Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Warner Brothers bought me out.
Harry left for the Gryffindor commons after the meeting with Dumbledore. He looked at his watch, and saw that Charms had just ended; hopefully his friends would be along soon. Sure enough, Ron, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati all entered through the portrait and started to overwhelm Harry with questions.
"What was that sphere?" Ron asked.
"Why was Flitwick so worried?" Dean and Seamus both asked.
"What's going on?" several others asked.
Harry held up his hands and said, "I can't make golems."
"What?" Ron demanded, "You made one last class!"
Harry remembered the story McGonagall had told him and said, "It was sort of a fluke. Dumbledore thinks I… well… ran out of power for it. The sphere is just what happens when someone can't make a real golem. I'm also excused from Charms for the next several weeks because I obviously can't complete the lessons."
Harry felt very proud of his story, and most of the others seemed to believe it. Ron, however, was still skeptical, and asked, "Are you sure? Your golem was pretty powerful last class."
Fortunately, Harry was saved by Hermione entering the portrait and saying, "McGonagall explained it to me. Technically, Harry can make golems, but it takes him many years to build up enough effort to make one. He won't be able to make another golem for at least seven or eight years. Oh, and please drop it – I'm sure Harry doesn't want to talk about it."
Harry grinned thankfully at Hermione, although for a different reason than everyone thought. Everyone besides Ron and Hermione left, although Lavender and Parvati patted him on the shoulder before leaving to their dorms. Ron turned to Hermione and asked, "What did McGonagall talk to you after class about?"
Harry then realized that's why Hermione knew what was going on, and why she was late to the commons. Hermione, fortunately, had an answer prepared. "I needed to talk to her about the Death Eater attacks."
"Death Eater attacks?" Harry involuntarily asked.
"Yeah," Ron quickly said, "There have been sporadic Death Eater attacks starting early in the summer. Still, there haven't been many deaths."
Hermione lowered her voice and said, "I don't think they're trying to kill people. I think they're looking for something."
"What?" Ron asked in disbelief.
Harry quickly asked, "What do you think they're looking for?"
Hermione slowly answered, "Jewelry. A lot of the muggle attacks have been centered around jewelry stores."
"I don't know," Ron ventured, "there have been a lot of attacks nowhere near a store like that. And why would Voldemort be looking for a diamond ring?"
"I didn't say he was looking for a diamond ring!" Hermione huffed.
"When was the last attack?" Harry asked, trying to avert another row.
"Two days ago," Hermione answered.
"So that means," Harry realized, "That if you're right and Voldemort is looking for something, he probably hasn't found it yet."
"Why don't you go to the library?" Ron asked in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Don't be silly," Hermione airily replied, "There are countless powerful gems. How would I have any clue which one he was looking for?"
"It's not powerful," Harry pointed out.
"How can you know that?" challenged Ron.
Hermione looked up and said, "Of course! Because a powerful gem wouldn't be at a muggle jewelry store."
"Then why is Voldemort looking for it?" Harry asked. "I mean, if it's not powerful, why would Voldemort be looking for it?"
"I don't know," Hermione admitted.
Harry knocked on McGonagall's office door at 7:55 that night. He was half excited and half nervous about the meeting with McGonagall. He had no clue what he would be doing for the next hour. "Come in," McGonagall's voice came from within.
Harry entered and was surprised to see her sitting on the floor. He had never pictured the prim Transfiguration Professor sitting on a dusty castle floor. Harry stood watching her for a minute before asking, "Er, Professor, are you going to train me?"
McGonagall didn't look up and merely said, "Sit down."
Harry sat down, and McGonagall didn't say anything else. Harry waited several minutes on the floor, feeling extremely stupid. Finally, he ventured, "I thought you were going to train me."
McGonagall finally looked at him and asked, "Train?" It had a note of incredulousness, and she calmly got up and left the room.
Harry was even more confused, but followed her out of the office. She led the way to a nearby unused classroom that had no furniture. She waved her arms, and the room immediately became crowded. All around, lifelike mannequins stood stilly, almost indistinguishable from real people. Harry then noticed a small pile of dirt to their right, and McGonagall curtly ordered, "Cast your golem."
Harry did as he was told, and the pile of dirt became a spherical golem. It wasn't quite as big as the one in Charms, but there wasn't enough material to make a larger orb.
"Tell it to attack," McGonagall commanded.
Harry was confused and asked, "How does a sphere attack people?"
"Potter," McGonagall strictly said, "I did ask you to wonder about how it fights. I told you to command it to attack."
Harry grimaced and turned back to his golem and thought Attack the replicas.
