Author's Note
This is my first work of fan fiction, though not my first written work. I do hope that you enjoy it, as my desire is to entertain readers just as much as it is to get this story out of my head.
I despise typos, continuity errors, and formatting mistakes. Do not hesitate to point them out so I may set them on fire, though I would prefer you DM me so my shame does not live eternal in the reviews. Unless it relates to apostrophes, which I have learned I have no control over.
Please. Review. I cannot stress this enough. Your feedback, both positive and negative, motivates me and helps me to become a better writer.
Do. Not. Post. Spoilers. In. Your. Review.
Disclaimer: I am not the immensely talented and inspiring woman known as J. K. Rowling, and therefore hold no claim to the fantastical world she allows our imaginations to frolic in.
Chapter 12: The Schedule
"I hope I didn't make them feel unwelcome . . " Hermione sad sadly.
Ron simply leaned back in his chair comfortably. "I mean, 'Mione you did sort of tell them to get out."
Hermione flushed and was about to respond when Harry quickly interrupted.
"She and Cedric were right though. This is a competition and we can't really work together right now with the whole school thinking I cheated. He was also right about it being time to start training, so Hermione will you tell me what you were thinking?"
She nodded and stepped forward, setting her bag down heavily on the large coffee table between all of them. Quickly she began pulling out small leather bound black books, handing one each to Harry and Ron and setting one down in front of herself.
"I was saving those for Christmas, but this is a greater good." She then also started pulling out larger books and setting them down on the table.
"Merlin Hermione, how do you fit so many books in your bag?" Ron said while trying to pick up a heavy book, before wincing and rubbing his wrist.
"I've been experimenting with expansion charms." Hermione commented absently, as she lined up each book. "But I've only been able to double the space, and I still can't lessen the weight."
". . . That's N.E.W.T. level spellwork, how did you enchant a bag in your fourth year?" He said while trying to reach for it.
Hermione quickly held the bag up with both hands and stepped back.
"It's not done yet, don't look at it!" She said with more than a hint of disappointment in her voice. "It was my first attempt and it barely works at all!"
Harry couldn't help but laugh, only Hermione could do work years above her and not be satisfied with it. Ron, however, had stopped paying attention to the bag and was looking intently at each of the books Hermione had set out with a frown.
"Hermione, where did you get these from?" He asked in a suddenly serious tone.
"Oh. Well. If you must know, Ron, they were Christmas presents from your mother. She sends me a few books every year. They are . . . interesting, but I've never had a chance to read them."
Ron's frown deepened, but he didn't say anything. Harry leaned forward to try and see the books on the table, and was able to make out a few of the titles.
"A Tome for Your Home" By Nellie Nest
"Where There's a Wand, There's a Way" by Almira Rubble
"Enchantment in Baking" By Pepper Plums
"Uh Hermione, these don't look like defensive spells." He said while looking them over.
The bushy haired girl bit her lower lip, and she looked down into her bag as if she was still looking for more books, even though it was clearly almost empty now.
"Hermione?"
Harry had known her for years, and it was obvious to him that she didn't want to say what she was thinking.
"Harry . . . I love you . . like a brother!" she blurted the last part out hastily, turning red in the face again. "So I don't want you to take this the wrong way or anything."
Ron had suddenly turned and she now had both of their attention.
"Harry." She took a deep breath. "You're a wonderfully powerful wizard, we all know that. But . . . your spell library is dreadful."
"Uh." He said, looking at Ron who just shrugged his shoulders. "Hermione, it's not really my library, I don't even know who put those books here."
"Ugh. Not that library Harry! And of course you don't know, it would be pointless if he had told you!" She said sounding exasperated.
"Wait, what?"
"I meant your repertoire, the number of spells you know is extremely limited."
At this Harry began to feel more than a little upset at what one of his best friends was saying to him.
"Hermione, I may not be 'practicing my expansion charms', but I still do well enough in class to know all the spells."
"That's not what I mean Harry." Hermione said in a slightly pleading voice. "Don't you remember the troll? You're a wizard, and you stuck your wand up its nose."
"Hermione lay off 'em, that was start of first year. We only knew the one spell." Interjected Ron as he started eating a large cookie.
She shook her head and ignored him.
"Second year, the basilisk, you're at a school for wizardry and you attacked it with a sword."
