Being back at Hogwarts had the unsurprising effect of increasing the number of nightmares and sleepless nights Harry had. Not that he had ever been completely free of them at the Burrow, but at the end of August he had rarely woken more than one time during the night. The first night was okay, probably due to the firewhiskey. The second night back at Hogwarts though, after a day full of memories and reminders, he had woken up almost every half-hour. This time Cedric and the cemetery also made an appearance, something Harry hadn't dreamed of since the end of June. When he greeted Ron the next morning, his friend didn't look much better.
Luckily, they had Herbology at first thing Tuesday morning, the morning air doing wonders in waking them up. Tuesday was promising to be a fun day of classes, relatively speaking of course. Herbology was almost always an active class, Charms, which was always a fun class, was before lunch and then they had Transfiguration before the afternoon break.
Both Charms and Transfiguration being before breaks was convenient for Harry and Ron as they wanted to talk with both Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall.
After Charms, where they had been revising their OWL spells and practising to do them nonverbally, Harry and Ron waited for the rest of the class to exit the classroom.
"Professor Flitwick, do you have a moment?"
The diminutive professor looked up from the notes he was taking. "Mr Potter, Mr Weasley. Of course, what can I help you with?" he said, curiously looking between the two of them.
"As you probably know," Harry began, "last year Hermione, Ron and I ran a student club called Dumbledore's Army." Flitwick nodded. Harry continued, "This year we can run the club officially, I've already spoken with the Headmaster about it. He supports the continuation, although he wants us to change the name."
"Yes, he has mentioned it at our start of the year meetings," Flitwick said.
"Great. Well, with the meetings no longer being …er… illegal" – Ron snorted – "we were hoping to bring in some guest teachers and when I spoke to Luna at dinner last night she mentioned you have duelling experience. So, we were wondering whether you would be interested, granted you have the time, to give a demonstration or a guest lesson sometime?"
Flitwick smiled encouragingly. "I'd love to, to be frank! I'm curious though, are you planning on asking professor McGonagall as well?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then back to the Charms professor and shook their heads.
"We hadn't thought about it to be honest," Ron said.
"I see. I think the most important duelling lesson I could teach is the use of spells that are not meant for combat. Both Charms and Transfiguration are a crucial part of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum, Shield charms being an obvious example. But with a bit of creativity, a competent witch or wizard can deal a lot of damage or protect themselves with something like a Summoning or Banishing charm. And not just to escape a Dragon!" he added with a smile and a nod at Harry. "Would that be an okay subject?"
Harry nodded enthusiastically, while Ron said "Yes, that's perfect!"
"Ron and I are going to plan out the first few lessons this week, so is it okay if we propose a date for you next week?"
"That's fine with me, Mr Potter. Was that all?"
"Yes, thank you, professor!" Ron said.
"Not at all, Mr Weasley." Flitwick took a moment, taking in Harry and Ron's already tired eyes and sighed.
"I am quite sure that wherever she is, Miss Granger is very proud of you two," he said, his voice trembling a little. "I think the way you have handled the situation thus far is commendable, even with the …er… disagreement you had with Professor Snape yesterday, Mr Potter."
Harry swallowed, knowing that by now everyone at Hogwarts would have heard at least one version of what had happened. Even though Flitwick seemed to not be cross with him, Harry was quite sure the same couldn't be said for McGonagall. She might be fair but she was also strict, and Harry had quite openly disrespected a teacher.
They thanked the Charms professor and made their way to lunch. Harry wasn't that hungry, the continuous reminders and memories of Hermione keeping his stomach in a constant state of turmoil.
Transfiguration class was quite comparable to how Charms had been. McGonagall showed them some of the work they would be expected to know, which as Remus had said included conjuration and human transfiguration.
What Harry did notice was that McGonagall looked ruffled herself. The class had started with an awkward moment when she had asked a question and had clearly wanted to call on Hermione out of habit but she stopped herself in time. Harry realized that it must be strange for the professors as well, having to wait for answers when they would normally come quickly. Well, in their year at least.
