Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.


Chapter Six

Hogwarts Year 5

Carefully Harry placed a pair of trousers on top of the small black leather bound notebook in his trunk. At the moment, this notebook was one of his most precious possessions. It held as many Dark curses as he had managed to copy out of the books he'd dug up in the confusing depths of the Black library.

He grabbed his trunk and dragged it down stairs, though not without dropping it on his toes twice. He cursed under his breath. A simple feather-light charm would have made all of this so much easier. Thrice damned Weasley family and their stupid rules.

"We're leaving in 5 minutes!" Molly shouted at the top of her lungs the moment Harry entered the kitchen. "Oh sorry dear, didn't see you there." She apologised when she saw Harry standing in the door, his free hand pressed against one of his ringing ears. Mrs Weasley sure had strong lungs. He only nodded and watched her prepare some last minute snacks for the train ride.

Twenty minutes later they finally left the house, a big black dog trailing after them. Rain was pouring down the dark clouded sky like there was no tomorrow, and the short distance from the house to magically enlarged car and from said car to the train station was enough to leave Harry soaking wet.

The second he arrived at platform 9 ¾ he withdrew his wand and cast several drying charms over his clothes and hair, it felt good to be able to use magic out in the open again.

He looked up satisfied and the first thing he saw were cold grey eyes, staring at him from nearby, one delicate eyebrow raised questioningly.

Great. He could imagine what this looked like. He was standing so close to the Weasley family and the Wonder Trio that there could be no doubt that he'd arrived with them. It was just his luck that Draco Malfoy would be the one to see him. Ignoring Malfoy Harry bent down to pet Sirius farewell and hurriedly waved the rest of the group goodbye. Theo's warning was still fresh in his mind.

Sadly Mrs Weasley had other plans. Before he could get away the red haired woman grabbed him and spun him around. "Oh Harry! Are you leaving already? It was nice to get to know you." Her strong arms pressed him against her large, still wet bosom. "Maybe we'll see you over Christmas?"

Before Harry could answer she continued. "Oh and what have you done to your hair? You look like you have doxies nesting in there." She brushed one hand through his unruly mob. "Ah… An overenthusiastic drying charm, am I right? We'll have that fixed in a jiffy!"

She swished her wand and then held him at arms lengths to look him over once more. "There. Perfect."

Harry touched his hair hesitantly. It really felt better, more moistened somehow. "Thank you." He nearly stumbled over the words, still caught in the aftershocks of this sudden attack.

Merlin, he really wished the floor would just part and swallow him whole. Malfoy was right behind him.

There was no chance in hell the boy hadn't witnessed this… this spectacle, all the while standing next to his prim and proper parents who knew that things like this were simply not done in a public place like this. He only hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt hot.

Quiet sniggers coming from behind Mrs Weasley pulled him out of his thoughts, and he glared at the offending youngest Weasley brother. He had no idea why the boy thought he had any right to laugh, that woman was his mother after all.

Mrs Weasley obviously saw his less than happy expression and let go of him immediately.

"Ooh…" She said, as though some huge revelation had just come to her. "Of course. You are at that age. Ron is a bit touchy too, at the moment. It's just not cool to have a mum fuss about you, is it?" She winked at him.

"Uhm… yeah… Thanks again." Harry said, not sure what to answer to that. "I'll be off, then."

And he turned around quickly, purposefully ignoring Malfoy (who he could just feel staring at him intently), and boarded the Hogwarts Express.

The train was bustling with students and their pets. More than once Harry had to wait for somebody to clear his trunk off the gangway before he could continue. When he finally found his friend's compartment the train was already moving.

"There you are." He breathed in relieve and flopped down into the free seat next to Blaise. "I've been looking for you all over the train."

With a flick of his wand and a murmured "Wingardium Leviosa" he placed his trunk in the luggage rack above their heads.

Blaise looked at Harry's school robes and groaned loudly.

"What?" Harry asked puzzled.

"You don't have the prefect badge. Neither do Theo or I. No sane person would give it to Crabbe or Goyle. That means our dear Draco Malfoy got the honour." Blaise scrunched up his nose to make clear what exactly he thought of that.

For as long as Harry knew them, Blaise and Malfoy had been in competition with each other. Be it influential parents, expensive clothing, the purity of their lines or school grades, they always tried to trump the other. As a prefect Malfoy clearly won the 'more influential in Slytherin' round.

