Harry Potter and all associated characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.
AN: I should warn in advance that I'm ... unhappy with this chapter and have grappled with it for a while. There's some good stuff in here that I like and a whole lot that sets up future chapters. But it's a bit talky and non-actiony and feels like a big info dump in places. Bear with me, because the troll that's on the way will make up for it. That said, thanks for all the Follows and Favorites and keep those Reviews coming.
CHAPTER 9: Study Sessions
Harry stared slack-jawed at Hermione as Neville finished his tale. No wonder Jim had seemed so subdued as he left the Headmaster's office. "I hope you won't think it forward of me, Hermione, but will you marry me?"
"Back off, Potter," said Neville with mock gruffness. "I saw her first."
Harry, Neville and the other children laughed while Hermione blushed once more, but with a smile. Then, they set to work. For the first thirty minutes, Hermione led a review of their Transfiguration homework. Everyone had been impressed when she'd accomplished the feat of transfiguring her matchstick into a needle on the first day. But when she explained her thought processes as they applied to McGonagall's methods, several of the others quickly made the same cognitive leap. Harry was able to transfigure a matchstick as well as Hermione after just a few minutes, while all the others save Neville made significant improvement. The boy was somewhat dejected by that, as Hermione was certain his wand movements were correct, but he was still unable to do more than make the matchstick a little silvery in hue.
Shaking off his frustration, Neville took over the session next, answering everyone's Herbology questions with ease. Then came Harry, who apparently was the only one capable of deciphering Quirrell's awful stutter into coherent notes. Harry and Hermione jointly covered Charms, and then, to Harry's surprise, Lavender Brown led the discussion on Potions. Apparently, despite her flighty personality, she came from a long line of Potions masters, and her family held the patents on several cosmetics-related potions and also the valuable European concession on some Asian hair-care product called Sleekeazy. Remembering Snape's final words that morning, Potter resolved to ask her about it later.
After two grueling hours, the group broke up, but everyone seemed interested in continuing to meet again on Tuesdays and Fridays for the foreseeable future. Harry, Neville and Hermione stayed behind to chat after the others had left.
"That went rather well," said Hermione. "Do you think this group is the right size? Or should we try to add anyone else?"
"We can go a little bigger if we have the right people," said Harry. "Anthony Goldstein is good in Astronomy. Apparently, his dad is a Muggle astronomy professor. There's a Puff named Finch-Fletchley who is fascinated with wizarding history and actually stays awake in Binn's classes. Personally, I'd like to add Susan Bones, but that's for political networking reasons, so don't think you have to let her in just to appease my evil Slytherin ways."
Neville rolled his eyes. "No Slytherins to add then? And I guess I should ask – is it going to cause problems for you to study with us?"
He shook his head. "I'm Heir Presumptive of an important house. I'm in a wonderfully antagonistic relationship with the Boy-Who-Lived. And I've been cultivating a reputation as an eccentric loner. It shouldn't be a problem. But it's unlikely any other Slytherins will join us. At least not unless we start trouncing them in class work."
Hermione hesitated before asking. "Is ... is it because a ... a Mudblood is leading the group?"
Harry sighed. "Well, I wouldn't use that word, but yes, probably. There aren't any Muggleborns in Slytherin at all, not unless one of the Halfbloods is running a spectacular bluff. There are two Halfbloods in our year besides myself – Davis and Bulstrode – and a Pureblood whose family never served You-Know-Who, but I don't think any of them will risk alienating the older Purebloods, many of whom are openly bigoted. And, to be blunt about it, yes, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkington would probably call you a Mudblood to your face if no teachers were around. Crabbe and Goyle are basically appendages to Malfoy and will follow his lead. And honestly, I still have no idea about Zabini. He just floats around like some kind of social ninja."
"What's a ninja?" asked a perplexed Neville.
Harry started to answer and then paused looking equally perplexed. "You know, it's funny, but I actually have no idea how to explain ninjas to someone who's never seen a Muggle movie or television show! Let's just say a really mysterious sneaky person and leave it at that."
"And Nott?" asked Hermione. "I saw your exchange with him before you came over. When he looked at me, he didn't seem ... hateful. More like sad than anything else."
"Theo's ... a special case. I'm still working on him." He hesitated. "I don't want to start any unfounded rumors, so I'd appreciate it if you keep this to yourself. But I'm afraid that if it got back to Theo's father that he'd been hanging out with Muggleborns and 'blood traitors,'" Harry made air quotes around those words, "he might face ... physical consequences."
