DISCLAIMER: See
A/N: Introducing… the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!
BIG thanks to LogicalRaven for letting me borrow and alter her idea of an Apparation contract! (I rephrased it a little, but for the most part, it's still mainly like hers as seen in her seventh-year fic, "Harry Potter and the Rise of the Dark Lord.")
CHAPTER 29: FRIENDSHIPS UNDER FIRE
Nimis stulte amicus utere. You are treating your friends very stupidly. –Plautus, Persa (19)
"What?" Harry asked her incredulously.
She smiled her usual dreamy smile. "Our friends in
"Uh, sure," Harry said, sounding slightly confused.
Down at Hagrid's hut, there were two small
cages with
what looked like adolescent reindeer, hardly any taller than Harry or
Luna.
They had moss green fur and umber horns which were as big as those of
full-grown reindeer. Hagrid waved to them
as they
came up, shouting, "Hiya, Harry! How're you
doing today, Luna, lass?"
She smiled. "Excellent, Hagrid. So, can we
see
them now?"
"Yup!" Hagrid boomed happily. "Both of
them are well fed and just answered Nature's call, so you can see them
now!"
Harry and Luna took a better look at these two creatures. Luna pointed
out that
the male Snorkack, which she christened "Snorkio," had a streak of bright red spots
running
down his back. The female, on the other hand (a.k.a. "Snorkia"),
had a few light purple strips running down the length of her spine.
"Interesting," Harry commented. "So, what's so magical about
them?"
To answer his question, Luna held some food where they could see it,
and put it
in a small box with the top open. Snorkio,
who was
closest, manipulated the box with his antlers. His antlers moved as
though they
had muscles in them, and using them, he was able to lift the box and
dump out
the contents. He let his mate, Snorkia,
eat them
first before he helped himself.
"Aw, aren't they just a cute couple?" Hagrid
commented, his voice dripping with emotion.
"Yeah, how sweet," Luna said in her usual dazed voice. "So,
Professor Hagrid, do I get any extra
credit for
this?"
Hagrid swelled with pride at being called
"Professor." "Yes, Luna, and with the extra credit for helping
us, and I believe that makes you at the top of your class grade-wise."
Harry turned to Luna. "Really, Luna? Top of your class?"
Luna smiled with pride. "Indeed. Best grades for a few years now. By
the
way," she added, her eccentric mind jumping to a different subject,
"other magical things about the Snorkacks.
With
the muscles in their antlers, the muscles can be used in potions to
help
restore damage to the nervous system, like from pain inflicted by the Cruciatus Curse. (1)
They hide from Muggles, and most wizards,
for that
matter, because they're nervous and they don't trust them."
"How would you know that?"
"Oh, a large
"I wonder if I could get the recipe," Hagrid
mused out loud.
"So Hagrid," Harry said, hoping to change
the subject from the gamekeepers controversial cooking, "Will we be
able
to see the Snorkacks this Wednesday?"
"Yes indeed," Hagrid boomed, very happy by
the new discovery. "Anyway, I have to do some things; I'll see you two
in
your classes later this week!" With that, he marched away, humming a
tune.
"Anyway, Harry," Luna said dreamily, "Be sure to check the
Quibbler tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Harry asked, puzzled. "I thought it was a monthly
magazine."
She smiled rather secretively. "Right in one: It WAS monthly. However,
with all the money we've earned, it can now be a weekly magazine."
Harry
had to admit she had a point; thanks to Harry's interview about Voldemort's return almost a year before, plus
all the
articles he had contributed to since then, the profits from the
Quibbler had
skyrocketed, between the material being printed and the reputation it
was now
gaining. Mr. Lovegood had also separated
each issue
into two parts, between the definite stories and the more speculative
and
theoretical stories.
"I'm glad to hear it," Harry said cheerfully.
"I know, it's great, isn't it? We also thought that the discovery of
the
Crumple-Horned Snorkacks would be the
perfect story
with which to launch it!"
"Excellent thinking," Harry grinned. "Oh, and please tell
Hermione the good news, will you?"
Luna said nothing while bearing a thoughtful look on her face. Finally,
she
said, "OK, Harry, I'll find Hermione and tell her the good news."
With that, she walked off, whistling the tune, "Weasley
Is Our King."
Laughing, Harry went back up to
~*~*~*~
After Harry walked into his dormitory, Ron came running out of nowhere
and put
his arm over Harry's shoulder, pulling him into a tight hug. After Ron
let go,
he said with a few tears in his eyes, "It... is... beautiful..."
(2)
Harry grinned. "I'm glad you like it, Ron. So, we're even now? No hard
feelings?"
Ron shook his head. "None at all, mate. None at all..."
"Happy early birthday."
"Thanks, Harry."
Harry spent the rest of the afternoon reading up on Apparation.
For some reason, he seemed to understand it at a faster rate, and that
was
without simply skimming through it (which was something he couldn't
afford,
given how dangerous it could be). He estimated that at this rate, he
could get
it done by Thursday or Friday. He'd have to see Professor Dumbledore
about
that.
On the way out of the Tower for dinner, he told Hermione, "Luna has
something to show you." Leaving her puzzled, he walked out with a grin
on
his face.
~*~*~*~
At dinner, the rest of Gryffindor was chatting nonstop about Ron's new Firebolt, and they thanked Harry for
contributing. Harry
shrugged it off as nothing.
At one point, Luna wandered over and told Hermione that Hagrid
had acquired two Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.
Hermione's
jaw dropped as Luna gave a ditzy smile and returned to the Ravenclaw
table.
Whoa, then again, I never expected Luna to be so brief about her
success, Harry
thought.
"I can't believe it!" Hermione exclaimed. "I- I-"
"Hermione, give it a rest," Harry said exasperatedly. "Even with
Muggle science, new creatures are being
discovered
all the time."
Harry knew what was eating away at Hermione. Hermione didn't like being
proven
wrong. For her, it was simply unthinkable.
Hermione didn't talk to Harry for the rest of the meal. Harry tried to
deal
with it as best as he could.
~*~*~*~
After dinner, Harry asked Dumbledore about how quickly he seemed to be
able to
learn things these days. Dumbledore chuckled and said, "Very rarely,
Harry, some wizards can accelerate their learning pace during
adolescence.
Believe me, there's nothing unusual about your rate of learning. Let me
know
when you're absolutely sure you're done with your Apparation
training, and I will take a look into it and let you go to the Ministry
of
Magic towards the end of the week."
"Oh, okay. Thanks sir. Good night, Headmaster."
"Good night, Harry."
~*~*~*~
Harry had stopped using the Dream Medallion since Sirius had appeared
to him,
and it simply stayed in the trunk in the shelves of the storage
compartment. Cho had told him how
temperamental it could be, and he
didn't exact know what she had meant, but given how sleep-deprived she
had
looked for a few weeks, Harry decided not to become dependant on it.
