"What in Merlin's name is that thing?" Cedric incredulously asked his friend. He, Sirius, Harry Stephanie, Fleur and Gabrielle were all seated in the big chairs surrounding the fire, chatting casually as they waited for the Zabinis to arrive soon to take the three Beauxbatons students back home.
Harry looked up from the object he was fiddling with that sat innocently on his lap, the frown on his face melting away to a look of confusion "Are you talking to me?"
"Yes," Cedric, and now Sirius, looked at the contraption on Harry's lap curiously "you've been looking at that thing for hours now, what could possibly be so interesting to hold your attention for so long?"
"Is it porn?" Sirius asked, almost gleefully, ignoring the glares he was receiving from Fleur and Stephanie. Gabrielle was too busy with the ice cream Fleur had bought for her from Diagon Alley earlier, she had been poking it and slowly licking it for so long now though that it was more like cream, but she seemed to enjoy it just the same.
"No," Harry deadpanned "It's not porn, this is a Macbook Pro."
"Mark book?" Cedric frowned "I don't see any pages . . ."
Harry sighed before placing his laptop on the table in between their chairs and turned it so they could see the screen. The group all looked on in amazement at what appeared to be a picture of an amazingly accurate birds-eye view of some island.
"What is that?" Stephanie asked in amazement "it looks like a map, or a picture, oh my, what's happening?"
While they were transfixed by what they were seeing on the screen, Harry tapped the zoom in button several times causing the picture to blur and change with every button press. It didn't take long for someone to realize what was happening.
"Are you zooming in?" Fleur asked excitedly "Wait, are those people moving?"
Indeed, the picture had zoomed in so much that they were all greeted to a close-up look of what seemed to be some kind of resort.
"Hah, I knew he was looking at porn!" Sirius exclaimed triumphantly, pointing to a topless sunbather with a large perverted grin "maybe there's still hope for you yet!"
Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance; ignoring the glares the girls were now sending his way as he zoomed back out to the picture he was observing previously.
"This is a muggle laptop computer, it's like a portable library, notebook, and information database all wrapped into one . . ."
"Did you say muggle?" Sirius frowned "As in muggle electronics? I thought it was dangerous to bring them into the magical world and use them were they could get exposed to magic," Sirius frowned "I remember Lily telling us all a story of what happened when she first tried to charm a Tillyversion, it didn't end up well . . ."
"Television," Harry corrected "and yes, this is muggle electronics, but as you can see, I'm having no such problem."
The group were looking at the image on the screen as if it was the most amazing artefact in the world, never having seen something so strange yet awesome in their sheltered lives before.
"What are you doing now then?" Fleur frowned in disapproval "I do not like zee fact zat you can look at naked people on this thing."
"Well, I suppose it's a good thing that I don't care about what you think then, right?" he smirked at her as she rolled her eyes at him, more than used to his antics now after having spent a week at the inn around him "but what I was doing was looking at Satellite imaging of a certain island in Greece – I'm looking for something."
"Who's a what now?" Sirius looked completely lost "you're going to have to slow down a bit for us 'uninformed' people."
"A Satellite is a muggle invention that they launch into orbit to help perform a whole array of tasks," he motioned to his computer "this here, is me using the UK's secret reconnaissance Satellites to get extremely high detailed images of any place I want in the world."
"You lost me," Sirius exclaimed with a stupid look on his face "are you saying that there are things up there," he motioned to the sky "that are like really, really strong cameras that can see us anywhere, at any time?"
"Pretty much," Harry answered to the shock of those around him "though they're not able to see through anti-muggle wards or magically enriched areas in general, they just don't show."
"How are you avoiding the problems everyone else experiences when using muggle electronics," Stephanie asked with her eyes still glued to the screen.
Archie just happened to be walking past with someone's lunch at the time and filled in for his friend with his best 'Harry' impression "It takes skill points you just don't have Stephanie," the girl turned when she heard him speak up "why do peons such as yourselves waste my time with such inane and troublesome questions, please go kill yourselves."
That earned him a couple of snickers and a raised eyebrow from Harry "Basically, what he said," he placed the laptop back in his lap.
"What is it you are looking for now then?" Fleur moved to a spot right behind Harry's chair so she could keep watching the screen and perhaps learn something.
"An underwater temple or similar kind of construct surrounding his island," he pointed to the water surrounding the island and zoomed in closer to the surrounding ocean "there's something Archades and I are looking for that should be hiding there."
"Did you not say zat you cannot pick up images from magically enriched environments?" Fleur frowned "Or are you looking for something hidden in zee muggle world?"
"No, it's magical," Harry leaned back in his chair with a sigh "I'm trying to find out where something could be hidden based on the environment surrounding it's possible location – irregular water movements, stone debris, lack of marine life, things like that."
Fleur continued to watch Harry search through the images with rapt attention, ignoring the grinning faces of Archie and Stephanie as the two observed their interactions, until he pulled out a smaller device and started writing something on it.
"What is zat?" the device was thin and black, barely bigger than a wallet. It had a screen similar to the laptop's one, but it was much smaller. Harry also seemed to be navigating on it with a small plastic stick.
"A smaller one of those," Harry explained, motioning to the Macbook "I'm writing down the coordinates of the possible locations, so I can look at them later on this as well if I want to."
"You can see zee images on this thing as well?" Fleur asked in amazement "zee muggles are truly amazing with the technology, no?"
Harry gave a noncommittal grunt of approval as he closed the laptop and placed it on the table, having completed his task. Fleur was about to return to her seat beside Stephanie but frowned when she saw Gabrielle sleeping with her head on her friend's lap, taking up two thirds of the couch, leaving her with no place to sit.
She turned to Harry who had a bored look on his face "I don't think so."
Fleur just grinned and took a seat on his chair's armrest, much to his annoyance. This was probably the kind of thing that would have gotten envious glares from Sirius and jealous frowns from Cedric, but the two were already having their own heated discussion.
"What do you mean you can't do it?" Sirius frowned "I thought you were my protégé!"
"I am," Cedric said shyly "it's just that, well, there's this girl that I really like at school, and we've been, well, sending each other letters and stuff, and she seems interested, and err, I kind of like her . . ."
Sirius didn't look convinced "Okay?" he asked sarcastically "you shag her, and move on, what's the problem?"
