A/N: JKR owns all of these characters, I own the plot only.
A/N: I wasn't even going to write today but I was elated at getting so many
reviews. Thanks everyone!
Chapter 12 Mediocre Month
Ron and Hermione asked Harry straight away about Lupin. However they weren't the only ones who wanted to talk to him. News of what happened to Harry had already spread throughout the Gryffindors and probably beyond that.
Harry was extremely hungry since he hadn't had any lunch. That was probably one reason why he was trying to get everyone to let him eat and not ask so many questions. Besides he was much more interested in how the rest of their lesson went and whether or not Neville was able to make any progress. In the end, the Gryffindors only agreed to let Harry eat in peace after he agreed to tell them all later about what happened to him.
After eating in silence for a couple of minutes, Harry asked Ron and Hermione about the rest of the lesson.
Hermione began, "well you weren't gone even a minute before we realized you had gone missing. Until you came back Professor McGonagall told us to stop practicing and sit there quietly. She muttered a spell and seemed to be talking to Dumbledore somehow."
"Yeah," Ron broke in, "it was weird."
"Anyway," Hermione continued "it was only a couple of more minutes before you returned."
"So how'd the lessons go after Lupin and I left?" Harry prodded for her to continue.
"Well. none us really got it. Neville didn't improve any although Professor McGonagall finally conjured up a curtain for him to practice behind. Seamus forgot he was supposed to be doing it in his head and he actually pointed the wand at his heart when he said the spell aloud."
Ron broke in, "that was so cool Harry. I wish you could have seen it. The next thing we knew Seamus' heart was lying on the ground a few inches away from him. It was all bloody and still beating."
"It's a good thing Professor McGonagall cast that spell protecting everyone" Hermione said. She was always so practical for someone so young.
Harry turned to Ron. "How'd you make out?"
Ron's ears turned slightly red.
Harry looked at Hermione who only shrugged. Harry wasn't sure but it seemed to him like Hermione was trying not to smile.
"Come on Ron. Tell me what happened." Harry was sure this would be good.
"Well, I thought I was going to be able to get it when I must have misspoken and although I did apparate a few inches away, I.. kind of.. well I might have.. I turned myself into a potato. I only had legs and a face. I couldn't even transform myself back because I didn't have any arms. It has horrible."
Harry knew that if he laughed at his best friend it would be hard to get another similar story out of Ron in the future. Harry suddenly became extremely interested in his soup.
"But Hermione wasn't able to do it either" Ron mumbled.
Back at the common room Harry wasn't able to escape his promise of telling everyone everything. He was thankful, at least, that he'd only have to tell the story once.
There were quite a few different reactions. Some students were excited to learn that Lupin was in town. Other Gryffindors wanted nothing more to learn that rebounding shield spell. (Harry couldn't resist telling them all about Lupin's accident with the burying spell.) Hermione and all four of the Weasleys were wondering why Harry went to the Burrow and also what Lupin was doing there.
The rest of the week passed without incident (unless you counted Neville getting the ingredients mixed up in potions class and filling the dungeon with thousands of bullfrogs. Snape was so busy trying to round them all up that he forgot to take points away from Gryffindor.) Harry and Ron did notice that Hermione would sometimes go missing but the boys just figured she was studying in the library and didn't think much about it.
On their way to lunch on Friday the students noticed some new announcements that were posted. One was the quidditch schedule for the year. Harry was glad that Gryffindor wouldn't be playing in the first game; he wanted the chance to size up the other houses. None of the other new notices were important.
After lunch all the 5th years had their independent study classes. Harry ate very quickly because he was hoping to see Sirius and Lupin in Dumbledore's office. Hermione also ate very quickly and told Ron she'd meet him in McGonagall's office.
Harry couldn't hide his disappointment when he entered Dumbledore's office and found no one with the headmaster.
"Harry, I'm sorry that I disappoint you so."
"Sorry professor, it's just that I was hoping to see."
"It's ok Harry. I understand. I'm afraid those two gentlemen had to run a little errand for me. They'll be back tomorrow. Now let's get down to business shall we?"
Although Harry had done better than last time, he still couldn't block everything from his mind. Dumbledore told his to remain patient. He said he was doing well and it wouldn't be long before he could move to the next step. Dumbledore told Harry to come back Saturday morning for another lesson.
Ron and Hermione were going to spend the time practicing their independent study lessons. Apparently Professor McGonagall told the pair that she would not teach them anything else until they mastered this one task.
Although Harry didn't mind the extra lesson on Saturday, he was disappointed to find out that Sirius and Lupin wouldn't be back until the middle of next week. At least this lesson went much better for Harry and he was told that tomorrow he would get to start on the second of the twelve steps.
