He slipped into his room, having every intention of ignoring the man, who he could hear following behind him due to the metal limb's heavy impact against the stone floor. Inside, he was confronted with a magical portrait, a door guardian, who happened to be an elderly scholar, reading an aged book, blocking access to his room.
...
"Password," the door guardian said, looking up from the book it was reading, sitting relaxed in an armchair next to a fireplace.
"How's about you let me in my room before I decide to break out the flame charms?" he threatened darkly, his patience running thin.
"Incorrect answer," the guardian replied, slightly uneasily, but not moving a muscle to suggest he was affected by the threat.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, you've met your door guardian for the duration of the danger," Mad-Eye said behind him smugly.
"I'm guessing this is your idea?" he demanded, seeing the Auror's smug smile.
"Indeed, boy." That word being used again caused Harry's eye to tick, his finger beginning to itch.
"You going to tell me the password? Or do I have to share a room with one of my mates?"
"Oh, I don't know." The aged Auror said slowly, "This here's the Mage known as Drake Thornburg. Don't bother trying to threaten him, he's not like the school guardians, he's out of my private collection." The Auror explained with new levels of smugness. "He's immune to most fire spells, and has a number of enchantments on it making it highly resistant against most spells, so if you want in, you're going to have to behave, and wear this." He offered, holding a ring out.
Looking at the rather plain silver ring, he noticed the faint runes on it. "What does this ring do?" he probed, deciding not to make a joke about Moody not being his type, as well as being too young to get engaged.
"This ring is enchanted with powerful health monitoring charms and locational spells, as well as a Portkey, just in case you're off grounds and need to flee. It only works if it's put on willingly. It can only be removed by me."
"That's no good, he'll just cut off my hand," Harry argued, causing the Auror to blink. "Besides, he's trying to kill me, not kidnap me."
"Potter, it's done this way for a reason," Moody insisted.
"The password is 'Horns are blown in the east, but my heart is in the ground'," said a dreamy voice, causing the portrait to open. "If you want to change it, you have to say, 'Sunflowers are a winter plant.'"
"Oh, thank you, Luna," he said gratefully, noticing the usual girl, idly wondering how she knew it, before guessing she just overheard it. Without any more hesitation, he walked into his now opened dorm room.
"Sunflowers are a winter plant," he said as he shut the door and the painting before the Auror could recover his wits. "New password is 'Pie three point one four one,'" he announced, watching as the portrait glowed faintly as the magic within accepted the new password.
He grinned like a madman, thankful for Luna's intervention, as well as the private knowledge that no wizard would be able to work it out, especially not an average Pureblood student like Peter.
"Potter! Let me in right now!" Mad-Eye shouted from the other side.
"I said I could be a pain in the ass for you and your team. Thank you for making that choice for me!" he called back before throwing up a Silencing Charm on the door.
'I'll have to thank Luna somehow,' he thought to himself, sitting down for a peaceful read on the methods to detect and track Animagi.
...
The next couple of days passed rather quickly; he spent most of it dodging Aurors and groups of students who seemed to be following him. Thankfully, he had Quidditch training, which he studiously ignored Moody's demands to stop attending, and made it clear to Roger that he would play, and that if anyone tried to remove Harry from the team due to pressure from the Auror, he would pay the Weasley Twins a sizable bit of gold to prank him for the next two and a half years.
Of course, Tonks acting as an unofficial guard gave him a lot of extra time to train his duelling ability, as well as learn some new spells, which were a bit harder hitting in nature. He was already learning the Blasting Hex, a more powerful version of the Banishing Charm, as well as a Slashing Charm, which were both 4th-year spells.
However, his Head of House deciding to join in on his unofficial training as well helped immensely.
"Please stay behind, Harry. The rest of you are dismissed," the Charms Master said, sending his second-year classmates away while he stayed seated. "Now, Harry, it seems you're ahead of your classmates and are clearly bored, if I'm any judge, and Padma is well ahead due to your help as well. I was wondering if you would be interested in some private lessons, working on more offensive charms, since they may come in handy?"
Grinning at the offer, Harry replied, "Sure, it would be more useful than the Aurors are. They seem to be dim-witted, or plain lazy; I found one the other day asleep at his post, so now he's sporting yellow and pink polka-dot robes."
"Oh, that was you?" His Head of House chuckled. "He came to me asking me to fix it for him. I must say that was an ingenious charm. Did you make it?"
"No, my father and Sirius made it, with help from Remus," Harry explained, seeing no reason to lie, since he didn't know anything about spell creation or the properties of the spell.
"Ah, why am I not surprised?" Flitwick said fondly.
"So when do you wish to meet up? I can't do Wednesdays, Fridays, or Sundays due to Quidditch practice," Harry requested, hoping this wouldn't be a problem.
"Of course, of course. How do Saturday mornings work for you, after breakfast at... half 9?" the Charms Master offered.
"Sure, I'm looking forward to it."
"Good. Now, I must be serious for a moment, Harry. I've heard you've been skipping DADA lessons on a regular basis. Any reason why? Especially now, when being able to defend yourself is even more important," Flitwick asked, concerned for one of his favourite students.
Deciding once again to be honest, he explained. "Simple, the teacher is a fool. Surely you've read the textbook by now, after I pointed out the errors with it at the start of the term?" he asked.
The Ravenclaw Head shook his head, a frown on his face. "No, I haven't, Harry. I haven't had the time. The Headmaster said he would look into it."
The reply caused Harry to almost instinctively roll his eyes. "Well, they're rubbish, close to useless, and so is the man. He couldn't even cast an Unlocking Charm. Lockhart is more interested in how his hair looks while teaching than actually teaching the class anything useful. So I'd much rather spend my Monday mornings self-studying rather than having to endure his presence, especially first thing on Monday morning when I also have History to deal with."
"Harry, I know you consider the man a fool, but at least get a sick note or something so I can overlook the whole issue of you skipping DADA," the Head of Ravenclaw House argued.
"Are you saying that I should intentionally fake sickness?" he probed, wondering truly whether the man was serious.
"No, of course not. I just want you to at least try to hide the fact you're skipping the man's lessons. As well as some of your History classes to self-study or duel with your cousin," the Charms Master pleaded. "If you don't, at least make an attempt to hide what you're doing, or you'll have the Deputy Headmistress on your backside, which I can't ignore without encouraging other students."
"You could always give me the detentions instead? We could use that for the extra charms work?" he asked, but received a stern look from the half-goblin. "I guess not, then?"
Harry sighed. "Sitting in that room, listening to that idiot drone on about what colour robes go best with different colour dragonhide armour, I almost feel myself getting dumber. Having to watch him act out scenes from his book is tiresome beyond measure as well. Even if it's funny watching Neville having to act the part of a banshee, or a vampire," he admitted.
"Harry, I must insist you go, even if you think the teacher isn't qualified. If you don't, I can't offer to teach you on Saturdays," his Head of House said. "Plus, you can't be on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team either."
"Fine, I'll go," he agreed reluctantly, but a couple of hours with the Charms Master's tutoring would more than make up for having to endure Lockhart's company.
'Unless, of course, Lockhart had problems attending lessons...' Harry thought with a devious smirk.
...
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