(A/N: I think I've mostly found a new normal after a family emergency, although there are still some after affects I'm dealing with. If you want a bit more detail, see my profile. I'd like to believe I can continue with weekly postings again. FWIW, if I have to have a major delay in posting, I'll try very hard to put a status message at the top of my profile. - Kevin)
Chapter 10 - Explosions
The next morning, Harry dressed and made sure he was ready to return to Hogwarts. Apparently Vincent had arranged to go into work a little late as he was still home. He was also acting normal, as if their peculiar conversation last night had never happened.
Vincent Apparated the two of them to Platform 9 ¾, where he stuck out his hand. "Have a good term, Harry, and please watch after Susan. Also, please do what you can to prevent her from having any adventures like you told us about."
"Of course, sir. I'll keep the trolls, Dementors, and those sort of things as far away from her as possible. And thank you for letting me stay with you. I really enjoyed it."
"I'm glad you could come," Pat told him and pulled him into a comforting hug. "You're always welcome to stay at our home. Have a good term, dear."
"Thank you, Pat," he told her as Susan gave her father a good-bye hug. He briefly wondered about the mixed messages from the two adults, but he felt asking Susan about it was not the correct action.
Picking up his already lightened trunk, he led the way to the train, helping Susan as needed. Heading to the same cabin as last time, they found Luna already there. She quickly vacated the cabin without a word, stood in the corridor, and watched him with Susan.
Shaking his head at Luna's understanding or maybe expectation, he stepped in and enlarged the cabin as before, also creating the extra bench and table. The girls promptly took their places after Harry put their trunks up on the rack.
The rest of the group came and Harry was disappointed to see Neville arrive with the Weasleys at the end. As the others settled in, he leaned over to Hermione, who was sitting next to him, and asked quietly, "Do we have a meeting on this trip?"
"Yes, but it won't last but a few minutes as they only hand out the patrol schedules for the trip," she replied. After the trip started, Harry went with Hermione and Hannah to the front of the train and found it that it was as she said. He made sure to say hello to Zabini and the others that he knew.
When they returned to their cabin, Harry didn't take his seat, but stood in the doorway and asked, "Neville? Can we talk for a few minutes?"
Ron gave him a look like he thought Harry should have asked him instead, but fortunately, Ron didn't say anything and only scowled.
In the corridor and down a ways so the others couldn't watch them, Harry cast the muffling charm on the two of them. "Neville, I need some help, mate, badly."
Neville looked at him and smirked. "What happened over the holidays? Did her father corner you?"
"Yes! He came to my room last night and asked me about my feelings and intentions towards Susan. I told him I really liked her and that I would treat her well, that I'd never mistreat her." Harry shook his head. "Then he stopped the conversation and said I needed to be better informed and asked me who my friends were that grew up in the Wizarding world. I said Ron and he said Ron wasn't a good choice, but he approved of you. What the bloody hell was going on because it's really obvious I was missing something."
Neville stood there and was grinning at him slightly and looked to be holding a chuckle in. "Ah Harry, I told you before the hols that you needed to learn more traditions. That's why he stopped the conversation; he felt like he was taking advantage of you. Good of him really."
"So what he was really telling me is that I need you to teach me traditions? He did say that if everything worked out he'd teach me what you didn't next summer," said Harry. "So, uh, what was the conversation about?"
With a huge grin, Neville said, "He was asking if you were serious enough about Susan that you intended to ask her to marry you one day."
"What?! Please tell me you're joking!"
"He was basically starting formal marriage negotiations," Neville explained. "I really doubt he expected to complete any marriage contract considering what you told me, and I'd be surprised if the Bones used marriage contracts anyway; but he was checking to see how serious you were about her and if it was leading that way. It's his responsibility to make sure that Susan keeps a good reputation. As long as the relationship is heading that way and everything is proper, I doubt he'll do anything to stop you. But mate, you're going to have to have an answer of yes by next summer or else break it off with her."
"You're serious?!" Harry asked incredulously.
"That's how it's done here with the older families. The Bones family isn't overly conservative like some of the other old families, but they do hold to at least forms of many of the basic traditions. Sort of like the Longbottoms and probably like your father did." Neville shrugged at his ending guess. "Remember, you don't have to have asked her to marry you, but you have to be able to honesty say that you plan to."
Harry slumped against the wall and thought as the train sped down the tracks. "I really wished they'd tell us about this in a class, like a Wizarding version of Muggle Studies."
Neville snorted. "Not likely."
"Why not?" asked Harry.
"Really, Harry, you're such a peasant at times. Knowledge is power, and keeping things like this away from the Muggle-born keeps the Purebloods in power. If they had classes, then all the Muggle-born would figure out how things worked sooner and they don't want that," Neville replied.
Harry considered that for a long moment. "Nev, would you be willing to teach a class on this?"
"What?!" Now it was Neville's turn to be incredulous.
"You know," Harry went on, "like I teach the Defense Study Group, you could teach Wizarding Studies to those of us in Gryffindor who don't know this stuff. That's what, maybe a dozen of us? That can't be too bad." He didn't notice his friend's deer-in-the-headlights look. "You might even get a few of the others to help you, like, I don't know, Parvati probably knows … maybe Katie Bell. There's got to be others."
Neville just blinked at him. "Me teach? Who'd want to listen to me?"
"I would and I'm sure Hermione would too," Harry assured him.
"Maybe," Neville said doubtfully.
"Something else, I keep forgetting to ask, but do you know anything about the Potter estate?" Harry watched his friend blink several times as he switched gears in his mind.
"Uh, a little. I think I've heard it's supposed to be pretty good sized, probably like ours. I also heard the house on it had been heavily damaged in the last war." Neville spread his hands apologetically for not knowing more.
