Harry Potter: A Real Tale(AU, SI)

A/N: Canon didn't mention any measures taken by the school to not let hormone-filled teenagers hurt themselves into the, tantalizingly named, Forbidden Forest. But as I am mixing the magical world with common sense instead of just saying wizards are just stupid- scaling up Harry Potter the world for adults. There will be measures that don't depend on wisdom of moody teenagers in the fic.

Future chapters do address how our golden trio's adventures happen(ed)(in the canon) if people are monitoring to stop any confused teenager from getting themselves killed or maimed in the forest.

So, enjoy the chapter.

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"Give the boy a break, Minerva! We all know where he was." Professor Flitwick's high-pitched voice made Leon turn towards him.

'What! What?' Leon felt surprised, shocked, and bamboozled as he saw a mischievous smile flash across the stern transfiguration professor as his charm's professor gave him a knowing look filled with pride.

'What's happening? Why does he look proud of me?'

"Come on, now. Mr Astraeus. Did you think Hogwarts wouldn't have measures to ensure students don't hurt themselves? At an age where most of you feel like they can do anything?" Dumbledore gave Leon a grandfatherly smile. "I was your age once; I was so foolish and proud." A faraway look appeared in his eyes as he nursed his drink.

'Well! What can I say if you suddenly make sense?' Leon grumbled.

"And what do you think happens to students who venture into an area with forbidden in its name, even when the headmaster mentioned not to do it?" A young-looking professor asked, glaring at Leon.

The thoughts of expulsion and wand breaking flashed through his mind.

His heartbeat reached a new crescendo at the thought of losing his wand, breaking his recent new record the Bondugs kindly helped him set.

'They wouldn't be so harsh, right? After all, Helga Hufflepuff herself sent me there.'

As he whipped his head towards Dumbledore to see his reaction, dread started to weigh him down as the headmaster gave him a disappointed look, his flashing with steel.

Leon's ran at full speed thinking of ways he can get off without any punishment. While he knew the Hufflepuff Quest was a good reason, he didn't want any more surprises today. 

"Now, you are just piling up on my student," Professor Sprout's voice broke his line of thought.

"We know about the House trials, Mr Astraeus. I did participate in one when I was a Hufflepuff too. We wouldn't have let you into the forbidden forest if not for your trial."

"You were simply marvellous-"

 "Or lucky" Snape cut Leon's charms professor, but Professor Flitwick continued, ignoring him.

"The most problematic part of venturing into the forbidden forest is its magical flora, they are everywhere and camouflaged too."

Leon looked at the Weasleys who were eating and whispering to each other, it was like they didn't notice the prank the Professors pulled on him.

'Maybe they really didn't?'

"The combination of flying on a broom- making you maintain a distance from everything- and notice-me-not spell countered the flora, and some venomous mundane critters very well, not to mention your enchanted item, Mr Astraeus."

His professor beamed at him.

"Your enchanted item is simply marvelous. So many functions, what path did you follow… Dakker's animation law would have made-"

"Of course, your combo of camouflage and notice-me-not don't work on any magical creatures that are solo predators. But we don't have magical predators near Hogwarts, so your plan was very good." Professor Sprout chimed in, cutting the professor from delving into his subject at the dining table.

"But next time, don't go deep into a magical forest because you are curious, Mr Astraeus. You went very near to the Manticore's territory, so very near that I had to call my colleague, your charms professor, to make sure you can be safe if you came across him."

"Wait, there is a Manticore that even a Hogwarts House head can't defeat?" Leon was surprised.

'Didn't Susan say the house heads were Sorcerers, and it was a big deal? How hard it is to grab me and apparate away?'

"Of course, I can handle the Manticore myself, Mr. Astraeus. However, the Manticore is old, powerful, cunning, and irritable—a dangerous mix of traits for someone whose territory was trespassed." Professor Sprout's voice gained an edge and her eyes hardened as she spat out the Manticore's qualities.

'I sense some history there.'

Leon just nodded his head, deciding not to poke into something that could have such an effect on his ever-patient and kind professor.

He still remembered his first Herbology class, Neville was very nervous and was fumbling around the whole class. Even Leon wanted to have a harsh word with him, but the professor just stood beside him the whole class, gently correcting his mistakes, her smile never slipping an inch.

And her patience paid off, with the sense of safety the professor gave him, Neville's talent blossomed.

"So, professor, do you know what my reward will be?"

It looked like he asked the wrong thing as every professor looked at their plates, suddenly finding their food more interesting.

Silence pervaded the dining table only disturbed by the soft humming of Dumbledore who was savoring his dessert. But a look from Professor McGonagall made him stop.

