Songbird

Chapter 6
Return to Hogwarts

Harry watched silently as Platform 9 ¾ started to fill with people: parents sending their sons’ or daughters off to school, younger siblings complaining about wanting to go to Hogwarts and students bidding cheerful goodbyes to their parents. At moments like these, he would wonder how his parents would have acted when he boards the Hogwarts Express. Would they be proud of his success, or would they be tearful with the thought of months without their son? He imagined his father secretly passing prank materials to him while his mother’s attention was turned away and telling him to send photos. His mother would hug him and tell him to behave while in school and to remember to take care of himself.

Shaking himself out of his imagination before he became upset, Harry decided to take a stroll through the train to see if Hermione had arrived yet, he was sure Ron haven’t, it’s impossible not to spot a sea of redheads. As he strolled through the Express he was stopped by several students, all of them inquiring if he planned on any Defense activities/clubs this year. After his success with the DA during Fifth year many had wanted him to continue during his Sixth year, but since the professor had been competent, he decided to focus on the inevitable meeting with Voldemort at the end of the year instead.

Now that he thought about it, he wondered how he had been so sure that he would clash with the Dark Lord at the end of the year? Not that he was wrong in his predictions, Tom Riddle had indeed planned on something that year, the Dark Bastard had taken a small contingent of his Death Eaters and had attempted to attack the small village by the school during a Hogsmead Weekend. Harry and his friends had been caught in the middle of the battle.

They did not lose any students, thanks to Harry and his DA but many were injured and some villagers had died before help could come, but the students were safe. Harry had ended up facing the Dark Lord one on one, but had survived the attack with major injuries that landed him in the hospital for two weeks. Voldemort had not been focused on killing Harry, but rather testing the defenses of Hogwarts and the Order of Phoenix and once again, it was sheer dumb luck that Harry lived.

The attack had been like clock work, following the plan: ‘at the end of every year something is bound to happen’, all Harry had to figure out was what it was going to be this year. But Harry could feel that the Dark Lord had something to prepare before he launched his attack, the reason why he didn’t strike until now, and that something is what worries Harry. He could almost feel the anticipation coming from the scar, the link to Voldemort, if he tried hard enough he might even get a glimpse of Riddle’s future plans. He had a feeling that what ever this is, it is going to be something that could turn the tides of war.

Until Harry could find out what Voldemort is up to though, he could do nothing but brew about it. As edgy as this all makes him feel, he would have to sit and wait, this was the reason he did not blame the Order for being as tense as they were. They didn’t even have the little hints that Harry could get from his scar; the anticipation for something, anything, to happen must be driving them insane. They all knew that a quiet Voldemort is not a good sign. That was probably one of the main reasons the Headmaster sent Professor Snape to train him this summer.

With the more depressing thoughts out of the way, Harry continued to search through the Express, hoping to find someone he knew.

“Hey Harry!”

Harry turned around at the voice and grinned, Neville had matured in the last year, ever since the Ministry incident. He slowly gained more confidence and courage; finally getting together with Luna had helped too.

“Hello Neville! how was your summer?” He asked.

“Great! Gran introduced me to one of her Master Herbologist friend and I’ve been invited to become his apprentice when I finish Hogwarts.” Neville said excitedly, “I’ve spent most of my summer in his greenhouse helping him with some research.”

Harry grinned, “That’s great! So you’ve finally decided on Herbology after Hogwarts?”

“Something like that, I’m planning on studying medi-wizardry as well.” His friend said enthusiastically, “I’ve been doing some research on my own, under Master Leander’s supervising, I’m currently attempting to improve some magical plants to increase their potency in healing potions.”

Harry smiled at the enthusiasm that Neville showed for his subject, “I’m sure you’ll be the best Herbologist in History, Neville, you’ll do great, you have a knack for the subject.”

