A/N - JKR owns the idea, all of these characters etc.
A/N - Keep posting ideas and suggestions, it can only help.
A/N - Sako - Since all the students had been sent home Dumbledore didn't want Draco alone in Slytherin Tower for his own safety plus it wouldn't be the worst thing to force him to spend time with the trio. He couldn't pull any pranks b/c he'd be the only suspect and besides I'm sure Ron didn't trust him enough to leave him alone very much.
Chapter 38
Potionless Period
Almost no one knew why there weren't any teachers at breakfast that morning. Fred and George may not have exactly known why either but they had a pretty good idea. The noise in the Great Hall died down considerably when the headmaster walked in and sat down at his usual spot. Dumbledore didn't eat or drink anything though; all he did was survey the room's occupants. Finally he stood up to address the students as he sometimes did.
"Potions class is cancelled today and probably for the next few days for everyone and the area is off limits to all students until further notice."
After the cheering from the Gryffindors died down, Draco got to his feet. "Why is that?"
"Who cares why?" Ron mumbled so low that only Harry heard him.
"It seems that the dungeon has contracted a nasty illness." Dumbledore paused to survey all the students again. "Creatures continue to spring up all around the classroom. It took us a while to figure out that a new creature appears anytime anyone says a single word while in the classroom."
Fortunately several students were shouting questions at Dumbledore so no one heard Fred turn to George and say, "We did what? That's no where near what we were trying to do."
"Keep it down Fred. Besides it is kind of funny anyway though. Picture it." George was now whispering to his twin. "Snape probably saw the five animals we created, cursed out loud thereby creating more creatures, causing him to curse out loud some more which conjured even more animals and so forth and so on."
Fred started smiling. "Yeah think about. Every time he tried to cast a spell more animals must have appeared. We still need to figure out what we did wrong though."
George was wiping his eyes. "We have to calm down. Dumbledore will suspect something if we don't settle down."
"He probably suspects us already."
"My point exactly. Act natural."
Although Dumbledore answered a few more questions about what was transpiring down in the dungeon, the rest of the school wasn't any closer to figuring out exactly what happened. Soon after Dumbledore left the room, breakfast was over and everyone went to his or her first class of the day. Harry, Ron and Hermione left for the charms corridor. When everyone got settled down, Professor Flitwick levitated himself onto his desk and began the lesson.
"Welcome back everyone. You all have a solid foundation on working with inanimate objects. So for the next five weeks we are going to be concentrating on charming people."
"Like what?" Dean asked. "Are we going to try to make Snape a nicer man?" The class sniggered as each student was lost in his or her own thoughts of watching someone like Neville walk up to Snape and cast a spell that made him smile all the time and skip through the halls humming a little tune.
"Something like that Mr Thomas. None of these spells are going to have a permanent affect though."
"Then what's the point?" Seamus asked.
Professor Flitwick gazed around the classroom. "Can anyone answer that question for Mr Finnigan?"
No one, not even Hermione raised her hand. Ron looked incredulously at her. "You mean that you don't know?"
She looked heart-broken. "This lesson isn't from the textbook." Harry got the distinct impression that Hermione thought her books had somehow failed her.
Professor Flitwick was still waiting patiently. "Don't be shy. Can anyone think of a situation where this ability could help?"
Ron said, "Well if your friends are having a bad day then you can cheer them up, for a little while at least."
"True. Why else?"
Finally Harry decided to hazard a guess. "Well I suppose if you're dueling someone you can make them afraid of you."
"Ah yes, excellent example Mr Potter. The Scaredy Cat Charm has always been a popular one among duelers. Fear is a terrible enemy in battle and if cast with enough power it can make wizards freeze in place or even drop their wands."
From this one example the class caught on rather quickly. They briefly talked about how someone's emotions like anger and compassion could affect somebody in a battle. They also talked about some of the spells that they already knew like engorgement and levitation charms. Professor Flitwick was giving them the rest of the period to break up into groups of four and practice charming each other.
