I've never had so many reviews for one chapter before. You're leaving me blushing. Review responses are at the end. I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but I was on vacation and had no computer access. It's a rather long chapter to make up for it, though it doesn't reveal Dawn's secret the way I hoped it would. That willhave to wait for the next chapter.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the like are owned by JK Rowling, while Dawn, the red witch, the monk, and Professor Ben are ideas owned by JossWhedon.
Hermione was the first to come out. "There you are," she said. "Been waiting long?"
"No, just a few minutes," Harry replied, glad that it hadn't taken long for someone to find him.
"The password is 'Norbert' by the way."
"Cute," Harry said, somewhat sarcastically. "Who came up with that one?" Hermione's only response was an exaggerated smile before she turned and led him to a secluded corner of the common room where she and Ron had apparently been waiting. Ron waved a quick greeting as Harry came closer.
"What'd Dumbledore want," he asked, not even giving Harry a chance to sit down.
"Ronald Weasley," Hermione began. "There are such things as manners, not that you'd know. At least let him get seated." Harry smirked, happy to see it hadn't taken long for the two of them to fall back into old habits. He sighed as he took his seat and his two best friends looked at him expectantly.
"What?"
"Are you going to answer my question or not?" Ron earned a glare from Hermione for the phrasing of the question, but she was just as curious.
"Not," Harry answered simply, laughing in amusement at the astonishment on their faces. Just then they were joined by Ginny and Dawn.
"Hey guys. What's up," Dawn asked. She didn't wait for a response before turning to Harry. "Why were you late to dinner?"
"My question first," Ron interrupted. "I have dibs."
"You can't call dibs on Harry," Dawn said. "He's my brother and I've known him longer than you."
"Yeah, but I asked first," Ron replied. "Besides I'm in the same year as him."
"That doesn't matter. I'm blood relation." Their argument was quickly interrupted by Hermione.
"Perhaps we should let Harry speak now," she said. Turning to Harry she told him to start with whatever he wanted.
"Well," Harry began, "Simple things first. All that Dumbledore wanted was to talk about starting up Occlumency again. Both him and Snape will be teaching me this time."
"Well I for one am glad," Hermione said. "Although Professor Snape should never have let you out of it last year."
"Yeah," Harry replied half-heartedly. He didn't want to get into that old argument again. "I also met the new Defense professor, Professor Ben. He seems really nice."
"What did you find out about him?" Ginny asked. So far she had been rather quiet.
"Not much," Harry said. "He's from America, apparently, so he had never seen Hogwarts before. This is his first real teaching appointment, although he has some experience in it, or so he says. Snape isn't happy about it though. He got in a big fight with Dumbledore in front of me. He was going on about how we were at war and how he thought putting a brand new teacher in charge of our education was going to get us killed. Dumbledore was calm, as he always is, and just blew him off."
Now that Ron's question was answered Dawn wasted no time in asking her question. "So why were you late to dinner?"
"I just needed some space," Harry lied. "Hermione and Ron were pushing me about the prophecy and I needed a minute alone." He was about to give the two of them a harsh look, but held it off as he saw the look of contrite sorrow on Ron's face. Hermione's face showed none of it. She just looked indifferent.
"And your rib," Dawn asked.
"Hurt it when I jumped out of the carriage. I think I bruised it. It'll be fine in a day or two." Harry hoped they wouldn't have any more questions. He didn't really want to get into a long discussion, at least not until he learned more about what happened. There was something the monk had said, something about Dawn, that had unnerved him and he wanted to be especially cautious. He hadn't planned it; the lie crossed his lips before he even thought about it. He just needed time to think.
Something that Hermione, at least, wasn't about to give him.
"Now don't get angry, Harry," she said cautiously, "but I think you're hiding something." He winced, and though he tried to cover it, Hermione noticed. "Now I'm sure you're hiding something. What is it?"
Dawn glared at her brother. "You don't trust us! After all that's happened, all that we've done together and you still try to cut me out!" She was obviously unhappy and stood from her seat on the floor. "That's just… Fine," she yelled. "You don't want me around anyway!" And with that she turned and stomped off towards the girl's dorm.
