CHAPTER 11: Defense Against the Dark Arts
When Harry got back to the Gryffindor common room Hermione and Ginny were waiting for him. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even see them, he only looked up when Ginny put her hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance.
"Is everything ok, Harry?" The red head asked sincerely.
"What? Yea, I'm fine. I just got back from my lesson with McGonagall."
"How did it go?" Hermione said suddenly, perking up at the news of extra lessons.
"Er-good I guess. She did some spell and I found out that my animagus form is an eagle."
"That's brilliant, Harry!" She said, getting up to give him a hug. She flung her arms around him, but seconds later stepped back and frowned. "Won't it take a long time to learn to transform though?"
Harry shook his head. "She said that with a good teacher I may be able to get it by the end of term."
"By Christmas?" It was Ginny's turn to look incredulous. "Unless you practice almost every night I don't see how that's even remotely possible."
"You sound like Hermione." Harry said with a small grin. Ginny punched him playfully in the arm. "I am pretty much practicing everyday, I don't have much time to myself."
"You mean much time for us?" Ginny corrected.
"Yea sure, whatever you say." Harry said sarcastically. Hermione gave him a look before all three of them burst out laughing. Ginny stopped laughing abruptly, causing Harry to look at her. "What's wrong, Ginny?"
"It's just that…well, why does Voldemort always come after you? I understand he wants revenge for attacking you as a kid, but why did he want to kill you and your family then?"
Harry took a deep breathe, he knew he was going to have to tell them sooner or later, but it kind of snuck up on him. He thought for a few minutes, seriously considering lying so they wouldn't worry too much about him. He knew, however, that he was a horrible liar, and they would call him on it in an instant. He looked between the two girls seriously before sighing and saying simply, "Ginny, will you get Ron, I only want to have to say this once."
Ginny nodded and ran up the steps to the boys dormitory. Harry sat down on the couch without even noticing the look Hermione was giving him. After a few minutes Ginny and a tired and grumpy looking Ron came down the stairs.
"To fill you in, Ron, these two wanted to know why Voldemort attacked my family while I was a kid." He sighed again before continuing. "The truth is, that Voldemort never really wanted my family, not that I know of anyway. His sights were always set on me. The reason for this was a prophesy made about Voldemort. Its what the death eaters were after in the Department of Mysteries last year. It was made by Sibyll Trelawney to-"
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore" Hermione said so quietly that she seemed to be talking to herself. "I knew I recognized those initials."
"Yea." Harry said simply before looking back up to continue the story. "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"
"But…What…Does that mean? What does that mean?" stuttered Ron, his mouth wide open. Harry couldn't bring himself to look into his friends' eyes, so he looked down at his feet instead.
"It means that the only person who can kill Voldemort would be born in the end of July-"
"But that could be anyone! Why you?" Ginny was near hysterics.
"This person's parents would have already escaped Voldemort three times. Oddly enough this leaves two people, me and Neville."
"So how come the Prophesy had your initials on it? How do they know its about you?" Inquired Hermione, obviously forcing herself to stay calm.
"Because Voldemort would mark him as his equal." Harry looked up for the first time, to see tears running down Ginny's face, Hermione fighting back the tears with all her might, and Ron staring wide eyed at him. Harry brushed his hair back to reveal the scar, and a comprehension dawned on all of their faces.
"But what about the thing about the unknown power?" Hermione asked, obviously trying to find some logical way to escape this situation.
"In the Ministry of Magic last year Voldemort tried to possess me. But he couldn't do it because I had a power in me that Voldemort hates, it forced him out of my mind."
"But, what is it?" Ginny asked in a flat voice.
"My heart. More precisely love. I have a lot of it, and Voldemort has none. He can't stand it." Ginny lost it when she heard this and flung her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder. Neither Ron nor Hermione could move. "Its ok, Ginny. Nothing is going to happen to me, I know I'm going to have to fight Voldemort, and I'm going to have to find a way to beat him. For now I'm afraid that you three are targets. I would understand if you wanted to put some distance in between us."
