Soul Searching/End Game
SS Chapter 7 - The Lessons Begin
By Chem Prof
Chapter 7 The Lessons Begin
Saturday, June 21
The next morning Harry and Hermione were up early to go running. Hermione insisted they stretch first and Harry couldn't help but watch appreciatively as Hermione stretched in her sports bra and tight shorts. He tried to mimic her movements but found that he wasn’t as flexible as she was. They managed less than a mile of running before they had to slow to a walk for a while, but were able to run again at the end as they returned to the house.
They grabbed a quick breakfast and Harry decided that he wanted to do some swimming before showering and getting dressed. Hermione just smiled and shook her head at his eagerness as he bounded up the stairs. She followed him upstairs and went into her room to change.
When she got down to the pool, Harry was already swimming. She immediately noticed that he was wearing one of the racing suits today. It certainly looks better on him than that baggy suit he has been wearing. Oh my! She couldn’t stop the blush that came to her face as she looked closer. I never noticed what a nice tight bum he has! I guess he’s not the only one who likes the way his best friend looks in a swimsuit.
Hermione tried to figure out a way to compliment him on the suit without embarrassing him. “Looking good, Harry!” she called out as she dove into the pool and started swimming. After a few laps she pulled even with him at the end of the pool, and they stopped for a minute. “You know Harry, you should wear tight clothing more often. When you wear baggy stuff it makes you look skinny, but when it fits more snugly it makes you look lean.”
Harry considered this for a moment and nodded. “Lean sure sounds better than skinny. I’ve been called skinny all my life. Even I thought I looked skinny when I looked at the mirror in that other suit.”
He pushed off the wall and floated on his back, trying to do a backstroke. Eventually, with Hermione swimming along beside him and offering advice he got the arm movements right and they swam a few more laps. He tried to watch how Hermione did the different strokes. She was a much better swimmer than he was and could catch him easily. He had the most trouble with the breaststroke, and resolved that he would just stick with freestyle and backstroke.
When they had finished their laps Harry turned to her again. “Hermione, thanks for getting this kind of suit for me. I can’t believe how good it feels swimming in it compared to that other one. It almost feels like I don’t have anything on … I mean … you know …” as he began to turn red.
Hermione had to stop giggling before she could respond. When she calmed down she just nodded and said, “I understand exactly what you’re trying to say. I feel the same way about swimming without a top.”
They finished their laps and showered and changed for their training. At 10:00 the portkey activated, and they found themselves in the middle of an open field, with different kinds of barriers scattered about, and a few buildings at the edges. Tonks and Remus were both there to greet them, and Ron had popped into existence just as they had. Tonks took one look at Harry and burst out laughing. Harry had worn his ‘I’m Moody Without My Chocolate’ T-shirt and she couldn’t help thinking about the old Auror.
After she settled down Remus began by explaining that they would be learning different kinds of spells, but that there was more to fighting than spell knowledge. There was also tactics – how the spells were combined with movement and coordination with other fighters. The tactics were different depending if you were dueling one on one, two on two, one on two, one or two against a group of opponents, and so forth. They would be learning and practicing both offensive and defensive spells.
Harry realized that this was what he had been trying to do without knowing it with the DA, but now understood that he had much to learn. If he had known this kind of thing that year, he could have created a truly effective fighting force. It occurred to him to wonder how the battle at the Department of Mysteries might have turned out differently if he had.
Harry snapped his attention back as Remus continued in professor mode. “Effective spells involve both power and speed. In some cases you want to get off spells as quickly as possible. A primary case would be if you were outnumbered by weaker foes. Against a smaller number of stronger foes, you need to concentrate more on power. And very important is developing the ability to cast spells quietly. If an opponent doesn’t have advance knowledge of what’s coming, it’s harder for him to defend.” Harry grimaced, remembering his humiliation against Snape. He realized that he would have to ask later about occlumency training, too.
