Intertwined || Percabeth Hogwarts AU

Chapter 13

The doors of the classroom opened and the students' chattering fell silent for a moment. They turned around to greet Professor Chiron, but were confused when a tall man with messy black hair walked in. He had quite the intimidating figure with his Auror uniform and sharp jaw; his green eyes were narrowed and his lips were pressed together in a thin line. His wand was drawn causing most of the students to shift uneasily in their seats.

His stony face relaxed into a friendly smile. "Sorry for the dramatics, everyone. I had to deal with something. Anyway, my name is Harry Potter, and I'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the foreseeable future."

The classroom erupted into loud gasps and yells as everyone started talking all at once.

"That's the Harry Potter?!"

"What is he doing here?"

"He literally just told us, Travis."

"Shut up, Connor."

"I thought he was the Head Auror. Did he quit?"

Harry made his way to the front of the classroom and faced the students, smiling at everyone. Though, he looked a little uncomfortable from all the attention.

"Settle down, guys. Professor Chiron is incapacitated due to some health issues and until he's better, I'm afraid you all are stuck with me," Harry said, smiling at them.

"It's an honor to have you teach us, Lord Potter," Octavian spoke up like the sycophant he was.

The students observed how Harry's expression transformed back to the one he was wearing when he entered the room. His piercing gaze bore into Octavian as the blonde boy shrunk further and further into his seat.

"What is your name and house?" Harry asked.

"Um, Octavian Rossi, Slytherin."

Their professor nodded. "Five points from Slytherin. If any of you refer to me as 'Lord Potter' again, I'll fail you," he warned. Then his face went back to being cheerful. "Now, Professor Chiron tells me he left off with..."

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Having Harry Potter has their DADA teacher was certainly a treat. The man was funny, charming, knowledgeable, but most of all, he was understanding. He didn't pressure anyone nor did he get angry with blunders. In fact, he laughed along with most of the students. It was as if he was an upperclassman guiding them rather than their professor.

"All right, so today, we'll start with the duels again. It was very smart of Professor Chiron to have introduced you guys to dueling so early. Back in my second year when I was learning how to duel, I had some idiot as my professor and let me tell you... it did not pan well for us," Harry said, shaking his head.

The students burst into laughter. Harry had quickly grown to be almost everyone's favorite professor despite his short tenure.

"So anyway, Chiron has these charts that keep track of your progress and abilities," he told them, flipping through the pages. "I'm supposed to write you an evaluation after every duel and then we'll work on whatever you're struggling with. For the first duel, I'll match up whoever's the closest in skill level... Annabeth Chase and Perseus Jackson."

A few whispers traveled around the room as they turned to look at the two named students. Percy's face was as stoic as ever while Annabeth's was mostly neutral. Everyone had been watching these two go at it since second year; each progressive duel between them was more memorable than the last. The only thing they had in common was that Annabeth remained undefeated.

However, they would be hard pressed to say that Percy was subpar by any means. Although muggleborn, Percy was amongst the most formidable duelists in the school, using spells in ways that not even Annabeth had thought of. His magic reflected his personality in many ways, showing off his creativity.

The two stood up and made their way to the middle of the room while those who would be spectating backed up. The rumors of their fight last year were deemed true based on the way they had practically ignored each other the entire. It felt almost foreign not seeing the two of them laughing together.