Soul Searching/End Game
SS Chapter 23 - Final Preparations
By Chem Prof
Chapter 23, Final Preparations
Tuesday, August 12
Now what do we do?
Harry had been so focused for the last two months on finding the horcruxes that he hadn’t given much thought to what they would do when they found them. Oh, he knew that they had to be destroyed, but he had no idea of how that would happen. They had two weeks before the start of the new school year to figure something out. The day after Ginny’s party was the first ‘normal’ day for Harry and Hermione in some time. After their morning run, before their training session they stopped to talk about the week ahead.
Hermione hesitated, unsure about whether to broach a certain subject again. “OK, tomorrow we meet at Hogwarts to talk about how to destroy them. Later in the week do you think you might want to …”
“Look for my grandparents?” Hermione nodded, relieved that he seemed OK with the topic. She was not surprised that he knew what she had been about to ask. While they hadn’t been able to mentally exchange specific phrases yet, their telepathy practice had made them even more aware than before of what was on each other’s minds. “So you think they’re still alive, then?”
“I think they might be. It’s clear that Dumbledore and McGonagall didn’t know everything that was going on with your family. Maybe your aunt knows something.”
“But why would she do that?” Harry protested. “How could she lie about something like that? They were Dudley’s grandparents too! How could she not let her own son know his grandparents?”
“I think I want to have another talk with your aunt,” Hermione said after a pause. “Is that OK with you?”
Harry considered his friend. She could be scary when she was passionate about something. He almost felt sorry for Aunt Petunia. Almost. “Sure. Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, I think I can handle it.” Hermione had a determined look on her face. Harry shuddered. Definitely scary.
They were now about ready to begin drills for spellcasting power. “OK. Who all are we meeting with tomorrow?”
“Remus, Bill, McGonagall, Flitwick, and hopefully Dumbledore.”
-ooOoo-
The slightest of pops announced the arrival of Hermione Granger at Number 4 Privet Drive. She soon found Petunia Dursley in the kitchen.
“What are you doing here?” the older woman snapped. “I thought your kind were never coming back here.” Without warning, she found herself slammed up against the wall and held there, seemingly by invisible bonds.
“I want some answers and I want them now,” Hermione hissed. “What happened to your parents?” Petunia Dursley paled. She was hoping that this moment would never have come. Hesitantly, with some painful prodding from Hermione, she revealed the charade that she had concocted years ago to separate herself from the last remaining members of her family.
When she finished, she saw the girl wave her wand and say something, and soon a box came flying into the kitchen, a box that she had hidden away and forgotten long ago. Then she looked up and shuddered at the blazing eyes of the furious witch in front of her. With a loud crash every glass in the room exploded. In a blink she was once more alone in her kitchen.
-ooOoo-
That evening Hermione slowly approached Harry holding an old, battered box. Dinner had been a tense affair, as she related what she had learned from Petunia and he became more and more angry, finally stalking out of the room. She had feared that he would withdraw from her and didn’t want to let that happen, and hoped this would bring him out of it. Harry looked up as she came in and noticing the nervous look in her eyes, realized how his reaction had affected her and began an apology. Then he saw the box and froze. Engraved on the cover were the initials, L.E.
There was suddenly a lump in his throat that made it hard to say anything. “What’s in it?” he managed.
“I didn’t open it yet. I thought you’d like to.” She put the box in his lap, and he was finally able to move enough to take it in his hands. She backed off and turned to go, intending to allow him to look through his mum’s things in privacy.
“No, don’t go,” he said looking up at her anxiously. “Please, will you do it with me?” This was something he knew he needed his best friend for.
Together they went through the few treasured possessions of Lily’s that had been preserved. Harry carefully pulled out her wand – ‘nice for charm work’ he could hear Ollivander saying – and put it aside. He had an idea he would be needing it. Here were her prefect’s and Head Girl badges. There was her Hogwarts acceptance letter. Underneath were a couple of letters from James, with a dried out old flower pressed into one of them. Finally at the bottom was a diary.
“Will you … will you read it to me?” Harry was trying to hold back the tears, and Hermione scooted up next to him and put her arm around him for a while. He dropped his head onto her shoulder and she pulled her arm back and picked up the diary and began to read.
As she read the story of a brilliant young muggleborn witch and her struggles to adjust to the magical world, Hermione felt sometimes like she were reading her own story. The slurs, the suspicions about favoritism, the resentment. The drive to be the best she could be in every subject. And yet it was different, too.
