Chapter 11: Bad news

The next morning on Tuesday turned out to be gloomy, with dark clouds rolling over the sky and as Harry could image also over the ceiling of the Great Hall as they brought with them along cold and unpleasant rain that rattled on the glass of the windows. At the moment, the group of four friends was walking down to breakfast – this was the first morning when the young men had managed to meet their girlfriends in the Common room.

The breakfast fragrances, carrying the aroma of toasted bread and warm butter, rose up even to the upper floors of the castle, where Ron, climbing down the stairs of the huge Staircase Hall, shut his eyes and inhaled the smell of mouthwatering air with pleasure.

"I think I'll have to seriously consider giving Kreacher a gift at Christmas. The food indeed is getting even tastier with each day," Ron said happily.

"I suppose we should all go down to the kitchen," Hermione said. "Only we have to think of a plausible reason for the visit in order to not give a ground for any suspicion for the elves," she added.

"Do you really need a reason to go and speak with the elves, Hermione?" Ron asked. "You can easily distract them with your speech about the system of social benefits, but in the meantime, we could inspect the kitchen," he said cheerfully.

Ginny laughed. "Ron, you better tell it right away what exactly do you want – you want to inspect what kind of éclairs the elves had baked today."

"I prefer those with the chocolate filling, best if it's milk chocolate. If they are filled with the lemon cream, then the visit to the kitchen was futile," Ron said with a smirk. He had realized that life was easier if he didn't resent over every little thing Ginny teased him about. Harry, too, laughed at his reply.

"Then, we can visit the kitchen for a brief moment after breakfast, so to say, to thank Kreacher. I think we should inspect the kitchen, because, who knows, maybe Voldemort felt like it was something very special for him. After all, he had grown up in an orphanage, and perhaps such éclairs falling from the sky could have seemed to him like the greatest miracle in the world," Harry concluded.

"Harry, you're wrong, nothing falls from the sky there, but the éclairs are coming to you themselves on the little trays like this – zip, zip, zip, zip," Ron said, twisting his outstretched hand like showing as carrying a plate on it. Harry, instead of replying, just smirked and rolled his eyes.

The friends still continued discussing the kitchen with its benefits and elves, but Harry had no desire to take part into this conversation anymore. His thoughts once again focused on Voldemort and the Diadem. So far they have had no success in this regard, but of course, there hadn't passed a lot of time – just less than a week since they had started looking for it. And yet Harry was beginning to feel uneasy, because, if before his arrival at Hogwarts, it seemed clear to him, which places to check first, and then in one of them, they had to find the Diadem, then now, overthinking it again and again, it started to seem practically hopeless. Besides in a part of his mind, there was actually forming a thought – what if it was just a stupid nightmare? Do they really have any evidence that Voldemort hasn't actually been destroyed? All they knew was just that the burned Diadem couldn't be the real one, because the magic of the Horcrux had to protect its host. But then, did they really knew the Dark Arts so well to be so convinced claiming that the Diadem was fake – what if Fiendfyre was truly stronger than Basilisk venom? And if that was true, it meant Harry had been completely vainly made himself and also his friends anxious, besides, he had also brought Ron along with himself at Hogwarts, though, now they could have acquired really new and useful skills in Auror training and do the bad guy catching instead of aimlessly wandering around here in the hallways of the school. And Hermione – how many hours had she lost of her studies?

Stepping down the wide marble staircase of the Entrance Hall, Harry ran his hand over the section of the railing fixed by McGonagall, and his thoughts turned in a different direction – but what if there was an actual chance, although very, very tiny, that Voldemort could have survived and, who knows, maybe had possessed in his ghostly form one of the giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest and now was planning to expand the Acromantula invasion into the castle? As a glorified savior of the wizarding world, he could never let that happen, so he had to put in every effort to at least make sure whether his suspicions were true or false. Because the current justification sounded utterly ridiculous to be revealed to any authority or employees of Law Enforcement, and Harry was truly delighted that Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and even Neville and Luna were ready to get involved in this, even though the only leads were a short, incoherent dream before falling asleep in the middle of a hot summer and the quick calculations of Arithmancy, done by Hermione.

