Ch 23 First Week of School
Harry and Hermione decided the Room of Requirements would be an excellent place to continue their early morning training with Saldar. Afterwards, they went down to breakfast where McGonagall and the other Heads of House were handing out class schedules. Hermione's eyes lit up when she got hers and Ron simply groaned as he read through his. Harry was quiet as he browsed through his list.
Passing by him, McGonagall whispered, "If you have any questions, Potter, come see me after breakfast." Harry simply nodded as he continued to study his schedule.
Leaning over, Hermione looked at his list and asked, "What is it?"
According to his schedule most of his classes were held on only three days. Harry had Potions on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Hermione. He also had double DADA on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons, along with Ron and Hermione. Wednesday mornings he had an hour with Professor Sprout and then two hours with Dumbledore before lunch. In the afternoon, he had an hour and a half each with McGonagall, Flitwick, and Winklett, who still taught Muggle science. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday had the following description-Training with Hunt. If not working with Hunt, you may attend the regularly scheduled Magical Creatures or History of Magic class.
Harry looked at Hermione. "I guess I know what I'll be doing with all of that free time I won't be using to sleep," he chuckled. "You are going to help me organize some of this studying so I can play Quidditch, right Mione?"
Still staring at his schedule, she replied "Of course," absentmindedly. "I hope Hunt doesn't think he can train you every single day-you will have to rest occasionally, and I don't mean just at night. I think we should go talk to Professor McGonagall right now."
"Relax, Mione. Let's finish breakfast first. Then I'll go talk to her." After breakfast, Ron and Hermione headed off to class while Harry found McGonagall at the Professors' table. She led him into the side room of the Great Hall and began explaining.
"I understand that it looks like a very full schedule, Harry. You will take Potions and DADA with the other students. Professor Dumbledore and I both felt that it would be very good for you and the other students to be in those classes. The Wednesday classes will be mostly independent study classes, similar to what you did last year. Only not so extreme. Albus and I have had several discussions with Hunt and made it very clear that he is not to train you four days a week every week. We simply blocked out that time because there might be occasional exercises that will take that long, but they will be rare and certainly not every week. If you are not training with Mr. Hunt, then you are free to use the time to attend either Hagrid's class or Professor Binn's class if you wish, use it for study time, practice Quidditch, or just enjoy the weekend with your classmates. I trust Miss Granger will help make sure you balance it properly."
Harry grinned. "Right then. But what exactly will Mr. Hunt be teaching me?"
"You've fought beside him and haven't guessed yet? Mr. Hunt was one of the most accomplished Grey Warlocks ever." At Harry's look of puzzlement she explained. "The Grey Warlocks are the American equivalent of the British Aurors. He was a member of the most elite group of American Aurors, the DOGs, the Dark Ops Group. With the Ministry of Magic, as well as the Department of Magical Justice and the Division of Aurors, in disarray right now, there really is nobody else available to begin your Auror training and we saw no reason to put it off another year. Mr. Hunt has agreed to serve as a special instructor for your Auror training, Potter. Remus will come and assist at times, and has offered to help when he can with the DA club, if you wish to continue that as well."
Harry whistled in disbelief. "Wow. Do you think I should continue the DA?"
"That is entirely up to you, Potter. Wait a week or so to see how everything else is going to see if you will have the time to do it and ask around to see if there is interest in continuing it. I imagine there will be. Don't be afraid to ask for help with it either, like you did last year. But most importantly, I do not want you pushing yourself beyond your limits like last year, Harry."
Harry glanced at her quickly. He couldn't remember if she had ever addressed him directly by his first name.
"I do not want a repeat of last year's events. I do not want you to push yourself so hard that you feel you need to resort to a Time Turner or other means as a way of keeping up with your studies and training. If all of this gets to be too much to bear, please come and talk to either myself or Albus. We will then readjust your schedule accordingly. We want you to learn, but we also want you to enjoy your last year here with us Harry."
Her eyes looked kind of moist and Harry thanked her. He then asked where he might find Hunt, since that was the only class he had listed for the day. She smiled and told him to check down at Hagrid's hut.
When he arrived at Hagrid's door, he knocked on it and entered in response to Hagrid's bellow to come in. His eyes adjusted quickly and he easily spotted Hagrid and Samuel sitting at a table, Samuel dwarfed by Hagrid's large size.
"Ah, here's my star pupil to be," laughed Samuel. "Hagrid has just been telling me the most amazing stories about some of your exploits, Potter."
Blushing slightly, Harry insisted, "He's probably exaggerating. I've had a lot of good luck, and a lot of help from friends in doing everything I've done."
Samuel looked at him shrewdly. "It's good to be modest about one's abilities. Keeps you from getting overconfident and getting yourself or others killed. I'm here to help you learn to rely less on luck, Potter. Today will be an easy day. We'll just take a casual walk through the Forest so I can get a better sense of your skills. Then the real fun will begin on Friday."
Harry grinned mischievously. These lessons with Samuel might be more fun than he expected. "Who would you like to visit first, sir? Aragog and the spiders, Grawp the giant, Bane and the centaurs, or should we just chase some of the thestrals or one of the unicorns?"
