Harry Potter and The Tomb of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and

The Tomb of Hogwarts

Chapter 14

Life's Lessons

Harry awoke in a cold sweat. He hadn't slept well, and now, mere moments from waking, he knew there was no hope of returning to sleep because today was the big day.

He hadn't felt any worry on Saturday, not even when he finally found the nerve to approach Amanda and ask her to the homecoming formal for all the Sixth and Seventh years to take place the last week of September.

He'd found her outside, lying against the same tree he'd seen his father at in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

He'd questioned Ron about whether or not he thought she was cute, and Ron replied with a sly grin.

"Finally looking to get back on that horse, eh Harry?" Ron said sinisterly.

"At least I've had a ride," Harry replied.

Ron's eyes went wide for a moment, so Harry added, "You know, if I can get a date with her, you could always ask Hermione. We could all go together."

Ron grimaced. Then, for no clear reason, a sly grin crossed his face. Ron had seen his opportunity to repay Harry for all of his recent remarks regarding Ron's feelings for Hermione. If Harry wanted to but in, fine. Ron would simply do the same.

"Oh yeah? Well even if I did want to have a go at Hermione, I'd never get my chance if I had to wait for you to ask her first," " he replied with a sinister tone, nodding towards Amanda. "I'd be long dead and buried before that ever happened. But since you were so nice as to try to help me with Hermione, why don't you let me return the favour."

And with that, Ron headed right over to her and, as though presenting a prize said, "Amanda, right? This here is Harry Potter, and he'd like to invite you to the Homecoming ball, if you'd like. But of course you'd like, wouldn't you. After all, he's Harry Potter."

Harry's face was crimson and turning scarlet. In all his life he'd never been so embarrassed.

Grabbing Ron by the back of his robes and pulling him away he said apologetically, "I'm sorry. Sometimes his mouth gets big enough to fit a horntail's egg in it. If you'll excuse us now, I've got to go find myself a new best friend."

He'd turned and begun to drag Ron away when he'd heard someone call his name behind him. He turned around to find Amanda walking briskly up to them. He couldn't help noticing how many curves she seemed to have when she walked straight at him.

Trying not to stare, he looked her straight in the eyes and smiled, waiting for her to address him.

"You know," she said casually, "I'd love it if you asked me to the ball. It might be a nice change to have the most popular guy at school on my arm at a dance, if the offer's still open."

Harry's jaw dropped so far that when he'd realized it was open and shut it, he did so too quickly and bit his tongue, trying hard not to flinch. After a lifetime of ten seconds he finally swallowed, smiled weakly, and nodded his head.

"Great. It's in two weeks, right?" Harry nodded again. "Great. Well, I guess we can meet at the top of the stairs of the Entrance Hall, if that's alright?"

"Sure," Harry said meekly.

"You know," Ron added, "the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year is coming up next week. We could all go together, if you'd like. Call it a kind of warm-up period for you two, before the big date."

"That'd be great. Well, until then, I guess I should get back to my homework. I guess I'll see you in classes on Monday, right?"

"Right," Harry said, trying to recover some measure of dignity.

They began Quidditch practice that night since their first game of the season was only three weeks away and, more importantly, they were facing Slytherin. This meant that they would be running three days a week, and daily the week before the game.

Practice had gone quite well, even though the twins had decided not to return as Beaters.

"We just don't think it would be fair, having us playing against the other teams like that," replied Fred when Harry asked.

"Besides," added George, "those two blokes from last year seemed quite fair for the job."

Harry didn't like it, nor did he really believe they were telling him everything, but he wasn't likely to change their minds.

And so the remaining players took their positions, with Ginny replacing Angelina as Chaser and allowing Harry to retake his place as seeker.

Ron had done moderately well, keeping out four of every five goals. He was really putting an effort to it, and everyone seemed to feed off it, seeing it as an omen of the season to come. Harry just hoped that it would actually last through the games. Ron seemed strong last year during practices, though it didn't seem to last through to the games. He did, however, play well during the final game of the year against Ravenclaw which earned them the Quidditch Cup and turned him into an instant hero.

