AUTHORS NOTE: And the story continues *grins* This chapter was just so long I realized that it was actually better if I split it into two, so that is what I did and I bring forth Chapter 27. Now I have a half completed Chapter 28 with a well detailed plan on what exactly is going to happen *grins even further* I do hope you'll all enjoy Chapter 27 and 28… Now I can truly say I am beginning to REALLY (this time for real) feel the ending drawing up and I am getting SOoO excited! Okay, I won't hold you up any further… enjoy and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!! I truly do love reading each and every one!
CHAPTER 27
Harry's mind didn't often wander during Professor Kilmore's lectures, Defense Against The Darks Arts was what he was best at, and a class he needed to pay attention in when he thought about the Prophecy he would, without a doubt, have to face one day. But today, Harry hadn't been able to quite focus on any of his studies; something felt off and he couldn't put his finger on it.
His mind trailed to the Daily Prophet article he had read during his Care of Magical Creatures lecture with Professor Pigott. They had been discussing Hippogriffs and he and Hermione knew all about them from personal experience with Buckbeak, so they both took to pretending to listen intently while sifting through the articles in the wizarding newspaper. Hermione, of course, still managed to pay half attention to Professor Pigott the entire time. There were four muggle murders the previous day and one non-muggle murder that killed Mr. Roger Bleakens; a Squib. That article, however, had not made the front page and wasn't what Harry and Hermione discussed in murmurs. According to the Daily Prophet, a dragon had escaped from Romania where Ron's brother Charlie handled them. Apparently, this sort of thing had happened before thirty years ago, when a female Yellow Bellied Brazilian Hatchet managed to break free from her shackles. They found her a month later when a muggle farmer reported an enormous monster with wings eating his livestock.
"Yes Miss Granger, would you care to elaborate?" He heard the Professor faintly question Hermione, who was scribbling furiously at her parchment next to him with her hand raised.
"As is known, the Imperius Curse is an Unforgivable Curse that has been used throughout history by dark wizards, witches, and more recently, Voldemort," Students shuddered at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. "and his followers. The spell word Imperio, originated in Latin Europe from the word Imperare, meaning `to order' or `to command', and the spells victims submit to a feeling of release from responsibility for the price of one's free will."
"Yes, very good, thank you Miss Granger. I've been informed that an imposter Alastor Moody had inflicted this curse on you during your fourth year, is this correct?" Kilmore questioned, rubbing his thumb and index finger across his shaggy, not yet grey, beard.
"Yes sir." Harry answered rather lazily.
"And you, boy, fought the effects of that curse?" Kilmore asked with interest.
"Yes sir." Harry answered again.
"Very well, please find yourselves a partner, and you Mr. Potter will be working with me."
Harry sighed, not at all surprised and expecting this kind of outcome. He glanced at Hermione; her shoulders seemed to have slumped as she looked around for someone to be her partner. They really had become each others only constant companions, and now he realized just how lost Hermione looked without him beside her.
"Hey," He said catching her attention, she spun around, slightly creasing her forehead. "Show `em what you're made of."
She grinned, letting a silent laugh come out in a huff.
"I will."
"Good." He added before making his way to the front where Professor Kilmore waited for him.
"Ready to begin then boy?"
Harry nodded pointing his wand; ready to strike, repel, or fight the curse.
"Imperio!" The Professor chanted
"Dissinsortia." Harry countered calmly, causing the unforgivable curse to decompose before having the chance to reach Harry.
"Oh, yes, wonderful rebound spell." Kilmore said looking thrilled and amused. "Imperio!" he chanted again, obviously hoping to catch Harry off guard.
Harry dodged the spell and shot a quick disarming spell at his professor, who effectively deflected it, and once again sent the Imperius curse on Harry who froze the spell and shot a second freezing charm at the Professor.
"Incendio Impetus!" A ball of flame shot from Kilmore's wand and melted Harry's freezing charm to a drop of water. "Imperio!"
"Impervius Miro!" Harry countered, causing the spell to hit an invisible wall just before Harry and deflecting the spell to the ground.
"Imperio!"
This time, Harry wasn't so lucky at defending himself. By now the entire class was watching the duel very carefully in awe, except Hermione who stood frozen; her knuckles turning white from the tight grip she had on her wand.
"Submit to me boy, feel the troubles of being the boy who lived ease from your shoulders, now drop your wand."
