Harry's fifth year class had a moderately confusing experience, entering his classroom to find him not there. They took their seats one group at a time, looking around to see if their professor was lurking in a corner. He did strange things like that from time to time.
On this occasion, Harry really was nowhere to be seen. Hannah Abbott tittered.
"You don't think anything happened to him, do you?" she asked her best friend, Susan. "Umbridge could have gotten rid of him…"
"She can't just fire professors," said Hermione, who overheard. "There's a procedure to these things. That's why she only put him on probation."
This didn't cheer Hannah up, who hung her head. "It's our fault that he's on probation. He was standing up for us."
"Don't be a fool," Blaise said, as politely as it's possible to say that.
Hannah flinched, and Hermione glared at him.
"I mean that you shouldn't feel badly. It was inevitable," Blaise said. "Professor Potter's curriculum is at odds with the Ministry. His teaching was what enraged the High Inquisitor. Heckling students was nothing but an excuse to make him act out. In the grand scheme of the situation, you are irrelevant."
Hannah didn't look so upset anymore. Rather, she seemed confused. Was he being rude or kind?
"You don't have to phrase it that way," Hermione said.
"Would you have preferred if I dressed it up more delicately?" Blaise turned to Hannah, leaning halfway across the gap between their seats. As the space shrunk, Hannah developed a blush. Blaise's easy smirk helped with that. "I apologize, Miss Abbott. It wasn't my intention to harm your esteem. Can you forgive me?"
"I-I suppose," Hannah said, her cheeks pink.
Blaise slid his eyes onto Hermione. "Better?"
Hermione's frown hadn't disappeared. "Yes," she said curtly.
Their conversation, along with the others that had started around the classroom, stopped as something squeaked into the room.
It was their professor. His tongue was poking out at the corner of his lips, his arms extended for balance. The high-pitched sounds were coming from a single wheel with two pedals— a unicycle, which Harry was roughly managing to operate.
"Clear the way, please." Harry wobbled back and forth. "I've almost got it—"
He reached his desk, but not in the way intended. His weight pitched forward and he fell across the desk's surface. Some of the students winced, while others couldn't help laughing. Most of the class was at least giggling when Harry lifted his head, revealing he wasn't badly hurt.
"Five points to anyone who can guess the topic of today's lesson based on that introduction."
Hands went up. Terry Boot had the first go.
"Muggle medical treatments?" he asked.
Harry, who had scrapped himself off his desk and was rubbing his face, winced. "No. Although I can see how you came to that conclusion, given the way my demonstration turned out." He offered a dirty look at the unicycle, as if this was its fault, instead of the fault of his own skills. "Justin?"
Justin Finch-Fletchley looked confident. "Are we learning about circuses?"
"No," Harry said sourly. "But hearing all of your giggles, I'm starting to see why clowns are so fond of unicycles. Would anyone else like to give it a go?"
Seeing Justin get it wrong made many students hesitate. As a Muggleborn, it was rare to see him incorrect. Eventually, Hannah Abbott lifted her hand.
"Transportation?" she said tentatively.
"Five points to Hufflepuff! That's exactly right."
Hannah turned bright pink, even worse than when Blaise was flattering her. Her respect for Professor Potter had skyrocketed after the lesson with Umbridge, when he took offense on her behalf to the High Inquisitor mocking her. She squeaked a quiet acknowledgement and went silent.
"Muggles have all kinds of ways to get around," Harry said. "Some of them are used more in certain parts of the world. Others have come and gone with time. While you might see certain strains of transportation everywhere in the Muggle world, other kinds are considered a hobby, or an oddity." Harry smiled. "Today, you are going to be deciphering which are which!"
He made it into a kind of game. With him, Harry had brought a list of twenty different methods of transportation. Before going further, he split the class into different groups. Rather than letting the students form them on their own, he split them up to mix the houses together. One group, for example, had Justin Finch-Fetchley, Blaise Zabini, Fay Dunbar, and Michael Corner. Another was made up of Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones, Terry Boot, and Daphne Greengrass. Neville knew Harry had remembered their talk at the end of his Occlumency lesson. He was trying his best not to blush.
Harry passed around identical lists to each group. On them, different ways of traveling had been written, numbered one through thirty. By tapping the words with their wands, students could move entries up or down to edit the order.
"The first spot is what you think Muggles use most. The thirtieth spot will be the least-used one. I've added a brief description of each. Do your best!"
Harry patrolled the room for the next hour, giving every group plenty of time to read, mull over, and debate their proposed order. He put up a prize of twenty house points for the most accurate group. Finally, when he heard the chatter start to dim, he called the class back together to hear what his students had gone with.
