Year 2 – The Chamber of Secrets
Chapter 7 – Lessons and Teaching
Chapter Summary: Harry delves even deeper into the mysteries of the year, including a few new ones involving his other quidditch rivals, and experiences some unusual lessons from his Professors.
Author: Khodexus
Rated T: For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere, embarrassing suggestive dialogue, strong wizarding language, and mild magical violence. No adult situations.
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.
"Hey look, Janus has a letter for you." Harry pointed up at Draco's eagle owl on Monday morning. Most days it brought Draco a few sweets that he shared with Harry and sometimes Pansy, but today it also clutched an envelope which Draco pulled open excitedly.
"It's from Father." He announced. "I'd almost forgotten I'd written to him about the Chamber of Secrets." He scanned down the parchment, visibly slumping in his seat the further he got. "He didn't even say anything about the Chamber, or the Heir of Slytherin." he said after a moment, "And he says he's going to be busy over Christmas, so I… can't come home. I'll have to stay here at school…" He frowned, and put the letter aside.
"Don't worry." Harry tried to cheer his friend. "I'm sure it must be really important. And I'm sure we'll have loads of fun here."
"But wait!" Greg interjected, "Weren't me and Vince coming over for the break, since our folks are in Germany?"
"Yeah." Draco sighed, "That was the plan. Guess the plan's getting changed."
"Well I don't have anywhere else to go." Harry offered, "So we'll just have fun here at the school, the four of us. Right?"
"I need to write my mum." Pansy said rather suddenly. "Find out what's going on with us this Christmas."
"Maybe it won't be so bad." Draco offered them all a grateful smile, and before long they'd moved on to other subjects.
Draco had managed to filch some aconite leaves from an older student's potion stash, and after a week Draco started to relax as no one seemed to have discovered them missing. But, it was now too late to get the potion ready in time for the next lunar cycle, and since they had to wait another month anyway, they could take their time. They could brew their veritaserum very carefully, follow the recipe in their book, check themselves, and review their progress with the Weasley twins every step of the way.
"So is everything in order?" One of the twins asked. Harry had been worried about smuggling the two of them into the Slytherin wing, even this late past curfew. He doubted the reaction of the other Slytherins would be favorable if they found them there, but it had gone without a hitch.
"Of course, we've triple checked everything, we're as ready as we're ever going to be." Draco assured them. He was already setting up the cauldron, as Harry prepared the ingredients they'd need tonight to get the potion started. Pansy sat close at hand, 'Most Potente Potions' open in her lap in case they needed to reference part of the recipe again. One of the twins, Harry thought it was Fred, was leaning over the table, watching Harry work, while the other was standing next to Pansy.
"Okay, we start with the moonglow sap in cool water, and then add the aconite leaves right as we turn on the heat to bring it to a boil, right?" Draco asked Pansy to confirm his memory of the first part of the process. Pansy read over the instructions before nodding.
Draco lifted the carefully measured jug of water, and used it to half-fill the cauldron while Harry held out the decanter of sap for Draco to take as soon as he was ready. "I powdered the leaves, that made it easier to get an exact measurement, and should also help them dissolve into the brew more evenly." Harry informed Draco after he took the sap, while Harry picked up the paper packet with the aconite powder in it.
"Did the recipe say to do that?" George asked, leaning down over the book Pansy held.
"Not specifically. But it's a technique I've picked up from the book, 'Secrets of Potion Masters and Alchemists', that Snape gave me for Christmas last year."
"Well, it does say to dissolve the leaves in the water." George admitted, "I just hope even a small variation from what the recipe actually says doesn't end up having disastrous results for us."
"It should be fine… I hope." Draco shrugged. They watched the water slowly heat up, and gradually build to a boil. Then Harry handed Draco the next ingredient, then the next, and slowly they added more and more until the potion had turned a murky blue color. Then they removed the heat, and let it simmer for a few minutes while Harry put away their unused ingredients. They had a little bit of several things left, as they'd collected slightly more than they needed from habit, just in case they messed up part of the process somewhere.
"Well, it looks just about perfect." Fred observed, "Murky blue, with little swirls of silver and greenish bubbles. Not a bad start, I'd say. This needs to settle for what…"
"About five days." Draco agreed, "Then we can strain it and add the next few ingredients, including the unicorn tears."
"Then we'll get back to you at the end of the week." George announced as he and his twin readied themselves to depart, and sneak back up to the Gryffindor tower.
"We'll keep checking on it throughout the week, and let you know how things are going after the game on Saturday." Harry assured them.
"That's a date." They chimed in unison.
The potion wouldn't be fully ready until the end of January, but they'd finally started it, and all five of them were in good spirits in the days that followed.
It was the first Saturday of December and Harry along with some of the other Slytherins were looking forwards to watching the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw quidditch. The air was quite cold but the sky was clear and bright, and when they made their way out to the stands that morning their boots crunched through about a foot of fresh gleaming snow fallen overnight. It was a welcome break in the weather, and many of them wore goggles against the glare. For the whole trip, snowballs whizzed through the air, and students young and old raced back and forth, giddily enjoying the festive mood. Harry and Draco were unmatched in their aim and evasive skills, at least until the Weasley twins started pelting passerby with rapid streams of snowballs from their wands.
Once they finally made it to the quidditch pitch, Harry found Draco and Pansy in the stands and sat between them, with Blaise, Vince, Greg, and a few of their other friends close by. The match hadn't even started yet, but the excitement seemed as palpable as the breath steaming in front their faces.
"Hello, Harry!" The twins leaned in between Blaise and Theodore Nott. Most the students in this section of the stands were Slytherins, so the red-haired Weasleys stood out quite a bit, especially wearing red and gold coats with their initials emblazoned on them.
"What are you doing here?!" Harry gasped, wondering if it was a good idea for the twins to be seen in the Slytherin section.
"Watching the game, same as you." George explained with a shrug. Harry glanced around, and noticed a few other Gryffindors taking seats as well. There was Katie Bell next to Fred, and their Sister Ginny sitting between them, though she wouldn't meet Harry's eye when he glanced her way.
"So how are things between you two, Harry… Pansy?" Fred asked.
"Things are great." Harry shrugged.
"So you done it yet?" George added.
