Wandless - A Harry Potter Fanfic 24 Chapter 6 - Teacher And Apprentice

"They're arguing whether I'll die or not," Vincent raised an eyebrow, "Divination cla.s.s, teacher saw a Grim, a black dog of death in my teapot, says I'll die, and now Ron and Hermione are arguing whether it's real or not."

Vincent glanced back at the two before asking Harry, "So what do you believe?"

"There's a lot of things that have wanted to kill me during the past few years," Harry said, "I've been pretty lucky so far. Maybe it'll run out, or maybe it won't."

"You'll be fine," Vincent rea.s.sured with Harry giving nod in thanks.

"Divinations always seemed a bit off to me," Arnya muttered making Hermione turn to her suddenly.

"I know right?!" Hermione agreed as she started speaking to Arnya with enthusiasm about the her views on Divination. Arnya looked to Vincent for help only for him to shrug with helplessness.

"She's just mad because the Professor there told her that she wasn't suited for it," Ron grumbled, "probably the first time she was told she wasn't good at something."

Vincent and Harry wisely chose not to say anything.

Hagrid was waiting outside his hut, looking nervous but also excited at the same time.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the cla.s.s approached, "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside an empty paddock.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called, "That's it—make sure yeh can see—now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books—"

"How?" said the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy. Vincent sighed as he looked at the rest of the cla.s.s, only now noticing Malfoy and the group of Slytherins.

"Eh?" said Hagrid.

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Hasn'—hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.

The cla.s.s all shook their heads before hearing a voice of amazement.

"Vincent, how'd you get yours open?" Hermione asked.

The rest of the cla.s.s looked towards Vincent who blinked, "I pet it."

"..." The rest of the cla.s.s turned speechless.

"It's like an animal so I pet it," Vincent said as he took Hermione book bound with tape and petted the sides. He then took the tape off making the book fall open, "didn't anyone else think of petting?"

"Who in their right minds would think of that?" Everyone thought as they silently repeated what Vincent did.

"Well it was suppos to be stroking the spine of the book, didn't know pettin works," Hagrid said thoughtfully.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered, "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I—I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.

"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Malfoy, "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.

"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so—so yeh've got yer books an', an', now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on..."

Vincent looked worriedly at Hagrid's retreating back. He knew that Hagrid had looked forward to all of this and didn't want anything to go wrong.

"This place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly, "That oaf teaching cla.s.ses, my father'll have a fit when I tell him —"

"Can you say or do anything without involving your father?" Vincent said without looking at Malfoy who turned a little red. He opened his mouth, about to retort, only for Lavender Brown interrupt.

"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.

Hagrid came back, trailing behind a dozen odd looking creatures. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the cla.s.s stood. Everyone, except Harry and Vincent drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them, "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

Vincent looked over the creatures with interest, feeling like he understood where Hagrid came from, their gleaming coats and stormy feathers of different colors seemed almost mesmerising.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid, "easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."

"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued, "it's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."

"Right — who wants ter go first?"

Most of the cla.s.s backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to have misgivings while Arnya herself just watched. Vincent looked the creatures and felt rather curious.

"I'll give it a try," Vincent said as he climbed over the fence.

"Same here," Harry shook of his thoughts as he followed Vincent.

Vincent heard a couple of whispers behind, "Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!"

He glanced at Harry who ignored them, "Be a bit stupid to die to this after all you've been through right?"

"Shut up Vince," Harry muttered as they approached Hagrid.

"Good boys!" Hagrid smiled as he untied two Hippogriffs, one grey and one with a blueish color, "Meet Buckbeak and Fleetwing."

He pulled off their collars and led them to the boys. Vincent looked at the one called Fleetwing and gave it a smile as he approached it. It looked at him curiously with it's piercing orange eyes. Before he could bow down like Hagrid said, the Fleetwing trotted forward startling Hagrid

"Vincent no..!" Hagrid's voice trailed off as he stared in amazement as Fleetwing bowed it's head to Vincent with a quiet squark

Vincent, after returning the bow, then proceeded to pat it's beak before moving onto it's feathers with Fleetwing closing it's eyes in happiness.

"So soft and fluffy too," Vincent remarked as he kept stroked it's head.