Ginny was showing a lot of promise as a seeker, playing together with a third year, Natalie MacDonald, and Colin Creevey's little brother, Dennis.

All together, the team looked pretty good, and the day ended with a general feeling of optimism for the upcoming year, confident that the Quidditch cup would remain theirs for another year.

Sunday kept Harry too busy to fear the upcoming week, as he had another full round of Quidditch practice, in addition to helping Hagrid with his homework.

It wasn't until after he left Hagrid's and began to head to his own class that he began to worry about his teaching abilities for his classes, but Snape helped quell any of those fears by going over the final revisions to the class syllabus, followed by a set of duels.

Though Snape was able to challenge Harry to his extremes in their duels, Harry had noticed that he had held himself back a bit in a few areas which he would not have against other duellists. He kept thinking that if he took more rounds than Snape, it might break whatever sense of allegiance they had with each other.

Later, as they finished writing the course outline for the students, Harry couldn't help but go through the duel in his mind, and to his surprise he found that, had he put his all into it, he'd have won more rounds than Snape by an average of three to two. However, he passed this off as probably being just as true of Snape.

He was saved from asking Snape however when Dumbledore entered and asked how things had been going. Snape and Harry agreed that they were well prepared for the classes to come, and that they were confident that the students would learn a great deal. Harry gave a copy of the course outline for each class to Dumbledore who seemed quite pleased.

"It looks like this may very well have been the best idea I've had for Hogwarts in quite some time. I must thank the both of you for this. It means quite a bit," he added with prideful smile.

Snape nodded, and Harry said he was happy to do it.

"Harry, I think that is enough for today."

He paused for a moment, seeming to decide something, then said in a very monotone voice, "I think you should know that I was against you being given appointed as Deputy Professor of the Art of Duelling Class. Over the past month, you have proven Dumbledore right."

Was Snape paying him a compliment, Harry wondered? It had surely sounded like a compliment.

"And as a reminder, though you will only be assisting me on Monday, I will expect you to share the supervision of the students as you will be heading the class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs on Tuesday, as well as heading both classes on Wednesday."

Harry stood straight up, jutting his chin out. "I'll be ready, sir." Harry replied sternly.

"Very good. Good day to you, Mr. Potter." With that, he packed his things and headed out past Dumbledore as he entered. "Good day, Headmaster," he added with a nod.

"My, my," Dumbledore said as soon as the door had closed behind Snape. "I had hoped that putting you two together might form a sort of bond between the two of you, but this is far more than I had expected. I doubt he has ever given higher praise to a Gryffindor student in all his years at Hogwarts, with perhaps one exception."

"Mum," Harry agreed.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "He was quite fond of her, before she and James began to date."

"Yeah. He told me," Harry said softly. A moment later, he'd realized his mistake.

"Indeed. Severus has had many tragedies in his life, and Lily was neither his first, nor his last."

Without a second thought he'd responded, "He told me about his last girlfriend. The one Voldemort killed in front of him."

"Really?" Dumbledore replied. He seemed quite happy to hear this titbit of information. "Now that is interesting. You know, to the best of my knowledge, you are but the second person I know to whom he had told. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised you hadn't asked me about it before now. I suspect you were at least mildly curious as to why he would tell you such an intimate piece of knowledge about himself."

"Well, he said that you and he had talked, but he said if you wanted me to know about that, you'd tell me when you were ready."

"Indeed. Well, as they say, there's no time like the present. Put quite simply, he and I spent a great amount of time together speaking on the topic of who you are and what you mean, not only to the world, but more closely, to him. Indeed, we spoke for several hours a day during the first two weeks of the summer holiday."

Harry sighed. That was going to be a long talk. "So that's why he's so nice to me lately," he replied.

"Yes, in part." Dumbledore replied. He paused, seemingly brought into some deep thought, staring off into some distant place for several minutes. Then, as though breaking through a spell, he continued on as though no time had transpired.

"I believe there is something which you deserve to know, as it pertains to Severus, and why he has recently had a change of attitude when it comes to you. It goes back to the days when your mother and father, as well as Severus, had all been students here at school. I believe you are aware of some of the events that transpired during their days here."

