Harry Potter and the Elements of Valor

Chapter Six - A Different Hogwarts

When Harry appeared outside the gates of Hogwarts, the first thing he saw was the huge form of Hagrid striding down the road toward them, wearing a broad smile. Harry glanced around and saw that everyone had arrived safely, including Ginny who looked pleased with herself. Fred and George still had their wands raised and were glancing around guardedly behind the group. "Let's get moving toward the gates shall we?" said Fred. They each grabbed hold of their trunks and began to heave them up the road.

Hagrid reached them and they all panted a greeting at him. "Good to see ya all made it alright," he said. "Just let them trunks lie. The house elves'll move em to the castle. You all just get inside those gates now."

As Hagrid spoke, Harry noticed that two tiny forms were standing near the gates. "Hagrid?" began Harry.

"Don't point at em, Harry. They don't like that a bit. Too conspicuous I guess," said Hagrid in a hoarse whisper.

"They're house elves," Harry said. Then he noticed these elves were wearing knitted caps and mismatched socks.

Hermione had noticed the elves too. "They have clothes, Hagrid," she remarked, excitement in her voice.

"Naw, it's their uniform. They say it's not the same as clothes," explained Hagrid still whispering. "They're dead set against the idea of taking clothes."

The elves looked very self-conscious standing guard at the gates, but having seen the power that Dobby was capable of, Harry felt comforted by their presence. A third elf came scurrying forward toward the trunks, which disappeared with a snap of his tiny fingers. Harry imagined the trunks were already in their proper places in Gryffindor Tower. Harry could see Hermione was bursting to question the elves. A look from Hagrid stopped her and her face fell a bit.

"Best leave em alone when they're on duty," explained Hagrid in a rough whisper.

"Do you see they are wearing clothes, Harry," she gushed. "It's a step!"

Harry decided not to start an argument and simply smiled.

Once they had crossed over into the castle grounds, Fred and George shook hands all around and made to leave. Harry called them away from the others and shook each of their hands again. "Thanks for everything," he said. "Thanks for staying the summer with me and all. It was the best summer I can remember."

"Harry, Harry," said George, "we were happy to do it."

Fred piped up, "Yes, except for your dismal performance with the fire whiskey..."

"Yes, you must improve your capacity, mate," George chimed in.

"We quite enjoyed ourselves at Godric's Hollow," finished Fred. "We'll keep an eye on the place for you, too." Harry grinned at them both as they headed back through the gates.

The twins had cleared the gates a moment later and called back in unison, "Say hello to Bill for us," then they vanished with a pop.

"What?" said Ron in an annoyed voice. "What did that mean? They're always doing stuff like that! When exactly will we be seeing Bill?"

Ron sputtered about this all the way up to the castle. Harry, however, was too busy enjoying the sites and smells of the grounds to pay much attention. Hogwarts felt like a comfortable old friend as Harry crossed the familiar lawn. Heavy clouds were filling the sky overhead and dusk was coming on swiftly as they stepped inside the front door. Harry felt a bit melancholy as his friends chatted away. He wondered if Ron and Hermione were thinking about the fact that this would be their last year of school.

The smell of cooking was wafting up from the kitchens and the warm light of the Great Hall beckoned them in. The sound of talking, and laughter was coming from inside the room. The din, however, was noticeably less than in any previous year in Harry's memory. The night of the arrival feast usually saw the Great Hall full of students with only a handful of spare seats available once the sorting was complete. Tonight, far fewer students were present, though it was hard to tell how many based on the general milling about.

As they stood in the doorway, Hermione looked shocked and seemed to be doing some calculations in her head. Ron whispered, "Blimey, there's hardly anyone here. Are we that early?" Ginny and Harry exchanged looks of concern.

The staff table held a row of sedate looking teachers. McGonagall was surveying the crowd of students and scanning a long roll of parchment that was spilling on to the floor from the table at which she sat. Occasionally Professor Sprout or Flitwick would point out a student to her and she would make a mark on the parchment with a long grey quill.

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione approached the Gryffindor table and took seats. The Creevey brothers hurried over and started talking to them. Harry swept his gaze over to the Slytherin table where he caught the eye of Theodore Nott, who raised his eyebrows then gave Harry the barest hint of a nod.

