“Nosebleed Nougat,” Harry whispered to the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster’s office. It immediately sprang to life and leapt aside, and Harry stepped onto the moving spiral staircase that led up to Dumbledore’s door.
“Come in, Harry,” Dumbledore called before Harry had a chance to knock. Harry pushed the door open and walked quickly to his customary chair in front of the Headmaster’s desk.
“Good evening, Professor,” he greeted politely. For some reason that he couldn’t quite place, he was nervous all of a sudden. “Er, are we going to be working on Occlumency tonight?”
Dumbledore nodded as he regarded Harry over the top of his half-moon spectacles. “Yes, but first I wanted to give you a chance to ask me any questions you might have. I will, of course, answer them to the best of my ability.”
Harry stared at the Headmaster in shock for a moment before remembering that Dumbledore had promised to stop hiding things from him at the end of his fifth year. Despite the fact that that conversation was still relatively fresh in his memory, it seemed a lifetime ago.
“I-” Harry stopped, suddenly unsure what to ask. After a moment’s consideration, he decided to begin with Hermione’s question, knowing that she would hound him about it if he didn’t come back with an answer.
“I was wondering about Peeves, Professor. How was he able to survive the Killing Curse? I mean, does he have some sort of protective magic that the rest of us could take advantage of?”
Dumbledore smiled indulgently at him and shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Harry. I’m actually rather surprised that Miss Granger was not able to answer that question for you. It seems I have come to expect her to know practically everything that can be learned from the Hogwarts library.”
“Well, I didn’t really ask her if she’d tried looking it up, but it’s not like Hermione would ever not go to the library for information. She didn’t know the answer, so I guess I just figured it wasn’t there.”
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully for a moment before saying, “Harry, Peeves is a poltergeist - what a textbook would call an ‘indestructible spirit of chaos.’ Tell me, when you hear the word ‘indestructible,’ what do you think that means?”
Harry cleared his throat nervously. “It’s- Well, if something’s indestructible, then it can’t be destroyed, right?”
“Exactly,” Dumbledore replied, beaming. “Poltergeists are indestructible, and therefore by their very nature they cannot be killed. Had the Death Eaters stopped to think of that, they could have removed him from the fight quite easily with a simple binding spell. Thankfully, they do not appear to have been overly bright.” There was a bit of a pause before he asked, “Is there anything else you would like to know?”
“Yeah,” Harry answered. “I was wondering about that trick Remus used to get downstairs in a hurry when Tonks was being tortured. I’ve never heard of anything like it. Was that something they used to teach in school?”
“Ah,” Dumbledore chuckled knowingly. “Perhaps it would be best if I showed you.” With a lazy flick of his wand, he Summoned his Pensieve from its storage cabinet. “That particular maneuver was invented by one of Remus Lupin’s closest friends,” he continued as he carefully removed a silvery strand of memory from his temple and placed it in the basin.
The aged Headmaster frowned slightly as he regarded Harry over the top of his half-moon spectacles once again. “I want you to understand, Harry, that I have my reservations about allowing you to view this memory. In the past, I never would have considered it. However, I believe that you now possess the maturity necessary to keep everything in perspective. You happened across a memory of your parents during your last Occlumency lesson with Professor Snape, did you not?”
“Yes, sir,” Harry answered automatically, despite his small surprise at the Headmaster’s sudden question.
Dumbledore’s frown deepened for a moment. “That was regrettable indeed,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t like to think that you would form opinions of them based on that one unfortunate incident. At the same time, however, I should hope that viewing this particular memory will not lower your opinion of certain other people who were involved, particularly Professor Snape.”
Harry clamped his jaw firmly shut, resisting the urge to say that nothing could possibly lower his opinion of Snape, while Dumbledore continued, “I am trusting you to have the maturity to recognize that, just as your father did a lot of growing up after the incident you saw in Professor Snape’s memory, Professor Snape has grown into a different person than he was back then as well.”
Harry nodded, understanding that he was being trusted to view something that not long ago would probably have caused him to fly off the handle.
“After you, Harry,” Dumbledore said with a nod and a gesture toward the Pensieve. With only a moment’s hesitation, Harry leaned over the swirling silver mass and felt himself being tipped into the memory. When he regained his footing, he found himself standing on the third floor landing of the grand staircase with two Albus Dumbledores, one of whom looked just slightly older than the other.
