Thicker Than Water: Year Six

Chapter 11 - Restarting the D.A.

Harry never seemed to find an opportunity to confront Ron: his best friend avoided getting too near to Leo, to the point of rudeness. He had no better luck with Hermione. She had never been especially close with many of the students in their year, aside from a cursory friendliness with most, and didn't make any extra efforts with Leo either. On two occasions that he found Hermione sitting alone in the common room and began to make his way towards her, he was cut off by Lavender or Celeste - another sixth year girl - who were both determined to get to know the new boy better.

The first week of classes flew by and Saturday dawned sunny and warm. Harry took his time getting out of bed, thoughts of the week's accumulated homework keeping his head on his pillow. Finally, fed up with Dean's snoring, Harry dragged himself from the bed. Arriving at breakfast, he passed the jovial members of Gryffindor's quidditch team heading out the doors to the quidditch pitch. There were five people on the team with two vacant positions to be filled at that morning's try-outs. Ron and Jack Sloper were talking loudly about the professional league standings, while Ginny and Katie Bell discussed the potential candidates for the Gryffindor team.

As he sat at the Gryffindor table, Harry's mood was glum with regret at not being able to play quidditch. Not for the first time, he questioned his choice to play dead and delay his next inevitable confrontation with Voldemort. That feeling turned into sinking horror when Hermione's newspaper arrived, and she gasped loudly at the headline.

"What happened?" asked Neville in alarm. Hermione began to read aloud:

Seven muggles were killed in various locations throughout Britain. All were close relatives of muggle-born witches and wizards who worked at the Ministry of Magic, in the Departments of Magical Transportation and Magical Law Enforcement. Two more deaths were narrowly avoided due to quick thinking by a muggle who was able to ward off her assailant through the ingenious use of two pit-bull terriers and a garden hose. The Dark Mark was found over the sites of all seven fatalities. Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and members of his office staff were unavailable for comment following the attacks.

Harry felt his half-eaten breakfast churning in his stomach while he digested what he had heard. An involuntary shudder shook his frame as he conjured up memories of the explosion at the Dursleys: the loud boom of the explosives, and the hazy shimmer of the Dark Mark above him as he lay on the ground.

Hermione was shuffling the pages of the newspaper as she immersed herself in further stories detailing increased Death Eater activities. Next to her, Neville was staring blankly across the table, obviously affected by the story. Harry, his appetite gone, pushed away his chair.

He left the Great Hall and went out the castle doors into the bright sunshine. Wishing he could fly off his feelings of fear and anger, Harry unconsciously wandered over to the quidditch pitch and watched the try-outs. Dennis Creavey and Seamus were each trying to get possession of the quaffle as Katie Bell called out instructions to them. Seamus grabbed the ball and sped off confidently towards Ron, who was hovering in front of the goalposts. To his surprise, Dennis followed closely, keeping up with Seamus and aggressively pulling in front of him as he approached the end of the pitch. Harry watched as Ginny flew over to Katie; they were joined by Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke, and began whispering amongst themselves. With a twinge of sadness, Harry wished he could have been part of the group, discussing the pros and cons of the different players and deciding who would make the team.

But the decisions were being made without him, and the team would keep playing even in his absence. Harry walked away from the quidditch pitch moodily, marvelling at how easily life went on when nearly everyone he knew assumed him to be dead. He walked past small groups of students playing or relaxing in the warm September weather. He just wanted to be alone and began to walk towards the far side of the lake.

The spot where Harry and Sirius had been surrounded by Dementors in his third year suddenly came into sight. Harry was reliving the memory when an intriguing trill on the air drew him back. He lifted his head and began to follow the sound: it was a haunting melody that rose and fell, guiding his footsteps.

A little farther along the lake where the forest approached the water, he saw her sitting on an open spot on the bank, a flute held to her mouth. Harry sank silently against a tree, spell-bound by the music. The tune was exceedingly sweet and sad at the same time. Irritation with Ron faded as the pain of Sirius' loss came back to him again. But Harry also thought of the time they had spent at Grimmauld Place last Christmas following the attack on Mr. Weasley: Sirius had been so joyous, revelling in their company, singing and laughing.

