Harry Potter and the Ring of Reduction

Chapter 12

Flora

Three hours later, Snape put down his wand, just having finished his first session with Harry since the magic had been interrupted. They were in the boys' bedroom at the Burrow; they couldn't have the session at Hogwarts, since Snape needed to be able to do the Legilimens spell.

"A last, desperate gasp on the part of the Dark Lord," was Snape's summary of the scene he had just seen in Harry's memory. "He clearly did not know the Aurors could track the source of a telephone call by magic, or he thought they would not bother to do so. He had to have known this had a fairly poor chance of success. It was fortunate happenstance that you were with Captain Ingersoll when he got the call, but even if you had not been, and had the Aurors not been monitoring his communications, he would have had to be able to take one of the six of you by surprise, an unlikely event at such a crowded school. The Dark Lord was clearly hoping to get lucky, and instead got unlucky, losing an operative."

"You said before you thought he would give up for now," Harry noted.

Snape nodded. "I did not think he would do something with such a small chance of success. I think it is safe to say that he will now concede defeat, as the Muggles should be gone by the time we return to Hogwarts."

"I wish they'd take that tank with them," grumbled Harry. "I don't know what we're going to do with it. Guess we could always put it by the Whomping Willow, it'd be interesting to see who'd win that fight."

"I am sure the Aurors would be most interested in wagering on such a contest," said Snape dryly. They probably would, thought Harry.

"Why do you think he demanded that any of the six of us be killed, and not just me?"

"A recognition on his part of the plan's low chance of success," replied Snape. "Ingersoll might not have been able to find you easily, and his looking for you might have attracted attention. He chose the other five as targets not because of your emotional connection with them, of course, but because they can use your spells." Harry nodded; that was what he had thought.

"I have a question for you, Professor," said Harry, not sure of what had made him think of it right then. "I've pretty much decided that I'm going to incorporate flying combat into my N.E.W.T. classes, since I think there'll be another attempt at the castle at some point, this one using magic. Some people might want to get on brooms and defend the castle, and if they do, I want them to know what they're doing. I'd like to know if I can have your permission to use the Slytherin Quidditch brooms when I do."

Snape considered it for a moment. "You may, provided that they are furnished to Slytherin students before those of any other House."

Harry chuckled. "You would say that. I suppose Ron is right, that you'll never agree to what Sprout and Flitwick are asking, about the Quidditch brooms being equal."

Snape smirked. "Of course. They do not expect that I will; they simply want to be on record with something to point at as an excuse the next time Slytherin wins the Quidditch Cup. I think, Professor, that you do not understand the bargain I made when I accepted the brooms."

"Sure, I do. It was that Malfoy got to be Seeker, right?"

"That was never explicitly stated, but of course understood, as such things usually are," explained Snape. "But I am referring to the greater bargain involved. Though I know little about Quidditch, I understood that there was not a good chance that Malfoy would be a better-than-average Seeker, as he did not make the team with his talent. This turned out to be the case; he never managed to defeat you, and Slytherin has not won the Cup since then. But Malfoy is gone now, and Slytherin still has the brooms. I accepted the prospect of six years of poor Quidditch teams with the idea that teams would be chosen based on talent after Malfoy graduated, and Slytherin would have an advantage for much more than six years. I accepted short-term disadvantage for long-term advantage. I mention this to you mainly because it is a useful strategic concept, which could benefit you to keep in mind should a pertinent situation present itself."

"Now all I have to do is recognize the situation when it happens," he said wryly. "But I see your point, and I'll keep it in mind. Anyway, I'll have Fawkes take you back to Hogwarts. I'm going to go downstairs and talk to Molly before I go back."

* * * * *

The phoenixes had come back a few minutes after Ingersoll and his group left Hogwarts, and continued eating the lutas. Students returned in force to the area near the Quidditch pitch, both to watch the phoenixes and to gawk at the crashed plane. McGonagall had told the school in her speech on Wednesday morning that a team from the Ministry would be in to dismantle and Vanish it, as well as the parts of the Quidditch stands which had been destroyed, as soon as magic came back to Hogwarts.

The rest of Wednesday, and all of Thursday, passed without incident. Teachers met unofficially with their classes on Thursday, and Harry was bombarded with questions from both of his fourth-year classes about the energy of love, and requests to teach it. He gave them the warnings he had made sure Pansy gave the Slytherin second years, but they were not dissuaded. Harry decided to start by working on having them clear their minds, and he talked about his experiences in the previous year, though he knew they were familiar with them.

In the afternoon, he would normally have his Care of Magical Creatures class, and the seventh year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs met Hagrid at the usual place. The topic was phoenixes, even though they'd had lessons on them the previous year. About twenty phoenixes, including Fawkes, were eating lutas around Hagrid's hut. In the evening Harry relaxed with his friends, both outside near the phoenixes, and inside, in the Great Hall.

On Friday morning, he walked to the Great Hall as usual with Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny, and they took their seats. The food arrived five minutes later; as he ate, Harry noticed that it seemed to get hotter and hotter each day. He supposed the new food-delivery system was becoming more efficient.

"So, what classes do you have this morning?" Harry asked the others between bites of his toast.

"We're free, actually," said Hermione, "but remember, it's unofficial meetings, not actual classes. But our normal Friday schedule is unusual, I guess because of you; we have more afternoon classes in general than is usual because of the needs of your schedule. The only morning classes we have are the ones that you don't take, like Herbology. Today we have your class, of course, at one o'clock, and History of Magic at three o'clock. That was done so you could take it, I assume."

"One of Snape's last-minute adjustments to the schedule," confirmed Harry. "Well, it's nice for you that you have the morning free."

"While you have to listen to classes full of fifth years badger you to teach them how to use the energy of love," teased Ron. "You do have it rough."

"Friday's not going to be an easy day, in general," Harry pointed out. "Eight hours, six as a teacher, two as a student. Of course, Monday and Tuesday are like that, too, since I have the same morning schedule as last year, but now teaching sixth years in the afternoon on those days as well. I figured it out, all together I have... twenty-six hours a week as a teacher, and ten as a student. It's going to be a fun year."

"Just think, next year-I know, if you stay, you haven't decided-it'll seem easy, just teaching a regular schedule," said Hermione. "But you have to stay anyway, now that I'm going to be a teacher. You have to keep me company."

"Well, just humor me, I'd like to think I have a choice about it." Harry found that he didn't really want to think about what he would do next year; he just wanted to focus on this one first. He continued eating as Neville asked Hermione a question, only to be interrupted by McGonagall's magnified voice.

"Excuse me, your attention for a moment," she said into the magical microphone. "I am very pleased to be able to report that magic has been restored to Hogwarts." The students burst into loud cheers and applause; Harry saw many sparks and other harmless spells come from students' wands as they confirmed the news. "The normal prohibition against the use of magic during mealtimes in the Great Hall is temporarily rescinded, and will be for another thirty seconds, after which I urge you to put away your wands." This got a few laughs as students continued doing simple spells.

"I wish to thank those who have been monitoring the Hogwarts gate and Hogsmeade on the video cameras, and inform you that your services are no longer needed, especially now that electronic equipment will no longer function. Classes will resume their normal schedules as of now. That is all."

Harry and his friends looked at each other. "I guess it doesn't really change much for us, does it," pointed out Ron.

"It does, in one way," said Harry. "I don't have to keep wondering if Voldemort's going to launch another attack before the magic comes back up. I can relax, at least a little. An eight-hour day doesn't seem that bad all of a sudden."

"And, we don't have to wear these anymore," added Ginny, taking off the strap around her neck with the cell phone connected to it. "What do we do with them?"

"Give them to John, I'd guess," said Hermione. "He was the liaison, he'll probably get them back to the Muggles.

"Poor Hannah," joked Ron, alluding to the fact that the phoenixes would soon be gone.

"Actually, they'll be around a little while longer," said Harry. "A day or two, at least. I need to get together with Sprout and Fawkes, have Fawkes tell me where there are plants remaining besides near the greenhouse and ask Sprout which ones should be kept. But they still need to eat more; just because we have magic back doesn't mean that there aren't too many of the plants around. We need to get the number down so low there's no question of this happening again."

"Oh, and the house-elves must be delirious," said Hermione. "We'll probably get some extra-nice feast tonight, they'll be so happy to be cooking again."

As she finished her sentence, hundreds of owls flew into the Hall, and mail started falling everywhere. "Oh, I forgot, there wasn't any mail while the magic was out, the owls didn't know where to go to deliver it. Probably I didn't notice because I never get any mail anyway," said Neville with a smile.

"I'll have to send you some," joked Hermione, as she picked up her copy of the day's Prophet. "I wonder if they'll charge me for the days I missed the Prophet. They might say it wasn't their fault that the magic was out. And I just remembered, we missed the articles about this. I wanted to see what they said."

"I'll ask the teachers, maybe some of them have them," said Harry. "Or, you could write to the Prophet, ask them for extra copies. You're getting famous now, they might be willing to do it."

She gave him a 'very funny' look as the others smiled. "They should do it anyway." Harry gathered up the thirty letters for him and stacked them as well as he could, planning to go back to Gryffindor Tower and get his teaching books, even though he felt he wouldn't be using them much that day.

After lunch, he headed for the staff room, knowing that this year he would have less time to spend there than last year, since his afternoon classes now started at one o'clock rather than two o'clock. He walked in and sat in his usual spot on one of the sofas, next to John. "So, Harry," asked John, "did your students bother you about teaching them the energy of love?"

"Yeah, a little," said Harry. At John's raised eyebrows, and those of a few other teachers, he admitted, "Okay, a lot. I must say, people seem incredibly motivated to do this. I tell them how hard it could be, and they're like, yeah, okay, fine, just teach us. I think I could tell them it'd take four hours of homework a night, and they'd still do it."

"That should hardly surprise you, Harry," pointed out McGonagall. "Not only is it highly useful in general, but they have just spent four days watching you and the other five being the only ones at the school able to do magic. This situation will likely not occur again, but that had a strong impression on almost everyone. Even we found ourselves interested as we wondered how long it would take to get the magic back."

"You're interested in learning this, Professor?" asked Harry, surprised.

Sprout smiled. "Note Harry trying and failing to keep the surprise out of his tone," she said to general laughter.

Harry didn't laugh, but he smiled a little. "I'm not sure whether you were making fun of me, or her," he said to Sprout.

"Both, of course," she responded, with a teasing glance at McGonagall.

"Yes, she is making the rather obvious point that I am not the most emotionally demonstrative person in the world," retorted McGonagall.

"I guess it's like me with being embarrassed, it's so easy a joke to make," agreed Harry. "But you know, Professor, I didn't use to be like this, either. I never would have thought I could do this, until I did it."

"He means, 'even you could do it,' Minerva," said Sprout helpfully.

"Yes, thank you, Pomona, I did gather that," said McGonagall. "So, Harry, before you unwittingly give her any more material for humor at my expense, let me say that I do not think I am temperamentally suited to learn it, and leave it at that."

"But isn't that all the more reason that you should try?" persisted Harry. "It would be a good example for students who didn't think they could. I mean, if you could learn it..." Harry trailed off as he realized he didn't want to say the words 'anyone could.' His meaning didn't escape the other teachers, of course, who burst out in loud laughter. Embarrassed, he looked up at McGonagall, who was giving him a look that said, 'please, don't say anything more.' "Sorry," he said.

Now, she smiled a little. "You could not make fun of me any better if you tried, Harry."

"Which is what makes it so funny, of course," said Sprout, still recovering from her laughter. "Oh, my..."

"Seriously, Professor," said John, "I'm not trying to pile on, I swear, but you don't think you could do it if you tried?"

McGonagall sighed. "If it were critically important, as it was with Harry last year, I might be able to. It is not impossible. But Harry has said that doing so more or less changed who he was, and we have all seen that. I simply feel... that I am comfortable with who I am. Perhaps I would be a better person, as Harry has become. I suppose I lack the motivation necessary to overcome my reluctance."

"I guess I can understand that," said Harry. "It's hard for me to imagine having done this if not for the fact that I had no choice. If, say, Neville had come up with this, I'd have said, that's great, but it's not something I could do, or would want to. I'd have been much too embarrassed."

"Ah, so you're saying that Minerva doesn't do it because she's embarrassed," said Sprout, deadpan.

"Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut for a while," said Harry, to laughter.

"Alas, it is far too late for that," said a resigned McGonagall.

"Well, then," continued Harry, "Anyway, I do wonder if the students are so willing to try it now because of what just happened, but might lose their motivation as time goes by. I'm concerned about a lot of them failing to get it."

"There's not much you can do about that, Harry, just try it and see how it goes," advised John.

"I guess," Harry reluctantly agreed. Glancing up, he added, "Say, John, you'd be a pretty good candidate." To his surprise, all of the teachers looked at him with confusion; he suddenly realized that they were wondering whether or not he was joking. "Um, except, of course, for your total inability to do any magic whatsoever..."

Everyone laughed again. "Yes, John, except for that, you'd be great," agreed Flitwick.

Harry now joined in the laughter until it ended. "Boy, I've got to start thinking before I open my mouth. If I keep this up, the seventh years'll have me for lunch."

"Yes, that will be odd, teaching your peers, not to mention your close friends," agreed Sprout. "You'll be handing out detentions right and left."

Harry chuckled. "They'd just laugh if I tried, which of course I won't. No, I expect to be made fun of a certain amount, which I don't mind. I'd do it if I were them."

"Very sporting of you, Harry," remarked Dentus. "So, is there always this much humor in here, or is it just that Harry's having an off day?"

"Or an 'on' day, depending on how you want to look at it," said Sprout. "We do have fun, though usually not quite so much."

The level of 'fun' decreased as the conversation continued, which was fine with Harry. Soon it was time to leave for his class, and he got up to go. John and Flitwick humorously wished him good luck, and he walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

He walked in at two minutes to one, and all twenty-five seats were occupied. He had been a teacher long enough not to be nervous, but this was definitely a new experience, looking out into the class and seeing Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Pansy, not to mention so many others he knew. His friends were smiling, no doubt wondering what he was going to say. He wished he knew.

