Harry Potter and the House Divided

Chapter Eight "Conversations, Arrangements and Boundaries"

After Tonks and Professor McGonagall left Harry and his headmaster to the dubious company of Buckbeak, the older wizard sighed deeply and waved his hand at the door which closed with a soft click. A few charms later and Harry knew that nothing would have a chance at penetrating the room or interrupting the uncomfortable conversation that was to come.

Harry, still standing by Buckbeak's dinner pail was surprised to see the headmaster bend down, pick up a ferret and offer it to the hippogriff. It would be a very long time before he would come to understand that his headmaster, usually so calm and self-assured, was badly shaken by the confrontation that had erupted between Harry and Hogwarts' potions master.

The two wizards, one old and care-worn, the other young, grieving and still very angry spent several minutes together feeding the hippogriff. It became obvious to Harry that neither wanted to open the conversation and he was truly shocked when he heard himself apologize to his headmaster.

"Uh, Professor, I'm really sorry about earlier. It's just that I'm tired of being accused of everything by Snape and having no way to get him off my back. He's right, I've done a lot of stupid things and I don't want to anymore since too many people around me are going to die if I can't stop, but I'm really tired of him getting on me whether I deserve it or not."

"As I told you when you did such a fine job of redecorating my office in June," Professor Dumbledore said with a small smile, "Professor Snape has not learned how to separate the actions of someone who died many years ago from those of his greatest enemy's son.

I fear that matters between you may become even more uncomfortable than they have been, but I must ask you not to carry out your threat no matter the cost to you or your friends. Everyone has an important role to play in the war that is beginning to break out and because he is one of the few people who can tell me what Tom is planning, Professor Snape's position must be maintained as it is so that many lives can be saved with the information that he brings us."

"Look, sir, I know how important he is but that doesn't give him the right to break my samples, abuse Neville or yell at Hermione because she's the only one who knows the answers to his questions. I'll back off but only if you tell him to treat the Gryffindors the same way that he does the Slytherins."

Harry was shocked to hear Professor Dumbledore laugh in response to his proposal.

"Well, Harry, I can now see why the sorting hat thought that you would be a strong candidate for Slytherin house. You've already got Gryffindor's bravery, loyalty to your friends that would make Helga Hufflepuff proud and more than enough intelligence to do quite well in Ravenclaw. It pleases me greatly to see that you're willing to show that part of yourself that Salazar Slytherin would have appreciated."

Harry was horrified to realize that he had proposed a bargain that any Slytherin would have been proud of. Professor Dumbledore, seemingly reading his expression, smiled and made an offer of his own.

"I propose that instead of the bargain that you have offered, we agree that should you believe that one of your friends is mistreated, you will assign them points in exact proportion to those taken away by Professor Snape. Of course, I will have to give final approval for this but it will give you a chance to learn how to be just in the use of your abilities when you are trying to redress the injustices that you will certainly see in your life."

"Uh, Professor, I'm not even a prefect and I'm assuming that you're not planning to bring the Inquisitorial Squad back, so how am I going to be able to give points?"

"Well, Harry, I thought that given the tremendous success of the students who made up our fine army on last year's O.W.L and N.E.W.T examinations that the group should be given official status. Of course, should you lead it again this year, you would receive an appointment as a professor's assistant for magical Defense and therefore the ability to give and take points in your classroom and possibly elsewhere as well."

It took a few seconds for Harry to find his voice after this most surprising turn of events.

"But so many of us got hurt at the ministry" he objected, knowing that exam scores were hardly an indicator of his prowess as a teacher.

"Yes, six fourth and fifth year students faced almost a dozen fully trained adult wizards and held them off with no permanent damage for nearly an hour. They also kept their enemies from gaining information that would have seriously compromised the ability of everyone fighting against Lord Voldemort to prevent his rise to total power and managed to force him to come out into the open. You have also forced Minister Fudge to recognize the return of Lord Voldemort and probably saved many lives now that our community is preparing for the war that reopened last night."

"But I couldn't save Sirius" Harry said, eyes on the floor.

