Hi, for some reason Fanficnet didn't send me any reviews this time and I have to say I was upset, I worried that maybe no one had enjoyed the last chapter, but to my joy when I logged on, I found them already on my review page. Great joy returned, so thank you lots and lots for reviewing, if I miss you out 'cause they've not appeared on the page yet, sorry I'll put you on the next chapter!! Thank you (big smile)!!! Athenakitty, SheWolfe7, Drajjen (that's actually a good point, I'll try to remember), Nicole (I was worried maybe too much narrative could get boring, thanks for the suggestion), Rocky235 (welcome back, I thought I'd lost you! the beginning of the meditation is actually taken from a 'stop smoking tape' I tried long ago, it did actually help me to relax!), Numba1, Millie 4 Harry potter.
Oh yes, disclaimer; not mine, never will be (do I really have to put this on every chapter?)
Chapter 12 Questions
Harry started his patrol of the corridors, the Head boy and Girl took it in turns with the Prefects, to check that no students were breaking the curfew. Harry usually found this funny, considering he and his friends had done their fair share of sneaking about over the years.
A noise along the corridor to the kitchens attracted his attention, on investigation, he spotted two clear auras, cowering in the corner. Harry approached and stopped directly in front of them.
"Please remove your cloak," Harry said quietly.
Two very stunned first year Gryffindors appeared in front of him. "Thomas, O'Neal, what are you doing in the corridor at this time of night?" He asked them. They stammered and stuttered and tried to come up with a good excuse. Harry smiled slightly and said, "You should have had better excuse in mind, just in case you get caught. I'll let you off without reporting you this time, as long as you promise not to do this again."
"We won't."
"Sorry."
Satisfied, that he had shocked them enough by being able to see them through their cloak, he let them go, "You might want to put that back on, so no one else sees you on your way back," Harry called after them. "And don't make so much noise." The two boys nodded, looking a little relieved that Harry had suggested he heard them, rather than saw them under their invisibility cloak. Harry was alone again as he headed towards the corridor he knew would take him near the Hufflepuff common room.
Passing an empty classroom, he was surprised to feel himself being pulled inside.
"Harry," Smiled Megan Jones. "Glad to see you. Did you enjoy my chocolates?"
"Yes, they were very nice," Harry tried to keep his voice neutral.
"I've wanted to ask you something for ages," Megan continued.
"Well, why not do it now?" Harry replied. His mind was buzzing, what did she want to ask him, who was she? Was she somehow involved with Voldemort? Did she want to ask him about his training?
"I wanted to know how you felt about me." Megan asked quietly.
"I don't really know you, I had to ask Hermione what your name was," Harry answered.
"Oh, I thought that maybe you liked me," Megan sounded disappointed.
Surely she hadn't given him veritaserum just to know if he fancied her, Harry thought to himself.
"What's this about Megan?" Harry asked.
"I like you, really like you. You're so much more mature than the other guys in our year," Megan said.
"Is this really what this was all about? You gave me a potion illegally to find out if I would go out with you?" Harry exclaimed in disbelief.
"How… you knew?" Megan looked red faced.
"Come on, we're going," Harry replied, grabbing her arm and leading her towards the door.
"Where?" whispered Megan.
"To the headmaster of course," Harry replied easily, taking her with him along the corridor. When they reached the Gargoyle, Harry gave the password and took her up to the headmaster's office.
"I think you should explain to the headmaster," Harry told her when they entered his office.
Megan was clearly embarrassed as she told Dumbledore how she had given Harry the chocolates, laced with veritaserum. And how she had tried to question him, knowing it was his turn to be only patrol that night. She murmured her apologies to Dumbledore and to Harry and then started to cry quietly.
"Miss Jones, I am shocked that you would try something so dangerous. You have always been a model student, yet you selfishly risked harming Mr Potter," Dumbledore said sternly. "Are you aware that an overdose of veritaserum could have killed him?"
"Oh no, I only put three drops in each one, it says on the bottle, three drops is the maximum."
"And if Harry had eaten more than one?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
Megan paled slightly, "I didn't think of that, I'm really sorry."
"You have earned yourself a month's suspension, you will be escorted home tomorrow, and you will be forbidden to use any magic until your return." Dumbledore said, "If anything like this ever happens again, you will be expelled, do I make myself clear?"
Megan was now sobbing quietly but Dumbledore ignored her and asked Harry, "What did you do with the chocolates?"
"Oh God, I left them on a table in the common room," Harry realised.