Theo and Harry where somewhat included when it came to the academic side of their competition but they never bothered with the rest; everybody knew, after all, that the Notts where not nearly as influential or rich as the Malfoys or that Harry's blood could never be as pure as theirs.

Yes, Harry was a little pissed that Malfoy was named prefect, he was the better student – except for Potions – after all, but there was not much use in crying over spilt milk.

"Look on the bright side." Harry answered. "Malfoy is the one who has to patrol the cold Dungeons at night while we are lying in warm beds."

Blaise only rolled his eyes. "I would gladly patrol the Dungeons. Being prefect is not only important while we're at school but also afterwards. It's something that sets you apart from others and gives you an advantage in job interviews. It says you were the best and most responsible of your housemates. And now Malfoy got it."

Theo sniggered. "Aren't you exaggerating a bit? I think you got prefect and headboy confused. The second one is the prestigious one. Being a prefect doesn't say much."

"Yeah, yeah… tell that to the Ministry's job interviewers." Blaise answered sulky, arms crossed. "I bet Mr Malfoy paid Snape to get Draco that position." His voice was coloured with resentment, but also a bit envy and admiration. "I should have thought of that earlier. Mother wouldn't have objected to lend me a financial hand in that situation either."

Harry decided to keep his mouth shut. He severely doubted that bribery was the reason Malfoy was prefect. Snape just liked the boy; that was probably enough.

Harry stared at the pink, toad-like woman that had just interrupted the headmaster during his welcoming speech, as though he were a mere first year and not the esteemed Dark Lord defeater Albus Dumbledore.

"Hem-Hem… Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of a vital importance. Although each headmaster has brought something new to this… historic school, progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prune practices that ought to be… prohibited!" Only a few students clapped, most stared at her dumbfounded.

"Thank you. I know we will all be great friends soon!"

She smiled at the students, remarkably white teeth flashing between pink lips the same colour as her horrible blazer, before she turned around and walked back with deliberately small steps.

"I'd love to see the job ad for the Defence post." Tracey grumbled under her breath while their new Professor returned to her seat. "It should be statistically impossible to find this many creepy people in a row."

"Moody wasn't that bad." Harry threw in between bites. If one ignored the tiny imposter issue…

"Yeah, not bad at all. Just casting Unforgivables on students." Tracey defended her line of thought.

"Oh! And not to forget the one time he transfigured Draco into a ferret!" Blaise smirked from the other side of the table, while Malfoy grew a little pale around the nose.

"And then that Lockhart guy, was he even capable of the disarming charm?" Tracey continued.

"Then we got that bloody werewolf…" Blaise added.

"And now a toad, apparently." Theo finished their little trip down memory lane.

"With that doddering old codger for a headmaster, what do you expect?" Pansy Parkinson budded in, most of the Slytherins around her nodding in agreement.

Harry though was sure that Dumbledore was not really as senile as the Prophet liked to paint him. The few times he'd caught a glimpse of him during his stay at Grimmauld Place he had presented a convincing leader and a person commanding great respect from the other adults.

"I have in good authority-" Malfoy joined the conversation. "-that Madame Umbridge was appointed by the Minister himself. Dumbledore didn't have much choice in the matter. Minister Fudge thought that somebody should look after the happenings here."

That was an interesting development. So Dumbledore's influence and reputation had already dwindled so far that the Minister felt secure in meddling with Hogwarts?

"My father said-" Malfoy continued, eyes glimmering with malice. "-that Fudge also sent her to put Longbottom in his place."

"So even if she's a crap teacher she's at least good for something." Harry grinned. After spending one month at the receiving end of Longbottom's and Weasley's hateful glares he quite liked the idea of seeing the moronic Gryffindors be 'put in their place'.

After the Welcoming Feast Harry slowly descended down to the Slytherin common room.

He'd fallen behind his housemates deliberately to savour his first moment back at home in peace. He took in a deep breath of the damp dungeon air, enjoying its dusty and slightly mouldy smell. He'd never say it out loud because he knew how ridiculously sentimental it sounded, but this smell was one of his favourites ever since his first year at the castle. He brushed the ancient walls with his fingertips and imagined he could feel the magic saturated stone hum softly, welcoming him back.

Defence Against the Dark Arts exceeded even Harry's worst expectations. Sure, he had suspected that the Fudge-approved spy wouldn't really be a competent teacher, but within the first minutes of the lesson she had managed to convey that her class wouldn't simply be boring, it would be a joke.

