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Harry Potter and the Demons Within by padfootmoony13
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Harry Potter and the Demons Within

padfootmoony13

A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read and review! I'm sorry that it's taking me longer to churn out updates for you; my only excuse is my busy schedule. By all means, take it up with my school if you have any problems- I'd be more than happy to have the weight of my backpack each night lightened. Anyway, hopefully this is interesting enough to tide you over until we get into the really interesting plotline stuff in a little while. Until then, please continue reading and leave a comment,

Casey (padfootmoony13)

Chapter 18- Dumbledore, the Great Idealist

That evening Harry and Ron spent over an hour in the pitch, tossing the Quaffle back and forth and looping around one another in complex patterns Ron had designed. Harry put the equipment away feeling very optimistic in Gryffindor's chances at taking the Quidditch Cup this year.

Harry and Ron made their way back to the castle together, brooms resting on their shoulders. They talked eagerly about new plans as they went. As they climbed the path towards the castle, a shadowy figure moved towards them; it appeared that another student was taking advantage of the warm, starry night to practice.

When they grew close enough to see who it was, Harry felt his stomach plummet: it was Cho Chang. He hadn't talked to her since they had broken up and already the mood surrounding them felt awkward.

She stopped in front of them.

"Hi, Harry. Good summer?" Her sugary tone of voice took Harry off-guard.

"Fine," he said plainly. Then he thought perhaps he sounded a bit too rude and attempted to make up for it. "How about you?"

She sighed. "Oh, you know. It was okay. Michael and I broke up."

"Oh." What was she doing? Was she trying to make him jealous? He didn't care about her love-life matters.

"I heard you were made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain this year," she continued.

"Yeah."

"Congratulations. It looks like I'll have my work cut out for me this year."

"Er, yeah. It will be fun," Harry said lamely.

"Well, I'll see you around," Cho said. She continued on past them.

"What was that all about?" Ron questioned.

"I dunno."

They reached the Entrance Hall, nearly empty at this time.

Ron clapped Harry on the back.

"I guess it's your lucky day then," he said with a silly grin.

Harry shrugged him off.

"Ron, I could care less what Cho Chang thinks about me. I'm over her."

* * * * *

Back up in the Common Room, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all studying, accompanied by many other Gryffindors. It seemed that almost the entire house was occupying the room, every one of them with a book to their nose or a quill in-hand.

Harry lay on his stomach on the floor, dully reading over his Defense Against the Dark Arts book. He was dreading facing Snape the next day and it was all he could do to try to focus on his reading instead of what Snape was going to make him do- or do to him.

Snowbell and Crookshanks sat on the other side of the room, directly across from one another. They appeared to be looking each other directly in the eye. Every once in a while one of their tails would lift off the ground and thump back down, but apart from that they were entirely still.

Harry watched them curiously. He had never seen cats behave like that. As he continued watching them, Snowbell's head turned momentarily away from Crookshanks and directly toward where Harry lay. Harry felt that uncomfortable sensation he felt whenever he met Snowbell's eyes that made his stomach squirm and the hairs on the back of his neck tingle.

Snowbell's gaze passed over him again and the cat resumed staring at Crookshanks.

"Those two behave so oddly…" Harry muttered to himself.

"What are you mumbling about?" Hermione was looking at him suspiciously from her armchair.

"Your and Ginny's cats- they're acting strange is all," Harry replied.

Hermione looked around the back of her chair.

"Cats typically play with string, Harry."

"What?" Harry located the cats again. Sure enough, they were now busy batting at a snippet of string.

Hermione glanced at him. "Are you feeling alright?"

Harry tore his eyes off the cats. "Never mind, I must have been imagining things."

He attempted to read more and managed to trudge through another chapter before his eyes began to water and Snape's jeering face obscured the words in front of him. He slammed his book closed in frustration and sprang up.

"I'm off to bed," he told Ron and Hermione, who were both still working studiously.