"It was fifty feet long Hermione, and I couldn't look at it for half the fight! I barely survived!" Harry almost shouted at her, trying to keep his temper in check.
"And last year Harry." She continued, looking as if she was ready to cry. "You stood between us and Sirius Black, holding your wand at him, saying you wanted to kill him. Harry. What spell did you think you were going to cast at him? Name literally any spell."
Harry twisted his jaw and clenched his fists, he didn't know what point Hermione was trying to make. Ron was looking from one of them to the other, unsure of what to say, or maybe just trying to decide whose side to be on.
But as Harry stood there and thought about it, he didn't actually know any good spells to use against another person. Petrificus Totalus and Flipendo had their uses, but certainly didn't do any real damage.
"Harry has a bloody brilliant patronus." Ron said, having seemingly decided to back him up in the conversation.
Hermione only smiled, her eyes shimmering. "That's what I mean Harry. You're a powerful wizard, you learned a spell most full grown wizards don't know in a matter of months. That's incredible. And if we were only worried about our studies I might never have said anything." She admitted, while sitting down on the table right in front of him.
"But during the summer, even before your name came out of that Goblet, I was worried. Every year something terrible happens to you, and you barely make it out alive. It was only going to take one time when 'barely' wouldn't be enough, and then you would be gone. So I thought, this could be the year the three of us would get ahead."
She twisted the end of her robes in her hands nervously as she sat there. Harry didn't want to stop her from talking, the anger having slowly left him. It was clear that this had been on her mind for some time. Even Ron was looking at her seriously.
"And now you're a 'Champion' and there's a 'Tournament' and we can't go at the relaxed pace I was hoping for. There will be different challenges, and it's not going to be just about throwing the most powerful spell around."
She sniffled loudly, grabbing a large handkerchief off the table and burying her face in it for a few seconds. Both boys just stayed quiet until she was ready to talk again.
"When I first got these books from Mrs. Weasley I thought it was because . . I was a girl, and she wanted me to learn spells to fold laundry and make tea. Then last year we were all staying at the Leaky Cauldron and I tried to let her know how I felt."
She grabbed one of the books on the table, Where there's A Wand There's A Way, and started to flip through it.
"Harry, what spell would you use to dig a hole?" She asked suddenly, looking up at him.
"Uh." He replied, caught off guard by the question. "I think I'd just look for a spade?"
Hermione shook her head violently. "That's the problem Harry! You and I need to stop looking at muggle solutions, when we're both wizards. Mrs. Weasley said she gave me these books not because I was a girl, but because she knew muggleborns are rarely taught every day spells and she didn't want me to go through life without them."
She turned the book around and showed him the page she had opened. It was titled: Defodio: The Gouging Charm, and had several elaborate drawings of wand movements.
"Look, this is a household spell for making quick holes. It says here it's mainly used in gardening, but don't you see? What happens if you are trapped behind a barrier and can't see your attacker? You could put a hole right through it that you could see through and have amazing cover. Or what if you are pitted against a huge beast with no place to hide? You could have a trench in a matter of seconds."
She flipped the pages again quickly before pushing it closer to his face.
"Flante Exsurgebat: The Air Drying Charm. What if you have to swim in one of the challenges? When you got back on land you'd be extremely slowed down, you wouldn't have time to cast a fire lighting charm and wait to dry naturally."
She closed the book and held it tightly to her chest while looking at him, her eyes still watery.
"Harry, these are spells the other Champions are going to know so well they will cast them without even thinking, and we haven't spent any time on them at all. I know that when you thought about training you were thinking about spells that would blast way your competition, and of course you need those spells, but don't you think we should start with the basics?"
Hermione put her book down and took Harry by the hands, looking at him intently.
"We're going to be in this world for the rest of our lives, isn't it time we learned how to live in it?"
Several quiet moments passed where nothing happened. Hermione looked at Harry, Harry looked at Hermione, and Ron looked at both of them. Until finally the dark haired boy let out a long sigh.
How could he have been upset with Hermione? She always has a reason for her ideas, and the reasons were usually about protecting Harry. In the end all she was doing was worry about his well-being, and he couldn't help but swell slightly at the thought of someone caring about him. He didn't think a spell to dig holes would actually help him in the tournament, but he knew Hermione was right.
"I trust you Hermione. The first task is still a few weeks away, and I am more than willing to do things your way. But . . just promise me we can still learn a combat spell before then? I really have no idea what I was going to cast at Sirius back then . . ."
