The Greatest Power

Chapter 23: Defense and the D.A.

"Tonks tells me you are more advanced in Defense Against the Dark Arts than her seventh years, Harry," Kingsley Shaklebolt said as he and Harry cleared tables in a large, unused classroom for their first dueling lesson.

Harry was not sure how to respond to that. Defense Against the Dark Arts was easily his best subject at school, and he supposed that learning the spells and jinxes necessary to get through the Tri-Wizard Tournament and reading books for the D.A., not to mention the battles he had gone through, had helped him with his defense skills. He had not learned any of that, however, in an effort to do better in his classes.

Kingsley chuckled. "No need to be modest, Harry. I know what you are capable of." As he pushed the last table against the stone wall, his expression grew serious. "Advanced as your skills may be, however, my duty is to teach you the art of dueling as it is taught in Auror training. There are certain aspects of battle that cannot be taught in school."

Harry nodded solemnly. He knew from experience that a real duel with a Death Eater did not end with the disarming or stunning of your opponent; it ended only with capture or death.

"OK, Harry," Kingsley said calmly, rolling up the sleeves of his robes. "Before we proceed with anything else, I would like to see what you can do already."

Harry followed suit, rolling up his own sleeves and holding his wand in the ready position. Before he had even thought to throw his own spell, Kingsley cried, "Expelliarmus!"

Even though Harry had not cast a spell yet, he was at the ready, and he shouted, "Protego!" just in time, and he felt the spell bounce off of his magical shield and back towards Kingsley, who jumped to the side, dodging it.

"Impedimenta!" Harry cast the next spell towards Kingsley, hoping to go on the offensive while Kingsley was dodging his own disarming spell.

"Protego!" This time it was Kingsley who cast the shield charm and Harry had to drop into a roll to avoid the rebound of his own spell.

"Stupefy!" The spell caught Harry mid-roll, and Harry lay still, stunned. It had taken only a few seconds for Kingsley to defeat him. The Auror woke Harry immediately, and the two walked to one corner of the classroom, where Kingsley had left two chairs and a small table standing.

"What went wrong, Harry?" Kingsley asked seriously when they had been seated.

"I wasn't fast enough," Harry answered.

"Not exactly," Kingsley replied. "Your reflexes are very good, as I expected, and you dodged the rebound of your Impediment Jinx very well. Can you think of anything else?"

Harry thought for a moment. He had simply assumed that he had not been fast enough on his feet, but as this wasn't the case, he answered, "I wasn't ready for you to cast another spell."

"Precisely," Kingsley told him seriously. "Being able to physically dodge a spell is very important, but it does not do you much good if you are caught immediately afterward by another. How do you suppose this problem can be fixed?"

"It's hard to dodge again when you come out of a roll," Harry pondered.

"Yes, it is," Kingsley answered. "Go on."

"I should have immediately cast another spell back at you as I came out of the roll, or else been ready to raise my own shield."

"That's correct, Harry. You must always be at least one step ahead of your opponent - you must always be ready to counter their next move, or else to make your own. True dueling, as you have seen, happens so quickly that there is little time to think, only to act."

Harry nodded. He felt incredibly stupid, having been beaten so quickly, even if Kingsley was an Auror. Noticing the expression on his student's face, Shaklebolt added, "That is why we are beginning with the very basics of dueling, Harry, using only the spells that you already know. After we have used your existing skills to increase your speed and accuracy, we will progress into more advanced techniques."

Harry nodded, wondering what the advanced techniques would consist of. If Kingsley had noticed the question in his student's eyes, however, he did not respond. Instead, he stood up, and Harry followed suit. "Are you ready to continue?" the Auror asked.

"Yes, sir," Harry responded respectfully. He raised his wand to the ready position, but Kingsley put up one hand to stop him.

"This time, Harry, I would like you to stow your wand in your pocket. I want to practice dodging today, and you will progress more quickly if you are not tempted to block me with spells."

Harry was rather taken aback at this instruction. Instead of stowing his wand as he had been instructed, however, he crossed the room, placing his wand on a table for safekeeping. He did not want it to break during his attempts at dodging.

For the next hour, Kingsley shot minor jinxes at Harry, who used his Quidditch reflexes to dodge as many spells in succession as he could. Each time the Auror managed to hit him, they rested for a moment and discussed Harry's technique. Shaklebolt did not miss a single flaw, but far from feeling picked upon like he did in Snape's class, Harry was impressed and appreciative of the attention to detail.

Over the course of the lesson, Kingsley introduced Harry to more than a few specific dodging techniques, including a calculated roll that allowed the dueler to regain footing almost immediately, a spin that he said could eventually be used as a feint and several simpler, quicker dodges as well. By the time it was over, Harry was incredibly sore, but had been able to dodge seven spells fired in quick succession in their final round.

