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batsutousaiTitle: Wand and Dagger
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
batsutousai
Beta:tsuki_no_suzu
Rating: PG-13?
Pairings: undecided, but most likely some form of SLASH
Warnings: OCs, OoC
Summary: The war is coming too quickly for comfort and Harry wonders if it isn't time for him to find a school that will actually teach him what he needs to learn to defeat Voldemort.
Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: I love the "new school" cliché, and have occasionally considered writing one myself, but needed an idea for it. This one was born out of a crest the lovely Shara Lunison suggested and the thought that it would be funny if Voldemort ran a school.
This, I think, will be post-OotP, pre-HBP, as that's the timeline that makes the most sense to me. This will start – for those of you who NEED to know – before they all go home for the summer at some point, after the visit to the Ministry and Sirius' death.
Also, I KNOW Voldemort's birth name is Tom, not Thomas, and it gives me the hives when authors say otherwise, but in this story, Thomas is the name he uses in his official capacity as Headmaster, so bear with me.
-0-0-0-
Chapter One – The Wolves
-0-0-0-
Harry was practically given a concussion by the book that answered all his troubles in one fell swoop, Wizarding Schools for the Needy. It was, as Harry quickly learned, a book about all of the magical schools around the world and what they specialized in. Hogwarts, as it turned out, was not a school for those who wished to specialize, but rather a stepping stone to schools more advanced in a specific field. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, it turned out, were much the same, though Durmstrang was more a stepping stone for those of the Dark, while Hogwarts and Beauxbatons leaned more towards the Light.
After much deliberation – and a week of staring at the book when he was alone – Harry finally opened the book to the page of schools specializing in magical fighting. A couple of the schools were more about duelling, while one of them just sounded bloody. Finally, at the very bottom, Harry found a school that sounded like it was exactly what he was looking for.
Wand and Dagger was a school that specialized in training witches and wizards of all persuasions how to fight with and without a wand. It was almost a training ground for Aurors, though few of the alumni actually took that route.
Wand and Dagger was also year-round, which meant no Dursleys, and was so well protected that the only people that had been on the grounds were those accepted to the school by the headmaster, Thomas Gaunt.
Once he'd made his choice, Harry took the book to Hermione and brought his idea to her attention. She stared at him for a long moment with teary eyes, but agreed to help him get in if she could. Somehow, Harry even managed to get her to agree to not tell Dumbledore, and they both agreed it would probably be best not to tell Ron, especially since specialized schools such as Wand and Dagger cost a lot, and they didn't need Ron getting obnoxiously jealous two days from the end of term. Perhaps, Harry had allowed, he would mention it to their third friend over the summer. Preferably by owl.
Harry spent almost the entire train trip home silently debating whether or not he should use a fake name, as Hermione had suggested. On one hand, Wand and Dagger accepted Dark and Light wizards, and someone who entered could work for Voldemort and try to kill him. On the other hand, the book had said that there were safeties in place to keep students alive on school grounds, although one could be grievously wounded if you weren’t careful, and there was nothing saying you had to stay on the school grounds.
In the end, Harry decided to pick a new name; Harry Barak had been Hermione suggestion, saying that his first name was common enough, and that the last meant 'lightning' and was an ancient wizarding family that had supposedly died out centuries ago. As the train was getting near King's Cross, Harry finished up the letter to the Headmaster, then handed it to Hedwig. Now all he needed was a way to hide his scar.
As they collected the last of their things to vacate the train at the station, Hermione stopped Harry as Ron hurried ahead. "You're really going?"
Harry nodded. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I have to."
Hermione nodded with a heavy sigh. "What name are you using?"
"Harry Barak. It worked."
Hermione smiled sadly. "Thanks."
"No, Hermione, thank you," Harry said, hugging her.
Hermione pulled away after a moment, eyes bright with unshed tears. "Remember to go to Gringotts shortly, then. Right?" she demanded, referring to her earlier warning about making sure the goblins knew he would be taking an assumed name and would be transferring schools. The book he'd found had said that goblins cared about that sort of stuff, so they knew which schools they would be sending tuition to and under what name.
Harry nodded. "I remember. I'll manage."
"Hey! You two coming?" Ron called back at them from where he stood with his family on the platform.
Harry and Hermione grabbed their things and hurried over to the Weasleys. "Sorry, mate. Couldn't find my wand for a bit, there," Harry excused them. The group of Weasleys looked horrified at the idea of misplacing one's wand.
"Well," Mr Weasley said, looking oddly grim, "let's go have a word with those relatives of yours, Harry."
Harry felt a faint sense of foreboding, which nearly tripled when he saw Moody, Tonks and Lupin standing on the other side of the barrier. The three adults were eyeing the three Dursleys standing apart from them as if they were some sort of tasty snack. Oh, Harry did not like where this was going.
Indeed, the group of wizards quite cheerfully threatened the three muggles against laying a hand on their nephew. And, with the look of fury on Uncle Vernon's face as they left the wizards and witches behind them, Harry knew he'd best find a real quick way of disappearing before they got home.
"I don't suppose we could just leave him in London?" Dudley asked hopefully.
While Vernon and Petunia denied the option, Harry grabbed at it desperately, "Could you? There's a little pub on Charing Cross Road for... for my kind. I can stay there for the summer and be out of your hair. Won't tell them at all. I'll be transferring to a different school, anyway..." Harry let out quickly, looking hopeful.
The three Dursleys had turned to stare at Harry in shock, just outside their car. "You want to stay?" Dudley said, unable to believe it.
"But that Dumbledore said–" Petunia started.
But Harry, who still wasn't feeling that charitable with his Headmaster, shook his head. "You don't want me in your house, and I don't really want to be there. I'll be fine out here. Just need to lay low a bit."
Petunia looked between the hopeful Harry and her gleeful son and husband for a long moment before nodding her head. "Fine! But don't expect us to come picking you up!"
Harry grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it," he replied honestly.
That dealt with, they shoved Harry's trunk in the boot and all piled into the car. Once they got to Charing Cross Road, Vernon asked for some minor directions, then they left him with his things, standing in front of The Leaky Cauldron, which none of them had been able to see.
Harry nervously flattened his hair over his scar, made a note to go shopping for some way to hide it immediately, and pushed into the noisy pub. There, he checked in as Harry Barak, figuring he might as well use his new identity since he had it, and hurried up to his rented room to drop his stuff. He ran back down for a quick dinner, then returned to his room for a few plans and a fair night's rest.
-0-
The next morning, Harry got himself a breakfast downstairs and popped out to the Alley, hurrying through the creepily empty streets to Gringotts. There were no lines in front of the tellers, so Harry walked right up to one and held up his key. "I'd like to visit my vault, please. I also have some information about the continuation of my education at a different school to discuss?"
The goblin took the key and eyed Harry oddly. "Rumblestone! Please take Mr Potter to see Grivel," he called over his shoulder, handing Harry back his key. A new goblin stepped around the counter and motioned for Harry to follow him, which the boy did after nodding gratefully to the goblin behind the counter.
Rumblestone led Harry through a couple of glittering hallways, before stopping before a door and rapping on it. "Enter," was called from within, so the goblin opened the door and motioned Harry in.
"Mr Harry Potter, sir," Rumblestone said, then closed the door behind him.
Harry nervously met the eyes of the goblin across from him. This goblin looked incredibly old, and was frowning at Harry like he was a puzzle the goblin might want to set right. "What can I do for you, Mr Potter?"
Harry swallowed. "Sir, I'm currently in the process of applying to Wand and Dagger, to continue my education in my preferred field. I will be using an assumed name, however, so it seemed prudent to let you know."
The goblin waved his hand behind him a bit and a thin folder floated over to him. He opened it and placed a pair of spectacles on the end of his nose. "What is the assumed name?" he asked, presumably writing down the information Harry had just given him with a rather odd orange quill.
