When Harry and Ron came down the stairs for breakfast next morning, he noticed quite a few changes to the house. For instance had the row of House-Elf heads been removed, the painting of Mrs Black was gone and the part of the wall where she had been hanging had obviously undergone some makeshift repairs. Ron snickered when Harry mentioned this.
"Mom told me it was Tonks' work," he said. "She stumbled in the umbrella stand again, got feed up with Mrs Black's screaming and used some kind of blasting curse. Blew both Mrs Black and a considerable part of the wall to bits. I only wish we had thought of it sooner."
Harry chuckled a little at this. "Wish I had seen that. And the look on Kreacher's face-" Harry suddenly stopped in his tracks with a pained expression. Kreacher carried his share of the blame for Sirius being dead.
"Oh, Kreacher isn't here anymore," Ron said quickly, sensing Harry's mood. "He had to go to the Malfoys now that Sirius is- I mean-"
"Good," Harry whispered with cruel satisfaction. He remembered very well how the Malfoys had treated Dobby before Harry had freed the House-Elf.
They had resumed walking when the kitchen door opened and Mad-eye came out. "Morning, sir," Harry said, trying to think on something else than Sirius and Kreacher.
"Morning, lads," Mad-eye grunted. "By the way, Potter; Dumbledore wants a word with you. He's in the kitchen."
Dumbledore wasn't alone in the kitchen. Hermione was already there along with Ginny. "Ah, there you are, Harry," Dumbledore beamed as they entered. "Would you please accompany me to my office? I need to talk to you for a moment."
"Sure," Harry said, wondering what this was all about.
Dumbledore took a pinch of Floo Powder from a bowl sitting on the mantelpiece, threw it into the burning fireplace and said: "Headmaster's office, Hogwarts." And then he disappeared in green flames. Harry copied Dumbledore's actions with a grimace; he absolutely hated travelling with Floo Powder. After a dizzying journey through the Floo Network, Harry stepped out of the fireplace in Dumbledore's office.
Harry winced as he saw all the portraits of earlier headmasters looking at him apprehensively. Last time he'd been here, he had smashed one of Dumbledore's mysterious silver gizmos in a fit of rage. Looking around he saw that both it and the table it was standing on had been repaired. That made him feel a little better.
"There are three things I want to talk to you about, Harry," Dumbledore said while gesturing for Harry to sit down. Harry sat down in an armchair next to the fireplace and waited as patiently as he could. The endless staring from the portraits was getting on his nerves. "But first let me thank you for starting that little study group of yours and helping those students to attain a decent grade. If you hadn't, I shudder to think off how many would have failed their OWL in Defence Against the Dark Arts."
Harry blushed at the praise. "I can't take the credit for that. It was Hermione's idea."
"Perhaps," Dumbledore smiled. "But it was you who taught them; you essentially did Ms Umbridge's job. One thing, though; if you are thinking of restarting the club I ask you to change the name. While immensely flattering, I believe 'Dumbledore's Army' sends the wrong signals."
"Yes, sir," Harry said and grinned.
"Anyway; as you might have read about in the Daily Prophet,
Mrs Umbridge is facing a trial for what she did during her short reign
here at Hogwarts." Harry thought he could se a flicker of resentment
pass across Dumbledore's face as he said it, but it was gone so fast it
might as well have been his imagination. "Considering that you were one
of her victims, are you willing to testify against her?"
"Yes!" Harry said fervently. "I'll do anything I can to help."
"Good, then that's settled, then. The second thing I wanted to talk to you about is your Occlumency classes," Dumbledore continued gravely. "Now that you have left the protection of your uncle and aunt's house, it is imperative that you resume training as quickly as possible. Voldemort may not be able to possess you directly, but he can still influence your mind and make you do things against your will."
"Of course," Harry thought gloomily, and his shoulders sagged a little. "He doesn't want to lose his weapon." But then another thought suddenly struck him. Was it really fair to think that way? True, Dumbledore had made a mistake when he did not tell Harry about the prophecy years earlier, but should he still be angry on Dumbledore for making that mistake, or should he forgive him?
