Seven

Chapter 3 ~ Black

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Harry descended the boy's staircase around three in the morning. The dreams about Sirius and thinking about the prophecy along with the thing in the forest (though it probably was just a centaur) didn't give a restful sleep. He always got a bit of the chills when he thought about the prophecy hanging over him, and he always had a depressed feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought of Sirius.

At the beginning of summer, he didn't think about anything else until he couldn't sleep anymore so he would work himself to a point of exhaustion so it would be easier to sleep, but as time passed he learned to deal with it. He was now starting to get exhausted from lack of sleep because of his dreams.

He wanted nothing more than a restful nights sleep without having to watch Sirius fall through the veil in the archway towards death. He usually woke up freezing and dripping with sweat. Why did he keep having these dreams? They were exhausting him down to nothing.

He plopped down in a squashy armchair watching the coals in the fire blow out one by one. I shouldn't have listened to that vision. Sirius would--would be alive and I wouldn't have to go through this. A tear trickled out of the corner of his eye and landed on the arm of the chair. Why Sirius? Why not me? He remembered the first time that he saw Sirius in human form at the Shrieking shack and how he wanted to kill him. Now Sirius's dead and he would do anything for him to be back.

Another tear.

A chill ran up his spine as he remembered Bellatrix's laugh as Sirius plunged through the veil. I'll get her someday! I swear I will! He glared at the floor as the vision of Bellatrix's face stood at the back of his mind.

He remembered Sirius at Number 12 Grimmauld place and Buckbeak. He missed it so much, Sirius letters and even Buckbeak. Where is Buckbeak anyway? Harry grinned at the thought of Narcissa Malfoy fixing up the Black manor and stumbling across a hippogriff. Imagine her reaction--I think Remus took him--I'll send him a letter.

He didn't get much of a chance to talk to Remus at the Weasley's because he was constantly working on the Order, and going on missions with Moody.

Bill was more the informer for the Order and he was the one that kept track of the information that came from France because of his relationship with Fleur and interaction through letters. Harry didn't see much of Mundungus Fletcher at the Weasley's. He came over once and talked with Mrs. Weasley before leaving.

Harry shrugged and looked out the window at the Quidditch pitch in the distance. The moon was full and the sky cloudless; you could clearly see it. He sighed and turned back to watching to the coals in the fire die out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the clock in the Gryffindor Tower struck half past five Harry heard someone walking down the girls' dorm stairs. He looked up seeing a seventh year prefect named Meredith--something-or-other, walk into the common room.

She looked at him confusedly. "What are you doing up at this time in the morning?"

Harry shrugged. "Bad dream."

She sat on the couch not far from him. "I see..." She yawned and looked out at the rising sun.

"What are you doing up at this time?" Harry asked.

She yawned again. "I have morning duty that starts at six, but I get up a half hour earlier to wake fully."

Harry nodded. They sat in silence watching the sunrise. "Would you like some tea?" Meredith asked, holding up her wand and her own cup of tea that she conjured.

Harry shrugged. "Sure, thanks," he said as she conjured a cup.

More silence...

Once the clock in the common room struck six Meredith left the tower bidding Harry adieu. He heard the showers running upstairs and that told him that the early birds were getting up.

He sighed and got up with a stretch. I wonder how long it's going to take to pry Ron up from his bed. Ron returned from duties around midnight. Harry heard him stumble in and plop down on his bed after a quick trip to the loo.

He walked up the stairs and into the sixth year boy's dormitory. Dean and Neville were the only ones up. Dean was resetting his magical alarm clock and Neville was having trouble with pouring a glass of water.

Harry walked straight to the empty bathroom and shut the door behind him with a sigh. He hopped into the shower after discarding his clothing.

Already he could tell that it was going to be a long day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione looked up at Harry at breakfast. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Harry shrugged as he watched Ron fall asleep in his eggs and pancakes covered in syrup.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

Harry shrugged again. "I had a lot on my mind."

"Oh..." Hermione said with a sympathetic look.

Harry sighed as they were passed their schedules from the Head Boy, Richard Remington. Harry looked at his while he ate a biscuit. "I have a double block of Advance Defense Against the Dark Arts then after all that I have lunch and then a block of Dueling. I guess it's a day of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Dueling..." He looked back at the schedule and groaned.

"There with the Slytherins."