As he talked to his friend Harry was secretly envious of Neville’s discovery of that the shy Griffindor, for finding his path after Hogwarts. Harry himself only ever thought to the end of the year, never knowing if he would survive his next encounter with Death. He wondered what he would do after Hogwarts, become an Auror? After all, it was the only thing he was good at: Defense Against Dark Arts. Of course, being chased by the most evil Dark Lord in over a Century is taken in as a factor for his competency in the arts. A year or two ago, he would have jumped at the chance to become an Auror, but now, he was not so sure, he was tired of fighting. If he ever defeated Voldemort, Harry decided in a moment of vindictiveness, he would find a nice deserted island and become a hermit, to hell with everything and everyone else. He deserved a well-earned rest!

“Anyways, Harry, a lot of people came up to me asking me if you planned on holding DA sessions,” Neville’s voice pulled him out of his day dream of a nice warm Caribbean island, “when I told them I had no idea, they asked me to talk to you about it.”

“I had people come up to me about it as well,” he admitted, “I’m not quite sure yet though, I mean, last year’s professor was alright, so I didn’t find the need to continue. I guess it all depends on who’s going to be teaching this year.”

Harry shrugged, “I would probably be rather busy though, it seems like Professor Dumbledore wants to kill me this year, I’ve received a letter telling me that I have three evenings a week of Potions with Snape. Since I only received an average of Acceptable last year, and I need at least an Exceeding Expectations to stay in the class since.” At least that was the excuse they were going to use, Harry thought to himself. Occluding lessons with Snape every other day for the rest of the school year, I’m going to die.

Neville winced, “I feel for you,” he said pityingly; “I would probably die a horrible death if that were ever to be the case.” Although the boy had gotten over most of his fear for the Potions Master of Hogwarts, he still didn’t like being in his general area. Neville, surprisingly, was accepted into the NEWTS level Potions, no one really knew how that happened and it was chalked up as one of the Seven Mysteries of Hogwarts.(1)

Harry laughed, “Let’s just hope he doesn’t use me in one of his potions.”

After that, they happily talked and joked about the types of potions Snape was likely to use them for, then slowly diverging into different subjects. By the time Ron and Hermione found them in the compartment they have already covered subjects such as: what colour Snape’s underwear was likely to be, the possible colours of Dumbledore’s underwear considering his absurd wardrobe, whether Dumbledore/Snape wore briefs or boxers (how the conversation became so bazaar, they would never know), the possibility that they would spontaneously combust if they ever found out versus the possibility that they would be scarred forever and finally, just before Ron opened the compartment door, if it was possible to die of exposure to materials that was guaranteed to scar the most hardened man for life.

Ron, Ginny and Hermione walked in to find both Harry and Neville laughing almost hysterically, both clutching their stomachs as if in pain. Harry was hanging on to the bars across the window to prevent himself from falling and Neville was lying sideways across the seat, both were laughing as if hit with a tickling charm.

“Whoa, who’s got them with the tickling charm?” Ron asked, sending both Neville and Harry into new bouts of laughter.

As Harry finally calmed down he motioned them to sit, “It’s nothing, we were just joking around” he grinned at Neville, who grinned back, “Anyways, how was your summer?”

Neville excused himself once the three were seated, “I need to go back and find Luna,” he said, “I’ll find you later Harry.”

Harry waved as he left and turned to look at his friends, “So, how was your summer? You sounded like you had quite an interesting vacation in your last letter, Hermione, how was China?”

Hermione jumped excitedly, “It was wonderful! The history and the culture of the country were just unbelievable.”

Hermione chatted for a time about how many things she learned in China and the places she had visited before turning to Harry, “How about you Harry? How has your summer been?”

It was then that Harry realized that he had never told his friends about the summer arrangements with Snape, he wondered uncomfortably, whether or not he should tell them, he should have asked Snape if he wanted it known that he was teaching Harry. Hermione would probably talk about how much he could learn under Snape’s tutelage and Ron would be split between disgust and jealousy, that Harry was getting special tutoring, but under Snape? Finally, Harry decided to withhold this information from his friends for now, he could always apologize for not telling them later but he could not unsay something once told.

“As usual, you know, working for the Dursleys and doing nothing but staring out my window during my free time.” He grinned ruefully at his friends, “Nothing special.”

“Poor Harry!” said Ginny, who had been quiet until now; she quickly slid over to clutch at Harry’s arm with a wide-eyed, pitying, expression, “That must have been awful!”

