Harry Potter and the New Professor

by Babylon Candle

The Battle of Hogwarts is over and the three friends walk out of the Headmaster's office and into their future.

11. Chapter 11

Wednesday May 13, 1998

Thursday May 14, 1998

Friday May 15, 1998

Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city [of London]

caused by the game of Quidditch,

from which many evils may arise,

which God forbid,

we command and forbid on behalf of the King,

on pain of imprisonment,

such game to be played in the city in future.

Proclamation of Edward II, banning Quidditch from the streets of London, 1314.

Aberforth Let Harry sleep in. Yesterday was a full day while today was wide open for anything. When Harry came down he was already dressed and ready to go.

"What? No breakfast?" Aberforth said from the kitchen. Harry could hear and smell the sizzle of bacon.

"Don't think so. Still working on last night's meal."

"Then you'd be off then to Hogwarts."

"Yep." Harry said from the kitchen door. "Just want to say thanks for all you did for me. That was pretty special."

"Then you won't be interested in the Daily Prophet calling for you to be appointed Minister for Magic… would you?" Aberforth said pointing to the paper lying on the kitchen table. On the front page was a glorious colour photograph or Harry walking past his own statue in the Ministry. Harry grabbed the paper and started reading. First thing he noted was the author: was none other than Rita Skeeter. As Harry read his temperature went sky high. He grabbed a bit of bacon and started chewing on it hard. What he read he did not like. Rita was pushing hard for Kingsley Shacklebolt to step aside as Minister of Magic and let Harry assume that position because Kingsley represents the old failed guard while Harry is the future of the wizarding world.

"What the hell is she playing," Harry muttered a bit too loud. He quickly added, "Excuse my French."

"You're excused. And what she is playing is called column inches. The more column inches she writes, the more money she gets. And if people actually read what she writes, then she becomes more and more popular which sells papers. And guess what? The Daily Prophet is a newspaper wanting to make money. Get it?"

Harry was just getting ready to kick a chair or two in frustration when the door flew open and in walked Ginny. "Hi sparky, so you want to be Minister of Magic do you?"

"Hello Ginny," Harry said with a huge smile on his face. Then he added, "Hell no I don't. That's so stupid… all down to that Rita. Always making trouble."

"No, she's always writing about you. I was beginning to wonder about you two." She gave Harry a peck on the cheek. Harry went bright red since they were out on public.

"How come you are here?"

"Dad read The Daily Prophet and said you are going to need help then he took off early so meet with Kingsley to work on a plan. Dad saying this is serious stuff. So he said I'd better get over to help you out. He said for you to get used to it all as it won't be going away any time soon."

"That's what I mean," chimed in Aberforth. "You killed the worst wizard in living memory, but by doing that you set your self up for the future. And your future is being dictated by Rita, with her statue of you, and here eating breakfast, not over at the ministry finding out who allowed that statue to be placed there at the same time you were in courtroom ten?

"If there is one thing worse that Riddle it's politics. And you Harry have walked into the biggest hornets nest of politics that will make Riddle seem like a school kid."

"What! Rita was behind the statue?"

"If you stop fussing and get reading you will see she had it erected after going about the ministry asking for contributions. Of course, everyone was willing to toss in a few coins. Mean to say, who wouldn't. Then up it went while you were in the courtroom. Almost as if Rita knew the outcome and had her plans ready."

Harry really could not believe his ears and out spluttered, "There is no way she knew… I was lucky… Kingsley Shacklebolt helped…"

"Harry, listen to me. I might be old and living in Hogsmeade, but there is a good line between here and the ministry. Believe me when I say Rita has you in her crosshairs. Always has and always will. She is a lot smarter than Tom ever was because, 'the pen is mightier than the wand'".

Harry was on his feet pacing this way and that. Running his hands through his hair in despair. Punching the air in despondency. Now realizing how simple Tom made things. Finally Harry pulled himself together and asked, "Okay, what do you suggest?"

"Take care of Hogwarts first," Ginny said with Aberforth nodding in agreement. "Dad said you agreed to take care of the spells and doing so is first on the list."

Nodding, Harry said, "Great, fine. Then let's go."

"Hay, wait a minute, "Ginny said quickly, "I haven't had breakfast. Dad dropped me off and I'm starving. Aberforth, what are you cooking back there?"

"Just the usual."

"Then two plates of the usual and then we will be on our way to Hogwarts."

"Oh yes, talking about Hogwarts," Aberforth said, "Have a scroll here for you. Professor McGonagall dropped it off this morning on her way out of town. Harry unrolled it and read the contents out loud.

Dear Professor Potter:

Because of the excellent work the house-elves have been doing, I have allowed the rest of the staff to leave early for their holidays. All that remains is Mr. Filch and a few house-elves as all the others are back with their families. Of course Professor Hagrid will be attending to the animals as needed and Professor Sprout will pop back from time to time to attend her plants as needed.

Please give Mr. Filch the respect he deserves as it is his responsibility ensuring Hogwarts is ready for the Autumn term which starts September 1.

Once you have removed the spells let Mr. Filch know as he as other work to do and is waiting on your successful outcome.

If you need to communicate, use a Hogwarts owl. They know where I am at all times.

Yours,

Professor McGonagall

"Lot of trust she is putting in you," Aberforth said placing two good breakfast plates in front of Ginny and Harry. Ginny dove in while Harry picked and pecked but in the end he polished off his plate.

Once breakfast was finished Harry and Ginny took off towards Hogwarts, a very quiet Hogwarts.

As they walked Ginny said, "You handled yourself pretty good yesterday. You didn't blow up once. That was good. And your suit was stunning. Like I've never seen you all dressed properly. You looked good, I mean really good."

"You think so?"

"Don't push it Sparky. One complement a day for you. No, really, you did fine. Aberforth's plan went along just fine."

"It did. Glad he's not like Professor Dumbledore. Aberforth talks. Actually he rambles on a bit."

"I think he likes the company. Look who he serves all day long."

"Yeh, people who go to the Hog's Head Inn aren't your normal fair. Just the other day… Maybe later."

"No, go on." Ginny probed.

"Going to say just the other day Aberforth and I were talking when someone cut in like it was okay. Aberforth quickly put him in his place. How he did it was his not his brother's way. Sometimes I forget they are different."

"They do look similar."

"All hair and beards. That's what does it."

"Hope you don't go that way."

"Nope, I shall always be clean shaven. Glad Ron gave me a Wilkenswore PII+. It's great!" Seeing Ginny look a bit down Harry quietly asked, "No news?"

Ginny shook he head then added, "Ron is not the greatest writer. Mum is ready to clobber him on sight. One owl is not enough."

"Have you sent anything?"

"Mum says not to. Mum says Herminie has a load on her plate and we should give her time. Dad is trying to be good by saying, 'no news is good news.' It really doesn't help."

"Not really." Was all Harry could think of saying. Then he added, "Maybe we should do something."

Ginny smiled at him, gave his arm a good squeeze and said, "I'd like that."

As they got closer Harry could see someone sitting on the steps outside Hogwarts great oak doors. As soon as they got within range Luna got up waved and said in her usual matter-of-face voice, "Hi Harry. Got your message Ginny. I think we're all here."

During the walk to Hogwarts Ginny filled Harry in on the plan. DA's was going to support Harry remove the spells so he could spend the rest of summer concentrating on his good name and reputation. At first Harry was upset that Ginny had done this without first consulting him. Slowly he realized fighting Rita Skeeter was worse than fighting an octopus: and she was more skillful. Harry needed help and fast or else Rita would have dictated the outcome before anyone realized the end had happened.

"I thought the battle was pretty bad. Now I'm beginning to see Rita in her true colours I'm wondering if her type of fighting is worse than Riddle's?" Ginny mused to Harry.

"Yeh, she hides behind her press badge pretty well." Harry replied.

"So, how do you get a press pass?" Ginny asked. As she did a look of interest spread across her face.

"Don't know. The ministry I suppose."

"Yes, the ministry. And who is going to be the next leader of the ministry? You are!" Ginny said answering her own question.

"Hang on a minute. There is no way I am ever going to be Minister of Magic. No way, no how, no not ever!"

"Okay, I get the message," Ginny said calmly. "If you don't want the job, but does that open the door for the real person Rita wants to get into that position?"

"What? Another Tom Riddle type person?" Harry's interest was entirely on Ginny.

"If Riddle had lived, she would be another pawn in his game. She would report what he wanted and lived very well. Look how well her book on Professor Dumbledore is doing. Selling has picked up as people are telling others how bad Dumbledore was.

"She is good, really good. She knows all about timing and creating interest. I'd expect she is working on a Harry Potter book. I'd call it The Boy who Killed Lord Voldemort & Become Minister of Magic. Either let her win or get a book out first.

"That's why I've got the DA's back together. We need to put out heads together and work out a plan, a good plan."

"How many?" Ginny asked Luna as they walked back into Hogwarts.

"Oh, pretty much most of them. I've limited the call to only those that fought in the battle. I'd trust them with my life. Actually I did just the other day."

The minute they stepped back inside Hogwarts Harry let out a huge "Bloody hell! What have you lot done?"

"Hay Harry," Neville yelled from the top corridor. "Watch this!" With that Neville took off on a zip line that went from the top corridor round and round all the way down to where Harry and the others were standing. Neville zipped along at an alarming speed with legs almost horizontally out. He hit the ground did several forward tumbles with the last one putting him on his feet with wand out and ready for action.

Then Harry noticed light elevators and people jumping off balconies and skillfully landing on their feet ready for whatever faced them. Others were firing hexes and jinxes at a group well protected behind a screen of spells. This was the DA's like Harry had never seen before.

"Not bad Eh!" Neville said. "Now we have a real chance to practice stuff without teachers about." Harry looked at Neville and pointed to himself. Calmly Neville added, "Ah, you don't count. Like you keep saying, you haven't made up your mind yet."

"What if I do?"

"Then we better clean up and get out."

"Hang on a moment, where's Mr. Filch and his cat?"

"Ah," Neville said to kill time. "Ah, that was me I think. Said you said he could leave as you would cover for him until all spells are cleared away. Then you'd send an owl to let him know it was time to come back. Said you needed a clear field to do your stuff."

"Clear field!" Spluttered Harry. "Clear field!" After he looked about yet again Harry added, "You lot are absolutely nuts!" Then a penny dropped and he asked, "So you are saying we are here alone in Hogwarts with only a few house-elves to worry about?"

"Ah, not quite."

"Okay, which part is 'not quite'?" Harry had to ask fearing the worst. Neville was too cleaver for his own good.

"The part about a few house-elves still here. Said they could go home as we could handle food from Hogsmeade."

