I'm terrible sorry for not updating sooner! My mum had a car accident and I simply wasn't able to write anything useful while she was in the hospital. Once more I'm sorry.
And now to some important matters: I SERIOUSLY NEED A BETA! cause once more this chapter is un-beta'ed. (So please don't kill me.)
(If you read this Kei's Girl then send me a pm, because somehow your e-mail address didn't appear in your mail... can you enable my docx connection? And knitchick, please! Where are you?)
The second thing is something I've already asked some chapters before. I need people, who want to work with me on a prequel to this story. (You know, all the stuff that happens while training and so on. For those of you who want to know how it all should start, I've posted the first Chapter) BUT I NEED YOU TO HELP ME! This should be a story that everyone is statisfied with!
Anyways... enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 28
"Come on, hurry up!" said Mrs. Weasley after a quick breakfast "You don't want to be late!"
Harry checked for one last time if all his things were shrunken in his pockets and stepped over to the large fireplace in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. The holidays were over now and they would travel back to Hogwarts via floo-powder
"Goodbye, Harry, take care," said Mrs. Weasley, hugging him.
"See you, Harry, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!" said Mr. Weasley who was out of the hospital, genially, shaking his hand.
He chuckled slightly. "I'll try my best."
With a smile Harry turned to Sirius, who gave him a brief hug. "Look out for yourself pup. Don't do anything I won't do."
Harry flicked his wand with a grin. "You know me, Padfoot. But it's you who should look out for yourself. You're the one walking around in London in risk of getting caught."
Sirius grinned at him and gave him another hug. "True, I can't deny that. But still take care, pup. By the way…"
Sirius shuffled trough his pockets and then held out a small package to him. Harry curiously took it and examined the black wrapping, before giving his godfather a questioning look when he held him back as he wanted to open it.
"Open it when you're alone," whispered Sirius and looked over his shoulder where the other Weasleys were bustling around, debating who was allowed to use the floo at first. "Molly'd kill me if she saw what's in there. Your father and I always used them. Remus has one as well."
Harry nodded and turned and slipped the package into his pocket when the fireplace flared and Fred, quickly followed by George, disappeared.
He went over to Remus, who was standing near the stove with a cup of tea in his hand and gave the slightly surprised man a hug as well. When he was sure that Sirius wasn't near he grinned. "Keep a leash on the dog, okay Moony?
Remus chuckled. "Will do cup. Have fun at school and stay out of trouble."
Harry pouted when Ron and Ginny disappeared into the flames. "Why's everyone basically telling me the same thing? I'm getting depressed here. It's not as if I would jump off of the Astronomy tower at the first opportunity I get!"
Remus merely continued to smile and went back to drinking his tea. Suddenly Harry stumbled, when someone brushed past him. He blinked when he saw that it was Hermione, who – without turning around – threw some powder into the fire and disappeared into the green flames.
His heart clenched. Suddenly jumping off of the Astronomy tower didn't seem to be such a bad idea after all…
He shook his head when Narcissa and Fleur each gave him a hug – the later one a kiss on the cheek as well, which earned him a playful glare from Bill, who had just started to wake over a cup of strong coffee.
"Well then, bye!" said Harry to everyone and in a burst of green flames he was gone.
...HPHPHP...
He stumbled out of the fireplace in McGonnegall's office and coughed, before someone steadied him by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Just as hopeless as your father," mumbled the transfiguration teacher. "Nothing could faze him, but when he used the floo he stumbled around like a new-born babe."
"Thanks," replied Harry drily and looked at McGonnegall with a raised eyebrow. "Nice to know that it's not my fault then. Hating the floo obviously lies in the family."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," said McGonnegall when Draco gracefully stepped out of the fireplace and gave a polite nod to the professor and a smirk at Harry, before leaving the room. "Lily used this form of travelling as elegantly as Mr. Black just did."
He sighed and dusted his pants off, before giving the professor a small smile. "Thanks for the help. I see you in class, Minny!"
He left a spluttering McGonegall behind and quickly dashed out of the office.
His friends were waiting for him outside and surprisingly Neville was with them as well. "Hey Harry. How've you been?"
Harry shrugged. "Just fine. And you? Why are you here this early?"
