Chapter 13 Toffee Eclairs
Next morning was start of term.
Professor McGonagall handed out their timetables at breakfast and Holly found her first lesson to be a double of Defence against the Dark Arts. Quickly she finished the piece of toast she had been eating and swallowed down the last sip of tea. She couldn't wait to find out who their teacher would be!
Hermione had already finished breakfast before her and now the two girls waited impatiently for Ron to speed up.
"What's wrong with you, would you please stop watching me eating? It's kind of unsettling to be honest", Ron spoke, taking another piece of toast and some sausages from the pile in front of him.
"Nothing's wrong, dumbo, we just don't want to be the last knowing who will teach us!", Hermione said.
Ron sighed and took a sip of juice:
"Who cares? They won't be teaching us for long anyway. I just hope it won't be Snape or Hagrid… could you imagine him teaching us defensive spells?"
A short laugh tried to escape his throat, but since his mouth was stuffed with food, it couldn't make its way out and Ron nearly choked on it. Holly slapped his back for him.
"Come on, Ron or we'll leave without you", she told him.
Finally breathing again, he rolled his eyes at her and pushed his plate away.
"Fine, I'll come along."
The trio left the great hall and went up to the DADA classroom on third floor.
They weren't the first once to arrive, so the last few rows were already taken. They wanted to sit together and went to the front row the only place three seats were empty next to each other.
Hermione got out her books and quills immediately while Ron just sat on Holly's other side, twisting and twirling his wand between his fingers. He had perfectionated the technique over the past four years and Holly couldn't help but smile, watching him, while he acted ever so casual.
One after the other the rest of their class arrived, only the teacher was nowhere to be seen yet. Holly saw Hermione from the corners of her eye, pushing things around her desk and furrowing her brow, obviously nervous about the late arrival of the teacher. That was typical for her best friend, always worrying about school stuff.
At that moment, the door was opened behind them and in came none other than Albus Dumbledore.
At his sight, everyone shut their mouth and sat up straight in their seats while the Professor walked up to the teacher's desk. He turned around and smiled at them brightly:
"Welcome to Defence against the Dark Arts. Usually a new teacher would introduce themselves, but I'm afraid I will skip this step." He winked at them. None of them moved.
"Very well", he clapped his hands once.
"I think it best to get right started. Do you have your books?"
Dumbledore waited for the class to respond, some of them nodded or murmured approvingly and Hermione actually took the book into her hand and held it up for Dumbledore to see.
"Good. Put them back into your bags, we won't need them today, or any time soon for that matter."
A collective sigh of relief went through the class, only Hermione looked disappointed at those news.
"Nevertheless, you will need a piece of parchment and quills now."
Dumbledore's beard twitched in amusement while he waited for everyone to get the required things on their desks.
"The first big topic we will get ourselves acquainted with during the next few weeks will be Defensive Charms. Any ideas about that? Yes, Miss Granger?"
"A Defensive Charm is a charm cast in order to protect the caster from offensive attacks", Hermione explained quickly.
Dumbledore nodded in her direction:
"Nicely said, take five points for Gryffindor. Can anyone tell me, what that means, apart from Miss Granger I mean."
His eyes looked over the rows of pupils, none dared to meet his piercing glance until he looked into bright green ones.
"Well, I guess it just means what Hermione said: defensive charms always are used in protection, unlike offensive charms that mean to harm others", Holly said matter-of-factly.
"Right you are, Miss Potter, another five points for Gryffindor.
The most important thing in defending Dark Arts is the protection. You don't have to be a master at dark spells and harmful jinxes yourself as long as you are able to protect yourself. That is why we will start with them. First thing we will work on will be the Shield Charm, ever heard of it?"
Hermione's hand raised into the air as well as Holly's and some others'. Dumbledore pointed at Ernie MacMillian in one of the last rows.
"It will shield you from all Offensive Charms. Its incantation is 'Protecto' or something like that, as in the word protect."
