For once, Sunday was spent partly relaxing. It seemed the teachers were finally giving them a bit of a homework break, which the fifth years were grateful for.
At breakfast, Harry told his friends that he was going to brew some potions in Dungeon Five with Blaise and Theo, and invited them to join him. Dorea and Amelia gladly accepted to come along, whilst Hermione said she was going to the library with Sue and Padma, and Ron had already planned to finally play Ernie at wizard chess. As much as he would have liked to see that game, Harry left the great hall with his twin and godsister, and met up with the two Slytherin boys near the staircase.
When they got to Dungeon Five, Harry felt relieved that Snape wasn't there. In fact, the only other people in the room were some seventh years, brewing what looked to be very complicated concoctions. Amelia and Dorea grabbed a bench for themselves whilst Harry, Theo and Blaise set up at a bench nearby.
"I'm going to get started on Bruisewort Balm," Harry said as he got his cauldron and scales out.
"I definitely need to brush up on the Invigoration Draught, when we brewed it in class mine only got an A." Theo said, getting up to fetch his ingredients presumably.
"How come you're brewing Bruisewort, Potter? It's not even in the curriculum." Blaise eyed him.
Harry fumbled for an excuse - he didn't quite want Blaise to find out about his detentions with Umbridge, though he did like and trust him. "I think it's handy to have on you, especially after you trip or something."
Blaise smirked. "Nice try. You're not clumsy in the slightest." He paused. "But you don't have to say if you don't want to."
He was grateful for that, at least. He got his notebook out, which contained the instructions and his own notes for the Bruise Balm he had written back at Black Manor, when he was a regular in the Potions Lab. Since it needed fifteen minutes to simmer, a thought came to him: He could probably brew a Befuddlement Draught alongside it, seeming as his one had gotten tampered with when he brewed it in class. Even though he'd brewed it a few times back at the Manor, he wanted to refresh his memory of it.
Being mindful that he now had two potions on the go (Blaise kept eyeing them nervously), he was extremely careful to get his timings right. Harry also had to keep his ingredients separate and not mix them up. No incidents occurred, however his Bruise Balm was done simmering a bit earlier than expected as it changed colour after only ten minutes, but put that down to his cauldron heat being one setting higher. He made a note in his book that it could save time and noted the heat number for future reference.
Bruise Balm done (it had to cool for twenty-five minutes before it could be bottled), all his attention was on his Befuddlement Draught. He'd now reached the stage he'd gotten to in Thursday's class when Crabbe had sabotaged it. He instinctively tensed up when Theo walked right behind where he was sitting, even though he was only passing to get to his seat. Just as he turned the cauldron off so that the potion could cool down did he finally speak again. "Feels good to finally get that ticked off."
"I was nervous when you started brewing two potions at the same time, not gonna lie, but you had them so under control. You'll soon overtake Granger at being the best in the class." Blaise remarked, impressed, as he was finishing off his Draught of Peace.
"You're definitely one of the best in the class, Blaise." Harry added. Blaise was about to respond (likely with disbelief) when Theo let out a noise of distress.
"Oh my word, I'm such a dunce, I added the wrong ingredient!" Theo Nott looked stressed. A foul smell was soon wafting through the air in Dungeon Five, and dark grey bubbles were soon being omitted from the cauldron.
Harry fumbled to get his wand out as Blaise said that he had no clue what to do. He realised he didn't actually know the wand movement for the spell, but spoke it anyway. "Laxo!"
Just like that, the ingredient that Theo had added by mistake whizzed out of the cauldron and back to where it was previously lined up on his cutting board. The dungeon was no longer smelling like rotten milk, and the bubbles that resembled fumes evaporated into thin air. Theo looked like Harry had just saved his life. "Oh, mate! Thanks for that!"
"Was that a spell that undo's the previous instruction or something?" Blaise looked amazed.
"Yeah," Harry said, smiling, "my godfather taught me it. I was actually about to use it in Potions the other day, but Professor Snape took points off me for even having my wand out."
"Oh, yeah, sorry about Malfoy and them being twats by the way." It dawned on Blaise. "It was totally unfair that you got detention and points taken - I saw both Snape and Umbridge literally stare at Crabbe and the others when they went over to ruin your potions."
Harry waved off his apology. "It's fine, mate. The essay he had us do wasn't even that bad."
Before anyone in school could even comprehend, December rolled around, and announced its welcome with flurries of snow showers and colder weather; Hogsmeade in particular looked picturesque during the first weekend of the month, where there was about a foot of snow on the ground. During this visit, Harry gladly spent it in the company of his other friends - and was pleased when Amelia, Dorea, Ron and Hermione did the same. Amelia and Dorea spent time with Daphne, Hannah, Susan and Astoria, whereas Hermione was especially happy spending the day in the company of Sue, Megan, Padma and Lisa. Even Ron was comfortable temporarily parting with Harry to go to Honeydukes with Neville, Ernie, Justin and Terry.
