A/N- This chapter was an absolute pain in the ass to write. Probably didn't help that I'm bloody sleep-deprived from going to the midnight premiere of Star Wars: Rogue One WHICH IS A BLOODY GOOD MOVIE BTW FOOKING DARTH VADER (swears in Australian because we all know Aussies are the best at using vulgar language). Well, now that that's out of the way, enjoy!
Chapter 9- Welcome Back to the DA
"You alright Harry? You're looking a bit peaky."
Harry looked up from his bowl of porridge to stare at the concerned redhead in front of him. Giving Ginny his best reassuring smile he nodded.
"Just a little tired is all," said Harry. "I was with Remus last night."
Ginny nodded her head in understanding. "How is he?" she asked.
"He's doing fine, from what I could tell. We spent most of the time time catching up and wrestling."
"Wrestling?"
Harry laughed. "Yeah, when he transformed we wrestled for a bit. Needless to say the Shrieking Shack looks a little bit more haunted now," he joked. He didn't have to mention the conversation he had with Moony about her though.
Ginny laughed the sweet laugh that made Harry's heart beat just a little faster, then stood up and grabbed her bag. She then gave Harry a stern look. "You should probably get to work on the DA, people are starting to get on my nerves about it asking for this and that." And with that, she left, her long hair billowing gently behind her. Harry continued to stare after her until she rounded the corner and left. The quickly finished off his breakfast and left the hall down to Hagrid's hut to assist his friend with the Acromantula he was (unfortunately) showing the fourth years.
oOoOoOo
Thanks to Hermione, the charms on the DA coins all received the message that the first DA meeting would commence after dinner that Wednesday night. Harry had prepared his lesson outline and was impatiently pacing back and forth across the Room of Requirement, the eyes of Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville following him. Luna was with them as well, although her attention was the latest issue of The Quibbler.Despite having done this loads of times last year, it still didn't stop the nerves from kicking in.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, stop that!" shouted an exasperated Ginny. Harry stopped in his tracks and glared at the feisty redhead, and she glared right back at him. Harry was the first to look away and grinned sheepishly at his friends.
"Sorry, I'm just really nervous is all," said Harry.
"Why? You've done this loads of times before," said Ron. Harry didn't get to reply though as students began to file into the magical room. Most of them were last year's DA members and they all waved cheerily at Harry. Harry half-smiled in their directions as more and more students came into the room. Harry frowned slightly as Cho Chang walked in and smiled flirtatiously at him. He also saw her glaring at Ginny, who had moved to stand next to him.
Harry eventually had to ask the room to expand its size even more to accommodate for the ever increasing amount of students still coming. "That's a bit more than last year," he said sarcastically.
"Just a bit," agreed Ginny in the same tone. They shared a glance at each other and started snickering before Harry focussed back on the students. He was surprised to note that Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass were among those coming and were probably the only Slytherins here, not including a small group of nervous second-years. From what Harry knew of them, Blaise and Daphne were not pure-blood fanatics who came from families that worshipped Voldemort like the Malfoys, but Harry resolved to keep an eye on them just in case. Eventually the trickle of students coming into the Room of Requirement began to lessen and the doors eventually closed behind a stern Professor McGonagall, who had agreed to supervise the meeting tonight.
Harry froze for a moment at the sight of nearly half the school staring at him patiently, waiting for him to start the meeting.
"Go on," encouraged Ginny, who pushed him forward.
Harry cleared his throat and took another step forward. "Welcome to the DA," he began. "To those of you who participated last year, welcome back! As Professor Dumbledore stated at the start of year feast, this club is an extra Defense class designed to teach you in a more in-depth manner how to fight against the Dark Arts and hopefully survive. Voldemort-" he had to stop when several people gasped at the use of the Dark Lord's name, and somebody even screamed.
"Merlin's beard, how the hell are you going to fight against him if you can't even say his name!" shouted Harry, his temper flaring. "Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself! If you're not scared of using Voldemort's- yeah, I said it again -name, then he has no power over you!"