Neville was talking to some Ravenclaws across the room from them. He looked well and had grown several inches over the summer to Harry's eye. He checked the crowd for his other dorm mates, and found that Dean and Seamus were both missing. Harry realized that the muggle born students would have a decidedly harder time making their way back to school if they could not apparate. Seamus should have been able to get to school easily, but he had never returned last year after the attack on his family. Harry glanced at Ginny. Mac had taught her in two days how to apparate and had tested her pretty well from the sound of things.

Ginny had it from her father that the Underage Magic Department personnel at the Ministry were doubling up in other departments right now as the effort to cover-up Voldemort's activities and to placate the wizarding population over his attacks was expanding steadily each day. Mr. Weasley felt it was highly unlikely that they would even be aware of an underage wizard apparating, yet he warned her in a letter to stay with the group and not to try apparating alone until she was on age.

There was much talk all around them about how each person had traveled to school. The Creevey brothers had been brought via a very long car ride, to Hogsmeade. They had walked the rest of the way. Their father, a muggle, was appalled at the site of the castle, being unable to see anything but a moldy old ruin. He was assured by his sons that the real castle was very nice indeed, and he was finally convinced to leave them there.

For the most part, the wizard born students had arrived by floo in Hogsmeade. It had not been difficult to get a time slot. Apparently several families had petitioned the Ministry for portkeys and been denied. The Ministry, it seemed, wanted nothing to do with the transportation of children to school.

More students were straggling in as the sky reflected within the Great Hall turned dark and rain began to pelt the windows outside. Harry glanced at his watch as he talked to Ernie Macmillan who was going on about how incensed his parents were with the Ministry's stand on Hogwarts. The feast should be starting soon, thought Harry. No sooner he had realized this then Albus Dumbledore entered the room from the entrance hall and strode purposefully up toward the staff table.

Harry looked across and noticed Draco Malfoy was missing. He was about to point this out to Ron when the door opened at the far end of the Hall and Hagrid strode in holding Malfoy by the arm. He walked Draco to the Hufflepuff table and instructed him to sit down. Draco looked up at him maliciously, wrenching his arm free. However, he sat where he was placed. Harry noticed he was not wearing the Slytherin colors but a plain black tie with his robes. Ron nearly hooted with laughter at the sight, but restrained himself at a look from Hermione. "But it's so funny," he complained. Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Malfoy looks like he just ate slugs."

"He can't be happy, can he," said Hermione, "I mean, he isn't in a house anymore. At least Dumbledore allowed him to stay at school and finish his education, though."

Harry wondered at the wisdom of this. Wasn't an angry Draco Malfoy worse than a cocky Draco Malfoy? Wouldn't sending Malfoy away have been the best plan of all?

Dumbledore reached the front of the room and cleared his throat. That was all that was required to get the students to take seats and fall silent. Once the scraping of chairs subsided, huge gaps existed at all the tables, making the room look rather like an unpopular sporting event.

"Welcome," boomed Dumbledore enthusiastically, as though he was nothing but pleased to see them all. "Welcome to a new school year at Hogwarts."

"As you will have noticed, our ranks are somewhat thinner than normal. Events in the wizarding world have kept many of our regular students at home, at this time. Hogwarts will welcome any latecomers with open arms. The staff will, of course respect the decisions of any students or parents who decide that home is a better environment for this year."

"Our staff stands ready to offer you the same fine education that you have received in the past. Indeed, I am sure that you will find you will receive much more individualized instruction this year, owing to smaller class sizes."

Dumbledore stopped and peered over his half-moon spectacles at the up turned faces. "Please, would everyone stand?" A hundred or so chairs scuffed the floor. "Now, if you all would move forward and fill in all the empty seats, please...toward the front," he coaxed, motioning them toward him with a benign smile. "Thank you, and be seated," he said.

Gryffindor Tower normally held about seventy students by Harry's reckoning. There were only about twenty Gryffindors present. However, their table was full compared to Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who had no more than fifteen students each. Slytherin appeared to be the best represented. They had about twenty-five students. Bunching together made the gathering seem even smaller, if that was possible. As Harry suspected, the hall was but one quarter full. Although many students had left last year after the disastrous attack on the Quidditch match, it was nothing compared to the number of students who had chosen to stay away this term.