Of course no one wanted to be with Neville but since Harry, Ron, and Hermione needed a fourth, it was bound to happen and happen it did. They partnered up with Neville.
Ron mumbled to Hermione, "Why does it always have to be groups of four? What's wrong with groups of three?" She promptly hushed him before Neville could hear.
The next few minutes of class were uneventful. Ron made Harry fall to the ground in fits of laughter with a tickling charm while Hermione made Neville brave with a charm of her own. Unfortunately she didn't think through the ramifications of that charm. Before she could undo it Neville had gotten it into his head that he could levitate Ron.
"Wingardium Leviosa"
"WHHHHOOOOAAAAAA!!!!!" Ron was shouting because he was skyrocketing towards the ceiling at an incredible speed. He barely had time to shut his eyes before SPLAT. Ron hit the ceiling so hard that it knocked him out. Unfortunately Neville's boldness charm still hadn't worn off so he decided to conjure the stretcher for Ron. The next thing everyone saw was an unconscious Ron being launched across the room by an unruly stretcher. Fortunately this time Professor Flitwick had time to react and stopped Ron from testing the structural integrity of another part of his classroom. Flitwick told everyone to head to his or her next class and not to practice levitating each other outside the presence of a teacher. He then turned specifically to Neville.
"And perhaps you should abstain from casting that particular charm at all -- - at least outside of a duel."
Ron didn't show up during History of Magic. At least that gave everyone something to think about while they were trying to pass the time until the bell rang. Ron recovered in time to meet his classmates for lunch in the Great Hall. Ron and Harry wanted desperately to tease Hermione for her serious lack of judgment but Neville was sitting next to her and they didn't want to hurt his feelings.
After lunch today they had their independent study class. Ron and Hermione went to McGonagall's office.
"Weasley, I heard you had an incident this morning. Are you ok?"
"Yes Professor I'm fine now. No thanks to Hermione though." She poked him in the ribs and he fell silent.
"Good because it's time you both to start working on something slightly different. You've already learned how to shield yourself but in the next five weeks you're going to work on shielding each other. We're going to --- "
"Excuse me Professor." Hermione didn't like interrupting the head of her house but something Professor McGonagall had said caught her attention.
"Yes Miss Granger."
"This is the second time today that a professor has mentioned a deadline five weeks away. What's happening in five weeks?"
"Don't worry about that for now. If there's anything to know, we'll tell you when we feel the time is right. Now as I was saying you two are going to work on shielding each other and eventually on shielding more than one person. Miss Granger, you first."
"What exactly is going to happen now? Do I shield Ron and then try to break my own shield?"
"Oh no. You all need to become much more advanced than that. You shield Ron and I'll try to get past it." Ron paled. Why did he have to tell Professor McGonagall earlier that he was feeling fine? He didn't like his odds pitting Hermione's shield against Professor McGonagall's spell.
Hermione took a few breaths and cast a shield around Ron. Professor McGonagall broke through the charm with a single well-placed shrinking hex. Professor McGonagall ordered Hermione to "set him right" before it was too late. Ron's eyes bulged out as he realized that he was looking up at all the desks in the room.
It only took Hermione a second to recover from her shock though and in no time she managed to restore Ron before he shrank below two feet tall.
Next it was Ron's turn. He was trying hard not to smile. He had been waiting for just such an occasion to test the rebounding shield spell that Harry had taught him months ago.
"AAACCCKKK!!" Professor McGonagall had shouted when she found herself inflicted with her very own transfiguration hex. Her legs had turned into butterbeer bottles. She righted herself, praised Ron, and they continued.
Meanwhile Harry had gone to Dumbledore's office where he was hoping he'd see Sirius and Lupin as well.
"Candy Canes"
The gargoyle sprang aside and Harry walked into the open door. He once again saw Sirius and Lupin as well as Dumbledore in the headmaster's office.
"Harry, come on in," Dumbledore said with the usual twinkle in his eye.
A grinning Harry Potter entered the office and sat next to his godfather.
