The Time of Destiny

Chapter 12 - All Kinds of Learning

Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking down the hall toward Transfiguration when they heard a rumpus ahead.

"What's going on?" Hermione said asked passing students. "What's wrong up there?"

"It's Peeves," a Second Year Ravenclaw girl said. "He's pelting us with ink bottles so we can't get to our classes."

"Bloody hell," Ron grumbled, shoving his way through the crowd quickly, Harry and Hermione in his wake. "Peeves! Stop that or I'll tell the Bloody Baron!"

"Don't care! Nasty Wheezy can't harm old Peevesy!" the poltergeist said in his sing-song voice.

"Hermione," Harry murmured, "clear the hall."

"Why?" she said.

"I have an idea. I don't know if it will work. It might make things worse. Or it might solve some problems," he said. She ran back to the waiting students and told them to find other ways to their classes.

Soon the corridor was empty except for the three of them and the poltergeist, who was enthusiastically pelting Ron with chalk, quills and a variety of other things. Ron had a shield up so nothing was hitting him, but he was quite annoyed.

"Stand back," Harry murmured to his friends. They moved several paces behind him, watching the poltergeist as he turned flips in the air, bending over and farting toward Harry.

"Wee little Potty! What's Potty gonna do? Potty can't hurt Peevesy!" the poltergeist chortled, now letting off farts in rhythm. "Can you name that tune?" he asked cheekily.

"No, I can't," Harry said calmly, "but I'm tired of your behaviour. Are you going to leave the students alone, or keep messing about?"

"OOooooo, what a choice! Behave or mess about?" Peeves said, turning over in midair and lying on his side, his chin on his hand, his fingers tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Which to choose? Which to choose? Bad ol' Potty is making things hard for Peevesy!" With a devilish cackle, he rose up in the air and dove toward Harry, blowing a huge, juicy raspberry as he came.

"Don't say you weren't warned," Harry said quietly, casting his Sphere Shield Charm around the pesky poltergeist as it flew toward him. He was as amazed as anyone else when Peeves was unable to break through the charm. He hadn't known for certain that it would be impervious to the poltergeist, but of all the spells he knew now, he thought this one had the best chance of containing the nasty little beast.

Peeves eyes were bugging out of his head, his face aghast that he'd been captured. He banged his fists on the wall of the sphere in obvious frustration. He backed away from the sphere's wall and flew at it as fast as he could, hitting it with a resounding "bong" and bouncing away again, shaking his head dizzily. He flew in circles faster and faster, trying to find a way out. Finally, he stopped and plastered his face and hands against the side of the sphere closest to Harry, his eyes and voice pitiful. "Oooo, no, please, Harry Potter, sir! Peeves will be good! Please let Peevesy out! Peeves was just having some fun! Please, Harry Potter, sir! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease pretty please?" the poltergeist cried, getting more pitiful the longer he spoke.

Harry held the charm easily, surprised that such a lightweight Sphere Charm was holding a non-corporeal being that could pass through stone walls.

"I think I'm just going to leave you in there for a while, Peeves," Harry said, looking calm and relaxed, as if he had nothing better to do than hold that charm all day long.

"NOOOoooooo! Please!" Peeves cried, getting desperate now.

"What's going on out here?" Professor McGonagall asked, having heard the racket Peeves was making from her classroom down the hall.

"I'm trying to get Peeves to behave, Professor," Harry said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He was doing his best to hide his amusement, but the sparkle in his eyes and the crooked grin that appeared every so often gave him away.

"I see," she said, a smile tickling the corners of her mouth.

Peeves was alternating now between wringing his hands and banging his fists repeatedly on the wall of the sphere. "Please! Please! Peeves will be good!"

"Peeves!" Harry snapped when he thought the poltergeist had had enough. "Pay attention!"

Peeves was instantly silent, staring at Harry with rapt concentration.

"You will promise me - no fingers crossed, either! - that you won't bother me or my friends anymore. You can bother Slytherins all you want, but Gryffindors are off-limits, OK?"

"That's not exactly fair, Harry," Hermione protested before Peeves could answer. "Why not make him leave everyone alone?"

"He needs to have an outlet," Harry said wisely, "or he'll be even more trouble than he already is. If Professor Dumbledore didn't want him here, he wouldn't be here. Since he has to stay, he needs to have some fun." He looked back at Peeves. "Everyone needs to have fun, right, Peeves?"

"Oh yes, that's absolutely perfectly wonderfully right, Harry Potter, sir!" the poltergeist said eagerly, holding up both hands to show he hadn't crossed any fingers, then doing a back flip in his excitement.

"If you leave the Gryffindors alone, I'll be satisfied," Harry said quietly. "Agreed?"

"Oh, yes! Absolutely, Your Potterness!" Peeves said, waving his open hands again to show he was keeping his word, then clasping his hands together and smiling unctuously as he sketched a small bow.

"And if I find you've been bothering Gryffindors again-" Harry continued seriously.

"Oh, no, Your Potterness! Peeves will be a good poltergeist! No Gryffindors! Not even ickle firsties!"

"And if anyone asks you why you're leaving Gryffindors alone, you'll just say. . .um. . .that you've decided you like Gryffindors, OK? You won't tell anyone I told you to do this."

"Oh, yes! I mean, oh, no!" Peeves replied, confused about what the correct answer might be. His face lit up when he hit on it. "Peevesy LOVES Gryffindors! And Harry Potter didn't tell Peeves anything!"

"Don't mention my name, Peeves, I'm serious," Harry warned, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Peeves put his hands up, waving them anxiously at Harry. "No! No! Peeves will not mention your name, Your Potterness!" He clapped both hands over his mouth and his eyes grew huge with horror when he realized he'd said "Potterness."

"Yeah, not that either," Harry chuckled, relaxing the threat in his posture a bit. "All right, then, Peeves. Your word on all of this?"

"Absolutely, positively, indubitably, definitely, without a doubt, certainly, yes!" Peeves said eagerly.

"All right. Get in the centre of the sphere, then, and hold still," Harry instructed, then ended the charm when the poltergeist obeyed. Peeves bowed low, tipped his silly hat, then zoomed off as fast as he could.

"Well done, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said with an amused smile. "And I won't tell the other Heads of House that you told Peeves he's free to attack their students."

"Thanks!" Harry said as he, Ron and Hermione followed the professor into the room. All four were chuckling.

"And you'll have to tell me about that Sphere Charm sometime," she added under her breath as they parted. "It looks like a good one."

"OK," he agreed, then slid into his seat beside Ron and Hermione.

* * * * *

"Professor," Harry called, seeing Dumbledore striding down the hall ahead of him, "could I have a word?"

