CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

HINKYPUNKS AND MURDER

January started soon enough, signaling Harry and the rest of the professors' to return to teaching at Hogwarts. Students went back to classes and everything was back to normal. Pleasantly, Dumbledore was back in the Headmaster's office as he made sure that everything was running smoothly. Harry and the rest of the gang did little in preventing Crouch's rise to power. They must not rush into things that still were left unsure to them.

Harry went tothe Defense Against the Dark Artsclassroom which was now piled with second year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. Harry motioned them to take their seats as he went towards the front of the room and stood ready to teach.

"Today," started Harry. "I have a little after-the-holidays treat for all of you."

The students all looked pleased since clearly, Harry was their best professor. They all sat up and strained their ear to hear every word Harry uttered.

"This" said Harry as he pointed to a strange box. "Is the next lesson in our schedule. We will learn to defend ourselves against hinkypunks, see."

The box was moving slightly while the hinkypunk inside squirmed.

"But first, does anyone here know how to do the Lumos charm?" asked Harry.

Hands immediately bolted up, as Harry expected since Lumos was a charm taught in the first year. Harry looked pleased as he stepped near the box.

"How about" continued Harry. "The Flipendo Knock-Back Jinx?"

Not a hand poked through the air. Harry then went to the center of the room and asked the students to stand up. WIth a wave of his wand, all the chairs and tables went to the side of the room, giving them a large space in the center to work with.

"The Flipendo Knock-back jinx is a spell that will knock most things that it collides with. The magic word is 'Flipendo'. Say this as you wave your wand with a sight crisp wrist movement okay?" said Harry. "Lets try it then."

Harry raised his wand and with the word "Avis," conjured several flying birds.

"Know I want everyone to aim at a bird and use the Flipendo jinx okay? Now form a circle"

The kids formed a circle with Harry in the center. The birds were fluttering by the ceiling as Harry demonstrated the activity. He pointed at one bird and flicked his wrist saying "Flipendo," sending a bird to the floor. The girls started to whisper, apparently sad to see birds getting hurt. The birds though vanished into thin air after they've been knocked out.

Everyone started to aim at birds and moments later, shouts of 'Flipendo' erupted. Birds began to fall to the floor as well as books as some pupils missed their aim. Harry continued to supervise them.

Minutes later, Harry asked them to stop.

"Now, as you all know how to use the Flipendo Knock-out jinx, we will learn how to overpower a hinkypunk." explained Harry as he opened a box to reveal a ghostly creature as small as a house-elf. It was almost transparent except for a small oil lamp it carried. It apparently used this lamp to shoot fire balls at enemies.

"To overpower a hinkypunk, you need to cast the Lumos spell first onto it until it looks solid, not translucent and ghost-like" said Harry as he cast the Lumos spell onto the hinkypunk, making it more solid to the sight. "Then, cast Flipendo to knock it out." With that, Harry sent the hinkypunk lying on the floor.

Harry went to his cabinet to get five boxes as he asked the class to divide into five groups. He asked them to fall in line and have their wands ready.

"Each group will one at a time overpower a hinkypunk. Once he or she has done so, that person will revive the hinkypunk with the spell "Ennervate" andlet the next student knock the hinkypunk after it has awoken." explained Harry.

An hour passed and Harry said goodbye to his students. He then went inside his room to fix his teaching things as he prepared his way to visit Dumbledore. He whisked away the boxes and went to the rotating elevator that was the entrance to the Headmaster's office.

"Fizzing Whizbees" said Harry to activate the elevator where he stood. The elevator started to turn and ascend, leading Harry to the door of Dumbledore's office. He went in without knocking to see Dumbledore with Ron., Hemione, and Sirius, who has been living with the Weasleys ever since his escape from the Dementors' Realm.

"I" said Dumbledore "have arranged this meeting to discuss the matter on Crouch. He is still under my spell as to contain him as of now but I am afraid we cannot do this forever. We need to stop his rise to power permanently."

The whole room was silent except for the rythmic ticking of the strange gadgets on top of Dumbledore's table. The portraits of the previous headmasters were mostly empty as Dumbledore sat on his table.

"I am afraid" continued Albus. "That I do not know of any method of doing this without resorting to any sort of memory modifying or, if needed be, murder."

Everyone gasped. Dumbledore, plotting to do these horrible things... It was unthinkable and greatly out of character. Harry though understood Dumbledore's emotions. Dumbledore must be feeling angry and upset about battling another great enemy and riskingthe lives of peoplein the process of defeating this great foe. He must be sick of these evil people who keep on rising to stop them. Besides, Harry knew that this was the only great plan they could come up with. With full confidence, Harry agreed with Dumbledore.

"I.." started Harry, breaking the silence of the room. "I completely agree. We could end this before anything begins."

"I am glad to hear that, Mr. Potter. As for the rest of you, any other suggestion is welcome though I highly doubt thatthere would be a possible alternative to what I have proposed. I know memory modifying and of course, murder, is very henious but I can not let any evil going out of hand again, like when Voldemort was alive."

Dumbledore then went to the door and opened it as he said "I shall give all of you time to ponder upon what I have said today. I will all call you again to re-asses our position and to discussour next best action. For now, I may need all of you to leave for I have a special meeting with the school faculty."

They all left the room, one by one, silent as stone. Even Sirius looked a bit shaken with Dumbledore's sudden ruthlessness. As Harry was about to exit along with the others, Dumbledore patted his shoulder.

"Of all of the people, I've expected you to understand what I have just said today" said Dumbledore. "Thank you."

Harry just smiled and stepped out. He finally accepted that Dumbledore is just a human being, unable to have all the solutions to all problems. In Harry's life, Dumbledore has always been a source of all answers, an unwavering beacon of light when darkness surrounded them, especially in the time of Voldemort's second return years ago. Now, Harry knew Dumbledore had crossed a line. He did not have all the answers after all which is why heagreed to resort tomemory modifications and even murder. First, Dumbledore got sick and now, he has no other milder alternative in dealing with Crouch. Dumbledore was certainly just human after all.

The night was very pleasant. Harry felt the joy of teaching again. He felt as if this was what he was made to do, to help children. He forgot all about Crouch as he planned tomorrow's lesson. He was in such a high that the only thing that bothered him was his relationship with Cho which was now almost non-existent. Cho hasn't been present in his life for the past months. Maybe asking her for marriage was not a good idea. He hasn't proposed but formerly did plan to but now, there was no spark between them. Maybe Harry was too caught up with many things to think of settling down. Good thing he hasn't bought a ring yet. He breathed a deep breathe and went to bed.

Nothing. Harry's mind was blank the whole night. No nightmares, no dreams, just pure bliss of knowing and seeing nothing in his sleep. The night passed like a lullaby, leaving Harry rejuvinated for the next day. No more recurring dreams of Sirius' departure to the veil. Harry then went to breakfast in the Great Hall and prepared his things for today's lesson.

As Harry walked the halls to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, everything was in place in his mind. January marked the new year, the weather was warming up, and everything was almost back to normal. Harry just walked, thinking nothing would ever bother him today. He was most certainly mistaken. Tonight, something will indeed come to pass.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN