21

A Talent Revealed

Hermione and Ginny knocked just before they walked into Harry and Ron's dorm room, but it did little to mitigate Ron's surprise as he grabbed quickly for a shirt to cover his naked chest from his female visitors.

"You could at least give a person a few seconds to dress before you walk in," Ron charged. "Imagine if I had been more undressed already."

"I'd prefer to skip that image if you don't mind," Ginny responded. "Besides, you run all over home with your shirt off in the mornings."

"But not when Hermione's there," Ron pointed out as his face reddened even more than it already was.

"Relax, Ron," Hermione said seeming anything but calm herself. "This is the first day of classes. There are bigger things to keep my mind occupied today."

"Where is Harry?" Ginny asked as she noticed he wasn't taking part in the morning conversation. "Has he gone down to the Great Hall already?"

"No," Ron said. "He's still asleep. I was just about to wake him up when you two barged in."

"How can the two of you sleep so late on the first day of class?" Hermione asked as she checked to make sure she had remembered to put a bookmark in her new Defense Against the Dark Arts book where she had left off.

"Well I might have been up sooner if you two hadn't made me promise to stay awake until I was sure Harry was asleep last night," Ron accused.

"Never mind," Ginny said moving to Harry's bedside and preparing to open the drapes. "You finish getting dressed and I'll wake Harry."

Ron retreated to his own bed and pulled the hangings closed for privacy as Ginny opened Harry's and stood staring in enough wonder to make Hermione notice and walk over to her.

"What is it?" Hermione asked. "He's still there isn't he."

"He sure is," Ginny said nodding. "It's just been a while since I've seen him without his shirt on. He's really toned up over the summer."

"That's true," Hermione said as she peered over Ginny's shoulder for a look. "Still, maybe it would be rude for us to stand here looking at him while he sleeps and doesn't know. Hurry and wake him up so we can get downstairs. I can't go to my first class without having eaten a good breakfast."

"Harry," Ginny said as she shook Harry gently by the shoulder. "Harry, it's time to wake up. Harry, wake up."

"Wha…" Harry mumbled as he rolled unto his side without opening his eyes.

"I said you have to wake up," Ginny said a bit louder. "You'll be late for breakfast."

Harry opened one eye and swiveled it to look at a blurry figure sitting beside him as he asked, "What did you say Ginny?"

"It's time to wake up, love," Ginny said sweetly.

"That can't be," Harry said as he closed his eye once more. "I just went to sleep a few minutes ago."

"I know it may seem that way," Ginny said. "I can understand that you may have had trouble resting after what happened last night. Did you have bad dreams?"

"I don't think I had a chance to have a dream," Harry said as he rolled onto his back once again and opened his eyes experimentally.

"Looking at the bags under your eyes I could almost believe that you didn't get any sleep last night," Ginny said suspiciously.

"I'll be all right," Harry said as he carefully propped himself up on tired arms. "I just need to take a shower. I'll feel better after a nice hot shower."

"I'll wait here while you go and do that," Ginny said. "Then we can go down to breakfast together."

"What?" Hermione asked fearing she had heard Ginny correctly. "If we don't… I mean, we'll…"

"Don't worry, Hermione," Ron said as he emerged from behind the curtains of his bed fully clothed. "I'll escort you two down to the Great Hall so Harry can have a bit of privacy this morning."

"But Ron…" Ginny began to protest.

"No arguments from you, Miss Weasley," Ron said in his best imitation of his mother. "Leaving you here while Harry gets dressed could mean that neither of you would make it to the Great Hall. I know how the mind of a teenage boy works."

"Oh really, Ron," Ginny said with a smirk.

"Not that I have any thoughts like that in my head right now," Harry said with a yawn, "but Ron is right. Don't miss breakfast on my account. You three go ahead and I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked.

"Regretfully, yes," Harry responded with a smile.

Ginny smiled and leaned forward and kissed Harry lightly before she said, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Harry said with another yawn.

"Oh, come on," Ron said as he started motioning the two girls toward the door. "That's enough mush this early in the morning. Lets go get something to eat. I'm starving."

"I'll see you soon, Harry," Ginny said. "If I don't, then I'll come back for you and dress you myself if I have to."

"A tempting offer," Harry commented with a grin.

"Maybe I should be the one to come back for him if he doesn't come downstairs," Ron said as he pushed Ginny and Hermione out the door and prepared to close it behind him. "I'll see you downstairs, Harry. I'll save you some bacon if you're too late."

