The week following his demonstration was both the fastest and the slowest since the beginning of the school year. His classes, both those he was teaching as well as those he was still required to attend, went by quickly. His defense classes went swiftly as he gave an abbreviated history of the advancement of Muggle warfare over the last one hundred years. It wasn't news to the muggleborns of course, but an overwhelming percentage of his students weren't aware of how magic interacted with modern weaponry, so overall the lessons were worth it all the way around.
The slow parts came between classes when he would stare at the trunk that Remus has given him that weekend. He had almost opened it, twice, but something stopped him. What if they didn't live up to all the stories he had heard about them from those that endeavored to remember them fondly. They were the martyrs that led to the end of the First War, there were monuments to them for Merlin's sake. He was just about to reach for the lock on the clasp when Luna's voice came from the classroom. With barely a thought he wandlessly shrunk the trunk, dumping it into his top drawer with all of his half-finished inventions. Seconds later Luna stuck her head in through the doorway. "What's going on in here Harry? Your emotions are all over the place."
He looked at the drawer briefly with guilt in his heart before replying, "I've been talking myself into and out of looking through my parents' things." Luna pulled the visitors chair out and sat across from him. She tented her fingers and stared across them at him for a long moment before dropping her hands and shrugging.
"So don't. Nobody says you have to dive into that trunk. You like the memories you have of them now so let that be their legacy. You're doing amazing things Harry Potter, don't let the things you cannot change dominate your thoughts. You have much more important things to focus on." The soft smile that spread across his lips told her that she had said the right thing. Confident in her actions, she slowly stood and circumnavigated his desk. "Now professor," she whispered as she flicked her wand and pushed his chair back slightly," I have some questions about my grade."
Straddling his lap she captured his lips with hers, gently kissing him as she ran her fingers through his hair. His hands slid to her small waist and held her to him as they slowly worked towards more fervent lip locking, their tongues flicking out toward each other as their cheeks began to tinge red with their excitement.
A stern throat clearing separated them from their assault and Harry looked past Luna's blonde halo of hair to find Professor McGonagall standing ominously in the doorway. "Professor Potter, we did not give you this office so that you had somewhere to sneak off to with Ms. Lovegood." Harry opened his mouth to object but Luna put her fingers over his lips.
"Actually Professor, I came here looking for Harry and he seemed in need of comforting, I apologize for taking advantage of your trust in Harry." McGonagall harrumphed softly and nodded.
"Very well, five points from Ravenclaw for your conduct," then continuing under her breath, "at least have the decency to close the door and set an alarm ward to maintain your dignity." Then she winked at two of her favorite students. She may be old enough to be their grandmother, but she understood young love as well as anyone.
Luna disentangled herself from Harry's lap and squeezed his hand before moving toward the open door. "I was just leaving anyway Professor, Harry don't forget to eat." He nodded dutifully before turning his attention to the Deputy Headmistress and raising one inquisitive eyebrow at her. She looked as if she had just caught the Weasley twins trying to liberate the entire castle's stock of toilet seats.
"I just had to deny Minister Fudge access to the castle. Apparently he wanted to talk to you about some political scheme of his. Not that I'm your secretary Mr. Potter, but I informed him that he was more than capable of owling you instead of ambushing you in the halls. " As she spoke, Professor McGonagall took a seat and leveled her gaze on her student and colleague.
Harry frowned at the news, he wasn't prepared to back anyone's political agenda beyond a general 'Voldemort is bad' line of action. "Did he give any hint as to that its as about? Or did you just glare him down and out of the floo call before he got that far? Tea?" At her nod Harry beckoned Dobby and they soon had a full tea service between them. He poured them both tea, passing her cup with one hand while collecting a chocolate biscuit with his other.
McGonagall held her tea cup without drinking, "He didn't get that far, not that I glared at him that much. From the recent theme of the Daily Prophet I suspect it was some legislation against muggle weaponry so as to combat their new opposition in the arms race the Ministry seems to be in with He-who-must-not-be-named." Fire flashed in his green eyes as Harry listened to her theory. Ignoring her colloquialism of Tom's name he shook his head in frustration.
