Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Remus for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"Yes, I can't beat Voldemort. He's had too much time to learn how to fight, plus we have no allies left. If I go back, we have a chance." replied Harry.

"A small chance."

"But a chance none the less. I wish you were able to come with me."

"One of the rules. One person can not occupy two places at once. If I went back with you, it would have disastrous consequences, it's why time turners can only go back a few hours at a time, so that there are only two of you for a short time. Well, Harry. Time to begin."

Harry cast his gaze around the room he hadn't left in over 4 days. Fully charged runes were scattered everywhere on the walls and the floors, surrounding a small circle in the middle of the room, with a connecting line to another smaller circle. 3 years work translating the works of foreign and paranoid wizards, trying to break the codes they used, and then joining the works of all these geniuses together. 3 full years work covered a single room in an old rundown house. Slowly, Harry began to make his way to the larger circle, even as Remus made his way to the smaller circle, from where he would be able to aid Harry in the spell.

"Have you got everything you need?" asked Remus.

"Yes, I have all the Potter money and my half of the Black money. I have a shrunken suitcase with all my clothes, my wand and 2 other spare wands. Remus, I'm fine. I'll miss you." replied Harry with great sadness in his voice. After Sirius had died, the two had gotten very close and now aged 22 and 42 respectively were going they're separate ways; Harry into the past to stop Voldemort and Remus was going to America, to try and make a new life for himself.

"This is the last time I'll ever see you, cub. Take care." With their goodbyes said, and tears welling up in their eyes, each man took a minute to control themselves before beginning the spell that would transport Harry 25 years into the past, where he would have time to prepare and defeat Voldemort.

Remus found his voice first, deep and primal, hinting at the ample power he had. Harry joined in later, his voice melding with Remus', layered with power as the two attempted to break one of the fundamental laws of magic: the past can not be changed.

Their voices begin to rise as they reached the crescendo of the spell. As their voices rose, so too did the level of ambient magic in the room, threatening to break through the containment fields the two had painstakingly created. With a final cry, the duo finished the spell. Nothing happened for a second, before Harry began to fade away. He met Remus' amber eyes and smiled before disappearing completely, but not without realising the spell had broken their wards, alerting any who watched about the mass amount of energy that had just been expended.

Remus collapsed to the ground with a sigh. Harry had found out his secret, he had known that the containment fields would fall towards the end, that this spell would lead to his death at the ends of Lord Voldemort, but he had done his job, he had played his part and now the Light Side, which was made up of only the two wizards in the room, was gone in this world. Hopefully, Harry would never realise that this spell would create a divergence in history, creating two separate worlds; the one Harry had now entered and the one Remus occupied. Feeling the presence of death eaters on the other side of the door, Remus smiled and expended the last shreds of power he had left, to trigger a trap he had created, destroying the house and everything in it, including 20 death eaters.

In another time and another world, a handsome man of average height, with sparkling green eyes and a muscled physique collapsed to the ground in the clearing of the Forest of Dean, the exact spot where the house he had previously inhabited had stood. He fell to the ground and began to sob, Remus had known he would die, his only remaining friend was dead. Slowly, the outside world faded away as the man crawled into a ball and wept. To any onlookers, it would have seemed that a man simply appeared, fell to the ground and was suffering an emotional break down.

Night fell, and still Harry wept. The sun rose above the horizon and it's rays reached Harry's body, slowly pulling him out of the dark place he occupied. Slowly, he rose from the ground, and looked around. The forest was silent, as though realising any sound could set the man back to his previous condition. Harry saw the trees around which the two had galloped around as Moony and Shadow, Harry animagus form, he saw the stone with which Remus had taught him to create Golems and the wave of nostalgia threatened to overwhelm him, but with the use of the iron will he was famous for, he forced it back.

Making a vow to himself to remember Remus' sacrifice, he disapparated from the clearing without a sound, appearing in Diagon Alley. It reminded him of early on in the Second War, when Voldemort threatened but had yet to make any vital attacks. The Alley wasn't packed, but still had throngs of people travelling up and down it. Loners appeared to be looked on with suspicion.

Striding forward to Gringotts, he passed a number of shops containing familiar people, obviously the parents of class mates. Entering the grand, white building, Harry nodded to the security guards, who nodded back. Slowly, Harry approached a till, moving to the back of the slow moving line. His ever moving eyes caught a younger looking Minerva McGonagall as she led a family into Gringotts. Obviously, she was giving a muggleborn family a tour of Diagon Alley. The corner of his mouth threatened to curl up into a smile before he realised she didn't know him. Turning back to the line, he realised he was first in the queue.

Walking forward to the till, he smiled and said, "Hello, I would like to open an account please."

The goblin looked surprised, most likely that someone was depositing money at a time when most others were closing their accounts in fear of Voldemort, before smiling and directing Harry towards an office.

Entering the opulent office, and nodding to the goblin sitting down behind the table, he took a seat. The goblin asked, "What kind of account would you like to open, item or money?"

"Money, please. In excess of 3 million galleons." Seeing the suspicious look on the goblins face as to where he got the money, he added, "My father died recently and he kept all his gold buried under the house. I would like to put it in an account."The goblin smiled and said, "That won't be a problem. Do you have the money with you."

Harry nodded, before pulling a small box out of his pocket. Waving his hand, it enlarged to the size of a chest and opened up. "There it is."The goblin reached into the chest and pulled out a golden galleon, biting it slightly, he smiled and said, "This seems to be in order. Your new vault is number 1337. It won't be operational for a few days so I suggest you take what money you need now."

Harry, having already anticipated this, smiled at the goblin and pulled out a heavy bag that tinkled as it moved. The goblin smiled back, and said, "Do you need anything else?"

Recognising the dismissal for what it was, Harry shook his head and walked out. Slowly, he walked down Diagon Alley, allowing his memories of the place to come to the forefront of his mind, almost unconsciously, he stopped outside Quality Quidditch Supplies and looked in the window. Recognising the new broom on display as a shooting star, he smiled to himself as he remembered how people in his time complained about being forced to use them whereas here, having one seemed to be a status symbol more than anything.

Shaking his head, he went further down the alley and walked into a solicitors office. The pretty receptionist inside looked at him and smiled flirtatiously at him, making Harry feel a little uncomfortable.

Clearing his throat nervously, he said, "Hi, I'd like to see if you have any houses for sale."The receptionist answered, "Yes, go on in and talk to Charlie." pointing at the room behind her.

30 minutes later, Harry walked outside, the proud owner of a small cottage in Hogsmeade. Feeling slightly peckish, he began to make his way towards the Leaky Cauldron for a bite to eat when the sound of screams reached his ears. Turning towards the noise, he drew his wand devilishly fast and began to make his way over to the sound of the disturbance. It was quite easy to find, it was the place everyone was running from. As he rounded a tall man who was fleeing , wizards in black robes and white masks came into sight. "Death Eaters." thought Harry, before sending a flurry of spells into the crowd, dropping 6 of them before the rest could react to the crazy man who had the audacity to fight back.

3 pulled away from the main group and faced off with Harry as the rest began to cause as much damage as possible. All 3 fired bone-breakers simultaneously, causing Harry to have to weave his way through them while also firing off a number of spells of his own, disarming charms, stunners, body-binders, even the occasional bone breaker, causing the three death eaters to pull up shields to block them. While they were distracted, Harry began to send off spells and numerous boxes surrounding the duellists, causing a menagerie of animals to appear. As the three death eaters blocked the last of the spells Harry had sent at them, they were forced to defend themselves from numerous lions and wolves.

While they were concentrating on the animals, it was a simple matter for Harry to disarm and stun them. Turning to the main group of death eaters who were fighting a number of young people who had been inspired by Harry's courage, a sudden ominous feeling came over Harry. Behind him, he felt a vastly powerful wizard portkey into the Alley. Instantly, he twisted to face Voldemort, already casting, "Avis, engorgio. Ossidium Fragnum, Stupefy." The simple chain was easy to cast, but for a wizard like Voldemort easy to deflect. It was a simple delaying tactic. Voldemort waved his wand causing the giants eagles attacking him to burst into flames, before moving out of the way of the bone breaker and the stunner. He smiled and made a barely discernable movement, causing fire to shoot out of his wand.

