Revelations and Romance

Revelations and Romance chapter 9

9: Target dummies

17th January

In Monday's Care of Magical Creatures, Malfoy was back to his usual hostile self. 'Oh, look, it's the Gryffindor Quidditch wonders,' he said. 'They really are just picking people they feel sorry for,' he told Crabbe and Goyle, 'like Harry the orphan in his silly headband, Weasley the pauper and the Granger Mudblood, who can't even get a broom to fly straight!' Crabbe and Goyle guffawed as usual.

Before the trio could say anything, Professor Grubbly-Plank emerged from behind one of the winged horses that were the subject of the lesson. 'Detention, Malfoy, and five points from Slytherin. You will not use such language here,' she said calmly. 'Now apologise to Miss Granger.'

Malfoy very sulkily muttered what might have been an apology, and the lesson started.

Afterwards, hurrying back to the castle for Divination, Ron was gleefully listing the things that were going wrong for Malfoy. 'Even Snape gave him detentions, now Grubbly-Plank has too, and Raine says that none of the girls can stand him -- I'm really enjoying this!'

'I almost told him we know about the bidding process for getting into the Slytherin team,' said Harry, 'but then I realised he'd be bound to guess Raine was the one who told us. I don't want to get her into any more trouble.'

'I think she was just joking,' said Hermione. 'After all, their team did win the Quidditch Cup for several years. It can't just be bribery and cheating.'

'But it's what they're best at,' said Ron.

'Anyway, I'll see you at lunch,' she told them, turning down the corridor that led to Arithmancy.

*

In that afternoon's Transfiguration lesson, McGonagall had a new challenge for them. Each pupil was given a box containing four small stones and told that the four had to be Transfigured into a saucer. This was the first lesson in which they'd had to change a collection of objects into just one. To save time, McGonagall put a second box on Hermione's desk, containing a further three dozen small stones.

'You're being taken for granted,' Harry told Hermione with a grin, just before he started working on his own four stones.

By the end of the lesson, most of the pupils had managed to produce a saucer. Hermione was disappointed, as she only had eight saucers, and eight small stones left over. However, as the class went down to the Herbology greenhouses, she was busy trying to comfort Neville, who had only managed to produce four pieces of a broken saucer.

In Herbology, Hannah and Ernie were working close to the trio. When Hannah was carrying a tray of compost back to her table, she stopped by Harry. 'Did you say something to Susan and Megan about gossip?'

'I didn't, but I asked Ron's sister to say something to someone that those two know, to pass on to them. Why? Didn't you want me to?'

Hannah put the tray down on Harry's table, and hugged him. 'It's fine!' she said, smiling broadly. 'They seem to be too scared to talk about us, or even to us, now!'

Harry smiled too. 'I'm glad I could make it up to you.'

'If this is what came of your joke, I really like it!'

'You'd better be careful, Harry,' said Ron. 'You-Know-Who won't be able to attack you -- all the gossipers will try to duel you at once, to get their "defence" in before you can attack them!'

'Then I'll duck,' said Harry.

Hannah laughed, and went back over to where Ernie was waiting for the compost.

When they were walking back to the castle, Hannah and Ernie walked with them.

'Was that bit about gossipers attacking you, about the DADA duelling?' asked Hannah. Ron explained briefly what level Harry and Hermione were duelling at, and what level Lavender and Parvati were.

'Susan and Megan are doing better than that, but nobody in our class needs even the normal part of the library to look up new curses,' said Ernie.

'Is this part of you keeping up your reputation?' Hannah asked Harry.

'It's part of me trying to keep alive,' Harry replied. 'You know what happened at the end of the Tournament.'

'All too well,' said Ernie.

Hannah nodded sadly. They had reached the Entrance Hall, and the Hufflepuffs crossed the Hall to go to their common room. The Gryffindors started up the staircase towards theirs.

'At least somebody's happy. Until I mentioned the Tournament, at least,' said Harry.

'Better a happy Hannah than a happy Malfoy, anyway,' said Hermione. The other two agreed with her.

