Harry sat confidently ensconced in the shrieking shack, leafing through a notebook he had started compiling when the monument that declared Dumbledore's victory over the dark arts (and subsequently the ideals of Voldemort) was mysteriously absent from Germany and England. When asked, people remembered there was a monument and that it was as spectacular as any other they'd ever encountered made in modernity.
The suspiciousness behind the stories came when they were then asked where such a monument was located. The Germans said in England, where Dumbledore was born and raised. The few English witches and wizards asked said it was in Germany. This discrepancy only further supported Harry's theory on what and where the Gryffindor horcrux resided.
In the week since he'd started the journal, he had filled it up considerably with the history of the rise of the Dark Lord Grindelwald and his fall. First and foremost Harry had the ideals on which Grindelwald ran his operation. Unlike Voldemort who perpetuated the pureblood ideals, Britain revolved and revolves around to this day, Grindelwald was more of a Wizards' First activist, whose war was on muggles and magical creatures and beings alike. The facts such as his real name Drew Dalling along with clippings, self-proclaimed first hand accounts of the final duel, and more were all recorded in the journal.
All the details he could pull from people as to the resting place of the monument for equality among all magical beings was also written down. He had checked out several misleads and made several more false starts for his search. Harry was tempted to write to Dumbledore but immediately discarded the idea. If the Headmaster had not realized the missing monument before now, he would be of no further help.
Hedwig chirped from the lofty rafters drawing Harry's attention away from his notes. She had been notably forgiving and had instead of nagging at him found reasons to smother him in affection. She preened his hair when he sat, rested on his shoulder if he went for a walk or tracked down another lead. She had even given him a dead squirrel for him to eat; which he had politely refused and returned.
Since arriving back in England, he and Flitwick had met twice for NEWT studies. A considerable amount of homework now dominated every other minute of Harry's spare time. The Defense Against the Dark Arts was laughable, he knew more about defending himself than anybody else in Britain and was the course he easily breezed through in practice and in theory.
Flitwick was impressed his charm work and potions but significantly less so with his transfiguration, since he hadn't been keeping in practice. Conjuring was simply easier for him than transmuting the properties of one thing into that of another.
§Pardon me, my lord, but the small man is coming through the passage.§
Harry looked at the small vipera berus, also known as the northern viper, whose scales were as black as coal. He had two of them serving him currently, Reginald and Regina; mates. The bite of such a snake is painful, but rarely fatal. In the hierarchy of snakes, he was higher than the garden snake that Serion had been before he died.
Personally however, the vipera berus was more annoying than Draco Malfoy preening under his daddy's influence. He had the irritating habit of scratching off his scales and bits of skin everywhere. Fortunately his mate was more qualified and personable.
§Thank you, Reginald.§
§Of course, master.§
Harry waved him off and turned toward Oorjit, who was snoozing on the hearth. §Wake-up, Oorjit, we got company coming.§
§Sod off.§
Harry chuckled. §Good, you're back to your old self. No more of that kowtowing.§
§Yes, your majesty,§ Oorjit yawned, uncoiling lazily.
Rolling his eyes, Harry stood up and moved toward the stairwell that led to the secret passageway. He told Flitwick its location and password so that they could meet for his studies without any interference to the charms professor's generous auspices… specifically inference that was run by Dumbledore. When the top of the diminutive professor came through the square hole in the floor, Harry reached down and offered a hand helping him through.
"Thanks, Harry," Filius said graciously, taking out his wand to cast a cleaning spell.
Harry watched as the dust lifted from Flitwick's clothing before spinning off. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Not at the moment, Harry. Shall we duel first or go over the homework?"
"Last week's work or this week's?"
"Outstandings in defense, runes, and potions. Exceeds expectations in transfiguration, charms, and arithmancy. Splendid work to read, I especially enjoyed your counter arguments to animagus transformation, but unfortunately it seems quite impossible to transform ourselves or others into different magical beings because the animal is more sentient and aware."
