As busy as September had been for Harry and Ron, the month still wasn't done with them. The last weekend of September was when Harry felt confident enough in his two Quidditch teams to try staging a time-limited practice game between the two.
The Quidditch season was young still, but Harry, Ginny and Ron, in one of their post-training meetings, agreed that the two-team system seemed to work. The two pairs of beaters were comparable in skill, which meant that they drove each other to greater heights. This was a side-effect that Harry hadn't even considered. The other positions were not as competitive. Harry beat Mia every time, solely due to his ability to spot the snitch way before she did. But as Ginny had remarked, Mia only needed to be as good as Harry in two years or so, when Harry wouldn't be at Hogwarts anymore. Ron, as always, was good when there was no crowd, and Blake was far from his level, if he even had the potential. When it came to the chasers, well, it wasn't a surprise that Ginny, Katie and Demelza flew rings around Dean, Sarah and James. Ginny and Katie were great all-rounders, which allowed Demelza to focus on her best skill: being at the right place at the right time. It was just a question of improving Quaffle control. It also became clear quickly that she and Ginny had spent many hours talking Quidditch, as they seemed to instinctively know where each one was and would be.
Therefore, it was a surprise that the first training match ended the way it did. It was a combined effort between bad luck and lack of skill that fractured Ron's shoulder. The Reserve team had been on the attack when Jimmy anticipated a pass toward James that didn't happen. When James realized the Bludger was coming for him, he ducked and the iron ball shot over him, Ron. Ron had been watching Sarah and had noticed the bludger until it was too late. All Ron could do was turn his body so the ball hit his shoulder rather than his head. Harry had been forced to hand over the training to Ginny, while he took Ron to the Hospital wing.
This had also been the first time he had used some of his newly acquired healing skills, even if they were rather rudimentary. He had put a full body-bind on Ron so his fractured shoulder would not move and had then levitated him toward the Hospital Wing.
Bone fractures were relatively easy to heal, just a dose of Skele-gro would do the trick most of the time. However, as Madam Pomfrey examined Ron, she determined he was sleep-deprived and suffering from flu-like symptoms, so she made him stay for at least a day. Ron had complained under his breath about not having the time to lay in bed for a whole day.
Harry's bad mood didn't improve with his detention that night.
That's why Harry was alone and in an even worse mood the next day, when he ran into Malfoy after dinner. Contrary to their many run-ins over the years, Malfoy was also alone and still looking extra pale. Harry cursed himself. He had promised himself to pay more attention to the Marauder's Map but he had forgotten to check it that evening.
To make matters worse, Malfoy seemed to perk up as he laid eyes on Harry. Harry tried to ignore him but Malfoy slowed down as Harry approached.
"All alone, Potter? Where's your ginger stooge? Finally decided to drop the other dead weight?" the blonde smirked. "Oh, wait, I know, I heard he stopped a bludger with his face because he thought it was the quaffle!"
Harry gritted his teeth. Five years of Hermione saying "ignore him" echoed through his brain and he managed to just walk by Malfoy, not saying anything. Malfoy didn't like that.
"Don't ignore your betters, Potter!" he spit when Harry passed by him.
Harry knew he shouldn't but something made him do it nonetheless. He stopped and turned around.
"You know, Malfoy," he began, smiling brightly, "I once read somewhere that you should never turn your back on someone you either respect, or you're afraid of," he said.
"That being said…" Harry said, trailing off to create some suspense. Then he simply turned his back on the blonde and walked away, with great pleasure. At least he tried to.
It was good that Mad-Eye wasn't there, because Harry was quite sure he would have become deaf from how the ex-Auror would chew him out for turning his back on an armed opponent. Harry was probably only saved by the outraged yell Malfoy let loose before he sent the bludgeoning hex at Harry's back. As it was, he had just enough time to dodge it, and he whirled around, wand in hand.
Before he could say anything, Malfoy threw another hex at him, one Harry didn't know so he dodged it again.
"What's the problem, Malfoy? Apparently, snitches aren't the only thing you keep missing!"
Malfoy sneered in return. "My goals in life are far more important than playing some stupid game, Potter."
This took Harry by surprise, which Malfoy took advantage of immediately, as he wasted no time in yelling "secicaretrix!". The spell hit Harry on the left cheek. Malfoy looked gleeful at having hit Harry. Wand still trained on him, Harry put his left hand on his cheek and it came back bloody.