"Harry, I know and understand all too well that it will be a long time before you fully accept this but Sirius' death was not your responsibility. Many people made choices that led to it and I am certain that if we were able to ask him now, he would tell you that he would choose to come to the ministry again, even knowing what the consequences to him would be."

"Maybe so," Harry said softly, "but I wouldn't have done what I did."

"If you didn't know what you do now, I think that you would have made exactly the same choices as you did in June and this, Harry, much as you will doubt it while the war continues, is your greatest strength.

The willingness to risk yourself so that others might live is a truly powerful thing. It leads others to have loyalty to you, it leads adult wizards and witches to respect you because they know that they could not do what you do and most importantly, it shows that you are capable of loving others enough to be willing to sacrifice for them.

You and I have much work to do to help you understand that their willingness to sacrifice for you is a sign of the tremendous power that you have simply by being the person that you are.

Esteem that Tom will never be shown by his supporters because they know that he does not value them enough to sacrifice for them. Fear, Harry, is a powerful motivator but love motivates in ways that those who rule by fear can't possibly imagine."

Harry realized that this would be an ongoing message from Professor Dumbledore and probably others as well, but it didn't keep him from being terrified by the thought of losing Ron, Hermione and many others as well simply because they loved him enough to die for him. He didn't want to do it but knew that he was willing to die so that wizards and witches like Hermione and Justin Finch-Fletchley would have a chance to live without fear of being attacked because they were muggle born. The thought that they might make the same trade for him was still deeply frightening to him.

"Couldn't you just fix what Snape does without making me a teacher?" he asked, wanting to distract himself from thoughts of the pain that would come with losing Hermione, Ron, Ginny and many other people in his life.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't do that without directly undermining Professor Snape. However, as an Assistant Professor, you can assign points and reward behaviour that will help your classmates to survive the forthcoming war in ways that no teacher could simply because you spend time with your peers that no teacher does. Also, our discussions of points that you assign can act as cover for my training you in Occlumency and some deeper magics that I hope may help you to find a way to defeat Tom. Whether they help against Lord Voldemort or not, they will certainly add to your ability to survive battles with almost any of his supporters."

"OK," Harry said, seeing the value of the system even if he didn't like being held above his peers in this way.

"Good!" cried Professor Dumbledore. "Your agreement also means that I can offer Assistant Professor positions to several other people whom I think will be able to help you prepare to meet Tom."

"Uh, Professor, it seems like you think that I'm going to be spending all of my time getting ready to try to fight Voldemort."

"Being yourself, Harry is the best preparation that you can have in your effort to become ready to face Lord Voldemort. Your orders from Flourish and Blotts this summer demonstrate that you are highly motivated to learn and practice the skills that will be offered in your classes. As a result, you may wish to think very carefully about your commitments. The Defense Association will take time as will your other classes. Our meetings will, necessarily, take time as may other work that you will do as you learn about magical disciplines that you have seen but not yet used."

"So what you're saying is that I should drop Quidditch," Harry said angrily.

"No!" Professor Dumbledore cried.

"You must continue your association with the sport. I spent a great deal of time helping Professor McGonagall to convince Cornelius to withdraw your Quidditch ban, a task made more difficult by the publication of a private conversation between yourself and Ms. Delacour. I think that it is essential that you play Quidditch but you must determine for yourself whether you will have time to act as team captain."

Harry, who had not thought much about the responsibilities that he'd seen Oliver Wood and then Angelina Johnson take on as Quidditch captain soon realized that with everything else that he would have to do that this was one thing that he should not take up. If he were really going to be a part-time teacher and prepare himself to face Voldemort, there would be no time for planning strategy and watching the other teams' practices.

Before he could say this to his headmaster, a flash of anger at the injustice of it all nearly took his breath away. Professor Dumbledore seemed to know the flow of his thoughts, speaking before Harry could say anything.

