Chapter 43... Enjoy!

Harry was royally pissed off at Hermione. So much so that, even the occasional reading sessions in the library had stopped happening. Partly, it was due to the intense quidditch practice sessions. But, nevertheless, Hermione knew it was because of what she had done. Ron was annoyed at Hermione as well. Crookshanks had chased around Scabbers violently a couple of more times, making matters worse. And John, well, John had decided to entirely cut ties with everyone. He remained silent in classes, sat on the opposite side of the class, was rarely in the vicinity at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and had stopped coming to the library as well. Even though this bothered Hermione, she decided not to do much about it. But she had waited a couple of weeks and was now itching to do something about it. And she got the opportunity when John came to the library, late one evening.

"Hi," said Hermione walking towards him.

"Hi Hermione," replied John reluctantly.

"Why are you avoiding me?" asked Hermione.

"I'm not avoiding you," replied John to which Hermione scowled in response.

"I'm just avoiding everybody, nothing personal," added John.

"You don't have to," suggested Hermione with a dejected look.

"Harry will come around, just give him time," said John.

Hermione however seemed unconvinced.

"He will," reassured John.

Hermione's expression turned. But from a dejected one, it turned to one of confusion. And she was also keenly staring at something. John turned back to look and he saw what Hermione had seen, or rather, whom she had seen, Draco Malfoy.

A moment later, Draco's eyes fell on the pair and he seemed to walk toward them.

"What is he doing here?" asked Hermione.

"I... have... absolutely no idea," sighed John and started staring into his book. But it was instantly obvious that Draco was indeed walking towards them.

A few moments later, he was near enough and spoke.

"Can I talk to you both for a minute?" asked Draco politely, something she had never seen him do.

"Yeah," replied Hermione faintly.

"How is Ginny? Has she woken up?" asked Draco.

"She is still unconscious," replied Hermione.

Draco acknowledged the reply and somehow looked sad and repenting.

"I'm sorry," he said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Uh..." mumbled Hermione, not sure how to respond.

"It's not your fault, Draco... You couldn't have done anything," said John and diverted his attention towards Draco. Though it did nothing to change the look on Draco's face.

"I'm sorry for calling you a mudblood and for all the times I have been rude to you," said Draco looking at Hermione after a few more seconds of silence. "And to you too," he added looking at John.

John nodded in acknowledgement and then glanced at Hermione and a moment later left the library holding the book he had just borrowed, leaving Hermione and Draco alone.

"Bye," said Hermione faintly and decided to dash out of the library as far away from Draco as possible.

But the moment she made it a few feet away, Draco exclaimed, "I truly apologise, this is not a trick. I have always been..." he said and paused, "I'm sorry," he repeated.

Hermione showed no particular emotion on her face and left instantly.

A few minutes later, she was frantically looking for Harry in the common room and to her dismay, she found out that he was at quidditch practice. She went down to the Great Hall for dinner. Harry's practice session ended late and he came to dinner towards the end.

"Harry..." called out Hermione and stood right beside him.

"Hermione... let me eat, I'm tired," replied Harry in an uninterested tone.

"Harry, this is important," said Hermione.

"I'm sure it is... I however am not in the mood," he replied annoyed and a little bitter.

"Draco came to the library," she said calmly and got the exact response she was looking for.

Harry stopped eating and looked at Hermione for the first time in the conversation.

"What did he say? Did he say something rude again? Are you okay?" asked Harry hastily and looked a little worried.

"No no, it's all good," replied Hermione. "He actually came to apologise," she added.

"He did what?"

"He apologised... trust me, I couldn't believe it either. It felt so weird," replied Hermione.

"Wow"

"And he seemed genuine too. Like he actually meant it,"

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" asked Harry with a chuckle.

"I don't have Draco in my dreams," replied Hermione with a disgusted look.

"Who do you dream about?" asked Harry and immediately regretted it. Hermione looked taken aback and a little red on the cheeks and there was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes.

