Well, JK's sixth year is out and I'd just like to say that as much as I liked the book as a book, I had some real issues with the direction she took the story in. I don't know if it was because of all of the fanfics I've read or the one I am writing, but I was expecting her to go in a different direction. At least I don't have to worry about her story causing me to want to change anything about mine.
My reviewers; Nathalie-z and Harryp123 thank you for your kind words.
HermioneGreen, good catch on the Daphne Greengrass mess up. I had been trying to double check my facts with the books and remembered Daphne's name being mentioned but couldn't for the life of me remember where. When I double checked my information with the character list on it simply referred to her as a student in Slytherin. It wasn't until I checked out the character list at the HP Lexicon sight that I found the reference putting her in Harry's year. Since this is now an AU fic, I am going to leave her as a year behind Harry. My bad.
Bobmin356, I have my reasons for dragging out the Harry/Ginny thing. Harry may have become surer of himself in his abilities, but his intrapersonal communication and relationships still need a lot of work.
Jack-A-Roe, You bring up a very good set of points. Getting Fudge and Umbridge out of office was something I really wanted to get done during the summer and I already had a lot of stuff happening before school started, so that is how I dealt with it. I do agree with you in that everything seems to be coming too easily for Harry. The only thing I can really say on behalf of that is I do know where this story is going in the end and there will be some incredible things happening to Harry before the final battle. Please bear with me and see where we go.
Chapter 15 – Time For Training
Harry woke up Saturday morning with a sense of anticipation. Soon he would have the opportunity to do something he had been denied for almost a year. Quidditch tryouts were scheduled for right after breakfast, so he only had to make it through one meal today before he could return to where he felt most at ease: flying on his Firebolt.
He was the first person in the room to be up and dressed. He grabbed his broom and was on his way out of the dorm before any of the other occupants had even begun to stir. He didn't even wait in the common room for any of his friends before heading down for breakfast.
In the great hall, he found himself to be one of the first inhabitants of the castle to be there, the only others present were Professors Dumbledore and Smith. Harry ate quickly hoping to get a chance to fly for a little while before the tryouts began. Not many other people had entered the hall before he had finished and was on his way out to the pitch. The closer he got the happier he became until he felt like he was simply going to burst if he wasn't in the air soon.
No sooner had he set foot within the confines of the stands when he mounted his broom and was off like a shot. He was in heaven, feeling more at peace and free than he had in a long time. This was where he felt most at home, the wind and scenery rushing past in a howl and blur. He made a few laps around the pitch and then began to pretend he was chasing the snitch. He was weaving through the goal posts, doing loops, and dives. Never once thinking about what he was doing, it was all simply natural.
He didn't know how long he'd been flying and quite frankly didn't care. He had lost all track of time, but was brought out of his bliss when he began to feel like he was being watched. He slowed and looked around to find a group of people gathered on the ground holding brooms watching him. The most noticeable of the group were the two individuals at the front with bright red hair. Apparently, it was time for the tryouts.
Harry flew down to join the assembled crowd looking happier than he had in years. He landed quickly and joined his returning teammates in the front of the group. Aside from Ron and Harry, Katie Bell, the seventh year chaser, and beaters Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, both fourth years, were the other returning members of the team. Chasers Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet had both graduated.
Although she had been on the team the previous year, Ginny was standing with the rest of the hopefuls, as she was trying out for a new position now that Harry was back. There were a number of students whom Harry vaguely recognized, as well as some whose presence surprised him. Neville was here, along with the Creevey brothers and Seamus, and Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper were trying out again after losing out to Ron for the keeper position last year.
"Glad you could join us, Mr. Potter." Ron spoke quite loudly and with an air of authority, as if he was trying to prove his worthiness of receiving the honor of being captain. "Now that all of the existing members of the team are here, we can get this tryout started. As you can see, we need two more chasers. The first request I have is that anyone who is not willing to put this team before all other extracurricular activities, except the defense club, leave now. If we want to keep that Quidditch cup in McGonagall's office, we need a team that is determined to do whatever it takes to win."
Ron looked around waiting for everyone there to decide exactly how important this was. A few people, led by Vicky, took Ron up on his request and went back up to the school. Ron then continued, "OK, the first thing I want is to see how everyone here flies so mount your brooms and follow Harry around the pitch." Ron turned to Harry, "Harry, do a couple of easy warm up laps and then make them work to keep up." He then turned back to the group of hopefuls, "If you can't keep up, just break off and land back here and we'll decide who gets to move on to the next task then."
