Chapter 20 The Spring Term
Christmas break was over and Harry and Hermione stood on Platform Nine and three-quarters waiting to board the Hogwarts Express.
“You two picked a good time to leave last term,” Shacklebolt told them. “I’ve never seen anything like that riot in the Great Hall. It was worse than the Great Halloween Ball Food Fight of 1975.”
The tall black Auror shook his head and pressed a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet into Harry’s hand.
“During the course of the investigation after the riot, I noticed that Hermione’s wand wasn’t registered with the security system,” Shacklebolt said. “I took care of it. I removed the controls on your wand Harry and I entered two bamboo wands with your names on them into the security system. Now both you and Hermione can use your wands without setting off the alarm. If you need a teacher, just use one of the bamboo wands in that newspaper I just gave you. Keep them with you. They’re loaded with Shield charms. Don’t tell anyone what I did and don’t abuse this privilege.”
“Thank you Mr. Shacklebolt,” Harry said. “We won’t pull any silly pranks on the other students.”
Harry glanced at the bamboo wands concealed in the newspaper. One was labeled Mr. H. Potter, the other Mrs. H. Potter .
“And if you two need any help with S.P.E.W. just send me an owl,” Shacklebolt added. “Please do not attempt to visit any mines, factories or homes belonging to dark wizards without contacting me first. Maybe house-elves will help us find Voldemort but they could just as easily set up a trap for you, so be cautious. Contact me when you’ve written the Elf Bill of Rights, I’ll help you find a sponsor in the Wizengamot. And don’t be surprised if there’s a backlash. Many wizards that own house-elves will get angry about S.P.E.W.”
“Mr. Shacklebolt, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” Harry asked.
“Alright, you may ask your question but I reserve the right to refuse to answer,” Shacklebolt said with a smile.
“Why do you care about S.P.E.W.?”
“I care about S.P.E.W. because it’s the right thing to do,” he replied. “Pushing for Elf Rights is a divisive issue and you’ll hear some people say this is not a good time to bring it up. But slavery is wrong. It’s not fair to the elves and it’s not good for wizards.”
Harry and Hermione boarded the train and found a compartment with Neville Longbottom.
“How was your Christmas vacation?” Neville asked.
“It was wonderful,” Hermione said. “Dumbledore found some nice people for us to stay with and we got to go skiing.”
“So what happened at school after we left?” Harry asked. “I heard there was some sort of trouble.”
“The evening that you two disappeared, there was a riot in the Great Hall at dinner,” Neville said. “Dennis was talking about peeking into Girls’ bathrooms and suddenly he tricked Gregory Goyle into admitting that he had helped beat up Hermione! Then Malfoy cast a Silencing charm on Goyle, the alarm went off and everybody started hexing and jinxing and it was a frightful mess.”
“Gregory Goyle admitted in public that he beat me up?” Hermione exclaimed in disbelief. “Was there some sort of spell on him? Was he telling the truth or was he Confunded?”
“I don’t know what Goyle was thinking,” Neville said. “But the riot was really something! Shacklebolt pulled out a shiny metal baton and suddenly all of our wands went dead. The fighting continued because a lot of students had bamboo wands and other enchanted stuff,” Neville said. “The students that didn’t have magical items just started throwing food, or plates and stuff.”
“That’s horrible!” Hermione exclaimed. “I’m glad we missed it. It must have been terribly embarrassing to Professor Dumbledore.”
“The Ministry of Magic staged an inquiry into the riot,” Neville reported. They exonerated Dumbledore but it caused a bit of a stink. Dumbledore stopped the riot by immobilizing the entire room, but there was a delay because he was disarmed by an Expelliarmus from a bamboo wand.”
“Dumbledore was disarmed by a charm from a bamboo wand?” Harry exclaimed in disbelief.
“Well it caught him by surprise because it wasn’t aimed at him,” Neville explained. “But he got his wand back pretty quick. You’re not the only wizard that can do wandless summoning. Anyway he got us all frozen so the riot stopped. We were all searched and the teachers took away all of our enchanted stuff. They searched our dormitories too but they didn’t find illegal stuff in our rooms.”