Harry's head dropped a bit. "Yes Sir," he said apologetically.

"Indeed. Severus told me of what had transpired, as it had a great bearing on the subject at hand. Nevertheless, the animosity Severus had for James grew quite strong over the years, but I had mistakenly believed that it had died off after they left Hogwarts. On the contrary, it continued to grow inside Severus until he met a Miss Samantha Jamison. For a short time, Snape had become quite happy. Unfortunately, his work for Voldemort at the time conflicted with his relationship, and when she became a liability, well, you are aware of what happened."

Harry nodded. He knew how he felt after Sirius had died, and he was generally an upbeat kind of person. For a self-loathing person like Snape, it would be like dropping a recovering alcoholic into a pool of beer. Things began to make a bit more sense about why Snape was the way he was, but this still didn't tell him why the sudden change.

"You see, before Miss Jamison was killed, Severus had begun to show signs of becoming the young man I had always known he was capable of. At one point he had even addressed to me how he felt about Voldemort's plans, and that is how he became a member of The Order. However, these things did not come to pass as we had hoped. Though Severus had chosen to continue working with us even after her death, it was not for the reasons I would have hoped. He was driven by one thing only; a pure, deep-seated, and completely unadulterated thirst for revenge. And as it turned out, what happened to you and your parents was the worst thing that could have happened to Severus."

A half horrified, half confused look overtook Harry's face.

"Let me see if I can quickly explain. Severus had, for several years, dedicated his life to avenging the death of Miss Jamison. When Voldemort was killed by the backlash of the spell that hit you, Snape had lost that chance for revenge. Worse yet, Voldemort's death cost him the only other woman he'd loved, and though he was not with her, his love for her had not changed. And then, as though to add insult to injury, you survived. The spitting image of the man whom he blamed for his losing Lily, his anger and hatred had threatened to boil over, and he'd considered you at fault for her death. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, but a man blinded by hate rarely sees the truth set before him."

"But as you were only a baby, he could not remain angry with you for long, so he turned his attention towards capturing any remaining Death Eaters. The next two years of his life he dedicated to the downfall of each and every Death Eater he could find, and to carefully watch all those whom got away."

"Is that why he's always acting as though Malfoy were better than the rest of the students?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. But more deliberately, he volunteered for post as Head of Slytherin House as a way to keep tabs on many of those who were still loyal to Voldemort. As you know, Mr. Malfoy's father is considered to be one of the most dangerous of the Death Eaters, so Severus has done his best to ensure that the son come to trust him. He believed that if the need arise, he might be able to use the son to get back in good graces with the father. Recent events may have offered just such an opportunity. But again, I have lost track of my point."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, headed to the desks, and sat down. Harry joined him, never saying a word.

"And so," he continued, "we come back to you. I had hoped that with Voldemort gone and most Death Eaters either dead or in Azkaban that teaching classes at Hogwarts might give Severus a new focus, perhaps even a new chance to become the man I knew he could be. Unfortunately, it was not to be."

"Sorry," interrupted Harry, suddenly remembering something Snape had once said. "I think I missed something. Snape, I mean Professor Snape, he told me that he was the one who told you about Voldemort being killed while trying to kill me. What I don't get is, how did he know?"

"Well, I thought that would be obvious. Because at the time, he had all the appearance of being a loyal Death Eater, and happened to be with Voldemort when Mr. Pettigrew informed his master of the Potters' location. At the time, Severus had volunteered to take care of the Potters' himself, perhaps to give him time to inform us first. However, Voldemort insisted taking things into his own hands for reasons we both know, now. Therefore, all Snape could do was to alert us and send some of us there to stop Voldemort while he protected the other child."

"Neville. Yeah, he said that."

"That's correct. Unfortunately, that day was full of other missions that the Order members were doing, and by the time he reached one of us, the house had already been destroyed and you were left there, a tragic victim of the fates."

"But how do you know that he wasn't lying? How do you know that he didn't deliberately wait until it was too late before contacting you? He might have waited until finding out that Voldemort had died trying to kill me, then ran scared to you, playing the hero."

