Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
A/N: This chapter was rather hard for me to write, since Halloween is right around the corner (next chapter is called The Final Countdown, and then there's Halloween) and I had to pick up many loose ends and include things that's been put out. It took some time, yes, but this chapter is the longest yet - in fact it's 70 per cent longer than normal. Over 5100 words! :) As for the reviews... I do not know what to feel about three, but it is better than the result from chapter seventeen. I suppose after reading HBP you are looking for something else and decided not to be "delusional." Or whatever. I still get a lot of hits so it is hard to tell.
Cheers!
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Ch19: TRAINING FOR LIFE
There was nothing Harry could do really. He was screwed; and when McClaggan reached him it could not be more obvious that Harry was the one causing the horrible sound on the sneakoscope. Utterly in lack for other things to say when McClaggan asked why he answered: "Voldemort," and held his breath.
"How so?" asked McClaggan disbelievingly, his eyebrows raised, while everybody except Harry and Hermione flinched. Suddenly Harry's arm jerked slightly, and to his horror the Sneakoscope shrieked even louder.
"Scar," he said quickly, in what he hoped was a more confident tone and stare. "Connection..."
McClaggan glared back and Harry instantly got suspicious that the weird professor attempted Occlumency on him and steeled himself against being intruded. Nothing came, however. Perhaps the professor just knew how to glare?
After a while McClaggan nodded and continued the lesson. However, Harry did not miss some of the looks the other students in the class passed between each other or the whispers that followed him the rest of the day.
-
-
Despise the rumors nobody questioned him about the incident with the Sneakoscope, not even Hermione. Deciding to lay low for a while he kept himself as anonym as possible the rest of the week. Hermione meant he was being ridiculous, but he didn't care. It was just for a while anyway.
Quidditch practice was held, but Harry felt only be vaguely optimistic about the new members. McGonagall had indeed made Ron a captain and that had worked great so far. The red-headed boy knew a whole lot about Quidditch band techniques. Inwardly Harry knew Ron needed something to be occupied with when he and Hermione was training or doing something else together, something that happened often during the days.
In Transfiguration they had used each lesson entirely on Animagi, but these lessons left Harry in a bad mood because he still did not like his form. Hermione, and surprisingly enough Akin, had helped Harry in Occlumency and he became better and better at it. Dumbledore had suggested that Harry could try again with Snape, but Harry refused. He felt that practicing with the Not -So - Nice or Clean Professor would only make things more difficult for him again and he did not want to ruin the little progress he had so far.
The last day of September came with wind and rain - to all the castle inhabitants dismay. The majority of them had planned to do the schoolwork outside before the summer ended, but those plans had to be put on hold.
That day, Harry (with Akin around his wrist), Hermione and Ron were waiting for Draco in an unused classroom. Neither of them wanted the Slytherin to join the DA since his motivation probably was to spy on them and report to his father's friends, but there was clearly no change in the threat and all of them knew that they had little choice than to do what the Slytherin Prince wanted. Even Ron had stopped arguing against it, but only because he knew what was on stake. Harry highly doubted they would ever be friends though.
The door to the classroom went up abruptly and in came Draco Malfoy, looking extremely pleased with himself. He was alone, but he had his wand drawn and prepared to use it. Hermione shot Harry an uncertain glance and Ron straightened his back a little and scowled.
"Let's begin," said Harry warily. Draco found a chair and sat down on it with grace, as though it was a throne rather than a normal, wooden classroom chair. Harry continued: "We're here to discuss your involvement with the DA. We have decided that you can join, seen that you give us all and any information about the threat and - of course - follow the same rules as everybody else."
The Slytherin rolled his eyes.
"Right," said Harry stiffly, a little put out. "I guess this place is as good as any. Do tell."
"Well," said Draco, smirking, "I do not know a whole lot, but I have overheard some things... Therefore I know for a fact that you are going to be taken." (Hermione tensed up) "They are not really hiding their gloating, you see. In the end of the summer, we had company for dinner. Many of the Dark Lord's inner circle of course, but I am not telling you who that is... Anyway, that night they were all in a really good mood. They kept bragging on how the Dark Lord's plan was perfect and there was simply no way he would not get you by the end of the day."
