Hidden Within

Chapter 3

Harry looked down at the students of Hogwarts, and felt a pang of jealousy. Why did he have to shoulder all this responsibility, while others could enjoy themselves? They had families, they had good childhoods, and they had ordinary lives.

He seated himself among the happy crowd, and thought of the life he could have had. He watched the first years being sorted. He should have been happy, he was back among friends, and he was home again. A forced smile crossed his face and he tried to look at the optimistic approach to life. He concentrated very hard at the delicious food in front of him, trying to lose himself in the wafting aromas. He silently devoured his meal and was momentarily contented.

After the meal Harry promised himself that he would look at the brighter aspects of his life. He breathed in the sights and sounds of Hogwarts as his eyes scanned the Great Hall and finally landed on his friends.

He smiled genuinely, glad that he wasn't alone in his fight.

Harry glanced at the staff table, there were six new people seated there, "Hey, guys, what you think all-"said Harry. He just realized that Ron and Hermione were deep within an argument.

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to her office once we arrived!" shouted Hermione.

"Uh-uh, your own reasoning can be held against you, 10 minutes from now is also after we arrived," said Ron smugly.

"She'll be furious that we're late, besides, don't you want to become an animagus!?"

"Keep it down, Herm, we're not supposed to tell anyone that we're going to be animagi, and you just go shouting it to the whole school!" hissed Ron.

Hermione looked slightly abashed at this accusation, but weakly finished, "Well, we're not supposed to be late either."

"Oh, shut up, Hermy, just let my finish my dinner."

At this Hermione glared furiously at Ron.

"Just relax, Hermione, I don't know about you, but I'm starving, I'm sure McGonagall can wait till after dinner," said Harry, joining the conversation.

"Fine then, since everyone's against me," said Hermione giving in to the two boys, and she began to shovel down her food ravenously.

Soon the last specks of food disappeared from the plates, unveiling the gold underneath.

"Can we go to Professor McGonagall's office now?" asked Hermione.

"Sure," replied Ron, patting his stomach.

"Well do hurry up then, we're already late!"

Hermione got up and Ron and Harry followed her to McGonagall's office.

"I'm glad that you three are finally here, I've been here since I showed the first years in."

Hermione blushed, "I told Ron and Harry to come directly after we arrived, but they insisted upon finishing their dinners."

Ron snorted.

Harry gave a short nod.

"Now, the matter of your animagus lessons, I cannot instruct you right now, so we will need to arrange a schedule. How does Thursdays at eight sound?"

The trio nodded they're agreement.

"So that's arranged, I will be at my classroom waiting for you."

As they headed back to the Great Hall, Harry, once again, sat down among the crowd.

Dumbledore stood up at the crowded staff table, beginning his announcement, "Due to some vociferous appetites, I have decided to make my speech after dinner." At this the Dumbledore gave a quiet chuckle.

"Now back to business, due to the events that conspired last semester, basically the return of Voldemort," at this some of the younger students gasped, "There are some new staff appointments. We have decided that it would benefit you to learn more, so we added the following lessons to the curriculum: languages, non-magical self-defence, and magical transportation."

To teach Latin, we have Professor Stephen Telcontar," at his words a tall man with brown hair stood up. A smattering of polite applause followed this statement. "To teach Greek, we have our old defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Remus Lupin." Tumultuous applause followed this, all the Gryffindors jumped to their feet, clapping loudly, while the Slytherins hissed and booed. Dumbledore waited patiently for the noise to die down and continued, "To teach Russian we have Professor Viktor Krum." All the students in the hall clapped enthusiastically for the esteemed quidditch player. "Finally, to teach French we have Professor Fleur Delacour." The boys in the crowd clapped keenly for the beautiful blonde, while the older girls scowled at the smiling woman. "All students are required to take at least two languages, but we won't limit your learning of course."

"Many wizards rely too much on magic; we feel that is important to learn muggle self-defence, to teach non-magical self-defence, we have Professor Taichi Kameya. All students are required to take non-magical self-defence." A shout of outrage came from the Slytherin table.

"All students fifth year and up will take Magical Transportation, which is taught by Professor Eve Afleaigh. Prefects may lead the first years to the dormitories now."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron got up. Hermione acting very much like Percy in their first year.

"Come now, Gryffindors, this way! I'm a Gryffindor prefect! It's this way!" The other two prefects just followed her, letting her lead the way.

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the Fat Lady, looking the same as always. "This is how we get into our common room and dormitories. You just tell the Fat Lady the password, which is currently white blossoms."

