The Spellcrafters

Chapter Ten, Defence Association Issues.

Slowly, but surely, over the next few weeks, life at Hogwarts returned to normal. The hallways were yet again teeming with life. The house-elves were happily being swamped with all the cooking, cleaning and laundry they had to do. The students were slowly readjusting to the school routine and to living in the dorms with all their friends. The Great Hall was brimming with conversations and laughter at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Hogwarts had come to life again, after a long quiet summer. You could even see it in the eyes of the portraits they positively sparkled with glee. With the students return, they could finally start gossiping again. Summers always stunted their information gathering efforts, with only the house-elves, ghosts, and the solitary Professor to gossip about. Peeves was happily harassing the first years, and the ghosts, well, they were ghosts.

The new teachers had become a great hit, and Mrs. Croft's Defence Against the Dark Arts class was fast becoming every one's favourite subject. After her first lesson, the one with the Vampire bat. She had brought a real Vampire to school. Next lesson she brought in a Grendl (a member of the species that Beowulf, that Muggle legend talks about), and the week after that she brought in a Lethifold in a sealed glass cube. She made her lessons so interesting, that absenteeism was a thing of the past in her classroom.

The first year Potion brewing talents were blossoming under the watchful and supportive eye of the Assistant Potions teacher, Professor Croft. Even Neville, who was only taking the remedial Potions class this year, because his Grandmother insisted that he should. Neville had signed up for tutoring sessions with the Assistant Professor. The result being that Neville, who could do no good in Snape's class, was by now getting passing grades on his Potions and his essays. Professor Snape, contented by the teaching abilities of his new assistant, though he still considered Max a bit soft on the students, left more and more of his teaching responsibilities to him.

Snape was incredibly burdened by his responsible because he was in fact working for three 'Masters'. Masters who called him away increasingly more and more after summer's end. Not to mention that he would be summoned at the weirdest times, three o'clock in the morning, in the middle of his advanced (N.E.W.T.) potions class... The only thing Snape was grateful for was that Voldemort only summoned him at night; it would have been impossible to explain to the students, otherwise.

Serving Voldemort (preparing Potions and poisons), Hogwarts (teaching) and the Order (preparing Potions and the Simulacrum for the final test of the Crenellation Coal Potion), barely left him with any time to sleep. By the end of the first month, Severus Snape was exhausted! Mentally and physically exhausted! He was unable to do his main and foremost task, to teach and torment his students.

He turned over all classes from the first-years up to the fourth-years to his assistant, and only taught the fifth, sixth and seventh-years himself. Even then, Professor Croft would have to take over if Professor Snape was to be called away urgently.

The students started to go to Professor Croft with all of their questions regarding Potions. Even the seventh-year N.E.W.T. class students preferred asking Max, because you actually got a straight, useful answer. Instead of a sneer and five points off from Snape.

Because Professor Croft was a reasonably good-looking man, an almost Gilderoy Lockheart type fan club, of schoolgirls who were convinced they loved him, popped up. Some members even followed their idol around, stared at him like little lovesick puppies at lunch and wrote anonymous (Not!) letters declaring their undying devotion. The object of their affection would read the letters out loud to his wife, and many a time after dinner, roaring laughter could be heard, coming from the Croft's living quarters.

Orion, the rascal, had quickly become Gryffindor's favourite. If, you didn't find him lounging about, in front of the fireplace in the Croft's apartment. He would usually be found in the Gryffindor common room, on his back, being petted by several of the first year girls. Orion also seemed to be an excellent judge of character, because the only common room he had yet to be seen in, was the Slytherin dungeon.

*****

Harry had told Mrs. Croft at the next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson he had, that he, Hermione and Ron would be more than willing to continue with the Defence Association. He also requested some time to develop a schedule to accommodate both advanced (last years DA members) and beginning members. Harry also wanted a questionnaire, to weed out any unwanted elements.

