An Interesting Evening
Narcissa immediately dragged Draco into their rooms. He sank down onto one of the armchairs, staring at the floor.
"What could you possibly have been thinking to discuss your father's secret room with anybody? Some things are family secrets for a reason." Narcissa asked her son angrily.
"I wasn't…I just… I didn't think…"
"That is obvious!" Draco flushed.
"I'm sorry, mother."
"And wishing the Granger girl died, another foolish thing to say out loud. And, honestly, I should hope I raised you better than to wish for a young wixen's death. Even with your beliefs about muggleborns, you should not wish for magical blood to be spilt."
"Is it acceptable for me to hope that muggles die?" Draco muttered sarcastically. "I seem to recall plenty of people wanting to murder Harry's family for their behaviour."
"That is different Draco," Narcissa pointed out, frustrated she had to explain this to her son. "Mr. Potter's family abused him, an innocent child, for ten years simply for having magic. They are despicable human beings. Miss Granger was a thirteen-year-old girl who had never done anything to you except beat you in lessons." Draco turned even redder at this. "Additionally, many of those people would never actually wish the muggles dead. Perhaps my cousin might actually be willing to kill them, but even then, perhaps not. However, people will always think the worst of our family, something you are most certainly not helping with, and will have assumed you truly wished death on Miss Granger."
"And what do you think?"
"I do not believe you truly meant it, my dragon. You may have even thought you meant it, but should it have come to pass, well, then you would understand the severity of your wish. And that cannot be undone. You are not your father, and your father's beliefs are not always correct. You need to understand this. I have allowed him too much leeway in your upbringing if you believe your behaviour has been anywhere close to acceptable. You may be a Malfoy, but you are also a Black. You do not give away family secrets. Nor do you comport yourself with the utter lack of cunning and subtlety that has been on display so far."
"Yes, mother," he sighed. He had been a fool. And normally he'd rage that it was Potter's fault for making him look stupid, he knew he only had himself to blame for this mess. "I will do better in the future."
"You already are doing better with your behaviour in here," she assured him, her demeanour softening slightly at his words. "I merely wish to impress on you the importance of learning from your previous behaviours."
"I understand. Harry and Hermione have both agreed to start over in here, and Harry already knew about that incident. I think Weasley will be the only problem."
"You do not need to be friends with the youngest Weasley boy, but if you truly wish to be Mr. Potter's true friend, you will have to learn to tolerate his friends, as he will yours."
"If any of my friends are still talking to me once we get out of here and our choice becomes known," Draco muttered.
"The Zabini's have always remained neutral, Blaise will likely still be your friend," Narcissa told him softly. Draco nodded, saddened by the thought of his friends shunning him. He might occasionally be exasperated by Vincent and Greg, but they had been his friends for as long as he could remember. He didn't want to turn on them, let alone the eventual possibility of fighting on opposite sides. It was clear the Dark Lord would be coming back one way or another, unless these books revealed how to stop him.
"I need some time to think," he stated. His mother nodded.
"Dinner will be shortly. Go and rest until then." Then she made her way to the kitchen to aid Molly.
It was stiff and awkward, but Narcissa persevered in helping to prepare the dinner and make light conversation with the Weasley Matriarch. Draco had been building bridges, it was time she did some of her own besides her sister. Molly Weasley would not have been her first choice, or second or third, but it was a start.
Harry sat next to Bill at dinner, wanting to ask him about becoming a curse breaker. Bill seemed pleased by his interest.
"So, what subjects do you have to take at O.W.L?" Harry wondered.
"You need a minimum of 8 O. , including in Transfiguration, Defence, Potions, History of Magic, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. Then you need a minimum of 6 N.E. , including Transfiguration, History of Magic, Defence and Ancient Runes. One of the other two options really should be Arithmancy but it isn't a requirement," Bill told him. Harry slumped.
"I wish I'd known how useless Divination would be," he sighed.