Dumbledore, who was also smiling, continued the conversation. "You've had a busy vacation." Harry nodded. "We didn't exactly mean for you or your friends to be put in so much danger but you of all wizards know that these are desperate times." Harry nodded again so Dumbledore kept talking.
"Do you remember at the beginning of the year when we told you that you were going to learn something else this term?"
"Yes"
"So tell us then what is it that you are expecting us to teach you now?"
"Well, I'm not exactly sure. You said that you all were going to teach me how to turn invisible but I know that I haven't mastered the animagus lesson yet." Harry sat expectantly at the end of his seat. He looked around at the three faces in the room and they were all smiling back at him.
"Harry, I think that I speak for Remus and Sirius when I say that you have made a substantial amount of progress with your animagus form in a short amount of time. Besides the sphinx is a powerful and rare magical creature. Unless I am very much mistaken, you are going to be learning new things about your animagus form for years to come."
Harry looked at Sirius and Lupin who were both nodding their head in agreement. He turned his attention back to Dumbledore.
"And now, like you said, it's time that we teach you how to turn and stay invisible."
"Really?" The grinning teenager asked.
"Really. Unless you think that you're not ready for it --- "
"I'm ready."
Dumbledore smiled wider. "Yes you are. Anyway I must insist that you continue to work on your animagus form with Sirius and the rest of your friends," Dumbledore paused while Harry was fervently nodding his head up and down. " But in the meantime I need you to start working on your second lesson which is invisibility."
"Wow"
"Harry, this shouldn't be as hard as your first lesson for several reasons. The first is that you have already learned how to concentrate. The second is that you have already learned, at least in some fashion, how to transfigure your own body and be the master of it. And the final reason is because it's simply not as hard a lesson."
"So how do I start?"
"Simple. You start by following Sirius and Lupin back to Sirius' room. The three of you may work on it in there for the remainder of the afternoon. I'm afraid that I'm swamped with ministry paperwork." By the look of all the mess on the headmaster's desk, Harry knew he wasn't exaggerating.
"Er --- professor --- when are they going to get a permanent Minister of Magic?"
"Good question Harry, I wish I knew." And with that the headmaster looked down at the piles of parchment on his desk and sighed. Sirius, Lupin and Harry took that as their cue to go work on the new project at hand.
Dumbledore had been right about this lesson being far easier than he had imagined. By the end of the afternoon he was already able to flicker in and out for short periods of time. Sirius and Lupin were both pleased with his progress.
After dinner Fred and George tried to sneak down to the dungeon to get a peek at the classroom but there were still teachers all around down there. Not wanting to be suspected (any more than they probably already were) they gave up and went back to their room in Gryffindor Tower. They were careful not to answer anyone's questions on where they had gone to the previous night.
The next afternoon Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey took the Gryffindor fifth years back to Hogsmeade. The head of their house told them that they were going to come here almost every day until they could successfully apparate.
"It's time to move on to new lessons. There's something else you must learn in the next five weeks and we don't have to dilly-dally learning things that should have been learned last fall. Now break up into the same groups you were in last time we came out here."
The group with Madame Pomfrey started with some warm ups just going between the two parks. Afterwards she apparated her whole section somewhere in the countryside and told them to each apparate back to the park they had started in. Within a few minutes everyone had managed to do it but most of the students were pretty tired afterwards. They took a break and watched how Professor McGonagall was doing with the stragglers.
"Excellent progress Longbottom," Professor McGonagall was saying. Neville was now able to apparate short distances leaving only his shoes and socks behind. For Neville that was indeed quite some progress. And it was also somewhat of a relief for anyone that happened to be watching him practice.
After her group had rested, Madame Pomfrey told them to apparate back to the countryside where they had just come from and eventually they all did. As a reward when students managed to find his or her way there, she rewarded them by conjuring up a mug of hot cocoa.
Whether they had worked with Professor McGonagall or Madame Pomfrey the group shared one collective trait as they headed back towards the school, they were exhausted. While they were all walking back, however, a rather strange thing happened --- strange even for Hogwarts.
