The screeching sound of the entire student body standing up at the same time filled the Great Hall. As Harry stood up himself, Parvati asked Ron if it was right they didn't have any prefect duties at that time, which Ron confirmed. It was the new prefects who would take care of the first years.
When Harry and Ron walked out of the Great Hall, the first of what would probably be many confrontations with Malfoy took place.
"Hey, Scarhead!" a voice drawled from behind them. Ron and Harry both stopped in their tracks. Harry turned around slowly, from the corner of his eye he could see Ron's jaw tense. They glared at the blonde boy, as always flanked by both Crabbe and Goyle.
"Malfoy," Harry answered, trying to put as much disgust as he could into voicing the two syllables.
The boy smirked nastily. "I see you decided to ditch-"
"Mr Malfoy, Mr Potter." a soft but powerful voice said warningly from within the Great Hall. Malfoy turned around, and Harry could see the Headmaster walking up to the five of them. Harry didn't think he had ever seen Dumbledore interfere in squabbles like this.
As the powerful wizard came closer, Harry could see something shift in Malfoy's eyes and stance, but he wasn't sure what it was. Apprehension? Disgust? Repugnance? In any case, Malfoy did not seem to like being in the Headmaster's presence, even more so than normally.
"Ah, Harry! I was hoping to speak to you tonight, would you care to join me in my office?" He then turned to Malfoy. "And Mr Malfoy, don't you have more important business to attend to, rather than standing here?"
At these words, Malfoy, incredibly, turned even paler, before he regained his composure and walked away quickly.
Harry breathed in deeply, trying to control the absolute fury that had made itself home in him at what he suspected Malfoy was going to say. Before he could say anything to Ron, his friend whispered the words Harry was thinking himself. "If that arsehole makes only a single comment about Hermione, I won't be held accountable for my actions."
Harry looked his friend in the eyes, and they both knew it was true. They were not going to take any shit from Draco-fucking-Malfoy this year.
"Harry?" Professor Dumbledore questioned.
"Oh yes, I'm sorry, Professor," Harry said embarrassedly. "I'll see you in a bit, let's play a game of chess, yeah?" he told Ron.
When Harry walked into the Headmaster's office, he was surprised at the fact that there was no trace left of the devastation he had left behind. Dumbledore, omniscient as always, chuckled. From the glares Harry got from some of the portraits, Harry gathered that not everyone had forgiven him for the trashing. He sat in the chair.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts, Harry. How has the rest of your summer been?" the Headmaster asked in his friendly manner.
"It was good, sir. How was your summer?"
"Incredibly enlightening yet confrontational," he waved with his good hand to his blackened one, "It seems age is finally getting to me." He looked sombre for a moment before he regrouped. "Have you been back to Potter Manor?" he asked curiously.
"I haven't. I had Dobby go there to search for some books I thought might be in the library there," Harry explained. Then he remembered: "Oh, that reminds me, I also had Kreacher ward the house against other house-elves. Now only elves bonded to me can go there. Apparently, the Fidelius doesn't stop House Elves?" he asked.
"Hmm," Dumbledore looked thoughtful, "I'm afraid I am not well versed in House-Elf magic. They can be very secretive when it comes to their ways. In fact, almost no research has been done on their magic. But you are correct, Dobby did manage to apparate into it after we completed the Fidelius. Good thinking, Harry!" he complimented. Harry smiled at the compliment.
"Now, to business," the elderly wizard said. "I heard you had lunch with Horace?"
"Yes. I didn't particularly enjoy the company, but you said I should let him 'collect' me, so I went anyway," Harry said honestly.
"Indeed, I did. The reason for which segues nicely. First of all, as I have told you before, it is my wish that you have private lessons with me. I am aware of your captaincy for the Griffindor team, congratulations for which, so we'll have to schedule these lessons together. However, for the most important lesson, I would like a meeting for next Saturday evening."
"That's okay with me," Harry answered.
"Magnificent," the Headmaster smiled. "Now, as I understand, you'll be using ´Advanced Potion-making' as a textbook for Potions class, correct?" At Harry's confirmation, the Professor opened up a drawer and pulled out a copy of the book, clearly an old one.
Harry accepted the book and opened it to find the book was full of notes, written in the margins in a very small and fine script. There were annotations in the margins like, "just use a bezoar" under a potion recipe for a general antidote, but also additional tips on certain recipes.
He looked up questioningly. "You want me to use this book? Why?"
"The book was released over 50 years ago, and potion-making has made immense strides since then. You'll find that the annotations in this book will work better than the original recipes."
Harry frowned. "You're giving me an unfair advantage over my classmates," he stated.
"I am, I cannot deny that. However, think for a moment the effect it will have on your teacher if you were to be the best in the class," the Headmaster responded.