"I think it best if you go and pack Miss Jones, Professor Sprout will inform you of your travel arrangements." Dumbledore stood, "Harry, I think we should return to Gryffindor tower immediately."
They set off at a quick pace towards the common room; Harry was still startled that Megan could have done something so serious for such a stupid reason. As he gave the password and the portrait swung open, Harry and the Headmaster were greeted by chaos.
The usually friendly Gryffindors' were yelling at one another. And the common room looked as though there had been a riot. Dumbledore shook his head and roared, "Silence."
The unexpected voice of the headmaster served its purpose, suddenly there was no noise at all, then after a few seconds people started to try and explain themselves to Dumbledore.
He held up his hand and announced, "Anyone who has eaten one of the chocolates from the box on the table please come and form a line here." He indicated to the portrait hole. "You have all consumed a dose of veritaserum. I forbid any one of you to speak again this evening. You will accompany me to the Hospital wing, in silence, and anyone who speaks will lose 50 points for Gryffindor." He peered at them over his half-moon spectacles, adding, "You will thank me tomorrow. The rest of you will clean the common room and go to bed. I will be very disappointed in you all, if you allow anything said this evening to cause problems tomorrow."
Dumbledore led the affected students out of the portrait hole and once the door had closed, confused muttering buzzed again.
"Who did it?"
"Why would someone do that?"
"Whose chocolates were they?"
"They were meant for me, someone tried to get me to take veritaserum, I'm sorry I forgot them on the table," Harry said quietly.
He spent an hour helping to restore the common room to its normal condition, and then he excused himself from the endless questions and went to his room. He smiled as he opened the door to find Hermione and Ron curled up on top of his bed asleep. He took the silencing charm of the door and reached out to shake Ron's shoulder.
"Hey, are you alright now?" Harry asked quietly.
"Yes, but I have a headache," Ron muttered rubbing his eyes.
"Well Dumbledore took the rest of the students who took the potion to the hospital wing; he'll expect you to go along," Harry replied, "Though he's forbidden them from talking."
Hermione woke up and Harry outlined what had happened. Hermione was shocked to hear why Megan had done it.
"I know, it seems so lame, I thought at least she was working for Voldemort," Harry laughed. He was embarrassed about the whole situation now; couldn't he just have a normal life? Or even just one normal thing in his life, like getting a girlfriend.
"After all it's Halloween Harry, all the weird things seem to happen to you on Halloween," Ron laughed. "Besides, I've told you before, never try and understand girls, they are from another planet than us poor guys!"
"Ron!"
Harry stepped in saying Hermione should probably take Ron to the Hospital wing, and reminded him that if he spoke at all, he would lose 50 points for Gryffindor. Watching them go down the stairs for a moment, Harry closed his door and got ready for bed. He was tired but he couldn't get over the look on Megan's face when she had been suspended. It would almost have been better if she had been a spy, at least Harry wouldn't have felt so embarrassed.
Harry's dreams were troubled that night and he had to meditate during the night, just to relax enough to go back to sleep. He was in a very sour mood when he went down to breakfast next morning. He noticed vaguely that he wasn't the only one. The students who had spent the night in the infirmary had been released, and were sitting slightly apart from the rest of their house mates.
Ron and Hermione seemed to be closer though, Harry suspected Hermione had questioned Ron thoroughly the night before, and she must have been pleased with most of his answers. The rumour mill had made light work of the story, and Harry had to put up with several students pretending to swoon in front of him and declare their undying love. This eventually became extremely irritating and Harry ate a little then fled The Great Hall.
On his way out the door he heard Alexander Nott mutter to his blonde girlfriend, "Imagine wasting time slipping him veritaserum, stupid Mud-blood should have gone straight for 'funesto potion' which Harry knew was a poison.
Gritting his teeth, Harry refused to be caught in an argument, but he noticed that Nott and his companion suddenly fell back several paces when Harry drew his wand out of his pocket. Changing direction, Harry walked out of the front doors, cast a charm to thicken his robes and went for a walk.
Sunday 1st of November was cold and windy; Harry wandered aimlessly around the grounds for a while, to cool off. Then the cold won out and he returned to the common room. It was still very quiet, too much honesty the night before had led many friends to be as cold as the wind outside. Harry found Ron and Hermione sitting at one of the tables doing homework.
"It's like a morgue in here," Harry commented, sitting beside them.
"See, I always said too much honesty wasn't a good thing," Ron laughed. "Anyway, how does it feel to know you can drive a girl that?"