"You like that, Scarhead? I thought I'd give you another!"
"Did your daddy teach you that spell before he was thrown in Azkaban?" Harry rebutted, scowling.
"At least he's alive! In contrast to the Mudblood!" Malfoy shouted back, looking more than ever like he was going crazy, glee clear in his voice.
Harry had already begun casting when Malfoy also said something about Harry's parents and Sirius. He wasn't even sure what he had cast, but Malfoy retaliated almost immediately. His bludgeoning hex went wide, and Harry was in time with a shield for the second one. Harry shot back with a blasting curse that threw Malfoy against the wall.
The Slytherin got up quickly and shot a look of pure loathing at Harry. It seemed like Malfoy was gathering all his hatred for something, which gave Harry enough of an idea of what he was about to do to realize he better dodge or attack first. He chose the latter.
"CRUCI-"
"SECTUMSEMPRA" bellowed Harry, pointing his wand straight at Malfoy. He had no idea why he had chosen that particular spell, he hadn't thought about it for at least two weeks now.
First, a cut to Malfoys left arm, then one to his leg, three to his chest, one to his other leg and the seventh to his stomach. Seven cuts started bleeding simultaneously. Malfoy dropped down.
Harry gasped an obscenity and ran up to Malfoy. The boy looked so pale, it looked like he was dead already. His pained gasps told a different story. Cursing under his breath, Harry tried to think of what to do. The cuts looked far too deep for him to heal but he wasn't sure whether Malfoy would make it to the Hospital Wing.
Before he could come to some sort of decision, he was banished away, hitting the same wall Malfoy had. He looked up to see they were surrounded by people. Tonks was leaning over Malfoy, wand moving so fast it had become a blur.
"SOMEONE GET POMFREY, DUMBLEDORE OR SNAPE" she yelled. Harry looked on, frozen, from his position on the ground. He hadn't meant to curse Malfoy like that!
"I know, Harry," said a soft voice from behind him, and he felt a small, warm hand on his arm. He looked up into silvery-blue eyes, clearly visible surrounded by pale skin and blonde hair.
There were mysterious depths in those eyes.
Luna helped him get up. Harry was shaking quite badly and held onto her as they watched Snape wave his wand back and forth over Malfoy's body. The blood that was still flowing from the cuts, stilled slowly and then seemed to retreat into Malfoy's body.
Harry watched with fascination as the blood re-entered the boy's left forearm, where the spell had also cut his robes. As he unwillingly looked closer he saw something dark on the skin there. Was it congealed blood? Before he could determine what it was, Snape had moved his body shielding Malfoy from Harry's view.
"Harry?" Luna's soft voice came from somewhere under his arm. "I think Professor Dumbledore wants you to go with him."
And indeed, when Harry looked toward the Headmaster, he beckoned Harry to follow him, no twinkle to be found in his blue eyes.
-In Her Memory-
"Where did you learn of that spell, Harry?"
"It was written in the Potions book you gave me, sir."
"Was it?"
A moment of silence.
"Did you know what it would do?"
"No sir, it only said it was to be used for 'enemies'," Harry said, retying his shoelaces so he wouldn't have to look up and see the disappointment. He was disappointed in himself enough as it was.
"And do you consider Mr Malfoy to be your enemy?"
Harry did look up at that and frowned. "Well, he did start casting a Cruciatus curse, so I'm sure he considers me one," he said.
The Headmaster sighed. "But do you consider him an enemy? I know you have had a fair few run-ins over the years."
Harry looked away again. "I mean, he comes from a Death Eater family, and I have heard him say more than enough to know that he at least agrees with them. So, yes, I guess he is an enemy, isn't he?"
Dumbledore sighed deeply, yet again. He looked older than Harry had ever noticed. "The world isn't divided between Death Eaters and good people, Harry. There are many shades of grey in between, remember that."
They went silent again.
"Can you explain to me exactly what happened, Harry? We can use the Pensieve if you like."
Harry agreed and when they returned a couple of minutes later, Harry hesitatingly asked whether he'd be punished.
"Well," the Headmaster began, "you did act in self-defence, even if you should have kept on walking. I will take points from Gryffindor for using an unknown spell, something which is always dangerous."
