The Knights Of Walpurgis

Chapter Thirteen: The Dueling Club

In fact, it didn't even take Harry until Wednesday evening to face off against a disgruntled and somewhat lovelorn HA member.

"Harry, is something going on between you and Ginny?"

Harry paused halfway through chewing a mouthful of scrambled egg. Only Ginny's comment about Ron eating with his mouth open prevented his jaw from dropping and showing his half-chewed breakfast to everyone else at the table.

He swallowed hurriedly and looked up at Dean, who was leaning forward with his fists on the table, and staring balefully at him.

"No," he said quickly. "Nothing's going on."

Dean stared at him for a moment, and then nodded curtly.

"Good," he said. "We've got enough problems without someone trying to make things anymore difficult."

"Right," Harry said. He opened his mouth to ask if he could help, but Dean was already walking away.

*

Harry swung open the door to the Room of Requirement to find it devoid of almost all its furniture, apart from a very large and very squashy beanbag. He sank onto it with a grateful sigh.

He ached. Everywhere. Madam Marchbanks had taken to hexing him herself at unsuspecting moments while he struggled with the tasks she'd set him.

"Dumbledore tells me that you're a Seeker, boy," she'd announced on Monday night. "So let's work with your speed, mmm?"

She'd conjured a set of rings of various sizes that had hung at different heights in mid-air, and then stared at him expectantly.

"Well?" she said loudly. "Get on with it, why don't you?"

"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked.

"Over, under, through."

Harry looked at the rings again, realisation dawning. It was an obstacle course.

He began to run, hurdling the first hoop and sliding under the second before Marchbanks caught him with an Impediment Jinx.

"Sloppy," she announced, as she hobbled across the floor to him. "Too predictable. You wouldn't last a minute in Auror training, Potter."

Harry gritted his teeth and pushed himself up off the floor.

"I should like to see your group, Potter," she announced. "See what you teach them, what they learn from you. Finite Incantatem."

Harry's legs popped apart, and he shook some feeling back into them.

"Start again, then," Marchbanks had said, turning her back on him and hobbling back toward her chair.

This time Harry made it through two hoops and was hurdling the third when he was caught a glancing blow by a Jelly Legs Jinx. It was the best that he would manage for a long time to come.

Harry lay as comfortably as he could manage on the beanbag. He couldn't find a way to lie that didn't make at least part of him ache in some way. He tried telling himself that it was a good ache, that he was improving, that his successful deflection of one of Madam Marchbanks' spells showed that he was beginning to make progress.

If he was successful in raising his spirits, it lasted only as long as it took him to move again, and then the sheer tiredness and all-over ache that had was his newest companion returned with a new jolt.

"Harry?"

He looked up. Hermione and Ginny stood over him, looking down with concern in their eyes.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Harry lied. "Actually, I'm sore and stiff and I've been hexed a few dozen times," he added, at the flash of anger in Hermione's eyes. "But I can take the class today."

"Well, if you're sure..." Hermione let the sentence hang as she and Ginny helped Harry to his feet. He swayed in place for a moment before bringing himself upright as Bill and Ron came in.

"Ready to go, Harry?" Bill asked, as the room began to fill up.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Madam Marchbanks giving you a rough time?"

"Yeah."

"She does that to everyone she helps train. You should be pleased, Harry. She doesn't bother unless she thinks that you show some promise."

Harry was on the verge of a sarcastic remark when his brain caught up with his mouth.

"Did she teach you?"

"Madam Marchbanks puts all the trainee Aurors and curse breakers through their paces," Bill grinned. "I remember when I showed up for my first day at Gringotts. She blasted all the recruits with hexes I've never seen before, and none of us stood a chance. I don't know what made me different. Still," he said, eyes misting over as he looked back through the years. "It wasn't all bad. Some people got kicked off right at the start that it wouldn't have been good to have around for too long."

Harry wanted to ask who Bill meant. He had alluded once or twice to someone he'd known when at school who'd failed to make the grade as a curse breaker, and Harry thought that he and Bill might have been rivals, as Harry and Malfoy were.

Not wanting to pry, Harry instead picked up on something else that Bill had said.

"She hasn't used any new spells on me," he said. "Just Stunners, Body Bind and Impedimenta."

"She will," Bill grinned. "Harry, from what Ron's said, you're fast and you've got good reflexes, right?"

Harry nodded, grimacing at the stiffness in his neck.

"Right, then. That's your first defence. You can keep moving, stay out of the way of spells, and then, when you get your chance, you can take it."

"But how?" Harry said. "I know that I'm fast, but what good is that if I don't know what spells to use? I thought that the whole purpose of me getting extra training was so that I'd learn new spells to use when I fight Voldemort?"