"Aye, Aye, Captain," Harry answered with a snappy salute and a mischievous grin. There was soon a procession of about twenty Gryffindor's on brooms trying to keep up with Harry. Some were quite good flyers, while many were obviously outside of their comfort level. After the warm-up laps, the hopefuls were divided into three groups. The ones who were marginal flyers, which included Neville and Colin, couldn't keep up with Harry in any way even though he wasn't going all out on his Firebolt. Of the ones that could be termed good fliers only half of them could continue to keep up with Harry's movements around the pitch. The ones in the other half began to fall out of the procession one by one. Soon, there were only five bodies still trying to play follow the leader.
"All right, Harry, that's enough." Ron shouted, "Bring them back down here."
Harry, who was at the far end of the pitch, turned and shot into a dive at full speed, leaving the hopefuls in his wake. Upon landing he took his place next to Ron again and waited for the others to land as well. Ginny was the first back, followed closely by a third year named Natalie McDonald. Dennis Creevey and a fourth year Harry didn't recognize brought up the rear.
The group of marginal fliers had already been dismissed so Ron addressed the rest, "Right then, now if flying were the only thing to judge by this group would already be a lot smaller. But just because not all of you could keep up with Harry doesn't mean you don't have any talent for playing quidditch. Then again, just because you could keep up doesn't mean you do have the necessary talent either. Now I think it's time to go up and toss the quaffle around for a bit and see who else we can eliminate." Ron turned to look at Katie, "Katie, would you please start getting the group used to passing around the quaffle?"
Katie who was now following Harry's lead answered with a snappy salute of her own, "Aye, Aye, Captain."
Katie started them out in a circle, having been trimmed down to a total of nine hopefuls, passing the quaffle back and forth. Several of them had trouble just catching the ball and staying on their brooms. The ones who couldn't at least catch it after a few tries were immediately dismissed and soon the only ones left were the original four who could somewhat keep up with Harry. With the smaller group, Katie began to get them moving around while passing to test their ability to fly and pass at the same time. This was the point where the fourth year couldn't keep up.
Ron, Harry, Andrew, and Jack all joined the rest in the air. "Right then, Harry and I are each going to play keeper. Ginny, Natalie, and Dennis will be Harry's chasers while Katie, Jack, and Andrew will be mine. Let's have a little game and see how everyone does."
They all nodded and soon the game was under way. Katie took turns working against each hopeful, trying to expose any weaknesses they might have. Since she was the only experienced chaser they had she was the only one there to judge their abilities against. Ginny was showing the most promise, but deciding between Natalie and Dennis was rather difficult. Ginny was the only one who had actually been able to score a goal. Harry hadn't been scored on only because Katie, being the only actual chaser against him, couldn't break away from his three chasers.
"OK, time for the final test," Ron called out, "Jack, Andrew, get your bats and one bludger. Let's see how these three do under fire." Jack and Andrew nodded and flew down to the ground and soon were back in the air with a bludger on the loose. Harry and Ron had now joined Katie as opposing chasers with the rule of no trying to score goals. They would just move back and forth on the pitch trying to pass to their teammates while not getting hit by a bludger. The introduction of the bludger proved to be Dennis's undoing. It didn't knock him off his broom but it obviously worried him enough that it threw him off his game.
Fifteen minutes later all eight Gryffindors landed on the pitch. After having Jack wrestle the bludger back into the ball chest, Ron called the team together. "You all did really well today, but as I said earlier, there are only two spots available, so I am going to have to tell one of you your out. If you three could wait over by the stands for a minute, I am going to talk with the rest of the team so we can come to a group decision."
Before Ron could continue, Dennis spoke up, "Ron, if it's all the same to you, I don't think there is much to discuss. Once that bludger came out, it was clear that I wasn't in the same league with these two. I think the choice is pretty obvious. If we want Gryffindor to keep the cup, Ginny and Natalie are the right choices for the team."
Ron looked at Dennis and then to the rest of the team, everyone nodding their approval in turn. He looked back to the hopefuls, "That was a very mature gesture on your part Dennis. I think I can safely speak for the rest of the team when I say that you did do very well until we brought out the bludger. If no one has any objections then, let me be the first to say congratulations to Ginny and Natalie. Welcome to the Gryffindor quidditch team."
Ginny grinned widely while Natalie squealed with glee and jumped around excitedly. Dennis congratulated both girls and made his way back up to the castle. Each of the returning team members gave their welcome greetings to their new teammates, then Ron told everyone that they would be having practices on Sunday afternoons since the weekend was the only time there were no other schedule conflicts. They wouldn't have their first practice until the next weekend due to Harry's previous commitment this weekend.
