Tom Riddle Chronicles: The New DADA Teacher

Chapter 1: Late arrivals and early surprises

Harry Potter was packing his school supplies as he was preparing to go to the Defense Against Dark Arts class. It has only been two days since his fifth year in Hogwarts began. That meant a new schedule, new responsibilities, harder classes, and, of course, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Since Harry and his friends missed the banquet, he had no idea who that teacher was. All he heard was rumors that were so contradictory it was impossible to determine anything. The only thing he knew for a fact was that he was a man and (according to girls), he was quite handsome.

"Please don´t let him be another Lockhart!" prayed Harry as he finished packing his supplies.

He glanced over at Ron, who was almost done as well. Judging by the look on his face, his hopes mirrored Harry´s.

They had to wait another minute for Hermione to show up.

"Are you ready?" asked Ron

"Yes," she smiled briefly, "I can´t wait."

They were exiting the common room when Harry noticed that Hermione was struggling with her bag.

"Let me help you with this," Harry volunteered

"No, it´s alright, I can handle it," assured Hermione, "Besides, your bag is just as heavy as mine."

"Tell me about it," said Ron, "that encyclopedia has to weigh a ton"

Ron was referring to the 500-page-long Worldwide Encyclopedia of Magical Combat that made its way onto this year´s supply list. It didn´t take a genius to figure out who put it there.

"Why would a Defense Against Dark Arts teacher want us to buy something like this," wondered Harry, " when he could of just stuck with the ordinary school books?"

"Harry, this is the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher we are talking about," pointed out Ron, "weirdness is in their job description. "

Hermione just shrugged. As far as she was concerned, books could do no harm.

They spent the rest of the walk to the Defense Against Dark Arts class talking about casual, everyday things. Harry was no longer paying attention. He thought about Cho. When he last saw her during breakfast, she was casually chatting with her friends, looking as joyful as ever. But Harry could tell it was all a façade. He desperately wanted to talk to her, to do something, anything to make her pain go away. But what could he possibly say? What if Cho blamed him for Cedric´s death and didn´t want anything to do with him? Harry shook his head in frustration. This was getting nowhere!

By the time he reached the classroom, Harry was in a very bad mood. He slammed his books against the desk, earning quite a few stares from the other students. Harry didn´t care. He sat back, hoping that the class would end as soon as possible.

But fates obviously didn´t want Harry Potter to dwell on the matters of the heart, for as soon as the teacher walked in, all his troubles were quickly forgotten.

At first, Harry didn´t think much of him. He was a tall man with hair darker then the starless night and striking emerald eyes. He was dressed in elegant robe that matched the color of his hair. Suddenly, Harry had a nagging feeling that he had seen this man before.

"Hello, class," he smiled warmly, "for those of you who haven´t seen me at the banquet, my name is Tom Riddle..."

Harry sat there, as stiff like a gargoyle in the sunny afternoon. He could not believe what he just heard. The new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher was... Tom Riddle?

No! That simply wasn´t possible! Yet, as Harry looked at him, he realized that there was an unmistakable resemblance between the new teacher and a 16-year-old version of Voldemort Harry fought three years ago. If Voldemort didn´t undergo his transformations, he probably would have looked something like this.

No, he wouldn´t, realized Harry. Tom Riddle was born over sixty years ago. Yet this man looked about Sirius´ age.

What in the world was going on here?

Harry glanced at Hermione, hoping she would have some kind of explanation. Judging by her expression, she was trying to come up with one, but failing miserably. Ron was paralyzed with shock.

The other students acted as if nothing extraordinary happened. Why should they? Aside from Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione, none of the students knew that Tom Riddle and Voldemort were one and the same.

This had to be part of Voldemort´s plan. Yet, it seemed too obvious. And why was Dumbledore allowing this? Nothing made any sense.