The music carried Harry into the depths of his losses, of Sirius and the Dursleys, and of Ron, who was lost in resentment. And the music pulled him back out again, exhausted. A final high note held on to the flute until, with a quiver, it drifted off towards the lake. Luna placed the flute down in the grass beside her and, without turning her head, began to speak, "Why don't you come sit over here? You're welcome - I don't bite!"

Abashed, Harry hauled himself up and moved over to the bank beside Luna but didn't sit down. He mumbled, "I just heard the music, I didn't mean to disturb you...."

"I don't mind, really," she smiled at him. Hungry for somebody to talk to, Harry sat down beside her and looked out across the water, at the visible edge of the castle. When he remained silent, Luna asked, "How's school going so far?"

Harry shrugged indifferently, "It's okay, I guess. Except potions - I hate that class. It's a bit better this year, but..."

He suddenly realised that he was supposed to be a new student, and his comment about potions showed a previous bias. Luna, however, didn't bat an eyelash and began to talk about the classes she was taking. Harry was honestly puzzled by her responses to him, and wasn't sure if she saw through his disguise as Leo. He was also touched by her off-hand acceptance of him, especially assuming she knew it was Harry she was talking to.

After exhausting her list of courses, Luna launched into a description of her summer holiday. She told Harry all about the prints she and her father had discovered of the Great Northern Trilobial Jags. He sat with arms wrapped around his knees, staring into the water as she spoke. All his anger, fears, disappointments of the morning seemed to melt away as Harry sat listening to Luna talk calmly about seemingly trivial things. Harry realised that this was the first time since he came back to school that he was at fully at ease. He was thankful that he didn't have to put up pretences for Luna, or that she didn't want to discuss Voldemort and the spate of recent attacks.

He only stood up when it was getting near time for lunch; with a fluid movement, Luna got up beside him and they walked back towards the castle. At the entrance to the Great Hall, Luna asked if he would occasionally help her study for her OWLs. Harry agreed, and asked which courses she needed help with. She replied, "Oh, with potions of course! You know how difficult the OWL curriculum is in that class!"

Harry gave her an odd look, wondering why she would ask for his assistance in that course, when he had told her he hated it. But she gave him a sunny smile and a small wave, and walked off to the Ravenclaw table for lunch.

*

The talk in the common room that evening was all about the muggle-killings that had been reported. Dean and Hermione both commented on the fact that their families could easily become targets and Colin Creevey, who had taken the news badly, sat nodding his head.

"Hope Panthera lives up to his potential and gives us some adequate defence training this year!" Ron piped in from his armchair near the fireplace. Neville looked up and said, "Actually, I've decided to restart the D.A."

A hush fell as all heads turned towards him. Parvati asked, "Who's going to lead it?"

"I will," Neville replied, looking boldly around to see if anybody would object. "I've been looking at some of the advanced defence books in the library, and I have some ideas."

After a pause, he asked, "Who's interested?"

Many voices spoke their assent, and Hermione offered to organise the meeting schedules and notify students in other houses. Neville nodded, and concluded with, "I've received signed permission from Professor Panthera to use the Defence classroom. We'll have our first meeting tomorrow night."

As people dispersed to spread the news to other Gryffindor students, Hermione turned to Leo and asked, "Will you join the group?"

"I'm not much good in defence," muttered Harry. Hermione went on, "That's okay. It's a great opportunity to learn new spells and shields outside of class, especially with Voldemort active again."

Harry noticed Ron wince at the name, and glare at Hermione for fraternising with the new boy. Partially to vex his best friend, Harry replied in a friendly tone to Hermione, "That sounds interesting. Yeah, I'll join. Thanks for asking."

Ron turned red with irritation, and called Hermione over with the pretext of asking her questions about his Transfiguration homework. Harry went up to his dorm room, where he found Neville newly arrived. He asked, "Can I join the D.A. too? Only I don't know what things you did last year, maybe you could help me catch up with the rest of the group?"

Neville smiled at Leo. "Sure, you can come up with me after supper tomorrow and I'll show you some of the things we learned before everyone else arrives. I only hope I can be as good a teacher as Harry. I'm not nearly as good at defence as he was..."

