The next morning Professor McGonagall was handing out their timetables at breakfast.
"First thing today is Transfiguration, well, at least it´s not Snape – hey, look, we´ve got an evening lesson with Madam Hooch on Thursdays. What d´you think that is about?"
"It´s Apparition classes, obviously," Hermione said, not bothering to look up from behind the Daily Prophet, "you didn´t think the only class she teaches is first year flying lessons, did you? And as we can get our licenses when we turn seventeen, we need to learn how to apparate in sixth year."
Neville looked nervous, apparently he remembered his first flying lesson with Madam Hooch and wasn´t too keen on learning to apparate. Harry on the other hand was eager to but a slot on his own timetable distracted him. On Tuesday, eight to ten o´clock in the evening, "O. with Prof. D.". He quickly put his timetable in his bag, not sure if his Occlumency lessons still were a secret.
Soon later Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to the first class of the new year, NEWT level Transfiguration. When they entered they realised that all houses were mixed together for NEWT classes because each student could choose the subjects they liked. So for example Seamus was in another Transfiguration class because he had Muggle studies now, as he had told them at breakfast. Harry sat down next to Hannah Abbott behind Ron and Hermione just as McGonagall stepped to her desk.
"You all have made it into NEWT level Transfiguration which means you got at least an E in your OWL. However this doesn´t guarantee that you can keep up that mark. We will do much more advanced transfigurations than in the last years, you will also learn how to conjure things up and how to animate things. These are very difficult spells and some of you will most likely not be able to perform them thoroughly. Nevertheless I expect you to try your hardest and to accomplish your assignments to the best of your ability. Today we will start with an easier time transfiguration spell, please take one of those apple seeds and try to transform them into an fully grown apple tree…"
When Harry had thought after the OWL year they would be allowed to relax a bit he was completely mistaken. After Transfiguration he hurried to meet Neville in the greenhouses for Herbology, where Professor Sprout gave them a speech resembling McGonagall´s about the difficulties of NEWT level courses and then continued: "This year we will study more theory as most of the plants for sixth year are very rare and hard to get and we don´t have them all here at Hogwarts. However today we will begin with the Mimbletus Mimbletonia, and I´m very happy to say that we have the opportunity to study that plant properly because Mr Longbottom was kind enough to lent me his."
Neville blushed at the praise and embarrassed but secure of his knowledge explained the properties of the plant that had grown a lot since last year. Harry still thought he had rarely seen a plant that ugly but was happy to hear that the stinksap didn´t have any unpleasant side-effects except its smell.
########################################################################
A class they had all been waiting for was Potions with Professor Sanfter. Harry thought that maybe without Snape constantly trying to fail him he might be able to brew a potion correctly. But the lesson turned out to be a catastrophe. Professor Sanfter had absolutely no authority whatsoever and with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle being in the same class as the three Gryffindors disaster was predetermined.
It all started while Sanfter was giving his lecture about what they would do in Potions for the next two years. "…we will tailor a potion directly to only one human being. For the best way to do this you need the wand of the individual-" Harry could see Malfoy and his cronies mixing some ingredients in the back of the room- "while other things work too, wands are the most powerful ones to be used against their owners…" Harry pushed Hermione down beneath the table just in time as Goyle splashed a ladle of their mixture into their direction.
Padma Patil who sat in front of Hermione screamed as most of the liquid hit the back of her head and dripped down her robes. Smoke rose from the potion and Professor Sanfter squealed. "What did you do, dear? What´s that potion? Don´t be afraid, dear, we´ll fix that in an instant, …I hope…" Other people had now too realised that there were stray splatters on their robes, smoking and burning through the fabric. Harry heard Terry Boot next to Padma curse and take off his robe, trying to get the liquid away from himself, and saw a Slytherin girl near Goyle biting her lip until it was white and blinking to hold back her tears.