"I go out of my way to ensure that students and Aurors alike know what is out there, what his goons are up to and the Ministry finds it in their tiny heads the idiotic idea that we have a threat from a group of people that - that can't even see us half of the time! They already have a very real threat in Tom and they want to split resources? No wonder Tom was such a threat last time, he's bullying reactive scared children." His professor was now smirking at him over the top of her tea cup, letting him vent his disbelief fully before speaking.
"That, Harry, is exactly why I didn't want to allow you to be ambushed. You would have given the man such a dressing down that he would have scurried back to the ministry with his tail between his legs and started another campaign against you." Harry sat back and pensively reviewed his reaction Minister Fudge would have had to Harry's concerns and exclamation. Professor McGonagall was more than likely on the right track. The Minister would have skipped going back to the Ministry and would have instead made a beeline for the Daily Prophet to give a statement about how Harry was once again siding against the wizarding public.
"I'm not entirely sure what to do about Fudge, you are entirely correct that he is focusing on the wrong issue. It isn't the muggles' fault they've been carrying on with technological advances while the wizarding world fines people for enchanting forty year old cars." At this, McGonagall smirked, reminded of his and Ron's entrance to their second year. "I think what I need to do is make an appointment with our dear minister and go in with talking points and evidence worked out so that I have something to rely upon without blowing up at him. Maybe we can find some wiggle room for experimental charms on modern day muggle objects, drag the wizarding world out of the 1940s."
The deputy Headmistress smiled at him and set her teacup down. "Very Slytherin of you Harry. Don't worry, I'm not offended, and I won't tell Severus that you've actually stopped to think before charging forth," she paused briefly before adding "though you have gotten into quite the habit of planning, you're almost as bad as the Headmaster." Harry grinned. They both stood as the chime for the dinner hour began sounding throughout the castle. "Don't forget about the staff meeting after dinner, you missed the last one because Poppy kept you under observation after the attack on your home, but Albus insisted you be present for this one." Harry waved his acknowledgement and they chatted about how their classes were looking as they headed into the last month before the winter break. They separated at the entrance to the Great Hall and Harry joined his friends at the Gryffindor table, sliding between Luna and Hermione.
"Professor McGonagall wasn't terribly upset, was she?" asked Luna quietly once Harry had swallowed a few bites of his meal. "Wha? Oh, no she didn't even bring it up again once you left. Apparently Fudge had been badgering her to let him see me and she was more perturbed by our esteemed Minister." Answered Harry, before spearing another potato with his fork.
"What did the Minister want Harry?" asked Hermione, doing her best to only appear mildly interested instead of wanting to throttle Harry for being nonchalant about it. None of her friends fell for her act, however, Ron and Neville covertly rolling their eyes at her poor acting skills.
"I'm not really sure," began Harry "Professor McGonagall thinks he is being reactionary to my lesson on Muggle Weaponry. He probably wants to crack down on some supposed Muggle threat. I'm going to put all my ducks in a row and make an appointment to discuss things with Fudge. That way I'm not ambushed and he can't claim to be either." Hermione and the boys looked pensive and Luna looked a little bit confused.
"Daddy and I have always had lovely experiences with Muggles when we go on our trips. Daddy likes to stay in muggle hotels because he enjoys the breakfast he can get there, claims the bacon seems fresher than what he gets in a magical establishment." Ron looked perplexed at the statement so she explained, taking on a deep voice to imitate her father, " 'The problem with the stasis charm Luna, is that you never know when it was cast. You could be eating from a pig that is older than I am'," she giggled, "I'm sure that would never be the case, but one can't really be sure, can they?" She finished in a conspiratorial whisper.
Ron looked down at his last bite of shepherds pie, shrugged, and shoved it into his mouth before chewing with exaggerated enjoyment. "Mmm, ancient pie." Neville burst into laughter and Hermione gave him her best 'Honestly Ronald' glare from across the table.
Harry mimicked Ron's enthusiasm for his food as he finished his meal and then stood as the rest of the staff filed out of the hall, "Sadly I cannot remain and discuss the pros and cons of the food stasis charm, I have a staff meeting to attend. Meet you guys after in the library for homework?"
