Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER I will never claim to own any of the
characters or stories created by JK and will Never say otherwise.
Chapter 2 Back To Hogwarts
Harry's time at number twelve Grimauld place flew by after the Diagon Alley attack. Before he knew it, it was September first and Harry and the Weasleys, plus Hermione were walking through the barrier and into platform 9 ¾ . Harry walked up the train looking for a spare compartment. He had just found one when he felt a hand under his elbow try to pull him back. "Harry," It was Ginny "I have just talked to everyone in the prefect carriage for Gryffindor and they all agreed you could sit up with us in our compartment." Harry looked at her, her big blue eyes shining. He shook his head to clear his mind, why is it I find it so hard to look away from her these days? He thought. "Okay, lead the way." He pulled his cart behind him as Ginny pulled him along by is other hand. When they got to the compartment he pulled his bag up the steps and sat down next to Ginny. "Um Ron u got a bit of lipstick on your chin." Rons eyes opened wide and he started to rub his chin. Harry Ginny and Hermione burst out laughing and Ron glared at Harry. "I thought mum had left a big red lip mark, she did it to me when I was little once." They all started laughing again. "Well now the silence is broken lets get down to some serious exploding snap."
On the trip they all laughed and played exploding snap until their eyebrows were singed and ears were red from the warmth coming off the explosions. It felt like no time before they were climbing off he train. Harry stepped off the train and into the midst of the other students. Over to the edge of the platform he saw a lantern bobbing above the heads of the students. "Alright Harry?" Harry waved to Hagrid "Alright Hagrid." He nodded back at him. "Better get these 'ere firs years 'cross the lake 'fore the feast. First years this way!" He called bobbing his lantern above the heads of the students.
Harry, Ron Hermione and Ginny walked off the platform and towards the carriages that to Harry had seemed horseless until his fifth year. The carriages were led by Thestrals; a skull like horse with wings that could only be seen by those that have seen death. They climbed into a carriage and closed the door as soon as it shut the Thestrals began to pull the carriage towards the large castle of Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry.
They walked in the large doors and into the great hall. Everything looked the same From the brightly lit room to the four house tables and the one on a raised platform for staff. Harry was home. They sat at the table chatting with friends about the summer and just being happy before the sorting started. Hagrid threw the large oak doors open and walked down the aisle towards the front of the room, first years jogging to keep up. The first years lined themselves up across the front of the staff table and Professor Mcgonagall walked in front of them carrying a stool with what looked like a very old hat sitting atop it. Everyone went quiet, looking at the hat. Suddenly it burst into song.
Through all the time I've been here
Many have come and gone And on all their heads I have sat After I sang my song But never have I met a mind That I couldn't place When you pull me on your head I will find your space Be it Slytherin Smart and Sly Their cunning that's not rivaled Or Ravenclaw smart and swift The brightest is their title Or Hufflepuff where loyalty lies Ones are always humble Or Gryffindor for bravery Put themselves last for others But these founders always knew That safety is in numbers So work together to survive With peace between the houses The hall burst into cheers and applause as the sorting hat finishedand died down again as Professor McGonagall stood before them unrolling a large sheet of parchment. "When I call your name please step forward and put on the hat. Bones, Sasha." Sasha Bones ran to the seat and put the hat on "HUFFLEPUFF!" she was followed by three more Hufflepuff's before a few Slytherins then finally a few new Gryffindor, Bob franklin and his identical twin bill. By the time the sorting was finished Gryffindor had five boy and seven girl first years.
Harry sat at the table looking up across the staff table before.. "Ron, Hermione! Look who's sitting next to Dumbledore." They turned and they both gasped. Mad Eye Moody was sitting at the staff table staring out across the great hall. "Why didn't they tell us he would be here? And do you think he is the new teacher?" Hermione shook her head "I don't know, could be. Maybe Dumbledore didn't want anyone knowing he was hiring Moody. Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise." Ron nodded "Sounds like Dumbledore." They all agreed and quieted as Dumbledore stood to give his speech.
"Hello and welcome to another school year at Hogwarts. I wish to advise you all that this year we will be taking certain precautions in how we run the school and its activities. Firstly we will be applying a strict rule that nobody is to leave the castle after dark, this will be until the next morning and if broken will be punishable by your head of house. Second, all hogsmeade visits will now be chaperoned, meaning that if you are in hogsmeade you will see many teachers around. And lastly the forbidden forest is still forbidden, now more than ever as there are many dangerous creatures beginning to show themselves. I would like to introduce the new Defense against the dark arts teacher, Professor Alastor Moody. He will be with us until he sees fit to leave. Now I think there is only one more thing to say, so here it is. Enjoy!" With that the golden plates and pitchers filled themselves with food and drink only fit for a feast. Harry piled food on his plate as he listened to the chatter around him. People talking about the diagon alley incident (he had escaped the news, nobody knew how it had ended.) about the return of Voldemort and what they expected this year at school. Harry looked around the room, people were happy, laughing, talking and eating. This is how it was meant to be. This is why people fought, he thought, for the young people, for love and freedom and happiness. Everything matters. After the last of the sweets disappeared, Dumbledore stood once again. "I would like to welcome you all one last time, but now it's off to bed. Tomorrow is the start of the first term, you should all get rested up before then." Everyone stood, full and cheerful, most ready for bed. Harry and the others walked up the stairs. Ginny was leading the first years up the stairs with Colin Creevy. She smiled at him as she went past and then up the stairs. By the time Harry, Ron and Hermione got upstairs the first years had already gone up to bed and so had Ginny and Colin.
