"Up, Harry! It's time for breakfast. We let you sleep as long as we could," Ron said, shaking Harry's shoulder lightly.
Harry awoke wishing for his comfortable bed in Eyrie's Edge again. Knowing that there was nothing for it, he dismissed the thought and scowled at Ron instead. He sighed and crawled out of bed to get dressed. Ron, ever impatient when it came to food, hurried him along. Harry was still buttoning his robes as Ron practically dragged him out of the dormitory and down the stairs to meet Hermione in the common room. Once Ron had Hermione around, he abandoned Harry's arm to latch onto Hermione's hand. Harry was all too happy that their morning greetings left him to his own devices. He lagged behind silently as they made their way down to the Great Hall.
At the doors, Hermione turned around and shouted, "Hurry up, Harry. This is a working breakfast, you know. Professor McGonagall needs to meet with us about our schedules."
Harry reluctantly trotted to catch up and then the three went into the hall, grabbed whatever they could eat while walking, and returned to Gryffindor Tower to join the queue in front of their Head of House's office door. Harry spaced out a bit while they were waiting and it took a sharp nudge from Parvati Patil for Harry to notice that it was his turn. Ron and Hermione had evidently taken their turns and left without Harry noticing.
Harry stepped into the office.
"Close the door behind you and have a seat, Mr. Potter."
Harry did as he was told. Once he was seated across the laden desk from Professor McGonagall, she picked up a quill and began filling in a blank schedule.
"Congratulations on qualifying for NEWT-level Potions. You qualified for Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Divination, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration. I'll sign you up for Charms, Potions, Defense, and Transfiguration which are all required for auror training. You are also enrolled in History, which is mandatory. You must select at least one of the others, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Herbology."
"I'd like to take all of them, I think."
"Even Divination?" McGonagall asked, one eyebrow raised in disbelief or disapproval.
"Yes, Ma'am," Harry replied.
"You certainly don't need it to be an auror, and quite frankly, no one really needs the rubbish course."
"I'm not sure I want to be an auror anymore," Harry said, which was as close as he was going to get to admitting that he wasn't sure if he wanted to fight Death Eaters.
"Why not?" McGonagall asked, worried.
The prophecy Dumbledore had told him sprang to mind immediately and it took some effort to keep his anger at being lied to from his face. "Professor Dumbledore told me some things at the end of last year and... well, it seems that I could easily die before I would even have a chance to finish auror training. I know it would help keep me alive, but, what if it doesn't help and I die anyways? And besides, I don't really care about revenge anymore. I don't need to avenge my parents' or Sirius' death. I guess I wish everyone would just leave me out of the war."
McGonagall was stunned into silence for a long moment. "Harry, you don't actually think that you're going to die soon, do you?"
"It's probable, isn't it?"
"I don't know about probable, but whether it is or not, that doesn't mean you shouldn't plan on living."
"From what Dumbledore said, it was pretty obvious that I have a good chance of dying sooner rather than later. And even if I did manage to kill Voldemort, other people would come after me because of it. I really don't want to fight," he said. It was mostly true. He wouldn't really mind fighting and he would have loved revenge on Bellatrix for Sirius' death but she was beyond his reach. About his parents, he really didn't know what to think yet.
"What did the Headmaster say that gave you that idea?" she asked, wide-eyed.
Harry didn't know what to say to that. He could tell her what Dumbledore had said and she might recognize the prophecy or not know the prophecy. In the case of the latter, that would leave Harry to choose between telling her it wasn't true and coming up with a reason he knew that or letting her believe it was true and either coddle him or push him to train harder.
"Mr. Potter?"
"I'm sorry, Professor," he said quickly. "I don't think I'm supposed to say."
"Nonsense. I've been in the Order of the Phoenix since before you were born," she said.
"He said not to tell anyone except maybe Ron and Hermione... but I don't want them to know," Harry replied, looking at his hands to hide his pleas that she would let the subject go.
After a moment, she said, "Well then, you want to take eight classes." Harry heard the papers rustle and her quill scratch. "Normally, I don't recommend more than seven NEWT courses to the average student. Are you sure you don't want to drop one?"
Harry looked at her and bit his lip. He was still thinking that it might be a good idea to avoid Care of Magical Creatures if the curriculum was going to be dangerous.
"Do you know what Hagrid is planning to teach this year? I've been thinking that, as much as I like Hagrid, I really don't want to see anything like the Blast-Ended Skrewts again."