"Easy for you to say, you're supposedly the only one who's fought him more than once and lived to talk about it!" called out the pompous Zacharias Smith. Harry had to resist the urge to hex the git right there.
"Look, I'm not trying to belittle you for not being able to say Voldemort's name, I'm trying to teach you that there are far worse things you should worry about than saying some tosser's name," said Harry tiredly. At that moment, everyone in the room could finally see the burden that he carried on his broad shoulders, and couldn't help but respect the boy's strength. "Fine, if you feel it's too much to speak his name, I have a proposition. I don't want anyone to say 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' during these meetings. Instead, I want you all to come up with some insult to call him, like 'The Dark Tosser,' or 'That Slimy Git.'" Harry earned a few laughs from that. "Or my personal favourite, 'Tom Riddle,' which was real name before he changed it to Voldemort."
"How do you know that?" asked someone from the crowd.
"Because he told me," Harry replied simply. "Now, if there are no more questions or gasps from you all, I'd like to get back to the matter at hand." Harry looked at several people's faces.
"At the end of last year, we were starting on covering the Patronus Charm. However, given how many of you showed up tonight, I think we'll have to split you off into two groups. The first group will be learning some basic Defensive spells and curses, and if I or any of my assistants-" he gestured to his friends behind him, "-feel that you are too advanced for this group, you will be moved up. The second group will be our advanced class and we will be learning to perform the Patronus Charm."
A young girl from Hufflepuff raised their hand. Harry signaled for the young girl to ask her question.
"How come those five are your assistants?" she asked, pointing to his friend behind him. Harry's throat constricted slightly as he looked at them, asking the silent question. With a nod of their heads Harry turned back.
"As some of you are aware, at the end of June, my friends and I staged a rescue mission at the Ministry of Magic for Si-a close friend." Harry almost choked on the use of Sirius' name. "Unfortunately, it was a trap set up by Voldemort and a group of Death Eaters to capture an artifact held in the Department of Mysteries. For some reason, i was the only one who could retrieve it. Voldemort himself joined the battle in the end, and all six of us were badly injured in the battle, and we would have all been killed if it weren't for the intervention of Dumbledore and a group of Aurors." Harry gave his friends a grateful look.
"However, despite our injuries and our rescuers, I'm proud to say that my friends fought well and gave the Death Eaters a run for their money.
"So without further ado, I'd like my senior DA members and any of the older students to move to the left-hand side of the room and the rest of you to the right." Everybody swarmed to either the left or right of the room. It became obvious that the advanced class was much smaller than the beginner's class, so Harry asked Ron, Hermione and Luna to supervise them and go over some spells. He, Ginny and Neville then went over to the senior group and stood before them.
"Now, before we begin, I'd like for any of you who don't know the Patronus Charm to raise their hands." A couple students put their hands up. "Okay. Now the Patronus Charm is a highly advanced Defensive Spell that is used to repel Dementors. It is advanced because it is powered by the positive thoughts and emotions and is basically the physical embodiment of them.
"As you should know, Dementors feed off the fear and horrors of those around them, making it difficult to cast the spell. It is impossible for one deeply associated in the Dark Arts to cast the Patronus Charm. Your Patronus will take the form of an animal that best embodies your personality and morals, or it could take the form of your guardian angel. For example, my father's Animagus form was a stag." With that, Harry drew his wand and bellowed "Expecto Patronum!" An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Harry's wand and galloped around the Room of Requirement. Prongs trotted over to Harry and bowed before looking expectantly at his wand. All of a sudden another silver stream shot out of Harry's wand and began to take shape. Harry heard Ginny and several others gasp as the second Patronus took the form of a lioness as it let out a deep roar. The two Patroni then bowed to Harry and disappeared, leaving the body of students and teacher completely silent.
Professor McGonagall strode over to Harry and looked expectantly at the stunned boy. "Potter, did you know you could do that?" she asked. Harry shook his head.