Harry just blinked, and it took a moment for his brain to recognize what they were hinting at.
"It's not like that!" Harry blurted immediately. "Pansy's a friend, just a friend."
"He meant 'did you put the tears in yet'." Fred said with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.
"What did you think I meant?" George finished, grinning.
Greg and Vince grinned at each other, and joined in, "Harry and Pansy? I bet they…" Greg trailed off when Pansy turned her cold stare on them, and Draco chuckled to see them so easily cowed.
"We believe you." "Just a friend." The twins added, winking exaggeratedly at Harry and sitting back straight.
Pansy glared at the twins, and opened her mouth to retort, but Harry was quicker, "I don't even like girls…" He insisted. This elicited uproarious laughter from the twins, and several of the nearby Slytherins, which made Harry immediately flush a furious red.
"And just what's wrong with girls?!" Pansy asked in an outraged tone, turning back to face Harry.
"That's not what I meant…!" Harry insisted, turning to Draco for help, but found none there.
"We got the tears in this morning." Was all Draco managed, his eyes alight with mischief.
"Are there any blokes you fancy? Not that I'm judging." Blaise taunted, and Harry punched him in the arm. He rubbed the arm but was still laughing.
"I just meant, that…" Harry stuttered, trying to explain before they could take it much further. "It's just… well… there aren't any girls that I, you know, like?"
"We hear ya!" The twins were winking again, reminding Harry a bit of Lockhart.
"No, you're not listening!" Harry was feeling very singled out and alone, his ears and cheeks burning as he wished he could be anywhere but there.
Draco finally jumped in, "What about Katie Bell?" He taunted, glancing back at the dark haired girl sitting behind them.
It was Katie's turn to blush, as the twins were both turning on her, but she slugged one of them in the shoulder hard enough that he cried out, "Hey, what was that for, we hadn't even said anything yet."
"Maybe not, but you were going to, and don't even try to deny it." Fred looked at his twin, and George merely shrugged.
"So, do you still fancy Katie?" Draco drew the attention back to Harry, for which he was not at all grateful.
Harry bit back a growl, scowling at Draco, "Especially not Katie Bell!" He shot the Weasley's a fierce look, promising vengeance, but then realized Katie was now glaring at him as well. He couldn't seem to win…
"I think that's enough!" Pansy told the twins, "I'd drop it if you don't want your quidditch robes washed in foundering potions later. Bet you anything Katie would help me do it too." One by one, they subsided under her gaze, and even the twins moved on to other subjects.
Harry, in the meantime, had gotten to his feet and moved down a row and several seats over, to an empty spot right at the edge of their section of the stands.
Several minutes later, Pansy got up and joined him, though Harry was reluctant to even acknowledge her presence after the twins teasing, "Do you… dislike girls?" Pansy asked in a serious tone. "Or is it just that you're not really interested in dating or anything?"
Harry was about to snap at her, but the expression on her face stopped him. She looked sincere but uncertain, playing with the hem of one sleeve, and not looking at Harry's face. Draco and the others were finally distracted by the Ravenclaw team coming out onto the field so Harry could think for a moment about his answer. "I don't dislike girls in general." Harry began. "In fact, I think you're really nice." He frowned for a moment, "Well, not nice exactly, but I… I… I enjoy having you around."
"Not nice exactly?" Pansy raised an eyebrow as Harry put his foot in his mouth yet again.
"Well, you like to tease the other students, especially Gryffindors, and you pick fights sometimes, and I'd rather you didn't, but… I still like you. I just don't like like you…" Harry sighed, "Does that make sense?"
Pansy considered it for a long moment then nodded. "Yes, it makes perfect sense. Do you think Draco likes me?"
Harry was definitely not prepared for that question, and was saved from answering right away by Padma Patil's amplified voice shouting "And they're up!"
"Later." Harry said, not sure she heard him over the sudden roar of the crowd, but she nodded, and turned her attention to the match.
"…Sif wins the face off, and he sprints forwards, slipping past Henderson, and Macavoy. He goes in for the shot, but Fleet blocks. Fleet takes a moment, then passes to Macavoy…" Padma continued.
Harry had watched the other teams play before, but he was more attentive this time, thinking about what he'd seen in the Gryffindor practice. He wanted to see if he could determine if either team playing today were using different tactics against each other than they had against Slytherin.
"…passes to Cadwallader, and then back to Henderson. Henderson dodges Inglebee's bludger, but she's too far to make her shot…" Harry blinked a few times, he thought he'd seen Duncan Inglebee shout just before he'd hit the bludger. That had given Hufflepuff Captain, Laura Henderson, just enough time to dodge.
Harry found himself a few times glancing around to find the teams' seekers, Cedric Diggory for Hufflepuff, and Cho Chang for Ravenclaw, and noticed the routes they were both flying were quite different from what he usually did. Cho was constantly checking Cedric's progress, but the fourth year Hufflepuff boy barely paid any attention to Cho Chang, instead flew in erratic patterns, back and forth, up and down, searching the out of the way places like behind the stands, for the snitch, only to come back quickly towards the main area of the pitch.
"…Kempston checks Macavoy… and Hooch calls a foul on Kempston. Blagging is the foul, but Kempston appears to be objecting…" Padma's announcement drew Harry's attention away from the seekers for the game's first foul. Harry was not surprised that the foul was called against a Ravenclaw. He had seen first hand that even playing against Slytherin, the Hufflepuff team seemed to avoid fouling as much as possible. But they were very good at penalty shots, which had worked against Slytherin during their match the previous year.
He noticed Sarah Kempston shake hands with Heidi Macavoy briefly, before flying off and letting Heidi move into position to take her penalty shot. Something about this bugged Harry briefly as the action resumed, but it took him a moment to figure out why. And then he gasped. "What's wrong with you?" Pansy asked him.
"Oh, I just realized. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs seem really friendly. Not at all how they treat us."
"They're just jealous of us. Honestly, if you ask me…"
"No, no! It's not that. It's like…" Harry wasn't sure how to describe it.
"What, like they're… friends?"
"Exactly!" Harry flashed Pansy a grateful smile, and she blushed a little.
"Well maybe they are." Pansy seemed confused, not quite understanding why Harry was making a big deal out of this.
