The Protagonist System

Harriet kind of liked the expression on her tutor's face the next morning as they walked to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was pretty sure her actions the night before had given him a taste of how good it could be when he finally decided she was ready for it.

Unfortunately, she couldn't use their petition to the Ministry to declare her an adult as an excuse, since Harry had been right and it had been immediately denied. Of course, this also gave Rita Skeeter more ammunition to tear into the administration for forcing Harriet to compete and she wasn't even allowed to claim to be an adult in a competition they had decided was only for adults.

Mind you, the pictures of her doing magic anyway, despite not being allowed a wand, had caused an immediate sensation among the students and the professors. She could only imagine what the public thought about the whole thing, though. If it had been up to her, no one would have known about it or seen her doing anything.

Considering she was officially a champion and had to perform in front of the entire school, there was no way for her to hide it. She had also succeeded in the task and scored the highest score among her fellow competitors; but, she hadn't witnessed them doing their tasks and had only seen the aftermath.

Fleur had been fine, as was Victor. Cedric on the other hand, she had seen the two potions Harry had slipped to Madam Pomfrey and wondered what they were. Well, she had been too preoccupied the night before to ask about them and after a good night's sleep, the question almost burned in her mind to find out the answer.

“I know what you're going to ask and it was a simple pain relief potion with some viritiaserum mixed in, and the other was a health potion.” Harry said to her in the Entrance Hall and they both stopped walking and stepped to the side to let others walk by them.

“A health potion?” Harriet asked, confused. As far as she knew, no such potion existed.

Harry smiled. “It's a secret potion I invented. Don't tell Snape or he'll try to steal the credit.”

Harriet let out a soft laugh and then smiled as she saw Daphne Greengrass approach. She had her sister Astoria with her and her friend Tracey Davis was beside them.

“I heard you mention Professor Snape.” Daphne said and they stepped aside to let some of their housemates pass them by and enter the Great Hall. “It's such a shame, isn't it?”

“What is?” Harriet asked.

All three girls had wide eyes.

“You haven't heard? No, of course you haven't.” Daphne said. “After he shocked all of us by applauding your performance...”

Harriet felt shock at that and Astoria laughed at the expression on her face.

“...when the task ended, his cloak caught on a bench and he tripped over his own feet and fell over the top railing of the stands.” Daphne told her.

Harriet gasped and covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh, no! Is he okay?”

“Okay?” Tracey asked, surprised. “He fell head first down a hundred feet onto solid ground.”

Harriet's face paled. “N-no... no, that... it's not possible. He could do magic and...”

“He didn't have his wand out and he can't cast without one, just like the rest of us.” Daphne said and gave Harriet a pointed stare. “Unlike you, apparently.”

Harriet missed that last comment as she tried to come to grips with the fact that Severus Snape, the man whom hated her with a passion and she hated right back, was now dead from an accident that was easily preventable. An Impediment jinx, a cushioning charm, or even a simple Wingardium Leviosa would have saved the man's life.

“I thought you hated him?” Astoria asked.

“I do... I did... and the man hated me right back.” Harriet answered and hugged herself. “That doesn't mean I wanted him dead.”

Daphne, Tracey, and Astoria weren't sure what to make of that, since they all thought Harriet would be happy to be rid of the menace that tormented her at every opportunity.

“Let's go inside and eat. The morning edition of the newspaper should be arriving soon.” Harry said and ushered them all into the Great Hall and they walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down as a group. They were all greeted with nods and small waves, as if they were all Slytherins.

No sooner had they started eating that Harry's words came true. A parliament of owls entered through the enchanted windows near the ceiling and spread across the entire Great Hall to deliver the mail and the newspapers.

“Rita's earned the front page again.” Tracey commented and started reading as she ate her porridge that was more sugar than oats.

“...and second and third.” Astoria said and flipped through the first few pages. “...and she has follow-up articles on pages 6 and 7.”

Silence fell around them as everyone read about the various things happening and Harriet sat there reading the obituaries as her mind whirled about Snape dying and she hadn't known about it. She had done that thing last night to Harry while Snape's body was being quietly sent to St. Mungo's to be processed. He had no family or friends, so he would be buried without ceremony.

“It's not your fault or your responsibility.” Harry whispered to her and took the newspaper from her hands and folded it to tuck under his plate. “Now eat and don't worry about things that are far beyond your control. You have enough to be getting on with without adding other people's misery to your own.”

Harriet blinked her eyes at him and wondered how he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“Despite what people think you are, they don't realize you are one of the most caring people they could ever meet.” Harry whispered and Harriet blushed. “It's why you miss your friends so much, even if they usually belittled or ignored the things you were going through.”

Harriet nodded and looked down to see a full plate of food in front of her.

“Eat now and worry later. We won't start the real tutoring until tomorrow.” Harry advised and she silently agreed and started eating.

