Unofficial Portkey Archive

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE PLANS OF MICE AND MEN

Harry was in the great hall with Hermione early the next day. Between bites of eggs and sausage, she would scan his essays and point out mistakes that he had made.

"For the most part, Harry, your essays are improving. But you are still making up some of the goblin names from the rebellions of 1224. The goblin leader was Gribble not Dargrok." She pointed out his mistake on the scroll. "That should take care of the last bit I found wrong."

"Are you sure? I mean, I can't have gotten most of it correct." He scratched out Dargrok's name and replaced it with Gribble as he munched on a piece of toast.

"Yes, I am sure." She smiled. "It's good to see that you're applying yourself to lessons now, even though the circumstances with R..." She stopped immediately biting back a tear.

"I know. I miss him too, Hermione." Harry put his hand on hers and squeezed it comfortably. "It's probably too early to talk to him about it so we'll just have to sit back and wait."

She nodded quietly as she collected her papers. "I'm going to head to the library and work on the rest of my backlog. See you at lunch?"

"You bet." He smiled as she came in for a quick hug. "See you then."

Hermione had made it out the door just before Ron walked in. Harry looked at him and nodded before he turned back to his breakfast.

"I just wanted to tell you that we're doing tryouts tonight after dinner." Ron said in a very business-like manner. "I was told that your ban was lifted. I'll see you then."

Harry nodded. "I won't be able to make tryouts because of my detentions with Snape." He reminded him. "Congratulations on the captaincy, Ron." He looked up but Ron was already walking away. Harry sighed and pushed his plate away. This isn't going to be a good day. He thought miserably.

After a few moments, he got to his feet and collected his bag for the walk to the north tower. Divination first thing ... Joy. Harry walked down the halls ignoring everything and found himself at the ladder to the top of the tower. He climbed up to find a room empty of everyone but his professor.

"Morning, Professor Trelawney." He said as he walked to his favorite seat. He looked forlornly at the seat that was facing his and concentrated for a moment.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, a bit early today are we?" His professor said as she floated towards him. She was wearing a long green shawl today that made him think of a praying mantis.

"I finished breakfast earlier than I thought I would and I wanted to turn in my backlog before class began." He replied simply as he rummaged through his bag and handed over his completed assignments.

"Thank you, Harry." She said suddenly. "I might not have made it if you hadn't found me."

"It's ok, Professor. I'm glad I was here to help." Harry said with a slight smile. It felt good to hear someone thank him for something he'd done, it happened so infrequently.

He sat in his chair and looked over the room. It looks like we'll be working with Tarot today. I wonder who my new partner is going to be ...

The classroom began to fill and the seats were being occupied quickly. Ron had taken a seat with Dean and Seamus had partnered with Harry.

"We don't like seeing you two at odds, Harry." Seamus whispered to him. "Dean and I offered to swap partners with you two so that you could have some space."

"Thanks, Seamus, I appreciate that." Harry whispered back. "So, uh, how's Ron doing?"

"He's still pretty steamed, mate. Carrying on about you and Hermione and how you betrayed his friendship. It doesn't look good. He did brighten up when he got team captain, but when he found out your ban was lifted, he went back to complaining." Seamus shook his head. "I'm surprised he didn't see this coming. Hermione was yours from the start, there wasn't anything that could stop that, not even Krum."

"Hermione isn't mine. She's not my trophy or property, Seamus." Harry shook his head sadly. "I wish I had seen it coming though. As it is, I feel like I was hit dead on by the Hogwarts Express ..." His voice trailed away as he remembered the row they had had recently.

"Things will blow over, Harry. No matter how angry Ron gets, you know he'll be there for you in a heartbeat." Seamus offered with a hand on his shoulder. "Now, why don't we see what Trelawney is going to kill you with this year?"

Harry and Seamus laughed and Harry thought he saw Ron stiffen for a moment. He just looked at his red-headed friend ... Breathe deeply. Empty my mind. Step back into the shadows of still and quiet thought. He calmed somewhat and came to the present. I can't use that all the time I'll have to face this sooner or later. He thought to himself.

Soon after everyone had filed into the room and taken their seats, their divination professor began her lesson. "As we've experienced before, Tarot is a very distinct form of card-based fortune telling. It can predict fortune, fame, love, and even ..." She paused dramatically. "And even death ..." She whispered. Parvati and Lavender were looking star-struck and gasped just as Trelawney finished her introduction.