At Hermione's last words, the portrait swung up, admitting them to the common room beyond. "I'm Hermione Granger, and those are my friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. We're the fifth year prefects"

At Harry's name the bored-looking group of first years looked up expectantly. He rolled his eyes at the awestruck faces.

"Boys Dorms are on the left and girls Dorms are on the right. You will find your trunks by your beds. Curfew is at nine. If you have any questions you can find any prefect or teacher," continued Hermione.

"I think the way this is going, you'll be worse than Percy," said Ron knowingly.

Hermione said nothing, either she didn't hear him or she decided to ignore him.

The three of them separated, and went into their respective dorms. Harry quickly found his bed and sprawled out on the magnificent four-poster, while Ron started unpacking.

Harry flattened himself against his bed as one of Ron's books flew over the space his head was occupying a second ago.

"Ron, could you please keep your stuff to yourself!" said Harry. "I'm trying to sleep here, and I don't want to wake up in the Hospital Wing!"

"Hermione, since when did you sleep in Harry's bed?" said Ron with a fake air of surprise.

"Oh very funny, I just can't stop laughing," said Harry sarcastically.

"I am old enough to unpack however I want."

"I don't really care, as long as I don't find myself suffocating under a pile of clothes." Harry pulled the scarlet curtain around his bed, enveloping him in a veil of darkness.

Harry groaned as he felt a sudden impulse to get up. "Stupid alarm," he muttered quietly. Another groan came from the Boy who lived as bright light pierced his eyelids. "Whatcha open the curtain for?"

A cold wave of water hit his face. Harry started spluttering incoherently.

"Wake up already, you're going to miss breakfast."

Harry finally opened his eyes to reveal a fuzzy looking Hermione. He grabbed his glassed and put them on, everything came into focus. "Ugh."

"You don't want to be late on the first day of classes, now do you?"

"Hermione, you're not supposed to be here," said Harry, finally properly awake. "This is the boys' dorm."

"I'm not going to see anything, besides everyone else is already down at breakfast. I've been up since six; I don't want to miss a new class."

"You have some serious problems, Herm."

"C'mon and hurry up before Ron finishes your breakfast."

A glint of gold could be seen as Harry grabbed his father's watch, and hastily secured it around his wrist.

Warm fragrances drifted around the Great Hall, leaving the mouth-watering taste of anticipation in his mouth. Harry followed the brown bobbing head of his best friend to join the redhead of the trio. He sat down at the table, truly enjoying the food, the drink, and his friends, truly enjoying Hogwarts.

Owls streaked in from the high windows of the Great Hall. Hundreds of owls of as many species imaginable flew around, their diverse hues blending into a forest of colours. Harry began searching for the prominent white plumage of his own owl, when suddenly a pitch-black owl landed in front of him, dropping a scrap of parchment into his pumpkin juice. The owl immediately flew back and disappeared among the horde of birds.

A black owl was unusual, he had never seen one before, and he had seen many in his four years at Hogwarts, odd. Harry quickly glanced at the hazard stone pinned under his robes, clear. Well, the bird wasn't dangerous...He tentatively reached inside his golden goblet to retrieve the soaking note. On it, two words were scrawled hurriedly:

I'm sorry.

Now that was odd.

"I'm sorry?" he said quietly to himself. Lots of people had something to be sorry about, Malfoy?... Dudley? Did Dudley even know how to write? Besides he would never use an owl. Hmmmm...Voldemort? Ok that was even more far-fetched that Dudley...Snape? He would sooner kiss Sirius than apologize to me. Harry made a face at the image of the greasy-haired potions teacher kissing his godfather.

Ron and Hermione began to look at Harry funny.

"Sorry, got lost in my thoughts."

"You must have a pretty vivid imagination then," said Ron as he took a brief break from shovelling food in his mouth.

"I just got this weird letter, and it wasn't signed," said Harry, slightly hurt.

"That could be serious, what does it say?" asked Hermione worriedly.

"It just said 'I'm sorry.' I'm sure there's no harm in it, I checked it with the hazard stone."

"Are you sure that hazard stones show the danger of things?" questioned Hermione.

"Er, umm, I don't know," admitted Harry.

At these words, Hermione stuffed the last of her breakfast into her mouth and rushed off.

"You're going to miss the first class!" yelled Ron at Hermione's retreating figure.

"Where do you think she went?" asked Harry.

"Where do you think?"

"Library," said both the boys simultaneously. Then, Ron and Harry broke out in a fit of laughter.

"She'll make it to the first class on time," said Ron.

"We didn't even get our timetables yet!" answered Harry.

