"Expecto Patronum!"
Harry's dragon once again burst forth from his wand in a nearly-blinding display. It was so large that its wings brushed up against the walls of the classroom on either side. After remaining for a moment, looking for threats, the glowing form disappeared.
"Something like that is what we'll be aiming for in the future for all of you. However, the shape a Patronus takes will vary between who casts it. Pansy, if you would demonstrate please."
He turned and watched as she summoned her glowing fox.
"This is the final step of the charm. Once you have it mastered, it will turn into some type of animal. Before you get to this point, a bit of light should come out of your wand. Don't be discouraged if that's all that happens though because that's what happened for me too. It took me a lot of practice to get the dragon to come out. Now, another thing I want everyone to understand is that you need to be careful when practicing this as it can leave you feeling weak and drained. I know some of you might want to try to practice it outside of these little meetings, but don't do it on your own. Have at least one partner with you to make sure you don't pass out from casting the spell too many times.
"Professor, do you have anything to add?"
Watts had explained to Harry that he had 'unofficially' been ordered to watch the meetings for the time being by both Dumbledore and Madam Bones. There were too many possible problems going on with the investigations of the violence that had erupted in the Slytherin common room, and keeping the political nightmare from further affecting the school meant Harry's group would require an observer for the time being. He liked Watts well enough, so it wasn't a problem so far.
He just hoped that it would remain true, especially if he went back to teaching any more violent spells. Alastor had written to him suggesting that he move on to a bone-breaking curse as it was a good way to put someone out of a fight. Very few people could fight through the pain it caused.
"I'm here only to watch," Watts answered. "Who knows? I might even borrow a few of Mr. Potter's ideas once I run my own classes on the subject."
That caused a couple of chuckles, and Harry nodded as the professor remained in the back.
"Alright, I want everybody to spread out. Give yourselves some space, and try not to look directly at anyone else's wand. The Patronus can be really bright, even when it is still in mist form. I hope everyone has thought of some strong positive emotions to use because that really is the key. Don't be afraid to try out several different ideas or memories. If you get the right one, the spell itself should feel stronger.
"Now, let's get to work."
There were still a few people yelling out the incantation when he tried to call for an end to things. Harry had seen enough- a couple of them were starting to be unsteady on their feet, a sure sign that the attempts at learning the spell needed to be stopped for the evening.
One Sonorous charm later, he managed to get everyone's attention.
Neville was the last who had desperately tried to produce something from his wand, but Harry noticed that the earlier bits of white mist had bits of grey laced among them before they faded to nothing at all.
"Alright, I'm afraid that's going to have to be all for tonight." Harry grinned slightly at the groans. "I can understand wanting to work more on this, but you'll all end up passing out if we keep going. Like I said earlier, feel free to keep working on it in your free time if you want, but I am very serious about having someone to practice with. Madam Pomfrey will be angry if people start completely exhausting themselves, and I shudder to think what might happen if you did it where Fred and George might find you."
Harry winked at the twins as a few people chuckled at that thought.
"So, for now, let me just say good work everyone. Don't feel discouraged by not having it learned tonight. I would have been shocked if any of you had done that. It took me months to get it down. I'm thinking we'll try again in our next meeting a few days from now. I want you all to think over how it felt when you were trying tonight, and how whatever memories or ideas you were using seemed to work. Some will work a lot better than others. Don't be afraid to try out several of them- that's what I did, and it took me awhile to find the precise feeling I needed.
"That's all for now. Have a good night everybody."
"Hey, Neville!" Harry called out as the group began to leave. "Can you stay behind for a second?"
"Sure."
"I'm going to walk Luna back to her dorm," Pansy said as she pecked Harry on the cheek. "I'll meet you in awhile."
"I'd rather you not go alone."
"Don't worry so much, Harry. Besides, Parvati is coming along with me."
"Alright. Be careful, ladies."
"Bye Harry," three voices answered in a chorus. He heard them start to giggle as they left the classroom and could only grin to himself.
"So... right, where were we?"
"You wanted me to stay for some reason," Neville replied.
"Yeah. I saw something when you were trying to cast the Patronus. Specifically, that last time you cast it, the white light sort of got all murky and grey. Do you mind telling me what you were thinking of?"
"I... er," Neville stuttered for a second before taking a breath. "Did you hear about what happened over the holidays? With the Lestranges attacking the Tonks family?"
"Yeah. I heard all about it. Andromeda and little Nymmie are distant cousins of mine. Plus, they're Sirius' closest family, so I've gotten to know them a bit over the last year."
"Oh, er sorry. About Ted Tonks, I mean," Neville clarified. "But, I... that is, when they were attacked, they killed Rabastan Lestrange. He was one of the ones... the ones who... you know, attacked my parents."
"I get it. So you tried to use that thought to power the spell?"
"Yeah. I did."
"Okay, I can understand why you might have thought that would be a good one. The fact that one of those bastards isn't out there anymore, right? That he can't hurt anyone like that again, and that your parents have been, at least partially, avenged. That you got some justice. Something like that, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Neville agreed.
"That isn't what you can use. Believe me, I understand about wanting to see vengeance and feeling righteous about what happened. But you need something purer for the Patronus. What you used, those feelings are too... complex, I guess. You need something simple that overwhelms everything else. For example, I don't think you'd be surprised to know that I think about Pansy when I cast the spell. Not that love isn't complex in ways too, but..."
"I think I understand."
"Hmm..." Harry thought for a moment, peering at his friend and trying to remember details about Neville's life. From what he'd heard, his family hadn't always been very supportive of him, and having to live in the shadow of his parents' fate couldn't be easy. "You're really good at Herbology, right? Do you have a garden at home?"
"Yes. I spend a lot of time there. It's really nice... and peaceful."
"That might work then," Harry suggested. "Try focusing on the feeling of being content there, digging your hands in the dirt. Something like that."