In the commotion nobody had seen the drops that hit Hermione´s ingredients until she suddenly scrambled back from a dense white fog that flowed down the leg of her table and crept along the floor. A panicked race for the door started as soon as the other students noticed the fog too and Professor Sanfter´s pleas for order were in vain. He stumbled out of the room after everyone else and closed the door with a relieved sigh behind him. "You, dear, and everyone who caught some of the potion, please go to the hospital wing, please…" Padma, whose hair was frizzy and sizzling and half missing by now, nodded crying and was accompanied by Terry to Madam Pomfrey, with the Slytherin girl and some others following.
"And you, dear," Sanfter said turning to Hermione, "please in future refrain from brewing something on your own… It´s not that I don´t understand curiosity, but you see how it can go wrong if you don´t know what you´re doing…" Hermione stared at Sanfter, her mouth opening and closing without a sound. "But it wasn´t her! It was…" Ron started but Sanfter was already worriedly eyeing the door "Oh, dear, oh, dear, what can it be? Well, class, I think we have to stop early today, you´re dismissed. Dear, you don´t remember what you were brewing, do you? No, I didn´t think so… well then hurry along now."
Harry saw Malfoy´s gleeful smirk as he walked away together with Crabbe and Goyle and desperately wanted to make Sanfter see the truth but the Potions teacher seemed to have forgotten them completely and was mumbling "Asphodel, powdered ogre´s eyes… no, that can´t be…".
When they finally moved up to the great hall for dinner the first thing Neville asked was: "And? How´s Potions without Snape?"
"Don´t ask!" Ron growled, while Hermione still seemed to be in a state of shock that a teacher believed she didn´t know what she was doing. So Harry recounted the whole class to Neville; they were relieved to see the potion victims return from the hospital wing in the middle of dinner.
########################################################################
Since it was Tuesday Harry made his way to Dumbledore´s office at eight o´clock. Standing in front of the Gargoyle he sighed. As usual he didn´t know the password. Before he could start guessing though the creature moved aside and Harry could hear two people coming downstairs. "The protections of the castle are very complex, as you´ll see, and nobody knows exactly what they are. Each Headmaster in the last thousand years has put his own spells over the already existing ones, and no one bothered to write down every spell…," McGonagall stepped out of the stairway followed by Rookwood, "Of course it was never intended to make the information about the wards common knowledge… Ah, Potter, you may go up, the Headmaster is awaiting you." Harry noticed that although she was talking politely her lips were thin, probably she still hadn´t forgotten her encounter with Ministry employees last year. The liaison officer gave him a curt, blank stare that Harry couldn´t discern before they walked away and he rode up the stairs.
"Hello, Harry, come in!" he heard Dumbledore say before he even had the time to knock. The office looked the same as usual, with all the little silver gadgets back in their places and Fawkes giving a soft welcome thrill when Harry entered. "Sit down. Would you like some tea? Or a Lemon Drop?"
Harry accepted a cup of tea but declined the Lemon Drop, while Dumbledore continued: "We won´t start with practical Occlumency lessons today, I want you to read a few things about the theory first. Here´s a sheet with all the books that I think might be helpful, and which chapters you should read. Some of them are in the Restricted Section so I´ve already told Madam Pinch that you are allowed to go in there. We will then talk next week about the different concepts of closing your mind and which concept sounds the most appealing to you."
Taking the parchment Harry wondered if this was a dismissal since they wouldn´t do anything more tonight. His cup of tea was still more than half full. But Dumbledore went on: "I told you last year that you should have been Prefect had you not had enough responsibility already. Now we have a similar decision to make and I´d like to hear your opinion on the topic. As you know Angelina Johnson graduated last year, and because of that Gryffindor needs a new Quidditch captain. You are the member with the most experience on the team, with Mr Weasley having played only one year and Miss Weasley, Mr Kirke and Mr Sloper even less. Professor McGonagall wanted to make you captain as soon as the ban was revoked but I stepped in."