Unlike her, Lily had many girl friends, and there was no Harry or Ron in her life. The boys either shunned her for being muggleborn or came on to her, expecting her to be easy. Despite being one of the prettiest witches at Hogwarts, she never had a boyfriend and rarely went out. In her mind, Hermione pictured a pretty, vivacious girl like Ginny, but without all the male attention.
And then there was the obnoxious James Potter, who somehow changed during the years from the most despicable boy on earth to not so bad after all to the man she loved. By the time Hermione got to the wedding she had to stop because she could no longer see through the tears in her eyes.
Harry had been very quiet throughout, soaking in every detail he could of the mother he had never known. She hoped that this new evidence of how much his mother had loved his father had helped counteract what he had seen in Snape’s memories. They sat there a long time in silence, each contemplating their own image of the girl who had revealed herself in those pages.
Finally, Harry raised his head off of her shoulder and looked at Hermione, gratitude showing in his eyes. “Thank you, Hermione. I’m sure glad I have you.” Her heart lurched at hearing this, and all she could do was throw her arms around him and bury her head in his shoulder, not trusting herself to answer. There were no nightmares that night.
-ooOoo-
Wednesday, August 13
“I just don’t know,” Bill was saying. “Removing curses is about the trickiest thing there is. If you don’t do it just right it can explode on you. And I have no idea what the spell is to make a horcrux so we would be doing it blind.”
“I’ve gone over everything I could find in the library, Miss Granger’s library that is, at headquarters and I found only two references to horcruxes, but not the exact spell used,” added Flitwick, who had agreed to do research on horcruxes during their last visit to Hogwarts.
Dumbledore’s portrait was again empty. One of the other former headmaster’s portraits had explained that a portrait of him was being unveiled in the Wizengamot chambers at the Ministry this week and his presence was therefore required there.
“So how did Dumbledore destroy the ring?” asked Harry dejectedly.
“Raw power, probably,” said Bill. “That would almost certainly have set it off. And you saw the result.” They all nodded, recalling Dumbledore’s blackened stump of a hand. “A less powerful wizard would probably have been killed instead of just injured.”
“Then what do we do?” Hermione was getting worried now. It would be just like Harry to try to blast the things the way Dumbledore had, consequences be damned. “The method Dumbledore used …”
“Was exactly the way not to destroy a horcrux,” came a voice from Dumbledore’s portrait. He had finally returned. “We have two examples of how to destroy a horcrux, the right way and the wrong way. I suggest that it would be more profitable to examine Harry’s more successful method than dwell on my own failure.”
“But I just stabbed it with a basilisk fang,” objected Harry.
“Precisely,” countered the portrait. “I have been pondering this for nearly all of my time since I awoke in this frame. I have concluded that there are several reasons that you were successful where I barely escaped with my life.”
“First, that it was in fact you who destroyed it. The prophecy stated that you would have the power to defeat the dark lord, and this is part of defeating him. Had I been less confident in my ability and more willing to trust the prophecy I would have waited and let you destroy the ring.”
“But what power do I have that I could destroy it more successfully than you?”
“That is not necessarily for us to understand. It remains however, that you succeeded in destroying the diary without injury to yourself. Another example is in your ability to summon the sword of Gryffindor. I cannot do that, nor can anyone else I know. Like that, it is something within you.”
Bill had been startled by the sword comment, but refrained from saying anything, giving a surreptitious glance at the sword on the wall. The ability to summon magical objects was rare, and as far as he knew was an indication of a connection between the original owner and the wizard who could summon it. He began to mentally put the pieces together.
He knew that Harry had killed the basilisk but had either overlooked or forgotten the important detail that he had used the Sword of Gryffindor to do it. In his line of work he had studied ancient legacies and myths much more than anyone else in this room. The basilisk had been the Monster of Slytherin, controllable only by Slytherin’s heir. It had been defeated by the Sword of Gryffindor, wielded by …the Heir of Gryffindor? And now Dumbledore had just referred to a prophecy that stated that Harry would be the one to destroy Voldemort, the Heir of Slytherin. Could it be?
While Bill had been following this line of reasoning Dumbledore had continued. “Second, there were two distinct components to what you did, physically destroying the diary and also destroying the soul fragment.” At everyone’s puzzled looks he explained. “Piercing the diary physically destroyed it. The basilisk venom acted to destroy the soul fragment instead of allowing it to be released. I believe that the two-stage attack is much more effective than a single attack.