"Aha," Harry said, getting what Dumbledore was getting at, "If I use this book, I'll build a better relationship with Slughorn. Why is that so important?" he questioned.
"That will be revealed next weekend, it would take too long a time to explain right now," the headmaster told him. Harry was increasingly curious, but it seems he would have to wait longer.
"Now, before you challenge Mr Weasley to a game of chess, I'm curious. Have you read the book I gifted you?"
Harry smiled embarrassedly. Reading that book was low on his list of priorities. "I haven't yet, sir, but I did bring it to school with me. Is it important I read it?"
"Not as important as what we discussed previously no, but still I think you'll find it interesting."
Harry promised he would read The Tales of Beedle the Bards at some point and they said goodbye, Harry carrying the old copy of his textbook with him.
-In Her Memory-
When Harry walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, he realized that he didn't know the password. As he stood wondering what to do, the portrait opened and Ginny and Dean exited the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Hey, do you know what the password is?" he asked, wondering why the two were leaving the common room.
"It's 'nobilis unitas' for the next week," Ginny answered as Dean and her walked past. They didn't stop and made their way around the corner before Harry realized he was just standing there and entered the common room instead.
As he entered the common room, most of the conversation stopped, as people looked at Harry. He frowned, not knowing why. He saw Ron sitting with Seamus, so he made his way over there.
"Chess?" he asked of Ron, by way of greeting.
Ron shrugged, "yeah, sure, but I think Lavender wanted to talk with you or something, she asked after you." He looked behind Harry, to where Lavender, Parvati, Lily and Sophia were talking.
"You think…" Ron began, but he trailed off.
"Probably," Harry confirmed. If Lavender wanted to talk with him and she was waiting with all of Hermione's ex-dormmates then he could guess what she wanted to talk about.
Seamus spoke up in a whisper. "I brought a bottle of firewhiskey, I wanted to drink a toast to start the new year, we should invite the girls." he proposed.
"All the Gryffindor 6th years," Ron sighed in a sad voice, "Good idea, Seamus. Where are Neville and Dean?" he questioned, looking around the common room.
"Neville's upstairs already," Seamus said.
"I saw Dean leaving the common room with…" Harry trailed off. He had just realized that Ginny and Dean had probably left the common room to find some privacy.
"With who?" Ron asked while Seamus looked torn between dissuading Harry from saying "Ginny" and wanting to see how Ron would react.
Luckily for Harry, Ron seemed to fill in the gaps on his own, judging by his scowl. "In that case, I'm not waiting for him," he muttered and he stood up and made his way to the boys' dorm. Harry and Seamus looked at each other and Seamus snickered, "You get the girls, I'll get the whiskey!" he told Harry before he stood up and followed Ron.
Harry walked over to the girls. "Hey, Lavender, you wanted to talk to me?"
"Oh, hi, Harry," Lavender said, while Lily and Sophie greeted him as well. Parvati looked uneasy, Harry imagined she might be feeling guilty for being a prefect now. "It's just… well, you know, we –" she indicated the four girls "- were thinking of doing something to remember Her-Hermione," Lavender continued through a sniffle.
"That would be nice," Harry said softly, "Seamus invited you all to our dorm room, he proposed a toast to usher in the new year. We can talk about it after?" he offered.
Lavender and Parvati immediately accepted. Lily looked unsure, Sophie was watching the other girl. Remember what Ginny had told him over the summer, he took a good look at the two girls he hadn't had much contact with.
Lily Moon was a short, blond girl with pale skin. She would have reminded Harry of Tinkerbell, had she not worn a nose piercing in her right nostril and something Harry thought was called a choker. He had heard Petunia ranting about 'the youth of today and their fashion accessories' when he spent that week at the Dursleys'. Sophie Roper was quite tall but had an athletic build and dyed black hair, at least Harry assumed it was dyed as her eyebrows were brown, and was sporting a healthy suntan.
"You two coming too?" Harry questioned.
Lily looked at Sophie, who turned to Harry, "Yeah, sure, sounds fun!" She stood up, pulling Lily with her.
As they entered the boys' dorm room, the others were already seated in a semi-circle, some on beds, some on the floor.
Seamus was busy getting his bottle of fire whiskey and glasses ready, and he looked up sheepishly.
"Erm… I only have 5 glasses with me, does anyone know the Doubling Charm?"
Nobody stepped up to the plate, forcing them all to try until someone managed to create enough glasses for everyone. Harry was the one who managed it in the end. He sighed internally. Previously they could have relied on Hermione for charms like this but now…
He shook off his rumination as Seamus started pouring shots for everyone.
"Shouldn't we wait for Dean?" Parvati questioned.
"He's got five minutes before he gets a detention," Ron scowled, making Harry laugh. If Ron was going to try to diminish the time Dean spent with Ginny, giving detention was certainly an effective way to go about it. Lavender and Parvati exchanged uncertain glances.
