Harry Potter and The Tomb of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and

The Tomb of Hogwarts

Chapter 13

Dumbledore's Five

Tuesday morning was bright and crisp, and Harry woke up with a brilliant smile.

He'd had wonderful dreams about flying on the backs of dragons and duelling dozens of Death Eaters. He'd taken them all out and saved Amanda from being kidnapped at least half a dozen times. Each time, he was well rewarded, and even now, as he was sitting up in his bed, a sly grin wormed its way across his face.

After a few minutes, he finally got out of bed, got dressed, and met up with Ron and Hermione just as they were herding a small group of second years into a tight circle. Each was covered in spirals of bright colours. Harry guessed they'd been playing pranks on each other all morning.

"Got a real fun group this morning, huh?" he said in greeting.

"Oh yeah," Ron replied with a smile. "They've been throwing spells back and forth between the Ravenclaws, running all about the castle. Then Malfoy and his cronies decided that they'd get involved, and now the whole bunch of them have gotten themselves colour sprayed from head to toe."

"Morning Harry," Hermione greeted politely. Then with a cynical grin she added, "Say, since you're now an acting Professor, would you like to have the pleasure of supplying them with their punishments?"

"It's tempting, but for now I think it best to keep my role as a Professor limited to my classroom. However, I was passing by the trophy room a few days ago and did notice that the trophies looked like they hadn't been cleaned in over three years." He couldn't help but grin as he looked over at Ron.

"Too right," Ron replied, catching Harry's hint. "If I remember right, a good three days of detention would get them trophies nice and clean, and maybe help some students to be a bit more careful with their use of magic in the halls."

"Not to mention that they used it against other students," added Hermione disapprovingly.

"Right," Ron concluded. "Well, off to Madam Pomfrey with you then."

"And then you'll be meeting the Ravenclaw Prefect tonight at six-thirty sharp. She'll be expecting you," Hermione added as they all headed from the common room.

As soon as the portrait of the Fat Lady closed behind them, Ron burst out laughing.

"Ron," Hermione said disapprovingly.

"Hold on," Harry jumped in. "If you two are going to get into another row, let me out of here first."

"Yeah, Hermione. Even you have to appreciate how much fun it looked like they were having before Malfoy showed up."

"That's no excuse to go breaking the rules whenever you want."

"You mean like brewing a Polyjuice Potion or starting an illegal duelling club?" Ron retorted.

Harry shook his head and went down to breakfast on his own.

Unlike the previous day, he was able to make it all the way down without being stopped and was halfway through eating when he saw...

"Hagrid," he called out.

"Well hello there, Professor," Hagrid responded, passing by on his way from the staff table.

"How are classes going?" he asked, standing up to look at Hagrid. He immediately noticed how, in a Hogwarts robe, Hagrid looked a lot more chipper, even blissful, with a much closer shaven beard than before. He looked at least fifteen years younger than Harry had ever seen him before.

"Alright, I guess. I'd love to stay and chat, Harry, but me first class today is Potions, and I don't reckon I want to give Professor Snape any reason to be upset with me. Now that I'm back in classes, he won't be showing me the same type of regard as before. I suppose it's just as fair, though. Still, I better get going if I want to make it on time."

"Right. Well, if you're not too busy, I'd love to come down after classes and hear how your first week is going."

"I'd like that. Being as how I've got a lot to catch up on, I could surely use the help, if you've got time. I know you've got yerself a full plate too."

"Of course, I'll help," Harry offered with a smile. "And I bet Hermione would love to come too. We can all do our homework together."

"Tha'd be nice," Hagrid said, a broad smile pushing itsway from his beard.

And with that, Hagrid headed off for his first class, passing Ron and Hermione as they were entering the Great hall. They were still going at it, and after a few moments Harry excused himself and headed up to his own classroom.

He came out of the portrait a few minutes later and began to set up the room for Dumbledore's arrival. He was just raising the main platform when a squeaky voice came from behind him, and he turned to find Dobby hopping up and down on his table. He looked thoroughly happy with himself.

"Hello Dobby," Harry said warmly.

"Hello, Professor Harry Potter, sir," Dobby replied, still clapping and bouncing around.

