Harry Potter and the Guild of the Night

Chapter 28

Nearly all discussion on Monday centred on Draco Malfoy. Word had quickly spread that he had been expelled and what he had been expelled for. Crabbe and Goyle had wandered around looking lost until they zeroed in on Pansy Parkinson at lunchtime. She seemed unaffected by the loss of Draco until she looked over at the Gryffindor table. The glare she had directed at Harry had been remarkable for its hatred. Harry, for his part, didn't notice that. He just did not know Pansy well enough to see much detail in her overlay. It took the comments of those around him to clue him in to her opinions.

Tuesday night however proved that Pansy did not seem to be representative of the Syltherin students. Harry had duly informed Snape of the time and place of the first DA meeting for the year and shortly after he and his friends arrived so too did a contingent of Slytherins led by Blaise Zabini. They had been nervous and defensive as they walked into the room and Harry took a deep breath and strolled over to them.

"Hi," he said firmly. "I guess you've all come for the DA meeting."

"Yes, Professor Snape said we'd be welcome," Blaise said a little defensively.

"Yes, you are," Harry replied and gestured for them to sit down. "We probably won't do too much this time. I'm not sure how many people are going to turn up. We spread the word that it's an official group this year so we may get more than last year."

The Slytherins nodded and sat, staring around the Room of Requirement with interest. Once again it had taken on the appearance from the first meeting last year, with bookshelves full of Defence texts and a myriad of Dark Magic detectors. The Slytherins jumped a little when the door opened but relaxed when they saw their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Hello, everyone," Remus said with a smile and walked over to talk to Harry.

"What are they doing here?" came a loud, indignant voice from the doorway.

Everyone on the room turned to look with varying expression of surprise and irritation on their faces. Harry stepped forwards, a firm expression on his face.

"They're Hogwarts students just like everyone else, Zachariah," he said sternly. "And just like everyone else they've got a right to join the DA."

"But...but they're Slytherins!" Zachariah Smith said, aghast.

"You noticed?" Harry replied dryly. "What gave them away?" Small smiles and giggles came from some of the students standing behind Zachariah and the Syltherins slowly began to relax at Harry's defence of them.

"You can't let Slytherins in the group! They'll...they'll just tell everything to You-Know-Who!" Zachariah blurted.

The Slytherins bristled and started to look angry, a reaction that was echoed by Harry.

"Not every Slytherin is as stupid as Malfoy," he said firmly. "Some of them are as clever as Professor Snape."

That rocked Zachariah back his heels as by now Snape's discovered role as a spy had been whispered around by all of the students. While Snape was still viewed with fear, trepidation and terror by the students, a certain amount of sneaking respect had crept in. Even the most biased of Gryffindors had to admit that keeping that kind of secret from Voldemort for that length of time was no mean feat and one worthy of respect. When Zachariah seemed unable to some up with an answer, the rest of the students pushed past him and into the room. A small group of them, headed by Cho Chang and Ernie MacMillan, walked over to the Slytherins.

"Don't worry about Zach," Ernie said a little pompously, holding out his hand to Blaise, "he has a tendency to open his mouth before he starts thinking. I think it's about time all of Hogwarts started working together against You...er, Voldemort."

Blaise shook Ernie's hand cautiously and Millicent Bulstrode stepped forward. "We're not all anxious to become Death Eaters, you know," she said aggressively. "Just because Draco and Pansy seem hell bent on throwing themselves at the Dark Lord's feet, doesn't mean we all want to."

"Exactly," Harry said firmly, "You all heard the Sorting Hat this year. Slytherins are meant to be subtle and cunning, not evil. Sometimes subtlety and the ability to put together a cunning plan is just what is needed. We can't all be Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws. I finally worked out what the Hat's been talking about the last couple of years. The Houses at Hogwarts are supposed to work together so that the strengths of one House balance the weaknesses of another. Gryffindor's courage, Hufflepuff's tenacity, Ravenclaw's intelligence and Slytherin's cunning." Harry paused as he remembered something. He slowly surveyed the room and the flowing energy colours of the students until he was sure that he had their complete attention. "And don't forget," he said solemnly, "it isn't just Slytherins who can be evil. It was Peter Pettigrew, a Gryffindor, who betrayed my parents, who led Voldemort right to them."

