A/N - JKR owns the idea, all of these characters etc.
A/N - Keep posting ideas and suggestions, it can only help.
A/N - Anyone seen Moonlight lately? I'm starting to get worried.
A/N - Norway, it's kind of funny that you wrote that about seeing more action b/c my first draft was nothing but action and I decided that I hadn't given Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff enough credit so I went another way.
Chapter 41
Wizard's Wager
Before Dumbledore could finish his sentence he was interrupted by Professor Trelawney bolting to her feet. Every head in the Great Hall turned to look at her. She was starting to sway a little bit but didn't say anything. Finally Dumbledore broke the silence.
"Sybil, did you have something for us?"
She didn't turn to look at the headmaster; as a matter of fact her eyes looked unfocused as if she wasn't looking at anything. Now she was standing rigidly still. Finally she started speaking in a harsh voice that only Harry had heard before --- once before when she predicted that Pettigrew would return to Voldemort's service.
"The Dark Lord is getting stronger."
Many of the staff members got to their feet after hearing this. Professor McGonagall tried to get her to sit down.
"Sybil, this is not the time nor the place --- " She was interrupted though by Trelawney's harsh voice.
"Your antics did not stop him from gaining followers. The Dark Lord gains new and younger allies every day. He has natural allies that will never forsake him. He will bring an end to the order." The strange voice fell silent but no one moved a muscle until she collapsed to the floor. Harry was trying to decide if the harsh voice meant his Order or if it was just a coincidence in its choice of words.
After a few seconds she came around and looked up from her place on the floor to find herself staring into the faces of the Hogwarts staff.
"Why is everyone surrounding me?"
Professor McGonagall, even though she was slightly shaken by what she had just seen, couldn't resist this opportunity to comment.
"You mean to say that you don't know?"
"Minerva, please!" Dumbledore glanced over at his deputy while helping Professor Trelawney to her feet. Even though Harry couldn't hear what was going on from his place at the Gryffindor table, he knew from his previous experience that Professor Trelawney wouldn't remember anything about the episode that just happened. All the fifth years remained silent as they watched Madame Pomfrey escort the divination professor out of the Great Hall. Dumbledore addressed the students again.
"Please don't dwell on what just happened here this afternoon. Everyone did an excellent job in the game today and you deserve to spend some time tonight enjoying that fact. I think perhaps that Slytherin and Gryffindor will find out a little later today about their reward. Meanwhile tonight dinner will be in your common rooms instead of back here. I must ask everyone though to stay in his or her common room until breakfast tomorrow. Now run along."
Slowly the fifth years stood up and started making their way to the exit. Harry walked past Draco who was still sitting down at his table. He looked paler than any of the ghosts who floated around the castle. Harry decided to go over to him. He asked Ron and Hermione to wait for him.
"Draco, what's wrong?"
No answer.
"Draco, I said what's wrong?"
Nothing.
"Draco!" Harry shouted.
The Slytherin slowly turned his head to look at Harry. He didn't say anything though. He just sat there looking deathly pale.
"Draco, what in the world is wrong with you?" Harry was shaking Draco's arm trying to get his attention.
"Nothing."
Harry was pretty sure that he knew exactly what was wrong with Draco. Harry, unfortunately, knew what it was like to have Voldemort gunning for him and considering everything that happened since Christmas, it was a reasonable guess that Voldemort wasn't happy with Draco. It was doubtful that Draco would want to talk about this but he felt that he should at least try.
"Look, it's natural to be a little scared --- "
"Speak for yourself."
"Listen, I'm trying to help."
"When I need your help, sometime after I start dating a niffler, I'll ask for it." With that Draco got up and left the Great Hall. Harry shrugged and went over to where Ron and Hermione were waiting for him. He told them about the little exchange and they both reacted predictably. Hermione thought he was under extreme stress and that they should continue to try to help him. Ron thought it proved yet again what a jerk he was.
While the trio walked up to Gryffindor Tower they saw members of the staff going in all directions telling students to go back to their common rooms since no one except the fifth years had been told yet.
"Ron, Harry, look at Mr Filch." At Hermione's prodding they both turned around to see the caretaker smiling as he was yelling at a group of first years to go to their common rooms.
Ron swallowed hard before whispering, "It's spooky how much he enjoys harassing students. It's hard to believe how much fun that weirdo gets from yelling at eleven year olds." Hermione and Harry nodded their agreement as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?"
"Gryffin Doors"
The Fat Lady swung aside letting the group inside. The three stood frozen in their places when they looked inside the common room.
"Come in if you're coming in," Fred was shouting over the substantial noise in the common room. "You'll let all the fireworks out."