"And it's not just one or two of them either. Did you see how the beaters keep shouting before hitting the bludgers? It's like they don't want to hurt the other team too badly." Harry tried to explain.
"…Henderson steals the quaffle, and manages to dodge past Sif, on her way towards the Slytherin goal…" Padma announced.
"There, did you see that?" Harry pointed at Laura flying with the quaffle under her arm.
"She just stuck her tongue out at Sif." Pansy shrugged, "She's taunting him."
"Sif is smiling, and blushing." Harry pointed out, and Pansy's eyes widened.
"She's not taunting him!" Pansy practically shrieked. "She's… flirting with him!"
Harry gasped again then, realizing Pansy was right. He doubted he would have identified it as flirting without her having pointed it out. "Yeah, they… They're all friends, the whole team. It's like…"
"Like they've spent a lot of time together, and know each other pretty well." Pansy nodded, following the game now was more interesting than before. Pansy wasn't as into quidditch as he or Draco, but she seemed to be applying herself to learn about it.
He chatted with Pansy for another hour before Cho Chang caught the snitch, though it was a close call, and Cedric Diggory almost beat her to it. Ravenclaw was ahead twenty points right before that, so they won by a solid one hundred seventy points. Harry was a little surprised, because he was sure Cedric Diggory was the better seeker. He supposed Cho must have been practicing hard since he'd last seen her play against Slytherin the previous spring.
As they were leaving the stands, Harry overheard someone nearby curse under her breath. "…Almost had it, except for that stupid Chang…" Harry glanced to his side, and up into the face of Harriet McClaren, lost deep in her own thoughts.
"Hey, Harriet." He greeted the sixth year girl, wondering what she was muttering about. It sounded like she had wanted Hufflepuff to win instead of Ravenclaw for some reason.
Harriet seemed momentarily startled, and then smiled at Harry, "Oh, hi Harry. How've you been?"
"Flint's been a royal tosser, and we lost against Gryffindor. But I guess you know that."
"He's an idiot." Harriet agreed. "Malfoy could be good in a few years, but Flint's blind, or stupid, if he doesn't see how much better I am right now." She stated boldly.
Harry started to defend his friend, but then stopped. He'd been thinking the same thing during practice, and something Flint had said the previous game came back to him. "I think, Flint didn't let you on the team because you're a girl." He confided. "He said the girls on the Gryffindor team made them weaker, 'cause they were easier to injure."
Harriet stopped, and the person walking behind her bumped into her before she reached out and pulled Harry out of the river of students heading back to the castle. "He actually said that?!" she asked in a low tone, leaning down so she could talk softly and not be overheard.
Pansy stepped off the path close behind, and it was only a moment before Draco noticed them and joined them as well.
"Not that precisely." Harry admitted. Draco looked back and forth between them a few times. "I think it was Miles who mentioned that the Weasley twins are much hardier than the Gryffindor girls, and Flint said that's why there are no girls on the Slytherin team."
Harriet nodded soberly. "I suspected Flint had some prejudice, but never expected him to admit it aloud. Bloody hell, I was really hoping I was wrong."
"What're you four up to over there." Fred and George had spotted them off the path and decided to join in.
"Just talking about you, Weasley." Harriet teased as she turned and trotted through the snow to catch up to her friends in the line.
"It's true, they were talking about you." Pansy grinned slyly, but Harry shook his head.
"It was something Flint and Bole said. They mentioned you, but we weren't saying anything bad about you." Harry explained, and Pansy looked a little disappointed that he wasn't letting her draw out the teasing a bit longer.
"Is that all?" They both raised eyebrows and then glanced at each other before grabbing Harry by the arms.
"Hey, shove off!" Harry struggled as they dragged him back to the path, where a handful of other people were still trickling out from the quidditch stands.
"Not a chance, Harry. We're rescuing you from the machinations of Miss Parkinson there."
"What machinations?!" Harry glanced back at Pansy, who shrugged as she walked in step with Draco.
"Who knows. But you're a Slytherin, I'm sure you know all about 'machinations' by now, aye?"
"I have no idea what that word even means…"
"It's witchcraft, Harry." "Feminine wiles." "Of the worst kind." The twins finished together. "So, how's the 'homework' coming?" Fred said in a much lower tone, and Harry was momentarily thrown for a loop at the sudden change in the conversation. Again.
"Is that what they're calling it these days, Fred?" George asked, confusing Harry even more.
"Why are we whispering?" Harry said after a moment. "You know Pansy is in on all of this too, right?" That drew even more laughter from the twins, and Harry tried once again to struggle out of their grip.
"Maybe so, but we haven't brought her into our 'little circle' just yet," Fred began wiping tears of mirth from his eyes as George picked up where he'd left off, "and we're still not entirely sure how we feel about adding another Slytherin to the group." "We're starting to feel a tad outnumbered."
Harry bit back his retort, and just sighed. "Why do you always do this? This teasing is getting rather old."
"It never gets old with you, Harry." George chuckled, "Yeah, we keep hitting bludgers your way, and you always move right into them, even the wide shots." "You make it so easy."
"I do not!" Harry growled, but then grew thoughtful, "Do I?"
"You kinda do." Pansy replied, confirming that she was still in earshot.
Walking back down the stairs to their dorm that night, Harry was talking with his two best friends about how they would proceed once the potion was finished. Most the other potions they'd worked on up to that point had taken less than a week from start to finish, but the twins at least had some experience with a couple potions that had taken a month or longer, even if it still wasn't as long as this potion was going to require.
It was encouraging, to Harry, that the twins could find no fault with what they'd done so far. Harry had even brought up a few of the techniques he'd learned from "Secrets of Potion Masters and Alchemists". The twins were very wary of even the smallest deviation from the written recipe, but since the potion looked exactly how it was described it should look, in spite of, or even because of, Harry's additional touches, they couldn't find fault.
"Is it almost time, master?" Harry forgot what he'd been saying when he heard the voice, and stopped walking altogether. Draco and Pansy took several more steps before they noticed he'd stopped. "Will master let me kill this time?"
"No!" Harry hissed, "Do you hear me? Answer me, d…"
"Harry?" Pansy was looking at him very nervously.
"What are you doing? Why are you making those noises?" asked Draco.
