THE DADA MANSION
CHAPTER TWO - THE DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS MANSION
Looking menacingly over his class, Professor Severus Snape continued to speak. "What a pleasure indeed it is to look at this class knowing that I can now," he paused again, "arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind."
The class was still deathly silent.
"This year, however," he continued, "will not be the same as most other years. The Ministry of Magic has decided to put into effect a new program that will teach you to defend yourself in practical situations. Throughout the year, you will find yourselves taking turns spending a day or two in Hogwart's newly acquisitioned mansion, which was bought specifically for the purpose of training you sixth years. Yes, Miss Brown?"
Lavender was hesitatingly putting her hand in the air.
"Excuse me, Sir, but I was wondering exactly how long we would be in this mansion for. I mean, you said a day or two..."
"Ah, good point. The mansion will be run as a sort of, to use Muggle," Snape shuddered slightly, as if this were a dirty word, "terms, obstacle course. There will be tasks that you must overcome before you are allowed to go on to the next task, and then eventually leave, I suppose." he added with a smirk.
"So, it'll be sort of like the third task of the Triwizard tournament from fourth year then sir?" called Malfoy.
"I suppose that is a fair comparison, Malfoy." said Snape, "For the rest of this lesson, I have been instructed to take you down and show you the mansion, so that you may know what it looks like and get a feel for the grounds in daylight, and before any of the challenges are put in place."
With that he strode to the back of the room, opened the door, and without looking back, walked out and turned down the hallway that led to the front of the school. The class got up and, with some trepidation, began to follow Snape down the winding passages and stairwells that Hogwarts contained within its high walls. Hermione gestured to Ron and Harry to get up slowly, so that they could be the last few people who followed the group downstairs. As soon as the majority of the class had left the room, Hermione started walking, and Ron and Harry followed. Seeing that they were relatively separate from the main group of students, Hermione started speaking.
"See, Harry, I told you that this couldn't be a good thing. Dark Arts challenges and creatures, there will be so many chances for things to go wrong that it's..." She was cut off speaking when they heard running footsteps behind them, and then Harry and Ron felt someone put an arm around each of their shoulders.
"You know, I never thought I'd be seeing the day when I agreed with a Mudblood, especially this one," Malfoy said, shooting Hermione a particularly nasty look, "But, hey, even the best of us can be surprised sometimes. Speaking of which," he continued in a heavily sarcastic voice, "Potter, who you gonna get killed this year?" he inquired with a smug look.
Getting over the shock of having Malfoy in such close proximity to them, Harry and Ron simultaneously shrugged his arms off of their shoulders and turned to glare at Malfoy, who, of course, was accompanied by his ever- present sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Oh, go eat slugs Malfoy." said Ron viciously.
This made Malfoy look even more smug. "If I remember correctly, Weasley, you're the one who likes doing that."
Ron flushed, remembering spewing up slugs for a good part of an hour in second year. To cover up Ron's obvious embarrassment, and indignantly on Harry's behalf, Hermione said, "What on earth are you talking about, Malfoy? Harry's never killed anyone." she said defensively, then as an afterthought, added scathingly, "You probably have, though."
Malfoy smirked. "Well I won't deny that, Granger. And I think you'll find that our little hero here, The Boy Who Lived, is in fact very responsible for the death of that Hufflepuff nitwit, ex-Hufflepuff nitwit now, Diggory."
For the first time since being stopped by Malfoy, Harry turned, and, completely ignoring Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, spoke to Ron and Hermione. "Let's go. We'd better catch up to the rest of the group; we don't need to give Snape any reason to take points off Gryffindor before we even have any."
The three of them turned and started walking fast in order to catch up with the rest of the class, followed by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who taunted them until they were within earshot of Snape, who glared ferociously at all of them, but said nothing, just turned and led the class towards the mansion, towering above them, on what looked like a recently cleared part of the Dark Forrest.
