Chapter 5: The Talented Mr. Potter
A lot of people recognized that the title of this chapter is, of course, paying homage to The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Chapter 5: The Talented Mr. Potter
1. Harry tried to listen hard; he thought he'd heard the large, surly-looking boy say "dragon's blood." He remembered the last time he'd been here in his second year, when the password had been "pureblood." Do all the passwords have "blood" in them? he wondered.
Well, you know, when you have a fixation...
2. "You promised to help me with the plans. You've been hinting all summer that you had something absolutely ripping up your sleeve to really get Weasley. You said that we could stay up all night after the feast, if necessary, working out the details. You know I'm no good at that stuff. I need your devious brain."
Thus Harry realizes that not only aren't he and Ron friends, they're enemies. And Draco clearly also recognizes Harry's leadership skills, the ones that so worry Lily.
3. Harry looked around, hoping against hope that he would find himself in Gryffindor Tower. But the feeble wandlight shone on the stern, cold Slytherin dorm, green velvet curtains pulled around the other beds, a Slytherin house banner adorning the wall near the heavy wooden door. He noticed now that the wall-sconces with their dormant candles were serpent-shaped.
I enjoyed that JKR also decorated Grimmauld Place like this, in OotP (which wouldn't come out for another year and a half or so). :D
4. He walked through the dark underground corridors, trying to remember the turns and forks that he'd taken after the feast, in reverse. No, he said to himself. Don't try too hard. A part of you knows this, has known it for five years. He tried to blank his mind and just let his feet go where they wanted, and soon he was passing the Potions classroom, and soon thereafter he was going up into the entrance hall.
Sometimes you just have to let your auto-pilot take over.
5. Instead, he headed back to the Quidditch pitch; there were showers in the changing rooms. He entered, shivering; for some reason it was colder in here than outdoors.
More hints about what's going on "down at the Quidditch pitch". Some people got it before my reveal, but a lot of folks were pretty surprised.
6. "You-Know-Who is a she? Since when?"
Jamie eyed the other students. "You know which You-Know-Who I mean. Don't act dim."
He was going to say it wasn't an act, but he realized that wouldn't sound quite right, so he instead looked toward the head table, and sure enough, his mother was glaring at him with her eyebrows raised and a pointedly disappointed expression on her face.
Harry is kind of acting dim here. I had a bit of fun with this. Poor boy!
7. Finally, when almost ten minutes had passed, they could see the objects hurtling toward them at breakneck speed. At last, when it seemed that the three of them might be impaled by the quills, spattered by the ink bottles and battered by the books, Harry, his wand still pointed down the corridor, cried, "Impedimenta!"
The objects hung in mid-air, stopped dead by the second charm. Harry walked forward about ten feet and plucked his supplies from the air, including his rucksack. He put his things in the bag and slung it over his shoulder before turning to see his friend's and sister's shocked faces.
Harry's truly an expert in being inconspicuous and not raising people's suspicions--not.
8. Learning to do the Animagus Transfiguration was one thing, Harry thought. I'm not sure I want someone else Transfiguring me. He remembered Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret, and almost guffawed from the memory, but caught himself in time, biting his tongue. His godfather gave him a stern look and his best friend frowned at him. It's a good thing Draco can't read minds, Harry thought.
No, Harry doesn't want someone else transfiguring him. When Hermione tried to make him unrecognizable to the Snatchers in Deathly Hallows he was damn uncomfortable.
9. "The Ministry must now approve an application to begin Animagus training, with detailed information submitted concerning why you wish to become an Animagus. The last I heard, the application process is up to sixteen months, and no one has been approved since I received my Animagus license fifteen years ago. They only instituted the application requirement ten years ago, but still, no one has even been approved to attempt it in all that time."
In addition to the lack of Muggle-borns at Hogwarts, we get a glimpse here of some of the additional control the Ministry is trying to exert over people doing certain types of magic. Not that that will stop Harry, or anyone wishing to become an illegal Animagus, as Rita Skeeter was.