`Drop my wand? Yes, it feels so heavy I my hand, I don't need it,' Harry thought feeling his wand begin to lightly slip from his grasp `but is this not my only defense? No, I don't think I will drop my wand.' And he gripped it more firmly in his hand.
"Do you defy me?" Kilmore questioned.
Harry didn't have the strength to nod; instead, he just stared back at his professor.
"Your opponent will not allow you to fight the Imperius curse, you understand, he'll do something like this…Crucio!"
"Harry No!" He heard Hermione cry.
Harry dropped to his back, twitching in uncontrollable spasms as though thousands of volts of electricity poisoned his nervous system. He had never felt such pain before, as normally he had been able to fight the curse when dueling with Dumbledore; but Dumbledore had never forced Harry to endure two Unforgivable Curses at one time, it was just too much to handle.
"Expelliarmus!"
The Professors wand shot from his grasp, breaking the torturous connection Kilmore had on Harry.
Harry lay crumpled, panting and wiping the sweat and tears from his face with shaking hands.
It was Hermione of course, she ran to him right away, her wand still pointed warningly at Kilmore.
"Harry, are you alright?" She questioned pulling him gently into the sitting position and resting him against herself.
"Yeah." He muttered. "I'm just… really…exhausted."
"You fought well boy, but you need to learn to deflect both spells at once." Kilmore stated with a smile, reaching into his robes.
"Don't!" Hermione warned, breathing heavily, her body shaking with intense rage.
"If you'll allow me Miss Granger, it's a potion for Mr. Potter's strengths to regenerate instantly." Kilmore said calmly with his hands raised in surrender.
"And how can I trust you?" She spat.
"Your friend Ron trusts me, does he not?" Kilmore questioned with a shrug.
"And what does that have to do with me trusting you?" She shot back.
"Listen, my wand is there," He pointed across the room where Hermione had shot his wand from the professor's hand with the disarming spell. "I'll reach into my robes and show you a small flask filled with an odd green liquid, you may then decide if it is safe to give to Mr. Potter." Kilmore stated.
"Who made it?" Hermione questioned suspiciously.
"Well… I did."
"Isn't Professor Thorton our Potions teacher?"
"I need not ask your Potions professor for this favor, I'm quite capable of making it myself."
"Show it to me." She ordered, eyeing Harry who seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness in her arms.
Slowly, Professor Kilmore reached into his robes and showed Hermione the tiny flask that held the pale bile green potion within it. He motioned for one of the students nearest him to take it and give it to Hermione.
She accepted the flask and inspected its color and viscosity by carefully turning it upside down and right side up. Then, she opened it and wafted the smell towards her nose with her wand hand, careful to act quickly if the professor should make any funny movement.
"The Innervative Potion." She said quietly, more to herself than to anyone around her.
"Yes, that's quite right my dear." Kilmore said excitedly.
"It's properly made Harry, I'm going to give this to you okay?" She asked gently.
Harry moaned and opened his mouth just enough to pour the liquid down his throat.
For a moment, nothing happened and Hermione feared she had made a huge mistake, but then Harry's eyes seemed to open wide, his body gave a heavy shudder and the pale, exhausted look vanished from his face.
"Harry?"
"Alright there Hermione?" He questioned with a lopsided grin.
She gave him a small smile and nodded back, before turning her gaze on Kilmore who looked more than pleased with himself.
"YOU!" She said jumping to her feet. "You…insolent imbecile! You could have killed him!"
Kilmore chuckled.
"Nonsense, the boy was in need of a proper lecture."
"Lecture, you call that a bloody lecture?" She spat acidly, dangerously approaching her professor with her wand extended.
Kilmore didn't even flinch, instead, his grin seemed to spread wider.
"Eat slugs!" She chanted, hitting the professor square in the chest.
Professor Kilmore's face turned a sort of dark mustard yellow, his cheeks puffed out and he let out an enormous belch followed by a slime covered slug.
The DADA students burst into laughter as their Professor ran from the room, stumbling on desks and belching slugs on his way out.
Hermione stood rooted to the spot she had been standing in while most of the students clapped her on the back in congratulation.
"I hexed a teacher." She murmured deliriously.
"Yeah, you sure did `Mione, you did a bloody good job of that!" Seamus laughed.
She suddenly felt herself smiling.
"Well, class dismissed then I suppose." She chuckled, helping Harry to his feet.
