All In Plain Sight
"Hey, what Snape did was pretty terrible," Neville said, catching up to Harry as they ascended the stairs.
The classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts could be reached from the dungeon using the serpentine corridor, located in the dead center of the castle's northern wing. As such, it wasn't particularly difficult to navigate there in theory, but in practice, it could be slightly nightmarish. The fastest route to the center of the dungeons from the Potions classroom utilized a poorly-lit and maintained tunnel that staff cleared out only periodically, and was haunted by malignant ghosts, man-eating plants, and various dark beings. Apparently, it also had a staircase that led to the 'deeper dungeons,' though no student was allowed that deep.
As such, a Ravenclaw prefect was accompanying them on the Headmaster's orders. A standard procedure, as most Second-Years would be able to brave these dangers on their own without significant issue.
"He's a right git," Harry agreed sulkily. He looked down, frowning. He wasn't sure whether or not to mention that Snape had attempted to read his mind to Neville.
Bad idea. It's not something that we can prove.
"Hey, Harry, don't you know Professor Black? I've heard this rumor..." A mousy, short Ravenclaw with freckles on her face approached them, books held tightly to his chest. As Harry recalled, her name was Cayenne, though Harry couldn't remember the surname.
"Yeah, he's my godfather," Harry said with a happy nod. "I'm his ward."
"Oh, that's lame," another Ravenclaw cut in.
"There's nothing lame about Sirius," Harry replied defensively, frowning, "He's great, you'll see. He'll probably be the best teacher in the entire school."
"Yeah, uhm, probably," Cayenne answered noncommittally. "Hey, can you let Mr. Black know that I had to go to the bathroom? There isn't much time left."
At that, the Ravenclaw prefect accompanying them frowned in clear displeasure - and it was obvious as to why, since his task was to make sure none of them got lost or hurt, and the bathroom wasn't on their path up to the next class. "I'll escort you."
"No, no, there's no need, really!" Cayenne said with a nervous grin, cheeks becoming a little red. "I can find my way to the bathroom, Chase. It's not that far, besides."
Although unhappily, the prefect relented. "Fine. Be careful and stick to well-lit areas."
"We'll mention you're in the bathroom," Neville added with a casual nod, before turning to Harry and restarting their conversation about how much of a git Snape was.
And so they arrived in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class several minutes later - an oval room, wider than standard, though nowhere as ginormous as the Potions room in the dungeon. It was filled with a myriad of wooden and steel cabinets, enchanted silver and iron cages with the skeletons of creatures locked within. Its desks were unusually far apart, and there was a stretch of space between them and the teacher's desk; an area cleared of any furniture or potential obstructions.
After marching into class and interrupting the ongoing conversations, Sirius proceeded to his desk with no preamble. There was a noticeable difference from his usual presence. There was a touch more gravitas to his poise; he seemed more articulate and his robes were more elegant than the slovenly plainclothes he usually dressed in. They were longer and buttoned-up immaculately, the buttons shiny even from a distance. He wasn't anywhere close to Snape's casual hostility or arrogance, but he also wasn't the casual and devil-may-care Sirius that Harry was familiar with. It was presumably because he was expected to be more professional when teaching.
"Hello, everyone. I am Sirius Black, Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's an introductory lesson, and as I understand, the last on your schedule for today. As such, I'll do you a small favor. I'll keep things simple, explain the core purpose of this class and its syllabus, and then let you go early, if you behave." He added that last part when it seemed like the children in the room looked a bit too happy. "I'll also inform you, right off, that our curriculum sadly doesn't predict any spellcasting until October, so be patient. Now, roll call... Barrett Abrams?"
And so they proceeded through the list. As requested by her earlier, Neville mentioned that Cayenne was in the bathroom, which Sirius noted down in his attendance book with a simple nod. He didn't pause or remark on Harry's name, unlike most Professors who at least glanced up in a cursory scan.