Harry stared at Ron’s sister in morbid fascination, what the? He looked up at Ron and Hermione, and glanced down again at Ginny as if to say ‘what the hell is this about?’

Hermione just shrugged and Ron was looking back at Harry with the same confusion and bewilderness that was reflected in Harry’s eyes. All the while Ginny gripped Harry’s arm in a way that seemed to say to anyone walking past, ‘he’s mine’.

If it had been before his debut at The Meadow, Harry would probably have been at lost as to how to react in a situation like this. But since rejecting possible suitors have become sort of a daily routine for the part time singer, he just calmly extracted the younger redhead’s hands from his arms and nonchalantly stood up. Walking to his trunk, he took out one of the books Remus had given him during the summer and went to sit down, this time in Neville’s vacated seat, between Ron and the wall as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Acting as if Ginny did not just attach herself to his arm like an octopi. Now, Ginny was seated beside Hermione and across from Ron, there was no way the younger Weasley could reach Harry without shoving either Ron or Hermione out of the way.

During Sixth Year, Ginny had often made subtle advances towards Harry, which he brushed off as some sort of imagination on his part. Now that she had made such and obvious move on him, he decided that the situation probably needed to be remedied and soon. Harry had thought that Ginny was over her crush on him after first year, while Harry had been in the DA they had interacted without the girl making any attempts on him and Harry thought that it had been the end of any of her romantic thoughts towards him. Apparently, he was wrong.

While he was no adverse to the younger girl’s company, she had always just been his ‘best friend’s sister’. He saw the Weasley family as something like his own and having a relationship with one of them was just disturbing in his mind. Glancing at his friends, he noticed that they had resumed a tense conversation, trying to act as it nothing happened. Ginny had a pouting look on her face as she eyed Harry; quickly he avoided her eyes and opened the book to start reading. This continued until they reached Hogwarts.

*****


Upon entering the Great Hall, Harry’s eyes immediately strayed towards Severus; he was seated, as usual, at the end of the table, once again in his formidable black robes. Harry realized that he rather preferred the Potions Master in casual clothing; with his hair tied back, in comparison to his current attire. Snape would probably sneer at the thoughts running though Harry’s mind right now, but he couldn’t help but recall the image of the Professor as he ‘gallantly’ rescued Harry from his uncle. At that moment, Harry thought might Snape looked like the male hero from some romance novel, come to rescue his damsel in distress. Although not classically handsome, Severus Snape could not be called ugly and his commanding presence more than made up it.

With a start, Harry realized just whom he was fantasizing about and mentally kicked himself. Severus Snape was not someone you had daydreams about! He was most definitely not best candidate for knight in shining armor either! With a groan of frustration aimed towards his disobedient mind, he face planted against the table, hitting his head against the solid wood while mutter “stupid”, over and over again.

On his nth hit he connected with a hand instead of wood and raised his reddened head towards owner of said hand to find Hermione looking at him in confused amusement edged with a little concern.

“You’ve just missed the sorting ceremony, Harry. What are you doing?” she asked incredulously.

He grinned sheepishly at his friend and said, “Yah, sorry, I just remembered that I had lessons with Snape every other day in the evenings for the rest of the year.”

Ron winced and patted him on the back in a consoling manner; “I would probably have resorted to slamming my head against the nearest hard object too, if I were in your position, mate.” Harry had to grin at scrunched up way Ron’s face was presented at the thought of spending more time than necessary with Snape.

Hermione just glared, “Oh, snap out of it Ron, he’s not that bad,” she abolished, “I think Harry could learn a lot from Professor Snape.”

Thus, the argument between Ron and Hermione ensued – once again. Harry realized, belatedly, that sitting between the two was never a good idea, while it was interesting to watch their verbal matches (not dissimilar to watching a ping-pong match), it was never a good idea to be the human wall between two ‘warring nations’. Quickly, he ducked his head incase their argument became more heated and Hermione decided to take a swipe at Ron. He looked up with pleading eyes at Seamus across from him and was rewarded with a shrug and a look that said ‘better you than me’.

‘Traitor’ he mouthed, only to receive a wicked grin in return.

