Chapter Nine

Harry's Bane

Harry and Hermione still had an hour left before dinner when they escorted Sirius and Lily to the gates of Hogwarts. They did as promised and returned to the Gryffindor common room to explain as best they could to Ron about the last month and their little adventure. As expected, Ron was on the verge of complete confusion.

"You mean to tell me I had a rat ..."

"Scabbers." Harry prompted.

" ... that was really a wizard ... one of your dad's best friends ... a Death Eater?"

Hermione tried to explain. "Ron, you won't remember any of this, but it is what happened."

He looked bewildered. "And you killed him."

Harry nodded.

"And saved your mum and Sirius?"

He nodded again.

"You're both barking."

Harry covered his face with his hands and tried his hardest not to get frustrated with his best friend. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back in the armchair.

"Here now," said Ron. "Where did you get that scar?"

Harry and Hermione eyed each other and smiled.

"I got it when Voldemort tried to kill me --- the first time."

Ron leaned forward and looked closely at it. "You didn't have this a few hours ago at lunch. In fact it looks old."

"Almost fifteen years old to be exact, Ron," confirmed Hermione. "How many times do we have to tell you that we're telling the you truth?"

His eyes disappeared into his hairline. "Bugger, me! You are telling the truth!"

It only took them the time through dinner and half the walk back to the common room for Ron to quit talking to himself and answer some of their questions.

"You have to tell us what has been going on the last five years Ron." Hermione said. "Just the high points, so we can compare notes."

Ron shrugged. "Okay ... I guess I should start with the Philosopher's Stone."

Minor details changed, but for the most part their lives had stayed the same. The big difference was that their third year was normal. Since Sirius hadn't been put in Azkaban and Wormtail was already dead nothing along those lines had been the same.

Harry supposedly had the same connection with Voldemort as before but for a different reason that had to do with being the last in the line of Potter's. Something, again, having to do with the love of his father being passed on to his son, James' only surviving blood relative, through their blood.

Ron didn't really understand it, so couldn't expand on the subject with much information. The very few things they had to keep in mind were some of the relationships that were changed.

"You and Hermione were boyfriend/girlfriend since Yule Ball in fourth year."

Harry was taken aback. "Really? What happened?"

Ron laughed. "Quite funny, really. You had been mooning over her for ages and finally screwed up enough courage to ask her to the Yule Ball.

"Ages," Hermione said with great interest. "Since when?"

Ron shrugged. "Well, I guess it was when you went and got yourself petrified by that Basilisk. He wouldn't stay out of the Hospital Wing for the longest time. Always holding your hand and talking to you. You don't know how many times I had to drag him away, always telling him that you couldn't hear a bloody word he was saying."

Hermione looked up at Harry with romantic thoughts clear on her face.

Harry smiled somewhat nervously back and tried to change the somewhere else. "What about you and Luna?"

Ron shrugged. "Oh, she's ... hold on? How did you know about that?"

"You've been writing back and forth all summer, well at least you were before we changed things. I just assumed."

Ron nodded. "I guess some things haven't changed at all then."

Luckily Harry's schedule hadn't been affected and he didn't have any problem taking up where he left off. Transfiguration and Evocation went off without a hitch even with McGonagall giving Harry knowing stares every ten minutes or so.

The Defense class, however, had provided a surprise when they arrived and found their seats. The attendees were the same with the exception of Ron Weasley.

"Why are you so surprised to see me here?" asked Ron.

Harry leaned in close. "You failed your Defense O.W.L."

Ron goggled at him. "Did not! I got eight of nine O.W.L.'s just like you. Same courses even."

Hermione stuck her head around. "Ron, that's wonderful!" she whispered.

The door at the top of the stairs that led to the Defense Professor's office opened at that moment and everyone turned to face forward. Harry caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see what Kingsley Shaklebolt had in store for today's lesson. He didn't expect to see a wizard in pure gray robes stepping in front of them and not the tall dark form of the D.A.D.A. teacher he had come to admire.