"Okay... this is a little strange for me, as I'm sure it is for you. I've been your classmate for so long, it's probably... strange, as I said, for you to look up and see me here. I guess we'll all just get used to it as time goes by. Now, let's see, should I call the roll, or..." This got a mild laugh, and Hannah raised her hand and said, "Here!" Harry chuckled. "Yes, you are always first, aren't you... actually, I was just going to look at the roll sheet to make sure of who was signed up for the class, let's see... did you guys know the roll sheets are color-coded by which House you're in? Pretty convenient..." He saw a few looks of surprise, and Hermione, to his surprise sitting two rows back from the front, gave a slight nod. "Yes, Hermione, I'm not surprised you'd know..."

She rolled her eyes and gave him an annoyed look; he smiled. "Sorry. Wow, only two Slytherins, Pansy and Blaise. The other girls didn't take this class last year?" Pansy shook her head. "Well, that's why we were able to have everyone in this class. Let's see, seven Gryffindors, eight Hufflepuffs, eight Ravenclaws, and two Slytherins, so twenty-five in all. Sorry the desks are a little tight, but it should be okay. I was thinking, on nice days, we could have class outside sometimes."

"Today's a nice day," pointed out Hannah.

Harry chuckled. "Sorry, Hannah, not today, with over a hundred phoenixes out there. Nobody would pay attention to the class, including me. As I was saying, Professor Snape, who as you may or may not know made the schedule, was kind enough to put everyone into the one class so my already busy schedule wouldn't be any worse. Now... yes, Sally-Anne?"

Sally-Anne Perks put down her hand. "I'm sorry, but did you just use the words 'Professor Snape' and 'kind' in the same sentence?"

This got a good laugh, and Harry had to try not to join them. "Well, it helps me a lot. I'm only teaching and studying for thirty-six hours a week instead of thirty-eight if he hadn't done that, and he did it without my asking him to. So, yes, I'm going to stick with what I said. And, seriously, as a Hogwarts teacher, I can't condone making jokes at the expense of other teachers while I'm teaching. So I'll have to ask you not to do that from now on. Yes, Justin?"

"But we can make jokes at your expense, right?"

Everyone laughed, including Harry. "Yes, of course, Justin. I did say 'other' teachers. Considering how unusual the situation is, I'd be surprised if you didn't have a little fun with me. Oh, that reminds me... a few days ago, some of you were there, Ron made fun of me by calling me 'Professor.' Now, all the students in the other classes do, but I'd really rather you all called me 'Harry.' Yes, Mandy?"

"Harry, I know you have a lot of friends here, but I hope you're not going to be making fun of each other too much. I think this is an important subject, and I want to learn as much as I can in the time we have."

Harry pushed back his annoyance; he felt Mandy's comment was premature, and a little rude, but he tried hard to keep an even temper when he was teaching. Mandy was a Ravenclaw, someone he knew to be a serious student. He had never got to know her well, but he respected her. "Mandy, I completely agree. I was just making a comment on the unusual situation we have here; probably never before at Hogwarts has a teacher taught students the same age. But anybody who knows me knows that I'm deadly serious about this subject. What you learn here can save your life; it's saved mine more than once. What I want for you, for everyone to get out of this class is the ability to be attacked by a Death Eater and stay alive. And just so you know, I'm not going to be teaching directly for the N.E.W.T.s, I'm going to be teaching what I think will help you stay alive. Now, most years, it would sound silly for me to say that. But not this year; I think the last five days would show that that's true. So, that's my focus."

Mandy nodded. "I didn't mean to criticize you, Harry. I know you're serious about this, and the younger Ravenclaws who've taken your classes raved about you as a teacher, said they'd never learned so much. I guess I just felt like it would be easy for you to get distracted here, with all your friends here."

Harry nodded. "Well, I'm going to give you an overview of what I want to do in this class. As I said, the main theme is, surviving a Death Eater attack. To do that, one important thing to be able to do is duel. We're going to spend a lot of time with dueling, which is both a defensive and offensive skill. Yes, Robin?"

A sandy-haired Hufflepuff put down his hand. "You showed the first years this fight you had with the Aurors against Voldemort on Sunday night, and they said you were knocking down Death Eaters with one hit each, better than the Aurors were doing. Is that something you can teach us?"

Harry fought the impulse to be embarrassed at the mention of his strength. "Not that exactly, no, I'm afraid. You already know Stunning spells, and how well they work is just a question of how strong you are. Apparently, I'm just... unusually strong."

Mandy raised her hand again. "Are you that strong because you use the energy of love?"

A Hufflepuff named Jonathan answered before Harry could. "Obviously not, because the others can use it, but they're not nearly as strong as he is."

"Hey!" said Ron quietly but sharply; Harry wasn't sure how much of it was meant as humor. "I lifted thirty people, you know."

"Couldn't lift a tank, though," said Justin humorously.

"Like to see you try," Ron retorted, in the same vein.

"All right, all right," said Harry. "To answer Mandy's question, that's part of the reason. Using it, I'm stronger than I would be without using it-"

Neville interrupted. "Excuse me, Harry, but there's something I think I should say, if you don't mind." Harry gestured for him to go ahead. Sitting next to Hermione, on the far left side of the middle row, Neville turned in his seat to face the others. "Harry is much stronger using it than not using it. You need to understand, Harry is just incredibly strong, stronger than the strongest Auror, than Dumbledore, than Voldemort. He-"

"We don't know that I'm stronger than Voldemort, Neville-"

"Yes, we do, Harry," responded Neville firmly. "When you and the Aurors rescued Hermione and I, you put down an anti-Disapparation field on him, and he tried and failed to Disapparate. That means you're stronger than him." In a serious tone, Neville turned again to the rest of the class. "Harry tends to understate things like that, because he gets embarrassed by them. I'm not saying this to make fun of him, but so you'll know, and take it into account when he talks about this kind of thing. In June, a senior Auror said, 'If there's a stronger wizard than Harry, I don't know who it is.' As for the rest of us, I think I'm the strongest besides Harry-I can hold my own with the Aurors who aren't so strong-and I'm not that much stronger than the others. We're all pretty strong, compared to average, and I'm sure that's because we use the energy of love. The fact that we're not that strong compared to Harry is just because he's in a totally different category."

There was silence for a few seconds, Harry not knowing what to say. As he was about to speak, Susan did. "Wow, he's right, you really are embarrassed." Most of the class laughed.

"Well, I'll try to be as factual about that kind of thing as I can," said Harry, "and I'm sure that Neville or the others will correct me if I get something wrong. Now, to finish answering the question, why am I so strong besides the energy of love... we don't know this for a fact, but Professor Dumbledore thought it was true, so I'd bet it probably is... we know that when he gave me this scar, Voldemort unintentionally passed on other things to me, like being a Parselmouth. We think that one thing he passed on was his strength. Now, that should mean that when I'm as strong as I'm going to get-and I don't think I'm there yet-I should be as strong as him. But, I'm already stronger. So, I think that my 'base' strength is the same as his, but anyone who uses the energy of love will have their strength enhanced. That's why I'm stronger than him. We think, anyway.

"Now, of course, the question of how strong I am isn't all that relevant to this class, so-" Harry stopped himself as he saw Mandy's hand go up.

"Well, yes and no," she said. "I see what you mean, but if we know you did something, it helps us to know how much your strength had to do with it, and how much was because of things you know, things we could also do."

"Don't worry, I will address that kind of thing when I teach, and if I try to teach something that requires a certain amount of strength, I'll be sure to mention it. I'm not going to be teaching area-effect spells, for example, because they require a lot of strength. Now, what was I saying before... oh, yes, what I'll be teaching. As I said, lots of dueling, being able to duel is very important, you don't have a hope against a Death Eater unless you can do that." Harry glanced at Blaise Zabini at the back, looking intimidated, as though sure he had no chance of ever being able to duel, or even belong in the class.

"Another thing I want to spend some time on, for this class and the sixth years, is combat flying. Why? I expect this school to be attacked sometime this year. Okay, it already has been, but without magic. I expect some sort of attack with magic. I'm imagining a situation in which hostile forces are bearing down on the castle, either having taken down or avoided Hogwarts' defenses. In an open area, being on brooms in combat can be a big advantage. It's also a risk-you get hit, you can fall, so the higher up you are, the riskier it is. If that happens, if we get attacked like that, I don't expect everyone in this class to grab a broom and go out there and fight. That's a decision everyone has to make for themselves. But I want those who choose to do so to be able to do it confidently and effectively; you can easily get killed by not knowing what you're doing. So, we're spending some time on that, and that'll definitely be outside. Let me ask you... please raise your hand if you've had minimal experience on a broom, or are uncomfortable flying." Almost half the class raised their hands, including Pansy, Ernie, Blaise, Neville, and Hermione. "Okay, the only homework I'm giving today is for those of you who raised your hands, get in an hour or two of flying time. It doesn't matter where or how high, you can fly two feet off the ground if you want to. Just practice flying. Madam Hooch can help you if you need it."

He paused and looked around the room. The class was rapt, obviously listening carefully and taking him seriously. "We're also going to be practicing group combat situations, like ten of us against ten Death Eaters, what to do in that kind of situation. Also, when dueling and in combat, specific spells which tend to be effective against Death Eaters, and defenses against spells they commonly use. Any questions so far?"

Hannah raised her hand. "Is it just by accident that you haven't mentioned anything yet about teaching the energy of love?"

"No, I was waiting for one of you to bring it up. I'll explain why in a minute, but first, let me ask you... raise your hand if you're interested in me teaching that." Every hand in the class went up. "Okay, so everyone's interested. Now, as my friends know, I hesitated to teach this at all this year, because it's so new. Before you teach something, you should know exactly how it works, know everything about it. To say I don't know those things is putting it mildly. There's a whole lot I don't know about this, including the best way to teach it. I've... I was going to say I taught the other five, but it doesn't feel right to say that. Maybe it's better to say, I helped them learn how to use it. It's not really something you can teach, like, you do this, this, this, that, that, study, and then you'll know how to do it. This doesn't work that way. It's partly a choice, making a commitment to be a certain way. I think I can help you get there, like I helped them, but it has to be something you really want to do. If there's some part of you that says, this is dumb, but I'll do it anyway because I want to use the spells, it's not going to work; that much I do know.

"Also, you may know this already, but there are some aspects of this that are going to be embarrassing, and not just for me because I'm easily embarrassed. Most people aren't totally comfortable with the idea of love, talking about it, sometimes even thinking about it. I'm not saying that you will, or have to, start out not being embarrassed about it; I didn't. But for this to work, you will end up that way. You have to completely embrace the idea of love, which is difficult for most people. I would have thought it was impossible for me, before this happened. But you all already know what happened last year, why I dove into it so strongly; I just had no choice. You all saw me answer those questions from Hugo in the Great Hall after the first demonstration of my anti-Cruciatus Curse shield. I explained exactly what I did and why I did it. Let me tell you, I was embarrassed as hell. But it was important, so I did it. I just want you to know what you might be getting into." He paused, looking around at their faces, which were solemn, serious. "Now, keeping all that in mind, please raise your hand if you want to work on this in class." Again, everyone raised their hands.

He nodded. "All right, then. Just so you know. Fortunately, for this class, I'll have help. Neville, Ron, Hermione, and Pansy may be able to help you. I developed the ability to do this in a short, intense period of time, and I was helped by having a phoenix on my shoulder the whole time, helping me to be calm and focus. They, and now you, have to learn it a different way: over a longer period of time, with no motivation except whatever's in your mind. Since they learned it that way, they may be able to help you as much as I can. This'll be unlike anything you've ever learned in a class before. Yes, Mandy?"

"I have a question, not for you, but for the other four here who can do this. I'd like to know, from each of you, what was your motivation to do this. You didn't have Voldemort breathing down your neck like Harry did. What made you want to do this?"

"That's a good question, Mandy," said Harry. "And I don't only mean good as in interesting, but as in relevant." He gestured to his friends in their seats to go ahead and answer her question.

"Well, I'll be first, I guess," said Hermione, looking slightly nervous but trying to overcome it. "Probably everyone's reason is a little different. I was thinking of a few things. Harry mentioned it to us-this happened just after he came up with the Killing Curse shield-because he wanted to know if it could be taught, and we were the most reasonable ones to try to teach it to. I realized that if it could be taught, if it became widespread, it could have a huge impact on wizarding society. That thought gave me motivation to want to do it, to see if it could be done. Also, I knew the spells would be really useful, especially for us, who are always getting into danger because we try to keep Harry alive while Voldemort tries to kill him. And of course, I love Harry, we all do, the other five of us. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him if I could, and he wouldn't have asked if it weren't important to him. But probably the biggest reason of all is that we'd all seen how it changed Harry, in a very positive way. I was in love with Neville, and I knew how powerful a feeling it was, whether it was romantic love, like him, or friendship love, like Harry and the others. It just seemed obvious that it was a good thing to do."

Ron spoke next. "See, this is the problem with answering after Hermione, she's taken all the good answers," he said wryly, drawing a laugh. "In a way, I'm probably the best person to answer this question, because it was hardest for me. I'm not naturally expressive, like Hermione is; it's hard for me to tell someone I love them, or even think like that. I wasn't thinking about the society-wide impact, like she was, but all three of the other reasons work for me, I think. Also, they were all going to do it, and I didn't want to be left out. But I have to admit, if it had been just Harry and I, and he'd come to me and said 'do you want to do this,' I'd have hesitated, might not have done it. It was a huge challenge for me, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't for some of you as well. It's easier to do something like this if others are as well, especially people you feel close to. And even saying that much is something I couldn't have done back in March, so that may tell you something." Harry smiled, as did his other friends and some of the class.

