The Protagonist System

Time seemed to pass by as we fell into a routine of tutoring classes, having meals with each other and her friends, and Harriet shamelessly enjoying her newly discovered role of cocktease. She was surprisingly good at it, so I never tried to discourage her or made her feel bad about it.

Our evenings were spent relaxing and talking about different things, with her friends visiting at random times to make sure we weren't doing anything against their society's rules. Well, what they assumed were their society's rules. A teen's interpretation of appropriateness was much different than what was usually acceptable by the adults of the previous generation.

If the wizarding world was still based back in the 1800s, then children under 7 were considered unable to commit crimes; but, past that age, they were subjected to legal prosecution and were considered old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. From 7 to 10, they were legally allowed to enter full time jobs and accept apprenticeships, with the upper class entering mandatory school.

By the age of 14, they could choose their own legal guardians and testify in a court of law, and the upper class could enter secondary education. This was significant, since it was the upper class that was relied upon to keep the country safe and the economy running.

From the age of 16 to 20, women were eligible for marriage and men were preparing for their future careers, the lower class replacing their mentors in normal jobs and the upper class learning how to enter politics, military academies, or learning enough to attend university.

By the ripe old age of 21, they were considered adults and fully responsible for their lives. Most were considered experts in their chosen fields and assumed roles that were essential for society to function, no matter what their class was. Also by that point, their life expectancy was only 40 to 50 years, so old age wasn't considered significant until you reached your 60s.

That was another thing. Back then, there was no such thing as retirement. For as long as you lived, you were expected to work, no matter your age or physical condition. This also explained how people like Albus Dumbledore could be well over a hundred years old and possibly senile, and he was still the headmaster of Hogwarts. You usually stayed in your position until you died and had to be replaced.

I had to admit that mentality was outdated, since some jobs couldn't be physically done after a certain age. At least some of the seniors would reduce their roles to advisory ones and only perform light duties, usually to not endanger themselves and those around them. Why couldn't Albus do that?

In any case, the last week in November passed, as did the next two weeks in December. That was when the official announcement of the Yule Ball was made, despite my protests it should have been earlier.

How were people supposed to find appropriate dates in only a week and properly prepare for it? The things they bought way back in the summer, according to their supplies list, might not be usable if they clashed with the outfits the people they choose to attend the ball with.

“Harry?” Harriet asked when we entered the classroom after the breakfast announcement.

“I'd love to... but, I have an idea about it if you're open to it.” I interrupted her before she officially asked and I wouldn't be able to tweak things.

Harriet started to smile and then blanked her face. “What kind of idea?”

I had to chuckle at her suspicion. “It's nothing bad. It's about the rules of not letting younger students attend without an older student asking them.”

Harriet's face showed flickers of emotions before she sighed. “What's your idea?”

“I don't want to leave Luna out of this, even if her father would probably ask her along to make sure she could attend with him.” I said and Harriet's eyes widened. “My suggestion is that I ask Luna and you ask Greg, to attend as friends, then we switch dates as soon as we enter the Great Hall.”

Harriet's face changed to sadness. “Don't... don't you want to open the ball with me?”

Crap. I thought and walked over to her and hugged her. I had forgotten that the champions didn't enter the hall until everyone else did and they had the first dance in front of everyone. Inadvertently asking her do that with someone she didn't even know, was a bit too much for her to casually accept to get around the rules. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that.”

Harriet didn't outright cry, even though she took several shaky breaths as if fighting not to.

“I thought we could skirt the rules to let Luna bring a date as well.” I said and rubbed her back to comfort her. “It would have worked if you weren't a champion, because no one would have questioned it.”

“If I... show up with... some random kid on my arm... in front of the whole school...” Harriet said between breaths.

“I know, I know.” I said and sighed myself. “Can you forget that I said anything? I shouldn't have interrupted you asking, anyway. That was a mistake and I'm really sorry.”

“How... how sorry are you?” Harriet asked.

“There aren't enough words in the English language to express how sorry I am.” I responded.

“Then try French.” Harriet said and looked up at me with an expectant look on her face.

“Je suis désolé.” I told her.

“Spanish.” Harriet prompted.

“Lo lamento.” I said.

“Italian.” Harriet prompted again.

“Mi dispiace.” I responded.

“Swedish.” Harriet said with a smile on her face.

“Jag är ledsen.” I answered.

“Romanian?” Harriet asked, her smile widening to a grin.

“Îmi pare rău.” I said and my smile matched hers.

“Hungarian?” Harriet asked with a chuckle.

“Sajnálom.” I answered and chuckled.

“Sw-Swahili.” Harriet said and laughed.

“Samahani.” I said and laughed, too.

“Y-Y-Yiddish!” Harriet said and laughed pretty hard.

“Ikh... bin... nebekhdik.” I responded and kept laughing.

