HP: The Magical Gamer [Chapter 119: Spank me! ] (Patreon)

He had laughed out loud when he first saw her in the glasses. It was hard not to when the little menace looked like a cute bookworm.

A cute bookworm with a questionable choice in clothes.

"Don't laugh!" She mumbled, pulling down the brim of the hat, trying to hide her embarrassed face. They both were standing in the centre of the room, inspecting their surroundings, but Harry's gaze always ended up stopping at her ridiculous outfit.

"I am sorry, Tori. But what were you thinking? Did you expect us to go on a hike or something? Or a picnic perhaps? And what is with the glasses? As far as I know you don't need it."

"I thought you would at least have the decency to choose a scenic view for your first class. Maybe the lakeside or some small meadow in the forest. But here we are in an empty classroom. How cliche. As for the specs, I thought it would make me look the part. Ginny agreed."

"Fine. Let's go to the lake. It isn't sunny today, but the weather is good enough." Harry smiled, quietly agreeing that the glasses did make her look the part. The part of a stupid clown that is.

Her face brightened up and she looked ecstatic.

"Great. Just let me throw these glasses away and it will be a date!" Astoria grinned and lobbed her spectacles through the window.

Well, there goes the clown glasses, he thought with wry amusement.

"No, young lady. We will just study and no stupid business." Harry said sternly, tapping her forehead playfully with his finger, not being able to get annoyed at her doggedness. 

Seriously, this girl was either determinedly personified or incredibly shameless. Maybe both. Not that Harry had any problem with that.

"Fine. It was worth a try though." She shrugged. "Let's go."

"Before that. Take this. It is cold outside." He said, taking off his outer robe and draping it on her shoulders. And he didn't miss the chance to roll the hat over her head.

"I am fine!" She protested, but didn't give his robe back, instead opting to wear it happily with a shy smile.

Though she did send him an annoyed look for messing with her hat. But it made her realise how stupid she must look with the hat on.

Why had she even worn a hat again? She forgot. She took it off and heaved it through the window.

Great, now even the clown hat was gone, he thought exasperatedly.

"Right. Let's go now." He said, hiding his own smile, fighting against the urge to pinch her red cheeks and yell about her adorableness.

She nodded enthusiastically and latched onto his hand as they walked out of the castle.

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"You don't have to focus that much. That doesn't mean you have to slouch though. Oh come on, don't be so stiff. Relax a little. Hey, no slouching."

"Oh fuck off! Do you even know what you are saying?" Astoria yelled annoyedly.

They were both sitting on a blanket spread on the grassy ground, under the huge tree beside the lake.

"No swearing in my class, Tori. Or, I will punish you." Harry sighed, rolling his eyes.

It wasn't easy keeping Astoria's attention and interest in studies. Her attention span was smaller than the size of his pinky finger.

"Oh, really? What will you do? Spank me?" She challenged him with a contemptuous look. She was fed up with his vague instructions.

And he had the gall to look at her as if she was stupid or something. She wasn't a fucking nincompoop damn it.

"That does look inevitable with each passing second."

"Ooh! Kinky. Come on, spank me daddy!" She smirked bitingly, flipping him off.

Harry's patience disappeared, and he fired a tickling charm at her so swiftly that she didn't even understand what happened. She fell back on the blanket.

"Wah– ah hahahaha– stop I am sorry– hahahahah– please– I am– hahahaha– sorry."

She was rolling from side to side, clutching her stomach and laughing uproariously.

"I don't care what nasty books you have read to devolve your mind into a gutter. But spare me from the details or your swearings. I don't want to waste my time on a disrespectful brat. I have many other important things to do than babysit you. Do you understand, Astoria?" 

This time there was no hint of mirth in his voice. He wasn't joking when he said he had other things to do.

He could spend this time doing his own work, but here he was spending it on someone who couldn't give him the basic courtesy of respect.

"Hahahaha– I am– sorry– hahahaha."

He stopped the tickling charm.

She sat up sluggishly and stared at him angrily before her anger melted into hurt and fear when he still sported the stern visage. "I am sorry."

"Good. Now as I was saying, you have to find the perfect middle ground between too focused and too lax. Once you have found it, every spell will become infinitely easier to cast. The thing about magic is that it is sentient. You don't have to force it to do anything. It is inside and around you. It knows you better than anything or anyone. You just have to show a path and goal for the magic. The rest it will do itself. Are you even listening, Tori?" He stopped short when he saw she still had her head bowed and was not meeting his gaze.

"Are you crying?" He asked with wide eyes when he heard a hiccupping sound. She shook her head insistently but didn't raise her head. Not believing her, he moved closer to her and turned up her face by her chin.

Her nose was scrunched up and her cheeks were wet with tears.