"In my case, I was starting to fancy Ron then, so I thought it might get us closer together," joked Pansy, getting a big laugh and an embarrassed look from Ron. "I'm joking, of course, but who knows, that may have been in the back of my mind. Probably the biggest reason for me was the love and respect I had for Harry. If he wanted to do it, then I wanted to help him. The other reasons were good, but secondary."

"I should have said," put in Hermione, "that any one of the four reasons I mentioned would have been enough for me to want to do it. Sorry, go ahead, Neville."

"Like Ron, the last three reasons Hermione mentioned are true for me as well. Probably the biggest one was seeing the effect it had on Harry, how it changed him. He was just much more comfortable after that, and I felt as though even if that was going to be the only effect, it would still be worth doing."

Harry was about to speak when Mandy asked another question. "Can you tell me... and let me ask you, Ron, since you said it was the hardest for you... how would you say it's changed you? In what way do you feel different?"

Ron raised his eyebrows and thought for a few seconds. "I guess I just feel... happier, more comfortable, like Neville said Harry was. I realize I don't have to be embarrassed about things I would have before, especially things to do with friendship and love. So, my experience is probably pretty different from Hermione's, since she wasn't embarrassed about that kind of stuff in the first place."

"Well, a little," she said. "I think everyone is, even if only a little. I just said and thought them anyway. But yes, I think I could say that it made me feel more... calm and peaceful, I guess. It's hard to put into words."

"One thing that may help," suggested Harry, "is to think about Professor Dumbledore. Even if you weren't lucky enough to know him well, as I got to last year, you know how he was: always calm, tranquil, friendly... I guess 'serene' would be a good word to describe him in general. He told me that what I discovered made him realize that he had been using the energy of love all along, he just had never thought of it like that. He was just naturally that kind of person, and it made his magic strong. I think that getting to the state where you can use the energy of love makes you more like he was. I'm not like he was, though I would love to be someday. But now, I'm more like he was than before I did this. I'd say, look at him as an ideal, of where this could possibly lead. It takes you in that direction, and I think it's a very good direction to go."

Sally-Anne raised her hand. "How long do you think it'll take to learn?"

"Again, one of those things I don't know. It took them three months, Ron and Pansy a bit longer. But since we were meeting longer and more often than this class will, and since we were all good friends and weren't so embarrassed about saying things around each other, it might have gone faster for us. I just can't know. If I had done this with test groups first, people of different ages and situations, I'd know more. But since everyone wants to do this so badly, I can't take the time to do that. I'm going to just do the best I can, as I'm sure all of you will do. We'll find out together."

When no one asked any more questions, he said, "Okay, the way I want to structure this, at least at first, is to work on that for a certain amount of time every lesson, somewhere between twenty minutes and a half hour. Sometimes it'll be at the beginning of a lesson, sometimes at the end, until I decide which one I think is better. Today, it'll be at the end, and next time, at the beginning.

"All right. Today we're going to work on the Repulsion Charm, since recent circumstances showed how useful it can be, and we'll make a start on dueling. But first I want to talk about something Professor Dumbledore told us about last year, but I want to say it again, because I think it's really important. He told us about how important our thoughts were in how we did our magic, and I think my experience shows how true that is. When I-yes, Ernie?"

"Sorry, Harry, I should have asked this before, I just forgot I was going to. What you said about thoughts reminded me. First of all, did you know the Sorting Hat was going to sing what it did?

Harry chuckled. "No, I sure didn't. I was very surprised."

"I saw his face, sitting up there," added Padma. "He was really surprised."

"Anyway," went on Ernie, "I have the words to what it sang, and-"

"How did you get the words?" asked Susan. "Were you writing them down?"

"No, of course not," said Ernie. "I found out later that later Sunday night, some Slytherin and Gryffindor second years got together and shared their recollections, and got down the whole song on paper. No one remembered it all, but together they were able to do it. After the magic came back, they were giving out copies. Anyway, I have a question about it. Most of it's fairly clear, just expressed in symbols, but the last verse... 'So keep in mind that you may know/What you think you do not/And what you think that you don't have/You have already got.' What did the Hat mean by that?"

"To be honest, Ernie, I'm not totally sure. It would be funny to think the Hat knows something about this that I don't, but it's always possible. What makes sense just off the top of my head is that it's saying that everyone can do this, even if you don't think you can. Hermione, you're better at this sort of thing than I am. What do you think?"

"Well, what you said is the obvious interpretation," she said, apparently thinking out loud. "I have a feeling there's more to it than that, but I just don't know what it is." Then, humorously, she added, "Then again, maybe I do know what it is, I just don't think I do."

Harry laughed, as did some of the class. "Yes, that's always possible."

"If we didn't already know the Hat was singing about the energy of love, we'd have thought it was just talking about people's potential in general," suggested Mandy. "Maybe it was saying that there's lots of potential in this, maybe even more than Harry knows."

"That's definitely possible, because there's so much I don't know," agreed Harry.

"But the song seemed to be directed to the students, not Harry," argued Ernie.

"I did say 'maybe,'" pointed out Mandy.

"We could speculate all day about what it meant," said Harry, "but unless one of us goes to McGonagall's office and puts it on, we're not going to find out. Even then, it probably wouldn't tell us.

"Now, what was I saying... oh, yes, thoughts. Especially when thinking about the energy of love, which he didn't know about when he told us this last year, it makes perfect sense. I think you all know that the way we know if someone is using the energy of love is that their score on that meter from last year is 100, which means that their nonverbal spells are as strong as their spoken ones. It suggests that thoughts are what is really important, and that if we're focused enough, the words are unnecessary. Thoughts-"

Harry cut himself off as, to his great surprise, a phoenix materialized in the middle of the room, in the air. It flew around for a few seconds, then landed on the podium. Harry took a few steps toward it and said, "Yes, can I help you?"

"It's the same one from the other day, in the Great Hall," pointed out Hannah. "The female one."

"Maybe you're supposed to do something, Harry," suggested Justin.

"Fawkes would tell me if I was," said Harry. The phoenix took flight again, flying around the room, then landed on Hermione's desk. Very surprised, she looked at Harry, who shrugged.

"Maybe you and Hermione are supposed to do something," joked Justin.

"Maybe," agreed Harry. "Let me ask Fawkes, he should be able to ask her, and find out." Fawkes had appeared in the middle of his sentence, and perched on the podium. Harry cleared his mind to get impressions. His eyes went wide, then he smiled, suddenly very happy.

"What?" asked Hermione, confused.

He walked over to her side of the classroom, still smiling. "She's chosen you."

There was a collective gasp, and Hermione's mouth hung open for a few seconds, as if she was unable to believe what he had told her. The whole class stared at her. She turned to look at Neville, who looked both stunned and happy. Then tears started to come to her eyes, and she said, "Oh, my God," repeating the phrase three times. She looked at the phoenix, then she smiled, tears still rolling down her face, and petted the phoenix gently. "I can't believe it... I just can't believe it..."

"I can believe it," said Harry, looking at her happily; she looked up at him and smiled gratefully through her tears. He suddenly got a feeling of great joy and happiness, and then realized that Fawkes was sending him what the female phoenix was sending Fawkes, which she of course got from Hermione. "Hang on, I'm getting impressions from Fawkes... a lot of them, there's a lot he wants to tell me. The first thing is that she, that phoenix, is very pleased at your reaction. She can feel your happiness, how thrilled you are, and she's... wow, this is interesting. She's never been bonded to a human before, you're her first one."

"You mentioned that, when she was with us the other morning," pointed out Hannah, still amazed at what had just happened.

"Yes, I did, I just forgot," agreed Harry. "So, she didn't really know what it was like, being bonded, feeling what someone else was feeling. She felt it just as strongly as you did, Hermione, because she wasn't used to it. Would everyone give me a minute, Fawkes is trying to tell me a lot of things. I know this isn't relevant to the class, but I promise I'll make up the time some other time, this doesn't happen every day."

"No, it's okay," said Padma and Mandy at the same time, and were seconded by others. Harry nodded and was quiet, focused on Fawkes's impressions. He could hear people talking, but he didn't hear what they were saying. Finally, after two minutes, he opened his eyes and addressed the class.

"Wow... there's quite a story behind this. First, Fawkes and this phoenix-she doesn't have a name, by the way, so Hermione, you'll have to give her one. Phoenixes don't name themselves, they have no use for them. Anyway, Fawkes and she are... I don't know what term to use, maybe 'long-term partners' might be best. As some of you know, like Hannah, Hermione, and anyone else who's read 'Reborn From the Ashes,' phoenixes only mate when there's a decline in the phoenix population and they need more. Fawkes and she have been... partners for a very long time, he can't give me a number, but I get the impression of hundreds of years. They've mated twice, and will again when it's needed by the phoenix population. I wouldn't say they're married, but as close as phoenixes ever get to that.

"He's been companioning humans for hundreds of years, and she never has. It's a very important choice for phoenixes, and they take it very seriously. Everyone knows how loyal they are to their companions. She had never wanted to do that, preferring to just be free to do what she wanted. Now, phoenixes exchange impressions and feelings all the time, especially with their partners, so their partners always know how they're feeling. She had begun to notice recently-and when I say 'recently,' for phoenixes, that means the last fifty years or so-that Fawkes had been happier, more content even than usual. He told her..." Harry took a deep breath, aware that tears were threatening, and continued, "...he told her that Albus was the best companion he ever had, and that he thought I might end up being a lot like Albus." Fighting to stay in control, he glanced up to see his friends smiling at him.

"Anyway, when this thing with the lutas happened, of course she was one of the ones who came here to eat them, and she was in more contact with him than usual. Fawkes is happy that by companioning Albus, then me, he's playing an important part in helping the wizarding world be a better place, fighting against wizards like Voldemort. By being here, she started to get a stronger impression of what the wizarding world was like, and why Fawkes likes to companion humans. She expressed interest, provided there was anyone who would be a good companion. Fawkes said he thought there was, and mentioned two people in particular: Hermione and Neville."

There was another gasp, and everyone now looked in Neville's direction, even more surprised than they had been with Hermione. "You must be kidding," said Neville, disbelievingly.

"Neville, do I look like I'm kidding? I'm definitely not. Anyway, she checked you both out on Monday morning, when we were out looking at the phoenixes. She liked you both, and she spent some time with each of you over the next two days, while you were sleeping. Phoenixes do that sometimes so they can get a stronger feeling about what the person is like."

"Did Fawkes do that with you?" asked Justin.

"No, he didn't need to. I had spent enough time around Dumbledore by then, he knew what I was like. So, after a few days, she talked to Fawkes-let me stop for a minute and say that when I say 'talk,' I mean 'communicate,' and that when I say things they 'said,' I'm translating nonverbal impressions into human words and ideas. She came to Fawkes and said that she wanted to bond with both of them." This prompted a few exclamations of surprise, especially from Hermione and Neville. "Fawkes said she couldn't, that she had to choose one. She argued with him, saying that since Neville and Hermione are partners and are going to spend their lives together, she could be with both of them at the same time most of the time. He said that the bonding wouldn't work properly if she tried to do it with both, that she could find herself torn in two directions. He also pointed out that there aren't that many humans that phoenixes feel are appropriate for companioning, and it wouldn't be fair of her to take two good ones for herself. They argued some more, and she finally agreed to choose one. It was hard for her; she liked them both, and couldn't say she liked one more than the other. He advised her to choose the one whose personality seemed most attuned to hers, and she ended up choosing Hermione. She was also consoled by the idea that by being around Hermione, she'd be around Neville a lot too, even though they wouldn't be bonded."

"Did Fawkes say exactly what it was about Hermione's personality that made her choose Hermione?" asked Hannah, clearly very interested.

"Yes, he gave me a sense of it, which I'll put into words as best I can. You all know how hard Hermione studies, how much she wants to know everything. You may remember than in third year, she used this device from the Ministry to get her an extra three hours every day, so she could take all twelve classes offered. This phoenix eventually decided that a human who did that was kind of similar to a phoenix who had never had a companion, but wanted two the first time she did it." The class laughed, and even Hermione smiled. "There's a similarity in personality there, and that's what made her choose Hermione."

Still amazed, Ron asked, "So, does this mean Neville will get chosen the next time a phoenix wants a companion?"

Harry glanced at Neville, who still looked amazed that he had been so strongly considered. "No, it doesn't work like that. It does mean that if another phoenix is looking for a companion, and Fawkes knows about it, he'll point him or her in Neville's direction. But phoenixes choose based on the feeling they get, and different phoenixes have different feelings. Neville could get chosen tomorrow, or twenty years from now, or never. It's all up to what any given phoenix decides. But he clearly is a likely candidate."

"I wish she could have chosen both of us," said Hermione.

Neville shook his head. "I'm glad she chose you, really. Like she said, I'll get to be around her, through you. I'm really happy for you." Tears in her eyes again, Hermione reached over and took Neville's hand, holding it for a few seconds before letting go.

Harry smiled again at Hermione. "Congratulations, Hermione, this is so great. I'm so happy for you."

"Thank you, Harry," she said, obviously very excited. "It's so amazing, I still can't believe it. And it's even better that she and Fawkes are connected in that way. Does this mean that if you wanted to talk to me, that you could tell Fawkes, who would tell her, and I would know?"

"Something like that, but it would be unusual that that would be necessary. What's more likely is that if, say, you were really sad about something, and she and Fawkes thought I might be able to make you feel better, Fawkes would let me know how you felt, even if you didn't ask her to have him do that. Of course, Neville's usually going to be the one to make you feel better. It's just an example."

"Maybe I was the one who made her feel sad," suggested Neville humorously. Hermione gave him a 'don't say that' look, as Harry chuckled.

"Okay, well, I guess we should get back to what I was talking about, if I can remember what it was, so-"

"Sorry, Harry," interrupted Mandy. "One question before you do that... Fawkes chose you, and this phoenix was interested in Hermione and Neville; all of you use the energy of love. So did Dumbledore. Does that have anything to do with it?"