The deep silence that followed that statement lingered as everyone considered it. They had all heard this before, an explanation for Sirius Black swanning around the castle had, of course, been necessary but to hear it from Harry himself somehow made it more real. Harry let them all stew on that for a few minutes and then cleared his throat.

"Alright," he said, "I think we can start. It doesn't look like anyone else is coming."

Harry's friends settled down on the floor along with everyone else and Remus came to stand beside Harry.

"For everyone who wasn't here last year, the purpose of this group is to learn more about Defence Against the Dark Arts," Harry said firmly. "We started it last year because Umbridge was a complete incompetent and Hermione decided that she wanted to pass her OWL exam." Harry grinned at his bushy-haired friend who mimed throwing something at him as she grinned back. "We're called the Defence Association."

"I thought it was Dumbledore's Army," said Blaise with a sideways grin.

"Well, sort of," Harry said a little awkwardly, remembering what had happened because of that name. "Anyway, what I wanted to do tonight is work out where everyone is. Basically what people remember from last year and where all of you new people are in your knowledge. Re...Professor Lupin and Sirius will be helping us this year and Master Nhean will coming along to some of the meetings as well. So if everyone could split up into pairs we'll get started."

All of the students slowly shuffled around until Hermione gave an exasperated cry and walked over to Blaise and suggested they pair up. This seemed to break the ice a little and Harry's other friends also headed over to the Slytherins. Finally everyone was paired up and Harry got them working on what they had done last year while he and Remus walked around and helped and corrected. As they were doing this Sirius edged his way into the room. Harry grinned at him and gestured towards the students. Sirius nodded and joined Harry and Remus in their work.

An hour later, Harry was looking around the classroom with a pleased expression on his face. The DA members from last had all remembered most of what they had learnt and the new students had picked everything up things pretty well. He'd found a little more difficult this year as he now had to judge a spell on what he saw of its energy colours but both Sirius and Remus had been quick to help when needed and he was starting to work out how to judge the strength and accuracy of the spell from the energy colours he was seeing. He decided to have everyone work on their Patronus spell as the last thing for the night as everyone had seemed to enjoy that last year.

"Alright everyone," he yelled over the sound of hexes being cast. Wands were lowered around the room and the last few hexes fizzled out. "We probably should wrap things up soon but before you do, I'd like you to try your Patronus spells. With the Dementors likely to defect to Voldemort, I think it might be a useful one to know."

The DA members from last year smiled, they had enjoyed learning this spell. Harry headed over to the newer members along with Remus and they began to instruct them on the process. Very soon a variety of silvery animals were gambolling around the room. The Slytherins watched this with a little envy and some frustration.

"So how does it work again?" Millicent asked with a frown.

"You think of a really happy memory," Harry said patiently, "and say the incantation, 'Expecto patronum'. Look, I'll demonstrate."

Harry concentrated on the moment when he found out that Sirius was still alive. "Expecto patronum!"

As the Slytherins watched, a large silver stag burst out of the end of Harry's wand and galloped around the room. Remus and Sirius looked up from what they were doing and smiled at the sight, though a tinge of sadness remained in their eyes.

Harry watched the silvery form of his patronus for a moment and then turned back to the Slytherins. "It's the memory that's important," he said. "You have to choose a really happy one. You might have to try a few before you find the one that works and you should probably always have a few alternatives. It's not that difficult to produce a patronus here but when you are faced with a Dementor it becomes a lot more difficult and you'd better be sure that the memory is going to work."

The Slytherins nodded a little dubiously and stepped back to give it a try. As Harry watched them, Sirius walked up behind him and slung an arm around his shoulders.

"Nice patronus," he said quietly. "Moony told me about it but that the first time I've seen it. It's Prongs alright." He paused for a moment. "Have you thought about trying it yourself?"

"Trying what?" Harry asked.

"The animagus transformation."

Harry shrugged. "I had a few times but I'm not sure what kind of effect being blind will have. I was actually thinking about having the DA try to become animagi this year if we could get permission."