Ginny stood as well. "Umm… I'm going to go see if I can help." Looking at Ron she said "Fill me in later" before following after Dawn and leaving the three of them alone.
"So what is it, Harry?" Hermione asked. "What are you hiding?"
"Well…," he said, "Therewas something… Remember that man in the brown robes? The one we kept seeing on Diagon Alley?"
"Yes," Hermione said while Ron only nodded.
"He was being attacked, beaten really, by this woman, a witch wearing all red robes. I tried to help him and she… she was good. At first I caught her by surprise, I think, and hit her with a 'Stupefy' square in the back. It was like she didn't even feel it. Then she turned on me." After a pause he added, "She's the one who hurt my rib."
"Did she say who she was," Hermione asked.
"No, but I asked the monk after she left and he said…" Here Harry was interrupted by Ron.
"A Monk! No wonder he wore such weird clothes!"
"Yeah," Harry said before continuing. "All he said was 'She cannot be named.' One of them said something about the Order."
"You think she's with You-Know-Who," Ron asked.
"I don't think so. She kept going on about a key. 'I want my key,' she kept saying. I don't know what that was about. She seemed to think the monk had it."
"So, how did you get away," Hermione asked.
"That's the weird thing. She started just shouting all this stuff and none of it made sense. Something about 'the mortal coil' and how 'horrible it was being human.' Then she just disappeared."
"She apparated," Hermione asked.
"No, she just kind of-" Harry was having trouble finding the right words, "collapsed- I guess- into this white light and was gone."
"Hmmm," Hermione said.
"Uh-oh," Ron said, "I know that sound. We're going to be spending a lot of time in the library, aren't we?"
"Of course. We have to find out what's going on. If it involves Voldemort in any way we can't be caught off guard. You said the monk just said 'She cannot be named?' There wasn't any thing else?"
"That's all he said. I didn't even gethis name." Harry didn't tell them what the monk had said about Dawn. It wasn't important for them to know and he wasn't about to get Dawn involved if he didn't have to. The farther away she was from it all the safer she would be. Harry decided he'd had just about all he could take for one evening, so stretching widely he said "Well, if there's no further questions I'm going to bed."
"No, I should go, too," Hermione said. "Classes start bright and early tomorrow."
"Ugh! Don't remind me!" Ron added before he too headed up the stairs toward the comfort of his Hogwart's four poster bed.
Harry was the last one in his dorm to wake in the morning. Ron was just coming out of the shower when he noticed Harry was awake.
"Hey, I was just going to wake you. Sleep well"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Although Dean and Seamus woke me when they came in. Can they be any louder?"
Ron replied with a knowing smile before saying, "Come on. We have to be down to breakfast soon."
Harry quickly jumped into the shower and got himself dressed. When he finished he saw that Ron had preceded him down to breakfast so he walked through the halls as quickly as he could. He entered the Great Hall just as Professor McGonnagal was passing out the class schedules.
"Double Potions first thing!" Harry said when he saw his schedule. "That's murder!"
"Oh, it won't be so bad," Hermione told him. "We have Defense class this afternoon. It will be interesting to be one of the first to meet the new professor. Of course, some of us met him yesterday." The last part was directed at Harry and with a bit of feigned jealousy, which Harry simply smiled at, but his thoughts weren't on Professor Ben at the moment.
"Has anyone seen Dawn," Harry asked. "I didn't see her when I came in."
"She's still mad at you, mate," Ron said. "She was down with Ginny earlier. I think she was avoiding you."
"Oh," was all Harry said, feeling dejected. Hermione tried to set him at ease.
"She'll get over it. She thinks you were specifically excluding her, but I told her that you weren't going to tell us either until we twisted your arm about it. She'll be at lunch, I'm sure."
Hermione spoke with such confidence that Harry couldn't help but be appeased for a bit and went back to brooding over the prospect of Potions first thing in the morning. Soon enough Ron and Hermione were gathering their things and entreating Harry to hurry along. At their prodding he cut breakfast short and followed them down to the dungeons.
