Chapter 25 - Fights and Fancies
Author's Note: Hey, I'm really sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. I had hoped to already have it, but between finals the last week of May, 6-8 hour days at work since then, and a bad case of writer's block…it took me a while to come up with anything. Anyway, here is chapter 25, I hope to have 26 up by Saturday.
The next several days went by fairly quickly. There were, indeed, several questions surrounding the capture and the rescue of Tonks. From what he'd heard, Harry was certain that there was suspicion and skepticism as to why the rescue was so...well, easy. Some how, the news of his and Draco's trip made it around the school in no time, and the gossip was at a high.
How were they able to save her from Malfoy Manor, of all places?
Why is Draco helping? Potter actually trusts him?
He's probably just like his father...both of them are like their fathers...so how are they friends?
Those questions and several others where heard several times over the course of just a few days. Harry could tell the suspicion was getting to Draco, even if the wizard was too proud to let it show. In a way, he could understand. Harry knew how he had felt when he had learned what James was really like. It had to be really hard for Draco, knowing the type of things, the type of person Lucius Malfoy was.
Despite the troubles that had arisen with the rescue of Tonks, who had been in the Infirmary since her return, everything had gone as usual. The DADA class was as exciting as ever, probably more so now that both Sirius and Remus were teaching. Gryffindors were to have the class again later after breakfast, and everyone was excited. The speculations of what they would be doing in the class echoed all down the house table.
Harry glanced up at the Professor's table where both Sirius and Remus sat; the two wizards were watching the Great Hall with interest and more than a hint of amusement. They were planning something. Remus's eyes met Harry's and they both smiled. Oh, yes, they were planning something.
The raven-haired wizard turned back to the table and to his friends, "hey, guys," Hermione, Ron, and Neville glanced up at him curiously. He grinned, "When walking to Padfoot and Moony's, be prepared, they've got something planned for us."
The other three Gryffindors glanced up at the table and they too noticed the mischievous expression on Sirius's face and the amusement dancing in Remus's eyes. They all nodded and returned to their meals. "What do you think it is?" Neville asked.
"Well, I remember that Sirius and my dad have been compared to the Weasley twins so...it could be anything if Sirius is in on it." Harry mused.
"Yeah, but Remus is sensible enough that he won't let him do anything that would actually hurt us or put us in danger," Hermione frowned.
Harry shook his head, "I didn't say he would. My best guess is that we're in for a bit of a challenge today."
Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement. Harry was about to add something else when a tug at the sleeves of his robes. He frowned slightly and glanced to find the source. His expression softened into a smile when he saw Emily looking at him. "Hey! Why aren't you down there with your first year friends?"
Emily smiled, "I wanted to sit with you today."
Harry scooted over giving the little girl room to sit, and she happily climbed up and sat right next to him. He smiled as he glanced at his friends, all of whom were giving him looks of pure amusement.
"I'll say it again," Ron said quietly. "Looks like you've got some competition, 'Mione."
Hermione rolled her eyes but watched with a small smile as Harry interacted with the little girl. "Are you hungry, Emy?" He asked.
"Oh yes, I was really busy with homework last night I didn't eat dinner. Professor Snape gave us a really long essay for homework and so did Professor Binns." The little girl explained.
Harry smiled and filled a plate for her and set it in front of her. His gaze lifted from her and drifted casually about the Hall. He noticed that Dumbledore and McGonagall were in deep discussion, as were Sirius and Remus. He glanced down the rest of the table only to find Snape watching him. As much as he still disliked the man, he had gained a bit more respect for him since befriending Draco. He gave the Potion's Master a slight nod and a slight smile, which earned him slightly narrowed eyes but a barely visible nod in return.
His gaze continued around the Hall, resting first on the Ravenclaw table. Luna, once again was on her own, she should sit over here sometime, he thought to himself. Then he glanced to Cho, noting absently that he no longer felt anything for the Asian girl. He shook his head slightly and glanced to the Slytherin table to find that Draco's eyes were on him. He quirked a slight smile, noticing how uncomfortable the blonde looked and the dark looks he was receiving from his own house.