“Good afternoon, boys,” greeted the younger Dumbledore. Harry spun around to see four young men, probably a year or so younger than himself, descending the stairs. His breath caught in his throat as he got a closer look at them. In front were two black-haired boys, one of whom had very messy hair and looked remarkably like Harry. The other had longer hair, and was laughing at a joke that Harry hadn’t quite been able to hear. The other two boys, both of whom had lighter hair, followed closely behind.
Harry watched in fascination as his teenaged father, along with his friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, strolled down the great staircase toward the Headmaster. He smiled slightly as he realized that Remus was teaching Peter how to twirl his wand between his first two fingers in much the same way that the Weird Sisters’ drummer liked to twirl his drumsticks.
“Hello, Professor!” called James Potter.
“Lovely day, isn’t it?” asked his best friend, Sirius Black. Harry couldn’t help smirking to himself; they were up to something, and Sirius’ tone of voice had just given them away.
“That it is,” Dumbledore replied with a wink as he continued on his way up the stairs and the boys continued going down.
“This way, Harry,” the older Dumbledore instructed, hurrying after the four Gryffindor boys. Harry wasted no time in following.
“What exactly are we looking for, Professor?” he asked quietly. Although he knew that the people in the memory could neither hear nor see them, he still felt the need to be as unobtrusive as possible.
“Just keep your eyes on your father,” Dumbledore advised. Harry’s eyes remained glued to his father’s back as they headed across the second floor landing toward the next staircase.
“Abigo!” hissed a harsh voice from the shadowy alcove where Harry had come so close to kissing Ginny the previous Halloween. Instinctively, his eyes flew to the source of the sound. It took a moment before he realized that time seemed to have stopped. No one was moving, and the only sound he could hear was his own breathing.
“Remember to keep your eyes on your father, Harry,” Dumbledore reminded him gently.
“Right,” Harry answered as he tore his eyes away from the shadowy figure. “Sorry.”
With a flick of Dumbledore’s wand, the memory resumed as though it had never been interrupted. The Banishing Charm hit James squarely in the chest, sending him hurtling over the banister.
“James!” The cry was torn from three throats as Sirius, Remus, and Peter watched helplessly while their friend went hurtling toward the ground. Another whispered spell from the shadows was deflected by Peter, who was the only one with his wand in hand.
Harry’s eyes never left his father, and he watched in amazement as James calmly drew his wand and flicked it upward. Instantly, a thick rope materialized out of thin air. One end was tied around his waist, while the other was secured to the railing on the second floor landing. The rope stretched, slowing his fall substantially before it disappeared, allowing him to drop nimbly to the floor.
“Big mistake, Snivellus.” Sirius’ growl pulled Harry’s attention back to the situation on the landing. He swung around to see Remus, Sirius, and Peter with their wands pointed threateningly at a sneering, greasy-haired Severus Snape.
“Oh?” Snape asked in the same mocking tone he used with Harry in class.
“Watch out!” Harry shouted as a curse was fired at the three Marauders by an unseen figure in the corridor.
Even though he knew they couldn’t hear him, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all seemed to react to Harry’s warning. Remus and Peter both ducked, but Sirius confidently deflected the curse with a casual flick of his wand.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” he scoffed before unleashing a hex of his own at Snape. Snape sidestepped it easily as three more Slytherins entered the landing from the corridor.
“Honestly, Wilkes, I’d expect this sort of sneak attack from these three, but not from you,” Remus said mildly. “What would your father say?”
“Reducto,” spat one of the Slytherins - Harry assumed him to be Wilkes. Remus deflected the curse, sending up a small cloud of dust as the spell bit into the stone floor, and the fight began in earnest. Even though he knew they couldn’t touch him, Harry soon found himself ducking to avoid the multicolored jets of light that were flying back and forth across the landing as the three Gryffindors clashed with the four Slytherins. Within seconds, Peter, Wilkes, and one of the other Slytherins were down, while Sirius and Remus continued dueling with Snape and his final companion.
“Stupefy!” Harry turned abruptly to see his father standing at the edge of the staircase, panting heavily but looking none the worse for wear. His unexpected Stunner hit the Slytherin who Harry didn’t know in the side, causing him to crumple to the ground.
“All right there, James?” Sirius called.
“Peachy,” James gasped.
As one, James, Sirius, and Remus advanced on Snape with their wands drawn.
“Expelliarmus!” they all shouted at the same instant.
“Protego!” Snape hissed, but his Shield Charm simply wasn’t able to block all three spells at once. His wand sailed out of his grip and into Remus’ waiting hand. Immediately, Snape made a desperate dive for Peter’s wand, which was on the ground a few feet away.