"I would like you to practice what you have learned each night this week. It would be a good time for your friends to practice their jinxes."

Harry stared at him. "You want Ron and Hermione to throw jinxes at me every night?"

"Indeed, Harry," Shaklebolt answered. "It will be as good for them as it is for you. I believe you found a room within the castle that would be quite suitable for practice, did you not?"

"Er, yeah," Harry responded uncertainly. The Room of Requirement would work well for this purpose, but he was starting to feel more than a bit overwhelmed with all he had to do this term. Between his homework, Tonks' physical training requirements, the D.A., Quidditch practice, and now this, his time was increasingly spoken for.

Shaklebolt gazed at him seriously. "I know that much is being asked of you this year, Harry," he said. "But as you seem to find yourself in increasingly difficult situations more often than even most Aurors, it is important that you be prepared."

Harry nodded. He knew exactly what he was being prepared for, even if his trainers did not. For the thousandth time, he felt that nagging feeling of unease as he considered telling his friends and the Order about the prophecy.

* * *

That night, while Ginny and Colin were on Prefect duty and Ron and Hermione "went for a walk," Harry wrote a letter to Remus. He badly needed some advice.

Dear Moony,

This week has been much better than last. Classes are OK, but we have loads of homework, and Ron's making us practice twice a week for our first Quidditch match against Slytherin in the middle of October. Tonks is on us, too, making us run every day as physical training for dueling.

Harry stopped and thought for a moment. The first part of this letter had been easy - it was the sort of note that any student would write to a parent. The next part would be trickier. How could he ask Moony about revealing the prophecy without letting any possible letter-thieves know what he was talking about? Harry sucked on the end of his quill, thinking hard. Finally, he took the damp quill out of his mouth, dipped it into his ink bottle, and continued.

I worked with Kingsley for the first time this morning. He taught me some cool dodging stuff. They look a little like something I saw on a ninja show on Dudley's telly once.

I've been thinking it might be time to tell my friends about my secret. What do you reckon?

Hope you're doing OK. Say hi to the Weasleys for me.

Best,
Harry

Harry heard Ginny and Colin coming through the portrait hole just as he was finishing up. He hastily folded his letter and stuck it into a spell book as she headed for him.

"What are you working on?" she asked, leaning over to hug him from behind and kiss him on the cheek, her red hair tickling his face.

"I was just writing a letter to Moony," Harry answered quietly. "I haven't written him yet this term. Then I was going to start on McGonagall's essay..." he trailed off. He really didn't feel like doing homework right now.

"Harry, it's Friday. We don't have lessons again until Monday. Why don't you take a break and have some chess?"

"Or Gobstones!" said Colin Creevey from behind Ginny. "I got a new set over the holiday. I'll get Dennis, and we could play teams!"

"Er," Harry said, and Ginny felt his shoulder muscles tense slightly. He found it extremely annoying that Colin had been listening to their conversation, and he would much rather just quietly play chess with his girlfriend than spend so much time with the Creevey brothers, both of whom were still prone to staring at Harry's scar.

Before Harry could find the right words to refuse without offending Colin, Ginny said brightly, "We'd love to, Colin. Go get Dennis, and we'll meet you over at that table by the window."

After Colin had gone to find his brother, Harry stood and turned to Ginny. "What'd you go and do that for?" he asked irritably.

Ginny completely ignored the look of annoyance on Harry's face. She knew that Colin's open admiration irritated him, but she thought that a loud, obnoxious game of Gobstones with two people who were not constantly discussing the war might be just the thing to loosen Harry up. "Colin and Dennis aren't bad, Harry," she said calmly. "Besides, they're my friends. If you don't want to play, fine, but I'm going to."

Harry sighed. He supposed playing Gobstones was better than doing homework at any rate, and he did want to spend some time with Ginny.

"Alright, Harry?" Dennis asked excitedly as he joined his brother, who was armed with a set of brightly colored balls which looked rather like Muggle marbles. Dennis simply couldn't believe that he was about to play Gobstones with Harry Potter, leader of the D.A. and defeater of Lord Voldemort. The fact that he had seen Harry nearly every day for over two years had done little to curb his enthusiasm.

"Hi, Dennis!" Ginny said brightly, elbowing Harry when he didn't respond.

"Hi, guys," Harry said.

The four Gryffindors soon became involved in an extremely competitive game, Ginny and Harry versus the Creevey brothers. Harry had just been squirted in the face by one of Colin's stones when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face her, grinning and wiping the smelly liquid from his eyes. The childish game had served its purpose, and Harry had forgotten his worries and was having a good time.