Harry thought he was very lucky to be left off so easily.
-In Her Memory-
About an hour later, Harry found himself in an abandoned classroom. He had gone back to the common room but eventually, the staring got too much. It was clear that the other Gryffindors didn't know quite what to say to him, partly because he had now lost 150 points for Gryffindor, making it quite clear they probably weren't going to win the house cup that year. He had swung by the Hospital Wing, but Ron had been asleep.
Harry decided to try to lose himself in his homework, which wasn't that hard at all. There was a lot of it. He couldn't study the Animagus theory without Ron, so he focused on Charms and started making a plan to get better at Healing magic.
He stroked his left cheek where, thanks to Malfoys curse, he now had a new scar. Apparently, the curse Malfoy used was some sort of combination between a cutting curse and a scarification curse. The wound had healed almost instantly, but very badly, making sure a permanent scar would remain. It was a rather grizzly-looking scar as well, but Madam Pomfrey had said it would improve somewhat over time.
Harry wondered whether this scar would act like the one on his forehead did. His other scars weren't the result of curses. The writing on the back of his hand didn't tingle. The oval scar on his arm, where the basilisk had bitten him, didn't hurt when he was near snakes. So, would this new scar do anything? Probably not.
His homework forgotten, Harry sat staring at and stroking the back of his hand.
"Knut for your thoughts?" a voice said and Harry jumped. He looked up to find Luna and Ginny sitting across from him. He had completely missed them coming into the classroom.
"Oh, hi." Harry wasn't necessarily happy to see the two girls. I remembered how ticked off they had been when he had used Liberacorpus on Neville without knowing what it did, and that spell had been harmless. Now he had almost killed someone with a spell he didn't know. He just knew they would be angry with him.
They looked at him expectantly.
"Uh, can I help you with something…?"
Ginny and Luna looked at each other, something passing between them. Harry didn't know what it was and it annoyed him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm an idiot. I shouldn't use a spell if I don't know what it does," he snapped.
"We know you know, Harry," Ginny said, "but we don't know what happened. Will you tell us?"
Harry sighed and did so.
"Well, at least you had a counter to Malfoy using an Unforgivable," Ginny said. "I can't believe he tried to use one!"
"Maybe he wants to visit his father for a while," Harry joked darkly, making Ginny laugh. Luna just smiled vaguely.
They spend the next half hour or so working on their homework. Having Ginny and Luna there helped Harry keep focused, even if Luna had a habit of muttering to herself under her breath. Harry caught some of her internal monologues and it was quite something.
"… they're gurdyroot green!" she said at some point, apparently coming to some realization. Harry sneaked a glance at what she was doing, and it seemed she was writing a History of Magic essay. She had a couple of pages of notes laying on the tabletop and Harry got a headache just from looking at them. Some of the notes were written upside down, and he thought he even saw some that were written in mirror-script. It seemed to work for Luna though, even if she kept spinning the pages round and round. Sometimes she giggled when reading some of her own notes.
"hem-hem"
Harry startled and looked at Ginny who had performed her Umbridge impression. She smirked at him, but Harry didn't think she was laughing at him just for his reaction to her impression.
"What?"
Ginny smiled innocently. "Do you have some spare parchment I can use?"
"Uh, sure, there should be some in my bookbag," Harry offhandedly, already looking at his charms homework again.
A minute or so later, Ginny screamed and jumped out of her chair, sending it crashing unto the floor. Harry jumped up himself and pulled out his wand. Ginny had as well. She pointed it at the tabletop and yelled INCENDIO!
Flames flew from her wand and landed on the parchment she had been writing on. Parchment that looked familiar to Harry. A bit too familiar.
As realization dawned, Harry did the only thing he could think of to save the Marauder's Map. He grabbed it and began slapping on it. To his great surprise, it worked like a charm. The flames died out quickly. Harry looked at the map in trepidation.
There were some tiny burns on the edges but the map seemed okay. As Harry looked at it, ink welled up from the parchment and began forming sentences. He read, his heart still racing.
"Mr Prongs presents his compliments to Mr Moony for his presentimental demand to add a Flame-Freezing Charm to the Map."
"Mr Moony graciously accepts Mr Prongs' compliments"
"Mr Wormtail wonders why someone would try to set the map on fire."
"Mr Padfoot suspects a certain Snivellus is behind it."
