Broken Fate

Chapter Seven ~ Learning Curves

On Thursday, Shay had only three classes: Double Transfiguration, Double Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Double Potions, which was to take place with the Gryffindors. Transfiguration didn't go as well as he would have liked; he wasn't at all adept at the subject. Professor McGonagall seemed to expect that he wouldn't quite know what he was doing, and after class, she pulled him aside. "I've assigned Mr. Warren extra Transfiguration classes, and I think you would do well to join him. If you would please meet in this classroom on Friday at seven in the evening, I will see to it that you get extra help on your Transfiguration."

Shay blinked. "Professor McGonagall, not to sound rude, but...well, I never really saw the point of turning a tortoise into a teapot. I--"

Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shot up. "A tortoise into a teapot? Mr. Long, is that all you think Transfiguration is good for? The study of Transfiguration is used for many things, but if you work hard on it, you can learn to Transfigure yourself, not only tortoises. It is something that Aurors use quite frequently to keep themselves hidden."

Shay sighed to himself. "I know. My mother was an Auror." What was he supposed to tell her? That in the future, it didn't matter? That the Death Eaters had devised ways of telling when someone had Transfigured? That there was really no point in learning the small things in Transfiguration if the big things weren't going to do you much good? He decided that it wasn't worth making a scene over, and nodded shortly. "All right. I'll take the extra classes." When Professor McGonagall dismissed him, he went to his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

He hadn't had a chance to talk to Will during lunch or dinner the previous day, and so he wasn't quite sure what to expect from Tonks. He certainly hadn't expected her to be so cheerful and seem so nice. If he hadn't known what he did about her, he would have actually liked and respected her--especially after she told Draco Malfoy off. Draco had been muttering rude things about Tonks to Crabbe and Goyle, and didn't even pay attention to the spell that Tonks suddenly threw at him. It struck him full on, and the hairs in his nose began lengthening at a very rapid rate. Malfoy grabbed his nose, a horrified expression on his face. Shay resisted the urge to laugh.

"And that, class," Tonks said idly, "is why you must always be on guard. You never know who might attack at any given moment." She graced Draco with a smile. "Isn't that right, cousin of mine?"

Murmurs ran through the class, and Draco glared at Tonks, still holding his ever-growing nose hairs. "No half-blood is a cousin of mine," he spat.

Tonks looked as though she would like to have laughed, but she simply pointed at the bookcase that sat in the corner of her room. "Curses and Countercurses," she told Draco.

"Excuse me?" he said coldly.

"Well, your nose hairs have reached the floor. I think you'll probably want to fix them before you go to your next class. I'm certainly not going to do it for you; you should have been paying attention. So you're going to look up how to fix your problem, and do it yourself," Tonks patiently explained.

Draco stood to his feet. "I certainly will not. I'm going to the hospital wing."

"I think not," Tonks said, her voice soft.

"I think so," Draco retorted.

Tonks sighed. "The choice is yours, Draco, but if you walk out that door, you'll get a detention."

"I don't care."

"And fifty points from Slytherin."

Draco hesitated, then held up his chin. Shay guessed that he was torn between his pride and his desire to win the House Cup--Shay didn't think he cared what the other Slytherins thought. Pride won out. "Fine." He turned, and holding his long hairs in his hands, stalked out of the classroom.

"Now, then, class. I hope you learned from this experience. You must always be on guard..."

~*~

When Shay entered the Potions classroom, down in the dungeons, he saw that Draco had returned from the hospital wing and was sitting at a table with Crabbe and Goyle. His nose hairs were back to normal. Will was also already there. Everyone had to share a desk. Shay was sitting beside one of the Slytherin girls, and Will was sitting at a desk with Neville.

Shay spared a glance at the round-faced boy who was looking toward the front of the classroom with some trepidation. That's my father. My father. He might not have ever known his dad, but he had always respected him. Neville had died well, and Shay knew it. Still, looking at his father, he wasn't quite sure what to feel. He felt oddly detached--but that didn't surprise him. He tended to block off his emotions to things when he wasn't sure how to handle them--or when he wasn't sure he wanted to handle them.

You did so much for so many people, Shay thought at his father silently. And I don't even know you.

Shay pulled himself from his thoughts when Professor Snape entered the room. Snape had also done much for the wizarding world and the fight against Voldemort, and had worked as a spy in Voldemort's ranks for years. Shay had never met him personally, but he was one of the wizards that had still been alive in the future.

