I'm so glad that you all liked the Neville parts and the St. Mungo scenes from the last chapter. I really do think that Harry needed something to do in order to help before he joined in the fighting.
The next day, Harry felt much better. He had decided to relax after dinner the night before, giving himself a day off of training to give his magical core a chance to recharge. He knew that he had pushed it at the hospital, but it had been impossible to stop when so many people needed help. Thankfully, though, it was a Saturday, and he intended on spending a lot of it in the Room. Given how much of his time lately had been spent with others teaching and learning, he had not been doing much of his own training; either with the dummies, or even just trying wandless and nonverbal spells at the same time, which he was still struggling with.
So he did his morning exercise routine, and started making his way to breakfast, when he was interceded by Daphne and Clare.
"Hey Harry, can we talk to you for a minute?" Clare asked.
Harry looked at them for a moment, then nodded, leading them to an empty classroom. "What's up?" he asked.
Daphne and Clare exchanged looks, both unsure of what to say, until Daphne sighed. "We heard about what you did the other day," she started. "How hard is it to learn healing?"
Harry was surprised, as it wasn't what he had expected. Then he focused on the question. "It depends," he answered honestly. "Some people find it as simple as breathing, others can't understand it. Why do you ask?"
Clare was the one who spoke this time. "We were wondering if you could teach us," she blurted out.
Harry gaped at them. "What?"
Daphne smirked. "Would you be willing to teach us the basics, at least? I'm sure that we could work together to figure some of it out, but it would help us if we could learn from someone, at least at the beginning."
Harry sighed. His schedule was getting more and more packed by the day, but he could hardly say no, now could he? "Alright, look," he relented. "I don't have a whole lot of free time, okay? But I think I can manage about once a week, for a few hours. Maybe Sundays after lunch?" he suggested.
Both the girls nodded quickly. "That sounds great!" Clare said. "Trust me, you won't regret this," she promised.
Harry held up a hand. "Alright, but wait for a minute. In order for everything to make sense, I'll need you both to do some reading during the week," he warned. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the titles of two healing books he'd read. "See if you can find these in the library. If they aren't there, then try to owl order them from Flourish and Blotts. It's worth the money, I promise."
The girls were ecstatic and each hugged him before they hurried into the Great Hall. He followed them a bit more slowly, and chose to sit at the Hufflepuff table, where he saw Susan already eating. "You mind?" he asked, gesturing to the chair.
Susan nodded, waving her fork at him to sit. She took a quick drink, and looked at him closely. "You look as though you made a deal you already regret," she said, chuckling. Harry wasn't her type, but she couldn't help but think he looked cute when he was sulking like that.
"Maybe because I did," he answered, starting to eat as well.
"Care to elaborate?" she pressed, and he sighed, explaining what had just happened. She smiled at him. "You know, I don't think you will regret it."
Harry snorted. "I know, but I'm so busy right now, and I'm falling behind in my Arithmancy classes. I know that I don't technically have to take the OWL with everyone else, I can take it next year if I wanted to, but I want to get caught up with everyone. I just don't have a lot of time right now to beat this stuff into my head."
She grinned at him. "Do I hear a plea for help?" she asked. Seeing that he was about to say no, she sighed. "I know you don't like to ask for help, Potter, but I really don't mind. Like I said, you've done a lot for all of us with the DA, which I guarantee will help people pass their Defense OWLs. So how about tomorrow after breakfast we go to the library and you show me what you're working on?"
Harry quickly agreed, and decided that maybe he didn't mind the deal after all. He'd get help with the subject he was struggling with, and he would be helping two others learn healing, which would come in handy for them. He finished eating and made his way to the Room, deciding to spend the first several hours on his school work, since he really didn't want to get behind, and they were being assigned ridiculous amounts every day. As soon as he set aside his final essay, the door opened, and Ron and Hermione came in. They had just come from the library, doing to same as him.
"So, what do you want to work on right now?" Ron asked.
Harry thought for a moment, and stood. "You know what? We're taking a break," he decided.