"Do you think that will work? I mean, will it be strong enough?"
"I can't really say for sure, Neville. But I think it would be a good place to start, for the next time you try to cast the spell." Harry scratched his head and chuckled to himself. "You know, you really should have been in Hufflepuff."
"I know," Neville sighed as he looked down at the floor. "I'm not brave enough for Gryffindor."
"No, that's not what I meant at all. I wasn't knocking your bravery, Nev. It's just that Hufflepuff is pretty clearly the earth element of the four houses, you know? Like Ravenclaw is air, obviously, and Slytherin is water. Plus, you could have become closer with professor Sprout. Then you could spend extra time in the greenhouses with her, learning all sorts of things about magical plants.
"I just thought you would like that," Harry shrugged.
"I probably would," Neville admitted. "Professor Sprout does let me do extra credit work with her sometimes."
"Good. Anyway, I hope I've given you some ideas about the next time you try the Patronus."
"Yeah, thanks Harry."
"No problem. We better head back to our common room. Curfew is going to be coming soon."
The first week of classes sped past and Harry found himself following Pansy down into the dungeons Saturday after lunch. He hoped his presence wouldn't cause too many problems, but he'd been told by every single Slytherin in his group that he was wanted there.
The wall slid open revealing the hidden door that led into the common room. This would make the third time Harry had been inside, but for once it wasn't because of anyone being in danger.
The danger had already come and gone. Now it was time to try to heal some wounds.
Harry was a little surprised when he saw Greg Goyle standing off to one side looking at them. He was wearing an eye patch now, and Harry had noticed that he'd been rather solitary since the return from the holidays. Then again, his only male year mate left was Blaise Zabini, and from everything Harry had heard he was a loner. It looked like Greg was going to have to be on his own now too.
"No Slughorn?" Pansy asked Daphne as she stepped towards the large group of girls.
"We thought it would be better if this weren't official."
Pansy looked around at the others, several of whom looked uncomfortable. Harry noticed that the six girls who had been rescued that night were all there.
"He would probably have to do something for everyone that died," Chloe Abbot added. "For obvious reasons, we don't want to do that. This is about the rest of us trying to heal. Trying to move beyond what happened. This is-"
"This is about Millie," Pansy said in a quiet voice.
"Yes," Daphne nodded.
"She saved us," Astoria Greengrass stated, clearly trying to sound more confident despite the tear rolling down one cheek. "I know it wasn't just her. Daphne got that lech Harper when he was about to curse me. Flora charged into the fray too. Emma cast a shield that saved my friend Cecilia from being hit by some shrapnel. And others, but... but Millie-"
"I think we can all agree that it was a group effort," Chloe said. "But Millie was the heroine of the hour, and she is the one who paid the ultimate price for protecting others. That is why we are gathered here. To honor her."
"Right. I notice the youngest students are missing," Harry wondered and Daphne turned to answer him.
"For the first and second years, they mostly don't understand how different things used to be. With Slughorn replacing Snape, and without Malfoy strutting around like he owned the place, Slytherin had been pretty calm. Having a head of house who no longer encourages people to misbehave was a big step up, and well, last year the pressure was mostly focused on you, Harry. The rest of the school didn't have a lot to worry about."
"Until that changed recently," Chloe chimed in. "Even most of the fall term was peaceful, although there was a tense undercurrent that those of us who were older noticed. For the first and second years, these are all kids who were born in a time of peace and that meant they didn't grow up scared. One of my earliest memories is of my parents celebrating when they heard Riddle had fallen. Then when I got here, I watched as Snape and his favored hooligans ran roughshod over the rest of the school for five years. That's very different compared to what they would have experienced. It's probably better, or at least easier, if we don't try to make them understand how much things have changed."
"I'm just glad none of them were hit by a stray curse," interjected Diane Carter, a sixth year from Harry's group who had a very similar looking girl leaning against her. It was pretty clearly her younger sister. "We got pretty lucky that night, other than Millie."
"Yeah," Pansy sighed. "Other than Millie."
"Sis?"
"Oh right," Diane looked down at her sister and stepped forward with her towards Pansy. "This is Emily, my younger sister."
"Hi," the younger girl said, stretching out her hand to shake with Pansy. "I just wanted to thank you. You pulled me out of the way when everything was going crazy and... well, thanks. You can't imagine how much all of you showing up meant to us."
"You're very welcome," Pansy replied with a trace of a smile. "But unfortunately, I do have some idea of what it meant. My father was a Death Eater and I grew up knowing exactly what kind of monster he was. That's why your sister and the rest of us have been training with Harry. Learning how to protect ourselves, and the people we care about too."
"So, with all that said, I thought we should start with a toast," Chloe Abbot said, as she walked over to a tray full of small empty glasses along with a bottle of Scotch. "Normally, I'm supposed to frown on this sort of thing, but today is a far cry from normal."
"Scotch?" Harry felt he had to ask. He was a prefect, not that he usually cared about the rules, but he was a little surprised to see something other than firewhisky.
"We are in Scotland, aren't we?" Chloe responded with a smirk before she began to pour roughly a shot for each of them. "I've got a bunch of butterbeer too. I figured that would wash the taste down for people who were put off by it."
"Good thinking," Pansy said.
"I thought it would be a good idea for all of us that wanted to talk about what happened, to help break the tension a bit," Chloe shrugged. "You can think of this as sort of a wake, if you like."
"I think Millie would have liked that."
"Good. We can also treat this as something like a belated going away party for Flora and Hestia." Chloe held out the tray and every one gathered there grabbed one.
"I'd like to say something." The girls all turned to see Goyle, who had taken a few steps towards the group.
"What is it, Goyle?" Daphne asked with a sneer beginning to form.
