A/N: I am sincerely sorry for the absurd update gap, but I just was not in
the mood for typing lately. So, without further ado, I give you all
chapter nine.
Harry awoke the next day with a bleary look in his eyes. He got out of bed and stumbled while pulling on his robes. Ron was still snoring in his bed. By the sounds of it, there was no waking him up. Harry made his way down into the common room to find Hermione. She looked as though she had been waiting for him. He greeted her good morning and received a hug. She smiled at him and they were about to walk to breakfast together when Harry stopped short and said,
"Are we ready to let the outside world know that we're going out?"
"Harry, all of the girls in my dormitory already know, I couldn't help myself. Everyone else id bound to know by the end of breakfast. Besides, I was able to deal with Rita, wasn't I?"
"I guess so," said Harry, but he was worried all the same.
"Now," said Hermione, "Why don't you tell me about what happened in Dumbledore's office last night?"
So then Harry had no choice but to tell Hermione about what had happened in Dumbledore's office. He told her all of what he had heard about the mysterious Half Blood Prince. She was naturally shocked by this information. She seemed just as confused as Harry and Dumbledore as to how a dead wizard could help Harry defeat Voldemort. And a dark wizard at that!
But when Harry was sure that Hermione was done questioning about the song, she asked something else,
"Harry, what did Dumbledore say about the prophecy?"
Harry should've seen this coming. He simply told her about the fact that neither he nor Voldemort would die in a duel face to face. It would have to be a carefully planned event. This seemed to silence Hermione.
By now the two of them had made their way to the great hall and were entering it to eat their breakfast. They arrived just as the schedules were being handed out by the teachers. Harry had his handed to him from Professor McGonagall. She had an unusual expression upon her face. It was a cross between glee and a feeble attempt to keep her usual straight and serious face. Harry was puzzled by this look until he looked at his schedule for himself. What he saw was most surprising. He had managed to achieve N.E.W.T. level classes in transfiguration, charms, defense against the dark arts, herbology, care of magical creatures, and (Harry nearly choked on some toast at this next one) potions. He immediately looked up at the staff table to see Snape staring at him. He immediately felt a small twinge in his scar. He could sense the distaste in Snape's glare. Harry knew that if Snape had had it his way then Harry would not be in his N.E.W.T. class. Harry had a strange feeling that McGonagall had been involved in this somehow...
The day passed by in a daze. It seemed as though time had slowed to a screeching halt. Every time Harry looked down at his watch the minute hand had moved ever so slightly. Harry had potions that day. It was very different now. Most of his classes were smaller because not everyone had made it to advanced classes. Harry saw that Neville and Ron were missing from the normal fray of people. Harry felt lonely without Ron with him in all of his classes. On the bright side, Hermione was, obviously, in all of the advanced classes and was with Harry a lot of the time.
Today Snape was in a particularly nasty mood. He kept shooting his usual nasty glares in Harry's direction, but Harry could've sworn that they were even more frequent than usual. Harry and Hermione had sat next to each other and were working on the ridiculously difficult potion that Snape had assigned them all. It was the first day of class and Harry could already tell that it was going to be a very hard year. He had been hoping for a break considering that they had just had their O.W.L.s last year, but apparently classes were only to get harder to prepare them for the grueling N.E.W.T.s of seventh year.
At the end of class Harry took a flagon of his potion and brought it to Snape's desk. He half expected Snape to somehow manage to make his work meaningless as he so often did. Harry was on his way out when Snape called, "Potter, I would like a word with you."
Harry had no choice but to turn around and face whatever torment Snape had in store. He told Hermione that he'd catch up with her at lunch and then went to talk to Snape. "Yes, Professor?" "I would like you to know that you are in this class not because I picked you. If it were up to me you would have received a D on your O.W.L. But, do to some friends of yours in high places; I am forced to endure your presence. I was sincerely hoping to be rid of you. I just want you to know that if you slip up just once, you shall be thrown from this class never to return. You best start studying with Miss Granger. She, at least, seems to know what she is doing."