His friends all agreed and after a kiss to Luna's forehead he made his way toward the conference room. He waved to the Bloody Baron and Nearly-Headless Nick along the way. He appreciated the Hogwarts ghosts more now that he was a professor. They served as school councilors and gave the professors and especially the heads of house early warnings for when students seemed to be unusually sad or emotional. More than once this had led to timely intervention that saved a student from various forms of self-harm. Just the week before the Fat Friar had floated into his office to inform him that a 4th year Hufflepuff had been crying herself to sleep ever since the attack on Hogsmeade. Harry had held her after class and spoken openly with her about how scared he had been after the attack, and asked let her know that he was there for her if she ever wanted to talk about it. A few days later, after her next Defense class, she had stuck around for a while, having a cup of tea and talking about her nightmares. Harry put on his best 'hero' smile - as Luna called it - and helped her work through some of those fears. In the end she agreed to put some extra time into her Defense Against the Dark Arts work at the DA for the next few months so she didn't feel so helpless if something were to happen again.
The memory of that student was something that drove Harry, to push himself to be the best teacher they could ask for when it came to Defense, to make sure that nobody would be a victim because they weren't prepared. He shook his head, banishing the obsessive thoughts as he pulled the door to the conference room open. He slipped inside, and fell into the nearest chair between Flitwick and Professor Vector. Everyone quieted down as he settled into his seat and Dumbledore stood to address the group.
"It saddens me deeply to inform you all that our 'de Soule Scholarship' is in dire need of new donations. In the last few decades since the beginning of our first war with Tom donations to the school have waned, either due to the sudden decline in our population or the uneven redistribution of wealth that followed. In addition, due to the same cause, we have quite a number of students this year that require the scholarship's aid." He paused here for effect before continuing, "I know that Assistant Professor Potter is in the process of setting up a scholarship in his mother's name," he smiled at at Harry, "but that will not be in effect until next school year due to some legal and logistical issues at Gringotts. In the meantime does anyone have any ideas that would help get the students that we do have the support they need to get through the remainder of the school year, enough for school supplies and the like for the spring term."
Everyone ignored the grumble from Professor Snape about how none of this was his problem and began offering light hearted ideas for fundraising. Professor Sprout suggested a bake sale, while Professors Vector and Flitwick excitedly suggested a pub quiz of some design. Harry was listening to all of the suggestions and thinking about a solution when he realized that everyone had quieted down and all eyes were on him. He raised one eyebrow at Dumbledore, "I asked if you had any ideas to contribute to the discussion."
Harry nodded, "Why don't we do all of those things? Have a sort of village fair in the Great Hall, all of the professors and any clubs that want to participate can have a stand. We can invite the businesses from Hogsmeade and charge them a fee for the space, all proceeds going toward the scholarship."
Smiles greeted him from most of the table, Snape merely gave him an approving nod. "That, young Harry, is an excellent idea. We can arrange it for the last Saturday before the Yule Break. It will take quite a bit of preparation but I believe that we have the skill and wherewithal in the staff to make sure that it goes off without a hitch. We will need a good amount of raw materials to build the stands in the great hall, and once we know everyone who will want to participate we will need to organize the most efficient floor plan to keep everyone entertained." Dumbledore's eyes were glowing, the Yule Ball two years prior was the last time he had been able to plan something so carefree for his students.
"Heads, please communicate with your clubs, I will reach out to the shops, and I will expect you all to submit your ideas for stands two weeks beforehand so that we can finalize the logistics." The murmuring among the professors began anew. "If there is nothing else, you are all dismissed. Oh, but Professor Potter," Harry stopped with his hand on the door, "please come by my office once you're done studying for the evening." Harry shook his head, far from surprised that the Headmaster knew what his plans for the evening were, before waving a hand in acknowledgement and pulling the door open.
Flitwick escorted Harry to the library as far as his office, the shorter professor talking animatedly about the categories of questions they would have for the quiz game he had planned. Before they parted ways, Harry suggested offering coupons to get out of a single homework assignment as a prize. Flitwick agreed to consider it before continuing on into his classroom, while Harry took the last few turns to find the library.