*

After dinner, the three of them and Ginny sat doing their homework. Ron and Hermione had visited the Prefects' bathroom again before dinner, and the Invisibility Cloak was now sitting in Harry's pocket. He felt that he ought to be using it for something himself, but there didn't seem to be any great mystery for him to look at this year. This was beginning to worry him -- it just wasn't what he thought of as normal at Hogwarts.

Ginny finished her homework first, and stroked Crookshanks while she tried to work out how much more Ron had left to do. He noticed her looking at the piles of books and parchment in front of him.

'I'm doing my homework properly,' he said. 'Not like these fourth years, who don't have their O.W.Ls next term.'

'Maybe you ought to work out a better way of sneaking off together. What do you do, go to an empty classroom? Couldn't you do homework there?'

Seeing that Ron didn't look likely to come up with an answer soon, Harry suggested, 'Maybe they really are up to something?' Ron glared at him.

'No, Ron's wand still works,' Ginny said, then giggled at her brother's exasperated expression.

'Why wouldn't it work now?' asked Hermione, and Harry thought she sounded a little concerned.

'Mr Ollivander did tell me he remembered my parents buying their first wands -- I didn't think anything of the "first" part then,' said Harry. 'Do you really need a new wand as you get older, or something?'

'No!' said Ron. 'Ginny's just remembered one of Fred's old jokes.'

'So are you going to tell it to us properly?' asked Hermione.

'Fred told Percy a while ago that, even if he and Penny got married, they couldn't have sex, because his wand has a unicorn hair, and it wouldn't work for him any more,' said Ginny.

'It was one of his subtle jokes,' said Ron.

'And they were here at school,' said Ginny, 'so Percy took five points off Fred for it. But Ron can't do that, so I'm safe.'

'Not completely,' said Hermione, with a grin.

'Oh, dear,' said Ginny, realising. 'Can't you take the points off Fred, as it was his joke?'

'So it was just a joke about unicorns only liking virgins?' asked Harry. 'Charlie's old wand had a unicorn hair, didn't it? I remember you could see it poking out of the end.'

'Yes, it did. Charlie seems to think that you handle magical creatures by letting them bite your wand,' said Ron.

'That's why it looked like that! I just thought they wore out, the first time you showed me it.'

'All proper Weasleys have unicorn hairs in their wands,' said Ron.

'So you can tease Ginny with the same joke?' asked Harry.

'What do you mean, "proper" Weasleys?' asked Ginny, glaring at Ron.

'Well, er ...'

'Ones that don't attack people with Basilisks, perhaps?'

'I didn't mean that! I didn't mean anything, it was just a joke, Ginny.'

'Does that mean Ginny's the only one in your family who doesn't have a unicorn-hair wand?', asked Hermione. 'How about your mother -- she wasn't born a Weasley, was she? She'd have red hair instead of brown if she was, wouldn't she?'

'No, she wasn't a Weasley,' said Ginny. 'But she does have a unicorn hair wand. I seem to be the only one who doesn't. Mine has an augurey feather instead.'

'But both your parents and all six brothers have? Is that odd, or normal?'

'It's hard to say,' said Ron. 'There aren't that many wizarding families as large as ours.'

'Somewhere in the world is a bald unicorn,' said Ginny, 'and it's all our fault. Except for me, I didn't do it.'

*

In Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures, Malfoy checked that the Professor wasn't anywhere nearby before telling Crabbe and Goyle that Slytherin would have no problem defeating the Gryffindor team in next year's Quidditch matches.

'One hundred and eighty points to nothing, that was what we beat you by this year,' said Harry. 'Does that mean you're leaving, and the team can have a proper Seeker next year who can actually see the Snitch?'

Malfoy glared back at him, and was just opening his mouth to say something, when he saw Professor Grubbly-Plank approaching. He grabbed his right arm, screamed, and fell to the ground. Crabbe and Goyle bent over him in concern. Harry, Ron and Hermione watched in bewilderment.

'What is going on?' asked the Professor as she arrived.

'Potter ... cursed me ...' Malfoy gasped, still lying where he had fallen.

The Professor looked at Harry and his two friends, and before they had a chance to say anything, said, 'It must have been an extremely delayed curse, as Potter had no time to put his wand away without my seeing him, unless he cast it earlier. Get up and stop lying about other pupils!'