Snape said all of this with a look of utmost severity. Harry did not doubt a word that he said. He said good day and turned to leave; but before he made it out of the door Snape called him back, "Oh yes. Potter, it is my duty to inform you that your godfather, Sirius Black, will be having his will read at the end of June. I do not know what is in the will, only that you are mentioned within it." This hit Harry off balance completely. That was the last thing that he had expected from Snape. After he had recovered he said, "Thank you for telling me, sir, but may I ask why it is going to be read so long after his...err...death?" Snape looked at Harry for a moment. For a second Harry almost thought that there was a small, almost microscopic, hint of pity in his gaze. Harry was sure that he had imagined it. Then Snape said, "I am sure that your godfather had his reasons for wanting his will red so long after his death. Now, if you would please go and eat your lunch."
Harry then walked from Snape's office. He had not expected to hear about Sirius the day that he returned to Hogwarts. He felt oddly weak after talking about Sirius. Harry found that he was not very hungry, so he decided to skip lunch so that he could be alone for a while.
He began his journey back to the Gryffindor tower. Lucky for him there were no eerie voices coming from inside the walls like they had years back. Sirius had written a will? Harry wondered if Sirius had expected to die. Then he wondered if he should consider writing his own will. If Voldemort and possibly Dumbledore, the two most powerful wizards in the world, were out to get him then he was in some deep trouble. Harry was lost in thought once again when he reached the tower. This time he remembered to give the password before the fat lady bit him.
Harry went upstairs to the boys' dormitory. He just wanted to take a quick rest before he had Defense Against the Dark Arts to go to. He was about to sit on his bed before he found his Firebolt sitting on it for him. Harry went ecstatic. He then remembered that he was back on the quidditch team. And he was captain. This brought new thoughts to his head. When to arrange tryouts? He would do it on Friday. That was always an open night. He couldn't do it Thursday because of his occlumency lesson with Dumbledore. Harry noticed that his schedule seemed to be filling itself. He could only imagine how much homework he would be getting in his N.E.W.T. courses. Maybe Hermione would help him with his homework...
Hermione! She would be worried about him. And Ron would be, too. Harry hadn't seen him since breakfast because he and Hermione had had advanced Charms while Ron was in transfiguration. Harry decided that he would start wandering over to Professor Stalney's room. She seemed like she was a good enough teacher. Harry wondered what had caused her to take the job. That was, seeing how they had lost five consecutive Defense Against the Dark Arts for the last five years. Most were under the delusion that the job was cursed.
Harry was first to Professor Stalney's room, to no one's surprise. She was already in her room and was looking over some notes (probably the curriculum). She greeted him and let him inside. Harry was trapped in a very awkward silence. He had the feeling that Stalney had whenever she glanced at him. It seemed like it had taken forever for the rest of the class to start filing into the classroom. Hermione was one of the earliest people into the room; besides Harry, that is. She immediately sat down next to Harry and gave him a concerned look while she asked, "Why weren't you at lunch? Are you OK?"
Harry just nodded and told her that he was fine. He also explained why Snape had held him back and the whole thing about Sirius' will. Being Hermione, she did not press for any in-depth answers. Then Harry looked up to see, somewhat to his surprise, Ron come walking through the door. He looked over to see Harry and Hermione and a grin spread across his face. "Well, at least I won't always be away from my two best mates," said Ron as he took a seat next to Harry and Hermione. "So, you made it in," said Harry. He was really happy about this. He hadn't expected to see Ron that much this year. He was getting kind of down about it. Seeing him brightened his day considerably. "What took you so long?" asked Hermione. "We left lunch together and then you just disappeared. You don't have a time-turner, do you?" Ron could tell that she was joking and said, "No, I just...err...was talking to someone." Harry was suspecting what Hermione confirmed next, "Ron has a crush on Parvati. Isn't that cute?" "Umm, yeah, I guess so," said Harry. "So, what did she say?" "I didn't ask her anything yet," said a violently red Ron, "I was just talking to her. Trying to get on speaking terms with her."
At that time, the bell rang. Class began and Professor Stalney began to speak, "Good afternoon, class. So, welcome to the N.E.W.T. level Defense Against the Dark Arts course. As you all know, I am the new teacher and will be guiding you along the way to your N.E.W.T. exams at the end of seventh year; as long as I am still teaching, that is. It seems that this is a tough job to keep for more than a year."