“That’s good,” Harry stated.
“Maybe it was a bit too good,” Neville said doubtfully. “They found bamboo wands and talismans and enchanted stuff in nearly every bedroom in every house except for Gryffindor. We didn’t have any banned items.”
“That might seem a bit suspicious,” Hermione said sarcastically .
“Especially since about three quarters of the illegal items confiscated in the Great Hall came from Gryffindor students,” Neville added.
“It almost seems like it was planned,” Hermione said giving Harry an accusatory look.
“Was anyone punished?” Harry asked. “I heard that Mr. Filch got to whip several boys last semester for one thing or another.”
“Nobody got whipped or anything like that,” Neville stated.
“Dennis didn’t get whipped?” Harry wondered.
“I heard he had his mouth washed out with soap and he had to spend an evening cleaning sinks and johns,” Neville said. “But that just made him boast that he never flinched from the taste of the soap and he got the johns real shiny. And he says the girls’ toilets are nicer than the boys’.”
“Did anyone else get in trouble?” Harry asked.
“The official inquiry blamed the Slytherins for starting the riot,” Neville reported. “That silver baton showed that the first half-dozen or so spells came from the Slytherins. Of course, the baton didn’t record spells that came from unregistered items like bamboo wands. The witness reports supported the idea that the Slytherin boys started the riot, but they all ran away.”
“What do you mean by: they all ran away?” Harry asked. “Did Malfoy’s gang run out of the Great Hall during the riot?”
“Malfoy’s gang was frozen during the riot like the rest of us, but afterwards when we were all sent back to our rooms they ran away from Hogwarts!” Neville said. “Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, plus Miles Bletchley and Adrian Pucey and a couple of other guys were gone on Tuesday morning. They must have left Hogwarts in the middle of the night. We didn’t see them for the rest of the week. They skipped their exams.”
“They got away!” Harry exclaimed in disgust. “I was hoping they would get arrested and sent to Azkaban.”
“Harry Potter! Did you plan that riot?” Hermione snapped.
“Oh no dear! I wouldn’t do a thing like that” Harry said defensively. “It was Ron’s plan. He’s the chess player. We didn’t want a riot. Malfoy and his friends started the riot. We were hoping to get those bastards arrested.”
“And you thought they’d just go quietly!” Hermione said sarcastically.
“I didn’t want you there when it happened,” Harry said quietly. “I thought they might attack you again.”
“I think it’s a good thing,” Neville interjected. “If Malfoy and his gang are chucked out of school we won’t have to worry about being attacked by them this term.”
“But where will they go if they’re not in school?” Hermione asked sadly. “They’ll run to Lord Voldemort!” she answered her own question. “This will turn a bunch of school yard bullies into hardened criminals. And for every Death Eater that the Ministry of Magic executed last term, there is now a new one to take his place.”
“But Neville’s right,” Harry said. “Hogwarts will be a safer place without them.”
At that moment the door of the compartment opened and Ginny Weasley came in, followed by Luna Lovegood and Ron.
“Hermione and Harry! I thought I heard your voices,” Ginny said with a smile. “How was your Christmas vacation? Bill told us you went somewhere on a Muggle airplane!” She looked over at Neville and gave him a wink. Neville turned red.
“We had a wonderful vacation,” Hermione said happily. “Dumbledore sent us to be with some very nice people and we got to relax and go skiing.”
“You went skiing?” Ron said, looking at Harry in surprise. “She made you slide down a hill with boards on your feet?”
“She spent the first hour of the airplane flight telling me about how wonderful skiing is,” Harry began. “Then she sticks her nose in a spell book and starts studying! I wondered why she had to study on the first day of our vacation, but I didn’t bother her. When she fell asleep I looked at the book. It was: Healing Bones in a Snap.”
“It came in handy didn’t it,” Hermione said rolling her eyes.
“But it’s not straight! Look at this Ron,” Harry said rolling up his sleeves.
“I see what you mean,” Ron said analytically. “There’s a little bit of curvature in the right arm.”