"Er, Harry Barak, sir. My friend said they were an old family that died off centuries ago."
"They didn't, but the last descendant was a female, and she married into the Peverell lines. As you are a descendent of the Peverells, you have some of the Barak blood. There will be no legal difficulties with your chosen name." The goblin glanced up over the spectacles. "You will let us know if you are accepted?"
"Yes, sir."
Grivel nodded and closed the file. "Is there anything else, Mr Potter?"
Harry shook his head. "Not unless you've a way of hiding curse scars, sir," he commented dully. That morning, after trying some of the concealers Hermione had borrowed from her roommates, he'd come to the conclusion that neither muggle, nor wizarding products could quite hide the bloody thing.
Grivel rose an eyebrow at the cynical tone. "I'm afraid not, Mr Potter. You might try placing a band of some sort over it. Or you could just change the shape."
Harry's ears pricked at that. "Change the shape?"
Grivel grinned nastily. "Make a new scar over the old one."
Harry grimaced. Of course, the only permanent solution to his problem included rather a bit of pain on his part. Surprise, surprise. "How would one even go about doing that?" he inquired, mostly meaning it to be rhetorical. "The way magical potions and healing spells are, it would be gone in an instant."
"So don't use a potion or a spell," Grivel replied drily. "You say your scar resists anything trying to hide it?"
"Rather effectively," Harry replied in the same tone.
"So might it also affect any change made to an equally magical scar which had been created on top of it?"
Harry's jaw dropped. Why hadn't he thought of that?
Grivel looked rather satisfied by the boy's reaction. "I take it no one's ever tried to curse your forehead for you, then?" he said with a dark touch of humour.
"No," Harry replied sarcastically; he couldn't help himself. "I assume they wanted me to be recognizable when something finally did me in."
Grivel let out an eerie cackle. "Well, Mr Potter, you have in one of your vaults–"
"Sorry, vaults? Plural?"
Grivel gave him a slightly odd look before reopening the folder he still had on his desk and looking over it. "Ah, it says here that you weren't to receive statements or any information about your vaults until you hit your majority, due to the security risk." He hopped out of his chair and rifled through a cabinet behind the big desk. He pulled out a small stack of papers and hopped back into his chair, leaving the cabinet to close itself. He handed the papers over to Harry saying, "This is the list of your holdings, including your family vaults which, due to your guardians being muggles, you are not allowed full access to until you come of age. You are allowed to take anything worth approximately fifty galleons from those vaults once a year, however, but it is only with the understanding that you won't be getting that money deposited into your trust account that year."
Harry stared in shock at the numbers of galleons on the sheet of paper in his lap. "Is this accurate?" he practically whispered, pointing at the number, which was in the millions.
Grivel looked a little disgruntled, but seemed to understand that Harry was not doubting the goblins' counting ability. "To the last knut, yes. As those vaults are currently closed, they are updated once a year, after the money for your trust vault and any interest which has been earned throughout the year has been figured in."
Harry nodded, still not quite believing, but willing to doubt in silence. "Right. And, uhm, how much is in my trust vault right now?"
"The last sheet, Mr Potter," Grivel said with a curious amount of patience.
"Sorry," Harry mumbled, flipping to the sheet. He blinked at the number – over three thousand galleons – and did some quick figuring in his head. He knew that Wand and Dagger cost about two hundred fifty galleons a year, and the materials should come to somewhere between fifty and one hundred galleons, depending on how much stuff he already had and how hard it was to get his hands on what he needed. Three years was... a little over one thousand? He nodded to himself and grinned at Grivel. "Excellent. Thanks, sir. And, uhm, sorry, what were you saying before we got off topic?"
Grivel blinked for a moment at being so honestly thanked by a wizard – most just expected such service without a thanks – and cast his mind back to what they'd been talking about previously. "Ah, yes. In one of your family vaults, there should be a magical dagger or two, as well as some other weapons, which you might want to pick from for your school. The magical dagger would make a magical wound, which you could use to hide your scar, should you choose that route."
Harry flipped through the papers on his lap until he found the vault with the weapons in in, vault 684. "How will I know how much each weapon is worth? So I don't take out too much?" he asked, not seeing the figures for any of the weapons on the sheet.
"I will be sending you down with Rumblestone. He should be able to give you an estimate on anything you pick up. If you do, by chance, happen to go over the fifty galleon limit in finding your required school things, assuming there happens to be more in there that would help you, let one of the goblins at the front know and the extra money will be removed from your trust account."
Harry grinned again. "Wonderful."
Grivel grinned rather toothily back. "If that is all, Mr Potter?"
"Yeah, I think so. When I find out about Wand and Dagger, should I just let one of the goblins out front know, or should I come back here to tell you directly?" Harry asked, carefully folding his account information and putting it in one of his pockets.
Grivel touched a button on his desk. "Let someone out front know," he answered. Then, when there was a knock on the door, he called, "Enter!"
Rumblestone looked in. "You called, Grivel?"
Grivel nodded. "Take Mr Potter down to his trust vault as well as...." He turned to Harry for the vault number.
"Oh! 684, please."
"684, then. He wishes to find a magical dagger as well as pick out a weapon for his new school. He may need your assistance in approximating monetary worth, and he is aware of how much he is allowed to pick out before it will be taken from his trust vault."
"Understood," Rumblestone replied. "Come along, Mr Potter."
Harry hopped out of the chair with a grin. "Thank again, sir," he told Grivel, then hurried from the office to follow Rumblestone to the carts.
-0-
Fifteen galleons worth of weapons later, Harry had himself a short sword that he liked, which came with a dagger in a sheath attached to the sword's sheath. Both sword and dagger were meant to be gripped like a kitchen knife and, although Harry thought it looked funny, he felt comfortable with both weapons in his hands. They were certainly better than the one sword which he hadn't even been able to pick up. Other than a small dragon coming out of the end of the short sword's hilt, they were both very plain.
Both sword and dagger had also been cursed – which Harry had been sort of looking for – with a spell which kept the wound from healing with magical help. Harry had just about cried when Rumblestone had stated the property of the spell on the weapons, as it was exactly what he'd been looking for.
He'd also withdrawn about one hundred fifty galleons, then changed the extra fifty into muggle money, which he intended to spend on new clothing for himself.
Feeling rather pleased with himself, Harry wandered out into Diagon Alley to find it...empty. Still.
Harry considered it was probably because of Voldemort, so he sighed and made his way back towards The Leaky, figuring he might as well do his muggle shopping then.
On his way back to the pub, he noticed one shop which was bustling and practically laughed when he realized it was the Weasley twins'. He went in on a whim and had about two minutes to look around in awe before he found himself with two arms around his shoulders and a pair of grinning twins on either side.
"Harry! Mate! What brings you–"
"–to Diagon Alley at this time of year?"
"We were under the impression–"
"–that you weren't supposed to leave your home until–"
"–someone from the you know what came to get you."
Harry grimaced. "Yeah, well, things happened."
The twins traded looks over Harry's head, then forcibly led him past clusters of teenagers to their back office, waving at a young girl who was standing behind the register. Once the door was closed, the twins turned to Harry and chorused, "Spill."
Harry sighed. "Can I trust you not to tell your mum or the Order yet? And especially not Ron."
The twins traded looks again for a long minute, then turned back. "We can promise to not tell anyone unless it turns out you're endangering yourself," Fred said, George nodding next to him.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence." That earned him twin grins and he shook his head at them. "Okay, the Headmaster told me something after Sirius– After he died. And it made me realize that, if I'm going to survive this war, I need to learn how to fight. And with varying degrees of teachers in Defence, I won't be learning much at Hogwarts. I found a book which lists others schools, some of which specialize in certain magics. I applied to Wand and Dagger, since it specializes in defensive magic, as well as muggle means."