"He's dating Ginny," Harry supplied.
The girls all hid smiles and nodded understandingly while Neville smirked at Harry from behind Ron.
"Yeah, yeah, very funny…" Ron muttered, "I'm not sure what I would prefer: them being where I can see what they're doing or them doing whatever they're doing far away from me."
Lavender laughed out loud at that statement, making Ron look up irritably.
Seamus neatly stopped any discussion from taking place, by finishing the last glass and raising his own.
"Now," he said with a comically badly acted scowl, "We could wait for Dean, but as he is the only one with a girlfriend or boyfriend here, I say: screw him!" He tossed the glass back and finished his first shot.
"Seamus!" Parvati shot him an angry look, "We were supposed to toast upon the new year!"
Seamus laughed. "Yeah, we can do that with our second glass!" he said while filling his glass again.
Harry picked up his glass and looked at it with apprehension.
"Watch out, Harry!" Ron said teasingly, "We both know how your last fire whiskey went!"
Lavender and Parvati seemed very interested in hearing this story and so their night began. Dean came in about half an hour later, with a beatific smile on his face, which slipped when he saw everyone was still awake, and the girls were there also.
"What's going on?" he asked his best friend.
"While you were tongue-wrestling your girlfriend" - Ron punched Seamus on the shoulder and shouted "shut up!" but he ignored him- "we were having a drink to toast upon the new school year!"
"Alright! Hit me up!" Dean said, doing his best to ignore Ron.
Seamus topped up everyone's glasses and raised his in the air.
"To having a good year, for a change!" he called.
"To fighting back!" Neville called
"To Hermione," Ron said softly.
"To Hermione," everyone repeated and they all slammed their drinks back.
After that, they spend two hours talking about their summers, their OWL scores, and, more importantly, trading stories about Hermione.
Harry was very interested in the stories that Sophie told, which also always involved Lily, as he hadn't known any of them.
At some point, the DA became the topic of conversation, and Sophie said both Lily and her wanted to join this year.
"Why didn't you join last year?" Ron asked, "Did you not believe Harry?" Ron said accusingly, narrowing his eyes.
Sophie shrugged. "We weren't asked, so how could we have joined? I would have probably joined if I knew about it."
"I'm not sure," Lily said in a small voice. She had been mostly silent up until that point.
"But did you believe Harry?" Ron pressed.
Before Harry could say anything about it, Sophie shrugged again. "Officially, I live in the UK during the summers, but we're never home, so I didn't even know there were people that didn't believe Harry and the Headmaster. We don't get the Daily Prophet in the Netherlands, you know?"
"You live in the Netherlands?" Harry asked, before apologizing, "I'm sorry, I should know about that but I realized this past summer that I have been… isolated… from the other students over the years."
"That's okay," Sophia assured him, "Lily and I could have talked to you more as well. It's a two-way street."
She went on to explain her situation. Sophie was born to a Dutch muggle and an English half-blood witch. Her paternal grandparents were muggles and had met during the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945. Her parents had met when her father was on a business trip to London and they eventually settled in the Netherlands. The Dutch wizarding community was quite large, relatively speaking. Before the Statute of Secrecy was instituted in 1689, many European wizards and witches moved to the Netherlands, attracted by the comparatively tolerant nature of Dutch culture at the time. Most of them now lived among the Muggles as there was little space for full magical villages. The only exception was the magical shopping centre, the Wegisweg, in Amsterdam, which was built underneath the canals.
Most young Dutch wizards and witches went to either Durmstrang, Beauxbaton, or Koldovstoretz because those schools took students from all over Europe. But Sophie's mother did not want Sophie to go to Durmstrang, and she already spoke English on a near-native level, being raised bilingually. So, they bought a small cottage in England to satisfy the Hogwarts application condition that you have to live in the British Isles and they had to navigate a tremendous amount of bureaucratic nonsense because Sophie's name was not in the Book of Admittance, as the Quill of Acceptance only added new-borns born in the UK or Ireland. But after they went through the process, her name had been put down and here she was.
Lily didn't say much, remaining silent unless she was spoken to directly, which Harry tried to do. She had spent most of her summer playing her electric guitar, lamenting the fact that she couldn't bring it with her to school. She was a half-blood and like Sophie, her mother was a witch, while her father made his money in the British punk scene. He had approached Lily's mother while she walked through Manchester in her Witches' robes and complimented her on her "eccentric fashion sense".
She had been instilled with a love of punk culture at a young age and her father was still on top of the newest developments and she name-dropped a dozen bands that Harry had never heard of. She also lamented the fact that she hadn't gotten her radio cassette player to work at Hogwarts yet, but she told Harry that she was thinking of asking Professor Flitwick if she could try getting it to work as an extracurricular Charms project.