Once inside Harry knew that they had walked into a party. He looked over to Fred and George. "What's the occasion?"
"Dunno," George said shrugging. "It wasn't our idea, I'm sad to say."
"What? My brothers must be slipping. Whose idea was it then?"
"Mine." A familiar voice called from behind them.
"Sirius!"
"Hello. A little birdy told me that you all won today and I thought a little celebration would be in order."
For the next few hours no one gave another thought to what had just happened down in the Great Hall. All anyone was thinking about was the free flowing butterbeer, food, party favors and fireworks. It became very apparent that Fred and George had some new inventions.
Colin Creevey, who had turned into a huge pair of dull scissors with legs, was running around the common room being chased by his brother Dennis who had temporarily become a rock and Natalie McDonald who looked a lot like a big piece of parchment.
"George," Harry started tentatively still trying to decide whether or not to ask the question that was forming on his lips, "what are those three supposed to be?"
Fred and George grinned at each other before George finally answered him. "We read in a muggle book about a game called rock, paper, scissors and we wanted to see who would win." Hermione was shaking her head mumbling something that sounded a lot like "incorrigible" as she went over to set them right. Meanwhile, Harry wanted to make sure that Sirius was getting the credit he deserved. After all, Harry wanted to do anything he could to help his godfather enjoy his new found freedom.
"Fred, George, do you both know who this is?"
"Of course we do. Mum and Dad told us all about Mr Black. They told us how he was innocent and also that we'd probably run into him here at school. They also said that he was welcome at the Burrow whenever he wanted to come."
"No. I mean do you know who he is?"
"Harry, what are you playing at? You didn't get beaned in the head by a bludger lately did you? We just told you that we knew who he was."
Harry smiled. "This is Padfoot."
The twins wore an identical expression of amazement. Both of them had their mouths hanging open and were staring at Sirius.
"You're P --- P --- Pad --- " Fred stammered never taking his eyes off of Sirius.
First Fred and then George fell to their knees. Harry, Ron and Sirius were laughing so hard that George had to speak loudly to get the attention of his idol.
"Please Mister Padfoot, teach us everything you know to follow in your footsteps. Let us learn from your great wisdom." Sirius looked at Ron and Harry trying to discern if the twins were for real or not. Knowing that Sirius was in good hands, Harry and Ron went over to where Hermione was. The trio spent the rest of the night talking about Professor Trelawney's prediction.
Eventually the common room cleared out leaving only Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius and the twins. Sirius had tried to leave twice already but the twins kept him talking. George was actually taking notes. Harry bid good night to the twins and his godfather and went up to bed.
The next morning at breakfast nothing looked amiss at the staff table. Professor Trelawney wasn't there but she usually didn't take her meals in the Great Hall so that didn't mean anything. The only thing on tap for today was quidditch practice in the afternoon and Harry could hardly wait. He was running through some of the different drills they would do today when Professor McGonagall came over to the table.
"Potter," she paused waiting for Harry to look up. "Come with me. We need to discuss your reward for winning yesterday's game."
"Yes professor," he said while following her out of the Great Hall. Instead of taking him to her office though, she was leading him to Dumbledore's office. Harry followed her in to Dumbledore's office and found Draco and Snape already sitting in there.
"Excellent. Come on in and sit down. Now let's get down to business shall we? It seems to me that I owe both of your classes a reward for capturing the flag. Now I'm going to offer up some choices but you have to agree on the same thing." Dumbledore paused trying to gauge what, if any, reaction his words caused in the two young wizards. Not sensing any he continued.
"The first option is taking you two and your classmates to a professional quidditch game. We would make --- "
"No." Draco said quite suddenly interrupting the headmaster. Harry turned his head to look questioningly at Draco. Harry furrowed his eyebrows silently asking the question.
Draco stared straight ahead. It was obvious that he wasn't going to volunteer any more information. Finally Dumbledore interrupted the silence.
"Your second option is a school dance. We could have a --- "
"No." This time it was Harry who shut down the headmaster. Harry also did not volunteer any information. If Draco got to veto quidditch without an explanation then Harry got to veto this idea of a dance. He hated dances. The memory of the Yule Ball was still fresh in his mind and the last thing he wanted was to go through anything like that again.
Again a blanket of silence covered the room. Dumbledore watched Harry for a couple of seconds and then started speaking again.
"Very well, your third option is to make a wizard's wager." Harry wondered how a wizard's wager different from muggle wagers. He didn't want to ask in front of Draco. He was determined not to show his ignorance. He silently watched Dumbledore waiting for him to continue but it was Professor McGonagall who spoke next.
"Dumbledore, do you really think that is appropriate for students?"