We both laughed for a little while and eventually calmed down. I walked her over to the couch and sat her down, then knelt on the floor in front of her and took her hand. I didn't say anything and just knelt there and waited for her to decide if she wanted to ask me again. Harriet knew what I was doing and she made me wait for a full minute before she opened her mouth.

“Harry, will you be my date to the Yule Ball?” Harriet asked.

“Yes!” I gasped and she laughed. “A million times, yes.”

Harriet nodded and leaned forward with her lips puckered. I met them with my own and she let out a cute sound as she opened her mouth and used her tongue to probe a little, which I returned without hesitation. She broke the kiss after a few seconds with a slightly red and happy face.

“You need to help me transfigure the bland robes Mrs. Weasley bought for me.” Harriet said. “Apparently, I'm a champion and can't be seen wearing basic dress robes like everyone else.”

That comment made me laugh. “You've been listening to Lavender and her new friends, the Patils?”

Harriet blushed and nodded. “I'm sure they were speaking loudly on purpose, just so I would hear them.” She said and paused for a moment. “Despite being so obvious, they're not wrong.”

“No, they aren't.” I agreed. “We'll look at the robes and can decide what color goes best with your skin tone and hair color. After that, I'd say a few temporary copies of the robes to transfigure them to find a good style for you to wear, then we'll change the original into that style and make it permanent.”

Harriet smiled and nodded, just as a knock came from the door. She looked surprised and I held in my sigh at who was there. She saw my expression and tilted her head to give me a questioning look.

“It's Hermione.” I said and Harriet's face went blank. We had been avoiding her ever since she tried to badger us into giving her the same competency tests that Harriet took to reassure herself that she was retaining the information I was tutoring her with. She always passed with flying colors and it made her very happy every time.

The knock came again and seemed more insistent this time.

“You don't have to answer.” I said and she sighed, so I made a different offer. “I can take the hit for you.”

“No, it's time I faced this situation by myself.” Harriet said and stood, gave my hand a squeeze, and let it go. “Stand off to the side there... no, use my cloak. She's definitely going to storm in here and see if you're here, too.”

I nodded and went to her bedroom and grabbed the cloak that was hung up by the dressing cabinet. I walked back into the living room and slipped it on as I stood behind the door. Harriet nodded at the good spot and opened the door just as Hermione went to knock again.

“What do you want now?” Harriet asked, her tone exasperated.

Hermione looked surprised and then squinted her eyes, then she stormed into the room and her head swivelled around as she looked for something, which I assumed was me, and she visibly relaxed at not finding me.

“I finally found you alone.” Hermione said and turned to face Harriet.

“That doesn't sound ominous or anything.” Harriet said and closed the door. “Please come in and make yourself at home.”

Hermione's face went red at the rebuke. “I just wanted to make sure...”

“What do you want, Hermione?” Harriet asked and crossed her arms under her chest.

“You've been avoiding me and I want to know why.” Hermione responded.

“Because you won't stop asking Harry to give you the same tests he gives me.” Harriet answered. “Every time we appear for a meal or go for a walk out on the grounds, you're there bugging us! Every time!”

Hermione really blushed at that. “I just want to compare...”

“You can't take the same tests.” Harriet interrupted. “We've told you this already! Why do you keep pestering us over it?”

Hermione's back straightened. “There's no test I can't pass, Harry. I'm the smartest witch of our age! Even Professor Lupin said so, and he was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had.”

“I think you let that title go to your head.” Harriet said and Hermione sucked in a sharp breath. “Being the smartest teenager isn't that big of a deal, considering most of our professors are in their 60s and have many more decades of learning than you do.”

Hermione looked like she had been slapped in the face. “H-Harry, you... you can't mean that.”

Harriet gave her a pointed look, then uncrossed her arms and walked across the living room and went to the coffee table. She dug through the small stack of papers there and waved her hand at it to vanish the answers and the perfect score I had put on it.

“Alright, then. Go ahead, Hermione. Pass this test without any training in the materials or the subject matter.” Harriet said and turned around as she held the piece of parchment out to Hermione. “Well, take it. I'm sure you have a quill and ink in your bag, like always. You have half an hour to complete it.”

Hermione gained a confident look on her face and took the piece of parchment. She walked over to the coffee table and sat down, set her bag down as well, and dug out a quill and ink bottle. She dipped the quill into the ink and poised her hand over the test and read the first question. Her hand didn't move and she read the question again.

A drop of ink fell onto the parchment and Hermione stared at the Transfiguration question about Switching spells. If you switched ears with a rabbit, would you still hear normally or like the rabbit? She had no answer for it and wasn't discouraged, so she read the next question and her brain almost stuttered as the subject matter changed from Transfiguration to Ancient Runes and it asked what the proper sequence was to decipher the problem.