"Gossiter, are you there?" Harry yelled out. In a flash, young Gossiter appeared right in their midst.

"Hi Gossiter. Can I ask you a question?"

"Oh, Master Harry. I shall do everything I can to answer your question."

"Okay. Who is here at Hogwarts besides this lot and you?"

"Alive people or dead people?"

Let's go for both."

"I shall need five minutes to look and then I shall return with an accurate count."

"Thank you Gossiter." Harry said and then Gossiter disappeared in a flash. Turning to Neville, "Did you expect Gossiter to leave since he knew I'd be coming here?"

"Okay, maybe we are off by one. But no more than one."

"No problem." Harry said, "While Gossiter is out counting fill me in on what you are doing. This looks good, really good."

Neville, and the rest of the DA's all chipped in as they sat around one table in the great hall. Sitting there were, Alicia Spinnet, Ginny and George Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Dean Thomas, Katie Bell, Lee Jordan, Lavender Brown, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Michael Corner, Padma Patil, Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones. George seemed a little too preoccupied with Angelina but Harry let it pass. Harry sat back and listened to his friends and basked in their mutual friendship.

"It's like this," Neville started with, "After the battle a few of us, okay, most of us got back together to talk through what happened, how the attack unfolded, and the strategy used by both sides.

"We combined our memories so we could go through them again and again. You can see a lot more when it is all going at a slow speed. The sad part is we see what really happened and can't do anything to stop it. Hard that.

"On the defending side we had the teachers, us DA's and the Order of the Phoenix. Later on the house-elves joined in. On the attacking side we had Tom, his Death Eaters, giants, spiders, werewolves and others.

"As good as the teachers are, they aren't up on the latest spells. Not their job. They don't know or practice the dark spells like Riddle uses. Also their first priority was to protect the kids by getting them out of harm's way.

"Riddle didn't care who got in his way or how he did it. Smashing Hogwarts and losing people like Snape was collateral damage he was happy to pay. He was willing to sacrifice everything to kill you and crush any rebellion against the dark side." Neville paused there to let Harry take it all in. Neville had had many a long discussion with other DA's on the battle.

Then Neville continued with, "See the difference? Like night and day. You could almost boil it down to the difference between right and wrong. Simple but incisive and you can easily know if it is true. Remember we all know how to judge. Do that and everything becomes crystal clear.

"That's a quick summary of the past. What we are doing it learning spells that could have made a difference. Some have been raiding their parents' old school books for spells not taught today. Like Filch keeps saying, ' Things were better back in the old days'. Well, so were the spells. Back in the day the students were taught some of the, how should I put it, more interesting spells. Stuff we didn't do today. Stuff that could have made a difference. Okay, maybe not against Voldemort, definitely against the Death Eaters and spiders. Seems spiders were a problem back in the old days.

"Since we have some time on our hands, and since, technically Hogwarts is still in session, and since you are here alone, we thought we'd come and do some learning and help you out."

Harry beamed at their enthusiasm and dedication. He could relate to the lot of them. Then added, "Neville, what a load of tosh: but I like it!" The roar of laughter was loud and long while Neville went bright red.

"You keep working on your stuff: it's important… it's good. But I need some help on my stuff." The mood suddenly changed. "I need help getting rid of spells still here on the building itself. I'm guessing they came from Riddle during the battle. I mean, no one else has that sort of power to place a spell that lasts so long. So the deal is this. When I walk up the stairs and run my fingers close to the walls without touching the walls I can feel the spells. I want all of us to go up the stairs, one at a time, to see if any of you can feel something odd, strange, out of the ordinary, or not." Harry looked about at then said, "Okay, you lot follow me and lets see what happens."

Harry got up and everyone filed out to the bottom of the stairs. Once lined up Gossiter appeared. "Ah, Master Potter, It is indeed as you thought. No teachers, except for yourself. The DA's. No elves, except for me. No Goblins or any like that. Only the usual house ghosts wandering about. Other than that, we are alone at Hogwarts." A chill ran up and down Harry's spine. He was thinking this could be the first time there has been this few in the building.

"Right then," said Harry, "We'd better get going and see what happens." With that Harry took off up the stairs to where the walls were than then started running his fingers along the walls without actually touching the walls. Harry went first then Ginny, followed by George Angelina, Gossiter and the others.

Again Harry started to feel the spells and words formed in his mind, Parseltongue words that felt as though they were old, very old. Harry went this way and that to make sure he got a good feel that the spells and words were really there. Harry stopped on one of the higher corridors the turned and faced the others as they worked their way up the stairs and joined him. "Well? Did any of you feel anything?"

No one moved. Everyone had a pensive look on their face. No one wanted to be first. That was when Luna put up her hand and said, "I could feel it. Pretty simple really. And I could hear the words."

"You a Parselmouth?" Harry said in surprise.

"Not really. Mum taught me some words so we could chat without dad knowing what we were talking about."

"How good are you?"

"Don't know really. No one to talk to since mum died."

"Okay," Harry said, "Who else?"

Slowly the Patil twins put their hands up while glancing at each other. In unison they said, "We felt the spells,"

Padma added, "Felt creepy. Worse than putting your fingers in cold water."

"It felt cold?" Harry asked.

"Cold and creepy." Parvati added, "Like someone is trying to pull something out of you." Nodding Luna agreed

"Okay… good. Anyone else?"

Thoughtfully Cho Chang put her hand up. "I did, I think. It was weird. I didn't like it so I pulled my hand away."

"Okay," Harry said as he moved to the wall. "Come over here and show me."

Reluctantly Cho walked to the wall and did a large figure eight by the wall. Harry followed as best he could. "What did you feel?" Harry asked.

Cho drew in a large breadth and blew it all out in one long exhale. Looking Harry right in the eyes she said, "Feels like putting your fingers in a dead body. Cold and nasty. Like the spell is trying to pull you into the wall to eat you up."

Harry blinked at Cho's description. Quickly thinking about it Harry realized she was right. It did feel like that. "What about the words?" Harry probed.

"No words, no sounds, just a very nasty feeling about this Harry."

"Right… "Harry said very slowly. "Look, none of you are students any more. I'm sort of a teacher here and was asked to get rid of the spells. If anyone wants to leave, they can. No obligation for anyone to stay."

Ginny moved beside Harry and put her hand in his and gave his a squeeze. "I'm staying," she said in a very firm tone. Harry looked about and could see every head nodding in agreement.

Dean chipped in with, "Look Harry, we may not be students here, but we want this place to be here for our kids… when they happen."

Neville added, "We're in and don't try and kick us out."

Looking about Harry could see every head nodding in agreement. The DA's were voting as a block by staying. Harry had to smile, he knew he could trust the DA's. "Okay then. This is the plan. The Patil twins with two others start off in the dungeons and see how strong or not the spell is down there." Seeing the look on their face Harry added, "Gossiter will go with you, just in case." Turning to Gossiter Harry asked, "Can you do that?"

"For Master Potter I can do that." Was the sure reply.

"Good. Note everything so we can put it into a map of the place. Luna, myself and two others will start up at the top of the building and work our way down. We will be doing the same as the Patil girls. I need two others to head off to the library and search for anything on Parseltongue. Anything at all. Even all the silly stuff. If you find nothing that's okay, just do your best. And that includes the restricted section!" A big yell went up as most had never been to the restricted section of the library. "And I need another group to go to the library and look up all detection spells. I'm expecting someone to try and sneak in. Actually I'm thinking Rita Skeeter might try it. So I'm looking for a spell that can circle Hogwarts going out a mile or so. Something that detects what is going on out there."

"Like Herminie and her DA sneak spell?" Dean asked.

"Exactly! Something like that." Harry replied excitedly. He could see the thought catching on. "Oh, and don't forget Rita is an Animagus. Check for Animagus detection spells.

"And Cho with the rest go to every spire in the place. Check out if the spells are there. In the Owlery see how many Hogwarts owls we have. Someone might try and sneak an owl in that way.

"Okay then, any questions? Clear as mud?" Since no one replied, Harry concluded with, "Let's get going."

With a plan in hand everyone split up heading off to take care of business. The day was long and hard as the task was without boundaries. No one shirked, no one fussed, no one complained as everyone knew what they signed up for. It was about six in the evening that Harry rolled his coin to call it quits and gather in the great hall.

Rather than sit about the four trestle tables someone had moved them aside and had easy chairs around the roaring fire that kept off the autumn chills even though it was summer in Scotland.

Gossiter had left the Patil girls early so he could have a good meal ready for everyone. Since he was alone it took a little longer than usual. Once he brought it out it disappeared at an alarming rate as everyone was so hungry. The chit chat was light as there was no exams, no studying, no Filch and his cat to worry about.

Hannah Abbott, who was sitting between Terry Boot and Ernie Macmillan said, "Gossiter, that was excellent. Thank you. And the desert was just heavenly."

"That was Master Potter's favorite. But the cream is muggle cream. Seems us house-elves haven't got it quite right. So we follow Master Potter's recommendation and buy the double Devon cream from a shop as we are not allowed to do magic when muggles are about."

"What do you mean?" asked Lee Jordan, "You just walk into a corner shop, pick up a couple jars of double Devon Cream, pay using muggle money and walk out without anyone saying a thing?"

Gossiter looked at Harry. Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, "Pretty much."

"No way is anyone going to serve a house-elf in a corner shop without making a fuss." Lavender Brown chipped in.

Okay, what are we missing?" Neville said as he could see something was missing.

"The court case." Harry said in a deadpan voice. "Discussing means and methods with non-wizards. Once we start talking all of you could go through that. I won, you may not. Your court date may be soon or they may hold it for a later date when it could be used as leverage." Harry looked about the room making eye contact with every DA present. "That is why I wanted only those DA's who fought in the battle. I trust all of you with my life. I did it once before and Neville here pulled the sward out of the hat. Next time it might be any one of you."

"Next time?" Lavender Brown said in a tone laced with surprise.

"Yeh, next time. Now the ministry is back, the old ways are returning. Why do you think I got two scrolls? Or the next time it might be one of you. That's why we have to be involved. Not trouble-makers… no, just involved by knowing what is going on and be part of the process.

"Going back to Gossiter. He is one cool house-elf. Are you in or out of this discussion? Think carefully as this could be one of those things that never goes away."

"The Lost Thirteen?" Neville asked.

"Yep, that is how I won." Harry replied.

"Not to up on it." Neville said ruefully.

"Not well taught here. I guess its discovery is too new and we're stuck in the past." Harry muttered.

"I read about it a while ago, "Ginny said, "but it didn't register and then I forgot it until Harry was in court."