Dumbledore waved his hand and the empty house tables at the back vanished from the room. "We may as well be cozy, if nothing else," said Dumbledore. Harry could not help noticing Draco Malfoy sitting at the very end of the Hufflepuff table glaring at the two giggling and curly-headed third year girls seated next to him. Harry felt a desire to laugh but restrained himself as Dumbledore spoke again, "There is real danger in the world just now. Voldemort is trying his best to gain followers but more than that, he is engaged in a campaign of terror and destruction. I see before me the faces of students who have lost loved ones to this campaign. You can do your part in stifling Voldemort, by learning well the lessons your teachers give you and thereby becoming formidable foes of the powers of darkness, that threaten all humans; wizard and muggle alike. It is not possible to remain neutral. Each of us must choose." The silence in the room was complete.

Dumbledore continued, a lighter tone in his voice, "We will be keeping to our curriculum of last year and holding an all day lesson every Friday on Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It will be taught, in turn, by various professors and guest speakers. One half of each Friday's lesson will be set aside for dueling practice. We feel that much emphasis needs to be placed in this most important area. Professor Bill Weasley will coordinate this effort. Professor Weasley is well suited to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts as he has been working until recently, as a curse beaker for Gringotts bank. I think you will find him very knowledgeable."

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny had all looked up at this announcement, mouths hanging open in surprise. None of them had known Bill was going to teach. Neither Mac nor Bill was sitting at the staff table. They all looked questioningly at each other as Dumbledore continued. "Professor MacNessa has kindly agreed to teach Potions this year, until a permanent replacement can be found."

"This term we are going to replace a few courses which we have offered at Hogwarts, lo these many years. Divination will no longer be offered and the same will go for Care of Magical Creatures. These courses will be set aside in favor of a new course that we are calling Magical Beings: An Overview. This course will involve coming to know all of our magical brethren and understanding the nature of their particular magic. It is high time we promoted better relations between all magical beings. Professor Lupin, who some of you may remember, has consented to teach the course with the help of Professor Hagrid and Professor Firenze. The course will cover all magical beings from wizards themselves to the smallest Billywig. I am sure you will find it a fascinating course of study."

All the students were listening intently. There were certainly a lot of changes planned, Harry thought. He was eager to see Lupin too, and wondered if the Ministry had approved his re-hiring. Dumbledore continued, "Each house may hold their Quidditch try-outs next week. I have convinced the house elves to provide protection to the Quidditch pitch whenever any team chooses to practice and for all matches we hold. We will however, NOT be allowing any outside spectators this year, I can assure you."

Harry and Ron grinned at each other. They had been concerned that after what had transpired the previous year, Quidditch would not be allowed at all. Ron opened his mouth to comment but before he could begin to say anything, Dumbledore had moved on to his next point, "Mr. Filch has asked me to remind students that all items purchased from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes are banned from the castle. He claims the list is now far too long to enumerate. And as always, the Forest is out of bounds to students, unless accompanied by a teacher. The centaurs will not kill you on site, but you could be taken hostage and as it is a long walk in for a rescue team, I ask that you abide by this rule."

Dumbledore paused and turned to look down the staff table, "Now, Professor McGonagall, I think we can proceed with the Sorting Ceremony."

McGonagall came forward with the stool and the hat. Then she beckoned toward the back of the room and one small boy Harry had not noticed, seated on a chair near the door, got up and walked sheepishly forward. When the boy reached the front of the room looking very embarrassed, McGonagall put a kindly hand on his shoulder and set the hat upon the stool. The rip in the brim opened and the hat began to sing.

I have not much to say,

To this small assembled lot.

Look carefully around you,

Protect the friends you've got.

The hat went silent and everyone stared. Was that it? Never had Harry heard it sing so short a song. McGonagall raised an eyebrow and seemed to decide the hat was finished. She called the boy, Robert Parker, forward and placed the hat on his head as he looked up, face full of fear. After a second or two, the hat called out "Ravenclaw" and he scurried off to the Ravenclaw table. All the students with the exception of the Slytherins applauded graciously.

As Professor McGonagall removed the stool and the hat, Mac and Bill Weasley entered the room and walked purposefully to the staff table, talking together amiably as they went, with Bill still sporting an earring with a fang and dragon hide boots. When he reached his seat, Bill waved down at them and winked.

"I can't believe he'll be teaching," said Ginny in wonder.

