Widow's Vengeance chapter 16 - Lessons

Chapter 16 - Lessons

A short while later the Professor's had left, but Hagrid had not. He was still staring at Knight with undisguised disbelief and wonder, occasionally his gaze would go up to Harry who was calmly sat on top of Knight or down to Natasha and Clint who were standing on the side and petting him.

"Blimey," Hagrid breathed. "this is...this is amazing. He's amazing." Hagrid said, gesturing towards Knight.

"He is, isn't he?" Harry grinned, petting Knight as he did so. Knight let out a soft snort as if to say he agreed with that.

"And...he lets the two of you touch him?" Hagrid asked Natasha and Clint.

"Well, he lets us touch him because he knows that we're Harry's best friends." Clint answered.

"He was reluctant at first," Natasha added. "but after a while he got used to us."

"Though he loves Harry far more than he likes us." Clint said with a small shrug, as if to say 'what can you do?'.

"Not surprising," Hagrid said after taking a moment to recover from what he had just heard. "familiar's are dead protective over their masters, love them to bits. Nobody else compares in their eyes." He said before frowning, he looked at Harry hopefully. "You...um...you think I could pet him?" He asked hopefully.

This time it was Harry who frowned, he knew Knight liked Natasha and Clint, or at least as close as Knight would get to liking anyone that was not himself. He also knew that he seemed tolerant of Matt and Jess, Knight was seemingly in the middle as far as they were concerned. Knight did not hate them, but that did not mean that Knight loved them. Harry knew that he could probably order Knight to not stop Hagrid from petting him, but Harry wasn't comfortable with that. Friends and family were one thing, but he wouldn't be forcing Knight to let complete strangers touch him, after all Harry knew that he wouldn't like to be touched by a complete stranger, especially one as big as Hagrid.

"Sorry Mr Hagrid," Harry said apologetically. "but I don't want to force him to let other people pet him when he doesn't want to be petted."

"Oh," Hagrid's face dropped in disappointment. Harry was on the verge of apologising when Hagrid spoke again. "ah, it's alright. Wasn't really expecting permission to be honest, still, worth a try. Hmm, anyway, our 'care of magical creatures' teacher, Professor Kettleburn, isn't here, he's off on some meeting, he will be back next weekend, will probably be wanting to talk to you when he gets back. Hmm, I think I should be able to get a stable ready by then."

"Really?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Should be able to," Hagrid nodded thoughtfully. "we'll see."

"Thank you, sir." Natasha smiled up at him.

"None of that 'sir' nonsense," Hagrid said, waving a hand dismissively. "just call me Hagrid, everyone else does."

"Well...in that case, thank you, Hagrid." Natasha said, still smiling.

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"I hope I don't mess up." Harry said as he walked along with Natasha and Clint to their first class.

"Relax Harry, we'll do fine." Clint told him confidently. "Besides, it's the first lesson," He added. "so even if you do somehow totally mess up..."

"Which you won't." Natasha cut in.

"You would be able to recover fairly easy enough." Clint continued as if Natasha had not spoken at all.

"You won't embarrass yourself." Natasha told Harry. "It's Clint we have to worry about, he'll embarrass the both of us." She said jokingly.

"Ha ha." Clint said with a dry laugh just as they arrived outside of the classroom where they found a bunch of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws waiting.

"Hi." One of the Hufflepuffs said to the trio, she was a pretty looking girl with red hair, and was standing next to a girl with blonde hair done in pig tails.

"Hi...um...Susan? Am I right?"" Harry guessed, hoping he got her name right.

"Yep," The girl - apparently called Susan - nodded. "my name is Susan Bones, and this is my friend, Hannah Abbot." She added, while gesturing to the blonde.

"Well, I'm Clint Rushman." Clint responded. "And this is my sister, Natasha."

"Hi." Natasha said, giving the girls a small wave.

"And I'm Harry, Harry Potter." Harry said before pausing as he wondered if there was much point in introducing himself, if he was half as famous as everyone said then he expected that nearly everyone knew who he was.

"I know." Susan said, smiling at him.

