Harry Potter and the Secret Nurse

Chapter Twenty-One
Bad Brew

“Harry, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re actually looking forward to potions,” said Ron as he dragged his feet down to Hogwarts Dungeons, a dank and dark place to spend a nice summer morning.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and shook their heads, then Harry pulled a scroll out of the arm rest of his wheelchair.

“Okay, Ron, two things,” said Harry as he pushed up his glasses and unrolled a copy of their class schedule, “In case you forgot, SNAPE’S NOT HERE THIS YEAR, second, which is probably news to you since you never read the class schedule past when to show up, we don’t have Slytherins in our class this year.”

“GET OUT!” Ron perked up.

“Since we have a smaller class they put us in with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,” said Harry.

Hermione butt in saying, “So many Slytherins signed up for potions this year they put them in a class all their own.”

“Gee, I wonder why?” said Ron, “Little special treatment, wouldn’t you say?”

Hermione just shook her head, Harry tried to deflect the subject as he expertly learned to head off Ron and Hermione’s rows in advance.

“You know, this is the first year you’re in all my classes,” said Harry.

“You’d be in all of my classes if you took up Arithmacy,” said Hermione.

“Give up a study period for more math?” Harry smirked, “NOT gonna happen.”

“It’s a shame, I think you would have been good at it,” said Hermione who waved to a DA member she knew from Hufflepuff, “You mastered a computer program in your free time. How much math is there in AutoCAD?”

“You know, there’s something I never figured out, Hermione,” Harry speculated, “You always said you thought fortune telling was rubbish, but I looked into Arithmacy and it looks very much like fortune telling.”

“That’s a very two dimensional interpretation of it, Harry,” said Hermione who took on a familiar preachy tone, “Arithmacy is nothing more than the study of magical workings to calculate likely outcomes of present events. It’s no different than a Quiddich fan using statistics to figure who’s likely to win the next Quiddich Cup.”

“The French team,” said Ron, “They’re 14 – 2 for the season, they’ve only been outscored by the Netherlands but they have Labotouche as their seeker and have the lowest errors or penalties for the past three seasons in a row.”

Hermione just gestured to Ron in a \"See what I mean?\" look and she asked, \"What\'s you\'re accuracy rate?\"

\"85%.\"

\"That\'s a sight better than Trelawney!\" said Hermione.

\"Not as good as Fred and George,\" said Ron, \"As far as I know they have called every Quiddich Cup since I was a baby. I think they use rune stones or something.\"

Hearing Fred and George\'s name out loud caused a murmur among nearby students that quickly spread. Not only were their names reaching legendary status from their grand departure from last year\'s rule under Umbridge, but they had repeatedly made coverage in several magical rags, and just this week had a photo as a pair of \"unknowns\" hanging out with two supermodels in Teen People Magazine. Having a pair of wizards keeping a noticeable profile in a muggle magazine usually led to a scandal, but with Fred and George it was becoming a new standard in wizard/muggle exposure. It was obvious their mission had something to do with their immunity to wizarding laws threatening the exposure of their world. The response from the ministry was in character but non-threatening to say the least.
Harry wanted to change the subject, he didn\'t want to jeopardize a mission of the Order\'s of course, but at the same time he was just really tired of such vapid fame. It seemed like every sixth and seventh year girl who never would have given Fred and George the time of day suddenly discovered just how charming they were as they all gossiped over celebrity columns in the school hall. Ron was just as aware of this himself, and was far less restrained from getting vocal about it.

\"Skanks,\" he muttered as they passed Parvati Patil with a bunch of girls giggling around a copy of the Daily Prophet.

\"You have no reason to be jealous, Ron,\" said Hermione.

Ron spotted Luna heading towards him and he said, \"Who the hell is jealous?\"

Hermione was worried about openly showing affection in the school halls (as there was a pre-Umbridge Hogwarts rule about it) but Ron showed no apprehension at all at greeting Luna with a big hug and a daring kiss on the lips. Hermione heard a Ravenclaw girl comment that Luna stopped carrying her wand over her ear because it kept poking Ron in the eye every time she kissed him.

\"Hi lover,\" said Luna, \"I just came down here to get my dragon hide gloves, see you at lunch?\"

\"Be there,\" Ron said cheerfully.

Another kiss and a slap on the behind sent Luna on her way as sixth year girls just gawked at them.

\"What are you looking at?\" Ron asked as he pulled back his robe to expose his prefect\'s badge, \"No lounging around the halls. And put that rag away, Parvati, or it\'s five points from Gryffindor. Don\'t think I wont tell.\"

\"Well, you\'re in a good mood all of a sudden,\" said Hermione, \"Curious about our new potions master?\"

Ron said as he straightened his robes before entering the class, \"She dresses like a vampire, she’s tattooed like a biker and is head of Slytherin, not much to be curious about. Let’s show this bitch we can brew.\"

Harry looked to Hermione with his eyebrows raised, but Hermione chose not to retort.

“At least he’s enthusiastic,” she said and shrugged.

Unlike many times when Harry arrived to the Snape’s class where it was empty and students had to wait obediently for their potions master to arrive, this potions master was already at the head of the class. Looking closely Harry noticed Professor Gully was not wearing any of her ornate jewellery including her earrings. She was wearing a heavy smock and gloves, and obviously came prepared to work. For a moment Harry felt disappointed the Professor would be wearing such unflattering attire, then he figured he better drop those feelings promptly. Then he saw Cho, and wondered how she got in the class without him noticing, he figured she must be ducking him.
The Professor called out for everyone to go to their lockers and get dressed in their proper garb, and (catching most students by surprise) saying not to forget their wands. Hermione was immediately impressed, realizing she must have meant to instruct them on spelled potions, the most difficult to master. Harry just wheeled his chair up waited by his usual spot and waited for Ron and Hermione to join him. Neville was already there, dressed and looking thoroughly intimidated by the Professor approaching them.