A heavy silence followed and all of them showed different reactions. Harry felt nervous and anxious to know more, Ron seemed furious and barely in control of himself, Hermione looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown and Draco seemed to be enjoying himself.
"What more do you know?" asked Harry. His voice dry.
"Not much more, except that Bellatrix was mentioned. From what I heard I believe she will pick you up herself."
"Pick me up?" asked Harry incredulously, his blood suddenly boiling with anger at the mention of the mad woman who had killed Sirius. "You're saying that she's just going to - STROLL IN - and take me?! Just like that?! No. No, no, no! Definitely not! It's not going to happen!"
"Sorry to break it for you," said Draco sarcastically and snorted, "but you probably will be. They were quite sure of themselves."
Harry spluttered.
"How?" Hermione spoke up and gave a warning glare to Ron who was sitting at the edge of the chair, ready to attack any moment.
"I do not know that. Do you really think they tell me everything?!"
"What will she do, you know, to get me?" asked Harry, trying to ignore the insult to Hermione and focus on the task they had in front if them instead.
"She is going to be dirty. I reckon you should expect the worst, she is not entirely... sane."
A new silence.
"When is the next meeting?" asked Draco when he saw that the news had begun to sink in a little bit.
"Hang on," said Harry suddenly, his brow furrowing. He had to be one hundred percent sure he had not mistaken anything... "You're saying that no matter what I do, what anyone does, they'll win? Isn't that a little... arrogant? I mean - there's bound to some sort of protection around here! There'll be teachers and Aurors around, and then there's Dumbledore. Bella escaped when Dumbledore came to our rescue last year. I do not -"
"Bella?" Draco interrupted, looking highly amused. "Bella?"
Harry did not even bother to blush. "Yes, whatever! Anyway, as I was saying, I don't think anyone will take this lightly. They won't just let Bellatrix into the castle. Not to sound precocious or anything, but I am after all the Boy Who Lived."
"That's true," said Ron, speaking for the first time that meeting.
Draco snorted again and sounded a little more impatient. "I do not know the details. I only know that they have been celebrating and bragging and plotting ever since two weeks before the school started and I got tired of it already after one day. They say that their plan is `waterproof.'"
"Waterproof..." Harry echoed, and let the sound of it remain in his mouth. He did not like the taste one bit. It felt as though he had already lost the fight.
Hermione turned to him and Harry felt guilty when he saw fresh tears drip from her eyes like a broken crane. "I w-won't let them Harry, I won't!" she said, each word charged with such compassion and love that Harry almost got tears in his eyes as well, "I'll- I'll tail you everywhere, I doesn't matter where, I'll hide you if I have t-to! There's no way I'm going to l-let them take you! We w-will figure o-out something, I promise!"
Draco rolled his eyes at this, but Harry ignored him. He felt so grateful for having a girl like Hermione in his life that nothing else mattered.
Luckily it was still a month until Halloween. Just to have it confirmed Harry asked: "It's on Halloween, right?"
"Yes, I believe it is. Although you can never know; Death Eaters are not exactly known for being trustful."
Harry was only half aware of Akins's soft hissing from his wrist and Hermione's attempts to calm him and Ron at the same time. What if the Death Eaters succeeded? What would he do then? He shot a glance at his two best friends. He could not imagine being somewhere unknown without them. What would Hermione do? Would she move on and be together with someone else? Just the thought made Harry's heart clench painfully and he felt sick. No, she wouldn't do that, she wouldn't... however, should he not wish her to be happy? She would not be happy if she stayed loyal to someone dead and Harry knew that the chance for him dying was more than likely.
That only succeeded in making him feel guilty as well. Was he really that selfish?
Draco did not have any more information and Harry realized that it had to be the first time he had seen a Slytherin keep his word. They quickly arranged the time and date for the next DA meeting; two weeks before the Gryffindor/Slytherin match. They did not give the Slytherin a coin, however. They, as well as the rest of the DA members, had agreed that they would wait before doing something like that and keep quiet about it.
