Chapter 10
Meetings and Tactics
The two friends walked to the entrance hall together and waited for the half giants arrival. At a couple of minutes to eight they heard Fang's barking getting louder, as the large hound approached the entrance, finally a large grey head appeared out of the darkness and rush at the two boys, bounding about and licking them in greeting. Then Hagrid appear and seeing Harry said, "What ya doing 'ere 'Arry?"
Harry handed him the note and explained that Professor McGonagall said, 'it was okay if he went to feed the lion with Ron.'
The grounds keeper smiled and winked at Harry and replied, "Right ya are." The four walked down towards Hagrid's hut, the two boys following in Hagrid and Fangs wake.
"What was all that about?" Asked Ron curious of the Game Keeper's behaviour.
"Can you keep a secret Ron, I mean you aren't allowed to tell anyone, not Ginny or even Hermione."
"Course I can." Replied the red headed boy.
"Well your about to be the only person in your Care of Magic Creatures who the lion likes."
"What do you mean, that thing hates everyone."
"You'll see." Was all Harry said, but he had the most mischievous of grins.
As they rounded the Game Keeper's hut Harry saw the paddock and the golden form of Godric highlighted in the moonlight, the lion knew people where coming he could smell them and he was already stood in the centre of the paddock. As they got closer the lion let out a mighty roar. Harry much to Ron's surprise was completely unfazed and walked straight up to the fence and hopped over it. Ron almost jumped the fence and dragged him back, but Hagrid grabbed hold of the back of his robes and said, "Not yet, you go in now and he'd probably kill ya before 'Arry could stop 'im."
Harry walked right up to the lion and sat in front of him talking to the Godric in melodic tones. "Hello Godric. Nice show you put on there, are you enjoying scaring all the students?"
The great lion first sat and then stretched out its front legs putting its head down on its paws.
Harry reached forward and scratched the lion behind the ears, something he had found Godric was fond of it in some of his later visits.
Ron watched as his friend sat talking to the lion for a five whole minutes, before he rose and lead the lion to the fence where Ron and Hagrid stood, Fang was hiding round the corner behind the hut.
"Ron, I'd like you to meet my friend Godric, Godric this is my friend Ron."
The lion roared but was cut off; Harry in a funny voice almost like a roar had shouted "Godric!" Scolding the three hundred and fifty pound lion. Who responded immediately by stopping the roar and started looking between the funny looking lion and the two animals stood at the fence.
Harry turned to Ron, "He's hungry, so if you bring him something to eat I think he'll let you into his territory."
Ron looked stunned, but was too shocked to argue and went and collected a small animal from the back of Hagrid's hut, hefted the carcus on his shoulder and walked back to the fence.
"Ron..." Said Harry, "Godric is a lot like Buckbeak, you have to show him his respect, and be polite, and its best not to be scared of him. He doesn't want to hurt you, he's not going hungry, but this is his home and its polite to wait till your asked before you come in. So just stand there till he walks off and lets you come in, then walk up to him slowly and give him the food and move back to me."
They waited there for another ten minutes then Godric turned and walked to the centre of the paddock, just as Harry had said he would. Then with a little encouragement Ron climbed the fence and slowly walked to the lion. Ron then quickly set the meat down in front of him and almost fell over his feet as he half-ran backwards to Harry. Harry then told him to stay in the fencing and sit down with him.
They sat there for another twenty minutes, as Godric ate in the middle of the paddock before the full grown lion was finished. Godric then rose and padded slowly back over to the two boys, Harry reassuring Ron that this was a sign that Godric didn't mind him begin in his territory. When the lion sat next to him, Harry told Ron to scratch behind the large cats ears. Looking shocked for a minute, Ron finally looking like he trusted his friend did so and much to the nervous boy's relief, the massive cat to start to purr. When Ron stopped, Godric stood again and walked to another part of the paddock, where Hagrid had placed a fallen tree trunk and settled down. On Harry's command, he and Ron would go and join him. The lion curled up and slept and the two boys spoke in soft whispers.
"When did you get so good with lions?" Asked Harry's best friend.
"I'm not good with all lions, just Godric; I met him in the summer when he first arrived. He thinks I'm a funny looking lion and I'm part of his pride. Now you have been introduced, if you respect him, he will except you are not trying to take his territory and let you feed him without hurting you. Anyway I think its time you went back to the dorms."
"What you're not coming."
"No I think I'll spend the night out here with Godric, its peaceful and I want to get some work done." Harry walked with Ron to the fence and Ron climbed over.
Hagrid was beaming, "Well that's an 'Outstanding' mark if ever I've seen one, Godric won't let anyone else in there with 'im, not even me anymore. You staying 'Arry?" He added, not looking surprised when Harry didn't leave the paddock.
"Yeah I got some work to do and Godric will look after me."
"Okay I already talked to the 'eadmaster and 'e reckons its fine." Said the half giant with a smile. "Well done Ron, I better walk ya back to the dorms."
Harry and Ron said goodnight and Harry told Ron that if anyone asked he had stayed with Hagrid late and then got up early and he would see him at breakfast, before his friend left and Harry returned to the fellow member of the pride.
The night was clear and the moon bright, Harry worked for several hours, leaning against Godric who was happily purring being reunited with his friend. He had completed the notices for DA and was working on the potions assignment, but found while he could write logically, he had no examples of substitutions when working with poisons. Harry was slightly frustrated by the lack of references limiting what he could write and decide he would ask Professor McGonagall for a note to allow him read some of the restricted section, on experimental potions. When he eventually reach the limit of what he could do with his own books, he packed all his stuff and curled up next to Godric, and wrapping his cloak round himself, he drifted off to sleep.
Harry woke early feeling Godric stir, glad that the temperature of the paddock had been magically controlled, to suit the lion that was native to Africa. He pushed himself up from the ground, feeling his neck cracked as he straightened. He said a 'good bye to his friend, knowing the lion couldn't actually understand him, but still feeling it was right. Harry gathered up his things and wandered up to Hogwarts, entering the large castle and settling at the Gryffindor table in the Main Hall. Harry started pulling out his potions work from last night, and reading other his work, picking out another couple of possible substitution he had missed from last night. Two of them he knew were illegal, but he thought he would included them anyway. He continued to work for another hour, until students started to arrived and he packed up his things. Spotting Luna Lovegood, Harry walked over to the Ravenclaw table and handed the unusual girl one of the notices he had written last night. Harry feeling it was polite, sat next to her and was quickly involved in an unusual conversation about what she had done over the Summer, which included a trip to Sweden, in search of Crumple-Horned Snoracks. After ten minutes listening to Luna's description and habits of the mythical creatures, Harry saw Hannah Abbott enter the hall with a group of sixth year Hufflepuffs and excused himself.
