Chapter 25. Contrary to Popular Belief

"Harry, you awake?  What the…?" 

Harry was vaguely aware that he was comfortably snuggled deep under his covers and had been slumbering to the tune of a sweet and somnolent lullaby, courtesy of the voices that he'd come to welcome.  "Mmph," he said as he burrowed deeper under the covers.

"Harry," he felt like something was nudging him and the whispering voice was sounding desperate. "Let me in, I need your help."

Harry was thinking it ought to sound desperate because another shake and he was about to hex the idiot waking him so early.  "Mmph," he repeated with more feeling.

"Harry!"  Harry was now aware that Ron was—hold on, the charm's still on.  Harry grasped his wand from under his pillow and muttered away the charm on his hangings surrounding his bed.   Ron, who must have been trying to tug open the hangings, now whipped them open as the Imperturbment Charm wore off.   Harry could feel the morning sun just peeking into the tower window and despite making a show of scrunching his eyes shut tightly, Ron was now shaking him awake and did not seem to be relenting despite Harry's attempt to formulate words to tell him to 'sod off'. 

"Huh?" he grunted, still not willing to open his eyes.

"I need your Transfiguration homework.  Where is it?" Ron whispered, tugging on Harry's pillow. 

"What?" Harry asked, more awake now and pulling his pillow protectively out of Ron's tugging hand.  "Why?"

"Because I held off on the summer homework until I knew I had the class and now it's due." 

"We don't have Transfiguration today," Harry grumbled.

"Huh?  We haven't got our timetables yet, how would you know?"

"I got mine, Charms and Defense today.  Now let me sleep."  Harry pulled the covers completely over his head and tried to steal away into dreamland.

After a brief moment, Ron resumed his prodding and whined, "But I'm up now and I still have the assignment.  How about Charms then, can I check yours?"

Harry groaned as he flung the covers off his head.  "What is your problem?  The sun's barely up!"

"Shut it over there!" Dean growled from across the room.

Ron budged over on the side of Harry's bed and crossed his arms as he grumbled, "I can't sleep and we didn't get a chance to cross check each others homework.  I'm sure Hermione went over yours--can I use it?"

Harry sighed as he tried to unstick his eyes and yawned, before peering myopically at Ron.  "What time is it?" he whispered.

"Almost six."

"Urgh," Harry groaned again, flopping his arms over his head. 

Harry saw from under his arm, Ron give him a pained smile and say quietly, "Sorry, mate.  I just can't sleep.  Thought I might as well do something if I'm up." 

Harry sighed and sat up, stretching again as he fumbled for his glasses. He then slipped out of bed and around to his trunk and, yawning, pulled out several books, a few piles of folded clothes, more books, his Firebolt, his favorite pillow from his bed at Grimmauld Place ("Ah, that's where this was…no wonder I slept so poorly."), and finally, several sheaves of parchment that was his holiday homework assignments.  He held the homework up for Ron to see and said, "Found it."

Ron, though, was goggling at the heaps of stuff pulled out of Harry's trunk.  "Whoa," he breathed.  "Is that an enchanted trunk?"

"Yeah," Harry said, flipping through the parchments to find his Charms essay.  "I enlarged the interior and Hermione found the charm to make it all still look and feel like the same size.  Dead helpful, I was having a real time trying to pack until I used that."  He found the sheaf he was looking for and handed it over to Ron and then set about directing his clothes into his wardrobe cabinet using his wand.

"What the—"Ron scowled at Harry's essay and said, "This isn't what my essay's on!  Harry?"

"Oh," Harry said as he sent his socks flying one after another through the air to land in the drawer of his wardrobe, "I forgot.  Hermione and I saw that some classes gave out different assignments to different people.  She and I had the same Charms, though.  What's yours?"

Ron scrunched up his face as he tried to recall, "Explain renewable enchantments and something-something." 

Harry laughed, "Didn't you finish that one?"

"Yeah, but like I said—I kind of expected to have someone's to compare it to."

"You can use mine if you two shut it or get out so I can sleep!" Seamus grumbled angrily from behind his bed hangings.

Ron grinned and jumped up to take Seamus up on his offer.  "Thanks, mate," he said after he'd found the parchment.

"Yeah, now get out!"

Harry nodded at the grinning Ron and mouthed, "Meet you in the Common Room," as he began to get dressed. 

"Hey, Ron?"  Harry, almost drifting into sleep, heard Neville join Ron at the table he was working at.  "What are you going to do about Potions?"  Harry's eyes opened at this question but he did not move from his spot on the sofa by the fire.  He didn't hear Ron give an answer and imagined Ron had just shrugged in response.

Harry couldn't hold his answer back and he spoke up, "You're going to keep the class and do well, both of you."  He sat up and looked over the back of the sofa at his two dorm mates staring at him.  "That's right, none of us like Snape and Snape likes none of us.  Big deal.  You're in the class and as long as you show up and do the work, you'll stay in it and there's nothing he can say about it." 

Harry stood up and walked over to their table and, bracing his hands on the table, leaned down to look squarely at Ron.  "You want to study to become an Auror.  You were put off because you'd not made his requirement for the class.  Now, you got the break that you needed to get into the class; nothing—nothing, stands in your way now."

Harry turned to face Neville.  "What's your career aim?"  Neville floundered for a moment and Harry answered for him, "I believe I heard you mention to Luna yesterday that you thought it would great to be a Healer, no?  I also believe it's pretty clear a Healer needs a NEWT in Potions.  What's there to decide now about the class?"

"But," Neville said, "Harry…it—it's Snape…" as if that explained it all.

"Who cares if it's Snape?" Harry said throwing up his hands.  "He may be a greasy bastard and an arse to boot but –and mind you, McGonagall told me this herself—while he tried to run us into the ground these past five years, he also managed to push us all to do rather well on the standard tests!  Look at you and me Neville—I know I barely passed most years with the git, but I still managed an O on the OWL—as did you."  Harry raised his eyes to each of them as if daring them to brook argument.  Getting none, he went on, "He can be a total arse throughout class and mark us however he likes but it's still the Examination Authority that gives the exams."

"But Defense, too…" Neville said and Ron nodded dolefully.

Harry just waved it off and said, "So?"  He leaned down again close to Neville and looked him in the eye as he said, "That's something you're good at—not necessarily different than Potions, mate.  Look, he believed you weren't any good at Potions so he made you believe it too.  But now you know better and he can't argue with your exam score, can he?  But as for Defense," Harry's eyes were burning now as he relished Neville finally showing up Snape, "he'll probably try to think you're poor at that too, but—you already know better, don't you?"  Harry knew Neville had turned out to be one of the fastest learners in the DA last year and he also knew Neville's skills would be something that Snape would never expect.