"Ah, well," Sirius said with a grin, "that's why I was late. I've already asked. Dumbledore said yes, as long as I am around to supervise."

Harry grinned. "Thanks, Sirius. I'm sure everyone's going to want to try."

"But not you?" Sirius pressed.

Harry shifted a little uncomfortably. "I...I want to, Sirius, but what if the Oversight doesn't cross over. I wouldn't be much good as a blind animal, would I?"

Sirius drew Harry a little closer. "Well, perhaps. But why don't you just try it first."

"Okay," Harry sighed and then chuckled. "It might be fun. I'd love to hear what Orinda would have to say."

Sirius looked down at his godson. The Runespoor that Hagrid had given him spent much of his time curled around Harry's neck like an odd necklace. The rest of the students had been a little wary of the black and orange creature at first but had soon learnt to ignore it. In the last couple of weeks however, Orinda had grown large enough to become uncomfortable if he stayed around Harry's neck for too long and he had taken to curling up on the desk during classes and on the table during training. Tonight however, the Runespoor was missing.

"Speaking of Orinda," Sirius said, "where is the critter?"

"Back in the dorm," Harry said as he watched some of the Slytherins start to meet with some success. "He wasn't really interested in coming along tonight; something about not wanting to be on the receiving end of misguided magic from incompetent bipeds."

Sirius laughed. "Don't tell me, the right head said that."

Harry laughed as well. "Yes, I've always thought it's a pity that Professor Snape doesn't speak Parseltongue. He'd get along very well with that aspect of my Runespoor."

Harry banged the end of his cane loudly on the floor and the students fell silent and looked at him. "Look, it's getting late everyone so I think we'll finish it there. We'll spend the next couple of meetings getting everything right from last year and then Sirius has offered to teach us about becoming animagi." There was an excited murmur from the students and Sirius stepped forwards.

"The Headmaster has given you all permission," he said with a smile, "but he has insisted that it must be done under my supervision." There were a few mutters and Sirius glared in that direction. "And he's right," he said sternly. "Becoming animagi is difficult and dangerous even with supervision. It's a wonder that James, Peter and I didn't end up doing something permanent to ourselves when we taught ourselves. Probably just sheer dumb luck. You lot are not going to get a chance to make any of those mistakes. I warn you though, some of you may not be able to make the transformation; most people can't. So, no practicing on your own. You only practice here, during DA meetings, with me."

Everyone nodded and Harry dismissed them all. The students wandered out of the room, discussing what they had done with excitement and pleasure.

"Harry!" Hermione said happily as she walked over, "I don't know whether you could tell but its working!"

"What's working?" Harry asked a little bewildered.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Getting the Slytherins accepted by everyone," she said with a sigh. "They might have arrived in a group but they left in dribs and drabs, talking with students from the other houses."

"Oh," Harry said, "well, that's good." He hadn't expected that to happen so quickly but was pleased that it had. Anything that broke the hold of people like Malfoy and now apparently Pansy was fine with him. He decided to change the subject and looked around at his friends. "So are you all going to try to become animagi?"

A chorus of enthusiastic yeses greeted that question and Sirius and Remus laughed.

"I think you've corrupted the lot of them, Padfoot," Remus said wryly.

"We, Moony, that's definitely we corrupted them," Sirius replied with amusement.

"Uhuh," Remus said unconvinced. "Come on, you lot. Off to bed."

Harry and his friends laughed and headed out of the Room of Requirement. The two remaining Marauders watched them go and Remus looked at his friend with amusement.

"I'm not sure you've realised what you've let yourself in for, Padfoot, old friend."

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Harry was relieved when the next few weeks settled into something more routine. With Draco now gone, the air around the Slytherins seemed to change a little. Pansy, Theodore Nott, Crabbe and Goyle had formed the core of a small group who were most displeased with what had happened to Draco and were not backward in making that known. But the rest of the Slytherins didn't seem to miss him much and Blaise Zabini had become the new leader. It was clear to Harry and his friends that Blaise wasn't entirely comfortable with this but the others had left him no choice.