They had come down to the Great Hall as Ron was still teasing the girls, talking about the deliciousness of various dishes. Suddenly, however, Harry pulled his mind out of his reflection, because it seemed there was something off about the Hall. Any other time, the Great Hall was always filled with loud chattering, laughter, and occasionally there were also some admiring glances cast at him, but today the air in the Hall seemed suspiciously muted, Harry noticed that there were many more eyes on him than usual. Such behavior of his schoolmates could mean only one thing.

And, of course, as soon as they had taken the far end of the table closest to the professors, where it was also the least crowded, an owl arrived and threw the Daily Prophet in front of Hermione. When she opened it, the further questions about the odd whispering and persistent stares were redundant.

As soon as Hermione took the newspaper with her hands, she opened it, and a small, notebook-sized, bright purple booklet fell on her plate. Harry took it and saw his own portrait on its cover. However, his picture wasn't smiling as a hero in a golden armor, but rather he winced from time to time and seemed to not like the attention. This was apparently one of the first photos taken by the Daily Prophet on the next day after the Battle of Hogwarts, when he was neither ready, nor willing to talk to the journalists. And it was no surprise that underneath his portrait a headline with expressive capital letters reported:

HERO OR VILLAIN?

Rita Skeeter

Underneath, there were printed the text in the tiniest font possible, which Harry was able to read only then if he squinted his eyes and put his nose so close to the paper it practically touched it, and it said the following, "Due to the urgency of this issue, this brochure has not been revised by the editor of the Daily Prophet, so all the responsibility for the facts and the truth of its content, as well as for the punctuation errors, lies with the author."

Naturally, she couldn't call herself Rita Skeeter if she hadn't managed to cook another bestseller in record time that would bring her a nice heap of gold into her Gringott's vault, he thought bitterly.

The booklet consisted of only a few pages, but the message was undoubtedly clear as he began to read the text in black ink on a dark purple lilac background.

Harry Potter, our beloved hero, the savior and the relentless fighter of the justice, who undeniably had deserved the honor and respect of all the wizards and witches, undoubtedly, is considered the greatest, if not also the noblest and most courageous wizard of this century, appearing in the eyes of ten year old children and gray-haired witches almost like the God.

And yet, hadn't the cellars of history stocked enough cases for us to remember that a coin does have two sides? And what if this is the same case – what if our beloved Golden Boy, the Chosen One, is actually carrying a heart in his chest, tainted with the spots of the darkness? Undoubtedly, this admirable young man has made every effort to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but as an unselfish representative of the respectable profession of a journalist, I have the duty to reveal the truth to everyone, regardless of its likeliness. And given the general observations of Harry Potter's behavior if we are considering our most famous young man, there have appeared some frowns upon the question who really is our savior Harry Potter – a hero or a villain?

Presumably, no one has missed the article defending Severus Snape written by Mr. Potter (in more detail – read the issue of the Daily Prophet on May 22nd), in which Mr. Potter, kicking and screaming, explains the extraordinary contribution of Severus Snape in order to stop He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, being unquestionably loyal to the Order of the Phoenix only in the eyes of Albus Dumbledore, however the majority of the wizarding society, as well as such well-known and reputable wizards as Dolores Umbridge or Gustav Gold, still cannot believe in the double agent role of the former Potions Master. And now our noble hero has taken a stand on the side of Snape, though it is widely known he had hated the Hogwarts Potions lessons as well as the very Professor of Potions for years. Where does this sudden conviction for the innocence of Snape truly come from?

Harry flipped the next page of the booklet.

In addition, Snape is not the only Death Eater who has earned the defense of our great hero – the most observant followers of the news know the fact that the Malfoy couple has made off without getting into Azkaban, where all the Death Eaters were destined to be – are you going to guess, it is a coincidence and the undeniable power of gold?