"Well, we have plenty of time here. If you like, when you've got a bit of spare time, I could show you some basic Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, see if find them interesting enough to pursue. If you do, then I can teach you the third-year curriculum so you could take them both in fourth year and drop divination. Three subjects are allowed," Bill offered.
"That's very generous of you, but that's a lot of complicated work. I'm getting average grades now. I'm not sure how well I'd do with two more subjects. Divination hardly counts."
"Well, only you can know that. From the sounds of it, you've always held yourself back and never been allowed to apply yourself. Then you became best friends with Ron. I love my brother, but he's not particularly academically inclined. Don't get me wrong, he's definitely intelligent, but he learns by doing things. He will never be the type to sit down and study from a book, not to mention he is easily distracted and more than a little lazy." Though Bill suspected that his brother's laziness came from his inferiority complex. He thought nothing he ever did would be good enough, so why bother trying. "You have never really had the chance to find out how you learn or how far you can go when you truly apply yourself. Moody seemed pretty impressed with you last night, so maybe you also learn by doing rather than simply reading. Arithmancy might be a bit of a struggle for you if that is the case as it's mostly theory work, but a lot of it is maths and I know muggle primary schools give a lot better grounding in maths than pureblood tutors, so you'll have an advantage to begin with anyway."
Harry considered this. He did want to do better. And he didn't want to get to the end of school and find he'd picked all the wrong subjects. Honestly, if he didn't love Hagrid so much, he'd consider dropping Care of Magical Creatures as well after spending a year on nothing but flobberworms.
"I think I'd like to at least have a go at them," he said finally. "I could definitely see myself going into curse breaking, although I'm not looking forward to possibly taking N.E.W.T History." Bill grinned.
"It's not so bad. The subject matter is quite interesting when Binns isn't droning on. Percy took History too and I'm sure we can both give you a hand if you struggle. Plus, you have Hermione. Besides, the way Moody looked last night, I'm sure he'll be trying to steal you for the Aurors."
"I don't think I want to work at the Ministry," Harry admitted. "Although being an Auror does sound kind of cool." Bill smiled and told him a few stories from his time in Egypt. Harry was so fascinated he didn't notice the prank war going on around him.
As soon as Harry had finished eating, Moody got up and motioned for him to follow. They went into the same side room as the night before. Moody eyed him with both eyes for several, long, uncomfortable moments. Then he reached into a pocket and held something out to Harry. He eyed the older man warily, slipping his wand into one hand as he reached out slowly with the other. An amused gleam shone in Moody's good eye, but he gave an approving nod.
"We'll be covering detection charms soon enough, so you'll know how to tell if something is poisoned or cursed, but for now, I haven't done anything to it. It's one of my spares." Harry took the item, which was made of grey dragonhide. It had straps on either side. "It's a wand holster. Your wand safety has been appalling in these books. From now on, you keep it in that or in your hand. If I find you in a dangerous situation without your wand out after this, I'm going to stick it to your hand with a permanent sticking charm," he threatened. Harry winced, thinking of what he had done in the Chamber. Moody would not be impressed.
"You mean in the future, right. Because I can't help what happens in the books, past or future."
"Something you want to tell me?" Moody raised an eyebrow. Harry swallowed.
"Well, I might have dropped my wand at a point when that was a very bad idea because I was distracted by something." Moody began muttering some very unpleasant things under his breath. Then he turned his attention back to Harry and began lecturing him on wand safety and procedures. He showed him how to put on the wand holster, how to put his wand in and get it out again in a hurry. It was charmed to be invisible when on his arm and his wand could not be summoned from it.
"Thank you," Harry said once the lecture was finally over.
"Thank me by staying alive," Moody grunted. "Now, show me you remember how to perform a shield charm." Harry raised his wand and cast protego. A silvery shield appeared in front of him, and Moody immediately began pelting it with spells.
The next hour was a complete blur to Harry. Moody was brutal and unforgiving, but boy was it worth it. He had never been able to do magic as easily as when Moody was putting him through his paces. By the end, his shield would hold for a solid twenty seconds before he would have to dodge. He could also cast his own spells much quicker than before, Moody had him repeating them so often that he barely had to think before casting a stunner or a body bind charm.
