A/N: I'm going to have to put something into those silly absent spaces to hold their place. I guess for now I'll just throw anything in there. Even a line of periods or something. I don't know.
I've reloaded this chapter with the correct numbering system. I called it chapter three before, however I must have some math skills lacking, and mislabelled it. Sorry about the inconvenience!
Disclaimer: I'm not getting any profit for this, so I don't expect anyone to blow their stack if I throw JK Rowling's characters into a few bumps and scrapes.
Chapter Four -
Lessons With Lupin
Harry's moods seemed to swing back and forth like a pendulum that entire week. One moment, he would be grinning, and laughing with his friends, the next completely ignoring or yelling at everyone. The smallest comment about Sirius, or the tiniest hint of boredom would seem to send him far off the deep end.
He tried to tamp down his anger, but sometimes it seemed to just spill out of him like a bubbling cauldron. Lupin had even warned him that he wouldn't supervise him practicing Defense if Harry was going to be snippy with him. That made Harry work extra hard to hold back the anger inside. Whenever the cauldron began to bubble, he imagined the scene in the stairwell of St. Mungo's and sometimes he was even able to smile. The broad range of his emotions made quite a few people on edge and silent when they were around him. This of course made him even angrier and the cycle would continue. He would, while meditating in the evenings, realize afterwards what sort of a git he'd been.
Percy was able to hear again, and was even responding to voice commands. He hadn't spoken at all, but everyone was hopeful. Harry had yet to see him in his current state, but Ron had told him that he was doing very well, and that made Harry feel a little better. No matter what he'd had to go through to do it, he'd saved a life, and that was something to be thankful for. He hadn't been able to save Sirius, but at least there were no more deaths.
Remus and Harry met secretly for their first lesson a week before Harry's sixteenth birthday. He wasn't sure why he was going if he couldn't use magic yet, but he was so happy to be doing something constructive, that he didn't argue.
"Sir?" Harry asked, standing in the door of what used to be Sirius' study.
"Hello Harry." The professor nodded. "I think we'll make these meetings informal. Please call me Remus, or else Moony if you prefer."
Harry smiled. "I might do a little of both." He walked in, and perched beside his tutor on the desk edge. "So what are we going to do today if I can't use magic yet?"
"We're going to talk about defensive theory."
Harry's face twisted into a grimace.
"What's wrong? You don't like theory?"
Harry shook his head. "No it's not that." He took a deep breath, and looked fleetingly at the back of his right hand. "It's just that theory was that -Umbridge- woman's favorite way to torture us." He rubbed at the back of his hand now. "That and horrific detentions."
Remus eyed Harry, and noticed what he was rubbing. "What happened to your hand?"
Harry abruptly jerked his hand behind his back, and stared at Moony nervously.
Remus gave him a look that said, 'I'm sure to discover what it is sooner or later, you might as well show me.' So Harry brought his hand back around to his front to reveal the white puckered scar. He didn't want to, but maybe Remus would understand.
Moony took his hand tentatively, and gasped at the words etched in the back of it.
"It was a blood quill." Harry said quickly. "She made me write that line on a sheet of parchment, and every time I did, it would cut into my hand and the words would appear on the parchment in my own blood."
Remus looked livid. "And you had detention for lying how many times?" he asked calmly, the sound of his words belying his facial expression.
"Oh, I lost count somewhere around twenty."
"Did you ever actually lie to her to result in these detentions?"
Harry looked him directly in the eyes, pleading him to remain silent about the ordeal. "Never. Not once. It was always because I had said something about Voldemort being alive again in her class. She said I was lying, but I could barely stop myself from doing it again just to spite her. She made me so angry."
Remus released Harry's hand, and Harry cradled it in his left, looking nervously at the spot where the words 'I must not tell lies' were engraved and scarred into the skin in white lines.
"She's toast." Said Remus, staring Harry down aggressively.
Harry eyed him and nodded with a nervous smirk on his face.
"Anyhow, back to magical theory, I think you'll find this a lot more interesting than your previous experience with the subject."
Harry nodded. "What shall we talk about today?"
Moony looked thoughtful. "Have you ever experienced either wandless magic or soundless magic? I know some people do it without realizing it long before they're ever trained into it."
Harry stared at him. "I've done wandless magic loads of times." He said in a whisper.
Remus gaped. "Tell me what have you done without a wand then?"
Harry pulled out his wand, and lay it on the desk beside him. "I once lit my wand while it wasn't in my hand, I performed the accio spell once without pointing my wand at the object I wanted to summon, and I've made cupboard doors and windows open and shut and unlock and stuff." Harry paused thinking about how each time he had performed wandless magic, he had been in grave danger. "Of course there's always all of the unintentional magic I do during summers."