Harry walked towards the group and asked if he could have a word with the fellow prefect, she told her friends she would join them shortly and all but her best friend Laura Madley left. Girls should definitely not be allowed to walk around in groups, thought Harry, but put the thought from his mind, as he asked Hannah if she would put the notice in the Hufflepuff common room. Hannah's friend read the notice over her shoulder and Laura's eyes widened asked. "I heard about DA from Hannah at the end of the year, you're going to continue it? And you're letting anyone join?"
"Providing they are prepared to take an oath and sign a magical contract, yeah. It's an official Society this year though, first time that's ever been allowed one at Hogwarts."
"And you're the leader?"
"I was voted in yesterday, Hannah about the potions study, are you free on Wednesday afternoon?" The quick change of subject to potions, was enough to see that Laura returned to her other friends and they started chatting excitedly.
"I'm free whenever you are, we're doing all the same classes, see I always wanted to be an Auror too."
"Oh..." Said Harry smiling. "And here's me thinking I was the only person in school who had a death wish." Laughing to himself.
"Nope! My parents almost had a fit when I told them, saying 'it's too dangerous' and 'it's not work for a young lady'." replied the girl smiling.
"I've got a friend whose an Auror, she's coming to the school soon as one of the guards. I'll introduce you, when she gets here, I'm sure you'll like her."
"That would be great; I've never met a female Auror before."
"And about Wednesday, is that alright for you?"
"Yeah, but what are we going to do about this weeks work?"
"Well I think I'm going to have to be working this evening, and probably and in future probably most weekends, so I'll be in the library Saturday morning too. Sad I know but that will teach me to get knocked unconscious for three days."
Hannah laughed at him. "I'll be there; it takes me a while to get back into the swing of school too."
"Well I better get back to the Gryffindor table, before I'm labelled a traitor and thrown out." He smiled.
"And I better get back to mine, before they start writing about me in the Daily Prophet." And Harry laughed again.
"See ya." He said turning and returning to the Gryffindor table, as the food started to appear, none of his friends had come down to eat yet so Harry ate alone. When he had finished, he gathered his things, leaving to go to the Room of Requirement. He arrived at the entrance on the seventh floor early, so he opened the door and went in.
Harry had decided on a comfortable native habitat for a lion and the room had responded in its normal way, producing an almost perfect African plain all over the forty foot room. Another night spent outside with Godric, encouraged Harry to further push his transformation. He had become comfortable with the lions head, paws, and being covered in golden fur. Harry also knew that while the body, legs, and back paws, would not be easy, they would not be nearly as painful, as gaining the large number of extra bones that would be required for his tail. Which Harry knew the cats used for balance.
Convincing himself that it had to be done, he concentrated hard, trying to banish the knowledge that pain would follow, he pushed and pushed mentally making the tail grow. Making sure it was covered in golden fur and a dark tuft at the end. Finally, letting out a loud roar as he finished. The pain sensors, previous blocked as he concentrated on the transformation, started functioning again and proceeded to light up like a Christmas tree.
Professor McGonagall had entered silently as he was concentrating on the transformation, and was now coughing a little and brushing dust from her robes, as she had unknowingly stepped into a cloud blown up by Harry's roar. Harry changed back to his human form curling up on the ground, trying to block the pain from his mind. The pain receded, but it was like the Crucious curse, he had been overloaded and residual effects lingered, eventually leaving after a few minutes. Harry sat up, saying. "I hope that gets easier, that hurt."
"I did wonder what that racket was about, but still a very impressive display, will you please show me again, as punishment for you trying the most difficult stage of the transformation, without me."
Harry looked sheepish, but then his face hardened as he knew what he was about to do. It was almost worse, as he now had experience of how much it was going to hurt. First he changed his paws with razor sharp retractable claws, thirty teeth all sharp to points, a jaw that had no lateral movement. He elongated his nose and mouth, developed large eyes which stayed green with black fur surrounds and a large black mane. On his forehead there was a 'lightning bolt' shape black tuft on a body entirely covered with golden fur, his head was massive and the weight made him drop to all fours. All this happened in less than a second, then Harry really concentrated, he had done that part regularly. In fact he had repeated many times a day whenever he could guarantee he was alone and unobserved. This initial stage had almost become second nature, the tail was new and it hurt. He pushed mentally again quicker than last time, hoping it would lessen the time the pain remained and quickly covered the tail with fur as it went and then a black tuft at the end. He stopped and then it hit him, feeling just as intense as before he rolled on his side and roared again blowing up another cloud dust. The effects where thankfully shorter lived and the pain only lasted a minute before fading to a dull throb, but Harry managed to hold the form.
Eventually the Professor smiled and asked him to change back and Harry did so, finding the return to human form quite painless, probably because 'I've had already fried the relative brain cells from transforming in the first place', thought Harry.
"Very good Mr Potter, I expect you will have the basic shape within the month. Then I expect we will have to work on some of the finer points. Where you aware you have no whiskers and the white patches under the lion's eyes are quite important, that is why I asked the Headmaster, that when he acquired a new pair of glasses for you, the rims where considerably smaller. You still seem to have large black rings of fur surrounding your eyes." Harry was amazed at how observant the Professor was.
"I didn't realise, err what does the white patch do Professor?"
"Lions are visual creatures, relying on their sight when hunting and as you know like most cats they have a tendency to be nocturnal. The white under their eyes helps reflect light into their eyes, further improving their night sight. They also have a rather special coating on their eyes which reflects moon light; helping still further, this is what has lead to the common misconception that cats eyes glow in the dark. But I believe your progress is quite remarkable and I am very pleased with the effort on your part."
"Professor, I was wondering if I might ask you for something?"
"Yes Mr Potter?"
"Well I was working on a potions assignment last night, and I briefly looked at my first charms assignment, and both are asking for thoughts and ideas on things that the school would deem to be experimental. I feel that the texts I have available are a little... Err... safe. I was wondering if I might have permission to use the restricted section of the library, I promise I wouldn't start using it to research Dark Arts, it's just all the advanced potions and charms books appear in there."
The stern professor smiled, "Mr Potter, the reason the school has a restricted section is not, as you think to keep its own supply of Dark Arts literature, but simply to prevent younger students attempting magic that is beyond their capabilities or requirement. Most students find they can complete all their schooling without access to these books. I have always known that with your habit for searching out knowledge, you would not be one of these students. I would warn you in particular against the practice of some of the more experimental charms however, they have a tendency to have somewhat unreliable effects but I am quite prepared to give you this." The professor handed Harry a little square of parchment written in what appeared to be gold, it read 'I Albus Dumbledore, grant Harry James Potter access to all the literature available at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that it may be used to further his study.' And it had the Hogwarts seal in the corner.