"Before each of you is a deck of cards. You'll be telling the fortune of your partner today. Remember to concentrate while your partner shuffles the deck for your reading, this will impart some of your personality to the reading and make it more effective."

The students started their shuffling as their partners got their interpretation books out for the reading. Seamus had just finished shuffling and had Harry cut the deck. The cards were laid out in a Celtic cross formation and before he could begin the reading, Trelawney came over.

"Let's see what Mr. Potter's fortune looks like, shall we?" She said mysteriously as she began to reveal the cards. "The past presents the Fool, very interesting. The questions you've sought are for the wrong reasons. The present reveals a reversed Magician. Be careful whom you trust, it could be your downfall ..." Parvati and Lavender looked to Harry then back to the cards as the professor went on. "The future gives us the Tower. I'm so sorry, this means destruction, pure destruction." She put a shaking hand to her face and stepped back dramatically all the while looking at Harry with distress. After which she sat down to calm herself.

"It figures ... Leave it to her to predict something dreadful for my future …" Harry said nonplussed.

Seamus smiled at him. "Well, at least she's predictable, eh?" The two friends laughed as Harry read Seamus' fortune.

"Well, it seems that with Temperance your past is full of domestic strife. Your present is controlled by reversed Justice. I'd say you were given some bad advice. And finally, your Future is ruled by a reversed Sun. That bad advice may cause you to misjudge your next steps and you'll have to deal with some type of delay." Harry looked at Seamus who was nodding intently. "What? You don't believe what I just told you, do you?"

Seamus snapped to and looked at Harry. "Well, you got the past right. You know how me mum was a witch and me dad a muggle, right? Well, they have had a lot of rows because of that and more after they found out I was a wizard." He looked thoughtful. "Ok then, I think I understand this ..." He nodded again as the bell rang.

"Seamus! Let's get going!" Dean called from the trapdoor.

"Coming! See you later, Harry." Seamus said quickly as he got up and went down the ladder.

Harry looked around the room. Ron had already gone. Harry stood and collected his things and made his way to transfiguration. Pretty soon and I'll be able to see the new defense against the dark arts teacher in the classroom ...

Transfiguration went by quickly. Hermione occupied Ron's normal seat and kept Harry company throughout the double period class. After spending two hours transfiguring rocks into statues, the couple made their way to the great hall for lunch. They sat at the far end of the table to give Ron and Ginny room.

"I'm looking forward to defense today." He told his girlfriend. "I want to see how Professor Durkell is in class. He handled himself pretty well in the forest."

Hermione agreed with him. "I want to see how he is in the classroom too. The essays we had to write were pretty interesting. The malaclaw research was interesting." She said excitedly.

Harry nodded, noting how her eyes lit up every time she thought about, worked on, or handed in an assignment.

"What is it?" She asked after a moment.

"Hmm?" Harry said dreamily.

"Is there something wrong? Did I get food on my face?" Hermione pulled out a compact and checked her face over.

Harry laughed. "No, you don't have anything on your face." He smiled at her. "I was just admiring you is all."

Hermione blushed and smiled softly. "Oh." She said simply her eyes lighting up as she looked at him.

"I see you couldn't handle someone from a full blood family and went mudblood, eh, Potter?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she groaned in disgust. "Sod off, Malfoy." She snapped. "Harry, don't listen to him, he just wants to egg you on again." She whispered.

Harry was already out of his seat. "What did I tell you about insulting my friends, ferret?" He growled.

Draco's eyes flashed a bit of fear but his bodyguards stepped forward menacingly and that gave him a bit more confidence. "Ah, protecting your mudblood girlfriend I see." He sneered.

Before anyone could do a thing, Harry had his wand in his hand and the tip of it under Draco's chin. "Just say another word, Malfoy, just say one more and you'll be without a head."

"What in the world is going on here?!" Exclaimed an exasperated Professor McGonagall.

Harry put his wand back in his robes. "Just your standard Malfoy vs. Potter banter, Professor. Sorry for the disruption."

"I should say so, Mr. Potter. That will be 5 points from Gryffindor for pulling your wand on another student."

Harry nodded and retook his seat. Watching Malfoy's triumphant smile as he did so.

"And that will also be 5 points from Slytherin for instigating a fight in the great hall, Mr. Malfoy." The professor continued.

Harry smiled despite himself as he watched the look of anger cross his arch-nemesis' face.

"Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, would you please return to your house's table. Mr. Malfoy, please come with me." The older woman turned and walked to the instructor's table with Draco following quickly behind. He looked back as he passed Harry and gave one final sneer. Crabbe and Goyle plodded off to the Slytherin table without a word.

"I wonder what that is about." Hermione said as she looked over to where their head of house was talking with a shocked looking Malfoy. His face drained of any color it once had and his mouth fell open.

"I don't know." Harry replied truthfully. "I guess we can't keep our hopes up and expect he's expelled."

Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. "That's not an entirely nice thing to say, Harry." Her grin subdued the tone that she used with him. "Though it looks like it's bad news, whatever it is."

They watched as Professor McGonagall put her hand on Draco's shoulder. He was looking at the ground with a face that had become as white as snow. He looked up to her and said something then walked quickly from the room. Nobody but Hermione and Harry seemed to pay any attention to the scene and Malfoy made it out of the great hall without so much as a goodbye.

"It must have been something really bad." Harry echoed.

The bell sounded after everyone had finished their lunch. Harry and Hermione made their way to their last class, defense against the dark arts. They hadn't attended it as of yet and both were curious as to how it was going to turn out.

"I wonder if he's as good as Lupin and 'Moody'." Harry thought aloud as they took their customary seats in the front of the class. Ron had chosen to sit in the back with Parvati and Lavender and seemed to be ignoring them for all intents and purposes.

The office door opened and Professor Durkell walked into the classroom. He was of average height, had brown hair that was turning a silver-gray at the sides, and he wore a standard black robe. He cleared his throat and ran his long fingers through his thick hair. "Good afternoon, class. I'm glad to see that everyone could make it this time." He looked at Ron, then Hermione and finally Harry. "We've finished with dark arts concerning sea faring creatures and the effects their abilities can have on those exposed to them."

He stroked his goatee as he began pacing in front of the class. "Since it is not popular knowledge, I'm going to recount the details of what happened at the beginning of the term. There are three students here that performed admirably. To start things off, Mr. Potter had discovered the body of Sibyl Trelawney in her divination classroom the first Monday of the term ..." He continued telling the story to gasps from Lavender and some of the other girls as he recounted the discovery of Hagrid and finished with the defeat of Mosag.

"As you can see, being proficient in defense can help you to survive in an unsuspecting world. Mr. Potter was aware of the spider killing curse and was able to help protect his friends when they needed it most." He continued as he paced in front of the class once more. "With the resurrection of you-know-who, there will be other dangerous things out there waiting for you. Death eaters could easily be waiting at your houses or your family could be the next to fall to the dark lord's minions ..."

Harry was impressed so far. Even though the professor was just recounting what he had already experienced, sharing the information with the class was helping them see what was going on. Those in the DA knew a lot already through Harry's lessons and he decided that he would continue to hold meetings in secret for the time being.

"What we'll be doing over the next few weeks will help to keep you alive in this new time." The professor continued. "I've talked with the headmaster and we have decided that teaching dueling would be a good experience in this class." He stopped and looked at everyone. "Alright, now if you'll all follow me, we'll be going to the great hall for the rest of the class."

Professor Durkell walked from the room with his class following diligently behind him. They made their way to the great hall and found that it had been rearranged as it had during second year with a long stage. There were several areas that had mats on the floor for dueling practice.

"Right then, what we're going to do today is start from the beginning. I'm sure most of you are aware of the EXPELLIARMUS charm and it's use, but we're going to review it anyway."

An hour passed in a blur while pairs of students practicing the disarming charm on each other. "You are all rather well practiced in this area it seems. That's good. The EXPELLIARMUS charm, as you have just found out, is a good way to disarm your opponent. If he doesn't have a wand, there is a very good chance that he cannot harm you.

"There is another ability that I'm going to show you today. If you can all remember when you were children, before you were invited to attend here, and you had strange things happen. For instance, you really wanted the cookie jar but it was out of reach and magically, it was in your hands?" The assembled students smiled and nodded. "That's good to know, I thought I was going out of my mind at the time." Durkell laughed. "Well, you were channeling your magic without your wand."

Murmurs fled through the crowd and Hermione's hand went up. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Professor, If we are able to use magic without a wand, like we did when we were younger, why do we actually need one?" She asked.