Snape's first lesson of the year was much like all the others. He had added a rather dull speech on the dangers of the potions they would be brewing and the need for all students to be especially careful this year. Harry noticed Snape's eyes were on him throughout much of the speech and knew that Snape was directing it specifically at him. After the speech was finished, Snape waved his wand over the blackboard and a potion recipe appeared.
It was one of the hardest Potions they had ever had to make, and though Harry took special care to follow the instructions exactly, his sample failed to react at the third step. Professor Snape, of course, did not let the opportunity slip by unnoticed.
"Mr. Potter," he said, leaning over Harry's workstation so as to appear more threatening. He made sure to speak loud enough so the entire class could hear him. "Perhaps this class is too advanced for you? You might do better by repeating your fifth year studies." Draco Malfoy was silently laughing, while a few of the Ravenclaws were looking angry for the distraction. "Tell me, Mr. Potter, exactly where you went wrong."
Harry read over the instructions again, but had followed the instructions exactly and could not find where he may have gone wrong. "I don't know, sir."
"Read step number 5," Snape prompted.
"I haven't made it that far yet," Harry said, then quickly added "sir."
"Typical Gryffindor behaviour," Snape said. "Plunging in without first assessing the situation. Read step 5 aloud, so the entire class can hear."
"Add the root of motherwort to the mixture. Remember at no time should the potion come in contact with water. Even the slight vapor from exhaled breath can cause the mixture to lose its potency." Harry's shoulders slumped and he let out a loud sigh. He hadn't been watching his breath and that was what caused his first potion to fail. "Yes, exactly," Snape said before using a vanishing charm on Harry's worthless mixture. "Ten points from Gryffindor. You may start again. This time," he added, "follow every step exactly. That is all."
Snape strode to the front of the room leaving Harry seething. "I did follow every step," he said to Ron, who was working next to him. Ron simply shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Snape, who was watching them intently, before turning back to his own potion.
Harry managed relatively well on his second attempt and came up with a potion he thought might be passable. It wasn't the best looking potion in the class, but it was by far not the worst. He hadn't forgotten Snape's sabotage from last year and made sure to add an indestructible charm to his sample. He returned from placing his potion on Snape's desk feeling that he had in some way redeemed himself.
Harry was gathering his things in preparation to leave when Snape's voice again interrupted him. "Mr. Potter. See me before you leave today."
"Yes, sir," he replied, unhappy that his lunch would be delayed. He bade Ron and Hermione goodbye and taking his things with him turned to Snape's desk.
Snape kept him waiting for some time, apparently more interested in the article he was reading inThe Potions Post than he was in whatever he had asked Harry to stay for. Harry was afraid Snape wanted to tell him there had been a mistake and he wouldn't be allowed to take NEWT level potions after all. He waited patiently, however, trying to give no indication of his agitated state of mind. Snape finally closed his paper and rummaged through the top drawer of his desk before pulling out a thin book which he then handed to Harry.
"Meditation and Levitation: A Guide to the Inner Magic In All Of Us," Harry read off the cover. "What's this for?"
Snape scoffed before saying, "Even you should be able to figure that out. The Headmaster is of the opinion that it will help with your Occlumency training. You may try some of the exercises if you like, but I expect them to be too much for you. The Headmaster was quite insistent, however. That is the school's copy, Potter, I expect it returned in the same condition it was lent."
"Yes, sir," Harry said by way of acknowledgement, and seeing Snape motion towards the door he wasted no time in heading to the Great Hall for lunch.
Ron and Hermione were already eating when Harry arrived, though they seemed to be waiting for him. To his surprise he saw Dawn seated opposite them and figured now we be as good a time as any to apologize for last night. Before he could say anything, though, Hermione accosted him.
"What did Professor Snape want with you?"
"Here," he said, handing her the book. "It's supposed to help with my Occlumency." Turning to grab some chicken from the platter before him he added, "You can look at it if you want to," well aware that she had already finished the first page. He then turned his attention to Dawn.