 "Oh! Dear," His house head deflated and cupped her cheeks. "There are no rewards for passing the first trial."

"We don't know what factors into success. Many who passed the first trial, weren't invited to the second. And only a small amount of trial takers moved onto the second level and then the third."

Leon was disappointed, very disappointed. It seems the professors saw that too.

"Don't worry, Mr Astraeus. Everyone who didn't pass the first level took their friends into the forbidden forest, so you have great chances of passing. I got my first trial in my second year, you have even more chances than me to complete the trials, and my headmaster said I was the one who came to close completing it, I went to the sixth level. I think I would have completed the seventh if I got my first trial in the first year like you."

"Here, eat this cookie, it's made from a cocoa tree I bred." Professor Sprout pushed a plate towards him.

'Magical Cookies?'

As his brain processed the sudden, horrible, news, the cookies smell suddenly hit him. It was so.. magical that he grabbed one subconsciously.

Leon literally melted in his seat after his first bite.

"Thank you so much, professor." He yelled and continued to demolish the rest of the Cookies.

The professors slowly left, patting him on his shoulders, leaving Professor Flitwick, his house head and the Weasley twins who looked like they were waiting for something.

"Ah! You can take the food, Mr. and Mr. Weasley, just don't get caught by Minerva with food in your dorms." Professor Flitwick gave his permission with a knowing look.

"Thank you, professor." With that, only Leon and the two-house heads remained at the table.

"Don't feel like the trials are a waste of time, Mr Leon. Give it your all and you will be surprised and thankful for it later." Sprout ruffled his head and left, leaving him alone with the charms master.

"Let's take a walk, Leon." The professor got up from his seat and gestured for him to follow.

Which Leon begrudgingly did.

"Are you disappointed that you aren't going to get any prize?"

"I mean, I thought getting chased by those Bondugs deserved some reward… Why would anyone want to attempt their next trial? I mean the first one is this crazy and without a reward too, I can't imagine how the third or sixth would be." He grumbled, he was itching for his power up.

Everyone gets a power-up after a near-death experience. Sadly, it seems no one gave Helga Hufflepuff the memo.

"Very few don't, the first trial is a great barrier and those who complete it are the best of the best, in character, magical skill, or both. Just like you my boy," The professor patted him.

"And getting invited to the trials in the first year is rare, so I believe the trial was harder for you. After all, only this trial has us to keep the participant safe. We.. at least I don't know anything about the next Hufflepuff's trials."

"Do you think I successfully completed the trial, professor?"

Leon thought he did, but now he got to know about these hidden rules he didn't and couldn't have accounted for.

'I thought it was a straightforward looting quest.'

"I don't see why not, Leon. If you ask me, you and the Hufflepuffs are lucky. Gryffindors' trials are closed after Dumbledore completed them, and Slytherin's trials are generally erratic, but they too have stopped after the last headmaster. It's nearly five decades without any new Slytherin trial-takers."

'Did Dumbledore close the Gryffindor trials? And of course, Tommy boy did something to the Slytherin trials.'

Professor Flitwick continued, not giving Leon a chance to ask about Dumbles and Gryffindor's trials.

"And we shouldn't even mention the Ravenclaw, we don't know if the trials are ongoing or if anyone ever completed them."

The diminutive professor sighed. The sigh was filled with such great sadness and irritation that Leon was caught off guard. 

"I failed the Ravenclaw trials, Founder Ravena expects too much from students... At least, I convince myself that because I lost so badly in the third trial." Professor Flitwick snickered, returning to his usual jovial self.

The Hufflepuff let the silence linger for a second before he asked.

"What was your trial, professor, and what happened to Gryffindor's trials?"

"I was asked to create an original spell and artifice an object by converting my original spell into runes. It was tough, but I did it. Sadly, it seems Ravena Ravenclaw didn't think my spell was anything special." The professor sighed again, lost in thought, before snapping out of it.

"You wouldn't believe what Gryffindor's trial was. Now, don't go spreading it around, but I heard that at 21, a student had to kill an adult Giant." The professor jumped and waved his hands like he couldn't believe it.

"I mean aside from the killing part; it doesn't seem bad," Leon muttered, he didn't know much about giants so he didn't know if a Wizard/Witch could fight a giant, real Wizards not the students.

"Not with a wand, Mr Astraeus but with a normal sword and nothing else."

He stared at the professor to see if he was joking, but the professor just stared right back at him.

 "Damn! And Professor Dumbledore, did it?" Leon didn't see how that could be done, the giants are huge- at least as big as the Hogwarts castle, from what he remembered from the movie.