Harry abruptly realized that there was nothing to forgive. The Headmaster had kept quiet for the sole reason that he wanted Harry to be happy... because he didn't want to burden Harry with that terrible responsibility. Oh, he would continue to resent the fact that the Headmaster hadn't told him what was his right to know, but that was no reason for resenting the Headmaster himself.
Dumbledore had been waiting patiently while these thoughts flew through Harry's head. "All right, Professor," Harry said. "I'll give it my best shot. It's just that my training with Professor Snape didn't seem to help much." The thought of having Snape rummaging around in his head for another year was enough to turn his stomach, but he managed to not let it show.
"Hum, well, I must agree that Professor Snape's teaching methods may be rather ineffective at times," Dumbledore said and coughed. "Which is why I have decided to teach you myself - at least initially. Between the Order and my responsibilities as headmaster I won't have much time, so sometime after you return to Hogwarts the new teacher in Defence Against the Dark Arts will take over."
Harry sighed from relief. "I'll do my best, sir. One thing, though; who is the new teacher?"
"Come now, Harry," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. "Telling anybody before the start-of-year feast would be breaking with the tradition. In any case, the third and last matter I whished to discuss with you is more of a warning, really."
Harry stiffened in the chair. He couldn't remember having done anything wrong?
"After you went back to Privet Drive the Ministry of Magic launched an investigation of the events that occurred in the Department of Mysteries," Dumbledore said, and Harry did his best to ignore the ache in his heart as unpleasant memories resurfaced. "At my request they left you alone, to allow you time to grieve. Meanwhile the public were shouting for an explanation of why the Ministry had denied that Voldemort had returned, and how Death Eaters could penetrate the Ministry's most secret Department. The preliminary report was released to the Daily Prophet only a few weeks ago. Perhaps you read about it?"
"Um, no. That has to be before I started to subscribe to the Prophet."
"I see. Well, while the report lacked certain details, like exactly what Voldemort wanted from the Department of Mysteries and the presence of an escaped convict named Sirius Black" - Harry's hands balled into firsts - "it fit remarkably well with the truth. According to the Daily Prophet you somehow learned - it's not very clear at that point - that a group of Death Eaters would try to steal top-secret information from the Department of Mysteries; information which it was a matter of life and death that they would never get access to. Due to several unforeseen circumstances you were unable to contact an adult, and in desperation you and five other students travelled to the Ministry in an attempt to stop them."
Dumbledore paused to regard Harry over his half-moon spectacles. "You battled a dozen Death Eaters for over an hour, several of you sustaining serious injuries in the process, stalling them long enough for Ministry personnel to arrive at the scene. Eventually Voldemort himself was forced to intervene in order to get the information he sought." Dumbledore gave a smile. "That's when I enter the story."
"But that's not true!" Harry spluttered. "Most of the time we spent running away from the Death Eaters, and if you hadn't showed up Voldemort would have killed me for sure!"
"Harry, Harry," Dumbledore sighed, and his eyes glimmered with amusement. "It doesn't matter if it is true or not. People want to believe it, so they do."
"So people would rather buy into a fantasy rather the truth?" Harry asked nettled.
Dumbledore chuckled at Harry's expression. "Of course they would. Harry, you are too young to remember how it was during Voldemort's first rise to power," he said, and suddenly turned quite serious. "You don't understand what kind of fear he spread. At the time Voldemort seemed completely unstoppable. Every morning wizards and witches all over the world would read the newspapers to find out who had been killed during the night, hoping it wouldn't be their friends or loved ones. Everyone who tried to fight him died. Everyone who stood in his way was eradicated along with their families. The terror he spread were absolute. And then you came along and did what the greatest wizards and witches of our age had failed in: You stopped Voldemort."
"But that was because my mother died for me," Harry objected. "Not because I'm special."
"Yes, but the point is that people don't want to return to fearing for their lives, which is why they bought Fudge's slander about you so readily. It was so much more comfortable to believe that you were a braggart rather than that the dark days were back." Dumbledore gave Harry a smile. "Of course, the events at the Department of Mysteries change things rather radically."