They both nodded and bid him goodnight and he lugged his books upstairs to his dormitory. He was the first one there and he was thankful that he wouldn't have to struggle to sleep against Neville's snores.

Harry climbed into bed and removed his glasses.

"Maybe it won't be as bad as I'm making it out to be after all," he said to himself. He snorted as he rolled onto his side. "Yeah right."

* * * * *

Harry spent the next day finishing up his Defense Against the Dark Arts reading, even reviewing some parts in preparation of facing Snape. He was determined not to allow Snape to make a fool of him in any way in that class. Even if it meant reviewing every single word he read, Harry was eager to prove to Snape that he wasn't incompetent.

Harry ate a quick dinner and headed straight to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When he entered, he found no one in the room. He decided to take a seat, figuring that he was early.

After a good ten minutes passed by, Harry grew anxious. Surely Snape should have been there by now…. Harry drummed his fingers on the table and tapped his foot and then glanced at the clock again. Where was Snape?

As he sat thinking of something to pass the time, Harry decided to look up what page McGonagall wanted him to read to, since he couldn't remember. He retrieved his folded-up schedule from the bottom of his bag and unfolded it. Page 67- that was what he thought it was. Harry began folding the paper back up again when he caught sight of something that made his heart beat faster. In the box that stood for the current day, tiny black letters said `Staff Room.'

Harry cursed and sprang from his chair, grabbing his bag as he went. He sprinted down the hall, skidded around the corner, and knocked head-first into a figure with red hair.

"Hey! Harry, watch where you're going!"

"Sorry Ginny!" Harry called over his shoulder as he continued running. He began taking the stairs three at a time, while halfway down the flight he was on, the stairs shuddered and began swinging around to face a different direction. Harry's face set in panic and he launched himself down the last steps and onto the landing before the stairs could fully rotate. He landed hard on his knees and scrambled to his feet with bruised knee-caps and many questioning looks from observers. Harry ignored the stares he was now receiving as he ran down into the first floor corridor. Why had Snape changed the location of the lesson? It was in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom when Harry checked that afternoon. He changed it deliberately, knowing Harry would show up at the wrong place: Harry knew he did.

He slid to a halt in front of the Staff Room and burst into the room, face red and sweaty. As he tried to catch his breath, Snape looked up at him coldly from the chair he was occupying.

"You're late, Potter," he sneered.

"I didn't know we were supposed to meet here," Harry panted. "I went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

"A likely story," Snape said sourly. He rose. "Didn't the Headmaster devise a little convenient schedule so that you would be able to figure out where to go when you got lost trying to find your way around this big school you've only been in for five years now?"

"Yeah, but I checked it earlier and it said-"

"Enough Potter. I'm not here to waste my precious time listening to you babble on in vein about why you could not possibly show up to our lesson on time. Ten points from Gryffindor, and don't be late again."

Harry glowered at him but remained silent; he had learned that questioning Snape's authority resulted in nothing but more points deducted, if not a detention.

"Did you finish the reading I assigned?" Snape asked.

Harry nodded, still not trusting himself to speak.

"Then you should be able to tell me how to annunciate the incantation for the Blasting Curse and demonstrate for me the proper wand movement."

Harry twirled his wand around once in his hand and thrust it outwards.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "And the incantation?"

"Flabra."

"Care to give a demonstration, Mr. Potter?"

Harry raised his wand toward Snape, perfectly happy to have a reason to hex him. As soon as he opened his mouth Snape cut him off impatiently. "Not on me, fool. Demonstrate using the pillow I have brought along for this purpose. I'd rather not spend my night in the Hospital Wing, if you don't mind."

Harry turned his back to Snape and rolled his eyes. And he was so close to hexing him too….

"Flabra!" The pillow resting on a small table soared across the room until it was stopped by a wall and it tumbled to the ground.

Apparently Snape could think of nothing negative to say, so instead he said curtly, "We're moving on."