Ginny just squeezed him tighter, crying harder. "I'd never leave you, Harry. I couldn't. I know Ron and Hermione are with you too, so is the DA and anyone else you ask. You're a born leader, and we would follow you anywhere."
"That's what I'm afraid of, Ginny. I can't make a bad move and put you in danger."
"Like you said, Harry." Interrupted Hermione. "We're targets already. If you are the only one that can kill Voldemort then you need us, you need your friends."
The four friends stayed their like that for the rest of the night until they fell asleep.
When Harry woke up the next morning Ginny was sleeping peacefully, her head resting on his chest. Harry could tell that she had been crying very hard, her eyes were still red and swollen. He shook her shoulder gently to wake her up, after a few minutes her eyes finally opened and she looked up into his eyes.
"I'm not leaving you, Harry. I want to make sure you won't leave us." Harry nodded. "That's not good enough, Potter. Promise me." She said sternly.
"I promise, Ginny. I won't leave you." Ginny was finally convinced and allowed Harry to get up and go to breakfast.
Harry ate his breakfast in complete silence, noticing the glances his friends gave him out of the corner of their eyes, but choosing to ignore them nonetheless. He was suddenly anxious to get away from them, he wanted them to come to grips with the prophesy, just like he had over the summer. He suddenly found himself wishing that he had a private training session to take his mind off of everything.
Harry excused himself from the table and walked quickly from the great hall. He didn't have any class for nearly an hour and thought his time would be well spent taking a walk around the castle. He turned down one of the first corridors he came to and soon found himself looking at a door that he was almost positive he had seen before. He opened the door slowly, his hand subconsciously drifting to the sword hanging beneath his robes. He opened the door to see a large, empty room. Harry finally recognized when he had seen this room before. In his first year it housed the Mirror of Erised.
Harry walked in quietly, peering through the darkness, he had the weird feeling he was being watched. He had the impulse to reach for his wand to use as a flashlight, but remembered something Professor McClaggan had told him during one of his training sessions, "If you try to find the small light in the dark, then that is where your attention will be. You will mark yourself and make it impossible to sense anything." Harry was skeptical of the idea at first, but the principle had held true throughout his training.
Harry stood very quietly waiting for any kind of sound, not really sure why he was even expecting one. Suddenly Harry felt a knot in his stomach and pulled his sword just in time to parry a series of furious attacks. Harry was pushed backwards, not really seeing his attacker but knowing how to react every time. He felt his back push up against the wall and immediately dived to his right, avoiding a blow that struck the stone wall and sent sparks flying into his attacker's hooded face. Harry took the opportunity to launch a series of blows of his own. The man was too quick to strike with his sword, so Harry worked his way in close enough to the man that he was able to punch him with the jeweled hilt of the sword. He heard a grunt and then all noise disappeared. Harry stayed very still straining to pick up a sound when the lights suddenly came on, revealing Breannan McClaggan laying on his back, supporting himself with his elbows as he smiled at Harry.
"I don't think I ever taught you to do that. But I like it nonetheless. I told you before, your ability to adapt is amazing." The man said in his thick brogue. The professor wiped his face to find that his nose was bleeding.
"Sorry about the nose, Professor. But I didn't really know who you were."
"Yes you did, boy. You've fought with me enough times to know it was me, or atleast suspect it. But I only set this up because I knew you wanted to escape from your friends, I don't know why and you don't need to tell me." McClaggan added quickly. Breannan conjured a mirror to look at his bleeding nose.
"You may want Madame Pomfrey to take a look at that, Professor."
"No need, Harry." He replied simply. He waved his hand in front of his face and a soft glow appeared, cleaning his face from the blood.
"You…How'd you do that without a wand?" Harry asked the man incredulously.
"That's the other bit I'm supposed to be teaching you isn't it?"