"Honestly?" Harry smiled lopsidedly, "I think I would have preferred she was a spy, it would have been less embarrassing."
"Oh Harry, you'll meet someone eventually," Hermione added gently.
"She would have to be a muggle I think, and then she wouldn't know about the whole, 'boy-who-lived', nonsense." Harry replied, trying to keep his voice light.
"Well, that wouldn't be so bad," Hermione said.
"Only no muggles come here, so if I'm lucky I might start dating when I'm about 40," Harry said quietly. In attempt to change the subject, he said, "Do we still have practice on Thursday morning, before breakfast?"
"Yep," Ron replied, "Got to be ready to beat Slytherin on Saturday."
"You will," said Hermione confidently. "Have they got a new seeker?"
"Well their keeping it quiet, hoping to make us nervous," Ron replied. "Still, against Harry no one will stand a chance."
"Thanks guys," Harry smiled, "wonder who it is though."
Harry sat staring into space as the conversation melted away. He had not heard what had happened to Malfoy, after he was arrested last year. Was he already in Azkaban? What would it be like for a seventeen year old to spend his life in prison? The idea sent a shiver down his spine, and now Megan Jones was suspended, because of him as well. Life was too complicated, Harry thought, school should not be so difficult, for any of them.
The next morning's lessons with Dumbledore were to be held in a classroom, on the third floor corridor, it was still deserted.
"Harry, I want you to try using your elemental magic inside, for two reasons," Dumbledore told him. "Firstly, you should be advanced enough now to connect to the elements without having to physically touch them. And secondly, it is getting too cold to practice outside."
Harry smiled at the second reason. The lesson began with Harry trying to manipulate the air in the room, he found this easy enough, as he had done it at Redwood. Similarly he was able to use fire and water without much trouble. Then earth, the element that he had not yet managed to channel properly, if he was not completely surrounded by it. But to his surprise he managed to connect to it, and felt its energy pulsing through him.
He was much less tired at the end of his lesson, than he had been at the beginning of term. It seemed he had learned to exist with the elements, sharing their force, rather than letting them drain him. Dumbledore dismissed him in time for his next lesson and Harry was able to walk there normally, instead of having to race back to the castle form the quidditch pitch or the Dark Forest.
McGonagall had finally given the class The Green Flame Torch to read, and they had all discussed which animals they had seen, if any. Only a small handful of the class had seen an animal at all, and from them only Ron, Neville, and Susan Bones had dreamt about their animal. They were to begin attending private lessons on a Monday evening with McGonagall, to see if any of them would become animagi.
Ron was excited at the prospect, but complained loudly about the amount of reading he would have to do. McGonagall didn't mention Harry's animagus form in class, and when the class had been asked to write about the story, she had told he not to. Instead he had been given an essay on the basics of animagi transformation, and told not to discuss his version of the book with anyone else.
Potions class was still as difficult for Harry as ever, although the rest of his school work had become much easier. Snape rarely spoke to him, except to criticize his potions, he was still quite snide, but for the most part Harry had noticed a distinct improvement in his attitude.
In the Friday Defence against the Dark Arts class, Harry was still frustrated. They had moved onto more advanced duelling, but for Harry it still seemed very simple, he longed for his private lessons again. He wondered why Dumbledore had not put them into his timetable; he was only studying for five NEWT's, so he had plenty of free lessons. Unlike poor Hermione who was managing to study ten, more than anyone else in the year.
Saturday was a clear day, the winds were high, but at least it wasn't raining. The Gryffindor team walked on to the pitch to great applause, and the Slytherin came out with their new seeker. She was a tiny dark haired girl that Harry didn't recognise at all, the announcer, Dean Thomas, called her Jasmine Flint, a third year. Harry wondered if she was related to Marcus Flint who had played for Slytherin in Harry's first year. If she was then there was absolutely no family resemblance, she was petit, were Marcus had been bulky, and she didn't have those disgusting teeth either.
The players kicked off and Harry soared above the field, watching from above. He glanced at the new seeker, and was surprised to see she was quite the expert on her broom. Slytherin was not known for its choice of talent over muscle. He decided to test her out, he looked around for a moment for the snitch, and then not seeing it, he took off to the far side of the pitch. Sure enough Flint followed him, trying to see what he was chasing.