Quidditch captain! That was something he could be really proud of, something he had achieved on his own, not because of his fame. He remembered the sense of freedom he always had in the air, how he missed it last year… And McGonagall had wanted him for captain at once, -but Dumbledore had stepped in… Harry felt the familiar anger rise in him –again Dumbledore was controlling his live, telling him what to do… on the other hand with his Occlumency lessons, the DA and Apparition he already had three busy evenings, could he handle not only Quidditch practise for himself but planning the training for the whole team as well? They needed new players, developing new strategies…
Harry looked at Dumbledore again and knew the Headmaster had watched the different emotions on his face and most likely guessed his train of thought. Resigned he answered: "No, I don´t think I´d be the best choice for captain. I don´t think I´ll have enough time for the team. Ron would be better…" Trying to squash his envy and jealousy Harry barely heard Dumbledore say: "Then I´ll tell Professor McGonagall that you sadly won´t have the time. Please don´t tell Mr Weasley yet of this decision."
He nodded absentmindedly and taking it as a real dismissal this time left the office. Quidditch captain –Sirius would have been so proud… He´s dead! It doesn´t matter anymore anyway! And you´d better concentrate on the important things, not play around on broomsticks!
Not taking in anything Harry stormed back to Gryffindor tower until he stood in front of the Fat Lady and suddenly heard a sniffling behind an armour. Curious he walked back a few steps and was surprised to see Paul Wheeler sitting on the floor in the shadow, his face pressed against his knees.
"Eh, you… are you okay?"
"Yes! I´m fine! Just go away!"
"Erm, you´re sure? Why don´t you go in then? You really shouldn´t stay out here, it´s nearly curfew." Harry had thought about telling the boy that he was Dudley´s cousin but now was clearly not the time. He felt helpless as the First year gave no answer and wished Hermione was there, she always understood people better than he and surely would handle this situation much better. "Erm, really, whatever it is, just come in with me now, okay?"
"I´m fine! And I do what I want! Just leave me alone!" Paul screamed, pushed him aside with a furious glance from bloodshot eyes and ran to the portrait. Harry watched him climb in, shocked by the outburst and asking himself what was wrong with the boy.
When he got into the common room there was no sign of the First year while all the other new Gryffindors were sitting together at a table, talking about their adventures of the first days. Harry shook his head –had they really once been that small? –and went to sit near Ron who was beating Neville at chess. Hermione was sitting in the middle of a heap of parchments and books, muttering to herself.
Ron leaned over and whispered: "It´s those dratted books from Grimmauld Place again. Better don´t talk to her, I nearly got my head bitten off when I tried."
Harry took out his books, he could imagine how Ron had "tried to talk" to Hermione and was glad they weren´t still at each others throats. Nevertheless he followed Ron´s advice and began to leaf silently through his sixth year Defence book. They had their first lesson with Snape the next morning, and he would be prepared.
########################################################################
Breakfast the next day was quiet until McGonagall came over to the Gryffindor table. "Mr Weasley," she said after giving Harry a brief glance, "I´m glad to tell you that you have been chosen as the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain." Ron gaped. "I don´t think I need to remind you that all three chasers of the team graduated last year, so you´ll have to hold try-outs soon. And I expect you to select a good team, I´m rather fond of the cup in my office!"
"Quidditch Captain!" Ron yelled as soon as she was gone, "Me, Quidditch Captain! I can´t believe it, Harry! Oh, wait till I write home about it!" Harry was suddenly reminded of their first year, and Ron standing in front of the Mirror of Erised. It seemed as if Ron might see his heart´s desires fulfilled.
Too soon it was time for their first lesson and they found themselves sitting in one of the Defence classrooms. Snape entered with the sound of the bell and gave them his usual cold stare. "Due to a certain lack of decent teachers in this subject over the last years everyone who managed an OWL is allowed in this class. The Headmaster was of the opinion that you should not suffer from their inability. However I will not tolerate anyone dawdling or incompetent-" Snape´s sneer made Neville shrink back in his seat-"and those who think themselves better than the rest, because they joined an illegal group, -well, we´ll see how much you really learnt there… Just know: anyone not up to my standards will leave this class. This is a NEWT level course and I will not waste my time with those too simpleminded to understand the finer arts of Defence."
As always in Snape´s classes there was complete silence. Then - "Potter, what is a Quinquero Shield?"
Harry thought back over his summer readings. Quinquero…- "The Quinquero Shield is a shielding charm that can –when cast properly- protect up to five persons from most curses, with the exception of the Unforgivables of course." Harry said, looking Snape straight into the eyes. "Sir."