By the time she was full, Harriet actually did feel better about everything. She was sure the tournament articles would be sensationalized to the point of ridiculousness and she decided she didn't have to read them. The article about Snape stuck with her, though. How could someone be so hate-filled that he had no one else in his life? Wasn't he lonely all the time? How could he live like that?

That question made Harriet feel embarrassed, because she hadn't ever thought about Snape's circumstances or why he was always bitter and resented her. Could it have been her fault? Was she the cause of the man's solitude?

He was a loyal Death Eater. Harry's voice said in her head and she wasn't sure if it was a memory of him saying it to her at some point or if it was something she was sure he would say if she mentioned her doubts. His welfare is not your responsibility.

Harriet nodded absently and turned to look at Harry. “I think I'd rather start learning now instead of waiting until tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? I thought you would need some time to...” Harry started to say.

“No, I need something to do to keep my mind off of everything, especially that.” Harriet said and stood. “Please, Harry.”

Harry nodded and stood as well. “We'll stop by my room to grab the materials I need and we'll claim an abandoned classroom near our rooms.”

“I'll help clean up before you start the lessons.” Harriet offered.

Harry nodded and motioned towards the doors to leave the Great Hall. “After you, Lady Potter.”

“Thank you.” Harriet said and smiled at her friends. “I'll see you later.”

“Have fun with the hunk!” Tracey said suggestively.

Harriet immediately remembered what she had licked last night and she tried to hide how much she wanted to do it again to see Harry's reaction. She walked away from the table and missed the surprise on Tracey's face and the wide eyes from both Daphne and Astoria.

It didn't take long to gather the books Harry had bought for Harriet, since they were all inside a single expanded trunk, and they went to the closest classroom that was full of dust and cobwebs. A few waves of Harriet's hand vanished the dust and she gathered the cobwebs into a large ball, then she wondered what to do with it.

Harry chuckled and waved his own hand at it and it vanished, too. “We'll work on your visualization later. Cobwebs might look more substantial than dust; but, it's only ounces in weight and is easily vanished as well.”

Harriet nodded and chose one of the better desks and used a repair spell on it and fixed it right up with only a single cast. Harry had been right about that, too. Once she knew that she could do it, after absently doing so on a target during practice without realizing she was doing it, it was much easier for her to choose to do it again and get the same result.

When Harriet lifted her gaze from the desk to show off how well it came out, all of the other desks had been repaired and stacked off to the side, as were all of the chairs except for one. “Showoff.”

Harry laughed and pulled the teacher's desk out of the corner and set it right in front of the desk she repaired and it transformed from half-beaten and falling apart into a solid wood desk that should last decades and it gleamed as if it was freshly polished. He hopped up and sat on the top of it and motioned to the damaged chair.

Harriet cast a repair spell on it and it was fixed, so she picked it up and put it behind her repaired desk and sat down. “What are we doing first, professor?”

Harry shook his head. “I'm only your tutor, not a professor. You can call me sir or Harry when I'm teaching.”

Harriet nodded. “Then what are we doing first, sir?”

“Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Harry said and took out the shrunken trunk and enlarged it to place on the desk beside him. He opened it and pulled out one of the larger tomes Harriet had chosen from Flourish and Blotts. “By the end of the lesson, you'll be able to recognize a lot of these spells from their casting times alone and you should be able to identify the rest, since they have distinct colors and have silent incantations.”

Harriet perked up at that and Harry handed her the book.

“You'll need some ink and parchment for this part.” Harry said and created a chalkboard out of nothing and a piece of chalk wrote out the name of the very controversial spell without him moving his hand. “We can get into the history of the spell's creation later. For now, you need to know what Fiendfyre looks like, how long it takes to cast, and what effects it has on both inanimate objects and on people.”

Harriet was entranced as Harry explained what she needed to know about the dangerous spell that was a favorite one that was used by some of Voldemort's more fervent and insane followers. The most important part she learned was how to fight against it and that if she could distract the caster, she could potentially wrest control of it and cut off its source of magic.

By the time lunch arrived, Harriet was almost an expert on how to deal with the world's most deadliest magical fire. She couldn't conjure it herself, since she didn't have that much hate and negative emotions inside of her. However, she could control the small bits of it that Harry brought into being for her. She also filed away that he had absolutely no trouble casting it as many times as necessary for her to practice.

They had a very enjoyable lunch together, thanks to Dobby being the best house elf. Harriet laughed at Harry's jokes and even made a couple of her own, because she had completely forgotten about the tournament, Snape's untimely death, and the hubbub over her doing magic without a wand.

What Harriet couldn't forget about was wanting to do naughty things to Harry to make him squirm. There was just something satisfying about her little self being able to reduce the large muscular man into a wiggly and nervous wreck with just a few touches and knowing looks.

