Chapter Text
The next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was to be held in the Great Hall in which the Duelling tables were set out ready for the lesson. “Now, today I have enlisted help from Professor Snape in today's demonstration. Now don’t fear, you’ll still have your potions master when we are done.” Lockheart stated as he swished his cape off his shoulder. Snape entered through the side door and looked at the gathered students in distain...he really didn’t know why he accepted this idea. Harry watched as Snape simply rolled up the sleeves of his potion garb and rolled his eyes as Lockheart threw his cape into a squealing crowd of Hufflepuff’s. Both men bowed and begun to walk away from each other when Draco whispered “Cannot wait to see Lockheart on his arse.” Harry simply nodded as both men prepared to send off a spell, Severus beating Lockheart to it with an overpowered Expelliamus. Lockheart was sent flying backwards and many of the students laughed as Severus threw a smug smirk to his snakes. “A brilliant idea to show them that Professor Snape...however it was rather predictable if I had wanted to stop you.” Severus raised his eyebrow and had to resist rolling his eyes “Perhaps we should start off by teaching the students how to block unfriendly spells?” Lockheart nodded “Brilliant idea...let’s have a volunteer pair....erm Weasley and Finnigan come on up.” Snape rolled his eyes “Mr Finnigan has a knack for blowing things up, we would be sending Mr Weasley to St Mungo’s in several pieces...might I suggest someone from my own house?” Lockheart grimaced, not really wanting to pit someone against a Slytherin. “Potter, get up here.” Harry rolled his eyes as he climbed on the table, silently promising a prank on his godfather for this.
Ron grinned maliciously at Harry as he pulled out his wand and Harry simply removed his school robe to reveal his shirt and pants underneath and gave the robe to Draco. “Wands at the ready” Lockheart called and Harry simply bowed before getting into position as Ron refused to bow. “1...2...3...go!” and with that Harry sent up a Protego to block Ron and then hummed as he sent a Incarcerous at Ron who dodged it. Ron cried out in fury as his Confringo missed and Harry chuckled as he sent a Glacius at the table which sent Ron off balance and on his arse. Using Accio Harry summoned Ron's wand and bowed before passing it to Snape. “That's not fair! He shouldn’t know that spell!” Ron whined whilst still on the floor and trying to get up. Snape simply patted Harry on the shoulder as he walked over and cancelled the ice. “Detention Mr Potter, you could have seriously hurt someone with your limited knowledge of the spells you used.” Lockheart said with a smirk, watching the anger form on Harry's face. “Then he will serve the detention with me as his head of house.” Snape interfered, planning on getting rid of the detention the moment he had Harry in potions later that day. Harry seethe as he got off the table and was given his robe, he had done as asked and still got detention? He needed a way to avoid going to this fool's class.
~~
Draco found Harry a few hours later in the library reading through the Hogwarts School Charter and he was scribbling something furiously on parchment. “Harrison? Is everything okay?” Harry looked up at him and smiled “I've just found a way out of the defence lessons with the prat, I’m writing a note to Sirius and also to your father...I need the Board's approval.” Draco hummed and sat beside him “Could you get me out of them too?” Harry looked up “The charter states that in order to self study one of the main subjects you will need parental permission and approval from the board of governors...I would suggest writing to Aunt Cissy.” Draco was delighted, to get out of those lessons would be amazing, it wasn’t like they were learning anything remotely useful. Harry looked down at his penned note to Lucius:
Dear Uncle Lucius,
I am writing to you in an official capacity in order to request the teaching methods of the new DADA teacher be brought to life. Gilderoy Lockheart is an abysmal teacher and has so far tried to discredit me twice and give detention for nothing. Attached is a quiz we were given which roughly sums up his idea of teaching. I am writing to request that as a member of the Board of governors can you please grant me permission to self-study in this subject until the idiot is removed?
Give Aunt Cissy my love
Harrison Potter-Black
Harry smiled as he sealed the envelope and stood to go to the Owlery to fetch Hedwig. He knew if he could self-study then he would have the ability to get some of the more advanced books from the library and not have to worry about sticking to stuff he already knew. Hedwig flew down to him as he entered the Owlery and he smiled as she nipped and groomed his hair a little. “Sorry girl, I know its late. Deliver this to Lucius and await a response please.” Hedwig gave a calm hoot as she took off with the letter attached to her leg, being careful of the cargo she had. Harry watched as she flew off, a brilliant white speck in the sunset-coloured sky.