"I just want you all to know that I had no idea what Warrington and the others were planning that night. I'd been told that there was going to be a party. I'm sorry..." He took a moment to clear his throat before he continued. "I'm very sorry about what happened. That's why I told professor Moody everything I knew.
"I know some of you might think I'm one of the bad guys," Goyle clearly noticed a few grumbles at that. "But all I wanted to do this year was have some fun. You know, play some quidditch and hope I do alright on the OWLs. Everything changed that night.
"Look, I'm sure none of you are sad about Vince's death. He was my best friend, and I, er, I think I'm the only one who is going to miss him, but..."
Harry had to admit he was surprised to hear Goyle speaking as well as he was- not only in front of a group, but a somewhat hostile one at that.
"But, Millie was also my friend. I'd known her for ten years. And I am very sad that I won't get to see her again. So I'd like to join you in your toast to Millie. She was the coolest girl I've ever met, and I'm going to miss her."
Goyle grabbed one of the glasses and raised it over his head.
"To Millie."
"To Millie!"
Harry was taken aback by how loud the voices rang out in unison. But it was a fitting tribute to a girl brave enough to go out wand in hand, fighting to save others, some of whom had likely never even spoken to her before.
It probably helped that he had seen a few of the younger girls gathering their courage before taking a drink of alcohol. Harry had been about their age the first time he'd ever had anything to drink.
The Scotch was thankfully smooth enough that only a couple of people choked on the potent drink.
"Yuck! People actually like drinking that?" Astoria asked while grimacing.
"You might change your mind when you get older," Chloe answered as she poured a bit more into a couple of glasses for some of the older girls. Harry handed his over as well- if this was going to be a wake, he would try to do it right. Besides, he saw Pansy doing the same, and he wasn't going to make her drink alone.
Not that the other girls didn't count, but Harry saw it as his duty to go down this path with her, even if it led to both of them needing to vomit in the morning.
"You know, the first time I met Millie was when my father and hers were drinking together over some sort of business deal," Pansy said with a wistful expression. "I think that was the key to my father's success in business- he always had plenty of good alcohol for his guests. I remember him saying that it was one of the only good things about muggles, all the different types of drinks they came up with. But Millie and I, we just kind of stared at each other for a few minutes. She was so much bigger than me, even then when we were no more than six. I asked her what she liked to do."
"What did she say?" Daphne asked.
"She liked to learn about how to fight. I think she was always planning on being able to take out anyone dumb enough to try anything against her."
"I think a lot of us thought about things like that at some point," Diane Carter replied. "It sort of goes with the territory with how some of us grew up."
"I wasn't really like that," Pansy admitted. "I used to day dream about running away, but I never really thought that I would be able to fight back. I think my mum set a bad example in that way."
"The first time I met Millie, she got in a fight with Vincent," Goyle interjected. "They were arguing about which magical beasts would do better in a fight. She said a dragon and she punched him when he said she was wrong."
"That sounds like Millie," Daphne snorted.
"Yeah," Pansy agreed with a chuckle.
"That's why I thought she was so cool," Goyle said with a blush. "I'd never met a girl who could throw a punch. Most of the boys I met couldn't either."
"Yeah, can you imagine Draco trying to hit someone? He'd probably have been afraid of breaking a nail," Pansy scoffed.
"I remember once asking him what he would do if someone punched him, and Draco said that's what wands were for." Goyle shrugged. "I always assumed that's why my dad said I should stick with him. Because he would need someone to watch his back, and it would be good for me because his dad was rich."
"I asked Millie once if she hung around me because my dad was rich," Pansy said. "She said that it wasn't the only reason with this little grin. I never was quite sure how much she might have meant that, but I always shared my chocolate frogs with her just in case."
"Millie loved those things," Daphne added. "She must have had three hundred of the cards. I remember seeing her looking over her collection last year; when she had them spread out, they covered her entire bed."
Daphne stepped over to Chloe Abbot and got a little more Scotch before turning to Pansy and Harry and raising her glass. Goyle got a second shot as well.
"To Millie, wherever she is, I hope she has all the chocolate frogs she wants."
"To Millie."
Daphne's was only the second toast that night as the gathering broke up into smaller groups. Harry stuck right by Pansy's side while she mingled with the other Slytherins. By the end of the night, they had several more, and Chloe Abbot's bottle was finished off. They stuck to butterbeer after that but still found themselves swaying a bit when they finally headed to the Great Hall for dinner that evening.
The rest of the school noted with some surprise at how boisterous the table of those wearing silver and green was. Harry and Pansy sat with the rest of them, and he noticed that Greg Goyle had been at least somewhat accepted.
In the end, it was a much nicer day than Harry had assumed it would be. Pansy was doing better than Harry had hoped, and by the time they got back to their room that night, both of them seemed to have sobered up. His girlfriend was more than ready to spend some quality time in bed though, and Harry was never going to pass that opportunity up either.
The rest of January was pretty quiet other than the usual things- classes, cold weather, quidditch practice in the cold weather. Harry didn't enjoy that last one, but Angelina was only half as insane as Oliver Wood had been, so he tried to keep his complaints to a minimum.
Their group kept working on the Patronus charm for a couple of weeks as well. Luna had managed to get hers to form completely and Harry was then forced to go outside on the next clear day so that Luna could try to have her glowing white rabbit climb on top of his dragon and see if they could fly together. Pansy was snickering at the innuendo the entire time, but the two charms did seem to interact well enough. Harry was surprised that Luna's rabbit didn't fall off.
"I told you that you didn't need a saddle to ride a dragon," had been her rather snooty response.
No one else had gotten that far just yet, although most of the group could hold steady misty shields if nothing else. He did notice that Hermione's previous progress seemed to have been forgotten, unfortunately. If anything, she was getting worse at the spell the longer they worked at it.
When he asked her about it, Hermione just claimed that she was putting a lot of work into all her other classes. She wasn't as focused on the charm as some of the others.
