Disclaimer; not making any profit!
Sorry about the confusion with chapter 1 and 6, I was fixing a spelling error in chapter 6 and accidentally replaced chapter 1. Thanks for pointing it out, hopefully the story makes more sense now that it's been sorted out!
Athenakitty, Ash Knight, Steveuk1(),Maxwell Coffee House, chaser1, Violet, rahl, SheWolfe7, Jeklsmom5, David305, leggylover03, Thank you all, your reviews make my day!
Chapter 8 mistakes
The first day passed quickly and Harry was pleased to hear that Flitwick was going to be working along the same lines as McGonagall. He too had decided they were advanced enough to begin working out solutions to projects on their own.
Snape had been his usual annoying self; he gave them the instructions for a potion and then moved through the class criticizing their work. Thankfully he had left Harry alone.
The next morning they had their first Defence against the Dark arts class. Professor Romanov, the first defence teacher to last more than a year since Harry started, arrived to take the register. When he finished, he announced that they would be studying the Patronus charm. Hermione looked at Harry and smiled slightly.
"Miss Granger, tell the class what the Patronus charm is used for." Romanov called.
"The Patronus charm is used to repel Dementors, and each wizard's is unique."
"Yes, now the spell is, 'expecto patronus'," Romanov told them, and I believe we have an expert with us. Come forward Mr Potter and show the class how it's done."
Harry shuffled out, embarrassed, to the front of the class and drew his wand. Then he closed his eyes for a moment and pictured the statue Moony had given him, it reminded him of the first time he had called a patronus and he smiled.
A silvery white stag burst forward from Harry's wand and he opened his eyes to watch it gallop around the room. Eventually he noticed the look of surprise on the other students' faces and confused he turned to see Romanov looking just as surprised. Then he realised what he had done, he had called his patronus with a silent voice.
"Um yes, very impressive Mr Potter," Romanov said. "Who's next? Miss Granger, step forward please."
Harry sank down in his chair and Ron leaned over to whisper, "Awesome Harry, when did you learn to do that?"
"It's supposed to be a secret, Dumbledore's going to be mad," Harry whispered back.
Hermione had successfully conjured her patronus and returned to her seat. Romanov was calling the rest of the class one at a time to try. By the end of the class, all the ex DA members had earned 5 points for their houses by producing their patronus' first time. Romanov declared himself very pleased with them all.
They trooped down to Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid and spent the lesson fending off his latest creatures. Harry was so distracted by his slip in Defence that he stood, silently, ignoring the rest of the class. He quickly raced back to the castle when the bell rang for lunch, to find Dumbledore.
Harry found him entering the Great Hall and called, "Professor, can I speak to you?"
"Ah Harry, I heard about your slip in Defence this morning," Dumbledore smiled.
"What should I do? Everyone noticed," Harry replied.
"There is nothing you can do now; I imagine it's all over the school by now." Dumbledore looked at Harry, "it shows however that you are gaining strength with your new skills, and that is a good sign."
Harry was surprised that Dumbledore hadn't seemed upset with him, but then what had he expected - they couldn't cast a memory charm on the other students to make them forget.
"Harry, you must practice your magic, that is what school is for, so maybe it is time to let some of your new skills show," Dumbledore smiled. "You should be proud of what you have learned and if we continue to hide it, you are robbed of the opportunity for further practice."
"So I can start using voiceless magic in class?"
"Well it would seem pointless to hide it now, though perhaps the students don't need to know about the elemental skills quite yet," Dumbledore replied.
"Yes Sir," Harry answered. He realised that Dumbledore was right; the best way to improve now was for him to use his silent voice and wandless magic all the time. He actually felt a bit lighter as he went in to lunch.
The next lesson was Transfigurations again and Harry took his seat beside Ron quietly. McGonagall told them to resume work on their projects. Harry took out his acorn and placed it on his desk, taking his wand out; he concentrated on the spell he had decided to use. With a small rustle his acorn grew wings and turned into a sparrow.
