Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and
owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros.,
Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.
Chapter 8
Chance Encounters
"Do you remember me?" The first year boy said. Harry starred at him for a few seconds and then realized that he should have recognized him right away. Had he seen him walking around Privet Drive instead of at Hogwarts he would have known him immediately.
"Yea, Mark right?" Harry replied while looking at him curiously. "I didn't know that there were any magical families in the neighborhood.
"The thing is Harry," Mark said as a smile broke over his lips, "I never had any reason to believe that my family was magical."
"So you're a muggle born." Harry said. He wasn't sure if Mark even knew what that meant yet. He remembered when he was told that he was a wizard and knew that there were a lot of terms that had to be explained to him.
"Actually no." Mark started. "As you can probably relate to, when Dumbledore came to my house to tell me I was a wizard, I was a little shocked."
"Wait." Harry interrupted before Mark could continue. "Dumbledore came to your house personally?"
"Yea, why is that odd?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it probably is." Harry said making a mental note to ask the headmaster about it. "Don't worry about it, go on with your story."
"So, as I said, I was pretty surprised when I found out I was a wizard. But my parents weren't. It turns out that my mom's a muggle, but my dad is a squib. They were so happy and proud when they found out that I was a wizard."
"You had no idea that anyone in your family was magical when you were growing up?" Harry asked.
"Well, I've never known any of my family on my dad's side." He said. "I've asked questions about why I've never met any of them but my parents never want to talk about it. But anyways, when Dumbledore left, my Dad sat with me for about four hours and answered questions I had. He also told me everything about the wizarding world that he knew including your story."
"So he knew about me and Lord Voldemort?" Harry replied. He wasn't really surprised his dad knew. It seemed that there wasn't a person that was connected in any way to the wizarding world that didn't know.
"Yea, he knew and he told me that if I needed anything or had any problems, that I should go to you. He said that he knew that you would watch out for me." Mark said, a little embarrassed.
"Well he was right." Harry replied which made Mark's face immediately light up. "After all, anyone who is an enemy of Dudley is a friend of mine. "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out. We are going to have some fun with him next summer." Harry stayed up with Mark until the common room was empty as they exchanged stories about Dudley and Harry told Mark things about the wizarding world that he hoped would help him. Then he showed him to the first year's dorm and reiterated that if he never needed anything than he should come to him. It would be nice, Harry thought as he headed up the stairs to the sixth year boys dormitory, to have a familiar face on Privet Drive. When he got to his bed he noticed that there was a letter sitting on it, which he read before, he fell asleep.
Harry,
Please come see me after your last class tomorrow. The password is ton- tongue toffee.
Professor Dumbledore
Harry wondered what the headmaster wanted to see him about, but before he could contemplate it too seriously, exhaustion took over and he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Harry woke up and found that the other sixth year boys had already left for breakfast except Neville who looked as though he was just about to leave.
"Morning Harry." Neville said as he pulled out his wand from his trunk and performed a few practicing swishes with it. "Gran got me a new wand this summer. She wasn't even mad that I broke my dad's old wand. Mr. Ollivander said that this one should suit me nicely. When are you planning on starting up the DA? I can't wait to try this out."
"I'm going to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it today." Harry responded as he lazily pulled himself out of bed and began to get dressed. "I imagine it will be much easier to have meetings when we don't have to sneak around."
"Great." Neville replied as he walked out the door. Harry was glad to see that Neville's confidence was so high. Neville had been a big contributor in the battle at the Department of Mysteries last year and with a little more practice and his own wand, he could turn into a strong wizard.
Harry noticed that his class schedule had been placed on the trunk in front of his bed and he looked it over as he headed down to the common room.
Monday- Charms, Double Transfiguration, Double Herbology
Tuesday-Double DADA, Potions, Double Care of Magical Creatures
Wednesday- Double Charms- Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions
Thursday- Potions, DADA, Care of Magical Creatures
Friday- Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, DADA
Well today wouldn't be too bad of a day Harry thought. The thing that jumped out at him initially was that he was still scheduled to take potions. Professor McGonagall had told him that Professor Snape only accepted those students who got Outstanding on their potions OWL into his Newt level class, and Harry had only received exceeds expectations. He reasoned that Professor McGonagall had probably convinced Snape to let him in. So now Snape had another reason to resent him.
As he got to the bottom of the stairs and entered the common room, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting next to each other on the couch comparing their own class schedules.