Having talked with Lily a bit now, he could kind of understand why she would remind Ginny of Luna. Sometimes Lily spaced out and had to be brought into the conversation again. When Luna did it you got the feeling she saw and knew things she shouldn't but with Lily, it seemed more because of a lack of attention span. Sometimes she started a sentence and stopped halfway through. Sophie was clearly experienced with it. The two seemed to be best friends, which made sense. Parvati and Lavender were thick as thieves, and Hermione had always been with Ron and Harry, so that left Lily and Sophie. Harry was glad to see that they had each other, as he still felt, and would probably feel for some time, bad about basically ignoring them for so long.
Just after twelve, they called it a night. They had made some preliminary plans for September 19th, Hermione's birthday. They wanted to host a get-together somewhere in the castle, so the non-Gryffindor members of the DA and others could come as well.
The DA was discussed again, as Parvati, Lavender, Dean and Seamus all expressed interest in continuing. Lilly and Sophie, well, mostly Sophie, expressed interest in joining this year. Hermione hadn't asked them last year. Sophie theorized that Hermione probably assumed that they didn't want to join and had decided to not ask them. Lily needed all the time she could get to pass her classes, as she struggled with all of them except for Charms, and Sophie had discussed with Hermione her wariness of openly going against the Ministry for fear of being 'deported', adding air-quotes. This year the stakes were different, however. Lily had dropped most of her classes, continuing only in DADA, Charms and Care of Magical Creatures, so she absently told Harry she thought she probably could manage to join the DA this year. As the DA was no longer a subversive anti-Ministry group, Sophie had no qualms joining. It also seemed to be a great way to improve her DADA marks, especially with Snape now teaching. Parvati and Lavender, for the first time since starting Hogwarts, were not taking all the same classes, as Parvati was planning on becoming a Healer and needed a Potions NEWT, which Lavender had dropped. The same was true for Seamus and Dean, as Seamus had not passed his Charms Newt (apparently, he had blown up his examination desk during the practical). Both of them were not continuing Potions, which, Harry realized halfway through that conversation, was unsurprising. How could any student that had achieved an Exceeds Expectation on their Potions OWL have known they could continue anyway? They hadn't been informed about the lowered standard for NEWT Potions class until this evening, so they would have planned accordingly.
Saying goodbye to the other 6th year Gryffindors, Harry finally made his way to bed. This promised to be a strange year. He could not yet phantom how different Hogwarts was going to be without Hermione, but he was sure her influence would be sorely missed, in both expected and unexpected ways. Just like he missed Hermione in expected and unexcepted ways. Deciding to pay extra attention to Ron the next week, he drifted into an uneasy sleep, the familiar dreams of Veils and Purple curses tormenting him throughout the night.
-In Her Memory-
Harry woke up the next morning with an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but he couldn't decide whether it was because he was dreading their first day of classes, or because of last night's firewhiskey. He and Ron were at breakfast bright and early though, so his uneasiness was probably not due to the alcohol. Moreover, for Ron, an entire summer of waking up early had made it no problem, and for Harry, the unspoken promise to do better driving him to start the year with a bang had helped him get up.
While most other students were drifting into the Great Hall, Harry and Ron were finishing up their breakfast. They were waiting for Professor McGonagall to give them their class schedules so they could plan their extra-curricular activities accordingly. This was very important as Harry was both Quidditch captain and the leader of the DA, so he had to plan lessons and training schedules for both. During their summer Quidditch discussions, Harry, Ron and Ginny had agreed on two Quidditch practices per week: one during the week focusing on Chaser- and Beater drills, and a full game, with a two-hour time limit, against the reserve team on the Weekends. With the DA, they had decided to host two meetings a week if they could. When Parvati expressed her desire to become a Healer, Harry had decided to indeed make Healing a part of the DA activities. By holding two meetings people could focus on both fighting and healing, have extra practice time or they could do only one and have more options of when to attend.
When Professor McGonagall approached the two of them with their class schedules, she clearly hesitated a bit, seemingly unsure whether to say something about the elephant in the room. She decided on brusquely telling Ron and Harry that it was good to see them again and giving them their class schedules.
What was immediately clear was the amount of free time they would have in their NEWT years. They had Potions and Herbology twice, but they were both doubled. Defence, Transfiguration and Charms they had three classes each for.
"Lots of time to plan our own stuff," Ron remarked, "but oh no…" he groaned, "we start with Snape!"
The first day back after at Hogwarts after what had happened and they were immediately being fed to a victorious Snape, who had finally snagged the position he had wanted from the beginning. It could only go wrong.
-In Her Memory-
It only took until the end of Snape's introductory ode to the Dark Arts at the start of their class (at least that's how it sounded to Harry) for things to go very wrong, very fast.