As the class started, Shay found himself most surprised by Severus Snape in the way he treated the class. Shay had always had an image of Snape being an amazing hero. It was evident at the very beginning of the class that he favored the Slytherins, and very much despised the Gryffindors. Still, Shay was rather shocked at his treatment of the Gryffindors. He snapped at them, took points from their House over squabbles that the Slytherins started, and was outright mean particularly to Harry and his close friends.

It completely dashed the image Shay had held in his mind for so long, and he almost couldn't believe that this could be the same person who did so much for the cause of good. At one point in the middle of class, there was a loud popping noise. Shay turned to see purple smoke issuing from Neville's cauldron, and a pale liquid dripping to the floor.

Snape strode forward and peered into it. "Well, Longbottom, it seems that you have ruined yet another cauldron. I'm not at all surprised. Can you not read? The instructions for this potion were clear and simple, and anyone could have followed them--except, it seems, those who have the brain capacity of a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

Shay found himself clenching his hands into fists. He had grown up learning that things were rarely fair and just in the world, but his mother had always told him, "Life might not always be fair, Shay, but it is our duty to make it as fair as we can, whenever we have the chance."

And Snape...Snape was just plain mean to the Gryffindors. It angered Shay, and it angered him even further that the Slytherins laughed at it. At one point, he opened his mouth to snap at Snape, at the Slytherins, to tell them how wrong this was, but he caught Will's eye. Will had that I know you're about to say something rash, but please don't look. Speaking his mind regardless to the consequences was something that tended to get Shay into trouble, and that he was always trying to work on. He especially found his tongue running when he was around Jamie. He didn't understand how Will always seemed to be able to control his words.

Shay silently counted backwards from ten, reminding himself that he was trying to befriend the Slytherins, and learn more about their actions, and it wouldn't do much good if he turned on them and ganged up with the Gryffindors.

I hate this, he thought. I hate that everything in my life is a facade.

After class, he met up with Will very briefly. "Did you get the Gourl?" he muttered under his breath.

Will shook his head, frustrated. "When I got back from seeing Jamie last night, Ron had it out in the common room and was using the notes he had recorded to write his History of Magic paper. Then Hermione reminded him he hadn't had it checked by McGonagall, so he said he'd do it today. Then, just a few minutes later, Professor McGonagall herself came in, and Hermione pushed Ron to get him to talk to her about it--and Professor McGonagall took the Gourl with her to run the anti-jinx tests on it. So now I have to wait for him to get it back. I thought he would have just gotten Professor McGonagall to look at it yesterday after Transfiguration, but I guess he didn't. I wanted her to look at it first, anyway--because no matter what, she's going to have to run anti-jinx tests on it."

A Slytherin that was late in leaving the Potions dungeon passed and gave them an odd look. Will shifted his bag and sighed. "I'll get it as soon as Ron gets it back, and then send it to Dumbledore."

Shay frowned. "Why send it to Dumbledore? Why not just go talk to McGonagall or Dumbledore and tell them how to find the junk in the Gourl, instead of sending it to him?" Even as he asked, he realized the answers. "Oh. Because we don't know how closely Tonks is watching them, and in what ways she could be spying on them."

Will nodded. "And because I don't want Dumbledore to be able to connect us to this at all--I'm sure he'll probably suspect that one of us warned him, but I don't want anyone to be able to know that we did." He rubbed his forehead tiredly. "And I don't even know if this will cause time paradoxes. What if in trying to prevent the events at the end of this year from happening, we're setting in motion another timeline that will create the same end results? I mean, we already know we're creating another timeline just by coming back to this time--because in the original timeline, we never traveled back to this time."

Shay nodded. "So we have a whole new timeline and future that we're working with."

"Yes, but what if we do something that makes this timeline just as horrible as the last one?"

"We can't know for sure," Shay replied. A sardonic expression crossed his face. "If Jamie was here, she would say that we have to hope."

The corner of Will's mouth turned up. "And what would you say?"

"That hope is for people who can afford it. And we can't afford it. We can only do what we can to change what we know."

~*~

"Harry!"

Harry was stopped by the sound of Ernie Macmillan's voice. He turned to see the blond Hufflepuff pushing through a crowd of Second Years. "Hi, Ernie."

"Hiya! Had a good summer?" Without waiting for an answer, Ernie lowered his voice and said, "So...I've talked with some of the group, and we're wondering...are we going to be having D.A. meetings this year?"

This was something that Harry had thought about. "I'm not sure. We might, but I think I'd like to see how our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes go first." I'd also like to get settled in a bit, and get Quidditch underway, he thought silently.

"Right, then," Ernie said. "But if you start up again...well, we're all with you, Harry. We've heard some of what...er...happened at the end of last year."