"Unintentional magic is different." Remus interrupted. "Unintentional magic is uncontrolled, it usually involves making things explode or disappear. True wandless magic is difficult, because most wands serve as a focus for the power you have within you. Without a wand. Most wizards are just muggles that sometimes make things blow up. You seem to have grasped the focus by some other means. The accio spell is a rather impressive form of wandless magic. That should make your learning to control it easier... tell me, what were you doing at the time it happened?"
Harry looked down at his feet, and took a long moment to answer. "I summoned the triwizard cup to me when I escaped from Voldemort after the duel in my fourth year. I was holding... holding Cedric Diggory's body, and I couldn't bend myself to point my wand at the cup when I said the charm. I have to say I was even a little surprised that it worked. I haven't thought about it much since. I guess I assumed that it was normal."
Remus nodded. "Strong emotions such as fear, anger, excitement, and love can often propel us to perform magic we otherwise wouldn't be capable of."
Harry looked embarrassed. "I've only ever done wandless magic using fear and anger."
Remus nodded again. "Those are acceptable forms for our purposes, but I must admit, using love to power wandless magic feels so much better."
Harry nodded, and said, "I'd like to try that." But he didn't see how it would work. He couldn't off the top of his head remember much about what love felt like, and the thought depressed him. The scene in the stairwell at St. Mungo's was worth mentioning, but Harry didn't feel that it was strong, or heart-wrenching enough. It was more calming than anything.
"Next subject. Soundless magic!" said Remus suddenly sensing Harry's distraught condition.
"What is soundless magic then?" Harry asked, trying to shake off the dark thoughts.
"Soundless magic is magic done without words or incantations. It can be used in situations where you need to remain silent and unheard. Very useful for surprising your opponent."
Harry smiled this time, imagining himself dueling a death eater, and being able to hit them with some unheard jinx. They wouldn't even have to know where the jinx had come from.
"I can't say I remember ever having done that. I guess I've just never tried it."
"Don't worry," answered Remus, "It requires much the same power as wandless magic. I'm sure you'll do fine."
Harry nodded.
"There have been some who are able to master both at the same time, and from what I've heard, the more often you do it, the less you have to rely on some powerful emotion to drive you. It becomes more natural."
"You can't do both?" Harry asked intently.
"Not at the same time, no. Your father and Sirius were quite good at it though." Moony said quickly.
"Really?" Harry asked, excited to hear anything he could about his father or Sirius as students. Maybe this wandless and soundless magic was hereditary or something.
"They had to learn it properly to be able to become animagi. The spell requires the power of the mind, and it is a transformation that makes the wand move itself into the body of the creature you inhabit. Obviously with no wand and no voice, a wizard has to get himself back to human form somehow."
"Can you teach me how to be an animagus?"
"Alas, that is not something I would teach you even if I could. I'm not about to set you doing illegal magic or anything of the sort here. Let's just focus on these two subjects. However, I should let you know that the practice of becoming an animagus is considerably lessened in length when one already has the capabilities for wandless and soundless magic." He winked at Harry knowingly. "If you have these abilities already in you, then it might only take a day or so to learn how to become an animagus."
Harry nodded, smiling, and he and Remus began to discuss the simplest properties of wandless and soundless magic.
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Harry's birthday dawned bright and clear.
His excitement level was nearly palpable, and he wanted to take advantage of the feeling and try a little magic. Harry stared at the snoring form of Ron in the next bed. As an experiment, Harry picked up his wand from the bedside table, pointed it to his jeans, swished and flicked it, and thought very hard, 'Accio.' The pants jerked, but did not fly to him.
His excitement mounted. He could do this... the jeans had jerked, and that was something. He pointed his wand again, swished and flicked, and thought much harder. 'ACCIO PANTS!'
The jeans leapt from the floor, and sailed across the room to his outstretched hands. He put them on, nearly laughing aloud from the satisfaction he'd gotten out of trying that charm totally soundless.
He quickly rolled a tee-shirt over his head, and raced down the stairs to find quite a few people sitting around the kitchen eating some of Mrs. Weasley's breakfast.
"Good morning Harry!" Mrs. Weasley plunked a plate of toast, scrambled eggs, and sausages down on the table and pulled out the chair to indicate him to sit. "Happy birthday." She smiled, and Harry walked over to her, gave her a big hug, and sat down to his breakfast.