Hermione spent Saturday evening in the library studying while Ron and Harry passed the time playing Exploding Snap. However, their cards weren't the only thing to explode, it seemed Fred and George were trying out more inventions.
"KABOOM!"
Everyone turned their attention to the middle of the common room where a mug of pumpkin juice Seamus was holding had just turned itself into a pumpkin and then exploded leaving Seamus covered in pumpkin guts.
"Popping pumpkin pints only 13 sickles each!" George and Fred were shouting.
The next few weeks passed much the same as the first two. Care of Magical Creatures was the only class where did seemed to do anything except take notes lately. Even that class wasn't very exciting as Hagrid was having them study owls. Although Harry enjoyed being able to spend time with Hedwig, he had hoped to see some new animals. Wisely, Harry kept these thoughts to himself so he wouldn't offend his owl like he did last year.
Nothing interesting happened until the middle of October. The first quidditch match of the season brought only disappointment for Harry. Slytherin beat Hufflepuff with a score of 220 to 60 and Harry had to admit that Malfoy had played an excellent game (although he never admitted it out loud). Harry vowed to make his practices more intense.
Classes the following week proved more interesting. In transfiguration the students were all given broken bones to fuse together with a spell. Harry thought it was a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. No one in the class dared to ask exactly what type of bones they were working with for feat that Professor McGonagall would tell them. Sometimes in the wizarding world, it was best not to know certain things.
By the end of the class about half of the students had completed their assignment. She told all the students they could keep the bones for a few days to practice. She also told them up the upcoming change to tomorrow's class in advanced magic.
"Tomorrow you all will assemble in the Great Hall after your first class. Now that certain. er. precautions have been put into place, we'll be able to go back to Hogsmeade and continue your practical lessons."
Everyone was glad to hear this. After Harry's "accident" they'd spent the lessons taking notes.
When the time came to assemble in the Great Hall the students were definitely excited. They were told to get a box off the staff table and follow her to Hogsmeade.
"Hey Ron" Harry began, "did you all use these boxes last time? There doesn't seem to be a way to open them." Harry was turning the box over in his hands.
"I dunno" answered Ron. "We didn't use them last time."
"Never you mind about these" Professor McGonagall interrupted their talking. "You'll find out when the time is right."
They would not find out today.
A/N - Please R/R - tell me what you think.
Chapter 12 Mediocre Month
Ron and Hermione asked Harry straight away about Lupin. However they weren't the only ones who wanted to talk to him. News of what happened to Harry had already spread throughout the Gryffindors and probably beyond that.
Harry was extremely hungry since he hadn't had any lunch. That was probably one reason why he was trying to get everyone to let him eat and not ask so many questions. Besides he was much more interested in how the rest of their lesson went and whether or not Neville was able to make any progress. In the end, the Gryffindors only agreed to let Harry eat in peace after he agreed to tell them all later about what happened to him.
After eating in silence for a couple of minutes, Harry asked Ron and Hermione about the rest of the lesson.
Hermione began, "well you weren't gone even a minute before we realized you had gone missing. Until you came back Professor McGonagall told us to stop practicing and sit there quietly. She muttered a spell and seemed to be talking to Dumbledore somehow."
"Yeah," Ron broke in, "it was weird."
"Anyway," Hermione continued "it was only a couple of more minutes before you returned."
"So how'd the lessons go after Lupin and I left?" Harry prodded for her to continue.
"Well. none us really got it. Neville didn't improve any although Professor McGonagall finally conjured up a curtain for him to practice behind. Seamus forgot he was supposed to be doing it in his head and he actually pointed the wand at his heart when he said the spell aloud."
Ron broke in, "that was so cool Harry. I wish you could have seen it. The next thing we knew Seamus' heart was lying on the ground a few inches away from him. It was all bloody and still beating."
"It's a good thing Professor McGonagall cast that spell protecting everyone" Hermione said. She was always so practical for someone so young.
Harry turned to Ron. "How'd you make out?"
Ron's ears turned slightly red.
Harry looked at Hermione who only shrugged. Harry wasn't sure but it seemed to him like Hermione was trying not to smile.
"Come on Ron. Tell me what happened." Harry was sure this would be good.
"Well, I thought I was going to be able to get it when I must have misspoken and although I did apparate a few inches away, I.. kind of.. well I might have.. I turned myself into a potato. I only had legs and a face. I couldn't even transform myself back because I didn't have any arms. It has horrible."
Harry knew that if he laughed at his best friend it would be hard to get another similar story out of Ron in the future. Harry suddenly became extremely interested in his soup.