"How so?" Harry asked. He wasn't so sure if he liked the direction the conversation were going in.
"After Voldemort revealed himself at the Ministry, and after Fudge's admittance of the fact, the public no longer had any choice in what to believe; the facts had been thrown into their faces. The invincible Voldemort were back. And so they turned to the only person who had ever defeated him, hoping that he could pull it off again."
"Me?" Harry said sceptically. "The entire wizarding world expects me to defeat Voldemort?"
"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore said solemnly. "You have become their light in the dark, so to speak. In a way you've always been, you just haven't realized just how famous you really are. Which brings me back to the warning I spoke of earlier. When you return to Hogwarts you'll find it difficult to know who really is your friend and who is just pretending to be because you're famous. Also, I can imagine you are more unpopular among the Slytherins than ever before, for obvious reasons - especially to young Mr Malfoy."
"So basically you are saying I have to be careful in making new friends, and expect to be cursed in the corridors," Harry said dismayed. Why couldn't his life ever be simple?
"Yes, but keep in mind that those friends you already have made is likely to stay your friends, Ms Granger and Mr Weasley among them," Dumbledore said with a smile. "But now let's get you back to the Order headquarters, you must be starving. We'll resume with your Occlumency training first thing after breakfast."
When Harry stepped out of the fireplace in the kitchen, he saw that Luna, Neville and the Weasley twins had joined Ron, Hermione and Ginny at the table. "Oh, so you guys decided to stay over?" Harry said as he sat down beside Neville.
"Yeah, both Dumbledore and the Ministry figured that we aren't very popular with the Death Eaters right now," Neville said between mouthfuls. "They convinced Luna's father and gran that we should spend the summer here." He lowered his voice conspiracy. "Is it true that this is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix? The Ministry has always denied that it existed."
"You should take everything the Ministry says with a grain of salt," Harry said. "At least as long as Fudge is in office. The Order holds meetings right here in this kitchen."
"Fudge first wanted us to be under Auror protection, but dad didn't like that," Luna said dreamily, while staring into her glass of orange juice like it contained the secrets of the universe. "He suspected Fudge might try to use us as a propaganda tool to take over Gringotts." A series of quiet sniggers went around the table that Luna didn't seem to notice.
Right then Lupin and Tonks (today: pink hair) walked in, both looking indescribably smug. Lupin carried a large sack with his right hand, and had intertwined his fingers with Tonks' with his left. At first this last part didn't register in Harry's mind, but then he did a double take so quickly his neck hurt. Tonks and Lupin quickly let go of each other, wearing identical innocent expressions.
Harry looked from Lupin to Tonks and back again. "Um, Moony? Tonks? Is there anything you want to tell me?"
To Harry's complete amazement they both actually blushed. He had never seen Lupin being embarrassed before, and Tonks had never struck him as being someone who got flustered easily.
"Uh, well, Harry," Lupin spluttered. "You see, Tonks and I, we-" For once he seemed to be at loss for words and he looked at Tonks helplessly.
"We have decided to spend more time together," Tonks said lamely.
Hermione and Ginny giggled, and Harry couldn't stop a grin from appearing on his face. "And for how long have you been spending 'more time together?'"
"About three weeks," Lupin admitted. "We didn't tell you because we didn't know how you were going to react."
"React? This is the best news I've had for a while," Harry sniggered, and turned to the twins. "Did you guys know?"
"No, we've seen them sneaking around, but we thought it was just Order business," Fred said thoughtfully. "But now that you mention it, they've nearly always been sneaking around together."
"But we did think it pretty strange that Tonks went to Lupin's bedroom at midnight," George put in with a grin.
"Alright, that's enough," Lupin said red-faced. "No more discussions of mine and Nympies private lives."
The roar of laughter that filled the kitchen was enough to make the floor tremble. Ron fell off his chair from laughter and Neville choked on his orange juice, while Hermione and Ginny collapsed in giggles. "Nymphie?" Harry questioned with tears in his eyes. "Nymphie?"