It's not even close – nowadays the Ministry of Magic led by Kingsley Shacklebolt is the most conscientious and incorruptible as ever, so in order for Malfoy's to gain their freedom, it was required for them to have a special bail from a truly innocent person, and in this case, too, the prosperity of the Malfoys was defended by Mr. Harry Potter, claiming that Nacissa Malfoy has saved his life in a very crucial moment. However, the circumstances of this particular event for the general public have still remained quite unclear and are wrapped up in many unanswered questions.

As if there wasn't enough with supporting these Death Eaters, the very fresh news from Hogwarts says that our great Harry Potter had especially given up his Auror training (which have surprised many), having decided to return to Hogwarts, as well, he has given his assigned position of the Head Boy to none other than Draco Malfoy, the only offspring of the said Malfoy couple, who was rumored to have been joined the ranks of the Death-Eaters as a full-fledged member even before he had reached the legal age.

Harry opened the last booklet opening and continued reading, wincing.

However, our Honorable Hero is not only expressing undeniable support for the Death Eaters, but is also performing suspicious activities at the grounds of Hogwarts. As reported by an anonymous source, Mr. Potter has been repeatedly seen straying around the castle aimlessly, as well as wandering along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Why would a good, noble young man need to look for the dark, gloomy Forest, now infested by the horde of Acromantulas? Is he planning a secret meeting with the Death Eaters?

What if these are the first signs of the darkness surging up the surface of Mr. Potter's person? What if he had formed a completely different master plan in his mind right now than completing the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in order to join the Ministry's Auror ranks? Of particular interest is the fact that this summer Mr. Potter was confirmed along with his trusted friend Ronald Weasley to the Auror training course, so their choice to attend Hogwarts seems even odder. So the question still remains whether Dumbledore had really handed over only and exclusively his knowledge of how to defeat the world's cruelest wizard in his communication with the noble young man, or whether he had planted the seed of greed for power he had experienced himself in his youth (read more about it in TheLife and Lies of Albus Dumbledore; "The Greater Good"). What if the darkness has seeped into our noble, light bringing hero and now Mr. Potter is searching for ways to take over the organization of the Death Eaters, and possibly even the entire magical world?

As the old proverb goes – nature abhors a vacuum.

He closed the last page, looking at the text in large font:

RITA SKEETER

THE BIOGRAPHY OF HARRY POTTER, PART 2

HERO OR VILLAIN

coming soon in bookstores

Harry handed the booklet to Ginny, who sat next to him. The girls, along with Ron, read that whatever the Skeeter had written, wincing their noses.

"Hermione, really, where's your jar?" Ginny asked furiously.

"I doubt a simple jar is enough for this. I'd be happier if there was a law forbidding the journalists to print any arbitrary crap, then I would know how to teach her a lesson," Hermione objected.

"Well, then, you need to study the jurisprudence of the law of wizarding world, Hermione; I guess there has to be some good law article you could use against Skeeter," Ron advised.

"Actually, it's not at all a bad idea," Hermione stated, glancing at Ron approvingly.

"But what should I do with this now? Should I write some answer to her?" Harry suggested.

"I don't know how exactly you could justify Skeeter's doubts," Ginny objected.

"The trickiest part is that you can't simply force people to believe in something… or to not believe it," Hermione explained. "Whoever envies your success will find something to hate in you, anyway."

Harry smirked grimly. "Right – however, this definitely won't be as crazy as our fifth year."

Ron also had something to add. "After all, there have been countless interviews with D.A. members. I really doubt that it will be enough for Skeeter to come up with one stupid article to get everyone believe that you are trying to replace You-Know-Who. I think this sounds too crazy even for Skeeter. I would rather say she is simply trying to milk as much money as possible by all means."

"Although, she has sown the seed of doubt," Harry objected.

"But if you won't give a reason for it to grow into a serious suspect, I'd say that Skeeter will be disrespected for daring to defame you," Ginny said, smiling at him. "Otherwise, if you really start a war with Skeeter, people actually may start thinking that she has truly found out something important."