The DA meetings were now moving into very high level territory. They had worked their way through the few seventh year spells they didn't know and Remus and Harry were now taking them into some very elevated levels. The animagi lessons were coming along much slower; partly because Sirius was being cautious but also because the spell was difficult. Sirius was however ready to try the first part of the transformation in the next couple of lessons. The visualisation spell was probably the easiest part of the whole process. It required the witch or wizard to clear their mind and cast the spell. If it worked they would be able to see what animal they would turn into when they cast the full spell; the trick was getting the visualisation spell to work in the first place.

They were also waiting uneasily for Voldemort to make his next move. Some of the Slytherins reported that Draco had been seen, alive and well, at Durmstrang so they at least knew that Voldemort had not punished him too severely for his failure. But with no other word than that, they were left in the nasty position of having to wait for whatever came. They made a variety of plans, trying to keep them flexible enough to take into account a number of different possibilities. The one thing everyone agreed upon from Snape to Dumbledore to Moody was that whatever Voldemort had planned, Hogwarts was the likely venue.

Harry and the rest of the students had little time to dwell on this. They were kept busy with the continuing round of classes, Quidditch practice and games, various club meetings and, in the case of Harry and his friends, training. Master Nhean had stepped up their training until the Battle Guard was more than just a name.

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Harry and his Battle Guard stood in a defensive posture in the middle of the Guild Classroom while Master Nhean and Sirius stood against one wall. Everything had been cleared out of the classroom, including the mats and Nhean and Sirius were surrounded by several protective spells. The door had been locked and warded to a fare-the-well and not even the Headmaster would be able to breach it easily. Nhean had a new type of combat training planned for today, one that he had said was possibly dangerous, and it had Harry and the others extremely nervous. He had not told them what was going to happen; all he had said was that they would need to use magic as well as weapons.

"Are you ready," Nhean said from his position by the wall.

Harry and his friends nodded grimly and set themselves for whatever was going to happen next. Nhean stepped outside the protective wards and raised his wand. He began chanting in the odd, dark language that echoed and reverberated around the room, even though the Guild Master was speaking no louder than normal. Sirius joined the students in their nervous shifting; even he did not know what was planned. Nhean had told him that he could only watch and was not, under any circumstances, to interfere. On the final sharp word, Nhean whipped his wand up, then down and in the far corner of the room a large creature appeared. It was perhaps nine feet tall and stood on two legs. It was covered in an armoured carapace, similar to that of insect and its face was an odd mix of animal and insect. It had two forward-facing eyes, slitted like a cat's, but in place of a mouth it had a wickedly hooked beak. It arms ended in long sharp hooks and its feet were viciously clawed. It stood look! ing around in confusion for a moment and then its attention was caught by the six students in the middle of the room. Nhean stepped back within the wards and watched to see what would happen.

"Mione, what is it?" Harry snapped as he gave the hand signal for the group to retreat. One of the hardest lessons that they had had to learn was when to retreat; whether that was retreating like they were now, because they were faced with an unknown quantity, or retreating for real, because they were confronted with overwhelming odds and to fight would be to die. They had had to learn that you could not win them all and sometime the best move was to run away.

Hermione frowned as she moved along with the others. Master Nhean had told her that she would know what they were facing today; that their opponent had been in one of the books he allowed her to read. The six had all taken on separate roles within the Battle Guard. Harry was their leader; he was the one who ran the show, he selected and approved the plan they used, he gave the orders and accepted the responsibility for them. Master Nhean had given him extensive lessons in how to lead and how to command and had taught him that these were two separate but related things. Harry had been nervous at first but time and practice had shown him that this was something he was good at.

Hermione had naturally become the brains of the group. Her already extensive knowledge had been bolstered by the books Master Nhean had given to her, loaned to her or directed her to in the library. These were not just books on spells and hexes but also books on people and places, creatures of all description and objects and weapons, both magical and muggle. She had, not to put to fine a point on it, eaten it up. Master Nhean had tested her as rigorously on her burgeoning knowledge as he did her weapons skills until she had reached a point now that if someone asked her what something was, she generally could not only tell them but also give them a précis on its history, strengths, weaknesses and how it could be used, destroyed, countered or defeated. She had carried this mental discipline over into her schoolwork and had gone from being merely an excellent student to a truly formidable one that was topping the class in every subject she was taking.

