Authors note: Part of my characterization of Ron is to highlight that Dumbledore's placing of Harry with the Dursleys (ie away from the magical world) was actually the lesser of two evils.
And everybody who has provided feedback – thank you! I often do incorporate your comments (even if in a very minor way) to flesh out details that I did not make as clear as I thought I had, or to improve some interaction.
START:
Ginny was laying on her bed, staring up at her ceiling when there was a knock on her door. "Come in." She didn't even bother asking who was there.
"Hello Ginny, I think your bed needs a break. Let's go shopping."
Ginny turned her head to look incredulously at Luna. It was the middle of summer, and she hadn't seen her since the disastrous battle at the Department of Mysteries. Actually, she hadn't seen much of anyone, as she rarely left her room. (Though her father had mentioned that Luna had gone home after spending the night at St. Mungo's – with magic, her injuries had been minor.)
"Why are you dressed like that?" Luna was wearing shorts and a T-shirt with 'I heart NY' on it.
"Because we are going shopping, and after considerable research, this is the appropriate attire for such."
Ginny opened her mouth and then closed it, lost for words for how to respond to such a patently absurd situation. "Why shopping? I don't really do shopping."
"Neither do I, but shopping is a classic self-soothing ritual carried out by young women, so it will be an appropriate action to take at this juncture."
Ginny got out of bed. "Shouldn't you be talking about crumpled-horned snorkacks or something?"
Luna gave her friend a puzzled look. "Snorkacks deal with stress by smashing their heads repeatedly into a rock. That would be completely inappropriate for humans. Especially girls." After a moment of thought she added, "though your brother does appear to find that experiencing soothing."
Ginny snorted. She had been avoiding Ron all summer. She had literally not said a word to him. Not that he had noticed, since this year Ron was having better luck at getting people to pay attention to him than the last – in addition to a deluge of fan mail, that Skeeter woman had come by twice to interview him. Which had been a joy – Ginny had hidden upstairs the whole time. "From your clothes, I assume we're going Muggle?"
"Yes, the point of shopping is to look at and possible acquire things that you couldn't possibly need, and what better place to do that than muggle London?"
Ginny smirked, "I don't think you quite have the concept, but whatever. Give me five minutes to change, and we'll floo to London."
A half hour later, the two teens emerged from the Leaky Cauldron, heading for the closest bus stop.
Soon, they were walking down Oxford street, peering into window displays.
"If I'm converting Pounds to Galleons correctly, everything here is insanely priced!" Ginny whispered to Luna. Who would want to buy this stuff? And some of it, she couldn't understand why you would even want to wear it. Shoes with heels long enough to stab somebody with? Or pants that came with holes already in them? Muggles were weird.
And despite her claims of interest, Luna was actually spending more times watching the pigeons than the stores. "Did you see that? That one had to stop and ask permission of the gang boss before coming to scrounge in this territory." Luna nodded at a pigeon, careful not to point at it so as not to distract it from it's pecking.
"Luna, pigeons don't have street gangs. Besides, pigeons aren't violent."
"Not with people, but their plenty viscous when it comes to other birds."
Ginny was just opening her mouth to reply when she pulled Luna to a stop and pointed into a little park that they were passing. "Isn't that Neville?"
Luna squinted, "Yes, it would appear to be. But I was not aware that he had a muggle girlfriend."
\*/
"Hey, Daphne," Neville called out as the Slytherin girl stepped out of the bus. "Where do you want to go today?"
"Anywhere! I don't care!" She sounded despondent.
"Is everything ok?"
"Yes, well no, not really, but there is nothing you can do about it. So we might as well ignore it and enjoy the day."
Neville opened his mouth to refute that charge – he could help with anything! – before closing it. If this had to do with 'girl things' then it wasn't something he knew anything about.
Or wanted to know.
"Erm, maybe. But if you want to complain anyway, I'll listen," he offered with a sickly smile, not certain what he was getting himself into. But Daphne had listened when he had needed to talk about Collin, so this was only fair.
Daphne sighed, "my parents have been on my case all summer! They are nervous about the future – our family has always avoided politics, walking carefully between the Pureblood factions and the progressives. And after what happened at the Ministry, my dad wants to make sure that we don't give offense to anybody. He's checking everything! It's like living in a police state."
Daphne hadn't even noticed that they had ended up at an ice cream cart until Neville handed her a cone. "Thanks."
"So, what about Hogwarts? Will we be able to hang out at all?" Neville steered them towards a bench. Last year they had ended up writing letters to each other almost daily, but they had only managed to hang out in person twice, once during a Hogsmeade weekend, and the other time was right before finals, when they had both been too stressed to worry about social improprieties.
Daphne gave another loud sigh. "You know what? I don't care anymore. I'm done! We're going to be 6th years. Who's going to hassle us? The seventh years? They're all going to be so busy getting ready for their NEWTs or for the 'real world' that they won't care." She leaned over and out of the blue kissed Neville. "Let's make it official." She had learned that you had to be decisive if you were going to succeed in life.
"Boyfriend / girlfriend?" Neville asked, wiping the ice cream smear from his face. Not that he minded, but he hadn't really considered how his friends (or step-bother) would react to him dating a Slytherin. There would be.. complications.
"Sorry," Daphne looked abashed, reaching up to help wipe the away the mess. "But yes."
"Ok," Neville smiled weakly. He didn't have to tell people right away. He would break it to them slowly. He would start with his brother..
"Hello Neville. Who is this?" Neville jerked around to find Ginny Weasley approaching with a smirk, trailed by Luna. The smirk crashed and burned as she got closer. "Daphne?"
'Oh, Merlin.' Ginny was a Weasley. That was blindingly obvious. What was also blindingly obvious was that she had no talent at all for keeping secrets. And Ron was the absolute last person that Neville wanted to learn about him and Daphne.
\*/
The Order of the Phoenix meeting was running long, as everybody reported on Death Eater activity. There was a lot to report, but not much that they could do about it. Finally, Dumbledore called a halt. "I think that's all the major incidents that we have direct knowledge of. As we are now moving into the realm of speculation, I say that we adjourn for now."
"One moment, Albus," James interrupted. "We have all heard the prophesy, that Ron, as the Boy Who Lived, will have the power to vanquish Voldemort. And unfortunately, so has Voldemort. That makes him a target. I don't know if there is anything special about that boy, but his life is going to be at risk."
"He is perfectly safe at Hogwarts."
James didn't mention all the incidents that had happened at Hogwarts recently, like his own son almost dying. "Nevertheless, Ron is not always at Hogwarts. I would like to set up some safety measures, such as guards whenever he's not at school, and maybe a safe house in case of emergency."
There was a mutter of approval from the other members.
Dumbledore nodded, "what you say is quite reasonable. Can you take care of it?"
James nodded. "I'll set up a rotating watch on him."
\*/
"How are you not able to capture one child?" Voldemort stalked the room, glaring at his Death Eaters. "One fifteen year old boy, with no training, managed to elude you and prevented you from capturing the Prophesy!"
"You told us not to kill him," replied one of the new recruits. It came out as a whine.
"Crucio!" Voldemort stabbed his wand out, causing the whiner to writhe in pain. "Do not speak unless you have something to offer!"
The other Death Eaters nodded mutely.
\*/
"Again," Harry demanded. Sirius nodded and starting casting a series of Bludgenors at him.
Harry ducked to the side and retaliated with a blasting curse of his own, which hit the wall as Sirius dodged out of the way, spraying shrapnel into the air which Harry immediately transfigured into steel darts. Sirius knocked those aside and retaliated with a disarming hex, which almost hit Harry.
Despite the miss, Harry still staggered before righting himself with a jerk.
"Stop!"Sirius called out. "That's enough for now. That one almost hit you. – we've been going for almost an hour, and we're both getting sloppy. Somebody's going to get hurt."
Harry looked like he was going to argue but then slid down to the floor and summoned a water bottle. "Yeah. I guess you're right." After chugging half the bottle, he continued, "I was thinking of running a dueling club at school. I know it's usually run by the DADA professor, but given our luck the chances of the next one not being either a buffoon or a Death Eater is pretty slim. Do you think I'm qualified?"