Mrs. Croft had agreed to all of Harry's requests and had given him a month to get organised. A month that was now at an end...

That morning, Harry woke up early, it had been a good thing he had gone to bed before ten o'clock last night; he needed to get the sign-up sheets and the questionnaires over to Mrs. Croft, for her final approval. The Trio had decided on working with two groups. One group containing the advanced and old Defence Association members, and a second group, that would contain the new members, until they were skilled enough to join the advanced group.

Harry shook his head violently, until he was absolutely awake. He put on a shirt and a pair of jeans, he didn't need his full wizard uniform to go to the Owlery. Harry thought Hedwig would enjoy having something to do. Without his Godfather, Harry didn't really have anyone to write to, that wasn't living with him already. Sirius climbed on Harry's shoulder as he left the dorm room and walked down the stairs.

Even though it was only six o'clock in the morning, Harry found that he was not alone in the common room, the new sixth year girl, Delphine Nicolevskaya was up also. She was looking out the window, out over the lake, lost in her own thoughts.

She didn't even appear to notice that Harry was standing behind her until he touched her on the shoulder saying, "Are you all right, Delphine?"

Startled she jumped up, bumped into Harry and thus pushed him onto the floor before saying, "Oh, I'm really sorry, I didn't hear you come down. I woke up really early today and wanted to enjoy the silence for as long as it lasted. What did you say?"

She walked over and reached out to help Harry stand up again.

"Nothing important really," he replied, "I just asked if you were all right, you were staring out the window, with kind of a sad expression on your face."

Harry then collected the pieces of parchment, which had also gone flying after Harry had gotten a shove; he tied them together with a string and headed towards the common room exit.

"Where are you going?" Delphine asked.

"I have to send these to Mrs. Croft, they are the sign up sheets and the questionnaires for the DADA club. I thought I would give my pet owl something to do, besides hunting down mice."

"Oh great idea, do you mind if I walk with you?"

"No, you're welcome to join me..."

A few empty hallways and staircases later, Harry asked, "So how do you like it here, at Hogwarts?"

"It's a good school, no doubt about that, but I miss my friends back at Durmstrang," she replied with a hint of regret in her voice.

"Aren't there any other Durmstrang transfers students? I thought I heard Professor McGonagall mention quite a few a month ago."

"Yes, but they are all purebloods and consider it offensive that I got sorted into Gryffindor. Lazlo Volkanov, the boy who was sorted into Slytherin, was in my year at Durmstrang. Back then we used to talk for hours about Transfigurations, our favourite subject. Since we transferred here, all he has said to me are the same two words, over and over again. 'Mudblood lover'."

Without knowing what to say to this revelation, Harry and Delphine walked the rest of the way to the Owlery in silence. In the Owlery, Harry quickly attached the package of parchments to the leg of his faithful owl, Hedwig. She had flown down from her perch in the rafters to the lowest beam when she saw her master come in. Delphine looked around with mild interest at the multitude of magnificent owls present in the Owlery at this hour, the end of the night and the dawn of a new day.

After asking Hedwig, "The package is for Professor Alex, could you deliver it at breakfast?" Harry received a nip on his fingers and thus reassured, he turned around and walked out of the tower, leaving Delphine standing next to one of the long, narrow and glassless windows, staring out over the Forbidden Forest. Harry walked back to the Gryffindor common room at a brisk pace. He wanted to shower and change before breakfast.

When he arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, she was still wiping away tears of laughter from her cheeks. Harry grinned and said the password, "Glee club" thinking 'looks like Orion is gracing us with his presence again. I wonder who he is going to freak out this time?'

All the other sixth year boys had already undergone the freak and stare technique and had reacted very well considering. Not even Neville, who was not exactly the bravest of the bunch, had catapulted Orion through the dorm when his turn came around. Milan had in fact shown the worst reaction, he had started shouting French swear words, Putain, salope and bête idiot, being some of the less inflammatory repeated words he uttered. Nevertheless, even Milan had calmed down by the time it was his turn to take a shower.

