Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the associated milieu belongs to J. K. Rowling and various publishers. I'm just borrowing the characters and the world for my own fun.
AN: All right, here's the chapter seven, finally. I don't know exactly what it is, but I never really liked this chapter too much, and that made editing it very much like actual work, and at times it was downright boring and even tedious. But perhaps (and hopefully) that's just because the next couple of chapters have so much interesting scenes and stuff in them, and I'm really looking forward to get to them.
There are going to be two – or possibly three, if the chapters grow too much – more chapters before the end of the fourth year, and I have actually been considering splitting this story in two parts, with the second part being the fifth year and the summer before that, although I'm not sure about that yet. I have a couple of valid reasons for that, one being the fact that the books themselves are split by years, and it would make sense to go along with that, and then there's also the length of the story. The original, unedited version was only 115k words long, but I seem to have about doubled the length of each chapter, as I've edited it, and I'm quite certain that there will be even more major editing required for the later chapters, so the story will very likely grow past 200k words...
Several reviewers have asked about Dumbledore, and whether he is going to be a manipulative old codger or a grandfatherly mentor for Harry and his friends, and all I can really say to that is, you'll see. He is not going to be limited to just one role, though, and he will express characteristics of different kinds.
And thanks once again for all the reviews. It has been really interesting to read your speculations about where the story is going to, and I'm very glad that it doesn't seem to be as obvious as I was afraid it was, although there are going to be some surprises, even big ones, along the way. And some of your ideas have been so interesting that I almost wish I had written the story like them.
But, without further ado, here it is:
Harry Potter and the White Phoenix
Chapter 7 – New Things to Learn
The next morning Harry woke up abruptly to someone nudging him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Sirius in the dim light of the early morning. He could still feel a slight ache all around his body as a leftover from the Cruciatus Curse, but it was just slightly uncomfortable, and besides that he was feeling quite well.
"Good morning, Harry," Sirius said softly to him.
"Morning, Sirius," Harry responded sleepily, but then he perked up. "Is something the matter?" he asked quickly, sitting up on the hospital bed.
"No, no, everything's fine," Sirius replied soothingly. "I just decided to wake you up before I go," he added.
"Oh. So, you're going already?" Harry asked, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice, but not quite managing in it.
"Yeah, as unfortunate as it is, I can't stay in one place for too long, especially as there are too many people here in the castle, so it's just not safe for me to stay here," Sirius replied and Harry could see that Sirius was really sorry for it. "And I really want to help Dumbledore with the threat of Voldemort again. My Animagus form can be of use in many ways," he added, smiling sadly to some old memory.
"Oh," Harry said, not really knowing what to say about that. He had wished that Sirius would have stayed for at least a few days, but deep inside he had known that Sirius would probably leave soon. "When do you think we'll see again?" he asked then, saying aloud what he was thinking, and he felt slightly foolish about the question, but Sirius just smiled at him.
"I'm not exactly sure, but you can count on me coming to visit you this summer, if you're going to stay in Hogwarts. Perhaps I could even stay for a day or few, with the castle being mostly empty then," Sirius replied hopefully.
There was a short silence, as Harry thought about it, and he could barely wait for the summer; he wouldn't have to spend it with the Dursleys, and he would also get to be with Sirius for some days. He was brought out of his thoughts when Sirius hugged him briefly.
"Take care, Harry, and try to stay out of the trouble. But remember to have some fun too; play pranks, get a girlfriend, or whatever catches your fancy," Sirius said, smiling mischievously, and Harry blushed at the mention of a girlfriend – it immediately reminded him of some certain cute, bushy-haired girl.
"And don't hesitate to write me, if you have something to tell me," Sirius added more seriously.
"I won't," Harry replied automatically.
"Good bye, Harry, see you in the summer," Sirius said and smiled again.
"See you, Sirius," Harry replied sadly, and Sirius waved at him, before turning away and walking out of the Hospital Wing, but not before he turned into his Animagus form at the door.
Harry was left alone in the Hospital Wing, feeling sad that Sirius had to go so soon, but he was also feeling hopeful and happy about Sirius being able to stay with him for some days in the summer. Sirius' remark about girlfriend had reminded Harry of Hermione, and he suddenly realized that he could have asked Sirius about it. He was quite sure that Sirius would have been willing to help him with the matter, and perhaps Sirius would have known what to do about his crush on his best friend. But now Sirius was gone once again, and he had to resign to waiting until he saw him again, since he didn't consider a crush to be an important enough thing to risk writing a letter about, even if it was a crush on a very special person.
Harry's musings were cut short when Madam Pomfrey came to check him, and, as there was nothing wrong with him anymore, she gave him the permission to leave the Hospital Wing. Harry had just changed to the school uniform, and he was thinking about whether he should wait for Hermione there, or if he should go up to the Gryffindor Tower, but then the issue was resolved by Hermione entering the Hospital Wing. And with her was none other than Dumbledore.
"Good morning, Harry. I see you're awake already. I hope you're feeling well?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly, and Harry saw Hermione looking at him concernedly too.
"Yes, I am, professor," Harry replied to Dumbledore, but then he turned to look at Hermione and he gave her a reassuring smile.
"I was just telling Miss Granger how it will most likely take a week or two for Professor Moody to recover from the unfortunate attack of Doxies," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"Doxies?" Harry asked a bit surprised and flummoxed, and his eyes found Hermione again, this time with a questioning look, but she just gave a tiny shrug as a response, and Harry turned back to the headmaster.
"Yes, it was unfortunate that you were attacked by a swarm of them in the forest, especially as you missed seeing the Acromantula that the professor had found and wanted to show you, the top student of the class," Dumbledore explained merrily.
"Oh," Harry said when he finally realized what Dumbledore was talking about – it was the cover story for him and Professor Moody being in the Hospital Wing. He didn't actually think that what Dumbledore had come up with was a very good cover story, as it seemed quite unlikely to happen, but he decided not to voice his opinion to the headmaster, thinking that Dumbledore probably knew better.
"Yesterday, we didn't agree on the story we're going to tell the others about what happened yesterday, so I came up with something that would explain yours and Professor Moody's stay in the Hospital Wing," Dumbledore told him more seriously.
"Yeah, I think that makes sense, Professor," Harry agreed, despite not being really sure about the story. Thinking about Professor Moody made him glance around the Hospital Wing, and he saw that Professor Moody wasn't there anymore, and he thought that Moody was probably back to his own quarters.
As he thought about it more, he was actually very glad that everyone didn't have to know the real story and about something extraordinary happening to him once again. But despite very few actually knowing about what had really happened, he couldn't help feeling that the story would somehow find its way to the other students, as usually happened in Hogwarts, and he was afraid that he would find himself at the centre of everyone's attention once again. Even though he didn't want everyone to know about the real events of the day before, Harry couldn't help feeling that they should at least try to warn people about Voldemort being back.
"It was fortunate that I happened to meet Miss Granger on her way here, since I have something to discuss you about your, well, extra curricular activities, shall I say," Dumbledore changed the subject, smiling amusedly. "But first I would like to know if you have anything to ask about yesterday or anything considering it?" he then asked more seriously.
Now that Harry was reminded about it, there was actually one thing that had puzzled him, and he thought that now was as good time to ask it as any. "Well, sir, there is something," he said, slightly uncertainly.
"Well, I'm all ears, as they say," Dumbledore replied jovially.