*******
As was usual at night after dinner, most Gryffindors had congregated in the common room, still needing time to talk to each other after the summer holidays and catch up on the gossip, under the pretence of doing homework. When Ron had to run upstairs to get a book he had forgotten, Hermione used this opportunity to say what she had been trying to get a chance to say all day.
"Look Harry, about last night."
She paused, and Harry stiffened his posture slightly. The whole day they had acted as if they hadn't had a fight last night. It wasn't as if they'd never fought before, but for some reason Hermione couldn't put her finger on, this fight seemed different.
"I'm sorry for being so insensitive last night. I know that you still think, wrongly, if I may add, that it's your fault Cedric died. I wasn't thinking of you, I was absolutely selfish and uncaring. I'm so sorry, Harry."
Harry turned and smiled wistfully at her. "You sound like Ron." he said, mostly to himself.
Hermione noticed this, but chose not to comment.
Harry continued, "You worry about school more than anyone I've ever known Hermione, and I know how important it is to you."
Leaning forward anxiously, Hermione jumped in, "That still doesn't give me the right to say things without any consideration for your feelings though."
"You're right; it doesn't. But no one's perfect." stated Harry.
"Do you accept my apology then; is everything alright between us?" Hermione asked, with more than a hint of worry slipping into her voice.
"Of course I accept your apology, Hermione."
Hermione sat back slightly, relieved. Speaking more to herself than to Harry, she muttered, "Darn it. I hate it when..."she trailed off, suddenly aware that Harry was still watching her closely.
With a smile he said, "I hate it when..."
Hermione blushed slightly.
"Well, I only realized why you got so upset with me last night when Malfoy," Harry's smile hardened slightly at the mere mentioning of Malfoy's name, "referred to the Triwizard tournament and then to Cedric. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that was why you were upset last night."
"Hermione," Harry said, "Let's consider this old news now?"
She smiled, said "Ok." then went back to her book.
*******
"My Lord? Are you awake?"
"If you have disturbed me pointlessly Wormtail, you will pay." The Dark Lord Voldemort swiveled his chair around and glowered at Wormtail, who unwittingly took a few steps back.
"I-I assure you, my Lord, this is something that I think you want to see," said Wormtail.
"You think, Wormtail?" Voldemort asked mockingly, turning to face him "Apart from the fact that I would have never expected you to know how to think, I do not require you to do so."
"Y-Yes-Yes, my Lord." Wormtail stuttered.
Giving Wormtail a reprieve from his fierce glare, Voldemort turned to face the empty fireplace. "What is that you disturbed me for?"
"I have received an owl from one of the Death Eaters, my Lord. It looks important." Impatiently, Voldemort got up from his chair, walked around his desk, and grabbed the parchment out of Wormtail's shiny magical hand. Sensing that Lord Voldemort was not in a good mood, he immediately shrunk back and stood against the nearest wall, as if he were trying to become invisible.
Voldemort strode around the room as he read the letter; then stopped, muttered "Indencio!" and threw the parchment into the now burning fire. Wormtail whimpered, afraid he had disturbed his master for nothing.
"Very interesting. Very interesting indeed." Voldemort spoke quietly, but not without some satisfaction, to himself. Whirling around suddenly, he faced Wormtail. "Wormtail. It appears we have another chance to kill someone."
Cowering even further into the wall, Wormtail did not reply. Noticing his behavior, but ignoring it, Voldemort continued, "It appears that young Harry Potter will, once again, be vulnerable to, well, me, this year. Ah, Wormtail, I had seen this coming for a long time. All last year, we were unable to do anything to even torment him. However, good fortune has once again come my way."
*******
Classes were continuing as normal for the sixth years, although there were some notable differences from previous years. The main one of these being that now they had double the amount of time to be terrified that Professor Snape was going to kill them, or at least harm them severely. There had been numerous complaints to McGonagall and Dumbledore about that from students. In addition to these complaints, there was becoming an abundance of students wanting to transfer out of one or the other of the classes that Snape taught. However, the teachers simply ignored the students' whining and complaining and went on with their lives.