After the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson (at the end of which Harry was feeling very content and Snape had a vinegary smile on his face) the rest of the week passed by quickly. Ron had taken to dashing to the library during all of his breaks between classes in order to toss a new play idea on the table. Hermione was studying right alongside Harry, helping describe to him anything he didn't understand. They sometimes took turns reading aloud to one another when they both grew sick of simply reading in silence. With Hermione's help, Harry was managing to keep his studies up so far, only by studying into the late hours of the night.

Harry and Hermione sat together at a corner table in the Common Room. It was Friday evening and they were planning out the Defense Association meeting for the following night.

"Do you think I should start off with the basics again?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I do. You shouldn't jump right in with hard stuff, people will feel overwhelmed."

"Okay. So, I'll start off with `Expelliarmus' then. I'm not positive, but I think we'll be able to move on to some easy jinxes as well by the end of the meeting."

"Where do you plan on holding the meetings?" Hermione asked as Harry scribbled down their ideas.

"Er, I was just going to have it in the Room of Requirement again. It's really the best place for it, with all the supplies I need there. Besides, I'm sure it will expand to fit everyone if that's what we desire."

"Good point. Do you have any idea how many people are going to show up?"

Harry shook his head. "All I know is that there will only be fourth years and above, since otherwise the spells will be much too difficult and that there will be people from every house there." Harry set down his quill. "Unfortunately," he added darkly.

"Quit worrying about the Slytherins already, you've been on about it all week," Hermione scorned. "They have to respect you and even if they don't, it's their loss. It's just like any other time you have to deal with them."

Harry frowned. "No, it's not. During the meetings it's different, because if a few people don't listen to me, then that ruins my entire reputation right off the bat. The Slytherins don't want to be there; they don't care! They'd much rather enroll in a Dark Arts club and practice the curses we're learning to counter. They're only coming because Snape is forcing them to, and it will just be another excuse for Malfoy to have time to insult me."

"Well, if he does, then you'll just have to tell Dumbledore-"

"I'm not going to Dumbledore because Malfoy's being a git. He's got bigger things to worry about. Besides, I've already tried telling him that the Slytherins won't listen to me, but he's too hung up on his unity and peace fantasies to care."

"I think Dumbledore is wise to try to unite us more. He's right to take what the Sorting Hat told us to heart…."

"He's also idealistic. The Slytherins are never going to join hands with us and start skipping down the halls. It goes both ways; I don't particularly want to be friends with future Death Eaters as much as Malfoy doesn't want to be my friend."

"You don't have to like each other to be civil," Hermione said pointedly. "You haven't even held a meeting with the Slytherins attending yet. For all you know, they could behave reasonably."

Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing aloud. He didn't want to make Hermione mad at him, so he put on a resigned face and said, "Maybe you're right. I guess I'll wait and see."

Hermione smiled at him. "Now that's a better attitude."

Harry rolled his eyes when she turned away from him. There was a better chance of Malfoy and him marrying than there was of them ever getting along. And he didn't have a negative attitude simply because he realized that that was the truth. Hermione and Dumbledore were the only ones who believed it could be any other way. If Ron had been there, he would have agreed with him.

As if on cue, as soon as Harry thought of Ron, he came in through the portrait hole. He had his Flash with him, which told Harry he had been out flying. Ron apparently didn't see either Harry or Hermione, because he headed straight upstairs.

Harry set about to gathering up the parchment he had been writing ideas down on.

"Wanna head down to the kitchens and nick some food? I've worked up an appetite." Ron was standing over him, no longer carrying his broomstick. He held his stomach as if to prove he was hungry.

"Alright." Harry agreed to accompany him. "I've been meaning to visit Dobby anyway."

Suddenly Hermione sprang from her seat. "Wait for me! I'll come too." With that she dashed upstairs.

"What is she on about now?" Ron groaned. He didn't wait long to find out. A minute later, Hermione reemerged from the girl's staircase, a couple colorful knit caps in hand.

