Beware the Blonde Ferret
Everyday they visited Ron between classes. Brooke visited him the most. She was feeling a little guilty at not giving Ron more information. Ron had insisted that it was fine because he didn't have to go to class. On Monday of their third week, Ron left the hospital and had his first class. They were learning about Animagus' in class before they were going to attempt to become anamagi. Charms was easy. They were learning simple hexes and jinxes. Potions was fun. They began to make a simple truth serum. For this truth serum you had to ask simple yes or no questions for it to work. Auror Theory was interesting. They were learning battle strategy.
The week was hectic and full of homework. By the end of the week Brooke and Ron had announced they were going out. Quidditch season hadn't started but was drawing close. After Christmas try outs would be held. Professor McGonagall had come to Harry to ask if he'd like to be captain. Harry agreed but wanted Ron to be captain too. McGonagall agreed. Ron and Harry had begun talking about practice schedules and tips and quidditch was far from beginning.
On Tuesday of Week 4, Harry had organised the first D.A. meeting of the year. At 5:50pm Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Brooke were in the Hall setting up. They had also asked the help of some of the former D.A to help teach the new kids. At 6pm the hall was filled with students who wanted to learn. Harry had split them into 2 groups. The first was all the former members of the D.A and the other group was the new kids. "Welcome to the first meeting of the D.A." shouted Harry. "Today we're going to go over some of the more simple spells to get us started. I'm going to split all the new people into groups by years. Neville will teach all first years. He will be teaching you to master Wingardium Leviosa. You may think that you won't need that spell but you will. Ron Weasley used it to knock out a troll with its own club."
The first year students stood up and followed Neville to a corner that had a bag of feathers, Toy soldiers and pencils. "All second year students will be taken by Ginny Weasley." Ginny waved her hand in the air to indicate she was their teacher. "She will be teaching a basic disarming spell. If you know it you will be mastering it." The second years got up and followed Ginny to a raised Platform. "All third Year students will be taken by Terry Boot and Brooke Crawfield. You will be learning about a boggart and than you will be practicing your spell on a real one" The third years got up and followed Terry and Brooke to a wardrobe that was shaking violently.
'Fourth and Fifth Year students you will be learning how to make shields and learn basic but useful jinxes and hexes. My personal favourites are jelly legs and the one that breaks you out in boils. Your teacher will be Lavender Brown and Dean Thomas" The fourth years followed Lavender and Dean to a spot were the teachers table usually was.
"Sixth and Seventh year students. Your teachers are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. You will be learning about patronus' and than practicing them. Hopefully you will be able to make at least some mist tonight. You're doing very well if you can actual make out the shape of your patronus. Off you go" The 6th and 7th years followed Ron and Hermione to a wall where pictures and moving diagrams were on the wall.
"Finally My former D.A members. You have the pleasure of having me as your teacher," The D.A cheered. "First we will check out your patronus' than we are going to learn Splacterus- a deadly cutting curse. We will be using this against dummies. I thought I would also tell you this. The people I have teaching will also be learning what you have learned. They will have a special class during a free period so they can catch up. I may also alternate the teachers depending on what I'm having everyone else learn."
Harry walked towards them "Parvati, Up here." Parvati walked up to him. "Do you have a happy memory, I really good happy memory?" Parvati nodded. "That applies to you all. You must have a really happy memory to cast a patronus, Go ahead Parvati". Parvati raised her wand "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver Eagle flew out of her wand, lasted for a second before disappearing. "Well done that was good. You're doing well. You have to work on getting it to stay longer. Watch this everyone" Harry raised his wand "Expecto Patronum" A silver stag came out of his wand and galloped around the room. It stopped when it reached Harry and bowed. "You can go now," said Harry to the patronus. The stag bowed again and disappeared. "Wow!" breathed the class.
Harry called up the students one by one. Some were really good. Harry waved his hand and lines of dummies appeared. "Alright. We are now going to practice splacterus. When you hit the dummy with the spell, a radar will come up above telling you how powerful the spell was. You say splacterus and give your wand a flick. All right, umm, Seamus you first." Seamus stepped forward in front of one of the dummies. Concentrating, he gave his wand a flick "Splacterus!" shouted Seamus. The spell hit the dummy and the radar came up. His spell was a 4 out of 10.