"They're not babies," snapped the potions master. Harry hated agreeing with Snape about anything but he very much thought that he and even Draco deserved to be treated as adults. After all, it only seemed fair that once Voldemort decided to kill you the least that should happen is that your acquaintances treat you like an adult. Dumbledore quickly glanced at each face in his office before speaking again.
"No Minerva I have to think that these young wizards are ready to accept the consequences and rewards of a wizard's wager." Harry was definitely getting more curious about this new concept. As if the headmaster could read his mind, he launched into an explanation.
"Now here are the terms. In early April your teams will play another game similar to what you played yesterday. If your team loses the next game you've lost your reward from your first victory and you don't get anything. If however, your team wins the next game you get a prize twice as good as a dance or a trip to a quidditch game."
"Like what?" Draco drawled. "How do Harry and I know that when we win next time we won't just end up sitting in here getting offered prizes we don't want again?" Harry had to admit that Draco had a point but he sat there silently.
Dumbledore's smile didn't falter at all. "Well, let's seal that down now shall we? Why don't you two tell me what you want?" Harry started thinking about what he would ask for when Draco's voice broke into his thoughts.
"After we win, our independent study professor has to teach us one thing that we choose."
Dumbledore thought about this for a few seconds and looked at the two professors in his room. He directed his gaze to Harry.
"Is this acceptable to you Harry?"
"Yes." Truth be told it was more than acceptable; it boggled the mind. Even though he already knew how to turn into an animagus as well as how to turn invisible, Harry knew that there were tons more abilities that he would like to learn. He smiled just thinking about how difficult it would be for Hermione to pick just one new thing to learn.
"Headmaster," Snape took a step forward while speaking, "do you think it wise to give these children free reign to choose their lessons?"
"As long as they don't wish to learn the Unforgivable Curses, I fail to see the harm in teaching our students anything they wish. Besides it was you who just supported the idea of letting them enter into a wizard's wager. Indeed I think it's a tribute to you professors that what these two young wizards chose to ask for was to learn more magic."
Snape didn't say anything else. McGonagall looked stern but didn't try to talk Dumbledore out of what he had apparently already decided to do. As a matter of fact, she could hardly wait to ask Dumbledore something after the two students left about what had happened in here today.
"As in every wizard's wager the three of us will tap wands to seal the deal and make it a binding magical contract; we will then each in turn tap this blank piece of parchment." Dumbledore was holding a piece of parchment in one hand and his wand in the other. Draco stood up and got his wand out so Harry did the same. Dumbledore, Harry and Draco tapped wands, which reminded Harry of the muggle tradition of toasting each other by clinking glasses.
Dumbledore was the first to touch his wand to the parchment and when he did the terms of the contract appeared along with a date/time stamp of the exact second that Dumbledore's wand touched the contract. At the bottom of the contract appeared a single line that read, "If Albus Dumbledore forfeits his terms of the contract he will forfeit his entire collection of wands except for the one he is currently holding."
Harry didn't expect that last line at all. He didn't realize that the magical contract would impose penalties on someone forfeiting the contract. Nervously, he tapped his wand on the parchment and read the new writing that hadn't appeared until he tapped the contract. "If Harry Potter forfeits his terms of the contact he will forfeit both of his broomsticks."
Draco was the next to approach and tap the parchment. Harry was very curious to see what Draco would be made to risk. "If Draco Malfoy forfeits his terms of the contract he will forfeit his rights to Malfoy Manor."
Everyone stood there for a second staring at the contract reading it and rereading it. Finally Dumbledore asked McGonagall and Snape to come over. When McGonagall tapped the parchment it read, "The contract was witnessed by Minerva McGonagall"
And when Snape tapped the parchment it finished, "and Severus Snape."
Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Marvelous. I believe that takes care of all of our business. If you two have nothing else for me then I suggest you make the most of the rest of your Sunday." Harry and Draco left the office. McGonagall made sure they were out of earshot before rounding back on Dumbledore.
"What was all that about?"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"I mean what were you playing at? You know that Potter hates dances."
Snape interjected, "And headmaster you know that Malfoy used to go to quidditch games with his father and wouldn't want that for a prize."
"Oh did I? Well I wouldn't worry on it. Now I need to go find Sirius and Remus if you two will excuse me." Snape and McGonagall stood there silently and watched Dumbledore exit his office.
Harry went straight to the common room to tell his classmates what had just happened. As expected, everyone was happy but Hermione looked like she was going to hyperventilate. She finally calmed down enough to speak.
"How can I possibly narrow down every valuable charm, curse and ability to pick just one thing for Professor McGonagall to teach me? This is going to take some thinking, some serious thinking. I'll have to make lists of valuable spells and cross-reference them according to difficulty and potential frequency of use. We should --- "
"Hermione," Ron said while trying to shake her back to reality, "we haven't even won yet and besides Harry said the second game won't be until early April."
