Enough is Enough

by walker-of-the-shadow-path

Harry has had enough of being everyone elses pawn...and so have his friends. Its time they took their futures into their own hands. Post OotP Sixth Year fic, not quite HBP compliant. WARNING not particularly fastpaced, yet! :

16. Grim Thursday

Hello again all. It's been quite a while since my last update – so sorry, time must've really been slipping away from me. I've recently moved out & I'm being trained for a change at work so it's been very busy. Anyway, here is a nice long chapter and to make up for it all I promise that next chapter will see a return of TV!Snape from Chapter 1.

This chapter goes out to all of you who've stuck around this long. Thanks for being so patient! xxx

Grim Thursday

Harry knew, as soon as the owls began, that Thursday was going to be grim. The Prophets picture of the devastation on Platform 9 ¾ was horrific as the black-and white images of Mediwizards and Aurors combed the debris.

Harry lowered the sausage speared on the end of his fork, appetite gone. He wondered for a moment about the wizarding pictures. When a person could move out of their frame or get annoyed at you for spilling something on the picture, how much could they feel?

He shook his head; he didn't want to think about it. He turned the page and names seemed to jump out at him where before there had only been statistics and they'd been bad enough.

The Prophet was listing the dead.

Max Wolfe

William Ferens.

Harry vaguely remembered him, a burly Gryffindor in Wood's year. He was Nathaniel Cairns step-brother.

Miriam Hopkins

Amanda and Susan Madley

Francis Zeller

Steven Ackerley

David and Leanne Wright

Andrew Towler

Julius Nott

Angela, Richard and Thomas Lafeyette

Denise Hooper

Maurice Fennel

Alexander Hartman

Debbie Miller

Tony Hall

Frank and Doris Tyler

Bertram Valerian

Christopher Russell

Harry recognised some of the surnames, from students who hadn't yet returned to the school, though he did wonder that the Slytherin Nott had returned so quickly. Other names were unfamiliar, Aurors, Porters, passers-by. People who had been meeting friends or passing through, people who'd run to help when the screaming started.

The list of the injured was longer still. Parvati's dad was listed as critical, as were Stephen Cornfoots parents and Rebecca O'Donnells mum, who was an auror.

There were 5 Slopers among the seriously injured, another Hooper, a Fletcher, a Harris and 2 Finch-Fletchleys. Nymphadora Tonks was listed among the less seriously injured, as was Daedalus Diggle and Li Su's parents.

The list of those killed or kissed in the attack on Azkaban was almost as long, and the picture of the shattered prison with the Dark Mark blazing triumphantly above it made him feel sick. Even worse was the news that the Dementors appeared to be breeding and spreading out across the country. Harry shivered even thinking about it.

He could already hear the whispers starting, and feel people looking at him. He glanced over at the Slytherin table expecting to see Malfoy with a sickening smirk on his face but he wasn't there. Neither was Parkinson.

'Come on Harry,' said Hermione, deftly putting together a sausage and bacon sandwich. 'Why don't we head down to Hagrid's now, you can eat that on the way.'

The three of them walked out of the Great Hall but Harry couldn't stop thinking, about the dead, about the war, about the Prophecy. He ended up handing his sandwich to Ron even though Hermione tutted at him.

'You need to eat Harry.'

'I'll get something later.'

He still hadn't told his friends about the Prophecy. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to go about it. It wasn't exactly something he could just blurt out, or slip into a conversation. 'Hi guys, guess what? I'm the person who's got to kill the Dark Lord, what questions are we doing for Charms again?'

He'd have to find a way though. The papers had already started calling him the 'Chosen One' and making noises about what was on those prophecies the Death Eaters had wanted so badly. He didn't even want to think about how they'd react if the truth came out before he managed to tell them

They met Hagrid in front of his hut, chopping up a big bowl of raw meat.

'Should've known you three'd be the first down. I've got a right treat in store for yeh today.'

'They arrived then?' Hermione ventured. 'Those things you ordered?'

'Yep. Arrived late las' night. They've bin settlin' in nicely.'