Harry chuckled but he stopped as a distraught Ginny slapped the map out of his hands.
"What are you laughing at?!" she yelled distraughtly, and Harry was surprised to see she was close to tears. She was breathing harshly.
He picked up the Map and held it out to her, but Ginny backed away and looked at Harry, pleadingly. "What is that thing?" She asked in a trembling voice. "What is it, and why is writing back to me?" She turned to Luna, who hugged her.
Then it clicked for Harry. Ginny had accidentally mistaken the Marauders' Map for spare parchment and had written some notes on it, only for the ink to disappear and the Marauders to write back. No wonder she had been spooked.
"Oh! No, Ginny, it's nothing like the Diary! Nothing at all!" he was quick to try to assure her. She looked at him apprehensively, eyes still red.
Harry continued quickly, "Remember the Map I used last year to check for Umbridge after DA meetings? This is that map! But it is "off" so to say, which is why it looked like a spare bit of parchment."
Ginny look him in the eyes and gave a small nod, turned back to Luna and hid her face in the blonde's shoulder, her own shaking with her forcefully controlled breathing. Luna looked at Harry and asked: "Who created it?"
Harry smiled at her. "The map is called the Marauder's Map and it was created by Messrs Moony, Padfoot and Prongs. And Wormtail," he added in a lower voice.
Luna perked up. "Moony? As in Professor Lupin's nickname?" Ginny disentangled herself from Luna and also looked curious if still a bit apprehensive.
"Yes, he, my dad and Sirius made the map with their then-friend Peter Pettigrew," Harry explained. "They also put some other stuff in it because the Map insulted Snape when he tried to confiscate it during my third year."
He looked at Ginny. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I should have explained the map to you way before now, but…"
"But, what?" Ginny said, raising an eyebrow.
Truth was, Ron had told Harry last year to not let Ginny use the map, as he didn't want her to sneak off to private corridors with Michael Corner.
"But it just didn't come up," Harry said lamely instead, not wanting to throw Ron under the bus.
"Sure…" Ginny said, clearly not believing him.
"Look, let me show you," said Harry, moving on quickly. "You put your wand against the parchment and say: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Luna giggled. Ginny smiled half-heartedly.
He held the map out to Ginny and Luna and they watched as the map of Hogwarts slowly took shape on the parchment. Ginny looked at it warily, but Luna looked at it with clear interest. She reached out and Harry handed her the map.
She immediately turned it upside down. "Do you know how it works?"
Harry looked at Ginny and said: "No, but I do know it's completely different from how the Diary worked."
Ginny turned around and blanched a bit again. "You know… you know how the Diary worked? Why do you know that?"
Harry cursed himself. He had said it to try to put her mind at ease, but he should've known she would pick up on the wrong thing.
"Er.. I have been talking with Dumbledore…," he said meekly.
"And what did he say?" Ginny said fiercely.
"Do you really want to know? Because we discussed whether to tell you but we thought you'd probably not want to be reminded of it," Harry said.
This was the wrong thing to say.
"Oh, you decided? You decided!" Ginny had skipped most of the Weasley warning signs and had jumped right into the yelling. "And how do you know what my decision would be!" she continued, accentuating her statement by poking him in the chest.
Harry put his hands up to prevent Ginny from bodily attacking him, as he wouldn't be surprised if she did that. "You told me that you'd rather never talk about it again!" he retorted loudly.
Ginny narrowed her eyes at him in a way that promised future retaliation. She pointed her finger in his face. "You… You!..", she began, before making a growling sound. She turned around, grabbed her stuff and walked out of the classroom, still fuming.
Harry breathed out slowly, shook his head and looked over to Luna, who was prodding the Map with her wand. Harry couldn't tell whether she had noticed anything of the spat.
She looked up.
"You know, Harry, Ginny says that I sometimes have a hard time understanding what goes on in others people's heads," she began. Harry led the irony in that statement slide. Luna continued, "But even I realize that Ginny needs to be able to make her decisions, especially when it comes to the Diary. She really hates being told what to do, you know."
"So I've noticed," Harry puffed out, running his hand through his hair. Luna smiled at him and handed back the map.
-In Her Memory-
The next day was a Tuesday, and the first day of October. This meant that Professor McGonagall's guest lecture on using transfiguration would be that night.
