|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Author: vegasdude555 Story: Harry Potter and the Tear of the Phoenix Rating: Teens Status: WIP Warning: None Reviews: 5 Words: 34,404
Harry was nervous; it seemed like the rest of the winter holiday had only last a second. And now he found himself late for the start of the winter term of Hogwarts. He had come no closer in finding out any information about either Winston Benson or the rogue killer. It frustrated him that he could find no leads to any answers. He knew it shouldn't have surprised him though; after all Winston was an Unspeakable and any personal information that could have given away the details of his work would have been concealed, and the killer still puzzled Harry more than anything. He was not used to a killer like this; in the few cases he had studied during his Auror training he had learned that usually after someone had done their first murder it wouldn't be long till they strike again, but this rogue did not. In fact it seemed that Dumbledore's predictions of the murderer's intention may have been wrong because the public still had not learned of what he had done. As time went by though Harry knew he wouldn't be able to keep this a secret from Ron or Hermione much longer. He needed fresh eyes to look on this case with him to help find what he was looking for; he just only wished that he could shelter them a little bit longer. These thoughts quickly left his mind though as each long step he took brought him closer to the castle that had been his first home and also the realm of most of his recent nightmares. All nerves he was able to push aside while thinking of Winston Benson had returned in full force as he walked into the grand castle and made his way to the great hall. He could hear laughter down the hall that led to where the students were enjoying their grand meal. Maybe if he were lucky the Headmistress had already given her return to school speech and Harry could sneak in without too much notice from the students he would be instructing. But it seemed that Harry was unlucky because no one missed the entrance of the new DADA teacher. Immediately people started whispering to each other and some stood up to get a better view, while most just stared at him. Harry's timing couldn't have been any worst. Instead of entering this great room before or after the Headmistress's speech he had actually interrupted it! A stern cough from his old Transfiguration teacher though brought many of the students' gazes back to the original speaker. "As I was saying, Mr. Filch wanted me to tell you another 36 forbidden items have been added to the list posted on his door," said Professor McGonagall as Harry made his way to the empty seat next to Hagrid. "Another reminder, the Forest is still off limits to all students who value their lives. And before I allow you to start your meal I have one last announcement. As you may have noticed, Professor Richards is not with us at the moment. Unfortunately certain events have taken him from the school for a temporary amount of time. In the mean while I would like to introduce you to your new substitute for Defense Against the Dart Arts, Professor Harry James Potter." Harry was used to being a subject of attention; he did after all defeat Tom Riddle and was now engaged to one of the best Chasers in the nation. However, he still felt that awkward feeling of anxiety whenever a large group of people stared at him, especially in situations like this one. Realizing and understanding Harry's current state of mind, McGonagall reclaimed the attention of the students of Hogwarts once again. "I wish you all good luck with your classes and beg you to remember what I have told you all tonight. Enjoy your meal." With those last words she took her seat and as she did all of the tables in the hall filled with varieties of food from thin air and the students were able to put Harry off their minds. "Don' mind em Harry; you wait, by the end of the meal they'll totally have forgotten you're here." Reassured Hagrid as he filled his plate with a few different selections of meat. "Yeah until I have them in class tomorrow," replied Harry while keeping his gaze on his plate, avoiding the stares of some young girls sitting at the Ravenclaw table. "I'll give you some advice. If you don't have anything big planned for your first lessons just have them ask questions they might have for you," said Hagrid only pausing to eat some of his food. "You know, that way they can see you're just another wizard. Works for me when the young ones are nervous about being taught by a half giant" Harry only nodded his head to Hagrid's advice. It did seem like a good idea, but the last thing Harry wanted to think about was next day's lessons. He was prepared as well as he could be thanks mainly to the help of Ginny and Hermione. He almost felt that one of those two would be a far better choice for teaching than he was. Hermione was the most brilliant witch that Harry had ever met and would be a wonderful teacher and Ginny always had a knack with people. Harry saw himself almost more as a distraction to these kids than a positive source of knowledge. But then again his friends, former teachers, and family believed in him; so there must be something that made him right for the job. ~*~ "My name is Harry Potter," he announced to his first class of third year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, "but I'm sure most of you know that." Nervous giggles filled the classroom. "I'm here to continue your education on the topic of Defense Against the Dark Arts. I have looked over the lesson plan that Professor Richards had outlined for you to learn this term. All of the rules you had in his class will apply for mine: homework is to be on my desk at the start of class, any spells we practice in this room are only to be done with my supervision, and please no dazing off during class." Harry walked around the classroom and