"Thank you Mrs. Weasley." He said politely, promptly stuffing his mouth full of sausage. "I've got to go and meet Remus in a few minutes. Do you know if he's here yet?" he asked after swallowing.
Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips so they were white. Obviously, she still felt that Harry's being given the opportunity to do magic during the summer could get him into trouble. Dumbledore still hadn't told her anything about his invitation to join the Order.
"He arrived just about twenty minutes ago. He's just gone up to the study, and asked that you meet him there." She said quietly.
Harry scarfed down his food, rinsed his plate in the sink, thanked Mrs. Weasley again for the meal, and raced up to the study.
The door banged open as Harry swept in. "Remus! Guess what?" his arrival surprised his tutor, and Harry saw him jump a few inches.
"What?" Remus asked trying to emulate the excitement level of his student.
"I can do it! Look!" Harry pulled out his wand, closed his eyes, and focused on the giddiness that was coursing through his veins. He thought very hard of the word, 'LUMOS!' and he was absolutely transfixed as the tip of his wand lit up.
"That's awesome Harry! I'm glad you've found a way. If you don't mind me asking," He paused. "What emotion did you use to power it?"
"I thought you could've guessed." Harry said teasingly. "This is my first birthday away from the Dursleys since I turned one year old! Of course it was excitement!"
"Ah, I thought so. You look absolutely bouncing!" He walked quickly behind the desk, and reached into one of the drawers. "Happy birthday, by the way." He handed Harry a large box wrapped in red and gold paper. Harry smiled enthusiastically, and tore through it with a look of gleeful anticipation on his face.
"Wait." Remus said quickly. "Try your wandless magic now to open it." He grinned.
Harry put both his wand and the package down on the desk, and thought very hard about the feel of his wand making a jabbing motion. He kept his hands at his sides. "Reveal!" He said loudly.
The box lid jerked, and slid to the side, and Harry looked at the contents, astonished. "Is that a pensieve?" he asked in awe, pulling out and examining the small bowl. "How could you..." Harry's question trailed off into nothing when he realized how crass it sounded.
"How could I afford it?" Remus said, seemingly listening in on Harry's thoughts.
Harry nodded, embarrassed. He shouldn't be asking something like that. He knew Remus didn't really have the means to buy even enough to live on, as Werewolves usually had a near impossible time getting a job. But that was no reason to call attention to it. "I'm sorry, it's none of my-"
"Harry, it wasn't just from me." Remus said quickly. "Sirius and I went in together to get this for you just before he died."
Harry's emotions leapt in a strange direction. He was saddened by the loss all over again, but strangely lifted by the image of the small rune covered bowl that stood before him on the desk.
His throat choked up, but he was able to mutter, "thank you," quietly to his tutor.
"Try it again now." Remus whispered.
Harry looked at the concerned face of his father's friend, and understood.
He closed his eyes, and concentrated as hard as he could on the feeling inside him. He somehow felt that Sirius was watching him and was proud of what he was seeing. "Accio wand," he said, and felt something like a warm breeze pass through him as the wand flew through the air and touched his fingers.
Remus was right. Love did feel better.
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Harry and Remus spent the morning practicing defense, and talking about the penseive Harry had received. Harry was anxious to try it out. Apparently the pensieve had the capability of showing Harry some things he hadn't even remembered. Harry wanted to see what he had in his brain, even subconsciously about his parents.
Before he could, however, Hedwig arrived through the study window. She preened herself, and stuck out her foot to allow him to take the message that was tied there.
"Thanks Hedwig." He handed her an owl treat from his pocket. She nipped his hand affectionately, then fluttered over to the corner to eat it.
Harry gulped when he saw the Ministry of Magic seal.
He handed the message to Remus. "Either it's another stupid message telling me I'm using underage magic, or I've got my OWL scores. I can't read it either way."
Remus took the letter, looking at Harry questioningly. "Which marks are you worried about?" he asked, tearing at the seal on the back.
"Well, most of them, really. Not divination, Astronomy, or History of magic, I know I've failed those, but all the others are a little important." He shuddered. "Especially Potions."
Remus looked at the parchment that he'd unfolded from the envelope, and shook his head tutting loudly. "You've failed everything." He said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Come on Moony! This is important!" Harry yelled, now pacing back and forth.
"What did you need to get in Potions?" Remus asked.
Harry growled, nearly tearing out his own hair in suspense. "At least an Outstanding." He muttered through his teeth. "I need Exceeds expectations in everything else."
Remus handed the parchment to Harry. "Then I guess congratulations are in order."
Harry gaped. "No way! I got an O in potions?" he asked scanning the page, and crumpling the edges a bit in his rush.
