"Hey Hermione," Harry said softly, peering around the corner of a library shelf.

Hermione glance up from her Arithmancy textbook and smiled, "Hi Harry. Did you need something?"

Harry shrugged as he slid into the seat across from her, "I'm just… worried."

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, marking her place and closing the book.

"It's the first full meeting," Harry said, "they're all going to be there, and after Defense today."

"Harry, you'll do fine," Hermione said, reaching over to grip his forearm. "As for today, well, I know that there were a number of impressed people there today."

"But, I completely lost it," Harry said.

"Harry, you're a great leader and an even better friend. Trust me when I say that everything will be fine."

Harry dropped his head on the table with a thud. He was still and silent for a moment. "Ow." He sat back up and rubbed his forehead.

Hermione laughed softly, "Good job, Harry. Now, according to my watch, you're supposed to meet them in five minutes. Straighten your shirt and get going."

"Hermione," Harry whined.

"Never say my name like that again," Hermione said, and flicked him on the nose. "There's a reason I'm an only child." She opened her book and picked up her quill.

After a moment, Harry sighed and left.

/…\\\/…\\\/…\\\

The room fell silent, drawing Chase out of his contemplation of the song book. Harry had produced the books at their last meeting, they were filled with Christmas carols at the moment, but Harry had claimed they could be expanded and such so that they could add different songs as they went on.

For now, the arrival of the Slytherin duo was more interesting than the books.

Tracy Davis stood just inside the door, head high and shoulders squared. Blaise Zabini stood behind and slightly to her right, also with his head high.

When nobody moved, Chase closed his songbook and stood up. "Welcome to the Circle," he said, stepping forward. "Harry isn't here just yet, obviously, but you're welcome to take a seat."

Tracy smiled at him tightly, "We just saw him. He said he'd be just a moment."

"All right," Chase said. He nodded, "I see you've gotten the songbooks already, can you read music?"

"I can," Tracy said, "Blaise can't."

Chase nodded slightly, "Well, we'll all be glad to help you learn, Blaise."

When the Slytherin jerked, Chase smiled at him, "We have a first names only rule here. Harry started it. Out there, you can call us whatever you feel compelled to, but in here we're friends. Or we hope to be friends."

Blaise nodded and Tracy smirked, "We'll see about that, Chase."

"Sorry I'm late," Harry said, "excuse me, Blaise." Blaise moved out of the way and Harry walked in, pulling the door closed. "Everybody's here? Good."

"Shouldn't you be in detention?" Fay asked.

Harry grinned, "It's fine. We live in the morning, after all. Besides, it's not like she's going to finish out the year at Hogwarts."

"What does that mean?" Chase asked.

"Well, is it, or is it not illegal to destroy a family heirloom if the device is magical, especially a gift modulator?" Harry said. "I'll get to that in a moment. I don't want us interrupted at all. Blaise, Tracy, why don't you two grab a seat."

Chase took his own seat and watched as Harry pulled of the black wire glove. He then pressed his hands to the door.

Silence fell for a long moment, then Harry began to sing.

"Early each day, to the steps of St Paul's

The little old bird-woman comes."

Chase shivered at the haunting melody. He liked Mary Poppins, but Harry's voice turned an already unique song into something eerie even before the power began to surround them.

Motion caught Chase's eye and he glanced over to find Luna dancing in slow circles with a soft smile. Neville was leaning on the music stand in front of him, eyes wide. Shadow had his head down on the desk, but he looked up for a moment as if he felt Chase's eyes on him. The young beta's eyes were glowing gold.

Tracy and Blaise looked stunned, they were holding hands and watching Harry.

Song finished, Harry turned to look at them, pulling the glove on absently. He frowned, "What?"

Chase blinked and shook himself, "Sorry. That was… amazing."

"Beautiful," Luna said. "You have a nice voice, Harry."

Harry smiled, "Thank you Luna."

"What song was that?" Blaise asked, his voice hoarse.

"Feed the Birds," Harry said, "from Mary Poppins."

"What's Mary Poppins?" Tracy asked.

"It's a story," Harry said, he hesitated, "the song's from the movie."

"You have a powerful gift," Tracy said after a moment, "I wasn't really expecting that."

Harry grinned, "We're all powerful, Tracy Davies. We just have to find the right outlet." After a moment he jumped, "All right, so, songbooks yes. Everyone has one. Blaise, what do you sing?"

"I'm sorry?" Blaise asked.

"Like are you a baritone, tenor, what?" Chase said.

"I, uh," Blaise swallowed, "I don't rightly know. I've never really been into music really."

Harry chuckled, "You aren't the only one. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I started folding laundry with a whistle."

"I set my bed on fire," Chase said.

"I made the greenhouse bloom," Neville said, "We thought I had a plant gift until the goblins corrected us."

"I sent my whole family to sleep trying to get my little sister to take a nap," Hannah offered.

Fay shrugged, "Nothing special, I was doing music practice and created an illusion of the story. It was about Robin Hood."

"That's what I did," Tracy said, glancing over at Fay nervously. Fay just grinned warmly back at her.

Shadow cleared his throat nervously, "I made my cousin's dolls dance. We were watching Sound of Music and singing along."

"I don't think I've seen that," Harry said, frowning.

"I have," Fay said, "its Sophie's favorite musical."

Harry nodded slightly, "Well, anyways, we'll figure out where you fit Blaise." He gave the teen a warm smile, "just like everyone else. Do you sing at all?"

Blaise shook his head. "No, I- I've never been interested. I thought I'd get Mum's gift for spell creation, not- not my dad's Bardic Gift."

Chase wondered what Blaise wasn't saying. His heart was beating faster, but not skipping like a lie would. He glanced over at Shadow, who was watching Blaise intently, eyes back to their normal shade of black. Shadow glanced at him for a moment, smirked a little, and then looked back at Blaise.

"What about you Tracy?" Harry asked.

"I studied piano and vocals," Tracy said, "Mum's family throws a Bard every other generation or so, which means we all study music until we're fifteen. I'll help Blaise with sheet reading."

"Thank you," Blaise said quietly.

"Well," Harry fidgeted for a moment, "I was thinking- um, maybe we could sing a bit? Since we're all here for once. I mean, I know we're all going to, uh, meet up at Gringotts in two days, but."

"Let's do it," Chase said. "Something easy."

"Oh, Jingle Bells," Fay said. "Surely we all know Jingle Bells?"

"I do," Blaise offered.

"Then would you lead off Blaise," Harry said, "so we can hear your voice."

"Right," Blaise said.

There was silence for a moment, and then Blaise began to sing. He was clearly uncertain, but his voice was a clear tenor that rolled through the room not unlike Harry's had before. Harry joined in quickly and Chase followed with another glance at Shadow.

When everyone was singing, there was a feeling, not unlike a joint snapping to place, an almost audible click, and then he could feel it, that indefinable something that made them stronger together. It was like the full moon, when he ran with his pack, an electric thrum of feedback that ripped through all of them. Chase was glad he was sitting down, or he would have staggered like Harry did.

There was no discussion really, just Tracy holding up the songbook to page five, but they were singing Good King Wenceslas and it was just as good, just as perfect. Chase knew that whatever else was coming, they were going to be strong enough to handle it, together.

Apparently I fail at things. I forgot entirely about Hermione's Gift, because she's awesome and deserves one. Short version, it's spell creation. We'll explore that more thoroughly in P3.