The weekend passed by in a blur and the festivities had eventually calmed down, the students having somewhat gotten used to the presence of the champions. Over the weekend, Harry had mostly spent his time lazing around, teasing Fleur and playing with Gabrielle. As for Celine, she was usually doing some self-study before either Harry or Fleur asked her to do something. Other than that, she usually just did her own thing, not mingling too much with the other three.
Harry didn't talk to anyone other than these people during the weekend, except for one conversation that he had with Hermione where she pestered him for a while to teach her alchemy. He brushed her off, saying that he needed some time before he would give her an answer. Unlike before, he didn't refuse and merely delayed it to a convenient time. He had decided to set up some basic study sessions for both Gabrielle and Hermione where he would supervise Gabrielle's Occlumency training and help Hermione study Alchemy.
Hearing Harry's noncommital acceptance instead of the previous flat-out refusal, Hermione felt that there was hope yet for him to teach her and decided to step back. She didn't want to annoy him into refusing and decided to be patient.
Soon enough, Monday rolled around and it was time for the first class — Ancient Runes. It was on the sixth floor in the assigned classroom for the subject.
"Another History of Magic–like class …" Harry sighed as he walked to the assigned classroom, alone. Fleur had a different timetable since she was going to be studying with the seventh-year students. It was the same with Celine. She, however, was a special entrant, studying with the fifth-year students. It wasn't viable for her to skip this year because she had OWLs, which would be very important in deciding her future career trajectory.
Unlike those two, however, Gabrielle didn't have any classes. She was the only free bird here without any classes. And she spent her time in the best way possible, at least according to her.
As Harry walked to his class, his right hand abruptly disappeared and he felt a smaller hand slither around his fingers, intertwining her fingers with his.
"Gabi," Harry said, "We agreed that you can come with me under the cloak under the circumstances that you don't act out."
"I'm just holding your hand, 'Arry~," Gabrielle said with a pouty tone from under the cloak. Harry shook his head and let her hold his hand, "Let go of me before we enter the class. I would rather not have to explain to people why my arm was hidden moments ago."
"Can't you just conceal yourself?" She asked from the side.
"Walking through the classroom door will break the spell unless I cast multiple complex charms. Which I don't want to do just to go to class," Harry explained, "Depending on what I cast, people will ignore me even if I'm in their direct line of sight. At the same time, if it's a weaker spell, then it will break if I make the slightest sound near someone."
"When will you teach me those spells?" Gabrielle asked him, "I also want to be able to make people ignore me."
"Not yet," Harry said, "You need some more basic knowledge that you don't learn until your next year. You also need to be somewhat proficient in the Mind Arts to cast them, namely Occlumency and Legilimency."
"That means I have to wait for years …" Gabrielle whined.
"Patience is a virtue that none of us can do without, Gabi," Harry said while rubbing the back of Gabrielle's smaller hand with his thumb, "Don't be too disheartened. I am planning to start your Occlumency training soon."
"You are?" She asked, surprised and excited.
"Yes," He nodded, "Yesterday's incident told me that it might be more important to teach you Occlumency than we previously assumed."
"O-oh …" Gabrielle's voice came out as guilty, "I'm sorry if I caused trouble."
"You did, but it wasn't in your control," Harry shook his head, "So don't worry about it. I'm the one responsible for you."
Gabrielle tightened her hand that was holding Harry's, "Okay," She said, "Whatever you say."
"Okay, now quiet down," Harry said, pulling his hand away from Gabrielle's grip, "And stay close." He whispered before pushing open the door to the classroom. Looking around, he noticed that the classroom seemed to be completely packed. He noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd Hermione and Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor and quite a few of the Beauxbatons students alongside students wearing the Ravenclaw ties.
'It's a shared class between the Gryffinors and Ravenclaws,' Harry thought while looking for an empty bench that could seat both him and Gabrielle. Sadly for him, there were only a few seats remaining, all with someone already sitting beside them.
"You can sit with me, Harry," Hermione, ever the observant woman, was the first to notice Harry and politely invited him to sit with her. Unaware of the implications of her words. As a few suppressed gasps resounded through the room that then quieted down to a lul, Harry sighed while walking toward Hermione. She gave him a clueless yet polite smile, not realizing how people were already assuming that they had something going considering Harry didn't sit with any of the Beauxbatons students and instead sat with one from Hogwarts.
"Thanks," He said with a light smile, not wanting to be an asshole to her considering she was one of the very few people who were acquaintances with him without wanting to spite or challenge Fleur. She just wanted him to teach her Alchemy. He dropped his bag at the side of the seat and slid in beside Hermione, "When does the class start?" He asked her.
