Chapter 12
The day after Greybacks trial the kids were all back on the train, and Harry was ten thousand galleons richer. The trial had been nothing short of a ridiculous formality, where the auror department came in with an overwhelming list of evidence, and witnesses, that permitted them to instill the death penalty on the monster.
Of course, it was all over the daily prophet, that Harry had been trying to eliminate all competition of the most dangerous dark wizard, and that he had seduced young and naive Susan Bones into the muggle world, where he intended to have his way with her. This of course brought the outrage from Susan on the train ride to Hogwarts as she had her feet on Harry's lap in the compartment with Nevllie, Hannah, Ron, and Hermione, "I can't believe they said you seduced me! Those stupid imbeciles. I am not some common slut that follows untrustworthy wizards out into the muggle world where people can't see me. They didn't even mention that we were dating!"
Harry shrugged, "That's probably for the best. It is our benefit that the rest of the wizarding world may see you as a victim, it could make you less of a target."
Susan was about to argue, but Hermione interjected, "He is right you know Susan. For whatever reason Harry, has been quite the target, or magnet to Voldemort, and his death eaters. With Malfoy, and the Crouch problem, along with Quirrel, I think the less the public knows about your relationship the better."
Hannah countered with, "But if the Hogwarts rumor mill is still as legendary as it always has been then most of the students already know, and anyone who shouldn't know from Slytherin or Ravenclaw has probably already told their parents. You can't protect her from this forever."
At this Hermione shot Harry a dirty look, but before he could say anything Susan interjected, "I knew what I was signing up for Hermione. Besides, what is the difference between you and I, you are always at Harry's side, and all of Hogwarts knows that. So, by extension why aren't you a target?"
Hermione gave the girl a soft smile before responding, "That may be true, but I have a reason to fight. I know what would happen to people like me, Muggleborns, if the Dark Lord took power, or if any death eater took power. I stand with Harry, just like I stand for the cause. I always have, and I always will. I have faced these dangers with Harry-"
"I have too now, when Greyback tried to rip our throats out. These maniacs killed my parents Hermione, I understand why you are doing these things, I just ask that you understand why I am doing it. I like Harry, and I will not let his beliefs or mine be a reason we can't be together. If things don't work out, it won't be because someone told us we couldn't be together."
Neville clapped his hands together, "Here here."
The girl beamed at the shy Gryffindor who was gaining more confidence by the day. Ron spoke up at this point, "I just hope you don't freak out at the end of the year when things go to hell."
The other three in the cabin all looked at Ron in confusion, while Harry flinched, and Hermione looked pained. Susan then turned to Harry to ask him directly, "What does he mean Harry?"
Hermione came to Harry's rescue at this saying, "Its somewhat of a rumor, and a fact. Some say it's a curse in our house, but we don't know for sure. But every year at the end something bad happens. First year it was Quirrel, second year it was the chamber of secrets, third year it was Professor Lupin, and Sirius, then last year Voldemort returned at the end of the Triwizard Tournament. If History repeats itself then something bad will happen this year. There is even a betting pool going on in the house. Some are hoping that Harry leads the school in a rebellion against Umbridge and the Ministry."
Harry stared at Hermione in shock, "I haven't heard that rumor! That's ridiculous! Besides Dumbledore won't let this all fall that far down. He had to maintain his control for the greater good. He won't give that up, and I won't lead people against him."
Trying to lighten the mood Neville asked, "Do you think I might be a trivia question one day? Who stood in the way of the Golden Trio as they marched to defeat the Dark Lord in their first year?"
Grinning next to him Hannah said, "I would like to solve the puzzle! Fifty points towards the answer of who is Neville Longbottom!"
Everyone laughed at that lightly, but Susan said with a frown, "Aren't you worried then about what happens at the end of the year?"
Harry shrugged, "I believe we make our own destinies, and I don't believe in divination so I don't see a reason to stress out over that. We have six months till we approach that bridge, and we have much bigger problems that are looking us in the face these days. Umbridge, the DA, Dumbleodre, Death Eaters, Voldemort. I think we can safely say that this curse it towards the bottom of my stress list right now."