00000
Dear Mr. Potter
We are pleased to inform you of your official Ordinary Wizarding Level results. Please owl Professor Minerva McGonagall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with your selection of classes to take at the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests level.
Legend: O – Outstanding
E – Exceeds Expectations
A – Acceptable
P – Poor
D - Dreadful
OWL results for HARRY POTTERTransfiguration (O) Pass Newt level acceptance - YES
Potions (O) Pass Newt level acceptance - YES
Charms (E) Pass Newt level acceptance - YES
Defense (O) Pass Newt level acceptance - YES
History of Magic A Pass Newt level acceptance - NO
Herbology E Pass Newt level acceptance - YES
Divination P Fail Newt level acceptance - NO
Astronomy A Pass Newt level acceptance - NO
Magical Creatures E Pass Newt level acceptance – YES
TOTAL OWL'S RECEIVED – 8
( ) indicates that the mark received was a combined mark for both practical and written exams.
Compulsory NEWT level class for all sixth years –
Wizarding House and Home - taught by your head of house, this class is designed to teach the basics of wizarding life such as cooking, cleaning, basic first-aid, and simple mechanical repair.
Other options available for sixth-year NEWT level classes are -Magical Music - An instrument is like a wand, it chooses you, and if you would like the opportunity to let one find you, this is the class to take. Both those with musical experience and without are equally welcome.
Philosophy of Magic - A compelling study of Dark magic versus Light magic. Includes magic as abstract thought. And allows the class insight into current and historical magical phenomena through discussion.
Media; Journalism, Photography, and Art - A study of current events and the way in which the Media portrays them. Includes an analysis and history of Art and photography, in the wizarding world. Includes a general study of rights and freedoms.
Of these three optional classes, each sixth year is allowed to choose ONE. Please send your response immediately to professor Minerva McGonagall no later than August 15th.
Professor Grizelda Marchbanks
Ministry of Magic - UK
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Just as Harry was reading the last bit of the page, both Hermione and Ron came pounding through the door.
Hermione was squealing loudly. "We got our OWL's! What did you get!?"
Ron was smiling as though he had just received a medal for bravery.
Harry could hardly speak he was so blown over by his potions mark.
He'd passed. He'd also gotten through to NEWT level. He just smiled genuinely at his friends. "I'll just say three words to you now."
They stared at him. "What?" Hermione asked.
"Take that, Snape!" Harry gloated pointing to the big 'O' after the word 'Potions'.
"Me too, Harry! Me too!" shouted Ron. "We still have a chance of being Aurors!" they laughed, and looked at Hermione. She glowed with pride.
"Did you get all O's?" Ron asked her.
"No, but pretty close. I got all ten OWLs that I went for though! It's too bad I had to drop Divination and Muggle Studies. I might have gotten all twelve."
"Eight." Said both Harry and Ron together. They looked at each other in surprise and each raised an eyebrow. "Divination?" They asked each other in unison, and broke out laughing.
"I even got a Dreadful there." Ron told him, still chuckling.
"Just goes to show that you shouldn't go around calling the OWL examiners ugly." Harry retorted. "I got a Poor."
Remus, who had remained quietly sitting on the edge of the desk, watching the brotherly cameraderie, spoke up. "I think the important question here, is what did you all get in Defense?"
All three of them had to look at their letters to check. Harry really hadn't been concerned about that mark. He'd felt quite confident during both the written and practical exams, and he hadn't felt quite the same pressure that he had in the Potions exams.
He looked over at Ron and Hermione searching their page for their mark. He hoped they had done well. He had a vested interest after all.
"O" they said happily in unison.
Harry smiled proudly at them. "Same here."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Obviously you got an Outstanding! It's not like either of us would have gotten that mark if it weren't for you!"
"Thanks." Harry said, blushing.
"Harry, mum has lunch ready if you want to come down." Ron changed the subject.
Harry looked over at Remus. "Right. Are you coming down Moony?"
Remus nodded. "I've got something to do, but I'll be down in a moment.
The three headed down the stairs, to the kitchen, talking the whole way about having received such good news on their OWL reports.
"I thought for sure that I'd failed History of Magic." Harry shook his head.
Ron laughed. "Yeah, you fell asleep in the middle of the exam. Pretty strange that you were able to pass after all of that."
Harry didn't really want to think about that part of the exam. He'd stayed up so late the night before the exam to study. He'd fallen asleep in the middle of writing and had a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius in the Department of Mysteries. The vision wasn't true, but he'd thought it was, and Harry had gone out to save him. Sirius had shown up with a bunch of people from the Order to rescue Harry and his friends, and in the meantime, they had gotten Sirius killed.