"Thanks, mate," Harry said as Ron shut the door.

Harry collapsed back on his bed and rubbed his eyes. He knew that a simple shower was not going to suffice in alleviating his need for rest.

"But I really think…" Ginny began as Ron and Hermione stopped her from turning back to go and get Harry a third time as they walked down the stairs to get to the Great Hall.

"We know what you thought," Hermione said. "The same thing you were thinking the last two times you wanted to go back. Harry is a big boy. He'll take a shower just like he said. He wouldn't go back to sleep and be late for class on the first day."

"I don't know," Ginny said. "He looked just about as tired as I've ever seen him. If I didn't know better, I would say he had been up all night."

"I can assure you he wasn't," Ron assured them. "I waited just like I was told to. I could tell when Harry fell asleep last night. I've been sleeping in the bed next to his since our first year, and I know what his breathing sounds like when he's sleeping. I waited for quite a while afterwards just to make sure before I laid down to sleep myself. He was up until around one in the morning tossing and turning. He was still there when Neville woke me up this morning. If he tossed like that all night long I don't wonder that he looks tired."

"I knew that attack in Hogsmeade bothered him more than he let on," Ginny said. "I should have stayed with him. I should have made him talk to me about it."

"I don't know if it would have done any good," Hermione observed as they reached the bottom step and made their way toward the doors of the Great Hall. "He was pretty tight lipped about what went on in his meeting with McGonagal. He excused himself shortly after he got back from meeting her saying he was tired and going to bed early. There wasn't much any of us would have been able to do to stop him."

Hermione, Ginny and Ron were within five meters of the entrance to the Great Hall when they stopped in shock to see the person who walked out of the Hall in front of them.

"Harry?" Ginny asked as if not believing her own eyes. "But how…"

"I told you I would miss you," Harry said with a smile as he closed on her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I apparated down here thinking you would already have made it down."

"Less than ten minutes ago you looked like you were going to drop from exhaustion, Harry," Ron pointed out as he noticed how refreshed Harry looked. "That must have been some shower."

"There isn't anything like a splash of cold water to wake you up in the morning, Ron," Harry answered. "Apparently, there's a finite amount of hot water in the castle this year. Everyone else used it up before I got there."

Hermione, sensing that something was amiss, leaned in closer to Harry and breathed deeply.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" Harry asked with a grin.

"I was just checking for myself," Hermione responded with a slight blush. "I was suspecting you of having some potion or another that would wake you up and refresh you like that."

"Well?" Harry asked. "Do I pass inspection?"

"You smell just like a freshly trimmed quidditch pitch, Harry," Hermione said with a smile of her own. "I thought that bath set would come in handy for you, when I gave it to you for your birthday."

"You know me all too well," Harry remarked with a smirk and a look in his eye that instantly made Hermione question if that was true.

"Well, now that that's settled," Ron said, "let's eat."

Harry entered the Great Hall and sat down with Ginny, Ron and Hermione next to Neville and Seamus. As usual, several pairs of eyes followed Harry as if waiting for a reaction to the previous nights attack. Harry though, was long used to any such attention, and barely even noticed.

Minutes later, everyone stopped eating and looked up as owls swooped in with the first mail of the school year. Harry received nothing, but a letter was dropped in front of Ron, and Hermione got her copies of The Quibbler and The Daily Prophet.

"I think mum is beginning to lose it," Ron said as he read his letter. "It just says 'Look after your sister'. She told me that at the train station just like she does every year."

"I think she really meant it this time," Hermione said with wide eyes as she looked once more at the Prophet headline and then at Harry. "Did McGonagal tell you about this last night, Harry?"

"Yes," Harry answered.

"What?" Ron asked, until Hermione held up the paper so that they could all read the headline.

"Oh my goodness," Ginny said as she put down her fork. "All of those aurors. How could that have happened?"

"McGonagal says that someone in the Ministry must have tipped Voldemort off about the guard reassignment," Harry said. "It looks like Scrimgeour still hasn't caught the informant yet."

"You should have told us as soon as you got back, Harry," Hermione said as her ever-present concern for Harry grew.

"Why?" Harry asked. "So you could have as much trouble sleeping as I did?"

"It might help you to talk about it," Ginny suggested.

"It doesn't," Harry said. "As long as I'm stuck behind these castle walls unable to do anything about it, it doesn't help at all."

