Harry Potter and Gaining Momentum

“What
did I do?” Harry asked looking at Hermione who just rolled her eyes.

“Well
if you don’t know, I’m not telling you,” she said with a sniff.

“How
am I supposed to know then!” Harry said getting very
irritated.

He
had just asked Draco to meet him in the girl’s lavatory so that they could go
to the Chamber of Secrets that night and got totally blown off by the boy. Of
course though, not before Draco sneered in his ‘old-school’ way and stalked out
of the Great Hall in a huff.

“Honestly
Harry, you’re so clueless,” Hermione said turning on her heel, her bushy hair
tossing defiantly, and stalking away much like Draco did. Harry wanted to
scream.

“Do
you know why?” he turned and asked Ron, and then noticed that Ron was almost in
stitches trying to suppress his laughter. “Ron! It’s not funny!”

“I’m
sorry Harry, I know it’s not, it’s just odd seeing Draco play out the woman’s
role in the relationship,” he said. His face was red and his ears pink from
trying to control his suppressed outburst.

“Well,
are you going to tell me or not?” Harry asked scowling at his friend who was
finding humor in the whole situation.

“He
mentioned to Hermione that you hadn’t said a word to him all day. I think it
upset him that he sat with you all last night in the hospital wing, and you
didn’t even note his existence today.”

“You’re
kidding! I can’t believe this; I was with Albus all day!” Harry said
exasperated.

“Don’t
tell me mate, tell him.”

class=GramE>“Great, just great! Not only am I exhausted from expending
all that energy today making that blasted staff, but my boyfriend is mad at me
for not taking time out of my busy schedule for him. I do have a busy
schedule!” Harry added at Rospecspeculative look.

“I
know, though, I do have to ask, did you even look his way today?”

class=GramE>“I don’t remember, I was preoccupied. He knows what the
prophecy says, and I need to be prepared. Maybe I should just break it off,
after all, it will be easier to focus on what needs to be done if I don’t have
to worry about making him mad all the time,” Harry said putting his face into
his hands and trying to rub the exhaustion away.

“I
don’t think that would be a good idea,” Ron said wincing a bit.

“Why?
Of all people, I thought you’d be happy,” Harry said looking up at him sharply.

“Harry,
if it makes you unhappy, I wouldn’t benefit from it. Its just---well---,” he
trailed off.

“It’s
just what?”

“Well,
if you break it off, aren’t you scared he may go back to his old ways and tell
You-Know-Who the prophecy?” Ron suggest with a pained expression as if waiting
for Harry to explode.

“No
Ron, I don’t think he will. Snape is his Godfather and I would hope that if
anything happens between us, he’d go to Professor Snape for consolation,” Harry
said sighing.

The
truth was, the idea did scare him a bit. Draco had
just recently become open enough to show his feelings, well, other than lust,
and Harry wanted to keep it that way. He couldn’t help thinking though, what
would happen if the one person that the light side depended on pissed Draco
off, what Draco would do. Harry was almost certain that he’d go to Severus
first, but then, what if he didn’t. There had been many times when Harry needed
someone to speak with and he refused to lean on Albus. He simply hated
burdening other people with his problems. It made him look even more
incompetent than most already thought him to be. He wanted to be viewed as a
young man, not as a child anymore, and running to Professor Dumbledore every
time something didn’t go his way was not what he wanted everyone to see. He
hoped Draco wasn’t in the same frame of mind.

“Just
talk to him first, then if he insist that you make time for him, tell him you
think you guys should just take a break for a bit. You know, ease off until
things cool down, then stand back and look at the situation properly from the
outside instead of being caught right in the middle.”

“When
did you get all enlightening on me?”

“When
I started to realized that Hermione isn’t as gos going to support your every decision.
You need someone to talk to, everyone does,” Ron answered shrugging.

“Thanks,
I needed to hear that.”

“Anytime,
now go talk to him before he does something rash,” Ron
said smirking at Harry.

“Alright.
Now wipe that smirk off your face and stop acting like that!”

He
left the Great Hall and made for the dungeons, where he was sure he’d find
Draco. He debated with himself for a second between going straight to Snape’s
office and checking the Slytherin Common Room. He opted for Snape’s office
first so to avoid having to expose he and Draco’s relationship, which wasn’t
exactly Hogwarts news yet. Only Harry’s small circle of friends, with the
addition of some of the professors knew. He entered Snape’s classroom and knocked
on the door.