“Did you need assistance in getting changed Mr. Potter?” asked Professor Gully as she looked down at Harry in his wheelchair.

Harry looked up and just said, “I’m okay.”

Harry had another silver bracelet that he bought after his costume. He pulled it out from his shirt pocket and put it on. Three taps and he was in his working garbs, dragonhide gloves and all.

Gully raised an eyebrow and asked, “Masquerade talisman?”

“Yes ma’am. It’s pretty hard to get changed when you’re stuck in this thing,” Harry said and he slapped the armrest of his chair.

“What’s the other one for?” asked Gully as she pointed to Harry’s second bracelet.

Harry looked at it awkwardly for a second and said, “That’s... uhm, my dress robes.”

Gully didn’t bother to ask why would Harry need that and observed Hermione and Ron joining them, standing next to Neville like a battle ready troop.

“So, this is ‘Team Potter’ I’ve heard so much about,” said Professor Gully, “Formed your own remedial potions class in the House of Black this summer.”

“We had some catching up to do, ma’am,” said Harry.

“Catching up,” said Professor Gully as she sighed, “I happened to have worked in that lab as an apprentice for the Black family, Mr. Potter, and I have to say that students of your age and calibre of skill would have been lucky to have known that place even existed, let alone work in it.”

“My calibre of skill seemed to be good enough for Professor Snape to upgrade my OWL from an Exceptional to an Outstanding,” said Harry.

“Right,” said Gully as she regarded them all for a moment, making Neville as nervous as Snape ever did, “I think I better split you all up.”

Gully insisted that they sit apart, pairing Hermione up with a Ravenclaw girl, Neville was paired with a shy bespectacled Hufflepuff girl named Cimm, and Ron was happy to be with Dean Thomas. Harry was a little shocked and felt extremely awkward to find he was paired with Cho. This was a confrontation he felt just couldn’t be put off any longer, it wasn’t as if he could spend two hours working with Cho and not talk to her. Together they felt like they just couldn’t be the first to bring anything up while Professor Gully started the lesson, teaching them what ingredients they were to put in and how to spell them with their wands, practicing casting them on a common saline solution.

“If you get the solution to boil, you’ve done it right and can try it on a real potion,” said Gully, “Follow the instructions on the board and you shouldn’t have any problems. Once you’ve proven you can master this were going to try them you first NEWT potion before October.”

Harry whistled quietly and said, “NEWT potions before the end of the month? She’s not wasting any time.”

Cho wanted to say something, but again she just didn’t look like she could bring anything up.

“I heard about the wheelchair, I’m sorry,” said Cho.

“Don’t sweat it, it’s my fault,” said Harry, “I just didn’t listen to Dumbledore like I should have. I should have stuck with Occlumency and I would have been fine when Voldemort kicked.”

Cho reacted to the mentioning of Voldemort in the way people used to while he was alive, but there seemed to be something deeper there that Harry couldn’t figure out. He felt he would have to ask Hermione after this class to expertly deconstruct Cho’s feelings like she did last year. As Cho was about to start mixing ingredients in a cauldron Harry stopped her.

“We have to cook this one in a glass beaker,” said Harry.

“Why?”

“The ingredients react to metals,” said Harry, “Mixing this in an iron cauldron would cause a chemical reaction to the metal it’s made out of.”

“How do you know this?” asked Cho.

Harry simply shrugged and said, “Remedial potions.”

“I hear you’re living in London these days,” said Cho.

“In my Godfather’s old house,” said Harry, “He left it to me.”

“With Hermione?” asked Cho.

Oh Christ, here it comes, thought Harry. He figured mentioning his deceased Godfather would get her to drop the issue, but if she wanted to press and start crying again, it was all her own fault.

“Yeah, uhh, I guess you must know Hermione and I are dating,” said Harry, “I know I told you we were just friends, but we’re closer. I was just too stupid to realize it until last summer. Not to mention I was pretty distracted last year and-“

“I’m glad, Harry, I am,” said Cho as she looked away.

“You are? Oh, I’m glad to hear that I just-,” Harry stopped.

Harry saw Cho turn away to hide from view from the rest of the class. They were stationed near the far end of the class and Cho retreated behind an alcove near the student lockers in the back.

“Dammit, Cho, what’s wrong?” Harry demanded as he grew tired of Cho’s theatrics.

Cho tried to cover her persistent crying out of sight of the class and said, “Oh Harry, it’s me. I’m such a bastard.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I was so selfish last year, dating you just so I could- could relive some of my life with Cedric,” said Cho as she fought back the urge to cry, “I never paid attention to how hurt you were. This chair, I mean, it’s obvious you were in a lot of pain last year, and I just didn’t pick up on it at all.”

Harry comforted Cho as best he could, hoping no one else in the class would notice them but Harry could see Hermione looking over at him.

“Cho, a LOT of people missed how I was feeling last year,” said Harry, “By the end of that year after the ministry battle I was a wreck. I was stealing money from my uncle, I was getting drunk, I was even doing things to myself. I was hurting myself. Nobody knew.”

“Hermione knew,” said Cho.

“Hey, the only reason why she found out was because my cousin told her,” said Harry, “He was the only one who saw my drinking binges and me making myself sick.”

Cho started to cry out loud.

“Harry, I wish it was me, I wish I could have been the one who comforted you instead of-“

Harry wheeled forward and took Cho’s hands to comfort her. Not knowing what to say, Harry noticed Cho’s wrists, and saw they were covered in scars.

“Oh Christ,” said Harry.

As soon as Cho realized what Harry saw, she pulled her hands away and held them hidden in her robes as tried to cover her shame. Harry looked to make sure no one saw them and he forced himself forward and took Cho’s hands. Cho tried to resist but Harry easily overpowered her, as he looked closer he could see the scars were old, all of them, which meant Cho had not visibly cut herself at least since she arrived at Hogwarts.

“We’re going to see Professor Flitwick, NOW!” said Harry.