Everyone sat in stunned silence until Neville asked, "What about when we get out from behind these walls? Is there anything we can do now?"

"I don't mean to be so blunt with all of you," Harry offered. "I would welcome any ideas anyone has about what we can do."

"Well," Seamus began, "we could continue training with the D.A. just in case we have to deal with something unexpected."

"I think that would be a good idea," Harry said. "I think we should wait until the first week of classes are over before we make any meeting plans for the D.A. though. I'm sure the teachers will make this a very busy year for the seventh years."

"I would be happy to look at everyone's class schedule and make out a study schedule," Hermione offered not thinking anyone would be excited to hear her say it.

"That would be a big help, Hermione," Harry said as everyone looked at him in surprise. "It's the most efficient way to maximize our training time outside of class."

Just as everyone was staring at Harry and realizing just how much he had changed over the summer, a group of Slytherin walked up behind Harry. Hermione noticed them first, but everyone else was not far behind.

"I need to speak with you, Potter," Pritchard said as Harry turned around.

"Sure," Harry said. "What can I do for you?"

"No," Pritchard said as he looked at the Gryffindors listening in. "Not here. In private. Let's walk outside the Great Hall where there aren't so many ears to listen."

Ginny grabbed Harry's arm as he began to stand up and said, "Harry, don't."

"She's right, Harry," Ron said. "After what's happened can you afford to be so trusting? That entire group could jump on you as soon as you're out of the Great Hall."

"After what's happened, can I afford not to be so trusting?" Harry countered. "I let my mistrust of Slytherin cloud my judgment over the summer. I won't let that happen again. Relax. I'll be back in a minute."

Pritchard studied Harry carefully during the exchange, and came to a decision as he nodded to the Slytherin accompanying him, and sent them back to their table.

"After you," Harry said as he gestured and Pritchard turned and led the way out of the Hall. Harry turned and winked at his friends just before he fell into stride with the Slytherin boy.

Pritchard walked several meters away from the entrance to the Great hall before he turned to look at Harry following close behind him. Still Pritchard took a careful look around him to make sure no one could possibly overhear them.

"This must be serious," Harry said as he noticed how careful Pritchard was being.

"I think it might be," Pritchard said in a hushed tone concentrating on Harry at last. "After what happened last night, every other member of Slytherin House wants the shield on their houses except for one."

"Really?" Harry asked intrigued. "Which one didn't want it?"

"Nott," Pritchard responded even quieter than before as he took another visual scan of the area.

Harry thought about that for a moment before he said, "I guess that isn't too surprising now that I think about it. I suppose you've already read about what happened at Azkaban last night."

"I have," Pritchard confirmed.

"His father is out of prison for now," Harry said. "If we put the shield up on his house, his dad would never be able to come home again."

"Exactly," Pritchard said as if Harry had just stated the obvious. "It occurs to me that the only reason why he would want that would be if he was working with the death eaters in some way. I don't trust him. He could have come back to school just to spy on everyone and report everything back to You-Know-Who. It could be very dangerous for the rest of the Slytherin if he tells the Dark Lord that we've been working with you."

"Or you may be reading too much into this," Harry pointed out. "Nott may not be working with them at all."

"Then he should pay more attention to acting less suspicious," Pritchard said warningly. "If there's one thing the Slytherin can't stand it's betrayal by one of our own."

"Well, wait before you take any action against him," Harry suggested. "Let me look into it and see if I can uncover anything first. Maybe I'll have a little talk with him."

"Good luck," Pritchard said with a chuckle. "He's never even said more than five straight words to me before."

"I'll get him to talk," Harry said. "You just work on getting me the names and addresses of the people who want the shield. I'll see to it that they get put on like the others did last night."

"You've put them on already?" Pritchard asked as he tried to suppress his surprise. "I didn't think you would have had a chance to get word to anyone to do it yet."

"I didn't," Harry confirmed. "I did it myself."

"But that would mean that you left…" Pritchard realized.

"That's right," Harry said as he leaned a bit closer. "I would appreciate it if you didn't mention that to anyone. Some people would react rather badly if they learned what I was up to in the evenings."

"Of course," Pritchard said, surprised to realize that he really meant it.

"Maybe I should go back in first," Harry suggested. "You should wait another minute before you walk in. I wouldn't want anyone to know we were conspiring together about anything."

Harry walked into the Great Hall and back to the Gryffindor table as his friends looked at him expectantly and Ron asked, "Well? What was that all about?"