"Yeah," Harry looked over to see Ron nodded now and beginning to look excited.  "You know, he won't be expecting a bunch of us to be ahead of the others—we were learning stuff for half of last year.  And you know what else?" Ron asked, positively grinning now, "Almost half our class was in the DA—but none of the Slytherins."  Ron's grin was maniacal and Harry recognized it as the twins' evil plotting look.

Neville's face started to brighten and he said slowly, "The Slytherins will all be behind!  He won't be able to give them all the points!"

Harry surveyed Ron and Neville grinning at each other and felt quite satisfied.  He then saw Hermione descending from the girls' staircase and enter the Common Room.

"You're all up early.  What are you working on?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

Harry just nodded his head slowly and said simply, "My work here is done."

"Timetable, Mr. Weasley—I assume you have settled down from last evening?"  McGonagall didn't wait for an answer from Ron as she handed the schedule and moved along down the Gryffindor table.  "Miss Weasley…here you are.  Ah, Ms---Bell?"  McGonagall's voice rose up and she looked at Katie Bell with surprise. 

Harry did a double take as well and looked at Katie.

Katie rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically before saying, "Don't tell me, Professor, even you forgot what year I was in?  I swear, I don't know whether to be offended that so many people seem shocked to see me back here or flattered that you all seem to think I was smart enough to have already graduated."

"I'm sorry, Miss Bell," McGonagall composed herself quickly; "your class is so small, that I've forgot a few students were still here this year.  Yes," she said looking over Katie's timetable, "well here you go." she moved on but called back to Harry, "I guess that means we've one less Chaser to replace, Potter.  Don't forget to book the pitch for tryouts." 

"What does she mean?" Harry heard Ron ask as he remembered having been named captain by McGonagall.

Harry just shook his head as he looked at Katie with is head cocked to the side, "But you always hung around Alicia and Angelina…I—I thought…" he trailed off and Katie tucked away her schedule.

"You thought we were in the same year?  Yeah, yeah, join the clan," Katie grumbled before hoisting her bag over her shoulder and standing up.  "So when are tryouts, Captain—you are captain, aren't you?" she asked Harry.

"Yeah," he said, still trying to adjust to thinking Katie was still around this year.  "Yeah, oh, McGonagall wants—"he peered quickly down both ends of the Gryffindor table to check that neither Andrew Kirke nor Jack Sloper was around.  "She wants a full try out—all positions.  I think she's hoping for a beater pair of Beaters.  I reckon we should get some reserves again, too.  Having Ginny sure helped last year."

"What do you mean 'full try out'?" Ron asked, looking slightly pale.

"Oh, don't worry, mate," Harry said to Ron.  "She just didn't want to make it too obvious to Kirke and Sloper that they stink." He knew Ron most likely feared losing his spot on the team and said, "McGonagall even said you've nothing to worry about after your last game against Ravenclaw."   Harry saw Ginny grinning at him and Hermione beamed at him in congratulations for making Captain.

Harry saw Ron set down a fork full of eggs and, not looking up form his plate, say, "Well it's not up to her, now is it?"

Harry heard the note of tension in Ron's words and looked up at him sharply.  "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Ron made a slight face and Harry saw Ginny looking nervously between the two. "You're the captain."

Harry gave a confused, if not lopsided, grin at this.  It did feel good to be the captain, he thought.  Slowly he said, "Yeah…and you're my best friend," as he played along in what appeared to be a game of 'Let's State the Facts'.

Unexpectedly, Ron scowled at this and pushed himself away from the table.  Ginny made a move to calm him but Ron flinched and flung her hand away from his arm, as he heatedly shrieked, "Don't touch me there!"

Ron looked agitatedly around and everyone at the table that had now fell silent and he hastily got up and bolted from the Great Hall.

"I'll go after him," Harry said, starting to get up.

"No," Ginny stopped him, "I'll go.  You don't know—I know what this is about."

"What?  The great prat is jealous again, is he?" Hermione said without a note of remorse.

"No," Ginny said patiently and then leaned across to whisper to Harry and Hermione, "I forgot and touched his arm—he probably just went to get salve for it."  She glared off at a couple of Third years that tried to sit down on the other side of Hermione and, after they moved, she explained, "He still has some…problems with the thoughts…from that brain, remember?"

"Oh," Hermione said quietly. 

Harry had thought Ron had healed just fine and was surprised and dismayed to hear otherwise.  "You mean—"

"Weasel having problems with using his brain again, is he?" Malfoy cut in from behind Harry and Hermione.

"Sod off, Malfoy," Harry said, not even turning around, but nonetheless, still discreetly drawing his wand.

"What's the matter with you, Potter?" Malfoy went on, "You look so upset you'd think someone killed your dog."

It was with the briefest flick of his wand that Harry cast a silent spell from under the table, back at Malfoy.  It was a jinx that he'd dreamed of using on the Slytherin since he read about it in Dueling with Wizards Who Play Dirty.  It was only a flash of a moment later when Harry spun in his seat, reached out and forcefully pulled Malfoy down onto the seat next to him.  Harry had one arm wrapped around him in what look like a friendly gesture but whispered fiercely into his ear, "Unless you fancy the business end of my wand messing up your ferret face, Malfoy, I suggest you stick to attempting conversation with your overgrown apes!"  He made a point of prodding Malfoy in the back with his discreetly held wand for emphasis.

Malfoy seemed to stutter and then with a pained expression on his face and through clenched teeth, said, "You're my type, Potter.  Touch me."

Harry smirked as he saw Malfoy pale and grow furious.  He pulled his arm away and leaned away from him, saying, "Sorry, Malfoy, I think I'll pass."

Malfoy lunged away from Harry, stumbling until one of his thugs caught him and then he straightened up, ran a hand over his slicked-back hair and glared pure venom at Harry and spat, "I love you, Potter--- Arrgh!"  He clamped a hand over his mouth and then stalked off in a rage.

The Gryffindor table and several others who'd witness the event from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables burst into laughter as Malfoy almost ran from the Great Hall. 

"What was that?" Hermione asked quickly and not without some shock.

Harry couldn't help his lips from forming a smug smile as he answered back simply, "A little something to teach him manners."  He could see Hermione was not satisfied with this and he had no intention of telling anyone else what he'd done so he said, "Shall we go to class?" and shouldered his book bag and stood up.

Once out in the hallway, Hermione dragged Harry, with Ginny following, into an alcove and asked again, "Now what was that all about?"

"Jinxed him," Harry said simply leaning back and crossing his arms. 

Ginny grinned appreciatively, "Nice one."

Hermione scowled, "With what?"

Harry uncrossed his arms and took a step towards Hermione, his face very serious.  "You do know what he said, don't you?"

"Of course I know," she said quickly.  "But what jinx was that?  I've not ever seen it and you didn't learn it while I was around."

"Was it a Lusting Jinx?" Ginny asked.  "Fred and George were always trying to find one like that."