"And look at this - As reported by an anonymous source, Mr. Potter has been repeatedly seen straying around the castle aimlessly, as well as wandering along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Yeah, right – it's a very anonymous source," Harry snorted as he tapped the open booklet with his finger.

Ron chuckled. "She had to name it somehow. She can't actually admit that she was sneaking around the edge of the Forest without the permission," he said.

"Maybe, though, we should send in the Daily Prophet one short article about Skeeter's unusual skills?" Ginny asked, eating a toast with strawberry jam.

"No, I think Hermione is right – you can't force anyone to believe in something. And there's no sense in starting a press war with Skeeter – I think we need to simply ignore her. We have enough things to deal with right now, besides, whether there hasn't been published any crap articles about us before?" Harry concluded. "This is not going to be worse than our fifth year. At least this time no one thinks I'm a liar." Finally, he turned his attention to breakfast, looking at a round juicy, fried egg.

Harry didn't succeed biting off even a proper piece of his egg when the first owls began to fly towards him, carrying envelopes in their beaks. Harry knew it for sure they had to be sent by the residents of the nearby Hogsmeade village who had also read the Daily Prophet just a moment ago.

"Do these people have nothing else to do as writing letters immediately after reading some crap article?" Ron muttered. Now in front of Harry there was dropped four envelopes.

Harry suspected the thick envelope could contain something bad in it, so he tried to vanish it. The envelope seemed to disappear from his sight, but then it reappeared – certainly, he was too affected by the Skeeter's article, so he failed to perform the Vanishing Spell correctly. Ginny saw his struggle and added her magic, and together they managed to vanish the suspicious envelope. Though, he opened the next one and read the following:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We read all those awful insults that Skeeter had addressed you in her terrible booklet, and we want to remind you sincerely that we support you and we aren't going to believe a word she has written.

You are our hero forever, and we truly believe you had a very good reason to defend both Snape and the Malfoys.

Sincerely yours,

The Hengist family.

Harry smiled. So he still had enough supporters. Ron touched the next letter, carefully feeling it, before opened it and said that this Gabriel has written, "For such a lie that Skeeter should be fed to the Acromantulas." Friends laughed at it. And also the last letter expressed faith in Harry's good intentions and his heroic fame.

"Do you see, Harry – as we already told you – people will believe in you anyway, so beginning a press war with Skeeter is the last thing you should do," Hermione said, smiling comfortingly at her friend.

"You know, just spare me the future agony and don't tell me anything at all if Skeeter has published an article in the newspaper," Harry told Hermione.

"Agreed," she replied him happily.

Fortunately, the next part of the breakfast went by peacefully as Hermione flipped through today's copy of the Daily Prophet, finding a small article that the Malfoys had actually purchased room for their new pharmacy store at the Diagon Alley. With their bellies full they got up, being ready to devote their free hour for the searching, but as they walked out of the Great Hall, they were surprised by their Slytherin classmates.

"Well, Potter, maybe you want to defend us, too?" Pansy asked, standing in the front of a group of her friends.

"Parkinson, have you lost here something or what?" Ginny retorted.

"You, little, it's not your business; I asked my question to Potter," Pansy shot back.

"What do you want from me, Parkinson? I kicked your friend Voldemort in the ass and now there's no one to tell you who you now have to mock and harass?" Harry said to her, rather angrily and insultingly. She seemed to flinch, but then she explained the reason of her attitude.

"If that Skeeter is actually saying even a tiny bit of true, then I won't let anyone rule us. Do you think it's not obvious what you're trying to achieve? First, you glorify and defend Snape, now you have tamed also the Malfoys, but you won't get me!" Pansy was practically screaming at the end as the yell echoed through the Entrance Hall.

"Who has tamed who?" behind Pansy's back there sounded a cold and lightly stretched voice.

"Draco," Pansy said, sounding little worried, "I didn't mean to phrase it like that, but he really has put in a lot of effort to justify your parents, and he has also made you for the Head Boy. Then, why such a sudden benevolence?"