"Hey Harry." Ron said as Harry approached the two. He noticed Ron instinctively move away from Hermione a little as they had been sitting very close. "We were just comparing our timetables. Let's see yours." Harry handed Ron his schedule as Ron handed his to Harry.
"Well it looks like we have about the same schedule." Harry said. "Except that you have Divination when I have Potions."
"Your in the Newt level potions?" Hermione asked. "I didn't think Snape excepted anyone who didn't get below outstanding on their OWL." If you didn't know Hermione, this statement might have seemed a little smug considering she got Outstanding on nearly all her Owl's, but Harry knew that she was not trying to sound conceded.
"I thought the same thing." Harry responded. "But apparently someone convinced Snape to let me in."
"Well, thank Merlin." Said Hermione. "I thought that I would be stuck in that class by myself." Hermione's statement made Harry realize that they would probably be the only Gryffindors in that class. It was bad enough to be stuck with Snape all day but now he and Hermione would be especially easy targets for him to pick on.
"On a different note." Harry explained. "I am going to see Dumbledore after my last class today and I'm going to talk to him about the DA. I'm going to try and have a meeting this week. And remember Ron, we have quidditch tryouts in a week so we have to alert the rest of the team."
"You don't need to remind me." Ron replied. "I have been working on coming up with a few drills that will help us identify the best chasers out there. I think we need to do more than just have them pass and try to score on me. We need to ."
"Tell me about it later." Harry interrupted. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a hippograff. Let's go get breakfast." The three of them headed down to breakfast and arrived at the Gryffindor table. Ron made a conscious effort to sit next to Harry, leaving Hermione sitting across from them. A few minutes into breakfast, Harry noticed that Ginny was sitting a little ways down the table and Harry figured it was a good time to go remind her about Quidditch tryouts since Ron and Hermione had already started in an argument about Ron's table manners.
"I'm just saying Ron, that a prefect should try to sustain a respectable image at all times." Hermione lectured.
"I'll be right back." Harry said as he got up and headed towards Ginny. Glancing back he realized that Ron and Hermione hadn't shown any signs of noticing that he left. When he sat next Ginny, he felt his pulse race a little as she flashed him a smile.
"Hi Harry." She said as a few of her fellow fifth year friends giggled among each other.
"Hi." He replied looking into her eyes. He sat there for a few seconds and didn't say anything because at this moment, he had absolutely no idea what he had come to say to her.
"Is there something you need?" She said nicely which snapped him out of his trance.
"Oh yea, I just wanted to remind you that quidditch try outs are a week from today. Ron is preparing a pretty extensive regiment for it and it will be good to have the whole team there."
"So you're not going to make me tryout for chaser?" She said with a sly smile.
"Well, I thought about it," Harry replied in an equally sarcastic tone, "but I didn't want to risk getting myself a new set of horns for my head."
"So." Ginny said as she leaned in to whisper in Harry's ear. "The great Harry Potter is afraid of a sweet, little innocent girl?" Harry didn't know quite what to say. Was she flirting with him? He had never been that successful at understanding girls and this was no exception, but he decided to make his best effort to play along.
"Even I can see," He said as he got up from the table and whispered in her ear, "that your not so little anymore." He started to walk back to where Ron and Hermione were sitting and he looked back quickly to see here smiling at him. He knew that his statement would make her happy. Since she was the youngest of the Weasley children, and the only girl, she often struggled to make the rest of her family see that she was growing up. When he got back to the table he tried to join in the conversation that Ron and Hermione were having about what they should do when they have the first Hogsmeade weekend but he found that he could only keep his mind on one thing, or one person as the case may be.
After his double Herbology lesson where they had learned about a plant called tirostranziona, which if ingested, allows a person to become temporarily fire resistant, Harry headed to the headmaster's office for his meeting.
"Ton-tongue toffee." Harry said as the spiraling staircase began to bring him up to the headmaster's office. When he got there, he saw that the headmaster was not alone.
"Ah Harry, come in." Dumbledore said waving him forward toward his desk. "I don't think you've been formally introduced Harry, this is professor Altesterio." The tall, thin man got up and extended his hand, which were equipped with noticeably long fingers.
"Nice to meet you professor." Harry replied shaking his hand. As the professor returned pleasantries, Harry took a seat in the vacant chair next to the professor.