"I knitted them this summer for Dobby and Winky," she said brightly. Harry and Ron both let out exasperated groans and turned away without her. "What?" she said, catching up to them. "What?"

"Nothing," they muttered in unison.

When they reached the portrait of a bowl of fruit, Ron reached up and tickled the pear. The picture swung to the side, allowing them access to the kitchen. Inside was hectic. A sea of tiny house elves bobbed around, cleaning and stacking dishes. Harry, Ron, and Hermione's presence didn't go unnoticed for long, however. Almost as soon as they set foot inside the kitchen two house elves came bustling up to them, a plate of tarts and a pitcher of pumpkin juice in eager hand.

"Hey, thanks," Ron said as he grabbed some tarts off the plate and then took the glass of pumpkin juice the other elf handed him.

"Would sir and miss like some as well?" the elf with the tarts asked in a squeaky voice, shoving the plate in front of Harry.

"Er, no thanks," Harry said, pushing the plate away.

The elves began retreating but Ron halted them.

"Hold on!" He pocketed a few more tarts. "I'll take a few more of these for later."

"Harry Potter, sir!"

Before Harry even had time to look for the source of his name, a colorful bundle smashed into his legs, gripping them tightly.

"Hello Dobby." Harry grinned.

Dobby removed himself from Harry's legs and beamed up at him.

"Harry Potter has come to visit Dobby at last! Dobby is so happy to see sir again." Dobby looked around at Ron and Hermione. "And sir's bringing his Wheezy and miss too. Hello Wheezy, hello miss!"

"Hi, Dobby," Hermione said. "Good summer?"

"Yes, Dobby is traveling into Hogsmeade on occasion and even going to Diagon Alley once. Look! Dobby is buying new socks with his pay-check!" He pulled up his bright, baggy orange pants to reveal many layers of socks, the topmost with smiley-faces and tie-die peace signs that danced and flashed.

"Those are really…err…neat," Harry lied, catching Ron's eye.

Hermione handed Dobby a blue and orange stripped stocking cap she had with her. "Here you go, Dobby. I made it for you this summer."

Dobby took it with trembling hands. "Miss is making Dobby a hat? Miss is thinking of Dobby over the summer. Dobby knew miss must be great to be so kind to Dobby and Winky, to be Harry Potter's girlfriend, but never this great!"

"Hermione's not my girlfriend," Harry quickly corrected under Ron's sudden glare. "She's just my good friend."

"Right. Harry Potter's girlfriend." Dobby repeated.

"Er, yeah," Harry said. "Sorry, I thought you meant it in a different way…."

"So, how's Winky fairing?" Hermione was quick to change the subject. When Harry glanced over at her, he thought she looked a little flushed.

"Oh, Winky is getting much better!" He leaned close to her ear, causing Harry and Ron to move closer as well. "She's given up her drink, but now she's having bad dreams all the times. She's awfully quiet now at times, but then she'll be a little too loud at others."

"Can we see her?" Hermione asked. "I've got a hat to give her as well."

"Ooo, yes, of course. Winky will be loving a gift; maybe it will be making her smile again."

They followed Dobby back to the rear of the kitchen where Winky was sitting slumped on a stool against the wall, staring stone-cold at the wall across from her.

"Winky, we is having visitors! Look! Miss has made you something!"

Hermione halfheartedly held out the hat, her spirits sinking when Winky took no notice. She dropped it on her lap instead. "Here you go, Winky. I hope you like pink."

Apparently Winky did like pink, as that was what her billowing dress was colored. Although she wasn't as erratically dressed as Dobby, she too had mismatched socks and a tie hanging from her neck.

Suddenly Winky seemed to come out of her reverie as she smiled abnormally wide and then knocked the cap onto the floor before grinding it under her heel.

Hermione took a step back and her shoulders slumped in disappointment and shock.

"WINKY!" Dobby cried. He pointed a finger at her and a second later she was dangling a foot off the ground, her back firmly against the wall. "APOLOGIZE TO MISS! She is making a nice gift for Winky and Winky should be ashamed of herself for not acting grateful!"

