Chapter 12: 12 Confirming Things

The flying lesson was extremely disappointing for Harry. Madam Hooch wouldn't allow any extra movements, even for those students that had previous experience. The brooms were almost 20 years old and their charms were failing. Harry tried to point this out to her and she snapped at him and shouted that they had what they had and he would just have to deal with it like everyone else.

Harry gave her a blank look and thought about showing off, even if it would get him in trouble, then realized he didn't care what she thought of him. When she ordered everyone to stand beside a broom and command it to jump into their hands, he stayed where he was and refused as he stated her previous statement about dealing with it, by not endangering himself.

You have lost Reputation with Rolanda Hooch.

The look of contempt on Hooch's face was appropriate, considering her harsh hawk-like appearance. “I believe that will be a detention for you, Mister Bones.”

“What are you going to make me do? Not fly on a dangerous broom? I'm already doing that and that's worthy of a detention.” Harry said and everyone stared at him.

“I think spending the rest of the day and evening servicing and polishing all of the school's brooms will suffice as a proper punishment.” Hooch said.

Harry wasn't sure why he said what he said next. It just seemed appropriate. “You can clean and polish crap all you want; but, by the end of the day, it's still crap.”

“Harry!” Padma gasped and blushed from embarrassment.

You have lost Reputation with Rolanda Hooch.

Hooch glared at him. “I believe you and I need to visit your Head of House for being so disrespectful to a professor.”

“Madam Hooch, if I was being disrespectful, I would remind you that you are only a coach and not an actual professor, which means you do not have the authority to give me a detention.” Harry said. He did not tell her that the blue box above her head stated so.

You have lost Reputation with Rolanda Hooch.

Padma slapped a hand over her own face and didn't comment. Everyone else didn't have that problem and were muttering loudly.

Madam Hooch looked murderous. “Everyone stay on the ground while I take Mister Bones to his Head of House.” She said in an icy tone. “If I see one foot off of the ground, I will see you expelled from Hogwarts.”

Harry barely managed to not say she didn't have that authority or wondered what would happen if she saw two feet off the ground. He also didn't comment that he had a foot off of the ground with every step he took, because he was sure she would do something even worse than berate him for wanting to stay safe.

The trip to Flitwick's office was a quick one and the short man kept his face blank as Hooch yelled at him about his disrespectful student and what she had endured from him. It took her ten minutes to calm down enough to stop gesturing, then she crossed her arms and glared at Harry.

“Mister Bones, may I hear your side, please.”

Harry had nearly perfect recall, so he relayed exactly what had transpired, what was said, and the context in which it was taken. He stated clearly that he wanted to remain safe and riding on a failing boom was not going to allow that, even after he had warned her of the danger.

Flitwick looked conflicted, because Hooch's rendition was much different than Harry's was. Unlike Hooch, Harry was calm and spoke truthfully. That put the small man into a pickle and he decided to accept responsibility for it.

“Mister Bones, you were disrespectful in some of your comments and that cannot stand. I will assume authority over your detention...”

“Excuse me?!?” Hooch gasped.

“...and I will triple it.” Flitwick said and saw Hooch nod. “My classroom and office have been getting extremely dusty and dirty. A lengthy three day cleaning should be sufficient to deal with the problem.”

Harry looked from Flitwick to Hooch and knew Flitwick was the better option. Cleaning those brooms wouldn't make them fly safely and was just a waste of time. “Yes, professor. I understand.”

“Good.” Flitwick said. “Madam Hooch, I apologize on my student's behalf. If you wish to suspend him from his lessons with you for a couple of weeks, I will approve it.”

Hooch looked thoughtful. “He will have to work that much harder when he returns.”

“I'm sure he won't disappoint you.” Flitwick said.

“Three weeks. His next lesson will be in October.” Hooch said with satisfaction.

“Very well.” Flitwick nodded. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Ronalda.”

“You're welcome, Filius.” Hooch said and left the office without looking at Harry.

Flitwick sighed and rubbed a hand over his face before he flicked his wand at the door to silence it. “Would you care to explain why you acted like that?”

