Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Searching for Disaster
Title: Searching for Disaster: The New Professor
Author: Shadow Rebirth
Rating: T/PG-13
Warnings: coarse language, adult themes, spoilers
Chapter WC: 3,347
Story WC: 34,634
First Written: October 14, 2008
Last Edited: October 31, 2008
Posted: October 31, 2008
Summary: Owls, cauldrons, and pointed hats? Harry Potter was not amused. And he still wasn't entirely sure that his human trafficking theory had been wrong. Warning! Features a very cynical Harry. AU, no pairings.
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Searching for Disaster
Chapter 9
The New Professor
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Harry casually stroked Voldemort, his jarvey, as he lay on his bed, reading a book. Early morning light streamed through his bedroom window, causing patterns to dance across his bed.
"Boy!" Vernon's voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs. "Get down here now or I won't be taking you!" His voice lowered into unintelligible grumbling as he stomped away.
Harry rolled his eyes and then snapped his book shut. He picked Voldemort up and set him onto his shoulder before proceeding to pick up his trunk and drag it down the stairs.
Voldemort got along surprisingly well with Harry--and only Harry. The jarvey was still under a silencing spell, but managed to make its feelings well-known regardless. Harry would love to scare the wits out of his relatives with a talking ferret--though, granted, they'd been pretty pissed off as it was when he'd come home a month ago with a pet anyway--but Haemon, Zacharias' father, had told him that he'd have to take the spell off himself. Incentive, the wizard had claimed, but the infuriating smirk on his face had spoken volumes about Haemon's amusement over the matter.
When Harry reached the bottom step, his trunk hit the floor with a loud thud. Petunia screeched some sort of a reprimand from the kitchen. Harry just kept walking, heading though the front door, while Voldemort silently snickered from his shoulder. Or at least Harry thought the jarvey was snickering; it was kind of hard to tell.
Harry knew he was fortunate have been able to talk Vernon into driving him to King's Cross Station, but that didn't make the ride any more comfortable. It was only him and his uncle in the car and they both were silent the whole time, purposefully ignoring each other. When the car jerked to a stop in front of the station, Harry barely even managed to pull his trunk from the car and close the door before Vernon drove off.
Harry kicked a small rock after the car and smirked when it hit the rear bumper with a satisfying thunk.
He then turned his attention back onto the train station and headed off to find cart for his trunk. He got a few odd glances directed at Voldemort, but that wasn't too surprising, considering that the jarvey was the size of a house cat. Harry glared at the few people who bothered to stare for more than a few seconds and they quickly hurried on their way.
The young wizard couldn't stop a grin from covering his face. Now he just had to wait for the students' reactions...
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"Harry," Daphne greeted quietly as she slipped into the train compartment.
Harry glanced up from where he'd been staring out the window to return her greeting in kind. After the whole house-elf fiasco he'd owled her, explaining what'd happened; not that he'd really needed to, considering how it'd been all over the news. They'd corresponded a few times over the rest of the summer, as had Zacharias.
"I hear that we have an ex-auror for our Defense professor this year," Daphne said suddenly.
Harry snorted. "Yeah, doubtless Dumbledore and the Ministry want to make sure we're particularly protected, what with last year's events and what happened over the summer."
"Yes," Daphne said while nodding in agreement. "It will be good for us as well; he shall doubtlessly know more about Defense than anyone else the Headmaster could get for the position."
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but before he could the compartment door opened once more, this time admitting Zacharias'. Daphne and Harry both stared at him.
"Uh, Zack..." Harry said slowly, still staring. "Didn't your hair used to be, you know...black?"
Zacharias grinned sheepishly and self-consciously ran a hand through his shockingly white hair. Daphne stifled a giggle behind one hand.
"Er, yeah," he replied. "I kinda had this accident with one of my father's potions. The color's supposed to fade in a few weeks, but until then..."
"I dunno," Daphne said with a smirk, "It's kind of-- roughish." The last part of her sentence came out strangled, revealing exactly what she thought. Zacharias threw her a mock-glare and slumped into his chair.
"Well it's better than pink or something."
Both Harry and Daphne snorted into their hands.