"Now then Harry, I called you here to talk to you about a few things." Dumbledore started. "First, you will resume Occlumency lessons on Monday nights after dinner, I have already discussed this with professor Snape and as I told him, I expect you both to act professionally and cordially." Harry shook his head in agreement. He knew that learning Occlumency was one of the most important tasks he would undertake and he would do anything to accomplish it.
"Next." Dumbledore continued. "As you have no doubt realized, you have been placed in the Newt level potions class. I went out on a limb for you and convinced professor Snape that you will do well in his class. But he stressed to me that he will not accept any less than exemplary work from you so you must stay on top of your potions at all times."
"I will sir." Harry replied. He wanted to be an auror and if it meant working extra hard at potions then he would do it. "If you don't mind sir, there's something I wanted to discuss with you."
"By all means." Dumbledore said.
"I wanted to start up the DA again this year," Harry explained, "and I wanted to get your permission to use the Room of Requirements on Wednesday Nights."
"That was actually what Professor Altesterio and I were talking about before you came in." Said Dumbledore. "Now, as long as it is alright with you Harry, Professor Altesterio will serve as a faculty advisor for the group and will help guide you along when you need help learning new things. We also felt that it might be a good idea to have a sort of competition incorporated which may attract more people to the group. So, at the last meeting of the month, there will be a dueling competition and records will be kept. Then, at the end of the year, we can have a tournament where the top ranked students will compete against each other in front of the school. What do you think?"
"I think it sounds brilliant." Harry said looking between both professors. He was glad that Professor Altesterio would run the group because it would take a lot of pressure off him and making it a competition would definitely attract more people.
"Alright then." Dumbledore said. "The first meeting will be Wednesday after dinner. I expect you'll make sure that an announcement is put up?"
"Of course." Harry said as he got up to leave. This was great news. As he began to walk down the staircase, he thought for a fleeting second that there was something else he had wanted to ask the headmaster, but the excitement of the new DA consumed his thoughts. If Dumbledore had put Professor Altesterio in charge of the meeting than it was probably for good reason. Harry could barely control his excitement as he made his way back to Gryffindor tower to tell Ron and Hermione the good news.
Author's note: In the next chapter they will have their first DA meeting. Ron and Harry will hold quidditch tryouts, and Harry will have his first encounter of the new school year with Snape. Please keep reviewing, I appreciate them.
Chapter 8
Chance Encounters
"Do you remember me?" The first year boy said. Harry starred at him for a few seconds and then realized that he should have recognized him right away. Had he seen him walking around Privet Drive instead of at Hogwarts he would have known him immediately.
"Yea, Mark right?" Harry replied while looking at him curiously. "I didn't know that there were any magical families in the neighborhood.
"The thing is Harry," Mark said as a smile broke over his lips, "I never had any reason to believe that my family was magical."
"So you're a muggle born." Harry said. He wasn't sure if Mark even knew what that meant yet. He remembered when he was told that he was a wizard and knew that there were a lot of terms that had to be explained to him.
"Actually no." Mark started. "As you can probably relate to, when Dumbledore came to my house to tell me I was a wizard, I was a little shocked."
"Wait." Harry interrupted before Mark could continue. "Dumbledore came to your house personally?"
"Yea, why is that odd?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it probably is." Harry said making a mental note to ask the headmaster about it. "Don't worry about it, go on with your story."
"So, as I said, I was pretty surprised when I found out I was a wizard. But my parents weren't. It turns out that my mom's a muggle, but my dad is a squib. They were so happy and proud when they found out that I was a wizard."
"You had no idea that anyone in your family was magical when you were growing up?" Harry asked.
"Well, I've never known any of my family on my dad's side." He said. "I've asked questions about why I've never met any of them but my parents never want to talk about it. But anyways, when Dumbledore left, my Dad sat with me for about four hours and answered questions I had. He also told me everything about the wizarding world that he knew including your story."
"So he knew about me and Lord Voldemort?" Harry replied. He wasn't really surprised his dad knew. It seemed that there wasn't a person that was connected in any way to the wizarding world that didn't know.
"Yea, he knew and he told me that if I needed anything or had any problems, that I should go to you. He said that he knew that you would watch out for me." Mark said, a little embarrassed.
"Well he was right." Harry replied which made Mark's face immediately light up. "After all, anyone who is an enemy of Dudley is a friend of mine. "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out. We are going to have some fun with him next summer." Harry stayed up with Mark until the common room was empty as they exchanged stories about Dudley and Harry told Mark things about the wizarding world that he hoped would help him. Then he showed him to the first year's dorm and reiterated that if he never needed anything than he should come to him. It would be nice, Harry thought as he headed up the stairs to the sixth year boys dormitory, to have a familiar face on Privet Drive. When he got to his bed he noticed that there was a letter sitting on it, which he read before, he fell asleep.
