FicWad

Chapter 5: First Week Away and We Miss You!

The Book had this to say on Black Skeletons: Unlike normal skeletons they are not deadly damaged by blunt trauma and are like normal skeletons not susceptible to fire. If it was not for the arduous and vile even for the most amoral of necromancers, most would like one or more as their own better than golem enforcers. The downside is remembering to keep them well fed and to cater to their eccentricities.

Time passed and while the pair made acquaintances there was little that they really had in common with their housemates besides a desire to know and thus understand the world around them. Classes had been as they had expected from what they had heard from the older years. Still there had been some memorable moments in their time here so far. Their first classes for the most part were normal well as normal as they could be for Ravenclaws. The three that had stood out in the duo’s minds was their first potion class, first charms class and flying. They had in fact had both sent rather large letters to Alice and Anne. They were aware that the two would get in trouble without them there although it was Harry that they would actually listen to. Night was unnatural in the speed he could travel at and it was simpler than waiting on an Owl as their companions were connected enough to know when they needed them.

Harry was rather wary of the others familiars do to how most animals could feel the death that lingered about them. He knew that they would most likely deal with hostility from any ‘light’ magical creatures while the so called‘dark’ creatures would be drawn to them even more as they grew older and their powers matured. It had been a hope that there would be a charm to suppress that little problem though the book hinted at a solution though how to become able to wield the Silver Fire was something that was almost blatantly ignored. Perhaps when he had more experience that part would be more accessible or he would realize what it was.

Charm’s class was something that the pair as well as the rest of their Ravenclaw classmates was looking forward too. To be precise charms was the more exhaustive breadth of magic available to use. As it was most of their fellow classmates would have devoured books on theory as they were likely not allowed to practice active magic such as charms, transfiguration, dueling and the like while potions was not a violation of underage magic as that mostly tracked wands. There were exceptions in Pure Blood Families as that was how they kept their status as powerful and skilled.

As it was with their Head of House they were wondering what they would learn. Still most of them had researched him after finding out who would be teaching them and his skill as a duelist and a charms master was legendary. He had been modest enough not to go into it that first day, but a Ravenclaw was aRavenclaw and thus the library was duly raided as well as other sources of information.

The Ravenclaws were the first ones there though it was a close thing with the Hufflepuffs following shortly arriving in a unified group. They were all aware that even if he was rather short physically that one could say that he was short magically.

“Good morning class,” the professor said. “I am Filius Flitwick and welcome to Charms. In this class you will learn the basics of charms as well as the basic wand movements.”

As there was no real rivalry between the two houses to distract them the lesson started and got through the material far faster than most. Their head of house got through the swish and flick along with a stressing on pronunciation in spells. As it was Hermione was intently listening while Harry was trying not to twitch visibly.

‘Why would the movements be important?’ Harry thought in confusion. ‘I know why the movements are important while drawing runes but swishing and flicking seems odd. Even worse is the need to visualize and focus on a trigger word that must be spoken. That would make them less likely to use silent casting. A pity since not knowing what one is being subjected to makes counters harder.’

Suffice it to say most of the magic that Harry had worked with was either ritual or intent driven. Rituals used formal syntax in their words to better describe and focus the casters will to allow them to better define and control the results. Most of the offensive magic was intent of action based so he thought the desired result, drew his magic and let it form before releasing the spell. It was nice and simple after practice. At the beginning spells took time and effort to cast. Still he mostly used the flames and mental magic for the most part.

‘Wingardium Leviosa,’ Hermione practically broadcast causing Harry to twitch.

He was not used to the slight ability to tune into his friends general moods let alone specific thoughts. The ritual had been done due to the idea that there was a chance that the girls would be able to get into trouble and need help. It had been part of why he had been suppressing the annoyance he felt when it had all began. Unlike that wanker that called himself a dark lord, he knew that since he had subordinates that he had responsibilities to them as they had to him. Loyalty and obedience from minion to master was as important as loyalty and protection from master to minion.

Harry watched as Hermione clearly enunciated and waved her wand causing her feather to float. He sighed and when everyone was preoccupied with levitating their own feathers he merely flicked his wand toward the feather with his intent clear and what he hoped was just enough magic let free. Still he made sure that he would not get into the habit of vocalizing his spells even if he merely mouthed this one. He recalled what happened when he did more than let his magic flow. It had been unpleasant to say the least.

‘If I let too much magic out it would ignite the feather,’ Harry thought in annoyance, ‘however if I don’t allow enough magic to flow nothing or very little would happen. The same if I didn’t concentrate enough on what I want my magic to do. This wand is far too precise to merely let my magic rush uncontrolled. Precisely attuned to my own magic does allow for a better result. Still considering magic is like any other muscle and grows through training and use I have to be rather controlled when casting these simple spells or I might overload it and that would be more of a disaster here than anywhere else. The ghosts would most likely feel it and then they would tell someone.’

“Hermione,” Harry said as he watched her steering her feather about. “Could you try saying the spell quieter? There is no reason to shout and it would be beneficial to not get in the habit of shouting and sending so much magic in asingle spell.”

The look of disbelief in her eyes as that contradicted what the books she had said so far had instilled was quite visible. This caused two reactions in Harry one being that she would need to get a better ability to hide her thoughts and feelings with the second being that she put far too much faith in the written word for someone that was an experimenter. He had hoped that Hermione would want to use all of the scientific theories and methods to do what he knew wizards had failed to do. Quantify the ways of magic to better understand them. That would help him more than just sorting the disassembled facts that the wizards had gained.

“Trust me, Hermione,” Harry said as he held her eyes. “Not all that is known is written down and far too much is closely guarded. Far too much is hidden and eventually forgotten. Just work on being quieter as it makes things easier in time.”

“Ok, Harry,” Hermione said as she nodded sharply and slowly repeated her casting each time lowering her voice as a frown formed as it became harder at first. “It seems to take far too much effort to use though.”

“That’s just disbelief,” Harry said with a small twitch to his face. “You have been told just now that we have to pronounce things clearly and move the wand just so to do the spell. Now think back and was any of that necessary for accidental magic?”

“No,” Hermione said with a frown as her face scrunched up just so.

Harry resisted the sudden need to say that it was cute. He was a guy and he knew that he was letting his friendships distract him even if he enjoyed them. Still as emotionally beneficial as he found having friends in contrast to the ostracizing that the Dursleys had originally inspired, he was not really apeople person and with his status in the Wizarding World he found that his normal reactions might cause more harm than good. He was at times annoyed that the Dursleys had not stomped that part out of him, the over caring protective part, instead of their attempts to at the time break him into their servant in some sort of ugly stepson like role.

“See it is merely an ingrained belief that makes later usage of wandless and wordless magic so difficult,” Harry said with as reassuring as he could in public smile without killing his image as he was dreading the fan girls. “So with practice the otherwise ingrained habits wont form.”

“Thanks Harry,” Hermione said with a brilliant smile before turning back to her wand work.

Filius meanwhile had been going over the various pairs and had finally reached theirs to see like most of the Ravenclaws that their feathers were floating in front of them. He did prefer when he didn’t have the joint Gryffindor-Slytherin class as their rivalry tended to be counterproductive to their education although the Headmaster thought that pairing them up might ease the long instilled enmity.

“Well done Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger,” Flitwick said quietly as he watched them do more than subtle up and down motions with their feathers. “I hope that you both are enjoying class and your house.”

“Yes professor,” Hermione said with a smile at how much unlike the previous ostracism she had receiver for her cleverness. “It has been an enjoyable and educational class so far. Right, Harry?”

“I will admit that it is educational,” Harry said with a grumble. “I do hope that we will move at a decent pace unlike previous education…”

“You’re just upset that they wouldn’t let us skip so many grades,” Hermione said with a teasing tone. “Seriously Professor we have been trying to find things to challenge us mentally for a while.”