“Finally, enchanted objects have powerful defenses against magical attacks. You destroyed it by non-magical means, where I used a magical spell. It seems to me that that is the final key.”
Not surprisingly, it was Hermione who broke the silence that followed. “So we need to use basilisk venom or something toxic like it. And we need to find a non-magical means to destroy a cup, a locket, and a dagger.” She paused, considering. “And I suppose both need to happen at the same time?”
The painting’s eyes twinkled, just as Dumbledore’s had in real life. “Precisely, Ms Granger. Full marks.” Hermione blushed and turned shyly to see Harry grinning at her, mouthing the words ‘know-it-all’. She punched him in the shoulder and pretended to pout, relenting when Harry pulled her into a brief one-armed hug, to the laughter of the others present.
Harry took up where she had left off. “Would there be any more basilisk venom in the one in the chamber? Not that I’m crazy about the idea of going back down there again.”
“No, not after it’s been dead for four years,” replied Remus.
“Acromantula venom’s almost as effective as basilisk venom,” said Bill thoughtfully. I’ve heard there are acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, but of course I have no idea …”
Images flashed through Harry’s mind. Acromantula venom. Aragog. Slughorn collecting several bottles of venom before Hagrid buried his onetime pet. Without listening to Bill bemoan the difficulty of obtaining the rare substance Harry leapt from his chair and raced to the fireplace.
“Professor Slughorn!” he yelled after tossing in the floo powder. After an interminable wait, the rotund professor’s face appeared in the flames. Initially annoyed at being disturbed, his face brightened at the sight of Harry.
“Harry, my boy. What a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you? Come to do a little extra credit potions work during the summer?” Harry noticed Hermione’s scowl at the potion professor’s reference to Harry’s presumed potions prowess and sighed. After all the two of them had been through together this summer she was still steamed about that.
“No professor. I’m, uh, working on a different project and I need some acromantula venom. I wonder if you still have any?”
Slughorn’s demeanor changed instantly. He glanced back and forth nervously before saying, “Acromantula venom? No, of course not. Why would you think I had any of that?”
“Because I was with you when you collected it,” snapped Harry impatiently. He recalled Slughorn’s glee at the thought of obtaining some of the precious fluid … ‘a hundred Galleons a pint’ … had he sold it all?
Slughorn’s face turned red and angry. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. Good day!”
“That git!” Harry exclaimed, turning from the fireplace to see an array of bewildered faces staring at him. “Um, OK, I guess that all needs some explaining.”
Eventually Harry had explained the adventure to everyone’s satisfaction. Hermione had known most of the story and wouldn’t let him leave anything out, much to his annoyance. He suspected it was somehow payback for the potions thing. Remus looked thoughtful, McGonagall was furious with Slughorn for taking advantage of Hagrid and Harry, Flitwick was fascinated about the part where Hagrid had kept an acromantula as a pet while a student, and Bill couldn’t believe that Harry and Ron had faced a forest full of the giant spiders at the age of twelve.
Finally, when Harry had finished, he returned to the problem of the venom. “I guess I’ll just have to go get some more,” he concluded as though it were a run down to the corner store. Noticing the glare of the headmistress and the perplexed looks of the others, he amended, “I mean, uh, Hagrid and I will go see the acromantulas and ask for some more.”
“Harrrrry,” growled Hermione threateningly.
“Hermione, it’s too dangerous,” protested Harry, but recognizing the determined look in her eyes.
“Not. A. Chance,” she retorted, punctuating each syllable with a poke to his chest. “If you’re going, I’m going.”
“What makes you think I’ll allow either of you to go into there?” demanded McGonagall.
Harry turned to her. “Professor, I’m going to be going into a lot more dangerous situations than that this year. If you can’t deal with that, then …” He didn’t need to finish the threat. He had her and she knew it, but he didn’t want to rub it in and relented a little. “Look, we’ll be with Hagrid and we’ll take a portkey, OK? We’ll be all right, honest.”
“I’m coming too,” stated Remus, in a tone that left no room for discussion. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time in that forest myself.”
