Author’s note: This chapter will handle an issue that I started with at the beginning of my story. It will deal with Hermione quite a bit, but fear not, I am using this issue to advance the Harry/Ginny plot line. Whether I have made it clear or not, I want to start a side story that will help add to the main plot. While it will not take the center stage, I do hope that I can do it effectively.
Harry did not even notice that the weekend had gone by and he was starting a new school week. After his “talk” with Ginny, he had not had much interest in anything. He had decided to take his mind off of her by throwing himself into his schoolwork. Hermione was beaming at him every night that he had outlasted her studying in the common room.
Monday was upon the students and Harry was set for anything that would take his mind off of what Ginny had said to him. It cut his heart each time he remembered it. She had said he had picked her second, but the truth was that she hadn’t even been an issue at the time. He was glad he hadn’t voiced that thought, because she probably would have taken his Firebolt and put it somewhere uncomfortable.
He sat in his potions class, doing everything he could to keep his mind occupied. Kevin had started the class working on a potion that would heighten eyesight on the person who took it. This potion required concentration and attention to detail, two things Harry had in abundance at the moment. Kevin was walking among the students, looking over student’s shoulders. The Slytherins avoided his eyes at all costs since none of them wanted to admit they needed help, but a few of them did. Vincent Crabbe had mixed up two instructions and his potion started freezing over. Draco Malfoy did his best to whisper instructions without being heard.
It was not successful.
Kevin walked over to where the Slytherin students were whispering. “Is there a problem Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe?” They turned back to their cauldrons and pretended to be working. Kevin was not fooled when he saw Crabbe’s potion. “I see that you have misinterpreted my instructions, Mr. Crabbe. You were to add only a third of the eagle blood that you actually added. When you mix that with snakeskin you caused a catalyst effect that befalls anyone who takes this potion when it is mixed improperly. It causes a freezing effect that, if it happened inside a human body, would cause the eyes to freeze. Be glad that this happened now and not when you all will sample the potion.” He waved his wand over Crabbe’s cauldron and the potion disappeared. “Start from the beginning again.”
The final bell rang and the students filed out of the dungeon. Kevin asked Hermione to stay behind for a moment. Ron and Harry started back towards Gryffindor tower. The first Quidditch match of the season was at the end of this week, which caused a great deal of tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin; well, more so then usual. Harry had been trying to catch a glimpse of the Slytherin practice, but they never seemed to be on the Quidditch pitch. Harry was starting to wonder if the Slytherin team ever did practice.
Hermione didn’t return until dinnertime. Kevin had told her that he would soon be teaching them about experimental curses and was wondering if Hermione would mind being used as an example, given what happened to her in the Department of Mysteries. She had agreed, but was left with the feeling that he had expected some questions from her. Hermione told him that she had put it behind her.
Ginny was still avoiding Harry at all costs. She didn’t hang around in the common room if he was there. During the extra Quidditch practices that Harry had called for, she kept her distance from him and only talked to him when he was talking strategy. The team was coming together quite well. The Chasers worked as one unit with the quaffle, passing it over and under the opposing groups of reserve players who tried to block them. Dean and Seamus took to the Beater position well, keeping the bludgers away from the chasers. Harry and Ron still had their own personal skills in the Seeker and Keeper positions, so he wasn’t worried there. Ron had improved a great deal over last year, when he had a problem stopping a single Quaffle in a match.
When the practice ended, Ginny was the first to leave and head back up to the castle. Harry was the last.
*************************************************
“Experimental spells are some of the most dangerous and lethal curses known to our kind,” Kevin said, addressing his class. “They require a great deal of skill and power to conjure and can be difficult to control. However, if done properly, it can be a powerful spell, and probably deadly.” The class sat silent as they listened to their professor speak. He walked over to a cabinet, opened it up and pulled a stone basin from it.
The class leaned in to get a closer look at the object. Harry knew what it was, he had seen it twice before. “This is called a Pensieve. Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to lend me this for a demonstration about experimental spells and curses. Ms. Granger, if you would come forward?”