Harry himself spent the day wandering and shopping with Blaise, Theo, Anthony, Seamus and Dean. He had been very surprised when Dean in particular had gotten more and more friendly with the two Slytherin boys, but felt very satisfied that the DA was doing its job. Blaise even asked Dean about a few things regarding muggles - Harry found himself smiling.
On Monday morning, a rather unusual notice appeared on the Bulletin board in Gryffindor common room. It read:
"To all students from fifth year onwards,
After the Christmas holidays, our Matron, Madam Pomfrey, will be starting up extracurricular Healing lessons held in the Hospital Wing. These lessons are for those who may wish to pursue a career in Healing, or maybe just want to explore all their options before your career's appointment with your Head of House later in the year.
Healing is a very well-paid and respected profession, however St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries have expressed frustration that new applicants over the years have little to no experience or knowledge in the field - so with permission from the High Inquisitor, this course aims to give a bite-sized but intense experience of what life as a Healer or a Mediwitch/Mediwizard is like. Obviously, this course is not for the faint-hearted and squeamish.
This short course aims to teach you:
How to mend broken and fractured bones
How to diagnose both external and internal problems
How to mend cuts, bruises, wounds, aches and pains
Healing magic
Healing potions and medication
Theory of magical diseases and illnesses
At the end of the course, each person will have to sit both a theory and practical test to determine their grade. More information about this will be explained during the first session.
Seventh years may also be entitled to a week-long work placement at St Mungo's Hospital during the final week of the course, depending on the standard of their work throughout.
If you are interested, please sign your name to the sheet overleaf. First session will be on January 4th at seven p.m and will thereafter run every fortnight.
Signed: Madam Pomfrey (Matron of Hogwarts), Dolores Umbridge (High Inquisitor).
When Dorea came down into the common room, she was a bit confused when Harry dragged her over to the notice board, as she wondered if Professor Umbridge had brought out another Educational Decree. She was very surprised when she read the message.
"Well, it sounds quite interesting," she told him. "I'd quite like to try it."
"I might go along to the taster session - I've never really considered Healing as a career." Harry said. They both signed their names and waited for Amelia to come down; as they both thought she'd like it too. They were right - for she signed her name almost straight away. Hermione, who was someone already considering her career options since the start of term, also signed. Ron didn't really have an opinion; he thought it a bit too practical and hard-going, but said he might go to the taster session.
At breakfast, she sat at the Hufflepuff table with Amelia, Hermione and Daphne. They discussed the course. "I've always wanted to be a Healer," Hannah declared, "I'm so happy this course will give me some beforehand experience. A lot of new recruits in the field have no clue what they're doing half the time as it's not offered at school particularly, so they spend more time training them on the job, which is pretty time consuming."
Daphne nodded. "It's definitely a bonus to be able to heal somebody, especially in today's climate."
Dorea almost couldn't wait until after the Christmas holidays now. She made a mental note to herself to look through her uncle Alphard's library when they went home for the Christmas holidays - as the library back at Black Manor would more than likely contain a good few books on Healing, and a little bit of background reading wouldn't harm anyone.
Their classes still continued to be a bit of a handful; with homework still being assigned, but not as crazily, and deadlines were gradually getting a bit longer: most tasks were assigned with a week or two week due date, so that took a bit of stress off their shoulders. Fred and the other NEWT students didn't quite have that luxury; some of their work was due in the same week it was assigned, and Dorea gradually understood why they were called Nastily Exhausting. Even her own dad was getting quite frantic regarding homework tasks: they had a star chart to do regarding plotting Jupiter's moons, and an essay regarding star clusters.
With Professor Umbridge being useless in regards to teaching Defence, Harry had taken it upon himself to also start teaching the Senior DA group (the fifth years anyway, since it was their level) spells they should have been learning in fifth year Defence. Their second session meeting in the Room of Requirement was spent learning one of the spells: the Reductor Curse. Since they were so new to it, and ideally it took quite a lot to learn, they agreed to spend at least two sessions learning it. To no one's surprise, Hermione was one of the first to learn its theory and get it right the quickest, but Ginny was very quick at learning it too - as she managed to reduce one of the magical dummies to shreds. Towards the end of the session, Harry announced that they could possibly start learning the Patronus Charm. Everyone 'ooo'd at that, especially the seventh years; George claimed that they were due to start learning it after Christmas, so would like a head start.