"And the Retrogradia Curse?"
Harry was sure none of these things were explained in the textbook, luckily he had been reading Hermione´s Curse-book. "It needs to be cast directly on your opponent´s wand by tapping it with your own wand while saying the incantation. Then every spell that is cast with this wand will backfire."
Snape kept twirling his wand while Harry spoke, his mouth twitching malevolently. "It seems you have indeed done some reading, Potter, and actually did understand it -I´m impressed. Since you already seem to know about it, maybe you´d like to show it to us? What about that shield –maybe you could shield Miss Granger, Mr Weasley and Mr Longbottom next to you, while I try to curse them?"
Harry didn´t like it, he had never actually attempted to cast that shield because of the Restriction of Underage Magic over the summer, and Snape seemed to know it. His friends shot him uneasy looks and Hermione shook her head discouragingly. Snape smiled challengingly. "Sure, Professor," he said, standing up.
Frantically recalling the incantation and correct wand-movement Harry saw Snape raise his wand. What had he been thinking? Getting his friends into this just because he had to rise to Snape´s bait? Snape cast a curse Harry didn´t know –What would it do? To his friends? –"QUINQUERARE!"
A light blue shield in front of Harry stopped the red curse from Snape, Snape´s eyes widened, -Good, seems he didn´t expect this, I´ll show him!- and then the blue shield broke and the red curse struck Harry in the chest, knocking him backward into a table.
"Harry!" he heard Hermione´s anxious voice as the arms of his friends helped him up, he felt dizzy and had a hard time looking straight.
"It seems, Mr Potter doesn´t yet know everything, even if he likes to think so." Snape drawled, "and now open your books and read the chapter about shield charms. I want two rolls of parchment about that till next class, and you, Potter, will include an explanation as to why your shield failed!"
Harry was in a bad mood for the rest of the day and his head kept hurting. If he couldn´t take one of Snape´s curses how was he supposed to take on Voldemort? Glad he had the last period of the day free –Ron and Neville were in Divination, and Hermione had Arithmancy- Harry made his way to the library. Luckily the DA meeting was not before next week.
The library was nearly empty so early in the school year and Madam Pince examined Harry´s list of books about Occlumency critically before she let him pass into the Restricted Section. When he was finished he had a stack of books as high as the library tables and wondered how Dumbledore expected him to read them before next week.
Luna came skipping into the library as he was dragging his load out. She gave him a bright smile and said: "Hello Harry! Do you like to come to the library in the evening too? I´m here often, my roommates don´t like me listening to them."
"Ehm, no, I just had to borrow these books… Why don´t you tell your roommates to leave if they don´t want you to listen? It´s your dormitory as well."
"But I like the library at night, I always can imagine the books whispering to each other when it´s getting dark, about their stories and secrets… And I know what the girls in my dormitory are talking about anyway, they are making lists of the boys they like most."
"Oh, do they?" Harry gulped. Did the Gryffindor girls do that as well? He somehow couldn´t imagine Hermione partaking… And lists…
"Yes. You´re by the way near the top of the lists most of the time. They don´t like much your glasses, but they think your hair is nice and that you´re the hero-type."
Harry felt the blood rise to his cheeks: "Uh,… erm,… you seem to know pretty much for them not wanting you to listen…"
Luna gave him a surprisingly present wink: "I have my ways…" and then wandered away between the rows of books.
########################################################################
School life carried on like that for the next week. A highlight was Madam Hooch´s Apparition class. They had studied the concepts behind Apparition because she wanted all of them to understand the theory before they moved on to real practise.
"You have to concentrate really hard and exclusively on where you want to go. If you´re not specific enough or get distracted you will most likely splinch yourself. Therefore I would also not recommended Apparating while you don´t feel well. And you should be sure and confident about your ability –that´s why a lot of grown up wizards and witches don´t apparate –they simply don´t feel comfortable enough although they passed their license."
The lesson left Harry feeling pleased. He thought he had understood the main concept and was confident he´d finally found a way of wizarding travel he liked. And although he couldn´t get a license before his next birthday it might come in handy in an emergency situation.