Samuel's eyes widened slightly and he glanced at Hagrid, who was chuckling. "We'll see Potter. And call me Hunt. Sir makes me sound like some old mummified professor. And leave the robes here. Got running shoes on-good. I hope you like to run."
"I prefer to fly, but" Harry thought of the intense conditioning regimen Saldar had been putting him and Hermione through over the summer, "I've done a bit of running as well."
"Great, let's go."
--
Dinner was nearly half over and Hermione kept glancing around the Great Hall, looking for some sign of Harry.
"Relax, Hermione. You're making me dizzy," complained Ron as he shoved another mouthful of potatoes in his mouth. "Hergy wll be hrre somhn."
"Close your mouth when you eat, you're disgusting!" snapped Hermione irritably. "I didn't see Harry at lunch, did you?" Ron shook his head as he finished off his drink.
One of the doors swung open and in walked a very tired, dirty, scratched, wild haired wizard. He trudged over to Hermione and Ron, who both stood up to greet him eagerly.
"What happened to you? Where have you been?" asked Hermione in a concerned voice as she released Harry from a hug.
"Food. Need food," grunted Harry, sitting down heavily. He piled his plate twice as high as normal and dug in eagerly. Hermione and Ron exchanged curious glances and finished eating while Harry took the edge off his hunger.
Resting for a moment, Harry complained. "This was supposed to be the easy day with Hunt. He said a casual walk through the Forest."
"The Forbidden Forest?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, apparently it's not out of bounds for Hunt and me. After ten miles of jogging, he ran me through a series of tests to see how well the other Aurors had trained me. The guy's a maniac! He's complete nutters! When he caught me using my dragonform to turn invisible and track him, he came up with a new series of exercises to `push me harder' as he explained it. Do you have any idea how fast four foot long dragonflies can fly?"
"Big dragonflies, Harry? That doesn't sound too bad," chuckled Ron.
"No? You think furry, hairy, creepy crawling eight legged bloodsucking spiders are worse?"
Harry smiled slightly as Ron went slighty white in the face.
"You're right. Monster dragonflies aren't that bad. It's their poisonous fangs and paralyzing stingers they use when they catch you that's slightly unnerving. You should have seen him. He was enjoying himself I tell you. He's mental!"
"Well at least you don't have him again until Friday," said Hermione, though she looked concerned.
"Yeah, never thought I'd be looking forward to going to Potions or one of Snape's classes. But they couldn't possibly be any tougher than today."
"Yeah, Potions," murmured Ron with a very happy grin on his face.
"Oh, shut up already Ron. I can't believe McGonagall let you and half of the other Gryffindor boys back into that class! You idiots only want to go and drool at that veela for a couple of hours a week."
"That's not true. We realized the important intellectual development we were missing by depriving ourselves of our Potions lessons."
"None of you would have begged McGonagall to get back in there if Snape were still teaching the class," hissed Hermione.
"Of course not. He did not help us develop intellectually."
"Like Fleur is going to."
"Honestly Hermione. I would have thought you would have been the first one to give a new professor a chance. I remember most of the Gryffindor boys were very forgiving of the numerous faults of Gilderoy Lockhart which for some reason or another none of the girls seemed to recognize."
"Good grief, Ron! Give it a rest already! I was twelve years old!"
"That's how old this argument feels," commented Harry as he refilled his plate. Thankfully, Ron and Hermione let him finish eating in peace. Hermione went to the library and Ron and Harry headed to the Gryffindor common rooms. As they were walking, he asked Ron what the password was for the prefect's bathroom.
"Why?"
"Because I feel like I've been hit by about twenty bludgers. I think a nice soak in the pool might be just the ticket."
Ron smiled and whispered the password. "Fleur Delacour."
Harry laughed out loud. "I take it Hermione didn't pick the password."
Ron laughed. "Nope. In fact, she said she's not going to use it until we change the password. Which, by the way, I don't see happening anytime soon. Ginny thinks it's hilarious."
They gave the password and entered the Gryffindor common room.
Harry smiled. "Ginny would. So who is she seeing now?"
Ron scowled. "Nobody that I know of. And it better stay that way." He then stomped up the stairs towards their room.
Ginny looked up from her table where she had been writing an essay and came over with a concerned look on her face.
"What's up with Ron the grumpy old troll?"
"Oh, I was teasing him about who your latest boyfriend might be."
"OH!" she exclaimed.
Harry didn't notice her strange tone but just went on. "When I asked him he just said nobody, and that it better stay that way."
"Oh," replied Ginny in a much more relaxed tone.
"What?" he asked, looking at her strangely.
"Nothing. I better get back to my essay. I can't believe they assigned homework on the first day of classes."
"Yeah, see you later," added Harry and headed up to his rooms to get a change of clothes.
Later, as he relaxed in front of the fire, he slowly dozed off to sleep after a wonderful warm bath helped him work out some of his aching muscles. A light kiss woke him up instantly, and he gazed momentarily at the beautiful brown eyes that had captured his own.