"He has a few more names to add to the list who want the shield," Harry said. "He's just paranoid that Voldemort might have a spy here watching who associates with me. He doesn't think it would be good for us to be seen speaking in public."

"He very well could be right," Hermione pointed out. "As trusting as you might want to be, you still have to take a few precautions."

"I will," Harry said with less enthusiasm than his friends would have liked. "For now we need to worry about eating. We have Defense Against the Dark Arts first this morning. Something tells me we might need all of our energy for it."

Less than half an hour later, Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors sat in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with the small number of seventh year Slytherin who had chosen to return. Lupin was standing at the front of the room arranging objects on his desk. Once everyone had taken their seat, Lupin looked up at them and walked to the front of his desk.

"Welcome seventh year Slytherin and Gryffindors to your final year of instruction in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Lupin said mildly. "All of you realize that the dark powers being used to terrorize the country right now are not easily defended. I can not impress upon you more the importance of what you will learn in class this year. We will be dealing with defenses so complicated and difficult to master that many of you will fail to master more than a handful of them after an entire year of study. It could be that handful that will save your life once you have entered the world beyond these castle walls though.

"We will cover counter-curses, healing spells, advanced evasion techniques, dark magic detection, dueling strategies, talismans, and defense against dark creatures. You will learn to make yourself impervious to extreme heat and cold. You will learn to close your mind to those who might try to invade it. You will learn where help may be found if you are in dire need of it, and how best to summon it to you.

"This is only a partial list of what will be asked of you this year. The time you spend in class will likely not be sufficient for all of you to progress as far as will be needed before your graduation. Therefore, I would encourage all of you to practice as often as possible and as safely as possible in your free time outside of class. That being said, lets get started on our lesson for today."

Seamus leaned over close to Harry as Lupin turned to prepare the day's lesson and whispered, "So, when were you planning to start up the D.A. again, Harry? It sounds like Lupin just assigned it to you."

"What makes you think I'll be any more able to do those things than anyone else?" Harry asked as he prayed he would just be able to keep up with the rest of them. He was wondering if anything he had learned over the summer would be useful for him during the coming lessons.

Lupin turned around holding a small silver orb about the size of a snitch as he said, "Today's lesson will be one of the most difficult to do well. Today we will attempt to use a concealment spell on this small object. It seems simple enough. However, I must admit to you that I was up late last night practicing this spell just to make sure I could still do it. Fortunately, an object this small is well within my current ability. A true mastery of this spell would enable a person to make oneself invisible without the use of an invisibility cloak. I have encountered only two wizards in my life that had reached that level of mastery. Albus Dumbledore was one. Voldemort is the other."

"You mean he can sneak up on you and attack you without ever seeing him?" Neville asked looking suddenly concerned.

"That would depend which way you were facing at the time," Lupin answered. "The concealment spell requires a certain amount of concentration to hold for very long. He wouldn't be able to attack you without first dropping his concealment."

"Great," Ron said sitting back in his chair stiffly. "So you may get a second or two of seeing him before he kills you."

"If your reactions are quick enough," Lupin responded, "that may be all the warning you need to escape."

"I still don't think much of the odds," Ron said.

"Give me a chance and you may feel differently by the time this school year is over," Lupin said glancing around at the class.

Lupin took the next few minutes to explain the procedure for the spell in every detail. He demonstrated the wand movement for them numerous times, impressing upon them how crucial the precise movement was. He instructed them to empty their minds of everything except the object they were trying to conceal.

Lupin had the students stand up in a line down the center of the classroom so each of them would be able to take a turn with the concealment spell. As the line progressed forward, Lupin, though he had known that it would be a nearly impossible task for any of them to accomplish on their first try, began to wish he could somehow will at least a few of them to show some sign of the ability. Over and over the students tried, but the little orb remained quite visible in spite of all of their attempts.

"Occulto," Seamus said, as he drew his wand back toward him slowly while concentrating with all his might on the silver sphere.

"Don't feel too badly, Seamus," Lupin said as Seamus lowered his wand with an exhale of frustration. "You find yourself in good company today."

"I guess you're right," Seamus responded. "At least it didn't explode."

"I have no doubt you'll do better next time," Lupin said, trying to sound convincing, looking to the last four students in line. "Neville, are you ready to give it a try?"

"As ready as I could ever be I guess," Neville responded with an uncertain tone as he stepped forward and raised his wand.

