Chapter 7: Professor Potter (Part Two)
He had known Miss Lovegood was a member of Potter's club, had even been a part of the group that had gone to the Ministry, but it was still difficult to believe that it was her Potter had sent for showing him the way.
Miss Lovegood's character was impossible to understand, but it was very hard to dislike her. She was extraordinarily bright and though not always completely attentive she was one of the best in his OWL potions class. It had been smart of Potter to send her and not some foolish Gryffindor.
"Are you looking forward to those lessons?" he couldn't help but ask. He had heard Minerva's and Filius' high opinion of Potter's way of teaching, but before he would judge for himself, he would ask for the opinion of the one person among the Golden Boy's friends that would tell the unfiltered truth.
"Oh yes," she said dreamily, "There are many good and excellent professors at this school, but Harry has a way of explaining that makes sense to everybody. He can elucidate a matter in five different ways for he includes all senses. There are some senses he doesn't understand as well, he then asks others, mostly Hermione, to explain."
He didn't quite understand what she'd meant and decided he would know in a short while.
She laughed a little, her tone light and a little distracted: "When he started to give us the lessons he wasn't one of many words, he still isn't, but it doesn't seem as awkward anymore. The knowledge he's acquired over the summer helps him to focus, but he looks a little old sometimes, though his heart is still young."
Yet another commentary he was unable to interpret. Almost glad he noticed that Miss Lovegood stopped next to a wooden door and opened it.
The Potions Master's eyes widened when he looked at an open field, riddled with stones and little hills. The grass was partly cut deep, but there was a cornfield not far away with its plants approximately reaching his hip. The door and wall behind him were still apparent; next to it were mattresses and cushions piled up. To his right however, he saw wooden floor, its area being roughly as large as a classroom without chairs or desks.
That place was truly astonishing.
Miss Lovegood smiled up to him saying without noticing that Potter was in earshot: "I also like the fact, he always changes the room. He adapts it for every single meeting and is always very imaginative. However, the room always has a twist: We usually don't find it until the end of the lesson."
He had to suppress a grin seeing Potter blush and look away for a moment.
Mr Zabini and Miss Bulstrode had stood up immediately seeing their Head of House and both nodded in acknowledgment.
"Good evening, Professor Snape," Potter said politely, "Do you wish a chair or do prefer to stand like Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, Sir?"
"I am in no need of a chair, Potter," Snape had decided to be neutral for the beginning; he would correct them and bring them back to reality later in the lesson.
He looked around and wasn't surprised to see most of the students belonging to the Gryffindor House, youngest being Dennis Creevey, but there were many Hufflepuffs as well which he hadn't anticipated. The other two houses were ill-represented.
Potter continued his conversation with Terry Boot telling her that her friends were naturally allowed to come to the next DA lesson.
The younger Creevey looked apprehensive when the older Gryffindor looked at him: "I don't know, Dennis. Let me think about it during the lesson. I am sure we'll find a solution."
Snape saw the child nod, a little subdued: "Hey," Potter said with an encouraging smile, "Your idea is very good and it actually makes a lot of sense, I simply have to see if it is actually possible." The young Creevey's smile brightened up causing Snape to sneer: Like a dog that had received a praise from his master.
Behind him the door opened and he saw Zacharias Smith and Justin Finch-Fletchely entering, their faces serious. Out of the corner of his eyes he observed Potter whose forehead was furrowed, obviously having picked up the mood of his friends.
"Good evening, you two! Bad news?" He asked seriously. Smith jerked his head indicating that it was not the case.
It was clear that the older Gryffindor didn't believe it.
"All right," Potter said, all children who had been whispering to each other immediately fell silent and looked at their leader. It was a bit surprising. Snape had to admit not to have expected the obvious respect Potter's classmates showed him. ('Well, this could be practically called HPFCM instead of DA,' he thought derisively, 'Harry Potter Fan Club Meeting. Their behaviour shouldn't astonish me.').
"Welcome to our sixth DA meeting. Our supervisor tonight will be Professor Snape as I am sure you have noticed." Only Smith and Finch-Fletchely turned their heads. "Today's lesson will be divided in three parts: First, I have finally found a way to practice our Healing Charms which we will do in the first part of the lesson." Snape saw their delight while he himself didn't trust his normally excellent hearing: Healing Charms?
"After that we are going to practice all the new spells that we've learnt the last three meetings and I found an additional spell that we are going to include. The first two parts will take until 7.30," while he spoke, a clock appeared next to the door, "Then we'll have our first practical lesson in tactics that will take until 9 o'clock. Maybe a little longer, maybe a little less, but don't worry you'll be back to your dorms before curfew. Any questions so far?"
All shook their heads.
Potter called: "Dobby!" With a 'pop' that crazy house-elf wearing a tea-cosy for a hat appeared with a bright smile.