Cedric seemed to fidget in his seat "She's not like that, and, well," his face was starting to resemble a tomato, especially when he realized Fleur and Stephanie were listening too. Harry, he wasn't so sure about, he was looking into the fire, but the boy could multi-task better than anyone he'd ever seen "I don't want to just shag her, you know what I mean?"
"No," Sirius shook his head stubbornly "I'm afraid I'm not following."
"Cedric's in love," Stephanie grinned victoriously as Sirius gasped in shock "isn't that cute?"
"Tell me it's a lie!" Sirius demanded "tell me you're not abandoning me, not when you were so close to mastery!"
Cedric seemed uncertain about what he was supposed to say "Look, it's not that I don't like shagging all the girls that are interested around here – because believe me, I do!" he hastily added "but Cho's different, she's not like them, she's so much better, but I don't want to treat her like how I treat the others, she's kind of special, you know?"
"We know you don't know Sirius," Harry murmured before Sirius could get in what he figured would have been a witty reply.
Sirius inhaled as if ready to refute, before closing his mouth and frowning, cutting himself off before speaking. He did this several more times before sighing in resignation "Have you got a picture of her? I will not have my protégé abandon his training right before the finish line for just anyone!"
Cedric grinned and handed him a folded photo from his pocket, eager to hear the man's opinion.
Sirius' face twisted into a look of disgust "What the hell is that?"
Cedric frowned and looked at what Sirius was looking at before laughing "No, not her, that's her friend Marietta, that one's Cho," he pointed to the Asian girl standing slightly behind the one Sirius was referring to.
Sirius sighed in relief "Thank Merlin, the thought of you abandoning me for that Ranga is just wrong," he sounded glad that he wasn't being 'abandoned' for an ugly girl "eh, she's aright I guess, for you."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" came Cedric's indignant reply, but Fleur had already tuned them out.
Recognizing a word she didn't understand, she turned to Harry with confusion "What eez a 'Ranga'?"
Harry looked away from the fireplace to her with amusement "Ranga, another term for someone with red or orange hair."
The confusion on Fleur's face didn't leave, so Harry elaborated.
"Ranga . . . Orangutan . . . Orange . . . they have reddish-orange hair."
Fleur let out a snort of amusement now that she understood the term.
"Doesn't your mum have red hair though?" Stephanie asked with a frown "no offence or anything."
Sirius must have had super hearing when it came to Lily Potter though "Lily's different, she has dark red hair, when I say Ranga, I mean the ones with pale skin, freckles, orange hair, can't get a tan - them ones."
"You mean like the Weasleys?" Cedric asked with a grin.
"Exactly like the Weasleys," he then shivered "I don't know why people threaten others with the Cruciatus these days, just have Molly Weasley say she'll give you fellatio if you don't talk, that ought to loosen your tongue real quick."
"That's not very nice," Stephanie admonished poorly, the grin on her face ruining the effect though.
They were interrupted when a raven swooped in through the owl-post window and dropped a little black envelope sealed in red wax right on Sirius' lap before it flew off again.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Harry mumbled softly enough that only Fleur heard him. Just as she was about to ask what she meant, Sirius rocketed up from his chair and pointed an accusing finger at Harry.
"How could you?!" he shouted, drawing the attention of several of the patrons currently eating or drinking around them "I thought we were friends! But then you go and pull this stunt?!"
Harry was pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance while Fleur, Stephanie and Cedric still had no idea what was going on.
"What is he talking about?" Fleur mumbled to Harry in confusion.
"I'm talking about this!" he threw a picture on the table, one that had Harry giving Fleur a kiss, the very same picture Lucile took of them the night before. Harry could practically feel her triumphant smirk all the way from France.
Cedric gaped at the picture in shock before pointing incredulously between the two "You two?!" he shrieked "I mean, Harry?!"
Wondering just what had Sirius all bent out of shape, Stephanie took the picture from the table and looked at it herself before looking to her friend in shock "You never told me about that," she accused.
Fleur decided to have some fun with this; their reaction to something so meaningless was just so amusing!
"I would have told you, but I was rather tired and sore this morning, it must have slipped my mind," she sighed dreamily while falling into Harry's lap. She ignored the glare he was sending her.
"What are you talking about? You looked fine to me," Stephanie frowned suspiciously "what aren't you telling me?"
"Should we tell zem 'Arry?" she sighed sadly "Zey will find out eventually anyway."
The look in her eyes was one full of mischievousness, not caring either way he just shrugged. If nothing else, this would be rather amusing.
"Well, 'Arry and I are now lovers, we wanted to keep it a secret because we did not want zee papers finding out," she sighed dramatically "but it looks like we 'ave been caught in zee act, no?"
"You?" Sirius pointed to Harry incredulously "with her?" he moved his finger to Fleur, the look on his face not changing "What – When – How - Teach me?"
Cedric, conveniently having completely forgotten about his new crush, was also gaping at them stupidly. Nothing was funnier then Stephanie and Archie's reactions though. Stephanie's face was frozen in one of shock and embarrassment while Archie had tripped over his own feet as he was hurrying past to deliver some food and crashed face first into the ground.
Harry held up his hand as if to start a count "Yes, yes, we had sex, last night, I inserted my penis into her vagina, no," he answered his questions in order. With Fleur sitting on his lap now, her body pressed into his own, he could feel her shaking in effort, trying to hold in her laughter.
"You two shagged?" Stephanie whispered the last word in her question harshly, as Archie slowly got back up from his fall, eyeing the two in shock.
"Several times, in fact," Harry answered her "nine times, I believe."
"Nine?" Sirius and Cedric squeaked simultaneously "you shagged nine times in one night?"
"Of course not," Fleur shook her head in denial, Cedric and Sirius let out a twin sigh of relief, confident in their masculinity once again "it was more like fifteen times, did you forget zee shower 'Arry?" she asked so seductively that even Harry was finding it difficult to settle his raging hormones, despite the fact he knew this was all an act – you try remember that fact with one of the most beautiful girls you've ever met sitting on your lap and talking about your sexcapades together.
"Well, I already classified what our coupling consisted of earlier, which, of course, doesn't accurately describe our time in the shower together, now does it?" he forced a contemplative frown on his face "though, it isn't too different when you think about all those positions we went through, my mistake."