Harry didn't answer them, not right away, but stood where he was, listening, straining his ears, but he did not hear the voice again.
"Sorry." Harry finally told his friends. "I… thought I heard something. Then I…" He wished he knew exactly what he sounded like when he spoke parseltongue. "I got something in my throat." He finished lamely. They nodded after regarding him for a moment, and then they all started walking again, with Harry trying to pretend like nothing odd had happened.
He didn't think they were fooled.
On Monday morning, Professor Snape came into the Slytherin common room with a sheet of parchment, "All Slytherins staying over the break need to sign this form, at the earliest opportunity. I'll be retrieving it on the last Thursday before Holiday." Harry and Draco both went right away to put their names down, and Pansy was close behind them.
"You're staying too?" Harry asked, and she smiled widely.
"Yeah, mum said it would be best. She's just going up to my aunt's place for the holiday. It's much warmer there, and she gets chills."
When Greg and Vince joined them at breakfast, they commented on the names they'd seen on the list. "Looks like there's a lot of second years staying over the break." Vincent explained, "Everyone in our dorm room, except for Blaise and Theo, plus Pansy from the girl's dorm."
"So that's… half the second years." Draco mused.
"That's right, five out of ten." Pansy nodded.
Part way through breakfast Harry caught sight of Hermione Granger watching him intently from the Gryffindor table, but the moment she saw him looking, she hurriedly glanced away and Harry didn't catch her watching again for the rest of the meal. He did notice that Ginny Weasley – sitting near Hermione – glanced away quite frequently when he looked towards them, while Seamus Finnigan very pointedly looked anywhere but at Harry.
When they checked the 'staying-over-break' sheet after breakfast they learned a couple more Slytherins had signed since Greg and Vince had checked it. "So that's five out of ten second year students plus another five older Slytherins. Ten in total." Harry concluded, "Maybe we should throw a party or something. I bet we could have a fantastic Slytherin Christmas party. How does that sound?"
Draco thought it sounded great, and the rest of them all agreed heartily, so they spent the rest of the hour before Defense Against the Dark Arts making party plans.
Thursday came around, and Harry was ready to get a look at the Ravenclaw quidditch practice. They met in the mornings, and since Harry had two periods free on Thursday, he would be able to observe them for nearly two hours.
What he found when he arrived surprised and shocked him. It wasn't just the Ravenclaws on the field, but there was a full game underway, like a repeat of the game he'd witnessed just the previous week, with the entire Ravenclaw team in the air playing against the entire Hufflepuff team. Hooch's assistant, Alice Thompson, was on hand, but there was no sign of Hooch herself, or Hooch's second assistant, Edward Pheidus. The stands were mostly empty, and there was no announcer, and in most other ways it was more like a practice day than an actual match. Harry sat in silence, concealed as before by his cloak, and tried to figure out what was the most surprising aspect of this new development.
"…score for Ravenclaw…" Alice called casually when Roger Davies got the quaffle past Herbert Fleet into the Hufflepuff goal posts. A flick of her wand updated the score count, which now displayed fifty to thirty in favor of Ravenclaw.
"What was that rubbish?!" Harry heard a surprisingly familiar voice call from the stands not too far from him. He followed the sound of the voice to see Harriet McClaren calling out to the Hufflepuff keeper. "Come on, Fleet, that's one of Connolly's favorite feints, you've got to anticipate the change of direction." She continued, and rather than look offended at the Slytherin in their midst, Fleet just nodded, and looked more determined.
Harry was having trouble wrapping his head around this whole situation. Was Harriet coaching? Why were both teams here playing together when it was supposed to be Ravenclaw's practice session? Harry wished he could voice his questions, but he didn't feel comfortable revealing himself, even if Harriet's presence was more or less accepted.
They called a halt to the match after Harry had been there almost two hours, and gathered in the air to discuss strategies. Harriet got on her broom and rose up to talk with the Hufflepuff Captain, Laura Henderson, and it sounded to Harry that a lot of her advice was centered around how Slytherin tactics would be similar to, or differ from, what the Ravenclaws had used.
It finally dawned on Harry, that Harriet was preparing Hufflepuff, and possibly even Ravenclaw, to defeat Slytherin. But for the life of him, Harry couldn't understand why she would do something like that. "Well, our first Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff scrimmage has ended in a draw, mostly due to being short on time." Ravenclaw captain, Duncan Inglebee announced, "But I think we had fun, and hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of some of these anti-Slytherin strategies in our upcoming matches with them. I'd like to thank Harriet for her input, and apologize. I didn't like the idea of you being here, but I was wrong, you've been a big help."
They all took turns thanking her and shaking hands with Harriet and each other, but then Laura Henderson flew forwards in front of Duncan. "Thanks for those words, but I'm going to say Ravenclaw won that match. Nobody caught the snitch, but you were still ahead by four goals. I know it doesn't count for the season's scores, but you deserve the win. Congratulations!" Her team cheered behind her, and the Ravenclaws looked pleasantly surprised.
"That attitude will not help you against Slytherin." Harriet told Laura, but it sounded like she was mostly teasing.
"Let's also not forget a warm thanks to Miss Thompson for taking time to referee for us." Laura continued, and everyone clapped. Alice smiled and blushed little at the praise, but made no comment.
Things started breaking up at that point, and Harry took the opportunity to slip away, his mind buzzing, and confused. It explained a lot; they'd said this was their first Scrimmage game, but they'd obviously practiced together before, and that explained why they'd been so friendly on the field during their match. It also explained why Harriet was rooting for the Hufflepuffs, because she'd been helping them train to defeat Slytherin, though Harry still couldn't fathom her motive for this.
A part of him wanted to share this new information with Flint, but he thought better of the idea, and instead determined to share with Draco, and maybe Vince and Peter Connolly later. If just the four of them were in the loop they might be able to use the information to their advantage. Somehow.
Later that afternoon, they once more sat across from their Gryffindor rivals in Doubles Potions. Harry was tired and frustrated, and wished for nothing more than that Seamus and his cronies would just cease to exist. He tried to ignore them, and concentrate on his work. He and Draco were doing quite well, and hadn't made hardly any mistakes with their potions for over a month.