"Unfortunately, Harry, this... loss of freedom that you now feel is both the great blessing and great curse of knowing the truth. I tried to protect you from it for too long out of fear that I would force you to grow up too early. In retrospect, this was one of the worst mistakes of my life. I hope that this situation gives you a sense for my reasons for doing so in spite of the tremendous cost to you that my choices have had."

Harry, who had been moments from exploding with anger at having to give up the captain's position, glanced away from his professor's sympathetic gaze and gave up the dream of being famous for something that he had achieved on his own merits.

"I'm not happy about it, sir but I think that you're right. I'll tell Professor McGonagall to ask Ron to do it. He's better at the strategy anyway and Quidditch's the only thing that he thinks about."

"Not necessarily for your team at first, I think but certainly better for you and your friend." said Professor Dumbledore so quietly that Harry barely heard him.

Harry, who had never heard his headmaster say something like this was shocked by what he saw as a condemnation of his best mate.

"Ron'll be a brilliant captain!" he growled.

"Oh, there is an excellent chance that he will. However, he has been fortunate to grow up in a situation that has not required maturity and leadership from him. You have and your house recognizes it even if they don't know everything that they might about the life that has made you into the person that you are now.

It will take time for Mr. Weasley to gain the respect of your peers. I believe that he has a chance to do so but there can be no question that you would have had it earlier even though, as you say, you might not have been the captain that he may well prove to be."

Harry could see this, although he didn't like to admit, even to himself, the flaws that he had seen in the Weasley family over time. Still, there were far more important things to think about and he knew that Tonks and Bill would soon be back to tell him about the rest of the summer.

"Uh, Professor, I've got my O.W.L. scores. Since they're good enough to get me into the courses that I need for auror training, I reckoned that you'd think that those classes were OK but I'm not sure what else I should study."

"Harry, your scores are excellent, particularly in the light of the strain that so many put you under last year. They will get you into all of the classes that you need for auror training. Usually, students are required to take two courses over and above those needed for their chosen professions. However, your preparatory work on the Magical Self Defense Course and our meetings to consider points will take some time.

I do think that you should take the sixth year course on Wizarding Law And Governance. Professor Binns is the Hogwarts expert in the field."

Harry groaned, horrified at the thought that he would be taking more classes from Hogwarts' least interesting professor.

"Yes, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling madly.

"Well, Uh, I had hoped that I'd be done with him. He's not particularly interesting," Harry said with more than a little embarrassment.

"Unfortunately, Harry, you'll find that most people, whether living or not, who are truly expert in a field develop certain quirks. Professor Binss' have simply had longer to develop than most but I think that you will find that the course will be more interesting than his history of magic series is."

"But I didn't pass history," Harry objected, half hoping that this would be enough of an excuse to get out of having to take Binns' course.

"True," Professor Dumbledore replied, "but the history course is not considered a prerequisite for governance and I think it essential that you learn more about how our society works. At its most fundamental level, the war that we are fighting today is largely about how it will look tomorrow. As a central figure in that war, I think that you should understand as much as you can about what you're fighting for."

"Right," Harry grumbled, not pleased to be reminded of the responsibilities that he was neither ready nor fully willing to accept. "Is there anything else?"

"No," Professor Dumbledore said contemplatively, pulling on his beard as he thought the matter over. "As you will have a great deal of work assigned to you by your fellow assistant faculty I think that I will simply insert a series of meetings for the junior faculty into your schedule as a cover for your work with me on Occlumency as well as your work with the others who will be instructing you. This will more than make up for the second course that you would normally be expected to take and should give you training for several N.E.W.T. tests that Hogwarts does not offer coursework in."

"Can I take creatures?"

"You may, of course, but it will add notably to your other burdens. Much as your friendship with Hagrid is an important one, I think that you should find other ways to maintain it if you can."

Harry sighed, knowing that the headmaster was probably right but angry that he wouldn't be able to see Hagrid on a regular basis. In order to distract himself he began to think about some of the things that the students in the D.A. might need to learn if they ever had to fight.

"is there any chance that Madame Pomphrey could teach some of us in the D.A. some things that might help us if we need to, well, help each other when we're fighting the Death Eaters?" he asked, thinking of Hermione's injuries and Ginny's ankle.