Harry tilted his head slightly, motioning for Draco to come sit at the Gryffindor table. Said wizard arched his eyebrows but looked to be considering the offer. He glanced at the rest of his table and got to his feet, making his way over to the rival house's table. Harry smirked as he realized that all four houses were watching the blonde's movements. Draco must have noticed it to; he threw his own dark look to the Slytherin table as he lowered himself into a space next to Ginny.
Emily's gaze rose from her plate as she saw movement, she smiled when she saw the Slytherin wizard take a seat, "Well, it's about time, you decide to come over here."
Everyone who had heard the girl's statement laughed. Draco chuckled, "And what do you mean by that, Miss Emily?"
The girl gave a small shrug, "I don't think you belong over there. You belong here with the rest of us. You're not like them."
Draco's expression softened, and a rare smile lit his face, "Thank you, Emily."
Normal conversation picked up again at the table. Harry could hear Hermione, Ron, and Neville going back to the DADA subject. They seemed to be debating just what the two wizard's had in mind for class. Emily had gone back to her breakfast and seemed to be deep in thought about something. He watched the little girl fondly when he overheard another conversation.
"She's right, you know." Ginny said quietly.
"Who? About what?" Draco said, obviously confused.
"Emily. You don't belong over there anymore, you belong here. With us." the redhead girl explained.
Draco smiled, "I'm still a Slytherin, Gin."
"That's just because that's who you were at age eleven. You've changed, you're not the same badass that you used to be." Ginny teased.
"Uh-oh, there goes my reputation," Draco chuckled.
"It's a good reputation to lose if you ask me," she said wryly.
"I agree," he nodded. He fell silent and avoided her gaze suddenly.
"Draco?" she frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I-er-it's nothing," he said lightly.
"Draco Malfoy, I'll drag it out of you if I have to," she warned.
He smiled and shrugged, "Alright, here goes nothing. You know the-um-Hogsmeade trip next weekend, right?"
Ginny nodded in confusion, "Well, yeah."
"I was-er-wondering, if you'd, you know, go with me." He said, his gaze back on the table.
Ginny's mind reeled; did Draco Malfoy just ask her on a date? A small smile slipped on to her face, "Sure, that sounds like fun."
Harry smiled inwardly as he saw the blonde wizard's head whip around to look at the redheaded witch, eyes wide in surprise. It was about damn time that he'd made his move. Harry had wondered how long it was going to take him to talk to her. He glanced back down, only just realizing that Emily was watching him in curiosity.
"What's up, Emy?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Nothing."
"You sure?"
Emily glanced at him again before nodding, "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm going to go get my books and stuff and go to class, okay?"
Harry smiled, "Alright, have fun."
The girl climbed away from the table and gave Harry a hug, which he returned, and to his surprise, a kiss on the cheek, before hurrying out of the Hall. Harry was still recovering from the surprise when he heard a snicker from across the table. He glanced over to see Ron and Hermione trying their hardest not to laugh.
"Looks like you've got yourself a girlfriend, Potter," Draco smirked.
"Some one's certainly got a crush on you," Neville added.
"Alright enough," Harry said with a chuckle.
"But, Harry, it's so cute, she fancies you," Hermione laughed.
"Okay, Hermione, her 'crush' is little different then the on you had on Lockhart during second year. The only difference is that I'm not a fraud." Harry retorted with a smile.
Hermione blushed, "I should have known you were going to bring that up."
"Anyway, what do you say we get to class, I'm curious as to what they've got in store," Harry suggested. He glanced up at the head table, noting that Sirius and Remus were already gone.
"Good idea, I've got Potions first," Draco said, getting to his feet, the other's fallowing suit.
Ginny picked up her bag, "I've got first off, and I think I'm going to go visit Tonks."
"Alright," Harry nodded. "I think I'm going to go see her at lunch."
