"You are sure you'll be alright?" Harry asked Sirius as he leaned out of the window of the Hogwarts express. "I will be." the man replied with a confident grin. "I got something to keep my mind on while my godson continues his quest of debauchery at Hogwarts." "I didn't know you had another godson." Harry deadpanned. Playing along to help Sirius cope.
"Hmph. You play the innocent boy act well. But let me remind you young man, that Remus and I know multiple ways to sneak into Hogwarts. And we both know how to use a camera." Sirius declared with a larger grin. "And I am certain Professor McGonagall will be delighted to assign you a night's detention with Snape."
The pair of men grimaced at the thought of having detention with that man. "Right, we'll just send Hermione an owl to learn all about your adventures. Harry gave the two men a flat look that he both thought they were idiots. They both gave him a grin that made it clear they were not affected.
The train whistled that it would be departing in moments, ending their horseplay. "Right, you two horndogs stay safe. I'll see you during the summer break." Remus sputtered an objection as the train started to move. "Horndogs?! Sirius is the…" "You are both accusing me of throwing every girl I run into at Hogwarts into a broom closet. So you are both horny mutts!" Harry exclaimed with a grin as the two men ran out of room to follow the train.
"Do you have to taunt each other in public?" Hermione asked tiredly. "You know that there is a chance that the news twists the conversation into another lurid tale." "Let them be Hermione, it's how they handle the stress of parting. Men can't be seen crying after all." Mia said wisely.
The bushy haired girl shook her head. "Men, why do we keep them around." she muttered. She heard her mother complain once and she found it fitting as Harry was still hanging out of the window like a lunatic and waving towards Remus and Sirius. Knowing the trio she suspected they'd soon devolve to rude gestures if the express did not turn away.
"To keep our beds warm?" Cressida said with a suggestive look that had Hermione blush slightly. "Keep what warm?" Harry asked curiously as he stuck his head back in and closed the window. "Nothing Harry." Hermione said dismissively as she focused on her book.
"If you say so…" Harry agreed although his tone made it clear he didn't really believe her. He settled down to a new geology book he had picked up the day before. Only to be interrupted by someone knocking on the door. "Come in." Harry called out, wondering who it was. Since it was precluded with a polite knock it meant it couldn't be Malfoy looking for a rehash of their issues.
Two girls stood at the door opening. It took Harry a moment to recognize them. "Miss Bones, Miss Abbott." he greeted politely like a teacher as he was unsure if Abbott's first name really was Hannah. "Camione Potter." Susan Bones replied looking quite unsure at his formal greeting.
"Uhm… can we request…" Hannah stumbled for a moment before giving up. "I can't talk like that. Harry, can we talk?" she ended up throwing out bluntly. Blushing slightly at the end of her sentence. "Sure, sit down." he offered. Six could easily sit comfortably without touching in the cabin he had picked out and he was curious what brought the girls over.
The girls did so with a sigh of relief. Harry stopped himself from asking the obvious question. Hermione's desire to know everything did it instead. "So what do you want to talk about?" she asked shortly. It took Harry a moment to realise she sounded almost defensive. In the back of his mind he filed it away for further thought.
"Well… my aunt told me what happened during the winter break." Susan answered after a moment. "You probably don't know. But a month after the first defence lesson Hufflepuff started a tri-weekly study group for defense. A few Ravenclaws and Gryffs got invited as well." "And you are starting to invite everyone now?" Harry tried to fill in.
"Well… that was part two of the plan?" Susan answered unsurely. "Part one was getting you to agree to teach us." she added upon seeing their eyes ask the question before their mouths could. Harry blinked in surprise as he tried to figure out their logic. "Why me?" he ended up asking.
"You scored the highest of our year." Hermione answered. Harry did a double take. "I did better…." he trailed off disbelievingly. He knew he had an Outstanding but otherwise he hadn't paid much attention to it. Hermione failed to hold back a giggle. "I am not at the top of every class, Harry." she answered his unspoken praise.
"Oh… okay." Harry replied a bit dazed. He had worked on his grades since Hermione insisted on it and he wanted to impress his girlfriend. He hadn't expected such a good result however. After a moment he pulled himself together. "I am not sure if I can really teach." he admitted to the Hufflepuff girls. "And most of the magic I am working on lately is well…" he gave a helpless shrug.
