A/N: Siobhan's name is pronounced : shu-VAWN
Chapter 7: Siobhan, Spiders, and Summoning
Harry felt bad for shaking Hermione’s trust in Dumbledore, but he knew it was for the best. They were too far involved now to be naïve.
The seventh year time tables were passed around, and Harry saw that his first class that day was Double Potions, followed by Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry groaned “ having Double Potions as the first class of the year was like a sick cosmic joke. Not that he had ended last year on particularly venomous terms with Professor Snape “ but they certainly weren’t best mates.
“What do you have first, Ron?” Harry asked.
“Oh, I have a free period…” Ron told Harry.
“Lucky…” Harry scowled.
“Alright there, Hermione?” Ron asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine…” Hermione said, looking up at the two of them and smiling a bit too brightly. “Have you heard? We’re having Career Counseling meetings next week…”
“What, like in fifth year?” Harry asked her.
“Kind of,” Ron answered. “Only, they expect us to have a much better idea of what we want now that we’ve had another couple years of classes. It’s a more definite decision, since we’ll be leaving school soon and should probably have an idea what we’ll be doing when we leave…”
Harry looked at Ron a bit surprised.
“What?” Ron asked. “I’m Head Boy, you know “ I’m supposed to know what’s going on…”
“Speaking of what’s going on “ when will we be doing Quidditch tryouts?” Harry asked.
“Haven’t really thought about it, much…” Ron muttered.
“Ron “ what’s going on?” Harry asked.
Ron hesitated.
“Well “ honestly, Harry… I’m thinking of leaving the team,” he said finally.
Harry choked on a slice of toast he was eating.
“What?” he spluttered.
“I’m thinking of leaving the team,” Ron repeated quietly.
“You’re the captain!” Harry said. He looked at Hermione; she, too, was dumbfounded.
“Well, I have other things to worry about,” Ron said. “Besides “ it’s not right without Ginny.”
“Oh…” Harry said. He wasn’t sure how to respond. He shared a look with Hermione, and she looked as clueless as he felt.
“Ron,” Hermione said quietly. “I don’t think Ginny would want you to give up on Quidditch…”
“How would we know what Ginny wants?” he snapped. “She’s not exactly around to tell us…”
He hesitated a moment, not looking at either Harry or Hermione. He rubbed his forearm uncomfortably.
“Besides “ I have other things to worry about anyway,” he muttered, before rushing from the Great Hall.
Harry and Hermione stared after him.
“I didn’t know he was still so upset…” Harry said quietly.
“It’s not just that, Harry,” Hermione said. “Can’t you tell? There’s something else bothering him… he’s been acting strangely all summer. And he’s been having horrible nightmares…”
“He hasn’t told me about any nightmares.”
“He didn’t tell me about them either,” Hermione said.
“Then how…?” Harry asked.
“Talking in his sleep,” she said quietly, blushing slightly.
“Are you sure this isn’t about Ginny?”
“I’m sure,” Hermione said
“And he hasn’t said anything to you?” Harry asked.
“Not a thing,” she told him hopelessly.
“Well, I don’t think he should quit the team,” Harry said, standing up and slinging his book bag over his shoulder. “He needs something to occupy himself.
“You’re right, Harry, I know you are,” Hermione said, gathering her books and following him as he left the Great Hall. “But we need to find out what’s going on with him...”
They descended into the dungeons to Snape’s dark classroom, and took seats towards the back. They sat quietly with the other students until the bell rang, and Snape swept in bat-like as usual.
“You have just begun the most difficult year of your academic careers,” he said delicately, as he came to the front of the room and surveyed them all. “You will no longer be given lists of ingredients and neatly arranged instructions to concoct potions. You should be above that by now.
He paused for a moment, casting his dark eyes upon the students with a small superior icy smile.
“You will now be studying the more complex magical properties of both magical substances and magical methods of concoction “ and will subsequently learn to compose and create your own potions for your own purposes,” he continued, boring each word into their minds. “We will begin the term by doing three weeks of in depth studies of potions you have already learned to brew, then we you will learn about mixing pre-existing potions, from there you will be experimenting with your own mixing of potions “ and finally, there will be a project in which you will all be asked to create your own potion.”
Harry was sure he heard several students make loud gulps.
“Then, our time after Christmas Holidays will be dedicated to reviewing and improving in time for your N.E.W.T’s.”