Malfoy made a great show of pain as Crabbe and Goyle helped him back to his feet. Harry remembered how Pansy Parkinson had reacted to Buckbeak's attack on Malfoy, and looked over at her. She was watching quite calmly, and he wondered if that meant she wasn't taking it at all seriously, or if she no longer liked Malfoy.

'Good. Now, if you can manage to remain standing, we can begin the lesson without the need to take any more points from Slytherin. You do, of course, have a further detention, Malfoy.'

There were five of the Aethonan breed of winged horses, and the Professor again divided the class into five groups of four, explaining to them that they were to ride the horses, first on the ground, and then in flight.

'Well, I've flown twice on Buckbeak, and you flew on him once,' said Harry quietly to Hermione. 'These should be easier, as they've got saddles on.'

'I think I prefer brooms,' she muttered back. 'They don't keep bouncing up and down like winged animals do.'

Ron and Neville were even less keen than Hermione, so Harry took the first ride, first in a circle around the fenced area, and then in a much wider circle in the air. When he landed, the other three were all trying not to laugh.

'OK, what did I do that looked so funny?' he asked them.

'They must be well trained,' said Neville, before choking on his laughter.

'What?'

'You must have seen horses in the street,' said Hermione, managing to control herself better.

'Not very often. Oh -- you mean every time they stop, and ...'

'We were just saying, if only they weren't so well trained,' said Ron, 'and you'd flown over Malfoy at just the right time ...'

Harry laughed too. 'Well, who's next to worry Malfoy? If you've ever ridden a horse, I liked riding this one better in the air than on the ground -- much less bumpy.'

Hermione tried it next, and agreed at the end that riding it in flight was more comfortable.

'Come on, Ron,' she urged. 'You've seen both of us survive riding it.'

Ron didn't look too keen on flying something that wasn't made of wood, but reluctantly mounted the horse and rode and flew the circles. He smiled as he dismounted.

'You must have liked it, you're smiling!' said Hermione.

'I like being back down here! No, it was better than I expected,' Ron replied. 'Neville? Your turn. You've flown on brooms OK, apart from your first lesson.'

'Yes, but this isn't a broom.'

'No, it isn't,' said Hermione, 'but it's better than riding a Hippogriff.' She grimaced, as she suddenly remembered that only Harry had flown on any of the Hippogriffs in a lesson, and officially she'd never flown on one. Fortunately, Neville was too nervous about flying on the Aethonan to notice. He hadn't got further than holding its reins, and wasn't even starting to mount it.

At this moment, there was a scream from Pansy, as Goyle had apparently done something to upset his horse in flight, and it had thrown him, from about twenty feet up. The Professor gestured with her wand, and his fall slowed and ended with a gentle landing.

'What did you do?' she asked sternly, while using the wand to attract the Aethonan's attention and bring it back down to the ground.

'It wasn't going very fast,' he mumbled. 'Brooms go faster.'

'How did you try to make her go faster? Did you hit her?'

'Only a bit.'

'Well, she only threw you "a bit",' she said. 'Two points from you. Mount up again, and this time, do it properly.'

Neville had let go of the reins and backed away from the Aethonan when he saw Goyle falling, and was now keeping away from it.

'Neville, she only threw him because he hit her,' said Hermione. 'You won't hit this one, so you'll be all right.'

'I'm not going near enough to hit it.'

'Even Malfoy's flown on theirs. You remember what he was like with the Hippogriff.'

'Yeah, well he's a Prefect. He's supposed to set examples.'

'I'm a Prefect too,' she reminded him. 'Don't you have to follow the example Harry and I set?'

'Watch out, Neville, or you'll get a detention from her,' Ron said.

'I wouldn't do that! But I do think you should try, Neville.'

Neville cautiously approached the Aethonan again. It turned its head to look at him, which seemed to calm him. He mounted awkwardly, and started the ground ride. The other three called out encouragement, and the Aethonan finished the first circle and started to fly the second circle, with Neville gripping the reins nervously, making it fly more slowly than it had for anyone else. He did stay on, and was grinning when it landed and he could dismount.