"Could you please give it a try?" Susan pleaded. "I am sure you'll do fine." Hermione agreed. "I suppose I can sacrifice some time to help you put together a lesson. Otherwise he'll just point to some people and tell them to duel or something." Harry would be a tad offended if it was not for the playful grin she sported. "Well I suppose I have one volunteer already."
He turned to the Hufflepuff girls again. "I am in. When and where is the first meeting?" he asked. "There is an old dueling hall at the east side of the castle. Pomona opens it up for us at seven. I'll bring you there myself next monday after dinner?" "Sounds like a plan. What have you covered so far?" Harry asked. Umbridge's pathetic attempts at teaching was more than enough for him to give it a shot.
If anything he'd always could have them test their casting on him and he'd get some dodging practice in.
Hermione joined in and the four talked shop while Cressida and Mia contented themselves with sitting back and letting the youngsters handle it. An hour later the four had a rough scribbled plan in what they should cover to make their defence OWL and what was handy should one find themselves pointing their wand at a dark wizard, inferi or other nasty dark critter.
Susan and Hannah left the cabin in good spirits. "I am surprised you agreed so easily." Cressida stated although the question in it was fairly obvious. "Well we are not getting rid of Umbridge until the end of the year. So I might as well do something instead of complaining about it." Harry answered. "I just hope people show up to learn and not ogle at me."
"We will need to keep an eye out for that." Hermione agreed with a displeased look in her eyes. Before she could share a plan someone knocked on the door again. "Come in?" Harry asked as he checked if the Hufflepuff girls had left something behind. The door opened again to show Daphne Greengrass.
"Can we help you miss Greengrass?" Hermione said in a bland tone that all but screamed for the other girl to go away. "Maybe." Daphne said with a smile as she plopped herself besides Harry without asking to. "You see I am a bit worried about my defence OWL." she leaned closer to Harry, who in turn leaned away while wondering what in the blazes possessed the Slytherin woman.
"So I was wondering if you could find time to tutor me Harry." She tried to lean in closer only to find the scabbard of the Sword of Gryffindor checking her path. "As amusing as it is to see Harry politely trying to stay out of your way, I doubt Cressida appreciates it if he crawls up her lap." Mia inserted with a hard look.
"Indeed I would not. Kindly desist from your disgustingly amateurish methods of seduction." Cressida 'asked' bluntly. "Seduction?" Harry blurted out. He was too busy being too creeped out to find anything attractive from the Slytherin girl. Daphne flinched at the declaration. Hermione said nothing but her smirk said it all. Mia had no reservations and a chuckle escape.
Daphne reddened and stormed out deeply embarrassed. "She tried to seduce me?... wait didn't she show up at the start of this year as well?" Harry asked, baffled that she would try that on him. "It must have been a stroke of luck for you to pierce that denseness Hermione." Harry pouted "I am not dense… I was just not looking at it that way."
Hermione switched sides so that she sat beside him and proceeded to snog him senseless. Harry decided there might be something to being dense.
"Well at least it's dry." Harry tried to say cheerfully as he held Hermione close and tried to shelter her against the cutting cold wind that had graced the train station. Some of the prefects were herding the firsties as if they were afraid they'd be sent flying into the forbidden forest.
"It would be downright miserable if rain was included." Cressida agreed dourly. "I hope no-one is trying to wear a hat." Mia asked with a grin. Her choice of armour meant she was one of the few who didn't have his or her clothing flapping in the wind. Harry suspected it was also better suited in warding off the cold.
"Come on. Let's help the prefects herd the younger years into the coaches." Harry decided. He felt the need to show off and with a wave of his wand he conjured a massive protego that served as a windbreak. Nature seemed to take offense to that but Harry just poured on more power in response.
"Show off." Hermione muttered good naturedly before shouting for the younger years to come over. Soon behind the cover of Harry's shield a good portion of the younger returning students found their way into the thestral drawn coaches. Harry considered making a second run when he saw that the rest had weathered the short passage on their own.
So with the girls in tow they claimed a coach and started the last part of the trip to Hogwarts. Once there they took the moment, on Hermione's insistence, to warn professor McGonagall watching the students arrive to warn the nurse that she might have a lot of cold cases to deal with tomorrow.