Oh, and a little cleavage reveal she claimed was because she was a little warm under her robes and had to open her top. The little bead of sweat that formed on Harry's forehead had really made Harriet secretly happy, because she knew it was her that had put it there as he struggled to not ravish her like she wanted him to.

Dobby cleaned up the dishes and Harriet and Harry moved back over to the desks. Harriet sat on the chair demurely and watched as Harry tried to sit normally on the desk, only he hissed and had to adjust himself, then he had to sit almost sidesaddle to hide his prominent erection from her.

That put a smile on her face and Harriet enjoyed the next lesson on the Protego shield spell and the modification to block physical objects. She knew that was going to be very useful in the future and eagerly learned all she could about it.

*

Luna was in a similar boat as she thoroughly enjoyed learning the accelerated course materials that Harry had given to her and Greg. The boy she had lessons with wasn't from a magical family and wanted to avoid all the stupid pureblood hatred for muggleborns, so he chose tutoring and registering as homeschooled instead of going to Hogwarts.

The best part about that was they could take the OWLs whenever they wanted. They weren't age restricted like the students at Hogwarts were and didn't have to wait until the end of fifth year to take them. Why was it like that? Because a lot of older students and even full adults could take their OWLs again if they blew them the first time or needed certain ones to apply for a different job.

Greg was also a lot of fun and shared her interests. He even showed her evidence of weird creatures she had never seen before, which made her hope for the future blossom and grow. She knew her creatures were also out there somewhere and she was determined to find them, just so she could prove to her old bullies that they were wrong and that she was right and had always been right.

If the prepared lesson plan was right, then both Luna and Harriet could take the OWLs together at the end of the year, which was her third and Harriet's fourth. How could that work? Harry was a genius that knew exactly what the tests had on them and those parts were the only essential lessons he had given to them. The rest of the curriculum was all interesting subjects and balanced everything out.

It really was the best schooling Luna had ever had, even the imaginary one she had pretended she attended instead of Hogwarts. How was that possible? She had no clue. All she really wanted was to keep having the best time of her life with a good friend, visit as many magical creatures as she could, and become one of the best magizoologists in the world.

*

Hermione sat in the common room after classes let out for the day and started on her homework. As she worked, she still couldn't believe that Harriet had ignored her when she had tried to apologize for everything. Just because she had succeeded in the first task, that didn't give the girl the right to ignore her friends and insult them by not listening to them when they wanted to talk to her.

“She was right, wasn't she?” Lavender asked.

Hermione stopped writing the essay for Transfiguration and looked at her. “What?”

“Harriet. She was right about us.” Lavender said.

Hermione gave her a confused look. “I don't follow what you mean.”

Lavender sighed and gave her a sad look. “I was always the pretty and bubbly one that had all the attention and you were the smart one that we all use to do our work for us.”

Hermione didn't see anything wrong with that, since she liked being useful. “So what?”

“What did Harriet do? What was her role?” Lavender asked and Hermione still looked confused. “If I was the pretty one and you were the smart one, what was Harry?”

“I... I don't know.” Hermione answered.

“Right, she was just there and didn't do anything to bring attention to herself.” Lavender said. “We completely ignored that she was literally hiding from everyone's attention and was using us as a smoke screen. Only someone that wanted to get to know her for who she was would even dare come near us.”

Hermione blinked her eyes at her. “Which no one did.”

“Not after the first few times we rebuffed some of the worst fangirls.” Lavender responded. “Once we established our protection of her, it's been nice and quiet and no one's tried to worm their way into her life to gain her friendship. Or ours.”

Hermione was stunned to hear that. She hadn't done anything to stop people from approaching her for friendship, she just didn't really have a lot of time with all the work she did and the various adventures Harriet was usually dragged into and also dragged her and Lavender into.

That was when she realized she had a lot more free time this year and had actually gotten ahead in her studies. Despite her worry over Harriet and the tournament, she wasn't feeling any scholastic pressure and also wasn't babysitting the girl to make sure she did her work on time.

“I think I'm going to go talk to the Patil Twins from Ravenclaw.” Lavender said and stood. “Parvati has some fashion sense and I think we might have more in common than a good choice of make-up options.”

Hermione watched as the bubbly girl almost bounced across the common room. She did not miss that almost every boy from their year and higher also watched the girl. That was when she knew Lavender was right. Harriet had used the both of them to hide in plain sight, which was why Hermione hadn't noticed how pretty she was. Harriet hadn't wanted to be noticed or wanted to stand out.

Of course, this train of thought made Hermione wonder what Harriet's actual test scores would be if she hadn't been hiding her intelligence behind Hermione's own. After a moment, she went back to work and promised herself to ask Harriet's tutor what he was testing her on and if she could see what kind of scores she herself would have for the same kind of tests.

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