"He should have some very interesting stories to tell, don't you think?" said Hermione. She looked around the room. "He's easily the best looking of all the teachers, isn't he?"

Ron scowled at her. "What's that supposed to mean? Do you fancy Bill?"

"Oh Ron!" she replied. "Don't be so...so jealous all the time." Ron mouthed the word jealous? as she continued, "Look around," she whispered. Harry turned in his seat and he saw what Hermione meant. Many of the girls were staring up at Bill with rather dreamy looks on their faces.

The dinner appeared on the tables just then, taking Harry's mind off looks the girls were giving Ron's elder brother. The feast was fabulous as always. As the main course disappeared and the pudding materialized, Dumbledore rose again. "I have a few more announcements," he began. "You may have noticed that no new prefects were appointed this year and that no head boy or girl has been announced. This was due to the problem of who would be returning to school this term. I am pleased to see that we have a few perfects present from each house and that will serve us for the year. I am appointing Mr. Ernie Macmillan and Miss Hermione Granger to be the head boy and girl. Please give them your support." There was polite clapping and Hermione turned red with embarrassment and pride. "Professor McGonagall and I will meet with the perfects and the head boy and girl as soon as they have seen their house-mates off to their dormitories."

As everyone was rising to leave the Great Hall, McGonagall called to Ginny who hung back, waiting for the other students to pass so she could reach the staff table. McGonagall pointed her toward the antechamber at the back of the room. Harry, who had been waiting for Ginny, looked at her questioningly. She mouthed, "wait for me," and disappeared through the side door.

Harry loitered near the staff table as the Great Hall emptied. It only took a minute until he was alone. He looked up at the ceiling but no stars were visible, just blackness. After about five minutes, Harry heard voices, and the door to the antechamber opened. Ginny said, "He's here, Sir."

Dumbledore emerged from the room and spoke to Harry in a low voice, "Harry, Ginny and I have been discussing the Mark of Domination. I have explained to her that now she's back to school the danger of the mark re-appearing is significantly greater than at Godric's Hollow."

Harry glanced at Ginny who was looking at him intently. Dumbledore continued, "I had offered to put Madam Pomfrey in charge of checking for the mark each day, but Miss Weasley is averse to dragging more people into the situation. She felt she could handle it herself, but I was forced to disagree." Dumbledore looked down his crooked nose at Harry. "She..." he began, but Ginny interrupted him.

"Harry, I'd rather have you checking then anyone else. You already know all about it," Ginny said matter-of-factly. "So...would you?" she asked.

Harry looked at each of them, "Sure," he said.

He was surprised at how relieved Ginny looked.

Dumbledore glanced at each of them in turn. "It may be difficult to arrange this," he said. "While you are certainly capable Harry, you will need to be quite diligent and I must ask that you report anything unusual to me immediately. Can you two manage this?"

"We can take care of it," said Harry confidently.

"Very well," said Dumbledore. "Then I'm off to talk to the perfects." He began to walk toward the doors, but turned suddenly. "By the way, the new password to Gryffindor tower is Toadstool," he said with a grin.

As Harry and Ginny left the Great Hall, Ginny stopped and turned to face Harry. "Thanks," she said.

"You might have been better off with Madam Pomfrey, you know," said Harry. "I mean, I'm no healer," said Harry taking the fingers of her hand in his.

"I just don't want someone worrying over me constantly," said Ginny. "I hate it when I think people are pitying me," she said, her voice trailing off.

"I worry about you!" said Harry defensively.

"Yes," Ginny said, now smiling at him, "But you don't treat me like I'm some sort of invalid. I don't want loads of people feeling sorry for me." Harry raised his eyebrows. He was glad she had not been able to see how worried he had been about her the night she arrived at Godric's Hollow all bruised and unconscious.

"Ok," said Harry. "We'll handle it ourselves then."

Ginny put her arms around Harry and he hugged her. "I'm not letting that scum Malfoy control me, Harry," she said into his chest.

Harry kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. He hoped for her sake, that she would never have to be tested. Ginny gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and they headed for Gryffindor Tower, hand in hand.

Outside Gryffindor Tower, they ran into Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley who were approaching the Fat Lady's portrait. Arthur turned when he heard them approach. "Ginny! Harry! Good to see you!"

