A/N: JKR owns all of these characters, I own the plot only.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far. Let me see into your thoughts.
Chapter 15 More Magic
In retrospect, someone other than the twins should have been dispatched to get the head of their house. It was a couple of minutes before Professor McGonagall believed what they were telling her and followed them down to the common room.
By the time she got there the Dark Mark had disappeared. Although there was nothing she could have done even if she had seen it, it would be a long time before she forgave herself for not coming straight away after the twins found her.
There was nothing for her to do. She sent the students up to the rooms --- all but one student at least. She took Harry to Dumbledore's office. After seeing him safely inside she left to go back to the Gryffindor common room and make sure everyone was safely in their beds.
Dumbledore asked Harry to tell him what happened which Harry was able to do in under thirty seconds. The headmaster did not seemed very concerned about the incident and indeed the next thing he said was---
"Great performance today. I look forward to your next game. I would have to say that the faculty was extremely impressed --- almost all the faculty anyway."
Harry must have shown his surprise to Dumbledore's reaction because he chuckled a little and said "Harry I wouldn't worry about this too much if I were you. I'll talk to Hedwig and see if I can find out anything else but I think it was just a weak attempt from a Death Eater to spoil what they knew would be a massive Gryffindor party."
No more was said about the incident and in a few days it was all but forgotten.
Harry's independent study lessons with Dumbledore were becoming an almost daily event. He didn't mind though; he was really looking forward to being able to transform.
None of the students knew why Madame Pomfrey was going with them on this particular Tuesday to their advanced magic class. They were paying more attention to Professor McGonagall who still seemed to be in high spirits from Saturday's match. She was even nice to Neville. Her students wouldn't realize until they were much older that although beating the Slytherins was always highly encouraged, what truly made her happy was how her entire class of 5th years had pulled together and all worked together. She knew that would be important in the years to come.
This time the students were led to an area on the other side of Hogsmeade. They were given the same instructions as before and told to begin.
Harry didn't know if it was because he was still riding high from his coup over Snape or what it was but on his first try he did it. He decided to try it one more time before showing his friends. Yep --- he could still do it.
"I DID IT!"
Hermione opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Well --- let's see then."
Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch.
POP.
"Well done Potter." She backed away from him to about three feet away. "Try again and this time we're going to try it a little farther. Apparate next to me."
POP.
Madame Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and Harry were all appalled. Everyone else was in stitches. Harry was able to cover the distance without any trouble but his aim wasn't quite refined yet. When he reappeared he was standing on her shoulders.
"Get down here!"
"And what are you all sniggering at? It seems to me that you all have quite a bit of practicing left to do."
After regaining her composure, she sent Harry off with Madame Pomfrey to practice apparating farther distances. By the end of the afternoon 50 percent of the class could apparate a few feet and were also working with Madame Pomfrey. They arrived back at the school in time for dinner.
On Wednesday the students were scheduled for another independent study. Everyone was excited for different reasons. Neville enjoyed spending extra time studying herbology. Ron and Hermione were going to be able to start a new lesson today, they just didn't know what yet. Harry was going to get to start on Step 7 tonight which meant he was over half way to becoming an animagus like both his parents and his godfather.
He went to Dumbledore's office after lunch and was pleasantly surprised to see Sirius and Lupin. They greeted him warmly.
"Harry, good to see you again. That was some game you all played last weekend."
"Yeah it was; it's only too bad we missed the whole pre-game show."
"I didn't think y'all made it. I ---"
"What? Of course we were there. We just decided it would be better to remain hidden but we saw all 450 points."
"You made that slimy git eat ---"
"AHEM! Remus, that will do."
Harry smiled and sat down. He knew his headmaster was ready to start his lesson although he could have talked Sirius and Lupin all day.
"Harry," the headmaster began, "what is the spell you are most comfortable casting?"
"What?"
"What spell do you feel the most comfortable casting? Which is the one spell above all others that you feel you can cast in your sleep? Take a moment and think about it."
"I hear he's pretty good at the rebounding shield spell," Sirius said while trying to keep a straight face. Lupin glared at him but said nothing.
"The summoning spell."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, that spell saved me last year and I know that I can summon things from great distances."
"Ok then, the summoning spell it is," Dumbledore announced. "You're going to have to be able to do that spell, just as well as you can now, without your wand."
