The next day was spent in a sort of hypnotic daze for Harry. In Transfiguration, he was sent out to the library to "sort yourself out!" - Which were the exact words used by Professor McGonagall, because Harry was daydreaming and not listening to a word anyone said. Harry assumed that Dumbledore hadn't gotten round to telling all the staff about his involvement in the helping of Operation Kill Voldemort plan yet, otherwise Harry thought McGonagall might have gone a bit easier on him.
In charms, Harry accidentally made his book fly across the room without use of his wand, and quickly got it out, pointing uselessly at it. Ron gave him a warning look. No one else knew about Harry yet, and he wanted it to stay that way. He didn't want his second year to be repeated all over again… Harry knew that he would have to tell Dumbledore eventually, and soon, but he knew that Dumbledore wouldn't tell the whole school about it anyway. It's not like he would lift Harry up in the middle of dinner and shout, "Look at this boy! He doesn't need a wand to do magic! Let's all be afraid of him… and point and laugh while we're at it!"
After that Harry had Care Of Magical Creatures, which was basically an entire lesson in the Forbidden Forest (according to Hagrid, it was: "Perfectly safe durin' the day"), looking for Fang, his dog, who had run away in the middle of the night, because he'd heard a terrifying noise which turned out to be a little mouse looking for something small and tasty to eat… Fang's tail.
They eventually found Fang hiding under a log full of beetles, his ears covering his face in shame and fear. Hagrid got the dog back inside, and gave Griffindor and Ravenclaw 10 house points each for helping. Next Harry had DADA; Defence Against The Dark Arts. Since Professor Goldhammer had, ahem, "Left suddenly for a family emergency", Remus offered to take it temporarily.
Those who did not yet know of their earlier DADA's teacher's return, were eagerly and childishly excited. For most people, Remus was the best teacher they had ever had (or, at least, the best DADA teacher they had ever had; they'd had so many, as most only stayed for a year – each had different excuses) and everyone was really happy to see him.
"Um, I don't know where Professor Goldhammer left off," Remus said, starting off the lesson, "but I'm just going to teach you some spells to block other spells; counter curses for nasty, scary, killing spells, when you're in the face of danger." Harry knew this was mainly for his benefit, but he didn't say anything. "Each of you will have one of these;" Remus reached his hand into a box and pulled out a slimy green frog. "This is a Hermitan; it lives alone in dark places. It doesn't always take the shape of a frog, it's just that I found a bunch of them in the lake." Harry didn't like to ask how he got the hermitans if they were at the bottom of the lake. "It's breath is poison, so when you take their masks off," Remus had put cute little frog-sized gas-masks over each hermitan's mouth, "I want you to point your wand at it and say, in this exact pronounciation, 'Speeg-ar-rar-moose'; Spihgararmus. The hermitan should then fall back and it will be made unconscious for roughly ten minutes." Remus put the frog back into its box. "Now, Spihgaramus is a spell that not many wizards can do. It takes a helluva lot of practice and is very, very hard to do. Most wizards just prefer killing the things. So I don't expect many of you to get it this lesson, but by the end of the week, a few of you may be able to keep it unconscious for a few seconds, if you're lucky! So don't worry if nothing happens; oh, but move away quickly and put on the gas masks that I'm handing around for each of you." A few people looked a bit nervous at this last statement, but quickly got into it.
Remus went around the class helping people. Harry got his wand out, took the mask at the frog, and said, "Spihgaramus!" Nothing happened. Harry put his mask on just in time to block the hermitan's belch. He heard Remus telling people that thinking of an emotion, sadness, or anger, usually helpd to do the spell. Harry turned back to the hermitan. He thought of Hermione. He thought of his parents. He thought of Voldemort. He thought of all Voldemort had done to wreck his life. He thought of the Dursleys. He recalled the exact moment Hermione had died next to Harry, the insane cruel laugh of Voldemort. Harry frowned deeply. He didn't like thinking about all these things. But he could feel the anger in him. He pointed his wand at the hermitan and took his own mask off. "Spihgmaramus!" Instantly, the frog fell on its back. Harry felt alarmed. Remus had said that the spell was really hard to do. Harry put his hands out to try and feel the hermitan's pulse. He didn't feel one. Maybe it didn't have a pulse.
"Uh, professor?" Harry called out.
Remus walked over to him, smiling. "Yes, Harry?"
"Uh, do Hermitan's have pulses?"
Remus frowned. "Yes, why?"
Harry bit his lip and frowned, confused. "Um, I think I just killed mine."
Remus raised an eyebrow curiously, and looked down at the hermitan. It did seem in a state of… well, death. He put his hand on its neck – there was no pulse.
"Is it supposed to be able to kill?" Harry asked, nervously.
Remus narrowed his eyes, as if he wasn't sure exactly how much he was allowed to tell him. "Well, yes, actually. It has been known to kill. But as I said, most wizards prefer Avadra Kedavra. It's a helluva lot easier." Remus paused. "Maybe you shouldn't tell anyone about this. It's a very rare spell for a 17 year old to be able to do." Harry nodded. It wouldn't be hard. After all, it wasn't the only secret he was hiding.
Ron walked over. He took one look at the hermit and took a step back. He looked at Harry, terrified. "You killed it?" he whispered incredulously.
"Yeah, but…" Harry glanced over at Remus, then back at Ron, "remember that other thing I told you about? Don't hate me, don't be afraid. I don't know what's happening either…"
Ron's face had gone completely white. "Dad was right…"
Harry frowned. "What? What are you talking about?"