The sphere came to life and rolled along the ground. Suddenly, it jumped into the air and formed a giant blade which severed one of the heads from the closest figures. When it landed, it leaped again, although this time it nearly split in two. Two smaller balls formed with blades of their own, joined by a very fine fiber of material connecting the two. Two more figurines were cut in half by the smaller spheres, and then the balls spun around each other, hitting some more. After reforming quickly, the ball then threw a projectile of itself, about the size of a golf ball, at incredible speeds at dense group of the mannequins. Several were crushed as the projectile ricocheted around, and Harry grew more and more alarmed as the sphere mercilessly slaughtered the few remaining models.
As the golem reformed back into a perfect sphere and calmly rolled back to him, Harry realized what he was capable and hunched over, involuntarily throwing up over his robe. McGonagall softly put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Don't mistake power for training, Harry. Can we sit now?"
Harry looked back over the crumbled remains of the figures which used to look completely lifelike. He knew that the sphere wouldn't have acted any differently if they had been real, if they had been real human beings, and that scared him far more than Voldemort ever had. McGonagall noticed his glance and waved her hand, making the room revert back to its barrenness.
"Not here," Harry stammered, finally answering her question.
McGonagall weakly smiled, and two made their way back to the Transfiguration Professor's office. Harry mutely sat down across from McGonagall, and the wandered in his thoughts, aghast at what he was capable of. Forty minutes later, McGonagall stood and said, "I will see you tomorrow at 8." Harry numbly nodded and made his way back to the commons.
"Perhaps Potter would like to pay attention for once. I certainly would be astounded."
Harry groaned to himself. He never would have imagined that Potions could get worse than his first year. Yet each year, Snape's sarcastic drawl grew progressively worse.
"Sir," Lavender pleaded, "his girlfriend died and he can't manage to make a golem anymore. He's not having a good week."
Harry groaned again. He would have been better off if she had let the professor's comment slide. Snape, however, grinned maliciously and said, "I should say not, only killing off one person. The last week he was here he managed to make Diggory and Crouch Sr. both die. Of course, I'm not surprised that he can't make a golem – he can't even brew a simple levitating potion."
Harry didn't say anything, merely hoping that the professor's monologue was over. Snape sidled over and loudly called, "So what boisterous form did Potter's golem take? A rooster? Seems appropriate, doesn't it?"
Ron bravely answered, "It was a giant dog. And it was really powerful."
Pansy sneered and snidely shot back, "But for some reason he couldn't make them anymore, can he? He tried, and all he got was a round ball of mud!"
Harry thanked fate that Snape didn't display any obvious displays of what that meant, and merely cocked an eyebrow. "Well," Snape hissed, "I think Potter has wasted enough of our time. 5 points from Gryffindor, and it will be 10 if Potter's potion doesn't work."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and then realized that he didn't know for sure what the turn of events meant. Obviously Dumbledore hadn't told the professor about Harry's abilities since he was surprised when Pansy mentioned it. Did the headmaster have a reason to no longer trust Snape? And would Snape tell Voldemort about his new ability? Finally, what would Voldemort do if he found out?
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A/N: I have to apologize, but I've been running into some problems with this story, especially the thread with McGonagall and the Orb training. I'm not going to be updating as much – I've got to do some rethinking on the general plot. I'm sorry about this, but it might be weeks between updating now. On the plus side, I'm coming along well with 'Harry Potter and the Sphere of Madness' which is a sequel to my previous trilogy, and am going to try to update it on Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday.
Ninerings: Actually, I was thinking the exact same thing when I chose McGonagall to be Harry's trainer. I thought about Dumbledore and Snape, and decided I'd go with the unexpected choice – the transfiguration professor. Same thing with the non-lead additional characters. I was tired of Mary-Sues, but I wanted to add some other characters to the cast.
Olivia: I'm not planning on Remus making an appearance, but he might pop in for a minor spot. You can't blame Lavender and Parvati, though. They're teenage girls going to school with possibly the most famous wizard of modern times.
Kaelli: Ok… you're calm. I am now praying that you aren't near any sharp cutlery…
Katani: Ok… thanks! But, what was so strange?
Lakergurl13: You're right about Flitwick and McGonagall being out of character. I tried to portray their shock and fear about what Harry had just done, but I didn't do it right. I should've at least emphasized that Flitwick and McGonagall were acting out of character, making Harry wonder just exactly what the sphere was. I guess that's an issue for revision. Oh, Hector calls Nagini his wife because Nagini is his wife. Leave it to Voldemort to become a home-breaker…
Chaser: Your observation that Snape would make a good choice for the other orb wizard was good (so the pair would be forced to spend a decent amount of time together). The problem: It's been done in almost every other story. Like Ninerings said, nobody uses McGonagall.
Dumbledore: Thanks!
Beefywpac: No can do; the Imp apparated too! ARGH! Oh well, I guess when I revise they'll have to go somewhere outside the castle grounds.
Bountyhunter: You know, I hadn't even considered Harry's adventures in the Defense Experimentorium. Guess I've got something I need to add to my outline. Thanks!
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