Harry startled and quickly checked the previous popups to see that his Supreme Actor skill had automatically engaged with 'Petulant Aristocrat'. He hadn't noticed and he thought about trying to figure out how to toggle the popups on and off, or better yet, only when he wanted to see them and not all the time.

“I don't know, sir. Just her dismissive attitude when I mentioned the brooms being dangerous, her saying it didn't matter and that I had to ride them anyway, just made me not care about what she thought about me and I responded appropriately.”

Flitwick sighed again. “You will not make many friends if you keep that attitude.”

“I know, sir. Look at the Slytherins. Their only friends are those within their years and barely even that. I doubt they would associate with anyone they think is below them, let alone be friendly with them.”

Flitwick nodded. “I hope you won't be brought to me again about something like this.”

“Is there something specific you need cleaned, professor?” Harry asked with a smile.

Flitwick chuckled. “I do have some interesting books here in my office that are very dusty. Shall we get to it?”

Harry nodded and the pair went to the large bookshelf at the side of the room and started flicking their wands at the books and removed all of the dust and cast repair charms, then they levitated several volumes of them over to the professor's desk to start perusing them. They started chatting about Charm Theory and Flitwick was only a little surprised that Harry could keep up with the conversation.

He really is a prodigy as Miss Patil claimed. Flitwick thought.

They continued talking and reading the books and occasionally took breaks to clean the office with more spells, just to keep up the pretense that Flitwick actually needed a student's help to clean. He was a Charms Master and could clean the entire room with a single flick of his wand, if he wanted to. He didn't because he wanted to get to know the brilliant young man that had been wronged so badly by the headmaster.

It was such a pity that the boy had almost no connection to his birth name or his birth parents and had no desire to change that.

*

Astronomy at midnight was another study in redundancy. If you could memorize the main star chart in the book and the simple formulas and calculations the book provided for you, you didn't need a telescope to figure out what could be seen in the night sky. Harry was glad that he hadn't had the chance to go to muggle London to shop for a more modern telescope, because it would have been a waste of time and money.

When he was handed a sheet to fill out for the next week's class, he did one better and marked down everything he had seen in the sky and not the five major constellations, moon, and North Star that the assignment required. His writing speed was phenomenal as well, so by the time everyone had packed up their telescopes, he handed the completely filled in sheet to the handsome and dark-skinned Professor Septima Vector.

“If I hadn't seen you fill this out, I would have accused you of cheating, Mister Bones.” Septima said.

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“Why else would I do it in front of you?” Harry asked her and waved his wand at his telescope to shrink it and put it back into his pocket. “Goodnight, professor.”

Septima nodded to him and watched as he left with a happy Padma Patil on his arm.

“How was detention?” Padma asked when they reached the ground floor.

“Flitwick took it over and I have to do it for two more days.” Harry admitted as they walked through several castle hallways towards Ravenclaw tower.

“What? Why?” Padma asked, a little scandalized.

“He wanted to placate Hooch and also give me more material to study from his personal library.” Harry said with a smile.

Padma laughed and hugged his arm. “That's a move worthy of a Slytherin.” She said and rested her head on his shoulder. “That was nice of him.”

“It really was.” Harry said as they reached the spiral staircase for their tower. “Can you help me search for something nice to do for him?”

Padma's eyes almost lit up. “I would be delighted to help you do research, Harry!”

Harry smiled and they went up to the tower just behind the rest of the Ravenclaws and someone in front knocked on the eagle head knocker.

“You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn't a single person on board. How is this possible?”

Everyone fell silent and Harry chuckled, because he knew the answer.

“They're all married.” Harry said and held up a one carat diamond ring in front of Padma. “Will you marry me?”

“Correct.” The eagle said and the door clicked open just as Padma fainted.

*

Padma opened her eyes sometime later and blinked at all of the concerned faces around her. Her eyes easily found Harry and he was right beside their Head of House, Professor Flitwick.

“I told you she was fine.” Harry said.

“Says the guy that proposes after the door's riddle about married people.” Terry Boot said.