"That would explain why my parents went into hiding, I guess." Harry slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Thanks for sharing even that much. I haven't heard anything about it until last week when someone told me it should exist.
"Do think about the class, Nev. I'd definitely like to be taught some of these things," Harry told him as he took his charm down.
"I'll think about it," Neville said, shaking his head at the thought as they walked back to their cabin.
Walking in, Harry found Ron was asleep and Ginny looked suspiciously innocent acting about it.
"Everything, all right?" Susan asked him quietly.
"Yeah, I just wanted Neville's opinion on a matter." He wasn't sure he should share more and so he didn't. Susan looked like she wanted to ask more, but didn't.
A week later, Harry had some free time between classes and now knew Flitwick's schedule well enough to know the professor was free now too. The door was answered at his first knock.
"Mr Potter! What a surprise, do come in," the little professor beckoned him.
As he walked in, it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "Professor McGonagall? My apologies for intruding, Professors; I can return later."
"Nonsense," McGonagall said as she rose, "I was about to leave anyway. One thing though, Mr Potter. Mr Longbottom says it was your idea for him to teach a Wizarding Studies class, as it were, but he wouldn't say why. May I inquire?"
"Err, I'm finding that some people are expecting me to already know about Wizarding traditions and it seems hard to find out what they are," Harry explained. "Since Neville grew up in it, then I was hoping he could explain it all to those of us who want to learn."
Flitwick gave her a knowing look. "I've lobbied for the class for years just for that reason."
McGonagall looked a little exasperated. "I know, and you also know that we've been turned down every time we've asked."
"Neville said it was about Pureblood control," Harry offered.
"Politically speaking, he's correct," McGonagall replied.
"Could there be unofficial classes, like an hour one evening a week or on the weekends, sort of like Neville will be doing?" Harry asked.
"Maybe," McGonagall temporized.
"It couldn't be by any professor, Mr Potter, as there might be reprisals against us, but maybe," he looked at McGonagall, "if someone like Augusta Longbottom could be persuaded?"
"Yes, I believe that might work," McGonagall agreed with a thoughtful nod. "She holds no position here nor at the Ministry."
"Exactly," Flitwick said. "I would have suggested Amos and Dee Diggory, but I didn't think we should put him in a difficult position."
"Quite. It is a good idea and I shall work on it and discuss it with the Headmaster, which will be interesting in its own way." She looked at him. "Thank you for the explanation and the idea, Mr Potter. I shall leave you to your desired conversation. Professor Flitwick," she said with a nod as she left.
"Truly a grand idea, Mr Potter," Flitwick said as he beamed his enthusiasm. "Now, what can I help you with?"
"Well, over the holidays I had a few discussions about the last war," he lied slightly, "and I was told that at times Death Eaters would show up disillusioned. I was shown the Human Revealing spell to find them, but I'd like to learn the spell to disillusion myself and to cancel it."
"Yes, a powerful tool to have in your pocket. It's also a tool to be very careful with as you easily be hit by friendly fire if you use it with a group as you can still be partially seen while fighting disillusioned and your friends might not know if it's you or an enemy. However, it's a great way to give yourself an advantage at the beginning." His expression turned stern. "It's also why we don't teach it until literally just before NEWTs, so students don't use it here. You have special circumstances so I will teach it to you now, but I require a promise that you won't use for it unsavory purposes."
Harry understood and was thankful for the man's help. "I understand, Professor, and I promise I won't abuse it. I just want to know so that I can fight those using it against me, and to turn the tables if I must."
"Very good, I think we have an understanding then." Flitwick pulled his wand out. "The motion is very small and minimal. With some experience and a little practice you can reduce it to a tap as you say 'Abscondo'. It doesn't matter if you do it to yourself or someone else, you use the same motion and incantation. To cancel, you tap your wand on the person's head and say 'Finite Abscondo' instead of the usual Ending spell. Try it."
Harry spend nearly three minutes working on it, including adjusting his intent until he felt the cold feeling running over himself.
"Excellent, Mr Potter," Flitwick said before he conjured a full length mirror. "Look in this and observe. If you stand perfectly still, you can't be seen. Very slow movement is easily missed. If you move quickly then someone can see you partially as a blur."
Harry experimented for a minute or so before he canceled the spell, which he accomplished on the first try. "How long will it last?"
"It depends on the caster's power," the little man said with a grin. "For you, probably all day. For the average person, two or three hours, maybe a little more before the person fades back in as the spell wears off."
"Thank you, Professor. I hope I don't have to use that, but it's good to know," Harry told him, as he considered that with his Invisibility Cloak that he had less use for it than the average person.
"You're welcome, Mr Potter. Please be responsible with it."
"I will and thank you for all of your help." Harry left and considered the spell. Flitwick hadn't forbidden him from teaching others, but it was strongly implied, he thought. Still, perhaps he would teach Susan for her safety. Something to consider.
Their friends had snickered at them as they left breakfast, the group thinking the couple was going for a romantic walk; but a giddy Susan who was holding Harry's hand knew otherwise. Harry didn't mind, it was fun to see her like this and her good mood was infectious. Walking into the Room of Requirement, he closed and then locked the door.
"It's just a stone room," she said as she looked around, sounding a little disappointed. "I expected more for your training room."
Harry wished for a target, and a wooden stand appeared with several concentric circles on it. "The room gives me what I need and right now it's all made of stone so I don't break anything. Pull out your wand and let's try this."
She complied but also changed to look a little concerned. "I'm not going to hurt you, right?"
"I hope not," he said with a grin. "Aim a Stinging spell at the target, which will be beside me not in front of me."
"Oh, all right, I can do that," she said, looking more comfortable.
Harry brought up the shield he used for the crossbow bolt. He could mostly stop the bolt now, or maybe slow it down enough that it would only give him a slight bruise. As the shield shimmered into place, he said, Fire."