"I also have obtained the two books for DA." She said handing them to him.
"Thanks Professor, how do we set the date that the register can be written in?"
"The book will allow itself to be written in for one day a year, you can pick any day. I would ask you then to take the book straight to the Headmaster."
"Thanks again Professor, this is all great."
"Well you are expected to live up to the responsibility, you have been given. I am quite sure that future people reading about this, will wonder how a student, who is not top of his year, or a prefect and not even Quidditch captain was able to become the founder of this Society. I expect your actions to justify the schools decision."
"Yes Professor, they will." Harry said with conviction.
"I believe that will be all for this session, I hope you will continue with the transformation with your tail. I have found mine to be quite useful at times." And the Head of Gryffindor house left the room, Harry collected up his things including his library pass and the two books, feeling elated and paused, figured what better time to just do one more transformation. He concentrated performing the usual part of the transformation quickly and added the tail almost instantly, the end the pain started to build but just as quickly stopped. Feeling very pleased with himself, he would have smiled if cats could and was further amused to find he was purring. The hardest part was over and if he worked hard he could do this, he knew he would have to be registered. With all the trouble he had been through in his previous years, some of it with the ministry, he had to be whiter than white now, but he would have a perfect transformation before he did that, whiskers and all.
Harry walked to the Great Hall and from the noise floating along the corridor, he guessed it was already pretty full. Harry joined his friends at the Gryffindor door table, Ron was talking to Seamus and Dean about his 'Outstanding mark' from feeding Godric wisely leaving out Harry's involvement and he saw Ginny was talking to Neville. He sat next to Hermione who had a scowl on her face, as she was reading a charms book, "Hi Harry." She said as he sat down, "Have you had a look at the charms assignment?"
"Yeah, it's pretty tricky."
"I've been looking over the books in the library all morning; I can't find anything to do with charms like these."
"All the books in the library?" Harry questioned, with a smile playing on his face and he started fishing in his bag.
"Well, all apart from the Restricted Section, I bet that's where all the books on the experimental..." But she stopped as Harry handed her his library pass. Her scowl turned to a broad grin, "I could kiss you Harry." She finished.
"Well, I think you better restrain yourself, Ron would get jealous." He added and she blushed slightly. "I had a look at the assignment last night, I guessed the charms where a bit experimental to be in our usual books, most spells involving time are. So I asked Professor McGonagall this morning. We have to be careful with this though..." Taking the pass back from his friend who was staring at it lovingly, "It's only used for our studies I don't want you turning to the Dark Arts." Harry grinned broadly.
Hermione snorted looking affronted and then smiled seeing her friend was just teasing her.
"Professor McGonagall gave me these as well." He handed her the two books, explaining how they worked and that after they had both written there names and the date in the rule book she would be the only person who could write in it. He took the registration book back but left her with the rule book in which he had already written his name, then told her he would be right back. He took one of the notices from his bag and walked to the teachers table and in front of Professor Snape, "Excuse me sir."
"Yes Mr Potter." Never looking up from his hard boiled egg, as he removed the top with a spoon. Still scowling at being interrupted, as if the procedure was brain surgery.
"Well, I don't know if you are aware Sir, but I have been given permission to continue the DA society officially. The Society are accepting new members, I was wondering, if it might be possible for you to put this notice up in the Slytherin common room." Pro-offering Snape the parchment.
"I was aware of the permission being granted for this childish exploit, but I find it hard to believe that you would want members from the noble house of Slytherin."
"We already have a member from Slytherin Sir and while he is argumentative and slightly disruptive, he is prepared to sign the registration and he proved himself to be completely trustworthy. Last year, as you are aware, it was a Ravenclaw who attempted to betray the Society and the Headmaster has adjusted the registration, so it is more secure, in the form of a book, that signing of, is a magical contract. I have tried to explain on the notice Sir, but I have also noted that any questions could be put to me or the Society Secretary, Hermione Granger."
"I have no immediate objections Mr Potter and as such I will allow the notice to be placed in my common room. However should performance of any member of this Society become unsatisfactory, I assure you, I will be taking my objections up with the Headmaster directly."
"Thank you Professor." And Harry returned to the Gryffindor table.
Ron gave him questioning looks as Harry filled his plate and ate contently, and when questioned as to 'why they had to be allowed them to join', Harry simply answered that it was a Ravenclaw that betrayed them last term. Asking if 'he wanted to throw Luna out who had gone to London, and fought with them against Voldemort, just because she was a Ravenclaw?'
This shut Ron up immediately, like the rest of them, he liked Luna, she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but she was bright and loyal and didn't seem to have any of the mood swings most girls seemed prone to.
Harry checked his timetable for the afternoon, his first DADA lesson was this afternoon, "Who is the new Defence professor anyway? I haven't seen anyone new at the staff table."
"Its Susan Bones's Aunt." Replied Ron.
"The Head of Magical Law Enforcement?"
"Not anymore, there was a big scandal at the Ministry when they admitted Voldemort had most likely returned. Everyone was saying that, Fudge's position as the Minister of Magic was looking very shaky, he used Amelia Bones as a scape goat, he said, she should of known about it. Then within five minutes of it happening, Dumbledore apparently appears and offers her a duel role at Hogwarts, Defence Professor, and Head of Security at Hogwarts. Told her she would be in direct command of an elite group of Aurors. Susan said she took it immediately and she's been in London, organising who will be working here, this is her first lesson today. I hope she is able to get Aurors that are up to it."
"Well one of them definitely is." Said Harry. "Tonks got given her choice of assignment after Kings Cross and signed up for security at Hogwarts as soon as she found out."
All the friends smiled and nodded in agreement.
Harry ate lunch quickly and returned to the common room, needing to pin the DA notice up and get some things before the lesson. He filled his bag with his books and other supplies, but as he was leaving, he had an idea and ran back to his trunk pulled out one more item and hurried to the DADA classroom, not wanting to be late. He arrived just as everyone was filing into the class room and followed them in. The class was about the same size as the previous years, consisting largely of DA members. The woman at the front of the class, Harry recognised from his ministry hearing, she introduced herself as Professor Bones and then explained she would be the new Defence teacher and Head of Security of the School, comfirming what the friends had just discussed. Then she took a register and the class entered into a brief 'Q' and 'A' about what they had covered in there OWLs. Then started talking about what she expected of them in their NEWTs, explaining certain elements such as tactics, which they had not covered before, telling them this was a good place to start.