"Early April? That doesn't even give me two months to make my lists. I have to go to the library." And with that she turned and ran out of the common room.
Quidditch practice was a lot of fun and Harry kept the team out there longer than they had ever practiced before. He couldn't' help it though because they were the only undefeated team and he could almost feel the Quidditch Cup in his hand. He could hardly wait until their second game next Saturday against Ravenclaw.
Monday's Defense Against the Dark Arts class went better than usual. So far this year they had already had six teachers. Currently Madame Pince was their professor. As the school librarian, most of her expertise was academic and therefore her classes had been all lectures so far. However today she was talking to them about the Restricted Section of the school library. She was telling them about exactly how dark some of the dark books could be. Harry remembered Tom Riddle's diary from his second year and didn't need much convincing that there were some dangerous books out there. He finally turned his attention back to her lecture.
"Wednesday I'm going to bring in a few books for you all to look at but remember what I've been telling you. There's a reason that the Restricted Section is restricted. Just because I show you a few books doesn't mean you're qualified to go looking through that section. We have one book that screams if you open it to any of the first one hundred pages, blinds you if you open it to the second hundred pages and shrinks you down leaving you only a few inches tall if you open it to any other page."
She now had Harry's full attention. He remembered opening a book that screamed back in his first year when he was looking for Nicholas Flammel. In his defense that was back before he knew how dangerous things in the wizarding world could be but he couldn't help thinking about how lucky he was to only have the book scream at him given the other two possibilities. Madame Pince was still telling them about other books in the Restricted Section.
"These books hex you if you open them without saying the proper incantation first or teleport you out of the country for opening it with your left hand instead of your right." The bell rang cutting off her lecture about any other nasty effects that messing with the wrong books might have. The class definitely had the idea though.
Harry and Ron, unlike Hermione, seldom looked forward to any of their classes but they were extremely glad when Wednesday's class with Madame Pince rolled around. They were careful to get there early enough to get seats in the front row.
"Hello class," their instructor called behind an armload full of books. Everyone come on up and gather around my desk. Now let's look at this first book." She was indicating a nasty looking book with a blood red cover.
"When you hold the book upright, a nasty effect occurs." Instead of picking up the book, she used her wand to magic the book to an upright position. Some vile thick liquid started dripping down the cover and congealed on the table. There was no doubt that it was blood. She magicked the book so it rested on its back cover again.
"You all may be wondering how it collects the supply of blood that it secretes when it gets stood upright." No one answered her though. All the students were still staring at the blood wearing a look of disgust on their faces. "Stand back and I'll show you. Pay attention now."
No one needed telling twice. All of the students took a few steps back but no one took their eyes off the book that had just dripped blood on to the table. Madame Pince magicked the book's front cover open and a claw leapt out so fast that Harry would have missed it if he hadn't been told to watch closely.
"You see, the book attacks anyone that opens it from the front. To be able to read the book properly you have to open it from the back cover and read it from back to front." She picked up the book and set it down on its front cover so she could show the students how to properly open the book.
"You'd have to be nutters to mess with that book," Ron was saying. "Why would anyone go near a book like that?" Hermione looked personally affronted that Ron would say that about a book, even these books. But it was Madame Pince that answered Ron's question.
"My dear, these dangerous books contain some of the most powerful magic that we know about to this day. If you invented a powerful spell and wrote it down wouldn't you want to lock it? That's what these books basically have on them --- powerful locks that keep unwanted people from reading them."
The rest of the class was spent looking at some of the other books she brought in. They looked at a book that would try to give the reader paper cuts if he or she wasn't standing up while reading it. They looked at another one that enlarged the reader to twice their natural height if the reader wasn't smiling while reading it. Other books would show gruesome pictures until the reader paid it a compliment and then it would reveal its contents. It wasn't any of these books that got Harry's attention as much as a book that lay unopened so far. On the cover of this other book that Harry had just noticed were two animals: a phoenix and a serpent.
The book apparently noticed Harry's gaze because both creatures suddenly came to life. The serpent grew out of the book causing everyone to jump back. The serpent stared at Harry and started hissing and spitting speaking its native language.
Even though everyone in the room knew that Harry could speak Parseltongue they were still shocked to hear Harry speak back to the serpent. They were even more surprised when the phoenix flew over to where Harry was and picked him up by his shoulders in his talons. The class stood there stunned as the phoenix somehow took Harry with it back into the book. The serpent returned to its normal size on the cover and was completely still next to the image of the phoenix and a new image that had appeared --- Harry Potter.