She did and the spell hit the shield and fizzled out on it. "Wow! I'm impressed!"
Harry was happy too. "Try something harder, like a Cutting curse."
Aiming for the center of the target, which was actually a little hard to see through the shield, she cast .
While she was excited that spell was stopped too, Harry was watching the back side of the shield and saw that the point of impact had colored much more than when the Stinging spell had hit. He dropped the shield and considered that for a moment before he brought a new shield up. "A Blasting hex this time."
Susan nodded and cast at the target beside him.
Harry watched the spell hit his shield. It looked like plastic hit with a small hot flame - the shield held briefly before the spell made a hole and took a chunk out of the target. Dropping the shield he looked at the target and was glad that wasn't him.
"Are you all right?!" she asked hurriedly.
"I'm fine," he told her as he walked over to where she was. "Aim at a different spot and cast another Blasting hex, just like that one."
Susan did and they watched a number of chunks of wood be blasted away before walking over and looking. "I'm not sure how much, but your shield did stop a lot of it compared to what happened without a shield. I can see why you want to test."
"Yeah," he agreed slowly looking at it. "I think it stopped something like three-quarters of it; helpful and survivable, but I'd still really prefer not to hit by that."
"Me neither," she agreed whole-heartedly, "nor do I want you to be hit by something like that."
"Let's try again," he said as he walked back over, determined to find a way to make his shield do better. Maybe if he made it thicker, he thought.
— — —
Since they were closer to the Gryffindor tower, they headed there to see if his friends were ready for lunch.
"That was a good practice," he commented, "for both of us."
"It was," she agreed. "Your shield is coming along nicely; it almost stopped my best Blasting hex at the end. I appreciate the help on my metal shield. I had trouble before and now I think I can cast it perfectly every time."
"Honestly, I think a lot of learning spells is just practice. You learn it and then have to do it like twenty times in a row or something," he pointed out to her as the neared Gryffindor Tower.
"You don't seem to be that way," she said.
"Not for all, but for some I do, or I have. It was bloody hard learning the Summoning charm when I did, but I also learned it about six months before everyone else." Harry stopped and gave the password, not caring that Susan knew it as he trusted her.
When they walked in, they saw almost all of his close friends who were waiting on him as promised. "Where's Ron?" he asked the group at large.
"He left a few minutes ago, said he was really hungry and couldn't wait," Hermione said with a slight shake of her head.
Harry could understand what had happened and didn't think too much about it. "All right, let's go then." He turned and led them back out, still holding Susan's hand.
"You have a much better view out the window up here, but I still like our earth-tones on the furniture," she quipped. It was bit of friendly argument between them about the common rooms.
"I'll take the view, thank you," he said with a grin. "The color of the furniture isn't an issue to me, as long as it isn't ugly."
"Hmm, something to keep in mind when decorating our home," she said knowingly.
He looked at her with a bit of shock, since that was the first time she'd said anything like that. However, he was prevented from following up on that conversation because he suddenly heard shouting ahead as they turned a corner. He saw four boys in a tussle and one of them had red hair, one a whitish-blonde, and the last two were significantly larger than the other two.
"Ahh crap!" he exclaimed as he dropped Susan's hand and pulled his wand out as ran forward.
Ron smashed his fist into Malfoy's face, causing blood to fly. Crabbe reached out to grab Ron, but he didn't succeed because Harry's Binding spell hit Crabbe first, causing the large boy to freeze and fall over. Harry's second spell hit Ron and caused him to fall over frozen too. Goyle, realizing what was happening, stopped and looked over at Harry. Malfoy was laying on the floor and groaning as he held his face.
It wasn't until the fight was stopped that Harry realized McGonagall and Snape were hurrying over also. He dreaded the conversation, or really argument, that was to follow; but he also realized it couldn't be avoided.
"Well, it appears Weasley will be leaving us today," drawled Snape.
Feeling overly bold, mostly because of McGonagall's presence, Harry said, "Unless you saw and heard the beginning of the fight, Professor, then if Ron gets that punishment, the other three should too." He knew Snape wouldn't stand for that.
As the man started to object, McGonagall spoke up and prevented his answer. "Quite right, Mr Potter. I do believe that there will be punishment for all." She sounded very disappointed, which was understandable.
Snape decided to put forth his opinion after all and stared at Harry. "I highly doubt Mr Malfoy started this. I'm sure Weasley threw the first punch; he is a hothead."
"It's possible Ron did throw the first punch, but I'm also quite sure Malfoy started the fight, having watched him do this sort of thing many times for the last five and half years," Harry countered.
A throat clearing caused all assembled to turn and see Flitwick doing spells on the three boys on the floor. "Perhaps we should take them to the hospital wing before having the discussion?"
"Yes, yes, quite right," McGonagall said hastily. "We'll each take one. Mr Potter, please follow us." She used her wand to levitate Ron and led the way, leaving Malfoy for Snape, Flitwick took Crabbe, while Goyle walked under his own power.
Harry turned to his friends and saw most were shaking their heads and whispering to whomever was standing next to them. "Susan, I guess I'll have to join you later. Hermione, I think you need to come too."
She started to protest, but finally nodded and whispered to Ginny before she stepped over to him. Ginny went over and stood by Susan and motioned towards the Great Hall, while looking at her brother very contemplatively and also with concern.
They all walked in silence and the professors gave their charges to the school nurse. Crabbe was released from the Body Bind and told to sit on a bed while she looked at the other two. McGonagall released Ron, who still looked angry, but didn't say anything as Flitwick worked on his hand that was injured. Madam Pomfrey worked on Malfoy for a few minutes.
"Mr Malfoy had a broken nose and has a mild concussion. He'll be fine in a few hours," the nurse reported.