The first lesson consisted of a discussion of the Platform nine and three quarters encounter, at the start of the year, as they all had some form of personal knowledge of what happened. Harry kept quiet when she said discussed the plan the Aurors had developed. The group pointed out flaws in the plan, some of them obvious, like the lack of numbers, others more subtle like the spread of the Aurors and the lack protection of the train, Ron had argued that the train was quite well protected. But Harry contradiction him, telling the group they where lucky that a larger force had not broken away and attacked the train. The Professor agreed, that a better organised force would have split much earlier, in an attempt to achieve the primary goal of the mission, which the students had already decided was destruction of the train and students.
Professor Bones, proved to be very knowledgeable about the incident, and tactics in general. Later they discussed the sort of spells used during the battle and reasons why these and not others where used. Providing her own theories as why killing curses where not more common, besides that of the speed factor, she had stated that the curse required a considerable amount of power. Adding also that, there was the knowledge that should the plan fail and the Death Eaters captured. As actually happened, the life sentence in Azkaban or worse the Kiss for actually killing an Auror, meant that they would wait until victory was ensured before using it.
At the end of the lesson the Professor gave them their first assignment, they where to discuss the plan and with the benefit of hind sight and the using only the resources available, they should come up with alternatives and discuss the strengths and weakness of these. The assignment should be no less than one roll of parchment, finally telling them they were dismissed.
Harry waited till the other students had left, telling his friends he would catch them up at dinner and tell Hermione they could go to the library after dinner. Then he approached the teachers desk, where Mrs Bones was now sitting,
"Hello Mr Potter, nice to meet you under more pleasant circumstances." The new Professor stated. "You where very quiet during that discussion."
"Sorry Professor, I did not want to reveal more than necessary about my involvement."
"I am fully aware, that it was in fact your plan and not that of the Aurors, Mr Potter."
"That isn't completely true Professor, it was really someone else's plan that I added some suggestions to."
"Really." Said the Professor. "Miss Tonks claimed otherwise."
"She may have been protecting the Remus from certain unnecessary publicity, he is a werewolf, and as you know the wizarding community has a rather biased view."
"Quite." Replied the older woman slightly taken a back. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"
"Well... Err... I was wondering if I may have something that you might find useful as Head of Security. I can only loan it to you because I think the makers would prefer it to remain in the hands of some students, but until your new security is established it may be useful." Harry handed, the now stunned looking teacher, the blank piece of parchment in his hand.
"Someone kind of joke, Mr Potter?" Asked the teacher with a smile.
Harry removed his wand tapping the parchment and saying 'I do solemnly swear that I'm up to no good.'
The teachers eyes widened, as the map sprung to life. The familiar writing appeared 'Misters Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail present' and the writing cleared to reveal 'The Marauders Map.' This then cleared again and lines started to run across the page drawing out Hogwarts, adding dots for all the students, which when looked at, gave their names. The teachers all labelled and even Filch and Mrs Norris his cat, not to mention the secret passage ways and various passwords for them.
Harry tapped his wand on the parchment and said, 'Mischief managed' and the parchment turned completely blank again.
"This is quite remarkable Mr Potter, who are these Marauders?"
"Well, sadly there is only one true Marauder left now, Prongs was my father James Potter, Padfoot was his best friend and my Godfather Sirius Black, who died recently, saving me at the Ministry. Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew who was actually my parents secret keeper and working for Voldemort and Moony, he is another of my fathers friends and is the final loyal Marauder and it was him who came up with the plan at Kings Cross, he is Remus Lupin."
The teacher was now completely stunned, but examining Harry, realised that this rather remarkable young man had a hundred percent conviction in what he was telling her. "How many people know all that?"
"The Headmaster of course, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Hagrid, some Aurors, Mrs Figg the squib who spoke at my hearing. Then there's few more people I don't really know, myself and my closest friends." Careful never to mention the Order of the Phoenix
"What have I got myself into? I thought this was just a school."
"Well it is, its just its a bit more too, when I told the Headmaster and Fudge at the end of the fourth year about Voldemort's return. The Headmaster believed me, Fudge didn't, so the Headmaster had no choice but to fight back on his own."
"The DA Society, my daughter mentioned last year, it doesn't stand for defence association then?"
"Well we were going to call it that, but we decided on Dumbledore's Army." Said the boy smiling. "It's been made into the first official society in the history of Hogwarts this year."
"And who exactly is in charge of this Army."
"Well, it was only called that because it was what Minister Fudge feared Dumbledore was doing here. In reality it was only formed because we had Ms Umbridge as are defence teacher and she wouldn't let anyone practice any defence. Ultimately Professor Dumbledore is in charge, begin the Headmaster. But I was the leader of the Society last year and I've just been voted as leader again this year."
"So it was you instructing the students?"
"Only in some of the things I'd picked up that might be useful."
"How many of this class are members?"
"Most of them I think, the rest may join. We are letting anyone from the fourth year up join this year, providing they will sign the registration book."
"Am I to take it to mean that you do not think I am a suitable teacher?" Asked the Professor, Harry could see quite seriously.
"No, not at all professors that's the best lesson since Moony, sorry Professor Lupin was forced to leave."
"Then what is the purpose of the Society?"
"Well Professor, we only get about four hours of lessons a week, which is not a lot of time with a teacher. Last year, the students where having trouble with Defence so I was asked to show them some of the things I had used in the tri-wizard tournament or when duelling. There was nothing advanced, just things that I'd found useful, this year I want the Society to be like a study group. Some students are really good at Charms and others at Transfiguration. I am hoping if we can get together and learn from each other we will be able to perform well in Charms, Transfiguration and Defence. If people are struggling with a particular charm, they can get help from another member who has it mastered, that sort of thing. Personally I am trying to learn as much as I can while at Hogwarts, I don't know what skills I will need, I'm trying to learn everything."
"A reasonable quest." The Professor stated, examining Harry through her monocle. "I have one final question for you Mr Potter."
"Yes Professor?"
"There has been a fair amount of speculation about your spell on Kings Cross. Would you tell me what it was?"
"It was just a disarming charm, but I think I was a bit nervous and I put a bit much into it."
The Professor paused as if she was going to say something, then simply thanked Harry for the map and the very enlightening conversation and told him she looked forward to reading his assignment. Harry left the defence classroom and went to the Great Hall to find his friends and something to eat, having worked up quite an appetite.