In a way, Harry thought, it was the History of Magic exam that had caused the whole thing to begin with. The History of Magic exam had killed his godfather.
Harry wanted to change the subject. "What's for lunch then?" he asked.
The door swung open to the kitchen and it took Harry a moment to realize what was going on.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Harry had nearly pulled his wand on them he was so astonished. "What...?" he stuttered.
At least half the DA and most of the Weasleys were sitting in the kitchen, and had screamed greeting at Harry when he walked in.
"We thought you could use a real birthday party mate!" Ron said above the din.
"Did you catch on?"
"No, I hardly thought about having a party! I've never had one before!"
That nearly silenced the room.
"What?" asked Luna. "How could you have never had a birthday party before?"
Harry looked a little sheepish. "I must've had a party when I turned one, but obviously I don't remember it." Harry tried to make a mental memo to try to find his first birthday in his memories with his new pensieve.
"You mean, your aunt and uncle never bothered to give you one?" asked Seamus Finnigan. "That's a travesty!"
Harry didn't want to admit that he hardly knew what one was supposed to do at a birthday party. His cousin had had a lot of them, but Harry himself was usually shipped off to stay with a Mrs. Figg, a batty old cat loving woman who, Harry had discovered last year was a squib, the muggle daughter of a witch or wizard. Once he had been dragged along to the Zoo, but Harry hardly thought that counted as experience.
"I was ready to pull my wand on the lot of you, you know that?" he said, trying to catch his breath and take the seat offered by Ginny.
"You haven't got a chance Harry! We know how to defend ourselves now!" Hannah Abbott yelled from farther in the back of the kitchen.
"And why do I have the feeling that I'm going to regret that one day?" he called back, and everyone chuckled.
"Speaking of Defense, what did you all get on your Dark Arts OWL's? I know it's none of my business, but I just thought I should ask."
Everyone pulled out their OWL letters to show Harry. "I got the lowest mark." Seamus said. "Exceeds Expectations. The examiner wrote a separate note to say that he noticed that I hadn't finished my written portion, and that he'd been forced to grade that half down to 'Acceptable'. He told me he was very impressed with my practical, so he graded my final mark somewhere in between."
Harry was astonished. "So everyone got 'Exceeds Expectations' or more?" he stared round the group.
"Oh, come on. I even got an O in Defense." said Neville. "I haven't told my gran yet, but I'm sure she'll love it."
"Is she here?" Harry asked.
"No she's gone shopping, and said she'd be back this evening."
Harry had a sudden thought about the building they were currently in. "How did you all get in here?" he asked curious. "I thought this place was supposed to be secret!"
"Don't worry. It is." Hermione consoled. "Professor Dumbledore gave us permission. He said if you could trust everyone to secrecy about the DA, then he could trust them too."
Harry's eyes widened. "He really said that?" It seemed that professor Dumbledore was putting in a special effort to make up for last year's mistakes. Harry should probably let him know that he appreciated it.
"Now, who wants cake!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted.
"Who doesn't!" said Remus as he waltzed in with Tonks and a few other order members.
"You knew about all of this?" Harry asked him.
"'Course I did! They asked me to keep you out of the way for the morning!" He answered laughingly.
Harry thought briefly that keeping him out of the way hadn't really been all that difficult, seeing as they had planned to meet for a Defense session. Harry looked pointedly at him to tell him so.
Remus just smiled at Harry, and took a piece of cake.
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Harry had a wonderful time at his party. The day seemed to pass quickly, and before he knew it, people were slowly trickling out of Grimmauld Place.
Hermione had everyone link pinky fingers with Harry as they left, and say that they promised not to reveal to anyone the secrets of the DA. Apparently this was a more acceptable promise than getting them to sign a jinxed piece of paper. It just meant that Harry would immediately know if someone had gone back on their word. It wouldn't do anything horrible to them, like write the word 'sneak' on their face like it had Marrietta Edgecombe when she had squealed to professor Umbridge last year.
Apparently, it was the same way Dumbledore had made the lot of them promise not to reveal any of the Order's secrets. Harry figured that if Dumbledore thought it necessary, he too would give it a try.
Of course this sort of swear meant that the 'assistant teachers' could go about inducting other members, as long as they had Harry's permission. It was ingenious really.
That night, Harry went up to his room carrying his small load of presents. He eyed the pensieve for a moment, and decided that he was too tired. Besides he was supposed to be avoiding being overemotional just before bed.
He meditated for half an hour, and collapsed into his bed a happy, normal sixteen-year-old wizard.