Everything in order, they got up and went out of the classroom. Harry was just about to take Hermione's hand when he felt something prick in the back of his neck and he got a rather uneasy feeling in his stomach.
"Get down!" he ordered quickly, taking his arms around Hermione in a swift motion and dived to the ground. His arms cushioned the fall, but she was still taken by surprise.
"Harry, what-?" she asked, but when she looked around she muttered a soft "oh," instead. Both Draco and Ron had been knocked out cold, not able to react fast enough. Harry rolled to his feet, and faced McClaggan, who smirked.
"Not bad, Potter. I see your reflexes have gotten better."
"Thanks Professor," said Harry, although still weary. The Professor loved to take him by surprise, especially after the Sneakoscope incident.
"Headmaster's office, now," the professor ordered and Harry was taken aback against his will. What had he done wrong now? He had not even used magic in the corridor!
"What?"
"The Headmaster wish to speak with you."
"Oh, okay. Can Hermione come?"
McClaggan shook his head negative. "No, not this time. Let's go, Potter."
"What about-" Harry started, thinking about Ron and to some very small extent, Draco.
"Nah, just leave them there, they deserve nothing less. This way they will be more vigilant next time."
Harry shot Hermione an apoplectic look, but she mouthed a `don't worry' to him and turned to the motionless students on the ground, no doubt to wake them as soon as Harry and the professor was out of sight.
Harry dutifully followed McClaggan the way to Dumbledore's office, wondering what this was all about. He would not be surprised if it had something to do with the Threat though, the way they had been looking at him lately.
On the way the passed the old, ragged Mr. Filch, who was patting his cat Mrs. Norris.
"You almost caught the hairy beast, didn't you girl?" he asked and Harry was somewhat disgustedly reminded of Mrs. Figg. "Nothing to be ashamed of, I still love you. You'll catch it some other time, I'm sure."
Harry failed in suppressing a shiver. He had always known that the caretaker was weird, but this took the icing of the cake! He could not believe the Mr. Filch talked about catching students with his cat like that! Why Dumbledore insisted on having a man like that in the castle was beyond Harry.
McClaggan followed him the whole way up and Harry was surprised to see not only Dumbledore, but also McGonagall, Snape, Tonks, Moody and Remus there as well
"What's-" asked Harry, perplexed.
"Sit down Harry," said Dumbledore, and pushed his Half-Moon Spectacles higher up on his nose. Harry complied. "As I am sure you have noticed, tomorrow is the first of October and only 31 days until Halloween. Because of that, we feel that increasing your safety is necessary."
Harry suppressed a sigh, he had expected this and he knew he could not complain. For all he knew the "increased safety" could save his life...
"That's where we come in," said Tonks proudly, interrupting (without knowing) Dumbledore. "For three weeks, one of us will follow you around to all times. Then, the last week, at least two of us will watch over you at the same time."
"All of you?" asked Harry uncertainly, looking at Snape who shot him an unpleasant look in return.
"Even I, to some extent," said Dumbledore, either not noticing or caring that Harry and Snape did not like each other any better than they had before. "Alas, I need to keep up with my Headmaster duties at the same time so I will only make an appearance if there is a problem." Harry nodded. "What if I don't get caught, though? Maybe they're just trying to scare us?" Fat chance.
"The first three days we'll keep the same protection as we did the last days before Halloween. With other words; at least one of us will follow you around, perhaps two. If you are still here then we will have a new meeting. Any objections?"
Harry suddenly had a feeling that there was something important he needed to say, something dead important, that needed to be taken care of immediately. But what was it? The meeting with Malfoy? No, that could not be it, there had to be something else... oh, if only he could remember!
He was suddenly aware of that everyone were looking at him, waiting for an answer and he felt a little uncomfortable.
"Oh, no. Thank you."
"No problem," said Remus and winked. "I suppose the gift to Hermione went well?"
Harry blushed. "Yes Remus, it did."
"How about we chat up a bit in my old office?"
