Chapter 13: Dueling, Dogs, and Dusty tomes
Professor Calabrone ushered them all into pairs about five feet apart from one another in the room, which had been cleared out. While she was busy bustling around the room dividing everyone, Harry took a moment to look around.
None of the other classrooms at Hogwarts changed as much as this one. Thankfully, all traces of Umbridge seemed to have been removed. Instead, lots of objects covered with strange symbols adorned all the shelves, "They're druidic runes." Hermione said lowly, noticing Harry strain to look at a clay mug near his left arm.
The rest of the classroom walls were covered with huge posters, all in different languages. "She likes mythology, this one." said Seamus, from Harry's other side. Everyone had, by now, been separated into pairs. Most were staring expectantly at Calabrone.
Walking down the middle of the rows, her eyes were bright. Harry found himself smiling-he couldn't help it-her smile was infectious. She looked as though she had just heard the most wonderful joke and was about to share it with them. Finally, when she reached the middle of the classroom, she paused and held up her hand to silence them.
As no one really knew how strict a disciplinarian she was likely to be, they followed her request immediately. She began with a speech. "Before we begin, I want to take a moment to explain why it is that we have combined the classes. I know you are normally not used to attending lessons with students from upper and lower years. I feel this, while a decent policy, will lull you into a false sense of safety. All N.E.W.T.- level Defense Against the Darks Art classes will work on a rotating schedule. You will be paired with different houses and with different years each week. The Headmaster and I feel this way, based on how I will be teaching the class, will allow you to gain the fullest from my lessons."
Well, Harry thought, that at least explains why Cho and Marietta were there. He had been wondering. Quickly though, his attention was brought back to Professor Calabrone, who withdrew her wand from her right sleeve and waved it in the air.
Gold lettering spilled forth, forming the words "Dueling 101: The basics every wizard needs to know". Murmurs went up from the students. She shot forth more words, still not saying a word "An understanding of commonly used offensive and defensive spells is considered necessary for all witches and wizards during time of war."
Harry looked closely at Professor Calabrone. She was no longer smiling. The murmurs had died down. Calabrone began to pace, the gold letters fading from view. "That's right. In time of war. Whether or not you wish to call it such, it is. And it is a second coming. We know our enemy far better this time, and yet, we do not know them at all. Voldemort," several students flinched, "is known well enough, but his followers, the Death Eaters, are a well-kept secret. I am sure any of you from wizarding families are quite familiar with the fear and panic connected Lord Voldemort's first reign of terror.
"I assure you, this second one will only be worse. The dementors have left Azkaban." more gasps, and Calabrone stopped in her speech, "Yes, the ministry has finally confirmed it. The dementors are not, nor have they been for some time, under the control of the Ministry." she paused again in her speech.
"Who here is able to produce a Patronus?" Harry looked down, and noticed several other members of the DA do the same. "I have it on good authority that several of you are able to produce a patronus. May I please have a volunteer?"
Hermione made to nudge Harry forward, but instead he pushed her into Calabrone's line of vision.
"Miss Granger?" Calabrone asked.
"Yes, ma'am. I have a patronus." said Hermione. Calabrone nodded.
She raised her wand in her left hand and said quietly, "Opus malus." Immediately, a hooded figure, holding a packet of papers in its hand appeared.
Looking closer, Harry saw the paper had a sprawling "D" across the top. "You failed!" the hooded figure screamed.
Hermione's eyes opened wide before shaking her head and bringing her wand up. "Expecto Patronum!" she cried. Immediately, a silver otter shot forth, running through the figure, dispersing it like so much smoke. The otter darted around the room for a few moments before disappearing. Hermione pocketed her wand and looked at Professor Calabrone.
"Well done." she praised. She shifted her eyes around the room. Suddenly, she turned towards Neville, who was partnered with Harry and shouted clearly, "Petrificus Totalus."
Immediately, Neville whipped his wand out and shouted just as clearly, "Protego!" The pale blue light bounced off the shield Neville had cast and hit a nearby bookshelf, scattering the books to the floor. Realizing what he had done, Neville's eyes widened. He looked up at Professor Calabrone, who was beaming.
"Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor for your quick reflexes, Mr. Longbottom." she commended. Harry noticed two distinctly different expressions on the faces of his classmates. Most were dumbstruck, and Harry understood. Neville had never shown much aptitude for defensive spells. Harry immediately thought of the time during their first year when Hermione had cast petrificus on poor Neville. Now, however, as the members of the DA knew well, Neville had improved dramatically. All members of the DA, of which there were quite a few present, had smirks on their faces.
"Now, what I wish to have happen is this: All partners on my left side", she motioned to the side where Ron and Neville were, "I want to cast, in any order, the following spells, Culpa Accipio, Clunis Amplus , Vereor Propter Apis, and Funambulus Irate. Those of you on my right," she gestured towards Harry and Hermione, "I want to deflect the spells. You may use any of the basic shielding spells. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to ask for it. You may begin."
Professor Calabrone stepped to the side to watch, Neville immediately let loose with the bottom-enlarging hex, which Harry easily deflected, and followed quickly with the tightrope walker charm. Harry barely deflected it, before noticing somehow Ron had managed to sneak in the blame spell, as Hermione was insisting it was all her fault. Harry smiled widely at Ron, who cheerfully sent the counter curse her way.
Professor Calabrone stopped them every few minutes to give them new curses, hexes, and charms to try on one another, and to switch who was throwing the curses. Before Harry realized, she had called a halt to class, informing them it was time to leave. They all looked up in surprise; class had never gone so quickly.
Before dismissing them Calabrone stopped them at the door, "We will begin each class with fifteen minutes of dueling. If there are any spells you wish to learn, either offensive or defensive, please hand in a one page parchment giving a brief history of the spell and its primary uses. That is all. Dismissed."
Happily chattering students dispersed, talking excitedly of new curses to research. Harry joined Ron, Hermione and Neville on their way to Care of Magical Creatures class outside. Hermione already had seven new spells she was planning on writing up. Ron and Neville were comparing notes about how the different spells had, and still were, affecting them. Harry kept grinning from ear to ear. If Defense Against the Dark Arts continued like this for the rest of the year, everything would be well under control.
Approaching the pen near Hagrid's hut, Harry smile soured as he saw they were, for yet another year, paired with the Slytherins. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson were crowded around something he couldn't see yet, but he knew from experience it wouldn't be good. Before he could figure it out, though, Hagrid emerged from his hut and motioned them all over to a small enclosure near the back of the paddock that had, at one time, held Buckbeak, the hippogriff Sirius had escaped on years ago.
"Come, 'ere. Don' be frightn'd. E's jus a baby, now. Quiet, tho, don wanna scare 'im. Shh. Shh. 'Ere he comes." Hagrid said, having them all gather around the small wooden structure. Slowly, a very odd looking creature emerged from the shadows.
Harry stared at it in amazement. A small puppy appeared from the hut, but Harry noticed right away there was something off about it. Looking closer, he noticed each paw had seven toes. The puppy looked at them all, panting slightly. Noticing Hagrid, it sat down.
All the girls cooed at it. including Hermione. The puppy seemed to enjoy all the attention. Even Malfoy was behaving; he didn't seem interested in baiting the pup at all. Hagrid entered the pen. Immediately, the puppy came over and began licking Hagrid's face. The girls cooed louder.
"This is a cu chulainn. They're a rare breed. If you look closely, you'll notice each paw has seven toes. If you look ev'n closer, at its eyes, you'll see seven irises. It's a Celtic breed, very old and used in battle and guarding. If trained up right proper, they can, when fightin', get into what's called 'fury-spasms'- nasty little fits of rage that 'e can' control and what cause 'is body to swell up and seethe. The on'y place you really see 'em these days is in the old families, working as guard dogs."
Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle before Malfoy even began to speak. Malfoy whispered to Goyle, "We have two, very well trained. One time a muggle stumbled on to the grounds. All it took was one word from Father."