He had always felt sorry for the house-elf when visiting the Manor of the Malfoys, Dobby had been one of many servants in the large home. Nevertheless he had been mistreated even more than any of the other house-elves by his masters. It had always vexed him to be incapable of doing anything for the poor lad and had been happy to hear that Dobby had found a home at Hogwarts for Albus Dumbledore was known to be fond of house-elves, supporting those who sought freedom. Snape himself had employed a free house-elf years ago who took care of his home while he was at Hogwarts, Chita, whom he regarded more as the only family he had left than a servant. The Dark Lord had never heard of her for none of Snape's friends knew of her existence. The only ones that did were the headmaster, Minerva, Filius and Poppy Pomfrey whom he had invited to his home. Nobody else knew he had another house but Spinner's End…
With a slight shake of the head, he focused back on the lesson.
"Dobby will be assisting me for tonight." 'Yet another dog, touched by the praise of his master,' he thought coldly after seeing the look of shier bliss on the elf's face, "I went to him for advice since I couldn't really think of a way to practice healing charms. Well Dobby, why don't you explain since it was your idea?"
"Harry Potter, Sir! I thank you. Dobby will explain: In Healer training the mediwizards and witches is not allowed to heal patients, Sirs and Ladies. They uses pig feet to learn curing cuts, they cuts them open and then heals them which is why they come to big kitchens like Hogwarts to asks for leftovers. When Harry Potter came to Dobby he told this and Harry Potter asked to have some pig feet as well for his defence class." With a flick of his fingers a basket full of pig feet appeared next to him, "The house-elves have saved some pig feet for Harry Potter."
The reaction couldn't have been more different. While the male Gryffindors congratulated Dobby for his great idea, Lavender Brown and the Patil sisters screeched. His Slytherins looked at the pig feet with interest but without saying much. The female Hufflepuffs seemed rather composed as well, Ernie McMillan and Mr Finch-Fletchely looked quite ill, Zacharias Smith seemed disgusted.
"You don't really want us to work with those things, do you Harry?" One of the Patil sisters asked (when not seeing them in different classes, Snape wasn't able to distinguish the twins).
"I doubt I would have asked Dobby to gather all those pig feet if I didn't, Padma." It seemed as if Potter could make a distinction between the two, "anyway, the other reason why Dobby is here is that house-elves are well taught by their ancestors in the art of healing since they devote to their house and family. Taking care of illness and injuries is therefore important, especially in a house-hold with children. Dobby will give us a little insight in what house-elves know which is quite a lot and I want you to treat Dobby with the same respect you would treat any teacher at this school. Thanks again, Dobby." The house-elf had tears in his eyes, obviously touched by Potter's words. When the brat had been talking like this he had been reminded of Chita who by now was somewhat a medielf for she had had to heal his injuries more than once the last few years.
Mr Smith went over to the basket and examined it, his nose wrinkled: "That's disgusting. I am not going to touch any of this stuff."
Potter seemed rather unimpressed: "I am not going to force anybody to, especially since not everybody is accustomed to see blood. Any person that doesn't want to attend to this part of the lesson can get over to the wooden floor and practice the spells of last week." Smith, Finch-Fletchely, Macmillan, the Patil sisters and Miss Brown turned around to go, but Potter continued, "But you should do it with the knowledge that this training might save your life one day. Any spell, counter-curse or shield that you'll learn here will help you absolutely nothing after you were hit by a spell and believe me the cutting curse causes terrible injuries."
He went to the basket and took out one of the pig feet examining it thoughtfully: "I know there are people that cannot see blood and I respect and understand those of you who try, but are unable to bare it. It happens; sometimes it even depends on the situation. You can see blood one-hundred times without passing out, but lose consciousness at the one hundred and first time. You'll never know if you don't try."
With this he turned towards the others telling them to take out a foot, then took out a knife and cut his own deeply to the bone. He passed his knife on to the next person. Reluctantly those who had wanted to go away approached. His face screwed up, Smith took out a foot.
"Well, let's revise: What healing spells do we know so far?"
Not unlike in his class, Miss Granger answered promptly: "Monstrat Fractura, to find out if a bone is broken, Ferula et Analgesia to put a limb in splints including numbing the pain, the two spells you used on Dennis our first lesson. Freges to cool a sprained wrist or foot, you used that one on Seamus on our second lesson. Then we looked at the healing of cuts like Cutis Adapta when it's a clean cut because of a knife or something sharp or Cutis purgas et adapta when it's a sharp cut that was polluted by dirt or anything else. When the skin is so torn there is no way to just attach the skin, you have to clean the wound, then remove parts of the skin that cannot be healed and then heal the wound, it is a so-called Trias Charm: Vulnus Purgas Granulas Sanas. The last spell, you said, is only to be used by professional healers, so you taught us: Vulnus Purgas Coniunges to clean and wrap in the wounded limb."
Potter looked at her speechless: "Hermione, your memory is a blessing should I ever lose my notes. Amazing! I know you for more than five years, but your memory astonishes me every time anew."