10. "It's a good thing they didn't have that rule when you were in school,” he said to Sirius, smiling.
Harry's smile evaporated a second later when his godfather, glaring at him, said softly, "In the corridor, Potter. Now."
Harry's not remembering what it's like to have Sirius for a teacher and he's being a little over-familiar here. Not to mention knowing about something Sirius didn't think he knew about.
11. "Oh, you know. I've--heard things. Over the years. Here and there."
"Here and there," his godfather repeated, pacing, running his hands through his hair restlessly. "Not 'down at the Quidditch pitch?'"
Now Harry was the one who was confused. "Down at the Quidditch pitch? How would I hear about this down at the Quidditch pitch?"
It's actually somewhat natural that Sirius would assume that James's ghost would have told Harry about their learning to become illegal Animagi while in school. If Harry knew that James' ghost was haunting the Quidditch changing rooms, which he doesn't know yet.
12. Abruptly, Harry realized that his new haircut was identical to his stepfather's. And since he hadn't bothered to shave, he appeared to have a close-trimmed beard and mustache. It looked as though he was imitating him! Harry sank down into his chair, wondering what his dad would say (and making a mental note to shave before his afternoon lessons).
Oops. Harry's not always the most observant, is he?
13. Large, orange and truculent, the cat sprang at Draco's head. He screamed and pointed his wand at it, crying, "Expelliarmus!" Harry grimaced. The stupid cat isn't armed; what's he trying to do, declaw it?
Somehow, giving Draco a fear of cats always seemed appropriate to me. Cats, lions, Gryffindors, etc.
14. "That was some Patronus."
"Yes."
"Interesting form it took."
Of course Snape knows about James having been a stag Animagus. And of course he's going to feel a wee bit threatened whenever Harry's connection to his birth father comes up.
15. She [Ginny] smiled at him again over her shoulder as she followed Annika up the stairs to the entrance hall. Harry swallowed, staring after her. Am I mad? he wondered. Or is she giving me the come-hither in big, bright neon letters? Or whatever wizards use instead of neon? Or maybe wizards discovered neon first? Or--oh hell, he thought. What is she doing?
He'll find out soon enough.
16. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts. My brother Charlie works there. That's him." She pointed to the stocky brother, and now Harry knew why he seemed familiar; he was the gamekeeper and also keeper of the keys of Hogwarts. He'd started after the old gamekeeper had left and the former headmaster had resigned. He'd only seen him once, though, and doubted that he would recognize Harry. "This September he's going to be a teacher, too. He'll be doing Care of Magical Creatures."
At a Hogwarts without Hagrid, it just seemed like a good fit to have Charlie teach CoMC.
17. There were frequent inquisitions; those hauled in for questioning were usually sent to Azkaban. It wasn't clear whether all of those in the wizarding prison were really dark wizards or deserved to be there, but the Ministry seemed to operate under the assumption that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, the modus operandi of paranoia.
18. Harry swallowed, considering the world he'd created. True, it wasn't completely overrun by Death Eaters and ruled by Voldemort; but was it a just world? Did all of those people in Azkaban deserve to be there? He was willing to bet that none of them had had advocates to speak for them in wizarding court. Kangaroo court is probably more like it, he thought.
I wanted to create something just a little more complicated, a little more nuanced, than a black-and-white, good-and-bad dichotomy. Plus, this gave me good opportunity for some foreshadowing for Harry being in trouble with the Ministry.
19. "Professor--can we use any other spells during the dueling? I mean besides the ones you mentioned."
"Certainly, Harry. I'd be delighted to see what you might have up your sleeve."
Harry tried to suppress a smile. Oh, I've got things up my sleeve, all right.
Flitwick has no idea...
20. He faced his teacher levelly, trying not to be smug. "You didn't ask who'd won seven."
"Now, Harry, there were only seven--" He stopped and peered shrewdly at Harry but addressed the rest of the class. "Did no one best Harry Potter in a duel?"