"Dobby let me go!" Winky complained, wriggling around in the air.

"First apologize to miss!"

Winky plastered a clearly fake grin on her face and said in a tone to rival Umbridge's, "Winky is terribly sorry. She was not meaning to let miss know how much she could care less about her cap."

"Winky!" Dobby warned.

"I mean… Winky is sorry. Winky likes miss's gift very much."

Dobby seemed to find that satisfactory, though she was obviously being sarcastic, and he set her back on her feet again.

Harry glanced over at Hermione out of the corner of his eye and found her eyes were turning red and puffy.

"Er, Dobby. We have to go. I'll stop back in again some other time though." Though I won't be bringing Hermione back here anytime soon, he thought to himself.

Dobby looked very sad to see them go. "Oh, okay. Thank you for coming to see Dobby, Harry Potter and Wheezy. Thank you for the cap miss. Dobby very much likes it. Winky does too; she is just being stubborn is all."

Hermione nodded and then quickly turned on her heel, leaving the kitchen. Harry and Ron followed close behind her. Once they were heading back through the Entrance Hall, they caught up with her.

"Hermione, don't worry about it. That bloody house-elf didn't know what she was talking about," Ron coaxed. "I told you that you were being too nice to them in the first place. You shouldn't have bothered. Winky has always been an even bigger weirdo than Dobby."

"Don't you see why you're wrong, Ron?" Hermione said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "She acts that way because of how Mr. Crouch treated her. She's been neglected and this is apparently her new way of coping with it. I'm just sad that there's nothing I can do to make her feel better."

"Wha-what? You're still sympathizing with her after what she just did?" Ron exclaimed.

They reached the Gryffindor Common room. "It's not what she did that I sympathize with, Ron, it's why she did it. If you had half a heart you'd realize it too."

"Yeah, well if you had half an ounce of common sense, then you'd see what a pillock she was being and you wouldn't feel so sorry for her after the way she acted!"

Hermione sighed and headed up to her dormitory. Ron turned to Harry.

"What is it with her offensive creature loving habit?"

"I guess she sees something in Winky that we don't," Harry said pointedly. As hard as he tried to see things from Hermione's point of view, he had to agree with Ron. If he had taken the time to make something for someone and they just threw it back in his face, he wouldn't be about to carry on about how sorry he felt for them.

The next day, what Harry viewed as his day off, passed by too quickly to be to Harry's liking. When Hermione set off to spend some time alone with Ginny, Harry and Ron spent a good portion of the day out on the grounds with Dean and Seamus. Dean showed Ron, Seamus, and Harry how to play football with the ball he had brought with him to school. Harry had only played a few times in gym class so he did not remember the rules very well. Seamus was in basically the same situation he was, having attended a muggle primary school. Ron, however, was not fairing as well. He seemed to have a major problem with the entire concept of simply kicking a ball around when there were no bludgers flying at your head and your feet maintained constant contact with the ground.

Despite Ron's initial puzzlement, in the end he got more into the game than even Dean. Every time the ball was relatively near him, he kicked it as hard as he could while Harry cheered him on from in between the two bushes they were using as a goal. After a while they gathered a bit of a crowd, as many witches and wizards had never seen the sport before, and a few muggle-borns who had grown up playing football joined in as well, happy to be able to play the sport they had not played in years.

In the end, Harry and Ron's team- the Pixies- lost to Dean's strong skills, but only by a few points. Then they met up with Hermione at dinner and afterwards all headed to the Room of Requirement together to prepare for the Defense Association meeting. Focusing hard on what they wanted, they passed back and forth in front of a patch of wall until a door appeared and they entered. Inside, shelves were lined with books and dark-detectors and the floor was decorated with pillows; everything had been magically repaired from when Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad tore the room apart.

"I hope you're right about this place expanding to fit more people in," Ron commented as he looked around the room. Harry saw Ron was right; it would be very hard to cram any more people than last year into the room and still have enough space to practice spells.