"Yes, an excellent suggestion. Some work on what might be called Battle Field Medicine is probably a good idea. I also want you to learn how to apparate and although the skill is not usually taught to sixth years unless they are of age, I will see to it that you and Ms. Granger learn how to do so."

"Hermione'll be seventeen at the end of September anyway so that won't be a problem. What about Ron, though?"

"Honestly, Harry, I would be glad to see Mr. Weasley learn how to apparate early but as Molly has demanded that he be kept out of the action until he graduates from Hogwarts, I may not be able to teach him officially. Of course, if you and Miss Granger choose to do so yourselves I can hardly interfere in something about which I have no knowledge"

"Right," Harry said with a small smile, knowing that he'd gotten as much on this front as he could have hoped for.

"I must insist that you not teach Ms. Weasley or Ms. Lovegood as they are still not old enough to make instruction safe."

"But..."

"Harry, you must understand that they are still growing and still subject to the lapses in focus that are common to all young people. Their powers are still not fully established and until they stabilize, either could be endangered by the tremendous variations that they are still subject to. Early instruction in Apparition has killed in the past and splinchings are very common in witches and wizards who try to learn this skill too early."

Harry nodded, knowing that Ginny would be furious at being left out and fairly sure that Luna would see the logic behind Professor Dumbledore's order. Fortunately, Hermione would back him up with Ginny and he thought Ron would too even though he was afraid that his best mate might do it because it would give him a chance to show up his little sister.

"Ginny's not going to like it but I think Ron and Hermione'll back me up.

What about Neville?"

"Mr. Longbottom is a far greater wizard than most would believe and I'm quite sure that if he wishes to, he would benefit from instruction in the art. His Grandmother has already offered her support to the order and will, I'm sure, be pleased to support Mr. Longbottom in his effort to step into the place that his parents were forced to abdicate."

A loud knocking at the door interrupted their conversation and Harry was glad of it as he had a number of uncomfortable questions about his parents' will and other matters that he wanted to ask but wasn't sure that he was ready to hear the answers to.

"One moment, Harry."

Tonks' concerned voice could be heard in the hallway when Professor Dumbledore unsealed the door.

"Professor, I know that you and Harry have loads to chat on but it's late and he's had a long day. Bill and Fleur went for his kit and its in his room. Can you let him fall in tonight and finish up with him tomorrow?"

"In actuality, Nymphadora, I think that I have completed my business with Harry for the moment. I believe that you, Mr. Weasley and Mademoiselle Delacour wanted to discuss Harry's training for the rest of the summer with him before he goes to bed and unless you have anything else for me Harry, I think that it would be wise for me to leave you in your guardian's most competent care."

Harry thought for a moment, actually surprised that Tonks would interrupt anything that Professor Dumbledore might be doing.

"Uh, no, I don't think so. I'll need to talk with you more about the D.A. but unless you want me to assign reading I can wait on that."

"Harry, your teaching methods will necessarily be shaped by your preference. As you seem to enjoy learning by doing the most, I assume that your preference will be for teaching that way too?"

"I think so," Harry said after a moment's thought.

"Then I think that we needn't worry about trivial matters such as books for the moment and I'll wish you deep and satisfying rest as I'm sure that you've had a long day."

"Thanks Professor," Harry said, "Uh, you too"

"Why thank you Harry," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling merrily as he departed for the kitchen, leaving Tonks to stare at Harry in undisguised amazement.

"What?" Harry asked, noticing her goggling at him.

"A teacher?" she asked, obviously impressed.

"Well, yeah," he said, now embarassed by the whole thing.

"Well, good on you!" Tonks smiled slapping his shoulder hard. "After the job that you and your mates did at the ministry I'm not surprised. Hell, you were still standing when it was over and I wasn't." she said, a slight flush staining her cheeks. "Says a lot for what you've learned and the wizard that you'll be."

"Uh, Thanks." Harry said, his own cheeks flushing from a combination of embarrassment and fear that she would some day learn of his attempt at the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry was pretty sure that Tonks wouldn't think so much of the wizard that he was becoming if she learned about that.