"That'll be nice," said Harry, after an approving look from McClaggan who had the office at the moment. Snape and McGonagall; seeing that there were nothing left to discuss, left the office without any other words. Lupin got up to follow Harry out.
"Nice to see you again, Harry!" said Tonks enthusiastically, almost knocking some of Dumbledore's fragile instruments over. "I'll watch over you after R.J is done."
`R.J?' Harry wondered, but then realized that she meant Remus, who had `John' as a middle name. He laughed. "Thanks Tonks."
"Constant Vigilance, Potter!" added Moody as they closed the door.
Someone never changed.
-
-
Chatting up with Remus was a pleasant experience. Harry realized that there were little he actually knew about the Werewolf. One thing was for sure though; Remus really had been one of his father's best friends. Apparently, his father and Remus got friends in their second year when Remus had helped Sirius and James out of a tight spot. At that time Remus had been friends with Peter, so when Sirius and James got friends with Remus they got friends with the traitor too.
Harry still found it hard to talk about Sirius, but it was easier than it had been a month ago. It felt comforting to talk about his Godfather with Remus, because he knew how Harry felt better than anyone else. Hermione was very understanding and comforting and all, but she had not really lost anybody she had been close too. She still had her parents, she had not known Cedric and Harry suspected she never really got to know Sirius either. Not that Harry wanted her to lose someone close to her of course, far from it.
Harry introduced Akin to Remus and Remus was greatly surprised. After some thoroughly inspection though the older
man came to the conclusion that Akin was not an ordinary snake, however, why the Werewolf could not put his finger on.
Harry asked Akin about it, but the snake just snickered and refused to answer.
"Impossible to get a straight answer from him," Harry half - joked to Remus.
"He is a snake though... it's a reason the Slytherin house has a snake for mascot, you know," Remus half-joked back and they both laughed. It was not very funny, but it felt good to laugh nonetheless. Especially in that time they were living in.
"Oh Harry, be careful, would you?" asked Remus suddenly, worry written in his eyes. Harry squirmed under his gaze.
"Of course..."
"I mean really careful," said Remus, looking at him intently without blinking. "Don't play the hero as you tend to-"
Harry got angry at once. "I'm not trying to-"
"I know Harry, and I also know that helping others is a part of your nature. We all love you for it. I love you for it!"
Harry did not know what to say so he said nothing, but somewhere in his mind he registered what Remus had just said. Someone loved him, and that was not exactly a thing he had heard a lot in his life.
He did not feel angry anymore, only defeated. He did have a thing for saving people...
"Do you promise?" asked Lupin, not wanting to drop the topic.
"Yes," said Harry, "but you need to promise the same thing too."
Remus looked at him curiously and Harry quickly added: "Sirius died because Voldemort knew he meant a lot to me. I would not be surprised if he went after you next. I - I don't want to lose you too."
"Oh Harry," said Remus and gave Harry a gentle hug. "I'll be careful... and I'll always be there for you. Just remember that people die in war. It's just the way it is. Hopefully Voldemort is vanquished soon."
Harry's stomach dropped painfully as he remembered the Prophecy. Remus apparently did not know.
"Remus?" he said, with a strangled voice. "There's something I need to tell you."
"Is there anything wrong?"
Harry forced a laugh. "Yeah, that's one way to put it..."
"Fire ahead then," said Remus and sat down, resting his head in his hands and looking at Harry with great concentration. Harry drew a huge breath and began to tell Remus Lupin all about the Prophecy.
-
So far Harry had only told Hermione about it, and telling the former Professor about the Prophecy had helped a lot. Still, Harry noticed that when he told people about it, he felt a bigger pressure on him to end it all soon. Especially when he knew that he was the only one who could do something about the attacks that still came regularly.
The next week was tough for Harry. Always having a teacher or an Auror around was like a constant reminder of Voldemort and Halloween. Besides, he could never do anything but sleeping and go to the toilet by himself. They followed him everywhere; when he had classes they would stand in the back, when he went to the meals or to the common room they always kept themselves close by, when he ate they stood by the end of the table... the only exception was Snape, who naturally kept himself as far away as possible without breaking his promise to Dumbledore. He was the only one who would let Harry breathe and have some freedom. Tonks, however, had great fun changing to a blue eyed bimbo and flirting with him every time other people were around, receiving the end of many stares.