“You are probably already familiar with most of the offensive spells we’ll use – stunners, slashing hexes, bludgeoning hexes. Reducto can also be effective against people, not just objects. We’ll also use bone-breaking hexes, which can be quite incapacitating. What you may not know is that there are specific shield charms that can be used against each offensive spell. Protego is an all-purpose charm, but if you can recognize a hex or jinx and cast the corresponding shield charm, it’s much more effective. They’re all variations on Protego.”
Remus paused to let them take this information in. Harry noticed that Hermione was delighted to learn something new, and looked like she wished she had parchment and a quill to take notes. Ron, of course, was the opposite, with a worried expression on his face as he wondered how he was going to keep all of these spells straight. Harry shared his concern, but accepted that it was just something he had to do. He’d stay up studying with Hermione as long as was necessary, just like he always used to do back at school. Hermione apparently had the same thought and looked at him and nodded, then touched Ron on the arm and said in a low voice, “don’t worry, we’ll get it.”
Remus continued. “But the best defense isn’t necessarily a shield charm. You can block spells by transfiguring something to hide behind, or you can block them by summoning something in front of you.” Harry nodded as he recalled Dumbledore doing that when fighting Voldemort at the Ministry as Remus concluded, “Or you can duck and make it miss. If you can make a hex miss you without casting a shield charm, you can cast an offensive spell back that much quicker. So we’re also going to work on agility and practice dodging spells.”
They quickly learned why Tonks had told them to wear clothing they could fall down in. For more than an hour, Harry, Ron, and Hermione practiced dodging, dropping and rolling as Remus and Tonks took turns firing spells at them. They finished by combining to go two on one against each of the students.
Harry was the quickest of the three, and able to react much faster to the spells. He didn’t get hit very often in the one on one drills, but didn’t fare as well in the combined attacks. Ron was pretty good at it. He wasn’t as naturally quick as Harry, but years of dodging and running from attacking older brothers had developed quite a self preservation instinct.
Hermione was surprisingly not too bad. Harry had never thought of her as the athletic type, but from his observations of the week past she was clearly in good shape. With her smaller size she presented much less of a target than him or Ron. She had a tendency to overthink while trying to figure out where the next attack was going. She was right a lot, but when she was wrong she couldn’t recover fast enough and got nailed.
Harry couldn’t help thinking while watching Hermione twist her body out of the way of another spell how Ginny would fare in this exercise. She was smaller even than Hermione, and had at least as much athletic ability as Ron, was probably more agile, and certainly would have the same self preservation instincts from being used for target practice by older brothers. It made him realize how much he missed her, but he knew breaking up with her had been the right thing to do. He just wished it didn’t hurt so much. From what Ron and Bill had said at least she didn’t seem to be mad at him.
They broke for lunch and listened to Tonks critique their performance as they ate. While she pointed out what they had done wrong, she assured them that they had done great for the first time and would improve with practice.
After lunch they learned the new defensive charms for the remainder of the afternoon. Harry couldn’t believe how many variations there were of a single spell. When he mentioned it to Remus, he was told that many spells had variations that would augment different features of the spell. All the shield spells used the same incantation, ‘Protego’ but had different wand movements.
To no one’s surprise, Hermione picked them up the quickest. By the end of the day she had learned them all, and was able to produce the appropriate wand movement as Tonks called out the names of different offensive spells. While her new shields weren’t very powerful yet, that would come with practice. Harry was getting the hang of it, and could do about half of the correct wand movements, and Ron also got several.
“Cripes, Hermione,” complained Ron good-naturedly as they watched her being tested by Tonks. How did you ever not get an O on your defense OWL?”
Remus whirled around when he heard Ron’s comment, shock on his face. “You didn’t get an O in defense?” he asked Hermione. “You were the best student in the class!” Then he glanced sheepishly at Harry. “OK, maybe the second best.”