“Petrificus Totalus!” The voice that shouted this spell was feminine, and Harry recognized it instantly. He slowly turned his head to face the red-haired girl who was hurrying down the staircase from the third floor. For the second time in his life, he found himself watching the memory of his teenaged mother.
“Peter!” James shouted as Lily’s spell immobilized their final opponent. He rushed to his friend’s side as Lily slowly advanced toward Snape’s frozen body. After carefully rolling Peter onto his back, he and Remus began waving their wands over him in an attempt to determine what was wrong.
“You two are pathetic,” Sirius remarked with a shake of his head as he pointed his own wand at Peter. “Rennervate.” Immediately, Peter’s eyes snapped open.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw his mother arrive at Snape’s side. “Your sneak attacks are just as disgusting as Potter’s,” she muttered quietly. “The only difference is that at least he only aims to humiliate. You aim to injure, at the very least.” She paused, and a look of sadness passed fleetingly over her features. “I defended you all the time last year, you know. I won’t make that mistake again.” Lily’s expression hardened once again, and she glared at Snape for a long moment before finally collecting his companions’ wands.
“Did I miss the fighting again?” Peter sighed as he sat up. “I wish I had better reflexes.”
“Cheer up, mate,” Sirius told him. “If it hadn’t been for your Shield Charm there at the beginning, we’d have really been in trouble.” Peter beamed at his praise.
“What’s going on here?” demanded an authoritative voice from the corridor, causing everyone to jump.
“Professor Slughorn!” Lily exclaimed as a short, balding wizard with an enormous mustache and an even larger belly strode into view and took in the scene on the landing.
“Ah, miss Evans,” the Professor said, smiling broadly at her. “Perhaps you can tell me why four of my students are lying here on the floor.” He raised his eyebrows inquisitively.
“Of course, Professor,” Lily answered in a businesslike tone. “I was just coming down the staircase when I saw these four attack Potter and his friends from out of the shadows. Naturally, being Prefects, Remus and I immediately moved to break up the conflict before it could really get started. Unfortunately, the instigators resisted and we were forced to subdue and disarm them in order to prevent anything more serious from happening. Here are their wands.” She held out the bundle of three wands as Remus stepped forward to add Snape’s wand to the collection.
“I see,” Professor Slughorn muttered as he took the wands. “Very well. I commend you for your quick thinking, Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin. I’ll deal with this lot,” he sighed, “but it’s probably best if you’re all gone before I revive them. Off you go, then.”
“Evans? Hey, Evans!” James called as the five Gryffindors headed down the stairs.
“What is it, Potter?” Lily asked in a guarded voice.
“You just passed up a perfect opportunity to land the Marauders in detention by telling Slughorn the truth. Why’d you cover for us?” James’ whispered question was obviously sincere, and Harry could tell by the look on her face that Lily knew it. She stopped on the first floor landing to turn and face him.
“Honestly? I did it because of you. You were worried about Peter instead of hitting on me, and I- I thought that was decent of you. Plus, I didn’t want Gryffindor to lose a bunch of points.” Without giving him a chance to respond, she spun around and hurried down the last flight of stairs.
“I’ll bet Snivelly’s really getting it right about now,” Sirius commented as they watched Lily disappear down the staircase.
“Yeah,” James answered distractedly as he looked over the banister and down at the ground floor. Suddenly, he looked up at his friends and grinned. “Hey, watch this!”
Harry watched in surprise as James vaulted over the banister and began plummeting toward the ground below. A confident flick of his wand once again conjured a thick, stretchy rope which slowed his fall nicely and dropped him right in front of Lily, who was just arriving at the bottom of the staircase.
“Fancy meeting you here, Evans,” James said with a false air of nonchalance as he ran a hand through his messy hair.
Lily didn’t miss a beat; she just rolled her eyes at him and continued on her way.
“Hey, Evans?” James called as she headed toward the front doors of the castle.
She turned around and looked inquisitively at him.
“There’s a Hogsmeade weekend coming up,” he said hopefully. “Would you like to-”
“No,” she interrupted.
James’ smile faltered, but he nodded bravely nonetheless. “Right. Listen, about what happened upstairs.... Thanks. It was... decent of you,” he finished with a smirk.
Lily’s mouth slowly curled into a smirk of her own. “You’re welcome,” she said softly before turning and heading out through the front doors of the castle.