"How have you been? I haven't had much of a chance to say hi since I got back."

"That's alright, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby is knowing how busy you is, sir. Dobby's a very patient House Elf, he is."

"And a very good one at that," Harry added.

"Harry Potter flatters Dobby, sir. Dobby is only trying to be the best House Elf Dobby can be, sir. I hopes Harry Potter is not too upset with Dobby for bringing his things to Hogwarts without Harry Potter's permission. Professor Dumbledore says Harry Potter would likes his new office more if it had things from his home, he did."

"So that's how they got here. Well Professor Dumbledore was absolutely right, Dobby. I love my new office. You should be quite pleased with yourself."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby is happy to be of service."

"Did I hear someone call my name?" came a voice from behind them. They both turned to find Professor Dumbledore walking in from the hall, all smiles.

"Hello Professor," Harry said in a welcoming tone.

"Good morning, Harry," he replied warmly.

"Oh, good morning, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Dobby is happy to see you up and about again, sir."

Harry's ears perked up, but Dumbledore simply smiled and replied, "I'm feeling quite well, thank you. And how is your re-integration into Hogwarts going?"

"Oh, just fine, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Winky is down to half a bottle of Butterbeer, and she is letting us give her a change of clothes once a week now, sir. We is hoping to have her back to normal by the end of the year, sir."

"That is wonderful news, Dobby. I'm glad to hear it. Now, I do have a little bit of work with Harry here, Dobby, but I am sure he would not mind you coming by later this evening."

"Sure, Dobby. I can come back after dinner. I was planning on coming up for a little work anyway, to prepare for next week."

"Dobby will be here, Harry Potter, sir." And with a quick pop, he was gone.

Harry smiled as he looked back at Dumbledore.

"Well then, shall we get started?" Dumbledore asked, his smile turning over to a more firm and resolved look.

"Yes, sir," he answered with a resolved nod of his own.

"Very well. Today I would like to cover the next two rules of duelling, as they go quite nicely together. The first is to remember that it is not the power of a spell used, but how it's applied to a given situation. Second is to remember also that it is rarely the final spell in a duel which determines the outcome. Instead, it is the spells leading up to the closing stages of the duel which will ultimately dictate the final result. But simply talking about these rules does little without a proper demonstration, so let us try a little exercise. Peeves. Are you here?"

Harry's head whipped around. He started looking all about the room, searching for any sign of Peeves. Out of the upper corner of the ceiling Peeves appeared and swooped down, coming to rest between Harry and Dumbledore.

"Good morning, Professor. And hello to you, wee little Potty Potter," he laughed.

"Peeves," Harry replied in a droll tone.

"I thank you for coming, Peeves. Now, if you are ready, I will explain to Harry what it is we will be doing."

Harry looked back to Dumbledore in a more concerned manner.

"Before we make use of Mr. Peeves here, we are going to try something which you may fight quite odd. As we did yesterday, I would like to spend five minutes duelling. However, though you will be able to use any spells at your disposal, I would ask only that you avoid using spells that you learned before your fourth year. Meanwhile, I will use those spells which you will not, that being the spells taught to you during those first three years. And as you may have learned yesterday, you needn't worry about causing me any harm. Alright?"

Harry nodded sternly. He'd already been through this once. There was no way he was going to hold back this time.

"Very good. Then by all means, let us begin."

Five minutes passed quickly, and not once had Dumbledore lost his wand. When they returned to the middle, Dumbledore seemed quite pleased.

"It seems you have learned your spells quite well, Harry. I can't say I wasn't surprised by a couple of those attacks. However, since you were unable to use any spells from your first three years at school, you were at a major disadvantage, and should not feel upset that you had not disarmed me. I highly doubt there are more than a half dozen wizards in Europe who could have subdued me under those circumstances. However, before we delve too far into that, I would first like to turn the tides. In this next duel, you will be limited to using those spells learned before your forth year, and I shall use spells which I have learned only since passing my O.W.L.s."

Harry's eyes bulged. He was sure that this would include many of the most powerful spells known to wizard kind. If he got hit by even one of those spells, Lord only knew what it would do to him.