*****
Meetings and Tactics
The two friends walked to the entrance hall together and waited for the half giants arrival. At a couple of minutes to eight they heard Fang's barking getting louder, as the large hound approached the entrance, finally a large grey head appeared out of the darkness and rush at the two boys, bounding about and licking them in greeting. Then Hagrid appear and seeing Harry said, "What ya doing 'ere 'Arry?"
Harry handed him the note and explained that Professor McGonagall said, 'it was okay if he went to feed the lion with Ron.'
The grounds keeper smiled and winked at Harry and replied, "Right ya are." The four walked down towards Hagrid's hut, the two boys following in Hagrid and Fangs wake.
"What was all that about?" Asked Ron curious of the Game Keeper's behaviour.
"Can you keep a secret Ron, I mean you aren't allowed to tell anyone, not Ginny or even Hermione."
"Course I can." Replied the red headed boy.
"Well your about to be the only person in your Care of Magic Creatures who the lion likes."
"What do you mean, that thing hates everyone."
"You'll see." Was all Harry said, but he had the most mischievous of grins.
As they rounded the Game Keeper's hut Harry saw the paddock and the golden form of Godric highlighted in the moonlight, the lion knew people where coming he could smell them and he was already stood in the centre of the paddock. As they got closer the lion let out a mighty roar. Harry much to Ron's surprise was completely unfazed and walked straight up to the fence and hopped over it. Ron almost jumped the fence and dragged him back, but Hagrid grabbed hold of the back of his robes and said, "Not yet, you go in now and he'd probably kill ya before 'Arry could stop 'im."
Harry walked right up to the lion and sat in front of him talking to the Godric in melodic tones. "Hello Godric. Nice show you put on there, are you enjoying scaring all the students?"
The great lion first sat and then stretched out its front legs putting its head down on its paws.
Harry reached forward and scratched the lion behind the ears, something he had found Godric was fond of it in some of his later visits.
Ron watched as his friend sat talking to the lion for a five whole minutes, before he rose and lead the lion to the fence where Ron and Hagrid stood, Fang was hiding round the corner behind the hut.
"Ron, I'd like you to meet my friend Godric, Godric this is my friend Ron."
The lion roared but was cut off; Harry in a funny voice almost like a roar had shouted "Godric!" Scolding the three hundred and fifty pound lion. Who responded immediately by stopping the roar and started looking between the funny looking lion and the two animals stood at the fence.
Harry turned to Ron, "He's hungry, so if you bring him something to eat I think he'll let you into his territory."
Ron looked stunned, but was too shocked to argue and went and collected a small animal from the back of Hagrid's hut, hefted the carcus on his shoulder and walked back to the fence.
"Ron..." Said Harry, "Godric is a lot like Buckbeak, you have to show him his respect, and be polite, and its best not to be scared of him. He doesn't want to hurt you, he's not going hungry, but this is his home and its polite to wait till your asked before you come in. So just stand there till he walks off and lets you come in, then walk up to him slowly and give him the food and move back to me."
They waited there for another ten minutes then Godric turned and walked to the centre of the paddock, just as Harry had said he would. Then with a little encouragement Ron climbed the fence and slowly walked to the lion. Ron then quickly set the meat down in front of him and almost fell over his feet as he half-ran backwards to Harry. Harry then told him to stay in the fencing and sit down with him.
They sat there for another twenty minutes, as Godric ate in the middle of the paddock before the full grown lion was finished. Godric then rose and padded slowly back over to the two boys, Harry reassuring Ron that this was a sign that Godric didn't mind him begin in his territory. When the lion sat next to him, Harry told Ron to scratch behind the large cats ears. Looking shocked for a minute, Ron finally looking like he trusted his friend did so and much to the nervous boy's relief, the massive cat to start to purr. When Ron stopped, Godric stood again and walked to another part of the paddock, where Hagrid had placed a fallen tree trunk and settled down. On Harry's command, he and Ron would go and join him. The lion curled up and slept and the two boys spoke in soft whispers.
"When did you get so good with lions?" Asked Harry's best friend.
"I'm not good with all lions, just Godric; I met him in the summer when he first arrived. He thinks I'm a funny looking lion and I'm part of his pride. Now you have been introduced, if you respect him, he will except you are not trying to take his territory and let you feed him without hurting you. Anyway I think its time you went back to the dorms."
"What you're not coming."
"No I think I'll spend the night out here with Godric, its peaceful and I want to get some work done." Harry walked with Ron to the fence and Ron climbed over.
Hagrid was beaming, "Well that's an 'Outstanding' mark if ever I've seen one, Godric won't let anyone else in there with 'im, not even me anymore. You staying 'Arry?" He added, not looking surprised when Harry didn't leave the paddock.
"Yeah I got some work to do and Godric will look after me."
"Okay I already talked to the 'eadmaster and 'e reckons its fine." Said the half giant with a smile. "Well done Ron, I better walk ya back to the dorms."
Harry and Ron said goodnight and Harry told Ron that if anyone asked he had stayed with Hagrid late and then got up early and he would see him at breakfast, before his friend left and Harry returned to the fellow member of the pride.
The night was clear and the moon bright, Harry worked for several hours, leaning against Godric who was happily purring being reunited with his friend. He had completed the notices for DA and was working on the potions assignment, but found while he could write logically, he had no examples of substitutions when working with poisons. Harry was slightly frustrated by the lack of references limiting what he could write and decide he would ask Professor McGonagall for a note to allow him read some of the restricted section, on experimental potions. When he eventually reach the limit of what he could do with his own books, he packed all his stuff and curled up next to Godric, and wrapping his cloak round himself, he drifted off to sleep.
Harry woke early feeling Godric stir, glad that the temperature of the paddock had been magically controlled, to suit the lion that was native to Africa. He pushed himself up from the ground, feeling his neck cracked as he straightened. He said a 'good bye to his friend, knowing the lion couldn't actually understand him, but still feeling it was right. Harry gathered up his things and wandered up to Hogwarts, entering the large castle and settling at the Gryffindor table in the Main Hall. Harry started pulling out his potions work from last night, and reading other his work, picking out another couple of possible substitution he had missed from last night. Two of them he knew were illegal, but he thought he would included them anyway. He continued to work for another hour, until students started to arrived and he packed up his things. Spotting Luna Lovegood, Harry walked over to the Ravenclaw table and handed the unusual girl one of the notices he had written last night. Harry feeling it was polite, sat next to her and was quickly involved in an unusual conversation about what she had done over the Summer, which included a trip to Sweden, in search of Crumple-Horned Snoracks. After ten minutes listening to Luna's description and habits of the mythical creatures, Harry saw Hannah Abbott enter the hall with a group of sixth year Hufflepuffs and excused himself.