"Uh... so he actually apologised?" asked Harry bringing back the topic.

"He did," replied Hermione.

"He has apologised a lot if you think about it. Maybe this is not a trick. I can't believe I'm about to say this. Maybe he is changed," said Harry.

"Or..." replied Hermione and paused.

"Or?"

"Or, maybe he has something else to say. Maybe about his father, that could prove Jane's innocence," replied Hermione excitedly.

"That's just overambitious... That can't be, surely... can it?" wondered Harry out loud.

Remus Lupin was looking forward to that evening. Harry and Ron had accepted his offer to train them additionally to their regular curriculum a few days back. And it was the day of the first session. Throughout the day he was internally buzzing. Initially apprehensive, he was now thankful to John for the idea that gave him the best possible opportunity to get to know his best friends' son more.

Just after he completed his combined class with Gryffindor and Slytherin, he decided to have a word with John.

"What's up, Remus?" asked John with his usual smile.

"I took your suggestion... Harry accepted my offer to train him, so did Ron," said Remus.

"They did? That's fantastic, this is great news, Remus," replied John happily.

"Thanks to you... I would have never thought of something like this," said Remus.

"No, of course, you would have... you just didn't have a reason to yet," said John. "Any plans on where you're going to start?" he asked.

"I was thinking of starting with duelling. I have seen him in class, and he seems to grasp things well, and he's sharp just like James. Ron's a lot more reserved, doesn't do or say a lot in class. But I'm sure he has it in him," replied Remus.

"Yes he does," replied John with a smile. "That sounds fun, have a great session," he added and left the class.

Just after the end of the last class, John got a hold of Harry.

"Harry... a minute, this is important," whispered John.

"What happened?" retorted Harry in a whisper.

"I found out that you have extra training with Remus later today," he said.

"Yes... I wanted to tell you myself... but," replied Harry and left the sentence hanging.

"It's alright, no big deal. I wanted to tell you something before your session," said John. "Take your original wand to the training," he added.

"Why?" asked Harry, surprised.

"Because this is extremely important. You should train with your proper wand. Whenever you're training with Remus, use your original wand, and not the one I gave you," said John.

"Okay," replied Harry, a little perplexed.

"Good luck, bye," whispered John and left.

Harry and Ron spent the minutes before the start of their training session with Remus being nervous, Ron more so than Harry.

Initially, when the offer was made, Ron was sceptical.

"He wants to train you, Harry, not me. He just asked me so that I wouldn't feel left out," said Ron.

"That's not true... That was a genuine offer," replied Harry.

"We already have so many things, I... I don't know," sighed Ron, confused.

"If anything, I'm the one who has quidditch. Sure, we have homework, but we copy Hermione's work half the time," replied Harry.

A few days after this conversation, something changed in Ron. And very soon after that, the boys had accepted Remus' offer. Ever since then, Ron had been looking forward to the first session.

As the time ticked down, a mix of nervousness and excitement kicked in.

But as it turned out, the session was very different from what they had expected.

Once the pleasantries were exchanged, Remus began the session by working on the boys' posture while casting their spells.

"This may seem uninteresting to the both of you, but there's something more important than what spells you use. It is how you use it, how you make yourself capable of handling anything that is thrown at you and how you can get creative." was one of the many things Remus advised.

In another instance, he could be seen saying, "you should practice these stances... there is no correct posture, but there are many. And each one of them is useful in a specific scenario. When it comes to an actual fight, these things should come to you as second nature."

In yet another moment, Remus said, "performing magic is and always has been more intuitive than theoretical. It should come from within. Just by uttering an incantation, you can't perform a spell. Sure, your basic spells would work, but advanced magic needs more than just incantation. You should be focused on what you want to achieve and you should have clarity on that. If you can attain that, then you wouldn't even need a wand to perform magic."

The session was over in about 2 hours. Once they were done, Harry and Ron were walking back to the dormitory.

"That was..." began Harry but didn't continue his sentence. Ron glanced at Harry and he looked different.

