AN: I only pretend to be a genius at writing. The true genius is JKR. I thank her.
Harry made his way down the long table to get to where Ginny sat. Sneaking up behind her, he poked her in the side and laughed as she jumped and looked around.
"How has your morning been?" he asked, grabbing a sandwich.
"Pretty good," she replied. "Potions was dismal but Defense Against the Dark Arts was great. Krum's really good. He knows his stuff. I have Care of Magical Creatures next. Hagrid's been walking around grinning so I'm eating a lot to build up strength for whatever monster he's got planned for us."
Harry laughed. "It will be something illegal no doubt."
"So," Ginny said after taking a sip of her tea. "How were your classes?"
"Mostly review stuff. You know, the usual first day business. McGonagall kept me after. You know how Angelina graduated last year?" Ginny nodded. "Well, Professor McGongall made me Quidditch captain."
Ginny looked thrilled. "Oh, Harry, that's wonderful! I'm so proud of you. When are you going to have tryouts?"
"Friday. You gonna be there?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Of course! I have a family tradition to keep up. Only, I'm going to try out for Chaser, now that a certain Seeker is unbanned."
"Good," he said, cramming the last of his sandwich into his mouth and swallowing. "I've got to go spread the word."
An hour later found Harry sitting outside Potions with Hermione, Neville, and the remainder of the class, including a disgruntled Ron who was talking to Dean and Seamus again.
"Go on, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "Go apologize. Make it all up."
"Me?" he hissed back. "I didn't do anything to him!"
"I know, but Ron will never give in and I don't want to spend the year being the person caught in the middle."
Harry sighed. He was tired of fighting with Ron anyway, and Hermione was right. Ron never could make the first move. "Fine," he said.
He walked to where Ron sat.
"Hey Ron, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Ron looked skeptically at Harry before replying. "I guess so."
They moved down the hall a bit.
"Listen, Ron, I want to apologize for not telling you about Ginny and me. I should have thought to check and see if it was alright with you first."
Ron smiled. "That's okay, Harry. I guess I overreacted a bit."
Hermione walked over grinning. "That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"
Ron and Harry looked at each other and then back at her.
"Insufferable know-it-all," they said together. Hermione laughed and hugged the two of them.
Snape arrived and the class filed into the dungeons. "It begins again," Harry said as they sat at their table.
"NEWT Level Potions is supposed to be one of the most difficult classes there is," Hermione whispered. "There's a thirty five percent failure rate."
I won't let him beat me, Harry thought. Not anymore.
Snape turned around quickly and in his quiet deadly voice, he began to speak.
"Your grades show that you are the finest students that Hogwarts has to offer. For some of you," his gaze went from Neville, to Ron and others before finally residing on Harry. "I think that there has been a mistake. However, when I expressed my concern to the headmaster, he assured me that no mistake has been made. We will be learning some of the most complex potions there are. We will be brewing among other things, Veritaserum, The Draught of the Living Dead, and other potions so deadly that the drinker won't have time to set down the goblet before they perish. I will not be held responsible for the death or injury of any student who fails to follow instructions. You have been warned."
"He's not fooling around this year, is he?" Ron said as they headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Honestly, Ron, when has Snape ever fooled around?" Hermione said scornfully.
"Well...never. But still, he can't possibly be getting any better, can he?"
They arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, long before the rest of the class.
"Hermione!" Krum said, walking up and giving her a hug.
"Sure, now he gets it right," Harry heard Ron mutter.
"Congratulations, Viktor," she said beaming.
"Thank you," he said. "I have been looking very hard for a job for a year or two so I can get enough money to get underway in my new business."
"Business?" Harry asked.
"Viktor's going to be designing Quidditch brooms," Hermione said.
"Harry, I hear that you are Quidditch captain," Krum said. "Congratulations, that is a tremendous honor."
"What?" Ron said. "Captain?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "McGonagall just told me. I didn't get a chance to say anything to you yet."
"Well, I hope all goes well for you. Now, if you three will find your seats, the rest of the class is coming in, we can get started soon."
When all the class had assembled, it was quiet for despite his youth, Krum's presence demanded attention as much as McGonagall's or Snape's would.
"Welcome all," he said. "My name is Viktor Krum. Please, feel free to call me Viktor, as Professor Krum makes me feel old. Now, I've heard that your education last year was somewhat stalled so we shall be doing a little amount of review and we shall cover some OWL basics this first term and then proceed on to sixth year pre-NEWT work next term. Any questions? No? Good. Open up your Practical Defense and let's get started with the Impediment Jinx. Pair up please."
As usual, Ron, Harry, and Hermione was a group while Neville was left alone.
"Actually guys," Harry said, noticing him. "I'm gonna let you two work together."
He stood over by Neville who brightened up at having a partner.
"All right," Krum said. "What does the Impediment Jinx do?"
All the Gryffindor's had their hands in the air, as Harry was pleased to see. "Good," Krum said. He pointed to Malfoy who was one of the few Slytherins with a hand raised. "You, what is your name?" Malfoy replied and Krum said, "Okay, what is the Impediment Jinx?"
"It will temporarily stop someone or something from coming at you," Malfoy drawled smugly.
"Excellent," Krum replied. "So, partners, one person must approach while the other waves their wand and says the incantation, 'Impedimenta!'"
Harry came towards Neville who raised his wand and called out "Impedimenta!" Harry stopped and found he could not get his feet to move.
"Good job, Neville," he said proudly. He looked around at all the others from the DA and smiled to see that they had all mastered and remembered the jinx while many of the Slytherins had no results.
"Very good," Krum said. "Those who succeeded, switch. The jinxer is now the jinxed and vice versa. Those who did not succeed, gather round and prepare to try again."
"Did you see that?" Ron said to Harry and Hermione when they were alone in the hallway. "The Slytherins didn't know what to do, while all of the members of the DA just-just-" He couldn't continue because he was laughing so hard.
"I have to admit," Hermione said, "It was satisfying when Crabbe had to be taken to hospital because Goyle practically stabbed his eye out on his wand."
Harry nodded. "Did you notice though," he said, trying to ignore Ron's continued peals of laughter. "Did you notice that Crabbe and Goyle were in neither Potions nor Transfiguration?"
"Well, of course!" Ron said. "They are about the thickest people in the school," and he went off again.
"Always laughing. Never a sad moment he has, that one," said a dreamy voice behind them. The three turned to see a girl with pale, straggle hair and large grey eyes. A wand was stuck over her ear.
"Hey Luna," Harry said. "How was Sweden?"
"Can't complain," Luna replied. "We didn't catch the Crumpled Horn Snorckack, but we saw one."
"How, er-lovely," Hemione said.
"Yes it was," With no further words she walked away.
"Weird," Ron muttered.
"Maybe just a little." Harry said, putting an arm around each of their shoulders. "But then again, aren't we all?"
The three friends laughed as they went to dinner.
I didn't want the fight to last so long, I kept it as quick as possible. And I did make Ron's response typically, well, Ron-like.
Thanks for hanging on with me! You guys are so awesome to keep reading my story. It started out as a simple thing but now, I have to keep going for you! Let me add that most of the time its great stress relief but sometimes, when you have to go to emotional limits with the characters, it can be very stressful. Please, let me know that you appreciate the stress I feel for this story in a review! Let's keep them coming and here is your spoiler:
"It's not just that," Harry said. "It's more. She seems to have a sixth sense or something. She know every move out there before it ever happens."
Chew on that for a couple days. I won't be able to update until Monday, so keep reading and reviewing so I can reply lots next week.
Today, January 28 is Elijah Wood(the guy who is Frodo in Lord of the Rings) birthday. He is 24 today!