The next chapter is up, Enjoy! R&R
Chapter 4: The surprise and the bad luck.
The clock in the Gryffindor common room struck six o'clock. Only then Harry allowed himself to stand up and take a shower, verifying the door was firmly shut.
He was working all night, and finally his essays were done. He thought he made a descent work. The best thing about this, Harry thought, was that he hadn't have nightmares. He didn't see Voldemort, the killing of Cedric Diggory, his own abuse in the hands of his uncle.
The shower woke him up a bit. Harry called for Dobby and asked him to bring a mug of coffee. After drinking the bitter drink, Harry felt less tired. He collected his books and went to the common room to wait for his friends.
Together they made their way to the Grate Hall for breakfast. Before he settled down, he made his way to the staff table to hand his essays. He apologized to the teachers for skipping their classes. Once again Harry felt full after a few spoons of porridge. In the middle of the breakfast Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor Quidditch team Chaser came over. "I was made a new captain," she said to Harry, "We are having our first practice this Saturday, at four o'clock, be there!"
Harry smiled, "You know I will." He really missed Quidditch.
"By the way, we are looking for a new Keeper, since Oliver left. If you know someone who is interested, the tryouts next Sunday, I'll post the time." With that she left.
"You should try, Ron" Harry turned to his friend, "I think you can make a good Keeper."
"You think so?" asked not so sure Ron.
"You never know till you try!" said Harry philosophically, "besides, I saw you at the Borrow, you are good flyer."
"You just need a confidence in yourself," Hermione joined the conversation, "Harry right, you are a good flyer."
"O.K., I'll try," decided Ron, "I'm suppose to receive a new broom next month for becoming a Prefect."
After the breakfast was over, the Trio made their way towards the Defense Again the Dark Arts class.
"Do you know who our new teacher is?" asked Harry.
"No" said Ron. "Professor Dumbledore said he couldn't make it to the Opening Feast."
They entered the DADA classroom and Hermione dragged them to the front. When the bell rang the teacher entered the class. Harry's mouth fell open.
"Good morning, everybody, good to see you again!" the Professor said.
"Remus?" Harry couldn't believe his eyes," How?"
"Good to see you too, Harry" smiled Remus Lupin. "Your headmaster convinced the ministry that it's necessary to hire me again" he addressed to the class.
Suddenly a loud bark sounded and a large black dog ran to the classroom, straight towards Harry. The teenager almost fell from his chair.
"I like to introduce you my pet, Snuffles" said amused Remus by the look of the surprised students and stunned Harry, "He will be staying with me sometimes, during the classes too."
The first lesson they practiced the spells they learned past two years. The whole time Snuffles was curled up near Harry's table. At the end of the lesson Remus asked Harry to stay behind. Harry told his friends that he will see them later. When the last student left Remus closed the door with advanced locking charm and put a silencing charm as well. After the necessary security measures were taken the black dog transformed to a man.
"Sirius…" Harry mouthed, feeling a sting in his eyes. Sirius came closer and hugged him. Harry winced and backed a little.
"What's up?" asked Sirius, feeling offended, "not happy to see me?"
"No, I mean, Yes" Harry mumbled, "I am very happy. It's just…" he couldn't say more.
"Harry, what's wrong?" inquired Remus.
"Nothing, really…" answered the teenager.
"You aren't angry with me for not seeing you earlier, are you?" Sirius interpreted Harry's reaction totally wrong.
"No, how can I? It wasn't your fault!" stated Harry, composing himself he gave Sirius a fierce hug, "I really missed you," he whispered.
"Me too, pup, me too…" Sirius said softly.
After that they settled down to talk.
"Why didn't you tell me you are coming here?" accused Harry, "I received your letter, you said you are at some mission."
"I was," replied Sirius, "I'm here just for a short time, I'm leaving in a week."
"Can you tell me?" asked Harry.
"Ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" seeing Harry's questioning look Sirius added with a chuckle "Guess not."
"The Order of the Phoenix was organized by Albus Dumbledore to fight Voldemort during the first war." Remus began the telling, "Dumbledore of course was the leader, and there were a lot of fine people in it, Aurors, some Hogwarts Professors and people just who cared. Your parents, Sirius, me and even Peter were in it." When hearing Peter's name Sirius made a growling noise and Harry clutched his fist.