"What? But why? I like my wand; I need my wand. Don't all wizards use their wands? You mean I can't use my wand when I'm transformed? ---"
"Here we go again," Sirius mumbled.
Hearing this Harry remembered his earlier vow to himself and closed his mouth on any other questions he might have asked.
"You're going to be able to learn this spell without your want in almost exactly the same way you learned it the first time. Start with light things like pillows and cushions. You're going to have to work on this on your own for a few days. We have some business to attend to tomorrow and we'll be gone for a few days. I trust I can count on you to continue your studies without us for a few days."
"Of course"
"We have a meeting we must get to now. Sirius we'll brief you tonight; perhaps you'd care to keep your godson company for a couple of hours?"
Sirius smiled his thanks and turned to Harry as the other two left.
"I can't tell you how happy am I that you pulled that stunt off on Snape."
"We didn't start it."
"That's what made it so perfect. Dumbledore says the staff is still talking about it. Apparently Ron and Hermione put on quite a performance at dinner."
They continued chatting for another couple of hours. Sirius echoed Dumbledore's beliefs that the package he got the night of the party was just some Death Eater's way of retaliating against him for embarrassing the Slytherin team. He also told Harry not to worry about his new assignment from Dumbledore.
"After all, if Moony and I could do it, then we all know you can."
"That's true."
"What!? Well I never ---" and they both broke off into laughter.
The rest of the week was not as pleasant. In potions Snape found an excuse to take five points from every single member of Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall still wouldn't tell them why there hadn't been any Hogsmeade weekends scheduled. Charms and transfiguration classes had reverted back to being lectures. Care of magical creatures was the only fun they were having lately.
Hagrid had them studying the creatures in the lake. Instead of bringing the creatures to them, he was letting them go to the creatures. Hagrid was going to have everyone perform the bubble charm on themselves but Neville had done so poorly (his bubble always had a big hole in it) that he just gave him gillyweed and let everyone else charm themselves. They were going to get to spend several lessons just swimming around the lake and studying different creatures in their natural habitat.
By Sunday afternoon Harry was getting pretty frustrated at the assignment Dumbledore gave him. So far the only thing he could summon to him was a bludger --- and that hardly counted.
The next Tuesday all the same people met in the Great Hall, grabbed the same mysterious white box they always grabbed and made their way to Hogsmeade. This time they immediately broke into the same two groups that they ended in the previous week. Madame Pomfrey talked to her group before getting started.
"Since you all have already shown that you can apparate several feet, today we're going to practice going a little further. Today you all are going to try to apparate to the park across town where you all first practiced. All you need to do if focus on that park. Try to pick out a few details and concentrate on them. Any questions?" After waiting to ensure the students didn't have any questions she said one more thing.
"Now, let's learn about these white boxes, shall we? If you all find yourself anywhere put here or the park just tap your box with your wand and you'll be brought back right here. You all have nothing to worry about."
Harry half-wondered why everyone kept saying that.
Ron was actually the first one to be able to do it. Harry was so happy for Ron knowing what it meant to him to finally do something that his older twin brothers couldn't.
Everyone had made quite a bit of progress in the first hour. All five of the students working with Madame Pomfrey had been able to apparate to the park.
They were much more tired than they ever expected. None of them realized that going just across a little town would take so much out of them. Indeed they all must have been tired because no one was able to make it back just yet to where they had started.
She let them rest for a few minutes then made them try it again. Although they all made it back, their performance was much less graceful. Two of them crashed as they apparently apparated to the exact same spot. One student appeared upside down. One student was buried waist high in the ground and the last student, Harry, found himself once again standing atop his transfiguration professor.
"How many times must I tell you Potter? Get off of me!"
They were told to take another break and then to apparate back to the park. Harry and Ron took this chance to watch a few of the struggling students try to get it right for the first time. Most of the stragglers were apparating all of their body parts, just not at the same time. As for Neville, he had made a lot of progress --- by Neville standards at least. He was now able to apparate himself but his clothes were staying behind. Although this wasn't any less disturbing to those watching, surely it was tons better to be able to apparate his body without his clothes than the other way around.
Harry grew bored watching everyone else. Besides he felt rejuvenated and was sure he could apparate successfully again. Picking up his white box again he began to concentrate.
POP
"OH NO! Now where am I?" he muttered to himself. The only question more pressing on his mind was - where was his white box?
A/N - Please R/R - share your thoughts. It's tough trying to write during the work week but I'll try to do at least a chapter a day.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far. Let me see into your thoughts.