"Good question, good question indeed. Well, as you all know, your wands have a core that belonged to a magical beast of one type or another. These creatures have been doing magic naturally for longer than we have records of them.

"We use wands with these cores to help us focus our magical energies. We certainly don't need them to do magic, however. When you performed a summoning charm without foci did you notice how angry or sad you were? Instead of using the magical core of a wand, you instead utilized your emotions to focus the energies necessary to cast the spell." He finished. "What we're going to do now is attempt to use a particular emotion that we are most comfortable with and let that become our focus for the summoning charm."

The professor waved his wand and the room returned to normal. "We'll start this portion back in the normal classroom. For the next few weeks, please come here for the first class period and we'll practice dueling." With that said, he walked back to the classroom. After everyone had filed back to their seats he waved his wand and a large cabinet appeared upon his desk.

"In the cubby holes of this cabinet are small, red colored balls. You are each going to perform the summoning charm on the ball in the cubbyhole that your name has been attached." He motioned to the gold nameplates under each opening. "Your nameplate will update with the number of successful summons that you have accomplished. If the ball should land on the floor or you lose control for more than a few seconds, the ball will return. Once the ball is in your hands, then it will return to the cubbyhole for you to try again." The class nodded as he went over the rules of the practice. "Once the class is over, I will award points to your house for the total number of successful summons at the rate of one point per fifty successes. If you use your wand for any of this, your points will decrease if any points go into the negatives, you will receive one detention per ten points under zero that you have. You may begin."

The rest of the afternoon went by with laughter. Seamus had hit Neville in the head with his ball and for some odd reason, Neville's ball kept exploding before it got half way across the room. He was eventually excused from the practice session when his ball caught fire and landed in the waste paper basket.

"Ok, and now it's time to stop. Let's see what scores we have here. This is a pretty good first start I'd say." He looked over the numbers with a look of surprise. "Whew! It seems that we have twenty-two thousand points here." The class applauded and clapped each other on their backs. "Very well, 140 points to Gryffindor for a job well done. 105 points to Hufflepuff. Let's see, 120 points to Ravenclaw and 85 points to Slytherin. The top three summoners, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Goyle each gain your house another ten points. Well done, well done!" He applauded the class and dismissed them before the bell as a treat.

Everyone was talking about how well the defense classes were going as they made their way up to the great hall for dinner.

"Well, that was a pretty good class. I'm surprised that Goyle was able to summon anything..." Harry remarked as he sat down with Hermione in their new spot at the table. "I've decided that if we continue the DA that it would be a good idea to keep it secret for now."

"Why continue the meetings in secret? The professor seems pretty well versed and has obviously experienced things first hand." She countered but changed her mind after a few minutes of thought. "I can see your point, we don't know if we can trust him or not. At least with our track record with professors I think you're right and we should wait."

Harry smiled as he handed her a glass of pumpkin juice. "We'll have to send out the message soon though. I'll figure out a time. With all these detentions and special training sessions, I'll be lucky to have any free time this week at all." He looked down at his plate as he thought about the coming Thursday.

"You'll get through it, Harry. I'm here to help you, don't forget." She smiled as she placed her hand on his arm. "Speaking of which, you should head on down to Snape's office soon."

Harry glanced at his watch. "I have a few extra minutes. Care to walk with me?" He smiled back at her.

"I'd love to."

They finished their dinner and the two of them took their time walking down to the potion master's office. They discussed the training that would take place with the DA and the research they were looking into.

"I think we should be careful with the unforgivable curses, we don't need the Ministry jumping us if they catch wind that we're studying that kind of magic." Harry said at length. "Reading about it is one thing, but performing them?" He shuddered as he remembered how the cruciatus curse felt when Voldemort used it on him. "Best thing to do is just research how they actually affect you then try to find a way to counter those effects."

Hermione nodded. "I agree, we don't want to be expelled but we'll have to learn how to defend against them."

They arrived at Snape's office on time but there was a note posted to the door.

All classes and detentions have been cancelled for the next week. At that time, all schedules will return to normal times and continue where they were left off. Each class will be responsible for class work as follows:

Essays are to be turned into me upon our next scheduled meeting time.
Professor Severus Snape

Harry smiled as he read the note and looked at Hermione who was smiling back. "No potions this week! This is fabulous! All we have to do is write an essay?"

"I think he might be getting soft in his old age, Harry." She laughed as they turned back towards the common room.