Harry walked towards the group and asked if he could have a word with the fellow prefect, she told her friends she would join them shortly and all but her best friend Laura Madley left. Girls should definitely not be allowed to walk around in groups, thought Harry, but put the thought from his mind, as he asked Hannah if she would put the notice in the Hufflepuff common room. Hannah's friend read the notice over her shoulder and Laura's eyes widened asked. "I heard about DA from Hannah at the end of the year, you're going to continue it? And you're letting anyone join?"
"Providing they are prepared to take an oath and sign a magical contract, yeah. It's an official Society this year though, first time that's ever been allowed one at Hogwarts."
"And you're the leader?"
"I was voted in yesterday, Hannah about the potions study, are you free on Wednesday afternoon?" The quick change of subject to potions, was enough to see that Laura returned to her other friends and they started chatting excitedly.
"I'm free whenever you are, we're doing all the same classes, see I always wanted to be an Auror too."
"Oh..." Said Harry smiling. "And here's me thinking I was the only person in school who had a death wish." Laughing to himself.
"Nope! My parents almost had a fit when I told them, saying 'it's too dangerous' and 'it's not work for a young lady'." replied the girl smiling.
"I've got a friend whose an Auror, she's coming to the school soon as one of the guards. I'll introduce you, when she gets here, I'm sure you'll like her."
"That would be great; I've never met a female Auror before."
"And about Wednesday, is that alright for you?"
"Yeah, but what are we going to do about this weeks work?"
"Well I think I'm going to have to be working this evening, and probably and in future probably most weekends, so I'll be in the library Saturday morning too. Sad I know but that will teach me to get knocked unconscious for three days."
Hannah laughed at him. "I'll be there; it takes me a while to get back into the swing of school too."
"Well I better get back to the Gryffindor table, before I'm labelled a traitor and thrown out." He smiled.
"And I better get back to mine, before they start writing about me in the Daily Prophet." And Harry laughed again.
"See ya." He said turning and returning to the Gryffindor table, as the food started to appear, none of his friends had come down to eat yet so Harry ate alone. When he had finished, he gathered his things, leaving to go to the Room of Requirement. He arrived at the entrance on the seventh floor early, so he opened the door and went in.
Harry had decided on a comfortable native habitat for a lion and the room had responded in its normal way, producing an almost perfect African plain all over the forty foot room. Another night spent outside with Godric, encouraged Harry to further push his transformation. He had become comfortable with the lions head, paws, and being covered in golden fur. Harry also knew that while the body, legs, and back paws, would not be easy, they would not be nearly as painful, as gaining the large number of extra bones that would be required for his tail. Which Harry knew the cats used for balance.
Convincing himself that it had to be done, he concentrated hard, trying to banish the knowledge that pain would follow, he pushed and pushed mentally making the tail grow. Making sure it was covered in golden fur and a dark tuft at the end. Finally, letting out a loud roar as he finished. The pain sensors, previous blocked as he concentrated on the transformation, started functioning again and proceeded to light up like a Christmas tree.
Professor McGonagall had entered silently as he was concentrating on the transformation, and was now coughing a little and brushing dust from her robes, as she had unknowingly stepped into a cloud blown up by Harry's roar. Harry changed back to his human form curling up on the ground, trying to block the pain from his mind. The pain receded, but it was like the Crucious curse, he had been overloaded and residual effects lingered, eventually leaving after a few minutes. Harry sat up, saying. "I hope that gets easier, that hurt."
"I did wonder what that racket was about, but still a very impressive display, will you please show me again, as punishment for you trying the most difficult stage of the transformation, without me."
Harry looked sheepish, but then his face hardened as he knew what he was about to do. It was almost worse, as he now had experience of how much it was going to hurt. First he changed his paws with razor sharp retractable claws, thirty teeth all sharp to points, a jaw that had no lateral movement. He elongated his nose and mouth, developed large eyes which stayed green with black fur surrounds and a large black mane. On his forehead there was a 'lightning bolt' shape black tuft on a body entirely covered with golden fur, his head was massive and the weight made him drop to all fours. All this happened in less than a second, then Harry really concentrated, he had done that part regularly. In fact he had repeated many times a day whenever he could guarantee he was alone and unobserved. This initial stage had almost become second nature, the tail was new and it hurt. He pushed mentally again quicker than last time, hoping it would lessen the time the pain remained and quickly covered the tail with fur as it went and then a black tuft at the end. He stopped and then it hit him, feeling just as intense as before he rolled on his side and roared again blowing up another cloud dust. The effects where thankfully shorter lived and the pain only lasted a minute before fading to a dull throb, but Harry managed to hold the form.
Eventually the Professor smiled and asked him to change back and Harry did so, finding the return to human form quite painless, probably because 'I've had already fried the relative brain cells from transforming in the first place', thought Harry.
"Very good Mr Potter, I expect you will have the basic shape within the month. Then I expect we will have to work on some of the finer points. Where you aware you have no whiskers and the white patches under the lion's eyes are quite important, that is why I asked the Headmaster, that when he acquired a new pair of glasses for you, the rims where considerably smaller. You still seem to have large black rings of fur surrounding your eyes." Harry was amazed at how observant the Professor was.
"I didn't realise, err what does the white patch do Professor?"
"Lions are visual creatures, relying on their sight when hunting and as you know like most cats they have a tendency to be nocturnal. The white under their eyes helps reflect light into their eyes, further improving their night sight. They also have a rather special coating on their eyes which reflects moon light; helping still further, this is what has lead to the common misconception that cats eyes glow in the dark. But I believe your progress is quite remarkable and I am very pleased with the effort on your part."
"Professor, I was wondering if I might ask you for something?"
"Yes Mr Potter?"
"Well I was working on a potions assignment last night, and I briefly looked at my first charms assignment, and both are asking for thoughts and ideas on things that the school would deem to be experimental. I feel that the texts I have available are a little... Err... safe. I was wondering if I might have permission to use the restricted section of the library, I promise I wouldn't start using it to research Dark Arts, it's just all the advanced potions and charms books appear in there."
The stern professor smiled, "Mr Potter, the reason the school has a restricted section is not, as you think to keep its own supply of Dark Arts literature, but simply to prevent younger students attempting magic that is beyond their capabilities or requirement. Most students find they can complete all their schooling without access to these books. I have always known that with your habit for searching out knowledge, you would not be one of these students. I would warn you in particular against the practice of some of the more experimental charms however, they have a tendency to have somewhat unreliable effects but I am quite prepared to give you this." The professor handed Harry a little square of parchment written in what appeared to be gold, it read 'I Albus Dumbledore, grant Harry James Potter access to all the literature available at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that it may be used to further his study.' And it had the Hogwarts seal in the corner.