"Sounds reasonable to me," Fred said when Harry paused for their comments.
"Yeah. But what has that got to do with you being here?" George agreed.
Harry grimaced. "After what everyone said to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, I decided it was better to wait in Diagon Alley than it would have been to go home. Uncle Vernon looked ready to kill me," he added at their confused look. "Anyway, Wand and Dagger is a year-round school, so I'll probably be leaving for it soon enough. Easier to stay here so I can get my shopping done right away, than it would have been to ask Uncle Vernon to drive me in."
The twins both sighed. "I suppose that's a good reason," Fred decided.
"But you know it's not safe for you, especially, to be out in the open right now?"
Harry nodded. "I know. I'm going to Wand and Dagger under an assumed name, and used that to sign in at The Leaky. And I'm working on a way to hide my scar."
"Oh? What have you got in mind?" Fred asked while George glanced around their workroom for something.
"Well, Grivel, the goblin who I spoke with about my changing schools, suggested making a new scar on top of it. To disguise it."
"Clever," Fred agreed. "Do you know what with?"
Harry pulled his new dagger out of its sheath and held it up for inspection. "It's charmed so any cut it makes must heal on its own, without magic."
"Ooooh..." Fred took the dagger and promptly cast a few spells at it curiously.
George rolled his eyes at his brother, then pulled Harry over to something on one of the tables. "Okay, but you do know how hard it is to scar your face, right? And not just because of how much it would hurt. When you first defeated You-Know-Who, there were a number of crazy parents who tried giving their kids scars like yours – bit of a fad for a while there – and it often ended in failure, because the wound healed cleanly, even when they were left to heal without magic."
Harry sighed. "Bugger. Well, any better ideas, then?"
George grinned and picked up a curious looking metal contraption. "We could brand you!"
Harry closed his eyes and wished for patience. "George..."
"No, really, it would work."
"And we can immediately get rid of the pain," Fred added, handing Harry back his dagger.
"Why, exactly, are you two so helpful?" Harry asked drily as he put the dagger away.
The twins traded nervous looks and Fred said, "We made this a few weeks ago, to burn protective runes onto the body magically, but we've been leery of trying it on each other, in case something goes wrong, and no one else will allow us to do it to them."
"Okay, just because I have to know, what do you expect to go wrong?" Harry asked with a sigh.
"Part of this creation is its ability to immediately numb any pain it causes and the burn is supposed to heal within the hour," George explained.
"If the numbing and healing spells don't kick in when they're supposed to, we want to have both of us there to fix it, rather than just one of us," Fred finished.
Harry considered the contraption for a long minute before asking, "What sort of runes?"
The twins grinned. "Did you have one in mind?" they asked together.
Harry thought back to the brief lesson he had with Hermione and Ron one evening this past year when she decided they should know some runes, since they were both so bored. They had both complained a bit about having to learn anything when they weren't in class, but partway through, Harry had found himself enjoying the lesson. "Uhm, Algiz, I think it was? Looked like a pitchfork."
"Hermione?" the twins inquired.
Harry grinned. "Hermione."
George sorted through a pile of stone tablets while Fred conjured a fluffy chair. "You're absolutely sure?" he asked as Harry took the offered seat.
Harry took a deep breath and practically strangled his Gryffindor bravery. "Yeah," he said.
Fred nodded and took the stone from George, who then took up a stance next to Harry and pulled his bangs away from the scar. Once the stone was in the right way, Fred held it against Harry's forehead. After a deep breath of his own, Fred hit the trigger.
Harry felt only the briefest of pains in his scar before the numbing spell took over, and he let out a breath of relief. When Fred pulled the gadget away, he was grinning, and Harry knew George was as well.
"How does it feel?" Fred asked, while George picked up a mirror from one of the tables and handed it to Harry.
"Numb," Harry responded to the twin, then took a look in the mirror. The mark was still red and looked like it would hurt a fair bit if he'd been able to feel it, but otherwise it was perfect. Fred had managed to make the long part of the rune match up with the lightning bolt, so it looked like the same mark, with slightly serrated edges. He grinned up at the two hopeful twins. "It's brilliant."
Bright grins met the proclamation.
"So, are you going to keep me here for an hour to make sure it heals?" Harry asked when George took the mirror back.
"We might as well let you wander the shop while you wait," Fred decided.
"But we would like you to stay in the shop for the next hour, so we know you're okay," George finished.
"Maybe we can find something for you to use on your new schoolmates," Fred commented, helping Harry up from the chair and leading him back out into the shop.
"Oh, no, the last thing I need to do is give you more money," Harry replied with a teasing smile.
Fred grinned. "Mate, because you funded this place, everything's free. We're making enough money without getting handed more of yours."
Harry blushed faintly at that. "You're sure? I mean–"
"Harry, you can't talk us out of this," Fred told him firmly. "We're decided. Now, let me show you some things you might be interested in..."
-0-
An hour later, Harry's rune had healed over perfectly. He'd also found an assortment of new toys, including a Shield Hat in the form of a muggle beanie, a pack of Bruise-remover paste, two Extendable Ears, a couple Self-Inking Quills, a self-updating catalogue and a bottomless bag to hold everything in. There were a couple of other things he'd seriously considered getting, but had decided not to clean the twins out all at once. Considering they'd pulled a promise from him to visit every few days, Harry figured that he'd have plenty of time to get anything else he might want.
Finally free from the twins' clutches, Harry hurried back to The Leaky through the empty streets and put all but the new hat away in his room. Then he went out into muggle London with his two hundred fifty pounds and found a clothing store that looked reasonable. He bought a number of new clothing and cheerfully walked out with in a new outfit, telling the clerk who had helped him that she was welcome to incinerate his old clothing.
Feeling far better in the busier streets and in new clothing, Harry took what was left of his money and bought himself some lunch and wandered around the shops a bit, spending his money rather freely for the first time in his life.
He didn't return to The Leaky until the shops in muggle London started to close. He had dinner in the dining room and then, wishing Tom a good night, hopped off to bed.
-0-
Harry spent the next week going over the papers from Gringotts and paging through the Wheezes' catalogue and marking things he thought he might like to have. However, when Hedwig flew in the window with a letter attached, all thoughts of money and fun flew from Harry's mind.
"Hey, girl. Is that from Wand and Dagger, then?" he asked Hedwig as he took the letter. She nipped his ear affectionately and flew over to her perch for food and water. Harry smiled after her, then opened the letter.
'Mr Harry Barak,
'Thank you for your consideration of our institution. It is my pleasure to let you know that we are accepting you into Wand and Dagger. Term begins on August 1st. Attached is a list of classes. You must take at least four – most students choose the four required classes, and take Magical Duelling in their last year instead of Healing – and at most six. Send your choices back to me by owl before July 25th. Your booklist will then be owled to you with a portkey, which will activate on the morning of July 31st and bring you to the gate of the school.
'Also, please be warned that there are non-humans among the students and staff. If this makes you uncomfortable, this is not the school for you.
'Wishing you the best,
'Thomas Gaunt
'Headmaster and Founder'
Harry put down the letter for a moment so he could hop around and cheer about getting accepted. Once he had the glee out of his system, he pulled out the second parchment and looked over his options:
'Classes:
'Defensive Magics (required) – 3 year class
'Physical Combat (required) – 3 year class
'Dark Magics (required to take this or Light Magics) – 3 year class
'Light Magics (required to take this or Dark Magics) – 3 year class
'Healing (required) – 2 year class
'Blood Magic – 3 year class
'Runes and Rituals – 2 or 3 year class
'Death Magic – 1 year class – must take 2 years of Runes and Rituals
'Potions – 3 years
'Elemental Magics – 2 year class – must have ability
'Magical Duelling – 1 year class
'Please mark your chosen classes for this year and owl this part back.
'Thank you.'