"Mr Weasley, can you tell me what happened?" McGonagall queried.
Ron was lightly rubbing his previously injured hand. "I, I'm not totally sure…"
"He's obviously lying," Snape commented softly, but loud enough for everyone heard, including Ron.
The red-head jumped to his feet. "I am not lying, you great greasy git! I just can't remember, but I know he," Ron pointed to Malfoy, "did something. I just can't remember what." Pomfrey helped him back into bed and cast a charm on him that caused him to close his eyes.
"I want him expelled for what he just said," Snape said coldly.
"Professor, curb your temper!" McGonagall commanded hotly. "He was extremely rude and out of line but your reaction was also uncalled for," she added before she turned to the nurse. "Poppy, did Mr Weasley injure his head too?"
The nurse shook her head. "Not that I can find…"
"Then I want him expelled," Snape said again.
"…but it's quite probable he really doesn't remember because of his injury last June," Pomfrey continued with a glare at the Potions professor.
Harry blinked and began to understand and thought he could probably say exactly what had happened, except for the words Malfoy had said. His only question was where was Dumbledore? It was unlike him not to be at an event of this magnitude … unless Dumbledore was out of the castle and Malfoy was told that. He looked at Snape, who of course gave nothing away. He knew he had to speak up.
"Ron has had other memory lapses this year. We do have two other witnesses, assuming they'll tell the truth." Harry shook his head, wondering what would happen to Ron. "However, I can guess as to what happened."
"Mr Goyle, I want the truth," McGonagall said sternly. "What happened to cause the fight?"
"We were waiting for some friends and Weasley walked by and punched Draco," he said slowly. "Said he hated him." Everyone just looked at him.
Harry was fairly certain that wasn't the whole truth. "Really? Let's test that. Professor Flitwick, you're probably the most neutral person here, along with Madam Pomfrey. Would you please conjure some writing utensils and give them to Goyle and Crabbe. You can take Goyle to the other side of the room to write who they were waiting for and Madam Pomfrey can be with Crabbe and he can write down who they were waiting for."
"Oh for the love of Merlin, what a horrendous waste of time," Snape complained, but Flitwick was already conjuring the things to be left with Crabbe.
"I see your point, Mr Potter, and it is a good one." Flitwick led Goyle over and conjured the needed materials over there.
"And it needs to be actual names, not just 'friends'," Harry said, raising his voice a little.
"You want to know if the answers match?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes, Professor. I'm reasonably certain that Goyle didn't tell us the whole truth," Harry told her.
"You've already admitted that Weasley probably threw the first punch," Snape reminded him.
"I did say that, but the reason Ron threw the punch was because Malfoy started the fight by throwing a verbal punch, as it were," Harry explained.
Snape grunted. "A few words are not a good enough reason to start fighting."
Harry smiled and as politely as he could said, "Professor Snape, your own argument from a moment ago would show otherwise, or why did you want Ron expelled for a few words he used about you?" He heard a snort and turned to see Flitwick walking back with Goyle.
"Well reasoned, Mr Potter," Flitwick said, preventing Snape from replying. "Poppy, Mr Crabbe's answer please?"
The nurse handed the piece of parchment over and Flitwick looked at the two written answers. "Mr Goyle says they were waiting on Pansy, while Mr Crabbe says they were waiting on Nott." He looked up. "At this moment, I don't trust anything those two could say about this." He looked over. "Mr Potter, I believe you said you thought you could explain this based on your past experience?"
"Certainly, Professor…"
"Why should we believe Potter?" Snape said with disdain, not appearing to care about interrupting Harry.
"Because he appears to have an idea, is trying to find out what happened, and isn't acting like he's biased," Flitwick said just barely on the side of polite. "Please continue, Mr Potter."
"Thank you, Professor." Harry looked at Hermione, who seemed to be trying to hide behind McGonagall. "Based on my past experience with all parties, I think that by now, it's probably not a secret any longer that Ron is having some difficulties. Whether Malfoy figured that out on his own or was told by someone probably doesn't matter." Harry didn't look at Snape as he figured the man was probably glaring at him.
"However, I've seen many examples of Malfoy finding something he can tease or insult others about and then doing it when no teachers were around. He doesn't do it to have fun; he does it to be cruel and to hurt others.
"So I believe that Malfoy was lying in wait and hoping he'd catch Ron alone. I would guess he's probably been doing that for some time and Ron was always with others, but today he got lucky. Ron was walking alone to the Great Hall and minding his own business; but Malfoy insulted him in a such a way that Ron couldn't ignore it. Sadly, it probably came at a time when Ron was not in his best frame of mind because of his previous injury and he lashed out. Ron may have thrown the first physical punch, but Malfoy started the fight with severe personal insults. If you want verification of Malfoy's past history to do this, I'd remind you that he insulted the Weasleys last year with the intent to get them into trouble and you can ask Hermione about her experiences," Harry concluded.
"Last year was a good example of his bad behavior," McGonagall agreed before she started turning from side to side searching. "Miss Granger, where are you?"
Hermione stepped sideways and now stood by Harry. "I would agree with his guess, Professors. Draco Malfoy has insulted me more times than I can remember, usually telling me that a Mudblood like me should go away and return to my place, that I'll never succeed no matter how hard I try here at Hogwarts." The tremor in her voice supported her angry glare at the unconscious boy. McGonagall didn't look happy to hear that.
"I would agree that expulsion is the wrong punishment here, but if Ron is expelled, then the other three should be also," Harry commented, knowing Snape would never allow Malfoy to be expelled.
"There will be no expulsions, but there is merit to the idea that all four should have the same punishment." When Snape looked to object, McGonagall glared at him and said, "I will take this up with the Headmaster when he returns."
She looked at the two of them. "Mr Potter, Miss Granger, thank you for your help. Please go to dinner."