She looked at a watch on her wrist, "Any minute now. The class has already started, but Professor Babbling takes her time."
"Cool," Harry nodded while leaning to the side and grabbing the assigned coursebook for the subject. He also discretely gestured to Gabrielle to take a seat at the empty seat closest to himself.
His suggestion, however, seemed to have been ignored as a fleeting giggle entered his ears before Gabrielle breathed out a, "No~" Just as Harry placed his book on the desk, he felt some pressure on the side of his arm and felt Gabrielle's familiar touch as she pushed his arm away.
A wry expression took its place on Harry's face as he felt the eleven-year-old clingy Veela slip onto his lap while wrapped in his Invisibility Cloak. He could almost imagine her smug expression as she wiggled as usual and made herself comfortable while leaning against his chest. She brought her face up to Harry's ear, deliberately brushing her head against his cheek as he felt the coarse texture of the Invisibility Cloak, "Fleur's going to be so jealous~" She whispered in his ear while backing down and resting her head on his chest.
Harry's wry expression mellowed down, but his eyes were filled with dread as he subtly held Gabrielle in his lap, preventing her from slipping. As he felt the girl rest her ear on his chest, right in front of his heart, he felt a sense of calm envelop his entire being. Yet that calm was filled with apprehension as he imagined what his devilish girlfriend would do if she decided to get inspiration from Gabrielle's actions.
'I can never let Fleur find out that Gabrielle came with me to class …' Harry vowed to himself. He didn't have it in him to keep Fleur hidden as she teased him relentlessly in the middle of an ongoing lecture.
Unlike Gabrielle, who was gentle and cute, bringing Harry a sense of calm and comfort, Fleur was similar yet so different. The older Veela sister invoked his passion and lust alongside the calm and comfort. And Harry was sure that she would be tempted to do much more than just sit in his lap in case she hid under his Invisibility Cloak and came to class with him.
"Did you hear something?" Hermione's words pulled Harry out of his internal dread.
The sense of panic all but disappeared as he told her, "Maybe the Professor is here," He said while looking to the door, hoping that his words would ring true. He looked at the door for a solid few seconds, each tick of the clock seeming like hours of anxiety. Fortunately, the Professor did indeed arrive before Hermione could push him about Gabrielle's words, making him breathe out a sigh of relief.
As the professor entered the classroom, she introduced herself to the new students, "Greetings, students. Most of you are already familiar with me, but for those of you not — I'm looking at the Beauxbatons entrants, my name is Professor Bathsheda Babbling. Let us start with the first topic of the lecture …"
As she started speaking, Harry couldn't help but reminisce about the Ancient Runes class in Beauxbatons. 'Yep, this is just as boring. None of these scripts are related to the runes that we use now and we can't even utilize them in any way,' He thought to himself. It wasn't like he'd forgotten his mother's previous words when she told him that he should've paid more attention to Ancient Runes; he remembered it. But captivating him with something that he couldn't think of applying practically was impossible.
"Professor!" Harry gave an annoyed look as the girl sitting beside him raised her hand for the third time and enthusiastically asked a question.
Shaking his head, he ignored her and gently pulled up the invisible girl who was sitting in his lap and resting peacefully. Even though the contents of the class were completely incomprehensible to Gabrielle — even Harry was bored with the subject content, let alone her; she was still very pleased with the current situation.
Harry hadn't yet understood the exact reason behind it, but his mere presence was very comforting to both these Veela sisters. Either of the two girls would much rather give up their comfort as long as they could be close to him.
Harry let out a breath while resting his palm on Gabrielle's knee as his other hand stayed on the table, holding a quill and making a show of taking notes.
…
"Let's go, we have DADA now," Hermione said while packing her stuff up.
"Do we have all classes together?" Harry asked.
"I think so," She scrunched her brows, "Under normal circumstances, you would be sharing your classes with the Ravenclaws like the other Beauxbatons students. But since you are staying with the Gryffindors, I think your classes are also going to be with us."
"Is there someone I should talk to about it?" He asked her.
"I guess you could talk to Professor McGonagall about it. Or your headmistress," She said with a shrug before slinging her bag over her shoulder, "Well?" She looked at him, waiting for him to stand up.
"You can go on, I'll catch up," Harry said, "I need to check something out first."
Hermione gave him a confused look, "Try not to be late. We have to go all the way down to the Dungeon for the lecture." She said before turning around.