"But Hermione wasn't able to do it either" Ron mumbled.
Back at the common room Harry wasn't able to escape his promise of telling everyone everything. He was thankful, at least, that he'd only have to tell the story once.
There were quite a few different reactions. Some students were excited to learn that Lupin was in town. Other Gryffindors wanted nothing more to learn that rebounding shield spell. (Harry couldn't resist telling them all about Lupin's accident with the burying spell.) Hermione and all four of the Weasleys were wondering why Harry went to the Burrow and also what Lupin was doing there.
The rest of the week passed without incident (unless you counted Neville getting the ingredients mixed up in potions class and filling the dungeon with thousands of bullfrogs. Snape was so busy trying to round them all up that he forgot to take points away from Gryffindor.) Harry and Ron did notice that Hermione would sometimes go missing but the boys just figured she was studying in the library and didn't think much about it.
On their way to lunch on Friday the students noticed some new announcements that were posted. One was the quidditch schedule for the year. Harry was glad that Gryffindor wouldn't be playing in the first game; he wanted the chance to size up the other houses. None of the other new notices were important.
After lunch all the 5th years had their independent study classes. Harry ate very quickly because he was hoping to see Sirius and Lupin in Dumbledore's office. Hermione also ate very quickly and told Ron she'd meet him in McGonagall's office.
Harry couldn't hide his disappointment when he entered Dumbledore's office and found no one with the headmaster.
"Harry, I'm sorry that I disappoint you so."
"Sorry professor, it's just that I was hoping to see."
"It's ok Harry. I understand. I'm afraid those two gentlemen had to run a little errand for me. They'll be back tomorrow. Now let's get down to business shall we?"
Although Harry had done better than last time, he still couldn't block everything from his mind. Dumbledore told his to remain patient. He said he was doing well and it wouldn't be long before he could move to the next step. Dumbledore told Harry to come back Saturday morning for another lesson.
Ron and Hermione were going to spend the time practicing their independent study lessons. Apparently Professor McGonagall told the pair that she would not teach them anything else until they mastered this one task.
Although Harry didn't mind the extra lesson on Saturday, he was disappointed to find out that Sirius and Lupin wouldn't be back until the middle of next week. At least this lesson went much better for Harry and he was told that tomorrow he would get to start on the second of the twelve steps.
Hermione spent Saturday evening in the library studying while Ron and Harry passed the time playing Exploding Snap. However, their cards weren't the only thing to explode, it seemed Fred and George were trying out more inventions.
"KABOOM!"
Everyone turned their attention to the middle of the common room where a mug of pumpkin juice Seamus was holding had just turned itself into a pumpkin and then exploded leaving Seamus covered in pumpkin guts.
"Popping pumpkin pints only 13 sickles each!" George and Fred were shouting.
The next few weeks passed much the same as the first two. Care of Magical Creatures was the only class where did seemed to do anything except take notes lately. Even that class wasn't very exciting as Hagrid was having them study owls. Although Harry enjoyed being able to spend time with Hedwig, he had hoped to see some new animals. Wisely, Harry kept these thoughts to himself so he wouldn't offend his owl like he did last year.
Nothing interesting happened until the middle of October. The first quidditch match of the season brought only disappointment for Harry. Slytherin beat Hufflepuff with a score of 220 to 60 and Harry had to admit that Malfoy had played an excellent game (although he never admitted it out loud). Harry vowed to make his practices more intense.
Classes the following week proved more interesting. In transfiguration the students were all given broken bones to fuse together with a spell. Harry thought it was a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. No one in the class dared to ask exactly what type of bones they were working with for feat that Professor McGonagall would tell them. Sometimes in the wizarding world, it was best not to know certain things.
By the end of the class about half of the students had completed their assignment. She told all the students they could keep the bones for a few days to practice. She also told them up the upcoming change to tomorrow's class in advanced magic.
"Tomorrow you all will assemble in the Great Hall after your first class. Now that certain. er. precautions have been put into place, we'll be able to go back to Hogsmeade and continue your practical lessons."
Everyone was glad to hear this. After Harry's "accident" they'd spent the lessons taking notes.
When the time came to assemble in the Great Hall the students were definitely excited. They were told to get a box off the staff table and follow her to Hogsmeade.
"Hey Ron" Harry began, "did you all use these boxes last time? There doesn't seem to be a way to open them." Harry was turning the box over in his hands.
"I dunno" answered Ron. "We didn't use them last time."
"Never you mind about these" Professor McGonagall interrupted their talking. "You'll find out when the time is right."
They would not find out today.
A/N - Please R/R - tell me what you think.