That seemed odd to him, especially as she had escaped from the monsters the previous summer, but she had been acting somewhat distant and Harry didn't know if he had done something to annoy or anger her so he let things lie for the time being.
"So, what are we doing today, exactly?" Harry asked as he looked around the room that he'd been led to by Pansy, Luna, and Parvati. It was rather small, having previously been some sort of office he would guess. There was a dusty old couch along the back wall as well as a couple of chairs and a desk buried in clutter. Pansy pointed to the couch.
"That's where you sit down."
"Okay... and?"
"Luna and I will be over here, possibly trying to get some studying done. However, I have a feeling you will be distracting us, so we'll probably just talk instead."
Parvati grabbed one of the old chairs after using a charm to clean it off. "You're going to want to be comfortable, which is why you get the couch. Today, I'm going to give you a lesson on healing since you've missed so many of the lectures that Madam Pomfrey has given us."
"That's not my fault, I-"
"I know, Harry. I'm not accusing you of anything. We were all there last time when you acted as the unconscious training dummy. Speaking of which, you've got some pretty horrible luck with quidditch."
"It's usually not my fault, but yeah I guess so."
"You'll want to roll up your sleeves."
"We shouldn't even bother trying to study," Luna remarked with a grin as she turned to Pansy. "This is going to be far too interesting to watch. I do have to wonder why you're not teaching Harry this yourself."
"Parvati is better at it than I am," Pansy shrugged. "My ego can handle saying that much more easily than the rest of me could deal with Harry getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it."
"I understand. I'm just a little surprised is all."
"I'm very aware of my skills as well as my limitations," Pansy added. "With this small group of company, I don't have to worry too much about impressing any of you. For a similar reason, I really wish Flora was still around. The next time Harry gets thrown into danger, I'd rather have her watching his back. She's much better in a fight than I would be."
"I would sort of think you'd be good at it too," Parvati piped up. "You handled Rita Skeeter well enough a year ago. Whatever happened to her, anyway?"
"No one knows," Luna replied. "She hasn't been seen since. Maybe Pansy's humiliation was so bad that she moved to Bora Bora."
"What's Bora Bora?" Harry asked.
"It's an island very far away from here in the South Pacific. My father went there once when I was young."
"Oh."
"Anyway, while I did well enough against her, my nerves afterwards had taken a beating," Pansy further explained. "It's not really my sort of thing. That's not to say that I won't keep working at it, but I know the Death Eaters are going to be more challenging than a reporter who likely hadn't dueled anyone in years, if ever."
"And that's why it would be nice to have Flora around," Luna finished her thought. "I miss Hestia too. She was nice. Flora could be as well, if you got past her prickly exterior. There haven't ever been that many girls in my year that were pleasant to me. Plus, they were pretty."
"Alright, so let me get back to the point of our little get together," Parvati interrupted. "We're going to start with a cure for closing wounds that are bleeding, like cuts or scrapes. You move your wand like a wave over the affected area and the incantation is Percurio. If the injury is bad enough, you may need to keep channeling the spell. Do that by waving your wand back and forth over the area as long as necessary. Does that sound simple enough?"
"Yeah, I think I can handle that," Harry nodded as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife. "Now I see why I was told to bring this as well."
"Wait a minute," Parvati began. "You don't mean you're going to-"
But Harry cut her off by slicing the inside of his left forearm.
"Harry!" she yelped. "You should have warned me, you prat."
"This would be the better way to practice, right?"
"I guess, but it will be harder to learn while you're in pain. You could have cut me instead."
"Not going to volunteer me or Luna?" Pansy asked.
"I'm not dumb enough to ask Harry to hurt you, even in a minor way. You two can be scary, and you're both really protective of Luna too."
"Yeah, well anyway, if I'm going to need to cast this spell on myself some day, then I'll likely be in much worse shape than this," Harry said as he waved his arm. "This isn't bleeding much at all; it was much worse at the graveyard. Almost the exact same spot too."
Harry shrugged as he pulled out his wand. "Percurio!"
He waved along the wound and watched as the cut healed itself.
"That wasn't too hard."
"A lot of healing is fairly easy for minor things like that. It gets harder when the injuries get more severe," Parvati informed him. "At least, that's what Madam Pomfrey says. This is the type of spell that every parent knows so they can fix up their kids when they get scrapes and bumps. If it were worse, you would need a lot more focus. Things can get a lot more complicated beyond this. Also, if the patient has lost too much blood, a blood-replenishing potion is needed. Trying to cast a spell to cause that effect is too dangerous."
"And illegal," Pansy added.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Blood magic is by its very nature both powerful and dangerous," Luna explained. "Your blood is symbolically tied to your life force. Messing around with that can be deadly, even if you don't intend for it to be so. For example, have you heard of the Blood-Boiling Curse?"
"No, but it sounds nasty."
"It is. However, the spell was originally created by a Russian mediwizard who was trying to create a cure for hypothermia. While it can save a patient from freezing to death, an incredible amount of finesse is needed to keep from warming the blood up too much. A master healer could possibly do it safely, but even the inventor of the spell accidentally killed one of his patients."
"And from there, word of this new spell that could cause an incredibly painful way to die got out," Pansy continued. "Dark Arts practitioners liked the spell a lot because they didn't care about trying to be careful with it. If anything, they would prefer to over charge the spell, hence causing even nastier deaths."
"Okay, I get it. Why is the potion different though?"
"Because a blood-replenishing potion doesn't actually create more blood," Parvati answered. "It causes your body to work harder to produce more blood on its own much more quickly than it usually would. Make sense?"
"Yeah. What's next?"
"Do you want to try to practice that spell again? You could cut me instead of yourself."