Seeking to change the subject as well as return to their task, Hermione broke in. “Now that that’s settled, what about the other part?” Having refocused their attention, she continued. “We need to physically destroy the horcruxes without using magic, right?” The portrait of Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction. She looked around the group and realized that for a bunch of wizards this would be the difficult part. “I doubt if we can just hit it with a hammer.” She addressed this to Harry since she knew that the others wouldn’t have a clue what she was saying. “Maybe melt it or …”
“Like the Terminator!” Harry exclaimed.
“Oh, you mean drop it into a vat of molten iron. But that would probably destroy the acromantula venom, too”
“Actually, I was thinking of Terminator 2. When the liquid nitrogen poured all over him and then he shattered. That was so cool!” Hermione smiled at his enthusiasm, then winced at the pun.
Meanwhile Bill was staring at them as though they had started speaking in some foreign language. Remus leaned over to him and patted his arm consolingly. “They do that a lot. You get used to it.”
Hermione hadn’t noticed. “What I was about to say is maybe find something that could dissolve them. Hmm, the locket and dagger are made of gold and the cup is silver.” All of a sudden there was a look in her eye that Harry immediately recognized, the ‘I’ve got it’ look. She turned to Harry and said excitedly. “We need to take another look at that list of parents of muggleborns.” She rose and took his hand, leading him out of the office.
“What we need,” she explained, “is a chemistry teacher.”
-ooOoo-
They were back at Hogwarts the next day, ready for their expedition into the Forbidden Forest. After poring over the parchments, they had come up with the name of a retired chemistry professor from a small college outside of London and had made an appointment to visit him next week. Hagrid was waiting for them as they arrived, but for a change seemed reluctant to venture into the forest.
“Yeh remember me tellin’ yeh ‘bout them other spiders not lettin’ me near their webs now that Aragog’s gone,” said Hagrid, shaking his head. “I don’ know as this’s gonna work.”
“We’ll see about that,” replied Harry with determination. He needed that venom. He hoped to persuade them by being respectful, but forceful.
In a trek eerily reminiscent of the time he and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest their second year, the four of them gradually made their way in deeper and deeper, and slowly became aware that they were being surrounded. With multiple clicking noises the spiders escorted them to their lair. The largest spider there, who Harry assumed must be Aragog’s mate, Mosag, approached them. Harry felt Hermione’s hand take hold of his arm, and he knew her other hand held her wand, ready to activate the portkey.
“We told you that you were no longer welcome here, Hagrid,” the giant spider clicked at them. And your companions have never been welcome.” It then turned its attention to Remus. “This one is familiar.” Remus nodded but said nothing. Finally the spider noticed Harry. “We have met before.”
Harry stepped forward, but Hermione would not release his arm, so came with him, hanging back a bit. “We met four years ago, and Aragog told me of a great enemy of yours in the castle. I slew it.” There was a massive amount of clicking at this statement, the spiders clearly agitated at this statement.
“How can this be?” the great spider queried. “How could one of your stature slay the king of serpents.”
Harry said nothing, but extended his arm. From nowhere a shining sword appeared and he caught in his hand. The spiders drew back in alarm, but when he made no aggressive moves they crept forward again.
“This is the blade of one of the founders of Hogwarts. It is mine now. I wield it against evil. I killed the king of serpents, the Monster of Slytherin, and I will destroy its master.”
There was another pause, filled with another clicking exchange. Finally Mosag addressed Harry again. “We acknowledge a debt to you. Why are you here now?”
“I do not wish for you to be in my debt.” Harry responded. “I only ask a favor, as between friends. I need some of your venom to help me defeat my foe. And I would like to see your friendship with Hagrid restored. He truly loved your mate.”
“We can grant your first request. As to your second, we will consider it. Hagrid has been a good friend through the years.” At Harry’s signal, Hagrid approached with a small flask. Unflinchingly, the half giant held it before the fangs of the acromantula, and they all watched, fascinated, as it filled the vessel with venom.
“I thank you,” said Harry, bowing to the spider. “If there is ever another service which I can provide for you, please let me know.” The spiders all bowed in return and parted to allow the four to leave the forest.
“Whew, I’m glad that’s over,” Harry announced as they approached the castle. “Those things are creepy.”
“Harry, I can’t believe you!” said Hermione, shuddering briefly. “I was scared out of my mind. How could you just stand there and calmly talk to them like that?”
Harry stopped and turned to face her, somewhat surprised. “I had to do it. We needed that venom.”
Hermione stared at him for a moment, then took his hand and resumed walking into the castle, shaking her head.