“Harry! No! It’s not what you think,” said Cho.

“I think it’s EXACTLY what I think, I went through this myself!” said Harry as he tried to pull Cho away.

“Harry stop!” said Cho, “You don’t understand. Flitwick already knows, I’m seeing help. I’ve been going to a councillor since last year.”

Cho rolled up her sleeves to show them to Harry, all the scars on her arms were old, very old. Some of them had almost faded completely.

“Last year before I started going out with you I was doing this to myself,” said Cho, “But those DA meetings taught me how to empower myself, and I had the courage to see someone about this.”

“When?”

“After our date in Hogsmead,” said Cho, “Flitwick saw me crying in Ravenclaw Tower and... well... he has a way of getting through to people. He got me to secretly see an off campus councillor almost right away.”

“How the hell did he get you out of Hogwarts right smack in the middle of the High Inquisitor’s reign?” asked Harry.

“I can’t tell you that,” said Cho, “I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone, even people closest to me.”

“Are you still going to this councillor?” asked Harry.

“Every week,” said Cho, “By the way, I think you should know she asked me something.”

“Yes-?”

“She asked me about you,” said Cho, “I think she intends to see you.”

That made Harry think, then he took Cho’s hand and led her back to their station to work on their potions. Hermione looked at Harry like she wanted to know what was going on but Harry subtly waved her off mouthing “look busy”. Their behaviour had finally gotten the attention of Professor Gully and Harry got busy putting the potion together and started the burner.

After waiting for it to cook a while Harry asked, “So... what happened to Marietta? I haven’t seen her this year.”

“She dropped out,” said Cho.

“Get the fuck outta here!”

“MR. POTTER! That language will not do in this class!” called out Professor Gully, “That’s ten points from Gryffindor, see me after class for detention.”

“Ah sh- shoot, sorry Professor,” Harry apologized.

“See that it doesn’t happen again,” said Gully.

Harry tried his best to look busy as Cho explained, “Her mother pulled her out of the school after that incident where she was so humiliated from Hermione’s spell. Marietta felt she just couldn’t face anyone here after she had betrayed them to Umbridge. She’s under private tutelage and will challenge the NEWT exams on her own next year.”

Harry didn’t respond to that, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel that Marietta’s dropping out must have had something to do with Umbridge being outcast. Now with the Inquisitor gone, Marietta could not hide behind the biggest bully in the schoolyard anymore. Her shame was brought on by her own cowardice, and although Harry felt that way, he couldn’t help but pity her at the cost she had suffered. Losing Hogwarts was losing a lot, and Harry couldn’t imagine himself being in her shoes at all, so he resisting making any retorts about her deserving it.
Harry interpreted Cho\'s frankness about Marietta leaving Hogwarts as an acceptance to the fact her friend made a mistake last year, and she made no effort to defend Marietta\'s actions, but at the same time Harry strongly believed he definitely should not go rubbing Cho\'s face in it. This was no time for opening wounds. It was time just to put Marietta and Umbridge behind them.
Harry threw himself into the potion he and Cho were brewing, and found that when he was able to concentrate on his work, he was getting to be quite adept to potions. Up to this point being a good potions brewer simply meant being good at following instructions. Add so much ingredients, at such a time, and cook and stir at set pre-determined rates. Follow instructions and you\'ll do fine, a muggle could practically do it. Now that they were spelling brews, a rather esoteric element had been introduced that required a certain \"artistic flair\" as Snape put it, when he assessed Harry\'s efforts last summer.
Cho let Harry try spelling the brew first, simply because she wanted to see how it was done right. Gully encouraged students to get a little creative, as casting spells at certain degrees would alter the brew\'s colour and manipulate the shape its mist created. When finished they would have a brew that would create lights and colours and smells that did little more than entertain people. This was a good potion to experiment on as it was nearly impossible to damage anything with it. At the end of the class Professor Gully went around from station to station, assessing people\'s efforts and admired Harry\'s artistic creation hovering in a silvery mist above his glass beaker.

\"That\'s an excellent stag,\" said Gully, \"How would you know to create such a magnificent beast with such great detail, Potter?\"

\"He\'s a close friend of mine,\" said Harry as he admired his recreation of Prongs.

\"What\'s that to the upper right of him?\" as Gully as the pointed to other parts in the mist.

\"That\'s a horsey, that\'s a ducky,\" said Harry.

\"Maybe you should stick with what you know,\" said Gully.

Gully went around assessing other people\'s artistic creations. To no surprise most male teams like Ron and Dean\'s made images of Quiddich playing, Neville and his partner Cimm made a nice flower that snapped at people, and Hermione and her partner made a rune stone creation that looked like one of the monoliths from Easter Island, with the exception that it spoke. When class was dismissed Hermione quickly passed Harry as he braced himself for speaking with Professor Gully for his detention. They only made brief eye contact as they seemed to psychically communicate they would see each other at lunch after class. When all the students were gone, Gully approached Harry not looking at all like the boiling tower of fury Snape always was when he handed out detention. However, her cold and unfettering calm was somehow almost as intimidating.

“Mr Potter, about your language-“

“I don’t have any excuses, Professor, it’s my fault,” said Harry.

“This is not the kind of behaviour I expected from your first day,” said Gully.

“I think it has something to do with spending the summer away from any supervision,” said Harry, “To be honest, we’ve been swearing like sailors all summer long and it has just gotten to be a nasty habit. I believe it’s time to reign it in.”

“And yet without parental supervision you decided to put together your own remedial potions class, and upgraded your OWL’s all on your own,” said Gully.

“It felt a shame to let the lab go to waste,” said Harry.

Gully sighed, as though looking introspectively and said, “I felt the same way, trust me.”

“When did you work there?” Harry asked daringly.

Professor Gully looked to Harry for a moment like she was going to open up to him, but then her face turned cold again and she started taking her gloves off.

“I don’t think now’s the right time to tell you,” said Gully, “What I need to talk to you about is your afternoon tutelage.”