“Enter,”
Snape’s voice sneered. Harry had a very strong urge to roll his eyes.

“Professor,”
Harry greeted him making him look up.

“What
do you want Potter? Come to show off your Supreme Magical Abilities again?” he
sneered curling his lip.

“No
Sir, I was wondering if you’ve seen Draco?” he asked as politely as he possibly
could.

“Yes,
I’ve seen him all day, though, I see that you barely noticed he existed,” he
said turning back to the essays he was grading.

“Please
Sir, do you know where he is now?” he asked getting desperate. He knew Snape
knew why Draco was mad, but he was intent on not letting greasy class=SpellE>git goad him.

“It
is not my responsibility to make sure you keep track of your flings Potter, now
leave, I don’t have time for this,” Snape snapped at him.

class=GramE>“But Professor---.”

“I
said leave Potter!” Snape bellowed at him. Harry had to fight the urge to hex
him on the spot. He knew exactly what Snape was doing. He was trying to keep
him from Draco and not letting him apologize so to end their relationship.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

“Fine,
I have other means of finding him,” Harry said harshly before leaving. Snape
gave him a surprised and scared look before he cast down his eyes quickly.
Harry made it out into the hall and raised his hand and bellowed, “class=SpellE>Accio Marauder's Map!”

He
waited for about a minute before the map came zooming down to him. He unfolded
the map and recited, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good,” and then searched
for Draco on the map. It took him a second before he found the small name on
the map. He was indeed in the Slytherin dorms, only a short walk from Snape’s
office.

He
headed off in the right direction with one goal in mind; he had to settle this
time issue with Draco. Making it to the outer passage to the dorms, just where
he found it to be in his second year, he knocked hard on the stone entrance and
waited.

“What?”
the snappy response of Pansy Parkinson came.

“Can
you please ask Draco to come see me?” he asked as politely as he dared.

“No,”
she answered sharply.

“Fine,
tell Draco I want to speak with him,” he said leaving no room for objection,
but Pansy apparently found one.

“Don’t
you see Potter; you’re no longer in his good graces. He doesn’t care anymore,
now leave,” she said in a stone cold voice.

“Apparently
I didn’t make my self clear, I wasn’t giving you an option to refuse me
Parkinson, get him out here or I’ll make you,” Harry said in what he hoped was
an intimidating voice.

He was sort of out
of practice in these parts. He’d been trying ever since he came back to
Hogwarts, and had his talk with Albus in Grimmauld
Place, to loose the attitude that Draco said he
needed to be successful in the political world. It seemed it didn’t suit him,
or his friends for that matter.

“And
apparently you didn’t get my drift when I said no, now leave,” she said closing
the wall again.

Harry
stood there shocked for a moment, apparently he didn’t sound as intimidating as
he wished his had. Now he had no way to talk to Draco, he didn’t have a password,
nor did the Dungeons have any windows he could break into to see Draco. It was
then that the little figuring caught his eye.

On
one of the bricks, almost camouflage to the naked eye, was a tiny serpent so
small that it could have easily been mistaken for a crack or rough spot in the
whole that was Hogwarts. It was pointing downward looking at the ground and was
barely two inches in length. Getting an idea, he said.

“Open,”
in a hiss. Open it did as the small serpent figure turned and looked towards
the ceiling instead of at the floor as it previously did.

The
stone work on the wall began to fold in. For a second, Harry hesitated, but
fought his inner battle to go waltzing in the horde of hornets that were known
to spawning off Death like flies. He straightened his robes, ran a hand though
his hair and braced himself. Walking though the small archway seemed like class=SpellE>dejavu. Just like back in second year, the first thing to
be seen upon entering the opposite side of the arch way was green carpeting and
damp muskiness of the moist dungeons. He walked directly into the common room
and looked around. There was hardly anyone there at the moment. Beside the
fire, there were two students, both sitting in high-backed, green velvet chairs
and sitting at an angle where they were facing away from Harry. He walked a bit
closer to them due to them being closer than the other two that were playing a
game of Exploding Snap across the room on a silver and green striped shag rug.