"Oh," she said, "I thought you would want to keep that class. No matter. I do not know what creatures Professor Hagrid has selected for the year but I would not dismiss you concerns as invalid."
Harry thought for a moment. He was still on the fence about taking Care of Magical Creatures. "Are Ron and Hermione taking it?"
"Mr. Potter, it is my policy never to inform students of what their classmates are taking since that is a poor reason to take or drop a class," she lectured.
Harry sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'll drop it."
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather drop Divination?"
"Yes. I'm actually interested in that again. I mean, I learned so much once I had a professor besides Trelawney... err, meaning all proper respect, of course."
McGonagall gave a tiny smile of understanding. "But Professor Trelawney is teaching again this year," she pointed out.
"I know. This time, I think I understand enough to get by though."
"Alright. So you are taking Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Divination, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration.
Harry nodded.
She made the last few marks on his schedule and then passed it over.
"Send the next person in please, Mr. Potter."
Harry rose from his chair and left, sending Parvati in after him. He threw himself into an empty armchair by the fire and looked over his schedule. He had an hour until his first class. Looking around, he saw Ron and Hermione coming towards him.
"So, mate, what classes are we in?" Ron asked.
Harry passed his schedule wordlessly to Hermione.
Hermione gasped. "Harry, you aren't in Care of Magical Creatures."
"And you're taking Divination?" Ron asked incredulously.
"I'd rather hear about impending death than walk a Blast-Ended Skwert," Harry replied calmly.
"But Hagrid will be so disappointed," Hermione said.
"And why not just drop Divination like I did?" Ron asked.
"Because this is what I decided to do. So what classes do we have?" he said.
Hermione frowned and compared their courses. "You and I got potions together. We're all in the same session of History of Magic. You and Ron have the same Herbology and Defense classes," she said.
"Is that all?" Ron asked.
"Clearly, Ron. You're reading the same pages as me and that's what they say," Hermione snapped. After a moment, she sighed. "Sorry, Ron. I didn't mean to be short with you."
She handed Harry back his schedule. Harry looked it over again. He had thought he would have more classes with his friends, just like last year. He sighed and tucked the parchment into his robe pocket and stood up. "I'm going to visit Hedwig," he told Ron and Hermione.
"OK. See you in History," Hermione said.
The walk to the owlery was quiet. Everyone but the sixth years and a few seventh years were in lessons. Harry spent a long time sitting with his owl, apologizing for sending her away for the summer and for Hermione sending her to Hogwarts. She was not pleased with him. When he left for his first class, she was still angry but at least she allowed him to touch her.
Harry caught a nice nap during History that morning. Afterwards, he and Ron went to Defense class while Hermione went to Ancient Runes. Professor Burke, they discovered, did know her stuff. The problem: the students had entered the classroom to find that they had been provided with various devices to translate the many languages the professor used. She explained, via these devices, that she had been hit with an extremely complex curse four years prior that caused everything she said to come out in a mixture of languages. Fortunately, this did not affect her magical ability and she was certainly capable of Defense. The first lesson was only a review of what they should have learned in their first five years but it was painfully obvious that Professor Burke had high standards. The DA could probably meet those expectations but other students would have to struggle to catch up.
The rest of Harry's classes that first day held no surprises. He could not say the same about his friends. Ron and Hermione were apparently together, though that hadn't really changed the way they related to Harry. At least they weren't bickering constantly. Ginny, who was quite busy with OWL year homework already, still managed to be around whenever Harry looked up.
The second day of classes was a bit bizarre. Harry had sixth year Divination with Lavender, Parvati, and two Hufflepuff girls.
"What an excellent turn out," Trelawney had said before telling everyone to pull out their copies of Putting your Gifts to Use; the Inner Eye and sending them all to get tea so they could read their tea leaves regarding the coming year.
Harry pulled the new text and both of Headmistress Vablatsky's books out. Just as he had learned over the summer, he drank his tea, drew the appropriate runes, stirred the leaves, and drained the cup. Meanwhile, Professor Trelawney made her rounds among the students. Lavender and Parvati were both promised suitors though Harry doubted anything but the fork (false flattery) and the owl (gossip) were actually in those cups. The blond Hufflepuff was cautioned that the great goals she was striving towards would not come without difficulties. The other Hufflepuff was told that the minor setbacks she was facing would not be permanent but impatience would not help. When she got to Harry, Harry read the leaves over her shoulder.