Apparently assuming that he was reacting only to her compliments, Tonks changed the topic by giving him another slap on the shoulder and pushing him toward the door. "Well, we'd better get down and talk with Bill and Fleur. It's been a day for you and as much as we've got to do with you the next few weeks, you'd better sleep while you can."

Harry, glad that they wouldn't have to talk about his growth as a wizard, nodded quickly and walked out, Tonks closing the door behind them as she passed through it.

As they descended the stairs toward the second storey of the old Black House, Harry noticed that there was a lot less dust and fewer cobwebs than he'd seen before. He had been too distracted by his anger at Professor Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley to see it before, but now that he looked around, he could tell that someone had been doing a lot of cleaning since he'd been in No.12, Grimmauld Place during the Christmas holidays.

"Tonks, who's been cleaning up around here?" he asked, remembering that Sirius hadn't done much before Christmas.

"Mostly chaps from the order. Dumbledore said something about a couple of house elves but I haven't seen them yet and Kreacher is dead so it's not him for sure." she said from behind him. "They're not letting me help so I really don't know who's on it but they've done a jolly good job downstairs and the place is almost liveable now."

"Oh," Harry said, thinking back on the fact that the Kitchen had seemed a bit cleaner when Fawkes had brought him there though he'd barely noticed the changes, being too busy standing up for himself with Snape and Mrs. Weasley.

"Now that we're here I'm sure that we'll have to pitch in. Mum's not planning to move in but she does want the place to be nice for order meetings and such."

"We're going to be here the rest of the summer?" Harry asked, depressed by the realization that he would have to live with the memories of Sirius that staying in the Black family mansion would bring up for him.

"The Professor wanted to set you up somewhere else but we couldn't get it ready in time without risking that You-Know-Who would find out."

"Oh," Harry said, eyes cast toward the floor.

Surprisingly, Tonks seemed to know that her normal cheery response to this news would not be appropriate and so she stayed quiet until they reached the door to the guest room that Harry and Ron had occupied last summer. After they passed through it, Harry saw that Bill Weasley and Fleur were waiting for him, sitting quite close together on what had been Ron's bed. Seemingly aware that a distraction was in order, Tonks dove straight into the business at hand.

"I know that you're tired and we've got a lot to do the next few weeks so we'll just go over the outline of things for now. After all, I don't want to wear you out before you get back to school."

"OK," Harry said dismally.

"Problems, Harry?" Tonks asked, concerned by the younger wizard's obvious depression.

"No," Harry sighed, knowing that while he was far from OK, it was neither the time nor the place to go into his feelings about staying for a month in Sirius' house.

Bill broke the short silence that followed Harry's evasion.

"Basically, we're going to spend a lot of time on self Defense of all kinds. I'll be working with you on protection against curses and on establishing whether an object's been charmed or hexed in some way. He's not tried it yet but You-Know-Who might try to send you a portkey of some kind and I want to be sure that you know how to test your mail before you open it."

"Good idea," Harry said, remembering Hermione's experience with the bubotuber puss during fourth year.

"I weel continue to work with 'u on Occlumency and 'ave asked my parents to come zo zat 'u can see whether you can resist ze charms of a half-blood veela. Zey also can 'elp 'u find someone to 'elp 'u wiz your family's estate. Gringott's 'as been doing eet wiz your solicitors but zey 'ave been very conservative in doing everyzing, including repairs to your family's property. Zis is part of ze reason why we couldn't tek 'u to your parents' old 'ouse az we 'ad expected to."

"Right," Harry said, surprised that Fleur knew that he had inherited enough from his parents for there to be a need for help with his money.

Seemingly aware of Harry's uncertainty over Fleur's knowledge, Bill tried to straighten some of it out and in doing so gave Harry even more to think on.

"Harry, I heard about the inheritance from my boss since it's one of the bigger accounts that Gringotts has. The Potters are one of our oldest families and one of the wealthiest too," he said, apparently expecting that Harry would have known.