Harry wondered exactly what Ernie and others had heard about last year, but he didn't ask. "I'll let you know one way or another soon," he promised. Once Ernie was gone, Harry continued out to the Quidditch pitch, where he had asked the remaining members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team to meet for the tryouts.

As he crossed the courtyard, he passed Cho Chang. She met his eyes for a moment, then looked away and continued on into the school. Harry shook his head, but kept walking. He didn't feel anything for Cho anymore. Last year he had come to realize that she really wasn't the person he thought she was. Then again, he had come to realize a lot last year--and not all of the realizations had been things he wanted to learn.

At the Quidditch Pitch, Katie Bell, Andrew Kirke, and Ron Weasley all stood waiting for him, their brooms in hand. Katie was in her seventh and final year, and Andrew was in his fifth year. A group of hopeful Gryffindors waited on the sidelines, holding broomsticks. He noticed Ginny among them, sitting cross-legged on the ground with her Cleansweep Seven across her lap. On top of her broomstick was a textbook and a notebook, and she was chewing on the end of a quill. Harry winced in sympathy, remembering how much homework had been dumped on him during his Fifth Year, due to O.W.L.s.

He had done well on his O.W.L.s, better than he had expected--and he had received enough in the right areas to pursue his career of choice, becoming an Auror. Due to this choice of his career, his classes this year were concentrated on that. He had extra classes in Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration. He had dropped Divination to make room for the more relevant subjects.

"All right, then," Harry told Katie, Ron, and Andrew. "Let's get started."

~*~

The tryouts went better than Harry had hoped, and at the end of them, he sat down with his three fellow team members to talk things over.

"Did you see the way Daniel Everard knocked that Bludger right into Rachel Bledstein's nose?" Ron asked. "It was brilliant!"

"I'm sure Rachel thought it was wonderful," Katie said with a wry grin. "I, for one, thought that for a Second Year, Daniel Everard did extraordinarily well."

Harry turned to Andrew, thinking it was only fair that he get the opinion of the other Beater. "Andrew? What did you think?"

"Honestly, out of all of them, I thought Daniel had the most potential," Andrew replied.

Ron nodded in agreement. "What about the Chasers?"

"I think Ginny should be one of them," Katie said immediately. "She was a good Seeker last year--not as good as you, Harry, but she knew what she was doing. If this session was an indication, she's an even better Chaser than she was a Seeker."

"Agreed," Harry said.

A relieved expression crossed Ron's face, and he nodded agreement again.

"As for the second Chaser that we need," Katie continued, "well, quite frankly...I wasn't overly impressed with any of them."

"They stunk," Ron said bluntly.

"Well, we have to pick one of them," Andrew said.

Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Not necessarily."

"What are you thinking?" Ron frowned at him.

"Well, Madam Hooch will be giving the First Years their third flying lesson tomorrow. I checked the schedule," Harry began.

"Harry, you know First Years aren't allowed to fly," Katie said.

"They made an exception for me," Harry replied. "Anyway, I have an idea. I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes. If it doesn't work, we'll pick the person who stunk the least. For now, though, I'll let Daniel and Ginny know they're on the team."

~*~

On Friday morning, Gryffindor had Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins. Instead of heading down to Hagrid's cabin, Harry broke off from Ron and Hermione, telling them he'd be at class shortly. He then grabbed a Quaffle and headed to the Quidditch Pitch, where Madam Hooch stood between two lines of First Year students. Broomsticks laid on the ground in front of each child.

Madam Hooch saw him coming. "Well, Harry, what brings you out here? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

The First Years whispered amongst themselves, and Harry heard snatches of their conversation. "Harry Potter..."

"...heard he took on You-Know-Who four times."

"...no one believed him..."

"...about a thousand dementors..."

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and the class fell silent. Harry stopped in front of her and handed her a note. She read it, raised her eyebrows, and glanced at the Quaffle tucked under Harry's arm. "Well, it's an interesting request...I suppose you want to see how they handle the Quaffle?"

"Only if you think they can, Madam Hooch," Harry said. He had gone to Professor McGonagall the previous evening and asked her if he could take the first part of Care of Magical Creatures off so he could see if any of the First Year students had any Quidditch talent. "You want me to let you off a class so you can see about finding a First Year for the Quidditch Team?" Professor McGonagall had asked, eyebrows raised.

"Half a class, Professor, and if there's a chance we can find someone to help us win the Quidditch Cup...and you know that I won't fall behind on Care of Magical Creatures," Harry told her.