Neville shook his head while Hermione gasped. "Surely not! I thought heirs of Pureblood families were protected from things like that."
"Presumptive Heirs, Hermione," replied Neville. "Nott has an older brother at Durmstrang. That means Theo's not the Heir Presumptive, so he doesn't really have much protection from his father. I can sympathize." The boy hesitated and looked slightly pained. "I've never told anyone this, but when I was younger, my great-uncle Algie ... sort of ... tried to kill me. Twice."
Harry's eyes goggled at that, while Hermione looked concerned. "You said at the Welcoming Feast that when you were eight, your uncle accidentally dropped you out of a window and you bounced," she said.
"Yeah," he said somewhat bitterly. "And before that, there was that time 'accidentally' he knocked me off Blackpool Pier. I nearly drowned before he fished me out. Officially... well, officially, they were both accidents. Unofficially, it was understood that he was trying to scare me into using accidental magic. I told that story at the Feast because everyone was telling amusing tales about how they found out they were magical, and I got nervous and told the only one I had. But I've always wondered about it because as it turns, if I'd actually died, Uncle Algie would have gone from just being my regent until I turn fifteen to inheriting the whole estate outright."
"And no one considered prosecuting him for attempted murder?" asked Harry.
"What's to prosecute? It's basically legal to deliberately endanger a child from a Wizengamot family if it's for purposes of provoking accidental magic, provided there's been no sign of it before and the child's at least four years old." He hesitated. "Sometimes, I wonder if that's why my magic is so weak. My parents were both powerful wizards, but I almost never had accidental magic and, well, I'm struggling in all my wand-magic classes. I wonder if there was some trauma related to what he did to me that stunted my magical development."
"That's awful!" exclaimed Hermione, earning another hiss from Madame Pince. "Do you mean to tell me I've entered a culture where it's acceptable to endanger children just to make them demonstrate magic? That's barbaric!"
"To be fair, there is a Wizarding Child Services department in the Ministry that looks after the health and welfare of Muggleborn, Halfbloods, and even Purebloods of 'lesser' families. It's just barred by law from questioning the treatment of children who are from Wizengamot families but who aren't established as Heirs Presumptive, which I wasn't until my magic saved me from that fall. From what I can tell, I was kind of an unusual case because most wizarding children show some sign of magic in early childhood. Anyway, our system of government depends on keeping as many Wizengamot seats filled as possible, especially Ancient and Noble seats. As far as the law is concerned, if I'd been a squib, it would have been better for me to have died young so that the Longbottom seat could more quickly pass to an actual wizard. Honestly, you as a Muggleborn have a lot more legal protections than Theodore Nott. He could be kicked out onto the street tomorrow or worse on his father's whim."
"You can see now, Hermione, why I've been studying this stuff like mad," said Harry. "By leaving me with the Dursleys and not looking after me, the Potters and the Headmaster violated several centuries-old laws." He turned back to Neville. "And not to change the subject, but you seem rather well-informed about Theo's home life."
"I can make some educated guesses." Neville looked around the Library to make sure they were not being observed. "Last summer, Gran made me study files she'd had drawn up on all the children I'd be at Hogwarts with whose parents were either known or suspected Death Eaters. She has a personal grudge against the Malfoys for what the Lestranges did to my parents, but as far as specific crimes, Lucius Malfoy wasn't even that bad. He was accused of bribery, financially supporting a terrorist group, and misdemeanor Muggle-baiting. If he took the Dark Mark of his own free will rather than while under the Imperius Curse, then he probably murdered at least one Muggle, but that's basically unprovable. He's an arrogant bigoted snob, but compared to most suspected Death Eaters, he's relatively harmless."
Neville leaned forward intently. "Tiberius Nott, on the other hand, was accused of all that plus murdering a dozen Muggleborns and Merlin knows how many Muggles. The killings usually were, well, extremely violent. Gran called him a psychopath and said he was probably the worst Death Eater to not get put into Azkaban."
"Why wasn't he if he was that bad?" hissed an astonished Hermione.
"You can thank Sirius Black. His trial transcripts are still sealed, but according to the information that was released to the press, he confessed to putting over two dozen Wizengamot members under the Imperius for You-Know-Who, including Malfoy, Goyle, Crabbe, Parkinson ... and Nott. That got all of them off the hook in spite of them carrying Dark Marks. Gran figures Black knew he was done for, so he took the blame for all the suspected Death Eaters who hadn't been caught red-handed."