It was two days later when three owls flew in and landed in front of Harry. Feeding each a bit of bacon he relieved them of their letters and smiled as he stroked Apollo, the Malfoy Family's eagle owl. Giving Hedwig a scratch to her feathers she presented under his touch and nuzzled her Harry-chick before flying away. Harry opened the first letter which was from Sirius:
Harry,
You know I will never have an issue with you self-studying for Defence Against the Dark Arts, I’ve always believed you were working higher than your peers. Remember to make sure you follow the course material and I will see you at Yule
Best of luck Mischief
Sirius Orion Black III
Harry grinned widely at the black dog that was lay underneath the head table beside Remus, grateful his godfather understood his letter. Next was the letter from Lucius and was longer:
Dearest Harrison,
Whilst I am happy to hear from you (And Cissy sends her love to you), it is concerning to hear you need to self-study for such an important class. I met with the other governors this morning and we have reviewed the abysmal test you sent us and are in agreement that anyone wishing to self-study for this year can do so as long as they have their parent's permission also. We will have another board meeting in two weeks to discuss possible ideas for the Lockheart situation.
All the best,
Lucius Malfoy
P.S – Cissy asked me to tell you to write to her more often as she misses you and her dragon and wants to know more about what is going on with you both.
Harry chuckled, a blanket exemption? Well, this was going better than he assumed. He placed both letters together and brought out a copy of the charter which he had used the duplication spell on to make sure the originals couldn’t be “accidentally” damaged or lost by Dumbledore. The third letter was a simple note from Remus explaining he and Snape were going to be holding a duelling club soon and they would like a space to do so if he knew of anywhere. He gathered his letters up and strolled up the head table and to Dumbledore. “Professor if I may, I am going to be self-studying for Defence Against the Dark Arts as the professor is inadequate. I have gained permission, as per the Hogwarts Charter, from both my parent and a governor on the board to allow this.” Dumbledore dabbed his mouth before accepting the letters and sighed “Harry my boy, you don’t have parent’s so this isn’t valid.” A fork could be heard dropping in the dead silence that echoed around the hall and Harry fought to keep his calm. “Professor with all due respect, I’m emancipated so didn’t need to acquire a signature but seeing as Sirius Black is my blood adopted godfather who takes on the role of parent whilst mine can’t then I would say his signature counts.” Albus gritted his teeth but nodded “You will end up behind your peers but if this is the route you wish to take then so be it my boy.” And with that he handed back the letters and Harry left the podium and returned to his seat. Many whispers went up about self-studying and whether or not they would be able to. “Now I’m jealous...” Blaise huffed as he nudged Harry “Cannot believe you get to self-study.” Harry smiled and fake whispered “The board have said anyone can so long as they have their parent’s permission. Perhaps write to your mother.” And with that light bulbs went off in several people’s heads.
~~
Clearly Dumbledore’s words had hurt Harry more than he let on because only a couple of hours later saw the entire second year Slytherin and then his friends in other houses scouring the castle to find the boy. Many had split off into pairs and were checking every alcove and nook in the castle whilst others checked the grounds. Blaise and Theo had decided to enlist the help of Professor Lupin and Snape when they went to the dungeons. With a knock on his door, they entered his office. It was just their luck that Professor Lupin was there too. “Sir, we need help. We can’t find Harrison, we have everyone out searching but he’s not been seen in a few hours and he hasn’t arrived for lunch.” Remus and Severus were up in a shot and both began to reel off instructions to both boys as they made their way out of the dungeons. Blaise and the group found Millicent on the staircase to the library who said she hadn’t heard from the others and couldn’t find him in the library. “Bumblebee's sting hurt our Lord, he hates not having true parents" Luna said airly and Remus and Severus gave each other a look before splitting off to go find him.