“Ahem,”
he cleared his throat to be noticed. A girl, who looked to be a second or third
year looked around her chair and squealed, effectively getting the attention of
everyone in the room.

“How
did you get in here!” she yelled in a high pitched voice.

“I
have my ways.” he said shortly, “Could one of you please fetch Draco Malfoy for
me?” he asked politely.

“Err,”
the girl said looking at the second girl for help.

class=GramE>“No,” the second girl, who looked a lot like Millicent answered.

“Okay,
let me put it in a better phrase,” Harry said putting on a steely look, “Please
fetch him now.” Both girls eyes widened in shock at this statement, but neither
one moved. Finally a third voice enteree coe conversation.

“Potter,
what are you doing in here? I just told you Draco doesn’t want teak eak with
you. How did you get the password?” Pansy demanded.

“There
are more effective ways to get into the Slytherin dorms without a password.
Please fetch Draco,” Harry said shortly.

“I
told you no already, now out before I fetch Snape,” she said crossing her arms.

“Merlin
you guys are really thick aren’t you. Well, fine, I’ll find him myself,” Harry
said taking off toward a set of stairs across the Common Room. Pansy smirked at
this and Harry soon found out why. As soon as his foot got to the third step,
he was thrown back on to the concrete Common Room floor with a back breaking
thud.

“Potter,
don’t you know that people of other houses aren’t allowed in the dorm of any
house?” she said as if Christmas had come early. He narrowed his eyes at her
and looked back at the stairway.

“Allow
all to enter,” he hissed at the staircase. Several people gasped at this,
thought the two girls that were still in front of the fire held nothing back as
they shrieked. He dusted himself off and tired again.

It
had worked. Though he was leery at first, he figured by the fifth step that he
had efficiently disabled the staircase to the dorms. He made his way down the
small hall that displayed, no doubt, previous alumni Slytherins on the walls,
until he was met with a fork in the road. He did a bit of any-mini-class=SpellE>minee-moe, before he chose the left passage and made his
way forward. He was grateful when he saw the first room was labeled ‘First Year
Boys’. He strode forward more confident that Draco lied just ahead.

Making
it to the door he wanted, he knocked until he heard Draco’s husky voice mutter
a ‘Go’way’ then opened the door anyway.

“Draco?”
he said lightly in a whisper.

“Huh?
Harry? What are you doing in here, how did you get in here? ask asked scrambling
to his feet from where he was sitting on his bed clutching a pillow with his
head buried in it.

“I
let myself in,” Harry said as if it didn’t matter than hurried the conversation
ahead. “Ron told me why you were mad at me. I just wanted to come and explain
myself before you had time to brood on the fact that you hate me.”

“Hate---I
don’t hate you,” he replied unconvincingly.

“Then
why are you sitting in here like this and why did you tell everyone not to let
me in?” Harry asked walking forward and leaning on the opposing bed.

“I’m
just disappointed right now is all,” he said.

“I
was making my staff and charging it. I couldn’t do it alone because, well, you
heard what Mr. Clause said. It could kill me and everyone around me if
something went wrong while I did it.”

“You
mean you were able to charge it?”

class=GramE>“Yeah, but only because I used a magical core that I made.”

“Made?”

“I
used two of my own Phoenix Feathers.”

“And
that took care of the problem?”

“It
seems so, though it still brought out a bit of my Slytherin side when I charged
it. Draco, you should have felt what I felt. It was like, I don’t know, like, I
had all the power in the world. I wanted more---needed more. I became greedy
very quickly; I tried to push myself further to release more than I should have
just so I could feel the magic. But then the oddest thing happened. It punished
me, or rather, the emerald did. It burned me and drew away not letting me have
it. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was just intoxicating,” he poorly
explained.

“Did
you tell Dumbledore this?”

“Yeah,
he said because the emerald’s virtues, it made me do what was right. He said
should I have had the Ruby, which is the queen of hearts; I would have embraced
the feeling of wanting more power. Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk about
that, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry I didn’t make time for you today. I should
have been more considerate with my time. I know I don’t have much, and Albus
did offer to let me come back tomorrow to finish but I refused because I wanted
to finish the staff today.”

“So
you finished it?” Draco said as his eyes lit up, Harry had to grin at this.