Mrs. Weasley gave a small scream and flung herself onto Ginny, her eyes filling with tears. "I just had to see you for myself," she panted. "I had to check that you were really all right! I couldn't bear having you back at school after that attack and not seeing you for myself." Mrs. Weasley backed off, holding Ginny's hands and looking her over carefully.

"Oh, mum," said Ginny. "Don't fuss so much. I'm fine." Harry knew Ginny was pleased to see her mother, what ever else she said.

"And Harry, dear!" she exclaimed pulling Harry into a huge hug. "You saved my baby-girl. Dumbledore told me all about it. It was so very lucky you were there, dear. First Arthur, now Ginny. You just keep saving the day, Harry," she gushed.

Harry looked down at his shoes, "Dumbledore just told me what to do and I tried to follow his orders is all." He wanted to avoid being questioned further about that night, so he crossed to the Fat Lady and gave the password. She swung open, and Harry led the way in.

"Mum, how are you?" asked Ginny as they all clambered inside.

"I'm as good as new. Madam Pomfrey is amazing. She sorted me out in no time," explained Mrs. Weasley. Harry knew this was not strictly true, and that Mrs. Weasley had been in the hospital wing for at least three weeks, but she did appear her same old self. "Ron!" she exclaimed and she hurried over to hug her youngest son who now towered over her. Ron smiled at her as she gave him a kiss on his cheek. Then she turned once more to Ginny, asking her at least ten questions at once.

Mr. Weasley motioned Harry away from his wife and daughter. "Harry you did a remarkable thing, fighting that particular curse. According to Dumbledore, it was very strong. We're all hoping that Malfoy doesn't try to bring it back."

"Me too, sir," said Harry who wanted to change the subject. "How is Mrs. Weasley?" he asked.

"Molly was in a very bad way after the attack on the Burrow. She was hit by at least six stunners and most of them to the head. We didn't know if she would survive for the first few days. Then I was also worried about Ginny..." Arthur Weasley's voice trailed off and he looked away.

Harry simply nodded while Mr. Weasley watched his wife and daughter. In a few minutes, the elder Weasley's took their leave, saying they wanted a word with Bill.

That night, the few residents of Gryffindor Tower assembled in the common room to discuss the general state of affairs. Few of the students knew anything about Bill Weasley and were asking Ron and Ginny if their brother was likely to give lots of homework. Ginny just laughed. "I have no idea," she said.

"He looks really cool," said Parvati in a dreamy voice. "I absolutely love his hair."

Hermione rolled her eyes, causing Harry have to suppress a laugh.

Ron was keen to discuss a strategy for the Quidditch team and was talking to various people about the try-outs. Since neither Kirke nor Sloper had returned yet, it was likely they would needed beaters. Natalie had returned and Colin was as excited to play as ever. Ron was eager to begin practice and thought their chances were very good of winning the house cup with the diminished numbers of students in the other houses. Harry had to agree. They still had most of their players from last year. Slytherin would certainly be able to field a team, although without Draco Malfoy. Hufflepuff had lost its entire team and Ravenclaw only had two returning players, according to Ron.

The Gryffindors were surprised when Bill Weasley climbed through the portrait hole and said a casual greeting to the assembled crowd around eleven PM. "Don't mind me," he said jauntily, "I just wanted to reminisce. This place really brings back memories!" Harry noticed quite a few of the girls blushing and staring at Bill.

Ginny made room next to her on the sofa and Bill sat down. Harry knew Bill was probably her favorite brother, and that she looked up to him. Bill dropped into the seat and began talking animatedly with Ginny and Ron.

"What made you decide to teach this year?" asked Hermione as she perched on the edge of the sofa next to Ron.

"Dumbledore can be quite persuasive," he said with a smile. Then he lowered his voice so that only the four of them could hear and said, "The Order wants more protection around the castle just now."

"So have you given up working at the bank then?" asked Ginny.

"I've taken a leave. Griphook, my boss, was not pleased at all, but he can see the lay of the land too. The goblins are still hoping to stay neutral but they will probably have to choose a side eventually. The idiots at the Ministry are not making it easy for the goblins to come over to our side. They insist on enforcing old and out dated regulations that date back to the goblin rebellion of seventeen ninety-two. As they control most of the wizard gold, the Ministry will be in a real spot if they side with Voldemort."

Bill stayed for about an hour, catching up with his brother and sister, then left again with a wave to the students still hanging around the common room. The excitement over, everyone climbed up the stairs to their dormitory rooms, and bed.