Hermione sighed. "I have the same thing, but in Advance Defense Against the Dark Arts we're with all the houses. Just look on the bright side; when we're in Dueling class we could curse Malfoy's brains out if one of us gets paired with him," she said smirking not much unlike a Slytherin.

"Fantasizing about cursing my brains out Granger? Well that's not exactly kind of you," Harry heard a familiar drawl say from behind him.

Harry and Hermione turned to come face with Malfoy, and Crabbe.

"I'm not kind when it comes to you," Hermione said with a smirk that rivaled Malfoy's.

He smirked back. "I'm shocked Granger," Malfoy said, "I also can't wait to curse your brains out either."

"Who says that you're going to be the one cursing the brains out?" Hermione asked quirking an eyebrow.

"No, I think that you've mistaken. I will be the one to curse your brains out," Malfoy said returning the quirk of an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" Hermione asked in a drawl.

Malfoy nodded slowly. "See you in class," he said before moving back to the Slytherin table.

Harry looked at Hermione. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"

Hermione shrugged. "I can't stand Malfoy and I can fight fire with fire."

Harry smiled. "That was good, I think Malfoy was a bit shocked to hear you talk like himself of all people."

"You've got that one right," Margaret said sliding over to her with Dean by her side. "So you guys have Defense Against the Dark Arts all day also?"

Harry nodded. "You too?"

She shook her head. "I'm a fifth year Harry but Dean and Seamus got in, Adda Jenkins and Marcy Crockford also. A lot of Ravenclaws too," she said grabbing a piece of jelly toast and slapping the table next to Ron's head.

He woke up with a start and a few pieces of egg fell from his face but he still had a large amount of them sticking to him because of the syrup. He yawned and picked up his fork, completely unaware that he had food stuck to his face.

Hermione gave Margaret a look of surprise. "Really?"

Dean nodded. "Yep, I've been asking around. I heard that most of the Slytherin's are in also," he said with regret on his face.

Ron scowled and yawned at his plate. "I think that whoever picked us to be in the same room with the Slytherin's must be on drugs or have gone mad."

They laughed and heard the bell ring to signify the end of breakfast. The group got up and went to get their books, separating in the common room because class started in fifteen minutes and the classroom was on the third floor; they took different ways.

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron (who had finally realized that he had eggs stuck to his face) confusedly. "The classroom's on the third floor corridor, in the..." Her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at her schedule again. "What? That's the room with Fluffy in it!"

Harry looked at his schedule. "What?"

Ron shrugged and popped a piece of egg into his mouth. "Maybe they play a lot of music."

The trio made it to the third floor and found a group of people (of all houses) gathered around the door that led to the room that housed Fluffy.

Professor Macnair stepped out and started counting the people. "Okay, every von is here. Please follow me," she said flinging the door open, leading the class into the empty room, and down a stairs that was in place of the trap door.

Harry, Hermione and Ron exchanged confused looks before following the class down the stairs into a large room filled with desks, chalkboards, and various small animals.

Professor Macnair turned around. "Take a seat, I don't care vhere you sit as of now, just take von and later ve vill vork out a seating arrangement," she said in a pleasant tone.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down next to Dean and Marcy Crockford in the front row.

"As you all know, I am Victoria Macnair. Some of you may know that I just graduated from Durmstrang and probably think that I am a bit too young to be a Professor; but I am qualified so you don't have to be veary about that matter." She turned and opened a book on her desk while pulling out her wand.

Professor Macnair faced the class again. "Now class the first thing that it says in your books is to be avare of and suspect everything," she paused and turned a page.

"This year we vill be learning a lot of self-defense vithout a vand, or magic for that matter." A few shocked murmurs went across the room.

"This lesson ve von't be reading much." She gestured a door to the right of the large chalkboard at the front of the room. "Ve vill be going into this room to practice some dodging vith a game called Bemidy; after ve get at the point were it's safe and ve can start firing curses at each other ve vill practice dodging curses but until then ve vill be playing Bemidy. This may sound idiotic, but if you can't defend the curse vith your vand you better be able to dodge it or get hit and it might even be an Unforgivable curse. Trust me, you do not vant to get hit by von of those," she said opening a door to the right of the chalkboard, and beckoning the class to follow her.

The class walked into the room. It was humongous; it kind of reminded him of the P.E. room in elementary school. The room had eight large carts full of red balls on each side of a line that ran across the middle of the room.

