Harry Potter and The Tomb of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and

The Tomb of Hogwarts

Chapter 6

Cleaning house

Harry awoke Tuesday morning with a new resolve for life. He had slept quite well and felt more rested than he had all summer.

He quickly cleaned up and headed down to breakfast. It was only then that he realised it was still dark outside. He looked over at the wall clock and discovered it was only a quarter after five. Harry chuckled at himself.

Dobby quickly appeared and offered to help Harry with breakfast, but Harry was content with a bowl of cereal and some orange juice.

As he was finishing up he thought of what he might want to do today. He knew from moving Buckbeak's things downstairs that he needed to clean up the attic, so he thought he would start there. It was still only a quarter to six, so he decided not to wake anyone and head up there himself. However, as he went to the sink to clean his dishes he discovered that he was not the only one awake.

"Hello Harry," came Remus' voice. Harry turned around to see his new godfather finishing up a cup of tea.

"Hello Remus. Have a good night's sleep?" Harry replied.

"Indeed. And you?" His voice had a note of concern in it.

"Good," Harry replied quickly. "I didn't even realise how early it was till I came down for a bite to eat."

"Ah. I was wondering why you were up so early."

"Yeah. Come to think of it, what are you doing up so early?"

Remus bowed his head a bit. "I haven't been sleeping much over the past month now. I guess I'm just feeling my age is all. Nothing to worry about."

Harry nodded in agreement, but he had a feeling there was more to it than Remus was letting on. Harry was sure it couldn't be easy to realise that you were the only one left of the original gang still alive and well. Remus had lost two of his best friends to Voldemort, and come to think of it, he'd lost Wormtail to Voldemort as well, sort of. Harry felt like he needed to distract Remus with something to do, and maybe cheer him up a bit.

"Hey. I was thinking about cleaning out the attic. I wanted to get rid of all that junk that's cluttering it up. Do you think you might want to give me a hand?"

"Absolutely. You really shouldn't be working up there on your own anyway. There are some boxes up there that are better left closed, if you know what I mean." Remus looked over at Harry with the same kind of stare that Dumbledore would give him.

"Alright. Well, let's get started then. If we're lucky we can get a couple hours work in before everyone else gets up." Remus merely nodded and followed Harry upstairs.

When they got into the attic they quickly decided to sort the boxes into different groups. They moved everything around and had managed to organize everything in half an hour, leaving them with four neat piles when they were done.

The first was for anything distinctly marked as belonging to Narcissa Black, the second marked for to Sirius's mother. The third and also the smallest pile was the one belonging to Sirius himself, and the fourth pile was an assortment of things that belonged to the house in general.

"So what do we do with that stuff?" Harry asked, pointing to the first two piles.

"Well, I think the best thing we can do is to hand it over to Arthur Weasley. He can check things over for anything illegal and then turn whatever is okay over to Mrs. Malfoy. In fact, I would suggest inviting Arthur and Moody over to have them take a quick look to make sure that everything is safe."

"Hey now, that doesn't sound very fun now does it?" came a voice behind them.

It was Ron. He was still in his bed clothes and was yawning, but he wore a smile all the same.

"So what is all this anyways?" he continued.

"Just cleaning out the attic and getting rid of whatever we can. We were going to ask your Dad if he would be willing to come over and check some of this stuff out before we send it over to Mrs. Malfoy."

"Mrs. Malfoy?" Ron asked incredulously. "Why would you want to give anything to the Malfoys?"

"Probably because it belongs to them," came Hermione's voice from the stairs. Apparently she hadn't made it to the bathroom to clean up yet because her hair was still very bushy and unkempt.

"Right. The last thing I need is for Malfoy to blame me for his problems because I have some of his Mum's stuff. It's better to just get rid of it all anyways. So, do you think your Dad might come over to check it out sometime?"

"Sure. In fact, I'll go ask him right now. He should just be finishing up breakfast. If I use the Floo, I should just catch him before he heads to work." And with that, he was off, running down the stairs two at a time.

Meanwhile, Hermione had made it all the way into the attic and started looking around. "I could help out sorting everything if you need it," she offered. She was obviously tired, but she seemed eager to help, so Harry invited her to help out with Sirius's things. This was the one set of boxes that they knew were safe because they were all locked by Sirius himself.

"Why don't we bring Sirius's boxes downstairs and check them out in the living room. We can leave this until Mr. Weasley and Moody are done with them."

He walked over and grabbed a box. Remus went over to pick one up as well, but it wouldn't budge. He and Hermione tried picking up the boxes with no success.