As Harry was about to pour a vial of gurt juice into his cauldron, Pansy let out a startled gasp. Harry jumped, and splashed some of the gurt juice across the table where he and Draco were working.
There was a sharp crack and Pansy's cauldron erupted, sending her half-finished swelling solution into the air and splashing the unfortunate girl, and her partner, Daphne Greengrass. They both shrieked, and Harry knocked his chair back, getting quickly to his feet as Pansy's writhing potion rained down around her. Whenever a drop landed in another cauldron, there was another small explosion showering more droplets into the air.
Throughout the room, chairs and students scattered as chaos spread from cauldron to cauldron amidst panicked shouts and screams.
"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape shouted over the din.
Harry dove forwards and barely slammed the lid on his potion just a moment before the disaster reached him, though he was splashed all over his hands in the process. Pansy's face was so swollen by then that Harry didn't even recognize her, and the normally skinny blonde Daphne wasn't looking much better.
Draco was already huddled under their table when Snape finally stopped the eruptions by conjuring a screen over the room, which absorbed the remaining wayward potion, "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft." He told them. Pansy flailed forward, feeling her way towards the sound of his voice.
Half the students were in need of the draft, and most of those who had been splashed were Slytherins. "Am I okay?" Draco asked.
"You're fine." Harry told him. Draco was practically the only Slytherin who hadn't been hit. "But I got some on my hands." Harry watched in fascination for a moment as his hands slowly blew up like balloons but then joined the rest moving forwards when he realized his hands and the back of his head were beginning to tingle numbly.
After everyone had been treated, Snape moved over to Pansy's table, "One of your ingredients has been tainted." He observed after sniffing a few of her vials, "When I find out who did this, I shall make sure that person is expelled." He promised.
"I bet you anything it was Finnigan who set that off." Draco muttered in the halls afterward.
"I don't know; he was one of the ones who got splashed." Harry had noticed.
"Yeah, but most everyone got splashed. Serves him right, to get hit by his own trick."
"I don't think Snape can prove anything, so I doubt he'll get expelled." Harry sighed, and tried his best to put it out of his mind.
It was a week later when Harry discovered another surprise waiting for them. There was a group of students huddled around a newly pinned up notice in the entrance hall, and Harry, Pansy, and Draco worked their way into the crowd to read it. "They're startin' a Dueling Club!" He overheard Seamus announcing unnecessarily. "First meetin' tonight. I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days…"
"You mean so next time maybe Draco will only knock you on your back once, instead of twice?" Pansy couldn't resist taunting him. "Or maybe…"
Harry glowered at her, and she trailed off, looking at him confused. "Nice, remember?" He said in a soft tone, and her eyes lit with understanding recalling their conversation before the last Quidditch match. But she still frowned, as if she wanted to say more.
"Ron took ya apart, Potter, can't imagine ye'd want ta be humiliated by 'im again so soon." Seamus taunted, as the students around them pulled apart to leave a little space for Harry and Seamus to face off across from each other.
Harry laughed, having pieced together something none of the rest of them had thought of yet. "This must be the club Lockhart mentioned." He said drawing more confused looks from the students around them. "Sure, I'll face off against you at the club, Seamus, but if you're looking forwards to learning some fancy new spells there, you might be disappointed. Lockhart's hosting this." He gestured towards the notice board.
The thing that surprised Harry the most about his announcement was the reactions he got from the gathered crowd. Most seemed disappointed, and no one, with the exception of a few of the girls, seemed to disagree with Harry's assessment of Lockhart's teaching skills.
Harry wanted to avoid another confrontation so he slipped out of the crowd with his friends right behind him while the gathered students were discussing the idea of Lockhart sponsoring the dueling club. "What was that about, Harry?" Pansy asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the others. "Why did you stop me from taunting Seamus?"
"Because, I'm getting tired of always getting into fights. And because, I like you better when you're being nice." Harry explained, "Like not 'like'." He added when he saw Draco start to open his mouth.
Pansy couldn't resist giggling a little, and was about to say something to Draco, but then stopped as if she'd thought better of it too. Soon they were in Charms class, and didn't have a lot of extra time to devote to chatting, but afterwards, Pansy had apparently thought it through. "So, Draco, what do you think about picking fights with Seamus and his boyfriends?"
Draco snorted at her jibe, and grinned, but glanced at Harry briefly before continuing. "Well, Seamus and Ron are bullies." He explained to her, "They like to pick fights, and if they start something we'll definitely finish it, but we're better than them. We don't need to pick fights to prove it. And it looks better on us, and on Slytherin, if we rise above that. Does that make sense?"
Harry's smile was very heartfelt at the way Draco explained it, using some of what they'd discussed between the two of them the previous year to persuade Pansy.
"Wow!" Pansy was at a loss for words, at first, "That's really… I never thought of any of that. You're the smartest boy I ever met." She complimented, and Draco blushed.
"Yeah well, I got most of that from Harry." Draco admitted. "He's the smart one."
It was Harry's turn to blush, and Pansy turned her wide smile on him next.
"So what should we do today, during our free periods?" Harry tried to change the subject.
"Let's practice some dueling spells, to be better prepared for the club tonight." Pansy suggested, and they did just that, until it was time for lunch.
Eight o'clock was usually when dinner started, but today was different. A few people had wondered if dinner was being canceled, but the notice outside the great hall said it was simply starting a bit later than usual, and that curfew was slightly extended to compensate.
When Harry and his friends entered the great hall, all of the tables were no where to be seen, and a stage had been erected along most the length of one wall. Students milled about, and Harry overheard a few girls whispering that someone had mentioned Lockhart was going to be there. Harry grinned briefly, and right on cue, the blonde Defense Against the Dark Arts professor came into the room from a door at the far end of the great hall that Harry had never really seen used before, and strode onto the stage. He was his normal immaculate self, with plum colored robes and grey fencing gloves with golden embroidery around the cuffs. Instead of a tie he had a fluffy sort of cravat, and at his brilliant tooth-flashing smile, Harry heard several nearby girls sigh.
Entering the room just behind Lockhart was Professor Snape, as sharp a contrast to the flamboyant celebrity as Harry could have imagined. Cold and poised as always, his black robes were no different than any other day. Harry, personally, would have bet good money that Snape was the better duelist, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. He certainly wouldn't have objected to seeing Lockhart taken down a few pegs.