"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed, sensing Harry's thoughts. "That is why I have called upon Peeves. As a poltergeist, Peeves can be hit by most spells without suffering any ill effects. In this, Peeves has volunteered his services. When one of my spells hits its mark, Peeves will let us know. He will be hovering a few feet above you and following your movements. Thus, I will be attacking him while you will be attacking me. Ready?"

Harry gulped. He knew he wouldn't be in any real danger, but it was still a bit intimidating. All the same, he gave Dumbledore a stern nod, trying hard not to flinch.

"Very well. Let's go again."

And so they duelled for another five minutes. Dumbledore again dominated the duel, but he was not nearly as flawless as before. Of the sixteen rounds, Dumbledore won eleven. This left only five wins for Harry, but it was a vast improvement when compared to zero.

After the standard salute, they met back again in the centre of the duelling platform.

"Very good, Harry," Dumbledore congratulated. "Now, you had two major advantages over me during that duel which helped you to achieve your victories. Tell me, do you know what they were?"

Harry thought for a few moments. His first thought was that since he himself would not be getting hit by the spells, he had nothing to worry about. But he knew at once that this was the wrong answer. After a few more moments, he finally gave it a shot.

"Well, unlike with the other time, I've had lots of practice casting these spells, so I guess that's probably an advantage. And they're also very easy and quick to cast."

"Right!" Dumbledore said enthusiastically. "You see, I may have learned in my years spells which can level a mountain and dry up the ocean, yet a spell so simple as the Accio spell, when used against my wand, would render me virtually powerless, and once you have some practice at it, the Accio spells is quick to say and requires almost no wand movement at all. This demonstrates both how little the power of a spell matters in a duel, as well as showing how the use of a spell can make all the difference. Now, if you add those two lessons with the one from yesterday, you are well on your way to becoming a quite formidable duellist."

"Remember that every fight is different from the next, but if you always bear in mind that what is needed and what is possible are two extremes of the same line, you will never go wrong. After all, you needn't drink a gallon of water to quench your thirst."

Again, Harry simply nodded.

"As it is in most cases of a formal duel, the spell which determines a victory within a duel is not generally the one which actually does the disarming, but the one which grants you the opportunity to disarm."

Harry had a quizzical look on his face. "I'm sorry, sir, but I think I'm lost."

"Not to worry. Most people are confused by the way a wizards duel is won. Let us have a few more rounds, and I think you will better understand what I am talking about. This time we will each use whatever spells may come to mind, agreed?"

Harry nodded and headed to his side of the platform while Dumbledore headed to the other end.

They went on for another ten minutes. Many times Harry lost his wand, and each time he had done so because of a very basic spell, such as the second level spell, Expelliarmus. But there were the rare occasions when Harry had beaten Dumbledore to the punch and disarmed him, finding a new truth to Dumbledore's earlier statement of using Accio, especially when used against Dumbledore's beard and hat.

"Well done, Harry. I noticed that you remembered to use your spells not only to disarm, but to stop me long enough to do so later."

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, then added with a weak smile, "I did my best."

"And quite well it was. And I want you to remember something too, Harry. You are quite an accomplished duellist, and you truly deserve the position of Duelling Professor. I dare say that even now you are a better duellist than some of my fellow Professors. Now, back to our duels. Did you happen to recognize any of the spells I used against you during our first duel?"

Harry's answer was immediate.

"Yes, sir. As you said, they were all taught to us by Professor Quirrell during my first year, and by Remus during my third year. All but that bluish spell which hit me near the end. I haven't seen that one before."

"Actually, I believe you have, though you do not recognize it. You see, many of our more simple spells change as you learn to control them. That spell I just used was the Dumfoundus charm, which I find quite useful from time to time, and though it's a very simple spell to cast, it grows in strength as the wizard casting it uses it more and more. Why, when I was still teaching transfiguration, I once had to use it in order to placate an entire classroom, but I believe that is a story best left to another time. Now, I want you to think back to when you faced those Death Eaters at King's Cross."

"Alright," Harry said softly.

"Now, do you remember using any of the more powerful spells you tried on me today?"

Harry thought back, trying to remember what he had done. Really, he didn't remember much, but he had, with exception of the transfiguring a car into a bear, kept things relatively simple. He told Dumbledore this.