"Ah, well done, Mr. Potter. I see you have learned the runes. As you are the only one in this class without the Inner Eye, you may need to learn more of those little helpers," she said. "Now, then... I see the axe at the top, over coming difficulties; there is also the anchor inverted, inconsistency; and there is a bird which often means good news but in this case, it feels as though it wishes to be taken literally."
Harry was pleased with the reading. For once, Trelawney seemed to know what she was looking at. Maybe it had something to do with NEWT level and having students who were actually interested or maybe it was the extra help of the runes Harry had added. Either way, Harry could find no fault with her reading. Harry hoped he would be spared the traditional death omens this term. Later, Ron and Hermione would not believe Harry when he said Divination wasn't too bad.
In the afternoon, Harry and Hermione went to Potions. Snape was just as cruel as usual but at least Harry had the general idea of the potion they were taking notes on thanks to Professor Snape's book. As usual, Snape had it in for Harry anyways. Harry had to stay after class where Snape gave him a detention for the following evening and then cast Legilimens unexpectedly. Harry was unable to defend his mind as Snape grabbed at the memories of the first week of Harry's summer. After seeing three of Dudley's beatings, Snape withdrew and sneered at Harry.
"Incompetent as usual, Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor. Now get out!" he said.
Harry eagerly obeyed, finding Hermione waiting for him in the hall.
"What did he want?" she asked.
"To give me detention with Filch and to use Legilimency on me. I've got a terrible headache now."
"Is he going to give you lessons again?" she asked hopefully.
"No. He just wanted to show me that I'm rubbish at everything."
"That's not true. And why isn't he giving you lessons?"
"I don't know, and I don't care either. I don't plan on giving him any more chances in my head if I can avoid it."
"But you need to learn Occlumency, Harry."
"Yeah. I also need a headache remedy," he snapped. Her shrieking was not helping. He left her and went to get the relevant potion from Madam Pomfrey. He took one dose immediately and kept a second to take after supper. He knew he would need it after the beating his brain had taken from Snape.
With his free period, Harry went to the library, which was pleasantly quiet, and did some homework. He also searched the section of books on non-magical birds in an effort to identify his animagus form. He leafed through three volumes of Mundane Creatures of Britain, a series of books found in the potions section that detailed potentially useful parts of various local animals, before he found a bird that looked similar but was the wrong color and a bit too small. Still, it was a start. He choose a book on predatory local birds, shelved in the Magical Creatures section, and found what he was looking for on page 47, illustration B: the Golden Eagle. Harry now realized how silly he had been not to recognize it before. Granted the birds on the Ravenclaw crests were rather stylized, but it was still odd that he hadn't noticed the resemblance between his bird self and the Ravenclaw mascot before.
Closing the book and returning it to the shelf, Harry checked his watch and decided he had just enough time for a flight outside before supper. He took his belongings back to his dormitory and then went outside. He chose a secluded area on the far side of the lake to change, then stayed over the forest and farthest half of the lake, hoping no one would spot him. When it was nearly supper, he landed, transformed back, and headed happily inside. The flight might not have helped his headache but it had at least cleared his head.
As Harry was crossing the grounds, he heard thundering footsteps behind him.
"Harry, Harry," Hagrid called as he hurried to catch up.
"Hi, Hagrid," Harry replied cheerfully.
"How've yeh been?"
"Fine. What about you?"
"Ah, I'm alrigh'. Grawpy's better too."
"That's good, I suppose," Harry said with a weak smile.
"I was a mite disappointed tha' yeh didn' take my class this term," Hagrid said, frowning.
"I'm sorry, Hagrid. I'm sure it's great and I'm missing out on some fun assignments," Harry said.
"Tha' yeh are. But Harry, I though' yeh and yer friends would take it for sure."
"Sorry, Hagrid. It's not like we all planned to drop it. I guess we all just decided we had a lot to do with NEWT classes and we couldn't take everything we wanted to."
"Ah, I guess tha's it then. Well, don' forget to come visit. I'm sure Fang is missin' yeh."
"Yeah, I'll stop by sometimes. I should go now though. I've got to go back to Gryffindor Tower before supper."
"Oh, well, I'll be seein' yeh then."
Harry hurried away from the disappointed half-giant. That had been an uncomfortable conversation, if an inevitable one.