"I'm glad we could help," he said with a nod of head and turned, leading Hermione away.
"What do you think will happen?" his friend asked when they were walking alone.
Harry took several long moments to consider. "Ron will spend a little time at St Mungo's, beyond that, it's hard to say. I suspect that it may have been time for another of the special potions Ron's been taking and he wasn't as calm as he could have been. Then again, knowing Malfoy, he probably said something that would have caused even a normal Ron to lose control and in his current mood swings, well, we saw the result."
Hermione considered that. "I have to agree." She looked at him for a moment before she smiled. "Despite it being three to one, I think Ron came out on top."
He couldn't help chuckling. Harry also looked around to make sure they were alone before he whispered, "I could have stopped Ron a few seconds sooner, but when I saw he was about to hit Malfoy, I decided to wait. I thought he deserved it."
Her eyes went wide at the admission before she started to giggle and pressed her hands over her mouth to try to stop it.
Harry was pleased with himself for getting her to laugh after all the seriousness.
In the Great Hall, Ginny moved over from beside Susan, who was at the Gryffindor table. "Well?" Ginny asked before his bum had even hit his seat.
"Dumbledore's not here right now, but they'll figure out the punishment when he returns," Harry told her and the rest who were leaning in to hear better. "Ron doesn't remember what happened other than Malfoy did something, Malfoy is out and I wouldn't trust anything he said anyway," the others nodded, even Susan, "and the other two were caught lying and trying to cover it up with half-truths.
"My guess is that Malfoy was lying in wait to catch Ron alone and when he did, he insulted him in a way Ron couldn't ignore and so Ron punched him, which started the physical part of the fight. I think I've convinced McGonagall and Flitwick of that and that Malfoy effectively started the overall fight with a verbal punch. We'll have to see if Dumbledore goes along with that or not," Harry told them as he finished dishing his food and started to eat.
The next morning, Ginny was told that Ron would be spending the next three days at St Mungo's and that would be treated as a suspension for fighting. The three Slytherins were also sent home for three days. All of Harry's friends thought that was probably fair. Harry wondered if that was really Dumbledore's plan or if McGonagall had forced that.
Harry and Hermione were on patrol. It was the 11pm shift and it was quiet, even with the Map to help.
Hermione looked at him, "What did Ron say when you talked to him this evening?"
Ron had returned this evening, three days after he'd left. Harry knew she was still avoiding their red-headed friend, but it didn't seem to be quite as rabidly as before.
"He's seems to be doing all right, at least all right for him this year. He said they changed his potions and they think that maybe he'd become used to the old ones so they weren't working as well as they had at the beginning." Harry struggled with the next part, but decided to go ahead and say it. "He also said that he's tired of it and just wants to be normal."
Hermione sighed and looked ahead thoughtfully for a moment. "He and Ginny have both suffered loss of control. I think she'll recover some day, but Ron … I don't know what to think."
Harry almost made a sarcastic remark about Hagrid saying that Hogwarts was the safest place because Dumbledore was here, but held it back at the last second. There was no need to say it, even if both of them would agree in the end; it would just get Hermione wound up in a way she didn't need to be.
"Ron also said that McGonagall told him it was his only warning to behave before he lost his Quidditch Captain badge. I'd like to think that will stop a repeat of this, but who can really say," Harry commented and Hermione nodded in agreement.
He looked at the Map again and noticed a moving figure. "Filch is headed this way." He'd barely said that when the man's cat ran around the corner, skidded to a halt, and hissed at them. He pulled out his wand as he rechecked the Map and guessed he'd have enough time.
"What are you doing?" she cried softly, almost hissing herself.
Instead of answering, Harry froze the cat in place and then cast another spell at the feline and then freed her. The cat yowled and took off past them. It had barely cleared the next corner when Filch ran around the previous corner.
Harry had barely put his wand and Map away to be able to stand there and look normal. "If you're looking for Mrs Norris, she almost ran into us before she left and just rounded the next corner," Harry said helpfully as he pointed at said corner.
With a gruff thanks, Filch took off. He no longer questioned them being out, having become used to seeing Harry on patrol.
"What did you do?" Hermione hissed quietly when they were alone again.
"I finished reading Sirius's journal over the holidays. It was a blast at times," he said with a grin. "If you're really nice and promise to keep it safe while you're reading it, I'll let you borrow it."
"Harry!" she growled quietly.
"Anyway," he went on as if she hadn't said anything, "I found out how the Marauder's Map was made, at least the major spells, including how to make things appear on the Map." He pulled it back out and showed it to her. It took a few seconds, but he finally saw his target and pointed.
"Mrs Norris now shows up," she said before looking at him in awe.
"They came up with a spell to make other creatures besides people show up," he explained. "For the cat, they used a spell on the cat's collar. The reason Mrs Norris never showed up before was because during my dad's time here, there was no Mrs Norris but rather a Mrs Nesbit, who did show up on the Map."
"So she's not his first cat?" Hermione asked.
"Nope, and he even used a new collar, which makes me wonder what happened to the cat, like if she was eaten whole or was just buried with the collar." He mentally grinned at teasing her for a brief moment, but was careful to keep a neutral expression. "Whatever, we'll be able to track of her in the future."
Hermione shook her head. "I can't believe they were able to do something so sophisticated all for playing jokes on people."
"To each their own," he said wisely, drawing an exasperated look from her for dismissing the issue so casually.
It was the last Friday evening in January, about an hour before curfew, and Harry along with almost thirty others were in the Gryffindor common room and pulling couches and chairs into rows. Neville was standing at the side and looking very nervous, so Harry decided to see if he could help.
"Hey, Nev, don't worry about it; you'll do fine," he told his friend.
"But Harry," Neville protested, "there's almost half of all the Gryffindors in here," he practically squeaked.