"I've just been thinking that now I can, kind of, understand why Voldemort is so intent on... getting rid of me, but why did he originally attack me – us?" Harry asked, quickly correcting himself at the end. He had never really known his parents, and sometimes it felt to him like they had never existed, but then he was always reminded of them by the brief but deep bang of pain he felt for never having the change of knowing them.
Dumbledore sighed sadly, before replying. "That is not something I like to remember about too much, but I guess you have the right to know it," he said, with a far away, reminiscing look.
"As you might know, if you have read it in history, during the first war Voldemort managed to get some of his Death Eater spies inside the Ministry, and they managed to cause a lot of discord there. Later, when some of them were discovered, it understandably caused even more suspicion, tension, doubt, and even fear among the remaining Ministry personnel, and as a result the Ministry was largely in a disarray towards the end of the war. The Aurors were understandably greatly affected by the Ministry's state, and very few Death Eaters were actually captured by them. And then there was also the fact that everyone that openly opposed Voldemort was soon attacked by the Death Eaters, and all in all the Magical populace of Britain was slowly but steadily succumbing under the fear of Voldemort," Dumbledore told, and he sighed before continuing.
"As a result of that, an underground organization was formed by me and many others to work against Voldemort from behind the scenes. Your parents and Sirius were both in that organization, among many other brave witches and wizards of the time, including some of the most experienced and skilled Aurors, so it was a formidable strength against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Especially as the organization was kept strictly secret to hide it from Voldemort, and the meetings where held in safe and hidden locations to stop Voldemort from gaining information about the members," Dumbledore told quite normally, but then his eyes started burning slightly with anger and a slight edge appeared in his voice – something that seemed totally out of place on the features of the usually calm and merry headmaster.
"But we were betrayed to Voldemort by someone who was most likely a member of the organization himself, and as a result Voldemort launched several attacks towards the most prominent of our members, like your parents. Many of us were saved by the fact that we had largely located to our own, secret safe houses, and didn't have any public place of residence, but some of the members that still lived with their families died on the attacks, and it could have actually been a great moment of triumph for Voldemort had he not been stopped by you," Dumbledore said, and his anger deflated as he looked at Harry gratefully.
"Originally I thought that it had been Sirius that had betrayed the Order, as unlikely as it seemed even then, but now it seems more likely that it was Peter Pettigrew instead," Dumbledore continued. "Or it could have very well been more than one person – there were certainly betrayals on both sides during the war," he added and lapsed to a heavy, almost tangible silence.
Harry had already known that it was Peter Pettigrew that had betrayed his parents, but he didn't know that other people had died as a result of it too. For a moment he could feel his anger welling at the lousy rat, but soon it was replaced by the usual sadness, whenever he was reminded of his parents, and this time the pain cut him deep.
"Professor? There is something I'd like to know too, if you don't mind me asking?" Hermione asked in a soft voice, breaking through Harry's thoughts – something he was actually glad for.
"Of course not," Dumbledore replied, and despite his demeanour that seemed to be back to his normal cheeriness, Harry could tell that the memories still weighed on Dumbledore heavily, but the only thing it was visible in was the lack of the usual twinkle in the headmaster's eyes.
"Well, I have sometimes wondered why Harry survived the Killing Curse?" Hermione asked, looking apologetically at Harry, but he just shrugged it off to imply that it was okay, and she continued. "I mean, there must have been others that have sacrificed themselves for someone else, when threatened by a Killing Curse, but no one has ever survived the curse before," she clarified her question.
"No, that indeed wasn't the only thing at play, but I – nor anyone else, I think – knows of why it really happened," Dumbledore replied. "The Killing Curse is borne out of hatred, a very powerful emotion, and as such the curse itself is incredibly powerful, and next to impossible to block or counter, as you already know. But there is one emotion that is even stronger than hate," Dumbledore told and looked at Harry and Hermione questioningly.
"Love?" Hermione suggested a bit uncertainly.
"Exactly," Dumbledore said with a smile, but then he sobered. "There have been others who have willingly sacrificed themselves, when someone they loved was threatened by the curse, and it is a known fact, even though it is extremely rare to happen, that when the sacrifice is out of selfless and pure love – such as that of a parent's for a child – it can overcome the Killing Curse. So, technically the curse can be blocked, but as love and hatred are opposite emotions, the result of that kind of a sacrifice is often worse than the Killing Curse itself, and that's why it's considered an impossible spell to block," Dumbledore told severely, and after a second of thinking, Hermione winced at the thought.
Harry was looking puzzled, so Dumbledore explained it further. "When two opposing magical forces are put against each other, and they are nearly equal in strength, all of the magical power is often released as an energy blast, like you might have seen happen sometime when spells collide with each other – they sometimes create a small explosion. But for a Killing Curse and magic initiated by a selfless sacrifice out of love, that kind of an energy blast would be enough to kill everyone in the vicinity of the curse, just as happened when Voldemort attacked you; the house you and your parents lived in was in shambles when we got there, but despite that you somehow survived through it all," he told and looked at Harry softly.
There was a short silence, before Harry spoke. "But I was still saved by my mother's sacrifice?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, that's what saved you from the Killing Curse, even if there was something else that saved you from the resulting explosion of magic," Dumbledore replied sympathetically.
There was another moment of silence, as Harry took it all in, but it wasn't something he felt like dwelling on at the moment, so he decided that he wanted something else to think about. "Sir, what was the thing you wanted to talk us about?" he asked, remembering Dumbledore's earlier words.
"Ah, yes. I have something that might help you with your efforts to learn wandless magic, and perhaps some other things about magic too," Dumbledore started. "Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to give you an access to these books, so you need to keep them a secret, even if I have gone to some measures to protect anyone else from reading them," he continued, and he took what looked like three minuscule books from inside his robes and handed them to Harry and Hermione.
"Merlin's Journals of Magic!" Hermione squeaked surprised, when she squinted her eyes and read the title of the tiny book in her hands.
"Yes, and they are complete and unabridged, and you'll find that the Animagus transformation is not the only thing censored by the Ministry from the public editions, that you might have seen before," Dumbledore said in a somewhat serious tone.
"Besides making them a bit easier to carry, I used some magic to make them appear as The Complete History of Magic in Britain for anyone except you two," Dumbledore continued, and Hermione shuddered briefly when she heard the title – something that amused Dumbledore and puzzled Harry. "But you should still be careful about discussing the books, since the spells can be quite easily broken if someone knows of their existence," Dumbledore added more seriously.
Hermione was still looking too shocked to speak, so it was Harry who answered. "We will keep them safe, and talk about them only in private, professor," he said, and he put the tiny book he had in his hand carefully inside his robe pocket, which prompted Hermione to do the same to the two books she was holding.
"Yes, I believe you know that some parts of the castle are all but abandoned," Dumbledore said and now his eyes were twinkling merrily again. "But you should remember that even the walls can have ears, sometimes quite literally," he added more seriously.
"I'm sure you are aware that there are some wards that can pretty much guarantee you some privacy, especially if you are feeling paranoid, but sadly the books you might find them in aren't really available to everyone, and are quite restricted from the access of under-age students. Although they are mostly protected through obscurity," Dumbledore said mysteriously, giving a slight pressure to the words "paranoid", "restricted", and "obscurity".
Dumbledore was silent for a second, but then he spoke again in his usual light-hearted manner. "Now, unless you have something else to ask me, I have to be on my way. There are plenty of responsibilities for the headmaster, and even more for those who don't mind taking some extra, I'm afraid," Dumbledore said, and Harry and Hermione looked at each other, before shaking their heads slightly.