"No Professor, that's the first time that's happened to me," he answered. McGonagall's eyes widened, then she smiled slightly.
"It seems that you are full of surprises," she said before retreating back to her corner. Ginny then came over to Harry, followed by many of the advanced class.
"That was brilliant Harry!" she exclaimed happily. "Those Dementors won't know what hit them next time they show their ugly faces!"
Harry couldn't help but smile at the petite redhead. He then turned to the other students. "Alright, now that we've gotten over that surprise, let's see what you can do." He had the students stand in three lines across the room and told them to draw their wands, but not to do anything.
"Now, before you cast the spell, I want you to think of a happy memory, or even a thought, and to focus on how it makes you feel. When you've got that thought firmly in your mind, then you can cast the spell when you're ready."
After a few minutes most of the students began casting the spell, though most weren't getting anything. Cho was able to conjure her swan Patronus, which flew gracefully around the room before dissipating into a cloud of silver mist. Harry smiled happily at her effort, then turned to watch the others. Blaise Zabini was the second student to get his corporeal Patronus, a giant Komodo dragon. It crawled its way over to a small group of second years and chased the terrified students around the room, much to everyone's amusement.
Harry noticed Neville frowning in disappointment as his silvery shield struggled to take form. He walked over and asked the boy what was wrong.
"It's just not working for some reason," complained Neville.
"What memory are you using?" asked Harry.
"When I first found out I could do magic."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Didn't your uncle accidentally drop you out of a window?"
Neville flushed with embarrassment. "Yeah, but I was still pretty happy about it," he replied.
"That's your problem," said Harry, snapping his fingers. "You're using a memory of something that made your family happy, but you were probably more relieved than anything. What thoughts make you truly happy?"
Neville had to think for a moment. Then his lips curled into a smile. "One day seeing my parents cured and able to finally come home with me," he said finally.
"Good, now hold on to the feeling you get when you cast the spell," said Harry.
Neville took a deep breath and pointing his wand upwards, bellowing "Expecto Patronum!" A powerful stream of silver shot out and began contorting into a massive animal. Harry couldn't help but whistle as his Patronus took the shape of an angry grizzly bear. Several students ran over to Neville and offered their congratulations, patting him on the back and ruffling his hair.
Out of the corner of his eye Harry caught Ginny staring at him. He turned around and saw the look of admiration and pride she was giving him. Smiling, she tore her eyes away from Harry and shouted the incantation, and a giant tiger, larger than Neville's Patronus, sprang forth. Harry and Ginny's eyes widened as they both recognized it to be Harry's tiger form, the unmistakeable shaggy fur ruffling as it jogged around the shocked girl and the power it emanated.
Harry tore his eyes away from the tiger and stared at Ginny, whose blush was as red as her hair. He was her guardian? Well, Harry wasn't exactly that surprised about it, looking back at all the two had been through. But nevertheless Harry couldn't help but feel honoured that Ginny felt that way about him. Grinning, Harry summoned his Patronus, though this time it was only the lioness that came out and it tackled Ginny's, the two big silver cats wrestling around much like Harry and Remus had a few nights prior.
Harry glanced around the Room of Requirement and was filled with pride for his peers. Everyone seemed to be concentrating on their spells, though there were pockets of kids socializing and helping each other out. A group of Hufflepuffs were chatting with a couple Slytherins in the far corner. Ron and Hermione were teaching some of the younger grades some basic jinxes and curses, while a small Slytherin seemed utterly flummoxed by whatever Luna was saying. This is what Hogwarts should be like, thought Harry. Voldemort wanted the people divided, but if everyone were united under a common cause, then Voldemort couldn't win.
oOoOoOo
Later that night, Harry followed Professor McGonagall to the Headmaster's office. McGonagall gave the gargoyle the password (licorice wands) and knocked on the door. They heard the quiet response of Dumbledore inviting them in and the two walked into his office. All of the machines and gizmos Harry had destroyed at the end of June had been repaired, and Harry felt ashamed that he had caused the Headmaster such trouble.