“We’re doing all that other stuff before Christmas?” a shocked voice said from the other side of the class.
“Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Finnigan, for talking out of turn,” Snape said. “And, yes “ the previously-detailed curriculum must be completed by December. Now, get out your quills and parchment “ we’ll be starting our in depth analysis with Swelling Solutions.”
Harry did his best to suppress a groan as he pulled out his quill, ink and parchment and began to take notes.
The classroom door opened, and Harry turned to see a Slytherin girl with dark, curly, red hair walk in. Snape told her to take a seat and get ready to take notes. Harry scowled “ had she not been a Slytherin, he would have had at least ten points taken. The girl sat on Harry’s left, and he quickly turned back to his notes as Snape began talking at length about the intricate magical interactions of ingredients involved in creating Swelling Solutions.
“Excuse me “ Potter?” the girl whispered. “I don’t have a quill.”
Harry glanced quickly at Snape, then to the girl.
“What?” he muttered, quickly returning to scribbling across his parchment so as not to attract any attention from Snape.
“Don’t have a quill. Do you have an extra?”
“Oh,” Harry said stupidly. “Er…. yeah.”
He stuck his hand into his book bag, grabbed his extra quill, and handed it to the girl, who did not say thank you. She simply dipped the quill into Harry’s ink bottle and began to scribble on her own piece of parchment.
After two hours of notes, the bell rang and everyone quickly put their things away, and left the classroom as Snape gave them an assignment for fourteen inches on the magical compounds contained within feathers from magical birds.
“Can you believe how much work we have for Potions this term?” Harry asked exhaustedly as he and Hermione left the dungeons.
“It’s quite a lot to take on,” Hermione said. “But it all sounds so fascinating…”
Harry rolled his eyes and grinned at her.
“Potter! Hey “ POTTER!”
Harry turned around to see the Slytherin girl rushing up to him.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Your quill,” she said, handing him the quill, before rushing past them up the steps to the Entrance Hall; Hermione smirked.
“Polite, isn’t she?” she said sardonically.
Harry just shook his head and they went upstairs for Transfiguration, where they met Ron. Ron seemed in a much better mood than he had been two hours ago at breakfast, and greeted Hermione with a kiss that made her blush.
“Ronald, we’re supposed to be setting an example for the younger students!”
“Harry’s only a few months younger,” Ron said grinning. “He can handle it.”
They all went inside and took seats near the front of the room.
“Listen Harry “ I’m sorry earlier, about the Quidditch thing. Didn’t mean to get… well, you know,” Ron said.
“Its fine,” Harry told him. “But, while we’re on the subject “ I really don’t think you should quit the team.”
“Well, that’s good, because I’ve decided not to,” Ron said. “Had a chat with McGonagall while the two of you were in class. She seemed to think it best for me to stay, too.”
“Oh, I’m so glad, Ron,” Hermione said. “You’re such a good Captain. It’d be a shame if you left the team.”
“Actually “ McGonagall said the same thing…” Ron said. “And I’m thinking that after school I get a job working for the British-Irish Quidditch League - scouting, maybe get a job managing a team. Something like that. So it’s best I stay on the team.”
“You don’t want to try for Keeper?” Harry asked.
“Nah…” Ron said. “More interested in the strategy, planning and that kind of thing.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Ron “ I think you’d be excellent!” Hermione cooed.
“So we have our Captain back, then?” Harry asked.
“Yeah,” Ron said. “And tryouts are Friday after next, so keep your schedule open.”
The bell rang and Professor McGonagall strode to the front of the classroom very business-like
“You will be taking your N.E.W.T.’s this year, as I’m sure you’re all fully aware,” she said. “You have quite a year a head of you; you will be dealing with some very difficult magic. Transfiguration is certainly no exception.”
She surveyed them all over her square wire-rimmed spectacles.
“You have all proved fully competent in some of the highest levels of Transfiguration, but now you must learn application of those skills, as well as how to limit and embellish on certain spells. Today we’ll be starting very simple…”
Harry doubted that what followed would be simple at all.
“Everyone, break into pairs. Mr. Weasley, pass out these spiders.”
“Excuse me?” Ron said, looking a little petrified at the box being held out to him.
“Pass out these spiders to your classmates, Mr. Weasley,” Professor McGonagall said slowly.
Ron just gulped, eyeing the box with fear.
“Can I pass those out, Professor?” Harry asked.
“What? Why?”