Harry, who hadn't been aware of it until he'd received his parents' letter, stared at him without comment.

"I can't help you with it because you know our family too well. Fleur's family is the only wealthy pureblood family that I thought it would be safe to bring in on this. Tonks says that you know the Longbottoms so their solicitors could help if that's better for you. One small benefit of your troubles with mum is that she won't get pulled in on something like this. She's really not going to be able to tell you who to talk with and, well, I thought that Ron might not take too much talk about money very well in any case."

"Think you're right," Harry said, glad that he wouldn't have to confront Mrs. Weasley in general and Ron's jealousy over the fact that he'd just become one of the richest people in wizarding Britain in particular.

"I'll be gone most days at the ministry as things really are a mess right now but in the evenings we'll work on strategy and concentration. When he gets back end of next week, Remus will add in with you on reflexes and he'll get you started on advanced knowledge on magical beings. On weekends, we'll get you far enough ahead with your Defense and Potions to make sure that you have time to get everything else done this fall." Tonks said from her seat to Harry's right.

"Do you have your book list yet?" she said, head jerking as if she'd just thought to ask this of him.

"I looked at my scores but didn't sign up for courses until tonight. I had to talk with Professor Dumbledore about what I should take."

"Right," said Tonks thoughtfully. "I'll owl Professor McGonagall and when she gets us your book list we'll take you to Diagon Alley. Probably some week day since there'll be a lot fewer people around and less chance that there'll be Death Eaters to cause trouble. If you can tell me what the professor said you should do I can see if I can get you a few things to get started on in case it takes them a while to get the lists together."

"Yeah," Harry said, "the Headmaster said that I should take the courses that I need for auror training and Professor Binns' tutorial on wizarding law and government. He wanted the D.A. members to get a book on simple heeling charms and told me that my other work would be enough to fill my schedule."

"Probably so," Bill said thoughtfully, hand drifting up and down Fleur's thigh.

Tonks, seeing this began laughing and Harry got a little extra reflex training in pursuit of trying to keep her from falling off the bed.

Bill and Fleur jumped apart as if stung and this made Harry laugh too. Between his own laughter and trying to hold up Tonks, Harry was almost breathless by the time the humour of the moment wound down.

"Well," Bill said, ears turning red much as the other Weasleys' did when they were embarassed, "I think that's enough for now so I suppose that we should let you get to bed."

"Well, at least Harry and I'll get some rest in bed tonight," Tonks said, through her laughter.

Bill and Fleur glared at Tonks while walking out the door, arms around each others' waists in spite of her teasing.

"Well, Harry, get some rest, we'll work you hard the next little while. When Remus gets here and we can get your books you'll probably be pulling 12-hour days so enjoy the quiet while you can. It won't be easy but we'll make a new wizard out of you by the time school's back in session."

"Thanks," Harry said softly. "I know that you're putting yourself out a lot for me and I really appreciate it."

Tonks, nearly out the door when he spoke, spun on her heel and fell against the door, barely able to keep herself from landing in an undignified sprawl on the floor.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she said, face twisted by a frown at her clumsiness. "I'm happy to do it and anyway, training you is loads better than having to listen to Fudge go on about how important the aurors will be in the war."

"So he's been talking with you a lot?" Harry asked, curious about how The Ministry was handling Voldemort's return.

"Oh yeah," Tonks said with a scowl. "If he'd only talk to You-Know-Who the way he does to us, 'You-Know-Who' would have surrendered already. Fudge's as bad as Binns was when I was at Hogwarts. Problem is, Fudge doesn't like it when people sleep through his waffling."

"Did he catch you?" Harry asked, grinning.

"Certainly not!" Tonks said piously, "or if he did, I was asleep and didn't notice."

They shared a laugh and then Tonks mock-scowled at him, pointing her finger at him emphatically as she said: "Now, get to bed and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Knowing that she was right to insist that he get some rest, Harry cleared his mind and stretched out on his bed, happier than he thought he could possibly be in the house that had belonged to his godfather.