Year 2: Triple the Trouble
Chapter 12: October 2012
Soon, the day of Harry's guest appearance in Defence class was upon them. Victoire and her friends knew he was coming, but the rest of the second years had no idea. As everyone filed into the Defence classroom, Victoire looked around, wondering where her Uncle was. Was he hiding? Was he planning only coming out once everyone was inside?
Professor Leftbridge shut the door and walked up to begin the lesson.
"Today, we're going to continue our work from last class," he announced. "If you would please all turn to page three hundred and forty-six of your textbooks."
Victoire frowned. Wasn't Uncle Harry's guest speech today? Where was he? Had she gotten the dates confused? With a shrug, and figuring she'd owl him later to see what happened, she began to flip through her book to the correct page.
Suddenly, someone jumped up from behind Professor Leftbridge's desk and screamed "Stupefy!"
Victoire barely had time to process that it was her Aunt Hermione before a second voice, this one coming from the back of the class, cried "Protego!"
An invisible shield went up around all the students and the jet of red light bounced off it, hitting the ceiling. A third person, who Victoire knew before he emerged was going to be her Uncle Ron, ran out of Professor Leftbridge's office, sending jets of light soaring in both Aunt Hermione and Uncle Harry's direction.
They both diverted them skillfully and counter-attacked with spells of their own. Uncle Harry slowly made his way to the front of the room, and soon the whole class was watching in rapt attention as the adults duelled in a three-way battle.
The battle ended spectacularly when Victoire's Uncle Harry cast his signature spell, expelliarmus and managed to split the spell in two halves and hit both Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron at the same time. Then he quickly pocketed his own wand and rolled along the floor, catching both their wands in either hand.
In the wake of the duel, the room remained in utter silence. Nobody dared move. Nothing like this had ever been done before in Defence class.
"Professor Leftbridge has invited me here today to speak to you about the realities of fighting the Dark Arts," Uncle Harry said, tossing Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione back their wands. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Harry Potter, and this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger Weasley."
"We know who you are," Sara Pucey said, breaking the spell.
"Good, then we don't have to go over that," Uncle Harry said. "When you all walked in here today, not a single one of you noticed that there were three more people in the room that shouldn't have been. Now that's okay when you're at Hogwarts, because you all know there are protection spells around the castle keeping out unfriendly visitors. But in the field, you can never let your guard down, not even for a moment." Victoire thought about how unobservant she'd been. She'd even known that her Aunt and Uncles were coming, and she didn't even bother to notice whether they were really there or not. "You there," Uncle Harry said, pointing to a boy in the front. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Jonathan Cadwallader," the boy replied nervously.
"When Hermione shot that first stunning spell, I had about five seconds to react before Jonathan here would have been stunned. If I hadn't been expecting it, would I have been able to react as fast as I did?" he asked.
At first, nobody said anything. Then, slowly and tentatively, May Enlow raised her hand.
"No?" she half said half asked.
"Exactly," Uncle Harry said.
"But you knew she was there," Arnold Rosen challenged, feeling more confident now that May had spoken first. "You planned it ahead of time. In the real world, you wouldn't know if someone was going to attack you."
"That's a very good point," Uncle Harry noted. "So what's the solution then?" Nobody had an answer for this. "The answer," he said after waiting enough time to build the suspense, "is to always be expecting an attack. When you're in the field, and you're tracking down a Death Eater, you can't let your guard down even for a second. If I'd stopped to fix my robes or tie my shoe while Professor Leftbridge was starting the class, Hermione might have cast that spell before I was ready. If my wand hadn't been in my hand, or at least in a position where I could grab it at a moment's notice, I couldn't have gotten that shield up fast enough."
"But a person can't constantly be waiting for an attack," Derek Nelson spoke up. "When would they eat, or sleep?"
"In the Auror office, that's why we send our units out in teams or groups," Uncle Harry explained. "And of course, today, civilians have the luxury of living a life where they don't have to worry about being attacked in the street, or having someone break into their house. But when you're living in wartimes, or under a regime of terror, you don't always have that luxury."
"I have had the personal experience of living through a war. In fact, when I was about your age, maybe a little older, the second wizarding war began. So I learned from the beginning to always be on guard, to always be watching. Even being within the walls of Hogwarts didn't always mean safety in those days. The Death Eaters still found their way in, more than once in fact.
You could have heard a pin drop down the hall, everyone was so quiet, hanging off Harry's every word intently.
"In wartimes, so many people die, or get so seriously injured that they are never the same again. And while there's not always something you can do, I can guarantee you all this. The people that were on guard; the people that were always expecting a fight, even when they were just eating breakfast or taking a shower; those people are the ones that were less likely to die. Of course, there's really not all that much a person can do when they're up against the killing curse, but your chances are always better when you're prepared.