Lockhart raised one hand, and called for silence. It took only a moment for him to get it. "Gather round, gather round!" He called out, "Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me? Excellent!" As usual he continued on without actually waiting for anyone to reply.
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions – for full details, see my published works." Lockhart informed them.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," He added after a hushed moment, "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry – you'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him, never fear!" Harry was surprised at how many people laughed at this joke. Lockhart never got this kind of reaction in class, but Harry supposed perhaps the Slytherins were more wary of him than the other houses.
Harry drew Draco's attention to where Snape was standing, his face showing his obvious distaste at Lockhart's words. He'd seen that look many times before, usually directed at him, or a Gryffindor student, and a small part of him wished Lockhart would turn around now and see it, knowing as Harry did, that Lockhart was in trouble. At last the blonde wizard did turn to face their potions professor, and Lockhart bowed with great flourish, while Snape made a barely perceptible nod of his head. Then, they both raised their wands, into the familiar dueling pose, though Harry understood that this was typically only used when dueling for sport, or other formal events.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative positions." Lockhart explained to them all, "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"Three sickles Snape knocks him flat!" Harry whispered.
"No bet!" Draco responded, amused.
"One – two – three – " Lockhart counted aloud.
"Expelliarmus!" They'd both whipped their wands above their heads and Snape had beaten Lockhart to the first spell. Lockhart not only lost his wand, but the red light from Snape's disarming charm knocked him clean off the stage.
"Do you think he's alright?!" Someone said nearby to Harry.
"I've never seen a disarming spell knock someone off their feet before." Harry whispered.
"Just about any offensive charm can become a blasting charm if you have enough emotion behind it." Pansy replied in the same soft tone.
Lockhart stumbled to his feet, and immediately gave them a confident grin, putting a little swagger into his steps as he climbed back onto the stage. "Well there you have it! That was a Disarming Charm." Harry snorted; he'd known full well what sort of charm it was. It was his favorite spell for dueling, so far. "As you see, I've lost my wand – ah, thank you, Miss Brown – yes an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy – however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…"
Lockhart seemed to just now notice the fierce look on Snape's face, and immediately changed the subject, "Enough demonstrating." He announced, "I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd care to assist me..."
Together, they sorted everyone into pairs. Snape paused in front of Harry and Draco, seeming to consider them for a moment before deciding, "Let's pair you against someone else, shall we?" He raised one eyebrow when Harry looked about to protest, so he bit his lip and just let Snape determine who he'd face. Draco found himself marched in front of a gaping Hermione Granger, while Harry faced off against a nervous round-faced Hufflepuff girl with red hair whose name he could not remember. Pansy, on the other hand, was sorted against their new Quidditch announcer, Padma Patil.
Harry noticed that most the boys were being paired with boys, and most the girls with girls, and he wondered for what purpose Snape had paired off him and Draco this way.
Once they'd all been settled, Lockhart got back on the stage, "Face your partners! And bow!" His voice carried clearly. The girl across from Harry shook slightly as she bowed, and Harry hoped only that he did not hurt her. Draco was smirking as he and Hermione both bowed, but neither took their eyes from their opponent.
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted next, "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents – only to disarm them – we don't want any accidents – one… two… three – "
"Expelliarmus!" Harry and his opponent shouted in tandem, and both their wands were flung from their hands. Theirs were among the only wands to do so. Draco had cast some other spell against Hermione, but Granger had dodged, and hit him with a leg-locker curse. Pansy meanwhile had successfully struck Padma with Draco's favorite blasting curse, but was herself clutching her sides and laughing nearly hysterically from a tickling charm.
He saw Seamus Finnigan helping Ron to his feat, and Millicent Bulstrode, a Slytherin girl Harry's year who was impressively large for her age, with one of the Gryffindor girls in a headlock, their wands on the floor beside them. The unfortunate Gryffindor was gasping in pain.
"I said disarm only!" Harry heard Lockhart shouting, "Stop! Stop!"
"Finite Incantatem!" Snape shouted, and finally most the mayhem quieted. Harry retrieved his wand as the Potions Master dispelled all the wayward magic in the room, leaving Bulstrode and her whimpering Gryffindor the only sound left throughout the hall.
"That's enough, Millicent!" Harry hissed, and – surprisingly – the girl let go of her victim.
"Dear, dear," Lockhart was circling the room now, "Up you go, Macmillan… Careful there, Miss Fawcett… Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot…" He went on like that for a while then once more returned to the stage. "I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells. Let's have a volunteer pair – Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you – "
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart." Snape cut in, "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest of spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville flushed red-faced. "How about… Malfoy and Granger?"
"An excellent idea, but why don't we let Harry try his hand at this?" Lockhart gestured for Harry to come forward, and Snape motioned for Draco to stay where he was. "Miss Granger?" Lockhart beckoned a suddenly breathless Hermione onto the stage for all to see.
"Now Harry." Lockhart explained, coming up beside him, "When Miss Granger points her wand at you, you do this." Lockhart demonstrated a devilishly tricky wand gesture that traced several patterns in the air in front of him then rather suddenly lost his grip on his wand.
"Whoops – my wand is a little overexcited – " He told them as he picked it up off the floor.
"Might I just cast a protego?" Harry asked.
Lockhart gave him an odd look before nodding, "Well, that will probably do as well. Go ahead, and Miss Granger…"
"Expelliarmus, correct?" She smiled; blushing a little as she was addressed directly, and Harry barely suppressed a smirk. It seemed she was one of those girls at least mildly infatuated with Lockhart, and the distraction could only work in his favor.
"Correct, Miss Granger." Lockhart smiled. "Now, three – two – one – go!" He shouted.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione shouted, at the same moment Harry called out, "Protego!" Harry's bluish shield was just in time to deflect the grey beam of Hermione's spell back at her, locking her entire body frozen as if she'd been petrified like Lee Jordan.
"I said disarming charms only!" Lockhart looked now a little flustered.
Harry just smirked, and shook his head, before muttering, "Finite Incantatum." And releasing a relieved and confused Hermione Granger from her own curse.
"Shall we try again?" Harry asked.
"I think it's safe to say, that Mister Potter knows his shielding spells." Snape observed. "Why don't we see now how Draco handles Miss Granger?"