A mournful howling sound rose from behind the hut, making the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand on end.

'Here come some o'the others. Why don't yeh go wait by the pens while I get em ready to come out?'

'What do you suppose it is?' asked Ron as the eerie howls rose again.

'This is Hagrid Ron, it could be just about anything.'

Care of Magical Creatures was not a very large class. He, Ron, Hermione and Neville were the only Gryffindors. Crabbe and Goyle were taking it, but they hadn't passed most of their exams and were having to repeat a number of OWL's. Anthony Goldstein and Mandy Brocklehurst were the only Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs Hannah Abbott, Sally-Anne Perks and Daniel Moon made up the rest of the class.

'We're only doing it because we want to go into Magizoology,' remarked Anthony Goldstein with his arm around Brocklehurst's shoulders. 'And it's a required NEWT, otherwise we wouldn't have volunteered for another two years of this.'

Brocklehurst shuddered and wrinkled her nose. 'Urghh those awful Murtlaps, don't you wish Professor Grubbly-Plank was still reaching?'

'No,' Harry said, firmly. 'Hagrid isn't that bad.'

'Oh really,' said Moon. 'Just a little too fond of things with too many teeth?'

'So what are you taking the ruddy course for?' Ron demanded.

'My family's in the wand core business. I didn't get much of a choice.'

'I just like animals,' Hannah Abbott put in softly. 'And, well, I didn't think I could cope with some of the other classes.'

Sally-Ann Perks smiled ruefully. 'I know I couldn't. Didn't get the grades, but I'm taking as many NEWT's as I can and this is one of them.'

The mournful howling rose again.

'What is that awful noise? He's not making us raise werepuppies or something is he?' Goldstein joked.

Some of the girls laughed but Ron and Hermione turned wide eyes on Harry, who felt a sinking sensation in his stomach.

He could hear again Riddles words from Second Year, words he'd repeated to his best friends after the vision of Hagrid in the diary, 'in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off into the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls.' He almost jumped as Hagrids voice rang out in front of them.

'All righ' then everyone here? Good, then if yeh'll all follow me.'

He led them over to a shady pen in the shadow of the forest, the bowl of meat still in his hands.

'Now if yeh'll all stand by the fence, we don't want ter crowd em.'

Everyone line up as Hagrid walked over to a small gate in the other side of the fence.

'Now don't go makin any sudden movements, yeh don't want ter scare em. Headmaster Dumbledore had to order these specially from the Delaney-Podmore estate an' we're very lucky ter have em, they're not exactly easy ter get hold of.'

He threw open a gate and a blur of pale grey fur shot through, followed by several others and all headed directly for Harry. Sally-Ann Perks screamed as Harry stiffened in shock and disbelief.

'The Grim! We're all going to die!'

'Don't be ridiculous!' roared Hagrid. 'Seein a Grim's no more likely ter kill yeh than hearin an Augury would. They're perfectly harmless.' One of them promptly sank his teeth into Harry's shoe.

'Grims can sense trouble. They know when it's brewin and they're attracted to the pain and sufferin – that's why they appear before a death and that's why the Headmaster wants em in the school. Once they're a bit older they'll be a grand early warnin system.'

He looked down at where the puppies were clustered around Harry's feet.

'Luckily, at this age, they're a bit easier ter distract.' He rattled the bowl of meat and set it down on the ground.

Harry was promptly deserted by all but two, one who was sniffing daisies by his left foot and the one who was still chewing his shoelaces.

'Now, yer all ter pair up and choose a pup. Yeh'll feed it, look after it an keep it with yeh at all times. They've got ter learn the area so they sleep in yer dorms an go ter yer classes and all the rest of it.' He looked proud. 'This is the firs' time anyone's ever tried ter introduce Grims to an area on purpose so it's a bit of an experiment, see.'

'Right, everybody go make friends, and be gentle with em!'

There was a pause before people began to move forward. Sally-Ann was still shrieking slightly whenever a puppy came close, which wasn't really helping as they were attracted to her fear. Hannah was peering over Neville's shoulder at a chubby puppy that was rolling on his back at their feet and the others had moved closer to the bowl of meat to mingle.