"Certainly! How are you today?" Dumbledore said, turning around and smiling warmly. "Lemon drop?"

"Thanks!" Harry said, taking the offered sweet and popping it into his mouth. "I had an idea."

"Good for you!" Dumbledore teased, his eyes twinkling.

Harry grinned at his playful headmaster. "It's about Quidditch. Did you know that Ron and I organized an inter-House pick-up Quidditch game last year after the battle?"

"Yes, I knew about that," the headmaster replied. "Everyone involved seemed to enjoy it a great deal."

"We did! And we got to know people in other Houses better than we normally do. I was thinking it might be a good idea, or at least fun, to have an inter-House game sometime during the year. Muggles in America do that kind of thing with their professional sports teams - I've saw it on the telly when the Dursleys had satellite TV for a while. Sometimes it's called an 'All-Stars' game. Could we do something like that?" Harry looked at his headmaster hopefully.

"That's a wonderful idea, Harry!" Dumbledore said with a smile. "How would that game be organized? When would the teams practice? And how would they be chosen?"

"I was thinking that Madam Hooch and you or someone else could choose three players from each team and just. . .I don't know. . .mix 'em up together into two teams. We'd need to play one Chaser or one Beater short in order to have equal numbers of players from each house. I think it would be easier if we were short one Chaser, myself, but I'll leave that up to you. With one practice, the teams should be good enough to play, since they'd all be experienced Quidditch players." He watched Dumbledore's face carefully as the man mulled it over.

Dumbledore studied the boy in front of him as he considered his suggestion. Harry was so excited, he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, his eyes sparkling and brilliantly green, an expectant half-smile on his face. The old man smiled, enjoying Harry's delight in his brainchild.

"I think it's a splendid idea. I'll talk it over with Madam Hooch and the Heads of House. If everyone agrees, we'll get started on plans for it right away," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "I'll let you know when we have things sorted out."

"Thanks, Professor!" Harry said. "It'll be brilliant! See you later!" He waved and jogged down the hall, sliding into his seat in Inter-Beings Languages just before the bell rang.

"What did he say?" Ron whispered as their professor cleared his throat.

"He liked it. We're on!" Harry replied with a grin.

Ron grinned excitedly and pumped his fist in the air, whispering "Yes!" quietly so the professor wouldn't notice.

At Ron's quiet exclamation, the professor looked toward him to see what was going on. Ron and Harry both looked innocently diligent, getting their parchment, quills, ink pots and books set out on their desks. The few other students in the room looked from Ron and Harry to the professor expectantly, but the professor simply shook his head and turned back to the blackboard where he was creating a list of page numbers and the titles of various reference books with manic waves of his wand.

"This is your homework assignment. Please copy these page numbers and the names of the reference books listed now. I will explain the assignment as class progresses," the man said.

Inter-Beings Languages was a requirement for Seventh Years who planned to go into Auror training. Since so few students chose to become Aurors, or qualified for it if they were interested, the class wasn't given every year. This year's class was small, just Harry, Ron and a few Ravenclaws who were taking it because the subject interested them, not because they wanted to be Aurors. Both Harry and Ron found it to be quite a difficult subject and fervently wished Hermione was taking it as well.

Today they were continuing their study of Mermish, the language of the merpeople. Professor Reddo, a tiny little man who quite often gestured wildly with his hands while speaking, waved his wand once more, producing a list of vocabulary words on the board.

"Now, you must remember that Mermish is best spoken with the teeth held tightly clenched together, forcing the sound through your mouth in as high a pitch as you can manage," he said, his hands fluttering wildly around him, as if to make him appear bigger. "This will, of course, be more difficult for those like Mr. Weasley here, who have very deep voices."

Ron blushed at being singled out. His voice was now a booming bass, rather than the light baritone it had been in recent years.

The professor looked at his students, making sure they were all attentive. "All right, class. Repeat after me." The room resounded with what sounded like a great many dolphins arguing.

"Keep reading down the list as I pass among you to help you with your pronunciation," Reddo said, tucking his long, mousy brown hair behind his large, pointed ears.

Harry was half convinced the man was part elf. He wasn't much taller than Dobby, had very large eyes and a nose shaped like a cucumber, complete with warts. Harry leaned over to Ron. "I've been meaning to ask you, mate - what kind of elf do you think the professor is?"

"Elf?" Ron looked surprised.

"Yeah. He looks a bit like Dobby, except his skin looks human," Harry whispered, then went back to screeching Mermish verb declensions as the professor approached them.

"Oh, well done, Mr. Weasley! Mr. Potter, tighten your teeth more, and it's more an 'e' sound than an 'eh" sound in this verb. Try again."

Harry tightened his teeth and strained his neck, then felt his jaw muscles lock up as he struggled to achieve the proper sound.

"Better, much better!" Reddo said approvingly. "Keep working on it, Potter. Weasley, good work!"

Ron grinned at Harry, a triumphant gleam in his eye.

"Oh, sod off," Harry muttered good-naturedly, then put on his most innocent face and went back to work when he saw the professor look his way.

After class, Harry asked Ron again, "What kind of elf could he be?"

"I don't know, honestly," Ron replied with a shrug. "I don't know that much about elves, actually. The ones I know about. . .erm. . . .wood elves are tall and thin and rather aggressive. I hear they're good archers, like centaurs. Mountain elves are smaller, stouter, and seem to keep to themselves more than the others." He grinned at Harry. "I suppose he could be part mountain elf."

"Really?" Harry said. "How many kinds of elf are there?"

"Dunno. I could ask Dad if you want." That was Ron's pat answer to anything he didn't know about - ask Dad.

"No hurry. I was just curious," Harry replied easily.

"So are you going to try your Mermish out on the merpeople in the lake?" Ron asked, grinning. "They thought you were rather heroic in that second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. They might enjoy talking with you."

"I think it would be interesting to talk with them, yeah," Harry replied.

"I wish I could do that partial transfiguration you do with the gills," Ron said. "I'd love to see their town down there. We were asleep when they took us there, so I didn't get to see anything!"

"You didn't miss much," Harry assured him. They'd had this conversation before. Harry had described in detail what he'd seen in the depths of the lake, but Ron felt deprived because he'd been asleep and missed everything. Harry had enjoyed the freedom of swimming with gills, and, since becoming good at transfiguring himself, had conquered a partial transfiguration that gave him the gills, webbed hands and finned feet he'd achieved by eating gillyweed in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. "You still working on the gill transfiguration?"

"Yeah. Partial transfigurations are hard, aren't they?" Ron said as they walked toward their next class. "I can't understand why it's easier for me to do an Animagus transformation than to do a partial transfiguration of any kind."