Sirius nodded, "Kid, I was going all out at the end there. Skill wise, you're on par with most Auror recruits, and you have more power than most. In addition, your quidditch training makes you a hell of a lot faster than most dualists." Sirius took a sip of his own water as he considered, "obviously, teaching isn't about being the best, but as long as you remember the theory that your dad and I drilled into you as well, you should do fine."
As Harry beamed, Sirius added quickly, "But don't spend all your time on this – you should continue with quidditch, and it's really about time you got a girlfriend."
"Wait, what?"
"Harry, your dad was mooning over your mom for over a year by this point, and don't even ask how many girls I had managed to get into a broom cupboard by the end of sixth year (though if you need recommendations on out of the way spots, I can give you a map). That's normal behavior for teenage boys." Sirius took another sip, "Even if you're batting for the other team. Though I can understand the need to be a little more circumspect in that case."
"I, what! No! I like girls. It's just that I don't know any girls, really." He kind of thought Cho Chang was pretty, but having seen how she acted towards Luna he wasn't interested in asking her out. Luna was kind of nice, in her own strange way, but Harry was pretty certain that Neville was dating her, and he didn't want to interfere. And who else was there?
"Ok, just checking in. I know that your dad wants to know if there are any girls that you're interested in, but he's too much of a wuss to ask about your personal life."
"And so he should be!" Harry retorted, incensed. His father had no business asking personal questions like that. Sirius was barely ok, but that was because he didn't care about propriety – this was the man who's animagus form was a dog. You didn't get less dignified than that.
Sirius paused, before adding slyly, "Just so you know, I've keyed the wards to Grimmauld Place so that you can bring a 'guest' there with you. It's a sight better than a broom closet."
\*/
"Are you worried about sending Harry back to Hogwarts?" Lily asked as she helped James wash the dishes.
"Do you mean about his safety, or his emotional well being?"
"Both obviously."
"Yeah. I was just breaking the problem down into chunks. In terms of safety, Sirius and I have been pushing him pretty hard on his self defense. I can't promise he won't be in any danger, but it's a dangerous world, and with his skills, he'll be as safe as I can make him. And Neville will be there – they will look out for each other." James paused in thought, "Also, Hogwarts is not usually that dangerous. It's just because Ron's there. Being the Boy Who Lived puts a target on him, and anybody close by is liable to be collateral damage."
Lily nodded, but she didn't even think of warning Harry to avoid Ron for that reason. That's not how Potters lived their lives.
"And the other thing?"
James shrugged awkwardly as he floated a wet bowl to Lily to dry and stack, "I think he's doing fine, but we're both biased, so I asked Sirius to chat with him about regular 'teenage things', and see if he's on an even keel. He'll tell me all about it over beers this evening."
\*/
She was hideous. Hermione adjusted the scarf as she examined herself in the mirror. She shouldn't have worried so much about her eyesight – it was coming back nicely, and the glasses made her look dignified. Like a professor.
But the spot where the spell had hit her was stained a deep purple, like ink had spilled on her. It covered half her face and most of her neck. She tried hiding it with the silk scarves that her mother had bought for her, but they wouldn't stay up, and it was far too warm for a turtleneck. 'Maybe once I'm back at Hogwarts, I can use some kind of illusion magic. I bet Lavender knows some.' After all, illusion was just an extension of makeup, and Lavender knew all about makeup. (That was all she knew about.)
But in the meantime she felt like hiding in her room. Hermione took a deep breath and steeled herself before walking down stairs. Both her parents were at work, as it was 10 o'clock on Monday, so nobody would see her if she flamed out.
She opened the front door and strode out down the sidewalk, heading for the library. It was a balmy July day. There weren't a lot of people on the street at this time – it was too late for adults (who had to be working) and too early for teens (who didn't). A few kids ran buy, but they didn't spare her a glance. The first test would come later, when she was checking out the books. But she was a Gryffindor – she could handle it.
She took another deep breath to calm herself, careful not to hyperventilate. If that went well, tomorrow she would take the bus in to the town center and get a coffee.
\*/
"Neville, Harry, OWLS are here," Lily called as she sorted through the mail – most of it was work related, for her. Even though it was the summer holiday she still had plenty to do. As the principle, she had to get her school ready for the coming year, which was made all the tougher by her sudden sabbatical this past year.
Neville was downstairs, lounging on the sofa with a book. "Did it bring me something.. Wait, you mean OWLS!" He dropped the book and shot up off the couch. "Where's Harry?" The two of them had an agreement – they would open their OWLs together.
"I think I saw him head out back."
Neville tore out into the back yard. Goderic's Hollow was a wizarding village, so it was no surprise to see Harry up on his broom, flying through a jerry rigged obstacle course between the trees and then down to the nape of the earth and back up and over the neighbors steepled roof.
"Harry, OWLs," Neville finally managed to attract his brother's attention.
A few minutes later, the two boys had torn open their letters. "Ok, how many O's?" Neville asked.
"Four."
"Four as well! And any Exceeds Expectations?"
"One, and a trio of acceptables." Both Harry and Neville had been taking a lighter load of classes, with just one elective each. It had been the source of an argument between them and their mother back in third year.
Lily sighed. Despite allowing the two to get away with only taking 8 classes, they had not actually 'concentrated extra hard' on them, as they had promised her back then. She had known that this would happen, but James had insisted that extra curriculars were also important. "Well, that's still pretty good. And many professors accept students with an 'E' for their NEWT classes."
"So what was your E in?" Neville asked. "One of mine was in DADA, and it's a miracle I pulled that out, given Umbridge." He didn't feel the need to mention that he had actually gotten three Exceeds Expectations, so his overall score was higher.
"Mine was Arithmancy. I got an O in Defense"
Neville groaned, "I should have had Sirius come teach me as well." But the disappointment didn't last long. "Oh well, let's go into town."
\*/
"Wotcher," Ron looked up blearily at the warning, just barely avoiding walking into his brother's girlfriend.
"Why are you so cheerful and awake?" He grumbled, stumbling towards the kitchen in desperate hope that there was some breakfast on the stove. Realistically, he'd be lucky if there was anything worth making in the icebox. One result of having a family of almost all males, with most of them being teenagers, was that there was never any food in the house.
"Because it's ten o'clock, and because of the miracle known as coffee," She showed him her mug. Tonks slept over most nights. George had been scandalized, claiming that his father was a hypocrite for allowing it after all the talks he had given the boys about the importance of getting married first, but Arthur had pointed out that Bill was an adult, and since Tonks was an Auror and a member of the Order, he felt better having her around. George still grumbled, but he had also secretly stopped by the druggist to purchase a package of condoms, for when he got back to Hogwarts. (After all what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander – he was an adult as well).
"You got mail," Tonks pointed to the entrance table before heading upstairs to get dressed for work – she had the afternoon shift today.
Ron detoured over to snag the pair of letter. The first was his OWLS. He surreptitiously glanced side to side, to make sure that nobody was watching and opened it:
Astronomy: A
Care / Creatures: E
Charms: E
DADA: A
Divination: P
Herbology: E
History / Magic: A
Muggle Studies: O
Potions: E
Transfiguration: E
'Well, I got one O. And it's the same one Dad did, so he can't yell at me for it.' OWLs were overrated anyways. He was the Boy Who Lived. He would be busy fighting Voldemort, and regular school wasn't going to teach something like that.
He quickly folded up the letter and shoved it into his pocket. He then paused at pulled out the second letter - in the excitement of the moment he had forgotten about it. It was from the Minister's Office. As he read it over, Ron's eyes bugged out.
\*/
Harry landed his broom and examined his obstacle course – he could do better. He used the new animation charm that he had learned to set the pines in the back yard into motion, swaying with their branches waving. 'One more run through, and then I'll hit the gym'. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Harry was anxious about heading back to Hogwarts. Especially about quidditch. He was going to have to re-try out of the Gryffindor team, and that was the one thing he hadn't worked on at all over this past year. And even fourth year had been mostly a wash, as he had played just a handful of pick-up games of quidditch.