Harry had spent about ten minutes telling them about the Charm and all of its uses. He explained to them how to achieve a corporeal Patronus; they had to think about a particularly strong memory in order for it to succeed. The memories could be ones that made them feel happy, alive, or just generally accomplished. Thereafter, everyone took a good few minutes to wrack their brains for their happiest moments, and some sixth and seventh years even attempted it straight away; but to almost no avail, as they only managed to produce small wisps. When the others eventually managed to start giving it a go, everyone got the same result.
"This is pointless!" Zacharias Smith piped up. "It's clearly not going to work for anyone!"
"It does work, it just takes quite a lot of dedication." Harry replied a bit gruffly. "It's a pretty advanced spell, so I would be very surprised if anyone managed to conjure a corporeal Patronus by the end of the session."
Zach turned around and everyone's attention was on him. "I bet you can't even do it, Potter."
People started getting defensive of Harry, however he wanted silence. "I can conjure a Patronus, Zach."
"Oh yeah? Well, show us then!"
The room stopped to watch Harry as he pulled his own wand out. He took a few moments to prepare his memory, but when he did, he said the words "Expecto Patronum!"
Light erupted from the tip of his wand, and a ball of it came together to form Harry's usual Patronus - a stag, - which charged forward and ran around in the air, doing a few laps of the room before returning back. Everyone was amazed, and Zacharias was left flustered and embarrassed.
The rest of the session passed, and as predicted, nobody had managed to fully master the spell. However, a few seventh years had managed to at least get a ball to erupt from the end of their wands, but that was the extent of it. When it was time to leave, Harry said there was no rush to perfect their Patronus, as it took quite a lot of time to learn and practise, and said that half of the next session would be dedicated time for them to practise it within. Everyone nodded, and Harry updated their fake coins to mimic that reminder.
Just before Defence on Monday, as they were walking into the class, did Harry ask Professor Umbridge about the DA; which she had still not decided to reform yet, even though it had been little over a month.
"Mr Potter, I am still thinking about whether or not the club can reform. I have been very busy, you see, with the inspections and what not." Was her answer.
"But it's been ages!" Harry said. Dorea thought he was very good at acting; for all this time, he had been holding DA lessons in secret. If Umbridge caught wind of that, though, they'd be expelled.
"Mr Potter, I can assure you that I am close to making a decision. Now, step into class, please." Umbridge said sweetly. That lesson was spent mostly reading, however Umbridge gave them back the two essays she had assigned. Dorea felt herself bubble with anger when she saw, written in the top-right hand corner, a 'P' occupying the space in the red marker pen. Amelia and Harry had gotten the same grade, even though their essays were nearly identical to Ron and Hermione's, which had received passing grades. The Slytherin's seemed to get great marks though; and Dorea noticed Umbridge's favouritism when even people like Crabbe and Goyle managed to get E's. As she was making her way back to the front, Umbridge stopped by their table. "Miss Black, Mr Potter, Miss Potter, for your shocking marks, you'll be seeing me for a week's worth of detention again next week. Usual time, my office." She said a bit quietly, smiling viciously.
All five of them shared a look then; Dolores Umbridge needed to be reported and taken down. She had purposefully marked their essays down so that she could give them detention, and put them under the blood quill's torture once again. Dorea had no clue how she was going to endure it.
The rest of the week passed as usual. Wayne Hopkins was declared fit to use magic again, after his core had been weakened quite a lot after he'd been attacked by Francis Selwyn, which was good. The boy had still been attending classes, but spent them learning the theory behind spells whilst the rest of the class learned them practically. Wayne seemed to learn quite quickly though, and had already mastered the spells he had to catch up on in both Charms and Transfiguration, which was spectacular. He'd also been given the all-clear to return to Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, where he played as a Beater with Megan, which was also great news.
Some of the Ravenclaw's were still a bit edgy around Harry, especially after Selwyn had been sentenced to ten years in Azkaban earlier in the week, but so far none of them had been openly hostile. Most of the time they just glared at him and whispered to their friends. Those Ravenclaw's in the DA knew better though; Francis Selwyn was a dangerous student with hopes to become a Death Eater, and the Ministry were right (for once) to throw him in jail.
Amelia altered her time spent between her Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw friends. She usually spent breakfasts with Daphne, Astoria and Tracey, who were full of good gossip. Lunches were spent with Hannah, Susan and Megan, whilst dinner's were usually spent at Gryffindor table, but people normally filtered over to sit with them.
On Tuesday, just after the seventh period was over, Amelia and Dorea made their way to dinner, but they both paused when they heard a commotion going on. It was coming from the History of Magic classroom. "Let's go see what's up." Amelia led the way.