Harry shook his head, "No, it's a Contrary Jinx.  He says the opposite of what he means to say.  That is, of course, only if he can't manage to keep his gob shut."

"Brilliant," Ginny whistled.  "What's the incantation?"

"Contrarius," Harry said, looking pleased with himself.

Hermione still didn't look happy and she said, "I wish you wouldn't have done that to him."

"And why not?" Ginny demanded, scandalized at the thought.

Hermione gave her a look of exasperation and said to Harry, "It's just another reason for him to have it in for you.  You should just ignore him."

"Hermione I'm not about to let him waltz around and…" Harry was getting angry now and he took a breath to calm down.  "You heard what he said—about Sirius!"  Harry shook his head, "No, he doesn't get to come in and flaunt the fact that his aunt killed my godfather—not here and not if I have anything to say about it.  I could have baited him about his father off to rot in some cell someplace, hopefully suffering from a simultaneous bout of Cholera and Dragon Pox, but no—I gave him a simple lesson to shut the bloody hell up!"

"I agree, "Ginny said, "Malfoy just can't strut around like he had before.  Every soul here knows what his father is now.  It's about time he be taken down a notch."  The bell rang, signally five minutes until class and Ginny said, "Oh no, I still haven't gotten to Ron!  Oh well, he can take care of it.  I got to run, later!"

As Hermione, still looking displeased, turned back to Harry, he gave her a cheeky wink and she couldn't help smiling back as she said, "C'mon then."

After a short detour into another rather obscure alcove on the way to Charms where they each hurriedly admitted they'd had a terrible night of sleeping alone and wished for more time, they arrived just before the start of class.  The class was rather packed and Harry immediately noticed the room had expanded to meet the increased class size.  He reckoned over three-quarters of his year was in the room, almost all of which were animatedly retelling the scene where Draco Malfoy had professed his love to Harry Potter and subsequently been shot down. 

Harry also noticed, with a quick glance about the room, that neither Malfoy nor his cronies Crabbe and Goyle were anywhere to be seen.  He spotted Ron across the room, surrounded by Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones and Anthony Goldstein who were deep in conversation.  All other seats around Ron were filled in with other Hufflepuffs, as well as Dean and Seamus.

Flitwick cleared his throat; "Settle down now class, Miss Granger, Mr. Potter how about taking one of these vacant seats in the front.  No need to be shy now, let's have some of you move up closer—Mr. Zabini?  Up here please, and you too, Mr. Longbottom." 

Hermione lead up to the second row and sat beside Mandy Brocklehurst while Harry allowed Neville to slide in first and sit beside him, behind Hermione and Mandy. 

  Flitwick was looking up and down a scroll of parchment and frowned as he looked up and said, "I believe we are just waiting for Mr. Malfoy and--."

There were several loud titters and Seamus said from the back of the class, "I think he's feeling a bit rejected this morning, Professor."  More laughter followed this pronouncement and Harry made an effort to focus on only getting his books out and on his desk.  Mandy Brocklehurst turned around in her seat and grinned slyly at Harry as she asked, "Is it true he fancies you?"

The titters died away and even Flitwick looked up sharply with a jump as Mandy was heard and Harry stared at her.  Oh god, of all the rumors… 

"It looked like you were trying to let him down easy, Harry," Ernie said from behind, leaning forward eagerly.  "Don't know why though, if he were that close to me I would've hexed him just because."

He saw Hermione's shoulders shaking in silent laughter beside her and he couldn't hold back his own grin as he started laughing, too.  Harry was shaking his head back and forth and not managing any words through his laughing fit that several others were now joining. 

Then the door to the classroom opened and Malfoy walked in brandishing a note, "Sir, we have a note from Professor Snape as…"  He stopped abruptly as he noticed how full the class was and that the room had suddenly, fell silent. 

"Yes, your—your note, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Crabbe?" Flitwick took the proffered pass and waved to some empty seats beside Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson.  "Have a seat boys and let's move on now shall we?"

There were several exchanged smiles and snickers as Flick passed around the course syllabus and began explaining that they would begin studying Enchantments.

After class, Ron hurried over to Harry and asked, "Is it true?  Malfoy said he's in love with you?"

Harry made an awful face, "Urgh! Ron!  Please never string those words together again!"  They hurried out of class and Harry saw several others waiting to hear what had really happened.  He wasn't exactly keen on admitting outright he'd jinxed a fellow student in the Great Hall in front of all of them as well as some of the staff.

He was spared, however, when McGonagall stepped out of her classroom, dispersing the small gathering, and said, "Potter—there you are.  I forgot to tell you, see Professor Dumbledore when you have a break to pick up your lesson plans."

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, grateful for the distraction. 

"I'm off to Ancient Runes," Hermione said, smiling and waving at Ron and Harry as she left.

"So?  What happened?" Ron asked, finally alone with Harry. 

By the time Harry had told him how he'd jinxed Malfoy and what he'd said, Ron was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and had to lean upon a statue of William the Walrus to keep upright. 

"And nobody knows you jinxed him?" Ron gasped out, still in stitches.

"Nope, except Hermione and Ginny," Harry said.

"Oh, blimey, Harry—this is just too good."  Ron straightened up and finally got a hold of his laughter as they reached the landing beneath Trelawney's trapdoor.  

Harry grinned back at Ron, happy to see he was in a good mood and he said, "You know what else is just too good?  I don't have Divination any more!"  He waved happily as he back away as Ron's face fell. "Have fun in there!  Die a few times for me, will ya?"

Still chuckling and very thankful he wasn't in the stifling tower classroom with Ron; Harry made his way back down several flights of stairs.  He headed towards Dumbledore's office as he had the rest of the morning free until Defense in the afternoon.

Pausing at the gargoyle, he tried to guess the password several times, even resorting to some of Fred and George's concoctions.  Stumped, he kicked the gargoyle and slumped against the wall.  "Why didn't anyone tell me the password?" he muttered to no one.

"Perhaps you never asked," answered a deep, resonant voice. 

Harry looked up and down the hall around the gargoyle but saw no one.  He pulled his wand and asked, "Who's there?"

"I'm right here if you bother to look."

Harry turned around completely in a circle and still saw no one. 

"Here—the portrait, boy," the voice said as if it thought Harry was a bit dim.

Harry looked up to see a portrait of a wizard; he was studying Harry with a critical eye and said, "You are the one of which they speak so highly?"

"Um, er, yeah, so can you tell me the password?" Harry asked, not wanting to even think about how much gossip a portrait this close to Dumbledore's office would hear.

"I can," the wizard said, shifting contentedly in his wingback chair.  Harry could see the setting of the portrait had the man in some sort of laboratory.  "Are you asking?" 

"Well, yes," Harry said.  "Who are you? I've never noticed you here before."