"See," Harry said with added emphasis, "That is what I mean. We need to know what is going on and make sure things like that aren't brushed under the carpet and forgotten." Ginny snuggled up to Harry so he absentmindedly put his arm about her. "The Lost Thirteen is not going over too well with the ministry. They don't like it because it's ancient and clashes with modern wizard ways. That's why the Ministry and the Wizengamot don't know what to do about the Lost Thirteen, so they sit on it rather than face it."

"If it is there," Neville said openly, "Can't we use it in our defense?"

"You can," Harry said carefully, "So long as people acknowledge it exists and is of a superior nature when compared with the junk coming out of the Ministry and the Wizengamot." Then Harry added, "Things change about here. Look at everything we've been through when where supposed to be safe at Hogwarts. Look at me. I started off just like you at age eleven. I wasn't planning on meeting Riddle every year. I was just glad to get away from a rotten home and be with you lot. See: things aren't planned too well."

"So how did you find out about the Lost Thirteen?" Cho asked.

"Aberforth had a copy as did every teacher at Hogwarts. I found Professor Snape's copy in his desk."

"You been in Snape's office?" Terry Boot said in awe.

"Yeh, It's now my office."

"Wow," Terry Boot said. "What's it like?"

"If you want I'd give you a tour."

"Ahhh, maybe not just yet. I'd let you make sure there is nothing there before I'd go in."

"Okay, let's get down to business. Starting in the dungeons and going up."

The reports were given, each one in sufficient detail to give everyone present a clear picture of the spells and how they were gripping the school building.

Once the last report was in it seemed the spells were pretty uniform throughout the building. No obvious weak points. They were more successful in the library. The group looking of Parseltongue words found a few nursery rhymes with Parseltongue endings to scare the children into being good… or else! The problem being Luna and Harry had never seen Parseltongue words written down: so they weren't sure if what they had was real Parseltongue words. And then there was the one book found at the back of the restricted area. A place where the dust is the thickest, where the spiders are the biggest, and where only the brave and foolhardy go. Luna used her long forgotten Parseltongue words which caused movement at the back. That was enough to send a couple DA's scurrying out of the restricted area. Not Luna. She reached in and pulled out this dusty, bedraggled, bent-corner, remnant of a book. She thought it might be interesting to bring along anyway. As Harry flipped the pages with the end of his wand, he instantly knew there was something Parseltongue about the book.

The other group in the library was equally successful in finding some very interesting spells. It was Susan Bones who spoke first, "How come they never taught all this stuff at school. I mean to say, this is good stuff and I could have used it a bunch of times at home to know when someone was heading my way."

Ernie Macmillan added with, "Yeh, this is good stuff and ones that should be used as detection spells about Hogwarts."

"Okay, what are they?" Harry asked,

Hannah Abbott said, "The first one we found is an old owl spell, Septum Seakium. You use it on owls and they head out scanning the area from the sky. Since they have good eyes they report back anything unusual. The other owl spell is Nixium O'sistus. This is a good one Harry. Since Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus you say Nixium O'sistus Beetle. The owls are now on the lookout for an Animagus beetle and only an Animagus beetle."

Harry was impressed, he had never thought of using the Hogwarts owls as lookouts. That is why he needed the other DA's on this endeavor.

"The other spells are like the teachers used during the battle. Stuff like Gexlorde Global, Fordus Glexodious, the common Ground Mole Hex, reusing the Caterwauling Charm, and two from Mundungus: he is good for something."

Then Gossiter added, "I have been in contact with certain forest dwellers and they are very amenable to be on the lookout for strangers. And, I might add, eager for the Anglia to be gone soon. Seems it is liking muddy up-hill challenges."

"Thank you Gossiter, that was good thinking." Then Harry turned to the others and said, "Time to put the protection on Hogwarts. I want us to be safe from prying eyes." With that everyone, including Gossiter walked outside and started casting spells. As the spells went out the sky took on a faint opaque tinge. Harry could see all about that there was a uniform protective shield protecting Hogwarts. Maybe not as good as the regular professors could do, but, hopefully, good enough to alert the DA's to incoming persons. Once done, Harry checked the time and reluctantly said, "Okay everyone, time for bed as we will have a full day tomorrow."

With that they started to drift off in various directions. The boys gravitated to the Gryffindor tower while the girls wandered to the Ravenclaw tower.

Since Harry had all the boys together, scattered about the fire, Harry thought it was a good time to ask, "What do you lot know about Harveture?"

"Hang on a moment," Lee Jordan said, "You never said how Gossiter can walk in to a muggle shop and buy cream and no one says anything. That's a bit thick to take."

Looking about the room Harry could see answering this question came first. "Remember what I said about means and methods? Well that's what we're going to talk about: but only a little. Even a little can get you lot into trouble with the ministry. Got it?" Everyone nodded as everyone was interested as no one had ever thought about house-elves as anything else but servants.

"If you remember your first year history classes we read a little about the Beginning and what we promised to do and how we were going to do it. About how we were going to act rather than be acted upon. Remember?" Seeing blank looks Harry added, "Trust me, I forgot to and had to go back to old Bagshott's book and do some re-reading. Trust me."

"Harry, you slept through every history class, I wouldn't trust you even if you were the last wizard alive!" Said Cho to hearty laughter.

Harry put up his hand and said, "You're right, history was boring, not now. I didn't grow up wizard, I wasn't taught the higher values that go along with the Beginning or the Lost Thirteen. I was whacked about the ear if I got out of line and whacked if I said a word. So, growing up, less was better. That is why I've been spending some time up in the library reading up on the Beginning and finding out all of us were there: including house-elves."

Terry Boot agreed with, "That's what me mammy says but pa says its all hogwash. He says only witches and wizards were allowed in at the Beginning."

"See, that is why we need to get it straight. From what I read everyone was at the Beginning and all were allowed to vote in their respective group. Each group was given certain skills and attributes not shared amongst every group. That is where 'means and methods' come in. Wizarding means and methods are different from house-elf means and methods… and we don't share. Not sharing is carefully enforced by the Ministry and the Wizengamot. But the Lost Thirteen says differently. Because of the Lost Thirteen we can talk to Gossiter, and any other house-elf about things. Trouble is house-elves, along with every other group, is scared to share with any other group. That fear has been ground into every group by tight fisted people hell bend on keeping power over the others in their group."

"Just like Ministry and the Wizengamot?" Said Terry Boot.

"That's right. They don't want us learning and sharing. If we do we end up at Azcaban. That's why the Lost Thirteen are so important."

"So how does he do it?" Lee Jordan asked.

"Seems to be simple to house-elves. They have magic that is different to ours. They can apparate where we can't and they can cast a shadow over a group of muggles so they can interact with muggles as if they were muggles. But their real powers lie in the ability to work hard and be loyal. So their magic supports those activities as that was given to them in the Beginning."

"So our magic is to help us?" Asked Terry Boot.

"Help us do the best we can just like house-elves have magic do help them do the best they can."

"Wow, didn't know that."

"And that is just the beginning. Ever wondered how house-elves can cook and clean Hogwarts so quickly after we make it a mess? That's their specialty: service."

"What's ours?" asked Katie Bell.

"What's our specialty?" asked Harry.

"Yeh, what's out specialty?" Katy said.

"Don't know really." Then Harry added, "Really, I'd like to stay out of trouble for a change."

That is when George Weasley joined the conversation. "Don't you remember your school stuff? Or did you sleep through every history class? We are here to have joy. Not the trivial joy that comes and goes…"

"Like your shop!" Lee Jordan said quickly to raucous laughter.

"The shop is fun bun not the real joy we are supposed to have. The real joy I'm talking about is when Fred was here. Even though he was a disaster and a total menace to Hogwarts, he was my brother. That's the real joy we are here to have, the joy of the family." Harry looked about as heads were nodding in agreement. It was then he realized how important the Dursley's were even though they were a menace to his life and wellbeing.

"I'm off to bed. Going to be a busy one tomorrow." George Weasley added as he got up and started up the stairs to his bed. Others slowly got up and headed in that general direction. The day had been long and arduous with tomorrow looking every bit as busy.

When Harry was half way asleep he realized they had not talked about Harveture. Then he rolled over and was asleep in two seconds.

Thursday May 14, 1998

The morning started early at six thirty with Gossiter letting everyone know breakfast was hot and ready downstairs in the great hall. Since it was not school time the team was slow getting everything together and down for breakfast. The last girl, Cho Chang was right behind the last boy, Dean Thomas who appeared at five-to-seven.

It was seven-thirty when everyone was fed, satisfied, and ready to get back to work. The two groups in the library were going back again for more searching. The three groups who were following the spells on the walls were going to create a 3D model of Hogwarts showing spell strengths and how they walked through the place. The goal being to make sure every part of the building was covered and revisit any place missed.

The 3D model was a challenge as none of them had any experience in wizard engineering or design work. As they tried to create a model of Hogwarts several felt Hogwarts fighting back as if it didn't want to be mapped, documented, listed or dissected into neat drawings.

The 3D model would be there and not be there. Stairs would appear then disappear. Doors and archways came and went. It was as if the Hogwarts itself could communicate with the model and disrupt its creation. The 3D model came and went most of the day as Neville struggled to put it together. The fight continued until Harry walked over to a wall and started talking to the bricks. Obviously no one could hear what Harry was saying but everyone was watching him as he put his ear against the bricks and placed one hand on the bricks. Some said he spoke Parseltongue while others said it was regular English. No one was close enough to really tell what was said or promised. Everyone agreed this was magic of a different sort, not taught at Hogwarts. In reality it was Harry just telling the building what was going on and why they were doing it. Sometimes the simple things of life get a little distorted when others not in the know are watching.

"Okay then, let's see how this thing works." Harry said as he joined the others after his little chat.

Neville started to rotate his hand as he controlled the 3D model. This time it responded perfectly. "Nice one Harry!" Neville added as things moved and changed as expected.

Luna added, "Look there, I didn't know there was a door there." Hogwarts was a big place and not every student wandered far and wide as there was too much going on and very little free time to go exploring outside their normal routine.

"Nor me," Harry said quietly as he peered at the door. Just something else to look at one day.

Then Ginny pointed to the basement and said, "Didn't know all that existed down there. Now I see why Filch liked the old days. You could lock up half the students down there and no one would know."

Then Neville flicked an invisible switch and the walls took on an opaque look. "That is the extent of the spell or spells we, sorry, Harry is dealing with. See how it covers all the walls of the building. All covered very uniformly. Like there is no weak point in the coverage." There was a pause while everyone looked at the model and the spell coverage. Then Neville added, "This is not going to be as simple as I thought." Everyone agreed as they saw what thy were up against.