Ron had become their master o tactics and strategy. His knowledge of chess tactics was proving very useful in combat situations and his ability to see several moves ahead in chess was also something he had been able to transfer to the battlefield. Master Nhean had added to this by assigning him a continuous stream of books to read. Some were strict texts on battle tactics but many were biographies and studies of famous military leaders, both wizarding and muggle. Ron had groaned at first at having more reading to do but had quickly discovered an interest in this particular subject. He had almost jeopardised his position in the group at first when his studies had started to suffer. Master Nhean had given him a stern warning about that, reminding him that his training could only continue if he kept up with his school work. He had tried to muddle through on his own for a while until finally relenting and going to Hermione for help. In doing so he had gained two things! ; a study schedule that he did his best to keep to and a girlfriend. Somewhere in the course of that help, he and Hermione had managed to crystallise what was between them. While he was nowhere near the standard that Hermione was setting, he had improved his marks somewhat. He was also developing the ability to examine a battle situation and put together a variety of plans. These he would present to Harry and between the two of them, they would work out the best one for their goals, though Harry always had the final say.

Ginny had taken it upon herself to learn everything she could about healing, both magical and muggle. She had hesitated long and hard before doing this, knowing that along with everything else she had her OWLs at the end of the year. She had eventually gone to Professor McGonagall and asked her for advice and help. Professor McGonagall had given her that advice, straight and to the point, and when Ginny had still decided to continue, had helped her with setting up times that she go down to the hospital wing and learn what Madam Pomfrey had to teach. She too had launched herself into an extended reading program, getting her hands on as many medical texts as she could. When she started this she had discovered that she had something of a talent for it. Surprisingly, it had been Sirius who had helped her with the muggle side of things, somewhere along the line he had picked up a fair smattering of basic muggle first aid which he had willingly taught her and he had also found ! for her some basic first aid texts. She had then screwed up her courage and approached Professor Snape about the best way to carry some basic healing potions in a fight. He had insisted that she prove to him that she actually knew how to brew such potions properly before he would help her and she had offered up a silent paean of thanks that she had elected to speak to Hermione before she had taken this step. The older girl had suggested that Professor Snape might take this attitude and had advised her to make sure she knew what she was doing. So she had studied the basic healing potions until she was sure she could make them and had managed to produce acceptable versions under the eagle-eyed gaze of the Potions Master. He had examined the potions carefully, made a few biting comments about where she could improve and than disappeared into his office. When he returned he was carrying a wide leather belt which had small pockets built into it that were the perfect size to hold ! small potion vials. He had then instructed her to come down t! o the potions classroom on Saturdays with Harry where she would brew some of the more common potions she would need. He had said that if she were going to use them, she should brew them. So now, as she backed away from the hook-clawed creature, she wore that belt around her waist, complete with potions.