“Oh, am I in some remedial class?” asked Harry, “I saw that in my schedule last summer and never straightened that out, no one knows who’s going to be teaching me what.”

“You’re not going to be taught, Harry,” said Gully, “You’ll be the one doing the teaching. You’ll be tutoring a remedial potions class to make up for some rather lackluster potion efforts from previous years. I arranged a curriculum for you to teach.”

Gully handed a stunned Harry a scroll and he just looked down at it and asked, “You... I’LL be teaching a class? But I’m only a sixth year.”

“Well some people feel that after your formation of the DA, and your own successful efforts in assembling a potions lab this summer that your skills are up to handling a remedial class,” said Gully.

“Well, a lot of that success in the potions lab was due to Hermione,” said Harry, “I think she must be more qualified-“

“Ms Granger has other obligations,” said Gully, “Her Arithmacy class is this afternoon. You have a free period. Besides, there’s more to teaching than just being clever about the subject. A lot of people think you have a natural talent, so you’re teaching remedial potions this afternoon.”

“Right then, I’ll do it,” said Harry, “But, what about my detention?”

“Teach the class an hour longer than scheduled,” said Gully, “They’re going to need it.”

“Ooookay, do you think they will stay an hour longer if you ask them to?” asked Harry.

“They better,” said Gully, “They’re Slytherin.”

Looking back to when Snape visited his potions lab, Harry remembered what Snape said right after he upgraded Harry’s OWL’s to Outstanding. “Don’t thank me, Potter, I didn’t do you any favours.” Now he knew exactly what Snape meant by that. The chair was wheeling Harry into the great hall for lunch as he seemed to be in too much of a state of shock to move himself anywhere. Hermione noticed Harry\'s dishevelment and figured he was just being a drama queen about his detention.

\"Harry, we need to speak about our language-\"

\"FUCK ME!\" Harry blurted out.

\"Harry!\" said Hermione as she put her hand over Harry\'s mouth and looked to the teachers table to see if any professor heard them, \"That\'s exactly what I\'m talking about!\"

\"What? Oh, you\'re right,\" said Harry, \"I\'ll get back to that, it\'s just I got a saddled with a rather nasty responsibility for this afternoon, well every Wednesday afternoon-\"

\"Just how bad is this detention?\" asked Hermione.

\"Stuff the detention,\" said Harry, \"I\'m teaching a class.\"

Hermione was just completely stunted in her tracks gave Harry a dumbfounded expression he had never seen before, and probably would have made him laugh his head off at any other time.

\"You\'re a teacher?\" Hermione asked exasperatedly, \"Well... now you really have to learn to watch your language.\"

\"Will you forget that for a second?\" said Harry, \"I\'m not REALLY a teacher, I\'m a tutor, and I\'m tutoring a whole class full of SLYTHERINS!\"

\"A whole class full?\" asked Hermione, \"A tutor is only supposed to teach one or two at a time.\"

\"And I\'ll be stuck in a whole class full of sixth year brutes,\" said Harry, \"Twice a week! Today and Fridays.\"

\"Hmmmm, Crabbe and Goyle and their lot must have really fallen behind,\" Hermione speculated, \"Not surprising when you think of it, really. No wonder they were put in a class all their own. They\'re BEHIND our class. What\'s the detention, by the way?\"

\"I have to stay an hour longer with them today,\" said Harry, \"Seems fitting, it\'ll probably take an hour just to get Goyle to set his cauldron up without getting his head stuck in it.\"

Before Harry could launch into a rant he was interrupted by Hagrid who came up to them, looking happy and on the edge of tears. He was holding something in his hand and Harry recognized that Hagrid wanted to show him something very important.

\"I feel so proud to give this to you, ‘arry,\" said Hagrid as he gave Harry a ring filled with brass keys on it.

\"What is it?\" asked Harry, who was instantly overcome by curiosity.

\"Those, are the keys to Umbridge\'s old office,\" said Hagrid.

\"...Why are you giving me this?\"

\"Well no one else wanted it, for one reason,\" said Hagrid, \"The other since you\'re a tutor now you\'re entitled to your own office. Well, you\'re only supposed to get a desk, but it seemed a shame to put that room to waste and since I\'m still keeper of keys at \'Ogwarts- well...\"

\"What\'s this other key?\" asked Harry.

Hermione jumped in going, \"That\'s the prefect\'s bath. Hogwarts tutors get prefect privileges. But, Hagrid, that looks just like the key for the girl\'s bath.\"

\"The keys are the same for both the boys and the girls, always have been,\" said Hagrid, \"Since prefects are supposed to be on their best behaviour an’ all it never really was an issue about keeping the boys and girls apart. Except for that one year when- well... maybe I\'ll just leave ye\' with that. Good luck, ‘arry, we\'re all very proud of you at the teacher’s table. Maybe someday you\'ll be eating there with the rest of us.\"

Harry was a little stunted himself as Hagrid wiped away a tear and returned to the teacher’s table. Wondering how he should feel about this honour, Harry remembered-

\"The floo network is in that office, and we\'ll have it to ourselves,\" said Harry as he began to think deeply, \"Do you know what I would have done to have gotten this key last year?\"

\"You couldn\'t have gotten it from Hagrid, that\'s for sure,\" Hermione remembered, \"He was on the run by the time we tried to sneak into Umbridge\'s office.\"

\"I just realized, this probably just isn\'t for the Slytherin class,\" said Harry, \"It\'s those DA classes as well. I wonder what they\'re expecting of me?\"

\"You\'re practically a staff member,\" said Hermione as she turned her attention to her lunch, \"They should give you a salary.\"

Harry wheeled his chair to face the table and began to eat, feeling very distracted.

\"I\'m going to need your help putting together a curriculum,\" Harry said with his mouthful.

\"Sure thing, professor,\" said Hermione uncharacteristically talking with her mouth full, \"But, you know, I just want to admit, there is something I\'m a little miffed about.\"

\"What?\"

\"You made class tutor before I did,\" said Hermione.