Recognising the fiendfyre, Harry disapparated out of the way, behind were Voldemort stood. Voldemort whirled around, blocking the dangerous bone twister spell Harry had cast and fired a killing curse at Harry, whose instincts kicked in forcing him to conjure a marble wall, which broke into pieces when hit with the curse. Said pieces were immediately banished towards Voldemort who casually waved his wand sending them flying into a shop window. As he was doing so, Harry conjured a rhino and an enlarged peregrine falcon, sending them straight at Voldemort who was able to dispatch the bird quickly however it cost him a precious second allowing the rhino to close the distance between the two and hit Voldemort who had tried to dodge out of the way and only partially succeeded, getting clipped on the side dangerous animal. As Voldemort was knocked aside slightly, he was also moved out of the way of a reducto from Harry.

Immediately, he regained his balance and prepared to cast again at Harry who had just finished a lengthy incantation. To his ire, the young man smiled at him and began to cast the simple chain with which he had begun the duel. As he blocked it, he realised what his opponent had done. This young wizard had managed to conjure a stone golem out of the flag stones that layered the ground. Quickly, Voldemort looked around and saw his followers had done a great deal of damage. He sent a flare into the sky that told his death eaters to retreat, before using his portkey to escape. As his portkey began to activate, he gave a slight nod of respect to his opponent.

Seeing Voldemort leave, Harry allowed the golem to dissipate back into the ground, before heading back up the alley to assist with the clean up ignoring the looks of awe the other shoppers were giving him.

As he was about to begin healing one of the other combatants, an auror approached him. "We heard that you took out 9 death eaters and fought off Voldemort. Would you give us a statement, please?"Looking up at the auror, he said, "Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled you and the other aurors arrived, but of curiosity, where were you when the death eaters were actually here?"

The auror replied, "We were putting a team together and preparing our attack plan. Now your statement."Deciding he had baited the auror enough, he put a wand to his head and removed a copy of the attack, placing the memory in a glass jar before giving an oath that what was in that memory was what actually happened. The auror nodded in thanks, before leaving.

Turning back to his patient, he realised she was actually quite young. She was a rather petite, red haired woman who appeared to still be in school. As he cast diagnostics to determine what was wrong with her, he said, "Aren't you a little young to be trying to fight death eaters?""I'm going into my final year at Hogwarts." She replied angrily.

"How does that qualify you to fight death eaters?""How are you qualified?"

"Well, seeing how I took out more than everyone else put together, I would say I'm pretty qualified. If you're going to fight, make sure you actually can. I saw you fighting, you cast a spell, and looked to see if it landed before casting another. You stayed still, relying on shields. If you want to fight, move around and don't stop casting. Where you hit with a purple spell, most likely non-verbal?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I wanted to make sure, now be quiet and let me do this." The girl obeyed his command as Harry worked to repair the damage done to her body. As he finished, a white robed healer ran up, smiled in thanks to him and began to cast spells on her.

"She was hit by Byrd's Disembowelment. It was non-verbal so she's still alive, I tried to heal it but could only delay it."

The healer nodded and closed her eyes, before asking, "Can you give me a hand here? Distract her for me. This spell will react badly to numbing charms."

Nodding, Harry looked at the girl and said, "I'm Harry Potter. You are?""Lily Evans." was the terse reply.

Harry showed no visible reaction to the fact he had just chastised his mother, simply nodded and began to talk to her about school. As they conversed, the healer attempted to heal her and Harry learned his mother was a charms prodigy, able to keep up with himself who had been the best in his school and spent a number of years after that learning obscure charms as he attempted to rewind time.

"Finished. Now, Miss Evans, please don't do anything too strenuous for the next week or two. You don't want to reverse all mine and Mr. Potter's hard work, now do you?"

"No, Madam Pomfrey."

Harry's eyes widened as he attempted to reconcile the view of this pretty young woman with the up tight healer who had reserved a bed for him in the hospital wing during his school days. A hand touched his shoulder and he looked up, seeing a slightly younger looking Dumbledore who had a slight tinge of auburn in his beard.

"Hello young man. May I speak with you a moment?"

Even now, Harry was unable to deny Dumbledore anything and acquiesced to his request. The two began walking down the Alley towards the Leaky Cauldron, as Dumbledore asked, "Would you like to join me for a short lunch?""Of course."

The duo entered the Leaky Cauldron, and entered a private room.

"So, Professor Dumbledore, what would you like to talk about?"

"You appear to have me at a disadvantage, you know my name but I don't know yours.""I'm Harry Potter.""Any relation to Charles and Dorea Potter?""I'm not sure. My parents died when I was very young, my guardian never told me much about my family."

"My condolences on your loss." While they were speaking, Tom entered the room and placed some food on the table."It was a long time ago, and most people today have lost friends and family."

"Would you mind me asking where you learned to fight like that?""I was raised by a man called Remus Wolfe. He provided tutors for me for teach me basic magic, and then he taught me how to read and write, as well as all the advanced magic I know." This wasn't strictly true. The public primary school the Dursleys sent him to had taught him to read and write as well as basic numeracy, but he had attended 6 years at Hogwarts learning what was essentially basic magic, before he was forced to leave when Voldemort got control of the school. Then, Remus had taught him for two years, and they had spent the following three years trying to turn back time."Tell me, what do you know of the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort?"

Here, Harry leaned back in his seat as he debated how much to tell Dumbledore, taking a bite of his sandwich as a delaying tactic.

"The death eaters are purists, they kill muggleborns and half bloods in the name of purifying the magical community although they have targeted a number of pure-blood families. They have allies in the giants, the dementors, some vampires and werewolves. Lord Voldemort was a man called Tom Riddle, born to Merope Gaunt and a muggle aristocrat called Tom Riddle. He was raised in an orphanage and then went to Hogwarts. There he gathered a group of dedicated followers, and I suspect he opened the Chamber of Secrets. He is the only known Parseltongue alive. After leaving Hogwarts, not much is known of him until he reappeared 8 years ago under the name Lord Voldemort. He is very powerful and skilled."

"You know a lot about him."

"He killed my parents, I owe him for that."

"You seem an intelligent young man, with a gift for fighting. Tell me, would you like to teach Defence Against The Dark Arts at my school?""What makes you think I'm qualified?"Well, seeing how you took out more death eaters than everyone else put together, I would say you're pretty qualified. Plus, you told Miss Evans how to improve. You would make a good teacher."

"How do you know I'm trustworthy?""Voldemort would not allow anyone to equal him in a fight, it would damage his aura of invincibility. Plus, I'm a very talented legilimens and I can sense you are on the light side."

"But my shields.""I'm not reading your surface thought, merely how your shield is set up. Shields show the mental condition of the defender and are uniquely tuned to you. I can see you oppose Voldemort strongly.""Alright, I'll teach. But I teach what I want, not what anyone else wants." he told Dumbledore, challenging him to disagree.

"O.K., come to Hogwarts on the 26th to meet the other staff and owl me with what books you want."

**Slightly clichéd, Harry teaching defence against the dark arts, but it's at Hogwarts that everything big happens and where he can make the biggest difference to the future. But he won't be getting all chummy with the Marauders or anything like that. Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 2

After Dumbledore left, Harry stayed in his chair, pushing food around his plate, thinking of how the day had gone.

"Alright, got a Gringotts account with very few questions asked, good, drove off Voldemort and captured a number of death eaters, very good, got a job at Hogwarts where I can hopefully turn people away from Voldemort, even better. So far, everything's gone great, so when you take my life into account, something has to go wrong."

With this last ominous thought in Harry's mind, he rose from his chair and walked out of the room, before approaching Tom. "Hey, how much was that lunch?"

"Professor Dumbledore already paid for it." Tom smiled, allowing Harry to see he had more teeth now than later in life.

"Alright, thanks." turning, Harry walked back into Diagon Alley as he remembered he had to pick out books for his pupils to use. Quickly, he made his way into Flourish and Blotts, and made his way to the large section of books with a sign above them saying, "DEFENSE."

