The Spellcrafters

Chapter Nine, Overseers and Under-Achievers.

After the banquet, Dumbledore retired to his office for the night. He had been pondering the conundrum Peter Pettigrew presented. The traitor had not said another word since he had been removed from Grimmauld Place. Hell, he hadn't even uttered another word after crying out for Lily to forgive him. He had cracked and had become a burden, utterly useless to the Order.

Dumbledore had doled out orders to have him detained in an Order safe house, guarded by two Order members at all times and surrounded by anti-Apparition and anti-Animagus Wards. Dumbledore had hoped that time would restore this unique source of information to mental health. Every day that passed however, diminished the chance, and his hope of that ever happening.

Right now, Dumbledore was staring at the book that Pettigrew had carried with him into Grimmauld Place in his Animagus form. It was a really old volume, encased in a thick, heavy cover of Horntail Dragon Skin. The embossed golden lettering that had once revealed the title had weathered away, only leaving the indentations 'Phelthane's ...'. The contents of the book, several chapters of priceless information, were written in an indecipherable code. A code he needed Pettigrew to break.

The Headmaster gathered that the book was an ancient Grimoire, a tome of spells written down by their inventor, Pheltane, to preserve them for his descendants. The volume had probably been written in code to keep evildoers from using them to cause harm. Dumbledore had researched the apparent author of the book only to find out that the man had died some seven hundred and eighty years ago. He died leaving behind two children, identical twin girls.

He had looked into the family line further, only to be disappointed because of the gaping holes in the documentation of that era, which was scarce, ill written and far in between.

Dumbledore shook his head, got up out of his seat and walked to his bedroom to turn in for the night. He was considering letting Severus Snape use Legillimency, to peruse the mind of Pettigrew for the key to unlocking the cipher, the code, but feared that the process might damage the already fragile mind further.

With a single word, he extinguished the candles in the apartment; he slid underneath the covers and let his mind wander.

*****

Mean while, Orion had gone in search of one particularly interesting smell, in fact it was a combination of smells, one human and one animal. His curiosity piqued, Orion set out to hunt down the origins of this smell. He faintly remembered smelling this scent before, on his female adoptee's clothing, but that was a long time ago.

He had started following the smell in the Great Hall, at a table dressed up in reds and gold's, followed it out into the huge hallway and started climbing up the stairs in pursuit. Orion was sometimes baffled by the walls, which were actually doors acting like walls, walls pretending to be doors, or staircases that moved as he was climbing on them. He had even run into a door that wouldn't open unless you tickled it.

Eventually, after searching deep into the midnight hours, he found himself in front of a portrait of a large human woman, sleeping in her picture frame. Orion figured, that if you could open doors by tickling them, maybe that would work with portraits too.

The Fat Lady awoke with a start; being tickled until she woke up was not a usual wake up call. The students she protected would usually shout at her until she woke up and responded.

"Yes, who's there? Password please," she said to the dark night air, unable to see who was waiting in the shadows.

Nothing but silence, and the shushed echo of her own words came floating back to her.

The tickling, however, continued, in the end the Fat Lady was rolling around with laughter so hard that the frame unintentionally swung open and revealed the entrance to the Gryffindor Common room. Orion stepped through and resumed tracking the scent. Up the right turning flight of stairs, the third room counted from the bottom, the smell became stronger.

Orion reached for the door handle and turned...there was no light in the room except for the few tendrils of moonlight, which were seeping in through the windows. The smell guided him to the first four-poster, of six beds that were present in the room, on his right. The drapes on the bed had been drawn, so Orion couldn't see inside. He snuck up to the bed, slid underneath the drapes and sat down on the covers.

He saw a young boy, accompanied by a little animal that was asleep next to the boy's ear. Orion decided not to wake the two who were sleeping so peacefully and wait till morning to spring his arrival on them. He curled up at the foot of the boy's bed and fell asleep...

*****

The next morning brought the light of the rising sun streaming in through the windows of the sixth year boy's dorm room. Soon Neville, Dean, Seamus and Ron were bickering about who got to use the showers first. Milan, the new boy, was still asleep, sometimes stirring in his bed.