Hermione grinned. "You know, I think that's a great idea. You've been working nonstop for weeks. Let's go sit by the lake for a while."
"You guys want to invite Ginny and the twins?" Ron asked, and the other two agreed, and went up to the Tower to invite them.
Soon enough, the six of them were relaxing by the melting lake. Sure, it was still pretty chilly, but it was early March, and things were definitely thawing. When they got cold enough, they started waked around it.
Ron struck up a conversation with Hermione and Ginny, so Harry hung back to talk to the twins. "So, any new products lately?" he asked.
They shrugged. "We've been studying for our NEWTs, mostly," Fred answered glumly.
"All the studying must have fried our brains, because we haven't thought of a new one in a few weeks," George continued, staring out at the scenery.
Harry decided to suggest an idea he'd had for a while. "Hey, have you guys ever heard of what Muggles call 'flash-bangs'?" he asked. When they shook their heads, he went on to explain. "They are used to disorient an enemy," he started. "When you throw it, you only have a few seconds, but they give off a bright light that messes with their eyes, and a loud noise that hurts their ears. They're pretty effective. Maybe you could create some kind of magical version?" he suggested.
That was all he had needed to say, apparently, because the twins were off, discussing what they could do, whether they should use potions or charms or both, how long the delay should be, among other things. Harry gave himself a pat on the back for a good idea.
All of them hurried back to the castle for lunch, then they all went to see the Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin Quidditch match, the fourth game of the year. Slytherin was barely able to pull out with a lead after Malfoy caught the Snitch, winning 500-420. At dinner, he sat at his own table, not wanting to show favoritism after such a brutal game.
After dinner, Harry decided to take a walk around the castle before heading to the Room. He knew that he had accomplished almost nothing that day, but he was okay with that. Once in a while, you just need a good day and time to relax and de-stress before you end up snapping. And sure enough, he'd had a great day with his friends.
He really needed to stop jinxing himself, he thought to himself as he heard sounds of a fight the corridor over. Thankfully, he realized that they were really close to Remus' quarters, and he could get a professor if need be. So Harry pulled out his wand and walked quietly around the corner, and what he saw made his blood boil.
Zacharias Smith, who was a member of the DA, but always had an attitude that reminded him of Malfoy, was bullying a second year Slytherin, who Harry recognized as the Keeper for Slytherin.
"What, you think you're too good, is that it, huh?" Smith was sneering at the kid, pushing him hard into the concrete wall, and laughing when he fell. Then he reached down to pull the kid up by his hair.
"LET HIM GO!" Harry roared, sending out two Stunners, both aimed with deadly precision at Smith, who crumpled to the ground. Harry went up to the younger kid and knelt down. "Hey, are you alright?"
The boy whimpered slightly, and grabbed his head. Harry wasted no time in casting a diagnostic spell, which showed that he had a very mild concussion. Even though it wasn't serious, Harry was still fuming at the fact that it had been inflicted by a member of his own club.
A door slammed open, and Remus came running. "Harry, what happened?" he demanded.
"Smith here was bullying. We need to get Smith to Dumbledore, and he can decide a fitting punishment."
Suddenly, Remus shuddered slightly, and turned to leave. "Remus?" Harry called, concerned. When his teacher didn't turn around, he went up to him.
"Full moon, Har," Remus said quickly, shuddering again. "I took the potion, don't worry, but I still can't be here when I change, you know that. I'd be fired on the spot. But the fact that I'm furious is not helping matters. I'm worried that the potion isn't going to do much," he confessed in a whisper before shuddering again.
Harry was thinking frantically. "Alright, get down to the Shack, just to be safe?" he asked, and Remus nodded, knowing he needed to remove himself from the scene. Moonrise wasn't for a few more hours, but he wanted to be safe. It wasn't uncommon for werewolves who were furious to transform a bit ahead of schedule, so to speak. He knew that Greyback took advantage of that quite often.
Harry went back to the other two, and knelt by the boy. "Hold my hand," he told him, and motioned for him to grab Smith. Then Harry grasped his portkey that Dumbledore gave him, but he still always wore, and whispered the activation phrase. They were yanked from the corridor, and landed in Dumbledore's office.