There were a few chuckles at this last statement. She seemed to be a nice enough teacher. For most, as long as she didn't say "Wands away" then she was acceptable. Then they were given a first rate class lesson by a first rate teacher (something very rare at Hogwarts). There was nothing unusual or horrible about the lesson. It was average. This was based upon the fact that neither Harry nor Ron fell asleep or had a sword fight with their wands once the whole lesson. Professor Stalney seemed to be comparable to a Defense Against the Dark Arts version of McGonagall, except that Stalney was a lot less strict and uptight.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the lesson together. They could see that at least one of their classes would be normal for the year. Harry held Ron back for a moment. Hermione seemed to get the message and just kept walking. As soon as they were alone Harry asked, "So you like Parvati?" "Yeah," said Ron. He was blushing again, "I've liked her since third year." "But I thought you liked Hermione all this time?"
"Well, I like her, but I like her like a sister. I guess I got a little over-protective on the train yesterday. Sometimes I think of her like another Ginny. But I was stupid. If anyone was to go out with Hermione, you would be my pick." "Thanks Ron. Now we just have to figure out how to get Parvati."
Ron blushed even fierce. The two of them walked to their next class: Care of Magical Creatures.
When they got there the first thing that they noticed was that Hagrid was teaching the lessons, not Grubbly-Plank. He seemed very happy to see the trio. They were equally excited to see him back. Before class started, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked up to Hagrid to say hello. Almost immediately Hermione asked,
"So, is Grawp still back there?" She indicated the Forbidden Forest.
Hagrid seemed uneasy when he answered and his voice was a little higher than that of usual for him, "Yeah...yeah, he's back there. Just come and see me on Saturday and we'll talk about...things."
"Hagrid, there had better not be more of them back there!" said Hermione in her McGonagall-like tone.
"Saturday," said Hagrid, "Saturday."
Through the whole class he seemed a little uneasy. He would glance nervously at the forest from time to time. Harry was wondering as to the peculiar behavior, but all that Hagrid would say was to go see him on Saturday.
At dinner that night, Harry was very glad that he and Ron had finally dropped Divination for good. They were done with the whole death-in-a- teacup thing. Harry had had his death predicted so many times and died not a single one of the gruesome deaths described that he had plainly had enough. He didn't want Trelawney staring at his scar. He wasn't too interested in the centaur's methods either.
The days of their first week back were dragging by. By the looks of it, Transfiguration was going to be a very difficult course. Thursday went by without much to-do except for Harry's lesson with Dumbledore. To him, it was the same as it was with Snape. He didn't seem to making any headway and only more and more pain to his knees for every time that he fell on them. The only difference was that Dumbledore gave him words of advice and seemed like he really was eager to teach Harry the art of Occlumency. Snape just did it because he had to. Another plus was that he wasn't having any dreams that had to do with Voldemort. Harry suspected that this was because Voldemort didn't want him to have any dreams...yet.
Harry tried valiantly to get the quidditch pitch for Friday, but the Slytherin team had the field booked for the whole week. The earliest opening Harry could find was the following Wednesday. He suspected that Snape had booked the field for the Slytherins since he was the head of Slytherin house. By Friday evening there was a considerable amount of homework waiting to be done over the weekend. Harry was exhausted from his classes. At least the homework diary Hermione had gotten him last year had driven him to do some of his homework. It wasn't like he was facing a mountain as he often found himself doing in his fifth year.
Saturday came and Ron, Harry, and Hermione made their way down to Hagrid's hut after lunch. Hagrid greeted the three of them rather nervously. He offered them tea and rock candy (which might have been made from real rocks for all Harry could tell). Hermione couldn't hold herself any longer. She asked,
"What is going on, Hagrid? Is this about Grawp?"
Hagrid looked very nervous at this statement. He said, "Well, sort of. I want to talk to you about Grawp. But then there's something else that is pretty important. It's why I brought you all here."
"What?" asked all three in unison.