As Harry tried to digest this new development, he realized he was jumping to conclusions. So far, the new teacher hasn´t done anything to harm the students. Maybe this was all a misunderstanding. All Harry could really do was wait and see what happens next.

Meanwhile, the new teacher finished taking attendance and began his lesson.

"What is magic? Is it something fixed that must follow strict guidelines, or is it something flexible?" he smiled as a hand shoot up, " Ms. Granger?"

"I think magic is something fixed. We use spells and charms to get a certain effect. If there is as much as a slight mistake in the spell casting, the effect will be completely different. Saying that the magic is flexible implies that we can use the same spell to achieve different effects, or use different spells to achieve the same effect, which is simply not possible. "

"You have a valid point, Ms. Granger," responded Professor Riddle, "but I am afraid you are forgot something very important."

"What is that?" asked Hermione, unable to contain her curiosity.

"The spells are created by wizards. If your theory is correct, it´s not possible to achieve a certain effect unless a spell to do it is created. Anybody familiar with wizard history knows that´s simply not true. Egyptian wizards levitated large stone blocks millenniums before Wingardium Leviosa was invented. Chinese wizards can levitate for up to five minutes without using any spells at all. I am sure most of you can think of at least one similar example. "

Hermione looked like she wanted to crawl into a deep hole and never come out.

"The truth is magic is not exactly fixed nor completely flexible. It is kind of like stars in the sky: when different people look at them, they see different constellations. Over the ages, different wizards came up with different ways to do magic. Some require wands, some don´t. Some of them stuck, while others faded into obscurity. The way taught in most of North American and European schools is known as "Merlin Magic", after one of it´s major pioneers and practitioners. Other schools in other parts of the worlds have different methods.

"You must be wondering why I am telling you all this. Let me demonstrate."

As the class watched in amazement, a red fireball slightly larger then a snitch appeared in professor´s hand. He tossed it in the air and pointed to the ceiling. The fireball rocketed up, gaining speed as it flew. But before the ball could crash into the ceiling, he pointed the right. The ball immediately changed course. Every time it looked like the ball was going to crash into something, the professor made it fly somewhere else. Left, right, down, up, sideways, diagonal, right, left, down, left, up, down, right, diagonal... The ball changed direction faster and faster until suddenly, it flew towards Draco Malfoy. Before anybody could stop it, it was millimeters away from his face.

Just everybody thought it was all over for an arrogant Slytherin, the fireball exploded into a cloud of harmless sparks. One by one, the students looked back at Professor Riddle. He stood with his fist clutched. A small smile crept across his face.

"It is called Enjou Yousei. It´s a fairly common incantation taught in schools of East Asia."

Harry could not believe it. Tom Riddle actually enjoyed scaring the son of one of Voldemort´s most devoted servants.

"It´s hardly lethal," continued Professor Riddle, " any fifth-year student should have been able to block it. So, why didn´t you?"

Nobody answered

"You weren´t prepared. You couldn´t have possibly expected me to use a form of magic you never even heard of. How can anyone expect you to counter it? But do you think a dark wizard who is out to kill you will make sure he uses a spell you know how to counter? No!

"It is rather narrow-minded to limit your arsenal simply because the spells are different from what you are used to. You must be willing to see beyond the boundaries of Merlin Magic and try something new. That way, you would have a much better chance to defend against any form of Dark Magic. You will be able to catch your attacker off-guard. You will be prepared to expect the unexpected. However, if you are not willing to open your mind, you will never succeed in the class. So, if any of you feel like you can´t handle it, please speak now. "

Once again, the class was silent.

"Good," nodded Professor Riddle, "let´s begin.