Victoire was in awe. She'd never heard her Uncle speak so frankly about his experiences of living through the war. He usually kept that part of himself hidden, or else he would talk about it with his wife, Aunt Ginny, or else with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. He certainly didn't talk much about it with the younger kids.
"When I was fourteen, I watched someone die right before my eyes," he continued. "His name was Cedric Diggory. We'd been competitors in the Triwizard Tournament, but had decided to team up and take the win for Hogwarts together. We grabbed hold of the trophy at the same time and were transported to a graveyard where Voldemort and one of his Death Eaters were waiting for us. For a second – just for a second – Cedric let his guard down. He thought we'd won, that we were being taken back to the starting point, I think. I saw his grip on his wand slacken. I saw the confused look on his face when he realized we weren't where we were supposed to be. And barely a second later, he was on the ground, dead.
"Cedric was a great wizard. He was Hogwart's finest, chosen from amongst the whole school to compete in one of the most prestigious tournaments. His skill level was incredible. His ingenuity was exceptional. If it weren't for his help, I wouldn't even have passed the second task, let alone made it to the third. He knew all the spells, all the counter-curses, all the hexes and jinxes in the book. He let his guard down for a second. And that was all it took.
"When you fight the Dark Arts, you're not fighting your teacher or your classmate," he said. "You're not taking turns, sending spells back and forth. You're not waiting for your opponent to nod to let you know that they're ready. You're not in a room filled with cushions and mats to fall over onto. And you never know whether you're going to come out of your duel alive. When you're out there in the world, facing real Dark Magic, you have to be ready. This class is important, because it teaches you the skills you need. It teaches you the techniques and the wand movements and how to cast the spells. But there's one thing that you're not going to learn in the classroom. Something you can only learn from yourself. Something they can't test you on, or grade you on a scale of one to ten. And in a wartime situation, that's the thing that makes you a survivor."
VvVvVvVvVvV
"That was the most intense lecture I've ever experienced," Brianna said once they'd made it out the doors of their Defence class.
"Yeah," Kara agreed. "I mean it's one thing to read about the war in our history books, but it's totally different when you hear someone like Harry Potter talking about it."
"I've always heard stories from my family about wartimes," Victoire said. "But nobody's ever put things so bluntly like that before."
"If he weren't an Auror, he could totally teach Defence," Brianna said. "Professor Leftbridge is great and all, but I feel like we could really learn a lot from him."
"I don't know if I'd want Uncle Harry to be our teacher," Victoire disagreed. "I mean, sure his lecture was great, but if everyday was intense like that, I think I'd go insane. Plus, he'd be keeping constant tabs on me for maman and papa. I've already got Teddy for that, thank-you very much."
By lunchtime, word had spread about how Harry Potter was giving Defence lectures. The second-years were lucky to have had Defence first period, because it was a lot bigger of a surprise. By the time the fourth-years had him at the end of the day, they were already waiting for Hermione to spring out from behind the desk and try to stun someone in the front row.
The stories people told about it only got more and more elaborate. By the week after Uncle Harry's visit, Victoire was overhearing tales of how he'd defended himself against five men in Death Eater masks when really, Victoire knew it had always just been Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione.
Eventually though, excitement about Harry Potter died down as anticipation for the upcoming Halloween party rose.
"Should we go this year?" Victoire wondered one night up in the dorm, copying Kara's charms assignment while Kara copied her Herbology one.
"It could be fun," Brianna said. "And we didn't get to go last year."
"Of course, we did end up having a lot of fun last year," Kara added. "The common room was practically empty. How often do we have the whole place to ourselves?"
"Not that often," Brianna agreed.
"And the party's probably super lame anyway," Victoire pointed out. "It's in the Great Hall with all the Professors there and a bunch of older students who are going to be pushing us out of the way to get to the snacks."
"But on the other hand," Kara said slowly. "We don't want to miss out on something that could potentially be a lot of fun."
"Yeah, and we can paint our nails and play exploding snap anytime," Brianna agreed.
"So we're going then?" Victoire asked.
"We're going," Kara agreed.
"Do you think you could convince your mother to make us costumes again this year?" Brianna wondered. "They were spectacular last year, and would have been perfect if only we'd known not to wear them to breakfast."
"I'll owl her," Victoire promised. "I'm sure she'd love to though."
Victoire did indeed owl her mother later that night, and by the following morning, she had confirmation that her mother would be overjoyed to make the girls costumes again. Just like the year before, she wouldn't tell them what she was making ahead of time, so the girls waited in anticipation as it got closer and closer to Halloween. Finally, the day before, the packages arrived. Inside were beautiful white robes and fluttering wings that had to have been charmed with a spell to make them shimmer the way they did. Just as last year with the mermaid costumes, these angel costumes were sure to be the most spectacular costumes of the whole school.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Help me get my wings on?" Victoire asked, struggling with the fasteners. They were designed so that it would be impossible to tell they were fastened on, but positioned in such a way that Victoire couldn't reach them on her own.