"Anyway," Remus continued, "with Voldemort's second arising and the Fudge's thickness was decided to gather the old crowd from the first Order, so Sirius was working on it."
"Is Snape in the Order too?" asked Harry, interested. He remembered when in the hospital wing Sirius revealed himself in front of Snape with Dumbledore's insistence.
Sirius wrinkled his nose, "Unfortunately. Although I don't understand why Albus trusts him."
"Actually, I think you do!" stated Remus giving Sirius a pointed look.
"Would you tell me?" Harry tried his luck.
"Sorry, cub" said Remus, "It's Order secret." Harry frowned.
"Back to you, Harry" said Sirius, "How are you? I heard some disturbing news this morning."
"I'm fine!" stated Harry.
"How are you copping with the graveyard events?" pushed Remus.
"Fine, I guess." Sirius looked at him in disbelieve, "No nightmares? No visions like last summer?" he asked.
"No visions, I had a few nightmares during the summer, but I'm fine now." Harry lied.
"What about the detentions for fighting?" Sirius continued.
"O… You heard about it too?" Harry looked at his godfather. When Sirius nodded, Harry said "They were Slytherins and they were asking for it."
"Slytherins or not, you shouldn't fight at all!" said Remus sternly, "If they bother you, tell me or other teacher."
"You must be kidding?" asked Sirius amused, "You want him to be a wimp? I bet the Slytherins deserved it!" Harry greened, but Remus wasn't so amused.
"When will you grow up, Padfoot?" he asked, "It's wrong for Harry to be seen fighting, there are better ways to solve conflicts!"
"Never!" stated Sirius greening, "But maybe you right, Moony…" he gave Harry a wink, "Next time make sure you won't be seen!"
Remus smacked Sirius on the back of his head. "You are impossible" he signed.
Harry was very amused; he felt warmth from being around his godfather and Remus.
"I think it's time for your next lesson," said Remus finally, "remember, if you need anything don't hesitate to come over." He lifted the charms, gave Harry a note for his next class and let the boy out. Harry thanked both of them, promised to come to talk if anything would bother him, and made his way towards the Care of Magical Creatures class.
-aaaaa-
"Was it Padfoot?" Ron cornered Harry as soon as he arrived to the clearing the CoMC lesson took place. Harry nodded. "He is staying for a week, I'll tell you later."
The lesson flew without incidents. Hagrid taught them about the Thestrals, which Harry was glad for. He believed Neville but he needed another, professional confirmation as well as Hermione, who once again apologized to Harry for not believing him.
The rest of the day went calm. Soon it was time for Harry's another detention.
Snape gave him a scanning look before returning to his paperwork. Harry continued his work from yesterday, cleaning the desks.
Harry returned to the Gryffindor Tower at eleven o'clock and went straight to his homework. He was determined to do his Transfiguration essay as good as possible. He wrote a few centimeters and then skipped to his Potions homework since he had it tomorrow. (A/N I'm going to use the metric measure system, since I'm not familiar with another one.) Than came his History of Magic and Astronomy summer assignments followed by Charms homework. He went to bed at four o'clock. Lacily he was exhausted so he didn't have any nightmares.
In the morning he was woken from Ron's shouting. "Come on, mate, you are going to be late for Charms!"
"What is the time?" Harry asked, yawning.
"We have lesson in fifteen minutes, we couldn't wake you up for breakfast, thought you'll get up by yourself, but you didn't."
"I was working late," Harry said, "Had to finish my homework…" He got up, took his uniform and ran to the bathroom to clean himself and to change.
While in the bathroom, he lifted the Glamorous Charm and observed himself in the mirror. He wasn't looking any better from the day he looked at himself in the train, although the marks from the last beating were looking slightly better and he could touch his back without wincing with a lot of pain. Putting the charm back and cleaning himself quickly he took his bag and made his way to the Charms classroom with Ron and Hermione.
In Charms they were practicing a Packing Charm, which Harry found very useful, but he couldn't master it since his lack of concentration. He was tired and hungry since he hadn't have breakfast.