“Yes,
do you want to see it?” he asked hopeful. He wanted to show off is flawless
work of art.

“Yes,”
Draco said instantly.

Harry
held out his hand and muttered, ‘Cambiarsi ring,’ to
make the ring on his middle, right hand become a staff once again. He had
morphed it not long after he left Dumbledore’s office just so he didn’t have to
haul around the large staff or be stared at. Draco breathed in awe.

“It’s
perfect,” he said reaching out to touch it.

“Don’t!”
Harry said taking a step back. Draco looked hurt at this. “Sorry, I didn’t mean
to shout, but I put a Signature Restricting charm on the core. It can only be
used by me until I die. If anyone else tries to touch it, I’m not sure what
will happen,” he enlightened Draco. Draco’s eyes went wide but then he nodded
in understanding.

“How
do you do that charm?” he asked clearly intrigued.

“I
used will magic, but there is a particular charm for that, just ask Severus and
he’ll be able to tell you. That’s how I finished it so quickly. Usually wizards
use Muggle skills to forge a staff, you know, carve it themselves, but because
I can use will magic, I was able to do it like that. You should get into
wandless magic you know. It would come in handy with a staff,” Harry added as
an after thought.

“Actually,
I’ve been trying, but I haven’t been able to focus enough. It seems I don’t
have the mind for it,” he said sitting on his bed gloomily.

“Everyone
has some potential for it. Tell me, can you beat off the Imperius?”

“I’ve
only tried once with Moody, but I didn’t do a very good job then,” he admitted.

“Well,
how about we work with it down in the chamber some night this week. Once you
are able to fight off the Imperius, this may come as pie to you. It’s all just
a state of mind anyway.”

“Easy
for you to say, you fought it the first time Moody put it on you. You even
broke it when the Dark Lord himself used it on you.”

“A
strong mind it all it takes and you most certainly have that. You just need the
will to put behind it. We’ll practice this week.”

“Have
you had it cast on you since the Dark Lord tried?”

“Yes,
just the other day Wormtail tried, I laughed at him. His magic seemed to
intensify after that,” Harry said furrowing his brow.

“What?”
Draco asked seeing this.

“It’s
just---he’s always hidden behind everyone because he was always so weak. I just
never expected him to be so powerful. I barely saw some of his spells coming at
me.”

“Don’t
you know what Dark Magic does to people?”

“I’ve
read---why?” Harry said tilting his head in interest.

“You
become addicted. It could be that when he was on the light side, the magic was
just that---magic,” Draco informed him.

class=GramE>“Meaning?”

“Meaning---that
when one does Dark Magic, they become addicted. They want to do it all the
time, so they do. Haven’t you ever heard the expression, ‘Practice Makes
Perfect’? The more he practices, the better he gets. He practices more because
he’s addicted to the feel of the magic. He likes the high that it gives him
when he’s above someone else like, say, a Muggle or a child. Simple really,”
Draco said as if it were obvious.

“That’s
sick,” he said disgusted.

“That’s
Dark Magic,” Draco said logically. “Now that you know he’s not dead, does it
still bother you that you beheaded him?”

“Only
slightly, because I know I could do it again,” Harry answered grimacing.

“Well
look at it this way Harrou dou didn’t really do it,
you did it by means of something else.”

class=GramE>“Such as?”

class=GramE>“An Armor Suit.”

“No
I threw the shield at him.”

“Yes,
but if the suit of armor wasn’t there, you wouldn’t have had the means.”

“That’s
dumb. That’s like Voldemort justifying killing Muggles and Half-bloods because
the Avada Kadava was
available to him.”

“Okay,
okay, sorry, I was just trying to make you feel better about it,” Draco said
lacing his fingers with Harry’s.

“I
thank you for that, buu’d u’d have to think of a better argument,” Harry said
smiling.

“Well,
you need to leave because I need to get some sleep and you do too. It sounds as
if you’ve let off a lot of energy to day that you need to have returned to
you.”

“Yeah,
I have, but I just wanted to make sure you understood what I was doing before
you did anything rash,” Harry revealed.

“Like
what?”

“Like
break up with me for ignoring you all day, no matter how unintentional it was.”