"There," Kara said, fixing her friend's wings into place. "Here, can you do mine?" she asked.
Soon, the girls were all ready to go. Their wings were on, their makeup was done, their halos were resting on top of their heads. There was nothing left to do but head down to the party.
"Oh my gosh, you guys look amazing!" Savannah exclaimed when the girls descended into the common room.
"Thanks," Victoire said. "So do you." Savannah was dressed as what appeared to be a bunny rabbit, but could potentially be a bear.
"Where did you get those costumes?" Savannah asked.
"Maman made them," Victoire told her.
"What's a maman?" Savannah asked.
"Her mother," Brianna told her, shaking her head at her sister. "It's French, because Victoire's mother is French."
"Oh," Savannah said. "Cool!"
"Are you going down now?" Kara asked, offering to let her go down with them.
"No, I'm just waiting for my friends," Savannah said. "You go ahead."
When they got to the Great Hall, Victoire was speechless. Over the course of the afternoon, the house elves must have slaved away to create such a fantastic display. First there were the decorations; floating pumpkins carved with scary faces, skeletons along the walls clattering their bones, even the magical ceiling was stormy, with flashes of lightning and claps of thunder sounding at random despite the clear night outside. Then there was the food. The house tables had been pushed to the sides of the room and were laden with sweets and pastries and all sorts of finger foods that could be eaten without the use of the plate. Music was playing from somewhere, though Victoire couldn't identify where, and the middle of the room was filled with people dancing wildly. It was like nothing Victoire had ever experienced before and it was wonderful.
"We should dance!" Kara suggested. "Before we fill up on food."
Victoire and Brianna agreed and the three girls dived into the crowd and began jumping and waving their arms, trying to mimic everyone else.
It was fun like Victoire had never had before, and she hated to stop, but soon she was too tired to continue to dance any longer. Exhausted, the girls walked over to the nearest table and went straight for the pumpkin juice, which was in a large punch bowl. They ladled it into three goblets and took a short rest as they drank their fill of the juice. As soon as they were recharged, they put their goblets down and rejoined the fray.
At one point, a slow song came on, and students began coupling off to dance in pairs. The three girls decided that they would get a bite to eat while they waited for the more exciting songs to start again. While they were deciding whether to start with some real food or just go straight for the sweets, William Shimpling came up to them clearing his throat.
"Kara?" he asked, causing the girl to squeak in surprise.
"Yeah?" she asked nervously.
"Would you like to dance with me?" he asked.
Kara's face turned beet red as she stumbled and stammered over her words.
"I – I – Well, I – Sure," she said, biting her lip as he took her hand and led her out into the middle of the Hall. As they walked away, she turned back and looked at Victoire and Brianna, her eyes filled with questions. Victoire gave her a thumbs up and Brianna made a motion with her hands as if to say 'go on'.
"Our sweet little Kara," Brianna said. "Dancing with a boy for the first time."
When the song was over, Kara returned, looking flushed.
"How was it?" Brianna asked the minute she was back.
"I don't know," Kara said uncomfortably. "We danced, it was nice."
"Did he say anything?" Brianna asked.
"Not really," Kara said with a shrug. "He told me he liked my costume."
"He totally likes you," Brianna said excitedly. "You should wait for the next slow song and then ask him to dance."
"I don't know," Kara said, unsure. "I think the one dance was enough for tonight."
"But nothing's going to happen if you don't," Brianna said. "He made the first move, now you have to make the second one."
"But do I want something to happen?" Kara asked.
"Of course you do!" Brianna exclaimed.
Victoire felt uncomfortable. If it was her in Kara's place, she wouldn't want Brianna pushing her like this.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Victoire said to Kara gently. "There will be other chances to dance with boys."
"I mean he was nice," Kara said. "But I don't know if I would want to dance with him again."
"And you definitely don't have to," Victoire said. "We can just dance with each other for the rest of the party."
"Seriously?" Brianna asked. "You're just going to ignore him for the rest of the night? What if he wanted to be your boyfriend?"
"I'm twelve," Kara said. "I don't need a boyfriend right now."
"Well if you're not going to dance with him, then I will," Brianna said, stalking over to where William was hanging out with some of his friends. She tapped him on the shoulder and then in moments was leading him out to the dance floor.
"I don't think I want to be at this party anymore," Kara said to Victoire, her voice wobbling a bit. "I'm going to go to bed."
"I'll come with you," Victoire said.
"No, you should stay and have fun," Kara protested.