"Well, have a good day then, Miss Granger and Harry," Dumbledore wished them.
"You too, Professor," Harry and Hermione chorused, and Dumbledore turned and left the Hospital Wing.
When Dumbledore was gone, Harry turned to look at Hermione, and he saw that she was still looking surprised. She shook her head a bit before speaking.
"I just can't believe him," she said disbelievingly.
"What?" Harry asked, not knowing what Dumbledore had meant with his mysterious talk.
"It's simple, Harry. Where do you go for books that are restricted?" she asked him, pressuring the last word very much like Dumbledore had done.
The clue was a bit too obvious, and Harry didn't get it immediately. "The Restricted Section of the library!" he then said suddenly, when he realized it.
"Exactly! And how are the books protected?" she asked him further.
"Uhm, I don't know?" he asked uncertainly.
"Oh, well, you probably haven't got books from the Restricted Section... legitimately," she said thoughtfully, but added the last with a smile. "But anyway; as you know, the books are protected by Charms to prevent anyone from taking them without permission. But what you might not know, is that the Charms can be disabled by a password, and that's why Madam Pince always gets the books for you, when you have a permission for some book from the Restricted Section – that way she can say the password out of anyone's earshot," she told him.
"So, 'obscurity' is the password for some book? But do you know which one?" Harry asked her interestedly.
"Yes, I think I do," she replied thoughtfully. "I think the word 'paranoid' was a clue for that, and it is a quite well known book – I think it was actually mentioned in one of our textbooks," she mused.
There was a short silence, but then Harry remembered what Dumbledore had talked about earlier. "Doxies?" he asked Hermione with a surprised and a slightly amused look.
It took Hermione a second to realize what he was talking about, before she answered him. "Oh, yeah, Doxies," she said and rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess it is plausible, and has happened before, but still... I think he could have come up with something better," she told him in just slightly exasperated tone.
"But Doxy venom isn't really that dangerous, is it?" Harry asked her, looking puzzled.
"Oh, Harry, you've never heard of those people that have been attacked by a nest of bees, have you?" she asked him in return.
"Oh," he said surprised. "Yeah, I have, but I didn't really think of that," he replied to her.
"Yes, and Doxy venom is much more potent than that of a bee sting, so you wouldn't even need that many bites," she told him.
"But Doxies don't swarm, do they?" he asked her in return with eyebrows furrowed questioningly.
"No, they don't usually, but it's not unheard of, and people have actually died of Doxy venom, so..." she replied, trailing of meaningfully with a slight shrug.
There was another short silence, but then Hermione's features softened to a sympathetic expression. "How are you really feeling, Harry?" she asked him with obvious concern.
"Oh, I'm okay. Just slightly achy, but otherwise I'm fine," he replied, and smiled at her, wanting to ease her concerns. She just looked at him expectantly in return, and he knew that she was asking about more than just his physical condition. He sighed slightly, because he had actually avoided thinking about that, and he wasn't exactly sure what he felt about it all.
"I don't know really," he answered her truthfully in a tired tone. "I guess I feel relieved that the whole Goblet thing got resolved, but I'm also... I don't know, a bit tired, I guess, that things like this keep happening to me every year, it seems," he told her with a hint of bitterness making its way to his voice.
She looked slightly uncertain for a moment, but then she hugged him softly. "It will get better, Harry. Maybe not right away, but someday it will," she whispered to him encouragingly, and she held him tighter for a moment, before releasing him, and when she did, she was just slightly flushed.
"Yeah, I guess it will," Harry replied and there was a hint of pink on his cheeks too. He had been a bit surprised about the hug, but it had felt really good nonetheless, and he was afraid that he had enjoyed it a bit too much. The hug also reminded him of his feelings towards her once again – not that he really needed a reminder, since the feelings, and the thoughts associated with them, kept occupying his mind almost constantly when he was in her presence.
They were silent for a moment, but then she perked up. "Come on, Harry, we need to hurry, if we want to have time for breakfast before classes," she said eagerly, and although he didn't think that there was any rush – there was still plenty of time before the classes started – he still decided that it was a good idea, because he was feeling rather hungry, and wanted to have time for a decent breakfast.
He felt slightly reluctant to face the rest of the school, though, as he always did when something out of the ordinary had happened to him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it, so he just sighed a bit again, and followed Hermione out of the Hospital Wing.
"You know, if we want to study the Animagus transformation, we won't need to get the books from Sirius anymore, as the transformation should be described in enough detail in the journals of Merlin," Hermione whispered to him urgently, as they walked towards the Great Hall.
"Oh, that's right," Harry replied. He hadn't actually remembered the whole thing until now, and now he realised that this morning would have been a perfect opportunity to ask Sirius about the books, with no one else but them in the Hospital Wing. But fortunately that wasn't needed anymore as they had the journals.
"So, how are we going to get the book Dumbledore told about?" he asked her quietly.
"Well, shouldn't be too difficult with the password, should it? We'll just use your invisibility cloak to get to the Restricted Section unnoticed, say the password, get the book and walk out with it," she replied.
"Yeah, I guess," Harry replied non-committally. He was quite sure that it just had to be a bit more difficult than that.
They lapsed to a silence again as they continued walking, and Harry noticed a somewhat worried expression settle on Hermione's face, and that reminded him of how she had been a bit reserved and even worried the last night when Sirius had joked about using wandless magic to prank Snape, and he could actually guess what was bothering her.
"Hermione, you know I wouldn't do anything like that, don't you?" he asked her quietly. At her puzzled look, he realized that his question hadn't made much sense, so he clarified it. "I mean, prank someone and risk exposing my talent," he said, putting a slight pressure on the last word, although he knew that she would be able to gather what he meant even without it.
"Oh," she replied when she understood him. "Of course not! I know you wouldn't take such a risk for a silly prank, but that wasn't what I was really worried about," she answered, ending in a bit hesitant tone, and she didn't seem very eager to talk about it.
"So... what was it then?" he asked her, slightly uncertainly – he wasn't very used to asking people about their problems, but he felt like he wanted to help Hermione, if whatever was troubling her was something that he could her help with.
"It's just that," she started, but kept a short pause to think, and she sighed heavily. "Well, Voldemort seems to have always had a bit of a fixation on you, but now, after what happened yesterday, and what we heard from Dumbledore, it just seems that that isn't going away, and he'll always be after you," she told him a bit desperately.
"I guess I'm just afraid," she then admitted with another sigh.
Seeing Harry's guilty expression, she realized that she hadn't really put that very well, and she corrected herself. "Not for myself, but I'm afraid that something is going to happen to you... that I'm going to lose you," she said in a small voice.
"Well, I've made it through before, haven't I? And now that his plan didn't work out, it's going to take him time before to come up with a new one," Harry found himself saying, although he wasn't exactly sure if he was saying it mostly for her sake, or for his own. He had thought about it briefly the day before, but now that Hermione brought it up again, it somehow felt more tangible and real. He wasn't exactly scared about the whole thing – he had faced Voldemort before and lived – but rather he was really tired and sick of the fact that Voldemort would be after him until someone got rid of him. And everyday it seemed more and more likely that that someone would have to be him.
"Yeah, I guess so," Hermione sighed non-committally as a reply.
They had slowed their walking as they talked, but now they picked up their speed again, and they continued walking in silence, both lost in their own thoughts, and quite soon they reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Harry hesitated a bit at the doors, as he was used to being at the centre of attention, whenever something had happened to him, and despite no one really knowing about the kidnapping, he was still expecting everyone to stare at him the moment he stepped inside. He was very glad when that didn't happen and he sighed in relief, when everyone just continued eating or talking, or whatever they were doing, as he entered the Great Hall.