"I also have obtained the two books for DA." She said handing them to him.
"Thanks Professor, how do we set the date that the register can be written in?"
"The book will allow itself to be written in for one day a year, you can pick any day. I would ask you then to take the book straight to the Headmaster."
"Thanks again Professor, this is all great."
"Well you are expected to live up to the responsibility, you have been given. I am quite sure that future people reading about this, will wonder how a student, who is not top of his year, or a prefect and not even Quidditch captain was able to become the founder of this Society. I expect your actions to justify the schools decision."
"Yes Professor, they will." Harry said with conviction.
"I believe that will be all for this session, I hope you will continue with the transformation with your tail. I have found mine to be quite useful at times." And the Head of Gryffindor house left the room, Harry collected up his things including his library pass and the two books, feeling elated and paused, figured what better time to just do one more transformation. He concentrated performing the usual part of the transformation quickly and added the tail almost instantly, the end the pain started to build but just as quickly stopped. Feeling very pleased with himself, he would have smiled if cats could and was further amused to find he was purring. The hardest part was over and if he worked hard he could do this, he knew he would have to be registered. With all the trouble he had been through in his previous years, some of it with the ministry, he had to be whiter than white now, but he would have a perfect transformation before he did that, whiskers and all.
Harry walked to the Great Hall and from the noise floating along the corridor, he guessed it was already pretty full. Harry joined his friends at the Gryffindor door table, Ron was talking to Seamus and Dean about his 'Outstanding mark' from feeding Godric wisely leaving out Harry's involvement and he saw Ginny was talking to Neville. He sat next to Hermione who had a scowl on her face, as she was reading a charms book, "Hi Harry." She said as he sat down, "Have you had a look at the charms assignment?"
"Yeah, it's pretty tricky."
"I've been looking over the books in the library all morning; I can't find anything to do with charms like these."
"All the books in the library?" Harry questioned, with a smile playing on his face and he started fishing in his bag.
"Well, all apart from the Restricted Section, I bet that's where all the books on the experimental..." But she stopped as Harry handed her his library pass. Her scowl turned to a broad grin, "I could kiss you Harry." She finished.
"Well, I think you better restrain yourself, Ron would get jealous." He added and she blushed slightly. "I had a look at the assignment last night, I guessed the charms where a bit experimental to be in our usual books, most spells involving time are. So I asked Professor McGonagall this morning. We have to be careful with this though..." Taking the pass back from his friend who was staring at it lovingly, "It's only used for our studies I don't want you turning to the Dark Arts." Harry grinned broadly.
Hermione snorted looking affronted and then smiled seeing her friend was just teasing her.
"Professor McGonagall gave me these as well." He handed her the two books, explaining how they worked and that after they had both written there names and the date in the rule book she would be the only person who could write in it. He took the registration book back but left her with the rule book in which he had already written his name, then told her he would be right back. He took one of the notices from his bag and walked to the teachers table and in front of Professor Snape, "Excuse me sir."
"Yes Mr Potter." Never looking up from his hard boiled egg, as he removed the top with a spoon. Still scowling at being interrupted, as if the procedure was brain surgery.
"Well, I don't know if you are aware Sir, but I have been given permission to continue the DA society officially. The Society are accepting new members, I was wondering, if it might be possible for you to put this notice up in the Slytherin common room." Pro-offering Snape the parchment.
"I was aware of the permission being granted for this childish exploit, but I find it hard to believe that you would want members from the noble house of Slytherin."
"We already have a member from Slytherin Sir and while he is argumentative and slightly disruptive, he is prepared to sign the registration and he proved himself to be completely trustworthy. Last year, as you are aware, it was a Ravenclaw who attempted to betray the Society and the Headmaster has adjusted the registration, so it is more secure, in the form of a book, that signing of, is a magical contract. I have tried to explain on the notice Sir, but I have also noted that any questions could be put to me or the Society Secretary, Hermione Granger."
"I have no immediate objections Mr Potter and as such I will allow the notice to be placed in my common room. However should performance of any member of this Society become unsatisfactory, I assure you, I will be taking my objections up with the Headmaster directly."
"Thank you Professor." And Harry returned to the Gryffindor table.
Ron gave him questioning looks as Harry filled his plate and ate contently, and when questioned as to 'why they had to be allowed them to join', Harry simply answered that it was a Ravenclaw that betrayed them last term. Asking if 'he wanted to throw Luna out who had gone to London, and fought with them against Voldemort, just because she was a Ravenclaw?'
This shut Ron up immediately, like the rest of them, he liked Luna, she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but she was bright and loyal and didn't seem to have any of the mood swings most girls seemed prone to.
Harry checked his timetable for the afternoon, his first DADA lesson was this afternoon, "Who is the new Defence professor anyway? I haven't seen anyone new at the staff table."
"Its Susan Bones's Aunt." Replied Ron.
"The Head of Magical Law Enforcement?"
"Not anymore, there was a big scandal at the Ministry when they admitted Voldemort had most likely returned. Everyone was saying that, Fudge's position as the Minister of Magic was looking very shaky, he used Amelia Bones as a scape goat, he said, she should of known about it. Then within five minutes of it happening, Dumbledore apparently appears and offers her a duel role at Hogwarts, Defence Professor, and Head of Security at Hogwarts. Told her she would be in direct command of an elite group of Aurors. Susan said she took it immediately and she's been in London, organising who will be working here, this is her first lesson today. I hope she is able to get Aurors that are up to it."
"Well one of them definitely is." Said Harry. "Tonks got given her choice of assignment after Kings Cross and signed up for security at Hogwarts as soon as she found out."
All the friends smiled and nodded in agreement.
Harry ate lunch quickly and returned to the common room, needing to pin the DA notice up and get some things before the lesson. He filled his bag with his books and other supplies, but as he was leaving, he had an idea and ran back to his trunk pulled out one more item and hurried to the DADA classroom, not wanting to be late. He arrived just as everyone was filing into the class room and followed them in. The class was about the same size as the previous years, consisting largely of DA members. The woman at the front of the class, Harry recognised from his ministry hearing, she introduced herself as Professor Bones and then explained she would be the new Defence teacher and Head of Security of the School, comfirming what the friends had just discussed. Then she took a register and the class entered into a brief 'Q' and 'A' about what they had covered in there OWLs. Then started talking about what she expected of them in their NEWTs, explaining certain elements such as tactics, which they had not covered before, telling them this was a good place to start.