Harry couldn't move. He could barely hear through the ringing sound in his ears. They were only puppies but still, he could see his godfathers animagus form in them. Ron and Hermione shot him worried looks and stayed close, patting the silvery grey puppy that was sniffing the grass between him and Ron.

He was brought out of his distraction by Hagrid's large hand clapping him on the shoulder and sending him lurching forward.

'Looks like the little feller's taken quite a shine to yeh Harry,' he said. 'Well, Ron and Hermione have got one and everyone else has paired up so it looks like yer on yer own.'

Ron and Hermione started to protest, but the half-giant happily ignored them. 'Have yeh thought of a name yet?'

Harry's mind flashed back to Grimmauld Place and the tapestry.

'Orion,' he said, voice sounding creaky.

Neville bustled up carrying a chubby puppy a sort of brown/grey colour which reminded him of Lupins hair.

'We're calling him Mandrake,' he said, his cheeks a bit pink as he glanced over his shoulder at his partner Hannah.

He glanced at Hagrid then back to the puppy. 'Is it a him?'

Hagrid bent down to check. 'He's a boy alright.'

'This one's a girl,' announced Hermione. 'But honestly Hagrid we didn't pick her out or anything. Ron and I were going to work with Harry!'

Bushy eyebrows rose. 'But then there'd be a spare pup now wouldn't there? It works out better this way. I reckon you three can work together just as well with two pups as yeh could with one, now, have yeh thought of a name.'

Hermione thought a minute. 'Selene?'

Ron shrugged. 'Yeah alright.'

Hagrid beamed and began patting his pockets. 'Now where did I put those collars?'

'Grims are smart see, and curious. They can go practically anywhere too, y'see they're not exactly solid. Yeh need the collars ter keep em from runnin through walls and such and escaping.

Course, yeh only get six months at most before they work out how ter walk through the collars but by then yeh should've bonded.' His eyes grew misty.

His eyes grew misty. 'Why I'd only had Fang a few months when he got himself lost in Hogsmeade. I'd had one too many at the Hogs Head that night so I didn't even notice till I got home and then I was frantic.

I looked everywhere for him. But the clever boy found his own way home by morning.

O'course we might lose a few of them, they might not be suited to life at Hogwarts, might not have the right temperament, see & then they'll just disappear one day.

But yeh've got ter remember they'll be happier out there, with their own kind, and even if they don't come back it doesn't mean they didn't care. They're smart, they'll be okay. It isn't easy lettin em go but sometimes it fer the best, excuse me.'

Hagrid hurried off towards his hut, loudly blowing his nose on a large red handkerchief.

'Um, does anyone know what that was all about?' asked Hannah.

'Oh crap,' Ron winced. 'Charlie.'

'Charlie?'

'Yeah, he's arranged for some mate of his in Romania to owl over some pictures. Hagrids probably been mooning over how little Norbert's all grown up now.'

'Wonderful,' Harry said dryly. 'You do realise the next time we see him he's going to get the baby pictures out again.'

Ron groaned.

'Who's Norbert?'

'Just an old pet of Hagrids,' Hermione said quickly.

They quieted down as Hagrid returned with a small leather satchel.

'Here yeh are then,' he said handing out the collars. 'I've had a word with Professor Flitwick, he's agreed ter teach yeh something ter etch their names onto the collars with – you'll need ter see him when yeh get the chance.'

He pulled out a large notebook and sat down on a nearby boulder. 'This is going ter be like coursework see. Yeh need ter keep a diary about yer Grim – what they've done, where they've been, how they're progressin.

This lesson I want a physical description, a drawin and yer first impressions. Then yer ter get ter know each other a bit better. Homework's two feet of parchment on Grims in general, their needs and behaviour – yeh'd best start with yer Monster Book of Monsters. Yeh've got two weeks ter do it. Any questions?'

'Are we just going to be doing about Grims or will we be learning anything else this term?' drawled Goldstein. Harry thought he sounded rather a lot like Zacharias Smith.