"Rough first day, huh Harry?"
"Well, it just got much better now that you're here."
She sat down and snuggled in next to him and they enjoyed each other's company for a few minutes before heading to their respective bedrooms.
--
After training with Saldar, Harry and Hermione joined Ron for breakfast and then all three headed off to Potions together. It took them some time to find the new classroom, since it was no longer in the dungeons.
Instead, it was held in a large classroom on the third floor with lots of bright windows. Hermione looked around when they entered, trying to hide the fact that she was deeply impressed by the very orderly arrangement and variety of potion components in the room. The three of them found a table together in the middle of the room and sat down as the rest of the students filed in. What had been a fairly small class last year had nearly tripled in size, and probably four fifths of the students were male. Hermione snorted in disgust as the room slowly filled.
The back door opened and everyone except Harry and the girls in the class swiveled in their seats to appreciate the enchanting beauty of their instructor. She sauntered down the middle aisle of the classroom, smiling widely at the staring students and ignoring the angry gazes of the girls. Harry glanced up as she passed, and then quickly returned his gaze to the Potions book resting on his desk. He tried to ignore Hermione's angry muttering.
With a flourish, Fleur spun at the head of the classroom and addressed the students. "I will not bother reading the class roll today, because many of you probably won't be here again with me on Thursday."
Hermione's eyes snapped up towards the front of the room. Harry raised his eyes as well, paying close attention.
"Some of you here truly wish to learn the art of brewing potions. And I am here to instruct you in that craft. The rest of you are here for much less noble or enlightening reasons." Her voice had taken a flinty edge to it, and her soft eyes looked suddenly hard as she looked around the room, matching the gaze of every student. Most of the boys quickly averted their eyes.
"Because the creation of a potion is such a challenging art, demanding complete and total concentration, there is no room for other distractions. The simplest error can cause horrible side effects, poisoning, and even death. Therefore today, we will begin learning how to create the Anti-Glamour potion, a version of which I will now demonstrate for you."
Taking a goblet off of her desk which had a thin mist rising from it, Fleur raised it to her lips and drank deeply. She then turned away from the class to place the goblet back on her desk. When she turned around, Harry noticed something rather odd. Her hair had lost that magical silver sheen to it. It was still pretty, but appeared to be just a light blonde colour. Her sparkling blue eyes, while still beautiful, did not seem to pull you deep into their depths. He thought he noticed a faint scar on a cheek, where he had thought had been only perfectly smooth skin. Her ears were nice, but a little small for her head he thought. And her nose seemed a little too thin. She was still beautiful, but not overwhelmingly so.
"Now can anyone tell us how the potion I just took functions?" Seeing Hermione's hand fly into the air, she called on her.
"Well, an Anti-Glamour potion is intended to help the drinker resist certain types of charms and enchantments, usually those involving physical attraction. The potion you took, seems to work in reverse, negating the effects of, well, your veela heritage, on others."
"Excellent uhh Miss Granger, isn't it? I thought I recognized you. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now unfortunately for many in the class today, I find that in order for many of my students to keep from blowing themselves up or poisoning their partners, I need to drink an Anti-Glamour potion each time I teach class. Though some of you appear to possess the mental discipline to resist the considerable charms of a veela." When she said this last sentence, she looked directly at Harry, who blushed slightly. "This year we will be focusing on learning a variety of powerful healing and protective potions, ones that could prove to be extremely useful for a number of you. If that does not appeal to you, or if I no longer appeal to you, then by all means do not waste my time or yours by coming back on Thursday. Do not worry, I will not hold it against you if you choose not to continue. This will be a very difficult class. Now, please open to page 384 and read through it twice before you even think about pulling out your cauldron."
Ron rested his chin on his fists with his elbows on the table and slowly opened his book. Hermione glanced over at him with a triumphant look and whispered, "You were right Ron. I think she will help us develop intellectually." She then began humming contentedly as she began reading through the chapter. In between them, Harry smiled contentedly. This might very well be his best year ever in Potions he thought. He knew he could definitely stand to learn more effective healing and protective potions.
Lunch seemed rather quiet, most of the seventh year Gryffindor boys were still in shock from Potions class, and many were getting very nervous about their upcoming class with Snape. Rising from the table, Harry quipped at Ron, "Well, it couldn't be any worse than Potions."
"Don't say that Harry! You'll make it come true. It's Snape after all." Most of the Gryffindors were therefore in low spirits as they trudged down to the dungeons where Snape's class would be held. It did not take long for the classroom to fill. It had been an extremely popular class last year, and nobody had known that Snape would be teaching it this year. The room was less smoky, but still cold and damp. Instead of potion components, there were a variety of objects and artifacts along one wall, and two enormous shelves of books on two of the others. A few moments after everyone had found a seat, Snape came bursting through the door. He quickly walked to the front and then spun around to glare condescendingly at the students.