A/N -Share your thoughts with me
.
A/N - Keep posting ideas and suggestions, it can only help.
A/N - Anyone seen Moonlight lately? I'm starting to get worried.
A/N - Norway, it's kind of funny that you wrote that about seeing more action b/c my first draft was nothing but action and I decided that I hadn't given Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff enough credit so I went another way.
Chapter 41
Wizard's Wager
Before Dumbledore could finish his sentence he was interrupted by Professor Trelawney bolting to her feet. Every head in the Great Hall turned to look at her. She was starting to sway a little bit but didn't say anything. Finally Dumbledore broke the silence.
"Sybil, did you have something for us?"
She didn't turn to look at the headmaster; as a matter of fact her eyes looked unfocused as if she wasn't looking at anything. Now she was standing rigidly still. Finally she started speaking in a harsh voice that only Harry had heard before --- once before when she predicted that Pettigrew would return to Voldemort's service.
"The Dark Lord is getting stronger."
Many of the staff members got to their feet after hearing this. Professor McGonagall tried to get her to sit down.
"Sybil, this is not the time nor the place --- " She was interrupted though by Trelawney's harsh voice.
"Your antics did not stop him from gaining followers. The Dark Lord gains new and younger allies every day. He has natural allies that will never forsake him. He will bring an end to the order." The strange voice fell silent but no one moved a muscle until she collapsed to the floor. Harry was trying to decide if the harsh voice meant his Order or if it was just a coincidence in its choice of words.
After a few seconds she came around and looked up from her place on the floor to find herself staring into the faces of the Hogwarts staff.
"Why is everyone surrounding me?"
Professor McGonagall, even though she was slightly shaken by what she had just seen, couldn't resist this opportunity to comment.
"You mean to say that you don't know?"
"Minerva, please!" Dumbledore glanced over at his deputy while helping Professor Trelawney to her feet. Even though Harry couldn't hear what was going on from his place at the Gryffindor table, he knew from his previous experience that Professor Trelawney wouldn't remember anything about the episode that just happened. All the fifth years remained silent as they watched Madame Pomfrey escort the divination professor out of the Great Hall. Dumbledore addressed the students again.
"Please don't dwell on what just happened here this afternoon. Everyone did an excellent job in the game today and you deserve to spend some time tonight enjoying that fact. I think perhaps that Slytherin and Gryffindor will find out a little later today about their reward. Meanwhile tonight dinner will be in your common rooms instead of back here. I must ask everyone though to stay in his or her common room until breakfast tomorrow. Now run along."
Slowly the fifth years stood up and started making their way to the exit. Harry walked past Draco who was still sitting down at his table. He looked paler than any of the ghosts who floated around the castle. Harry decided to go over to him. He asked Ron and Hermione to wait for him.
"Draco, what's wrong?"
No answer.
"Draco, I said what's wrong?"
Nothing.
"Draco!" Harry shouted.
The Slytherin slowly turned his head to look at Harry. He didn't say anything though. He just sat there looking deathly pale.
"Draco, what in the world is wrong with you?" Harry was shaking Draco's arm trying to get his attention.
"Nothing."
Harry was pretty sure that he knew exactly what was wrong with Draco. Harry, unfortunately, knew what it was like to have Voldemort gunning for him and considering everything that happened since Christmas, it was a reasonable guess that Voldemort wasn't happy with Draco. It was doubtful that Draco would want to talk about this but he felt that he should at least try.
"Look, it's natural to be a little scared --- "
"Speak for yourself."
"Listen, I'm trying to help."
"When I need your help, sometime after I start dating a niffler, I'll ask for it." With that Draco got up and left the Great Hall. Harry shrugged and went over to where Ron and Hermione were waiting for him. He told them about the little exchange and they both reacted predictably. Hermione thought he was under extreme stress and that they should continue to try to help him. Ron thought it proved yet again what a jerk he was.
While the trio walked up to Gryffindor Tower they saw members of the staff going in all directions telling students to go back to their common rooms since no one except the fifth years had been told yet.
"Ron, Harry, look at Mr Filch." At Hermione's prodding they both turned around to see the caretaker smiling as he was yelling at a group of first years to go to their common rooms.
Ron swallowed hard before whispering, "It's spooky how much he enjoys harassing students. It's hard to believe how much fun that weirdo gets from yelling at eleven year olds." Hermione and Harry nodded their agreement as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Password?"
"Gryffin Doors"
The Fat Lady swung aside letting the group inside. The three stood frozen in their places when they looked inside the common room.
"Come in if you're coming in," Fred was shouting over the substantial noise in the common room. "You'll let all the fireworks out."
Once inside Harry knew that they had walked into a party. He looked over to Fred and George. "What's the occasion?"