Snape didn't understand why he would praise the insufferable know-it-all like this or why Miss Granger too would blush at the words. He himself was astonished, too though not only because of the sharpness of her memories…
He of course had a vast knowledge about healing charms and potions for it was him who provided the hospital wing with all sorts of potions from Dreamless Sleep to Skele-Grow, however he hadn't expected the children to know so many healings spells.
"Today, I would like to focus on those spells. If they work well, we will learn new ones, but at first, I want you all to heal a clean cut. The spell is Cutis Adapta, it causes severed skin to be connected again. The Muggleborns among you will be familiar with the principle since most cuts that are made for surgery are adapted like this, not by a spell but by suturing the wound. Those who have no idea what I talking about: Please forget what I said." Potter's little entourage laughed. It hadn't been that amusing, he thought, desperately trying not to lose his annoyed facial expression.
Potter lifted his wand, pointed it at the artificial cut and said clearly: "Cutis Adapta." It healed immediately without leaving the smallest scar as if Potter had done it a hundred times. "More important than ever it is that you actually want this. There is a cut and you want to heal it."
And so they tried. The older students learnt the spell remarkably fast, obviously having tried that before only without having anything to practice it on.
The younger ones struggled, especially Dennis Creevey: "Adapta Cuta… No, Curis Adapta… Cutis! Cutis adapt…" A frustrated sigh, "this cannot be so difficult!"
"Are you alright, Dennis?" Potter asked sitting next to the small third year.
"I was able to do it. Last week, I could speak the incantation…"
"Dennis, look at me. It's alright. Forget the foot. The incantation is Cutis Adapta."
The young third year looked at the brat and repeated the incantation several times. Suddenly the wound healed not perfectly but well enough, Creevey's younger brother squealed in delight.
"There you go," Potter said, "well done! I had the same problem at first. I was so focused on the cut I completely forgot what I wanted to do."
The younger Gryffindor's eyes went wide: "So you weren't just able to do it?"
To Snape's astonishment Potter laughed merrily: "The only thing I've ever been able to 'just do' was flying, Dennis." The potions professor examined the young wizard and saw that he truly believed what he had said. Watching his two best friends he noticed that they neither rolled his eyes over the pathetic attempt to be modest nor did they look surprised at the words. Heartfelt resignation was to be seen as if this happened on a daily basis despite their efforts for the contrary.
The best would be to simply be prepared for anything from now on. Like this the feeling of being taken aback would lessen. Or so he told himself.
"Harry?" Miss Bones asked and immediately received the Golden Boy's attention. "You are the only one who was able to heal the cut without leaving a scar. What exactly did you do?"
"Madam Pomfrey once threatened to have me move into the hospital wing, Susan. What I am trying to say is that I had to be healed so many times by now, I by now understand the mechanics of the healing spell."
Then he looked thoughtful for a moment and said sharply: "Finite Incantatem!" Except for his and Miss Granger's spell, all the others were countered by the admittedly powerful incantation. Instead of chastising the dunderheads who hadn't thought of sealing the spell, he smiled at his best friend in approval.
She shrugged: "You said last week that Healing Charms can be countered within the first ten minutes after the spell was spoken and that this was used in open combat which is why we should use the Sealing Charm Sigillas unless at a safe location like the hospital wing."
For the second time this evening Potter looked flabbergasted, and then smiled muttering "amazing" one more time. He seemed to be deeply impressed by his friend's knowledge.
He wordlessly gave her the knife to cut open their training device one more time.
"Dobby, before I explain anything further: Tell us how exactly your kin heals."
"We is not allowed to heal wounds with a wand, Harry Potter, Sir. We is getting bandaging material and officinal herb like Arnica when a wound heals badly, Sir. Then there is elven incantations to heal a master when no help is near, Sir, but their power depends."
"On what?" Potter asked obviously already knowing the answer, possibly because of former talks with the house-elf.
"On how much house-elves cares for his masters, Sir." A thoughtful nod without surprise confirmed Snape's suspicions of former conversations with the crazy elf.
Potter thanked him and turned towards his class: "Our spells, too, are dependent on how much we care for the wound to heal. Accidental magic proves that since small cuts heal just as slowly as they would non-magically while terribly painful injuries like broken bones can heal within seconds."
Roaring silence followed that explanation. Almost every single eyebrow in the room was raised while Potter looked a little confused: "What?"
"You healed yourself with magic as a child?" Blaise Zabini asked, the normally very calm and composed young wizard didn't seem capable of believing his ears.
The Boy-who-lived seemed a little confused: "I remember once when I was about three years old: I was sure to have broken my left arm since it was in strange angle, however, it healed very swiftly. That never happened to you?"
"I went to my parents with injuries," Zabini answered rather dryly.
Potter shrugged: "Well, the muggleborns among you will know what I am talking about." Judging by their expression, they didn't. The instructor noticed, too.
"Anyway, as always it is important to know what exactly it is you want." A bucket containing dirt appeared next to Potter. He took a handful and let it fall over his pig foot. "The second healing spell we're going to practice is Cutis Purgas et Adapta. It's practically the same spell, but first you'll have to focus on cleaning the wound. Don't forget to seal it in the end."