Harry nodded expecting as much. Flitwick was grading him tougher per request, and writing scrolls was difficult without the use of the Hogwarts' library. "Here's this week's work."
Flitwick took the parchment and sealed scrolls banishing them with a flick of his wrist to his office back at the school. "Did you learn those spells?"
"Thoroughly, sir," Harry replied, waving his wand and silently casting the animagus revealing spell on Hedwig who had just come into the room through the open window up in the rafters. She glowed purple, indicating that Hedwig was just a plain old owl, before the spell dispersed leaving her as white as fresh snow.
"I'll take your word for it," Flitwick said looking proud at his new favorite student.
A second later Flitwick popped out of existence. Harry apparated away quickly as a spell shot from the ceiling to the floor below. The squeezing sensation passed and Harry slid back into the world, crouched low behind the chair where he'd been reading earlier. He placed a disillusionment charm on himself as he quickly scanned the room, before apparating again, disappearing without a noise or trace.
Flitwick exploded the ceiling, causing Hedwig to squawk in alarm and fly around haphazardly to avoid the falling debris. Harry vanished a large ceiling beam and popped away just before a spell splashed against the wall. He came back outside the window and peered inside, pressing his nose flat to the glass.
Nothing stirred inside, Oorjit and Reginald had laid low it seemed. A crack in the shrubbery to his right startled Harry. He glanced over and almost smiled, Flitwick was crouching low in the bushes, stirring them every time he glanced up through the slightly opened window looking for Harry.
Harry imagined a bottomless hole beneath the professor, wordlessly and wandlessly casting the spell learned from defense. The illusion spell rocketed across the short distance slamming into the ground. A yawning hole opened up beneath Flitwick, earning a startled yelp.
Harry smirked and spun on his foot. He reappeared on the roof and crouched low to observe Flitwick's struggle with the illusion of falling forever. He was hoping that the professor had a fear of heights that was disabling to the shorter wizard. A moment later however, a slightly perspired Flitwick was standing on the grass, the disillusionment charm shimmering in the sunlight. It was obvious that the fear of heights was something the diminutive wizard had overcome a long time ago.
Flitwick disappeared once again, but Harry wasn't worried. He had decided to show Flitwick his abilities with Parsletongue magic. The right moment to expose his talent wasn't yet apparent, but he had Oorjit and the others waiting for his signal. Perhaps, he would let loose with a conjured snake first to see how Flitwick handled them before sending in his underlings.
A bolt of orange streaked past his nose, jerking Harry from his woolgathering. Annoyed, he scolded himself for losing his focus as he leapt off the edge of the roof and used the second spell Flitwick had taught him that week to propel himself into the air, launching his body right up to the clouds with the force of his intentions.
High above the ground, Harry cast an arresto momentum to slow his descent, using the time coming down to scan the roofline and the edge of the Forbidden Forest for signs of his professor. He spotted him down by the base of the derelict chimney when a bird landed on his shoulder. Stifling a laugh, Harry cast in quick succession five stunners and three serpensortias at the bird.
§Steal the wand and subdue the professor,§ Harry commanded as they flew out of his wand.
The giant cobras landed in a disgruntled heaped at Flitwick's feet. The disillusionment dropped after one bit into his leg. Startled, Harry jerked forward in an attempt to move to help. He simultaneously cancelled the spell holding him aloft and with an air blast propelled himself back onto the rooftop. He landed heavily and was running to help Flitwick when the snakes vanished in a puff of smoke and the wizard in question rose up easily to his feet.
"Now Harry did you honestly think I haven't dealt with snakes in a duel situation before? Classic Slytherin."
Harry eyed the live wand in front of him and smiled. "I wasn't really projecting Slytherin so much as I was projecting myself, professor."
"And by that you mean?"
§Now!§ Harry shouted, dodging Flitwick's instinctive spell, falling off the roof and into the shrubbery below.