"And the only spell that took time to cast was a spell which was not as time dependant. As you were not face to face with a Death Eater, you had the time you needed to cast the spell. And for the record, Harry, I doubt anyone in this school other than myself, Professor McGonagall, and possibly Professor Flitwick, could have pulled of that mastery of spellwork. It was very well done."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, blushing.

"But you notice that everything else you did you kept simple, and that is how a duel is won. What you did was wait for them to show off, and then you hit them with the quickest spell that would stop them. That is what makes you a great duellist. All you have to do now is begin to become more conscious of what it is that you do during a duel. Now, let's try it again, and try to use everything you have learned over the past two days."

And so they went at it again. They spent the rest of the hour going back and forth with spells, and though Harry did not make as much progress as he would have liked, he was able to catch Dumbledore off guard an average of four out of every ten rounds.

At five to ten, their matches finally came to an end. They met at the middle of the platform and were just stepping down when Professor Snape entered the room.

They all exchanged a few pleasantries before Dumbledore bid them farewell, telling Harry he would be back the next morning to continue practicing.

Snape and Harry continued their work from the previous day, ironing out many of the smaller issues regarding the first few weeks of class.

They spent most of the hour working silently at their desks. Harry worked on the curriculum for the A classes, that being the class which hosted the first and second years.

Snape, meanwhile, was working on the lesson plans for the B classes of third through fifth years.

As the C classes consisted of sixth and seventh years, they planned only exercising practical lessons, so they were going to plan out those lessons on Friday.

There was little conversation between the two, yet together they were able to get a great deal of work accomplished. Just before ten, they quickly discussed their work and made a few last minute amendments to correlate their lesson plans. In the end, they both felt confident enough in their work to begin preparations for practical lessons the following day.

The irony was not lost on Harry as he rushed downstairs and out the door, completely out of breath as he was trying to get to Apparation classes on time. He caught sight of Ron and Hermione at the back of a large group, all huddled together inside of a large sectioned off region of the grounds, just a bit off from the lake. He found the rest of his classmates standing with the Ravenclaw sixth years, though he found himself pleased to see that the class professor was also running a bit late. He came up behind Ron and Hermione, wheezing and struggling to catch his breath.

"Better late then never, eh Harry?" Ron prodded.

"At least... I made it... before..." POP!

Harry looked up, searching for their professor whom had obviously decided to demonstrate their course objective when he heard the familiar voice of Professor Flitwick.

"Glad you could make it, Mr. Potter. Now that we're all here, I'd like to go over a few of the basics of Apparation. First of all, is there anyone here who does not know what Apparation is?"

Harry was sure everyone here was familiar with Apparation, so he found himself a bit shocked to see several hands shoot up from the other side of the group. But when he saw to whom the hands belonged, he understood.

"Oh, jolly good. Everyone, for those of you who have not had the pleasure just yet, these are our guests from the United States."

There was a quick round of introductions, and then Professor Flitwick began to outline their first few weeks of lessons when a few hands from the Americans shot up. When Professor Flitwick responded, they reminded him that he had not yet told them what Apparation was.

"Oh my, my. I did forget that, now didn't I? Well, first, for you American folk, Apparation is the same as what you would call Teleporting."

A great "Ah!" came from the Americans as they suddenly seemed to understand what Professor Flitwick was talking about. Still, for everyone's sake, Professor Flitwick spent the next ten minutes going over the basics of what Apparation was and how it was and was not used.

"For instance, you can Apparate yourself home and back again, but you would not be able to do the same to an object just sitting in your hand. You would have to Apparate yourself with the object in order to put it where you wanted it."

"But if you can go there yourself, why can't you just send the item instead of having to take it yourself?" asked one of the American boys.

"Because when you Apparate," answered Professor Flitwick politely, "as you will soon find out, you consciously direct your travel. If you do not go with whatever you are trying to send, then there is no way to tell it where to end up at. It would be like trying to send your broom home without riding it. You would have no way of steering it where you wanted to go."

There was a consensus of nods throughout the group.

