Harry Potter and the Dark Separation

Chapter Two

The Lesson

'The Pureblood Alliance?' Hermione asked, resting her head on her hands.

'That's what the note said' Harry replied. 'Among a lot of other things which I'm not going to repeat.'

Ron nodded in agreement. 'Very offensive.'

'Any idea who put it there?'

'Not a bloody clue. I think we can assume that Slytherin's involved, but we can't work out how a Slytherin would gain access to the Gryffindor dorms in broad daylight. And we know it isn't anyone in our year, because we were in Magical Creatures with the Slytherins when they must have put it there.'

'So Malfoy isn't involved?'

'Well, he didn't put it there, unless he's become really fast in the last few weeks. But I think we can assume he's got something to do with it.'

It was an hour after Harry had discovered the note on his bed. Following a mad dash down to Potions, where they got into class literally seconds before Snape entered, he and Ron had been watching Draco like a hawk. They hadn't noticed anything unusual, but they couldn't rule him out, simply because he was a Malfoy.

'Something to do with what?'

Harry turned around. 'Oh, hi, Seamus.' Seamus, unpacking his copy of The Bumper Book of Incantations and Rituals, looked suspicious.

'I got a note today' Seamus said, handing it to Ron. 'It wasn't pleasant. Read it, if you want.'

Ron read aloud. 'Go back to Ireland, Mudblood scum. Do not continue to sully the once-proud name of Hogwarts, or you will face the consequences. Signed, the Pureblood Alliance. Bloody hell, Harry' he said, turning, 'this is almost the same as yours.'

'I found it pinned to my bag after Care of Magical Creatures' Seamus said, his normally cheerful voice low and angry. 'Hang on, Harry- you got one too?'

'Well' he replied 'it wasn't exactly the same. But the general gist was-'

'Extremely Slytherin?' Seamus replied.

'I was going to say 'more or less like yours' but you've got a point.'

Ron snorted. 'I'd be extremely surprised if our favourite white-haired git wasn't involved. He was probably the one who pinned it to your bag in Magical Creatures.'

Harry looked across to Draco, who was talking to Crabbe and a dark-haired boy with piercingly blue eyes he knew vaguely as Nott. 'Remember the last time we made an assumption about Malfoy, in second year?'

'Yes' Hermione replied 'and I don't exactly want to turn into Catwoman again, but I'd be extremely surprised if an extremist group of Muggle-hating wizards formed in Hogwarts without Malfoy being involved to some extent.'

Harry nodded in agreement. Ron looked confused. 'Turn into who?'

'Never mind, Ron' Harry, Hermione and Seamus said in unison.

At this, the door at the front of the room swung open. Mr Beltane, their teacher for Incantations, stepped in. 'Good morning, class. Sit down.'

Incantations and Rituals, to give the class its full name, was a new subject that was only available to fifth-years and above. It covered a wide variety of topics, everything from tribal chants to healing incantations, and had, appropriately, gathered a wide range of students. Harry noted with distaste that almost all of the Slytherins had taken up the class- probably hoping that they'd learn a Daemon Summoning Ritual or something equally dark, he thought. He saw Blaise Zabini, a dark-haired girl with an elaborate necklace of magical symbols, sitting next to Nott and Millicent Bulstrode, who looked as much like an ogre as she had three years ago. A few Hufflepuffs had chosen the class, but most had gone for the alternative, which was Magical Languages. However, he spotted Hannah Abbot, who had grown to be a very pretty witch with long, blonde hair, sitting next to Justin Finch-Fletchley, who she had been dating since last year's Yule Ball. Most of the Ravenclaws had gone for Incantations, and Harry could see Padma Patil and Mandy Brocklehurst sitting next to Terry Boot, who, if Harry was any judge, was not going to want for girlfriends in the future. Hermione, and most of the other girls, went giggly when he talked to them, and his recent promotion to Keeper of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team had helped considerably. As for the Gryffindors- Harry, Ron and Hermione had all gone for Incantations, as had Seamus, Dean and Parvati. Hermione originally wanted to do both Incantations and Languages, but Ron coughed something that sounded a lot like 'Time-Turner' and Hermione mysteriously went off the idea.