"Hi, sis," he said, and received a cool glare in response. She apparently wanted him to suffer. "Look, about last night… I just didn't want anyone to worry about anything. It's not like I was trying to keep you in the dark specifically, I was trying to keep everybody out of it.
"Yeah well it never stopped you before," she said. "Dawn's too young. Dawn can't know about the Basilisk! Dawn can't know about the Dementors! Dawn can't know about the dragons. You never let me help you!"
Harry wasn't surprised at the outburst, but was somewhat surprised that she had remembered not to raise her voice and get everyone around them suspicious. He answered her in the only way it had worked for him in the past. "You're right. You're older than I was when I first faced Voldemort for the Philosopher's Stone. I was trying to protect you, but there are some things I won't be able to protect you from. I'm sorry."
He then gave her and Ginny a quick run-down of what he had told the others after they left. After hearing his story Dawn seemed placated enough, and Harry knew that come dinnertime it would be as if the argument had never happened. He then tried to lighten the mood and asked about Dawn's morning.
"Oh it was great," she said, her eyes lighting up. "We had Defense class first thing. The new professor's really nice. We spent most of the class just talking. He told us about living in America and asked us about what we had already learned. He said he's going to put together a course plan based on the 'weaknesses of our prior education.' It was really good."
Harry smiled throughout Dawn's little speech. She could be quite talkative when she was excited about something and it was cute the way she quoted the new professor. "Got a little crush on him I see," he said in manner of good natured ribbing, which gained him a punch on the arm. "Good thing you can't reach all the way across the table or that might have hurt." At that comment Dawn stuck out her tongue.
The rest of lunch was enjoyable and Harry was sorry to have to return to class. Transfiguration with McGonnagal was first and then Defense to finish the day. Harry was actually glad for the opportunity to see his head of house, he had a question he wanted to ask her, although the prospect of the lesson itself wasn't very appealing.
It turned out to be better than Harry had hoped, although his blood boiled when Ron pointed out who was sitting a few chairs behind them. "Malfoy," he cried in exasperation. "I never thought his grades would be good enough!"
Ron just shook his head in similar bewilderment and there was silence for a moment before asking. "Do you think McGonnagal will notice if I transfigure him into a clock?" Of course it was her stern voice that broke through to him at that exact moment.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley. You may not like all of your fellow students but that is no reason not to be polite to them in your classes… And outside of the classroom I may add."
Although Ron was a bit upset at first, the loss of five points was countered by the points he, Harry, and Hermione earned throughout the class. By the end of the lesson they were well into the black, even if including the points Harry had lost them during Potions that morning. When McGonnagal dismissed her students Harry signaled to Ron and Hermione to stay behind while he asked his question. He then waited for the room to empty and made his way to the Professor.
"You wanted to speak with me, Mr. Potter," she asked on seeing him still in the room.
"Yes, ma'am," he began. "I wondered if you know how I was allowed into the Advanced Potions class when I wasn't able to make the 'O' on the exam?"
She sighed sharply before looking straight at him. "I wasn't going to tell you," she said, "but I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later. I did a rather large favor for Professor Snape, one that was against my every inclination, on condition that he allow you to take the class. He was very reluctant, but agreed to it in the end."
"Oh," Harry said. Somehow it seemed too simple, like there should have been more to it than that, but he did find it logical. Harry was very grateful and made a mental note to be sure to do something especially nice for the deputy headmistress. "Thank you, Professor," he said aloud before he would miss the opportunity and forget to do it later.
"Yes, well… You're welcome, Mr. Potter. Just be sure not to make me regret my decision," she said with a light twinkle in her eye.
"I won't," Harry said automatically before another thought struck him. "What was the favor?"
Instead of answering him she said "Don't you have another class where you need to be," and Harry knew that she wasn't going to tell him. He gave her a large smile before saying his goodbye and heading toward the Defense wing.
Hermione and Ron were waiting just outside the door. "Malfoy," Hermione said as soon as they were out of earshot of the Transfiguration classroom. "That was the favor."
"What," Harry asked, turning to her.