Hermione beamed towards him happily and leapt to her feet.
"Of course we will! We just won't be focusing on it as heavily. I have everything planned out if you would both listen?"
She reached out and grabbed Ron by the arm, who had been standing off to the side making sure not to say anything that would upset her. Suddenly he was pushed back into his chair near Harry, and both boys were given their little black books.
Hermione took hers off of the table and moved towards the blackboard near the bookshelves, where she quickly started drawing a calendar with the tip of her wand. The moment her back was fully turned Ron leaned forward and grabbed the plate of cookies on the coffee table and brought them into his lap. Though not before thrusting a particularly large one towards Harry first, who hid it in his robes immediately.
So excited was Hermione that she didn't seem to notice when she turned back to them.
"I picked up those books in Diagon Alley, though I have modified them slightly. They were originally homework planners you were going to be getting for Christmas."
Ron looked slightly mortified at the thought, but Harry managed to simply stare at her blankly. Fortunately Hermione was still too caught up to notice either of their reactions.
"These!" she said, tapping the books "Will be our new training planners. We're going to decide every week which spells we are going to work on, and the planner will help us keep track of our progress.
She opened her book before motioning Harry and Ron to do the same. When Harry opened his he found that it laid flat and displayed a schedule for the entire week, color coordinated by day and time. But what really surprised Harry was that his classes were already listed at the proper times, even though he had only changed his schedule a day ago.
"Now this is what I recommend. We start by selecting three spells that we think will be useful for the tournament, two 'household spells' and one 'combat spell'." The bushy haired girl said while flicking her wand at the blackboard. Suddenly 1a and 1b appeared on the schedule on alternating mornings, while simply 2 appeared on alternating afternoons.
"This way we spend an entire day focused on a single spell, and we can have either Saturday or Sunday be a review day. Obviously the main goal is for Harry to be able to cast these spells reliably, but it would be best for Ron and I to learn what we can as well. But Harry, you have much more free time than we do, I fully expect you to master these spells first so we can move on." She said while giving him a stern look.
"Alright Hermione." Harry said casually, which may have been the wrong tone for this moment considering how fast her look turned into a full on glare.
"Not just 'alright' Harry!" She insisted. "The only day you don't have a free morning period is Monday, and you have both Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. Both of those are hands on, and both are outside with minimal supervision. I want you to promise me that you will practice whatever spells you can during class, even if it means turning a hippogriff pink!"
Hermione's smacked the tip of her wand against the blackboard with a resounding "CRACK" that caused both boys to flinch. Harry sat up straighter, and Ron tried to stealthily move the cookies from his lap to the floor.
"So um." Harry said, trying to keep her attention on him. "Which spells do we want to pick?"
She smiled and turned back to the board, drawing small sections to the side titled Simple Spells and Combat Spells.
"Well, I see no reason not to start with the spells I mentioned already. The gouging charm, and air-drying charm are extremely practical. They are also some of the easier spells to learn. But as for combat spells that may take a bit of research. I think for those we should come up with a list so that we have an idea of what we are going to be working on next. We'll also need to think of a combat spell for this week. Does anyone have a suggestion?"
Harry thought about this for a few moments, rubbing his messy head of hair. "What was that spell the Ministry cast at us after the World Cup? When they thought we had cast the dark mark?"
"Stupefy." Ron commented thoughtfully while drinking a glass of milk. "It stuns people. Dad's mentioned it before, and I know Charlie uses it a lot to help with the dragons."
"Oh, that sounds useful!" Hermione said as she spun around and started writing the information on the blackboard. "We have Charms first today, I can ask Professor Flitwick about the spell. And I'm sure one of the books down here has the information."
Suddenly Harry was reminded of something. "Where did those books come from Hermione? You and Cedric seemed to know."
"Honestly Harry, really? They're obviously from Dumbledore." She said in a tone that reminded Harry very much of the Hermione from first year.
"The books are from Dumbledore?" He said with a frown. "He didn't say he was giving me any books."
Hermione set down her chalk and turned, giving him a slightly disappointed look.
"Harry, of course he didn't. Don't you remember the rules of the tournament? He's barred from giving you any help with the tournament. I'm sure he was only able to help with the Chamber because the rules say each Champion has a right to their own training space, or some such. If anyone found out he had lent you books for your training he would be in a lot of trouble."