“Ron has a bit of a fear of spiders…” he said quietly.
“Very well then, Mr. Potter,” she sighed. “One for every two students.”
Ron smiled gratefully at Harry, but looked nervously at the spider that was placed on his desk. Harry was sure he saw him grasp Hermione’s arm as the spider scuttled around in circles in front of them.
When Harry was done passing out spiders, he sat back down and realized he had nobody to partner with. He glanced around the room, everyone was in pairs.
“Err.. Professor,” he said, raising his hand. “I don’t have a partner.”
“That doesn’t make any sense “ this class has an even number of students,” she said, scanning the room. “Well, I suppose you can work with Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger “”
The classroom door opened, and Professor McGonagall looked up sternly to see who it was.
“Never mind Mr. Potter, our missing student has arrived…Miss Murphy “ how nice of you to join us. Ten points from Slytherin for your tardiness. Please take a seat next to Mr. Potter, you’ll be working with him today.”
Harry turned to see who ‘Miss. Murphy’ was and was not happy to see she was the Slytherin girl from Potions.
“Late much?” he muttered.
“Not as if I missed anything, Potter…”
Harry noticed she had an Irish accent, which made sense with her lightly freckled milky complexion, jade green eyes, and deep red ringlet-curled hair.
“We will be performing Autonomous Restoration Spells,” Professor McGonagall began. “And Autonomous Restoration Spell is used while transfiguring an object and allows the transfigured object to restore itself to its original form after a specific amount of time. It can be anywhere from thirty seconds to thirty centuries. There are many variations of this spell; it can be adapted to take place on certain dates, or on certain events “the birth, marriage, or death of a specific person, for example. In class, we will be transfiguring these spiders to stone, with three-minute Autonomous Restoration.”
The Slytherin Girl raised her hand.
“Yes Miss Murphy?”
“How exactly do we go about doing this?”
“It’s your job to figure that out,” Professor McGonagall replied simply. “Now, get to work.”
Harry took out his wand and faced his spider.
“So, what do you think?” the Slytherin girl asked lazily.
“I don’t know,” Harry said, annoyed. “You have to do this, too, you know.”
“I know, Potter,” she replied, smirking at him. “I’m Siobhan, by the way. Siobhan Murphy.”
“Good to know,” Harry muttered, not really caring what her name was. He waved his wand over the spider. “Arachnia Figurus Medusa.”
The spider instantly transformed to stone, maintaining its shape. Siobhan looked a bit impressed.
“Nice job, Potter,” she said.
“I didn’t do the Autonomous Restoration,” he replied.
“Still “ I’m not good at Medusa Spells myself…”
Harry restored the spider, concentrating hard as he did it, trying to understand how he could force the spider to restore itself the next time. Harry could hear Ron making squeaking sounds next to him, and tried his best not to laugh.
About half-way through class, Harry had figured out the spell and he spent the second half of class teaching Siobhan how to do it. She waved her wand over the spider, transforming it to stone for what must have been the fiftieth time. Then they waited.
“So, how’s your girlfriend?” Siobhan asked him.
“What?” Harry asked.
“You’re girlfriend… Katie, isn’t it?” she asked.
“She’s fine “ why do you care?”
“Just trying to make conversation…”
They were quiet for a few moments.
“How’d you know about Katie?” Harry asked her.
“Are you kidding me? You’re Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived,” she said dramatically. “Everyone knows about the two of you… you were like Hogwarts Golden Couple. Not even those two could top you.”
She nodded at Ron and Hermione. Hermione was rubbing Ron’s back as he tried to transfigure the spider, but the spider kept scuttling towards him, and he would shriek and drop the wand.
There was a small pop, and Harry turned to see their own spider returning to its own form.
“Excellent job, Mr. Potter, Miss. Murphy,” Professor McGonagall said, spotting the spider. “You’re the first pair to both successfully perform the spell. Ten points each.”
“See “ makes up for my being late,” Siobhan said, raising her eyebrow at Harry, obviously very pleased with herself. Harry just rolled his eyes. He was very glad when the bell rang for lunch.
“I want fifteen inches on why this spell is useful, and specific ways it is often used, or can be used,” Professor McGonagall said, as she waved her wand and all the spiders flew across the room and into their box; Ron gave a significant scream as he dove beneath his desk.
-
After lunch was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry was very glad it was his last class that day. He felt as though he’d done a week’s worth of lessons in Potions and Transfiguration alone. Hermione was torn between anxiety and joy over all the work, while Ron seemed to be on the same page as Harry.