Looking at the class, Harry could see there was a lot of interest in the question. "I can't say exactly; phoenixes don't think in those terms. But it's really starting to look like it, and it makes perfect sense. As Hagrid told us last year, phoenixes are attracted to love more than anything else. Fawkes chose me at almost exactly the time I committed myself to the idea of focusing on love as strongly as possible to fight off Voldemort. And I know that Fawkes likes spending time around the six of us, he's let me know that this summer, he really enjoyed it. So, that's probably true."

Sally-Anne spoke. "So, if we learn how to use the energy of love, it means we might get chosen by a phoenix?"

Harry saw a certain look in Hannah's eyes. "Hannah, I have a feeling you can answer that, so go ahead."

She looked at Sally-Anne. "If you do it even partly for that reason, then no, you probably won't. The best way to not be chosen by a phoenix is to want to be chosen. They know why you want to be chosen, and it's usually not for what they would consider to be the right reasons. For example, I can be pretty sure that not only is Neville really happy for Hermione, but isn't even a little jealous that the phoenix chose her instead of him." Harry and most of the class looked at Neville, who nodded. "I know that because if Neville was the type to be jealous of something like that, he wouldn't have even been considered. I mean, I..." Looking abashed, she nonetheless continued, "I was kind of jealous when Fawkes chose Harry. I wished it could have been me, since I like phoenixes so much. I knew that kind of attitude made it less likely that I'd ever be chosen, but I couldn't help it. It's kind of ironic, though, that wanting it makes it much less likely to happen. Who knows, maybe if I get to where I can use the energy of love, it'll mean I won't feel that way anymore."

"It is hard to say," agreed Harry. "And Hannah, I admire you for saying that, I know it wasn't easy. Saying things like that, that are hard to say, is the kind of thing that's going to help in getting to the place where you can use the energy of love. I know that all six of us have said things like that, that weren't easy to say."

"That's putting it mildly," muttered Ron, to scattered chuckling.

Mandy raised her hand again. "Sorry again, a question related to my last one... and my apologies in advance to Ron, Pansy, and Ginny, but-"

Ron turned in his seat and finished her question for her. "Why them, and not us, if we can all use the energy of love. Don't worry, it's all right. It is a good question. I suspect Harry's going to say it's just a matter of taste on Fawkes's part."

"Five points for Gryffindor, Ron," joked Harry. "Yes, that's exactly what I was going to say. Another phoenix might make a different choice. But it's also that Fawkes was looking to see who would be a good companion for this particular phoenix. Phoenixes have different personalities, and... yes, I'm getting something from Fawkes, he agrees with what I'm saying. He didn't mean to suggest by not specifically recommending the others that they weren't suitable."

"But it doesn't really matter anyway," said Pansy. "It would be pretty egotistical of us to say, just because we can use the energy of love, we should be considered as phoenix companions. I don't think anybody can have that expectation, no matter how many of their friends get chosen."

"Of course, that wasn't the point of Mandy's question anyway," said Harry, as Mandy nodded in agreement. "I guess the answer to her question would be that probably using the energy of love makes you more attractive to a phoenix, but not an automatic candidate. It's a very particular choice, and I'm pretty sure it's very rare for a phoenix to have two people who she felt were equally appropriate."

"Or," suggested Neville, "it's partly because she's new to humans, and didn't have a strong idea about the kind of personality she wanted. I mean, it's probably the case that Fawkes chose you because you have qualities that are a lot like Dumbledore's." As Harry started to open his mouth, Neville quickly continued, "And before you start with your 'oh, I'm not nearly as good as Dumbledore' thing, keep in mind that Fawkes pretty much said you were as good as him, so I'm not buying it. You should just say, 'yes, Neville, you're probably right.'"

The class laughed heartily at Harry's expense as he looked back at Neville and tried not to smile. After the laughter had died down, said to Neville, "Yes, Neville, you're probably right." The class laughed again, as Harry and Neville smiled. "The people who know you," said Harry to the class, "are the ones who won't let you get away with anything. Okay, back to the subject of the class, though first I'll say that I'll forgive Hermione in advance if her attention wanders occasionally. She'd probably just like to go back to her dormitory and enjoy the feeling."

"I'll do that later," she assured him. "Go ahead, I'll be listening."

"Okay, we'll have to do the Repulsion Charm next time, this took up time I didn't expect, and I want to start dueling today. But back to thoughts and magic..." Harry felt a warm glow for the rest of the lesson, and he wondered if he was feeling Hermione's feelings, transmitted by two phoenixes.

An hour and twenty minutes later, he called the lesson to a halt. "Okay, it looks like we're out of time, but that was a very good start, both on the dueling and the energy of love. And now, I am officially not a teacher, but a student, and will be joining many of you for History of Magic very shortly." Everyone stood and started gathering their things, as Neville hugged Hermione enthusiastically. Harry looked at his hand and asked Ginny to come to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom as quickly as possible. Fawkes hopped onto Harry's shoulder.

"I thought you weren't taking History of Magic," said Anthony. "You didn't last year."

"Our new History of Magic professor, who's a friend of mine, made it a condition of taking the position that I took his class," explained Harry.

"Are you sure it isn't just because you'll be able to pay attention to the lectures without falling asleep?" joked Parvati.

"That, too," agreed Harry. "Although, as I said, I can't condone making jokes about... oh, wait, I just said I wasn't a teacher right now. Never mind. And as a non-teacher, there's something I wanted to do..." As Neville let go of Hermione, Harry walked up to her, kissed her on the cheek, and hugged her tightly, noticing that he had to be sure to hug her with his head on the side where there wasn't a phoenix on her shoulder. "I am so, so incredibly happy for you..."

"I know," she said, returning his hug. "Thank you." Ron, Pansy, then a very excited Ginny took their turn, and they headed off to History of Magic, minus Pansy and Ginny. Arriving three minutes early, they took their seats. Harry noticed that it was a Gryffindor/Hufflepuff class; there were fourteen students, evidently too many for Snape to have combined the classes as he had for Harry. Harry sat in the middle of the room, with Ron next to him, Hermione in front of him, and Neville next to Hermione.

Dentus walked in a minute early, and stood at the podium. "Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Archibald Dentus, your new History of..." He trailed off as he looked more closely at Hermione. "I thought that was just a trick of the light for a minute. Hermione, is that a temporary visitor, or permanent?"

She beamed. "Permanent."

"Extraordinary," he said, clearly impressed. "Congratulations. You must be... well, I can see that you are, very happy. Harry, would there happen to be a story behind this, that you could tell in the staff room after this lesson?"

"A very interesting one. I'll be there."

"Excellent, thank you. As I was saying, I'm your new History of Magic teacher. I worked for many years at the Ministry of Magic, rising to the position of Undersecretary while breaking as few laws as possible along the way." The joke was greeted with a moderate laugh. "That was a joke, of course, but not quite as much of a joke as I would wish it to be. I will be following that up in my lectures, as I will view history from something of a political perspective, due to my somewhat limited background.

"Another perspective from which I will view history is one having to do with current events. History, it seems to me, is useless if boiled down to a recitation of names, dates, and places, devoid of any context." Harry exchanged a quick grin with Ron, knowing that was precisely what Binns' lectures had consisted of. "You may pass a N.E.W.T. that way, but you won't really know much. You might be amazed at how many bright people I've talked to who got a History of Magic N.E.W.T. but had no sense of historical perspective whatsoever." He paused a beat, then added, "And that was just among senior Ministry officials." Harry and a few other students laughed, and Dentus wore a wry smile. "How I wish that had been a joke, but alas, it was not. So, my personal prejudice will result in my not teaching you in precisely the way that will result in your getting the highest possible score on your N.E.W.T.s, though you can get the proper information by reading, I should say, memorizing, the textbook. Yes, Ron?"

"You say you're not going to teach to the N.E.W.T.s, and Harry just said the same thing in the last class. Do you think it's possible that the way the N.E.W.T.s are given should be changed?"

Dentus chuckled along with the students. "Yes, that might not be a bad idea. Just curious, Harry, how would you like to see the Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T.s be changed?"

"I'd like it to be, a Death Eater leaps out at you, and if you stay conscious for five minutes after that, you pass."

Dentus laughed. "Utterly practical, I would expect that of you. Yes, I would prefer that mine consist of a student sitting with me for fifteen minutes and telling me some important ideas which can be gained from an understanding of history, and how they relate to the events of the time. As I said, names and dates mean nothing.

"For example, let us look at current events. I believe everyone knows now that Harry has recently developed the extraordinary ability to incapacitate Voldemort at will, with a spell which he wisely does not make public, for Voldemort would seek a defense against it. Voldemort's defeat is still hardly a foregone conclusion, but let us look ahead with optimism. We will suppose that Harry manages to defeat Voldemort, ending the Death Eater threat and the terror it brings, and causing Harry to be lauded, praised, and celebrated to such an extent that it will be, for those of us who know him and how easily embarrassed he is, highly entertaining to watch."

The other students broke out laughing. "Sorry," said Dentus, to Harry.

"No, you're not," responded Harry, with a hint of a smile.

"Well, a little," said Dentus. "As they say, it's funny because it's true. In any case, he would be the hero of the time, even more so than he already is. Statues might go up, awards given, commemorative Galleons issued, streets renamed, that sort of thing. Nobody born during his lifetime would not know his name. And as I speak, he is making plans to, if he defeats Voldemort, immediately relocate to New Zealand and live anonymously."

"It is very tempting," agreed Harry.

"No doubt. But I will get to my point, which is to have you consider the following question: imagine the distant future in this scenario, one hundred and fifty years after Harry's death. How will he be remembered in history books?"

Hermione's hand went up, and Dentus smiled. "Yes, Hermione, I have been briefed on you. I would like to ask you not to raise your hand from now on; if I want a definitely correct response, I will know to call on you." This got a chuckle from the class, and Hermione put her hand down. "Anybody else... ah, yes, Susan, isn't it? I know your aunt quite well, of course."

"Thank you, sir," said Susan. "She said that she hopes you'll be as good a teacher as you were an undersecretary, and that you won't have to quit this job in protest." Dentus laughed, as did Harry and Hermione. "My answer to the question is that Harry would just be a name. Defeated Voldemort, the time's most dangerous Dark wizard, what year it happened, Boy Who Lived, most famous wizard of his time, and that would be it. Students reading history books would learn his name and what he did, but wouldn't learn anything useful by knowing that."

"Yes, good," agreed Dentus. "After he defeated Voldemort, the wizarding world was safe again, and they all lived happily ever after. One would have to read a detailed history of that era to understand the particular significance of it. And every era has its own significance, whether anything exceptional happened or not.

"Now, let's look at Professor Dumbledore, another historically significant figure. For what would he be known in history books?"

Ernie raised his hand, and was called on. "Two things. One, his defeat of Grindelwald. Two, assuming Harry defeats Voldemort, being Harry's mentor, kind of a father figure."

"Yes, very good, Ernie. A connection between two important historical figures, history books like that. They get to link different eras. But what is the particular significance of his defeat of Grindelwald, other than that it made the wizarding world safer for a time?"

There was a silence, then Harry raised his hand. "Do you mean, what about it could be in a history book that would be useful for people to know?"

"Yes, exactly," said Dentus.

Harry was solemn. "That at one point before Grindelwald's final defeat, Albus tried to capture him instead of kill him; he got away and killed twenty-two more wizards and many more Muggles, for which Albus felt responsible. That when Albus finally did kill him, he was depressed and suffered a major decline in his magical ability for some time afterwards. That he decided that killing was simply wrong, no matter the reason, and he based the rest of his life around that idea."

The whole class stared at Harry, including Dentus, who was clearly amazed and emotionally affected. "He told you this?"

"Yes," Harry said simply.

"Yes, Harry," said Dentus slowly, "that would definitely be useful for people to know. Historical figures often have major decisions to make, responsibilities to bear. Their decisions can cost or save lives, betray or protect principles. They can set the tone for their times, in ways positive or negative-and whether they are positive or negative may not be known for a long time after the events occur.

"Harry... you're sure he wouldn't have minded you talking about this publicly?"

Harry nodded. "I'm very sure."

"Then... not today, but would you be willing to talk about it in a future class?"

"Sure," agreed Harry quietly.

"Thank you. Now, what Harry said was an excellent example of what really is relevant about history: the choices people make when the stakes of those choices are as high as they can be." Harry suddenly remembered what Dumbledore had told him about life being a learning experience, and the afterlife being the true reality. He found that it gave him small comfort when he thought about the Hogsmeade dead, or Dentus's wife. He was sure it would have given Dumbledore equally small comfort when he thought of the twenty-two-plus lives he felt responsible for.

"Now, let me go back to my first question, when I asked how Harry would be remembered if he defeats Voldemort. Susan's answer was correct as far as it went, but not complete. Hermione, what is your answer to that question?"

Hermione was also solemn; Harry wondered if she knew what he was thinking because of what Dentus had said. "He'll be known mostly for the energy of love."

"Why?" asked Dentus.

"Because it'll have an enormous impact on wizarding society, both for its effect on how magic is done and for its effect on the people who use it."

"Yes, exactly, very good. If Harry defeats Voldemort, that will affect this generation, but not much more. If that were all he did, he would be a name in a history book, as Professor Dumbledore will be. But if the use of the energy of love becomes widespread-as it almost certainly will-then he will have done something that will have a profound impact on future generations, and he will certainly be remembered for it. It may be that his defeat of Voldemort would have more significance to this particular generation than would the energy of love, but we are thinking in terms of history."

Ron raised his hand. "Would it be remembered by history that the whole reason he came up with it in the first place was as a weapon to fight Voldemort?"

