Chapter 30 – New Timetables

Harry grumbled to himself as he kicked the desk in Helsing's office for the tenth time that evening. He had been waiting there for nearly an hour and Helsing still hadn't turned up. He was just about to kick the table again when the door flew open and Professor Helsing strode inside.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long Mr Potter, but you really don't have to take it out on my furniture" She said as she hurried over to her desk, flicking her hand towards the door to close it.

Harry gasped as he realised that she didn't have a wand, but she didn't seem to notice as she went on.

"You have missed dinner in the Great Hall with your friends, but I'm afraid it couldn't be avoided. I had hoped that we would be finished here in time for you to attend, but there was an incident that required my immediate attention." she said, as she scanned through a pile of papers on her desk.

She took one out and looked at it carefully for a moment before putting it on the desk in front of her and looking back at him.

"What would you like to drink?" She asked suddenly. "Tea? Pumpkin Juice?"

Harry frowned, wondering at her strange behaviour.

"Pumpkin Juice please" he replied cautiously.

She picked up her wand, and with a flick, a goblet of juice and a mug of hot tea appeared on the desk in front of them. She picked up the tea in both hands and took a sip without saying a word. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply before setting the cup down and looking at him again.

"You know, I haven't poisoned your drink" she said. "But if you are worried, I can show you a spell that you can do to check"

She waved her wand and a glass of water appeared.

"Now run your wand along like this" she said, indicating a simple wand movement. "And say 'destralius' while picturing in your mind exactly what the glass should contain"

Harry picked up his wand hesitantly. He looked up at her. She was watching him curiously. He cleared his throat and did as she said. A small blue spark came out of his wand, but nothing else happened. He frowned, sure that he had gotten it wrong, but when he looked up again, she was smiling.

"Excellent Mr Potter" She said. "The blue spark indicates that the liquid has not been tampered with"

She got up and went over to her cupboard, pulling out a small vial and walked back to the desk. She unstoppered the vial and poured the contents into the water. Harry watched amazed as the water went dark blue, then turned back to being clear.

"Now try again" she instructed.

He did as she said, a little more confidently this time. A red spark appeared instead of a blue one.

"The red spark indicates that there is a toxic liquid mixed in with the water" she explained. "If you had encountered a green spark then it would indicate that there was an unharmful substance in the water"

With a wave of her wand, the glass disappeared.

"Now, drink up" she said, indicating the goblet of pumpkin juice in front of him. "We have business to attend to"

Harry straightened in his chair, taking a small sip of the juice and giving her his full attention. She looked at him calculatingly for a moment.

"First of all, you will be happy to hear that Mr. Malfoy is being dealt with as we speak. As Professor Snape loathes me, I am sure that Mr Malfoy will enjoy many nights of detention with our lovely potions master" she said with a smirk.

Harry's jaw dropped.

"What?" He asked, wondering if he had heard right.

"Please don't tell me, Mr Potter, that you thought I was gullible enough to believe the story that Mr Malfoy fed me. It is an insult to my intelligence. That aside, you were also in the wrong, but I am willing to overlook your transgression this time. However, if I catch you out of bounds again, or engaging in a duel with another student in the corridor, you can be sure that Gryffindor will not be winning the house cup this year" she said, giving him a glare that left him with no doubts that she was serious.

Harry gave a slight nod to indicate that he understood.

"Now then, before I was interrupted by that little duelling match, I was actually on my way to see you" She said, picking up a piece of parchment, then looking over to him.

"You will no doubt be aware that the sixth years have not yet received their permanent timetable?" Professor Helsing said.

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After leaving Professor Helsing's office, Harry was so tired he felt like lead had replaced all of his muscles. He wasn't sure how he managed to get back to the portrait hole without falling over. He whispered the password and dragged himself through the hole to the common room, only to find Ron and Hermione nervously pacing. He suppressed a groan as they raced over to him. He loved his friends and all, but right now all he wanted to do was to go to bed.

"What happened?" Hermione demanded. "It's after curfew!"

"Oh shut up Hermione" Ron said. "Did you get detention? Was it awful?"

"Ron! How can you say that! Harry could have gotten into more trouble for being out late! What if he'd been caught by Professor Snape?"

"It's so unfair that you got into trouble instead of Malfoy Harry. When I see him next I'll hex him" Ron said, seeming not to have heard Hermione.

"You will do no such thing Ronald Weasley, you are a prefect! You are supposed to be setting an example" Hermione replied.

"Malfoy is a prefect too Hermione, but he doesn't seem to be showing much of an example does he? Attacking people in the corridors" Ron retorted.

"Two wrongs don't make a right Ron" Hermione snapped. "You of all people..."

"ENOUGH!" Harry yelled. Hermione and Ron stopped their bickering and stared at him, open mouthed. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his temples for a moment before speaking again.

"I didn't get into any trouble Ron, Professor Helsing needed to speak with me that's all. Malfoy got into trouble already, but I'm not sure how much because Snape was in charge of that. Hermione, I have a note from Professor Helsing for being out after curfew because we were discussing the DA and it took a bit longer than expected. Now if you'll both excuse me, I'm going to bed"

With that, Harry dragged himself up the stairs leaving two astonished Gryffindors behind him.

The next morning at breakfast, Ron and Hermione were adamantly ignoring Harry. Harry sighed as he picked up a slice of toast. He figured that he should probably apologise for being so short with them the night before. They had only been worried about him after all. He didn't have much time to reflect on this though, as at that moment, the quidditch team players had all jumped up and were heading towards the door to the Hall. Harry glanced over at Hermione and Ron, who were also heading towards the door, but refused to even look at him. Harry sighed. He put down his toast and went to join with the others that were heading out of the hall.