"Now, let's start," Sirius declared, standing up from his desk. Unlike most teachers at Hogwarts, content to write on the blackboard using spells, he grabbed the chalk in his own fingers and started to write down major points. All of them noted down the writing and then Sirius explained in short what they'd be learning this year.
Most wizards have their own special methods for getting rid of gnome infestations, Geist commented when Sirius mentioned that September would be spent learning about gnomes and dealing with them, Mine was to use the Killing Curse. Many a wizard do not appreciate the functionality of a point-and-click pest removal tool.
Harry frowned deeply. Isn't that, like, major overkill?
Maybe so, but overkill or no-overkill, it was exquisitely functional. It kept my garden so clean it won several awards. Er, before I became a terrorist, at least. I will admit that using illegal, final, and lethal curses as a pest deterrent might be a step too far. Maybe don't repeat this particular feat; some habits, formed by casual repetition, are bad.
At least we'll learn the Knockback Jinx in October...
Around fifteen minutes later, they were allowed to leave.
Monday concluded to some applause, with a modest dinner to accompany its ending. After eating some roast dinner with baby carrots and a goblet of cherry compote, Harry sighed satisfiedly and departed for the Hufflepuff dormitories, alone, though surrounded by other students milling around aimlessly in the halls.
Apparently, Neville decided that he wished to get to the bottom of the potion thief, and decided to return to the scene of the crime. His plan was to look around the crime scene until he found something conclusive, but Harry had other things on his mind than a frivolous chase after shadows.
It'd been a winding and turbulent day of walking around the castle and working as hard as he could, and yet that was no excuse to slack off now. Harry intended to spend the whole evening, right until the moment he fell asleep, preparing for the incoming lessons, and getting ahead on the coursework. His words to Hermione were hardly a joke.
The first major task of the evening had been to finish up the few pieces of homework they'd been assigned; chief among them, an onerous ten-inch essay, explaining the functions, ingredients, and correct preparation of several potions, roughly matching their skill level. It was breezy homework that had more to do with flipping through the pages of his textbook in a search for answers, than actual research or learning. Maybe Snape was cruel and unfair, but at least his attitude regarding them was nose-wrinkling dismissal; underestimating, rather than overestimating. He earnestly didn't believe any of them capable of completing a difficult assignment, and so didn't bother giving one.
And once that was done, he studied; crammed every book for every subject, chapter by chapter pouring into his mind; and then some more for Astronomy, which they'd be learning at midnight on Wednesday and was apparently important for one of the upper-year electives he was interested in. Harry memorized star charts and internalized the workings of a telescope displayed in the first chapter. He found that he picked this knowledge up with almost preternatural swiftness and ease, able to call upon it with an unusual intimacy as if he were a veteran of the subject who'd already been researching the night's sky for many weeks, rather than an hour and change.
He experimented with the spells and things he'd learned, including the Levitation Charm, until he was satisfied and knew there was no more low-hanging fruit to be picked from the tree of knowledge. Most importantly, he - somewhat against the rules, though under Geist's careful supervision - practiced the universal method of transfiguration on small and innocuous objects, such as sheets of paper, and his personal quill, making them into different materials, and then prolonging or modifying their shape in minor ways. After some time, Harry started to feel tired, and the transformations were becoming burdensome and inconvenient to cast, with even the slightest change requiring almost eye-popping, mind-shattering willpower to enact, and at that point, Harry decided to put down his wand and stop for the night.
Admirable effort, Geist commented, Should I have been hired as Assistant Professor of Transfiguration in Pettigrew's place, I'd have graded your achievements tonight as Exceeds Expectations, and then offered a sum of twenty-five points for exceptionally hard work.
Thanks.
And then, quite simply, he went to sleep.