"Now if you look carefully here," Neville said as he zoomed in to one of the towers, "you will see how the spell is getting between the stone blocks and slowly weakening the structure. It won't be long before the tower becomes unstable and falls down. This spell is not going to stop until this building is nothing more than a heap of fallen stone."

"Bloody hell. Better get back to the restricted section and get looking," Ernie Macmillan said. Others nodded in agreement.

Ginny added, "Looks like the spell has everything covered. That's why there are new building noises going on."

"Parvati Patil replied with, "You heard it to? I thought I was the only one."

"I can hear the noises every now and again. Not all the time." Replied Ginny.

"Okay boss, what's the plan?" Neville asked as he continued to play with the 3D model.

Then a happy George Weasley chipped in with, "If I can get a bit of the spell I could work with it into something worth selling! Harry, this is great. Wouldn't miss it for the world! Just glad dad isn't here, he'd want to join in and then mum would come storming in and take over." Harry had to smile at George's view of things.

"Okay then, let's get up to the library and help the others. There's got to be something there to help us." After a thought Harry added, "And George, stick to the spells and not get carried away with the shop."

George looked hurt which quickly changed to a smile. Harry had heard that George was wandering off the usual restricted section into other parts of the library after spells that could be of use in the shop.

It was a full and fruitless day in the library. Harry was wishing Miss Evangelista had not left. She seemed to know her way about the books. They left the piles of books where they left them when Gossiter reminded them for the third time that dinner was waiting for them in the great hall. Reluctantly, dragging their feet, the spell-busters went down to eat.

The meal was a quiet affair as success was eluding them at every turn. Gossiter made sure everyone was well fed but the sweet taste of success wasn't there.

However, there was a chill in the air. Like the stones of Hogwarts were slowly sucking out all the heat that was within the building. Ginny walked over to the fire to worm her hands. As she did so she put her hand on the mantelpiece to steady herself as she kicked a piece of wood back into the fire. The wood went flying and a shower of sparks rose up the chimney. Ginny stood there for a moment then poked about in the fire with the tip of her shoe. Carefully she flicked out of the fire a chunk of wood. She waited and then booted it back into the fire watching the shower or sparks going up the chimney. Getting the hang of this new game, Ginny did it a third and then a fourth time.

By the fourth time others were watching her playing with the fire. Being somewhat curious Harry had to ask, "Ginny, what are you doing?"

"Oh don't worry about her," George said from the table. "She has this fascination with fire. You should see her on Guy Fawkes night. She joins the muggles in building the biggest bonfire and is usually the one that sets it on fire the night before. When she was young dad had to turn her upside down to shake out all the penny bangers. That was when dad started to use her as the guy until mum found out and that was the end of that."

Harry rarely questioned Weasley family stories as he has found out, to his detriment, that they are usually true.

Ginny was glaring at her older brother when she said, "I'm doing an experiment."

George got up and walked over to the fire and said, "What? Seeing how easy it is to burn down Hogwarts? Don't kick the wood in, kick it out!"

Ginny give her brother a swift kick in the leg then added, "I said I'm experimenting so but out!"

"Okay, okay, I get the message. No need to kick so hard."

"Just payback for all those times you were mean to me."

"I was never mean, it was always Fred."

"Just because Fred is dead it doesn't mean you can blame everything on him." Ginny suddenly realized what she said and burst into tears. Harry quickly got up and was over to console Ginny. While he put his arm round Ginny he gave George a dirty look.

That was when Luna wandered over to the fire and started kicking it making sudden surges or sparks go up the chimney. After a few kicks she said, "Okay, I see what you mean." She then turned back to her chair and three dark chocolate Digestives.

Now Lee Jordan was really puzzled. So he got up, went over to the fire and kicked a solid piece of wood. He looked and noted the sparks going up the chimney and said, "Okay Luna, what am I supposed to see?"

"The sparks going up the chimney silly. That's what Ginny was seeing." Turning to Ginny she added, "That's right, isn't it?" Ginny nodded.

"Okay, okay you two," Neville started with. He then got up and walked over to the fire. "Kicking the fire is not the point. What are you two seeing that I'm missing?"

"Oooo, I see what you are doing. Brilliant… absolutely brilliant!" Parvati Patil "Should work."

Harry could see the excitement starting to percolate amongst some of the girls while the boys were dead in the water. He lifted Ginny's face and asked, "You better explain as I'm not getting it."

After a few sniffs and wiping tears away, Ginny said, "When you kick the wood sparks fly off up the chimney. When that happens they give off a bright light. Only for a few seconds. When you do that you can feel the spell weaken. Once the sparks are gone the spell comes back."

Harry whacked himself on the head and said, "Brilliant… absolutely, simply brilliant. Light chases away darkness. Truth dispels lies. Right is better then wrong…"

Ginny cut in with, "Opposites cannot exist in the same place."

"You are amazing, really amazing!" Harry said as he gave Ginny a hug followed by a really big kiss.

"Oh it is no big deal." Said Anthony Goldstein. "I knew that yesterday while walking upstairs. I could feel the spell stronger in the shadows than in the sunlight. Just forgot to tell you lot." The hoots of derision were quickly followed by anything close to hand so Goldstein had to quickly vacate his seat.

"So what you lot are saying," Harry said regrouping his thoughts, "Is that fire… no, light makes the spell weak?"

Goldstein said, "That's the way I see it. Get enough light we should be able to chase away the spell… or something like that."

Ginny nodded in agreement.

"Just like a Lubella Tershwhat," Luna said to no one in particular. "Father always says they don't like light of any sort. They only come out on the nights immediately about the new moon. When dad was at Hogwarts he spent a lot of nights in the Forbidden Forest looking for Lubella Tershwhat's as he thought that would be a typical place they should be found. He said they had special magical powers few understood as only the odd one or two had ever been captured alive and survived captivity.

"Yet he did say he came across a dead animal in the forest. Only he wasn't sure if it was a Lubella Tershwhat or not. Hard to tell when all that was left is bones. Then centaurs chased him away and he never found the bones again."

"Are you with her?" Angelina Johnson said quietly to George Weasley.

George got close to Angelina and whispered, "There are times when I'm sure no one is with her. How does Harry keep up with her?"

"Someone has to think outside the box, and I guess it's her." Angelina whispered back.

Despite the sudden spike in enthusiasm Harry knew it was late and they were going to need a full day to go down this path of light and truth. "Okay everyone. The day is over so let's get a good night's sleep and get going in the morning." Harry was surprised by the discord so he added, "Tomorrow is going to be long and difficult. We need to be properly with it so we don't make silly mistakes." The discord died down but did not go entirely away.

Harry was bone weary when he hit the sack. Then he remembered he wanted to quiz the others about Harveture: and forgot. Oh well.

Friday May 15, 1998

Friday started bright and early with a fine breakfast provided by Gossiter. While everyone was eating Harry said, "Okay, we can do this. Let's get back to the library and see how many spells there are for light. Not Lumos, something whiter and more powerful. We need to flood Hogwarts with light without doing any damage! Oh yes, and don't go with Rictusempra either!"

With that the group headed back up the stairs to the library with a sure purpose in mind. The only noise was the turning of pages and the writing down of spells that produced light to varying degree.

Rather than wait, Harry encouraged the group to find spells, charms, hex's then go practice it and see how effective it was. As usual it is one thing to read how to do a spell as against actually doing the spell. Many had forgotten the elementary rules of spellmanship and ended up somewhat battered by the unexpected effects of a messed up spell.

Obviously the first charms used was Lumos Maxima, Lumos Solem, and, of course, Lumos Duo. These three charms are all related to the base light creation charm Lumos which is tied to the Latin word lux.

As every good wizard and witch knows it was 1772 when the wand lighting charms were invented. This simple addition to the repertoire of charms revolutionized light creation spells from that point on and many a witch found her way home through the forest to their secluded cottage without getting lost.

As good as the three spells are none had the long lasting ability to move the dark spells from the Hogwarts stones.

As a spell was found the finder wrote it down on a parchment that would immediately pass on what was written to all the other parchments so as to avoid duplication of effort. This nifty bit of duplication was something Susan Bones found from some smart first year who was trying to impress her by his superior intellect. She learned the spell then told him to hold her pack of muggle gum. As far as she knew he was still looking after her gum thinking it was something special.

Harry never thought there would be so many spells related to light. Then again it could be because his fellow DA's were a bit out of practice with following spell instructions. For example Hannah Abbot found a spell that turned you're hair a lighter colour: not exactly what was needed. Ernie McMillan found a good spell that made you light enough to start floating upwards. Again, not needed right now. Lee Jordan found one spell that looked like a five foot long shaft of light coming out the end of his wand. It looked and acted like a sward. As Lee moved the shaft of light about it made a funny noise. Again, nice, not what was needed. Then Ginny found Sol Invictus Magnum.

Sol Invictus Magnum. Is one of those charms that is made for one purpose and used in many unrelated ways. Ginny got sidetracked in her search and ended up in wedding accessories for the perfect wizard wedding and reception. Aside from the flowers, birds, colouration, etc., there is a complete section on getting the right light for each moment of the festivities. As the marriage progresses from formal service to the festivities of food, drink, songs and the traditional dancing, so the lighting should change to enhance each part. This is where the legendary Magnum-O lighting system comes in. Everyone has heard of the Magnum-O system but few have actually seen it because it is top of the line and used by only those who can afford it. Casting a Sol Invictus Magnum charm without a Magnum-O system is virtually impossible. Virtually impossible, not totally impossible.

"Over here Harry. I think I have something that might work," Ginny said out loud which meant everyone gathered around. "Look at this one here," she said pointing to a magical photograph showing how the lighting system works and the different intensity of lighting. "These are good, but look at this one, the so called send-off light. See how bright it is and can be made to follow the couple of their honeymoon. That's some staying power."

"That's really white," Lavender Brown commented quietly.

"It's classified as a White #1 on the luminescence scale that Professor Dodderitch created ages ago," Ginny said as she continued to read.

"Oh that," Luna commented in a nonplussed manner. "Father went one better ages ago and managed to get a light down to a White #0.5. He was trying to attract a blind bat known as the Scratchworth as it finds its way by Scratching and listening to the sound waves."

Ginny was about to say something but Harry put his hand on her shoulder and said, "So, where did the light come in if the bat was blind?"

"The bat is only blind to regular light. It is perfectly okay in the infra red area of the light spectrum."

"Of course, I forgot." Harry said in all seriousness. Then followed up with, "Did your father use the Magnum-O system?"

"Of course not silly. He built his own."

"Did it work?"

"Sort of. Just a little more tweaking and it would be finished."