"A very good point. I suspect it would be an aside, perhaps a paragraph or a part of one. Now, in that situation, what Harry discovered would have had a huge impact on wizarding society, but it is questionable how much of use people would actually learn by reading about that. There is a well-known phrase which neatly sums up the value of learning history. Does anyone know it?" He scanned the room; no one raised a hand. "Okay, then. Hermione?"

"Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them," she quoted.

"Yes, that's right. As individuals, we learn from our own mistakes, and hopefully, do not repeat them. As a society, history is our collective memory. If we ignore it, we will repeat mistakes over and over, generation after generation. This has already happened more than once. Not repeating the mistakes of the past is, in my opinion, the most valuable aspect of learning history.

"Another is one I made reference to earlier: the decisions, the choices made which affected history. Sometimes, what is and is not a mistake is far from clear. Value judgments must be made. Was an action, or the lack of it, a mistake solely because it had a bad outcome? History provides a context to make such judgments, and from studying them, apply them to current situations.

"A third important aspect of history is that it tells our story, so to speak; it tells us how we became who we are, as a society. It tells us how things got to be the way they are now. Again making an analogy to individuals, we each have our own individual history, with decisions and turning points. Knowing about a person's history tells a lot about who they are now, and the same is true for a society." As Dentus continued, Harry felt sure that he wasn't going to have any problems staying awake.

* * * * *

Harry and Ginny stepped out from behind the bushes in their favorite couples' place at ten minutes to six. "Now," she said humorously, "what were you going to say when I stopped you from talking by pressing my mouth against yours?"

Harry smiled and put an arm around her. "That was a good quote," he said, recalling the only thing she had said to him when they reached the couples' place. "'No talking. Just kissing.' Short and to the point."

"Well, we can talk anywhere," she pointed out. "We can't walk around and kiss. If we could, we'd be doing it a lot more."

"That's true. It wasn't anything so important, I was just going to tell you about my telling the teachers about Hermione and the phoenix. They were pretty surprised, but I think they were even more surprised about Neville almost getting chosen. I told them about how he's changed. They can see it a bit, but not as well as we can, obviously."

"Yeah, Pansy told me all about it, of course, since neither of us had a class after three. I wasn't that surprised about Neville, any more than I was about Hermione. Neville may be less shy, but he's usually pretty calm and gentle. I can see why a phoenix would find him attractive.

"She also told me about Mandy asking about why she, Ron, and I weren't considered. I never would have thought of it, honestly, for any of us. I guess I always just think of you as the exceptional one." She grinned at him, then continued, "But I was thinking about it. Maybe Fawkes didn't want to say it this way, but I think there are reasons other than taste." He looked at her quizzically. "Think about it. In what ways are Ron, Pansy, and I different from you, Hermione, and Neville?"

He shook his head. "Really, nothing leaps to mind."

"Well, I had some time to think about it. Not being all frustrated because I wasn't considered, you understand. But it is an interesting question, and it says something about phoenixes if what I think is true. I thought of two things. One, on Sunday night after we fought off the mercenaries and you turned over the tank, you got upset with McGonagall for making you take the rest of the Hogwarts wounded back before helping them, even if it meant some of them died. Hermione agreed with you, and so did Neville, but the rest of us agreed with McGonagall. It seems possible that a phoenix is attracted to someone who would make the choice you would make. We know they're very peaceful creatures.

"The other one has to do with stuff you've been through. You and Neville with the Cruciatus Curse and Lestrange, and Hermione with Skeeter. You all did things that were really wrong, under incredible stress, and came to certain realizations after you recovered. Probably those lessons are learned really well from such a serious experience. Maybe a phoenix recognizes that, and is attracted to the knowledge that the person knows without a doubt they won't do that kind of thing again. The rest of us haven't been through that. We can learn from your experience, but it's not the same. It changed them, and again, probably made them more attractive to a phoenix."

Harry nodded. "I hadn't thought of the first one, but I actually did think of the second one in class, I just forgot a minute ago. I would have mentioned it, but obviously it's not the kind of thing I can start talking about in class. I still don't think Fawkes can give me a better answer than they seemed like the ones most attractive to a phoenix, but what you say makes sense, both of them. I assume you're not bothered, you don't seem to be."

She shook her head. "Like I said, I'd never even considered it. Now that I think about it being the case that using the energy of love makes it more likely... I don't know, it's not the kind of thing I have a special desire for. If it happened, of course I'd be happy, but... you have one, I guess that's enough for me. I have to wonder about Ron, though, how this is affecting him. You know how he is, it's hard not to think that deep down, he'd really like one. He'd be really proud. But I'm sure he was listening to what Hannah said, so he's probably trying not to want one. I really hope he's not bothered."

Harry nodded. "Let's walk over to the Quidditch stands, see if that team from the Ministry to get rid of the plane is here yet, and we can look at the phoenixes. They should still... oh, that's right, I have to talk to Sprout about how much the phoenixes are going to eat. I know that Fawkes wants as many of them left there as possible, and I think Sprout does, too."

They started walking. "Funny, that Hermione wouldn't have been chosen if this whole lutas thing had never happened," remarked Ginny. "Things happen, and things you never would have expected happen because of them."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Like, Malfoy used that device to drag you down into the Chamber, and..."

"I like to think we would have happened anyway," she replied. "I don't want to think we needed Malfoy to help us along."

"You know what I mean. It's not like I'm giving him credit or anything. He did something horrible, and he's rotting in a cell where he belongs. Too bad the dementors left Azkaban."

"Funny to hear you say that. Albus never wanted wizards to have anything to do with them."

"I'm not saying I disagree with him," Harry clarified. "Just that that's what someone like Malfoy deserves. But, no, when I think of all those years Sirius suffered for something he didn't do, it's hard not to agree with Albus about that. Putting people in there is a kind of cruel punishment. But just because some people deserve cruel punishments doesn't mean we should do them. They were wrong about Sirius, they could be wrong about other people in the future."

"Too bad we can't just do it to the ones we're sure we're right about," she said, half-seriously.

"Yes, that would be good... wow, quite a few people out here," he said as they got near the Quidditch pitch. Some unfamiliar people were combing through the wreckage of the plane and the stands, and about forty people seemed to be watching them. Some people were flying; Harry remembered that this was the first day the magic was back, and therefore the first day that flying was possible. There were no Quidditch practices, just people flying for fun.

Then Harry saw something that made him stop and stare: all ten of his Slytherin second years on brooms, with Ron in their midst. What's going on here? he thought. He walked toward them and was soon intercepted by Pansy.

"Hi, Harry, Ginny," she said, smiling. "Have a nice time?"

"Very nice, thanks," said Ginny.

"What's going on?" asked Harry. "What's Ron doing with the second years?"

She gave him a serious look. "Could you two walk with me, we can go sit in the Quidditch stands. The ones that are still there, anyway."

Confused, he agreed, and they started walking. "Why do we have to sit down for you to tell me what's going on?"

"Well, it's a bit of a story, and I'd just rather tell you there. Also, people will know they should leave us alone if we go out of our way to sit somewhere like that." Reaching the stands, they walked up and sat.

"Okay, Harry," said Pansy, in the manner of one about to tell a long story. "Of course you know I didn't have any classes after your class, while you were having History of Magic. I spent a while telling Ginny about the Hermione thing, then the second years found me. Naturally, they pumped me for any details about your class. So I told them the story too, and then about the other stuff from your class, and what you planned to do. They were pretty keen when I mentioned the combat flying. Apparently, they think the castle will be attacked too, especially after what just happened. If it happens, they want to be able to get on brooms and join the fight. Not just ten of them flying all over the place, but as a unit, together. They know they're not that strong, but they think that if they work together, they can at least help. The fact is, I think they're right. Now, I know what you're going to say-"

"You mean, the little detail that they could all get killed?" asked Harry, sarcastically. "You're encouraging them? How can you do that?" Harry had to try to calm himself down.

"I'm not thrilled, Harry, and I understand how you feel, so I'm not going to get angry with you for taking that tone with me, as if you've forgotten that I care about them too," said Pansy, her tone a warning. "I'd rather they didn't. But I spent some time talking to them, and they really want to. They say they know it's dangerous, that they understand the risks. I know you'll say they really can't, not until someone they care about dies. Part of me agrees with that. But they also didn't hesitate to point out that you, Ron, and Hermione were doing equally dangerous stuff, maybe more so, when you were their age. They say, who are you to be telling them to stay out of harm's way, let the older students and teachers take care of everything?"

"When I was their age, I'd have been thrilled to let others take care of everything! The only reason we did that stuff was that nobody else was going to!"

She stared at him, seeming to see through him. "Yes, that's the way it happened to work in the situation. But if the castle had been attacked, are you going to tell me that twelve-year-old Harry Potter wouldn't have grabbed a broom and run out to do what he could? You tell me that, Harry, and I'll go back there and try again to talk them out of this."

Harry was silent, frustrated. He knew she was right, that he would have done exactly that, even defied Dumbledore to do it. He hung his head, staring down.

"I know how you feel, I really do," she continued. "I did try to talk them out of it. But they're pretty determined. They say there's nothing stopping them from practicing flying as a group if they want to, and they're right. They just want to do it right, as you said in your class, to know what they're doing. They know you can't teach them, that it would be favoritism. So they asked me to ask Ron to help them fly better first of all, then they can work on the combat part later. Like me, Ron knew you would have this reaction, so I was around in case you showed up.

"They know you'll be concerned about them, Harry. They know you won't like it. But they really do wonder how you can have that attitude when you would have done just the same thing. I talked to them about Hogsmeade, about how horrible you felt. They understand, as well as they can, but this is something they're choosing, not something that you should feel responsible for. Except, of course, in that your general bravery inspires them to want to do this. They don't want to think about the castle being attacked and them just sitting around being safe. I know you can understand that."

"Yes, I can," agreed Harry, very reluctantly. "It's just... well, I don't need to say it, you've already said everything I could say. I'm just scared, Pansy. What if one or more of them dies? They're so young, there's a better chance of it happening."

"That may be," she agreed. "And there was a good chance of you dying, doing what you did when you were younger. But Albus didn't stop you, he let you do what you wanted."

Harry chuckled humorlessly. "As Neville won't let me say, I'm not nearly the person Albus was. He could let me run off and do those things-"

"He loved you, Harry," she reminded him. "Do you think he didn't suffer when you did all that stuff, nearly got killed? Of course, he did. I know you're not him. And remember, you're with the two people who were there that night when you woke up, after Hogsmeade. We know how you suffered, and I'd suffer too, if anything happened to them. But you have to accept the fact that they want to do it. You know that, you just don't want to admit it, because you're so afraid of what might happen."

Harry was silent again. Speaking for the first time in the conversation, Ginny said simply, "She's right, Harry."

He sighed. "I know. That's what's so frustrating." Looking at Pansy, he said, "I remember when I was having this kind of reaction last year, with Albus, about your safety. He said I had to honor the risks you wanted to take. Even though they're younger, this is kind of similar. You know how I worried about you..."

"I know. I feel bad for you, because I know. But they want to do this, like I wanted to last year. We're stuck with it. I'm going to worry, too." She stood. "Come on, let's go. We'll go talk to them, and you can tell them that you're proud of them, because I know you are. And you can tell them that you're worried, because they know you will be anyway, and that it means you care about them." She, Harry, and Ginny left the Quidditch stands, and headed toward Ron and the second years.

That evening's dinner was indeed a feast, as the house-elves were overjoyed at having their magic back, and celebrated in the only way they knew how. Harry, Ron, and Ginny did some early evening flying after dinner, then came back inside and met the other three in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Harry moved the desks out of the way, but as he was about to arrange the last six in the center, Pansy stopped him. "Harry, I have an idea. Why not just put all the desks to one side, and conjure a carpet, like you did for the first years? We'd probably be more comfortable sitting there than at the desks." The others agreed, and Harry did as Pansy asked. They sat down, Pansy saying, "Oh, yes, this is definitely better. You conjure up a nice, thick carpet, Harry."

Harry smiled, then looked at her curiously. "The rest of you could do that if you wanted to, couldn't you? I mean, I know conjuring is usually seventh year, but Albus was able to teach me pretty fast. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to."

"Except that we're not awesomely powerful," remarked an amused Neville, reaching over to pet the phoenix on the carpet in front of Hermione. "It's either that, or practice a lot. We should practice more, and of course we will get stronger, so we'll be able to do more soon. But you can just conjure up pretty much anything you want, so it's easy for you to forget that most of us can't. I mean, you learned that dog spell in, like, one minute. It's pretty safe to say that we couldn't do that."

"Oh, is Professor McGonagall going to do a cat spell, Harry?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, she is. I haven't been summoned with it yet, but a few teachers have, they were telling me it was pretty."

"Yes, it is," agreed Hermione. "Just after you went off to fly, she summoned me with it. It's really nice. She just wanted to congratulate me, talk to me about it a bit. She was really pleased, which was nice. She had already heard all the details, of course."

"Yeah, the teachers were telling me when Archibald and I got to the staff room after History of Magic," added Harry. "Apparently the word had spread like wildfire, almost everyone knew by five o'clock. Still, I told the story anyway, and they were pretty interested. Then I said I had to leave for an important meeting."

The others chuckled. "I'm sure they were fooled by your tremendous subtlety," joked Pansy.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't trying that hard. John just said, 'Tell her we all said hello, and we look forward to seeing her in class.' I said I would."

"You didn't, though," said Ginny.

"I tried to, but you weren't interested in hearing anything I had to say, if you'll remember."

"If you had told me before we got to the couples' spot, I would have listened," she said, as if it were obvious. "We have to have our priorities."

"Sorry, I forgot," he responded agreeably. "By the way, Ron, how did the second years fly?"

"Not bad, they'd obviously already practiced a bit over the summer." He looked at Harry hesitantly, as if expecting him to say something. "Look, I know you'd have rather I said 'no,' but-"

"No, it's not your job to tell them what they should or shouldn't do," said Harry resignedly. "Turns out it's not mine, either."

"Just wait 'till we have kids," said Ginny sympathetically.