Again the room was filled with incantations and though the wounds healed well, the cleaning didn't come easily to the students. Potter patiently explained and guided them. Half an hour later, all had managed to decently clean and close a wound.
Not unlike before, he praised them all.
"There is one more spell I want you to practice. It shouldn't take long." He raised his wand, pointed it close to the skin of the pig foot and said: "Reducto."
All could hear the bone break, the skin seemed untouched. Potter looked up, suddenly serious: "Never forget that every spell can hurt others terribly, so be careful at what you're doing."
"Isn't there a bone-breaking curse used by Death Eaters?" Miss Abbott asked.
"Yes," was the simple answer, "Ferula we will practice next week, today I want us to be capable of diagnosing a broken bone… The incantation is Monstrat Fractura."
As he had said at the beginning, they didn't practice the rather simple spell for long. Not ten minutes passed until Potter told them to get towards the wooden floor for spell practice.
"Today I want to repeat all shield charms that we've learnt: Protego, the simplest of them all. Its power depends on the power of the caster and is mostly used with rather simple spells. Deflecto is a more difficult charm and it means to return a spell to the attacker. Be careful, this spell only works with certain magic. Spells that intend to hurt you like Lacero cannot be returned unless you want to injure the other person."
Finch-Fletchely interrupted at that point: "Wait. I mean when a Death Eater attacks you, you usually want to hurt them, too. Right?"
"I give the question to those who already had to fight for their lives," Potter said looking at his two best friends, Longbottom, Miss Weasley and Miss Lovegood.
Miss Weasley answered: "Not really. The main goal was to survive, not to harm the ones who attacked us."
Smith snorted: "So, you were scared."
Longbottom stepped forward: "Of course she was. We all were." The other boy sneered: "I thought so."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Weasley asked aggressively. Potter looked rather annoyed but well composed as if such discussions happened regularly.
"Well, you didn't seem to have been acting like Gryffindors at the Ministry."
Potter raised his eyebrows, he most definitely looked angry now: "Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Ron and Neville were extraordinarily brave, Zacharias. They shouldn't have been there in the first place, and yet they were fighting bravely. Unless you have been in the same situation you aren't able to judge it."
Smith seemed to have waited for Potter to be involved for he immediately attacked: "And you are never scared. Great Harry Potter! Not afraid of anything or anybody." Maybe, it wasn't such a fanclub after all.
Potter looked as if the Hufflepuff had slapped him. All the others started to shout at Smith, Weasley draw his wand at the same time as the fifth year.
"Distrahes!" Potter shouted sharply. As if pulled back by an invisible hand, both his best friend and Smith were parted.
"Enough! What is the matter with you, Zacharias? You already arrived in a bad mood." With his hands he rubbed his eyes. For a moment he looked as tired as Dream's Colour had alluded. He breathed out with a sigh and continued: "As for what you said… Seeing Voldemort causes my blood to run cold. He's hunted my nightmares ever since the end of my first year at Hogwarts, long before he had regained power. Being scared is the wrong word to describe my feelings when I encounter him. Petrified is a better one. I am… He…" he shuddered desperately trying to compose himself, "I will meet him again. I don't know when or under what circumstances, but I will see him again and we will not be having a conversation. He sees me, he kills me that is all he wants. I am sixteen years old while Voldemort is over sixty and one of the most powerful wizards in the world. I'd be a fool not to fear him."
Whatever Smith had wanted to say, he remained speechless. Snape understood the sentiment. He hadn't expected this from the Boy-who-Lived. He truly hadn't. And yet it shouldn't surprise him.
"Protego, Deflecto," Potter continued his class as if nothing special had occurred, "then Defendo, it is a more powerful form of Protego, very good to defend others. It is a spell that can be cast with its manifestation fifty feet away from you. It takes a lot of control to do that, however. I myself prefer Protego since Defendo is a spell that requires visualization of the shield. Then a new spell I want you to learn for today is Contego. It's more a ward than a shield that is created by this spell. It's very strong, but difficult. With it you can protect a group of people but be careful about its use since it practically draws a circle: Nobody can get in, but nobody can leave either before the spell is lifted. It is a seventh year charm that solely responds to your magical signature which means it cannot be lifted by anybody else but yourself unless you d… the spell loses its strength over time, however."
Again Potter received full attention; Miss Granger seemed to be as attentive as she was with any other teacher.
"Get into pairs and start. I'll walk around."
While the others went to the training floor, Dobby went to Potter: "Harry Potter, Dobby is leaving now, Sir."
"Alright, Dobby. Thank you very much for coming tonight and thanks for the feet."
"You is welcome, Harry Potter. Dobby likes helping the great wizard that is Harry Potter." The "great wizard" blushed so deeply, his skin-colour suddenly resembled the Weasleys' hair colour. With a 'pop' the house-elf was gone.