Luckily, the Headmaster came to the rescue, he stood up, just as the argument was getting heated and called for attention. “Welcome! To another year at Hogwarts, for those of you returning, we are happy to see so many familiar faces. To first years, we hope that you will have a wonderful first year with us, feel free to ask for help from the prefects of your houses if there are any problems.

A few announcements before the feast begins, the Forbidden Forest remains forbidden, Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has added all Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products on the banned list, any students who are caught with said products with be subjected to detention with him. For those of you who would like to see the list, now reaching one thousand items, it can be found in Mr. Filch’s office. Also, a reminder that there is to be no magic in the hallways.

Before I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor I would like to issue a warning of caution, due to the situation with the Dark Lord, we request that no students are to be out after curfew and to travel in a group of two or more when you are out of the castle. That includes the Quidditch Pitch and the Lake. We also require that someone not in your group knows where you are going incase of emergencies.

On a brighter note! I would like you all to give a round of applause to Professor Remus Lupin, who has agreed to return to teach another year in the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Severus Snape will act as the substitute during the days which Professor Lupin is indisposed.”

Harry, along with many other students, some even Slytherin, stood up to clap enthusiastically towards Remus. The werewolf stood up smiled embarrassedly, giving the clapping students a small bow before sitting down again. The new students were quickly filled in on the curse of the Defense position and that, out of all the Professors who taught the position at Hogwarts; Remus Lupin was the best Professor.

“Since Professor Lupin is going to be the Professor this year, I don’t think we need to reinstate the DA.” Harry said to Neville, who was sitting beside Seamus. The teen nodded a bit disappointingly and Harry, feeling slightly guilty, came up with a brilliant idea, “But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a study group for the subject, I mean, it won’t be taught by me, but rather, everyone will chip in to what’s going to be taught the next meeting, how’s that?”

“That’s actually a great idea Harry!” Hermione said eagerly, “We can have each person ready something to teach to everyone, that way, they’ll only have to do research on one spell and if we have, say, ten people then we could learn ten different spells. That way, we can improve faster and go through more spells quicker.”

Harry smiled and looked at Neville who was grinning at the idea, this way, they didn’t have to rely on Harry and could help each other. “Let’s not restrict this to only our year,” he said, “we could do the same thing for other years as well.”

The idea planted in Hermione’s head, Harry watched as his friend pulled out a piece of paper and started jotting down ideas that could improve the study group. This way, even if he had sessions with Snape, he wouldn’t have to worry about coming up with ‘lesson plans’ for the DA, the group will become self maintained.

After the feast, they all trooped up to the Griffindor Tower, as they left the Great Hall, Hermione was still coming up with ideas and plans.

Harry bid his roommates goodnight and quickly entered into Morpheus’ arms, tomorrow promised to be a busy day.

*****


The next morning found Harry awake before anyone else; looking at the clock, he found that it was only 7. Knowing he would not be able to sleep again he decided to get ready and go down to the Great Hall for Breakfast and do some research in the library to find out more about his music. Since today is a Sunday, class did not start until Monday, he had the day to himself. While he would have loved to spend some time with Ron and Hermione, he was scared that Ginny would be there as well. Avoiding her seemed to be a good idea to Harry at the moment.

With that, the resident Boy-Who-Lived made his way down to Breakfast, several other early risers, mostly Ravenclaw, had arrived at the Hall and was alternating between eating and reading when he got there. As Harry sat down and got ready to eat, Hedwig swooped down to place a letter on his plate, who would send him a letter? Definitely not, the Dursleys, they would rather forget his existence, and to send a letter through an owl? Something this…abnormal? So then, who could it be? Absently, he stroked the owl while opening the letter. He grinned happily as he saw Professor Lupin’s handwriting:

Harry,

It seems like I haven’t talked to you other than through letters for a long time. Why don’t you come over and have tea with me at 3? Ron and Hermione are welcome to join.

Remus

Quickly he wrote a reply below the note: We’ll see you at 3. Harry. Before tying the note to Hedwig. He fed her a beacon from his plate before sending her off with his reply. By the time he finished Breakfast, more students had begun to file into the Hall. As he stood up, he saw both Ron and Hermione making their way to him.

“Hey guys,” he said as they sat down beside him, “I was just finished.”