With a last chuckle, Harry walked to his room and got a towel and his school uniform, soon it would be time for breakfast. Sirius jumped on the bed when he saw the towel. As much as he loved his master, showering was not one of his favourite passtimes. No, he would hunt down chocolate frogs all day long, if only he could keep his fur dry.

___________________________________________________________________________

/p>

Around midnight, the night before, Severus Snape had been recovering from his last Death Eater meeting. Voldemort had called on his followers relatively early. At half past nine in the evening, the black mark on his arm had started burning ...

*Flashback*

Potions essays had started flying, when Severus jumped up and rushed to the door. He only stopped long enough to pluck his long black cloak with the large hood off of the coat stand and to scoop his Potions case up from the ground underneath. He quickly ran through the corridors to the entrance hall, looked around for any witnesses and then dashed into the night.

Once outside the castle gates and the anti-Apparition wards, he donned the cloak over his robes and Apparated to the meeting point. When he arrived, he was practically the last one to take his place in the circle. He was still panting a little from his exertion. Nevertheless, he heard a twig snap behind him, he resisted the urge to turn around and find out what caused the noise and pretended to be oblivious...

His immediate neighbours (Crabbe on his left and Goyle on the right) looked over their shoulders. However, they soon lost interest when they didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

A few minutes later, when the circle was virtually complete, Voldemort started speaking, shouting actually. He was displeased at the lack of progress, at the continued absence of Wormtail as well as any information regarding his whereabouts. Or the simple pleasure of having Wormtail's dead body in front of him.

Voldemort spewed his rage and awarded punishment by means of the occasional Cruciatus Curse and called on several of his minions to report their findings.

"Nott," he bellowed, "come forward and recount your progress."

Nott, a frail wisp of a man, stumbled forward and started his treatise.

"Azkaban has changed regimes my Lord. It has changed its guards, Sir. The Dementors that are your natural allies have been replaced, by Goblins. The Ministry obviously must have realised that if you proposed an alliance to the Dementors, they would accept..." he practically whispered.

"The Ministry obviously realised! The Ministry obviously realised? Those Ministry buffoons wouldn't realise their rear ends were on fire if they didn't have the necessary paperwork lying right in front of them. No! This is Dumbledore's doing. That old coot, he is meddling in my affairs again," Voldemort spat out in an eruption of rage.

The circle of followers grew slightly larger, because every single one unconsciously wanted to increase the distance between themselves and 'evil incarnate'.

"Doesn't anyone have any good news? Why do I even keep you all around since you are all so utterly useless," he continued. "Snape, report!"

Snape picked up the Potions case he had previously placed on the ground next to his feet and walked to the centre of the circle. He replaced Nott, who had cowered backwards until he reached his own designated spot again.

"I have done as my Dark Lord requested. The Poisons asked for are all ready and contained in this case. If my Master requires more, I have a larger stock available. You need only ask," Severus uttered in a serene and strong voice.

"Bellatrix," Voldemort's voice boomed, "retrieve that case and bring it here."

Bellatrix had been acting like a beaten dog, or Wormtail for that matter, for the past month. Bellatrix scrambled over to Snape, tore the case out of his hands, with an animal like ferocity and returned to her place at the right hand of Voldemort.

"You may step down Snape, you have pleased me greatly. Wish that the rest of my followers were s competent as you."

Snape returned to his place between Crabbe and Goyle, who seemed to be almost envious of the compliment he had received. He shook his head and attempted to get the looks of despair on their faces out of his mind. Instead he looked around the circle, over the past month, he had seen a steadfast deterioration in his 'fellow Death Eaters'. Their moral was low and at some points non-existent.

He remembered thinking only a week ago, 'if only Harry were ready, Voldemort would be dead in no time...'