That night, however, a nightmare struck again. It wasn't about death or
destruction or any of that horrible stuff, but it was disturbing in a
different
way...
~*~*~*~
Harry was in a beautiful house, which in its lavished way, looked more
beautiful than the Dursley's home. Harry
could tell,
based on the objects in the house and from the lack of electrical Muggle appliances, that he was in a Wizarding
House. Sunlight streamed through clean windows. There was a
cozy-looking
fireplace. It was comparable to, say, the Burrow perhaps, which was
Harry's
favorite house in the world.
Just then, the front door opened. A man with messy black hair and
glasses
walked in. He turned his head back outside and said, "Lily, kids, come
on
in!"
Harry's jaw dropped. His Dad!? Then it occurred to him; how it
might
have happened if his parents had lived...
Harry's mother came in behind his father, her dark red hair flowing,
her green
eyes sparkling with mirth.
The next person to enter was... himself. From the looks of it, he was
about ten
years old. The scar on his forehead was noticeably absent, and
otherwise, he
looked like the spitting image of his father. He wore a perpetual smile
that
Harry almost never had during that age. Harry's heart ached at what he
was
seeing... just to be with a family was Harry's deepest desire, as the
Mirror of
Erised had proved in his first year.
Another child walked in. Harry did a double take when he saw her. She
was about
six or seven years old from the looks of it. She had her mothers' hair
and
face, but hazel eyes like her father. Harry remembered how people often
said he
had "James' face and Lily's eyes;" this girl was like the converse of
that, like a mini-Lily with James eyes.
Harry's sister...
Yet another insult thrown in; at least this non-existent, dreamworld,
alternate universe Harry had siblings! His heart felt as though it
would
explode from grief when he saw his younger version wrapping his sister
in a
hug, with the two of them laughing together.
Lily spoke up next. "Harry, Rachel, you two wash your hands for dinner!
Come now, hurry!"
"Yeah, Harry, might be a good idea after you set those Dungbombs
in the toilet at school a few days ago!" Rachel piped up.
The dream-Harry blushed and said, "I was just trying to dispose of them
and put them where they belonged!"
"And somehow, that kid you hate at school just happened to use it
next," Rachel said suspiciously.
"Thatta boy, Harry!" James commended his
son.
"James/Dad!" his mother and sister protested respectively.
"Just kidding," James said sheepishly.
Dream-Harry went to the bathroom to wash his hands, and at dinner, an
owl flew
in and dropped off an envelope in front of James. He opened it, pulled
out four
sheets of pamphlet, and said, "Woohoo!
We're
going to the Quidditch World Cup!"
Dream-Harry's eyes lit up, and Rachel looked excited. Lily shook her
head with
a smile on her face, saying, "Old habits die hard."
After dinner, dream-Harry went up to his room and got started on his
homework
for school. The room was filled with Quidditch
posters and other things, much like the objects that could be found in
Ron's
room at the Burrow. A few minutes later, James came into his room.
"Hey kid," he said.
"Hi Dad," he responded.
"You know, since you're starting at Hogwarts next year, you should
really
just try to get through your studies this year at school."
"No more pranks?"
"No. But Hogwarts is a new start, even for those," James added,
chuckling.
"Will I like Hogwarts, Dad?"
"Yeah, son, of course you will. Albus
Dumbledore
is Headmaster, and chances are you'll be in Gryffindor like us. Don't
let
McGonagall give you a hard time."
Dream-Harry smiled. "Of course not, Dad."
"Or so you say you will, Harry," came a voice from outside his room.
It was Rachel, who had been spying on him. "Mommy knows you men too
well."
"Indeed," Lily added from behind her. "I'm just making sure you
two aren't plotting to blow something up."
"Naw, just a father-son talk, Lils," James assured her. "Besides, no way we'd
ever, ever do something to our own family. We're like lions,
part of a
pride; we all stick together. Here, you know what, group hug." As the
four
of them shared a family hug, Harry felt as though his heart had slipped
somewhere down near his stomach. His younger dream counterpart's smile
was that
of someone being love unconditionally. Someone who could trust other
people, no
matter what. Someone who would always have somebody to turn to when in
doubt.
It was a life that he should have had.
~*~*~*~
...The dream faded, and Harry lay face down in bed, unable to stand it
any
longer. The dream was fresh in his mind, and it wouldn't go away.
"Must not cry," he thought to himself, "must not cry." He
repeated this mantra over and over again in his head as he got dressed
and
departed from the dormitory.
It was about 6:15 in the morning, and so he still had some time. He
patrolled
the halls with the Marauder's Map, although no one else was up doing
anything
they shouldn't be doing.
He silently ducked into his office, put lots of Silencing Charms on the
room,
and broke down weeping. Being loved unconditionally was something that
so many
other people took for granted. Ginny was the first to do so for him;
she meant
a lot to him. To Harry, her love for him was more precious than any
other
commodity on Earth.
By 7:00, he realized he had to go to breakfast. Drying the last of his
tears,
he went to get some breakfast.
~*~*~*~
They were finally going to do the Polyjuice
Potions
today. Thankfully, there were an even number of boys and an even number
of
girls (6 boys and 4 girls, to be precise), so no one had to wonder with
horror
what they would experience if they switched genders. (3)
Harry paired off with Neville, Hermione paired off with Padma,
Ernie with Anthony, Blaise with Nott, and
Nora with
Pansy. As some of the potion got ladled, Harry yanked out a few strands
of his
own untidy hair and put it in the glass. He swapped with Neville, and
on Snape's command, the pairs tried it out.
"Cheers," Harry said as he downed his potion. He felt the familiar
sensations of his skin morphing, and he closed his eyes and leaned
against the
wall as his body convulsed mildly...
And then it all stopped. He opened his eyes; it was blurry. Of course,
he
thought. Neville didn't need glasses.
"Harry?" he heard his own voice say. It was Neville in Harry's form.
"I can't see."
"Hang on, stay where you are." He took his glasses off (they didn't
fit very well on Neville's rounder head), and put them on Neville's
face.
"Better?"
"Yeah, thanks." It felt strange, for Harry to be looking at himself
like this. He tested out Neville's physique and walked around the room;
he felt
a little clumsy and wobbly, but he got the hang of it. It also felt
very
strange, not having glasses on either.
Just then, Neville sneezed. The next instant, he was a lion. The moment
after
that, he was a phoenix. He kept cycling through those forms until Snape gave him some Anti-Allergy Potion. Snape concluded, "It might be some of the
ingredient
combined when switching forms with an Animagus
or Polyanimagus. Don't worry, Mr. Longbottom,
this potion will last for the rest of the lesson."