Neville nodded happily. "I'm great! Thank you very much for the wand holster by the way. Gran couldn't stop asking me questions as to why I needed it. And I'm here because she dropped me off. She had to talk to Dumbledore and decided to take me along."
Harry smiled slightly and suddenly his eyes met Hermione's, who looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. She abruptly turned around. "I need to get my stuff into the Common Room. See you later guys!"
She started to walk away, but stopped shortly. "Don't forget we've got patrol this evening, Harry," she said without turning around.
Harry looked after her when she disappeared and sighed. He turned to Ron, Neville and Draco with a forced smile. "I… I better do that myself as well. Bring Neville up to date, will you?"
They nodded a little reluctantly and he walked around the corner
He slowly went up the stairs. He and Hermione had barely talked since Christmas and he knew that it was his fault she was mad at him. She had avoided talking to him about anything other than their lesson-plans for the H.A.
He sighed frustrated and stopped before pacing in front of the wall. He didn't want to hang around in the common room at the moment. He searched through his pockets and when he had found what he was looking for, he enlarged his Firebolt with a flick of his wrist.
With a swift look around he opened the door to one of the many balconies of the castle and with a quick jump soared high into the air.
...HPHPHP...
In the evening Harry slowly made his way to their usual meeting spot at the stairs leading to the Astronomy Tower. That had become their first station to look at during their patrols after having caught students out of bed for three times.
He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. 'I have no clue how to fix this…' with a heavy sigh he drove a hand trough his hair and closed his eyes to enjoy a cool breeze that came floating down from the stairs.
His eyes snapped open when he heard footsteps coming his way. They fell on Hermione, who was walking in his direction, with her eyes cast downwards. He opened his mouth to say something, anything… but somehow nothing came out.
When she reached him, he grabbed her hand and she stopped in her tracks. "Hermione…"
"I don't want to hear it, Harry," Hermione said and brushed his hand away before walking up the stairs.
Harry closed his mouth and sighed before following her. When he reached the top of the stairs he saw her looking around in some niches if students were out of bed. He did the same on the other side of the room, his mind trying to come up with a solution for this whole mess.
He heard her shuffling around near the large windows and cleared his throat.
"Hermione?"
She didn't answer, but her shuffling stopped and with some hope he turned around. She was standing with her back turned to him, looking at the star-filled sky.
"Hermione… I… I know that you're still mad at me, but-"
"I'm not mad," she interrupted without looking at him. Her hands were fiddling with her long curls and she was looking at the floor now.
He stared. "You're not? But…"
"I'm not mad… I'm just still… disappointed," elaborated Hermione and once more looked at the star-filled sky. "I thought that… that we can talk about everything. But then you just stormed out of the room and left me and… I was scared."
"Mione I-"
She whirled around and looked at him with glistening eyes. "I was scared I'd lose you. The look in your eyes… that's when I first saw a side of you I hadn't thought to be there. It was… I know it sounds stupid and cheesy… but it was a dark side. Not just the cold one you show when you're angry or annoyed. It was a side that scared the hell out of me."
"I di-"
But Hermione interrupted him again. She shook her head. "Harry, after you left I was afraid you wouldn't return or get yourself a free ride to Azkaban. A small part of me understands that you left so you couldn't lash out on me or the others, but the larger part is just disappointed that we couldn't simply talk about it. I thought I knew you…"
Harry took a step forward and encircled her waist with his arms. She didn't move and he rested his head on her shoulder. "How could you ever think you'd lose me? How could you think you don't know me?" he whispered. "How could you think I wouldn't return to you? How could you be scared of me?"
He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "Hermione if I had stayed and something had had happened to you… then I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself."
"Harry…"
"Hermione," said Harry and his arms tightened. "I'm so sorry; I left because I didn't want to hurt you physically, but ended up hurting your trust. I was so angry after I read that letter… my only thoughts were to get away before something bad happened. You must understand… I've already killed someone while I was angry once. I didn't want it to happen again. I took a run for it mostly for that reason."
Hermione's head snapped around and she looked at him startled. "You…" she stepped out of his embrace and forced him to look at her. "You've… I-"
Harry marveled at the soft touch of her fingers on his face and shortly closed his eyes, before nodding. "Yes, Mione. I did."