Harry certainly knows how to fly below radar. ;)
21. Jamie drew her mouth into a line. "We'd never turn you in Harry, you know that. But all this you're proposing--leaving the school grounds without permission, looking for a Muggle-born witch, trying to become an Animagus... I mean Harry. It's the first day of term. Are you trying to see how many wizarding laws or school rules you can break in one day?"
Harry's such an overachiever when it comes to misbehaving.
22. Harry nodded. "He was caught off guard. He didn't think he had to worry about me. Any time you think that, you’re liable to lose a duel. Remember that."
Voldemort never did learn this.
23. It was odd; when Voldemort had no power to speak of, Lucius Malfoy was raising Draco to be a good Death Eater, even though it was unlikely he would become one, and Draco had eaten it up. But as soon as Voldemort returned to power and Draco found himself in that ring of wizards, it immediately lost its appeal.
I enjoyed the fact that this was very close to canon. Draco really didn't have the enthusiasm for this that his father did (at one time).
24. As they went back out into the Great Hall, he gazed wistfully at his sister for a minute. If I do manage to fix the timelines, she won't exist anymore. He drew in his breath. How can I ask her to unknowingly contribute to her own non-existence?
Not to mention his own mother. Harry has some hard choices ahead.
25. "I dinna say I was goin' ter be yer gairlfriend, Harry. We're jest talkin' about shaggin'.” He tried not to choke upon hearing her say this.
I have to say, I was as disturbed by the Mariah slut-shaming as by the things people had to say about Lily in The Lost Generation. You'd think this was the 1950's or something. :sigh:
27. "Is that why you've been standing me up for two days? Decided to get a different girlfriend?" But now she was smiling at him; she seemed to know that Mariah was no competition.
Harry was shocked. Different girlfriend? Was Ginny his girlfriend?
And then she took advantage of his mouth hanging wide open in shock, and pulled his face down to hers.
I think I can legitimately say that no one saw that coming! I really was terrible about the cliff-hangers.
Chapter 5: The Talented Mr. Potter
1. Harry tried to listen hard; he thought he'd heard the large, surly-looking boy say "dragon's blood." He remembered the last time he'd been here in his second year, when the password had been "pureblood." Do all the passwords have "blood" in them? he wondered.
Well, you know, when you have a fixation...
2. "You promised to help me with the plans. You've been hinting all summer that you had something absolutely ripping up your sleeve to really get Weasley. You said that we could stay up all night after the feast, if necessary, working out the details. You know I'm no good at that stuff. I need your devious brain."
Thus Harry realizes that not only aren't he and Ron friends, they're enemies. And Draco clearly also recognizes Harry's leadership skills, the ones that so worry Lily.
3. Harry looked around, hoping against hope that he would find himself in Gryffindor Tower. But the feeble wandlight shone on the stern, cold Slytherin dorm, green velvet curtains pulled around the other beds, a Slytherin house banner adorning the wall near the heavy wooden door. He noticed now that the wall-sconces with their dormant candles were serpent-shaped.
I enjoyed that JKR also decorated Grimmauld Place like this, in OotP (which wouldn't come out for another year and a half or so). :D
4. He walked through the dark underground corridors, trying to remember the turns and forks that he'd taken after the feast, in reverse. No, he said to himself. Don't try too hard. A part of you knows this, has known it for five years. He tried to blank his mind and just let his feet go where they wanted, and soon he was passing the Potions classroom, and soon thereafter he was going up into the entrance hall.
Sometimes you just have to let your auto-pilot take over.
5. Instead, he headed back to the Quidditch pitch; there were showers in the changing rooms. He entered, shivering; for some reason it was colder in here than outdoors.
More hints about what's going on "down at the Quidditch pitch". Some people got it before my reveal, but a lot of folks were pretty surprised.
6. "You-Know-Who is a she? Since when?"
Jamie eyed the other students. "You know which You-Know-Who I mean. Don't act dim."