"No, I don't want to hurt you. Besides, after all I've been through, I probably have a higher pain threshold than you. No offense." Harry grabbed the knife and cut himself again, this time creating a much worse wound. He winced as he set the knife aside and reached for his wand.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Parvati asked while she pointed with her own wand.
"Yeah. I've had worse though."
"Well, warn me next time you're going to do something like that. If for no other reason, so that I can be ready in case you screw something up."
"Yes ma'am," Harry snorted. "Percurio!"
He waved his wand back and forth over the cut.
"Focus and keep doing that," Parvati instructed.
Harry nodded as he waved the wand the length of the wound four times before it completely closed.
"Keep going," Parvati told him, so he did two more passes. Then she held up her hand for him to stop. "There, that should be good. With something that bad, you want to channel the spell a bit longer to keep any scars from forming."
"Okay."
"I really shouldn't be surprised you're good at this," Pansy scoffed. "Sometimes you annoy me, Harry."
"She's just mad because last time Madam Pomfrey told her that her casting was sloppy," Luna chimed in with a smirk. "That's the real reason you asked Parvati to teach Harry, isn't it?"
"No comment."
"I'm glad that I could help," Parvati smiled as she turned to Harry. "Besides, you've been teaching me a lot this year so I sort of owe you."
"Thanks."
"I've got two more spells to teach you that you missed out on. But in these cases, we won't have a way to practice them. First up, if you get a bite or a scratch from some sort of beast, there's a charm to fight infection. It helps against less powerful forms of venom too. There's no motion necessary with this one, you just point your wand at the wound and the incantation is Remedio."
"Remedio," Harry nodded. "Okay, that sounds easy enough."
"Good. However, if you get into something nasty, I would recommend seeking out a real healer. Knowing your luck, Harry, if you get bitten by something, it will be the most terrible monster possible."
"Like a basilisk," he sighed.
"Yes, if you get bit by one of them, you're most likely going to die," Parvati said with a shudder.
"Not always."
"What?!"
"I guess you never did hear the full story of what happened with the Chamber of Secrets, huh?"
"There was a basilisk?" Parvati gasped.
"Yeah. It was a big one too. I mean, of course it was- Slytherin's pet had to be a thousand years old, right?"
"Harry, do this properly," Luna interrupted with a sigh. "I swear, you are terrible at telling stories."
"Alright, alright," he rolled his eyes. "You probably remember the whole thing with the attacks and people being petrified. Do you remember that last attack, when everyone was forced to stay in the common room?"
"Yes, as I recall you and Ron disappeared that day."
"We did because it turned out that it was his sister who had been taken down into the Chamber. The message was that her skeleton would lie there forever."
"And Harry, being our hero, couldn't leave a damsel in distress," Luna cheerfully added.
"Right, so Ron and I heard what happened and then..."
Several minutes later...
"So that's why you and Ron got all those points that won us the house cup. Wow. For once, the truth is much more amazing than the rumors," Parvati said, still dazed at hearing what Harry had been through. "After the bite, how long was it before the phoenix, um..."
"Fawkes," he filled in.
"Right, how long between the bite and Fawkes crying on it?"
"A few minutes, I guess," Harry shrugged. "No more than five. Probably more like two or three though."
"That shouldn't be possible," Parvati shook her head. "You should have died within a minute. If the snake was as big as you say, less than that. Basilisk venom is the deadliest in the world."
"I can show you the scar." Harry rolled up his sleeve on his right arm and pointed to the faded circle. "I wonder if there was a way to remove that scar."
"Sorry, Harry, but you're out of luck," Parvati replied as she softly ran her fingers over his arm. It was a very pleasant sensation. "Normal scars can be removed easily enough, but not when there's a powerful magical creature or dark magic involved. That kind of makes professor Moody from last year stand out even more. He didn't get all of those injuries without coming up against some really nasty curses."
"Yeah, Alastor told me about a couple of them," Harry chuckled. "Don't ask him about the one on his arse."
"Alastor?" Parvati said.
"Moody is still Harry's all-time favorite professor," Pansy answered with a grin. "They're like two little paranoid peas in a pod."
"It's not paranoia when people really are out to get me," Harry said.
"Just be grateful you have a mentor that's as crazy as you are," Luna said with a smile. "Not everyone can be so lucky. My father and I have had to learn everything piece by piece without any help. Did you know that there is still no one willing to write the definitive guide to dealing with infestations of noxious muffdagglers? I've been thinking of working something up once I get past my OWL year. That is, if I have enough free time and no more threat of dark wizards hanging over my head."
"Yeah, Harry, why don't you get on that?" Pansy asked with a grin. "Luna needs for you to be all heroic and wipe out the rest of these 'rogue Death Eaters.' Why don't you have that done already? It's not as if much older, supposedly responsible people like Dumbledore can't take care of the problem. Oh, wait, that's right, he didn't, which is a large part of why we're in this mess in the first place."
"Wow, you really don't think much of the headmaster, do you?" Parvati asked.
"With all his power and influence, he should have done a much better job at putting them in Azkaban after the first war ended. Instead, the old fool just let people like my father bribe their way free. 'Oh, I was under the Imperius Curse, I swear I didn't really mean to torture and murder and rape all those muggles, mudbloods, and blood traitors. Pay no attention to all of my other behavior, nor how obviously bigoted I behave. I'm really a good person, just in need of a second chance.'
"Fuck him and anyone else so brain dead that they would believe any of that shit. People like my father and Lucius Malfoy should have been fed to the dementors, but no, they got to walk free, keep all their wealth and influence, and that's why we have such a useless ministry today. Fudge is a corrupt moron- and for the record, that's what my father called him in private. My father, who donated to his campaign and knew exactly how easy it was for people like him and Malfoy to have the head of the government under their thumbs. It just makes me so... disgusted."
Harry couldn't blame her for the sneer nor the rant, but he hoped that Pansy could try to relax- his usual methods of getting her to calm down weren't really going to work in public.