Hermione had stopped too, to wait for him, and from her expression he gathered that she knew what he was thinking, and there really was no need for words between them. They continued towards the Gryffindor Table, and, not seeing Ron there, they sat down at the end of the table, so they could have a bit of space from the rest of the students. and could talk in peace without being bothered or overheard by the others.
"Hungry?" Hermione asked him with a smile, when she noticed the amount of food he was gathering on his plate.
"Yeah," he replied simply.
They both started eating in silence, until they were soon interrupted by the arrival of the morning's paper. A swarm of owls swooped inside the Great Hall, and delivered the papers for the students with a subscription. As always, Hermione was brought one too.
"I wonder what Skeeter has to say about the second task," she said mostly to herself, as she took the paper from the owl, and started skimming through it. She just quickly read the headlines on the front page, and the short summary there was of the second task, before skipping to the first inner page, where the whole article about the second task was.
"It's not written by Skeeter!" she said surprised, when she found the article, and started reading through it. "And it's even written decently with nothing exaggerated or made up," she added soon, as her eyes rapidly scanned through the article.
"Maybe she got tired of publishing lies," Harry commented with a hint of bitterness, although he didn't really think that Rita Skeeter would ever get tired of lies and gossip.
Hermione didn't reply immediately, but instead she read the rest of the article, before going back to the front page. "Ah, no, it seems that she has just found something juicier to write about," she said sarcastically when she looked through the front page more closely, and Harry noticed the article she meant immediately, because it was the headline article on the front page.
"The Secret Heartaches of Myron Wagtail and Kirley Duke," the headline read, and it was indeed written by Rita Skeeter. Harry was about to read the article and see what the despicable "journalist" had come up with now, but he was spared from it when Hermione summarized the article for him.
"Ugh, it's just an article about how the lead singer and the lead guitarist of the Weird Sisters have apparently fallen for the same girl, and that girl has allegedly fooled around with both of them," she said with contempt.
"Makes you wonder how much of it is really true and how much made up by Skeeter, doesn't it?" she asked, turning from the article to look at him.
"Yeah, it does," Harry replied tiredly, feeling quite fed up with Rita Skeeter already.
"But at least she seems to have left Hogwarts and isn't here to bother us," she replied to him encouragingly, picking up on his tone.
"Yeah, that's true," he agreed with her, brightening a bit, when he realized that she was right; Skeeter seemed to have left them alone, at least for now.
"So, what happened in the second task, and what did the champions have to do?" Harry asked her then, not just to change the topic, but also because he realized that he still didn't know who had won the second task and he was really curious about it.
"Oh, that's right, you missed it," Hermione mused and she put the paper down on the table. "The champions basically had to get something they would 'most sorely miss' from the bottom of the lake, using some form of magic to survive under the water," she told him.
"Really? So what was it that they had to rescue?" Harry asked interestedly.
"Not what, but who," she replied, keeping a short pause, waiting for Harry's surprised expression before continuing. "They had put the person that each of the champions would most sorely miss under an enchanted sleep spell, so they wouldn't drown under the water, and the champions had to save that person from the merpeople that were holding them as 'hostages' at the bottom of the lake," she told him enthusiastically.
"Viktor Krum had to save his brother, Fleur Delacour her little sister, and Cedric," she continued, but then she kept a small pause. "He had to save Cho Chang," she finished, pressuring Cho's name just slightly.
Harry didn't understand what she meant by it immediately, but then he realized that Hermione must have noticed his crush on Cho Chang earlier that year. He actually felt a bit weird about it, because it was Hermione that he now had a crush on, and he couldn't help blushing a bit at that thought, and he had to turn away from her. But then he realized that he might be giving the impression that he still had a crush on Cho, so he decided to act as indifferent about it as possible – or actually he didn't even need to act, since he was indifferent about the Cedric and Cho thing.
"Oh, really? So what happened?" he asked her, brushing off what she had said.
She seemed to be slightly surprised about that, and she just looked at him curiously for a second before answering. "Well, Krum used human Transfiguration and tried to turn himself into a shark, but I think the spell went wrong, and he only managed to Transfigure his head, although that seemed to be enough for him to breathe under the water," she explained, obviously interested about the magic that was used in the task. "Cedric and Delacour both used a Bubble-Head Charm, but Delacour was attacked by Grindylows, and she didn't manage to save her sister, while both Cedric and Krum succeeded in the task, with Cedric being a bit faster," she recounted the event.
"So what happened to her? To Delacour's sister, I mean?" Harry asked concernedly.
Hermione looked at him like he was being silly. "Harry, you don't really think they would have endangered the lives of the people in the bottom of the lake, do you?" she asked him, somewhat amused.
"Oh, I guess not," he replied, feeling a bit foolish at not thinking about that, and Hermione smiled at him fondly.
"No, she was brought up by the merpeople once the task was over," she replied, sobering, but then she turned thoughtful and continued after a short pause. "Actually, I think Delacour thought that her sister had been in real danger too, and she was in tears about not being able to save her. She was really relieved when her sister was brought up by the merpeople and turned out to be all right," she told.
"Oh," Harry replied, not really having anything to say to that. "So, that makes Cedric first, Krum second and Delacour the last at the moment?" he asked her.
"Yes, exactly," Hermione said with a nod. "So, it looks like Hogwarts has a good chance of winning," she added with a smile, and Harry was happy about Hogwarts being in the lead too.
They resumed eating their breakfast (or Harry did, as Hermione was finished already) and soon Ron joined them, just minutes before they had to leave for classes. During that time Ron managed to miraculously eat even a larger breakfast than what Harry had eaten, and Harry inwardly smiled at Hermione's disgusted expression at that.
During the day, Harry found his concentration slipping from the classes, as he was really looking forward to the evening when they would finally get the privacy spellbook from the library, and there was also something that he really wanted to talk Hermione about – something that he had thought about during the day, as he couldn't help still mulling over the things that had happened the day before.
Neither him nor Hermione ate much at the dinner, and they were among the first ones to leave the Great Hall, leaving Ron behind them to continue eating – something that had actually happened quite often lately. Hermione lead their way through a path that would make their walk to the Gryffindor Tower a bit longer, but it went through a part of the castle that wasn't used that much, as there were only rarely used classrooms there.
"I don't think it would be practical if we were both under the cloak, Harry," she whispered to him when they were alone, getting straight to the point. "We would be clumsier that way and we might bump into someone, or something like that, and I need to check out a couple of books anyway, so I think it would be better if I checked out those books, while you get the privacy spellbook," she continued.
"Okay," he agreed. "But how do I find it?" he asked her, realizing that he still didn't know anything about the book.
"I'll check the title and the author of the book – it was mentioned in one of our DADA textbooks, I think – and shouldn't have any trouble finding it. It should be among the DADA books in the Restricted Section," she told him.
"Uhm, Hermione are you sure we should get the book now? Wouldn't it be safer to do it at night, when there aren't students or even Madam Pince around?" he asked her, wondering if she hadn't thought of that.
"Well, I'd like to get the book as soon as possible, but you're right; it would probably be safer to do it at night," she said and lapsed to a thoughtful silence. She also bit her lip, which he knew to be a sure sign that she was having trouble deciding between the choices.