Hermione had blushed at Ron’s praise, but now looked even more uncomfortable. “Well, it’s a long story,” she finally admitted. “The witch who examined me was annoyed that Anthony Goldstein, a halfblood, and I were doing so much better than Greengrass and Goyle, who were purebloods. They couldn’t do most of the spells right because of Umbridge.” She spat out the hated witch’s name with a vehemence that surprised Tonks and Remus, but not Harry and Ron.
“Since Anthony was also in the DA, he was good at them too. It was killing her that a muggleborn was so much better than her precious purebloods. I think she must have been a Slytherin in school. So she started telling me that I was doing some of the defensive spells wrong, and didn’t take too kindly to me objecting, so I just kept my mouth shut. She only gave me an Acceptable, which averaged with my Outstanding on the written part to give me an Exceeds Expectations overall.”
Remus was furious. “That’s outrageous! That’s the kind of thing you might have expected from the likes of Fudge and Umbridge, but I never thought the Examining Board would be so prejudiced.”
“Well, the whole Examining Board isn’t like that,” reassured Hermione. “I appealed the grade and Madame Marchbanks herself came out to Hogwarts last fall and retested me. I ended up with the second highest score of the year,” she said, now grinning over at Harry. “You’ll never guess who beat me, Mr. Extra-credit-for-showing-off-and-producing-a-patronus-right-there-during-the-examination.”
Now it was Harry’s turn to be embarrassed, and Ron and Tonks took it upon themselves to tease him about it unmercifully while they rested up before returning home. Remus just looked on proudly, while Hermione smiled contentedly.
Before they left, Harry turned to Remus and said quietly, “I think I still need to learn occlumency. Who can I get to teach me?” The others were instantly attentive. They all knew about the ill-fated attempt at learning occlumency from the year before and the disastrous result. “Dumbledore said he would teach me last year, but we never got around to it. Malfoy is apparently good at it so it can’t be that hard. There must be people who can teach it besides Dumbledore and Snape.”
Hermione knew how hard it was for him to talk about this, remembering that night, and she came over and put her hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. “We could probably find some books on it, Harry. I can help you study it.”
Remus shook his head, smiling inside at the studious witch’s solution to nearly every problem. “That can be a start, Hermione, but to know how well you’ve succeeded you need a skilled Legilimens. I know one who might be willing to help us,” he hesitated, looking thoughtfully at Harry, “but she’s refused to have anything to do with it for the last fifteen years. Perhaps you can persuade her to come out of retirement.”
“Who are you talking about? Why would I be able to persuade her?” Harry frowned. “Is this another one like Slughorn? Someone who just wants to cash in on my fame?” He was starting to get seriously annoyed, but he supposed he could bear it. He really needed to learn this.
“No, she’s not like Slughorn. She had personal reasons for withdrawing. I won’t say any more until I can contact her and see if she’s interested.”
They all said goodbye and returned home. Fortunately, it wasn’t Harry’s turn to cook that night because he and Hermione were exhausted from the hard day of training. After Harry nodded off twice and Hermione once while they were trying to teach him how to play pinochle after dinner, the Grangers shooed the teens off to bed.
-ooOoo-
Sunday, June 22
As Harry dressed in his new dress slacks, shirt and tie the following morning, no longer needing to borrow from Dan, he couldn’t help thinking about how much his life had changed in the past week. The new wardrobe was but a small part of it. Has it really only been seven days that I’ve been here? It was hard to believe how comfortable he had become with Hermione’s parents in just one week, how much he enjoyed being here. In less than seven days his life would change again when Dan and Emma left and he and Hermione moved into the new house.
His relationship with Hermione had changed also. The friendship, which had always been there, had become more clearly defined and he was definitely closer to her now than he had ever been. He was amazed at how much better he knew her, how much more he had learned about her life in just one week than he had in six years previously. And he was seeing a side of her personality that hadn’t been much in evidence before.