A half an hour later the train was well on its way to Hogwarts. Harry had introduced Daphne to Voldemort, who was infinitely amused by the name and by the jarvey itself. Voldemort took to her astonishingly well, but seemed to be particularly vindictive towards Zacharias and even bit him when he got too close. The now white haired wizard just huffed and ignored him, cradling his throbbing finger, while the jarvey smirked from his spot on Daphne's lap.
The group's conversation was cut off when the door to their compartment suddenly slammed open. Standing there, glowering, was Draco Malfoy.
"Potter--" he began to howl.
"Not here," Harry interjected smoothly. "It's Tepes, remember?"
Malfoy's glare increased tenfold and vicious snarl rose up onto his face. "Don't you dare play that bloody game with me! Not after what you did--" he snapped, only to suddenly cut himself off. His gaze had drifted from Harry to Zacharias' hair. "What the bloody hell happened to you?" he asked incredulously.
To Harry's great surprise, Zacharias didn't huff like he would have expected. Instead the wizard smirked coolly and gazed at Malfoy with half-lidded eyes.
"Vlad sucked the life from me," Zacharias said, "Leaving my hair white as a testament to my survival."
The compartment went completely silent as Malfoy stared at Zacharias, caught between shock and incredulity. "But he-- he's not..." he trailed weakly off, glancing between Zacharias and Harry.
"It's alright, Draco," Harry said soothingly while patting Malfoy on the arm. "I can understand your confusion. The truth can get so muddled up sometimes. Now, what were you trying to say?" From the corner of his eye, Harry noticed that Zacharias was biting his lip, trying desperately not to laugh.
Malfoy managed to draw himself up to his intimidating height of 5'1" once more. "I was going to say that you...-- I mean Potter-- I mean...NO! That's it! I'm not dealing with this bullshit anymore!" He waved his arms around violently, once again worked up. "You. Are. Not. A. Vampire!"
Harry titled his head to the side and smiled brightly. "Nope!" he agreed. Malfoy faltered and then deflated, staring at Harry in shock. "But my godfather is a werewolf." Malfoy continued to stare at him, his mouth working soundlessly. Harry patted him consolingly on the shoulder and then steered him out of the compartment. "Have a nice day!"
And with that the door slammed shut.
For several moments no one said anything. Then...
"Your godfather is a werewolf?"
"No," Harry told Zacharias with a snort. "But Malfoy certainly doesn't know that."
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Watching the Sorting Ceremony turned out to be far more boring than participating in it. But maybe that was just because Harry wasn't hyped up on adrenaline this time around. Either way, by the time the last name had been called out, Harry was practically falling asleep in his food.
"Hello Harry!" a cheerful voice suddenly called out.
Harry jerked awake and peered around blearily. "Who? What? When?" he asked before he could stop himself. He glanced around for moment before his eyes landed on a small first year sitting across from him. The boy had a round, beaming face and mousy brown hair.
"Hello!" the boy repeated eagerly. "I'm-- I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Hufflepuff too. Just got sorted!" He reached out, grabbed Harry's hand, and began to shake it before the older boy could even open his mouth to reply. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement. "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. Do you-- do you think that later, after the feast, I could take your picture? I've got a camera and a boy on the train said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move."
Harry stared at Colin, his mouth gaping. Next to him Zacharias snickered quietly, but quickly quieted when Harry threw him a glare.
"Er, right," Harry said while shifting uncomfortably. Colin was literally bouncing in his seat while staring at Harry with open awe. Harry nearly snapped at the boy, when suddenly an idea crossed his mind. "You said you had a camera? You any good with it?"
Colin nodded fervently. "I've had it since I was little--my mum's a photographer."
"Hmm," Harry mused, repressing a grin, "I may just have a use for you, Colin--May I call you Colin?" The boy nodded again, beginning to resemble a bobble-head doll. Harry momentarily mused that it looked like the boy's head was going to fall off before quickly flicking the thought away, because he just didn't care. "Well then, Colin, how would you like to help me out?"
Colin leaned across the table, eager. This time Harry didn't stop the dark smirk from blooming across his face.
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Almost as soon as Harry stepped into the Hufflepuff common room that night, he was pulled aside by Professor Sprout. He waved Zacharias and Colin's concerned looks off and followed the witch into her office.
