Chapter 40 -
"That's alright," Harry said as he was in an abandoned classroom with Scott, Jean and Astoria. He was currently guiding the three first year Ravenclaws through a spell that all three of them had wanted to learn. "now just remember to jab it forward slightly and visualize." Harry added.
"Got it." Astoria said as it was her turn to practice spell.
"Alright, just get it over with." Scott sighed as it was his turn to be the dummy. The hex was a painless one and Harry was easily able to undo it so they had decided to practice on each other as it was easier than getting a training dummy. Scott wanted to complain but both the girls had already had the spell cast on them and if they didn't complain then he wouldn't complain.
Especially not in front of Harry 'bloody' Potter, it was not that Scott or the others feared Harry, they feared what he could do but not the person. As they all felt pretty comfortable with Harry, he was the unofficial big brother of the trio and they all knew that. Which was why Scott, Jean and Astoria did their best to gain his respect when they could. In fact they looked up to him more than the teachers.
"Alright, just stay still." Astoria said before she performed the wand movements while saying the spell. "Labrum Incrementum"" She yelled as the spell flew from her wand and hit Scott in the mouth, just under his nose. The others watched as his upper lip grew to the point where it covered his mouth and went past his chin before it decided to stop growing.
"Veell thaf thuf greaf." Scott rolled his eyes as he tried to speak but that was rather difficult with what happened to his lips. Jean giggled while Astoria looked like she was trying to decide if she should laugh or apologies. Harry simply looked amused.
"Okay let me see," Harry gestured Scott to come closer and Scott did so. "okay that is pretty decent, try not to yell at your spells but pretty decent." Harry said after he examined Scott's lip, Harry waved his wand and reversed it.
"Thanks." Scott said after his lip was back to normal, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before giving Harry a nod.
"Alright guys," Harry said to the first years. "now you guys tell me why that spell could be helpful, you don't need to raise your hand." Harry added when Jean raised her hand, she blushed as she lowered it but did speak.
"Well it stops people from speaking and that means they can't cast spells." She answered.
"Exactly, if you haven't learnt silent casting and can't speak then you can't really do much, perhaps some accidental magic in a life or death situation but that's it." Harry responded. "And if you rely on verbal magic and mess up your spell then you have no idea what results could come from your spell. Anything else?"
"It's distracting." Scott answered.
"Yes," Harry nodded in approval. "even if your opponent can silent cast it will still distract them and if you keep the pressure on them to stop them from reversing it then it will continue to distract them until they make a mistake. There is one more thing that I am thinking about, can any of you guess it?" Harry asked. The three Ravenclaws looked thoughtful and were silent for a few moments before one of them spoke up.
"Is it because it scares them?" Astoria asked, hoping she was right.
"Explain." Harry shrugged as he gestured to her.
"Well if they get hit but still manage to reverse it they would still worry about getting hit again." Astoria replied.
"Yes!" Harry smiled happily at her. "That's good, and it's not just this spell, it's every spell. If I was fighting someone and managed to hit them with a stinging hex to the chest then they are going to think about what would happen if I had used a more dangerous spell. A battle is not just physical and magical fighting, it is also about getting into your opponents head. Be unpredictable, scare them if you can, let them make a mistake and then take advantage. Got it?"
"Got it." The three quickly answered in unison.
"Good."
"I don't get it." A fourth voice said in a jokey tone, everyone turned to the doorway to see Tonks standing in the doorframe. "Wotcher everyone." Tonks smiled. "I'm not interrupting am I?"
"Hey Tonks, it's fine, we were just finishing. What are you doing here?" Harry asked. "Not that I am complaining." He added quickly.
"You had better not be." She grinned. "I have some auror business I need to attend to so I'm unfortunately in 'auror mode' at the moment." Tonks sighed before stepping into the room. "I'm sorry but can you three please leave me and Harry alone? I need to ask him questions."
"Is it about Umbridge?" Astoria asked.
"Part of it is." Tonks admitted. "If Harry wants to tell you the rest later then he can but I need to talk to him in private."
"It's fine guys, go." Harry said as he guided the first years out of the room. "I will talk to you guys later, alright?"
"Bye Harry." They said before walking off. Harry closed the door and quickly cast some privacy spells before turning to Tonks.
"Okay, so what's up?" Harry asked.
"First of all, have you heard anything new about Umbridge?" Tonks asked.
"No, not really." Harry shook his head.
"Nothing at all?"
"No." Harry repeated.
"Fair enough." Tonks shrugged before she grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him against the door before crashing her lips against his.
"Wow," Harry said a moment later after he broke off the kiss. "what happened to 'auror mode'?" He grinned.
"I asked my question. Auror mode is over, now it's 'Tonks mode', you got a problem with that?" Tonks raised an eyebrow at him.
"Hell no." Harry shook his head as he laughed. "If possible we would be in 'Tonks mode' all the time."
"Good," She smiled before looking thoughtful. "I don't think I have ever done it in a classroom before."