She walked over to the bookcase and grabbed a particularly dull colored tome with frayed edges and brought it over to him, flipping the book open to the front cover. She tilted it towards him so he could clearly see Property of Hogwarts Library stamped onto it in faded black ink.
"However, if the Headmaster were, let's say, storing unused library books in a newly renovated room of the castle. Well he wouldn't be able to help it if someone came along and decided to read them."
Harry's mouth hung open slightly as she gave him a knowing smirk.
"You see Harry, even Cedric figured it out. It was a rather obvious explanation."
"Hermione, do you have any more obvious explanations up your sleeve?" Ron commented slowly as he sipped his milk.
She huffed lightly. "And what do you mean by that, Ronald."
"Something's been bothering me. I couldn't figure out what it was, I think the entire Chamber thing and then the complicated . . er, well thought out plan had me too distracted." He said, catching himself just as Hermione started to look offended.
"Well, Ron, just say what it is. If you think there are any problems with this schedule you need to say so before we get started." She said while taking a slow breath to calm herself.
"Well it's just . . . Hermione, where did you get that blackboard?" Ron asked seriously, holding up his hand towards it.
Hermione blinked at him.
Then blinked again.
"What? Ron, obviously the Headmaster knows how important studying will be during Harry's training, and arranged for it to be brought down here with the books."
"That's all well and good Hermione." Ron said, a bit upset. "But it wasn't here when we got here. Don't you remember? We came over straight away when you saw the books, big surprise, and then we chatted with the badgers for awhile. There's wasn't a big bleedin' blackboard here until you started talking about schedules."
Hermione's eyes grew wide as she turned back and forth from the blackboard and Ron.
"But . . no, I was starting to talk about the plan and I saw there was a blackboard down here and it just seemed perfect . . "
"And another thing!" The red head got out of his chair and stood up, looking between Harry and Hermione before holding out his hand. "Where did this glass of milk come from? I mean, tastes great, nice and cold, but where did I get it?"
Hermione's eyes grew twice their size. "What?! Ron, what are you saying? We're not, we aren't just making these things appear out of thin air!"
Harry could feel in the back of his head the smallest of headaches beginning to form. He reached into his robes and pulled out the cookie Ron had given him earlier.
"Ron, where'd those cookies go?" He asked quickly.
To Hermione's shock Ron nodded and pulled the tray from its hiding place and set it back on the table.
"They were right there, but not when the Hufflepuffs were here. That's for certain, I always know when there are snacks nearby."
Harry stood and swept the room with his eyes, looking for something specific. "And considering breakfast was almost half an hour ago you had started to get hungry around then?"
"O' course. Plus Hermione wanted to get to the Entrance Hall early, and I didn't have enough time to make a bacon sandwich for my after breakfast snack." Ron said while taking another cookie off the tray.
"That explains it." Harry said, half-way under his breath.
"Harry, what's wrong? What's going on?" Hermione said.
Harry, not having found what he was looking for, decided it was time for the direct approach. He finally settled his gaze on an empty area between the blackboard and his chair, and took a deep breath.
"DOBBY!" He cried out.
POP
Hermione squeaked as the small elf appeared from nowhere, his knees lightly shaking and his ears drooping backwards. In each hand he held a glass of milk.
"Harry Potter Sir! Dobby is so sorry! Did Harry Potter and Miss Grangey want tea instead?"
Harry placed his hand against his face and just allowed it to sit there for a long moment, not saying anything.
"Why are you watching us Dobby?" He finally asked.
The elf perked up a bit and set the glasses on the table before lightly bouncing on his feet.
"The Headly-Master gave Dobby an important assignment! Dobby is to take care of Harry Potter's training room and bring him anything he needs! Dobby brought down the old books Headly-Master gave to Dobby yesterday. And Dobby has cleaned all of the dust sir!"
"What dust? Harry asked, looking around. "We just cleaned the room just yesterday?"
"Oh, begging your pardon Harry Potter Sir, but wizards always forget to dust the ceiling. Dobby made sure to stay up late and scrub it clean!" The elf said in a large smile.
And now Harry felt the rest of the headache.
"Dobby? My name is Hermione and this is Ron." Hermione said cautiously, having never met the house-elf before, but having heard Harry talk about him several times. "Dobby, how did you bring the books down here? Harry only opened the Chamber again several minutes ago and the books were already here."
