Chapter 10: The Room of Requirement
With the weekend finally here, Harry set some time aside on Saturday morning for some Ancient Runes study. He called Remus on the mirror at the agreed time and they spent a couple of hours going over some of the more difficult material that Harry was struggling with slightly. He then emerged and found Neville was the only one in the Dormitory. The two of them decided to do the Potions essay that Snape had set the day before and get it out of the way.
"The first Hogsmeade weekend was put on the notice board this morning." Neville told him as they worked.
"Oh yeah, when is it?" Harry asked.
"Halloween."
"That's early for them to be announcing it then." Harry frowned. Neville shrugged. "We still haven't found anywhere to study Defence. I spoke to Sirius and he can only think of a couple of places, nothing that would be big enough for six of us." Neville flushed slightly.
"If it's just a study group, don't you think we should invite our whole class? Everybody needs to pass their exams."
"I wouldn't put it past Malfoy to tell Umbridge what we are doing." Harry said darkly. "His father is still close to the Minister. He would be more interested in ass kissing than studying. Can you honestly imagine Hermione letting it remain a simple study group. She'd be making schedules for everyone and everything."
"It was just an idea." Neville smiled. "If you don't want to that's fine. I know you hate crowds."
"Thanks, Nev. I just think people would turn up because I would be there. They would want to question me about last summer far more than they would want to study Defence." Neville nodded at that, having thought of it himself.
"I know. Do you think you could help me with the spells though? Most of what we practise is going to have to be practical and I struggle with that part." He flushed slightly.
"No problem. With just six of us we can all pair off and just practise spells." Harry smiled. Neville nodded and they got back to their essays. It was lunchtime before either boy emerged from the Dormitory. They made their way down to the Great Hall and Harry took a seat next to Ron. They quickly told him where they had been and tucked in to the sumptuous food. Ron suggested they spend the afternoon doing a chess tournament which the other two quickly agreed to, eager to spend some time not on homework. They managed to get Fred and George to join in as well and it lasted well into the evening.
"We have Quidditch tomorrow morning, so I'm heading to bed." Harry announced after losing to Ron yet again.
"Good idea." Ron said, still beaming from his victory. They both headed up the stairs and sat down on their respective beds. "Are you going to talk to Hermione?" Ron asked him, once they were alone.
"Not until she apologises." Harry shrugged.
"It's just awkward, you know?" Ron rubbed his nose, the tips of his ears going red. "I honestly don't know how you managed being put in the middle of all our arguments."
"I don't know either." Harry said dryly.
"You know she doesn't mean any harm. She just gets over excited."
"I know but she needs to learn to respect boundaries. Hermione has always had issues with seeing other people's viewpoints and keeping her opinions to herself. I gave her a chance to use my mother's journal and she ruined it. I even gave her a warning to treat it respectfully before I took it away from her and she ignored that too. She needs to realise that a thirst for information is good, but that it can come at a cost to other people. Her need to know things is going to get her into serious trouble someday." Harry shrugged helplessly. Ron looked thoughtful.
"I know. Her know-it-all attitude was why we didn't like her in the beginning of first year. We were alo rude buggers but we kinda had good reason."
"We?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember making snide comments that made her cry when a troll was on the loose." He looked amused and Ron grinned sheepishly.
"I didn't know about the troll." He muttered. "However it happened, she is our friend and we always put up with her quirks."
"Oh really? Third year? Last year with Krum?" Harry raised his eyebrows even further. Ron looked ashamed.
"Yeah, ok, me and Hermione have always had a rocky relationship but you two haven't. To be perfectly honest she is making life hell. All she does on prefect rounds is complain about you. It's weird. The only time you two haven't been talking is when she told McGonagall about the Firebolt in third year."
"I know, but over the summer things changed. I thought she would be pleased about my new interest in studying."
"She was, until you started outperforming her."
"Therein lies the problem. I never bothered before, partly because I never had anyone who cared what my grades were and partly because I knew it would upset her. She gets upset when someone else answers one question in lessons. But now I have Sirius who is taking a vested interest in my grades. He told me how smart my parents were and I'm ashamed at how lazy I've been. With a guardian now checking my grades and knowing exactly what I'm capable of I have to do my best."
"I get it mate, I do, but Hermione doesn't." Ron pointed out. "I don't think she quite gets that you never tried your best before. Therefore she can't work out exactly why you're doing better than her without cheating."
"I'm not doing any better than her in most subjects, just Potions and Defence." Harry mumbled.