They weren't even allowed to use magic. Harry looked around the Slytherin-only class and really wished they'd shared it with the Gryffindors, their reaction would've been far more amusing – and stupid – than his own housemates cautious acceptance.

Harry stared down at his copy of "Defensive Magical Theory" by Wilbert Slinkhard. He really tried to concentrate on the passage he was reading, but he never even got past the first sentence without his mind wandering away. Oh he would dearly like to meet that author and try a few of the jinxes the man so obviously disliked on him. It should be forbidden to publish a textbook that dry and boring.

D.A.D.A. was their last class of the day and after dinner the Slytherins went down to their common room.

"Harry! Fancy losing a game of chess to start the year in a traditional manner?" Theo asked, already grinning broadly at his best friend. "Or are you finally going to acknowledge my superiority?"

"You wait Nott! There'll come a day when I win and then I'll have the last laugh!" Harry retorted, pretending to be offended while already marching up to the 5th year's dorm room to retrieve his chess pieces.

Like every year his bed was the last one on the right side, below one of the round windows embedded in the dark grey stonewall. Only a few streams of dull sunlight made it through the murky green depths of the Great Lake, not enough to illuminate the room sufficiently. Some of the other upper years spelled the windows to show a false view of the Hogwarts grounds, but Harry always enjoyed falling asleep under that soft, green glow.

Back downstairs in the common room Theo had already prepared the chessboard. "Back Potter? I thought you'd run away from the challenge…"

Harry only smirked. "That only goes to show that you don't know me as well as you think, Nott."

The following game proceeded as expected. It was a massacre on a chessboard and Harry's pieces soon started arguing with him, refusing to follow his orders, while Theo's dragged them one after the other off the playing board.

"Ah…" Theo stretched his arms contentedly. "Good to know that some things never change."

"Yeah, yeah…" Harry grumbled, collecting his still pouting chess pieces. In truth he enjoyed their annual start of the term game just as much as Theo, no matter if he won or lost.

In their first year, when both of them had still been a bit shy and quiet, they had become friends after Theo had offered to teach Harry how to play wizarding chess.

Thanks to Dudley Dursley's interference Harry had not had any friends before coming to Hogwarts, nobody had ever asked him to play with them in fear of Dudley's reaction. So Theo not only asking him to play but also offering to teach Harry how to play… it had been something special to the then eleven year old and was the reason why he still liked chess, even though he lost practically all the time.

Later that night, when all of their dorm mates were already fast asleep, Harry grabbed his little black journal and tiptoed to Theo's bed. He parted the dark green curtains carefully, slipped in and closed them behind him. Theo's bedside lamp was still lit; the dark haired boy had obviously been waiting for him. Harry sat down comfortably and cast a sticking and silencing charm at the curtains.

"So what did you want to show me?" Theo asked curiously.

"This." Harry answered and placed the small journal in Theo's lap. Theo opened it and flipped through it curiously. When he reached the last few pages his eyes widened.

"Some of these curses are extremely dangerous and old…" The boy whispered reverently. "I thought you spent the summer with Longbottom and his lot… where did you find them?"

Harry grinned, satisfied that his friend was appropriately impressed. "I spent the holidays with them but at Sirius Black's house."

"You mean you had access to the Black library? Merlin, Harry! It's said to hold real treasures. Like… really old books… centuries old! And not only books about Dark Curses and stuff but also Rituals." He spoke the last few words quietly, as if afraid somebody might overhear them despite the silencing charm.

Harry remembered the book about rituals using muggles as sacrifices and grimaced. "Yeah… I came across three or four books on rituals…"

"You came across three or four…" Theo repeated, wide eyed. "Have you copied some of the rituals too? Or did you take one with you?" He asked eagerly but Harry only shook his head, not really understanding Theo's excitement. "Nah, I looked through them but most of them were either extremely difficult or not really practical."

"Not practical?! Not practical… I can't believe you! Harry good books on dark rituals are extremely rare and expensive. It's hard to find them, even on Knockturn Alley. Many of them were destroyed and selling – sometimes even possession – of the remaining ones has been forbidden because the Ministry deems them too dangerous. Merlin… I'd give so much to have access that library…"

"Doesn't your family own some books like that too?" Harry asked confused.

"Yeah, we do, but not a lot. My family was never as rich as the Blacks and books like that were always rarities. And when the Ministry suspected my father of being a Death Eater he had to get rid of the more dangerous ones. Bloody meddling fools." Theo scowled darkly. "Anyway. You think you could take one of them with you next time?"