'It wasn't so bad, was it?' asked Harry.

'No. I think I'll fly once more, even slower, even further, and not manage to land until Potions is over,' Neville replied.

As everyone had now ridden at least once, the Professor dismissed the class a few minutes early, and they headed back to the castle for Potions. Following Potions, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down next to Ginny for lunch.

'What are you three so happy about?' she asked.

'Malfoy got detention two days running,' said Ron. 'Prefects are meant to give detentions, not keep getting them!'

'He didn't tell anyone else off, not even Neville,' said Harry.

'Good. I don't like it when he picks on people,' said Ginny.

They ate in quiet for a while, then Ginny said, 'I don't think I've ever seen either of you give anyone detention or take points away, except for Lavender and Parvati. Have you ever?'

'No, I haven't,' said Harry. 'Would you like a detention, so as to start me off?'

'No, thanks!'

'How about just a point or two deducted?'

'I think it's good that you haven't,' said Ron. 'Percy overdid it, I think.'

'What about me with those two?' asked Hermione. 'Was I overdoing it?'

'Oh, they'd asked for it. You gave me a detention too, remember?'

'Hermione! You didn't!' exclaimed Ginny.

'Only as a joke,' Hermione explained. 'I didn't have my badge on at the time, anyway.' Ron grinned.

'Joke detentions. If anyone got those, I'd have thought it would be the twins.'

'Fred and George Weasley, Joke Prefects!' declaimed Harry.

'Are you talking about us?' asked George.

'They're in a very silly mood, so your names just naturally came up,' his sister explained.

'Joke Prefects give Joke detentions, which means the pupils have to pull pranks on people instead of polishing the floor of the Potions dungeon,' added Harry.

'Yes, I see what you mean, Ginny,' said George.

Harry took his headband out of his pocket, as he hadn't worn it in Potions, and put it on so that the Snitch was upside down. 'I am now officially silly.'

*

The trio had a free period as the last lesson of the day. Ron borrowed Harry's Cloak again, and he and Hermione went back to the Prefect's bathroom. Harry got on with his homework, thinking that they must have taken a week off sleeping together so that they'd be more enthusiastic this week. After the last lesson of the day, Ginny joined him with her homework.

'Are those two off being suspicious again?' she asked.

'Yes. More progress in the "Hermione's not my girlfriend" project.'

'If Ron spent as much time on DADA homework as he did on that project, he'd be duelling as well as you.'

Harry grinned at her. 'Oh, I'm sure he doesn't mind spending time with Hermione. She's spending just as much time with him, and she duels OK.'

'She ought to give him some practice while they're being suspicious. It'll look really suspicious if he doesn't spend less time being suspicious after his birthday.'

Harry tried not to laugh at the thought of Ron and Hermione 'practising' together. 'That's weeks away still. I'm not sure if he's thought that far ahead.'

Ron and Hermione returned to the common room shortly afterward, and started on their own homework. Ginny repeated what she'd said to Harry.

'Well, I'll think about that then,' said Ron. 'By that time, we should have got rid of all the rumours about Harry and Hermione, anyway.'

'Especially with Raine's help in passing on threats,' said Ginny.

'I suppose it helps that she's in Slytherin. People expect Slytherins to be nasty and threatening. It wouldn't work as well if she happened to be in Hufflepuff,' said Harry.

'Oh, don't be rude about the Hufflepuffs!'

'I'm not. I just meant that the threat is probably scarier coming from Raine than from Hannah and Ernie, even if they are Prefects.'

Ginny nodded. 'I didn't think of it that way.'

*

On Wednesday afternoon, following their free period, Ginny went to her Divination lesson, and the trio went to their classrooms for DADA.

Dumbledore was there already, and there were two dummies standing in the room. Harry looked at them curiously.

'This lesson will have some changes,' said Dumbledore. 'To begin with, you will be casting the curses, and not blocking them.'

Harry and Hermione looked at him in alarmed disbelief. Dumbledore indicated the two dummies. 'These dummies will react to curses cast upon them, by saying their name and how much pain they would be in if they were human.'

'That's ... strange,' said Harry.