Harry,
Please come see me after your last class tomorrow. The password is ton- tongue toffee.
Professor Dumbledore
Harry wondered what the headmaster wanted to see him about, but before he could contemplate it too seriously, exhaustion took over and he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Harry woke up and found that the other sixth year boys had already left for breakfast except Neville who looked as though he was just about to leave.
"Morning Harry." Neville said as he pulled out his wand from his trunk and performed a few practicing swishes with it. "Gran got me a new wand this summer. She wasn't even mad that I broke my dad's old wand. Mr. Ollivander said that this one should suit me nicely. When are you planning on starting up the DA? I can't wait to try this out."
"I'm going to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it today." Harry responded as he lazily pulled himself out of bed and began to get dressed. "I imagine it will be much easier to have meetings when we don't have to sneak around."
"Great." Neville replied as he walked out the door. Harry was glad to see that Neville's confidence was so high. Neville had been a big contributor in the battle at the Department of Mysteries last year and with a little more practice and his own wand, he could turn into a strong wizard.
Harry noticed that his class schedule had been placed on the trunk in front of his bed and he looked it over as he headed down to the common room.
Monday- Charms, Double Transfiguration, Double Herbology
Tuesday-Double DADA, Potions, Double Care of Magical Creatures
Wednesday- Double Charms- Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions
Thursday- Potions, DADA, Care of Magical Creatures
Friday- Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, DADA
Well today wouldn't be too bad of a day Harry thought. The thing that jumped out at him initially was that he was still scheduled to take potions. Professor McGonagall had told him that Professor Snape only accepted those students who got Outstanding on their potions OWL into his Newt level class, and Harry had only received exceeds expectations. He reasoned that Professor McGonagall had probably convinced Snape to let him in. So now Snape had another reason to resent him.
As he got to the bottom of the stairs and entered the common room, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting next to each other on the couch comparing their own class schedules.
"Hey Harry." Ron said as Harry approached the two. He noticed Ron instinctively move away from Hermione a little as they had been sitting very close. "We were just comparing our timetables. Let's see yours." Harry handed Ron his schedule as Ron handed his to Harry.
"Well it looks like we have about the same schedule." Harry said. "Except that you have Divination when I have Potions."
"Your in the Newt level potions?" Hermione asked. "I didn't think Snape excepted anyone who didn't get below outstanding on their OWL." If you didn't know Hermione, this statement might have seemed a little smug considering she got Outstanding on nearly all her Owl's, but Harry knew that she was not trying to sound conceded.
"I thought the same thing." Harry responded. "But apparently someone convinced Snape to let me in."
"Well, thank Merlin." Said Hermione. "I thought that I would be stuck in that class by myself." Hermione's statement made Harry realize that they would probably be the only Gryffindors in that class. It was bad enough to be stuck with Snape all day but now he and Hermione would be especially easy targets for him to pick on.
"On a different note." Harry explained. "I am going to see Dumbledore after my last class today and I'm going to talk to him about the DA. I'm going to try and have a meeting this week. And remember Ron, we have quidditch tryouts in a week so we have to alert the rest of the team."
"You don't need to remind me." Ron replied. "I have been working on coming up with a few drills that will help us identify the best chasers out there. I think we need to do more than just have them pass and try to score on me. We need to ."
"Tell me about it later." Harry interrupted. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a hippograff. Let's go get breakfast." The three of them headed down to breakfast and arrived at the Gryffindor table. Ron made a conscious effort to sit next to Harry, leaving Hermione sitting across from them. A few minutes into breakfast, Harry noticed that Ginny was sitting a little ways down the table and Harry figured it was a good time to go remind her about Quidditch tryouts since Ron and Hermione had already started in an argument about Ron's table manners.
"I'm just saying Ron, that a prefect should try to sustain a respectable image at all times." Hermione lectured.
"I'll be right back." Harry said as he got up and headed towards Ginny. Glancing back he realized that Ron and Hermione hadn't shown any signs of noticing that he left. When he sat next Ginny, he felt his pulse race a little as she flashed him a smile.
"Hi Harry." She said as a few of her fellow fifth year friends giggled among each other.