Oorjit and Reginald flew out from under cloud cover and laughing gleefully, Oorjit threw Reginald at the startled professor's face. Harry for his part, groaned in pain as he shuffled slowly to a sitting position. Regina was there moments later carrying a vial of Bumps and Bruises Be Gone. Harry tossed his head back draining the vial before throwing it to the side and apparating.
A bone crushing spell nailed him in the leg as soon as he emerged from the transition. Groaning Harry fell to the ground as he leg, unable to carry his weight any longer, collapsed from beneath him.
Flitwick summoned Harry's wand, or tried to, but Harry managed to hang onto it. Rolling to his side, Harry dodged another bone crusher before gaining control over his leg with a hasty level one Healer spell for splints. He hobbled to a standing position, relying heavily on shields as Flitwick honed in on him.
There was no escape that wouldn't concede defeat. If Harry apparated, with his leg broken as it was, he would likely splinch himself. He hadn't time to make a portkey while defending himself. Grimly aware of his mistake where alternate escapes were concerned, Harry filed it away to upbraid himself with later; right now he was more worried with how Flitwick had located him coming out of the apparition. Had he made noise?
The answer was to be determined later as Flitwick's spell casting sped up and flashes of light blasted apart on Harry's shield. He had to keep changing the shield to deflect purely magical or physical spells with more and more rarity shields thrown in as Flitwick got more creative. Sound shields gonged loudly, air shields cracked thunderously, and water shields erupted violently under the professor's onslaught.
Finally Harry had to do something or lose as his strength weakened. It was awfully hard to maintain balance with his bummed leg and so Harry did the only thing he could think of---
§Incapacitate Flitwick!§ he shouted in Parseltongue, drawing on magic to create the effect he wanted so his words would not be interpreted as orders to his snakes.
§My Lord!§ Oorjit cried out circling above Harry alongside Hedwig who looked ready to plummet with talons outstretched at Flitwick.
§Knock him unconscious!§ Harry bellowed as more spells splashed against his shield.
Suddenly the spells stopped and Harry cautiously looked around his solid metal shield to find Flitwick fallen his wand floating high in the air directly above him.
"About bloody time," Harry groused, dropping his shield and summoning Flitwick's wand to him. "I almost lost to the scoundrel. Again."
Harry stumped over to his professor and nudged him in the side and satisfied with his win, released the professor from his stunned state. Flitwick blinked open his eyes and smiled sheepishly as Harry helped him up and handed back his wand.
"Good show," Harry said amiably.
Flitwick's eyes flashed guiltily and Harry wondering opened his mouth to ask why when suddenly he slumped forward. Flitwick caught him and lowered Harry to the ground just as a second Flitwick walked out of the tree line.
"Excellent, excellent," he squeaked, envenerating Harry.
Harry for his part looked up in confusion at the two professors, certain he was seeing double from hitting his head on the ground when one of them started to shimmer. Amazed, Harry watched as the form of one Filius Flitwick bubbled and gurgled until popping, revealing a tiny sixth year with radish earrings.
"Luna!" Harry exclaimed, struggling to sit up.
"I'm so sorry Harry!" she said, crouching down to him and helping him sit. "Professor Flitwick would only let me come if I helped him beat you."
"And you certainly did. Thirty points to Ravenclaw." Flitwick grinned, hopping on the balls of his feet. "Never let your guard down, Harry," he lectured. "That was your aha… biggest mistake. Good show, really had me worried for a moment when you knocked Luna out."
"You were the one throwing all those spells at me?" Harry asked wonderingly.
Luna nodded, blushing happily. "Yes, I saw the spells and knew that to win I had to use them."
"Saw?" Harry questioned.
She nodded. "They turned out pretty good if I do say so."
"You mean you never cast some of those before?"
"Oh no," she explained. "I just divined them from the bowtruckles in the bush behind you."
Bemused, Harry looked over his shoulder. "Bowtruckles?"
"Miss Lovegood is a natural diviner," Flitwick explained. "Ordinary and in many cases extraordinary objects bring forth her powers."
"Hardly a natural, Professor," Luna rebutted. "If I had been I would have seen Harry a long time ago."