Neville had continued his improvement with his weapons work, until he could now match both Harry and Master Nhean well when they were sparring. He took his Point position in the Battle Guard very seriously. He and Harry had just started in the last couple of weeks to work with other weapons and had also just begun a program that Master Nhean called 'Anything Goes'. This program consisted of standing in the middle of the room and itemising everything that could be used as a weapon, how it could be used as a weapon and in what order they should use it. Master Nhean had told the both of them that in future lessons, he would play the aggressor and make them put all of this into practice. Neville was also wearing a small bag on his belt that contained something fairly useful from his Herbology studies. During his work in his extended study project he had been allowed into one of the greenhouses that was normally off-limits to students. He had gone in to gather specimens! of a plant he needed. He had, however, been tired from training the previous day and as such had been just a fraction more careless than he would normally have been. Thus he had discovered one of the denizens of that greenhouse in the worst way possible. It was a small, pretty-looking shrub with small, pretty flowers that gave off an absolutely heavenly scent. It had however grown a very formidable protection against having its flower picked in the form of three-inch long thorns. Neville had discovered these thorns when he had accidentally stumbled against the plant. What made matters worse was the fact that once imbedded in flesh, the thorns then broke off the shrub and worked their way in until they had no more than the barest end still visible. They then had to be pulled out by hand as magic would not work against them. Neville had been informed by an apologetic Professor Sprout that the plant was known as 'the shrub from hell'. Once the dozen or so thorns that Neville h! ad acquired had been removed and the wounds healed, he had pi! cked one of them up and had promptly received an abrupt lesson that the thorns did not lose their ability to burrow into flesh once they were no longer attached to the shrub. Once Madam Pomfrey had pulled the thorn out of his thumb, he had had something of a brainwave. Two weeks after his unfortunate discovery, after carefully reading all he could about the shrub from hell and asking Professor Sprout many questions, he had returned to the greenhouse where he had carefully plucked nearly two dozen of the long thorns and placed them in a specially prepared bag, points down. He had used one of these thorns for the first time in one of his practice bouts with Harry, after first learning how to remove them, and his judicious use of it had allowed him to win for the first time. Master Nhean had been suitably impressed with his tactic but had told him that it would probably be better for him to simulate the use of the thorns than to actually use them on his friends. Neville and Har! ry had grinned at each other and agreed.

Luna had managed to surprise them all. She had finally admitted to them her little secret. This admission had come after she had intervened in a practice bout similar to this one. She had insisted that they move in a direction that seemed pointless. Harry and Ron had argued with her but she had been adamant. Eventually the boys had given in to her insistent demand and had done what she had asked. They had been able to catch their opponent unawares and defeat it fairly easily. The five students had stared long and hard at Luna after the bout, debating whether to ask her or not. She had sighed, rolled her eyes and admitted to them that she had known what was going to happen. Luna's secret had turned out to be a limited form of foresight. She didn't particularly like it very much, she found it very disconcerting to get these occasional flashes of the future but she had learned to largely ignore them. When Master Nhean had asked her why she had not gotten any kind of training! to learn to control her ability, she had remarked that her mother had been teaching her before she died and that afterwards she had not wanted to leash her gift. It seems that by learning to control it, she had possibly missed the vision that would have warned her of her mother's death. She had decided it was preferable to see everything than to miss one thing. Master Nhean had then taken her aside for a quiet and very intense discussion that the others had not been privy to. The upshot of this discussion was Luna receiving lessons from Master Nhean himself in control though the others were never present during these lessons. She also allowed her gift free reign during their practice bouts and used the information she received. Her gift wasn't consistent nor could it be relied upon but the odd flashes she did get were always useful.

The creature followed them as they slowly backed around the classroom. It seemed confused and hesitant and this allowed Hermione time to wrack her brains for its identity. "It's called a Hookbeast," she finally said a little dryly, "which was a very original thought by its discoverer." She paused as she sorted through everything she had read about the creature in front of them. "Okay, it's fairly well armoured as I'm sure you've all seen. Harry, it's got an armoured carapace, front and back, hooked beak and I'm sure you've been able to identify the hook claws with your Oversight. It's vulnerable at the joins between the sections of carapace but it's pretty quick with those claws. It has a certain invulnerability to magic but we should be able to slow it down enough with the Impedimenta curse enough to close in to use our swords. We're going to have to cast the spell in groups though, I don't think one curse will effect it that much.

Harry and Ron glanced at each other and exchanged a quick flurry of hand signals. Finally Harry nodded.

"Usual groups," he said shortly. "Usual pattern, using magic this time. Give it two rounds with the Impedimenta then in with swords. In and out quickly, don't get caught in there, even slowed those claws could do some damage. Alright?" There were five quick acknowledgements. "Okay, on three. One, two, three!"

At Harry's last word, he stepped forward to stand next to Neville, threw out his left fist which was wrapped around his scabbard, Neville pointed his wand and they both yelled, "Impedimenta!"