"That's precisely because I've never been here before."  The wizard spoke in a slow pedantic meter that made Harry want to hex him.  "As to who I am…I am Auroleus Phillipus Theophrastus Bombast—"

"Ok, never mind," Harry cut in, "can you just please tell me the password?"

The wizard raised an eye and settled back into his chair as he said, "Coconut Ice."

"Thank you," Harry said and he turned back to the gargoyle.  "Coconut Ice," he said and it sprang out of the way, revealing the spiral staircase, upon which Harry jumped on to ride up to the office.

He reached the landing and saw the door open just a crack and he also heard a voice—a very recognizable voice.

"I had to perform the counter-curse myself-- I'm positive Potter cursed him!"

"Severus, I do not think—"

"No, you never think he does anything wrong, do you!  You're always saying—"

"Severus!  I was saying that I believe this conversation is over.  I understand your concern and I can assure I will speak with Harry very shortly."

"You—you will?"  Snape sounded to be in disbelief.  "Very well then, shall I get him and bring him here for you now, sir?"

"I don't believe that will be necessary, Severus.  I believe Harry is about to join us, just now."

Harry took his cue and pushed open the great oak door and said innocently, "You wished to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore said as he was seated in his great chair behind his desk.  "Come right in.  I see Theo provided you with the password then?"

"Theo—oh, yes."

"Potter!" Snape began, looking a hunter who'd spotted his prey as he pointed a long sallow finger at Harry, "What possessed you to curse one of my students?"

Harry saw Snape's glittering black eyes boring his own and he slammed up a mental wall against any intrusions from him.  Harry countered, "I haven't cursed anyone."  He let the image of Malfoy saying 'I love you, Potter' play forth in his mind, hoping to annoy Snape if he could glean that.

Snape sneered, "I know very well you cursed him!  I had to—"

"It wasn't a curse, it was a jinx," Harry said loftily, figuring there was no real way out of this and that he ought to take his pleasure from merely correctly Snape when he could.

"A—a jinx."  Snape looked taken aback at not having Harry continue to deny the incident.  He went on in a deathly whisper, "And what, pray tell, Potter, is the rule about using magic in the corridors?"

"There is to be no magic in the corridors," Harry recited as he'd heard it only a thousand times.

"Aha!" Snape said, waggling his finger and looking triumphant.

"However," Harry said in a bored tone, "I jinxed him in the Great Hall."  He gave a short honeyed smile to Snape and then returned to face Professor Dumbledore, devoid of any discernible expression. 

"Well," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands together and standing up, "there is no rule against that!"

"But—sir—he…" Snape looked like the golden snitch had eluded him again. 

"I've got your lesson plans here, Harry," Dumbledore said bringing forth a leather book from a bookshelf.  Snape turned to glare at the headmaster and, seeing he was not going to get Harry into trouble today, stalked off and out the door.

After Snape left, Dumbledore turned from the slammed door to peer over his glasses at Harry.  "I do hope you had a reason to jinx Mr. Malfoy this morning?"

Harry fought a laugh and the urge to ask, who would need one?  He recalled the comment Malfoy had made that clearly was meant to taunt him about Sirius' death.  "It was, sir, in response to a very…taunting remark.  I was, perhaps, a bit impulsive."

Dumbledore nodded and seated himself again, "I see.  Please be seated. 

"Do you recall, Harry, during your induction speech how you pointed out that the very halls and students of Hogwarts are a front for this war?"  Harry nodded slowly.  "I believe we need to begin an offensive effort to fortify this front, this school; to bring down barriers and to build bridges."  He let his words sink in to Harry. 

"Conflicts and wars, Harry, I have noted, many are fought with one side wishing to just be and the other side, seeking to oppress some or all of those, wishing to just be.  Lord Voldemort, we know, seeks power for his own gain and glory for the sake of glory.  However, his servants and supporters wage war for purity of blood—or so they claim.  They seek to oppress a group of those who just wish to be.  I believe, Harry, that as the side that just wishes to be, we need to be aware that just being is a very appealing thing, even to those who may believe in purity of blood.  Do you understand what it is that I say?"

"Er, well…no," Harry frowned, he'd been lost on the 'just be' part.

A small smile preceded Dumbledore's summary, "Let's try not to alienate those who may still choose to not take up fight against us."

Harry's mouth flew open and he said, "How much more declared must—"his mouth snapped shut and he fidgeted in his chair across from Dumbledore's desk.  "How could Draco Malfoy not be more openly against us?"

"I believe he has not been Marked."

"Yet."

Dumbledore nodded.  "It is a possibility, I'll admit.  But the choice is still his to make.  I'll let you think on this, Harry."  After a few moments of silence where Harry had far too many impulsive and impudent thoughts cross his mind, fighting for birth upon his lips, Dumbledore said, "I am expecting a visitor shortly and we can pick this up tomorrow in our private study time.

"Here are the lesson plans I have prepared for your use," he said handing over the leather book.  "Go over them today and let me know any questions you may have tomorrow.  We meet before you are to teach your first class, I believe."

A knock on the door sounded and Dumbledore called out, "Come in, Depin."

"Albus!" A very tiny, hunched over wizard, with flowing gossamer robes that appeared to have bright smudges of color all over them entered carrying a large wooden box.  "I wondered when I'd be seeing you," the little wizard said as he peered intently at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Harry, this is Depin Elegans.  Depin, this is—"

"Harry Potter," the wizard breathed out as he turned his thorough stare on Harry.  He was looking Harry up and down and searching his face, not necessarily staring at the scar, but roving, as if to memorize it.  "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Potter," he said, extending a hand that Harry shook firmly.

"I, I must be off then," Harry said, holding up the leather book.  He nodded at the tiny wizard and said, "Thank you, Professor," as he left the office and rode the spiral staircase to the landing.

Harry set off with his mind pondering Dumbledore's latest conversation and flipping through the book of lesson plans.  He had the whole morning to ponder and headed back to the Common Room.

After lunch, where Ron was quite enthused that Trelawney seemed a lot less focused on predicting the death of her students (Harry suspected that was due in large part to his absence) and much more grateful to be back to teaching in her stuffy tower. 

"Hey," Harry asked flipping through the book of lesson plans Dumbledore had given him, "I wanted to schedule tryouts, is this Saturday good for you?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders, shoveling in food, "D'you ask Ginny?"

"Oh, that's right, she wanted to try for Chaser," Harry said recalling a conversation with her last year.  Harry got up and moved down the table to where Ginny was eating next to Colin Creevey and his brother. 

"Hey, Gin, will Saturday work for me to schedule team tryouts?" 

"Hey, Harry!  I heard you're captain, I knew you would!" Colin gushed, making Ginny cringe slightly away from him.  Harry just nodded and turned back to Ginny.  "Guess what, Harry?" Colin went on, "I'm going to ask Professor McGonagall about being the announcer for quidditch games after my Transfiguration lesson this afternoon, wouldn't that be brilliant if I were the announcer?"