Hermione stood up and walked to the front of the room. Kevin conjured a chair for her to sit in near the Pensieve. He placed his wand on her right temple. When he pulled it away, a strand of gray smoke trailed the wand. He placed it in the Pensieve. Using his wand, he swirled the strand around inside. “Everyone pay close attention.”
Smoke started wafting up from inside the Pensieve. The center of it started to clear up and images could be seen forming inside. A dark room could be seen inside the smoke with walls made of stone. People were running around in the room. Harry knew this scene and it made his stomach drop. This was the Department of Mysteries at the start of the summer. He knew what was about to happen, and he shut his eyes. A cloaked figure suddenly filled a large portion of the smoke, raised his wand and shouted an incantation at another figure. A light erupted from his wand, causing the other figure to scream in pain.
Harry’s eyes shot open. It was Hermione who had been hit with that spell, but he didn’t remember her screaming. The class gasped in alarm and a few of them screamed in surprise. Hermione’s figure in the Pensieve collapsed to the floor. The smoke fell back to the Pensieve. The class was shocked at what they had just seen. No student at Hogwarts knew exactly what had happened in the Department of Mysteries, so this was completely new information to them. All eyes fell on Hermione, who seemed to have gone white at having to relive that horrible moment. Kevin swirled the Pensieve again. “What you have all just seen is Hermione’s memory of being cursed by an experimental spell, from her point of view and her internal reaction. As you can see, the movement of the wand and the resulting viasable strand of light is unfamiliar. We still are unsure exactly what the effect was supposed to be.” He placed his hand on Hermione’s shoulder. She looked as if she were about to cry. “Thank you, Hermione. If you want, you can be dismissed.”
She shook her head and went back to her seat. The class looked on her with admiration and Harry could see Ron taking an extensive glance. Kevin started walking among the desks. “What we are going to start studying is the nature by which some wizards are able to cast these spells. We will focus on the specialty of the wizard, the hardships involved and the consequences if one fails to do this properly. Take out a piece of parchment.”
*************************************************
The common room had an air of apprehension that night. News of the events of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class had quickly spread through Gryffindor tower. Everyone kept giving Hermione odd glances, but no one said anything to her. As she sat in the common room with Ron and Harry, her eyes kept glazing over. Ginny, forgetting for the moment her dislike for Harry, came down from the girl’s dormitory to sit with her.
After a while of this, Hermione stood up suddenly. “Excuse me. I have to go see Professor Hall.” She walked quickly out of the portrait hole into the corridor. The remaining three sat in silence as they waited for her to return.
Finally, Ginny spoke. “I can’t believe he made her relive that experience. How cruel.”
“It was her choice,” Harry said, not looking at Ginny. “She didn’t have to do it.”
An hour later, Hermione returned to the tower in tears. Ginny rushed to her. “Are you all right? What happened?” She led the other girl to the sofa and sat down. Ron and Harry stood around them. Ginny pulled a cloth handkerchief from her roes and handed it to Hermione. “Tell us what happened.”
Hermione dabbed her eyes. “I went to see Professor…Kevin, and I asked him about the man who attacked me. He told me that it was Antonin Dolohov, the man from the Department of Mysteries. He also said that…” She started crying again. Ron sat on the other side of her and placed an arm around her shoulders. She leaned in to him. Ginny looked up at Harry for a moment, as if he could finish what she was about to say, then looked back at Hermione.
After a moment, Hermione continued. “He told me that…that Death Eaters take it personal when someone they mean to kill doesn’t die. He tried to do it again over the summer, but I survived again. Now, he’s going to do whatever he can to kill me.”
Author’s note: For those of you rushing to your OoTP books to check if I captured the events properly, I know that Hermione didn’t actually scream when she was hit with the spell. As Kevin said, the Pensieve is showing the events from Hermione’s mind, which is why there was a scream. I also thought that doing it this way would make more of an impact on everyone. More action coming soon.