"Harry," Remus called after him. "Do you think you can give me a hand with these? It seems they only want to be moved by you." Remus had a big smile as he looked down at the boxes. "You know, I remember when we made this charm."

"Excuse me? You made which charm?" Harry's face showed his confusion.

"Sirius and I combined a version of the Fidelius charm alongside the Alohamora spell to stop somebody from taking our things. The only way to break the spell is for the person who is linked to the items to pick them up. In this case, that appears to be you."

"But then how did you help me put the boxes over here?"

"I didn't. Actually, I don't think either of us did. They were already stacked right where they are." Harry thought back for a moment and realised that other than moving one box down to avoid knocking it over, he hadn't touched any of Sirius's boxes either.

"Right. So what do I do?" he asked.

"All you have to do is pick it up and hand it to one of us. Giving it to us will break the charm."

"Right then. Here you go." He handed Remus the box he was holding and grabbed another. Then he headed towards the stairs.

"Excuse me. What am I, a Blast-Ended Skrewt?" Hermione looked completely put out.

"What?" asked Harry, confused.

"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't help. I am plenty capable of carrying a box..."

"Hermione," Harry interrupted, "I didn't give you a box because you're still in your evening clothes. I just figured that you would want to get changed first."

Hermione blushed so much that her crimson hair actually seemed to lose colour next to her cheeks. She had obviously forgotten that she was still in her bed clothes. She quickly turned and headed back downstairs. And as Harry thought about it, he realised that she had been in her bed clothes in front of him and Ron many times before, but for some reason it seemed a bit weird for her to walk around like that now.

Harry looked up at Remus for guidance and caught him in a broad smile, and then he chuckled. "Don't worry, Harry. There's not a man alive who can figure them out, especially when they are as smart as our Hermione. In fact, she kind of reminds me of Lily." His eyes sparkled for just a moment and it made Harry smile too.

"So, let's get going," Remus said, changing the subject as quickly as possible.

They headed downstairs and placed the boxes on the table in the living room, then went upstairs for the rest. There were a total of seven boxes, two of which were much smaller than the rest. Just as they were sitting down to open the boxes, Ron came from the dining room with his Dad.

"Hello Harry," Mr. Weasley said merrily. "I heard you had some things you wanted me to look at."

"Yes sir. They're up in the attic." Harry turned and looked at Remus and Hermione. "I'll be back in a minute if you guys want to get started. You too, if you want," he added to Ron.

"Right. I'll just head up and change real quick and be right down to help."

"Thanks. After you, sir," he said, addressing Mr. Weasley.

Harry and Mr. Weasley were gone for only a few moments and returned just as Ron had taken a seat on the couch next to Hermione.

"I'll see if Molly wants to come by tonight and we can work on the boxes after dinner. Also, I'll see if I can get Moody to drop by before I get here to check for anything crawling around in there."

"Thank you Mr. Weasley. I appreciate it."

"Not a problem Harry." Mr. Weasley patted Harry on the shoulder and smiled. "Well, I wish I could stay but I have a load of work to do at the Ministry these days. You all have a good day, alright?" He smiled and waved at everyone and headed to the kitchen.

Harry walked over to the couch and sat down next to Ron. They each took a box and started opening. Harry and Remus took the smallest ones, assuming these would be the ones with the most intimate and valuable items.

They sifted through the boxes for over an hour. Ron had found several books on transfiguration and poison antidotes while Hermione found some books on raising a teenaged wizard, writing resumes, and being a single parent. Hermione was in tears within seconds of discovering these, and Harry had to choke back a few tears of his own. He had never known Sirius was trying so hard to make sure he did the right things for his godson. He quickly delved back into the box to escape the nagging feelings of regret.

They also found many pictures of Sirius and the rest of the gang including one picture of Harry's Mum and Dad at their wedding. The picture showed them exchanging their wedding rings and kissing at the end, then turning back to the minister and started all over again. This was quickly put on the fireplace mantle.

Most of the items in the boxes were things from Sirius's childhood, many of which were from his time at Hogwarts. There were several school books, quills and parchments, letters from Lily, James, Remus and a ton of letters from Peter. Harry wasn't sure why Sirius would have kept these.

However, the biggest prize for Harry was the picture of his father playing Quidditch. It showed his father speeding towards his own goal, chasing a pair of Slytherin chasers. They must not have seen him because they began to juggle the Quaffle between each other. In a flash, Harry's Dad had stolen the Quaffle and had circled the goals and facing the Slytherin goals.