"You are better on the practical side in most subjects. You were the first one to do the Transfiguration yesterday." Ron pointed out. "You might be level or slightly behind her in the theory side but that isn't enough for her."
"I know." Harry sighed. He bade his friend goodnight and drew the curtains around his bed. Ron seemed to have decided to be a much better friend since he had made it onto the Quidditch team. Maybe it had something to do with the assurance that Harry wasn't going to completely drop him as a friend. Something Harry knew he would never be able to do. Ron may have his faults but he had been his very first friend in the wizarding world, something he could never forget. They may not be best friends anymore, but Ron was trying and Harry appreciated it. He put up his Occlumency shields and drifted to sleep.
Sunday morning dawned with rays of sunlight flitting into the dormitory. Harry woke up and got himself dressed. Angelina had wanted to get started quite early so he woke Ron and they made their way downstairs. They both stopped in for some toast before heading to the changing rooms. They were the last two there but the rest of the team didn't seem to have been waiting long. Angelina was still in the captain's office while the others sat around chatting. Soon enough she came striding out and ushered them all straight onto the pitch.
"We'll start with a basic warm up and go from there." She told them as they all mounted their brooms. They flew up into a circle and began passing the Quaffle to each other. Ron managed to drop it the first time Harry threw it to him and dived after it, his face a red to match the ball. Loud jeers could be heard coming from across the pitch. Turning to look, Harry spotted Malfoy and his cronies in the stands, laughing.
"Ignore them." He told Ron.
"Pass it along, Ron." Angelina said crisply. He threw it on and managed to catch it on his next attempt. Unfortunately he was so pleased with himself that he threw it a little too enthusiastically and it soared far over Katie's head. More jeers came from the growing Slytherin crowd. They kept at it for another ten minutes in which Ron only dropped the ball twice more. Angelina then got them into a practise match and Harry was very relieved to focus on the snitch. However, no amount of focus could block out the sound of Slytherin jeers every time Ron let the Quaffle in. He spotted the snitch close to the ground, right by Ron's goalpost, deciding it was time to show off a little and draw some attention away from Ron, he went into a steep dive. Harry rolled neatly out of the way of Angelina and dived even steeper, it was exhilarating. As he neared the golden ball he pulled up so he was level, looped the post tightly and caught the tiny ball in his fist before soaring up to do a loop-the-loop. It worked and the Slytherin team fell silent before heading off to the Great Hall to get breakfast.
"Well done everyone." Angelina said once they were all back in the changing rooms. "Our next practise is Wednesday evening." They all nodded and got themselves changed. Having slacked off enough, Harry made a start on his homework.
The next few weeks passed quickly to Harry. Soon September bled into October as the days grew colder and wind bit the air. Sirius had written to tell him that he had secured an alliance with the Houses of Bones, Longbottom, Abbott, Greengrass and Macmillan so far. Greengrass was the only foray into neutral territory he had managed, but he was making headway with some others. They had also been invited to the Yule Ball held at Greengrass Manor over the Christmas holidays. Harry was most disappointed to find out that it was a family tradition for the Potters to hold a ball to celebrate the New Year. He told Sirius that he would uphold his family tradition even if he hated it and was more grateful than ever for Andromeda's dancing lessons. He had been very glad to find out that Neville was also invited to the Greengrass' ball so he would have a good friend there for his first formal evening in the political limelight. Sirius had also told him that once he decided who to invite to his New Year ball, he should invite the heirs in Hogwarts personally. Sirius would take care of the formal invitations to the Lord or Lady of each house.
Harry sat in the common room on Saturday morning in the middle of October. He and Neville were helping Ron with his Herbology essay. Harry was also helping the twins. They had hit a snag with the nosebleed nougats as they couldn't quite work out how to stop the bleeding so they were discussing ideas. Hermione was in the library as she was annoyed with the twins. She had threatened to write to Molly if they didn't stop testing their products on younger Gryffindors. Neither twin had liked that very much and were plotting their revenge for pulling such a low blow. They wouldn't have cared if she threatened them with detention, or even telling McGonagall because only their head of house should be able to write home about their misbehaviour but prefects had no right to write to the family of the students.
"Are you going to ask Hannah to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked Neville once Ron and the twins had gone down to lunch.
"I'm thinking about it. What about you and Cho?"