"Harry… why didn't you tell me? If I had only known…" Suddenly she huffed angrily and crossed her arms. "I could've understood your reaction immediately, you prat! We wouldn't even have this conversation if I had known this! I would've understood! I-"
She stopped and Harry opened his arms once more. With a sigh she snuggled against his chest and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry as well. Can we… can we just forget it?"
He nodded. "I'd love to forget it." He held her close to him and breathed in the familiar scent of vanilla and lilies. "Merlin… how I've missed this…"
"But please, promise me… you won't run like that again, even if you're angry. I don't care! I will help you with everything." She forcefully made him look at her. "Is that clear?"
He just nodded and looked down at her with a small smile playing on his lips.
Her stern expression morphed into a smile and before anyone of them could register what happened they were sharing a passionate kiss.
The kiss grew more intense and Harry got lost in it. Hermione softly pushed him backwards against the wall and he gave a gasp when her body grinded against his. Her hands rooted themselves into his hair like always and Harry grabbed her waist and turned them around, so that it was her pressed against the wall now.
Harry abandoned her lips and placed butterfly kisses on her neck – stopping ever so slightly to pay more attention to certain spots. He groaned when Hermione started to do the same to him, her hips grinding against his lower half.
Suddenly Hermione gave a low moan and when Harry looked up he was transfixed by what he saw. She was looking back at him with a flushed face, her swollen lips slightly parted - a hint of a smile visible on them. Her eyes were half closed and her head titled to the side.
"We should stop," panted Harry breathlessly when he had finally snapped out of it. "We're supposed to be on patrol."
She grumbled disappointingly, but then blushed deep red and gave him a bright smile. She grabbed his hand. Still panting slightly Harry stumbled after her when she dragged him down the stairs "Then come on! Let's see if someone's out of bed."
He didn't protest when she continued to drag him along. Harry merely smiled. But then suddenly a shiver ran down his spine and a wave of nausea hit him. He stopped abruptly and groaned slightly surprised. Blinking and shaking his head he looked around.
Hermione, who nearly fell down because of his abrupt halt, had stopped as well and was looking at him with worry. "Is something wrong? Are you all right?"
Harry looked at her. "I don't know, but I've got a very bad feeling about something…" He looked around again. "What's going on…?"
...HPHPHP...
Harry's question was answered the very next morning. When Hermione's Daily Prophet arrived she smoothed it out, gazed for a moment at the front page and gave a yelp that caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.
"What?" they said all together.
For an answer she spread the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black and white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's.
Some of the people in the photographs were silently jeering; others were tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.
Antonin Dolohov, read the legend beneath a wizard with a long, pale, twisted face who was sneering up at Harry, convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.
Augustus Rookwood, said the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who was leaning against the edge of his picture, looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
But Harry's eyes were drawn to the picture of the witch. Her face had leapt out at him the moment he had seen the page. She had long, dark hair that looked unkempt and straggly in the picture, though he had seen it sleek, thick and shining in some of Narcissa's memories. His eyes widened. 'Narcissa she… when Bellatrix… oh damn!'
His eyes met Draco's, who had been staring at Bellatrix's picture as well. A mix of worry and anger was seen on his face, together with a hint of fear - mainly for his mother.
His eyes once more fell on Bellatrix's picture. She glared up at him through heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. Like Sirius, she retained vestiges of great good looks, but something - perhaps Azkaban - had taken most of her beauty.
Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.
He looked at Neville, who was sitting in front of him, his face expressionless and his whole body tense and Harry could see the rage dancing in his eyes when Neville averted his eyes from the prophet, to slowly continue eating his pancake.
Hermione nudged Harry and pointed at the headline over the pictures, which Harry, concentrating on Bellatrix, had not yet read.
MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN!
MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS 'RALLYING POINT' FOR OLD DEATH EATERS
With an annoyed roll of his eyes at the Ministry placing the burden of their failing once more on Sirius' shoulders, he pushed the paper away.
His eyes automatically travelled over to the staff-table. Despite that news, Harry had to smirk when he saw Umbridge sitting there as white as a sheet, with the Daily Prophet clutched into her shaking stubby fingers.
"I think," said Harry and smiled sweetly when her eyes met his, "that another H.A. meeting is in order."