Lupin hid his face in one hand, horrified over his slip-up, while Tonks looked like she didn't know whether to hex everyone or join in the laughter.
"Alright, quiet," Lupin said as the laughter seemed to die out. Then he took the sack he had been carrying and emptied its contents on the table. Hundreds of letters spilled out, all of them addressed to Harry.
"What's all this?" Harry said nonplussed.
"Accumulated letters over the last month," Lupin said. "Now that the Daily Prophet have begun telling more or less the truth again, most of those letters are undoubtedly from people who 'always' believed in you."
"You held back my letters?" Harry frowned.
"Well, we had to," Tonks said and shrugged. "Even the protection at your uncle and aunt's house would be useless if someone turned a letter into a portkey. So we didn't have any other choice but to intercept every unknown owl heading for your place and test each letter."
"Alright, alright," Harry said and held up his arms in mock surrender. "I see your reasoning, but I still don't like it." He looked at his friends and gestured toward the letters. "Give me a hand, will you?"
As Lupin had predicted, most of the letters were from people who either wanted to tank Harry for sticking to his story of Voldemort's return, or wanted to apologize for having doubted him - with a few exceptions.
"This woman says she still doesn't believe in you," Ron said and frowned down on a letter. "'You are a nutcase and you'll always be a nutcase!'... no, wait. It's from Fudge's mother, never mind."
"Here's a letter from Ernie Macmillan," Ginny said. "He's wondering if you'll continue with the DA."
It turned out that every DA member had sent him a letter asking the same question, even Zacharias Smith and Michael Corner. Including a girl named... Cho Chang.
Dear Harry,
Are you still mad at me for defending Marietta? I am truly sorry she put you in trouble, but you must understand that she did what she thought was best. She was afraid Fudge would have her mother fired if anyone found out that she was a member of the DA, and when Umbridge began snooping around she didn't dare keep quiet anymore. Besides, it was I who practically dragged her to the Room of Requirement, so I guess you've got one more reason to be angry with me.
Anyway, I'm very interested in whether you are going to continue with the DA, which I very much hope. I can honesty say I've never learned as much from any Defence Against the Dark Arts class as I have from you. Never thought I'd be able to conjure up a Patronus!
You're not going to kick me out, are you?
Best wishes,
Cho.
Harry read the letter several times, trying to sort out his emotions. One year ago he would have done cartwheels over getting a letter from Cho, but now he didn't know what to feel. He was ready to admit to himself that he had had a crush on Cho, once. But now? Harry couldn't decide. Another thought surfaced in his mind: Why had he been interested in the Ravenclaw? Was it just because she was pretty and popular? Was he really that swallow?
"Hey, Earth to Harry!" Harry shook off the confused thoughts and looked up at Ron who was obviously trying to stifle a laugh. He pointed at Hermione who were holding... a pink panty between thumb and forefinger.
"What-?"
"Some woman sent you her underwear, Harry," she said and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Harry grimaced as Fred and George broke out in wolf whistles, and Ginny hid giggling her face in her hands. "Throw it in the fireplace," Harry groaned. "And nobody say another word about it. The last I need is Snape getting wind of this."
Hermione balled the panty together and threw it into the fire... just as Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace and caught the panty in his face. For a moment he seemed to be at a loss for words. He just stared from the panty in his hand to Hermione (who had covered her mouth with both hands and blushed furiously) and back again. Everyone else was howling with laughter.
"Oh, Professor Dumbledore, I- I'm so sorry - SHUT UP!" she bellowed at Ron who were rolling on the floor and clutching his stomach. "I didn't mean to- I didn't know- BE QUIET!"
"It's alright," Dumbledore chuckled and dropped the panty in the fireplace. "But that's the most interesting reception I've had in a while. Are you ready, Harry?"
"One moment, Professor," Harry said and wiped away tears. He carefully folded Cho's letter and put it in his pocket, and then he gathered all the letters from the DA members. "Would you mind throwing the rest in the trash, Ron? Thanks."