"Now, what I'd like to do with the rest of our class today is to break you all up into groups of four, and I'd like to see one American in each group. Then each groups will move off into one of the marked off fields. There you will each see five-foot lines across the ground. I want you to each concentrate on being at that spot five feet away. You will take two minutes each, then let the next person try. This will give everyone at least three chances to try before the end of the day. Now don't be too upset if you don't do it today. Rarely have I had a class of more than half that have succeeded on the first day. Just try your best. Well, off you go then."

They all broke up into groups of three, then met up with the Americans for their fourth. Harry, Ron, and Hermione got together and headed over to the group, but they were too late. Amanda had already gone with someone else. Instead, to Harry's dismay, they ended up with the Collin Creevey wannabe, while Seamus, Neville, and some Ravenclaw boy had surrounded Amanda and brought her to the furthermost workspaces where they could have her all to their own, while they all seemed to be moving in the exact opposite direction.

They all practiced for the next half hour, each of them able to Apparate, though both Harry and Ron kept missing their mark by half a foot plus or minus. Harry was happy to see, however, that even though they got to spend time with her, Amanda seemed to be more a distraction than anything else. The only one who even Apparated at all was Neville, and that was three feet straight down.

Professor Flitwick had been able to get him out of the ground without any problem, but for the rest of the day Neville kept coughing up balls of dirt.

After class, they all headed back to the castle for lunch. Just as they were walking in, the twins came up from behind them.

"We hear you're going to Defence Against the Dark Arts next," Fred said with a smirk.

"I reckon you might want to brush up on your cleaning spells, though they won't stop the fruity smell," added George.

"What are you going on about?" Hermione snapped back.

"Oh. Well, if you're going to be that way about it, I guess we'll just let you find out on your own," Fred replied, and then they both ran off.

"Fine," she replied, shaking her head.

"You shouldn't have done that, Hermione," Ron said solemnly.

"Get off it, Ron. Do you really think your brother would put us through something we couldn't handle?"

"Well, we are talking about Charlie here. I wouldn't put it past him."

"I don't know. Charlie always seemed pretty level-headed to me," Harry threw in simply.

"Oh yeah. Real level-headed. That's Charlie. That's why he's the one playing around with dragons, and now he's put himself up for the most dangerous job at Hogwarts. Oh yeah. He's real level-headed."

And less than an hour later they found themselves heading up to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

They arrived to find the classroom completely void of anything, including the tables and chairs. Standing at the far side of the room was Charlie, all smiles and welcoming them in. As it was, they were the first to arrive, though a few had already begun to file in behind them.

Harry headed up to talk to Charlie, but he held his hand up, winked, and gestured for him to sit on the floor.

A few minutes later the last of the students had filed in, Slytherins staying to one side, Gryffindor's staying to the other.

"Welcome to your sixth year of Defence Against the Dark Arts," Charlie began. "Today I am going to go over something quite serious. So far as I have been able to discern from the notes of your previous Professors, you are all quite a bit behind where you ought to be, though this is of no fault of your own. However, with a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, we may still get you up to N.E.W.T. level by the end of next year. To help expedite this, I have been given permission from Professor Dumbledore to eliminate a great deal of the written work required for this class in order for us to incorporate some of the more vital aspects of this class. And since this class is no longer going to be teaching you how to duel, we may have a real chance of achieving this goal. However, since there are many other facets related to the Dark Arts that have not been incorporated into your education thus far, my first goal in this class is to ensure that you can identify every type of Dark Magic threat one might encounter. Today, for instance, we are going to cover the art of detecting Dark Magic in inanimate objects."

There was a great rumble around the classroom, though there seemed to be a more animated anticipation from the Slytherins.

Charlie waved his wand over to his left and a group of six large tables appeared. On them, laid out in a very organized fashion, was a selection of different items ranging from fruits and plants to boxes and toys.

"Each of these items is commonly found in a Dark Wizard's home. Some of these are quite harmless, while others can be very dangerous. These in particular have been cleansed by some of the greatest wizards that the Ministry has to offer, and rather strongly evaluated by a stern group of goblins from Gringotts. I can assure you that the only charms placed upon them were done so by me. However, I must warn you that I have placed charms on all of those items that were previously found to be enchanted by Dark Magic."

There was another rumble of hushed talk throughout the room.