“Is it my fault that most of my previous classmates had the mental capacity and concentration of a sugar high chipmunk?” Harry said offhandedly. “Still it seems that for the most part it was a good choice to come here though the information on the other choices wasn’t that bad.”

His response had caused Flitwick to blink. He like the rest had never contemplated that the boy in front of him would go to any other school of magic. He momentarily felt a shiver of terror at what the boy in front of him would become if he had been a Durmstrang student. He had noticed that already Harry showed a level of both control and power above most of his other year mates. Though there was something nagging at the edge of his non-human ancestry. He may act cheerful and prefer to be that way, but beneath that exterior was a champion dueler who was not just a mere teacher of charms but amaster of the field who could weave spells together in such marvelous ways.

‘There is something about him,’ he thought as he watched the boy still absentmindedly maneuvering his feather when it should take most of his classmates’ entire concentration just to keep it airborne. ‘I feel something that puts me on edge. Not at all like young Remus, but it is something old and powerful. This bares further investigation though I feel traces of it now that I look with Ms. Granger as well. I best not insinuate anything to Albus though as he shows far too much of an interest in the lad.’

Putting off his still trembling instincts he smiled at Harry and said, “It is good to see that you are happy here. With time maybe there will be more interests stimulating you here. One never knows what new things one can find.”

“Don’t worry about it, Harry,” Hermione said as she started to circle his feather with hers showing that she was far more talented than she had thought.“We just grew up a bit fast and were just forced to wait for our classmates to do so.”

“Says the girl whose parents let her devour as much of the public library as possible,” Harry said with a slight pout barely formed. “Still having such resources did keep us out of trouble.”

“Considering your stance on bullies that is a good thing,” Hermione said happy to relax for the moment. “Still it was easier to avoid them at the time than handle them.”

“You had that choice,” Harry said with a hint of dark humor showing. “Too many of my cousins friends were far too eager to pick on anyone they thought was weaker than themselves. Still correcting them of that… notion was quite therapeutic.”

Hermione nodded her head at that, “Still it is nice not to deal with that here.”

“Yet,” Harry said with a sigh. “You are aware that there is still some prejudice here to deal with. The Slytherins already have squared off against the Gryffindors and they will drag the lot of us into their arguments eventually.”

“It seems that even with magic people are people,” Hermione said with aslight sorrow there. “One would think that such a fickle gift would instill greater enlightenment.”

“People are people,” Harry agreed. “Some are good, some are foolish, some are evil and some intolerant and yet most still act like sheep in the end. Rally to a person of will and follow without thought of why and justify their actions for a goal. The greater good, preserving society and any other number of causes can cause the decent to corruption. Tell me not the means to ones ends as they will speak of reason and necessity to overlook all acts of brutality and control merely tell me what the ends must justify. It is easier to sleep when one knows who one’s friend and one’s foe is.”

Flitwick had merely noted that as he had stepped a bit from them that they had to enter their own little debate. They would fit in well with his house he realized. Though even with their fellow housemates there was far less debates on such matters of philosophies when theories of immediate research was available. Sadly he wouldn’t realize that was moist likely the source of his native cultures issues. Oh they may debate the effects and importance of blood purity and the real effects of the dark arts, but they were still more oft to accept might as right compared to others.

“Perhaps I prefer to believe a leader leads by showing the way one may go than driving them where one wills,” Hermione countered long since placing the spell in use to her lesser attention. “They say one can lead a horse to water but not make it drink.”

“Still if one makes the horse thirsty enough it will drink,” Harry replied with amusement. “A person may be smart but has not all that history shown that masses lack any intelligence greater than the least among them. Why else is there a Statute of Secrecy? Look at all the violence caused by mere difference in the public media. Riots on the streets for equal rights while others strike to preserve whatever edge they have should prove that. People are selfish, cruel and deceitful. Most do not admit that while it is callous that they do see everyone and everything around them as means to ends and not ends themselves.”

“What of those that risk their lives for others?” Hermione questioned. “How can that be in their own self-interest?”

“Do not start me on heroes,” Harry remarked. “While a heroic act is done to prevent someone else from suffering, it is most oft that it is done in a way that the hero feels liberated and that the one they save did not go through what they did.”

“Is that why?” Hermione barely managed to whisper. “I need to know.”

“While there are things even the most cold-hearted bastard should feel irritation at allowing to occur,” Harry began to say. “There was something gained by acting even unwanted. Still this is not the sort of thing to say in public.”

“I understand,” Hermione said as she thought over things. “We do need to talk about this since it has been brought up.”

“I agree,” Harry said. “Still as I said this is not the place for it.”

“Maybe after class?” Hermione asked as this was something she wanted to know.

Harry nodded at that and went back to the more aerobatic motions of maneuvering his feather. Hermione blinked as she barely thought for hers to follow and it was.

‘We definitely have things to talk about,’ Hermione thought as ideas and theories tried to resolve themselves in her mind. ‘I know that you don’t like the fanatic loyalty Alice and Anne show you, but you still let them follow you and you still teach them as well as me. I know and you know that we are attracted to each other and there is that to deal with. Add to it the magic and it gets complicated without the fact that my cousin and her friend would not only let you do any sort of thing no matter how perverse or degrading to them, but actually want you to sate yourself with them. Sure I will admit that fooling around has been educational and quite pleasurable, but you seem to accept the relationship in such strange to me terms.’

Still immersed in her thoughts Hermione followed Harry back to the common room after the class had ended. Unawares that she had written down the assignment or disengaged the levitation spell, Hermione was moving on autopilot as her mind continued to sort itself out in the background. The basics of memory recall used in learning Occlumancy was busy parsing all the memory fragments into a composite understandable whole. Things were starting to get more interesting and her mind and body were already dealing with more shifts than puberty.

********

Potions class was something Harry was looking forward to almost as much as Hermione. He had like the other teachers firmly investigated who would be teaching him and the information on the man was rather skewed.

‘One of the youngest to gain his mastery is impressive,’ Harry thought with some interest. ‘Still there is the matter that most student information on him is inconsistent. It almost seems like he expects us to have learned everything before hand and merely fine tune our practical abilities in class. Not that my potions skills are not too shabby nor do I expect Hermione to be lacking in theoretical knowledge as well as our Ravenclaw classmates. I am unsure on the Hufflepuffs though. How much of their image is because they care more about helping their friends succeed than being untalented. Still they didn’t appear too simple minded in charms so it is difficult to tell where the stereotype for them came from.’

Professor Snape entered the classroom with his robes billowing behind him. His hair had a sheen to it that was disquieting in its nature. Oddly enough his scent had actually entered before him. The scent of plants and animals mixing with a head aroma of fumes clinging to him. Oh he visually didn’t look like he was filthy anymore than most wizards did. Hygiene was important to them at least those that held themselves as elite. The presentation that Malfoy put on for example was one of supposed to convey sophistication and class even if his condescending manner was more appropriate of societal types a century or more ago. Still it was something that anyone entering the Wizarding World would encounter the almost quaint charm to the place.

That however did nothing to counter the known dangers present. Magic while atool like any other was far more easily able to cause lasting harm. In part why Harry already despised the pranksters he found. He might allow some humorous uses and revenge potential, but most were far too likely not to think before acting. At least the Weasley Twins seemed to have thought through their pranks and not been as malicious as possible. How Ronald could be related to them or the older cool brothers that they had heard about would puzzle Harry if he gave it too much attention.

Professor Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry’s name. However the reaction was entirely different.

“Ah, yes,” he said softly, “Harry /Potter/. Our new… celebrity.”

