With Percy’s funeral over, the powerful grief that consumed the four teenagers ebbed away to become more of an enduring sadness. Ellie had taken his death to heart and instead of sorrow at his passing, she was angry at his murder, or, more precisely, angry with his murderer. She was often seen storming hastily around the castle with her cloak billowing out behind her. Every time one of them saw her, she had just been to see her granddad. Malfoy was bearing the very strong brunt this time; every time he raised his hand she ignored him, and as soon as he entered her room, she was scowling at him openly. In one lesson she took ten points from him for daring to breathe too loudly. In the last week of March, she decided that it was time to talk to her sixth years about the most imminent and dangerous threat to the Wizarding world.
“Everyone put your wands away. You won’t be needing them,” she ordered so strongly that no one dared to disobey. “We’re going to do the most important work of your N.E.W.T.’s here today, perhaps even the most important work of your life.”
“Without our wands?” Neville asked.
“Yes. Today we’re going to be talking about Voldemort.” As per usual gasps went round the room. “We’re going to start by not nearly fainting every time we hear his name. It is just a name, a word like any other, and it cannot kill you. If I can say it, you all can, and I want to hear each of you say it. Harry, you first,” she urged.
“Voldemort,” he said unflinchingly.
“Ron?” she moved on.
“Voldemort,” Ron said with just a hint of a quaver.
“Hermione?”
“Voldemort,” Hermione said in a more confident tone.
“Neville?”
“V-V-Voldemort,” he said nervously. Ellie continued around the class to Susan, Dean, Seamus, Hannah, Parvati, Padma, Lavender, Justin, Ernie and so on. Soon the fear was gone from people’s voices. It was with the Slytherins that she encountered the most problems. Draco almost refused point blank until she threatened to remove him from the class permanently and take a hundred points from Slytherin, but even then he barely whispered it.
“Right, has everybody survived?” She waited for them to nod. “Now, I’m going to surprise you by telling you that Voldemort is not the biggest threat to our world.” Her class looked at each other in confusion.
“The biggest threat to our world lies with the people who think that he’s got the right idea, the people who aren’t all that willing to pick a side. Hermione, would you come up to the front for a second?” Ellie requested; Hermione didn’t hesitate and she stood proudly beside her favourite teacher.
“This, as you all know, is Hermione Granger. She is, without question, one of the brightest witches ever to grace the hallways of Hogwarts. There hasn’t been a spell invented that this girl couldn’t perform if she put her mind to it. She has duelled with Death Eaters and lived to tell the tale. She has fought for the preservation of our kind wholeheartedly and without a second thought. She nearly gave her life for the cause. But there are people out there -- in fact there are people in this very room -- who would throw her from the Wizarding world, who would take her life purely because her parents are Muggles.” She gave Draco a look that positively dripped with hatred.
“Does this make any sense?” she continued. Several people shook their heads. “Hermione could discover a cure for a magical malady. She could be the person to find a spell that blocks the Killing Curse, but that doesn’t matter to them. All they see is ‘dirty blood.’ You can sit down now, Hermione. Harry, would you come up here?” She ever so gently guided Hermione in the direction of her seat so that Harry could take her place.
“Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. The boy who has escaped Voldemort five times. Top of his year in Defence Against the Dark Arts, he aspires to be an Auror; he wants to protect us from the worst of our kind. But people would want him dead because he is a half-blood. He has a Muggle Born's blood running through his veins; it is impure. He will be the most powerful wizard who ever lived, but that doesn’t matter to them. You can sit down, Harry.” Harry returned to his seat a vibrant red. Ellie considered every member of her class carefully before she continued.
“Let me tell you a little something about Voldemort. He is a hypocrite,” her voice boomed around the room. Draco nearly spat out an insult but was halted by one venomous look from her. “He and his followers preach about the purebloods being the only legitimate wizards but he himself is a half-blood.” Her words were followed by shocked silence. Draco could no longer contain himself at this.
“LIAR!” he bellowed across the room.
“I am no liar, Mr Malfoy. The name Lord Voldemort is an anagram for Tom Marvolo Riddle; he was student here over fifty years ago. The reason he refused to use his real name in his quest for power is that it belonged to his father, a Muggle. I’m sure if you ask your beloved father he can confirm that for you. So there you go: the man who lectures on the importance of pure blood has impure blood running in his veins. Does his cause still seem so just?” Again she paused for the reaction of her class. There was almost unanimous head shaking.
“I’m glad that you all think that because you are the generation that matters. You are the ones who can put this right. You are our warriors, our army, not of the future, but of the present. It is not only our world that is in danger; the Muggle world is at even greater risk than we are because they have no method of defence against magic. You are the people that need to fight. It is your future that is at stake, and we need to protect the world we live in or chance losing it forever.
“Two months ago Percy Weasley was killed by Lord Voldemort. He was a pureblood wizard and one who had turned his back on his family because he didn’t agree with the stance that they were taking with regards to Voldemort. It didn’t save him and won’t save anyone else either. When it comes to killing, Lord Voldemort does not discriminate; he will kill anything and anyone who stands in his way. He inflicts torture upon his own followers and he shows no mercy to anyone. He rules using terror as his weapon, but fear is in the mind and can be controlled and overcome. Cowering in your home, dreading what’s to come, achieves nothing. If you can control your fear then Voldemort cannot control you. Think very carefully about what life would be like under his oppression. I would now like you to turn to page 267 of your textbook and read chapter ten for the remainder of our time together.” She returned wearily to her desk and took a sip of water from a glass on her desk. When the bell went, she thanked her class for their attention and waved them out of the room with a half-hearted sway of her hand and a gloomy expression.
“That was a good lesson, Professor, and thank you for all the things you said,” Hermione blushed as she approached the teacher’s desk; Harry, Ron and Neville joined her.
“Every word of it was true. How are you four, anyway?” She looked at them with concern.
“Fine,” Neville replied quickly, knowing that she was more interested in the other three.
“Ok,” Ron responded with a grateful look.
“I’m all right,” Harry answered.
“Me too,” Hermione added.
“What about Ginny?”
“She’s still very upset,” Hermione informed her.
“Of course, you lot will have to work extra hard to take her mind off things. This is an important year for her and I want all of you to make sure that this doesn’t overwhelm her,” the genuine anxiety in her voice steeled their resolve to spend more time with the fifth year. “You’re all right too, Neville?”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Good, you’re still making great progress. Everyone is; I’m really pleased with the way that you’re all coming along.”
“It helps to have a good teacher.” Neville coloured.
“Thank you, Neville. Now why don’t the lot of you disappear outside? It’s a lovely day, so go and get some fresh air in your lungs and don’t forget to have fun - good, legitimate, rule-abiding fun. Percy wouldn’t have minded that and Sirius would have thoroughly discouraged it,” she smiled. They chuckled the first proper chuckle in months as they left her classroom.
That was a nice, relatively calm chapter but it’s time for some action. The next chapter is called…The Attack.
Thanks to Magical Maeve and Ashley for working so tirelessly on my story.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you think!
If you love my story, hell even if you hate it, I’d appreciate the review. Thank you.