Harry wished Hermione and Ron goodnight and headed up to bed. They were prefects and had decided this might be a good opportunity to revise the school rules (Ron had been forced into it by Hermione). Harry changed and got into bed, closing the curtains and drifting to sleep.
*** Harry was woken the next morning by the early morning sunlight coming through the brake in his bed curtains, it was still too early for class and Ron was still asleep so Harry got his books and walked downstairs for breakfast. He was the first Gryffindor to the great hall and had finished his breakfast before Ron and Hermione joined him. They sat down as Professor Mcgonagall walked around handing out the timetables. "Potter, I hope you do well this year and next, you must have worked very hard to have achieved the score you did. And although Professor Snape was not to happy that you would be in his class again this year he decided it was for the best." She said with a kind smile. Harry looked at her retreating back confused. "What did she mean by that?" Hermione looked up. "Must have been talking about your O.W.L's. How many did you get?" Harry shook his head. "I haven't opened them. A lot happened and I just forgot." He then pulled his wand out of his pocket and raised it above his head. "ACCIO OWL'S LETTER" He said strongly. He waited for a few moments and his letter came flying above his head. He threw his hand up to catch it and tore it open. He paused before unfolding the letter "I cant" Hermione nodded and he handed her the letter. As she read her eyebrows raised into a look of surprise. She looked up at him. "Is it bad?" He said slowly. She shook her head. "Harry, you got fifteen." Harry's eyes flew wide open. "Fifteen? But how? I failed divination and didn't even finish the astronomy tests." Hermione nodded. "Yes but you got three for defense against the dark arts two for charms and potions so that makes seven then you also got two for care of magical creatures and transfiguration that's eleven. Then you got one for astronomy, divination, herbology and history of magic." Harry opened his eyes wide and his jaw dropped he had got as many as Hermione. He had got fifteen O.W.L's. and he was in all the classes he needed to try and be an Auror. "How? I am sure I didn't even warrant one in potions." Hermione and Ron both shrugged. "Harry, you have just done as good as Hermione, don't complain." Ron said as if he was talking to a small child. "Your right, so what have you got first?" He asked them. He looked down his time table. "I have a double Defense against the dark arts, should prove interesting." They nodded. "Harry, I signed up to be an auror as well. We have the same classes." Ron told him. Harry looked up and nodded smiling. "Well at least two of us will stay together." He looked over at Hermione. "Well," She started "Three of us, I chose two different job opportunities, I chose Auror and muggle relations, since I got muggle studies down packed they agreed I didn't need to take that class." Harry beamed at them. "So we are staying together? Thank god I thought I would have to put up with the Slytherins by myself." Now that they were in sixth year all of them would be taking classes together.
Harry Ron and Hermione walked down the corridor toward the dark arts classroom. As they rounded the corner Harry was surprised to see Malfoy standing to the side of the door. "Potter, what are you lot doing here? Come to report your scar hurting to the new Defense teacher?" the Slytherins guffawed stupidly. "No Malfoy I'm here learning how to defend myself so when your dad gets out of prison I can put him straight back in." Malfoy's face went red and he drew his wand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Malfoy turned to see Mad eye Moody limping toward him. "Potter's a damned good dueler but if you think you can get away with it, try." Malfoy looked at Harry who now had his arm hanging at his side, wand in hand. "You wait Potter, I'll get you one day." Harry looked him in the eye before entering the classroom and sitting in the front row. Hermione and Ron sat either side of him and pulled out their books.
"This is Defense against the arts, sixth grade. You are all here because you were the best in your year for the last four years in DADA and have pursued a career in need of these skills. I would like to warn you that anyone doing anything that is not acceptable will be thrown out of this class. I have put a spell on this room so that anything I tell you not to discuss with others cant be discussed with anyone not in this class. Why you may ask? One simple reason: Protection. You will hear things in this classroom that very few people know. That some people believe others shouldn't know ." He stopped and scanned the room with his magical eye, whilst he read down the lesson plan with the other one. "Today we will be discussing the Diagon Alley incident before we move onto ways of magical defense next lesson. Now is there anyone here that was at Diagon alley during the incident?" Harry Ron and Hermione put up their hands, as well as a few Ravenclaw's and Draco Malfoy. Moody looked around the room and nodded. "Thought so." He pointed to a Ravenclaw. "You, ah Patil where were you when they attacked, and were you hiding? Don't be ashamed sometimes the best defense is to hide." She nodded. "I was in the apothecary, I saw them coming and I hid behind the barrels of ingredients." He nodded "And you ah... miss Midgeaon?" she looked around the room then began. "I was in the street, just as they started. I ran into Weasleys wizard wheezes. Just after I ran in Ginny Weasley ran in and told her brother to put a locking charm on the door and not to open it because there were death eaters." He nodded. "very good, and you Mr. Malfoy?" Malfoy smirked and then sent a happy look at Harry before starting. "I was watching from up the street, then I walked into the leaky cauldron and used the floo network to get out." He again nodded. "And potter, why don't you tell us what you, Weasley and Granger did?" Harry looked around the room. They were looking at Harry curiously. "We fought." There was a gasp throughout the room. "Fought?" Moody said with a heavy sigh "you three apprehended the attackers and then you," he said nodding at Harry. "Got rid of the wave of Dementors about to attack the young Weasleys store." There was an even bigger gasp. "That was you three?" Padma asked amazedly. They nodded and continued to look at Moody. "Now, this brings us to another question: When SHOULD you fight?" The whole class looked at each other. Was he kidding? Everybody sat in silence. Moody looked at each one of them and continued. "Nobody knows? Well let me tell you, whenever there are innocents at stake." He paused and let it sink in. "Young Potter had the right idea. He sent the Weasley girl inside to make sure nobody else came out. The first thing he thought of was others safety. Then he and his two friends took down the people attacking them." Every one in the class was staring at them. Harry felt his face grow warm and noticed Hermione looked a little red as well as Ron's ears. Harry saw Malfoy staring at them with a look of disgust on his face. Harry turned back to moody who gave a nod and continued. "I would like you all to write that down and write what you would have done if it was you fighting. Potter, Weasley and Granger come to the front." There was a scuttle for people to pull out parchment and Harry Ron and Hermione walked to the front.