That immediately set a tone for Harry. Now while he had suspected that the Head of Slytherin had some bias against him from what he had learned, he had hoped that not being in Gryffindor where his parents had been would have buffered him a bit. There were also his expectations of the man being professional that seemed to have died a fiery death.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion- making,”he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word and like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. “As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death –if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

More silence followed this little speech. Harry exchanged a looks with araised eyebrow with Hermione who was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn’t a dunderhead. Harry could care less, he had been under the tutelage of several spirits of famous and infamous potion masters and that plus the studying he had done of his books made him very competent. That was without the fact that he was a rising star in the underground potions business.

“/Potter/!” said Snape suddenly. “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Harry thought for a second to recollect what medieval monk had said about that. He noticed that Hermione's hand shot into the air. He resisted a sigh at that. He had hoped she had broken herself from that habit more.

“They make a sleeping potion,’ Harry replied calmly careful not to let amischievous purr into his voice. “Very powerful, known as the Draught of Living Death, it has been theorized that this is the drug the apothecary in Romeo& Juliet gave Juliet to fool her family into believing she was dead.”

Snape’s lips curled into an unpleasant sneer before he replied, “That is too much information.”

He ignored Hermione's hand that sank back down along with the rest of the previously eager Ravenclaws. Harry wondered why he was acting this way without Gryffindors but suspected a loathing not for himself and based on the stress of his last name with his family.

“Let’s try again,” Snape silkily spoke sending shudders down the Hufflepuffs backs. “/Potter/, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without leaving her seat. Harry ignored the confusion of his fellow Ravenclaws and awe from the Hufflepuffs that they were being ignored.

“To put shortly Potions Master Snape,” Harry began to say letting his voice imitate the drawl the professor favored, “A bezoar is stone found in the stomach of a goat.”

“Didn’t you read everything in the book, Potter?” Snape sneered at him. “I guess that doesn’t make you that good of a Ravenclaw

Harry forced himself to look into those cold eyes. He barely managed to keep his own intentions from flashing though his eyes. He had just before this question been scolded for being too long-winded, and now he was being mocked for not answering as much as he possibly could. His contempt for the man’s professionalism was beginning to aggravate him. He was however grateful that KiKi had decided to explore on her own while they were occupied with classes. Otherwise he knew that he would have to make a damn good attempt at Obliviation of the rest of the room.

Snape was still ignoring Hermione’s quivering hand.

“What is the difference, /Potter/,” Snape asked, “between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?”

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling. The other Ravenclaws while offended at being ignored would rather not gain the obviously annoyed Potion Masters attention. They would volunteer information after the man vented whatever it was between them.

“There is no difference /Professor/; they are same plant,” Harry said firmly meeting the Professors eyes. “It also goes by the name of Aconite. Now is there any reason why a supposed Potions Master of your caliber is initiating such a juvenile conflict?”

Unfortunately for Severus Snape he chose at that instant to try to ascertain where Potter’s spawn came up with enough information to answer his question. He neglected that he was a Ravenclaw as well as being Lily’s son. Expecting, even if he acted nothing like him a mini James Potter with the mental shields of an inebriated dwarf, an easy entrance into his mind he sent his Legilimency probe at the boy.

This was a mistake that shocked him to the core. Normal people even without training have some minor natural barriers to keep from receiving all the extra sensory information that the human mind had adapted not to handle. It had been determined that the human mind was not readily developed to handle let alone filter and process telepathic signals. Legilimency was not so much a probe as truly creating an extension that was of lowered intensity to allow such information to be acquired. The stress of the technique was opening just enough and narrowing the connection to one target. Snape had expected a minor barrier similar to effectiveness of a soap bubble to great his attempt. What he found was something different.

In the moments between heart beats, Severus Snape found himself somewhere else.

‘Where am I?’ Snape thought in confusion at the bizarre place he found himself in. ‘I was just about to use Legilimency on the damn Potter brat.’

He looked around at the blood red sky and the black moon that hung ominously in the air with black clouds passing around it. Looking down the ground before him was black and appeared to be made of ash, dust and other things. Kneeling closer to inspect the slight color difference in an attempt to ascertain where he was, Snape noticed fine granules of white.

‘That texture,’ Snape thought in shock. ‘The ground is made of dust and ash with ground bones mixed in. Where am I?’

Moving further across the black plains he came across what appeared to be some sort of park. The trees were black and devoid of any leaves with a twisted gnarled form. Amid the trees he saw small stones placed here and there. Kneeling before one of them to get a closer look he moved some of the dry and brittle thorny black roses to see what was there.

‘Tombstones!’ he thought in shock. ‘Is this some sort of graveyard?’

Looking closer he drew a gasp at the name on it… his mother’s. Turning to the side he looked at the next tombstone and the name there shocked him more.

‘Lily!’ he thought in shock.

He quickly turned around and looked at the other names. Anyone he had even the slightest inkling of positive emotion too was there. The ever calm professor actually turned and fled as his memories of them flashed through his mind. He ran until he felt himself growing tired. It never occurred to him to apparate as his normally rational mind was flooded with suppressed emotion for once the legendary stoic facade that he had cultivated leaving him as well as his emotional control leaving him as emotionally vulnerable as a child.

Looking around he found an empty field filled with sharp barb like pale grasses and instead of tombstones there were grave markers. He looked at the first name and it was his retched fathers. Surrounding it were more markers. Unnoticed he had pricked his fingers and started dripping blood on the ground before him. As he read the names he came across those that he had murdered as aDeath Eater. There were even some of the ones he had not directly killed but knew he was responsible for. It was a thing out of his most suppressed nightmares as his cold and calculating actions had denied any guilt from what he had deemed necessary actions.

It was in that shocked and distracted state that he failed to notice the stirring of the black soil. Silently rising out of the grainy ground were the forms as white as the purest snows. In their empty eye sockets lit by crimson light a slowly dawning consciousness was visible. Bleach white skeletons flowed out of the dead earth as it parted as like water for them with only grains of ash like blackened volcanic sand falling from them. Silently the still forms began to move with an eerie flowing motion towards the traumatically rationalizing Snape. They would have been more than able to have torn the unsuspecting man to pieces to water the parched land with his sweet red blood if it had not been for one thing.

“Severus,” Came the moan of the form that had risen in front of him. “You were always a disappointment.”

Looking at the skeleton before him his eyes bulged at the familiar voice before he shouted in horror, “No!”

“Murderer,” came the words of the growing legion. “You betrayed me!”

Even in his disturbed and distracted state it did not take him long to focus and try to reach for his wand. He had dealt with Infiri and other abominations created by the Dark Lord. He was not some helpless muggle. Reaching into for his wand he was suddenly struck by something. It was not there.

Now while he may be good at some wordless casting and minor wandless magic, Severus Snape was not exactly capable of the level of hexes and curses to dispatch such beings if they were normally transfigured objects. These however were far more potent than that. It should come as no surprise that they soon had begun to verbally and physically express their displeasure at their lot in life.

Soon enough Snape was beaten and bloody unable to move with the broken bones incapacitating him. As it was the skeletons became more lifelike though their eyes burned with a crimson light. Their nails however retained an inhuman sharpness and soon scratching was turned to tearing as they flayed their betrayer alive. It was fortuitous that Snape had fallen and watered the graves of his enemies with his blood as what his loved ones ganging up on him the emotional scars would have been rampant.

After the skeletons had regained all their flesh they had slowed their actions down allowing the animals that had gathered near the inevitable meal to get agitated in wait. As they departed to return to their graves the animals took their turn. Real meat was so rare here and it only rained blood when Harry fed. It had already been too long in their opinion and they knew it would be far too long until the earth was watered with the blood of the guilty.

As they worked their way in extracting their pounds of flesh, a figure that had been watching from the shadows of the trees glided forward as the black sand seemed to ripple. As the man walked something far larger was rising from the ground. The first part to become visible was three skulls in a line mounted on a tombstone made of bones held together with the sinews strung between.