'We'll be doin plenty of other creatures,' Hagrid replied. 'but these're the most important. An' they'll be included in every lesson. Now, what are you and Brocklehurst callin yours?'

The Ravenclaws Grim was a medium grey male they christened Newton, after the famous Magizoologist. Perks and Moon had the smallest puppy, a soft grey female they called Misty, and Crabbe and Goyle had the largest, a male puppy whose coat was so dark it was almost black. They called him Killer.

Harry sat down on the grass and pulled out his notebook. The young Grim looked up at him, startled out of its fascination with his footwear.

'It had to be you didn't it,' Harry sighed. 'Same dark grey, even your eyes are almost the same.' His heart hurt and he wondered just when he'd be able to think of his godfather without feeling the pain of his loss.

The puppy must have sensed it because it proceeded to climb awkwardly over his knees until it was stood nose to nose with him. Green eyes met blue for a long moment and then a pink tongue sloppily licked a long line up his face. Suddenly there was a warm weight on his ankle and a hand on his shoulder.

'You ok mate?' asked Ron as Hermione picked Selene off his feet.

'Yeah,' he said, taking a deep breath. 'Yeah, I'll be alright.'

'OK,' he said, squeezing his shoulder slightly before letting go. 'Oy, Hermione, this isn't right! How about I play with the puppy and you take the notes.'

She turned on him sputtering and Harry had to laugh at their bickering as he began his work.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

By the time the lesson was up Harry had most of the work done, although his first impressions consisted mainly of the fact that Orion obviously had a thing about shoes. As he packed his parchment away Ron peered critically over his shoulder.

'I still say it looks more like a donkey.'

Harry bounced a crumpled up drawing off his best friends freckled face. 'It's not like yours is any better!'

'True,' Ron conceded. 'But it still looks like a donkey. Reckon we could bribe Dean into doing them?'

'Maybe we could just stick photos in or something. I got a camera for my birthday.'

'Did you? I don't remember seeing it.'

'Colin gave me it on the train, you were in your meeting.'

'Cool, Hermione what d'you reckon?'

'I think its bad enough you copy my notes without having someone else actually do your drawings for you. The photos are a good idea though – you could note their ages on them and show how they change as they grow up. It would be a far more accurate way to chart their development than drawings – especially when you two are doing them!'

She smiled. 'I think we should do it. Do you have any film?'

'Yeah, two I think. I might have to pick some more up in Hogsmeade.'

'Well at least you won't have to wait for a Hogsmeade weekend or anything. We could pop down now if you like.'

'No we couldn't.'

'Why not, its not like we've got anything till after lunch.'

'Because Hagrids heading this way and he's got the baby book and a plate of rock cakes.'

'Oh great.'

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The afternoon passed quickly. Professor Flitwick had been quite happy to take a few minutes from the lesson to teach them the Engraving Charm and more than up to the task of reviving Lavender Brown, who fainted when she discovered there was a Grim under her chair.

The puppies had certainly lived up to their reputation for curiosity, poking their noses into every nook and cranny of the classroom. At one point they'd been chased around the class by a rather grumpy Monster Book of Monsters they'd unearthed in a corner and a dozen times they'd gotten in the way of someone's spell.

The charms professor had eventually resorted to erecting some sort of Warding that kept them penned at the far end of the classroom out of the way until the end of the lesson.

'All part of the learning process,' he advised as he released them. 'We'll know better next time!'

Harry wasn't particularly looking forward to taking a pair of energetic puppies into McGonagall's classroom and the look she turned on them as they entered made it very clear that the Transfigurations professor was not 100 in favour of the headmasters' latest plan.

Still, she quickly transfigured some boxes into a series of interconnecting tunnels, gave half a dozen sausages some legs and a head start and then pushed the puppies in after them and proceeded to ignore them for the rest of the lesson.

Ordinarily Harry hated review lessons but this time he was pleased to see that his summer reading had paid off. He wasn't nearly as rusty as he usually was after a summer spent completely ignoring the subject. He was never going to be as flawless as Hermione but he felt that he'd managed quite well.