Dumbledore and Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, both seemed to sense Harry's turmoil. Fawkes flew from his post and perched himself on Harry's shoulder and sang a soft tune that instantly calmed Harry's nerves, while Dumbledore gave him a warm smile. "It's not your fault Harry, you were perfectly within reason to cause such destruction," he said wisely. He then gestured to the two seats situated in front of his desk and offered them a lemon drop. Harry accepted one, while McGonagall declined. "Now, what can I help you two with today?" asked Dumbledore politely.
"Mr. Potter ran his first DA session tonight," said McGonagall.
"And I trust the lesson was a success?" he asked, looking at Harry.
"As far as I know sir," answered Harry. "A lot of people thanked me at the end and were willing to come again next week."
"Excellent," said Dumbledore. "With your training and experience, I am confident that you will teach these students a great many things."
"There's something else," said McGonagall. Dumbledore leaned forward on his seat and rested his elbows on his desk, peering over his half-moon spectacles.
McGonagall cleared her throat before continuing. "Mr. Potter had split off the students into two groups, the beginner's group and the advanced group. Mr. Potter of course took charge of the advanced class and began teaching them the Patronus Charm. He performed a demonstration of the charm when something peculiar happened."
Harry shuffled nervously in his seat, afraid of the Headmaster's reaction to the news.
"His Patronus, the stag that we all know, was the first that appeared from Harry's wand," continued McGonagall. Harry and Dumbledore looked up in surprise, though Harry's reaction came from the fact that his strict Transfiguration teacher had called him by his first name.
"The first?" enquired Dumbledore.
McGonagall nodded her head. "It was followed by another Patronus, this time a lioness," she said. Dumbledore looked at Harry inquiringly.
"I don't know why that happened, Professor, I'm just as surprised as you are," said Harry. Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a minute, the twinkle in his eyes diminishing ever so slightly.
"Harry," said Dumbledore after a long moment of silence, "How common do you think it is for someone to have two Patronus'?"
"I don't know sir, but I imagine it would be very rare," answered Harry slowly.
"It has never happened before."
Harry looked up at the Headmaster in shock. "Never?" exclaimed Harry.
"Never," repeated Dumbledore.
"Then why can I do it?"
"I believe it is because you are a far more powerful wizard than we originally thought. Whether that has to do with the fact that you are a descendant of Gryffindor or that you might be a powerful wizard in your own right, or more likely a combination of both, has yet to be determined.
"What I would like to know, however, is why a lioness?"
Harry looked down at his hands resting on his lap. "I have no idea," he finally said. "I don't know anyone who could relate to a lioness for me." That's not necessarily true, he added in his mind.
"Interesting," murmured Dumbledore. "Very well. Harry, if you have any other interesting developments regarding your magical abilities please inform me. I believe this would be a fun little project of ours."
Harry knew Dumbledore's words were a clear dismissal, but he couldn't help but smile at the old man's enthusiasm. Standing up and sending Fawkes back to his post, he bid the two Professors goodnight and left his office.
oOoOoOo
News of Harry's having two Patronus' travelled fast around the school. Many Slytherins did not believe the stories, despite several of their own having witnessed it. As the news spread further, the tale became vastly more exaggerated. One story claimed that Harry''s second Patronus was a gigantic Hungarian Horntail which ate all the other Patronus' and grew in size the more it ate. Why anybody thought Harry would have a Hungarian Horntail as his second Patronus was beyond him, he had already sworn to never deal with that particular breed of dragon ever again.
September came and went, and with October came colder weather and more Quidditch practice. Due to the days getting shorter and colder, many students and teachers could be seen outside, absorbing as much sunlight as they could. The giant squid was happy to break up young couples snogging on the Black Lake's shores by splashing them with its massive tentacles. Harry was happy to discover that Colin Creevey had managed to catch Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson performing less than moral deeds behind a tree near the Black Lake, and Colin had even taken a picture of the ordeal.