Walking down the hall after Transfiguration, heading to the Defence Against the Dark Arts mansion, the class seemed depressed. Even the Slytherins hadn't had it easy over the recent weeks. Snape seemed to have forgotten that he seldom took points off students in his own house, and now Slytherin was placed last in the house cup. Their day wasn't about to get any better.
Advancing into the classroom, Snape observed the students' looks on their faces, and began to speak with faked kindness. "Class. You look so despondent." he paused, then continued in a voice that had just a hint of sarcasm and fake concern creeping in, "I know what will cheer you up. It is time for me to choose the first group of students to go into the mansion."
An almost visible ripple of fear ran over the class. Each and every student was hoping that they would not be chosen, knowing that the creatures Snape had placed in the mansion were going to be a challenge beyond anything else that he had challenged them with before. The glances of terror between friends hoping not to be chosen were too numerous to count.
Although not one student had spoken a word, Snape waited until the looks of dread had mostly left the student's faces, then began to speak again.
"The chosen group will go in for a day this weekend. As this is the first time, I have been asked to ensure that the tasks are simple ones that any student, except perhaps Mr. Longbottom, are able to deal with on their own. Now, who to choose." Snape paused, and took his time walking slowly around the classroom, as if examining every student. After he had carefully scrutinized every student, he strode up to the front of the class and sat down at his desk. Without looking up, he read the names of the students he had chosen, "Hannah Abbot, Parvati Patil, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson. You will meet Professor McGonagall and myself at the doors of the Great Hall after breakfast on Saturday. You need only bring yourselves and you wands. Turn to chapter twelve of your books, read and summarize."
With that, Snape began writing something on parchment at his desk, and the class opened their books and began to read. Carefully checking to see whether Snape was looking, Ron scribbled a note on a spare bit of parchment, 'Wonder why he didn't choose you?' and passed it across Hermione to Harry.
Harry read it, wrote 'Why would he choose me?' and passed it back.
Ron replied, 'Because he hates you.'
As Ron was passing the note back to Harry, Hermione stopped it, wrote 'Do your work' showed it to both the boys, and then folded it inside her book and continued reading. Ron looked at Harry, rolled his eyes, and they both opened their books to start reading.
*******
That night at dinner, all the sixth-years could talk about was the DADA mansion, and what tasks the unlucky students would have to face.
Ron was eagerly thinking of the most horrible creatures he could remember, speculating wildly with Harry, Seamus and Dean as to whether or not Snape would put any Chimareras (rare Greek monsters with lion's heads, goat's bodies and dragon's tails) in the mansion, or whether the students would have to face any of the Unforgivable curses.
After spending most of the meal quietly listening to the boys discussing the horrible things that might happen to the students, Hermione interjected, "I think that all of you are forgetting that the Ministry is overseeing this, and they are not going to allow anything too dangerous, and they would certainly not allow the illegal dark curses to be used. Remember that it's a life sentence in Azkaban for using any of them." She looked slightly disapprovingly at them, and then said, "If you will all excuse me, I am off to the library."
She got up, and proceeded to walk out of the hall. Seamus and Dean, who were not as close to Hermione as Ron and Harry, looked down at their plates and, slightly sheepishly, each took a mouthful of food.
Watching Hermione walk out of the hall, Ron shook his head, "I think she needs to lighten up a bit. We were only joking. And I don't envy Hannah, Parvati, Millicent or Pansy, imagine being told that you have to go in the mansion first, and with only one day to go..." he trailed off.
Seamus looked up, "Snape should have told them on Monday, not on Thursday." he shook his head reproachfully.
Harry pushed his plate away slightly. "Still, I suppose she's right; and anyway, we should probably start our homework now."
Ron groaned, then said resignedly, "All right, then."
They got up from the Gryffindor table and made their way slowly up to the dormitories to get their books, then joined most of the Gryffindors in the common room, studying and gossiping. Harry and Ron heard snippets of their fellow housemates conversations as they walked towards a spare table.
"I heard that they would only be allowed out if they can finish all of the tasks."