"And what does Dumbledore think?"

"How should I know? He doesn't talk to me about the new classes," Harry said.

"Me either," Bill shrugged. "But I'm sure he knows what he's doing, Harry. You trust him, don't you?"

Harry nodded, but privately he knew that his fragile trust in Dumbledore was on shaky ground. His private lessons with the Headmaster had recently moved on to Occlumency, and so far they had not been going well.

*

"Are you ready, Harry?"

Harry nodded, not at all sure that he was, but eager to move on to active defence against mental attacks.

"Very well. Prepare yourself, and we will begin."

"You sound like Madam Marchbanks, sir," Harry said.

"A fine woman, Harry. The comparison is welcomed. Now, are you ready?"

Harry closed his eyes, feeling a flicker of frustration that Dumbledore had, once more, dodged addressing Harry's private training sessions. His mind settled fleetingly on a fond memory of Sirius, and he felt calmer immediately. He released the memory, and his mind felt blank.

"Legilimens."

Harry at first felt the faint mental probing that he'd associated with Dumbledore's early tests of his defences. He almost relaxed, but knew enough to recognise that this would weaken his defences. Instead he focused on holding a few thoughts close to him. Dumbledore had told him that it didn't matter what he wanted to protect - "Although, perhaps, you have secrets that you would rather an old man didn't know, hmmm?" the Headmaster had said, with a bright twinkle in his eye - but that there needed to be something for Harry to protect, in order to test his defences.

Harry had settled on three memories to protect. He had chosen his first - and only - kiss with Cho; the morning after the battle in the Department of Mysteries, when he had thought briefly of walking back into the Forbidden Forest to face the centaurs again; and the thought of Susan kissing him on the cheek. He wasn't sure why he wanted to protect that memory, but it seemed natural to him. She had seemed a little embarrassed by it, and he didn't want her to feel any worse about it.

Harry felt the first inquisitive taps at his shielded memories. He had come to think of the process as the Legilimens - Dumbledore in this case - trying to cross the lake of Harry's mind, in order to break into the castle that stood on the island in the middle. Dumbledore had chuckled appreciatively when Harry had mentioned this, and acknowledged that being able to visualize a process, even in such an abstract manner, could often help one understand it.

The first attempts by Dumbledore to break down Harry's defences passed, and Harry felt a surge of pride for managing to hold off the attack.

Then, suddenly, Harry's defences shattered as a ferocious attack blasted them apart.

Harry was barely aware of his surroundings as he fought to throw out the intruder in his mind, but he realised almost immediately that he had no chance. Although a part of him knew that he was safe in Dumbledore's office, he was convinced that he was in--

...the graveyard in Little Hangleton. "Wands out, d'you reckon?" Cedric asked...

...McGonagall's office, staring in anger and disbelief at Professor Umbridge as she snidely passed sentence on himself, Fred and George...

...Aragog's lair, surrounded by giant Acromantulas, with Ron beside him, too terrified even to realise how close he was to death...

...the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by centaurs, bows drawn and arrows pointed at Hermione and him from every direction...

...the Forest again, Hermione beside him, watching Dementors swoop on Sirius, and turning towards them, and unable to cast a Patronus as his vision faded to black...

...the Vault of the Philosopher's Stone, staring into the Mirror of Erised, Quirrell beaming at the reflection, and Voldemort was just a turn of the head away...

...the Chamber of Secrets, crawling towards Ginny, knowing that the basilisk's bite had killed him, that it was only a matter of time...

...the Three Broomsticks, staring at Ernie as the fierce-looking Hufflepuff glared at him, and Ginny, and Susan...

...the outskirts of Hogsmeade, with a group of his friends, and Susan-

"No!"

Harry jolted forward, crashing from the chaise lounge to the floor. Dumbledore was beside him immediately, kneeling down with a look of concern on his face. He held out a hand to Harry, but Harry recoiled from the Headmaster's touch.

"I'm okay," Harry said. He took a deep breath. "I'm okay."

Dumbledore's hand fell to his side. He looked as though Harry had struck him across the face, but stood up without saying anything.

"Perhaps we tried too much," he said. "I had hoped that you would be able to repel the attack, but apparently we still have a great distance to travel."

Harry barely heard him. He lay on the office floor, shivering as he tried to purge the feeling of intrusion that he felt at having his most private, most dreadful memories on display to anyone else.

*

Harry shook his head, quieting the feeling.

I have to trust Dumbledore. He's not trying to make me feel bad, and I need to learn Occlumency. I just wish that I knew how to build better defences. When I can keep Dumbledore out, I guess I'll be able to trust him completely again.