"Oh, no!" Harry suddenly thought as he and Dumbledore walked out of the kitchen. "Legimency! What if Dumbledore happen to find a memory about you?" He really didn't fancy the thought of explaining that to Dumbledore.
"Put most of the relevant memories in your Pencieve," Storm said. "We should be able to hide the rest, unless he specifically search for them."
"Right." To Dumbledore he said: "I just have to go to my room with these letters. I'll be with you in a sec."
Dumbledore nodded. "We'll be training in the drawing room."
Harry
bolted up the stairs and into the room he and Ron shared. Throwing the
letters on his bed, he began disposing memories into his new Pencieve,
memories that no one could be allowed to see - not yet. "...the
Land of the Shadow... I'll explain what we are... this is your
birthright... you have to undergo a number of transformations... the
choice is yours..."
A few minutes later Harry found Dumbledore sitting in the sofa in the drawing room, just like he had said.
"Ah, there you are," Dumbledore said and got up. "Professor Snape has informed me of the difficulties you face in regards to Occlumency, so we'll start by reviewing what you have learned. First, tell me the elementary method of preventing a Legilimens from penetrating your mind."
"By clearing my mind of thoughts and emotions so that the Legilimens can't find emotional ties to memories I wish to conceal," Harry quoted. He remembered it well from Snape's lessons.
"Correct. And how do you do that?"
Harry scratched his head. "Well, Snape - pardon; Professor Snape - just told me to clear my mind, he never mentioned a specific method of doing it. However, I found a book during the summer that mentioned a technique called 'the Fire and the Void'. I've been practising it a bit."
Dumbledore looked faintly surprised for a moment, and then rather amused. "Have you now? Well, why don't you clear your mind using the Fire and the Void and the we'll see."
Harry closed his eyes and imagined a fire in the centre of his mind, like he had read about in The Art of Occlumency. Slowly he began to feed it thoughts and emotions and as he did this, the fire grew. He kept doing this until the fire seemed to penetrate his entire mind, consuming everything in its path. Eventually Harry reached the point where it felt like the fire didn't have anything left to burn, and he let it die out. All that was left of his mind was an empty void, completely devoid of any thought or emotion.
"I'm ready," Harry said and opened his eyes again, absently aware that his voice was an emotionless drone.
Dumbledore pointed his wand at Harry and said: "Legilimens."
The void began to tremble almost immediately. Remembering that eye contact often was essential for a Legilimens, Harry studied the desk standing in the room instead. The trembling seemed to cease. For about a minute nothing happened, but then Harry began to loose his concentration. Thoughts drifted across the void inside his mind. "What is Dumbledore doing? Is he still trying to read my mind or has he stopped?" The void trembled, and Harry's brow furrowed in effort to keep it still. However, the trembling just seemed to increase, and suddenly the void collapsed and memories washed over him.
He was nine years old and hiding from Dudley and his friends in an ally… he had just met a red haired boy named Ron on the Hogwarts Express… he was locked inside the cupboard under the stairs…
Suddenly the flow of memories stopped, and he was once again standing in the drawing room with Dumbledore. Perspiration bathed his forehead, and his breath came in swallow gasps. The old professor regarded him very thoughtfully, and Harry winced. Had he preformed that badly?
Dumbledore gave himself a shake. "That was very impressive for your first try," he said with a twinkle. "Let me guess: You did the mistake of trying to 'reinforce' the void, right?"
"Yes, sir," Harry admitted. "Wasn't I supposed to do that?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Concentrating on keeping the void still will just accelerate its breakdown. Instead try to recreate the fire you envisioned."
"Right…" Harry's forehead furrowed in thought. "But if I feed every thought into the fire, how am I going to remember how to push the intruder out?"
"As soon as you can keep me out for more than a few minutes, I'll start teaching you how to suppress only feelings and thoughts of your choice," Dumbledore said. "But for now clear your mind and we'll try again."
Dumbledore used Legimency on Harry three more times, and Harry was able to keep Dumbledore out for about thirty seconds longer before he lost his concentration. Thoughts and emotions seemed to pop up faster than he could shove them into the fire, at which point the void would collapse.