Harry felt Ron grab his arm, to keep him from turning round. Keeping his anger is check, Harry took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on Hagrid, who still giving a history of the dog.
"So, what I want from you all is to take turns letting 'im sniff ya', and then pet 'im. Don' be frighten'd," Hagrid chuckled, "'E's not harmful yet. He's on'y a few weeks old. 'Is mother was killed. There's a farm further south a here where they was bred, but the breeder and 'is family disappeared right as the mother was getting ready to have 'er litter. I found 'em and managed to finds homes for all but the runt. Come on, then."
Hagrid backed out of the way, allowing them, in groups of two or three, to approach the puppy. The pup rolled this way and that, smiling and nipping gently at all their hands. Harry had to admit he couldn't see how this animal could grow up into such a awful monster, but he supposed if people like the Malfoy's got a hold of them, anything was possible.
The rest of the class went by in the same way. Hagrid said they'd be working on N.E.W.T. level beasts all term. Harry was getting a little annoyed by the repetitive mention of N.E.W.T.s.
"Isn't is enough we just finished the O.W.L.s less than a term ago?" Harry said angrily, walking back up the hill towards the castle. Hermione and Ron were struggling to keep up with him. "I mean, we just studied and took grueling exams at the end of last term. And now they've all started back in with it. We don't even have to take anything special this year."
"Well, I suppose they all just want to make sure we understand this is important." Hermione reasoned. "I mean, O.W.L.s are important, yes, but they're nothing compared to N.E.W.T.s."
Ron's shoulders slumped. "I barely scraped through O.W.L.s." he said. "Let's not think about it. Let's just think about nice things, like the fact that we'll definitely get a chance to curse all those Death Eater wanna-be's in Calabrone's class. We should do some research now, Harry, to come up with some good ones to throw at Malfoy."
Harry nodded fervently. Since Calabrone mentioned it, he'd been trying to think of what particular type of curse he'd like to send in Malfoy's direction, without bringing too much attention to the fact that the only reason he wanted to learn the curse was to throw it at Malfoy.
Hermione looked on the verge of scolding them, when she realized it might be the only time she ever got them into the library willingly and anxious to do research. Instead, she shook her head and followed them up the stairs.
Madame Pince seemed surprised to see them there, but she said nothing and pursed her lips. Harry looked around, the library was practically full. "I suppose you'll be wanting the defensive spell books as well?" Madame Pince asked.
Harry's eyes widened. All these people were here researching spells for class? Ron nodded to Madame Pince, but Hermione said she knew where they were and dragged them off to a deserted corner of the library.
"What are you on about, Hermione?" Ron asked as they piled their bags on the table. "All the spell books are across the room."
"Yes." said Hermione, going over to the nearest bookshelf. "All the latest spell books. Over here are the history books." Ron and Harry rolled their eyes. "All the history books have lists of spells that have lost their popularity, but are still very effective. Here." she said, pulling a slender brown book from the shelf.
Harry looked at the title, "A history of defensive spells: 1897-1934." Inwardly he groaned. Outwardly, Ron groaned.
"Come on, Hermione." he said, flipping through the first few pages. "You mean you want us to read through all this on the off chance they just might mention a spell worth using?"
Hermione looked sternly at Ron and sat down, pulling out her notebook. "No. If you look at the index-you DO know what an index is?" she asked. Ron looked daggers at her, "They have a listing of the spells covered." Moving her finger down the list, "Here. Page 243. Spells considered and rejected for control."
She opened to the page and began reading aloud. "In any given decade, if one looks through the lists of spells brought to the Wizengamot for consideration of banning, one finds particular trends. During the earliest decade covered in this particular book for instance, spells concerning germs and filth were particularly despised and any number of motions were brought to ban them." Hermione kept skimming the page, occasionally throwing out a spell for them to write down.
After three quarters hour, they had amassed a list of twelve spells, varying in terms of difficulty and nastiness. Hermione divided the list between the three of them and they got started finding books with more details on them. Harry moved off to the left, strolling down an aisle, hoping to find something that would catch his eye.