"Harry?"

He looked up, and realised that Bill had carried on talking.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said that I'd be starting covering the more advanced curses and hexes in class tomorrow. They might help you feel better prepared."

Harry grinned.

"That'd be good," he said.

"And don't worry about Marchbanks. She knows what she's doing."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said. "I keep telling myself: It's no worse then what'll happen if I face Voldemort or a giant or something without any training."

"Clever," Bill said, grinning. "Did someone tell you that?"

"No," Harry said.

"Dad had to point that out to me. I nearly walked out after three weeks on the programme because of all the hexes I was taking. Point blank range, too."

"Did he say anything else to you?"

"'Learn to duck'. Good advice, that."

*

"Potter."

The Room of Requirement was nearly empty. Only a few people remained, mostly gathered around Seamus and Dean as they ran through one last Reducto drill.

Harry looked up at Ernie, hoping that the Hufflepuff boy's ferocious countenance was related more to his poor performance in his duel with Su Li then it was to do with whatever he wanted to talk to Harry about.

"I wanted to talk to you about Susan," Ernie said.

Harry sighed.

There goes that idea.

"I'm sorry if I'm boring you, Potter," Ernie snapped. "We're not all the great and mighty Boy-Who-Lived. We don't all have girls hanging off our every move. We can't all keep three girls on the go at the same time."

"What are you talking about?" Harry said, as calmly as he could manage. Ernie's confrontational tone of voice was sending warning signals to Harry that made him want to draw his wand.

"Last Saturday," Ernie said. "Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about. You went to Hogsmeade with Weasley, pulled Susan away from me, and then ten minutes later I see you with Granger, and you certainly looked comfortable enough with her."

Harry blinked. Ernie had managed to put the worst possible slant on his trip to Hogsmeade the weekend before.

"I'm not with Ginny Weasley. She's just my friend. She's going out with my roommate," he said, forcing calmness into his voice. "I didn't pull Susan away from you. She came to talk to Ginny and me. And I'm not with Hermione, either."

"Oh please," Ernie spat. "Justin and I saw you two together. Don't deny it, Potter. You were right in the middle of the street."

"I'm not going to deny it," Harry said. "I hugged her, but she's my friend. Did you see Malfoy come up to us and insult us? He said some nasty things about her, and about me as well. What you saw was Hermione looking for some comfort after that. That's all."

"She could have got that from Justin," Ernie said, his face colouring a deep red. "But a Hufflepuff wouldn't be good enough for her, would he? She had to make up some rubbish about being with Ron Weasley. As if she'd show any interest in him. The man's an idiot, and besides, if you're available-"

Ernie stopped. Harry had drawn himself up to his full height, ignoring the aches and pains from the Duelling Club and HA meeting. Although he wasn't as tall as Ernie, he fixed the Hufflepuff with a ferocious glare.

"Ron Weasley is my best friend," Harry said quietly. "If Hermione wants to be with him, then that's her decision. It's not for me, or you, or Justin to discuss or to judge. And Hermione will choose who she want to be with based on what sort of person they are, not on what house they belong to or any other rubbish. Hermione's a Muggle-born, Ernie. Do you think that she's going to be prejudiced against someone because of what house they're in? If you think that, or Justin thinks that, then you don't know her."

"Say what you like, Potter. As far as I'm concerned, you've managed to get in the way of Justin and myself, and the girls that we like. You may act as though you're some great leader, purer than the driven snow, but I suppose that I know the truth now. It seems like Rita Skeeter had your number after all, didn't she?"

With that, Ernie turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, leaving Harry wondering exactly what had happened to Ernie to turn the normally supportive Hufflepuff against him.

*

"Harry? Harry! Are you still thinking about what that idiot said?"

Harry looked up from the chessboard and into Ron's scornful blue eyes.

"Leave it, Ron," he muttered, prodding absently at a rook. It stumbled fearfully forward. Ron didn't even need to say anything to his knight, which glided smoothly across the board and smashed the rook with one sweep of its sword.

The game continued for a few moves longer, but the result was a swift checkmate in Ron's favour. He sighed and looked back up at Harry.

"Look, he can't go around blaming you just because Susan Bones doesn't fancy him," Ron said. "It's nobody's fault, except maybe his own."

Harry shrugged. He wasn't really looking at Ron. Instead, he was watching the portrait hole, and a grubby-looking Dean and Seamus climbing through it dispiritedly.

"What happened to them?" Harry asked.

"What, Dean and Seamus? McGonagall caught them trying to rig a box of Wheezes in the Arithmancy Lab. Looks like they've just had their detention, and a mucky one, too. Stop changing the subject, will you? Snap out of it. You were bloody useless in practice this morning."