Snape had asked whether anyone had an idea what the advantage of using nonverbal spells was and the class, having spent five years getting accustomed to Hermione answering all questions, descended into a sad and awkward silence. Well, mostly. Draco and his posse didn't answer either, though. Where most other professors would probably have understood the sentiment behind this silence, Snape obviously thought himself above such sentiment.
"Dear, oh dear," he said softly, sneering at the class, "and here I hoped you were all only dunderheads when it came to the subtle art of Potionmaking." He paused. "Then again, the Dark Arts can be subtle as well, which would explain why some of you have failed so spectacularly at defending against it."
He said this last part looking directly at Harry and kept staring as he added, "Defending against the Dark Arts required a measure of concentration and discipline which some of us," he paused, all cold smile and cold eyes, making everyone look between him and Harry, "are sorely lacking."
This was a clear reference to Harry's disastrous Occlumency lessons of last year. Harry gritted his teeth, trying to keep his cool and forcing Snape to break his gaze first.
Snape set them practising shield- and disarming charms nonverbally, without ever explaining the actual advantage. Harry thought this advantage was clear anyway, even if Dolohov hadn't burned that lesson into his very soul. He just wasn't one to answer questions when not called upon.
As Ron and Harry practised, Snape walked between the pairs critiquing their charms and attempts at casting them nonverbally. It did not escape Harry's notice that with every person Snape suspected of DA membership, the man would sneer and make a disparaging comment about shoddy wand work and something disparaging about past teachers, Harry very much included. Harry didn't give him the satisfaction of looking at him when he said this, but he could feel Snape's cold, black eyes, boring into the back of his head nevertheless.
Some minutes later he approached Ron and Harry. Ron had slowly been turning red in concentration, trying to cast the Expelliarmus nonverbally.
"Pathetic, Weasley," Snape said nastily, "Here – let me show how it's done" and without hesitation snapped his wand toward Harry, who, also without hesitation, shouted "PROTEGO" and cast a shield charm so strong Snape lost his balance and fell into a blackboard.
Snape crawled up to his feet, livid. "Potter! Didn't I tell you to practise nonverbal spells?"
"Yes," Harry answered stiffly.
"Yes, sir," Snape corrected icily.
"There is no need to call me sir, Professor."
It had come out before he knew it, but even if he had known it would come out, he wouldn't have held it back. He was only about 30 minutes into his first lesson with Snape this year and he had already run out of patience.
Snape slowly turned red. Harry could count on one hand the number of times he had seen the Slytherin Head of House lose his cool, but he thought another instance was within reach.
"It seems," Snape said in a distinctly forced calm voice, "Mr Potter thinks he is funny." Even as angry as he was, Snape had the uncanny ability to be heard even if he spoke in a near-silent volume. He narrowed his eyes at the rest of the class. "Some of you might even agree with that sentiment."
He walked back up to the front of the class.
"Well, let me tell you something even you dunderheads should understand. We are at war. People who think they are funny end up dead. As will anyone, friends and family, who are stupid enough to put trust in that person. The events of last June show clearly what happens when you have any trust whatsoever in a spoiled child, with an overinflated ego, that has only managed to get as far as he has by pure luck and leeching of people better than him."
As he said this his voice had become louder. He wasn't shouting but it was clear to anyone that Snape was angrier than most had ever seen. Harry narrowed his eyes at the professor he'd hated since the first potions lesson back in his first year. The class was completely silent by this point, but even if they had talked, Harry probably wouldn't have been able to hear them over his heartbeat thundering in his ears.
As always he was angry at the way Snape seemed so keen on disparaging him, but what made it so, so much worse was the fact that the barbs echoed his own insecurities in the worst possible way. The entire summer they had been whispering this exact message: he had survived mostly by luck and the interferences of others. Others weren't so lucky and they paid the price. This was exactly why he and Ron had their unspoken agreement to do better. But to hear his insecurities spoken out loud by someone he hated made them so much worse. To his horror, he felt angry tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He was not going to give Snape the satisfaction of seeing him cry, so he did the only thing he could think of: go on the attack himself.
"Who do you suggest we trust then? You? A thirty-something loner with an ugly tattoo, who has done who-knows-what to earn it? I'm sorry, Snivellus, but the only reason anyone has to trust you, is your position as a teacher, and you're demonstrably bad at that."
Harry hadn't planned to call him Snivellus but he had seemed to have lost almost all grip on his self-control. Moreover, Hermione was no longer there to stop his worst impulses. Ron was much more likely to let Harry fuck-up, which he had probably done just now. Harry tensed his jaw, trying to stop talking and continued staring at Snape.
Before Snape could say anything though, Harry felt a spell heading his way. Before he could respond, however, he heard Ron cast a shield charm. He turned in time to see a purple spark of light, where Malfoy's spell at collided with Ron's shield charm. Seeing the purple hue angered Harry only more, but before he could retaliate, he felt his wand slip from his hand.