"No. Cho keeps trying to talk to me but it doesn't feel right anymore. She was Cedric's girlfriend. I get the feeling that she wants to talk about Cedric, every time she comes over she seems to struggle to find words and then gets tears in her eyes. She hasn't actually mentioned his name but our conversations haven't lasted longer than a few seconds. I really don't want to discuss it, so I can only see a date going badly. Other than Quidditch I don't know anything we even have in common." Harry explained.
"You've got a point. I overheard Hermione mention all she does is cry these days. Are you going to ask anyone then?" Neville asked. He had pointed out to Harry that him going on a date with someone would increase the chances of creating an alliance with that House. Harry had shrunk away from the idea of dating simply to get alliances but Neville had simply shrugged.
"I'm not saying you have to date them forever. But one date with you will be enough to make most of those girls feel special, they will then go back and tell their parents. Besides, you're going to need a date for the Yule Ball so you might as well see who you want to take." Harry had conceded that point, but he really had no idea who to take. He was tempted to ask Susan as she was one of the few girls he could talk to easily and he had a suspicion that Neville was going to ask Hannah. The four of them could then go together. The two boys made their way down to the Great Hall. They slid into seats beside Ron and Hermione. Lavender was sat opposite, clearly flirting with Ron who seemed completely oblivious. They were arguing about prefect duties so Harry quickly turned to continue his conversation with Neville.
"Who am I expected to invite, other than those already in a political alliance with me?" Harry asked.
"Well, it's your party so firstly invite your friends. Then you can ask Sirius who he is thinking about approaching for an alliance. Asking them would be a good idea."
"Well, Heir Longbottom, would you like to come to the New Years Ball the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter will be hosting on December 31st?" Harry put on his most formal tone of voice and bowed mockingly to Neville, who laughed.
"I would be delighted to attend, Lord Potter." Both of them fell about laughing. Harry then turned to his other side and asked the twins if they would come. Both of them looked delighted and as soon as he said they should bring a date they looked over at the Chasers opposite them. Fred asked Alicia to go with him and George asked Angelina.
"Well that saves me the trouble of inviting them." Harry laughed. "Though you do both have invitations of your own."
"Thanks, Harry." Angelina grinned.
"Katie, you're definitely invited too. Sirius will be sending out all formal invitations but he said I should personally ask all the people I want to invite from Hogwarts." They all laughed at the face he pulled. "I'm going to be asking Wood to come as well."
"It'll be good to see him again." Alicia said. "I heard he's doing well at Puddlemere."
"He is a cracking Keeper." Harry noted. They continued to chat about Quidditch until Harry spotted Daphne Greengrass leaving the hall with her sister Astoria and Tracy Davis. He got up and went after them.
"Heir Greengrass, may I please have a word? And Miss Davis." Harry called before they could descend to the dungeons. He knew Tracy had an older brother who was the heir to the House of Davis but as he did not know him personally, figured the formal invite from Sirius would be enough. Daphne turned and so did the other two.
"Of course, Lord Potter." He took them to the side of the hall where they wouldn't be overheard.
"I wanted to invite you to the New Years Ball that will be hosted by the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter on December 31st at Potter Manor." Harry said, bowing slightly but this time not in jest. "Your sister is, of course, invited as well. Miss Davis, I wish to invite you to the Ball as well. You may bring a date. I believe Sirius is sending formal invitations to the head of each of your houses."
"I would be delighted to attend, Lord Potter." Daphne replied coolly. "I also look forward to seeing you at my father's Yule Ball."
"It promises to be a wonderful occasion." Harry smiled slightly. Daphne inclined her head.
"I, too, would be delighted to attend, Lord Potter." Tracy confirmed. Harry was pleased. He knew that Lord Davis had not agreed to an alliance quite yet, but this should help. Harry bowed again.
"Thank you for your time." He said and then strode off up the marble staircase. Once out of sight he shook himself and sighed. He really hated the formality required. Once back in the common room he sat and wrote a letter to Sirius. It was something that he would tell him about through the mirror but he knew he had to keep up appearances and send the letter too. He had just finished when Ron and Neville came in.
"There you are, I wondered where you had gone." Neville said.
"I went to invite Daphne and Astoria Greengrass to the ball along with Tracy Davis. As we are attending her father's Yule Ball and he is in our alliance, I didn't really have much choice."
"Fair enough. No wonder you wanted to do that in private."
"You're inviting Slytherins?" Ron blurted out, looking horrified.
"Yes." Harry replied simply.
"But...but, they are slimy gits."
"Not all of them. Just because Malfoy is, doesn't mean they all are." Neville told Ron.
"All of your family is invited too, Ron." Harry assured him.