"It's kind of hard not to know." Hannah added with a smile of her own.

"Yeah," Harry chuckled. "I guess so."

"If you don't mind us asking, why did the teachers call you away?" Susan asked. "All we know is that there was something involving your familiar." She added.

"Oh, they wanted to meet him." Harry shrugged.

"And to basically remind him that he's responsible for anything his familiar does." Clint said.

"What is your familiar?" Hannah asked. "A cat? An owl?"

"Bigger." Natasha replied.

"A dog?" Susan guessed.

"Bigger." Natasha smirked.

"I'll show you guys after the end of day." Harry said, cutting off any other response.

"Thank you." The two girls said at the same time.

"Ah, sorry I'm late everyone." Professor Flitwick - the diminutive charms Professor and head of Ravenclaw house - apologized as he walked up to everyone. "Now," He paused before flicking his wand at the door, causing it to open. "please go inside." He said in a kind voice. The students all complied, and a minute or two later they were all sat in their seats while Professor Flitwick stood up front on top of a set of small stairs that he magically summoned from across the room. "Now, can everyone hear and see me?" He asked. "Excellent," He said after receiving verbal confirmation from the students. "now, let's start with the lesson."

The first half of Professor Flitwick's lesson had been spent simply learning about the theory of charms, it was only during the second half that they started practising actual spells, much to the delight of Harry, Natasha and Clint.

"Alright children," Professor Flitwick spoke, a bright smile on his face. "now we will start with a simple 'lumos' spell, this spell will cause a small light to appear on the tip of your wand, like so. Lumos." He said before a small blue light began shining from the tip of his wand. "Nox." He said, cancelling the spell. "It's really quite a simple, yet useful spell, and the best part is that it's quite easy to learn in comparison to the others. Now, the incantation is 'lumos', and when we wish to cancel the spell, we shall say 'nox'. Now, give it a go." He said encouragingly.

"Lumos." Clint said while several other students in the classroom also tried the spell, he had said the incantation while holding his wand up. He grinned when his wand lit up, a bright blue light shined from the tip of his wand. "Beat that." He said to Natasha.

"Careful what you wish for." She smirked before holding her wand up. "Lumos." She said, a second later her wand lit up with a light that was slightly brighter than Clint's. "Oh look, I think I just did." She smirked at Clint who maturely stuck his tongue out at her.

"My turn then." Harry said, he took a deep breath before holding his wand up. "Lumos." Harry said calmly. A second later a bright blue light shined out from his wand, the light was much bigger than Natasha's and Clint's, easily overshadowing them and several others.

"Oh...well done, Mr Potter!" Professor Flitwick said cheerfully. "Now, just cancel the spell for me please." He said. Harry nodded to him before doing as he was told.

"Nox." Harry said and the light died down.

"Oh, how excellent, I've never see such a bright light from a first year!" Professor Flitwick said, looking as if the very idea of teaching Harry was exciting to him. "Take five points to Hufflepuff!" He grinned.

"Oh, thank you sir." Harry replied, blushing slightly at not just the praise but also the fact that every pair of eyes in the classroom were focused on him.

"Well done, class." Professor Flitwick said after a few more minute of practise. "Now, let's try another simple spell. A colour changing spell." He said before aiming his wand at his desk, the class all watched as he turned the whole desk blue. "Now," He spoke after changing it back. "let me teach you the incantation and we'll start practising."

A minute or so later the class began practising on sheets of parchment, all around the classroom there was various coloured parchments and pleased students.

"Ha, it worked." Clint said in a pleased voice when he managed to make his parchment turn purple.

"Why purple?" Harry asked curiously.

"Because it is a very manly colour." Clint said with plenty of authority in his voice.

"Whatever." Harry said, shaking his head before he gave it a try. "Ha, I did it." Harry said when he changed his parchment to red. "I...oh..." He said when he saw the rest of the desk change colour as well.

"I think you might have overdone it a bit." Natasha quietly said.

"Just a bit, yeah." Harry agreed in a dry voice.