"Hey, what's this?" Ron had wandered over to the shelves and now picked up a small round object. It looked like a magnifying glass without its handle, only the glass was black. Ron began shaking it roughly like a magic 8-ball and then peered into it again. "Nothing's happening. What a load of junk." He tossed it back onto the shelf. Hermione meandered over to them and scooped it up as if it were some precious gem she had found lying on the ground.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" she breathed, clearly excited. "It's a Scrying Glass. They're really rare. Archaic magicians used to use them to spy on other wizards. Apparently, a spirit is trapped inside that can show you whatever you want, but only if it will obey your command. That's why they aren't made anymore, they gave people too much trouble and Spirit Magic- when witches and wizards would summon beings from the Other Realm and the like- was outlawed back during the construction of Rome and Greece. The only people who ever made them to begin with were the Egyptians, and only the elite at that. I wonder how one ended up here…."

"There's no such thing as Spirit Magic," Ron said dismissively.

"Yes there is, or rather was. It's like I said; it was outlawed long ago."

"Why'd they outlaw it?" Harry asked.

"It's dangerous to mess with the Other Realm- the Spirit World," she said as Ron opened his mouth to ask what the Other Realm was. He promptly closed it again, content. "Demons and Spirits of the Light are powerful beings. Only a handful of wizards ever accomplished summoning them; most lost their lives trying. If a malicious spirit were to escape into the mortal realm, the results could be disastrous, even apocalyptic." She shook her head. "It's a good thing they outlawed it. Most people," she glanced over at Ron, "don't even know it existed today because it's so obsolete."

Ron glanced uneasily at the Scrying Glass. "Er, Hermione, you don't reckon that thing could escape now, do you?"

"Ron, if it was going to escape, don't you think that it would have done so by now? Besides, these were made with Spirits of the Light. Even if it did escape, it wouldn't do you much harm." Ron looked incredibly relieved at the thought. "That is unless it's angry for being locked up for so long and places an unbreakable curse over you," Hermione added as an afterthought. Ron gulped, weary eyes traveling back over the Scrying Glass again.

"Hermione, when you say the Other Realm, do you mean, like, Heaven?" Harry questioned.

Hermione shrugged. "Even the greatest witches and wizards in existence don't know the secrets of the spirit world; all they know is that one exists. I suppose that's where souls end up when people die, but I'm not sure whether it's divided into a Heaven and Hell. Last I knew, people were studying the matter in the Department of Mysteries…."

Harry's mind was rushing, his heart pounding. If souls were found in this Other Realm, maybe he could reach to Sirius using the Scrying Glass….

"Are we early?"

Neville, Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Katie, Luna, Colin Creevy, Susan Bones, Parvati, Lavender, Padma, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, and Ernie Macmillan all entered the room and plopped down on a pillow. Hermione and Ron joined them but Harry hung back for a second and slipped the Scrying Glass off the shelf and into his pocket, taking care that no one noticed.

"So, what have you got planned for today?" Seamus asked.

"We're going to start off with the basics."

There was a collective groan. "We already know the basics," said Lavender.

"I'm sorry, but a quick review will do us all some good. After all, it wouldn't be fair to the new members to simply pick up where we left off."

"The Slytherins might not be able to keep up if we don't start from `Expelliarmus' again," Dean remarked. Everyone, with the exception of Hermione and Luna, laughed.

"Think of it this way," Harry said. "You've all been here before, but the Slytherins haven't. You'll all have a clear advantage over them."

"Ha! They won't even be able to do a Patronus, I bet," Ginny said. There was a murmuring of agreement and several wicked grins surfaced.

"If they are able to do them, it'll be because they had to learn in order to help their Death Eater dads to control the Dementors while they're around," Justin remarked smartly.

"We'll see I guess," Harry said. "But that won't be for a few lessons."