On the third shelf, he stopped suddenly. There, in the middle of the shelf was the book from his dreams. With trembling hands, he gingerly pulled it out and, as quietly as possible, ran back to the table where Ron and Hermione were.
"This is it!" Harry said, throwing the book down on the table. Several shhs! came from the tables near them. Hermione and Ron looked up at him, puzzled. He sat down across from them both and explained.
"This is the book from my dreams. I know it. Look, it's red, has the script I remember--I know this is it. Open it up!" he said. Hermione and Ron looked warily at it.
Ron slid it back across the table to Harry. "You open it, mate." he said.
Harry exhaled irritably at them both and took the book in his hands. Opening it, he winced. Nothing happened. He didn't know what he had expected to happen, but it seemed to be a normal book.
He read the title page, "Ways of the Numbers: A History by Count von Digit" What?" he asked. Ron and Hermione shook their head at him. He flipped through the pages. "But this doesn't make any sense. Why would Voldemort want a history book?"
"Especially a history book about numbers." Ron interjected. Harry looked at them both, but neither said anything further.
"I still think I'll borrow it. Maybe if I read through it all the way something with seem familiar." he said.
Hermione looked slightly fearful at the prospect of Harry taking the book anywhere, but she didn't saw anything. Feeling they had spent enough time in the library for the first day of classes, they packed up, borrowed the red book and a few others from Madame Pince, and headed off to the Great Hall for supper.
===========
A/N: As any of you who read Return of a Lady (my other fic) will know, I am working far too much right now and can't make any promises on timely updates until the middle of June. I will try, but, I have been updating about once a week...don't expect that for another three-four weeks.
Also, my apologies for my Latin during DADA class. I took only one semester of it in college. And the cu chalainn is taken from a Celtic story...only it was a man who served as a watchdog for a part of his life, rather than just a dog.
And, Milady, I hope I adequately explained Cho's presence in DADA. Thank you to all my other reviewers--you make me smile--I appreciate any and all reviews, good or bad.
Professor Calabrone ushered them all into pairs about five feet apart from one another in the room, which had been cleared out. While she was busy bustling around the room dividing everyone, Harry took a moment to look around.
None of the other classrooms at Hogwarts changed as much as this one. Thankfully, all traces of Umbridge seemed to have been removed. Instead, lots of objects covered with strange symbols adorned all the shelves, "They're druidic runes." Hermione said lowly, noticing Harry strain to look at a clay mug near his left arm.
The rest of the classroom walls were covered with huge posters, all in different languages. "She likes mythology, this one." said Seamus, from Harry's other side. Everyone had, by now, been separated into pairs. Most were staring expectantly at Calabrone.
Walking down the middle of the rows, her eyes were bright. Harry found himself smiling-he couldn't help it-her smile was infectious. She looked as though she had just heard the most wonderful joke and was about to share it with them. Finally, when she reached the middle of the classroom, she paused and held up her hand to silence them.
As no one really knew how strict a disciplinarian she was likely to be, they followed her request immediately. She began with a speech. "Before we begin, I want to take a moment to explain why it is that we have combined the classes. I know you are normally not used to attending lessons with students from upper and lower years. I feel this, while a decent policy, will lull you into a false sense of safety. All N.E.W.T.- level Defense Against the Darks Art classes will work on a rotating schedule. You will be paired with different houses and with different years each week. The Headmaster and I feel this way, based on how I will be teaching the class, will allow you to gain the fullest from my lessons."
Well, Harry thought, that at least explains why Cho and Marietta were there. He had been wondering. Quickly though, his attention was brought back to Professor Calabrone, who withdrew her wand from her right sleeve and waved it in the air.
Gold lettering spilled forth, forming the words "Dueling 101: The basics every wizard needs to know". Murmurs went up from the students. She shot forth more words, still not saying a word "An understanding of commonly used offensive and defensive spells is considered necessary for all witches and wizards during time of war."
Harry looked closely at Professor Calabrone. She was no longer smiling. The murmurs had died down. Calabrone began to pace, the gold letters fading from view. "That's right. In time of war. Whether or not you wish to call it such, it is. And it is a second coming. We know our enemy far better this time, and yet, we do not know them at all. Voldemort," several students flinched, "is known well enough, but his followers, the Death Eaters, are a well-kept secret. I am sure any of you from wizarding families are quite familiar with the fear and panic connected Lord Voldemort's first reign of terror.
"I assure you, this second one will only be worse. The dementors have left Azkaban." more gasps, and Calabrone stopped in her speech, "Yes, the ministry has finally confirmed it. The dementors are not, nor have they been for some time, under the control of the Ministry." she paused again in her speech.
"Who here is able to produce a Patronus?" Harry looked down, and noticed several other members of the DA do the same. "I have it on good authority that several of you are able to produce a patronus. May I please have a volunteer?"
Hermione made to nudge Harry forward, but instead he pushed her into Calabrone's line of vision.
"Miss Granger?" Calabrone asked.
"Yes, ma'am. I have a patronus." said Hermione. Calabrone nodded.
She raised her wand in her left hand and said quietly, "Opus malus." Immediately, a hooded figure, holding a packet of papers in its hand appeared.
Looking closer, Harry saw the paper had a sprawling "D" across the top. "You failed!" the hooded figure screamed.
Hermione's eyes opened wide before shaking her head and bringing her wand up. "Expecto Patronum!" she cried. Immediately, a silver otter shot forth, running through the figure, dispersing it like so much smoke. The otter darted around the room for a few moments before disappearing. Hermione pocketed her wand and looked at Professor Calabrone.
"Well done." she praised. She shifted her eyes around the room. Suddenly, she turned towards Neville, who was partnered with Harry and shouted clearly, "Petrificus Totalus."
Immediately, Neville whipped his wand out and shouted just as clearly, "Protego!" The pale blue light bounced off the shield Neville had cast and hit a nearby bookshelf, scattering the books to the floor. Realizing what he had done, Neville's eyes widened. He looked up at Professor Calabrone, who was beaming.
"Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor for your quick reflexes, Mr. Longbottom." she commended. Harry noticed two distinctly different expressions on the faces of his classmates. Most were dumbstruck, and Harry understood. Neville had never shown much aptitude for defensive spells. Harry immediately thought of the time during their first year when Hermione had cast petrificus on poor Neville. Now, however, as the members of the DA knew well, Neville had improved dramatically. All members of the DA, of which there were quite a few present, had smirks on their faces.
"Now, what I wish to have happen is this: All partners on my left side", she motioned to the side where Ron and Neville were, "I want to cast, in any order, the following spells, Culpa Accipio, Clunis Amplus , Vereor Propter Apis, and Funambulus Irate. Those of you on my right," she gestured towards Harry and Hermione, "I want to deflect the spells. You may use any of the basic shielding spells. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to ask for it. You may begin."
Professor Calabrone stepped to the side to watch, Neville immediately let loose with the bottom-enlarging hex, which Harry easily deflected, and followed quickly with the tightrope walker charm. Harry barely deflected it, before noticing somehow Ron had managed to sneak in the blame spell, as Hermione was insisting it was all her fault. Harry smiled widely at Ron, who cheerfully sent the counter curse her way.
Professor Calabrone stopped them every few minutes to give them new curses, hexes, and charms to try on one another, and to switch who was throwing the curses. Before Harry realized, she had called a halt to class, informing them it was time to leave. They all looked up in surprise; class had never gone so quickly.
Before dismissing them Calabrone stopped them at the door, "We will begin each class with fifteen minutes of dueling. If there are any spells you wish to learn, either offensive or defensive, please hand in a one page parchment giving a brief history of the spell and its primary uses. That is all. Dismissed."
Happily chattering students dispersed, talking excitedly of new curses to research. Harry joined Ron, Hermione and Neville on their way to Care of Magical Creatures class outside. Hermione already had seven new spells she was planning on writing up. Ron and Neville were comparing notes about how the different spells had, and still were, affecting them. Harry kept grinning from ear to ear. If Defense Against the Dark Arts continued like this for the rest of the year, everything would be well under control.