When Harry swung by the Hospital Wing to collect Ron, the first thing he did was inform his friend of what had happened last night. Ron had known something had happened as he had woken up when they brought Malfoy into the Hospital Wing. But he didn't know what exactly.
He didn't take it very well.
"He attacked you?!" he said angrily, stopping their walk to the Greenhouses. He turned and made to return to the Hospital Wing, most probably wanting to give the Slytherin a good trashing. Harry pulled him back.
"Ron, stop!"
Ron looked back at him angry. "Why? The arsehole tried to put you under the Cruciatius! We swore we wouldn't take any shit from him this year!"
"Yeah, and I almost killed him!" Harry rebutted, "Don't you think he's been punished enough?"
Ron scoffed but relented. He frowned and looked out of a window.
"At least you have a good spell to use against Dolohov," he said gruffly.
Harry didn't say anything. He wasn't sure whether he would ever use the spell again, even against enemies. It just didn't feel right. But he knew he'd have to kill Voldemort somehow, so Ron did have a point. But that did nothing to make him like it.
They continued their way to the greenhouses in silent contemplation.
"Did you get detention?" Ron asked, a floor lower. Harry shook his head.
"I showed Dumbledore my memory in the Pensieve. He said I acted in self-defence but he took points for the use of an unknown spell on another student, and the use of dark magic. I don't think we'll win the House Cup this year, I lost us too many points already."
Ron sighed, "We'll just have to settle for the Quidditch Cup, I guess," he said with a put-on voice of great sadness. Harry laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "That's the spirit, Ron!"
"Oh, by the way, do you think Malfoy will make the match in November?"
"I'm not sure. He did say something about Quidditch being beneath him, I wonder what he meant by that?" Harry wondered aloud.
"No idea, mate."
They walked out of Entrance Hall to see it was a beautiful autumn day. The forest was about halfway through its transition from green to orange, red and yellow. Ron breathed in deeply.
"I guess autumn is your favourite season?" Harry said.
Ron looked at him. "Who has a favourite season? Why would mine be autumn?"
Harry chuckled and pointed at the forest. "All Chudley Cannon colours, mate!"
Ron laughed and punched Harry in the arm.
-In Her Memory-
"Hello, and welcome to this special session of the HA! Like I announced last week, tonight we will have a guest lecture from none other than our Transfiguration professor, and head of Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall!"
Harry led the applause as he made way for McGonagall to step up onto the podium. The professor smiled at him but switched over to lecture mode as soon as she turned to the crowd.
"Good evening, everyone.
Some of you might think: 'What does transfiguration have to do with duelling or defending oneself?' The answer is quite simple. I have been informed that in a month or so, Professor Flitwick will be providing a guest lecture on duelling strategies. Most of these strategies are based on a very simple basic principle: spells can be used in many different ways.
Most of you will have done this already. The Disarming charm, Expelliarmus, is forever popular as a use to make someone drop something other than wands. Students have used the water-making spell, aguamenti, to wake up dorm mates for as long as the spell has been around. At the same time, while most people understand this instinctively, most will also not think of spells like aguamenti in combat situations.
One reason for this is a misconception about a category of spells referred to as Defensive Magic, which includes spells like the Shield-Charm, the Patronus-Charm and the Boggart-Banishing Charm. These spells certainly count as Defensive Magic but as the name indicates, all these spells are considered Charms. However, they are not taught in Charms class but rather in Defence Against the Dark Arts. The reason for this should be obvious: the spells are used to defend against magic or magical creatures.
So, the fact that Charms are used for duelling should not be surprising. However, the use of transfiguration and conjuration is less obvious. One reason for this is the difficulty of using Transfiguration and Conjuration in duelling. During your Hogwarts years, I will keep repeating that for Transfiguration and Conjurations to last, concentration, willpower and pacing of the casting are extremely important. This would make it seem like Transfiguration and Conjuration won't help much in duelling, where you often have to react quickly to what is happening.
However, spells don't necessarily have to last long in these situations. The transfiguration often doesn't need to hold for long. With that in mind, who can think of some ways Transfiguration or Conjuration can be used in a duel?"
Harry put up his hand, he had wanted to ask McGonagall about something for a while now.
"Mr Potter?"