Ron ran away out of the classroom, hardly attracting any attention. Remus raised his eyebrows at Harry, but said nothing. Harry simply shrugged in amazement, and tried hard to concentrate on the hermit.
Ron lay on his bed. He couldn't be right. He'd never said that it would, he never said that it would definitely happen. It was just a coincidence. They did happen. But Ron had never believed that things happened purely from coincidence. There was a reason these new powers were coming to Harry. A reason. Everything happened for a reason.
Ron thought of telling his dad, but he would only tell the ministry, then they'd be all over Harry. He could tell Dumbledore, but… Ron wondered then if Dumbledore knew. Probably. After all, there weren't many things his dad knew about the wizarding world that Dumbledore didn't.
Suddenly Ron wished his brother were there. Strangely enough, he did miss them. He always thought, if anything happened, they'd be there to stand up for him. He still had Ginny, but she was in the year below him…and anyway, she would just panic and faint. Isn't that what girls did?
Ron knew he was being sexist, but this was Ginny he was talking about here. It was common knowledge that Ginny had fancied Harry from the moment she'd seen him, from her first year when he'd saved her life…
A random thought popped its way into Ron's racing motorway-mind. Harry had then just realised he had parseltongue, which had helped him save Hermione. Because he could speak parseltongue, he saved a life…Ron wondered, if because now Harry was so much stronger, and no longer needed a wand, perhaps it was a good thing?
But still the thing that Ron's father had warned him about the previous summer crept crashing into these peaceful and happy thoughts. Harry was changing, just like Mr. Weasley had said…but would it be for good or for bad?
Harry himself crashed in himself this time, interrupting Ron's thoughts. The door banged open and Harry strode in, with Neville, Dean and Seamus behind him. "Ron, what the hell is going on?" Harry asked. Ron stood up and frowned. If he told him, Harry would probably go crazy with worry, tossing the question over and over in his mind for weeks. If he didn't tell him, then he'd probably lose the best friend he'd ever had.
"Nothing." Ron stood so that the two boys were face to face.
The others seemed uncomfortable and anxious to get out of there. "Um, we'll, eh, we'll just be goin' then," Seamus said, heading towards the door.
"No, don't go," Ron said, his voice strong and clear. "It's ok, we have nothing to talk about."
Harry frowned. "What did your dad say?" Neville ran out of the room, and Dean and Seamus quickly followed before Ron could protest. Ron sighed. Now they were alone, he really didn't have any excuse not to tell him. Apart from the destiny of the whole world, of course.
"Nothing, it doesn't matter," Ron said in a quiet voice. He tried to push passed Harry, but he wouldn't let him.
"Ron, tell me. It does matter. I need to know what's going on - it's important."
Ron began to get angry. He was angry that he couldn't tell him. He was angry that it was happening to Harry. He was angry that his dad was right. Most of all, he was angry at himself for not knowing what the hell to do. He knew though. He had to keep it from Harry, angering his long-time friend and end up most probably losing their friendship.
"Harry, there are some things you just have to drop, ok!" Ron said, feeling all the anger rise up from his body and come off him in smoke. Harry took a step back, surprised at this strange, unexpected outburst. "You really need to learn how to do that someday." Ron shoved past and walked out of the dormitory.
Harry turned and stared at the door. It was closed. Ron had gone. What had just happened? Did Ron expect to just say, "Dad was right…" after Harry had accidentally killed the hermit, and expect Harry not to be suspicious? It wasn't exactly something you said every day, with a scared look and a ghost-like face, even in the wizarding world.
Harry walked over to his bed and sat down. Something was going on, and he needed to find out what it was. He stood up again, and walked over to the door, pulling it open to find a surprised Lavender lingering there with an arm raised, fist clenched. She stepped back, startled. So did Harry. "Lavender," he said in acknowledgement.
"I need to tell you something." Lavender looked slightly nervous, and Harry frowned.
"Ok," he said slowly. "Uh, come in then." Lavender walked past and Harry shut the door. Lavender sat down and fingered with her skirt. She looked nervous.
Harry sat down on the edge of the bed opposite her. "So," he started. "What did you want to tell me?" Lavender bit her lip.
"I know," was all she could seem to say. Harry opened his mouth, but suddenly Lavender spoke again, all the information and thoughts flooding from her mouth in one sentence. "I know you don't need a wand anymore I know about your power with that I saw you with Ron the other night and I'm sorry I know I was spying but Ron told me you were upset and it was obvious you weren't and I just wanted to know what was going on and I'm sorry and I know you're probably really angry at me but…"
"Woah, woah, stop a moment." Harry held a hand out, and Lavender stopped talking, mouth open. She shut it tightly and waited for Harry to speak. He didn't speak.
Harry thought for a moment, before raising his head to meet Lavender's eyes. "I'm sorry, Lavender, but…I'm afraid…I'm, I'm going to have to kill you."
Lavender's eyes widened in horror, but Harry simply laughed. Lavender realised he was joking, and sulked. "That was so not funny."
"I know." Harry stood and walked over to the window. He didn't say anything.
Lavender realised he must be feeling bad. Scared, freaked out, whatever. She opened her mouth, but wasn't sure what to say. To her relief, Harry spoke. "So, you know."
"Yeah." Silence. "Sorry."
Harry shrugged, but still he gazed out of the window. Lavender stood up. "Do you know why this is happening?"
Harry turned to face her. "No," he answered simply. "But I think Ron does."