"Dunno," George said shrugging. "It wasn't our idea, I'm sad to say."
"What? My brothers must be slipping. Whose idea was it then?"
"Mine." A familiar voice called from behind them.
"Sirius!"
"Hello. A little birdy told me that you all won today and I thought a little celebration would be in order."
For the next few hours no one gave another thought to what had just happened down in the Great Hall. All anyone was thinking about was the free flowing butterbeer, food, party favors and fireworks. It became very apparent that Fred and George had some new inventions.
Colin Creevey, who had turned into a huge pair of dull scissors with legs, was running around the common room being chased by his brother Dennis who had temporarily become a rock and Natalie McDonald who looked a lot like a big piece of parchment.
"George," Harry started tentatively still trying to decide whether or not to ask the question that was forming on his lips, "what are those three supposed to be?"
Fred and George grinned at each other before George finally answered him. "We read in a muggle book about a game called rock, paper, scissors and we wanted to see who would win." Hermione was shaking her head mumbling something that sounded a lot like "incorrigible" as she went over to set them right. Meanwhile, Harry wanted to make sure that Sirius was getting the credit he deserved. After all, Harry wanted to do anything he could to help his godfather enjoy his new found freedom.
"Fred, George, do you both know who this is?"
"Of course we do. Mum and Dad told us all about Mr Black. They told us how he was innocent and also that we'd probably run into him here at school. They also said that he was welcome at the Burrow whenever he wanted to come."
"No. I mean do you know who he is?"
"Harry, what are you playing at? You didn't get beaned in the head by a bludger lately did you? We just told you that we knew who he was."
Harry smiled. "This is Padfoot."
The twins wore an identical expression of amazement. Both of them had their mouths hanging open and were staring at Sirius.
"You're P --- P --- Pad --- " Fred stammered never taking his eyes off of Sirius.
First Fred and then George fell to their knees. Harry, Ron and Sirius were laughing so hard that George had to speak loudly to get the attention of his idol.
"Please Mister Padfoot, teach us everything you know to follow in your footsteps. Let us learn from your great wisdom." Sirius looked at Ron and Harry trying to discern if the twins were for real or not. Knowing that Sirius was in good hands, Harry and Ron went over to where Hermione was. The trio spent the rest of the night talking about Professor Trelawney's prediction.
Eventually the common room cleared out leaving only Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius and the twins. Sirius had tried to leave twice already but the twins kept him talking. George was actually taking notes. Harry bid good night to the twins and his godfather and went up to bed.
The next morning at breakfast nothing looked amiss at the staff table. Professor Trelawney wasn't there but she usually didn't take her meals in the Great Hall so that didn't mean anything. The only thing on tap for today was quidditch practice in the afternoon and Harry could hardly wait. He was running through some of the different drills they would do today when Professor McGonagall came over to the table.
"Potter," she paused waiting for Harry to look up. "Come with me. We need to discuss your reward for winning yesterday's game."
"Yes professor," he said while following her out of the Great Hall. Instead of taking him to her office though, she was leading him to Dumbledore's office. Harry followed her in to Dumbledore's office and found Draco and Snape already sitting in there.
"Excellent. Come on in and sit down. Now let's get down to business shall we? It seems to me that I owe both of your classes a reward for capturing the flag. Now I'm going to offer up some choices but you have to agree on the same thing." Dumbledore paused trying to gauge what, if any, reaction his words caused in the two young wizards. Not sensing any he continued.
"The first option is taking you two and your classmates to a professional quidditch game. We would make --- "
"No." Draco said quite suddenly interrupting the headmaster. Harry turned his head to look questioningly at Draco. Harry furrowed his eyebrows silently asking the question.
Draco stared straight ahead. It was obvious that he wasn't going to volunteer any more information. Finally Dumbledore interrupted the silence.
"Your second option is a school dance. We could have a --- "
"No." This time it was Harry who shut down the headmaster. Harry also did not volunteer any information. If Draco got to veto quidditch without an explanation then Harry got to veto this idea of a dance. He hated dances. The memory of the Yule Ball was still fresh in his mind and the last thing he wanted was to go through anything like that again.
Again a blanket of silence covered the room. Dumbledore watched Harry for a couple of seconds and then started speaking again.
"Very well, your third option is to make a wizard's wager." Harry wondered how a wizard's wager different from muggle wagers. He didn't want to ask in front of Draco. He was determined not to show his ignorance. He silently watched Dumbledore waiting for him to continue but it was Professor McGonagall who spoke next.
"Dumbledore, do you really think that is appropriate for students?"