"Harry?" Albus demanded, coming from around his desk. "What exactly is the meaning of this?"
"I'm sorry, professor, I didn't know how else to get them both here," Harry told him, and pulled out his wand again, sitting the Slytherin on one of the chairs, going over his head to find the exact center of the wound that was still bleeding. "Smith there must have been upset at losing the match today, because I saw him bullying this kid," he said, and smiled triumphantly as he found the spot he was looking for. Two muttered spells later, one for the concussion itself, and the other for the bruising, and he was finished. "I thought it best to bring them both here for you to deal with."
Albus stared at the young man. This was the second act of bullying that Harry had intervened on. Was that merely a coincidence, or was there quite a bit more bullying going on in his school than he had imagined? He sighed, feeling very weary. "Thank you, Harry, for your quick thinking. You may go. I'll ask you for your statement tomorrow at breakfast."
"Very good, Headmaster," Harry said, and left the room. Without taking another moment to think about it, he hurried out the main doors of the castle, and looked around once to make sure no one could see him, and transformed. He ran for the Willow, and dove down the passageway without bothering to freeze the tree.
By the time he got down there, Remus was in the process of changing. Infinitely relieved that he was in his animal form, and not his human one, he blocked the door.
Moony was confused. He knew that this was his cub, but he didn't understand what he was doing there. He just knew that he was furious with that wizard for harming someone smaller and weaker than he was. He wanted revenge. For some reason, though, his cub wouldn't move from the door, and the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt his cub. So he stayed where he was, and eventually, the two canines started wrestling for fun. However, Harry never left the door, just to be safe.
Harry was having much more fun than he would have thought. Now he understood why Sirius and James had been so willing to do this every month for their friend. In addition to the fact that he knew it was helping Remus, it was so much fun to spend time in his wolf form. He had never spent more than a few minutes in it since using it to escape during the summer, and never had much use for it since. This, though... this was fun!
The next day, Remus woke with a soft groan. He looked around, confused. He barely remembered why he came to the Shack instead of staying in his office, and looked around. He was amazed when he saw Harry in his wolf form lying across the doorway.
Forcing himself to stand, he made his way over, and shook Harry awake. Wolf-Harry yawned widely, showing off the sharp teeth, and he transformed back.
"Hey, Remus, morning," he said somewhat groggily.
"Harry, what happened last night?" Remus asked slowly, still trying to remember.
Harry stopped mid stretch and stood. He looked his godfather in the eyes. "There was a fifth year bullying a second year down the hall from your quarters. Moony must have gotten very upset, so I suggested you come down here to cool off. After I took care of the two students, I came down here to make sure you were alright."
Remus stared at him. He was suddenly filled with shame, but before he could get a word out, Harry stopped him.
"Don't," he ordered. "Of course Moony was upset at what happened. I was fuming, for Merlin's sake! You didn't hurt anyone, you didn't transform in front of anyone; and I know for a fact that it would have been the same even if I wasn't here. Maybe I just wanted to introduce Shadowpaw to another member of his pack," Harry said, waiting for a reaction.
Remus looked at him, touched that he would stay with him during a transformation. "You consider me a member of your pack?" he asked, then stopped, and felt a grin creep up on his face. "Shadowpaw?"
Harry chuckled self-consciously. "I was thinking last night that I needed a nickname, too, and with the color of my fur, I just thought that it would fit." Then he stopped, and started stuttering. "I-I didn't mean to presume anything, Remus. I know that your guys all had nicknames when you were younger, and I guess... I don't need a nickname..."
"Harry!" Remus stopped him. "I think Shadowpaw is a great name, and very fitting. I really am glad that you wanted to spend the moon with me, it meant a lot. As your professor, I shouldn't approve, and should likely think of lines, point deductions..." He laughed when he saw Harry get indignant. "However, as your godfather, I think I'll have temporary amnesia that you were down here. In fact, I think I'll have a recurring bout of amnesia the night of the full moon for the rest of term. Assuming, of course, you get your father's permission." He didn't want to think about what would happen to him if Sirius decided to get overprotective. Best to err on the side of caution, he thought.