"I feel like they are," responded Harry. "I'm their father, and Pansy's their mother."

The others chuckled. "And yet, you're only five years older than them," said Hermione.

"They grew up fast," he suggested. "Must've been magic."

"I know what he means, I've felt that way too," said Pansy. "Here I had to argue him out of his reaction when I really felt the same way as he did, I just had time to get used to it. The second years already had to argue with me, I didn't want them to have to argue with Harry as well. But, Harry did very well. He told them he was proud of them, and didn't linger on the worry angle. They assured him they'd be very careful, which he pretended to be reassured by."

"I was there, he wasn't very convincing," added Ron. "Not that I blame him, I understand why he's worried. But I do think they'll be okay. That bunch knows how to stick together, and that'll help if something happens."

"I really hope so," agreed Harry. He knew he would worry, but he knew he could easily spend all his time worrying, so he tried not to think about it. "So, how are you feeling right now, Hermione?"

"Still wonderful," she reported. "It's too bad, you weren't able to really enjoy Fawkes like this, because of the crisis you were in, and you didn't really know what it meant to be chosen. I get to enjoy it, and it's really good. It's an incredible feeling."

"That's great," said Harry. "I don't suppose you've had any communication yet."

"Not that I know of. As you told me, she bonded with me a little at night, but not completely, since she still hadn't decided. I think I'm still at the stage you were at once where it's hard for me to work out which impressions are mine and which are from her. I think it was slower for you because he was still bonded to Albus as well. I'll probably have an unusual experience, because I'm her first one. I had never thought about companioning a phoenix before, but now I'm really looking forward to it."

"And, conveniently, you've already read 'Reborn From the Ashes,'" noted Harry.

"Yes, so what I need to know, Fawkes can tell me, through you."

"You know, Hermione," said Ron seriously, "I didn't have a chance to tell you this in class, but I'm really, truly happy for you that this happened. I think you totally deserve it."

She smiled blissfully in response. "Oh, thank you, Ron..."

"No problem. I just wanted to say that before I started in on teasing you about it."

The others chuckled. "I knew he was going to say something like that," said Ginny.

Hermione's smile didn't change, however. "He's not fooling me. He meant the first thing, and now he's just trying to cover it up."

Patting Ron's knee, Pansy said, "Why, that would be so unlike him."

"Damn, they have me figured out," whispered Ron loudly, as if to himself.

"Harry," asked Hermione, "why don't you have Fawkes come, they can be together."

Harry paused for a few seconds. "He wanted to let you two be alone, so to speak. He didn't want to distract her from you."

Ginny, Pansy, Neville, and Hermione laughed. "I guess we're going to have to leave if they start distracting each other," joked Ginny.

"I doubt they'd care if we were around or not," said Hermione. "I think humans are the only creatures who care about having privacy for that. Of course, they probably wouldn't do it if only because they'd know how embarrassed it would make us. Not to mention the thing about them only doing it if the phoenix population needs to be increased. Anyway, Harry, have him show up, I don't mind. He can ask her if she minds, but I doubt she does."

Fawkes materialized a few seconds later. "I guess she doesn't," observed Harry, as the two phoenixes seemed to look at each other for a few seconds, then turned toward Hermione. "Hermione, have you thought about a name for her?"

"Oh, yes, I've already picked one out. It just came to me, all of a sudden. I'm calling her 'Flora.' It's partly because it's a girl's name, partly because the whole reason she ended up here was that herb, which is a kind of plant, which 'flora' means, and a little bit because it starts with 'F,' the same as Fawkes. So if we're talking about them, we can say 'Fawkes and Flora,' it'll sound better." Hermione looked around to see what the others thought.

"I like it," said Pansy, as the others agreed.

"Very well reasoned," commented Ron.

"So, I was thinking," said Neville, looking around the room, "instead of that thing we were talking about where we have an open pendant channel to Pansy, we could just meet here to do homework regularly, couldn't we? I mean, I don't know if anybody's going to miss us in the common room, we usually stay in our group anyway."

Hermione looked reluctant. "Well, I am Head Girl, I should be there..."

"Yeah," said Ron, "but the fifth year prefects, what were their names... Jennifer, and... Dave, that's right... they're supposed to take care of that, right? I mean, you're the Head Girl for the whole school, not the Gryffindor common room. If anything, you should be patrolling the halls. Then again, I'm sure Ernie's got that covered." His expression clearly suggested that he thought Ernie was taking being Head Boy far too seriously.

"Yes, but I don't want to shirk my responsibilities just because he'll do them if I don't. But I suppose you're right about the common room. I would think we'd be able to do this sometimes. It is nice to be able to do."

"Are you sure, Hermione?" asked Pansy. "If you're uncomfortable-"

"No, it's okay," Hermione assured her. "I really would like to. It's just that, you know me, I feel like I have to do everything. But I can do Head Girl stuff other times. It's fine, don't worry."

"That's good," said Pansy. "I would like to do this, too." Moving over closer to Ron and putting an arm around his waist, she added, "There are some things about doing it this way that are much better than the pendants."

"But then you might distract each other from your homework," teased Ginny.

Feigning earnestness, Pansy responded, "If that happens, I promise, Ginny... we'll get up and go to Harry's office." Everyone laughed except, naturally, Ron.

"Oh, Neville," said Harry, "thanks for helping out Blaise in class. He looked like he was having trouble."

"That's an understatement," said Neville. "It's like he barely knows how to hold a wand. I wonder how he managed to stay at Hogwarts all this time."

"I guess Malfoy and the other same-year boys wanted a punching bag," said Hermione sadly. "They've always been so horrible to him. I can only imagine what they did to him in their dormitory, behind closed doors."

"Malfoy told me stuff sometimes," said Pansy, looking ashamed at the recollection. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to know."

"I'm pretty sure you're right," Hermione agreed. "I always wondered why he got put in Slytherin. I'll bet he wondered too."

"Me, too," put in Ron. "I always saw him as more of a Hufflepuff type."

Neville looked sharply at Ron. "Did you ever think that way about me, Ron?"

"No!" said Ron, defensively and unconvincingly. Neville continued staring at him. Uncomfortably, he added, "Well, yes. A little. But not after the end of first year. Dumbledore was right, what you did was brave."

"I'm not sure, but I may have had that thought too," said Harry, trying to help Ron out. "Does that idea bother you, Neville?"

"No, not really," said Neville. "I asked mostly because I had that thought, more than once, and well past first year. Especially since I was so interested in Herbology, and that's what Professor Sprout teaches, I felt like I would have been a natural for Hufflepuff. I haven't thought that since fifth year, but I thought it a lot before that. I just thought it was interesting, Ron, that you thought that about Blaise. It's like, Hufflepuff has this reputation as the place where you get put if you're not especially ambitious, clever, or brave. Being 'fair' isn't really a quality that gets you anywhere in life."

"I've always liked the Hufflepuffs, though," said Hermione. "I think they're my second favorite House."

"Mine too," said Harry. "Most of my non-Gryffindor friends are from there."

"You wouldn't pick Ravenclaw as your second favorite, Hermione?" asked Ron.

"Yes, I know, it seems like I should. But a lot of them are pretty snooty about being smart, like they're superior to the other Houses. I don't like that." Ron raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "What? I may be smart, but I'm not snooty about it."

Mimicking Hermione's voice, with a very superior tone, Ron said, "You're saying it wrong. It's 'wing-gar-dium levi-o-sah.'" Harry winced, knowing Ron had said something he shouldn't have.

Hermione stared at him for a few seconds, then looked down, obviously very upset. "What?" asked Ron defensively.

"It's just that-"

Hermione cut Harry off. "Don't tell him, Harry. If a person says something really hurtful, they should at least try to figure out why it was, so they hopefully won't do it again."

"Look, obviously I didn't mean it to be hurtful," protested Ron. "I thought that was just the kind of thing we said to each other sometimes. I know you're not like that now, but you used to be."

"What you said was too close to the bone, Ron," said Ginny, violating Hermione's desire for Ron to work it out himself. "It was a bit like what she said to you in Hogsmeade last year, about you not having a girlfriend. We do tease each other, but there are some things you shouldn't tease about. Like, I don't mind being teased about how I'm all over Harry, but I'd rather not be teased about how I was about him when I was ten, because it makes me feel like an idiot."

"Or me, about how painfully shy I was," added Neville uncomfortably.

"I know how I was, Ron," said Hermione, calming down a little. "What you said was hurtful partly because of what happened after that class, what you said then. And, partly because it reminds me of what Skeeter said about me this summer. Both in general, and how I dealt with Neville, which I'm trying hard to change. It just brings up a lot of stuff."

Ron sighed. "You know, Hermione, you know that I didn't mean-"

"I know," she said. "I know it was an accident, like if you swung your elbow and hit me in the head by mistake. It's just that knowing it was a mistake doesn't make it hurt any less. I'll get over it."

"I'm really sorry," he said.

She nodded, accepting his apology. "I know that, too. Thanks." She looked down at Flora, then she changed her position, lying on her stomach on the carpet. Eye level with Flora, she talked to her. "Sorry, Flora, this happens a lot with me. I get upset pretty easily, I cry pretty easily. I hope you knew that when you chose me. This must all seem pretty strange to you, you've never felt what someone else is feeling before, and it's probably not fun when it's sad." She reached over and petted Flora.

After a minute's silence, Harry spoke. "She knew, Hermione. She's communicating through Fawkes. She knew exactly how you are, both from being around you, and what Fawkes communicated to her before. She knows that being sad is part of the deal, and the impression I get is that she thinks you should no more apologize for that than for being human. The other main impression I get is that she looks forward to being able to communicate with you herself. She wants to be able to make you feel better."

Hermione smiled at Flora. "She does, already."

Hoping that the problem with Hermione and Ron was over, Harry changed the subject. "Neville, I mentioned Blaise partly because I was hoping you could work with him, tutor him in your free time. He could really use some help."

Neville was obviously surprised. "Why me?"

Harry, in turn, was surprised by Neville's reaction. "If you don't want to, that's okay," he assured Neville. "Pansy, how would you feel about it?"

Pansy looked very uncomfortable. "Um, I'd really rather not, Harry. I mean, I just think it would be better if one of the others did it, anybody but me. For Blaise's sake as well as mine." To Harry's quizzical stare, she continued, "I wasn't exactly nice to him either. I try not to talk about that time so much, or even think about it. You guys don't see me that way now, but you know how I was. I was never as horrible to him as Malfoy was, but bad enough. I don't think he's going to look at me as someone who can help him. I'm pretty sure that I hurt him worse than I ever hurt any of you."

"I'm sorry, Pansy, I didn't think of that," said Harry, now feeling bad that he'd asked. Ron moved closer to Pansy and put an arm around her.

"Harry, I wasn't saying I wouldn't do it," protested Neville. "I just wondered why me, as opposed to anyone else."

"I said on the Hogwarts Express going home in July that I wanted you to be my assistant. Did you think I was kidding?"

"Yes," replied Neville.

"Well, I wasn't. I didn't ask you instead of anyone else for any particular reason, just that. I know Blaise doesn't need expert-level help. I was just thinking of you as my assistant."

"I understand. Sure, I'll do it, I was just surprised. I guess I wondered if you asked me because I used to be like him."

"You were never like him, Neville," said Ginny. "You weren't that bad off."

"Sometimes I think I was just like him, and the only difference was that I was in a House where people were either nice to me or left me alone, and he was tormented by four sons of Death Eaters. I really do think that if I'd been in his place, I'd have ended up the same way."

"I think," said Hermione sympathetically, "that anyone who wasn't bigger, stronger, and could do magic better than the other four was going to have a very hard time there. It was just a very bad situation."

That's putting it mildly, Harry thought. "Okay, thanks, Neville. I'll talk to him about it, then let you know, so you can talk to him and find a time that's good. I don't expect that he'll catch up to where everyone else is, but if he can even get close, that'll be good." Harry wondered if Blaise's personality, and what he had been through, were as responsible as anything else for his lack of magical ability.

* * * * *

It was a very relaxed weekend for Harry, even though he had an Auror training session on Saturday, and an energy-of-love session with them Saturday evening. At Hogwarts, however, he had no homework to do, though he did spend some time with Hermione on Potions, expecting that Snape would push the class extra hard to make up for the lost day last week. He did more flying with Ron on Sunday, had a session with Snape, spent several hours with Ginny, and visited Arthur and Molly at the Burrow for an hour before dinner on Sunday to talk about the events of the last week.

At lunch on Monday, Harry was asked by Pansy how his visit with the Weasleys had gone. "Fine, as I already told Ron and Ginny. They asked a lot of questions about Flora, they had read Hugo's article in the Sunday Prophet."

"I still can't believe getting chosen by a phoenix is such big news," said Hermione, Flora still on her shoulder, having remained there most of the time since Friday. She had been very surprised to receive twenty letters that morning from people who had read the article. "I mean, I know it's really rare, but is it all that interesting?"

"Must be," said Pansy. "Have you read all the letters yet?"

"Yes, I only had one class this morning, so I was able to. They were generally nice. One woman, I couldn't believe this, remembered the Skeeter articles from fourth year and said I must have grown up, learned the error of my ways, so she was happy for me."

The others chuckled. "Wonder if she was the one who sent you the bobtuber pus," suggested Ginny.

"It wouldn't surprise me," agreed Hermione, rolling her eyes briefly.

"Anyway," continued Harry, to Pansy, "it was partly about that, and... oh yeah, I forgot to mention this to you two, but it turns out now that Molly's actually in communication with Dudley, through the internet."

"What??" asked Ron.

The others were surprised as well, except Hermione. "Well, of course, I explained to Arthur all about e-mail, and remember, Harry, you had that letter from Dudley with his e-mail address. I put it into the computer's e-mail program. Arthur must have found it, mentioned it to Molly-"

"And her mothering instincts kicked in," finished Ginny. "Were you upset, Harry?"