Harry felt a new dread build in his chest as he envisioned Colin Creevy with a microphone on the quidditch pitch.  The thought was almost worse than Colin with his camera.

"Sure, Harry," Ginny said, ending his thoughts of looking up a lock-jaw curse for Colin, "Saturday should be perfect.  Oh, I talked to Ron, he's not really jealous."  She was whispering now and leaning in close to speak to Harry, "He knows you've got a ton more seniority on the team, even if you were kicked off last year.  It's just he's followed the sport since he could crawl and you know, you only learned about when you came here."  She scrunched up her nose in thought and said, "Maybe if you asked him to help manage the team."

"Well, of course," Harry said as if this were already obvious, "how else did he think I had planned to manage it?  He's spent more hours in History of Magic going over quidditch playbooks than he ever did taking note!  Mind you, I think we ought to limit the number of Cannons plays, seeing as how they haven't won since Ballycastle had to forfeit that game six years ago."

Ginny giggled and nodded.  "Good, then let him know you want him involved and he'll be chuffed for tryouts.  Oh, we've got to shove off for class," she said looking at her watch and then back up with a face of resignation, "Defense Against the Dark Arts," she sighed heavily, "with Snape."

Harry gave a sympathetic half smile to her and Colin who grimaced at hearing this, "We must have Defense right after you today, try and keep him in a good mood, eh?"

Ginny rolled her eyes as she gathered her stuff and prepared to leave and Colin was staring at Harry with his mouth agape.

 "Snape has good moods?" he asked with incredulousness that would lead one to believe it was more likely that house-elves might go on strike and demand paying.

Harry and Ron left the Great Hall after lunch and neither had seen Hermione since Charms. 

"Say Ron, I was wondering if you could dust off that play book of yours and think about some that we might be able to use.  You can help watch tryouts and see who'd fit in the best to run them, what do you think?"  Harry said casually.

"Really?" Ron asked, trying to hide his excitement.  "I mean, yeah I got it.  You want to use it?"

"Nah, you know them all better than me—hours of History of Magic well spent, I'd say—so you look them over.  You know, Wood always said being the Keeper was the best spot from which to run the plays.  Speaking of which, I should go book the pitch then, come on, we can go now."

Ron was altogether skipping on their way across the grounds to see Madame Hooch.  He told Harry about how he and Ginny had dragged Bill out to the pitch behind the Burrow during the summer to practice. 

"I managed a pretty good Starfish and Stick a time or two.  Ginny did get a few shots past me, but I might say that just goes toward her Chaser skills, eh?"

They arrived at the Quidditch Office and found Madame Hooch leaning back in her chair with her feet on her desk as she sang along to the blaring Wizarding Wireless with her eyes closed. 

Harry and Ron exchanged equally raised-brow looks before they both cleared their throats.  Madame Hooch's eyes sprang open and she knocked a stack of newspapers and magazines onto the floor (Harry thought one looked suspiciously like Witch Weekly) as she stood up from her chair.

"Yes—yes.  What can I do for you?" she asked as she waved the wireless off with her wand.

"Er, I wanted to book the pitch for Gryffindor tryouts, ma'am," Harry said.

"Right, right, Potter.  Minerva said you'd be coming down."  Hooch flipped over a blackboard that had flying instructions written on it to reveal the other side had a schedule for the pitch upon it.  "What did you have in mind?  I might warn you, Professor Snape has already booked the pitch for Slytherin's tryouts as well as for their practices.

Here's the schedule for the year," she said handing Harry the match schedule.

"First game's against Ravenclaw," Ron said.

"Yeah," Harry mused as he ran his finger down the parchment.  "And the last game of the season is Slytherin."

"Blimey, Harry, look at this!" Ron was pointing to the pitch schedule now.  "Slytherin's already booked all the weekday afternoon spots!  Can they do that?  And—they've got one on Saturday!"

Harry looked at the schedule and saw that Slytherin had indeed, already claimed what appeared to be the most prime practice spots.  "Well, lucky we beat Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw here, then.  How do we book it?" he asked Hooch.

"As captain, just tap your wand to the open time slot," she instructed.

Harry went to the board and tapped his wand to ten o'clock on Saturday morning.  An hour-long block appeared that read "Gryffindor". 

"We need longer," Ron said with his arms crossed, surveying the board.

Harry tapped it again at eleven o'clock.

"More," Ron said.  Harry gave him a look and Ron said, "It lasted nearly three hours last year."

Harry tapped his wand to begin earlier at nine o'clock.  There was a three-hour time block for Gryffindor.  "Is that enough?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded and said, "Book some of these dinnertime slots here.  We can't schedule any during the day until we know who's on the team and what their schedules are like."

Harry nodded and selected Tuesday's and Thursday's from five to seven o'clock. 

"Maybe we should book one each day of the week," Ron suggested, looking determined.

Harry turned to him and said, "What? Why?  Even Wood didn't have us out there every night unless it was just before a game!"

"But Slytherin is," Ron said darkly.

Harry scrunched up his face as he looked at the board again.  "Bet they don't use all those slots, though.  Nah, we ought to leave some times for the other teams."

"The enemy?  Harry!" Ron looked scandalized.

"I'm quite sure," Hooch said, "that Mr. Smith and Miss Chang will appreciate your leaving them ample practice time."

Harry and Ron shot each other a quick look before Harry stepped forward and quickly blocked off the same time slot for the other days of the week.

"That ought to do it," Ron said, satisfied.  Harry nodded and admired the board.  Harry then pulled out a spare piece of parchment and, with one finger touched to the board, pointed his wand at the parchment and muttered, "Transcribius."  The schedule was copied onto the parchment and Ron looked on in admiration.

"Nice one, where'd you get that from?" Ron said as he imagined all the uses of that spell, including making copies of Hermione's coveted notes.

Harry folded the parchment and stuffed it in his pocket.  "From the lesson plan book Dumbledore gave me.  It's for transcribing stuff to and from a blackboard.  Nifty, huh?"

Harry and Ron returned to the castle, waving across the grounds to Hagrid with a Care of Magical Creatures class, and were just on time to head to their first Defense class.

As the bell rang and the fifth year Gryffindors poured out of the classroom, Harry saw Ginny give him a dour look that didn't bode well for Snape's mood. 

"Hey," said Hermione as she came up behind Harry and Ron.

"Where've you been?" Ron asked and Harry looked on, curious for the answer, as well.

"Me? Oh, I had Ancient Runes before," she said, looking harried.

Ron's eyes narrowed and he said, "That was over before lunch.   You missed lunch."

"Did I?" Hermione asked and Harry sensed a classic Ron and Hermione row coming on just by hearing the rising tone of her voice and seeing his narrowed eyes.