Harry grinned, gave Remus a big hug, and they went up to get a big breakfast. They were both quite hungry after spending the night in their canine forms.
After breakfast, Dumbledore called Harry to his office to talk about the event the night before. Harry told him everything, but left out anything to do with Remus. He knew that the headmaster was fair, but didn't want to endanger his godfather's job. Dumbledore didn't comment, but thanked him and sent him off.
While Harry was headed back to the common room, he was thinking. That was the second bully that he had encountered who was in his club. The mere thought of that was enough to make his blood boil. He thought about what he could do. He knew that he couldn't say anything during the DA; people would get upset and think they were being unfairly scrutinized. Suddenly, he had a thought that made him grin.
He entered the Common Room and looked around, finding the three Chasers in a corner talking over the paper. "Angelina, Katie, Alicia," he greeted, voice low.
Katie was the first to pick up on it. "Harry, what's wrong?" she asked, looking around, and Angelina cast a privacy ward around them.
He explained the two instances of bullying that he had stopped, and how both times they were started by someone in the DA.
The girls looked about as furious as he was. "What do you want us to do?" Katie asked, eyes hard. She had dealt with bullying before coming to Hogwarts and wasn't about to let anyone else go through that.
Harry smiled at them. "Look, you are the most popular and charismatic trio that I know," he admitted. "What I want, for a little while, any way, is to get a couple people to make rounds once in a while. I don't care what year or House you can get to help you, but I want to show bullies that I don't accept their behavior, especially ones that I've taught."
Alicia nodded. "You can count on us, Harry," she said resolutely.
Harry thanked them and made his way up to his room so that he could grab his mirror. "Sirius?" he asked, and waited.
A few minutes later, Sirius's face appeared. "Hey, kiddo. How's school going?"
"It's going pretty well. There was something that I needed to talk to you about, because I was told that I needed my father's permission."
Sirius thought about that, confused. The only thing he could think of that needed any type of guardian permission at the school was Hogsmeade, and Harry had been allowed to go since he'd written the note at the end of third year. "What's going on?"
"Well, first you should know that this wasn't planned, it just kind of happened," Harry started, not wanting Sirius to think that he had planned to do this before asking him about it. When he saw Sirius waiting patiently, he continued. "I stayed at the Shack last night in my wolf form with Moony. I knew that he was upset, and I wanted to make sure he was going to be alright. He said that I could keep him company on the full moons, but only if you gave me permission."
Sirius's eyes widened. He knew that there wasn't really a danger, since Moony was used to being around other animals, and would never hurt Harry. "Alright, you can," he said, and raised a hand when Harry let out a whoop of joy, "under two conditions."
"Name them!" Harry said, still grinning.
"You stay in the Shack," he said seriously. "Yes, we went out with Moony when we were younger, but you know what could happen if Moony lost control if there was a human around, and I don't want you getting hurt trying to protect anyone."
"Stay in the Shack the entire time. Got it," Harry repeated, completely understanding where he was coming from on that one. "What's the other one?"
"You have to think of something other than 'my wolf form'," he said, grinning.
"What if I already had an idea?" Harry asked, and laughed at the eager look on Sirius's face. "I was thinking Shadowpaw."
Sirius considered, and nodded. "That isn't bad. I approve. Believe it or not, I had to veto James' ideas about four times, they were just absolutely ridiculous."
"Really?" Harry snorted at the thought. "What were some of his ideas?"
Before he knew it, Harry realized that it was the last week in March. He had been so busy that he hadn't realized how quickly time was passing by. The advanced class of the DA was now working on mock battles, using different numbers to fight; the beginner class was learning how to use Charms and Transfiguration in a duel. It seemed as though everyone was enjoying themselves, he had to admit.
His lessons with Ron and Hermione were going slowly, but there was progress. Harry was able to cast the spell correctly every time, and Hermione was getting good at repelling him from her mind before he saw too much, and her individual shields were getting better by the day. Ron was improving, though a bit slower. He was still struggling to throw Harry out, but he worked on it diligently.