"Dobby popped down with armfuls of books last night, Miss Grangey. It took less trips because Dobby piled them up high!" He said proudly, puffing out his chest.
"No, Dobby. That's not what I meant." Hermione said, a bit more firmly now. "The Chamber was sealed. How did you enter?"
Dobby titled his head slightly, ears flapping to one side. It reminded Harry of the look Aunt Marge's last dog, Quincy, gave whenever she gave him a command and he just stood there.
The small elf's next words were said somewhat slowly. "Dobby was told to bring the books down to the Chamber, Miss Grangey."
To Harry it seemed as if Hermione was also starting to suffer from a house-elf induced headache.
"Dobby, no!" She said while trying to remain calm. "This is the Chamber of Secrets, it was built by Salazar Slytherin, there's enough magic down here to keep even Dumbledore out! Where did you enter from, if there's another entrance we need to know. You can't just pop down when the wards are in place!"
Dobby gave her an extremely confused expression.
". . . of course Dobby can, Miss. Dobby's an elf."
Hermione pulled on the ends of her hair and then, after a moment, simply deflated somewhat. Dobby turned and looked at Ron while smiling widely.
"Dobby hears Harry Potter's Wheezy wants a sandwich, Sir?" He asked happily.
Ron, on the other hand, now looked as if Christmas had arrived several weeks early.
"Alright Dobby listen up." The taller boy said seriously, getting down on one knee. "Eight strips of bacon, on white, toasted, in an alternating pattern. Then a fried egg, THEN hash browns. The layering is important. Finally eight more strips of bacon."
Dobby nodded vigorously, his ears flying back and forth, before he suddenly . . .
POP
Harry slumped back into his chair. "So I guess we have Dobby to help us with anything we need. You should consider that with your plans, Hermione."
The bushy haired girl sat on the sofa in a slouch, holding her head.
"Hidden for a thousand years, but he's an elf . . ." She mumbled.
Ron was grinning from ear to ear. "Harry, mate, I am sorry about this tournament stuff, I really am. But this might be the best day of my life."
"Glad you feel that way Ron. Glad you feel that way . . ." Harry mused, admittedly uplifted slightly by his friend's mood.
POP
Dobby appeared again as suddenly as before. Hermione didn't squeak this time, but she did wince. He held out a plate towards Ron with a moderately sized sandwich sitting on it, with crispy strips of bacon sticking out.
Ron lifted it up, inspecting it carefully, before finally taking a bite.
"Dobby." He said, mouth full. "Where have you been all my life?"
Dobby bounced up and down happily, while Hermione stood up quickly.
"Thank. You. Dobby." She said, emphasizing each word, while pointedly looking at Ron.
"Oh yeah, thanks mate." He said between several large bites.
"Harry P..Potters friends . . .T..THANK. D..DOBBY." He said, tears welling up quickly in his tennis ball sized eyes.
"Dobby . . " Harry started, not wanting him to bash his head into a wall, or worse.
"Well yeah." Ron continued, oblivious to the situation and still focused mainly on his sandwich. "You're helping us out now right? You're part of the team."
"There's a . . team?" Dobby questioned while looking towards the boy, his tears seemingly paused for the moment.
"Uh, yeah, right? We want Harry to win the tournament. So everyone who's down here is on, um, Team Potter. Right?" The red head said somewhat feebly, now looking at both of his friends for help.
Hermione scoffed, and Harry sighed, ready to make it very clear that there was no way they would ever be calling themselves "Team Potter." Unfortunately for Harry he wasn't the fastest one to react to Ron's words.
"YES SIR!" Dobby shouted, standing up much straighter. "Dobby is here for Team Potter, sir! Anything that you need, just call on Dobby, and Dobby will be there!"
Ron looked ecstatic, but Hermione was frowning deeply.
"Dobby." She said, trying her best to sound kind. "We don't need you to hang around and be our, well, our servant. You don't need to be doing work for anyone. You should be doing only what you want to be doing."
Dobby, however, did not take her words kindly. He climbed up onto the table and gave her a stern look, puffing out his chest.
"Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby wants to be doing this. Dobby wants to support Team Potter. Dobby wants Harry Potter to win."
Dobby put his hands onto his hips and lifted his chin proudly.
"Because Harry Potter is truly the greatest wizard alive, and Dobby wants everyone to know!"