By the end of supper, a noisy affair as usual, Harry desperately wanted his headache remedy and an early night. Instead, Draco Malfoy got between him and relief. The great prat and his two goons stopped Harry in the entrance hall after supper.
"So Potter, did you finally tire of your pathetic friends or is it that they tired of you. Either way, the Golden Trio has been down to two an awful lot lately."
"That's not true. Don't listen to him, Harry," Hermione said.
"Shut up, Mudblood," Malfoy snapped.
"Don't call her that!" Ron shouted. He had his wand out before Crabbe and Goyle could even make fists.
Draco had his own wand out and one eye on Ron but his attention was clearly still devoted to taunting Harry. "Or maybe, you're glad that Weasel is to busy having his way with Granger because it gives you a chance to go after his sister."
"Impedi..." Ron started to shout.
"Expelliarmus!" Flitwick chirped from the doors of the Great Hall. Ron's wand flew across the distance and into his hand. "Shameful, Disgraceful. Mr. Malfoy that will be three points from Slytherin for foul language and Mr. Weasley, ten points from Gryffindor for attempting to attack another student. Mr. Malfoy, move along."
When Malfoy and his Slytherins reluctantly disappeared down the stairs to the dungeons, Flitwick turned to Ron again. "Mr. Weasley, you may collect your wand from your Head of House this evening. You must learn to control your temper. If I catch you attacking another student again, you will have to get your wand back from me - I won't just return it and I was a dueling champion in the days of my youth so you had best heed my warning."
Flitwick turned to go back into the Hall leaving a red-faced Ron blustering about Malfoy and being disarmed and anything else that irritated him. Harry sighed and left him to Hermione who was busy lecturing him on how right Flitwick was.
"You can't lose your head in a fight. Remember how Harry used to tell us that in DA and Professor Burke says it all the time..."
When they got back to the tower, Harry excused himself to his friends who gave him concerned looks.
"I just need to take the headache potion and go to bed," Harry explained.
"Maybe you should see Madam Pomfrey, mate," Ron advised.
"Yeah, you don't look well," Hermione agreed.
"She's the one who gave me the headache potions. I'll be fine in the morning."
"Alright. Goodnight, then."
"Yeah, night."
Harry got ready for bed, took the potion, and enjoyed a few hours of quiet before he was joined by his snoring roommates for the night.
Luckily, the rest of the week was relatively uneventful. Harry, Ron, and Hermione fell into their usual routine of classes, homework, and relaxation in the Common Room. Though Ginny had a lot of homework to do, she still managed to join them frequently. Harry wondered why she spent her free time with them and not with friends in her own year. He eventually figured it out, with much help from Hermione: Ginny had another crush on him and she wasn't going to be shy about it this time. Harry was a bit disturbed by this news. He didn't want to jeopardize his relationship with the Weasley family. He decided it would be best just to wait Ginny out and hope her crush dissipated soon.
//-//-//-//-
The Death Eaters were clearly lying low... so low, in fact, that the Daily Prophet filled the void in front-page news with increasingly questionable stories. One Tuesday in mid September, the Headline read, "British Man begins Six Month Search for Crumple-Horned Snoracks." Apparently, Mr. Lovegood had bankrolled a research expedition and it was the biggest news the Prophet could come up with. Luna was thrilled but the rest of the school only became more convinced that she deserved her nickname, "Loony Lovegood," and the Prophet was beginning to share that scorn. If it hadn't been for the war, most of the school, Hermione included, would probably have cancelled their subscriptions.
That week of classes ended with a bang when a particularly exciting demonstration in Defense led to the castle wards going into defensive mode and magically returning all the students to their house common rooms. Despite the confusion, the sixth years were still thrilled with their Defense professor.
"Professor Burke is just wonderful," Hermione said over supper that day. "Even with the language problem, she's easily the best professor we've had."
"What about Remus?" Harry said, frowning.
"Oh, well, he was good, too," Hermione replied dismissively.
"Burke's OK. I don't like having to read the lectures though," Ron said. He was one of several students that disliked the translation quills.
"What was so bad about Remus?" Harry challenged. No one would ever be better than Remus as far as Harry was concerned.
"Nothing in particular," Hermione said nonchalantly. "Professor Burke's just really knowledgeable and her assignments are properly challenging. That reminds me, Colin asked me the other day if we were going to start the DA again. What do you think, Harry?"