looked at the faces of his students. Some of them looked at him with eager faces just waiting to be taught by The-Man-Who-Triumphed; some looked at him with awe, still trying to get used to being taught by the most powerful wizard of the age; and the rest looked how Harry felt, nervous and scared. "Instead of continuing from where you left off before the holiday, I thought we might have a day where we break the ice between each other. To help us to get used to err… each other," replied Harry while walking back to the front of the classroom. "I think it will be easier for me to teach and for you to learn if we all become a little more familiar with each other. So let's begin." As soon as Harry finished almost every hand in the classroom went up. With a silent gulp of the throat Harry pointed to a lanky Hufflepuff boy with blond hair and green eyes. "I was wondering sir if we could ask you anything we want?" asked the young man in a collected voice. "Good question Mr. Young," said Harry while looking down at the Marauder's Map to help keep the names straight. "You may ask me whatever you want as long as it isn't too personal, and I hold the right to choose not to answer if I don't believe the question is important." Harry then pointed out a short and skinny brunette from Ravenclaw to go next. "Professor Potter, I was wondering why you refuse to accept the Order of Merlin?" asked the girl. Harry silently laughed to himself after seeing her name; Shalise Etcheverry was the daughter of the chairman of the council who gave the award away and he had lost count of how many times her father Christopher had asked the same question. "I refuse the award every year, because I believe there are many that deserve as much recognition for their contribution to the war as I do. It's not that I don't see it as an honor because I truly do, but I won't accept it until everyone who fought for the same cause is awarded as well." The answer must have satisfied the girl because she gave him a soft smile and nodded her head. "Next question." "Sir is it true you can do wandless magic?" asked a young man from Ravenclaw after Harry pointed him out. "Wandless magic is an extremely hard skill to master, Mr. Hobbs. Yes I have done wandless magic but usually only by accident or in special circumstances. Even some of the most powerful wizards I've met could do very little of that kind of magic, Albus Dumbledore being one of them." "Professor Potter, why didn't you play professional Quidditch?" asked a well-built young man from Ravenclaw, obviously a Beater for his house team. "There are a few reasons, one being I didn't want to play for a team who only wanted me because of my fame; I would have loved to play Quidditch but only if my skill earned me a spot, not my name. The second reason is because I have always had a passion for defense, and becoming an Auror seemed like a logical choice." "Sir is it true that you fought off hundreds of dementors when you were our age in the Forbidden Forest?" asked another student. And with that the questions continued on past adventures that Harry had been on in his youth. He almost felt like he was reading a story to his young god-child Teddy while watching the faces of his students as he retold his past from the Sorcerer's Stone to the downfall of Tom Riddle, leaving out most of the details of course. "And you were never scared?" asked a cute blonde girl with brown eyes after Harry had finished his tales of Hogwarts. "Of course I was," replied Harry. "I was very young for some of the things I've done, and usually the odds and the circumstances were always against me, but with the help of the people I love I was able to find courage and press on no matter how bad I wanted to give up." "Sir I'm confused how could you be scared but brave at the same time, when I'm scared I usually run or hide." Many boys laughed at the cute blonde all whispering how they have never been scared, or how pathetic she was for announcing that to the class. It was obvious that the boys were waiting for Harry to join in their laughter and taunting but Harry only continued. "Ms. Naughty, I believe you are one step closer to true courage than most of the boys in this room." The laughing boys all stared at Harry in disbelief. "How could anyone find courage without first finding fear? How would one know what even courage is without fear? To be brave, is to face fear. You will all do well to remember that. You're dismissed." All of the boys that had been laughing hurry and grabbed their books and left obviously ashamed from what they had done. Julia Naughty beamed at Harry while she grabbed her books to leave the class. Harry only gave her a slight nod and watched her walk out of the room. ~*~ The week had gone a lot better than he had thought. Hagrid's advice had been a tremendous help and by the end of each class he had taught he was now being seen as who he was, just Harry, instead of being stared at like some famous Quidditch star. Of course most people were still awestruck about him, but at least the constant staring and whispering had slimmed down. The only thing he didn't quite like was retelling his past adventures over and over but he knew from the start that was more than likely what his students would ask him about more than anything. The only question that was nearly asked as much as those ones was when Ginny would be off her suspension from punching a handsy Chaser from the Cannons and be able to leave the reserve bench back to her starting position. But now was not the time to dwell on the past week. It was the first weekend of the second term and Harry was going to meet Ron, Hermione, and Ginny at The Hog's Head to tell them of the Benson case. He had arrived early to make sure that they got a secluded table so that way he wouldn't have to worry about being overheard. He had been rehearsing in his head what he should say to make sure that they didn't get too angry with him. He knew Hermione would