After perusing the store for a while, he had his course books ready. His first years would use, "The Dark Forces: A Guide To Self Protection", second years would use "Defence against Dangerous Magical Creatures", third years would use "Jinxing the Jinxed", fourth years would use, "Practical Defensive Magic and it's Uses Against the Dark Arts: Volume 1" while fifth years used Volume 2, sixth years would use, "A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter Actions," while the seventh years would use "Dark Arts Outsmarted."

With the books chosen, Harry walked out of the bookstore with a copy of each book and headed into the Magical Menagerie. Unable to consider the possibility of another owl after Hedwig flew into the way of a killing curse Harry didn't have time to react to, he had decided to get a falcon or a hawk. Walking through the surprisingly empty store, he attempted to find a suitable animal before finally giving up and approaching the only member of staff in the shop and asked, "Hello there, would you have any birds, not owls, that can deliver post?"

The man smiled at him, and said, "Follow me." before walking down one aisle and pointing towards the ceiling where they were a number of cages with birds. "Any particular type of bird?"

"A falcon or a hawk?"

"We do have a sparrow hawk which has been trained to deliver post. Would that do?" Harry nodded and the man pulled out his wand and waved it at one of the cages which flew off towards the counter, followed by the two men.

"That will be 2 galleons." Not batting an eye at the high price, Harry handed over the two golden coins and walked out. As he walked along Diagon Alley trying to see if he'd forgotten anything, he remembered to get a subscription to the Daily Prophet before apparating to Hogsmeade where his new house was. Quickly, he walked around the inside of the house trying to see if everything was as stated, it was. One large bedroom with an ensuite, an extra bathroom, a kitchen with a dining table and a study, along with a basement that would double as training room and library. Smiling, he took out his shrunken suitcase filled with all his worldly possessions and began to unpack. When finished he remembered to send a list of his course books to Professor Dumbledore.

Looking outside he realised it was getting quite late and he wouldn't have time to put up any strong wards, only some basic ones which he could do after eating. He walked into his kitchen and opened his fridge, only to realise he had forgotten to get any food. Cursing at his own stupidity, he walked down to The Three Broomsticks and ordered a slice of steak and kidney pie with some firewhiskey at the side. He was served by a mature, middle aged woman who looked faintly familiar, possibly Madame Rosmerta's mother. Digging in to the delicious pie, he looked around the empty pub, inhabited only by himself, the woman who served him and a couple who sat in the corner enjoying a dinner together. Smiling, he finished his pie and paid for it before heading home. As he reached the edge of his property, he stopped and pulled out his wand.

Deciding now was a good time to begin warding, he began to walk around the property edges muttering incantations to himself while waving his wand. Several hours later, and he was shattered having managed to put up a basic alert ward that would shock him whenever someone entered the property, as well as a ward stopping any owl carrying a portkey onto the property and a repelling charm that would work on anyone with a dark mark. Staggering back inside, he collapsed into bed.

The sun rose above the horizon and it's rays shone into the window of the house belonging to Harry Potter. As the rays touched his eyes, he began to awaken. Slowly, he opened his eyes and groaned as his eyes acclimatised to the light. He managed to get out of bed despite his fatigue, and quickly took a shower to wake himself up. Remembering that he had to split his basement in two so that he had an area where he could practise spells without damaging any of his books, he headed downstairs, determined to do this task before getting breakfast. Reaching the basement, he looked around for something he could transfigure into a wall so he didn't have to conjure it, as he knew transfigurations lasted longer than conjurations. He spotted a wooden cupboard against the wall and waved his wand at it, splitting the wood of into sections which he placed along the ground as though laying foundations for a room. Stepping back and concentrating, he shouted, "Abeo, Abeo, Abeo." as he aimed at each piece of wood in turn. He opened his eyes and say that the walls he had visualised had appeared, separating the room from the rest of the basement. Cursing, he realised he had forgotten a door and was forced to used diffindo to cut some of the stone out of the walls to create a way in. Turning to the stone he had knocked down, he concentrated once more and whispered, "Abeo." changing the stone into a door. Quickly, he placed the door into the space and conjured some hinges to attach it to the wall. Such a small conjuration would last a long time, most likely longer than the walls or door would.

Opening the door, he walked inside. He may have separated the room from where his library would be, but he would still need to ward the walls to prevent spells breaking through the walls. Concentrating to gather the magic he needed for the spells, he aimed at each wall in turn, whispering, "Impenetrio." at each one. After he had aimed at each wall and whispered the incantation, he began to whirl his wand around the room, twisting and weaving it, faster and faster until it seemed to be a black blur before suddenly stopping it. A soft glow appeared at the end of his wand and he twirled the wand around, creating a circle from the magic spewing out of the end of the wand. The wand stopped glowing and Harry jabbed his wand sharply into the middle of the circle, crying one more time, "Impenetrio." before collapsing onto the ground.

It was some twenty minutes later before he was able to stand without falling back down. "I add furnishings after breakfast."

Three days later, and Harry was once more standing at the edge of his property. The last three days had been tiring, he had had to ward each room individually so as to provide him more time incase of attack. Each room would not allow any of the so-called "Dark Creatures" such as werewolves or vampires to enter without permission, or allow anyone to apparate or portkey in. He had also enchanted every thing in his house to attack intruders if he gave the command, sofa's would grow legs and attack, wardrobes would use the clothes inside to strangle attackers, chairs would be transfigured into various animals and attack. All-in-all, anyone who attacked would suffer greatly, but now was the time for warding the actual property.

He had made sure he went to bed early last night so he would have the energy to create the more powerful wards. One thing he had been taught, wards were more about intent than anything else. If you created a ward against dark creatures but thought of repelling vampires more than dementors, dementors would be able to break through easier. If you concentrated on repelling an army, a single thief might be able to slip in. It was the reason good warders were so hard to find as they had to concentrate on everything the ward would need to do.

Slowly, so as to ensure he did not make any mistakes, he began to walk around his property borders weaving his wand as though he was a conductor directing a band, routinely jabbing his wand towards various items and trees which would be the wardstones upon which the wards would be anchored. Some people used marble with runes engraved on them to prevent interference, but Harry preferred more unconventional things like a sun lounger or a shrub which may be overlooked by ward breakers who would instead search underground.

Each item glowed and began to hum, as each item that would anchor a ward glowed, their humming seemed to meld together to create a symphony that was rapidly reaching a crescendo. Suddenly, each item and tree appeared to burn brighter and brighter and the music got louder and higher pitched, before it peaked. Then, the music stopped and the magical glow was gone.

The first ward was finished.

To any people who were passing by the house, the inhabitant, a young black haired man, would seem to be sleeping on a sunlounger. To the trained eye, he was passed out. The day had tired him out immensely. It was only now he realised how much easier it was when warding with Remus, but it had been worth it. The property was now heavily warded with everything Harry could think of, from unplottable charms to a ward that stopped extreme weather. Unfortunately, the Fedelius charm was beyond his capabilities. He had found out that when the Fedelius Charm was placed on his parents house in Godrics Hollow, it had taken Dumbledore, Flitwick, his mother and father, as well as Sirius nine hours to cast, and they had been magically exhausted for three days after that. It was impossible for a single person to cast due to the sheer magical power needed.

*POP*

"Sir is needing to eat."

It was Nobby, a house-elf he had managed to buy while he had been in Diagon Alley getting supplies for his house. The house-elf had entered his kitchen, snorted, and promptly taken control of the running of the household, and now was holding a dinner made up of a chicken breast, potatoes and turnip. Smiling, Harry thanked the house-elf, before asking, "Nobby, what day is it?"

"Tuesday." was the prompt reply.

"I know that. I mean the date."

"The 25th of August." Harry groaned, he had to go up to the school tomorrow. The past few weeks had passed quickly, he had managed to set up his library and things in the first few days and after that had spent some time perusing Magical London in an attempt to find a few rare books that would be destroyed before he was born. He had failed to find them but had found a number of other books that he had heard about before. He had also been drawing up lesson plans for his classes. Remus had taught him to be prepared.

"Nobby, tonight, I'm going to teach you a little about identifying healing potions."

**As always read and review. Tell me, did the whole glowing wand thing seem over the top?**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money from this story.