"Amazing..." Hagrid was at loss for words, "amazing, normally yer mean't to bow firs', but Fleetwing here accepted you almos' immediately. Amazing, simply amazing. Well can't forget abou' you Harry. Now, wha yer meant to do is..."

While Hagrid was instructing Harry, Vincent continued to pat Fleetwing.

"So Fleetwing right?" Vincent said, "Cool name."

He received another squark in return before he turned to look back at the rest of the cla.s.s. He mouthed to Ron, Hermione and Arnya if they want a shot where he received a 'we're fine' look. Arnya just blankly looked at him, not understanding the gesture making him chuckle to himself.

"Alrigh', I think they'll let you ride them," Hagrid said, causing Harry to freeze up a little before nodding.

Vincent and Harry both hoisted themselves up on their respective Hippogriffs back as they knelt down for them. The Hippogriffs stood up once they were safely on.

"All righ', off ya go!" Hagrid said suddenly as he slapped the Hippogriffs backsides, inciting them to run off.

Vincent, although caught of guard, still managed to grab ahold of its feathers and regain his balance as Fleetwing started flapping its wings and took off to the sky. He managed to catch a glance at Harry who had expertly managed to do the same.

"As expected of someone who's a Seeker," Vincent had enough time to think before looking forward as they entered the empty blue sky.

"Amazing," Vincent thought as he stared at the view below him.

Although there was that one particular incident where he rode a beetle like dragon, the Dretle, riding a Hippogriff was far softer and much more smooth. Vincent looked over the Black lake, Hogwarts and the paddock that was getting further and further away as...

"Hang on," Vincent thought as Fleetwing continued to fly, "Harry's already back down, so why are we still flying?"

Fleetwing squawked as they continued to fly over the Black Lake. Vincent just sat there blankly.

"Fleetwing, shouldn't we go back down now?" Vincent asked only for Fleetwing to shake its head.

Vincent felt his eyes twitch, "You've got to be kidding me."

...

"Uh, sir?" Neville asked as the cla.s.s started patting the Hippogriffs, "Vincent still hasn't come down yet."

"Ah, he'll be fine," Hagrid said looking at the skies, "Fleetwing loves to fly around, he'll come down when he's had enough fun."

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances as Arnya looked to the skies, ignoring a chestnut Hippogriff nudging her for attention.

"Well it's Vince, he'll be fine right?" Harry said as he scratched his head.

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to, hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter and the Muggle could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the gra.s.s, blood blossoming over his robes.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the cla.s.s panicked. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid said frantically. "Someone help me — gotta get him outta here —"

Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they pa.s.sed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the gra.s.s and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.

Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures cla.s.s followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid.

"They should sack him straight away!" Pansy Parkinson said tearfully.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" Dean Thomas said angrily.

Crabbe and Goyle flexed their muscles threateningly.

They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall.

"I'm going to see if he's okay!" Pansy, as she ran up the marble staircase. The Slytherins, still muttering about Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; Harry, Ron, and Hermione proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"You think he'll be all right?" Hermione asked nervously.

"I've seen worse wounds healed by Madam Promfey," Harry said, remembering last year how a certain boy who had his body covered in wounds kept standing, "if anything, Malfoy's making a big deal out of nothing."

They walked silently back to the Gryffindor tower before Hermione looked around and froze.

"Hey, where's Arnya?" Hermione asked before turning pale.

"Uhh, guys," Ron said turning white, "we forgot Vincent."

The three of them looked at each other in horror before running back out the castle.

...

Arnya sat there looking at the sky, waiting for Vincent to return. She remembered everyone running off because of someone being injured, but she stayed behind, waiting.

Eventually, a Hippogriff appeared overhead before landing in the paddock.

"Finally, I'm back!" Vincent sighed as he hopped down exhausted, "Hope we weren't gone too long—?"

He finally noticed the lack of people in the paddock, "Cla.s.s can't be over already right?"

"Vince..."

Vincent turned around only for his face to turn blank, "Ah, Arnya?"

"An incident happened so everyone went back," Arnya explained.