"The little guy likes you," Mr Zabini observed. It was rare to see the thoughtful young man smile so openly. If even possible Potter blushed even further and all of a sudden he looked like a young child, especially when he timidly smiled at Zabini who laughed a little. It was hard to believe that they were here training for a war.
To his great surprise Miss Bulstrode had paired up with Longbottom while Miss Lovegood was the Partner of Mr Zabini. It had taken him three days to convince the newly-sorted Slytherins to sleep in separate dorms six years ago. He remembered their endless discussions.
Miss Bulstrode's mother was Mr Zabini's father's twin sister. They had grown up practically next to each other and the mothers were best friends since they were but small children. These days they lived on the same large estate only in different houses. They'd practically grown up as sister and brother, a deep friendship connecting the cousins.
He remembered how scared Miss Bulstrode had been when Zabini was sorted, she had been so afraid they could be sorted into different houses.
They were nearly inseparable and when there had been the order to team up it had always been them to be a pair. He wondered how Potter had managed to team them up differently and more importantly why they seemed to be very content with the alternative.
Why Longbottom of all people? Miss Bulstrode would never learn anything with the idiot. Mr Zabini and Miss Lovegood he thought an interesting and wise choice.
They started to practice. Potter had told them to attack alternately with the stunning spell, disarming, Furnunculus and the impediment jinx.
A short time later the room was filled with incantations. Potter moved among the pairs rather elegantly, blocking spells (wordlessly) that went astray nearly hitting him. Minerva had told him of Potter's ability to see through the eyes of an instructor, looking at his friends as pupils not comrades, but to actually see it was a different experience.
("Ginny be careful with that stunning spell, your aim is a little off.")
("Well done, Zacharias." – Why would he praise a person who had nothing but ill words for him?)
Longbottom struggled with the new Contego-Charm, he was unable to draw the shield. Potter was instructing the Creevey brothers, so Snape decided to step forward.
"Longbottom, I've been aware of your clumsiness ever since the first day you attended to my class, however I've always been under the misconception that your disabilities are limited to potions and transfiguration. I am not sure whether to thank you or not for proving the contrary." The sneering tone of his voice was heard by every single member of the DA. Longbottom fretted and managed to miss Milicent Bulstrode with his stunning spell, nearly hitting Macmillan who had stood only few feet away hadn't Snape cast a silent Contego Charm of his own to protect the Hufflepuff.
"Your incompetence astounds me everyday anew, Longbottom. It is a miracle you even manage to hold your wand." As if on cue, the idiotic boy stumbled back.
"Fear does that to you, Professor," Potter suddenly stepped in between his friend and the Potions Master. He than turned his attention to Neville: "You are doing well, Neville. Why don't you practice the spells from last week? I'll be right there with you to look at Contego." He looked in the eyes of the timid boy and laid a hand on his left shoulder. Longbottom seemed to straighten up under the touch, looking much more confident.
"Professor Snape, may I have a word with you, please?" That wasn't defiance; it wasn't the usual expression of loathing, either… Potter looked angry and… disappointed?
He mentioned the others to keep on with their practice.
They walked away; Potter raised his wand and murmured a Muffilato Charm. Their conversation would be private.
"Sir, do you not like the way I teach?" Snape furrowed his eyebrows in return.
"Why, Potter? Can't you take criticism?"
"That is no problem, Sir. However, if you have a problem with anything going on I want you to come to me." Potter always seemed short to him, right this moment he seemed a little taller, standing upright.
He wouldn't be frightened by sixteen-year-old.
"Really, Potter? I didn't know you were in charge."
"Actually, I am, Sir. Professor McGonagall accepted the fact this club was lead by a student. The supervisor's job is to make sure that nobody gets hurt and everything is in order… It is not the supervisor's job to chastise or belittle a student, Sir. If you believe I teach them wrongly you of course can tell this openly in class while being as scathing as I know you can be on regular basis. I will not have you belittle them. Besides, Contego is a new spell. Neville tried it ahead before I said anything more about it since shield spells are his specialty." Snape stared at the brat sneering as well as he could muster. The speech had impressed him, beside himself.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for impertinent behaviour," he hissed between his teeth.
"I am sorry, Sir. I meant no disrespect. Let me speak to you frankly: You are a good instructor, especially with the skilful potions students. You let us work independently which is a truly wonderful idea, but you completely lack in having patience with those who struggle. Neville has a sense of smell that is remarkable, he could have become a great brewer, but I doubt he'll ever touch a cauldron again. And he is a fantastic student. I will prove that to you."
This time Snape didn't take any points for Potter turned around lifting the spell. He walked back to the group and watched them practice. The potions professor stood rooted on the spot.
A keen sense of smell? Longbottom? It was hard to imagine, but he'd be quiet for now and watch patiently.
"Anybody already tried Contego?" Longbottom timidly lifted his hand, as did Miss Granger. Her face displayed frustration.
"Let me demonstrate it first." To Snape's astonishment, several earmuffs and eye bandages appeared. Without hesitation all of them picked them up.
"Professor Snape could you please send a Reducto towards the cushion that lays over there?"
