Episode 12. Part 2

Episode 12. Part 2

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- Neville-"

Stay away from me, Potter! - the Longbottom heir exclaimed hysterically, sending his cousins off for the fifth time... to the woods. He wished they would leave him alone. He didn't want to part as enemies after four years of friendship, even after finding out Harold had betrayed his trust. He just wanted to stop talking to him, but the cousins were meddling, and he just had to say what was on his mind. - I was wrong about you! You are a criminal, a thief and a murderer! You are dark. You cast a spell on my father..." "Nev, my friend, what are you doing?

- He was surprised when Theo passed by. But Neville was already drifting off. "You're friends with Slytherins, knowing their parents are Death Eaters! - Theodore twitched, intending to be offended and say something angry, but Harold's steady hand rested on his shoulder. He turned around in surprise and calmed down. Draco's impulses were restrained by Dudley. - You harbor fugitive criminals, including the woman who robbed me of my parents for thirteen long years! And you say that Voldemort has not been reborn, even though you saw it yourself!

- Right. So I am the enemy? - Harold knew their friend had been brainwashed, but he couldn't help the icy chuckle he'd been giving himself: He was in fact right. He had been hiding all this from them. And not only that. The thieves had learned about the theft from the newspapers, not from him. No one but Dudley and Sirius knew about the connection to the Muggle world gangs at all. And how they actually got on the street should have been kept quiet altogether.

- Number One, Potter! Leave my friend alone! - A nearly happy Ronald Weasley took a step toward his hated enemy, intending to shove him, but Hermione's footstep, made him nearly peck his own nose on the stone floor.

- How long have you been Neve's friend, Ronald? - asked the Gryffindor champion of justice when the redhead stared at her angrily. - You hadn't even spoken to each other before this year! - Riona and Faye nodded affirmatively, crossing their arms across their chests. They looked condemningly at Ron and Neville and Dean and Seamus standing behind them, who in turn were hiding their eyes from them: they didn't like the campaign against Potter, they didn't think Harold was bad, just a bit strange and narcissistic, but they didn't want to leave the redheaded fool friend behind. At least, not alone with a crew of cousins.

- But we were socializing during the vacations and long before school! - Weasley hissed angrily.

- Neville, you've been fooled! - Clenching her fists, Hermione exclaimed. - Tell me Harry's the new Dark Lord.

- Longbottom's gaze flickered confusedly over the faces of former friends, over the faces of present friends, and over the faces of onlookers, as the action was taking place in the hallway near the exit of the castle. He did not want to think that Harold was the new Dark Lord, but he knew that was what he had said. And he had doubted his former friend for a long time. Maybe he really... And everyone was waiting for an answer!

- All right, Nev," Harold said with a sigh, sparing Harold a moment to recognize the trap he had set himself. However, he saw the main thing: Longbottom doubted his new ideology, and therefore still had a chance to painlessly wrest it from the hands of Dumbledore. That chance was enough, even if it was unclear why the power of the Boy Who Survived's wish magic wasn't working on him. Potter turned away from the company of his friend and Ronald, letting him know that he intended to leave. But before he did, he reminded, "I promised I'd get you out of Dumbledore's web - I will. And not as the suzerain of his vassal, but as a friend. But you mustn't forget that you are my vassal, that you have a duty of life and a duty of kin to me. Because without me, your parents would still be cooped up in Mungo and still not recognize you. Just don't forget that. - And off he went for his first lesson in his new role, leaving behind confused friends, students and Ronald Weasley clenching his fists angrily: he and Dumbledore were unaware that Neville had made a vassal oath to Potter, and even without the almighty's explanation, he understood the implications of that for their plans...

***

- Draco, what are you doing? - Harold was surprised when Malfoy not only caught up with him, but also elbowed him. - You could have taken off Weasley's glasses and given him some time off. You're a professor now, aren't you?

- I didn't think Malfoys were so petty," Potter grinned mockingly.

Draco opened his mouth in indignation, sticking his lower lip out in offense.

- And anyway... - You've got a friend in trouble and you're thinking about such nonsense..." tapped Draco with her fist Hermione, who was late for the same class as Potter. Malfoy chuckled annoyingly: eh, those Gryffindour girls didn't know how to use their position in society. But that's all right. He'll teach them yet...

Malfoy grinned irritatingly: oh, these Gryffindors did not know how to use their position in society ... but that's okay, he will still teach them ...

***

Harold looked at the classroom in front of him at a loss. Never did he think he would find himself in this position, not as a reporter, but as a teacher. His body felt uncomfortable, his tongue stuck to his palate, his hands were uncomfortably sweaty, and he didn't think it would be... like this. The deputy headmaster and his former dean, Minerva McGonagle, must have realized how difficult it would be for her former student, and therefore decided that it would be easier for him to start with the same age. Since the half-breeds and muggleborns in the school were about half of all the students and the classes were small, McGee combined his classes of first and second years, third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and, separately, seventh years. But, mishap, he had a strained or non-existent relationship with most of those present. Except for the half-breeds and Muggle-born rat-catchers, who, apparently intending to support their leader, were seated in the front rows. Silly, but their encouraging glances were only in the way.

Potter sighed, tried to relax and gather his thoughts, pushing his emotions to the far corners of his mind, out of habit, and did what a professor shouldn't do: sit down on his desk, cross-legged. It suddenly helped: he felt at ease. And when he scratched the top of his head, he managed to get his tongue off his palate. This is my first lesson as a teacher. And your first lesson with a moron like me. - The laughter that broke out in the former perfect silence also contributed to the relaxation. - Although, if you take into account ZOTI professors, I'm still okay. But that's not the point. I want to make a deal with you right away.