Harry worked his Quidditch team as often and as heard as he could, though he was nowhere near as fanatic a captain as Oliver Wood had been. For that, Katie Bell was extremely thankful for that, she being the only other remaining member of the Quidditch team to fall under the 'Wrath of Wood,' as it was so called. Harry left Ron to create many of the plays for the team, he being the better tactician, while Harry was in charge of keeping the team focussed and made sure that everybody got along with each other.
At the end of every Quidditch practice, harry would wait behind for Ginny to escort her back to the castle for dinner. The two would often tease each other and play around, often ending up late for dinner because they would have to take frequent breaks to recover from fits of laughter, which would often last for several minutes. Harry had noticed Ginny's lingering touches on his arms and shoulders and the looks she would give him when she thought he wasn't looking. Harry fervently hoped that the meanings behind the looks were the same as the ones he would often give her.
Though Harry and Ginny had no idea, just about everyone knew the two were off limits in the dating world, as everyone believed it to be just a matter of time before the two finally got a clue and asked the other out (though apparently Cho Chang wasn't aware, having been seen attempting to flirt with a clearly uncomfortable Harry in front of a furious looking ginny on multiple occasions) . There was a long standing bet throughout the whole school being run by Ron and the Creevey brothers over when they would finally start dating. The most popular bet was that they would get together just after New Year's, and apparently some people had invested some serious money into the bet.
oOoOoOo
The day of Halloween marked one week before the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw. Despite being excited for his first game since last year, Harry couldn't help but feel a little grumpy about the fact that he would be forced to play against his ex-girlfriend Cho. Everywhere he went, Cho seemed to be there conveniently, smiling and attempting to attract his attention. He was aware of the fact that their meetings were anything but 'convenient' thanks to his enhanced senses, he knew that the Ravenclaw was actually following him. Ron, in a rare display of wit, had taken to calling Cho the 'Walking Waterfall,' a name which Harry found to be quite suitable. Ginny made a point of calling her that every time she saw the other girl, and would only shrug whenever Cho would run the other direction bawling her eyes out, with a look on her face that meant 'I rest my case.'
Harry was walking back with Ginny to head to the Halloween feast when he heard it again. He instantly tuned out the girl next to him to listen to the wind.
Find us Harry... you must come now..."
Harry found that he couldn't resist the urge to follow the wind and stopped in his tracks.
"Harry? What is it?" asked Ginny, noticing Harry's tense posture and focussed look. Harry ignored her and attempted to determine where the wind was going.
"Find us... hurry... hurry..."
He attempted to ignore it, instead turning his attention back to Ginny and the castle. He noticed Ginny's questioning look and smiled placatingly at her.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. I thought I heard something is-"
"FIND US!"
The force of the words hit Harry so hard he fell to his knees, gasping for air. Ginny screamed and knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around Harry's shoulders, attempting to pull him shaking boy up and drag him back up to the castle.
Harry however had other ideas. Every instinct he possessed screamed at him to follow the voice into the Forbidden Forest and find the source of it. So, without a second thought, Harry threw Ginny off him and sprinted towards the Forbidden Forest, ignoring Ginny's pleas to come back. Just before he reached the trees he shifted into his tiger form and ran even faster into the forest. He was vaguely aware of Ginny sprinting back up to the castle, screaming for help. Ignoring her, Harry ran on, determined to follow the Voice.
A/N- And thus the plot begins to unfold. Not very hard to guess who the lioness might be ammiright? Right? Oh bloody hell here have your update!
A/N 3.0- A BIG thank you to all those who agree on my opinion on POA's Moony! Seriously, if I was a wizard I'd be more concerned that he'd blow away from a light breeze he was that bloody skinny. Also, i'm sure we can all guess who the lioness might be ammiright? Right? Don't let me down folks!
