A/N: Just to address some issues reviewers seem to have been having: Well, first off, a lot of people seemed not to like the whole love spell, and think it's too easy. First off, let me say that I know the idea isn't entirely original, as a lot of stories I've read have Harry casting some sort of spell having to do with love on Voldemort to finish him off, but I tried to add my own take on it. Anyway... I don't know that it quite makes things too easy, as Harry still must learn the spell, and also find Voldemort, not to mention the Horcruxes. Also, just because a spell seems to make things too easy doesn't necessarily make it incompatible with the Harry Potter universe, considering that the Avada Kedavra spell just straight up kills your enemy. My spell is no easier than that and is, if anything, more convoluted. Speaking of convoluted, this author's note is starting to get kind of out there, so let me just conclude by saying that I am still open to any volunteers for a beta, as I've had at least 2 people in recent memory suggest that I get one. Additionally, two people have questioned my use of condescend in previous chapters. I intended it to mean "lower one's self" which is a secondary definition. When Ginny used it, she was being somewhat sarcastic.
Chapter 8:
Start of Term
Harry was having, quite understandably, quite a wide range of emotions run through his mind at the moment that he was ejected from the Pensieve.
First off, he was feeling a bit of new respect for Dumbledore. Although he had always known that Dumbledore had been a great wizard, it was rather impressive to see Dumbledore in the act of vanquishing the greatest dark wizard of two generations previous. Not only that, but he felt a sympathy for Dumbledore to an extent he had never done before. Dumbledore had never seemed like the type of person who would need sympathy, but to think of him losing his young wife gave Harry a new perspective on the man.
But another emotion which was registering in Harry's mind was hope. Until now, he had had little idea of how he would be able to defeat Voldemort. Often during the summer, thoughts of when the two rivals had dueled in the graveyard on the night of Voldemort's return had flashed through Harry's mind, and it was clear to him that he would need an alternative to an all-out duel with Voldemort. Of course, this new spell would not cure everything since it would still be necessary to get this spell across without Voldemort disarming him first, but it was still a better plan than trying to Cruciatus him or something, as Harry still wasn't sure that he had much of a handle on that spell.
Still, he would obviously have to find out more about this spell before he was able to know for sure how useful it would be. Harry glanced across the desk to Professor McGonagall, the existence of whom Harry had temporarily forgotten as he wrestled with his own thoughts.
"Did you find what you saw to be of interest?" asked McGonagall as she noticed Harry looking at her. Her manner was still distant, and Harry reflected that although Dumbledore himself seemed to be confident in McGonagall's comptency to take on his role as headmaster, she hadn't quite gotten down the knack of being a mentor.
"Yes, very much so," said Harry, who assumed that McGonagall had been informed of what Harry would find in the pensieve by either Dumbledore's letter or his portrait. "And he encouraged me to ask you to teach me about the spell. Could you do that?"
"Certainly," said McGonagall, smiling slightly. "I don't think we have much time to practice the spell or anything just now, but I can at least answer any questions that you might have about it. I can actually teach you the spell at some point during the school year, which seems to be approaching at rather an alarming rate."
Harry could once again sense that McGonagall was somewhat nervous about beginning her duties as headmistress, and couldn't help but smile slightly as he reflected that this meant that the stern transfiguration professor must have a bit of human in her after all. "Er, yeah, I do have some questions. First off, what exactly does the spell do? From what Professor Dumbledore said, it forced Grindewald to feel love, and therefore made it impossible for him to perform dark magic?"
"More or less," agreed McGonagall. "But it's not quite that simple. You see, the spell can force other emotions upon people than love, depending on the memory the caster is focusing on at the time. For instance, if instead of wanting to stop someone from fighting, a wizard wanted to force another wizard to fight by his side, he could force a particularly angry memory on the other wizard, which could raise the victim's anger against the caster's opponent."
"That sounds pretty complicated," said Harry. "In that case, wouldn't it just be easier to use an Imperius Curse?"
"Oftentimes, yes," admitted McGonagall. "But there are certain advantages to this spell, which I shall explain shortly. But first, I want to explain what happened when Professor Dumbledore cast that particular version of the spell on Grindewald. You see, once Grindewald was forced to recognize the emotion of love, particularly love felt by Professor Dumbledore, he was forced to fully recognize Professor Dumbledore's humanity. It has often been said that people dehumanize their enemies, and I think that in order to want to hurt a person, one must temporarily put that person's humanity out of their mind. This was now impossible for Grindelwald, and that is why it was impossible for him to work up enough hate toward Dumbledore to cast a killing curse on him, or in fact to continue fighting at all."