He searched through his pockets and with a grin fished out the galleon, Hermione had put the Protean Charm on. With a soft tip of his wand, the galleon glowed shortly and he put it back into his pocket.
"We're holding the meeting today. There shouldn't be anything like Quidditch or other clubs to hold the members off."
"But what exactly are we going to do with them today?" asked Ron and helped himself to another load of scrambled eggs and toast.
Draco was looking at Harry and then smirked. "I believe it's time to start the group training."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Does this mean I finally can teach all those wards to someone?"
Harry chuckled. "Why else would we have put all those who're taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy in your group?"
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, which earned them a surprised look from the other three. "Umm… have you talked about what was bothering you two?" asked Draco slightly uncomfortable.
Harry stared at him. "How did you…? Urgh, just forget it, keeping secrets from you is as impossible as keeping them from Snape!"
"I learned from the best," replied Draco with a smirk.
Hermione's excited smile meanwhile had disappeared and was now replaced with a small frown, while she kept looking at him intently. He softly titled his head in question and her frown grew stronger.
"Harry… yesterday… you remember when you suddenly stopped after we came down from the astronomy tower? Was it… did you guess something like the break out would happen then?"
Harry's eyes widened for the fraction of a second at that information, but then he just shrugged and gave his friends – who were staring at him now too – and Hermione a small grin. "I possibly developed an early warning system for stuff like that."
Ron looked at him incredulously. "You… can joke about things like that? Why didn't you go to Dumbledore? If you had told him, maybe he could've done something."
Harry's small grin disappeared and he sighed. "I didn't even know what I felt last night. You forget, that I can't feel what Voldemort feels anymore. It was just a strange sensation I felt."
Draco stood up and Harry saw how he rolled his eyes. "Enough of that now. We've got some things to prepare..."
...HPHPHP...
Harry crossed his arms. His eyes were slowly drifting over the assembled students in the Room of Requirement. Everyone was looking at him with anticipation, because of the things he had said before the holidays. His eyes drifted over each of them, before he began to talk.
"I told you before the holidays, that we want to show you, how the real world is. And we will introduce you to some, but only some of the dark arts. You mostly have to know how to fight against them, so don't expect anything too dramatic. But first of all, you have to forget all that 'swish-and-flick' crap," he said and was only met with confused faces.
He sighed. "Every time one of you casts a spell, you use fancy wand movements that cost a whole lot of time. You depend on those movements to visualize your magic and when you use the wrong movement you mess up. Not to mention that you scream the incantation out loud."
"But how else are we supposed to cast spells?" asked Dean curiously.
"Tell me a spell I should cast," said Harry.
"Umm… how 'bout Expelliarmus?"
Harry nodded and without further movement, Dean's wand came flying in his direction. He hadn't moved his wand. It was still limply hanging on his side. With a small smile he caught Dean's wand and held it out to him.
"How?" asked several H.A. members.
Fred and George whistled, while the other older students, which means Lee, Alicia and Katie, looked impressed. "Wow. Silent casting… respect!"
"We're currently-"
"-learning that in-"
"McGonnegall's lessons."
With a nod Harry threw the wand back at Dean and began walking through the small crowd, pulling some of them out. Hermione, Neville, Ron and Draco did the same. When they had finished, Ginny, Blaise, Theodore, Luna and Susan were standing next to Harry, while the others were all distributed to the other four.
Harry didn't address the whole crowd anymore, but merely focused on the five in front of him, while his friends talked to their own respective groups of five.
"Our parents fought in the last war, and they fight again, and now we have to keep on fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay" he said to them and looked at each of them. His face softened and he sighed. "But we all know it can never be quite eradicated, don't we?"
"Care to elaborate?" asked Blaise slightly uneasy.
"Yeah, with You-Know-Who gone there's nothing to worry about, right?" said Susan and Ginny nodded.
"There will always be shadows who seek to conquer," answered Harry slowly and began walking in front of them – leading them farther away from the other students. "There wouldn't be darkness if it wasn't for the light and… we all know that shadows are a product of the light."
"Man… you hang out with Dumbledore and our Head of House too much," whistled Blaise. "You start to sound just like them."