What am I going to do with this boy?
-ooOoo-
After a pleasant lunch, with congratulations from those professors who were aware of the morning’s mission, they reassembled, this time in the staff room. To Harry and Hermione’s surprise, there were others present this time, including all of the heads of houses, Tonks, Mrs. Figg, Mrs. Longbottom, and a man and a woman they didn’t recognize, although they looked familiar.
McGonagall began, “I thought you would all be interested in some of the changes we are planning for the upcoming year. First, allow me to introduce our new staff.
As most of you know, Arabella Figg will be replacing Argus Filch as caretaker of the castle. She brings with her quite a few lovely creatures to assist her.” Harry snickered at this. It stood to reason that McGonagall would be inclined to be partial to cats.
“Professor Binns has finally decided to leave us. I am happy to announce that I have persuaded Augusta Longbottom to take his place. Professor Longbottom has studied the history of the magical world extensively for the past fifteen years, and I understand that she will be teaching the course somewhat differently than Professor Binns did.”
Hermione leaned over and murmured to Harry, “Maybe she’ll cover something from this century.” As she hadn’t particularly tried to keep from being overheard, there were smiles from many of the others in the room at this comment, Augusta Longbottom included.
McGonagall continued, “Professor Longbottom also has some valuable skills in other areas which will be available to select students in private tutoring sessions.”
“Moving along, we have two new professors for Muggle Studies, Andromeda Tonks and Theodore Tonks.” Harry and Hermione couldn’t believe their ears. They now realized why these two had looked familiar – they were Tonks’s parents. Andromeda was Sirius’s cousin, sister of Bellatrix and Narcissa. And they recalled what Sirius had told them about why she had been blasted off of the Black family tapestry. Andromeda had married a muggleborn! McGonagall had heeded their suggestion and had managed to hire a muggleborn professor for Muggle Studies.
Something else occurred to Hermione. McGonagall was staffing the castle with people who would be valuable in training Harry, and at the same time helping protect the relatives of some of those who were closest to him. She could sense that he noticed this as well. Now they both were curious, though. If Remus and Tonks were going to share the Defense post, they were still one professor short.
“Now, returning to us as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is Remus Lupin. He will also be taking over as Head of House for Gryffindor. As you are all aware, Professor Lupin suffers from Lycanthropy. Since both our Head Boy and Head Girl are from Gryffindor this year, it is my hope that they can assist him in that duty.” Harry and Hermione glanced at each other at this statement, then turned as one and nodded to the headmistress.
“Finally, assuming my old position as professor of Transfiguration will be Nymphadora Tonks.” At that announcement, Harry sat back in thought. OK, I guess that makes sense. Tonks certainly has some natural ability in transfiguration. Looking over at Hermione he could see that she was having similar thoughts, but she wasn’t happy about something. He guessed that she was concerned that the quality of instruction might suffer, due to Lupin’s ailment and Tonks’ potential weakness in the theoretical aspects of her subject.
McGonagall was not finished. “I feel that both our new Defense professor and our new Transfiguration professor will require some assistance. I would like to offer Harry Potter the position of teaching assistant for Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
Harry jerked his head back. Had he heard correctly? Before he could ask himself the next question – why me? – he already knew the answer. He could feel Hermione’s I-told-you-so grin next to him without even looking.
McGonagall continued, “Mr. Potter’s primary role will be to teach Defense classes when Professor Lupin is incapacitated.” She now spoke directly to Harry. “If, for some reason, you need to be absent during one of those times, Miss Tonks will cover the Defense classes and I will pick up her Transfiguration classes.” Harry nodded. It seemed like that would work out. He was fairly confident that he could handle teaching a few days a month. It didn’t sound as though he needed to do any lesson plans.
This time, McGonagall was the one who seemed to be reading his mind. “Don’t worry, Mr. Potter, you won’t be required to prepare any lessons. Professor Lupin is more than capable of doing that. Even if you were, I imagine Miss Granger would be willing to assist you.” Harry could swear that she had inherited Dumbledore’s eye twinkle as she said that.
“With that in mind,” McGonagall was now saying, “I would also like to offer Hermione Granger the position of teaching assistant for Transfiguration.” This time it was Hermione’s turn to be surprised, and she blushed slightly and lowered her head shyly before gathering herself and nodding to McGonagall. Now this, Harry thought smiling to himself, made even more sense than his appointment did.
