"Welcome back students and staff, to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore declared. "I wish to extend the warmest of greetings to our new students who have just been sorted and I promise to make the announcements brief so that the feast may begin. The 'banned items' list has been updated and will be posted outside of Caretaker Filch's office as well as the Main Hall and outside of my own. The Forbidden Forest is, as always, forbidden, and I urge all prefects to keep your younger Housemates in mind when traveling through the halls. I wish to welcome our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody…"
The man gave a loud huff, before taking a swig of his flask, much the various professor's annoyance.
Harry, in the meantime, merely gave a sigh. Was it always going to be this obvious with the 'dark' individuals? The man practically reeked of Polyjuice.
"Finally, and I wish for all to hold back their reactions for the time being, Quidditch will be placed on hold, and there will be no Quidditch Cup awarded." As if on cue the entire hall erupted into protests and shouts of horror, while the Headmaster patiently waited for the students to work the anger out of their systems. Minutes later they finally did, and the elder Wizard spoke once more.
"The reasoning behind this is because Hogwarts has received a great honor, we will be hosting the return of the Triwizard Tournament!"
This time hushed whispers began throughout the various tables, with more than a few eager eyes glued to the man still standing. "Two more schools will be arriving in the next few weeks, Beauxbaton and Durmstrang. Once they have we will begin the process of selecting one Champion from each. The victor will be awarded a thousand galleons and eternal glory. Keep in mind that for safety reasons the age required to enter has been raised to seventeen."
Again, shouts sounded through the hall, while Dumbledore gently motioned for silence. "This is for the safety of all and was chosen by the Ministry. There have been casualties every Tournament, and we wish to avoid them for the first time since its inception."
The boy-who-lived sat on the edge of his personal bathtub staring into the water. He had been doing this for well over an hour when Hedwig finally returned from her evening flight and gently walked up behind him, "Harry? What's wrong?"
"I don't know." He confessed in an oddly vulnerable tone. It was true though, something had changed since the previous summer, but he couldn't figure out what it was. It had started on his vacation to the beach, with the dismissal of the girls who had been interested in him.
Odd, but nothing alarming.
Then he had dismissed a few of the 'casual' offers to 'get reacquainted' with several of his housemates, including Pansy, citing a long train ride and simply wanting some peace and quiet. Not technically a lie, but not the entire truth either.
The next few days seemed to follow this pattern, with Harry avoiding any 'physical activities' with various girls. This seemed to culminate when he had been asked to stay behind by Sinistra… and had made a poor excuse of needing to speak with his Head of House before quickly leaving to find privacy elsewhere.
What was wrong with him, what was happening to him? He was feeling guilty about the attention he was receiving, a knot forming in his stomach every time he looked at one of the girls he had grown to care about.
"Harry… talk to me, I can feel how confused you are. I want to help ."
"Something is different… I keep… avoiding people, not wanting to engage in sex with anyone…"
Hedwig sat behind him, her arms wrapping protectively around his torso and pulling him close as she had when they were much younger. It was the only source of comfort the boy had ever found growing up, the only friendly contact that he ever had. Orphanages were not known for their comfort, and the other children either ignored or teased him. The staff wasn't much better.
The owl-turned-human had been the only thing to keep him stable, to help ease the emptiness and sorrow any child would experience in such an environment.
Her head rested gently on his shoulder, gently listening as his breathing became slow and steady. "Come on… you need a good night sleep, there is no sense in you staying up all night worrying."
His head nodded in agreement, and she stood, gently pulling him up and leading him to the bed where she gently tucked him in, watching as he fell asleep moments later. Something needed to be done, she decided, he was worrying and stressing over enough that he didn't need to add 'relationships' onto that list.
...
"Alright quiet down quiet down… I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRATS!"
The room fell silent, save for the heavy step, followed by the thud of the professor's wooden leg as he slowly made his way around the perimeter.
"Now then… you lot are here to learn how to defend yourselves against the forces of the dark, and in their infinite wisdom the school board and Headmaster decided that I would be the best choice to teach you." He paused, his Magical eye focusing in on Harry for a moment, before spinning wildly once more.
Said teen, in the meantime, stifled a groan of disappointment. Seriously how did the other professors not notice the man's behavior… and the fact he had to take a drink at least once an hour?
"You can put your books away," the man continued, "we won't be using them during this year. Instead I am going to be teaching you far more useful skills. How to counter Dark Magic, how to identify the worst creatures you are likely to run into… and how to fight ."
"You mean duel?"
The disguised Death Eater spun in place, fixing a glare upon the redhead who had interrupted him. "Ah, a Weasley eh? Your mother and father fought in the war you know? Brave ones those two, notice you were sorted into Gryffindor yourself."
Ron grinned, straightening up just a bit from the praise.
"Too bad you are also about as dimwitted as a Troll."
"Wh-what!?"
"Dueling and fighting are not the same thing. Dueling is some pretty display that adults do in order to either show off, earn points in a competition, or settle a dispute without killing each other. Fighting is what you do in war. There are rules in dueling, but the only rule in war is to make sure that the person trying to kill you dies while you don't."
The youngest Weasley son bit back any further argument, before crossing his arms and grumbling about how 'unfair' it was.
"Now then, first thing you will all be learning are the basic Curses and Hexes used by Dark Wizards."
"Excuse me, but isn't it illegal to be studying Dark Magic?" Lavender Brown inquired from next to her boyfriend, Ron.
"Normally yes, but I am trusting you lot not to actually use the spells. The purpose is to know what you are facing to defend yourself. How else do you know what shield to use, or what Counter-Curse if you can't identify the spells being thrown at you?"