Chapter 11
The next day there was only one topic of gossip-Harry's mysterious scream in the middle of the night. Everyone wanted to know what happened, but true to his word, he told no one.
Harry gave a light smile at all of the attention that Neville was getting now. He had never been one of the more popular students, and wasn't used to all of the attention. But he too, kept his mouth shut and told no one of the mysterious happenings of the night before.
Ron did not have to put up with as much as Hermione did, seeing as it wasn't his name Harry screamed for the whole school to hear. But everyone knew that if something happened to Harry, Hermione and Ron would be right there with him. No one seemed to understand what Neville had to do with the whole scenario, but after a while, they all got the hint and dropped it.
A new favorite topic for discussion was that Harry and Hermione were a couple now. They received a lot blank stares
and such for that, but no one said anything, no one but Malfoy.
"Hey Potter, what's wrong? Have a nightmare about your mudblood girlfriend snuffing it did you?" he sneered at them as he passed their table.
Harry pulled out his wand immediately and pointed it straight at his face, daring Malfoy to say another word. It wasn't until Harry noticed that every head in the Great Hall had turned to look at Harry that he realized what he had just done.
He cursed and put his wand away. There was now no doubt in anyone's mind anymore what had woken Harry up the previous evening. The Slytherins all sneered at Harry and Hermione, while the other three tables stared at Hermione in shocked silence. They all knew from the previous year that Harry's dreams usually came true.
Avoiding the stares and whispers throughout the hallways, Harry, Ron, and Hermione managed to make it through their next few classes without incident. Mark Evans, however, was not so lucky.
So many people whispered and pointed at him that he finally couldn't take it any more and holed himself up in his dorm room. It was only with some very strong persuasion that Harry was able to get him to come out for their first DA meeting.
Harry glanced around the full room, seeing that nearly everyone from the previous year was in the room, minus those who had graduated and Cho and Marietta. There was only one new face in the crowd, and that was a very nervous and scared looking Mark Evans.
"Okay." Harry spoke up and the room fell quiet. "We are hear because we are the most vulnerable students in the school to an attack by Voldemort." Harry beamed proudly at all the students around him, for none of them had flinched at the Dark Lord's name, although he figured Mark only didn't because he did not understand the gravity of the situation.
"Alright, everyone pair up, we'll start by practicing the shield charm. Use any spell you desire, as long as you know the counter spell, and attempt to get them past your opponent's shield. Switch after about ten minutes. Later this week we will get back into patronus'," Harry grinned at the excited expressions and murmurs that broke out from the DA. "And starting in a few weeks I will be using the Imperious Curse on all of you, until you can throw it off as well as I can. Dumbledore's orders." He let this sink in for a moment.
"Okay. Mark you'll be pairing with me. The rest of you partner up and get to work."
Harry didn't really have time to watch the whole DA practicing, as he was too busy starting Mark off with the disarming spell, expelliarmus. Mark picked it up fairly quickly, and by the end of the lesson he had successfully disarmed Harry, although Harry wasn't trying to block him.
"Alright, that's enough for today guys," Harry announced after two hours of the shield charm. "We will meet back here tomorrow same time, and then again on Friday and Sunday. From now on this class will be held for two hours a day, four days a week, until the end of the term."
There was a lot of excited whispering at this, the DA had never met so frequently before. Harry smiled at them all and dismissed them, leaving only after everyone had else had gone, and walked bag to the Gryffindor common room with Ron, Hermione, and Mark.
"So how was your first lesson Mark?" Hermione asked him sweetly.
"It was great!" Mark exclaimed. "I disarmed Harry!"
Ron and Hermione gave Harry surprised looks, and he grinned at them, letting them know that Harry wasn't fighting back.
"Well done mate," Ron said, grinning at Mark. "It took me two bloody weeks to learn that last year." Mark seemed only prouder after this, and the three of them beamed at him when they got back to the common room and he ran off to tell his fellow first years excitedly that he had disarmed Harry Potter.
A few weeks into the term, even occlumency seemed to be getting much better. Harry could now successfully deflect Dumblrdore's attacks and was now starting to feed him false information instead. Neville was doing well also, although not quite at the rate that Harry was. Harry grinned to himself one night after a good occlumency lesson, cleared his mind, and drifted off into a dreamless sleep, knowing that Voldemort wouldn't be able to touch his dreams anymore.