Something then occurred to Harry. If he was a gifted Polyanimagus,
and he was in Neville's form, could he instantly become a bear? After
all, his
dose of the potion had contained some bits of Neville (or at least, his
hair).
Concentrating and ignoring the looks of everyone else, he transformed.
A chair was knocked aside as he grew. The next moment, he was a brown
bear! The
class gaped in awe as Harry tried this out. He lumbered around the room
and up
to Snape. Standing on his rear legs, he
towered over
the shocked Potions Master by a couple of feet. After resuming his
human form
(as Neville, of course), he said, "I think we'd better let Professor
McGonagall know about this."
Snape just stared at him in shock, as did
Neville (in
Harry's body). Snape then went over to his
desk and
took out a bottle of murky blue potion. "This is Polyjuice
Potion antidote," he told the class at large. "There's no point in
staying in these forms any longer, and you should probably drink it
before something
else goes wrong." He poured it into glasses and passed it around.
Everybody took a swig, and after Harry got his glasses back from
Neville, Snape had the students take notes
for the rest of the
period.
After the class, Snape called for Harry
and Neville
to stay after for a few moments. "Potter," he asked quietly,
"How did you do that?"
Harry shrugged. "I just tried it. I remembered that Neville's potential
Animagus form was a bear. So, I tried it."
Snape eyed him curiously. "I see. I wonder
whether
or not Professor Dumbledore OR Professor McGonagall can explain this
one."
Neville, without a word, suddenly backed up a few feet, and screwed up
his face
in concentration. A minute later, he was a bear again!
Harry's jaw dropped while Snape went even
paler.
Quickly composing himself, the professor said, "Potter, Longbottom, come with me. I think Professors
Dumbledore and
McGonagall should know about this."
After Neville became a human again and Snape
had left
instructions on the board for the next class, the two Gryffindors
followed the dungeon-dwelling professor up to the Headmaster's office.
Students
in the halls gave them odd looks, wondering what the pair of students
had done
to merit Snape's wrath. (It was no small
secret that
Harry and Neville were often tied for the position of Snape's
least favorite student.)
"Nosebleed Nougat," Snape sneered once
they
reached the gargoyle. Silently, they went up the staircase and into the
office.
Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, and the silvery objects on his desk
were
playing a symphony like a portable orchestra. After finishing its
thundering
climax, Dumbledore turned them off with a sweep of his wand and turned
to his
visitors.
"Ah, Severus, Harry, Neville," he said,
smiling. "What would you unlikely trio be doing here today?"
Snape ignored the humor and said, "Misters
Potter and Longbottom partnered off today
with the Polyjuice Potion. While in Longbottom's
form, Potter was able to transform into a brown bear, which is Longbottom's natural Animagus
form.
Once the potion had worn off, Longbottom
was able to
transform into a brown bear as though he had undergone the training
required. I
can't believe it's possible!"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Really?" Turning to Neville, he said,
"Mr. Longbottom, could you please
demonstrate?"
Neville nodded as Harry and Snape backed
up to give
him room. A moment later, the familiar brown bear stood in front of the
Headmaster's desk.
Dumbledore's eyes threatened to vanish into his hair. "This is
certainly
incredible. I need to ask Professor McGonagall about this." While the
Headmaster firecalled the Transfiguration
professor,
Neville resumed his normal form while Harry and Snape
sat themselves down to wait.
As McGonagall came in through the fireplace, she asked, "So what's this
you want to show me, Albus?"
"I believe there was an interesting event today in Potions class, when
Misters Potter and Longbottom worked with
each other
on Polyjuice Potion," Dumbledore said. Snape stepped forward and recounted the event,
and
McGonagall's jaw dropped.
"What- How?" she spluttered. Calming herself, she turned to Neville
and said, "Please show me, Mr. Longbottom."
Neville nodded and transformed again. McGonagall muttered something
about him
being able to do it as though he were a natural while forming a
hypothesis.
"Hardly anyone has bothered to try such a thing, since Animagi
are so rare. Potter, being an Animagus,
was in the
form of Longbottom, who wasn't an Animagus.
Due to Potter's ability to transfigure or untransfigure
himself in shorter amounts of time, he somehow made Longbottom
able to use it once he had resumed his normal form. And since Longbottom drank something with Potter's hair in
it, he
somehow obtained the ability to become a natural Animagus."
"So," Neville spoke at last, "Does this make me an Animagus?"
"Yes, I suppose it does," McGonagall concluded. "Later this
week, when you go to the Ministry to get your Apparition license, you
can also
register as an Animagus."
Neville nodded and thanked her. She gave a rare smile and welcomed him
to
"the small circle of Animagi." With that,
Dumbledore allowed them to leave. McGonagall went back through the Floo Network and Neville want back down the
spiral
staircase. Harry was about to leave when Snape
said,
"Wait a moment, Potter."
Confused, Harry turned around while Snape
told
Dumbledore, "Headmaster, I've been wondering lately about Mr. Potter's
strange ability to do normally difficult tasks with seemingly absurd
ease. The Animagus training, the Legilimency...
how is he able to do that?"
Harry had been wondering the same thing. Dumbledore looked thoughtful
while
Harry added, "Professor Dumbledore? You don't think I'm just using
abilities I inadvertently got from Voldemort,
do
you?"
After a moment, Dumbledore shook his head, answering in the negative.
"Hardly, Harry. I believe you have several powers of your own. Probably
your only ability, which you accidentally got from Voldemort,
was the gift of Parseltongue. It is my
belief that
your other powers, like your being a Polyanimagus
and
a Legilimens, are truly based on your own
individual
powers."
Harry sighed. "Good. I was afraid something else might go wrong. You
know,
if I got most of my powers from Voldemort."
Dumbledore smiled with that twinkle in his eyes. "In fact, Harry, I
believe you have the potential to be even more powerful than me."
"What!?" Harry yelped while nearly jumping a foot in the air. Snape's eyes bulged a little with shock.
"Indeed, Harry. You have progressed so rapidly at a pace even I
couldn't
have competed with."
"So? Are you saying I'm like you, only a hundred or so years
younger?" Harry asked incredulously.
Dumbledore shrugged his shoulders. "Something like that."
Before anything else could be said, Draco's
eagle owl
sailed in. It deposited a letter in front of Harry, and then flew over
to join Fawkes.
"It's from Draco," he told his professors.
They watched Harry read it.
Harry,
Yes, I got your message from your phoenix. Thanks for your good wishes;
my
mother is getting better.
I might return to
My classes at Beauxbatons are more or less
the same
as at Hogwarts. I'm learning French fast enough anyway. My dad's side
of the
family has partial French heritage, so it's not really all that hard.
You wouldn't believe how often Gabrielle Delacour
keeps tagging around, saying how brave I am working you. So, I also
send good
wishes from her.
