Chapter 30

The Defense room was a well-lit one, filled with neatly placed desks and a spacious flat stage at the front. There was also a projector at the very back of the room, and a big screen in the front where it was aimed at.

Harry laid claim to one of the front desks and was quickly joined by Ron. Andrea took one directly next to them, sharing it with Neville and Hermione.

Harry gave an idle glance at the unofficial member of their little group, slightly puzzled at the buck-toothed girl's insistence at sticking around with them. Their group wasn't exactly friendly to her, though neither did they go out of their way to shoo her away like the rest. Which was most likely why she did stick around with them.

Her know-it-all attitude and bossy nature meant that she was sort of a pariah in their house. And how did she deal with it? By dipping her feet in both places. He would've thought that she'd have made a decision by now but no. Neither did she try changing her attitude, nor did she try embracing her outcast status.

For someone as talented as the girl, she was quite like the rest of the children.

"You reckon' we'll do any magic today?" Ron asked, fingering his worn-down wand with a grimace.

Harry nodded. "I'll be disappointed if we don't."

"Oh, you think we'll actually learn some spells?" Andrea asked, leaning to their side.

Harry stared at the girl with a frown. "What else can one do in such a subject?"

Surely a subject such as 'Defense Against Dart Arts' involved all about casting?

He could see Hermione opening her mouth to comment but hesitating at the last second. She knew they didn't consider her a friend, and any wrong word may get her the same treatment like the rest of the class.

Harry's frown renewed. No one should feel restrained in their ability to speak. Hermione Granger really needed to make a decision. Either start speaking without sounding condescending, or embrace her true self and make her own way.

'Truly a shame. I would love to have such a smart student at my beck and call.'

The door to their classroom suddenly opened with a bang, and their teacher finally walked in. Face set in a stoic mask, Severus Snape sauntered with sure and confident steps, his black robe trailing behind him in a graceful manner.

Head straight and unturned, the man idly swished his wand a single time, commanding all the windows to start shutting one by one instantly.

Harry couldn't deny it; This man had style.

Just like Flitwick, he started the class with a roll call. And just like Flitwick, he stopped at his name, though for completely different reasons.

"Ah, yes— Harry Potter. Our new...celebrity." A sneer as fake as plastic surgery formed on the man's face.

The man may try to look disgusted. but his eyes were as hollow and cold as ever with nary a single drop of true emotion.

'Are all Slytherins like this?' Harry couldn't help but wonder. His sister was just as terrible an actor. 'Perhaps that's the requirement to be sorted in that house. Terrible acting.'

Finished with the roll call, Snape turned to the students, his cold dark eyes staring at them one by one.

"You are here to learn the true power of magic," Snape started, slowly drifting forward. "The might one can truly hold within their wands. There will be no foolish wand-waving here. Everything you do shall be for a purpose, everything I say will have a meaning, everything I make you do will have a motive. And I expect you to learn it."

The way this man rattled off his words, Harry was sure he practiced the speech in front of a mirror. Especially when Snape timed his steps with practiced accuracy, turning around to make his robes bellow behind him epically.

"I can teach you how to blast a wall into pieces, how to tear your enemies apart, how to cast a shield so powerful that spells will simply bounce off of it. I can teach you to kill and to survive. I can make you a wizard so strong that enemies will avoid even the hint of your shadow. Indeed, I can do all this; if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I suspect you are, in which case you shall learn nothing. Prove me wrong."

Ron glanced at Harry with wide eyes. Harry shrugged.

Hermione on the other hand was sitting at the edge of her seat, ready to prove that she wasn't a dunderhead. Andrea just looked confused.

"Potter!" Snape suddenly bellowed. "What spell would you use to push back your opponent?"

Harry tilted his head, trying to divine the man's motive. "Knockback jinx, of course."

"What about, to cut your opponent?" He asked again.

'Perhaps the wizard is testing my knowledge?' Yes, that must be it.

Harry nodded before answering. "Severing charm."

"A spell to protect yourself from enemy fire, Potter."

"A Shield, perhaps. I only know of Protego."