Harry knew Ginny was here to support Hermione, but he suspected some of the others who grew up in Wizarding homes were here only to see if they'd missed anything or because they thought their parents hadn't told them everything. "They'll be a friendly crowd; you won't have Smith heckling you like I did in the DA. You really will do fine," Harry said and slapped his friend on the back before going to sit by Hermione and Ginny. He was not surprised to see Hermione with a small Muggle notebook and pen.
"Hi everyone," Neville said a minute or so later. "I'm going to talk about the Wizarding world and some things that happen in it, like customs, and traditions. It won't be just me," he gave them another nervous smile. "I think you all know the seventh year Prefects, Gary and Judith." The two stood for a quick moment and waved before sitting back down. "And Parvati will also be helping me." She stood and flashed everyone a bright and cheery smile before sitting back down.
"You won't really find a good book on this; it's really just passed down from generation to generation and it also changes slowly over time too.
"It's important to know not only the traditions, but who you're dealing with because not all families keep all traditions. For example, the Longbottoms are somewhat progressive and tend to keep only about two-thirds of all generally practiced traditions here in Britain, although I'm thinking about dropping one or two when I take control of the family. Gary?"
The male Prefect stood and faced the group. "My family is even more progressive and we only practice about half of them, or probably only a little more."
As he sat, Judith stood. "My family is more conservative than the Longbottoms and we practice at least three-quarters of them, maybe a little more. On the other hand, I think that I'll work to convince my future husband to drop a few and maybe add one my family doesn't presently use."
Parvati stood next. "My family is more like the Longbottoms and observe about two-thirds of them. However, the Patils also still practice a few traditions not found here but as from India. So we have a cultural aspect too."
Neville took control again as she sat. "As you can see, there is no single set of traditions to follow. However, once you stop practicing over half of them, you tend to not be considered influential in the higher social circles which is where many of the more important things in our society are decided."
Gary waved slightly at Neville to get him to pause and stood again. "That is an important point and is why my family continues as they are. We want to be involved otherwise we'd probably drop more of them."
Ginny raised her hand and Neville nodded at her. "Is that why my family is treated like they are?"
Neville looked uncomfortable but answered. "I can't say completely, but it is at least part of the reason from what I know."
"While the Weasleys are well respected, their lack of observing so many traditions is a very large part of why many of the older families don't socialize with them," Judith said. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."
"Similarly," Neville said hastily, "when Muggle-borns don't practice and respect the traditions, it also causes issues for them. An example would be being excluded from many of the social functions in our society. That's why we're having this class, to help you fit in better.
"I can also say that another reason you need to know this is because it's how you'll be judged by those who run our society. You don't have to agree with all the traditions, but it's very helpful to understand them. You may also have to use them from time to time, even if you don't like them.
"So, for today," Neville took a deep breath, "I wanted to talk about some of the things that the Wizarding world considers important and why. The first thing I want to talk about is families and relationships within and between families…"
Harry, Ron, and Neville were walking down the main stairs for the front entrance. Hermione and Ginny were walking a half a dozen steps behind them. Halfway to the Entrance Hall, Luna joined the girls. At the Entrance Hall, they saw a pair of Hufflepuffs waiting for them to go to Hogsmeade for Valentine's day.
Harry grabbed Susan's hand out of habit while he saw Neville slowly grab Hannah's hand and gave her a nervous smile. He couldn't help teasing his friend. "So, finally found your courage, Neville?"
His friend shot him a look. "At least I managed to ask my girl," he said sarcastically.
"Ouch," Ron chuckled.
"The result is the same either way," Harry joked back.
"Be nice, both of you," Susan calmly chastised them. "What matters is that we all have a good time today."
"As long as we go to Honeydukes for some sweets and The Three Broomsticks for lunch, I'll have a good time," Ron declared.
"I think we can do that," Harry replied, quite willing so Ron would stay near him and he could make sure Malfoy didn't try anything to get back at his friend. He looked at Susan and smiled while he squeezed her hand. "Thanks," he mouthed at her and she smiled and squeezed his hand back. He really appreciated her understanding and willingness to allow Ron to be around them today.
"How did you do on your Runes test?" his girlfriend asked him.
Harry noticed that Hermione sped up a little in order to hear, so he turned slightly so she could hear. "I did very well on what was the equivalent of the end of third year test. Professor Babbling gave me an Outstanding and said she was pleased." Those around him gave him congratulations as they walked on. "Megan, what about you?"
His classmate smiled. "I received an Exceeds Expectations, which is what I was hoping for. I guess you found the class easier than I did?"
"Maybe, but I'm also very glad we're not going any faster. It's hard to keep up at our current pace and I probably couldn't if we didn't have so much extra time during the day," he explained. "I hope I can use the summer to get ahead."
"I don't think I'd take it if we went any faster," Megan told him.
Hermione touched him on the shoulder. "I'm impressed, Harry. This is a side of you I haven't seen in previous years."
"We all grow up sometime," he joked. "Say, Hermione, Professor Babbling also said that your class recently started on some elementary warding schemes. Can I look at your notes? I saw what was in the book and I'd like to learn a little more about how they are powered and stay up."
"Sure, Harry," Hermione replied. "I'll get them for you when we return."
Minerva McGonagall was surprised it had taken her nearly three months to convince Augusta Longbottom to agree to help them. She would be forever grateful to Neville for his help in convincing his grandmother and her old friend; she suspected the young man teaching the class now motivated Augusta to show that she could do it too.
Arriving at the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office, she was pleased to see her two friends in this endeavor waiting on her. Giving the password, she led them up. She had barely knocked on the door before she was told to enter.
The old Headmaster raised a single eyebrow at the three heads of house. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this company on this lovely Friday evening?