“It’s not that bad!” Hermione said defensively. “I had to rush the job. The ski patrol was coming. They would have taken Harry to a Muggle hospital and spoiled the rest of the day. And I told you twenty times, Madam Pomfrey will be able to straighten it out.”
“What’s that on your finger?” Luna asked Hermione.
Suddenly the conversation turned to the diamond ring Hermione was wearing and the romantic dinner on the train and the boys just shut up and let the girls talk.
A few hours later they were sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for the banquet that marked the start of spring term. There were some empty seats at the tables. Almost a third of the Slytherin students were gone with at least three dozen empty seats. There were about ten missing students at the Ravenclaw table, a half dozen at the Hufflepuff table and even a few unoccupied chairs at the Gryffindor table. Some of the missing students had run off to join Lord Voldemort but most had been kept home by nervous parents. A few had transferred to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang.
“Oh look! Mr. Lockhart and Mr. Lupin are both at the teacher’s table!” Hermione observed as she waved at them.
Dumbledore made a few welcoming remarks that stressed the need for school unity and strict discipline and he announced there would be tryouts for the Slytherin Quidditch team. They were looking for a new seeker, and a new keeper, and two beaters and of course three chasers also. Then the food appeared.
“Porridge?” Hermione said in surprise.
“It’s very healthy,” Ginny said. “They added all of the vitamins and stuff we really need, and it’ll keep you from over eating.”
“It’s not too horrible,” Hermione decided after taking a bite.
“It gets old after a week,” Neville said. “I not sure I’m going to make it through a whole month.”
“It’s only twenty-five days now,” Ron reminded him. “We ate this for five days before the end of last term.”
“That will take care of the pound I gained over Christmas break,” Hermione said.
“It’s worth it to be rid of Malfoy and his gang,” Harry said taking a bite. “Well… maybe…” he added.
The month of January passed fairly quietly. Remus Lupin stayed at Hogwarts for two weeks helping Professor Lockhart adjust to being a teacher instead of a patient and to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum in order. He also drilled Lockhart on casting defensive spells. He would have stayed longer because Lockhart could have used more help, but when the Moon was full it was time for Lupin to go.
“Harry, I know you don’t like Mr. Lockhart, but he needs your support,” Lupin told him. “He’s already doing a good job with the first through third year students. He has a good theoretical background and he’s a passable teacher. But I admit he’s better at describing how to do the spells than actually casting them. He can do simple defensive spells but he’s hopeless at the Patronus charm. His happy memories are just not powerful enough.”
“That’s because his memories aren’t real,” Harry said bluntly. “His books are fiction.”
“Yes, but give him a chance to develop a new life that’s real,” Lupin urged. “Lockhart might become a decent instructor when he develops his new personality a bit. In the meantime I want you to help the advanced students learn some of the more complicated spells. And practice the Patronus charm. You-Know-Who still has Dementor allies.”
Ron eased up on the security procedures and Harry got to walk around the castle alone sometimes. He continued to get up early to escort Hermione from the hospital to Gryffindor Tower even if Ron slept in. One morning he found Hermione crying. A house-elf had given birth in the night but the baby had died.
The Dueling Club became a serious place as Harry felt he could teach more spells in the absence of the Slytherins that were likely to be spies for Lord Voldemort. Mr. Lockhart took over as the sponsor of S.P.E.W. because Kingsley Shacklebolt had asked him to do it. Lockhart didn’t know what a house-elf was but he needed to practice defensive spells as much as any of Harry’s friends. He really was hopeless at summoning a Patronus.
Gryffindor defeated Hufflepuff in the January Quidditch match. This hadn’t happened since Harry was in his second year. Harry didn’t want his friends in Hufflepuff to feel bad so he made sure they were invited to the victory party and given plenty of Butterbeer.
Throughout the month Harry found it difficult to find time to be alone with Hermione, or even to just be with her at all. On Monday evenings she had special lessons with Professor McGonagall. On Wednesday evenings it was S.P.E.W. On Friday evenings it was the Dueling Club. There was nursing duty on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. And there were reading lessons for the house-elves on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. But she had scheduled an hour each week in her personal planning calendar just after house-elf reading lessons to relax with Harry.