"Doubtless many of you will drop this course now that you know that I am teaching it," he seemed to glare at several Gryffindors. "And I have no doubt I will have to encourage others of you to leave who have neither the skill nor the intelligence to keep up with the rest of this class." He paused and stared at several Hufflepuffs. When several of the Slytherins started laughing, Snape glared at them and they quickly quieted, uneasy at Snape's reaction. Usually he ignored any disturbances they made in his class. "For a variety of reasons, this year of students is behind where it should be at this point in your Hogwart's career. Over the course of your years here, you have had several incompetent instructors who have failed you miserably. However, I will accept no excuses. You will catch up to where you should be as a seventh year student and you will exceed the absurdly low expectations of the Ministry of Magic on the NEWT exams next summer or you will not pass this class. Are there any questions?"
Harry was sure it was a rhetorical question and Snape continued. "Now this class will consist of two parts. On Tuesdays we will meet here to learn about various types of dark creatures and how to defeat them. I hope you kept your books from the last six years because we will be reviewing everything you should have learned in the past six years over the next twelve weeks." Gasps of astonishment broke out across the room. Even Hermione seemed somewhat startled at the amount of material to be covered. "On Thursdays, we will meet at a special room Professor Dumbledore has set up just for this class on the seventh floor. There we will be learning effective spells to use against dark wizards and then holding actual duels to allow you to gain firsthand experience in their use. This is a special room and is to be used only for the purposes of this class. Professor Dumbledore has allowed me to place several defensive wards of my own choosing to keep students from misusing it for other purposes. If you think you can get by them, by all means try. It will be my pleasure to send your homework assignments to the infirmary for you to finish."
"Now if there are no further questions, get out a scroll and describe for me in a foot long essay how to distinguish a werewolf from a real wolf. This should be easy, I already assigned this class something very similar several years ago. Let's see who actually did the assignment. Begin."
Harry grinned to himself as Hermione began scratching madly with her feather and Ron stared at his blank scroll with an angry scowl. This might prove to be a better class than he had originally thought, though he couldn't help but wonder why Snape had seemed to smile at him when he was explaining about the dueling component of the course.
--
After classes on Wednesday, he decided that it might actually be the easiest day of the week for him, despite having five classes scheduled for the day. With Dumbledore, he would continue to work on improving his mental control over his elemental magic and various mental exercises. With Winklett it was much the same. He would continue learning about Muggle science and keep trying to discover how he might use that knowledge in connection with his elemental magic. With Sprout, McGonagall, and Flitwick he would work on independent research projects with each, picking objects or spells of interest and learning about them and how to use them.
Delacour's class was much smaller on Thursday, though Harry was very pleased to see that both Neville and Ron had decided to stay in it. Not very many had. The three of them worked with Hermione on finishing their Anti-Glamour potions.
In Snape's class on Thursday, he learned why Snape had been smiling at him. When they arrived in the seventh floor corridor where the Room of Requirement was, the students waited for Snape to arrive even though many of them knew how to get into the room. Harry made a point to watch carefully to see what sort of protective wards Snape had placed on the room. He almost laughed when he saw how easy they would be for him to avoid, but managed to keep a straight face. Snape explained to them how to find the room, and when they finally entered, they found a room very similar to the one they normally met in for DA meetings. They began class by practicing the stunning spell and a simple shield spell to protect against it. Snape spent most of his time correcting students who had never attended a DA meeting. Harry hid a smile of pride when his fellow DA students easily performed the exercises Snape asked of them.
Glancing at Harry and several of the Gryffindors who were doing well, Snape remarked with a cold smile. "Obviously some of you have had some additional practice. Let's see how good you really are." Snape motioned for the class to follow him through a door in one wall. Inside they found a slightly raised platform on which they could duel. "You will duel until you're either stunned or disarmed." Glancing at the Slytherins, he added. "Today, you will use only the spells we have practiced today. Longbottom! Weasley! You two will duel first." Ron and Neville glanced at each other nervously and stepped onto the stage. Snape tapped the edge of the stage and the students heard a light buzzing. "It is a shield spell that will prevent stray spells from hitting any of the students watching," he explained. "Bow to each other. Now begin."
Neville and Ron looked at each other for a moment and then launched their spells almost simultaneously. Both of their stunners missed as each ducked out of the way. Neville then cast a shield, anticipating another attack from Ron. Ron did launch an attack, but he aimed low instead of directly at Neville's chest. When the spell bounced off the shield, it shot low, right into Neville's right leg. Neville crumpled to the side, his leg completely numb. Ron smiled and raised his wand in victory.
"Next time, finish him off completely Weasley. He is down but not defeated-he can still stun you and defeat you. Five points from Gryffindor. Longbottom, next time wait a moment longer in order to anticipate where your opponent will target the spell. Until your own shield spell grows larger and stronger, you will need to place it carefully. Malfoy. Granger. You are next." He waited for them to enter and then told them to begin.