"Oh, perhaps I should mind my manners first. Tea or a sherbet lemon?" He indicated his candy dish while his wand danced to conjure the tea service before a kettle floated over from the shelf and seemed to heat during its flight since it started to whistle as it settled on his desk. Each helped themselves. The courtesies observed, Dumbledore took a sip of his tea before setting it down.
Minerva took the lead. "Albus, we'd like to broach the topic of a Wizarding Studies class again; however, this time we believe we've come up with a way to do it successfully. While it is a little late to start it this year, we wanted to make sure there was enough time to be able to start it next September."
Dumbledore sat back in his chair and looked at them all. "You seem to be missing someone. Where is Severus in this endeavor?"
"Severus won't care, or so we believe," Sprout told him. "He has no Muggle-born in his house and that's been true for some years. If any Half-bloods in his house wish to come, they would of course be welcome; but we don't believe he would care about this."
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Quite probably true. As to your request, I don't believe it will be approved."
Minerva sat up a bit straighter as her anger rose, barely held in check. "You haven't even heard our plan yet! It wouldn't even cost the school anything."
"My apologies, Professor," Dumbledore said placatingly. "I was imprecise with my answer. I don't fully believe it's needed nor will it come to pass because of circumstances beyond all of our control."
"Not needed?" McGonagall exclaimed, barely holding her tone in control. "Why would you say that?"
"Because, there is some information that is too dangerous," Dumbledore answered. "I'm sure you're thinking of customs, such as greetings and dances and other innocent matters. If you could limit what was taught to that, I might agree and support you. However, some of the little used traditions can cause great chaos and harm if used improperly, and we both know that those under twenty rarely consider the long term. No, Professor, that is a Pandora's box we dare not open because once you start it's very difficult to stop.
"However, my opinion is of little consequence concerning next year since there are weightier matters that would prevent your class," he told them before taking a sip of his tea.
"Perhaps you could give us a little more detail?" Flitwick prompted a little pointedly in frustration, as McGonagall worked to control her reaction.
"While the future is never certain, I'm afraid our future next fall is even more difficult to predict than normal." Dumbledore briefly held up his blackened hand, which wasn't a secret from any of them. "It is quite possible that I will no longer be Headmaster for our fall term.
"The war is heating up," Dumbledore said heavily, "and it is very possible that the war will cause such changes that the school will suffer great disruption. It is even possible that there will be no classes during the fall term." He looked at his deputy. "Do you believe you can guide the school through that storm, especially if Voldemort himself attempts to dictate the direction of the school, which I believe he will try if I'm not here?"
Minerva steadied herself under his benevolent gaze, but internally she was trying to come to grips with the question he'd asked as she considered the many possibilities. "The security alone could be problematic. Will the Ministry be able to help?"
"Unlikely," Dumbledore replied with regret. "They are doing all they can now to stay in control and a large enough push by Voldemort will probably topple them. I am no longer at my best and yet, as modestly as I can say this, I'm probably all that is allowing them to stay as they are for the moment."
"You paint a dire picture," Flitwick commented.
"I dare say it may be more dire than I paint it and I feel I must tell you. I would have told you soon anyway, but this seems as good a time as any," Dumbledore said off-handedly.
"Why may it be even worse?" Sprout asked.
Dumbledore glanced at her and Minerva had a feeling she was not going to like this answer.
"The main fighter who will win this war has chosen not to fight, and unless he changes his mind, he may doom us all." Dumbledore took another sip of his tea, his casualness belying the seriousness of his statement.
"Mr Potter," Flitwick stated after the barest of pauses. "Albus, it is not his place to fight the war; it is the Ministry's and it is all of ours - the adults, not the children."
"I do wish that were true, Filius ... but I'm afraid I must disagree," the older man said.
Minerva found her courage for this topic. "Albus, Filius is quite correct. This is not Mr Potter's responsibility. Just because you believe some crackpot prophecy does not make it true."
Dumbledore tilted his head ever so slightly as he looked at her and then the others. "So, Mr Potter has shared the prophecy with you. All of you?"
"He has shared it with Minerva and myself," Filius replied. "We have shared the essence of it with Pomona."
"I'm not sure that was wise on his part, but it's done. Nevertheless, I must ask each of you to keep that very secret," Dumbledore ordered in a tone that left no doubt it was an order.
"The part that is unknown to the Dark Lord is not helpful to him," Flitwick argued, "assuming it's even true and I must agree that I doubt it."
"It matters not what we believe. As long as Voldemort believes it then he will make it so," Dumbledore explained.
"What can we do?" Sprout asked.
"Be wary next year; do not make waves and do your best to stay in your positions so that you may protect the students. Above all, protect Harry." Dumbledore looked at each as if trying to extract a promise. "I believe that Harry is capable of defeating Voldemort and he must be given the chance to do so. In addition, anything that you can do that could convince him to fight Voldemort must be done."
"I'm sorry, Albus," Sprout told him and looked very regretful. "I'm afraid I must agree with my colleagues; it is not Mr Potter's responsibility to fight in or to win the war. I will support and protect him as best I can, but it will be his decision to fight or not."
"Then it will be fate that decides whether our society returns to normal and I pray that the price is not too high nor are too many lives lost before he figures out what he must do," Dumbledore said sadly. "While I do not believe Harry can win by strength of wand, magic can help protect him from those under Voldemort. Can I ask each of you to continue teaching him the extras as you have been?"
"I didn't think you knew," Minerva said, but leaving an implied question.
Dumbledore smiled at them. "I've been aware of Harry visiting each of you from time to time and the most obvious reason is for help with extra spells not learned in his classes, and for help with topics he teaches his Defense Study Group. Or that is true for you and Filius." He looked over. "You, Pomona, stepped into a support role more like family, which is something that Harry needs and yet for the good of our world should not have. But alas, I find my thoughts quite mixed on that matter and will leave that part of Harry's life alone."