Chapter 15 More Magic
In retrospect, someone other than the twins should have been dispatched to get the head of their house. It was a couple of minutes before Professor McGonagall believed what they were telling her and followed them down to the common room.
By the time she got there the Dark Mark had disappeared. Although there was nothing she could have done even if she had seen it, it would be a long time before she forgave herself for not coming straight away after the twins found her.
There was nothing for her to do. She sent the students up to the rooms --- all but one student at least. She took Harry to Dumbledore's office. After seeing him safely inside she left to go back to the Gryffindor common room and make sure everyone was safely in their beds.
Dumbledore asked Harry to tell him what happened which Harry was able to do in under thirty seconds. The headmaster did not seemed very concerned about the incident and indeed the next thing he said was---
"Great performance today. I look forward to your next game. I would have to say that the faculty was extremely impressed --- almost all the faculty anyway."
Harry must have shown his surprise to Dumbledore's reaction because he chuckled a little and said "Harry I wouldn't worry about this too much if I were you. I'll talk to Hedwig and see if I can find out anything else but I think it was just a weak attempt from a Death Eater to spoil what they knew would be a massive Gryffindor party."
No more was said about the incident and in a few days it was all but forgotten.
Harry's independent study lessons with Dumbledore were becoming an almost daily event. He didn't mind though; he was really looking forward to being able to transform.
None of the students knew why Madame Pomfrey was going with them on this particular Tuesday to their advanced magic class. They were paying more attention to Professor McGonagall who still seemed to be in high spirits from Saturday's match. She was even nice to Neville. Her students wouldn't realize until they were much older that although beating the Slytherins was always highly encouraged, what truly made her happy was how her entire class of 5th years had pulled together and all worked together. She knew that would be important in the years to come.
This time the students were led to an area on the other side of Hogsmeade. They were given the same instructions as before and told to begin.
Harry didn't know if it was because he was still riding high from his coup over Snape or what it was but on his first try he did it. He decided to try it one more time before showing his friends. Yep --- he could still do it.
"I DID IT!"
Hermione opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Well --- let's see then."
Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch.
POP.
"Well done Potter." She backed away from him to about three feet away. "Try again and this time we're going to try it a little farther. Apparate next to me."
POP.
Madame Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and Harry were all appalled. Everyone else was in stitches. Harry was able to cover the distance without any trouble but his aim wasn't quite refined yet. When he reappeared he was standing on her shoulders.
"Get down here!"
"And what are you all sniggering at? It seems to me that you all have quite a bit of practicing left to do."
After regaining her composure, she sent Harry off with Madame Pomfrey to practice apparating farther distances. By the end of the afternoon 50 percent of the class could apparate a few feet and were also working with Madame Pomfrey. They arrived back at the school in time for dinner.
On Wednesday the students were scheduled for another independent study. Everyone was excited for different reasons. Neville enjoyed spending extra time studying herbology. Ron and Hermione were going to be able to start a new lesson today, they just didn't know what yet. Harry was going to get to start on Step 7 tonight which meant he was over half way to becoming an animagus like both his parents and his godfather.
He went to Dumbledore's office after lunch and was pleasantly surprised to see Sirius and Lupin. They greeted him warmly.
"Harry, good to see you again. That was some game you all played last weekend."
"Yeah it was; it's only too bad we missed the whole pre-game show."
"I didn't think y'all made it. I ---"
"What? Of course we were there. We just decided it would be better to remain hidden but we saw all 450 points."
"You made that slimy git eat ---"
"AHEM! Remus, that will do."
Harry smiled and sat down. He knew his headmaster was ready to start his lesson although he could have talked Sirius and Lupin all day.
"Harry," the headmaster began, "what is the spell you are most comfortable casting?"
"What?"
"What spell do you feel the most comfortable casting? Which is the one spell above all others that you feel you can cast in your sleep? Take a moment and think about it."
"I hear he's pretty good at the rebounding shield spell," Sirius said while trying to keep a straight face. Lupin glared at him but said nothing.
"The summoning spell."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, that spell saved me last year and I know that I can summon things from great distances."
"Ok then, the summoning spell it is," Dumbledore announced. "You're going to have to be able to do that spell, just as well as you can now, without your wand."
"What? But why? I like my wand; I need my wand. Don't all wizards use their wands? You mean I can't use my wand when I'm transformed? ---"
"Here we go again," Sirius mumbled.