"Professor Lupin?"

Remus Lupin looked up from the book he was carrying. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

Hermione clutched Harry's arm and shook her head slightly.

"Sorry, Sir. It can wait until after class."

Lupin nodded and began his class. Harry stared at the once bedraggled form of his father's friend which now appeared to be in the best of health. Gone was the prematurely gray hair and the perpetually tired look about his face. Also missing were the worn robes of the poor and often pitied person Harry had come to know.

"As I noted in Monday's lecture we are to begin your sixth year lessons with a deeper delving into the Dark Arts themselves. In a simple sentence, 'if one is to defeat an enemy, one must understand the motivations and intelligence of that enemy.'"

He set the book he was reading down on his desk and clasped his hands behind his back. "One of the privileges offered to sixth and seventh year students is controlled but unlimited access to the restricted section of the library."

Hermione leaned forward with an almost eager look to her face as if she were about to be granted her most fondest wish.

"For the remainder of first term you will be regulated to the Library on your own reconnaissance to prepare the beginnings of your N.E.W.T. level practice exam for next year."

Harry was confused. Weren't they going to have any practical lessons?

"I expect your theorems on my desk no later than Monday the twenty-third of this month. That gives you two and a half weeks to peruse the restricted section for a Dark Lord of topic. Do not forget, sixth-year practical lessons with Mr. Potter begin tonight, and also remember that he will be submitting detailed reports on the progress of each of you."

His eyes narrowed. "Do not think that I will not be paying close attention to the reports. Those of you that are not up to snuff with your practicing of current defense spells and counter-jinxes will not be allowed to continue until each is mastered."

A low rumble of whispering was heard throughout the class.

"Mr. Potter, what is your first lesson pertaining to?"

Harry was caught off guard. He was expecting to begin D.A. classes next week and hadn't so much as thought about what would be covered. He and Kingsley were supposed to be practicing whatever they learned in class.

So he popped up with the first and most impressive thing he could think of. "Um ... the Patronus Charm."

Lupin's eyes widened with mild surprise. "And why would you want to start with such a unusual charm."

Harry's brows furrowed. He leaned over to Ron and whispered, "Dementors aren't in Azkaban, right?"

Ron nodded quickly.

"Because Voldemort has control of the Dementors, sir."

He heard intakes of breath and sharp gasps from behind him.

Lupin smiled and held his hand out. "Would you like to explain to the class why this is a bad thing?"

"Well ..."

"Come down here, Mr. Potter so they may hear you properly," Lupin directed.

Harry rose from his seat and stepped forward. His stomach clenched in nervous despair. It's just like teaching D.A. class, he told himself.

He turned. "Erm ... well ... it's like you've got to ask, what do Dementors feed off of."

Neville Longbottom raised his hand and said, "They suck the happiness out of you and feed on despair and fear."

Harry nodded. "And who can give them what they want the most: us with a few prisoners that don't last very long, because they eventually die from despair, or Voldemort with an unlimited supply of victims?" He paused. "With wizards ... Death Eater's, you have a fighting chance. With Dementors, you either chase them off with the Patronus Charm or have your soul sucked out of you."

Lupin stepped forward, "Thank you Mr. Potter. You may take your seat."

Harry gladly sat down and slumped a little in his seat.

"I expect a very good report from tonight's lesson. We need results." Lupin turned and walked the length of the class. "Some of you may think the Patronus beyond your capabilities as a good number of wizards and witches well beyond your years have not been able to effectively conjure a fully corporeal figure. But I think with the proper motivation, each and every one of you will conquer that particular demon."

He eyed each student in turn. "Very well, off you go."

The three of them stayed behind after class was dismissed as they had free time until lunch.

Lupin smiled at Harry. "Expecting a bit much from the students, Harry?"