The man's eyes narrowed down at him, another plastic sneer on his face. "You seem to know everything, don't you Potter? Perhaps you think this class is beneath you?"

Annoyance welled up in Harry. Whatever the man's reason for his false hostility may be, he was starting to irritate him.

"If I thought this class beneath me, Professor, I wouldn't be here in the first place," Harry replied with a frown, staring into the man's eyes. "My time is much too precious for that. Though I am starting to doubt the usefulness of your class now. You have done nothing but waste our time with silly dramatics and stupid insults."

A stunned silence seemed to encompass the entire room as the two stared at each other, before gasps and giggles of shocked amusement broke in abundance. Harry ignored Ron and Andrea's exclamations, maintaining eye contact with Snape.

He hoped the man got his message. Whatever games he may want to play, Harry will have no part in it.

Contrary to what Harry had been expecting, Snape broke the staring quickly, rubbing his forehead with a sigh before shooting him a look of a long-suffering man.

Still, the wizard recovered just as quickly, fixing the same fraud sneer on his face as he bellowed out, "Silence!"

The room quietened almost immediately, and the wizard turned to Harry with a look of deep loathing. "Potter! On the stage, now!"

Harry snorted, folding his hands. "No."

As if his patience had run out, the wizard started marching for Harry. Ron quickly leaned as far away as he can, giving a quick 'Sorry, mate!'.

The moment Snape finally reached him, however, the look of loathing dropped off into a frown.

He leaned down towards Harry, and a wave of magic spread around them so quickly that Harry could do nothing, cutting off every sound.

"Potter, don't make this difficult for me." The man said, his voice low and cautious, asking for understanding. "There are things at work here that you do not understand."

Alert, and barely a second away from attacking, Harry slowly glanced around the room's unexpected silence. The class was leaning forward now, as if struggling to hear them speak. Some were shaking their heads, slapping their ears in bewilderment.

"What did you do to them?" He asked, slowly calming down.

"They cannot hear us." The wizard replied, leaning away again. "Play the role I want you to play. I shall explain everything eventually."

Then, the spell was broken and the wizard turned around, marching back on stage. "With me, Potter! Now!"

Harry stood up slowly, his mind whirling with possibilities. Was the man trying to fool him perhaps? As revenge for their fight?

For some reason, Harry didn't believe so. The gravity behind his words had seemed quite real.

Harry made sure to walk slowly as he approached the raised dais, all the while thinking about how to handle this situation. He didn't bother activating Gamer's Mind, more than confident in the new upgrade to save him from any mental intrusion.

"What do you think you are waiting for?" Snape sneered. "Show us your mastery over the spells, Potter."

He didn't want to be a part of whatever shit the man was going through, but the promise of answers was tickling his curiosity.

'Act for now, then get the answers.'

With his decision made, Harry didn't wait for any other signal, waving his wand with precision. "Flipendo!"

A red blob of light hurled through the air, more powerful than anything he usually casted wandlessly.

It closed down on Snape in less than a second, though only to be lazily swatted aside with contemptuous ease. "Next."

This time Harry charged the spell with his viciousness, concentrating his killing intent as he spelled. "Diffindo!"

Another red spark of light blasted off towards Snape, even more faster and powerful.

Had the wizard not been ready with a pale blue shield, Harry was sure he could've taken him down. As it was, Snape didn't even have to move as the red spell splashed against his spell uselessly, dissipating right after.

Harry knew the shield spell: Protego. The superior version of his own magical shield.

He so wanted to learn it.

"Good enough, Potter." Snape waved him off with a grunt. "Go sit down. Two points from Gryffindors for being a show-off. And stay after class for your detention. Disrespect is not tolerated in this school."

Harry simply shook his head and took back his place on the desk. The man had better give him some answers later.

"Mate, that was so unfair!" Ron whispered harshly beside him. "You should complain to the headmistress. She likes you, I don't think she'll let this go."

"Quiet, Ron." Harry hushed him. "You cannot argue with a bully. Especially a bully with authority."

"The Dark Arts, are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal." Snape started again, moving to the back of the class. "Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible. Your defenses must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo."

