Lunch was a hurried affair. None of them but Ron had partaken of the breakfast the school elves had laid out for them, and that had only been a few pieces of bacon he had managed to nick when Hermione had been ranting, so all of them were feeling hunger pangs by the time they finally reached the Great Hall despite Hermione's protests. The Gryffindors immediately surrounded Harry, some wanting to know where they had been, others asking about the train. He managed to deftly parry all of their questions, citing his intense hunger, before finally taking a seat next to the others.
Every so often one of them would open their mouth to speak, before suddenly seeming to realize that they were surrounded by hundreds of gossiping students, some of whom were far too interested in seeing Harry dead. Then and there they all settled on a silent agreement to only discuss what they had just learned when they were far from prying ears.
After a quick trip back to the tower for their books, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville said goodbye to Ginny, who was still not really speaking to anyone, and made their way to Charms. They managed to slip in the door just as Professor Flitwick was stepping up onto the large stack of books he used as a podium at the front of the class.
Right away the whispers started, from both the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws who made up the class. Fingers pointed discreetly, and a general buzz filled the room, causing Professor Flitwick to have to emit a loud BANG from his wand before everyone quieted down.
"That will be enough thank you. You four please take your seats." The four nodded and moved towards the last remaining group of seats near the back of the room. "Right then, welcome back one and all to your sixth year, and congratulations on achieving your OWL in Charms; I am delighted to see you all here. As you know however, passing your OWL was just the beginning. I won't lie to you, you face an extraordinary amount of work ahead of you if you intend to achieve an NEWT in this class, but I can also assure you that the reward is worth the effort. That being said, we are going to start very simply today. I have learned in my long years that quite a bit of knowledge can go flitting away from those young minds of yours over the summer holidays. So please, take out your wands, we are going to be reviewing today all of the basic household spells you were tested on in your OWL's last year. Come now, no time to waste, pair off."
The students were all smiles at this. Review meant no new material, which meant no homework for their first lesson. Considering what he had overheard Dean saying about the immense pile of work they had received from McGonagall that morning that could only be a good thing. Ron and Hermione decided to work together, so Harry paired up with Neville and the two of them began to look over the long list of spells to review that Flitwick had passed out.
"Oh come on this is too easy," Neville complained as he read the list, "even I remember all of this."
"Best get it over with quickly then," Harry replied with a shrug. "Here, let's pour a bit of ink onto this parchment so we can clean it." He tipped his ink bottle over, dumping a generous amount of the black liquid over the face of a blank piece of parchment. "Go first?"
"Please," Neville said with a grin, "be my guest." Harry nodded and pointed his wand at the ink-stained bit of parchment sitting motionless on his desk.
"Scourgify!"
Nothing happened. Harry blinked in confusion, a look shared by Neville.
"Scourgify!" he tried again, somewhat more forcefully this time. Again, there was no reaction, not even a twitch.
"Um, Harry," Ron said, sounding somewhat amused, "I hate to break this to you mate, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything." The lanky redhead slid over from where he had been practicing the same spell with Hermione and leaned down, peering closely at the stained parchment. "Nope still looks pretty dirty to me. Try it again though, I'll tell you if I see anything happen." Harry frowned in annoyance but complied raising his wand once again and shouting this time.
"Scourgify!"
The bright white bolt smashed into the parchment with terrific force, cracking the legs of the desk it rested on. The parchment itself simply disintegrated in a blinding flash and a puff of smoke, which as it dissipated revealed that the spell had also gouged several centimeters into the wood underneath. The entire class was coughing loudly, waving their arms in a vain attempt to keep the smoke away.
"Alright, alight," Professor Flitwick called out over the panicked shouting, "quiet please; everyone remain calm while I deal with this." The tiny man flicked his wand, blowing open a nearby window while a gentle but persistent breeze began pushing the cloud of smoke towards the open air. He hurried over to Harry, worry clear on his face. "Is everyone all right-Ahh!" His concerned question turned into a high pitched squeak as he caught sight of Ron's face.
"What," Ron asked, puzzled. Hermione had her hand over her mouth and was very obviously trying, and failing, to contain her laughter. Neville looked sympathetic while Harry just looked chagrinned. "What are you all staring at, I-" His voice trailed off as he finally reached up to feel his face, still covered in soot form his close proximity to the blast. But it wasn't what he did find that concerned him, but rather what he didn't. The explosion had managed to singe off both eyebrows, leaving his face completely clean shaven. His shocking red hair stood out in even more contrast now with the unveiling of even more pale white skin.
"Yes well, off to the hospital wing with you then," Flitwick suggested, clearly trying to hide his own amusement as well. "Mr. Potter, please accompany him if you would. And please, in the future, try to be more careful with your spellwork." The whole class burst into fits of raucous laughter as the pair left the room, a blush working its way up each of their cheeks.
"Sorry about all of this Ron," Harry offered weakly as they both sat on beds across from one another. When they had first arrived, Madame Pomfrey had assumed that Harry was to be the patient, and had practically wrestled him onto a bed before he was able to convince her that they had come for Ron rather than himself. One look at Ron's face had sent her own eyebrows reaching for the sky.
"Oh yes I see," she had said. Immediately she had gone to work examining Ron for any other injuries, but she still would not let Harry up from the bed. "I should have had you in here yesterday Mr. Potter," she had explained brusquely. "I have no idea why you weren't brought here along with the other students involved in the incident, but since you are here now you aren't leaving without a full examination."
And so the two of them had spent the rest of their class period sitting side by side as the irate healer poked and prodded them both. She had quickly provided Ron with a spoonful of potion which she assured him would have his eyebrows back within the day, but for Harry it had been test after endless test, until finally she had announced that she was done and that Harry was to wait while she performed a quick analyses. And since Ron would not even think of leaving Harry alone, especially to go back to a class he had already been humiliated in, he stayed as well. That class had finally ended a few minutes earlier however, and if Pomfrey did not hurry, they would be late to the next as well.
"S'alright mate," Ron answered him, shrugging off his apology. "I know it wasn't on purpose. Beats staying in class I suppose. Seriously though, how does it look? Is it really that bad?" He turned his head from side to side, and Harry tried not to wince at the two patches of barely there peach fuzz that was now semi visible where Ron's eyebrows had been. Luckily for Harry, Madame Pomfrey returned, saving him the trouble of coming up with a comforting lie.
"Well Mr. Potter, you are in remarkably good health all things considered. Your initial results show no negative side effects from the battle you fought, but some tests will not show any results for a day at least, so I will let you know if I discover anything pertinent. Back off to class with you both. I have taken the liberty of writing you a pass as you will almost certainly be a few minutes late."
Harry grabbed the pass from her with a hurried "Thank you" and took off, Ron right behind him. They both hurried through the halls as quickly as they could, desperate to not be late. Because despite the pass they had been given, their last class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and neither wanted to miss the big reveal of who this year's professor was going to be. After several minutes of hard running, both were panting hard and they both paused momentarily to straighten their robes and ties while trying to get control of their labored breathing. Finally, with a nod of readiness from Ron, Harry reached out and knocked loudly.
They heard nothing for several seconds, followed by a series of soft echoing footsteps that became progressively louder as they neared the door. Hearts pounding, they waited restlessly, desperately wondering who it would be until the door finally flung open, revealing the sneering visage of Professor Snape.
"Good afternoon," he drawled slowly, "so nice of you to join us."