When they quietly peeked in, they saw that an older group of Ravenclaw girls - perhaps sixth or seventh years, - were surrounding someone. They were both shocked to find that it was Cho Chang they were surrounding. Only thing was, they were picking on her. "Here's the thing Cho, you're a great girl and all, but you really need to step up your Quidditch game." One said
"We're fourth in the House Cup standings as it is, and thanks to you failing to catch the Snitch two Saturdays ago, we're also fourth in the Quidditch Cup!" Another snapped.
Amelia was very surprised that Cho Chang - who was always surrounded by a group of girls, and was very popular amongst everyone, was actually getting bullied. "I-I'm sorry, I just haven't been able to focus, with my subjects and.. Other things." Cho sounded so sad and scared.
"Get a new broom as well, Chang, nobody rides Comet Two Nineties anymore." One of the older girls snarled.
"Oh don't tell me you still haven't gotten over Cedric?" Another said exasperatedly. The others began tutting then. Cho's eyes became watery, and was nearing bursting out crying.
"What a drama queen, eh girls?" They all giggled.
"While we're at it - give us your Charms notes. I'm almost failing the class."
"No!" Cho said, pulling her bag closer to her.
"Now now, Chang, don't make us use force."
"Let's lay into her, girls."
Before they could even lay a finger on Cho, Amelia and Dorea kicked into action. They drew their wands and made their presence known.
"You wouldn't think of touching her." Dorea snarled.
The group of girls whipped round, and Cho let out a gasp.
"Oh hi Dorea, Amelia! How are you two on this fine day?" One of the girls said in a falsely sweet voice that they both associated with Professor Umbridge.
"Oh cut that out, you cow." Amelia barked. "Get away from Cho."
"How dare you speak to your own housemate like that," Dorea said to them in a dangerous tone.
"This is none of your concern, Potter, Black." A tall blonde girl who now had Cho by her hair snapped.
"Cho is a Ravenclaw, you two are Gryffindor's, you have no business here." A round girl said through narrowed eyes.
"What exactly has she done to you?" Amelia snarled. "You're bullying the poor girl because she's been grieving Cedric, and she's also somehow to blame for Ravenclaw's fourth place standings this year? The last time I checked, Quidditch was a team game, not an individual one."
"But Cedric died last year, she has no excuse-"
"Last year? Last June you mean, and that was barely six months ago," Dorea raised her voice.
"I suppose I should go get your Head of House, he won't be very pleased that you're manhandling one of his favourite students, nor someone younger than you all." Amelia smirked when she saw the older girls stiffen.
"You wouldn't dare, Potter." The blonde one holding Cho now had her wand pointed at Amelia, but she quickly disarmed her. "How dare you!" The girl screamed.
"What's going on?" They heard another voice, and it was both Anthony and Padma standing in the doorway, "Violet, why are you holding Cho like that?!"
"Anthony, can you go get Flitwick please? These girls ganged up on Cho and were bullying her before we came along." Dorea asked the boy over her shoulder. Anthony obeyed, and jogged away to find the small professor.
"Padma, why don't you just fuck off? You're always following us." The round girl barked at the older Patil sister.
"Because this is what you do all the time! You ganged up on a first year in the bathroom the other day, what is your damn problem?!" Padma snapped.
"Them."
Amelia and Dorea whipped round. "Pardon?"
"Them and their drenched brother. Walking around the school thinking they're a cut above us all just because their stupid club united the houses, big fucking deal. We'll bully who we want, when we want."
"Incase you thick twats have forgotten, I'm a Prefect. I won't take points away - we're as low on them as it is - but I'll give you detention. Let's see now.. Violet, I think five days of writing will do you just fine. Amanda, five days of cleaning the trophy room.. Anna, a weeks cleaning the Ravenclaw Common Room - oi, no complaining, you cow, or it'll be the whole tower-"
Padma was cut off by the arrival of Professor Flitwick and Anthony. "I should have known it was you seven girls." Amelia had never even seen the small Professor so angry in his life, but he looked livid. Clearly, the older girls were his least favourite students.
"Professor, no, please.." The blonde girl, Violet, now looked close to tears. She had let go of Cho, who was all too glad to no longer be held restrained, and quickly made her way over next to Dorea.
"You've been told time and time again about the consequences of your bullying. You are seventh years, for crying out loud! You're months away from graduating! I personally think that none of you would get jobs with attitudes as disgusting as yours." Flitwick was raging. Dorea and Amelia held Cho in a comforting embrace, Padma and Anthony giving her sympathetic looks too. "Your parents will be informed of your disgusting ways. But for now, go to Dumbledore's office." Flitwick barked, and the group of girls left in a rage. The small professor then turned to Cho. "Miss Chang, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, they only grabbed me. I have Amelia and Dorea to thank. If they hadn't come along and stopped them, I'd hate to think what else they would have done." It was then that she started crying. Padma retrieved a few handkerchiefs from Binn's desk and gave them to Cho.