"So, he lost his ability to do magic?" asked Harry.
"Not quite," answered McGonagall. "He simply lost his ability to do harm to Dumbledore. For instance, if another wizard from his side had attempted to take his place dueling Professor Dumbledore, Grindewald would have been able to cast an Imperius Curse on him to protect Professor Dumbledore. It would still have been nearly impossible for him to cast a Cruciatus curse or killing curse on anyone, though, as the love he was being forced to feel would have made it hard to feel the requisite hate to do that."
Harry nodded slowly, processing this new information. "Why wasn't Grindewald able to block the spell?" asked Harry.
"There are certain spells that are not able to be simply blocked. For instance, Avada Kedavra is unblockable. This spell is also unblockable, so if you are able to get this spell out, with the proper amount of emotional force behind it, your opponent will be unable to counter it. Of course, the difficult part will be to keep alive and holding your wand for long enough to cast the spell. Besides which, the spell requires a good bit of concentration. It is similar in some ways to Legilimancy, which may make it easier for you to cast it on Voldemort than it otherwise would be, considering the mental link you two previously shared. But I believe I have kept you here long enough. We shall discuss the spell further toward the beginning of next term."
Harry processed what McGonagall said, and then, with slight surprise, noted, "Professor, you said Voldemort's name. You didn't used to, did you?"
"No. But I figure I'm the headmaster of Hogwarts now. I can't afford to be afraid of anyone," McGongall smiled, and rose to accompany Harry to the door.
The final two weeks of vacation passed by a bit too fast for Harry's liking. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron had much more school-related work to do than seemed to be justified during any part of the summer. Aside from preparing plans for the D.A., they had last minute homework assignments to finish up. After it had been determined that Hogwarts would remain open, several of the professors had sent their students letters to notify them of what work they should have done before the school year began.
But still, Harry was somewhat looking forward to the beginning of the school year for a few reasons. First of all, he wanted to actually put his plans into action and get the D.A. back off the ground. Also, Hermione assured them all that the library probably had some information that could help them track down the Horcruxes. Although Harry was not quite so sure that he shared this faith in the library, he was looking forward to being in closer contact with McGonagall, who he was now hoping might be able to help research for the Horcruxes. Also, he was looking forward to finding out who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was. He had not ruled out the possibility of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher having a part in the leadership of the D.A., assuming that the professor in question was competent and willing to help.
On the first day of term, the Burrow was abuzz with activity as usual at summer's end. Once Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were shaken awake by Mrs. Weasley at 7 in the morning, they only had two more hours to get ready before they needed to get in the Ministry-provided cars to get back to school.
Ron was busy trying to get his Head Boy badge back to normal after discovering only that morning that the twins had modified it during their last visit, much like they had done to Percy's four years before. Keeping the original initials, the twins had charmed the badge to read "Half-Brain." Upon discovering this, Hermione had giggled slightly and offered to fix the badge. Ron had gotten inexplicably defensive and insisted that he could fix his own bloody badge. He opined that it would be emasculating to need his know-it-all girlfriend to perform simple bits of magic for him. Hermione let out a "hrmph" and shot back that he should keep that in mind next time he felt the urge to copy her homework. Meanwhile, Ron dug in his already packed trunk to find his charms book, in which he hoped would be instructions on how to get his badge back to normal.
Trying to keep from laughing at Ron and Hermione's argument, Harry headed down to the kitchen, in which Arthur Weasley was talking with Remus and Moody, both of whom were going to accompany the students to King's Cross, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
Ginny was in the room too, and during a break in the conversation, she asked Lupin, "Why isn't Tonks coming with us as well?"
"She's beginning her new job today, as a matter of fact," explained Lupin, with a small smile.
"What's that, then?" asked Ginny.
"She's taking over Shacklebolt's old position at the muggle Prime Minister's office," revealed Lupin.
"Why's Shacklebolt leaving?" wondered Harry.
"He's off to fill a more dangerous post," said Lupin, with a slightly guilty look on his face. "Actually, Tonks was angry that she didn't get the post. Tonks thinks that her getting passed over might have something to do with our... er... budding relationship," said Lupin, looking slightly uncomfortable as he trailed off.
"But Shacklebolt's got a kid doesn't he? He's not going to be in too much danger, will he?" asked Harry. At this point, he looked up and noticed Hermione, who still looked a bit flushed from her recent argument with Ron, enter the room.