This week at the church service Harry decided to try to sing along with the songs. Hermione showed him the song book with the words and the music, and although the notes on the page didn’t mean anything to him, some of the tunes were easy enough that he could pick them up. He was surprised to hear the Grangers’ names mentioned in the prayers. Apparently the minister prayed every week for those members who were traveling, and he announced that the Granger family would be leaving on a long trip that week. Harry decided that could be helpful; if it became general knowledge that the Grangers were out of the country Hermione would be safer.
During the last song, Harry was startled when Hermione started singing a different tune than everyone else. Emma, on his other side was still singing the original tune and indicated that he should continue to follow along with her. As he paid more attention, he could hear that Dan was singing something different as well.
He noticed that Hermione’s tune blended very nicely with the original tune, not at all like at Hogwarts when they sang the school song and everyone picked a tune at random. Harry saw from the credits at the bottom of the page that the melody was an old Welsh lullaby several hundred years old, but the words were written just ten years ago. It was a haunting, yet comforting melody. As the song ended Hermione and Emma’s eyes were moist.
Emma and Hermione explained on the way home. The song that had closed the service, Go My Children With My Blessing was one of their family’s favorites, and they enjoyed singing it in harmony. Hermione had switched to the alto part, and Dan the bass, while Emma sang soprano.
Harry was suddenly overcome with sadness. Here was a family of good people, who liked to sing together and laugh together, kind and compassionate people who only made the world a better place, but were about to be torn apart because some raving lunatic had decided that they didn’t deserve to exist. Dan and Emma were about to leave their beautiful daughter who they loved dearly, and might never see her or sing with her again. He felt moisture come to his own eyes.
Hermione, seeing her friend suddenly go quiet, had an idea where his thoughts had taken him, as she had had similar thoughts during the hymn, and suspected her mother had as well. A glance back from Emma confirmed her guess. Trying to cheer him up and make a positive statement about their future, Emma said, “Harry, you have a nice tenor voice. Sometime we’ll have to get together and teach you to sing in parts as well. Then we’ll be able to do four-part harmony.
Harry nodded, trying to wipe his eyes surreptitiously. It would be nice to be able to learn to sing as well as the Grangers. Harmony with Hermione and her family – he liked the sound of that.
-ooOoo-
Tonks had given them times when the training area would be deserted, and told them they could apparate there and practice then. Harry and Hermione therefore spent an hour practicing the shield charms they had learned the day before. By the time they were finished, Harry had been able to create most of the shields and Hermione’s were getting stronger.
Before they apparated back home, Harry had an idea. “Hermione, what do you know about portkeys?”
“Well, there are several kinds. Probably the most common are like the ones we used yesterday and Friday, where they’re set to activate at a specific time and are single use. There are also ones that can be used at any time, but must be activated, usually by a wand tap. Another kind is permanently active, and instantly transports you whenever you touch it. They’re really dangerous to leave lying around so they aren’t used much.” Harry grimaced. He was all too familiar with this kind. It had taken him and Cedric to Voldemort at the end of the Triwizard Tournament.
“Do you know how to make one?”
“I can probably learn, but they take a lot of energy to create. That’s why apparation is preferred by most people, or floo powder. Portkeys are usually only used for multiple transport, or for underage kids, or when you don’t know where your destination is. That’s why we needed one yesterday, but from now on we can apparate here.”
“I was thinking it would be useful to have a few for emergencies, in case we need to get out of a tight spot in a hurry, or get to a safe location.”
“That’s probably a good idea. I’ll try to learn how to make one. It should be the wand activited kind then. I just have to warn you, I’ll probably be so tired out that you’ll have to carry me around for the rest of the day,” she teased.
“Nah,” he countered. “I’ll just plop you down in the library and come and get you at dinner time.” She responded by sticking her tongue out at him and they both laughed. “Come on, let’s apparate back home and get some laps in this afternoon.”