"Don't worry, Pansy," Luna interrupted the gloomy mood from taking hold. "The truth will be revealed soon enough, and Fudge will be tossed out of office on his ear. Then we just have to hope that someone with a brain gets put into office. Bonus points if they have a spine too. I'd vote for either you or Harry."
"Not me," Harry laughed. "That sounds like way too much work for not nearly enough reward. Pansy's welcome to it if she wants."
"I find people in general to be cowardly, gullible morons. There isn't enough money in the world to pay me for having to be in charge of them."
"Oh goody!" Luna giggled. "Then neither of you will mind if I take over the world?"
"That would be a much more interesting world, I think," Harry replied with a grin.
"Okay, I never thought I would be the one to say this, but maybe we should finish up this lesson," Parvati suggested.
"I'm sorry for making you feel like the responsible one," Harry said with a wink. "I promise I won't tell anybody. We won't ruin your reputation like that, will we girls?"
"Of course not," Luna agreed happily.
"Yeah, thanks," Parvati grinned in response. "Anyway, I've got one last charm to tell you about. This one is for mending broken bones. Keep in mind that particularly nasty breaks will require a lot more focus or a real healer, but a clean break can be dealt with easily enough. The incantation is Percurio Ossium. You move your wand along whichever bone you're fixing and you want to follow the shape of the bone, or the normal shape anyway. With something like an arm or a leg, where the bone is fairly straight, it's easier than if you've got something more complicated with a bunch of curves. Madam Pomfrey said that the pelvic bones are particularly tricky, especially for women."
"Why?"
"Because a woman's pelvis is shaped the way it is so that we can give birth. That's why-"
"That's why girls have that sexy walk!" Harry exclaimed. "Of course, that sway effect that us guys love, it's like we just know that you're showing off like... like your fertility or something. Oh man, I'm going to have to apologize to Seamus now."
"What do you mean?" Parvati asked.
"I remember back in first year he was talking about how we could tell which girls were the hottest by the way you walk. Now, to be fair, you're all a lot more curvy than you were then, but I just thought he was full of it at the time. I mean, he was like always talking about girls and bums and stuff. To be honest, I kinda just thought he was being a pervert, but I guess he was just sort of precocious. Well, and really happy to talk about things like that."
"I think it's funny to imagine your dorms when you guys were that young," Parvati giggled. "I can just see poor little innocent Harry being shocked by our resident shameless Irishman. I think he's been a bad influence on Dean over the years."
"Maybe," Harry admitted with a shrug. "Alright, so it was Percurio Ossium, right?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, I wonder if-"
"No, Harry," Pansy cut him off. "No practicing it now. You'll just have to make do with her instruction."
"But I could just do one little break. It's not like it hasn't happened to my arm before."
"Harry!" Parvati shrieked. "I will not let you break one of your bones so that you can try out the spell. Madam Pomfrey would kill us for being so irresponsible."
"I don't think she can do that," Harry teased. "Isn't the healer's code something like 'do no harm?' She'd have to be nice to me, especially if I impressed her by healing myself for a change."
"I don't know," Luna shook her head. "She could be jealous of not getting to fix you up herself. You are one of her favorite patients, or so I've heard."
"Pansy, how do you deal with the two of them?" Parvati wondered. "Isn't it hard being the only sane person in the room?"
"Sometimes," she smirked in response. "The trick is knowing when to let a little madness go. Not everything is worth getting upset about. However, I will agree with not letting Harry practice breaking and fixing his own bones. And he's usually smart enough not to argue with me about things like that."
"Fine, you spoil sports. If I can't fix a broken bone when I really need to, I'll blame it all on the both of you," Harry frowned. "Now, if we're finished, I could go for a snack. Who wants to go down to the kitchens?"
Harry led another meeting of their group on the last weekend of January, and once again they were all trying to do better at the Patronus. He'd taken to having them do that every other get together, alternating with dueling practice. It wasn't ideal, but after talking to Gordon Watts, Harry knew that there would be objections if he taught them anything too dangerous. Especially after everything that had happened in Slytherin back in December.
Luna and Pansy were still the only two that had managed full animal forms although a few of the others were getting close.
Fred and George had both progressed the furthest, and he was pleased for them. Theirs were both shaping up to be something small and roughly humanoid in shape- Harry was leaning towards a monkey perhaps. Knowing how loud and boisterous their family could be (and how incredibly deafening their mother could get) he was guessing they would be howler monkeys.
It was no real surprise that the twins had matching Patronus forms either. They'd been running that gag into the ground their entire lives, after all. But Harry thought that it probably helped make them so good as a pair of beaters because it would be hard for anyone else to be as in sync as the Weasley twins.
On the other end of the scale, Harry was starting to worry about Hermione. He had led her through some Patronus training two years ago, and with most other magic lessons, he would have expected her to be one of the first to have a spell perfected. Instead, she seemed to be getting worse and worse every single meeting.
Therefore, he asked her to stay behind when the group was breaking up.
"I'm surprised at you Granger," Pansy began as the door shut behind the last of the other stragglers. Harry should have been worried by her smirk. "For once, you seem to really suck at learning this spell. Your brilliant reputation is going to take a beating at this rate."
"Laugh it up if you want, Pansy," Hermione replied with a tired expression on her face. "What do you want, Harry? I've got three assignments to work on tonight, I really don't have time for this."
"You do have the rest of the weekend," he pointed out, but at her scowl he knew that wasn't going to appease her. "Fine. I wanted to see if I could figure out why you're struggling so bad with the Patronus. You're actually getting worse at it, and that really isn't like you. I am, at least for these purposes, a teacher of sorts and beyond that, I'm your best friend. I just want to help."
"You can't."
"I think I've been doing alright helping everybody else. So why not?"