Chapter 3

Walking up the long path from the gate of Hogwarts up to the doors, Harry sighed. It would be harder than he thought to stay at Hogwarts without showing he'd already been here. Even now, without thinking about it, his body was carrying him towards the doors of the school while bypassing many of his old haunts. Looking to the side, he saw the Quidditch pitch, one of his favourite places was in the air, to feel the rush of the wind in his face and to fly fast enough so as to leave his fears and burdens behind. Sooner or later though, he always had to land, and then he was the same heavily burdened boy again.

"Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter." The familiar voice of Professor McGonagall broke the memories that had surrounded him, dragging him back to the living world.

"Yes.""Are you O.K.? You've been staring at the Quidditch pitch for 5 minutes now and you didn't react when I called your name." she said worriedly.

"I'm fine, I was just remembering how much I loved to fly. But shall we go inside, Professor..." he answered, deliberately not mentioning her name.

"I'm Minerva McGonagall, but call me Minerva. I teach transfiguration."

"I've always loved that subject, I quickly learned it is a difficult subject, but all the more rewarding when you accomplish a difficult spell. Tell me, do you teach your students how to use combat transfiguration?" As they spoke, Harry noticed Minerva was leading them inside Hogwarts towards the main gates.

"Combat transfiguration? Is that all young people think of now? War and fighting?"" she asked irritably.

"As a side effect of my experiences, most of what I think about is how something can be used to keep me alive. Even now, simply walking through this hall, my mind is memorising the path we take, as well as any hiding spots there may be, plus setting aside questions like if the suits of armour have been enchanted to fight in case of attack. So, unfortunately yes, it is all I think about." Harry answered mournfully.

Seeing the pensive look on his face, she apologized saying, "It just seems everyone wants to be able to fight and pervert everything to help defeat their enemies.""That was how the Unforgiveables were created, the killing curse was used to euthanise and hunt, the cruciatus to shock you back to life and the imperious was created by an auror in the 12th century as a way of capturing criminals without bloodshed."

At his words, an uneasy silence fell upon the two as they entered the Great Hall where all the other teachers seemed to already be seated.

"No."

"I'm sorry." said Harry, not realising what Minerva was talking about.

"I don't teach any classes combat magic, there are a few though who have approached me for private lessons about it.""Ah. Well, that's one more thing I can teach them then."

"It takes great skill to use transfiguration in battle. Not many can do it.""You're wrong, it can be used by anyone as long as they have a basic grounding. A simple transfiguration of a matchstick to a needle could be accounted battle magic if it was banished at an enemy. In reality, anything can."

Nodding at his statement, Minerva sat down at the staff table and as Harry walked around to the back of the table, he saw inscriptions on the backs of the chairs, "Groundskeeper", "Headmaster", "Potions Master."

Seeing where his gaze was, Professor Dumbledore spoke up, "We can't have pupils watching teachers bicker over where they sit, and this seems the easiest way to avoid argument. You're seat is over there, beside Filius and Horace, the Charms and Potions teachers." Walking over to where he pointed, Harry sat down and was instantly engaged in conversation by Professor Flitwick.

"Filius Flitwick at your service." he piped up in his squeaky voice.

"Harry Potter. Are you the Filius Flitwick who won the international duelling circle three years running and retired undefeated?"

The short man blushed, but nodded.

"My tutors often used you as an example about how simple things such as switching spells or prank charms can be used in a combat situation. It is a pleasure to meet you.""It is good to meet you as well. Hopefully, you'll be better than our previous defence teacher. He believed that theory needed more work than practical.""In a way, he's right. Most people can learn to cast any spell, although maybe not very well or with much power, whereas very few have the ability to become scholars of magic, although in this current time, it was maybe not the best idea.""So, what do you intend on teaching your students."

"The younger students will learn some basic defence, stunners and whatnot. The O.W.L. level pupils will be taught to defend themselves against Dark Creatures such as dementors and what not and the advanced students will be given a quick background test to see how well they can defend themselves in a fight, and then we will work to improve upon it, whether through improving knowledge or technique."

At this point, Dumbledore stood up and said, "If you'll follow me we can begin our staff meeting."

Standing up, he and the other teachers did so until they reached an area of the castle Harry had never been in before. Seeing the confused face on Harry's face, Flitwick said, "The staff floor where we sleep and meet for our meetings and whatnot. Of course, there is an office beside our classroom with a bed, incase we are working late, but normally we sleep here."As they spoke, Dumbledore led the group into a large room and sat at the head of the table. "I think we should all introduce ourselves to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Harry Potter, I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster.""Filius Flitwick, Charms Professor.""Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration Professor and Deputy Headmistress.""Horace Slughorn, Potions Master.""Clarity Occulus, Divination Professor.""James Kettleburn, Care of Magical Creatures."

"Serena Vector, I teach Arithmancy,"

"Jake Daniels, Ancient Runes."

"Liam Alone, Muggle Studies."

"Rolanda Hooch, Flying Instructor."

"Rita Sprout, Herbology."

"Alright, first of, we will sort out the schedule, here is a copy of the preliminary timetable for each of you. Enjoy.""What are we doing?" asked Harry as he saw clusters of teachers begin talking animatedly.

"We are sorting out our schedule, we can swap class times with each other so that we have certain times free to have an extended lunch or a certain time each day where students can come talk to us. Oh, can we swap 7th year times please. I don't enjoy getting up early on a Monday." answered Flitwick."Alright." replied Harry, as he looked at his schedule, he had an hour before lunch free everyday. That would be the time that pupils could come see him, apart from that he couldn't really be bothered to care about the other times he had classes.

A short while later, Dumbledore spoke up, "O.K. That should be enough time. On to our next order of business, it has been suggested to me that we have a duelling tournament for the 7th years to showcase the abilities they will be have with which they can defend themselves in the real world. It will also help the aurors decide which pupils to approach about joining them. I was thinking of having it just before the Christmas holidays begin.""Really?" asked Harry. "Based on their performances over the past 6 years, who would win?"

"Most likely, James Potter, Sirius Black or Severus Snape."

"What about Miss Evans?" interjected McGonagall.

"From what I saw at Diagon Alley, she's not a dueller." answered Harry.

Just as McGonagall began to defend one of her favourite pupil, Dumbledore spoke up, "She is a very gifted witch, but that does not mean she will be a gifted fighter. None the less, Harry, we need an answer. Are you agreeable to having a duelling competition before Christmas?"

"Alright." came Harry's tentative reply.

"I was also thinking that after the competition was over, perhaps you would indulge me with a small duel? For educational purposes, of course." continued Dumbledore with a glint in his eyes suggesting that this wasn't a question.

"Of course." replied Harry.

As this conversation was finished, the teachers began speaking about various patrols needed, and how the new Prefects and Head Boy and Girl would act. The boring topic of conversation soon lulled Harry into a state of daydream, alone to be awoken by Flitwick as the meeting ended.

"I'm sorry. That was just so boring. How do you stand it?" asked Harry.

"I sleep with my eyes open. And now, we can go home, but we have to be back in School by 3pm of the First of September, all right."

"Funnily enough, when I reached the age of 20, I didn't think I'd ever be ordered back to school again."

**Alright, this is mostly a filler chapter, no real action or anything happening. But despite that, please remember to review and tell me how to improve as well as any ideas you would like me to implement into the story. Thank you and I will see you again next week sometime.**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: For those of you who don't know, I am a 16 year boy from Northern Ireland, which means I am not J.K. Rowling. When you include the fact I'm writing fanfiction stories you can probably guess I'm not a successful author.

Chapter 4

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

The incessant noise of his alarm slowly penetrated the mind of Harry Potter, jarring him into consciousness as he attempted to make his way to his feet. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he made the extra effort to stand up. Slowly, he began to stretch and limber up his muscles for the day as he made a valiant effort at shaking the bleariness out of his eyes.

As his mind reached full awareness, he began to wonder what had possessed him to set an alarm charm for 6am. He didn't even have to be anywhere until 3pm when he had to meet the other teachers at Hogwarts. His eyes began to take in the mess surrounding him, and it was like a light bulb went off in his head. He hadn't even begun packing, not to mention the fact that he had to prepare his office and classroom at school to ensure he sent out the appropriate message to his student's, said message being, "I'm a nice guy, but don't push your luck."