At the end of the hour Ron took control of Selene while Hermione rushed off to her first class in Ritual Magics.

'2 hours free!' Ron exclaimed. 'I'm going to love being a sixth year.'

Harry grinned. 'So you want to head for Zonkos or go play Quidditch or something?'

Ron watched as Lavender packed her bags and detoured across the classroom to avoid coming anywhere near the Young Grims and turned to Harry with a devilish look in his eyes.

'Actually mate, I've got a better idea.'

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

'You ready?'

'Yeah. You?'

'Definitely. Bet she didn't see this coming.'

They both snickered.

'Hermione is going to kill us, you do know that don't you.'

'Nah, we'll tell her we were just giving them a tour of the castle.' Ron put on his best innocent look. 'Hagrid did say they had to get to know the area.'

Harry laughed. 'She'll never buy that.'

'Probably not.' Ron grinned. 'She'll probably raise her eyebrows at us and shake her head and go 'boys!' again.'

'Or read you a lecture about how you're a prefect now and should be setting a better example for the younger students.'

'Hey, Hermione doesn't like her any more than we do, maybe she'll just laugh.'

'Maybe,' Harry said doubtfully. 'Now shush, I think she's coming.'

Harry quickly stepped out from behind the suit of armour which had been listening in intently and directly into the path of an oncoming Professor Trelawney.

'Harry Potter! My dear boy – the rumours! The stories! The gossip! The Chosen One! Of course, I've always known, since before we even met in the flesh…the omens were never very good after all, and the Inner Eye never lies. But why have you not returned to Divinations?'

Her lips pursed. 'I could understand if you were still taking classes with the nag, I mean the centaur, but since the Headmasters return I have resumed responsibility for the NEWT classes. Frankly I find it an insult that the horse is still teaching the OWL year, between the two of us I don't think much of his abilities as a Seer.'

She looked at him mournfully. 'Its such a shame when a student is scared away from a subject by a poor teacher don't you think?'

Harry stifled a laugh and nodded solemnly.

'You were never much of a seer my dear, but you made a wonderful Object. And you never shied away from the horrors the future could hold.'

'Well its like you said Professor, all the signs were there. And you can't really ignore your own future can you. Do you remember our first lesson?'

'Aaah, how could I forget. Such terrible Omens in your teacup.' She shuddered slightly.

'Yeah, a terrible omen. The Grim.'

Suddenly 2 streaks of fur appeared in the middle of the corridor ahead and hurtled excitedly towards Harry. Orion in particular seemed quite keen to simply go through the divinations professor as the fastest possible route.

Trelawney screamed, eyes bulging behind her enormous spectacles as a pair of yapping Grims leapt at her knees and got tangled in her long gauze scarves. She staggered backwards into Harry, jumped and, apparently not wanting to take the chance that there was something worse behind her, started running down the corridor screaming.

Naturally enough the pups ran after her.

She hadn't got very far when the eavesdropping suit of armour just happened to stick an armoured foot out into the corridor and the professor went flying.

The pups leapt, landing on her chest and she stared in horror at the two Grims on top of her and seemed to deflate, collapsing into a sherry-scented heap.

A laughing Ron threw off the Invisibility Cloak which had hidden both him and the pups and handed it back to Harry with a wide grin.

'That was priceless! Did you see her face? Classic! Wish we had a picture of that!' He turned to the helpful Suit of Armour and asked 'Do you happen to know Fred and George?'

The Suit snickered.

'Yeah it was pretty funny, just wish we could do something similar to Snape.'

'Don't worry about him mate, the twins still haven't forgiven him for the whole birthday thing and I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when they get their revenge.'

They both grinned, then bent down to untangle the pups from the strands of crystal beads and scarves they were entangled in.

'We'd best wake her up, here, you hold him for a minute. Enervate!'

Trelawney took one look at Ron with a Grim under each arm and promptly started gibbering.

'Professor?'

Her eyes started to roll back.

'Um, these are our Care of Magical Creatures projects – we're doing all about Grims.'