"There are two reasons I know that not to be. First, because no matter what can be said about Severus, one thing is absolutely true. He rarely forgives, and never forgets. I do not believe that Severus could ever willingly serve Voldemort after what transpired with Samantha. The other reason I will not go into detail about just now other than to say that since the day she was murdered by Voldemort, I have and will continue to wholly trust Severus, and I hope that you can take me for my word when I say that you can trust him as well."

Harry's face contorted a bit. Sure, he could trust Snape. It was what he trusted Snape to do that bothered him.

"But of course," Dumbledore continued, "this is merely half the story. For what I have said thus far may have given you some insight regarding Severus and why he is the man you know today, but it was the insight into your life which is truly the subject at hand."

Looking worried, Harry asked, "What do you mean, insight into my life?"

"Well, do you remember when I told you in your first year that you looked quite a lot like your father?"

"Of course. I hear it all the time, which you also told me."

"Indeed. Well, I now believe that Severus's dislike of James was re-ignited when you came back to school You see, since teaching at Hogwarts Severus has become accustomed to burying his feelings of anger and distaste, releasing them in small ways."

"Like giving Slytherins ten points for spelling their names right but taking ten for showing off if a Gryffindor answers a questions correctly."

"Unfortunately, yes. It seems he finds comfort in very little these days. But he does feel comfortable with feelings of spite or anger. Every since the son of James Potter came to Hogwarts, a young man of his father's image, you have given Severus a renewed place to focus his anger, and this has greatly increased his feelings of relief in the other facets of his life. In you he saw only what he wished, which was the man that he believed took Lily from him. He continued to feed on those feelings until they grew into a dislike of you which had become completely independent from that of James."

"So he hated me because of I reminded him of my dad, but now he hates me because I'm me."

"Essentially, yes. If you only wish to see the bad in someone, eventually you will become blinded from seeing any good. This is what has begun the feud that has lasted the past five years between yourself and Professor Snape."

Dumbledore signed, stood and began to walk about the room, and Harry followed as they continued to talk.

"Unfortunately, this proved all too true during the times in which I had pointed this out to him and he did not take it as well as I had hoped. Nonetheless, it was not doing any serious harm at the time, and thus I did not wish to pressure him into anything that might make things worse. However, the events which transpired last June crossed a line."

Dumbledore stopped in front of the shelf of Sneakoskopes, all of which were quite silent as he turned to look down at Harry.

"There are no good reasons that you should have felt unable to go to Severus when you had that dream of Sirius at the Ministry of Magic. However, because of the gap that had grown between the two of you, you had not even considered him trustworthy, and that was too much for me to allow it to continue. Something had to be done. You, of course, needed an explanation, but it was not your anger at him that set things in motion, and it would not solve them. Severus was the key and if the gap between the two of you was to be bridged, it would need to start with him. To put it simply, he needed to see in you what the rest of us saw, and that was not to be an easy task."

"So how did you do it?" asked Harry.

"First, I showed him the prophecy in its entirety. I explained to him that it meant that only by your hand would Voldemort live or die. It was my belief that if he understood this, he might be more open to anything else I might have to tell him. If nothing else, I had hoped that his desire for revenge against Voldemort would outweigh his dislike for you."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," recited Harry from memory.

"Exactly. I had hoped that this might open him to see you in another light, and it seems I was right. Of course, as I said before, it took two weeks of discussions and many shared memories of you and I over the past five years. I wanted to show him all the good you have done, as well as the modesty you have shown in your deeds. I reminded him that it was not your choice to enter the Triwizard Tournament, that you had saved both the Sorcerer's Stone as well as the lives of many of our students from the Basilisk during your second year."

"At first I was unsure of how successful I was, but our talks over the past week have settled many things between us. At this point, I do not believe that Severus will ever see you with the same eyes he had when you first came to Hogwarts. Furthermore, I believe it is safe to say that though you and he may never develop a lasting friendship, his desire to bring about Voldemort's downfall should give him reason to keep any of his ill feelings towards you at bay."