Harry clapped. "Well Done! That was great for a first try. All right Padma up you come" Padma came forward looking uncertain. Harry patted her on the back "You'll be fine. Just relax." Padma raised her wand "Splacterus" she shouted. The radar came up 5 out of 10. "Well done, all right line up in front of the dummy of your choice and practice. "Harry will you do the curse?" asked Colin. Harry nodded. He conjured up another dummy "Splacterus" he roared. The spell hit the dummy and it sliced it in half! The radar came up 10+. His group stood in awe. "WOW!" they breathed. "Ok. Get to work" Harry said.
Soon an hour was up. Harry stepped away from his group and stepped on to a platform. "ATTENTION EVERYONE! Our time is for today. Dinner will be shortly so I need you to file out so we can set the tables up again. I'll put up notices for our next meeting. Good Work Everyone. Bye."
"Bye Harry", "See you later Harry" called a few people. As they left Hermione, Ron, Lavender, Dean, Neville, Ginny, Terry and Brooke came up to Harry. They helped him put back all the tables. "How did your classes go?" asked Harry. "Mine was good. The kids were really quick learners. Some even tried to levitate bricks," said Neville. "The second years pretty much all mastered the disarming charm," said Ginny. "The third years did a good job with the Boggart," said Terry "Yeah some of their changes to it were hilarious" added Brooke. "The fourth year had a hard time with the shield but they did well with the jinxes," said Lavender. "The fifth years were able cast a pretty good shield and did well on jinxes" said Dean. "Our group was alright. Allot of them were able to cast mist and some had some shapes. I swear I saw a hippo!" said Ron, speaking for him and Hermione. "That was great. I think we will have another class next week. Oh and we have to give you guys a quick lesson of what I did with the last year D.A members". They all nodded.
Soon they were sitting down and eating dinner. Everyone was in fine moods- except for Draco. He was still disgruntled over Ron and Brooke. It was funny to watch. Brooke and Ron would be holding hands or whispering to each other and Draco would be glaring. After dinner they went to Advanced DADA. When they came back they were completely exhausted. They'd been using the unforgivables on spiders. Their teacher had wanted to see whether they could do it. After that lesson they weren't going to use unforgiveables again until around March. They entered the common room and Ginny was there waiting for them. Hermione bid everyone goodnight and went up to bed. Brooke and Ron had a "goodnight" kiss and went up. Ginny and Harry shared a kiss "See you in the morning sunshine" whispered Ginny. "Ginny?" said Harry. "Yeah Harry," said Ginny cuddling into him. "You're the best things that ever happened to me". Ginny kissed him lightly "I feel the same way. Now up to bed- you have a big year ahead of you". She pushed him towards the dormitories and went up to her own. "I love you Ginny Weasley," he whispered before going up to bed.
The week came and went. They were given 2-foot long homework. They had to write down 4 animagus forms they would like. Pros and cons of each. Than do research on a registered Animagus. They had homework for Auror Practical- a paper about the history of Martial Arts. Auror Theory work- Different ways of disguising yourself. Potions work- The 10 different potions that contain Dragon heartstrings and what the potions are used for. All this was due next week.
On Saturday morning Harry was lying in his bed remembering his wonderful dream. In it he was married to Ginny, Lord Voldemort had been defeated and they had 2 kids. It was pure bliss. Harry felt something tickling his nose. "Wake up Sunshine. It's a prefect day for flying." Harry heard a singsong voice say in his ear. "Huh?" mumbled Harry. Ginny giggle "Come on Harry! Wake up already!" Harry opened one eye to see Ginny sitting next to him leaning over his face. Her hair falling around her face. "Morning Beautiful!" Mumbled Harry. Ginny smiled and kissed Harry's nose.
Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Give me 10 minutes" Ginny agreed and left. Harry looked over to see Ron looking into a mirror. "Oh Ron you are the fairest of them all" Squeaked Harry in a girly voice. "Sod off Harry" mumbled Ron sleepily. "Do you think Brooke really likes me?" asked Ron. Harry had his hangings around his bed, as he got dressed so Ron couldn't see the surprised look on his face. "I reckon she does mate" Harry pulled a shirt over his head. "How do you know?" Harry pulled back his hangings and walked towards the door. "I just do. I can't explain it. Come on the girls are waiting". After they had breakfast they all went out to the quidditch pitch for some flying. Brooke had decided to sit on the grass and watch and Hermione had opted to sit in the stands with James as they poured over an Arthimacy book. James was just perfect for Hermione. He was smart and interested in all the things she was- except S.P.E.W. He had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, was tall and muscly. He was a chaser for the Ravenclaw team.