"Well," said Hagrid, "We're not just dealing with one giant anymore."
Harry awoke the next day with a bleary look in his eyes. He got out of bed and stumbled while pulling on his robes. Ron was still snoring in his bed. By the sounds of it, there was no waking him up. Harry made his way down into the common room to find Hermione. She looked as though she had been waiting for him. He greeted her good morning and received a hug. She smiled at him and they were about to walk to breakfast together when Harry stopped short and said,
"Are we ready to let the outside world know that we're going out?"
"Harry, all of the girls in my dormitory already know, I couldn't help myself. Everyone else id bound to know by the end of breakfast. Besides, I was able to deal with Rita, wasn't I?"
"I guess so," said Harry, but he was worried all the same.
"Now," said Hermione, "Why don't you tell me about what happened in Dumbledore's office last night?"
So then Harry had no choice but to tell Hermione about what had happened in Dumbledore's office. He told her all of what he had heard about the mysterious Half Blood Prince. She was naturally shocked by this information. She seemed just as confused as Harry and Dumbledore as to how a dead wizard could help Harry defeat Voldemort. And a dark wizard at that!
But when Harry was sure that Hermione was done questioning about the song, she asked something else,
"Harry, what did Dumbledore say about the prophecy?"
Harry should've seen this coming. He simply told her about the fact that neither he nor Voldemort would die in a duel face to face. It would have to be a carefully planned event. This seemed to silence Hermione.
By now the two of them had made their way to the great hall and were entering it to eat their breakfast. They arrived just as the schedules were being handed out by the teachers. Harry had his handed to him from Professor McGonagall. She had an unusual expression upon her face. It was a cross between glee and a feeble attempt to keep her usual straight and serious face. Harry was puzzled by this look until he looked at his schedule for himself. What he saw was most surprising. He had managed to achieve N.E.W.T. level classes in transfiguration, charms, defense against the dark arts, herbology, care of magical creatures, and (Harry nearly choked on some toast at this next one) potions. He immediately looked up at the staff table to see Snape staring at him. He immediately felt a small twinge in his scar. He could sense the distaste in Snape's glare. Harry knew that if Snape had had it his way then Harry would not be in his N.E.W.T. class. Harry had a strange feeling that McGonagall had been involved in this somehow...
The day passed by in a daze. It seemed as though time had slowed to a screeching halt. Every time Harry looked down at his watch the minute hand had moved ever so slightly. Harry had potions that day. It was very different now. Most of his classes were smaller because not everyone had made it to advanced classes. Harry saw that Neville and Ron were missing from the normal fray of people. Harry felt lonely without Ron with him in all of his classes. On the bright side, Hermione was, obviously, in all of the advanced classes and was with Harry a lot of the time.
Today Snape was in a particularly nasty mood. He kept shooting his usual nasty glares in Harry's direction, but Harry could've sworn that they were even more frequent than usual. Harry and Hermione had sat next to each other and were working on the ridiculously difficult potion that Snape had assigned them all. It was the first day of class and Harry could already tell that it was going to be a very hard year. He had been hoping for a break considering that they had just had their O.W.L.s last year, but apparently classes were only to get harder to prepare them for the grueling N.E.W.T.s of seventh year.
At the end of class Harry took a flagon of his potion and brought it to Snape's desk. He half expected Snape to somehow manage to make his work meaningless as he so often did. Harry was on his way out when Snape called, "Potter, I would like a word with you."
Harry had no choice but to turn around and face whatever torment Snape had in store. He told Hermione that he'd catch up with her at lunch and then went to talk to Snape. "Yes, Professor?" "I would like you to know that you are in this class not because I picked you. If it were up to me you would have received a D on your O.W.L. But, do to some friends of yours in high places; I am forced to endure your presence. I was sincerely hoping to be rid of you. I just want you to know that if you slip up just once, you shall be thrown from this class never to return. You best start studying with Miss Granger. She, at least, seems to know what she is doing."