Professor Macnair smiled. "This game they use at Malon Academy which is an Auror training school; and I hear it vorks excellently for practicing dodging."

She picked up a ball from the nearest rack. "Now the object of the game is not to get hit by a ball thrown by a person on the opposing team. If you do get hit though, you should line up on the side and vhen a person from the opposing team gets out you may go back in." She set the ball back down and produced a clipboard with her wand. "I have randomly selected teams, so this von't be a house competition. The first team vich vill have the right side of the court vill be:

-Hannah Abbot

-Justin Finch-Fletchley

-Jason Zanders

-Scarlet Moon

-Harry Potter

-Ron Veasley

-Gregory Goyle

-Terry Boot

-Mandy Brocklehurst

-Hermione Granger

-Dean Thomas

-Morag MacDougal

-Marcy Crockford"

"And the other team vich vill have the left court vill be:

-Theodore Nott

-Nevaeh Handell

-Susan Bones

-Vayne Hopkins

-Adda Jenkins

-Carmen Rose

-Padma Patil

-Blaise Zabini

-Lisa Turpin

-Draco Malfoy

-Tracy Davis

-Seamus Finnigan

-Jasmine Dorny"

"Now to your places, and then ve'll start the game of Bemidy," Professor Macnair said, and the group separated on each side of the court. Professor Macnair waved her wand and made the carts disappear; the balls spilled out across the court.

"Go!" she shouted and the court was filled will war cries and laughter.

Harry dodged as many balls as he could and he threw a few but didn't hit anyone. Hermione was the first one out, being hit by a ball threw at her (going at least mach 90) by Draco Malfoy. Tracy Davies was the next out and Hermione got back in; only to get hit again by a ball threw by Malfoy once more.

Ron got out because a ball that was thrown by Nevaeh Handell hit him. Harry dodged a ball and picked one up. He was about to throw it at Malfoy, but he felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to see Goyle.

"Could you help by throwing the ball to the right of Draco? I have a plan that won't fail. So, when I wave my arm, can you do that so we can get some people back out here?" he asked nicely, while dodging a few balls. Harry shrugged.

Goyle being nice? How bizarre?

Goyle nodded to make sure he was ready and he nodded back. He waved his left arm and threw the ball at Draco with his right arm.

Harry threw the ball to the right of Malfoy and Goyle right at him at the same time Scarlet Moon threw a ball to the left of him.

Malfoy went right to dodge the ball that was coming right at him but Harry's ball hit him square in the chest. He glared and walked to the sideline to wait for another person on the opposing team to be out.

The game continued for about an hour Harry, Goyle, and Justin Finch-Fletchley were the last ones out and the team on the left side of the court (i.e. Malfoy's team) won.

Professor Macnair smiled and clapped her hands together. "Excellent! Great practice, you all did a great job. Now if you vould all go back to the classroom you vill see a cool-down elixir on your desks," she said still keeping her wide smile.

The class filed back into the room and they drank their elixirs. It tasted like chocolate milk and after about five seconds it kicked in. Harry felt like he did before played an hour of Bemidy.

Hermione sighed and drained the rest of the elixir in . "That was fun, what do you think?"

Ron looked at her and nodded. "I thought so, but it would be more fun if it could have been house vs. house vs. house vs. house, that would make it even more interesting."

Harry nodded, and downed the rest of the elixir in his glass.

Professor Macnair came back into the room and turned another page in the book on her desk. "Now let's start vith curses. I think that ve should learn about all the Dark Curses first and even how to do some of them because if you ever come up against a Dark Vizard, you must be prepared to fight and you never know vhat they are going to do next," she paused with a shrug. "Unless you can do Legilimency, vich is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind but--"

Ron raised his hand. "Yes Mr. Veasley?" Macnair asked.

"You mean that we can learn how to read minds?" Ron asked.

Professor Macnair shook her head. "Of course not, mind reading is just a myth. The mind is more complicated than that but if you are really skilled at Legilimency you can read the person's last thought or happening thought; only few people can do that."

She sighed. "This may scare you but the Dark Lord is von of those people that are highly skilled at Legilimency and the only vay to block that vould be Occlumency; vich is a vay of keeping the person that is using Legilimency out of your mind but ve vill get to that later in the year.