"We were down at lunch the whole time and never saw you there," Ron said. 

"Maybe I ate lunch somewhere else and with someone else then Ron," Hermione said archly.

"Oh, having meals with House-elves then, are you?  Trying to persuade them to rise up and revolt, eh?"

"Believe whatever you want, Ron," Hermione said as she turned to Harry.  "Coming to class, Harry?"

Harry shrugged at Ron, and followed Hermione into the classroom.  He truly hated how Ron and Hermione bickered; it physically made his head ache, however, he was now wondering just where Hermione had been during lunch and whom with.

Snape was not in the room yet and this classroom had also enlarged to accommodate the increased class size due to all four houses being together.

"Looks like nearly every single person signed up for this class," Harry said.

"Must be their desire to see Snape," Ron said sarcastically as he seated himself on one side of Harry.

"No, it's because Dumbledore dropped the OWL requirement for this course.  He left it open for anyone who wanted instruction on defense to be able to take the class," Hermione said knowingly.

Harry thought this sounded like something Dumbledore would do but commented, "Sure, but imagine how slow we'll go if there are people in here who failed their OWL?  I mean I know of at least a dozen of us who all received Outstanding." 

A girl in front of them, who Harry couldn't name, shot him a glare at overhearing this. But she did a double take as her eye caught on his scar.  She seemed to not glare anymore as she realized who'd said it and Harry looked down at his desktop.

"Nice one," Hermione whispered to him, much quieter now.  "We're supposed to be trying to unify the houses and students, not alienate those who need help the most."

This reminded Harry of what Dumbledore had sent him to ponder and he nudged Ron and said, "That reminds me, I need to talk to you two tonight about something."  He looked pointedly at Hermione, as he said, "So don't go wandering off for dinner and then the rest of the night."

Ron smirked at his instructions to Hermione to not disappear and Hermione gave him a long unreadable look and was about to say something when the door from the Defense office slammed open.   Snape strode in; dropping what Harry recognized as one of Dumbledore's lesson plan books, onto the desk and whirled to face the class.

"This is Defense Against the Dark Arts for Sixth Years who believe they are willing and able to earn a NEWT level accreditation for this subject.  Many of you are here not because you are willing nor because you are able to perform at this level, however, you've been cursed with an abominable succession of inept instructors for this class."

Irritation and indignation swelled in Harry as well as Ron and Hermione at having Lupin lumped into that group of inept instructors.  Snape continued on as he menacingly stalked down through the rows of students.  Harry had a fleeting thought that led him to believe Snape liked having the larger audience for his intimidation performance.

He went on softly, "Several of you, indeed, barely managed to scrape a passing OWL for this subject, yet our headmaster wishes you all to suffer the rest of us with your presence."  Snape swept down the row in front of the trio.  "Potter!"  He leaned down with both hands on Harry's desk, his face inches from Harry's cool expression.   "Tell me…where might I find…a bezoar?"

Harry heard a few lone snickers at the question, one, distinctly sounding like Malfoy.  The fact that this question had been one with which Snape had tried to baffle and ridicule Harry on his very first day of Potions was not lost on Harry.  But he wasn't the same clueless First Year and he surely wasn't scared of Snape anymore.

"I believe, Professor," Harry put emphasis the title he though not befitting Snape, "you might find one in a glass display case attached to a rather high price tag," His answer dared Snape to blow up.  Instead, Snape just arched an eyebrow.  Harry leaned forward just slightly, causing Snape to lean back to maintain his personal space, and went on in a casual voice, "Unless of course, you wished to procure one directly.  In which case, you'd find it in the stomach of a goat."  Take that you greasy bastard.

Snape stood up and crossed his arms, looking bitterly down at Harry and said, "And tell me how, Mr. Potter, our resident expert on…Defense…Against the…Dark Arts, just how does that knowledge tie in to this class?" 

Harry swallowed discreetly but refused to break eye contact with Snape's gleaming black eyes. Bezoars cure poisoning, how the hell am I supposed to know…  Harry could feel Hermione, just itching to slip him an answer, fidget beside him.  He also felt Ron shrink on his other side, just hoping to get by without notice.

"Well, sir," Harry began, "I believe a bezoar is an antidote for poisoning…and I think poisons could be justifiably classified as Dark Arts."  That sounded like a fine link, Harry thought and he could tell by Hermione's prideful posture that she also thought it was sufficient.

But what really told Harry that he'd answered the question correctly, much to Snape's displeasure, was when Snape just sneered said, "And it only took you six years to learn that."

Snape moved and tried his hand and cowing some other students, who Harry assumed, were also some of Snape's favorite targets.  He noted a number of them were Hufflepuffs and Snape seemed to have a general disdain for their entire house, much as he did for Gryffindor.  Ravenclaw, it appeared, to hold Snape's begrudging tolerance.

"So," Snape said coldly as he resumed his position at the head of the class, "it is now time to identify the hopeless and hapless among you so I might then be able to assemble you into groups according to skill level.  This will ensure an efficient use of everyone's time.

"You might think I could merely reference the OWL marks you've all managed, however, there seem to be some rather suspect marks among them…Longbottom!" Snape drew his wand from within his robes and pointed it at Neville.  "Up here," he commanded, gesturing with his wand to the front of the class.

Neville gulped and Harry tried to silently will his strength and courage to him.  As Neville stood up shakily from his seat, he glanced sideways and caught Harry's eye.  Harry gave him a discreet smile and thumbs-up as Snape barked, "Now!"  Neville did seem a bit heartened as he walked forward to the front of the class.

"Now," Snape said, eyeing Neville with disdain and leveling his wand towards him, "according to your OWL examination marks, you should be able to demonstrate the proper defense against what I am about to do…although, I'm already beginning to doubt your abilities seeing as how you haven't yet managed to…" Snape started backing up from Neville and pulling back his arm to cast a spell and spoke each word slowly as he said, "…draw…your…wand!"

Neville managed to draw his wand quickly as he saw Snape winding up to cast and there was a flash of light as Snape cast a Jelly-Legs Jinx.  However, a second flash of light from Neville as he cried, "Protego!" sent the jinx ricocheting off the shield. 

Snape sidestepped his jinx as it careened back at him and let it dissipate as it hit the wall.  He turned a cool eye back to Neville who was looking like the most stunned person in the entire classroom (and that was saying something). 

"Well," Snape said, clearly not having expected this at all, "clearly, your Gryffindor response may be effective, however…I was hoping for the simpler and always effective and less exploitable defense of dodging the spell.  Take your seat." 

Harry and every other Gryffindor in the room beamed with pride at Neville after what Snape had meant to be an insult, only made them puff out their chests and sit tall in their seats. 