"Because," Hermione huffed before folding her arms and looking towards the door with a scowl.
"Because what?" Harry replied with a smirk.
"Because it's your fault!"
"Uh, what?"
"I can't... I just can't keep going like this Harry. I know- well I may not know, but I've figured it out that you had something to do with it. I'm not sure how much, and even worse, I'm not sure I want to know, and if I do know, then I don't know how I'll be able to handle it. How to just, just look at you without everything... argh! You are so bloody frustrating, Harry."
She finished with a growl and Harry was as confused by that as he was about whatever the hell she was talking about.
"Um, what are you going on about?"
"Professor Umbridge," Hermione answered with a sigh as she turned away from him. "Something hasn't set quite right with me ever since her death. Maybe it was the timing. She'd only been here at Hogwarts for a little over a week, and the idea that the stress about being around 'awful little brats' as her suicide note claimed didn't quite ring true. If she truly couldn't stand children, then why would she have agreed to come work here in the first place? It just doesn't make sense.
"Then there's the fact that her death coincidentally happened to have occurred the day after I'd been given detention by her. I don't remember anything odd about her behavior that night, and if she was upset enough to be contemplating suicide, then I should have picked up on it. This has been bugging me for months, and I finally realized what I've been missing. It's you, Harry."
"Me?" he asked, trying not to let his voice crack. He should have known this would come back to bite him at some point.
"You've always been protective of people. With me and the troll, with saving Ginny from the basilisk, with your Patronus charm to drive off the dementors- and then I heard the full story about Luna."
"What do you mean, the whole story?" Pansy wondered.
"Last month, we swapped around patrolling schedules so I was paired with Padma for one night. She told me about how Luna was being bullied a couple of years ago and how Harry put a stop to it by threatening to kill the rest of her dorm mates. Now, normally I could probably laugh that off as just being something someone would say in a fit of anger. But this is Harry we're talking about, and I've seen him kill before. Considering this happened after those same girls would have seen his duel against Lucius Malfoy, it would have been a much more terrifying threat.
"But more than that, it made me realize that Harry probably would kill someone to protect other people. So I put that together with Umbridge's mysterious fate-"
"No one else seems to think it was that mysterious," Pansy pointed out. "It was officially ruled as an open and shut case."
"I'm not willing to believe that just because everyone else does. I assume Harry had something to do with it, and I've been fretting over it ever since. I can't simply focus on happy thoughts when I've got my best friend in the same room and I'm worried that he may be a murderer."
"Oh." Harry sighed as he didn't know what to say to any of that. He had noticed Pansy putting up privacy charms a few minutes ago when Hermione had her back to her, and now he was really glad for them. This mess had come back with a vengeance, despite the fact that he thought it had all been cleaned up back in September.
"Oh? I'm calling you a murderer, and your response is just 'oh?' How can you possibly be so calm about all this?"
"I guess I always knew you'd figure it out someday."
"You- you're admitting it?" Hermione gasped.
"I didn't personally kill her, no. But I do know what happened to her, and I... I may have helped set her death up. She was a monster, and she deserved it, and I don't really care if you disagree."
"How the hell can you be so cold-hearted? What happened to you, Harry?" Hermione was cut off by the wand point digging into the back of her neck.
"You will give us a vow of silence on this, Granger, or I will end you."
"So this is how it goes, huh Harry? I find out your dark secret and your girlfriend gets ready to get rid of me or forces me into silence. After all this time, that's all how little I mean to you?"
"You ungrateful little bitch!" Pansy yelled. "Harry has done nothing but protect you. For years, you silly little girl. From that troll attack on. Who else in the entire school was bothered enough to even notice you missing that night? Only one person cared enough to rescue you then. That first day I ever talked to your nosy, self-righteous arse, who was it that stood in front of the dementors to protect you on the train? When they attacked the school during a quidditch match, who was it hovering right over us with his Patronus driving those demons away? When Weasley kept going on about your cat 'murdering' his poor, defenseless, nasty little rat, who defended you from that rude twat? When it turned out the rat was a murderer, and Sirius Black dragged you off, breaking your leg in the process, who was it that came to rescue you? I may have been talked into coming along to help, but if Harry hadn't been there, I wouldn't have lifted a finger to save you."
"You've never hidden your dislike for me," Hermione scoffed. "It's no surprise that you wouldn't care if I was killed."
"That's because you're such an arrogant, insufferable bitch, Granger. But I'm not letting you break my train of thought. Every single one of those instances, it was Harry who saved you. When that Bulgarian sleazebag tried to take advantage of you, who used an old fashioned policy to draw you under the protection of his family? When the Dark Lord returned, who was it that made sure that you had a portkey that could take you to safety in an emergency? And when those two dementors attacked your family, who was it that came to the rescue once again?
"Every single time it was Harry fucking Potter. You should be down on your knees thanking him for everything he's done. You owe him your life several times over. Instead, we get you being all high and mighty about how Harry is now a murderer and how you just can't handle it. Grow the fuck up, you whiny little cunt.
"Do you want to know why he saved you from that bitch? Umbridge was the one who sent the dementors to attack your family. She was the one who set up the trial to get you expelled and have your wand snapped. Then she came here to torture all the little mudbloods and other disobedient brats, and guess who's name was at the top of her list to torment? You. Harry followed you that night to protect you. Umbridge had a quill that made you write with your own blood- that's what she was going to make you write lines with.
"What type of sick fuck comes to a school with the intention of torturing children? That's who you're so bent out of shape about, Granger. Harry is right, she did deserve it. Would you prefer for her to still be here- for you to be having weekly torture sessions with her?"
"Of course not, but-"
"I don't want to hear any more of your bullshit," Pansy scoffed. "You will give us a vow of silence about this, or I will deal with you myself. Unlike Harry, I don't care what happens to you. So make your choice."