"No, but she was kind of nervous about telling me, so she must have thought I might be, which I guess I can understand. I think they exchanged a few messages over the weekend. Dudley's back at school now, but apparently he's been keeping informed about wizarding developments through those websites, I think that's what they're called, run by wizards. They've reprinted some Prophet articles, especially anything to do with me or Hogwarts."

"They really are taking those wizarding secrecy laws seriously," commented Ron with obvious sarcasm.

"Can't they be prosecuted for that?" wondered Neville.

"Those laws don't address the internet, since it's such a recent invention," explained Hermione. "It's kind of a loophole. I wonder if they're going to get around to closing it before it's too late."

"They even put up the pictures from the article, the ones that Hugo took," added Harry. "One of them, of course, was the one of me shaking hands with the Muggle Prime Minister. Seems Dudley was pretty impressed by that, and my aunt and uncle were as well, Dudley told Molly. Molly sent Petunia the article, of course, with the pictures."

"You weren't upset at her for that?" asked Ron, surprised.

"I really don't care what she does, as long as she doesn't ask me to do anything. Besides, I completely expected her to. Molly knew I was speaking directly to Petunia in what I said to Hugo, so she figured I wouldn't mind if she sent it. So, evidently Dudley called home on Saturday and talked to both of them. Neither mentioned what I said about Skeeter's article, but both mentioned that picture. I shouldn't be surprised, I know them well enough to know that that's the kind of thing that impresses them. I know, it impresses most people, but them especially. Not that they suddenly love me or anything, just Dudley said it made an impression."

"So, I guess Mum's going to be in touch with Dudley, then," said an amused Ron, shaking his head. "Funny world. But isn't that really dangerous, showing a picture of you and other wizards with the Muggle Prime Minister on the internet where anyone could see it? Isn't that serious evidence, proof of the existence of the wizarding world?"

As Harry expected, Hermione answered Ron. "No, it isn't. Muggle technology is getting very sophisticated, including with images. Using computers, you can make any image you want. I could make a picture of you shaking hands with the Prime Minister, and it would look perfectly real. No Muggles will take that picture seriously, unless they already know about the magical world. They'll just assume it was faked, part of the 'fictional' world these people create."

Ron nodded, impressed. "That's pretty convenient."

"Yes, it is, actually," agreed Hermione. "There could probably be a lot of evidence on the internet, and still nobody would know anything. Until, of course, something happened, which is the danger that John was pointing out at dinner that night."

Harry grabbed his bag. "Well, I'm off to the staff room. I'll see you four in Charms, and you," he said to Ginny, "I'll see at three for your first Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T. lesson."

Ginny looked at the others, pretending happiness and excitement. "He's going to teach me the energy of love!"

Harry grinned at Ginny. "I think you've already taught me a thing or two. See you later."

Entering the staff room, he exchanged greetings with the other teachers as usual. Harry noticed that McGonagall wasn't there, so he assumed that she was in the headmistress's office. They asked about his weekend, and how Hermione was doing with the phoenix. Then Sprout asked, "Oh, you just had your first lesson with the first years, didn't you? How did it go?"

"Very well," he said. "They were really keen."

"Hmmm," said John, feigning puzzlement. "Wonder why that would be..."

"I had the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw class on Friday," said Flitwick, "and even there, they were asking about you. They wanted to know if you were a good student in Charms."

"Obviously just an excuse to ask about him, period," observed John. "What did you tell them?"

"I said that since he's using the energy of love, when it comes to magical subjects, he can be about as good a student as he wants," he replied, with a smile and a glance at Harry. "Seriously, you know that I always have the seventh years do the exercise of imagining a new charm and explaining how they think it would work. I think for him I'm going to have to do it differently; I'll require him to come up with an actual new charm, one that works."

"I think the only way that's going to work is if you can convince me that someone's going to die unless I do," said Harry. "Those are the only times that I've come up with them."

"Have you tried to come up with others, in normal situations?" asked Flitwick.

"Yes, I have. It doesn't seem to work. I really am beginning to wonder if that's some peculiar aspect of the energy of love, that you can use any spell you want to if you need it badly enough. I mean, I can't think of anything else."

"That would be very strange," agreed Flitwick, "but as you say, the whole thing is so new, we can't know. It's understandable that you wanted to wait to teach it, not knowing so much, but the students aren't prepared to let you wait. What did you do with the first years, regarding that?"

"I had already told them about the background of how I came up with it, on the night of the fire, but they had more questions, and I answered them. It ended up basically taking up all of the class time. I don't know how they're going to do with it; I mean, some of them barely know any magic at all."

"Couldn't that be an advantage?" wondered Sprout. "Couldn't it be that if you get them soon enough, that they start doing it that way more naturally?"

"I suppose it's possible," conceded Harry. "Again, one of the many things I don't know. It could take all my life to work out how this works exactly."

"I can think of less worthwhile ways to spend a lifetime," said Flitwick.

Harry nodded; he certainly could as well. "Thinking of new spells, that reminds me... Archibald, do you think they're going to make the Imperius Charm illegal?"

"Interesting question," said Dentus. "For now, certainly, I don't think so, not as long as you're the only one who can do it. To make such a law would seem too much like a personal attack on you, and I think the public estimation of your integrity is such that people will be confident that you won't use it without a good reason. I think nothing will happen unless people think you're abusing it somehow, or if large numbers of people learn it."

"Can your friends use it?" asked Vector.

"I don't think I could teach them, except for Hermione, since I use it sort of in conjunction with Legilimency. I should see if I can teach her, though. As for abusing it, I honestly don't think it would be possible to abuse it. I think the energy of love doesn't allow for doing something for reasons you know are bad. Well, maybe 'allow' isn't the best word. It's not that you couldn't, exactly, but that you wouldn't. You might be able to do something misguided, but not something that's deliberately wrong. I can see where they might want to make it illegal to be on the safe side, and I'm not sure I'd blame them."

"How does that work?" wondered Dentus. "I mean, I assume you don't stop having free will. Imagine that you suddenly decided to, let's say, have a shop clerk give you a few items on what he thought was a generous impulse. You know it's wrong, but it's not that wrong, as wrong things go. Is it really the case that anyone who used the energy of love would be sure that they wouldn't do that? We all give in to temptation once in a while. Okay, it's been a while since I've stolen anything from a shop, but you know what I mean."

"Yes, I do, and it's a good question," Harry admitted. "I can't swear that what I said is true, of course, it's just an impression. I don't mean to say that using this makes you some kind of perfect person. Maybe I should just say that it might be possible to do something wrong if it was minor enough, and that as the thing you're doing becomes more and more wrong, it becomes more and more difficult to do. I can easily imagine a situation where a person starts doing wrong things, and eventually feels so guilty about it that they lose the ability to use the energy of love. I do know, at least, that it's possible to be able to use it, then not be able to."

"Did that happen to one of you over the summer?" asked Dentus, filling in the blanks of what Harry had said

Harry suddenly wished he hadn't said it, since it came perilously close to revealing information he didn't want to reveal. "Yes, but I don't want to-"

Dentus cut him off with a gesture. "I wouldn't have asked, Harry. I know it's extremely personal." Harry nodded, now feeling bad that he had thought that Dentus would ask.

As Dentus finished speaking, a white owl with brown feathers and a few patches of brown on its belly flew into the room, and landed on Harry's shoulder. As the teachers looked on in surprise, Harry turned his head to look at the owl. It looked back at him haughtily, conveying the impression that it disapproved of him, that he had done something wrong. Suddenly realizing what it was, he broke out in laughter.

"What is it?" asked Sprout. "Why isn't it delivering something?"

"It's from Professor McGonagall," explained Harry, smiling. "At the end of last year, I asked her if she was going to do a dog spell, and as a joke, I suggested that she do one where an owl would fly onto the person's shoulder and look at them disapprovingly. She said she'd probably do a cat, but she obviously did this one specifically for me, because of the joke. I think it's great."

The teachers were all looking at the owl. "That was sweet of her," said Sprout, "And she did a very nice job with it, it looks very good."

"Yeah, it's very pretty," agreed Harry. "Although I'm surprised that-ow!" he exclaimed in surprise and pain as the owl nibbled at his ear. "Why did it do that?"

The teachers burst out laughing. "The owl is to summon you, Harry," pointed out Dentus, still laughing. "I think that means you're not moving fast enough."

"Oh, right," said Harry, now seeing the humor in it. "Better go, then. See you in Charms, Professor." He briskly picked up his bag and left, the teachers chuckling as he did.

As he approached McGonagall's office, he was surprised to notice that the owl wasn't slowly vanishing, as Dumbledore's dog did. The door was open, and he walked in. Just after he did, the owl took flight, and slowly vanished as if flew through a wall.

"Good afternoon, Harry, thank you for coming," said McGonagall pleasantly. "Though you could have been more prompt."

"Yes, the owl reminded me of that. The teachers got a really good laugh."

Deadpan, she replied, "Excellent, that was what was intended. Please sit down." With a small smile at the humor at his expense, he did. "I called you here mainly to let you know that I had a conversation with the Minister of Magic earlier. The conversation touched on last week's events, and he wanted me to tell you that he recently spoke with the Muggle Prime Minister about what happened. Evidently Captain Ingersoll gave a full report of events to the Prime Minister before his Memory Charm was done, and Captain Ingersoll mentioned you most favorably. The Prime Minister was very impressed by what you accomplished, and wished to convey his appreciation that you managed to defuse the situation on Wednesday morning in such a way that casualties were avoided. He is quite aware, of course, that Captain Ingersoll's troops were at no less risk than the rest of us."

"He doesn't think we should have anticipated what happened?" wondered Harry.

"I believe the Minister of Magic apologized to him on our behalf," she said, "If he displayed any displeasure regarding that topic, I did not hear about it." She waved her wand, and Harry saw three cats form and trot off

Looking in the direction the cats had gone, Harry asked, "Should I leave when they get here, or...?"

"No, this is a brief meeting for all four Heads of House; I called you first because I had a private message for you in particular."

"And to give the other teachers a laugh," he amended.

"Yes, indeed," she agreed. "I had a feeling that you would linger to explain the owl to them, so perhaps it was unfair of me. Still, it was a difficult opportunity to resist. Albus told me that you made a nonverbal joke at Mr. Weasley's expense the first time you used your spell."

Harry smiled at the memory. "It got a big laugh in the common room, I heard."

"Yes, so you can easily understand the temptation." She paused as they heard footsteps, and Harry stood as Flitwick, Sprout, and Snape walked in.

"We left promptly when the cats came," said Sprout, with just a hint of amusement. "I didn't want to take the chance of being scratched."

Harry tried not to smile as McGonagall nodded casually. "A wise precaution," she agreed. "I have information for you as Heads of House. The remainder of the current Quidditch stadium will be demolished, and a new stadium built. I am told that the soonest the new stadium can be ready is January, so the Quidditch season will have to wait until then, and be condensed. The first matches will be held when the new stadium is open; the second, on the first weekend of April, and the last, on the first weekend of June."

"I understand," said Snape, "but the Slytherin team should still be selected now, as they will need time to practice."

"Practice where?" pointed out McGonagall. "There will be no place to practice, for any team. I admit that I had not considered your current lack of a team in this, so I will agree to reschedule the first match for one month after the stadium is completed, and to give your team priority in scheduling practices. There will be no Quidditch practices for any team until then. Students may fly, of course, but not hold organized Quidditch practices, or recruit new team members. I believe each team has at least one opening, so no team will be complete until that time. You will so advise your house's prefects and Quidditch captains. Are there any questions?"

"I have a question," said Snape. Turning to Harry, he asked, "Professor Potter, I have been informed that last Friday, Mr. Weasley was flying with all ten of the Slytherin second year students. What was his, and their, purpose?"

Harry felt that he'd rather not say, but knew that Snape could just as easily have found out through checking his memories in a session. "They asked him to help them learn to fly in an organized way. They want to learn combat flying so they can join the battle if the school is attacked."

McGonagall's eyebrows went high. "I assume, I hope, you do not plan on teaching them."

"Of course not," he said. "I'm going to teach it to sixth and seventh years only. They didn't ask me for anything; they know that as a teacher, I can't do anything with them that I don't do with everybody. For now, they want to learn to fly in formation. I assumed that they'd try to learn battle flying after I'd taught it to others, try to get them to teach them." Probably Pansy, he thought but didn't say, not wanting her to be called in and have to answer questions.

Harry thought he saw a grudging respect in McGonagall's eyes. "Well, they can try to learn anything they want, but if the castle is attacked, I have no intention of allowing them to join the battle. If that happens, I will issue instructions to the fifth year prefects that all students fifth year and under will go to their dormitories. In the meantime, I will consider the possibility of asking you and Hermione to have Fawkes and Flora assist in evacuating the younger students to safety. I applaud their initiative, but the risk is far too great due to their age."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry, truly relieved. "I didn't want to think about them going out there. They were pretty determined."

"They can be as determined as they wish, but it will do them no good. That will be all, thank you for coming."

Harry decided to go straight to Charms, though he would arrive ten minutes early. His plans changed, however, when he saw Blaise walking ahead of him. He walked briskly to catch up. "Blaise!"

Blaise turned around, startled. "Harry? What did you want?"

"Could I talk to you for a minute in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom?"

Nervously, Blaise said, "Um, yeah, okay..."

"Thanks, it'll only take a minute," Harry assured him as they started walking. "Are you having a good year so far?"

Blaise seemed surprised at the question. "Um, yeah, okay," he repeated. With a shy chuckle, he added, "Better than any other one, but that's not saying much."

"I can believe that," said Harry. "It must be nice to have a whole dormitory all to yourself."

"Yeah, I suppose," replied Blaise as they entered the classroom. "Good thing you're so hard to kill. The reason they're gone is they tried to kill you, and failed." He looked at Harry, as if gathering his courage to say something. "Harry... I'm really sorry."

Harry blinked in surprise. "For what?"