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione said, rolling her eyes even as she failed to suppress a smile.

"What is it, Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione glanced at the others, but since Colin and Dennis were both D.A. members she didn't see much point in pulling Harry aside. "Ron and I were talking, and we were wondering if you'd given any thought about when we should have the first D.A. meeting."

"We were wondering about that, too!" Colin piped up. "We keep checking our Galleons to see if you've changed the date yet." He pulled the fake Galleon Hermione had given him last year out of his pocket and held it up as evidence. "But you haven't, have you, Harry?"

"Not yet," Harry said. "Let me go talk to Ron and Hermione about it, OK? I promise I'll schedule a meeting soon."

The Creevey brothers nodded excitedly and continued playing Gobstones one-on-one as Ginny and Harry headed over to their favorite spot by the fire, where Ron was waiting. Harry noticed that Ron's face was flushed and his hair looked distinctly disheveled. Harry grinned. "Have a nice 'walk,' mate?" he asked teasingly.

Ron didn't answer, but the glowing red of his ears gave him away. Hermione saw his embarrassment and, blushing slightly and trying to straighten her own hair, said quickly, "So, Harry, what do you think about the D.A. meetings?"

Harry thought for a moment. Now that they were two weeks into term, he reckoned that it was time to get started. "I dunno," he said slowly. "I suppose our meetings could be a bit more regular, now that they don't have to be secret. We still have everyone's Quidditch practices to work around, though."

"Ron can talk to the other Captains," Hermione asked in a businesslike voice.

"Won't have to," Ron said, and Harry looked at him in surprise. "Slytherin booked the Quidditch pitch for themselves every Wednesday from now until Christmas, from six until curfew, so no one else can practice that day." Ron sounded slightly bitter, which struck Harry as ironic. It wasn't as though Ron wasn't finding plenty of time to make his team practice already!

"That's perfect!" Hermione said cheerfully. "No one on the Slytherin team is in the D.A., so if we have meetings then, we won't have to worry about anyone's practices."

Harry nodded, but said, "I'll have to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it before we make any definite plans. I've got Leg - , er, Occlumency training with him on Tuesday. I can ask then."

Ginny looked sharply at Harry, certain that he had almost let something slip. She opened her mouth to ask him about it, but something she saw in his eyes warned her not to. Was it a flicker of fear, or self-doubt, or was it something else entirely? Ginny made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"How did your lesson with Kingsley go this afternoon?" Hermione asked. She, too, had noticed Harry's slip, but she had also decided to let it go at present. "I forgot to ask at dinner because I was so busy trying to stop those second years from starting a food fight."

Harry described what Kingsley had taught him that afternoon.

"He shot spells at you and didn't even let you use your wand?" Ginny asked incredulously. "That's not fair!"

"Obviously, Kingsley wants Harry to start with the basics," Hermione said. "Your wand isn't going to do you much good if you get hit by a spell, is it?"

"But he could still use it to defend himself!" Ron said indignantly. "What's Kingsley on about?"

"That's not all of it," Harry said. "He wants me to practice the same thing with you three every night this week, in the Room of Requirement."

"He wants us to throw curses at you when you don't even have your wand?" Hermione asked, sounding doubtful. It was one thing that Kingsley was doing it, but what if one of them accidentally hurt Harry?

"Only stuff you know the counter-jinxes for," Harry clarified.

"Still..." Hermione said uncertainly.

Ron suddenly turned a piercing gaze on Harry as a thought occurred to him. "Why are you getting special dueling classes anyway, Harry? I mean, we know you've done loads of dangerous stuff, but we've been with you most of the time. Why's it just you?"

The conversation stopped abruptly as all three of them looked at Harry for an answer. He shifted very uncomfortably in his seat, and then muttered, "I'm tired, guys. I think I'll turn in." He didn't look at any of them directly as he packed his books, quill, and parchment into his bag. He gave Ginny a quick kiss on her forehead and headed to the stairs without another word.

"Do you guys have the feeling that he's hiding something?" Ron asked as he watched Harry go upstairs toward their dormitory. Ginny threw her brother an exasperated look. He certainly had a talent for stating the obvious!

"Whatever it is, we'll find out soon," Hermione said confidently.

"How do you know, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"Because he can't keep it bottled up much longer," Hermione said simply. "Didn't you see his face? Whatever this is, it's about to drive him mad."

Ginny sighed softly. She felt like she had gotten so much closer to Harry over the summer, but she couldn't help but envy how easily her brother and Hermione seemed be able to read him.

"What's the matter, Ginny?" Hermione asked.