The sparrow circled over his head and set off around the class, many of the students stopped what they were doing to watch its progress.
"Well done Mr Potter," McGonagall said. She made her way to Harry's desk and asked, "Now how long did you plan for the incantation to hold?"
"It should return to its form after an hour," Harry replied.
"Good, well 5 points to Gryffindor, you obviously studied hard last night, keep up the good work."
Harry nodded and turned his face away, in case McGonagall saw the truth written there, he had not studied at all, just read the spell during class yesterday.
"Hey, nice one, is it easier when you don't have to say the spell out loud?" Ron whispered.
Harry shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know. "Mr Weasley, you would do well to pay attention to your own work," the professor called from across the room. "Now Mr Potter you may try something a bit larger I think."
Harry took out his books and started to search for something else to try. By the time the class had finished, Harry's bird had reverted to an acorn and Hermione had managed to charm a pencil into a dancing wooden figurine.
Harry watched the rest of the students go to their next classes and then left to go to his room for the free period. He spent the time meditating, joining them for dinner later.
Wednesday morning saw his first lesson with Dumbledore, Harry went to the empty Quidditch pitch. He had brought the things he used to represent the elements in his bag, laying them out; he sat in the middle of them waiting for Dumbledore. He watched as the tall figure dressed in royal blue robes approached.
"Good morning Sir," Harry greeted him.
"Good morning Harry, ready to begin?" Dumbledore replied. "Why don't you begin as you normally would, then we can try a few spells."
Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes, it seemed most appropriate to begin with air. So Harry searched his awareness and connected with the Air element. Cool winds gently buffeted around him and through him and he opened his eyes, he was floating several inches from the ground. Releasing the breath he landed gently in front of the headmaster.
"Excellent, now Harry, can you feel the natural flow of the element around you?" Harry nodded in answer to Dumbledore's question. "Right, now I want you to guide it, make it change direction, control it."
Harry though for a moment and then raised his hands level with his shoulders, the air around him shifted and began to whirl around his legs. Concentrating on the movement Harry pictured it gaining speed and growing. A small whirlwind grew around him blocking his view of Dumbledore.
"Good, now try to use it as a camouflage for an attack, something simple; you don't want to lose control." Dumbledore called over the noise.
Harry pictured Dumbledore's blue hat and called it to himself. He smiled as the hat appeared in his outstretched hand. The wind faded and died.
"Well done, now I want you to try it again, and this time try to cast the wind away from yourself, aim it at that post," Dumbledore pointed at a tall post he had conjured in the centre of the field.
Harry began again, after a few attempts he managed to destroy the post with his whirlwind. Pleased with his results he looked towards his teacher.
"Excellent Harry, you are gaining control very quickly," Dumbledore said. "You are progressing much quicker than I would have imagined."
"What about the Green Flame Torch? Will you teach me how to use it soon?"
"When I am sure you can control the basics, the torch will act as an amplifier," Dumbledore replied. "We will try another element on Friday, now you should hurry to your next lesson."
Harry rushed back to the school for his Charms lesson, arriving after everyone else had sat down. With a "Sorry," to Flitwick he took his seat at the back of the class. Flitwick had told them last lesson to write down which charms they would like to work on, so Harry pulled out his parchment and glanced down the list, trying to decide where to begin.
He began with simple charms they had studied in first year, only this time he was doing them silently, then wandlessly, trying to gauge the difference in strength. After a while he registered a heavy silence in the usually noisy classroom. Glancing up he saw that he had an audience; all the other students had stopped what they were doing to watch him. Glancing to the front of the class he saw Flitwick was also staring at him.
As though he suddenly noticed that his class were not working, Flitwick clapped his hands together loudly and told them all to get back to work. He approached Harry, his face lit with a smile.
"Mr Potter, that is very impressive. Have you been practicing long?"
"Um, since last summer Sir," Harry replied quietly.
"And can you control the more complex charms?"
"Some of them, but I thought I should try the simpler ones first."