"Better," Moody grunted as he dodged out of the way of a stunning spell. "Your aim still needs a bit of work, but you've got the speed and the skill." He called an end to the session and clapped Harry on the shoulder. "Have a rest tomorrow night. We'll go again the evening after."
"Yes, sir."
"Just Moody or Alastor will do, lad." Harry nodded and left the room, feeling tired but happy. Moody's sessions were even better than Quidditch practices for tiring him out. Unfortunately, before he could make it to his room, he was waylaid by Andromeda who steered him into yet another side room for a medical scan.
"Before you protest, I've already done Sirius and given him a list of potions as long as his arm to be taking," she stated firmly, sitting him down on a hospital bed that had appeared in the middle of the room.
"I'm fine," he muttered petulantly.
"I shall be the judge of that. I don't exactly trust your definition of 'fine'." Harry scowled as she waved her wand in several complicated patterns. Eventually three pieces of parchment were spat out of the end of her wand. She studied them, lips pursing.
"Well, how bad is it?" He sighed after several, long moments of silence.
"Your immune system is underdeveloped. You never get sick because your magic is devoting quite a lot of itself to keeping you healthy. Your eyesight is awful, but fixable with a potion regime..."
"Really? You can fix my eyesight?" Harry gasped.
"To a degree. Some damage is incurable, but you should at least have better sight than you do now. You may even be able to get rid of the glasses, but I expect you will need them again once you get older."
"Wicked! Why has nobody mentioned this before?"
"Probably because they assume you have the same condition as your father, which was one of those not curable by magic. You do not, however. Your eyesight damage is from, well, the treatment of your relatives. As is your height. Once we have you fixed up, you will likely find yourself with more energy as well, although that may not be a good thing with the amount of trouble you already find yourself in."
"So, I'll get taller?" She smiled slightly.
"A little, yes. I'd imagine you will have a bit of a growth spurt while we're in here. It's a good job it is the summer holidays, so you won't have to explain how you grew so much in what the rest of the school thinks is a single day. Now, drink this."
"What is it?"
"A lower dose of a skelegrow variant." Harry pulled a face. "All of your bones are more brittle than they should be at your age, except for those in your right arm. This will just strengthen them rather than regrowing them. It shouldn't be painful, though you might notice a tingling sensation until tomorrow morning."
"Yuck," Harry said before downing the potion. It tasted just as awful as he remembered, and he coughed and spluttered. Andromeda handed him a glass of water which he gratefully gulped down.
"Now, you will nutrient potions for at least two weeks, and then a further week on a lower dose."
"Fred and George brewed me one. They gave it to me this morning. Fred did a spell to find out what one I needed."
"Did they indeed? Well, good. I'm glad someone has been looking out for you. I shall consult with them to make sure everything is as it should be. One dose each day at breakfast should be enough."
"Please tell me that's it? Other than fixing my eyesight."
"Yes. The nutrient potion will do most of the work, and you should find yourself feeling better in the next two weeks. Here is the potion for your eyes. Take it right before you go to sleep, and with this draught of dreamless sleep. If you are awake when it begins to work, it will be quite painful. You will need another each night for three days."
"Good to know," Harry muttered, though he thought anything would be worth it to fix his eyesight.
"Right, I shall continue to monitor your progress. Here is a list of foods you should try and eat. You are not on a strict diet, but you should at least make sure to eat sensibly. Potions can do a lot, but you still need a healthy diet and exercise to reach your full health."
"Thank you."
"Anything for family." Harry bowed his head and left the room. This time he made it to the quarters he shared with Sirius and Remus without any further distractions, still clutching his two new potions which he immediately put on his bedside table ready for later.
While Harry was off with Moody, Hermione had asked to speak with both Andromeda and Emmeline. Both women had agreed, and the trio had gone into a side room that turned out to be a living room type area with three comfortable looking armchairs.