Sighing, he wandered into his kitchen where Nobby the super elf had his favourite breakfast prepared, some toast along with a croissant and freshly squeezed orange juice without pulp. "I swear," thought Harry. "That elf gets happier the more precise and odd I am." Shrugging, he put it down as one of the peculiarities of House-elf's. He sat down and began to eat, taking his time to properly savour his meal.

After giving his taste buds a present, he headed back to his bedroom to begin to pack. He sighed as he entered, realising he would have to pack by hand. He had never been good at household charms. Reluctantly, he began to pull clothes out of his chest of drawers and his wardrobe, cursing his decision to unpack when he had first entered the house. Slowly, he began the monotonous task of folding up clothes and placing them carefully in his now enlarged trunk, ensuring he left some clothes behind just incase he ever needed them.

After a good half hour, he finally finished and with a sigh levitated his trunk and began to walk downstairs into the basement and begin to pick what books to take with him, as some of them were ones that held knowledge that could be too easily abused and others were simply too precious to take into a school. Plus, he wanted to leave some behind in relative security. Eventually, he decided to take the ones he either hadn't read cover to cover before, those which he hadn't read in a while and may have forgotten things from along with those he liked too much, this process taking much longer than normal as occasionally he would be flicking through a book to determine it's usefulness when he would see an interesting point and would begin to read it. Just as he finished and was beginning to leave, he turned realising it would probably be helpful if he had some books which would be able to help his students, and so he reluctantly turned back to the bookcases lining the walls before deciding to take the ones that had been most helpful to him during Remus' teaching.

Walking back upstairs, he entered the kitchen to see Nobby just finishing lunch, about half a dozen tuna sandwiches. Glancing around, he realised it was 1 in the afternoon, he had spent over 5 hours deciding what books he would bring with him. Smiling, he thought, "I'm becoming more and more like Hermione everyday."

He slowly sat down at the table and began to eat the sandwiches Nobby had finished preparing as he mused. Just before he bit into the first, he wondered how he would be able to finish all the sandwiches. As he bit into the first, he realised not only were the sandwiches consistent with Nobby's usual level of excellence, he was also ravenously hungry. Quickly, he finished off the sandwiches, before washing them down with a glass of milk that had appeared beside him. Glancing up at the clock, he realised he had to be at Hogwarts in the next hour and 45 minutes. Deciding he would be better off early than late, he stood and summoned his trunk to him, said trunk having become much heavier since the addition of the books, and set out the door, levitating his trunk behind him.

Walking down the streets of Hogsmeade and remarked on the difference between Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, those in Diagon Alley travelled in packs and did their business as quickly as possible, whereas in Hogsmeade, people were walking slowly and talking animatedly to each other. With a smile on his face, Harry reached the gates of Hogwarts and seeing them open, began to head up the path. Unlike last time, he had plenty of time and was able to take time to reminisce on his memories of happier times, where he had been more innocent.

Eventually, he reached the Main Doors and entered, only to be assaulted by malicious laughter as a number of water balloons hit him. As he looked up, he saw Peeves flying away past Minerva McGonagall whose eyes had followed Peeves as she shouted at him. Turning back, she was met with a most peculiar sight, the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher's shoulders were shaking as though about to cry after the "brutal" attack he had just suffered. Sighing, she remembered a time when they had competent teachers before hearing a most peculiar sound. The boy was laughing, he hadn't been about to cry but had somehow maintained the dignity and childishness to be able to laugh at a prank despite his past, Albus having told her about the boy's unfortunate parentage before his guardian had recently died. Shaking her head, she greeted the boy, saying, "You'll have to entertain yourself for a while which you shouldn't find hard. Albus wants us in the Great Hall and sitting for 6, just before the students arrive."

Harry looked blankly at Minerva, who sighed and turned away to walk up the staircase. Shrugging his shoulder's at the woman, he began to make his way towards the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom to set up his office. A few hours later and his office looked like an average scholar's, albeit much more intimidating. A bookcase was up against the wall, filled with thick books and pictures up against the wall depicting grotesque scenes of war. A small change to the colour scheme, which had previously been blue but was now an ominous black and blood red, had helped add to the ominous air about the office, said air being necessary just incase a pupil had to come for a detention.

Turning around, he headed out into the classroom, and placed a few resource books at the back of the classroom from which his NEWT students could do independent research, he began to place pictures on the wall showing the effects of various curses, as well as a poster showing wand movements for basic combat spells, both defensive and offensive.

With this done, he was able to finally go to his quarters and put away his clothes and his more irreplaceable and obscure books, before a glance at the clock told him he had to go to the Great Hall to await the students. Sighing, he walked out of his quarters and headed to the Great Hall, wondering just where the day had gone. Slowly, he walked up to the Teachers Table and took his place after seeing most of the other teachers had already arrived. As he sat down, Flitwick turned to him, saying, "Did you manage to find everything O.K?"

Smiling at the concern in Flitwick's voice, he answered in the affirmative, before striking up a conversation with him about what they could expect from the year ahead, in particular what students would generally work hard and which ones would mess around. Smiling as his mother and father were named in each group respectively, he asked about the quality of the past instruction they had received in Defence.

"Their previous 3 teachers were good, although they didn't concentrate on practical very much, preferring to teach about various methods of defending and different spells instead of actually using the spells. As a result, your students will know the spells and be good at the theory but not be able to apply what they know to an actual duel or fight."Just then a thought struck Harry. "Filius?"

"Yes, Harry?" was the reply.

"You know the way you were a duelling champion?"

"I was?" came Flitwick's sarcastic reply.

Harry chuckled, "Stupid question, I know, but would you mind helping me give a small demonstration for my seventh years to show the pupils an example of a duel where both duellists aren't trying to kill each other and are both skilled?"

"Of course. I believe I have a free period during that time anyway. Oh look, they're arriving."

Thanking Flitwick, Harry turned to watch the students that came through the door trying to recognise any. A few moments later, he remarked to himself, "I know more Slytherins than the rest of the houses put together."

As this thought crossed his mind, he spotted the Marauder's entering the Great Hall just behind Lily and her friends who were talking animatedly among themselves. Guessing from Lily's friends not-so-subtle glances at him, Harry guessed she was telling them just who he is, and from the glare from James Potter, she had a good opinion of him and James was jealous. Chuckling at the irony of his father who had not yet hooked up with his mother, being jealous of him because he thought that his mother liked him more than his father. At Flitwick's curious look, Harry waved it off saying he remembered a friend.

Just as his parents both sat down, with James manoeuvring himself to be as close to Lily as possible, the sorting began. After the Sorting Hat finished it's song, Harry began to pay attention to see if he recognised any of the new pupils, or even their name. He did recognise one, a young boy of the name Kingsley Shacklebolt, who already showed signs of becoming the man Harry remembered him to be. One of the taller first years, Kingsley seemed to be much more calm than the others, and approached the hat when his name was called out with confidence. He was quickly sorted into Gryffindor and the sorting ended. Albus stood up, and the Hall became silent immediately.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, all our returning students and staff and to those newcomers, welcome for the first time to our school. As some of you may well know, Professor Morgan can no longer teach here due to family commitments and we are proud to present our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Potter. We are sure he will do very well. Anyway, we are proud to announce that the 7th Years will be given the chance to partake in a duelling competition just before Yule. But for now, please enjoy the feast with some parting words; Nitwick, blubber, oddment, twist."

Flitwick turned to Harry as they both eat and asked, "Looking forward to your first class?"Harry searched his mind and then remembered, first thing tomorrow morning he was teaching 7th Years, meaning his first ever formal class would be teaching his parents. Oh joy.

Please review, I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and please check out my other stories and tell me what you think. I apologise for those who read it when it was all underlined, I did not realise that at the time and have now fixed it. I'm sure most authors are familiar with the errors that sometimes occur when uploading onto fanfiction.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No matter how much I wish it were otherwise, I do not and most likely never will own Harry Potter. It belongs to J.K. Rowling and will belong to her family after she dies, much to the dismay of many.