“Good morning,” Alex greeted them warmly as they entered her classroom. “I missed the three of you “ congratulations Ron and Hermione, on getting Head Boy and Girl. You remind me a bit of Harry’s parents.”
Hermione beamed.
“Thank you, Alex,” she said.
“How’s Lupin?” Harry asked her.
“Oh, Remus is doing very well. The project is coming along excellently “ he sends his regards to the three of you. He says he’ll write soon, Harry.”
Harry nodded at Alex and took a seat in the front row.
“Suppose you’re already overwhelmed with classes?” Alex asked.
“Yeah…” Ron said.
“You’ve had one class!” Hermione said.
“Still…” Ron replied.
“Well, sorry “ but we have quite a bit of work to do in here “ we’re starting with a difficult lesson, today.”
“At least you told us that “ McGonagall and her ‘simple’ Autonomous Restoration spells…” Ron muttered. “It’s not even easy to say. And why did it have to be spiders?”
A few more students walked in, Harry recognized Siobhan with two other Slytherins.
“Is she in all of our classes?” he muttered.
“She can’t be that bad…” Hermione said, glancing at her.
“She’s rude, arrogant, and she’s a Slytherin.”
“You’re impatient, rash, temperamental “ ”
“You’re bossy, obsessive, controlling “ ”
“Exactly,” Hermione said.
“What?” Harry replied, confused as to why she was pleased he was insulting her.
“We all have our negative aspects “ give her a chance.”
“Why?”
“Because, we’re supposed to be uniting, remember?”
The bell rang and Harry didn’t respond.
“Alright, class, I’ll spare you the N.E.W.T’s speech, as I’m sure you’ve all heard it by now,” Alex said. “So let’s get down to business. Today we’ll be learning something that is very important for defensive purposes, but extremely difficult. When in a dangerous situation, it is likely you could find yourself disarmed and unable to find or reach your wand. In this scenario, it is possible for you to perform certain spells with your wand, despite not being armed with it. It will help you retrieve your wand, in order to defend yourself.”
She paused; a lot of the students looked confused.
“For example,” she said. “I have placed my wand at the back of the room. Now watch… Lumos.”
The students awed in wonder as the wand lit up, then Alex mutter as she waved her hand, and her wand zoomed back to her, still brightly lit.
“In order to do this, you must focus all your energy on the connection you have with your wand. Once you learn this ability, it’s quite easy “ but learning it can take some time, I don’t expect you to get it on your first try. Now, I want all of you to place your wands on my desk, and see if you can perform Lumos from where you are seated.”
The students leaped up anxiously to place their wands at the front of the classroom, but Harry hesitated.
“Al “ er... I mean, Professor Alchemina?” he said.
“Yes, Harry?”
“I can already do that…” he said quietly. A few students nearby heard him, and looked curiously at him and Alex. This caused the rest of the class to fall silent, too, and watch.
“What do you mean you can already do it?
“Err… I’ve done it twice before. Once before fifth year when I was attacked by Dementors, and then again at the end of last year when Bellatrix….”
Harry trailed off, thinking painfully of the last moments of Ginny’s life.
“I didn’t think it was anything special. It just worked… it was pretty easy.”
“Are you sure, Harry?” Alchemina asked warily. “I don’t mean to doubt you, but this is highly difficult…”
Harry handed her is wand and she strode to her desk and placed it on top. Everyone watched Harry.
“Lumos,” he said.
His wand lit up.
Alex looked amazed.
“That’s terrific Harry “ try summoning it “ have you summoned it before?”
“No,” Harry said.
“Try.”
Harry looked at his brightly lit wand.
“Accio Wand,” he said.
His wand zoomed into his hand. The class cheered, everyone, including Siobhan, looked impressed. Harry did not feel pleased at all. He felt a horrible clench in the pit of his stomach. He was afraid if he stayed one more minute in the classroom, he would break down.
“May I be excused, Professor,” he said throatily.
“Is there something the matter, Harry?” Alex asked.
“I just need…” he did not finish. He could not think of how to explain, the entire class staring at him. Alex seemed to understand.
“Yes, Harry “ you may leave.”
Harry, clutching his wand in his white-knuckled fist, grabbed his book bag and rushed from the classroom, only hoping to reach his dormitory before the tears overtook him.