Touched by the complement, Harry clapped him on the back and said, "I'm sure you'll do just fine!"

On Sunday, the whole school buzzed with the news that the D.A. was starting up again. Some people laughed at the thought of the accident-prone Neville leading the group, but most students who had attended last year were eager to continue.

Harry found himself looking forward to the evening too. As he was wondering what Neville had in mind, he ran into Sean Lupin climbing the stairs. "Hey, Sean! How's everything going? Are you enjoying your classes?"

The boy looked up shyly, happy to see Leo. "Uh huh, my classes are pretty neat. The Ravenclaws are a nice bunch, too. I don't know many of the older students. The magic is fun, though."

"Let me know if you need any help with anything," Harry said invitingly.

Sean jumped at the chance. "I would love some flying tips! Some of the other first-years have been flying for ages, I'm going to look like an idiot at our first lesson!"

Harry grinned at the younger boy, recalling his own first attempt at flying which had been wonderful. He reassured Sean, "I'm sure you won't have any problems. Besides, some of your classmates might be all talk when it comes to flying - mine were! If you'd like, though, I can get my broom and you can give it a go."

"Really?" Sean beamed at him with delight. Harry arranged to meet him in the Entrance Hall, and sprinted up to his dorm to pick up his Nimbus 2001.

"Nice broom!" called out Seamus as he passed him on the way back down.

"Thanks! Just getting out for a bit of exercise," grinned Harry, knowing that first years weren't allowed to fly until after they had received some formal instruction. Nonetheless, he met Sean and they walked to a secluded spot on the grounds, near the Forbidden Forest.

Sean eyed the forest apprehensively and said out loud, "I wonder if it's really as bad in there as they say it is."

Harry nodded. "Sure is. The few times I've been in there, I couldn't wait to get out!"

The younger boy got a strange look on his face, and Harry assumed he was nervous about flying. He showed Sean the proper way to mount the broom, and told him how to use his body to get the broom into the air and back down again.

After a few attempts, Sean was able to pull himself level with the treetops, turn the broom around, and bring it back to the ground. Harry could see the younger boy growing in confidence, and felt heartened that he had been able to help him get over his anxiety. Sean finally alighted and returned the broomstick to Harry, a large smile plastered to his face.

Unable to resist the rush of flying, Harry leaped on the broom and shot towards the forest at top speed. After hovering momentarily near the tops of the trees, he plummeted down into them, performing a quick low-flying circuit, dodging branches, before emerging back out of the woods. Harry banked sharply around Sean, bringing the broom around 180^o before dismounting.

Sean's mouth was open and he was staring at Harry with a look of awe. He finally found his voice and said, "Wow! My father wasn't kidding when he said you were a great flyer! How come you aren't on the Gryffindor quidditch team?"

Harry suddenly realised that his moment of gratification had shown off more of his skill than he could afford to, if he was to keep his identity a secret. It was common knowledge that he had been one of the best flyers in the school and, if people found out how good Leo was, they were bound to ask him questions or put two and two together. He mumbled to Sean, "Oh, I don't go out for team sports much."

Making an excuse about keeping up with his homework, Harry led Sean back to the castle. Before they parted, he said to the boy, "Maybe you shouldn't mention the flying lesson to anybody - I could get into trouble for letting you on a broom before you've had your first lessons with Madam Hooch."

Sean nodded, still staring at him with admiration and - something else. He started to ask a question, but then stopped himself and said to Harry, "Thanks again, Leo. I guess I'll see you around."

Harry made his way back to Gryffindor tower, vowing that he wouldn't get on his broom again while he was at school. It would just be too difficult to actually be up in the air and not show off or fly like the wind - there was no way he was going to pass as a mediocre flyer.

He passed through the common room and saw Hermione and Ron studying at their usual spot near the fireplace. Hermione had her head buried in a book, and Ron was wadding up a piece of parchment; instead of dropping it, he lobbed it at Hermione. Harry stopped at the notice board and pretended to read the notices, all the while watching his best friends from the corner of his eye. Ron had scrunched up another piece of parchment, and Harry waited for Hermione to explode as Ron again and again disrupted her studying by tossing the parchment balls at her. To Harry's surprise, Hermione finally giggled at Ron and began to lob them back at him.