Chapter 5

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

The jarring buzzing noise coming from his wand dragged Harry out of his dreams and into the waking world. "That was actually a good dream!" grumbled Harry as he pulled himself into a sitting position. With a groan, he pushed himself off the bed onto his feet, and stretched, hoping to shake off the fatigue that was an everpresent reminder of Harry's insomnia. Giving up, he turned to his wardrobe, before pulling out the first set of robes he could grab, after, of course, changing out of his pyjama's into suitable day clothing. Still attempting to fully wake up, Harry began to walk towards the Great Hall, eager to break his fast from the night before. Entering the massive room, he strode to the teacher's tables, ignoring the stares and mutterings that followed in wake as curious students discussed whether or not he would be a good teacher or not. He flung himself into his designated seat, before loading up his plate and beginning to eat. As Harry chewed on a particularly tough piece of bacon, he scanned his eyes up and down the table, and instantly saw how deserted it was, only four teachers were there. "What the hell is going on?" muttered Harry. "Where's everyone at?"

"The heads of houses are at their house common room, handing out 6th year timetables, and as for the others, well they don't have class first so they're having a short lay in." The answer drifted over two chairs to Harry, coming from Occulus Clarity, who, if Harry remembered correctly, was the Divination teacher. "They should be here in a moment."

Harry nodded in reply, haven't not really expected an answer and was honestly a bit surprised that the slim, petite and somewhat attractive woman had managed to hear his mutterings from so far away. Just as Harry was contemplating making some comment to engage his fellow teacher in conversation, Flitwick walked through the doors of the great hall, followed soon after by Pomona Sprout. "Hello Harry." greeted Flitwick as he approached the table. "How are you this fine morning?" He continued sarcastically.

"I'm brilliant, and yourself?" was Harry's snide reply.

"Just great." moaned Flitwick. "What time to you want me in your class at?" Flitwick asked, obviously trying to get in a better mood.

"About fifteen or twenty minutes into class would be great, it will allow me some time to ... impress upon my students the necessity of working hard in my class."

"Should I be worried?" queried Flitwick wryly.

"No, but just in case, ignore any screams coming from my classroom before you enter. I assure you it's all part of the plan." replied Harry, only the slight quirk of his mouth betraying the fact he was joking. Flitwick laughed in response, before the bell sounded, informing the students that it was time to make their way to their first class.

Flitwick turned to Harry, "Worried about your first class?"

Harry cackled in response.

SCENE BREAK

To any seventh year pupil who had performed admirably in Defense Against The Dark Arts over the years, the main topic of conversation was the new teacher, "Would he prefer practical over theory? Would he be a good teacher?" and most importantly, "Will he give much homework?" As the bell sounded, the students realised judgement time would come, the first class in which they would find out the ground rules of the year and what was expected of them, and so they eagerly made their way to the classroom. As they approached the classroom door, they saw a sign saying, "PLEASE ENTER! SLIGHTLY LATE, WILL BE BACK IN 5 MINUTES!" Most smiled when they saw the sign, but all obeyed the sign without question, entering the well-lit classroom with numerous diagrams scattered around the walls with tips for better or more efficient spellcasting. The brightly painted, and generally cheerful, room boded well for the class who assumed the teacher would be similar and would take a relaxed attitude to teaching. Slowly, as everyone sat down, conversations began to break out throughout the room, growing steadily louder until broken when the door creaked open. As everyone turned to see their new teacher enter, what they saw was four pupils attempting to sneak in without getting in trouble for being late, certain that the teacher would have arrived before them. Seeing the familiar sight of the Marauders being late, everyone began to talk to one another, still catching up on what happened over the summer.

After about ten minutes, most people in the classroom were painfully aware of the lateness of the teacher, but continued speaking. Then, a wind went through the classroom that seemed to originate from nowhere, and the windows suddenly shuttered close, sending the room into darkness but was quickly lit by the so far unnoticed torches on the walls that had remained hidden under a charm but now glowed an eerie green, serving the purpose of shadows being cast around the room. Somehow, in the time the room had been dark, the posters on the wall had changed from that of helpful tips to creepy images depicting the results of gruesome curses. Then a shadow at the back of the room began to move, and coalasced into the shape of a hooded and robed person, who waved his arm crying a word in a harsh tongue. It may only have been a single incomprehensivable word, but it had a drastic effect; everyone who was sitting in a chair or on a table was unable to move, there were, however, a few who were standing and began to draw their wands, but a gesture from the cloaked man sent them flying backwards to land in a heap at the front of the room near the desk, unable to move. The entire class began to breath quickly, their heart beating incredibly fast as they waited for this masked assailant to maul them. Then, the man began to rasp, "It was at least 12 seconds after the wind and the windows shuttering themselves before I appeared, and not one of you drew their wand in that time. Not one of you reacted fast enough to defend yourself from me or even cast a single spell, and not one of you even noticed I've been here longer than any of you."

Slowly, the man raised his hand to his face and pushed back his hood, revealing the face of their new teacher.

POINT OF VIEW CHANGE

Looking around at his new pupils who had performed poorly in their first test, Harry sighed before calling to them, "We shall have to rectify that." before gesturing, freeing his pupils from their binds. "If you would direct your attention to the underside of the tables and chairs, you will see a number of runes that those of you who study runes will recognise. Tell me what they are!" He commanded.

Barely 10 seconds passed after his statement, before a blond haired woman shouted from underneath a table, "They're the runes known as Orion's bind. They were used in tombs and pyramids thousands of years ago to defend sacred areas, any who stepped on them would be frozen."

Harry nodded, "Well done, Miss..."

"Selene D'Artois." replied the woman who Harry could now recognise as a ravenclaw prefect.

Harry continued on his speech, "Anything can be used as defense, whether it be runes or shields or spells, and so creativity is one of the more useful weapons in your arsenal. For the first term, until Christmas, we shall be practising duelling, to prepare you for that tournament and to aid you in straight up one on one fighting. Second term, I shall teach you how to fight, how to use your surroundings to your advantage, how to prepare an ambush and how to defeat an ambush, as well as group fighting, and fighting when outnumbered. I do not lie when I say this will be a very difficult year, I do not lie when I say that you will suffer injuries and I do not lie when I say that by the end of the year, those of you who stay will hate my class, and hate me, but bear in mind what you learn here today could save your life." Seeing he had the classes full attention, he continued, "Feel free to drop this class within the next week, or even at the end of this class if this seems like to much work, or you don't see yourself ever needing these abilities. But I warn you now, no-one will drop this class after this week, I will, however, kick out those who aren't working hard enough. Now, this is a relatively short class, however Professor Flitwick has deigned to help me with a short demonstration duel, and watch carefully, next class, all of you will be duelling me so that I can see what level you're on." As Harry finished his monologue, Professor Flitwick walked in. "Before Professor Flitwick and I begin, any questions?"

No hands were raised, and so Harry and Flitwick strode forward to the front of the class and withdrew their wands ready to clear a space, when out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a tentative hand go up. Harry turned and said, "Yes, Miss..."  
"Alice Underhill, sir. Was it really you that fought Voldemort over the summer and captured nine deatheaters?"  
Harry smiled, "Yes." leading to excited whispering to break out among his pupils. Harry turned to Flitwick, still smiling as he knew the rumours he had just started would enhance his reputation and garner him more respect. Harry nodded to Flitwick who turned and began to clear a space for the duel while Harry began to place a shield up to prevent damage to his pupils. "When the feather hits the ground?" said Harry, as he conjured a feather.

Flitwick nodded, all attention on the feather and as it hit the ground, all hell broke loose. Instantly, Flitwick's wand blurred as he rapidly cast weak but extremely numerous minor jinxes. Harry recognised the strategy, it was used to test your oponents defense and how they would react to various attacks, and if Harry was right, in a few seconds, Flitwick would fire a few stronger spells in the hopes of catching him off guard. When faced with this strategy, dodging wasn't really an option, the spells weren't fired just at Harry, but at the space around him and at various heights, ensuring it was a bad idea, and most common shields would collapse after 2-3 hits, and the ones that wouldn't were more magically draining, and not something Harry wanted to occur within the first few seconds of a fight, that left him with one option.