Both Professor McGonagall and Harry disappeared. One second they were there in the middle of the group and the next second they were gone. The class didn't know yet that they had both been transformed into their animagus state and "summoned" to the potions classroom.
The headmaster smiled warmly as he nodded, as a way of greeting, toward the sphinx and the cat that had just joined him in the dungeon.
Harry wanted to know what the heck just happened to him but, of course, he couldn't open his mouth. \\ I am where? Get me a pear. // No that didn't make much sense but then again it would work in a pinch. \\ Why am I here? Alas, Oh my, Oh dear. // No, that was just a little too panicky. \\ Why are we in this room? Snape is nothing but doom and gloom. // Even though that was true enough Harry didn't think the headmaster would appreciate it very much.
Finally he decided on, "What the heck is going on? Why am I standing next to a fawn?"
Dumbledore led them out of the room before speaking. "Excellent Harry. You see well --- er --- it seems that Professor Snape got rather frustrated with his classroom a few minutes ago and started ranting and raving. Well that had the effect of summoning all kinds of animals down here. I guess whatever magical force is summoning creatures is starting to run out of creatures. Poor Fawkes has been summoned down here no less than twenty times already. Hedwig's also been down here but she's kind of to go back to the owlery just as soon as she arrives. Do thank her for me later Harry."
He had been so busy trying to think of a rhyme that he hadn't properly looked around the room he had appeared in a minute ago. He walked up to the doorway, careful to stay outside of the room, and peered in. It looked much more like a zoo than a classroom. There were large animals besides himself, like a hippogriff and a zebra but there were also small animals like cats and house-elves. Besides the creatures walking around there were also owls and eagles circling above. Harry literally had seen Fawkes pop in and then out again when he had asked Dumbledore his question back inside the room.
He was glad he had gotten a chance to see the dungeon. Harry was smiling so big that he was baring quite a large number of teeth. The effect unnerved Professor McGonagall, who had already transformed back, and she asked Harry to transform back as well.
"Potter, as soon as you transform do be kind enough to meet you class when they return. I want everyone to know that we're all right. I need to stay down here and --- er --- try to calm Professor Snape down."
He hadn't seen Hedwig, Pig, or Crookshanks in the room but he did go back in there to grab Trevor to take back to Neville.
Harry went and met his friends and Madame Pomfrey as they were entering the castle. He didn't want to tell everyone else yet that he could become a sphinx in the spitting image of his mother so he told them that McGonagall had been summoned and he must have been standing too close to her. Since the area was still off limits, everyone was eager to hear what all Harry had seen down there. He told them all about it over dinner.
Professor McGonagall hadn't been lying to the students about working on apparating lessons constantly. She was using not only the set aside lesson period but all the potions' time slots as well to take Harry and his classmates to Hogsmeade to work on apparating. She had already told them that they'd spend Saturday and Sunday there as well if they didn't have it down yet. She had also made another reference to this mysterious five-week deadline. Now that their class was listening for it, it seemed like all they ever heard any more was five-weeks this and five-weeks that. But no one would tell them what was going to happen in five weeks.
Even their herbology and care of magical creatures classes were getting more intense. None of the students knew why everyone was suddenly ramping up. They had also heard more references to five weeks, whatever that meant. Hermione was afraid that they had moved up the OWLs to the middle of February without telling anyone. She was spending more time studying now than back in her third year when she had to use a time-turner to attend all the classes she was taking.
The students were asking everyone they could think of what was happening in the middle of February. Hagrid didn't know, or at least he said he didn't know what was happening in five weeks. Sirius and Lupin also claimed not to know. Hermione had looked up the middle of February in Hogwarts: A History and not found anything significant. (She was keeping track enough to know that this was the second time this week that books had let her down.) Harry made a mental note to ask Dumbledore about it the next time he was in his office for his lessons.
Neither Harry nor anyone else had any idea what was in store for them on the 13th of February.
A/N -Share your thoughts with me
A/N - I redid the 2nd and 3rd chapters. The 2nd one probably isn't worth reading again but I think that the 3rd one is.
