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Chapter 16

Harry awoke the next morning to find that Ron had already gone down to breakfast. Getting out of bed, he put on his glasses and got dressed slowly. Harry joined the last few people leaving the almost empty common room, heading down to the Great Hall. Upon reaching the Gryffindor table, he was Ron lying his head on the table and covering it with his hands.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked Hermione, sitting across from her.

"We've just gotten our schedules," she said quietly, looking at Ron.

Harry looked around for Professor McGonagall, who usually gave out the new schedules to Gryffindor.

"Wait," Harry said, "who's the new head of Gryffindor?"

Hermione didn't answer, choosing to point silently down the table instead. Looking in the direction she had pointed, Harry saw a smiling Mrs. Weasley handing out schedules.

"Oh Harry dear," she said, spotting him, "I've got your schedule here. You're with me first class, see you there!"

"Thanks Mrs.- I mean Professor Weasley."

Then, looking at Ron, she said, "Ron? What's wrong dear? Are you ill?"

"I'm fine mum, don't worry," said Ron, not looking up.

"You don't seem well dear, maybe you ought to go to see Madam Pomfrey before my class."

"Er, yeah," said Ron, looking up slightly, "yeah, I erm, I might do that."

"You can't miss her first lesson, Ron!" said Hermione, as Mrs. Weasley worked her way down the table, still smiling brightly.

"Why not?" asked Ron, who had cheered up at the opportunity.

"I reckon you ought to just get it over with," said Harry, "it might not be that bad."

"Oh, it'll be bad," he said, beginning to really look ill.

"She's going to be here all year," said Hermione, scanning her schedule, "you might as well get used to it."

Grudgingly, Ron followed Harry and Hermione down to the dungeons. They entered the classroom to find Mrs. Weasley sitting at the desk and about half the class waiting by their cauldrons.

"Welcome, seventh years, to N.E.W.T. potions," she said brightly, "I'm Professor Weasley, and I will be your instructor for your final year of potion making. In this class, you will be studying the creation of some of the most advanced potions used in the Wizarding world. Some of the potions we will study could be so dangerous if done wrong, that the standards of this class will be raised to a higher level than you have known in your previous years."

Hermione edged eagerly to the end of her seat, while Ron sunk deeply into his.

"We'll be starting today with the Wolfsbane Potion. Can anyone tell me what this potion does?" Hermione's hand shot up, followed by Harry's, "Yes, Harry?"

"It lets a werewolf stay in control when it transforms," he said.

"Very good," she said, smiling fondly at him, "five points to Gryffindor. Now this potion will be difficult and can cause terrible side effects when done incorrectly. Does anyone know what those side effects are?"

Hermione's hand shot up again, "It can cause the transformation to be extremely painful and continue to be painful as long as the werewolf remains transformed. Also, it can cause temporary insanity."

"Excellent, another five points. Now, this potion will require ingredients not included in your basic potions kit, you can collect those in the store cupboard." With a wave of her wand the cupboard opened, then, with another flick of her wand she said, "The steps are on the board, if you have any questions please call me to your table and I will assist you."

At the end of the lesson, even Ron was able to admit that it wasn't as bad as he expected it to be. There was only one point that caused Ron to dive behind his cauldron, in which Mrs. Weasley had shouted across the room, "Oh Ron, sweetheart, you've got to cut those roots into smaller pieces." Aside from that, Harry thought, Mrs. Weasley had proved to be an excellent teacher.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts next," said Ron, cheering up.

"Kingsley is bound to know loads of defensive magic," said Hermione.

Harry, Ron and Hermione traveled out of the dungeons and into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Kingsley stood behind his desk waiting for everyone to take their seats. Harry noticed that this class was also smaller than usual. Only Dean, Neville, Nott and two Ravenclaws had remained in the class.

"This is N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Kingsley in his deep voice, "I am Professor Shaklebolt, former auror for the Ministry of Magic. This is your final year at Hogwarts, soon you will be away from the protection of the castle and left to defend yourself, especially in the current state of the wizarding world. You will therefore be taught to defend yourself with the mastery of jinxes and counter-jinxes, and advanced defensive magic."

They took detailed notes for most of the lesson, until Kingsley said, "I want you all to split up into pairs and we'll start with disarming, I need to see what you can do."

Dean and Neville paired up, while the two Ravenclaws edged together. Harry was halfway to Ron when he spotted Nott staring at him eagerly. If he went with Ron, Harry thought, then Hermione would have to pair with Nott.

"Go with Hermione," Harry told Ron, starting toward Nott. If Voldemort need a new spy in Hogwarts, Harry thought, the son of another Death Eater would make sense.

"Fancy a go then?" asked Nott.

Harry did not say anything, but raised his wand slowly.

"Right," said Kingsley, "I want to see disarming spells on three. One…two…three."

Nott shouted, "Impedimenta," just as Harry cried, "Expelliarmus." Nott's jinx zoomed over Harry's shoulder, while Harry's hit him squarely in the chest. Nott slid back to the wall of the classroom, his wand landing a few feet away. Harry looked around the room, Ron was slowly climbing to his feet; Neville, surprisingly, had managed to disarm Dean. Neither of the Ravenclaw's spells had hit.

Nott snatched his wand up off the ground and aimed it at Harry. His mouth was open, ready to shout a jinx, but then he closed it seeming to think better of it. Harry, who was halfway through the word, "Protego," was surprised at Nott's sudden reconsideration. The bell rang somewhere in the castle, Kingsley stood up and said, "Practice the shield charm, we'll be working on it next class."