Hermione was stretched out on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room late on Sunday afternoon. Her head was cradled in Harry’s lap while he ran his fingers through her long hair.
“I think Mr. Lockhart would be more successful at summoning a Patronus if he had a real happy memory he could focus on,” she said thoughtfully.
“You spend the time that we’ve scheduled to relax together trying to solve Lockhart’s problems?” Harry said a bit miffed.
“I was just thinking about happy thoughts,” Hermione sighed. “I think I could summon a good Patronus right now,” she said as she smiled up at Harry. “Mr. Lockhart needs someone who really loves him. Not just a fan, fans can be frightening.”
“You’re not going to try to find a girlfriend for Gilderoy Lockhart are you?” Harry asked.
“Don’t stop playing with my hair, it feels nice,” Hermione ordered.
“That’s better,” she said smiling and closing her eyes. “I think…OOOOMPH!” she cried as Crookshanks jumped onto her stomach.
And while things settled down a bit in Hogwarts, the headlines in The Daily Prophet kept reminding the students that the war against Lord Voldemort was continuing:
Dementors Attack Wizards at Party in Sheffield
A relaxing evening of Gobstones turned to horror when a dozen Dementors attacked…
Death Head Appears in Nottingham
Vance home attacked…
Debate Over Hiring Half-Breeds Brings Down French Minister of Magic
The recent murder of Madame Maxime, headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy, increased the fury of the debate that surrounded her original hiring. Many were opposed to the hiring of a half-giantess in the first place…”
You-Know-Who Seen in Hawick “ 2 Dead
On the first day of February an important notice appeared on the bulletin board:
Attention Boys of Hogwarts
It has come to our attention that the riot that occurred during exam week last term was not started by girls. Nevertheless we also had to eat porridge for a month as punishment. Therefore we demand that our boyfriends take us out for a nice lunch on the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. Furthermore we demand that the boys of Hogwarts treat that Saturday as though it was St. Valentine’s day, which falls on the following Sunday.
The Girls of Hogwarts
Harry thought the handwriting looked awfully familiar but half of the girls in the school claimed to have written the notice.
The first Sunday in February was overcast and cold but Hermione had convinced Harry to go for a walk among the snow covered pine trees behind Hagrid’s cottage.
“You’re wondering why I dragged you out here in the cold,” Hermione said.
“I know why we’re here,” Harry said. “The snow on the pine trees reminds you of Banff. It’s romantic and you wanted me to kiss you.”
“That’s not it!” she said giggling as Harry held her and tried to kiss her on the neck. “We came out here so I could talk to you without being overheard. I have something serious to say… Stop that!” She shrieked as Harry tried to unbutton her coat. “I want to talk about babies.”
That stopped Harry faster than a well cast Petrificus Totalus Full Body Bind.
“We… We can’t have a proper wedding until I’m eighteen,” Harry stammered. “And even then… Wouldn’t it be good for you and me to spend a year or two… or ten… getting to know each other better before we start talking about babies?”
“I’m not talking about our babies,” Hermione said rolling her eyes. “I said this was serious.”
“I’m glad that is not a serious issue,” Harry said in relief.
“Waiting to have sex is as hard on me as it is on you Harry,” Hermione said in a huff. “I’m talking about elves.”
“Of course you’re talking about elves. How silly of me. I was just confused by my belief that this was our time to relax together,” Harry said to the trees.
“Please don’t be angry at me Harry,” she pleaded. “Dobby’s family needs our help. His sister-in-law just had a baby. That poor child is doomed to grow up in the mine unless we can rescue him.”
“You want to rescue a baby from Malfoy’s mine?” Harry said dubiously. “The mine-elves are Malfoy’s property. Snatching a baby would be stealing. We could get in big trouble!”
“Dobby’s brother and sister-in-law have been hiding their baby but they won’t be able to keep that up for long,” Hermione began. “Amy, she’s a Hogwarts house-elf, had a baby about two weeks ago. But her baby died. We have to take Amy’s baby to the mine and bring back Dobby’s nephew. Amy will raise him at Hogwarts.”