"I think we should be fine getting the book now, since there shouldn't be too many people there yet, if we hurry," she finally said thoughtfully. "And even if the library turns out to be crowded, we can then decide to do it later," she added and looked at him questioningly.
"Okay, let's do that," he agreed with her.
"Harry, would you mind if I kept the journals for now?" she then asked him after a brief moment of silence, and, although her voice sounded quite normal, Harry thought that there was a slight undertone in it.
"No, not at all," he replied, wondering what she had on her mind. "And I guess it would be safer that way too, since no one would think much about you having some extra books. But if someone saw them in my trunk instead, they might get a bit suspicious," he reasoned.
"Yes, that's exactly what I thought too," she replied quickly – a bit too quickly, he thought.
"So, you weren't by any chance thinking about starting to read them already?" he asked her, with a teasing grin, finally realizing what she was up to.
"Uhm, well, I just might be bored some day and, you know, need something to read to tide over it," she told him quite seriously and a bit haltingly, but then she smiled at him sheepishly.
Harry chuckled lightly and good-naturedly at her, and they lapsed to a comfortable and amused silence as they continued on their way towards the Gryffindor Tower. Once they were there, Hermione took the journals and went up to her dormitory to hide them, and at the same time she also checked the title of the privacy book. Meanwhile Harry fetched his invisibility cloak from his trunk, and soon the two were making their way towards the library; Harry hiding under the cloak, and Hermione having her backpack with her, so they could hide the book in it, and Harry wouldn't have to carry it around while invisible.
When they got to the library, they saw that Hermione had been right, and there were only a couple of students there, and they decided to go on with their plan. Hermione went off to get the books she wanted for herself, while Harry went straight to the Restricted Section, and he had no trouble finding the book they needed for the privacy spells. He was feeling really nervous when he said the password to the book, because they could be in serious trouble if they were caught (although he did think that Dumbledore would most likely step in and help them at least somewhat), and he felt even more nervous about picking the book up. Slowly he reached to the book and he let his hands rest on it for a second, before taking it, and he breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened.
Feeling much more at ease now, he crept out of the library carefully, not wanting to bump into anyone by accident. Seeing that Hermione was just checking out some books for herself, he continued on his way out and settled to waiting just outside of the library. When she came out and passed him, he tapped her lightly on the shoulder to get her attention, because there were some other students entering the library near them, and he didn't want to risk them hearing his voice. She was startled at first, but then she realized that it was Harry, and she stepped aside to wait for the students to pass.
"Follow me," she then whispered to him, and started leading them away from the library.
She stopped at the first classroom they encountered, and, making sure that no one could see them, she opened the door, peeked inside to make sure that it was unoccupied, and she went inside, holding the door open for Harry to follow behind her.
"That was easier than I expected," Harry commented, as he took off the invisibility cloak and hid it inside one of his robe pockets.
"Let me see," Hermione replied eagerly and she took the book from him. She opened it and started looking for something, but then she thought better of it, and she took off her backpack and put the book in there, hiding it among the books she had checked out for herself, and Harry noticed that at least one of those books was about Merlin.
"Better keep it hidden until we're somewhere more safe," she explained to him.
"Yeah," he agreed with her. "So, you're reading about Merlin?" he asked her curiously.
"Well, I know that there probably isn't anything about the White Phoenix and the Black Serpent in normal history books, but it can't hurt to look, can it?" she replied with a shrug.
"I guess not," he replied, but then he furrowed his eyebrows, thinking that there was something he was supposed to remember.
"Oh, what about the muggle book you mentioned yesterday? The one that called Morgan le Fay 'Black serpent'?" he asked her when he suddenly remembered what she had said the day before.
"No, it didn't really have any information about the real Black Serpent, either," she said and shook her head sadly. "I don't remember the exact wording, but it just said that a long before her fight with Merlin, Morgan le Fay had caused trouble under the name and form of 'Black Serpent'. That's all there was in the book about it," she continued. "But just in case I've forgotten something, I'll check the book this summer, as I have it at home," she added as an afterthought.
"Oh, okay," he replied, sounding a tiny bit disappointed.
"So, let's go then?" he then asked, cheering up a bit, as he remembered that they had something to do. They left the classroom and started on their way towards the storeroom they used for practising. They were silent for a while as they walked, but once they were out of the commonly used parts of the castle, and were to themselves, Harry broke the silence.
"There was something I wanted to talk you about, actually," he started, slightly uncertainly, because he didn't know what she would think of his idea.
"Yeah?" she prompted and turned to look at him.
"Well, I thought that it might be best if I started practising more spells that might help me if I, well, ended up in another nasty situation. You know, stuff for duelling and such," he said, doing his best to keep cheerful despite the seriousness of the matter.
"Ooh, that's a really good idea," Hermione replied interestedly. "There are plenty of books about duelling and magical combats in the library and we could use those to find some useful spells and strategies and everything," she continued enthusiastically, but then her demeanour changed and she took on a slightly sad expression, as she, no doubt, remembered what he needed to be prepared for.
"Yeah, and I really need to learn the counter spells to things like the binding spell that Wormtail used on me," he answered her blandly.
"Incarcerous?" she suggested and her tone was somewhat lifeless too.
"Might have been, I didn't really hear the incantation," he replied with a shrug.
A rather heavy silence descended between them, but they soon reached the storeroom, and when they got inside, Hermione was back to looking really enthusiastic, as she got the Privacy Spells for the Paranoid book out of her backpack. Then she took her wand and cast two spells, one at the door, and another around the whole room. Harry recognized the first spell – it was the locking spell, "Colloportus" – but he didn't know the second one.
"A basic Locking Charm, and a simple Sound Muffling Charm," she answered when she noticed his questioning look. "They'll stop anyone from entering the room by chance, and they'll also stop anyone from eavesdropping on us, as long as they don't know any spying magic," she added, and Harry nodded as a reply.
She turned her attention to the book, and Harry just watched her, as she quickly leafed through the pages of the book, using the index at the back of the book a few times. He had actually observed her like that a few times, and he couldn't help being amazed at her zeal at things like that, and the way she could in a matter of seconds concentrate herself so completely on something. Unnoticed by himself, he started smiling at her, as he continued looking at her flipping through the book at an almost superhuman pace.
"Hmm, I think we need to learn Anti-Scrying Ward, Anti-Eavesdropping Ward and a better locking charm to be safe," she finally mused aloud.
"Scrying?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, I don't mean the Divination kind of scrying, like gazing at a crystal ball and such, but Scrying Magic that can be used to spy on people," she told him. "There are spells that can," she continued, but trailed off as she had to stop to think about it.
"Oh, you know about muggle surveillance cameras and such, of course!" she then said suddenly. "There are spells that work similar to those, and can be used to survey people from distance, although they are very advanced magic, and I think they're only taught to Aurors," she explained eagerly.
"Oh, okay," he replied, understanding her now, and she turned her attention back to the book.
"Imperturbable Charm would have been really good too, but it's a really difficult charm, and it would be too noticeable if someone walked near the door – and I guess we don't really need it anyway, if we just use those three others," she mused mostly to herself, as she continued flipping through the book, and then she nodded in satisfaction, before turning to him again.
"So we need to learn three spells?" he commented.
"Yes, but we don't both have to be able to do them all, do we? I could take two of them, and you'd take the last one?" she suggested.
"Sure, if that's okay with you. You'll probably learn them faster than I do, anyway," he agreed with her.
"Well, I don't know," she said a bit hesitantly. "There's a more powerful locking charm in this book that shouldn't be too difficult to learn, but we haven't really had any wards in our classes yet, and actually we won't have those until the seventh year. They're somewhat more difficult than regular spells and even more so as we don't have any experience in them," she told him.