Harry, Ron and Ginny took off into the skies. Harry was having fun speeding up and down the pitch. Flying was one of his favourite things in the whole world. Brooke looked up to the sky and smiled. Ron and Ginny were racing to the hoops. She smiled as Ron reached the hoops first and cheered. His hair was flying everywhere. Ron acted silly sometimes and could be a bit thick but Brooke thought he was wonderful. She watched Harry zoom up and down the pitch above them. She looked down again toward the stands. Hermione and James seemed to be arguing over something in the book- but it was a friendly argument. You could tell by the smiles on their faces.
She looked across to the castle and saw Draco and his goons at the edge of the pitch. They had their wands up pointing towards Harry. Brooke jumped up "HARRY! HARRY WATCH OUT!" she screamed. Harry didn't hear her. He had his back to Malfoy so he couldn't see what he was doing. "HARRY! HARRY LOOK OUT!" she screamed running towards him. She had pulled out her wand to stop Malfoy but it was too late. They released the spells. 'HARRY!' screamed Brooke in side her head 'HARRY LOOK OUT' Brooke ran as fast as she could to him.
Harry was zooming towards the other end of the pitch when a voice rung out in his head 'HARRY! HARRY LOOK OUT!' screamed the voice in his head. He stopped in midair and turned around. Just when he had fully turned around half a dozen spells hit him in the chest. He felt himself fall from his broom. He couldn't breath. 'Help me' he gasped as he fell through the air. Brooke was running with all her might she heard his voice in her head saying help me. Tears stung at her eyes. She saw Ron and Ginny speeding towards Harry, and Hermione and James running down from the stands. They were too late. Harry hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Brooke reached him first and kneeled beside him "Harry, Harry can you hear me? Harry I need you to talk to me!" she shouted, tears flowing down her face. Ron jumped of his broom before it hit the ground and was kneeling across from Brooke. Ginny had reached them and was cradling Harry's head in her lap. Hermione, James and the other people on the grounds that saw him fall were coming towards them. Hermione and James reached them and created a barrier around them so others couldn't get too close. Ginny was crying uncontrollably. Harry was pale and there was blood everywhere.
"Harry please give us any response please. Just groan, do something!" Brooke was trying to keep calm. 'Maybe I could send him a message silently' thought Brooke. She concentrated hard 'Harry groan if you can hear me'. She opened her eyes and put her hand to his forehead. He was deathly cold. His chest was only slightly rising and getting shallower. Suddenly Harry groaned. "Yes it worked," said Brooke. "Ok Harry I'm going to cast an Oxygen spell to help you breath. Groan if you understand". Harry made a small noise. She waved her wand up and down his body. "Oxygenious lungious" she said. Harry drew in a sharp breath. Brooke looked over him and looked at his chest. "There's blood everywhere. They used some dangerous cutting curses, His arm and leg is broken which means they could have used a Bone breaking curse. His ribs are cracked. I'm positive his back is broken from the fall. I think they also used a spell to reduce the amount of oxygen in his lungs." Brooke cast another oxygen charm. "Hermione and James I need you to go tell Dumbledore what happened. Tell him he needs to get Malfoy and his goons quickly and question them. The password is Mars Bar. Ron I need you to be strong for me and go tell Madame Pomphrey to get ready to receive Harry. Tell her all his injuries" Brooke looked at Harry again "Also add to the injuries punctured lungs". Ron ran off towards the castle. There was a major crowd around them but Hermione and James' spell held them back.
"Ginny, Ginny listen to me. I won't let him die I promise. I've had training in healing I know what to do. You just keep his head up and talk to him ok". Ginny nodded and began whispering to Harry. Brooke conjured some bandages and began to wrap some of his cuts "How bad is it" whispered Ginny. Brooke grimaced "Pretty bad. They've cut deep, even into his stomach. He's going to need a blood replenishing potion." Brooke put her hand in the middle of Harry's body "Bracious Backus" and a brace appeared on Harry's back. She conjured a white stretcher under Harry. "Harry can you hear me?" asked Brooke. No answer came. 'Harry can you hear me?' thought Brooke concentrating her thoughts on him. She heard a faint voice in her head 'yeah I can hear you'
Ginny watched as Brooke sat there with her eyes closed and her brow furrowed in concentration. 'Harry. I'm going to levitate you on a stretcher and take you up to the hospital wing' Harry's voice came back again very faintly 'Hurry, I don't know if I can…… Handle…' She opened her eyes. Harry had fallen unconscious. "Wingardium Levosia" cried Brooke. The stretcher rose and she led it back to the castle. When they reached the hospital wing Ginny held the doors open. Brooke gently laid Harry on a bed. Madam Pomphrey was with him in an instant. After giving him a few potions and putting special ointments on him she sat down. "In the long run he will be fine but at the moment, he's in really bad shape. He'll be in here for a while I expect. He won't like it but he has too. I can't believe Mr Malfoy and his friends did this to him. The poor boy." Whispered the school nurse.