Approaching the pen near Hagrid's hut, Harry smile soured as he saw they were, for yet another year, paired with the Slytherins. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson were crowded around something he couldn't see yet, but he knew from experience it wouldn't be good. Before he could figure it out, though, Hagrid emerged from his hut and motioned them all over to a small enclosure near the back of the paddock that had, at one time, held Buckbeak, the hippogriff Sirius had escaped on years ago.
"Come, 'ere. Don' be frightn'd. E's jus a baby, now. Quiet, tho, don wanna scare 'im. Shh. Shh. 'Ere he comes." Hagrid said, having them all gather around the small wooden structure. Slowly, a very odd looking creature emerged from the shadows.
Harry stared at it in amazement. A small puppy appeared from the hut, but Harry noticed right away there was something off about it. Looking closer, he noticed each paw had seven toes. The puppy looked at them all, panting slightly. Noticing Hagrid, it sat down.
All the girls cooed at it. including Hermione. The puppy seemed to enjoy all the attention. Even Malfoy was behaving; he didn't seem interested in baiting the pup at all. Hagrid entered the pen. Immediately, the puppy came over and began licking Hagrid's face. The girls cooed louder.
"This is a cu chulainn. They're a rare breed. If you look closely, you'll notice each paw has seven toes. If you look ev'n closer, at its eyes, you'll see seven irises. It's a Celtic breed, very old and used in battle and guarding. If trained up right proper, they can, when fightin', get into what's called 'fury-spasms'- nasty little fits of rage that 'e can' control and what cause 'is body to swell up and seethe. The on'y place you really see 'em these days is in the old families, working as guard dogs."
Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle before Malfoy even began to speak. Malfoy whispered to Goyle, "We have two, very well trained. One time a muggle stumbled on to the grounds. All it took was one word from Father."
Harry felt Ron grab his arm, to keep him from turning round. Keeping his anger is check, Harry took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on Hagrid, who still giving a history of the dog.
"So, what I want from you all is to take turns letting 'im sniff ya', and then pet 'im. Don' be frighten'd," Hagrid chuckled, "'E's not harmful yet. He's on'y a few weeks old. 'Is mother was killed. There's a farm further south a here where they was bred, but the breeder and 'is family disappeared right as the mother was getting ready to have 'er litter. I found 'em and managed to finds homes for all but the runt. Come on, then."
Hagrid backed out of the way, allowing them, in groups of two or three, to approach the puppy. The pup rolled this way and that, smiling and nipping gently at all their hands. Harry had to admit he couldn't see how this animal could grow up into such a awful monster, but he supposed if people like the Malfoy's got a hold of them, anything was possible.
The rest of the class went by in the same way. Hagrid said they'd be working on N.E.W.T. level beasts all term. Harry was getting a little annoyed by the repetitive mention of N.E.W.T.s.
"Isn't is enough we just finished the O.W.L.s less than a term ago?" Harry said angrily, walking back up the hill towards the castle. Hermione and Ron were struggling to keep up with him. "I mean, we just studied and took grueling exams at the end of last term. And now they've all started back in with it. We don't even have to take anything special this year."
"Well, I suppose they all just want to make sure we understand this is important." Hermione reasoned. "I mean, O.W.L.s are important, yes, but they're nothing compared to N.E.W.T.s."
Ron's shoulders slumped. "I barely scraped through O.W.L.s." he said. "Let's not think about it. Let's just think about nice things, like the fact that we'll definitely get a chance to curse all those Death Eater wanna-be's in Calabrone's class. We should do some research now, Harry, to come up with some good ones to throw at Malfoy."
Harry nodded fervently. Since Calabrone mentioned it, he'd been trying to think of what particular type of curse he'd like to send in Malfoy's direction, without bringing too much attention to the fact that the only reason he wanted to learn the curse was to throw it at Malfoy.