Snape's attention veered from the proceedings of the inner circle for a while, as he attempted to hear whether someone was still observing the whole thing from the bushes behind him... Try as he might however, his ears couldn't pick up the slightest sound or movement that would suggest a presence, whatsoever. He returned to paying attention, Lee Travers and Donald Avery had just been called into the centre of the circle a few minutes earlier to report.

Last meeting, Voldemort had assigned them the task of finding him new followers. From the fact that they returned to their places without enduring any suffering, Snape deduced that they had performed said task well. He had to stifle a groan of disappointment.

Luckily the next two called upon, hadn't been as successful. Brandon Wilkes and Willard Jugson had been charged with the recovery of an old Grimoire. Snape unfortunately could not overhear the name of the book. They paid dearly for their failure, as their screams echoed into the night...

*End flashback*

Severus was sitting in his private quarters with a triple Fire whisky in hand. Trying to capture the events of the meeting while they were still prancing around in his head. The last thing he mentioned in his report was his suspicion that someone had been watching the meeting. Not a Death Eater, but an outsider. Whether he or she was a Wizard or a Muggle he didn't know. Severus however did know that whoever it was, he or she had superior skills at hiding themselves...

For he hadn't been caught.

___________________________________________________________________________

Breakfast started with a flutter of wings, the owls delivering the mail for the day. Hedwig made Harry proud by landing right in front of Professor Alex, without hitting one of the flasks of Pumpkin juice that were grouped there. Unlike Pig, who would have bowled all the flasks over in his excitement! Once the Professor relieved her of her package, she flew over to the Gryffindor table to receive her reward. A few slices of bacon and some sips of Harry's Pumpkin juice.

Harry received a smile from the head table. Professor Alex had quickly flipped through the parchments and considered them very well done. The timetable for the club was easy, while taking into consideration all the Quidditch practices the various members had to attend. Not to mention that the questionnaires were a gem, they were simple but asked just the right questions to weed out people who just wanted in for a lark. Alex was very proud of the students that prepared this. She figured that Hermione, the brains of their little outfit, would have had a lot to do with their conception.

When breakfast was done, Harry and Hermione, the only two Gryffindors who were taking the N.E.W.T. Potions class, quickly walked down to the Dungeons. Lately, Professor Snape's mood had gotten even more unpredictable. On top of that, he often seemed tired and sometimes even downright drunk. Not even the few Slytherins, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, that had made the grades to get into the class, could get an appreciative word anymore.

This year, the Sixth year N.E.W.T. Potions class was a small group; only eight people had made it through the tough selection process. Harry, Hermione, Blaise, Draco, Ernie Macmillan, Susan Bones, Padma Patil and Terry Boot. When Harry and Hermione walked into the Potions Classroom, they were incredibly relieved to find Professor Croft, not Snape sitting at the desk, going over the potion they were to prepare today.

After everyone had taken their seats, the Professor started explaining the effects of the 'clear mirror' potion. He also elaborated on the uses and origins of the Potion. He said that it was a Potion primarily used by seers to scry for visions in the clarity of the liquid. Next, Professor Croft wrote the ingredients on the blackboard with a flick of his wand and told them to look on page 278 of their Potions textbook for the correct procedure.

Harry and Hermione got started. However, not together... Harry was working with Susan Bones and Hermione had been paired up with Ernie Macmillan.

Harry didn't really mind that he had to work with Susan; she was a nice girl. He only resented the reason why. The overseers had organised a sit down with the Headmaster. They proposed a way to improve inter-house relations ... They had suggested that if you needed to pair up with someone in whatever class, you had to choose someone from another house. Dumbledore didn't see any harm in this suggestion and now it was practically an unwritten rule at Hogwarts. Luckily it did not only apply to Gryffindors, everyone had to adhere to this newfangled rule. Draco had been paired up with Padma Patil in Potions class, which was not really that advantageous for him. He kept being distracted from his potion by Padma's good looks. Lastly, Terry Boot got paired up with Blaise Zabini.