"You didn't like the session?" asked Ron.

"Oh no... I liked it... But it was different from what I thought," replied Harry.

"How so?" asked Ron.

"I guess I just expected new fancy spells and all that," replied Harry.

"I loved the session," said Ron after a few seconds with a buoyant expression.

"You did?" asked Harry curiously.

"You know how I thought he wanted to train just you... well, it didn't seem like it, did it? Even those things about posture and keeping thoughts clear and all, it was nice," replied Ron.

"I told you," said Harry with a smile.

They were at the dormitory and were about to leave for dinner when Ron remembered something.

"Show me your wand," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Harry was taken aback by that request.

"Huh!" responded Harry frantically arranging his trunk, pretending to have not heard Ron.

"Your wand mate... can I have a look?" asked Ron.

"Umm... my wand? Why?" asked Harry trying to act nonchalantly.

Ron remained silent. A few seconds of silence later, Harry looked up and glanced at Ron.

"You know?" he asked.

"No," replied Ron. "I just know that you've been using a different wand at classes," he added.

Harry removed his wand from his pocket at handed it over to Ron.

"This is my wand," he said.

Harry then removed another wand from an inside pocket of his robes, this one even had a holster.

"John gave me this," he said and handed the other wand he had to Ron.

"I wondered where this went," remarked Ron while removing the wand from the grand looking, royally designed wand-holster. "Wow," he exclaimed as he held both of Harry's wands. They both looked and felt very different from each other.

"This one feels different," he said and pointed at the wand that John had given Harry. "Are you able to perform magic with this?" he asked.

"Surprisingly well," replied Harry.

"Cool"

"But, why didn't you tell me about this?" asked Ron.

"He told me not to tell anyone... Nobody knows about this... not even Hermione," replied Harry.

"Why did he give you this, though?" asked Ron.

"He wanted me to have 2 wands... one primary and one secondary..." replied Harry.

Ron handed Harry back his wands and with that, they left for dinner. However, Ron's curiosity about the different wands stayed with him.

The Hogsmeade visit was fast approaching, though not fast enough if the chatter around the school were to be believed. The days were moving ever so slowly leading up to the Halloween weekend. One afternoon, a few days prior to Halloween, Professor McGonagall had an extra announcement at the end of her class with the Gryffindor 3rd year students.

"As you're all in my house, you should hand Hogsmeade permission form to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!" she said in her usual beaming voice.

Most of the students including Harry, Ron and Hermione had their forms ready with them and they all excitedly handed them over to Professor McGonagall. John however waited for all of them to leave. And once they all had, he approached Professor McGonagall.

"This is my form," he said and handed over the form to Professor McGonagall.

"Please tell me you did not get Jane to sign this," she said taking the form.

"No, I did not," replied John.

Professor McGonagall was however surprised to see the form signed, but the name didn't seem to read Jane or John himself.

"Whose signature is this then?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" he asked sheepishly.

"It does Mr Smith... I have half a mind to restrict your visit to Hogsmeade. Whose signature did you get?" she replied.

John looked at her sheepishly.

"You're not going to like this," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" exclaimed McGonagall.

"I got... uh... I took Daisy's signature," replied John bluntly.

"Daisy?" wondered Professor McGonagall out loud. And then a moment later, it dawned on her. "You mean..." she began.

"Yes... Harry's friend Daisy," replied John.

Professor McGonagall placed the form on the desk slowly. Her expression was one of confusion and worry.

After a couple of minutes she spoke up, "I'd have rather preferred an unsigned letter, Mr Smith... On one hand, I can't accept this letter, but on the other, you are forcing me to accept it," she said.

"It's your call," replied John calmly.

"Fine... I will talk with Albus... you can go now," she said and with that John left the classroom.

Harry had especially been looking forward to the Hogsmeade visit for he had been planning on mending the fences with Hermione. He had even managed to convince Ron to forgive Hermione for her cat.