Hermione looked on the verge of scolding them, when she realized it might be the only time she ever got them into the library willingly and anxious to do research. Instead, she shook her head and followed them up the stairs.
Madame Pince seemed surprised to see them there, but she said nothing and pursed her lips. Harry looked around, the library was practically full. "I suppose you'll be wanting the defensive spell books as well?" Madame Pince asked.
Harry's eyes widened. All these people were here researching spells for class? Ron nodded to Madame Pince, but Hermione said she knew where they were and dragged them off to a deserted corner of the library.
"What are you on about, Hermione?" Ron asked as they piled their bags on the table. "All the spell books are across the room."
"Yes." said Hermione, going over to the nearest bookshelf. "All the latest spell books. Over here are the history books." Ron and Harry rolled their eyes. "All the history books have lists of spells that have lost their popularity, but are still very effective. Here." she said, pulling a slender brown book from the shelf.
Harry looked at the title, "A history of defensive spells: 1897-1934." Inwardly he groaned. Outwardly, Ron groaned.
"Come on, Hermione." he said, flipping through the first few pages. "You mean you want us to read through all this on the off chance they just might mention a spell worth using?"
Hermione looked sternly at Ron and sat down, pulling out her notebook. "No. If you look at the index-you DO know what an index is?" she asked. Ron looked daggers at her, "They have a listing of the spells covered." Moving her finger down the list, "Here. Page 243. Spells considered and rejected for control."
She opened to the page and began reading aloud. "In any given decade, if one looks through the lists of spells brought to the Wizengamot for consideration of banning, one finds particular trends. During the earliest decade covered in this particular book for instance, spells concerning germs and filth were particularly despised and any number of motions were brought to ban them." Hermione kept skimming the page, occasionally throwing out a spell for them to write down.
After three quarters hour, they had amassed a list of twelve spells, varying in terms of difficulty and nastiness. Hermione divided the list between the three of them and they got started finding books with more details on them. Harry moved off to the left, strolling down an aisle, hoping to find something that would catch his eye.
On the third shelf, he stopped suddenly. There, in the middle of the shelf was the book from his dreams. With trembling hands, he gingerly pulled it out and, as quietly as possible, ran back to the table where Ron and Hermione were.
"This is it!" Harry said, throwing the book down on the table. Several shhs! came from the tables near them. Hermione and Ron looked up at him, puzzled. He sat down across from them both and explained.
"This is the book from my dreams. I know it. Look, it's red, has the script I remember--I know this is it. Open it up!" he said. Hermione and Ron looked warily at it.
Ron slid it back across the table to Harry. "You open it, mate." he said.
Harry exhaled irritably at them both and took the book in his hands. Opening it, he winced. Nothing happened. He didn't know what he had expected to happen, but it seemed to be a normal book.
He read the title page, "Ways of the Numbers: A History by Count von Digit" What?" he asked. Ron and Hermione shook their head at him. He flipped through the pages. "But this doesn't make any sense. Why would Voldemort want a history book?"
"Especially a history book about numbers." Ron interjected. Harry looked at them both, but neither said anything further.
"I still think I'll borrow it. Maybe if I read through it all the way something with seem familiar." he said.
Hermione looked slightly fearful at the prospect of Harry taking the book anywhere, but she didn't saw anything. Feeling they had spent enough time in the library for the first day of classes, they packed up, borrowed the red book and a few others from Madame Pince, and headed off to the Great Hall for supper.
===========
A/N: As any of you who read Return of a Lady (my other fic) will know, I am working far too much right now and can't make any promises on timely updates until the middle of June. I will try, but, I have been updating about once a week...don't expect that for another three-four weeks.
Also, my apologies for my Latin during DADA class. I took only one semester of it in college. And the cu chalainn is taken from a Celtic story...only it was a man who served as a watchdog for a part of his life, rather than just a dog.
And, Milady, I hope I adequately explained Cho's presence in DADA. Thank you to all my other reviewers--you make me smile--I appreciate any and all reviews, good or bad.