"Now back to protecting yourself from Dark Vizard, and/or Death Eater. They are pretty much the same thing, though a fully trained Death Eater is more lethal than a fully trained Dark Vizard. Does anyone know vhy that is?"

Hermione's hand shot up, along with a few in the class. Professor Macnair took a seat at her desk and glanced at her clip board. "Miss. Granger," she said smiling.

Hermione beamed. "A Death Eater is more lethal than a Dark Wizard because V-Voldemort trained the Death Eater and it is known that Voldemort creates his own curses," she said in her know-it-all voice.

Professor Macnair nodded. "I see you use the Dark Lords name, how noble of you to say it; not many people do so now days."

She continued on the original subject after a brief sigh. "And you are exactly correct about the Death Eater's, they are trained by the Dark Lord and very powerful," she paused.

"Death Eater's are very cunning and manipulative. They have vays of doing things that you may not expect but being avare of everything helps you suspect the unexpected and vith Death Eater's that is vhat you need to do.

"Protecting yourself against them is another thing, it requires an amount of thinking and being avare of your surroundings, I mean if you're dodging a curse, you don't vant to land on... let's say a cat." This received a murmur of laughter.

She smiled and continued, "I know, but you don't vant to let the cat slow you down; you vould probably trip if you landed on that cat, enabling him or her to curse you and if they used the right curse, it vould lead them to victory in a duel; all because of not being avare of your surroundings."

"You do have to see vhat your going to run into so you can avoid it vhile you vatch the Dark Wizard and vait to block or reflect the next curse. The thing that you have to do is keep von eye on your opponent and von eye on vhere you are valking or dodging a curse,"

She paused and turned another page in the book on her desk. "Now class, I vould like you to open you're book Advance Defense by: Giacomo Puccini to Chapter von and take notes on it. I vill leave Chapter two for homework," she said taking out her wand and waving it at the chalkboard, making the words:

Read and Summarize Chapter 2

When the bell rang the room cleared out and the trio headed for lunch. "You know, Professor Macnair is really an excellent teacher," Hermione said smiling.

Harry nodded. "She is--I thought she would be mean."

The trio walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat. "So where's Duelling class at Hermione?" Ron asked taking a bite of his grilled cheese.

Hermione pulled out her schedule. "It's in the dungeons in the right corridor to the Potion's room and the fifth door on the left."

Ron's eyebrows furrowed. "Isn't that that door that leads to a big staircase?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah but I know it leads down to a huge room that was used for storage once upon a time."

Harry shrugged and ate his lunch before the bell rang and the trio started their trek for the dungeons. They made it to the door and then entered before going down about a thousand steps that was about equal to a mile long.

At the bottom, people were catching their breath and others were sitting in chairs around a large dueling stage. The trio took their seats by Dean Thomas and Adda Jenkins.

"How did you handle the stairs?" he asked. "I thought I was going to collapse three quarters the way down."

Ron shrugged. "It was a little much."

Hermione nodded. "About now I wish they had elevators or even escalators here."

"Escapators? What's an escapator?" Ron asked.

Dean laughed. "It's escalator, Ron, and it's a moving stairs that moves up and down."

Ron looked shocked. "Wow, I wish Hogwarts had a few of those; that would save a lot of time climbing stairs."

Harry nodded. The bell rang and on stage appeared Professor Waters and Professor Dorium.

"Good afternoon," Professor Waters said, "Now, the first thing that I would like to state is that Duelling isn't all fun and games. Sometimes it can be fun but you might find yourself in a place where you have to duel and your life is at stake. We will be teaching you techniques that will improve your skills and help you be victorious in the duel."

She looked around at the class with a small grin. "I see that you are all Slytherin's and Gryffindors, so I suspect that there is going to be a bit of rivalry within this group, am I correct?"

The murmur of 'yes' went across the room. "Okay," she said smiling, and then her face got serious. "I think we should start off with observing how far you are in the art of dueling to so we can put you into levels from one to ten; ten being the highest on the scale and most advanced. We would like you to get to that level by the time you graduate Hogwarts. Now, get into pairs and spread out along the room and we will observe," Professor Waters said with a slight grin.

Hermione walked straight towards Draco Malfoy. "Partners, Malfoy?" she asked smirking.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Think you can beat me still?" he asked with a smirk rivalling hers.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Yes, do you accept?"