"Let's both take one of the wards and then whoever learns it first takes the Advanced Locking Charm?" she suggested after thinking about it for a second.
"Okay," Harry agreed, and they started studying the spells immediately.
Once again it turned out that Hermione was right; casting wards was really difficult. They were both very eager to learn them, though, and that eagerness carried them through the weekend and most of the next week, as they spent pretty much every moment they had available on learning the wards, and what little time they had left after that and doing their usual homework, they spent on wandless magic and combating spells. For that purpose they had checked the library for books about duelling and magical combats, and it hadn't taken them long to come up with a list of spells that would keep them busy for a long time.
Besides being very intent on learning the privacy spells, Hermione also seemed to be really excited about something, and Harry was quite sure that she had found something interesting in the journals, as he was almost certain that she had already started reading them. She didn't seem to be willing to risk talking about it before they learned the wards, though.
With Professor Moody still needing time to recover, their DADA classes had been substituted by random teachers; meaning whoever didn't happen to have classes at the time. Harry was slightly anxious about what the other students would think about the "accident", but fortunately no one seemed to think too much about it. Professor McGonagall, who had been their first substitute teacher in DADA, had told the class that Professor Moody had been involved in an accident with a student, when he had wanted to show that student an Acromantula he had found in the forest.
It turned out that Dumbledore had guessed correctly, and some students had seen Harry go to the forest with Professor Moody, and the rumour quickly spread, but fortunately nothing much came out of it, unless you counted a rather lame remark from Malfoy ("Doxies, Potter? Could you be any more pathetic?").
By the next Saturday, Harry and Hermione had made a lot of progress in the privacy spells, and Hermione had actually managed to successfully cast the Anti-Scrying Ward she was studying a couple of times, and Harry too was quite close to getting a hang of the Anti-Eavesdropping Ward, but despite that, Harry's enthusiasm had started to abate some time ago, and he was starting to feel tired about all the studying. He felt like he really needed some time off, and it was at the breakfast of that Saturday morning that he brought it up with Hermione – he had noticed that she too seemed to be a bit tired, and they had both actually slept later that day than they usually did.
"So, did you have any plans for today, Hermione?" he asked her as they were both still eating.
She turned to look at him in surprise, but then she looked around to see that no one was too close to overhear them before answering. "I thought we'd study the wards?" she asked him in a whisper. "And do the rest of our homework of course," she added.
"Hermione, we've been doing that all the week!" Harry replied with a slight groan. "I think we could both do with some time off," he added.
"But Harry, this is really important!" she argued back insistently.
"I know that, but aren't you getting tired? I know I am, and I'm sure I could concentrate much better if I could just push it all out of my head for a while and relax," he reasoned, knowing that she was right about her point, but also knowing that he wouldn't be able to concentrate very well, if he was too tired.
She seemed to relent just a bit, but still seemed opposed to the idea. "But Harry, we're really close! I think we'd need just a couple of days, and then we could have some time off, after we've learned the spells," she said quietly but urgently to him. "There are a few things I really want to talk with you, something I read from the journals," she added, whispering the last part very quietly, and it confirmed Harry's suspicion about her having read at least some of the journals already.
Harry smiled inwardly at her zeal for reading, but then he sobered mentally, deciding to use the last trick he had to convince him. "Oh, come on, Hermione. I promise I'll study hard tomorrow and the next week, if we'll just take some time off today. And besides, I'll be able to concentrate so much better when I'm not so tired," he pleaded her. "We could even go flying – the weather seems finally warm enough to do that comfortably," he added, when he looked out of the windows and saw that the sun was shining from cloudless sky.
He smiled inwardly again, but kept his expression neutral, when he saw her expression softening, as she relented under his pleas. "Well, all right, I have to admit that you have been working very hard and I guess we could have today off – or at least some of it – but we'll study hard tomorrow then," she said, finishing in a firm tone. "And I'd really like to go flying with you, anyway," she added as an afterthought in a softer tone, staring dreamily through the window.
He wasn't exactly sure if she meant it like that, but his heart soared at the "with you", and he couldn't help smiling happily. Besides that he also felt a bit surprised about her actually liking flying, since she had used to dislike it so much, but he was also glad for it – he didn't really mind her being so much into studying, but he thought that even Hermione Granger needed to take some time off studying every now and then, and he thought that flying was just the perfect way to do that. And, of course, he really appreciated the chance of doing something fun together with her.
"Look, we could get started on our homework right now, and then go flying a bit later, when it warms up some more?" he suggested her, knowing that the mornings were still quite cold.
"All right," she agreed and smiled pleasantly.
Despite not being totally convinced that it was the best thing to do, Hermione seemed to quickly forget everything else when they got to the Quidditch pitch, and got up in the air. She never once mentioned studying or the journals as they flew, despite them actually spending a few hours at it, and he made good of his promise by studying very diligently for the rest of the weekend.
"Colloportus Aeternum!" Hermione said firmly and did the intricate corkscrew-like motion of the spell towards the door with her wand. The door clicked shut and Hermione looked slightly surprised.
The two had continued practising the privacy spells for most of the next week too, and Hermione had quickly got a hang of the Anti-Scrying Ward, and she had continued with the Advanced Locking Charm, while Harry still struggled with the Anti-Eavesdropping Ward. Until just a day earlier he had finally managed to cast the ward successfully, and then they only had to wait for Hermione to learn the Advanced Locking Charm to be able to discuss the journals safely.
"Did it work?" Harry asked her.
"Alohomora!" she cast the Unlocking Charm on the door, but nothing happened. "Alohomora!" she tried again, this time more insistently, but again nothing happened.
"It worked Harry! We can finally talk about the journals and start learning the things in them!" she exclaimed brightly. "You know, I had already read the public edition of the journals, and as I can still remember most of what they contained, I could quite easily see which parts of them had been censored by the Ministry, and Dumbledore was indeed right; the Animagus transformation wasn't the only thing that had been removed! There was also a section about wandless magic, although I don't see any reason why they would censor that out of the public edition, but anyway –" she rambled rapidly, but was cut off by Harry.
He couldn't help chuckling slightly at her fervour. "Slow down, Hermione. I'm not getting half of what you're saying," he interrupted her with a smile.
"Oh, sorry," she said and seemed slightly abashed.
"It's all right," he said and smiled at her fondly. "So, did I get it right that you've read the journals already? And there was something about wandless magic in there?" he asked her.
She nodded eagerly. "Yes, I have. Merlin's Journals of Magic is still a huge classic in the Wizarding World, and I actually read them in our first year already – or the public edition of them, anyway. So, now I just had to compare the books that Dumbledore gave us to what I remembered about them, and I think there are only two larger parts that have been removed from the public editions; one about the Animagus transformation, and another one about wandless magic," she told him enthusiastically, but this time speaking a bit slower, so that he could understand him.
"Really? Do you think we'll need it?" he asked somewhat sceptically, since Dumbledore had already been quite astonished at how quickly they had learned wandless magic.
"Well, we don't need most of it, of course, as we can already do some wandless magic, but there are some tricks that should help us to learn new spells wandlessly a bit faster. But most importantly there is a trick that should help us concentrate on wandless magic almost instantly, so we could use it about as effortlessly as normal magic!" she said emphatically.