Harry grinned at the list and immediately marked the four required classes, picking Light Magics over Dark Magics. He paused to consider whether or not he wanted to take another class, considering it wasn't required, and finally decided to take Runes and Rituals, since he had enjoyed learning about the runes from Hermione. He also briefly considered trying to see if he could take Elemental Magics, but figured that, if he had any elemental abilities, they probably would have surfaced already.
Done, he wandered over to Hedwig and held the parchment out to her. "You up for another trip, girl?"
Hedwig hooted in the affirmative and let Harry tie the parchment to her leg before taking off.
Harry sighed and picked up his bag of galleons. Might as well go out and get some books about runes and healing now, since he didn't know much of anything about those two classes.
-0-
The morning of his birthday, Harry woke with a smile. The night before, he'd gotten a pile of presents from his friends, including the third worried letter from Dumbledore that month, asking where he was. In two hours, his portkey would activate and he would be on his way to his new school.
Feeling quite happy with the world, Harry practically danced out of bed and into the bathroom. He'd already told Tom he'd be taking a portkey that morning, so he finished packing up all his things, handed Hedwig a letter for Dumbledore, and lugged his trunk downstairs. He handed his room key over to Tom, let the man cast a shrinking charm on his trunk, and ordered a quick breakfast.
When promised time came, Harry stood from his booth, waved to Tom, and let himself be whisked away by the small stone that was his portkey.
When Harry opened his eyes – when had he closed them? – he found himself in a group of two boys and two girls. In front of them stood a smiling tall man with neat black hair. Behind him, there was a gate, which surrounded a huge building with, as far as Harry could see, a middle section and two wings pointed out diagonally on either side of the walkway to the door that went from the gate to the middle section of the school.
"Welcome to Wand and Dagger," the smiling man before them said. "I am Thomas Gaunt. If you'll follow me, we can get you set up in your rooms and introduced to your other professors."
"Sir?" a slightly insane looking girl asked. "Is this all of us?"
Gaunt smiled a little sadly. "Indeed. Your class is the largest we've had in years. Only bested by the class of 1964, which had eight students. This school has always been small, more so since the fall of the Dark Lord. Now, if you will follow me?"
The group of students followed the Headmaster into the main building, where they found that there were another two wings, two more doors outside, a Floo connection, and a spiral staircase up to the second floor and down to a basement. Also in the atrium were a group of adults.
Gaunt looked over the professors, then sighed. "Where's John?" he asked in a voice that said he was well used to this.
There was an explosion from somewhere upstairs and one of the other professors helpfully added, "In his classroom, Thomas."
Gaunt shook his head and walked over to the spiral staircase. There, he cast sonorus on himself and called up the stairs, "JOHN SMITH!"
There were a couple of thuds, the faint sound of someone running, and then, "Yeah?"
Gaunt cancelled the spell on himself. "The first years are here," he said, then quickly stepped back from the stairs.
A brown-haired man in a muggle suit slid down the banister and hopped off, grinning madly. "Sorry I'm late!"
Gaunt shook his head and walked back to the students, while Smith walked over to a grey eyed man and dropped a hand over his shoulders, cheerfully ignoring all attempts to shake him off. "These will be your professors for the next three years," Gaunt told the five students. "Professors, your names and what you teach."
A man who looked vaguely familiar to Harry stepped forward first. "Rodolphus Lestrange," he said coldly. "I'll be teaching Dark Magics." Harry bit his lip to keep from saying anything.
"Ammon," said a man with golden blond hair. "I teach Blood Magic."
A red haired man who reminded Harry of Ron's family stepped forward next. "Gaur. I teach Physical Combat."
"Alonzo Ambrosi," said the man who Smith was leaning on. He had an Italian accent. "I teach both Magical Duelling and Defensive Magics."
"Lia Eveningfair," said a woman with pointed ears and silver eyes. "I teach Elemental Magics."
"John Smith," said the man from earlier. "I blow up – er, teach Potions." The students all snorted a bit at that, making him grin even wider.
"Sally Doe," said a chilly woman with a faint French accent. "I teach Healing."
"Kugan," whispered a heavily cloaked person. "I teach Death Magic."
"Eliza Gygax," finished a sharp-eyed woman with greying hair. "I teach Light Magics."
Gaunt nodded. "And I will be teaching Runes and Rituals. Now then, down here on our left, past the fireplace are your rooms. There are study rooms above them, which are open for you at all times. On this side of the fireplace are your professors' offices and private rooms. Above this hall are the classrooms. On your right, in the back, is the library, which takes up two floors. You can access it from both floors. This last hallway has the dining room on this floor and a common room with games and a muggle telly on the second floor. The basement is where you will have any duelling classes and Physical Combat. There are also greenhouses out the doors directly across from us, which you may work in if you wish, but it is not required.
"Now then, let's get you some rooms. Staff, you are dismissed."
"Allons-y, Alonzo!" Smith shouted, then proceeded to half-drag a despairing Ambrosi towards their offices.
Gaunt shook his head at his errant professor and led the way down the hallway with the student rooms. "Your names are on the doors. Ladies on the left, gentlemen on the right, please."
Harry quickly spotted his own room and was about to go in when he realized the last name of the boy on his left. "Longbottom?" he said. When the boy looked over at him curiously, Harry asked, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Neville, would you?"
The boy shrugged. "Yeah. He's my cousin. Why?"
"Went to Hogwarts with him. Harry Barak, by the way," Harry said, holding out a hand.
The boy grinned and took his hand. "Arcturus Longbottom. Pleased to meet you."
"Rooms, gentlemen. You'll have plenty of time to chatter later," Gaunt ordered.
Arcturus and Harry traded smiles, then opened their doors and walked in.
In his room, Harry found a canopy bed with white sheets and light brown wood. On the right side of the room were two doors, and a curious glance found one to be a bathroom with all the amenities and the other to be a large closet with a dresser for his socks and underclothes. A window showed a view of the greenhouses. Against the left wall, closest to the door, there was a desk with a muggle desk lamp and a reasonably comfortable rolling chair, with a large bookcase next to it.
Out in the hall, Gaunt called, "You've two hours to unpack your things and get settled in. Lunch will be served in the dining room then. After lunch, you will be getting a full tour of the school, and then the upper years will be returning."
Harry pulled out his trunk with a grin and enlarged it. This was going to be a fun year.
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A/N: Questions? Comments? Write a review!
~Bats ^.^x
Chapters:
1 - The Wolves ||| 2 - The First Day ||| 3 - Shocks and Explosions
4 - Socialising ||| 5 - The Patronus ||| 6 - ??
Incomplete
Author:
batsutousaiBeta:
tsuki_no_suzuRating: PG-13?
Pairings: undecided, but most likely some form of SLASH
Warnings: OCs, OoC
Summary: The war is coming too quickly for comfort and Harry wonders if it isn't time for him to find a school that will actually teach him what he needs to learn to defeat Voldemort.
Disclaim Her: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: I love the "new school" cliché, and have occasionally considered writing one myself, but needed an idea for it. This one was born out of a crest the lovely Shara Lunison suggested and the thought that it would be funny if Voldemort ran a school.
This, I think, will be post-OotP, pre-HBP, as that's the timeline that makes the most sense to me. This will start – for those of you who NEED to know – before they all go home for the summer at some point, after the visit to the Ministry and Sirius' death.
Also, I KNOW Voldemort's birth name is Tom, not Thomas, and it gives me the hives when authors say otherwise, but in this story, Thomas is the name he uses in his official capacity as Headmaster, so bear with me.
Chapter One – The Wolves
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Harry was practically given a concussion by the book that answered all his troubles in one fell swoop, Wizarding Schools for the Needy. It was, as Harry quickly learned, a book about all of the magical schools around the world and what they specialized in. Hogwarts, as it turned out, was not a school for those who wished to specialize, but rather a stepping stone to schools more advanced in a specific field. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, it turned out, were much the same, though Durmstrang was more a stepping stone for those of the Dark, while Hogwarts and Beauxbatons leaned more towards the Light.