"Last year when the Headmaster fought Voldemort, he animated the Centaur that was part of the Statue in the Ministry of Magic. I assume that was some sort of Transfiguration?" Harry said.
Whispers broke out. People knew that Dumbledore and Voldemort had duelled but details were scarce as only Harry and the Headmaster had seen it happen.
Professor McGonagall smiled slightly. "Yes, the Headmaster is an accomplished Transfiguration master, of course, but I was hoping for some examples that are more feasible for us to try out. Mr Hughes?"
"You could try to transfigure the floor into ice or something? That way your opponent can't move very easily," Edward said. Harry knew he was the Ravenclaw prefect from Ginny and Luna's year.
"Very good. Yes, Transfigurations can be used to distract and immobilize your opponents. Of course, one could also do this with a Leg-Locker Curse for example. When would you choose Transfiguration rather than curses or jinxes? Mr Boot?"
Terry cleared his throat. "Sometimes it is easier to transfigure a larger object like part of a floor rather than try to jinx a moving target."
McGonagall nodded. "Indeed. However, besides distracting or immobilizing, transfiguration can also be used to attack and defend. Mr Finnegan?"
"Couldn't you conjure a wall to hide behind?" Seamus suggested, which lead to chuckles and jokes about him being a coward.
McGonagall cleared her throat. "How many of you know of spells that can travel through walls?" she responded seriously. The boys stopped messing around. The professor continued. "Even more so, we all know there are certain spells that you cannot protect against with magic alone." Her eyes swivelled meaningfully on Harry.
The members fell silent. Then Ernie spoke up, "You mean to say, we could survive a Killing Curse by simply conjuring a wall?" he said flabbergasted.
Harry could understand his confusion, as the Killing Curse was always described as something you couldn't defend against. Harry could think of at least four ways by now: conjure a wall, have a brother-wand, sacrificial love magic, and of course simply dodging.
McGonagall nodded seriously. "As 'simple' as conjuring or transfiguring a wall is, of course. A witch or wizard sufficiently proficient in doing so would be able to stop a Killing Curse. However," she said, looking around the classroom, "there is a very good reason why you should not rely on this strategy. Why is that? Ms Patil? Ms Padma, I mean."
Padma, who Harry had seen taking the practices very seriously, smiled half-heartedly. "As you indicated yourself, professor, Transfiguration and Conjuration are schools of magic that are benefit from a slow approach to casting. Having to conjure a wall in a split second, you risk the wall becoming too flimsy and not giving enough protection."
"Indeed, and also because conjuration is in general quite difficult and only NEWT transfiguration students will study it," McGonagall said.
The lesson continued for a half-hour, with Professor McGonagall and the HA members exploring different ways to use Transfiguration for duelling. Harry was happy to see that the members seemed very interested and excited by this guest lecture, doubly so when they all went to practise with much eagerness.
Professor McGonagall had set them out to practise some of the examples she had given. Harry had asked the Room to provide with things like rocks and chairs and the like, so everyone had something to transfigure.
Of course, the problem with a lecture like this was that the younger members of the HA could not keep up at. Most of them could transfigure a water goblet into a bird but that wasn't necessarily that beneficial. Katie had greater success. She had transfigured a tabletop into some sort of metal shield and was using it to defend against an onslaught of spells by her friend Leanne. This proved to be semi-successful. It worked against tripping jinxes and the like, but when Katie tried to shield herself from a Full Body-Bind curse the spell hit her as well.
Harry himself had chosen to focus on using Transfiguration as a distraction. He had blasted a tabletop to pieces and quickly transfigured the splinters into tacks, which he then proceeded to banish to surround Ron. Harry was trying to force Ron to go on the attack, but to his surprise, Ron just performed a Shield Charm. The stand-off lasted a couple of seconds before Harry decided to try to break through Ron's charm.
To his surprise, this proved harder than he had assumed. It took so long that his transfiguration job on the tacks reversed itself, and not a second later Ron had jumped to the side and went on the attack. If not for Harry's quick reflexes he'd have lost his wand right there.
In the end, Harry managed to win their duel with a well-timed, mid-dodge nonverbal Disarming Charm, which Ron hadn't expected. He walked up to his best mate, handing him his wand back.
"Good job on that Shield Charm, Ron!" he said praisingly, "I did not expect you to try to wait out my transfiguration!"
