Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Please don't sue.
"Potter, will you please pay attention!" yelled Vector. Harry sighed; paying attention in classes had been getting a bit difficult, especially in Vector's class. Not only was he preoccupied with Voldemort and the Obsidian Tome, but he was starting to find Vector's class boring.
Harry didn't know why, but he had a gift for Arithmancy. It was remarkably similar to his muggle Mathematics class, although it featured much more advanced concepts. Most of the students didn't seem to be able to coax themselves into believing the class was about numbers instead of spells, and Harry grew a small grin as Dean asked, "Wait, so 'Nox' plus 'Sonorus' equals 'Refrigero'? That doesn't make any sense!"
Today they were learning about circle calculations, as Vector let the know that some spells were based off of angles, areas, and even pi, although Vector warned them that some of them were far to complex to be covered within 5 years of class.
Harry zoned off again, already having completed the assignment, and looked at the drawing the professor had charmed on the board. It was a circle, with a triangle inside of it. One vertex was in the center, and the other two were along the edges of the circle.
Wait a minute, Harry thought, if we make the triangle really thin, like a spoke on the bike, and fill the circle up with a bunch of them, we can figure out the circle's area. He quickly drew a simple diagram on his parchment, and began calculating.
Triangle Area: ½ radius * (radius * sin x)
Number of Triangles: 360 / x
Area = Triangle Area * Number of triangles
Area = 180 * radius * radius * (sin x) / x
(… as long as x is really small…)
Harry looked on his chart of spell listings, and looked up the Radius, X and Sin X columns. Sure enough, there were several matches. The first was Stupefy/Lumos/Accio combination, and Harry quickly found a second – Elicio/Inflamare/Leviosa.
"Potter," yelled Vector, "what are you doing?"
Harry quickly hid his parchment and said, "Er, nothing!" Harry was worried; this was the second time he hadn't been paying attention in class.
The explanation didn't please Vector, who yelled, "I'm tired of you, Potter! You have detention!"
"I swear," Harry complained to Hermione, "she's actually worse than Snape used to be!" Harry was still aching from detention, in which he had to mop the 3rd floor dungeon while being watched by the disgruntled groundskeeper, Filch.
Hermione looked at him oddly and said, "She's completely different than Professor Snape. Besides, what were you working on during class yesterday?"
Harry frowned and said, "Nothing."
Hermione seemed to see through him and said, "Harry, when Professor Vector asks to know what you're working on, she's not doing it to get you in trouble. She really wants to know. Either you think something is important enough to interrupt her lessons, or you think her lessons need improvement. And she really wants to know why. She gave you detention because you wouldn't tell her what you were doing, not because you weren't paying attention."
Harry considered her words, and finally asked, "Hermione, do the spells Stupefy, Lumos, and Accio have a connection?"
Hermione looked at him oddly and said, "Yes. They're something called Circle Chain Spells. If done right, two people casting two of the spells can create a weak version of the third. Vector talked a little bit about that last year, but said we wouldn't have to worry about knowing how exactly they were related. Why do you ask?"
Harry shook his head, and simply muttered, "No reason; don't worry about it."
Hermione looked about ready to press the point, but was distracted by her owl bringing the daily prophet. Harry watched as Hermione's face went from surprised, to a combination of disgust and glee. Harry silently waited, although it was somewhat difficult since there were exclamations about the news all around the great hall. Finally, Hermione handed the paper over, and Harry eagerly read the front page.
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Leads Failed Attack
You-Know-Who led another attack yesterday, this time on a branch of the Ministry of Magic. Aurors arrived shortly after the attack started and began to push the Death Eaters back. According to the aurors on scene, the Death Eaters received reinforcements in the form of countless skeletal warriors. However, the undead soldiers proved to be a less than reliable force as they began slaying the death eaters they came to supplement.
Aurors managed to contain the remaining skeletal warriors after they attacked the overwhelmed death eaters from behind. The final count is 47 dead death eaters. Amazing, among them are Lucius Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew, who was believed killed 17 years ago by Sirius Black. Ministry officials are investigating how an upstanding citizen like Malfoy could secretly be a Death Eater, and how Sirius Black could be imprisoned for a murder he did not commit.
Harry finished the article, hardly believing his eyes. After reading it again, Harry burst into a giant smile. "Sirius!" Harry whooped, "Sirius will be freed now!"
Hermione smiled and added, "And a lot of Death Eaters won't be attacking muggles anymore."
Harry's smile slowly vanished, and he said, "What about Voldemort, though? He's likely to get the remainder of Malfoy's group back, and it looks like he found a source of skeletal warriors."
Hermione frowned as well, and Ron and Ginny sat down beside them. The two Weasley's silently read the paper, their facial expressions varying almost comically. Finally Ron burst out saying, "Sirius is going to be freed!"
Harry was about to tell them that the same thing he said to Hermione, but decided that he didn't want to ruin their moods as well. Besides, it was good news that his godfather would finally be exonerated.
Harry personally wondered how they were supposed to learn much when every few weeks they would have to take a week off for a co-op. He also wondered what they could possibly be doing for divination. Harry knew that the divination co-op was about to start, but still Trelawney hadn't said a word about it.
As Ron and Harry walked in that Monday, Trelawney was standing and holding a small frail coat over herself. Harry realized that he had never seen the old woman outside the castle. However, both grew excited when they saw Firenze standing towards the other end of the classroom.