"Why is everyone so against House-Elf rights?" Hermione asked without preamble.
"First of all, not everyone is against house-elf rights, Hermione," Emmeline stated. "I agree with you in the fact that not all elves are treated well, and it is not acceptable."
"The problem comes when you decide that you know what is best for an entire race," Andromeda added. "You were saying that all elves should be freed. That would be doing them a great disservice. Elves have a symbiotic relationship with their masters. Something wizards these days also seem to have forgotten. Elf magic is different from our own, as you know, it is also more powerful. They need something or someone to ground their powers. They were not always slaves, of course, and this is a terrible part of wizarding history, but they do need the bond between wizard and elf. They have always been a helpful race, but if you try to free all of the elves, their magic will overwhelm them, and they would eventually die unless they form a new bond."
"What?" Hermione gasped.
"It is not only a bond that helps them ground their magic. The house-elves at Hogwarts are not bound to any one specific person, no single person would be able to ground the magic of that many elves. Instead, they use the ambient magic of the castle and have an agreement to serve the school. They will obey all of the staff, not just the headmaster," Andromeda continued.
"What we are saying, is that you need to do your research on a subject before declaring that you know best how to fix a situation," Emmeline told her. "By all means, fight for better protection and rights for the elves, that is a good thing to do. Just don't decide to attempt to forcibly free them all before knowing how it will affect them." Hermione nodded.
"But surely it can't be right that they have been brainwashed to feel such loyalty to their families that they allow themselves to be treated the way Dobby was treated?" Hermione frowned.
"Dobby was clearly not as loyal to his family as most elves, considering he helped Harry without any direct orders and even implied they were not good wizards," Emmeline pointed out. "So, not all elves are loyal to their families."
"Some elves will even ask to be given clothes, but it is extremely rare," Andromeda added.
"He still punished himself horribly for doing those things."
"You are correct. It's not healthy that the bond has devolved into the state it has," Emmeline sighed. "That is worth fixing. But that will require much more research and a much more in-depth solution than simply freeing all house-elves." Hermione nodded once more, eager to make a start.
"Also, while we may agree that what you are doing is the right thing, you do not have the right to force that opinion on someone else. You would not like it if someone tried to force you to believe whatever they did. No matter whether the belief is right or wrong, you do not have the right to try and force them to change," Andromeda added. "And one thing you should understand, the wizarding world do not follow the same rules and laws as the muggles. You would not go to another country and demand they change to suit how you want things, do not expecting the wizarding world to change just to accommodate you. We are not muggles. Do not mistake me, the wizarding world is very far from perfect, but you need to embrace its culture not come in and start trying to make everything like the muggle world."
"I don't…"
"You do," Emmeline told her firmly.
"Not all of your ignorance is your fault. Much of the early history of magic is lost, or only found in old Pureblood libraries. A lot of the issues between muggleborns and purebloods stems from the muggle's fear of magic and from their religion. They believe magic to be the work of some demon or a great evil of some sort. Many muggleborn parents or guardians react in the same manner as Mr. Potters, sometimes even worse. The muggleborn children come to Hogwarts and, while they accept the magic, they have their own beliefs on what is acceptable and what is not. Dark magic is not the same as evil," Andromeda explained. "As the muggleborns try to push their views on what is 'acceptable' forms of magic, the purebloods grow more and more resentful."
"It is not an issue that will resolve quickly or easily, but you can make changes. Stop trying to force all of your opinions on everyone else. Learn about true wizarding culture. Accept and adapt the way you would if moving to another country. You do have the drive and intelligence to make good changes in the wizarding world, like with better conditions for house-elves, you just need to take a step back sometimes. Make sure you have all of the information," Emmeline said. Hermione nodded. She had a lot to think about.
"I must go. I need to speak with Mr. Potter," Andromeda stated. She left the room, but Emmeline stayed and talked with Hermione for a while about a variety of topics.