“Unlike Mr. Potter’s role, Miss Granger’s duties will include helping Professor Tonks prepare appropriate year level lessons, and assigning and helping grade homework.” Hermione had stopped blushing and from the look in her eyes was already eagerly anticipating her first assignments.
But McGonagall wasn’t finished yet. “In this case, I believe that Mr. Potter will be able to assist Miss Granger.” She paused, anticipating the curious looks she received. “Assist her in restraining herself from overburdening her students.” At this every professor present who had had Hermione in class burst out laughing, and Hermione tried to hide her sheepish look in Harry’s shoulder, as he had taken the opportunity to grab her in a big congratulatory hug.
McGonagall wasn’t finished yet. “There will be more assistants as well. Charlie Weasley has returned from Rumania to be at home for a while. While living at home, he will occasionally be assisting Professor Hagrid with Care of Magical Creatures. And I believe Madame Hooch may find some things for him to do with quidditch as well.”
Everyone smiled at this. Charlie had been very popular as a student, and they all knew that his two passions were magical creatures and flying, which he had managed to combine in his career as a dragon handler. Harry and Hermione, though, continued to be impressed with McGonagall’s secondary motives. Charlie would provide another link with the Order, and his traveling back and forth between Hogwarts and his parent’s house in England gave them a natural courier.
McGonagall went on, “I also intend to appoint more student teaching assistants, as soon as I speak to the individuals I have in mind and obtain their agreement. I would like to have one for each subject, although their duties will not be as extensive as Mr. Potter’s and Miss Granger’s.”
“Now, on another matter. Miss Granger and Mr. Potter, along with Mr. Weasley, will be doing an independent study project this year. They approached me during the summer to propose this project and I agreed. If it is successful they will be graduated with honors.”
There were quite a few reactions to this announcement. There were knowing smiles, tinged with apprehension, from Remus, Tonks, Flitwick, and Longbottom, who knew exactly what a successful conclusion to the project would mean, and that ‘honors’ was a rather accurate term for what would accrue to the trio. There was thoughtful nodding from those who had some inkling of the project, including Slughorn who thought he knew more about it than he did. There were also confused looks from the rest, as there had never been any ‘honors projects’ at Hogwarts that they could remember.
“In light of this, they will be taking a reduced class schedule, and may be required to leave Hogwarts to do research at certain times. I’m telling you this now so that you will understand if they are absent from class occasionally.”
-ooOoo-
After a break for refreshments and general conversation, which included congratulations from everyone on their new appointments and a few questions about Harry and Hermione’s independent study project. (“We’re keeping it secret – we want to surprise everyone,” was all they would say.) McGonagall called for their attention again.
“As you all know, for a few years now the Sorting Hat has begun the school year with an admonition for the different houses to come together and get along better. Frankly, house rivalries have become so divisive as to negatively impact the learning experience here at Hogwarts. When I met this summer with Mr. Potter and Miss Granger to offer them the Head Boy and Head Girl positions, they shared similar concerns with me. I would like to discuss ways that we might attempt to overcome the divisions in our school. Several of the professors and I have been thinking about it, as have Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. Miss Granger, would you care to begin?”
Hermione rose, somewhat self-consciously, and began. “Harry and I feel that we need more opportunities for students to get to know one another outside of class. For example, during our fifth year we formed a, let’s call it a study group, with students from other houses as well as our own.”
There were several snorts at her use of the term ‘study group’, and one professor was heard to mutter, “blasted educational decrees”, but everyone was eager to hear what she had to say. “We got to know students from other houses, even ones in our own year, better during those few study sessions than we had the entire four years previously.” The professors nodded thoughtfully at this. It made sense. Many remembered that there had been several such groups, such as the Charms Club or the Gobstones Club, in the past, but they had fallen by the wayside.
Flitwick spoke up first. “Miss Granger, I believe that you are on to something. Certainly I am sure that a number of the students in my house would jump at the opportunity to study with you.” There were quite a few chuckles at this, and Hermione couldn’t help blushing at the compliment. “But since you mentioned a specific group, which I believe was called the DA, would you and Mr. Potter consent to reviving it?”
Hermione looked at Harry and he took that as his cue. “Actually, we are strongly considering it. I’m not sure how many students will be interested, but …” He was interrupted by a snort from Tonks. Then a few others began to chuckle. Finally most of the professors were laughing out loud, even McGonagall, who was trying to stifle it with her hand in front of her mouth. Harry just looked helplessly at Hermione, who was fighting unsuccessfully to keep a straight face of her own. Finally she just gave in and began chuckling herself, shaking her head slightly then pulling him into a one armed hug with her head leaning against his shoulder.