"I agree Poppy. Harry is in bad shape. I used Veritisum to question Mr Malfoy. He used some nasty spells on him. I have faith he will pull through. I have taken 100 hundred points of each boy and they have 2 months of detention. I would expel them but I don't want to give up on them," said Dumbledore softly as he approached them. He sat down and stared at the pale boy in front of him. "Professor, how is he going to handle this? He only just recovered from his last near death experience in July" whispered Ginny stroking Harry's hair. Brooke gasped as images flashed through her head. A boy curled up in a ball in pain on his bed. A boy with a red bleeding scar, A boy with bruises on him, a boy who was dying, A boy with black hair, A boy who's name was Harry. She slithered to the floor as pain hit her. "Brooke what's wrong?" asked Ron as he knelt beside her. He was clearly alarmed. She struggled to get off the floor. When they had helped her into a chair she was very pale. "What's wrong Miss Crawfield?" asked Dumbledore softly. "Harry, It was Harry!" she gasped out. "I don't understand Miss Crawfield" Said Dumbledore.
"I think it was around three weeks into the month of July. We had just moved into our new house. I was asleep when I was hit with this overwhelming pain. My head hurt and my stomach was burning. I kept seeing flashes of a boy in pain doubled up on his bed. He was dying and he kept saying someone help me. I was screaming and I remember telling my mum the boy's name was Harry and he needed my help." Said Brooke softly. Everyone in the room looked shocked and except Dumbledore. "What else has happened since than Miss Crawfield?" asked Dumbledore.
"Well I dunno. For a week afterwards I felt really ill, I had to take rests between walking and the scar I've had since I was little was red and bleeding for a few days."
Dumbledore interrupted her "What does your scar look like and where is it?"
Brooke touched her head and than grasped Ron's hand "It's on the right side of my head and it's shaped like a lightning bolt." Dumbeldore seemed to be pondering something "Go on Miss Crawfield".
"Well sometimes I get these thoughts in my head. Not mine but someone else's; I'm quite sure it's Harry voice. When we were on the quidditch pitch and I saw Draco fire curses at him. I screamed at him but he didn't hear me. Than I screamed to him in my head and in the air he stopped and turned around. When he was on the ground I started talking to him but he wouldn't answer. I asked him through my mind and he answered. Than we had a conversation about his pain. It was weird. I even got the password to your office by somehow going through his head. He didn't actually tell me, I found it. Than just now I remembered the time in July and than this pain overwhelmed me. Harry's in a lot of pain right now. He needs something for the pain."
Dumbledore stood up "Poppy, Harry needs some more potion for his pain. When do you expect him to awake?" asked Dumbledore. Madame Pomphrey gave Harry some more potions "He should be awake by morning" she answered. Dumbledore turned to the others "Tell no one of how bad his injuries are. Do not discuss anything you heard here at all. Brooke I want you down here at 7am. Harry, You and I need to have a talk. You are not to come Mr Weasley, Miss Weasley, Miss Granger and Mr Harrington. Do I make my self clear?"
The kids nodded solemnly "Yes Headmaster" Dumbledore looked over them "All right I think its time we left Harry to rest. Say goodbye. Poppy I'll see you tomorrow morning." With that the headmaster left. They all said goodbye to Harry and left. That night none of them got much sleep. They just lay in bed wide-awake.
'Oh I hope he's going to be all right. I couldn't live if he died.' Thought Ginny as she lay in bed.
'Stupid Malfoy! When I get my hands on him. He'll wish he had never been born!' Thought Ron as he tossed and turned in his bed.
'I hope Harry will be ok. I wonder what's going on with him and Brooke' thought Hermione.
'I haven't known Harry long but I hope he's all right. I wonder what Hermione's thinking about.' Muttered James as he rolled over.
'Hmmm. Dumbledore knows something about Harry and me. About why we use telepathy.' Mumbled Brooke as she looked up at the ceiling. 'Oh well. I'll find out tomorrow'. Soon Brooke fell asleep.