"I would like to speak to you about your potions grades, Harry," Sprout said once they were both seated.
Harry sighed silently. Great; this was exactly what he wanted to deal with right now.
"You failed the class and your exam due to your lack of attendance," Sprout continued, oblivious to his annoyance. "Both Headmaster Dumbledore and myself are worried about this." She paused. "But I doubt that my words will have any affect on you."
Harry's head jerked up to stare at the head of his house, surprise. To his increasing shock, Sprout smirked--actually /smirked!/--at his expression.
"We Hufflepuffs may be diligent workers, Mr. Potter," she said, "But that does not mean that we are unobservant; quite the opposite in fact. I have seen your blatant refusal to attend Severus' classes. I can understand your reasoning, but, regardless, your actions stand only to hurt your own schooling."
Harry mouth open and closed silently a couple of time before he snapped it closed. Warily eyeing the older witch, Harry decided that there might actually be far more to her than he'd first assumed. Not that he'd ever had much of a chance to speak to her in the first place, but still...It seemed that she was far more intelligent than she appeared.
"What are you proposing?" Harry asked cautiously.
"Proposing?" Sprout reiterated, her lips once again quirking up to form a grin. "I'm not proposing anything. I'm informing you of your new class arrangements." Cold dread settled in Harry's stomach, but none of his frantic thoughts managed to stop the next words that fell from Sprout's lips. "In order to catch up with the past year of classes that you missed as well as to work on this year's curriculum, you will be attending private lessons with Professor Snape."
Oh hell no.
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"Harry?"
"..."
"Harry?"
"..."
"Haaaaaaaarrryyyyy--"
Finally Harry slammed his book down onto the Hufflepuff table and glared fiercely at the person across from him. "What?" he snapped and many of the people around him drew back in shock and fear. The annoying young boy known as Colin only grinned however, not deterred in the slightest.
"Are you in a bad mood?" he chirped.
"Colin?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Thankfully, Colin's mouth shut with audible click. That was one good thing about the boy's scary hero worshipping of Harry: he would do whatever he was told to do.
Harry sighed and rubbed one of his temples to stave off his growing headache. He was only putting up with Colin because having a kid with a camera who thought you were Merlin himself could be very useful. But that didn't make the boy any less annoying. Harry was seriously considering placing a silencing spell on the first year...As soon as he learnt how to cast it.
As Harry contemplated going to the library that evening to begin his researching of the spell, he suddenly groaned and let his head fall to the table with a thump. He couldn't go to the library that evening for the very same reason that he was currently in foul mood: He had private lessons with Snape that evening. And for every evening in the week. And for every week in the year.
"Just kill me now," Harry groaned.
Zacharias snickered. "Still lamenting over your schedule?" he asked. He tried to sound serious, but much of his amusement still leaked into his tone.
Harry turned his head just enough so that he could glare at the boy next to him.
"Well, look on the bright side," Zacharias quickly amended. "That's not until this evening. And we have Defense first thing, so we get to meet our new teacher next. Plus, when you do have lessons with Snape, you don't have to deal with a bunch other kids like we do. "You'll just...have Snape...all to yourself..." Zacharias couldn't help himself: he burst out into snickers.
Harry upped his glare a notch. "Stuff it, whitey."
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Harry first thought upon seeing their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was "What the hell happened to his face?". His second thought, upon registering the man's presence, was "Why is he standing behind me?"
With a yelp, Harry dove to the side and pressed his back against one of the castle walls. "What the bloody hell?!" he hissed. "Why the fuck were you sneaking up on me?"
The man stood in the entrance to the Defense classroom, right where Harry had been moments before. He had a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair and a face that looked as though it'd been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash and a large chunk of his nose was missing.
But what really made Harry stare was the man's eyes.
One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up and down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye--and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all Harry could see was whiteness.
"Constant vigilance!" the scarred man suddenly barked, causing Harry to jump slightly. "You attract too much interest, Potter, to not pay attention to your surroundings. Be more careful next time."