"You obviously don't understand anything, Pansy, so I'm going to ask you to keep Potter free of your hostile utterances hereafter," Malfoy scolded Pansy. Ron's jaw dropped practically to the ground from surprise that there had actually come that particular day when Malfoy argued with Pansy, defending Harry.

"Please explain what exactly I do not understand? At least your parents are alive, but mine are resting in peace in the cemetery like most other parents of our friends. Is it fair or is it just? And now he's planning how to secretly take control over us! As far as I see, Potter has already gotten you under his thumb, Draco," Pansy stated bitterly with tears in her eyes.

"Pansy, you don't understand that the war is over and no one can be tempted by anyone on the other side, because there is no such other side, damn it!" Malfoy was already losing his patience.

"Yeah, right, Malfoy, like you're the biggest loser here. Just go to hell!" Pansy said and ran away into the direction of the Slytherin Common Room. The rest of her Slytherin friends also slowly started to disperse.

"Potter, I hope Pansy won't even think of saying such stupid things to you ever again. She's simply lost both of her parents, so now she's taking everything twice as heightened," Malfoy explained.

"Um, yes, I did notice that," Harry replied awkwardly. Draco simply nodded instead of answering and called one of the Slytherin first-years who he had promised to take safely to the library.

"Such a peaceful morning; nothing crazy at all, eh?" Ron simply stated as he stood behind Harry's back and next to Hermione.

"It has been worse," Harry replied with a smile. "Look, maybe we could better go to the kitchen after Charms? Now, though, we could take a closer look at the hallway on the third floor near the Charms classroom? Besides, I don't feel having the appetite for any other conversation," Harry suggested. His friends agreed with him, and they all climbed upstairs to the third floor without talking, carefully inspecting each painting and suit of armor, but also trying not to look like they were searching for something. This morning they had already ascertained that they had given enough reason for the rumors, and the least they needed Harry to be declared the next Dark Lord.

After about a half of hour of investigating, Ron tapped his wand under the window sill, where was just a plain wall, but then he turned around and asked Harry, "Listen, mate, but didn't you find it weird that Malfoy argued with Pansy? Parkinson accused him that he has actually come to your side."

"You're right; but haven't the Malfoys always been like that? That is, the last time Voldemort was defeated, they claimed like they had been under the control of the Imperius Curse," Harry confirmed.

"I agree with you Harry. This is typical of the nature of Malfoy – to join the winning party, regardless of the intentions of that particular party," Hermione said.

"It sounds more like a betrayal to me," Ron said with a dislike.

"This time there's nothing much left of that opposite party," Ginny added, "so there's not much to betray."

"However, Pansy thought differently," Ron objected.

"Well, then I guess Pansy is one of those people, who hasn't deserved their second chance," Harry said, but then he looked suspiciously at the nearest armor stand. "Hmm, is it just me or does this armor actually turn its head more to the left side? The rest of them turn equally to the both sides." The young man went closer to one of the suits of armor, who usually liked to swing their heads slowly from one side to another, and carefully examined it – it was true, it never did turn his helmet to the end point of the right side. The rest of his friends also stood next to him, studying the suit of armor covered with the rust spots here and there.

While Hermione gingerly touched the bars of its visor, Peeves slipped out of a nearby empty classroom, giggling. He was chewing a chewing gum, then he took it out of his mouth, rolled it into a ball, and inserted into the helmet of another suit of armor now not allowing it to turn to the right side. Then the prankster sprang a short distance backwards as he saw them.

"Look, Potty and Weasels, just don't tell anyone it was me. McGonagall isn't as tolerant of me as Dumbledore. I don't want to tickle her… um… bun," Peeves tried to justify with them as he smiled cunningly and slowly swam backwards away from them.

"That's okay; we won't tell anyone, Peeves. But you'll owe us for that one," Harry stated.