While Harry ate he pulled out his key ring and removed a copy of the key to Umbridge\'s office, of which he had two, and gave one to Hermione.

\"If you want Friday\'s class you can have it,\" said Harry.

Hermione said she would think about it, and pointed out that they still had to assemble the DA for this year. She told Harry that while he would be in \'detention\' with the Slytherins she would gather the schedules for all Houses, and after class schedules and leave them in his office. Harry just shook his head and agreed with Hermione. His legs were bothering him again, madly twitching away so intensely he could actually see his thigh muscles quivering under his robes. Over his right shoulder he could see Tim eating merrily with his friends. He was a little disappointed that Tim didn\'t come over to say hello, he just seemed to be so involved with his friends in Slytherin now. The hope that he would be eager to pack up and leave Slytherin for Gryffindor (or any other house for that matter) seemed to have all but faded away completely.
Ron\'s colourful reaction to Harry\'s telling of how he would be spending his afternoons teaching Slytherins convinced Harry that Hermione was right about something.

\"Look, things were pretty loose last summer, but we need to watch the swearing,\" said Harry, \"We\'re in Hogwarts now. I\'m a tutor, you\'re prefects. We\'re all members of DA. I think we need to arrange something.\"

\"Like what? A swear jar?\" asked Ron, almost ready to laugh at the idea.

\"How about a little higher stakes than that?\" said Harry, \"If any member of the DA swears one of the big seven, or any variation of which, that person has to buy drinks for the next Hogsmead weekend.\"

Hermione smirked and said, \"I could cast a spell-\"

\"NO e\'ffing SPELLS!\" said Harry, \"What people say on their own when no one is around is their own business, I\'m just saying the DA should be holding a little higher standard around the professors and other students. Including when we\'re just with other DA members.\"

\"Can we restrict this to Hogwarts grounds?\" asked Ron.

\"RON!\" went Hermione.

\"What? I just don\'t want my whole life policed by this.\"

\"Fine! Fine! We\'ll keep it restricted to Hogwarts grounds,\" said Harry, \"But that doesn\'t mean I want DA members to feel free to get drunk and pick fist fights at the Hogs Head.\"

All the other male members of the DA laughed out loud saying that pretty much ruined their plans for the next weekend. Ron suddenly felt a little serious about the bet after agreeing to it, realizing that whoever lost could stand to lose a substantial amount of money, and he wanted an official decree drawn up by Hermione as that what exact words were banned and where. He didn\'t want to get nailed for saying \"Drat\", \"Jeez\", or \"Pratt\" in the school halls. He did think Hermione was overdoing it a little by including \"Damn\", \"Bastard\", and \"Bloated pisstank\" onto the banned list. Hermione was still insistent she could use a spell to see if anyone cheated, as long as everyone signed it, but everyone rejected that idea after remembering Hermione\'s \"Sneak\" contract from last year.

\"This is done strictly on our honour, we\'ll leave it at that,\" said Harry.

After Harry waved good-bye to everyone from Gryffindor, and kissed Hermione, he was preparing himself for the afternoon feeling in less than a good mood when Tim came up to him.

\"Hi Harry, I hear you\'re a teacher now,\" said Tim.

\"Uhm... well... I\'m a tutor and-\"

\"Is it true they gave you your own office?\" Tim asked excitedly as he looked to his friends.

Harry could tell Tim wanted to impress his classmates from Slytherin and he wasn\'t going to let him down.

Harry held up his keys and said, \"Office of the former head of Hogwarts, Umbridge\'s old digs. It\'s got a floo network and everything.\"

Tim said good-bye and as he walked away Harry could hear him saying proudly, \"That\'s Harry, he\'s my big brother. He\'s fought dragons and demons and Death Eaters!\"

As Tim and his friends skipped away for their afternoon classes as Harry couldn\'t help but feel better, a lot better. In his resolve to face the inevitable, Harry used that good mood to face the Slytherins. Their class was an obscure room on the ground floor near the greenhouse, as the dungeon remained reserved for Professor Gully. The cauldrons were second-rate tin bottom cookers that hardly classed with what Harry had gotten used to at his own potions lab. They were, however, suited for at least cooking OWL potions. It was just a little more pleasant than a dungeon, as it had some windows, but the undersized desks, baby blue and pink stained glass gave a definitive air that this was the \"special class\".
It started when Goyle opened the door and looked in. For moment, he looked around, thinking he must have entered the wrong room. Then he gestured to other Slytherins behind him this must be the place. Harry sternly held his ground in his wheelchair, making no expression at all as they filed into the room.

\"You?\" called out one Slytherin boy who looked like he might have been held back from seventh year, \"They must be mad to think you can teach us anything.\"

A round of Slytherins retorted disgusted remarks and Harry had to speak over them.

\"I have no power to force anyone to stay,\" said Harry, \"You want to leave, there\'s the door. If you\'re interested in achieving your NEWTs, I recommend you stay.\"

Millicent Bulstrode cut to the front with a snotty look on her face and said, \"You were in our class last year, I heard you barely scraped through potions yourself! What makes you qualified to teach?\"

While Crabbe and Goyle acted intimidating as Slytherins were used to, they had increasing grown oblivious to one fact Harry was going to capitalize on. They may have been physically intimidating in their early years at Hogwarts, but during recent years puberty had just not been that generous with them. Harry wheeled his chair up to a desk and pointed to Crabbe.

\"You, up front,\" said Harry.

Crabbe lumbered his squat frame forward, trying to pretend he wasn\'t intimidated by Harry but looked apprehensive. Harry rolled up his right sleeve and put his elbow on the desk with his hand up.

\"Arm wrestle,\" said Harry.

