thanks to Elf, who beta'd this for me. well, told me what sucked, and rewrote it for me, so it actually made sense. she should get more then a congrats, but thats all i have for her.
None of us know why Dumbledore made us sleep in the Great Hall, but as the teachers looked worried, the three of them assumed it had something to do with the Dark Wizards.
Most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were under their squishy purple sleeping bags, a lot snoring or drooling or doing other normal night time things. The Slytherins were in the corner, most still awake, talking, and about a third of the Gryffindors were awake, along with members of Dumbledore's Army.
"Why are the Hufflepuff's sleeping if there's supposed to be an attack on the castle?" Ron questioned.
Justin explained, "Basically, if they can't see it, it goes away. There's no threat of something so bad it gets Dumbledore scared if they're sleeping."
"Ok, fine. I can understand that viewpoint, by why are the Ravenclaws sleeping? I know most of them don't have that way of thinking; they like to look facts head on."
"Oh," started Anthony, "well, most of them figure if we have a dark attack, they won't be able to stop it, and it's pointless to try. Plus, there's a test tomorrow in astronomy."
"That's a shitty attitude. A really shitty attitude." Ginny said furious.
"Hey, I'm not saying I think the same, I just told you what they think."
"Hermione found a few good spells for us, in case there's a battle. We can't practice much here, but she wants you to know them, just in case." Harry said wearily. He was tired beyond belief, but he needed to make sure the school would be ok before he could allow himself to go to sleep.
"There are four. Two are offensive spells, two are defensive."
"Hermione, not to complain, but it's approximately 2 in the morning. I need one syllable words." Susan complained.
Hermione gave an impatient sigh and rolled her eyes. "Two are spells that we use on other people, the bad people, to make them weaker, and two are ones we use on ourselves, or the other good people, to make them stronger."
"Thanks."
"The first is a speed spell. It can make you run up to triple your normal speed, though you do get tired quicker then you normally would. It's Celeritas."
Everyone practiced saying it properly, except Ron and Harry, who had the benefit of being Hermione's friend, and knowing everything she knew as soon as she got back from the library. They already knew it, so they laid back and relaxed against the wall, trying not to fall asleep.
Once Hermione had stopped scowling at Luna Lovegood, who kept saying it wrong, she went on. "The second defensive spell is Misceo Miscui Mixtum. When you have to go past a group of people, and you don't want to be seen, chances are you won't have a invisibility cloak. This makes you blend in with the background, so if you were running against a field, your top half would turn sky blue, and your bottom half would be green. You get the idea."
Harry wondered if Dumbledore would approve of what they were doing. He didn't seem to want anyone to be fighting, besides Harry, in the upcoming war, but he also obviously was worried about the students, if he took them to the safest part of the castle.
"The third spell is only good for one on one combat. It's especially effective if they've lost their wand, then you can do this to them, and not have to worry about losing your own wand, because they'll still be hurt. Not that I'm recommending losing your wand, but a good wizard or witch will know what to do if that happens."
"Get to the point Hermione."
"Give her some respect Zacharias, she doesn't need to be teaching you these spells." Ron hissed protectively.
"Get to the point Hermione, please. That better Ron?"
Ron made a move toward him, an angry expression contorting his features. "I oughta-"
"Both of you shut up." Harry said, stifling a yawn, and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Hermione, tell them the spell."
"It's fragilitas. It weaken bones, so as soon as they take a step towards you, their leg bones crack, they raise their arm to cast a spell, their elbow breaks. You break them without having to touch them."
Harry's eyes wandered. If only he had known that spell when he was in the room in the ministry. Then when Belatrix had tried to duel Sirius, she would have broken into pieces before pushing him off the edge.
His eyes stopped on the crosslegged figure of Draco Malfoy. He was sitting in the corner, whispering with Crabbe, Blaise, Goyle and Drew. Maybe Harry was being slightly paranoid, but they looked like they were planning something. They also didn't look worried about what was the reason they were all in the Great Hall. Harry was sure all their parents were Death Eaters; maybe they knew when their dads were coming, and were planning their escape.
Seeing as he didn't have any extendable ears on him, they were in his trunk in Gryffindor, he brought out his wand. Pointing to the knot of Slytherin boys he said "Exaudio," the magic word for the eavesdropping spell.
"So, I found an old spell in the restricted section." Drew said.
"Yeah?"
This is what Harry was looking for.
"Yeah."
"What's it about?"
No doubt being able to run from the castle without disapparating, or an legal form of Crucio.
"Oh, it lets us bring muggle televisions into the castle without them going haywire."
Hmm. Harry's eyes narrowed in puzzlement. That's not what he had expected.
Draco said in that drawling voice of his, "And we would care because?"
"Well, there are some interesting shows on muggle TV."
Harry thought furiously. There must be some kind of bad violent show that the Slytherins would be interested in. Maybe Sopranos?
"Yeah?"
"Yes Greg."
"Like what?"
"Well, I really like one called the animaniacs. Another good one is Rocko's modern life."
Cartoons? The big evil Slytherin plot was to watch kid's cartoon shows?
"Look, I'm going to sleep. I want to get my beauty sleep, don't I?" Draco said, laughing.
"Ok. Night Dray."
Draco adjusted his white-green boxer shorts, and crawled underneath the blankets. Harry saw him grab what suspiciously looked like a teddy bear, before rolling over.
Harry was flabbergasted at Draco's strange conversation. Were Slytherins actually capable of childish enjoyments? Then Harry looked down at himself. Reddish-black shirt, (fashion conscious people would have called it burgundy.) black hair, versus Draco's white. Even if you didn't like Draco, which he didn't, you had to admit he looked much more the angel, while Harry held roll of devil.
And for that matter, Draco slept with a teddy bear. After everything that had happened, Harry slept with his wand clutched in his hand. You could never be too careful.
And the last thing, the strangest thing: The 'evil' people that were still up were talking about cartoon characters, and what was Harry's 'good' group talking about? Harry tuned in for a moment. Ah, the spell Hermione had discovered that would sever the enemies legs off at the knees.
For a second, before he reminded himself of all the horrible things the Death Eaters had done, he thought, 'maybe dark and light aren't so easily separated.'