"Just a little more tweaking…" muttered an all knowing Harry.

"I guess so. Then father got called away as someone sighted a very rare Terra-Two-Tail in North Africa. I think that's where he is at the moment."

"So who's running the paper?

"O silly, it's all done by magic. Father gets all the stories, checks them for accuracy then sends them in and it's all done by magic. Isn't that what magic is for?" Somehow things always look better when Luna explains them to you.

"So you don't have a working Magnum-O system?"

"Not at this very moment. Could be ready for tomorrow, or the day after. Father is very busy these days now Voldemort is gone. So many good stories are flooding in from people afraid to send in stories because they feared what Voldemort would do to them." Then she added, "Don't you love freedom?"

"I do but right now I'd go for a Magnum-O system to see if this White #1 is what it's supposed to be like and do." Harry said to Ginny who gave him a weak smile. She could tell he was disappointed as this spell looked promising.

That was when George pulled out a thick deep blue notebook from his inside jacket pocket and started thumbing through it.

"What's that?" Neville asked.

"Stuff." Was the noncommittal reply.

"Looks like important stuff: if you ask me." Piped in Padma Patil.

"Everything's important to me." Then George added. "I think there is a work-a-round. Something I stumbled across a while ago. Should work." Then he said, "Harry, you got the keys to Snape's personal supply of stuff?"

"Yep."

"If I get this right I think I can get you the lights in a short while." Harry tossed the keys and George was off like a rocket with Angelina Johnson right behind.

"Okay everyone," Harry said, "Let's keep looking. Plenty more books out there to go through. Plenty of time and if you are hungry then Gossiter can get you a snack."

No one was hungry, everyone was busy and plenty books were being scoured then put back on the shelf to make room for the next book. Everybody knew why they were there and what they were doing and how important it was to Hogwarts.

The yell of "Harry! I've got it!" was accompanied by a brilliant white light as George burst into the library. He zoomed over to where the others were and soon he was seated and everyone was gathered around.

"Okay," George said as he gathered his breath and tried to hide his excitement in his achievement. "This is way better than the stuff at the shop. This stuff is powerful!" Inside the glass jar were round balls of bright white light rising and falling inside the jar. It was absolutely mesmerizing until George punched Harry in the arm. "Oi mate! Snap out of it."

"Sorry," Harry said as he rubbed his arm. George hit him hard.

George continued with, "That's one of the side effects. Gotta get you out of it or else you'll sit there for ever enjoying the light show." George looked about at the others and asked, "Everyone with me? Check your neighbour and whack them if they look dopy."

"Hay!" Said, Seamus Finnigan

"Just checking," replied Ernie Macmillan.

"Then go check on someone else." Was Seamus' terse reply.

"Okay, settle down." Said a delighted George.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"Just getting to that." Then in a louder voice so everyone could hear George said, "This is something Fred and I were working on a while ago. We were going to call it 'Catch me if you can.'" George scanned the blank looking faces. "Okay… okay I see I have to work on the name a little more."

"What's it supposed to do?" Asked Susan Bones.

"If you see something going on you throw one of these light balls at it and it illuminates the area. Also has the ability to stay with the object that might be running away at this time."

"Or running toward you to strangle you." Someone said and was followed by a good ripple of laughter.

"That's why I'm not giving a warrantee with this gag. Especially as you are throwing it away."

"How long does it last?" Someone else asked.

"This size an easy five to ten minutes. Bigger ones last longer. I'll put a legend on he glass if you want. Sort of size against time." George looked about and asked, "Any more questions or should we go and see what this stuff does on the dark spells?"

There was a general agreement that an experiment should take place to see if this light could do anything to ever present dark magic on Hogwarts. The only question was where?

Quietly Harry asked George, "Have you done this stuff before?" Rather than say anything George pulled out his notebook and flipped to the right page so Harry could read the title. In big red letters was the word, 'Dangerous in confined spaces'. Followed by equally large red letters of 'Throw and run in the opposite direction – Fast.'

"Okay, this is going to be interesting," Harry said with a smile. He was thinking, 'After Tom, this has to be easier'.

George chose the banister railing going up from the ground floor to the first floor. He selected it as there was nothing between the banister and the main Hogwarts doors. He was planning to plant a light ball and run like hell out of doors. That was until Harry asked, "How are we going to know if the dark spell leaves?" Then he added, "That is if there is no one here noting what happened."

George stood up and said, "Good point Harry. Hadn't thought of that." Then, after a pause, George added, "Has to be one of the girls who can feel the dark spell." Harry nodded. "And a guy better stay with the girl: just in case."

"Better not." Harry said quietly to George. "Don't want too many people involved… just in case." Harry turned around and said, "Hay Cho, I need your help here."

The second Harry called on Cho, Ginny said, "I think Luna would be better as she understands Parseltongue."

"Good point. Sorry Cho, Luna, over here for a moment"

Luna came over and asked, "You want me to see what happens?"

"Can you do that?"

"Should be easy. I'll just sit on the steps and see what happens."

Since Harry couldn't think of any reason why not, he said, "Sounds okay to me." Then he said to everyone, "I think we have a plan." Everyone gathered round then Harry said, "George here has these light balls. He is going to place one on the stairs, by the banister and Luna here will sit on the stairs and see what happens to the spells." Then Harry asked, "Any questions?"

"What are you expecting to happen? Katy Bell asked.

"Don't know," Harry said in a disarming manner. "That's why we're experimenting first to see what happens."

"Okay," Katy Bell replied in a little unsure voice.

Seeing there were no other questions, Harry said, "If that's it, step away from the stairs and no hanging on to the banisters, any of them… just in case." Looking at Luna, Harry suggested, "Why don't you sit close to the banisters and put one hand on the stairs and the other on the banister. Sort of get two locations."

"Actually," Luna said thoughtfully, "I was thinking of putting my feet on the banisters and hands on the steps. That way I get more contact."

George was looking concerned as everyone else was edging toward the door. He eased up to Harry and said, "Harry, I was planning on tossing one of these light balls at the banisters, not place one."

"What if you miss? Can't have that. Have to be sure it goes where you want. If you want, use a broom to get you out fast. Just remember Luna is back there."

In a clear voice Neville stated, "If Luna is staying, then I'm staying with her. Just in case like."

"Neville, you can't feel the dark magic: Luna can." Was Harry's rebuttal.

"I may not feel the magic, but I can help… just in case. Anyway, we never left you alone… did we?"

Harry knew Neville was right. The DA's never let him down. Actually the DA's were way in front of him tackling Professor Snape and the others on their own. "Okay, you can stay, just do what Luna says. Got it?"

"Got it," was Neville's confident reply.

"Hay, wait a minute. I'm not going to be left out of this," Lavender Brown chipped in.

"Hang on a moment." Harry interjected in earnest, "This isn't something everyone can join in. This is an experiment. So the fewer the better. Just George here and Luna. Only two, not three or four. Okay?" Seeing no one objecting Harry continued with, "Everyone by the door. Luna, on the stairs and George ready to place one of your light balls."

There was the quick movement as everyone got in place. Luna sat on the bottom step, kicked off her shoes so she could feel the banisters while a nervous George looked about making sure he had a direct line to the door. Then George pulled out some tongs and yelled, "Everyone ready?"

Everyone yelled back, "Yes." The noise of the retort made George jump three inches as the noise reverberated about the building.

"Ohh," Luna said as she settled down. "The spell is agitated. It knows something is going on. This is interesting!" Her emphasis on the word 'is' didn't help Georges' nerves.

George held the jar in one hand while he undid the lid with the other. Then he reached in and pulled out a light ball with the tongs and the plan was to quickly put it on the bottom step close to Luna. The plan never happened.

The minute George pulled the light ball out of the jar all hell broke loose. Luna and George were pulled up the stairs in the blink of an eye. Luna screamed all the way up while George let out a loud and very guttural groan type yell as he zoomed up on the banisters. Then the light ball went out and both zoomed down the stairs and were flung off and crashed into the floor in a crumpled heap.

Everyone looked on absolutely stunned at what they saw. Ginny was first to move and raced over to her banged up brother. As she tried to roll him onto his back all she could hear was, "That was bloody brilliant!" Followed about being careful as he was rolled. All Harry saw was the big smile on his face as George muttered, "Can I do that again?"

Luna was being looked after by the girls as they tried to straighten her out and find her shoes. Both were very slow at getting into a sitting position.

"What happened?" Harry asked George. "I mean, one second you were at the bottom of the stairs, then you were at the top of the stairs, then back at the bottom. It all happened so fast."

"Don't worry Harry, I remember it all." A wounded George said.

"Luna, any ideas?" Asked Harry.

"Mmm, I think it was the dark spells. I mean, the second George pulled out that light ball the spell I could feel the spell pulling back. By the time we got to the top of the stairs, the dark spell had defeated the light and pushed us back down again. Like it was reclaiming its territory. Well, that's what I think anyway."

"So you actually felt the dark spells move?" George asked.

"Felt the spell move and heard some Parseltongue. Didn't understand it, but I did hear something."

"How did the spell feel?" Neville asked

"Like it was hurt… angry like. Full of rage that someone was trying to push it away."

This was all new territory to Harry. This was one time he was really wished Herminie was at hand. She would understand the dark spells and how to get rid of them. Except she was in Australia trying to help her parents get their memories of her back. Even with Ginny, Harry felt alone without his two best friends.

Ginny caught the worried look on Harry's face. She could tell he was struggling a bit. They all were all shook up and struggling a bit. The speed of the dark spells reaction was alarmingly fast. Neither George nor Luna had a chance to do anything except go for the ride. This type of experimenting was a little bit more than Harry was expecting. Experimenting on inanimate objects is one thing, putting your friends lives on the line is totally different.

Struggling a bit George finally stood up and said, "Okay, I can handle this. Just like when we came across Jim-Bobes a while ago. Took us a few weeks before we got the hang how it worked. Do the same here."

"Hang on," Harry said, "This isn't something as simple as that. You almost died just then."

"Part of the risk of being an inventor, old son. Someone has to be first and that is us: Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

"You might be dead first at this rate."

"Oh come on Harry. That was only the first try. Get a bit of rest then do something different."

"I don't think so. That was not a good way."

"Exactly! Have to change something and try again." Said George.

Finally Luna stood up and dusted herself down. Both George and Luna were a bit of a mess from their joy ride up and down the stairs. Then Luna said, "Harry, you have to do it to understand what is being said in Parseltongue.

Harry was taken by surprise and it showed. His face went white and he sat down with a thump on the stairs. Ginny quickly joined him and put her arm about his shoulders. Harry was thinking and was getting absolutely no where. He knew Luna was right. No one else understood Parseltongue except him. And to better understand the spell they had to understand that was being said.