"It is lucky zat you 'ave such a large shower," Fleur nodded thoughtfully "some of zose positions we went through would 'ave been quite difficult in more enclosed spaces."
"I assure you, it wouldn't have been as difficult as it was when I had to force my way into your . . ." he didn't have to say anymore it seemed, because it looked like their little play had finally yielded some results. Sirius, still looking at them both incredulously, had made it through their entire 'show' up until the end part where his brain finally kicked back in and realized what Harry was about to say. With a weird noise, some kind of mixture between a squeak and a gasp, Sirius fainting dead away on the spot, probably from 'unfair information overload.'
Cedric looked like he was about to follow his 'ex-mentor' before Fleur finally burst out laughing, even Harry couldn't contain a snort of amusement. Stephanie and Archie looked at them both incredulously before the newly turned werewolf spoke.
"You were lying?" he shook his head at his own gullibility "of course he was lying," he mumbled to himself before returning to work.
"That wasn't funny Fleur, Harry!" Stephanie frowned in disapproval "you're lucky Gabby's asleep, what would the poor thing be thinking if she heard you two?" despite her annoyed tone, she couldn't help but grin herself at the turn of events – it served the two perverts right, and the look on their face was just too funny!
"I quite agree," a familiar voice spoke up from behind them "I rather doubt that Alaina would be pleased to hear her eldest daughter speaking in such a way, in jest or not," Bianca Zabini said in an amused tone, proving that she had been there long enough to hear the proceedings.
Fleur sighed as she got up off of Harry's lap, giving him a pat on the head for good measure "Which is why zere will be no need to inform her, correct?" Fleur said brightly to her best friend's mother "she 'as no sense of humour, zat woman."
"I doubt the thought of someone's daughter being sodomized in the shower several times would be humorous to any mother," she chuckled to herself "speaking of which, where is Jacques?"
"How does Fleur getting buggered in the shower bring up the topic of my coward of an ex-boyfriend?" Stephanie scowled as Bianca's face lit up with delight.
"Oh, you got rid of him then?" she exclaimed happily "it's about time, I never liked that boy, or any of the other boys at that school of yours either!"
Stephanie huffed irritably "If you and daddy had your way, I wouldn't be allowed to date any boy at all, Beauxbatons student or not," she glared at her grinning mother "no boy is good enough for me, right?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that dear," Bianca's eyes flickered over to Archie who was hard at work busting down tables, unfortunately, nobody but Fleur had caught the look though, which is why only the French girl was smirking.
"I had hoped he'd leave of his own accord after his behaviour at the World Cup," Bianca sighed warily "did you at least leave him with a parting gift?"
Mother and daughter shared a knowing grin as Stephanie's eyes flashed viciously "I may have slipped and landed on his groin," she innocently stated "with my knee, hard."
"Good girl," her mother praised her "there's nothing wrong with doing that when the man it happens to deserves it."
Stephanie let out a nervous chuckle as memories of her kneeing Archie in the goods for much less came flooding back to her "Yeah, I suppose."
"Well dears, you'd best wake little Gabby up so we can leave, your parents are waiting at our estate Fleur," the girls nodded as Stephanie shook Gabby awake.
Fleur, meanwhile, went to the bar to collect their bags when Archie suddenly approached her with a grin on his face.
"So," he eyed her speculatively "you and Harry, huh?"
Fleur's cheeks reddened slightly as the memory of his muscled chest pressed into her back only moments go came back into mind, she had fought hard to not show her delight at such a position at the time, but now, with Harry not around to notice, she wasn't too ashamed to let it show.
"What of it?" she asked a little more stiffly than she would have liked "it was just a joke to shock Mister Black, nothing more."
"Right, keeping telling yourself that and I'll conveniently forget seeing you enjoy the position on Harry's lap a little too much," Archie said sarcastically, much to Fleur's shock "what? You think Harry's the only observant one? Give me some credit, besides, becoming a werewolf has given me some curious side effects."
Archie had to grin at the look of dawning comprehension on Fleur's face; it then quickly changed to a look of horror.
"I'm still getting used to all these new smells and what not," Archie began "Remus has actually been helping me with identifying different scents these past few days. I admit, I'm not an expert in the field, but I can recognize arousal when I smell it . . ."
"Shh," Fleur slapped her hands over Archie's mouth, horrified that someone may overhear their conversation "congratulations, you 'ave proved zat you are a pervert of a different kind, what do you want from me to keep this information secret?"
"Nothing," Archie said seriously, much to Fleur's shock "I actually wanted to help you by giving you some information; you see, you're probably the best thing that's happened to Harry in a long time. He needs someone like you around, someone who isn't intimidated, awed or repulsed by him."
Fleur's cheeks reddened further "Someone you know who likes him and doesn't care zat he is a prick?" Fleur clarified with a small smile.
"Yeah, something like that," Archie grinned "the problem is, Harry's convinced himself that things like that are unnecessary, at least I think he has from what I've been able to pick up from him."
Fleur was oddly silent as she looked over to the boy in question, who was back on his laptop while using the smaller one to mark down coordinates.
"And how is it zat you were going to 'elp me?" she sighed warily "for all intents and purposes, it seems like a lost cause, 'e may joke with me, but 'e is not interested."
"Oh, he's definitely interested," Archie grinned mischievously "you're not the only one I can smell, you know."
Fleur's eyes widened comically before she snickered at the thought of the mighty Harry Potter being aroused by her – it was a humbling thought.
"See, what I wanted to tell you is that Harry won't want to rush into things," he began as the girl discreetly eyed the boy out of the corner of her eyes "he may not seem like it, but he's the kind of guy that won't do anything unless he's really serious about the girl he's doing it with, you know?"
"And 'ow can you be so certain of such a thing?" she frowned in confusion "'Arry does not seem like zee kind of guy to go spilling such things, even if it is to 'is best friends."
"True enough, let's just say that I've been around him long enough to pick up on a few things," he grinned happily "as I was saying, he won't want to rush into things, which means, if you are genuinely interested in him, you have to be prepared to take it slow and actually get to know him; he won't be content with snogging your brains out just because you're pretty and offering."