Lupin looked a bit more uncomfortable at this question, but Moody jumped in to answer. "He's more than qualified to take the job. Everybody's just too superstitious is all. Need to get over themselves. The main problem with the job is that the person has to be away for awhile, and that's part of the reason why they chose someone who wasn't just beginning a romantic relationship. But there's no denying that Shacklebolt's a bit more qualified for the position than Tonks is anyway," said Moody with a wise smile.
"Tonks would disagree with you there," Lupin registered with a small laugh.
"Yes, well, the decision's up to McGonagall in the end, isn't it?" asked Arthur.
"What position are we talking about anyway? Why's Professor McGonagall the one to choose?" asked Hermione curiously.
"Hasn't anybody told you McGonagall's the head of the Order of the Phoenix now that Dumbledore's gone?" asked Moody.
"Er... no," admitted Harry. He had been so wrapped up in his own personal quest to find Voldemort and his Horcruxes, not to mention organizing the D.A., that the topic of the Order of the Phoenix had nearly slipped his mind. Whenever he had thought about it, he had always assumed that the organization had probably fractured upon Dumbledore's death. He was relieved to hear it was still going on.
"Well, there was a vote on it at the first meeting after Dumbledore died," explained Lupin, who seemed to have overcome his embarassment from earlier in the conversation. "And it came out almost unanimous that since Dumbledore trusted her enough to make her his Deputy Headmistress, that should be good enough to transfer leadership of the group as well."
At this point, conversation was cut off as Molly rushed into the room. "Everybody bring your trunks down to the kitchen," she commanded. "And where's Ron?"
"I'll let him know we're getting ready to leave," promised Harry, as he made his way up the stairs.
When Harry entered Ron's room again, Ron was tapping furiously with his wand at his badge while muttering countercharms under his breath. Harry grinned as he said, "We've got to bring our stuff down to the kitchen, honorable half-brain."
"Funny, Harry. Downright hilarious," said Ron disapprovingly as he tossed the badge back into his trunk.
"You know, you look a lot like Hermione when you get angry. You two really do make a good couple," said Harry.
"Why's she got to be such a know-it-all?" asked Ron. "It really is frustrating sometimes."
"Because, Ron, if she weren't such a know-it-all, you'd never get your homework done, and you'd have to walk around wearing badges that say 'half-brain'," explained Ginny, as she walked into Ron's room. It was for Ginny's benefit that they were taking the cars over to King's Cross in the first place, as she was now the only one of the four students who did not have their apparition license. Harry and Ron had taken the test the week after Harry's birthday, and had both passed, even though Ron noticed later that night that he had left two of his toe-nails at the spot from which he had apparated.
"Shouldn't you be getting your trunk downstairs?" asked Ron irritably.
"Hermione offered to levitate it down for me. And I, unlike some people, am not so full of myself as to not let people help me. And by the way I would just like you to know that Hermione told me about how you said it'd be emasculating for her to help you. It sounds like you still buy into the whole idea that the man is supposed to be the protector of the family?" Ginny asked severely.
Ron raised his arms in a peace-offering manner as he said, "No, I didn't mean it like that..." although he was not too convincing.
"Geez, Ron, what were you thinking? We all know I'll let Ginny protect me whenever she wants, if that's what it takes to keep the relationship going," said Harry with a smile.
Ginny stuck her tongue out. "And don't you forget it," she ordered, as she led the way down the stairs as Harry and Ron levitated their trunks behind them.
"All right, all right, everyone in the cars," commanded Mrs. Weasley. "We've only got just enough time to make it to the station."
About two hours later, the group was securely packed onto the Hogwarts train. Lupin and Moody were staying on the train to patrol the corridors, since much like a few months ago, it had been determined that it as no longer wise to trust a handful of teenage prefects with keeping the corridors secure.
However, there was actually very little chance of incident on the way to Hogwarts, as many of the people who were normally known to cause trouble (particularly the Slytherins), were conspicuously absent from the train.
Ron and Hermione still had to head up the Prefect's meeting, even though the prefects were not patrolling the corridors this year, leaving Harry and Ginny to find a compartment.
It would have been exceedingly easy to find an empty compartment, as the train was nowhere near as crowded as it normally was on the ride back to Hogwarts. But Harry got an odd sort of depressed feeling from the empty compartments. It was a testament to how strong Lord Voldemort's reign of intimidation really was to see how few people were on the train. The Slytherins, of course, had not been kept out of Hogwarts due to fear, but presumably Voldemort had instructed his death-eaters not to send their children back to Hogwarts. Indeed, there was little point now in the death-eaters keeping their children in a Ministry-approved track of education, as they were all hoping for the downfall of the Ministry anyway. So it seemed that from now on, all threats to Hogwarts students would come from outside of the school rather than within. Of course, that did not exclude the possibility that Voldemort would try to invade Hogwarts again. But that was what the D.A. was going to prepare for, Harry reminded himself, as he led Ginny down the corridor to what sounded like a cheerfully noisy compartment.