"Really! Wow, I wonder what happens if someone gets trapped or stuck in there."
"Well I heard that the teachers would go and let them out if that happens"
"Seems like a bit of a shame though, to do that."
"Why?"
"Well, isn't the point of the DADA mansion to prepare students for tricky situations in N.E.W.T's, or after school? What's the point of letting them go in the mansion knowing that they are going to be rescued?"
"Hmm, good point."
Harry and Ron sat down at the table, Ron shaking his head.
"I can't believe that people are making such a big deal over this." he whispered "I mean, it's only another obstacle course of Dark Arts stuff."
Harry looked thoughtful. "We did do that obstacle course in third year."
"Exactly!" Ron exclaimed, "This is only another school exam, really, why are people making such a big deal?"
The portrait door opened and in came Hermione, who immediately saw Harry and Ron sitting together and walked over in time to hear the last part of what Ron said.
Sitting down, she said airily, "People are gossiping because it's not exactly like anything that has been tried at Hogwarts before."
Ron rolled his eyes, "We know that Hermione." he snapped.
Harry jumped in before Ron did something he was very good at, provoking Hermione into an argument. "We were just talking about the obstacle course Lupin set up for us in third year, Hermione."
Hermione merely nodded to this; she had already been distracted by one of the books she brought from the library.
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry enquired.
"W-what. Oh yes, sorry Harry, I'm fine. Really I am." she repeated when Harry looked as if he didn't believe her entirely.
Shrugging, Harry leaned over and, keeping Hermione's page, closed the book so he could read the title.
"See Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried, by Gulliver Pokeby." Harry read aloud, looking at Hermione questioningly, "Why are you reading this?" Becoming more curious, Harry inspected the other book titles Hermione had brought up from the library. "Hairy Snout, Human Heart - a tale of one wizard's battle with lycanthropy and The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know, by Professor Mordicus Egg." Harry finished reading and was now studying Hermiones face closely.
Ron was now looking at Hermione with a confused expression on his face. "But Hermione," he asked, "Why are you reading these books? We know you like to study, but these have absolutely nothing to do with any of your subjects." Ron looked utterly bewildered.
Slightly impatiently, almost as if, Harry thought, it was to cover up embarrassment, Hermione replied, "It's just some background reading on topics related to Dark Arts creatures."
Ron now looked really confused. "How is The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know background reading for Dark Arts?"
Harry looked interested in the answer to this question as well.
"Well, it might give me some insight as to how Muggles ignore all the obvious signs of magic that are around." Hermione was now starting to look slightly flustered.
"How?" Harry asked.
"Well, there might be a clue as to a charm that could also be helpful in repelling Dark Arts creatures, or confusing them for long enough to escape." Hermione started to pack up her books and get up.
"Where are you going, Hermione?" Harry asked.
She turned to look at him and said, "Oh, I'm just a little tired today, I think I'll go up to bed. Goodnight."
The two boys watched her as she walked up the stairs towards the girl's dormitories.
Harry turned to Ron as soon as Hermione was out of earshot. "Is it just me or was that more than just the usual amount of worry she puts in over her homework?"
Ron looked thoughtful, "Yeah, I think something's definitely up with her. You should go find out if she's ok."
Harry looked somewhat bewildered. "It's not that I wouldn't, but why should I have to go see if she's ok? Why not you?"
Ron replied airily, "Ah, the answer to that question is simple, my young midget," Harry glared at Ron, who took no notice and settled more comfortably into his chair.
"Well, do you care to enlighten me?" said Harry.
"Ah, I suppose I could. I, Ronald Weasley, at the moment, am much too comfortable to get up."
Harry glowered at Ron, who was, in fact, slowly falling asleep in his chair, got up and ran up the stairs after Hermione.
*******
Next chapter: We find out why Hermione was reading those books. We also see our first group, Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy, off into the Defence Against the Dark Arts mansion.
And can I just ask everyone to please take a few minutes to review my story; I need to know what you like and what you don't like. Thanks.