be the first one to forgive him for keeping something like this from her. That was one thing Harry liked about her, she was very easy to read. It was Ron and Ginny that had him worried. He didn't know what would make Ron madder, the fact that Harry had been told about the case rather than he or the same reason he knew would tick Ginny off, because he kept a big secret from them. Whatever happened eventually Ron would forgive him, probably after exchanging some very choice words. Ginny though was a different story; her temper was well known and Harry knew he'd be lucky if the only thing she did was yell. At that moment all three of them walked in, Hermione carrying a briefcase probably filled with parchment for projects she had been working on the side of her current job. Ron was looking tired and a bit green, probably just got done with his Auror training Harry guessed, and Ginny was busy waving and saying hello to her fans. "Hermione, he's over there," said Ron while leading the girls to the secluded table. "Took your time didn't you?" said Harry in a joking manner while Ginny gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Well your fiancée had to talk to people in Hogsmeade," Ron replied while taking a swig of some Butterbeer that Harry had ordered for them. "Anyway, how are classes going Harry?" Hermione asked before Ginny could tear into Ron. "Pretty well, haven't really taught them anything though. Been too busy recounting our past adventures for the last week," said Harry. "I thought that might happen; it's probably a good thing though that you're getting all of it out in the open so they can start to focus on their studies. So anything really interesting on the agenda for next week?" continued Hermione. "Not really… well I'm suppose to start teaching the sixth years about the Unforgivables," replied Harry with a bit of dread in his voice. "I was hoping that maybe they had already been taught about them or that they had been taken out of the lesson plans now that Riddle's gone." "I hope you do a better job at it than Moody did," said Ron with a shudder. "I still have nightmares about that spider dancing all over the place." "Honestly Ron, first of all it wasn't Moody teaching us, it was Crouch. Second I think Harry will have a little more tact than a Death Eater had," stated Hermione. Honestly though Harry was planning on teaching it exactly how Crouch had; sure he had been a Death Eater but there was no doubt that he had taught the subject well. "Err, yeah right," replied Harry. "So anything new going on with you lot?" "Pretty much the same old stuff. Crew is still working us like house-el… dogs I mean, to get us ready for the exams. I have been helping George a little bit at the shop but that's about it," said Ron trying to hide his face from Hermione for his near slip-up. "What about you Hermione?" asked Harry. "I haven't been doing anything real exciting, I'm still trying to find a house-elf that is willing to represent their kind as an equal magical creature; but none of them dare do it," she replied. "Simple answer for that isn't there?" asked Ron. "Because none of them want to be free, they like their lives how they are," he continued until he saw Hermione's face. "I'm not saying they shouldn't be free it's just they ah… well don't know anything different." "Good save, Ron," laughed Ginny. "You are getting a lot smoother than you use to be." Harry laughed while asking Ginny what she had been up to. "Well Mum has been bugging me constantly about the wedding; it's like she thinks it's going to be next weekend or something. She's driving me mad. You should be thanking Merlin you got this job at Hogwarts or she would be putting you through the same torture as me." "If you had taken my advice a long time ago and moved out, you wouldn't be having this problem now," said Hermione while pulling some parchment out of her briefcase. "I didn't see the point since I was going to be so busy with the Harpies. It didn't seem right to pay for a flat that I was hardly going to stay in. Which reminds me, my suspension ends next week; I'll be starting for the next game. Isn't that great?!" said Ginny towards Harry. "Yeah, that's wonderful!" replied her fiancé. Truth be told though he wasn't very happy about her starting again at all. He had seen her suspension as a blessing rather than the curse that Ginny made of it. Harry was happy she had found a job that suited her well, but he had only wished it was a little safer. Ginny had many close calls with Bludgers or being plowed off her broom last season that he thought he was going to give himself an ulcer by worrying about her so much. He kept his concerns to himself though; he knew that if he said anything to Ginny about it she'd be angry with him for wanting to baby her or protect her, and compare him to her mum. Instead he put on a happy face and hid the worry inside of him. "Anyway guys I asked you here for a reason," continued Harry while watching some of the more shady characters in the pub leave whispering among each other. "It's something I should have told you a long time ago..." He then recounted every detail of the meeting with Kingsley and Crew, except for the lightning bolt scar carved into the foreheads of the victims. He really didn't know why he held that from them; it was after all a very serious part of the case. Maybe because he didn't really think that piece of evidence was going to help any of them find the answers they were looking for, but a small voice in the back corner of his mind said it's because you don't want them to worry about you. He tried to deny it but he knew that was closer to the truth than anything. He knew Ron wouldn't worry too much; he knew better than anyone that Harry could take care of himself. But the girls would take pebbles and turn them into mountains. Harry was surprised but relieved to see none of them reacted how he anticipated. Ginny was very quiet and hardly moving after Harry