Ginny sighed again. "I just wish I could learn to understand him like you two do."

* * *

Remus Lupin smiled as Hedwig soared through his open window. He'd been hoping to hear from Harry sometime soon. He'd gotten so used to talking to him every day over the summer, and now he found that he missed his charge more than ever.

His smile didn't fade as he read Harry's note, although he knew that they would have to find a better way to communicate. Harry was obviously trying to be cryptic, and it made the letter very short and uninformative. Remus had a couple of ideas about that, but until he could actually see Harry in person, owl post would have to do.

He was glad that Harry was ready to tell his friends about the prophecy. Remus and Dumbledore had talked several times about telling the Order the full contents of it, but they both were hesitant, not wanting to betray Harry's trust again. Now, of all times, the boy had to be comfortable being completely honest with them.

Remus got out a piece of parchment and thought about what to say in his return post. He wondered whether Harry would like it if he was with him when he told his friends, and he also wondered if Harry wanted to tell the Order on his own, or if he would give Dumbledore permission to do so. He dipped his quill into a bottle of black ink and replied,

Dear Harry,

Thank you for your note. I had been hoping to hear from you. I'm glad that your second week of term has gone well, although I know you must be feeling very overwhelmed right now with all that is being required of you. Stay strong, Harry - you can do this!

Professor Dumbledore told me that the first Hogsmeade excursion will be the on the third weekend in October - one week after your first Quidditch match. I think this might be a good time to talk to your friends, and I believe I know just the place for it. Remember where you first met Snuffles?

Would you like me to be there with you when you talk to them? It is your decision, Harry, but know that I am willing and happy to do so if you would like me to. Just let me know.

Everyone at Headquarters is doing fine, although the house seems almost unbearably quiet without you lot pounding up and down the stairs all day.

I will see you soon.

Moony

Remus smiled at his final comment. Harry did not know it, but he was planning on surprising him by coming to his first Quidditch match of the season. It was a full week after the full moon, so making the trip would not be a problem, and he looked forward to seeing him again.

* * *

Even though Dumbledore had officially approved Harry's plan to continue with the D.A. during this school year, they had decided that the Room of Requirement was still the best place to hold the meetings, mainly because Harry did not have the resources of a teacher and the room was so generous in providing everything they needed.

Upon the Headmaster's approval, Harry had set the date on his Galleon for the following Wednesday, and even though he had been reluctant to continue, he could not help but grin nervously as every single member from last year, with the exception of Marietta Edgecombe, who was too embarrassed to show up, filed through the door of the Room of Requirement and sat down on the cushions on the floor, looking at him expectantly. Harry saw some new faces as well.

"Er, hi," Harry began, clearing his throat. He had gotten over his nervousness at leading such a large group the previous year, but after the holidays, he found that he was quite out of practice. "I'm glad you all came back, and to those of you who are here for the first time, welcome," he said. "As you probably know already, we don't have to keep all of this a secret anymore, so from here on out, the meetings will be on Wednesdays at seven, OK?"

There was a general murmur of assent throughout the room.

"This year will be a bit different from last year in some other ways, too," Harry continued. "Since we finally have a decent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher -"

"Hear, hear!" interrupted Ernie Macmillan rather pompously, and many of the students in the room chuckled.

Harry grinned and waited for the murmurs to die down again. "As I was saying," he continued, his voice considerably stronger, "Since we have Professor Tonks now, the D.A. is going to be much more dueling-oriented this year. I've talked to Professor Dumbledore about this, and we both think that the best use of the D.A.'s time would be to put the things we are learning in Defense to practical use."

"We're just going to be going over the stuff we do in Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Zacharias Smith broke in. "That's it?"

"Yes, that's it, but that's a lot," Harry said, throwing Ron, whose ears had begun to turn red, a warning look. "We're not only going to be practicing the new offensive and defensive spells we'll learn with Professor Tonks, we are going to be working on physical tactics of dueling as well. As some of you may already know, in a real duel, you are not going to be standing still, shooting spells at one another in turn. You've got to be able to think on your feet, to stay a step ahead of your opponent. That is what we will be working on this year, in addition to some other things. Any questions?"

Some of the Ravenclaw members looked at each other uncomfortably, as if silently trying to decide who was going to raise their hand. Finally, Cho Chang tentatively put her hand in the air. When Harry nodded at her, and asked, "What happened at the Ministry of Magic, Harry?"

Harry sighed and exchanged a glance with Ron and Hermione. He had known this was going to come up. "Look, that's not really the point of the meeting," Harry began, willing himself to speak in a calm voice. The battle at the Department of Mysteries was still a very hard topic for him to discuss.