On the morning of Halloween, as the students made their way out of the castle, Harry found Hermione strolling all by herself and immediately, he dashed towards her. The sound of fast-approaching footsteps made her turn her head and look around.

"Harry..." she gasped. "You almost scared me... what happened?" she asked.

"Nothing... nothing happened..." replied Harry, panting for breath. Hermione stared at him with a confused expression. So he continued, "I saw you were alone, come join us," he added.

Hermione's face turned happy instantly.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course I'm sure... come on," replied Harry.

"I'm sorry..." began Hermione but she was interrupted by Harry the moment he heard the word sorry.

"No need for apologies... You have apologised for enough. I should be the one apologising for acting like an arse," remarked Harry.

Hermione was happy to hear that. And for some weird reason, Harry seemed extremely confident and different from his usual self. Not that he wasn't confident normally, but he seemed a bit extra throughout the day. Hermione however didn't care as she had her friends back, even though it meant that she had to unjustifiably apologise to Ron for Crookshanks' behaviour.

Harry, Hermione and Ron thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Hogsmeade. It was worth every minute they had spent dreaming about and more. Whether it was the wonderful sweets from Honeydukes, the Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks or the enviable time spent at Zonko's joke shop, the day spent was absolutely wonderful. And the fact that it was a glorious day, with a cool breeze blowing, coupled with the first time in a long time the trio had spent time together, made the day all the more worth it.

"Harry's on fire today... Mate is that your 3rd Butterbeer?" asked Ron laughing at the sight of Harry gulping his drink in one go.

"Is there anything better than Butterbeer on a cold day?" remarked Harry laughing.

"I'm piling up on the sweets," remarked Ron as they were about to leave.

"Here, get some for me too," said Harry handing Ron some galleons.

"Where are you off to?" asked Ron.

"We are going to the equipment shop," replied Hermione.

It was evening when they all returned back to Hogwarts. A thoroughly well-spent day was about to get better. In a couple of hours' time, they were going to drown themselves in the Halloween feast, if it was even possible. But that's exactly what they did. The trio devoured the Halloween feast, even managed to help themselves to second servings of some delicacies.

They were barely able to walk back to their dormitories from the Great Hall. Harry seemed extra tipsy amongst the three. They were on the path leading up to the Fat Lady portrait when they all came to a halt.

"Why are we stopping?" remarked Harry out loud. He was standing taking a little support from Hermione who had her arms around him.

"There is a huge gathering ahead... not sure why," whispered Hermione.

Percy walked up from behind and made his way to the front pushing students aside.

"I'm Head boy, let me through please," he could be heard saying multiple times.

A minute later, a hush of silence fell in the corridor as Percy's voice was heard, "Somebody, call Professor Dumbledore, quick!"

Chaos ensued thereafter. Everybody got a decent look at the damaged portrait before they were all hauled away from the corridor. The trio had very little idea of what was going on, just that the Fat lady was gone.

John Smith was having a decent day. His visit to Hogsmeade was short yet seemed to have an enormous effect on him. And he happened to be well placed in the chaos after the Halloween feast.

"I heard Peeves," said John. Remus looked at him surprised.

"He's a maniac," replied Remus.

"Nothing you tell me about Sirius is changing my mind," replied John.

"Why was here then? What did he try to accomplish if not scare everyone to death?" retorted Remus.

John remained silent.

"I don't think we will find him tonight," sighed Remus.

"Yeah, well, he's not stupid to stay hidden in the castle," replied John.

After a few minutes, Remus spoke up again, "he probably came here to kill Harry," he said.

"No, he didn't... First of all, he would never... And even if I believe your opinion of him, it's Halloween today... surely he would have had a better chance of getting to Harry at Hogsmeade than in an empty Gryffindor common room during Halloween feast," retorted John strongly, annoyed at the repeated suggestion of Sirius' guilt.

"How can you be so certain that Sirius is innocent?" asked Remus. But he got no response from John.

PS - A light chapter to end the month... Will be back with 44 on Friday, Ciao!