"Don't worry about her; Voldemort will start donating money to muggle charities before Hermione misses a new class."

Ron winced when Harry called the Dark Lord by his real name, but agreed with Harry.

The boys continued eating as the timetables were handed out.

"Do you think all the teachers are in on it, or just Snape?" asked Ron.

"Huh?"

"We have Double Potions with the Slytherins again! The teachers must love to torture us! And we still have Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins. And we have non-magical self defence with them too! And non-magical self-defence is on the same day as Potions," groaned Ron. "And what do you think about the new teachers?"

Harry quickly decided to ignore Ron's ramblings and go on to the question. "Well, I don't know how I feel about new lessons...They could be interesting, or they could be like divination and potions. I'm not going to judge that yet. But I'm quite sure that Professor Lupin's class will be interesting. What do you think about Fleur teaching here?"

A deep scarlet began spreading throughout Ron's face. "I'm over her," said Ron in a small voice.

"Right," said Harry, his doubt voiced obviously. "What about Krum then?"

"Er, he's just a quidditch player?" said Ron.

Disbelief was etched on Harry's face, but he decided to change the subject. "There's something odd about Telcontar...He seems familiar, but I have no idea from where."

"You're getting paranoid, Harry," answered Ron. "Not everyone that you think is odd is actually odd."

"You're right," said Harry softly.

"We better go the Non-magical self-defence now..." Harry and Ron got up silently and headed to Non-magical self-defence. As they approached the classroom, a frantic Hermione came running from the direction of the library, her breathing heavy.

"Well, shouldn't we go in?" asked Hermione as her breathing returned to normal.

A circular platform stood at the middle of the room, surrounded by raised seats. The trio selected seats near the middle and dropped their bags under their chairs. Soon, the rest of the seats were filled. The scene looked a lot like a muggle theatre, thought Harry.

The entrance of the professor cut short his musings. A short man with neat black hair stepped onto the platform.

"Hello everyone, I am Professor Kameya, and will be instructing you this year in Non-magical self defence," said the professor in a soft voice with a distinctive accent. "We will be focusing on both defensive and offensive techniques this year. Attacks are after a way of defending yourself too."

"Today you will be allowed to relax. I will demonstrate the type of thing you will be learning. Could I please have a volunteer?"

A dead silence followed this pronouncement, the class unwilling to sacrifice their well-being.

"Could I please have a volunteer?" repeated Professor Kameya, penetrating the quiet.

Harry was getting seriously annoyed. He started getting up. Harry distinctly heard Malfoy say, "Bet he'll be knocked out in the first minute." Harry quietly muttered to Ron, "If this is the worst thing that happens this year, I'll be lucky."

"Now, Mr. Potter, you may any non-magical method to attack me and I'll be attacking you. The first person to render the other person unconscious or draws blood will win. We will be using simulations; our simulated selves will experience all pain and damage that is brought upon them. Pain is a part of fighting; we need to learn how to function under pressure. We shall not, of course die. All things that happen during the fight will disappear once it is over. Any questions? Good, now Mr. Potter and I will step onto the platform."

As soon as they stepped onto the platform, brilliant white rays of light formed a cage around the duellers.

A sharp stab of guilt hit Harry as he though of Priori Incantatem. His mind began replaying that night over and over again until he wanted to scream.

"Mr. Potter?" said a soft voice bringing him back to the present.

Harry gave a short nod.

"Excellent, now we bow to show respect." Harry gave a quick bow. "And we start." Before Harry could react two sharp punches hit him. Harry blinked, regaining his composure.

The room outside the cage was blurred, the shouts of the class mixed together, but the inside of the cage was in a sharp focus. He could see Kameya on his left side; he ducked to avoid a kick, his seeker reflexes kicking in. But, another kick quickly followed. Another sharp stab of pain washed over him. Harry directed an unstable kick at the professor's stomach. A swift arm blocked Harry's attempt and went into another punch hitting his jaw. Harry swaggered, black on the edges of his vision. He raised his hand and felt a warm tingling sensation through his arm, reminding him of the warmth of Fawkes. He waited, and to his surprise and to the rest of the class' a silver sword flying at Harry. The sword cut through the web of light and landed in Harry's hand. He dazedly noticed that it was Gryffindor's sword. He lunged, surprising Kameya. The professor quickly summoned another sword and the fight continued.

This was natural; it reminded Harry of his first time of a broomstick.

Silver and scarlet flashed through the air as his sword went through a series of parries and lunges. Kameya was doing his best to fight back, but was unfocused from recovering from Harry's latest attack. He had accidentally left his shoulder unprotected. Harry quickly lunged and the blade pierced Kameya's flesh.