He, Blaise, and Theo realized that they had already brewed every potion that could be covered on their OWLs. Therefore, they made the fifth year potions that were healing potions and made plenty. Poppy had stopped commenting every time they brought in a bag of potions, but continued to give them points each time. Neville had been joining them most of the time, but worked on the slightly easier potions. His progress, however, was beginning to show during their Potions classes. Snape appeared amazed at his improved abilities, and had to bite back several of his usual snide comments.
The healing lessons were going quite well, in Harry's opinion. He had joined Poppy on another trip to St. Mungo's, getting the frantic call during dinner. His extra training had helped, as the hospital had been flooded with people, Muggles included. Their memories were wiped after healing, though Harry was glad that he hadn't had to do the erasing. He had read up on Memory Charms, of course, but was not ready to risk someone's mind for practice. They had stayed at the hospital for nearly ten hours before they were able to leave, and McGonagall had excused Harry from classes the next day, which he was grateful for, as they had arrived back to the castle as people were getting up for breakfast.
It was a Saturday, and he only had one more week before spring break. Harry was admittedly very nervous about the dueling competition, but Ron and Hermione assured him that he would definitely not embarrass himself. The biggest worry was that he might accidentally display his wandless or nonverbal skills, which no one but Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus knew about, and he wanted to keep it that way for now. It gave him an edge that he didn't want to lose because of a competition.
There was a Quidditch match scheduled for that day, Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, right after lunch, which Harry was really looking forward to. While a lot of people thought that the badgers' policy of having a relatively clean game was a weakness, Harry appreciated it. It showed that they stood by their morals of being fair and loyal. Of course, this was going to be the first game he'd played against Hufflepuff without Cedric on the team, and that sent a pang through his heart.
While Harry was making his customary morning run around the pitch, he thought about the rest of his friends. Not just Ron and Hermione, but the others. True, he was already busy beyond belief, but he couldn't help but worry about them. There was always a chance that by following him, they would be targeted by Voldemort or his followers. Didn't they deserve to have a bit of extra training, just in case something were to happen? He couldn't bear the thought of someone being hurt in an attempt to get to him. Perhaps he could tell them about the Room, giving them a place and a chance to get some extra training done? He would start with a couple of them, and see what would happen from there, he decided.
He chose to do it right after breakfast, not wanting to give himself a chance to back out. He rounded up Neville, the twins and Ginny, Susan and Justin, Anthony and Lisa, and Blaise and Daphne. Blaise was a bit different from the others, in regards to his views on the war. The teen appeared to take his family's neutrality very important, maintaining a friendship with Harry while taking the DA classes, but refrained from any comment about the war if it was brought up.
He asked them to meet him by the tapestry across from the Room, and brought Ron and Hermione for moral support. They told him that they would back his decisions about anyone else he chose to help train.
As soon as everyone was there, he cast a privacy spell that he had read about and been practicing for a moment like this. Hermione had told him that it worked well, so he was reassured that no one could hear their conversation.
"Alright, I guess that all of you are wondering why I asked you to come up here, right?" he said, and everyone nodded. He sighed. He was used to speaking in front of a large group of people because of the DA, but was more than a bit terrified how this meeting would go. "Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking this year. As I'm sure all of you are aware, I'm pretty much number 1 on Voldemort's hit list," he said, and noted with pleasure that only a few of them shuddered at the name. "Unfortunately, that makes any and everyone who chooses to ally themselves with me, targets as well." He saw Justin about to say something, but he held up a hand for his silence. "Just give me a moment longer, then I will let any of you say what you want. So, being considered a friend of mine is likely just as dangerous as being allied with me. All of you are people that I consider my friends. The fact that there is a member of each House here is certainly an added bonus, but not very relevant to me. All I care about is the safety of everyone I care about. To that end," he said a bit louder, standing up straighter, "I am offering all of you a chance to learn a few of my secrets, and have lessons with either myself, or Ron and Hermione, who have been training with me for quite a while now. I'm asking for no promises in exchange for these lessons except that you take them seriously, as we are at war, and a bit of discretion, as I'm sure quite a few people in the DA would like to be in something like this."