First, no "Professor Potter" in a classroom setting. In the hallways, in front of students from other departments or professors, you will address me formally. That's the custom, and I'll explain why later. But in class, I ask you not to mock me. I, thank Merlin, am not that old yet. - The chuckles erupted again. Harold relaxed completely and even let out a joke: "Though a superstar, so to speak, a megastar, of course, if I were not that Potter. - Someone even laughed. The mood was rising. - Secondly, you'll notice that the letter did not require me to purchase academic literature for my course. The Board of Trustees offered all sorts of nonsense brazenly copied from the French, whose country has long practiced such a subject. But I managed to prove to them the pointlessness of it. As a pioneer, I was allowed to experiment. In short, no Ministry, Wizengamot, or Dumbledore-approved theory would be in my course. - Many students exhaled enthusiastically. - Thirdly, as I am a student myself, I will allow liberties in class, but there will be no freebies!

- Potter said it very harshly, looking at the class with attention. - At the end of the year you will have an exam in the subject. And not with me, but with someone from the Ministry or the Board of Trustees. My reputation, in a way, depends on your marks on the exam. So I warn you, in a good way for now, that my nature is vindictive and baleful. I will teach the material in different ways, and tests on the assimilation of knowledge will arrange. At the end of these tests, the top three in three weeks will be allowed to choose a topic for one lesson, the five worst... Well, I'll find an incentive for you to study diligently. I'm not McGee, Sprout, Flitwick or Snape. I'm a teenager like you. I have a certain intemperance about me. So I have different ways of teaching the worst ones a lesson. And yes, I'm telling you, sixth year, I'm strong enough to put you down. I warned you.

In return for your obedience, I promise to try to have interesting lessons. That's it," Harry breathed out himself: he did it! - That's the end of the introduction. And since this is our first lesson, we'll look at why the Wizengamot passed a law making the subject compulsory for Muggleborns and half-breeds, and whether it's really necessary. I think you're all concerned about this topic..." The class chimed in, generally interested. - Questions?

- Potter, why did they make you a professor and why would you do that? - The sixth-year Ravenclaw student asked calmly.

Harold, fortunately, was mentally prepared for such questions. And what's there to hide about? So he calmly said that he was only taking advantage of his connections and his own fame. Of course, he had to take an exam from the International Confederation of Mages to be allowed to teach. But not to say it was difficult. Still, being a magical lord had a lot to do with it, and thanks to that, as well as his own sense of responsibility, connections with the Black family, who almost prayed to conservative magical customs, and the Flamel family, who simply knew a lot because they were born in a very different time, he was prepared for the subject at the highest level. A week of practice at Charmbaton, organized by his father-in-law and the Headmistress herself, only added to the pluses before the Board of Trustees, who didn't mind sending their own man to Hogwarts as it was. Harold told all this now to his students easily, leaving out only the information about the Trustees' and Lords' personal benefit in having him in the school.

And, of course, he admitted that he had only returned for his cousin and friends, and his desire to annoy Dumbledore. This was received cautiously by the students: many of them held Albus' views. But Potter wasn't going to hide anything about himself, because one day it might backfire on him... Then Hermione asked about Umbridge, and Harold gladly told him that the new professor was also a "hired Cossack", and was looking for dirt on Dumbledore at the behest of Fudge himself, convinced that Albus was running for his place. He also grudgingly advised them to study the Defense Against the Dark Arts by themselves, because in the lessons with Umbridge they would only learn the theory.

Someone else asked something else of little importance, and yet soon the flow of questions dried up. Harold had to carefully spell out the magical dogmas he understood well to those who weren't interested in them, to those who didn't understand their meaning. But when he got down to the subject of the lesson, the right words to interest young minds were easy to find. And at some point he realized that by ranting he was repeating exactly after the inner voice that told him what to do in difficult situations... Magic rejoiced: at last the chosen one had heard her presence and was ready to start ruling the ball...

***

- Dean, Seamus, are you serious?! - Ronald exclaimed in shock. His friends had just told him about the new subject, but expecting to hear mockery of the hated man, he heard quite the opposite.

- Dean shrugged his shoulders incomprehensibly. - Potter really is a great teacher. - Ronald couldn't believe his ears: his friend was saying THAT. How could he even say that?

- Exactly! He had the whole political situation in Britain laid out in no time at all. There was a lot I hadn't understood before about why everything in the wizarding world was... so. Potter explained it well," said Seamus. He was especially pleased that they had laws to protect the rights of Muggles, of Muggles in a conjugal relationship with a wizard, and of their children. He didn't know that.

- Though he obviously lacks patience..." chuckled Dean, remembering how Potter had sworn by magic to show one sixth year student, who kept interrupting him with off-topic questions, how the different layers of both the Muggle and the pureblood wizard world lived. Many considered the boy lucky, but he himself had already crossed paths with Potter a couple of times, and so for the rest of the lesson he nervously pressed his head into his shoulders, momentarily loosening his faculty tie. He had an amused look on his face... Why do you even need this idiotic subject?! - Ron was genuinely indignant.

- I wondered why, too," Seamus nodded. - But Potter explained why it was important. I recorded his lecture. It's interesting. You can read it. - But there was such incomprehension in his friend's eyes that Dean tried to explain," "Ron, we both grew up in the Muggle world, and a lot of things that are self-evident to you who grew up in the wizard world, we do not understand. We take it as meaningless wizard weirdness. And, it turns out, there is meaning...

- But..." Ron fluttered his eyes at a loss. He didn't understand why his friends didn't believe him or understand basic things. Potter was dark, and everything he did and said was lying sneaky. And it was that simple!

Dean and Seamus looked over at each other: they suspected their friend of insanity...

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