An obvious tension lingered in the air as Harry Potter made his way to a chair positioned towards the side of the chamber. He had been told, by more than one individual of Riddle's schoolwide threat at the welco dinner and figured even with that he would end up being approached for lessons.
Sure enough, it looked as though a good portion of the room was itching to speak to him despite the glares being sent out by the Slytherin Head of House.
"My warning stands regardless of your participation here." Grace's words were enough to break the silent focus which had been growing and redirect it onto herself. "Now then, we will continue as previous years with instructions, practice, and training in the art of the duel. What we will not be doing is any instructions regarding the confrontation or combat of Lycans. That will be covered in Defense class at a later date."
With that she pointed towards the raised platform.
"Sort yourselves out per year please, we will begin with the older students and see how everyone has kept up during the sumr."
When one of the seventh years made a beeline for where the boy-who-lived sat Riddle was quick to step between them, eyebrow raised in a questioning manner, "The other seventh years are behind you."
"Well yes but I was thinking I could challenge Har… mister Potter instead."
Riddle stared for a mont, well aware that the rest of the conversations were quieting down to overhear the exchange.
Then she laughed, cold and borderline ridiculing, "Do you truly believe you can best him in a duel after what occurred on the train?"
It was a challenging statent, not made towards the student but rather the entire class.
Do you truly believe you are near his level?
Even Harry, who had never been brilliant at reading others, could see the hesitation and doubt in the eyes of others and once more found himself ntally disagreeing with how the professor was handling it. There was no need to put them down, no need to act as though he was sohow superior.
He would have gladly dueled anyone and given what pointers he could.
"Regardless, Harry will be sitting out for this session at least until he is fully cleared by Madam Pomfrey, and that is final."
Harry didn't like it, being treated like an injured child, but certainly wasn't going to argue with the diwitch and risk having his parents beco involved.
****
"Harry? Could we uhm, talk? Maybe sowhere private?" The boy-who-lived nodded at the redhead's request and led her into a nearby, thankfully empty, classroom before closing the door behind them. Noticing the combination of a telltale blush, along with the usual 'Ginny' fidgeting he figured she was about to ask him sothing a bit more personal.
"Everything okay?"
Looking up at his face, her blush deepened before she returned her stare to the floor. "I uhm… wanted to see how you were doing."
It wasn't the truth, he could see it in her posture, but he also knew this was the first step to reaching what she wanted. Besides, it likely wasn't all a lie, she did seem to care about his wellbeing. "I'm alright. Still a bit sore at tis and I get random chills, but Madam Pomfrey said those should be gone in a few more days. You weren't hurt on the Express, were you?"
Ginny quickly shook her head, "No, no none of our carriage was…" she trailed off, perhaps gathering her courage, or just pondering the right words. Regardless, he gave her the ti she seed to desperately need. "I… I'm scared Harry, we all are. Not just our group but a lot of the students. What happened on the train, well it's supposed to be safe right? And then there was last year, and I think everyone is just a bit freaked out."
He nodded, "I get that, I was scared too you know, on the train. Not for myself but that sothing would happen to one of you, that what I was trying wouldn't work, that it would make things worse."
"But it didn't! You saved us, again, and you were hurt, again. I know sothing is going on, I know your sisters and Hermione and even Luna knows what is happening with you and I know it's a secret but…"
"But you want to know."
Her whole body seed to droop in that mont, "I wanted to know last year. This year I feel like, I don't know, maybe I could help sohow."
She couldn't, he knew she couldn't, but at the sa ti he understood what she was going through. Being left out with everyone else being involved, it hurt. "Okay, but you can't tell people, understand?" The youngest Weasley quickly nodded but Harry's expression darkened, "I'm serious Ginny, this isn't sothing you can tell your best friend or family or anyone. It could be dangerous."
She gulped, silent in thought before giving her response. "I know, Luna told last year that I wouldn't be able to tell anyone else and back then I wasn't sure. Now I am though, I swear I won't tell anyone."
"I'm not… from around here."
"Like, the Muggle world, right?"
A smile tugged at his lips, "Well, yes but also not from this universe. I'm from another one that is very similar to this except there are as many n as won and a few other major things are different, things I'm still discovering. Also, I was at the end of my fifth year before I was brought here."
Her eyes widened in shock, especially after seeing the otherwise lack of humor on his face. "Y-you're serious?"
Harry nodded, "Very, I knew another you, another Luna, another Ron, another Hermione. No sisters where I ca from, and my parents were dead. Otherwise, a lot of things were surprisingly similar. We had a Dark Lord making things dangerous but attacks like last year during my own second year and sothing similar in my first year. This one has been different so far. Werewolves instead of Dentors."
"D-Dentors…" she muttered in horror, earning a slow nod.
"Yeah, but like I said it's not the sa this ti, and in my third year soone escaped from Azkaban, hence the Dentors, so I think that's different too."
Silence fell between them, silence that ticked by for what felt like hours until the girl spoke once more, "We… were friends?"
"We were. Started as us being both Gryffindors but it took a lot longer though and we weren't close until fifth year. I knew you mostly through Ron."
Once more both beca quiet, until Ginny asked another question. "Is there anything I can do? I want to help. I need to do sothing."
He sighed, "Just, keep your head down for right now, okay? Don't go running off to fight Werewolves or throw yourself into danger. I'll think of a better plan but for now let's try letting the adults fix the problem."
She didn't seem happy by the answer but nodded anyway.
_________________________
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