“I’m
not some child; it’s happened plenty of times before. I guess I was just hoping
that you’d never do it,” Draco said, but Harry could tell he was just trying
not to show his grief at the statement.

“I’m
not your father and I’m defiantly not ignoring you for the same reasons. I’m
ignoring you because I’m working on the greater good, not because you’re an
unneeded burden, like I’m sure you father thought of you as,” Harry said
fiercely. Draco gave him a gratified smile before leaning in and kissing him.
When they pulled away Draco gave a startled look before asking,

“Have
your eyes ever changed colors before, or have they always been that toxic green
color?”

“Always---why?”
he asked confused.

“Because,
I could have sworn they flashed blue for a moment,” he said shaking his head as
if confused, then gave a snort, “Sorry, just imagining thing. I need some sleep
and so do you. Good night love,” Draco finished gavegave him one more short
kiss before showing Harry to the door.

***

Harry
rose that Monday feeling ten times better than he had the day before or the day
of the staff forging, but for being the end of September, he felt strangely
cold. So cold in fact that he put on one of his heaviest cloakforefore heading
down to the Common Room to read while everyone else woke for the day. Yesterday
was a Hogsmeade weekend and no doubt many had gone due to it being the first. Harry
decided to go to the small town that bordered the Hogwarts grounds. He had only
about a hundred Galleons to his name and needed every bit of it incase his
vaults were never turned over to him again. He realized, though, that even with
all this custody stuff happening, he never once missed the money he had in
Gringotts. He had never been one to horde money anyway, but the thought of
loosing it didn’t really bother him as much as he thought it should. After all,
it was because Sirius and his parents died that he had the money to begin with.
All three had died to save him, so it felt like such a small thing next to the
sacrifices they endured to ensure his safety.

He
dove into his mind games and began reading dueling book he wanted to work out
of for the first DA meeting that he was informing everyone would be that night.
Of course, he’d have to go to Albus with the course material so that the
Headmaster knew what he’d be covering in the practice sessions, but this didn’t
bother him as much as it used to. It seemed Albus’ presence was beginning to
grow on him, especially after Dumbledore told him of the prophecy where Albus
was meant to help Harry.

He’d
probably only read about four chapters when the first person came down the
stairs and into the Common Room from the direction of the girl dormitories.

“You’re
up early Harry,” Ginny said making her way to sit next to him on the couch that
was adjacent to the fire. She sat only inches away and leaned a head on his
shoulder. Harry brought himself out of his mind games for security reasons. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

“I’ve
been sleeping less lately, but I’ve been sleeping well so I’m not complaining,”
he enlightened her.

“Why
are you wearing such a heavy cloak for, it’s going to be nice outside today.
You’ll be sorry when you’re sweating your shoes off on the walk to Care of
Magical Creatures,” she said staring at the fire and talking to him absently
due to her still sleep filled eyes.

“Actually,
that’s why I’m in front of the fire; I woke up freezing this morning. I think
someone left the window open in the dorms last night,” he said turning a page. She
didn’t respond.

They
sat there like that until Hermione made her way down. Hermione being Hermione
had a book under her arm and her wand in her hand. He hadn’t seen her up this
early in a while, but didn’t tease her. It looked like her relationship with
Ron was keeping her up later than she was usually used to.

“Sleep
well ‘Mione?” he asked as she placed the book on the
small coffee table and conjured a huge mug.

“Better
than yesterday,” she admitted.

“Looking
forward to forging your staff?” he asked for conversation sake.

“Yes,
Professor McGonagall and I are going straight to work on it today after classes
and are working on it until tonight,” she said as she recited a lax incantation
and what looked like steaming coffee poured from her wand. She took a sip and
sighed. “Have you started on yours yet? You were gone all day after we got back
Saturday,” she said. They really hadn’t seen each other yesterday due to Harry
being with Albus and in the library using his time turner most of the time. The
others opted for Hogsmeade.

“Yeah,
I’m done with it and it’s charged. Though I haven’t used it for anything besides
making nice jewelry,” he said grinning as he looked at his hand. The emerald there
showed bright in the flickering of the flames from the grate.

“You’re
done!” Hermione squealed in delight. Ginny jumped from her slumber looking
around wildly. Harry laughed at her before answering.