As McGonagall finished her end-of-class lecture she asked Ron and Harry to wait, which they did. When the rest of the class had moved out, she came over. "Mr Potter, Mr Weasley. I believe we have many things to discuss. Please accompany me to my office."
Harry and Ron looked at each other and followed her.
"Now," McGonagall as she sat down in her office chair, "there are multiple things I want to discuss. First of all, Mr Potter, I have been informed by Miss Weasley this morning that you are planning on creating a reserve team for Quidditch?"
Of all the subjects Harry expected McGonagall wanted to discuss, Quidditch was low on the list. Not completely unexpected though, he knew how fanatic his Head of House could be about Quidditch.
"Yes, we discussed the advantages of it during the summer, and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't do it. Did Ginny explain why we were planning it?"
"She did, yes, although I think she left the primary reason unspoken," the Professor answered with a small smile. "So she herself can play a Quidditch game every week," she explained, when Harry and Ron looked confused. Harry smiled.
"Yes, I'm sure she'll find herself a place on one of the teams," Harry responded with a smirk.
"Indeed. Well, I support this idea. In case you didn't know, Hogwarts has had reserve teams for all houses during times in which the school population was large enough to sustain eight full teams. Sometimes, the reserve teams would also compete in the league. Considering the larger number of children born in the years after the war, I expect we might see that system come back at some point. But I doubt we could manage it this year."
"How did that system work?" Ron asked, as always interested in anything Quidditch related.
"It's fundamentally the same as the current system, only instead of three games each team plays six. First and reserve teams of the same house don't play each other, of course. There were also strict rules about which players could play on which team, as the reserve teams were generally meant for younger players."
That made sense, Harry thought. "I'll need to announce the reserve team sometime before I hold try-outs, I guess. Give people more time to think about it."
"I think that would be wise, Mr Potter. I assume you're planning try-outs for some time next week?"
"The plan is for next Wednesday, with the first practice on Sunday morning. We train two times a week: one focusing on drills and one with a time-limited game between the first and reserve team. The first few weeks we'll just do drills though, to get everyone up to speed."
"I'm glad to see my trust in you has been warranted," the Professor said with a smile.
Harry didn't. He knew McGonagall's compliment was specifically related to his Quidditch captaincy but Snape's remarks from yesterday echoed through his head nonetheless. Also, his Quidditch plans were at most only half his doing, the rest being Ron and Ginny's influence. He was mostly just glad that Katie hadn't held his captaincy against him. She had congratulated him last night.
McGonagall lost her smile and her lips thinned. "That being said," she said in a more frosty tone, making Harry think 'here we go', "we need to discuss what happened between Professor Snape and you yesterday, Mr Potter. It is unacceptable – silence Mr Weasley – that you seem to have learned nothing of the Umbridge debacle of last year. I implored you then to hold your tongue, and you responded by organizing an illegal study group, specifically named to annoy the Minister." The corner of her mouth twitched. "What kind of response can I expect from you this year?"
Harry looked at her incredulously. She wasn't angry at the one hundred points he had lost Gryffindor? Nor the eight weeks of detention? She just wanted to know his response? Well, they had already decided on their response of course, but he wasn't sure she was going to like it as much as she apparently did the DA.
He shot Ron a look and took a moment to formulate his response and think of all the reasons he was dropping the course.
"Since coming to Hogwarts we have had six different teachers for Defence Against the Dark Arts," he began cautiously, "Two of those taught us nothing, two were good, and one was okay, though his lessons were primarily theoretical. Despite one of the useless ones being in our OWL year, most of our friends managed an OWL. I managed an Outstanding myself, even after an entire year of basically being self-taught. Bill Weasley showed us that it is possible to achieve a NEWT without actually taking the course. And with the fact that Snape is teaching this year, and well, we saw yesterday how that went. We have decided to drop the course and do it ourselves."
"Indeed." McGonagall folded her hands and put her elbows on the table, her expression giving nothing away about what she was thinking. She said nothing for a long minute and Harry had to try his hardest not to squirm.
"Mr Weasley, do you agree with Mr Potter?"
"I do, Professor," he responded, without hesitation.
Her eyes flicked between the two before she relented and breathed in and out heavily.
"Okay."