"This is your first lesson," Charlie continued. "I will ask each of you to come up and look over these items. You may examine them in any way you choose and cast any spells on them or yourself. Then you will take five back with you and sit back down. When all of you have chosen your items, I will then give you five more minutes to disable any charms you find and cleanse them for proper use. Five points will be awarded to any student whom can either find five items which are not charmed, or else disable the charms or protect themselves from the effects the charm may have."

Charlie surveyed the students for a moment and added as his eyes fell on Neville, "And don't worry. I have plenty of replacements for those that are taken so everyone will have an equal opportunity to make their selections. Now, do I have any volunteers?"

Several hands went up, including both Hermione's and Harry's. Noticing that Ron's was not up, Harry bent over and whispered to him.

"What's the matter?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Nothing. I just don't want to be the first one up there is all. It's still a bit weird, having him up there teaching."

"I can see that. But then, are you going to be this way next week in my class?"

"Of course not. But that's different. We've already been there, so it's not going to be much different. But Charlie, that's different. I mean, he was the most famous Gryffindor since Dumbledore before you came around. How am I supposed to compete with that?"

"You don't, you blockhead. There's no competition. Besides, he wasn't the one being held on everyone's shoulders last year and begin sung about when you helped beat the Slytherins, now was he?"

"Well, I guess you're right. But I still don't have to like it."

Just then Charlie called Harry up.

He stood and headed for the nearest table.

On the table were about fifteen different items. There was a clock, a small chest, a rolled up rug, a bowl that looked like a Pensieve, a small model of a Victor Krum on a broom, a book, a pair of shoes, and even an old oil lamp.

Harry chose the clock and the model of Krum because he figured they wouldn't have any bad charms on them, the chest because he knew it would, but he had an idea which one it would be. He also took a large watermelon and what looked like a very large Sneakoscope.

He returned to his spot next to Ron, who was then called up to pick his own items. Oddly, he was back in less than a minute, looking quite pleased with himself.

"That was fast," Harry commented.

"I know my brother's work. Compared to the twins, he's an amateur at things like this. The only thing with a charm on it is the strawberries, but he's never done the charm right. It's supposed to launch them straight up out of the basket and onto it's owner's head, but he always messes it up, and they end up going everywhere but on the owner."

"I'll have to remember that when it comes to your turn."

Fifteen minutes later everyone had their items and began to go to work.

Another five minutes later and they were each called up to present their things.

This time Ron got called up before Harry, and for the first three items Ron was dead on.

But on the fourth item, a book of sorts, he opened it expecting nothing, but instead got a wailing that had everyone covering their ears. His strawberries didn't go well either. It seemed Charlie had brushed up on his charms because this time the strawberries flew straight out about five feet, turned around, and began to bomb him from head to toe.

Hermione went up a few minutes later and had gotten hold of four items that had been charmed, but had previously disabled three of the charms and protected herself from the fourth, a spitting kettle, with a basic shield spell.

Harry was called up next and, to his amazement, found he had done everything perfectly. The chest had a charm that caused it to snap shut whenever someone approached it, but Harry disabled it with a freezing charm before it could shut itself. The Sneakoscope went wailing on, and for a moment Harry thought he had missed something, but Charlie came up and stopped it, telling him that it was not cursed and was simply going overboard because of itsbeing inside of the school.

Last but not least was the watermelon. Harry knew what was going to happen here. It was just too easy of a setup not to do, so he simply cast the same shielding spell as Hermione had used and pulled out his wand to open the watermelon with. He had not made it two feet before the entire thing exploded, soaking everyone within fifteen feet, except for Harry, who was quite clean and unaffected.

When everyone was done, Gryffindor ended up with twenty-five points and Slytherins with forty-five.

"It doesn't surprise me they nearly all got it right. Most of them have probably been setting those traps since before they could steal." Ron sneered at the Slytherins.

When the bell rang out a few minutes later, everyone headed out the door, half of them soaked in some kind of fruit or vegetable juice, yet on the other side of the door they found themselves perfectly clean.

"Well that's a nice touch," said Harry on his way down the hall.

"He's just showing off. He used to use the same spell whenever Mum asked him to clean the dishes."

"Well I thought the class was fun," Hermione added defensively. "I just hope he's able to last more than a year."