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The trio's next class had been herbology, which Harry quite enjoyed, Natasha and Clint had not liked it as much as Harry did but they both agreed that it was a pretty enjoyable lesson. After that particular lesson ended they had made their way to the transfigurations classroom.

"I think that maybe we should bring back some magical plants for Jess." Harry said as they walked into transfigurations class, he paused and looked around to see if Professor McGonagall had arrived yet, but apart from the other students and a cat on the desk, there was nobody else here. "She'd like that, I think." Harry added as he and Clint sat down.

"Hmm, I guess so," Clint said thoughtfully, "though I suppose it would depend on the type of plant, I mean...she's not going to like it if we bring back one that will kill the other plants."

"True," Harry agreed, knowing Jess loved her plants and did not want them getting destroyed. He turned to Natasha, ready to ask her opinion on what plants they should bring back, only to pause when he saw her intensely looking at the cat on the desk. "Nat? You alright?" He asked, but he did not get a response as Natasha continued to stare at the cat that was actually staring back at her.

"Professor McGonagall?" Natasha asked questioningly. The cat tilted its head to the side before leaping off the desk, in mid-air it transformed and Professor McGonagall's feet landed on the floor. The transfigurations teacher walked up to Natasha.

"How did you know it was me?" Professor McGonagall asked Natasha while the rest of the class processed what they just saw.

"It was just a simple guess from basic deduction, Professor." Natasha replied with a light shrug of her shoulders. "Transfiguration class is - to be quite simple - magically transforming things, there are also wizards and witches that can transform into animals, I believe the correct term for such a person would be an 'animagus'. Also cats aren't so well behaved and - in my experience at least - don't stay still for so long."

"Hmm, well done, Miss Rushman. Five points to Hufflepuff." Professor McGonagall said, giving Natasha a rare smile before gesturing her to sit down. Natasha nodded before doing so.

"Nice one, Nat." Harry whispered to Natasha as Professor McGonagall walked back to the front of the class.

"Thanks." Natasha grinned just as Professor McGonagall stopped and turned around to face the classroom.

"Welcome, all of you, to first year transfigurations. Much like with every class that I have, I must start by impressing upon you how serious this subject is." Professor McGonagall began, stopping only briefly to make sure that everyone was paying attention to her. "The magic you learn in this classroom is not only very useful, but also has the potential to be very dangerous. I do not want to hear anything about you all attempting to transform yourselves or each other, nor do I want to hear anything about you all turning inanimate objects into food and eating them. I've had at least ten students try that last one despite my warnings and it all ended with them having to be taken to the hospital wing because the food transformed back once it was in their stomachs." She said, once the students looked suitably scared she decided to continue. "Unless I tell you otherwise, you will stick to practising what I teach you and you will not start practising magic that you're not supposed to learn until after your first year, is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall." The class all said at the same time.

"Good, now let us begin."

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"Alright, let me call him." Harry said as he and the other Hufflepuffs in his year stopped outside of Hagrid's hut, Hagrid having joined them as well. It had started with only showing Susan and Hannah his familiar, but somehow ended up with the other Hufflepuffs joining in. "Give me a sec." Harry said before he whistled.

"Do you two know what it is?" Susan asked Natasha and Clint.

"Yep." Clint said, looking quite amused, and holding a camera so he could properly capture the shock on everyone's face.

"He should be here soon." Natasha said.

Then, as if Natasha had said the magical words needed to summon him, Knight burst out from the forbidden forest and ran towards the group. The Hufflepuffs - with the exception of Harry, Natasha and Clint - screamed in terror and were about to run away but Knight had already closed the distance and stopped in front of Harry.

"So guys," Harry said calmly as if they hadn't just screamed to the high heavens. "this is Knight." He said as he petted Knight who leaned into his touch.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid said with a chuckle.

"T...t...that's a nightmare!" Wayne Hopkins, a Hufflepuff boy in Harry's year, blurted out in a shaky voice. Harry couldn't help himself, he looked at Knight like it was the first time he had ever seen him before turning to the other Hufflepuffs.

"Really?" He asked, sounding as genuinely surprised as he could make himself.