There was complete silence for a full minute after he finished, everyone processing what he had said.
"What exactly do you mean by training?" Blaise asked, his mind reeling. Sure he enjoyed being around Harry, but something like this was going to take quite a bit of considering.
"Good question. There is a place in this castle that I have been using since Halloween on a near daily basis to practice new spells, perfect old ones, and practice dueling. Hermione and Ron joined me slightly before Christmas break."
"Well, my family has always been on Voldemort's list because of our stance on his last war," Susan said firmly. "He has already killed far too many members of my family, so I would be completely beholden to you for extra training, if it means that I would be capable of protecting myself and my family."
"We're in, too," Fred said.
"Everyone knows where our family stands," George continued.
"You're considered right up there with the headmaster as being a leader of the light side, so I'm with you," Ginny finished, getting a clap on the shoulders from the twins.
"Me, too," Neville and Justin said at the same time, grinning at each other.
Anthony and Lisa exchanged a look. They were close friends over the past few years, being study partners, and possibly becoming something a bit more serious. "I guess I never really thought about the fact that being your friend could become dangerous," Lisa admitted. "However, I've learned over the years that you stand by your friends no matter what, especially if you consider them close."
Daphne just nodded at him, as she was generally a woman of short words around others. When Clare was there, she could turn giggly in the blink of an eye, but she took her title as Ice Princess pretty seriously from what he could tell.
Blaise shrugged. "I'm not dedicating myself to following you, should you face him eventually," he warned, "but I won't say no to some help preparing for the eventual fight."
Harry bit his lip to control his emotions. "I would never ask any of you to risk your lives for me, you know that. I would simply sleep better if I knew that all of your were able to protect yourselves if it every came down to a fight." He cleared his throat. "Well, thank you all for agreeing to this. Like I said, I really don't want a lot of people to know about this group just yet. The DA is already big enough, and with OWLs coming up for most of us, I want to keep this group this size for now."
They all nodded, and Daphne looked around. "So, are we starting now, or was this just a decision making time?"
Harry grinned. "We can start now if all of you want to?" When they nodded, Harry went to pacing in front of the wall, getting more than a few strange looks, but he ignored them and thought of a room that would be big enough for all of them to train in. When the door appeared, he waved everyone in, getting wide smiles from Ron and Hermione. They both were pleased about the result of the meeting.
When Harry closed the door, he was happy with what the Room had provided. It was a much larger space than usual, with plenty of training dummies and targets. A bookshelf immediately drew the attention of Lisa, and Anthony had to jokingly hold her in place before she immersed herself.
"Alright, we'll want to start off with finding out where everyone is at," Harry decided, and saw that the targets were aligned perfectly for all of them. "So, these targets measure not only accuracy, but also power. So, how about everyone pick a target, and cast 20 stunners, and we'll go from there."
It ended up being a really good day. Harry, Ron, and Hermione worked with the other ten members to see where they were and what they needed to work on most. Thankfully, as they were all some of the smartest people in the year, they didn't really need a lot of help figuring things out. Instead of similar to a DA class, it was more self teaching, just having more information to go on. It was quite refreshing, in Harry's opinion. As much as he loved the DA, at times he felt like he was spoon feeding a lot of the students.
They stayed there until lunchtime. Harry shooed them all out to get something to eat, but before they left, he made a parting comment.
"I'm very grateful all of you are so willing to work extra, and I know it's because you understand the risks of being close to me, and I appreciate that you didn't all run for the hills when you had the chance. If anyone is interested in doing something a bit different as well, I have recently read about the connection of a person's magical core, and their physical health. If any of you were wondering why you can see me doing so many crazy workouts, like running every morning, that's why. All of you are welcome to join me, as I've learned from first hand experience that true battles rely quite a bit on being physically fit. It's just a thought, but I hope you think about it," he said, ignoring the looks of incredulity he was getting. "I'll see you all later."