Ron couldn't stop himself, "Okay?" he said, sounding surprised.
"What did you expect, Mr Weasley? That I could stop you from dropping a course? I hope you are aware that you are no longer required to attend Hogwarts. Our laws only demand young witches and wizards at minimum sit for OWLs in the core courses. So I can't stop you from dropping a course, even if I, in normal circumstances, would vehemently try to dissuade you from doing so. However, times are not 'normal', and I rather think you and Harry are wise enough to make this decision. I have no doubt whatsoever you'll both do everything in your power to keep up with the course work."
'Because you need to kill Voldemort or we all die' Harry added in his mind. He shivered slightly.
"Very well. Have you thought about the repercussions of your decision to drop Defence Against the Dark Arts and study it by yourselves?"
Harry and Ron shared a look again. What repercussions? They shook their heads.
"I'm well aware that Professor Snape isn't the most popular teacher at Hogwarts," McGonagall said carefully, "I'm afraid that other students will follow your example. I fear that Professor Snape would be quite cross with you if that were to happen."
Ron snorted. "Well, I'm sorry professor, but how is that our problem? Snape has to realize that nobody likes him or his classes. "
"In Potions at least," Harry added, "We shouldn't judge him on one class of Defence, I suppose."
McGonagall pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "You both do realize that you'll be working with Professor Snape in the fight against You-Know-Who? Provoking him won't do us any good."
Harry shrugged. "As Ron said, I don't see how we can be to blame if people follow our example. It's not like we're going to go around convincing others to do the same, although I wouldn't be surprised if others did so nonetheless."
The Head of Gryffindor House shook her head. "Well, okay, as I mentioned previously I can't do much about it. I do appreciate you informing me of your decision."
"Now," she continued, "on to a related but different topic. The Headmaster has informed us of your decision to continue the DA. If it is to become an officially sanctioned club, there has to be certain oversight provided by the professors. Have you thought about how you'll instate this oversight?" When Harry didn't respond immediately, she continued, "The Charms Club, for example, provide Professor Flitwick with a planning and feedback on their performance the month prior."
"Oh, we could do something like that," Harry said, "considering we are planning on asking multiple professors, including yourself, on providing guest lessons on different topics. Ron and I talked to Professor Flitwick this morning about it, and we're planning on asking Madame Pomfrey whether she'd be willing to do some classes on Healing. Would that be enough oversight?"
McGonagall looked impressed. "That would certainly go a long way, yes. I understand that in the present circumstances it would be … unwise to ask the most appropriate teacher for oversight, so in this case, it's fine this way. Have you thought about a new name yet?"
Ron was the one to answer. "It was a group effort the last time so we decided it should be one this time as well."
The Professor nodded her assent. "Now, you mentioned you wanted to ask me to give a lesson as well? What kind of lessons were you thinking of?"
"The use of transfiguration in a duelling situation. Professor Flitwick mentioned the use of banishing and summoning charms, so the transfiguration equivalent of that would be great!"
The more Harry was talking to the different professors about the DA this year, the more he was looking forward to starting again. That reminded him.
"We probably should also mention that we're planning on holding two sessions each week, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. In the perfect scenario, this means people can work on multiple techniques or spells at the same time but it also gives people more space to choose when to attend."
"Will you two be attending each session?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes, that's why we planned Quidditch practices on Wednesday and Sunday," Ron answered.
The Transfiguration professor raised an eyebrow and smiled wryly. "You seem quite certain you'll make the team again, Mr Weasley. Surely I don't need to tell Mr Potter that nepotism is not the best way to manage a team?"
Ron reddened and smiled embarrassedly, while Harry laughed.
"Well, the topic should be easy enough for me to lecture on without too much preparation, so I would be honoured," McGonagall said, bringing the conversation back on track.
"We hope to have the preliminary planning done early next week. Is that okay for you, Professor?"
"Certainly," she looked at a clock standing on her desk. Harry had been eyeing it throughout the conversation. It was one of the first clocks Harry had seen in the Magical World that didn't use hands. This one used a digital-like interface and was made of brass which transfigured itself into the correct time every minute. Harry was impressed with the amount of spell work that must have gone into fabricating it.