The team was his home away from home, so his not being on it was inconceivable.
Of course, that was true of Hogwarts in general. Which is why when he wasn't flying, he ran Defense drills and skimmed his text books. Though honestly, at this point it wasn't really because he felt he needed it, but because it kept him from thinking about September. Would he remember everybody? Would people accept him? Would he be able to keep up with the subjects? (Objectively, he knew the answer to all of these was yes, but that didn't help the anxiety).
Besides, what else was there to do? His parents were working, and Neville – he wasn't certain what Neville was up to. 'We should go to the movies or something, when he gets back from wherever he is.' Harry shrugged and kicked off, racing at full speed just inches above the grass.
\*/
And that was the summer. It was slow and uneventful, and it allowed the teens who had gone to the Ministry to heal from their wounds, both physical and emotional. But finally, it was September first.
"Wow, it's worse that usual," Neville commented as they entered platform 9 ¾. In addition to the usual press of students and parents, there was a heavy Auror presence – the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, was not taking the threat of Voldemort lightly.
"See anybody we know?" Harry asked. Neville was a good head taller than him and could actually see over some of the adults. Not that Harry was short - 5 foot 10 was perfectly fine, especially for a Seeker. But he wasn't a watchtower like Neville, either.
"There's Ron and Hermione. She's dressed like some sort of Hollywood actress, with big sunglasses and a bunch of silk scarves. She actually doesn't look frumpy any more."
"Yeah, well, I'll believe that when I see it. What about the other Weasley – the one that isn't a PIA?"
"Ginny? Can't see her, but she's short."
"I think I see Dean." Harry steered them towards the train – he wouldn't mind saying hello to Hermione and checking to see how she was doing after the Ministry, but he didn't want to deal with Ron.
As they approached the train, chatting with Dean about last week's quidditch scores, Neville suddenly turned to the side. "Go on ahead – I just saw someone I want to catch up with." Harry waived and continued on to the back compartment that had become 'his', to find that it was already occupied.
"Hey! I was just wondering where you two were!" Harry greeted Ginny and Luna. The two girls were looking at a magazine that the blond Ravenclaw was holding. If it had been Parvati & Lavender, he would have assumed that they were poring over a copy of Witches Weekly or some other fashion magazine, but he had never seen these two in such a pose before. "What have you got there?"
Ginny pulled away, muttering embarrassedly, "Nothing".
"It is a magazine on female mating behaviors," Luna replied and held it up – it was indeed a copy of Witches Weekly.
As Harry took a seat, the door slid open again and Ron poked his head in, accompanied by Hermione "Uh, hi, Ginny. I'm going to head up to the front of the train. To the Prefect's car." He pointed to the Prefects badge that was pinned proudly on his chest. Once he had made sure that everybody had had a good look he turned to go. As he did his gaze was drawn to the discoloration on Hermione's face before skittering away. He couldn't keep from glancing at it – it was like some sort of road kill – gross yet strangely compelling. "Come on," he added gruffly, to cover his embarrassment..
Hermione hung back for a second – she wanted to talk to Harry, to thank him for staying with her at the Department off Mysteries. That had been the most terrifying experience of her life. The only reason that she hadn't lost her mind was Harry – but she wasn't certain what to say: She just stood there like a deer in the headlights as Harry gave her a questioning look and a sardonic smile. After a moment she just gave him a nod and trailed after Ron.
"Where's your brother, incidentally?" Ginny asked as the embarrassing berk that was her older brother shambled off in search of others people to impress.
"No idea. He ditched, saying that he would meet me inside."
Luna nodded, "he must have gone to meet up with his girlfriend."
"Wait, what?" Harry's head spun around so fast that Ginny thought it was going to come right off.
At one point Harry had thought that Neville was dating Luna, but that was obviously wrong. Besides, he hadn't seen any indication over the summer that Nev was dating anybody. He hadn't been mooning around the the house or writing letters or anything. At least not when Harry had been looking. "Neville isn't dating any..."
He was interrupted when the compartment door slid open again. "Hey guys," Neville stepped into the compartment, followed by Daphne Greengrass. "You got room for two more?"
Harry's eyes flicked down. Yes, they were holding hands.
Harry's jaw hit the floor.
Ginny smirked. Harry was usually so smart & put together, that it was reassuring (to her self-esteem) to see that he really was clueless about SOMETHING. She elbowed Luna and pointed at Harry.
Luna reached out across the compartment and gently pushed up on his chin, "Harry, unless you are offering your esophagus as a new nesting site for your Wrackspurts, you should close your mouth now."
"Um.. when did this," Harry waived vaguely towards Neville and Daphne, "start?"
"Officially? In July. Unofficially… Well, that's complicated"
After that, things calmed down and the students all caught up on what they had been doing over the summer.
"You should watch out for Theodore – Theodore Nott. Ever since his father was killed in the Ministry he's been on a rampage." Daphne added, uncharacteristically missing Harry's guilty look as she was still distracted by Neville. "He's been going around saying nasty things about muggles and muggle-born. It's like he's looking for a fight."
"Maybe he'll feel better after he gets one" Neville commented casually.
"Down, boy." Daphne countered, "Remember, he might be a jerk, but I dorm with him. I can't have my boyfriend beating him up."
"Don't worry, I can take care of him for you," Ginny cracked her knuckles.
Daphne threw up her hands, "What is it with you Gryffindors! Violence doesn't solve everything!"
"For the record, I complete agree with you." Harry quickly added, not wanting her to lump all Gryffindors together as lack-wit neanderthals. As a silence descended on the car, he added, "Incidentally, I'm going to be starting up a dueling club. Is anybody interested?"
\*/
"First years, this way!" Came the comforting call of Hagrid's booming voice. Harry had heard it at the start of every school year, and it signaled the beginning of a new set of adventures. This year was looking to be less innocent than the ones before, but no less exciting. "I can see the thestrals" Harry commented as they walked up to the carriages with the other upper years.
Neville nodded. At first glance they looked pretty horrific, almost zombie like, but once you got used to their skeletal appearance, they had a certain stately grace.
"Aren't they beautiful?" Luna commented, reaching out to pet one. The three of them earned strange looks from the majority of the student body, to whose eyes they were clustered around empty air. "And did you know that unlike horses, they pair bond for life."
"Yeah, I've been able to see them since I saw Harry die the previous summer," Ron interrupted, acting nonchalant as he got into the carriage. A pair of fourth year girls quickly followed him, and tittering.
"Fascinating," Luna quickly followed him in, peppering him with questions about whether his ability to see thestrals was affected by the realization that Harry was still alive and other such details.
"Let's take a different one," Neville jerked his head toward the carriage further down the line, which DIDN'T have Ron. Luna would just have to fend for herself.
Ginny apparently had the same idea, as she walked with them.
"Uh, I didn't say this earlier, but I'm sorry for what happened to Collin. He was a good guy, always cheerful." Harry shrugged. "Sometime too cheerful, but I will miss him."
"Thanks," Ginny replied quietly.
"I feel it's partly my fault," Neville added, "I should have done a better job of looking out for him."
"It's not your fault. If it's anybody's, it's mine, because if it wasn't for me he would never have come. Or maybe Ron's, for falling for that stupid trap." Ginny climbed into the carriage. "Or maybe it's Collin's fault for not taking it seriously enough. I don't know. I spent half the summer worrying about this before Luna convinced me that assigning blame isn't going to accomplish anything. All I can do is try to do better."
Neville nodded, "Me too."
"Are you going to join the dueling club?"
Ginny gave Harry an odd look, "Yeah, obviously. But I don't think dueling is enough. Those Death Eaters have decades of experience. There's no way that training once a week for an hour will be anywhere near enough to match them."
"The point isn't to match Voldemort's elite, but he's got a lot of thugs like Goyle and Crabbe following him as well. Those we can get good enough to defeat. After all, they are the ones you're more like to encounter."
