Chapter 3: Opportunity Knocks
It was the first Saturday in October and the Gryffindor Quidditch team, lead by the new captain, Katie Bell, had just finished practice. Harry was sitting on his bed rubbing a sore shoulder. A bludger had gotten away from Sloper, one of the new beaters, and clipped him. Harry was still playing seeker with Ron as keeper; Ginny, Katie and Dennis Creevey as chasers; and Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper were the new beaters. Ron walked into the room unsteadily, his face a distinct shade of green. Harry was on his feet immediately. "Are you OK, Ron?"
Ron's mouth started to move but no sound came out. He swallowed and tried again, "I uh. I just asked Hermione to go with me to Hogsmeade." He looked at Harry expectantly, "On a date."
Harry looked at him, waiting for Ron to continue. When it became apparent Ron needed prompting Harry said exasperatedly "And?"
Ron looked at Harry and said "She said `Yes'".
"Well, that's good. Isn't it?"
"It's good, I guess. But … Harry, what are we going to do?"
"We? I'm not coming along" Harry laughed.
"You know what I mean," snapped Ron.
Harry chuckled, "Yeah, I know. Look, just do what we always do, just without me. Be yourself and have fun. And, by the way, why exactly are you looking to me for advice? I mean MY track history leaves a lot to be desired, you know."
Ron was finally regaining his normal color. "True" he smiled. "Well, no need to use up all my worrying now. I still have a few weeks to agonize over this until the trip. C'mon. Let's go down to lunch."
At lunch, Ron and Harry found the Great Hall buzzing. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and Dean and Seamus came over to them grinning from ear to ear. "Did you hear what happened?" asked Dean.
"What?" Harry and Ron asked together.
"Professor Vigo was on his way to lunch and he ran into Peeves. You know how uncomfortable Professor Vigo is in his robes, well Peeves started taunting him. He got really vulgar but Vigo never broke stride. Peeves got so angry that he wasn't getting a rise out of him he tried to pull Vigo's robes over his head or something. I don't know what he was thinking." Dean explained.
"What?" said Ron again.
"I was right behind him as it happened" Dean continued. "So Peeves grabs Professor Vigo's robes and all of a sudden Professor Vigo is like ten feet away pointing his wand at Peeves. He said something like Phasma Strictum and suddenly Peeves was surrounded by some kind of spherical cage of green light. He was screaming bloody murder as Professor Vigo dragged him, cage and all back to his office. It was awesome!!"
"Hey, while you're here, we should tell you about the party" began Seamus quietly.
"Party?"
"Not so loud" Dean and Seamus shushed. Seamus looked around suspiciously and continued, "Gryffindors only Halloween costume party after the feast in the common room. We already got the OK from Professor McGonagall. You can't use magic on yourself to change your appearance for the party. You have to have a real costume. And during the party, Dean and I have a little surprise for us sixth years."
"What's that?" asked Harry.
"You'll see," they answered together and laughing hurried over to speak to some other Gryffindors who had just shown up.
During the next week, Professor Anderson began lecturing the Evocations class on refining control of their spells. "What is it that makes for a good spell? Execution, concentration, and power."
"Some spells need little power and little concentration. Lumos … Nox. Usually, the more complex the spell, the more concentration is required to master it, like animating a statue or transfiguring a human."
"Knowing how to control the amount of power you put into a spell is vital and in a spell duel can mean the difference in surviving the encounter. A stunning spell or a disarming spell with no power behind it will not affect a strong opponent. He'll simply ignore your spell and counter with one of his own while you're vulnerable.
"Execution I shouldn't need to explain. If you don't do the spell correctly or you aim improperly, the spell may not work. Simple."
"OK. Let's have a practical demonstration. Many of you probably already know the Stinging Hex; well this is a variation of that spell called Stinging Swarm. It will create a number of sparks that will shoot from your wand to sting a single target or, as you master the spell, multiple targets. Through concentration you can even change the path of the sparks to make them chase your target around obstacles. The amount of power you put into the spell will determine how many sparks you create. Again, as you master the spell you will be able to create as many or as few sparks as you want up to your max power."
"I have set up targets (pewter cauldrons of water) on these tables. At this level of education I don't need to remind you that hitting anything besides these designated targets will NOT be considered an accident. I am fully capable of tracing any poorly aimed spells and the originator of said spell will be very sorry indeed.
Just like with the Stinging Hex, you snap your wand at your target. The incantation is `Effervo Mordax'. This is not a contest to see who can create the biggest swarm. Please try to keep your volley to between 3 and 5 for now. Think you're ready to try it? Line up here, half of you facing these targets, the other half facing those. Pick a cauldron and fire at will."
This lesson, like most of the practical lessons, was quite fun. Everyone was able to keep their swarms down to around four sparks by the end of the period. The class did so well, in fact that Professor Anderson didn't assign them any homework.