With a sinking feeling of loneliness, Harry turned and went up the stairs to his dorm room, feeling both rejected and shut out by his friends. He should have been in those chairs beside the fireplace, horsing around with Ron, rolling his eyes at Hermione's constant studying. To stave off his emotions, Harry sat down at his small dorm room desk and immersed himself in homework.

By the time Harry had read a couple chapters of Transfiguration, written up an assignment for Professor McGonagall and reviewed the history of Centaurs for his Magical Creatures class, it was time for dinner. Ginny approached him in the common room and offered to walk down to the Great Hall with him; Dean fell into step beside them, but remained uncharacteristically silent the whole way to the Gryffindor table.

They sat down near Neville, who was telling Ron and Hermione what lessons he thought he would start with at that night's D.A. meeting. After throwing a suspicious look from Ginny to Harry, Ron turned his back on the new boy and went back to his conversation. Harry speared a potato with the force of his anger and began to attack his dinner, trying to keep a scowl off his face.

Neville was the first to finish eating, and got up to go prepare the room for the D.A. meeting. "Leo, would you like to come with me? Before the meeting starts, I could show you some of the things we were working on last year."

Harry pushed away his unfinished pudding and joined Neville. They soon reached the Defence classroom and began clearing away desks to make room for the students to practice. Neville then began to explain to Harry what they had been taught in the previous year, and offered to show him how to do some standard blocks.

Pretending that the blocks were new, Harry deliberately made a few mistakes and had Neville show him each spell a couple of times. Afterwards, Harry pretended to have trouble when Neville showed him how to disarm an opponent. Neville was fairly good at doing most of the defensive spells, but still somewhat weak in precision. By the time the other students began to file in, he was sure Neville had a better hold on some of the spells, simply through explaining and showing them to Harry repeatedly.

Eloise Midgen walked in and gave Neville a shy smile. She was followed by Cho Chang and Michael Cormer, but there was no sign of Cho's friend Marietta Edgecomb. Disgusted as he was by how things had turned out between him and Cho last year, Harry turned his back on her and walked over to the other Gryffindors who were entering the classroom.

Harry was relieved to see that Malfoy and his cronies hadn't shown up at the meeting, either to challenge or to sabotage Neville's efforts. In fact, there were only a few Slytherins in attendance, and they were fourth and fifth year students whom Harry hadn't spoken to before.

Though he was quite advanced in defence, Harry was looking forward to the D.A. meetings as a chance to develop his magic using his new wand. It was somewhat more powerful than his old wand, and he wanted to see what difference having a Gryffin hair would make on his casting.

Neville told his classmates that they would start with a review of last year's lessons, working specifically on stunning spells and shield charms. The students began to pair up and, turning to look for a partner, Harry found himself face to face with Luna.

"Hello. Would you like to work with me?" she asked in an apparently distracted voice.

"Sure," Harry nodded, relieved that he would be working with someone who seemed to accept him for who he was, and wasn't likely to be nonplussed if his spells were more polished than Leo's should have been.

The noise level in the room rose as all the students began practising. Luna moved a distance away from Harry, and held her wand at ready. After standing still for several moments, Harry decided to throw the first stunner. Luna wound the spell around and sent it back to Harry. Though it returned slightly weakened, Harry decided to give what he had got and turned the spell back around to her. It became a bit of a game, as though they were throwing a ball back and forth, until finally the stunner was weak enough for Harry to let it penetrate without knocking him off his feet. He shook out his arm where it had finally hit him, and gave Luna a broad, amused smile. She smiled pleasantly back at him.

Neville kept them all practising various hexes and shields they had learned last year. He came by a couple of times to see how Luna and Harry were doing, and always commented on the fact Leo was aiming improperly, or missing the point of the hex. Luna took her place opposite Neville for those brief demonstrations and always performed the spells exactly as he showed them. The minute Neville moved on, however, Luna would start modifying the spells in small ways, keeping Harry on his toes and greatly amused.