Harry tried this several times, racing around then plunging suddenly, as though he was trying to catch the snitch. Flint shadowed him the whole time. The crowd roared and Harry glanced over to see that Gryffindor had scored; Ginny did a quick loop the loop and then went after the quaffle again. Ron saved two Slytherin attempts, and avoided a nasty bludger Goyle sent at him, earning Gryffindor a penalty. The beaters were not allowed to attack the goal keeper, if the quaffle was not in his area.
Ginny took the shot and scored, 20- 0 for Gryffindor. Harry glimpsed a flash of gold to his right, and took off after it, but it was a false alarm and the snitch was nowhere to be seen. Crabbe tried to get him with a bludger and his lack of attention to the Gryffindor chasers let Emily Twinkleworth, the fifth year chaser, score a goal. Harry laughed at Crabbe, who was being yelled at by his captain, and resumed his search for the snitch.
Flint tried to trick Harry by racing away from him, as though she had seen the snitch, but just as he was about to follow her, he spotted it. It was ten feet above the Gryffindor goal, in the opposite direction. Harry let out a laugh, and Dean shouted, "He's seen it, Harry's seen the snitch." Harry was so focused on his goal he ignored the bludgers coming his way, he weaved in and out of the players, and Bludgers and stretched his hand out to catch the snitch.
"180- 0 to the Gryffindors," Dean roared, "Perfect white wash! The Slytherin's new seeker will have to work harder than that to trick Harry Potter!"
Harry landed among his team mates, who were cheering and laughing, a few seconds later, they were mobbed by the rest of Gryffindor house rushing onto the pitch. A small hand poked Harry in the ribs and he found himself looking down on Jasmine Flint.
"I just wanted to say, well done. You're a great seeker," Flint said quietly, she shook Harry's hand and disappeared into the crowds.
Harry was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say, A Slytherin congratulating a Gryffindor? It was unheard of. The crowd swept the players off to the castle for a celebration in the common room and Harry let himself be led along by them.
Someone had snuck down to the kitchens and there was food laid out on one of the tables, along with some pumpkin juice. A banner hung flashing the words, "Gryffindor for the cup," and the noise level rose as they all entered. Ron and Harry got into a debate on tactics with Seamus, and Hermione and Ginny sat listening, Ginny occasionally adding her own opinion to the mix.
It seemed that the arguments that had started due to the veritaserum had been forgotten, the Gryffindor's were too busy celebrating their win. Dinner was a noisy affair and Harry caught himself glancing at the Slytherin table, he spotted Flint, sitting eating quietly, ignoring the others around her. She seemed all right, for a Slytherin, Harry thought. Maybe she's not even friends with them.
At breakfast on Sunday, Hermione got the muggle newspaper her father sent her weekly, summarizing the week's news. Ron thought that it was a stupid idea, but Hermione insisted they should keep an eye out for anything strange. Voldemort was using muggles in his war, so it made sense that there could be stories about it in the papers.
Ron pointed out that there were wizards who checked the muggle news before it was printed, to make sure no stories about the magical world were slipped in. Harry was surprised to hear this but realised that it was probably a good idea, it would be much more difficult to remove the story from a national newspaper after the muggles had read about it.
"I wonder if this is important," Hermione muttered from behind her paper.
"What?" The boys demanded in unison.
"Well it says here that local elections in Manchester have turned out 3 Restoration Party parliament members," Hermione said, "and that the Restoration party has gone from having 2 seats in the houses of Parliament last year, to having 16 this year."
"Why would that be important," Ron asked, "Who cares about the muggle parliament?"
"Don't you see? They are extremely right wing, and they are also very racist. My Dad was going on about them last summer." Hermione looked from one boy to the other, "Look at it this way, when Voldemort started out he got people to follow him by playing on their insecurities. He set the pure-bloods against the half-bloods and muggle-borns, right? So the restoration party works in the same way, they set the British born people against the immigrant population, and the ethnic minorities."
"I suppose I see your point," Harry conceded, "But what does that have to do with Voldemort?"
"Have you ever read muggle history?" both boys shook their heads, "Well in Germany in the 1930's a muggle called Hitler started a party similar to the Restoration Party. He murdered millions of muggles and the world went to war to stop him." She looked at them expectantly, and then sighed at their vacant expressions, "Well Hitler was mysteriously murdered in 1945, you know? The year Dumbledore defeated…"
"Grindelwald," both boys said together.
"Finally, now do you see?" Hermione whispered, "Maybe we should tell Dumbledore about this."
The boys nodded and waited for Dumbledore to leave the breakfast table then followed him up to his office.