They stood before Moody and waited for him to talk. "Dumbledore has told me that you three had a little secret society last year." Hermione nodded and Ron explained "We hated that Umbridge women so we talked Harry into teaching us about DADA". Moody nodded then continued, "I have discussed it with the headmaster and he would like me to run a dueling association but I would like you to continue running this group, because I would be interested to see how much of an advantage it would give those students compared to the ones who were not trained by you three." They all nodded. "Professor how will we see this?" He looked at Harry and smiled. "Well Potter, next weekend we will hold a tournament, it will be joined by everyone who wants to and it will be dueling. Everyone dueling one on one and we will find out who is the best and so on. Then we will hold one before the end of the easter term and we will see." After he finished he sent the three of them back to their desks and waited for the others to cease writing before addressing the whole class. "As Defense against the dark arts teacher, Dumbledore has asked me to run a dueling association. It will be led by team leaders, there will be five teams. Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and.. Dumbledore's army." Harry's eyes opened wide. Padma Patil looked at him awestruck and then Malfoy's hand shot up. "Since when has Dumbledore got an army? I mean if he has wouldn't it be off fighting the Dark lord?" Moody laughed. "No Mr. Malfoy, you misunderstand this was a group that was running all through last year that was named that in respect of Dumbledore, a group founded by Potter to teach all who wanted to know how to defend themselves." The Slytherins looked at him with disgust "Well nobody in Slytherin knew any of this. "That's because it wasn't open to anyone who would be likely to betray us." Ron spat at them. Moody looked at him. "And why do you say that Mr. Weasley?" Ron looked up at him. "Because we know of three Slytherins who's fathers are deatheaters and we know for a fact that you know who gets what he wants at all costs, we know they have the potential to be a deatheater if 'He' wants them to be." Moody nodded. "That is a fair point, but a background is not a person, well not exactly. It is a way the family before the person lived, the family before them. The choices before them. None of this matters its not always who they are." He told them gruffly. The bell sounded loudly. "This lesson we will be practicing our fight skills."
***
An hour later Harry walked out of DADA with Ron and Hermione behind him, muscles sore and faces red. Moody had drilled them in dueling techniques (telling Harry to not reveal how he could duel until the tournament.) and they were heading to lunch before they had transfiguration. As they walked into the great hall they saw a crowd of people gathered around a large notice board, when they drew closer they saw what it was. It was an advertisement for the duel tournament and a sign up sheet Harry took a quill from his bag and signed his name on the sheet. Hermione and Ron did the same and they continued on to the Gryffindor table. As he sat down he had saw Cho Chang smile at him as she walked toward the Gryffindor table. "Hi Harry, how are you?" He smiled back "Im good thanks Cho and you?" She laughed airily "Oh we are a formal pair aren't we?" He laughed to. "So are you still running DA?" She asked quietly. "Yeah I am. And we are going to be a team in the duel club, against the four houses." She looked at him surprised, "Really? That's great. So when's our next meeting?" He thought for a moment then had an idea. "I don't know yet, keep your galleon on you, spread it around the DA" she nodded, smiled again and then walked off, just as Neville Longbottom walked up. "Hey Neville, have a good holiday?" Harry asked him happily. "Yeah thanks Harry, we had a lot of fun. I went to Ireland with Luna we were looking for the purple herklump." Harry heard Hermione snort with laughter but stifle it before Neville noticed. "Did you find it?" he asked politely, "No, we couldn't find any but we saw some leprechauns and a few Irish short snouts but that's all." Harry nodded. "Hey Neville tell Luna to start carrying her DA galleon around again, you to. Im running it again." He nodded excitedly and ran off to the Ravenclaw table. Harry finished his lunch and rose from the table, "Well im heading to transfiguration," Ron nodded and stood and Hermione was already walking toward the door. "Coming?" She said briskly. "She is too predictable" Ron said shaking his head. Harry gave a small snort of laughter but followed shortly.
Transfiguration was not as entertaining as DADA. When they entered Professor Mcgonagall gave them a strict talk on how they should behave during her lessons and if they didn't, they would be gone from the class. This year they would be learning about the body transfiguration. A very complicated but useful type of magic. "To do this transfiguration you need to have a strong will and know what you are doing. Although it is very useful this magic is very dangerous and should not be taken lightly." After that they wrote notes for the first period and then put it to practice for the second.
"Transformatious!" Harry said for the third time, imagining Ron turning into a mouse. "Why wont it work?" He asked as Ron tried it on him. "Well you must be swinging your wand wrong Harry." Hermione said turning Parvati into a mouse and back again for the third time in a row. "Its simple really, swing flick swirl." They nodded and continued to try but to no avail. "For homework tonight I would like you all to continue practicing the animal transfiguration spell and try to change them into something a little bigger, maybe a bird. Have a good afternoon, class dismissed." They walked out and towards the common room. Nothing had changed at Hogwarts, everything was the same. All life went on and nobody noticed that everything was changing.