CHAPTER TWO - THE DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS MANSION
Looking menacingly over his class, Professor Severus Snape continued to speak. "What a pleasure indeed it is to look at this class knowing that I can now," he paused again, "arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind."
The class was still deathly silent.
"This year, however," he continued, "will not be the same as most other years. The Ministry of Magic has decided to put into effect a new program that will teach you to defend yourself in practical situations. Throughout the year, you will find yourselves taking turns spending a day or two in Hogwart's newly acquisitioned mansion, which was bought specifically for the purpose of training you sixth years. Yes, Miss Brown?"
Lavender was hesitatingly putting her hand in the air.
"Excuse me, Sir, but I was wondering exactly how long we would be in this mansion for. I mean, you said a day or two..."
"Ah, good point. The mansion will be run as a sort of, to use Muggle," Snape shuddered slightly, as if this were a dirty word, "terms, obstacle course. There will be tasks that you must overcome before you are allowed to go on to the next task, and then eventually leave, I suppose." he added with a smirk.
"So, it'll be sort of like the third task of the Triwizard tournament from fourth year then sir?" called Malfoy.
"I suppose that is a fair comparison, Malfoy." said Snape, "For the rest of this lesson, I have been instructed to take you down and show you the mansion, so that you may know what it looks like and get a feel for the grounds in daylight, and before any of the challenges are put in place."
With that he strode to the back of the room, opened the door, and without looking back, walked out and turned down the hallway that led to the front of the school. The class got up and, with some trepidation, began to follow Snape down the winding passages and stairwells that Hogwarts contained within its high walls. Hermione gestured to Ron and Harry to get up slowly, so that they could be the last few people who followed the group downstairs. As soon as the majority of the class had left the room, Hermione started walking, and Ron and Harry followed. Seeing that they were relatively separate from the main group of students, Hermione started speaking.
"See, Harry, I told you that this couldn't be a good thing. Dark Arts challenges and creatures, there will be so many chances for things to go wrong that it's..." She was cut off speaking when they heard running footsteps behind them, and then Harry and Ron felt someone put an arm around each of their shoulders.
"You know, I never thought I'd be seeing the day when I agreed with a Mudblood, especially this one," Malfoy said, shooting Hermione a particularly nasty look, "But, hey, even the best of us can be surprised sometimes. Speaking of which," he continued in a heavily sarcastic voice, "Potter, who you gonna get killed this year?" he inquired with a smug look.
Getting over the shock of having Malfoy in such close proximity to them, Harry and Ron simultaneously shrugged his arms off of their shoulders and turned to glare at Malfoy, who, of course, was accompanied by his ever- present sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Oh, go eat slugs Malfoy." said Ron viciously.
This made Malfoy look even more smug. "If I remember correctly, Weasley, you're the one who likes doing that."
Ron flushed, remembering spewing up slugs for a good part of an hour in second year. To cover up Ron's obvious embarrassment, and indignantly on Harry's behalf, Hermione said, "What on earth are you talking about, Malfoy? Harry's never killed anyone." she said defensively, then as an afterthought, added scathingly, "You probably have, though."
Malfoy smirked. "Well I won't deny that, Granger. And I think you'll find that our little hero here, The Boy Who Lived, is in fact very responsible for the death of that Hufflepuff nitwit, ex-Hufflepuff nitwit now, Diggory."
For the first time since being stopped by Malfoy, Harry turned, and, completely ignoring Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, spoke to Ron and Hermione. "Let's go. We'd better catch up to the rest of the group; we don't need to give Snape any reason to take points off Gryffindor before we even have any."
The three of them turned and started walking fast in order to catch up with the rest of the class, followed by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who taunted them until they were within earshot of Snape, who glared ferociously at all of them, but said nothing, just turned and led the class towards the mansion, towering above them, on what looked like a recently cleared part of the Dark Forrest.
*******
As was usual at night after dinner, most Gryffindors had congregated in the common room, still needing time to talk to each other after the summer holidays and catch up on the gossip, under the pretence of doing homework. When Ron had to run upstairs to get a book he had forgotten, Hermione used this opportunity to say what she had been trying to get a chance to say all day.