At the end of the evening, she gave Harry a small smile and said, "Well, that was constructive. Did you learn a lot?"

Harry grinned and replied, "Indeed. I never knew this D.A. stuff was so much fun..."

Neville walked up, as Luna waved and joined the other students streaming out the door. He watched her walk away, then cleared his throat and said to Harry, "You might want to try working with a different partner next time. Luna's a bit... well, strange, and I noticed she wasn't always casting the spells correctly. You'll have a hard time catching up with the others if you don't learn how to do the basics properly in the first place."

Nodding in agreement, Harry bit back a smile. Luna was an above-average witch, a fact that Harry hadn't failed to notice when she fought with him at the Ministry last June, casting fast, accurate spells and keeping an unruffled demeanour at the same time. She was quick on her feet and her response times were excellent, especially for somebody who came off as dreamy and distracted most of the time. Harry kept that observation to himself, as he helped Neville restore the classroom to its normal set-up.

*

The sixth year classes were interesting.

After their meeting with Firenze in Hagrid's first Magical Creatures class, they had also met with a shy house-elf named Finkle who had spent the lesson bowing and scraping before the students. Harry thought that Hermione would have been disgusted. Most of the students had never met a house-elf before, even though a few admitted to having one in their homes.

Harry wondered if Hagrid still had Grawp living in the Forbidden Forest. The big man was no longer sporting the cuts and bruises that had characterised his early attempts at civilising the giant. Either Grawp had gone home to the mountains, or Hagrid had managed to significantly tame his violent nature.

In the Defence class, Panthera was teaching the students about some of the theory behind casting and repelling powerful physical limitation curses, with some time devoted at the end of each class for practice. Potions still set Harry on edge: though he was better prepared for the material they were learning, it always grated on him when Snape treated Leo with a fairness he had never shown to Harry.

Fortunately, he didn't have to contend with sneers or whispered insults from Malfoy this year. The blond boy's enmity had been reserved for Harry, and with Ron no longer in potions, he was quieter than usual during the class. Harry had noticed that, in general, Malfoy was keeping a much lower profile this year; he wondered whether the smug gloating was diminished by the fact that the senior Malfoy was sitting in Azkaban. He certainly had less cause to swagger, now that he had lost his position as Slytherin house prefect for the sixth year class.

Harry was thankful that his professors kept the homework load fairly heavy, as the extra work helped pass the time. Bill showed up a couple of times to duel with him during his Thursday morning training periods, but Harry had few extra-curricular activities to fill his evening hours.

He missed quidditch, and always looked longingly towards the pitch when he knew the Gryffindor team had gone out to practice. Seamus was still grumbling about not having made the team this year: he had proved fast and flashy at the try-outs, but Katie had insisted that younger students needed to be trained and favoured Dennis Creevey and a fourth year student to fill the two empty spots. Harry had watched one of the practices and, though the team was admittedly all right, he knew it wasn't comparable to the days when he played with Oliver Wood and the Weasley twins, back in his second and third years.

During his second weekend at school, Harry had his first trip back to the Manor. Dumbledore had sent him a note to come to his office at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning, which gave Harry a chance after breakfast to collect his broomstick and tuck his old wand into his robes.

Dumbledore greeted him courteously when Harry stepped into his office, and asked how things were going for him since the start of the year. Harry had little to say: he wasn't about to confide to the Headmaster that he still wasn't on speaking terms with his best friends, and didn't think to mention that he had been recognized by Luna. He was still puzzled about her, and kept that to himself as well.

Dumbledore began to update Harry on Death Eater activities. "We know they have been fairly active, and were able to thwart an attempt by Death Eaters to breach Gringott's security. An informant has notified us that Voldemort severely disciplined a couple of his men for their failures. Have you had any pains in your scar this week?"

Harry shook his head, and Dumbledore looked relieved. "I'm glad to hear that you're keeping him out of your head this term, Harry. We must at all costs prevent him from finding out that you're still alive."

It was time for Harry to leave, and Dumbledore indicated the portkey - a small ring of rusty keys - that was sitting on the edge of his desk. Harry reached out and, with a disconcerting yank, was transported to the Manor house. Appearing suddenly in the kitchen, Harry was thrown off balance as Dobby catapulted into him with an enthusiastic hug.