*** Harry woke a cold sweat running down his brow, he had relived the ministry incident. Seeing Sirius die over and over again. He stood from his bed and walked across to the pitcher of water that sat in his dorm. He looked out the window as he drank and watched the breeze push across the tops of the trees of the forbidden forest. What would he do this year if he lost someone else because of something he did? No, he thought, I will lose no one this year, I will not let that happen. He walked back to his trunk and took out the books that Dumbledore had given him, taking them down to the common room and settling before the fire. He picked up the book on ways of dueling and began to read the introduction.
Dueling is an age-old form of conflict solving between wizards. It was a way that a wizard could face his opponents in a fashion to which displayed both strength and knowledge. Throughout this book you will learn of many styles of dueling from stances to dodging, plans to order of spells. All secrets are revealed and all beliefs are printed in this book about dueling.
He read on flipping to the page of styles. He looked across the moving pictures and tried to decide on a style he wanted to try. There were the styles of the serpent, wolf pack and gryffin. Gryffin. It had a picture of a golden Gryffin and a man with his wand in a stance like a striking gryffin. "the Gryffin" Harry said in awe. He read the piece of writing next to the picture and felt even more surprised.
The Style of the Gryffin was formed by the legendary Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Gryffindor believed that if the wand was used as swiftly as a sword, as a Gryffins claws, the users strength would be seen in stance. The style of the gryffin was built on the principle of swiftness and strength, two main factors in the way of battle.
Harry ran his finger across the picture. The Gryffin. That is what I will learn, he thought. He turned to the page which began the chapter on the gryffin style and started to read.
The gryffin is a magical creature, it is one that is only seen with belief and is swift and strong. The strength to believe in yourself is a large part of the style of gryffin, as all spells need belief and belief in ones strengths is a need for the greatest dueler....
Harry read the first line and realized something, since he was told about the prophecy he had been able to do more magically. Maybe he was believing he would be the one to defeat Voldemort, with the power to defeat him. He sat turning it over in his mind, until dozing off to sleep. "Harry, wake up. Your going to be late for breakfast." Harry opened his eyes slowly amazed to see the world come into focus. He was in the common room. How did I get here? He thought, before looking down and seeing a book on his lap, Oh yeah I was reading about the dueling. "I thought I would never wake you up." Harry jumped slightly as he realized Ginny was standing in front of him, hands on hips looking at him worriedly. "What are you doing down here Harry?" she asked kindly. He held the book up for her to see. "Reading" He said simply. She nodded at him. "Well you better get dressed and down to breakfast before class, lucky I was coming back up to get my potions ingredients or you would have slept later." He nodded. "Thanks Gin, well I better go get dressed." She nodded and headed to her dorm as he ran up the stairs.
Harry ran into the great hall and sat down next to Hermione, who immediately turned to him looking surprised. "Harry, did you just wake up?" He nodded. She looked like she understood but didn't push the subject. He reached across the table to take a piece of toast and found Hedwig landing on his arm, "Hello girl, what you got there?" he took the letter from her and placed a piece of bacon rind in her beak "There you go," he said quietly and she hooted thankfully and flew away. He looked down at the parchment and noticed the neat hand writing of professor Dumbledore and quickly opened it.
Harry, Please come to my office after breakfast. We have something to discuss.
Albus Dumbledore.
Harry rose from the table saying he had to see Dumbledore and walked out of the room and toward the gargoyle that hid Dumbledore's office. "Good morning Potter." Harry heard Professor McGonagall's strict voice behind him. "The password is sour snitch," the gargoyle bounced out of the way. "The headmaster is waiting for you." Harry stood on the stairs moving slowly up towards the headmasters office. He had been here before, just last year he had tried to trash this office. He raised his hand to knock on the door which opened at that moment, "Ah Harry, there you are. Please come in and sit." Dumbledore said jovially "we need to discuss your tuitions ."
Harry looked at the old headmaster questioningly before taking a seat. "Tuition sir?" 'Yes Harry, if you think back you will remember that you did not complete your occlumency training last year and considering what happened I believe it imperative that you learn this skill to the utmost of you abilities." Harry nodded and looked at the floor. "on top of this training I would like you and your friends to take tutoring in transfiguration, Animigus training, Auror training and advanced dueling training." Harry looked at the old man to stunned to say anything.
He had always thought about becoming an animigus as a task out of his reach. Now he and his friends would be learning how to transform, duel and be Aurors. This was to much for Harry. He didn't know what to do and he didn't know what to say. He was stuck halfway up to stand as he thought about just walking out of this room and away from it all, but his mind got the better of him. "when do we start?" He managed to choke out.
Dumbledore beamed at him and handed him a bunch of parchments. "These are you schedules, we would appreciate it if you were able to organize quidditch practice and the DA around them. If that is not possible please speak to the other people involved and work something out. First class is on Thursday night. Have a good day Harry." Harry nodded slowly before walking out the door.
*** Harry Walked into charms late, handing Professor Flitwick a note as the jolly man bobbed up to greet him. After Harry took a seat at the back next to Ron and Flitwick had climbed up onto the pillows on his chair he used to stand on the class began.
"Over the next term we will be looking at charms that were created to harm people. These are not curses but are on the border of it so I would advise that no one is caught using these outside of this classroom unless they are looking for severe punishment." He strictly stared around the room and every one was surprised as they had never seen him act so strictly. "Today we will be talking about the different curses you are going to be learning over the next few months. After we have finished this topic we will be moving onto charm creation and will be studying it for the rest of the school year."