He jerked around again in time to see Snape catch his wand, smiling triumphantly. Harry heard Ron groan beside him and he knew he was in deep trouble.
"I have no need for your help, Mr Malfoy. A hundred points from Gryffindor and two months detention for insulting a teacher, Potter" Snape said, smiling nastily. He threw Harry's wand back at him. "Now get out of my sight."
"Gladly," Harry responded. He grabbed his bag and made his way out of the classroom, hearing Snape instruct the class to continue practising just before he slammed the door shut.
Cursing Snape under his breath, Harry made his way to the Gryffindor common room. He had over 6 hours before his next class, Potions class with Slughorn, so he had enough time to calm down to present his best self to Slughorn. As he made his way across the castle, he remembered the conversation he had with Fleur about Bill's twelve Newts. He had been planning on studying for his potion NEWT on his own, which wasn't necessary anymore. So why wouldn't he do it with Defence Against the Dark Arts instead? That's what he had done last year and it worked out… well, it worked out quite good test-wise in any case. How hard could it be to continue it on his own?
If he decided right now to study Defence on his own, or with Ron, he'd never have to step foot in a classroom with Snape as a teacher again! Harry very much liked the sound of that idea, and he was going to propose it to Ron as soon as his friend made it to the common room as well.
Harry was so deep in thought that he almost walked into Luna, interrupting her conversation with a portrait on the 4th floor.
"Oh, sorry Luna, didn't see you there," Harry apologized. He took a second to look at Luna. She was barefoot, with her hair in a messy bun, and seemed to have just wandered out of bed. Luna hadn't responded yet and was watching Harry with her head cocked to the side and her big eyes unblinking.
"Er… are you okay?" Harry questioned.
"Are you?" Luna countered slowly, "you're having quite a fascinating ecosystem today, haven't you?"
Harry just shrugged. "Some stuff happened, but I'm actually quite glad it did," he explained. "Why are you talking to a portrait in this … er… outfit?"
"I had the most amazing dream, which I just had to discuss with Mrs Trelawny," Luna answered, pointing at the portrait of a woman, and talking over it as it said "A portrait?! I have a name you know!"
Harry looked at the portrait and read the tag. It was a portrait of Cassandra Trelawny, a legendary Seer from the 17th century, according to the tag.
"Do you often talk to the portraits?" Harry asked, a bit lost for words. Sometimes he didn't know what to do with Luna.
Luna nodded with a smile. "When I felt lonely in my first year I spoke to them, so I spoke to all of them."
"Oh," Harry said stupidly, not knowing what to say to that admission.
Before either of them could say anything the bell rang, signalling the morning break.
"Oh!" Luna gasped, "is it that time already? See you later, Harry!"
With that, she sped away, presumably off to dress for class. Harry wondered whether she had had breakfast at all but just shrugged it off. He thought it best to just let Luna be Luna.
He made his way to the common room to wait for Ron.
About five minutes later, the Gryffindors made their way back to the common room. Every one of them was going for a NEWT in DADA. They had not set a single step into the common room before they were loudly cursing Snape and saying that he went too far. Snape hadn't directly accused Harry of being responsible for Hermione's death, and they had limited knowledge of what happened but they were rallying behind Harry nonetheless. Harry wasn't sure whether they actually believed Harry wasn't responsible but he liked it nonetheless.
They all fell silent as Ron spoke up. "What are you going to do?" he asked simply. He didn't need to say anything else, Harry knew that whatever his decision, Ron would support him.
"I'm dropping the class, I'll just do it on my own," he stated.
"Damn right," Ron said, "we'll show that bastard we don't need him."
"What spell did Malfoy use?" Harry asked in turn.
"I think it was just a colour changing charm, actually," Ron said, "in any case, there was almost no power behind it, I think he was just trying to wind you up even further."
They both sighed. This was going to be a long year.
-In Her Memory-
During lunch, it became clear the Hogwarts rumour mill had been working full-time again, as the story of Harry being kicked out of the DADA class was the hot topic. As Harry walked into the Great Hall, people watched him with a curious expression but the sound of murmurs did not dim. He spend the next three hours creating a perfect weekly study schedule with Ron, who was surprisingly keen to plan it all out.
With them quitting the DADA classes, they had even more time to plan according to their own wishes. They planned their weekly schedules according to what they thought was most important. This meant that Harry would spend an hour each week planning out DA lesson plans. They replaced the three hours of DADA class with six hours of self-study, taking up the same block as the class would have, plus the hours after. As they had discussed previously they planned two DA sessions per week, one on Tuesday evening, and one on Friday evening, which could also function as a bit of a get together to celebrate the beginning of the weekend. This meant that Quidditch practice would be on Wednesday evening and Sunday morning, with the former being drills and the latter being a full game against the reserve team. They also made room for two double blocks of studying Healing, but when they would happen would depend on whether Madame Pomfrey would teach them or whether they'd have to do it on their own.