Another drop of ink fell as her hand didn't move and she read the next question, that one was from Defense Against the Dark Arts about the color of the Organ Rotting Curse and what spell to use to deflect it. Hermione read on and on, each question delving into information she hadn't even heard of, let alone could make any kind of guess at the answers.

“Well, time's up.” Harriet said, well before the half hour limit, and plucked the parchment off of the coffee table and looked at it, as if she was assessing how to mark the answers Hermione had given to her.

“W-wait, I... I just need a bit more time.” Hermione said and didn't try to take the test back.

“Well, it seems you were unable to answer a single question on the test and didn't even sign your name, Miss Granger.” Harriet sneered in a fair imitation of Professor Snape. “I believe that has earned you the failing grade of Troll.”

Hermione's face paled and she felt faint. She had never once earned a failing grade, ever.

“I think she gets the point.” I said and took off the cloak as I walked over to Harriet.

“I don't think she does.” Harriet said and put the blank paper back down on the coffee table in front of Hermione. “She's studied ahead, always has, and she didn't know these answers.”

“H-Harry...” Hermione whispered.

“The answer to the first question is a trick. You actually hear less than normal, because your brain isn't wired to hear through rabbit ears. The second question can only be answered if you use Elder Futhark, and it's E,R,T, L, and W.” Harriet said. “As for the color of the Organ Rotting Curse, it's orange and you use Protego to deflect it.”

Hermione sat there on the couch and listened as Harriet answered every single question. For some reason, Hermione knew that she was right about the answers, too. The were too specific and exact to be lies and she mentally noted them all to remember them. They would serve her well in the future and she would always look back on this moment and regretted how she had acted.

“So, smartest witch of your age, what do you have to say for yourself?” Harriet asked her.

Hermione picked up her bag and stood she she tucked the quill and ink bottle away. “I think I liked the shy girl that used to hide behind me a lot more than the arrogant witch that enjoys humiliating people.”

Harriet gasped and it was her turn to feel like she had been slapped.

“You're confusing humiliating someone to humbling them.” I interjected and placed a reassuring hand on Harriet's shoulder. “Harriet has taught you a very valuable lesson about your own arrogance over how smart you think you are.”

Hermione glared at me. “And you think that wasn't humiliating for me?”

I had to smile at that. “No, because we aren't in the Great Hall or in the Hogwarts Library right now, are we?”

Both of them gasped this time and Hermione's face flushed red.

“This was a lesson for you alone, so what you take from it is up to you.” I told her. “I suggest you rethink how you want to behave from now on, or you are going to become a very lonely person in the near future.”

Hermione huffed and slung her bag over her shoulder and walked around me. “You're only a tutor. You have no authority in this school and can't dictate what happens to me.”

Harriet tried to turn around to say something to her, only my hand on her shoulder stopped her. She gave me a pleading look and I shook my head. The door closed and I let out a sigh.

“Why did you stop me from warning her?” Harriet asked. “If she keeps up with the attitude...”

“I already warned her about that. She just assumed it would be me that stopped others from approaching her to be her friend.” I said and let her shoulder go. “She'll find out soon enough that it's her own behavior that will keep her alone and not anything I could possibly do to her.”

Harriet sighed as well and looked down at the test. “I can take that again if you need me to.”

I chuckled and waved at it, restoring it to what it had been. “You just took the makeup test orally, so you passed it with flying colors. Again.”

Harriet smiled and picked it up, admired it just as she had the first time she completed it, then she put it back onto the small stack. “So, target practice?”

“Target practice.” I agreed and we left the room and went down into the Chamber of Secrets to have another practical lesson.

Harriet had a lot of magic to use now and her comprehension had risen appropriately with her skills in spellcasting. It wouldn't be long before she was ready for her OWLs and possibly NEWTs. With how fast Harriet was picking everything up, my plans to have Luna learn at the same pace after February was going to have to change.

That was okay, though. Even after that encounter with Hermione, Harriet was quite happy about her progress and she secretly loved that she always had my sole attention when I was tutoring her. She had been a little worried that Hermione would demand to be included in her lessons and Harriet felt relief that Hermione hadn't even thought about it.

What I wouldn't tell her was that was why I had make those specific points to Hermione at the end, just so she would intentionally avoid me to stop me from ostracizing her from the other girls in her year. Was it sneaky? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably. Harriet couldn't tease me properly if there was anyone else in the room, after all.

I made myself shiver slightly when Harriet claimed to be too hot after a few spells and opened her top to show off some cleavage. The wicked smile she gave me when she thought I couldn't see her, made me laugh inside.

Neither of us could have guessed that she would enjoy doing like things like that, at least until it happened. Now she really looked forward to finding both appropriate and inappropriate times to do so, the little minx.

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