Talking about Harry's commitment caused the team to decide it was time to put that part of the defense club plan into action. They headed back to the castle, making sure to be seen by other students heading back to their common room. They made it back to Gryffindor tower and prepared to execute the first stage of the plan. Harry ran up to his dormitory to change out of his quidditch robes and grab his invisibility cloak and the marauders map.
The plan was that Hermione was going to head to the library "alone" first claiming to have to do some research for Ancient Runes. She was going to seem alone because Harry would be heading to the library under his invisibility cloak and he needed to have someone going out of the portrait hole at the same time as him to keep up the appearance of him remaining in the tower. Ginny would be the one helping him get out of the common room after lunch and then Neville and Ron after dinner. The same pairings would apply again on Sunday for each meal.
They entered the library and Hermione made her way over to an out of the way table near the back of the room slightly hidden by the bookshelves. While she was creating the impression of studying, Harry was checking his map to see if it was safe to begin showing the secret rooms to the other students. The table that Hermione chose to sit at was also quite strategic because the entrance to the secret corridor was hidden at the end of that particular row of shelves.
After a few minutes of checking, Harry decided that the coast was clear enough to show Hermione then allow her to act as a lookout for the rest. Harry led her down to the end of the row and then produced a piece of parchment from beneath his cloak. It read: "The entrance to the defense club's secret corridor is between the M and N bookshelves in the Transfiguration section of the Library." Upon reading the note and thinking about it, the two bookshelves moved apart revealing an average wooden door. They entered to find a very large open square room with high ceilings, hardly any furniture, and one door in the middle of each wall except the one on the opposite side from which they entered which simply had two suits of armor standing together in the center of it.
"Harry, this is perfect! Although we could probably use some cushions and other objects to practice with."
"Well, Hermione, it just so happens that behind that door," he said pointing to the door in the wall to their right, "there are a lot of cushions to use to soften a persons fall when practicing thins like stunning. Then behind that door," he said pointing to the door in the wall to their left, "are lots of boxes of various items to practice things like levitating and transfiguring."
"Oh, well, I guess you have thought of everything," responded Hermione sheepishly.
"There is one more thing that is only for a select few of us to know about." As Harry spoke he pulled out one more piece of parchment that read: "The headquarters of the Defense Club is between the two suits of armor in the Defense Club meeting room." Once again as soon as Hermione thought about this statement, the two suits of armor spread apart and a door appeared between them. The door lead to a smaller room with several arm chairs and love seats set in a circle facing each other around a small coffee table to their right. On the left side of the room was a work table and shelves with many different jars of ingredients and cauldrons for potion brewing.
"This gives the Ministry group a place to work together in private without having to worry about being discovered by the others," explained Harry. "And it will be a good place in which to make the animagus potion for Luna and Neville if they want to have a go at it." Harry was quiet for a moment. "Hermione, this won't be for just anyone to know about. There are some secrets that I do not intend to share with everyone."
"Harry, I have to say, I'm very impressed with how much thought you've put into this. Now, as much as I'd like to continue exploring this group of rooms, I should probably get back out to my post so we can start showing this to the others." Harry nodded and they went back over to the entrance door where Harry checked his map and recovered himself in his cloak, before going back into the library to wait for the rest of the students.
Many of the Gryffindors made their way to the library over the next couple of hours until lunch. After lunch, Harry and Ginny had a very similar conversation as Harry had had with Hermione earlier. Once Ginny was "studying" at the table, Harry was once again waiting for the other members of the club to make their way to the library. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs began to come in small groups that Harry would bring in together. By the time dinner rolled around, about two thirds of the Defense Club participants had made it up but none of them were Slytherins. After dinner it was Ron's and Neville's turn to "study". Not too many of the members made it up before curfew though so it looked like they would have to spend a good portion of the next day up there again.
On Sunday, Harry wasn't up quite as early as the day before. He wasn't really looking forward to spending the entire day in the library again. Harry, Ron, and Neville met Hermione and Ginny in the common room and they all went down to breakfast together. Once in the great hall, they could see some of the members of the defense club who had seen the rooms talking excitedly to the ones who hadn't. Harry knew they weren't telling them anything about the whereabouts of the room, since as the secret keeper he was the only one who could, but that didn't keep him from feeling insecure about what they were talking about and how much the people around them could overhear. What worried him most were the people near the Slytherin table and in particular, Draco Malfoy. Although, Malfoy seemed to be deep in his own conversation with his cronies.
The rest of the day transpired much the same way as the day before. Luna managed to make her way up before lunch and got the full tour that the rest of the ministry crew got and even seemed to get excited about trying to become an animagus. It wasn't until after lunch that the first of the Slytherins began to arrive.