"They're not babies," snapped the potions master. Harry hated agreeing with Snape about anything but he very much thought that he and even Draco deserved to be treated as adults. After all, it only seemed fair that once Voldemort decided to kill you the least that should happen is that your acquaintances treat you like an adult. Dumbledore quickly glanced at each face in his office before speaking again.
"No Minerva I have to think that these young wizards are ready to accept the consequences and rewards of a wizard's wager." Harry was definitely getting more curious about this new concept. As if the headmaster could read his mind, he launched into an explanation.
"Now here are the terms. In early April your teams will play another game similar to what you played yesterday. If your team loses the next game you've lost your reward from your first victory and you don't get anything. If however, your team wins the next game you get a prize twice as good as a dance or a trip to a quidditch game."
"Like what?" Draco drawled. "How do Harry and I know that when we win next time we won't just end up sitting in here getting offered prizes we don't want again?" Harry had to admit that Draco had a point but he sat there silently.
Dumbledore's smile didn't falter at all. "Well, let's seal that down now shall we? Why don't you two tell me what you want?" Harry started thinking about what he would ask for when Draco's voice broke into his thoughts.
"After we win, our independent study professor has to teach us one thing that we choose."
Dumbledore thought about this for a few seconds and looked at the two professors in his room. He directed his gaze to Harry.
"Is this acceptable to you Harry?"
"Yes." Truth be told it was more than acceptable; it boggled the mind. Even though he already knew how to turn into an animagus as well as how to turn invisible, Harry knew that there were tons more abilities that he would like to learn. He smiled just thinking about how difficult it would be for Hermione to pick just one new thing to learn.
"Headmaster," Snape took a step forward while speaking, "do you think it wise to give these children free reign to choose their lessons?"
"As long as they don't wish to learn the Unforgivable Curses, I fail to see the harm in teaching our students anything they wish. Besides it was you who just supported the idea of letting them enter into a wizard's wager. Indeed I think it's a tribute to you professors that what these two young wizards chose to ask for was to learn more magic."
Snape didn't say anything else. McGonagall looked stern but didn't try to talk Dumbledore out of what he had apparently already decided to do. As a matter of fact, she could hardly wait to ask Dumbledore something after the two students left about what had happened in here today.
"As in every wizard's wager the three of us will tap wands to seal the deal and make it a binding magical contract; we will then each in turn tap this blank piece of parchment." Dumbledore was holding a piece of parchment in one hand and his wand in the other. Draco stood up and got his wand out so Harry did the same. Dumbledore, Harry and Draco tapped wands, which reminded Harry of the muggle tradition of toasting each other by clinking glasses.
Dumbledore was the first to touch his wand to the parchment and when he did the terms of the contract appeared along with a date/time stamp of the exact second that Dumbledore's wand touched the contract. At the bottom of the contract appeared a single line that read, "If Albus Dumbledore forfeits his terms of the contract he will forfeit his entire collection of wands except for the one he is currently holding."
Harry didn't expect that last line at all. He didn't realize that the magical contract would impose penalties on someone forfeiting the contract. Nervously, he tapped his wand on the parchment and read the new writing that hadn't appeared until he tapped the contract. "If Harry Potter forfeits his terms of the contact he will forfeit both of his broomsticks."
Draco was the next to approach and tap the parchment. Harry was very curious to see what Draco would be made to risk. "If Draco Malfoy forfeits his terms of the contract he will forfeit his rights to Malfoy Manor."
Everyone stood there for a second staring at the contract reading it and rereading it. Finally Dumbledore asked McGonagall and Snape to come over. When McGonagall tapped the parchment it read, "The contract was witnessed by Minerva McGonagall"
And when Snape tapped the parchment it finished, "and Severus Snape."
Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Marvelous. I believe that takes care of all of our business. If you two have nothing else for me then I suggest you make the most of the rest of your Sunday." Harry and Draco left the office. McGonagall made sure they were out of earshot before rounding back on Dumbledore.
"What was all that about?"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"I mean what were you playing at? You know that Potter hates dances."
Snape interjected, "And headmaster you know that Malfoy used to go to quidditch games with his father and wouldn't want that for a prize."
"Oh did I? Well I wouldn't worry on it. Now I need to go find Sirius and Remus if you two will excuse me." Snape and McGonagall stood there silently and watched Dumbledore exit his office.
Harry went straight to the common room to tell his classmates what had just happened. As expected, everyone was happy but Hermione looked like she was going to hyperventilate. She finally calmed down enough to speak.
"How can I possibly narrow down every valuable charm, curse and ability to pick just one thing for Professor McGonagall to teach me? This is going to take some thinking, some serious thinking. I'll have to make lists of valuable spells and cross-reference them according to difficulty and potential frequency of use. We should --- "
"Hermione," Ron said while trying to shake her back to reality, "we haven't even won yet and besides Harry said the second game won't be until early April."