"You heard what he said, didn't ya?" Ron whined. "He said he had plans for the next two years, so I guess he's planning to stay at least that long, if he can. I'll never hear the end of it from Mum and Dad. One working for Gringotts, the other a Hogwarts teacher."

Ron kept complaining all the way down the hallway, then bid Hermione and Harry goodbye as they headed off towards the dungeons.

As they were entering the final hallway to Advanced Potions, Harry groaned loudly.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"We've got potions with the Slytherins. That'll make four classes we're going to share with them this year, plus Duelling. This is going to be a long year."

"Well, look at it this way. If they mess with you too much, you can always get back at them in Duelling."

"And turn into another Snape? I'd rather not."

"Did I hear you mentioning my name, Mr. Potter?"

A chill went through Harry's spine. Just as things had begun to settle between them, he had to go and say something like that just as Snape was coming up behind them. He turned, pale-faced and tried to cover himself.

"Sorry sir. I was just saying to Hermione how we..." but then he stopped. Snape wasn't behind him at all. All that stood there was a small group of Ravenclaws, staring at him intensely. Finally, after a few moments, they all burst out laughing. Harry was dumbstruck. After a few moments, Terry Boot stepped forward.

"Sorry, Harry. I just couldn't resist."

Harry continued to look blankly at him until he finally opened his hand and showed Harry what looked like a small harmonica.

"Fred and George gave it to me. They wanted me to test it out and see how well it works. So far, I'd say it's working like a charm." They all laughed, when suddenly Harry heard a more controlled version of the same icy voice. This time he knew that this was no joke.

A few minutes later everyone had filed into the classroom and taken their seats. As it turned out, Advanced Potions consisted of so few students from each House that they all were represented in class with several tables and chairs to spare.

This class was a bit different from the previous years of potions. First, there was much less mocking of the Gryffindors and Harry in particular, as there was only Harry, Hermione, and to Harry's surprise, Hagrid.

They all sat together and brewed a simple growth potion. The three of them worked well together and, with Hermione's direction, didn't make any major mistakes.

The next hour went by faster than any Harry had before known in potions and before he knew it he found himself walking back up the steps and out of the dungeons. Just as he stepped back into the Entrance Hall he saw Dudley heading his way, likely on his way down for his Potions classes. As he was behind the other students his age, he was only required to take five classes, potions being one of them, but each class he took in paired groups, such as second and third year classes, or as was the case in Potions, third and fourth years. In this way he had hoped that he might be able to catch up with Ginny's class when she graduated.

As he approached Harry he finally looked up and got a very mischievous look on his face and turned quickly to one of his friends. When he turned back, it was replaced with a kind and pleasant look.

"Hello Harry," he greeted with a little too much enthusiasm. "I'd love to stop and talk a bit, but I've got to get to class."

"Right," replied Harry. "And don't worry about Snape. If he gives you any trouble, just ignore it. Otherwise he'll start taking points away right quick."

"Okay. Well, see ya later," Dudley said, heading into the dungeons.

Harry paused for a moment, thinking about how things had just gone, then rubbed it off and headed for the staircase. He'd made it two steps when he felt a tingling at his feet, and the next thing he knew, he was falling flat on his face.

Shaken but not really hurt, he turned over to see his shoes had been tied together with some kind of locking charm, and as he peered over his shoes he saw Dudley looking just over the last steps, laughing his head off before turning and going descending into the dungeons.

Harry was furious. He pulled out his wand and freed himself quickly, ran towards the dungeons and was just beginning to wave his wand when Hermione caught up with him and held him back.

"Harry, you can't just go around and start jinxing people. First of all, it's wrong, and you could get in trouble. Plus, you're a Professor now, and you have to start acting like it."

"Yea, well he's family, and I can jinx family all I want."

"Harry, just let it go. It's not worth it."

Harry huffed on for another thirty seconds, then finally relaxed.

"I knew it couldn't last. Well, maybe we'll be lucky and he and Malfoy will annoy each other to death."

"Well, we've got some time left. Why don't we see if we can track down Ron?"

But there was no need. Just as they began to head upstairs, Ron can running down the stairs towards them. They all joined together and headed outside and down to Hagrid's Hut.