.
A/N - Keep posting ideas and suggestions, it can only help.
A/N - Sako - Since all the students had been sent home Dumbledore didn't want Draco alone in Slytherin Tower for his own safety plus it wouldn't be the worst thing to force him to spend time with the trio. He couldn't pull any pranks b/c he'd be the only suspect and besides I'm sure Ron didn't trust him enough to leave him alone very much.
Chapter 38
Potionless Period
Almost no one knew why there weren't any teachers at breakfast that morning. Fred and George may not have exactly known why either but they had a pretty good idea. The noise in the Great Hall died down considerably when the headmaster walked in and sat down at his usual spot. Dumbledore didn't eat or drink anything though; all he did was survey the room's occupants. Finally he stood up to address the students as he sometimes did.
"Potions class is cancelled today and probably for the next few days for everyone and the area is off limits to all students until further notice."
After the cheering from the Gryffindors died down, Draco got to his feet. "Why is that?"
"Who cares why?" Ron mumbled so low that only Harry heard him.
"It seems that the dungeon has contracted a nasty illness." Dumbledore paused to survey all the students again. "Creatures continue to spring up all around the classroom. It took us a while to figure out that a new creature appears anytime anyone says a single word while in the classroom."
Fortunately several students were shouting questions at Dumbledore so no one heard Fred turn to George and say, "We did what? That's no where near what we were trying to do."
"Keep it down Fred. Besides it is kind of funny anyway though. Picture it." George was now whispering to his twin. "Snape probably saw the five animals we created, cursed out loud thereby creating more creatures, causing him to curse out loud some more which conjured even more animals and so forth and so on."
Fred started smiling. "Yeah think about. Every time he tried to cast a spell more animals must have appeared. We still need to figure out what we did wrong though."
George was wiping his eyes. "We have to calm down. Dumbledore will suspect something if we don't settle down."
"He probably suspects us already."
"My point exactly. Act natural."
Although Dumbledore answered a few more questions about what was transpiring down in the dungeon, the rest of the school wasn't any closer to figuring out exactly what happened. Soon after Dumbledore left the room, breakfast was over and everyone went to his or her first class of the day. Harry, Ron and Hermione left for the charms corridor. When everyone got settled down, Professor Flitwick levitated himself onto his desk and began the lesson.
"Welcome back everyone. You all have a solid foundation on working with inanimate objects. So for the next five weeks we are going to be concentrating on charming people."
"Like what?" Dean asked. "Are we going to try to make Snape a nicer man?" The class sniggered as each student was lost in his or her own thoughts of watching someone like Neville walk up to Snape and cast a spell that made him smile all the time and skip through the halls humming a little tune.
"Something like that Mr Thomas. None of these spells are going to have a permanent affect though."
"Then what's the point?" Seamus asked.
Professor Flitwick gazed around the classroom. "Can anyone answer that question for Mr Finnigan?"
No one, not even Hermione raised her hand. Ron looked incredulously at her. "You mean that you don't know?"
She looked heart-broken. "This lesson isn't from the textbook." Harry got the distinct impression that Hermione thought her books had somehow failed her.
Professor Flitwick was still waiting patiently. "Don't be shy. Can anyone think of a situation where this ability could help?"
Ron said, "Well if your friends are having a bad day then you can cheer them up, for a little while at least."
"True. Why else?"
Finally Harry decided to hazard a guess. "Well I suppose if you're dueling someone you can make them afraid of you."
"Ah yes, excellent example Mr Potter. The Scaredy Cat Charm has always been a popular one among duelers. Fear is a terrible enemy in battle and if cast with enough power it can make wizards freeze in place or even drop their wands."
From this one example the class caught on rather quickly. They briefly talked about how someone's emotions like anger and compassion could affect somebody in a battle. They also talked about some of the spells that they already knew like engorgement and levitation charms. Professor Flitwick was giving them the rest of the period to break up into groups of four and practice charming each other.