"Oh, really? Is it difficult?" he asked, now really interested. Besides being quite limited in the spells they could do without their wands, they were also a bit hindered by the fact that they always needed about a minute to fully concentrate themselves on the wandless magic, before they could manage even a simple spell wandlessly.
She shook her head slightly. "No, it isn't really difficult, but it's going to take a lot of time," she told him, before lapsing to a short thoughtful silence. "You know what meditation is?" she then asked him.
"Uhm, well, isn't it something like sitting still and trying not to think about anything?" he replied a bit uncertainly, not really sure about it, and not knowing where she was going with the question.
"Something like that, yes," she replied, nodding. "It basically means concentrating on something, or just trying to clear your mind of all emotions and thoughts, and there are many different reasons why it is done. And yes, it is usually done while sitting but there are also other postures that are used," she told him.
"But anyway, the way we can learn to focus faster on wandless magic is something similar to meditation – or actually I think it is a form of meditation. Basically we just need to do meditation exercises on which we concentrate on wandless magic, and especially the feeling we get when we're focused on it or when we are doing it, and then, with enough practise, we should learn to go to that state of mind almost instantly!" she told him very eagerly.
"Uhm, just exactly how much is 'enough practise'?" he asked her in return, a bit uncertainly, since their schedules were already quite full with everything they were doing.
"Well, the book wasn't really specific about that, but I think the more we do it, the faster we should learn to focus ourselves," she told him.
"Okay," he replied thoughtfully. It seemed like a really useful thing, although the idea of meditation did feel a bit weird to him. "Oh, what about the Animagus transformation?" he then asked, suddenly remembering the other thing she had mentioned finding in the books.
"Oh, I almost forgot that," she replied surprised. "Most of it is actually just another form of meditation, and the transformation isn't really even that difficult, but learning it simply takes a lot of time and patience, especially as there is no way of knowing whether you can become an Animagus or not," she told him interestedly.
"So, how long would it actually take?" Harry asked, feeling somewhat discouraged by the fact that if neither of them could become Animagi, it would be a waste of time.
"Well, Merlin tells that around a year should be enough, if you practise for it daily," she told, but quickly continued when she saw his rather horrified expression. "But, you know, even if we weren't able to become Animagi, the meditation would still be very useful in many ways, and just think about all the possibilities an Animagus form could have – if you were a bird, you could fly without a broom or anything!" she told him enthusiastically.
Harry sighed as he thought about it. Of course he knew that having an Animagus form would be great in many ways, but learning the transformation seemed to require a huge amount of effort, and the chance of him, or either of them, being able to become Animagi was very small – there was only a handful of Animagi in the whole Britain, after all.
"I think I'd like to try it," he finally said, reaching his decision, although he wasn't exactly sure what swayed his opinion towards wanting to try it.
Hermione perked up at first at hearing that, but then she turned thoughtful. "I'm not sure we should do it, though," she said, deflating a bit.
Harry just looked at her questioningly with a surprised expression at her quick change of heart.
"Well, I don't mind it being 'illegal' that much, since we're only studying, nothing more, so it's not like were doing anything really wrong, so it's just a silly law," she explained, sounding like she wanted to convince herself more than him, but then she turned her full attention to him. "But Dumbledore gave us the books for helping us with wandless magic," she said.
"Oh, yeah," Harry replied when he realized that she was right. "But don't you think that Dumbledore knew that we might try it when he gave us the books? You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he even expected that," he said after a while.
Hermione didn't seem convinced, so he continued. "Hermione, I don't know how Dumbledore's mind works of course, but I'm sure that he has considered the possibility of us using the books to learn the transformation, and I don't think he would have given us the books, if he had been really against it. Or at least he would have told us not to do it – he did mention the transformation after all, when he gave us the books," he reasoned with her, and somehow he couldn't shake off the thought that Dumbledore had actually expected them to learn the transformation.
"And, like you said before, it isn't even dangerous, is it?" he added questioningly as an afterthought.
"No, it shouldn't be dangerous at all," she replied off-handedly, as she thought about the matter. "Well, I guess you're right," she then said with a sigh.
"Dumbledore gave us the books, without really saying how we should use them, and he even gave us the information on how to learn the necessary spells to secure the room, so that no one would be able to spy on us discussing the books. So, I guess it would be okay for us to try it," she reasoned and looked at him expectantly.
"Yeah," he agreed. "So, do you think I should read the books too or do you think you can just explain it to me?" he asked her, not really knowing how difficult the whole thing would be.
"No, I think it should be fine if I just explain it, since it isn't really complicated," she told him and she took a second to organize her thoughts before she started telling him about it eagerly.
"Well, like I already told you, learning the Animagus transformation consists mostly of meditation practises – and it actually has very little to do with Transfiguration, despite what most people think! The whole process is actually about learning to empty your mind enough, so that you can learn to 'feel' your own magic – whatever that means – and when you continue that for long enough, you should be able to feel your magic willing to change the shape of your body, or something like that," she explained.
"And then you just have to learn to give into the feeling and let your magic change your body – it is actually your magic that does all the work, and it's not even possible to know your form before you manage the transformation for the first time!" she finished enthusiastically.
"Um, so what you're saying is that we'll just have to meditate until we can do the transformation? But what if we can't do it? What if we can't become Animagi?" he asked her.
"Well, the last part isn't really meditation, but it wasn't really described in very much detail in the books, so I guess we just have to start with the meditation and worry about that part later," she told him, and stopped to think about his other question. "Oh, and if we aren't able to become Animagi, then we just don't find that 'will' to be something else from our magic, but we should still be able to feel our magic with enough practise, and actually I think that might help us further in wandless magic, and even normal magic, too," she mused.
"All right. So, do we start immediately? What do we do?" he asked her.
"Well, first we should take a comfortable position, something that we can stay in for a long time, so I guess sitting down would be the best," she informed him.
It became apparent that the storeroom wasn't an ideal place for their practise, however, when they noticed that there were only uncomfortable wooden chairs or the cold, hard stone floor for them to sit on. They both realised the same thing and looked around for something more comfortable to sit on, and it was Harry that first noticed some thick carpets, lying against a wall in rolls.
"Wait a second," he said and went to get one of the carpets. It was really thick and the carpet roll weighed almost too much for him to lug it with him, but with some help from Hermione, they managed to wrestle it to the wide open space where they usually practised spells.
"There," he said as he rolled it open and they both sat, cross-legged, on the soft carpet. It was much more comfortable than the stone floor.
"So, what now?" Harry asked her.
"Now we just close our eyes and try to clear our heads from all thoughts and emotions, and concentrate on nothingness, so to speak," she said. "Merlin wasn't exactly specific about that in his notes, but I've read a muggle book about meditation, and it said that one of the easiest ways to do that is to concentrate on your own breathing – you know, think about inhaling and exhaling each time you're doing those," she continued.
"Oh, and one more thing, breathe calmly," she added after they had both already closed their eyes.
At first it felt like a very simple thing to do, but despite that Harry wasn't having much success and he started getting frustrated quite soon. It seemed that, no matter how simple it sounded, thinking about nothing was an impossible task; all kinds of thoughts kept popping up in his head, no matter how hard he tried to concentrate on his breathing, and it didn't help that his feet started going numb quite soon. They had perhaps sat there for ten minutes when the frustration finally got to Harry and he opened his eyes, sighing heavily. Hermione was still sitting with her eyes closed and seemed to be having much more success than he did.
"I don't think I can do this. Everything just keeps popping up in my head," he said with a hint of frustration on his voice.