With his eyebrows raised, he pointed his wand at the cushion and nonverbally did what Potter had said. Before his spell hit Potter's cushion, the young wizard cried: "Contego!" The attack was absorbed by the shield, the cushion undamaged.
"Thank you, Sir. We will repeat this exercise five times, if that is alright to you." Snape only nodded and raised his wand again but Potter lifted his hand telling him to wait.
The students picked up the earmuffs and put them on. Bewildered Snape looked at the Boy-who-Lived who nodded. Not quite understanding what the meaning of it all was he casted the spell that was countered by Potter's shield.
They repeated the lesson five times. Each time the children did something else: At first the earmuffs, then the eye bandages, then both. At the fourth time they all followed Potter's wand movement while the last time each did something else: Miss Granger, both Weasleys and Mr Zabini put on the earmuffs (most of them did), Longbottom including the eye bandage, Miss Lovegood only the eye bandage, Miss Bulstrode followed the wand movement. It was rather strange to watch.
Potter seemed unfazed.
He closed his eyes and within seconds all devices disappeared.
"Does anybody want me to repeat it?" All shook their heads while some seemed confident, others a little more hesitant.
"As always, the visual ones among you gather around Ron and Hermione. They will be able to instruct you far better than I am."
Half of the DA ('Fantastic,' he thought sarcastically, 'When have I started to think of this rebellion group as DA?') followed Miss Granger and her hopefully-soon-to-be-boyfriend who started to practice.
The others trained a little closer to Potter. Nevertheless, the boy… (brat!) supervised them all, giving hints.
"Contego," much more confident than before Longbottom spoke his incantation. This time Miss Bulstrode's stunning spell was absorbed by the shield.
"Yes," Potter exclaimed merrily, "well done! How does it smell?"
Longbottom laughed a little: "It's hard to explain, a little like wood that stood in the rain for too long. How does it feel?" Potter smiled: "Like a blanket that is put around you on a winter's day."
Not for the first time this evening, Snape nearly lost composure. He understood what Longbottom talked about. Spells smelled, every single incantation was a little different from the other, Snape differentiated them through eyes and smell, but Longbottom?
For the first time in fifteen years Snape doubted his way of teaching. Could that timid, shy boy have been as a great brewer as Potter said? Had he been more attentive, would he have picked up Longbottom's flair for smells? Would he be in his NEWT class these days?
Thinking about it he knew that he couldn't have helped the Gryffindor for he was after all a spy and the Longbottom's were so-called blood-traitors. Still…
Snape tried to clear his mind by shaking his head.
For half an hour they practiced the new spell and while none of them truly mastered it, it was remarkable how strong it already was. Not few adults struggled with this kind of spell.
Potter clapped his hands to get his friends' attention, the wooden floor disappeared.
"So, today will be our first practical in tactics, so please have patience with me." The others smiled at the suddenly a little shy young man.
"At first, we'll just practice and then we will look at what has to be improved."
He stood before them, looking serious.
"It is highly unlikely for you to ever meet Voldemort face to face; if you do it's very likely you will be terribly out-numbered. For tonight I am going to be him and I want you to attack me separately." He lifted his wand and casted a jet of green light, "as soon as this spell hits you, the next can come since I want you to look at it as the killing curse. Notice that it is slightly slower than the actual spell, but there is no better alternative. This," a jet of yellow light left Potter's wand, "is the equivalent of Cruciatus. I will bring into play tricks Death Eaters and Voldemort use, so be attentive."
"What if we beat you?" The disrespectful behaviour of Smith started to annoy the Potions Master. Potter smiled: "That person will have to deal with Professor Snape."
The shier look of horror on the students' eyes caused the insufferable brat to actually laugh while 'bat of the dungeons' struggled with his composure. "If this is alright to you, Sir?"
The experienced wizard could only nod which didn't go unnoticed by anybody.
"Let's start! All the others please sit right next to the door." He walked into the field that seemed to be their new training place. While Potter walked he looked secure, but Snape simply didn't have the heart to think of it as arrogant.
Miss Granger came first. Her wand lifted, her face displaying deepest concentration when facing Potter.
"This isn't a duel," Potter explained, "think of it as a fight to the death. Don't believe anything you hear."
Miss Granger understood the hint and immediately attacked with a stunning spell, but Potter deflected it nonverbally immediately attacking with a green jet of light. The second she kept her position to shield it, she already knew she'd lost.
"Stupid," she murmured as she walked back, "trying to shield an Unforgivable. So stupid." She definitely was angry with herself.
Potter stood there, not arrogant but completely focused.
His best friend was next in the line that had been formed by now. Instead of attacking directly he ran towards one of the hills nearby while abruptly jumping from one side on the other. It was an impressively tactical approach from the normally foolhardy Gryffindor.
Potter laughed silently and cold: "Trying to outrun me, Ronald Weasley?" The other one stood rooted on the spot when Potter's "killing charm" hit. They stared at each other and the red-haired boy smirked a little, shaking his head obviously having understood his mistake to react to the taunting.