Harry could also tell that Hermione took great annoyance of this as she too followed him everywhere with a slight frown and was constantly on the edge. Whether or not that was because of Tonks or because of her promise the week before he could not tell, nor did he ask. He was worried though, because her normal perfect performance in class had gone down a notch, and it would be a lie to say that she did not care.
-
-
The October the 7th Harry had a new appointment with McClaggan as usual, and Hermione and Akin were with him. However, as soon as they stepped into the office Harry realized that the DADA professor had something special in mind, since all the lights were out.
He was not wrong.
"This time we are practicing `Training Technique.' Technique is extremely important in a duel, and could mean the difference between life and death." McClaggan let the news sink into him a bit before continuing.
"Now, Ms. Granger, this time I do not wont you to be on my side as usual, but on Harry's." Harry frowned in confusion. "However," said McClaggan, looking at Hermione with a smirk, "I do not want you to do any magic, so give Harry your wand."
"But-!" said Hermione, her eyes wide-open. "I need my wand to defend-!"
"Harry is going to defend you, my lady."
Hermione opened her mouth and closed it again and shot Harry an incredulous look. "You're going to defend me?"
"Apparently," Harry snapped back, not liking her tone although he could understand why she was nervous. He was in fact nervous himself. He could not move as freely as normal when he had to protect others.
The classroom was still dark and Hermione hesitantly gave her wand to him, letting him pocket it away safely.
"Let's begin," said McClaggan and bowed shortly. However, before Harry could do the same McClaggan had already started the duel with a stunner, that was not directed to Harry but to Hermione, who barely managed to dodge it.
"Harry!" she hissed.
"Sorry!"
"FOCUS POTTER! Do not let your attention wander!" shouted McClaggan and shot a new stunner, towards Harry this time.
"Protego!"
"DON'T STEP ON YOUR HEELS!"
"I'm not!" said Harry, but McClaggan did not hear him because he had already fired another curse towards him. Not seeing what it was Harry had no choice but to dodge.
"ATTENTION!"
Harry made sure he had Hermione behind him most of the time, where he could protect her to some extent at least, but it was not easy because then he could not dodge so much as he would have liked.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" he shouted and McClaggan reflected it with a Protego. Harry reflected it back and the disarming spell hit the wall to McClaggan's left.
"Incarcero!" shouted McClaggan and Harry was ready to reflect the binding spell, but in the last second the professor pointed his wand a little to the side instead and the spell captured Hermione.
"Finite!" said Harry quickly before McClaggan could do something else, and the roped disappeared. Luckily the spell was not too strong.
Hermione shot him a look and nodded towards the professor, as though telling him to pay attention. Right then McClaggan fired another spell:
"AVIS!" he shouted, and Harry suddenly had to deal with a herd of attacking, small birds with sharp beaks.
"IMPEDIMENTA!" shouted Harry and they fell to the ground. However, he knew that was only temporary. "Hermione!" he called, not sure about what to do next.
"Burn them!" she shouted, and Harry did:
"Incendio!"
McClaggan, however, had a nice opportunity to plan his next attack:
"Conjuntivio! Petrificus totalis! ACCIO MS. HERMIONE GRANGER!"
"Protego! Protego! Pro - what?" Harry was caught completely off guard and to his surprise Hermione shot out from behind him - knocking him over in the process - and straight to McClaggan's waiting grasp. Angry, the professor pushed her away again and she landed roughly on the floor.
"Had I been a bad guy right now, a Death Eater for instance," he said, glaring ugly, "then she would have been dead by now. Do not let anything catch you off guard! And do not forget to have your legs further apart AND YOUR HEELS UP FROM THE FLOOR!"
Harry swallowed with difficulty and ran over to Hermione, who now was in a sitting position.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked and lifted her up gently by the shoulders. She nodded her head and smiled, although a little shaken.
"Yeah. He's right though; I wouldn't have much of a shot without a wand."