***
Chapter 2 Back To Hogwarts
Harry's time at number twelve Grimauld place flew by after the Diagon Alley attack. Before he knew it, it was September first and Harry and the Weasleys, plus Hermione were walking through the barrier and into platform 9 ¾ . Harry walked up the train looking for a spare compartment. He had just found one when he felt a hand under his elbow try to pull him back. "Harry," It was Ginny "I have just talked to everyone in the prefect carriage for Gryffindor and they all agreed you could sit up with us in our compartment." Harry looked at her, her big blue eyes shining. He shook his head to clear his mind, why is it I find it so hard to look away from her these days? He thought. "Okay, lead the way." He pulled his cart behind him as Ginny pulled him along by is other hand. When they got to the compartment he pulled his bag up the steps and sat down next to Ginny. "Um Ron u got a bit of lipstick on your chin." Rons eyes opened wide and he started to rub his chin. Harry Ginny and Hermione burst out laughing and Ron glared at Harry. "I thought mum had left a big red lip mark, she did it to me when I was little once." They all started laughing again. "Well now the silence is broken lets get down to some serious exploding snap."
On the trip they all laughed and played exploding snap until their eyebrows were singed and ears were red from the warmth coming off the explosions. It felt like no time before they were climbing off he train. Harry stepped off the train and into the midst of the other students. Over to the edge of the platform he saw a lantern bobbing above the heads of the students. "Alright Harry?" Harry waved to Hagrid "Alright Hagrid." He nodded back at him. "Better get these 'ere firs years 'cross the lake 'fore the feast. First years this way!" He called bobbing his lantern above the heads of the students.
Harry, Ron Hermione and Ginny walked off the platform and towards the carriages that to Harry had seemed horseless until his fifth year. The carriages were led by Thestrals; a skull like horse with wings that could only be seen by those that have seen death. They climbed into a carriage and closed the door as soon as it shut the Thestrals began to pull the carriage towards the large castle of Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry.
They walked in the large doors and into the great hall. Everything looked the same From the brightly lit room to the four house tables and the one on a raised platform for staff. Harry was home. They sat at the table chatting with friends about the summer and just being happy before the sorting started. Hagrid threw the large oak doors open and walked down the aisle towards the front of the room, first years jogging to keep up. The first years lined themselves up across the front of the staff table and Professor Mcgonagall walked in front of them carrying a stool with what looked like a very old hat sitting atop it. Everyone went quiet, looking at the hat. Suddenly it burst into song.
Through all the time I've been here
Many have come and gone And on all their heads I have sat After I sang my song But never have I met a mind That I couldn't place When you pull me on your head I will find your space Be it Slytherin Smart and Sly Their cunning that's not rivaled Or Ravenclaw smart and swift The brightest is their title Or Hufflepuff where loyalty lies Ones are always humble Or Gryffindor for bravery Put themselves last for others But these founders always knew That safety is in numbers So work together to survive With peace between the houses The hall burst into cheers and applause as the sorting hat finishedand died down again as Professor McGonagall stood before them unrolling a large sheet of parchment. "When I call your name please step forward and put on the hat. Bones, Sasha." Sasha Bones ran to the seat and put the hat on "HUFFLEPUFF!" she was followed by three more Hufflepuff's before a few Slytherins then finally a few new Gryffindor, Bob franklin and his identical twin bill. By the time the sorting was finished Gryffindor had five boy and seven girl first years.
Harry sat at the table looking up across the staff table before.. "Ron, Hermione! Look who's sitting next to Dumbledore." They turned and they both gasped. Mad Eye Moody was sitting at the staff table staring out across the great hall. "Why didn't they tell us he would be here? And do you think he is the new teacher?" Hermione shook her head "I don't know, could be. Maybe Dumbledore didn't want anyone knowing he was hiring Moody. Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise." Ron nodded "Sounds like Dumbledore." They all agreed and quieted as Dumbledore stood to give his speech.
"Hello and welcome to another school year at Hogwarts. I wish to advise you all that this year we will be taking certain precautions in how we run the school and its activities. Firstly we will be applying a strict rule that nobody is to leave the castle after dark, this will be until the next morning and if broken will be punishable by your head of house. Second, all hogsmeade visits will now be chaperoned, meaning that if you are in hogsmeade you will see many teachers around. And lastly the forbidden forest is still forbidden, now more than ever as there are many dangerous creatures beginning to show themselves. I would like to introduce the new Defense against the dark arts teacher, Professor Alastor Moody. He will be with us until he sees fit to leave. Now I think there is only one more thing to say, so here it is. Enjoy!" With that the golden plates and pitchers filled themselves with food and drink only fit for a feast. Harry piled food on his plate as he listened to the chatter around him. People talking about the diagon alley incident (he had escaped the news, nobody knew how it had ended.) about the return of Voldemort and what they expected this year at school. Harry looked around the room, people were happy, laughing, talking and eating. This is how it was meant to be. This is why people fought, he thought, for the young people, for love and freedom and happiness. Everything matters. After the last of the sweets disappeared, Dumbledore stood once again. "I would like to welcome you all one last time, but now it's off to bed. Tomorrow is the start of the first term, you should all get rested up before then." Everyone stood, full and cheerful, most ready for bed. Harry and the others walked up the stairs. Ginny was leading the first years up the stairs with Colin Creevy. She smiled at him as she went past and then up the stairs. By the time Harry, Ron and Hermione got upstairs the first years had already gone up to bed and so had Ginny and Colin.