"Is that why you teamed him with me for this class?"

"Indeed. I believed and still believe that if you can establish a connection with him, even if it is only a professional one, then that would be good enough. But though he has now taken the first steps towards a mutual respect with you, it is your responsibility to feed it and keep the peace alive, so to speak."

Harry nodded. "I'll do my best, sir."

"Does this help you to understand where he is coming from?" he asked.

"I think so." Harry said softly. And with that, finally getting an idea of where Snape was coming from and why he was acting the way he was, he knew he had to do as Dumbledore asked. If Snape was going to try and make this work, Harry would do the same.

"Very good," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Well then, let us turn our attention to the reason were to meet here today. But first, are you still wearing your medallion?"

Harry pulled it out from around his neck and Dumbledore smiled, nodding his approval. Then he called for Peeves to come out once again.

"Well, today we are going to break the fourth rule of duelling," he announced. "As you remember, rule four pertains to how advanced a spell one should use in a duel. We had covered how the most useful spells in a duel are your most basic spells. However, there are some very powerful spells that I believe you should be accustomed to use. You see, there is a short list of spells which are both extremely powerful and rather simple. I'm going to teach you a total of nine spells, both offensive and defensive. That was the original purpose of our meeting today, and it is all we will be doing for the next six hours."

And so they began. Dumbledore first gave Harry a quick preview of each of the nine spells, then set aside three spells which they would work on for the rest of the day.

The first spell was a simple freezing spell, quite similar to the "Petrificus Totalus" spell, but he soon discovered that not only was it faster, requiring a single swift vertical wave of the wand and saying "Desiit," but could also be used against a large group of people by calling out "Desiit Populus."

And were that not enough, it turned out that it could also be used against non-corporeal beings, such as ghost and, to Peeve's dismay, Poltergeists.

The second spell was the banishing spell "Pulsus" which drove a person back ten feet, though it appeared to pull the person away rather than pushing them, and when Dumbledore demonstrated it on Harry he noticed it also did not throw off his balance. It was truly an odd feeling. In addition, this spell too could be brought to the next stage by calling out "Pulsus Populus" instead.

The final spell of the day was "Quiesco," which put its target to sleep. This one was most useful in panic situations as it would simply put anyone within an affected area to sleep, except of course for the caster.

"Sir," Harry said as they were taking a quick break, "why are none of these spells taught to the rest of the school?"

"Well, of the nine I am teaching you, five of them have only come into my possession recently, and the others, including "Quiesco," are only taught to Aurors because of their potential, as well as their singular use. These are spells that have but one purpose, and that is duelling. But since they are generally used to incapacitate large groups, the Ministry felt it best if they were not taught at Hogwarts, and I agreed. However, I felt, and the Minister agrees, that you should be taught these spells to help you prevent history from repeating itself."

"Oh," Harry replied shortly.

They went back to practicing, spending an hour on each spell.

He wasn't sure if it was Dumbledore's style of teaching, or if it was merely because the spells were so simple, but he couldn't remember learning spells so quickly. Just before quitting time Dumbledore called for several of the school ghosts to assist them in allowing Harry to cast the multiple target form of "Desiit Populus.". Here he came up short, having only limited success with it by freezing two ghosts, but only for half a minute instead of it's standard multiple effect of two minutes.

Still, on the whole it was a very good day of training and he slept quite well that night.

Now he was awake, worrying about his first classes as a Deputy Professor. It didn't seem to help much when he reminded himself that it would be Snape teaching today and not him. All he could think of was all of those students, just sitting there waiting for him to tell them how to duel, and more importantly, how to survive. If he made the slightest mistake, it could mean the difference between a student's life or death.

Harry tried to shake those kinds of thoughts out of his head.

Wiping his forehead with his comforter, he took a deep sigh and put on his glasses.

Looking at his clock he saw that it was barely quarter after five. It would be at least another hour before Ron and Hermione got up, and everyone else would get up half an hour after that.

Taking the rare chance to shower on his own, he grabbed a change of clothes and a towel.

