DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Harry and the rest of the students eventually settled into a routine and the time began to pass a little more quickly. Even the Advanced Potions classes seemed to fall into a pattern. Snape was routinely nasty to Harry and Hermione, Draco would scowl at them, Millicent avoided both of them, but they would both end up succeeding more often than they failed.
The rest of Harry's classes were going even better. Ron was beginning to get put off by the ease with which Harry was picking up the new charms they were learning. Even Hermione had been impressed on a few occasions.
Harry found the improvement a little disturbing. He remembered talking with Voldemort, and how he'd said that Harry was getting more powerful. Dumbledore had said something similar. He didn't know how getting a Splitting Charm to work on the first try would make him a threat to Voldemort, but at least no one was making fun of him when he would fail.
The worst part was that he now had even more classes with Draco Malfoy than he had last year. The only thing that made it bearable was the absence of Crabbe and Goyle. Rumor had it that they only received five O.W.L.s between the pair of them. Many students wondered how even that were possible.
The one class where Harry still had to deal with Crabbe, Goyle and Draco was Care of Magical Creatures, but it seemed that they took that opportunity to make up for all the time that they wouldn't get in the rest of their classes. Hagrid had mostly given up at trying to get them to stay quiet, and instead settled for keeping them busy, or keeping them in the back of the group.
They seemed to get worse and worse each week. Only the nasty looks from the Aurors about the grounds seemed to control them. That had worked until Hagrid had assigned the class to help relocate a large group of imps who had been living near the entrance to Hogwarts. In recent days they had taken to attacking the Aurors and Dumbledore had asked Hagrid to catch them and have them sent further into the Forbidden Forest. Catching the imps meant leaving the grounds, and once they left the grounds, the three Slytherins would turn on Harry almost immediately.
After three weeks of catching imps, Harry had stopped responding to Malfoy's insults and remarks. Malfoy had seemed to back off a little upon realizing this, but Harry knew he was only biding his time. He hadn't forgotten Malfoy's threat from his last year, and he was sure Malfoy hadn't either.
On the day they would be caging and feeding the imps for the last time before they were taken deeper into the forest, the students paired up and carried large wooden cages out to the clearing where the imps had been living in holes Hagrid had dug. Neville and Harry carried one cage, and walked with Ron and Hermione who were carrying another.
As they passed off the grounds, they noticed the pair of Aurors at the front gate scowling in their direction. Harry turned to see Malfoy along with Crabbe, Goyle and Nott carrying another pair of cages. They were walking faster than either pair of Gryffindors, and Harry was eager to let them pass.
Malfoy and Nott quickly walked past them, giving Harry only the briefest of glares. Crabbe and Goyle struggled on behind them, stumbling as they tried to keep up. Not more than thirty feet beyond them, Malfoy tripped over the root of a large oak tree and fell spectacularly, sending Nott sprawling, and their cage sailing quite a ways before crashing to the ground.
Harry and Neville laughed as they stopped nearby, gently lowering their cage to the ground. Malfoy's robes had ripped, and the cage was lying on its side. Several of the wooden pegs which were acting as bars had broken out of the lashings holding them in place.
"Reparo!" Malfoy shouted at the cage as he stood up. The pegs jumped back into position, but the lashings disappeared, making the cage fall to the ground and look more like an unlit campfire than a cage.
Ron and Hermione put their cage down next to Harry and Neville's. Hermione walked over to Malfoy's cage with a light smile on her face.
"Reparo!"
The cage leapt together and fresh lashings appeared around the joints. "That was brilliant!" Neville exclaimed. Malfoy obviously disagreed.
"I don't need help from a filthy Mudblood!" Malfoy shouted back at Hermione, but she was already walking away. "We shouldn't even be using these stupid things!" he shouted as he kicked the cage.
"If we don't use Charmwillow cages, the imps will be able to get out," Neville explained. He'd been the only one in the class to recognize the wood used for the cages. They were made from the branches of a tree which was unusually difficult to charm. It made them difficult to break with magic and almost impossible to levitate.
"Keep quiet, Longbottom," Malfoy snapped. "I meant we should just kill the lot of them."
"Well, that would be the 'Killing of Magical Creatures' and not 'Care' then, wouldn't it" Ron said coldly, "Then again, your father and his mate MacNair probably already taught you that. Maybe you should get your father to have MacNair chop that tree down for you as well."