"No!" Harry gasped in mock horror. He grabbed Tonks by the back of the head with his right hand, and pulled her into a passionate kiss, his left hand slid down her waist and grabbed her right leg as she wrapped it around his left. He stroked the leg while she ran her hands through his messy hair, making it even more messy. Harry's right hand slid down her body just as his left hand slid up her leg, both stopped at her rear and grabbed a handful, causing Tonks to moan into the kiss. Harry lifted her up and she wrapped both legs around his waist, he carried her towards the teachers desk in the classroom and placed her on it before he broke off the kiss. Harry planted several kisses along her neck before he looked at her in the eye. "Let's fix that shall we?" He grinned.
"You will time it perfectly," Voldemort ordered as he sat on his throne with his death eaters on their knees in front of him. "I will send a vision to Potter and when he arrives you will wait until he picks up the prophecy, once he does then you will take the prophecy from him. The prophecy must be brought to me!" Voldemort hissed the last part, emphasizing how serious he was about it. "Severus, you are sure about the time?"
"Yes my lord," Snape nodded. "there will be no order members guarding at that time."
"There had better not be."
"My, my lord..." One death eater nervously spoke. "w...what about Potter?"
"Capture him but do not kill him, the only one besides myself who is allowed to kill him is my heir. Apophis is working on something very special for me," A smirk briefly appeared on Voldemort's face. "he will meet with you all once he is done. I expect both the prophecy and Potter to be in my with me, am I understood?"
"Yes my lord." All the death eaters shouted together.
"Go, go and be ready." Voldemort ordered.
"He is here." Lucius Malfoy said in a soft voice to the other death eaters as he heard footsteps approaching the hall of prophecies.
"We will get the half-blood bastard." One death eater whispered as he grinned under his mask.
"Do not underestimate him!" Lucius hissed, just loud enough for his fellow death eaters to hear. "Pettigrew might have been a pathetic wizard but he was still captured by Potter, there are also far too many rumor's about him and some supposedly great feats of magic. If that is not enough then remember that he is the one who went spell to spell with the dark lord's heir. Do not underestimate him." Lucius said to the twenty nine other death eaters with him.
Malfoy, despite what others may or may not believe, was no fool. Or at least he did not consider himself to be a fool. He knew that the dark lord likely held at least some level of respect for Potter's abilities if he was willing to sent a total of thirty death eaters just to capture him. Plus there were all the rumor's about Potter's special feats of magic at school, some say he had defeated a teacher and a troll in his first year, a basilisk in his second and an army of dementors in his third. Lucius knew for sure that Potter did win the Triwizard tournament and that was while competing against three older students, even if one was a filthy half-breed. Severus and Draco may willingly be blind against the boy's abilities and power because they hated him but Lucius was not willing to let hatred stop him from remembering how strong a person was, after all it was only remembering the strength possessed by the dark lord that stopped him from throwing the man out of his house.
Lucius looked in the direction of Potter who was wearing his school uniform, except he was only wearing the shoes, trousers and shirt without the rest of the uniform. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbow, Lucius saw Potter reaching for his orb and knew that he had to make his move now, he only hoped that the others did not mess things up.
As Harry walked he looked around at each and every orb, each one containing a prophecy. Until he came across one that read:
S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D
Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter
Harry raised his hands and gingerly picked up the prophecy orb, he held it in both hands and looked at it. He had only held it in his hands for about two seconds before he heard a familiar drawling voice.
"Well done Potter," The voice said, Harry had quickly shifted the prophecy into his left hand while his wand appeared in his right hand after being flicked out of his wand holster. Harry saw Lucius Malfoy appear out of the darkness as he removed his death eater mask. "now hand over the orb." Malfoy ordered, Malfoy watched as Potter looked at him. Malfoy saw no emotions beyond a brief and small look of surprise, perhaps Potter was arrogant enough to not consider him a threat.
"Malfoy, you cock sucking cocksucker, what the hell are you doing here?" Harry asked as in a way that sounded like he was discussing the weather. "Did you get lost? Mrs Malfoy let you out of her sight for a few seconds I'm guessing, I feel sorry for her, bad enough that her husband is a failure, shame you're also who your son tries to model after. And seeing as he fails as that, how pathetic does that make him?" Lucius was about to respond but was cut of by the sound of a loud female laugh from the darkness. Malfoy, knowing exactly who that laugh belonged to, resisted the urge to groan and roll his eyes while Harry simply raised an eyebrow.
"Give me the prophecy." Lucius said as he gestured to the white orb in Harry's hand.
"The prophecy?" Harry said with a fake confused voice and face, right before fake realization hit him. "Oh! Oh you mean this orb?"
"Yes Potter, now..."
"This breakable orb?" Harry asked as he tossed it in the air and caught it.
"Potter I..."
"This easily breakable orb." Harry brought the orb down in a motion that looked like he was going to smash it, Lucius's eyes widened in fear and he had taken a step forward only to stop when Potter stopped at the last possible moment to stop the orb from smashing. Harry laughed as held the orb and looked at Malfoy. "Alright blondie? You look like you've shit yourself? Your wife have to clean that or should I call a house elf?" Lucius response was once again cut off by cackling.