After much deliberation – and a week of staring at the book when he was alone – Harry finally opened the book to the page of schools specializing in magical fighting. A couple of the schools were more about duelling, while one of them just sounded bloody. Finally, at the very bottom, Harry found a school that sounded like it was exactly what he was looking for.
Wand and Dagger was a school that specialized in training witches and wizards of all persuasions how to fight with and without a wand. It was almost a training ground for Aurors, though few of the alumni actually took that route.
Wand and Dagger was also year-round, which meant no Dursleys, and was so well protected that the only people that had been on the grounds were those accepted to the school by the headmaster, Thomas Gaunt.
Once he'd made his choice, Harry took the book to Hermione and brought his idea to her attention. She stared at him for a long moment with teary eyes, but agreed to help him get in if she could. Somehow, Harry even managed to get her to agree to not tell Dumbledore, and they both agreed it would probably be best not to tell Ron, especially since specialized schools such as Wand and Dagger cost a lot, and they didn't need Ron getting obnoxiously jealous two days from the end of term. Perhaps, Harry had allowed, he would mention it to their third friend over the summer. Preferably by owl.
Harry spent almost the entire train trip home silently debating whether or not he should use a fake name, as Hermione had suggested. On one hand, Wand and Dagger accepted Dark and Light wizards, and someone who entered could work for Voldemort and try to kill him. On the other hand, the book had said that there were safeties in place to keep students alive on school grounds, although one could be grievously wounded if you weren’t careful, and there was nothing saying you had to stay on the school grounds.
In the end, Harry decided to pick a new name; Harry Barak had been Hermione suggestion, saying that his first name was common enough, and that the last meant 'lightning' and was an ancient wizarding family that had supposedly died out centuries ago. As the train was getting near King's Cross, Harry finished up the letter to the Headmaster, then handed it to Hedwig. Now all he needed was a way to hide his scar.
As they collected the last of their things to vacate the train at the station, Hermione stopped Harry as Ron hurried ahead. "You're really going?"
Harry nodded. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I have to."
Hermione nodded with a heavy sigh. "What name are you using?"
"Harry Barak. It worked."
Hermione smiled sadly. "Thanks."
"No, Hermione, thank you," Harry said, hugging her.
Hermione pulled away after a moment, eyes bright with unshed tears. "Remember to go to Gringotts shortly, then. Right?" she demanded, referring to her earlier warning about making sure the goblins knew he would be taking an assumed name and would be transferring schools. The book he'd found had said that goblins cared about that sort of stuff, so they knew which schools they would be sending tuition to and under what name.
Harry nodded. "I remember. I'll manage."
"Hey! You two coming?" Ron called back at them from where he stood with his family on the platform.
Harry and Hermione grabbed their things and hurried over to the Weasleys. "Sorry, mate. Couldn't find my wand for a bit, there," Harry excused them. The group of Weasleys looked horrified at the idea of misplacing one's wand.
"Well," Mr Weasley said, looking oddly grim, "let's go have a word with those relatives of yours, Harry."
Harry felt a faint sense of foreboding, which nearly tripled when he saw Moody, Tonks and Lupin standing on the other side of the barrier. The three adults were eyeing the three Dursleys standing apart from them as if they were some sort of tasty snack. Oh, Harry did not like where this was going.
Indeed, the group of wizards quite cheerfully threatened the three muggles against laying a hand on their nephew. And, with the look of fury on Uncle Vernon's face as they left the wizards and witches behind them, Harry knew he'd best find a real quick way of disappearing before they got home.
"I don't suppose we could just leave him in London?" Dudley asked hopefully.
While Vernon and Petunia denied the option, Harry grabbed at it desperately, "Could you? There's a little pub on Charing Cross Road for... for my kind. I can stay there for the summer and be out of your hair. Won't tell them at all. I'll be transferring to a different school, anyway..." Harry let out quickly, looking hopeful.
The three Dursleys had turned to stare at Harry in shock, just outside their car. "You want to stay?" Dudley said, unable to believe it.
"But that Dumbledore said–" Petunia started.
But Harry, who still wasn't feeling that charitable with his Headmaster, shook his head. "You don't want me in your house, and I don't really want to be there. I'll be fine out here. Just need to lay low a bit."
Petunia looked between the hopeful Harry and her gleeful son and husband for a long moment before nodding her head. "Fine! But don't expect us to come picking you up!"
Harry grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it," he replied honestly.
That dealt with, they shoved Harry's trunk in the boot and all piled into the car. Once they got to Charing Cross Road, Vernon asked for some minor directions, then they left him with his things, standing in front of The Leaky Cauldron, which none of them had been able to see.
Harry nervously flattened his hair over his scar, made a note to go shopping for some way to hide it immediately, and pushed into the noisy pub. There, he checked in as Harry Barak, figuring he might as well use his new identity since he had it, and hurried up to his rented room to drop his stuff. He ran back down for a quick dinner, then returned to his room for a few plans and a fair night's rest.
The next morning, Harry got himself a breakfast downstairs and popped out to the Alley, hurrying through the creepily empty streets to Gringotts. There were no lines in front of the tellers, so Harry walked right up to one and held up his key. "I'd like to visit my vault, please. I also have some information about the continuation of my education at a different school to discuss?"
The goblin took the key and eyed Harry oddly. "Rumblestone! Please take Mr Potter to see Grivel," he called over his shoulder, handing Harry back his key. A new goblin stepped around the counter and motioned for Harry to follow him, which the boy did after nodding gratefully to the goblin behind the counter.
Rumblestone led Harry through a couple of glittering hallways, before stopping before a door and rapping on it. "Enter," was called from within, so the goblin opened the door and motioned Harry in.
"Mr Harry Potter, sir," Rumblestone said, then closed the door behind him.
Harry nervously met the eyes of the goblin across from him. This goblin looked incredibly old, and was frowning at Harry like he was a puzzle the goblin might want to set right. "What can I do for you, Mr Potter?"
Harry swallowed. "Sir, I'm currently in the process of applying to Wand and Dagger, to continue my education in my preferred field. I will be using an assumed name, however, so it seemed prudent to let you know."
The goblin waved his hand behind him a bit and a thin folder floated over to him. He opened it and placed a pair of spectacles on the end of his nose. "What is the assumed name?" he asked, presumably writing down the information Harry had just given him with a rather odd orange quill.
"Er, Harry Barak, sir. My friend said they were an old family that died off centuries ago."
"They didn't, but the last descendant was a female, and she married into the Peverell lines. As you are a descendent of the Peverells, you have some of the Barak blood. There will be no legal difficulties with your chosen name." The goblin glanced up over the spectacles. "You will let us know if you are accepted?"
"Yes, sir."
Grivel nodded and closed the file. "Is there anything else, Mr Potter?"
Harry shook his head. "Not unless you've a way of hiding curse scars, sir," he commented dully. That morning, after trying some of the concealers Hermione had borrowed from her roommates, he'd come to the conclusion that neither muggle, nor wizarding products could quite hide the bloody thing.
Grivel rose an eyebrow at the cynical tone. "I'm afraid not, Mr Potter. You might try placing a band of some sort over it. Or you could just change the shape."
Harry's ears pricked at that. "Change the shape?"
Grivel grinned nastily. "Make a new scar over the old one."
Harry grimaced. Of course, the only permanent solution to his problem included rather a bit of pain on his part. Surprise, surprise. "How would one even go about doing that?" he inquired, mostly meaning it to be rhetorical. "The way magical potions and healing spells are, it would be gone in an instant."
"So don't use a potion or a spell," Grivel replied drily. "You say your scar resists anything trying to hide it?"