He ducked just as he began heading away from the Gryffindor goals as a Bludger flew overhead. It was then that he noticed both of the seekers were chasing the snitch and the Gryffindor seeker was at least ten feet further away that the Slytherin Seeker. He must have been two hundred feet from the Slytherin goals. With only moments to spare, he sped off towards the goals, flanked by both beaters. The other Chasers were nowhere to be seen.

Another Bludger was seen heading towards James, but the beaters saw it coming. One of them pulled up and headed out of view while the other readied his bat. The first beater knocked it cleanly straight up where it momentarily disappeared, only to reappear a few moments later, soaring like bullet, heading straight for the Slytherin Keeper, who had obviously not seen it coming as it had hit him in the dead centre of his chest.

With the goals unattended, James looked back at the seekers to find them mere inches from the snitch, while he was still a full hundred feet from the goals. With no choice, he rocketed the ball halfway across the field and through the centre goal just before the Slytherin seeker had caught the snitch.

His father flew down to the centre of the field as the Gryffindor team swarmed him. Above them the scoreboard read; Slytherin, one hundred seventy points; Gryffindor, one hundred eighty points. Though they had lost the snitch, they had still won the game, thanks to Harry's Dad.

Another box contained all of Sirius's school supplies including his cauldron, potion ingredients, robes and hats, and several parchments with new spells he and the gang had been working on.

Meanwhile, Harry had gone through his box and found some of the more personal effects. Harry had found a pair of golden quills given to him by James and Lilly, accompanied with a birthday card. Remus said this was given to Sirius on his birthday following their wedding. And sure enough, just below the birthday card was the invitation to their wedding, followed by a baby picture of Harry, and Finally, a large crystal ball with a wolf and large black dog running about while a large stag stood next to a tiny rat who sat on a large boulder off to the side.

Remus had opened the cardboard box to find a small wooden chest which he called "Sirius's box of Love." It was filled with romantic letters, pictures of dozens of different girls, and several small gifts that they had given him. There were a couple of rings, a very nice blue and gold Medallion, some women's earrings, and buried on the bottom, three Valentine's day cards from Harry's Mum. Harry noticed they were each dated, and the last one was dated during their sixth year. He decided he'd rather not read these.

They continued to go through the boxes for the better part of three hours. Dobby brought in some food for everyone around nine, which of course, prompted Dudley to arrive a few minutes later, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. They stayed a few minutes so Dudley could have a spot of breakfast, then headed downstairs for some training.

When everyone else was finished with the boxes, they all decided to spend the rest of the day in the basement with Dudley. They piled the boxes in a corner of the living room and headed downstairs while Harry took the two smaller boxes up to his room. For some reason it didn't feel right for him to leave these two boxes unattended. He put the wooden box on top of the dresser and put the other box in the bottom draw.

When he arrived in the basement a few minutes later, he found Professor McGonagall working with Dudley on some basic transfigurations. Harry was surprised at how quickly Dudley was picking things up. Harry chalked it up to having Professor McGonagall all to himself.

Harry didn't want to disturb Dudley's work, so he joined Ron and Hermione doing their homework The nice thing about having the basement set up like a classroom was that he had access to everything needed to ensure that his homework was right the first time, every time. It was also nice to be able to work on his homework without having to lock himself in his room.

They broke away at noon to have lunch before Harry decided he wanted to do some more house cleaning. He was getting a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he looked at the furniture and pictures and decided he wanted to move some things around. So he and Remus spent most of the afternoon cleaning the living room and moving the furniture into different places while Ron and Hermione continued their homework downstairs with Dudley.

At three, Harry and Remus joined everyone downstairs, bringing some snacks with them. Professor McGonagall was packing up and heading for the fireplace just as they arrived. She bid them farewell and was gone a few moments later.

Harry headed to Ron and suggested some Quidditch practice while Dudley watched. They grabbed their brooms and had an hour long Quidditch practice while Hermione showed Dudley some picture albums of her and her parents in the States.

Harry had transfigured a teacup into a Quaffle and the saucer into a thirty foot goal. Harry acted like a chaser and tried to put the Quaffle through the goal and Ron tried to block them. Ron had done pretty well for about thirty minutes, but after a while Harry began to notice that Ron's concentration leaving him. He kept glancing down at Hermione and Dudley.

Harry had to admit that it was a bit disturbing to see Hermione and Dudley working together, but then, he was doing the same thing with him just yesterday, so he couldn't blame her for that. Besides, as far as Hermione was concerned, teaching a Muggle-born wizard would be more fun than a day at the Quidditch World Cup.