The next thing Harry knew, he was floating up through swirling, silvery mist before landing hard on his feet back in Dumbledore’s office.
“Thank you, sir,” he said in a hoarse whisper as Dumbledore calmly returned the silvery memory to his temple.
“I thought you might enjoy seeing that,” the Headmaster replied with a smile. “Of course, you understand that I am trusting you not to repeat any of the more sensitive information from that memory.”
Harry nodded. “Of course, Professor.”
“I still remember the day I had to ask your father to stop using that particular spell,” Dumbledore reminisced. “It was about a week after what we just saw, and in that week I don’t think he walked down the stairs even once. I finally had to call him into my office and request that he stop using his new method of getting downstairs before one of the younger students attempted it and.... You get the idea.”
Harry nodded again. That really wasn’t something he wanted to think about.
“Professor? How were we able to see all that in your memory if you weren’t there?” he asked after a moment.
Dumbledore smiled again. “I was two or three floors above them and completely oblivious to what was happening at the time. Fortunately for us, however, I was still close enough to the action for my subconscious mind to work its magic and recall the details. Now, we need to get to our lesson, but first, do you have any other questions for me?”
Harry nodded nervously. He wasn’t really sure that he wanted to know the answer to his next question, but he felt like he had to ask. “What’s Voldemort up to? I know the attacks haven’t gotten to the level they were at during the first war, but it’s still hard to just sit back and just let things happen. I mean, what’s he playing at? Why isn’t he coming out into the open?”
“The answer to your question is simple, Harry, and I believe you already know what it is,” Dumbledore answered quietly. “He is focusing all of his energies on you.”
“Yeah, we talked about that when I was here with Remus. But why would Voldemort want to keep quiet about his return?” Harry asked curiously.
“Contrary to what some people like to think, Lord Voldemort is not stupid - far from it, to tell the truth. He is actually quite intelligent, and always has been. He knows that you were his downfall during the first war, and he is determined not to allow that to happen again. Voldemort is, therefore, avoiding other confrontations while he concentrates on the task of eliminating what he sees as the one true threat to his eventual reign over the Wizarding world: the child of the prophecy.”
“Me,” Harry muttered. “Still, I guess that’s okay as long as it keeps other people safe, right?”
“Exactly. At any rate, there is nothing for you to worry about at the moment; you are quite safe both here at Hogwarts and at the Burrow, especially now that the protective spells around the castle and grounds have been updated.” He clapped his hands suddenly. “Are we ready to begin?”
Harry nodded, trying to ignore the nervous churning of his stomach. His last Occlumency lesson had ended with him being kicked out of Snape’s office and ordered never to return. He hoped that tonight would prove more beneficial than his poor excuse for Occlumency lessons with Snape.
“Excellent,” said Dumbledore. “Now, I want you to clear your mind.”
Harry closed his eyes and tried his best to force the images that were floating around in his consciousness out of the way. He almost groaned in exasperation when he remembered just how incredibly useless the instruction to ‘clear your mind’ really was.
“Legilimens!” Images of his classes and other things that had happened earlier that day flashed through Harry’s mind. After a mere couple of seconds, Dumbledore broke the spell.
“You did not clear your mind, Harry,” he said with a hint of reproach in his voice.
“I tried!” Harry insisted. “It’s just, I don’t really know how.”
Dumbledore closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration while muttering something under his breath, but the only word Harry managed to catch was ‘Severus.’ When the Headmaster looked up a moment later, his expression was grave.
“Once again, Harry, I feel that I must apologize for not personally teaching you Occlumency from the very beginning. It seems painfully clear that I overestimated Professor Snape’s ability to ignore his personal feelings toward you.”
Harry shook his head. “It’s over and done with, Professor. You already apologized; you don’t have to do it again.”
“Thank you,” Dumbledore replied, and Harry was surprised to note the relief in the old man’s voice. “Now, we shall begin with some exercises that are designed to assist you in clearing your mind. First, you will need to close your eyes.” Harry obeyed and waited patiently for more instructions.
“Now I want you to pretend you are about to conjure a Patronus,” Dumbledore continued in a quiet, soothing voice. “Focus on a single happy memory and allow yourself to sink into it, driving everything else from your mind.”
Harry nodded slightly and allowed himself to be immersed in the very pleasant memory of his time spent snogging Ginny in the garden of the Burrow on Christmas morning, when it had seemed that they were the only two people in the entire world. He felt the muscles of his face relax into a contented expression as he settled deeper into his chair. After a few very pleasant moments, the sound of Dumbledore clearing his throat brought Harry back to reality. He slowly opened his eyes and focused them on the Headmaster.