I also have a favor to ask you. If you or any of the others happen to
come
across him, please don't kill him. Bring him alive, definitely, but not
dead.
He's still my father, and no amount of evil can change that.
Also, tell Ginny I'm fine. No, there's no romantic thing between us;
purely
platonic, I assure you.
I sent this back with Venator, because
your phoenix
had already left. Must your messengers be this flashy too?
-Draco
P.S. Kreacher's dead; tried to get away
with some
poison and he tripped, causing it all to explode in his face.
Harry passed the message to Snape and
Dumbledore, who
looked at it together. Using spells unfamiliar to Harry, they concluded
that no
one had tampered with the message while the owl was flying en route to
Hogwarts.
When they were done reading it, Harry said, "Actually, I don't think
that
I really need
"Very well, Harry," Dumbledore answered, "Later this week, we
can get the proper papers signed for such a transfer of property when
you go
for your Apparation test."
Harry nodded and he wrote a reply to send back with Venator.
Draco,
Got your message; glad to hear you and your mother are doing well.
I'll try to transfer
Tell Gabrielle I say thanks. Will send my regards to Ginny.
No, I don't intentionally send flashy messengers; I just didn't want to
send a
messenger that you could curse if you were in a bad mood (and I can't
blame you
for that, given what happened to your mother).
-Harry
P.S. Glad to hear about Kreacher; will be
sure to
celebrate later.
Harry sealed it, sent it back with Venator,
said
farewell to his professors, and left for his free study period.
~*~*~*~
He spent the whole time reading up on Transfiguration. He thought that
by this
rate, he could pass his N.E.W.T.s by the
end of the
year (not that 6th years took them, of course).
Ginny was among the first to come back. Harry was glad to see her. As
she
plopped herself on the seat next to him, he snaked his arm around her
waist and
pulled her into a passionate kiss.
Harry just gazed at her for a moment, taking in her red hair and deep
brown
eyes...
Then he remembered the dream from last night, and sadness crossed his
features
as he began to brood on that again.
Ginny caught his change in attitude, and asked, "Harry? What's
wrong?" It hurt for her to see Harry sad like this. Ginny thought he
was
somewhere between cute and handsome, what with his messy black hair and
sparkling green eyes. Seeing him like this was just terrible for her.
"Ginny?" he responded at last. "Can you come with me, please? I
think maybe I ought to show you in private."
She nodded and followed him out of the tower to his office. Once inside
and
securely locking it, he faced Ginny and put his wand up to his temple.
Concentrating hard, he pointed it at Ginny and said, "Visio Revia." (4)
She saw the entire dream before her eyes as though she were watching
it. She
felt a twinge of sadness in her heart at seeing Harry loved
unconditionally by
his parents, which she knew never happened and never would in real
life. Then
there was that adorable little sister of his. 'Of course,' she thought
to
herself as she snorted; if Mr. and Mrs. Potter had lived, they probably
would
have had more kids. What Ginny also found of interest a little was how
uncannily they looked alike, between the hair, the eyes, and the face.
Just
make the hair more intense, add some freckles, and this girl could
almost pass
off as Ginny's twin.
As the images of the dream ended, Harry put the memory back in his
head, put
his wand in his pocket, and sat on the couch with a groan, burying his
face in
his hands.
"Tell me, Gin, would that qualify as a nightmare in your experience?"
he asked.
"I dunno," Ginny said slowly. He sat down
next to Harry and put her arm around his shoulders. "It's alright,
Harry,
just please don't keep dwelling on it."
"I'm sorry, I-" his voice was cut off as he felt that obstruction in
his throat from grief and sadness.
"Shh, Harry's it's okay, I'm here for you,"
she whispered in his ear. She even kissed him on the cheek, which
seemed to
soothe him a little.
"C'mon, let's go get lunch," Ginny suggested. Wiping away the few
tears he had shed, Harry followed her to the Great Hall.
~*~*~*~
After lunch, Harry went up to his classroom, only to find Snape
waiting there for him. "Hello, Potter," he said, "There was
something else I wanted to discuss with you."
"Oh. Like what?"
"Two things, actually. First of all, each night at 7:00, I will require
your presence and Miss Weasley's for an
hour or so in
order to prepare the potion."
"Got it. I'll tell her later. I'll have more time for the rest of the
week, since this week's O.S. meeting is tonight."
"Good. The other thing is that by being near the level of a master Legilimens, we can communicate merely by looking
each other
in the eye. Right now, for instance. Keep eye contact with me while I
thought-
speak to you."
"Okay," Harry agreed. He closed his eyes for a moment in order to
relax them, and no sooner than he had opened them than he heard Snape's voice in his mind.
Right now, I am communicating to you via thought-speech. I can only
send you
thoughts and read whichever you might send me, but since you're keeping
your
memories closed, I can't go any farther than that. Now, you try to
thought-speak to me.
Got it, I heard everything you just said, Harry replied, looking
deep
into the professor's beetle black eyes. You know, any students who
could
walk in right now might think that we're looked in a staring contest.
I've stared down countless students in my teaching career, Potter;
none of
them have lasted very long.
Er, congratulations, I suppose. This should
make it
even easier to see whether or not any students are lying about their
homework.
Obviously, since I've been doing it for years.
I only learned from the best, whether it be Potions, Occlumency,
or Legilimency.
Why thank you, only flattery will get you nowhere, Potter.
It's true; you're probably the only teacher I've had in all three
fields
anyway.
The door opened at that very moment to reveal Mark Evans and the other
first
year Slytherins behind him. Snape
said, "Good day, Potter," and swept out with his robes billowing
behind him.
"What was that?" Mark asked.
"Nothing, I was just showing him the grindylow,"
Harry lied, quickly thinking back to something Lupin
had said three years before. "Anyway, let's get to work." With that,
they got started on a unit; creatures that had never made it into Muggle mythology.
~*~*~*~
That night at the O.S., Harry said, "Tonight, we will keep going with Patroni until just about everyone can conjure
one. That
said, let's get to work."
About halfway through the meeting, the last of the students had been
able to
conjure Patroni. Harry congratulated them
and
everyone was please at their results.
"What will we be learning now, Harry?" Colin Creevey
enquired hopefully.
Harry's smile faded as he was confronted with this question. "I really
have no idea," he honestly answered. "Patroni
are beyond N.E.W.T. level. That was pretty much the end result of this
course."
"So you're thinking about discontinuing it?" a Ravenclaw
student named Lisa Turpin cried.
"Maybe, maybe not. This was only a continuation of last year's D.A.,
and
the reason I even did that was because we were stuck with a Defense
teacher who
couldn't even hold her grounds against nifflers.