On Wednesday evening Harry was going to the Room of Requirement early. He wanted some time by himself to think over what he needed to say when he turned a corner and saw Malfoy quietly talking to the liaison officer.
Rookwood listened with his blank face, from time to time nodding quietly, and Harry wished he had some Extendable Ears. He never saw the Ministry employee actually do something, he just seemed to hang around everywhere, watching, listening, never giving anything away about himself. Harry hid behind a statue and strained his ears. "…can´t stand …but last year… in his office … Snape…not the truth…" Try as he might he couldn´t hear more. What was it with Snape? Why would Rookwood ask about him? And what was not true?
Malfoy finished talking and Rookwood nodded one last time before striding away. The Slytherin straightened up and followed him slowly.
########################################################################
The Room of Requirement provided Harry with a cozy fireplace and lots of armchairs and soon the other members of the DA filled in. Everyone from last year except Marietta and Cho and those who had graduated was there. Harry cleared his throat nervously as he stood in front of them: "Erm, welcome back to the DA, I´m glad to see you have all decided to come here tonight. I´d like to hear your opinions on what should become of the DA, if we should continue, what exactly we should do, if we should let new members join… I have some ideas already but I´d like to hear what you think. And well, first I think I need to tell you that I´ve asked Dumbledore for permission to continue and he said something like "no sensible teacher would be displeased with his students practising in their free time", and although I don´t know if that applies to Snape, we are free to meet as we like."
Zacharias Smith sat up straighter and answered: "What I want to know at first is what happened in the Ministry? Why were you there, and was You-Know-Who really there? And are the articles in the Daily Prophet true?"
Harry had expected this ever since the Hogwarts Express and was prepared. "I cannot tell you everything about it, you must understand that there are some things that I can´t speak about. We were there because I was tricked by Voldemort and my friends chose to follow me. And yes, Voldemort was there, as well as several Death Eaters, and we had a hard time fighting them until Dumbledore arrived with some other wizards. Voldemort fled after a duel with the Headmaster but not before Minister Fudge had seen him, so that the Ministry finally acknowledged his return. And don´t believe the newspapers – they write what Fudge wants them to publish."
He could see that Zacharias was not satisfied with his answer and fixed him with a hard stare. "I won´t say more about it now, as I´ve already explained that I can´t talk about it freely. And we have more important things to discuss."
Zacharias chose to remain silent after that and Harry allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief.
Ernie was the next to say something: "I´m sure I´m speaking for a lot of us when I say that we need to continue with the DA. With this new threat of You-Know-Who it is more important than ever that we know how to defend ourselves. And while Umbridge is gone for good Professor Snape is not exactly the teacher I would have wanted to replace her. –"
"Yes," interrupted Terry, "I think we all agree on continuing." There was a general murmuring of consent. "But what did you mean with what we should do´, won´t we carry on like last year?"
Harry took a deep breath: "Well, Ernie said it before, we need to defend ourselves. But there´s more. Do we only want to learn some new spells, enough to pass our NEWTs and survive an attack that we hope will never happen? Or do we want to do something more?
Now that Voldemort´s return has been publicly acknowledged he won´t hide anymore. Just see what happened during his last rise. What if there are Death Eaters coming for Hogwarts? Attacking students, -some first years on the Quidditch field, or the third years on their first Hogsmeade weekend? Will you watch and be glad it isn´t you -this time?
I won´t stand back when something like this happens. You probably know that I never liked life with my relatives, for me Hogwarts is home, and I know that I won´t stand back when they attack here."
Brief silence followed that statement, then everyone started talking together. "Do you want us to go out there and fight Death Eaters? Do you really expect us to do that?"
"No, Padma, I don´t expect anyone to go out and look for a fight. All I want to know is if Death Eaters come here and attack students will you try to protect them? That´s the main question: are we satisfied with just defending ourselves or do we take on some more responsibility?
And it´s not only fighting – it´s also the teaching, the research, I can´t do all that on my own any more. Last year I taught you things I already knew. This year I need to learn the new stuff myself first… I would need a lot of help from you with that, and so I need to know how much you´re willing to do."