Neville took several seconds and multiple deep breaths as he attempted to rid his mind of everything except the image of the silver object on the desk. Just at the point when some were beginning to give up hope that he would even attempt the spell, Neville quickly whipped his wand from the overhand grip he had started with and bent his hand backwards in a loop that switched to an underhand grip as the wand was shoved forward toward the orb. Once the wand was as far forward as it needed to go, Neville spoke the spell word while reversing the wand motion and drawing it slowly back toward him.

Everyone in the room caught their breath as they watched the orb, solid up to then; it seemed to waver slightly as if it were dropped into a container of water. Neville was so shocked by the sight that his concentration was broken after only a few seconds, and the little ball became as solid as it had been before.

"Excellent work, Neville," Lupin exclaimed happily. "You almost had it for a moment. You could be able to make it disappear altogether within a month if we can improve on your focus a bit. Well done."

"Thanks, Professor," Neville said with a rare grin of pride as he turned to receive congratulations from all of those who had tried before him.

Hermione was the next in line to try, and everyone expected that she would perform the spell perfectly on her fist try as she usually did with everything else. Much to their surprise, she completed the spell and left the sphere as unchanged as everyone else other than Neville.

"I couldn't hold my concentration through the wand movement, Professor," Hermione said as she lowered her wand. "I knew it was an awkward and uncomfortable wrist movement, but I didn't realize it would be that distracting."

"Very true, Hermione," Lupin aid as he patted her shoulder. "That's one of the things that makes this spell so difficult. You'll have to either get used to the movement, or learn to block out your discomfort."

"If only that were as simple as it sounds," Hermione commented as she joined the rest of the class to watch the next attempt.

"Well, Harry," Lupin began as Harry stepped up to try the spell, "are you feeling up to it?"

"I'll give it a try, Professor," Harry said as he began to empty his mind as his occulmency training had taught him. "I don't think I would be willing to put money on it if that's what you're asking?"

"No money needed," Lupin responded with a smile. "Just give it your best."

Harry raised his wand and began the prescribed motion as others had before him. He spoke the spell as he drew his wand back and the ball shimmered before him more rapidly than Neville's had. He made a point to hold his concentration as he tried to make the orb disappear completely, but after several seconds of no further success, he lowered his wand and the object returned to its normal state.

"Magnificent work, Harry," Lupin said. "You're nearly there. Your concentration was impressive."

"I tried to deepen it to make the ball disappear," Harry said sounding slightly disappointed at having come so close, "but it didn't seem to work."

"Still," Lupin said, "don't stop trying. You're showing some real promise to be that far along so early."

"Thanks, Professor," Harry responded.

Ron stepped up into place as the last person in the class to take a turn. He worked hard to shut out the thought that everyone in the class was looking at him. He had never liked being under such close examination. He didn't know how he was ever supposed to believe that he would be able to accomplish a magical feat that even Hermione failed to achieve.

As Ron gave up trying to shut out all other thoughts, and deciding that he would just get it over with; he began the spell. He performed the first part of the spell and was surprised to find that the wrist movement others had complained about was perfectly fine for him. He reasoned therefore, that he had done the entire movement wrong and was doomed to failure. This being the case, he felt his face flush as his concentration drifted from the silver object on the desk to his intense desire for everyone to stop looking at him.

Ron stood looking at the unchanged ball on the desk, but Lupin and the rest of the class gasped and took a step back as they looked at Ron. The actions of the class were too much to block out, so Ron lowered his wand and looked over at a wide-eyed, Professor Lupin.

"Sorry, Professor," Ron said as he reddened even further. "I did my best."

"Ron, it was miraculous," Lupin said. "How in the world did you do it?"

"Do what?" Ron asked as he noticed that the other students were as wide-eyed as Lupin.

"Don't you know?" Lupin asked. "Instead of performing the spell on the orb, you somehow turned the spell on yourself. You completely disappeared for several seconds."

"What?" Ron asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"It's true, Ron," Harry said as he came forward and placed his hand on Ron's shoulder. "That was the most wicked thing I've ever seen in a class before."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ron asked.

"Ron, it was brilliant," Hermione said. "You have to tell me how you did it."

"Indeed," Lupin said. "I think we would all be interested to hear about it."

Ron grinned in spite of himself. It had been a complete accident, but he may have just found the one thing that none of his family or friends were better at than he was. He couldn't wait for his next chance to try it.