Harry entered the library and easily found his friends at a large table just out of view of Madame Pince's desk. Neville slid his bag over to him and he joined in the quiet concentration that enveloped the table. It was amazing to Harry that with everything going on in the world outside the castle, both muggle and magical, that they could all focus so severely on homework. Well, except for Hermione anyway, for her it made sense. Over the next few hours as curfew drew closer, their conversation remained in hushed tones and passed notes. Before long all of their collective assignments were completed for the remainder of the week and they decided as a group to escort Luna to her dormitory.
"Anything interesting from the staff meeting tonight Harry?" came the predictable question from Hermione. If she couldn't be in the know with the professors she wouldn't hesitate to use Harry to keep herself apprised of the situation at the school.
Harry smiled at Hermione and then held out his hand to Neville who dropped a galleon into his palm. "Why yes, Hermione, there was. We are going to have a sort of village fair in the Great Hall as a fundraiser, all of the professors and any student clubs that want to participate will have a booth. We are also going to extend the invitation to the village shops, letting them rent a booth for a small fee. Those fees would of course go directly toward the fundraiser." His friends all began talking at once about the different things they expected to see at the fair.
"What are you going to do Harry?" asked Luna as she squeezed his hand, "Dunk tank?" Harry grinned and Hermione burst into laughter as Luna took a minute to explain to Ron and Neville what they were going on about. "I'm not really sure," mused Harry, staring off a bit into the distance as they waited for the staircase to move into position. "What do I have worth peddling for a fundraiser?" he put up his hand before Ron could speak, "I'm not selling my autograph or photo or anything like that." Ron pouted and Hermione smirked at him and took his hand to cheer him up.
Luna looked up at him with a mischievous grin that made him a little uneasy, "I think that you should have a kissing booth. Let all the girls know what they're missing out on." She waggled her eyebrows and giggled at his open mouthed reaction to her idea, "We could limit the younger years to a kiss on the cheek, and charge more to the upper years for real smooches." At this point everyone else was laughing at Harry's expense, so he did the only thing he could think to do; attempt to regain control. "Fine, but only girls, and your brothers," he pointed at Ron, "will be generating t-shirts so we can up sell everyone: 'I kissed The Boy-Who-Lived and it was just ok.' "
By now they had arrived at the entrance to the Ravenclaw dormitory and their friends gave Harry and Luna a bit of privacy while simultaneously standing guard. "You really want to open me up to the whole school like that? Are we limited them to one kiss each? What about tampered lipstick?" Luna pulled him down and kissed him so soundly he momentarily forgot he was standing on the small staircase leading to the bronze knocker, causing him to wildly grab the railing for balance.
"Hermione and I will screen all of your patrons to make sure they have nothing malicious on their lips or in their system. Besides, this gives Daphne an opportunity to test out her crush." Harry shook his head, "You're really set on that, aren't you? Fine, but what if she doesn't take the bait and ignores my very tempting booth." Harry waggled his eyebrows, imitating her earlier action.
Luna grinned predatorily, "She will, and if she doesn't than you get to kiss the entire population of Hogwarts knowing that my clever plan was for naught, what have you got to lose?"
"The entire female population." Corrected Harry.
"Right." Replied Luna, with a straight face.
"Night Luna."
"Night Harry."
They kissed one last time before separating, both very hesitant to pull away from the other. Once Luna was safely inside her dorm, Harry jogged to catch up with his friends and they made their way back to the Gryffindor tower, laughing the whole way, Ron thinking of worse and worse people that Harry might be subjected to during the fair the entire way back - starting at Marietta Edgecombe and eventually getting to the inevitable worst case scenario of Millicent Bulstrode. Once his friends were safely behind the portrait of the Fat Lady he excused himself and took a slow stroll to the Headmaster's office.
With his hands in his pockets he took his time, taking in the feel of the castle, the weight of the magic that surrounded him. He worried for the student population that he had become so familiar with the last few months as he taught them everything he could so that they would survive their next encounter with the dark. He didn't know when it was going to happen, the inevitable confrontation between what he was trying to build and the swirling ball of hatred and anger Voldemort was currently constructing around himself. The link was gone, of course, the one that had linked him and Tom for fifteen years of his life. But if he reached out, let his senses flow over the United Kingdom, he could feel the miasma of Tom's presence lingering across the country.