'Yeah,' Ron said enthusiastically. 'And we thought you'd want to see. Look!' He shoved a puppy under her nose and she fainted again.

'Ah well, at least we tried. Want to go play Quidditch?'

'We can't just leave her here Ron.'

'Why not? Bet her class would thank us.'

'Probably. But I bet we'd be in a lot more trouble for it.'

'Alright, fine. I'll take these two and run down to the broom shed, you wake her up and meet me at the Pitch.'

Harry looked down at the professor and sighed. 'Don't suppose you want to swap?'

'Nope,' Ron said cheerfully. 'It was my idea so I get to choose.' He socked Harry lightly on the arm. 'Have fun!'

'Some best mate you are!' Harry called after him as he ran down the corridor towards the stairs.

Harry revived her again and watched her eyes dart around as wildly as Moody's eye when the Twins were nearby. Seeing no sign of the Grims they eventually settled on Harry and she suddenly clasped him around the knees.

It was Harry's turn to glance wildly around the corridor – this was not a position he wanted to be caught in.

'My dear boy! It was a Sign! An Omen of most terrible misfortune! I saw them – two Grims! And they were here, in Hogwarts! Such a premonition of Disaster!'

'Er, about that Professor, you see me and Ron…'

Her grip tightened. 'Yes, yes I saw your friend. The Grims were clustered around him as though they were familiar to him. He is in terrible danger, he and all those closest to him! He has a large family does he not? Oh the poor soul.'

Harry tried again. 'Well, we're taking Care of Magical Creatures together…'

'Together, oh yes, they were after you as well weren't they.' Her eyes grew even rounder behind her glasses. Harry had the sudden impression that she wasn't so much looking at him as looking through him.

'Oh my poor boy. Fate, it seems, is coming for you and it won't be stopped. The Grims, the Grims were running after you!'

'Well, you see, Hagrid brought them in as a class project. They're supposed to protect the school. It was the Headmasters idea…'

It was quite clear that Harry's explanation wasn't exactly sinking in.

'The Headmaster. Protect the school. Of course, they appeared here! In Hogwarts itself! A terrible tragedy is to befall the school! The shadow of our doom is upon us and you and your friends are at the centre of it all. You must beware!'

She scrambled awkwardly to her feet, hair and scarves and beads going every which way so she looked even more manic than usual.

'And I, the great-great-granddaughter of Cassandra Trelawney, I was there. And I could do nothing!'

She wailed suddenly. 'Like the great Cassandra of old, doomed to see the future but unable to prevent it!'

'Professor it wasn't a vision! They were real!'

She patted him absently on the shoulder. 'The future is always real.'

'It wasn't the future, they were really here, just now.'

'A good point. We don't know when our doom will befall us. I must warn the Headmaster immediately!'

She strode off in the direction of Dumbledore's office muttering to herself and Harry had a sudden image of being dragged in front of the headmaster to explain exactly how he'd broken Trelawney's rather tenuous grip on reality. Then again, there was always the chance that he'd put it down to the sherry speaking.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Playing Quidditch and looking after a pair of Grims at the same time was…interesting. They had to stay low enough to the ground to keep an eye on them so Harry reluctantly decided against getting the Snitch out. Instead he agreed to chuck a Quaffle at Ron so he could practice his Keeping skills.

'Don't want to get chucked off the team for being rubbish,' he laughed, but to Harry's mind it seemed forced.

'You won us the cup last year mate. They can't chuck you off after that can they.'

Ron brightened as he fended off another Quaffle. 'Yeah, yeah there is that. But what about the others? D'you think Kirke and Sloper'll still be on the team?'

'Dunno, depends if we find anyone better.'

'Think Katie'll make them try out again?'

'Maybe.'

They happily discussed the state of the house team and when practice was likely to be as they practiced.

'Reckon this'll tire them out?' Harry asked, watching Orion attacking the shadow of the brooms on the grass.

'Hope so. It's going to be hard enough concentrating on a new class without them two playing up.

