"Oh God," Padma blurted out in shock, getting the whole room's attention.
"What?" Harry asked as everyone looked at Padma, who had gone rather pale.
...
"Moaning Myrtle was the victim," she explained.
"Moaning Myrtle?" he parroted, not recognizing the name, nor did Blaise.
"A ghost that presently haunts the second-floor girls' bathroom. She's always crying and flooding the bathroom. How can you not know of her?" Padma asked in disbelief.
"Because I don't sneak into girls' bathrooms?" he asked sarcastically, getting an embarrassed blush from Padma as their friends laughed. "I think we can all agree that it seems like Hagrid was set up as a convenient scapegoat," he asked them all, getting a round of nods agreeing with his assessment.
"Harry and Padma, you go and talk with Hagrid, get his side of the story since there's nothing here about it. Get in contact with your information broker and get them to find out anything they can about this Tom Riddle guy," Daphne ordered, taking charge. "Tracy and I will try to find out anything from Myrtle."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, giving a mock salute. "Now, has anyone noticed any odd behavior?" he asked, smoothly taking charge of the meeting again, knowing that Daphne had just tried a subtle power play for control of the group.
"Nothing except that odd first-year Ravenclaw girl. Harry and Padma were sitting with her yesterday during the game," Tonks said slowly. "Besides that, nothing seems amiss in the Puff house or amongst the Prefects."
"That's taken care of," Harry answered, causing everyone to look at him. "I've been asked to mentor her this year by Flitwick, so I'll keep an eye on her."
"How did you end up mentoring her? It's normally fifth years who do that," Penny asked.
"Our Head of House thought it best that I keep an eye on her, to help discourage Chang's attempts at bullying her. What about the Slytherin house?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary. Both Malfoy and Nott are going at it still. After yesterday's game, Draco lost a lot of respect after it was later revealed that the Snitch was behind him while he was busy laughing at Longbottom, well within his reach," Daphne explained. "And Blaise here," she gestured with her hand to her contracted boyfriend, "is encouraging them.
Most of the upper years just ignore him now, and to quote one such disgruntled member, who I believe was planning to try out as Seeker this year, 'fucking spoiled brat, only reason he's on the team is due to his fucking godfather being our fucking Head of House, screw Flint, screw Snape, etc...' His rant got quite passionate after that, almost Gryffindor-like, I might add," she suggested with a smirk.
"What about the first years?" Padma said, finally speaking up again.
"Whatever influence he had hit rock bottom a while ago. Only him being the godson of our beloved Head of House gives him any power nowadays," Tracy answered while the other two Slytherins nodded their agreement. "It's only his little group that he has any real hold over, and that's starting to crumble with Nott challenging his every word. What about Ravenclaw?"
"Nothing major, only Luna, like Tonks mentioned, but I'm handling that, and Chang trying to throw her weight around. But for the most part it's normal posturing. What about you two? Have you noticed anything I've missed?" he asked, turning to face Padma and Penny.
"Nothing, except what's already been mentioned," both of the girls said in unison, glancing amused at each other when they finished.
"Potter, I was wondering if you could brew me a potion?" Blaise asked offhandedly.
Turning his attention to the Italian boy, he gauged the boy's body language and found nothing that set off any alarms. "Depends on the potion, but I'll consider it."
"I don't have a specific potion in mind. Just something humiliating that I can slip Malfoy or Nott, or both, and blame the other one for it."
Harry smirked. "I'll see what I can brew up. What type of effects are you looking for?"
"Nothing dangerous, but something that can't be hidden, like a skin-changing potion. Something embarrassing and highly visible."
"I know just the potion," Harry replied, smirking evilly.
...
"Luna, I've been asked to mentor you this year by our Head of House," Harry announced to the dreamy-eyed first-year sitting at one of the Common Room study tables.
"Oh, the Nargles must be making him confused," the first-year answered.