"Look Harry, about last night."
She paused, and Harry stiffened his posture slightly. The whole day they had acted as if they hadn't had a fight last night. It wasn't as if they'd never fought before, but for some reason Hermione couldn't put her finger on, this fight seemed different.
"I'm sorry for being so insensitive last night. I know that you still think, wrongly, if I may add, that it's your fault Cedric died. I wasn't thinking of you, I was absolutely selfish and uncaring. I'm so sorry, Harry."
Harry turned and smiled wistfully at her. "You sound like Ron." he said, mostly to himself.
Hermione noticed this, but chose not to comment.
Harry continued, "You worry about school more than anyone I've ever known Hermione, and I know how important it is to you."
Leaning forward anxiously, Hermione jumped in, "That still doesn't give me the right to say things without any consideration for your feelings though."
"You're right; it doesn't. But no one's perfect." stated Harry.
"Do you accept my apology then; is everything alright between us?" Hermione asked, with more than a hint of worry slipping into her voice.
"Of course I accept your apology, Hermione."
Hermione sat back slightly, relieved. Speaking more to herself than to Harry, she muttered, "Darn it. I hate it when..."she trailed off, suddenly aware that Harry was still watching her closely.
With a smile he said, "I hate it when..."
Hermione blushed slightly.
"Well, I only realized why you got so upset with me last night when Malfoy," Harry's smile hardened slightly at the mere mentioning of Malfoy's name, "referred to the Triwizard tournament and then to Cedric. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that was why you were upset last night."
"Hermione," Harry said, "Let's consider this old news now?"
She smiled, said "Ok." then went back to her book.
*******
"My Lord? Are you awake?"
"If you have disturbed me pointlessly Wormtail, you will pay." The Dark Lord Voldemort swiveled his chair around and glowered at Wormtail, who unwittingly took a few steps back.
"I-I assure you, my Lord, this is something that I think you want to see," said Wormtail.
"You think, Wormtail?" Voldemort asked mockingly, turning to face him "Apart from the fact that I would have never expected you to know how to think, I do not require you to do so."
"Y-Yes-Yes, my Lord." Wormtail stuttered.
Giving Wormtail a reprieve from his fierce glare, Voldemort turned to face the empty fireplace. "What is that you disturbed me for?"
"I have received an owl from one of the Death Eaters, my Lord. It looks important." Impatiently, Voldemort got up from his chair, walked around his desk, and grabbed the parchment out of Wormtail's shiny magical hand. Sensing that Lord Voldemort was not in a good mood, he immediately shrunk back and stood against the nearest wall, as if he were trying to become invisible.
Voldemort strode around the room as he read the letter; then stopped, muttered "Indencio!" and threw the parchment into the now burning fire. Wormtail whimpered, afraid he had disturbed his master for nothing.
"Very interesting. Very interesting indeed." Voldemort spoke quietly, but not without some satisfaction, to himself. Whirling around suddenly, he faced Wormtail. "Wormtail. It appears we have another chance to kill someone."
Cowering even further into the wall, Wormtail did not reply. Noticing his behavior, but ignoring it, Voldemort continued, "It appears that young Harry Potter will, once again, be vulnerable to, well, me, this year. Ah, Wormtail, I had seen this coming for a long time. All last year, we were unable to do anything to even torment him. However, good fortune has once again come my way."
*******
Classes were continuing as normal for the sixth years, although there were some notable differences from previous years. The main one of these being that now they had double the amount of time to be terrified that Professor Snape was going to kill them, or at least harm them severely. There had been numerous complaints to McGonagall and Dumbledore about that from students. In addition to these complaints, there was becoming an abundance of students wanting to transfer out of one or the other of the classes that Snape taught. However, the teachers simply ignored the students' whining and complaining and went on with their lives.