“Yes
I’m done. I used will magic on the shaft so I don’t have to carve it the Muggle
way, and I used one of my own feather from my Animagus form so I didn’t have to
put a lot into the charge. It’s the only reason I was able to make one,” Harry
explained at her delighted look. Ginny apparently had caught on now because she
was pulled her legs up on to the couch in an Indian style position and had a
look of anticipation on her face.

“Show
us,” she said bouncing. Harry rolled his eyes at the two giddy girls but held
out his hand and gave an odd wave while murmuring the incantation and the staff
grew to its proper height.

“Oh
Harry, it’s beautiful!” Hermione said getting up and walking around the staff
that was holding its self upright without the help of Harry. Hermione, like
Draco, reached out a hand to touch it.

“No!
Don’t touch it. Like I told Draco, I’ve used will magic to put the Signature
Restriction charm on it and it can only be handled by me until I die. I was
vague on what would happen if someone who wasn’t me handled it so please just
don’t touch it,” he instructed. Both girls looked thoughtful for a moment
before Ginny too got off the couch and began to walk around it as if appraising
it.

“Its
flawless Harry, what charms did you use besides the Signature restriction
charm,” Ginny asked.

“I
used the Unbreakable, Morphing, and the Lost and Found charms. I was going to
put an enhancing charm on the emerald, but changed my mind.”

“Why?”
Hermione asked as if she had planned on using it herself but wanted to know if
there was something that she should know.

“Because,
depending on the virtues of the jewel, it’d be dangerous to enhance some of the
magic if the magic also fits one of the virtues. For example, the emerald is
only green if pure, meaning your meaning is more often pure than not. It is the
jewel of love, healing, and contentment. Ancient Egyptians used to wear it to
promote those properties. If I used a healing spell, then the spell would
already be greatly more powerful than it would have with wandless magic or even
magic with my wand. If I put an enhancement charm on my core or on my jewel,
there’s a large chance of it becoming too powerful and the subject of the
healing may be too overcome with magic to heal properly and it may do some
damage that can’t be repaired,” he said also reciting what Dumbledore had told
him.

“Oh,
well, I guess I never thought of it like that. Do you think I would have a
problem if I used an enhancement charm on my core or jewel?” Hermione asked
thoughtfully.

“Well,
I wouldn’t think so, but I’d ask Professor McGonagall if I were you. In my
opinion, if you were powerful enough to charge a staff, you should have to use
an enhancement charm anyway, it’s mostly used for those who were barely able to
forge the staff.”

“Oh,”
Hermione said with a little uplift.

“Harry!
Is that yours?” Ron’s voice came from behind him. He didn’t have time to answer
because Hermione and Ginny started gushing about the details. Harry waited
until Ron had too rounded it and looked at it, after being given the warning
not to touch it, before he waved his hand and the staff morphed back into the
dazzling ring that it was.

“I’m
holding the first DA meeting tonight. Does that work with everyone?” Harry
asked. Everyone’s mood became ecstatic at the comment.

“class=SpellE>Oooo, what are we doing first?” Hermione said excited. She
knew he was getting private lesson from Dumbledore and was eager to know
whether he would be sharing some of the lessons with the group.

“I
really think we need to work on the Partonus before we move on to anything
else. We also need to talk about recruiting. After the Patronus is over, I’m
bringing in a Bogart so that you guys can practice the charm on it. Then I’m
hopping to get into some dueling. I want to see if the level of power on
everyone’s spells has increased over the summer. The DA lessons will also be
only half a session of practical practice I’m afraid. I also want to have them
all well versed in Occlumency. It has a great effect on ones magic,” Harry said
and reading from his friends faces, they didn’t mind the change at all. He knew
that they were both eager to learn Occlumency so they could hear the prophecy
and so they could charge their staffs.

class=GramE>“Great idea Harry. I’ll turn the Galleon for you and all you
have to do is show up to teach,” Hermione said beaming.

“Okay,
I have a free period first, so I’m seeing Dumbledore then to make up for the
time I won’t see him tonight and I’ll meet you for second period in Potions. If
you see Draco before then tell him I’ll see him in Potions as well,” Harry said
getting up and leaving.