“Were you able to clear your mind of everything but that one memory?” Dumbledore asked.
Harry nodded. “Yeah. It was almost like I was there reliving it all over again.”
Dumbledore smiled benignly. “Powerful memories often have that effect on us. Unfortunately, these powerful memories are usually the very things we wish to keep hidden from our enemies, so focusing on one of them generally isn’t much help. The first step in learning Occlumency, therefore, is to develop your ability to immerse yourself in a perfectly mundane memory. Although Lord Voldemort might learn a lot about your weaknesses if he were to witness the memory that you use to conjure a Patronus, he would learn nothing if you cleared your mind by focusing on a memory of, say, watching the grass grow.”
“So, what you’re saying is that I need to learn how to relive something boring so I can hide all the important stuff when Voldemort tries to look inside my mind?” Harry asked.
“At first, yes,” Dumbledore replied. “Of course, once you have mastered that skill, you will begin learning how to protect your especially secret memories, and once you have mastered that you will learn how to close your mind completely.”
“Sounds great,” said Harry. “So, er, what do I do now?”
“I want you to take some time tomorrow - it needn’t be much, just ten to fifteen minutes - and stare at something completely ordinary. If it weren’t winter, I would suggest watching the grass, but I’m afraid that pastime won’t be available for a few months yet. Perhaps you could stare at a flagstone in an empty corridor, for example. Whatever you choose, I want you to memorize it. Know it so well that you can conjure up the memory at a moment’s notice, just as you did with your more powerful memory this evening.”
Harry swallowed nervously and nodded. “I’ll do my best, sir,” he said quietly.
“Excellent!” Dumbledore clapped his hands once and immediately got to his feet, signaling that the lesson was over. “If your scar happens to hurt you again, be sure to let me know during our next lesson, or, if it’s urgent, contact me right away.”
Harry made sure to thank him for his time before hurrying out of the office and back to Gryffindor Tower. When he arrived, his attention was immediately drawn to the notice board, where Ginny, Colin, Demelza, and a couple of the other sixth-years were crowded around a new announcement. As he drew closer and realized what it was, Harry’s stomach twisted with nervousness anticipation; their Apparition lessons were to begin the following Saturday.
When Harry and Ginny returned to the Gryffindor common room after their first Apparition lesson, they were both in much higher spirits than either had expected. Harry spotted Ron and Hermione immediately and bounded over to the table where they were studying.
“I take it you enjoyed your lesson, then?” Hermione asked, looking up with a smile.
Harry nodded enthusiastically as Ginny joined them. “Yeah. I mean, nobody was actually able to Apparate on their own yet, but it was still pretty fun when Twycross took us Side-Along.”
Ron gaped openly at him. “I thought you said you hated Side-Along Apparition,” he exclaimed in disbelief.
“Well, I did,” Harry answered, “but it turns out Dumbledore was right! Shocking, I know,” he chuckled. “Anyway, he told me once that Apparating gets more comfortable the more you do it, and I started feeling that today. It didn’t feel like I was suffocating anymore; it was more like... I don’t know, really, but it was weird!”
“I’m glad you’re so excited Harry,” Hermione laughed.
“You should’ve seen him when I Splinched myself,” Ginny giggled, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
“You Splinched yourself?” Ron asked, immediately looking worried. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Ron,” she replied, waving away his concern.
“It was the closest anybody got to actually Apparating on their own,” Harry put in with a small smile.
“That’s right,” Ginny confirmed in her haughtiest voice. “Anyway,” she continued, reverting back to her normal tone, “I Apparated halfway across the Great Hall, but I sort of-” she paused as a slow blush began creeping up her cheeks, “-I left my legs behind.”
Ron snorted as he tried not to laugh, but Hermione’s eyes widened in shock. “When you say you left your legs behind, do you mean everything from the waist down, or just your legs?” she asked slowly.
Ginny’s blush increased as she answered, “Legs and feet, shoes and socks.”
“So your skirt was....”
“Still around my waist, yeah.” Ginny’s face was now nearly as red as her hair, and Harry reached over and took her hand in silent support.
“And here I thought you weren’t embarrassed by any of this,” he said quietly.
“That’s because if I acted upset it just would have made things worse,” Ginny explained. “At least this way, nobody will tease me about it - it’s no fun to tease somebody who doesn’t get embarrassed. Besides, anyone who’s ever seen me swimming has seen that much of my legs anyway, right?”