Flitwick then turned to Amelia and her godsister. "You two are absolute stars, you know that? Just like your mothers, the both of you. They'd be proud. I'll tell Sirius how well you handled this situation, girls. You've also rid Hogwarts of a horrid group of girls, too. Fifty points to Gryffindor. Oh and Anthony, Padma, twenty points each to Ravenclaw for also helping. Ten points to you, Cho, for being so brave too. I'll see you all tomorrow."
The five of them made their way to the Great Hall for dinner, and Anthony even invited them to sit at Ravenclaw table, which they gladly accepted. Cho was still a bit red-faced, but she quickly cheered up once they got eating and talking. Over at Hufflepuff table, Harry, Ron and Hermione gave them questioning looks. Amelia mouthed that she'd tell them later, which they nodded at. Both Amelia and Dorea got talking with Padma, Sue and Lisa, mostly regarding school but they also talked about the Healing lessons that Madam Pomfrey was starting up. Padma said that her and Parvati's mum worked at St Mungo's on the elderly ward, they learned, which sounded tough going but interesting, and Padma really wanted to take the course in order to broaden her Healing knowledge. Sue's aunt used to work on the psychological ward before she left to work in a magical hospital in Spain for a few years, so Sue was also intrigued about the course.
Wednesday and Thursday soon flew by, and everyone was glad when Friday rolled around, for it meant another week was done and dusted. Harry woke up quite early despite the fact he'd stayed up until almost one in the morning, reading over his notes he'd made during his Arithmancy lessons with Vector the previous day. He had a feeling he'd end up having to enlist Susan to help him again, as the new topic that he and Professor Vector had gone over the previous day was still confusing him senseless. He also reminded himself to ask Anthony or Terry a question regarding the Ancient Runes homework that Babbling had assigned them - for he wasn't quite sure what they actually had to write for it.
At breakfast, he noticed Luna sitting at Ravenclaw table alone. He felt like he'd neglected spending time with her, so went to sit with her. "This seat taken?"
"No, you can sit there, Harry." Luna said without even looking up from her copy of The Quibbler.
As he helped himself to a butterie, he got talking. "How have you been?"
"Oh, quite well. I don't know if I said, but I'm really enjoying the DA." Luna said breathily.
"You're really good at the spells," Harry admitted, "and you work well with others. Have you made many friends?"
"Oh yeah. Ginny is nice, as are your friends. Astoria is very nice too." Luna replied, taking a drink.
Harry was about to say something else, when Hope Geddes appeared with a group of her friends. "Morning, Loony." Hope said, before bursting out in quiet giggles with her friends as they sat down at the table.
"Oh, hello." Luna said, naive to their giggles.
Harry tensed, as he was 90% sure he just heard them say something nasty or derogatory about Luna. Though the girl didn't appear to have heard them, Harry shot them a nasty glare.
Double Care of Magical Creatures that morning was very good, as Hagrid introduced them to a herd of Unicorns. The whole class seemed very intrigued and fascinated by the horned beasts, and though they were very tall, were very gentle. They were so brilliantly white that they made the small amounts of snow around them look grey. Even Pansy Parkinson enjoyed the lesson, as she clutched her chest and made an excited noise when it was revealed that one of the Unicorn mares had a golden foal at its side. "Born at the weekend, tha' one." Hagrid claimed. "A little jolty fella. Easiest birthin' I've 'ad to do so far. Was standin' within 'alf an hour of bein' in the world."
During History of Magic, Harry had already completed taking notes of the Goblin Rebellion of 1612, which Binns was still droning on about, so didn't actually feel the need to do anything that period. He considered just moving on to the next topic, but found that he couldn't actually be bothered writing. Instead, he just thought to himself. He realised that he should really tell Ron about the Room of Requirement's time delay feature, as he figured that it was time they take advantage of that feature - especially with the amount of homework being assigned. "See at lunch, do you want to go to the Room of Requirement?" he asked his friend.
"Uh, okay, what for?" Ron replied.
"I discovered something it does, and I want to show you." Harry answered.
They agreed they didn't want to spend too long in there, as the others would surely wonder where on earth they'd gone, so as soon as Sirius let them finish up in Astronomy, they said to the girls that they were going to go to the toilet first, but they'd not be too long. They seemed to buy it, although Hermione looked a bit doubtful. They quickly walked out the class with a farewell to Sirius before they made their way towards the seventh floor.
When they got in, Ron was immediately curious. "So, what is it you want to show me?"
"Well, have you ever felt that the DA sessions last longer than the hour and a half?" Harry asked, as he walked towards where he'd hid the clocks.