"Early April? That doesn't even give me two months to make my lists. I have to go to the library." And with that she turned and ran out of the common room.
Quidditch practice was a lot of fun and Harry kept the team out there longer than they had ever practiced before. He couldn't' help it though because they were the only undefeated team and he could almost feel the Quidditch Cup in his hand. He could hardly wait until their second game next Saturday against Ravenclaw.
Monday's Defense Against the Dark Arts class went better than usual. So far this year they had already had six teachers. Currently Madame Pince was their professor. As the school librarian, most of her expertise was academic and therefore her classes had been all lectures so far. However today she was talking to them about the Restricted Section of the school library. She was telling them about exactly how dark some of the dark books could be. Harry remembered Tom Riddle's diary from his second year and didn't need much convincing that there were some dangerous books out there. He finally turned his attention back to her lecture.
"Wednesday I'm going to bring in a few books for you all to look at but remember what I've been telling you. There's a reason that the Restricted Section is restricted. Just because I show you a few books doesn't mean you're qualified to go looking through that section. We have one book that screams if you open it to any of the first one hundred pages, blinds you if you open it to the second hundred pages and shrinks you down leaving you only a few inches tall if you open it to any other page."
She now had Harry's full attention. He remembered opening a book that screamed back in his first year when he was looking for Nicholas Flammel. In his defense that was back before he knew how dangerous things in the wizarding world could be but he couldn't help thinking about how lucky he was to only have the book scream at him given the other two possibilities. Madame Pince was still telling them about other books in the Restricted Section.
"These books hex you if you open them without saying the proper incantation first or teleport you out of the country for opening it with your left hand instead of your right." The bell rang cutting off her lecture about any other nasty effects that messing with the wrong books might have. The class definitely had the idea though.
Harry and Ron, unlike Hermione, seldom looked forward to any of their classes but they were extremely glad when Wednesday's class with Madame Pince rolled around. They were careful to get there early enough to get seats in the front row.
"Hello class," their instructor called behind an armload full of books. Everyone come on up and gather around my desk. Now let's look at this first book." She was indicating a nasty looking book with a blood red cover.
"When you hold the book upright, a nasty effect occurs." Instead of picking up the book, she used her wand to magic the book to an upright position. Some vile thick liquid started dripping down the cover and congealed on the table. There was no doubt that it was blood. She magicked the book so it rested on its back cover again.
"You all may be wondering how it collects the supply of blood that it secretes when it gets stood upright." No one answered her though. All the students were still staring at the blood wearing a look of disgust on their faces. "Stand back and I'll show you. Pay attention now."
No one needed telling twice. All of the students took a few steps back but no one took their eyes off the book that had just dripped blood on to the table. Madame Pince magicked the book's front cover open and a claw leapt out so fast that Harry would have missed it if he hadn't been told to watch closely.
"You see, the book attacks anyone that opens it from the front. To be able to read the book properly you have to open it from the back cover and read it from back to front." She picked up the book and set it down on its front cover so she could show the students how to properly open the book.
"You'd have to be nutters to mess with that book," Ron was saying. "Why would anyone go near a book like that?" Hermione looked personally affronted that Ron would say that about a book, even these books. But it was Madame Pince that answered Ron's question.
"My dear, these dangerous books contain some of the most powerful magic that we know about to this day. If you invented a powerful spell and wrote it down wouldn't you want to lock it? That's what these books basically have on them --- powerful locks that keep unwanted people from reading them."
The rest of the class was spent looking at some of the other books she brought in. They looked at a book that would try to give the reader paper cuts if he or she wasn't standing up while reading it. They looked at another one that enlarged the reader to twice their natural height if the reader wasn't smiling while reading it. Other books would show gruesome pictures until the reader paid it a compliment and then it would reveal its contents. It wasn't any of these books that got Harry's attention as much as a book that lay unopened so far. On the cover of this other book that Harry had just noticed were two animals: a phoenix and a serpent.
The book apparently noticed Harry's gaze because both creatures suddenly came to life. The serpent grew out of the book causing everyone to jump back. The serpent stared at Harry and started hissing and spitting speaking its native language.
Even though everyone in the room knew that Harry could speak Parseltongue they were still shocked to hear Harry speak back to the serpent. They were even more surprised when the phoenix flew over to where Harry was and picked him up by his shoulders in his talons. The class stood there stunned as the phoenix somehow took Harry with it back into the book. The serpent returned to its normal size on the cover and was completely still next to the image of the phoenix and a new image that had appeared --- Harry Potter.
A/N -Share your thoughts with me
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