Harry only shrugged noncommittally. "Don't know. I'd be hard to smuggle them past Mrs Weasley and Sirius… and don't you think Hogwarts has wards to detect stuff that dark? The ones you want to read probably reek of Dark Magic… I don't even want to think about what'd happen if somebody found a book like that in my possession…"

"Hmmm… You're probably right…" Theo sighed. "I'd just love to read one… All that knowledge… long forgotten…" He stared ahead unseeingly and Harry was once again reminded that his friend had nearly been sorted into Ravenclaw.

Theo's obsession with books and obscure knowledge exceeded Harry's by far. While Harry was probably the more magically powerful of them, Theo absorbed any and all knowledge like a sponge. He even managed to find something interesting in Herbology, a feet Harry thought admirable.

"So…" Harry nudged the absentminded boy next to him. "Back to the journal. What do you think of it? I thought we could start practicing the spells together. We could start with the easier ones I wrote down in the beginning."

"Didn't you practice them during the holidays?" Theo asked, now fully concentrated on the present again.

"Practice? As you pointed out only a few minutes ago, I spent my holidays cooped up in a house with Longbottom and the whole Weasley family. What d'ya think, that they'd let me practice Dark Curses in my room?" Harry looked at his friend incredulously.

"Right, right…" He opened the journal once more and read the first few pages carefully. "Well, we can practice them if you want, but honestly, I know most of them already, I'd rather start with the more difficult ones right away."

"You know them already?" Harry was surprised. "Since when? The last time I asked you to teach me some Dark Curses I don't think you mentioned any of them."

"Mhm, but that was before the summer."

Harry didn't say anything.

"Before the Dark Lord's return." Theo elaborated. "My father tutored me during the holidays. Sooner or later things will be more dangerous… and then there's also… well, you know…" Theo didn't need to finish the sentence for Harry to understand. 'And then there's also the fact that I'm expected to join the Death Eaters.'

"Right." Harry mumbled, feeling stupid. He really should have expected this.

"Tell me when you go training, okay?" A warm hand touched his shoulder. "My dad told me to keep practicing anyway."

"Right, will do." Harry yawned. "We better sleep now, it's already pretty late."

Lying in his own bed, tightly wrapped into warm blankets, Harry couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. He'd been looking forward to doing this with his friend. Besides that he was also a bit miffed that, despite his best efforts and the Black library at his disposal, he was still behind his Slytherin classmates when it came to the Dark Arts. If Theo had been tutored over the holidays then it was safe to assume that Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and maybe even Blaise had been subjected to a similar training.

Harry sighed deeply. It seemed he was once again at a disadvantage.

The next day went by at snails pace. After their last class Harry and Theo excused themselves and disappeared into an empty classroom in the dungeons. Harry practiced the first few curses he had written down in his journal. Theo really knew all of them already, showed them to him and helped Harry out as good as he could – but it was obvious that Theo was terribly bored.

In the end they dueled and even though Harry had always been better at the practical side of their education, he had to admit that he was outclassed. Theo just knew when to dodge and when to shield, knew which shield to use for what curse – a point Harry had sourly neglected in his hurry to assemble as many Dark Curses as possible.

"You…" Harry wheezed. Merlin, was that whistling sound coming from his lungs?! "You…" He tried again. "You really got to show me the shield charms you used."

Theo offered his hand to Harry and helped him up, grinning. "I'll write them down for you. You definitely need them."

Wheeeeeez…

"What did you curse me with anyway?" Harry asked, for some reason his lungs felt really heavy and his head ached slightly.

Pheeeeewww….

"Hm… Oh!" Theo looked at him with big eyes. "I didn't know that hit you." He pointed his wand at Harry once more and murmured yet another incantation. A light blue spell connected with Harry's chest and he felt better instantly.

"What the hell was that?"

Theo looked at some point behind Harry's left shoulder uncomfortably. "Lungcorrodingcurse."

"What?" Harry hissed furiously. "You used a curse that corrodes lungs? What the hell Theo?"

"You suggested we duel." Theo answered, chin lifted stubbornly. He was never one to take criticism well.

"Yeah, a duel between friends. I didn't think you'd try to kill me!" Harry responded, unnerved by his friends too calm demeanour.