He fully expected her to say no. This was Professor McGonagall, after all. To his surprise, she looked at him for a long moment and finally nodded. She scribbled out two quick notes, one for Hagrid and one for Madam Hooch.

"Well, all right," Madam Hooch finally nodded. "We were going to work on maneuvering broomsticks today, so your timing is perfect. I don't think there will be a problem adding a Quaffle to the mix. There are quite a few talented flyers in this batch. Have a seat, Harry."

Harry walked over to the edge of the Quidditch Pitch and watched as Madam Hooch explained to the class that she wanted them to break into groups of four. Harry kept his eyes on the Gryffindor students--they were the ones that had a red and gold lion head on the upper sleeve of their robes.

"All right, class. Now, one group at a time--I want you to push your broomsticks up into the air. Do you see those hoops?" Madam Hooch pointed at the three golden hoops at this end of the field. "I'm going to give you this Quaffle--" she held up the red ball "--and I want you to pass it back and forth to each other, passing the Quaffle through one of those hoops. When each person has had a turn throwing the Quaffle through the hoops, move to the back of the group. I am going to be in the air with you, but I am also going to be guarding the hoops. The objective is to get the Quaffle past me."

One of the First Years raised his hand, and Madam Hooch nodded. "Yes, Timothy?"

"Why do you call that a Quaffle?"

Harry hid a smile. The child had to be a Muggle.

"It's part of a wizarding game called Quidditch," Madam Hooch said briskly. "Which we will be talking about next week. Now then, if you would start?" She motioned at a group of four Gryffindor students, handing one of them the Quaffle. "Ready? Begin!"

Harry watched intently as the students threw the Quaffle to each other and took turns aiming to throw it through the hoops. He could tell that some of them had only just started riding broomsticks, and some of them flew as if they had been doing it their whole lives. Yet even those students who flew well had a hard time trying to get the Quaffle past Madam Hooch.

Harry wasn't sure he really expected to find a First Year who could be a Chaser, but he wanted to explore all of his options anyway. He wanted this Quidditch team to be a great one, and he would do whatever he had to so that could be a reality. As he watched the First Years, he found himself pleasantly surprised. There was one particular Gryffindor First Year who managed--twice--to come closer to getting the Quaffle past Madam Hooch than any other student. The child was a natural at flying, too, zipping around the others in the air.

When the class was over, Harry approached Madam Hooch. "What's her name?" he asked, motioning at the girl he had been watching. She had long dark hair, and slanted dark eyes. She was now scooping up her pack and trotting off with several of her classmates.

"That's Sari Xiu. And yes, she's very good. Her mother is a professional Quidditch player for Scotland. Her father is a Muggle from Thailand." Madam Hooch began to collect the broomsticks. Harry hurried to help her, and when his arms were full, walked with her toward the broom shed. "If you get permission to have her on your team, I'm sure you'll find her a wonderful addition."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Madam Hooch. I have to get going now--I need to be at class." His mind full of the First Year training, he sprinted toward Hagrid's cabin. He found the Gryffindor and Slytherin Sixth Years on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"Well, well, look who's decided to show up," Draco Malfoy drawled, catching sight of Harry.

Harry pointedly ignored him. He looked around for Hagrid--who shouldn't have been hard to find, considering his size--but didn't see him. "Where's Hagrid?" he asked Ron and Hermione, who had sidling up to him.

"He's not here, Harry," Hermione whispered. "He--" She was cut off when a voice from the front of the students said, "Hey, there, Harry!"

Harry's head snapped toward the familiar voice. "Charlie?" Sure enough, Ron's second oldest brother, Charlie Weasley, stood at the front of the class. Harry hadn't seen him over the heads of the students.

"Charlie said Hagrid had business to take care of for Dumbledore," Hermione murmured quickly. "And so Charlie's here as a substitute teacher. Apparently he was already on his way here to help Hagrid with the class this year."

"He's going to teach us about dragons," Ron added.

Harry blinked. "Dragons are illegal to have," he whispered.

"Well, we're still learning about them," Ron replied.

By that time, Charlie had reached Harry. "Hey, mate! Good to see you...though you are late."

Feeling a bit dazed, Harry said. "Yeah...er...sorry, I have a note." He passed Professor McGonagall's second note to Charlie, who scanned it quickly.

"Right then. Well, it's good to see you. You haven't missed much. Today we're just going over the properties of dragons." Raising his voice, Charlie turned to the whole class. "Now, then, as I was saying...dragons are very difficult to handle, and very dangerous if you don't know how to do it properly. Most people think of them as ferocious beasts, which they are, when disturbed. They're very picky about who they trust."