'Okay, class, today we're going to be studying the basic structure of incantations. You might want to take notes on this.' He moved to the blackboard.

'As you know, an incantation consists of three basic items- a symbol, a potion, and an orb. Symbols depend on the kind of incantation you want to cast- a circle indicates healing magic, a four-pointed star indicates a protection spell and a pentagram' Harry noticed that the chalk which was drawing these symbols wasn't being held by Mr Beltane, but rather moving by itself as he spoke 'indicates summoning magic.' The Slytherins became rather more attentive.

'The potion indicates the specific magic you want to cast. For example, if you wanted to create a Fog of Sleep, you would make a square- indicating human magic- and then pour over the square a small amount of sleeping potion.'

He reached into the Muggle suitcase he'd brought in and extracted a circular glass orb, which glowed with a blue light. 'The orb- I assume you bought a few from Diagon Alley before you came here- finishes the incantation. Depending on the strength of the magic, you will need a stronger orb. You can tell strength by its colour- green is the weakest, followed by blue, yellow, red, purple and finally white.' The class was busy copying this all down. Mr Beltane waited a few minutes for everyone to have written it, then continued.

'Once this is all set up, you need to say a few words. Most people will say this in Latin, but it doesn't really matter which language you use- Latin's just more showy. I'll show you how this all ties together.' He drew out of the suitcase three bones and a beaker of a white, glutenous liquid that bubbled alarmingly. 'I'll make a Light Incantation. Now, you arrange the bones in a triangle- indicating area magic- and pour over this, which is Luminous Potion.' He uncorked the beaker and poured it over the triangle. The bones glowed white.

'Then, in the centre, you put an orb. This is quite weak magic, so I'll only need a blue orb.' He placed the orb in the middle of the triangle. Hermione, who knew quite a lot more about incantations than Ron or Harry, whispered to them 'When he finishes, close your eyes.'

'Why?' Ron replied.

'Just do it, Ron.'

Mr Beltane stood back. 'I've arranged all the material components- you can tell that the magic is working by the faint buzzing. Listen.' The class fell silent, and Harry became aware of a buzzing noise.

'Now, you just need to finish the incantation by saying the right words. Lumos!' he shouted, and Ron and Harry, obedient to Hermione's instructions, closed their eyes. A second later, they became aware why.

A blinding light flashed in the classroom, making everyone except Mr Beltane, who had been expecting it, flinch. Harry couldn't tell, but from the sounds around him, many of his classmates had fallen off their chairs. Mr Beltane chuckled.

'That's a Light Incantation. Useful for lighting up houses. Good for up to four hours, then the magic wears off.'

'Bloody fantastic, sir' said Terry, from about floor level. 'Now can you please turn it off?'

Mr Beltane reached into the centre of the triangle and removed the orb. The room instantly darkened. 'That's the only way to stop an incantation- remove the orb from the centre. If it's been in use for more than an hour, a simple Flame-Freezing Charm would be a good idea before removing it, as they get extremely hot.'

Ron, Harry and Hermione opened their eyes. Neville, Parvati and Dean had fallen off their chairs- so, much to Harry's amusement, had Draco. As they brushed the dust off their robes, Mr Beltane continued 'Now open your textbooks to page 24 and copy down the diagrams.'

The rest of the lesson passed, and soon the bell rang. The class packed up their textbooks, scrolls and quills into their bags as Mr Beltane called 'Homework- write a two foot essay on the material components of incantations. Use Chapter Two and your notes to help. I'll collect it in on Tuesday.'

Hermione reached for her bag. 'That was a good lesson, don't you think?'

Chuckling, Ron replied 'Yeah, especially when Draco fell off his stool. Hopefully he'll have a splitting headache later.'

'Why didn't Beltane warn us that the incantation was going to do that?' Harry asked, stuffing a spare piece of parchment into his bag.

'Maybe he likes surprises. Anyway, we were forewarned, weren't we?' Ron replied, looking at Hermione. She didn't answer.

'Herm?'

Hermione looked up, her face stony. 'You'll never guess what some sod's slipped into my bag.'

'Not another one...' Ron groaned.