Harry thought on it for a moment. "They have to learn. My Patronus has saved me more than a few times."

Lupin stepped back and sat on his desk, staring poignantly at Harry. "So it's finally happened."

"Sir?"

"You're not the Harry Potter that I knew on Monday anymore are you?" he said somberly.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "No, Sir."

Lupin nodded. "That explains why you looked so shocked when you first saw me this morning."

"About that, Sir," said Hermione. "Your condition, I thought ..."

He smiled. "I have you to thank for my current condition, Hermione. It was only three years ago when the master potion makers devised a way to hold the wolf at bay and restore my vitality."

She gasped, "They've perfected the Wolfsbane Potion?"

He nodded. "One more step toward a cure."

They all stood in silence for a moment that was broken by Lupin. "Well, to the library with you. You've got a massive project ahead due sooner than you think."

Harry started to protest about his lack of preparedness when Hermione showed him their course syllabus outlining what was expected of them.

They retreated to the confines of the library with the rest of their class. Hermione was in heaven; hundreds of books, once just beyond her reach, were now accessible anytime of day.

Harry looked at the titles with varied displays of trepidation. "Think I should pick Voldemort or someone else?"

Hermione looked at him. "Are you asking my opinion or just pontificating?"

"Pon ... what?"

She laughed to herself. "Are you talking to hear yourself talk? Are you reasoning the question out or do you want my opinion?"

Harry quirked an eye at her to find out if she was serious. "Asking ... I was asking."

She looked at him and chewed on her lower lip which he was beginning to enjoy.

"I think you should do Voldemort, but I think you should use the past reigns of previous Dark Lord's, as far back as you can to deduce what exactly motivates him. You can use specific examples from each of the other Dark Lord's as focal points of discussion and where they went wrong ... "

Harry cut her off. "So you're saying, Voldemort?"

Hermione sighed. "Sometimes I thing you're hopeless, Harry." She paused. "I am speaking of researching the heart of the Dark Arts itself by knowing those that it ruled, and doing a comprehensive analysis of the mind of a Dark Lord in general. I think it would be an excellent way to deduce the probable target, locations, and ultimate goals of a future Dark Lord."

Harry was still staring. "So, Voldemort?"

She shook her head and sighed. "Hopeless, utterly hopeless."

Harry looked at Ron. "What?"

"Got me, mate. I think you should do ... him."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ron, why don't you just say his name? It's just a name."

He tried to look a little tougher. "I didn't say He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, did I? Or even You-Know-Who."

She nodded. "Well I guess that's a start." She looked back up at the bookshelf and pulled down an ancient looking tome. "Here Harry, start with this." Hermione decided to use another tactic. "Use it for background for your report. Think of it as filling up space."

Now that was what Harry could understand. "Oh, okay. Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

They found an abandoned table and began flipping though their chosen books, although Harry noticed that Hermione hadn't picked out a book on any particular Dark Lord. Instead she had chosen a very large tome on Dark Arts spells.

Ron saw Harry staring the title, Cruel Conjurations for the Caitiff Caster. "Thinking about hexing Malfoy at lunch?"

Hermione looked up quizzically, "Hmm?"

He pointed at the book and she realized what he was talking about. "Oh, I thought I would see if there was anything useful." Her head turned to Harry who was looking at her. "Really ... maybe we could use some of the spells in D.A."

"What's D.A." asked Ron.

"You said Umbridge was here last year," insisted Harry.

Ron looked defensive. "She was."

"And what did you call the class that Harry taught?" asked Hermione.

Ron looked back and forth between the two of them. "Um .. Hermione, I don't know if you know it, but Harry isn't a Professor."

Her face sunk and her eye twitched with frustration. "Ron, who taught Defense last year?"

"Professor Lupin, but he had his feet cut out from under him by Umbridge. Couldn't practice practical spells at all."

Then what position did Umbridge hold?" asked Hermione.