"It comes with the old age," smirked Harry, but grew serious once more. "In case you're wondering, it's no coincidence that you five are in my group. Draco, Mione, Ron, Nev and I talked about it for quite a while and we agreed that you five are best suited for my group."
"And what exactly does this mean?" asked Ginny suspiciously.
Harry indicated to the threes around him. "You'll be receiving training in stealth and hand-to-hand combat before I start to teach you any more spells for dueling."
"Potter, do you want to tell us that you can be stealthy?" asked Theodore with a raised eyebrow. "You may've gotten good at all that dueling stuff, I give you that, but from what I've heard you couldn't even be quiet if your life depended on it."
"Snape told you that, am I right?" replied Harry flatly and Theodore shrugged. "No wonder most of the snakes think I'm an idiot…," he mumbled to himself and flicked his wand.
The space around them grew a little darker and it looked like it was dusk. Shadows from the threes were cast over them and Harry walked away from the group. "Get ready! No wands allowed. Defend yourself the 'primitive way' as some wizards like to call it."
He disappeared behind a three and surveyed each of them carefully, as they were looking around, searching for him. 'Yep,' he thought as he saw that each of them kept their back wide open, 'they definitely need work on that.' His eyes fell on Luna, who wasn't even trying to be careful and he shook his head. 'This girl's not strange, she's just… different. But I can't put my finger on how different…'
He silently inched forwards, careful not to make a sound, always cringing inwardly when he saw the unbalanced steps each of them was taking. He, by no means, thought himself to be an expert in material arts, but he definitely knew how to fight. He had just started to learn them a little more than a year ago. But he sure was able to see when someone was totally unguarded and not able to get into a balanced stance.
He himself knew how to shift his legs to gain optimal balance so that he wouldn't fall down when punched. He knew how to dodge punches, deliver kicks and avoid spells. But most of all he knew how to combine his quick reflexes in spell-casting and martial arts. He had no real form, was his way of fighting all but a mix of different styles. Harry smirked. But that was what made it so impossible to predict his movements.
His style was that of a street fighter. Rough, dirty and sneaky as Draco liked to call it.
Without any of them noticing he stepped behind Susan. He cast a silencing-spell and with a swift kick at the back of her knees she fell down. He flicked his wand once more and thus made her unable to move. She was looking up at him with wide eyes and he winked, before moving on to Theo.
The Slytherin was staring straight to the line of threes, seemingly trying to spot him. With a smirk, Harry grabbed his arm and whirled him around. "Were you looking for me?" he whispered and winked at Blaise and Ginny when they turned around to face him.
Theo's eyes darted back to the threes and then to Susan, lying on the floor, incapable of moving. "H-how? When did you do that?"
"Stealth and speed," answered Harry and with a jab at the Slytherin's upper forearm he turned his back to him. He looked at Blaise and Ginny, who gasped when a low 'thump' was heard. With a peek over his shoulder he nodded, just like anticipated Theo was now lying on the ground, unconscious.
"What have you done?" asked Blaise warily and Harry looked at him, before he shot a very low stunner at him.
Blaise seemed to see it coming, before he even fired it, but wasn't quick enough to avoid the curse. He stumbled to his knees and Ginny gulped and reached for her wand.
"Ah, but I said not to use your wand," chided Harry softly.
"He hit a pressure point," said a dreamy voice and just now Harry saw Luna leaning against one of the threes, seemingly uninterested in all that was going on around her. He shook his head. He should have expected something like that.
"Very good Luna," he smiled at her. "You've heard of them then?"
She nodded dreamily. "It's important to know some pressure points when you want to look for Tauled-Kenquickers."
"Tauled-… what?" he asked, but dismissed it with a shake of his head. "Doesn't matter." He looked at Blaise and Ginny. "I don't see a reason to continue. Ginny, you made it clear that you rely on your wand to much with wanting to grab it. Blaise… well you may have a gift others work years for, but from what I see your physical condition sucks."
He bent down to Theo. "Enervate."
The Slytherin's eyes snapped open and he groaned quietly. Harry chuckled and then went over to Susan. With a flick of his wand, she could move again and pouted up at him. "That was rough."