Malfoy launched his stunner early but Hermione sidestepped it easily and cast a shield spell quickly as Malfoy's second attack came almost right after the first. She managed to deflect it back at Malfoy who dodged it easily but was unable to completely dodge Hermione's own stunner, which hit him in the shoulder, sending him flying backwards to the ground. Hermione took a step closer and aimed carefully when Malfoy whipped his wand in her general direction and shot out a single spark of blue light which then exploded in a bright, blinding flash. Hermione staggered back, raising one hand to her eyes and then she rolled quickly to her side, just as Malfoy launched a vicious cutting curse her way. Furious, Harry rushed towards the dueling area with his wand in hand when Snape's voice cracked through the air. "Do not interfere Potter. Let them finish it." Harry glared angrily at Snape as several of the students looked around in concern as a low rumble began to shake dust from some of the walls. "Control your temper Potter, or I shall be forced to deduct points," commanded Snape. Harry tried to unclench his jaw and take a deep breath to calm himself and rein in his growing anger and reached out to Hermione mentally.
"Let me help you. He has an unfair advantage right now, Mione."
"I'm fine, Harry. I want to do this on my own, thanks. I can beat him myself."
"Be careful."
Hermione then pronounced Imago Mirroro. Suddenly, there were three exact images of Hermione, all moving in perfect synchronization. She heard Malfoy launching another spell and quickly raised another shield to protect herself. With the spell deflected, she then aimed her wand in Malfoy's general direction and cast a freezing charm on the floor, turning the general area around Malfoy into a crunchy ice. A blast of orange flame then struck Hermione and passed right through her shield. As the students gasped in shock, the image disappeared and the two remaining images aimed their wands again at Malfoy. "Battuerum Martel!" She commanded in a powerful voice. Though Malfoy raised his shield, the spell easily blasted through his shield and tossed him like a rag doll until he slammed against the far wall. He bounced off and landed awkwardly on the ground a few feet in front of Hermione. "Accio wand!" she shouted and his wand came flying into her left hand. Holding perfectly still and listening closely for his labored breathing, she then pointed both wands at Malfoy.
"Do you yield?" she asked in a dangerous voice that echoed throughout the room.
"A Malfoy would never surrender to a Mud…"
"STUPEFY!" Twin beams of light shot from both wands and pummeled into Malfoy's side. His body bounced again off the wall and then he fell flat on his face, completely unconscious.
"Brilliant Mione! Simply amazing!"
Ron and the other Gryffindors were cheering loudly but slowly quieted at Snape's glare. Snape lowered the shield and strode angrily towards the young Gryffindor. He held out his hand for Malfoy's wand while Hermione just stood there, looking in his general direction.
"Miss Granger, give me his wand."
"Oh, sorry sir. Here." She moved to hand him the wand, but it was readily apparent to everyone in the room that she couldn't see his hand.
"Miss Granger, are you still seeing blue stars?"
"Yes," she replied. Harry surged forward in concern.
"She will be fine, Mr. Potter. The effects of that spell will wear off in a few minutes. That was an excellent duel Miss Granger, but I did tell you to only use the stunning and shield spells. Let's see-a mirror image illusion, a freezing charm, the Thundering Hammer spell, and a summoning charm. Twenty points from Gryffindor." Some of the Slytherins laughed, while Ron and the other Gryffindors howled in protest. "Silence!" commanded Snape.
He walked over to Malfoy and with a foot rolled him over on his back and pointed his wand. "Enervate." Malfoy opened his eyes groggily and smirked when he saw Snape towering above him. He stood uneasily and his smirk faded quickly as Snape began to speak.
"Mr. Malfoy. I thought my instructions had been very clear. You were to use the stunning spell and the shield spell only in the duels today. What part of that did you not understand?"
"But it was a duel," he protested. "Anything goes in a duel."
"Yes, in a real battle anything goes. But this was not a real battle. We have rules to protect students during duels here so that they can live long enough to learn how to survive in the real battles outside of this school."
"But she was using illegal spells. Like that one she nearly knocked me out with…"
"Yes, and I have taken points from her house for it. However, she was justified in using any means to defend herself when you broke the rules of the duel by attempting to blind her."
"But, Snape, I'm a…"
"You will address me as Professor Snape, Malfoy!" thundered Snape. "Five points from Slytherin. Another twenty points for the illegal spells you used in the duel. And fifty points for recklessly endangering the life of a fellow student. You will also serve a week's detentions with me. And I will have a long discussion with Dumbledore about whether you should remain Head Boy."
"But I'm a Malfoy! You wouldn't dare!"
"Would you care to try me, Malfoy?" whispered Snape in a deadly serious voice.
Malfoy wisely closed his mouth but continued glaring at Snape with hate boiling in his eyes. Ron and the remaining Gryffindors alternated between complete shock at Snape's behavior and glaring dangerously at Malfoy. The Slytherins were mainly in shock. Harry was standing near Hermione, with one arm draped protectively around her waist. Snape told two of the Slytherins to escort Malfoy to the infirmary. In fact, Malfoy needed their assistance simply to walk out of the room. When they had left, Snape called forward several other pairs to duel.