"I think that'll be enough for today," Dumbledore said, and Harry sank gratefully down on the sofa. It was incredible how mentally draining Occlumency was. "Out of curiosity: What's the name of that book you mentioned earlier?"
"The Art of Occlumency by Gwendolyn Ingolfsson," Harry said, and noticed that his answer seemed to amuse Dumbledore greatly.
"Indeed? Well, it's a most excellent book so remember to do the Occlumency exercises it describes every day, particularly the Fire and the Void. Also, always clear your mind before going to bed."
"Yes, professor."
Dumbledore fished that strange watch with a dozen hands out of his pocket and glanced at it. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave now, Harry," he said. "An Order meeting is scheduled to begin here any minute."
As if on cue one of the persons Harry despised most in the world entered the room - Snape. The potions teacher stopped in the doorway when he saw that Dumbledore wasn't alone, and Harry felt a wave of hate roll over him. It was Snape who had taunted Sirius about how 'useless' he was, which had led to his death. Harry ignored the tiny voice in his head that said that Sirius would have gone to the Department of Mysteries anyway, and glared at the greasy-haired man like he was trying to burn a hole through him.
"Harry?"
Harry looked up at Dumbledore. "Sorry, sir. I was lost in thought for a minute," he said coldly. And then he marched out of the drawing room without another look at Snape.
"I don't understand why you keep wasting your time with Potter," Harry heard Snape say to Dumbledore. "It's obvious that he'll never learn Occlumency."
"Oh, I'm not so sure about that, Severus-" Harry never heard more of the conversation as the door shut behind him, and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd had been holding. His first thought was to punch his first into the wall as hard as he could, but instead he took several deep breaths and began walking down the stairs. Fits of rage wouldn't help matters; he had learned that much before the summer.
If Harry had thought that he could relax for the rest of the day, he was sadly mistaken. No sooner had he reached the bottom of the stairs before Hermione practically dragged him to the kitchen again, insisting that everyone should pick their NEWT subjects. Ginny and the Weasley twins managed to sneak away, but he, Ron, Neville and Luna quickly found themselves hunched over each their parchment under the Hermione's watchful eye. That's how Tonks and Lupin found them half an hour later.
"Oops! We thought the kitchen was empty," Tonks said sheepishly.
"Why aren't you on the Order meeting?" Harry asked.
"It's just for the leaders of other anti-Dark Arts organizations," Lupin said. "We don't need to be there."
Ron gave him a surprised look. "I didn't know there were other organizations working against You-Know-Who?"
"Of course there is," Lupin said. "Some has the goal of defending only one specific region, while others were founded to combat one specific dark wizard. Voldemort doesn't care about borders, so Dumbledore has called a meeting with the leaders of those organizations that are willing to help."
It made sense to Harry, and he suddenly felt foolish for believing that only the Ministry of Magic in Britain and the Order of the Phoenix were fighting against Voldemort.
"Speaking of which; what is Voldemort doing," Harry said, and ignored the shudders that went around the room. "Judging from the Daily Prophet he's been awfully quiet."
Lupin regarded Harry for a few seconds. Then he picked a chair and sat down. "Alright, Harry. I'll tell you what I know, which isn't much. You see, out of security reasons the Order operates in a cell structure. Each member knows as much as he needs to in order to do his job, and nothing more. Which means there is limits to how much I can tell you." He waited for Harry's nod before continuing.
"Well, as you said he's keeping a very low profile, now that the wizarding world knows he is back - he isn't as strong as he was before. We know for sure he's got back most of his surviving Death Eaters - those who escaped Azkaban and who weren't given the Dementor's Kiss. He is also busy recruiting more, and has established cells of Death Eaters in several European countries. All the Dementors have sided with him, obviously, and nearly all of the Giants. He has also made moves toward the Goblins and the werewolves."
"Do you think some werewolves will side with him?" Hermione asked. "I can't imagine the Goblins will."