Hermione slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. "Don't worry, Harry, that's normal in the beginning, you just need a lot of patience to keep trying until you can do it. I can't do it either, but I just let the thoughts come and go, while I try to think about my breathing," she told him encouragingly. "Let's just try again," she added.
He sighed a bit, but did as he told and continued with the practise. The knowledge that it would take practise, and that he wasn't just bad in it, helped Harry a lot and this time he didn't get so frustrated when all kinds of thoughts started entering his mind. He just let them be there, come and go as they pleased, while he continued trying to think about nothingness.
"I think that's enough for today," Hermione finally said after they had sat there for what Harry thought was perhaps half an hour.
When he opened his eyes and looked at Hermione, he noticed that he was feeling kind of serene and that he was somehow more aware of all the details he saw everywhere; the clothes Hermione was wearing and every wrinkle and contour in them, the colour and shape of her face and eyes, almost every single hair in her head; and everything around them, from the pattern of the stone walls and floor, to the feeling of the carpet under him. He realised that he wasn't really seeing or feeling anything he hadn't observed before, but he was somehow paying more attention to every little detail in everything. The moment broke, however, when Hermione spoke again and he focused on her.
"We should do these meditation practises everyday for at least an hour, and it would actually be best to do this several times a day for shorter periods at a time," she told him.
"Uhm, several times a day?" he asked her curiously, because he didn't think they had time for that between their classes.
"Well, it would probably be best to do short meditation exercises immediately after waking up and just before going to bed, and we could also have short ones during breaks, and then a bit longer one in the evening," she told him.
"Are you sure we have time for that during breaks?" he asked her sceptically.
"Sure. We don't really need to it for a long time at once, and even few minutes between classes should help," she replied.
"Okay," he agreed with her, deciding to at least try it out. "So, let's continue with the Stunning Spell?" he then asked her, referring to the spell they were currently practising to do wandlessly.
"Yeah, let's do that," she agreed.
The next morning Harry woke up feeling quite cheerful and somehow different than what he was used to feeling lately, and he briefly wondered what it was, but then he decided to do as Hermione had suggested, and he did a short meditation exercise before anything else. He wasn't having any more success than the day before, but at least during that meditation practise he realized how he was feeling different; the feeling he had had of being supposed to do something, that had caused him to feel restless, was gone!
As he continued thinking about it, he realized that the feeling had been somewhat dulled while they had practised the privacy spells, probably because he had been so set on learning the spells that it had pushed the feeling to the background, but now it was completely gone for the moment, and he had a good guess of what had caused the change. Actually, he thought that he knew the reason behind the feeling, and the thing he felt like he was supposed to do; his subconscious mind, or something else, was telling him to learn the Animagus transformation.
"Hermione, I think the meditation is helping me with the strange feelings I've had. You know, the feeling of needing to do something that I had? The meditation practises really help with that!" he told Hermione excitedly that evening. His good mood has lasted throughout the whole day, and he had also been able to concentrate much better on his classes, now that the disturbing feeling of restlessness was gone.
"Really?" she asked surprised. "Is that why you've been so cheerful today?" she asked him in return.
"Yeah, I guess," he replied with a shrug. He hadn't himself noticed it, but now he realized that his good mood must have shown through in his behaviour too. "I also slept better last night than what I'm used to, and I'm not feeling the restlessness either," he told her.
"That's great, Harry!" Hermione said and she was genuinely happy for him.
Harry too smiled for a moment, but then he turned puzzled. "Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?" he asked thoughtfully.
"About what?" she asked in return.
"Well, you know, like where the feeling is coming from and such," he said thoughtfully. "Now that I think of it, the... craving I had for wandless magic, that I told you about, it's still there too, but I just don't notice it usually anymore, because we practise so often, and that always makes the feeling go away for some time," he told her.
"Really?" she replied interestedly. "Do you think the meditation is helping you with the feelings? Like helping you to push them to the back of your mind, or something like that?" she asked him.
He thought about it for a moment, but then he shook his head slightly. "No, I think it is the meditation that I felt like I'm supposed to do, and still feel," he told her with eyebrows furrowed in contemplation. "It's like something is telling me that the meditation – especially for the Animagus transformation – is important, just like the wandless magic," he continued, puzzled.
"I've never heard of anything like that before," she replied, clearly puzzled, and she shook her head slightly.
"Well, not much we can do about it, is there? And it's not like it is really bothering me anymore, so I guess it's okay," he told her with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess so," she said, but he could tell that she was still at least somewhat bothered about the matter, and he had to admit to himself that it did trouble him a bit too, even if he mostly just wanted to forget about it.
The meditation really seemed to help Harry, and it really made classes and other schoolwork so much easier for him, because now he wasn't constantly bothered by the restlessness that stemmed from the feeling of needing to do something. As a result he got his homework done much faster, and sometimes he was actually faster than Hermione at that – not that it was such a feat since she had more classes than him, and she also usually wrote much longer essays than he did.
Professor Moody also returned to teaching them DADA the next week, and now he was looking much better than what he had looked in the Hospital Wing; he had a new artificial eye, that was just like the earlier one, and he also had a new wooden leg, although he was still looking a bit gaunt and pale. His teaching style didn't differ much from the fake Moody, and Barty Crouch junior had apparently done a very good job imposing as Moody, except for the fact that the real Moody seemed to be even more paranoid, and it actually went quite close to the point of being ridiculous at times – he quite literally expected someone to attack him at all times.
That Saturday, they went flying again and they hadn't flown for long when Ron appeared on the Quidditch Pitch, apparently having seen someone flying there.
"Harry?" Ron asked, when he came closer, and noticed Harry, who was nearer to Ron of the two fliers. "Who's that with you?" Ron asked curiously.
Harry was spared from answering when Hermione flew closer to them. She was flying Harry's Firebolt at the moment and she was flying quite fast – not nearly as fast as the Firebolt could go, but faster than the school brooms allowed.
"Hermione?" Ron asked shocked, when she was close enough for him to recognize her.
"Hi, Ron!" she said cheerfully, as she sped past the shocked Ron.
"But... Hermione can't fly!" Ron blurted.
"She's a quick study," Harry answered him with a shrug and a grin, and he flew after Hermione.
It took Ron a moment to recover from the shock, but then he too got a broom and joined them. They flew just for fun for a while, but then Ron proposed that they could get a Quaffle, and Harry and Hermione could try scoring while Ron played as a Keeper. Ron was hoping to be able to become the new Keeper for Gryffindor team the next year as Oliver Wood, the earlier Keeper, had graduated the last year.
Initially Hermione had a lot of trouble handling the Quaffle while flying, even when she flew on Harry's Firebolt, but she started getting a hold off it as time passed. The Quidditch goals were also very high in the air and Hermione didn't even want to go that high at first, but Harry and Ron managed to coax her there and she quite soon forgot the altitude. Harry wasn't a great Chaser either but together with Hermione they managed to fool Ron several times and score, though Ron did save most of their feeble attempts. But most importantly, they all had a very fun afternoon and they were in very cheery spirits when they finally finished with flying and went for an early dinner.
To be continued...
More notes from the author: No, I don't know whether Krum really has a brother, but I just had to come up with a hostage for him in the second task instead of Hermione...
But more importantly, I don't have any idea how long it will take me to get the next chapter done. It is a very interesting chapter for me, and I'm really itching to get to it, but I also have a lot of new ideas for it, and I might end up adding quite a few scenes to it. But I'll try to keep those who are looking forward to the next chapter updated on my progress through my forum.
And thanks for the reviews.