As the first hour of the morning passed, and then the second, with Harry turning and building up a cold sweat that clung to his gray pajamas, he came to awaken with a startled breath. A nightmare of some kind, though with a note of clarion finality. His thoughts clung to its final phantasms, the last breaths of whatever dream he'd dreamt, but its substance was effervescent and wispy, hard to catch, like sand pouring down between one's fingers, or fine and short hairs flying right through a net intent to catch them. A city on fire, maybe, and people begging him to do something. A long object of some kind, made of silver but with a purple undertone. He wasn't sure.
"Can't sleep," Harry muttered. He turned in bed, to face his empty room, only to find it wasn't quite so empty.
In the center of the room, away from any furniture, floated a dark-cloaked figure with baleful nonexistent eyes. Its darkness permeated and filled the room like a choking miasma, the bottom of its robe scraping against the furniture like tendrils, and growing up the walls much like vines, made of tenebrous cord, with a glossiness to their surface that seemed to both reflect and absorb the moonlight. Harry froze in his bed, under covers, unable to move or tear his eyes away. On his forehead, the scar began to ache; at first, with a dull sensation like a pain in the knee, and then with stabs of brutalizing sharpness and brilliant, flaring energy. He grit his teeth but didn't dare hiss.
It spoke, in a voice that wasn't a voice. It was the most terrifying thing Harry ever perceived with any of his senses; a voice like eternal night, that fell and clasped the world, never to let go.
I... I REMEMBER THIS.
Its eyes didn't exist, but fell upon him.
RULER OF HOMELANDS; A LORD OF VESSELS. A LORD OF VESSELS? WHAT. NO...
Harry shivered in his bed, a cold tear running down his eye. His mouth opened, but he couldn't bring himself to ask a question.
HARRY... POTTER. I AM NOT THE DEATH'S VOICE, MAKE NO SPEAR OF TERROR IN YOUR HANDS, AND IN NEITHER SENSE. ALL THAT IS EASILY FOOLED AND CUDDLY DANCES IN ITS RIGHT PLACE AND REMAINS AS CRYSTALS, BUT THERE ARE CHILDREN STILL LIVING WHO KNOW OF THIS HOLE DUG INTO THE WELL OF THE ROOTS. UNFORTUNATE BUT NECESSARY. DECIPHER MY RUNES, FOR THEY ARE YOUR ENTIRE WORLD BETWEEN NOW AND FOREVER.
It wasn't the same ghost as the one that haunted the Dursleys. It was something different, something else.
...A PEERLESS ONE ROSE FROM ASHES OF BRONZE AND LIGHTNING, THE WORLD-CARRIER'S VILE PROGENY FROM HIS LAND, WHO CARRIED THE SKY ON BRANCHES OF ARBOUR. HIS WILL MAKES AND UNMAKES EVERYTHING IN YOUR WORLD, BETWEEN NOW AND FOREVER, BUT NOT FOREVER. AERMORA MEANS "TREE," DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE? THE GODDESS EATS THE CITY UNDER THE SEA AND THE PROGENY BREEDS, AND THE UNFORGIVEN PROGENY BECOMES ONLY FOR CUDDLING AND SUCH THINGS. THE VISIONS ABIDE AND PASS AS THE CIRCLES MAKE. ALL IS COMING TO PASS AS THE ANCIENTS PREDICTED. THEY DANCED IN THE DARKNESS. YOU ARE GOING TO HATCH SOON.
As the figure spoke, Harry found that he couldn't breathe, and happy thoughts drained away from him rapidly, leaving his mind almost like the breath leaving behind his lungs. A thin layer of frost covered every single object in the room, and rime started to build up on Harry's glasses on the bedside; a visible lattice of white verglas that spread in fractal patterns. Somehow, Des was sleeping through all of this, lying in his cage and none the wiser to the entity now haunting their bedroom. It kept floating there, a shadow in reality; it didn't exist, and couldn't exist, not even in the same way as the usual ghost at Hogwarts. It was something completely different and unnatural.
A thing deep in Harry's chest - maybe his heart, or maybe some magical core - felt unutterably cold, as if completely frozen.