"Careful, Ron," Harry said with a smirk. "He's a bit touchy about his father."
"Oh, right. He's still in prison, isn't he?"
Draco stalked toward Ron. "He won't be there for long. He's on the winning side. Unlike all of you."
"Then why did Voldemort leave him in prison?" Harry asked as he stepped toward Ron and Malfoy. Behind Ron, Hermione was slowly drawing her wand out of an inside pocket. She looked tense.
"None of your business, Potter," Draco said as he rounded on Harry instead of Ron. "At least he can fight. I heard Weasley here was left gibbering like an idiot, though I don't know how they could tell the difference. Longbottom couldn't have stunned a chair, and the Mudblood dropped as soon as the first hex hit her. Pathetic," spat Malfoy.
Crabbe, Goyle and Nott were walking over to stand behind Draco. Nott already had his wand out. Harry tried to reach for his, but he knew he'd never get it without everyone noticing. Draco stepped forward, right up to Harry's face.
"It's almost clever, really. It's about the only thing Mudbloods are good for. Every hex that hits her is one less you'd have to run away from. Too bad it wasn't even the Killing Curse, but I'm sure she'll have her chance again."
Ron was fuming now as well, and with a flash, Malfoy was flying backward into Crabbe and Goyle. Whatever hex Ron had used didn't have much effect on Malfoy. He jumped up and leveled his wand at Ron, but Hermione was faster.
"Incarcerous!" she shouted, and ropes shot out and wrapped around Malfoy. He fell helplessly to the ground. Nott stared at Malfoy in shock, then put his wand up and stepped back. Whether out of loyalty or stupidity, Crabbe and Goyle decided to fight back.
Goyle charged at Hermione and struck her with a club-like hand. She let out a shriek as she hit the ground. Ron and Harry both turned to run toward Goyle, but Harry only took a couple steps before Crabbe shoved his shoulder, spinning him away from the rest of the students.
Harry lost his footing as the world swirled around him. There was a large blur very close to him. He finally saw it at the last moment, but it was too late. Harry slammed into the trunk of the oak Malfoy had tripped over. There was a sickening crack and Harry felt pain slice through his left arm. He dropped to the ground.
As Harry cradled his broken arm, Crabbe stooped over him. "Black was your godfather, right? Well he was a traitor and he got what he deserved. You'll get worse when it's your turn."
"Back off, Crabbe!" Ron shouted. Crabbe turned and backed away. Harry looked over to see Neville with his wand at Goyle's throat as Hermione dusted off her robes. Ron had his wand on Crabbe.
"All three of you get to class, NOW!" Hermione commanded. "Neville, tell Hagrid what happened. Ron and I will take Harry to the Hospital Wing."
"Hey!" Malfoy yelled from the ground. "What about me?"
Hermione pointed her wand at him and said "Difindo!" The ropes split and Malfoy stumbled to his feet. With a scowl and a mumbled threat, he turned and followed Crabbe, Goyle and Nott.
"What happened here?" a voice called out from behind Harry. He twisted to see who it was, but stopped as a shot of pain ran up his arm.
"There was a... an accident," Hermione said. The voice had come from an Auror who'd run to see what the disturbance was. Hermione quickly explained a version of what had happened, trying to make it seem as unimportant as possible.
"And Potter broke his arm?" the Auror asked. "How bad is it?"
"Not too bad," Harry said he tried and failed to stand up.
"Bad enough, it seems," the Auror replied. "Longbottom, you can go tell Hagrid. I think Mr. Potter will be fine." Neville nodded and walked off briskly. The Auror turned to Ron and Hermione. "The two of you can get him to the castle?"
Ron and Hermione nodded and quickly hoisted Harry up and escorted him back to the castle. His arm was throbbing in pain, and the arm bent unnaturally near the wrist. Hermione didn't try mending it herself (which made Harry quite happy), but she did cast a quick Cheering Charm, which didn't relieve any of the pain, but made Harry quite happy that it hadn't.
Harry's stay in the Hospital Wing was much shorter than it had been the last time he'd broken his arm. But then, this time there were actually bones in his arm for Madam Pomfrey to heal.