"I-" Hermione turned back to face Harry. "Is this really how it's all going to end, Harry?"
"You like to eat sausage at breakfast, but no one ever wants to see the butcher do his work," Harry shrugged. "I've been resigned to losing my friendship with you for months now, Hermione. Maybe that makes me seem cold-hearted to you, but I figured it was better to see you protected from the reality of things. I'm not an idealist like you. The world isn't a good place just because we want it to be one. We can either force things to get better or complain about how awful things are.
"I had to suffer in silence for years. That's what my childhood was, Hermione. At some point, I decided that if no one else was going to help me, then I was going to make my own life better and that I would do whatever it took to make that happen. And yes, when I see the magical world's justice system completely fail, time and again, I decided to do something about it. I could protect you from a psychopath who tried to murder a teenage girl because you were only 'a filthy mudblood' to her, so I did. I knew you wouldn't approve of my methods, and I knew that eventually it could drive a wedge between us. I did it anyway, Hermione. Because I knew no one else would protect you.
"And I don't regret it. Not even now, when you've figured it out."
"Did you- did you obliviate me?"
"Yes."
"You bastard!" Hermione growled. "How dare you! Who are you to decide that your actions are more important than my free will?"
"He's the person who saved your life several times over, Granger," Pansy answered with a snarl. "You're too consumed with your own self-righteousness to bother with the fact that Harry has always cared about you. It tore him up to do it, but Harry knew that you couldn't handle the truth.
"Now, personally, I don't give a shit at all about you. But I will do anything to protect Harry. If that means that I have to arrange for you to disappear tonight, then believe me, I won't lose any sleep over you. So, agree to a magical vow of silence... or else."
"Harry?"
Hermione stared at him, pleading with her eyes for him to somehow make this not the reality of what was happening. Harry couldn't do anything other than look away. Even if he knew this was coming, it still didn't make it any easier.
"The one thing he couldn't save you from was yourself, Granger," Pansy finally said. "Are you going to agree to the vow? Or am I going to get to take out all my pent up loathing for you? Because believe me, if you think I didn't like you before, you have no idea how much I've been holding back for Harry's sake. I cannot stand you. Just give me a reason."
"I'll... I guess I'll take the vow. It's not like you're giving me any choice," Hermione scowled.
"Oh, I'm giving you a choice- it's just not one that you like. Deal with it, bitch."
"That's enough Pansy," Harry muttered. "Let's do the vow and get this over with. And for the record, Hermione, I am sorry that it came to this. But I'm not sorry about protecting you from Umbridge, even if you do hate me for it."
"Harry, I don't... I don't hate you, but I just-"
"I don't care, Granger," Pansy interrupted. "You can't handle it. We get it. Now take Harry's hands in your own and we can do this the easy way."
A moment later, Hermione was heading out the door with tears in her eyes as Harry wearily sat down in a chair off to the side of the room.
"You can say that you told me so if it will make you feel better," he sighed.
"I'm not that surprised by her, but I would prefer to make you feel better, Harry. Now that I got to let my inner bitch out to play, she's satisfied. Let's get somewhere private and I'll help you relax."
"You do take good care of me, don't you?" Harry said with a small grin. "What would I do without you?"
"Not have nearly as much fun," Pansy teased.
"True enough."
"Shall we go?"
"Yeah. You know what sounds nice right about now?"
"What?"
"A nice hot bath."
"I'm always up for that," Pansy smiled. "And afterwards, I think you'll need a massage to make you feel all better. Luckily for you, we still have some massage oil."
"Yes, lucky, lucky me."
They got back to their quarters and slipped into a nice relaxing bath together, neither of them bothering to say much about what had happened with Hermione. It was an awful mess, but at least there was a sense of finality to that night's confrontation. Harry had mostly grieved for that lost friendship by now, and Pansy wasn't going to aggravate his nerves by wanting to celebrate not having to deal with the girl who annoyed her as much from then on.
The warm water helped to soothe all those feelings that had been pent up, released, and now were subsiding. And it always helped to make the bitter cold of January in Scotland that much more pleasant too.
However, the end of Harry's night was interrupted before they could get to his massage or the happy ending that Pansy had been teasing him about.
Because his mirror that connected to Sirius was shouting for them as they got out of the bath.
"Harry! There you are. Finally."
"Sirius, it's almost eleven. Not that I don't like talking to you most of the time, but couldn't this wait till morning?"
"No, it couldn't. Why? Were you about to have some fun?" Sirius asked as he waggled his eyebrows with a gleam in his eyes. "I notice you aren't wearing a shirt, young man. Is there anything scandalous going on that your godfather needs to be concerned about?"
"Enough of that, Black!" Alastor Moody's voice interrupted with a bark. "Hand that damn thing over and let me talk to the lad."
"Uh, right. Harry, Mad-Eye wanted to speak with you."
Harry tried not to let the motion bother him as the mirror was passed over, but he couldn't repress a little grin as he saw the grizzled face and the spinning eye that quickly rolled back into Moody's head.
"Damn, I'd forgotten how badly the magic of these things screws with me."
"How come?" Harry asked.
"The magic doesn't interact well with the eye, so they can give me an awful bloody headache. So let's keep things short and get to the point, eh Potter? I need to meet with you, as soon as possible. Can you sneak out of the castle tonight?"
"I..." Harry thought about it, sadly looking over at Pansy who was twirling the belt of her robe and pouting at him. Alastor better have a really good reason for interrupting the end of this night he thought with a sigh.
"Yeah, I probably can."
"Good. Sirius tells me of a little place where you met once before a couple of years ago. Meet me there in an hour. We've got plans to discuss."
"What sort of plans?"
"The sort that I don't want to talk about in public," Moody replied with a grunt. "Are you in or not?"
"Yeah, I'll be there."
"Good lad. One hour. Don't be late."