"Is it possible to see those press accounts?" asked Harry.
Hermione pointed across the room to an upper floor. "They've got bound copies of The Prophet doing back decades at least."
Harry nodded. That would be something else to add to his studies, which already included his normal class work, Wizengamot law, and wizarding genealogy. "You know, Neville, if you're really worried that there's some kind of childhood trauma that might be limiting your magic, you should go see Madame Pomfrey. Perhaps it's something correctable. I've already talked to her about my size – the Dursleys weren't big on nutrition where I was concerned – and the nutrient potions she gave me are supposed to get me up to Jim's height within a year or two."
"I'll ... think about it. Thanks."
After some more discussion of school matters, the trio separated, with Hermione and Neville headed back to their dorm and Harry to the back issues of The Prophet, starting with the volume for 1981. The results were unenlightening. You-Know-Who's death was front page on November 1st of 1981, and two days later, the paper officially attributed his demise to "Jim Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived" even though there were no actual first hand witnesses for his miraculous feat of deflecting the Killing Curse. Nevertheless, it was just ... accepted that Voldemort had tried to use the Killing Curse on Jim and some strange backlash destroyed him, leaving Jim with the Dark Lord's mark on his brow. Harry idly wondered if the V-shaped scar might actually contain some fragment of Voldemort's evil, thereby explaining why the Boy-Who-Lived should be such a monumental prat. Then, he disregarded the idea. Voldemort might be evil, but Harry thought he'd be much smarter and less obnoxious than Jim. Harry was unsurprised to see that there had been no mention of his status or even his existence.
The traitor Sirius Black was arrested on 3 November, 1981 by James Potter himself. He was tried by a secret tribunal in accordance with what were referred to as The Death Eater Laws, a series of controversial temporary laws passed in 1980 to better allow the wizarding law enforcement and judicial systems to cope with what was effectively an armed insurrection by a substantial part of the nation's ruling class. Given the influence Voldemort had, Harry wondered why he didn't just have his followers pass laws to give him what he wanted rather than going on mass killing sprees.
The Death Eater Laws were most infamous for sanctioning the use of the Unforgivable Curses by aurors and hit-wizards against Death Eaters, but they also had provisions for secret trials, as opposed to normal criminal trials in which a quorum of the Wizengamot serves as jury. The transcripts of these tribunals were sealed to the general public, and even the aurors who stood guard over accused prisoners had to submit to Memory Charms after each trial so that they couldn't reveal the identities of any participants. Ostensibly, this was to prevent the names of witnesses and judges from being revealed publically and thus allowing Death Eaters to seek revenge. Apparently, before that law was enacted, several judges who had presided over successful Death Eater trials had later been murdered. The article on Sirius Black's trial merely said that the trial transcript had been magically certified by the Court Scribe and that the trial had been presided over by three of the twelve anonymous Wizengamot members who were eligible to sit as judges in criminal proceedings (and who had all sworn magical oaths to fairly adjudicate such proceedings). Those three anonymous judges would decide Black's fate.
The evidence against Sirius Black consisted of sworn affidavits from James and Lily Potter that he had been their secret keeper, a sworn statement from an Unspeakable (whatever that was – Harry added the term to his long list of things to research) giving expert testimony that a Fidelius Charm could only be penetrated if the secret keeper voluntarily revealed it, and a lengthy confession from Black in which he proudly admitted to being secret Death Eater, to betraying the Potters, and to placing a number of influential Wizengamot figures under the Imperius Curse. Nothing more except his sentence – a lifetime in Azkaban for his repeated use of an Unforgiveable. Ironically, his betrayal of the Potters wasn't even a major part of his sentence since no one actually died as a result of those actions. Having learned all he could about the fall of Voldemort, Harry returned the book and went back to his genealogy research. After an hour of making notes, he prepared another letter to his solicitor and sent it off with Hedwig before heading off to dinner.
The following weekend, Harry discovered the most immediate and tangible benefit of his involvement with Hermione's study group. Harry had approached Lavender Brown with some embarrassment over the topic of wizarding hair care products, but she eagerly took him in hand and answered all of his questions. On Sunday afternoon, Lavender and Parvati performed a "make-over" on him in an unused classroom and introduced the young Slytherin to the wonders of Sleekeazy. When he entered the Great Hall on the following Monday morning, it was with the first perfect coif of his entire life. Jim laughed at him, but Snape and Draco nodded approvingly. Greengrass and Davis were also quite impressed and asked him to call them Daphne and Tracie, respectively.
