Shadow Play

(“Parsaltongue” )

Chapter 4: News and Detention

Harry walked into the Great Hall a few days after his talk with Draco and saw that Katie wasn’t at her usual chair next to Hermione. Walking over to Hermione he sat on the other empty chair.

“Hey, how was your weekend,” she asked.

“All right. Where’s Katie?”

Hermione’s eyes lit up. “Oh, she had her baby last night! I got a letter from Oliver this morning. She’s at St. Mungo’s resting and had beautiful baby girl. They named her Olivia Katelyn.” Hermione grinned. “I remember when I had my babies. It was like hell, but I was so happy afterwards….”

“I know, Hermione. I was there.”

Hermione giggled. “Sorry. I keep forgetting. I’ll stop if you want me to.”

Harry shook his head. “No, it’s all right. It reminds me on why we’re living.” Harry softly smiled before talking. “So when’s the substitute coming in?”

“Not for a while,” said Hermione. “He’s doing a musical in the States and they don’t have a replacement actor for him.”

“ A musical,” said Harry in interest. “Which one?

“I never found out. I didn’t know you were interested in Broadway musicals.”

“Only a select few,” said Harry taking a sip of his coffee. He had requested it in the morning instead of pumpkin juice. The elves didn’t protest and gave it to him whenever he wanted.

Hermione’s eyes lit up. “You should take over till the substitute comes,” she said. “It’ll be a great opportunity.”

“Hermione, I can’t juggle Defense Against the Dark Arts and Magical Music class at the same time. My head hurts enough as it is.”

“You’re a musician, Black.” Harry turned to see Draco looking over at him with a smirk. Pansy was next to him with an amused smile. “What instrument do you play?”

“Vocal,” said Harry. “I never learned to lay an instrument.”

“Pity. I was a bit of a pianist in my youth. I even tried the violin once.” Draco paused as he sipped his morning tea. “Where have gone this weekend, Black?”

“I was visiting friends,” said Harry standing up and refusing to look at him. “Excuse me. I’ll be late for my class.” And he left.

“Isn’t he always late for class,” asked Pansy and looked at Draco. “Was it something you said?”

“I don’t know,” said Draco looking at Hermione. She shrugged.

“He doesn’t tell me everything,” she said eating her breakfast. During the time that Draco and Hermione worked in the school they ignored each other unless they had to talk about a student or at staff meetings.

“But you are his friend,” said Pansy.

“That doesn’t mean he tells me everything,” said Hermione. Wiping her mouth with her napkin she stood up and smiled at the two. “I’ll head to my class now. Excuse me.”

“That was strange,” said Pansy as Hermione walked away. “They both left in a hurry. Like they didn’t want to answer our questions.”

“Yes,” said Draco. “Very strange.”

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Harry walked into his class soon after walking around the castle for twenty minutes. He knew he should have stayed in the Great Hall longer but he knew Malfoy was getting curious and Harry didn’t like where the conversation was going. And to say that he could gave something else for Malfoy to look into.

“Page 316,” he told the third years. “We are to begin learning about chimeras and their cousins, manticores, and the appropriate spells to defend against them. Can anyone tell me the difference between a chimera and a manticore?”

And for the rest of the class he taught the third years while trying to come up with some excuse the next time Draco got curious. Harry didn’t know why Draco found him interesting. Harry had tried to make James Black as normal as possible.

‘It might have been the singing,’ he thought as he wrote on the board. ‘Or the baseball thing.’

“Mr. McDonald, you will leave Ms. Willow’s hair alone,” said Harry as he looked at the notes on the desk.

Adrian McDonald, a Slytherin, had raised his wand to cut the end of the Pollyanna from Jessica Willow’s hair, a Hufflepuff girl sitting in front of him. Jessica turned to glare at the boy who smirked and set his wand back on the desk.

“Back to reading the chapter, Mr. McDonald, and if you continue to plague Ms. Willow I’ll have to confiscate our wand.”

“You can’t do that,” said McDonald with a glare.

‘Slytherins never change,’ thought Harry as he turned, crossed his arms and looked back at his student. “Want to bet?”

McDonald’s face went red and he raised his wand. “Rictusempra!”

Harry’s wand was out of his pocket and in his hand before any of the students could blink. He blocked the attack with a non-verbal Shield Charm and Summoned McDonald’s wand.

“Give it back!”

“I’ll be holding onto this for awhile,” said Harry putting the wand in a drawer and placed a Locking Charm on it.

“You can’t do this!” yelled McDonald.

“And you can’t attack a teacher,” said Harry in an annoyed irritated voice. “Detention with me tonight, Mr. McDonald. And if you still have a problem with it, take it up with Headmistress McGonagall, but you are serving detention with me.”

McDonald clutched his fist but sat back down in his seat, still glaring at Harry. Harry turned and continued to write notes on the blackboard.

It was lunch hour when he was confronted by Draco, walking toward Harry from the dudgeons in a stiff stride. Harry put his hands in his jeans pockets casually and walked up to the blonde.

“Hey, Draco, what’s up? Decided to have lunch with me?”

“Black, did you take Adrian McDonald’s wand,” asked Draco, crossing his arms and glared at Harry.