"I know," replied Harry boldly. "Susan, you leave yourself much too open for attacks. Or to be precise: You're too slow to react to the things you see and hear. Had I been a Death Eater who had used a curse instead of a kick, you could very well be dead now."
She nodded and he turned to Theo, who meanwhile had stood up. "It's the exact opposite with you. I believe you to be quite quick, but you don't pay attention to your surroundings. You focus too much on a single point."
When he received a nod from him also he turned to Luna. "And you… to be honest I can't say I think there was anything wrong, because there wasn't even anything to begin with! You just stood there impassively and let things happen around you." Luna blinked and looked at him. He continued: "I respect and like your rather unique personality, but answer me one question: If it had been a real battle of life and death… what would you've done?"
She blinked once more and titled her head downwards. "I… I'm not sure. I'm not that good at casting spells and I'm not very quick. I wouldn't… I wouldn't have been of much help anyways."
Harry sighed went over to her. He forced her to look at him and smiled slightly. "Luna, don't say things like that. You were able to master all the spells I've taught here so far in a matter of hours. This is a great achievement, so don't let yourself down!"
Luna sighed and closed her eyes. When she opened them Harry saw unshed tears in them and resisted the urge to go and curse all of the people he knew that bullied her. "Do you… do you mean it?"
"Harry's right!" quipped Ginny. "You're one of the best!"
Blaise rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah… and don't let anybody tell you otherwise."
Theo smirked. "And if someone insults you, we're going to hex them."
"We're your friends Luna," said Susan and that did it.
A brilliant smile broke out on Luna's face and she nodded happily.
Harry was rather surprised at the loyalty the others showed her. Ginny he could understand, for that they were in the same year and he had sometimes seen Luna around her, but that Blaise, Theo and Susan were ready to be there for her and defend her was rather unexpected.
'Seems like the H.A. is more than a Defense Club… funny how people can put away their differences when they work for one goal. Somehow reminds me of Draco and me…'
"Well… now that we've established that, it's time to start training", he said and saw them pale dramatically.
...HPHPHP...
"And?" asked Draco two hours later and flopped down on the sofa, after all the students have left. "How's your group and what did you do with them?"
Harry, who was busy helping Hermione to mark some pages in books about wards just shrugged. So Ron decided to answer instead: "My group's not bad. It'll probably take some time until Collin and Lavender really understand what I'm talking about, but it looks like Michael, Anthony and especially Astoria will have no problems with strategy and organizing things. I still don't know why I've got Lavender and Collin in my group though…"
"Because they're like to cause less of damage in your group," muttered Harry and they all chuckled slighty at the truth of his words.
Hermione smiled and looked at Ron. "You know, it's something that really surprises me. For four years I've tried to encourage you to open a book and read something so that there's something different in your head than Quidditch and food," she crossed her arms and shook her head. "And when you finally decide to use that head of yours you turn out to be a tactical genius when it comes to battling and similar things!"
Ron blushed slightly and then shrugged. "I simply like playing chess, so I think that's why. I will probably play some games with my group once in a while but… first I have to go through some books and scenarios with them so that they start to analyze things and form structured plans with the things they get."
"Wow the weasel's using big words!" snickered Draco and Ron threw a pillow at him that he had grabbed from the armchair he was sitting on.
"Shut it ferret! What did you do with my brothers and the others anyway?"
Draco leaned back into the cushions and Harry finished going through the book he had been looking at and put it aside on the steadily growing pile of useful books that he and Hermione had found during the holidays.
"Well… I was really surprised, but Fred and George can nearly be called geniuses at potions. Lee is nearly on par with them and Katie and Alicia are quite advanced as well."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Then what are you planning on teaching them when they're that good?"
With a shake of his head Draco took a shrunken book out of his cloak and enlarged it. "Don't misunderstand me Harry. They're good, but have no clue how to analyze a poison to brew the antidote. They certainly know how to work with the ingredients and probably can brew advanced potions straight out of the textbooks but…" he shook his head and snapped the book shut after having looked at some pages about healing potions. "I'm planning to teach them how to use potions in battle, how to brew without a book and which kind of healing potions and balms are needed for different injuries. Of course I'll work on their physical condition and their dueling skills as well, but most of the time it'll probably be potions."