"Five points to Hufflepuff, Mr. MacMillian, only the incantation for the simplest of them is a little different, it is actually 'Protego'. But you were right about the origin, protego comes from the ancient language of Latin and means 'I cover' or 'I protect'. Please take this and the following information down and then we will jump right into practicing this simplest variation of the Shield Charm."
For some minutes Dumbledore's voice filled the classroom, accompanied only by the sound of scribbling quills on parchment. Finally, everyone lay down their quills and they pushed all tables against the walls, creating enough space for them to pair up and practice the new charm.
Holly got Parvati as partner but since she had already learned this spell last year while training for the Tournament with Ron and Hermione, Holly only practised it a couple of times, then let Parvati take over for the rest of the lesson, assisting her with the correct hand movement. At the end of the lesson, Parvati and most others had managed to cast an effective Shield in front of them. Parvati hugged Holly in thanks for helping her.
Dumbledore smiled in Holly's direction at that sight and dismissed the class:
"Well done, everyone, that's it for today. Next time we will be able to start with another variation of the Shield Charm, so make sure to read Chapter 1 and 2 from your book as preparation."
As everyone left, Dumbledore strolled over to where the trio were still chatting.
"Miss Potter, I wanted to discuss several important things with you. Would you mind joining me at my office today after dinner?"
Holly certainly didn't mind. Before he walked out the door he turned around once more and called in their direction:
"Nearly forgot to tell you, I like Toffee Eclairs!"
The other lessons that day were just the same as usual. Professor McGonagall used the first half of their lesson to inform them about everything they will have to be able to do in order to pass their OWLs at the end of the year. The other half they tried turning cats into tea cosies, something not even Hermione managed in that short time.
After lunch, they had double-lesson Potions with Holly's favourite Professor…
Snape of course, like McGonagall, had an incredibly difficult task prepared for them. Again, the first half hour was used with details about the OWLs, then they were expected to prepare a Strengthening Solution.
At the end of the lesson, Snape ordered them to cork up their potion and bring it to his desk. Holly was quite satisfied with her result, even if it wasn't the exact shade of pale turquoise the Potion's Master had described the ideal colour to be, but rather a light blue.
She felt tired after such a long day but ate some pasta at dinner and spurred up the stairs to the headmaster's office on the 3rd floor.
"Toffee Eclairs", she told the gargoyle in front of the entrance and it jumped out of her way.
Dumbledore already awaited her arrival and he signed fat the chair in front of him for her to sit down.
"Thank you for coming, Holly. As I mentioned earlier, there are certain things I feel you ought to know and other things that need some explanation. Is there anything you would like to ask before I start?"
He smiled at her kindly and Holly just shook her head.
"Very well. First, I would like to thank you for your help at Sirius' trial. I know you think of it as a matter of course, but I really appreciate your, as well as Miss Granger's and Mr. Weasley's, part in unearthing the truth about your godfather.
Next, I would like you to understand, that your new home, Sirius' place, is put under many wards and spells for your protection on top of the security measures I have installed after Sirius offered his home for me to use as headquarters.
One of those measures is called the Fidelius Charm, an immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret, like the location of the Black residence, inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, the Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find - unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. I hope you will find it reassuring that I myself am the Secret-Keeper of your home, which means only I can give away the information of its location.
You might have wondered why Nymphadora showed you that piece of written notice instead of just telling you, but you may understand now, that it had to be me.
That's also the reason why you couldn't give your address at the trial, not even under the influence of Veritaserum, something I think quite extraordinary."
Holly had followed her headmaster's words attentively and something about this charm rang a bell in her head.
"This… Fidelius Charm… Is it the same spell my parents used when they went into hiding?"
Dumbledore nodded slowly.
"Exactly. Only your parents put their trust in the wrong person as you know.