In truth, Harry could now do almost all the spells and charms with his silent voice, but he did not want to reveal that quite yet. The other students had seemed startled enough by the basics.
"Well let me know if you require any additional help," Flitwick added then turned to watch the rest of the students work.
Harry resumed working on his list, his face tinged slightly red in embarrassment. As he made his way down to lunch, Harry was swamped by the rest of the Gryffindor's firing questions at him, all clearly impressed by his new skills.
In potions after lunch, Harry had to concentrate on the complex potion Snape had them brewing. But he was aware of the other students frequently casting glances in his direction. He supposed they were waiting to see if he would try anything else unusual. Harry sighed inwardly, it was as though he had been transported back to his forth year. During the tri-wizard tournament, he had always felt like everyone was staring at him. It was a relief to hear the bell ring, signalling dinner time.
However the attention was magnified as he entered the Great Hall, it seemed that all the students had now heard about what he could do, and they were straining to get a look at him. Harry wanted to yell, 'I look exactly the same as I did yesterday,' but he bit his tongue and tried to concentrate on his dinner instead.
Harry barely tasted what he ate as he gulped down his dinner and fled the attention as quickly as he could. Retreating to his room, he pulled out his potions homework and was soon immersed in the complex theories Snape had them writing about. Ron and Hermione were obviously taking advantage of their time alone, because no one disturbed him all evening. And a tired but more relaxed Harry fell in to bed around eleven, he managed to sleep undisturbed for the night.
Waking early, Harry sat on the floor and meditated for a while before meeting his friends for breakfast.
"Morning Harry, quidditch practice this Saturday morning, okay?" Ron told him.
"Sure, still got a full team?"
"Yes, everyone's back this year. We're gonna win the cup again!"
"Course we are," Harry grinned, at least his friends weren't treating him any different. He hoped the other students would come around to Ron's way of thinking soon. But so far he was still getting strange looks and whispered conversations aimed his way.
"We've got defence first haven't we?" Harry said, not wanting the conversation to dry up.
"Yes, suppose we should get a move on," Ron answered, then grinned slyly as he added, "So you gonna show us more of your new super powers?"
Harry smacked him on the shoulder good naturedly and followed him out of the Great Hall. "Where's Hermione?" he asked Ron.
"She went to speak to McGonagall about Neville, she just can't leave it alone," Ron answered with a sigh.
"Are you two fighting?"
"Kind of, I told her to lay off Neville, he just needs some time. But you know Hermione; she always knows what's best." Ron replied.
"Well he does look a bit worse for wear," Harry said.
"Of course he does, he just lost his Grandmother," Ron snapped. "You can't just forget about something like that. I let slip that he's taking dreamless sleep potion, and Hermione got all worked up."
Harry thought that Ron and Hermione both had a valid point, so he kept quiet. No point in getting between the two of them, they would have to work it out on their own. They entered the class and found Hermione waiting for them, she didn't look too pleased.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"Professor McGonagall told me that she was well aware of the situation, and that I should give him more time," Hermione answered.
"In other words, she said exactly what I said. Only you'll listen to her!" Ron snapped, and then sat down at the other side of Harry.
"What do you think Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I think their right. Losing someone is hard, it takes time to get over it, all we can do is wait until Neville is ready to talk and then listen to him," Harry replied.
"Bloody hell Hermione, doesn't my opinion mean anything to you? You just ignore it and go and ask everyone else you can what they think," Ron looked dangerously red faced, "Why don't you go check what Filch thinks?"
"Grow up Ron; I'm just worried about him, that's all. It has absolutely nothing to do with you and I," Hermione snapped in reply.
"What ever!" Ron replied.
Romanov chose that moment to enter the room and forestall any further argument from the pair.
"Right, today we are studying various curses that are placed on objects, for the sole purpose of harming others," Romanov began. "There are some nasty curses out there and you should know how to detect them and break them if necessary."
The lesson was actually quite interesting, but not nearly as exciting as hearing Bill describe various types of curses. They copied down reams of notes and then their homework for the next lesson. They had to study, in depth, at least five of the main curses and be prepared to break them next class.