"No." Neville said in a sure voice. "There has to be another way. Harry can't keep sticking his neck out every time something comes along."

"Then what are you suggesting?" Lavender Brown asked. "If we keep on looking in the library we might find something. Or we can work with what we've got and see how far it goes. Say split up into two teams, one to keep looking in the library and the other to work with George here and modify these light balls."

"Changing these light balls isn't that easy." George said as he struggled to stay upright. "The spell didn't have any modification sections, just how to make the light balls."

"So, where did you get the spell?" Someone from the back asked.

A rye smile spread across George's face followed by, "Sneaky question. "Have to be on a need-to-know base. Right now I'm the only one who needs to know."

Cutting the conversation short Harry said, "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to sit on the bottom stair, like Luna, while George throws one of his light balls at the banisters." Looking at George, Harry said, "You better hit it. Then I should go zooming about and can listen to the Parseltongue. Any questions?"

Ginny was dancing from one foot to the other. This is not what she expected. With Voldemort dead she was expecting something like a normal relationship with Harry. Not having to sit by watching Harry getting thrown about like some rag doll using her brother's questionable magical ambitions. That's when she realized this is what Harry has been doing every year since starting at Hogwarts and it was Herminie and Ron watching, and joining in, on his exertions into the unknown. Rather than start fussing Ginny walked up to Harry and said, "Shoes and socks off and give me your glasses." Harry smiled at his Ginny as he did as he was told.

Once ensconced on the stairs Harry yelled at George, who was outside the Hogwarts doors, "Ready!"

"Okay, here it comes." George replied followed by a light ball being tossed at the stairs. As it came sailing in through the door something like a dark hand came up from the floor, grabbed the light ball and snuffed it out. The ball never made it to the stairs.

The anticlimactic action left everyone feeling let down. That is when Gossiter came walking in from the kitchen and over to Harry still sitting on the stairs wondering what to do next. Gossiter opened with, "Master Potter, if I may make a suggestion."

"Sure, but lets go for a walk up the stairs." The two of them walked up the stairs and out of earshot of the others. Harry didn't want to get the other DA's into trouble with the Ministry any more than was necessary.

It was a short conversation. When they got back down the stairs Gossiter headed off to the kitchens and Harry said, "Okay, I have another plan." Everyone was starting to get weary of Harry's plans. "Remember transfiguration classes when Professor McGonagall gave us all empty boxes and told us to find the rabbit? Remember the box was white on the outside and black on the inside and all we did was sit there opening and lid and looking inside the empty box?"

"Yeh, and the box was the rabbit." Grumbled Neville. He was not the best at transfiguration and was happy to get out of that class by the skin of his teeth!

"Forget the rabbit and think of the box… black on the inside boxes." Teased Harry.

"Ohhh, that should work," Luna said enthusiastically.

"Oh it is no big deal." Said Anthony Goldstein. "I thought of it yesterday when lying in bed thinking over the problem. The second he finished a few items were thrown his way which he easily avoided.

"Okay bright spark," Harry countered, "Then what is the plan?"

"Easy," replied Goldstein, "Boxes with Georges light balls dotted about the place. Say start off with a pile in the dungeons the more on every floor all the way up to the top. Then time the boxes to open level by level pushing the spells off the top of the building. I think that should do it."

Harry was stunned by Goldstein's simple yet expansive explanation. All Harry was thinking of was repeating the experiment with one box at the bottom of the stairs. Not as all encompassing as Goldstein was thinking.

"Wow, hang on a second," George cut in. "That is a lot of these balls. Will take some time getting that many together."

"What's stopping you?" Goldstein asked. "Come on, we are the DA's. We fought Voldemort and are alive to tell the tail. If we can do that then we can do this." There was a general murmur of agreement from the rest of the DA's.

"What do you need?" Harry asked

"Storage jars, boxes and more of Snape's stuff. Say three teams and we can get this stuff ready tonight and try out Goldstein's plan tomorrow." George said confidently.

"Sounds good. Before we get going, time for a bite to eat. Gossiter has it ready for us."

Gossiter had prepared finger food as he knew a full blown meal would slow them up as they had much to do. The DA's took what they wanted and sat about chatting away. There was excitement in the air despite the several setbacks.

Ginny and Harry were sitting close to each other when Ginny asked, "You think it would work?"

"Goldstein is smart," Harry said, "and I like the plan. Just didn't think about doing the whole building at one go. Like, that's a big step to go from trying out a few light balls to hundreds all over the place all timed to go off differently and in order. Just a big step to go for."

"But you think it would work?" A concerned Ginny asked.

"Don't see why not. Anyway, what other plan do we have? Mine didn't work too well."

"At lease you had a plan…"

"So did Goldstein: except he didn't speak up." Harry and Ginny ate on in silence while the general hubbub carried on all around them.

The rest of the day was spent in gathering storage jars so that the light balls that George was busy making could be stored in. Seems jars were the perfect storage place as the light balls did not degrade once inside the jars.

The boxes proved to be a bit of a challenge as there was no wood shop, per se, in Hogwarts. However, Filch had several storage places where he kept items to use on the upkeep of Hogwarts. One room was where he kept his supply of wood. Predominantly Oak as that was the wood of choice by the founding four, but there was a variety of other woods in the store room. Once found the DA's got going on making boxes roughly six inches on all sides. A nice handy size that George was designing light balls for.

George had the hardest task of all. Getting the chemicals just right every time was proving to be a challenge. Since potions was not his strong point he relied heavily on Angelina Johnson. Between the two of them they managed to get some of the DA's on a production line making the light balls.

It was late afternoon when George ran out of ingredients to make any more light balls. He had gone though every professor's private collections of pills, potions and mixes just in case he missed any spare supplies. It seems that Professor Snape indeed had the most comprehensive supply of various items secured carefully in well labeled jars.

While George was busy making light balls Goldstein had been busy working in the 3D model of Hogwarts. He had modified the model to include the boxes containing the light balls. By careful simulation he was slowly relocating the boxes for maximum coverage with the minimum number of boxes. The shape of Hogwarts did not lend itself to light box placement. With slow determination the locations were selected and then came the timing of starting off in the dungeons and working upward to push the spells out the top of the building. Sort or like reverse lightning.

Even though they had only did a couple experiments, Goldstein was planning that as the light balls pushed the dark spells further and further up the building the stronger and stronger the spells would be due to spell concentration. Spell concentration is a minor topic in the spectrum of spell making and spell casting which means the phenomena is little understood outside a group of spell geeks of which Goldstein was one, abet a junior member. Goldstein wanted to contact the more senior members of the group but knew it would be impossible to do so without the members wanting to be on the action. So he used several algorithms that he had been working on as spell concentration was an interesting topic to him. By adding in the algorithms to the 3D model of Hogwarts Goldstein could see more light balls were going to be needed closer to the top of the spires to add light power to put the final squeeze on the dark spells to fling them off the building.

Goldstein presented his findings to the group once George had finished his work and the box makers were likewise done. Goldstein took a good fifteen minutes going over his plan and everyone sat there in stunned silence. No one had any idea that Goldstein was anything but a quiet boy going to Hogwarts. Since no one had any questions to put to Goldstein Harry said, "Well, let's do it. Everyone outside and lets get loading the boxes with light balls."

Everyone trooped out and found a secluded spot close to Dumbledore's tomb. There they carefully transferred the light balls to the boxes. The process was done carefully as they had no more ingredients to make more light balls and Harry didn't know how to get more ingredients. Simply put this was going to be a one shot experiment with everything in this one try.

Once done George said, "We need to go before the light balls go dim."

"Right," said Harry. Then he added "Goldstein, you lead the way."

As they took off Harry asked Goldstein, "Where did all that come from. Not stuff taught at Hogwarts."

"Not in regular classes. I got it all from Professor Flitwick. You know, the Charms Master."

"I know him."

"Well we got talking and it seems we have common interests. We both want to be engineers. Or rather Professor Flitwick wanted to be an engineer and I want to be an engineer. I mean, magic is all okay, but to understand what you are doing and then watch it happen is pretty special. Parents want me to be a good wizard so I come here and work with Professor Flitwick on special projects. Since we are here at Hogwarts we worked on understanding how and why the founding four picked this location, how they built the building and why this material."

"Oh," was all Harry could think to say. Stuff about Goldstein he never knew.

Once in the dungeons Goldstein said, "Okay you lot. Quiet! We got work to do." Looking at the 3D model he directed the placement of black boxes. Once placed he connected a thin string like connector to each box. Each connection was sort of odd and no one understood what Goldstein was doing. So Harry asked, "What's that?"

Without looking up Goldstein said, "Connection back upstairs So I can control the opening of each box. Got to get timing right or else." No one needed to ask what the 'or else' meant. Goldstein asked one of the DA's to take each string like connector upstairs and out the doors to where he had his control center located. Actually the control center was a fold-up table with one chair. On the table was a box that Goldstein told everyone not to touch.

Once the dungeons and basement was done they moved to the main floor and repeated the effort. Goldstein kept reviewing the locations against the 3D model until they matched. Then he went up the building floor by floor, being methodical, careful and quiet for yet another review. There was something eerie about how Goldstein went about his business. In some ways he knew the building better than Harry did: more from an engineering than a wizard point of view. The hard parts were the towers as that was where Goldstein was expecting the most difficulty in blasting the dark spells out of Hogwarts.

Rather than locate boxes with light balls at the base of the spires, Goldstein chose to locate them in a spiral going up the spires. He was thinking, and hoping, that this would be enough to force the spells out and away from Hogwarts.

Once all done Goldstein went back over everything once more: checking each box and location was in agreement with the 3D mode. Then he started work on connecting all the string like connectors into the control box. Upon opening the box to do the final connections everyone could see the timing mechanism. It was an intricate mechanism of cogs, wheels, jewels, and finely made chains all ran by a spring type device. Under Goldstein's directions things slowly came together. Once done everyone was duly impressed at the workmanship and amount of work it had taken. It was obvious to Harry that Goldstein was a master of his craft. Now he hoped that it would work as there was no fall-back plan.

"Okay Goldstein," Harry said, "Run through it one more time so we are ready."