"Rather effectively," Harry replied in the same tone.
"So might it also affect any change made to an equally magical scar which had been created on top of it?"
Harry's jaw dropped. Why hadn't he thought of that?
Grivel looked rather satisfied by the boy's reaction. "I take it no one's ever tried to curse your forehead for you, then?" he said with a dark touch of humour.
"No," Harry replied sarcastically; he couldn't help himself. "I assume they wanted me to be recognizable when something finally did me in."
Grivel let out an eerie cackle. "Well, Mr Potter, you have in one of your vaults–"
"Sorry, vaults? Plural?"
Grivel gave him a slightly odd look before reopening the folder he still had on his desk and looking over it. "Ah, it says here that you weren't to receive statements or any information about your vaults until you hit your majority, due to the security risk." He hopped out of his chair and rifled through a cabinet behind the big desk. He pulled out a small stack of papers and hopped back into his chair, leaving the cabinet to close itself. He handed the papers over to Harry saying, "This is the list of your holdings, including your family vaults which, due to your guardians being muggles, you are not allowed full access to until you come of age. You are allowed to take anything worth approximately fifty galleons from those vaults once a year, however, but it is only with the understanding that you won't be getting that money deposited into your trust account that year."
Harry stared in shock at the numbers of galleons on the sheet of paper in his lap. "Is this accurate?" he practically whispered, pointing at the number, which was in the millions.
Grivel looked a little disgruntled, but seemed to understand that Harry was not doubting the goblins' counting ability. "To the last knut, yes. As those vaults are currently closed, they are updated once a year, after the money for your trust vault and any interest which has been earned throughout the year has been figured in."
Harry nodded, still not quite believing, but willing to doubt in silence. "Right. And, uhm, how much is in my trust vault right now?"
"The last sheet, Mr Potter," Grivel said with a curious amount of patience.
"Sorry," Harry mumbled, flipping to the sheet. He blinked at the number – over three thousand galleons – and did some quick figuring in his head. He knew that Wand and Dagger cost about two hundred fifty galleons a year, and the materials should come to somewhere between fifty and one hundred galleons, depending on how much stuff he already had and how hard it was to get his hands on what he needed. Three years was... a little over one thousand? He nodded to himself and grinned at Grivel. "Excellent. Thanks, sir. And, uhm, sorry, what were you saying before we got off topic?"
Grivel blinked for a moment at being so honestly thanked by a wizard – most just expected such service without a thanks – and cast his mind back to what they'd been talking about previously. "Ah, yes. In one of your family vaults, there should be a magical dagger or two, as well as some other weapons, which you might want to pick from for your school. The magical dagger would make a magical wound, which you could use to hide your scar, should you choose that route."
Harry flipped through the papers on his lap until he found the vault with the weapons in in, vault 684. "How will I know how much each weapon is worth? So I don't take out too much?" he asked, not seeing the figures for any of the weapons on the sheet.
"I will be sending you down with Rumblestone. He should be able to give you an estimate on anything you pick up. If you do, by chance, happen to go over the fifty galleon limit in finding your required school things, assuming there happens to be more in there that would help you, let one of the goblins at the front know and the extra money will be removed from your trust account."
Harry grinned again. "Wonderful."
Grivel grinned rather toothily back. "If that is all, Mr Potter?"
"Yeah, I think so. When I find out about Wand and Dagger, should I just let one of the goblins out front know, or should I come back here to tell you directly?" Harry asked, carefully folding his account information and putting it in one of his pockets.
Grivel touched a button on his desk. "Let someone out front know," he answered. Then, when there was a knock on the door, he called, "Enter!"
Rumblestone looked in. "You called, Grivel?"
Grivel nodded. "Take Mr Potter down to his trust vault as well as...." He turned to Harry for the vault number.
"Oh! 684, please."
"684, then. He wishes to find a magical dagger as well as pick out a weapon for his new school. He may need your assistance in approximating monetary worth, and he is aware of how much he is allowed to pick out before it will be taken from his trust vault."
"Understood," Rumblestone replied. "Come along, Mr Potter."
Harry hopped out of the chair with a grin. "Thank again, sir," he told Grivel, then hurried from the office to follow Rumblestone to the carts.
Fifteen galleons worth of weapons later, Harry had himself a short sword that he liked, which came with a dagger in a sheath attached to the sword's sheath. Both sword and dagger were meant to be gripped like a kitchen knife and, although Harry thought it looked funny, he felt comfortable with both weapons in his hands. They were certainly better than the one sword which he hadn't even been able to pick up. Other than a small dragon coming out of the end of the short sword's hilt, they were both very plain.
Both sword and dagger had also been cursed – which Harry had been sort of looking for – with a spell which kept the wound from healing with magical help. Harry had just about cried when Rumblestone had stated the property of the spell on the weapons, as it was exactly what he'd been looking for.
He'd also withdrawn about one hundred fifty galleons, then changed the extra fifty into muggle money, which he intended to spend on new clothing for himself.
Feeling rather pleased with himself, Harry wandered out into Diagon Alley to find it...empty. Still.
Harry considered it was probably because of Voldemort, so he sighed and made his way back towards The Leaky, figuring he might as well do his muggle shopping then.
On his way back to the pub, he noticed one shop which was bustling and practically laughed when he realized it was the Weasley twins'. He went in on a whim and had about two minutes to look around in awe before he found himself with two arms around his shoulders and a pair of grinning twins on either side.
"Harry! Mate! What brings you–"
"–to Diagon Alley at this time of year?"
"We were under the impression–"
"–that you weren't supposed to leave your home until–"
"–someone from the you know what came to get you."
Harry grimaced. "Yeah, well, things happened."
The twins traded looks over Harry's head, then forcibly led him past clusters of teenagers to their back office, waving at a young girl who was standing behind the register. Once the door was closed, the twins turned to Harry and chorused, "Spill."
Harry sighed. "Can I trust you not to tell your mum or the Order yet? And especially not Ron."
The twins traded looks again for a long minute, then turned back. "We can promise to not tell anyone unless it turns out you're endangering yourself," Fred said, George nodding next to him.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence." That earned him twin grins and he shook his head at them. "Okay, the Headmaster told me something after Sirius– After he died. And it made me realize that, if I'm going to survive this war, I need to learn how to fight. And with varying degrees of teachers in Defence, I won't be learning much at Hogwarts. I found a book which lists others schools, some of which specialize in certain magics. I applied to Wand and Dagger, since it specializes in defensive magic, as well as muggle means."
"Sounds reasonable to me," Fred said when Harry paused for their comments.
"Yeah. But what has that got to do with you being here?" George agreed.
Harry grimaced. "After what everyone said to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, I decided it was better to wait in Diagon Alley than it would have been to go home. Uncle Vernon looked ready to kill me," he added at their confused look. "Anyway, Wand and Dagger is a year-round school, so I'll probably be leaving for it soon enough. Easier to stay here so I can get my shopping done right away, than it would have been to ask Uncle Vernon to drive me in."
The twins both sighed. "I suppose that's a good reason," Fred decided.
"But you know it's not safe for you, especially, to be out in the open right now?"
Harry nodded. "I know. I'm going to Wand and Dagger under an assumed name, and used that to sign in at The Leaky. And I'm working on a way to hide my scar."
"Oh? What have you got in mind?" Fred asked while George glanced around their workroom for something.
"Well, Grivel, the goblin who I spoke with about my changing schools, suggested making a new scar on top of it. To disguise it."
"Clever," Fred agreed. "Do you know what with?"
Harry pulled his new dagger out of its sheath and held it up for inspection. "It's charmed so any cut it makes must heal on its own, without magic."
"Ooooh..." Fred took the dagger and promptly cast a few spells at it curiously.