"Don't you see, Harry," Ron answered for her. "He didn't make the grade. McGonnagal took Malfoy in Advanced Transfiguration on condition that Snape take you in Advanced Potions." Hermione gave Ron a glare for interrupting her but let it slide.
"Oh. That makes sense, now," Harry said. "I was wondering what sort of favor McGonnagal could do for Snape and wasn't coming up with anything pleasant. For either of them."
Both he and Ron laughed, though Hermione seemed to try not to. "Do you think his chest hair is greasy, too," Ron said suddenly, causing Hermione to abandon any attempt at stifling her laughter.
"Actually wasn't what I was thinking about," Harry said, which caused even more laughter. The racket earned the three of them bewildered stares when they entered the DADA classroom.
"What's so funny?" Neville asked when they chose their seats, but that just brought on another wave of laughter.
"I'll tell you later," Ron managed to say between the chuckles and guffaws. The new professor came into the room and the three had to work to calm themselves down. Luckily they managed before the man began speaking.
"Okay, listen up, please," he began lamely. Harry noticed that the new professor didn't seem comfortable in front of the group as his voice was quavering and he was shifting nervously from one foot to the other. He had to try a couple of times to get the class's attention. "So let me ask you one question. Does anybody know how much a polar bear weighs?"
There were a couple of snickers and nervous giggles, but not even Hermione would answer the question.
"It's enough to break the ice." The class laughed. "I'm Professor Ben, as Dumbledore announced last night. I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor… Well, obviously," he added with a bit of self deprecating humor. "Well done, Ben. Your first day and you've already got them thinking you're an idiot." Addressing the class he added. "I did the same thing this morning, too. Well, as I don't know any of you, and none of you know me, we'll just go around the room and tell a little about ourselves. I'll go first. My name is Professor Ben. You can just call me Professor Ben, I know many of you have been taught that it's rude to address adults by their first names, but I don't mind it. I like it actually."
He paused to give the class time to catch up, although nobody was taking notes. Harry noticed that the new Professor calmed down once he started talking. "So about me… I come from America. This is my first teaching job, but I have plenty of experience in Defense. Now, we'll go around the room, and you tell me a little about yourself and I'll ask you each a question about your studies then you can ask me whatever you wish. Okay? Good."
As they started the round robin, Ron turned to Harry and whispered "Do you think this means no homework?"
"Either that or 'Write a paragraph on what you did for summer vacation.'" Ron just gave Harry a quizzical look. "Muggle thing." Ron shrugged and at Hermione's glare he went back to try and pay attention to Ernie Macmillan's pompous speech.
Despite Ernie's self important monologue, it was the most interesting Defense class any of them had seen since the imposter Moody had taught them about Unforgivables. What seemed to be an asinine and uninspired exercise actually did help them learn about each other. Professor Ben answered question after question, many of them were about America and the things he did there. He had actually participated in several demon hunts where groups of wizards would try to find demons that were causing problems and relocate them. The students asked him about American customs and phrases while he asked them about all things British. He asked them about their studies and seemed quite impressed with the information they already knew, and was especially impressed with the number of students that could produce a Patronus. Harry was proud of them, too, especially after Professor Ben said he didn't believe them and Hermione sent her otter-shaped Patronus after him, startling him off the edge of the desk where he was sitting. Miraculously, his robes stayed perfectly white.
"That's wonderful," Professor Ben said after they had finished the game. "I can see some strengths and weaknesses already. You're all very strong in theory. No need to study any more of that." A loud cheer burst forth from the class at that announcement. "Yes, well. You're also quite skilled at dealing with Dark Creatures, the smaller ones anyway. The things I think we'll focus on this term are physical defense and duelling. The basics are there, but with a bit more study we'll have some excellent duellers in this class."
Neville took the opportunity to ask another question. "Sir, what do you mean by physical defense?"
Ben came towards him and stood directly in front of Neville's desk. "Hand me your wand please," he said kindly. After Professor Ben took the wand he pointed it straight at Neville's chest and said "I'm about to use the Leg-Locker Curse on you. What do you do?"