Harry wished Hermione and Ron goodnight and headed up to bed. They were prefects and had decided this might be a good opportunity to revise the school rules (Ron had been forced into it by Hermione). Harry changed and got into bed, closing the curtains and drifting to sleep.
*** Harry was woken the next morning by the early morning sunlight coming through the brake in his bed curtains, it was still too early for class and Ron was still asleep so Harry got his books and walked downstairs for breakfast. He was the first Gryffindor to the great hall and had finished his breakfast before Ron and Hermione joined him. They sat down as Professor Mcgonagall walked around handing out the timetables. "Potter, I hope you do well this year and next, you must have worked very hard to have achieved the score you did. And although Professor Snape was not to happy that you would be in his class again this year he decided it was for the best." She said with a kind smile. Harry looked at her retreating back confused. "What did she mean by that?" Hermione looked up. "Must have been talking about your O.W.L's. How many did you get?" Harry shook his head. "I haven't opened them. A lot happened and I just forgot." He then pulled his wand out of his pocket and raised it above his head. "ACCIO OWL'S LETTER" He said strongly. He waited for a few moments and his letter came flying above his head. He threw his hand up to catch it and tore it open. He paused before unfolding the letter "I cant" Hermione nodded and he handed her the letter. As she read her eyebrows raised into a look of surprise. She looked up at him. "Is it bad?" He said slowly. She shook her head. "Harry, you got fifteen." Harry's eyes flew wide open. "Fifteen? But how? I failed divination and didn't even finish the astronomy tests." Hermione nodded. "Yes but you got three for defense against the dark arts two for charms and potions so that makes seven then you also got two for care of magical creatures and transfiguration that's eleven. Then you got one for astronomy, divination, herbology and history of magic." Harry opened his eyes wide and his jaw dropped he had got as many as Hermione. He had got fifteen O.W.L's. and he was in all the classes he needed to try and be an Auror. "How? I am sure I didn't even warrant one in potions." Hermione and Ron both shrugged. "Harry, you have just done as good as Hermione, don't complain." Ron said as if he was talking to a small child. "Your right, so what have you got first?" He asked them. He looked down his time table. "I have a double Defense against the dark arts, should prove interesting." They nodded. "Harry, I signed up to be an auror as well. We have the same classes." Ron told him. Harry looked up and nodded smiling. "Well at least two of us will stay together." He looked over at Hermione. "Well," She started "Three of us, I chose two different job opportunities, I chose Auror and muggle relations, since I got muggle studies down packed they agreed I didn't need to take that class." Harry beamed at them. "So we are staying together? Thank god I thought I would have to put up with the Slytherins by myself." Now that they were in sixth year all of them would be taking classes together.
Harry Ron and Hermione walked down the corridor toward the dark arts classroom. As they rounded the corner Harry was surprised to see Malfoy standing to the side of the door. "Potter, what are you lot doing here? Come to report your scar hurting to the new Defense teacher?" the Slytherins guffawed stupidly. "No Malfoy I'm here learning how to defend myself so when your dad gets out of prison I can put him straight back in." Malfoy's face went red and he drew his wand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Malfoy turned to see Mad eye Moody limping toward him. "Potter's a damned good dueler but if you think you can get away with it, try." Malfoy looked at Harry who now had his arm hanging at his side, wand in hand. "You wait Potter, I'll get you one day." Harry looked him in the eye before entering the classroom and sitting in the front row. Hermione and Ron sat either side of him and pulled out their books.
"This is Defense against the arts, sixth grade. You are all here because you were the best in your year for the last four years in DADA and have pursued a career in need of these skills. I would like to warn you that anyone doing anything that is not acceptable will be thrown out of this class. I have put a spell on this room so that anything I tell you not to discuss with others cant be discussed with anyone not in this class. Why you may ask? One simple reason: Protection. You will hear things in this classroom that very few people know. That some people believe others shouldn't know ." He stopped and scanned the room with his magical eye, whilst he read down the lesson plan with the other one. "Today we will be discussing the Diagon Alley incident before we move onto ways of magical defense next lesson. Now is there anyone here that was at Diagon alley during the incident?" Harry Ron and Hermione put up their hands, as well as a few Ravenclaw's and Draco Malfoy. Moody looked around the room and nodded. "Thought so." He pointed to a Ravenclaw. "You, ah Patil where were you when they attacked, and were you hiding? Don't be ashamed sometimes the best defense is to hide." She nodded. "I was in the apothecary, I saw them coming and I hid behind the barrels of ingredients." He nodded "And you ah... miss Midgeaon?" she looked around the room then began. "I was in the street, just as they started. I ran into Weasleys wizard wheezes. Just after I ran in Ginny Weasley ran in and told her brother to put a locking charm on the door and not to open it because there were death eaters." He nodded. "very good, and you Mr. Malfoy?" Malfoy smirked and then sent a happy look at Harry before starting. "I was watching from up the street, then I walked into the leaky cauldron and used the floo network to get out." He again nodded. "And potter, why don't you tell us what you, Weasley and Granger did?" Harry looked around the room. They were looking at Harry curiously. "We fought." There was a gasp throughout the room. "Fought?" Moody said with a heavy sigh "you three apprehended the attackers and then you," he said nodding at Harry. "Got rid of the wave of Dementors about to attack the young Weasleys store." There was an even bigger gasp. "That was you three?" Padma asked amazedly. They nodded and continued to look at Moody. "Now, this brings us to another question: When SHOULD you fight?" The whole class looked at each other. Was he kidding? Everybody sat in silence. Moody looked at each one of them and continued. "Nobody knows? Well let me tell you, whenever there are innocents at stake." He paused and let it sink in. "Young Potter had the right idea. He sent the Weasley girl inside to make sure nobody else came out. The first thing he thought of was others safety. Then he and his two friends took down the people attacking them." Every one in the class was staring at them. Harry felt his face grow warm and noticed Hermione looked a little red as well as Ron's ears. Harry saw Malfoy staring at them with a look of disgust on his face. Harry turned back to moody who gave a nod and continued. "I would like you all to write that down and write what you would have done if it was you fighting. Potter, Weasley and Granger come to the front." There was a scuttle for people to pull out parchment and Harry Ron and Hermione walked to the front.