Of course no one wanted to be with Neville but since Harry, Ron, and Hermione needed a fourth, it was bound to happen and happen it did. They partnered up with Neville.
Ron mumbled to Hermione, "Why does it always have to be groups of four? What's wrong with groups of three?" She promptly hushed him before Neville could hear.
The next few minutes of class were uneventful. Ron made Harry fall to the ground in fits of laughter with a tickling charm while Hermione made Neville brave with a charm of her own. Unfortunately she didn't think through the ramifications of that charm. Before she could undo it Neville had gotten it into his head that he could levitate Ron.
"Wingardium Leviosa"
"WHHHHOOOOAAAAAA!!!!!" Ron was shouting because he was skyrocketing towards the ceiling at an incredible speed. He barely had time to shut his eyes before SPLAT. Ron hit the ceiling so hard that it knocked him out. Unfortunately Neville's boldness charm still hadn't worn off so he decided to conjure the stretcher for Ron. The next thing everyone saw was an unconscious Ron being launched across the room by an unruly stretcher. Fortunately this time Professor Flitwick had time to react and stopped Ron from testing the structural integrity of another part of his classroom. Flitwick told everyone to head to his or her next class and not to practice levitating each other outside the presence of a teacher. He then turned specifically to Neville.
"And perhaps you should abstain from casting that particular charm at all -- - at least outside of a duel."
Ron didn't show up during History of Magic. At least that gave everyone something to think about while they were trying to pass the time until the bell rang. Ron recovered in time to meet his classmates for lunch in the Great Hall. Ron and Harry wanted desperately to tease Hermione for her serious lack of judgment but Neville was sitting next to her and they didn't want to hurt his feelings.
After lunch today they had their independent study class. Ron and Hermione went to McGonagall's office.
"Weasley, I heard you had an incident this morning. Are you ok?"
"Yes Professor I'm fine now. No thanks to Hermione though." She poked him in the ribs and he fell silent.
"Good because it's time you both to start working on something slightly different. You've already learned how to shield yourself but in the next five weeks you're going to work on shielding each other. We're going to --- "
"Excuse me Professor." Hermione didn't like interrupting the head of her house but something Professor McGonagall had said caught her attention.
"Yes Miss Granger."
"This is the second time today that a professor has mentioned a deadline five weeks away. What's happening in five weeks?"
"Don't worry about that for now. If there's anything to know, we'll tell you when we feel the time is right. Now as I was saying you two are going to work on shielding each other and eventually on shielding more than one person. Miss Granger, you first."
"What exactly is going to happen now? Do I shield Ron and then try to break my own shield?"
"Oh no. You all need to become much more advanced than that. You shield Ron and I'll try to get past it." Ron paled. Why did he have to tell Professor McGonagall earlier that he was feeling fine? He didn't like his odds pitting Hermione's shield against Professor McGonagall's spell.
Hermione took a few breaths and cast a shield around Ron. Professor McGonagall broke through the charm with a single well-placed shrinking hex. Professor McGonagall ordered Hermione to "set him right" before it was too late. Ron's eyes bulged out as he realized that he was looking up at all the desks in the room.
It only took Hermione a second to recover from her shock though and in no time she managed to restore Ron before he shrank below two feet tall.
Next it was Ron's turn. He was trying hard not to smile. He had been waiting for just such an occasion to test the rebounding shield spell that Harry had taught him months ago.
"AAACCCKKK!!" Professor McGonagall had shouted when she found herself inflicted with her very own transfiguration hex. Her legs had turned into butterbeer bottles. She righted herself, praised Ron, and they continued.
Meanwhile Harry had gone to Dumbledore's office where he was hoping he'd see Sirius and Lupin as well.
"Candy Canes"
The gargoyle sprang aside and Harry walked into the open door. He once again saw Sirius and Lupin as well as Dumbledore in the headmaster's office.
"Harry, come on in," Dumbledore said with the usual twinkle in his eye.
A grinning Harry Potter entered the office and sat next to his godfather.