“I had ever right to,” said Harry looking straight back at Draco. “He attacked me. I’m sure that’s against the rules.”

“It is, but we don’t confiscate wands for an extended period of time!” The angry tone in Draco’s voice irritated Harry and he glared at Draco, crossing his arms as well.

“Well, maybe you should. Doing things in the Muggle fashion for a while won’t do any harm to the boy. I have for almost thirty years.”

And Harry walked to lunch, leaving a very surprised and very confused Potions teacher. Walking through the teacher’s entrance he sat next to Hermione and began to eat. Hermione studied his face for a moment before she turned back to her food.

“Problem?”

“Malfoy,” he said in a low voice as the stated person walked in and sat next to Pansy.

“That is a problem. I assume it’s about Adrian McDonald.” She gave him a questioned look. “Did you really take his wand?”

Harry smirked at him. “So you’ve heard as well,” he said and ate a carrot slice.

“I don’t think there’s a student or teacher in Hogwarts that doesn’t know. You’re lucky McGonagall won’t do anything. She does want you to give it to Flitwick so he can use it in Charms. He’ll give it back to you so you can hand it to McDonald after his detention.”

“Anything else?” asked Harry.

“Hagrid wants to see Harry,” she said. “Said it had something to do with Buckbeak.”

Harry looked at her, slightly afraid. “Is something wrong with him?”

Hermione shook her head. “No, I’m sure Buckbeak’s fine. He was grinning wider then the Cheshire cat when he spoke to me.”

Harry sighed. He had feared for a moment that Buckbeak was hurt or ill, but if Hagrid was grinning then it must be important, and not in a bad way. Harry looked over and saw Hagrid at the other end of the table, talking about the differences between vegetable plants and bulbs with Neville in a supposed hushed voice but it was actually quite loud.

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Harry and paused as he ate his sandwich. “I wonder if I can get Malfoy to play a Seeker’s Game with me.”

He glanced at Hermione to watch her reaction. She nearly choked on her drink.

“Har…James, you can’t play a Seeker’s Game n the Quidditch Pitch,” she said.

“Why not? It’s not against the rules.”

“It’s unheard of.”

Harry pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“I can be as un-fun as I want. We’re teachers now. We have to set andexample.”

“I am. I’m giving them an example on how to have fun.”

“You are so like Sirius,” she said with a smile and Harry smiled back.

“Thanks,” he said.

At six that night Harry greeted Adrian McDonald as the third year walked into the room.

“Good evening, Mr. McDonald,” he said. “I have something to attend to this evening so I want you to clean this class room, from top to bottom, and you are not to leave till you do. Without magic.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?!” asked McDonald, crossing his arms and glared at Harry. Harry pulled out a variety of Muggle cleaning supplies and put them on the desk.

“I don’t expect you to clean the top windows,” said Harry. “I don’t want you breaking your neck standing on a desk or a chair.”

“I’m supposed to use those?” McDonald pointed to the supplies on Harry’s desk. “That’s completely barbaric!”

“It’s your punishment. I’ll be checking on you in half an hour. If you’re not done, you are to keep cleaning till you are and you’ll stay here till then. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” said McDonald still glaring at Harry. Harry nodded and walked to the door. “Uh, where do I start?”

“I would suggest the windows,” said Harry and walked out the door. He met Hermione at the entrance hall and both headed to Hagrid’s hut. The half-giant was tending an injured Kneazle as the two walked up.

“Hello, Hermione,” he said. “Professor Black.”

“I told you to call me James, Hagrid,” said Harry. Through he would trust Hagrid with his life, the man could keep a secret. “I was interested to hear about your hippogriff.”

“He’s not mine, he’s Harry’s. I was hoping he’d be able to come out, but I guess he’s too busy.”

“He did apologize, Hagrid,” said Hermione looking over at Harry, who looked away. “And that he’d be able to come by in a few weeks.”

“Ah, well, I’ll fix up this bandage on this here Kneazle and I’ll show you to Buckbeak.”

“What happened to it,” asked Harry walking up to the injured animal and petted the cat-like creature.

“It got loose and ran into Fang. Both weren’t very happy to see each other.”

“How’s Fang,” asked Hermione.

“He’s so scared he ain’t coming out of the house.”

Harry scratched the Kneazle as Hagrid wrapped the bandage around the creature’s hind foot. When they were done Hagrid put it back in its crate and lead Harry and Hermione to the hippogriff pen. There stood two hippogriffs, a dark grey male and a female with the upper half of a gold eagle. When Buckbeak saw the visitors he bellowed a greeting and fanned his wings.

“So who’s the girlfriend?” asked Harry leaning against the fence.

“That there’s Goldwing,” said Hagrid. “She went into heat a few weeks ago and paired up with Beaky there.”

Hermione gasped. “So that means….”

Hagrid grinned. “Buckbeak’s going to be a daddy!”

Harry felt his heart flutter at the announcement and he grinned as he looked at the pair. He had given Hagrid custody of Buckbeak years ago but he still cared for the creature.

“How long,” asked Harry still watching the two.