Fleur sighed warily "'Arry is such a 'ard person to understand," she frowned "he does not seem like any of zee other boys I 'ave ever met, nothing like zem at all," aside from Harry and Archie, she had never met someone who was single and able to resist her natural Veela aura as well as they were able to. Archie's reason was simple enough to understand, but Harry was just another issue altogether. It was refreshing to actually be able to talk to boys her own age without them drooling all over her, it's probably why she enjoyed talking to Archie and spending time with Harry so much.
"That's Harry for you," Archie shrugged helplessly "even back in our first year, he was always more mature than the rest of us. It's actually kind of funny, even though we were all in the same year level, Harry always gave off this aura that made you feel like you were beneath him, that's without even trying," he chuckled "I don't feel that way around him though, I never have, but that's because I know he's just a teenager like the rest of us, a more complicated one, sure, but a teenager all the same," he grinned at Fleur, one that she was more than happy to reciprocate.
"Zat is true," she smirked "I can't 'elp but wonder why it is zat people who cannot accept advice always insist on giving it."
Archie waved her off "I'm working on it, give me a break," he quickly changed the topic "oh, I almost forgot to mention, Harry has really sensitive ears, I can't tell you why, but just believe me when I say he does," he pointedly rubbed his own ear so Fleur could understand what he meant "Remus told me he used to do that to Harry as a kid if he ever had trouble sleeping, at the time it was just a funny story but I'm sure you could make use of such information in the future."
Fleur finally understood why Harry seemed so uncomfortable with Fleur nibbling on his ear back at Three-sixty. He was getting turned on! The thought almost made Fleur giggle like a little schoolgirl but she held her composure expertly, despite the fact that she was giggling like mad on the inside.
"Thank you for zee help Archie," Fleur smiled as she kissed him on the cheek "your future mother-in-law seems to be getting impatient, so I will leave you to your work, see you soon, no?"
"Yea, no problem," he grinned, secretly enjoying how Fleur referred to Mrs Zabini as his mother-in-law "don't be a stranger."
Walking back over to where Harry, the recently recovered Sirius, Cedric, Gabby, Stephanie and Bianca were, she informed them that she was ready to leave. Stephanie quickly went to bid Archie farewell while the rest said their goodbyes.
"I suppose I'll see you around then 'Arry?" Fleur asked with a tone of fake disinterest, the boy in question however seemed more interested in what he was seeing in the computer though as he merely nodded briefly without taking his eyes of the screen to show that he had heard her.
As the group finally left Moony Nights with promises of letters and seeing them soon (Gabrielle with a tight hug for Archie and a scathing glare to the bunny-hating Harry), Sirius and Cedric chose to look at Harry with incredulous expressions.
"What is it?" Harry asked irritably, a mere second away from just going back up to his room to avoid all these interruptions.
"You could possibly be in with the hottest Veela I've ever seen – objectively of course, she's much too young for me – and when she bids you a farewell, all you do is nod like a caveman?!" Sirius asked incredulously, sounding quite appalled at the thought "are you an idiot?"
"Are you done?" Harry shot back in a bored tone "I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"He's right Harry," Cedric agreed with his ex-mentor "you definitely have a shot, that's something nearly every red-blooded male would probably give up a limb for."
"You, shut-up and go back to pining over your precious Ranga," Harry grinned as Sirius cracked up laughing while Cedric sputtered.
"It's Cho I'm interested in, not Marietta, and can you please not use that term?" he pleaded futilely "it sounds rather demeaning and rude."
Sirius snickered "Now at least we know how he got with so many girls," he chortled again before continuing "those puppy-dog eyes are just so hard to resist!"
"I don't have to beg women for sex, unlike someone I know," Cedric replied sharply.
"Hah," Sirius scoffed loudly "the day Sirius Black begs for sex, is the day Monty actually grows a pair and finally asks his 'Stephy-poo' out, instead of waiting around like an idiot for some other guy to spot her first . . . again."
His proclamation was met with a bowl of mashed potatoes to the face "Oh yes, real mature Monty!"
"Archie, you can clock off now, the lunchtime rush is over," Remus called from the kitchens, his voice only audible as the customers who had originally flooded into the inn for lunch had all but vanished, leaving only a few scattered around.
Archie hung up his black apron and plopped down lazily on the large couch Stephanie had been occupying moments ago, "Merlin, I'm so damn tired."
"Lunchtime rush wasn't that bad," Sirius frowned at the yawning boy "stop being lazy."
"I didn't get much sleep last night," Archie yawned again "been reading that book Lucile gave me, interesting shit in there I tell you."
"Oh?" that caught Harry's attention "what do you make of it?"
Archie shrugged "Vervloekt certainly has an interesting point-of-view on the issue of 'curing' werewolves, one that I'm starting to share, actually."
"How do you mean mate?" Cedric asked with interest "I thought it was just about getting rid of it, how much more to it can there be than that?" he quickly added "I'm not saying that the process is easy, I mean the way in which you would go about it."
"I know," Archie placated him "at first, I was trying to find a way to alter the body's immune system so it could actually locate and destroy the lycanthropy virus by isolating the DNA strand linked to it and removing it," he explained logically "but I figured that was pretty much impossible back in second year, there's just no way to make someone's immune system that powerful. Then, up until I got that book from Lucile last night, I'd been trying to invent an elixir that wouldn't destroy the DNA strand responsible for making one a Lycanthrope, but it would counter its effects on the body, basically making it useless."
"How close were you to actually making that?" Sirius asked with interest "it sounds rather complicated and something that would win you your potions mastery had you succeeded."
"Honestly?" Archie asked "fairly close, but after reading this book, I felt disgusting with myself for that fact. Why is it that I'd been seeing Lycanthropy as a disease that needs to be cured rather than a blessing that needs to be controlled?"
"Because without the wolfsbane potion, it is a disease – you can't control yourself and you become someone else entirely, someone you don't want to be," Harry pointed out reasonably "Which is why Lucile gave you that book."
"Yeah," Archie nodded "it goes on a lot about isolating the inner wolf within your mind and keeping it locked away with Occlumency," Archie frowned "if one is a master Occlumens, they can basically control their full moon transformations without the aid of potions; according to Vervloekt anyway."
"You don't agree?" Sirius asked curiously, the idea sounded good enough, if not ridiculously hard to achieve.
"Not everyone has the aptitude for Occlumency," Archie reasoned "It's not entirely fair to those who aren't who also want to control themselves during their transformations. The idea is to lock away your inner wolf and keep him locked up using your Occlumency barriers permanently, but using so much mind magic could cause irreparable damage to one's brain, so I thought of another way."