'It must be useful for practising curses like Pyroderm,' said Hermione. 'We couldn't practise those on anyone.'

'That is indeed the point,' said Dumbledore. 'You can, however, practise Aphasic on each other, as its effects will be noticeable but not harmful.'

After successfully practising Aphasic on each other without blocking, Dumbledore picked up a piece of parchment. 'These are the curses you were using to start with, and the others that Professor McCardle added. You will practise each one on the target dummies. Each of you choose one of the dummies to attack.'

Harry and Hermione looked at the dummies, which were wearing pale robes similar in design to their school robes, with a large blue initial to distinguish them. One had a 'J' and the other 'S'. Harry immediately thought of his father's name, James, and chose the dummy identified with an 'S'.

Hermione's first attack used Pyroderm on the dummy, which said, 'Julius is in crippling agony.'

'Julius?' she asked.

'The dummies are named after Roman emperors and other famous Romans. You will need to cast Finite Incantatem to make it ready for the next attack,' said Dumbledore.

Harry used the same curse against the other dummy, which said, 'Severus is in crippling agony.' Harry laughed. 'Was Severus an emperor's name?'

'It was,' said Dumbledore. 'You may be thinking of somebody who, coincidentally, was named after that emperor.'

The two pupils looked suspiciously at Dumbledore's innocent expression, with the usual twinkle in his eye.

Harry and Hermione continued casting their curses on the dummies until Dumbledore called a halt just before the end of the lesson.

'You have now demonstrated that you can cast the curses effectively, which I should have tested before you tried blocking them. There are two changes to the Defence against the Dark Arts lessons, starting next week. Wednesday's lesson will be a more general lesson with Professor McCardle. For you two, Friday's lesson will continue as usual for now, and I will continue to supervise your blocking and cursing practice.'

He dismissed them, and they went out and along to the DADA classroom to wait for Ron. There was a lot of talking when the other Gryffindors emerged. Ron joined Harry and Hermione as they went up to the common room before dinner. As they walked, Harry and Hermione told him about their lesson and the dummy called Severus.

Ron laughed. 'That's supposed to be a coincidence? Do you believe that?'

'Only if the dummies were made before Snape started here,' said Hermione. 'They might have been.'

'You'll be back with us next Wednesday, according to McCardle,' said Ron.

'Dumbledore told us that,' Harry said. 'But Fridays are going to carry on as normal.'

'He said they were normal for us. Are your Friday lessons going to be different?' asked Hermione.

'Very different,' said Ron. 'She said we need more variety of opponents. So the Friday DADA lesson is going to be two free periods for us, and we'll be duelling with the Hufflepuffs after class instead.'

'Why after class?' asked Harry.

'There's no other time both houses are free,' said Ron. 'At least it should be easy, duelling Hufflepuffs. They're probably no better at it than Parvati and Lavender are.'

'That's not what Hannah said on Monday,' Hermione reminded him.

Ginny was already in the common room when they got there, and Harry told her about the dummies, including the names.

'The part I liked best was when I tried Aphasic on mine, and it said, "Julius can no longer speak". I wasn't convinced,' said Hermione.

*

At breakfast on Thursday, Hedwig flew down to Harry, who took the letter she was carrying and gave her some of the bacon on his plate. He skimmed the letter and frowned.

'What does Sirius say?' asked Hermione. Ron and Ginny were also interested. Harry took the letter over to the wall behind the table, followed by the other three, and read the letter out, quietly enough that the other Gryffindors couldn't hear.

Harry

I don't think this is the news you want to hear. We did make four maps. James and I did the spells, and all four of us mapped the castle. Wormtail doesn't know enough to make a map that can show people moving on it.

'That's a relief, at least,' said Ron.

As for what happened to the four maps, James' copy was probably destroyed when your house was destroyed by Voldemort's attack. My copy was lost while I was in Azkaban; somebody probably used it as an ordinary blank piece of parchment. Remus' copy was confiscated by Filch, and must be the copy you now have. Peter's was probably lost as mine was, during the time he was hiding at the Weasleys' house.

'So there's only your copy left,' said Ginny.

'No,' said Hermione. 'I don't like those three "probably"s. We still don't know that this is the only copy in existence, all we know is that there might be three others.'