'This one's in different handwriting to yours, Harry. So there's at least two people involved.' Hermione handed it to Harry, who scanned it.

'One of which sounds a lot like Lucius Malfoy and writes like a drunken Mooncalf.' Harry handed it back. 'Maybe Goyle?'

'Or Crabbe. So, we've got an organisation dedicated to the removal of all non-wizarding-families from Hogwarts, which can somehow slip into the Gryffindor dormitories and leave notes on our beds without anyone noticing. One if not more is in our class, both for Care of Magical Creatures and Incantations. Bugger' Ron summarised, gloomily. 'Just another year at Hogwarts, it seems.'

'Well, we know the one that went into your dormitory is male, don't we?' Hermione asked, as they made their way out of the classroom.

'How?'

'Think, Ron. They moved us into special dorms this year, with a Gender Line drawn across the entrance. A boy can't get into the girls' dorms, and vice versa. One of McGonagall's ideas to prevent illicit snogging.'

'No fun, is she?'

'Well, it hasn't had much of an effect on life at Hogwarts, except the dungeons are a lot more busy these days. You know, I'd swear I saw George and Katie Bell going down there a few days ago.'

Ron laughed. 'George and Katie? Well, now, isn't that a turn-up for the books. Now it is I who has the blackmailable secret.'

'People!' Harry said, sounding a little irritable. 'We've got more important things on our hands right now than who's shagging in the dungeons.'

'Harry...' Hermione started, but was cut off by Ron.

'You're probably right. So, it's a bloke, probably in Slytherin. One of them's in our class. That's more or less all we know.'

The three walked through the open doors to the Great Hall. It was chaos. Most of the wizards or witches in Hufflepuff, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw were clutching small pieces of white paper and talking very fast at the top of their voices. Harry saw Neville and Ginny looking faintly shocked and reading their note again. The Slytherin table had suddenly gone poker-faced, except for a few of the less vicious Slytherins, who had notes of their own.

'And' said Ron, in an undertone 'they've been busy today.'

They sat down at the Gryffindor table. 'You all got notes, then?' Harry asked, reaching for a sandwich.

Ginny looked up. 'Yeah. Apparently I'm a 'mudblood-lover'. I found it slipped into my Transfiguration textbook first lesson.'

'Everyone else?' Ron asked. They all nodded. 'Except for the Slytherins, it would seem.'

'And some of the more aloof Ravenclaws' Hermione added. 'This is a turn-up for the books. Wonder what the teachers are doing about it?'

Harry pointed. 'The teachers got them too.' Hermione followed the direction he was pointing and saw Professor Flitwick looking flustered with a white piece of paper in his lap. 'I'm no judge of these things' Harry continued 'but I think his probably said something like 'stop teaching Mudbloods, the scum of the earth, blah blah blah, plague of the school, blah blah blah. Signed, the Pureblood Alliance.'

'There does seem to be a recurring theme, doesn't there?' said Ginny, finishing off a sausage roll.

As she spoke, Professor McGonagall's voice, magically amplified, echoed around the hall. 'Please can I have your attention.' Five hundred heads turned to face her.

'In the previous hour, various anonymous letters have come to our attention. They contain deeply offensive language and have seemingly been distributed around Hogwarts this morning.' Harry thought that he saw McGonagall look out of the corner of her eye at the Slytherins as she continued. 'Any student who is found to have been involved in the writing or distribution of these letters will be excluded from Hogwarts, possibly permanently.'

'Chucking out the Slytherins would be a good start' Seamus muttered. Most of the Gryffindor table nodded their agreement.

'Anyone with any information should see their head of house or the Head Boy or Girl.' Katie Bell, the current Head Girl, and a tall Ravenclaw called Daniel Ormsby, nodded. 'Thank you for your time' Professor McGonagall said, and sat back down. The Hall instantly erupted into conversation again.

'Remember Dennis Creevey last night?' Ron asked, filling a goblet with grape juice. 'He'd said he'd seen something. D'you think it might have been connected with this?'

'Shouldn't think so' Harry replied. 'Remember how we were in second year? They've probably just discovered the statues can talk or something...'

The three looked down the table at Dennis Creevey, who looked slightly pale. 'He doesn't look any different from the other second years' Harry observed.