By the following Tuesday, Hermione's study group had indeed grown. Justin Finch-Fletchley and Susan Bones joined, as did Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil, though she made a point of sitting as far away from her twin as possible. Harry wondered whether magical twins ran hot or cold – either practically sharing a brain like the Weasley Twins or else at each others throats like the Patils or the Potters. Harry remained the only Slytherin who wanted anything to do with the group, which was perhaps for the best, as the group split its time between studying course material and discussing the relative merits of Muggle and wizarding cultures. The Muggleborn and Muggle-raised were learning loads about the wizarding world while the Purebloods were learning that a lot of their assumptions about Muggles were wildly incorrect. All of the them were greatly improving their magical skill, though Neville was becoming frustrated by his lack of progress in his wandwork.
The second session also answered a question that baffled Hermione since school had started – what was early education like for wizarding children? She realized quickly that there were no wizarding primary schools, yet all of her Pureblood and Halfblood classmates seemed able read and write several years above their age level compared to Muggles. Not compared to her, of course, but she was surprised at how effective magical home-schooling seemed to be. The answer, of course, was magic.
Anthony Goldstein, a Halfblood who'd lived abroad for several years, explained to the Muggle-raised in the group about "educational potions" and how they worked. An educational potion was, as the name implied, a potion that instantly tutored the drinker in some field of study. The number and scope of these educational potions was rather limited, as they were difficult and expensive to produce. It was easiest to create potions that taught languages, and students who took Ancient Runes in Third Year would start off with a regimen of potions that would instantly give them fluency in Elder and Younger Futhark, with more obscure runic languages coming later. Anthony had taken a potion at the age of seven that taught him German when his father had accepted a teaching position at the University of Hamburg. He said it tasted nasty and gave him a headache that lasted for a day, but when he woke up the next morning, he was completely fluent in German, albeit with a 19th century Prussian accent.
Wizarding Child Services provided a few free educational potions to all British Pureblood and Halfblood children beginning at age six so that by the time they reached Hogwarts, those children could read, write, and perform basic arithmetic on a level comparable to a fairly smart Muggle child who had completed his first year of secondary school. Understandably, the Muggle-raised children were annoyed to learn that they'd spent six years attending Muggle primary school when the same benefits could be obtained in a few days with the appropriate potions, but Anthony explained that there were some sizeable gaps in the potions' utility and availability. For example, there was a potion that covered basic arithmetic, but most wizards seemed completely unaware of higher Muggle maths like algebra and calculus or, for that matter, entire maths-dependent fields like engineering and architecture. After all, who needs an engineer to design a building when you can transfigure raw materials as you like and then magically reinforce it no matter how structurally unsound it was. Arithmancy, a Third Year elective, introduced elements of geometry and trigonometry but only to the extent relevant to the magical implications of the maths involved. There were also potions for literacy that taught wizarding children to read and write at the level of an 8th Year Muggle secondary student, but the vocabulary and syntax hadn't been updated in over a century, which was why Pureblood children who didn't socialize much had such oddly formal speech patterns.
Any potions other than the ones for literacy and numeracy had to be purchased privately and at significant cost. There were lots of options for language potions, but only a few for natural sciences. The most popular one, designed for people who wanted to pursue studies in alchemy, gave the drinker a complete understanding of the field of Muggle chemistry ... as it was understood in 1893. The physics potion was so out of date that it was actually counterproductive, leading the unwary drinker to think that fires were caused by burning phlogiston and that vacuums were actually full of ether. There were few potions for Wizarding history, and none at all for Muggle Studies – Susan Bones, whose guardian was a high-ranking Ministry official, did not know who the current British monarch was, and none of the Purebloods had a clue how Parliament worked. Finally, it was apparently impossible to brew a potion that conferred practical knowledge of any facet of actual magic, even topics as seemingly mundane as Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures, which was why Hogwarts' existence was still necessary. The prevailing explanation for this gap was that "Merlin did something and so we can't make potions that teach magic."
Understandably, both Harry and Hermione found that explanation completely unsatisfactory.
The next update will be posted on the afternoon of May 11, 2015