By the time they had finished practicing, Ron was missing more shots than he was catching.

"Come on, Ron," shouted Harry. "Don't make me call Angelina Johnson over here to snap you into shape."

That had caught Ron's attention. Angelina was the Gryffindor Quidditch captain and was nearly as bad as her predecessor Oliver Wood. Ron had truly gone through the ringer last year, having been taunted by the Slytherin team all year long. It was only during the final game of the season against Slytherin that Ron had come into his own on the field. Ironically, neither Harry nor the Twins had been able to contribute to that game as they had been booted from the team by Professor Umbridge earlier in the year.

As they headed towards the ground, however, Harry did not notice that Hermione and Dudley were very close together. That is, until Ron opened his big mouth.

"Whatcha reading?" He had said it so loudly it actually echoed through the room.

"We're looking at some pictures of America. They have some very interesting places there you know. For instance, three weeks ago Mum and Dad took me to see the Grand Canyon. Muggle Americans consider it one of the worlds' greatest natural wonders. But as it turns out, if you go to the bottom of the canyon head to the northern point, there's a wizard's shop that tells of what really happened. It was really incredible. You see..."

"Oh, come off it Hermione. Can't you escape school for one minute?"

"Oh. But you two can fly around on those bleeding brooms throwing Quaffles at each other all the time but I can't have a civilized conversation with someone?" Hermione's temper was flaring very quickly and Harry knew he had to do something quick.

"Hey. I was thinking about turning the drawing-room into a games room and Library and was wondering you could help me out a bit."

"As long as Miss Brainy over there leaves enough room in the library for some games."

"At least I'm doing something productive. All you ever do is play Exploding Snaps and that barbaric chess game..."

"Do they ever stop fighting?" asked Dudley. He had gotten up and come over to Harry, watching Ron and Hermione continuing to fight like cats and dogs.

"Sure. But then they wake up, and it starts all over again." They laughed together for a few moments, then joined Remus who was lying down next to Buckbeak.

"How's it going, boys," Remus asked.

"Not bad, except for those two." Harry nodded towards Hermione and Ron who were now just inches away from each other, yelling at the top of their lungs.

"They remind me of Mum and Dad," added Dudley.

"I don't remember Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon ever arguing like that."

"You wouldn't. You're like medicine for them. Whenever you're around, they are more worried about people finding out about you than they are about anything else, so they always take it out on you instead. But ever since your second year at Hogwarts they've been getting worse and worse. I didn't even stay home for the Christmas Holidays. I came home for two days, that was all I could take. Didn't even grab my presents. Just up and left during one of their arguments and went back to school. They tried to make it up to me later, sent me all my gifts and stuff, but really, it's getting really old now."

"That's the way those two are. They were fine most of our second and third years, but then during fourth year, everything went nuts. Now they argue more than me and Malfoy."

"Who's Malfoy?" Harry's face dropped. Great, Harry thought, just what I always wanted to do. Get Dudley interested in who Malfoy is.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry said. Maybe he could deter Dudley now and avoid some problems later. "He's a kid at school who's a bigger pain in my bum than you are. His Dad is in league with Voldemort, and Malfoy is likely to follow in his Dad's footsteps. I wouldn't doubt if he tried to pick on you just because you were my cousin. Plus, you're a Slyder, which means you're also a Muggle-born, or as Malfoy would say, a Mudblood. And by the way, I wouldn't use that word in public much if I were you."

"What, Muggle? But I've heard you say that all the time."

"No, I mead Mudblood. It's a really bad name, worse than anything you can think of. People in the wizarding world that use that word are the same kind that would be likely to run in the same group as Malfoy, and trust me, you don't want to go there."

"Well, enough talk about Malfoy," Remus interjected. "I thought I heard you saying something about going upstairs to clean out the drawing room? Is there anything I can do to help?"

And off they went. Ron and Hermione joined them half an hour later and they worked on organizing and cleaning the drawing room until six, when Dobby finally came and announced dinner. After they finished, Dudley went home and Hermione headed upstairs to her room to do some more studying for some paper she was writing for Arithmancy. Harry, Ron, and Remus headed back to the drawing room to finish cleaning up. Around ten, Harry bid everyone a good night and headed for his room.

