Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 8

Harry was seething. He knew of the rivalry of James Potter and Severus Snape from reading his father's journal. He also knew of the man's friendship with his mother until the end of their fifth year when they ended it when Snape had called his mother a mudblood. While his father had not been a saint, neither had Snape been anything less than nasty. From what he had read, Snape had repeatedly insulted him and his family. James couldn't take the insult to his family lying down. It was what he was taught growing up as a pureblood. So he had retaliated to fight for his family's honour. Once he had explained that to Harry's mother in their sixth year, only then had Lily given James a chance. And the rest was history.

They had started dating in the middle of their sixth year. Dorea Potter had been initially leery about her son dating a muggleborn. Not that she had anything against them, but she was a sticker to magical traditions. She was a Black after all. And muggleborns tended to question many of their traditions and snub many of the older families. But once they had both met, Dorea was taken with Lily's intelligence and her behaviour. Not to mention Lily kept James in line, something she had not been able to do. Once James and Lily had graduated, Dorea, who worked in the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable, was able to get her daughter-in-law into the department as well; not that Lily wasn't qualified to get in without her influence, but it certainly helped. But in 1979, Voldemort had decided to strike the Potter family. Charlus and Dorea Potter had been ambushed in Diagon Alley. It took twenty death eaters to bring the couple down and in the end, only five had managed to survive, though badly injured.

And now, he found that Snape had informed Voldemort of a prophecy which had resulted in the Dark wanker hunting down the rest of the Potter family. And he had the gall to insult Harry's father after being the cause of the man's death? Harry took a deep breath. He needed to let off some steam. He looked around at the empty corridor. "Can a Hogwarts elf answer me please?" he asked.

A few seconds later, an elf popped in front of him. "What can Sally do for young master?" she asked.

"Sally is there a place where I can practice magic in private? Without damaging anything?" he asked.

The little elf thought for a few seconds and nodded. "Sally knows just the place" she said, pulling Harry with her.

Harry was bemused, but followed the elf. He walked to the other end of the seventh floor. There was a painting of a man teaching a pair of trolls how to dance. "Master has to think about what room he wants and walk in front of the wall three times back and forth. A door will appear" she said.

Harry blinked in confusion and wondered if she was toying with him. But he did as told. After walking three times in front of the wall, a large metal door appeared. He looked shocked. He opened the door and gasped. There was a duelling circuit with practice dummies. There were also several books relating to duelling. In a corner was another place where he could practice his martial arts. This room was perfect.

"What is this place?" he asked in wonder.

"This be the Come and Go room or the Room of Requirement. It becomes whatever you want and appears in the time of need", she explained. Harry thanked her and the elf popped away.

"Duelling tournament here I come" he whispered to himself as he flicked his wand out of his holster.

The next morning, Harry walked into the transfiguration classroom and found a cat on the table. He went closer and started at it. The cat started back with narrowed eyes. Harry could sense that this was not an ordinary cat. He observed more and found spectacle markings around its eyes. This was an animagus; McGonagall to be precise. He smirked at the cat and whispered, "Amazing technique Professor. There is no better way to demonstrate Transfiguration better than an animagus transformation isn't it? I'm impressed" he said to the wide-eyed cat and sat down. Students began to filter in and they took their seats. Once everyone was present McGonagall decided to make her presence known. She jumped from the table and transformed into a human. The class was stunned and immediately started applauding. She turned to Harry. "Five points to Ravenclaw Mr Potter. How did you recognize me?" she asked.