“Honestly, Harry,” she muttered between chuckles, “do you really think students won’t be interested in learning defense from Harry Potter?” The mirth was interrupted by Slughorn.
“Excuse me, but this seems to be some sort of inside joke. Since this study group occurred in my absence, would anyone care to enlighten me?”
All the professors looked at each other, not sure whether they should reveal how much they had known about an ‘illegal’ club. Finally McGonagall spoke up. “The Defense professor during Mr. Potter and Miss Granger’s fifth year was … pretty much totally incompetent.”
Most of the others in the room, who had never heard the stern professor badmouth any colleague before, were shocked that she would say such a thing, but she went on to describe in surprisingly accurate detail how Hermione and Ron had persuaded Harry to teach a defense study group. How they had spent the year learning spells while evading detection, and how the students in the group had collectively received the highest OWL and NEWT scores in Defense at the school. When Slughorn asked her what DA stood for, she hesitated, then began to say, “Defense Assoc…”
“Dumbledore’s Army,” Harry interrupted, with pride in his voice. Hermione nodded, her eyes glistening slightly, and everyone suddenly had a lump in their throats.
“Thank you Mr. Potter,” McGonagall said, after regaining her composure. “Besides forming clubs and such, was there anything else?”
Hermione spoke up again. “On occasion, like when we visited this summer and when we stayed over the Christmas holidays, there were few enough of us at meals that we all ate at one table. While we don’t want to give up the house tables completely, would it be possible at times for the students to be able to mingle among the different tables?”
“For example,” Harry continued, “When I dated Cho Chang I could never eat a meal with her or visit her outside class.” He failed to notice Hermione stiffen slightly at the mention of Cho. “Maybe we could have multiple small tables for some meals, like breakfast and lunch, when we aren’t all eating at the same time anyway, and have the house tables at dinner.”
“And even at dinner, maybe you could permit students to sit with other houses except on formal occasions,” finished Hermione.
Ted Tonks had never met these two students, but thought that listening to them talk was rather like watching a tennis match, they way they batted ideas back and forth. The ideas they were proposing would be good ones at any school, muggle or magic.
Flitwick spoke up again. “I was present at the initial conversation Minerva mentioned, and I have given it some thought as well. Most of the students’ studying takes place in the library or common rooms. While they may mingle freely in the library, as soon as they leave they must segregate themselves. If two students from different houses wanted to study together, or work on a joint project, they have problems finding a place to meet. The library is not exactly the best place for spirited discussion.” Everyone agreed with this. Madame Pince ran a tight ship and didn’t tolerate much conversation. “Perhaps we might relax the restrictions on common rooms to permit guests during certain hours?”
McGonagall nodded. “We may be able to implement something like that. We would have to warn students about giving away their passwords, or perhaps simply instruct the portraits to permit access based on house affiliation and do away with passwords entirely.”
“That would certainly help Neville out a lot,” quipped Harry. Again there was chuckling from those who knew Neville, including, to many’s surprise, his grandmother.
“If that’s all …” began McGonagall, who then hesitated, looking around to check.
“Well, I had one more idea,” answered Harry. “The one thing around here that generates the greatest amount of bad feelings, that frequently ends up with people wanting to kill each other.”
He paused. “Quidditch.”
McGonagall gasped, “Surely, Mr. Potter, you aren’t suggesting that we eliminate quidditch!” If it weren’t so serious, some of them might have been amused at the almost religious devotion to the sport shown by the former Gryffindor head of house.
“No, no, not eliminate it,” Harry quickly reassured them. “Just change it a little.” He really had their attention now. “Remember at my birthday, when we just got together and played? None of us were trying to kill each other, we were just having fun. And it was still pretty competitive.”
Those who had been at Harry’s party agreed. He and Krum had put on one of the more spectacular displays of flying that any of them had ever seen. And they had been laughing and joking with each other the whole time.
“OK,” he said, getting their attention once more. Without realizing it they all leaned forward a little. “Here’s my plan.”
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
Author Notes:
Sorry, you don’t get to hear the quidditch plan just yet. On the bright side though — only two more chapters to go! (till the end of the summer)