Harry also made a to-do list. Ron and he needed to talk to McGonagall about their desire to become Animagi, they had to ask Madame Pomfrey about lessons, and they had to plan Quidditch try-outs, which Harry was planning for next Wednesday, but he had to communicate about that with Madam Hooch.
Having made the first edition of their weekly schedule-to-be, Harry and Ron prepared themselves for their first Potions class. Harry told Ron about the potion book he had gotten from Dumbledore and the Headmaster's wish that Harry would try to become Slughorn's favourite student.
"And you have no idea why?" he asked.
Harry shook his head and looked around the common room. "It seems to have something to do with Voldemort, but I have no idea what," he whispered.
Ron blanched. "Slughorn was head of Slytherin, right? Maybe he supports him?"
Harry shook his head. "While he made some comments that were questionable, I don't think he would actually support Voldemort."
"What did he say?" Ron asked curiously.
"He said my mum was a favourite of his and that he thought it was funny how good she was considering she was muggle-born."
Ron said nothing but scowled. They spend the next half hour discussing some of the potions they thought they'd have to brew this year and then made their way to the dungeons.
As they made their way through the halls, people stopped to stare and whisper at Harry. "It's rude to point!" Ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year. Harry would have felt bad for the kid but he couldn't must much sympathy at the moment. As they made their way across the Great Hall, they saw Hagrid at the other end. He looked rough from what they could see and left the Great Hall before they could get a better look at him.
"We should visit Hagrid this week," Harry said, thinking of his increasingly full schedule. Ron agreed, wondering out loud whether anyone would be continuing Care of Magical Creatures, making Harry cringe. He had to agree though.
As they made their way into Slughorn's classroom, they were greeted by four cauldrons and their accompanying vapours and smells. Harry and Ron took places close to a gold-coloured cauldron that was emitting the most seductive scents Harry had ever inhaled: a mix of butterbeer and treacle tart, the crisp smell of fresh air, and something sweet: either flowery, fruity or both. He immensely enjoyed the smell even though it left him feeling a bit confused. It evoked the feeling of being home as well as a fierce protectiveness in him. He wondered what the potion could be.
Harry looked around interestedly, wondering who would be continuing with Potions. There were only a dozen people in the room. Ernie McMillan, the solitary Hufflepuff in this class and member of the DA, sat at the brewing station next to Harry and Ron's. He held out his hand toward Harry. "Harry," he greeted pompously before he frowned, "absolutely disgraceful performance from Snape this morning. There was absolutely nothing wrong with our Shield Charms! Well, those of us old DA lags that is," he added with a wink.
Besides the three of them, Malfoy was there, as well as Blaise Zabini, the other Slugclub member, Pansy and Daphne. Parvati was sitting with Padma, who, with Lisa, Mandy and Terry were the Ravenclaws in the class.
As Harry looked around he saw that Ron was staring at the golden cauldron with a confused look on his face. He reckoned Ron was probably also thinking about what potion could give off such an enjoyable mix of scents. Before he could ask, Slughorn entered the Dungeon, greeting everyone jovially. He greeted Harry and Blaise individually.
"Now then!" Slughorn started his lecture enthusiastically, "scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making…" Harry grabbed the edition Dumbledore had given him out of his book bag.
As Harry expected would be the standard in every first lesson this week, Slughorn began his talk with the topic of NEWTS. He had prepared some potions that were NEWT level. He pointed at a cauldron, the one closest to the Slytherin table.
"Anyone know what this one is?"
Harry tried to look and smell but the potion looked like water and he was being distracted by the pleasant scent from the golden cauldron.
As he had with Snape's lecture that morning, he felt a keen sting of grief, not having Hermione immediately answer the question. Instead, and to his horror, Malfoy answered.
"It's Veritaserum, professor," he said, shooting a glance past the man toward Harry and Ron and smirking.
"Very good!" Slughorn answered, "how did you figure it out?"
"It's easy, sir, it is both odourless and colourless, which are the key characteristics of Veritaserum."
While Slughorn gave a brief overview of the effect of the potion, Ron leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear. "Daddy probably trained him to detect it so he wouldn't spill the beans on their support of You-Know-Who." Harry nodded, thinking that was very likely.
Slughorn moved over to the second cauldron, and now Harry gave it his attention he recognized the slow-bubbling, mudlike substance as Polyjuice Potion. Thinking of Dumbledore's wish, he raised his hand and, unsurprisingly, Slughorn passed over a couple of Ravenclaws to let Harry answer.
"It's Polyjuice, sir," he said.