Hermione gathered her books as the bell rang and stormed out of the class before Ron and Harry had even finished noting down their homework.
"Gods, she's driving me nuts," Ron complained. "I'll see you later." And with that he left Harry alone to head to the library for his study period. Halfway there he realised that Ron had a free period as well, and Hermione had Arithmancy, so he wondered where his friend had raced off to.
After looking up some curses in the restricted section – Harry remembered how it had seemed so tempting when they were not allowed to use it, now it was mostly boring, musty old books. Smiling to himself at the memory of breaking in to it during first year, Harry replaced his books and headed down for lunch.
Ron and Hermione were both there, though they were sitting opposite each other, instead of side by side as they usually did. Harry stifled a groan and went to sit next to Ron.
"Where did you go?" Harry asked Ron.
"Outside, I felt like getting some fresh air," Ron muttered in response.
"You doing Muggle studies after lunch?" Harry asked.
"Yeh, with the sixth years," Ron replied, returning to his food. Harry gave up, his friends were obviously still mad at each other and they were not going to let it go. Harry ate quietly and left to return to the common room, Thursdays were his quietest day, he only had one official class.
He had almost reached the common room when he heard a voice yelling, "Tarantallegra." Racing round the corner, Harry was shocked to find Goyle performing the most spectacular dance, and Crabbe lying on the floor in what looked like a full body bind.
"What's going on here?" Harry demanded.
"Ask him," Goyle managed to point to the retreating back of Neville.
"Neville did this?" Harry was astonished.
To Harry's misfortune Snape turned the corner just as Neville disappeared at the end of the corridor.
"What is going on here?" Snape asked in a very cold voice."Potter, how many times have I warned you about fighting in the corridors?"
Harry didn't even bother to answer, no matter what he said to Snape, he knew that Snape would not believe him. Snape released Crabbe and Goyle form their hexes and told them to get to class.
"And you Potter, the Head Boy fighting, how disappointing. Twenty points from Gryffindor and I think an evening of detention should help you to remember that the rules apply to you as well!" Snape told him, "You will report to my office at 6 o'clock tonight." With that he turned and walked down the corridor.
Harry burst into the common room searching for Neville. He spotted him sitting in a corner his head in his hands.
"What the hell's gotten into you?" Harry demanded.
"Leave it," Neville snapped.
"What ever!" Harry stormed up to his room and slammed the door. Sinking down on his chair, he felt the anger drain away. He felt guilty for shouting at Neville; he remembered only too well how difficult it had been when Sirius died, he'd just wanted to be left alone as well.
He stayed in his room until dinner time and when he entered the Great Hall he noticed Neville was no where to be found. Ron and Hermione seemed to have called a truce, and unwillingly to start them up again, he sat down without mentioning Neville. After dinner he started down to the dungeons.
"Why have you got detention?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"Oh, you know Snape. He never needs an excuse," Harry answered lightly. Unsure of why he was still covering for Neville, Harry left his friends and went to Snape's office.
"Come," Snape called through the closed door, in answer to Harry's knock. "You can clean those shelves there, without magic. Be very careful, those are highly specialized ingredients."
Harry set to work without comment. Snape continued to mark papers on his desk, and Harry was relieved that he was ignoring him. Three hours later, Harry finished replacing all the vials and turned to find Snape scowling at him. "You may go," he snarled. Snatching up his bag, Harry left the office without looking back.
"Alright Harry?" called Ron as he entered the common room.
"Yes, I only had to clean his shelves," Harry replied flopping down on the chair beside his friend. "Where's Hermione?"
"She went to her room to study."
"Are you two still fighting?" Harry asked.
"No, not really. But I'm still a bit pissed at her, you know?"
Harry nodded and let the subject drop. A glance around the room told him that Neville was not there, he probably went to bed early, Harry decided. "Well I'm done in; I think I'll go to bed. See you in the morning."
Ron muttered good night and continued the game of chess he was playing with Dean.