Some DA members were thinking that over quietly, others were whispering in little groups. Hermione gave him an encouraging nod while Ron frowned at Zacharias who looked ready to argue. Harry let the discussion go on for a little while longer before most of the students seemed to have made up their mind.
"You just said that You-Know-Who fooled you last year when you led the others to the Ministry. I´m not going to take a lot of incalculable risks because you want to jump into one of your hair-raising adventures!"
"No one asked you to, Smith! We chose to follow Harry last year, and we´d do it again in an heartbeat!" Ron snapped.
"Erm, I think that is our responsibility to support the staff and the teachers in case of an attack. Dumbledore and the Professors would surely be able to beat any Death Eaters, but of course we would help them in any way we can," stated Ernie.
Neville sat up in his armchair. "I´m completely with Harry. He managed to spoil the Death eater´s plans in the Ministry against all odds. I trust him that he will do what he can to keep us out of harm, and I think there´s nobody more able to do so than him. And about Hogwarts, we can´t solely rely on the teachers, they can´t do everything! We are Hogwarts students, we should be willing to do something for our school too!"
"So, erm, who is willing to take some more responsibility then?" Harry asked, a bit embarrassed by Neville´s praise.
His closest friends raised their hands fastest but more hands went up, some slowly, hesitatingly, others more confident, in the end every single student had his hand in the air. Ernie huffed pompously, Zacharias had a reluctant smile on his face and Padma seemed to ask herself what she had gotten herself into.
"I- well, I didn´t expect you all to agree. That´s great! Alright, then you should all think of what your strengths are, and tell me next week. We´ll make a plan of who´ll research what and teach it to the others, okay?
And then there´s one last topic I wanted to talk about. Do we want to take new members? With all the graduates we are a lot less people than last year. You all heard the Sorting Song, about the unity of the houses, and I think the more people working together the better. But at the same time I don´t want everything we do become common knowledge."
"I think we should take some new members but be very careful whom we select. We should keep our meetings as secret as possible, so we would have the advantage of surprise. Maybe Hermione could make another parchment like last year, so we´d know if anyone was sneaking," Terry said.
"Okay, so no new members unless we trust them completely, and we will figure something out to make sure nobody talks about things they shouldn´t." Hermione seemed to already think about that and Harry decided to drop his last bombshell. "I would like to let some Slytherins join. -Please let me finish! All the houses need to unite, and what better way to do this than in the defence of the school? I know you don´t trust them, and I certainly wouldn´t want Malfoy to join us, but there must be some decent students in Slytherin, too!
We just need to find them, and until we can manage that I won´t suggest we let them in. But when we figured out a way whom to trust I want you to judge and treat them just like every other student."
The DA members didn´t look too happy with this but since it wouldn´t have immediate consequences didn´t object.
Hermione cleared her throat: "We should come to an end, it´s already past curfew… We wouldn´t want to get caught after our first meeting, would we?"
"Yeah, right, Hermione, I´ll set a date for the next meeting sometime next week, then, okay?"
The DA members left in small groups, at last only Ron and Hermione remained with Harry. "Good meeting, mate!" – "Yes, you got them to agree to everything you wanted. You´ll see, they´ll accept the Slytherins when the time comes." –"I´m not so sure if I want that time to come..." – "Oh, Ron!-"
Harry silenced them with a movement of his hand as they stepped out. There - behind an armour at the end of the corridor moved a figure. Harry cursed himself. Why hadn´t he made sure the corridor was deserted with the Marauder´s Map? They raised their wands until the figure stepped into the light.
"I knew there was a meeting tonight, from my galleon. Please, Harry, I need to talk to you for a moment. Alone." It was Cho Chang.
A.N.: Thanks for pointing out my mistake with Neville and the Thestrals! I thought about removing it, but as it isn´t really important for the story I´ll keep that scene as it is for the time being.
Mark Evans won´t appear in my story -I already have the little brother of Dudley´s girlfriend as a Gryffindor First year, so I really don´t need him for the plot.
And about Rookwood, thanks for telling me that he´s also in the fourth book! You´ll see more of him in the next chapter...