"It is indeed! How did you recognize it? The viscosity? "
"Yes, I saw it up close once and I don't think I'll ever forget the way it looks," Harry said, trying to suppress a smile as an image of Cat-Hermione swam through his thoughts.
Slughorn looked intrigued at this admission. "Where have you come in contact with Polyjuice, if I may ask?"
Harry smiled but remain silent for a couple of seconds. "I think it's better I don't answer that question, sir," he said, smiling politely but also in a way that he hoped looked cheeky rather than smug.
"What are you doing?" Ron whispered from beside him. Harry shook his head to shut him up.
Slughorn guffawed and shook his head merrily. "Very well!" he answered. Harry secretly rejoiced his gamble had paid off. Slughorn had said his Mum was one of his favourite students and the way Remus described her, she had a cheeky and funny side. So was going to try to emulate that and it had paid off this time.
"Now," Slughorn said walking over to the golden cauldron, "who can tell me what this is?" To his surprise it was Pansy that answered, although the reason she knew about this potion became clear when she correctly said that it was Armortentia.
"The most powerful love potion in the world," Slughorn said. "The most interesting aspect of this potion is that its scent is dependent on the person smelling it. It is influenced by what a person is attracted to. So far, it is the only potion we know for which the perception of its characteristics is dependent on the individual. This makes it recognizable once you have smelled, of course, granting the subject of your desire hasn't changed, but otherwise, it can be recognized by its mother-of-pearl sheen and the spiralling way the steam rises."
Harry looked at the potion and wondered what the smells could mean for him. He looked over worriedly as he heard Ron groan and stiffen beside him. His face was white, his jaw was tense and he stared at the Amortentia with a mix of longing and hatred. It didn't take a genius to figure out what set him off and Harry felt terrible for him. Before he could say anything Ron had stood up.
"I'm sorry, sir, I've been feeling poorly and the potion fumes are making me nauseous, could I be excused?" he said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, er, sure, Mr Weasley, do you need someone to take you to the Hospital Wing?" Slughorn looked genuinely worried about Ron. Ron looked at Harry for a moment and their eyes met. Harry nodded with his head, trying to say that he'd come if Ron wanted him to, but Ron shook his head.
"No, I'll manage, sir, thank you," he said, and he walked out of the dungeon.
Harry could see Malfoy whispering to Blaise and thought he saw him mouth the words 'pathetic' and 'mudblood', which royally pissed him off.
After some theatrics with Slughorn having supposedly forgotten to tell them about the fourth cauldron, which contained Felix Felicis, he set them to brewing the Draught of Living Death. The best attempt would earn a small dose of the Felix Felicis. Harry was interested to see Malfoy perk up at that knowledge, and he kept an eye on him throughout the next half hour. The Slytherin seemed very keen on winning.
In the end, he was no match for Harry's edition of Advanced Potion-Making. Deciding to trust Dumbledore, and thus the book, he followed the revised instructions that were scribbled in the margins. It became immediately clear that whoever had written these instructions knew what they were doing. In combination with the freedom of brewing without Snape constantly haranguing him, he actually managed to win the Felix Felicis.
Slughorn jovially stated that he wasn't surprised a child of Lily Potter would be able to brew such a good Draught of Living Dead on their first try. The way he emphasised Potter left Harry with no doubt the sly Potions master knew of the Potters' Potion legacy.
Harry left the class feeling torn, he was happy he had made inroads with Slughorn, but he now had the difficult task of trying to cheer up Ron. And he wondered if that would be possible at all, especially considering the multiple stabs of grief Harry himself had felt throughout the day.
AN
I had some guest reviews asking whether the AU-ness of this story would soon start to increase. This story will not be wildly AU, although it will increase as time goes on. The primary reason for this is that I want to really try to explore the death of Hermione as a ripple effect. We have thus far already seen that Harry and Ron are planning on taking their studies more serious, as a result of them feeling guilty over not being able to protect, or heal, Hermione. So you should, in the end, be able to trace back most AU aspects in this story, in some way, shape or form, to Hermione's death.
Also: for how important a character Hermione is in canon, a story that kills her off and then makes Harry super smart through some platdevice, basically taking over Hermione's role in canon, would feel rather cheap in my opinion.
Also, also: if I had to bash a character, it'd be Snape. But I don't want to bash, because that's boring, so therefore I made Harry and Ron drop out of DADA.
Also, Also, Also: Sophie's Dutch heritage is for no other reason than the fact that I'm Dutch myself. The "wegisweg" is actually the Dutch name for Diagon Alley, which is why I chose it as the name for the Dutch Wizarding Shopping Centre. Lily being a 90s punk girl is just because I really want to read more Hogwarts stories in which Muggle subcultures infiltrate the population. (and no, My Immortal doesn't count)