"That's what we think, too," Tonks said, and for once her bright personality were gone. "The Goblins suffered their share of casualties during Voldemort's first rise to power, like the Plymouth Massacre. The werewolves are a different matter, though. The Ministry has discriminated against them for years, and some of them might be sufficiently disgruntled to join Voldemort." Here she gave Lupin a fond look. "Not all of them, though."
"So he's not going to move openly any time soon?" Harry asked.
"No," Lupin said. "We think he'll fight a guerrilla war aimed at wearing down the Ministry, while he builds up his forces."
Harry's face didn't betray anything as he considered what Lupin had said. If Voldemort was currently weaker than Harry had initially thought, and not yet ready to move openly, it meant that he had a little more time. But how much? Certainly not more than a few months.
"It'll take between six months and two years before you are fully ready," Storm reminded him.
"I don't have two years," Harry thought back. "Maybe not even six months." How many would die before he fulfilled the prophecy and killed or got killed? Harry looked at Lupin, and he almost said it. He almost told them of the secret he had carried in his heart ever since they picked him up at Privet Drive. But he couldn't. What if they began fearing him? Harry didn't think he'd be able to bear watching his friends look at him in fear, so he kept his mouth shut - even though he absolutely hated keeping secrets from them.
"So, what are you taking for NEWTs, Harry?" Lupin asked, in an abrupt change of subject. He had probably interpreted Harry's silence as brooding.
Harry gave himself a small shake and said: "So far I've decided on Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and" - he grimaced - "Potions."
"Potions?" Lupin said surprised. "Considering your relationship with professor Snape I thought you'd want to drop it?"
"I do, but I need it in order to become an Auror."
"Ah, so that's your career choice," Tonks said with interest and looked over Harry's shoulder to read the list. "I'd advice you to take Herbology, too. Knowing more about the ingredients of Potions never hurts."
"All right, Herbology it is," Harry said and scribbled it down. "Let me see; I failed in History of Magic and Divination, so those are out. Astronomy..." He looked up at Tonks. "You've never had any use of Astronomy as an Auror, right?"
"No, but Astronomy is useful for determining when it is safe to spend the night with Remus," Tonks said cheekily.
"Tonks!" Lupin exclaimed scandalized.
Harry blushed at the image that entered his mind unbidden. Pushing it firmly away he muttered: "Right, that leaves Care of Magical Creatures... oh, I might as well sign up on that one, too. At least I can keep Hagrid company."
"How about you, Ron?" Lupin asked, trying to regain his composure. "Want to become an Auror as well?"
"I would if I could," Ron said sadly. "But I only got an 'E' in Potions, and Snape only accepts students who get an 'O' into his NEWT class."
"So? Subjects like History of Magic or Care of Magical Creatures may not count as much as Potions, but that doesn't mean the game is over," Tonks interjected.
Ron and Harry both looked up surprised. "What? Isn't Potions a required subject?" Ron asked.
"Not exactly required," Tonks explained. "They favour Potions over, say, Herbology, but as long as you get a decent grade in other favoured subjects such as Defence Against the Dark Arts you've still got a good chance. I never attended Potions on the NEWT level, for instance."
"I must have misunderstood Professor McGonagall," Harry said and looked at the parchment. If he didn't absolutely need Potions, he was very tempted to just drop it. On the other hand...
"If you want to be an Auror, I recommend you take Potions anyway," Tonks said quietly. "There has been times when I wish knew more about potions. But it's your choice, of course."
Volunteering for another two years with Snape was one of the hardest things Harry had ever done, but 'NEWT Potions' was on the list when he sealed the letter to McGonagall.
Author's notes:
rayvern: Sorry, but we won't get to know what has happened to Harry any time soon... there's a reason for it. :)
Mike: Hm, I doubt there will be any Harry/Tonks or Harry/Blaise in this story.
FrostFlame: The Harry & Cho part will come... eventualy. :)
the-gray-lord-of-disorder: Like I said, we will eventualy get to know what happened to Harry that night, but it will take a while.
To everyone else: Thanks for reviewing!