"Yeah, I actually have, it feels like we're in there way longer than that." Ron said.
"Well, that's because I've been using these." Harry pulled out the three clocks.
Ron looked confused. "What?"
So Harry explained to him the time delay feature, and Ron was very impressed. "We could totally use them to get homework done all in one sitting! That's wicked!"
"I've only been extending time slightly, as before I discovered this room the whole DA was two weeks behind - so we obviously needed slightly longer to cover everything we missed. I've been using it ever since for us to catch up. During the sessions, I shrink the timer clock so it fits in my pocket, and I can feel it vibrating whenever time is up." Harry said, grinning. "I know messing with time is a bit risky, but the third clock always shows how much time passes in between so I never go too far ahead or behind."
"Yeah, I get that, don't want us getting too.. What is it the muggles say when they travel? Something like lag?"
"Jet-lagged." Harry supplied.
"That's the one." Ron said. The two boys then decided to get down to the Great Hall for lunch, so they left.
Over at Slytherin table during lunch, Theo Nott gladly tucked into his meal, as he was especially hungry. The Slytherin's and Ravenclaw's had just had a vigorous Charm's lesson, where they had just mastered the Substantive Charm. Theo had been a bit distracted, as he was getting a bit stressed out due to the fact that none of his memories seemed to be good enough to produce even tiny wisps of a Patronus Charm. Blaise was kind of in the same boat as him, but he wasn't as worried, as they'd only been introduced to it last Saturday. What if I can't physically produce a Patronus due to my dad being a Dark wizard? He wondered frantically. Though Theo didn't consider himself Dark, his father was, and his father before him was…
He was distracted when he heard the unmistakable giggle of Amelia Potter and her friends walking into the Great Hall. He felt himself at ease as he watched her walk towards her own house table with her godsister, though they were soon joined by Daphne and a whole other group of girls.
Truth be told, Theo was gradually finding out everyday that he was developing something more than a crush on Amelia Potter.
He had almost choked on his drink when he saw Diego Caplan playfully jab her sides from behind. In fact, he started forward a bit, startling Blaise and Barnaby. "Mate, are you feeling okay?" Barnaby enquired, eyes a bit wide.
"Oh, it's… nothing. Just a bit of juice that I thought was going down the wrong way." He tried to play it off, chuckling a bit.
The two boys exchanged a glance as he went back to his drink, but they saw his grip on the cup tense when he looked directly past Blaise's shoulder, where Amelia was in terms of his line of sight. Barnaby followed his friend's gaze, and he almost shrieked when he realised just who Theodore Nott was looking at.
"Is our friend Theodore in love?" Barnaby said in a sing-song voice, which caught the attention of a few other people in the vicinity. "I've never seen him ooh and aah nonverbally at someone so much."
"Barnaby, shut your mouth." Theo grimaced through gritted teeth, though he had a feeling his face was going a shade of crimson. "I was just thinking."
"I don't tend to stare outright at people when I'm just 'thinking', Theo." Barnaby chirped back.
The bell rang though - literally meaning that Theo was saved by the bell. They had Herbology next (well, Barnaby, being a fourth year, had Charms). He felt himself feel giddy for the class, for none other than Amelia herself would be in it, and he couldn't wait.
However, his drasted friends were not giving up on their relentless quest. As they were whispering and gossiping behind him on their way to class, Theo fell in beside Draco.
"They're being so stupid," he said.
"How?" Draco replied nonplussed as he looked over his shoulder at Blaise and Barnaby, who were giggling about something.
"They think I fancy someone when I don't." Theo answered. But I do fancy her… He couldn't let his feelings show though.
Draco just scoffed. As they filed into the Herbology greenhouse, Theo took his usual seat in between Blaise and Goyle. However, Blaise was still persisting.
As Blaise went to the back of the classroom to grab an extra pot for the Chinese Chomping Cabbages, he whispered in Theo's ear. "I might go say a hello to your crush."
Theo turned in his chair. "You better bloody not tell her, or I'll tell Dorea about how you fancy her, you git."
Blaise chuckled. "No, no, I'll leave the telling of love to the actual person."
"Make sure it stays that way, Blaise." Theo grunted.
"Mr Nott, is something the matter?" Professor Sprout called out, and suddenly Theo noticed that the whole class was looking at him with curiosity. He could hear Blaise scoffing over at the back shelf.
"No, Professor, nothing's wrong." He said, rather weakly. He even caught eyes with Amelia herself. Do NOT blush! He told himself, yet he looked away from her far quicker than he would have liked.
He went to go and grab the spare pots for both himself, Crabbe and Goyle (because they were lazy sods,) and when he turned to head back, he almost bloody dropped them when he noticed that Amelia was heading towards him.
"Hey, Theo," Amelia had smiled at him.