When everyone had left the room but the Golden Trio, the other three looked at him. "This was a really good idea, Harry," Hermione said softly.
Harry shrugged. "I hope so. I just don't want anyone getting hurt because of me."
His friends rolled their eyes at him and they all left to eat.
As they all finished eating, there was a thrill that went through the school. Quidditch was always appreciated in the school, now more so than before, as it was one of the few things that was able to get everyone's mind off of the terrors going on outside the school.
Harry joined the rest of his team in the changing rooms and listened to Angelina's pregame speech about playing fairly. Harry was just pleased that one of Smith's many punishments was his removal from the team. It would be that much nicer to play, though they hadn't had much time to train his replacement. They went out onto the pitch, and Angelina shook the other captain's hand, and they were off, with Lee Jordan commentating again.
The teams took off into the air, and Harry considered the opposing Seeker: Summerby. Harry had never played against him before, but he'd watched the other matches, and decided that while the younger boy was good, he wasn't nearly up to Harry's level.
"And they're off," Lee shouted.
Harry rose well above the rest of the game, knowing from experience that it was best to keep out of the way until he found a reason to enter the fray. He saw Summerby doing the same, and knew that he would need to keep an eye on the other boy.
"That was a brilliant move by Fred, no, I think it was George Weasley," Lee said, watching as the twin in question hit a bludger inches from the Hufflepuff chaser that was about to score. As it clearly hadn't been malicious, Hooch stayed where she was.
"Captain Angelina, who is such a lovely lady, if I do say so myself, though she still refuses to accept my invitation for a perfect afternoon in Hogsmeade…"
"Jordan," McGonagall warned from her seat next to him. One day she would be able to sit with the other teachers, or with her house like Pomona did, but that wouldn't be until Lee graduated.
"Right you are professor," Lee said cheerfully, "she passes to Bell, who SCORES! Ten-nil, Gryffindor."
Harry shouted a congrats to the girls, and continued his search. Spotting the Snitch a few meters above Ron's head, he shot over like a rocket, but was blocked by Chaser Applebee, and he needed to quickly change course to avoid a collision. Of course the Snitch vanished in the process.
Applebee gave him a grin, and sped back off. Harry chuckled, realizing how nice it was to play a game that wasn't malicious.
Within an hour, when the score was 60-40 with Hufflepuff in the lead, the rain started to fall. Everyone carried on as usual, though they were being much more careful. Though the Snitch had made several more appearances, it was always good at disappearing again before one of them could catch it.
"Harry!" Fred yelled, and Harry turned to see him pointing about a meter above the Seeker's head, where the Snitch was innocently waiting.
Just as he was about to raise his broom just slightly to grab it, seeing that it was out of his reach, he saw Summerby speeding towards it.
With a grin at the stunt he was about to pull, because he knew that even with how fast the Firebolt was, he couldn't beat the other seeker, he drew his feet up to stand on his broom, just as he'd done his first ever match. The Snitch jumped a few inches up slightly, but Harry wasn't easily deterred. He bent his legs slightly on the wet wood and jumped, fingers clenching around the tiny gold ball as he heard screams coming from the crowd.
Coming back down, his feet slipped on the broom, and he started falling, but his free hand reached out just in time to grab it, stopping his fall. He felt a slight pain in his shoulder, but he ignored it as he pulled himself upright, and Fred was the first to reach him.
"Are you barmy?!" he roared, stopping himself before he slammed into the younger teen. The crowd seemed to have realized that Harry had caught the Snitch, the game was over, and he was perfectly fine: in that order, actually.
The rest of the team barreled towards him, making sure he was alright, and they slowly floated back down to the earth. Harry was grinning ear to ear. Sure, he would need a moment to double check his shoulder, but it was just a slight pull, it wasn't even dislocated.
"Uh oh," Ron said with a grin, pulling on Harry's sleeve as he pointed over the field.
Harry looked over in time to catch sight of Poppy as she strode hard towards him. "Let me look at you, you foolish child!" she said sternly. My, how she hated the game. It seemed that every time it was played, she ended up patching students up; this one, in particular.