Pettigrew was their Secret-Keeper, the only one able to divulge the location of your family's home. Unfortunately, he decided to share this important piece of information with none other than the Dark Lord, thus betraying his friends… If Pettigrew would have kept it a secret as he was supposed to do, Voldemort never would have been able to find you and things might have gone different ways."
Dumbledore waited for the information to sink in.
Holly was furious, she'd known Pettigrew to be the traitor, the reason for her parents' death, but now knowing all the exact circumstances… It was a lot to take in. She swallowed and blinked away some tears. When she looked up again, Dumbledore looked at her sympathetically.
"The next thing I feel I owe you an explanation about is your new position as Gryffindor's prefect together with Miss Granger.
I believe Miss Haworth has told you a little about the change of rule? "
Holly agreed, and he continued:
"The true reason why I chose to change it in the first place was actually you, Holly.
I felt after everything you had to go through over the last years, you had proven yourself more than worthy for such an important task.
Also, I wanted to let everybody know that I am on your side and that I put my trust in you… As a side effect that might in the long turn help other people recognize the truth about you, Cedric's death and Voldemort eventually.
But of course, I couldn't deny Miss Granger being prefect either, as she's the personification of everything that is demanded in this position. That's why I decided it was about time to change the tradition of prefects always being one male and one female per house and from now on will be able to choose the most suitable ones, regardless of their gender. We're nearly in the 21st century, after all", he winked at her.
"The next big topic is of course Voldemort himself. Surely you must be curious about his doings and what the Order is up to in return? I must say, I was surprised how little you would ask Sirius and the others at Grimmauldplace. I expected you wouldn't rest until you'd gotten hold of every little bit of information, furious about not being allowed to join… Yet I was told you accepted it without resistance."
Holly had looked at her hands that were folded on her lap and listened without interrupting her professor until now, but she felt the need to explain herself:
"Sir, it's not that I don't care, rather the opposite I assure you, but I didn't want to act like a child, I wanted to show everyone that I could behave myself. I had hoped it might eventually make them see I was mature enough to be involved with the Order and trusted with important information.
I wanted you to realize I was worthy of participating and didn't want to push anyone and therefore lessen my chances of being allowed to join.
Also, I wasn't up to my best form in the summer…"
She paused for a split of a second, then carried on:
"You see, everything that happened that night… I feel as if it left a mark on me, that it had changed my personality. I didn't feel like myself most times."
The old wizard gently smiled at her:
"Holly, I understand, I do. And it isn't news to me that you preferred spending time alone quite often or that you had trouble sleeping. Sirius has told me all about it, worrying about you and I will tell you exactly what I told him some weeks ago:
You will get over it.
At the moment, the feeling of guilt, even though completely unjustified, is omnipresent in your mind and that is only natural. You have seen and done things no human being could simply overcome in a matter of days. It will take time to process these kinds of things until you will be able to return to your normal self again.
The emptiness you feel now will lessen eventually and you will slowly start overcoming it, coming out stronger than you were before. Trust me with this one, I had my share of pain and guilt to carry over the years and it always got better."
Dumbledore reached over the table and patted her shoulder.
"Actually, the things you feel now are what make you special, Holly, they give you power in the long run... Voldemort would never be able to feel this way, he has no compassion, no conscience. No love. You do, be proud of it!"
Holly had to fight back her tears at Dumbledore's wise words. She inhaled deeply and somehow, she already started to feel slightly better. The trust she felt towards the old man on the other side of the desk filled her heart completely.
"Let's move on. Voldemort hasn't officially made his return to the wizarding world, as you may have noticed. He prefers to stay background, acting from behind the scenes until he feels powerful enough to take over. Nobody knows what he's doing at the moment and Voldemort will make sure for it to stay like this. For now.
Fortunately, we do have the advantage of having a spy in his ranks of followers, who shares every bit of information he can get his hands on with me. Therefore, we know that he is trying to find something he thinks will help him at winning the coming war.
It is something concerning you, Holly."