“We didn’t see you when we woke up,” said Ron, while digging into his meal, “How long have you been awake?”

“Since 7, I couldn’t sleep after I woke,” Harry shrugged, “So I decided to come down to breakfast.”

“Where are you going now?” Asked Hermione.

“I have something I want to look up in the Library.”

“Aw, mate, the boys and I were planning to go to the pitch after breakfast. Why do you need to go to the library anyways?” Harry suppressed a laugh at the typical Ron reply.

“I have to do some research on something Snape gave me,” pushing the guilt away at lying to his friends he continued, “I have to meet him tomorrow evening and if I don’t finish it today, I’ll get detention, and seeing him three times a week, not including lessons is enough for me. More and we’ll end up murdering each other.”

Ron winced, “Better you than me I guess.”

Harry laughed, “If you’re free this afternoon around 3, Professor Lupin invited us for tea. Have fun on the pitch Ron.”

After securing their answers Harry made his way to the Library, when he arrived he saw that save for the few studious types, there was almost no one in. Given that it was a free day before classes officially started, he was not surprised. As he stared at rows upon rows of book, vaguely wondered where in the name of Merlin was he going to start.

After searching through book after book on anything that would link magic to music only to find nothing Harry was about to give up. He grumbled miserably as he placed the latest volume back on the shelf, but as he was about to turn away and leave, a small red book slipped between two volumes of ‘The A-Z Encyclopedia of Magicalpedia’ caught his eye. Shrugging he pulled out the book, Why not? One last book before I officially give up, he thought, his stubbornness propelling him to try one last time just so to satisfy his persistent curiosity. While curiosity did kill the cat, satisfaction, happily, brought it back again.

The book was simply titled ‘Lost Abilities’, it was a surprisingly plain and the title, simple compared to other magical books that Harry came across in his seven years, ‘Monster book of Monsters’, ‘Invisible book of Invisibility’ and ‘Most Potent Potions’ to name a few.

Flipping open the book, Harry quickly read through the index, the book went through a list of all sorts of magical abilities that had been lost through the ages, giving a few description of these abilities as it went. Finding this to be interesting, he moved to the introductions.

There are scarce few truly magical abilities left in the world in this day and age. Many of the more well known and mundane powers two to three hundred years prior the Great Magical Revolutions, such as telepathy and empathy are now considered rare and special. Abilities like Shifting, Shadow Walking and Weather Control are now considered to be no more than legends and myths in modern day Wizarding World.

Some say that the reason that these abilities are slowly dying out is because Wizards are loosing power, when compared to our predecessors who wielded staves and used wandless magic, we modern Wizards are only gross imitators of such powerful beings. Others argue that the infusion of muggle blood into the wizarding blood is causing wizards to loose power. While yet others argue that inbreeding in purebloods are starting to cause defects such as power loss.

This volume does not concern ourselves with the reason that these powers are disappearing; this book is simply a brief documentation of abilities forgotten by many.

Nicholas Flamel

Harry gave a start as he read the name of the author; he had thought that Flamel was only known for his workings in Alchemy. Although, considering that the ancient Alchemist was also a renowned scholar, Harry supposed that it made sense he would know about magical gifts. With a mental shrug, to push these ideas away for later though, Harry turned back to the index and searched through all the magical powers listed there, not really knowing what he was searching for. He couldn’t contain his excitement when, a moment later, he came across a chapter titled ‘Spell Singing’; this was what he had been looking for!

Barely able to contain his anticipation he turned to the indicated page and started to read.

Spell Singers are sometimes known as cousins or equivalent to the Celtic Bards, certainly their powers are said to have come form the same origin. Many believed that the Goddess Danu created and granted the powers of Spell Singing and thus, to date, many known Spell Singers were also Greater Bards of the Celtic Faith. Some say that some of the First Spell Singers were children born from the joining of a human and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann(2), and that perhaps all later Spell Singers were descendents of the First.