"As you can see, the boxes are placed at carefully selected places from bottom to top of Hogwarts. The plan is to push the dark spells out of the building starting at the bottom and push them up and out of the building. That is the plan. To do the plan requires the boxes top open in sequence at predetermined time intervals. The plan is to open the boxes in the dungeon first and push the dark spells up and out of the dungeons. Then the lights here in the ground floor will come on to keep pushing the dark spells up to the first floor. We have to keep the dark spells moving upwards as the light balls down below will go out after some time as George has designed the balls to be brilliant white which means their life will be shorter than we would like. That means we need speed to keep pushing the spells up and out. The tricky part will be the towers. That is where you lot come in. Once the spell is passed the ground floor everyone has to rush in and start firing light hexes all over the place. We need to put pressure on the spell and the more light the better. Just remember you will be rushing up a seven-story building with a hundred and forty-two staircases and into every tower there is at Hogwarts. And believe me, there is a load of towers to go through before we can say the dark spells are gone."

Harry listened thoughtfully at what Goldstein had said. Then Harry added, "We don't know what is going to happen so come in, wands out, and meaning every spell, hex and anything else you can think of. I think I can promise you one thing, the dark spells are not going quietly."

"What about the Parseltongue words?" Someone asked.

"I'll worry about them if I hear something. At the moment we don't have any spare stuff to play about with. Everything we have is right here." Turning to Goldstein, Harry asked, "Timing, go through the timing with us."

"Okay. The timing is going to be fast. Once I start the sequence the dungeons followed by the basement then ground floor are going to take something like less than a second. It might be a full second before the light balls reach the seventh floor and then start going up the spires."

"Hold on a moment," Neville cut in. "You expect us to rush in and go up seven flights of stairs in under a second? Hello, how fast do you think we can run going up moving staircases?"

"Ahh, hadn't thought about that." Goldstein said. A stunned silence fell over the group. They were only minutes away from doing the plan and now they have found a fatal flaw in the plan.

"No problem," Harry said quietly. "We can do this and we have the means… don't we Neville."

"Do we?"

"What were you doing then I got here at Hogwarts? You had wires and all sorts of stuff all over the place. You said we needed to learn new tricks incase Hogwarts was attacked again. Well, let's design the means of going up and go up real fast so we can be up at the seventh floor when the light balls go off so we can be right behind the balls when they go off in the towers."

"Brilliant, bloody brilliant!" George said. "This is going to be absolutely brilliant. Always wanted to find a way to go zooming about not used by regular wizards. Should be able to make something for the shop."

Ginny cut in with, "Will you stop worrying about the shop and concentrate on what Harry's saying. This is serious stuff so listen up."

"No, listen to Neville. He had this place wired so I think Neville can figure it all out so we can all go upwards as a group and attack all the towers in order."

Neville looked hard at Harry, then said, "We can do this. We are the DA's and survived the battle of Hogwarts. Now let's save Hogwarts and do it properly."

"Ah, I think I better remind you all the light balls are placed and not going to last for ever," George added. "If you are going to do it, let's get it done fast."

"Time to go, Neville." Harry said.

Neville stood up, looked about and saw everyone was looking at him. Shaking himself into action he said, "Right, follow me and let's do this!"

Neville started firing orders out in rapid succession. In five minutes he had rearranged the wiring to allow the DA's to go rapidly upward to get everyone to the top in about a second. Next came the practices to see if they really could do it. All the DA's lined up outside the main door and when Goldstein said 'Go' they all rushed in, grabbed their designated wire and were dragged upward to the seventh floor where they rushed up the towers.

They did it three times and felt comfortable that they had it down. Then Harry said one more time: just in case. The fourth effort was just as good as the third.

"Let's go through it one more time," Harry said. "We only have one chance and it's slipping by. Everyone, listen to Goldstein again. And if anyone sees something missing then speak up."

A humbled Goldstein reiterated what he had said before. This time not quite as quickly and not quite as surely as before. He realized they almost lost their one chance. This time there was no questions, comments or pointers.

"Then, I guess, we are ready to go." Harry said as he looked about the DA's. No one said anything so Harry carried on with, "Positions everyone. Positions and good luck!" Once they were lined up Harry said, "Wands out, and first person get ready to go." Harry pulled two wands out and put them between his teeth as he needed both hands on the wire because the jerk upwards was pretty sharp.

Goldstein was at his table reviewing everything one last time. He then drew in a deep breath and hit the timing button and yelled, "Go!" His timing was spot on.

Everything happened at the speed of light. In the dungeons was a blinding flash of white light as the boxes fell open. The dark spells reacted in a flash by retreating from the spell by going upward to the basement. Less than a second later the boxes in the basement fell open releasing more powerful white light. Again the dark magic retreated upward to the ground floor. This retreating continued floor by floor through the seven levels all the way into the towers. In reality the time it took to go from the dungeons to the top of the seventh floor was less than a second. The dark spells did not have time to react only retreat.

While the light zooming upwards so were the DA's They made it to the seventh floor just after the boxes fell open and the light burst forth. Harry yelled, "To the towers and fire everything you've got at the spells." Harry and Ginny ran to the Astronomy Tower. The minute Harry opened the door he felt something powerful waiting for him. The force was real even though he could not see it. Redoubling his effort Harry pressed on along the Astronomy corridor passing the reading rooms, classrooms, astronomy rooms and to the base of the stairs leading up to observatory area. The last time Harry was here was when Dumbledore died. Maybe that is why Harry chose this tower over all the others.

Once he put his foot on the stares something dark entered into his very soul that caused him to freeze to the ground. It was darker than even the darkest Dementor. Froze to the ground Harry could not move. Then his eyes closed, hands went to his side, head to his chest and then he started to fall to the ground. That is when Ginny stepped in and gave him a heavy whack to the side of his head. The whack knocked him off the steps and all the way to the other side of the corridor.

"Ouch, what the heck did you do that for," Harry said as he gained his strength. "That hurt!"

"Meant to. Get your wands and let's get going." Ginny said in a fierce voice. "No bloody spell is going to get to us tonight." With that Ginny started firing all sorts of spells up the stairs. Every one landed but did absolutely nothing to the dark spells. Despite the entire building being flooded with white light, the spell was tenaciously hanging on by its fingernails determined to do anything to survive and then win.

That was when Harry understood the Parseltongue for the first time. The words came small and clear. "Harry potter is still alive while the Dark Lord is dead." It was repeated three times followed by, "We want revenge." The words were not loud, angry, or demanding. The words were, however, piercing. They pierced Harry to so much so he feared for his life.

Seeing Ginny's determined face caused Harry to jump up and start firing everything he had using both wands. Nothing seemed to work. In fact the more spells, hexes and jinks they fired the dark spell seemed to get stronger. Then the dark spell went on the attack. Somehow the darkness swirled down the stairs and encircled Ginny. She was fighting hard from the inside while Harry was firing everything he had from the outside. Nothing seemed to affect the dark spell's reach. Seeing Ginny start to be squeezed Harry directed his wand up the stairs and yelled out, "Expecto Patronum" The powerful thought he was holding on to was his Ginny. A brilliant white stag burst forth from the end of his wand and started to go up the stairs to the top. Not stopping there Harry used his second wand and likewise yelled out "Expecto Patronum". A second stag burst forth and followed the first stag up the stairs. Just as suddenly as it came, the dark spells let Ginny go and retreated away from the two brilliant white stags tossing their heads from side to side pushing and pushing the dark spells to the very edge of the parapets. That is when Ginny went rushing up the stairs also yelling out "Expecto Patronum" Her horse burst forth, reared up and pushed the dark spell off the edge and into oblivion.

From the high Astronomy tower Harry and Ginny could see the other towers and various Partonus' likewise pushing the remnants of the dark spell off the towers. "I guess they knew what to do." Harry said as he hugged Ginny. Ginny was hugging on for dear life as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She was realizing just how close they came to being defeated and then wondered if this is what it had been like for Harry, Ron and Herminie for the past years. Somehow she was glad she didn't know everything they went through. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

Slowly they came down the towers and gathered about on the seventh floor. "Everyone okay?" Harry asked the roughed up DA's. Several nodded in pride while others offered the usual, "Yeh, were good." While others added, "Is that it?"

That's when Gossiter suddenly appeared and said to Harry, "If you are finished up here food's ready down in the main hall. Something special for everyone." A general cheer erupted and DA's started to head down to the meal.

"Hang on a moment." Harry said. "Anyone checked to see if the spells are still about?" The looks on the various faces said no. "We better check before eating just in cast we get jumped with something worse."

The DA's split back up onto three groups as before and went back around Hogwarts running their fingers along the walls. The dark spells had indeed been forced out of the school building.

Only after the general consultation was over did everyone head to the dining hall. Gossiter had excelled himself. The meal was sumptuous as was the apple crumble with double Devon clotted cream.

After the food had gone and a the chatter had died down to a reasonable level did Harry get to his feet. Looking about with pride at the best of the best Harry said, "That was absolutely bloody brilliant. You lot are the best." Seeing Goldstein at the back Harry said, "Goldstein, come up here." A rather embarrassed Goldstein came up and Harry put his arm about his shoulder. "This guy is great. He had the brains and ideas to make this happen." A resounding applause broke forth as Goldstein took a bow and worked his way back to his seat. As he did so he received plenty of "Well done" from fellow DA's.

"And without George and his potions teacher Angelina the light balls wouldn't be here. I want to say thanks to both of them." Again a good round of applause sounded throughout the hall.

"And a special thanks to Luna, Cho and the Patil girls who could feel the spells. Without you lot it would have taken me ages going about the building checking on where the spell was. You saved me days and days of work. Thank you!"

The owl came swooping in through the window left open for incoming owls. Lavender Brown knew this owl was scouting the seventh quadrant for any breach in their detection spells about Hogwarts. Someone had beached their spells.

Michael Corner went speeding up the Astronomy tower as that offered the best view of that area.

"Okay everyone," Harry said calmly, "Someone has decided to visit Hogwarts so let's stay calm and follow my lead."

"What lead is that?" Ernie Macmillan asked in a shaky voice.

"Just follow along with me." Harry said

"And me," Ginny added.

"What about me?" piped in George.

"Ah, no. Not George: just in case someone is expecting a booby trap somewhere along the line." Harry said calmly to George's raised eyebrow. "I'm still a teacher given a task to do. The task required me calling in help: that's you lot. Together we have removed the spells and now getting ready to inform Filch he can return to carry on his summer tasks. Everyone get the basic story?"

Heads nodded as the announcement from Michael Corner was a single person marching across from Hogsmeade.

Then the Gargoyle to the left of the main Hogwarts door announced, "Person at the door."

The doors flew open and in strolled Professor McGonagall sans walking stick

"Professor Potter, I see congratulations are in order. You have passed the test and removed the spells."

"Test… what test?" Harry blurted out in astonishment.

"The test laid out for you. The test to see if you could discover that light dispels darkness. That truth is more powerful the lies. That obedience is better than rebellion. That doing something of your own free will is far more interesting than being compelled in all things."