"It's a deal," Peeves said, still grinning widely as his smile stretched all over his wide face, and he winked them before disappearing behind the corner a moment later. A minute later, the bell rang, announcing a break. A little further, the door of the Charms classroom swiftly opened and the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw third-years began to flow out through it.

Waiting for the classroom to be completely empty, the four of them entered through the open door. In the classroom, Flitwick opened the window slightly for fresh air with a wave of his wand and as he climbed down from the stack of books he greeted them back.

"Oh, it's such a pleasure to see you again! I already doubted to see you in my class ever again, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley," Flitwick chirped in his high-pitched voice as his blue eyes glittered like buttons under his bushy, white eyebrows.

"We couldn't miss all the knowledge we'll be able to learn here," Harry replied, smiling.

"Professor Flitwick, may I ask you a question about something right away?" Hermione was ready to get the ball rolling without hesitation.

"Of course, Miss Granger. I see, your curiosity hasn't diminished at all," Flitwick replied as he examined his most outstanding student.

"Look, I read in the Standard Book of Spells about the Locator Spell, and I understand that it's mainly used for missing persons, but I wondered if it could be used to search for missing objects, too?" Hermione formulated her question in detail.

"Yes, it's a very good question. May I ask you what exact object you would like to find?" Flitwick asked back. Hermione was slightly taken aback, but Ron hurried to give his answer instead of her.

"You know, Professor, I'm often pretty forgetful and tend to lose my things, so that's why Hermione thought this spell might help me find my things." Hermione smiled next to him for his ready wit.

"Oh, I see," Flitwick said, smiling benevolently at the two young people. "In this case, the Locator Spell is easy to use if you know the owner of the object, because then you are searching for the traces left by someone you already know. Of course, the shown directions of the spell will be weaker and harder to interpret, especially if you are a long distance away from the object you are looking for," the professor explained gladly, seeing that they were really interested in this subject.

"But technically speaking, would it be possible to search for something if I wouldn't know who has lost it? After what you just said, it sounds impossible," Hermione asked the teacher again, hoping to learn if the Locator Spell really can't be used to locate the Diadem.

"Theoretically, it is possible to search for objects without knowing the host's energy footprint, but I'm afraid in practice it may turn out that the instructions given by the spell will be too distorted to be actually useful in the search of the desired object," Professor confirmed what Hermione had feared. "However," after a moment of reflection, Flitwick wanted to add, "if the object you're looking for is indeed special, the spell could be amplified. And this is exactly the knowledge I'll be pleased to provide you with while preparing for the N.E.W.T.s this year."

"Ah, Mr. Finnigan and Mr. Thomas are also present; come inside. Five more minutes and then let's start our first Charms class this year," Flitwick said excitedly, obviously being delighted to see D.A. members fit as a fiddle.

Right away after these two young men, the stream of other classmates came into the classroom and, as the bell rang, the lesson may begin.

Flitwick closed the window with a wave of his wand and then he effortlessly climbed onto his favorite pile of books and opened the journal on the teacher's desk where he swiftly swiped his finger over the list of N.E.W.T. students, checking that everyone was present and ready to learn new charms.

"Good day, my dear students!" Professor began his speech in a high voice, smiling. "As you may remember very well, during the last year or during the year before the last year for few others," Flitwick said, glancing at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, knowingly, "the Charms lessons focused mainly on nonverbal spells, so this year, considering you should practice further them on your own, we are going to focus first on the charm fastening and then on charm amplification. Perhaps someone can tell me already, why there's necessary to fasten the charm?" Flitwick said, seeming intrigued as he gazed over the classroom, where students, up to four, sat around many square tables.

Harry was surprised to see that not only Hermione, but also most of other classmates of his year raised their hands in the air.

"Maybe you would like to give me the answer, Mr. Goldstein," Flitwick allowed Anthony to speak, pointing in the direction of the young man with his palm.

"The fastening of a charm is needed in order to keep the effect of the charm for as long as possible. A charm without fastening is about to lose its strength, but a carefully fastened and anchored spell or charm can keep its effect even after the death of its performer," he replied confidently, and Harry remembered that most of his classmates had attended the classes at the beginning of the last year, so they knew a thing or two, and now they were just repeating what they had learned before.