"That''s not what I meant. I mean that we should get an Auror to run an intensive class, for those of us that want to fight for real." There was a dangerous gleam in Ginny's eye.
Harry and Neville exchanged anxious glances. Ginny was always prone to going off half cocked. "I don't think that's likely – Dumbledore isn't going to allow an Auror on to school grounds."
"And he's Dumbledore," Neville added, "he's not going to let anybody teach kids to fight like that. You know how overprotective he is." Harry nodded.
Seeing Ginny's despondent look as she glared at the floor, Harry reached across the carriage and picked up her chin, "Hey. I'm not saying its impossible. Maybe I can take a few students who are interested and teach some of the Auror combat tricks that Sirius and my dad taught me last year as part of Defense."
Ginny looked up, but she still was skeptical. "What did you get on you DADA?"
"I got an easy O."
"Huh." Ginny perked up. It was good to have friends like Harry.
The carriage door opened and Hermione slid in. "Where is Ron? He was supposed to help me direct students to the carriages. That's the Prefect's first official task!" She huffed as the carriage finally started forwards. Ron had been more of a prat than usual all day 'I wonder if there's something wrong with him?' She pulled up at her scarf self-consciously.
Harry shrugged, "I'm stating up a dueling club. Do you want to join?"
Hermione considered for a moment, her annoyance derailed, "Yes, as long as you invite Ron as well."
"Yes, of course." Harry paused before adding, "I'm glad to see you're recovered from your injuries."
"Not completely," She pointed to the stain on her face.
"That's just cosmetic." Harry waved it away as unimportant.
"Yeah a few spells and nobody will notice that. At least you have all your body parts and everything works the way it's supposed to" Ginny added quickly. She understood that a 'cosmetic' injury was a lot more serious to a girl than Harry comprehended.
"Thanks," Hermione smiled. It was good to be among friends. This was the first time all summer that she felt accepted.
\*/
The following morning, as Professor McGonagall handed out their schedules, she paused in front of the entire table and announced, "I would like you to know that as we have a new Potions professor, the rules for who may take NEWT level Potions have also changed – Professor Slughorn has asked me to announce that he will be accepting students with an 'Exceeds Expectations' or above."
Ron froze with his fork halfway tot his mouth, his previous good feeling evaporating. He hated Potions (all Gryffindors did – it was taught by a greasy Slytherin), but his father expected him to push himself academically. He had been very disappointed that George had opted to go work in a bakery after graduation.
'Dad will want me to take it.' He struggled with what to do, before finally grabbing a pencil and writing it in. 'I'll give it a shot, I guess'
As McGonagall continued on to the staff table, Harry leaned around Ginny and asked Ron, "I'm inviting most of the upper year Gryffindors – do you want to join the dueling club?"
Ron shook his head no. "Don't need it. I spoke to Dumbledore – he's going to give me special training so that I can deal with Voldemort."
Hermione looks disappointed, but Ron just shrugged at her. " Besides, I'm going to be busy – Minister Scrigemor asked me to come speak at a couple of Ministry functions, to help drum up support against Voldemort." Ron puffed up his chest unconsciously. Finally he was getting the recognition that was his due. He was going places and making connections. No way he was going to end up in some dead end job like his dad!
\*/
As everybody finished up breakfast, Hermione slid over to Ginny, "I'd like your help. I was wondering if you could help with some illusion spell or cosmetics to cover up," she gestured at the blotch on her her face, looking sheepish.
"Sure, that's not a problem!" Ginny brightened. She never got to interact much with Hermione, despite the older girl always hanging out with her brother, but she deeply respected her independent streak, so it would be great to be able to help her out."I don't know anything about illusion spells, but my aunt gave me some blush. I can grab it form upstairs."
Hermione nodded, "Um, what will the blush do? And is it liable to come off during the course of the day?" Hermione envisioned streaks on her face from wiping her face with a napkin during lunch. That would not be good.
"Umm," Ginny deflated, "You know what? I don't really ever use makeup myself. Maybe we should ask an expert."
Hermione nodded, sympathizing. The whole point of makeup was stupid. "So who do we ask? Lavender?" That had been her original plan, except… There was silence as the two girls exchanged looks.
"How about Hannah Abbot. She's a 'Puff, so she's going to be helpful" Ginny finally replied. 'And she won't laugh at us' went unsaid.
Hermione smiled in approval. "Let's go!"
But before she could stand up Daphne, who had been sitting two seats over reached around Neville and put a hand on Hermione's arm. "Don't do anything yet. I'll help you during second period – I have a free." First period was Defense, but second was NEWT level Care of Magical Creatures, which Daphne was pretty certain Hermione wasn't taking either.
\*/
"So Snape as the Defense professor..." Neville repeated nervously.
"Relax, Nev. Your problem is with Potions, not with Snape."
"Don't be too sure of that. We had pants for instruction last year, and Snape is not the sort to take that into account. He expects perfection and he doesn't care who he has to kill to get it." Seamus muttered darkly as they walked into the classroom. For once, Snape was already in the room before the students, perched like a raven behind his desk. Seamus would have assumed that he was eager to teach, except he didn't look up from the parchment he was scribbling notes on intently.
"So, dueling club?" Harry repeated.
"We'll see." Seamus wasn't really interested, but if this class was going to be as bad as he feared, he might need it just to survive.
It was worse. Much, much worse.
As soon as the class bell rang, Snape snapped to life like an evil golem.
"All of you, stand up and line up one after the other. I expect that as usual, you have forgotten everything over the summer, assuming you had ever actually learned the material in the first place. Therefore we will begin with an assessment. You will take turns casting three attack spells in rapid succession at the target dummy across the classroom. Begin."
As Ron began casting, Snape paused so that he was standing just behind his left shoulder. "Faster. This isn't a game." After the second spell, he leaned in and hissed into Ron's ear. "Pretend your life depends on it."
Ron had to concentrate to keep from voiding his bowls. His next Incarcerous was even weaker than the first. When he was done, Snape gave him a sneer. "Next!" Was all he said.
Neville went next, doing moderately better. Then it was Draco,
"Professor, can we use lethal spells?"
"Obviously."
Draco waved his wand in slashing motions, sending a pair of dark cutters at the target, making the shied spell on it glow with the effort of absorbing them before hitting the core of target with an underwhelming Reducto curse. He was sweating from exertion.
"That is acceptable. That is the level of performance that I expect all of you to have coming into my class. After today, you will be learning to cast all of these spells silently. Next."
Harry stepped to the the front and took a fighting stance. He made a negligible wave of his wand. There was no sound or flash of light, but the target started to crumple in on itself as the wall holding it reached out and squeezed in like a massive hand until the ward protecting it glowed, cracked and failed.
clunk
The mangled remains of the target dropped to the floor.
"Five points from Gryffindor for destroying school property." Snape frowned before adding bitterly, "ten points for demonstrating silent casting."
Ron turned to Hermione and whispered, "wait, did Snape just award points? He never awards points, much less to a Gryffindor!"
"Ten points from Gryffindor for talking in class," Snape called out.
\*/
Afterwards, Daphne and Hermione met up with in an unused classroom – Ginny had class, so she wasn't able to come, despite being vaguely interested. Not that she would ever use makeup herself, but it would be nice to know what the other girls in her dorm were talking about, on the off chance that she got lobotomized by a spell gone wrong and decided to hang out with them.
"So why didn't you want me to go to Hannah?" Hermione put her bookbag under one of the desks.
Daphne snorted in amusement. "Have you seen her? They may call me the Ice Queen of Hogwarts, but she looks the part - her complexion is several degrees paler than your. Nothing she has will work for you. Cosmetics is an art, and you need to match the color pallet." She pointed to Hermione's skin.
Hermione was taken aback – she hadn't realized that there was so much.. well, thought, to makeup. "You're an expert on this?"
"As much as I have to be – I don't obsess about it like some girls," Daphne took up a regal pose before continuing, "but it is a tool to control the perceptions of the weak willed and bend them to my service!"
As a horrified look spread across Hermione's face, Daphne cracked up, "I am joking about that last part. Seriously. I'm not a bad person. Though appearance is important in getting certain types of people to pay attention to you, so it is an useful tool for any Slytherin girl."