"Oh the boy knows how to play." A female voice said as Bellatrix Lestrange walked out of the shadows, she stopped next to Lucius and grinned at Harry. Looking at him like a predator would look at a piece of meat. "Itty, bitty, ickle, wickle Potter." She said in a baby voice as she looked at Harry.
"Oh I know you, I have heard of you!" Harry said in a cheery voice as he gestured to Bellatrix. "You're...um...you are...uh...what's-her-face...Strange! That's it, you're strange!"
"It's Lestrange." She glared at him.
"Oh sweetie, I don't think it matters if you're French or not, strange is strange." Harry replied.
"My name is Bellatrix Lestrange you filthy half-blood!"
"Hey," Harry said in an offended voice. "I am not filthy, I wash regularly. What about you? Your hair looks like it needs more love, kind of like you though, I mean I can just tell from looking that nobody loved you."
"Shut it Potter!" She hissed.
"Aw, did I hurt wickle ickle Bella's delicate little feelings?" Harry said in a baby voice. "Is little Bella sad because her parents didn't like her? Did the other kids think she was crazy? Does her master look at her like a dog?"
"How dare you mention him?! You dirty little half-breed!"
"Yeah well I suppose I am a half-breed, I mean what else do you call the result of when a goddess marries a human? If you want to know what you call the results of a loveless marriage then I have a really nice selection of mirrors for you." Harry grinned. "Let me guess, this whole thing has something to do with Voldemort, doesn't it?"
"How dare you speak his name?!" Bellatrix shouted, pissed off not just because of his comments but also how calm he was and the fact that he had dared to mention her masters name. She raised her wand to curse the little bastard when Lucius grabbed her arm and forced her wand down.
"Enough!" He hissed at her before looking back at Potter, Lucius took a quick and calming breath before he spoke. "Now Potter," He began. "there is no need for blood shed."
"Oh Lucius it wouldn't be my blood that you would have to worry about it." Harry grinned at him.
"Is that so Potter?" Lucius smirked as the other death eaters came out of the shadows. Lucius was feeling a lot more confident now that the half-blood brat was surrounded.
"Oh wow, how many are here if you don't mind me asking?"
"There are thirty of us Potter." Lucius's smirk grew bigger.
"Wow, I guess Voldemort respects me enough to send at least thirty of you clowns." Harry replied, unintentionally speaking Lucius's previous thoughts out loud.
"As if the dark lord fears a freak like you!" One death eater spat as he glared at Harry from under his mask.
"Shush," Harry said right before making a shushing noise. "the big boys are talking, can the brainless and brain dead keep out of it?"
"Enough," Lucius said to the death eater before turning back to Harry. "Now about that prophecy Potter..."
"You mean this still very breakable prophecy?" Harry asked, looking the picture of calm on the outside despite being quite nervous on the inside. Harry began lightly tossing the orb up and down, never letting it get past his head height. If they tried to summon it then he was confident that he could catch it, he was the youngest seeker in a century after all.
"Now Potter," Lucius spoke in a soft voice. "there is no need for violence."
"You're about as stupid as your son if you really think that's the case, even stupider if you think that I would believe you." Harry smirked. "Your poor wife," Harry said as he shook his head. "stuck with a dumbass son and a stupidass husband. Maybe I should make her feeler, I'll take her into my room and show her what a real man looks like. I reckon she would look great on her knees, probably better on all fours. I bet everything after the first two inches will feel like brand new."
"You are testing my patience Potter." Malfoy said through gritted teeth.
"Spoilsport," Harry smirked. "now Malfoy, as far as I understand, you want the prophecy, right?"
"Yes, just give it to me now."
"Fine." Harry shrugged before he tossed the prophecy up into the air, it arced towards Malfoy who raised his hands to catch it only for Harry to fire an explosive spell followed by a sound attack that Harry aimed into the air.
Bellatrix was able to block the explosive spell but she and the other death eaters ended up crying out in pain and covering their ears as they felt their hearing get assaulted by Harry's sound attack. Harry quickly ended it and cast a blinding light that lasted for several moments before disappearing, when it was gone then so was Harry and so was the prophecy to Malfoy's horror.
"He has the prophecy!" Malfoy yelled to his other death eaters. "He can't apparate from this room! Fine him!" Malfoy said before a scream was heard on one side of the room. "Spread out, somebody go check that scream!" Malfoy barked.
"Stupid half-blood," Bellatrix said under her breath. "if the dark lord leaves anything for me then I will torture him till he cries for his mudblood mother!" She said as a brief but highly pleasurable image of Potter shaking and crying under the cruciatus curse made its way into her mind before she banished it and focused on catching Potter. A few moments later another scream was heard followed by the sound of a large crash.
"Check that now!" Malfoy shouted.
"He got two of us!" One death eater cried out before the very same death eater screamed.
"How is he doing this?!" Another death eater cried out.
"You guys are idiots." Harry's voice echoed throughout the room.
"Where is he?!" Rabastan Lestrange demanded.
"I don't know!" Barty Crouch Junior hissed.
"I am not stuck in here with you." Harry's voice said, he paused before speaking again, this time his voice was much deeper and far less cheerful. "you're stuck in here with me!"