Crabbe guffawed out loud a little. His wrist and forearm were nearly twice the thickness of Harry\'s, but Crabbe was all bulk. As Crabbe gladly sat in front of Harry with his arm up, Goyle watched them line up while standing to Harry\'s right. He could see that when Harry\'s arm was bent up, his upper arm bulged outwards to a thickness comparable to Crabbe\'s, but as Crabbe was all bulk, Goyle could tell from the pure sinewy forearms Harry was solid muscle. He knew Crabbe was not going to win this battle. Harry just took his hand slammed it firmly down on the desk in less than a second.

As Crabbe held his wrist he looked at Harry and asked, “How’d you do that?”

To gain the respect and attention Harry took a gamble with a lie and said, “Strength potion. Does anyone here know how to brew strength potion?”

No Slytherins raised their hand, except for one, who kind of raised his hand half-heartedly, thought about it for a second, and then lowered his hand again.

“Right, we start with the basics, today I’m going to teach you how to make a strength potion,” said Harry, “It’s an OWL level spell, so if you master that and upgrade your marks, you can move onto NEWTs. Let’s go.”

Goyle wasn’t fooled. He knew if Harry actually brewed a strength potion there would have been some kind of smell in the class, but it was obvious no one had brewed anything in that room for ages. He remained quiet, and afraid as he set up his cauldron. Harry might teach them, but he also might learn a lot more than he was counting on.
Just like a regular potions class, Harry set up his cauldron at the front in front of a large black board and listed ingredients on the blackboard and the instructions. Harry kept his notes from the previous year, which were copied from Hermione so he had confidence they were accurate. Strengthening potion was a rather simple potion as OWL’s went, so it was a good starting point. As Harry went around to study each cauldron, the Slytherins were treating him with their usual cold manner, but at the same time, there seemed to be an extra tension in the air he just couldn’t put his finger on. It was more than just being resented by being tutored by Harry, he was sure of it. Maybe they were aware that obviously Harry was going to use this as an opportunity to pump them for information about Malfoy and they were being defensive.

Harry noticed Crabbe had made and awful mistake and went, “Crabbe, I said to use ginger root, not garlic root, what have you done?”

Crabbe just couldn’t respond and exchanged an odd glance with Goyle.

Harry pointed to the blackboard and said, “I have the ingredients right there on the black board, what’s the matter? Can’t you re-?”

Harry caught himself right in mid sentence. Something hit him, hard, as he flashed back to events of almost four years earlier. In their second year Ron and Harry had taken a polyjuice potion to disguise themselves and Crabbe and Goyle, but Harry had forgotten to take his glasses off when he went to Slytherin Tower, and Draco noticed him.

“Crabbe, Goyle, Where have you two been? Pigging out in the great hall all this time?” said Draco who approached them, then just as he got up close to Harry disguised as Goyle he asked, “Why are you wearing glasses?”

Harry quickly removed them and had to think of something so he said, “Uhm... reading.”

“Reading?” Draco said as he pouted his lips in a surprised and impressed expression, “I didn’t know you could read.”

Harry looked up at the group of Slytherins who in turn were all starring at him.

“Good God,” thought Harry, “They don’t know how to read.”

Instantly, Harry shifted gears and called out for everyone to stop what they were doing and clear out their cauldrons, they were all going to start from scratch. He insisted they all move their desks into a circle around him and Harry used his wheelchair to back up his station and push into the centre.

“You’re all going to watch me and copy what I do, EXACTLY” said Harry.

The first thing Harry did was erase the blackboard behind him, then as he introduced each new ingredient he turned around and wrote it on the blackboard, one at a time, insisting the Slytherins also write it down, being very careful as to how each word was spelled going over it one letter at a time.

“Then you add powdered mulch,” said Harry as he wrote it out in capital letters, “M – U – L – C – H.”

Then he made sure everyone was copying his motions precisely, and corrected them on little things such as what was the difference between clockwise and counter clockwise stirring. By the end of that class, Harry was sure every cauldron in that room had a decent strength potion. He looked at his watch and wondered where the heck did three hours just go? Harry called for ladles up, and dismissed the class. Everyone left feeling as though they were punished and couldn’t wait to leave, but Goyle lagged behind and waited until he was left alone with Harry.
Harry was gathering his things to his wheelchair but had trouble reaching around the back to put his books and notes into the basket under the seat as his robes got in the way. Then Harry noticed the tall lumbering Goyle walking up to him, looking odd.

“I know you beat Crabbe yourself,” said Goyle, “You didn’t use a strength potion.”

“How do you know?” asked Harry.

“There’s nothing that’s been brewed here before we started,” said Goyle.

“I could have made it before coming here,” said Harry.

“It turns your lips blue,” said Goyle.

Harry nodded, “You do know potions. At least as much as you could without-“

Harry trailed off, then he asked, “How many?”

Goyle acted as though he didn’t know what Harry was talking about.

Harry pressed, “Goyle, I can keep my mouth shut. If you want me to help, I need to know. How many in my class can read?”

Goyle shut the class door, then he said, “Millicent reads good, two others are okay. I can read some but- “

Harry wheeled up to Goyle, looking serious, “My ward is in Slytherin. I’ll make you a bargain. I’ll teach you to read, I keep my mouth shut about this, you guys lay off Tim.”

“You’re not going to pull him from Slytherin?” asked Goyle, “We heard you-“

“Tim stays as long as he wants to.” said Harry, sounding not too convincingly reserved about it, “About my deal?”

Goyle thought for a moment, then he stuck his hand out to Harry, and like he never thought he would do in a million years, Harry shook it. Goyle’s grasp almost felt weak.

“Can you tell me about anything about Malfoy?” asked Harry.

Goyle shook his head no and quickly said, “We’re not supposed to-“

“Hey, Tim’s in that Tower,” said Harry, “I want to know.”

Goyle looked like he was grasping for words, he just didn’t know much.

“They keep him in the very top of the tower, where the headmasters used to stay,” said Goyle, “He doesn’t go to classes, and he’s kept under guard by Aurors up there all the time, and I mean CONSTANTLY. We never see him except when a few of us drop off class assignments for him.”