During dinner Sirius had turned briefly into a canary while Remus' tongue had grown to almost three feet before someone managed to reverse the spell. The twins were howling with laughter all the way through dessert when their pranks had taken effect. While Molly had been busy scolding them, Sirius and Remus had gotten their revenge with a couple of well-placed spells. George ended up bald and Fred was covered in shimmering glitter that changed colour every few seconds.
Minerva immediately banned all pranks at the dinner table where too many people were likely to get caught in the crossfire. She knew banning the prank war altogether would have absolutely no effect. Though that didn't stop Molly from trying, much to Minerva's amusement. She knew full well the four of them could end up continuing this for days.
The twins spent the rest of the evening exchanging prank spells with the Marauders and trying to dodge those aimed at them. Despite only having two opponents, sometimes it would feel like they were being attacked on all sides. Then the spells would die down for a while and restart at the oddest of times. Fred did manage to sneak a fake wand to Remus who tried to use it a few minutes later, only to be completely surprised when his wand turned into a chicken and started squawking. Sirius had disappeared for half an hour to be looked over by Andromeda, leaving Remus outnumbered.
By the time they called a truce for the evening, they were all multiple different colours, covered in glitter, feathers and all sorts of other things. The only agreement was that nobody would be pranked during designated sleeping hours, during the readings, when the twins had lessons and during mealtimes. All other times were fair game. Which admittedly was pretty much only the time after the reading and before bed, but it was a good way for all four of them to release their pent-up energy and stress. Of which they had a lot.
As Sirius collapsed onto the sofa in their quarters he shared a grin with Remus, whose hair was currently a pulsating, neon orange. It had felt really good to let loose, and to have his best friend by his side, working as a team once more. It also made his chest ache with how much he missed James. He should be here, making a third team with Harry. Harry who shouldn't need personal training from Alastor Moody just to have a chance of surviving once they left this room. He deserved to have fun playing pranks with his dad, or, well doing anything except training to survive at thirteen years old. He sighed deeply.
"Merlin's beard, don't tell me you're thinking?" Remus teased, desperately trying to keep the mood light-hearted.
"Me? Never," Sirius grinned, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm not cut out to be a parent, Moony. My godson is literally training to survive at thirteen, dammit, thirteen years old, and I'm over here playing pranks."
"I'm fairly certain parents are allowed to have fun once in a while," Remus said gently. "And yes, Harry's situation isn't ideal but that's not your fault. Voldemort will come after him. Would you rather he didn't train and faced whatever is coming unprepared?"
"I'd rather he didn't face it at all! I should be able to keep him safe."
"We all want to keep Harry safe. We can all hope and do our very best to make sure he never has to use these skills that he's learning. The same goes for all of the kids. But you and I know that life doesn't work that way. Despite all of our best efforts, we're only human, Padfoot. And Harry has a rather worrying knack for finding trouble. It's not bad parenting to make sure he's prepared for whatever comes. You will do everything you can to protect him, but you're making sure he can protect himself if all else fails. It's not ideal, certainly, but this is a unique situation."
"Yeah," Sirius sighed. "Let's hope these damn books give us the answers we need." Remus moved closer and tentatively opened an arm. Without thinking, Sirius shuffled over and tucked himself against Remus' side.
"We've got Amelia on our side, and Kingsley, Moody, Minerva. All of these people will help us try to make sure Harry is as safe as possible. Not to mention Andromeda, Ted, Molly and Arthur as well. Bill seems to be becoming fond of Harry, I heard them talking about curse-breaking at dinner. He's not alone and we'll make sure he knows it going forwards." Sirius nodded. "We'll work it out. I promise. Besides, Harry's probably just as unsure as we are. His only example of parental figures for ten years were those people. Logically he'll know you're different, but he still won't know what to expect. He's never had reasonable boundaries set before, someone to actually care. It's new for all of us."
"So, at least I can't be worse than his last guardians? Awesome," Sirius snorted. Remus chuckled.
"No. For one thing you love him."
"More than anything."