Parvati Patil went first. They had cars in the number one spot (likely because it was one of the few that they were familiar with) and followed it up with trains, and unicycles. In dead last, they had placed motorcycles.
"Interesting. Why that one?" Harry asked.
Parvati shivered. "It has two wheels and it goes as fast as a broom on the ground? No one would be loony to get on that!"
Based on the expression Neville was making, he had seen Sirius Black's bike before. Harry didn't give away whether Parvati was right or wrong. "Next group?"
Ernie Macmillan shared his group's list. Cars were second on their list, beaten by airplanes. Third and fourth were escalators and helicopters, meanwhile fifth place was taken by the chariot.
"They seem about the width of a car. Plus, spiked wheels? Doesn't that sound cool?" was the explanation.
The description Harry provided of chariots included the modifications some had seen for gladiatorial races. When Ernie spoke, he and the rest of his all-male group had stars in their eyes, imagining suiting up in armor and snapping the wheels of other drivers who got on their bad side.
"What about the bottom five?" Harry asked.
Ernie doublechecked his list. "We've got pogo sticks, rollerblades, camels, tricycles, and long-distance running." He shivered. "The last one makes me tired just thinking about it."
Harry had placed Hermione and Justin into a group of their own. Growing up in the Muggle world, both of them would know the answers a bit too easily. They were good sports about it. Their list was about what you would expect, no chariots or unicycles in the top five. Harry gave each of their houses five points, partially for their accurate answers and partially for not spoiling the activity by giving the other groups hints, but the original points for the activity remained up for grabs.
The last to go was the group with Neville and Susan. When Harry called on them, Neville and Susan both started to speak.
"You can go!" Neville said hastily.
"No, you do it," Susan mumbled. "You'll explain it better than I could."
Neville looked proud and like he disagreed at the same time, but he shared their list all the same.
"We were a bit torn between cars and trains, but we picked cars as first place," he said. "Trains are in second. Airplanes are third. We weren't as confident after that, but we've gone with bicycles. Then boats, motorcycles, helicopters…"
Theirs was the most accurate list other than Hermione and Justin's. Harry had a pretty good idea of why that was. In last place, they had placed parachuting, because the idea scared Susan. Although there were a few tweaks to be made, it was a very solid effort that earned every house five points.
When everyone had shared, it was Fay Dunbar who raised her hand.
"What do we do now, Professor?" she asked. The period was still moderately young, despite the activity drawing to a close.
"Now? We do revisions," Harry said with a smile.
He revealed that he hadn't been walking the perimeter of the room for no reason. As the students talked and debated, Harry had been hanging posters. His students seemed surprised that they hadn't noticed them until now. Harry didn't tell them he'd just canceled a silent Notice-Me-Not Charm.
"Blimey, look at that!" Ernie Macmillan exclaimed, pointing.
Past the end of his finger was one of the posters. Splotchy ink had been shaped into the form of a chariot. The illustration was close to two feet tall. The horses strapped into its yoke moved slightly, lifting hooves and driving them down in endless cycles. The chariot wheels spun. It wasn't the only poster that was like this.
The car, which had the shape of a nondescript sedan, periodically saw the driver-side door open, giving a view of the steering wheel inside. The straps on the rollerblades opened and were refastened like an instructional video. The motorcycle's handlebars would be revved by invisible hands, sending columns exhaust spewing to the edge of the canvas.
"Wicked!" Ron said.
Hermione had approached the picture closest to her. That one was a perpetually bouncing pogo stick operating without a rider. Other students also went for a closer look, but only Hermione did so with a critical eye.
"Did you go to a professional for this?" she asked. "This is incredibly difficult magic. Even a NEWT student would struggle with it, if they weren't specially trained."
Sitting in the middle of the room, maintaining her silence, Daphne straightened her back.
"I got some help from an aspiring artist," was all that Harry said. "With their generous contribution, why don't you all take a closer look at what you were ranking? I'll give you until the end of class to revise your lists. If you make an honest effort, there'll be points in it for your house."
It was impossible to pinpoint if the students' eager response was because of his promised reward, or their excitement to investigate the art. The tank was a smashing hit with the boys, while Fay Dunbar and Parvati Patil could be seen giggling in front of the beautiful mare that was stamping her foot. Periodically, when he overheard someone compliment the piece they were looking at, Blaise would behave strangely, demanding they repeat themselves at a louder volume. His classmates couldn't figure out what he got out of it, but the requests were harmless enough, so they acquiesced.
A stubborn smile clung to Harry's lips as he wandered the room, observing his class's reaction. As he passed behind Daphne, who was trailing the other members of her group, he subtly patted her shoulder. No one noticed but the girl in question, who glanced at him and graced him with a nod. Her expression was intriguing. She looked forcibly impassive, all the while her head twitched, looking in different directions to catch as many of the reactions as possible.