Harry shrugged and said, "Yeah." Partial transfigurations weren't hard for him at all, but he wasn't going to make Ron feel bad by telling him that.

There was a commotion in the corridor ahead of them. Peeves was up to his old tricks. Ron went into "Head Boy" mode, pushing his way through the crowd, glaring angrily at the mischievous poltergeist.

"Peeves!" Ron yelled when he got near the poltergeist, "what do you think you're doing?"

"Pouring ink on ickle firsties," Peeves said, all innocence.

"What have I told you about that?" Ron snarled.

"But your Headliness, they're Slytherins!" Peeves protested.

Ron looked at Harry uneasily. Peeves was going to say something that would cause more trouble than all the ink bottles he could find, if they weren't careful.

"Peeves," Harry said reasonably, "have they done anything to you?"

"Nope!" Peeves said arrogantly. "Can't touch this!" He did three back flips in a row.

"All right, if we say they can't touch you, will you let them pass?" Ron asked, doing his best to be patient.

"What does His Potterness have to say about it?" Peeves asked, zooming over to Harry until they were nearly nose to nose.

"I say let the ickle firsties go to class without bothering them," Harry replied.

"OK!" Peeves said, then zoomed away.

"That was easier than I expected," Ron said, looking at Harry in surprise.

"Yeah, that's a bit weird," Harry mused, watching the poltergeist zip out of sight.

"Nah, it's not weird," Ron said wisely. "He's really scared of you."

"I don't think he's scared of me," Harry said, shrugging. "I didn't hurt him, I just frustrated him."

"Well, maybe it's more respect than fear, but he's listening to you now. The only person he's ever actually obeyed before was the Bloody Baron," Ron said thoughtfully as they walked down the corridor. "I wonder why he listens to the Bloody Baron? I mean what could a ghost do to him?"

"The Bloody Baron's just bloody scary, that's why," Harry said, chuckling.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, and then his stomach rumbled. "Wonder what's for dinner? I'm starving!"

* * * * *

The Quidditch try-outs hadn't gone too well. The Gryffindor team needed two people to replace Katie Bell and Seamus Finnegan. Both had died in the Battle of Little Hangleton, but Katie would have finished Hogwarts the previous term anyway. Harry looked around at his team mates as they met after giving everyone who wanted a chance as good a try-out as possible. Nobody showed much promise.

"What do you think?" Harry asked. His eyes wandered from Ron to Ginny to Colin and Dennis Creevey.

"Not one of those kids flew decently. What are we going to do?" Ron said gloomily.

"We'll make the best of it somehow," Harry said bracingly. "We'll give whoever we choose extra flying lessons."

"Fiona Ryan wasn't too bad," Ginny said, trying to be positive.

"Yeah, she was the best," Harry agreed. "She could catch and throw, she just didn't fly very well."

"We can fix that, Harry," Ginny said encouragingly.

Harry sighed, looked at Ron and, seeing resigned agreement in his eyes, replied, "Yeah. So Fiona? Everyone agree?"

"She's cute!" Dennis said with a grin. Colin chuckled and dug his elbow into his brother's side.

"Well?" Harry prompted. "Fiona OK with everyone?" He got nods all around. "All right then. I think Euan Abercrombie was probably the next best possibility. What do you think?"

"He's that Third Year who's always nervous around you, isn't he, Harry?" Ron said uneasily.

Harry nodded. "He's been scared of me ever since he got to Hogwarts," he said with a heavy sigh. "He believed that rubbish the papers printed about me after the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"He's old enough to get over that," Colin said bracingly. "We'll set him straight, won't we, Dennis?" Dennis nodded vigorously. Colin and Dennis were still Harry's biggest fans.

"What do you think?" Harry asked, looking from Ron to Ginny.

"He's actually rather sweet," Ginny said defensively. "He's just terribly shy."

"Well, do what you can to get him over that, will you?" Harry asked her with a heavy sigh. "He can't be shy and be part of the team, it just won't work. He's got to be as bold as the rest of us. But he really was the best of a bad lot. Are you all in favour of picking him?" He got slow, resigned nods all around. "All right then. Fiona and Euan will be our new Chasers. We'll work out a rotation on who's giving them extra flying lessons so it won't be such a burden on any one of us. They're Third Years, so at least they don't have O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s facing them. I'm going to depend heavily on you three," he said, indicating Ginny and Colin who were both Sixth Years, and Dennis, who was a Fourth Year, "to oversee their training. Ron and I have a lot of revising to do for N.E.W.T.s this year. We'll do what we can, but we won't have as much spare time as you lot will." Getting understanding nods all around, he clapped his hands on his knees and stood up. "All right then. I'll post the team list this evening. Who wants to start the extra flying sessions?"

"I will!" Colin said eagerly.

"Somehow, I knew you'd volunteer," Harry said with a fond smile at the enthusiastic boy. "Thanks, mate."

* * * * *

It was Harry's turn to give Euan and Fiona their flying lesson. Colin, Ginny and Dennis had each given the new team members a lesson, and their flying had improved somewhat, as had their teamwork in practice, but they had a long way to go before they'd be ready for their first game, which was approaching rapidly.

"Right then. I'll lead off, and you two follow me. I'm going to show you some manoeuvres, in slow motion. Do exactly what I do, and as slowly as I do them. Once you have a good feel for them, we'll speed them up. OK?" He looked at his two new team mates. Fiona looked fiercely determined, but Euan looked a bit green. "Euan, what's the matter?" Harry asked impatiently.

"Nothing," he said quietly.

"Then why do you look as if you're about to lose your lunch?" Harry asked, truly curious now.

"I'm," he gulped, trembling in the face of Harry's attention, "fine."

"No, you're not. Are you ill?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

"He's scared of you," Fiona piped up.

"Still? Why the bloody hell are you still scared of me?" Harry demanded impatiently.

Euan trembled even more, shrinking back from Harry, but didn't answer.

Harry took a deep, calming breath and blew it out. "I'm sorry, Euan. I'm under a bit of pressure here, you know? With the D.A. meetings, and N.E.W.T. revision and Quidditch. . .but those are my problems, not yours. I didn't mean to blow up at you. I'm sorry." He and Ron had already discussed the fact that their dismal Quidditch prospects would probably kill any chance they had of being scouted for professional teams, and both of them would prefer playing Quidditch to going to Auror School. He sighed and forced himself to calm down. "All right. Why are you afraid of me?"

Euan's eyes just got bigger.

"Have I ever hurt you?" Harry prompted. "Or any of your friends?"

The boy shook his head.