"Then why does Millicent Bulstrode look like she does?"
"Millie? You should see her without makeup!" Daphne resisted the urge to cackle like a child. There was just something freeing about knowing that somebody had your back, no matter what. It meant you no longer had to worry over every single word that came out of your mouth.
'She's a completely different person. This must be what being in love does to you.' A small flame of resentment started inside Hermione. She wasn't certain if it was directed at Daphne or at Ron.
\*/
The period right after lunch was Potions. As the class filed in Harry glanced over at Hermione "Hey, Nev, did Hermione do something to her face?" Something looked different. He wasn't certain what it was.
Neville glanced over, "Yeah – she disillusioned the red stain on her face."
"No, it's not just that.." Harry couldn't get a good look as Hermione had taken her usual seat at the front of the class, and Harry was all the way in the back, with Neville (Snape had always insisted that he take the rear-most work station, so that when his cauldron inevitable exploded, it would be less distracting for the other students).
Neville elbowed his brother. "Harry, stop staring. You're acting creepy".
Just about then Ron came in, looking very anxious, "Um, professor, I signed up for this class at the last minute. I don't have the textbook or anything." Though he had brought his potions supplies from the previous years, on the off chance that it would come in useful.
"Not to worry, my boy, not to worry," Slughorn smiled amiably at the redhead. "Come on up to my office while the rest of the class settles in and I will see what I can find for you. We usually have one or two used textbooks that previous students lost." He bent down and grabbed a pair of books off of a low shelf and opened them to check their condition. "Here are two… Oh, this one looks like it's all written in." He put that one back and handed Ron the better copy.
"Thank you, Professor!" He was almost skipping as he returned to his seat. This was so much better than Snape. Even in DADA, that crow had been horrid to him (and pretty much all of Gryffindor, except Harry. But everybody knew that Snape had a soft spot for Harry).
\*/
Finally the day that Harry had been half-dreading arrived – the first Thursday in October.
Quidditch tryouts.
"Ok, I see a lot of new folks here as well as some returning faces," Katie pronounced, a clipboard held up in front of her like a shield. She was the new Gryffindor captain but she wasn't quite used to the role as yet. "Let's see the Beaters do their thing. I want anybody who's trying out for the position and anybody who played that spot last year to bat around a bludger"
"Does that mean we're trying out for our old spots?" Sloper whined. Last year that had made sense, since nobody played during the Triwizard tournament, but now, he should be a shoo-in.
"Don't worry, Sloper. Unless you did nothing but eat donuts all summer, you'll get your old spot. I just need you to help evaluate the newbies."
As the Beaters got started, Katie turned to Harry and Ginny, "Ok, this is going to be awkward. You're both great fliers, and you both done great as seekers in the past, but I want the best team I can get. That means you have to both try out for the slot." Katie looks at her clipboard, as if the answers to her dilemma were written there. For all Harry knew, they were. "Whomever doesn't make it can try out as a Chaser." She released the snitch. "Go get that, and don't get hit by a bludger"
"Good luck, Harry." Ginny gave Harry a tense smile.
"I'm not going to go easy on you."
"You better not."
As they kicked off, Katie yelled out to the Beaters. "The Seekers are fair game!"
The two seeker candidates spiraled into the air as they dodged random bludgers.
Ginny gritted her teeth as she followed Harry. They were both on school brooms, but he had somehow pulled ahead. Not that either one had seen the snitch – they were just pulling for altitude, to get free of the Beaters, but she still saw it as a challenge. Last year, nobody had been close to her in terms of flying (though some were better in terms of technical quidditch skills)
Finally, they were able to level off and start making the lazy loops that seekers were known for as they searched for their target. Both fliers kept an eye on each other, in case the other spotted the snitch first.
Several minutes passed, and Ginny was considering risking going down to a lower altitude to get a different vantage when there it was! A flash of gold appeared as it flew pas one of the Beaters.
Ginny dived for it, followed a moment later by Harry. A bludger whizzed for his head, but he simply spun his broom, so that the bludger passed above him.
Suddenly, he peeled off. Ginny continued her dive a moment longer before she also realized that the snitch had disappeared.
But that lasted for just a moment before Harry accelerated again, streaking for the far side of the pitch, and this time it was Ginny's turn to follow after.
As they jockeyed for position Ginny grinned like a loon. It's been forever since she's flown like this: fast and devil-may-care. Over a year. And the last time was also with Harry.
The snitch loops around one of the Beaters and Harry followed it, starling the poor third year as he passed within inches at greater than 60 miles an hour.
Katie watched from the ground. The Beaters were ok. Nothing to write home about, but Jack would get to keep his position.
But the seekers are amazing. Ginny was a top notch flier – Katie had already penciled her in for Chaser.
Because Harry was that much better.
He turned faster, dived steeper and the way he maneuvers around obstacles - whether the goal posts, bludgers or other fliers – was nothing short of poetry in motion. He was utterly fearless.
Finally, he landed, the snitch in hand
As Ginny touched down Katie turned to her, "I'm sorry.."
"Don't be" Ginny was almost glowing as she turned to Harry. "That was fun. We should do that again."
"Definitely"
"Oh, and congratulation" Ginny stepped in and gave Harry a quick hug." She turned to Katie, "So about that Chaser position."
"You got it."
"So you want me to try out now?
"No, I mean you got it."
Now it was Harry's turn to smirk. "Congratulations." He stepped forward and gave her an awkward hug back. Because apparently that's what one did. Though his smile had turned glassy as he worried if he had overstepped personal boundaries
As they stood and watched the wannabe Chasers try out for the last slot, taking shots on Ron (who was guaranteed the Keeper slot, as nobody was trying out against him) Ginny realized that this was nice. Better than nice. She glanced up at Harry – he was oblivious, watching the flying. She took a step closer, so that their sides were almost touching. 'I could get used to this.'
It was only later, as she was taking a shower in the women's locker room before heading back to the castle that she was hit by a surge of guilt. She realized that she hadn't thought about Collin this whole time. 'Is it ok that I'm moving on? It's been less than a year.' It felt vaguely disrespectful. She wasn't certain what to do. 'Take a breath,' she reprimanded 's to say that Harry was even interested in dating her. As soon as she even thought the word, her heart began beating like a trip hammer, the realization of what she was considering crashing down on her.
Before, she had been one of the guys. She joked around with Harry and nobody thought anything of it. But if they started going out.. She gulped air.
And how did that even work? She never had to consider this sort of thing before. Collin had asked her out, not vice versa. 'How does one go about doing that, even? And asking somebody like Harry, one of my oldest friends, of all people?'
And if it didn't work out, that would be the end of their friendship.
\*/
"Have you got anything on Voldemort?" James asked as he came into Sirius's office. Sirius almost never used it, and the place was bare of any personal effects.
"No. Everybody that I have talked to is nervous – everybody is keeping their eyes open, but nobody has admitted to seeing anything." Sirius was frustrated. There had been a half dozen attacks, mostly on muggles, since the summer. He was certain that somebody had indeed seen something, but everybody was too scared to say anything. He had even set up an anonymous tip line, and asked the Order to spread the word, and still he had nothing.
"Yeah, same here. I am certain that he's hiding out with one of the hard core blood-rights families, but I don't know who." James pulled open Sirius's filing cabinet and took out the bottle of firewhisky hidden inside and poured himself two fingers. Despite Scrigemor's claim that he was going to take the fight to Voldemort, he still wasn't ready to declare martial law. Until he did, there were hard limits on what James could do. If he raided the wrong mansion that would end his career, and for nothing. "At least the kids are safe at school."
Sirius nodded. It wasn't just the school's wards or even Dumbledore that made them safe, but the fact that most blood purists had their own kids there as well.
"Though we should up the security at the smaller schools." There were two dozen other, local magical day schools. They catered to less affluent families, or families that wanted a more progressive education. Most had 20-40 students, and their students typically had to come to the Tower of London to take their OWLs and NEWTs.