"It's almost teatime, would you two like to join me?"
Harry looked at Ron and mouthed animagus at him. Ron nodded.
"Yes, we'd love to. We actually have one other thing we'd like to discuss with you, professor."
"Oh?" She looked intrigued.
"Ron and I want to become Animagi. We have already read two books on the process but Remus made us promise to ask you for help."
"I see," McGonagall said, before calling for a Hogwarts House Elf and requesting a tea tray.
She watched Harry and Ron curiously. "May I ask why?"
"Because it'd be bloody brilliant," Ron said enthusiastically.
"Language, Mr Weasley!" she reprimanded Ron, before adding with a wry smile, "I do remember your assessment from your first year." A memory of being late for a transfiguration class in their first year made its way to Harry's inner eye and he smiled.
Harry was reminded of how strict McGonagall could be when he saw how she narrowed her eyes.
"Is that the only reason you want to try this extremely difficult piece of magic, Mr Weasley? Because if so-" She was interrupted by a House Elf popping in to serve them.
When the Elf disappeared again, Harry quickly spoke up. "Besides it being a brilliant piece of magic, we also think it'd be a good trick to have up our sleeve. And I also would like to be able to help Remus…" Harry trailed off.
"Like your father and godfather before you," McGonagall finished, with a hint of sadness in the quiver of her voice. "I haven't had the time yet to speak to you about what happened last June, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, but I hope you know that I'm here if you want to talk about it."
The boys both murmured thank yous.
McGonagall cleared her throat. "As I said, the Animagus process is very difficult. What can you tell me about it?"
Harry recognized the test in that question, she wanted to know how invested they were.
"There are generally two parts to the process: finding out which animal you can become and learning how to perform the actual transformation."
"That's correct. Mr Weasley, how would you go about finding out which animal you can become?"
"There is a potion that you need to brew and drink, under very weird circumstances."
"Weird circumstances?" McGonagall challenged.
"You need to hold the leaf of a … erm… the leaf of … oh yeah, the leaf of a Mandrake in your mouth for an entire month. And the ingredients are kind of hard to come by, I think," Ron finished frowning. Harry, knowing his best friend well, knew he was probably reprimanding himself for forgetting the Mandrake when it had played such an important role in their second year. He couldn't judge, however, considering what he had forgotten about their second year.
"And what about the second part of the process, Mr Potter?" McGonagall continued the interview.
"Performing the transformation takes a high level of expertise in Human-Transfiguration, Conjuration, and understanding of both the human body and the body of the animal you transform into."
McGonagall smiled approvingly. "Okay, last question. Why is Conjuration important?"
Harry blanched, he'd been wondering that ever since Remus had mentioned it but so far the books hadn't answered it. He looked at Ron, but he clearly didn't know either.
"I don't know, professor," he admitted.
"Only Animagi whose animal alter-ego is an animal that is very similar to humans, like pigs or certain primates can get away with just using human transfiguration. Most of the time, and to a varying degree, the animal alter-ego requires understanding Conjuration. For example, animals that have more than four appendages. Do you know why?"
Harry thought about it. Padfoot had four legs but he had a tail. Would that have required extensive knowledge of conjuration? Harry felt like it didn't but he wasn't sure. He thought about what McGonagall had said about the likeness between different bodies. Humans had two legs and two arms, so he guessed it was relatively easy for Sirius to transform those into a dog's front and back legs. What about his tail? Humans did have a tail bone, so that could be transfigured into a longer version of itself to serve as a tail. Aha!
"Because there's nothing to transfigure into the other appendages?" he guessed and Ron made a noise of comprehension.
"Yes, indeed," McGonagall smiled, "imagine becoming a spider." Ron made quite an embarrassing squeak beside him, but Harry could never tease him over it.
"Where would the extra legs come from? You'll need to understand conjuration to such an extent that you're able to conjure something that you can subsequently transfigure into a working appendage. This all needs to happen in a split second, of course," McGonagall explained.
'Can't be harder than defeating Voldemort' Harry thought as if that would motivate him. He and Ron both sighed, probably thinking along similar lines.