“And you are determined to rescue this baby,” Harry sighed. “It’s going to be complicated. We have to hide our absence, and go all of the way to Cornwall and back.”
“We can do it Tuesday night,” Hermione said. “Madam Pomfrey will cover for me.”
It was well past midnight in the wee hours of Wednesday when Harry followed Hermione across the deserted country lane in Eastern Cornwall. He looked back past the gnarly tree in time to see Dobby scrambling down the stile. The pasture looked so deceivingly peaceful and real. They had survived a second foray into Malfoy’s mine, this time actually entering the tunnel a few yards. Harry mounted Tenebrus and took the baby elf from Hermione. He held the thestral’s reins with one hand and Dobby’s nephew with the other. Now all they had to do was to endure another freezing three hour flight back to Hogwarts. Hermione and Dobby mounted Scaliwag and they were off.
Madam Pomfrey greeted Harry and Hermione at the window of the hospital with cups of hot tea and Frostbite Healing Lotion. She cooed and made over the baby elf almost as much as she had cried about Amy’s baby. When she was satisfied that the baby was healthy and dry she let Dobby take him down to the kitchen to Amy. Then she made Harry and Hermione go to bed in the hospital. She woke them up just in time to grab a quick breakfast before Potions class.
On the following Wednesday evening the members of S.P.E.W. settled on the provisions of a House-Elf Bill of Rights. They did not call for the outright emancipation of the house-elves, but they did call for measures that would probably upset some of the more conservative elf owners.
We the members of the Society for the Protection of Elvish Welfare hold that House-Elves deserve to be treated with kindness and love as faithful servants and family members. This in recognition of the hard work they and their ancestors have done, and in recognition of their capacity to have feelings as complex as our own. For the sake of the physical well being of House-Elves and the spiritual well being of Wizards, the Society for the Protection of Elvish Welfare urges the Wizengamot to adopt into law the following provisions describing:
The Basic Rights of Elves
- Elves should not be beaten, shaken, starved or otherwise harshly punished without a compelling reason.
- Elves in servitude should be provided with sufficient food to prevent hunger. Said food should be nutritionally balanced and of good quality.
- Elves that are aged, sick, debilitated or bearing a child should not be assigned dangerous or strenuous work.
- Elves in servitude should be provided with shelter from the elements and a comfortable bed with a pillow and a blanket when the weather is cold.
- Elves should have the right to see the sky and to experience the beauty of nature on a daily basis, weather permitting.
- Elves should have the right to attend important rituals such as funerals and weddings when it involves members of their immediate family.
- Elves that show an interest in learning to read, write and work with numbers should not be prohibited from doing so.
- The Ministry of Magic should set aside an area of magically protected land where freed elves can live without fear of being pressed into involuntary servitude.
The students of S.P.E.W. signed the document and sent a copy to Mr. Shacklebolt in hopes that he could convince a friend to introduce the bill before the Wizengamot.
Harry finally managed to get Hermione out on a proper date during the Hogsmeade weekend. He had the Valentine’s Day card and the flowers and he took her to Chang’s for a nice Chinese lunch. But of course, romance was not the only order of business that Saturday. She had a mission to accomplish! Specifically, the Create a Happy Thought for Gilderoy Lockhart mission.
“I am not sweet on Professor Lockhart!” Hermione insisted. “You are my one and only and I am devoted to you, Harry Potter. But we would be safer if the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor at Hogwarts could cast a Patronus spell.”
“But this does not add to the romance of the day,” Harry complained, holding up a squirming brown bundle of fur.
“Of course he does!” she argued. “Puppies are very romantic! And he’s adorable. Aren’t you little fellow,” she said sweetly, as she held her face close enough to the puppy to get licked.
“But he peed on me!” Harry exclaimed.
“He’s just a baby and whining is not romantic,” Hermione said. “Tough it out. You can change as soon as we’ve delivered the puppy to Mr. Lockhart. Oh, isn’t he so cute?” she cooed as she took the puppy from Harry.