"It seems like every time you turn around the castle has another secret." Harry said as he took in the dueling hall. "I am surprised I never noticed it before." Beside him Hermione nodded even as her mind supplied she had seen it on the marauder's map. "According to professor Sprout it was locked shut." Susan explained.
"That would explain a lot." Harry said after a moment of thought. "Plenty of weird and fake doors to go around here." A pair of giggles answered him. "So for tonight we start with the stunning, shield and disarming spells. Something everyone should be able to." he recapped mostly for himself and to ensure he was going to explain the right things.
The first group of Hufflepuffs started to stream in. They looked surprised to find the most famous Gryffindor inside the room. Harry ignored the whispers without truly realising as more people started to flow into the room. He glanced at Hermione who nodded it was time. "Good evening everyone." he declared loudly to draw everyone's attention.
Harry calmly explained what was going to happen, what they were going to do and why they were doing it. In back of his mind he noted he was getting better at this public speech thing. To his surprise there was no-one even thinking objecting that he was taken over the lesson and soon he was pairing everyone off to try the stunning and shielding spell.
The mostly Hufflepuff group went at it without complaint and Harry had to admit the entire 'House of hard work' spiel had a basis of truth in it. As a stunning spell splashed against his chest by a third year student who started to do a pretty good ghost imitation he mentally added to find a way to improve their aim however.
He continued on as if nothing had happened. In the back of his mind a bit of a selfish plan formed. But he was quite certain he could sell it as advanced target practice. If he learned a bit of dodging along the way, well good for everyone right?
"She knows something." Harry said to his friends the moment they were out of the defence class. "In less than a month as well." Cressida said. The conversation stopped as a haggard looking Malfoy without his friends stomped past, not even paying attention to Harry or his group.
"What's wrong with him?" Harry noted for a moment before shaking it off. "She probably overheard something from the 'Puffs. Subtle they are not. And that's coming from a Gryffindor." Harry joked. "The Gryffindor of Gryffindors." Hermione corrected with a warm smile.
"So what will she do?" Harry asked towards Cressida. She was the subtle one of the group. For a moment he considered asking Luna before dismissing the thought. As if summoned by his thoughts however the girl in question appeared. "Hello Harry, Hermione, Cressida and Mia." she said with an air of distraction.
"Hello Luna. How are you?" Harry asked as the girls returned their own greetings. "I am fine. The wrackspurts have been leaving me alone. Your magic scares them." Luna answered brightly. "That is good to know." Harry said dryly. He had no idea what a wrackspurt was, but if they left Luna alone, it was good in his view.
He glanced around to confirm there was no nosy teacher around. "Say Luna, do you know about the…" "Defence lessons you are giving? I have heard about them." She finished for him. "You're welcome to come." he decided to throw in as an invitation. "Really?" Luna asked, surprised. "Really." Harry confirmed although his expression made it clear his suspicions were roused.
"Thank you." Luna said brightly. "I'll see you around." She happily skipped off like a little girl. "We didn't even tell her when it was." Hermione asked after a moment of stunned surprise. "I suspect she knows already. She is a Ravenclaw." Cressida noted. "Well it's not like she can't ask if she remembers later." Mia added plainly.
"That she could." Harry agreed "Let's find Susan and make a plan should Umbridge crash the lesson. She is still a teacher so she could take points and give everyone detention." "What can we do?" Hermione worried before her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You aren't planning to…"
"Planning to do what?" Harry asked with a frown. "Abuse the fact you are a Campione?" Cressida suggested and Hermione shot the older woman a glare for planting the idea into Harry's head. "We'll put that down as Plan B." Harry said with a grin. For a brief moment he envisioned himself tossing the woman bodily out of Hogwarts.
"I vote we make it plan A." Mia muttered. The rest of the group looked at her in surprise that she was pushing for an aggressive option. "What? The way she treats everyone is appalling. One word and I'll do something to get rid of her." "I do hope that the 'something' does not involve the sharp end of your sword." Cressida objected in an offended tone. "The pommel is made for bludgeoning, I can work with that." the swordswoman replied with a shrug.
"She really managed to irritate you. What happened that we missed?" Hermione asked worriedly. "Nothing. It's just that all the fake niceness, incapable of teaching and general condescension has gotten to me." Mia admitted sullenly. "I suppose the possibility of action got to me as well."
"I don't blame you." Harry agreed, much to the exasperation of Hermione and Cressida.