"Hello, Amelia," he tried to play it cool. He just knew that Blaise was watching him.
"Harry was wondering if you were perhaps wanting to join him and Blaise for another Potion brewing session this weekend?" She said to him. Her green eyes were looking particularly bright as the sun helped to highlight them. Her voice was as airy and as lovely as usual.
"Oh, erm, yeah. I almost forgot about that - we haven't had a chance to brew these last few weeks." He replied, setting the pots down on a table next to him so he could look that little bit more relaxed. "You'd be welcome to join us too." He blurted out without even thinking.
"I will have to wait another time - me, Hannah, Susan, Dorea, Hermione and Sue are going to have an Ancient Runes study session this Saturday before DA, so I can't." The Potter girl paused, "I heard you're struggling a bit with the Patronus charm."
He blushed. Before he could reply, she stepped in. "Hey, it's nothing to worry about, there's a lot of other DA members struggling. It's incredibly advanced magic, and we were only introduced to it last Saturday, it'll come eventually. Even Anthony Goldstein is struggling with it."
He felt better at that - Anthony was a very smart guy, he knew, so if he was having problems then it was nothing to be ashamed of. He remembered back to the last DA session… Barely anybody had managed to produce anything more than silver wisps. "What about next Sunday? We could go to the Room." He offered.
"That would be perfect, how about half past two?" She replied, looking enthusiastic.
"Great!" He grinned. He then noticed that they were now staring at each other, and he was struggling to tear his gaze away…
"We should get back to our Cabbages before they go on a rampage." Amelia suggested, as at that moment, Seamus Finnigan got bit by his one, and Professor Sprout had to give him the antidote. He agreed, and picked the pots back up as she did the same with hers.
"I'll see you around then," he said, as they smiled and went their different ways back to their seats. He watched her go.
As he sat back down and distributed the two other pots to Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise was looking mirthful as he tried to contain his laughter. "I hope I'm the best man at the wedding, Theo, that's all I'm saying." Zabini quipped.
"What wedding?" Crabbe piped up, his thick head looking from Theo to Blaise. "You can't be getting married, Theo?"
"It's nothing, ignore Blaise, he's gone barmy." Theo said quickly, hoping that was the end of that conversation. He couldn't help but see Draco shoot him a sharp look.
At the end of Herbology, as they were filling out the greenhouse, he found himself alongside Amelia as they exited. They connected eyes once again. He tried to make conversation. "Another day, another painful Defence lesson with Dolores Umbitch." He said, referring to the fact that they had the horrible woman next for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Amelia laughed at that. She was about to reply, but yet Professor Sprout called his name.
"Mr Nott, I'm not sure how you're going to be able to do your essay if you leave your parchment notebook behind."
"Oh, shoot!" He blushed furiously as he jogged back into the class and went to retrieve it from Sprout. As he approached her, he looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry, Professor."
His Herbology teacher was looking at him knowingly and, with a thin smile, said to him in a low voice (as if they were discussing something top secret), "Whilst your nickname for Professor Umbridge is well suited, please refrain from using it around your other.. Not so forgiving teachers."
His second wave embarrassment hit, as he realised that she had overheard him call Umbridge - well, a bitch. He nodded furiously, and Sprout's eyes gestured for him to leave. Amelia was still standing by the door waiting for him.
They walked into Defence together, and whilst they weren't even late (there were still a few people yet to arrive and sit down), Dolores Umbridge instantly targeted them. "Late, Miss Potter, five points from Gryffindor."
Amelia looked enraged, as her nostrils flared, yet she took her seat next to Harry. Theo decided to stand up for both himself and his crush. "Are you not going to take points from me, Professor?"
The toad-like woman's tone went utterly high, as if she was speaking to Theo like he was her favourite child. "And why would I do that, Mr Nott?"
"Well… I walked in with Amelia, and you said she was late, so.. Logic dictates that I was also late." He said, realising that everyone had stopped talking to listen.
The woman's expression hadn't changed. "Mr Nott, you do not have a record for being late, so it is different for you."
"When has Amelia ever been late?" Theo was not backing down. He hated favouritism - and it was blatantly obvious that Professor Umbridge picked on some people more than others.
"Mr Nott, please take your seat, you are preventing the class from starting." Umbridge said, still in a falsely sweet tone.
Cow isn't even answering my question, he thought, and was about to bite back when he felt Blaise tug his sleeve. He accepted defeat and plopped down into his seat near the back. Goyle leaned in to him. "Don't know why you'd even want to talk to her."
Theo bit back the temptation to chastise Gregory. "How?"
"What do you mean 'how'? She's a Potter, and Slytherin's shouldn't be mixing with measly Gryffindor's." Goyle answered, sternly. Crabbe and Malfoy nodded agreement, whilst him and Blaise shared a secret look.