"Indeed," McGonagall said, "and I'll be frank with you, both your Transfiguration grades thus far are not what I'd consider an ideal starting point, so you'll need to work very hard to be successful."
Harry and Ron both nodded. Harry knew that transfiguration was one of Ron's best subjects, if only he was motivated to try. Animagus training would be a good motivator.
"Are you willing to help?" Ron asked.
McGonagall nodded slowly, thinking.
"Here's what I propose: start with making the potion. You'll need to wait until you have found your forms before you can start practising the transformation. I will help you with that part," she said. Harry and Ron grinned at each other until the Professor continued. "but only if I see an improvement in your transfiguration work. You'll need to manage consistent Outstandings in your classwork."
Ron swallowed audibly but nodded his assent. Harry wondered how difficult of a task that would be: surely studying for the transformation would improve his understanding and his grades as well.
"That being said, brewing the potion is difficult enough as it is, so focus on that first. Hagrid might be able to get you some of the ingredients that can't be bought."
With that, and some book recommendations besides the one they already had, they finished up their tea and Harry and Ron returned to the Gryffindor common room. On the walk there Ron came up with a good idea.
"You know how you need to get in Slughorn's good graces?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"We should ask him if he could help with brewing the Animagus potion."
Harry thought about it. It wasn't a potion one brewed often, if at all, and if he had the man scouted well, he'd probably enjoy it immensely if he asked him to keep it a secret.
"That's a great idea!" Harry enthused.
-In Her Memory-
They spent the rest of Tuesday doing homework, fielding questions about the Quidditch Reserve team, the announcement of which Harry had posted on the notice board, planning their Defence self-study, and planning the DA sessions. They still needed to ask Madam Pomfrey if she'd be willing to teach Healing, so they couldn't plan out too much.
Tuesday had been spent Snape-free but that changed during lunch on Wednesday. That morning there had been another Defence class, but as they had decided, Harry and Ron had spent the time on their own. They had gone to the Room of Requirement and practised duelling non-verbally, before going to Transfiguration after the morning break. As expected, without Snape, they were improving faster. Still, they were only trying disarming and shield charms at this point and those weren't effective at all. They had a long way to go yet.
That they had not been to Defense had not gone unnoticed and Snape confronted them during lunch.
"Potter, Weasley, detention for missing class," he said. "My, my, my, Potter, trying to outdo your father and godfather in bad behaviour, are we? They never had any respect for their superiors either," he sneered.
Harry breathed deeply, remaining composed for now. He heard Ron do the same.
"I'm sorry, there seems to be a misunderstanding…" he tried to say but he was cut off by Snape.
"Misunderstanding? No, Potter, I understand completely. You had your feelings hurt and decided you were above my classes. And Weasley, of course, follows where you go. Well, I won't stand for students that skip classes."
Harry glances over to the Head Table, where McGonagall was observing the confrontation.
"If me dropping your class is the same as me deciding I'm 'above it', then I guess you're right," he said, trying to put on a smile he hoped would annoy Snape but ending up with some sort of grimace.
"What are you talking about, Potter?" Snape demanded.
Harry glanced at McGonagall again, but Ron answered before he could.
"We decided we can teach ourselves better than you could," he stated firmly and almost convincingly. But Harry could feel Ron's leg bounce from nerves. Those who had been watching had fallen silent but murmurs broke out again at that statement. Harry thought he heard the DA mentioned a couple of times. They were surrounded by Gryffindors of course.
"Is that so?" Snape answered in an icy voice. "Well, Weasley, I hope I don't have to remind you what happens to people who put themselves in danger without proper educa-"
"Severus," a powerful voice warned. They looked to their lefts to where the Headmaster strode into the Great Hall. "I'd like to speak with you. In my office." He turned around without waiting for a reply and walked out again.
Snape narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster, looked at Harry and Ron, snorted derisively and followed Dumbledore, his robes flapping behind him.
As soon as Snape had left the Great Hall, Harry and Ron looked at each other and let out a small sigh of relief. They finished their lunch in silence, listening to the rumourmongering going on around them. As soon as they walked out of the Great Hall they were approached by Neville. He only spoke three words, but they were the words Harry had expected.