had finished giving the details, while Ron looked at him with his mouth slightly aghast as if he had been told the Cannons were leading the league, and Hermione looked as is she was evaluating a new spell she learned for NEWT's. "I don't understand," Ron said, his face looking like he had eaten a rotten Chocolate Frog. "I thought this stuff was supposed to be over. I thought most of the Death Eaters had been caught?" "You know how it was after the first time Voldemort fell from power, Ron," answered Hermione for Harry. "There were still few Death Eaters who believed that Riddle would come back. There were still few who killed just to prove they were still loyal even without proof that Voldemort would rise again." "That's the confusing thing though, isn't it?" continued Ron "If it was a Death Eater proving his loyalty why wouldn't he leave his mark. I mean wouldn't he have left the Dark Mark or something to prove that he was a follower of You-Know-Who?" "Not necessarily. According to how Harry described it Kingsley and Crew think whoever it was, was looking for something. Something they wouldn't have wanted put in a safer place. Maybe they were trying to keep it quiet so whatever they were after didn't become any harder to obtain," said Hermione still looking like she was solving a problem in her head. "I don't think they were worried about whatever they want becoming harder to get," said Harry, who had already thought of both things that Ron and Hermione said. "If that were the case they never would have killed the Bensons, would they? Anyone could have realized that someone would notice them missing. I mean they would have known that as soon as the Aurors found out that the Bensons were dead and Winston was missing, that the Ministry would make nearly impossible for them to get whatever he was working on or knew. I think that, whatever it is they want, they know that the Ministry doesn't have it, and that the only person who knows what they want and where to find it is Winston Benson." They were all quiet after that, each of them pondering what exactly was going on. Finally Hermione broke the silence. "You've been awfully quiet, Ginny. What do you think?" Ginny hesitated for a second and instead of looking at Hermione to answer she looked at Harry and spoke to him. "There's something else isn't it? You're holding something back from us still aren't you?" She didn't ask with any uncertainty. She knew Harry well enough to know that there was still more to the story. Harry looked down at his trainers under the table. He knew there was no point in lying. The only one at the table that was thick enough to fall for whatever response other than the truth was Ron, and he was planning on telling him later anyways. "Yeah there's something else," continued Harry pausing slightly trying to figure out how to phrase the next part the best he could, but there was no way of sugar coating this. "When they found the bodies they saw that the killer did actually leave a mark." "A Dark Mark!" interjected Ron in a loud voice causing a few older men at the bar to look at the four of then momentarily. "Why wasn't it the Prophet then?" finished Ron in a softer voice. "Because it wasn't the Dark Mark," retorted Harry. "After he had murdered the Bensons, the killer carved something into their foreheads; but Crew or Kingsley don't know what the true meaning of it is yet so there is no reason to worry," he finished lamely, trying to make sure that the panic that would surely hit them didn't take them over completely. "What did they carve on their foreheads, Harry?" asked Ginny in a soft voice, sounding more like the girl who had been taken in the Chamber of Secrets so long ago, and less like the confident woman he had grown to love. "A lightning bolt scar… just like mine," said Harry as he started to refocus his attention on his trainers. "They're not sure what the killer wants to say. He might just be trying to get someone publicity or," but Harry didn't need finish because Hermione did it for him. "Or a warning that you'll be next," she said in a small nervous voice. "Yeah," replied Harry. "That guy would have to be a nutter, I mean more than he is already!" Ron threw in, like Hermione and Harry had to be out of their minds. "It could be a woman, Ron," said Hermione still thinking. Ron ignored that last comment though and continued, "Harry, more Dark Wizards fear you than… well the thought of being thrown into Azkaban. I mean you defeated You-Know-Who for Merlin's sake." Harry had heard this argument before though, and he always answered the same way, "By sheer luck though. I never would have walked out of that forest alive if he hadn't taken my blood or I hadn't disarmed Malfoy." "Yeah but he doesn't know that does he, and everyone who does is on our side," Ron persisted confidently. This did not make Harry feel any better though. In fact it had quite the opposite effect on him. He and Dumbledore had already decided that whoever this was knew him and did not fear him. Perhaps now he had finally found the answer. Maybe this killer was someone he knew well and considered a friend, someone that everyone thought was on their side. Harry wasn't able to dwell long on that thought though. "Well it's obvious what we need to do next then, isn't it?" said Ginny, now acting again like the confident women that Harry loved. "We need to find out what Winston Benson was working on." "Yeah and I have a plan that I think will get us exactly that," said Harry looking at all three of them. He just prayed that it wouldn't be as hard as he thought it was going to be. A/N A very late update… sorry. For those who read the last chapter and thought I meant Harry would be teaching at the start of September I actually meant he would be filling in for the regular teacher at the start of the spring term (which I'm sure you have now just realized having read the latest chapter). A big thanks to the readers, my beta, and PhoenixSong!
|