Harry ignored her strange response and took charge. "Come on, pack your things. I want to test you to find out what you know," he instructed, already planning the lesson out in his mind. Luna packed efficiently and they were off, heading towards a disused classroom a few halls down.
"To start: Luna, how do you hold your wand?" he requested, watching as the blonde pulled her wand out from behind her ear—which he only just noticed—and rested it in the palm of her hand, holding it tightly.
"Your grip is too tight." He moved beside her, placing his hand up next to hers. "When you hold your wand, it needs to be firm, yet loose, so you can perform wand movements easily and freely, but have a good enough grip that you aren't going to toss your wand across the room." He flicked his wrist, causing his own wand to spring into his hand and demonstrated what he meant.
"You see how by using this lighter grip, I still have good hold on it, but it's loose enough to allow me to wield it with ease." He worked through a few of the standard first-year wand motions. "Now you try. Just remember each wand is different and it has to feel natural to you."
He watched with satisfaction as the first-year adjusted her grip, loosening her hand and allowing her wand to move much more freely.
"That's better. This is important for more advanced spells that require fast, precise wand movements. You won't really need it for much of the first couple years, but it's better to get into the habit now rather than having to change it later," he instructed, recalling Tonks' own lecture on how to handle a wand. 'That sounded far dirtier than I meant it to...' he mentally declared.
"If you ever have to duel someone, you want to be as fast as possible while still being fluid. Just think of it as a quill—too tightly and you either snap it or simply can't write very well without stopping; too loose and you keep dropping your quill."
"Okay," Luna replied, concentrating on her grip until she found a comfortable position.
"Next step is the basic rules of magic, or at least spell casting. Magic is about focus, discipline, and your own desire and will. Words are used to help shape the spell, but words are not necessary in most cases. You have to be able to view the spell and its results in your mind as well, at least at first," he explained as the tip of his wand started to pulse with white light.
He idly noticed her dreamy silver eyes sharpening, focusing on the spell he was demonstrating for her. "As you can see, I can cast a lumos charm without the need of words. No shouted incantation, just mental focus," he continued as his wand grew brighter and dimmed, before repeating.
"This is known as silent casting, and it won't be taught till NEWT level," he revealed, smiling as he saw her eyes widen. "Like a proper wand grip, the sooner you start practicing this, the easier it is. I work on this by using this exact method: I first cast the spell aloud, visualizing its effects, and I do this several times until I can almost feel it in my gut, then I steadily get quieter while visualizing the same effects until I can just think of the spell and how it feels." He finished his lecture by suddenly firing a bolt of sizzling red energy at the opposite wall of the room.
"That was the stunning charm, learned in third year. Its incantation is 'Stupefy'. Its effects can last from ten minutes to several hours, depending on the magical power put behind it and the magical resistance of your target."
She looked up at him, and he was taken off guard as he saw both wonder and awe in her eyes. "Will you teach me that?" she asked, her entire mood brightening.
He didn't see any reason why not. "In time, I'll be happy to. But first you need to get more used to casting magic. Without the proper control, you could drain your entire core casting just one spell. When I believe you're capable of casting the spell without harming yourself, I'll teach it to you. That's the deal," he said seriously.
"But it would be irresponsible of me to teach it to you right now when it could easily harm you," he explained, hoping that she understood the seriousness of the subject. She looked oddly grim, so he felt that she did—more so than most, even.
"For now, what I want you to do each night before you go to bed is go over the charms and spells you already know that can be cast safely in your room. Also try to throw in Lumos exercises, making the light brighter and dimmer. Do this for a couple of minutes at a time before repeating it; it will help you gain control and develop your own magical stamina," he instructed, showing her the lumos charm again as a demonstration.
"If you have any problems, ask me and I'll help you with whatever spell you need. In addition, you will join me in the potion lab I have access to; there I'll help you with brewing. I expect Professor Snape has overlooked the basics, because I know he did with my own class," he said, not even trying to hide his distaste for the man's lack of safety or detailed instructions.
"Now, show me what you can do," he challenged, wanting to see just what the first-year was capable of so far.
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