And so it went on, it was obvious the others didn't stand much of a chance against Potter, his taunting was rather soft but it was enough to disconcert them. Miss Weasley had been rather impressive. She was actually able to hide in the cornfield, but Potter conjured a snake thanks to Serpensortia and sent her into the field. Only a minute later they heard a shriek and Potter instantly hit the spot with his curse. Miss Weasley came forward while the snake followed; she looked ashamed and furious at the same time. The Parselmouth had obviously given the order only to find but not to kill.
When Mr Smith stepped forward, Snape briefly wondered how terribly the constantly criticizing boy would be treated by Potter and was surprised to see that he wasn't taunted more harshly than his friends.
Smith came forward immediately attacking with green sparks and yelling: "If you were Voldemort, I would simply try to kill you."
Within seconds a rock appeared between them and when the "killing curse" hit, the Boy-who-Lived casted a shield while the rock exploded (impressively alike to the way Avada Kedavra managed to destroy stone). While Potter was away far enough to only be hit a little, Smith would have been hit by the blow if his opponent hadn't cast a Contego. At least the Hufflepuff had the sense to recognize his defeat. He looked furious, but unlike the others not with himself but with Potter.
Then his Slytherins came. Proudly he could see Miss Bulstrode being untouched by Potter's taunting who quickly changed tactics by praising her. This threw her off balance and a moment later, their fight was over as well.
Last was Mr Zabini who had the advantage of having seen Potter fight several times by now. He immediately took cover behind a hill, destroyed the snake that was sent at him and managed to send some impressive spells towards his opponent. For a moment it looked as if Snape would have to fight his clever pupil, but then the Boy-who-Lived answered to Mr Zabini's Furnunculus with a disarming charm that caused the pupil to be thrown back, his wand lost.
"I think we both know what kind of spell he'd have used," Potter said quietly.
There was silence for a moment before everybody questioned Potter about the tricks he'd used while fighting.
"First of all, before we analyze this, let me explain: I am not suddenly all-powerful. Since I created this training room I can change it the way I want which is why the rock appeared and exploded like this. However, that was a realistic demonstration of what Voldemort does when attacked by the killing curse. I've seen it last summer." He didn't elaborate, but clearly he alluded to the fight between the two most powerful wizards currently walking this earth, "Avada Kedavra cannot be shielded, but you can make it hit something else instead of you. The same goes for the Cruciatus, not for Imperius though. That one can even work through walls. The Unforgivable respond to power: The stronger the caster, the more powerful the charm. What I want to say is that the rock I 'conjured' without any magical enforcement would have been burst by a spell of Voldemort and you would have been dead, still. So, just don't get hit."
Again there was a moment of silence.
"My taunting took the first ones of you aback, but I was proud to see that you stopped taking it seriously very quickly. I played on your weaknesses, which is exactly what Voldemort would do. He's got a unique ability to break people through the shier power of words; he senses their weaknesses and uses them for his advantage. He can torture you as well as seduce you." Snape had to look away knowing precisely what the young wizard meant. "He told me once that there have always been those willing to let him into their hearts and minds and he knows exactly what to say to do it."
"And you are immune to that." This time Snape had to contain himself not to snarl at Smith to finally keep his mouth shut.
"He never tried. He killed my parents." The answer was simple, but the teacher very well noticed that Potter wasn't foolish enough to claim himself to be "immune to darkness". As long as the boy knew that, he would never turn dark.
"The things I said were rather soft. Nevertheless, I want you to look within yourself and to realize all the things I could have said. I wouldn't, but he would." He looked at Mr Longbottom while saying this. Snape had very well noticed how careful Potter had chosen his words around the boy, yet he was right: The Dark Lord would use Longbottom's parents and his low self-esteem to break the boy. The facial expression of his former potions student indicated that he recognized it as well.
"Blimey," Mr Zabini exclaimed. Shocked everybody (including his Head of House) looked at him, "it's a good thing you use your talents to heal and not to hurt, Harry."
"I don't heal…" Where had the confident boy gone? Watching Potter was suddenly like looking at a small child that was unaccustomed to praise.
"Rubbish," Weasley said, "Blaise is right. You demonstrated tonight how well you not only know us, I mean Hermione and me, but how well you know everybody in the DA, yet you never taunt us when we don't work things out as fast as Hermione, for example. You don't want to hurt us, they would. Thanks for reminding us." Confirming mutters were heard from the others. The grateful look on Potter's face indicated how terribly insecure he had been about how his taunting would be received by the others, especially his hot-headed red-haired friend.
"You've got a great tactical mind, Ron," he said, "There is a reason nobody beats you in chess. I wanted to take you aback by pondering on that talent since you respond to insults the same way you do to unexpected praise: You freeze."
The other nodded. Usually he would have blushed; now he looked thoughtful.
Potter addressed them all: "Are you interested in those practical exercises in tactics for I thought about alternating between practice and theory every other week?." They all seemed eager, their answers were all in the affirmative, "You have done well tonight. Does anybody have a problem or is there something you want to include in the next lesson?"