Harry was dressed in black robes with a sinisterly glowing crimson stone hanging from his neck. He walked forward as a seat stirred from the ground and rose to meet him as he sat down on the rising structure. With a sudden change the rest of the powdery land flowed off of the throne. A sinister wind passed over the land. It was time.

He was looking down from a throne of bones with blood weeping from the skulls mounted on it at the head arms and feet. The blood pooled from the throne and seeped into the ground where the thorny roses grew. Before him was ableeding form watering the black earth from all the cuts that marred it. The skin had been slowly sliced and pealed from the shuddering body before the cuts had been inflicted. On top of that the bones had been snapped and dislocated turning the human shape one expected to what looked like a twisted deformed lump.

He was still alive even if most of the soft tissue had been pecked out by the flock of ravens that were waiting again on the sinister trees. There was apair of black cats licking at the blood that readily flowed from the man who wished he was dead. There was the slithering of a snake circling him. It had previously been slithering over roughly rubbing the open wounds raw with its passing. It was this sight that Harry let himself take in of the man who had dared to try to violate his mind as nothing more than a broken and battered sack of still breathing meat.

“Well now Snape,” Harry said with a look of disgust at the battered and mauled form. “You thought you could enter here with impunity. How arrogant you are to think that you are a master and superior in all things…”

“Potter,” Snape managed to rasp out. “Why are you doing this?”

“Are you deaf as well as oblivious?” Harry asked in a sneer. “I already answered you and like the dunderheads you adamantly loath you ignore what you are told and continue based on your false facts.”

It was at the foot of his throne kneeled two forms completely without any shame or humiliation merely a visible sense of purpose. The forms were two girls dressed in naught but a pair of black collars with two blades in their hands of which one was of silvery metal while the other was as black as night and both blades was slick with blood and saliva having barely been licked clean. Their lips were red stained crimson with blood as was their pale flesh spotted with blood.

Despite what Harry had wished consciously it was his subconscious mind which had carved the place and it was that which accepted and acknowledged the nature of the relationship his minions had chosen to follow. It was the fact that the two had imprinted on his realized images of Alice and Anne that had led in part to his trying to keep them at arm’s length at time. He had in fact been forced to restrain them from servicing him in any and every way they could think of. Their echoes did allow him a better idea in how to avoid any of their overt and even subtle actions.

“You still don’t seem to get why I am annoyed with you,” Harry said with disappointment clearly radiating from him. “You are a hypocrite of the highest order so obsessed with your own petty games that you fail to see the real game let alone its players acting all around you. A pity that I expected the youngest Potion Master in centuries to be above such infantile behavior, but that cannot be helped it seems. So to prevent you from doing anything so foolish in the future it is necessary to impart such a demonstrative lesson on both the futility and fallacy of your current actions.”

“What are you blabbering you imbecilic fool?” Snape managed to ask.

“As a teacher you should get the point of this,” Harry continued ignoring the man’s idiocy. ”Still since you cannot seem to grasp such simple concepts Iwill explain it in terms that a dunderhead like yourself can grasp. I am going to show you exactly how your attempts to assault my mind as well as person are beyond your ability.”

‘Now than,’ Harry thought. ‘What is your worst nightmare…? Well that was unexpected. It does explain a lot though.’

Harry felt the sudden shift in the air as three female forms appeared near his throne. The two women to his left were Alice Longbottom and Eileen Prince both looking no more than early twenties. The two were dressed in what had to be both the most conservative yet enticing clothes ever. A slightly modified school uniform that clung to the skin while having teasing outlines of what was hidden to arouse the senses was the outfit that was there.

Now the lady to his right and there was no way that one would ever think to not refer to her as thus was an ethereal beauty with blood red hair flowing freely to stop mid back. A red headed seductress dressed in skin tight black leather that only accentuated the form of sensuality personified radiated pure lust inducing sensations from any person that saw. Her eyes burned an intense green that drew one like a moth to a flame.

It was through shear will that Harry was able to concentrate on the matter at hand even if he suspected that his normal constraint would fail in the dream logic that was prevalent here. Neville and Snape’s mothers were while not just pretty but beautiful were like a flickering candle compared to the sensual bonfire that was the form of Lily Evans.

‘For once I can understand why someone hates me,’ Harry thought as things clicked. ‘It explains Petunia’s petty actions though if mom looked anything like this any earlier. Still finding out that Snape here went unprofessional because he lusted for mum since they were kids and his worst nemesis is the lucky sod that she deigned to be with would explain things. With me looking like James but with her eyes, it must have been like a swift one to the boys. Still I am grateful that while it is their images here that it is not Alice or Anne in the flesh. I know that considering how I cracked so much that if this was in life things would have gone out of hand.’

Through all of this neither of the nude girls had moved more than to lick their lips and trace their extended fangs. Oh their breathing may have altered and their bodies responded but they were rather put out not to misbehave at this point as getting a spanking before mutual oral satisfaction would not be in the cards. They were aroused as the drops wettening the ground beneath them could attest. They for a moment hoped their master would string the man up maybe by his entrails before sheathing himself in their bodies and when he had sated himself they could perform for him as they waited for him to claim them completely.

“Make sure that he cannot look away,” Harry said after a moment. “Remove his eyelids and hold his head to see. Looking away would permit too much of achance to escape his punishment.”

The girls nodded before vanishing to appear near Snape’s battered form. Alice wretched his head up and pinned one of his eyelids back in preparation. With the lid unable to move, Anne was able to slit the skin away to prevent him from looking away. To prevent the blood from clouding his eyes they placed the blade upon them and a hissing sound occurred as the blades heated up to cauterize the wound. They were half tempted to cut his tongue out to silence him, but they suspected their master wanted to hear his tortured cries.

While that had happened the three women had walked to the front of the throne before kneeling in front of it. Alice was to the left with Lily in the center and Elaine to the right. Their gaze was not on his face but at the junction of his legs as his robes had parted to reveal his black outlining pants. While his face had shown no interest in anything his other head was far less reserved.

“Master?” they murmured in question looking at him with hunger. “How may we please you?”

Harry merely grinned and beckoned them forwards. He had no idea where the personalities were drawing most of their identities from but as this was for almost all intents and purposes a dream he would treat it as such. It would be so relaxing not to constantly stay in control, although he liked being in control of the situations. He supposed it was an effect of the earlier years at the Dursleys. Still he had a rather lucid wet dream to indulge in and it was doing such a good job in unwinding his stress and wearing down Snape’s mental walls.

‘Pain the guy seems to be well used to,’ Harry thought as he watched the three crawling forward towards him. ‘Emotional trauma to his self as well but he seems to hate being made to watch this. So he grew up with mum and had athing for her unrequited love. He also lusted for Alice since she was with Lily so much and almost seemed to be experimenting together but despite his trying to catch them as much as ah what’s this… my father and his friends in trouble. Odd that he wants his mother there to watch him with them. Not an Oedipus image but he seems to have watched his parents and was disgusted by his mother acting anything but prim and proper so this doubly offends and humiliates him.’

When they were kneeling on the steps able to reach him, they nuzzled up against his legs. Harry reached down and stroked their heads as they like cats rubbed against him. Three lovely ladies kneeling before him while not aconcrete fantasy he had experienced before seemed to be speaking to the part of himself he had to keep in control of which was ironic as it was his impulses to control others as he had been controlled.

Drawing Lily’s head closer to his lap where she nuzzled against his ready bulge before he said to the beauties before him, “My dear pets why don’t you see if you can’t get some cream,” causing them to smile before he added an incentive, “and the winner gets first ride. If you can’t get me off well there are other ways…”

That readily changed the smiles to smirks as the girls began to unbutton his pants allowing them to access their new toy. Having three beauties working his erection over was a new experience and his libido made note to do this again when Alice and Anne were just a tad older and hopefully had breasts that could be rubbed so enticingly against his legs and otherwise. None of them believed that they would be able to not outlast him at least on this first game round.