The first lesson consisted of a discussion of the Platform nine and three quarters encounter, at the start of the year, as they all had some form of personal knowledge of what happened. Harry kept quiet when she said discussed the plan the Aurors had developed. The group pointed out flaws in the plan, some of them obvious, like the lack of numbers, others more subtle like the spread of the Aurors and the lack protection of the train, Ron had argued that the train was quite well protected. But Harry contradiction him, telling the group they where lucky that a larger force had not broken away and attacked the train. The Professor agreed, that a better organised force would have split much earlier, in an attempt to achieve the primary goal of the mission, which the students had already decided was destruction of the train and students.
Professor Bones, proved to be very knowledgeable about the incident, and tactics in general. Later they discussed the sort of spells used during the battle and reasons why these and not others where used. Providing her own theories as why killing curses where not more common, besides that of the speed factor, she had stated that the curse required a considerable amount of power. Adding also that, there was the knowledge that should the plan fail and the Death Eaters captured. As actually happened, the life sentence in Azkaban or worse the Kiss for actually killing an Auror, meant that they would wait until victory was ensured before using it.
At the end of the lesson the Professor gave them their first assignment, they where to discuss the plan and with the benefit of hind sight and the using only the resources available, they should come up with alternatives and discuss the strengths and weakness of these. The assignment should be no less than one roll of parchment, finally telling them they were dismissed.
Harry waited till the other students had left, telling his friends he would catch them up at dinner and tell Hermione they could go to the library after dinner. Then he approached the teachers desk, where Mrs Bones was now sitting,
"Hello Mr Potter, nice to meet you under more pleasant circumstances." The new Professor stated. "You where very quiet during that discussion."
"Sorry Professor, I did not want to reveal more than necessary about my involvement."
"I am fully aware, that it was in fact your plan and not that of the Aurors, Mr Potter."
"That isn't completely true Professor, it was really someone else's plan that I added some suggestions to."
"Really." Said the Professor. "Miss Tonks claimed otherwise."
"She may have been protecting the Remus from certain unnecessary publicity, he is a werewolf, and as you know the wizarding community has a rather biased view."
"Quite." Replied the older woman slightly taken a back. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"
"Well... Err... I was wondering if I may have something that you might find useful as Head of Security. I can only loan it to you because I think the makers would prefer it to remain in the hands of some students, but until your new security is established it may be useful." Harry handed, the now stunned looking teacher, the blank piece of parchment in his hand.
"Someone kind of joke, Mr Potter?" Asked the teacher with a smile.
Harry removed his wand tapping the parchment and saying 'I do solemnly swear that I'm up to no good.'
The teachers eyes widened, as the map sprung to life. The familiar writing appeared 'Misters Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail present' and the writing cleared to reveal 'The Marauders Map.' This then cleared again and lines started to run across the page drawing out Hogwarts, adding dots for all the students, which when looked at, gave their names. The teachers all labelled and even Filch and Mrs Norris his cat, not to mention the secret passage ways and various passwords for them.
Harry tapped his wand on the parchment and said, 'Mischief managed' and the parchment turned completely blank again.
"This is quite remarkable Mr Potter, who are these Marauders?"
"Well, sadly there is only one true Marauder left now, Prongs was my father James Potter, Padfoot was his best friend and my Godfather Sirius Black, who died recently, saving me at the Ministry. Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew who was actually my parents secret keeper and working for Voldemort and Moony, he is another of my fathers friends and is the final loyal Marauder and it was him who came up with the plan at Kings Cross, he is Remus Lupin."
The teacher was now completely stunned, but examining Harry, realised that this rather remarkable young man had a hundred percent conviction in what he was telling her. "How many people know all that?"
"The Headmaster of course, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Hagrid, some Aurors, Mrs Figg the squib who spoke at my hearing. Then there's few more people I don't really know, myself and my closest friends." Careful never to mention the Order of the Phoenix
"What have I got myself into? I thought this was just a school."
"Well it is, its just its a bit more too, when I told the Headmaster and Fudge at the end of the fourth year about Voldemort's return. The Headmaster believed me, Fudge didn't, so the Headmaster had no choice but to fight back on his own."
"The DA Society, my daughter mentioned last year, it doesn't stand for defence association then?"
"Well we were going to call it that, but we decided on Dumbledore's Army." Said the boy smiling. "It's been made into the first official society in the history of Hogwarts this year."
"And who exactly is in charge of this Army."
"Well, it was only called that because it was what Minister Fudge feared Dumbledore was doing here. In reality it was only formed because we had Ms Umbridge as are defence teacher and she wouldn't let anyone practice any defence. Ultimately Professor Dumbledore is in charge, begin the Headmaster. But I was the leader of the Society last year and I've just been voted as leader again this year."
"So it was you instructing the students?"
"Only in some of the things I'd picked up that might be useful."
"How many of this class are members?"
"Most of them I think, the rest may join. We are letting anyone from the fourth year up join this year, providing they will sign the registration book."
"Am I to take it to mean that you do not think I am a suitable teacher?" Asked the Professor, Harry could see quite seriously.
"No, not at all professors that's the best lesson since Moony, sorry Professor Lupin was forced to leave."
"Then what is the purpose of the Society?"
"Well Professor, we only get about four hours of lessons a week, which is not a lot of time with a teacher. Last year, the students where having trouble with Defence so I was asked to show them some of the things I had used in the tri-wizard tournament or when duelling. There was nothing advanced, just things that I'd found useful, this year I want the Society to be like a study group. Some students are really good at Charms and others at Transfiguration. I am hoping if we can get together and learn from each other we will be able to perform well in Charms, Transfiguration and Defence. If people are struggling with a particular charm, they can get help from another member who has it mastered, that sort of thing. Personally I am trying to learn as much as I can while at Hogwarts, I don't know what skills I will need, I'm trying to learn everything."
"A reasonable quest." The Professor stated, examining Harry through her monocle. "I have one final question for you Mr Potter."
"Yes Professor?"
"There has been a fair amount of speculation about your spell on Kings Cross. Would you tell me what it was?"
"It was just a disarming charm, but I think I was a bit nervous and I put a bit much into it."
The Professor paused as if she was going to say something, then simply thanked Harry for the map and the very enlightening conversation and told him she looked forward to reading his assignment. Harry left the defence classroom and went to the Great Hall to find his friends and something to eat, having worked up quite an appetite.
*****