And with that the man continued on into the classroom while Harry gazed after him in shock. The man was limping and with a jolt Harry realized that there was a clawed wooden foot protruding from underneath his robes. It made a dull clunk every time he took a step.
This was their new professor? Slowly a grin spread across Harry's face. He had a feeling that this year was going to be interesting.
Once the strange man was seating at the desk in the front of the classroom he took out a register and began to call out names. His normal eye moved steadily down the list while his other one--a magical eye, Harry assumed--swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered.
"Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present. "I am Alastor Moody, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. After the events that aspired here last year--" His mouth twisted into the mockery of a grin and both of his eyes landed on Harry for a split second. "--Dumbledore asked me to come here and teach."
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After dinner that night Harry literally dragged his feet as he walked down through the dungeons towards the potions classroom. He wanted to be anywhere but where he was, but he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that if he didn't attend the class, Sprout would personally drag him there. And while the head of Hufflepuff was generally a sweet-tempered woman, one did not want to make her mad.
At the end of what felt like a long funeral march, Harry stopped in front of the door to the classroom. The dark wood stretched above him as if mocking his impeding doom. Harry glared at it, stuck his chin out, and then yanked the door open--
--Only to yelp as he found Professor Snape standing in the doorway, glowering down at him.
"What the fu--?!"
"Language, Potter," Snape sneered.
"What, not taking any points?" Harry brooded. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from the older wizard.
"No." Snape turned on his heel and walked into the classroom, his cloak fluttering around him. Harry hesitated for a moment before following. "I highly doubt that you care about house points," Snape continued. "So I won't bother taking them, as it would be pointless. Instead, for every time you manage to piss me off, you'll have to spend another hour here."
Harry splutter, indignant. That was the one thing that he wouldn't be able to stand, and Snape knew it. "You wouldn't--!"
"I would. And you know it." Snape's smooth voice easily sliced through the air, silencing Harry's protests. He paused behind his desk and leaned over it to stare at Harry. "Listen up, Potter. Neither you nor I want to be in this situation, but as a teacher--" The sneer rose back up on his face. "--I am obligated to do so. Follow my orders and we will have no problems. We will get in and out of this classroom in as short a time as possible. Am I clear?"
"Crystal," Harry bit out through gritted teeth.
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When Harry arrived back at the Hufflepuff common room, most of the students were still up. He quickly bypassed them and headed for the dorm rooms. Along the way he passed Zacharias and Colin and told them that he'd be down in a second.
As soon as he'd stepped into his dorm room, Harry dropped his book bag onto the floor next to his bed and released a sigh. Working with Snape was hell, no doubt about it, and the man didn't seem to be too glad about having to work with him through the entire past year's curriculum.
Unfortunately they were both stuck.
Harry considered staying in the room instead of going back out with everyone else, but ditched the idea after a moment. Colin at the very least would come looking for him and the whole situation would be more trouble that it was worth. The young wizard was just turning back around to the door when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that caused him to freeze in his tracks.
He raced out of the dorm room and bounded into the common room, causing people to stare in surprise. He was cussing up a storm while frantically looking around.
"Harry?!" Zacharias gaped at him in confusion.
Harry whirled around to face him. "I can't find him! His cage is empty and--"
"Potter!" one of the female Prefects bellowed as she pushed through the crowd. "What's going on? What're you talking about?"
"He escaped! Voldemort escaped! He was up in my dorm room, but he's gone now and I don't know where he is!"
"What?!"
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*A/N: With this chapter we begin delving completely in AU. I have some interesting things planned, but most of it won't start until Harry's fifth year. Speaking of which, Harry's second, third and possibly forth years will go by relatively quickly. The main point of the plot will being in his fifth year, so everything until then is really just Harry growing up emotionally and magically. And it'll set up a lot of things too, of course.
For NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I'll be working on /Shades of Gray/, which means that there won't be another update for at least a month. By then I'll probably be sick of working on SoG though, so doubtless I'll easily be able to churn out this story.
And finally, I've also recently started a yahoo group for my fanfictions. It'll act as an archive, but it'll also have posted some different information. If you have any questions about this story, please direction them there and I'll get back to you. Please check it out at: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShadowRebirthFanfiction
Thanks and please review!
--S.R.