“It was the perfect opportunity.” Harry said. “Plus, she asked me yesterday and I kissed her in response. I couldn't leave it at that and had to make it official.”

“I... Harry, I need to... send a letter to my parents and...” Padma stammered.

“I know. You've told me enough about your beliefs and I respect them. I just wanted you to know I was just as serious in accepting as you were when you offered.”

“R-r-really?” Padma asked, surprised.

Harry didn't tell her that his system already considered them engaged and had prompted him several times to make it official. “I appreciate sincerity and devotion, Padma. I can tell the difference between someone joking around and someone who genuinely spoke from the heart.”

Padma blinked her eyes several times. “I... well, I... can I wear the ring anyway if my parents refuse?”

That made nearly all of the girls in Ravenclaw house giggle and laugh.

Harry took out the ring again and whistles and several comments came from everyone. “You'll have to wait until I find out who teaches Ancient Runes and train up a bit before I can enchant it for you.”

“You want to talk to Bathsheba Babbling.” Flitwick said and watched as Harry put the much too large ring on the girl's finger.

Harry waved his wand at it and the band shrunk while the diamond stayed large. “Thanks for telling me, sir. I'll look for her tomorrow during my free period.”

“Don't be discouraged if she won't talk to you right away. She has little patience for people wasting her time.” Flitwick warned him.

“I'll be sure to make a good impression, professor.” Harry said.

Flitwick nodded and pat Padma's shoulder. “Stay laying on the divan for another few minutes. If you feel dizzy after that, send someone for the hospital wing's matron.”

“Yes, professor.” Padma said and everyone spread out and went to do their own thing as Flitwick left the common room. She looked at the large diamond on her finger. “Is this really happening?”

“If you want it to.” Harry said and sat down beside her head.

Padma wasn't going to pass the opportunity up and moved over enough to rest her head on his lap. She tried to not blush at being so bold and blushed anyway at the look on Harry's face as he looked down at her and used a hand to pet her hair.

They stayed like that for nearly half an hour before Padma felt really tired. Harry saw her drifting off to sleep and quietly called to the fifth year female prefect, Penelope Clearwater, to bring Padma to her bed for him. He watched them both go up the stairs and then went into the Ravenclaw library. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to finish going through them by Saturday night to sort them by Sunday morning.

*

Transfiguration class the next morning was a repeat of the last class, with the students working by themselves and Minerva staring at Harry's conjured chair.

At least she moved it to the front of the room and out of the way. Harry thought as he and Padma went around the classroom to help their fellow students. By the end of class, everyone had successfully cast the beetle to button spell at least once.

Herbology was next and Harry was declared Pomona's helper and it was his job to make sure the others didn't hurt themselves with the plants they were dealing with. Harry did not miss the gleam in her eyes when she handed him a bag of dragon dung fertilizer to hand out and she whispered 'Weasleys' in his ear.

Lunch was outside with Parvati and Lavender again, both of whom gushed over Padma's ring. The letter to Padma's parents had gone out that morning, as did the one to Amelia. Susan had found out in Transfiguration and she formally greeted Padma as a sister-in-law, which made both of them happy.

Harry wasn't sure why they were both okay with it, considering Padma was right about marriage being illegal without parental consent. When he asked, being engaged didn't violate the law, even if they were severely underage.

After lunch was Charms and Flitwick gave Harry a much different worksheet than the other students. His was for a sixth year and Harry went through the review questions fairly easily. There was a tricky question about the differences in charming a pixie and charming a fairy, so he had to use one of Flitwick's reference books to look it up.

Unlike skill books and level up books, reference books were pure reading and could only be learned the long way. Harry's Speed Reading Skill was levelling up like crazy, too. The book was several inches thick and the size of a small coffee table. Harry found the answer he needed, finished the sheet, and handed it back to a grinning Flitwick.

Harry left Padma with her sister and Lavender before he went to the Ancient Runes classroom. He had a quest to try and complete and he hoped he could unlock all of those skill and level books for Ancient Runes that were just sitting in his inventory and in the Ravenclaw library.

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