"Ok...but what are you doing?" Vincent asked as he approached.
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Arnya took a look at her surroundings, seeing all the Hippogriffs in the paddock cushioning her from all sides as if protecting her. She patted one of them and tried to push another away, only for it to shuffle back in place.

"Please move," Arnya asked only to hear a small squawk in disapproval. She looked helplessly at the circle of Hippogriffs before looking at Vincent who looked amused.

"After everyone left, they all surrounded me," Arnya complained.

"It seems they all like you," Vincent said with a smile.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Arnya muttered.

"It looks like their protecting a child, how can I not enjoy seeing this, it's adorable," Vincent chuckled as he got some of the chains and collars, "Let's round them all up."

As Vincent was fitting their collars and leading them to the fence to anchor them from running away, he noticed the one called Buckbeak had blood on its claws and frowned.

"What exactly happened?" Vincent thought, thinking to ask Arnya or someone later.

He finally tied up the last Hippogriff, setting Arnya free from the cage of feathers.

"Thank you," Arnya said as she proceeded to wheel towards the entrance before feeling someone else push her. She turned around, "you don't need to do that, I can just make it move."

"Think of it as a thanks for waiting," Vincent said as he pushed her out of the paddock and towards the castle, "it's not too bad right?"

"I didn't say that," Arnya said as she shifted in her seat.

Vincent gave a smile as he entered the castle, running into Harry, Ron and Hermione who looked out of breath.

...

"Hagrid's not here either," Vincent notes at dinner.

"Trust Malfoy to screw things up for him," Ron muttered angrily as he took a bite out of his turkey leg, "that little piece of—"

A book smacked him hard on the head making Ron cough before looking up angrily. He then froze seeing who had just hit him.

"Minus five points for Gryffindor for language Weasley," Snape's said in his usual snark tone. He the glared at Harry before his eyes met Vincent's, "meet me in the dungeons boy."

"Yes sir," Vincent said earning a nod from Snape as he strode off.

"He seems even more ruthless then normal," Ron muttered as he rubbed his head, "what's gotten into him?"

Vincent glances back at the teachers table, looking at Lupin who looked as shabbily dressed as ever. He remembered the look Snape gave the new teacher and had a feeling that there was a bit of history between the two.

"So you've brought your friend?" Snape said as Vincent and Arnya entered the office. He held a hand out, stopping Vincent from explaining, "Dumbledore has explained everything to me."

Snape got up and walked up to Vincent and stopped a few feet away. He waved his wand, making everything in the room stick to the sides of the wall, making a small clearing before placing it back at his side.

"Nyx, Blimp, stay with Arnya," Vincent said as two blurs zipped out of his pocket to Arnya who moved back.

Vincent and Snape stood there, facing each other in silence. The tense atmosphere in the room continued for a while as neither of them made a move.

"Small room, close s.p.a.ce," Vincent thought frowning in concentration, "no matter how you look at it, Snape's at a disadvantage. I can close the distance quickly before he can raise his wand. He should know that, so why is he this close?"

Vincent felt like he was missing something here. Whenever they fought before, it was always in a large open cla.s.sroom where they were placed on either side. Vincent would do everything he could to get close for a hit while Snape would stay afar attacking with magic while trying to keep the distance from closing.

Snape was someone that would play to his strengths, the fact that he purposely put himself at a disadvantage meant that he had confidence that he could win, but the question is how?

Finally Snape made a move, whipping out his wand again, pointing it at Vincent who ducked under it before freezing.

Snape wasn't holding anything.

Snape smirked as he kicked towards Vincent making him block, only to be sent flying backwards into the wall. He coughed out in pain as he got up only to see Snape rush at him. Vincent gritted his teeth as Snape threw punches at him, each one being parried to the side to avoid a direct hit.

Vincent sucked in a deep breath as he ducked under one of the punches before head b.u.t.ting Snape in the nose making him stagger backwards in pain. Vincent then used this opportunity to kick him, making Snape stumble further back.

Vincent felt confusion, "Snape shouldn't be this strong and fast. His strength is on the level of a Vampire Knight! What's going on?!"

"Wait, calm down," Vincent thought, "although it surprised me, his close combat is sloppy, I can still beat him."

Snape dashed at Vincent again am aimed a punch at his face which Vincent deflected towards the wall behind him, cracking it, before rushing forward and grabbing Snape. He then used a leg to trip Snape threw him to the ground with a thump.