As
soon as he left the fire side, the cold swept in on him again and he made a
detour to his Dorm room to get put one of his Weasley sweaters on. After
reattaching his cloak he made his way through the portrait and down the stairs,
which he had conveniently asked not to move until he made it to Dumbledore’s
floor.

“Blood
Pops,” he said to the gargoyle watching the stone creature spring aside.

“Come
in Harry,” Albus’ voice sounded from the other side of the door after he
knocked. He made his way in and into the chair sitting in front of the
headmaster’s desk.

“Morning
Professor,” he said pulling his cloak tighter around him.

“Good
morning m’boy,” Dumbledore said pulling out a small
tray from one of his drawers and placing it on the desk. He conjured several
kinds of Danishes and scones and offered some to Harry.

“Thank
you,” Harry said taking one.

“What
can I do you for this early in the morning?”

“I
was wondering if you had time now to have our session. I’ve been thinking and I
want to have the first DA session tonight so I’ll need the night off, but I
don’t want to cancel on you.”

“Of
course, I have a small meeting with Minerva but I’m sure she can fit in your
slot tonight.”

“Thanks,”
he said relieved that Dumbledore would change his busy schedule for him.

“Not
a problem. Now, I was planning on pushing your magic to the limits tonight and
giving you an opportunity to use your staff. Because this will be so
exhausting, we will only have a half lesson, and then we’ll come back here and
talk for the remainder of the time.”

“Okay,
what are we doing?” Harry asked now excited that he was going to both see how
powerful his magic really was, and he was going to be using his staff.

“We’re
reinforcing the wards. In light of Toms recinfainfatuation with you and I, we
need additional protection here at the school; so we’re going to be putting up
some wards that I’ve had in my personal library for some time now and hopefully
this is the last time I’ll have to use these wards,” Dumbledore said getting up
and retrieving a book from a shelf on the book case.

“I
first used this ward in the last war. It works like the Fidelius
charm. Other wizards will only know that the school is here if I tell them it
is. Otherwise, it will just look like an old ruin of some type,” he said
flicking through the book.

“But,
everyone already knows where the school is, even if they can’t see it, they’ll
know its there, right?” he asked furrowing his brow in concentration.

“Yes
in a way. This is how it works: If Voldemort were to show up tomorrow, after
the ward was up, he’s see the same ruin that Muggles do. If he were to enter
the grounds, he still wouldn’t be able to see the school or any students that
preside under the ward. So, if we see him soon enough, we could assemble an
army on the front lawn, and he’d never see one of us. He would have to
literally walk face first into the outer walls of the school before he knew
where the grounds actually ended and the school began. This would not be safe
for him. He could meet his death like this. If we had all the ministry
officials here, not to mention the staff, Order, and DA, then we would have
quite an army if he showed up. He’d never be able to see us,” Dumbledore
explained.

“So
it’s like an invisibility spell cast on the entire grounds? That seems like
some really advanced magic. I just learned how to cast the spell on myself,”
Harry said suddenly realizing how hard this was going to be.

“You
must also take into consideration that the smaller version, the one you know,
it means for living breathing people. Inanimate objects take to invisibility
much better than the human body does. It usually takes a good ten normal
wizards to be able to cast this type of ward, but since you have a staff I’m
only going to pull Professor Flitwick, Professor
Snape and myself to help you with the job. That’s the hardest ward, so we’ll do
it first so that we know we have the strength to put it up, then we’ll finish
the others on our own.”

Dumbledore
led the way out of the office and left Harry in the Entrance Hall while he
collected the two professors from the Great Hall. Harry read the book
Dumbledore left with him. Coming back out, Professor Flitwick
seemed overly cheery for some reason, and Snape seemed extra bitter apparently
for the same reason. Harry noticed that Dumbledore was carrying a goblet.

“Okay
Harry, we’re going to the westward part of the wards. They end just outside of
the last range on the other side of the lake. We’ll use a Portkey to get there
and walk back while the Professors leave with the goblet just after the first
ward is complete to get to their classes. Portus,” he
said pointing his wand at the goblet. It showed blue for a moment before going
back to its original state and Dumbledore picked it up.

He
held it out and they all placed a finger on it. Harry noticed that Snape put
his as far away as possible from Harry. Harry had the sudden urge to tease him
about catching cooties, but bit his tongue and grinned at the thought.

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