Harry was having a great dream, Sirius was there and also another animal he had never seen before. Harry knew he was dreaming because the animal's pelt had a gorgeous royal blue colour and was right now sitting on the foot of his bed. Harry turned around for a few more minutes of sleep, forgetting all about his 'dream'. When he woke up fifteen minutes later, his hand reaching at the bedside table in search of his glasses, he noticed a presence hanging over him.

When he put his glasses on, he saw two huge eyes staring back at him. Gentle and loving eyes that convinced Harry that he was looking at a new friend. When Harry wanted to sit up straighter, the new presence in his bed eased back, allowing him room to sit. Harry shook his head to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

In front of him, was the animal from his dreams, bright royal blue pelt, and huge eyes. Was he still asleep? He pinched himself on the arm.

"Auch, that hurt," he shouted in surprise, causing the other boys in the dorm to pull open the curtains of his four-poster bed. 'Ok,' he thought, 'so I'm not dreaming...'

"Harry? What in heavens name is that? It can't be Sirius, because there is no way he could have grown that much over night," asked Ron. "Are you hiding one of Hagrid's critters again?" he added with a sarcastic tone.

"No, I can honestly say that I have no idea where this animal came from, nor do I know why it seemed to enjoy sitting on my chest, staring at me."

Neville shyly approached the animal and reached out to pet him. Orion, who had grown fond of being touched by humans, they always seemed to know where to scratch, surprised Neville, by rolling over and exposing his belly. Neville quickly recovered and resumed stroking the gorgeous animal's fur.

"Harry, you'd better hurry, you need to have some breakfast before class, which starts in forty five minutes," Dean said, warning Harry that he had overslept. "And by the way Harry, if I read my textbook on magical creatures right, that is a 'Demiguise'."

Harry leapt out of his bed, still wondering where that 'Demiguise' was that what Dean had called it, had come from. He shook his head again vigorously and headed for the bathroom, washed his face, and returned to their dorm room to get dressed. After putting on his robes, Sirius jumped up onto his shoulder and settled there so he could get him some breakfast before returning the little tyke to the dorm. Harry grabbed the stasis box; he now used it to store the crickets he needed for Sirius's diet, to keep them nice and fresh. The boys headed to the Great Hall for breakfast followed shortly by Orion.

When he entered the Great Hall, Alex saw Orion walk in with a group of boys, one of which seemed familiar to her. Wasn't that the boy, who had almost knocked her over at Diagon Alley, on his way to the Notary's office?

Orion's presence made people who were animatedly talking to their friends drop everything to stare over their shoulders, whispers along the lines of, 'what is that?' 'Where did it come from?' 'What is it doing with Potter?' sprung up everywhere.

"Albus, I'm sorry. Professor Dumbledore. Who is that boy, the one with the unruly black hair, with that small animal on his shoulder?" Alex asked the man sitting on her right.

"Oh, but Alex my dear, that is Harry Potter. Didn't you know?" the old man replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

'Harry Potter,' she thought to herself, 'surely not the son of James Potter, or could it...' Then it hit her, but of course, that's why she had had that nagging feeling, the feeling that she knew the boy before.

"Well," she said, "it seems that Orion has performed his wake up call again, though it was better received this time."

A huge smile appeared on her face as she saw the reaction her tall, greasy-haired colleague presented to her remark.

Max, who sat on her left, snickered as he saw the possessive behaviour Orion was presenting over the group of boys, and said, "Well maybe now he won't have to harass my rats any more. There are plenty of playmates for him around."

Alex got up from her seat; bid everyone at the Head table a good day. Next, she walked towards Orion, patted him on the back and said, " I hope Orion didn't scare you boys too much? He has special way of making new friends."

"Good Morning, Professor Croft, yeah he does," Harry replied with a little smile. "I found him this morning...or maybe he found me, my nose was almost touching his, luckily I didn't have my glasses on, or I might have freaked."

"Oh, well then you reacted better than Professor Snape, who almost catapulted him clean across the room when he woke up with Orion on his chest at our house last week."

This mental image created an outbreak of the giggles that rapidly spread across the Gryffindor table. Every single person tried to imagine the odious Professor Severus Snape scared of Orion, who seemed such a gentle animal.

"Well youngsters, eat your breakfast," Alex uttered, trying to hide her own amusement at the whole situation, "Classes will start soon, and I do believe I have the sixth year Gryffindors for my first period."