With that said the compartment door to the room slid open, and an arrogant voice entered the room, "Must be feeling pretty high and mighty these days Potter. Shagging up with blood traitors, becoming friends with idiots, and capturing the big bad wolf."
Before any of them could do anything, Neville jumped to his feet wand in hand, "Take it back Malfoy."
The rest of the group was so surprised by Neville's launch out of his chairs they didn't even move, "Careful Longbottom are you sure your holding the right end of your wand."
Growling back, "Care to find out. One word and you will hit the ground, and be left outside of our compartment for the rest of the ride."
Draco looked behind him to see his two goons were watching carefully to see if the boy would do anything or given them a command. Draco merely held his hands in the air in hope of placating the angry boy, "I only meant to pass a message onto Potter. Now get that wand out of my face."
Speaking quickly enough Neville responded with, "Harry doesn't care what you have to say, neither do we. Now get, before I blast you out of here."
"That is no way to speak to a prefect Longbottom."
Harry groaned, "Speak your mind Malfoy then get out. Neville don't lower your wand."
Draco looked over to Harry speaking angrily, "Call your dog off Potter, I won't speak under this threat."
"Then get out Malfoy. We don't want whatever you are trying to sell." Hermione said.
"Fine, but you will regret this-"
"My father will hear about it, yes we know. We hear it every year, bugger off." Ron said in annoyance.
With that Neville stepped back and slammed the compartment door shut, while Hannah said, "Well done Neville."
Harry smiled at the boy who was gaining his confidence, "I didn't get to hit him though for insulting my ladies honor!"
Susan gave the boy a soft wink, "I do feel rather tainted with the insult still ringing in my ear."
Neville not getting the girls innuendo said, "I can drag him back here if you want Harry?"
Grinning at his friend he shook it off, "No don't worry Neville. But that was fast wand work. We are going to keep working through the semester, but loved your confidence. That can be half the fight sometimes."
The others also congratulated Neville, and began taking turns changing into their robes. The arrival at Hogsmeade allowed the teenagers to exit the train, and find their horse drawn carriage back to the castle. This time around Harry was not as surprised to see the thestrals, but sad to hear the words that came from his girlfriend, "What are they?"
Most of the group took a moment to comprehend what Susan had asked, it did not make the headlines that Harry had saved her life, nor had they mentioned it to the others, "They're thestrals Sue. They have been kind to me in my few encounters with them, but you can only see them...if you have seen death."
Susan paled a bit, and the others all raised their eyebrows, while Ron asked, "I thought you didn't kill Greyback? I heard he was being thrown through the veil."
Harry sighed, "A story for later guys. Greyback is as of today, still unfortunately alive, but we can discuss it more later. Let's get up the castle."
The group all still looked partially confused, but none raised anymore questions as the squad boarded onto thestral drawn carriages.
Harry held Susan closely to him, as she was clearly remembering that her life had flashed before her eyes, and the green-eyed boy had felt a little guilty. Both times she had almost been killed were because of him, and he hoped that his romantic life at Hogwarts wasn't going to cost this girl her life.
When the group entered the castle, it was to light chatter and amusing tales of other's holidays. It wasn't until Harry saw Professor Umbridge that he remembered it was time to go back to hell. It was easy to forget with all the positive things going on in his life recently that things were still not going well on the Hogwarts front. Umbitch still ran the castle practically, and they were all still in constant danger of being expelled.
Harry tried not focus on this as he let go of his girlfriend's hand with a kiss on the top of her head allowing her to join her housemates for the welcome back feast, and the start of the newest term. No speeches were given, other than that Dumbledore welcomed the students, back and reminded them to remain vigilant despite dark wizard activity, with brief mentioning of the war criminal Fenrir Greyback instead of the Dark Lord.
Many eyes went to Harry when this was mentioned. Rumors had circulated, but Amelia Bones had claimed that a citizen that wished to remain anonymous had captured Greyback by surprise, and that the only way this citizen was going to lose that right was if it was decided that they were going to give him or her an Order of Merlin.
However, no one knew for sure how Greyback had been apprehended, and Harry hoped that it was going to stay that way. He wouldn't lie to anyone, but he wasn't going to be forthwith with the information.