Remus was spitting mad as he went to comb the courtyards where he could still kind of smell Harry. The headmaster had been out of line to call Harry out like that and he felt he anger from the small boy but couldn’t console him because he wasn’t sure if Harry wanted the whole school knowing. He made it past the viaduct courtyard and lost Harry's scent so doubled back to see if he could pick it up.
Severus was fuming, his imp was now missing and possibly hurting himself and he couldn’t find him. He would strangle the headmaster with his own beard if he found Harry was hurt physically. He had never known how the boy felt but he knew conversations were happening between his mates in regards to fully adopting Harry and making him a true son of either Black or himself as Remus was still worried about passing on Lycanthropy to Harry. Severus had split from the teens and headed outside and towards the tree line of the forest in hopes of seeing Harry and getting him to safety. He just wanted his little imp to be okay.
Sirius had been in the room when Blaise and Theo burst in and was scouring the dungeons for Harry as Snuffles. He knew how much his pup was hurting and wanted to try and make him feel better. Dumbledore had crossed a line today and to do so in front of the school was unacceptable. When he'd taken the godfather vow, he promised to be a second father to Harry and he wasn’t giving up now. Sirius weaved in amongst students in the greenhouses in hopes of finding Harry in the hidden under passage but it didn’t smell like he had been there.
Blaise and Theo had left the teachers to their searches and had bumped into Draco along their search who held no fish news about the Divination corridor or staircase so they split again and went to check the Lord rooms. They had already combed them but maybe Sal could shed some light on whether he had been there. All three boys were worried because it was rare Harry was upset and didn’t lash out, which is why they expected him in the duelling room but that hadn’t been activated all day. Blaise glanced at Theo who looked ready to sink his blade into the headmaster and Blaise made a mental note to put a sticking charm on the blasted dagger to make sure he didn’t end up in Azkaban.
Harry was sat on the roof of the Astronomy tower, having used his broom to get up there. He didn’t want to be disturbed as he let out all his tears. He hated Dumbledore for embarrassing him and basically shouting to the whole school he was an orphan. It wasn’t fair, he didn’t ask for this shit and yet no matter what he did...someone always reminded him he had no family. He had Siri and Moony and Sev but...one day they'd have kids of their own and Harry would be left on the back burner. Draco called him cousin but Harry felt like a fraud saying it because they weren’t really blood related...not as true cousins anyway.
Hedwig hooted as she sat beside her upset Harry-chick, not fully aware of what happened but knowing that her little one needed comfort. Harry smiled sadly at her and brought her to his chest where he hugged her and sobbed. She wishes she could talk to her Harry-chick and tell him that whoever hurt him would pay...but small hoots were all she could muster. Hearing the boy sob was hard for the bird as she’d come to care for him like one of her own and he needed lots of love from her and his nest mates.
“Harry! Oh gods pup I’m glad I found you.” Came the voice of Remus who looked a little shaky on one of the school brooms as he hovered in front of Harry. Harry looked up at Remus, face tear stained and puffy with his hair loose and shielding his face. “Pup let’s hit solid ground and then we can talk, okay?” Remus tried gently, not liking where his pup was sat Harry nodded mutely as he climbed on his broom and both of them descended quickly to ground where Remus pulled him into a hug and gasped in relief. “Its okay pup, I’m here...” Remus sent several quiet patronuses out to both the students and Severus as he kept the boy in his arms. “Harry my cub you scared us...I am glad you are okay though pup. Let’s get back to Sev's office and we can talk okay?” Harry nodded and Remus pulled him into his side as they walked silently to the dungeons.
~~
After being bundled into blankets with all three men surrounding him and hot chocolate given, the dam burst again and Harry apologised for scaring them all. The three men looked at Harry and sent gentle reassurances that they were upset with him just scared he would hurt himself. After a deep conversation and several teens invading the potion masters private rooms it was decided they would all have a sleep over in Blaise’s room so mattresses were moved and pillows and blankets used to make a magical blanket fort. A few house elves who had helped find the boy, delivered sweet snacks and cups of milk to the students. Stories were told about each student from when they were younger and well and soon all ten students fell asleep in a big pile , just happy their friend was feeling better.
Remus went to Gringotts the next day with Sirius and Severus to go fill out the legal adoption papers and no matter what Harry would be their legal son. Dumbledore would never be able to use that excuse forever.