This
group is only supplemental. At least this year, we have a satisfactory
Professor." Lupin blushed a little with
pride,
but Harry didn't allow himself to get distracted by it. "Besides,
Professor Lupin and I have taught all of
you enough
defense material to raise your grades tremendously. Besides, you can
always
practice dueling with someone on your own time."
"So you're stopping it?" Neville asked sadly.
Harry shook his head. He was spending so much of his time training
himself to
kill Voldemort that he couldn't give as
much time as
he used to for his eager classmates. "I don't know yet. If there are
any
other meetings, I'll let you know. That's what the medallions are for,
aren't
they?"
There was silence as people nodded in agreement with him. At Lupin's suggestion, they spent the rest of the
period
practicing whichever spells they needed to brush up on.
Later that night in the Gryffindor common room, Ron and Hermione
approached
Harry about his decision to possibly discontinue the O.S. Eventually,
the
entire common room was watching this go on.
"Harry, you're an excellent teacher, why stop it now?" Hermione
pleaded.
"Yeah, mate, come on!" Ron begged. "You shouldn't just stop it
now! Why should you be more worried about yourself?"
Harry just looked back at both of them. "Why!? Because I'm on the top
of Voldemort's hit list, that's why! Can
any of the other
students in this school claim that?"
Both Ron and Hermione looked at him in shock. Whatever reaction they
had
expected, this wasn't it.
Dropping the tone in his voice, Harry said, "I have no problem with
teaching the other students magic that they can use to defend
themselves with.
However, try looking at it this way; the sooner I can kill Voldemort,
they might not need to use it much anymore."
"That's the other thing," Ron said. "Why are you taking it upon
yourself to kill him off? Why not leave it to Dumbledore?"
"Because he can't," Harry said flatly. "Supposedly, I have
something he doesn't."
"Like what?" Hermione challenged him. Ginny watched fearfully from a
corner, eyes open.
"First of all, I'm not likely to tell you in front of the entire common
room, am I?" At this, all the other students squirmed and shook their
heads.
Hermione shook her head, exasperated. "Only now when it counts, you
keep
secrets from us. Yet for the past five years, you had no problem with
telling
us things as soon as you heard of them."
"Because this is one secret that needs to be kept," Harry countered.
"Because this situation is much more serious than anything we've faced
before."
Hermione was having a hard time being left out on information; this
sort of
thing hardly ever happened to her. "The Harry I knew always included us
in
these things."
That really cut deep at Harry's dignity. "You act like I've changed
into a
completely different person. At least I'm glad I'm not like that
anymore. Not
the eleven-year-old kid who had no idea how to get on the stupid
platform 9 ¾
or was too used to having all these different adults have the run on my
life
and ended up leaving it to me to do things. For another thing, I never
said I
never would tell you, I just don't know when and how to tell you. Even
then,
one person might find out one way or another. Right now, I'm just
trying to
figure out what to do. I'll let you know when I have it planned out,
but for
now, please bear with me."
Ron stared at him incredulously, and then lost it. "Fine! Mr.
High-And-Mighty over here will pass judgment on the rest of us mortals
when he
deems so!" he ranted.
"Don't be so bloody dramatic," Harry scoffed. "Consider yourself
lucky you don't have to go through what I have to deal with."
Ron launched himself at Harry, only to be held back by Hermione and
Ginny.
"That's always your excuse, isn't it? Percy was right about you! Just
some
kid I met on the train! You really have no clue what to do, do you?
Then again,
I wouldn't expect much else from some kid who grew up with relatives
who hated
him for being a wizard!"
Everyone else gasped and Hermione and Ginny looked about ready to rip
him
apart. But the looks on Harry's face wouldn't be forgotten. First, he
went very
pale and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then his features turned
into a
feral look of a very pissed-off person. With a scream of fury, he
unleashed a
load of magic.
Tables and chairs splintered and crumbled. The fire in the fireplace
exploded,
sending out a lot of flames. Cracks in the floor spread out from where
he stood
like a destructive spider web, cutting deep into the floor. These
cracks ran up
the walls all the way up to the ceiling as the entire tower shook from
his
anger. People screamed and flattened themselves out against the walls
and his
three friends stumbled to get out of the way.
A moment later, it stopped. Little pieces of plaster and stone fell
from the
ceiling, and silence swept through. Harry slowly walked towards Ron,
and the
latter trembled with fear as his friend towered over him, breathing
hard and
with rage written all over his face and his fists clenched.
"For the best strategist I've ever known, you can do incredibly stupid
things sometimes," Harry growled, watching his friend splutter with
apprehension. The rest of the room hung onto his every word. "You
honestly
couldn't keep your mouth shut if it was sown shut, could you? Of
course, you
really wouldn't be able to comprehend how much damage you could cause
if you
let the secret loose, as much as I may have wanted to tell it
to you.
"Yet another thing that disgusts me is how much you don't appreciate
how
good you can have it sometimes. At least you still have a family. Or
what about
meeting me on the train, which you brought up just now? It was a good
thing I
met you when I did, wasn't it? Here's what it looked like from my
perspective.
On one hand, Ron Weasley, brave and noble,
easy to
get along with, family is noble and pious, regardless of relatively low
rung on
the social ladder, close friends of Dumbledore... and then on the other
hand,
there's Draco Malfoy,
spoiled brat, pureblood bigot, aristocratic asshole, and his family was
in Voldemort's inner circle. Which do you
think was the
logical choice for me to make?"
Hardly anyone in the now half-destroyed common room could be heard
breathing as
Ron paled considerably, his freckles standing out on his face. Harry
shook his
head, unable to believe he had to deal with this. Turning towards the
window,
he said, "If McGonagall asks about the common room, just tell her it
was
an accident." Transforming into a phoenix, he sailed out of the tower
and
into the night.
~*~*~*~
Ron still felt petrified after seeing Harry able to pull off that much
destruction. "If he was just able to do that," he gasped, "Then
it's probably a good thing he has the power to kill You-Know-Who."
No sooner had he gotten to his feet than he felt someone smack him in
the face.
Ginny glared at Ron, angry with what had just happened. Unable to come
up with
a good threat, she turned to help Hermione repair the damage Harry had
caused.
The rest of Gryffindor was shocked at seeing what some had labeled,
"The
Golden Trio," fight like that. It was disturbing, for anyone to see
their
heroes descend into fights like that. They could only hope that things
could be
fixed soon.
~*~*~*~
Harry flew around for an hour or so, just a speck against the night
sky. He
loved being a phoenix; it gave him freedom from the metaphorical cage
he often
lived in. It lifted his soul and his mood, and he even sang a little as
he
flew.
Out of nowhere, two other phoenixes appeared. Upon closer inspection,
he saw
that it was Fawkes and Ardeavis.
"You might want to return, fledgling," Ardeavis said to him, and Fawkes
whistled in agreement.