"What's it going to take for you to relax around me?" Harry said, tilting his head and smiling at the boy, making his face and posture as soft and friendly as possible. "I know. You and I need to sit down over a butterbeer and get to know each other better. Next Hogsmeade weekend, we'll make it a point to get together in the Three Broomsticks and have a natter, how's that?"

"J-j-just us?" Euan asked nervously.

"Well, Ginny will probably be there," Harry replied, "unless you don't want her to be."

"She can be there. I like Ginny," Euan said, showing his first genuine smile of the afternoon.

"Just as long as you remember she's my girl," Harry teased, then saw the boy's face tighten nervously again. "Bloody hell, Euan, can't you take a joke?" he said, reaching out and very gently poking the boy in the shoulder.

"But she is your girl - so it wasn't a joke," Euan countered cautiously.

"Well, mate, you have me there," Harry agreed. "Come on, then. Let's fly."

* * * * *

On the next Hogsmeade weekend, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione sat at a big table in the Three Broomsticks, having a good time and chatting with friends who passed by. Euan hadn't shown up yet. Finally, the Creevey brothers came barging through the door, dragging Euan between them.

"Brought somebody to see you, Harry!" Colin said cheerfully.

"I'll go and get our butterbeers," Dennis said as Colin sat Euan down next to Harry, then sat next to him. Colin and Dennis had finally grown into big, strapping boys with the perfect physique for Beaters, not as oversized as Crabbe and Goyle, but long-armed, broad-chested and strong, like the Weasley twins.

Poor Euan never had a chance of resisting if they wanted to force him to go somewhere, Harry thought. Aloud he said, "How's it going, mate? Having fun in Hogsmeade?"

Euan nodded nervously.

"What have you done today?" Harry asked, trying to draw the boy out.

"Nothing much," he muttered.

"Have you seen my brothers' joke shop, Weasleys Wizard Wheezes?" Ginny said kindly. "They have the best stuff in there. Harry and Ron helped develop some of the things they sell."

"Yeah, it was a lark working for them," Ron said with a grin. With that, he and Harry were off, swapping funny stories about working in the shop, about the joys and tribulations of being test subjects for some of the joke products, and about some of the things that happened when ingredients were added in the wrong order, or wrong quantity.

Before long, everyone at the table was laughing, even Euan, although his laughter was still a bit nervous. Here he was, surrounded by older students. Even the girls were bigger than him, although he was about the same size as Ginny, who was quite petite. He was just beginning to relax a bit when Harry spoke directly to him again. "Huh?" Euan said intelligently.

"I said, what do you want to do when you get out of Hogwarts," Harry repeated with a friendly smile.

"Dunno," Euan muttered, closing himself off from the others again.

Harry saw this and sighed. He didn't know what the boy's problem was, nor how to solve it. "Colin? Have you decided what you want to do?"

"I want to be a photographer!" Colin said with a grin.

"Good for you!" Harry replied. "You've already got your foot in the door with the posters and Famous Wizards Cards and all."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Colin replied happily.

"What about you, Dennis?" Ginny asked. "What do you want to do?"

"I'd like to work for the Ministry in the International Games and Sports department," he said with no hesitation. "I'm not a great Quidditch player like Ron and Harry - and you, Ginny - but I love sports and would like to be involved in it somehow. So a Ministry position would be one way to do that."

"Or you could be a team manager, or a coach, perhaps," Ron said encouragingly.

"Yeah!" Dennis said, nearly bouncing in his seat at the idea. "That would be bril!" He looked at the older students. "What do you plan to do, Ron?"

"Harry and I have talked about going to Auror School," Ron replied, "but in an ideal world? We'd both like to play professional Quidditch."

"Really? Harry, you'd rather play Quidditch than be an Auror?" Euan asked suddenly. "Why? I thought you liked all that Defence stuff."

"I'm tired of fighting, Euan," Harry said, his eyes sad and serious. "Auror school interests me a lot, but I'd love to play Quidditch professionally. If I do get to play Quidditch, when I retire from playing, I might like to coach it. Eventually, I think I'd enjoy teaching at Hogwarts. But not for quite a while. I enjoy teaching spells in D.A., so I think teaching might be fun at some point. I love Hogwarts, but I want to see the world a bit before I settle down here - if I end up here at all." He shrugged as if it didn't make much difference to him, but he'd just said what was on his heart - he could see himself making a career at Hogwarts once his children were old enough to attend the school. If he had children. He glanced at Ginny, his eyes soft and tender as the thought crossed his mind.

"What would you teach?" Colin asked, interrupting Harry's dreams.

Harry sighed, getting back on topic. "Defence or Transfiguration, I suppose. I like both of them," he said with a shrug. "But the Defence job is Remus's until he decides to retire, and the same is true of McGonagall and Transfiguration."

"You could teach Charms," Colin said brightly. "You're really good at hexes and stuff."

"Yeah, but that's all a long way off," Harry said with a shrug.

"What if you don't get recruited by a Quidditch team?" Dennis asked carefully. "Our chances this year-"

"Our chances are as good as anyone else's," Harry said quickly. "And if I don't get recruited. . .I don't know about Ron, but I'm not sure I want to go to Auror School at all."

"If you don't go, I won't go," Ron said stoutly.

"Right. Ruin your future because I'm a layabout and won't go to school. Then you can blame me for all your troubles," Harry teased.

"Exactly!" Ron said triumphantly, making everyone laugh.

"Hermione, what about you?" Colin asked, knowing Harry had answered enough questions for now and wanted the attention directed elsewhere. "What are your plans?"

"I don't know, really. I want to study more, possibly go to university, travel some. . .I honestly don't know what I want to do as a career yet. So many things interest me," she said with a small smile. "I suppose I'll work it out after I've done more study."

"Ginny," Dennis said, "what are you going to do after Hogwarts?"

"I was going to go to Healer School, but I'm not sure I want to do that anymore," she said quietly.

"Why not? You're brilliant with the Healer Squad!" Colin protested.

"And I've seen enough injured people to last me a lifetime. I want to spend the rest of my life happy. I might be happy as a healer, but I don't know that I want to spend three more years at school."

"And exactly what do you think you'll do with your time if you don't go to school?" Hermione commented wryly, her eyes dancing.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ginny shot back, a cocky grin on her face.

"Does this involve a certain tall, dark-haired guy with brilliant green eyes?" Hermione teased.

"OK, how about we get some crisps to go with our butterbeer?" Harry interjected, staving off any more personal questions that he and Ginny didn't want to answer in public. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "I don't think I can carry all those heavy crisps by myself. You'll have to come help me," he whinged.