"Hi." He replied looking into her eyes. He sat there for a few seconds and didn't say anything because at this moment, he had absolutely no idea what he had come to say to her.
"Is there something you need?" She said nicely which snapped him out of his trance.
"Oh yea, I just wanted to remind you that quidditch try outs are a week from today. Ron is preparing a pretty extensive regiment for it and it will be good to have the whole team there."
"So you're not going to make me tryout for chaser?" She said with a sly smile.
"Well, I thought about it," Harry replied in an equally sarcastic tone, "but I didn't want to risk getting myself a new set of horns for my head."
"So." Ginny said as she leaned in to whisper in Harry's ear. "The great Harry Potter is afraid of a sweet, little innocent girl?" Harry didn't know quite what to say. Was she flirting with him? He had never been that successful at understanding girls and this was no exception, but he decided to make his best effort to play along.
"Even I can see," He said as he got up from the table and whispered in her ear, "that your not so little anymore." He started to walk back to where Ron and Hermione were sitting and he looked back quickly to see here smiling at him. He knew that his statement would make her happy. Since she was the youngest of the Weasley children, and the only girl, she often struggled to make the rest of her family see that she was growing up. When he got back to the table he tried to join in the conversation that Ron and Hermione were having about what they should do when they have the first Hogsmeade weekend but he found that he could only keep his mind on one thing, or one person as the case may be.
After his double Herbology lesson where they had learned about a plant called tirostranziona, which if ingested, allows a person to become temporarily fire resistant, Harry headed to the headmaster's office for his meeting.
"Ton-tongue toffee." Harry said as the spiraling staircase began to bring him up to the headmaster's office. When he got there, he saw that the headmaster was not alone.
"Ah Harry, come in." Dumbledore said waving him forward toward his desk. "I don't think you've been formally introduced Harry, this is professor Altesterio." The tall, thin man got up and extended his hand, which were equipped with noticeably long fingers.
"Nice to meet you professor." Harry replied shaking his hand. As the professor returned pleasantries, Harry took a seat in the vacant chair next to the professor.
"Now then Harry, I called you here to talk to you about a few things." Dumbledore started. "First, you will resume Occlumency lessons on Monday nights after dinner, I have already discussed this with professor Snape and as I told him, I expect you both to act professionally and cordially." Harry shook his head in agreement. He knew that learning Occlumency was one of the most important tasks he would undertake and he would do anything to accomplish it.
"Next." Dumbledore continued. "As you have no doubt realized, you have been placed in the Newt level potions class. I went out on a limb for you and convinced professor Snape that you will do well in his class. But he stressed to me that he will not accept any less than exemplary work from you so you must stay on top of your potions at all times."
"I will sir." Harry replied. He wanted to be an auror and if it meant working extra hard at potions then he would do it. "If you don't mind sir, there's something I wanted to discuss with you."
"By all means." Dumbledore said.
"I wanted to start up the DA again this year," Harry explained, "and I wanted to get your permission to use the Room of Requirements on Wednesday Nights."
"That was actually what Professor Altesterio and I were talking about before you came in." Said Dumbledore. "Now, as long as it is alright with you Harry, Professor Altesterio will serve as a faculty advisor for the group and will help guide you along when you need help learning new things. We also felt that it might be a good idea to have a sort of competition incorporated which may attract more people to the group. So, at the last meeting of the month, there will be a dueling competition and records will be kept. Then, at the end of the year, we can have a tournament where the top ranked students will compete against each other in front of the school. What do you think?"
"I think it sounds brilliant." Harry said looking between both professors. He was glad that Professor Altesterio would run the group because it would take a lot of pressure off him and making it a competition would definitely attract more people.
"Alright then." Dumbledore said. "The first meeting will be Wednesday after dinner. I expect you'll make sure that an announcement is put up?"
"Of course." Harry said as he got up to leave. This was great news. As he began to walk down the staircase, he thought for a fleeting second that there was something else he had wanted to ask the headmaster, but the excitement of the new DA consumed his thoughts. If Dumbledore had put Professor Altesterio in charge of the meeting than it was probably for good reason. Harry could barely control his excitement as he made his way back to Gryffindor tower to tell Ron and Hermione the good news.
Author's note: In the next chapter they will have their first DA meeting. Ron and Harry will hold quidditch tryouts, and Harry will have his first encounter of the new school year with Snape. Please keep reviewing, I appreciate them.