The first day of classes proved to be interesting. Professor Sprout was bustling along the very short lines of tables depositing schedules for all the students. Some classes were so small that they were not being held in a classroom, but in the professor's office. Some of the NEWT level classes were that way. The first and second years were all being grouped together, regardless of house.

Harry looked over his own schedule and grinned a bit. He still had Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology, but he also had two hours with Mac each day for his auror training and an hour each day with Dumbledore, except for Friday's when he would have Defense Against the Dark Arts with the rest of the school. As he had signed up for Care of Magical Creatures, he was now assigned to the Magical Beings class.

He was surprised to see that Dumbledore was planning to work with him four days a week even though he knew that he needed as much training and practice as was possible. He felt in his gut that it wouldn't be very much longer until he was forced to face Voldemort and try to kill him. The thought of this always raised a feeling of panic in him that seemed to move from his stomach up into his chest. He found that he could only suppress it by turning his mind elsewhere.

Professor McGonagall was now making her way around the room and laying copies of the Daily Prophet on each of the house tables. Harry spoke to her as she dropped a copy between him and Ron. "Professor, what are these for?" he asked.

"Well, Potter, the headmaster feels that it's important to keep students abreast of the latest news, whether it's accurate or not. He will be making an announcement in a moment," she replied as she strode off with her papers.

Once Professor McGonagall had distributed all her papers, she returned to sit at the staff table. Dumbledore broke off his conversation with Professor Flitwick and rose at his place, giving a small cough, which brought the room to attention. "You will undoubtedly have noticed the newspapers that have been placed on the tables. I feel it important that we have an open forum this year about the events outside our walls. We are, none of us, exempt from the reality of the wider world. While you may feel safe here within the castle, as you should, still the return of Voldemort affects each of you deeply. I have subscribed to the Daily Prophet as a way to bring the news in, so that every one of you can be aware of what is going on. We will have a sort of discussion period one evening per week, once pudding is served, during which you may ask questions or make comments on recent news articles. The teachers and I will try to help make sense out of the information you are receiving. Please feel free to participate." With that, Dumbledore took a seat and began to pile sausages on his plate.

Hermione spoke first, "I think that's a really good idea. We can all discuss the issues and ask questions. It'll be just like dinner at home," she said brightly.

The Dursleys had never invited comments from Harry about current affairs. Mostly Uncle Vernon had just complained about everything he heard on the news and they all had to listen. Or at least Harry had to pretend to listen. Dudley never bothered even pretending, as he was never interested in anything unless it was entertaining.

Harry slid one of the copies of The Daily Prophet towards him. The headline did nothing to quell his worries about the state of affairs. It seemed that a large number of funny deaths were being reported at St. Mungo's Hospital; more than could be accounted for from the various illnesses of the patients who had died. The hospital seemed reluctant to comment, but family members reported grave suspicions about the wizard hospital. Harry squinted at the article.

Derrick Bywater, whose brother was hospitalized after getting in the way of a badly aimed hex, was set for release on Saturday. Mr. Bywater states that his brother was fully recovered, but when he arrived to collect his brother, Mr. Bywater was told his brother had passed away. "He was mounting a campaign to set up a home security check system. He reckoned that wizards should be trying to protect themselves from Voldemort's followers and he wanted to organize families to watch out for each other," explained the grieving Mr. Bywater. "And now he's dead, and they won't tell what happened and they say I can't have his body back." A Ministry spokesperson said that the hospital is perfectly safe and there is no reason to fear going in for treatment.

Harry scowled. He knew St. Mungos' was a Death Eaters stronghold, having escaped from it with Neville only a few month's ago. Scanning the rest of the Prophet, Harry felt frustration. The Daily Prophet seemed of two minds. It was not supporting the Ministry line, which was to assure the readers that everything was under control, but it resisted seeking out the truth too. There were loads of reports of Voldemort and Death Eater sightings, but very little to do with actually tracking them down and capturing them.

Breakfast was rather quiet as a much smaller number of students were present in the Great Hall. Owls swooped in and delivered quite a few letters, probably from anxious parents who wanted to keep in touch. An unfamiliar owl swooped in low and dropped a letter expertly into Ginny's lap, before soaring back out of the room. She read it through and passed it to Ron. "The letter is from Fred," she said leaning toward Harry. "According him, Diagon Alley is now being locked down, and everyone will have to submit to a search before entering it. As though that will stop anything," she said. Harry knew The Daily Prophet had not reported this bit of news.