Harry sighed and pretended to be working on something until most of the class dispersed, emptying the classroom. He cast multiple concealment and silencing charms around himself before shaking Gabrielle's invisible form, "Wake up, Gabi."
When she didn't respond, he shook her again. That seemed to do the trick, "A few more minutes~" She slurred out before hugging him. Her arms came out of the cloak and wrapped around his neck as she hugged him.
'Thankfully I waited …' Harry sighed in relief while thinking of what people would be seeing otherwise. Gabrielle's two slender arms were the only visible thing and they were wrapped around Harry's neck. "Wake up, honey," Harry said, "You can go back to sleep once we get to the next lecture." He shook her again.
"Fine," She pouted while sitting up, causing even more of the cloak to slip away. It revealed her groggy yet pouty face which was barely an inch away from Harry's.
Looking at the flawless face that was showing him a dissatisfied expression, Harry felt a small smile creep up at the overload of cuteness with which he was punched in the face, "My Gabi~" He laughed slyly before wrapping both arms around her lithe body and bringing his nose close to hers.
"No~" She tried to push him away as he started nuzzling her face and tickling her but it was useless. His arms around her were tight and she was stuck in place as he nuzzled his nose against hers, making her let out a suppressed giggle, "Stoop~" She put her hands on his chest and tried to stop him while turning her face away.
Harry didn't listen to her and continued nuzzling his face against hers, kissing her cheek multiple times, and tickling her neck with his nose until she was full-on squealing and laughing. "Are you up?" He asked her with a smile as she looked to the side while taking a deep breath.
"I asked you to stop …" The pout returned on her face, making Harry chuckle.
"Get off," He said to her, "I'll be late for my next class."
"Okay," She listened to him, getting up from his lap and wrapping the cloak around herself correctly.
"Stay close," He told her while standing up. He waved his wand and his two books and quill quickly flew to his bag and it floated to his back, getting slung across his shoulder. He quickly walked out of the classroom and moved to the Grand Staircase, "Hold my sleeve, Gabi. I don't want you to get stuck on another flight of stairs. I have to go down to the Dungeons."
"So many stairs …" Gabrielle said as Harry felt some pressure on his arm that told him that Gabrielle had grabbed him through the cloak.
"You could go back to the dorm if you want," Harry said with a teasing laugh.
"Never!" She grabbed his arm tightly, "I'm staying with 'Arry!"
"All right, all right. It was just a suggestion," Harry raised his free arm in defeat.
Soon, the two of them made their way down to the Dungeon, just in time to see a few people still entering the classroom. Harry followed along with them as Gabrielle quietly followed behind him while holding onto his sleeve through the Invisibility Cloak.
Harry noticed that this classroom seemed to be even smaller than the one from before while the students were all the same as in the previous lecture, he even noticed a group of students standing in the back since not a single seat was empty. 'Wait, no. There is an empty seat …' Harry took a second to notice the singular empty seat in the classroom, 'Why am I not surprised?' The seat was right beside Hermione. She seemed to have enchanted it to be subconsciously ignored by the other students, leading to the extras standing in the back.
Shaking his head, he walked up to her, "I'm impressed," He said while putting his bag on the side of the chair and sitting down, "It even took me a second to notice the seat."
"I would act smug about it, but I've seen you cast much stronger variants of the spell," Hermione said while raising her head from her book. She slid it further toward her side to free up the table a little for Harry.
"Necessity breeds skill … or something like that, I guess," Harry said awkwardly, unfamiliar with English slang while sitting down and pulling out the course book for the subject from his bag and placing it on the table. "Any idea who the new guy is?" Harry asked her.
"None," She answered. "They've kept quiet about it completely. I didn't see anything on the notice board in the morning either. Most likely because they couldn't find anyone in the short term."
"The class was still scheduled for today," He said. "Maybe a substitute?"
"Possibly," She said.
Finally, the door opened and the sound of two pieces of wood clanking against the stone floor resounded through the room as if amplified by magic. The students were quick to shut up as the new teacher entered the room. He was greeted by an exclaim, "Bloody hell, that's Mad-Eye Moody!"
Harry couldn't help but turn around at the loud voice and noticed a pale, sandy-haired man laughing along with two other Gryffindors. "That's Seamus Finnigan," Hermione introduced from the side, "He's Irish and loud."