"I'm fine," Harry tried to say, but she was already waving her wand.
Clucking slightly at the results, she waved it again, and the pain vanished; he felt good as new. "Thanks!" he said cheekily to her, earning a lot of stares from his classmates.
Poppy just made a face at him, reminded strongly of James, and threw up her arms in exasperation as she stormed back off to look at a few of the Hufflepuff players.
"Well, Gred and Forge, you guys ready for a party?" Alicia demanded with a grin, and the team started cheering when they caught a look at the expression on the twins' faces.
It ended up being a late night in the Gryffindor common room that night, and Harry had trouble remembering a time that he had enjoyed himself more. True, there were all of the times with Sirius, but it was different when he was having fun with his peers.
Looking around from where he stood by the windows, he saw Ron and Hermione talking animatedly, and he smiled. It was always a good day, in his opinion, when those two weren't arguing. He saw Katie, Alicia, and Angelina flirting with Lee, George, and Fred respectively. Looking around a bit more, he saw a slightly more worrisome sight. Ginny was sitting by herself in the corner with a bottle of butterbeer that she was nursing.
He slowly made his way over to her, and drug a chair over. "Mind if I join you?" he asked softly. He knew that this was out of his arena, to be honest. It was clear that she was upset, but he couldn't just leave her like that, it wouldn't feel right.
Ginny shrugged. "I'm not going to be good company," she said without looking up. "You'd probably want to talk to someone else."
Harry smiled slightly. "I like who I'm talking to right now," he said honestly. "What's wrong?"
This time, she sighed and took a sip of her drink. "Michael broke up with me," she said, clearly trying to act as though she didn't care, and failing miserably.
Harry gave her a sympathetic look. He didn't really know what she was going through, except for how awkward things could have been between him and Cho if they still had feelings for each other at the start of term. "I'm sorry to hear that, Gin. What happened?"
"At dinner, he said that he and Cho kissed the night before. He said that he didn't do it to hurt me, but he cared about her more than he did me, and wanted to go out with her."
Harry couldn't help the moment of anger that coursed through him. For someone to cheat on Ginny, in his mind, was unconscionable. "Sounds like a bit of a prick," he told her, and grinned when she gave a watery chuckle.
"Yeah, he is," she told him, sitting up a bit straighter. "What about you, Harry? What happened between you and Cho?"
Harry copied her and shrugged. "Nothing, really. I asked her to the Yule Ball, but Cedric asked her first. They dated until, well, the end," he finished lamely. "When I got back to Hogwarts, I realized that I didn't see her that way anymore. I mean, she's great to talk to, but I didn't end up a stuttering idiot when she talked."
Ginny giggled slightly. "Probably good, since you've been teaching all of us."
"Hey Ginny!" one of her dormmates yelled, "would you get over here and tell this idiot what I'm talking about?"
Ginny turned to Harry, who just grinned at her and waved his hands, showing that she should go and join her friends. She got up and walked over to them, much better than before.
"That was nice of you," Hermione said, making Harry jump, as he hadn't seen her.
"It's a party," he said. "Couldn't let people be upset during a party."
Hermione just smiled at him, and went to get some more food. Harry had never really felt anything for the youngest Weasley, she knew, but she was glad to see that he was still looking out for her anyway.
The party continued on for a while, until McGonagall came and ended it, telling everyone to go to bed. With a lot of groaning, they obeyed, leaving quite a mess for the house elves to clean up.
Bit longer of a chapter, and quite a bit in it. I hope you all like Shadowpaw. For some reason, I randomly thought about it during class, and figured it worked, so I think I'm going to stick with it.
Alright, and just so I can ease some worries I know quite a few of you might be having, yes Harry is growing closer to the others, since he told them about the Room. However, I am not planning on giving Harry a group of new best friends, and leaving Ron and Hermione out to dry. After all, he only told the others about the Room so that they could have a place to practice on their own. Ron and Hermione know about the time delay, the wandless abilities, and are learning Occlumency so that they can learn about Shadowpaws and the prophecy. I may not be detailing all the times they hang out, but they are still best friends.