Soon Harry and Susan's Potion was merrily simmering for the required twenty three minutes, and Harry's mind drifted to more pleasant things. The Quidditch season would start up again soon. With Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George, and Katie graduating or 'escaping' last year, the Gryffindor team had become severely disabled.

Harry would take up his position as Seeker again. Ginny was good, but she still had nothing on him when it came to catching the Snitch. Besides, she much preferred being a Chaser anyway. Ron was slowly getting the hang of being a good Keeper. Harry had scheduled some time for try-outs later in the day.

He wanted to see if anyone could do better at being a beater than Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper. In addition, he also had to find two more Chasers that could catch and throw a Quaffle in the right direction. With only a month before the game against Slytherin, he couldn't afford to waste anymore time.

Harry would have started earlier, if only the school board would lift the ban, Umbridge had placed upon him. Professor McGonagall had given him the good news, that the ban had finally been lifted, last Friday and she had returned his trusted Firebolt. It had been found in a remote area of the Dungeons, bolted and chained against a wall, behind a thick oak door.

"Harry," Susan whispered, while shoving an elbow into his stomach. "Pay attention, the twenty three minutes are almost up."

"Yes, the Potion," he replied, still a bit fazed. "What do we have to do next?"

"We have to take it off the fire..."

Harry took out his wand, said," Wingardium Leviosa," and levitated the heavy cauldron off of the flames. Next, he checked that off his Potions to do list, one of Professor Croft's tricks to get a potion right. "What's next?"

"Stir counter clockwise fifty times and meanwhile add fifteen ounces of pure white sand to the mix."

Harry measured the sand on his scales and Susan started stirring. He was about to add the sand, when Snape barged into the classroom. He looked really sick. His clothes looked dishevelled, he was even paler than usual and reeked of alcohol.

"Finish up in quiet please," said Professor Croft, who sheperded Snape into the office adjoining the classroom.

Harry and Susan finished their potions well within the time limit. They filled two sample flasks, wrote their names on the labels, and left them on the desk before they left. Harry was dying to find out what had happened to Snape.

*****

Later that afternoon, all the classes were done, and practically all of Gryffindor had congregated at the Quidditch field, to watch the try-outs themselves. Harry had been very pleased with the high number of people who wanted to try out. Some of the transfer students had even signed up, to support their House. By now, they were really fitting in nicely.

Harry first wanted to try out the Chasers. He sent up Andrew and Jack with the Bludgers to make it difficult for them. And Ginny, armed with the Quaffle, to put them through their paces.

Harry read the names of the first three applicants out loud, "Milan Bourdean, Iago Stefanovich and Dennis Creevey."

He watched them move, Milan and Iago, a new fourth year, seemed to do quite well together, they were working as a team, passing the Quaffle nicely between them and Ginny. They were also doing a great job avoiding the Bludgers being sent at them by Andrew and Jack. Harry even noticed that Jack had improved a lot since last year. His aim and strength were a lot better.

Dennis however, being photographed by his brother at every turn, was doing considerably worse. By the time ten minutes had gone by, the Bludgers had flung him off his broom twice. He had dropped the Quaffle six times and missed his teammates by miles if he tried passing them the Quaffle.

No, to Harry it was perfectly clear that Dennis was not Quidditch material. Milan and Iago, however, were people he had to consider. He called on the next three people to try out. "Delphine Nicolevskaya, Parvati Patil and, Euan Stiles."

Euan was a small, second year student who had been the first to sign up for Chaser try-outs when Harry had posted the request last Saturday.

Harry spent one more hour looking at try-outs, before calling it a day. He, Andrew, Ron, Jack and Ginny, would decide together who would join the team. Harry announced to everyone why had tried out that the results would be posted on the bulletin board in the common room, the day after tomorrow.

Chapter Eleven, Collecting and Gathering Minds.