"Count me in."
-In Her Memory-
The remainder of the week was spent doing homework, practising their nonverbals in the Room of Requirement, and further planning DA sessions. Harry had officially scheduled the Quidditch try-outs as everyone in Gryffindor was talking about the planned reserve team. They had also gone and talked with Madam Pomfrey, who agreed to plan some sort of Healing study guide. She could fall back on a similar program that had existed during the last war. She also promised to use her connections with St. Mungo's to ask whether they could spare people to help teach since her duties might prevent her from teaching.
His second potion class had gone quite like the first one for Harry. With the help of the book that Dumbledore had given him, he managed another Outstanding. He had read through the book in bed most of the evenings as he had discovered there was more to it than just potion directions. There was a toenail growing hex, a jinx that would cause the victim's tongue to stick to the roof of their mouth, and a couple of spells whose effects weren't described. One of them, sectumsempra, just said for enemies. Considering the success the Half-Blood Prince, which was the name he had found scribbled unto the index page, had given him with Potions, he was inclined to trust the previous owner.
During their Friday morning session, they had been interrupted by Tonks. They knew that Aurors had been patrolling the Hogwarts at night and during the day. Tonks said she'd been asked by Dumbledore whether she'd be willing to pop in on their sessions from time to time to give some pointers. She still didn't look right, Harry thought. Normally she was like a colourful flower but now it looked like she had retreated into herself for the night.
She did share a small tip: it may benefit them to put silencing charms on each other while practising nonverbals and practice duelling with their shield- and disarming charms. The combination of adrenaline, inability to verbalize and less time to think had helped auror-trainees in the past. Tonks also told them that they should indeed first focus on nonverbals spells because it was easier to learn new spells nonverbally from the start. It was recommended to practice all the spells in your arsenal on their own, so learning it nonverbally from the start just saved time. She also explained that they should not see nonverbals as the most important aspect of spellcasting. Sometimes you just needed more power and verbalizing, or shouting, a spell did add more 'oomph', as she called it.
Friday and most of Saturday were spent practising and doing their enormous amount of homework. Nothing big happened those days except Ginny snogging Dean during dinner on Friday. When Ron angrily asked 'what the buggering hell, that was all about" Ginny had angrily explained to them that she was very tired from being asked out. Apparently, she had been asked out every day that week because people didn't know she was dating Dean. So she wanted to make that clear to everyone. Ron was not feeling better because of that explanation and when he looked ready to angrily tell his sister off, he had been distracted by Luna asking him whether he had ever snogged someone and wondering whether she would ever be asked out. Ron had quickly fallen silent after that. Luna still often sat with them. Harry had seen Dumbledore looking at her one time, and thought the Headmaster approved of such inter-house friendships.
Harry did wake up quite late on Saturday. He had worked hard all week and was still suffering from nightmares often, so he was feeling tired. He probably wasn't going to get a good night's sleep that night either, because Dumbledore had sent him a letter during lunch telling Harry that they were still meeting that evening but that Harry would be spending the evening in the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore did explain that it was just a precaution and probably unnecessary but Harry was still quite nervous when he said goodbye to Ron in the Gryffindor common room. He looked back when walking out of the portrait hole and felt another keen sting of grief when he saw Ron sitting in their corner, looking more than a bit lost. Ron and Hermione had always had each other whenever Harry had to do something alone. Just before he left the common room, he saw Parvati and Lavender making their way over to Ron. At least he had some company, Harry thought.
A brisk walk through the castle later, with his Invisibility Cloak in his backpack, Harry was sat in the Headmaster's office. His nerves were being replaced with excitement. He'd finally get some answers.
"Well, Harry. It seems you've been busy," the Headmaster began, "it seems you've already managed to earn yourself eight detentions!"
Harry shuffled his feet in embarrassment.
"I have informed Professor Snape that you have indeed decided to drop his class, so the detentions he gave you and Mr Weasley last Wednesday have been cancelled," Dumbledore continued, now frowning a bit. "I had hoped that Professor Snape and yourself could work to move past your indifferences this year, but alas."