Remus and Tonks walked into the kitchen, smiling at the sight of Harry trying to extricate himself from the excited house-elf. Tonks carried a couple of broomsticks, and suggested they start off the visit with a bit of air time. As they were walking outside, Remus asked, "How's Sean doing at Hogwarts?"

"Not bad," Harry replied. "I took him out for a little flying last weekend. He seems to be happy there. You know he's in Ravenclaw?"

Remus nodded, as they mounted their broomsticks. Tonks shot out across the grounds, with Harry behind her. Hovering near the top of an apple tree, she picked a ripe apple and pelted it at the boy. Harry dove to catch it, and pelted the apple back. The game went on through the demise of half a dozen apples, until all their hands were sticky and Remus called for a break. Harry did a few more loop-the-loops and rolls on his broom, and Tonks tried to imitate him. She was better co-ordinated in the air than on the ground, but her broomstick wasn't as good, and Harry quickly outpaced her.

When he finally dismounted beside Remus, Harry wore a broad smile. "Boy, it's great to get back into the air! That's what I miss the most about school this year!"

They went in to the Manor to wash. Though Harry was hoping for an early lunch, Tonks insisted on getting his touch-up completed first, and he settled into the easy chair in the sitting room. Tonks worked quickly, but it still took the better part of an hour until she was done. Dobby had lunch waiting, a veritable feast prepared for Harry's visit, especially as the house elf didn't have much cooking to do during the week when only Remus was around.

After lunch, Remus told Harry that Dumbledore had mentioned starting apparition lessons. "We're going to start small, Harry. I want you to vanish various items in the room, and make them appear in certain locations within the Manor. What we want to do is work on precision of location: when you learn to apparate, spatial accuracy is essential. Knowing your quidditch skills, you shouldn't have any problem with this one."

In spite of Remus' confidence in his abilities, it took longer than Harry expected to meet his friend's expectations. When Remus requested that an item appear in a certain place, he wouldn't let Harry get away with being a few inches off. When his precision was satisfactory, Remus engaged Harry in meditative exercises: he had to imagine himself in different parts of the room, and try to picture the vantage point he would have if he were really there.

Remus finally gave Harry a break, and told him to watch. Apparating from one side of the room to another, Remus explained how he managed to appear without landing on an item of furniture, or stumbling on unforeseen objects. It was already mid-afternoon when Harry asked, "Am I going to get a chance to try it today?"

"Patience, Harry," smiled Remus. He ordered tea from Dobby, and they took a break. Afterwards, Remus gave Harry a few last minute tips on concentration and taught him the modified motion words for human apparition. Sitting back on the sofa, he gave the all-clear sign, and Harry stood in the centre of the room for his first attempt.

Closing his eyes and picturing himself beside the doorway, Harry muttered the words. Opening his eyes, he found himself in the exact same place he had started. Remus laughed, and walked him through the sequence again. Harry soon started to move short stretches, and by the end of an hour, could apparate to the kitchen and back.

"I think that's enough. Dumbledore's have my hide if I don't return you to the school soon," said Remus. "Anyway, I'll likely see you on Thursday morning, though we won't be able to practice apparition at Hogwarts."

"I thought Bill was coming to do more duelling this week?" said Harry.

"No, Fleur apparently dragged him off to Paris on short notice. She wants to see her family before she's too far along in her pregnancy. I'd also like to get out to the school and spend an hour or two with Sean, if I can. So you're stuck with me as a poor substitute for a duelling partner."

"You're not a poor substitute for anything, Remus!" Harry told his friend. Remus looked pleased with the complement, as he made a portkey back to Hogwarts. In spite of the overload of information about apparition that was crammed inside Harry's head, he paid close attention to how Remus made the portkey. After his experiences over the last couple of years, Harry was becoming obsessed with mastering modes of magical transportation, and this was an important one.

Whisking back into Dumbledore's office at the end of a long day, Harry beamed at the Headmaster.

"Have a good day out?" Dumbledore asked from behind his desk when Harry appeared.

"Terrific!" answered Harry, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle another couple weeks of school.