The trio and Neville made their way from the Gryffindor table, Ginny and Draco tailing a little bit behind. They departed and Draco headed toward the dungeons, Ginny to the infirmary, and Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Neville went up toward the DADA classroom.
When they got to the corridor Harry motioned for them to slow down and stay quiet. All four of them pulled their wands from their robes and made toward the door. Ron went to open the door, only to find it locked. They nodded, so it was a trap. They glanced over their shoulders as the rest of the Gryffindors appeared. Harry, once again, motioned for silence and wands, an order that was quickly fallowed.
Hermione quickly stepped forward and whispered, "Alohamora" The door unlocked with a click and Hermione stepped back again. It was clear that Harry was meant to go first. He nodded and carefully opened the classroom door. It was completely dark inside, only the light from the corridor was seen, and even that didn't help much. He heard the start of a Lumos and immediately had a bad feeling about it. He shook his head sharply. Ron had caught his meaning and quickly cast a silencing spell on the speaker, who turned out to be Lavender Brown; he released the spell just as sharply, they would probably need all the wands they could get.
Hermione had made sure that she was the last one in and closed the door. It was dark, but it gave the Gryffindor and who ever else was in there a level playing field. Everyone was completely quiet, listening for any threatening movement. The witch frowned as she heard a soft whisper then saw a red beam flash forward in collide with Pavarti Patil. She spun and shouted "Stupefy" In the direction the spell had come from.
"Nice try, Hermione, but you'll have to do better than that," came Sirius's taunting voice. "Stupefy"
"Protego!" She yelled, and the spell was reflected.
"Terrengella!" Came another voice, the spell hit Neville who began dancing.
"Not again," the boy groaned.
"Finite Incantation," Harry whispered. He listened closely and dodged as another stunner came from the darkness, "Stupefy!" The spell was reflected and came back to hit Dean Thomas squarely in the chest.
Several thin cords snapped through the darkness from two different directions and wrapped themselves tightly around Lavender and Seamus, both fell solidly to the floor.
Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Neville quickly found one another in the darkness and stood back to back. "Well, I'm impressed," Came Sirius's voice once more. "D'you see this Moony?"
"I do, indeed. Very Impressive," Came Remus's voice. "Though, they've yet to figure out how we can see them, but they cannot see us."
"Very true," Sirius said again. "Which leaves us with a very distinct advantage. Stupefy! Stupefy!"
Neville's unusually quick work repelled both stunners, protecting the group of four. A gasp came from Hermione, "Oh! Of course! Obscurum absum," She said loudly aiming her wand above the heads of her friends.
The room was still dark but all four students could now see by heat vision. "Good work, 'Mione," Harry said.
The four looked around, Harry and Ron both moved their wands sharply and chords like the ones on Lavender and Seamus snapped forward and wrapped themselves around two figures, who fell to the ground with a sound of obvious start.
"Lumos," said both Hermione and Neville. The room relit its self and the four quickly made their way around reawakening and unbinding their classmates before all the students surrounded Sirius and Remus who lay bound on the floor.
Harry flicked his wand and the bonds went limp allowing the two men to get to their feet. They dusted off their robes and smiled at the class. "A job very well done. All of you. We will, of course, need to do some work on both the defensive and offensive tactics, but you all did very well," Remus smiled.
"You did excellent, as Moony, here said." Sirius agreed. "Neville, excellent work on repelling the stunner, but remember to listen for other threats as well, the dancing-legs curse put you in a bad position, but other than that you did really well. Hermione, you're quick thinking helped you bring Remus and myself down, excellent. Now, after today, everyone, all four house's, schedules are going to be reconfigured. All four houses will be having DADA together, which is why you have two teachers here this year rather than one. You will never know when you will be walking into this classroom, but also into an attack. I'm going to sound like Alastor Moody here, but he's a great Auror, You need to say vigilant, you need to be prepared."
"If no one is truly injured, you are all free to go," Remus said. "If there are any questions please stay behind and ask them. Furthermore, I would like a foot long essay due to me by next class on a few defensive and or protective spells that could aid you in the upcoming classes. Good day."
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