It wasn't long into the new term when the DA had been back in session, "I hope everyone had a productive holiday. As I am sure you have all heard mine was quite busy, but we can get to some of that later if people are more curious."
Some people smirked at that, and Harry himself figured just about everyone was interested, but he didn't want to take time out of the lesson, "Now normally we review our last lesson, but we will save more work on the patronus for later, mostly because I have taught you all I can on the matter. The rest will be up to you."
There was some disappointment at that, but Harry was ready for this, and smiled, "But with that being said, I think we have done as much as we can with the basics, and it is time to start working on something a bit more complicated. Ron, Hermione if you would please."
They had already gone over in private of what would happen next, and they had tried to prepare as best as they could, "Two on one dueling is very useful practice, but I want you to attempt something rather specific while doing this. I will demonstrate first."
Everyone cleared the middle of the room as the three duelists gave each other wry smirks, while Harry thought he would be more playful, "Come on Ronnikins I think I deserve some payback for some of the well placed comments you made about me and my lady. Or are you going to fidget your way out of it at let Hermione do the man's job."
This made both bristle, Ron for being called out, and Hermione for the sexist comment. Almost on cue they both started sending spells flying forward with marksmen level precision, however this is what Harry had hoped for as he brought up a reflective shield, and then began firing spread fire shots of magic. Two stunners at the same time, with almost perfection, but that wasn't enough to beat down his protege's. So, with that he followed it up a chain spell that was quite simple. It consisted of the reducto blasting charm, flipendo the knockback jinx, and then the disarming charm expelliarmus. This allowed him to take Hermione's wand, and then focus in on Ron, who was just at that moment preparing to fight back, but it was too late, once Harry focused on him. There was a smattering of applause once both of his friends had been disarmed, and Harry grinned at them, "Sorry guys that was a bit of personal vengeance for some comments I heard this morning. The goal of your training is to learn to stand up to two duelers, AND use your chain spells. This is the first time we have done something like this, so I would like to start with just the chain spells. We will over the next few weeks work our way up to what you just witnessed.
Now pick a target, and we will begin working on that exact chain I just did, it's one of the most basic, and easiest to master, but it is one of the most useful. Get to it."
With that Harry flicked his wand and felt a bit like Dumbeldore when targets around the room appeared. With the DA began at once.
Susan was watching her boyfriend with a smile on her face as he easily impressed the entire room with his casual display of his dueling prowess. To Harry it was clearly no big deal of what he had just done, but to the rest of the DA it was quite the display of power. She would never admit it, but she didn't have to when her best friend giggled beside her, "He is dead sexy when he does stuff like that!"
Susan turned and gave her best friend the stink eye, "Hannah you have your own hunk of a Gryffindor to make eyes at, don't you dare give mine two looks."
This made the girls burst into giggles as they prepared to attempt the chain spell with only a little success. After several attempts, Harry came by smirking, "Ms. Bones it seems you may need some tutoring."
The girl gave him a flirtatious grin, "I am sorry Professor Potter I am trying my absolute best."
With that he winked at the girl, and moved on so as not to take too much time of his lesson. It made Susan smile as he went to interact with some members of her house, giving them quick pointers, and most of them seeing instant progress.
This went on for over an hour, while Harry called the meeting to an end, "I gave us a little extra time, because I wanted to answer some questions about what happened over the holiday. Instead of feeding the rumors my friends and I have agreed perhaps it's time to be a little honest with everyone, and see how that one goes for us, instead of just letting the rumors fly to the point that I was under the imperious curse by Susan."
Some people laughed at this while Susan huffed having not been enthused by that particular rumor she had heard at dinner the night before, "Listen, without going into a lot of personal stuff it is true, that Susan and I managed to get my now father by magic Sirius Black a trial and a chance at being a free man. We did some pretty underhanded stuff to make it happen, but it worked perfectly, and I owe Susan a great debt for giving me a chance at a family..."