They stood before Moody and waited for him to talk. "Dumbledore has told me that you three had a little secret society last year." Hermione nodded and Ron explained "We hated that Umbridge women so we talked Harry into teaching us about DADA". Moody nodded then continued, "I have discussed it with the headmaster and he would like me to run a dueling association but I would like you to continue running this group, because I would be interested to see how much of an advantage it would give those students compared to the ones who were not trained by you three." They all nodded. "Professor how will we see this?" He looked at Harry and smiled. "Well Potter, next weekend we will hold a tournament, it will be joined by everyone who wants to and it will be dueling. Everyone dueling one on one and we will find out who is the best and so on. Then we will hold one before the end of the easter term and we will see." After he finished he sent the three of them back to their desks and waited for the others to cease writing before addressing the whole class. "As Defense against the dark arts teacher, Dumbledore has asked me to run a dueling association. It will be led by team leaders, there will be five teams. Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and.. Dumbledore's army." Harry's eyes opened wide. Padma Patil looked at him awestruck and then Malfoy's hand shot up. "Since when has Dumbledore got an army? I mean if he has wouldn't it be off fighting the Dark lord?" Moody laughed. "No Mr. Malfoy, you misunderstand this was a group that was running all through last year that was named that in respect of Dumbledore, a group founded by Potter to teach all who wanted to know how to defend themselves." The Slytherins looked at him with disgust "Well nobody in Slytherin knew any of this. "That's because it wasn't open to anyone who would be likely to betray us." Ron spat at them. Moody looked at him. "And why do you say that Mr. Weasley?" Ron looked up at him. "Because we know of three Slytherins who's fathers are deatheaters and we know for a fact that you know who gets what he wants at all costs, we know they have the potential to be a deatheater if 'He' wants them to be." Moody nodded. "That is a fair point, but a background is not a person, well not exactly. It is a way the family before the person lived, the family before them. The choices before them. None of this matters its not always who they are." He told them gruffly. The bell sounded loudly. "This lesson we will be practicing our fight skills."
***
An hour later Harry walked out of DADA with Ron and Hermione behind him, muscles sore and faces red. Moody had drilled them in dueling techniques (telling Harry to not reveal how he could duel until the tournament.) and they were heading to lunch before they had transfiguration. As they walked into the great hall they saw a crowd of people gathered around a large notice board, when they drew closer they saw what it was. It was an advertisement for the duel tournament and a sign up sheet Harry took a quill from his bag and signed his name on the sheet. Hermione and Ron did the same and they continued on to the Gryffindor table. As he sat down he had saw Cho Chang smile at him as she walked toward the Gryffindor table. "Hi Harry, how are you?" He smiled back "Im good thanks Cho and you?" She laughed airily "Oh we are a formal pair aren't we?" He laughed to. "So are you still running DA?" She asked quietly. "Yeah I am. And we are going to be a team in the duel club, against the four houses." She looked at him surprised, "Really? That's great. So when's our next meeting?" He thought for a moment then had an idea. "I don't know yet, keep your galleon on you, spread it around the DA" she nodded, smiled again and then walked off, just as Neville Longbottom walked up. "Hey Neville, have a good holiday?" Harry asked him happily. "Yeah thanks Harry, we had a lot of fun. I went to Ireland with Luna we were looking for the purple herklump." Harry heard Hermione snort with laughter but stifle it before Neville noticed. "Did you find it?" he asked politely, "No, we couldn't find any but we saw some leprechauns and a few Irish short snouts but that's all." Harry nodded. "Hey Neville tell Luna to start carrying her DA galleon around again, you to. Im running it again." He nodded excitedly and ran off to the Ravenclaw table. Harry finished his lunch and rose from the table, "Well im heading to transfiguration," Ron nodded and stood and Hermione was already walking toward the door. "Coming?" She said briskly. "She is too predictable" Ron said shaking his head. Harry gave a small snort of laughter but followed shortly.
Transfiguration was not as entertaining as DADA. When they entered Professor Mcgonagall gave them a strict talk on how they should behave during her lessons and if they didn't, they would be gone from the class. This year they would be learning about the body transfiguration. A very complicated but useful type of magic. "To do this transfiguration you need to have a strong will and know what you are doing. Although it is very useful this magic is very dangerous and should not be taken lightly." After that they wrote notes for the first period and then put it to practice for the second.
"Transformatious!" Harry said for the third time, imagining Ron turning into a mouse. "Why wont it work?" He asked as Ron tried it on him. "Well you must be swinging your wand wrong Harry." Hermione said turning Parvati into a mouse and back again for the third time in a row. "Its simple really, swing flick swirl." They nodded and continued to try but to no avail. "For homework tonight I would like you all to continue practicing the animal transfiguration spell and try to change them into something a little bigger, maybe a bird. Have a good afternoon, class dismissed." They walked out and towards the common room. Nothing had changed at Hogwarts, everything was the same. All life went on and nobody noticed that everything was changing.