"Excuse me?" Flitwick asked, troubled by her wording.
Luna nodded, pushing her blonde hair back behind her ears. "Harry was invisible, sir."
"Invisible?"
"Well he certainly wasn't divisible now was he?" she teased, before turning solemn eyes on Harry. "We really should fix your leg."
"Good shot," Harry said by way of congratulations. "Might I enquire on how in Merlin's pants did you know where I would be when I disapparated?"
"The air told me."
"I made a noise?" Harry asked, aghast that his control slipped that much during the fight.
"No, no, silly. Sound didn't tell me, air did."
"I don't understand."
"Neither do I, Harry," said Flitwick, bending down and opening a potion vial. Harry took it and with a grimace drank deeply from it. "Trust me when I say aha… asking for explanations only seem to befuddled our limited understanding even more."
Luna cast a diagnostic spell on his leg and pronounced that the potion was healing it without any complications. Harry was glad that rebreaking and setting the bone were not going to be needed. Elation bubbled in his chest at the sight of his friend and without thinking about it he reached over and grasped Luna in a hug.
Flitwick smiled at the pair of them, humming delightedly under his breath. They broke apart a moment later and Luna settled herself on the cold ground beside Harry, continuing Flitwick's aimless humming when the professor broke off.
"I'll run you into the ground for Charms and Transfiguration later, Harry. Be sure to be back at the castle by midnight this evening Miss Lovegood or Ravenclaw will be docked fifty points and you'll receive several detentions."
When Luna didn't respond Harry nudged her. He gave a helpless smile to Flitwick and offered, "I'll be sure to watch the time for her."
"In that case I'll return to my office. There's bound to be several desperate seventh years needing my attention."
Harry laughed. "And I bet quite a few of them are Hufflepuffs."
"You'd be surprised," Flitwick returned knowingly, waving goodbye over his shoulder as he took the path down through Hogsmeade back to Hogwarts instead of the secret entrance.
Once he was out of sight, Harry nudged Luna again and said teasingly, "So, what are the wrackspurts telling you these days?"
"They've been unusually quiet," she responded, quitting her humming to meet his gaze with bright blue eyes. "I'm afraid I told them off for putting you in danger with Lord You-Who."
"Lord You-Who?"
"Lord Thingy or What's-His-Name. Voldemort, the one whose name everybody is afraid to think let alone say aloud. It's short for You-Know-Who."
"By one syllable."
Luna nodded delighted that he understood, which frankly he didn't, but Harry wasn't going to argue.
"With the wrackspurts gone things have been dreadfully dull. I tried listening to the drezitts but as I'm sure you know they're not very talkative and when they speak at all it is usually plain mundane things and not about things to come."
"Of course, drezitts," Harry murmured. "What do they look like again?"
"Honestly Harry," Luna scoffed. "They're figments. Figments don't take form."
Harry shook his head. "I give. You win. Drezitts speak too plainly for creative interpretation. Got it."
Luna sank backwards, lying face up in the snow. Idly she wiggled her arms and feet a little creating an awkward snow angel. Harry stared down at her thinking quietly to himself. He was glad she was here even if she was dreadfully confusing.
"Your occamy is quite beautiful," she noted casually. Harry followed her gaze to see Oorjit perched on the edge of the roof. "Looks just like the one Professor Hobday kept in his classroom. That one had a nasty temper."
"It is the one Hobday kept in the classroom," Harry declared, verifying her observation. "He was angry and rightfully so, I think. Oorjit never did give me the details."
"Thank you," she said quietly, turning her full luminescent gaze on him.
Harry squirmed uncomfortably. "Why?"
"I knew you were a Parselmouth, I had hoped you would come to tell me in time."
"Ah," Harry said, beckoning Oorjit with a hiss. "I might have let that slip without realizing it."
"Because you're so comfortable around me," Luna admitted dreamily.
Harry stayed quiet. He wasn't sure why he had let out his closest kept secret, or at least one of them.