Later that week, Harry was on his way back to the Gryffindor common room after dinner. He was alone because Hermione had gone to the library and Ron had gone to compare Quidditch playbooks with Katie. "All alone this time, eh Potter" a familiar voice drawled.
Harry turned, allowing his robes to billow out with his movement and mask the fact that he drew his wand. "What is it this time, Draco?" Harry asked defiantly.
Draco Malfoy, oddly enough, was also alone. Harry noticed that the bruise on his cheek from his altercation with Neville had finally faded. "Have I caught you at a bad time, Potter? On your way to a secret meeting for Muggle lovers?" he sneered.
Harry just stared at Draco. They were only a few feet apart and Harry could see the loathing on Draco's face. Draco opened his mouth but Harry cut him off. "Why don't you like me, Draco?" Malfoy rocked back on his heels he was so surprised by Harry's question. "And don't start that pureblood crap your father is always going on about. I know you're smart enough to not believe that. So tell me why."
"I can't believe you don't know. Famous Harry Potter! The whole world revolves around you! Anytime something happens and you're involved you NEVER get in trouble `cause you're Dumbledor's favorite, aren't you? As far as most of the Professors here are concerned, Harry Potter can do no wrong."
"Not according to Professor Snape."
"Snape sees right through you, Potter! One day you'll …"
"OK, hold on. Have you ever tried to look at things from my point of view?"
"What?" asked Draco looking thoroughly disgusted. "Why would I … "
Again Harry interrupted "I'm famous `cause some nut job wants to kill me and keeps failing. I'm famous because that same maniac killed my parents and took away any chance I had at leading a normal life. Do you honestly think that I'm happy about all that?"
Draco stared at him and hissed, "You've ruined lives yourself Potter! Took away our House Elf, implicated my father as a Death Eater with absolutely no evidence … "
"Hold on! I admit that your father and I have bumped heads in the past and he's come out the worst for it. But that's not my fault. Look at the circumstances: you lost your House Elf because your father gave Ginny Weasley Tom Riddle's diary. You know who Tom Riddle is, right?" At Draco's nod he continued. "Well the diary contained a memory of Voldemort that possessed Ginny. It made her open the Chamber of Secrets and release a basilisk on the muggle born students. That was second year. Fourth year he was in the cemetery where Cedric Diggory was killed. Voldemort called him by name. Last year he led a group of Death Eaters that tried to kill me in the Ministry of Magic building. I did nothing to provoke those attacks. If anyone should be looking for revenge it's me!"
Draco was fuming and his face was flushed. He stood there listening to Harry and Harry could see he really didn't care what Harry had to say. Harry's voice softened "Listen, Draco. Remember Professor Lupin? Remember how obvious it was that Snape didn't like him? Did you know that they've hated each other since they were schoolmates here at Hogwarts? Did you know that Snape also hated my father, that's one of the reasons he hates me. That's a long time to hate over a trivial school rivalry, don't you think? I look at us and I see us acting the same way. Twenty years from now I don't want to hear the name `Malfoy" and have that kind of hatred swell up in me. Look, I'm not asking you to be my friend", Malfoy snorted and Harry pressed on "I just want you to think about why you hate me. If you can come up with a good reason, fine. But it should be YOUR reason, Draco. Not something your father told you. If you can come up with your own valid reason for hating me then I'll just have to accept that you and I will be enemies the rest of our lives. But if you can't, then let's cut out this nonsense once and for all".
The noise of other students approaching began to grow behind Draco. Harry could feel the hatred radiating out of him like heat from an oven. "Fuck you, Potter" and with that he turned on his heel and left.
Harry felt conflicting emotions about the encounter with Draco. He could only hope that Draco did think about their rivalry and would see how petty it really was. He, Ron and Hermione talked about it well into the night. Hermione was proud of Harry for trying to be the bigger person and try to smooth things over with Draco. Hermione, like Harry, thought that if Draco really thought about why he hated Harry he would see that it was all because of his father. Draco's father hated Harry and so Draco did too. At first, Ron kept saying that Harry should have hexed Draco when he turned his back but eventually he agreed that they would all just have to wait and see what happened next and that they would go from there.
Hagrid told Harry that he was proud of him as well when they went to visit him for tea the next day. Hagrid's pumpkins were growing enormous in preparation for the Halloween Feast. Ron, his mouth watering in anticipation of pumpkin pie, speculated that they were even bigger than last years. Ron tried to curb his appetite with some of Hagrid's rock cakes but they hadn't changed and were as hard as last years. In fact, they may have been last years. Hagrid, hearing Ron's stomach growling, wanted to cook lunch for them but they quickly begged off stating that they all had a lot of homework.