Snape said all of this with a look of utmost severity. Harry did not doubt a word that he said. He said good day and turned to leave; but before he made it out of the door Snape called him back, "Oh yes. Potter, it is my duty to inform you that your godfather, Sirius Black, will be having his will read at the end of June. I do not know what is in the will, only that you are mentioned within it." This hit Harry off balance completely. That was the last thing that he had expected from Snape. After he had recovered he said, "Thank you for telling me, sir, but may I ask why it is going to be read so long after his...err...death?" Snape looked at Harry for a moment. For a second Harry almost thought that there was a small, almost microscopic, hint of pity in his gaze. Harry was sure that he had imagined it. Then Snape said, "I am sure that your godfather had his reasons for wanting his will red so long after his death. Now, if you would please go and eat your lunch."
Harry then walked from Snape's office. He had not expected to hear about Sirius the day that he returned to Hogwarts. He felt oddly weak after talking about Sirius. Harry found that he was not very hungry, so he decided to skip lunch so that he could be alone for a while.
He began his journey back to the Gryffindor tower. Lucky for him there were no eerie voices coming from inside the walls like they had years back. Sirius had written a will? Harry wondered if Sirius had expected to die. Then he wondered if he should consider writing his own will. If Voldemort and possibly Dumbledore, the two most powerful wizards in the world, were out to get him then he was in some deep trouble. Harry was lost in thought once again when he reached the tower. This time he remembered to give the password before the fat lady bit him.
Harry went upstairs to the boys' dormitory. He just wanted to take a quick rest before he had Defense Against the Dark Arts to go to. He was about to sit on his bed before he found his Firebolt sitting on it for him. Harry went ecstatic. He then remembered that he was back on the quidditch team. And he was captain. This brought new thoughts to his head. When to arrange tryouts? He would do it on Friday. That was always an open night. He couldn't do it Thursday because of his occlumency lesson with Dumbledore. Harry noticed that his schedule seemed to be filling itself. He could only imagine how much homework he would be getting in his N.E.W.T. courses. Maybe Hermione would help him with his homework...
Hermione! She would be worried about him. And Ron would be, too. Harry hadn't seen him since breakfast because he and Hermione had had advanced Charms while Ron was in transfiguration. Harry decided that he would start wandering over to Professor Stalney's room. She seemed like she was a good enough teacher. Harry wondered what had caused her to take the job. That was, seeing how they had lost five consecutive Defense Against the Dark Arts for the last five years. Most were under the delusion that the job was cursed.
Harry was first to Professor Stalney's room, to no one's surprise. She was already in her room and was looking over some notes (probably the curriculum). She greeted him and let him inside. Harry was trapped in a very awkward silence. He had the feeling that Stalney had whenever she glanced at him. It seemed like it had taken forever for the rest of the class to start filing into the classroom. Hermione was one of the earliest people into the room; besides Harry, that is. She immediately sat down next to Harry and gave him a concerned look while she asked, "Why weren't you at lunch? Are you OK?"
Harry just nodded and told her that he was fine. He also explained why Snape had held him back and the whole thing about Sirius' will. Being Hermione, she did not press for any in-depth answers. Then Harry looked up to see, somewhat to his surprise, Ron come walking through the door. He looked over to see Harry and Hermione and a grin spread across his face. "Well, at least I won't always be away from my two best mates," said Ron as he took a seat next to Harry and Hermione. "So, you made it in," said Harry. He was really happy about this. He hadn't expected to see Ron that much this year. He was getting kind of down about it. Seeing him brightened his day considerably. "What took you so long?" asked Hermione. "We left lunch together and then you just disappeared. You don't have a time-turner, do you?" Ron could tell that she was joking and said, "No, I just...err...was talking to someone." Harry was suspecting what Hermione confirmed next, "Ron has a crush on Parvati. Isn't that cute?" "Umm, yeah, I guess so," said Harry. "So, what did she say?" "I didn't ask her anything yet," said a violently red Ron, "I was just talking to her. Trying to get on speaking terms with her."
At that time, the bell rang. Class began and Professor Stalney began to speak, "Good afternoon, class. So, welcome to the N.E.W.T. level Defense Against the Dark Arts course. As you all know, I am the new teacher and will be guiding you along the way to your N.E.W.T. exams at the end of seventh year; as long as I am still teaching, that is. It seems that this is a tough job to keep for more than a year."