She then walked out of the Hall, followed by Orion, who had sneaked a few bananas off of the Gryffindor breakfast table.

A few minutes later, Hermione walked over to sit with her friends.

"You are both late, overslept again?" she asked.

"No, Hermione. We just got a little side tracked this morning, when Orion-" Harry thought that was the animals name, "-decided to give me the honour of his special wake up call." Harry answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Orion? Who, what? Well, never mind then, here are our class schedules," she replied a little confused, as she handed them out to her friends.

"Well, we had better get going, or we'll be late for our first class...," Harry said before getting up out of his seat.

Before Hermione and Ron could catch up, Harry had walked out of the Great Hall.

*****

The first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the new school year looked like it was going to get interesting. When Harry walked into the classroom, he saw that the Professor had set up a cage with what looked like a bat on her desk and had drawn the curtains of the classroom shut. Slowly the students filed into the now candle lit room, sitting with friends and whispering about what they expected from this new teacher.

When everyone was accounted for, Professor Croft started speaking, "Good morning class."

"Good Morning, Professor Croft," replied the class, made up of Gryffindor and Slytherin Sixth years.

"Let's start with that shall we, since there will be two professors Croft teaching at Hogwarts this year I will allow you to call me Professor Alex, to avoid any confusion. Ok, that's that. Now as for your books, we won't be needing them in class today, so if you would, please put them away."

The sound of books being put back in their satchels was quite loud. All the students had expected a repeat Umbridge and were now getting excited at the prospect of actually learning how to deal with Dark Creatures.

"I know you had a rather dreadful teacher last year, Umbridle or something of the sort, who only taught you what she thought you needed to know from a book, if I am correct."

Hermione raised her hand high in the air and Alex acknowledged her.

"Yes, Professor Alex, that was Dolores Umbridge, she had us reading 'Defence Against the Dark Arts, A Return to Basic Principles' the whole year, saying that if we studied hard enough without actually practicing the spells, we would do fine on our OWLs."

"Indeed, dreadful woman, however it does not seem to have had that large an impact on most of the Gryffindor students in the class. I have reviewed the scores and they were remarkably high. Care to explain?" Alex said with a little smile.

She had heard from Headmaster Dumbledore that Harry Potter and his friends had started a club to practice their techniques on their own. Alex thought it was a great idea, and hoped to continue the club this year.

Harry tentatively raised his hand, "Yes, euhm, Professor Alex. We kind of started a club to practice what Professor Umbridge wouldn't teach us."

"What an excellent idea, no wonder you Gryffindors did so well on your OWLs. Did you teach the other students, Harry? I heard from Professor Lupin that you have a rather vast knowledge of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Harry was glowing with pride and said, "Yes, I did, because well there was no-one else."

"You did an excellent job dear, I would like to talk to you in my office after class, if you don't mind," Alex replied thinking, 'What an intelligent young man, just like his father.'

"Back to class, today I have brought a Vampire bat with me, who can tell me what they really are."

Immediately after finishing her question, Hermione's hand was high up in the air...

*****

When class finished, everyone was very excited, even Hermione said she had learned something new about Vampire bats. The new professor would be a big hit with all the students. Harry told Ron and Hermione that he would come to their Charms class a bit late because Mrs. Croft wanted to talk to him first.

He walked into her office, which now looked like Harry thought it should. It looked like it had when Remus had been a professor here, bookshelves filled to the brim with 'How to' books, a large cage in the corner, an aquarium with small sea monkeys inside in front of the window and lastly a large desk with comfy chairs. When Harry saw Professor Alex, she was just putting away her 'How to Identify and Kill a Vampire Bat' book.

"Oh, hi Harry," the Professor said when she noticed his presence. "Please have a seat." She pointed at the chair in front of the desk.

When they were both seated, she started the conversation by saying, "Professor Dumbledore told me about your 'Defence Association', or do you prefer 'Dumbledore's Army?'"

This question brought a smile to Harry's face and he replied, "We used, Defence Association, DA for short. 'Dumbledore's Army' was on the sign up sheet because we wanted to spite Umbridge."

"Well Harry, what I asked you in here for was, would you like to continue your Defence Association? I believe a lot of students could benefit from a few training rounds every once in a while. Especially the fifth and seventh years could use some tutoring, with the OWLs and the NEWTs rapidly approaching."