"Er-yea Dumbledore mentioned that you've had some experience with wandless magic."
"With the amount of time I've been around, I've experienced just about everything. However, I'm not so sure I'll be a great deal of help considering I know very little, and it seems we have different types of power." The Ancient Scot explained.
"What do you mean?
"Well, Harry. You seem to be able to do very powerful magic, most of it offensive, when you are feeling very emotional. While I can cast a few offensive spells, they aren't nearly as powerful and they aren't driven by my emotions. I can. However, do quite a few healing spells without the use of a wand, which I would be willing to bet you'd have some trouble with."
"How do you do it, Sir?"
"It's simpler than you'd think. All you really need to do is to concentrate on something else being your magical core. Most wizards and witches need a wand, you, on the other hand, may be able to use something as simple as your hand, or from what I hear you can use your sword as well."
"You're saying that if I get good enough I can just hold out my hand and kill somebody?" Harry asked. His Professor gave him a searching look. "I'm not saying I want to be able to kill someone, I'm just asking if that's what you mean."
"I have no doubt that there are a few people you wish to kill Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Peter Pettigrew perhaps? I told you, I'm good at reading emotions." The Scot stood up and waved his hand in a dismissing motion. "It doesn't matter whether you want to or not to be honest, it comes down to your actions not your thoughts. But yes, I'm saying that if you get good enough you could cast a very powerful spell with your hand or eyes alone." The two stood their for a few seconds, neither speaking. "Think about that, we'll talk more about it later."
"I have class with you in a few minutes, can you tell me what you're planning?"
The Highlander laughed, "Not a chance, boy. But I will tell you it's nothing much. Just going over a few things we will be doing this year. I understand you had a club last year? I hear you taught students how to defend themselves?"
"Well, our professor refused to let us practice magic. So I- I mean Hermione had the idea that I should teach some real magic, seeing how I've been in the most situations where it was needed."
"Brilliant idea, Harry. If you start it up again please let me know. I have a few pointers that you may find helpful for lessons. Actually, I should tell you, I expect you to start it up again. Even though you have a lot of responsibilities, and I will certainly teach you real magic, I think it may be necessary to have some students to take charge in case something happens."
Harry nodded, then followed his Professor out the door. They walked in silence to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Harry was surprised to realize that the moments of silence between him and McClaggan weren't at all uncomfortable, it was almost as if it were two men that didn't really need to talk about anything. After all of the stories they had shared at Spinners End talking was almost unnecessary.
Harry entered the room and sat down next to Ron and Hermione. He was pleased to see Neville, Parvati, Padma, Dean, Seamus, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Ernie Macmillan sitting in the room as well. Every single member of the DA in the sixth year was present.
"Good morning, class. I am Professor McClaggan." The man said politely in his Scottish brogue. The whole class was surprised to hear the voice, but Seamus immediately perked up, muttering something that sounded oddly like 'about bloody time'. Harry quickly turned his laugh into a hacking cough.
"This year we will be testing your minds, your bodies, and your magical abilities. The first thing you should know is that every morning before breakfast you are to meet outside the castle for muggle combat training." Harry laughed to himself at the horrified looks on all of their faces, he had been getting up in the morning to run almost everyday anyway. "You will also be learning about some ancient celtic runes and powers. I understand that you haven't covered any of these even in your ancient runes class, and I must say I am fairly disappointed. Celtic runes hold some of the greatest power known. I will, of course, also be teaching you combat spells to aid you in fighting against dark wizards. I assume you all know whom I refer too."
Their were nods and murmurs of comprehension, and many eyes darted towards Harry. He hated the fact that he was receiving so much attention from the rest of the world, but knew he couldn't help it. Plus it was better the DA than the Slytherins. As Harry thought about the Slytherins he realized that their was one in the class, he was surprised to see that it wasn't Draco Malfoy, it was another boy. Harry had to rack is brain for a minute to remember the name, Blaise Zabini.