George rolled his eyes at his brother, then pulled Harry over to something on one of the tables. "Okay, but you do know how hard it is to scar your face, right? And not just because of how much it would hurt. When you first defeated You-Know-Who, there were a number of crazy parents who tried giving their kids scars like yours – bit of a fad for a while there – and it often ended in failure, because the wound healed cleanly, even when they were left to heal without magic."
Harry sighed. "Bugger. Well, any better ideas, then?"
George grinned and picked up a curious looking metal contraption. "We could brand you!"
Harry closed his eyes and wished for patience. "George..."
"No, really, it would work."
"And we can immediately get rid of the pain," Fred added, handing Harry back his dagger.
"Why, exactly, are you two so helpful?" Harry asked drily as he put the dagger away.
The twins traded nervous looks and Fred said, "We made this a few weeks ago, to burn protective runes onto the body magically, but we've been leery of trying it on each other, in case something goes wrong, and no one else will allow us to do it to them."
"Okay, just because I have to know, what do you expect to go wrong?" Harry asked with a sigh.
"Part of this creation is its ability to immediately numb any pain it causes and the burn is supposed to heal within the hour," George explained.
"If the numbing and healing spells don't kick in when they're supposed to, we want to have both of us there to fix it, rather than just one of us," Fred finished.
Harry considered the contraption for a long minute before asking, "What sort of runes?"
The twins grinned. "Did you have one in mind?" they asked together.
Harry thought back to the brief lesson he had with Hermione and Ron one evening this past year when she decided they should know some runes, since they were both so bored. They had both complained a bit about having to learn anything when they weren't in class, but partway through, Harry had found himself enjoying the lesson. "Uhm, Algiz, I think it was? Looked like a pitchfork."
"Hermione?" the twins inquired.
Harry grinned. "Hermione."
George sorted through a pile of stone tablets while Fred conjured a fluffy chair. "You're absolutely sure?" he asked as Harry took the offered seat.
Harry took a deep breath and practically strangled his Gryffindor bravery. "Yeah," he said.
Fred nodded and took the stone from George, who then took up a stance next to Harry and pulled his bangs away from the scar. Once the stone was in the right way, Fred held it against Harry's forehead. After a deep breath of his own, Fred hit the trigger.
Harry felt only the briefest of pains in his scar before the numbing spell took over, and he let out a breath of relief. When Fred pulled the gadget away, he was grinning, and Harry knew George was as well.
"How does it feel?" Fred asked, while George picked up a mirror from one of the tables and handed it to Harry.
"Numb," Harry responded to the twin, then took a look in the mirror. The mark was still red and looked like it would hurt a fair bit if he'd been able to feel it, but otherwise it was perfect. Fred had managed to make the long part of the rune match up with the lightning bolt, so it looked like the same mark, with slightly serrated edges. He grinned up at the two hopeful twins. "It's brilliant."
Bright grins met the proclamation.
"So, are you going to keep me here for an hour to make sure it heals?" Harry asked when George took the mirror back.
"We might as well let you wander the shop while you wait," Fred decided.
"But we would like you to stay in the shop for the next hour, so we know you're okay," George finished.
"Maybe we can find something for you to use on your new schoolmates," Fred commented, helping Harry up from the chair and leading him back out into the shop.
"Oh, no, the last thing I need to do is give you more money," Harry replied with a teasing smile.
Fred grinned. "Mate, because you funded this place, everything's free. We're making enough money without getting handed more of yours."
Harry blushed faintly at that. "You're sure? I mean–"
"Harry, you can't talk us out of this," Fred told him firmly. "We're decided. Now, let me show you some things you might be interested in..."
An hour later, Harry's rune had healed over perfectly. He'd also found an assortment of new toys, including a Shield Hat in the form of a muggle beanie, a pack of Bruise-remover paste, two Extendable Ears, a couple Self-Inking Quills, a self-updating catalogue and a bottomless bag to hold everything in. There were a couple of other things he'd seriously considered getting, but had decided not to clean the twins out all at once. Considering they'd pulled a promise from him to visit every few days, Harry figured that he'd have plenty of time to get anything else he might want.
Finally free from the twins' clutches, Harry hurried back to The Leaky through the empty streets and put all but the new hat away in his room. Then he went out into muggle London with his two hundred fifty pounds and found a clothing store that looked reasonable. He bought a number of new clothing and cheerfully walked out with in a new outfit, telling the clerk who had helped him that she was welcome to incinerate his old clothing.
Feeling far better in the busier streets and in new clothing, Harry took what was left of his money and bought himself some lunch and wandered around the shops a bit, spending his money rather freely for the first time in his life.
He didn't return to The Leaky until the shops in muggle London started to close. He had dinner in the dining room and then, wishing Tom a good night, hopped off to bed.
Harry spent the next week going over the papers from Gringotts and paging through the Wheezes' catalogue and marking things he thought he might like to have. However, when Hedwig flew in the window with a letter attached, all thoughts of money and fun flew from Harry's mind.
"Hey, girl. Is that from Wand and Dagger, then?" he asked Hedwig as he took the letter. She nipped his ear affectionately and flew over to her perch for food and water. Harry smiled after her, then opened the letter.
'Mr Harry Barak,
'Thank you for your consideration of our institution. It is my pleasure to let you know that we are accepting you into Wand and Dagger. Term begins on August 1st. Attached is a list of classes. You must take at least four – most students choose the four required classes, and take Magical Duelling in their last year instead of Healing – and at most six. Send your choices back to me by owl before July 25th. Your booklist will then be owled to you with a portkey, which will activate on the morning of July 31st and bring you to the gate of the school.
'Also, please be warned that there are non-humans among the students and staff. If this makes you uncomfortable, this is not the school for you.
'Wishing you the best,
'Thomas Gaunt
'Headmaster and Founder'
Harry put down the letter for a moment so he could hop around and cheer about getting accepted. Once he had the glee out of his system, he pulled out the second parchment and looked over his options:
'Classes:
'Defensive Magics (required) – 3 year class
'Physical Combat (required) – 3 year class
'Dark Magics (required to take this or Light Magics) – 3 year class
'Light Magics (required to take this or Dark Magics) – 3 year class
'Healing (required) – 2 year class
'Blood Magic – 3 year class
'Runes and Rituals – 2 or 3 year class
'Death Magic – 1 year class – must take 2 years of Runes and Rituals
'Potions – 3 years
'Elemental Magics – 2 year class – must have ability
'Magical Duelling – 1 year class
'Please mark your chosen classes for this year and owl this part back.
'Thank you.'
Harry grinned at the list and immediately marked the four required classes, picking Light Magics over Dark Magics. He paused to consider whether or not he wanted to take another class, considering it wasn't required, and finally decided to take Runes and Rituals, since he had enjoyed learning about the runes from Hermione. He also briefly considered trying to see if he could take Elemental Magics, but figured that, if he had any elemental abilities, they probably would have surfaced already.
Done, he wandered over to Hedwig and held the parchment out to her. "You up for another trip, girl?"
Hedwig hooted in the affirmative and let Harry tie the parchment to her leg before taking off.
Harry sighed and picked up his bag of galleons. Might as well go out and get some books about runes and healing now, since he didn't know much of anything about those two classes.
The morning of his birthday, Harry woke with a smile. The night before, he'd gotten a pile of presents from his friends, including the third worried letter from Dumbledore that month, asking where he was. In two hours, his portkey would activate and he would be on his way to his new school.
Feeling quite happy with the world, Harry practically danced out of bed and into the bathroom. He'd already told Tom he'd be taking a portkey that morning, so he finished packing up all his things, handed Hedwig a letter for Dumbledore, and lugged his trunk downstairs. He handed his room key over to Tom, let the man cast a shrinking charm on his trunk, and ordered a quick breakfast.
When promised time came, Harry stood from his booth, waved to Tom, and let himself be whisked away by the small stone that was his portkey.