Snape seemed to have lost his balance for the next few minutes, as if he thought his world had suddenly tilted on its axis, leaving everything to be just slightly not what was expected.  He instructed the class to stand up, banished the desks tot he side of the room, and instructed everyone to form three lines so he might observe their skill levels as they performed several standard spells.  He refrained from picking on any more Gryffindors and settled for the safer Hufflepuffs and a few Ravenclaws to sound out for poor form and lacking skills.

Harry watched with pride, as the members of last year's DA were clearly superior to the rest of his classmates.  He also noticed that several Slytherins, were in fact, having difficulty with many basic defensive spells and counter-jinxes, including the girl standing in line next to him; the one who'd given him a dirty look before the start of class when he'd inadvertently insulted her.  Harry recalled her as being one of the Slytherin girls who never seemed to have a name or voice in all the time he'd been at Hogwarts. 

"You're…you're doing it wrong," Harry said as he paused in casting a counter spell and watched her fail to produce any kind of spell.  He saw her face grow astonishingly red as she just shook her wand and tried her again, with no luck.

"Here, like this, watch," Harry said as he showed her how he performed the spell.  "Go on, give it a go now—"

"Potter," said Snape viciously from behind, "showing off already on your first day back?"  Harry gaped at him.  He'd been trying to help one of Snape's little Slytherins, after all.  "I don't believe Miss Davis is in need of your blatant bragging.  Five points from Gryffindor and another ten if I catch you trying to use this class as your own showground for displaying yourself again."

Snape swept away and Harry clenched his jaw as he indulged himself by imagining hexing Snape so his overlarge, hooked nose fell off his face.  Then, to his side, he saw the girl perform the spell with admirable results this time.  He looked at her sideways and she grinned back at him and mouthed, "Thanks."

The bell rang, signally the end of class and although it had been a vast improvement over last years Defense classes that never once employed the use of wands, Harry still felt like the class had been a bit of a dud.  Sure there was the usual Snape sneering and unfair taking of House points, but as Harry and his fellow Gryffindors were quite adept in this subject (especially compared to Potions), the class had been dreadfully dull.

"That was exciting," Ron said sarcastically as they left the room.

"Well, hopefully, it will get better and we can get to some useful subject matter," said Hermione.  "You know, Snape might actually not be half bad at teaching this."  Ron and Harry goggled at her and she explained, "Oh, I never said he'd been fun or even fair, but we're not intimidated at all and you have to admit, if anyone ought to know about the Dark Arts, it's Snape."

Harry conceded begrudgingly and nodded once as Ron asked, "Yeah, you know, why do you think Dumbledore gave him the job finally?  Especially now?"

Harry looked up sharply at Ron and realized there really was an awful lot that he and Hermione knew, that Ron had no clue about.  Harry did some quick thinking and said, "Actually, you'd never guess.  Are you done for the day?"  Ron nodded. 

Harry looked to Hermione who was watching him carefully and he asked her, "You done, too?"  She nodded slowly, wary of what Harry had in mind.  "Good, let's go someplace where we can talk."

"Common Room?" Ron suggested.

"No," Harry said, pulling the other two away from the rest of their classmates.  "Someplace private."

With unvoiced consent, they headed into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.  Myrtle, thankfully, was nowhere to be seen.

Harry conjured a privacy bubble around them and settled himself comfortably (as much as one could be in a bathroom) on the floor. 

Ron looked around curiously at the bubble encasing them and asked, "What's this all about?  Did you guys overhear something about how Snape got the job?"

Hermione was giving Harry a look of warning, but he waved her concern aside, not seeing what harm could come of letting Ron what they knew (Just as long as he didn't know the truth of how they knew.)  "Yeah, you cold say that," Harry said.

"Harry," Hermione said warningly, "you know we're not supposed to tell anyone about this."

Harry felt a twinge of annoyance at Hermione's affinity for rules.  He was not about to tell Ron anything that he wouldn't be speculating about anyway, what with all Ron knew about Snape's role as a spy.  Not to mention the fact that Hermione saying they weren't supposed to say anything, really didn't give Harry much choice but to go on, unless he really wanted an irate Weasley on his hands.  "Hermione, with all the things that Ron knows about Snape in the Order, he might as well know why and how he got the job--we'd be going spare if we didn't know."  Not to mention the fact that this is about the least imperative secret we are keeping from Ron at this time. 

Hermione didn't look happy about this but settled back with her arms crossed and Ron shot her a triumphantly defiant glare and then turned back to Harry and said, "C'mon then, tell me!"

Harry explained that Snape came back from Voldemort (Ron still flinched at the name) with instructions to procure the position of professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts and to tell Dumbledore that the reason for this is to enable Snape to observe Harry and report back to Voldemort.  Harry explained that Dumbledore reckoned it would be okay to play along with this, as he'd already written out all the lesson plans for the course and would allow Snape no deviation from these plans. 

"Whoa," Ron said as a smile grew on his face, "you mean to tell me that the greasy git finally lands his dream job, only to not be able to teach it the way he wants?  Bet he's just raving about that!  I knew there was a reason he just didn't up and hex us all today in class!"  Harry smiled at this. 

"It means," Hermione said imperiously, "that we need to be careful what we all show off that we can do.  He's watching not just Harry, but anyone close to Harry.  Look at how he managed to get Neville up there and demonstrate knowledge and proficiency at a sixth year spell!"

"What?" Ron said, shaking his head in disagreement, "How do you rate Neville as 'close to Harry'?"

"Because," Hermione explained quickly, "Neville went with Harry to the Ministry last year.  As did you and me."

"You mean…you mean, he's watching us, too?" Ron asked, not sure if would nor wanted to believe it.  He paled slightly as he said, "But then, that means…then he's watching Ginny--and Luna, too!  Oh no, we're not just going to pretend and act thick are we?"  Harry had to school his face to not smirk at this, "I mean, blimey!  We've finally got a class were we know what we're doing and can shove it under Snape's greasy nose and now we're supposed to just hide the fact that we're not complete dunderheads?  No way!"

"You know," Harry said, "I'm not so sure you're right about this, Hermione."   Both Ron and Hermione looked dubiously at Harry.  "Really--see, Voldemort's just not going to tell anyone, even Snape, his plans.  Not now and whatever story he's told Snape is just a front for what he's really got in mind."  This was old news to Harry and he thought Hermione should know this as well.  Seeing as how he still had no clue what those other plans could be, he thought letting Ron in on the mystery couldn't hurt.

"Yeah…yeah, you're right, Harry," Ron said, leaning forward now, obviously thinking hard.  "He's just trying to draw attention away from whatever he's really doing--like sending someone here from Durmstrang!"

"Ron!" Hermione started in on him with a finger pointed close to his face.

"Stop!" Harry said, placing his arm between Hermione and Ron and gently pushing Hermione back and away from Ron.  "I don't know about that, Ron.  Actually, there has to be a reason to have Snape teaching Defense.  If he just wanted to plant…someone here, then he could have sent them to apply for the vacant Defense position."