"You're silly," she said, poking him gently in the chest.

"Owwwww! Woman, you've killed me!" he said, overacting wildly and getting applause from his friends as a result. "Thank you, thank you. Please enjoy our refreshment stand during intermission!" he said cheekily, then led Ginny to the bar, where he got enough crisps for everyone at the table.

"Is he always like that?" Euan asked Colin quietly.

"Like what?"

"Silly."

"He got a lot sillier in general when he and Ginny got together. She makes him happy. When he's around her, yeah, most of the time he is silly," Colin replied with a fond smile, watching Harry and Ginny coming back toward the table. "He's an honest-to-goodness hero, Euan, and a really good chap. And he's the best friend any of us could ever have. You need to relax with him, learn to trust him, OK? For the good of the team, if nothing else."

Euan studied Colin's unusually serious face and nodded.

"Harry and Ron are good enough Quidditch players to go pro," Dennis whispered to Euan as Harry noisily passed out the crisps and some cakes he'd picked up as well. "The team needs to do as well as possible to help them look good to the scouts. They deserve a chance, Euan." He looked at the younger boy, his eyes resolute. "Harry has put his life on the line for us loads of times fighting the Dark Lord. He saved Colin's life last year. He gets a lot of grief from other students at times, and unfairly so. They both help us by leading the D.A. meetings and teaching us things we'd never learn in normal classes. They help us with our homework when we ask. They're great guys, both of them. The Gryffindor team needs to back them one hundred percent. Are you with us, Euan?"

The young boy took a deep breath, his eyes wide and solemn, then nodded. "I'm with you, Dennis."

"And you're with Harry too, right?" Colin added quite seriously.

"Harry too."

"Brilliant! Let's eat!" Colin said happily.

* * * * *

The time in the pub really did help Euan get over some of his nerves with Harry, but he still acted a bit cautious near him. A few practices later, Ginny took Colin aside as Harry and Ron were packing up the balls.

"Colin, I'd like you to do something for me," she said earnestly.

"What's up?"

"I'd like you and Dennis to tell Euan all the Harry stories you can - the true ones. I've heard him talking to his classmates in the Common Room. He still believes some of the tripe he's read in the papers. He's trying hard, but he's still a bit afraid of Harry. There's no reason for that except for those stupid articles."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Colin replied. "We'll do our best!"

"I knew you would. Thanks!" she said with a smile.

Several days later, Colin, Dennis and Euan were the last to leave the locker room after practice. "Euan, sit down," Colin said in as friendly a voice as he could manage. "You've still got some concerns about Harry, aren't you?"

"Who, me?" the boy said, trying to act innocent. "No, I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Dennis said, wrapping his burly arm around the boy's scrawny neck and tweaking his nose. "But you will be. Let us tell you about Harry Potter. The truth, not the garbage you and your parents read in magazines or the papers."

Euan gulped, then nodded slowly, sitting on the bench where the Creevey brothers indicated.

"Harry told us a lot of the stories in D.A. We've been there for others," Colin began. "He's saved a lot of lives. He's a good bloke. When he was in First Year. . ." and so began the story of Harry and Ron saving Hermione from the mountain troll, their quest for the Philosopher's Stone, and Harry's first meeting with Voldemort since he was a baby. Then they told the story of the Chamber of Secrets, as much as they knew about it, and the Tri-Wizard Tournament. They were good story-tellers, one brother adding detail where the other one paused. When they got to the battles of the previous school term, Euan held up his hand.

"I know all about that stuff," he said grimly.

"How could you? You weren't there," Colin said, eyeing the boy beadily. "What's up with you, anyway? Did you lose someone from your family in those battles?"

Euan hung his head and refused to answer.

"Out with it, Abercrombie," Dennis urged. "We'll never get to the bottom of this if you aren't honest with us."

"Harry will hate me," Euan said miserably.

Colin and Dennis sat down on either side of the young boy. "Why should he hate you?" Colin asked quietly.

"Because. . .because my uncle was a Death Eater," Euan whispered.

Colin and Dennis looked at each other over the smaller boy's head, both of them sighing at the same time. They'd finally found the cause of the problem.

"Do you think Harry will hold it against you that your uncle was a Death Eater?" Colin asked reasonably.

Euan nodded.

"It's not your fault he was a Death Eater, is it?" Dennis said, leaning down to peep under the younger boy's fringe at his eyes.

Euan shook his head, remaining stubbornly silent.

Colin took a deep breath and blew it out. "Did Harry kill your uncle?"

"I. . .I think so," Euan said miserably.

"And you hold that against him?" Colin continued.

Euan shrugged.

Just then, Harry came back into the locker room, having left his play book behind. "Hey, mates, what's up?" he said breezily as he passed them on the way to his locker.

"Harry? D'you have a minute?" Colin said quickly.

Harry stopped in his tracks and studied the three very serious-faced boys. "What's going on?"

"We've been having a talk with Euan. We think we've found out what's been upsetting him all this time," Dennis said quietly.

Euan looked at him in horror. "You can't tell!"

"If we're going to resolve this, we have to tell him," Dennis reasoned.

Harry sighed, his face very solemn, and sat down on the bench opposite them. "Let's hear it, then."

Euan squirmed miserably between Colin and Dennis while they told Harry what they knew. Dennis kept his hand on the smaller boy's back, trying to comfort him as well as preventing him from running away. It was time Euan was open with Harry about his problem, and Dennis and Colin were determined that the air was cleared, once and for all.

When their recitation was done, Harry looked at Euan and said, "Are you upset with me, or afraid of me, because I may have killed your uncle in battle?"

Euan glanced up at Harry and shook his head.

"Why not?" Harry asked, confused.

"If. . .if you killed him in battle, then you were protecting yourself, or maybe someone else. I know you well enough now to understand that," Euan said hesitantly.

Harry leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good to know, anyway! Did you think I'd be angry with you because your uncle was a Death Eater?"

Euan nodded, the very picture of misery.

"It's not your fault he was a Death Eater, is it?" Harry said logically.

Euan looked up at Harry, his eyes startled. "Dennis said exactly the same thing."

"Probably because it's a reasonable thing to say," Harry said with a smile, "and Dennis is a smart bloke. So's Colin. We only allow smart people on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, y'know. Wise, intelligent, logical, reasonable - and fun, as well," he added with a grin, trying to cheer the young boy up a bit. "You're on the team, so you must have some of those qualities as well, right?"

"I do?"

"Yeah!" Harry assured him. "So since you're wise, intelligent and all of that stuff, I'm sure you're smart enough to tell me what else is bothering you."

