Chapter Ten

"Taceo," the tiny professor whispered, tapping the wall with his wand as he spoke. Visible lines of power rose from his office, lines that—from closer inspection—were actually runes written a long time ago. His magic glowed faintly in a bluish tint and seemed to rise from these lines in wavy patterns as if fumes from a potion being brewed. Professor Flitwick turned to his young charge and spoke, "Do you have any idea why your spellwork isn't working, Mr. Potter?"

The boy shook his head. "No sir."

The professor's tense shoulders dropped in a sigh. "Are you aware that there are two…magical creatures living inside of you?"

Harry stiffened with shock. Today was only his second day of school and already someone had found out his secret. Faintly, he recalled his SeeD training. Possible scenarios played through his mind as he thought of the actions he could undertake. None of them looked promising.

"Judging from your expression, I would say that you do know of this." The professor placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I can also say that this revelation makes you quite unhappy. Can you, perhaps, tell me why?"

"I-I can't," he said hoarsely and swallowed. "There's too much at risk. If I—" He stopped and looked at the professor desperately. SeeD training focused on combat, on fighting against overly-powerful Sorceresses who had gone crazy. SeeD training didn't prepare Harry for something like this: hiding the truth.

Professor Flitwick sighed and sat on his chair behind the large magnificently carved mahogany table which had a lot of books, parchments and quills displayed in a haphazard fashion. Harry was glad he was standing; if he wasn't, he wouldn't be able to see the small professor. "How do I say this?" The professor asked quietly, his voice barely audible. Louder, he said, "You will have to trust me, Mr. Potter. I do not betray the trust of those who believe in me and—"

"How can I trust you?" Harry asked. "You're not even the Head of my House."

The professor smiled grimly. "Would it really matter, Mr. Potter? Tell me, do you trust Professor Snape with this information?"

"Well," Harry sputtered, looking down.

Professor Flitwick laughed. "I think not."

"That's…different. He—"

"Has his reasons." Professor Flitwick was about to say more but Harry interrupted him.

"Wait. Why does everyone say that anyway? I don't get it. What are his reasons, exactly?"

For a moment, the professor gazed at him gravely. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask him yourself, Mr. Potter." In a lighter tone, he said, "What would you have me do to prove that I mean you no harm? Would a Wizard's Oath suffice? An Unbreakable Vow, perhaps? Both don't work on me, I'm afraid."

"Those two don't work on you, sir?"

"I have…a dash of goblin blood in me, my dear. Why do you think I'm the only who hasn't taken an Oath—" Professor Flitwick stopped talking and scratched his head, his expression turning sheepish. "I wasn't supposed to say that…"

"Say what, Professor?" Harry smiled a little. "I think I know how we can solve this, sir. You tell me what this is all about and I'll tell you about…my two friends here." He tapped his head as he spoke and shrugged. "Unless you have better ideas."

"An exchange of secrets, eh?" Professor Flitwick tilted his head thoughtfully. "So why do I feel as if I'm getting the lesser bargain here? After all, if you tell me your secret, I'd be able to help you with your problem. Nevertheless, I will agree to this. But only because I value my students' education above anything else."

Harry felt his heart constrict. "Sir, I—"

"Albus Dumbledore has been getting paranoid of late. After the War was over, he had made all of his staff swear to him in a Wizard's Oath. It is not as…empowering as the Unbreakable Vow but it is still very constricting. Because of it, certain guidelines have to be followed and—" He paused and shook his head sadly. "He really shouldn't have done that." The professor whispered fiercely. "The Wizard's Oath means you'll have to forfeit a part of your magic to him. Do you know how serious that is?"

Harry paled at the thought. From within his mind, the Hat bristled in anger. (How dare he?!)

(You mean you didn't know?)

(He has not let me in his mind for so long. I had assumed it was a matter of privacy. I did not think it was because of this. To know that he had kept such secrets from me…)

Harry felt the Hat retreat from his mind, unsettling the two Guardians who had decided to listen in to the conversation. (Sleep well.) He thought and felt a comforting sensation creep through his bones, relaxing his muscles.