"I didn't try to kill you, idiot." Theo grumbled under his breath. "I knew the counter curse to every spell I used. My father said-" And now he looked straight at Harry, eyes hard. "-that there is no use in training if we just shoot colourful sparks at each other. We have to develop an instinctual reaction to certain threats… to the colours and feelings of certain magics, and that can't happen if we don't use the real curses."

Putting it like that, Harry had to admit that it made sense. In a cruel and disturbing way.

"So your father also tried to curse you for real?"

"Of course. No kid's gloves." Theo answered proudly, but grimaced the next second. "You should've seen me after the first few times. Urgh… One time father cursed me with boils that brooded all kinds of insects. It's not really the most destructive curse, but it's a nice distraction. I certainly was more concentrated on the hatching flashy pink butterfly than on my opponent."

Harry grinned. "Well at least he got your favourite colour right."

"Oh shut up." Theo playfully hit him over the head. "Here I am confiding in you and all you do is make fun of me! I'll have you know that feeling a bloody butterfly crawl out of your very skin is anything but pleasant."

Harry only grinned even broader. "Scared of pink little butterflies now, are we?"

Theo harrumphed indignantly. "I'd like to see you keep your concentration with an actual insect crawling out of a boil on your wand hand."

"So what else did he curse you with?" Harry sniggered. "Unicorns and puffskeins?"

"Actually nearly everything was fair game." Theo answered earnestly. "Except for the Killing Curse of course. There's no counter curse to death, after all."

Silence descended on the room. Both looked down, uncomfortably reminded of the actual seriousness of their situation. Both had lost relatives in the last war – Harry his parents and Theo is mother and uncle.

No, there really was no counter to death, and with a new war brewing on the horizon Harry resolved to take his training more serious in the future.

Where before his forays into Dark Magic had been sparked by curiosity and the desire not to fall back behind the other Slytherins, it seemed learning to defend himself could soon turn into a necessity.

Soon Harry fell back into the comfortable routine of classes, homework and Dark Arts self study. Sometimes Theo would accompany him, though not too often. He got easily bored watching Harry practice curses he already knew and Harry hated feeling pressured to hurry up. The list with counter curses and the few shield charms Theo knew proved to be quite useful.

Belatedly Harry realized how stupid it had been to overlook the counter curses completely. He learned that the "counter curses" didn't really reverse the damage the first curse caused, but just stopped the infliction of even more harm.

The damage Theo had done to his lungs for instance was not reversed with Theo's counter curse, it had only prohibited further corrosion. Harry had had to take a healing potion later on to heal his lungs completely.

Never the less, it was definitely useful to know how to end one's suffering, under some circumstances even essential for survival – the suffocating curse representing only one of many such cases.

Soon it was time for their first Hogsmeade weekend. Harry went to buy new parchment and agreed to meet his friends at the Three Broomsticks afterwards.

He stood in the line in front of the cash desk bored out of his mind. The small shops were always overwhelmed by the masses of students that swamped their establishments on the few weekends Hogwarts opened its gates.

"Yes, Neville Longbottom… yes Granger – Hermione that is – said… secret meeting… Hog's Head in half an hour…"

Harry perked his ears up and eyed the girls in front of him attentively. One of them was definitely a Patil sister, the Ravenclaw, if he wasn't mistaken; the second was Sue Li, also in his year.

Li shook her head. "I don't know Padma… What if Umbridge finds out, my parents would kill me… My father's job is already on the line. I can't do anything to jeopardize that…"

"I understand." Patil assured her friend. "But you'll be okay if I go, won't you? I at least want to take a look. Parvati'll be there too."

"Sure, sure." Li answered, before changing the topic. "So Terry finally asked you out, didn't he?"

Parvati blushed beet red and mumbled something unintelligible. Harry didn't mind, he wasn't paying attention anymore anyway.

A secret meeting held by Longbottom and Granger, well if that didn't sound ominous. He cast a tempus charm. His friends were already at the Three Broomsticks', but he was kind of curious what the Golden Trio was up to…

Decision made Harry paid in a rush and took the way to the Hog's Head Inn. Annoyed he realized that his invisibility cloak was in his dorm at the bottom of his trunk. He really should start taking it along more often; right now it would've been be dead useful.

He entered the Hog's Head 20 minutes before the scheduled time. It was a dingy, dusty place, furnished with dark wood. The window glass was so greasy and encrusted with dirt that the daylight had no chance of breaking through – the only light in the room came from a few magical lamps and the odd candle sitting on the rough hewn tables. Most of the candles though were already burned down stubs.