"I never turn down an offer," he said with a glint of evil in his eyes and they went off to duel.

Harry laughed a bit and turned to Neville. "Neville, do you want to be partners?"

Neville nodded. "Sure, Harry," he said and they walked over to a clear place to duel.

The two got on opposite ends of their space and walked toward each other; in the middle they both stopped and raised their wands.

They both nodded at each other and walked ten paces apart, posing to hex. Neville sent a Hurling hex at him; Harry dodged it and sent him a Freezing Charm.

Neville sent it back with a simple mutter of "Protego."

Harry dodged again but it hit his foot. He raised his wand. "Expelliarmus!"

Neville's wand flew out of his hands and Harry caught it.

Neville smiled at him and walked over. "Your good at that. Want to try again?" he asked as he took his wand back from Harry and then muttered the counter curse of the Freezing Charm.

Harry nodded and they continued to duel. Neville won most of the duels between them. He was surprised at how much power that was in one of Neville's Stunning Charms. When they were in the middle of the fourth duel the bell rang and they called a tie before going to find their friends.

Harry found Ron, who was housing a bruise on his cheek; and Hermione, who looked a bit tattered.

"Malfoy's good at dueling," she said while they grabbed their books and scribbled down their homework that was written on the board:

Read and Summarize Chapters 1-2

"Pansy has an excellent hurling hex," Ron said nodding before turning to Harry. "So how's...."

Professor Waters interrupted them. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger, Professor Dumbledore has called for you to come to his office and he told me in this letter to tell you to come quickly," she said smiling and looking at a letter in her hands.

The trio nodded simultaneously and quickly hurried up to the Headmaster's office. The stairs took a long time to run up. When the trio met Headmaster Dumbledore at the entrance they were very tired and their sides ached.

"You didn't have to hurry that quickly," he said, his eyes twinkling as he led them in side his office after muttering the password, "Cane Sugar."

Once in the office, Dumbledore sat down at his desk and pushed a tin of yellow candies toward them. "Lemon drop? I can't eat them any more Minerva says they go straight to my hips..." he said with a hint of humour in his voice.

They all politely declined the offer.

He nodded and took one. "I think I'll risk it; I've been eating them for years. What do you think?"

The trio was silent until Hermione spoke. "Erm--I don't think that one or two would go to your hips. They are quite bad for your teeth though."

He nodded and popped the yellow candy into his mouth then folded his hands on top of his desk. "Now, you three are here because in the past year Voldemort has tried to get into Harry's mind and I think that you three should take Occlumency lessons." He surveyed the three over the tops of his half moon glasses and avoided looking straight into Harry's eyes.

"Last year Harry started them, as you know, but now I think you three should start them for you three are getting more involved with the Order and we cannot risk it. If Voldemort does get into Harry's mind, he can use Legilimency on you two to get information if we don't take precautions."

Hermione looked shocked. "Occlumency? What? Professor Snape is going to teach all of us?" she asked.

Harry sighed. Oh no, not Snape.

Dumbledore sat up in his chair before continuing. "Professor Macnair and Professor Snape know the art; I am sure that they are able to teach you." He glanced at the small globe-like calendar on his desk.

Dumbledore turned back to them. "I'm sure you would like to get a start on your homework from today so I will owl you with the date to start your lessons," he said and the trio nodded.

Harry had a feeling that the lessons weren't going to go well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next week passed by very quickly. Trelawney and Firenze taught divination; he was sure that they weren't meant to be in the same room with each other because they definitely had their differences.

Care of Magical Creatures went as usual. Hagrid had a very dangerous animal and it bit Draco Malfoy--this time it was his mother he said he would complain to and not his father. Harry almost laughed to death because it sounded completely pathetic.

The other classes were rather dull; McGonagall was reviewing the stuff from last year and Flitwick was doing the same for Charms, as was everyone else, other than Binns and Snape.

Professor Binns assigned them to read the very boring, Biography of Oswald Beamish and requested three rolls of parchment on the book.

Snape was nothing short of horrible to the Gryffindors and Slytherins, which was a shocker to most of them.

Maybe it was because two second years put red dye in his morning tea and everyone was questioning him if he had a midnight snack. His lips looked like they had blood (but it was red dye) on them and next to his pallid features he looked like a vampire who just had a meal.

Hermione was always in library. She seemed very excited about learning Occlumency and was looking up information on the subject.