On Saturday morning, Theo was one of the first people at breakfast. He had no clue why on earth he was even awake this early, but pushed that aside. He took a drink of morning tea when he noticed a very familiar owl fly through the window above the staff table. "Iris?"
His family owl was indeed flying towards him, and almost landed in his breakfast. He eagerly took the letter attached to her leg, thinking it was his dear mum writing to him. However, his heart went a bit cold when he read his own name in his father's handwriting.
Slowly opening it up, he suddenly felt the urge that he wasn't going to like whatever was written within the envelope.
He was right. For his father had written:
"Theodore,
To say I am disappointed in you is an understatement. I am that angry I could have just sent a Howler, however your mother has already soared my throat with the amount of shouting I've aimed at her, so this will have to do.
I have received correspondence from my friend Mr Goyle Snr, who heard from his son Gregory that you have been spending a lot of time with Miss Amelia Potter and her brother. I am utterly outraged that you even think them worthy of even your slightest presence. He has also told me that you acquaint yourself with half-bloods and muggles. Do you have even the faintest idea the shame you have brought on your family? You have disgusted me beyond belief, and you can forget it if you even think you're getting to come home for Christmas.
From this moment onwards, if you even think of returning to the house, you will be met with nothing but my rage. If your insipid mother thinks that she can try and contact you behind my back, she has another thing coming. You both are worthless to me, but I am especially disappointed that my only child has turned out to be nothing but a worthless piece of shit.
Regardless, I do hope that you change your mind and realise that our Dark Lord is worthy of servitude, and that his ideologies can only benefit pure-blood wizards such as ourselves, if only for my family name's sake.
Your father,
Rohan Nott."
After swiftly reading it, Theo suddenly found the vast empty hall almost too much to bear - he felt everything closing in on him. He was virtually homeless now; his father would beat the living daylights out of him if he ever thought of returning, and he had no way to contact his poor mum who he loved far more dearly than he ever did his dad. He felt like crying; he knew his dad treated her very poorly (Theo himself had stood up to him a few times, and taken beatings meant for her), but she was likely going to feel the brunt of his anger now that Theo couldn't come in and save her.
"Theo?" He heard a voice say. He looked up, snapping out of his troubles, and saw Dorea standing across the table from him.
"Oh, sorry…" Was all he said, running a hand down his face, which had sweated a bit.
"Are you okay?" Dorea Black asked, looking a bit concerned, "What's in that letter?"
Though he considered Dorea more than a simple acquaintance, he wondered whether or not he could tell her. She certainly didn't have an abusive father like he did, but she was very trustworthy. "M-my father has basically kicked me out of the house permanently." He admitted, sounding weak.
Dorea gasped. "What?"
"Goyle told his dad that I have made friends with people a) not in Slytherin and b) that are half-bloods and muggleborns. His father told my father, and… well, to put it simply, he is outraged." Theo explained.
"He's made you homeless?!" Dorea's eyes widened.
"Yeah. I can't go home at all, - not for Christmas holidays, nothing."
It was silent for a few minutes as Dorea took that all in. He even showed her the letter, which her hands slightly shook as she read it. His eyes all but lit up when Amelia and Harry came into the room, and they wandered over.
He told them as well, having no clue how he hadn't broken down yet. The Potter twins were equally concerned. "Do you have any other family you can stay with?" Harry asked.
"My mum's sister and mother, but my father is very controlling over them as well, he'd know if I was staying with them. My mum has some family friends too, but they live abroad… All of my father's family are either Death Eater's or supporters of Death Eater's, so they're a no-go. They'd hand me over to him on a silver platter." He said, rattling his brain. He soon remembered that his father did have a brother… But that he'd severed contact with him years ago for reasons he did not know. He had no clue what he even looked like.
Amelia was looking at him thoughtfully and sympathetically, which his heart warmed at. He tried his hardest not to blush or look away. She eventually spoke up. "I have an idea."
The three of them looked at her expectantly. "Regarding what?" Dorea asked.
"Regarding where Theo can live. He can come and stay with us and Sirius." Was Amelia's answer.
Theo's heart was racing, in a good way. He wanted to accept her offer right away, if it meant living under the same roof as Amelia. Harry soon agreed too. "There's plenty of room at the house."
Dorea also found herself agreeing, and Theo almost cheered. All that there was left to do was to ask Professor Black, who was obviously Dorea's father and the guardian of Harry and Amelia. Theo only knew him as his teacher, and found it surprising that he was soon to be his housemate. Who knows, maybe in time he'll become something of a father figure, Theodore thought, then almost scoffed, he can't get any worse than my own father.