He rode the escalating stairs up to the headmaster's office, reaching out again, trying to locate where the Death Eaters were holed up. His eyes were still unfocused as the door to the office opened automatically as he approached. It took the Headmaster a few times to get his attention, "Harry? Are you okay my friend?" Harry shook himself and forced a smile onto his face, stepping into the office and examining every inch of it reflexively before he let himself fall into the overstuffed visitor's chair he had grown accustomed to taking.
"Yes, sorry, I'm fine. I was trying to see if I could sense where Tom has his forces holed up. I can feel his…stench all over the place but I can't…" he shook his head again. "I can't get a lock on him, he's either moving around too much or his wards are protecting him from me - though I'm not familiar with any kind of wards that would prevent psionics from going through." He frowned, his frustration evident on his face.
"There are quite a few wards that would prevent mental attacks upon those within their boundaries, perhaps they're serving as a dampening field or a lightening rod for your probes." Dumbledore suggested after a few moments of thought. "We could run some experiments if you'd like, set up some wards on the Shrieking Shack and then see what you can sense through them - bring in some of your friends and have them participate so that you won't know who you're looking for."
By now Harry was nodding slowly, "Yeah, that might work, how long would it take to set up the wards? Would it be difficult to set up various combinations of wards that I might be able to get a feel for?"
"Quite a while, unfortunately. Because wards are so potent, so useful, they take quite a while to establish. When you go about setting up a ward scheme it requires a significant amount of arithmancy before you would even start carving rune stones. Even somewhere as small as the Shrieking Shack would take at least a month to complete and by then it may be too late to be useful, but if you'd like I'm sure the goblins would be happy to set them up for us…for you." Dumbledore's eye twinkled as he said this, Harry fighting a blush as pride flowed through him.
"Yes, I think that I will send an owl to my account manager and see if we can get some Gringotts employees engaged in this little project of ours. But that isn't why you invited me up here, how can I help you sir?" Harry sat back in his overstuffed chair, letting his hands rest on the arms and his gaze on his mentor.
"Minerva tells me that she had to rebuff our esteemed minister earlier today, I was hoping we could…touch base on the matter. There have been whispers in the ministry lately - renewed fears of muggles and the weaponry that they possess. Solely created for the destruction of wizard kind if you listen to some of the old hands." Dumbledore shook his head, "Muggle newspapers, their books, all of it is readily available in every public library across our country. If any one of them would walk into one of those unguarded, unlocked, welcoming buildings they could learn the history of these things as I have. Muggles are absolutely fascinating, and I look forward to the day where we can live together without fear of mutual destruction." The old wizard sighed heavily - he knew that trying to change wizards who were, like himself, over a hundred years old would always prove to be a difficult task.
"What we need sir, is to figure out a way to bring all of the information to the forefront of the public without letting the fear mongering take hold. Many witches and wizards are smart enough to think for themselves, to rationalize and come to their own conclusions. Sure the Wizengamot is led by the old blood, but the more we get everyone comfortable with the idea that the muggles aren't boogeymen, the easier the future generations will be to reason with. This is going to be my fight eventually, it might take until I've got a beard as long as yours before they'll listen to me, but I'm going to make them listen. I just need to figure out how." Harry's hands had moved a lot during his short speech, fire igniting behind his green eyes.
Dumbledore smiled and nodded at him across the desk, "It seems that I had nothing to worry about. I was concerned you would charge head first at Cornelius and try to overpower his deepest beliefs about wizards and muggles, but it sounds like you're on the right path. Sometimes playing the long game is the best way to handle these types of situations. I do hope that I live to see the day when you convince everyone how short-sighted they've become Harry. It would do an old man so much good." Harry smiled wanly, he knew as well as Dumbledore how long that would take. "I don't know," Harry began, "where to even begin with Fudge. I'll send Hedwig in the morning to set up a meeting, sometime before the next Wizengamot meeting so that I can get ahead of any ridiculous legislation that might be coming up."
Harry stood and stretched, "It is getting late Professor. I'm going to get myself to my bed and get some rest. If you have any insights into the kind of wards that I should be testing over at the Shrieking Shack, please let me know." Dumbledore gave him a slight nod and smiled his dismissal.