As she had claimed, the bones were set and mended in only a few minutes, but she forced him to stay in a bed for half an hour after she'd forced him to down some of Bally's Break-Proof Bone Syrup. "Perhaps this might save you at least one trip back here. With bones like yours, you'd think those Muggles barely fed you," she'd said as mixed the viscous liquid into a cup of tea. Harry wanted to tell her how close to the truth she was, but decided to keep his mouth shut, or risk ending up spending yet another night in the Hospital Wing as Madam Pomfrey tried to make up for years of eating dry toast and leftover scraps.
When she finally let him out, it was time for supper. He made his way to the Great Hall to join his friends. Ginny looked quite relieved to see him there. Neville and Hermione just smiled and passed him a plate and a cup. Ron barely noticed he was there.
"Pomfrey let you out already, mate?" he asked between bits of steak and kidney pie. "Figured you'd be in there at least a couple days. Oh, and Neville said we actually managed to get Malfoy to keep quiet for an entire class." He took a quick drink of pumpkin juice. "I almost feel bad about missing it."
"Crabbe got detention, as well," Neville said as he offered some more juice to Ginny. "Too bad Hagrid got rid of all the skrewts."
Harry looked over to the Slytherin table. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were sitting together and not talking to the other Slytherins. Malfoy stared back at Harry with obvious hatred. Harry turned back to his food. He had dealt with Voldemort, the most evil wizard Hogwarts had known. Draco Malfoy couldn't be that bad.
Transfiguration class the next day was quite a bit less enjoyable than the previous weeks. McGonagall had heard what had happened the previous day, and it was more than obvious that she was disappointed in Harry, Ron and Hermione.
She didn't actually say anything, but Harry could tell. There was something stiff and cold about the way she acted around the three of them. Harry was more annoyed by it than either Ron or Hermione. What should he have done? Ron had been the first to attack, though he'd been completely justified in Harry's mind.
In the end, none of them had been punished. The Gryffindors said the Slytherins had started it, and the Slytherins said it had been the Gryffindors. The only person who'd actually been injured had been Harry, and only Crabbe had received any detention. He would be serving it tonight by helping Hagrid move the last of the imps.
However, it seemed apparent that McGonagall wasn't pleased. It had been yet another conference between her, Dumbledore and Professor Snape. Harry could easily imagine what she would've told them. He'd heard it before.
After leaving Transfiguration, Hermione barely said a thing, and Ron didn't seem to want to talk about much, so Harry just went about his day. It passed quicker than he'd expected, and after his last class he returned to the common room to try and read up on the next day's material for Potions.
Ron and Hermione had joined him, as usual, and Ginny, Colin and a pair of other fifth-years sat nearby practicing Charms. Harry found it nearly impossible to concentrate. It was as if his mind had simply shut down. It wasn't like his day had been that tiring. Transfiguration had been more stressful than usual, but it hadn't lasted all that long.
Defense Against the Dark Arts had been interesting. They'd been studying Shield Charms. The lesson ended up being rather chaotic. They'd put up shields to protect themselves from their partners. In practice, however, Harry had to keep re-casting the Shield Charm to protect himself from the curses ricocheting off everyone else's shields. When they were done, the room had looked like a disaster area.
Herbology had been a little less exciting. Harry tried to remember what exactly it was that they'd done, but his ability to concentrate was getting worse. He tried to remember what it had been. He thought he remembered something about one of the greenhouses. He remembered walking through the door and walking down the aisles of plants, but then it stopped.
"Er... Hermione, what did we do in Herbology today?" he finally asked.
"We collected Flamepine cones from the forest," she answered without looking up from her Arithmancy book.
"And then we brought them back to the greenhouses?"
Hermione looked up and blinked at Harry. "Flamepine cones? In the greenhouses? Are you feeling alright Harry?"
As soon as she mentioned it, he realized that he really wasn't feeling quite right. He felt a bit dizzy and suddenly exhausted. It didn't make sense. He remembered the greenhouses. He had walked into the greenhouse, then walked down the aisle. He'd been looking for something. There was something odd...
Harry's eyes flew open and he ran to the window. He tried to see the greenhouses, but he couldn't. He searched the grounds for any sign that something strange was happening.
"You're sure you're alright?" Hermione asked again.
"I'm fine," Harry replied dismissively.
"What's happening Harry?" Ginny asked. She was standing now too, and was already halfway to the window.