Nobody heard Harry's amused snort. It wouldn't be as strenuous as locking out Dementors was for him, because the inner- wolf wouldonly want out one night a month, but it could still cause the same thing to occur after a long period of time.
"There's a potion I've read about in one of my more obscure books," which basically meant one of the dark arts potions texts he picked up in Knockturn Alley "it works in a similar way to the imperious curse, but it doesn't rely on the user's power. If I could alter that potion to target the inner wolf specifically, it'd be more than suitable to subjugate the wolf and control the transformations."
"Why risk it?" Harry asked after the four had remained silent for a few moments after Archie's idea "why not make a potion that targets the inner wolf's location in your mind and destroys it? It may be dangerous, but wouldn't the benefits of such a potion outweigh the risks?"
"What benefits could possibly outweigh the risks of potentially blowing up one's brain?" Cedric asked incredulously "Archie's idea sounds safer, go with that."
"No," Archie mused quietly "Harry has a point, because if the inner wolf remains alive within me, or any other werewolf, it would still control the transformations . . ."
"But if you destroyed it and learned to control the power it once did . . ." Sirius trailed off with a large grin.
"You basically get a super Animagus form," Harry finished dryly "one that would still be more powerful during a full-moon, but still useful out of it. I honestly think that's the conclusion Lucile wanted you to come to by giving you that book Archades."
"I'd considered it," Archie admitted "but I'm also thinking about using whatever I use on myself with others after it works, I just don't want to risk destroying their brains because of a mistake."
"Then be careful," Sirius shrugged "if you got it to work, could you imagine how useful that would be?"
"The werewolves would be able to live independently of the Wizarding world," Cedric piped up "they wouldn't need to rely on others to control their transformations."
Archie looked to Harry who had a rather unnerving calculating look in his eye, one that usually meant he was coming up with insane, yet extremely brilliant, ideas.
"Anyway, changing the topic," Archie spoke up "where did you go off to this morning? I wanted to tell you that I found another of the ingredients you asked for."
Sirius and Cedric, not knowing what they were talking about and thinking it was some geeky nerdy conversation, tuned them out and returned to the topic of Cedric's abandonment of his 'Mentor' for a measly girl.
"I was at Gringotts, why?" Harry asked curiously "what did you find?"
"Nothing, yet, but I think I have a way in which we could find an Antiquus tree – many of them, in fact," he grinned greedily "if we find more than one, I shotgun them!"
"I only want enough sap to make the potion, the rest of it is yours, I don't care," Harry reminded his friend "what did you think of?"
"You remember that time in school when you told me that Egypt, or rather, Ancient Egypt is still hidden under lots of Fidelius like charms?" he asked Harry "you said something like twenty percent of it has disappeared over the millennia."
Harry eyed his friend with a bored expression "And you had a rather uncharacteristic stroke of brilliance in saying we had no way of finding what lay inside there due to us not being able to break said charms."
"Right, but this isn't the Fidelius charm, right?" Archie reminded him impatiently "it's only like it. I had a thought, remember in Ancient Runes when Sinistra told us that all large and powerful warding constructs needed a focal point or anchor to base itself around, what if we found that anchor and manipulated it to allow us entrance?"
Getting over the shock of Archie actually listening in Ancient Runes, Harry speculated on what exactly that could mean "It would definitely explain why the goblins are so intent on hiring curse-breakers and experts to work with their excavation teams in Egypt."
"Especially considering that anything worth finding in the Egypt we know of was already found by the Egyptian Ministry of Magic for their museums and research – wait, how did you know the Goblins were so gung-ho about Egypt in their excavations?" Archie frowned in thought "yes, they're constantly sending people there, but they're also sending them to lots of other places as well, what do you know?"
"I've been doing research lately on the Wood Elves and Kingsfoil in general when I found an interesting bit of information in one of Salazar's tomes, it wasn't much, but it definitely made things interesting . . ."
"And what's that?" Archie eagerly asked.
"Before the Wood Elves went into hiding, they were quite close business partners with the Goblins," Harry motioned towards one of the Goblins sitting at the bar not far from them with a drink "it seems they have quite a handful of uses for the stuff, which is why I figured that the elves weren't as in hiding as they would have us believe."
Archie looked between the Goblin and Harry several times before realizing dawned on his features "You're saying they're still in business with each other?" he whispered urgently to Harry "what for? What benefit would the Elves get from that?"
"Metals for their Kingsfoil," Harry simply shrugged "it's rather hard to make weapons out of trees, you know, and the Elves are legendary when it comes to enchanting, they'd need a lot of good metals for their work, homes and defence systems."
"And the Goblins simply confirmed this?" Archie asked dubiously "why do I sense a but coming?"
"The second I mentioned an interest in contacting the Elves, and that I thought that the Goblins could help me, they were suddenly all too happy to grant me my meeting with Ragnuk."
"Ragnuk?" Archie asked incredulously "as in Ragnuk the third? The king of the Goblins?"
"And the little bastard who barred me from entering the poker game in Switzerland," Harry informed his friend "basically, I tell him what I know, he gets defensive and asks what's stopping him from ordering my death, I threaten him at wand point and then we come to an agreement."
"Wait, hold up a second!" Archie frowned "how do you get from threatening the king of Goblins at wand point to coming to an agreement?"
Harry merely shrugged nonchalantly "Aggressive negotiations?" Archie scoffed "it doesn't matter, the point of my story is he agreed to get me in contact with the Elves, if, and only if, I'm able to find him a large source of Orichalcum from their excavation sites around Egypt."
"So that's why they're still there," Archie mused "they're looking for Orichalcum, and they're desperate to do so quickly – what do you think has got them in such a rush."
"Either there's going to be a war between them and the Dwarves soon, or the Dwarves found another Mithril vein," Harry shrugged "regardless, you can bet on it that it has something to do with the Dwarves."
"So that's two more ingredients crossed off from the list then?" Archie queried "assuming we can find a way into the remnants of Ancient Egypt when even entire teams of experienced Curse-breakers are having trouble? Doesn't sound too hard," he sarcastically replied.
"That and anything other than Orichalcum that we find is ours if we find our way in – the Goblins only want the metal."