He was going to say it wasn't an act, but he realized that wouldn't sound quite right, so he instead looked toward the head table, and sure enough, his mother was glaring at him with her eyebrows raised and a pointedly disappointed expression on her face.
Harry is kind of acting dim here. I had a bit of fun with this. Poor boy!
7. Finally, when almost ten minutes had passed, they could see the objects hurtling toward them at breakneck speed. At last, when it seemed that the three of them might be impaled by the quills, spattered by the ink bottles and battered by the books, Harry, his wand still pointed down the corridor, cried, "Impedimenta!"
The objects hung in mid-air, stopped dead by the second charm. Harry walked forward about ten feet and plucked his supplies from the air, including his rucksack. He put his things in the bag and slung it over his shoulder before turning to see his friend's and sister's shocked faces.
Harry's truly an expert in being inconspicuous and not raising people's suspicions--not.
8. Learning to do the Animagus Transfiguration was one thing, Harry thought. I'm not sure I want someone else Transfiguring me. He remembered Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret, and almost guffawed from the memory, but caught himself in time, biting his tongue. His godfather gave him a stern look and his best friend frowned at him. It's a good thing Draco can't read minds, Harry thought.
No, Harry doesn't want someone else transfiguring him. When Hermione tried to make him unrecognizable to the Snatchers in Deathly Hallows he was damn uncomfortable.
9. "The Ministry must now approve an application to begin Animagus training, with detailed information submitted concerning why you wish to become an Animagus. The last I heard, the application process is up to sixteen months, and no one has been approved since I received my Animagus license fifteen years ago. They only instituted the application requirement ten years ago, but still, no one has even been approved to attempt it in all that time."
In addition to the lack of Muggle-borns at Hogwarts, we get a glimpse here of some of the additional control the Ministry is trying to exert over people doing certain types of magic. Not that that will stop Harry, or anyone wishing to become an illegal Animagus, as Rita Skeeter was.
10. "It's a good thing they didn't have that rule when you were in school,” he said to Sirius, smiling.
Harry's smile evaporated a second later when his godfather, glaring at him, said softly, "In the corridor, Potter. Now."
Harry's not remembering what it's like to have Sirius for a teacher and he's being a little over-familiar here. Not to mention knowing about something Sirius didn't think he knew about.
11. "Oh, you know. I've--heard things. Over the years. Here and there."
"Here and there," his godfather repeated, pacing, running his hands through his hair restlessly. "Not 'down at the Quidditch pitch?'"
Now Harry was the one who was confused. "Down at the Quidditch pitch? How would I hear about this down at the Quidditch pitch?"
It's actually somewhat natural that Sirius would assume that James's ghost would have told Harry about their learning to become illegal Animagi while in school. If Harry knew that James' ghost was haunting the Quidditch changing rooms, which he doesn't know yet.
12. Abruptly, Harry realized that his new haircut was identical to his stepfather's. And since he hadn't bothered to shave, he appeared to have a close-trimmed beard and mustache. It looked as though he was imitating him! Harry sank down into his chair, wondering what his dad would say (and making a mental note to shave before his afternoon lessons).
Oops. Harry's not always the most observant, is he?
13. Large, orange and truculent, the cat sprang at Draco's head. He screamed and pointed his wand at it, crying, "Expelliarmus!" Harry grimaced. The stupid cat isn't armed; what's he trying to do, declaw it?
Somehow, giving Draco a fear of cats always seemed appropriate to me. Cats, lions, Gryffindors, etc.
14. "That was some Patronus."
"Yes."
"Interesting form it took."
Of course Snape knows about James having been a stag Animagus. And of course he's going to feel a wee bit threatened whenever Harry's connection to his birth father comes up.
15. She [Ginny] smiled at him again over her shoulder as she followed Annika up the stairs to the entrance hall. Harry swallowed, staring after her. Am I mad? he wondered. Or is she giving me the come-hither in big, bright neon letters? Or whatever wizards use instead of neon? Or maybe wizards discovered neon first? Or--oh hell, he thought. What is she doing?