...YOU WILL DISAPPEAR AT CONVOCATION IF YOU DO NOT ACT. IF YOU DO NOT HATCH, YOU HAVE A CIRCLE AT MOST. TRUST THE GUARDIANS, DO NOT TRUST THE ANCIENTS.
It paused. As if to think.
YOU WILL FORGET THIS NIGHT, BUT YOUR SOUL REMEMBERS, AND PERSISTS IN ERROR. SEEK ME AGAIN. I HAVE MORE ANSWERS. BUT FOR TONIGHT, LIVE. I AM STANDING BEHIND YOU NOW.
After that, Harry went to sleep and never had a nightmare again.
---
There isn't much that you can do with your studies of Astronomy until some more progression is made. Alas, Astrology requires good knowledge of Astronomy, and you're only getting started on the latter. However, until then, a few selections remain and facts to consider remain.
Here's your coursework for September. Assume that by the end of September, Harry is capable of competently dealing with any of the topics mentioned below, and can comfortably receive an A (Acceptable) grade in them all --
Astronomy
*Introduction - Equipment Care
*Units and Measurements
Charms
*Feather-light Charm
*Launching Charm
*Levitation Charm
**Private Tutoring w/ Professor Flitwick (Charms + Dueling; advanced applications of Levitation Charm; Deflection Charm)
DADA
*Gnomes
*Biology of Gnomes and related creatures
*De-Gnoming the Hogwarts Garden (simulated exercise)
Herbology
*Introduction - Equipment Care
*Proper Safety Instructions and Procedures
*Aconite - Otherwise known as monkshood and wolfsbane
*Valerian - Includes a harvest of this safe plant. Also coincides with learning the potions it's used for in Potions
*Garlic - A plant known for being useful as both a food ingredient and vampire deterrent
History of Magic
*Founding of Hogwarts Castle (including basic biography of the Founders)
*Architecture of Hogwarts Castle
*History of Hogwarts Castle and its notables (includes biography of most interesting Headmasters)
*Famous Hogwarts graduates
Potions
*Introduction and Equipment Care
*Standard Potioning Water
*Standard Ingredient - A set of mixtures of common herbs often used as catalysts or stabilizers in almost 75% of brews
*Bezoars - A study and general understanding of the stones found in the stomachs of goats
*Forgetfulness Potion & Draught of Peace - Uses Valerian
Transfiguration
*Introduction to Transfiguration
*Basic Universal Transformations
*Quill Transformation - A spell that transforms any object similar to a quill into a quill
*Theory of Switching
*Magical Alphabet - The most common runic alphabet used in modern magic, expanded upon in Studies of Ancient Runes in several years from now
Flying (only 1st Year, only September and October; curriculum of both months included for brevity)
*Practice
*History of Brooms - Also explains why they are so popular as a mode of transport, or so it alleges
*Other Modes of Magical Transportation
*Rules of Quidditch - Also includes a very brief overview of its history as a game
*Quidditch Games - The First-Years get to play four matches of Quidditch against one another; these are not 'official' in the way that the actual team matches are
Now, is there anything that you'd like Harry to focus on or expand on?
[ ] Write-in
[ ] Maintain Standard Coursework - A balanced spreadsheet of skills
[ ] Focus Astronomy - As Harry learns, he notices that he really enjoys this subject, almost unnaturally so; and it's easy for him to learn, as he seemingly has a knack for it.
[ ] Compensate Potions - A lot of work for Potions this semester, it seems. It'd be smart to focus on making up for any potential misgivings, as Snape is a brutal educator.
At the moment you have 2.8 Gnosis.
[ ] Double Trouble [2 Gnosis] - Allows you to learn at double the rate for a single chosen subject, spell, etc. Applying this to anything will make Harry actually learn it at a desirable rate, should he have otherwise ignored it.
[ ] Thrice-Great [7 Gnosis] - Insufficient Gnosis. It's a pretty good thing, though. Save up for it next time.