Harry turned to face her, and found that Ron and Hermione had stood up as well and were making their way to him also. "I... I—er—" Harry realized now that many other students in the room had turned to look at him.
"I forgot to return a book to the library. I've got to go." He pushed past his friends, grabbed his bag and walked out of the room as quickly as he could. He felt slightly guilty about lying to his friends, but he didn't have time to try and find a way to explain it to them privately. He had to find Dumbledore quickly.
As he ran to the Headmaster's office he could still see wisps and shadows of the interior of the greenhouse. It was like the other visions, and yet it was different. More importantly, Harry would have swore he'd seen the shape of another person walking through the doorway to the greenhouse.
Harry forced himself to run faster. It wasn't far to Dumbledore's office. He got to the gargoyles and shouted the password.
"Ton-tongue Taffies!"
Harry leapt onto the stairs and was forced to wait as the stairs rose, grinding lightly against the walls. He hesitantly closed his eyes. He had to know what was going on.
Against the black of his eyelids, he could see more clearly. Someone else was in the greenhouse. Harry couldn't tell who at the moment, but he was almost certain it was a student. The ride to the top of the stairway seemed to drag on forever as Harry watched a cloaked figure slowly walking toward the student.
Harry opened his eyes to see how close he was the the door to the office. It was still a good ten feet above him, and he would have swore the stairs were slowing down. He closed his eyes again, hoping to be able to find out as much as he could.
The vision was getting stronger. The cloaked figure was advancing quickly, but the student hadn't noticed them. Harry felt a chill as he saw the attackers wand slash out toward the student. He couldn't hear a thing, but image was enough to cause his heart to pound against his ribs.
A beam of light connected the wand and the student, and an instant later, the student fell limply to the ground. Harry's eyes flew open instinctively. He took a few deep breaths. It was just a stunner. There was no green flash. He would have recognized the Killing Curse immediately. He was quite close to the door now, but he needed to see what else was happening. He closed his eyes again and strained to make sense of the faint images in his mind.
The attacker was standing over the student now. Harry looked down and could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was Crabbe. His attacker simply raised his wand, and took aim at Crabbe's body. Another curse silently struck Crabbe, making his arm convulse limply. The pain in Harry's scar built until he had a hard time seeing through the stars in his vision. The attacker had raised his wand a third time. Harry cringed, preparing for the inevitable.
"Is there something I can help you with, Harry?"
Harry's eyes opened to see Dumbledore standing in the doorway in front of him. His hand had instinctively moved to his forehead where he was trying to massage the pain away from his scar.
"A student in the greenhouses..." Harry struggled to say. "They were attacked by..." By who? It couldn't have been Voldemort, could it? He'd seen it, but something had been off. If it was Voldemort, why hadn't he talked to Harry?
"Did you see who it was?" Dumbledore asked quickly. "Did you see who the student was?"
"It—It was Crabbe," Harry answered. He felt as confused about the answer as Dumbledore looked. "He was stunned and then—"
"Vincent Crabbe?"
Harry nodded and winced as his scar throbbed. When he looked up, Dumbledore was striding toward his desk. Without a word, Fawkes soared toward him. With a puff of smoke, the two of them disappeared, leaving Harry alone in Dumbledore's office.
Not knowing what to do, Harry decided to sit down in one of the soft chairs in the room. His scar was hurting less than it had a moment ago, and the pain seemed to be leaving faster than he'd expected but he wasn't sure if that was such a good sign.
"You there!"
Harry jumped as a voice called to him. He turned toward the source and saw only an empty room.
"You're Harry Potter?" the voice asked.
Harry scanned the room, and relaxed as he saw one of the Headmaster paintings awake and staring at him.
"That's right," Harry said slowly.
"I've a message for you from the Headmaster," the painting said formally. "You are to return to your common room immediately, and keep what you've seen to yourself until the Headmaster has spoken to you."
Harry did as he was told and endured the suspicious looks of his friends. He wanted to tell them, but he didn't want to disobey Dumbledore. At least, not yet. Something about the Headmaster's behavior had told him that there was some reason why Harry should keep this quiet for now. Of course, the whole purpose of the D.A. was to try and help protect the school. Shouldn't they know what happened?