Oorjit landed in Harry's lap. He refused to stand on the cold ground and curled up to conserve warmth. §You beckoned, my lord?§
§I think Luna would like to pet you. If she does let her,§ Harry warned. §No posturing. You're to be on your best behavior.§
Luna looked on curiously. "What did you say to him?"
"To mind his manners. I want to impress you."
"Why?"
Harry shrugged. "You're the first I've told about this gift of mine."
"Speaking with snakes must be fun. I bet they have clever things to say," Luna mentioned offhandedly as she rubbed the satin soft texture of Oorjit's slick head.
Oorjit crooned low in his throat and angled up into her touch. Harry wished he was the occamy for a moment before decidedly shoving that thought from his mind. He was king and not some lowly belly crawler. Oorjit, and all the others, envied him, coveted him.
"Alas," she sighed wistfully. "Snakes are one of the few species that I can't hear."
"That's because they're usually self-centered and arrogant. If it doesn't concern them it's of no consequence."
"Oh, I see. I thought it was because I didn't share in the gift. I can't divine on Mermish either."
Harry smirked. "Who could? They're quite ghastly to listen to above water and if you swam with them all the time you'd be a wrinkled prune."
Luna laughed, sitting up and standing, dusting off her jacket. She held a hand out to him and after a moment's hesitation, when Oorjit took flight, Harry grasped it. Her hand was smooth and cold beneath his. She let go and so did Harry.
"Shall we grab a Butterbeer?"
"Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of Dumbledore not finding out that I'm around?"
"He knows already. The Headmaster's just waiting for the right moment and opportunity to come collect you."
"And you divined this?"
"Common sense," she refuted.
"I could use more of that."
"I saw that you need my help," she mentioned as they started down the path away from the haunted building. "With what--that's another story. How can I help you Harry?" she asked earnestly. "I would very much like to be of assistance."
Harry sighed and absently scratched the back of his neck. With a gesture he summoned for his journal and a few moments later it came whizzing up the path, smacking into a tree. Harry bent to pick it up and held it out to her.
"I'm searching for the monument depicting Dumbledore's victory over Grindelwald. British wizards--"
"And witches--"
"And witches, say it's in Germany, and the Germans believe it's here in England."
"Oh, a riddle. I love riddles."
"But certainly not a junior Riddle. Or senior for that matter."
"Clever conundrum, Harry. You should write some for the Quibbler. We publish them in every Sunday edition."
"Tantalizing titillations to tickle--- I lost it," Harry gave up, chuckling.
"To tickle tireless…" Luna frowned, before supplying, "Puzzlers."
"That didn't alliterate," Harry noted as they entered the town.
"But it could arithmecate," she replied, pleased as punch.
"Arithmetic?"
"That didn't rhyme."
"Aha," Harry murmured, reaching out to open the door to the Three Broomsticks. "Why don't you find yourself a seat while I grab us a couple of Butterbeers."
"I'll start looking over this journal while you do," she answered agreeably crossing the threshold.
Harry followed her into the blast of noise and quickly separated, making a beeline to the counter where Madam Rosmerta was taking orders as quickly as she could. Hagrid was there at the bar, ordering a bucket of Firewhiskey. Harry glanced over his shoulder, locating Luna before his eyes slid one booth over and saw McGonagall and Snape sitting together.
"Now that's an odd couple," Harry muttered, seeing that they were nursing drinks together talking quick happily with one another.
"What can I get you dear?"
Harry returned his attention back to Rosmerta and placed his order.
"That'd be one galleon and six sickles and four knuts."
He gave her the money and took the drinks, carefully maneuvering his way across the crowded interior. Slipping into the booth he slid one over to Luna, who opened it with a pleased sigh.
"No better sound in the world than the breaking of a Butterbeer seal," she said, taking a swig.
Harry cracked his and grinned. "I guess not. What have you had time to read?"
Luna flipped through the first few pages. "Not much, but give me twenty minutes and we'll be getting somewhere."
"Sure," Harry said, leaning back and relaxing in his booth. "I got time."
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 41º«««º»»»º