While Bards only have the ability to influence and manipulate magic through music in a small degree, Spell Singers have the ability to mold magic in the form of music and to create spells through their songs. They are said to be great Healers and casters of temporary wards and shields that are able to withstand a large barrage of magical attacks for a short time. Some people would liken the ability of Spell Singing to magic formed through the use of runes. Runic magik is mostly used in rituals, while many have power to use it, only actual Rune Mages can harness their true powers. (More on the topic in the chapter Runic Magiks p. 46)

While Spell Singing could be seen as such, it is most definitely not a form of Runic Magik. Runic magic cannot be altered once cast unless you are to physically change the Runes written/carved on the ‘source’ therefore; they are mostly used as protection wards or in rituals. Spell Singers are theorized to have the ability to change the spells ‘mid-flight’ and could weaken the foundation of spells being cast, but only those who have control over their abilities are able to do so. Unfortunately there is no actual documentation as to how they are able to do so or how their abilities are controlled.

Not much is known about Spell Singers, but it known that they are one of the few people whose abilities prevents them from forming actually Occlumency wards. Once again it is only theorized by researchers of ancient and lost abilities that the inability to form protection for the mind is due to the caster’s need to be open to all magic around them, else they would not be able to perform their Spells. It is then assumed, that since they lack natural barriers and therefore protection, that Spell Singers have their own methods to protect their minds against invasion.

Finally, the last documented Spell Singer was around four to five hundred years ago, one hundred years after the Great Magical Revolution.

Harry sighed and leaned back against his chair as he finished reading. This might be problematic, while he could not know for certain that this Spell Singing was the ability that he had, his instincts told him that could not be anything else. The biggest problem now was that there are no documentations of this power and all he could do to learn about it was to experiment. Quickly skimming through the part about Occlumency again, he wondered if he should tell Snape about what he learned.

Glancing at his watch, he gave a jump, realizing that he had missed lunch and it was now almost three, he was going to be late with his meeting with Remus. After signing the book out of the Library, under threat by Madam Prince that if he so much as damages a single page he would suffer unthinkable pain, he left of Remus’s room. When he reached the Portrait of a wolf guarding the new Professor’s rooms, he saw that Ron and Hermione had already arrived and were waiting for him before going in.

“Hey guys! I’m sorry I’m late. I got a little distracted in the library and lost track of time.” He smiled apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it Harry,” Hermione said, “we just arrived not long ago either. Do you want to knock?”

Hermione stood back as Harry knocked on the edge of the portrait, a few minutes later, Remus stood in the door way and beckoned them into the room. As Harry entered, he saw a large comfy couch near the fireplace and snacks laid out on the table before it. The room looked like the Griffindor common rooms, only not as bright, the colour scheme seemed to be a mix of earthy colours and looked very welcoming.

“So, Harry,” Remus said once they had sat down, “How was Professor Snape during the summer? I hope he wasn’t too unbearable.”

Harry winced, he still hadn’t told his friends about spending the summer with Snape, “Snape is Snape and he will probably always be Snape.” He answered indifferently, “We managed not to kill each other, and I’ll take that as a blessing.”

“Professor Snape, Harry,” Remus chastised, grinning.

“You spent the summer with Professor Snape, Harry?” Hermione asked, “I thought you said nothing special happened.”

Harry turned to his friends and suppressed a wince at the look on Ron’s face, his best friend looked like he was about to burst. “I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to tell you,” he tried to pacify them before Rob blew up, “I was going to tell you after I asked Professor Snape about it on Monday, I’m sorry.”

“So what did you do during the summer with the Professor then?” Hermione asked, curious.

Turning his attention to Hermione and hoping that Ron wouldn’t murder him in his sleep for keeping secrets he said, “Nothing much, I’ve been trying to learn Occumency but I’m still failing miserably. I think Snape seemed to have given up as well. Other than that, Defense and Potions, I guess. He’s been trying to drum potion knowledge into my head in hopes that I would retain something.”

“So you’ve been getting lessons and you never thought it important to tell us?” Ron said quietly.

Harry grimaces, “I was going to, honestly, I just thought I should ask first.”

“That never stopped you before,” Ron glared.

“And it lead to trouble!” the emerald eyed teen exclaimed.

“How is telling us what you were doing over the summer going to lead to trouble?” Ron nearly shouted.