"So what do you think it is, then?" Ron countered, waiting for an answer that would just try to make him not think ill of Viktor Krum.

"I dunno," Harry said.  "That's what we need to find out."

Ron seemed to think on this and Hermione was staring down at her skirt.  Harry was hoping he hadn't hacked her off now and was about to try and say something when Ron said, "Is this why you thought Snape wouldn't be teaching Potions? Because you knew this?"  Harry and Hermione nodded.  "But who made you promise not to tell anyone?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Dumbledore," she said.

"Remus," Harry said just at the same time as Hermione.

They exchanged a look and Hermione quickly explained, "We overheard Remus and Professor Dumbledore talking about it and they made us both promise to keep it a secret."  She snuck a glance back at Harry and said, "But I guess Harry's right, you're probably not included in those who can't know."

Ron seemed satisfied and asked Harry, "So, are you going to tell Ginny?"

"What?" Harry said, caught off guard and thinking this was a strange question.

"Ginny," Ron explained, "She's got class with Snape and may be able to tell us if anything funny happens in her classes.  She should know, too."

"Oh, right," Harry said.  "Good thinking."

"But, I still think," Hermione said, "well, I still think that perhaps we shouldn't show off too much."

Ron goggled at her and said, "This--from little miss know-it-all!  Tell me, why--in the name of Merlin--should we not show what we can do?"

"Because," Hermione said, trying to look strong, but Harry thought, failing miserably and looking quite obviously hurt, "I think one ought not to tip their hand."

Ron muttered something incoherent and whatever it was, Harry couldn't imagine it wasn't meant to be hurtful to Hermione so he changed the subject. 

"There's something else I need to talk to you two about," he said. 

"Yeah?" Ron turned to him, looking put out.  "I hope this is about why you were voluntarily helping a Slytherin in class today."

"Actually, it is," Harry said coolly.  This was true, although he hadn't thought about it when he'd tried to help that girl with her spell.  Really, he'd just been more wary of her putting someone's (mainly his) eye out with her dreadful wand waving.

Harry explained what happened when he'd gone up to get his lesson plans from Dumbledore in his office, only to find Snape complaining about his having jinxed Malfoy.  He explained how Dumbledore had not seemed too pleased with his actions and how he's been asked to think on curbing House divisions.  He also explained how Dumbledore seemed to be of the opinion that Malfoy should not yet be condemned as an enemy.

Ron looked appalled at the thought that Malfoy wasn't condemnable just for being a Malfoy and shrieked, "He can't mean he thinks the ferret-face is actually salvageable, can he?  He's barking!"  Ron ripped of a loose thread on his robe and looked disgusted.

"Ron," Hermione said, "everyone is salvageable.  This is about mobilizing upon the advice of the Sorting Hat and its warnings that if we are divided, we'll crumble from within."  She looked at Harry and said, "See, I told you jinxing Malfoy was not a good idea."

Ron snorted and looked at her with awe as if he'd truly never seen anything like her ever before.  "Hermione, for your information, jinxing, hexing or cursing a Malfoy is always a good thing."

Hermione shot him a glare and hastily stood up, barely brushing off her robe and said, "Fine then Ronald Weasley, if pigheaded is how you want to be, then I'll leave you to it."  She tried to walk away but bumped her nose into Harry's privacy bubble. "Harry!" she whirled, "Let me out!"

Harry stood up quickly and faced her, as he said, "No."

"Harry!" Hermione said, looking almost near tears and stomping her foot.

Please don't cry…"Listen," he said as he put his hands on her shoulders.  "I'm not letting you leave because I need your help with this."  Gods, you look so kissable, he thought, but knew that would be a very, very bad idea right now.

"Just let her go," Ron said coolly, leaning back against the wall, still in his spot on the floor.  "She's probably got a dinner date to get ready for."

Harry was still watching Hermione closely and he saw her eyes narrow and turn hard as she heard Ron's words.  "Ron," he said, still looking at Hermione, "I need your help, too."

"Yeah well, I'm not the one getting all hacked off at nothing and then trying to run away, mate."

"No, Ron," Harry said as he turned and sent his friend a disappointed look.  "But you're the one who's making Hermione get hacked off and making her want to want to run away.  And seeing as how I just said I need her help as well, you're not doing me any favors by being a prat."  He turned back to Hermione and saw she was more in control now.  He reluctantly removed his hands from her shoulders, giving them a brief squeeze before he let go and said, "We need a plan and to do this, we need Hermione's brain and we need you, Ron, to go along with this."  Ron started to open his mouth but Harry plowed on, "I can handle being civil to a Slytherin, although I admit, Malfoy is a bit of a stretch and not too likely to happen.  But, that means you can't get all suspicious and accusatory if I happen to help out some person, who, mind you, has never said one word against any of us that I've ever heard."

"You're mad, Harry--I told you there's not a dark witch nor wizard alive that didn't come from that house," Ron said simply.

"Pettigrew," Harry spat, more venomously than he'd intended.  "Or, did you forget about the pet rat who used to sleep in the bed with you?"  Harry knew that was a bit vicious and maybe a tad uncalled for, but then again, so was Ron's prejudicial attitude. 

Ron paled at the reminder to his having harbored the one responsible for the death of Harry's parents.  "But…but he wasn't a dark…he was weak," said Ron feebly.

An anger roiled inside Harry that caused a tumult of emotions and prevented him for forming words to respond.  He calmed when he felt Hermione's hand on his shoulder now. "Harry," she said quietly, "maybe we should…we're all a little high strung right now.  Can we think on this and talk about if later?"

Harry closed his eyes and took a breath.  "I need to meet with Professor Dumbledore tomorrow afternoon to discuss this," he said with barely-schooled frustration.

"Ok, ok, then," Hermione said.  "We can get together later tonight, after dinner."

Harry nodded and he saw Ron stand up abruptly then.  "Well," Ron said, looking beadily at the bubble and then at Harry and Hermione, who still had her hand on his shoulder, "are you going to let us out of this thing?"

Harry waved the privacy bubble away and watched Ron walk out, leaving he and Hermione alone.  Harry let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.  "Why is this so hard?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Colloportus!" he heard Hermione say, sealing the door shut.  He turned to see her smile sadly up at him and then bring his mouth down for a soft kiss.  "I don't know," she whispered softly in his ear, making his forget all about Ron, Snape, house rivalries and rats that betrayed.  "But if you can conjure up a mattress, then maybe the floor won't be so hard." 

He could hardly contain the thrill he felt that Hermione Granger was suggesting what he thought she was suggesting and eagerly expressed his enthusiasm. 

"I do love your ideas," he said, kissing her neck and marveling at what a clever, clever witch Hermione really was.

*          ~            *            ~            *            ~            *