He debated with himself for some time before being interrupted by dinner. He tried to ignore what he'd seen for the moment and tried to look forward to a nice meal. Secretly, however, he hoped that Dumbledore might make some announcement.
When they reached the Great Hall, Dumbledore was not there, nor were most of the professors. Only Professor Sinistra and Madam Pince were sitting at the head table, along with a number of Aurors. Madam Pince was talking and laughing with a pair of them. Harry pointed it out to Ron because it was one of the first times he'd ever seen her laughing.
The rest of the students ate and chatted just like any other night. A group of Ravenclaws made a bit of a scene when one of them knocked over a pair of pitchers while laughing uncontrollably at some joke. Some of the Hufflepuffs seemed to be crowding around Ernie as he showed some of the charms they'd been learning in Transfiguration. Everywhere he looked, Harry saw everyone acting normally.
They didn't know. Even the Slytherins were oblivious. They were all acting as if nothing had happened.
Had anything happened? Was that why Dumbledore told him to keep quiet? Was this some trick? The other visions hadn't been tricks. But then, this one had felt different. Foggier. Less real. And why would Voldemort attack Vincent Crabbe, the son of one of his own Death Eaters? It didn't make sense. Something strange was happening.
"Is everything alright, Harry?" Ginny asked quietly.
"Yeah, I'm just...er... tired, I guess."
"Well rest up, mate. It looks like tomorrow is going to be a bad day for you."
"Why? I didn't do anything," Harry responded defensively.
"Of course you didn't, but that's never stopped Snape before, has it?"
Hermione put down her cup and stared at Ron. "What are you two talking about?"
"Crabbe," Ron said with a nod toward the Slytherin table. "Looks like Hagrid's still got him serving detention, and Snape's just the type to take it out on Harry. You'll see," Ron took a quick drink of his juice. "I'd hope he wouldn't, you know. It's not like I want him to attack Harry, but... well, you might want to get a good night's rest."
Harry tried to act disappointed. He hadn't thought of looking for Crabbe. His absence was worrisome no matter how Harry took it. Hagrid wouldn't have kept Crabbe this long. It meant there was a better chance that what he'd seen was real, and yet that didn't seem like good news either.
Harry tried to push away his worries. There was nothing he could do about them now. When they got back to Gryffindor tower he could tell Ron, Hermione and Ginny about what he'd seen. They certainly wouldn't think he was losing his mind. He quietly finished eating and talked with Hermione and Ginny while they waited for Ron.
When he'd finished they walked casually out of the Great Hall and back toward Gryffindor Tower. At the foot of the stairs they saw Hannah and Ernie talking to Professor McGonagall. As they walked past, McGonagall seemed to watch them more intently than Harry was comfortable with. None of them commented on it, but they all gave Harry curious looks as they walked.
When they reached the portrait, Hermione gave the password. They all stopped short just inside the common room as they realized that Albus Dumbledore was sitting in front of the fire and playing a game of chess with a very confused second-year. When he saw them, his face broke into a warm smile.
"Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, I was hoping you would return. I have some information for Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley as well," he said as he directed one of his rooks across the board, ending the game.
"There was a most unfortunate accident in the greenhouses this afternoon. It seems that Vincent Crabbe tripped while walking too close to a number of rather irritable plants. The Aurors have made sure that it won't happen again. However, during our discussion, they suggested a unique opportunity they were willing to give the members of the Defense Association. I would need to discuss it with the Council first, of course. Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, if you would step outside for a moment."
Dumbledore led Ginny and Hermione outside the common room, leaving Harry and Ron to wait uncomfortably to find out whether they should be happy about whatever it was the girls were being told. They weren't forced to wait long before they returned and suggested they talk in the boys dormitory.
"So, what are we going to have to do now?" Ron asked reluctantly. "We're not going to have to clean, are we?"
"No, the Aurors want—"
"Wait!" Ginny barked, interrupting Hermione. She walked over to where Harry was sitting. "First I want to hear what really happened to Crabbe."
Hermione turned to stare as well. With a frown, Harry explained what he'd seen. After he told them everything he could remember, Ginny nodded to Hermione.
"The Aurors want to demonstrate the Imperius Curse to us," Hermione announced.
"We've already seen that," Ron said. "Remember? The spiders?"
"No. They're not going to show us," Hermione said slowly, "they're going to teach us how to fight it."