*** Harry woke a cold sweat running down his brow, he had relived the ministry incident. Seeing Sirius die over and over again. He stood from his bed and walked across to the pitcher of water that sat in his dorm. He looked out the window as he drank and watched the breeze push across the tops of the trees of the forbidden forest. What would he do this year if he lost someone else because of something he did? No, he thought, I will lose no one this year, I will not let that happen. He walked back to his trunk and took out the books that Dumbledore had given him, taking them down to the common room and settling before the fire. He picked up the book on ways of dueling and began to read the introduction.
Dueling is an age-old form of conflict solving between wizards. It was a way that a wizard could face his opponents in a fashion to which displayed both strength and knowledge. Throughout this book you will learn of many styles of dueling from stances to dodging, plans to order of spells. All secrets are revealed and all beliefs are printed in this book about dueling.
He read on flipping to the page of styles. He looked across the moving pictures and tried to decide on a style he wanted to try. There were the styles of the serpent, wolf pack and gryffin. Gryffin. It had a picture of a golden Gryffin and a man with his wand in a stance like a striking gryffin. "the Gryffin" Harry said in awe. He read the piece of writing next to the picture and felt even more surprised.
The Style of the Gryffin was formed by the legendary Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Gryffindor believed that if the wand was used as swiftly as a sword, as a Gryffins claws, the users strength would be seen in stance. The style of the gryffin was built on the principle of swiftness and strength, two main factors in the way of battle.
Harry ran his finger across the picture. The Gryffin. That is what I will learn, he thought. He turned to the page which began the chapter on the gryffin style and started to read.
The gryffin is a magical creature, it is one that is only seen with belief and is swift and strong. The strength to believe in yourself is a large part of the style of gryffin, as all spells need belief and belief in ones strengths is a need for the greatest dueler....
Harry read the first line and realized something, since he was told about the prophecy he had been able to do more magically. Maybe he was believing he would be the one to defeat Voldemort, with the power to defeat him. He sat turning it over in his mind, until dozing off to sleep. "Harry, wake up. Your going to be late for breakfast." Harry opened his eyes slowly amazed to see the world come into focus. He was in the common room. How did I get here? He thought, before looking down and seeing a book on his lap, Oh yeah I was reading about the dueling. "I thought I would never wake you up." Harry jumped slightly as he realized Ginny was standing in front of him, hands on hips looking at him worriedly. "What are you doing down here Harry?" she asked kindly. He held the book up for her to see. "Reading" He said simply. She nodded at him. "Well you better get dressed and down to breakfast before class, lucky I was coming back up to get my potions ingredients or you would have slept later." He nodded. "Thanks Gin, well I better go get dressed." She nodded and headed to her dorm as he ran up the stairs.
Harry ran into the great hall and sat down next to Hermione, who immediately turned to him looking surprised. "Harry, did you just wake up?" He nodded. She looked like she understood but didn't push the subject. He reached across the table to take a piece of toast and found Hedwig landing on his arm, "Hello girl, what you got there?" he took the letter from her and placed a piece of bacon rind in her beak "There you go," he said quietly and she hooted thankfully and flew away. He looked down at the parchment and noticed the neat hand writing of professor Dumbledore and quickly opened it.
Harry, Please come to my office after breakfast. We have something to discuss.
Albus Dumbledore.
Harry rose from the table saying he had to see Dumbledore and walked out of the room and toward the gargoyle that hid Dumbledore's office. "Good morning Potter." Harry heard Professor McGonagall's strict voice behind him. "The password is sour snitch," the gargoyle bounced out of the way. "The headmaster is waiting for you." Harry stood on the stairs moving slowly up towards the headmasters office. He had been here before, just last year he had tried to trash this office. He raised his hand to knock on the door which opened at that moment, "Ah Harry, there you are. Please come in and sit." Dumbledore said jovially "we need to discuss your tuitions ."
Harry looked at the old headmaster questioningly before taking a seat. "Tuition sir?" 'Yes Harry, if you think back you will remember that you did not complete your occlumency training last year and considering what happened I believe it imperative that you learn this skill to the utmost of you abilities." Harry nodded and looked at the floor. "on top of this training I would like you and your friends to take tutoring in transfiguration, Animigus training, Auror training and advanced dueling training." Harry looked at the old man to stunned to say anything.
He had always thought about becoming an animigus as a task out of his reach. Now he and his friends would be learning how to transform, duel and be Aurors. This was to much for Harry. He didn't know what to do and he didn't know what to say. He was stuck halfway up to stand as he thought about just walking out of this room and away from it all, but his mind got the better of him. "when do we start?" He managed to choke out.
Dumbledore beamed at him and handed him a bunch of parchments. "These are you schedules, we would appreciate it if you were able to organize quidditch practice and the DA around them. If that is not possible please speak to the other people involved and work something out. First class is on Thursday night. Have a good day Harry." Harry nodded slowly before walking out the door.
*** Harry Walked into charms late, handing Professor Flitwick a note as the jolly man bobbed up to greet him. After Harry took a seat at the back next to Ron and Flitwick had climbed up onto the pillows on his chair he used to stand on the class began.
"Over the next term we will be looking at charms that were created to harm people. These are not curses but are on the border of it so I would advise that no one is caught using these outside of this classroom unless they are looking for severe punishment." He strictly stared around the room and every one was surprised as they had never seen him act so strictly. "Today we will be talking about the different curses you are going to be learning over the next few months. After we have finished this topic we will be moving onto charm creation and will be studying it for the rest of the school year."
***