When Harry opened his eyes – when had he closed them? – he found himself in a group of two boys and two girls. In front of them stood a smiling tall man with neat black hair. Behind him, there was a gate, which surrounded a huge building with, as far as Harry could see, a middle section and two wings pointed out diagonally on either side of the walkway to the door that went from the gate to the middle section of the school.
"Welcome to Wand and Dagger," the smiling man before them said. "I am Thomas Gaunt. If you'll follow me, we can get you set up in your rooms and introduced to your other professors."
"Sir?" a slightly insane looking girl asked. "Is this all of us?"
Gaunt smiled a little sadly. "Indeed. Your class is the largest we've had in years. Only bested by the class of 1964, which had eight students. This school has always been small, more so since the fall of the Dark Lord. Now, if you will follow me?"
The group of students followed the Headmaster into the main building, where they found that there were another two wings, two more doors outside, a Floo connection, and a spiral staircase up to the second floor and down to a basement. Also in the atrium were a group of adults.
Gaunt looked over the professors, then sighed. "Where's John?" he asked in a voice that said he was well used to this.
There was an explosion from somewhere upstairs and one of the other professors helpfully added, "In his classroom, Thomas."
Gaunt shook his head and walked over to the spiral staircase. There, he cast sonorus on himself and called up the stairs, "JOHN SMITH!"
There were a couple of thuds, the faint sound of someone running, and then, "Yeah?"
Gaunt cancelled the spell on himself. "The first years are here," he said, then quickly stepped back from the stairs.
A brown-haired man in a muggle suit slid down the banister and hopped off, grinning madly. "Sorry I'm late!"
Gaunt shook his head and walked back to the students, while Smith walked over to a grey eyed man and dropped a hand over his shoulders, cheerfully ignoring all attempts to shake him off. "These will be your professors for the next three years," Gaunt told the five students. "Professors, your names and what you teach."
A man who looked vaguely familiar to Harry stepped forward first. "Rodolphus Lestrange," he said coldly. "I'll be teaching Dark Magics." Harry bit his lip to keep from saying anything.
"Ammon," said a man with golden blond hair. "I teach Blood Magic."
A red haired man who reminded Harry of Ron's family stepped forward next. "Gaur. I teach Physical Combat."
"Alonzo Ambrosi," said the man who Smith was leaning on. He had an Italian accent. "I teach both Magical Duelling and Defensive Magics."
"Lia Eveningfair," said a woman with pointed ears and silver eyes. "I teach Elemental Magics."
"John Smith," said the man from earlier. "I blow up – er, teach Potions." The students all snorted a bit at that, making him grin even wider.
"Sally Doe," said a chilly woman with a faint French accent. "I teach Healing."
"Kugan," whispered a heavily cloaked person. "I teach Death Magic."
"Eliza Gygax," finished a sharp-eyed woman with greying hair. "I teach Light Magics."
Gaunt nodded. "And I will be teaching Runes and Rituals. Now then, down here on our left, past the fireplace are your rooms. There are study rooms above them, which are open for you at all times. On this side of the fireplace are your professors' offices and private rooms. Above this hall are the classrooms. On your right, in the back, is the library, which takes up two floors. You can access it from both floors. This last hallway has the dining room on this floor and a common room with games and a muggle telly on the second floor. The basement is where you will have any duelling classes and Physical Combat. There are also greenhouses out the doors directly across from us, which you may work in if you wish, but it is not required.
"Now then, let's get you some rooms. Staff, you are dismissed."
"Allons-y, Alonzo!" Smith shouted, then proceeded to half-drag a despairing Ambrosi towards their offices.
Gaunt shook his head at his errant professor and led the way down the hallway with the student rooms. "Your names are on the doors. Ladies on the left, gentlemen on the right, please."
Harry quickly spotted his own room and was about to go in when he realized the last name of the boy on his left. "Longbottom?" he said. When the boy looked over at him curiously, Harry asked, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Neville, would you?"
The boy shrugged. "Yeah. He's my cousin. Why?"
"Went to Hogwarts with him. Harry Barak, by the way," Harry said, holding out a hand.
The boy grinned and took his hand. "Arcturus Longbottom. Pleased to meet you."
"Rooms, gentlemen. You'll have plenty of time to chatter later," Gaunt ordered.
Arcturus and Harry traded smiles, then opened their doors and walked in.
In his room, Harry found a canopy bed with white sheets and light brown wood. On the right side of the room were two doors, and a curious glance found one to be a bathroom with all the amenities and the other to be a large closet with a dresser for his socks and underclothes. A window showed a view of the greenhouses. Against the left wall, closest to the door, there was a desk with a muggle desk lamp and a reasonably comfortable rolling chair, with a large bookcase next to it.
Out in the hall, Gaunt called, "You've two hours to unpack your things and get settled in. Lunch will be served in the dining room then. After lunch, you will be getting a full tour of the school, and then the upper years will be returning."
Harry pulled out his trunk with a grin and enlarged it. This was going to be a fun year.
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A/N: Questions? Comments? Write a review!
~Bats ^.^x
4 - Socialising ||| 5 - The Patronus ||| 6 - ??
Incomplete
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no subject
Date: 28/9/09 12:25 (UTC)Great first chapter; new school, Gringotts-scene, the twins and Voldemort as a headmaster.
I'm so excited about this story, can't wait to read more!
And I kind of haven't read any HP-fics in awhile, so I'm so happy
you made me remember why I love this fandom. Also, liked the way you wrote Harry in this.
And now I'm kind of getting later for class, so...
Thanks for a new story! :D
no subject
Date: 28/9/09 16:08 (UTC)I'd have assumed this was an au in which Voldemort decided to run a school instead of taking over the world, but Harry still has his scar and everything, so that rules that out. Alternate universe? Cloning? Teacher by day, megalomaniac by night? So many possibilities. *grins*
And I was just thinking that if that was a deliberate Doctor Who crossover I'd love you forever, and then he said "Allons-y, Alonzo!" Therefore, I shall love you forever. Yes. *bounces*
no subject
Date: 28/9/09 16:32 (UTC)LOL. Well, the Doctor's deliberately in there, but I don't know that I'd call this a crossover, so much. I've just been watching too much Doctor Who and needed to put him in something. ^.^"
no subject
Date: 28/9/09 17:06 (UTC)Are you posting this here only, or also at someplace we can get alerts?
So far, so good. I'm interested to see what happens next.
no subject
Date: 28/9/09 17:13 (UTC)Truly, fanfiction is so much better.
I know what you mean. I wouldn't expect time-travel and aliens (although, you did say there might be non-human students, and, now I think about it, magical creatures are only one option) or anything - it's the wrong story for that - but the Doctor as a Potions Master is just perfect. And Alonzo! Being dragged away despairingly! *cackles*
no subject
Date: 28/9/09 17:48 (UTC)XD
I know. I sort of put down John Smith as a name on a whim, and then it turned into the Doctor, and then I needed an Alonzo, because the Doctor wouldn't stay without an Alonzo to torture. (Unless the TARDIS broke.)
I'm still debating whether or not to put a blue box in his office. Not that Harry's likely to visit his office or anything.
no subject
Date: 28/9/09 17:50 (UTC)Thank you, though. ^.~
It's up on FFN. Just because that place rakes in the most reviews. XD
no subject
Date: 29/9/09 01:06 (UTC)In all seriousness, while the plot is so cliche that it has been done to death, I like you spin on it. Go Voldemort for having a life outside of coming up with unlikely shenanigans to destroy Harry. I can not wait to see everyone's reaction to each other.
Thank you for sharing! ^_^
no subject
Date: 29/9/09 02:18 (UTC)no subject
Date: 4/10/09 17:58 (UTC)Honestly, I think your writing is improving. That was just one of the more obvious ways it shows...
cloe