"We'll see what, Potter? How pathetic you are at instructing? I doubt we'll have to wait a few lessons to see that." Malfoy sauntered into the room, flanked by a large group of glowering Slytherins. Like Harry expected, as the Slytherins entered, the room seemed to expand outwards from each side, dwarfing its occupants. They all headed to the back of the room and sat there in an isolated group. Many had their arms crossed in front of them with scowls on their faces; clearly they didn't want to be there.

Harry chose to ignore the comment. Over the next few minutes, a few straggling Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws tiptoed in and joined the large prismatic group.

While he waited, Harry fretted over ways to make himself feel more, well, official. I need a desk…. Obeying his will, a broad wooden desk appeared behind him, complete with a high-backed chair and a jar full of quills.

"Okay then, let's get started," Harry said, leaning back on the desk in what he hoped was a casual fashion. The chatter died down and soon Harry held most everyone's attention. Under everyone's piercing gaze, Harry felt his hands grow sweaty and his tongue suddenly felt much too big to be in his mouth. "Er, I-I thought that we'd start off with a basic spell that…that..."

Malfoy laughed in the back of the room, a very satisfied expression on his face.

"Er, that I've found really useful over- over the years," Harry continued. He tugged at the collar of his shirt; the room was incredibly hot. Ron sat at his feet, smiling encouragingly up at him. Next to him, Hermione mouthed the word Harry couldn't manage to remember.

"Right, the `Expelliarmus' spell. True, it's a really basic spell, but it's very useful-"

"Is this some sort of a joke?" Pansy Parkinson said while many of the Slytherins around her snickered.

"Actually, no, it's not," Harry said, growing agitated. "It's already saved me from Voldemort and helped me escape from peril last year as well."

There was a collective intake of breath and the Slytherins who had been snickering promptly shut up and instead looked disgusted.

"So if we all pair off we can take turns practicing the spell on each other. Try to disarm your opponent, but only disarm for now. I don't want to send anyone down to the Hospital Wing on the first day." He smiled mischievously. "We'll save that for another time."

Everyone paired up and soon there was a roaring din from all of the spells being shouted out. Ron and Hermione stood in front of him, rapidly shooting the spell at one another. Hermione allowed her wand to hang in a loose grip as she uninterestedly blocked all of Ron's attempts.

"Harry," she said. "You should probably have everyone write down their names before they leave- Expelliarmus. Come on, Ron, you can do better than that, can't you?"

"Why? Wait a minute, you didn't hex the parchment again, did you?"

"There's no need to this time, there's no real secrecy involved- Expelliarmus! It's so that you know who's attending and you can begin ordering a grading system."

"Good point, although I have no desire whatsoever to do that in the near future."

"Well, you're going to have to do it in the near future. Don't worry, I'll help."

"Ah, you're a life-saver Hermione." Harry began making rounds, assessing where everyone stood. He made a few comments here-and-there, when he felt it was necessary, and gave a few orders.

"Nott, I said `Expelliarmus' only!"

"Sorry, sir," Nott said contemptuously, restoring Padma's rightful nose to her body.

"I bet you wish the Slytherins weren't here."

Harry turned to see Cho Chang standing behind him, eyeing Nott with clear distaste. Harry was startled to find her there because he hadn't seen her come in.

"Er, it'd be nice if they weren't here."

"Are we going to be practicing our Patronuses again this year?"

"Yes, we will in a few weeks, if all goes according to plan."

"Ooo, good. I love my Patronus, it's so pretty."

Harry recalled that hers was a swan. For lack of anything better to say, he commented, "Yours was a swan, right?"

She smiled. "Yes, how'd you remember?"

"I only remember because it was so graceful, the way it flowed around the room."

"You know," Cho said, taking a step closer to him. "If I remember correctly, Patronuses take on a form that reflects the wizard that cast it."

"Yeah, that's right."

"A stag's a really strong, regal animal, don't you think?"

"I suppose so, I've never really thought about it…" Harry noticed what she was getting at and color slowly crawled up his cheeks. What was he supposed to say to that? She was obviously flirting with him, and he had no idea what to say that wouldn't hurt her feelings.