Harry sang a few notes which answered in the negative, saying that he
didn't
want to go back just yet. Often, when a phoenix sang, it was a sort of
language
between them that simply couldn't be translated, because it transcended
human
words. Only one's emotion could be used to translate it, because the
language
of the phoenix was based on emotions.
"You really should," Ardeavis
told him. "All people have their flaws. You have to learn how to
manage in spite of those flaws. If your friends can tolerate your
weaknesses,
then you should try to tolerate theirs."
Harry was silent, so he just continued to fly before making a wide arc
and
flying back to Hogwarts. With a flash of fire, he was gone.
~*~*~*~
Back in the common room, as everyone else went up to bed, Ginny told
Ron,
Hermione, and Neville to wait a moment. Retreating into the farthest
corner of
the room, Ginny said in quiet tones, "Maybe I should tell you. Harry
didn't want to see the looks on your faces if he told you, so I will.
The
prophecy... it was made a month before Harry was born. It said
something about
the one being able to vanquish the Dark Lord approaching. Translated
from all the
prophetic babble, it said the one who could kill Voldemort
would be born at the end of July of that year to those who had escaped
from Voldemort three times. The Dark Lord
would mark this boy as
his equal, but the boy would have a power Voldemort
doesn't. And one of them would have to kill the other for neither of
them could
survive while the other lives."
The other three took this all in, and Ginny explained, "To 'mark him,'
meant to give Harry that scar. 'Power the Dark Lord knows not,' meant
love, or
Light Magic which involved love, and because Voldemort
is so steeped in Dark Magic, he wouldn't have that power."
"Wait," Neville interrupted. "You-Know-Who knew about the
prophecy, so why did he want the copy of it in the Department of
Mysteries?"
"Voldemort's spy, who was eavesdropping on
the
prophecy as it was being made, only heard the part about being born at
the end
of July to those who had thrice escaped him. He had to choose between
Harry and
another boy who fit the criteria. Guess who, Neville; even you should
know this
one."
Neville worked it all out, and when he did, his eyes bulged. "The other
one was me. I- oh-" Neville was completely at a loss for words, as were
Ron and Hermione.
Not feeling like watching the other three imitate fish with their open
mouths,
Ginny got back to the topic at hand. "But the last part is why Harry
needs
to be careful. He has to kill Voldemort,
or Voldemort will kill him."
Ron's jaw dropped even lower while Hermione looked about ready to burst
into
tears. Neville simply looked thunderstruck.
Ginny nodded. "Exactly. Who's probably more powerful at the moment, and
has decades' worth more Dark knowledge? Voldemort.
Harry needs our help, and badly."
"No wonder he didn't want to tell me," Ron said hoarsely. "Here
I wanted to be like him, but already there's a cost too high for what
he
has."
Hermione shook her head. "Ron, you never did have to prove that you
were
better than Harry or have to live up to his standards. However often
you might
do things you shouldn't do, you're still a great person. Harry's done
nothing
but to try and make sure you know that."
Ron slowly lifted his head and looked into her eyes, extremely grateful
for how
many people were trying to help him.
Suddenly, there was a burst of flames. It was Harry-the-phoenix. He
transformed
back, took a look at them, and went up the stairs to his dormitory. He
obviously didn't want to deal with it right now.
Ginny told the other three Gryffindors,
"Don't
tell this to anyone. Don't even think about it, okay? I'll tell
Luna
tomorrow, since she was also in the Department of Mysteries. She's good
at
keeping secrets, trust me."
They all nodded and went up their respective staircases.
~*~*~*~
As Ron and Neville entered, they saw Harry already in bed and fast
asleep, with
Dean and Seamus talking in a subdued manner.
Neville was lost in his own thoughts. So that was why Harry had lent
Neville a
hand and had wanted to help him out. Because Harry felt as though he
and
Neville shared a special kind of bond between them. Neville would
always be
grateful to Harry for that.
Ron had almost never felt this guilty in his entire life. Damn, why
hadn't he
thought this through better!? He had just caused Harry a lot of hell to
go
through. For once, he felt glad he wasn't in Harry's place. Harry had
been
through too much already. Before going to sleep, Ron silently prayed
that Harry
could kill Voldemort as soon as possible
so they
could finally live their lives without worry.
~*~*~*~
Harry, on the other hand, had no dreams that night. That was mainly
because he
kept waking up during the night, and he figured it was because he was
still
angry at Ron and Hermione for pushing it too far.
The next morning, Harry sat as far down the Gryffindor table as he
could from
his so-called best friends. They tried to talk to him on the way to
Transfiguration, but Harry kept them at bay with the words, "You might
want to stay away from me right now, because I'm afraid of what I might
say."
Both of them nodded silently and kept their distance. While this was
going on,
Harry silently noted that none of the Gryffindors
had
been spreading rumors about Harry's home life. He finally came to the
conclusion that they were afraid Harry would blast them away if they
tried
anything.
McGonagall told them they would be working in pairs today in order to
conjure
animals. Harry immediately paired up with Neville, not wanting to work
with Ron
or Hermione. He just wanted to be in the right mood when he wanted to
talk to
them again.
After the lesson, McGonagall called Harry to her desk. "What happened
last
night, Potter? It only sounded as though the entire Gryffindor tower
was going
to collapse."
Harry sighed. "Ron and Hermione said a couple of things they shouldn't
have, and, well... I snapped. Sorry about that. It all got fixed,
though."
McGonagall gave a wry smirk. "Try not to do that again."
"I won't. Ron made the mistake of bringing up my 'home life.'"
McGonagall's mouth thinned into a tight line. "I see."
Hoping to change the subject, Harry asked, "By the way, have you
noticed
how quickly I seem to be progressing?"
McGonagall nodded. "Indeed. You seem to have inherited your father's
talent. I wouldn't be surprised if you could pass the end of year exams
right
now."
"Thanks. I have to get going. Good-bye."
~*~*~*~
On Harry's way to lunch, he met up with Blaise
and Cho. He was indeed related to them,
and both the Changs and the Zabinis were
delighted to hear it. Harry felt sort of a knot unwind in his heart; he
had a
family, however distant they might have been.
Cho had also gotten a letter from the Diggorys, confirming that Harry was related to
them as
well. Harry felt a little sad that he was related this whole time to
the first
official victim of the Second War, and never even knew it.
~*~*~*~
Later that afternoon, after Harry had finished with his second year Ravenclaws about Nogtails
(pig-like creatures with long legs that cursed farms), Luna came up to
him.
"Good luck killing Riddle," she said in her dreamy voice before
wandering off.
It took Harry only a few moments to piece together what Luna had meant
before
becoming angry. With that, he went looking for Ginny.
That night, on the way down to assist Snape
with the Telamoric Potion, Harry cornered
Ginny. "Why
did you tell Luna?"