Ron was trying to get all his homework done before it was due. He had to take an extra class so he had a pile of it. He doubted that he was going to get an E in Arithmancy to qualify for a job as an Experimental Wizard but he seemed determined.

Hermione decided on an occupation last minute over the summer and is hoping to be either an Arithmancy Professor or she would like to be apart of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. She had to take a whole bunch of classes to qualify for either job.

Harry on the other hand just hoped to god that he would get an E in Potions so he could be an Auror. Hermione kept saying that they really press on your grades in six year and up so he was a bit weary about his Potions grade. The other classes he was having no problem with his grades.

Having tea with Meredith Vasari (he found out her last name at last) was becoming a morning ritual. She didn't question his nightmares or anything; she was very respectful. She also told him about things that where up and coming like the early Hogsmead trip at the beginning of October, which was very useful.

Dumbledore had to cancel wand weighing on Saturday because Mr. Olivander was very sick and they couldn't find a replacement.

At least he had one thing to look forward to--Quidditch!

Harry woke up on the following Saturday morning and sighed. Today he had to help Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet get the team together for tryouts. They needed to make sure that they had replacements for every position, just in case the player got injured and they definitely needed better Beaters. A Chaser potion needed to be filled as well, so the team had a lot of work ahead of them.

Harry found Alicia, Katie and Ron sitting in the corner discussing the list of people that signed up for the tryouts.

"I don't know... Harry do you think that we should let the first years tryout?" Alicia asked looking at him as he sat by Ron, who was starting to drift to sleep.

Harry shrugged and yawned. "Why not? They should get a chance too."

"I guess you're right and it would be great to have a small Chaser. The smaller you are, the easier it is to go around everyone." Alicia chewed on her quill and looked at her watch.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Honestly Alicia, we still have a few hours before we get the Quidditch pitch for the tryouts, and breakfast is in a few minutes." She turned to Harry. "In the past five minutes I swear that she looked at her watch thirty times."

Alise and Nita MacCaullen came up to Alicia. "Hello--um, we were wondering if we could try out for the Quidditch team?" Nita--or was it Alise asked.

Alicia smiled and handed them the sign up sheet. "Sure, just sign on the dotted line and you can," she said smiling at them.

Katie rolled her eyes again. "You know, I think that she hung out with Oliver a bit too much in the day. Don't you think?"

Harry shrugged then shook his head. "No, Oliver would be bouncing off the walls in excitement of tryouts and Alicia's being very calm--well, except for the watch checking thing."

Hermione walked over to him and a now sleeping Ron (who was snoring very loudly) with Adda Jenkins and sat. "So, how are you guys?" Hermione asked.

Ron gave a short snort and woke up with a sleepy yawn. "Hermione? Wa' are yau doin in the boys' dormitory?" he asked, sleepily looking up at her.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Oh sorry, must have dozed off," he said stifling a yawn.

Adda stifled a laugh. "You know, you sort of snore like Hermione... in a more boyish matter though."

Hermione punched her shoulder. "I don't snore that loud," she said with a shocked look on her face.

Adda gave a short laugh. "Yeah. Right. Cause when you're not snoring you're talking. Take last night for example..." She cleared her throat.

"*snore* mmmm... eret *snore* slimy nnno... *snore* *snore* *sigh* *snore* verrryyy.... niccceee... goo... *snore*" The group burst into a fit of laughter.

"What in the world were you dreaming about last night?" Adda asked Hermione, who was staring wide eyed and opened mouth at her.

Harry, who had recovered from laughter looked at her. "I would like to know too. It had to be something slimy and have goo. Bubotuber puss?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "What I dream is none of you're business."

Adda smiled. "I think I know what you were dreaming about," she paused mischievously, "or rather, who you were dreaming about."

Harry turned to her, while Hermione glared and Ron listened in interest as Katie and Alicia where interrupted by Ginny. "Who?" Ron asked.

Hermione set her face in an evil glare with pursed lips and Adda shook her head. "Nope, can't tell you. Girls honour cause I know it's definitely that person." She grinned and turned to Hermione. "Am I right on target?"

"Say anymore and you will be the target," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

Adda smiled and turned to Alicia. "Anyway, I was wondering if I could sign up for tryouts last minute?" she asked.