"Protego perpetuus." whispered Harry, as he conjured a shield that was unique in that it would only drain magic when struck, and so was much more energy efficient. As the spells crashed into his shield, Harry began to weave his wand like a conductor directing his orchestra, as he moved through simple spell chains, one of which was the chain he had used against Voldemort earlier in the summer. Flitwick yelled, "Pyros." burning the engorged hawks into a cinder, before blocking the stunner and dodging the bone breaker.

As Flitwick stuck back at Harry through the use of "Rictusempra," which was easily diverted away by Harry, who channelled raw magic into the tip of his wand which he used to redirect the spell. The second he had redirected the spell, Flitwick fired off another group off spells before leaping to the side to dodge the "Percutio." Harry had fired. Harry fired a banisher at the ground, sending him flying above the spells, before casting a self-levitation spell on himself, it wasn't exactly flying as he only hovered, but it gave him a great vantage point of the elephant that Flitwick had transfigured a table into. Silently cursing Flitwick for his ability in the two main fields of active magic, Harry dropped himself onto the elephant's back, before firing a cutting curse at Flitwick, before by a bone-twister. Flitwick dodged to the side before sending a cutting curse and a bludgeoning curse in reply. To block them, Harry cast an, "Locomotor elephant." lifting the elephants behind into the way of the spells, unfortunately this sent Harry tumbling of the elephant which was about to fall on him under the force of the spells.

Thinking quickly, Harry banished the elephant in Flitwick's general direction, before leaping to his feet and applying a disillusionment charm on himself, as well as a few other charms blocking him from Flitwick's senses. Flitwick moved quickly, firing numerous spells at the location Harry had just been at, fortunately Harry was able to dodge them all and so didn't alert the diminutive charms teacher to his presence. Harry began to realise just why the short man had been so sucessful in the duelling circuit, having never seen him fight before as said champion yelled, "Homenum revelio." causing Harry to glow a bright red. Harry cursed as Flitwick cancelled his disillusionment charm, before casting, "Boetq firei." The fire spells were based on a scale, with incendio being one of the weakest, and fiendfyre being the strongest, and this "broad fire" spell Harry had just cast fell just below fiendfyre on the scale. Flitwick's eyes widened slightly as the massive beam of fire flew straight at him, before his reactions kicked in and he yelled, "Aquamenti fortis." a stronger version of the common aquamenti spell. Both these spells were continuous spells, and thus they collided with each other and fought for control, and Harry's spell, due to his natural reserves, was much stronger and began to quickly evaporate Flitwick's water. Despite the fact his defense had failed, the spell bought time for Flitwick to plan something better, and he moved with more speed than Harry thought possible, cancelling his spell and summoning a table into the way of the fire, before enlarging and fireproofing the table, effectively defeating Harry's attack.

Flitwick banished the enlarged table through the fire at Harry, who stopped his spell and used the banishing charm trick again to send himself flying over the table, before shouting, "Stupetrio." causing his stunner coming out of his wand to split into three, one after another. Flitwick blocked the first, then the second, but his hastily conjured shield crumbled then, but his speed served him well as he managed to get out of the way of the spell, which managed to clip him. However, because of the fact he didn't get hit full on, he didn't go unconscious, merely slightly woozy, something Harry capitalised on as he fired another overpowered stunner at Flitwick who couldn't shield fast enough. As Flitwick collapsed on the ground because of Harry's spell, Harry also landed on the ground as he hadn't fallen yet after his banishing charm at the ground. Harry flicked of an "Enervate" at Flitwick, waking him up, before dispelling the shield and turning back to his class who were watching awestruck.

"Now then class, a big round of applause for Professor Flitwick who graciously took time out of his busy schedule to help me with my demonstration." said Harry, as he led the applause. Just then, the bell rung, signalling the end of class. "For next class, I want you to write down what strategy both myself and Professor Flitwick used, as well as descriptions of spells you didn't know. I also want you to write down something you would have done differently. See you next class." finished Harry, as he turned back to Professor Flitwick who was reversing the damage done to the classroom and duelling area.

"You're a great dueller, very few can boast that they have gotten the better of me." stated Flitwick cheerfully.

"Fighting has always been my greatest talent, and the talent I have had to use the most." answered Harry morosely. "You seem awfully cheerful for a former duelling champion who just got beaten." commented Harry with a hint of humour in his voice.

"In my lifetime, I can name three people who have beaten me in a one on one fight, Professor Dumbledore, Tom Riddle who is now known as Lord Voldemort, and you. A very worthy trio my friend." replied Flitwick. "Anyway, I need to get to my next class. If I leave fifth years alone for too long, who knows what they'll have done by the time I return." Flitwick smiled at his young friend, before leaving.

**Well, what do you think? Please review and tell me if the fight scene went well, or if something was wrong with it. By the way, can I just say how hard it is to write prolonged fight sequences. Anyway, enough with my moaning, until next time, and if you could read my other stories, that would be very nice.**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever owned Harry Potter in any shape or form other than the books. If I had the catastrophe know as the Half Blood Prince and the abomination known as the Deathly Hallows would not have been unleashed upon humankind. Seeing as they have, it is logical to assume that I don't own Harry Potter. I do own... very little now that I think about it.

Chapter 6

Harry awoke with a groan. The nightmares were back, and not just the wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-shivering-nightmares but the real scary nightmares that didn't let you wake up. They had been gone for a time, since a few weeks before leaving the old world, and Harry thought he had finally escaped them. Apparently not, perhaps being in a familiar place triggered them, perhaps a familiar face. Really, it was more out of curiosity than anything else Harry wondered what caused them. He was still faced with the very real problem of not being able to get enough restful sleep. He felt, as always when he had these nightmares, more tired now than when he went to sleep, a walking contradiction, but there was nothing Harry could do about it other than move on.

As Harry got changed, he thought of the previous day in which he had taught his parents. It went well, mostly because he didn't look at them or the other Marauders, and it was surprising easy to teach those he knew would become death eaters, mostly because they didn't have that air about them that their future selves did. "Maybe," mused Harry, "He would change the timeline enough that they wouldn't become death eaters." Harry snorted. "And pigs will fly."

The rest of the day had gone quite well, even if he was severely disappointed in the quality of his students. He hadn't repeated what he had done to his seventh year class, but he had tried to ensure his students knew just how important his class would be. Although he had only had year 1,3 and 6 yesterday, along with 7, he realised the next year would be a challenge. Obviously, 1st years weren't expected to know much, or anything actually, so Harry had, after lecturing them, tested them on their reactions and how well they could dodge, because of their young age, they wouldn't be able to use spells fast enough to actually duel with them, and it would take a while before they would learn their first defensive spell, which Harry had decided would be Expelliarmus. Harry had decided to use paintballs to test their reflexes, and had been absolutely distraught. Very few of them were fast enough to dodge a paintball, although Harry recognised Kingsley as one of this group, and none of them were as fast as Harry was at that age, or even four years before then.

The 3rd years had failed to conjure a single Protego, fire a stunner and their reactions were even worse than the 1st years. The 6th years on the other hand, had been able to use some spells, and were at the level Harry had been at during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He had challenged class to manage to last 15 seconds against him in a duel, the closest they had come was when Harry duelled four of them at the same time, and even then they didn't manage to extend the time to double figures. Harry's reaction to this had most likely made the rounds as students stared at him in the corridors, and flinched away from him. Of course, it's not everyday you see an enraged wizard accidentally set a few tables on fire, and cause the rest of the furniture in the room to float into the air, often with a pupil still on them.

The inability of his 6th years was what was occupying his thoughts as he walked into the Great Hall, not even noticing the silence that fell upon the students as he entered.

"Knut for your thoughts?" asked Flitwick, causing Harry to smile.

"These students are supposed to be the cream of the crop of Magical Britain, I could have beaten any of those 6th years when I was 14, and even their general knowledge and lack of fitness is terrible. I'm hoping the 7th years are better." replied Harry morosely.

"I heard about your...entrance to that class yesterday." mentioned the diminutive wizard. "It was very impressive, and coupled by the ease with which you defeated me yesterday, and your obvious magical strength, I would expect they'd want to impress you."