Harry opened the door to find Dean, Seamus, and Lavender talking with none other than Neville and Luna.
"Hey, Harry," greeted Neville excitedly. "I was just telling everybody about the spell I was researching for our first D.A. meeting. Do you have any idea when the meeting will be yet?"
Harry reflected that only a few years ago, neither Neville nor Luna would have had much to do with Dean, Seamus, and Lavender, as Neville and Luna had each been somewhat alienated socially. But due to the realities of war and their positions within the D.A., Luna and Neville, neither of whom had previously seemed to belong, were earning themselves a bit of popularity.
"Well," Harry answered, "we might as well give ourselves a little bit of time to get back into the swing of classes first... How about this Saturday, though?"
"Today's... Monday, right?" asked Seamus. "I kind of lost track at some point during the summer," he explained.
"Yeah, today's Monday," said Harry, grinning.
"All right," said Dean. "Saturday should work then."
Everyone nodded their consent.
The topic of conversation devolved into various bits of small-talk until Ron and Hermione entered the room.
"We looked into a bunch of the compartments on the way here," announced Ron to the room in general, "and I'd be surprised if there's more than 150 of us on this train."
Harry did some quick mental math and then whistled softly to himself. "That's less than half of normal, isn't it?" he asked.
"It sure is," affirmed Hermione. "Usually there's about 400. You know... About ten students per year in Gryffindor, about a dozen in Slytherin per year, about fifteen per year in Ravenclaw, and almost twenty per in Hufflepuff. Almost sixty per year, multiplied by seven. Of course... we've lost the majority of Slytherin, and a good chunk of Hufflepuff as well. Even two of their prefects didn't show up. And only two of Slytherin's prefects did show up..."
"Well, the Slytherins are no great loss," opined Dean.
"And I bet Gryffindor's the best represented," said Seamus. "We've got 7 from our year back!"
"It'll make Quidditch a bit pointless though, won't it?" asked Ginny.
"Actually, from the letter that Professor McGonagall sent us to read at the Prefect's meeting, it seems like there might not be any Quidditch at all this year," revealed Ron heavily.
"No Quidditch?" asked Harry. "We'll have to at least organize some pick-up games or something... I can't go a whole year without a decent match..."
Conversation continued in that vein for awhile, and then naturally turned to other topics, as the train made its way toward Hogwarts. Hours later, the students pulled on their robes as the train began to travel in darkness. Just as Ron's growling stomach was becoming audible to the rest of the compartment, the train pulled into Hogsmeade.
As they made their way onto the carriages, Harry glanced warily at the thestrals. He wondered in passing how long he would be the only one of the trio who would be able to see the morbid beasts. Hermione and Ron had still been lucky enough to never witness death first hand. Last year, Harry would have said with confidence that they would at least not see anyone die before they encountered the thestrals again as they left for Christmas break, but Hogwarts no longer seemed unbreachable after the events of the previous year.
Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and Ron all got into the same carriage. "There can't be too many new first years this year, can there?" Ron wondered aloud.
"They'd probably be the ones least likely to show up," admitted Hermione. "Their parents would be the most protective. Plus, they wouldn't really be sacrificing too much, if they end up having to start a year late, at least they aren't leaving off part-way. Of course, I don't know if many people really think the war will be over in a year..."
"Oh, let's hope it is," said Harry earnestly. "I don't know whether I can stand it for more than another year."
"I'm sure we'll have defeated Voldemort by then," responded Ginny. And the odd thing was, she really did sound sure. It was so nice to hear how confident she was that Harry didn't even have the nerve to ask what "we" she was talking about.
When they got up to the Great Hall, the four took their spots at the Gryffindor table. It turned out that Seamus had been right about Gryffindor being fairly well represented, as it seemed like at least three in four of the students who should have returned to the house this year were present.
Once the group was seated, they glanced toward the front of the room as McGonagall led about fifteen first year students into the Great Hall. She placed the sorting hat on its stool and the whole room became silent.
The sorting hat began to sing.
"I know that in previous years my advice you did not heed,
You took the path down which emnity and division lead.
But since I've been proven right, I hope you now shall see,
that the way to victory can come only from unity.
So although now I will divide students into the houses four,
I hope that the houses will not be truly divided anymore.
Into the house of ruthless and mighty Slytherin,
I put students who will do whatever it takes to win.