Half an hour later he was heading down through the common room and out the portrait of the Fat Lady who yawned as she wished him good luck with his first day of classes.

He headed down to the kitchen to see if there might be anything ready to eat.

However, as he passed by the Great Hall he heard the familiar voices of Professors Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore.

Feeling a bit over confident with his new position, he walked casually into the Hall as though it were midday. To his shock, he was greeted rather warmly, except of course for Snape who simply nodded his recognition of Harry's arrival.

Harry sat down with them at the staff table and took a biscuit with a cup of Hot Chocolate.

"So, Harry, are you ready for your first day of class?" asked McGonagall.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Harry replied with all the conviction he could muster.

"Well, I for one have complete confidence in you, Harry," Dumbledore said. "You've already shown that you can teach students how to duel, as we saw last year during O.W.L.s. You've also proven yourself against several Death Eaters, and further so during our practice sessions. As I've said before, Harry, I have full confidence in your abilities, and I suspect that by the end of the week, you'll feel quite comfortable in your new position as well."

"I hope so, sir," Harry signed.

"I suspect you will find yourself quite capable once you begin," Snape added in a rare show of compassion.

"Thank you. But personally, I'd rather just get it over with. The longer I have to wait the more I'm going to worry."

"Well, it should be light out soon. Perhaps you could placate your worries regarding classes by worrying instead about the upcoming Quidditch match. I've heard over the years that you find flying on a broom to be quite soothing."

Thinking about it for a moment, Harry nodded his agreement. "You know, I think you're right. An hour of flying could be just what the doctor ordered."

And with that, he grabbed one more biscuit and headed out for a quick flight around the Grounds.

By the time he got his broom and got outside he found the sun had already begun to rise.

He mounted his broom and took off, closing his eyes so he could enjoy the wind blowing through his hair, the incredible feeling of freedom he always felt when he flew, and the release from all worries that came with flying.

After a few moments he opened his eyes, panned off, and headed for the lake, first flying high above, then swooping down to mere inches from the water so that he could trail his hand over the lake's surface, enjoying the brisk cool air that resided there.

He flew around the grounds for a full hour, spending time going over the Forbidden Forest where at one point he was sure he had caught sight of some moving trees he figured were being moved by Hagrid's brother, Grawp.

Before he new it, he heard the chiming of his watch and found it was time to return to the castle and prepare for his first class.

The moment he touched down he ran through the front door and headed straight to the secret door near the Great Hall. He noticed as he passed by that students were just beginning to get up from breakfast. Checking his watch again he found he had fifteen minutes before class began.

A few minutes later he entered his classroom to find Snape already preparing the class for his first lesson, having all of the benches and tables set as well as both of their desks.

He headed to his own, taking one last look at the student list for the class and checking the course outline. As a last minute change, they had decided on Thursday that they would work with the students a bit differently. They noticed an imbalance in how large the youngest group of students were, while the mid year students all filled one class. This meant that the A and B groups of first years and second years respectively would only have about forty students in it while the single C group of third through fifth years would total out around a hundred and ten. This was too big a change, so instead they merged the A and B groups and separated the C Group in its place.

This meant that the third through fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins would be in a separate group from the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. This kept the classes grouped more manageable, and after the first month of classes, the first years would then be separated inside the class, with Harry teaching one group and Snape teaching the other. The next week, they would switch off. But of course, this first week would be a bit different, but the younger students wouldn't be running practical lessons for a few weeks as it was.

After looking this over for quite some time, Harry began to hear some of the students coming down the hall and headed into his office where he changed into his Professor's robes. By the time he had come out, nearly half the students had already arrived.

The rest of the class was a blur. At lunch while talking to Ron and Hermione about class, he told them how odd everything was.

"Everything just seemed to work on its own. Professor Snape took the lead, taking roll before going over the outline for the year. Then he had everyone open their books and read the first two chapters. Then, during the last ten minutes or so of class he had me stand up and cover the basics and ask the questions we had worked out. That's about all I can remember of that class."

"Well that sounds pretty easy," replied Ron. "What about the other class?"