It was not well patronized. Only one shady looking man sat at the bar, his pale fingers cramped around a glass of Firewhiskey, his face was hidden behind a black hood. Two other men occupied a table in the back of the room, both of their faces partly hidden behind shaggy beards.

Nobody looked up when he went in, not even the old barman who was polishing a dirty glass with an even dirtier cleaning rag.

At least it wouldn't be overly conspicuous if he kept his face obscured, Harry noted relieved and pulled his hood over his head. He took one of the other tables in the back of the room, as far away from the other customers as possible.

Ten minutes later the old barman finally decided to acknowledge Harry's presence and strode to his tables.

"Yes?" He asked wearily.

"Butterbeer please." For a second Harry had played with the thought of ordering Firewhiskey. He didn't think they would check his age in a place like this, but he also didn't want to risk being in a loud discussion with the waiter the moment the other students came in. Staying inconspicuous was his priority.

By the time his order arrived the first Hogwarts students trickled in. He sat with his back turned in their direction – another precaution to hide his identity – but a quick glance over his shoulder told him that while most of them were from his year, some older students had come as well.

Naturally all of his Gryffindor classmates were present. Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Lavender Brown and her ever so annoying voice as well as both Patil sisters were amongst the first to enter.

The rest were students from different houses – though no Slytherins, of course. Among others he recognised Susan Bones, Cho Chang and even Zacharias Smith, an arrogant Hufflepuff.

At last the Golden Trio entered. Longbottom took one look at the assembled students and his mouth fell open. His eyes darted back to the door, and for a moment Harry thought the boy would flee. Then Granger put her hand reassuringly on his shoulder, and Longbottom visible calmed. And shut his mouth, thankfully. Not daring to look any longer Harry turned back to his dusty bottle of butterbeer.

"Hi…" Granger's voice sounded nervous and high pitched. "We… uhm, that is I…" Harry had never heard the normally obnoxiously confident girl sound so insecure. It made him smile. "As you know we are meeting here because we think that our current Defence lessons are unacceptable. Under the given circumstances we think we should start training ourselves."

Many spoke out in agreement and Granger continued with a firmer voice.

"Umbridge's instructions are not only unacceptable because we need to practice for the O.W.L.s but also because-" She drew a big breath. "-because Lord V-Voldemort is back."

Now Harry regretted dearly that he didn't see them. One girl squeaked loudly, somebody else seemed to choke on his butterbeer.

"Where's the proof that You-Know-Who has returned?" Definitely Smith's voice, Harry decided.

A loud discussion concerning Longbottom's and Dumbledore's credibility ensued, until Weasley ended it rudely by telling them that everybody who didn't believe Longbottom should leave. The door stayed closed.

Then they started to discuss Longbottom's heroic acts, and Harry was surprised how little he had known about them.

"So it's true that you closed the Chamber of Secrets in your second year?" Some girl Harry couldn't identify asked excitedly.

"Well… in a way, not alone though. We-" Harry suspected he gestured to Granger and Weasley. "-found the responsible objec… uhm, person I mean, and Professor Dumbledore helped close the chamber."

"Oh…" Somebody sounded a bit disappointed.

"Yes, but he did rescue the Sorcerer's Stone from You-Know-Who in his first year, and all by himself!" A voice, probably belonging to Ginny Weasley, butted in.

"And not to forget the Triwizard Tournament. He fought against dragons, acromantulas and other monsters!"

The general mood turned in Longbottom's favour and soon they discussed the meeting place (which they couldn't come up with) and Granger promised to inform them as soon as they found one.

Harry left the Hog's Head a few minutes after the other students to make sure that he wouldn't run into them on the way back. He had to admit the idea was great. Training together would not only allow them to help each other and advance faster but also give them opportunities to duel. The longer he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Maybe he should introduce it to his fellow Slytherins. If the Gryffindors organised a Defence club, then so could they.


I hope you liked it. For some reason this was the hardest chapter to write so far. Not a lot of action going on, but I will stick with J.K. Rowling's pattern in that regard - the school year is the build up to an "end of the year" adventure.

And do not fear, Harry is in no way a weak wizard. He just wasn't raised around or taught the Dark Arts, and that's bound to show - in the beginning.

Thanks for all the reviews, I really love hearing what you think of the story! On that note:

Thanks for reading, and please review!

PS: Umbridge's beginning of the year speech is a quote from "Harry Potter and the Order of Pheonix".