"Are you speaking with your friends, Mr. Potter?"

"Harry, sir. When you say Mr. Potter, the one that comes to mind is my brother…and yes, I was speaking to the Hat, sir."

Professor Flitwick looked mildly surprised. "The Hat? I wasn't aware that he also lived in you."

"He's mostly a visitor." Harry explained. "The other two though…" He hesitated. "Maybe you should take a look at my mind?"

The professor raised an eyebrow, "I am no master of the art of Legilimency, Mr. Potter." He paused and found Harry staring at him, bemused. "Oh alright! Harry it is then. Stop giving me that look, my dear. It is a bit…unnerving."

Harry made a face. "Sorry, but I'm still a bit touchy when it comes to…sibling issues."

Professor Flitwick plucked a piece of hair from his finely-trimmed beard and let it fall on the ground. Muttering a spell under his breath, he flicked his wand and transfigured the hair into a chair. "Sit down, Harry, and tell me everything."

Harry sat, stunned at the show of power. From what little he had read, he knew enough that such transfiguration required power and a great deal of concentration. Plus, the chair was really comfy and nice to sink into.

Blinking, he forced his mind to calm down. He took a deep breath and spoke. He was uneasy at first and kept glancing at the door, afraid that the headmaster might suddenly appear, bearing a wand in his left hand and a toothbrush in his right. He mentally banged his head against the wall for that image and sighed. No, it simply felt too unrealistic to happen.

As time passed by though, he felt the tension decrease until he found himself sharing jokes with the diminutive professor. By the time he was finished, the clock had chimed. It was already eight; he had missed dinner.

The professor appeared to hear his stomach grumbling because he had called a house-elf, one named Socky, and asked it to bring them some food. The house-elf was only too happy to comply.

The professor gave Harry instructions that would hopefully fix his problem. From what the professor had gathered, it seemed that the two magical cores embedded with his blocked the flow of his other magic—the wizardly kind anyway. The magic given to him through Drawing spells was used to those magical cores and simply passed them as if part of the original structure of Harry's core. Harry had to meditate and arrange the strands of his Guardians' cores in such a way that his magic could flow correctly again.

How the professor could see Harry's magic in the first place puzzled the boy. He inquired about it as he stuffed a mouthful of mashed potato and immediately regretted doing so. It didn't feel right, eating like a pig in front of the professor, especially when he was asking something that could be important later on.

"We have a lot to talk about still, Harry. I don't think I can give you such a detailed explanation now when it's already past your bedtime. What I can tell you is this. Not everyone has this gift of Sight as we like to call it. Perhaps, if you do wish to know more, I can recommend to you some books in the library. For now though, we must tackle each topic, one at a time." The professor took a sip from his tea and asked, "Was there anything that felt unclear about what I said earlier? I know we got side-tracked and I'm terribly sorry for that but we did have to solve that problem of yours."

Harry smiled. "It's alright, sir. As for that thing with the headmaster…" He hesitated. He knew he could back down now; if he didn't ask for anything else, then he wouldn't feel guilty about trying to probe the professor's secret. Then again, it's not like he's the guilty party here. He took a deep breath and asked.

The Common Room door slid open, making Daphne perk up from her seat at the couch. She had been chatting with her mother for the past hour as she waited for Harry to come back from his meeting with the professor. Now, seeing the boy stumble inside, she bounced off the worn-out couch to drag poor Harry in front of the fireplace. "Harry, this is my mum. Mum, this is Harry."

"Erm…hello?" Harry said somewhat inquiringly. He was about to ask why Daphne was up so late when the memory of the days events slapped him in the face. Dizzy from the impact, he took a step back and fell on the couch, his eyes unfocused for a moment. "Oh dear."

"What's wrong, Harry?" Daphne asked as she sat besides him. Her mother carried a similar expression of worry.