Lily was the first to reach over and pull him out. She grinned saucily at him before giving his head a kiss flicking her tongue as she did so. Slowly kissing her way down she teased and tickled him until working her way back up and taking him first into her mouth then into her throat. With a slow hip rising movement she drew back all without losing suction or swirling her visibly moving tongue.

While Lily was trying to show how better head was with experience, Eileen and Alice the older where not merely sitting there. They teased with fingers, lips and tongue whatever areas they could reach. When the pair took a ball each while Lily started humming made Harry very grateful that while none of them had been experienced that they did tend to practice often.

With a frown Lily extracted her competitors from his nuts before reaching them with her tongue while humming. After several terse movements of tongue and lip she did what seemed almost inhuman in its flexibility and held him bait and tackle in her vibrating mouth. When several long moments of that didn’t gain her his release, Lily released with a pout and let Alice have a go. With asmirk she moved her clothes to bare herself for more visual stimulation. Eventually one would win and then a new contest could happen who could get him off harder and who would get off more.

Alice went around teasing each part she could. From licking along and trailing kissed from head to root as well as tracing and tasting his sacks there was nothing that she hadn’t tried including extending her tongue past his balls and flicking and teasing there. As that hadn’t seemed enough Alice raised the ante again and freed her tits and proceeded to slide him between them while capturing the head and sucking and licking it to try to get him loose.

Around the three went in an attempt to win both together and separately. On Lily’s next round she wrapped him in her tits as well before deep throating him while Eileen sucked his balls and Alice tongued where she could. While that went on whenever one of them wasn’t using their mouth they were channeling whatever thoughts would stimulate him as they talked describing everything they could think of to get him to pop.

Finally Eileen was going again with Lily and Alice talking as they fondled her and each other. They were running out of things to say to get him to go. The forfeit hadn’t seemed bad until they thought of it. If they were unable to move before he came he would get to take them to edge again and again until he came over their frazzled nerves as they would be by oath unable to get release again till he said.

Eileen was on her last legs fifteen minutes each to get him to pop and this was the last attempt. Her mouth was getting sore and her tongue was going to be unable to speak clearly for a while. Grasping on straws she let him out of her mouth and started stroking him.

“Why won’t you cum in my mouth?” Eileen asked switching her hands to hold her tits around him. “Don’t you want to wash my mouth out? Severus’s filthy mothers mouth out. It’s unclean and needs your cum to clean it out! Think how embarrassed he will be!”

Oddly enough that was the thing to say. Feeling the sudden increase in hardness and throbbing she took him into her mouth. While Lily and Alice teased his balls to make sure that she got as much as she could. She kept him encased in her flush tits as she felt him twitch their and flow into her mouth.

Eileen was grinning like a loon as she greedily coaxed as much as she could from his spurting member. She had won and she was going to claim her reward. It had been difficult what with Lily actually being able to not just deep throat him but pull her lips to suck him balls and all, and that was not counting Alice being able to flex her tongue. Lily would be enjoying that tongue while she went for her ride, but she was sure she could coax her to clean her out while Lily took her turn.

So caught up in her thoughts she was unnoticed and still suckling him to full hardness again before the others pulled her loose with a pop. They might not have won a ride, but losing out on a taste of their new master was unacceptable. That they would go to any lengths to convince her to share only sweetened the deal. Their fingers caressed flushed skin and teasing bouncing slickened mounds that had only recently been plowed before darting to the warm and moist openings that were readily parted in their quest. Their tongues were busy trying to lap up and suck out every drop that she would allow while being distracted.

So it was that Harry gasped as he was freed from her warm suckling mouth with a pop only to groan at the sight of their almost glowing kneeling forms as they kissed and swapped with hands wandering between his spread legs. He enjoyed the sight as he tried to regain his senses from the drawn out climax he had experienced. Finally seeing Alice and Lily roll to the side kissing leaving a panting Eileen reclined on his leg gave him an idea.

‘I think she is ready,’ Harry began to think as a wicked grin formed on his face, ‘but it is better safe than sorry… well unless she really likes rough or raw sex.’

With that said Harry pulled the unresisting woman up and started to kiss her as he kept raising her with his mouth going down her body. He nuzzled and licked at her flushed tits as he made sure she was worked up. While he did that he slipped his fingers into her to see how slick she was. That his hand felt like he had slid it into a wash basin was the thought that crossed his mind. Snaking his hand back for a quick taste he decided that he really wouldn’t mind a quick lick or too before sliding into her besides this was just a mental thing and it was not like she was more than the combined impressions he had with whatever Snape thought up so it was no more than a simple sex toy just with some personality.

Reaching his hand back to her slit he felt the ready warmth before sliding his hand lower and with his other hand moved to trace her spine raised her up to mouth level. The sudden shift threw her head backwards as she spun a moan of disappointment at the lack of his hungry mouth tasting her bouncing breasts.

“What are you doing?” Eileen asked before his breath touched her lips. “Oh it’s been way too long.”

With that said Harry teased and coaxed her to vocal pronouncements each causing Snape to utter a new profanity as he was held looking on. Alice and Anne held him in place wishing they could do more than rub their thighs together to ease the tension they had building from the show. Keeping him from turning his head or eyes to avoiding watching was sadly making a free hand unavailable to play with themselves or each other.

After Eileen writhed enough on his tongue to satisfaction both hers and his, Harry lowered her to where she was being held against his ready erection. The head was touching her slit and her slow rocking in his hand rubbed themselves against each other wettening him with her juices. With a look he lowered her down letting her slide down on him until she was seated in his lap. Once there he began with again tasting her flushed skin and suckling her stiff nipples.

Slowly he began to bounce her in his lap faster and faster. Feeling her tighten on him he was happy that all the non penetrative experience had kept him from spurting like the somewhat virgin he was. Still the oral preparation was different than the first time he was inside a girl proper.

Still after being bounced to several clenching orgasms Eileen was in for achange and voiced it as she panted letting Harry hold her in place, “Let me turn around and you can have some real fun. I don’t normally do this but you made me too sore already.”

With that she sat with her back to him with his slickness nestled in her cheeks before lifting herself up before positioning him to sink down on him. She slowly let herself sink onto him letting him ease in to instead of her already red and sore pussy into her merely fingered ass. Slowly she started to bounce on him as he nibbled on her neck and worked her body over.

‘Those guys and girls knew what they were talking about,’ Harry thought as he could do little more than hang on and enjoy the ride. ‘To think Anne wants me to do this to her and I stopped her. What was I thinking? Oh yeah I didn’t want to hurt her too badly.’

Trying to focus herself, Eileen bounced and ground her ass down on his firm penetrator. As she did she looked out and saw Lily and Alice engaged in lapping each other’s snatch. She was berating herself for getting completely out of practice as it wouldn’t be too long before she would need some ointment to do more than lie on her side as either resting on her back would bother her ass or her front would rub her raw mound.

When Eileen was unable to move and he had left her with some soothing heat, Harry gently laid her down next to Alice as he drew Lily up to him. There was no need for any more foreplay and Lily didn’t give him a chance before mounting him and ridding him like a wildcat. Moving through positions with every time she tried to swallow him with her grip but always keeping him seated, Lily moved from bouncing him with his face in her tits to rubbing against him with his hands tracing her to even a modified kneeling where she rocked down on him while he alternated fondling and spanking her ass.

After a loud shriek after that last motion she turned back to look at him and said, “Well there is something that James wanted but never got the chance to do. So hang on tight you’re going to take one of mommy’s cherries.”

With that she positioned him and slowly worked him into her ass.

When she got the head in she said, “Man and I thought your fingers felt good! To think I never let Alice do more than tongue me what was I thinking?”