Several minutes later Hermione had recovered her sight and Harry finally calmed down a bit. Snape looked over at her and then nodded slightly when she returned his gaze. Snape then called out Padma Patil. Harry looked up at the Ravenclaw and then heard his own name. "What? This isn't fair. There's no need for this. There's no way she can beat me-I don't want to humiliate her. Maybe if I drag it out a bit, let her last a few minutes, that way she's not embarrassed," he thought to himself as he walked towards the platform. Her wand hand was shaking slightly and Harry felt bad for her. When Snape said begin, he simply created a shield spell to let her throw a spell or two at him. Then he countered with a stunner of his own, but aimed it at her side, instead of right at her.
"Stop!" thundered Snape's voice. "Five points from Gryffindor. If this is the best that you can do Potter, then perhaps you need some help focusing your attention." Snape then called out the names of four more Ravenclaws, and indicated that they should join Harry and Padma inside the dueling area. "Now the five of you will work together to bring down Potter. Remember, no spells but stunners and shields."
"What is Snape thinking? Five on one, no spells but stunners and shields? What does he expect me to do?" Harry shot a quick glance at Hermione and Ron, and then felt the adrenaline start to kick in. Harry balanced on his feet, trying to focus only on his five opponents, slowly tuning out everything else. Instead of encircling him, the five Ravenclaws had lined up basically in a wall in front of him. That would make it a little easier he thought. When he heard Snape pronounce the n sound in begin, he launched his first spell, a stunner, at the witch to his far left and then rolled hard to his right, coming up in a crouch. All through his roll, he had fired several more stunners in the general direction of his opponents and had managed to hit a second wizard. Three to one. He quickly raised a shield, as he crouched on one knee, and managed to deflect one spell back at one of the remaining witches. Two to one. The remaining two, slowly circled, trying to put some distance between each other and Harry, trying to get an angle where he couldn't watch both of them at the same time. Harry slowly moved towards one of the stunned students, allowing his remaining opponents to get on either side of him, where he could not keep his eyes on both of them. He turned slowly to his left, presenting Padma with the side of his back as an inviting target. She took the bait. As soon as he heard her begin the incantation, he dropped straight to the floor and twisted to land on his back, right beside the stunned body of one of the Ravenclaw students. He aimed his wand at Padma and stunned her before she had a chance to raise a shield. The remaining Ravenclaw wizard had just ducked out of the way of Padma's spell and was launching a stunner as Harry snapped his wand back across his body to aim at him. Harry felt the stunner hit the body beside him that was providing him with very good cover and launched his own stunner back at the wizard, hitting him right in the chest. The entire duel had lasted less than twenty seconds. Harry slowly stood up and looked at the five unconscious bodies and then at the rest of the students staring him in awe and disbelief-especially those who hadn't fought in the last battle against Voldemort. Only Hermione seemed unsurprised and her eyes were full of pride.
"Well, that was an improvement," huffed Snape, "but still not good enough Potter. I think you need a little more help focusing," as he walked around the dueling platform, casually awakening the stunned Ravenclaws. "Granger, Weasley, Longbottom, Finnigan, Thomas, Patil, and Brown-up here. Let's see if you fare any better against Potter."
Harry looked glumly at his best friends as they ascended the platform. Ron flashed him a weak smile and Hermione winked. Then she smiled mischievously and all of the Gryffindors except Ron suddenly looked at her in amazement. Then they began quickly forming a circle around Harry, so that he was completely surrounded. Harry looked on in amazement-they were all perfectly positioned around him. By the way they held their wands, there was little chance any of them would hit any of the others when Snape told them to begin. It was as if one person were directing all of their movements-his eyes snapped to Hermione.
"What are you doing? Are you…"
"You better watch your back, Harry. You know how bad I hate losing."
"Yeah, but you're getting used to it, aren't you?" he teased with a smile on his face, thinking of their daily sparring practices.
"Laugh it up funny boy."
Harry realized what she was doing, and his smile widened. "Well, two can play at this game," he thought to himself. If she was going to use her telepathy to improve their odds, then he wouldn't feel bad about using his teleportation and cloaking abilities. Technically, they weren't spells after all.
Snape looked at the assembled Gryffindors with satisfaction and then announced "Oh, by the way, Potter, you are not allowed to use your wand with your right hand."
Everyone turned to stare at Snape. "What?" exploded Harry. Snape's eyes glinted with amusement as he replied, "Surely you have practiced casting spells with your off hand in case the need ever arose. And surely you know better than anyone else here that we do not always get to fight our battles in perfect health do we, Mr. Potter?"
Shifting his stance slightly, and somewhat awkwardly, to accommodate dueling with his left hand, Harry's face became a mask of concentration. His only consolation was that there was no elaborate wand movement with a stunning spell, it was simply aim and cast. The shield spell did require a simple swish and rotation, but he didn't plan on using any shield spells. "If he thinks he can humiliate me this way, I'll show him" he promised himself.