“Who sees him?” pressed Harry.

“Millicent does,” said Goyle, “But she never says anything about him. There just isn’t anything to say. He just sits up there under what Aurors are calling a “Suicide Watch”. Milly says Draco never talks. If he ever said anything, she would have told me.”

“Milly?” asked Harry with a raised eyebrow.

Goyle straightened up, as though regaining some dignity, “We’re going steady.”

In his head, Harry just thought, “Right.” but he said out loud, “Remember the deal. Do you guys have access to a computer in your Tower?”

“Yeah, a few, why?”

“I’ll have something for you all next week,” said Harry, “It’ll help. Trust me.”

It was a lovely warm and sunny late afternoon. Supper was still two hours away. Hermione was sitting on the grass facing the lake and working on rune sketchings in her lap after her Arithmacy class. It had been some time since she was able to just peacefully sit outside and enjoy the weather, especially at Hogwarts. Behind and to her left a little Harry locked down his wheelchair and climbed out of it. He was able to walk just enough to reach Hermione, then without even saying hello he laid down on the grass with his head in her lap.

Hermione looked down at him and said, \"Harry, you\'re like owning a cat.\"

Harry held up his wrist with the silver bracelet on it and said, \"That can be arranged. Speaking of owning a cat, have you seen Crookshanks, lately?\"

\"He hangs around Hagrid\'s hut a lot these days,\" said Hermione, \"I think he\'s made friends with Buckbeak.\"

\"I miss Buckbeak! We should go pay a visit,\" said Harry.

\"He\'s not corralled up anymore,\" said Hermione, \"Buckbeak lives in the forbidden forest. But Hagrid goes out to feed him all the time.\"

\"The forest,\" said Harry, \"Think he\'s been to see Grawp lately?\"

\"I noticed Hagrid\'s face isn\'t beaten black and blue,\" said Hermione, \"Grawp\'s behaviour must have improved. Or their relationship improved. Speaking of relationships, what\'s up with Cho back at potions?\"

\"She told me Marietta dropped out of Hogwarts,\" said Harry.

\"No sh-\"

\"DO YOU WANT TO BE STUCK BUYING BUTTERBEERS NEXT WEEKEND?\"

Hermione clasped her mouth shut and went, \"Sorry, shoot. I heard her mother was close to Umbridge. I wonder if that had something to do with it?\"

\"Maybe she didn\'t want to spend a school year with \"SNEAK\" written across her face,\" said Harry.

\"Oh THAT?\" Hermione brushed off, \"That should have worn off by July. Although I can\'t imagine the shame of betraying us would wear off as quickly.\"

Harry agreed and said that\'s what he was thinking as well.

\"So how did your class go?\" asked Hermione.

\"Is that what you really want to know?\" asked Harry, knowing Hermione too well.

\"Draco.\"

\"He\'s locked up in the very top of Slytherin Tower,\" said Harry, \"Where the headmasters used to stay.\"

\"I hope he\'s not afraid of heights.\"

\"Goyle said he\'s under guard from Aurors 24/7, under \'suicide watch\' he called it, \"said Harry, \"According to him AND his girlfriend Millicent Bulstrode-\"

Hermione let out a guffaw that spit all over Harry\'s face.

\"Hermione! EWW! Chri- Shi- Fu- EWW!\" said Harry as he wiped off his face, \"Just ew! Darnit.\"

Hermione was still guffawing and said, \"I\'m sorry. Imagine the kids they\'d have!\"

\"EWW!\" said Harry, \"Stop grossing me out! They\'d probably grow up to be nearly as big as Hagrid.\"

\"-And as ugly as Grawp.\"

\"Aw, that\'s cold, Hermione,\" said Harry, \"Cut it out for a second. I\'m trying to be serious! Draco hasn\'t spoken to anyone since he got here. The only Slytherin who\'s ever seen him is Millicent who drops off assignments for him. And Goyle told me according to her Draco never says anything at all.\"

Hermione raised and intriguing eyebrow and said, \"Maybe she says that because they\'re having an affair.\"

\"Woah! Wouldn\'t that be a scandal?\" said Harry, \"Wait, I\'m not in love with Draco, but he can do better than Millicent, don\'t you think?\"

\"While locked in a tower?\" Hermione speculated, \"I\'m sorry, she just strikes me as the type to take advantage of that. Cute little blond boy trapped all alone in a Tower, can\'t go anywhere, maybe shackled to a bed-\"

\"DO NOT put that image in my head! Thank you,\" said Harry, \"Is this Millicent\'s fantasy we\'re talking about or yours?\"

\"Millicent reads Anne Rice novels,\" said Hermione, \"I found a copy of Sleeping Beauty when I took her robes. It\'s really in character with her, if you ask me.\"

\"You\'re a little freaky when it comes to reading people,\" said Harry, \"By the way, I need to ask an enormous favour of you.\"

\"Just one?\"

\"Well, I need to ask two enormous favours of you,\" said Harry.

After Hermione asked what it was, Harry extended his hand to his wheelchair and caused his laptop computer to fling out to him and he caught it. Hermione was always a little weary whenever Harry did something like that so casually without explanation. Harry cued up some software he download/purchased from Amazon.

\"The first favour I need you to do is to go over the curriculum in this software package that teaches people how to read,\" explained Harry, \"I need you to substitute most of the words in it with words we use in magic and potions, including their definitions.\"

Hermione whistled and asked, \"What\'s the second favour?\"

\"I need you to NOT ask me why I\'m asking you to do this,\" said Harry.

Despite the fact Harry explained nothing, he knew Hermione would figure it out. She bent down and kissed Harry on the lips, again saying she was proud of him. For a while Harry just laid there while Hermione ran her fingers through his hair. She held his head, and for a while, she played with the thought of what he would look like as a blonde, shackled to a bed in a dark tower. Ron and a few DA members wandered up, also enjoying the weather. Ginny had taken off her school robes was apparently hunting for something with a small club while still wearing her school uniform. Hermione guessed she was probably looking for an ingredient for her fifth year potions class.