“If I told you where I was and someone found out about it? I don’t know, all right? I just thought it safer for you not knowing.”

“Please, you two; stop.” Remus finally said, “I’m sorry you had to find out this say, but I think Harry is right.”

The Professor shook his head to stop Ron from speaking, “I assumed you had already known, but Harry is right, it would have been dangerous had anyone known his location.” Remus sighed, “It was safer for people not to know, and I know that Professor Dumbledore told only selected members in the Order about this arrangement. Other than Professor Snape and myself, I believe only Mad-Eye Moody and Professor McGonagall knew the details.”

Ron deflated after that, “You could have told us on the train mate.”

“No he couldn’t Ron,” Hermione said, thinking, “There was too many people who might have over heard and it might go to You-Know-Who if some of the children of Death Eaters heard. Then Professor Snape’s position as spy would be compromised.”

Harry sighed in relief as Ron finally acquiesced, “I’m sorry Ron, I really wanted to tell you, I swear.”

The red head smiled, “I forgive you, I’m sorry I was such an arse about it.”

They smiled at each other and the conversation turned to more lighthearted matter until it was time for dinner. As all three turned the corner to the Great Hall, they ran into Draco Malfoy.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” the Slytherin sneered, “three little Griffindorks.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “You need to think up more creative insults Malfoy; they’re getting old enough to make my grandmother fall sleep just hearing them.”

Malfoy glared, “Shut up Potter, you don’t have a grandmother, you don’t even have parents.” Then, he snickered, “Poor little Potty, orphaned and alone.”

“What ever Ferret, does it look like I care what you say?” Harry asked, “Come on guys, lets go.”

They left the fuming Malfoy in the corridor, “Good job Harry,” Hermione praised, “You handled that very well.”

“Yah mate! I never thought I’d seen Malfoy turn such and interesting shade of reddish purple.” Ron said as they sat down for dinner.

“Hi Harry,” Ginny smiled, she sitting across from him today, “What’s got all three of you so happy?”

Great, Harry thought, just what I need, Ginny advancing on me on the first day back. He really needed to talk with the girl and tell her that he had no romantic feelings towards her what so ever. Hopefully, after that, she’ll back off and go find people who are more interested instead of batting her eyelashes at me pointlessly. Pretending to be a woman for most of the summer had its effect on Harry, he was now immune to all forms of flirtations from a female. He wondered if that was a good or bad thing.

“We just ran into Malfoy as we were coming in,” said Ron, grinning happily at the image, “and Harry left the Ferret speechless and purple in the face.”

They had a good laugh at the expense of Malfoy and tucked into the food. Once dinner was finished, Dumbledore stood up to give some announcements before they headed up for dinner.

“Now that you are all full, there are a few notices that needs to be addressed before classes start tomorrow.” The Headmaster said, smiling down at the teenage faces looking at him, “There will be several non-compulsory classes held throughout this year; including Beginners Healing with Madam Pomphrey, Healing Potions with Professor Snape, Dueling with Professor Flitwick and Animagus training with Professor McGonagall. Please note that Professor McGonagall’s class is only open to Fifth year and above. Sign up for these classes will be available in the common room starting tonight. The classes will begin next week. Thank you for your attention, please proceed back to your common rooms.”

Excited chatter soon filled the hall as students filed out of hall towards the respective common rooms.

“What are you going to take Harry?” Hermione asked.

“I think all of them, hopefully they’ll be held when I don’t have to meet Professor Snape for my evening ‘classes’” Harry replied.

Ron grinned, “This is great! We can learn to be Animagus. I wonder what animal I’ll become? I hope it’s something awesome, like a Griffin or Dragon or something!”

“Honestly Ron!” Hermione scolded, “Don’t you know anything? You can’t become a magical creature; it’s physically impossible because then the person’s magic would have match that of the magical creature, as their magic is greatly different their a human’s you would end of losing all your magic if you tried. It has never been done. Not even Merlin was said to have a magical creature Animagus, he was said to be a hawk.”

Ron frowned, “Fine, then I hope I’ll be a Lion or a Tiger or something powerful like that. Let’s hope I’m not a toad or something.”

Harry grinned, “I think Hermione’s going to be a cat.”