"I know," Harry said. "But you've seen what everyone's been like. Ernie's got more friends then I realised..."

He tailed off, remembering the nasty looks and whispered comments that he'd attracted when he'd walked into the Great Hall for dinner after Potions the previous day. There had been more than just the sixth year Hufflepuffs glaring and muttering as well. Pansy Parkinson hadn't even bothered to lower her voice, and the rude comment she'd made about Susan and Harry had carried clearly through the Hall to Harry's ears. Even the immediate deduction of points from Slytherin for Pansy's comment hadn't completely stopped the whispering, and when Harry had left the Hall after dinner, a number of other pupils had jostled him, making him drop his bag, which made his books spill out all over the floor.

Harry had instinctively wanted to lash out at the other students, but he knew that that would be a bad thing, and would only give more weight to the rumours about Susan and him. He remembered vividly from his second and fourth years exactly how bad things could become when people were inclined to believe the worst about him, and he didn't want to make things worse then they already were by overreacting. The only thing that really worried Harry was that he hadn't seen Susan around the school since his confrontation with Ernie. He hoped that she was okay. She hadn't enjoyed being the centre of attention when the Death Eaters who'd killed her uncle and his family had escaped from Azkaban, and while this wasn't as bad - in Harry's opinion - he had a feeling that Susan wouldn't much appreciate the difference.

It'll die down, he told himself as he made his way up to bed a short time later. Give them a few days and they'll be talking about something else. Isn't it about time for one of the Slytherins to do something stupid? I can survive this.

*

By the following Wednesday, however, Harry was forced to revise his opinion. The whispering had grown louder to the point that everyone in the school seemed to be openly discussing the way in which Harry had apparently stolen Susan from under Ernie's nose. A few people were also talking about Harry, Justin and Hermione. However, the way in which Ron reacted to the idea, added to the way in which Hermione stayed much closer to Ron than Harry, meant that considerably less attention was paid to that particular rumour.

Harry was glad to make it to Wednesday evening and the HA meeting without having hexed anyone. His private lessons with Dumbledore had been complete failures, particularly his most recent lesson. His nervousness at having his mind invaded again, coupled with the increasing stress that the rumours about him and Susan was placing on him, meant that any hopes that he had of adequately calming himself to the point where he could properly practice Occlumency were quickly abandoned.

And the less said about my lessons with Madam Marchbanks, the better, Harry sighed, rubbing a particularly sore area on his hip. Madam Marchbanks had little tolerance for students whose attention wandered.

The Room of Requirement began to slowly fill up. It was a much larger room then it once had been, easily able to contain the more than seventy members of the HA.

Tonight, it looked uncomfortably sparse.

"Where is everyone?" Ron asked. "Did we forget about some exams tomorrow or something?"

Hermione looked momentarily panicked, and then shook her head.

"No, I think that it's..." she tailed off as realisation dawned on Harry.

"It's this thing with Ernie, isn't it?" He sighed. "Look, Hannah is the only Hufflepuff here, there's only a couple of Ravenclaws, we're even missing a few Gryffindors."

"Yeah, but on the bright side, we've got a couple of Slytherins now," Ron said, his voice anything but bright.

Harry turned to follow Ron's gaze.

"Oh my," Hermione breathed.

Luna was usually one of the last people to make it to HA meetings, drifting in on her own just as the doors were shut.

This time, though, she had company.

To her right stood Blaise Zabini, glowering ferociously about him, wand held ready as though ready to defend himself.

To Luna's left stood Theodore Nott, the skinny boy glancing nervously about as though on the verge of turning and fleeing. Despite his nervousness, it was Blaise's arm that Luna was clasping tightly, as though it were Blaise who was more likely to depart without warning.

Harry closed his mouth, which had been hanging slightly open. He felt a sharp poking in his back, which had to be Hermione, wanting him to do something.

He started walking towards the trio, uncomfortably aware that all eyes in the room were on him. The other members of the HA were silent as Harry crossed the room, which had never seemed larger to him. It seemed to take an age to reach the three newcomers.

"Hi Luna."

"Hello, Harry," she said. "This is Blaise and Theodore. I've been spending some time with them, telling them about the Hogwarts Alliance. They're interested in joining."

Harry looked first at Blaise, exuding confidence and menace, then at Theodore, who met his eyes at the second attempt.

"They're very good," Luna said. "They stopped some boys from my house from teasing me when Ronald and I broke up."

Harry opened his mouth to reply at the same time as Blaise. They stared at each other for a moment, before both grinned.

"Welcome to the HA," Harry said, holding out his hand for the Slytherins to shake. "Good to have you."

To be continued...