With a slow rocking motion Lily worked her son into her virgin ass. A sigh of contentment at the new feeling of stretching was all that she did when she was finally rested against him with his entire length buried in her. Slowly working her new hole around him, Lily managed to make herself move until she shuddered and with her body sucking inward coaxed him to spurt inside her.

As he had let Eileen down to be eased down with Alice’s probing tongue he placed Lily where Eileen could reach her as he lifted Alice up to him. Instead of allowing him to bounce her as Eileen had done at first she aimed him and impaled herself right away. She frenzily rode him trying to make up for lost time even if she had gotten Lily and then Eileen to suck and finger her to afew releases.

Like a woman possessed she moved on Harry while he bucked up into her. She felt like she had been celibate for too long and while having a good romp with a woman was nice there were things a guy did that a girl didn’t the same and vice versa. Alice planned to have as many cums as she could before she went back to that place and was going to do whatever it took to get them.

She kept at it till her pussy was sore and creamed in. Lifting herself on shaky legs she spread her ass cheeks and Harry aimed himself as she sat down letting his cock spread her ass open without any of the slow motions the others had used our disheveled forms reclined on the throne with Lily and Eileen curled against him with Alice leaning against him and still impaled between them. Harry’s hands caressed the tender flesh of Lily and Eileen while Alice’s pussy still twitched and gushed in view. Snape was in far less desirable shape as he had repeatedly struggled through the entire ordeal he had been forced unable to look away to see. His face was visibly hopeful that this torture was over. Having heard his mother calling out anyone’s name let alone a Potter was disgusting to him the only thing worse than it being his son was if it had been James himself having her act as loose and willing as a Knut whore in Knocturn Alley.

Despite the almost all encompassing bliss he felt, Harry still had one more part to the lesson. He had the man tortured by those he had despised and forced the man to see the three women he loved in any form cavort for his pleasure. Amomentary flicker of compassion for the poor retch almost made him decide to end it there, but the shuddering of Alice around him changed his mind.

“Well Severus Snape how do you like your punishment so far?” Harry asked with his emotions barely influenced by mirth. “I have to admit for a complete ass that you have great taste in women and as for your lovely mother here” Here he teased her to cum clutching his hand. “Well the only thing I think she failed at was drilling your attitude out of you. Still there is one final bit of play, Girls!”

With that Alice and Anne vanished from the man letting his head fall down to smack against the soaked earth. They appeared at the foot of his throne where he beckoned them to arise. They crawled up the soaked steps getting their scent pressed into their knees. Harry removed his hands from the slowly dozing pair and held them to his first followers though the shear reverence and fanatical loyalty and obedience was more to the line of a minion. They opened their mouths and gladly licked and sucked his fingers clean of the juices found there.

When his fingers were clean he gently pet their heads before adding a slight amount of force to bring them forward. Their faces rested at eye level with Alice’s gaping slit and his balls gently resting beneath. The two began to lick and suck at the two joined lovers desperate for more stimulation. If it had not been for the fact that they had sworn their virginities to be taken by him they would have seen if they could stick their daggers inside to ease their passion. Still they would have likely stabbed Snape while humping trying to stretch themselves so it would have led to a punishment that they would have not liked most likely being spanked to orgasm and nothing but being left on edge after that.

The two moaned into what they were trying to eat when his feet began to prod against their sex. Anne’s squirrel actions caused shivers of delight to flow through him while Alice was buried in her namesakes snatch. While that was going on there was a slow stirring of ground near the sprawled and battered form of Snape. Harry had barely managed to arrange things with the stimulation of Alice around him with Anne’s mouth licking him closer to another release. As it was his hands were caressing Alice and Lily’s spines stopping to cup their flushed butt before returning to run from their neck back down.

The slowly moving ground revealed what seemed to be a platform under Snape. Suddenly thorny vines sprung around and pulled his arms and legs to the side and dug into his flesh shocking him out of his stupor to scream his refreshed agony. The platform turned out to be an x shaped form that slowly inclined as it rose until Snape was left hanging from it.

“Hmm,” Harry said as his attention was more pleasantly distracted with Alice alternating grinding with slow drawn out movements. “You say something?”

“What the Hell are you doing to me now,” Snape asked heatedly as the thorns dug into his flesh as his weight pulled him downward, “crucifying me for your amusement?”

“Not really,” Harry said mellowness from the repeated ball draining leaving him far less spiteful. “That’s just to get you in position. Since I can’t kill you at the moment witnesses and the like I had to… improvise. Now this will be rather painful. Oh don’t give me that look. Yes this is worse so try to relax and just accept that what goes around comes around. Really thinking that Ididn’t get enough of a read to know your tastes, how deplorable. Although your fascination with my mother seems strange to me. Perhaps when there is more time I can extract that seemingly more secured information than your predisposition and predation.”

After the monument reached its height there was a sudden stillness and then Harry closed his eyes. Wither it was out of the intensity of his feelings as he was being milked by Alice’s grinding ass or Alice’s mouth sucking and licking his balls, or the desire not to see what happened to Snape next he would never admit although he did believe that the sudden unholy scream that came from Snape before it was muffled ensured a more intense experience.

With his eyes shut as he came, Harry missed the sight of the thorny vines insert themselves into the man he had hoped would be a respected Potions Master that could help increase and improve his knowledge in the field. Considering the number of boys he had glimpsed the man had buggered before removing any memory or trace of his action there was little sympathy for the man having afist thickness of vines work their way in. it was the smaller vine he never wanted to see doing what it did. Working its way into his disgusting erection before the scream it caused resulted in gagging the man. A jaw stretching set of wiggling vines occupied the man’s silently screaming mouth.

Then they began to move inside the man after the thorns went rigid. Thankfully Harry was distracted enough that he merely enjoyed the ready tongues licking him clean. They had continued to hump his legs when his feet had grown still and the black material was obviously soaked.

After what could have been an agonizing eternity as the group recovered with the young Alice and Anne licking everyone and each other clean, Harry turned his sight to the thankfully mostly obscured in vines form of Severus Snape. It was in that moment that he missed several of the quieter things the women discussed.

“I hope you have learned your lesson?” Harry asked the blank eyed violated form. “Ladies it’s been good. We need to do this again.”

With that he extracted himself from them and with a few casual gropes, fondling and appreciative spanks made his way down from his throne. Looking over the blooming rose’s crimson of blood in color growing out of the man Harry smirked.

“Be gone!” Harry shouted and the world dissolved around them.

In the outside world nothing happened for the instance that the two’s eyes were locked. Unknowingly the class held its breath in anticipation for what they did not know. To anyone that had actually met the professor’s gaze it would shock and frighten them. The pain that had momentarily subsumed all other reactions passed before his eyes became cloudy.

Barely minimizing the shudder at the rapidly repressed and subsumed torture that he had undergone, Snape turned sharply and brought the class to heel. He had an image to maintain in addition to being a certified ass.

“The instructions are on the board,” he said barely keeping his voice from breaking.“As none of you are Gryffindors I expect you not to make such mistakes as those dunderheads come up with.”

With that said he turned and glided to his desk where he promptly began to go through his other work. Ravenclaws at least read things and thus were informed while the Hufflepuffs were diligent if not as intelligent as their classmates as well as helping each other succeed. Either way it was far less likely he would need to run interference as he would with his Slytherins forced to cohabitate his classroom with Gryffindors. Besides he had to figure out why he suddenly felt this way. It was worse than when he had started to fear the Dark Lord torturing then killing him.

Oddly at the same moment in Surrey, Alice and Anne’s eyes snapped open as they suddenly began to breathe heavily as their bodies experienced what their dream selves had gone through. They both realized that their master’s resistance was crumbling. It was only a matter of time before he fulfilled all that they needed. They hoped to push things ahead for when he returned for Christmas, but Anne was more excepting that if that failed his birthday would be memorable. Maybe they could get the last of Hermione’s prudishness out and cavort for him like they had seen those women do in the dream while one of the lucky ones got to ride him until both were sore. Leaving them on edge like that was cruel but there was a place to sate the sudden rush of lust.