Dumbledore, who was also smiling, continued the conversation. "You've had a busy vacation." Harry nodded. "We didn't exactly mean for you or your friends to be put in so much danger but you of all wizards know that these are desperate times." Harry nodded again so Dumbledore kept talking.
"Do you remember at the beginning of the year when we told you that you were going to learn something else this term?"
"Yes"
"So tell us then what is it that you are expecting us to teach you now?"
"Well, I'm not exactly sure. You said that you all were going to teach me how to turn invisible but I know that I haven't mastered the animagus lesson yet." Harry sat expectantly at the end of his seat. He looked around at the three faces in the room and they were all smiling back at him.
"Harry, I think that I speak for Remus and Sirius when I say that you have made a substantial amount of progress with your animagus form in a short amount of time. Besides the sphinx is a powerful and rare magical creature. Unless I am very much mistaken, you are going to be learning new things about your animagus form for years to come."
Harry looked at Sirius and Lupin who were both nodding their head in agreement. He turned his attention back to Dumbledore.
"And now, like you said, it's time that we teach you how to turn and stay invisible."
"Really?" The grinning teenager asked.
"Really. Unless you think that you're not ready for it --- "
"I'm ready."
Dumbledore smiled wider. "Yes you are. Anyway I must insist that you continue to work on your animagus form with Sirius and the rest of your friends," Dumbledore paused while Harry was fervently nodding his head up and down. " But in the meantime I need you to start working on your second lesson which is invisibility."
"Wow"
"Harry, this shouldn't be as hard as your first lesson for several reasons. The first is that you have already learned how to concentrate. The second is that you have already learned, at least in some fashion, how to transfigure your own body and be the master of it. And the final reason is because it's simply not as hard a lesson."
"So how do I start?"
"Simple. You start by following Sirius and Lupin back to Sirius' room. The three of you may work on it in there for the remainder of the afternoon. I'm afraid that I'm swamped with ministry paperwork." By the look of all the mess on the headmaster's desk, Harry knew he wasn't exaggerating.
"Er --- professor --- when are they going to get a permanent Minister of Magic?"
"Good question Harry, I wish I knew." And with that the headmaster looked down at the piles of parchment on his desk and sighed. Sirius, Lupin and Harry took that as their cue to go work on the new project at hand.
Dumbledore had been right about this lesson being far easier than he had imagined. By the end of the afternoon he was already able to flicker in and out for short periods of time. Sirius and Lupin were both pleased with his progress.
After dinner Fred and George tried to sneak down to the dungeon to get a peek at the classroom but there were still teachers all around down there. Not wanting to be suspected (any more than they probably already were) they gave up and went back to their room in Gryffindor Tower. They were careful not to answer anyone's questions on where they had gone to the previous night.
The next afternoon Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey took the Gryffindor fifth years back to Hogsmeade. The head of their house told them that they were going to come here almost every day until they could successfully apparate.
"It's time to move on to new lessons. There's something else you must learn in the next five weeks and we don't have to dilly-dally learning things that should have been learned last fall. Now break up into the same groups you were in last time we came out here."
The group with Madame Pomfrey started with some warm ups just going between the two parks. Afterwards she apparated her whole section somewhere in the countryside and told them to each apparate back to the park they had started in. Within a few minutes everyone had managed to do it but most of the students were pretty tired afterwards. They took a break and watched how Professor McGonagall was doing with the stragglers.
"Excellent progress Longbottom," Professor McGonagall was saying. Neville was now able to apparate short distances leaving only his shoes and socks behind. For Neville that was indeed quite some progress. And it was also somewhat of a relief for anyone that happened to be watching him practice.
After her group had rested, Madame Pomfrey told them to apparate back to the countryside where they had just come from and eventually they all did. As a reward when students managed to find his or her way there, she rewarded them by conjuring up a mug of hot cocoa.
Whether they had worked with Professor McGonagall or Madame Pomfrey the group shared one collective trait as they headed back towards the school, they were exhausted. While they were all walking back, however, a rather strange thing happened --- strange even for Hogwarts.