"I don't have high hopes, but I'll have a tough job getting them ready for that duelling competition before Christmas. If they're as bad as I feared, I may have to ask Dumbledore if I can give them more lessons in the afternoon." replied Harry as he tucked into a fry.

SCENE BREAK

"Mr Potter, you are 3 minutes late, so that will be a three foot essay on the necessity of going to class for tomorrow." said Harry as the Marauder attempted to slip into class unnoticed.

"But sir..." came the outraged reply, which Harry quickly cut off.

"Would you prefer a three hour detention?" asked Harry rhetorically. "I thought not, now sit down. Today I will be evaluating your practical ability, so you will all have a chance to duel me. Up first is Mr. Yaxley."

The aforementioned student looked up, and scowled before moving to the front of the room where a space had been prepared. "The duel starts whenever your ready." Harry told the dark haired student, whose dark grey eyes had narrowed at him. Harry stood motionless, without moving into a stance, or drawing his wand. The shouted stunner flew at Harry, but the verbalisation gave Harry plenty of time to prepare, and he simply conjured a protego, with the wand that had simply seemed to blur into his hand, which absorbed it. "You opened with a stunner. Absolutely terrible form." Yaxley growled and fired a bone breaker at him, but again the shouted incantation allowed Harry to react, but this time he simply stepped aside. Yaxley continued to fire a barrage of spells at him, but never more than one at a time. Some 20 seconds later, Harry shook his head and snapped off a stunner that took the student by surprise. "Absolutely disgraceful, there was so much wrong with that, I don't even know where to start." Harry told the just enervated student, causing some of the nearby Gryffindor to laugh.

"Something funny, Potter?" Harry snapped at the surprised pupil. "Think you can do better, well than, by all means step forward and prepare yourself." James stood up confidently, chest puffed out showing his Head Boy Badge off as he strode to the front of the room, although it was more like a strut, causing Harry to mutter, "The greasy bat was right." Fortunately no one heard him. James looked at Harry for a moment, before turning to mutter some incantations while flourishing his wand unnecessarily at various pieces of furniture around the room. Harry snorted derisively, this was not the work of the transfiguration prodigy he had always been told his father was, however when he was assaulted by a hippogriff and a pack of wolves, he was forced to re-evaluate his opinion. Harry cast a flipendo at the hippogriff, sending it out a window before twisting out of the way of the vicious wolves that had set upon him as well as the stunners sent by his opponent. Harry simply conjured fire that spiralled around him and struck the wolves, burning them to a crisp, before animating their corpses to attack James, who was caught unprepared and barely managed to avoid them, but was hit by Harry's well-aimed stunner. Harry banished the wolves and enervated the cocky Gryffindor. "Your spells at the beginning took too long, you didn't distract me at all, you were a sitting duck for this time and apart from the transfiguration, your wand work was shoddy at best." He told James, cynically adding, "If you end up against any death eater, you'll be dead within seconds. Now whose next."

The next hour was simply brutal, students from all houses were just terrible, the only thing close to a challenge was when Sirius' cousin Andromeda took to the floor, and displayed the cunning ability that the Black sisters were so famous for. All that was left was Harry's mother, another girl Selene D'Artois and then Antonin Dolohov, who Harry had expected to be older. Lily stood up and walked to the front of the room resolutely.

She immediately opened with a bone breaker, one of the first non-verbal spells cast by a student that day, before she moved to the side and began to cast stunners at Harry, obviously hoping to overwhelm him in the hope that he had gotten tired. Harry responded by conjuring a stone wall that blocked the bone breaker, but broke into pieces that Harry quickly banished at his mother, before conjuring an "Absolvo Ancile." which was a more powerful type of shield than protego, and was more than equal to the task of blocking the stunners. Harry watched Lily cast "Procella." at the broken stone that was flying at him, and the spell conjured gale force winds that sent the blocks off target and Harry smiled, before unleashing a flurry of stunners at her, which she summoned a nearby table into the way to block, before being attacked by a falcon Harry had just conjured. She whispered "Incendio." killing the bird, before she fell unconscious due to the stunner aimed at her knee.

"Much better." said Harry curtly, "Just maintain more concentration on what your opponent is doing. Next." Dolohov walked to the front of the room with confidence, however something in the way he walked made Harry think he had every reason to be confident. "When your ready."

Dolohov nodded at him, before opening with an "Ossideum Explodera." causing Harry's eyebrows to rise, a bone exploding curse was not something commonplace among students. But he reacted instantly, sidestepping the possibly fatal curse, responding with a Lacero. The lacerating spell flew at the student who yelled "Imprimis patrouni" and Harry's spell bounced off the most powerful shield known to wizard kind. It's drawback was the incredible amount of power needed to conjure, but it required very little to maintain unless being actively attacked. Obviously the future death eater was making a point that he was a force to be reckoned with. Harry smiled grimly as he sidestepped the return flurry of spells sent at him by the man who would later become Voldemort's right hand man. Harry noticed that all had the potential to seriously harm, however none were illegal. Harry waved his wand, conjuring a set of darts which he banished at the student, who sidestepped, obviously remembering that his shield didn't stop physical attacks. A plan began to form in Harry's mind as he deflected a set of bone breakers that had just been fired at him. "You like your bone spells, eh?" Harry conjured a swarm of bees and compelled them to fly at the student, who quickly incinerated them, but had to act quickly after that to avoid a chair that had been banished at him. Dolohov jumped to the right, and sank into the ground up to his waist, unfortunately his wand was partially frozen and thus useless.

"How?" came the query from the gifted Slytherin.

"A quick sand spell fired at the ground earlier, you didn't notice because of the bees. Very good, best so far, but in future don't use such energy consuming spells so early on in a duel, but I'm surprised you managed that shield." Replied Harry, grudgingly giving praise to the man who would later kill Hermione and Ron. "Finally, Miss D'Artois."

The pretty blonde stood up and walked to the front, with something in her demeanour and manor of movement seeming so achingly familiar to Harry. The blonde haired witch looked up at him, her heart shaped face outlined by her curly hair which fell around her face so familiar as her expressive blue eyes watched Harry. Suddenly her wand blurred, and only years of experience fighting others with such efficient wand movements allowed Harry to realise that she was casting a chain of a bone-breaker, a Lacero, a blasting curse and then finishing the chain with another bone-breaker. What was even more impressive is that they weren't all fired straight at Harry, and so easy to dodge. Instead they were sent at different heights and also with some of the spells aimed slightly to the edge of him. Harry leapt over the first bone-breaker that had been aimed at his knees, while twisting into a side profile to dodge the next two spells that had been aimed at either side of him, before channelling raw magic into the tip of his wand to re-direct the final bone-breaker. Harry landed to the ground, falling to his knees to avoid a stunner that had been aimed at his head, before sending a flurry of stunners and other basic spells, such as Rictusempra's, but were quick to cast, at the young witch who weaved her wand, conjuring a flock of birds into the way of the spells, before sending the survivors at Harry. A quick incendio later and they were on the ground, dead, and several wand movements later, and a continuing stream of stunners was aimed at his surprisingly competent opponent.

As Harry continued to fire stunners at Selene, who seemed to be struggling with the vast quantity of spells being fired at her, he added an extra wand gesture that went unnoticed until seconds later when a table flew into the back of the witch knocking her to the ground. A quick accio later, and her wand was in Harry's hand. "Absolutely brilliant. Would have easily beaten any two, possibly three students at this school. Pay more attention to your surroundings, you became to focused on the actual spells of the duel. Leave your homework on the table, and for next day, I want you to take five spells you learnt in your first year, and find ways to apply them to a battle situation. I want that to be at least a foot long, and James, don't forget your essay." As Harry threw the wand back to Selene, the bell rung, and the class left, leaving Harry to ponder the competent Selene D'Artois, who seemed so familiar.

**Anyone want to guess why Selene seems familiar, and also would anyone like to recommend a band similar to the Bravery? Anyway, please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

Hey all, this is Wormyrug.

I have very bad news, I was in a car crash recently and broke my left arm in three places, which means no more updates for a while. Sorry.

But would anyone mind looking at my friends band, the culnafay folkestra:

Add this to the basic you tube website /user/ClaraTheGreater


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Harry Potter