There were a few chuckles at this last statement. She seemed to be a nice enough teacher. For most, as long as she didn't say "Wands away" then she was acceptable. Then they were given a first rate class lesson by a first rate teacher (something very rare at Hogwarts). There was nothing unusual or horrible about the lesson. It was average. This was based upon the fact that neither Harry nor Ron fell asleep or had a sword fight with their wands once the whole lesson. Professor Stalney seemed to be comparable to a Defense Against the Dark Arts version of McGonagall, except that Stalney was a lot less strict and uptight.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the lesson together. They could see that at least one of their classes would be normal for the year. Harry held Ron back for a moment. Hermione seemed to get the message and just kept walking. As soon as they were alone Harry asked, "So you like Parvati?" "Yeah," said Ron. He was blushing again, "I've liked her since third year." "But I thought you liked Hermione all this time?"
"Well, I like her, but I like her like a sister. I guess I got a little over-protective on the train yesterday. Sometimes I think of her like another Ginny. But I was stupid. If anyone was to go out with Hermione, you would be my pick." "Thanks Ron. Now we just have to figure out how to get Parvati."
Ron blushed even fierce. The two of them walked to their next class: Care of Magical Creatures.
When they got there the first thing that they noticed was that Hagrid was teaching the lessons, not Grubbly-Plank. He seemed very happy to see the trio. They were equally excited to see him back. Before class started, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked up to Hagrid to say hello. Almost immediately Hermione asked,
"So, is Grawp still back there?" She indicated the Forbidden Forest.
Hagrid seemed uneasy when he answered and his voice was a little higher than that of usual for him, "Yeah...yeah, he's back there. Just come and see me on Saturday and we'll talk about...things."
"Hagrid, there had better not be more of them back there!" said Hermione in her McGonagall-like tone.
"Saturday," said Hagrid, "Saturday."
Through the whole class he seemed a little uneasy. He would glance nervously at the forest from time to time. Harry was wondering as to the peculiar behavior, but all that Hagrid would say was to go see him on Saturday.
At dinner that night, Harry was very glad that he and Ron had finally dropped Divination for good. They were done with the whole death-in-a- teacup thing. Harry had had his death predicted so many times and died not a single one of the gruesome deaths described that he had plainly had enough. He didn't want Trelawney staring at his scar. He wasn't too interested in the centaur's methods either.
The days of their first week back were dragging by. By the looks of it, Transfiguration was going to be a very difficult course. Thursday went by without much to-do except for Harry's lesson with Dumbledore. To him, it was the same as it was with Snape. He didn't seem to making any headway and only more and more pain to his knees for every time that he fell on them. The only difference was that Dumbledore gave him words of advice and seemed like he really was eager to teach Harry the art of Occlumency. Snape just did it because he had to. Another plus was that he wasn't having any dreams that had to do with Voldemort. Harry suspected that this was because Voldemort didn't want him to have any dreams...yet.
Harry tried valiantly to get the quidditch pitch for Friday, but the Slytherin team had the field booked for the whole week. The earliest opening Harry could find was the following Wednesday. He suspected that Snape had booked the field for the Slytherins since he was the head of Slytherin house. By Friday evening there was a considerable amount of homework waiting to be done over the weekend. Harry was exhausted from his classes. At least the homework diary Hermione had gotten him last year had driven him to do some of his homework. It wasn't like he was facing a mountain as he often found himself doing in his fifth year.
Saturday came and Ron, Harry, and Hermione made their way down to Hagrid's hut after lunch. Hagrid greeted the three of them rather nervously. He offered them tea and rock candy (which might have been made from real rocks for all Harry could tell). Hermione couldn't hold herself any longer. She asked,
"What is going on, Hagrid? Is this about Grawp?"
Hagrid looked very nervous at this statement. He said, "Well, sort of. I want to talk to you about Grawp. But then there's something else that is pretty important. It's why I brought you all here."
"What?" asked all three in unison.
"Well," said Hagrid, "We're not just dealing with one giant anymore."