This made some people smile, including all of Harry's friends, "Now I would rather you all not advertise this bit of information to much, but... I will confirm that Susan I were the ones that apprehended Fenrir Greyback. He attacked us while we were out on a date, and I assure you we were lucky, I got the drop on him, and I did not do any incredible magic to do so. He was arrogant and I bested him with one blasting charm, and a ton of stunners. Which is part of why I wanted to focus so much on the basics in here. I didn't use anything a second year couldn't have used. All I used was a lot of trash talking, and a little bit of luck!"
Silence enveloped the room until Ernie McMillan asked quietly, "You mean you talked to trash to one of the most dangerous werewolves, and dark wizards of the century."
All eyes went back to Harry and he blushed a little bit, and Susan took pity on him, "It was pretty scary hearing Harry swear at the monster, but it was clear he knew exactly what he was doing."
This caused a roar of laughter to come from some of the boys, "Blimey Harry does nothing scare you!"
Harry merely grinned at grimaced at the implication, while Cho asked, "So was it true that Susan and yourself made up your relationship?"
The green-eyed boy was just about to answer that, but Susan merely stepped forward and took his hand, "Not in the slightest. We had a very pleasant and romantic holiday together, though we are still going to hold to our promise that we are leaving our relationship at the door each night we come in here."
Agreeing Harry spoke, "We ask everyone to do that for any developing relationships in this room. We have noticed a few come up, and we ask that each night you leave them at the door. Don't forget about them, just don't let it affect the way we train in here."
Many people agreed to that easily, and Harry began dismissing the group, until it was just Susan and Harry again.
Susan was nervous, as she was preparing to make a request of Harry that she wasn't sure he was going to be very receptive of, "Harry, can I ask you for something? I know we agreed to leave our relationship out of the DA, but still feel like this needs to happen if we are going to be together."
Harry rose his eyebrows, "What is it Sue?"
Susan took a deep breath, "Twice I have almost been killed in your presence, and neither time was I even able to draw my wand. But what happens if next time I have too, and you really need another capable witch or wizard at your side. I don't want to be the witch that was killed in the first few spells and couldn't even raise her wand to defend her friends or family."
Harry looked at the girl deep into her eyes, as he pondered what she was asking, "Susan...I don't know if what you are asking for is a good idea. You seem to pretty good for the average fifth year, and-"
Susan interrupted him gently, "But if I am going to be with you I can't just be the average fifth year. I need to at least stand out amongst you guys. Ron and Hermione both could wipe the floor with me, and I am sure at least a few others could as well, no more how decent I am with a wand."
Sighing deeply the boy scratched his head, "I don't know how to go about this Susan. I don't know if I am worth the trouble for you on this. You are right, you have almost been killed twice, and we have only been together for a few weeks. It's going to be worse to once Voldemort comes out in the open."
The red-haired flame stepped right in his bubble saying aggressively, but quietly, "If you think I am coward Harry Potter you really don't know a thing about the Bones women, Hufflepuff, or me in general. Just because things are getting rough and ugly, doesn't mean I am going to lay down in die. In fact, I want to rise up, and become the capable witch that my family has produced, and if you won't help me to reach that potential I will find someone else who will. I want that person to be you Harry Potter, but don't think for a second that you are the only reason I will be targeted when You know who returns."
Taking a moment to collect his thoughts Harry nodded, "What you are asking for isn't easy. The training I underwent with Ron and Hermione was hard. My very life was depending on it last year in the tournament, and I had that to push me through every day. The DA is also taking lots of our spare time, and I don't know if we will have the amount of time I did last year for me to prepare you."
Susan disagreed, "I don't need to be as good as you Harry, I just need to hold my own, or to protect our backs if you are having to fight whatever is in front of us. Or give you an extra wand if we are both fighting a fight we are hopelessly outmatched in."
Understanding where the girl was coming from Harry finally nodded, "Okay. I will do everything in my power to help you Sue, but I don't know if you are going to like me if I push you to this."
Disagreeing she put a finger under his chin, "Or maybe I will find it really attractive that a young man is willing to go so far for a girl he still hardly knows."
Smiling at the girl, he said, "We will do everything we can then my lady, when would you like to start?"
The girl looked around at the empty room, and then smiled, "Right now!"