"Exactly, Anthony. I'm happy to give you five House points for Ravenclaw you have earned for sure," Flitwick rewarded him for the correct answer. "I'm pleased that so many had raised their hands, so it means many remember still from the last school year that one of the most important indicators of the quality of a charm is its durability. And so in order to significantly strengthen the durability of a spell you have to perform its fastening. This, of course, refers to the category of spells that are intended for the long effect usage. Therefore, please take into account that this does not correspond to the instantaneous effect type of spells – like the ones you generously applied on May 2nd."

The professor continued to tell the theory, "I think at this point everyone should have understood that the spell needs to be fastened if one wants it to last more than a few hours or, at best, a few days. So now let's learn the theoretical view for doing this and for the next lesson I would like you to be able to put those skills to work. Anyone whose spell will not lose its effect after one week until the next lesson will be awarded with a passing mark, and you can earn extra points for a better mark if you manage to cast your spell without saying it aloud, that is, doing it in the nonverbal way."

It seemed unusual to Harry that Flitwick talked so long and so much about the theory of charms – usually the professor just said what a particular spell is used for and then they learned it, following the demonstration for several times, before they could do the practicing for themselves. By contrast, now it had passed more than ten minutes, and Flitwick had only just begun explaining what they were going to do. The N.E.W.T. year really was full of surprises.

And also for the next fifteen minutes, the professor continued to explain to his students that the Ritual Chants or the Rite Chants are the most effective in fastening practically any charm or spell since they bind the magic power of the wizard to the object to be charmed.

"So, I think we can finally focus on the practical part now. For the remaining twenty minutes, I would like you to shine some pretty colors a little bit – do you remember how we did lighting up a whole variety of objects in different colors in the fifth year? Then, please, do remember that the effect then was very temporary, so now let's try to fasten it with the Rite Chants in order to keep the shine of the light going for longer. Is it clear for everyone so far?" the professor asked kindly.

Most of the students muttered approvingly with a nod.

Flitwick smiled as he took a small calfskin pouch out of his grayish brown robe pocket.

"I'll take this bag for the demonstration, but you're free to choose any other object. So, now look," the professor pointed at the bag with his wand, saying, "Shinio blue!" and the bag got a dark blue glow. Then, without lowering his wand, Flitwick also added:

"Rite, rite, the light of blue,

Stay inside the bag for true."

When the teacher did let go of his wand, the blue glow didn't become even a tiny bit paler, and when he opened the pouch, bright, blue light was emitted. Harry noticed that Hermione was examining it with wide eyes full with surprise – perhaps this was one of the very few things she hadn't learned through her self-studies.

"And keep in mind that the spell is going to be much more durable if you manage to find rhymes. Their resonation is amplifying the effect of the Chant. So now find an object and try to make it shine so that the light keeps glowing out of it until the end of the lesson. Go on!" Flitwick now allowed his students to try this out for themselves.

Harry took the first object which was the closest to his hand – his quill – and tried to remember how the Shining Charm had to be performed properly. He decided to go for Shinio red! to give his quill a rosy glow. At first try there came out nothing great – the quill just dimmed in the color of barely noticeable red tone. Harry casted a glance next to him on Hermione – the letters on the cover of her Charms textbook glowed with a bright golden shine, and the girl was muttering under her breath inaudible words.

After repeatedly casting the charm and trying to find the right rhyme for the word 'quill', Harry finally succeeded in making the quill glow with pink shine, also when releasing the wand. The lesson was coming to an end, so Flitwick had started to walk around the class as he assessed the performance of his students. Most of the classmates had been able to complete this task, because now it was necessary for them to keep the effect of the charm only for a very short moment. Harry could already foresee that it would be much harder to get the charm to last for at least a week.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, what do you have here?" Flitwick asked. Right away, the four of friends turned as they wanted to learn what Malfoy has done with this charm.