Lockhart agreed, and soon Harry had stepped down and allowed Draco to take his place on the stage. "This time, Miss Granger," Lockhart began, "I'd like you to cast the shielding spell, and Mister Malfoy will try to disarm you." There was a quiet murmur in the hall, and Harry got the impression several people were betting on whether or not either of them would use the 'assigned' spells.
Snape walked up next to Draco and whispered something in his ear that caused the blond boy to smirk wickedly, and Harry suddenly had a rather bad feeling about this.
Draco thrust his wand forward the moment Lockhart's count reached two. "Serpensortia!" He cried, and a black snake shot from the tip of his wand towards Hermione.
So focused was Hermione, that her reaction to the snake was slightly delayed. She waved her wand over her head after Lockhart's count finished before stopping in her tracks. "Don't move, Granger." Snape said lazily, a quiet grin on his face as he watched her stand frozen, shaking slightly in terror. "I'll get rid of it…"
"Allow me." Lockhart interrupted him.
But Hermione seemed to come to her senses just then, and swung her wand down to point at the snake, "Bombarda!" She shouted, and the snake – along with a portion of the middle of the stage – exploded, showering everyone nearby, including Snape, Lockhart, Draco and Harry, with tiny fragments of debris.
There was stunned silence for a moment, and Hermione looked quite pleased with herself, as she grinned up at Lockhart. "My, my!" Lockhart said after a moment, "You know some advanced spells, for a second year, don't you Miss Granger?" The girl only blushed and looked down. Draco looked furious; he didn't like being upstaged.
"Reparo Totalum." Snape incanted, waving his wand at the stage, and it carefully put itself back together, one splinter at a time, until it was as good as new, except for the scorch marks left by Hermione's spell.
"If we try that again, I want you to cast disarming," Lockhart gave Draco a stern look, "And shielding spells only, on my count. Understood?" Harry sighed and shook his head; this was getting out of hand.
"Professor?" Harry raised his hand to get noticed over the crowd, many of whom were older, taller, or both.
"Yes, Harry?" It took a moment for Lockhart to notice, just before he'd been about to start his count.
"Could I try the disarming spell this time?" Draco gave him a look, but he ignored his best friend. Draco and Hermione did not like each other, but Harry thought if he gave it a try there might be less bad feelings, and therefore a greater likelihood that things would go according to plan. Both Harry and Draco knew he was quiet good with disarming spells, but none of the others knew that.
"Another excellent idea." Lockhart waved Harry up on stage and Draco reluctantly stepped aside.
"Now, Miss Granger, the shielding spell, as you saw Harry do earlier, goes like this." Lockhart demonstrated the much simpler wand movement, and spoke the charm, "Protego." Creating a small blue shield in front of himself briefly, before stepping back.
Hermione was breathing a bit more quickly again when Lockhart drew away, and Harry merely readied his wand. He tried to offer Hermione an encouraging and friendly smile, but the girl scowled at him anyways.
"On three!" Lockhart announced again, and on the count of two, Hermione shouted, "Colloshoo!" just before Harry's "Expelliarmus!" sent her wand flying from her grasp.
"That was not a shield spell!" Lockhart shouted, and Hermione looked down at her feet, coloring more.
"I thought…" Hermione began, giving Harry an apologetic look. Harry just shrugged, and started to move to pick up Hermione's wand for her, which had landed close to him, but his feet remained stuck to the stage and he flailed ineffectually for a moment before falling forwards onto his face.
"Harry?!" Pansy shrieked, as she climbed onto the stage next to him. He was a bit stunned, and his nose was in considerable pain. There was blood leaking down over his lips as he tried to push himself into a sitting position, but his feet were still held in place.
"Finite Incantatum!" Hermione cried suddenly, having retrieved her wand and now knelt on Harry's other side. His shoes were freed from the stage, and he was able to sit up, though his vision was blurry.
"Oh no! Your glasses!" Pansy cried, and Harry's heart leapt into his throat as he felt around for them.
"Oculus Reparo!" Hermione said next, and when Harry's hands closed over his glasses, they seemed perfectly fine to him as he put them back on his face.
"Get away from him, you filthy mudblood!" Pansy growled.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Harry recognized the voice of Alicia Spinnet, and Hermione looked as aghast and offended as she had the last time one of Harry's friends had called her that.
"Pansy!" Harry admonished, but Hermione was already backing away.
Pansy did not look apologetic, and Harry quickly got to his feet, ignoring the blood still running from his nose. There were gasps as more of the room got a good look at his face, and Lockhart quickly came to his side, "Miss Parkinson, that will be ten points from Slytherin." He told her, tsking, "Now let's see what we can do about that nose, Harry."
"No! Not you!" Harry shouted, backing away, and turning in time to see Hermione fleeing. "Granger, wait!"
Snape was coming towards him too, but Harry dashed past the stunned crowd, chasing after Hermione. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, but he couldn't let this go a second time.
"Granger!" He shouted, and burst into the entrance hall, seeing her fleeing up the staircase, only to stumble when her foot went through the vanishing step. "Hermione!" He called, and swiftly approached.
Behind him was Lavender Brown, and Draco, but Harry got to her first. "I'm sorry, Hermione."
"Leave me alone!" She whimpered, and Harry ignored her request as he helped her extricate her foot from the gap in the stairs.
"Haven't you done enough?" Lavender accused Harry.
"Be quiet, Brown." Draco admonished.
"I will not be bullied by…"
"I'm not a bully!" Draco replied fiercely.
"Just stop, both of you!" Harry cried, swiping ineffectually at his still-leaking nose with his sleeve.
Hermione tried to wipe tears from her face as she glared at Harry in confusion.
"Are you injured, Miss Granger?" Snape had emerged behind Draco, and his words startled all of them.
"Uh, no Professor, I…"
"Then perhaps we should return to the great hall. Unless you don't have the stomach for further dueling practice." He sneered at her, and Hermione straightened her shoulders.
"Of course I have the stomach, I'm not afraid to…"
"Then by all means, proceed." He gestured for all of them to go back into the hall, but stopped Harry before he could enter. "Let's look at that nose first, shall we?"