Author: Shadow Rebirth
Rating: T/PG-13
Warnings: coarse language, adult themes, spoilers
Chapter WC: 3,347
Story WC: 34,634
First Written: October 14, 2008
Last Edited: October 31, 2008
Posted: October 31, 2008
Summary: Owls, cauldrons, and pointed hats? Harry Potter was not amused. And he still wasn't entirely sure that his human trafficking theory had been wrong. Warning! Features a very cynical Harry. AU, no pairings.
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Searching for Disaster
Chapter 9
The New Professor
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Harry casually stroked Voldemort, his jarvey, as he lay on his bed, reading a book. Early morning light streamed through his bedroom window, causing patterns to dance across his bed.
"Boy!" Vernon's voice boomed from the bottom of the stairs. "Get down here now or I won't be taking you!" His voice lowered into unintelligible grumbling as he stomped away.
Harry rolled his eyes and then snapped his book shut. He picked Voldemort up and set him onto his shoulder before proceeding to pick up his trunk and drag it down the stairs.
Voldemort got along surprisingly well with Harry--and only Harry. The jarvey was still under a silencing spell, but managed to make its feelings well-known regardless. Harry would love to scare the wits out of his relatives with a talking ferret--though, granted, they'd been pretty pissed off as it was when he'd come home a month ago with a pet anyway--but Haemon, Zacharias' father, had told him that he'd have to take the spell off himself. Incentive, the wizard had claimed, but the infuriating smirk on his face had spoken volumes about Haemon's amusement over the matter.
When Harry reached the bottom step, his trunk hit the floor with a loud thud. Petunia screeched some sort of a reprimand from the kitchen. Harry just kept walking, heading though the front door, while Voldemort silently snickered from his shoulder. Or at least Harry thought the jarvey was snickering; it was kind of hard to tell.
Harry knew he was fortunate have been able to talk Vernon into driving him to King's Cross Station, but that didn't make the ride any more comfortable. It was only him and his uncle in the car and they both were silent the whole time, purposefully ignoring each other. When the car jerked to a stop in front of the station, Harry barely even managed to pull his trunk from the car and close the door before Vernon drove off.
Harry kicked a small rock after the car and smirked when it hit the rear bumper with a satisfying thunk.
He then turned his attention back onto the train station and headed off to find cart for his trunk. He got a few odd glances directed at Voldemort, but that wasn't too surprising, considering that the jarvey was the size of a house cat. Harry glared at the few people who bothered to stare for more than a few seconds and they quickly hurried on their way.
The young wizard couldn't stop a grin from covering his face. Now he just had to wait for the students' reactions...
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"Harry," Daphne greeted quietly as she slipped into the train compartment.
Harry glanced up from where he'd been staring out the window to return her greeting in kind. After the whole house-elf fiasco he'd owled her, explaining what'd happened; not that he'd really needed to, considering how it'd been all over the news. They'd corresponded a few times over the rest of the summer, as had Zacharias.
"I hear that we have an ex-auror for our Defense professor this year," Daphne said suddenly.
Harry snorted. "Yeah, doubtless Dumbledore and the Ministry want to make sure we're particularly protected, what with last year's events and what happened over the summer."
"Yes," Daphne said while nodding in agreement. "It will be good for us as well; he shall doubtlessly know more about Defense than anyone else the Headmaster could get for the position."
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but before he could the compartment door opened once more, this time admitting Zacharias'. Daphne and Harry both stared at him.
"Uh, Zack..." Harry said slowly, still staring. "Didn't your hair used to be, you know...black?"
Zacharias grinned sheepishly and self-consciously ran a hand through his shockingly white hair. Daphne stifled a giggle behind one hand.
"Er, yeah," he replied. "I kinda had this accident with one of my father's potions. The color's supposed to fade in a few weeks, but until then..."
"I dunno," Daphne said with a smirk, "It's kind of-- roughish." The last part of her sentence came out strangled, revealing exactly what she thought. Zacharias threw her a mock-glare and slumped into his chair.
"Well it's better than pink or something."
Both Harry and Daphne snorted into their hands.