“Ten to eleven months,” said Hagrid. “I hope Harry can come to visit.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” said Harry in a low voice. Buckbeak squawked at Harry again before nuzzling Goldwing’s neck. Harry knew his old friend recognized him. No amount of Glamour can hide a person from his pet.

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Draco walked up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class room. He had more then one word to say to Professor James Black. He had to admit the man’s method of teaching was efficient, if a little unorthodox. The man insisted on a hands on method and held a casual manner with his students. And the man was an out right flirt! Draco didn’t think that anything could bring him down.

Walking around the corner he opened the door to find Adrian McDonald cleaning the classroom, on his hand and knees with his sleeves rolled up, a scrub brush in one hand and a bucket next to him.

“Mr. McDonald, it is ten o’clock at night,” said Draco. “Why are you still here?”

“Professor Black said I can leave when I’m finished cleaning the room,” said McDonald. “I’m almost done.”

Draco frowned and walked up tot the office. Opening the door he found James Black stretched across his chair, his feet on the desk and a magazine in on hand and a Licorice Wand in the other. He looked up in surprise as Draco walked in.

“Draco, hi,” he said putting his feet on the floor and set down the magazine and candy. “What can I do for you?”

Draco crossed his arms and glared at Harry. “It’s ten o’clock on a school night, Black, and you have that boy scrubbing your classroom floor! What kind of punishment is that?”

“An old one I’m afraid,” said Harry. “I used to have a Potions teacher that kept me in detention till all of his cauldrons were cleaned to his satisfaction. And my uncle used to make me do all of the dishes again is there was a single speck on one plate. I’d say I’m letting Mr. McDonald there off easy.”

“He’s on the floor on his hands and knees. Isn’t that going a bit too far? He’s tired and his shins are scrapped. Shouldn’t he be let go?”

Harry frowned as he thought for a moment. He knew the boy as most likely tired, but he didn’t know if he was injured. And Draco showed real concern to the student; something the Draco Malfoy Harry knew in school never would have had for anyone. Sighing he walked to the door and vanished the cleaning supplies with a wave of his wand.

“You may go, Mr. McDonald,” he said. “And have Madam Abbot check you over. I trust you won’t be attacking anyone anytime soon?”

“Yes, sir,” said McDonald, grabbing his robes after taking his wand from Harry and left the classroom. Harry turned to Draco, crossed his arms and smiled at him.

“Happy?”

“You are a strange man, Black,” said Draco. “First you’re joking with Granger on Muggle stories, discussing Quidditch strategies with Hooch and comparing music with Katie Wood.”

“I’m a man of many talents,” said Harry. “If you want to know anything about me, all you have to do is ask.”

Draco nodded. “No, thanks. I like a mystery.”

“Then you should have been a detective,” said Harry leaning against his desk. Draco felt his stomach flutter at the sight. The man wore a green Muggle dress shirt and black pants. His jet black hair had been let loose from its hair tie and framed his face. Draco shook his head to clear it.

“Detective,” asked Draco. “Is that anything like an Auror?”

Harry shrugged. “Something like that.” Harry smiled up at Draco. “I like you, Draco. You’re easy to talk to.”

“Can’t you talk to your friends,” asked Draco curiously.

“I do, but there are thins I can’t talk to them about that I would like to.”

“What things?”

Harry just smiled as him. “Maybe another time,” he said and pushed off the desk and went to the door. “It’s late and we have classes tomorrow. Would you like me to walk you to your chambers?”

“Is this a way of telling me to change the subject?” asked Draco. Harry smiled back.

“Maybe. If it is, do I get to walk you to your chambers?”

“No,” said Draco and walked out.

“What? No good night kiss?” asked Harry. Draco paused at the door and turned back to him with a smile.

“Good night, Black,” he said. Harry leaned on the door and smiled back.

“Good night, Draco,” he said and Draco left. Harry sighed walked back into his office and leaned on the desk as he looked out the window.

He heard a hiss and turned to see a large South American boa slither through a small crack in the wall. The shine of her scales told Harry that she was owned and was being well taken cared of.

(“Hello, Slythrein,”) said Harry giving the name of snakes to it. (“Your scales are bright during this black sky.”)

(“You speak language!”) said the snake enthusiastically. (“You a Friend of Slythrein?”)

Harry nodded. (“I am a Speaker. My name is Harry Potter, but other Slythrein know me as Flesh Brother.”)

(“I have heard of you!”) said the snake enthusiastically. (“My name is Ishara. It is the name my master has given me.”)

(“How have you come to this stone den?”)

(“I was brought here by he who cares for me. He is a pale scale that smells of herbs and other things of the land. I call him White Dragon.”)

And with her words came the image of a man, Harry looking up at him as a snake would and see only his heat as a snake should. Harry learned long ago that if a snake couldn’t describe something they would sent out a smell or image to help them describe the thing they couldn’t. With Ishara Harry could see, smell and feel her master and had to laugh. Her “master” was standing over a cauldron that smelled horrid to a snake sense of smell and was crushing leaves into it. When Harry figure out who her master was he laughed again, only harder.

“And woe the tide that fortune has brought me,” he said.

TBC