Chapter 5

Harry thought he'd take it relatively easy on the fourth years and only hexed four of them. It didn't cause as much pandemonium as in his sixth-year class, but got it got his point across quick enough.

"As a friend of mine is very fond of saying, Constant vigilance!" commented Harry as he came down the stairs and proceeded to use the appropriate counter-curses.

"This little phrase doesn't mean to be paranoid twenty-four hours a day for the rest of your life. What it does mean is to be aware of your surroundings at all times."

He set his notes down at the lectern in front of the class and continued. "Look around at your friends," he chuckled, "and those that aren't your friends. Sometime in your life you might come face to face with them and they might just want to kill you, or perhaps even control your life and make you do things that you would normally never do."

Harry took a step in front of the lectern, spread his robes, and put his hands in his pockets. "This term we will concentrate on the more useful counter-curses as I'm sure that the majority of you have already been jinxed at sometime or another by your fellow schoolmates."

That brought out some muffled laughs and a few giggles.

He smiled knowingly. "Now, with that in mind lets ..."

In mid-sentence he felt light-headed and an overwhelming fear overcame his senses.

"Lets ..."

*Get OUT!* he heard Hermione say in his head.

Harry stumbled back a couple of steps and steadied himself on the table behind him. His hand instinctively reached into his robes for his wand and then his mind cleared.

"Creevey! Go find a teacher, any teacher. Tell them to get to the third floor corridor. NOW!"

Dennis Creevey dropped his quill and sprinted out the door.

"Everyone else stay here! Do not move from this classroom!"

Harry was out the door seconds later and pushing an all out dash down the hall and ascended the stairs, two floors up. Thirty seconds later he was at the door, pulling at it, but it was locked.

"Alohomora!" he called. After another check of the door he found it still locked. "Fine. Reducto!"

The Reductor Curse blasted the door into splinters and Harry covered his face from the worst of the blast.

"Hermione!" he yelled.

"Harry! Look out!"

He stepped back in time to avoid a jet of red light slamming into the door frame.

"Where is he?" he called out to the room.

"She's behind the storage cabinets."

Great, Harry thought to himself with anger, those things are gigantic.

"Stupefy!" he heard Hermione call.

Just then a tabby cat dashed up the stairs and reformed into a very stern Professor McGonagall. "Potter, what is the meaning ..."

She was caught off guard with another red blast hitting the door jamb and jumped backward faster than Harry had ever seen her move before.

"There's someone in there behind the storage cabinet that has Hermione pinned down."

Before she had anything to say Harry closed in. "I'm going to distract her. I need you to transfigure the cabinet into something much smaller that she can't use for cover."

McGonagall nodded and moved to the doorway, hiding just behind, out of site. Harry took three steps back and then dashed into the room, leaping into a roll on the floor. As soon as he cleared the door McGonagall swiveled herself around and transfigured the cabinet into a breadbox.

All three of them sent stunning charms at the blonde-haired girl looking at the breadbox in shock. The resulting direct hits slammed her up against the wall with a sickening crunch. Hermione was around the table and in Harry's arms in seconds.

"Are you okay? Are you injured?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm okay," she cried in his arms.

Harry stroked her hair and held her close while he watched McGonagall examine the girl. She held her hand up against the girl's throat and turned around shaking her head. Once the professor moved Harry got a better look at his wife's attacker and recognized her as one of the two American girls that had transferred from the Texan Institute, a seventh-year by the name of Cassandra Worthington.

A few moments later Professor Flitwick appeared at the doorway. "Goodness," he said quietly.

"Filius, would you be so kind as to alert the headmaster that there is a fatality on the third floor corridor, one of the young Americans."

He looked down with sorrowful eyes. "Right away, Minerva. I'll bring her friend as well. She's in my class at the moment."

Hermione turned in Harry's arms with shock on her face. "She's dead?"

McGonagall nodded once. "The force of the three Stunners knocked her head, back against the wall ... I'm afraid, much too hard."

Hermione turned back and cried into Harry's chest.

The professor stood and neared the couple. "What was she after, Hermione?"

Her face was red and tearstained when she pulled away. "My -- my notes ... my research notes." She was confused. "I told her I hadn't anything in there but theories and thoughts on what I wanted to do, but she was so ... adamant."

"What was she doing up here in the first place?" asked Harry.

She turned and her red eyes met Harry's. "She was the first one to volunteer to assist. She seemed normal ... excited even, and then she pulled out her wand."

Snape and Dumbledore arrived at the door at the same time. Apparently Dennis Creevey was running around the entire school alerting every professor he could find.

Dumbledore's gaze was cold as he surveyed the wreckage and the dead body of the American girl. "Harry, I would suggest you take your wife to your rooms, and return as soon as possible."

Harry started to protest.

"I would further suggest that you stop by Charms class and retrieve Mr. Weasley to look over her until your return."

Hermione pulled away and waved Harry off. "It's okay. I'll be okay. I'll go get Ron."