Euan stared at Harry in horror for a very long moment. He finally dropped his eyes and sighed, then blurted, "I. . .I. . .I'm afraid I'm. . . not going to be good enough on the team and you won't get picked by a professional Quidditch team, and it will be my fault."

Harry's shoulders sagged in relief. He'd been braced for something far worse, although he didn't know what. "You know what? If it's meant to be, it will happen. If it isn't, well, there's always Auror School," he said with a shrug and his crooked grin.

"Really?" Euan breathed, afraid to believe what Harry was saying.

"Really. And Ron feels the same way. So don't give yourself belly aches worrying about letting the team down. Just do your best. That's all any of us can do, and all any of us can ask. OK?" Harry was pleased to see the younger boy's face brightening considerably. He stood up and smiled at the other boys. "Come on, you lot. Let's get to the Common Room. Ron's out nicking some food for us right now," he said, clapping Euan on the shoulder in a friendly way as the boy started toward the door. "And anytime you have a problem, or you're worried about something, anything at all," he told Euan, "you come straight to me, or Ron, or Ginny, or these two blokes," he grinned, indicating the Creeveys. "It doesn't have to be about Quidditch. We're a team. We pull together. We help each other out. OK?"

Euan looked up at Harry. Yes, he was tall and strong, a very powerful wizard and quite intelligent, but he wasn't scary. He was funny, he was silly, he was friendly - he cared about his team mates. Euan finally relaxed and really grinned at his team captain for the very first time. "OK!"

* * * * *

Several days later, Harry came bounding down the spiral staircase, ripping into a package Hedwig had brought him at breakfast.

"Are you only just opening that, Harry?" Ron said in astonishment.

"Yeah. I know what it is," Harry said casually, then finished unwrapping the package.

"Who's it from?"

"Dobby."

Ron snorted. "Is he sending you socks, then?"

Harry grinned at him. "Nah. I asked him to make something for me. This is it. Or, these are them. Or, this is them. Or, these are they? I can't speak straight at all this morning. My brain's still mush after that test Reddo sprung on us in Inter-Beings Languages yesterday."

"Mine too. How do you think you did?"

Harry looked at Ron, a wicked gleam in his eye, and started squealing to him in Mermish. Ron replied in kind, to which Harry responded, both of them laughing at whatever they'd said as well as at the other students in the Common Room, all of whom had quickly covered their ears when Harry started squealing.

"That well, eh?" Ron laughed.

"Oh, yeah!"

"I didn't know you'd learned how to swear in Mermish!" Ron said, clearly impressed. "That's what those odd words were, right? How did you learn them?"

"I talked to some merpeople the other day. They came up out of the water and waved at me when I was out running early in the morning," Harry said with a grin. "They got a kick out of me trying to speak their language. They said I have a funny accent."

"So what made them swear?"

"One of them had a little one with him, and the baby pulled his hair, and he let fly with some interesting words, let me tell you! I think they were about our age, the merpeople, and they were quite friendly, so they explained what the words meant when I asked them. I don't know that adults would have done that." Harry grinned at Ron. "They were a rowdy lot."

"I'll bet!" Ron said, grinning. "Can I go running with you some morning, so maybe I can see them too?"

"I thought you didn't like to run, Ron?" Harry teased, knowing Ron would rather sleep in than get up early to run.

"Yeah, well, I don't," he admitted with a shrug, "but I think it would be fun to talk with mermish teenagers. Or is it merpeople teenagers?"

"I have no idea," Harry said with a shrug. "We can do that anyway - you don't have to put yourself out by running," he added, plopping down in a squashy armchair and opening his box.

"So what's in there?" Ron craned his neck, trying to peep in the box.

"Nosy, aren't we?" he teased.

"Yeah," Ron admitted, backing off. "I'll leave you alone, then."

"Nah, I was kidding," Harry said. "Look." He pulled out a small soft bag and tossed it to Ron.

"What's this?"

"Muggles call them 'beanbags.' They use them in various games for little children so they won't get hurt if they get hit with one. Of course, Dudley could even manage to make getting hit with a beanbag painful, he did it so hard. But these are for Euan and Fiona. I had Dobby make seven of them, one for each of us on the team. When we pass in the hall, we'll toss them with no warning to team mates, and that way, hopefully, Euan and Fiona will learn to sense when the Quaffle is approaching so they'll be ready for it."

"That's a great idea, Harry!" Ron said enthusiastically. "Let's try it!"

"The idea is to help them improve their performance by throwing the bag when the person isn't aware it's coming," Harry said, chuckling. "You go over there and at some point I'll toss one your way."

"OK," Ron said, then crossed the room and plopped down in an armchair facing away from Harry.

Harry waited several minutes, then lobbed a bean bag toward Ron. It hit him squarely in the head.

"Ow!" Ron said, turning and glaring at Harry. "That hurt!"

"Did not," Harry replied cheekily, "or else your head is soft!"

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"What are you two on about?" Ginny said as she came down the stairs from her room, catching a beanbag neatly as she entered the room.

"See? Ginny caught it with no problem," Harry told Ron with a snort of teasing laughter. "What happened to you?"

"I dozed off," he admitted, blushing.

"That fast?" Harry grinned, incredulous. "You've only been up a little while."

"Well, you know, all work and no play makes Ron a tired boy," Ron said with a shrug, then reached up and caught the bean bag Harry had lobbed at him with no warning.

"What are these things?" Ginny asked.

Harry explained his idea, and Ginny thought it was a good one.

"Here comes Fiona," she murmured, then tossed the beanbag at the young girl, who caught it with no problem.

"What's this?" Fiona asked.

As Ginny was explaining, Ron tossed a beanbag at Euan, who'd just come through the portrait hole. It hit the boy in the shoulder. He was the reason Harry had come up with the beanbag idea. Euan had to be paying absolutely full attention to the ball or he had a great deal of trouble catching it. Harry was hoping the beanbag trick was going to make him more sensitive to movement around him, so he could learn to catch the ball instinctively.

"What's this?" Euan asked, picking up the small bag from where it had fallen by his feet.

Harry held his hand up. "Wait a sec. I'll explain," then stood up and quickly tossed two beanbags at the boys' staircase just as Dennis and Colin emerged. Both of them swatted the bags away rather than catching them.

"Classic Beaters," Harry said with a grin.

"Huh?" Dennis said as he and Colin picked up the small missiles.