They spent the next two hours going over their homework and brushing up on their charms. Hagrid seemed to be re-integrating into the curriculum quite well, and everyone agreed that he would likely be able to graduate next year with the rest of Harry's class.

Finally, just before six, they all packed up and headed back to the castle for dinner.

Two hours later they were all up in Harry's classroom with Dobby, planning different lessons and playing around.

The twins had also dropped by, as well as Neville, Seamus, and Dean. They hung around until just before ten before heading back to Gryffindor tower for the night.

The next few days moved by fairly quickly. Classes began to flow more smoothly, and though he wasn't able to say anything to her, Harry was still able to spend at least one hour a day with Amanda. She turned up in his Charms class, and it seemed this would be another permanent addition to their schedule. Professor Flitwick explained that they'd had an orientation that prevented them from attending on Monday, but this was a single exception and that they would be here for the rest of the year.

Other than that, Harry didn't seem to have much to look forward to, except perhaps for his one hour lessons with Dumbledore. Over the rest of the week he had learned the final two lessons. The fourth and fifth lessons dealt not with theory of duelling, but in actual practice.

The fourth rule Dumbledore gave him was to remember that a wounded animal is often more dangerous than a healthy one. Rule five was to remember that wand magic is not the only magic in the world. There are many magics that do not require a wand, and if used with discretion, using these magics could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

"This is why we are stressing the Occlumency and Animagus training," said Dumbledore. "These together can give you advantages over your enemies. It is also why we have brought the Americans here. Did you know that though they have been doing magic for several years, none of them have before held a wand before they came to Hogwarts?"

"I don't understand, sir. I thought they all came from wizarding schools in America."

"They do indeed. In fact, four of them have been going to their magic schools longer than any other students at Hogwarts."

"But how is that possible if they've never picked up a wand. I mean, all they'd be able to do is potions and Herbology. Everything else requires a wand."

"Actually, that is not true. Contrary to popular belief, our wands are not what allow us to use magic. Were that so, any Muggle who picked up a wand would be able to use magic. Do you not remember doing accidental magic before you came to school here?"

Of course, there was the infamous incident with Dudley and the glass just before Harry had come to school. There had been other times as well, before then. He nodded to Dumbledore in agreement.

"There you have it. Wands are used so that we might focus our magic, but it is not our source of magic. Unfortunately for them, there are very few magical creatures left in America, so they do not have much in the way of cores for their wands."

"But why couldn't they just come over here and buy one?"

"Well, legally there is none, though it is quite frowned upon. This is one of the reasons Ollivanders is one of the most famous wand makers in all of Europe. He is quite willing to let anyone buy a wand, no matter where they may come from, so long as the wand responds appropriately to its user. In fact, he spends one week each year travelling throughout America and selling those wands that get the proper responses. He's been known to sell as many as fifty wands in a trip."

"So wands are used there, just not very often."

"Right. However, most Americans feel it is more of a hindrance than an advantage. You see, they become very intimate with the spells they use, and while they may not be as powerful as those with wands, they can be much more reliable, and many of them require no words or movements at all. However, I believe we have gotten a bit sidetracked, and there are still a few more things we must cover today."

They spent the rest of the week fine-tuning Harry's spellwork, and on Friday Dumbledore promised to work with him for several hours Sunday morning, working on spells which Harry had not yet seen or heard of. It promised to be a very fun and educational time.

Before Dumbledore left, he gave Harry a small pocketbook titled Dumbledore's Five Rules to Duelling. Inside it listed the five rules they had gone over, along with several examples of how they might be applied, including little snippets of memories from when Dumbledore had applied the rule.

With another long week in the books, Harry was quite happy that night to crawl up in bed and relax, fondling the Medallion and thinking of how he might be able to pull together enough courage to approach Amanda some time this weekend. He forced any thoughts about his first class on Monday out of his head and fell quietly to sleep.

He had wonderful dreams of a simple four on four game of Quidditch. He, his Dad, Sirius, and Remus were playing against the three Hogwarts founders, with Charlie volunteering to round out their team as their seeker.

Asleep in his bed, Harry smiled broadly and tightly wrapped his hand around his medallion, ironically the same size as a Golden Snitch.

COMING SOON

CHAPTER 14