"Yeah, I don't think he'll be coming back anytime soon, the only way to get rid of that hex is to wait it out." Harry said, remembering how Ron had meant to use that spell once on Draco Malfoy, instead it backfired and Ron had to sit it out at Hagrids. "Good one."
"Think we should go to Charms early?" She asked Harry, watching their classmates disappear from the classroom in one large hoard.
"Hermione," he said with a frown. "We have at least an hour before Charms now."
"I know, but,"
"Let's take a walk out to the lake." Harry decided, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine, you'll see… oh, and Hermione."
She looked up into his bright emerald eyes.
"Thank you." He said softly.
She felt her heart skip a beat. In that moment, it was all worth it, she need not feel guilty for attacking a professor; she knew it was definitely the right thing to do.
"You're welcome." She whispered breathlessly.
In the past week, the weather had been abnormally warm enough to melt the remaining snow and dry the grass leaving it looking dead, but at least it was dry enough to sit on. Harry and Hermione had made their way across the grounds to the tree by the lake where they often did their homework. Harry lay down on his back with an arm propped beneath his head and Hermione followed though instead, she used Harry's stomach as a pillow.
The wind was strong, yet thankfully warm enough that they need not bundle up to stay outdoors for a longer period of time; though Hermione kept having to push her hair from her face while it blew in every direction.
"How're you feeling?" She asked after some quiet reflection.
She felt Harry shrug.
"Fine." He replied offhandedly.
"He shouldn't have done that, it wasn't right. Stay away from him Harry, he could be dangerous."
"He was just doing his job Hermione."
"Inflicting Unforgivable Curses on students to that extent can't be right."
"Dumbledore's done it, in his private lectures with me." Harry reminded.
"I'll bet he's never put you under two Unforgivable Curses at once." She whispered, shifting her position slightly to rest her dark eyes on Harry's green ones.
"No, he hasn't." Harry admitted. "But, if Dumbledore wasn't so busy he would."
Hermione continued to look doubtful.
"I don't trust Professor Kilmore Harry, he wasn't like this last year, he wasn't like this earlier in the year, something just doesn't feel right."
Harry had to agree with something not feeling right about the day, but he was quite sure it wasn't anything to do with Professor Kilmore.
"Miss Granger! Miss Granger?" A feminine voice called across the field. Harry recognized the tall, thin form of Professor Latakin their Head of House and Transfiguration Professor.
"I'm here." Hermione answered obviously recognizing the professor as well and rising to her feet with a look of worry etched on her soft face.
Professor Latakin held her explanation until she had reached Hermione, she looked thoroughly displeased about something.
"Did you, or did you not hex your Professor Miss Granger?" The Professor questioned.
Hermione's mouth fell open and closed a few times before she managed to form a feeble "yes" in response.
"That is truly unacceptable! One of my top pupils, the Head Girl! What in the name of Albus Dumbledore were you thinking?"
Hermione bowed her head in shame.
"Hermione stopped the Professor from further torturing me with two Unforgivable Curses Professor." Harry stated calmly.
"Were you not involved in a lectured duel Mr. Potter?"
"Yes Ma'am but,"
"Then Professor Kilmore had every right to carry on his teachings." Latakin declared strictly.
"That's outrageous!" Hermione stated furiously, without realizing how much she had truly raised her voice. "So if Harry was being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse and ended up in St. Mungo's because he lost his mind to the pain, it would be okay because it was a classroom activity?"
"Watch your tone Miss Granger, I am your Head of House but won't hesitate to take a large portion of points from this house," Professor Latakin warned. "From what I clearly understand, Mr. Potter wasn't being subjected to the curse for a long period of time before you acted… you're disarming spell, Miss Granger, would have been quite enough mind you."
Hermione's frown deepened.
"You have a detention with Professor Kilmore at the end of your lessons, you are to see him in your Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom and bring your wand." Latakin instructed sharply, before abruptly turning on her heels and leaving both students with malicious anger boiling within them.
*
Charms class went by quickly, Harry did well with his disguising charm, while Hermione couldn't quite concentrate and shot orange sparks from her wand that caused students running for cover because the sparks burned when they came in contact with skin. Professor Flitwick was shocked beyond words that Hermione was incapable of mastering the charm, but Harry knew that it wasn't because she couldn't perform the spell; she was just panicking about her detention with Professor Kilmore.