Harry nodded, and read the rest of the letter.

Unfortunately, any of the three maps which were 'probably' lost or destroyed might turn up one day -- and if a Death Eater finds one, and Wormtail has talked about the map, it could well be used by Voldemort. At least you know it's almost impossible to make another copy.

Sirius

'Impossible?' asked Ron. 'Why?'

'I suppose Sirius doesn't know all the spells my dad used,' said Harry. 'So now nobody can make another one unless they rediscover the spells.'

Hermione looked pensive, but said nothing.

*

Following the day's classes, Gryffindor's team and the reserves went down to the Quidditch pitch for their training session. Angelina, Alicia and Ian, together with Fred and George, played one team, while Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Fen joined Katie and Dean as the second team.

'We need to find a reserve Keeper and a reserve Seeker,' commented Katie. 'It's a shame Ron came second to Dean in the Keeper trials. Who came third?'

'Ron, do you want to be a reserve Seeker as well?' asked Ginny.

'I'm already two -- or three -- reserves, I think I'll stop there,' he replied.

Angelina had been trying to remember the answer to Katie's question. 'I think it was Paloma. I'll have to look at my notes.'

'We ought to have done that before this training session,' said Katie. 'Although I suppose it doesn't matter without a reserve Seeker.'

'More trials?' asked Harry.

'Yes. Not as public as the last ones, though,' said Angelina. 'All right, everyone, into the air.'

The next year's team played well against the more experienced players (and Ian), helped by the lack of a Keeper on the other side. Fred and George both tried spinning their brooms again, but only one at a time, after their previous visit to the hospital wing. Harry wasn't on either team -- each time he caught the Snitch, the game paused.

After the practice, Angelina was pleased with the way that the new players were working with the team, although she did have advice for them about improving their teamwork.

After dinner, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat doing their homework and occasionally talking about the evening's training and other Quidditch matters. Crookshanks had been sleeping upstairs all day, and was now pouncing on anything that moved, including shadows.

'I wonder who's going to be Slytherin's captain next year,' said Harry, looking up from his Transfiguration essay.

'Malfoy,' said Ron. 'Bound to be. His dad'll bribe them.'

'It'll probably be Grocyn again,' said Ginny, putting her quill down and stretching. She then grabbed the quill again before Crookshanks could pull it off the table, earning herself a plaintive meow.

'I assumed he was in the seventh year,' said Harry. 'Isn't he?'

'He's in my year. Raine says the team refused to pick Malfoy, because you always beat him to the Snitch. She might be exaggerating though.'

'It couldn't happen to a nastier person,' said Ron, grinning. 'So even the Slytherins are really turning against Malfoy?'

'I think a lot of them really are scared about You-Know-Who's return. I know Raine sounded as if she was joking about getting forms to apply to be Death Eaters, but what house do you think he'd be most likely to recruit from? Grocyn's not very nice, but I don't think he really wants to be a Death Eater, and nor do most of the others. Apparently, if you're asked to be one and refuse, you and your family get killed to encourage others not to refuse.'

'That's horrible!' exclaimed Ron. 'How do you know so much about them, Ginny? Oh -- talking to Raine?'

Ginny nodded. 'She gets information from both sides -- Slytherin gossip, and information from her Auror father.'

'Malfoy seemed happy enough that You-Know-Who had returned last year,' said Harry. 'I don't know if he'd want to be a Death Eater, but it wouldn't surprise me.'

'That's why they're turning against him, I think. Even if they're not sure, they suspect his family of being involved, and they just don't want to be dragged in,' Ginny said.

Harry looked at his three friends. The idea that even some of the Slytherins were scared of being recruited by Voldemort had surprised him. He couldn't imagine Lucius Malfoy wanting to recruit any of the Weasleys, so Ron and Ginny would be safe. Hermione was the sort of brilliant student, like Voldemort himself, that he might want -- but Voldemort would never recruit a Muggle-born, would he? That left Harry himself, but after all the times he'd fought against Voldemort, he was certain that Voldemort would never be able to trust him, so he'd never try to recruit him either.

Or was he just trying to convince himself they were all safe?