Sirius nodded again, "Good luck with that - we need more combat trained mages."
\*/
"Ok, is this everybody?" Harry looked over the crowd of mostly Gryffindors gathered in the great hall. The tables and chairs had been stacked to the side, making it a large clear space. It was Sunday afternoon, and most students were either doing homework or socializing outside, as the weather was still nice. "Lets get started then. We all know that our defense education here at Hogwarts has been spotty these last few years. And with what's going on out in the world, it's important to make sure that you at least can keep yourself safe if something happens"
"Harry means if Death Eaters jump you," Neville added.
Harry put out a hand as if to silence his step-brother, "Let's take it one step at time. The idea is to just get better than you were. We can worry about fighting Death Eaters later."
"Who's going to be running the club?" Terry asked. He was part of the small Ravenclaw contingent, which included Cho Chang, which Harry found a tad distracting. She really was pretty.
"I am. I was home schooled last year, and for my DADA, I trained with my dad and one of his friends." Harry shrugged self consciously, "I'm not saying I'm an expert, but I'm good enough to hold my own against an Auror. And I can pass some of that on to you guys."
"I bet his dad went easy on him," Ernie Mcmillon whispered to Mclaggan.
"I'm not a troublemaker. Why would I need to worry about Death Eaters?" Harry wasn't certain why Lavender Brown had shown up, and apparently neither was she.
"Most of you knew Collin." Harry replied quietly, looking down, "He was one of the most harmless, nicest guys you could imagine. Always excited to take pictures. But he was also the sort that if you ask him to help out, he would jump up to volunteer. Well, last year, he got killed while doing just that." Harry looked at the faces watching him, "Think about it – if a friend asks you for help, are you the sort that will say no? Are you going to spend the next several years cowering at home, never going out, for fear of being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Because Death Eaters aren't interested in attacking Aurors. Instead, they attack and kill kids like Collin."
Everybody looked at each other, and there was some muttering before Harry drew their attention back to him, "Nobody here is looking to get into trouble, but I want everybody to be safe, just in case trouble finds you."
Most everybody nodded. Lavender exchanged a glance with Parvati and took out her wand. "Ok. What are we doing first?"
Harry spent the next few minutes having everybody go through basic jinxes, seeing who had good form and who didn't. He then split the group up into three sections and told everybody to pair up, and assigned each group a couple of spells to cast at each other, ranging from stunners to disarming charms to binding charms. He set Neville to work with the intermediate group (which was the largest) and he bounced between the beginners and the advanced.
"I'm surprised to see you here," Harry was working with the most advanced of the three groups when he saw Daphne and Tracy.
"Actually, there were several other Slytherins, but they snuck out when you started talking about Death Eaters. They decided that this wasn't going to be a club that would welcome them."
"I thought you said that not all Slytherins supported Voldemort."
"They don't, but allying yourself with somebody who openly criticizes them is not politically wise, especially for younger students."
"But you don't care?"
Daphne just smiled, "they won't cross me." She hadn't spent the past 5 years collecting blackmail material just to let it go to waste. Once they were out of school, the petty transgressions wouldn't matter, so she had to cash in on them now, to buy herself some freedom.
"Ok, that's time, everybody. We'll get together again same time next week"
As the group started to mill around prior to going their ways, Harry called out,"Hey, Terry, can you hang back a minute? Ginny, Luna you guys also." Soon a small cluster of students had nucleated around Harry - Neville had brought along Susan, Hermione and Ernie (the annoying Hufflepuff). They were all from the advanced group. "I was thinking… you're all pretty good already. Do you want to do some more advanced training with me, to, you know, practice some of the Auror level stuff that my dad showed me?"
"I'm not really a fighter, Harry," Luna demurred.
"You don't have to be – with some additional skills, you can help Nev and me train the beginners. Besides it will be fun."
Luna just smiled and shook her head 'no'. Being able to defend yourself was important, but it wasn't fun.
"I'll sign up," Harry looked I surprised to see Cho Chang. "I think you're right. We need to be ready to fight for those we care about."
Harry nodded, not certain how to respond. This wasn't the same Cho Chang he remembered from 4th year. Maybe his memory was messed up again. 'Or maybe she grew up.'
"Where are we going to train, out here, in the great hall?" Terry interrupted Harry's musings.
"No," Harry hadn't thought that part through, "Let me see what I can figure out."
"Ok, let me know. I'm definitely in!" Terry gave a thumbs up. Surprisingly, so did Ernie Mcmillon. Ginny, on the other hand, was not a surprise. She looked thrilled. 'I worry about that girl,' Harry shook his head in bemusement, 'Anything risky, and she's first in line. She's going to get herself killed one of these days.'
"How about you, Hermione? I would love to have somebody with your knowledge in the group."
Hermione bobbed her head. "I think I can make it, at least until homework picks up."
As they finally split up to go their own ways, Ginny walked with Harry back to the Gryffindor dorms, not certain what to do. Harry and Neville were bantering, not ignoring her, but not giving her any extra attention. 'Now I know how Hermione feels like.'
\*/
It was the following Monday that Harry's problems were resolved from an unexpected direction.
"Potter. Stay after class," Snape called out as the Defense class came to an end. They had again been practicing silent casting. Other than Harry, Hermione was the only one who managed it consistently.
"Yes?" Harry gathered his notes into his bag and came up to the front of the classroom.
"If your dueling club needs a faculty adviser, I would be willing to provide you with assistance," Snape couldn't show favoritism in class, especially not to a Gryffindor, but this dueling club would help reverse the the absolutely abysmal level of defensive casting skills that most of his students were displaying. And it was exactly the sort of thing that Lily would have done, back when she was in school, so he wanted to help Harry succeed. 'It really is amazing – despite not being the biological son, Neville has managed to siphon all of James Potter's negative traits into himself, like drawing out poison, leaving Harry to actually excel.'
"Um.." Harry thought quickly, "I already have approval from McGonagall, but.. do you know of any place where a small group of us can train more intensely? I mean someplace with terrain, and maybe enough space to fly a broom."
Snape's eyebrow rose to greet his (greasy) hair. That sounded an awful lot like Auror Tactical Training. "Have you considered the room under the castle where the Basilisk dwelled?" He had gone down there three years ago with the Headmaster to help dispose of the carcass. And harvest potions ingredients.
"But you need to speak parseltongue to get int that room."
"Through the main passage. But the Headmaster made up a set of portkeys for us when we were taking care of the cadaver." Snape pulled open a drawer of his desk and brought out a bookmark. "This is a reusable portkey – it will take you down as well as back up to Hogwarts proper."
"Thank you, professor! You're the best!" Harry beamed at the flabbergasted Defense teacher.
\*/
"And when I thanked him, Snape looked like he had just walked into a telephone pole – I don't think a student has ever thanked him before," Harry informed the advanced group that they had a place to train.
"That's because he's never given students reason to, before." Neville snarked half-heartedly – he was looking forwards to finally seeing the Chamber of Secrets. It sounded like a cool place to train, much better than the 'Come and Go' room that they had used last year.
"Whatever," Harry shrugged, "So how about the really advanced group goes down this evening after dinner and checks it out."
"We need a cooler name than the 'really advanced group'. That's way too wordy," Neville said as he daydreamed of what he would look like, swooping out of the sky, flinging spells at his enemies.
"How about 'Rangers'?" Ginny volunteered. She had read Lord of the Rings like many other Magical teens (though they viewed it as Science Fiction instead of Fantasy).
"OK, that's cool!" Harry beamed at the red head.
"You know what's not cool?" Ron pronounced, sliding into the seat opposite the group. "I just had my first 'training session' with Dumbledore. It was a joke! We just spent the whole time looking at Voldemort's history. Apparently he used to be a kid named Tom Riddle. Well, who cares!"
"Was he teaching you how Voldemort thinks, so you can counter his strategies?" Hermione tried to find the positive.
"No, well maybe eventually he will, but right now it's just about how Voldemort was mistreated as a kid & shouldn't we all feel bad for him. Boo hoo," Ron took a huge bite of his chicken and continued talking, "Do you have any opening left in your dueling club? Because Dumbledore isn't going to be teaching me anything useful."