"Five minutes left!" Harry announced when the period neared its end.
There were lots of exclamations. Many had been so caught up in the gallery that they forgot what purpose it was supposed to serve. They ran back to their desks, debating and hurriedly dragging entries up or down now that they'd laid eyes on the real thing.
Harry awarded every group points for giving it an honest effort. The best part, to him, was that as students gathered their stuff and left the room, they were still talking about everything from planes to skateboards.
Conspicuously, Daphne and Blaise lingered behind the rest of the class. Harry strolled to Daphne's desk and leaned on the one beside it.
"Happy?" he asked.
Rather than speak, Daphne nodded.
"They were dazzled," Blaise said. "As they should be. My partner's work is guaranteed to wow at least that much."
Used to him by now, Daphne sighed slightly. Blaise's confidence was so complete that things like stage fright or imposter syndrome never crossed his mind. Harry could tell that the two appreciated each other, but Daphne had no such shield for her feelings. That was a blessing and a curse.
"Blaise is right," Harry said. "You heard the way they were talking. They thought I hired a professional."
Daphne straightened her books, focusing on the task more intently than necessary. "A true professional would have used much more potent charms. The detail in my work is incomparable, as well. The chariot's shading is shoddy. I can't believe they didn't notice the botched window on the airplane, and the horse's mane—"
"Daphne," Harry cut her off gently. "You did great."
She looked straight at him, almost in shock, before averting her eyes back to her books. She nodded. "Thank you."
Someone cleared their throat.
It came as a surprise to Blaise and Daphne, who hadn't been paying attention to the doorway, failing to notice Neville Longbottom re-enter the room, Hermione and Ron beside him.
Neville was the one that made the noise, although Hermione jumped in next.
"You did those?" she asked Daphne. "Both the art and the charms? That's advanced work! How were you so familiar with Muggle vehicles?"
Daphne had frozen, but following a nudge from Blaise she came to life. Her expression was unreadable. "Reference photos."
"I provided them," Harry said. "I was the one who approached her about doing the lesson this way. I made sure that she had as much material as she needed, and Daphne delivered perfectly."
"You didn't mind?" Neville asked. "Drawing Muggle things wasn't a problem for you?"
"Should I have raged at a professor who came to me with a generous offer?" Daphne asked in an even voice. "I was paid handsomely in house points for my troubles."
That was true, but it was only half of the reward. Other than Blaise, Harry was the first one she had shown her drawings to. Often, she could only see the faults in her own work, and she mistakenly believed others would be the same. Finding an audience, even if it was just for sketches like these, was a good first step to building her confidence. Maintaining anonymity was a shield of sorts, keeping her from shying away from the occasion.
"Neville didn't mean anything by it," Ron said, who had taken Daphne's tone to be insulting. "He was just asking. Since you're a Slytherin."
"And as everyone knows, Slytherins are famed for eating babies and cursing innocent professors who approach them unduly," Blaise said.
Ron's cheeks puffed out as he — correctly this time — identified that Blaise was mocking him. "You—"
"Please, let it go, Ron," Hermione said. "You were being a bit of a berk."
Ron clashed his top row of teeth against the bottom ones. "Why are you taking his side?"
A sonorous clap, subtly enhanced with magic, helped Harry forestall any arguments.
"Let's take a breath," Harry said calmly, but in a way that brooked no disagreement. "Daphne and Blaise were just leaving. From the way you returned, I assume you three had something to talk to me about?"
"That's right, Professor. Hermione had questions about your Occlumency lessons," said Neville, who was the calmest of the three.
Harry smiled. "Of course. Ask away."
With Hermione's attention on him, she and Ron couldn't get sucked into bickering the way Harry had heard them do so many times before. Daphne and Blaise gathered their things without another word, skirting around the Gryffindors. Neville watched them go.
"I didn't mean to offend you," he said, just before they could leave.
Daphne looked back. "It's a good thing, then, that you did not," she said. "It was nothing but a misunderstanding."
"Your art was beautiful," Neville said.
Daphne didn't react, until Blaise bumped her. "Thank you."
"If you ever feel like you aren't getting what you need out of Defense Against the Dark Arts, come and look for me," Neville said. "I know something that could help."
His eyes wide, Ron grabbed Neville's shoulder.
"Seriously?" he whispered, just loud enough for Harry to overhear. "Them?"
Daphne only acknowledged it with another nod.
"Interesting," Blaise said. "I assume that if we do, we would find present company close at hand?"
He looked at Ron, who bristled, then at Hermione, who crossed her arms.
"That's right," Hermione said. "We'll be there."
Blaise smirked the same way he had while reassuring Hannah Abbott. "Then we may just take you up on that."