Ginny saw the struggle plainly on his face even if it was imperceptible to everyone else but Ron and Hermione, and she stood up. "If you want to know anything about that, you can ask me, Hermione, Ron, Neville, or Luna. We were all there, too. For now, let Harry teach. That is why we're here, isn't it?" Neville looked positively alarmed at having his name mentioned to the entire D.A., but Luna didn't appear to be following the conversation at all. She was staring absentmindedly somewhere over Harry's head.

Harry shot a grateful look at his girlfriend as most of the members of the D.A. nodded. Even though they were disappointed in Harry's answer, they had not actually expected to get any information out of him. Harry took a deep breath. "Right," he said. "We're going to spend the rest of this hour working on your Protego shield charms. Yes, I know that the sixth and seventh years have already worked on those in Defense Against the Dark Arts," he added, because Zacharias looked ready to interrupt again, "Because of that, we're going to divide into groups of three rather than two. After a short demonstration of the spell, I want one older student paired with two younger ones. The older student will practice his or her shield against both of the younger students, and then will give help as the younger students practice against only each other. Does everyone understand?"

Harry stepped back into a clear space, and Ron and Hermione advanced on him, wands at the ready. The room waited with baited breath.

Just as Hermione cast her first spell, Harry cried, "Protego!" and moved his wand in a broad, sweeping motion diagonally across his body, concentrating hard on creating a strong shield against Hermione's charm. There was a unified "ooh" as a translucent gold buffer materialized between Harry and his friends. Hermione's jelly-legs jinx bounced harmlessly off of it, but Ron was so busy gaping at the physical manifestation of Harry's shield charm that he didn't think to dodge the rebound of the jinx. Ron's legs folded underneath him, no longer able to support his weight, and he sank to the floor, his ears going pink with embarrassment even as he continued to stare at Harry.

"Right," Harry said to the room at large as Hermione hurried over to work the counter-curse on Ron. "As you just saw, if done correctly, the shield charm works both as a defensive and as an offensive tactic. Go ahead and divide up; like I did last year, I'll be walking around the room to help if you need it." Harry tried to keep his face neutral, as if what had happened with his shield charm was completely normal.

The room soon became filled with shouts as the students got into groups and began shooting spells at one another, and as soon as they saw that the other D.A. members were occupied, Hermione and Ron came straight to Harry.

"Harry, how did you do that, mate?" Ron asked in an awed voice. "I can do the spell, but my shield is invisible. So is Hermione's."

Harry shrugged. He didn't know why his shield had become visible, or what it meant.

"Harry, your shield is obviously getting more powerful," Hermione said. "Just the other day, I read something about the Protego charm that said that as the spell grows stronger, the shield can become visible, even become completely solid, but I've never seen anyone do it before."

"I don't know," Harry said. "I practiced on it a bit with Kingsley in our second lesson, before he made me put my wand away again, and he taught me some ways to concentrate the power of the spell, but it wasn't visible then."

Ron and Hermione didn't reply, but continued to stare at Harry, their faces wearing identical impressed expressions. Harry looked away from them, out at the other students, and said, "Look, guys, I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore about it, but for right now I'm going to go work with some of the others. Can you two help some of the younger students?" Ron and Hermione nodded.

Harry began walking between the groups of students, staying clear of rebounding spells, and working counter-charms on the students whose shields had been unsuccessful. The sixth and seventh years who were in N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts were all doing rather well, but Harry stopped to help many of the fourth- and fifth-years with theirs. Ginny was practicing with Colin and Neville, and Harry was impressed by Ginny's shield, but even more so by Neville's new abilities. It seemed as though his new wand was really helping, if for no other reason than it seemed to give him more confidence in his ability. The rest of the hour passed by quickly, and at 8:00, he dismissed the D.A., finding it rather nice that he no longer had to worry about anyone getting caught.

* * *

And so September passed into October, and Harry fell into bed each night completely exhausted. This year, he was very diligent about practicing his Occlumency before sleep, and between that and his physical exertion, he had very few dreams, and the ones he did have, he rarely remembered.

Almost every moment of every day was now accounted for. Tonks had increased their daily runs to 30 minutes, and Kingsley still required that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny practice with Harry every night. As a result, Harry's dodging skills were improving rapidly, and in their lesson the day before the first Quidditch match, Kingsley had finally let Harry use his wand in their practice, and was teaching him how to combine his new physical skill with his spellwork.

All-in-all, although he himself didn't realize it, Harry's friends and teachers could see his power growing daily, and they were at once impressed with and frightened by the determination that was so evident on his face as they practiced. Dumbledore had been correct. Harry was a child no more.