"Maybe tell him that. I'm sure it's not something he hears very often," Remus suggested. Sirius nodded. Honestly, it wasn't something he'd said very often. The Marauders had never really said the words to each other, it was always just assumed they each knew how much the other three loved them. He'd never said such a thing to his parents and the last time he'd told his brother he loved him was just before he went to Hogwarts, before Regulus had been told not to talk to him because he was a Gryffindor and a traitor to the family.
Harry then came in, looking tired, and clutching two potion bottles. He disappeared into his room before coming back out, minus the bottles.
"Er…why are you two…" he trailed off, gesturing vaguely towards them. Sirius grinned.
"Pranking with the twins."
"Ah. I assume they have similar results?"
Remus nodded. "They are very creative." Harry grinned.
"Well, I'm heading straight to bed. It's been a long day," he said. Sirius removed himself from Remus' side and followed his godson into his room. He picked up a book the room had conjured for him earlier and he sat on the edge of the bed while Harry got himself ready in the bathroom. When he came out and slid into bed Sirius waved the book.
"I thought, well, since you grew up with muggles, I figured that maybe, instead of a Marauder story, you'd like to hear some wizarding kid's tales tonight." Harry looked at him in surprise.
"Really?"
"You don't have to. It was just an idea," Sirius said hurriedly.
"No, that sounds really cool. I was just thinking earlier that I've never really investigated wizard stuff like that. I've never listened to wizarding music, or read wizard fiction."
"No wizarding music?" Sirius gasped. "We'll have to change that. Don't tell Tonks though, she'll try and get you on the Weird Sisters. How about tomorrow we see if the room can provide with a wizard radio, and we can listen to some songs?"
"That would be cool."
"What sort of music do you like?" Harry thought about this. He'd never really listened to much music before, which was probably why wizarding music had never really occurred to him. Feeling a little embarrassed, he just shrugged. "That's ok. We can try out all sorts, see what clicks. I know James' favourite band, but I'm afraid I can't remember what Lily was a fan of. Remus might know. I'll ask him later." Harry smiled. "Anyway, the Tales of Beedle the Bard." Sirius began reading the first story. He was only halfway through when he saw his godson's eyes drooping, so he handed him both of his potions before he fell asleep.
Once Harry was asleep, he ruffled his hair gently and stood up only to find Remus leaning against the doorframe, smiling softly. Sirius put the book on the bedside table, and they returned to the other room.
"And you were worried about being a bad parent."
"Reading a couple of stories is hardly a particularly taxing event."
"If only sixteen-year-old Sirius could see his future-self now. Reading all afternoon and then again in the evening."
"Even sixteen-year-old me would have done reading for James' kid. After I got over the fact he had one at sixteen." Remus snorted at that.
"I'm going to turn in. It's getting late and we have Weasley's to prank tomorrow," Remus said after a few moments. Sirius nodded. There was an awkward moment where Remus moved as if to hug him before clearly thinking better of it and stepping back, rubbing the back of his neck. Sirius frowned and pulled him into a tight hug. They still had their issues, but today they had just been Sirius and Remus, remaining Marauders teaming up to play pranks and he realised just how much he had missed his friend. And that, whatever arguments they had, they would always be a team. Remus took a few moments to hug him back before they both hurried to their separate rooms.
Neville spent the evening hanging out with Luna, as he had done in most of the free time they'd had so far. Both of them were the odds ones out. The ones without other friends to spend their time with. He'd played a bit of chess with Ron the night before, but otherwise he'd been left pretty much to his own devices.
He found a Herbology book and began reading that while Luna continued to read the magazine she's started yesterday. Unfortunately, he couldn't concentrate on the words. He found himself reflecting on what they'd read earlier. It was nice to finally be getting the real story of what had been happening during his Hogwarts years, which had mostly been rumour until now. The problem was, this knowledge came with a large worry about how all of these events had been allowed to happen. He was also wondering why he and Luna were here. He'd played little to no part in these events so far, and it made him concerned for the future. What could he possibly do to help? He was clumsy, no real use at magic, all he had was his talent with plants. How could that possibly be relevant to stopping You-Know-Who?