He wasn't really tired, but he had one thought that had been nagging him ever since Dudley went home. Just as Dudley had left, he had asked if Harry could help him work on flying on the broom. Harry agreed only to remember a moment later that he would be unavailable. Today was Tuesday, which meant that tomorrow, Wednesday, was the day Snape was coming over, and there was no way Harry was going to be unprepared for his lessons.

Harry headed to his room and changed for bed. He was going to make sure to practice his lessons for at least an hour tonight, making sure to cover everything he had learned in his Occlumency lessons over the past year. However, before he got started, he looked over at the dresser and saw the wooden box. He picked it up and laid it on the bed.

He opened the box and began sifting through the Sirius's effects. He wanted to have something of his that would remind him of Sirius for his Occlumency lessons with Snape. He figured that if he had to concentrate on something when Snape was pissing him off, it might as well be something close to him.

After going through everything, he had narrowed his choices down to a ring encasing a large black stone and the blue and gold medallion. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the medallion had been engraved with bird's head with two rich sapphires for eyes. There was something familiar and comforting about it. Whatever it was, it made him feel at ease holding it, and thus, his decision was made.

He put on the Medallion and headed for his bed. He sat down on his bed and assumed the lotus position.

He grasped the Medallion in his right hand and tried to clear his mind. Again he imagined the night sky with a hundred stars, but this time he wanted to make it to zero, counting more slowly as he approached his goal. After ten minutes, he finally hit zero, and his mind was clear. All he could see was a black sky. He kept it this way for another ten minutes, trying his hardest not to let any thoughts or memories intrude.

Then, he imagined fifty stars in the sky, and again counted down, this time a bit faster, and he was done in less than five minutes. Then he added twenty-five stars and repeated the process, then with fifteen, then with ten, and finally, five times he repeated the process with five stars, each time working a bit faster than the last. Soon, he was able to clear his mind in less than ten seconds.

After the fifth success with counting down from five he decided it was time to get some sleep. He was out before his head had hit the pillow.

Harry woke the next morning feeling quite refreshed. He checked the clock and found it was seven thirty. He'd slept for a good nine hours. That had to have been the best sleep he'd had in months. If that was the effect of training at night, he might start doing it more often.

Of course, as it always is when you are dreading something, time seemed to fly by.

They had spent the morning helping Mr. Weasley go through some of the boxes still in the attic. Most of them were free from any protective spells, but many of them did contain illegal magical items. These were confiscated by Mr. Weasley.

Around ten-thirty, Moody discovered a journal chronicling several of the Black's misdeeds from generation to generation. He also found a petrified gnome, preserved in a box. Most of the other things were placed back into the box and marked ready to be sent to Narcissa Malfoy.

Later, after lunch they helped Dudley with some basic charm spells. Harry was again surprised by how quickly Dudley was picking up the spells. He had only had a few days practice and he was already changing teacups into mice and levitating feathers with few problems.

However, the place where he seemed to truly excel was in potions. Harry guessed that this would be because it would resemble chemistry in the Muggle world, Harry seemed to remember something about Dudley taking a chemistry course the previous year in order to learn how to make his own stink bombs.

After Professor McGonagall left, Harry and Ron helped Dudley work on his flying lessons. Having a grade-A seeker and a Quidditch fan as big as Ron, Dudley was picking things up very quickly. By the time they had to come down for dinner, Dudley had been able to control his broom well enough that he could race around the room with Harry and put up a decent fight. Of course, Harry wasn't going to tell him that he was taking it easy on him.

So, in what seemed like barely an hour the day had gone, and now they were back at the dining room table having dinner. And at five minutes before six, just as they were digging into desert, the fireplace began to rumble and Dumbledore popped out, followed by Professor Snape.

"Good evening everyone," Dumbledore said with his hands open. "How nice to see you all again."

"Hello Professor." Harry stood and pulled out his chair. "Would you care for something to eat?"

"Thank you Harry, but Professor Snape and I have just finished dinner ourselves. However..." Dumbledore was looking down at the key lime pie. Before he could refuse, Harry was handing him a slice. Then he noticed Snape and, with Dumbledore in the room, decided to offer him a slice as well.

"No thank you, Potter." Had anyone but Professor Snape replied in this manner, Harry might have been insulted. But as it was coming from Snape, it actually sounded pretty polite.

The room remained especially silent at the dinner table and time seemed to drag on for hours. Dumbledore everyone how they were doing and they all replied in kind, but it was quite obvious that everyone was uncomfortable speaking around Snape. As soon as Dumbledore had finished his pie, Snape spoke up.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter, but would you mind showing me to the practice room. I have a few things I have to set up before we begin."