“You’re the cute one,” Harry said to Hermione. “You look so beautiful when you’re making over babies and puppies and things. I think I’ll give you a hug!”
“Harry! UCK! You’re wet!” she complained.
“Tough it out. You can change as soon as we’ve delivered the puppy to Mr. Lockhart,” Harry told her grinning.
Harry’s Quidditch season ended in February. Normally the match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw was scheduled to be the last one of the year. But since the Slytherin team had no returning veterans from the previous term, they needed more practice. Gryffindor played Ravenclaw in February and Slytherin met Ravenclaw in April. Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw because Harry caught the Snitch, though Cho was close.
(Cho was in fact close enough to make Hermione a little bit jealous. “I had to grab hold of her when we bumped into each other or we would have both fallen off our brooms!” Harry said defensively.)
When Harry grasped the Snitch, Gryffindor clinched the Quidditch cup. The rest of the season would pit the inexperienced Slytherin team against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The only thing left to bet on was the point spread.
The early end of Gryffindor’s Quidditch season meant that Harry had more time to study: defensive spells, offensive spells, the search for the Gold Serpent Staff, and the dark nature of Lord Voldemort. Harry found this depressing.
Over the course of the term, headlines in The Daily Prophet gave Harry additional subjects to ponder:
Where Are The Children Now?
A Dozen Hogwarts Students Join You-Know-Who
Death Eaters Attack International Healer’s Meeting at St. Mungo’s
2 Germans, Norwegian and Pole Killed
Muggle Scientific Journals Note Increasing Number of Suicides
Stock Market Blamed For Dementors’ Actions
Umbridge Still at Large Months After Shrub’s Death
Americans Complain About Lack of Progress
Diggory Narrowly Survives Vote of No Confidence
Massive Appropriations for Secret Project Questioned
Department of Magical Law Enforcement Admits
More Death Eaters Now Than One Year Ago
Peter Pettigrew Seen in Hogsmeade
As the term went by, it became even more difficult to find time for Harry and Hermione to be alone together. Apparation lessons and homework took up a chunk of their limited time. Hermione worked daily with a dozen house-elves that were learning to read. She was also helping Dumbledore write a paper for The Journal of Magical Education that shattered the long held belief that elves were not intelligent enough to learn to read.
Harry spent more and more time alone. It was up to him to stop Lord Voldemort. What if he couldn’t find the Gold Serpent Staff? What if the plan to build a Silver prison fell through? He often just hovered on his broom, watching the sun set.
But Harry didn’t spend all of his time brooding on Lord Voldemort, there were some cheerful thoughts. By the end of the term Hermione seemed to have lost her fear of flying on a broom. Most of his friends that met in S.P.E.W. on Wednesday evenings could cast a Patronus and some of the kids in the Dueling Club had also learned to do this. Ron’s Patronus was a tough little terrier, it was cool. Sometimes, especially towards the end of the term, a white dove would land on his broom or his shoulder or his head. The bird was playful and it cheered him up, but he hoped Hedwig didn’t become jealous. He failed to notice that this usually happened on Monday.
Summer break arrived. In order to maintain the spell that protected Number Four Privet Drive, Harry had to return there. He did not want to explain to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia that he had to visit Mrs. Figg’s house every day to see the girl with the bushy brown hair that was visiting her. Harry and Hermione would leave Little Whinging as soon as possible to seek the Gold Serpent Staff.
Harry stood with Hermione on the platform at the Hogsmeade railway station waiting for the Hogwarts Express. It was warm and muggy but looked like it could start raining at any minute. The train that would take them to London was inexplicably fifteen minutes late. Ron and Ginny were chatting with Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. Groups of Harry’s friends were scattered in the crowd of students. A bunch of first and second year girls were making over Professor Lockhart and his dog.
As the stately red train finally pulled into the station, many students moved to the front of the platform. Harry and Hermione stayed back a bit. They were in no hurry to board the train because they didn’t really want to go to Little Whinging. Harry noticed that some of the coach windows had frosted glass. Wouldn’t that make it difficult to see out?
Was it ice on the coach windows?