Classes drew to a close with Potions class with Professor Thorton. Thankfully Hermione had been partnered up with Harry, and together they managed to keep each others focus on the task before them, rather than the detention ahead.
Harry bottled the temporary animagus potion just as classes were being dismissed. Hermione's eyes clouded over and she looked as though she was being sentenced to a hanging.
He walked silently with her towards Kilmore's classroom.
"You don't think," She mumbled. "That he's going to… to…expel me, do you?"
Harry now understood her anxiety more than ever; he thought about this for a moment before answering.
"No, I don't think so Hermione, I've done worse and I'm still here."
"But that was under Dumbledore's orders to keep you here." She said almost inaudibly.
Harry felt shame, knowing she was probably right. If Dumbledore wasn't headmaster and if Harry wasn't "The-Boy-Who-Lived" he most likely would have been thrown out of Hogwarts long ago, or worse, he might have even ended up in Azkaban for breaking Wizarding Laws.
"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean it like that." She apologized softly.
He gave her a small smile to show he didn't blame her.
"What do you think he'll make me do?" Hermione wondered, trying hard to choke back the lump in her throat.
"Relax, I don't think it'll be anything horrible. I mean, Professor Kilmore isn't Umbridge after all, though I think I'd still rather take Umbridges detentions over Professor Lockhart's."
Hermione stopped walking and stared at Harry, who couldn't help but burst out laughing at her scrutinizing glare.
"What?" He shrugged. "Its true, I helped him answer fan mail for hours, and he kept me longer than I was suppose to stay."
Hermione rolled her eyes, mumbling something that sounded a lot like `boys' under her breath before slumping off in the direction of the DADA classroom.
He gave Hermione a peck near her lips and a quick embrace, wishing her luck as they stood before the closed classroom door.
"You'll be alright… just be careful." Harry said reassuringly. "And I'll be close by, so if you need anything, just yell, or send your patronus out to get me."
She nodded, embraced him again, and with a sigh she knocked on the door which stood slightly ajar.
There was no response. Hermione shrugged and peered inside.
"He's not here." She announced to Harry in a loud whisper.
"You best wait inside; he's probably just running late."
She nodded and disappeared behind the door of the classroom.
Harry dug his hands in his robe pockets where he loosely held his wand for protection. If Kilmore was indeed trouble, it wouldn't be good news for Harry to be near his classroom showing signs of waiting for Hermione; then the professor would take greater precautions about making his actions unnoticed. With that thought, Harry hid behind a particularly large statue of a headless horseman on his rearing steed, and waited.
His legs were becoming numb from crouching when he heard footsteps growing closer, except, it sounded as though there were more than a pair of them; and Harry was right.
"The boy's quite strong Thorton, I tried to see how he would hold off two Unforgivables at once, but he couldn't do it."
"He will, was that not his first trial at such a task?"
"It was, but I just expected him to shrug it off, he evaded the killing curse Thorton, he slipped from Voldemort's grasp like a grain of rice so many times, with minimal wounds."
Thorton chuckled.
"I'd hardly say minimal wounds Kilmore."
"He hasn't been admitted to St. Mungo's in all those years."
"That is true," Thorton agreed. "But he was also in the care of Albus Dumbledore after all."
Professor Kilmore nodded in agreement, as though accepting Thorton's word as the last on that matter.
"What did the Granger girl hex you with?"
Professor Kilmore hesitated.
"Eat slugs." He growled with a throaty laugh.
Thorton chuckled.
"Bet she's never done that before… hex a teacher?"
"You're right, I checked her records; clean as a whistle." Kilmore answered. "Her life revolves around that Potter boy… If I were her, I'd stay away from him, he's trouble for her."
"Kilmore… its young love," Thorton chuckled, clapping Kilmore roughly on the shoulder. "Don't you remember what it was like when you met Bonnie?"
"Don't remind me of her Thorton, that didn't work out."
They both stopped just outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"The point is, don't be too hard on the girl." Thorton stated.
"I'll try not to be." Kilmore agreed. "So you won't be evoking her scholarship?"
"Heavens no, Hermione deserves that scholarship more than anyone in this school."
Kilmore nodded.
"I best get to my detention Thorton, I'm already late."
"Then I bid you goodbye and good night." Thorton stated with a slight bow of his head.
"Same to you." Kilmore said watching Thorton stroll away proudly, and then he too disappeared behind the classroom door.
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