"Gather round, you lot," Harry said, sitting on the arm of the chair he'd occupied until a few moments ago. Ron sat on the other arm, and Ginny curled up in the seat as the others gathered around them. When they'd settled down, Harry made sure everyone had a beanbag in hand. "These are Quaffles - well, pretend Quaffles, anyway. They're actually called 'beanbags.' We're going to toss them at each other with no warning to increase our sensitivity to the movement of the balls. There's one for each of you. I want you to pay particular attention to throwing these at our Chasers, since they're the ones who handle the Quaffle, but don't neglect the rest of us if you see us around. And you Chasers, you can toss them among yourselves or to the rest of us. As you've already seen, they're easy to catch and don't hurt if they hit you," he paused and patted Ron on the head, "unless you're soft in the head like Ron."

"Hey!" Ron protested.

Harry snorted with laughter and poked his friend gently. "At any rate, I want you lot to surprise each other - and me - with these beanbags so we learn to sense when something's coming at us. I think just a day or two of doing this will help us a lot. What do you think?"

"Cool!" Colin said with his usual enthusiasm.

"Yeah!" Dennis agreed, tossing his beanbag in the air and catching it, over and over.

"Just as long as you Beaters don't decide catching Bludgers is better than hitting them," Harry said with a grin. "All right. See you at practice."

* * * * *

The first D.A. meeting of the year took place in the Great Hall and was pretty much a packed house. The majority of the students in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were in attendance. As usual, there were no Slytherins at the meeting, which didn't really bother any of those who'd chosen to come.

Harry looked around at the huge group of people. He, Remus and Dumbledore had discussed limiting the size of the D.A. membership as they had in the past, but had chosen instead to open it up to anyone who wanted to participate. With Ron, Hermione and Ginny teaching the lower levels, Harry and Remus could concentrate on the advanced students. Madam Hooch would take those students who preferred to be in the Flying Squad and would train them both in flying and in airborne tactics. With luck and a lot of cooperation, they'd manage. He blew out a nervous breath. There were a lot of new kids in this bunch, and he expected the usual torrent of uncomfortable questions from those who didn't know him well.

Raising his hands for silence, Harry smiled at the assembled students. "Wow. What a great turnout! OK, let me explain a few things, and then we'll see if there are any questions before we get started. Stand up and let me rearrange the furniture." He waved his wand and the House tables slid up against the walls, while the benches moved into rows in the open centre of the room. "Have a seat. This first meeting stuff can take a while," he said with a grin. "All right. Hermione, Ron and Ginny are passing around attendance sheets so we'll know who's here. Those of you who are starting your third year of D.A., we may be calling on you to help out with the younger and newer members. If you're willing to help out that way, there's a place on those sheets for you to let us know. And thanks in advance to those who are willing to help!"

As his friends passed the attendance sheets around, Harry sat on the edge of the Head Table, so he was higher than the group and could see everyone. "OK, some procedural stuff. Third Year D.A. members - you know who you are - will be called Third Years, no matter what year you are in Hogwarts. Everyone in the Third Year group managed the spells we worked on last year so well that I don't think we'll need to do much revising with you - but we will do some, just to be safe, so don't worry about that. Second Year D.A. members, if you've improved your spell work enough on the advanced spells during your holiday, you might be able to take a test and be advanced to Third Year fairly soon. We'll give you that opportunity after we see how everyone's doing, probably in about a month. New members, no matter what year you are in school, you are now First Years in D.A. If your spell work is good, you can advance to Second or even Third Year quickly, in the case of you more experienced students. We will be introducing very difficult spells even to those in First Year, because we all learn at different rates. You advance at your own speed in D.A., and there are no failures here. Some people are better at spells and hexes, some are better at potions, some are better at other things. We have positions for everyone. If you're better at Potions or Herbology, you might be better suited to the Healer Squad than to one of the fighting squads. We're starting a new Flying Squad with the help of Madam Hooch, so that's a new area of opportunity for some of you, as well. We'll sort all of this out later. Right now, I'm just trying to make you familiar with how we work here."

He stopped to look around, his eyes landing on Ron, which helped him decide which issue to address next. "We're organized in the same way as a real army, with a general - that's Ron Weasley. Give us a wave, Ron!"

Ron waved and got quite a few cheers in response, which made him blush royally.

"Ginny Weasley - that pretty little redhead right there," he said nodding toward her and getting a fond smile from her in return, "is in charge of the Healer Squad. Hermione Granger - that lovely young lady still passing out the attendance forms," Hermione smiled and waved, "is Ron's assistant and is in charge of attendance, communication, research and a bunch of other stuff. She's the brain behind D.A. I'm in charge of these meetings, with the help of these three, Professor Lupin and Madam Hooch, but Ron is your general - he's the one who will give orders in the field if you should have to actually go into battle. Don't expect me to give you any orders in battle. That's just not my job. Ron's the strategist. He has squad leaders picked out from among the most experienced students. He tells them what to do, and they tell you. Their being in charge is not an ego trip or anything like that. It's a simple division of labour so we can work as efficiently as possible, and they have earned their positions by their skills and abilities. You must follow their orders in the field or you will endanger everyone around you. That's how it is, so no arguing. If you can't accept those conditions, then D.A. is not for you. Think seriously about this - you have to follow orders for everyone's safety, not just your own." He paused to let that idea sink in. "The only other rule we have is, if you have a dispute with someone in your squad, take it to your squad leader. If your squad leader can't resolve the problem, he or she will take it to Ron. Ron's word is law. Just accept that and you'll be fine," he said with a grin, glancing at Ron, who was blushing madly again.

Harry rubbed his hands together, hoping he'd covered everything he needed to for the first meeting. "Oh, we'll be meeting once a week, starting in here each time, and then splitting up and using various classrooms as necessary, or all working in here, depending on what we're doing. Professor Dumbledore has set aside Wednesday evenings for us, so there will be no Quidditch practices on Wednesdays to interfere with our meetings. Professor Lupin will bring in boggarts for us to practice our Patronus Charms on, and whatever other equipment we might need. He's also letting us use the Defence classroom if we need it. Professor Flitwick has kindly provided several boxes of cushions for us to use when we're hexing each other, so we don't have to land on the hard floor. He's also allowing us the use of the Charms classroom when we need separate areas to work in. Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey have agreed to meet the Healer Squad on occasion to explain more difficult potions and injury treatments, and they will help keep the Healer Squad supplied with the necessary potions, bandages, etc. Madam Hooch will work out the flying practice sessions with those who are in the Flying Squad. They won't be working on spells as much as the rest of us, since they will be dropping bombs and other things the Weasley twins come up with to use in aerial combat, so if you wind up in the Flying Squad, don't worry that you'll have two D.A. sessions per week - that's not the way it's going to work. You'll be working with Madam Hooch, not here with the rest of us." He looked around at his three best friends. "What have I forgotten?"

"I think you've got it covered, mate," Ron said with a confident smile.