Walking down the hall after Transfiguration, heading to the Defence Against the Dark Arts mansion, the class seemed depressed. Even the Slytherins hadn't had it easy over the recent weeks. Snape seemed to have forgotten that he seldom took points off students in his own house, and now Slytherin was placed last in the house cup. Their day wasn't about to get any better.
Advancing into the classroom, Snape observed the students' looks on their faces, and began to speak with faked kindness. "Class. You look so despondent." he paused, then continued in a voice that had just a hint of sarcasm and fake concern creeping in, "I know what will cheer you up. It is time for me to choose the first group of students to go into the mansion."
An almost visible ripple of fear ran over the class. Each and every student was hoping that they would not be chosen, knowing that the creatures Snape had placed in the mansion were going to be a challenge beyond anything else that he had challenged them with before. The glances of terror between friends hoping not to be chosen were too numerous to count.
Although not one student had spoken a word, Snape waited until the looks of dread had mostly left the student's faces, then began to speak again.
"The chosen group will go in for a day this weekend. As this is the first time, I have been asked to ensure that the tasks are simple ones that any student, except perhaps Mr. Longbottom, are able to deal with on their own. Now, who to choose." Snape paused, and took his time walking slowly around the classroom, as if examining every student. After he had carefully scrutinized every student, he strode up to the front of the class and sat down at his desk. Without looking up, he read the names of the students he had chosen, "Hannah Abbot, Parvati Patil, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson. You will meet Professor McGonagall and myself at the doors of the Great Hall after breakfast on Saturday. You need only bring yourselves and you wands. Turn to chapter twelve of your books, read and summarize."
With that, Snape began writing something on parchment at his desk, and the class opened their books and began to read. Carefully checking to see whether Snape was looking, Ron scribbled a note on a spare bit of parchment, 'Wonder why he didn't choose you?' and passed it across Hermione to Harry.
Harry read it, wrote 'Why would he choose me?' and passed it back.
Ron replied, 'Because he hates you.'
As Ron was passing the note back to Harry, Hermione stopped it, wrote 'Do your work' showed it to both the boys, and then folded it inside her book and continued reading. Ron looked at Harry, rolled his eyes, and they both opened their books to start reading.
*******
That night at dinner, all the sixth-years could talk about was the DADA mansion, and what tasks the unlucky students would have to face.
Ron was eagerly thinking of the most horrible creatures he could remember, speculating wildly with Harry, Seamus and Dean as to whether or not Snape would put any Chimareras (rare Greek monsters with lion's heads, goat's bodies and dragon's tails) in the mansion, or whether the students would have to face any of the Unforgivable curses.
After spending most of the meal quietly listening to the boys discussing the horrible things that might happen to the students, Hermione interjected, "I think that all of you are forgetting that the Ministry is overseeing this, and they are not going to allow anything too dangerous, and they would certainly not allow the illegal dark curses to be used. Remember that it's a life sentence in Azkaban for using any of them." She looked slightly disapprovingly at them, and then said, "If you will all excuse me, I am off to the library."
She got up, and proceeded to walk out of the hall. Seamus and Dean, who were not as close to Hermione as Ron and Harry, looked down at their plates and, slightly sheepishly, each took a mouthful of food.
Watching Hermione walk out of the hall, Ron shook his head, "I think she needs to lighten up a bit. We were only joking. And I don't envy Hannah, Parvati, Millicent or Pansy, imagine being told that you have to go in the mansion first, and with only one day to go..." he trailed off.
Seamus looked up, "Snape should have told them on Monday, not on Thursday." he shook his head reproachfully.
Harry pushed his plate away slightly. "Still, I suppose she's right; and anyway, we should probably start our homework now."
Ron groaned, then said resignedly, "All right, then."
They got up from the Gryffindor table and made their way slowly up to the dormitories to get their books, then joined most of the Gryffindors in the common room, studying and gossiping. Harry and Ron heard snippets of their fellow housemates conversations as they walked towards a spare table.
"I heard that they would only be allowed out if they can finish all of the tasks."
"Really! Wow, I wonder what happens if someone gets trapped or stuck in there."