"Not alone you won't," announced Harry.

Snape retrieved his wand. "I will escort her to the Charms classroom, Potter."

The headmaster smiled politely. "Thank you, Severus."

Harry kissed her on the top of her head. "I won't be long."

Hermione smiled back at him and followed Snape out of the room.

Dumbledore stayed near the door occasionally peering out. "I assume the connection you and your wife share alerted you to her peril?"

Harry nodded. "What's this all about, Professor? I mean, I know Hermione's work would be important, but enough to kill her just to steal her notes?"

The headmaster looked down. "How much to you know about your wife's ideas, Harry?"

He shrugged. "She's tried to explain them to me, but every time she tries, I tend to ..."

Dumbledore smiled knowingly, "... Not understand?"

Harry nodded, feeling somewhat foolish.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, Harry. The technical aspect of her studies are somewhat complex." He paused for a moment to consider. "Virtually all of magic can be summed up into one art, Charms. It is the controlling aspect of what we, as wizards, do. In order for us to produce the proper magical effect we need to know the proper magical phrase, gesture, mixture of elements, and so forth. The execution might vary, but it all comes down to Charms."

The headmaster checked out the door again. "Are you following my mode of thought?"

Harry nodded in response.

"Very good. Are you familiar with the phrase, 'for every action there is a equal, yet opposite counter-action'?"

Harry looked at McGonagall and back at the headmaster. "Um ... no."

"Good/Evil, Right/Wrong, Magic/Muggle. Here, how about a practical application." Dumbledore took out his wand and conjured a small contraption with four wooden legs, connected at the top in a rectangle. Suspended from the top were five silver balls in a line, hanging below by silken threads.

He lifted one end ball high in it's arc and released. The result was it striking and transferring its power to the opposite end ball and everyone watched as it also swung out in a precise pattern in relation to it's counterpart. When it returned in it's descending arch it struck back, transferring a diminished power to the original ball. Then Dumbledore stopped them and used the same motion with two balls. Again the power of the two balls striking the remaining three resulted in a equal and opposite reaction of making the other two end balls venture forth in a complimenting arc.

"Action/Reaction." With a flick of his wand the contraption was gone. "In essence this is what Hermione was working on."

Harry looked over at McGonagall and was surprised to find even her questioning what Dumbledore was saying.

"She has taken the idea of Charm and Counter-Charm one step further with Magic and Counter-Magic. In effect she is exploring the possibility of a anti-magic magic. An art that could potentially be the most potent magic there is."

"Albus!" McGonagall let off with a exclamation of shock.

"The proper precautions have been taken, Minerva. Have no fear."

Harry didn't know what the Transfiguration was getting bent out of shape about. "Is this dangerous or something?"

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Every experiment into the unknown is filled with some amount of inherent danger, Harry. All that we can do is take certain steps to insure the more ... obvious risks are not ignored."

The sound of a door opening down the hall distracted the headmaster. "Ah, I believe the other American has arrived. I will be but a moment."

Dumbledore was true to his word and a few moments later the second American turned around the corner into the room with abject horror written across her features. She stood at the doorway and stared at the dead body of her country-mate.

"I swear, Professor's I didn't know," she sputtered.

She turned and saw Harry standing close behind her and nearly jumped out of her skin. "Professor Potter! You've got to believe me. I would never ... I mean ... I didn't think ..."

"I believe you, Miss Harrington," said Dumbledore.

Harry's eyes traveled to the headmaster's and he relaxed at a knowing nod. He then sheathed his wand. "I'm sorry your friend is dead, but she was threatening the life of my wife."

Miss Harrington's face went ashen white as she covered her mouth. "You killed her?" she whispered. "Of course, she wouldn't have stood a chance she ..."

"Don't be silly," McGonagall snapped. "Professor Potter did not use an Unforgivable Curse. It was a combination of three Stunning Charms and the girl's head against the stone of the wall."

Harry looked up at McGonagall. "It was my stunner that killed her. Yours and Hermione's cancelled each other out. I was in front of her and she caught the full bunt of it. I'm the one that killed her, Professor."

McGonagall looked like she was going to argue, but it also looked like she worked the logistics of the scene out in her head before speaking. "Be that as it may, no fault will be attributed to you for protecting your wife."

Dumbledore stepped in. "Miss Harrington, would you be so good as to accompany Professor Potter to your dormitory. I would like to examine the contents of Miss Worthington's belongings as we may find a clue to her motivations for her actions today."

She nodded quickly. "Of course."

"Harry, am I correct, that Miss Worthington was an orphan?"

Harry recalled her student file. "Yes, Sir. She was on scholarship to the Texan Institute and that transferred to Hogwarts, but I don't know who the benefactor was."

"Then perhaps that might be an excellent starting point. I will leave it to you and Miss Harrington to peruse any personal affects. Please report your findings to me as soon as possible. I must make arrangements for the inquiry into this matter with the Ministry."