Archie looked at him with shock "Do you have any idea how much money relics from twelve thousand years ago would be worth now?"
"Depends on who's going to be buying, I'd imagine a fair bit . . ."
"Billions!" Archie hissed at him with awe "we'd be the richest people on the planet if we actually found anything of worth!"
"Probably," Harry nonchalantly replied, "so we know roughly where to look for the Gorgon's blood, Antiquus tree-sap, Phoenix tears, Rose vine, Vampire blood, Lethifolds and the Kingsfoil; and we have the Basilisk venom, Ashwinder scales and Runespoor scales."
"Sounds about right," Archie nodded in approval "we just need to find more accurate locations for the Mentis flowers and mature female Vorpala."
"Doesn't sound too hard," Harry sarcastically replied, earning a snort of amusement from Archie.
The two lapsed in a comfortable silence as they watched Sirius and Cedric bicker about something inane again. After a few minutes of just staring at them blankly, Archie broke the silence with a depressed sigh.
Harry merely ignored him though, however, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes when Archie only sighed louder in an effort to hopefully gain his attention.
Still, with no response from Harry, he sighed even louder, the noise almost sounding like a groan as he put some of his voice into it.
"What is it Archades?" Harry asked irritably as he looked into the fire. Archie grinned victoriously when Harry finally responded.
"I just got used to the idea of Stephanie being around here all the time, you know?" he sighed warily "and now she's gone again, and I probably won't see her until next summer."
"I rather doubt that," Harry mumbled, but it was loud enough for Archie to hear.
"And why's that?"
Harry sighed in exasperation as he pinched the bridge of his nose before responding "Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Triwizard tournament this year, the participating schools are going to be Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, odds are she'll be there because of it."
"What's a 'Triwizard tournament'?" his question gained the attention of Sirius and Cedric.
"What's this talk about a tournament?" Sirius asked with interest "did you say Triwizard tournament?"
"It's being held at Hogwarts this year," Harry replied as Sirius' eyes widened comically.
"You're not going to enter are you?" the worry in his voice was evident.
"No, not interested," Harry yawned "I'd be more worried about these two if I were you," Harry motioned to Cedric and Archie who both had looks of confusion on their faces.
"I've heard of it before," Cedric frowned "but I can't recall what it was exactly."
"Care to inform those of us who haven't heard of it or know what it is either?" Archie snapped irritably.
"I'm surprised you two haven't heard of it," Sirius arched a curious brow "most Wizarding children have at least heard tales of the tournament and all it entails . . ." seeing how his audience was getting impatient, Sirius began to explain "The Triwizard tournament is a famous contest between three school – Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. It originated some six or seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between them that was hosted every five years, where It was held alternated every time between the schools.
The tournament itself consists of a series of tasks that are supposed to test each school's champion in a variety of different ways, how though, I don't know, there hasn't been one in centuries . . .
The stories I always hear focus more on the death toll of the tournaments rather than the success of the champions. As the tournament continued through time, the death toll just continued to increase due to the usual danger of the task until it was discontinued some time ago."
"So there hasn't been one in a while then?" Archie frowned "I get in enough trouble as it is, I don't need a famous tournament to lower my chance for survival thank-you-very-much."
Sirius nodded with obvious relief, however that relief was short lived when he saw the look of determination on Cedric's face "This is the chance I've been waiting for to prove that Hufflepuff isn't a house of rejects," he said grimly "if I can become the champion of Hogwarts and win, I very much doubt anyone's going to be talking ill of my house for a long time."
"Don't be stupid Cedric, this is real," Sirius sighed "I remember hearing stories of a cockatrice one year going on a rampage and nearly killing all of the champions, while in another tournament, a rather temperamental dragon roasted the three unsuspecting champions at once – it's not something to take lightly, especially for something as stupid as school rivalries!"
"You don't understand Sirius," Cedric frowned at the older man "all my life I've been looked down upon just because I'm a Hufflepuff or because I don't come from a wealthy pureblood family – this is my chance to prove them wrong."
"While this is all extremely fascinating," Harry cut in "I think I'm going to go back to my room, you guys can bitch each other out all you want," he announced to the surprised trio as he gathered his laptop and PDA before heading back upstairs to his room, leaving the arguing trio behind to discuss the tournament.
"Do you ever wonder why they don't let us Portkey straight to Hogwarts?" a tired looking Archie asked as he, Cedric and Harry found a compartment on the Hogwarts express.
"Tradition, I guess," Cedric shrugged "I got over it in first year though. I have better ways to spend my time then spending eight hours travelling to Scotland . . ."
"The train has wards on it that alert Hogwarts exactly how many students are coming this year, what their favourite meal is, what house the current students are in, their physical condition, stuff like that," Harry clued in the two boys without shifting his gaze from the position it was set on outside the moving train.
"How in Merlin's name do you know that?" Archie asked, flabbergasted "I don't imagine that's the kind of thing they would go around telling people, to be honest."
"I've been reading up on detecting and disabling runes," Harry shrugged "I was curious and tested the train last year, found out what I just told you. It's not like they're concealed very well, it's just that no one thinks to look."
"I guess that's why you always have exactly what you want ready for you at the feast tonight," Archie laughed "I never would have suspected."
"I've been wanting a big pint of coke for years and have yet to receive it," Harry felt the need to inform the boy "personally, I think it's the House Elves trying to screw with me."
"Why would they want to do that?" Cedric frowned at the prospect; every house elf he had ever met was usually rather pleasant and eager to serve if you were nice to it.
"I may have slipped some of them love potions a few years ago," he grinned when Archie's roared with laughter.
"That was you who had every house elf in Hogwarts chasing around Professor Snape like sex crazed maniacs?" Cedric joined in on the laughter when he too remembered that incident, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were the targets of his ire for several months afterwards; it was rather ironic that someone from Ravenclaw was responsible for it, now that he thought about it, given how much the Puffs and Gryffs had to pay for it.
"I neither confirm nor deny such a rumour," Harry replied, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. Just because he never got caught, didn't mean that he wasn't an awesome prankster when he wanted to be – a Marauder raised him, after all.
They were interrupted when their compartment door opened, allowing none other than the Boy-who-lived, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and his younger sister Ginny, to enter.
"Blimey, it's him," Ron spoke with awe, as if Harry couldn't hear him.