"I can tell," Harry said with a chuckle as the intimidating-looking scarred man entered the classroom, his artificial eye looking around while the other eye was honed in at the loud man. The electric blue magical eye looking around the room made Harry uncomfortable and he discretely waved his arm to his side. He quickly wrapped it around Gabrielle's hips. A soft, muffled yelp entered his ears as he pulled her onto his lap with a serious expression on his face. He gestured for her to stay quiet with a discrete squeeze of her thigh that she obediently followed.
'Let's hope that he can't see through my Invisibility Cloak with that eye of his …' Harry thought. At this point though, even if the man could see Gabrielle, Harry would be able to react in time to defend her in case of an abrupt assault.
Unlike the other teachers, Harry was very familiar with Alastor Moody. The man had a notorious reputation as an extremely dangerous Auror. As if to make a point, he waved his wand at Seamus Finnigan and his two compatriots. The trio's laughter instantly died down as the three students were rendered mute. If their panicked expressions gave away the magical nature of their silencing.
"Now that everyone has settled down," A gruff voice escaped Moody's throat sounding as if it was going through a meat grinder. "Let us start with my first lecture. I don't know where the dolt who was teaching you for the last month went so you can forget all about what he taught you. My curriculum will be completely different." He grabbed a chalk from the desk and started writing something on the board, "You know what this chant is for?"
The room took a somber atmosphere as the students answered in conjunction, "The Imperius Curse."
"What about this one?" He wrote the chant for the next curse.
The answer came just as swiftly, "The Cruciatus Curse."
"What about this one?"
"The Killing Curse." The students all answered together. They were all familiar with the three unforgivable curses — already in their sixth years, it was imperative for them to be informed about such spells, especially with the Dark Lord in power.
"Good," He nodded, "The first order of business," He said while erasing the chants for both curses other than the Imperius, "Is the resistance of the Imperius. Any volunteers?" His question was followed by absolute silence. His sigh sounded like someone cast the Reductor curse on a block of metal, shaving it down to fine dust. "I have more things to get you all up to speed with." He took a step as his cane struck the ground, much heavier than before, "By hook or by crook, you will all be able to resist a weak Imperius before winter break. So are you volunteering for the first demonstration or do I pick randomly?"
Harry was awfully impressed by how the man was teaching the class. And this one was ticking all the boxes of his interests.
'If no one volunteers, I'll give it a try. I'm curious whether or not my willpower can hold up against an Imperius … Mum would never let me test it in this manner anyway.'
Harry thought to himself as he noticed most of the students still being apprehensive about the nature of the lecture. He knew, as notorious of a reputation as the man had, he was, without a doubt, on the light side of the wizarding world, completely against Voldemort.
Just as he was about to gesture to Gabrielle to get off of his lap, "I'll do it," Harry raised a brow at the familiar voice of Neville Longbottom. The man, somewhat muscular yet lean stood from his seat and spoke, "I'll resist the Imperius, Professor."
"Now that's the spirit," Moody struck his palms together and his wand seemingly appeared in his hands out of nowhere, "Come on up." With a nod, Neville approached the professor. Just as he was in front of the class, "Imperio." Moody didn't give him any fanfare and cast his spell.
Neville froze in his spot as the jet of light struck him unprepared and took complete control of him.
"Pitiful," Moody said, "I expected more from the … well, a champion, considering there are so many of you these days." His words were a direct insult to the number of Tri-Wizard champions who had been chosen. Moody waved his wand and made Neville stand opposite him right in front of the class before dispelling the spell.
"Argh!" Neville groaned and fell on one knee, feeling weakened from the spell, "You-you caught me unprepared …" He said between huffs.
"You think a Death Eater is going to wait for you to prepare yourself? You're already an adult at this point. The kiddie gloves come off now." Moody said, "Take a breath, get yourself ready. We aren't done." Neville gritted his teeth audibly while pulling himself together.
"That's brutal …" Hermione said to Harry with a frown of disapproval on her face.
"It's necessary," Harry said, "I can appreciate this kind of brutal training." Hermione couldn't help but look at him in astonishment as he continued, "It's going to do much more than Ancient Runes when it comes to fighting Death Eaters."
"You don't know that," Hermione said.
Harry gave her a look from the corner of his eye before focusing on Moody's casting process of the Imperius curse, 'I'm sure this man is also a master Occlumens …' Seeing as he was able to use the unforgivable curses back to back without any change of expression, he had to have extreme control over his emotions to not let the negative emotions take over him.
"Sleep, Gabi," Harry whispered while discretely waving his wand at the same time as when Moody cast the second Imperius. The action made his flaring magic get shrouded by Moody's magic, keeping his spell hidden from even Moody.
As Harry felt regret in bringing Gabrielle to this class, a groan sounded through the room, originating from Neville.