"Your homework is to practice the spell and to write an essay about it history," said Prof. Flitwick at the end of the lesson, "Mr. Potter, please stay behind," he added.
"How are you?" he asked as Harry approached his desk.
"Fine," Harry answered, annoyed by people constantly asking him this.
"I checked your summer essay, you should try harder next time," he handed Harry the parchment with a P on it. Harry was sure he did a good job, apparently he was wrong.
"Rewrite it for the next lesson, please. It's not optional. You must work harder; it's your O.W.L. year." Harry nodded.
The week ended, soon it was Saturday and his first Quidditch practice for the year. By that time Harry was tired, he couldn't concentrate on his studies and his pile of unfinished homework only grew. The only thing he was grateful for was the lack of the nightmares. He was so tired when he went to bed around three and sometimes four in the morning that he wasn't dreaming. The Quidditch was a nice distraction for him.
The first thing Angelina did as a captain was to give them a speech that would make Oliver Wood proud, which the Weasley twins pointed out. Than she explained that she wanted to check the team condition before the tryouts. She made them do drills. By the end of the practice everyone on the team felt drained. They could feel every muscle of their body screaming in pain. Harry felt the worth. He was lightheaded and assumed it due to the lack of appropriate meals and vitamins, although he tried to increase the amount of food he ate. On his way to the changing room he stumbled and fell, feeling dizzy. He got up before anybody noticed and made his way to the showers.
The next week was pretty the same, he was straggling with his studies. In the middle of it he was asked by Remus to stay behind after another DADA class.
"How are you, Harry?" Remus asked, "You seem a little tired."
"A lot of homework and a little time," Harry dismissed him with a shrug.
"I'm leaving tomorrow," said Sirius, stroking Harry's hair, "Sorry I couldn't talk to you again after the last time, but I was busy. I'll make up for it on Christmas. I promise, pup."
Harry nodded, but felt a little disappointed for Sirius' leave.
"By the way, Harry," asked Remus, "Where is Hedwig? I was using the school owl a lot this week, but I didn't see her in the owlery."
"O… I… She…" Harry stammered.
"What's that, Harry?" Remus inquired.
"She doesn't like the owlery so much, too many nose, I think. She is flying around most of the time." He managed a lie, "She knows when I'm up there and need her, though, so she comes to me."
"Smart owl!" stated Sirius.
"Yea, I know" Harry felt a sting in his heart thinking about Hedwig probably being locked in her cage to reassure his silence. "So, tell me something about the Order?" he suddenly asked to change the subject.
"I can't tell much," admitted Sirius, "but they are basically trying to convince everyone of Voldemort's return, despite Fudge's denial."
"What about you?"
"Tomorrow I'm going to work on the Order Headquarters, can't tell you anything more, but I know you'll see them sooner or later. After that, I'm supposed to lay low till they found the rat." Harry could tell Sirius wasn't happy with this plan.
They talked a little more, finally Harry needed to leave. He promised Sirius to talk to Remus if needed, promised to eat and sleep well and to beat Slytherins the next Quidditch match. With that Harry left to find his friends.
-aaaaa-
Saturday arrived too soon for Harry's liking. Today he was supposed to hand his Transfiguration summer assignment and to be tested on it. He was grateful to Hermione for working with him on it. At five o'clock he knocked on Prof. McGonagall's office.
"Enter, please" she called.
"Hello, Professor," Harry greeted her, "I brought my essay and I'm ready to be tested."
"I certainly hope so," she gave him a stern look.
She asked him some questions about the material he was suppose to read, checked his essay, then he was suppose to show her the spells that were mentioned there along with the spells they learned the previous few lessons. When he finished, McGonagall was satisfied.
"You can work when you want too," she said, "but this was supposed to be done over the summer. You will receive just an A on this although you deserve an E because of the delay. I hope this behavior won't repeat itself. Dismissed!"
Harry left her classroom and sighed in relieve. Now that this assignment was behind and his detention with Snape was over he could catch with other studies.