"I chose to charm the ink," Draco replied gladly.

"And is the ink actually shining purple even after it is written as a text?" Flitwick asked with admiration.

"Yes, look," Malfoy said as he demonstrated that his charmed ink really had a dark purple glow even after he had written something with it on the parchment.

"Splendid. You have earned three points for Slytherin for such ingenuity," Flitwick praised him.

Being as intrigued as a moment before, the Charms professor came to their desk, appreciating Harry's red quill, Ron's white dragonskin glove, and Ginny's green parchment roll. Of course, he was more interested in Hermione's work, and the professor asked her to open her book, but the pages were practically with no shine, just with barely dark yellow glow.

"Oh dear, I suppose you weren't sure enough when performing the Rite Chant?" Flitwick said sadly.

"Yes, I couldn't think of any other rhyme with 'book' than the word 'cook', so I suppose I must have hesitated for a short moment when performing the spell," Hermione explained, feeling a little ashamed.

"You might have tried to rhyme 'book' with 'look', for example:

"Rite, rite, oh, the look,

Lumos me the book!"

Chanted it, Flitwick pointed with his wand at the book, and indeed the faintly glowing pages now were shining in a nice bright golden color.

"Don't worry, Miss Granger, you always learn everything quickly, and I'm completely sure that you'll practice the Rite Chants in no time as well. In addition, I want to appreciate your idea of an illuminated book, because reading such is definitely easier when it's dark, so I give one point to Gryffindor for such a great idea." Flitwick awarded her for her useful invention, smiling eventually.

Hermione simply thanked him, her eyes on the table, but when Flitwick went further away to the other classmates, she said, "I didn't deserve anything, it was a failure; I know he gave me that point out of pity."

"Stop it, Hermione. You do realize that even that Malfoy had practiced all these charms for a lot of time during the last school year, but for us, this is the first encounter with them," Ron said to his girlfriend. "I'm sure you'll learn all this incredibly quickly and be the best again in this class!" He put his hand on her shoulder, and she managed to put a small smile on her lips.

"I know you're right, but that feeling is just so terrible, as if I couldn't learn anything anymore, and everyone else has mastered all these things and knows them perfectly, but I'm struggling and unable to deal even with the simplest things," Hermione whispered openly, expressing her concern. "I just feel so awfully stupid." She looked thoughtfully at the ceiling and blinked her eyes for several times – the tears had welled in her eyes.

Suddenly, the bell rang and they all started to collect their belongings while Flitwick was still amazed at Luna's orange-glowing Dirigible plum earrings.

"Hermione," Harry said, "please don't worry so much – you're the greatest witch I know, besides you did mind-blowing feats last year, so I would never, ever even consider you being stupid."

The young people got up on their feet as they started to walk towards the door, pushing forward through the crowd.

"Really, Hermione," Ginny also joined the view of the young men, "whatever you think about yourself, but you certainly aren't stupid. I hope you understand that you're now condemning yourself for not being able to do in twenty minutes something that others had learned for half a year."

Hermione smiled at her friends' strong support and kind words. "I suppose you must be right…"

"And if it somehow reassures you, then the only rhymes I could think of was, "Rite, rite; I got a bite," Ron stated grinning. Hermione smiled a bit more widely as they had just got out of the classroom and was going down the hallway. Ginny, however, managed to add, "And lost my fight as a wight," flicking with her fingers on her brother's nape. Now Hermione actually chuckled with a teary smile.

"Aw!" Ron just said, but didn't reply anything as he simply rejoiced over the fact that Hermione had smiled.

Seeing his friend had calmed down, Harry now dared to ask the question which has been urging him since the very beginning of the class, "Look, Hermione, but what was with that Locator Spell then? As far as I understood from what Flitwick said, in our case it doesn't sound very hopeful."

"You are right, because it means that in order to find Ravenclaw's Diadem, we need something from Lady Ravenclaw to amplify the spell," Hermione replied as she wiped a tear with her fingertip out of the corner of her eye.