Harry glared at her. "I think that if our Defense professor is so grand then she can teach and I won't have to," he snapped before leaving his two friends behind.
"What was that all about?" Harry heard Ron ask Hermione before he was out of hearing range.
Harry knew he had been irrational and that made him feel guilty. That feeling led him to wonder if he shouldn't be spending what time he could with them, since the Order could find out about his summer at any moment and then he would lose his friends. That thought left Harry feeling guiltier and angrier than before. He decided abruptly to go visit Hagrid, whose class he had decided not to take primarily because he had learned Divination from a Death Eater, in an attempt to assuage his guilt and prove to himself that nothing was different. He walked quickly outside and down to Hagrid's hut where he knocked loudly on the door and waited.
He heard Fang bark from inside and Hagrid's booming voice yelled, "Fang, would yeh be quiet!?" Then Hagrid's large, hairy face appeared at the window. He smiled and disappeared again to open the door.
"Harry, good to see yeh! Come in!"
Harry stepped into the hut and took the seat Hagrid offered at the table.
"Yeh wan' a biscuit?" Hagrid asked, passing an oversized cup of tea to Harry.
"No, thank you," Harry replied setting the grungy tea down untouched
Harry and Hagrid talked about their classes for a while. Eventually, they exhausted that topic and Harry returned to the castle.
Once inside, he found Ron wandless and fuming about Malfoy again. Flitwick had had to break up another fight. Hermione and Harry did their best to distract Ron for the two hours that remained until Ron's detention. When he did leave, Hermione was relieved. He had distracted her from her studies and she had a lot of ground to make up.
An hour later, Harry and Hermione were still working on homework and waiting for Ron to return. Harry was nearly finished his Potions essay and Hermione had read two chapters, done a NEWT practice for Charms, and answered three short essay questions for Ancient Runes.
"Ron," Hermione suddenly exclaimed worriedly.
Harry looked up from his Potions essay to see a rather cowed Ron walking towards them.
"And I thought fighting Death Eaters was hard," he complained as he flopped into an empty seat beside Hermione.
"What did Flitwick do?" Hermione asked.
"He gave me my wand back and made me duel with him for five whole minutes. I mean, he was going easy but it was still really rough. After that, he told me I have potential as a duelist," he said proudly, "but that I have to learn to control my temper."
"Did you tell him how hard it is for you to control both your Occlumency and your temper when you're provoked?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. He said I would have to learn... but, and this is really great, Hermione... he offered to teach me."
"Professor Flitwick offered to teach you dueling?" Hermione gasped, clearly jealous.
"Yeah. I accepted right away. He was a champion and he said I could be great too."
"That's wonderful, Ron," Hermione exclaimed. "You are so lucky."
"Maybe. It's going to make lessons with Snape look like a Christmas party though."
"Still," Hermione said, "it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am so jealous."
"I wonder if I'll be any good. I really got trounced by Professor Flitwick but he's the best, right?"
"Yeah."
"So I'll be really good when he's finished training me, right?"
"I should think so."
Ron got a dreamy look on his face. "Ronald Weasley, dueling champion," he whispered.
"Now, Ron," Hermione cautioned, "don't count your chickens before they hatch."
"Right," he said. "A bloke can dream though."
"I suppose. How about dreaming up some homework then?" she said, thrusting a notebook and a Charms book at him.
"Aw, Hermione," Ron groaned. Then, a smile crossed his face. "It can wait," he said mischievously, pulling Hermione up out of her chair and across the room.
Harry sighed and returned to his potions essay. Those two were off to snog somewhere and he was stuck alone, writing an essay for Snape. He wrote a few more sentences and then cleaned up and went to talk to Hedwig instead. He knew he couldn't begrudge his friends their time alone as a couple but he was still lonely. It was an uncomfortable feeling, especially when he couldn't help but wonder if he would be feeling it a lot more often if they found out where he had spent his summer.
//-//-//-//-//-//-
Wednesday morning, the last week in September, the first Hogsmeade weekend was cancelled. It would have been that weekend but apparently there were security concerns to resolve. The notice on the Common Room notice board said only that in the future, the Hogsmeade visits would not be announced until the night before and new safety measures would be taken. This prompted Harry, Ron, and Hermione to go in search of information. Harry considered going to Dumbledore but he wasn't sure that the Headmaster would give him any information if Ron and Hermione were there with him. Besides, Ron and Hermione wanted to try getting the news out of Hagrid. On their way down to Hagrid's hut, they crossed paths with Ginny who claimed she needed a break from schoolwork and joined them.
