"Directly after last class tomorrow, then?"
Harry nodded, chewing a lip a little bit. "Does my new crest bother you, Professor? You've never said."
"I'm afraid I'll always think of you as a Gryffindor," McGonagall briskly returned. "Be that as it may, I do understand the situation, Harry. You've two Houses now and you must endeavour to belong to both. As you are. Severus must be very proud of you."
"I hope so."
McGonagall reached across her desk and lightly clasped his hand. "Oh, he is. I'm sure you know that, Harry."
"Well... sometimes he is, I know. Except for when I muck things up, he really gets angry. At least he's not so vicious about it as he used to be." Harry nodded, thinking of how his father had said that he'd finally forgiven James Potter.
"It's a good deal for him to balance, being a father. Let alone to you and Mr. Malfoy both."
"Oh, we get on pretty well these days."
"Wonders truly never do cease, then," said McGonagall dryly as she let his hand go. "I'll stop by Professor Aran's class tomorrow."
"Thanks," said Harry, hefting his school bag onto his shoulder as he turned to join Ron and Hermione, who were waiting by the door.
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Aran's class the next day consisted of a lengthy written exam about ways to deal with Dark Creatures. Considering they'd covered that topic for an entire year with Remus, they really didn't need to study it again. Besides, just how often did one run across kappas and wild vampires? Harry was pretty frustrated as he wrote out answer after answer. Such a total waste of his time, when they could all be learning real Defence, could be learning things they'd really need to know to survive the coming war.
Even the practical component to this test was a joke. Aran was calling up students one at a time to his desk so they could prove they knew various defensive spells one might use against various dark creatures. Unlike with Remus, though, Aran wasn't actually making them force any real creatures back. They had to pretend.
And it was review besides.
"Riddikulus," Harry heard Ron say in a bored-out-of-his-skull voice. Harry could hardly blame him.
"Well done, Mr. Weasley," said Aran, beaming a bright smile.
Ron didn't reply. Harry guessed that was because anything he might say would most likely lose Gryffindor some points.
Harry gave him a thumbs-up sign, then went back to writing out the bloody obvious on his test.
When it was Nott's turn to do the practical, he went a little bit out of his way, walking past Harry's desk when he didn't have to. "Watch this," he said out of the corner of his mouth as he passed by.
"What's he want now?" mouthed Ron beside him.
Harry raised his eyebrows and shrugged, gesturing that they might as well watch as the other boy had said.
At first, everything about Nott's demonstration was ordinary, though Harry couldn't help but notice that all the Slytherins were casting him interested glances every few seconds. Apparently he'd told them to watch him, too.
"And now the charm to ward off a boggart, Mr. Nott," said Aran.
Nott cleared his throat and brandished his wand. "Yerridiculous," he said, flinging his arm out so his wand would point directly at the teacher. "Yerridiculous. Yerridiculous!"
"Once is sufficient, thank you," said Aran, giving no hint that he'd noticed the extra syllable, let alone the way Nott had clearly said ridiculous instead of the slightly odd pronunciation the charm really required.
"But I'm pretending there are multiple boggarts," Nott explained in an innocent-sounding voice. "Oh, there's another one now. Yerridiculous!"
The Slytherins burst out laughing, and even the Gryffindors were having a hard time not joining in.
"Can I have extra credit for banishing more than one boggart, sir?" asked Nott, his voice that time the epitome of politeness.
"No, but you'll get full marks for a job well done," said Aran, his own voice robust.
At that, the Gryffindors burst out laughing as well.
Nott somehow executed a little bow, but without it looking like one. Aran certainly didn't appear to notice. When the Slytherin boy walked back toward his desk, he again took a slight detour that brought him alongside Harry's.
"Brilliant!" said Harry under his breath.
Nott paused for an instant. "Thanks. Meet me outside afterwards? There's something I want to ask you."
Harry gave a tiny shake of his head. "I have to stay late. You know, the Parseltongue thing. Separate practical."
"I'll catch you later."
The minute Nott was out of earshot, Ron leaned over. "What could he want to ask you?"
Harry shrugged. "No idea."
"Shhh!" chided Hermione, her eyes flashing.
"Oh, you shhhh if it's so important," said Ron carelessly.
Hermione wrinkled her nose as though there were something a trifle fetid in the air, then went back to her test, her stiff posture announcing her irritation.
"What's with you two?" asked Harry in some frustration, though he kept his voice to an undertone. "This is getting ridiculous--"
"Ridiculous?" asked Aran from just a few feet away. Any other teacher would have been in a huff that he'd been talking during the test, but not Aran. Harry soon realised why. The teacher was excited at the thought that Harry might be coming around to his point of view. "Would you like to try your practical now, Mr. Potter? Using normal language, that is?"
"No thank you sir," answered Harry with an excess of courtesy. He hoped his voice was dripping with it. Aran was probably too dense to notice anything, but the students at least would get his point. "I can't spell using normal language, sir. No, my magic at the present time is thoroughly abnormal."
Aran inclined his head. "Yes, well it's unfortunate. Perhaps you'll get it sorted yet."
"Yeah," said Harry, something twisting deep inside him. Anger, maybe. It wanted to come out. "Be nice to be average. What's it like for you?"
All around Harry, students drew in sharp breaths.
"We can't all be TriWizard champions," Aran retorted.
"Or decent teachers."
"If you're ever a teacher yourself you'll have some understanding of the pressures I'm under--"
"Right, because I know nothing about being under pressure," spat Harry, surging to his feet. He felt like an active volcano, long-suppressed rage just pouring out his ears. "It's not like I've spent years being targeted by Voldemort, or anything! And did I mention I'm not a fucking TriWizard champion? That it was all just a plot to get me out of Hogwarts and into his clutches? And that Cedric Diggory died as a result? I hated that stupid tournament all the way through and I hate people thinking I feel otherwise!"
"How dare you talk to me that way!" thundered Aran, finally raising his voice. "Sixty points from--"
"You mean thirty from Gryffindor and thirty from Slytherin, don't you?" interrupted Harry, his own voice arctic. "Well, why don't you just go ahead? Severus will be furious with me and I'll just have to tell him what I've been putting up with from you! Yeah, you want to have a conversation with him about how thoroughly nasty and filthy and abnormal my spell-casting is these days?"
Aran abruptly shut his mouth.
"Way to go, Harry!" whispered Ron from beside him.
The comment helped Harry climb back out of his abrupt plummet into rage. He was breathing hard, his face no doubt red with it, but at least now it seemed he could think of something apart from anger. "I'll just finish my test now," he said in a calmer voice as he sat down, ignoring the expressions of shock on his classmates' faces.