Into the house of the sly and witty Ravenclaw,
I put those whose intelligence is the subject of much awe.
Into the house of the honorable Helga Hufflepuff,
I place people who will work hard even when it's tough.
And into the house of kind and noble Gryffindor,
I place students who can experience great fear but still endure.
You will need the talents of those students who take after each founder,
Or else this school may be destroyed, and the whole wizarding world flounder.
So if you are wise this year you will all finally take my advice,
And those students that remain will to one another be nice,
To stand unified against a dangerous and shared threat.
For these words of wisdom, you are now all in my debt."
There were only brief spurts of applause from the student body, which could not help but feel as if it had just been reprimanded by the talking hat. Harry supposed that he would do what he could to make sure that Dumbledore's Army was welcoming to any of the remaining Slytherins who wanted to come, as it seemed that those who had supported Voldemort had left the school. Perhaps this year they would be getting on the job training in subjects like muggle-torture, and kissing up to the dark-lord. Harry glanced over to the Slytherin table and noticed that there were only about twenty students there.
Within ten minutes, the first year students had been distributed amongst the houses. Before dinner began, Professor McGonagall stood up. "Before we begin, I would like us to all observe a moment of silence in recognition of our late headmaster, whom we all wish could have been with us this coming year."
For the next minute, the Great Hall was as quiet as Harry had ever heard it, and Harry reflected that this was by far the most somber start of term feast he had ever attended. At the end of the minute, McGonagall cleared her throat and began to talk again. "Our new Defense Agaisnt the Dark Arts Professor should be joining us any moment. I believe he is currently checking the grounds to make sure that no stragglers got locked out of the building due to our new security devices... Ah, here he is now," said McGongall as one of the doors to the Great Hall opened slowly. None other than Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the room and made his way up to the staff table.
"I introduce to you all, Kingsley Shacklebolt. He is an Auror at the Ministry of Magic, and was also a close personal friend of Professor Dumbledore. The Ministry has consented to allow him to fill this post, as they have committed a few Aurors to protect Hogwarts as it is, and they see no harm in allowing one of them to teach. At any rate, I will have more announcements at the end of the feast, but I have kept you from your food for long enough. So, go to it," advised McGonagall as food appeared on the previously empty tables.
As they ate, the four talked about Shacklebolt's appointment as the new professor. "I kind of thought that's what they were talking about when I walked in," revealed Hermione.
"Oh, of course you knew," said Ron with mock-irritation in his voice.
"I see you let Hermione fix your badge," Ginny noted approvingly, glancing at his now repaired Head-boy badge.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Why do you automatically assume I didn't fix it myself?" he asked.
"It makes sense though," said Harry, later on in the conversation. "Moody mentioned that everybody was superstitious. Although something Dumbledore said last year kind of made it sound like Voldemort really did curse the Dark Arts position when he was turned down for the job."
"Yes, well, that won't be a problem if you get rid of him this year, will it?" asked Kingsley as he sat down beside Harry.
"Why aren't you up at the staff table?" asked Ron.
"I still don't really feel like a member of the staff," said Shacklebolt with a grin. "Besides, the Headmistress tells me that you probably want to talk to me about this Defense Club you're running?" he asked, as the desserts appeared on the table.
So they discussed the plans for Dumbledore's Army as they ate. Then, after a few closing remarks from McGonagall, the student body got up and made their way toward their respective common rooms.
As he drifted off to sleep in a room with the same four roommates he had started school with, it was almost possible for Harry to forget for a little while how depleted the student body was. But even with this little bit of normality, there was no denying that this would be anything but a normal year.
A/N:... Well... So. There's that chapter then. Sorry about the wait, by the way. This chapter was kind of hard to write, besides which I had to work a good bit last week. Incidentally, I've also got to work a fair amount over the next couple of weeks, and then school starts up. I'm hoping to update consistently about once a week, though, so don't give up on me. And, hopefully the fact that this chapter's fairly long will make up slightly for the time it took to get it up. Oh, and just to justify my numbers for the students in each house: I've seen in different places that Rowling mentioned there were something like 1000 kids at Hogwarts, although all evidence from the books would suggest otherwise. So althouh my numbers are unsupported by Rowling, I figure my numbers make some sense, considering that it seems logical (to me at least) that there would be more students in Hufflepuff (which seems to have few qualifications for admittance) than for Gryffindor. I also think that intelligence is probably more common than bravery of the type that can get someone into Gryffindor, so that's why I have more of them. So... Anyway, let me know what you think about this chapter... Reviews help to inspire me to write faster!