Blaise and Millicent were the first to arrive. Harry feeling the need to be extra cautious with the Slytherins waited a little longer than he had with the rest of the students before making his presence known. Once Harry was sure that no one would notice their disappearance, he made his move. He walked up to stand between the two Slytherins at their table and proceeded to drop a small note in each of their open books. To say the two were startled was an understatement. Millicent nearly screamed when the parchment just appeared out of nowhere. However once they read the notes their shock turned to curiosity. They cautiously took the notes with them over to where Ginny was studying where she nonchalantly pointed them down the row of bookshelves to the general vicinity of Harry. Once they were standing in front of sections M and N, Harry made his note about the secret room appear in front of their faces. They both read the note and then looked at the shelves and then each other in confusion.
"Think about what you just read," whispered the bodiless voice of Harry who by now was trying very hard not to break out laughing at the two.
They thought and then looked back at the shelves. When the door appeared, Millicent once again had to fight back a shriek in surprise. Once inside, Harry removed his cloak and began to give them the standard tour.
"Never experienced something under the Fidelius before have you Millicent?"
Once again she jumped at the sudden appearance of Harry out of nowhere, "No, I haven't. Will it always be like that? Not there until I think about the fact that it should be there?"
Harry nodded while Blaise asked, "I didn't know you had an invisibility cloak, Potter. That must come in quite handy from time to time."
Harry smiled in return, "It just might at that." Then he got serious, "You are the first members of your house to come up. I was starting to wonder if there was some kind of problem. Do Malfoy and his goon squad have any idea that some of your house are in the group?"
"I think he suspects so, but he isn't entirely sure who. Having the meeting place be in the library is a good idea because it will remain difficult to tell who is in the group. He also doesn't pay much attention to the younger years, so those beginning to go to the library on a regular basis could go unnoticed. Daphne, Millicent, and I already have a reputation for spending a fair amount of time up here studying, so that shouldn't seem any different."
"As long as you don't come up in a large group," continued Harry, "there should never be a problem. A few friends going to the library is much less noticeable than a large group. The important thing is to make sure that no one is following you as you head to the meeting rooms. If there is, just make sure you sit at a table and look like you are studying until they go away."
"You know, Potter, we Slytherins already understand the necessity of secrecy in our actions. We don't need a Gryffindor to tell us how to go about our business unnoticed." Blaise smiled as he said this, "I do wonder what exactly you can teach us in this group, though. There never seemed to be that much special about you in our classes for the last five years. What happened over the summer that made you the best person to teach the rest of us how to defend ourselves better?"
Harry pondered the young man in front of him for a moment, "I finally understood what could happen if I didn't take my studying seriously. I have also had help over the summer learning better control of my emotions and how to concentrate better. You have, no doubt, heard about my duel with the former Minister?" He waited for a nod from the two before continuing, "Well I didn't even give everything I have in that duel. Compared to the opponents I have been practicing against during the summer, Fudge is nothing. If it weren't for the fact that I didn't want my present level of ability to be known by everyone, I could have beaten the Minister in less than a minute, and never even broke a sweat."
Blaise scoffed, "You certainly think a lot of yourself don't you? Practicing against your friends doesn't equal being able to go against fully trained adults."
"True, but once three of my friends together against me couldn't last very long; the level of my opponents was raised to that of Aurors. By the end of summer I could hold my own against three opponents at once who were all of Auror caliber. Blaise, one thing you need to understand about me is that I don't lie or exaggerate. I am not an attention seeker. I would gladly trade everything I have to be a normal kid with a normal life. Unfortunately, I don't have that choice. And since I don't, I figure I should use my position in life to try to help as many people as I can. That is why I'm running this club."
To say the two Slytherins were at a loss for words would have been an understatement. They were completely speechless. They could do nothing more than stand there with their mouths hanging open staring at Harry in wonder.
Finally Millicent shook herself out of her stupor enough to ask, "How did you manage to get good enough to duel against three Aurors at once?"
"That," Harry stated flatly, "is what I'm going to teach in this club. Now as much as I'd like to continue on with our conversation, I really need to get back in the library to show the rooms to the others. Trust me when I say, you're not making a mistake being part of this club."
They all nodded and bid their farewells, then made their way back into the library. The majority of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had made an appearance before dinner time, leaving the rest of the Slytherins and a handful of stragglers from the other houses left to show the rooms. After dinner, the rest of the club made their appearance in the library. Apparently the Slytherins were waiting to get a report from Blaise and Millicent before coming. By the time Harry had made it back to his dormitory, he was exhausted. Who would have thought sitting in the library for two straight days would have been so taxing.