"May we help you, children?" Archie asked in an amused voice "the grown-ups are trying to have a pleasant conversation here."
Neville and Ron scowled at being called children while Ginny and Hermione were too embarrassed to care. Cedric sent an amused glance to Harry who wasn't even looking at their guests, preferring to lean his head against the window and take in the sights of the passing scenery.
"We have just as much right to be here as you do," Neville declared as he went to take a seat for himself. In response to his claim, Harry, Cedric and Archie all put their feet up on the part of the bench opposite where they were sitting, making sure to spread out and take up all the room.
"Sorry, but there's no room," Archie declared pleasantly "maybe some other time."
Ron had stopped scowling at being called a child and continued to stare at the back of Harry's head in awe while Neville seemed to be getting angry.
"Now see here, you have no right to hog up all the room in the compartment if someone wants to sit with you, Quidditch star or not," Neville declared hotly.
Harry didn't even bother to warrant that declaration with a response however, confident that Archie would deal with it.
"The so called Quidditch star isn't even talking to you, now if you want to star gaze, I suggest doing it during Astronomy," he made himself more comfortable in his seat "and not in our cabin."
"You are being rather rude in presuming that we have no right in choosing who we wish to sit with - Cho!" he excitedly called out as the Asian girl just happened to be walking past their compartment with her friends.
Turning to see the girl Cedric had been arguing with Sirius over, he recognized her as the seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. The girl was rather pretty in her own right and spoke with a Scottish accent.
Cho entered the compartment when she heard someone calling out to her, pushing past Neville and his gang as they were blocking the door "Cedric?" she exclaimed happily "it's good to see you!" she rushed him and gave him a quick hug.
Archie snickered at his friend who had a rosy hue to his cheeks after the contact with the Asian girl. Harry, however, suddenly had his attention drawn by the copious amounts of orange that their compartment had suddenly attracted. Resting his eyes on Cho's friend, Marietta, Harry nudged Archie with his foot and motioned to her subtly.
"Remember her?" he asked through closed teeth, quietly enough so no one but maybe Cedric could hear them "It's Utan the Orange."
It only took Archie a brief moment to understand what Harry was saying before he burst out laughing. Cedric flinched slightly too, indicating that he had indeed heard them – the boy was hoping that the girl didn't either. Rule number one when trying to date a girl is to get in good with her friends, because they can be your worst enemy!
"Sorry, I just remembered something funny, why are you four still here?" Archie directed the question at the irritated first years "can you please leave? There, I asked nicely."
With a glare at Archie, Neville grabbed Ron by the arm and practically dragged him out before having to call the just as annoyed Hermione who looked to be ready to launch into a rant, and Ginny who was staring at Harry, Archie and Cedric with just as much awe.
Cedric didn't feel that introductions were necessary for two reasons. One, because he was the only non-Ravenclaw in the compartment and the other four were bound to know each other, and two, Harry probably didn't know who these two were and it would be rather embarrassing if he were forced to reveal it – for the girls, anyway.
"Do you guys want to join us? We weren't doing much anyway," Cedric offered, trying not to laugh as Marietta was looking at Harry and Archie with lust clear in her eyes.
"If you don't mind," Cho said shyly, referring to how the otherswere dismissed.
"Don't worry about them, we kicked them out because they just barged in here uninvited," the second he said that, the compartment door burst open again, this time revealing Draco Malfoy followed by his two regular goons.
"Okay, what the fuck? There's definitely some kind of infestation problem going on here," Archie scowled as Draco looked around the room with his nose raised in the air.
"Ah, Potter," he greeted Harry as if they were old friends "I've been looking for you for a while, care to join us in our compartment where the company is much better?" he looked at the other occupants of the cabin in disgust "someone of your stature shouldn't be associating themselves with Mudbloods and Blood-traitors like these."
"Mudblood?" Harry asked incredulously, before the others could beat the shit out of the little brat "that's so two thousand five, get with the times mate," he rolled his eyes before getting up and pushing past the trio of baffled Slytherins "seeing as we can't go two seconds without being intruded upon, I'm going to go around and annoy people, I'll see you guys later."
Prowling around silently in his Animagus form, Harry was able to remain inconspicuous and hidden to the rest of the students on the train, many of whom, much to his annoyance, were talking animatedly about going to school with 'Harry Potter' this year.
He didn't arouse much suspicion in this form, as more than a dozen students, at least, had black cats for their own as pets. It was a common thing in the Wizarding world, which is why he loved his form so much. It was perfect for sneaking, hiding, or, as he was about to find out, spying.
"We gave Potter a chance," his ears twitched when he heard the voice of Malfoy mumble his name quietly, thank god for his enhanced cat like senses "we gave him a chance at an alliance, but he instead chooses to side with the Mudbloods and Blood traitors."
Two grunts was all the response he received from his stupid bodyguards.
"Father gave me a very important mission," he whispered even more quietly to the two, however Harry could still hear them perfectly "he told me about a special tournament that will be occurring this year, one that has an extremely high mortality rate. My father told me to make sure Potter's name is entered into the tournament, as long as that happens, he assures me that he'll be selected."
Really Lucius? Harry couldn't help but roll his feline eyes at the ridiculous plan. It was not only poorly thought out, but it would have been extremely poorly executed too had the blonde boy been given the chance to follow through.
"What's that cat doing here?" Malfoy sniffed disdainfully at him "Goyle, get rid of it, I don't want fur balls dirtying my new robes, these are extremely expensive Acromantula silk . . ."
His voice died in his mouth when he saw Harry transform into his human form, however, before they could even so much as think about drawing their wands, Harry had already drawn the Elder wand and cast three consecutive Obliviates at them.
The three boys looked at him with dazed expressions, a sure fire way to tell that they'd just been affected by a memory charm.
"You three will forget about any plans you have for entering Harry Potter into the Triwizard tournament, or any nefarious plans you have for him in general. You will send a letter to your father to tell him that your mission was a success, but you will not know personally what mission you speak of. You will also forget anything you know of Harry Potter and a possible Animagus form that he may possess."
He paused slightly before deciding to have a little fun with this "Vincent, don't forget to confess your hidden feelings for Gregory in a very public place – you don't want him to think that your love is anything but genuine, after all."
He then cast a quick Obliviate on them once again to remove the memory of him instructing them from their minds, without removing the instructions themselves, before leaving their compartment in his Animagus form, his meddling for the day completed.