"The hat put you in Gryffindor for a reason," Luna said in a sing-song voice, not looking up from her magazine.
"Because it made a mistake?" Neville offered. He'd felt a great sympathy for Harry when he was trying the hat on again. If he'd had the chance, he's probably have done the same thing. He certainly didn't feel like he belonged there.
"Of course not," she gave tinkling laugh.
"Because it saw the bravery you don't. Not all bravery is about charging headfirst after danger." Neville smiled slightly at that.
"That's true, but I don't have any other form of bravery either."
"Oh, was it a different Neville that went wandering corridors at night to try and stop his housemates getting into trouble then? I didn't know there were two Nevilles." Neville frowned, unsure if she was serious or not. It was hard to tell with Luna, but then, he'd only known her for a couple of days.
"Er, no. That was me." She smiled serenely, finally looking up at him with those bright blue eyes.
"Well then. You must have some type of bravery then." She said it so matter-of-factly, Neville couldn't help but believe the strange girl.
"Thanks, Luna." She smiled again and turned back to her magazine. Then he wondered how Luna would become close enough to Harry in the future to be brought here as well. It would certainly be interesting with Luna in the picture, of that much, he was sure.
The next morning the group had an early breakfast and started their lessons. Harry and Ron in particular were slower than everyone else, not being at all in a hurry to continue with the reading. They were likely to finish the second book today and therefore they would all find out about Aragog and the fact that the basilisk bit Harry. He wasn't looking forward to that. He hadn't even mentioned it to Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore during his retelling. Fawkes had healed his injury before Ginny had been able to see it, so nobody knew.
He had potions first, followed by some more occlumency, which he really wasn't a fan of. Finally, he was joined by the twins, Neville, Hermione and Ron for a healing lesson with Andromeda. Ginny was having a Defence lesson with Luna and Draco already knew basic healing spells. So did the twins, but they insisted on coming anyway because they were completely self-taught and would appreciate lessons from a qualified medi-witch.
This, Harry found highly interesting. He was absolutely certain he would need these spells in the future and made sure to pay great attention. After his lessons with Moody these last couple of days, he found magic was coming to him a lot easier than it had before as he grew used to thinking less and just acting. He knew magic was about intent and as long as he didn't think too hard, and end up overthinking, he could cast spells more easily. So far, he'd only really practised shield charms and offensive spells during their practice, but he hoped to apply it to other magic as well.
It worked fairly well. He mastered the charm to seal small wounds faster than Ron or Hermione, and the bandaging charm he'd seen Remus use on Ron in the shack second, only behind Hermione and ahead of even the twins.
"Good work, all of you. Now I do not want you attempting these spells unless there is no other choice. Yes, you have performed them successfully in here, but all medical spells should be performed by a professional unless that is not an option. I have not taught you this so you can mess around thinking you are now somehow invincible."
"Yes, Madam Tonks," they all replied. She nodded and dismissed them. Lunch was ready by the time they emerged, and they were all ravenous after a strenuous morning.
"Hopefully we will finish this book this evening. You will then all have a day off of lessons tomorrow morning for relaxation and perhaps an early start to the reading. That will catch us up on all events that have occurred so far. After that, we shall take a day off from reading before we begin reading about the future," Minerva announced.
It had only been a few days into the schedules and there was a lot to teach the group, but she knew that forcing them to study every single day and go through the emotional turmoil of the books would not end well. Three days of studying followed by a morning off would keep them all from burning out. And a day off from reading would do them all good. If the third book took as long as the second, they would have been reading for a week by then. Tomorrow would be their fifth day in the room. It amazed her just how much had changed in such a short amount of time. Two books, five days and their lives had been completely upended. It hurt her heart to hear some of the things that Albus had done, or just allowed to happen. And it pained her deeply to read about her own faults that were so evident in hindsight.
Once everyone had finished eating, they returned to the reading room. George reluctantly picked the book up and found the correct page.