Snape allowed himself a wide smile as he told them to begin. Seven streams of light shot right at where Harry Potter had been, but he was no longer there. Seven pairs of eyes widened in shock and then looked around quickly to try and find Harry. Realizing Harry had teleported, Hermione immediately spun around and crouched on the ground, one knee on the floor and raised a powerful shield spell, just as Harry reappeared and launched a stunner at her. It rebounded powerfully off her shield and hit Seamus across the room and he dropped immediately. Harry then disappeared again as Hermione and several other Gryffindors launched stunners at where he had appeared. A moment later, Harry had reappeared by Ron and stunned him before disappearing again. The remaining Gryffindors moved to the center to form a circle with each of them looking outward. Harry picked off Neville with a stunner before the remaining four could set up their defense. They then began launching stunner spells in front of them at random, not fearful of hitting each other on the off chance that they might accidentally hit Harry. Hermione suddenly turned and launched a few stunners over her head just in case Harry was hovering above them. Suddenly one of Parvati's stunners came rebounding at her and struck her in the chest, knocking her back against Lavender who then tumbled to the floor. Hermione and Dean immediately launched stunners at Harry, but he had disappeared again, only to reappear on the opposite side of the room where he easily stunned Lavender who was struggling to her feet. Hermione and Dean then turned and aimed at Harry just as he disappeared. Dean fired his spell, but Hermione turned away again, expecting Harry to try and reappear behind them again. Instead, Harry reappeared three feet from where he had been and aimed at Hermione. She heard him start the spell and dove to the side while his shot went slightly to the right, and struck Dean before he had a chance to raise a shield. Hermione spun back around, realizing the trick as she heard Harry cast the spell and launched a stunner of her own. Harry raised his right hand, conjuring a shield spell and the spell was deflected harmlessly. They stared intently at each other and circled each other warily.
"Having a hard time dropping me, Harry?" taunted Hermione.
"Having a hard time finding me, Mione?" replied Harry.
Hermione sniffed. "Not really, you need a shower. We must have made you work up a sweat."
"Well then, let's finish it," he smirked as he disappeared. Hermione spun around, aiming her wand with a very focused expression on her face. Suddenly she cast a stunner just as Harry reappeared and he fell backward. She took one hesitant step forward when his wand shifted just a bit and he launched a stunner from where he was lying on the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise before she fell backwards unconscious.
"Much better, Potter. That is what I would like to see."
"What? Me beating up on my classmates? Humiliating them? Is that what you want to see?" exploded Harry, rising awkwardly from the ground. Venting his anger and frustrations, Harry shouted, "If that is your idea of a class to…"
In a very quiet voice, Snape hissed, "I will not allow you or any other student to question my teaching methods, Potter. Be silent. And five points from Gryffindor." Snape began reawakening the Gryffindors one by one. Hermione saw Harry standing there fuming and bit back whatever comment she was about to make.
"Class is dismissed for today. However, I wish a foot long scroll by each of you analyzing your duel. Granger, you may write on both of your duels if you like, but please keep it to less than two feet. I will take points off if you go over. And Potter, I want a foot long essay on each of your duels." As the students rose to leave, many of them were already talking quietly about the duels they had witnessed. As they headed out, Snape barked out, "Potter, I'd like you to stay for a few minutes."
Harry stood by the door, still angry at Snape. Hermione and Ron let the other students leave and hesitated before moving towards the door. With exasperation, Snape announced "Granger, Weasley, you can stay if you'd like. That way Potter won't have to repeat any of this again to you later."
All three looked up at him in surprise. "Now close the door and listen closely, I'm only going to explain this once. I know you're upset about having to duel against your friends Potter. You feel that it is demeaning and unfair to them to have to try and beat you. Deal with it."
Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Snape cut him off. "Just listen for once Potter. First of all, you are not doing them any favors by taking it easy on them in a duel. By allowing Miss Patil to stay in the duel longer than she should have you endanger both her and yourself. First, you overinflate her estimations of her own abilities. If she seriously thinks she can last two minutes with Harry Potter with the skills she now possesses, she will overestimate her own abilities later on in a real duel and it may cost her her life. Second, anytime you toy around with someone in a duel, you run the risk they might get a lucky shot in. You never mess around Potter. You don't taunt, you don't trade jokes, you don't get cute. You finish the job as quickly as possible.
You've been in enough life and death situations that I shouldn't have to explain this to you. When you're dueling in this class, Potter, I want you to treat each and every duel as if your life depended on it. What you learn in here or what one of the other students here may learn by dueling you may save many lives in the future, not just your own."
Harry's anger gone, he looked at Snape with new understanding in his eyes.
"Finally, I want you to understand why I will be limiting your dueling options in the future, like I did today by having you fight with your left hand. It is not to heap humiliation on your classmates. On the one hand, it does give them a slightly better chance of beating you. Neither you nor any of your classmates will learn anything from dueling if you finish them all off in ten seconds or less. I expect the other students will benefit greatly by having to face you in a duel. But just as important, it forces you to become more creative, more adaptive to any type of situation you may face in the future. If you can beat five students in here using your left hand, or crippled with a leg-locking curse, or blindfolded, then you will have a better chance at defeating three dark wizards or a giant fighting at full strength, with all of your options. And if you're not at full strength, you'll have the knowledge and experience that you can still survive and overcome your opponents."