Snape was about to get up when Vincent held two fingers over his eyes.

"I win," Vincent grinned while Snape gave a huff.

...

"I didn't know you lift Professor," Vincent joked as Snape repaired the office.

"I've been experimenting," Snape said as he set down a blue bottle on his office desk, "I used this against you."

"Strengthening Solution?" Vincent recognised the potion, "I didn't think it gave that much strength."

"It doesn't," Snape said as he set down a green potion bottle this time, "know what this is?"

"A healing potion," Vincent answered as he looked at it, "something I really need to keep on hand. How did this increase your strength?"

"Do you know what other function it has other than healing?" Snape asked. Vincent shook his head, "The ability to heal, not just wounds but also stamina. With this I've trained nonstop over the past few weeks. With the comfort water that heals and strengthens muscles, I've gotten far stronger than I thought was possible in this short amount of time."

Vincent stared blankly at Snape who continued to talk.

"But I knew I was still weaker than you, so I chose to use a Strengthening Solution to give me that extra boost to fight you, but your experience with fighting at close range exceeded mine, hence your victory."

"Why did you research such a thing?" Vincent asked making Snape glance at him.

"A muggle, challenging everything us wizards and witches ever knew, ever thought possible. For such a muggle to challenge us is foolhardy, that's why they need not just luck, but help to become stronger. For you, this can—" He trailed off, but Vincent smiled cheekily, feeling like he knew what Snape wanted to say. Snape coughed, realising he said too much, "o—of course wizards and witches can also become stronger, not just muggles."

"Thanks for giving me this method, I'll definitely use it to become stronger!" Vincent said cheekily earning a glare from Snape.

"Don't go thinking I made this method just for you," Snape snapped as he sat at his desk, "you cause far too much trouble for your own good."

"You really are a good person right Professor?" Vincent felt a hand clamp on his head as he was lifted up.

"Don't—push—your—luck—boy—" Snape looked like he was about to burst a vein.

Vincent started sweating when he realised that the Strengthening Solution hasn't worn off.

"Uh, Professor, my heads starting to hurt, ow, please let go. I'm sorry for acting so cheeky, really. I promise it won't happen again. I heard you get bald faster if your angry a lot and we wouldn't want that, I mean you have quite a lot of hair after all..." Vincent said frantically as Snape continued his iron grip.

Snape finally snapped at that last sentence, "We're, done today."

"Ok, so can you let me go—?!" Vincent felt himself go flying as he crashed through the door and landed on the floor, "Ow."

Arnya rolled out before waving at Snape. She then closed the door behind her before poking Vincent.

"You ok?" She asked as Vincent got up.

"Heads still intact so that's a win in my book," Vincent chuckled as he looked at the door before walking off, "come on, let's head back."

"You seem to like him a lot," Arnya said.

"He may sound like a jerk, but he's a good person," Vincent said confidently.

Arnya nodded. They made their way back when they ran into Hagrid carrying Harry over his shoulder.

"Hagrid!" Vincent said, "You alright?"

"Vince, you too!" Hagrid said sounding angry, "Don't go sneaking out, it's dangerous ya hear?!"

Vincent noticed Hermione and Ron coming from behind and guessed that they must have visited Hagrid.

"Now listen, don't sneak out just for me ya hear?" Hagrid said, putting Harry down, "I ain't worth it."

"Yes sir," they all said as they made their way back to the tower.

Hagrid sighed in relief before hearing Vincent.

"Your always worth it Hagrid," Vincent called out before following the group.

Hagrid stared at their backs and couldn't help giving a chuckle despite what he felt. He the lumbered back to hut to prepare for the next day.

...

Snape sat in his office writing notes about his fight with Vincent.

"Magic is still the best way to beat him," he muttered as he closed his notes, "d.a.m.n brat being cheeky with me."

He looked at his schedule and frowned as he spotted a small note.

-Wolfsbane potion must be made and delivered to Remus every week

Snape's face turned dark as he looked at it. He walked to his potion cupboard and took out a Wolfsbane flower and a few other ingredients before setting down a cauldron.

"Let's get started."

...