"Really? We get to go to a fancy party?" He looked up eagerly.
"Yeah. Aren't you glad Fred and George got you those new dress robes." Harry smirked. Ron nodded vigorously.
"Are you inviting Hermione?"
"I will invite her but only on certain conditions. She will have to accept that House-Elves will be working. Pure-bloods will be in attendance so she will have to keep her views to herself for a change. If she offends the wrong person it could cause problems for Sirius politically. If she doesn't think she can keep her mouth shut then she can't come." Harry said firmly. He would not risk all of Sirius' hard work. Just as they finished talking, Hermione came in through the portrait hole. Spotting the trio grouped together, she made her way over.
"What are you three talking about?" She asked, sitting down beside Ron.
"Harry's New Year party." Neville told her.
"You're throwing a party?" She looked over sceptically.
"Well, Sirius is doing all the organising but I will technically be the host as it is a Potter family tradition. As Lord Potter I get the fun of playing host." He shrugged.
"Who is going?"
"Everyone from our political alliance. Some of my friends. I've invited all the Quidditch team and a few other people." Harry said, carefully. "I'd like to invite you but we need to discuss some things first." Hermione looked surprised.
"What do we need to discuss about a party?"
"You and your behaviour. We will have House-Elves working that night. We have House-Elves that belong to House Potter and that isn't going to change." He sighed at the look of outrage on her face. "We treat them well, Hermione, but you cannot come to the party if you cannot accept House-Elves working. You will not speak to them about how they should want to be free, nor will you push your views on other people. There will be alot of Pure-bloods there who could get offended."
"You care more about offending a few people who probably deserve to be offended for the way House-Elves are treated, than about getting House-Elves justice?" Hermione flushed pink.
"Actually, yes, I do." Harry told her firmly. "I get that you want to free them. At the end of the day they like working. Dobby is the exception. He was terribly mistreated and I'm very behind the idea of better treatment for House-Elves. However I don't believe freeing them all in the answer either. Whatever your views are, there will be people there who disagree, in fact, pretty much everyone there will disagree with you. If you cannot agree to keep those views to yourself then you will not be invited." She looked at him in shock. He waited a few moments but no agreement was forthcoming.
"But this is a big opportunity to spread SPEW." Hermione protested.
"No, it's not." Harry told her. He then stood up. "Nev, shall we go meet the Hufflepuffs?" It had been decided that they would meet on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons for revision. Neville nodded and they left the common room. Saturdays were spent in the library and Wednesdays were spent in the greenhouses. They found Susan and Hannah already sat at their usual table.
"Ernie and Justin are still at lunch. They came down late." Hannah explained as the two boys sat down.
"That's ok." Harry shrugged. "By the way, I wanted to invite you to the New Year's party I am hosting at Potter Manor." Both of them looked over at him. He explained that Sirius was sending proper invitations but he wanted to personally invite his friends.
"I'd love to come." Susan smiled warmly.
"Me too. Are the boys invited as well?" Hannah asked.
"Of course." Harry nodded. "The only one I'm not sure of is Neville here." He grinned.
"Oi!" Neville fake scowled at him.
"You have to invite Neville." Susan smirked at her best friend. "Or he'll end up coming anyway as Hannah's date." Neville and Hannah both went scarlett but neither protested the assumption, making Susan's smirk wider. They were saved further comment by the arrival of Ernie and Justin. Harry extended his invitation to them both and Justin promptly asked Susan to be his date. She agreed quite happily and Harry was now pondering who on earth to ask. The six of them began with discussing their family alliances and informing Justin exactly what was involved in an alliance. They also discussed casting people out of the family. There had been a large article in the Prophet that week that the Bellatrix LeStrange had been cast out of the Black family after her marriage had been annulled. She was now referred to as Bellatrix No-Name. It was the main factor behind the Longbottom alliance with the House of Black as well as Potter. Augusta had agreed to stand with House Potter straight away, but it had taken many meetings before she and Sirius reached agreement for the Black side of things.
After they had finished their discussion on politics, they turned to Defence. Without a place to meet and practise the spells, all they had been able to do so far was read up on theory and practise wand movements without the actual spell. Harry also had been spending time helping them with the content they had missed in the first two years thanks to rubbish teaching.
"You're really good at teaching, Harry." Susan commented as he took her through the proper wand movements for the stunning jinx.