Far too soon for Harry's liking, who was dying to get up in the air and do some serious flying, it was time to pack up and head for the next class.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

They met up with Hermione near the Hospital Wing and listened with half an ear as she chatted excitedly about the wonders of Arithmantic Equations, Rune Stones and Phases of the Moon, all of which she was to research for an essay on the basic tools of Ritual Magics. Ron rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm.

'You know Hermione, you're the only person I know who'd be this pleased to have that much homework.'

She ignored him as they joined the crowd in front of the Medimagic classroom. It was the same as it had been for Wandless Magics, it looked like everyone was taking it and they all crowded into the room, chatting excitedly and with plenty of time to spare before the lesson started.

Again they ended up sitting near the front, which pleased Hermione.

'It's good to see people being enthusiastic about a class,' she smiled as she sat down. 'I'm quite excited – have you read the book? It's such a fascinating subject, and so useful too. I can't wait to get started, can you?'

Harry smiled. He was looking forward to it. Medimagic sounded pretty cool and it would certainly be useful. He spent far too much time in Madam Pomphrey's clutches.

The teacher arrived bang on time, a dark haired young man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Harry recognised him as the man who had sat beside Owen Dumbledore when they ate at the High Table.

He smiled at the class. 'I'm glad to see you're all on time and ready to begin. I intend to take advantage of that while I can since how long this conscientiousness will last is anyone's guess.'

The class laughed, though Hermione looked slightly scandalised.

'I am Professor Christian Pomphrey, though to avoid any confusion with my grandmother you can call me Professor Christian. Medimagic is not a terribly glamorous course, but it is an incredibly useful one.

What you learn here will not be the sort of sophisticated treatments for major maladies that you might find at St Mungos. This course is Basic Medimagic, and what you learn here will only be the very basics of the Mediwizards craft. Personally I believe that every young witch and wizard should take this course, particularly in the light of recent events.

His face grew suddenly very serious. 'Even if none of you have any desire to go on to become a Mediwizard or Healer this course is still very important. I expect all of you to pay attention in my class because what I will be teaching you may help save someone's life one day, or even your own in an emergency.

The class was quiet and the professor paused for as moment, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath before he smiled again.

'Hopefully it won't come to that and if that is the case then you will at least have learnt something that will come in useful in later life, no mater what you choose to be. You will leave here knowing how to treat simple illnesses and injuries, and even a little about reversing magical accidents.

Now, we're going to start with the most important thing and work our way down from there so let's start with what to do in an emergency.

Now, in an emergency there are 4 main levels of priority. 1, to preserve life. 2, to limit the effects of a condition. 3, to promote recovery and 4, to cure the condition.

Always treat those closest to death first, obviously these will be the most difficult but you do what you can to treat the condition that's threatening their life in order to keep them alive long enough for help to arrive.

Secondly you move on to dangerous or serious injuries which may not be immediately life threatening but might become so if they get left too long. The worse the injury the more important it is to treat it as soon as possible. You try and prevent their condition from deteriorating before help arrives.

Thirdly you move on to the less serious injuries, ones that aren't as serious but that you still can't actually heal yourself. You do what you can to promote recovery such as cleaning the wounds or giving a pain relieving potion or a muscle relaxant.

Finally you come to the simpler injuries, ones' you can heal. It can be tempting to head for these first but in any situation this is the order you treat the casualties.

For example during the recent events in London you might first levitate blocks of rubble that were crushing people to death and lift them away. You might then move on to someone who was bleeding heavily and cast the Coagulation Charm, as you would not want them to continue bleeding and bleed to death.

Then you might treat someone with a badly broken leg. The leg will not kill them even if it is left alone but if you immobilize the leg and ward it so it isn't knocked around further and relieve the pain then they'll have an easier time of it until someone's available to heal them properly.

Finally you might treat a broken nose which is the least serious of the injuries and can be mended with a simple charm which I will be teaching you later.

Is everybody clear on this so far?'

There was a murmur of assent.

'Good. I hope everyone is taking notes, you will be tested on this later.'