They popped back into the Granger family room and went up to their rooms to change. As they approached the door to the back yard, Hermione put her hand on Harry’s arm to stop him. “Just a second, let me check first.” She went out to the pool and was back in a few seconds. At his inquiring look she explained. “I told you the other day, my mom likes to be topless at the pool. I needed to check to see if she was so you wouldn’t be embarrassed.”
“Oh.” was the most intelligent response Harry could muster to this information. Hermione smiled and took pity on him. Rather than leave him standing there dumbfounded, she took his arm and pulled him out to the pool. Once there Emma, fortunately attired in both pieces of her swimsuit, greeted him warmly and they both got into the pool and did their laps.
When they had finished and climbed out, Harry started toweling off but Hermione just smiled at him and grabbed her wand and muttered a quick drying charm and her hair was instantly dry. As she settled on her lounge chair, Emma looked up and said, “Remus called earlier. He actually used the cell phone we gave him. He said to tell you he had some lessons arranged for you tonight, and that it would include dinner. He said you would know what he was talking about.”
Harry and Hermione looked at each other in surprise. “Do you think he could have arranged Occlumency lessons so soon?” Harry guessed.
“Maybe,” Hermione shrugged. “What are we supposed to wear?” she asked, turning back to her mum.
Emma burst into laughter. “I told your father that would be the first thing you’d ask. He took the call from Remus, and it never occurred to either of them to find out,” she said shaking her head. “Men! Fortunately, I called back right away and asked. He said dress robes. Is that good enough?”
Hermione agreed that that was enough information, and shortly before 7:00 the two were wearing the dress robes they had purchased the prior August at Madame Malkins. Hermione shuddered as she recalled the incident with Draco, and Harry’s insistence that the ferret was trying to cover up a dark mark on his arm.
She resolved yet again to trust Harry’s instincts more often. Harry noticed that while Hermione had not done up her hair like she had for the Yule Ball, she had used the Sleakeasy potion to smooth it out, so that it fell in waves over her shoulders, and he told her how nice she looked. She smiled gratefully and returned that he looked very nice in his dress robes as well.
Remus arrived and informed them that he would double apparate them to their destination, and that they would apparate there themselves in the future. He took Hermione first, then a few seconds later was back for Harry and they disappeared with a pop while Dan and Emma watched, just shaking their heads.
They found themselves in the entrance hall of an enormous mansion. Remus just smiled at them and disappeared, leaving them on their own. They didn’t have long to wait.
“Harry, Hermione!” They heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Neville Longbottom hurrying down a long staircase to greet them.
“Neville?” they both said simultaneously. “What are you doing here?” Harry continued.
“Um, I live here,” Neville answered looking strangely at them. Seeing the uncomprehending looks on their faces, he went on, “didn’t Professor Lupin tell you that you were coming here for dinner?”
Eventually they got it all sorted out and with a look Harry and Hermione silently agreed that Remus would pay for this prank. Just as they finished the usual ‘How are you, how’s your summer been so far’ pleasantries a thin, elegant woman in immaculate dress robes glided into the room. Neville immediately got serious and nervously began the introductions.
“Harry, Hermione, this is my grandmother, Augusta Longbottom. Gran, this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.”
“Yes, I believe we met once before, at the hospital,” she said, looking them over carefully.
Mrs. Longbottom (they immediately knew that there was no way they were ever going to call her Augusta) led them into the drawing room and asked them to be seated, saying that she had some things to tell them before they would be having dinner.
“Harry, Hermione, I feel like I already know quite a bit about you. Neville speaks most favorably about you, and quite frequently at that. I would first like to thank you both for everything you’ve done for Neville at school, both academically – here she nodded at Hermione – and in other ways,” she said looking at Harry. You have both been a most positive influence in his life. Although, I must confess that after your little adventure at the Ministry of Magic last year I was initially tempted to think otherwise.”