"I would be glad to, but I didn't do it all on my own, I would have to ask Ron and Hermione too. Without them I never could have done it," Harry answered modestly.

"Of course you can ask your friends first. Let me know your answer at our next lesson. That will give me some time to start planning. You will have to open the membership to all the houses however. I believe you purposefully did not inform the Slytherins of the existence of your club? In addition, I will be present at practically all your meetings. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, Professor Alex, but would you allow me to make some questionnaires then, so that people who only want in to make trouble can be weeded out?"

"Sure Harry, in fact that sounds like a great idea. Now run along, I know you have another class, if it hasn't already begun. I had better give you a tardy slip to excuse you," Alex said while scribbling the reason for Harry's tardiness down on a strip of parchment and sending him off.

The rest of the day passed relatively calmly, Harry told Ron and Hermione about his conversation with Professor Alex over lunch and both of them quickly agreed to start up the DA again. Hermione even congratulated Harry about adding the questionnaires as a prerequisite for admission to the club. The Trio shuddered at the thought of Draco Malfoy and his Goons wrecking the whole thing.

*****

After supper, Hermione and Ron were off to their first official Prefects meeting. Harry was still in the Great Hall feeding Sirius (Harry had run up to the dorm after his last class to go get him), when Orion popped his head in through the doors, curious still about Harry's companion.

Sirius cautiously climbed down Harry's arm onto the table, looking straight at Orion, as if tempting the larger animal to join him up there. Orion, who was anything but scared, quickly jumped up, and Harry observed their interaction. The animals' noses were touching they were both sniffing around each other. Harry thought they had decided to be friends, because Sirius walked over to his feeding bowl picked up a cricket and handed it to Orion, who tastily devoured it whole.

After calling for Dobby to take the last dishes off the table, Harry called Sirius back to him and walked to the Gryffindor common room. Just as he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Orion caught up with them, two apples in his right hand. Harry said the password and then had to wait for Orion to clear the way, before climbing in himself.

He picked one of the comfy plush armchairs facing the fireplace to sit down and read. Orion had curled up in front of the fireplace, tastily eating his apples. Harry put Sirius on the arms of the chair and walked up to his dorm room to get a book. He thought it was time to figure out why Hermione had given him 'Wizard Bloodlines Through the Ages, An Illustrated Genealogy'.

He had started reading, but halfway through the second chapter, Neville walked into the common room, dirty as hell.

Harry asked, "What the bloody hell happened, Neville? Is Malfoy up to his old tricks again?"

"Oh no Harry, it is nothing like that. I am doing extra credit work with Professor Sprout, working in the greenhouses. She says that she doesn't understand why I'm no good at Potions, because Herbology is so important to start with on that subject," Neville said with a huge grin on his face.

"Quite right Neville, your problem is that you are afraid of Snape all the time in stead of paying attention to your Potion, maybe Professor Croft will take over a few of your lessons and you'll be able to show what you are able to do," Harry said to encourage Neville. God only knew how much the boy needed that.

After that, Neville went upstairs to take a well-deserved shower and Harry continued reading. An hour later Ron and Hermione walked in though the portrait hole. They seemed to be talking about schedules and rotations. When Ron saw Harry, he walked over and sat down in the armchair next to Harry's.

"You'll never guess what Dumbledore has us do now. He is nuts, really," he said with a loud sigh.

"Don't exaggerate Ron, it is not that bad an idea," scolded Hermione.

"Ok, you two hold it right there, before you are off again. What are you talking about? Maybe I can prevent you two from going at each others throats," Harry interjected, seeing another one of their famous rows coming on.

Hermione answered by saying, "Well, I think it is a great idea. Iason Graystone brought it up at the prefects meeting today. He thought that overseers..."

"Hermione, slow down. What the hell are overseers? Explain this idea in English please."

"Overseers are the four students, one from each house, who are going to be in charge of inter-house relations," she replied. "Isn't it great!"

Harry frowned and said, "That sounds like an Educational Decree, if I ever heard of one. Who got picked from Gryffindor?"

Ron replied agitated, "The biggest Percy wannabe there is, that seventh year girl, Amanda Prunella Cates. We already have to get down on our knees to thank God, because she didn't become Head Girl this year."

Chapter Ten, Defence Association Issues.