A half an hour later the train was well on its way to Hogwarts. Harry had introduced Daphne to Voldemort, who was infinitely amused by the name and by the jarvey itself. Voldemort took to her astonishingly well, but seemed to be particularly vindictive towards Zacharias and even bit him when he got too close. The now white haired wizard just huffed and ignored him, cradling his throbbing finger, while the jarvey smirked from his spot on Daphne's lap.
The group's conversation was cut off when the door to their compartment suddenly slammed open. Standing there, glowering, was Draco Malfoy.
"Potter--" he began to howl.
"Not here," Harry interjected smoothly. "It's Tepes, remember?"
Malfoy's glare increased tenfold and vicious snarl rose up onto his face. "Don't you dare play that bloody game with me! Not after what you did--" he snapped, only to suddenly cut himself off. His gaze had drifted from Harry to Zacharias' hair. "What the bloody hell happened to you?" he asked incredulously.
To Harry's great surprise, Zacharias didn't huff like he would have expected. Instead the wizard smirked coolly and gazed at Malfoy with half-lidded eyes.
"Vlad sucked the life from me," Zacharias said, "Leaving my hair white as a testament to my survival."
The compartment went completely silent as Malfoy stared at Zacharias, caught between shock and incredulity. "But he-- he's not..." he trailed weakly off, glancing between Zacharias and Harry.
"It's alright, Draco," Harry said soothingly while patting Malfoy on the arm. "I can understand your confusion. The truth can get so muddled up sometimes. Now, what were you trying to say?" From the corner of his eye, Harry noticed that Zacharias was biting his lip, trying desperately not to laugh.
Malfoy managed to draw himself up to his intimidating height of 5'1" once more. "I was going to say that you...-- I mean Potter-- I mean...NO! That's it! I'm not dealing with this bullshit anymore!" He waved his arms around violently, once again worked up. "You. Are. Not. A. Vampire!"
Harry titled his head to the side and smiled brightly. "Nope!" he agreed. Malfoy faltered and then deflated, staring at Harry in shock. "But my godfather is a werewolf." Malfoy continued to stare at him, his mouth working soundlessly. Harry patted him consolingly on the shoulder and then steered him out of the compartment. "Have a nice day!"
And with that the door slammed shut.
For several moments no one said anything. Then...
"Your godfather is a werewolf?"
"No," Harry told Zacharias with a snort. "But Malfoy certainly doesn't know that."
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Watching the Sorting Ceremony turned out to be far more boring than participating in it. But maybe that was just because Harry wasn't hyped up on adrenaline this time around. Either way, by the time the last name had been called out, Harry was practically falling asleep in his food.
"Hello Harry!" a cheerful voice suddenly called out.
Harry jerked awake and peered around blearily. "Who? What? When?" he asked before he could stop himself. He glanced around for moment before his eyes landed on a small first year sitting across from him. The boy had a round, beaming face and mousy brown hair.
"Hello!" the boy repeated eagerly. "I'm-- I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Hufflepuff too. Just got sorted!" He reached out, grabbed Harry's hand, and began to shake it before the older boy could even open his mouth to reply. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement. "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. Do you-- do you think that later, after the feast, I could take your picture? I've got a camera and a boy on the train said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move."
Harry stared at Colin, his mouth gaping. Next to him Zacharias snickered quietly, but quickly quieted when Harry threw him a glare.
"Er, right," Harry said while shifting uncomfortably. Colin was literally bouncing in his seat while staring at Harry with open awe. Harry nearly snapped at the boy, when suddenly an idea crossed his mind. "You said you had a camera? You any good with it?"
Colin nodded fervently. "I've had it since I was little--my mum's a photographer."
"Hmm," Harry mused, repressing a grin, "I may just have a use for you, Colin--May I call you Colin?" The boy nodded again, beginning to resemble a bobble-head doll. Harry momentarily mused that it looked like the boy's head was going to fall off before quickly flicking the thought away, because he just didn't care. "Well then, Colin, how would you like to help me out?"
Colin leaned across the table, eager. This time Harry didn't stop the dark smirk from blooming across his face.
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Almost as soon as Harry stepped into the Hufflepuff common room that night, he was pulled aside by Professor Sprout. He waved Zacharias and Colin's concerned looks off and followed the witch into her office.