The Hookbeast staggered as the combined curse hit it and then gave an unearthly howl. Harry and Neville quickly dropped back to the rear of the group and Ron and Ginny stepped forward and repeated the curse. They too then dropped back, this time to either side of Harry, allowing Luna and Hermione to step forward and cast their spells. The two girls dropped back into their usual Rear Guard position and Harry and Neville stepped forwards again to repeat the pattern. The repeated curses were starting to have an effect on the Hookbeast. It kept trying to move forward to attack but their curses kept knocking it back.

After Ron and Ginny released their curses for the second time, Harry saw the energies of the creature shimmer. Master Nhean had taught him that this particularly shimmer indicated that whatever he was looking at was hurt or tired. It was not indicative of deep hurt or tiredness but just that whatever was happening was starting to make an impact.

"Change to weapons!" he yelled as Hermione and Luna moved forwards.

They obeyed his instructions smoothly and darted in underneath the creature's flailing arms and aimed the points of their swords for the gaps in the carapace. Their swords struck home and they darted out and back into their normal positions before the Hookbeast could focus its attention on them. As the two girls ran back to their positions, Harry kept his attention on the creature. The shimmering intensified and he gestured to Neville. The two boys ran forward and mimicked the actions of the girls before retreating again to their formation. This time the Hookbeast, infuriated by the repeated attacks, followed them, its hook claws flailing at the six students.

"Circle and attack!" Harry ordered.

The six students separated into their pairs and swiftly encircled the enraged Hookbeast, being careful to stay out of range of the wicked claws. The creature was facing Harry and Neville and they feinted towards it before retreating step by step. Ron and Ginny circled around behind it and drove their swords into a gap in the carapace. The Hookbeast bellowed and turned to face them. The siblings darted backwards, drawing the creature's attention and allowing one of the other pairs to make their attack. Finally, the Hookbeast began to stagger, thick black blood seeping out from under its carapace in many places.

Harry eyed it warily for a moment then made his decision. "Close in!" he yelled. "Finish it off!"

The six students moved in unison, darting in and driving their swords in as deep as they could then ducking away from the agitated and desperate swipes from the Hookbeast. They darted in again and this time Harry and Neville's swords found their mark. When the six students ran back out again, the Hookbeast bellowed and fell. It convulsed a few times and then became still. Harry's Battle Guard moved back into their positions around him and backed away from the carcass of the creature they had just fought. A previous bout where their supposedly defeated enemy had jumped back up and attacked them from behind had taught them not to take things for granted and to always take this approach after a battle.

Master Nhean dispelled the wards and shields surrounding Sirius and himself and stepped forward. He waved his wand at the now-deceased Hookbeast. The body shimmered and the energy that had created it dissipated and flowed back into the floor of the classroom from whence it had come. The blood which was coating the swords of Harry and his friends disappeared along with their adversary and they gratefully sheathed their weapons. Nhean indicated for them to sit and they gratefully dropped to the floor.

"Well done," Nhean congratulated them. "Well done indeed. Hermione, that was good recall and delivery of information. Ron, Harry, good plan and good execution. The change of plan to take advantage of the change in circumstances was also well done, Harry. Your dispatch of the Hookbeast was quick and efficient."

"Would it be any different if it was real?" Hermione asked.

"But, my dear," Nhean said sternly, "it was real. The spell I use for these bouts creates a real creature out of the energy. That was a real Hookbeast."

Hermione paled. "Oh," she said weakly as the others grinned at her. That wasn't the first time she had asked that question. She couldn't seem to accept that the creatures they faced, though created out of energy by Master Nhean, were very, very real.

"Now, I think that is enough for today," Master Nhean said, clapping his hands briskly. "I will have a new challenge for you tomorrow."

Harry and his friends groaned as they pulled themselves to their feet. They trooped out of the room, chatting intensely about what they had just faced and how they had done.

Master Nhean turned to face Sirius, who had remained very quiet throughout the whole thing. "Well?" Nhean asked.

"That was remarkable," Sirius said, shaking his head in amazement. "They've really gelled together well."

"Yes," Nhean replied with a smile, "I'm really very proud of them. I've been pushing them hard and they've been responding admirably."

"Will they be ready in time for whatever Voldemort is planning?"

"Yes, I believe they may be," Nhean said firmly.