"There is no chance, we can practice the Patronus on Dementors, is there?"
"I am afraid not," Potter answered, but then Miss Weasley said: "Why don't you catch a boggart?"
The slightly older boy laughed a little, it sounded hollow: "I'm afraid that Dementors aren't the things I fear the most, Ginny."
"What do you fear the most?" Was Macmillan intentionally dense?
Potter didn't seem angry, rather thoughtful: "These days I fear many things, Ernie. What I fear the most is a form the boggart cannot take." The cryptic answer caused the Potions Master to become curious.
"Anything else?"
Only the young Creevey nodded.
"I think your idea has value, however I don't want any younger members in the DA." The boy's face fell, "I thought about it during the lesson and I think I found the solution. I'll ask Professor McGonagall if it is possible to establish another club for the classes up to third year. They will only learn defence spells, disarming and other minor incantations. The club would be lead by the members of the DA."
The boy looked even sadder: "But I am…"
"Merlin, Dennis, no!" Potter laughed a little, "I would never banish you from the DA. You are our youngest, that is true and therefore you are the little brother of us all. We won't abandon you." Within seconds the young Creevey brightened up blushing deeply at the same time.
With an intense smile the instructor of the DA looked at his pupils wishing them all a goodnight and thanking the Potions Master for his presence.
When Professor Snape opened the door to follow the majority that had already left, he saw Smith approaching Potter menacingly. He decided to stay.
"I need to talk to you." The fifth year said coldly. The boy (brat!) nodded and gestured him to speak.
"Why did you attack Kevin this morning?" Potter seemed honestly confused: "Kevin?"
"Kevin Withby, a Hufflepuff, you frightened them by speaking Parseltounge. He now serves detention with Mr Filch for the rest of the week."
Confusion morphed over realization to suppressed anger within seconds: "You mean Withby, the third year Hufflepuff who outnumbered a pair of two second year Slytherins together with his friends? He acted cowardly and I didn't really frighten them, I simply meant to stop them from bullying those two kids."
"Bully them? Harry, those are Slytherins," said Justin Finch-Fletchley who had approached them, too. Snape knew that he was friends with Withby despite the age-difference.
Potter looked taken aback: "Slytherins? You think this explains it?" Far angrier than he had been with the third years he stared at his friend. "There were six of them, altogether a year older than the two whom they have attacked! I don't care what house they go to or who they are. Outnumbering people who are younger or attacking people weaker than you is not only unfair, it is despicable. Those people are bullies!" He looked at the two with a look that would have received admiration from a Basilisk. "You might think that I grew up with people who worshipped the ground I walked on, but you are wrong. Being outnumbered, your escape route cut off, awaiting the humiliation is a feeling I know exactly how to relate to. Those two Slytherins are acquainted with the sentiment, too. It's terrible and makes you feel completely powerless. I…" It was the first time, Snape ever saw Potter truly distressed: His hand was over his mouth, obviously trying to contain himself, "it's not right and your friends did just that. I hope they see reason and apologize for what they did." For some reason he smiled as if being reminded of something good, "they might be surprised how much it means to the ones whose power they had taken away."
At that, Snape didn't need to listen anymore. Smith wouldn't attack Potter, he looked as flabbergasted as he felt.
Desperately trying not to think, the Potions Master left the Room of Requirement walking towards the dungeons.
With that small speech, Potter had managed to completely rip apart Snape's view of him. He had been wrong about James Potter's son… So terribly wrong. That boy was Lily, maybe not by looks but by heart. The headmaster had told him so, Moody had told him so, Minerva, Poppy Pomfrey, and even the phoenix had, were the bird able to talk.
He halted in his steps, putting his Occlumency shields into place to get hold of his confusion.
Thousands of questions ran through his mind, leaving only one big question:
Who was Harry Potter?
He knew the boy for six years, but was completely unable to find the answer.
Snape continued his journey towards his office and in order to divert his thoughts, he focused back on the DA lessons…
Professor Potter… Had he spoken the words aloud, they would have sounded rather thoughtful.
Hallo, everybody!
I am sorry for not adding a new chapter yesterday, but I didn't find the time.
Thank you soooooo much for the reviews! I received 9 - NINE - reviews for one chapter. That was great
I really hope you like the second part of this chapter as well. It's an important one since Snape realized that he was wrong... I hope you don't think I rushed it.
I hope you also liked the DA lesson... It was fun to write but I don't know how you feel about it...
Next Chapter will be: Chapter 8: The Unspeakables (It's a special chapter, you'll see...)
Please, tell me what you think!
Alex: When Snape is on a Death Eater meeting, he completely shuts himself off thanks to Occlumency which also mean that no emotion emits from him. From Harry who in his visions feels the victims' despair and the torturers' pleasure, it must be like a vacation to stand right next to someone who doesn''t seem to feel at all. Have I answered your question? And by the way: Thank your very much for the review!