"Abstergeo is a simple spell that goes back to the days of the Roman Empire. It is one of the most underrated spells in Merlin Magic It neutralizes all magical traps and disguises in your vicinity. Countless wizards died because they didn´t use it when they stepped into a potentially dangerous territory. Let´s hope you´ll never make that mistake. "

Professor Riddle reached into his robe pocket, producing a wand. It was about fourteen inches long and had tiny golden symbols engraved on its side. Harry could of sworn he´d seen those symbols somewhere before. Using this wand, Professor Riddle began to demonstrate the spell step-by-step:

"First, point you wand so it´s tip is directly in front of you. You arm must be perfectly straight. Then, think of your wand as a paintbrush, trace a circle around you and say Abstergeo. When you do this spell, you must keep your arm straight at all times. And be careful: if you mispronounce Abstergeo, the spell won´t work. ."

Professor Riddle had everybody say Abstergeo until he was sure they pronounced it perfectly. The, he made all the students stand up and practice the hand motions. At this point, Harry was acting purely on autopilot. This whole thing felt like a crazy dream. Just when he thought he had it figured out, Tom Riddle did something completely unpredictable.

Meanwhile, Hermione seemed to be genuinely enjoying the lesson.

Typical, thought Harry, give her a chance to learn and nothing else will matter.

"Mr. Potter," said Professor Riddle, sending Harry several feet into the air, "your movements are all stiff. In order for this spell to work, you have to be relaxed. Let the magic flow naturally. Now, try again."

Harry followed the Professor´s advice.

"There, that´s much better," smiled Professor Riddle. Despite Harry´s confusion and doubts, the smile felt genuine.

After Professor Riddle was satisfied with everybody´s performance, he told the students to return back to their desks.

After everybody was seated and settled down, he reached into the pocket of robes, producing a small bag. He opened it, revealing a bunch of seeds.

"These are the Jakori Seeds. They are incredibly rare: unless you know where to look. If you crush this seed between your fingers and throw it in the air, none of the curses will have any effect on you. Each seed will protect you for two minutes, so the more seeds you have, the longer the protection lasts. But once you use them, there is no way to reuse them again, so you must be careful not to waste them.

"Each of you will get three seeds. You´ll need one for the final exam and you can keep the other two. If you want more, I am afraid you´ll have to look for them your own time."

Professor Riddle waved his hand. The seeds flew, landing on each desk. Harry counted them. Three seeds, no more, no less. He quickly stuffed them in his pocket.

"Kiri engai was developed by the wizards of Tibet. It creates a very dense, white fog. Not only does it confuse your opponent, it interferes with any spell cast within its range. The fog will hold for six minutes. To cast the spell, you must put your arm forward, open your hand and say Kiri engai. "

Everybody was watching Professor´s demonstration when suddenly; the room filled up with fog so dense Harry could barely see his desk.

"Now, try to attack me," said Professor Riddle.

Many students hesitated, but Harry was curious. Maybe this is what Tom Riddle wants him to do. If Harry attacked him, he would have no choice but defend himself. No, Voldemort wasn´t that stupid.

Still, how he reacts to an attack might provide a clue to his true identity.

"Casus Accelero!" exclaimed Harry, pointing his wand in the direction of Professor Riddle´s voice

This spell was supposed to trip the person it´s directed at. It was hardly lethal, but very effective.

Problem was, the spell didn´t hit Professor Riddle. Later, Harry learned that the spell hit Neville with full force. But at the time, all he heard was a loud thud and a yep of pain.

"Abstergeo!" exclaimed Hermione. In an instant, the fog was completely cleared.

"Very clever," smiled Professor Riddle. Turned out he was standing in the different side of the room then he was when he cast the spell, "excellent job, Ms Grander."

"Do you still want me to attack you?" she inquired

"No, thank you. Fifteen points to Gryffindor. For homework, practice all the spells I taught you today, because tomorrow, there will be a test."

Just when he finished his sentence, the bell rung.

Harry quickly grabbed his bag and rushed to join Hermione and Ron. They had much to discuss.

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Author´s note: The spells in this chapter are either in Latin or Japanese. Like the spells created by J.K. Rowling, their names mean their effect. The word "Jakori" is just something I made it up.