When breakfast was finished, Harry, Ron and Hermione said goodbye to Ginny and set off for Transfiguration, their first class of the day. As they walked along the first floor corridor, which was not at all crowded as it would have been in past years, Harry saw Lupin step out of a door Harry had never been through.

He spotted Harry at once. "Hello Harry," he said coming forward and shaking Harry's hand. "How are all of you?" he asked, smiling.

"Fine," said Harry.

"From what I hear, you all had quite an....um... interesting holiday," he said looking at them. He turned to Ron and Hermione. "I understand you two had a rather close call."

Ron nodded while Hermione blushed. "Ya, if it weren't for Tonks that night, we'd have been in the same boat as Ginny, I expect."

"Well, good thing she was there then," said Lupin brightly. "I expect I'll be seeing you all later." He set off in the direction of the Great Hall. Harry turned toward the door from which Lupin had emerged. "Where does that go?" he asked.

"Never mind that now, Harry. We'll be late for McGonagall if we don't hurry," said Hermione warningly, and they sprinted down the hall and into the Transfiguration Department.

As this was to be their NEWT year, the teachers were quick to point out in each class how much studying would be required of them and how they needed to make a firm commitment to each subject they were taking as it would effect their futures. Harry was glad when he finally entered the Room of Requirement after lunch, to meet with Mac and Dumbledore. This room had served him well over the years. Right now, it looked very similar to the way it looked when he had led the D.A. He dropped his bag and walked along the sides of the room, scanning the books in the shelves. A click of the door latch brought him around to attention. Mac and Dumbledore came in together, chatting amiably.

"Harry," said Dumbledore, "Lets sit and talk for a moment, shall we?" Harry walked toward them as Dumbledore drew up three comfortable chairs using his wand.

Once they were seated, Dumbledore cleaned the lens of his half-moon spectacles and began, "Harry, you will notice that we have blocked off three hours a day in your schedule for training with myself and with Professor MacNessa. Although this is an excellent room for training, I would prefer we use the workroom, which we used last year. We are less likely to be detected there or discovered by accident. I think your training of the utmost importance and I want it to be undisturbed. Professor MacNessa and I possess a difference of opinion as to what will serve you best in a battle with Voldemort. Professor MacNessa believes that dueling skills will keep you alive. I do not doubt this, but I believe it will be the wielding of your elemental spells that will ultimately subdue Voldemort. We would like you to work, therefore on speed and endurance in dueling. Keeping clear of the spells of others while placing yourself in a position to use your air spell. In addition, you must work very hard on controlling your air spell..."

"Sir," interrupted Harry, "a book in the Department of Mysteries called it Aeriusorum."

"I'm impressed Harry, very well then, Aeriusorum, the control of which is extremely important. If you can not control the outcome, you can not hope to overcome Voldemort."

They rose from their chairs, so Harry did too. "You may have the rest of the time off for today Harry and we will begin with vigor tomorrow. You may go straight through to the workroom, where we will join you." Dumbledore left the room with a wave to them.

Harry and Ron had discussed their plan in private to practice the elemental spells by linking their magic. They were going to look out for a place to do it one night this week after everyone else was in bed. Harry smiled to himself. It was good to have one secret that wasn't being managed by the Order.

Mac put a hand on Harry's shoulder, snapping him back to the present. "I'd like you to brew the werewolf potion for your Mr. Lupin. I have translated the entire thing and I've double and triple checked it. It will take an entire moon cycle to make, even using the aging spell."

"But sir," began Harry, "do you think I'm good enough to make something that... important?" He did not want to be responsible for turning Lupin permanently into a toad, or something.

"Harry, you are as good a potions maker as I've seen. You simply need experience and confidence in yourself. I'll be there the entire time. There is just one thing remaining to do. Before we actually begin, we'll get an expert opinion...shall we? Meet me in the entrance hall tonight at midnight and bring your invisibility cloak. All right?"

Harry had no idea what Mac was on about, or where they were going to get an expert opinion, but he nodded his head automatically. What kind of year was this going to be, thought Harry? It was only the end of the first day of school, and already he was planning to be out of bounds at night.