Harry, though he hated his fame and hated the way Dobby acted around him, honestly couldn't help but feel considerably touched. Hermione had taken a step back when Dobby confronted her, but even she seemed to have softened at his words.
"Oh Dobby . . . of course you're part of the team. A very important part, I'm sorry." She said in her most sincere voice.
Dobby smiled momentarily before suddenly frowning and slouching down.
"Dobby is sorry for raising his voice, Miss."
Hermione smiled sadly. "No, no, that's fine. We're both on Team Potter, so it's okay to become excited, isn't it?"
Dobby thought for a moment before nodding his head happily.
"We are not calling ourselves Team Potter . . " Harry said as calmly as he could.
"Oi, come on. Dobby likes it, I like it, Hermione looks like she likes it." Ron said, pointing at Hermione who was making sure to be looking at her shoes.
"It makes us feel more organized to have a name. It would be great if we could go with Team Gryffindor, or no wait, Team Victory! But I think Team Potter still has a sort of charm to it, don't you?"
"No I really don . . " Harry began, only to be immediately cut off by a shriek from Hermione.
"Charms! We're going to be late for Charms!" She shouted while grabbing her bag.
Ron looked down at his watch. "Come off it Hermione, we've got plenty of time."
Hermione struggled for a moment to get the strap of her bag over her head before glaring at him.
"No. Ronald. We. Don't." She said roughly. "Don't you remember? We're in the 'Lower Basement', and Charms is on the third floor! That's six floors from us! Six floors up, I might add!"
Ron turned slightly pale. "If you're gonna make me run up that many stairs . ."
"Oh, I won't make you. You can just be late and get an extra assignment from Professor Flitwick like the last time! Come on Harry."
"Bloody hell." Ron also grabbed his bag and looked between Harry and Hermione nervously, but Harry only shrugged at him. Out of desperation Ron did the only thing left he could think to do.
"Dobby, can you help get me to class on time? As a fellow teammate?" He pleaded.
"Team Potter needs to get to the third floor?" Dobby asked looking from Ron to Harry.
Ron looked to Harry and nodded desperately.
"Um, yes Dobby, Team Potter needs to get to the third floor?" Harry forced himself to say, still getting used to the idea of telling Dobby what to do.
"Yes Harry Potter Sir!" Dobby said, giving a little salute. "Dobby lives for Team Potter!"
POP
And he was gone.
Ron just looked at Harry for a second.
Then a few more seconds.
"What bloody help was that?! He just left us!" He exclaimed.
"ARE. YOU. COMING. OR. NOT!?" Hermione yelled from the top of the staircase by the exit.
Harry picked up his bag and ran after Hermione, Ron on his tail looking around frantically. They reached the top of the stairs, and Harry moved quickly past the very angry looking Hermione.
Against the stone wall, that Harry knew to be the back of Slytherin's statue, where there was once an empty black canvas Harry was instead the now familiar writhing image of the massive serpent.
~Open~ He hissed quickly, knowing they would have to make up some time to not all be late for class.
The serpent nodded and opened its mouth, filling the area. When the last section of color was replaced with darkness Harry immediately stepped into the painting, and down the impossibly dark corridor. He could hear both Ron and Hermione argue as they followed behind him, but he did not take the time to look back at either of them.
After almost a minute of walking in darkness he finally stopped, causing someone to immediately run into him.
"Ooof. Why'd you stop Harry?" Came Ron's voice.
"Not now, we have to get out of here! We might even lose points!" Hermione said sounding panicked.
"I would love to Hermione. We just have a problem." Harry said to the darkness, turning around to where he heard her voice.
"I don't see the way out."
Author's Thoughts
A fun chapter to write. While I do know exactly where the story is headed, I often have trouble just filling space or getting the narrative started. Not so with this chapter. I had so much information to get through, and it was more about not overloading the readers with it, and trying to list it out in a way that made sense.
This chapter was all about setting up how things are going to go for the rest of the school year. Obviously a LOT more is going to happen, but one of the main focuses is going to be learning a lot of magic. I remember there was a section near the end of the fourth book, right before the third task, where Harry learned a bunch of spells.
Here's my question. WHY WASN'T HE DOING THAT THE WHOLE TIME? Do you know how powerful Harry would be if he had been training like his life depended on it from much sooner!? Because you know, he's known since he was 11 that his life sort of depends on this stuff? Because I think about it all the time!
So much so that I ended up writing fan fiction!