"Firenze!" Harry cried, and ran over to the centaur. The other students filing in were excited as well, and before the centaur knew it, he was surrounded by the students welcoming him back.
"Students, we need to go," Trelawney spoke, "The ministry will be expecting us soon." Harry turned around from Firenze and thought The ministry? What could we be doing at the ministry for divination?
Firneze pulled Ron and Harry back as everyone started to file out of the class. "I really appreciate what you two did, although it is rather crude to distort divination like you did."
Ron and Harry gaped at Firenze, and Ron stammered, "How did you know about our Grim prediction?"
Harry smiled and swatted Ron. "Ron, you prat! He's a centaur! He probably knew what we were going to do be we actually did it."
Firenze smiled and said, "Well, you two should probably catch up with your group." Harry and Ron waved goodbye, and hurried to catch up with the rest of the divination class.
Harry was disappointed; they weren't going to be taking an interesting way to get to the ministry, and were simply using Floo powder. Harry had hoped that he'd get to see another exotic form of transport. Student after student would simply call "Ministry of Magic, Room 1643" and disappear into the flames. Harry was last, and when he emerged, he came to in a sterile white room, filled with black robed students and white robed ministry workers, although Harry didn't recognize the branch.
"Alpha Gamma Sigma," called an authoritative voice from behind. Harry turned around, and saw several wizards facing the new group, wands drawn. Harry saw an odd emblem on their robes, which were also white, but with dark blue trim.
Trelawney spoke up without a hint of mistiness, "Epsilon Delta Epsilon." Harry grew even more confused at what was going on, but he wasn't alone. The entire class seemed bewildered, and most were shooting glances between the armed wizards and their professor.
However, Trelawney's message must have made sense to the white and blue robed wizards surrounding them. After they slowly put their wands away, another wizard stepped out from behind them. He also wore the same emblem as the others, but his robes were white and red, and he authoritatively said, "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries. I am Security Captain Renard Joss, and I'm here to escort you to the Seer Department."
Harry heard loud whispers from the students and knew why. The Department of Mysteries was a heavily shrouded department, and few got to even enter the building. Harry fell in line with the rest of the students walking along a plain white corridor, and noted that the security guards were surrounding them, obviously making sure that no one would wander off. Harry couldn't help but wonder what the punishment was for seeing something in here that you weren't supposed to.
Renard finally stopped, and opened a magically sealed door. "This," he announced, "is the Seer Department. You are not authorized to leave this department until 5:00. I will arrive then to escort you back to room 1643."
The students all meekly stepped in, to be greeted by another red and white robed security officer. "Hi! My name is Sean Jones. So, how do you like seeing what it's like to be an unspeakable?" he called, and Harry sighed with relief as the new guard seemed much more personable than the last.
The students still seemed too overwhelmed to say anything, and Sean laughed, "Don't worry about Joss. You won't have any problems, as long as you don't stray off. Anyway, we're going to show you what it's like to be a Seer within the Department of Mysteries. It's very important work, and it helps the Ministry by giving them a little heads-up on what they're going to face. So, will you all follow me?"
The students all dutifully followed the new officer, and Harry noted that the Seer Department seemed a little homelier than the stuffy lobby. On the downside, it smelled a little like Trelawney's classroom. As they made their way down yet another corridor they passed by two white robed wizards. Harry heard one say, "How are the preparations for the Sphere of Madness?"
However, the other immediately froze, and said urgently, "We have visitors!"
Harry turned his head and watched the two, intrigued by what was said. The first wizard didn't pick up, though, and said, "What? No, I'm talking about the storage of the sphere."
The other fiercly said, "SHUT UP!" and looked pointedly at Harry. By now the class noticed that Harry was lagging a little behind in the corridor, and stopped as well.
Finally, the outspoken wizard realized his mistake and whispered, "What do you reckon? Memory charm?"
Harry was beginning to worry – he was obviously close to being in trouble with one of the most secretive branches of the ministry. The second wizard stared at Harry for a long minute, and finally said, "No. There's no need – the name of the object itself is not important, and will not tell anyone anything." Harry let out a relieved sigh as the two wizards continued on their way, and he hurriedly caught up with the group.
Unfortunately, the rest of the week was not nearly as exciting. Instead of getting a tour, which Harry knew would be quite impossible, they were simply conducted into an empty room filled with Crystal Balls, Tarot Cards, and other various divination tools. Besides Sean checking up with them every once in awhile, Trelawney was simply instructing them; it was uncomfortably close to the usual Divination classes back up at Hogwarts. Or at least the usual Divination classes before Firenze arrived.
"I don't know how much more of this I can stand," Ron whispered to Harry, as Trelawney was yet again talking about divination with bird entrails.
"I hear you," Harry whispered. He briefly considered telling Ron about the Sphere of Madness, but the mysterious wizards was correct; he didn't know anything about it, so there wouldn't be much to tell. Besides, it appeared to be sensitive information and he might be in trouble if he started telling people what he overheard.
Unfortunately, skipping out of class was not an option, since they were required to stay in their confined area, lest they accidentally hear something secret. Harry, Ron, and most of the rest of the class simply had to bear their way through the week, which Harry was willing to swear was longer than any before, even with the Dursleys. Finally, Harry and Ron left the ministry on Friday, escorted as always Renard Joss until they all left through the lobby fire by Floo powder.
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