“Neville persuaded me, and I had never seen him so passionate about anything before, that you were there for the best of reasons, even though it turned out tragically. From him I have been reminded that there are other important things in life. For example, besides books and cleverness,” she said now looking directly into Hermione’s eyes. “There are also friendship, and bravery … and love. Isn’t that correct Miss Granger?”
Harry and Hermione shared a quick glance, both recalling the situation where that phrase had first come up. But how does she know about that? Especially the last word, which I didn’t even say out loud, thought Hermione. But she had no time to ponder as the woman spoke again.
“I think I need to explain some things to you, and Neville needs to hear this too.” Mrs. Longbottom continued. “When I …when we lost Frank and Alice I was angry at the world. Everyone was celebrating you, Harry, and ignoring what happened to Frank and Alice just a few days later. And I suppose it wasn’t exactly a picnic for you either, having just lost your parents as well, but I wasn’t really thinking about that at the time. I’m afraid I rather resented you for a long time. Has it ever occurred to you what you have in common with Neville, having both lost your parents within a week of each other?”
“As a matter of fact, it has,” responded Harry. “Not to mention that our birthdays are a few days apart and …” he realized suddenly that he was on the verge of revealing something he shouldn’t.
“Then, you know?” Mrs. Longbottom asked sharply, her eyes piercing into his. “Ah yes, I see you do. Well then, perhaps you can understand why I decided to try to keep Neville safe by withdrawing to ourselves. I even secretly hoped that he would be a squib,” she admitted, while Neville squirmed uncomfortably. Harry recalled the story Neville had told him about being dropped out the window by his uncle. “Even when it turned out that he was a wizard and he got his Hogwarts letter, I resisted buying him his own wand. I suppose I secretly wanted him to be a below average wizard so that he wouldn’t be thought a threat to … certain persons.”
It was very clear by now to Harry that Mrs. Longbottom knew at least of the existence of the prophecy, if not the entire contents, and he realized looking over at Hermione that she had figured out the same thing. There was something about those eyes …
Mrs. Longbottom continued. “Finally I realized I was wrong. This year I’ve watched him start to become the powerful wizard he should have been all along, start to turn into a man so much like his father. Watched him go from a timid boy to a confident, courageous man. I’m so proud of him, and he says it’s all due to you two.”
Harry was reminded of how Neville had been willing to sacrifice himself during the battle at Hogwarts. “Thank you but it’s not just us ma’am. We could see the courage in him even during our first year. There’s a reason he was sorted into Gryfindor, you know.” He could see Neville sit up proudly as he spoke these words. He realized that even though he often overlooked Neville, here was another friend he could trust with his life.
Mrs. Longbottom seemed to be reading his thoughts. “Do you know, you and Neville were best friends as babies? You played together all the time. Your mothers …” she shook her head as though these memories were too painful to recall. “In any case, now I’m in a position to help you. You see, I used to be the Ministry and the Order’s top Occlumency instructor and I’m a master Legilimens.”
The stunned silence that greeted this announcement was broken by Neville. “So that’s why I could never get away with anything when I was a kid!”
This outburst broke the tension and they all had a good laugh. Glancing at Hermione’s reaction, Harry realized that she had figured it out but kept quiet in order to be polite and let Mrs. Longbottom tell them herself. In the ensuing conversation Mrs. Longbottom revealed that she had actually been Snape’s instructor, to her everlasting regret. “That may be the most evil man I’ve ever met. I’m afraid we did not finish on good terms and that’s probably the reason he’s picked on Neville so much.”
“He’s picked on Harry even more than me.” Neville interjected. “Why does he hate you so much?”
“Long story,” Harry muttered, but Mrs. Longbottom interrupted before he could say anything more to announce that it was time for dinner.
Harry gaped at the elaborate dining room and table setting. Keeping a sharp eye on Hermione and Mrs. Longbottom, he thought he managed everything correctly, or at least well enough to avoid any major etiquette breaches.