Crimson blood began to pour from the professor's right side. The white rays of the dome immediately disappeared; Harry noticed his pain ebb away and then noticed the shocked faces of his classmates.

All thoughts of his victory faded away from his mind as everyone continued gaping at him.

"Er, I'm going to go to the Hospital Wing. I'm still feeling a bit woozy." Harry quickly ran out of the classroom with the sword magically trailing behind him.

"Mr. Potter has won our duel. I said that he could attack me in any non-magical way; I guess this could be interpreted as being able to use defence or any other type of magic. I'd like to congratulate him on his excellent swordsmanship," said Kameya after Harry had left the room, seeming to have found his speech again.

Harry headed towards Dumbledore's office. He was feeling fine, of course, the simulation left no pain. He felt perfectly well, except a bit shocked.

He needed an explanation.

The halls flashed passed as Harry arrived at the gargoyle that was the entrance to the headmaster's office.

He began guessing the password, "Acid Pops? No, umm, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum? No, that's not it."

And then it came to him. How could he forget? He wasn't a prefect so he would have to stand outside a room trying to guess a password. "What was it again? Yes, I got it! Aero Bar!" The stone gargoyle got up to admit him. Harry stepped onto the marble staircase bringing him up to Dumbledore's office. The door was closed and there were odds sound coming from behind the door.

Harry tentatively knocked. "Umm, sir, are you in there?"

"Oh, is that you, Harry?"

"Please, do come in."

Harry pushed open the door revealing an odd scene. Dumbledore was in his seat tossing a small silver ornament into the air; the ornament stopped at a crimson blur that suddenly appeared and was thrown back to Dumbledore by some invisible force. Nothing could be seen except Dumbledore and Harry, odd flashes of scarlet occasionally appeared in the room.

The Old man gazed calmly at the scene, catching the trinket and throwing it into the air again. He didn't seem perturbed at all at the red thing or things, or at the fact that a student with a sword trailing behind him just came to his office.

The red thing once more threw the silver thing back to Dumbledore, Dumbledore caught it. Harry blinked as a warm weight landed on his shoulder and saw Fawkes appear. He began absent-mindedly stroking the phoenix.

"Fawkes and I were playing a small game of catch," said Dumbledore casually, his blue eyes sparkling.

"Now, I'm sure you didn't come here to watch an old man and his pet play fetch," he continued, motioning for Harry to sit down.

"Sir, you're hardly just an old man, and Fawkes is definitely more than just a pet."

"True, but in the end, I'm still an old man and Fawkes is still a pet," answered Dumbledore. "Now enough flattery, and let's get to the reason why you're here."

Harry self-consciously sat down at the chair in front of the headmaster his sword clinking behind him and phoenix still on his shoulder. "Er, during non-magical self-defence, Professor Kameya asked for a volunteer to demonstrate on. No one volunteered, and I was getting annoyed so I got up."

Dumbledore nodded, "Go on."

"We started fighting and he was winning, of course, when I, er, or somehow, instinctively almost, raised my arm and I felt a warm sensation in it, sort of like when I first got my wand. So anyways, suddenly Gryffindor's sword comes at me, at first I thought it was going to hit me, but I didn't duck. I just stood there and it came in my hand. I started attacking in a way I had no idea I could. Professor Kameya summoned his own sword with his wand and we continued fighting. After a few minutes, I realized I was winning. And what's more is that it was really easy, I never learnt how to fence and when I got the sword I just knew how. It was weird. Harry paused. Well, I won and then I came here and you know the rest."

"Harry, remember the note I sent with the sword?"

He nodded.

"Well, Gryffindor was a great warrior. All of his heirs had his sword fighting abilities. Gryffindor also passed down some other characteristics though." Dumbledore paused as if looking for the right words. "The sword has the ability to come to the current heir when it is summoned."

"I see," answered Harry.

Dumbledore looked at Harry for a second before going into more detail.

"Professor, is being the heir of Gryffindor the reason Voldemort tried to kill me?" he blurted out.

"I believe so," said Dumbledore his face sombre.

Another wave of silence followed this.

Dumbledore finally broke the silence, "If you have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to ask, after all I'm here to help students."

"Ok," answered Harry still lost in his thoughts.

"And, Harry, that sword will protect you when it thinks you need it. It will always do its best to protect the heir of Gryffindor. Keep it within reasonable summoning distance if you can."

Harry got up, leaving the office with more questions than answers.

*

Well that's chapter 3. I still didn't seem to be able to fit Hagrid into this chapter; I'll try to add him to the next one.