Professor McGonagall eventually found the three of them
waiting in the Gryffindor Common Room, she looked shocked that they were there
and Hermione, being as sharp as she was, noted the trace of relief in her face,
"At last! You three are being looked
for all over the school, there's an assembly in the Great Hall, come at once!" The four of them trooped off to the Great
Hall in silence. When they entered the
rest of the school turned to look at them, the three students almost ran to
their seats at the Gryffindor table whilst the rest of the school chattered and
McGonagall joined the teachers' table. Dumbledore had waited for the chatter to die down a bit before standing
up, silence fell and he spoke, "Now that we are all here Professor Inigma will
explain what this assembly has been called for." With a smile at the three very red-faced Gryffindors Dumbledore
sat down and Professor Inigma took his place in front of the many turned faces,
she spoke confidently and assuredly, "I'm sure you are all curious as to why we
have needed today to make our arrangements when we've had the whole summer to
do such things." A murmur ran through
the Hall, but Professor just smiled and waited for it to die down again. "The truth is that today the teachers have
been needed for questioning by the Ministry of Magic surrounding last years
events, and Minister Fudge thought it would be wiser if the students didn't know
what was really happening until after it's completion." Dumbledore was shaking his head slightly as
if he'd have done things differently given the choice. Professor Inigma continued, "Rest assured
that the Minister is now satisfied and there will be no more interruptions to
your lessons. I would also add that as
some of you may already know…" here she glanced at Dumbledore "I am an Auror
and have been sent by the ministry to aid Dumbledore in your protection. Which is why it is I and not Professor Dumbledore
who called this assembly." She
finished, and sat down gracefully. Dumbledore stood once more and dismissed the school jovially ignoring
Inigma's glances. Ron, Harry and
Hermione left and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room with the others,
when they got there they agreed that they'd best get to bed, or rather Hermione
persuaded the other two that they needed the sleep to be ready for lessons next
day. Harry slept soundly that night and
awoke the next morning feeling surprisingly ready for the lessons they'd have
that day. It wasn't long before Ron
reminded Harry that it was double Defence Against the Dark Arts in the morning
with Professor Inigma and double potions with Snape and the Slytherins that
afternoon, Harry groaned and ate his breakfast with a steadily sinking heart.
Hermione and Ron, like most of the other Gryffindors, were
looking forward to Professor Inigma's lesson, when they finally got to the
classroom, Professor Inigma was already there and had an eagerness about her,
she ushered them into the room impatiently, "Come on, come on! I want to get started." Harry tried to persuade Ron and Hermione
that they should sit as far away from Inigma as possible but Hermione scoffed
at him and in the end they were sitting right at the front of the class. Professor Inigma sat on her desk and took
the register swiftly, she smiled at the class and put her hands in her lap
gazing at them intently, "Right, I hear from Professor Dumbledore that last year
you gained pretty thorough knowledge of the Unforgivable Curses." The whole class shuddered, and Neville
almost disappeared behind his desk, Professor Inigma smiled "I'll take that as
a yes then. As you already know, I am
an Auror, I work for the Ministry, I'm quite sure that you all realise that
defending yourselves against Dark Magic is going to be very important this
year." The class shifted uncomfortably
and Harry felt himself tensing up. "So,
I think we'd better get cracking right away. Now! I would first like to
introduce you to a spell that will help me to coach you, it is a spell used a
lot in Auror training but it will be invaluable here I assure you. It is called the Nobis Scoli spell, it makes
an alternate reality, it shows you what would happen to you in different
circumstances, how you would act, it's a spell that will be personal to whoever
uses it and it helps us to find our weaknesses and overcome them without having
to actually physically meet those situations. Anyway, I hope that you've all written that down but I only see one
person with their quill out, please will you all take Miss Granger's example
and do likewise and then we can begin."
The class scurried to scribble down notes so that they
could start doing something. Harry
however didn't like the sound of this Nobis Scoli spell, it sounded like
something he wouldn't want to share with the class. Professor Inigma seemed to be staring at him, he involuntarily
shuddered, "Class, I think we ought to start now. I will take you one by one to my office next door, whilst you are
waiting I want you to look up the spell in your text books, I'll be expecting 3
feet of parchment on it by tomorrow." Professor Inigma smiled dangerously at
them and then her eyes returned to Harry, "You first Mr Potter,"
Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione who were staring at him,
as the rest of the class were, he stood up a little shakily and followed
Professor Inigma towards her office. As
soon as she closed the door behind them Harry heard the class on the other side
burst into excited conversation. Professor Inigma frowned but then shrugged her shoulders with a smile,
"So, Harry. Let's get started." Harry took a deep breath and nodded. He watched as she started to wave her wand
in circles and chant words that Harry couldn't quite hear, smoky clouds came
out of the end of her wand and swirled around them, Harry felt a queasy
sensation in his stomach and the smoke made him cough, then suddenly the smoke
cleared, Harry gaped in amazement, he could see himself fighting against
Voldemort as he had done last year, it was as if he were watching it happen
from above, he couldn't see Professor Inigma anywhere, he watched in horrified
amazement as the events of last year unfurled under his eyes, just as he had
remembered it. He wanted desperately to
be able to shut his eyes but he found that he couldn't look away, he saw that
at the moment he'd taken the cup and travelled back to Hogwarts Voldemort had
been aiming his wand right at him and it sent a jolt of icy fear through him,
he felt the cold sweat on his face and the tears that had started to leak from
his eyes and he called out "Professor, Why are you showing me this?" The smoke stung his eyes but when it cleared
he saw that he was back in Professor Inigma's office, he couldn't stop the
tears, Why had she done that to him a voice in his head was demanding, he
looked up blinking the tears way in anger and was completely thrown by what he
saw, Professor Inigma was crying, Harry stood up, "Why did you do that to
me?" He asked less angrily than he'd wanted
to, Inigma stood up shakily, "It was the last test I had to do, I'm sorry
Harry. I believed you, but Fudge
insisted." Harry looked down at his
feet while Professor Inigma wiped her eyes, he sighed "I understand, will it
end here or will there be any more nasty surprises?" Professor Inigma smiled at
him, which made Harry feel instantly guilty for having been angry with her,
"You didn't do much wrong last year, it wasn't a very good use of our time now
was it? I promise that there will be no
more surprises, you can go back to class now Harry, and send in Dean
Thomas." Harry left in silence making
sure he'd moped his face so that the others wouldn't know he'd been crying.