"Good, you have some willpower," Moody praised, "Imperius." Sadly, the second cast destroyed Neville's efforts completely. Moody turned to the class, "With enough control over your willpower and emotions, you can cast a strong Imperius, a weak Imperius, multiple Imperius curses, and more." He then freed Neville before continuing, "In my eyes, these so-called forbidden curses are no more than slightly more complicated spells that function based on the willpower of a person. But there are consequences. These curses function on the basis of negative emotions. Hatred, jealousy, anger, regret, and more. Casting these spells focuses on these emotions and uses your willpower as the fuel. Now what happens when your willpower is consumed, but your emotions are running high? You get consumed by those very emotions …"
Unlike the previous class, Harry was paying full attention and making notes at the same time. Having Gabrielle in his lap wasn't too troublesome and he was able to make notes somewhat easily as Moody explained all sorts of theoretical information about the Imperius curse and how it would work.
Soon enough the class was over, but Harry felt like he wanted it to last longer.
Moody concluded the lecture with a clap, "We have a double lecture at the end of the day tomorrow. Get ready for practicals. All of you. I will put all of you under the curse and you have to resist my influence. Grab plenty of energizing snacks. It's going to be an exhausting lesson."
With that, the man walked out, 'Can't have Gabi with me in class tomorrow.' Harry thought while gently nudging the girl awake.
"No wonder people say he has a few screws loose," Hermione seemed to have a different view of their professor than Harry.
"Why do you say?" He asked, making light conversation while waiting for Gabrielle to get up.
"This is a school class and he is committing crimes left and right. Not only casting an unforgivable but on the students nonetheless," She said with a furious whisper, "Until last year — before You-Know-Who's attack on the ministry that led to Madame Bones taking the reigns 'officially' — these curses were completely illegal. Use of any of them would get you a life sentence in Azkaban. Now they are teaching these curses in school!"
"Tells you how dire the situation is," Harry said, "His forces aren't getting any weaker, so the wizarding world needs to step up their game instead."
"That still doesn't excuse teaching students spells that have a corruptive effect on the mind," She said, "Not to mention teaching these spells to the Slytherins is the same as teaching the enemy." She mumbled that part under her breath but Harry clearly heard her.
"That so …" Harry didn't ask further about it and instead changed the topic, "Don't forget, we are all adults here. It's understandable that the ministry considers us that way."
Hermione didn't have an answer to his words, "Are you coming?" She asked while standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"I'm waiting for my girlfriend to get out from her Potions lecture," Harry told her, "You can hang out with — what was his name? Ronald, right? You can hang out with him in that time." He joked.
"Ugh, don't mention him," She groaned with a roll of her eyes, "That moron got his arm broken in Quidditch practice yesterday."
"You can tell me all about Quidditch next lecture," Harry said with a light smile as he stood up with a stiff expression, "I have somewhere to be."
"Oh, okay," Hermione nodded, a little confused. "Sure. See you after the break."
As Hermione turned and left, Harry turned to look at the empty air, "Why did you just pinch me?" He asked.
"You shouldn't talk to random skanks," He heard Gabrielle's dissatisfied voice, "I can tell she wants something from you, like all the others."
"She wants me to teach her Alchemy, Gabi," Harry laughed lightly, "Try not to hate on her too much, I might end up making her your study partner when we start Occlumency training."
"She's into you …" Gabrielle said, "My sixth sense says so."
Gabrielle's cute tone and jealousy only made Harry chuckle again as he discretely grabbed Gabrielle's cloak from a spot that he knew was free and opened it before quickly wrapping it around himself, "My Gabi's jealous of a random woman I met a few days ago, huh?" He tightly hugged her and sat back down on the chair while keeping himself and her wrapped in the Invisibility Cloak.
The girl squealed delightfully and swung her legs as Harry tightly hugged her and teased her, "Lemego~" She tried to push him away but to no avail. He kept nuzzling her face and neck until she gave up on resistance and started helplessly giggling.
"Happy now?" He asked her after pulling back from her face.
"Mm~" She nestled her face in his neck and hummed comfortably.
"Time to go," Harry said, gently nudging her, "Your sister's waiting for us in her classroom."
"Can't we stay like this?" Gabrielle asked.
"Fleur will get bored, Gabi," Harry said, "You can stay beside me, come on."
It took a bit more coaxing, but Gabrielle finally agreed to Harry and got up. He stood up with her and got out from under the cloak as she held on to his sleeve while following him out of the classroom.
***
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