentor, she immediately brightened her face and spoke in surprise:
- What are you doing here?
- I thought I'd catch you. I've come up with a new programme to prepare for the Auror profession.
- No, I know what you're doing here today. You were supposed to be here for Christmas.
- Well, I'm here today. Aren't you happy to see me?
- No, I'm--
- Let's have some cake now that we're all together," Mrs Tonks said loudly and started pulling plates out of the cupboard.At the word 'cake' Harry quickly lost interest in the verbal altercation between Moody and Tonks and went to help Andromeda with the dishes.
- I'll leave you two to it, and I'll be back for Christmas, this time as promised. I have some business to attend to, but before I do that I'll do what I came here to do in the first place," Moody said and turned to Tonks. - Nymphadora.
- I told you not to call me....
- Stupefy," Moody suddenly exclaimed, pulling out his wand with incredible speed.
Tonks didn't even reach for hers. She didn't try to defend herself in any way; all she could do was gasp in surprise and fold her mouth into an 'O'. The spell hit her hand and Nymphadora passed out, managing not to even fall out of her chair.
- What are you doing?! - Mr Tonks exclaimed. - This is getting out of hand!
He pulled out his wand, but was in no hurry to use it, and Andromeda just frowned. She seemed to have expected something like this from the start, so she didn't react much.
Mad-Eye ignored them both, he waited for something for a while, and then exclaimed:
- Ennerweit!
And looking straight into the eyes of Tonks, who was flapping her eyelashes in bewilderment as she woke up, he said:
- "Defence against surprise attack exam failed... I told you - Constant Vigilance."
Moody turned around and, limping, walked out the door.
* * *
The last few days of the holidays passed quietly. There was no mention of Mad-Eye, and Harry never told anyone that he'd offered to teach him a lesson or two. At Christmas Potter went to the exhibition with Mr Tonks. And when they arrived home, Moody was nowhere to be found, only Nymphadora's overly pleased face telling him that the house had been visited by a retired and experienced Auror. At Christmas Harry faced another problem, he had to think of what he would give Justin and Tonks. He had no friends to send presents to, and no money to buy anything. And here came both, so there was considerable difficulty with the choice.
After several long hours spent in agonising contemplation, Potter settled on the traditional gifts: books. At first he wanted to give Tonks something related to her future Auror profession, but he didn't know where to buy it, so he settled on a book he found interesting. Nymphadora was pleased with the gift - at least it seemed so to Harry - and gave him five pairs of black and yellow gloves herself in return. Mr and Mrs Tonks gave him a second year history of magic textbook. Harry tried to smile as genuinely as possible, then thanked them, but he still wasn't sure he would ever open it.
Justin, on the other hand, wrote back in response to the parcel with the book that the Element had given him, saying that he thought the tradition of giving each other gifts was complete nonsense. In his opinion, two people who exchange gifts are only handing each other money spent on things the other finds useful. Therefore, it is much more rational to spend the funds independently. He also said that since Potter has already given a gift, he should also give something in return. Therefore, according to Finch-Fletchley, Harry may not have to pay for the Nimbus 2000 Quidditch broom recently bought for him.
Potter wasn't the least bit offended that Justin didn't thank him for the gift of the book. He disagreed with him on the subject of Christmas presents, but he was also well aware that everyone was entitled to their own opinion, which many people might not have. Harry decided that when he got to Hogwarts, he would make sure to thank Finch-Fletchley for the broom and agree not to send any more presents to each other.
However, the surprises at Christmas didn't end there. When Harry returned to his room in the late afternoon, he found a wrapped package on his bed, along with a note stating that the contents of the gift belonged to his parents. Inside was an invisibility cloak. Potter decided not to show the gift to anyone, not even Tonks and Justin, for it was without a doubt the most valuable thing he had ever owned, and maybe even seen. Now he wouldn't have to run and hide, he could just cover himself with this cloak and become invisible. Just like Moody did when he broke into the house through the window. The main thing was to make sure that no one knew about the cloak, otherwise the surprise effect would be lost if anything happened. Potter hid the treasure among his t-shirts and decided that he would only use it as a last resort.
The day after Christmas, he and Tonks went to some magical village where there were no Muggles. Nymphadora needed something for her classes, and Harry tagged along for the company. There was an old man there advertising the fastest owls and offering anyone doubting their speed a race. Potter had no doubts, but he begged Tonks to bring the Elemental from home anyway. Tonks apparated away with a loud clap, and returned ten minutes later with a cage containing an indignant owl that had apparently just been woken up. Harry tried to explain to the Elemental in human language what they wanted from it. The owl understood perfectly well, but was very unhappy that it had been woken up for some silly competition. She grunted indignantly and bit Potter's finger, but she gave herself into the old man's hands and took part in the impromptu race, along with eight speedy owls and one ordinary red owl. The owl took second place, while another owl of some young lad finished tenth, and Harry received six packets of owl wafers as a prize, one of which he immediately poured out to his pet as payment for the inconvenience.
On the last day of the holidays, Harry realised he couldn't wait any longer and set about his homework. He had clearly done spells and Potions and Transfiguration, but due to lack of time and desire he scribbled something similar on the answers for the rest of the subjects. After spending most of the day completing his assignments, Harry packed his things and went to bed.
Andromeda woke him up at six in the morning, Potter had a quick breakfast, got into Ted's car and made his way to the Hogwarts Express without any problems. And this time he didn't lock the compartment door. Because his friends were travelling in it with him....
Tonks was still angry with Justin and preferred to go in the compartment with her classmates, but that was just a small thing.
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