Blaise took a deep breath. "I knew, last year... I knew Malfoy was going to try to kill you, he talked about it. I should have gone to you and told you, but I didn't."

Harry had to try not to laugh out loud. "Blaise, I knew he was going to try to kill me, from September. From January, after Goyle, the whole school knew. You really shouldn't worry about it." Blaise looked unconvinced, but said nothing.

"What I wanted to talk to you about was the class last Friday. I noticed you were having some trouble with dueling, and I thought it was probably because you didn't take the class last year. I'm glad that you wanted to this year, but it might be hard to catch up. I was thinking it might be a good idea for you to have some extra help outside of class, and I thought maybe you could meet Neville, like once or twice a week, he could help you get caught up. What do you think?"

Harry knew he was sort of lying, since Blaise needed help because his magic was so poor in general, not because he hadn't taken the class last year. Harry was happy to seize on it as an excuse, however. "Harry, I was thinking, I should really just stop taking the class. I'm nowhere near good enough."

"No, that's not a good idea," Harry contradicted him. "This is an important subject, you're going to want to be able to defend yourself. You can get better, and if Neville works with you, you will get better. He helps me teach the rest of our group the stuff we learn from the Aurors, and he's good at it. He can help. Please, just give it a try for a while."

"Um, yeah, okay," said Blaise yet again. Harry couldn't help but notice that Blaise seemed less than enthusiastic, but he hoped it was just uneasiness with the situation.

"Good, great," said Harry, now a little uncomfortable himself. "I'll talk to Neville during Charms, and he can talk to you afterwards to find out what's a good time for both of you. You do have Charms now, right?" Blaise nodded. "Okay, good. Well, let's go, don't want to keep Professor Flitwick waiting." Harry left the room, Blaise following.

Charms was with the Slytherins, though these days that only meant Pansy, Blaise, and the other seventh year Slytherin girls. Harry sat with his friends, as usual, and whispered to Neville about his conversation with Blaise. Right on time, Flitwick entered the room, but as usual, Harry didn't see him until he had climbed the small staircase behind the podium that led to where he stood so that he could see and be seen.

"Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to your seventh year. We will be doing some very interesting things this year, and naturally, they will be difficult. This year's class will require a lot of study and practice, even more so than before.

"Before we do anything else, I will be talking about your main project for the first part of the year. Many of the things you learn in the next few months will be applicable to it, and I want you to start thinking about it as soon as possible. First, let me ask around, to see who may know. Harry, do you know what the project is to which I'm referring?"

Harry wondered if Flitwick had deliberately called on him to give him a hard time. "No, I don't."

Flitwick nodded. "That's fine, of course; you're not required to know. If you had wanted to know, how would you have gone about finding out?"

That's easy, thought Harry. "I would have asked Hermione."

Pansy and the Gryffindors broke up laughing; Flitwick smiled, and Hermione gave Harry a humorous annoyed look. "Well, at least you know where the information is, should you need it," said Flitwick dryly. "Miss Granger, first of all, my sincerest congratulations on your recent good fortune."

"Thank you, Professor," said Hermione happily, Flora on her shoulder.

"You're very welcome. Now, what is the project to which I am referring?"

"The Ring of Reduction, sir."

"Yes, that's correct. I would ask you to explain it to everyone, but you could probably do it as well as I could, and then I would hardly be necessary, would I?" Harry glanced over to see Hermione's look of embarrassment.

"The Ring of Reduction," Flitwick continued, "is something that is not all that useful from a practical point of view; one could go one's whole life without ever seeing or creating one, and be no worse off. Its value is primarily in its ability to let you create an environment, so to speak, in which you can use charms you will learn in this class.

"Here is an example of one," he said as he Summoned it from a shelf across the room; it crossed the room and hovered in front of the class. "I will enlarge it for the moment so you can get a better sense of it." The main body of it was a cube, which before Harry's eyes increased in size from one inch in each dimension, to one foot. The cube was white, and the only other feature was three gold rings which spun around the cube. The rings spun in a top-to-bottom direction at the rate of about one revolution per second, so he saw three rings spin around every second.

"The name is somewhat misleading, since as you see it is really a cube, not a ring. The rings circling it serve no function other than disallowing entry to those not authorized."

"Entry?" interrupted Seamus, surprised. "We enter that thing?"

"You recall that I demonstrated the use of the Pensieve last year," explained Flitwick. "This is somewhat similar, in the sense that by entering, you view an artificial environment. In the case of the Pensieve, it is a person's memory. In this case, it is an environment created by the creator of the Ring. The main difference is that with the Pensieve, the viewer's true body remains outside, though he feels that he is inside. In the case of the Ring, one is actually transported inside.

"The interior is perceived as a cube, or a room with the shape of a cube. There are two possible configurations. The simple one is that of one cube-shaped room; the more complex one consists of four cube-shaped rooms. In its actual state, the one-room Ring appears to be one inch on each side, as you saw, but when one stands within it, it appears to be sixty feet on each side

"The main point of a Ring of Reduction, besides Charms practice, is its artistic value. One creates an environment, and others can view it. For example, one common use of the Ring as artwork involves the creation of what could be called a three-dimensional painting. Such artwork, the most advanced examples of which can be found in wizarding art museums, is very difficult to create, necessitating very advanced creative and magical ability. Later we will view a few examples, created by past Hogwarts students. For the most part, however, we will be confining ourselves to simple things. For example, beaches and sunsets are common forms for beginners. One can create an environment in which a certain spell or charm can be emitted at regular intervals, though one would have to be standing in just the right place to be affected by it. Only the most basic charms, however, can be set up in this way, and even that requires above-average magical power.

"Another common environment is a memory: a memory can be placed into a Pensieve and then recorded, as it were, in much the same way that Professor Dumbledore showed us images from Harry's dream last year. Professor Dumbledore owned a Pensieve, which now belongs to Harry; he has kindly agreed to allow it to be used for the purpose in this class if anyone wishes."

Neville raised his hand. "Exactly how do you get into one of these?"

"Thank you, Mr. Longbottom, I was just coming to that. Not just anyone can enter one, unless it is specifically set that way. Normally, the only people who can enter and view them are family members. Specifically, those with a strong blood connection to the creator of the Ring: parents, siblings, and children. Being a cousin or a nephew is not enough. If one is an adopted child; that too is insufficient to enter, no matter how close the bond is. But if one can enter, one can take along another person of any or no relationship. Actually entering is accomplished by tossing Floo powder onto the cube, and stepping on the cube while saying the name of the creator. If you take an extra person, you must hold their hand while doing this."

"Stepping on it?" asked Lavender. "Won't we crush it?"

"No, you cannot destroy them, not even with magic. We can pick them up and move them, but not destroy them. They can only be destroyed by their creator.

"Before we start working on how to create them, you will view the ones left for you. Most of your parents took this class, all, I believe, from me. I have removed their finished Rings from storage and brought them today. If your parents went here, you may view their Rings. For those whose did not, such as Miss Granger and Mr. Thomas, you should accompany someone whose did. If you view a Ring with four 'rooms,' you will see a vague outline of what will look like a door, straight across from your initial position; that will lead you to the second room. The third room will be found by proceeding to the center of the next room and turning directly left, and the same for the fourth. Everyone may stand and come to the front for their parents' Rings."

Harry and his friends stood. "So, how should we do this?" asked Ron.

"How about," suggested Harry, "you and Pansy see each other's, Neville and Hermione see Neville's, and... Neville sees one of mine, Hermione sees the other."

Ron shrugged. "Sure, sounds fine. Funny, he said it works for brothers, makes me wonder what Fred and George did. Probably you step into it and it turns you into a turtle."

"Wouldn't surprise me," agreed Harry as they stepped forward. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Pansy all moved back to their desks with two rings each. One of Harry's was only one room, while the other was two-by-two; Harry had thought that the larger one would also be shaped like a cube, but he realized that it was more a rectangle, half as tall as it was wide and long, and that it was the equivalent shape of four one-room cubes put together in two rows of two.

"Let's do yours first, then mine," suggested Neville to Harry, who nodded and put the larger one on the floor.

"How do we know which one is which?" asked Harry.

Hermione leaned over and held her wand over it; a name appeared. "Lily Evans," she read.

"Not 'Potter?'" wondered Harry.

"You put your name on them when you make them," she pointed out. "She wasn't 'Potter' until later."

"Oh, right". Offering his hand in an overly theatrical gesture, he said, "Neville, if you would take my hand..."

"Well, okay," responded Neville in the same vein, taking it. "But only because Hermione said she wouldn't be jealous." Hermione laughed, as did Ron and Pansy, preparing to enter one of Ron's.

"Oh, I wish I had a camera," chuckled Hermione.

"Don't worry, we'll pose for you sometime," joked Harry. "Right, Neville?"

"Absolutely," agreed Neville. "Why, this is amazing! I can feel the energy of love flowing through him!"

Ron, Pansy, and Hermione laughed again, harder, so Harry decided to take the humor further. "Neville, are you sure that's my hand you're holding?"

"Oh, sorry."

The other three were now in hysterics, and the other Gryffindors nearby were laughing as well. Flitwick walked by, chuckling. "It's a well-known fact that two teenage boys can't hold hands without making jokes like that. You should have seen your father and Sirius, Harry. They made so many jokes that people were starting to wonder about them."

"I can just see that," agreed Harry. "Well, Neville, we could amuse our friends all day long, but I guess we should get on with it." Harry threw some Floo powder onto the box, and said, "Lily Evans!" as he stepped on the Ring.

In a flash, they were inside. Harry was momentarily disoriented as he looked around and saw the familiar sights around the outside of the castle: the lake, the Whomping Willow, and the Quidditch pitch. He looked around. "Pretty good," he commented. "Hasn't changed much, has it?"

"Everyone who comes back here seems to say that," agreed Neville. "Yes, it's good. It'll be interesting to see how to do this." He paused, then continued, "Um, Harry, he didn't say we had to keep holding hands once we were in here, did he?"

Harry laughed and released Neville's hand. "Don't think he did, no. I bet my father and Sirius did, though, and kept making jokes."

Trying not to smile, Neville shrugged. "Well, if you want to..."

Harry laughed again and patted Neville on the back. "Wonder if the energy of love affects this kind of thing. I'm sure I'd have been way too embarrassed last year to make jokes like this."

"I'd guess, probably not the energy of love itself, so much as the fact that you have to deal with embarrassment to get there," suggested Neville as they started to walk around. "You talked about stuff in front of the whole school, in the Prophet. Once you've done that, holding hands probably doesn't seem like much."

"Makes sense. But it was never that hard for you, though, was it?"

"No, I guess not. I'm not sure why. Hermione's always said that was one of the big things she liked about me. Said I was 'just the opposite of Ron.'"

"I can see why she would say that. Ron's come a long way, though."

"Yes, he has," agreed Neville. "He still gets kind of weird about you and Ginny, though, which is funny since he really was happy about it. I mean, I know it's an act, but I kind of wonder exactly how much of an act it is."

"Well, it is his younger sister, who still isn't sixteen. And it probably doesn't help, from his point of view, that she's... very aggressive about that kind of thing."

"I guess so. Well, he'll get used to it." Smiling, Neville added, "That must be pretty nice for you."

"It is. I know I'm lucky that she's like that. But Hermione isn't exactly shy about that either, is she?"

"No," agreed Neville, who suddenly laughed. "I just had a funny thought... we'll come out of here, and Flitwick will say, 'Oh, I forgot to mention, everyone can hear anything you say in there.'"

Harry laughed as well. "Boy, I hope not. Next one?"

"Sure," said Neville, and they proceeded straight ahead toward the passage to the next cube, which grew more clear as they approached it. "I guess the door can't be seen from a distance so the illusion isn't marred by seeing this big door in the middle of somewhere it obviously isn't supposed to be."

"That makes sense. Wonder if anyone's ever got lost in one of these."

"There must be some way to prevent that," Neville assured him.

"I hope so," said Harry.

Ten minutes later, they exited the Ring, and were in the classroom, back to their normal size. "Well, how was it?" asked Hermione.

"It was good," said Harry. "One room was like a picture of Hogwarts, one was dark but had spotlights that followed you, one had a lit area where if you put something in it it would float, and one was a memory of her first day at Hogwarts-saying goodbye to her parents at Platform 9 3/4, a little bit of the train trip, and her part of the Sorting. It was interesting to see her at age eleven. So, you get to see my father's. Ready?"

He took her hand, threw down the Floo powder, and said his father's name as he stepped on the Ring. They were suddenly at the Quidditch stadium, watching a Quidditch match in progress. He looked up and saw his father, looking about thirteen years old, dive for the Snitch, and catch it. The crowd erupted in cheers, and his father was congratulated by his teammates. Very soon the scene shifted to another Quidditch match, and Harry saw a similar scene, this time obviously resulting in a Quidditch Cup win for Gryffindor. The scenes took almost ten minutes, and Harry counted eleven Snitch captures and four Quidditch Cup victories. When the memories finished, they were standing in an empty Quidditch stadium.

Harry felt conflicting emotions. He couldn't help but admire his father's obvious Quidditch talent, but there was something about it that bothered him; he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. "What did you think?" he asked Hermione.

"He was obviously a very good Quidditch player," said Hermione.

"Yes, he was," agreed Harry, suddenly understanding his feelings. "That was the whole point of it-how good he was. I told you a little about that memory of Snape's I saw in fifth year. In that one, he was conceited and vain, he liked showing off. This is a lot like that, it's like his way of saying, 'look how good I am.' And of course you noticed that, you just didn't want to say anything."

"It's not necessarily vain to be proud of something you accomplished," she said, clearly not wanting Harry to think poorly of his father.

He couldn't argue with her; he understood that this one presentation didn't say everything there was to say about his father at age seventeen, but it fit in with the picture he'd got from Snape's memory. "Not necessarily, no. But one thing I know is, mine's not going to look like this."