Harry nodded. He had expected as much, when they had organized the groups. He turned to Hermione, who finally had finished as well and was currently shrinking the pile of books so that she could carry them.
She smiled then. "I was actually quite surprised. Daphne and Padma both have studied wards and runes outside of Professor Babbling's and Professor Sinistra's lessons for quite a while now. I suggest we introduce them to Bill sometime in the future, because they told me, that they both want to become curse-breakers after Hogwarts."
Neville, who hadn't said anything so far, smiled slightly. "So then you've got a little help with teaching the other three."
She nodded enthusiastically. "True, but there's so much I myself still need to learn! I don't even know where I should start teaching them!"
"How 'bout the basics?" suggested Ron dryly and Hermione threw him an annoyed look.
She huffed. "Thanks Ronald. Honestly, I haven't thought about it. I wanted to teach them blood-wards at first y'know?"
Harry raised an eyebrow and threw his arm around her shoulder while poking her in the side with his free hand. She giggled slightly and tried to swat his hand away. "Was that sarcasm I heard there? Mione, I think we're rubbing off on you."
She huffed again. "Anyway, Daphne and Padma will have no problems and I believe the others will grasp the concept of wards rather quickly as well. I guess they'll manage to cast and write out the basic wards and the anti-apparation and anti-portkey ward in… maybe two weeks. When they're working outside of our lessons, that is."
"Guess we've picked the right people after all," said Harry and thought about his own group. Ginny, Blaise, Luna, Theo and Susan had been totally winded after Harry had called their training to an end. He had them running for around twenty minutes and then done all kinds of exercises with them. At the end they had all glared at him – even Luna – and had left limping and grimacing. He was sure they would bring clothes more fitting for exercising the next time.
"So you're bringing them into shape then?" asked Draco and Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I'll teach them how to fight 'rough, dirty and sneaky', as you like to call it. And I'll be working on their speed and I plan to increase their spell- and curse-arsenal."
Ron frowned. "So basically you're concentrating on attacking by force?"
He shook his head and smiled at Neville, who looked at him as if to ask if he was allowed to answer the question. "No, he isn't. I'm going to teach my group, Justin, Hannah, Terry, Ernie and Parvati, how to attack by force. So basically with brute strength and stamina. Harry's group is learning how to outwit their opponents and attack from the shadows or with a surprise-factor on their side."
Harry looked at the fireplace not far from them and let today's lesson sink in. As far as he was concerned, they could start teaching them simple dark spells, potions and rituals to catch their opponents off guard. He hadn't thought that the other students would do so well in their first lesson as groups of five, but he was pleasantly surprised that it had worked so well.
"It's funny, isn't it?" said Hermione suddenly and snuggled deeper into his side, while his fingers absentmindedly played with her smooth brown curls. "It's nearly like the H.A. is becoming a real army with different squads that specialize in different fields of magic."
"But this is exactly what we intended when we decided to work in groups, isn't it?" asked Neville.
Ron frowned. "So… Neville's got an assault team, Mione's got a team specialized in wards and Draco's group practically are the medics and the backup. Harry's team are those who attack from the shadows..." he snickered and looked at Harry. "you're training ninjas, mate."
He snorted. "Yeah, sure I do. Spell casting assassins and fighters that operate from the shadows. I'll just have to learn how to use those ninja-weapons now, don't I?"
"That would definitely baffle any Death Eater, when you jump out of the shadows and throw one of those knives at them," chuckled Hermione and he had to agree.
"So then my group'll be the one responsible for all the planning?" asked Ron then and frowned. "It'll be funny to pound strategies into Collin's and Lavender's heads..."
Harry nodded and it was Draco who answered. "I'm just waiting for them to come up with separate names for each group and then the Hogwarts Army is really that what the name suggests; an army to defend Hogwarts."
"This should become more interesting as the time goes by," said Harry and searched through his pockets to look at his time table. He had no clue which class he had first in the morning.
He groaned loudly when he saw that it was Defense with Umbridge.
I hope you like the chapter! And please, if there's a kind soul out there who wants to be my beta, then send me a message. (I'm seriously beginning to get desperate here!)
And... don't forget to review! After all this time I need feedback to see if my writing-skills suffered because of the lack of use!
Dark Phoenix of Slytherin