"So, Hagrid, how is Grawp?" Hermione asked once they had been invited into Hagrid's hut and offered tea and rock cakes.
"He's doin' real good. Mightn't be able to understand full sentences, but he's gettin' there," Hagrid announced happily.
Ginny and Hermione proceeded to make small talk with Hagrid while Harry and Ron amused themselves with drinking tea and petting Fang. When the girls finally decided that they had had enough of the pleasantries, Hermione turned the discussion to more important things.
"Can you believe the Daily Prophet these days?" she asked.
"Well, yeh can't blame 'em if there jus' isn' enough happnin' to fill the paper," Hagrid said.
"But we're at war. Voldemort's back. There must be something going on," Ginny said.
"Tha's just the thin'," Hagrid said. "There isn'. Not since Madam Bones was attacked."
"What are the Death Eaters doing then?" Ron asked.
"Recruitin' and messin' around at the Ministry."
"But why aren't they attacking? Everyone knows Voldemort is back now," Hermione pointed out.
"It has something to do with Fudge, doesn't it?" Ginny asked.
"Yer not suppose' to know abou' that and yeh sure shouldn' be talkin' about it," Hagrid scolded.
"What? What about Fudge?" Harry asked.
Hagrid turned away and busied himself with making a new pot of tea rather than answer.
"I overheard Mum talking about Fudge. She was angry at someone in the Order because she thinks he's been bought by the Death Eaters," Ginny began.
"Yeah, and Professor Dumbledore said that Fudge wasn't taking sides at all," Ron added.
"But Mum thinks that's just as bad as supporting the Death Eaters," Ginny explained.
"Tha's enough o' tha'. If yeh came to see me to find ou' abou' Fudge then yeh can all go now," Hagrid said angrily.
"Oh, no, Hagrid," Hermione and Ginny hurried to assure the half-giant.
"We came down because we thought you could tell us about... ouch!" Ron said. Hermione had elbowed him in the side.
"Out with it. What'd yeh want?" Hagrid asked wearily.
"We really appreciate you telling us things, Hagrid. No one else tells us anything," Ginny said.
"Right. We really just came to see you," Hermione said.
"We love to hear about Grawp and Fang and your classes," Ginny said.
"Jus' ask whatever yeh came to ask," Hagrid said mostly kindly.
"Then why was the Hogsmeade visit cancelled?"
"And what are the new security measures?"
"Well the security's a secret but I expec' Dumbledore's worried abou' You Know Who an' all."
"You mean he thinks that Voldemort has been too busy planning a way to get at Harry to attack other people?" Ginny asked.
"Tha's true but it's the Slytherin's too," Hagrid said absently as he tried to give Fang a rock cake.
"The Slytherins wouldn't do anything, would they?" Harry asked.
"I wouldn't put anything past Malfoy," Ron said.
"Dumbledore was thinkin' tha' he mighn' let the Slytherins go to Hogsmeade a' all."
"Why would he do that?" Harry asked, surprised. "It wouldn't be fair."
"War isn't fair, Harry. Do you know how much our side has lost because of the Death Eaters? Mum lost her whole family, you lost your family, half the Order lost their lives in the first war. Remember Mum's boggart?" Ginny said.
"I know Ginny, but that doesn't mean the Slytherins should be forbidden from going to Hogsmeade," Harry insisted.
"Harry's right," Hermione said. "Think about it. If they were banned, it would look like discrimination and then it wouldn't even make the rest of us safer because there is no way that the rest of us could go to Hogsmeade without the Slytherins knowing and then, what's to keep the Death Eaters from attacking us while their own children are safe inside the Hogwarts wards?"
"Oh," Ginny said. "I see what you mean, I guess."
"Hey, wait!" Harry interjected. "Not all Slytherins are Death Eaters and not all Death Eaters are Slytherins. Remember Wormtail?"
"Well, right, but there are exceptions to every rule. I mean, none of the Gryffindors now would dare join the Death Eaters," Ginny said.
Harry was lucky that a racket outside the hut kept him from speaking his mind at that moment.
Hagrid sent them back to the castle and went off towards the clearing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest to tend to whatever unhappy creature he was keeping.
Harry was feeling angry and guilty after that. Without realizing it, he avoided Ginny for the rest of the week.