"I would like to speak to you about your potions grades, Harry," Sprout said once they were both seated.
Harry sighed silently. Great; this was exactly what he wanted to deal with right now.
"You failed the class and your exam due to your lack of attendance," Sprout continued, oblivious to his annoyance. "Both Headmaster Dumbledore and myself are worried about this." She paused. "But I doubt that my words will have any affect on you."
Harry's head jerked up to stare at the head of his house, surprise. To his increasing shock, Sprout smirked--actually /smirked!/--at his expression.
"We Hufflepuffs may be diligent workers, Mr. Potter," she said, "But that does not mean that we are unobservant; quite the opposite in fact. I have seen your blatant refusal to attend Severus' classes. I can understand your reasoning, but, regardless, your actions stand only to hurt your own schooling."
Harry mouth open and closed silently a couple of time before he snapped it closed. Warily eyeing the older witch, Harry decided that there might actually be far more to her than he'd first assumed. Not that he'd ever had much of a chance to speak to her in the first place, but still...It seemed that she was far more intelligent than she appeared.
"What are you proposing?" Harry asked cautiously.
"Proposing?" Sprout reiterated, her lips once again quirking up to form a grin. "I'm not proposing anything. I'm informing you of your new class arrangements." Cold dread settled in Harry's stomach, but none of his frantic thoughts managed to stop the next words that fell from Sprout's lips. "In order to catch up with the past year of classes that you missed as well as to work on this year's curriculum, you will be attending private lessons with Professor Snape."
Oh hell no.
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"Harry?"
"..."
"Harry?"
"..."
"Haaaaaaaarrryyyyy--"
Finally Harry slammed his book down onto the Hufflepuff table and glared fiercely at the person across from him. "What?" he snapped and many of the people around him drew back in shock and fear. The annoying young boy known as Colin only grinned however, not deterred in the slightest.
"Are you in a bad mood?" he chirped.
"Colin?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Thankfully, Colin's mouth shut with audible click. That was one good thing about the boy's scary hero worshipping of Harry: he would do whatever he was told to do.
Harry sighed and rubbed one of his temples to stave off his growing headache. He was only putting up with Colin because having a kid with a camera who thought you were Merlin himself could be very useful. But that didn't make the boy any less annoying. Harry was seriously considering placing a silencing spell on the first year...As soon as he learnt how to cast it.
As Harry contemplated going to the library that evening to begin his researching of the spell, he suddenly groaned and let his head fall to the table with a thump. He couldn't go to the library that evening for the very same reason that he was currently in foul mood: He had private lessons with Snape that evening. And for every evening in the week. And for every week in the year.
"Just kill me now," Harry groaned.
Zacharias snickered. "Still lamenting over your schedule?" he asked. He tried to sound serious, but much of his amusement still leaked into his tone.
Harry turned his head just enough so that he could glare at the boy next to him.
"Well, look on the bright side," Zacharias quickly amended. "That's not until this evening. And we have Defense first thing, so we get to meet our new teacher next. Plus, when you do have lessons with Snape, you don't have to deal with a bunch other kids like we do. "You'll just...have Snape...all to yourself..." Zacharias couldn't help himself: he burst out into snickers.
Harry upped his glare a notch. "Stuff it, whitey."
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Harry first thought upon seeing their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was "What the hell happened to his face?". His second thought, upon registering the man's presence, was "Why is he standing behind me?"
With a yelp, Harry dove to the side and pressed his back against one of the castle walls. "What the bloody hell?!" he hissed. "Why the fuck were you sneaking up on me?"
The man stood in the entrance to the Defense classroom, right where Harry had been moments before. He had a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair and a face that looked as though it'd been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash and a large chunk of his nose was missing.
But what really made Harry stare was the man's eyes.
One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up and down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye--and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all Harry could see was whiteness.
"Constant vigilance!" the scarred man suddenly barked, causing Harry to jump slightly. "You attract too much interest, Potter, to not pay attention to your surroundings. Be more careful next time."
And with that the man continued on into the classroom while Harry gazed after him in shock. The man was limping and with a jolt Harry realized that there was a clawed wooden foot protruding from underneath his robes. It made a dull clunk every time he took a step.