"Sure, we'd be glad to have you. The next meeting is next Sunday, at 2pm"
Ron considered before his eyes got big, "Oh, shoot. I can't go. The Minister invited me to a charity function, to get all the big name families to donate to the DMLE so that they can hire more Aurors."
"Are you going by yourself, or is there a 'Plus one' on the invitation?" Lavender asked boldly.
"Uh, yeah. Minister Scrimgeour did say I could bring a friend."
"Ooh!" Lavender squealed, "Can I come?" She leaned in batting her eyelashes.
"Sure, I guess," Ron replied bemusedly. This was the first time a pretty girl had seemed excited to be around him. He completely missed the hurt look that Hermione shot at him.
Hermione couldn't believe the audacity of that skank. 'She just came up and asked to be invited! Fine. I have dueling cub anyways.' At least Harry didn't take her for granted.
\*/
That evening, the 'Rangers' all gathered in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and took hold of the bookmark. "Ok, here goes nothing," Harry activated it. With a brief whirl they all landed in a large, stalagmite filled cavern.
"Oh, this is so cool! You and Ron fought a Basilisk here?"
"Well, Ron did most of the fighting, I just made sure that Ginny didn't get killed in the conflict - the Basilisk almost crushed her"
Ginny beamed at Harry. She had been unconscious during that part of it, and she had always been a little too embarrassed to ask about the details of how it all went down because she had always felt that it all been her fault, even through she knew rationally that it wasn't. Somehow, it didn't surprise her that Harry was more focused on rescuing people than on winning glory for himself by defeating a basilisk.
"So this is going to be the Ranger's training room," Harry began.
"Rangers, is that what you're calling our group? So, that makes you Entil'Zha?" Terry asked with a smirk.
"What?" Harry looked confused, but Terry's smirk just widened into a full-on grin and he refused to explain anything more.
"Whatever. We're going to split into two teams and play capture the flag. You can use stunners, Incarcerous and Expelliarmus for offense and Protego for defense. It's up to you if you want to fly, but remember that you'll be a target to everybody if you do. Before we start, everybody go around the periphery and cast a bunch of Lumos spells, so we can see what we're doing."
The teams were Terry, Ernie, Susan Bones and Hermione on Neville's team, and Ginny, Cho, Dean and Seamus with Harry.
They played three matches, with Team Harry winning twice.
"Damn Harry, how are you so fast?" Terry complained. Neville's team was more technically skilled, but Harry's team was more athletic, and with the limited repertoire of spells permitted, they did better. Especially Harry, who's casting speed was blindingly fast and who managed to fly his broom so low to the ground that he was able to use the stalagmites for cover, getting the advantage of the broom's speed without the disadvantage of being a huge target.
Harry just shrugged. "Practice."
"Well, count me in. If you can get that good, so can I," Ernie playfully punched Harry in the shoulder.
"Great!" Despite the admiration bordering on hero-worship that was aimed his way, Harry felt that he himself needed a lot more training as well. 'I'll owl Sirius for more drills we can do.'
\*/
By Halloween, Ron and Lavender were dating. Which wouldn't have been an issue except, like with everything else that Ron did, he felt the need to broadcast it to the whole world. Most evening, they would be snogging in the Gryffindor common room, making the firsties feel uncomfortable. Or they would stop in a doorway for Lavender to adjust Ron's collar and next thing you know they were exploring each other's tonsils, blocking the way for everybody else.
Finally, Hermione had had enough. When Lavender went upstairs to 'powder her nose', Hermione sat down opposite Ron, "Ron, you and Lavender need to stop. You're making a scene all over Hogwarts. It's embarrassing."
Ron just gives her a supercilious look, "If you had a boyfriend, you would understand about kissing."
"And why are you two dating, even? You have nothing in common! Lavender is into fashion and makeup and everything shallow!" The implicit assumption was that Ron was not shallow, which in retrospect may have been unrealistically optimistic.
"You're just saying that because nobody want to date you because you're a horror!" He pointed at the red blotch that was still partially visible under the makeup."Who would want to kiss you?"
Hermione froze in shock before standing up silently and stalking for the door. She wasn't certain where she was going, but she needed to get away from here.
She was just about to reach for the doorknob when it swung open on its own.
"Hey, Hermione," Harry smiled, stopping just in time to keep from crashing into her.
As they stood awkwardly in front of each other, Hermione reached up and pulled his head forward so that she could plant a kiss on Harry's lips.
She then glanced back at Ron as if to say 'so there!' And slammed the door as she exited the Gryffindor common room to a resounding silence.
"What just happened?" Harry turned around in confusion.
"I don't know, mate, but I don't think this is about you," Neville came over to help steer his shell-shocked brother to the side, where he wouldn't be blocking traffic.
\*/
'Why did I do that?' Hermione slumped into her usual study corral in the library – it was her 'safe place', where she could go to think.
So she wasn't sure why she had come here. She didn't need to do any thinking. What had happened was blazingly clear. Ron, as always, was being a prat, and she over reacted. Simple. 'But why did I kiss Harry?' Harry was a friend. She didn't have many of those, especially not like Harry, who was dependable and smart and helpful. Though Neville was also pretty good. Both Potter boys were good people, the sort she wished everybody was, instead of being shallow and self centered. Like Lavender. 'Uh. Why did I do it? He's going to hate me now!'
But it had felt good.
She put her head down on the desk.
\*/
Albus watched as Ron Weasley stalked out of his office. The boy was angry, and had exhibited no sympathy or understanding for Tom. Obviously Tom had become a monster who now needed to be stopped, but Albus firmly believed that if those actions were carried out from a place of anger or hatred, they would cause whoever defeated him to follow in the same path, becoming another Dark Lord and perpetuating the cycle of anger and violence.
Tom had to be stopped by somebody with love in their heart. 'Unfortunately, it won't be me.' He glanced at his discolored arm - the curse had already eroded the cosmetic spell that he had used to disguise the damage. 'One moment of indiscretion, and I will be paying for it for life. Not unlike some of what my charges experience when they let their hormones carry them away.' He chuckled darkly. He most likely wouldn't make it past the end of the school year.
\*/
'Dumbledore has gone soft in the head!' Ron stomped down the winding stairs. 'Voldemort is evil. He needs to be stopped, and preferably killed. Who cares about his history. That bastard killed my mom!'
As Ron approached the end of the corridor, he saw Draco pass in a cross corridor. This section of Hogwarts was mostly empty, as there were mostly offices and storage spaces here. 'Speaking of bastards – that's the second time I've seen him where he doesn't belong.' Unless Draco was off to a secret assignation, he was up to no good. Ron silenced himself and quickly followed after. 'If he is off to meet a girl, this could be awkward.' Ron imagined walking in on Draco and Ginny but shook his head. There was no way. Ginny wasn't interested in boys – she was so much of a tomboy that she was probably into girls - and the only way Draco was going to get a girl was by relying on his daddy's money. Ron basked in his superiority that he had a hot girlfriend. 'I bet he's going to have his daddy arrange a marriage for him.' Ron peered around the corner onto the seventh floor corridor - it was a long blank corridor, with no doors. And no Draco.
"Where?" Ron muttered in confusion, casting 'Finite Incatatem' at random, in case Draco was hiding under a spell.
Nothing.
'Draco has a secret way out of Hogwarts! He must be going to some Junior Death Eater meetings!'
Ron raced back down. 'I need to tell somebody!' But who to tell? Professor Dumbledore was senile, and McGonagall scared him a little. 'I'll just have to deal with it on my own.' The fact that he had to stop Voldemort all by himself was terrifying, but what else was he supposed to do? The Prophesy demanded it.
\*/
Another Quidditch practice was over. Ginny was the last one out of the locker room, having spent a good half hour soaking (sulking) in the shower. 'Another chance to talk to Harry, gone.' She knew that if she wanted to go out with him that she would have to ante up and ask him out.