If that hadn’t resulted in the first of several chills rushing down his spine which he ignored to complete his potion there was the matter that happened in St. Mungo’s. Alice Longbottom while lacking cognizance had been awash in a dream. Thankfully the monitors did not pick up the sudden brain activity in the pleasure center of her mind spiking repeatedly. As it was she drifted off as her mind drew together a bit more, however it was slightly altered by the fragment of the dream that remained.

Meanwhile Harry felt that despite all that his dream self did a bit more eager than normal. Noticing that the verbal conflict had because of its intellectual nature started Hermione on a slow burn, Harry realized that he would need to find a bit of privacy and see about some mutual relief. If he didn’t Hermione would ambush him and snog him until she felt better. If she was worked up enough his tongue would be too sore to speak. That would be embarrassing… enjoyable… but embarrassing. Not to mention attract too much attention too soon for their own good.

‘Smart girls are not just sexy,’ Harry realized. ‘They seem kinky enough to kill a man. And Alice and Anne are both at least smart and already kinky. How will I survive when the three chose to join forces to get some more time? I think I dislike this increasing libido. My ambitions versus girls and sex, a few years ago it was so simple and now I know I will have harder times focusing. Maybe I should look up if sex magic could help. Kill two birds with one stone and all.’

********

Flying lessons had also been interesting in retrospect. At the time he wondered what made wizards in Britain choose brooms of all things. Most of the rumors and acquaintances in Knocturn Alley had indulged his conversation over the years. Small talk along with business was the usual compared to the straight forward manner of Goblins.

‘A shame we are only learning to control a broom,’ Harry thought with asigh. ‘One maybe two can fit comfortably and at our age Teleportation is impractical, Portkeys are too regulated and the floo is too inconvenient. Why they don’t use carpets for transporting families I don’t know. At least we don’t have the Gryffs trying to show off here or the Slyths trying to intimidate the shier students. The Puffs at least try to be friendly so there should not be too many worries.’

“Alright,” Madame Hooch said. “Stand beside your broom and say ‘Up’.”

“Up,” Harry said confidently barely blinking as the broom jumped into his waiting hand before he had finished the word.

Harry raised his eyebrow as he barely managed to keep it from twitching as the broom seemed more puppy like in its behavior. He let it float down before it rose up almost wagging before butting up and rubbing against his hand. He wasn’t even gripping it and it floated there as he traced the grain on the handle. If he was anyone else he would have started freaking out by that point, but instead he had calmly turned to Hermione in the hopes that she was both doing alright and also not being as disturbed as he was with a broom acting like a long lost pet.

What he saw caused him to blink as he thought, ‘How? How can Hermione have trouble with something so simple?’

Hermione’s broom was on the ground or more accurately almost trying to dig itself into the ground.

“Why is this happening?” Hermione practically growled as she glanced about to make sure no one saw this.

“Calm down Hermione,” Harry whispered as he noticed how her broom was handling. “You’re scaring it. Think of enchanted objects like this as having rudimentary intelligences not quite animal like but there as it is an animate object. To be put simply you’re scaring it with your attitude. Relax and don’t order it think of it like a companion animal like a horse or dog.”

“Up,” Hermione said after she calmed herself.

The broom gently questioningly rose to her hand. Hermione smiled at that. It was odd to think that a broom would cower like a fearful animal but that was what it had done.

“See now that wasn’t so hard now was it,” Harry said letting a real smile show on his face. “You need to remember that not everything is what it seems.”

They turned their heads as they heard Madame Hoch start to walk over and access their grips.

“Ms. Jones a good grip there,” Madame Hooch said as she saw the professional grip the girl had with none of the fumbled fingers or awkward positioning. “It shows plenty of proper practice unlike some others…”

“Thank you Madame Hooch,” Megan said with a beaming smile while shyly speaking. “My cousin has been giving me pointers.”

“As I suspected Ms. Jones,” Hooch began to say. “Do you have any interest in taking after her?”

Megan shyly smiled before nodding her head and saying, “Yes Madam Hooch. It looks like she has ever so much fun. I just need to get into flying shape.”

Madame Hooch nodded and moved on. She liked it when the young showed real interest and skill in her passion. Now if the young Potter was anything like his father. What she saw shocked her.

‘A broom does not do that,’ she thought to herself. ‘A broom does not act like an overly enthusiastic animal nor does it wag itself like that.’

“Mr. Potter,” Madame Hooch says sternly. “What do you think you are doing bewitching a broom like that? That is nothing how a broom should act!”

Harry just looks at her and says cheekily, “Well it doesn't for you Ma'am, but it does for me.”

“That is not what I meant Mr. Potter,” Madame Hooch says irritated. “I have never made a broom act like that. Professionals can’t do that not even your father could!”

“Maybe it just likes me better…” Harry says with a dazzling smile.

Hooch shook herself as it seemed that he took after his father sometimes.

“Now mount your brooms,” she said as she looked around barely keeping herself from twitching.

The broom glides to his hand and he finds himself seated on it without effort. He turns and gives Hooch a jovial grin. For some reason, being near the broom makes him feel carefree.

‘Will I find flying to be what truly relaxes me?’ Harry thought as he looked around slowly starting to hover.

Slowly the group begins to maneuver. Harry notices that Hermione is slowly getting over her fear of heights well more so than when they had gallivanted through the trees.

While that was going on Harry slowly started to make more Maneuvers. He was feeling odd and acting so unlike himself. He was acting like a kid.

“Hey Madame Hooch,” Harry shouted before pitching his broom upward, “can’t catch me!”

“Mr. Potter!” Hooch shouted before darting after the laughing boy grumbling,“You seem just like your father right now.”

While the teacher darted after the laughing and rapidly swerving and veering Harry all was not as well on the ground.

Michael Corner was not someone that Harry or Hermione liked although he was a bit lower on their lists than either Malfoy or the Weasleys. While he was in their house he was an ass. How he was in their house was a mystery to both of them. Maybe he lacked something to be in Slytherin like a sense of self preservation or maybe even style. He was a bully and not a very bright one.

“So Susan,” Corner said as he cornered the Hufflepuff with the others having floated too far away from her. “It looks like we are all alone now. I think it is time to finish that chat…”

Susan Bones looked around and saw that she was too isolated from her friends. She couldn’t dart towards her friends without crashing into them. If she aimed to land she would be even more trapped. Hannah was unable to see her if she tried to signal for help. Corner was going to at least force her to do something for him and considering that he had seen her already there was a little dread in her mind.

Susan makes a sudden decision and veers away before tucking herself like aseeker and shooting off. He would catch her but if she got far enough away she could delay him hopefully until the class ended and she would have her fellow Puffs as backup. They looked after each other after all. Still he was a silver tongued bastard and would likely convince her friends that she was just playing.

As he was darting about with Hooch frustrated as he outmaneuvers her, Harry notices something out of place. Now while he would never in any shape consider himself a hero he did tend to have to psych himself out when there was one in trouble not to go after them. He considered it a holdover from the Dursleys as they would never think to help anyone unless there were witnesses and they would say how good they were. They were hypocrites like that he had long ago realized.

His eyes widen as he sees where her flight path will take her. He had seen that tree move before and ‘Hogwart’s a History’ mentioned it.

‘The Whomping Willow,’ he thought with sudden dread. ‘A Puff is darting toward the single most dangerous area outside the forest. So something must have set her off. This cannot be happening and Hooch is too far to get there in time. I hate acting the Hero!’