"I'd rather go back to the dorm with you," Victoire said. "This party is lame anyway."
"It really is," Kara agreed, smiling. Victoire could see unshed tears welling up in her friend's eyes and led her out of the Hall and up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Pumpkin," Victoire said the festive new password to the Fat Lady. They climbed through the portrait hole and bypassed the empty common room, going straight up to the dorms.
"I'm going to need help getting out of this costume," Kara admitted when they got to the bathroom.
"Turn around," Victoire said, unfastening the angel wings and letting them fall to the ground. "Here, now get mine," she said, turning around herself.
"Sorry about making you miss the rest of the party," Kara said sadly.
"I already told you, it was no fun anyway," Victoire said.
"It was fun for a while," Kara mumbled. "Until Brianna ruined it." Tears started falling down her cheeks and her voice began to rise. "I mean, why was she making such a big deal about William?" she asked. "Why couldn't I just dance with him once and then leave it at that? Why did I have to go up to him? Why was it such a big deal that I didn't want to? Why do I even have to have a boyfriend at twelve? I mean, I'm twelve!"
"I don't know why she made it such a big deal," Victoire said. "But trust me, if I'd been you tonight, I wouldn't have wanted to go ask William to dance again."
"I mean he was nice enough," Kara said, wiping her tears away. "But Brianna made me feel like such a big baby about it. Ever since I told you guys I'd never kissed a guy before, I feel like she's judging me for it."
"You know I've never kissed a boy either, right?" Victoire said.
"You haven't?" Kara asked.
"No way!" Victoire cried. "Like you keep saying, we're only twelve!"
"Brianna has," Kara muttered.
"You know what?" Victoire asked. "I'm honestly not convinced she has. I think she just likes us to think so."
"Why?" Kara asked.
"I'm not sure," Victoire confessed. "Either way though, if you're not ready to be kissing boys, you shouldn't be kissing boys. We have our whole lives to do that."
"I guess," Kara shrugged. "Sometimes I just feel like everyone else is so much more mature than me when it comes to that stuff."
"Well they're not," Victoire promised her.
They finished taking their costumes off and Victoire helped Kara into bed. Just as she was about to get in her own bed though, Brianna burst through the door triumphantly.
"Guess who danced with me all night long?" Brianna bragged.
"Well considering you spent the whole first half of the party dancing with us, I'm going to say nobody," Victoire said.
"Okay, fine, guess who danced with me for the whole second half of the party then?" Brianna amended.
"Brianna, I really don't think – "
"It was William," Brianna declared. "We danced for like, an hour, and then he walked me all the way up to the seventh floor. He is so sweet."
"Really Brianna, can we talk in the bathroom?" Victoire asked, raising her eyebrows at her friend. Though she loved Brianna, right now, she was being really mean to Kara.
"And right before he left, William totally kissed me," Brianna said.
"Brianna, seriously, can we talk in the bathroom?" Victoire asked.
"Fine, whatever," Brianna said, rolling her eyes.
Annoyed, Victoire dragged the girl into the bathroom and shut the door, hoping that they were far enough away that Kara wouldn't hear what she was about to say.
"What is wrong with you?" Victoire shouted. "Kara is clearly extremely upset and you're just standing there bragging about stealing William out from under her?"
"I hardly stole him," Brianna said. "It's not like she even wanted him."
"Whether she wanted him or not, you know what you did was hurtful," Victoire shot back. "If you'd wanted to dance with a guy, you could have asked any of the guys in our class. You didn't have to pick the one guy who had wanted to dance with Kara. You just wanted to prove that you were better than her. Well guess what? You succeeded, because now she thinks she's completely worthless!"
"I don't know who you think you are, Victoire Weasley, but just because your uncle is Harry Potter, and all your family are famous, it doesn't give you the right to go yelling at people like this," Brianna cried.
"What?" Victoire gasped. "This has nothing to do with my uncle or my family! This is about Kara and how she feels. Do you not understand that?"
"If she's going to cry herself to sleep over some boy she didn't even want to ask to dance, then that's her problem," Brianna said. "I didn't do anything wrong."
"If you can't see the problem here, then there is nothing else I can say to you," Victoire gave up, turning around and slamming the door behind her.
"Hey, Kara?" she asked softly, approaching her friend's bed. "Are you all right?"
"I just want to sleep, if that's okay," Kara said, her voice muffled by the pillows.
"Okay," Victoire replied, pulling the curtains of Kara's bed shut, so that she wouldn't have to see or interact with Brianna again that night. "I'll see you in the morning."
Exhausted, Victoire collapsed onto her bed, shutting her curtains as well, knowing that she couldn't handle seeing Brianna again that night. How could Brianna be so mean? What had come over her? Normally she wasn't like this at all.