She made her way back to the castle, dragging her toes through the dust. The problem was she wasn't certain what she wanted to say. 'Hi, We've been friends for years. I'm pretty certain you think of me as a kid sister – no, as a little brother – but I actually kind of like you.' Yeah, that wouldn't end well.
She kicked a pebble as she meandered her way back. And what was the deal with Hermione? When she saw the older girl kiss Harry she had felt her heart lurch, but she quickly realized that it was just a display to get back at her idiot brother. Probably. But why wouldn't she want Harry instead? He was so clearly a better catch.
She was just passing a row of bushes when she heard a girl talking. She must have been sitting on the bench on the other side of the hedge, oblivious to everything that wasn't in plain sight in front of her. "Obviously I'd rather go with Ron, but Lavender will skin me alive if I make a play for him. And Harry's not bad looking - he is way more athletic than Ron." Her voice got a little husky at the end of that statement..
Ginny stopped where she was and leaned over towards the bushes. She had noticed that a lot of girls seemed to be eyeing her bother this year. It was actually kind of funny. But Harry…
It was no surprise that other girls were noticing Harry. That just made it all the more pressing that she figure out what she should say to him. And how. And when. Ginny swallowed down her incipient panic.
"What about the potion?" Asked a second girl.
"You can't mail order those. Not to Hogwarts – the owl will get stopped by the wards. I'm going to have to buy it when I go home for Christmas."
This was starting to sound worse and worse. Ginny knew there were spells to see around corners and over walls, but she didn't know them. She desperately wracked her brain - she needed to know who these girls were. Finally, she remembered the fart jinx that her bothers had loved to use back when they were younger.
She cast it through the bush and waited to see who would come out.
A few seconds later Romilda Vain and Sue Aryo came striding by, almost running.
'Romilda? That butter ball? She thinks she has a chance with Harry?' It didn't matter what potions she took.
But almost zero chance was still better than what she had, especially if she kept her mouth shut. 'Maybe I'll ask Hermione straight up if she likes Harry. If she says no, then maybe I can ask her for advice.'
But what if she said yes?
\*/
It was December, and the dueling club was doing great. Harry was a surprisingly good instructor, and he had 'volunteered' Neville and Terry to help teach.
Partly, it was his ability to see magic: he could tell exactly at what point a student's spell was failing. But it was also that he helped the students think tactically, reminding them to not just cast spells but to move to better positions and and showed them how to keep a good situational awareness, so that they didn't lose track of other opponents (or desks that could end up getting in their way).
As the club was finishing up for the day, Daphne made her way to Neville, who had spent the last 10 minutes working with Luna on her protego. Again. "Let's go for a walk. It's a nice afternoon." She asked – almost demanded.
"Um, sure?" Neville had just been explaining how to put more power into her spell – Luna's spells had a tendency to fade quickly, as her attention wandered. "I'll see you later," he smiled at and waived at the Ravenclaw.
As they walked out of the hall, Neville had to run to catch up with Daphne "Hey, what's the rush?"
"Nothing. Walk with me to the Astronomy Tower." Nothing was wrong. Except clearly Luna had no ability (or interest) in Defense. Yet she was always there, claiming that it was 'important'. And Neville would end up helping her for most of the lesson, when there was clearly no benefit to it. She never improved. At all.
Daphne took a deep breath to calm herself, but all that she could think of was the discussion from last year, about why Neville helped people. The idea that training Luna would provide any tangible benefit to anybody was laughable. Which left the second reason – that he helped because he cared about the people that he was helping. She suddenly whirled on him, "why do you never pay attention to me when we are in dueling club? It's one of the few times we have together, and you're always busy with somebody else." Specifically, Luna.
"Because it's Dueling club." Neville was confused – Daphne was already pretty good. She didn't need any special coaching.
"It's just an extra curricular." Daphne snapped, Why couldn't Neville not understand what she was saying?
"It's not just a club. I believe in what Harry's doing. I think we need to prepare everybody to protect themselves. And that means I work with the weaker students and help them."
"Fine, If you're going to be like that, I don't want to hang out with you anymore!" You had to be decisive. She power walked off in the directions of the dungeons.
"Wait, what? What does that mean?" Neville half ran after her.
"It means that if you can't commit to me, then we're through!"
"I am!" Neville shouted back, but Daphne kept on walking. He was left standing dumbfounded, 'Where did that all come from? And what does she want from me, a marriage proposal?' Well, if she was doing to try to manipulate him, he wasn't going to put with it! He knew what sort of person she was!
\*/
"Harry, my boy, just the person I was hoping to see," Horace Slughorn ambled over to Harry as he headed to dinner, "I am having a small get together for some people. It's going to be a cadre of my current students as well as some former students that have gone on to become quite, quite prominent in their fields. I think you would fit right in."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry almost stuttered. He had heard about Slughorn's 'slug club'. He had an almost prescient ability for picking people who would become famous (though he had apparently picked his mum as well, and she was just a school principle, so he wasn't infallible).
"Oh, and you should bring a friend."
Harry nodded and rushed off to the great hall.
"So, who are you going to invite?" Neville asked once he explained what had just transpired.
Harry shrugged awkwardly. "I don't know. Maybe Cho?" He did his best not too look to his left, down the Gryffindor table to where Ron was sitting with Lavender and a knot of girls who he was completely oblivious of.
Including Hermione.
"Yeah. She's really matured a lot. I remember back in fourth year, she was really self absorbed." Neville paused before adding, "But I think she has a boyfriend." Though she WAS training with Harry's Rangers, so maybe she actually was interested in Harry. What did he know about girls?
The Rangers continued to meet once a week, in addition to the the weekly dueling club sessions, to train using Auror-level drills. It was pretty intense, and Neville was a little surprised that nobody had gotten injured yet. "You know, you don't have to hold back. I mean with the transfiguration – I know that you can do way more with it."
Harry shrugged, glad of the change in subject, "That's what I spent most of last year practicing with Sirius. I know what I can with it, so I want to hone my more traditional dueling skills." It was probably his imagination, but Harry could almost feel where Hermione was as he made sure to not look at her. Except out of the corner of his eye. Or reflected in the tea pot.
He was almost certain that she had kissed him just to annoy Ron, but they had never talked about it. The one time that he had tried, he'd chickened out and they had just ended up talking awkwardly about Potions class.
"Harry? Earth to Harry?" Neville interrupted his musings, "I was just asking if you knew who else was going to the Slug party?" There was certain to be fancy food there, and Neville wouldn't mind getting in to sample some of that (and hobnob with famous people, just to see what they were like), but there was no way that he'd get his own invite. Though maybe he could tag along with a girl who was going. He glanced guiltily over at the Slytherin table. He had tried talking to Daphne after the blow out this afternoon, but she was always with Tracy, so he had written her a letter instead. She hadn't responded.
\*/
As he was heading back up to the dorms, Harry ran into Hermione. 'I should ask her. Even if she laughs at me and says no, at least I'll know where we stand. And there's nobody around right now.'
"Um, Harry," Hermione began just as Harry blurted out 'Uh, thing is, Hermione..."
They both stopped and gestured for the other to talk first. Hermione kept glancing off to one side as she fiddled with some note cards that were cupped surreptitiously in her hands.
'With her hair back like that, she's really quite pretty.' The fact that the mark on her face had faded to almost skin color also made it less distracting.
Finally Hermione began again, "as I was going go to say, Professor Slughorn hosts a special Yule party for his 'slug club' and slug club alumni every year. This is a regular occurrence whenever he is a Professor at Hogwarts." Hermione was talking faster and faster as she ran through her prepared spiel, "And by happenstance, I ran into Professor Slughorn yesterday afternoon after Potions class – which is not really surprising, as he teaches Potions – and he invited me to attend. The party. But at that same time, he recommended that it would be advisable if I came with..."
"Will you go with me to Slughorn's party?" Harry interrupted.
"Yes." Hermione breathed out, the rest of her winding speech forgotten. That was exactly what she had meant to say!
But as she opened her mouth to explain that (and then await the inevitable rejection), Harry grabbed her hand. "That's great!"