"What do you mean by that?" Minerva asked, aware this was another area of Harry's life he was manipulating as it fit in with stories Harry had shared.
"It matters not as I have come to realize that I may have been very wrong about a few decisions." Dumbledore sighed. "That is a dark path because once you begin to doubt it is difficult to stop."
Sitting up straighter and leaning forward he said, "The hour is late and that is all the information I have on this topic. Minerva, if you have the opportunity to initiate your class next term, I ask you not to pursue it. In fact, I'd have preferred that Mr Longbottom hadn't taught what little he has; it might create problems for us, but what's done is done.
"With that, I bid you a pleasant evening and a good rest." Dumbledore drained the last of his tea and then picked up his wand and cleaned up the conjured tea set, except for the permanent kettle.
"Thank you for the information, Albus." Minerva led the others out. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at them.
"I can guess your question," Filius said. "I would believe he knows more, but it's very uncertain how much more. As for his advice, his path is not unreasonable given what we know." He looked at the other two.
"No," Minerva agreed slowly, "however, what bothers me is that some of his other decisions had reasonable support, but they turned out badly."
"I'm more disturbed by his opinion that we shouldn't teach about our traditions. I had no idea he was biased in that way." Sprout said sadly.
"Yes," agreed Flitwick, "he seems very much in favor of the status quo. Personally, I don't agree with his concern, but I can see that we won't be able to teach the class next year if Voldemort is directing the Ministry."
"Unfortunately, I agree. We shall have to play it close to the vest and see what happens, as well as consider his advice to protect the students. Good-night." The others echoed her last words before going their own way.
While Minerva now had new insights, as she was sure her colleagues had too, she was disturbed about some of the information. Foremost in her mind was the question of why Albus hadn't started doing something about the war sooner, years sooner. She wished she had known these things years earlier; she was sure she could have made a difference in Harry's life. Secondly, his newly professed biases were disturbing, but perhaps he didn't care to hide them now that his end was nearing.
Hermione was doing her homework in the common room with Ginny at her table, as usual, when Harry returned from his Tuesday evening Runes class. Unlike normal, Harry returned looking like he'd been caught in a storm of Exploding Snap cards all going off at once, or maybe that he'd travelled through an extremely dirty Floo connection. He had spots of soot all over him and his hair was messier than usual.
"Harry, what happened to you?" she asked with great concern. "And you're late. Did Professor Babbling have to walk you back again?"
He dropped tiredly into a chair at her table and put his overly full looking book bag on the floor. "Yeah, we talked more about warding as we came back. As for my appearance, it's from an experiment gone wrong and yet," his tired expression perked up, "I'll receive an extra five points on my exam in two weeks."
Katie Bell had overheard that, as she sat at the next table, and came over. "How did you earn another five bonus points?" she asked incredulously. "Earning that once is very difficult, twice in one year is unheard of."
"Till now," Ginny muttered, but looked as interested in the story that also drew Judith, the seventh year Prefect over too as she had been revising with Katie.
"Remember the warding notes I borrowed from you a couple of months ago?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "I looked at them and, well, they mostly made sense except for the power sequence, so I started changing it and trying to make it better. After I came up with something that I liked more, I made a small version of my sequence for testing that could protect an area about the size of this table and I showed it to her at the end of class."
"And your wards blew up on you when you tested them," Hermione said as she indicated his disheveled appearance.
"Well, yeah," he said sheepishly.
"How did that earn you such a big bonus?" Katie asked.
"Uhh, you see, Professor Babbling said she'd give me one point for every minute it stayed up while all four of us in the class plus the professor shot spells at it." He looked embarrassed as he added, "I, uh, I guess I didn't have it dumping enough energy because it only worked for about five minutes."
Hermione felt almost faint from surprise and only managed a strangled sounding tone. "You found a new power sequence?" This was a rare event and he was a novice at warding; in fact, his OWL class wouldn't even study warding so he was learning this on his own. How lucky could one person get, she wondered.
"Not really," Harry replied. "I just rearranged existing runes into a new configuration. Professor Babbling was really interested, but it doesn't work very well, so I don't really understand her excitement."
Hermione looked at Katie and Judith, who looked as surprised as she felt. "Err, Harry, maybe she's interested because you've found a new avenue of research. Maybe all you need to do is to work on it and refine it to make the power sequence function correctly."
"She did suggest that," he admitted, "but at the moment, I'm just glad no one got hurt in class. If you'll excuse me, I need to go take a shower, then I'm heading to bed; I'm exhausted. Good-night."
"Good-night, Harry," Hermione echoed, as did the rest of the girls there.
When he was out of sight, Hermione looked at the others, who hadn't moved as they thought about what they'd heard. "He says he's not a prodigy, but he's working on material three years ahead of the rest his class and he's just invented something new," she said in amazement. "I don't think I'm ready to do that."
Katie shook her head. "I don't think anyone in our class could do that; I know I couldn't."
"Me neither," Judith agreed.
"Well," Ginny said with a grin, "if you want someone to do something unexpected in a good way, Harry is the person most likely to do that. He cast a bloody corporeal Patronus when he was thirteen."
All the girls shook their head as they returned to what they had been doing before Harry came in. Hermione wondered if she could convince him to show her his new work and she was not alone in that question. Unbeknownst to her, Professor Babbling had been the first to get in that line, followed by all three other students in his class, with two seventh year Gryffindor students barely behind her.
However, when Hermione asked later, Harry didn't share, because he said he didn't want anyone to get hurt.
(A/N: Thanks again to Kokopelli for beta'ing this story. Don't forget, I can edit the story after he sees it, so any remaining errors should be attributed to me and not him; he does great work.)