"Well I heard that the teachers would go and let them out if that happens"
"Seems like a bit of a shame though, to do that."
"Why?"
"Well, isn't the point of the DADA mansion to prepare students for tricky situations in N.E.W.T's, or after school? What's the point of letting them go in the mansion knowing that they are going to be rescued?"
"Hmm, good point."
Harry and Ron sat down at the table, Ron shaking his head.
"I can't believe that people are making such a big deal over this." he whispered "I mean, it's only another obstacle course of Dark Arts stuff."
Harry looked thoughtful. "We did do that obstacle course in third year."
"Exactly!" Ron exclaimed, "This is only another school exam, really, why are people making such a big deal?"
The portrait door opened and in came Hermione, who immediately saw Harry and Ron sitting together and walked over in time to hear the last part of what Ron said.
Sitting down, she said airily, "People are gossiping because it's not exactly like anything that has been tried at Hogwarts before."
Ron rolled his eyes, "We know that Hermione." he snapped.
Harry jumped in before Ron did something he was very good at, provoking Hermione into an argument. "We were just talking about the obstacle course Lupin set up for us in third year, Hermione."
Hermione merely nodded to this; she had already been distracted by one of the books she brought from the library.
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry enquired.
"W-what. Oh yes, sorry Harry, I'm fine. Really I am." she repeated when Harry looked as if he didn't believe her entirely.
Shrugging, Harry leaned over and, keeping Hermione's page, closed the book so he could read the title.
"See Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried, by Gulliver Pokeby." Harry read aloud, looking at Hermione questioningly, "Why are you reading this?" Becoming more curious, Harry inspected the other book titles Hermione had brought up from the library. "Hairy Snout, Human Heart - a tale of one wizard's battle with lycanthropy and The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know, by Professor Mordicus Egg." Harry finished reading and was now studying Hermiones face closely.
Ron was now looking at Hermione with a confused expression on his face. "But Hermione," he asked, "Why are you reading these books? We know you like to study, but these have absolutely nothing to do with any of your subjects." Ron looked utterly bewildered.
Slightly impatiently, almost as if, Harry thought, it was to cover up embarrassment, Hermione replied, "It's just some background reading on topics related to Dark Arts creatures."
Ron now looked really confused. "How is The Philosophy of the Mundane: Why the Muggles Prefer Not to Know background reading for Dark Arts?"
Harry looked interested in the answer to this question as well.
"Well, it might give me some insight as to how Muggles ignore all the obvious signs of magic that are around." Hermione was now starting to look slightly flustered.
"How?" Harry asked.
"Well, there might be a clue as to a charm that could also be helpful in repelling Dark Arts creatures, or confusing them for long enough to escape." Hermione started to pack up her books and get up.
"Where are you going, Hermione?" Harry asked.
She turned to look at him and said, "Oh, I'm just a little tired today, I think I'll go up to bed. Goodnight."
The two boys watched her as she walked up the stairs towards the girl's dormitories.
Harry turned to Ron as soon as Hermione was out of earshot. "Is it just me or was that more than just the usual amount of worry she puts in over her homework?"
Ron looked thoughtful, "Yeah, I think something's definitely up with her. You should go find out if she's ok."
Harry looked somewhat bewildered. "It's not that I wouldn't, but why should I have to go see if she's ok? Why not you?"
Ron replied airily, "Ah, the answer to that question is simple, my young midget," Harry glared at Ron, who took no notice and settled more comfortably into his chair.
"Well, do you care to enlighten me?" said Harry.
"Ah, I suppose I could. I, Ronald Weasley, at the moment, am much too comfortable to get up."
Harry glowered at Ron, who was, in fact, slowly falling asleep in his chair, got up and ran up the stairs after Hermione.
*******
Next chapter: We find out why Hermione was reading those books. We also see our first group, Hannah, Parvati, Millicent and Pansy, off into the Defence Against the Dark Arts mansion.
And can I just ask everyone to please take a few minutes to review my story; I need to know what you like and what you don't like. Thanks.