"Yes, me too," Ginny agreed.

"Do you want to take questions from the floor now, or not?" Hermione reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that was it," Harry said with a sigh. He hated this part, but the questions the new people, in particular, had, needed to be dealt with. "All right, before I do that - Third Years, to my right please," he said, gesturing to his right. "Second Years to my left. First Years, stay put." He waited until the groups had sorted themselves out. "Right. Third Years, you'll be going with Ron and Professor Lupin to the Defence classroom, and they'll start reviewing spells with you. Second Years, you're going to the Charms classroom with Hermione and Professor Flitwick to review the spells at your level. First Years, you stay here with me and Ginny, and we'll answer questions and start checking your spell work. You won't have the same leaders each week, by the way. We will switch which groups we work with on a regular basis so we can all learn your strengths and weaknesses and get a good idea of what we need to concentrate on with each of you." He stopped and looked around. He couldn't think of anything else he needed to cover. "Right then. Before you older groups leave - any questions?" He looked around, hoping to see no raised hands, but sighed as he saw several.

"All right," he said, pointing to a Ravenclaw boy, "what's your question?"

"How did you and Ginny escape at that concert during the summer?" the boy asked.

"That whole thing was a case of mistaken identity. Didn't you read my interview in the paper the next day?" Harry replied, genuinely curious. Minister Bones had gone to a lot of trouble to get that press conference arranged. Why bother if nobody was going to believe what they read?

"Yes, I saw it, but I don't understand," the boy said. "You had a glamour on and they didn't recognize you? Why would changing your hair colour make that much of a difference?"

"It wasn't just my hair colour. I had a beard, and had a hat on that covered my scar," Harry replied matter-of-factly. "And that poor bloke who died matched my description, except for the scar."

"And his hair wasn't black, it was brown, and his eyes weren't green, they were hazel, and he wasn't as tall or well-built as you - or as handsome," Ginny put in cheekily. She turned to face the other students. "He only looked like Harry to people who'd never seen him."

Harry glanced at her, sharing a look that spoke worlds between them. "And his girlfriend wasn't nearly as pretty as Ginny, but that's beside the point," he said, grinning at the blush he'd caused on her face. He turned back to the group. "Any more questions?" He saw a lot of the students look at each other indecisively. "Tell you what. Any questions you have, Ron or Hermione can answer, and if they don't know the answer, they can ask me and tell you later. Let's get to work, shall we?"

Once the two older D.A. groups left, Harry turned back to his new members. "OK. Any questions before we start?"

"Can we ask about anything?" a Second Year Ravenclaw asked.

"'Course. What's on your mind?" And thus began the usual round of questions Harry dreaded, but had learned to deal with in the past, about him having killed people, how it felt to kill people, why did he have to kill people, were they going to have to kill people, did he really do this or that they'd heard of or read in stories, all of that. He answered as patiently as he could, with Ginny taking over when she could see he was getting annoyed or overwhelmed. Finally, he called a halt. "We could talk all evening, but we should get started. Stand up, I'm going to send your benches back to the walls." Once the benches were out of the way, he had the students pair up and start doing simple spells as he and Ginny went through the crowd correcting flaws wherever they found them. Finally, the meeting was over and he sent them on their way.

"Yeah, see you next week," he told the last of the departing students, then turned to Ginny. "I'm knackered."

"Me too," she said, coming into his arms and resting her head against his chest. "This feels good."

"Yeah, I've been wanting to hold you all evening," he said, leaning down and kissing her on top of her head. Just then, Ron and Hermione joined them, as they'd agreed. The four of them set the Great Hall to rights and started back to Gryffindor Tower.

"I'll tell you what, I really miss Seamus," Ron said, shaking his head sadly. "He was gobby, but he helped to keep things light, y'know? We don't have anyone that cheeky now. I miss it."

"Yeah, me too," Harry agreed. There was still an aching hole in their dormitory where Seamus should have been.

"So how did Euan do? I noticed him in the First Years group," Ron said.

"He did surprisingly well," Harry replied. "He's quite good with a lot of the spells, and he picks things up quickly. If we can just get that quickness to translate to Quidditch, we just might have a decent shot at the Cup this year."

Ron looked at Harry in surprise. This was the first time he'd been optimistic about their chances at the Cup this year. "Really? That would be brilliant!"

"Yeah," Ginny said, grinning at Harry and Ron. "We need to win it this year, because we won't have a prayer for years after you two leave Hogwarts!"

"I think the First Years looked like a good group," Hermione said thoughtfully. "And so many of them! It's remarkable."

"I just hope we can give them enough attention, with so many members now," Harry mused. "I liked the smaller group we had before, so we could be certain everybody got plenty of help."

"Dumbledore's right, Harry," Hermione said, "we need to involve as many as want to be involved. We need to have as many trained fighters as possible."

"I just hope we don't need them to fight," Harry said sadly. "I can't bear the thought of losing more friends."

Ginny glanced up at him, wondering how to stave off the sadness she could see in his eyes. A sudden inspiration hit her. "You know what?" she said brightly. "Let's organize a tournament!"

"A tournament?" Harry said, thinking of his many awful experiences in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. "What do you mean?"

"Something where they can test their skills, the way you did with the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Something that isn't as dangerous as testing them in actual battle," Ginny explained.

"That's a great idea, Ginny!" Hermione said, the wheels in her mind obviously already turning. "It will take some planning. . . ."

"And what will we use as a prize? Or will there be one?" Ron asked. "And can we four enter too?"

Harry snorted. "I don't think it would be fair for me to enter since Dumbledore and Remus give me extra lessons, but you lot are welcome to if you want. Let the best man - or woman," he said, with a nod to Hermione and Ginny, "win!"

"Will it be inter-house, like Quidditch, or individual?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said with a shrug. "I came up with the idea. You lot have to sort out the details!"

"I'll talk to Remus and Dumbledore about it when I meet with them tomorrow," Harry said. He had one of his extra sessions with them where he was learning how to control his new wand. "Maybe the Minister of Magic would like to contribute the prize?" he mused. "We could ask. . . ."

"Wow, this is so cool!" Ron enthused. "Gin, you're a genius!"

"Yes, I know," she said haughtily, then dissolved into laughter. "Won't it be fun?"

"Between that and the All-Star Quidditch game, this could be a fun year!" Harry said happily. "Now if we could just do away with those pesky N.E.W.T.s!"

"Speaking of which, we still have some studying to do yet this evening," Hermione reminded them.

Ron put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead. "You're such a slave driver."

"Good thing, too, or we'd never get anything done!" Harry agreed. Hermione just smiled.