Harry smiled as the breakfast bell rang and they headed to the Great Hall. This is going to be a pretty long day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quidditch tryouts went okay. Dennis Creevey was made a Beater, even though he didn't look like he was strong, he had an arm on him as well as the coordination. The other Beater was a girl in Katie and Alicia's year called Marley. She never really talked, she just nodded but she sure could beat the Bludger.

Euan Abercrombie was made a Chaser and Natalie McDonald was his reserve. Ginny Weasley was made a reserve Seeker. Nita MacCaullen and Adda Jenkins were made Chaser reserves. The Beater reserves were Mallory Jones and Freddie Walters and the reserve for Keeper was Darlene Lillie.

After tryouts the new team met near the Gryffindor Broom shed. "Okay team," Alicia said in an Oliver-like tone. "We need to decide who's captain this year, so let's all take a vote."

Katie handed each of them a piece of parchment and a Quill. "Now we need nominees, anyone?" Alicia asked.

Adda raised her hand with a grin. "I nominate Ronald Weasley for Quidditch captain. Do you accept?" she asked turning to Ron.

Ron shrugged and nodded. "I accept."

Mallory Jones raised her hand. "I nominate Katie Bell. Do you accept?" she asked.

Katie nodded while popping her bubblegum.

Alicia turned to the group. "Okay, anyone else?"

Harry raised his hand. "I nominate you. Do you accept?"

"Yes, I do," she said smiling. "Anyone else want to make a nomination?"

Most of the people in the group shook their heads. "Okay then, now we can vote."

Harry sighed and wrote down. Ron Weasley. He was capable enough to do the job if he put his mind to it, and he could come up with some really excellent plays.

He handed his vote to Adda, who volunteered to count the votes. After everyone was done voting Adda counted them and smiled. "We've got a tie. Alicia and Ronald. Congratulations!" she said with a thumbs up.

So they're going to share the Captainship? That'll work better.

Alicia slapped Ron on the back. "Congrats partner," she said with a smile.

Ron grinned. "Right back at you--partner."

"Okay, meetings over. We'll inform you when our practices will be after we see to who gets the pitch when," Alicia said in a business tone, before pulling Ron to the side to talk to him.

Harry left the broom shed after telling Ron that he was going to go find Hermione to tell her the news. She was most likely in the library so that was the first place he headed.

She of course was there reading a large tome called A History of Legilimency. Harry sighed and sat down across from her and she looked up at him, beaming.

"Dumbledore sent us the date to start Occlumency with Professor Macnair and Professor Snape," she said in a whisper. She looked like she was going to explode in excitement.

"When is it going to be?" Harry asked.

She smiled wider. "The first lesson is the Thursday before the Hogsmead trip. He said that we are to meet them in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for the lesson." She sucked in a very excited breath. "I can't wait!"

Harry laughed a bit. "I've got some more great news," he said smiling.

"What?"

"Ron was voted Quidditch captain with Alicia."

She grinned. "That's cool. I heard Malfoy was made Slytherin Quidditch captain this year; I just can't wait to see Ron shake his hand before the game," she said with a sinister giggle.

Harry gave her a weird look. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"

She giggled again. "She's just very happy at the moment with all of her homework finished and a day off," she said smiling.

Harry sighed. He still had a report to do on why rum is put into Miliserem--which was a potion that healed minor cuts if applied.

Hermione went back to reading her book and Harry looked around the library. He spotted Blaise Zabini in the corner reading a small black book--which looked like her diary. She was hidden behind stacks of books.

Harry thought that he should get a start on looking up why rum was included in Miliserem. He walked passed Blaise to the potions section and pulled out a book of healing potions. He glanced over at Zabini as he walked by and read a name of one of the many books scattered about the table in piles. Famous Prophesies of the late Cassandra Trelawney?

Zabini snapped her head up and raised her eyebrow at him. "Need something, Potter?" she asked with a smirk. Her eyes made him feel quite intimidated when she looked at him.

Harry gave her a suspicious look. "What are you doing?" he asked gesturing the table full of books.

She shrugged and brought her quill to her mouth. He suspected that the quill was sugar because she looked like she was thoroughly enjoying it. "Why would you want to know?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes before walking back to his spot next to Hermione (who was reading The History of Occlumency) and started on looking up Miliserem for his essay.

He sighed again. I think I'm going to dread Occlumency lessons next Thursday...

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