"Indeed, Severus. As much as I would love to finish this entire pie by myself, I believe it is time that we got started."

Dumbledore stood and smiled at everyone at the table. "It has been a pleasure catching up with you all. And Dobby," he said, turning towards the short house-elf, "the pie was absolutely delicious."

"Oh, thank you, Professor Dumbledore Sir. Dobby is happy to be of assistance."

Dumbledore smiled broadly, then turned and followed Harry and Professor Snape to the basement.

It was immediately obvious to Harry that Snape was impressed with the room, even if he weren't going to admit it. Snape headed over to the potions section of the room and Harry started to follow, but was stopped short by Dumbledore.

"Harry, if I could have a word with you. I have spoken with Professor Snape, and although he is not all together enthusiastic about it, he is willing to try to make amends with you. There are a great number of things that you would be able to learn from Professor Snape if you are willing to give him the chance, but I will not try to force you into anything you do not wish to do."

Harry's face must have given off more emotion than he had intended, because Dumbledore's face fell. Harry tried quickly to turn things around.

"Sir, I can't say that I'm going to be happy working with Snape... I mean, Professor Snape. Well, it's no secret that we've never gotten along, but I guess I can understand where he's coming from. At least, a little bit."

"Hmm." Dumbledore nodded his head for Harry to continue.

"Well, you probably know by now what I saw his in his pensive."

"Actually, no. Severus has only told me that you intruded on some personal matters of his. What you saw, he never told."

"Oh. Well, um... The thing is..." Harry felt very uncomfortable. On the one hand he didn't want to keep anything from Dumbledore, and on the other hand he had his gut wrenching dislike for Snape. Luckily, he did not need to decide what to say, because Dumbledore was about to make that decision for him.

"There is no need to explain, Harry. I understand what can happen when we practice Occlumency and Legilimency. And as I have said, your lessons with Professor Snape will only continue until the end of the summer Holidays. Until then, however, you will need to get along with Professor Snape as well as possible. Besides which, his duelling expertise will be invaluable to you."

"His duelling expertise, Sir?" Harry was completely caught off guard on this declaration. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Sir."

"Well, originally Professor McGonagall had volunteered to assist you, but between her duties as Deputy Headmistress, Head of Gryffindor house, and her training three Animagi, I thought she had quite enough to do. So, after speaking with Professor Snape about the Occlumency lessons, he thought it might be a good idea if he were to be your Co-Professor. Besides, he brought it to my attention that the Slytherin students might be a bit more receptive if he were involved."

Harry's eyes were wider than ever, his confusion growing with each word, but he had a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach that something was to explode in his face.

"Sorry sir, but what is he going to be involved in. What is it we will be doing together if it's not Occlumency, and why are the Slytherins going to be involved?"

It was now Dumbledore's turn to look confused. "I see. I apologize, Harry. I was under the impression that Minerva had gone over this with you earlier. You see, Harry, I have had a great number of parents sending me thank you letters over the past few weeks. They are very grateful that we at Hogwarts have provided them with a proper Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and more specifically, a proper Duelling club where their children can learn to properly defend themselves."

Now Harry was completely baffled. It seemed like he knew where Dumbledore was going with this, but it just didn't make sense.

"You see, Harry, those parents were under the impression that the Dumbledore's Army lessons were being orchestrated and taught by me. Suffice it to say that they were more that a bit surprised when they all found out it was not me, but rather you who had taught their children how to defend themselves. But since those parents only became aware of this little fact after the Daily Prophet announced Voldemort's return, most of the parents were quite agreeable to you teaching their children how to duel."

Dumbledore was now smiling broadly, and it was the first time that Harry could remember when the smile of his headmaster had frightened him.

"In fact," Dumbledore continued, "most of the parents sent me additional letters asking me for assurance that the duelling club would continue to be a part of the school curriculum."

Harry could feel the air begin to electrify. Dumbledore was about to drop a bomb on him, and Harry didn't know if he was terrified or excited, but he could feel it coming.

"Furthermore, many of the parents have had an additional request that, while quite unusual, is an idea I find very agreeable. Of course, it would require that you have an official teacher working with you, but you would have an equal say in everything that were to happen in the class."

"So, what you're saying is..."

"What I am saying is, if you would be willing to work equally with Professor Snape, I would be able to add to this years schedule a total of three duelling classes a week, with you acting as a Deputy Professor, and Head Instructor."

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COMING SOON

CHAPTER 7

SUMMER SCHOOL