The professor continued, explaining the importance of summoning help ('a bit of basic medimagic doesn't make you a healer. You won't be a Mediwizard even at the end of the course so if it's an emergency you should always summon help.'), and assessing the situation ('in any emergency you'll have to think fast but you must think, not just rush in. You need to decide who needs your help most, how to keep them safe while you help and exactly what help they actually need').

They discussed examples and made lists. By the end of the lesson not a single spell had been learnt but everyone's heads were buzzing from the amount of information they had been given. Seamus was rubbing a wrist sore from taking so many notes and he wasn't the only one. Of course Hermione was in her element.

'Now I know it's a lot to take in so no homework this lesson just read and review your notes and make sure you understand what we've covered today. If you have any questions we'll go over them first thing next time. All right? Good. Well I'll see you all then.'

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The class burst into excited chatter the instant they left the room.

'Wow,' said Ron, impressed. 'That was some lesson wasn't it?'

Hermione was already checking her timetable. 'We have him for two hours on Monday,' she announced. 'So we've all weekend to review. That was a really good lesson – I can't wait until we start learning the actual spells.'

The rest of the class were talking about much the same thing, though some were discussing how cool it was that Professor Christian was Madam Pomphrey's grandson. Harry distinctly heard Lavender giggling about how cute he was and how she'd absolutely have to owl Parvati about it.

'Bit freaky though,' Ron continued. 'I mean, first another Dumbledore and now another Pomphrey. What's next, another Snape?'

He turned green 'Urgh, Snape breeding, that means Snape having sex.' He shuddered. 'Urgh bad mental images, really bad mental images. Hermione, you're smart, you can obliviate me can't you? Please, obliviate me!'

'Thanks for that Ron,' Harry said, feeling a bit green himself. That was not something he ever wanted to think about. Ever. And especially not when people were going to be rummaging round in his head trying to teach him Occlumency. Though if the Dark Lord tried crawling around in there it might give him a bit of a shock.

Hermione decided to change the subject. 'I'm surprised how well the pups behaved, what on earth did you do to them?'

'Tired them out I guess,' Harry replied.

'Oh?'

'Yeah, they spent over an hour chasing about the Quidditch Pitch.'

'I hope you were keeping a proper eye on them.'

'Relax Hermione, we stayed close to the ground the whole time.'

She must have heard the slightly glum note to his voice because she patted him on the arm and volunteered to watch them both while they had a proper fly sometime.

'Cheers Hermione,' he said, giving her a grateful grin.

'And we gave them a bit of a walk,' put in Ron, snickering.

'A walk?' she said, sounding slightly suspicious.

'Yeah, just, you know, around the castle.'

'Oh really?'

Yes, really. Hagrid did say they were supposed to get familiar with the area.'

Hermione relaxed. 'Yes, he did. So you took them for a walk?'

'Yeah, we went round some of the bits we don't visit that often.'

'That's a really good idea. We should put it in the log and take them round a new part of the castle every day.'

'And we ran into Trelawney.'

By the look of shocked comprehension on her face Harry could tell Hermione had guessed exactly what had happened.

'Ron Weasley you didn't!'

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Many thanks to everyone who mentioned how good it was to see CAPSLOCK!Harry again, glad you enjoyed it. He will return. To those who are wondering where the plot mentioned in the summary went let me assure you – it is on its way.

In fact chapter after next is where things start hotting up. Next chapter is Friday where we see the DADA lesson & the return of TV!Snape and finishes off my in-depth look at the first week and all the new lessons. Chapter after next involves the DA and quite a bit more from Zabini. I believe Nevilles going to be showing off a little bit too.

It's something I'm quite looking forward to writing & posting and that chapter is where the plot really gets going. So I hope you'll all stick around to read it.

I-like-Llamas – Loved your review, it gave me a giggle. And it is woman, so right first time!

Felis – Will may well show up at some point, but I'm not quite sure when.

Jerrac – Oops. It's the history I tell you! Everything in history is in ' not " so I've completely gotten out of the habit of ever using them. But as I've used them this far I'll probably just leave as is.