Ron walked up with his hands in his pockets and asked, “Hey mongheads.”

“I guess you’re in the mood to buy butterbeers this weekend,” said Harry.

“Wrong! Dean Thomas already blew it this afternoon when he dropped a beaker right in front of Professor Flitwick,” said Ron, “Once one DA member blows it the rest of us are in the clear until the next week.”

Hermione thought for a minute, then she said, “He’s right, we never made a rule for a second offender.”

“That’s right mates,” said Ron as he gleefully bounced on his toes and arched his eyebrows, “So fuck a duck up his ol’ ripe shitter!”

Hermione gasped, and Harry asked, “Can I see that charter you wrote, please?”

Hermione pulled it out of her school bag and Harry held it against his knees and borrowed Hermione’s pen.

“Let’s see, first offender buys butterbeers for the next Hogsmead weekend,” Harry read out loud as he added his own new line, “Second offender... gets a swift kick in the nads from an appointed grand high executioner... Ginny!”

“Yes sir!”

Harry pointed to Ron and ordered, “Whack his pee pee!”

Ginny saluted and started chasing her brother with the club. Ron ran, calling out to Harry that he was just kidding. She kept up the chase for a good long while, as Ron ran back and forth, his voice fading in and out begging for mercy, or a reprieve, as he passed Harry several times. It didn’t end until there was a “thwuk” sound coming from the other side of the hill, and Ron’s moaning could be heard. Cheerfully Ginny whistled past with her club over her shoulder and she went to the lake looking to bash hinky punks in the head for her brew.
Hermione looked at her watch and told Harry it was suppertime. Harry nuzzled his head into Hermione’s lap and said he was comfy. A hand in his ribs tickling him got him going so fast it was like he didn’t need a wheelchair at all. They passed Ron who was holding onto his groin and rolling back and forth in the grass. His moaning sometimes played back and forth from laughing as he was just trying to catch his breath.

“That’s... that’s... that’s not fair,” he breathed out.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be better by Friday,” said Harry.

“I better be,” said Ron, “Or... Luna will be pissed.”

Hermione gave Ron another kick in the sack, then caught up to Harry heading for the Great Hall. Ron gingerly hobbled in later, with a limp and a far more restrained sense of colour in his language. The DA was a little excited at dinner, the next day would be their very first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, taught by a full blooded Auror no less. Nearly all the members of the DA were fixing up to join the Aurors. The rest were definitely interested in boning up their skills to face Death Eaters if need be. Harry didn\'t let himself think of anything as morbid as how many of them would survive the war, he was just interested in getting everyone as far advanced in their skill as possible. He imagined at the end of his school year an army of Patroni charging out from Hogwarts to chase down Death Eaters and Dementors to the ends of the world. From several houses DA members gathered around the Gryffindor table hoping the DA classes would resume as soon as possible. Hermione said she was going over their schedules and should have something organized by next week.

Zacharias Smith came up chewing on an apple and said, \"I don\'t see what the point is. We\'ve got an experienced Auror to teach us now.\"

\"Nobody said you have to go,\" said Ron.

\"My point is,\" said Zacharias as he tried to be insistent, \"We\'re not trying to sneak around Umbridge\'s dirt-poor teachings from last year. Why should we risk being expelled forming another underground group this year?\"

\"Professor Bardwell insisted I reform the DA this year,\" said Harry, \"We have the Professors full consent.\"

\"I don\'t know about you mate, but that just sucks all the fun out of it for me,\" said Zacharias.

He tossed his apple core onto the table and left. Ron looked like he was ready to curse his behind muttering \"bludger-brained pratt\" under his breath.

\"Get him!\" said Ron, \"First it\'s too risky, then it\'s no fun. I\'d like to see if he thinks Bardwell is going to teach him how to produce Patroni in sixth year! What do you think, Harry?\"

\"We see Bardwell once a week,\" said Harry, \"As good as she is, even is she\'s the very best, I just don\'t think once a week is going to be good enough if we\'re going up against Death Eaters. I don\'t see anything wrong with a little extra practice, anyone else?\"

\"I don\'t know about you lot,\" said Neville, \"But I\'ve been practicing every spare moment I could find. I\'ve already been in the Room of Requirement three times this week. Another battle like the ministry and-\"

\"Is that how you got that shiner under your eye?\" asked Ron.

Neville sheepishly kicked his feet and said, \"A stunning spell rebounded on me.\"

\"Alright, now this is what I was worried about,\" said Harry, \"No supervision. Nobody trains without a partner? Got it? And I prefer to see groups of three or more if you\'re doing this in your spare time. We\'re learning spells that are dangerous, we have to exercise control or we can lose our privileges, not to mention a few limbs. Everyone got that?\"

\"Are you still in charge?\" asked Dean Thomas.

\"Until I see someone else appointed,\" said Harry.

\"Right, well I\'m in, and to hell with anyone who thinks it\'s a waste of time,\" said Dean, \"Considering everything that\'s happened to us the past few months, I think it\'s a matter of survival. If those bastards attacked the Hogwarts train, who says they wont come after us on a Hogsmead weekend or Diagon Alley?\"

\"Or right here,\" said Neville.

\"They wouldn\'t dare!\" called out Ginny.

\"If they do, let\'s make sure they face the hexing of their lives!\" said Harry.

When the DA gave a rustle of cheers, Harry looked over at the Slytherin table, not being able to help but ponder over what Hermione talked about last August. The Slytherins stood as much a chance of being killed off as everyone else on that train and had as much to lose. Stomach aches began to bother Harry, and distracted him from his dark thoughts. He wished he didn’t test the Slytherin’s strength brew for himself. He was certain he wasn’t poisoned, but considering their brews wore off almost as quickly as he tasted them, they were less than Outstanding skill.