"Don't say that," he said, a little offended even though he did not have the right to, "There's nothing you can't do and you know it!"
"You're sweet," she said, and Harry half - wondered if that was good thing since he was a boy, "I know you won't let anything happen to me if you can prevent it."
Meanwhile McClaggan was tapping his foot. "Done soon? If you keep going like that then we'll soon have one more person to take care of."
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, confused, but Hermione - who obviously had caught the joke - gasped:
"Professor!"
McClaggan barked a laugh. "Just kidding, just kidding... now, where were we? Ah, yes, fighting technique.
"Potter, you need to attack more, even though you have one to defend besides yourself. When you do nothing but defend you will not have the upper hand because you would let the opponent decide how to play the game. Trust me - you do not want that to happen! He or she will tire you out and it gives the attacker an advantage to plot other things to take your guard down. I have yet to hear about a duel where one who only defended him - or herself won. This should be obvious by now and you better do your best to learn. We both know that you will fight for your life sooner or later."
Harry took this information to heart and nodded, but he still did not get the joke and that was bothering him. "Yes professor."
They continued the lesson with powerful cutting and punching spells, which Harry was getting better and better at. McClaggan also promised that next lesson he would take Harry and Hermione out to teach them how to Apparate. (Hermione had turned seventeen and Harry was a special case. Ron, poor guy, had to wait.) Harry looked forward to take the license and did not feel very nervous about it. He was afraid that something would go wrong of course, but the fact that he had done it a couple of times before with an accident comforted him. The professor also told Harry that it was best to get it over with as soon as possible. If they were lucky Harry would be able to do it until Halloween and then he had a new potential way to escape.
They also had a new duel and this time Hermione paired up with McClaggan and was allowed to use a wand again, much to her delight. Harry knew he could beat her in a duel, but when she and McClaggan paired up against him he could only last for about five minutes. It was not bad, but Harry knew he should be able to do better.
In the end Harry was nothing short of exhausted and was ashamed to admit so when he saw that McClaggan had hardly broken out a sweat.
"Stop whining and go and get yourself a shower then, for Merlin's sake," was the comment he got back, but he shrugged the remark off.
Hermione looked tired too, though she had a much easier time than he had. She did not want to hold his hand on the way out though.
"Don't," she said, "I know you mean well and all, but I'm so stressed out right now. We have that huge potion assignment tomorrow and a three foot essay on how to register as an Animagus, and we haven't even started!"
Harry looked wide-eyed at her, but realized it was his fault. They had practice together every day, did all their homework together when they had the time and Hermione had even more classes than he had. They did not have so much homework as they had had the last OWL year, but with the DA, the lessons with McClaggan, the threat from Voldemort, Occlumency and not to mention the normal classes, Harry also had Quidditch practice and Hermione prefect duties. Homework had simply been put aside for more important things. Harry dreaded Halloween, but at the same time he looked forward to it (as long as he did not get taken of course) because then he could use his time on other things than prepare for a fight that would later decide his life.
Harry handed Akin over to Hermione, she had became quite fond of the little one. Secretly, Harry knew Akin considered them - in a weird, and slightly perverse way - as his parents, probably since they were the first thing he had seen in the world. Harry wondered how well Akin knew them, when the snake was even capable to help him with Occlumency. Harry could not forget what Lupin had said; just looking at how Hermione would defend Akin made him wonder how much of it really was a coincidence.
Walking as far away from McClaggan as they were allowed, Harry whispered to Hermione:
"What was the joke about anyway?"
Hermione flushed deeply. "Why, Mr. Potter, has no one ever told you about `the Birds and the Bees?'"
Harry gaped at her. "What?"
Hermione gave him a stern look. "Be quiet, he's right behind us. He's going to tease us forever if he hear us talking about it! Unless you want `the talk?'"
Harry shook his head violently and they did not say anything more until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady where McClaggan bid good bye to them. Tonks was waiting inside.
"Wotcher, Harry!"
Harry and Hermione, however, did not acknowledge her this time. With a deep sigh they sat down on the couch in front of the fire to finish their homework.
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