Both Professor McGonagall and Harry disappeared. One second they were there in the middle of the group and the next second they were gone. The class didn't know yet that they had both been transformed into their animagus state and "summoned" to the potions classroom.
The headmaster smiled warmly as he nodded, as a way of greeting, toward the sphinx and the cat that had just joined him in the dungeon.
Harry wanted to know what the heck just happened to him but, of course, he couldn't open his mouth. \\ I am where? Get me a pear. // No that didn't make much sense but then again it would work in a pinch. \\ Why am I here? Alas, Oh my, Oh dear. // No, that was just a little too panicky. \\ Why are we in this room? Snape is nothing but doom and gloom. // Even though that was true enough Harry didn't think the headmaster would appreciate it very much.
Finally he decided on, "What the heck is going on? Why am I standing next to a fawn?"
Dumbledore led them out of the room before speaking. "Excellent Harry. You see well --- er --- it seems that Professor Snape got rather frustrated with his classroom a few minutes ago and started ranting and raving. Well that had the effect of summoning all kinds of animals down here. I guess whatever magical force is summoning creatures is starting to run out of creatures. Poor Fawkes has been summoned down here no less than twenty times already. Hedwig's also been down here but she's kind of to go back to the owlery just as soon as she arrives. Do thank her for me later Harry."
He had been so busy trying to think of a rhyme that he hadn't properly looked around the room he had appeared in a minute ago. He walked up to the doorway, careful to stay outside of the room, and peered in. It looked much more like a zoo than a classroom. There were large animals besides himself, like a hippogriff and a zebra but there were also small animals like cats and house-elves. Besides the creatures walking around there were also owls and eagles circling above. Harry literally had seen Fawkes pop in and then out again when he had asked Dumbledore his question back inside the room.
He was glad he had gotten a chance to see the dungeon. Harry was smiling so big that he was baring quite a large number of teeth. The effect unnerved Professor McGonagall, who had already transformed back, and she asked Harry to transform back as well.
"Potter, as soon as you transform do be kind enough to meet you class when they return. I want everyone to know that we're all right. I need to stay down here and --- er --- try to calm Professor Snape down."
He hadn't seen Hedwig, Pig, or Crookshanks in the room but he did go back in there to grab Trevor to take back to Neville.
Harry went and met his friends and Madame Pomfrey as they were entering the castle. He didn't want to tell everyone else yet that he could become a sphinx in the spitting image of his mother so he told them that McGonagall had been summoned and he must have been standing too close to her. Since the area was still off limits, everyone was eager to hear what all Harry had seen down there. He told them all about it over dinner.
Professor McGonagall hadn't been lying to the students about working on apparating lessons constantly. She was using not only the set aside lesson period but all the potions' time slots as well to take Harry and his classmates to Hogsmeade to work on apparating. She had already told them that they'd spend Saturday and Sunday there as well if they didn't have it down yet. She had also made another reference to this mysterious five-week deadline. Now that their class was listening for it, it seemed like all they ever heard any more was five-weeks this and five-weeks that. But no one would tell them what was going to happen in five weeks.
Even their herbology and care of magical creatures classes were getting more intense. None of the students knew why everyone was suddenly ramping up. They had also heard more references to five weeks, whatever that meant. Hermione was afraid that they had moved up the OWLs to the middle of February without telling anyone. She was spending more time studying now than back in her third year when she had to use a time-turner to attend all the classes she was taking.
The students were asking everyone they could think of what was happening in the middle of February. Hagrid didn't know, or at least he said he didn't know what was happening in five weeks. Sirius and Lupin also claimed not to know. Hermione had looked up the middle of February in Hogwarts: A History and not found anything significant. (She was keeping track enough to know that this was the second time this week that books had let her down.) Harry made a mental note to ask Dumbledore about it the next time he was in his office for his lessons.
Neither Harry nor anyone else had any idea what was in store for them on the 13th of February.
A/N -Share your thoughts with me
A/N - I redid the 2nd and 3rd chapters. The 2nd one probably isn't worth reading again but I think that the 3rd one is.
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