“No time to play Madame,” Harry suddenly says seriously dropping all pretense from before. “We got a situation on our hands. Wonder what caused it?Oh well not like it matters at the moment anyways.”

“Mr. Potter,” Hooch manages to say before he shoots off far faster than the aging broom could possibly handle. “Oh dear…”

It is a little known fact that while normal broom operations use a minute amount of magic that they also normally can only handle so much magic flowing through them. Magic however tends not to have a definition of normal when around Harry and his friends.

Madame Hooch while shocked knew better than to summon someone on a speeding broom. The shock would cause problems and the momentary suspension would in this case lead to the Willow causing serious injury. There was also a chance of summoning her into the path of a limb and while it was possible to heal, vanish and even regrow bones there were some injuries that would still be fatal. She was also well aware that there was no way that she would be able to get there in time and yet it seemed her most likely one of her most favored students was doing so.

‘Come on,’ Harry thought desperately. ‘I need to get there faster!’

Now while Harry was by no reason one to act suitably heroic that did not mean that he didn’t have the fatal flaw most heroes have around girls. Letting a girl suffer was really not his thing. Besides which he knew that despite their odd friendship Hermione would go off if he let something happen when he could prevent it. There was also the fact that neither of them liked bullies.

Now while Harry had killed and tortured all of those involved had earned that action by their own actions. It was simply a fact that those silenced were those that had not truly understood the ramifications of their actions. Consequences are there for any action and he would have to deal out some serious things to ensure this didn’t happen again.

It appeared that he would not get there in time as the willow connected with Susan’s broom. The sharp strike snapped the broom and threw her airborne into the approach of more swinging branches. Harry was focused on what he needed to do and thus let his body react. Spinning and twisting he avoided the branches that came his way noticing how they were more intent on him than Susan. Still even if she landed without being struck on the ground the branches would be able to get her before she got away.

‘Darting into this tree’s branches has got to be one of the craziest things I have ever done,’ Harry thought as he twitched slightly flying between the rapidly agitated limbs. ‘Well I am almost there just need to spin and catch her before we get out of here.’

Harry managed to fly under her descent and grabbed her mid fall. He tucked her in front of him and leaned over her to shield her from the swinging club like branches. This served to press her against him between his arm holding her and the broom at her back. She had wrapped her arms and legs around him to stabilize herself.

“Now hold on tight,” Harry said as his eyes darted about for a path. “We need to move!”

With that Susan was pressed further against him as he pushed the broom even more. The branches came close but he managed to dart and swerve around them as he shot up and away from the tree. He pulled the broom out of the steep flight and leveled off. After getting a long enough way from the rampaging tree, Harry slowly glided his broom down to the ground where he set down Susan.

“It’s alright,” Harry managed to say in as assuring a voice as he could. “You can let go now. We are on the ground.”

“Thank you,” Susan managed to say before falling to the ground sobbing.

“Mr. Potter,” Madame Hooch said sternly. “While your previous flying was reckless if highly skilled, what you have just done was insane!”

“It is harder to do what is right than what is easy,” Harry said simply.“While I may not be a reckless Gryffindor that does not mean that I would let someone that has done nothing wrong die merely because it was easy.”

Madame Hooch settled her broom down near where he was as the rest of the class settled down a bit further away. They were thankfully out of earshot for the rest of the conversation. It had been bad enough with being yelled at like that and more so the disappointment that seemed to practically radiate from her. He had long since been as used to praise for his behavior outside the Dursleys as had Hermione. Still he was aware that while he was not perfect he did at times try to be too perfect in his success. It was just that after so much that he held himself to a higher level of excellence than the mediocre levels his neighbors had.

“Before this I was tempted to advice Filius to see about getting you on the Quidditch team early given your abilities,” Madame Hooch said with a stern look. “Now I am unsure wither to recommend you given your blatant disregard for your own safety!”

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. He had wanted to blend in but this would make it more difficult. Wizards however were very obsessed about their sport and it would seem odd to be disinterested almost as much as the situation he was in now. Still his physical enhancements could be troublesome. He knew that while he was several times stronger and faster than a normal adult he was not as fast or strong as some beings though he could enhance himself temporarily enough to match if not surpass the strength that the groundkeeper Hagrid he recalled was capable of. It was a shame that there were too many witnesses that he could not simply alter that many memories at once. He mentally reminded himself to learn how to mass memory modify crowds. It may come in handy if not necessary eventually.

“I always had fast reflexes,” Harry said after an uncomfortable pause.“Still we should be more concerned with the cause of this than the meager aerobatic show we put on.”

This however served to rattle Madame Hooch as when he had been in the air he had been so friendly and care free and here on the ground so analytical and logical in his manner. The complete discontinuity between the two images was offsetting. It was almost as much of a contrast as his fellow Ravenclaws had been shocked by.

‘It seems that he is completely different when in the air,’ she thought. ‘As upset as I am with him for risking himself he did save a fellow student. There is also the matter that letting such natural talent be ignored would be atravesty.’

“A concession than,” Hooch said reluctantly. “You promise to try out for the team next year and I will neglect to inform anyone that you need to be punished for flying off.”

“Agreeable,” Harry said with a slow nod. “I would prefer not to have preferential treatment, but some people seem to make that impossible.”

“It’s good to see that you have a level head on your shoulders,” Hooch said with a grin. “It would be a shame if someone with such natural ability squandered it. Did anyone mention that your father was rather involved as achaser in his school years?”

“No one said that perse,” Harry conceded. “Still it will give me a better idea on the man. A shame that the library seemed to gloss over it perhaps you might know a bit more or someone that could direct me to more information on the matter?”

Hooch grinned at that before saying, “While I did know him we were more involved with our mutual flying obsession at the time. I take it that even though most of the other professors even though they either taught them or went to school enough to be acquaintances have yet to tell you more than the minimum?”

“I know I look mostly like my father but with my mother’s eyes,” Harry said with a far off look. “My father was somewhat gifted at transfiguration while my mother was gifted in charms and potions. Even that much was an effort to gain. They appeared to believe that I grew up hearing about them.”

“Well I guess since they have decided to leave you in the dark thinking your relatives had informed you,” Madame Hooch began with a smile, “I guess it falls to me to tell you about them. I first met Lily Evans and James Potter at their first flying lesson…”

With that Harry found out more about his parents than his other searches had resulted in. He had raided the library for information on his parents and received the basics of their academic and extracurricular activities but that never really told everything about someone. It was strange that while his father had been McGonagall’s favorite student and Flitwick’s had been his mother there had been something holding them back. The Transfiguration Mistress had a personality that he hadn’t planned to see behind her professional visage and even her lion’s didn’t really know much about her personally except that she lived and bled Gryffindor red. Flitwick may have been more approachable as his head of house, but there was an inkling he had when around him. It was as if he was circling an animal he was hunting. He had noticed the subtle signs that inclined Harry to believe that while the rest of the proper wizards were biased against anyone with nonhuman or nonmagical blood there was a distinct impression that there was still some nonhuman blood in the Charm and Dueling Master or at least enough to make him spooked similar to any normal animal around them.

Based on those problems he realized that it was a bad thing to go to places like zoos or farms. The woods back home had been different. The animals there knew it was there hunting ground and that most of them were not in immediate need to run from the predators pacing through. They had a more preferred prey anyways so there was less chance of them being food. Normal dogs, cats and birds were somewhat skittish around them. Harry had been thankful of that growing up as none of Marge’s dogs had bothered him. Still it was interesting in Hogwarts as Mrs. Norris seemed hell bent in not going anywhere near him.

‘At least there is no worry about her leading Filch to me,’ Harry thought as he listened to all the flying and Quidditch related things about James Potter.‘She is so involved in telling me this that she isn’t censoring anything. She is already dropped several names to investigate. Now if only I could find my mother’s diary from after they went into hiding then I could sort through all the contradictory evidence.’

********