He was spared the trouble when someone shouted a few pairs over, drawing his attention.

"AHA! I finally got you!"

Hermione turned away, but not quickly enough for Harry to miss the livid expression on her face. Ron was doing a little victorious jig as he yelled out to Harry, "Hey! I disarmed Hermione!"

Harry wound his way over to them, leaving Cho standing alone with her partner, a Ravenclaw girl with light blonde hair Harry didn't know.

Hermione retrieved her wand from the ground and said disconcertedly, "That's only because I wasn't paying attention."

"Don't try to take away from my victory with some lame excuse. I disarmed you and that's all there is to it." He folded his arms in front of him as if that settled it and stuck out his tongue childishly for good measure.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron's wand flew into Hermione's awaiting hand.

"Hey! That's not fair! Harry, tell her that's not fair!"

Harry was too busy laughing to tell Hermione off. "Seems fair enough to me, mate."

"Well, who asked you anyway?" Ron requited. Hermione tossed his wand back to him. "So, was Cho complimenting you on your Quidditch skills again?" Ron batted his eyelashes. "Oh Harry, you're so great, you're great competition. Perhaps I can help you service your broom sometime?"

Harry chucked a pillow from the ground directly at Ron's face. Ron doubled over in peals of laughter. Harry felt the color creep into his cheeks.

"When did Cho say all of that?" Hermione asked, her voice oddly formal. She did not meet Harry's eye, but instead busied herself in re-tying her shoes. Harry had to restrain himself from hexing Ron.

"We just ran into each other last night on the way back from playing Quidditch."

"Oh. Well, that's nice."

"Not really," Harry said truthfully. He swore that that evoked a tiny smile from Hermione. He didn't really understand why she was acting all weird about it in the first place. It seemed like every time Cho was mentioned, even last year, Hermione would go all business-like or quiet on him. Maybe she was afraid that he would forget about her if he was dating someone else, which was of course preposterous- like he could ever forget her. Even if that was the case, it didn't matter anyway- Harry was less interested in Cho than in flobberworms.

He decided that they had been practicing disarming spells long enough and decided to move onto minor jinxes instead.

"Hey, that's enough! You can stop now!" he yelled as loud as he could. No one paid him any notice. Dean and Seamus continued dodging behind other people in order to gain an advantage on one another, Ginny continued disarming Neville over and over again, and Katie had given up practicing all together as her partner, Luna, had wandered over to the shelves to examine the items placed there.

Growing frustrated, Harry pointed his wand at his own throat and said, "Sonorous." When he tried again, his voice was so loud that it seemed to fill the room. "Excuse me! That's enough! We're moving on now!" Harry could practically see everyone's feet simultaneously leave the ground a few inches when he began talking. Satisfied that he had gained their attention, he muttered, "Quietus," and walked to his desk at the front of the room. "That was very good. Now, let's move on to some jinxes."

All of the Defense Association members signed a sheet of parchment before they left, as Hermione had suggested. Harry was surprised that he only had to deduct a sum of twenty points from the Slytherins for either back-talking him or practicing unsanctioned jinxes. However, he was not surprised that Malfoy was proving to be a real problem. Harry couldn't say one thing without Malfoy countering it with some snotty comment under his breath. He had difficulties focusing on what he was trying to teach when the Slytherins all broke out laughing every five words.

"Well that was pretty productive," Hermione said as they returned to the Common Room.

"Yeah, as long as the Slytherins clean up their act," Harry said grimly, upset that the Slytherins had ruined his otherwise perfect first lesson.

Ron clapped his hand on his back as they stepped over a Wizards Chess game two first years were engaged in on the floor. "Don't worry, mate. I'm sure they'll come `round; it's nothing that a few points knocked off won't fix anyway." Harry smiled but inwardly doubted that anything would make people like Malfoy listen to him. Dumbledore was crazy to believe there was any way they could ever get along.

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