“Oh yah? Why’s that?” The bushy haired girl asked, her eyes shining. ‘If it’s something bad, you’ll regret it Harry!’ they said, and Harry gulped.

“Nothing really, it’s just that you’re always so smart and naturally curious, that’s all.” He said hoping his friend wouldn’t think of that as an insult and murder him.

That seemed to satisfy her and she smiled, “Nah, Hermione’s probably going to be a parrot or something, she never seems to shut up.” Ron joked.

The red headed teen turned towards Hermione, grinning, but gulped and chuckled nervously when he was the murderous intent in her eyes. “Er…” he said, “I was just joking Hermione! You’ll probably be something really smart like an owl or a cat, like Harry said.” Then he squeaked, “don’t kill me, please!”

Hermione and Harry shared a laugh at Ron’s expression and Hermione asked, “What do you think you’re going to be Harry?”

“I honestly don’t know,” he replied, “Hopefully not something as eye catching as a stag!”

“Are you serious?” Ron joked, “You’ll probably be something like a horse or a bird.”

Hermione frowned, “A bird I can understand, since Harry loves flying, but why a horse?”

“Because he’s always so stubborn?” Ron said and Harry pouted, they had another good laugh and parted for the evening after signing up for all the extra classes.

Tomorrow would be another busy day. Remembering that he had to meet with Snape in the evening, Harry tossed over on his bed and wondered if he should tell the sour Potions Master about what he had learned today. Deciding that it would be the best course of action, since Snape was helping him with occlumency, he fell into a peaceful sleep that did not last long.

*****

“Wormtail,” a sibilant and evil voice sounded, “what do you have to report?”

“Ma-ma-master,” the rat sniveled in fear as he knelt before Voldemort, “A-a-avery has re-reported that the artifact you have been req-questing for i-i-is very di-difficult to find and tha-that he ne-ne-needs more time.”

The Dark Lord glared angrily at his servant, “What about Hogwarts, what news do you have of the Old Fool’s dweling?”

“No-no-nothing of interest My-my-my Lord,” Wormtail shivered in fright, “The Head-Headmaster has been qui-quiet since the su-su-summer. I-I-I believe that they are ner-nervous by your lack o-of actions.”

Voldemort grinned, a truly evil smile, “So the old fool is on edge that I have been quiet has he?” he said to himself, “Don’t worry Dumbledore, I have everything planned, soon you won’t be around to have anything to be nervous about. Then the Wizarding World will be mine.”

Wormtail, thinking that he has been spared, sighed in relief, the sound quickly drawing the attention of the Dark Lord, “Oh and Wormtail?” the snake like man said, “Next time, do not bring me anymore bad news, Crucio.”

The traitor’s scream of pain was echoed by the dreamer.

Suddenly his surroundings changed from frightening and dark to peaceful and tranquil.

He listened to the music around him and rejoiced in the peaceful hum of his surroundings. This place was saturated with magic so strong that he could almost see the notes of the song playing before his mind’s eyes.

This was a place of protection, the magic kept him safe from dangers of the world and he let the gentle music carry him into a deeper, restful slumber.

*****


Endnotes

1. Seven Mysteries of Hogwarts: Came from ‘Nana Fushigi’, many Japanese school have urban legends of seven mysteries that occur once the sun has set or school is let out. Examples are: A statue of a reading woodcutter (often found in Japanese schools) running away, the mysterious 13th step, piano playing in the abandoned/empty music room, and the skeleton figure in the science lab coming to life.

2. Tuatha Dé Danann: Translates to the People of the Goddess Danu, a Heroic race of Gods that excels in Art, Science, Poetry and Magic. While mostly inaccurate, people often call refer to them as the Fay/Faerie.

Note: This will probably not be a Ginny bashing, I just though Harry needed a suitor and some teenage problems along with it. Still unsure as to whether or not Dumbledore would be Manipulate! Or not and if I should have Light!Draco or Death Eater!Draco. But those will eventually unravel itself in my mind as I go along I guess.

TBC

Word count: 6824

Feb 6, 2008


Illusionary Angel

PS. Why do I have 105 people adding me to their alert list but only 33 reviews? *Pout*