-aaaaa-
The next day, Sunday, the Quidditch tryouts took place. Ron was nervous. Ginny was nervous too. The team decided to build a reserve team and Ginny wanted to give a try as a Chaser.
When Harry made his way to the Quidditch pitch to see the tryout, he ran onto Draco Malfoy and his cronies.
"So, Potter," Malfoy gave his famous smirk, "going to see the beggars, you call friends, trying for your house team? What are they going to fly on? Filch's old brooms?"
"Sod off, Malfoy!" Harry tried to push through him, but failed due to the lack of strength. He was pushed back and fell to the ground. Malfoy, Crab and Goil laughed.
"What's wrong? Can't stand on your own?" Malfoy sneered.
Harry got up and pulled his wand out. "Move or I'm going to hex you so your own mother won't recognize you!"
"Like you hexed Diggory?" Malfoy asked, "I bet there is an Azkaban cell with your name on it."
Harry couldn't stand it anymore. Against his better judgment he once again punched Malfoy hard on the jaw. Somehow he felt better after using his fist than his wand. Draco fell; his nose bleeding and an ugly bruise appeared where Harry's fist connected with his jaw.
"Mr. Potter!" Harry heard behind himself. He turned around and saw very angry Madam Hooch approaching him.
"What's that suppose to mean?" she demanded.
"He started!" Harry pointed on Malfoy.
"Mr. Potter, right now you are sound like a five years old!" she said, than turned to Crab and Goil, "Take Mr. Malfoy to the Hospital Wing." When they were gone she grabbed Harry's hand, "We are going to see your Head of the House."
McGonagall wasn't happy. She gave Harry a stern look. "Mr. Potter," she started, "I don't know what's wrong with you, but I won't tolerate such a behavior… I don't care what Mr. Malfoy told you!" She added as Harry wanted to protest. "I will talk with Prof. Snape about Mr. Malfoy mouth, but you were the first to raise a fist! Therefore, since it happened on your Quidditch practice and it your third fight in two weeks, you will be banned from the Quidditch till after Christmas, a week of detentions with me and 50 points from Gryffindor."
"But, Professor…" Harry started.
"It's final, Mr. Potter!" she closed the subject. "Please return to your team and inform them about your punishment. Your detention starts tomorrow straight after the dinner."
Quietly Harry made his way to the Quidditch pitch. He, himself, couldn't understand his behavior. When he got there, he saw that the tryouts already started.
"Where have you been?" demanded Angelina, as he came by.
Harry couldn't look her in the eyes, "I was banned till after Christmas," he admitted, "for punching Malfoy."
"What?!" Angelina shrieked loud enough to attract an attention of the other teammates.
"What happened?" asked Katy Bell, the Gryffindor Chaser.
"That… That… moron," she finally found a word and pointed at Harry, "made himself banned from the team till after Christmas, and with Gryffindor – Slytherin match coming the first Saturday after Halloween."
"Nice done; Harry," Alicia Spinet said sarcastically, "Now we have no chance to win the Quidditch Cup!"
"Lay of him, will you," interrupted George.
"Yea, I bet Malfoy deserved it, isn't it, little bro…" added Fred.
Harry looked at them, astonished, "How did you call me?" he asked.
"You mean the 'little bro' thing?" confirmed George. Harry nodded.
"Well, you are," interrupted Ron, approaching, "I'm older than you, so you are the little brother now."
Harry didn't know what to say; finally he managed "Thanks guys."
"You are welcome, little brother," Fred gave him a smack on the back, making Harry to wince.
"Enough with this fluff!" Angelina shouted, "Go to your room or something, I'm too pissed to look at you right now!" she addressed to Harry.
"She will calm down." George whispered to Harry.
"But right now you should go, I think," added Fred, "We don't want her to scare the candidates." On that Angelina smacked both the twins on the back of their heads.
Harry sent last look at his teammates and left the pitch. He headed to his dorm and fell on the bed, sinking into depression and cursing himself for loosing his temper.
A few hours later Ron stormed to the dorm, "I was made a Keeper!" he shouted, "And Ginny is going to be your substitute." But Harry pretended himself asleep, and didn't respond to his best friend joy. He felt to miserable right now and wasn't in the mood to be happy for Ron.