"Don't worry, Harry, I only told those who were with us in the
Department
of Mysteries."
This only made Harry even angrier. "So Ron, Hermione and Neville know
too?"
She glared at him evenly. "They had a right to know. If they know about
it, obviously, they can help us. Hermione could dig up some ancient
magic in a
book somewhere. You're allowed to ask for help, dammit!"
Harry was about to argue the case even further when the door opened and
Snape appeared. "Well, Potter, Weasley,
come in." Both of them entered the room, still red in the face and
angry
with each other.
The next hour or so continued in relative silence, other than Snape's directions as Harry prepared
ingredients. It was
very complex, and required several stages, which was why a whole week
was
needed in order to brew it.
During that whole time, Snape was
pondering the brief
argument between the two. It appeared that Mr. and Miss Weasley,
Miss Granger, Mr. Longbottom and Miss Lovegood now knew about the prophecy as well.
The Potions
Master had also heard about Dumbledore dodging out of telling the other
Order
members the final part of the prophecy, "neither can survive while the
other lives."
Ah, Albus, you poor old man, Snape
said silently. There had been a few reasons why Snape
had hated Harry Potter over the first five years of the latter's
education. One
of them was indeed how he looked like his father, which Snape
considered to be a minor inconvenience. He deplored it how half the
Hogwarts
staff, who had been teaching from Snape's
days as a
student, could simply let James Potter torment Snape,
then simply expect Snape to be all honest
and fair
towards James Potter's son. Well, where were they when Snape
needed them?
But there was an even deeper reason why Snape
had
loathed Harry Potter, at least at first. That night when the Dark Lord
fell and
little baby Potter got promoted to hero status, when Dumbledore held
the poor
infant in his arms, Snape knew that the
old man had
developed an unbreakable infatuation for the boy, as a parent would
feel for a
child. How Dumbledore would sacrifice everything and anything just to
please
the scar-headed youth, even if it meant doing some unthinkable deeds,
like,
say, sacrificing half the Order and its members to do so.
Snape wouldn't have minded dying for the
Order, since
that was part of the agreement of serving Albus
Dumbledore. But he would have minded dying for Harry Potter, which he
knew
Dumbledore would allow. (5)
Ever since Snape had gotten that apology
from Potter,
he felt some strange desire to get to the bottom of these
misunderstandings,
maybe to reach out to another person who had suffered a miserable life
from an
early age.
Yet another thing no one would ever suspect about the feared Severus Snape: How
the Potions
professor, who had subjected countless students to miserable
experiences in his
classes, could actually find child abuse and neglect so repugnant. In Snape's opinion, child abuse was more deplorable
acts only
the worst of people could do, ranking right up there with heinous deeds
like
incest or pedophilia.
As 9:00 drew near, Harry and Ginny packed up their things and put away
spare
ingredients, and with a nod from Snape,
they left.
Snape, on the other hand, thought that
perhaps the
rest of the Order needed to know about the prophecy.
~*~*~*~
Later that night, there was an Order meeting. Snape
Apparated over to
Some people gave information they had about Voldemort's
attempts to fuse snakes with other creatures, then create a whole
serpentine
army he could control. Others gave information about Voldemort
trying to sway other magical creatures to his side. It seemed that
vampires in
general were at a crossroads; some of them felt that Voldemort
was their natural ally, while others believed him as a threat.
Towards the end, Snape spoke up. "I heard
some
information earlier today among a few students that should be taken
into
account. It seems that the five other students who went with Potter to
the
Department of Mysteries last summer now also know about the prophecy
that was
destroyed."
Dumbledore went as white as his beard. The other Order members murmured
amongst
themselves; it had actually been a good thing the prophecy had been
destroyed,
although they were still itching to know its contents.
Faced with no other choice, Dumbledore recounted the entire prophecy to
the
rest of the Order. Snape could only watch
with a
sinking feeling the others' reactions while Dumbledore closed his eyes
in
despair. McGonagall's face sagged, unable to believe what she was
hearing. Lupin looked as though someone
had hit him hard in the
head. Mundungus Fletcher broke out in a
string of
epithets that would have made a drill sergeant proud. Molly Weasley
burst into tears while her husband put an arm around her shoulder. Tonks' hair suddenly turned long and gray,
looking as
dreary as the mood now generally felt in the room.
Only Bill could find his voice. "Professor, there must be some
way to get around it."
Dumbledore shook his head in the negative. "No, Bill, it's a true
prophecy; it's not some curse that can simply be broken."
Bill looked downcast as Lupin let out a
wolfish howl
of despair.
At least Snape could find something to
say.
"Potter's training in various areas has already accelerated at a pace I
don't think any of us could find possible. All we need is enough time
for him
to build up his power to the point where it surpasses that of the Dark
Lord."
Dumbledore, opening his eyes at last, said, "Indeed, Severus.
We just need to hold Voldemort off for as
long as
possible."
~*~*~*~
The next day, Harry and the others began to learn about Crumple- Horned
Snorkacks in CoMC.
Hermione
actually enjoyed them. Of course, this may have been attributed to the
fact
that they were "cute" according to girl standards. Harry enjoyed
watching them and tending to them. It was also pretty funny when Snorkio sneaked up behind Ron, who was
distracted by
watching Hermione, flexed its antlers around his lower leg, and yanked
at him.
The article which had been printed at the beginning of the week about
the Snorkacks had fairly increased the
payoff of The Quibbler
and the wealth of Luna and her father. Thanks largely to Harry's help,
the
Quibbler now was being seen as more of a "scientific" or
"speculative" magazine.
At the end of the lesson, before Harry could return to the castle to
continue
reading on Apparation, Ron and Hermione
led him
behind Hagrid's cabin.
Ron said, "Harry, once again, I'm sorry I tried to invade your privacy.
I
really do appreciate having you as a friend, and I am grateful I could
get to
you before Malfoy could. You really have
helped me,
and I would appreciate being able to help you kill You-Know-Who."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "And I'm sorry I tried to be so nosy. It
was
very... Umbridgian of me. I just hope
you'll survive
and..." Tears leaked from Hermione's eyes as she locked Harry in a
powerful hug, which Harry gave into.
Harry was going over what to do in his mind. He was still angry about
what they
did, but on the other hand, they truly were remorseful about it.
However angry
Harry was at the moment, he decided to put that all aside for the time
being.
"Fine," Harry said at last. "Both of you are forgiven, but on
probation. Come on, we'd better get going before we're late to our next
classes."
Ron and Hermione went ahead, but Hagrid
came to talk
to Harry for a moment. "Ron and Hermione really care for you, Harry.
You
really ought to show them a little more patience than that... although
I suppose
I understand about your anger about your, erm,
'home
life...'"
"Thanks Hagrid. I really do enjoy being
with
them." As he bade his giant friend farewell, Harry caught up with his
two
best friends.