"Um ... Let's not go to the common room. I don't think Ron would be happy to see me right now." Harry said with a sigh. "We can use this time to do some research."

Hermione nodded. "Well, I expect he wouldn't be too happy to see me either. Besides you need to practice your transformations for Professor McGonagall."

"Well, it's good that we have this spare time! I forgot all about my reading ... Care to help me do some more research in the library then?" He asked as he turned to look at her.

"Of course I will." She smiled and they headed to the library quickly. They returned to the room of requirement with the selected books and Harry practiced his transformations as Hermione read from the books.

"This is how I think studying should be." He said with a smile as he returned back to his normal form.

Hermione started giggling. "You didn't finish, Harry, or should I call you Featherby from now on?"

Harry felt the top of his head and laughed. "I seem to have missed that again." He concentrated for a moment and his unruly hair returned to normal. "There we go. Now what's this bit about calling me Featherby?" He asked as he raised his hands and walked menacingly towards Hermione.

She shrieked and tried to run but Harry was the quicker and caught her in his tickle attack. She fell to the floor in an attempt to escape but tripped up her attacker and he fell with her. They rolled on the floor in hysterics as one or the other would gain the upper hand and the tickle attacks would begin anew.

After a few minutes, they lay next to each other each trying to catch their breath; giggles still pouring from each of them. Hermione looked into Harry's eyes and things suddenly got serious. Before either of them knew what was happening, they were in each other's arms sharing a passionate kiss.

Harry broke off, his breathing husky. "Hermione, I-I have to get to training." He said with disappointment in his voice.

"I know." She whispered. "I don't want you to be late." She kissed him again and then forced him to get up. "Come on, Harry ... I'll walk with you."

He smiled weakly and helped her to her feet. They collected their books and made for the transfiguration professor's office. That was close! I wonder how far it would have gone ... He thought dreamily as he looked over the girl who was hand in hand with him. He blushed slightly at the thought.

"Harry? Are you listening?" Hermione was asked concernedly.

"What? I'm sorry, I was thinking about something." Harry replied.

"I was saying that we're here and I'll see you tonight." She said exasperatedly.

Harry smiled. "Sorry. I'd love to see you later."

That seemed to put her at ease and she smiled at him after giving him a quick kiss. "Enjoy your session. It sounds like it would be much more enjoyable than a detention with Snape." She laughed.

Harry joined in the laughter. "Care to join me? I don't think the professor will mind."

"That'd be wonderful!" She said excitedly. "I'd love to see how this type of training works."

Harry knocked on the door and heard his professor invite him in from the other side. He opened the door and let Hermione in first then followed.

"Oh, do we have a guest with us tonight?" Minerva asked with a slight laugh.

"If it's ok with you, Professor, I invited her along and she is really interested in how animagus training works." Hermione nodded eagerly at his response.

"I don't see any harm in your attendance, just have a seat and let Harry work through his practice without interruption."

Hermione sat down at a desk and watched patiently.

"Have you done your reading and practice, Harry?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, I seem to have a problem transforming back completely and my hair still stays feathers. I guess I need more practice." Harry replied.

"You won't become perfect in one night, my dear boy." She laughed as she motioned him to stand in the middle of the room. "I've spoken with the headmaster and he agrees that we shouldn't make it public that you're an animagus so we're going to skip the registration process for now."

Harry smiled. "That's good news."

"We will continue your transformation practice tonight and we will continue until you can return fully to your normal form." She continued. Harry nodded and Hermione looked on with excitement.

Within a few hours, Harry was able to fully transform into an owl and back without any flaws, however it did take quite a few tries to return his hair to normal, much to the chagrin of the young man. Both Hermione and Professor McGonagall enjoyed this aspect and his girlfriend kept referring to him as Featherby.

"I think that's enough training tonight, Mr. Featherby." McGonagall said with a laugh. "I'm going to give you tomorrow night off so you can rest."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." He was getting rather tired and would like to spend some time with Hermione before he went to bed.

Harry collected his things and offered his hand to Hermione who took it with a smile. "I'll see you next time, Professor." Harry said as the young couple left the room. "Oh, could you wait here, I forgot a book." He said then turned back to collect the book he forgot on purpose.

"Back so soon, Harry?" McGonagall asked.

"I left a book here. And I need to ask a favor, Professor." Harry said with a mischievous grin playing at the corners of his mouth. Professor McGonagall looked at him with interest.