"She was Hogwarts High Inquisitor. Fudge sent her in to shake things up when they thought Dumbledore was trying to take over the Ministry; kicked him out and everything."

Harry leaned in to whisper when he saw Madame Pince eyeing them. "Then how did we all get Outstanding on our O.W.L.'s?"

"We practiced in the common room."

Harry shook his head trying to clear out the confusion. "Let me get this straight: Umbridge comes in, sacks Dumbledore, then we practice in a common room full of people that could just give us up at a moments notice?"

Ron looked offended. "Blimey, Harry, we were all Gryffindors. Nobody was going to rat on us."

"So why am I teaching Practical lessons at night?"

"'Cause you scored the highest Defense O.W.L. in a over hundred years." Ron paused for a second to see his friend's reaction. "Umbridge was right there for your Practical test and kept insisting you do one more charm and then another, and then jinx after jinx. She thought you would slip up, but the tester thought you were brilliant." He paused again. "Harry you were doing N.E.W.T. level Defensive charms like they were nothing! Professor Lupin was laughing his arse off the entire time. Tell me you can still do those charms."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but I studied my butt off to learn them."

"Ewww!" cried Hermione.

"What," the boys said at the same time.

She pointed at an entry in the book. "I've just found out how to turn someone's skin inside out." She shut the cover and looked green. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Ron pulled his papers out of the way. "Well, do it over there. This is all the spare parchment I have."

Hermione's eye twitch came back. At least she didn't spew.

The last class of the day, Advanced Potions, proved to be more fun than was expected. Malfoy's caldron sprouted a leak and he didn't notice until his robes were soaked with Itching Solution. It made for a much more enjoyable class, even with the five points taken off, by Snape, for laughing ... like Malfoy wouldn't have laughed.

Six o'clock arrived faster than Harry realized. He arrived at the Defense classroom and looked around at the mulling students that were starting to move the desks out of the way.

"Change of plans everyone."

The sixth-years heads starting popping up to see what Harry had to say.

"I've found a better room."

He lead them down the corridor and up the stairs to the seventh floor. Before he arrived at the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by several trolls he stopped them. "Wait here."

He proceeded down the corridor and walked passed the portrait three times. We need a place to practice ... we need a place to practice he repeated over and over in his head.

Harry kept looking at the wall each time he passed and after the third turn a highly polished door appeared with a shining brass handle. He heard voices from behind him.

"Where did that come from?"

He grasped the bass handle and opened the door for everyone to enter. Lots of oohhs and ahhs were heard upon entering. Once then last student passed, Harry followed suit and saw the Room of Requirement was much the same as last year.

All four walls were lined with bookcases, and torches. A hundred or so silk cushions lay stacked on one side. All of the sixth-years were marveling at the room; even Malfoy and his cronies seemed impressed until they realized that Harry was watching then they sneered and found a empty piece of wall to hold up.

"Okay, lets get started," he called out, but only a few people heard him.

Where's that whistle? Harry looked to the same table from last year and there laying on one side was a brass whistle with a garnet and gold lanyard attached. He placed it around his neck and blew hard on the whistle.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and came to some sort of attention.

"Right ... well then, I think we should start." He walked to one end of the rectangular room. "Everyone in a straight line and face that way." He pointed outward to the expanse of the room.

"Now, show of hands. Who can already produce a corporeal Patronus?"

Hermione immediately raised hers and that was it. Harry inwardly groaned.

"Does anyone know the incantation?"

Hermione raised her hand, this time along with everyone else. Seemingly everyone else had, at least, studied the charm.

"Well, that's something," he said sarcastically in a low voice.

He pulled his wand out. "As you should already know, each Patronum is different for each wizard so don't be surprised if yours is large or small, or even somewhere in between." He looked at his girlfriend. "Hermione would you mind showing us yours?"

She stepped forward and closed her eyes for a moment. A small smile appeared on her face and she raised her wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

Silver mist erupted from her wand in the shape of a otter, which made a quick pass down the length of the room and returned to gambol around her feet then it quickly faded away.