'But we can't write it off. Maybe we should talk to him this evening.'

'Well, it'll have to be after Quidditch practise. It'll be a long one tonight. We've got to see what the new people can do' Harry said. The team had been re-organised after Oliver had left, and with Alicia suddenly quitting at the start of the year to concentrate on her studies, they'd needed to find two new players in a few weeks. The new ones were showing promise, but they'd have to get used to the team before the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match, which was scheduled for a month's time.

Harry noticed Fred, with a quill and parchment, taking down something George was saying. 'What're you doing?' he called.

George turned around. 'Oh, this- he's making a shopping list for the Hogsmeade visit. Everything we'll need for Hallow'een.'

'Let's have a look, then' said Ginny, and snatched the list from Fred's hands. 'Things that go bang, things that go hiss, things that explode, and some' she looked closely 'Exploding Mice?' She glanced up. 'The hell...'

'For Mrs Norris' Fred replied, with an evil grin. 'Look just like mice up until the point you swallow them. If Filch isn't completely insane by the end of the evening, we won't have done our job properly. Oh, by the way, don't eat the lollipops.'

'Yeah, I know' she replied. 'Harry told me.'

'Speaking of Hallow'een' Hermione said 'do you know who they've booked as the band? I heard the Weird Sisters were on tour.'

'They're in Paris at the moment. Dumbledore's booked someone else. American wizard band, can't remember the name... began with a G...' Ron replied.

'Grim Day?' Ginny guessed.

'That's them.'

'Should be good' Harry said. 'I've got some stuff to pick up in Hogsmeade. Need some Owl Treats for Hedwig, a new quill, and some of those Orbs for Incantations. Completely forgot to get those in Diagon Alley.' Ginny looked at him jealously- aparrently she'd wanted to do Incantations since she entered Hogwarts. 'Don't worry, Ginny, you'll get your chance next year.'

'I'd bloody well better. It's unfair that you can't do Incantations before fifth-year.'

'Can't have little kids messing around with dangerous magic. Could end up blowing yourself halfway to Durmstrang.'

Ginny frowned. 'I'm not a little kid, Ron, I'm fourteen. I'll be fifteen in December.'

'Whatever, titch.'

Ginny punched him on the arm. Ron flinched. 'I seem to be getting punched by girls a lot these days.'

'Well, maybe you shouldn't piss them off' Ginny replied.

Ron flashed a brilliant smile. 'But where's the fun in that?'

It was two hours later when Harry got onto the Quidditch pitch. Carrying his Firebolt over his shoulder, he sat down next to Fred and George, who were still writing their shopping list. He cast his eye over the team; Angelina Johnson, who'd been promoted to Captain by the unanimous vote of the whole team after Oliver had left, Katie Bell, wearing her Head Girl badge pinned to her Quidditch robes, and the two new members- Bradley Quinn, a short but fast fourth-year with very short hair who played Chaser in Alicia's stead, and Dawn Cypher, who was a third-year girl with long brown hair that had become Keeper.

'Sorry I'm late' Harry said, putting down his broomstick. 'Flitwick kept us behind in Charms until we could do the Directional Upset Hex properly.'

'Ah, the good old-fashioned Directional Upset' Fred reminisced. 'That spell kept me and George amused for almost a whole year.'

'What happened?' Dawn asked, playing with her hair.

'Someone did it on me. I tried to take a quiet walk around the lake and fell in.' George laughed, obviously treasuring the memory. Angelina chuckled as she stood up to do her speech.

'Okay, people, I'm sure we all remember how boring Oliver's speeches were- except for Dawn and Bradley, of course- so I'll keep it simple. We've got one of the best teams we've ever had this year- I know we've always said this, but it's true. We've got Katie and me, who are great Chasers- if I do say so myself. We've got Harry, who you all know as the person who beat Slytherin two years ago- he's a great Seeker, the best in Hogwarts. We've got Fred and George, whose exploits on the Quidditch pitch are slightly overshadowed by their gag gifts off it' she looked darkly at Fred, who laughed and muttered to Harry 'We gave her the nail polish, too' 'but are still great Beaters. Joining us this year is Bradley Quinn- me and Katie personally approved him as the best person in Gryffindor to take Alicia's position.' Bradley grinned broadly. 'And we've got Dawn Cypher, who, as far as we can tell, is a natural Keeper. She came to our attention last year when she defended the goalpoasts so well that the opposing team didn't score a single point- this was in a practise match against Hufflepuff.' Dawn smiled. 'The daughter of the legendary Ariel Cypher, who played Keeper for the Tutshill Tornadoes for nine years, as well.'