Ron grinned back, "Congrats on that nonverbal mid-movement Expeliarmus! I guess our training's paying off!" He clapped Harry on the shoulder. "Let's do a round, eh?"
Their training had indeed been paying off. Harry could now do a Disarming Charm nonverbally almost without fail. Only if he lacked the proper time to prepare to cast it nonverbally it sometimes failed. Ron and Neville were also getting there. Harry wasn't that surprised. Between the HA meetings and their own Defence practice, they were spending at least 5 hours a week duelling, besides their other homework. The other classes also encouraged nonverbal casting, so that part they practised all day, every day.
As Ron made his way to where the younger members were practising, Harry reflected on their first month back. September had seen Harry and Ron taking their studies far more serious than they had ever done before. With their classes, their self-study in Defense and Healing, Quidditch, Hermione's Army meetings, homework, and the workouts they still did with Neville, Dean, and Seamus, they were very busy. Not to forget about the meetings with Dumbledore and their Animagus preparations, both of which didn't take that much time for now but that would increase in the future. His next meeting would be that Saturday and the week after they could remove the Mandrake leaf.
They would spend the entire day working on the potion with Slughorn, which meant they would miss the first Hogsmeade weekend. But Harry wasn't that bothered about missing it. The ingredients they needed, Harry had already received by Owl post. What they did still need was the dew, but Hagrid had promised to get them some that Friday.
Harry looked around the room. McGonagall was walking around, giving tips on the use of transfiguration and Ron was still helping the younger members. Harry wasn't quite sure that Ron was an effective teacher, but at least he wasn't grumpy today. Harry frowned as he thought about his friend.
Over this month Ron had become increasingly grumpy and annoyed. He guessed it could just be lack of sleep, as Harry was well aware of the fact that Ron suffered from nightmares too. But his friend wasn't used to it like Harry was. It wasn't for nothing that Madame Pomfrey had made him stay in the Hospital Wing a day longer after the Quidditch accident.
That reminded Harry of what had happened yesterday between him and Malfoy. He scowled. Using such violence was really not in his nature, even if he seemed to find himself in situations that warranted it quite often. But did that mean that he had to ignore his nature for the battle to come? Or are there different ways to end a duel?
"Harry?"
Harry shook himself out of his reverie. Luna was standing next to him.
"Oh, hi, Luna, what's up?"
Luna looked at him intently, raised her hand and brushed the scar on Harry's left cheek. Harry didn't particularly like being touched randomly, but he didn't want to upset Luna, so he resisted backing away from her touch.
"I noticed this yesterday," she said, "didn't Madam Pomfrey heal it?"
Harry shook his head. "Malfoy used some sort of dark scarification curse, so I'm afraid it's here to stay." Harry had purposefully not looked into the mirror when washing his face that morning, it didn't look good.
Luna brushed the scar again. "It makes you look like you attract a lot of Dabberblimps," she said, while Harry took a step backwards.
"Dabberblimps?" Harry questioned. He hadn't heard about these creatures yet.
Luna nodded with a smile. "Not to worry, Harry, Dabberblimbs are not like Wrackspurts or Nargles. They don't cause anything but they do tend to hang around Gryffindors, I think they like the scarlet," she whispered in a conspiratorial way to him.
Harry chuckled and switched gears. He nodded to where Dean and Ginny were practising.
"She's probably still mad at me, right?"
Luna looked the same way but didn't say anything.
"Luna?" Harry prodded after a couple of seconds.
Luna slowly looked at him and blink rapidly a couple of times. She looked at him quizzically.
"Ginny? She's probably still mad at him, right?" Harry repeated his question.
"Oh!" Luna exclaimed, and she looked toward Ginny again. "You're asking me? I don't think anyone has ever asked me for relationship advice."
"Relationship?" Harry spluttered but Luna just continued talking. "Ginny often jokes that she can hold a grudge better than Oliver Wood can catch a Quaffle."
Harry took that to mean that, yes, she was still mad at him. He hadn't expected anything else. So far as he was concerned, there was only one thing he could do to make it up to her. Luckily, he would see Dumbledore again that Saturday. He would propose a meeting with her and Dumbledore. And Ron too, Harry figured, because Ron knew everything already, so there was no real need to exclude him.
If only he'd be able to survive the quidditch training tomorrow with an annoyed Weasley on his team.