"Well, that one was a bit of the same, really. Only, instead of teaching all the houses, we had only the Gryffindor and Slytherin third, fourth, and fifth years. The only difference was that Professor Snape and I demonstrated a basic duel at the end of class. It was already choreographed, so there were no surprises there. We each took turns showing basic attacks and defences, a lot like our first day of the duelling club in our second year."

"You fought Snape?" Ron blurted out. A few students looked around at him, but Ron didn't seem to notice.

"No, we didn't fight. We just duelled a bit, and we already knew what we were going to do. He used Expelliarmus on me and I returned the favour. Then he tried to petrify me, but I cast the counter jinx before it got to me, so nothing happened. We went on like that for a few minutes, then class got out and we dismissed the class. That was it."

"Sounds about right to me," Hermione said approvingly.

"Of course, that'll be nothing compared to tomorrow's classes," Harry said with a concerned manner.

"That's right," Hermione said with wide eyes. "Tomorrow's your first class in charge. Oh, that's going to be fun," she added with a giggle.

"Oh yeah, real fun. Especially with Dudley being in the class and all, since it will be a repeat of my second class today with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. That's going to be loads of fun."

"Wait a tick. I thought you and Dudley were mates now," Ron jumped in.

While Harry rolled his eyes, Hermione filled Ron in, but before she could finish they heard the bell and had to head off to class.

The rest of the day and night went by as quickly as the day two years ago when Harry had to go up against a Horntailed Dragon in the Triwizard Tournament. It seemed he merely blinked and he was sitting in bed, sweating once again, and at ten minutes before midnight he headed to the hospital wing for another drink of the Dreamless Sleep potion.

As he headed back upstairs he thought about his day to come. Soon, too soon, he would be in front of sixty students, each waiting for him to teach them everything he knew of duelling.

He was just twenty feet from the prefects' bathroom when he thought of this and he ran for the door, barely getting the password out as he choked back the sickness that was growing in his stomach.

Rushing through the door he quickly ran for the toilet and heaved.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been there before she'd arrived, but soon Moaning Myrtle was floating overhead, laughing and giggling at his misfortune. After several threats, Myrtle finally ducked off down the drain of one of the sinks, still cackling all the time.

Finally, some time around one, he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower, drinking the potion as soon as he was in bed. Within minutes he found his eyes feeling heavy and closing on their own accord. Smiling at the bliss that was soon to come, he let his eyes close and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

The next morning seemed to go by even quicker than the day before, if that were possible. He awoke half an hour late, Ron shaking him furiously.

"Harry," he cried when Harry's eyes finally began to budge, "it's already ten after eight. If you don't get up soon, you're going to be late for classes. Hermione's on her way up right now with a spot of breakfast."

His eyes flew open and he jumped out of bed, just getting his robe on before Hermione knocked on their door.

Ron let her in and she placed the plate of food on Harry's trunk.

He ate quickly, thanked them both, then ran off out of portrait hole and through the other, taking the steps two at a time.

Checking his watch he found he had seven minutes left when he reached his classroom. Hoping none of the students had arrived inside yet, he opened the door and headed in. To his great relief, no students were there, thought Snape was sitting at his desk.

"I heard we had quite a night, Mr. Potter," he commented. "Do you feel up to teaching today?" he asked with the smirk Harry hadn't seen in the past few months. No matter how he felt, he wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction of giving up so quickly.

"I'm alright. I guess I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me."

"Very well," Snape said, returning to his more recent demeanour.

Snape headed for the door to let the first of the students come into class as Harry took his seat at his desk.

He began to fiddle with his paperwork, though by now he pretty much knew it all by heart. After all, today was a fairly simple day as it was. Still, the butterflies began to flutter in his stomach, and the more students that came into the classroom the louder the Grandfather Clock behind him began to click.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

His head was pounding as the seconds ticked away. He checked his watch and saw he had a minute to go.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

Thirty seconds, and his heartbeat seemed to thump harder with the passing of each second.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Ten seconds, and the last student came through the door, closing it behind him.

TICK TOCK!

Times up.

COMING SOON

CHAPTER 15

All in a Days Work