Some of the girl of from the different houses squeaked and cooed at the cute figure. Hermione returned to the line.

"And this is mine." Harry closed his eyes and thought of the first time he hugged his mother. "Expecto Patronum!"

His silver stag jumped forth, galloping the length of the room, and darting back along the front of the line. Malfoy jumped back when the stag lowered it's antlers at him before fading into the air.

"I want everyone to think of your most happiest memory; that's what gives the charm its power. A Dementor's main weapon is fear and dread. You counter that with happiness." Harry watched as some people closed their eyes and smiled while others looked like they were deciding what they were going to think of in the first place.

"Once you think you have a good memory go on and give it a try."

He saw Susan Bones step forward and cry, "Expecto Patronum!"

Silver sparks issued forth, but nothing else. She stepped back looking dejected.

"That was great, Susan; better than my first try," encouraged Harry.

She smiled at him for the praise.

"Try thinking of something happier."

Ron stepped forward and tried ... nothing happened at all. Harry was going to suggest something, but he heard Malfoy snicker from down the line.

"How about you, Malfoy?"

The platinum blonde froze and cast a fiery gaze at Harry. Then he stepped forward and closed his eyes. throwing his arm back and stabbing forward he yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

Almost all of the Gryffindors laughed as his wand fell out of his hand shooting off red sparks as it fell to the ground.

Harry turned back with a straight face. "That is a perfect example of how not to perform the Patronus Charm."

Malfoy bent over and picked up his wand, and several Gryffindors, armed with a new happy thought, stepped forward producing everything from silver sparks to silver vapor. That encouraged the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws to try.

After thirty minutes of correcting wand movements and a few pronunciation adjustments Harry went to retrieve his clipboard to mark progress scores for each student. By the end of the hour, with instructions to practice on improving the intensity of the silver vapor, that they all managed to produce, he dismissed all of Gryffindor and all but two of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Only one Slytherin got to leave.

Malfoy was in a fit state and had not even produced so much as a batch of silver sparks.

An additional thirty minutes of practice and all that was left were ten Slytherins. Harry yawned and stretched his back out. "I'd like to get some homework done tonight, Malfoy."

"Bugger off, Potter."

"You want to 'bugger the Prof, Malfoy'? Um ... no thanks, I've got a girlfriend. Maybe Crabbe or Goyle can take care of that for you." Harry grinned in response and started marking off 'no improvement' under the remaining names. "That's all, dismissed."

When he looked back up Malfoy and his cronies were standing in front of him; the rest of the Slytherins were filing out of the door.

Uh, oh. he thought.

Harry watched as Goyle's hands were clenching and unclenching repeatedly, Crabbe was merely scowling, and Malfoy had a satisfied smile on his face. "Would you like to rethink those scores, Potter?"

Through narrowed eyes, Harry said, "Would you like to produce a Patronus, Malfoy?"

The blonde Slytherin seethed and gripped his wand tightly. "One of these days, when you aren't looking ... you're dead, Potter."

Harry set the clipboard down and leaned against the table. "Why wait? Too much of a coward to do it now?"

Malfoy raised his wand and Harry pushed back against the table raising both his legs and slammed them into the blonde's stomach. In the time it took Harry to regain his footing he had his wand out and was watching as Malfoy slammed into Crabbe and Goyle, knocking them backward and off balance as well.

"Stupify! Stupify! Impedimenta!" yelled Harry, in rapid succession, followed by three separate Incarcerous Charms. The three Slytherins were effectively bound from shoulder to foot with magical ropes. He snatched up their wands and pocketed them.

As soon as the Impediment Curse passed, Malfoy stared daggers at Harry.

"Next time you're going to kill me, Malfoy, I'd suggest bringing more stooges." He grabbed his clipboard and headed for the door, then stopped and raised his wand once more. "Rictusempra!" Malfoy immediately started laughing uncontrollably. "Have a nice night."