"Yes, he didn't say how. But I can guess, he was 21 and a very powerful Sorcerer…. It doesn't matter, while every house's trial has fail-safes, Dumbledore didn't see the use of Gryffindor's trial. Asking a 21-year-old to battle an adult giant with a mundane sword is too much…. if you aren't Albus." The professor let out a soft laugh.

"So, he used his authority as the trial winner and sent it into sleep. Albus said the trials would wake up again, this time with something more up-to-date. We don't focus on swords after all, even if Godric won't be seen without one in his hand anywhere."

 "What? How? Who will make the trial?"

"Hogwarts, of course." Professor Flitwick replied, raising his eyebrow like it was supposed to be common sense.

"Hogwarts?... How's that possible, professor?"

"Keeping in mind that Hogwarts is unique, old, and teems with magic and adding Lazarus identity theory and Larkin's postulate-" The professor changed his explanation midway after seeing Leon's deadpan face.

"Just think of Hogwarts as a habitat. A habitat gets changed by its residents and it in turn adapts depending on its relationship with its residents. Hogwarts being a magical school, adapting will be quite magical and will cater to its residents."

The Professor clapped his hands. "We don't call Hogwarts as the safest place in Britain for fun, you know. You don't know how much effort is put into keeping the future of wizardkind safe while the Hogwarts was built."

Leon nodded and got silent as the duo continued walking.

The reminder that he was in a magical academy that has semiconsciousness, didn't lift his mood like it was supposed to.

The deadly chase where everything went out of his control was still fresh on his mind.

"I hope there are only seven trials like Professor said," he muttered, staring at the floor as he walked.

"7 or 13 is the running guess, but I think it's seven. More than 7 trials don't make sense." The professor hurriedly assured Leon.

Seeing the ever-jovial professor walk on glasses around him snapped Leon out of his 'woe-is-me' fugue.

'Who cares if the plan went a little awry in the end? This is a magical world; plans will go out of my control and a little deviation doesn't necessarily mean death or crippling injury like it was back on Earth. I am in the Harry Potter world and I sneaked into a magical forest to do a quest, damn it! Who cares if the reward is a little late? Moping around isn't going to get me my reward.'

Shaking himself off, Leon went into his info-gathering mode, he will beat every trial by the time he leaves the Hogwarts.

"Why didn't Professor Sprout clear the trials? Even if she got her first trial in the second year, she still had 5 more years, right?"

Professor Flitwick beamed at Leon like he was happy that his student was finally asking the right questions.

"The thing you got to keep in mind is, Leon. The trials are exponentially harder than their previous ones. So, you will only get invited to the second one if Hogwarts thinks you have grown more powerful. Professor Sprout was a Witch in her last year, progressing from that level takes time." The professor stopped and clapped his hands.

"No, I won't answer what a Sorcerer can do or how to become one, you will get to know after you become a Wizard." He said with his patented mischievous smile, making Leon open and close his lips like a fish out of water.

"Now, what do you say we get some enchanting done? Your modified sticky spell is very very inefficient. Why don't you tell me the reason?" The professor walked into his enchanting club room, tossing Leon a question.

'What? Why?'

As Leon struggled to answer, Professor Flitwick gestured towards a sponge and charmed it with a sticky spell- with wand movements and incantation.

"It is stuck," He stated after he tried to lift it and push it off the table.

He cast the same spell again on another sponge and then he pushed it. The sponge skidded across the table.

Holding his hand up to stall any questions, the professor tried to lift it again. This time, the same sponge didn't move.

"What do you say, Leon? Is the sponge still stuck?" He asked with a smile as he alternated between pushing the sponge -sending it skipping across the table- and failing to lift it off the table.

'Oh my god! I am so stupid!'

...

'Congratulations, Hufflepuff. You chose to be brave and ventured into the Forbidden Forest without any indication of rewards, just to prove your character.

Grow more to weather through your second test.'

Leon stared at the words, lying on his bed.

'Is that a clue? 'Weather through'?' His mind buzzed with possibilities as he closed his eyes, thinking about the future.

'The second trial is far away,' Leon turned around in his bed.

'I have to decide what to do about the Unicorn the Voldy kills.'

He didn't want to let it die; it was just cruel.

'Or should I? I mean I eat meat?' He sighed and closed his eyes.

Living on the farm during his formative years of life made Leon assign different values to the lives of livestock animals. But Unicorns aren't livestock animals, they even can't be called animals.

Noting to read up more about the Unicorns and talk to Hagrid, he burrowed deeper into his blanket, putting off the decision to save a creature believed to be the very embodiment of purity.

.....

A/N: I will return to my previous release rate next week. There will be at least two 2500 long chaps a week if not three.

Leave some reviews or comments if you like the fic. They help me write quicker and write more.