“You mean all those blokes in the Great Hall were....” Ron’s voice trailed off as his ears began to be tinged red.
“Not after what happened to Markson,” Ginny laughed, her embarrassment subsiding.
“Who?” Ron asked.
“Markson,” Harry answered. “I don’t know his first name, but he’s a sixth-year Ravenclaw.”
“What happened to him?” asked Hermione.
Ginny looked at Harry and started laughing so hard that she couldn’t answer. Sighing, Harry realized that it was up to him to share this story with Ron and Hermione before they got a distorted version from someone else.
“He started looking a bit too, er, appreciatively at Ginny’s legs,” he said slowly. “Then, when the teachers were busy talking to her on the other side of the Great Hall, he started reaching his hand out to try and touch her thigh like he was being sly or something. The next thing anybody knew, he was crumpled against the wall on the other side of the Great Hall, he could barely see, and his robes and hair were pink.”
Ron and Hermione’s eyes widened in surprise, and Ginny tried in vain to stifle her continued laughter at the memory.
“It was priceless,” she gasped. “After that, all of the boys were afraid to even look at me. Of course, as soon as the teachers realized what had happened, Snape started throwing around accusations.” She got her laughter under control enough to lower her voice and do a passable imitation of Snape. “‘This is all Potter’s doing!’ You know how he is.”
“You didn’t get into trouble, did you?” Hermione asked, her concern causing her to unconsciously lean forward in her chair.
Harry shook his head and grinned. “My wand was in my bag on the other side of the Hall, so it couldn’t have been me, as McGonagall so helpfully pointed out.”
“Oh, of course,” Ron said mockingly. “So what really happened?”
Harry held up his right hand and whispered, “Banishing Charm.” Then he held up his left hand, whispering, “Color Change Charm.” Finally, he held up his right hand again and whispered, “Conjunctivitis Curse.”
“Harry, you really shouldn’t risk getting caught like that,” Hermione admonished him at once. “Think what would have happened if somebody had realized you were doing magic without a wand.”
“But he couldn’t just let that git get away with goggling Ginny like that!” Ron protested.
“Ginny said herself that no more skin was showing that when she goes swimming!” Hermione shot back.
“That doesn’t mean she wasn’t embarrassed,” Ron countered. “Besides, he tried to touch her!”
“I’m right here, you know,” Ginny interrupted, folding her arms angrily. “I’m not upset about what Harry did, and you shouldn’t be either, Hermione. He was careful about it and eliminated a problem before it got out of hand. If he hadn’t done what he did, he probably would have ended up in detention for punching Markson later, am I right Harry?”
“Probably,” Harry admitted. “Besides, I’m getting better at nonverbal spells. The only one I had to say out loud was the Conjunctivitis Curse, and I whispered that one.”
“Harry, if we’re going to do this, we need to get moving,” Ginny said suddenly as she leaned over and glanced at his watch.
“What?” he asked, startled. “Oh, right. Listen, Ginny and I were wondering if you two have an hour or so that you could spend helping me train in the Room of Requirement.”
Ron and Hermione looked at one another for a moment before Ron shrugged.
“Of course we’ll help you, Harry,” Hermione assured him. “When were you thinking we should do it?”
“Right now’s good for me, if you’ve got the time,” Harry replied.
“Sounds great,” Ron answered, springing to his feet and shoving his half-finished essay into his bag.
“I suppose I can finish this later,” Hermione sighed. “Just let me put these things away and then we can go.”
“Take your bag with you, Hermione,” Ginny advised.
“Why?” Hermione asked, knitting her brow in confusion.
“So if anybody sees us we can just pretend we’re going off to study somewhere a bit quieter than the common room.” Harry answered.
“When did you get so devious?” Ron asked in amusement as the four friends climbed out of the common room through the portrait hole.
“Spending a few months with a bunch of criminals and then a couple of weeks with your twin brothers can do that to a person,” Harry answered dryly as they headed off for the Room of Requirement.
A/N: In case anybody’s interested, the two unnamed Slytherins in Dumbledore’s memory are Avery and Evan Rosier. In GoF, Sirius named them, as well as Wilkes and a few others, as members of Snape’s “gang of Slytherins.”
Also, it took me forever to figure out how to write about an Apparition lesson without feeling like I was just rehashing a scene from HBP. I hope you like what I finally came up with!