Hearing this Harry remembered his earlier vow to himself and closed his mouth on any other questions he might have asked.
"You're going to be able to learn this spell without your want in almost exactly the same way you learned it the first time. Start with light things like pillows and cushions. You're going to have to work on this on your own for a few days. We have some business to attend to tomorrow and we'll be gone for a few days. I trust I can count on you to continue your studies without us for a few days."
"Of course"
"We have a meeting we must get to now. Sirius we'll brief you tonight; perhaps you'd care to keep your godson company for a couple of hours?"
Sirius smiled his thanks and turned to Harry as the other two left.
"I can't tell you how happy am I that you pulled that stunt off on Snape."
"We didn't start it."
"That's what made it so perfect. Dumbledore says the staff is still talking about it. Apparently Ron and Hermione put on quite a performance at dinner."
They continued chatting for another couple of hours. Sirius echoed Dumbledore's beliefs that the package he got the night of the party was just some Death Eater's way of retaliating against him for embarrassing the Slytherin team. He also told Harry not to worry about his new assignment from Dumbledore.
"After all, if Moony and I could do it, then we all know you can."
"That's true."
"What!? Well I never ---" and they both broke off into laughter.
The rest of the week was not as pleasant. In potions Snape found an excuse to take five points from every single member of Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall still wouldn't tell them why there hadn't been any Hogsmeade weekends scheduled. Charms and transfiguration classes had reverted back to being lectures. Care of magical creatures was the only fun they were having lately.
Hagrid had them studying the creatures in the lake. Instead of bringing the creatures to them, he was letting them go to the creatures. Hagrid was going to have everyone perform the bubble charm on themselves but Neville had done so poorly (his bubble always had a big hole in it) that he just gave him gillyweed and let everyone else charm themselves. They were going to get to spend several lessons just swimming around the lake and studying different creatures in their natural habitat.
By Sunday afternoon Harry was getting pretty frustrated at the assignment Dumbledore gave him. So far the only thing he could summon to him was a bludger --- and that hardly counted.
The next Tuesday all the same people met in the Great Hall, grabbed the same mysterious white box they always grabbed and made their way to Hogsmeade. This time they immediately broke into the same two groups that they ended in the previous week. Madame Pomfrey talked to her group before getting started.
"Since you all have already shown that you can apparate several feet, today we're going to practice going a little further. Today you all are going to try to apparate to the park across town where you all first practiced. All you need to do if focus on that park. Try to pick out a few details and concentrate on them. Any questions?" After waiting to ensure the students didn't have any questions she said one more thing.
"Now, let's learn about these white boxes, shall we? If you all find yourself anywhere put here or the park just tap your box with your wand and you'll be brought back right here. You all have nothing to worry about."
Harry half-wondered why everyone kept saying that.
Ron was actually the first one to be able to do it. Harry was so happy for Ron knowing what it meant to him to finally do something that his older twin brothers couldn't.
Everyone had made quite a bit of progress in the first hour. All five of the students working with Madame Pomfrey had been able to apparate to the park.
They were much more tired than they ever expected. None of them realized that going just across a little town would take so much out of them. Indeed they all must have been tired because no one was able to make it back just yet to where they had started.
She let them rest for a few minutes then made them try it again. Although they all made it back, their performance was much less graceful. Two of them crashed as they apparently apparated to the exact same spot. One student appeared upside down. One student was buried waist high in the ground and the last student, Harry, found himself once again standing atop his transfiguration professor.
"How many times must I tell you Potter? Get off of me!"
They were told to take another break and then to apparate back to the park. Harry and Ron took this chance to watch a few of the struggling students try to get it right for the first time. Most of the stragglers were apparating all of their body parts, just not at the same time. As for Neville, he had made a lot of progress --- by Neville standards at least. He was now able to apparate himself but his clothes were staying behind. Although this wasn't any less disturbing to those watching, surely it was tons better to be able to apparate his body without his clothes than the other way around.
Harry grew bored watching everyone else. Besides he felt rejuvenated and was sure he could apparate successfully again. Picking up his white box again he began to concentrate.
POP
"OH NO! Now where am I?" he muttered to himself. The only question more pressing on his mind was - where was his white box?
A/N - Please R/R - share your thoughts. It's tough trying to write during the work week but I'll try to do at least a chapter a day.