Harry really did consider them as his friends. During his brief anger
at them,
he had been forced to reevaluate his entire friendship with them. He
came to
the conclusion that friendships simply can't be analyzed, and
regardless of
their flaws or whatever, Harry still would do anything for them.
~*~*~*~
Little by little, Harry's mood seemed to lighten over the remainder of
the
week. He cheerfully helped out Ron and Hermione with their homework,
and they
helped make his life a littler happier.
The visit to the Ministry of Magic for all sixth years to get their Apparation licenses had been pushed up to Friday
afternoon
after classes, due to how quickly this particular batch of sixth years
had been
able to learn it.
In a large waiting room, people were called alphabetically by their
last names,
and Harry was vaguely reminded of the Sorting Ceremony at the beginning
of his
first year.
With the permission of Lupin, who had been
chaperoning the students, he was able to sign some forms, transferring
ownership of 12,
On his way back, he passed Neville, who had actually been able to Apparate on his fourth try, without any terrible
accidents.
He went with Dumbledore to the Department for the Regulation and
Control of
Magical Creatures in order to register as an Animagus.
Dumbledore had actually encouraged Neville to lie about his progress,
owing to
the unusual circumstances of his new ability. Snape
had said that allergies as a result of Polyjuice
Potion were actually very rare, so it wasn't as though people could
instantly
become Animagi by stealing Harry's hair.
Dumbledore
had even gone so far as to Obliviate the
memories of
the other students in Harry's Potions class, for security's sake. It
was also
due to security's sake that Neville would lie about his "Animagus training."
Some heads turned as the woman behind the desk called out, "Potter,
Harry." With a mixture of nervousness about the test and disdain about
the
attention, he went up to the desk and looked at a form he needed to
fill out.
Be AWARE That The Ministry of Magic Takes NO Responsibility for
Accidents
that May Occur During the Testing Process, and All Apparating
Testing is Done at The Subject Own Discretion...
Rule #1 An Apparating Licenses can be
revoked at
anytime at the Ministry's Discretion, should the apparator
break any laws.
Rule #2 The legal blood alcohol limit is 1.0. Anything higher will
result in
serious injury to the apparator. Don't
Inebriate and Apparate, you have been
warned.
Rule # 3 Wizards and Witches are forbade from apparating
into private homes of witches and wizards without granted permission.
Such
action will result in immediate termination of apparating
privileges.
Rule #4 Wizards and Witches are strictly forbade to apparate
in the presence of muggles who are unaware
of the wiarding world. A prison sentence
of no less that two
months is the fine for such actions.
Do you understand and agree to the rules and warnings stated above?
X
Reading it over a few times, Harry filled it out with his full name.
The witch
looked it over and said, "Everything seems to be in order. You may
enter." With that, she pointed towards an ordinary-looking door.
"Thank you," Harry replied, opening it and walking through. The room
was about the size of the Great Hall, but was pure white with black
distance
markings all over the place. Some of them were straight lines, while
others
just looked like shapes drawn on the floor. There were even gray
staircases and
balconies and such.
A short wizard with glasses standing near the door said, "Ah, Mr.
Potter,
so nice to see you. Anyway, this is how it works. Certain distance
markings
with light up when I command them too. Sometimes, you will have to Apparate inside a marked area, next to an
object, or even
underneath or on top of a certain space. You get two minor mistakes. If
you
make more than two minor mistakes or any major mistakes that will
require
medical attention, then you don't pass. If that happens, you will have
to wait
at least two weeks before you can retake the test. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Harry said nervously.
"OK, good. Something simple. Apparate into
the
circle." A circle lit up as a vibrant red, and Harry forced himself to
concentrate on the circle. "Apparatio,"
he thought to himself, "Apparatio, Apparatio..."
He felt as though he was in a gust of wind, and the next moment, he was
standing neatly inside the red circle. "Good work, Mr. Potter. Now, try
next
to the square. It doesn't matter which side." The next moment, the red
light from the circle faded as a square lit up instead.
"Apparatio," Harry thought, and the
next moment, he was standing just outside of it.
"Amazing, Mr. Potter," the wizard breathed. "Okay, on the
balcony, up over there."
Harry was made to go to fifteen different places, but he did an
excellent job.
The proctor noted that no one had been quite this talented before."
"Okay, Mr. Potter, final test. Apparate
anywhere
in
Harry nodded and went through a list of different possibilities. He
finally
decided on the Leaky Cauldron.
"Apparatio," he thought calmly, and
he was jumping through space... and a minute later, he was in a corner
of the
famous pub. He walked up to the counter and said, "Tom?"
The old bartender looked up. "Harry Potter? What are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "Apparation test. I need your
signature as proof that I Apparated here."
Tom chuckled and pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick
note, which
Harry could read upside-down: "To Whomever it May Concern at the
Harry laughed. "Thanks, Tom. 'Bye." Before Tom could respond, Harry
was gone.
He reappeared in the testing room with the note for the instructor. The
latter
reread it, looked up, and smiled. Shaking Harry's hand, he said,
"Congratulations, Mr. Potter. The witch at the front desk will have
your
license. Good day, Mr. Potter."
"Thank you, sir." With that, Harry left and got his license at the
front desk. He went back to the waiting room just as Blaise
got his license. As all the different students congratulated each other
on their
work, Harry smiled along with them as they returned to Hogwarts. It was
nice to
know that he could still try and make his life as normal as possible
sometimes.
Even more importantly was the Quidditch
final
tomorrow. Ron had warned Harry not to fraternize with Cho,
just to be safe. In retaliation for the craziness behind Ron's decree,
Harry
shared with his friends the good news about him being distantly related
to Cho. When he also mentioned Blaise
and Cedric, their jaws dropped even wider.
"Great move, Ronnie, telling Harry to stay away from his own family,"
Ginny teased his brother.
"I didn't know," Ron said blankly.
"Neither did I," Harry laughed. "Come on, let's go make sure our
brooms are in top condition for tomorrow's match. McGonagall just might
go
crazy if we didn't win."
(End of Chapter 29.)
A/N: Personally, I liked that Crumpled-Horned Snorkacks. How about you?
(1) Remember this for later...
(2) Overdramatic? Probably, but then again, Ron's always been a Quidditch fanatic.
(3) I know that according to Crouch Jr. (in GoF), he and his mother switched places in order to get him out of there, but still, the idea of Polyjuice Potion being used as a sort of "Gender Bender" freaks me out a little.
(4) It's supposed to mean
"See the Dream."
(5) It was paraphrased from "The Sorrows of Lucifer" by Dzeytoun, who doesn't mind that I used it.
(6) No, this does not counteract
the Fidelius Charm; let's just assume it
doesn't, for
the sake of argument.