"With all due respect, sir," Harry said politely, "when those 'indifferences' include the fact I exist… there's only one thing I can do about that and it's just too bad for Sn- Professor Snape that there's a prophecy to contend with."
The corner of Dumbledore's grey-white moustache twitched. "Indeed," he answered. "The detentions you earned in class on Monday still stand. You'll be serving them on Sunday evenings, I've been told."
Harry groaned.
"Now, before I explain to you about the need to have Professor Slughorn here and why we will be heading to the Hospital Wing, how have you found his classes?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry thought about it for a moment. "He's certainly more enthusiastic about teaching and potions. But I can't say for sure how effective he is as a teacher, as I use the book you gave me."
"Ah, yes, has it been helpful?" Dumbledore inquired.
"Enormously, there are instructions in there that I never even knew could matter. Like crushing rather than cutting. It made all the difference. I wonder why Professor Snape never taught us stuff like that. Not that Slughorn does," he added fairly.
"Do you think it has improved your standing with Professor Slughorn?" the Headmaster asked.
"Probably, yes. I think I have him figured out as well. He seems to like my mother, so I try to act more like what I have heard she was like."
"Yes, Lily was one of his favourites indeed," the Headmaster said softly, in both remembrance and contemplation.
"As to the reason why I have asked you to do this, I'm afraid that we must first do something else instead. We need to take a trip down memory lane first," Dumbledore said, standing up. He walked to the basin Harry knew held the Pensieve.
Instead of taking the Pensieve to his desk, as Harry had expected, Dumbledore carefully chose different memories from a stall. He poured them into a potion bottle, which held a white and blueish liquid.
He walked back to the desk and set the bottle in front of him.
"Have you heard of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' Daydream charms?"
Harry stared at his Headmaster, non-plussed at this apparent random change of topic. "Uh, yes? They let you experience a specific kind of dream, right?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed, an exquisite piece of charm working if you ask me. Professor Flitwick was most impressed when he first heard about them." He took the potion bottle he had prepared in his good hand. "This potion acts similarly. It lets the drinker experience certain memories as dreams while they are sleeping. This has the benefit of being able to absorb the information presented in the memories without wasting daylight, so to say."
He frowned. "It's a tricky potion. In combination with a Dream-remembrance potion, the lesser-known opposite of the Dreamless Sleep potion, and a simple sleeping charm, one can spend an entire night dreaming and remember everything as if it was their own memory. Needless to say, whether this a good or a bad experience is determined by the memories used."
Harry had a sudden horrifying vision of having to spend an entire night dreaming about Hermione and Sirius without having the freedom to wake up like he normally had. He shivered.
"Why do we need to use this potion, can't we just use the Pensieve?" he asked.
"We could," Dumbledore confirmed, "but some of these memories are rather long and I would prefer to have this stage finished as soon as possible."
"Stage?" Harry questioned.
"That will also be explained after you've seen these memories, my boy," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling with the knowledge that that would annoy Harry.
Harry shook his head with a smile and stood up. "Okay, well if that's the case, let's begin."
Dumbledore hold up his hand and Harry sat down again. "Before we do, I'd like to give you some frame of reference, to aid with your understanding."
Harry nodded and sat down again.
"This collection of memories is a chronological overview of the most important events in the life of a young Tom Riddle. At least in so far as I was able to get my hands on memories from those witness to these events. Some of them are my own. One features Professor Slughorn, and it is this memory that is likely the most important one in this collection."
Harry swallowed. He was going to spend the entire night dreaming about Voldemort? He wasn't looking forward to that at all.
Dumbledore noticed his hesitance. "Do not worry, Harry. It's quite safe. The hospital wing is only logical. I rather think it'd be a bad idea to do this procedure in your dorm room, as I'm sure you understand."
Harry did understand. Maybe he would talk in his sleep, or yell or something even worse. He was sure his dorm mates had to deal with that often enough without him consciously triggering these dreams. He nodded his assent.
Together he and the Headmaster made their way to the hospital wing. Half an hour later, Harry drifted off into a fitful sleep, full of gaunt memories.
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AN:
Due to a positive change in my personal schedule, I will now be updating on the weekends!