Harry fell silent for a while, his mind busy as he tried to make sense of his actions for the day. He had stood up against the headmaster. That part was clear enough. He had slept for most of the day—that bit had irritated him since he had to catch up to most of his lessons now. He had been accused as a Squib during Charms class. That part he wanted to forget. He had—

"I think perhaps the poor boy should rest a while, don't you think, Daphne? He seems unresponsive."

"No, it's alright, Mrs. Greengrass. I'm fine, really." Harry said, shaken out of his stupor. "I was just…remembering a few things."

"Well at least you haven't decided to do some anti-Slytherinish things like the headmaster wanted you to do." Daphne teased. "I was afraid you were going to try and blow the Common Room up or something."

"He wanted me to change Houses, Daphne, not persecute Slytherins." Harry grumbled, glaring at Daphne darkly.

The girl grinned and raised her hands in surrender. "Whatever you say, Harry."

Harry turned his attention to Mrs. Greengrass who was currently in the form of a flickering flame. Even with a face of fire, Mrs. Greengrass still managed to look amused. "I'm terribly sorry for making both of you late," Harry said. "I hadn't meant to tell Daphne here about the headmaster's actions and the fact that she wanted to tell you sort of slipped my mind, you see."

"It's alright, my boy," Mrs. Greengrass said, smiling at him gently. "I didn't mind the wait; I simply used to opportunity to ask Daphne about her day."

"It was boring," Daphne mumbled, rolling her eyes. Mrs. Greengrass laughed.

"I suppose that's my fault," Mrs. Greengrass said wryly. "Being a member of the board, I've had some insight on what a child learns throughout her years in Hogwarts. I didn't want my daughter to be shipped here all clueless—"

"You make me sound like I'm some kind of package, Mum!"

"—so I've been giving her some school material to work on for the past couple of years."

"I wish I had that advantage," Harry said wistfully.

"You wouldn't want it. Trust me, Harry. It's going to be a boring seven years."

"I think not, dear child." Mrs. Greengrass admonished. "It may seem easy now, but after a couple of years, you'll be wishing old Mum here had given you some heads-up on the school material."

"Right," Daphne muttered, elongating the one-word syllable.

"Harry, why don't you tell us what that old coot actually did to you? Daphne has already told me but I think it would be even better if I could hear this information coming from you."

Harry hesitated and nodded. His throat was already parched from talking with Professor Flitwick for so long but he didn't want to inconvenience Mrs. Greengrass by making her wait another day.

He opened his mouth.

Professor Snape stared at the golden phoenix that marred his right forearm. Unpleasant memories surfaced at the back of his mind, making him grimace. He drank the last of his tea and placed the empty cup on the saucer, summoning Morty the house-elf to clean up.

He stood up and paused, rearranging his thoughts as he grabbed a cloak for warmth. He tapped the stone doorway and stepped outside, pulling the cloak close, his eyes flickering at the direction of the Common Room.

He wondered if there was still someone awake. It's the start of school, you old fool. No one's going to stay up late for a class, that's for sure.

He stepped forward, a certain potion ingredient in mind.

"Thank you for the explanation, Harry. Your…statement is truly helpful. I believe the board will find this information useful."

"So you can have Dumbledore replaced now?" Daphne inquired excitedly, squirming in her seat. She looked at Harry and grinned. "I'm not much of a supporter."

"Now, now, child, it isn't as easy as that." Mrs. Greengrass said. "Why do you think the man still has so much power?" To Harry, she said, "Don't go spreading this story now, Harry. It won't do you any good. The headmaster is a powerful man and it will take more than a child's story to have him dethroned."

"Even if I tell you that most of his staff is under Oath?" Harry asked skeptically.

Mrs. Greengrass looked at him in surprise. Smiling slyly, she spoke in a whisper, "I wasn't planning to…ask this of you two but I'm afraid that with the current situation, we just don't have enough people. Besides, Harry here seems to have talent and Daphne's had a hand with some of the work before…What say you on the subject of spies?"

A/N: You will find out when the next update will be in my Bio. I can't stay and write more because certain uh...people are annoying the crap out of me right now.