"Thanks." He mumbled. He was desperate to find somewhere they could do the practical side of things. After a while his mind drifted to the argument he had had with Hermione. He really wished she wasn't so forceful with her views. Some of her arguments were not too far off his own agenda but Hermione seemed to think the only way to get things done was to shove her ideas in people's faces. She couldn't have a debate that took into account other people's views that were not identical to her own. An idea struck him.
"Dobby?" He called, unsure whether or not it would work as Dobby did not work for him. There was a pop next to him.
"Mister Harry Potter sir, bes calling Dobby." The little House-Elf was almost bouncing with glee.
"Yeah, hi Dobby. I was wondering if you know anywhere we can practise magic in Hogwarts, without being found out by Umbridge?" Harry asked. Dobby looked thoughtful for a second.
"There bes the Come and Go Room, Harry Potter, Sir. Dobby used it to look after Winky, Sir."
"How do you get to it?" Dobby gave him the directions and almost fainted from delight when Harry told him it sounded perfect. Harry looked at the others who looked bemused. "Shall we go and take a look?" Harry asked them all. Everyone nodded so they made their way to the seventh floor. Once in the right place, Harry strode up and down past the blank stretch of wall three times, thinking 'we need a place to practise where teachers cannot find us'. As he walked passed the third time with his eyes closed there was a loud gasp from behind him. Harry opened his eyes and saw a door that had not been there before. Nervously he pushed it open. It was his turn to gasp. Inside was a spacious room with bookshelves lining the walls. On the far side was a section that contained a bunch of beanbags and couches next to a blackboard. In the middle of the room was a large section of floor that looked like a duelling arena. Dummies stood motionless to one side of the open all moved inside.
"Wow." Susan said looking around open-mouthed.
"Wow just about covers it." Ernie agreed.
"I love magic." Justin grinned before running over and jumping on a pile of beanbags. Harry went over and looked on the bookshelf closest to him. It was full of books on defensive magic and duelling.
"We are so studying in here." Hannah laughed. They all spent a little while looking around the room. Harry checked his watch and saw it was close to curfew.
"We'd better head off. Curfew is in fifteen minutes. We can reconvene tomorrow if you guys are all free." He suggested. They all agreed eagerly. Harry and Neville made their way to the Gryffindor common room. It was very full and lively so they went straight up to the dorm.
"That place looks great. We can easily practise in there." Neville beamed once they were alone.
"Yeah. It'll be good to be able to properly practise magic. It also gives us a place do to our practical homework for other subjects like Transfiguration. We have to practise the vanishing spells by Tuesday." Harry said. Neville looked horrified.
"I forgot about those. I'm no good at Transfiguration."
"You'll be fine, Nev. I'll help you tomorrow."
"You know, you really should be our teacher." Neville smirked. "When it comes to Defence, you're the best in our year. You'll end up having to help us all anyway even if it's just a study group." He added slyly.
"Then it becomes lessons rather than a study group. I don't want to be an actual teacher." Harry told him. Although, he found himself admitting privately that he did enjoy teaching. It felt good when he helped Neville with the theory for an essay, or when Justin turned to him for help on a Defensive spell.
"You make a good one though."
"Well, I don't mind just teaching you guys." Harry shrugged. "You already practically count as a teacher for me in Herbology."
"Fair enough. But what about inviting the twins along. They need practice for their NEWTs."
"Sounds ok, but if we open it up to too many people, I'll end up with a whole class." Harry snorted. He still didn't really want to teach that many people.
"You make it sound like a bad thing. I think we should open it up to people. However, all you'd need to do really is organise people. Tell them what to practise and let them get on with it."
"Alright, well I don't mind the idea as long as the people who come want to actually practise Defence. I'm not having people there who only want to talk to the Boy-Who-Lived, or get my personal first hand account of what happened to Cedric." Harry told him sternly. Despite his reservations, he knew that it was a good idea. He also knew that if he really didn't want to, Neville would accept that answer.
"Agreed. Why don't we sound out a few people and meet up in Hogsmeade." Neville suggested.
"Good idea. The Three Broomsticks is always busy. Umbridge can't find anything suspicious about a bunch of students in there." Harry agreed. Then he bade Neville goodnight and drew his curtains, casting the spells so he could talk to Sirius privately. They agreed the list of people to be invited to the New Year party and Sirius loved the idea of starting up a Defence group. He promised to help Harry plan out some lessons but they decided he should really start from first year and make his way up. Having had such poor teaching right from the beginning, some people would be missing the basics. Harry agreed with that assessment. They chatted for a little while longer and then said goodnight. Harry was then left to ponder who on earth to invite to both balls he would be attending.