This was their new professor? Slowly a grin spread across Harry's face. He had a feeling that this year was going to be interesting.
Once the strange man was seating at the desk in the front of the classroom he took out a register and began to call out names. His normal eye moved steadily down the list while his other one--a magical eye, Harry assumed--swiveled around, fixing upon each student as he or she answered.
"Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present. "I am Alastor Moody, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. After the events that aspired here last year--" His mouth twisted into the mockery of a grin and both of his eyes landed on Harry for a split second. "--Dumbledore asked me to come here and teach."
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After dinner that night Harry literally dragged his feet as he walked down through the dungeons towards the potions classroom. He wanted to be anywhere but where he was, but he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that if he didn't attend the class, Sprout would personally drag him there. And while the head of Hufflepuff was generally a sweet-tempered woman, one did not want to make her mad.
At the end of what felt like a long funeral march, Harry stopped in front of the door to the classroom. The dark wood stretched above him as if mocking his impeding doom. Harry glared at it, stuck his chin out, and then yanked the door open--
--Only to yelp as he found Professor Snape standing in the doorway, glowering down at him.
"What the fu--?!"
"Language, Potter," Snape sneered.
"What, not taking any points?" Harry brooded. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from the older wizard.
"No." Snape turned on his heel and walked into the classroom, his cloak fluttering around him. Harry hesitated for a moment before following. "I highly doubt that you care about house points," Snape continued. "So I won't bother taking them, as it would be pointless. Instead, for every time you manage to piss me off, you'll have to spend another hour here."
Harry splutter, indignant. That was the one thing that he wouldn't be able to stand, and Snape knew it. "You wouldn't--!"
"I would. And you know it." Snape's smooth voice easily sliced through the air, silencing Harry's protests. He paused behind his desk and leaned over it to stare at Harry. "Listen up, Potter. Neither you nor I want to be in this situation, but as a teacher--" The sneer rose back up on his face. "--I am obligated to do so. Follow my orders and we will have no problems. We will get in and out of this classroom in as short a time as possible. Am I clear?"
"Crystal," Harry bit out through gritted teeth.
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When Harry arrived back at the Hufflepuff common room, most of the students were still up. He quickly bypassed them and headed for the dorm rooms. Along the way he passed Zacharias and Colin and told them that he'd be down in a second.
As soon as he'd stepped into his dorm room, Harry dropped his book bag onto the floor next to his bed and released a sigh. Working with Snape was hell, no doubt about it, and the man didn't seem to be too glad about having to work with him through the entire past year's curriculum.
Unfortunately they were both stuck.
Harry considered staying in the room instead of going back out with everyone else, but ditched the idea after a moment. Colin at the very least would come looking for him and the whole situation would be more trouble that it was worth. The young wizard was just turning back around to the door when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that caused him to freeze in his tracks.
He raced out of the dorm room and bounded into the common room, causing people to stare in surprise. He was cussing up a storm while frantically looking around.
"Harry?!" Zacharias gaped at him in confusion.
Harry whirled around to face him. "I can't find him! His cage is empty and--"
"Potter!" one of the female Prefects bellowed as she pushed through the crowd. "What's going on? What're you talking about?"
"He escaped! Voldemort escaped! He was up in my dorm room, but he's gone now and I don't know where he is!"
"What?!"
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*A/N: With this chapter we begin delving completely in AU. I have some interesting things planned, but most of it won't start until Harry's fifth year. Speaking of which, Harry's second, third and possibly forth years will go by relatively quickly. The main point of the plot will being in his fifth year, so everything until then is really just Harry growing up emotionally and magically. And it'll set up a lot of things too, of course.
For NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I'll be working on /Shades of Gray/, which means that there won't be another update for at least a month. By then I'll probably be sick of working on SoG though, so doubtless I'll easily be able to churn out this story.
And finally, I've also recently started a yahoo group for my fanfictions. It'll act as an archive, but it'll also have posted some different information. If you have any questions about this story, please direction them there and I'll get back to you. Please check it out at: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShadowRebirthFanfiction
Thanks and please review!
--S.R.
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