On the way back down the stairs he stopped by Lupin's office and dropped off the clipboard.

"How did things go tonight, Harry?" asked Lupin.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty good. The majority of them should have it down in a couple of months."

Lupin's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

Harry nodded and smiled. "I think the Slytherins are going to have a problem though; namely the three that are still tied up in the Room of Requirement."

Lupin quirked an eyebrow, mainly because he knew Harry so well. "Tied up?"

Harry picked three wands out of his pocket and laid them on the desk. "They were going to teach me a lesson for not giving them credit for something they couldn't do."

Lupin stood up. "The Room of what? And why didn't you just take away house points?"

That was surprising. "I can do that?"

Lupin groaned, "Show me where they are."

Harry tried to control his laughter all the way up to the seventh floor, but as he reached each landing a small yip or chuckle slipped out.

Forty feet down the hallway they stopped in front of the highly polished door. "That's a bathroom, Harry."

"That's the Room of Requirement, sir."

Lupin looked highly skeptical, and opened the door. He took one step inside and his jaw unhinged. "Where did ... when ...?"

"It changes to fit the need of the person walking in front of the door. I guess you really needed to use the loo when you found it."

Lupin laughed out loud. "I suppose I did."

They were distracted by the sound of someone else's laughter, Malfoy's, to be exact. Crabbe and Goyle were still stunned and Malfoy's face was very red from laughing for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Lupin looked down at him and raised his wand. "Finite Incantatum!" He dispelled the ropes as well and woke up Crabbe and Goyle for good measure. They were on their feet moments later.

Malfoy pointed his finger at Harry, accusingly. "He hexed us for no reason, Professor." Then as an afterthought. "While our backs were turned."

Lupin nodded thoughtfully. "What else did Mr. Potter do?"

Malfoy thought he was getting the upper hand. "He called us names during class and wouldn't teach any of the Slytherins. Kept us here long after he dismissed the Gryffindors, and then when we wouldn't fetch him something to drink he stunned Crabbe and Goyle here and tied them up. "

It seemed like he was on a roll when Lupin looked shocked.

"Then I tried to defend myself and tripped over Goyle here. That's when he put the Impediment curse on me and kicked me in the ribs." Suddenly he reached his hand up and curled it around his ribcage. "I think I he might have broken something, Sir."

Harry stepped up, "Sir, that isn't ..."

"Be quiet, Mr. Potter." He turned to Crabbe and Goyle. "Is this what happened?"

They both nodded and Goyle added for good measure, "He kicked Draco three times, Sir. I tried to stop him, but ..."

Lupin smiled, "But you were stunned."

"Yes, Sir." It took a moment for the comment to register in his apparently very dim head. "Um ..."

Malfoy's face turned ashen white.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, have you forgotten to whom, or perhaps I should say what, you are speaking to?"

Malfoy swallowed slowly.

"I am a werewolf, gentlemen. My auditory and olfactory senses are much more acute than the average normal human. In other words, I can tell when you're lying, and I haven't heard a whopper like that in quite a while."

"But ...," Malfoy pleaded.

Lupin held his hand up. "Please Mr. Malfoy, don't make it any worse. I will be sending letters to your parents. All three of you will be serving a week's detention with Professor Hagrid, cleaning out the Hippogriff's stalls, without magic. I'm also deducting thirty points apiece for assaulting Mr. Potter in the course of his assigned duties, and an additional twenty points apiece for blatantly lying to me."

Malfoy looked like he was going to be sick. Crabbe and Goyle's shoulders sagged even more than they normally did.

"I will be keeping your wands. You can inform Professor Snape he may pick them up from my office after I've had a talk with him as well." He place his hands on his hips. "Now, you may return to your common room with this last bit of notice. If you ever pull this kind of stunt again I shall see to it personally that you are brought up before the headmaster for immediate expulsion from Hogwarts."