"Of course, Professor." Harry stopped, and turned his head up. He'd been pinching his nose ever since Hermione had stopped running, but his face, and most of the upper part of his shirt and tie were covered in blood, and he was feeling a little faint.
"Velnura Senantur." Snape incanted while sweeping the tip of his wand in front of Harry's face. Most of the blood flowed backwards into Harry's nose, and the offending appendage returned mostly to normal, though it still felt sore.
"Thanks!" Harry muttered, and gave Snape a surprised look. Snape returned his gaze for a moment before turning back towards the hall. "Professor!" Harry's word caused him to stop and turn back.
"Why've you been ignoring me all year?" Snape was silent, and Harry didn't really expect him to answer. He was surprised he'd even asked the question, but he was feeling a little out of sorts today.
"I've been trying to decide something." Snape replied, though Harry didn't think that was any sort of answer at all.
"Decide what?" Harry was again surprised to hear the question leave his mouth.
"What to do about you." Snape answered simply, and this time when he turned Harry didn't stop him.
When Harry followed, Hermione was back on the stage, this time facing off against Parvati. They both looked wary, but when Lockhart finished his count, Hermione cast the disarming spell, as Parvati cast a shield spell just a little too late, and lost her wand as a result.
"Very good, Miss Granger. Why don't we let someone else try the disarm now." Hermione nodded, and stepped down, while Parvati retrieved her wand. "Mister Finch-Fletchley." Lockhart beckoned the boy onto the stage, and had him face off against Parvati.
Harry just watched, as everyone in the room was, in turn, given a chance to try out the disarming and shielding spells on the stage. This time there were very few mishaps and only one or two students attempted to cast a spell other than the one they were instructed, such as when Seamus Finnigan faced off against Draco, though as before when they'd dueled in the corridor, it ended with Seamus on his back, twice, and Draco beaming proudly. Ultimately, Lockhart had to threaten to take points away from the next student to deviate from the assigned spells before everything went smoothly.
Finally, a halt was called to the proceedings, so they could restore the room in time for dinner. "We'll post another notice letting you all know when the next club meeting will be!" Lockhart told them, as they filed out of the hall. Some of them made their way up to the hospital wing to be treated for minor injuries, while the rest returned to their dorms to ready themselves for dinner.
When Harry woke in the morning, he learned that Doubles Herbology, their first class after breakfast, had been canceled, due to a powerful blizzard which had coated most the school grounds with several feet of snow. In fact, Slytherin's quidditch practice that afternoon was canceled as well, meaning Harry's only class the entire day was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
When he, Pansy, and Draco arrived about 10 minutes past 11am, Harry immediately went to the front of the class, and a startled Lockhart looked up to meet his gaze. "Professor Lockhart." Harry began, "I know you probably have a, uh… different lesson planned. But I wanted to practice some more dueling spells while it's still fresh in our minds. Defense Against the Dark Arts should include dueling techniques, shouldn't it? Me and Draco have practiced dueling a lot, and if you want, we could help tutor the rest of the class."
Lockhart opened his mouth, but stopped, then covered his hesitation with a brilliant smile. "How can I say no to The-Boy-Who-Lived?" He beamed, and stood up from his desk to address the gathering class.
He had everyone stand, as he gestured with his wand, clearing all the desks in the room off to one side, and then once the last of the Slytherin students had arrived, he told them all. "As many of you know, last night was the first meeting of the new 'Lockhart's Magical Defensive Dueling Club', and Mister Harry here was so enamored of the club that he has requested a repeat lesson today in class. I have graciously agreed to this request, and so today you'll be learning even more about dueling. Now, for those of you who did not attend the club meeting, the first thing you'll need to learn about dueling is how to defend against harmful spells. I'll pair each of you off."
There were six boys, and four girls in their year in Slytherin, and Lockhart paired them off boy to boy, and girl to girl. Pansy versus Daphne Greengrass and Millicent Bulstrode facing Tracy Davis. Vince and Greg were paired together, as were Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, leaving Harry and Draco as the final pair. Lockhart invited the two of them to the front of the class before they began. "Now I'll let Harry and Mister Malfoy here demonstrate the spells I'll be teaching you first. The shielding spell you'll use to block harmful hexes and curses is most important. The incantation is, 'Protego'. Now you say it!"
"Protego." Nearly everyone cried.
"Excellent! Now…"
"Sir." Harry interrupted Lockhart.
"Yes, Harry?" Lockhart raised an eyebrow at him.
Harry turned to Vincent, "Vince, you said it wrong." Harry explained. "It's 'pro-TAY-go', not 'pro-te-JIO'."
Crabbe flushed, and tried it again. Lockhart looked very briefly embarrassed, but quickly recovered, and moved around the room, making sure everyone had it right before resuming his place at the front.
"Let's all try, on three. One – two – three!" When he got to three he waved his wand and called out, "Protego!" His brilliant blue shield exactly matched his eyes as it flared to life. Harry and Draco, of course, conjured their own shields, but theirs weren't as bright as Lockharts. Harry was pleased to note, however, that theirs both lasted a little longer.
Pansy and Tracy got the shield right, as did Theo and Blaise, but the rest of them had to try several more times before they could conjure the shield correctly.
"Now, the next spell is the disarming spell." Lockhart continued, and this time he made sure they all had the incantation correct before continuing. Before long, they were alternating disarms and shields against their partners, and they all had quite a bit of fun.
"That was the best lesson Lockhart gave all year!" Pansy observed breathlessly after class. Harry and Draco could only agree.
"What do you think was different?" Draco wondered aloud.
"It was Harry, of course." Pansy beamed at Harry's blush. "It was his suggestions that made things go so smoothly, and the lesson was his idea in the first place. You'd make a much better Defense teacher than Lockhart, Harry."
"I don't know about that." Harry was blushing even redder, and Pansy giggled at his discomfort.
Harry thought nothing could dampen his mood that day.
He was wrong.
Author's Comments: This was another fun chapter, with a lot of momentum and hopefully a solid degree of mounting tension. I'm a little surprised I didn't get any comments on my portrayal of Luna in the last chapter. I thought it was entertaining, but I guess different people react differently to it.
Anyways, thanks for the reviews, and the comments, and I hope you're all enjoying this story, even at it's slow but steady pace.
Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.
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