Harry was absolutely gob smacked at this revelation. The stunned look on his face said it all. He was so stunned that he was unable to say anything.

Finding his voice Neville that led the charge. "Are you saying this was all a test for Harry?"

"Oh no: not Harry alone. It was for all of you." Professor McGonagall said as she led the way back in to the great hall. "Take a seat and I shall explain." Harry and the DA's formed a semicircle about Professor McGonagall who used her wand to conjure a comfortable chair to sit on. "Now let me go back a little bit. First and foremost the dark spells on Hogwarts were placed there by the Dark Lord during the battle. One of his little tricks we were expecting. Or rather Professor Dumbledore was expecting. As you all know Professor Dumbledore had paid careful attention to Tom throughout his entire school career and had a better understanding of the boy than most. It seems Tom had a panache for certain spells, one being delayed action spells and incantations.

"I think there is a certain shop that can relate to delayed action gags and tricks. Is that right Mr. Weasley?" An embarrassed George turned bright red as he usually did when put on the spot.

"As I was saying, the spells were real and the outcome sure. The question being, who would counteract the spells? Fortunately Mr. Potter here was on hand so he was presented with the task to do so.

"Before you ask, yes one of the other professors could have achieved the same end in a little less time using a little less effort and gaining little experience. And that is the entire point: experience.

"All of you have graduated from Hogwarts and can now close your books and never look at them again. Sadly that is what most do. As the saying goes, if you are not gaining understanding, you are losing ground. So how do you gain understanding? Well this little test is one of those ways Hogwarts can help. Think of it as a summer school for select Hogwarts alumni."

"A test, are you kidding me! This was only a test?" Fumed Harry. "You mean we did all this for a test? How many more are there out there? All I get is tests here and tests there. Why can't things be simple! I didn't ask for all this… all I wanted was to get away from the Dursley's and have fun at Hogwarts!"

"And so you did and so you shall. However, and it is a big however, life is not like that. No one said life is going to be easy only that the journey shall be worth it. So what is the journey Professor Potter… What is the journey?"

"The journey is life," Ginny said from Harry's side where she had been all the time.

"Correct Miss. Weasley. And is life fair to you and your family? Is life fair to Mr. Longbottom? And is life fair to Professor Potter? Of course not. Life was not meant to be fair, only worth it. If life is not fair and only worth it, when will it be worth it? Net week… next month, Next year? Tell me Professor Potter, when will life be worth it?"

"When we die and move on," Ginny said softly as she was thinking of Fred.

"Until that point, you, Professor Potter, and all of your friends here shall face challenges, tests if you like, every day for the rest of your lives. Is that fair? I think so as there is nothing special about you lot that deserves anything less than the rest of us.

"However, you are special in the fact you were the ones that chose to join this august group, learn how to defend yourselves and were willing to fight for your rights: your inalienable rights given you from the Beginning. In recognition you were invited to come back for further testing, which, I can now say, you all passed."

"Hang on a moment here," George cut in with, "When did I sign up for anything?" He looked about and noted others nodding in agreement. "All I did was come along for some fun with Harry."

"Exactly. That was your right to choose and you did."

"Okay, wait a minute… hang on here." Harry said in a high degree of unease. "Was this all set up? Planned like?"

"If you remember I gave you an assignment: which you accepted. That was the initiating clause of the story that followed. Myself, Professor Dumbledore, and some of the previous headmasters have been watching you and assumed you would call in your friends. We didn't force you to do so, just assumed you would: and you did. From then on you showed initiative, skill and resourcefulness in finding the means and methods to remove Riddle's spells that were griping Hogwarts. Did we force you? No. Did we offer any help? No. Did you do it on your own? Yes. And that is what we expected."

Harry was agitated and it showed. What Professor McGonagall said was all true. However, Harry was not happy being pegged, predicted and presumed to follow the predetermined course to this point in time and place.

Seeing Harry was disturbed Professor McGonagall continued with, "Professor Potter, you and your friends have been given much therefore much is required of you. You came here and have been well fed by your house elf, your free house elf, Gossiter. On my orders he has been adding some rather mundane memory power to your meals. Memory powder, as you should know, is used to enhance memory for those who use their memories, and diminishes memories for those that fail to use what they have. So it is with you. As I said earlier, those who are moving forward will gain more skills and remember more, while those who regress through stagnation will loose what they have to the point of not even remembering this event. That is the point of moving forward, gaining more, understanding better and enhancing what you have. Or, on the other hand, coasting along, learning nothing, doing little, and forgetting everything. Hence the saying, you are either moving toward the light or away from it. There is no middle ground."

"So who else has done this?" Neville asked in a careful tone.

"Excellent question Mr. Longbottom. Rather than sit here and go through a list of names, suffice it to say not every Hogwarts graduate has been invited back for further summer classes. Go back and ask. Those who have been here will respond positively while those who have not will be puzzled at the question and dismiss it as something silly.

"The question you should be asking is, what's next? So since you are asking the question, let me provide you with the answer. And the answer is to get on with your life. The real battle will be the regular day-to-day work of getting up, going to work, getting married, having a family, getting old and enduring to the end. That is the real work ahead of each of you. Most of us will never reach the notoriety of Professor Potter here, or of Mr. Longbottom finding the sward of Gryffindor in a motley old hat then killing the snake. You will have the fearful memories of the battle fought within these walls. Those memories shall never grow dim just less important to the wellbeing of your individual families. For the family is where true happiness lies." Seeing a hand go up Professor McGonagall said, "Yes Miss Bones,"

"There is one question I've always wanted to ask. Why are none of the professors here at Hogwarts married?"

"Astute observation. Very astute but not quite correct. As you know there is always a fine line between students and professors even though some professors do have their favorites. But there is a part of that line that is not to be crossed and that line is to do with families. We do not mix our families with work. And believe you me, being a professor at Hogwarts is real work. Once the work is done, dinner is over, those of us whom are still married retreat to our various homes to relax and get ready for upcoming challenges."

"Who's married?"

"I think I am correct in saying we are all married only some of us lost husbands, wives and children during the first battle with Lord Voldemort and his cronies. There has continued to be skirmishes with certain elements that have depleted out ranks further while some are still perfectly happily married and enjoying a fruitful time at home. Exactly who they are, are for themselves to disclose. Only for myself can I speak and I shall speak of the battle with Gellert Grendelwald and his army of followers. That was when my young husband fell fighting for what we hold dear and treasure above all, the right to choose.

"Now enough with the past, on with the future. Mr. Longbottom, I understand that you are particularly keen on doing high level jumping as a new way of defense and attack. Am I correct?"

"Ah… yes professor."

"Good. Then show me where you are so we can see how to improve your reach and dexterity. These are skills we are not allowed to teach during regular school term time, hence the need for summer school."

"Were you invited to summer school?" Harry asked Professor McGonagall as Neville headed up the stairs to the top balcony.

"Of course I was. How else would I remember it and know what you lot were up to."

"Is it run by the school?

"Technically yes and sort of no. Since it is extracurricular it falls into a no mans land area. So no one is technically in charge, but someone has to oversee it to make sure the challenges are there and progress is being made. And, of course, to make sure everyone is safe. Some of the spells can get out of hand when enthusiasm is high. So far we have only lost three people in the tesseract competition. Actually they are not lost, they have not found their way out… yet."

"Tesseract competition? What's that?"

"Use the dictionary then the restricted section. Make sure you carry a towel with you."

"A towel?"

"A towel is about the most important item you can carry with you when going into a tesseract." Professor McGonagall said in all earnestness. Harry gave her a curious look. Somehow Harry was having difficulty associating a towel with anything more important than drying hands.

"Mother once talked about a tesseract," Chimed in Ginny. "It was a long time ago. I think she was talking to Bill about something and it slipped out. Never though about it again as I didn't know what the word meant. I guess I forgot all about it."

"And that's how memory power works," Professor McGonagall added. "We slowly forget all about it until it is gone. And if memory power doesn't work, then old age does."

As they watched Neville get set up Professor McGonagall pulled out a small jam jar from her pocket and said to Harry, "This, I believe, is for you." Harry took the jar and peered at the beetle running about doing everything possible to escape.

"Unbreakable charm?" Harry quickly asked.

"Of course."

"Good. I'll keep and eye on her for a while."

"She was lurking about when I came by. Your defenses were better than I thought. Especially the use of owls as they are rather keen on a stray rabbit or cat."

The rest of the evening was spent going over what Neville had learnt and what Professor McGonagall showed him and the rest of the DA's. Stuff not taught at Hogwarts during normal school time. Stuff that required space and a daring attitude.

Saturday May 16, 1998

Saturday came too fast for most. The late breakfast helped as nobody was in a rush to leave. Doddling as they tended to do the DA's slowly headed towards Hogsmeade for lunch at Aberforth's place.

"A word," Professor McGonagall said to Harry as he and Ginny were about to leave. Professor McGonagall and Harry took a stroll out into the grounds about Hogwarts. Without really thinking they headed in the general direction of Dumbledore's grave.

"You did very well Professor Potter." Professor McGonagall started with.

Harry thought about what she said for several steps before responding with, " I didn't do it alone, it was a team effort."

"True, all very true. And I congratulate you for seeing that. On our own we really are quite puny. With others there is strength in numbers. And when the cause is right the desire of the group is multiplied several fold. I think you saw that with your friends. And having friends is always a good thing."

They walked on for a while before Harry asked, "What now?"

"Indeed, what now. I believe what now is two fold. First is Miss Weasley waiting for you by the main entrance to whisk you off the Burrow. And there is your answer as to joining us at Hogwarts along with another new teacher the Lady Kaimanawa. She will be replacing the late Professor Snape as out new potions teacher. I interviewed her myself the other day. I think she is eminently suitable and up to the task of knocking stuff into empty minds. Isn't that what professors do?" The twinkle in Professor McGonagall's eye made Harry smile. That about sums it up for him. Moldy professors and moldy kids at a moldy school. Indeed a recipe for success.

"I shall let you know… soon," Harry said as they parted company with Harry off to catch up with Ginny and Professor McGonagall off to her summer retreat to regroup and get ready for the new school year.

Ginny was sitting on the steps outside Hogwarts enjoying the sun. When Harry reached her she stood up and threw her arms about him and said, "Is it always like this?"

Harry had to think about the question before he replied with, "Yeh… sort of. Sometimes better and sometimes worse. Never dull though."

"Thought so."

"You okay with that?"

"No, but I'll get used to it so long as I'm with you." With that they strolled off to join the other DA's at Aberforth's place. Harry was beginning to see a bright future with his good friends.