The conversation was pleasant, and Neville filled them in on news from their classmates while Mrs. Longbottom made a few comments on the current state of the wizarding world. To Harry’s surprise she subscribed to both the Quibbler and the Daily Prophet. Hermione excitedly informed Neville that the Ginny and Luna along with the rest of the fifth years would be able to take their OWL’s after all while Harry tried to hide a smirk. Hermione caught him however, and gave him her ‘you’ll pay for that, Potter’ look.
After dinner they returned to the drawing room and Mrs. Longbottom got down to business. She had decided that Neville would join them in learning Occlumency, and Harry felt good about that, since he had wanted for some time to be able to tell Neville about the prophecy.
“You first begin by clearing your minds,” Mrs. Longbottom began, “and I will show you briefly how it feels to have your mind invaded.” Harry’s spirits dropped with a thud. This wasn’t going to be any different than before. If he couldn’t do this with Snape, how would it be any different this time?
He soon realized that there were two major differences. He had an instructor who didn’t mind questions, and a classmate who wasn’t shy about asking them. Hermione’s hand immediately shot up into the air. Mrs. Longbottom smiled at her and told her that this wasn’t a classroom and she didn’t have to raise her hand. Hermione then asked her to explain exactly what she meant about clearing their minds.
Showing good teaching technique, Mrs. Longbottom turned to Harry to have him answer the question. “Harry, you’ve had some lessons already. Why don’t you tell us what that means?”
Harry was embarrassed, but forced himself to answer. “I don’t exactly know. All Snape … I mean Professor Snape ever did was tell me to clear my mind and then he immediately attacked me.”
There was a gasp from Mrs. Longbottom. “He never explained how to do it? That’s the first thing you have to learn! What kind of teacher is that?”
“Actually,” Neville spoke up, “that’s pretty much the way he teaches every class. He never told us how to do anything, just told us to do it and then made fun of us whenever we did anything wrong.”
Mrs. Longbottom was angry now, but her voice was calm and cold. “That man must be the worst teacher in the history of Hogwarts! Harry, you were correct the first time. He doesn’t deserve to be called Professor.”
She then took the time to explain mind clearing techniques to them, which Harry and Hermione both later agreed sounded somewhat like counting sheep to try to get to sleep. After this, she performed Legilimens on each of them.
Harry was the only one who knew how different this was than what Snape had done to him. When she invaded his mind, it was like a calm presence curiously wandering around looking for something. He realized that this would be more difficult to detect than the all out invasion he got from Snape. She was actually a better Legilimens than Snape was.
She looked at him for a moment when she finished before saying, “Harry, you’re trying to carry too much inside you. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let others help you carry it.”
When she finished Hermione she had a surprised look on her face. “How do you manage to keep so many thoughts going at the same time? I haven’t seen a mind like yours since …” she paused and looked over at Harry, “well never mind. It will be a delight teaching you.” She looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione. “Are you two …”
“Friends,” Hermione immediately responded, as though she knew exactly what was about to be asked. “Very good friends.”
“Very close friends I imagine,” said Mrs. Longbottom. “The bond between the two of you is obvious. You are quite fortunate. That kind of closeness is a treasure.”
She finished by giving them a book to read, much to Hermione’s delight. She told them to work on it every day, and she would see them twice a week to check how they were doing and give them practice. She decided that Neville could study with Ron while Harry and Hermione would obviously be studying together. Harry noticed that Neville perked up at the realization that he would be going to the Burrow to visit on a regular basis. He hadn’t realized that Neville and Ron were that close.
Before they knew it, it was time to return home. Harry and Hermione were much more alert and ready to share their evening with the Grangers than the previous night. Recalling how exhausted he had been after his lessons with Snape, Harry just shook his head at how different it was to have a good teacher than a poor one. The Grangers succeeded this time in showing him how to play pinochle and they had another enjoyable evening together.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-