'Now, let's see who we're up against.' She tapped the board with her wand, which sparked red. As she spoke, words appeared on the board.

'Slytherin, this year, have a much more rounded team. Since Flint left, Draco Malfoy has been appointed Captain. Montague's still there, but there's two new Chasers- Rose Perrier and Matthew Caulder. They're a lot faster than Warrington or Johnson were, so we're going to have to watch out for them. Bole's on the team still- he's been joined by a fifth-year, Gregory Goyle.' Harry nodded. He'd heard that Goyle had become the new Beater, and would guess that next year, when Bole left, Crabbe would take up the other position. It seemed there were benefits to being Malfoy's friends. 'The new Keeper is Maurice Whitby, and he's good. Not as good as Wood was, but definitely one to watch out for.'

'Hufflepuff' Angelina paused, obviously figuring out how to phrase the sentence 'have a new Captain this year. Vincent Summers, who plays Chaser, was voted by the House after' she paused again 'after the events of last year. The other Chasers are Samuel Tarrant and Hannah Abbot, who were both picked by Vincent. The Seeker is Susan Bones from fifth-year. She comes from a very rich family and got herself a Firebolt- Harry, you'd better watch this one. The Beaters are Miles Warlock and Justin Finch-Fletchley- you all know Miles, he's the one built like a house. He's the best Beater they've had for ages, so be careful, everyone. The Keeper is Carla Fellows- she's been in the team for four years now.'

Fred yawned. 'I thought you said you'd keep this short?'

Angelina ignored him. 'The new Ravenclaw team is the best they've had since I've been here. Cho Chang is the Captain and the Seeker, and she's good. The Chasers are Padma Patil and Mandy Brocklehurst, both from fifth year, and Emma Mauser. Daniel Ormsby, the new Head Boy, and his brother Rupert, have both joined this year as Beaters- to give you some idea of who these guys are, their grandfather wrote 'The Beater's Bible.' And the Keeper's Terry Boot.' Dawn giggled. Harry rolled his eyes.

'Okay, guys, let's get practising!' Angelina launched herself off on her broomstick, hovering thirty feet above the ground. Harry reached for his Firebolt as the rest of the team kicked off. Mounting his broom, he shot upwards, soaring higher and higher, until he could see the rest of the pitch below him.

He felt elated, as he always did when playing Quidditch. From here he could see all the way from the highest tower of Hogwarts, the Astronomy Tower, to the green fields outside the Forbidden Forest where Professor Grubbly-Plank was teaching- he squinted- yes, unicorns.

He breathed out. 'Home at last' he said.

A few hours later, Harry landed, after an exhausting training session. Dawn really was impressive- even Angelina and Katie had a hard time getting the Quaffle past her, and Bradley wasn't bad, either. The Weasleys divided their time between blasting the Bludgers as hard as they could and having ideas about items for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes- Harry'd been too high up to catch most of them, but he distinctly heard the words 'exploding quill' as he rocketed past in search of the Snitch.

He took a shower and changed into his normal, plain black robes. Folding up his Quidditch gear, he opened his locker and placed them in the bottom. As he went to close the locker, he noticed a box at the back. He reached in and took it out.

It was a plain, white box, with a note on it. Taking off the note, he read the angular writing out loud. 'A lesson to all Mudbloods and Muggles. Signed' he sighed 'the Pureblood Alliance.' He threw the note on the floor and took a look at the box. 'Let's see what you've got in here, then.'

He opened it.

'No' he whispered. But there was no way he could be mistaken.

Feeling nothing but fury, wanting nothing more in that moment but to get revenge, Harry took out of the box a limp, small shape, soaked in blood.

'Hedwig!' he shouted.