The well-fed students of Hogwarts all quieted down when Dumbledore rose from his seat to address them now that they were done eating.
"So!" Dumbledore said, smiling around at them all. "Now that we're all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and it can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it," he explained. "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inner-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year," he said, much to the shock of the students in the hall.
Harry wanted to bang his head against the table when almost everyone around him, aside from Archie, rose from their seats to scream their protests at the aged headmaster. Feeling a headache coming on, Harry took a quick sip from his flask before pocketing again, glad that the oncoming headache was subsiding.
Dumbledore raised his hand, and as if by magic, the students all stilled their protests and let him speak "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing through the school year, taking up much of the teacher's time and energy - but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts . . ." Dumbledore said, but at that moment, there was a deafening roar of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open.
Harry, along with every other person in the Great Hall, turned to the doors. A man stood in the doorway. He was leaning upon a long staff and was covered by a black traveling cloak. He lowered his hood and shook the water out of his mane of dark gray hair. He began to walk up towards the teacher's table, a clunk echoing through the Hall with every other step.
Seeing the heavily scarred face and the electric-blue magical eye swirling around in his empty eye socket, Harry recognized the man immediately. It was Tonks' Auror mentor, Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody, or just Mad-eye Moody, for those who knew him.
Moody walked over to Dumbledore as the two conversed in low tones before Dumbledore smiled and motioned to an empty chair to his right.
"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore said into the silence. "Professor Moody."
Harry almost snorted in amusement when nobody chose to applaud him, as was custom whenever a new teacher was introduced to the school. The hall was eerily silent as Dumbledore cleared his throat to continue speaking.
"As I was saying," he said, smiling at all the students, who's eyes were still transfixed on Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
"You're JOKING!" Fred Weasley yelled at the top of his lungs, startling the occupants of the Great Hall into action; excited whispers and worried glances were exchanged amongst friends, raising the general noise level of the hall up a few notches – Moody seemingly forgotten now with this new bit of information.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar . . ." Dumbledore started, but was cut off by Professor McGonagall loudly clearing her throat. "But some other time, now where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . well some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely," Dumbledore said, before continuing on to explain about the Tournament.
Harry tuned the old man out, knowing more than enough about the upcoming tournament to know that he wasn't interested.
"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money," Dumbledore further explained.
Harry noticed, with amusement, that nearly every Ravenclaw seemed to be frowning in thought after that explanation. It seemed like each and every one of them were weighing up the possible pros and cons of entering such an event.
"Now, I know that though most of you are eager to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, you must know, that there is a restriction on contenders. Only students who are of age, that is to say, seventeen years or older, will be allowed to put forth their names for consideration," Dumbledore stated. Many cries of outrage, the loudest coming from the Gryffindor table, were quite clear in the silence of the Hall.
"This is a measure of precaution, for the tasks will be very dangerous. I will personally make sure that no underage student will be able to hoodwink our impartial judge into making him or her our Hogwarts champion. Therefore, I beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you're under seventeen," Dumbledore added. He then went on to speak about the other schools, then lessons. Then it was time for the students to be off to their common rooms.
As they all headed off to their respective common rooms, Harry shook his head in amusement at how so many people would so carelessly risk their lives for five thousand pounds – only in the Wizarding world . . .
"Mate, these NEWT classes are a killer," Roger Davis plopped down beside Harry in the Ravenclaw common room with an exasperated sigh – Harry tried his best to ignore him.
"I'm not helping you with your homework," he pre-emptively answered without looking up from his book: Magiks and Runes of Ancient Egypt.
"Come on mate," Roger chuckled nervously, "I just need some help with this Transfiguration essay, it won't take you five . . ."
"No."
Before the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain could ask again, his girlfriend for the week sat on his lap and kissed him, she seemed rather pleased about something unknown to all but the two – glowing, even.
Harry looked on in disgust at the scene. Rhona Simmonds, a good looking and flirtatious sixth year that had filled out during the summer before their fifth year. She's been taking advantage of that fact, and the effect she has on hormonal teenage males, ever since. Harry could have sworn, according to the gossip that was continuously spread around the castle, that she was with another boy, and shagging him too, at the end of their previous year.
Didn't take long to get over him though, did it?
Disgusting, in his opinion, and everyone wonders why he's not interested in the vast majority of the girls going around these days.
Whatever, he didn't have to associate with them, thankfully.
"Want to say something, Harry?" Rhona purred from Roger's lap with a flirtatious grin in his direction, misinterpreting the look on his face for something other than disgust.
"Yeah, about a million things, but I can't express myself monosyllabically enough for you to understand them all," he replied dryly. He was quite amused when, after several moments, her face flushed in anger, as she finally understood his jab.
"Hurry up Harry, we're going to be late for our first defence class," Archie called out as he came rushing down the stairs with their books held in each hand, "it should be really good this year with someone like Moody teaching us, right?"
"Maybe," Harry shrugged; Mad-eye Moody, the legendary Auror known throughout Britain for his viciousness when fighting against the dark, and his excessive paranoia, was to be their professor during the first year of their NEWT studies.
He had had the displeasure of meeting the man on several occasions when Tonks brought him with her for a bite to eat during her apprenticeship under him. The man was always jumpy and glaring at the vampire and werewolf customers at the inn, something they, and the management, didn't appreciate all too much.
Leaving the Ravenclaw common room behind, their classmates no doubt very soon to follow, Archie and Harry made their way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"Hey, where were you at breakfast this morning?" Archie asked his friend as the two walked at a brisk pace towards class.
"Not there," Harry replied in a deadpan, Archie rolled his eyes in amusement.
"Right, whatever, you missed something funny though," he chuckled as he remembered what he had witnessed, "you know Crabbe and Goyle, two years below us?"
"Draco's little friends?" Harry replied with faux confusion, as if he didn't know what was coming.
"Yeah, them," Archie chuckled "well, Crabbe randomly confessed his love to Goyle right in the middle of the great hall, tried to snog him too," he snorted in amusement "the funny thing though, was that it was the most words anyone had ever heard come out of any of their mouths. You should have seen Malfoy, he didn't look too pleased either."
"Fascinating," he replied dryly, trying to act indifferent though inwards, he was pleased his little private payback had succeeded.