Snape smiled then. "I was beginning to wonder how many duels you would have to fight before you realized that I hadn't said you couldn't teleport or cloak yourself. I guess it took the fear of getting defeated by your girlfriend and roommates to push you into top form today, eh?"
Overcoming their initial shock, Hermione coughed and Ron snorted, both struggling not to laugh, but Harry didn't find Snape's final comments very amusing. Snape then asked, "I'm curious about the order in which you attacked the Gryffindors, Potter. Why did you attack Miss Granger first?"
"Isn't it obvious? She was the most dangerous. She was the one directing their tactics and she's the one who knows how I fight the best. Ron and Neville are about equal, but Ron has more experience. I tried to take those three down first. The rest were in no particular order, I just took whatever opportunity presented itself."
"Excellent, Potter. Excellent."
Smiling, Harry reached for his backpack and remembered that his arm was still numb from where Hermione's stunner had hit it. He pointed his wand at his arm and muttered Enervate. Everyone else stopped and stared at him.
"Are you OK? I…I actually hit you?"
"Well, yeah. I didn't really have to fake the falling down part. That's not exactly how I had planned it." He then smirked, "But it seemed to work out OK for me." Hermione punched him in the shoulder that was still tingling.
"Miss Granger, if you have any headaches or see any blue flashes today or tomorrow, be sure to go see Madame Pomfrey immediately. It is very rare, but occasionally there are side effects to the spell Mr. Malfoy cast at you this afternoon."
"About that, Professor Snape…" began Harry.
"Do not worry Potter, I will deal with Mr. Malfoy. I intend to have a nice little chat with him about today's events. Now unless you have any more concerns about my teaching methods," finished Snape sarcastically, "you may go."
The three left the dungeon, feeling much better about their DADA class.
By the time they got to the Great Hall, the room was already abuzz with news of the duels. Hermione was nearly swamped by Gryffindors congratulating her for beating Malfoy. There were a number of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well who came over to talk to her. Harry just laughed, glad not to be the center of attention for once though he could already hear some of the wild rumours being spread about the duels he was involved in. By the time he had finished dinner, he was surprised to learn that this very afternoon he had defeated twenty wizards, ten trolls, a pair of giants, and a dragon all by himself, without a wand. He rolled his eyes as he got up to leave and smirked at an increasingly agitated Hermione who was still stuck in the middle of a huge pack of students, describing for the fiftieth time her duel with Malfoy.
"Where are you going? Could I get a little help here? I haven't even had a chance to eat my dinner yet Harry!"
"I'm heading to the library to do some homework. You don't need me to rescue you, remember? Besides, you're their hero for today. Suck it up. A wise wizard once told me, `Fame is as fame does,' or something like that."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know. You'd have to ask Lockhart. I'll see you later."
"Harry! Don't leave me here alone!" Harry began chuckling and tuned her out as he headed to the library.
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Friday evening, Harry was late for the Gryffindor team tryouts since Samuel had kept him in the forest all day training hard.
"Nice of you to show up for tryouts, Potter," growled Ron, barely sparing him a glance as he watched about a dozen airborne players still competing for one of the open Beater or Chaser slots.
"I'd be happy to change schedules with you any day, mate," grumbled Harry, sitting wearily on a bench by Ron. Ron turned to look at him more closely and immediately noticed the weary look on Harry's face and the dirty and torn clothing he wore. "Blimey, you look awful Harry. You look like he ran you through a mile of bloodthorn vines-he didn't did he?"
"Feels like it. So how does our team look? Any good Beaters? Any decent Chasers to team up with your sister?"
"It's going to be tough, Harry. There's a couple of decent players for all four positions, but no standouts. And we don't have much time before the tournament begins to whip them into shape. Why don't you watch the Chasers for a minute while I focus on the Beaters and then we'll swap and compare notes."
Thirty minutes later, Ron had made his final decision.
After sending those he had cut back to the common room, Ron gave a short pep talk that Harry felt would have made Wood proud. In fact, he could have swore that he even heard several of Wood's favorite phrases. But he was sure Ron had never heard one of Wood's rally speeches before. It must be the badge Harry decided. There was something about the Quidditch Captain's badge itself that could take even the calmest, shyest of people and transform them into a raging, hypercompetitive drill sergeant whose only goal was to win the Quidditch cup. He wondered briefly if McGonagall knew anything about this. He even wondered briefly if McGonagall had perhaps charmed the badge herself to do that. He knew she hated to lose Quidditch matches. It sounded like Ron was finally winding down, so he focused his attention once again on the new captain.
Ron told the team that there would be four practices a week, Mondays and Wednesdays in the evening, and Fridays and Saturdays in the afternoons. He also told him that he would be passing out playbooks at next Monday's practice and that he expected them to memorize all of the plays by the end of next week. Then again, thought Harry as he walked back to the common room to relax, maybe all the badge did was bring out underlying competitive desires and amplify them a bit. He just hoped the playbook wasn't much thicker than his regular textbooks-though knowing Ron's love of Quidditch, he thought it might be close.
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Next Chapter: A New Minister of Magic
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