By this time, Malfoy's face had returned to it's natural color and exceeded into an angry, flaming red before he and his cohorts exited the room.

Once the door had closed Lupin turned. "Harry ..."

Harry had his eyes closed and was holding his hands up. "Hold on I need to play that back in my head a few times."

Lupin shook his own head. "They could have severely hurt you tonight."

Harry snapped his eyes open. "Malfoy? Ha!"

Lupin turned serious. "Have you forgotten who his father is?"

The smile fell from Harry's face. "Malfoy's still in Azkaban, right?"

The professor nodded. "That doesn't mean he didn't teach his son all sorts of nasty spells, any one of which could have ended your teaching career, not to mention your life. Don't antagonize him, Harry, if for nothing else than my peace of mind."

"Yes, Sir."

All serious talk aside, Lupin looked around. "This room is great! How did you find it."

"Well, last year ... before things got changed, Umbridge was Defense teacher and wouldn't let us practice practical spells. One of the house elves told me about it. All you have to do is walk in front of the door about three times and think of what kind of room you need."

He walked around and looked at some of the books on the shelves. His face turned grim and he pulled one from the shelf. "This should be in the Restricted Section of the library."

Harry shook his head. "You can take it down there, but it will be back the next time I ask for the room."

That didn't seem to please the professor.

"But don't worry. Hermione tried to take a couple out to study and they vanished from her hands as soon as she walked out of the door. And the students don't have time to read when we're practicing."

"Make sure they don't," said Lupin. "At least not anyone under sixth-year."

Harry nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"Good work tonight, Harry. I really didn't think you would be able to progress as far as you have with the Patronus Charm."

They walked out together.

"It's all in believing that you can, Sir."

Harry sat in his favorite armchair, in the Gryffindor common room, beside Ron and Hermione.

"A hundred-and-fifty points?" yelled Ron. "And he has to sling Hippogriff dung for a week?"

Harry nodded.

"We have to get Creevey to take a picture of that. I'd frame it by my bedside table for the rest of my life.

Hermione didn't take the news as well. "Harry, you could have been hurt!"

He shrugged. "It was just Malfoy."

She sat forward in her chair. "Who, I'm sure, knows a thousand different ways to hex you."

Harry didn't look scared.

"I'm not leaving you alone in that room again," she resolved.

"It's not that big of a deal, Hermione."

A look of resolve came over her face. "I'll just bring my homework along next time and do it there until class is over."

Ron nodded, "Me too, mate. Can't be too careful with those three."

Harry pulled up his Potions homework. "I wouldn't worry about it. Lupin says if they do it again he'll get Dumbledore to expel them."

Ron looked like he was running a hundred different scenarios in his head. "Cool."

It was almost eleven o'clock when Harry and Hermione had finished practicing their Evocation charms and packed up their respective school bags. Ron had long since gone upstairs and was probably asleep.

"See you tomorrow morning?" Hermione said softly.

Harry nodded, closing in on her. "Want to do something this weekend? It'll be the last free one before Quidditch practice starts."

She nodded quickly and shyly. "Yes."

"Any ideas?"

She looked down and then back up into his eyes. "I'll think of something and tell you tomorrow."

Harry leaned into her and watched as her eyes followed his lips in anticipation. He heard her breath catch and her tongue flick out to moisten her own lips. The kiss was slow and soft leaving Hermione in a sleepy and dazed state when she reopened her eyes.

"I love your lips, Harry."

One side of his mouth curled up. "Yours are pretty nice, too."

Her eyes sparkled and she pulled her school bag to her chest, lowering her head to hide most of her face. She ran to the staircase and made it halfway up when she stopped. "Goodnight, Harry."

Harry waved and returned her smile, watching until she was safely behind the dormitory door. He slung his bag over his shoulder. "You got it bad, Potter. You got it real bad."