"Trust?" Draco muttered under his breath. "Dragons trust? Yeah, trust you to walk right into a trap so they can eat you."

Charlie turned his sharp blue eyes on Draco. "If you're unlearned enough to walk into one of their traps," he said mildly. "Or stupid enough. It's your choice whether you want to learn this, or whether you want to remain ignorant so you can be one of the stupid ones."

Ron bit back a grin.

Draco glared at Charlie as he turned and walked to the front of the class, where a bag sat. "Now, then, if you--Miss Patil?--could please take this bag and pass it along, I want all of you to take a pamphlet. They will tell you the magical properties of dragons, as well as give you other information about them. There are also accounts of dragon-trainers such as myself in there. I want you to study the material, and to know it by next Friday at our second class."

~*~

After classes were over on Friday, Harry tracked down Professor McGonagall. He explained about Sari Xiu, and asked for her permission to have her on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Professor McGonagall studied him for a moment, and then said, "I think we could work it out, but we'll need to talk with Sari first. Why don't you stay here, and I'll go find her."

Harry waited in her office, and about ten minutes later, Professor McGonagall entered, Sari trailing behind her. She looked tiny to Harry, even smaller than he thought First Years usually were. She raised her eyebrows at Professor McGonagall when she saw Harry sitting in the chair, but Professor McGonagall said, "Please have a seat, Ms. Xiu."

Sari obediently sat, glancing at Harry, but looking back at Professor McGonagall for an explanation.

"Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall nodded at him.

"Er...right." Harry cleared his throat. Sari looked at him, and he bent down to his book bag to dig out a piece of parchment listing his current Quidditch players and positions. "Well, what I'd like to talk to you about is the Gryffindor Quidditch team," he began. He glanced up to see Sari frowning at him, a confused look on her face. "And, um..."

"Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall was watching him strangely. Sari again shot him a quick glance. Seeing Harry's bemused look, Professor McGonagall said, "Sari, would you step outside for a moment?"

Sari, looking confused, nodded and exited the office. Turning back to Harry, Professor McGonagall said, "Apparently you don't know, Mr. Potter. Ms. Xiu is deaf. You have to make sure she is looking at you before you talk, as she has to read your lips."

It was the last thing Harry had expected. He blinked twice. "Oh." His first thought was, how can we have a deaf Quidditch player?

"Let me assure you that her lack of hearing in no way means that she is incapable," Professor McGonagall said, looking at Harry sternly over her spectacles. "I haven't had much of a chance to get to see how she works and acts, but from the small amount that I have seen, she works hard and doesn't let her lack of hearing get in her way. She already has friends among the First Years."

"But, Professor--won't it hinder her Quidditch playing?" Even as he spoke, Harry realized that with some careful planning--like making sure that when he gave Quidditch talks to his team, he faced Sari--she wouldn't miss anything. And as far as when they were playing...

"If she is a good flier, as you told me she was, then I am sure you can work with her in playing Quidditch," Professor McGonagall said tartly. "If you are willing to give her the chance."

~*~

Friday afternoon, Harry gathered his new Quidditch team to have a little talk with them. He brought Sari with him, and when he arrived at the meeting, the rest of the team was already there. "All right, everyone. I want you to meet our final Chaser. This is Sari Xiu."

"You're a First Year," Ginny grinned.

Sari offered a smile in return. "Yes, I am." Her voice was slightly garbled, but her words were clear. She also, as Harry had noticed, tended to sign with her hands as she spoke. It had given him several ideas of ways of communicating when they were playing Quidditch-and not only communicating with her, but with the rest of the team. There might be an advantage in using signs to convey things, instead of trying to shout them. He had also noticed that Sari was very observant and cheerful. She had positively glowed when he asked her to be part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and had told Harry enthusiastically, "This is wizard! My mum will be thrilled! I promise I won't let you down!"

Even just seeing the zeal in Sari made Harry smile. He could only hope that his decision to take her on wouldn't prove futile.

Daniel Everard, the new Second Year Beater, said, "Hey, I know you! You're deaf!"

Sari's smile widened. "Yes, well, that too," she said. The other Gryffindor players exchanged surprised glances.

Harry squeezed Sari's shoulder so that she would look up at him. "Why don't you have a seat? We're going to discuss some tactics, and then we're going to go out on the pitch and see how everyone works together." Sari nodded and went to sit at a vantage point where she could see everyone. "Now, then. Obviously, we're a new team, and while some of us have worked together, we're going to have to find our own way of doing things. There will be new players on all of the other teams, so we're going to have to work together as we find out their new tactics. I'd like to get started with this..."