He'll find out soon enough.
16. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts. My brother Charlie works there. That's him." She pointed to the stocky brother, and now Harry knew why he seemed familiar; he was the gamekeeper and also keeper of the keys of Hogwarts. He'd started after the old gamekeeper had left and the former headmaster had resigned. He'd only seen him once, though, and doubted that he would recognize Harry. "This September he's going to be a teacher, too. He'll be doing Care of Magical Creatures."
At a Hogwarts without Hagrid, it just seemed like a good fit to have Charlie teach CoMC.
17. There were frequent inquisitions; those hauled in for questioning were usually sent to Azkaban. It wasn't clear whether all of those in the wizarding prison were really dark wizards or deserved to be there, but the Ministry seemed to operate under the assumption that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, the modus operandi of paranoia.
18. Harry swallowed, considering the world he'd created. True, it wasn't completely overrun by Death Eaters and ruled by Voldemort; but was it a just world? Did all of those people in Azkaban deserve to be there? He was willing to bet that none of them had had advocates to speak for them in wizarding court. Kangaroo court is probably more like it, he thought.
I wanted to create something just a little more complicated, a little more nuanced, than a black-and-white, good-and-bad dichotomy. Plus, this gave me good opportunity for some foreshadowing for Harry being in trouble with the Ministry.
19. "Professor--can we use any other spells during the dueling? I mean besides the ones you mentioned."
"Certainly, Harry. I'd be delighted to see what you might have up your sleeve."
Harry tried to suppress a smile. Oh, I've got things up my sleeve, all right.
Flitwick has no idea...
20. He faced his teacher levelly, trying not to be smug. "You didn't ask who'd won seven."
"Now, Harry, there were only seven--" He stopped and peered shrewdly at Harry but addressed the rest of the class. "Did no one best Harry Potter in a duel?"
Harry certainly knows how to fly below radar. ;)
21. Jamie drew her mouth into a line. "We'd never turn you in Harry, you know that. But all this you're proposing--leaving the school grounds without permission, looking for a Muggle-born witch, trying to become an Animagus... I mean Harry. It's the first day of term. Are you trying to see how many wizarding laws or school rules you can break in one day?"
Harry's such an overachiever when it comes to misbehaving.
22. Harry nodded. "He was caught off guard. He didn't think he had to worry about me. Any time you think that, you’re liable to lose a duel. Remember that."
Voldemort never did learn this.
23. It was odd; when Voldemort had no power to speak of, Lucius Malfoy was raising Draco to be a good Death Eater, even though it was unlikely he would become one, and Draco had eaten it up. But as soon as Voldemort returned to power and Draco found himself in that ring of wizards, it immediately lost its appeal.
I enjoyed the fact that this was very close to canon. Draco really didn't have the enthusiasm for this that his father did (at one time).
24. As they went back out into the Great Hall, he gazed wistfully at his sister for a minute. If I do manage to fix the timelines, she won't exist anymore. He drew in his breath. How can I ask her to unknowingly contribute to her own non-existence?
Not to mention his own mother. Harry has some hard choices ahead.
25. "I dinna say I was goin' ter be yer gairlfriend, Harry. We're jest talkin' about shaggin'.” He tried not to choke upon hearing her say this.
I have to say, I was as disturbed by the Mariah slut-shaming as by the things people had to say about Lily in The Lost Generation. You'd think this was the 1950's or something. :sigh:
27. "Is that why you've been standing me up for two days? Decided to get a different girlfriend?" But now she was smiling at him; she seemed to know that Mariah was no competition.
Harry was shocked. Different girlfriend? Was Ginny his girlfriend?
And then she took advantage of his mouth hanging wide open in shock, and pulled his face down to hers.
I think I can legitimately say that no one saw that coming! I really was terrible about the cliff-hangers.