The projector came to life and Snape started their lesson by introducing the various spells they were going to learn. It was a little underwhelming when Harry realized he'd already learned over half of them, while the other half were minor jinx for very specific situations.

Still, Magic was Magic, and he wouldn't reject any spells just because the wizarding world may think them useless.

He'd accepted the fact a long time ago— Wizards were some of the most unimaginative bunch on this planet.

After the class ended, Snape once again told him to stay back.

"Go on, you two." He waved away Ron and Andrea as they looked at him in worry. "I'll be fine."

That didn't seem to assure them but Hermione's ridiculously put logic about Snape being a teacher, and thus, trustworthy, convinced them in the end. The moment they were out of the class, the door suddenly shut off with a bang.

He turned towards the man, wondering if he should just turn and leave.

"One of the reasons for my arrival at this school is to teach you occlumency, Mr. Potter." Snape said without preamble. "I take it you know what that is?"

Harry nodded. "I do. But I don't see why I would ever let any wizard enter my mind."

"Your mind, Mr. Potter," The wizard started as he packed up the class. "Is unique. Something neither the Minister nor I have ever seen."

Finally done with his things, Snape levitated his desk over to sit in front of him. "And we both believe you will gain plenty if you were able to observe your own mind."

"Still don't see why I would ever let any wizard enter my mind."

The man removed a book from his jacket, it's title saying 'The Mind Castle.' "You won't have to."

"The minister, and I, have come to the conclusion that you may be a... natural Occlumens." Snape started, pushing the book to him. "That means your powers are uncontrollable and inconsistent. I shall train you to be competent enough to at least observe what exactly is happening in your mind. Something only you can do for yourself. For your homework, you will read the first three chapters of this book by the day after tomorrow. I have no patience to teach you such basic knowledge. And do not show this to anyone else. The knowledge of occlumency is a closely guarded secret."

Harry took the book from the man's grasp and calmly observed the new ring of system notification.

[Consume the Skill Book: The Mind Castle?]

Nice.

But not sufficient.

"This does not explain your unrequisite hostility," Harry stated, eyes boring into the man.

Snape raised a brow. "I don't recall you ever being an incarnation of respect, Mr. Potter. Why I do remember you calling me...what was it...A greasy bat, perhaps? Hmm?"

Harry frowned, "I was acting, and you know it."

"Well I was acting as well, and I'd wager you knew it." An infuriating smirk curved up on the man.

"My acting had meaning behind it." Harry maintained stubbornly. "Yours was simply to irritate me."

"And why would you assume that?" The wizard asked, standing back up. "I assure you Mr. Potter, I have better things to do than bully some eleven-year-olds."

"Didn't seem like it."

"There's a war coming, Mr. Potter." Snape continued, unhearing of his opinion. "A war, unlike anything the magical world has ever faced."

"Those I actively try to avoid."

"I doubt you will get the chance this time." Snape retorted, leaning down again with eyes grim and grave. "The Dark Lord will come for you, Mr. Potter. He will come for you with a vengeance and an army. Dumbledore believes you to be our savior, I don't. Not because you are not powerful enough, but because you are simply too young. Should you face Lord Voldemort as you are now, you will die. "

Harry nodded slowly, taking his words in with a frown. "What you promised earlier...about what you could teach us...was that real?"

"Every word." The man leaned away, turning around slowly as he broke the eye-contact. "I owe you a huge debt, Mr. Potter. What you went through, no child should ever have. And a part of that reason is me. So, I shall help you become a wizard that may just have a chance to stand up against the Dark Lord. Not because you are our saviour, but because you are your own."

How did he know what Harry went through?

He didn't get to think much as the wizard walked upon the stage again, turning to him with his wand raised. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

This was gonna be interesting.

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AN: Another chapter down. And now you guys know exactly what improved of his system.

So? What do you think? Too op? I felt the perks might be a bit game changing (wink), but nothing that might take away from the story.

Next, let me know your thoughts on Snape as well. His behaviour might seem drastically changed from the last time but there's a reason for it. Something I hinted at pretty starkly.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next one is for MGO on 21, while the next MS chapter is on 27.

Till then stay safe and be happy. I'll see ya lot later. Peace!