Neville looked to his left and his right, but Ben stopped him. "It's just you and me, no one can help you. What do you do?"
Neville made a weak lunge for his wand that Ben easily avoided, grabbing Neville's arm and twisting it behind so that Neville was forced to bend backwards to lessen the pain. "That was one form of physical defense, now here's another. Grab me here."
"Here?" Neville tried, but he still looked like he was in pain and wanted to cry uncle any minute.
"Not quite. Like this," Professor Ben said repositioning Neville's arm. "Now pull up, hard."
Neville did as he was told and Professor Ben lost his grip on Neville's arm before crashing to the floor. Hermione gasped and several other students looked stunned, but Professor Ben was smiling as he stood up and handed the wand back to Neville. "Excellent, Neville. Ten points to Gryffindor. You see, a wand is only one line of defense. We will be learning many others throughout this year." Just then the bell rang signaling the end of class and the new Professor released them with no homework. Ron's large grin threatened to cover his entire face as he, Harry and Hermione walked out of class together.
"No Homework! Can you believe our luck," he asked Harry excitedly, not waiting for an answer. "And that move he used on Neville? I can't wait to try that. If all our Defense classes are like this it'll be a breeze."
Harry was thinking much along the same lines and already coming up with scenarios where such knowledge would be useful.
"And all that stuff about America," Ron continued talking. "I never knew they flip the bird with only one finger. Weird."
"I didn't know that either," Hermione said.
After an expectant silence Harry added, "Oh, I did. Dawn and I use it all the time. Makes it easier to get away with around the Dursleys."
And so, chatting merrily, the three Gryffindors made their way to dinner, relieved to have finally finished the first day of classes.
LuckyShamrock: Thank you so much. That was wonderful to find first thing in my mailbox in the morning.I did a lot of planning on this before starting to write and I think it shows. I am very proud of it and am glad that you like it, too.
The Cardboard Moon: Got it in one! Although if you don't know Dawn's story I'm sure it's rather confusing.
ChibiChibi: I like your questions, but as you guessed, you'll have to wait to find out. I actually thought it was a rather obvious way to do a crossover, but apparently not too many people have done it this way. I'm glad it's keeping your interest.
Jackie: Thank you for your compliments. Characterization is important to me and I'm glad you think I'm doing a good job. I really don't care for stories where Hermione is all shallow or Draco is suddenly kind and nice "just because I said so." As for the two-fingered thing... Damn, I hate when that kind of stuff happens, although I tried to kind of explain it in this chapter. Anything like that happens in the future, though, you'll have to live with ;)
laffinpebbles: You don't remember who Ben was! Oh well that's okay. You'll understand eventually. Think fifth season's big bad. Or just wait it out in this story, but that doesn't come for a while, yet.
gabrieldarke: Sorry, the scoobies won't be appearing directly. There's no reason for them to show up that wouldn't be forced and contrived. Besides, Buffy has no relation to Dawn in this fic so it just wouldn't be natural. There will be more of Dawn's thoughts and a little bit of her POV, but I developed this more as a Harry Potter story so the focus is on him. I do have a few things planned for Dawn, though, that can only work from her focus, so you will see some. Thank you for your input!
Anne: Thank you for your comments on the exposition and tying up loose ends. I thought it dragged a bit, but I'm glad it's been enjoyed, although I set myself upfor inconsistencies when HBP comes out next month. I don't mind that you didn'treview each chapter, I do it the same way myself. As for the relationships...that won't be the main focus of the story, just a side thing, much like Buffy and Riley in 5th season (though Luna won't be joining the army and heading off to the jungle halfway through.) So it shouldn't spoil it too much for you.
MoonAngel247: See my comment to gabrieldarke about Dawn's thoughts. Thanks for your comments, I hope this chapter is okay, but it didn't cover as much as I wanted it to. I'm working on Ch. 11 now, though, so it won't be long.
marykaitlyn: Soon enough for you? I just finished it up before I saw your comment. And I love how you call it 'bloody brilliant.' That's a real ego booster. Thanks!