Chapter 24: I could do with a clue
*** January 7th, Charms classroom***
"Mister Potter, would you please stay after class?" Flitwick squeaked over the din of the students packing away their stuff.
"Oh, shit," Harry whispered, doubling the intensity of the questioning look Hermione just gave him.
"He offered to help me in my duelling while you were away consoling Ginny. I forgot until now," he said sheepishly, to which Hermione generously only tsk-tsked and left it be. They really had a lot to stomach the last day, so she felt forgiving.
Both approached their Charms Professor, who took a slight wave of his wand to close the door.
"Ah, yes, Miss Granger. I should have thought that you would not want to miss this occasion. I believe this means you have chosen to accept my offer, doesn't it?" he greeted them happily, smiling broadly as both of them voiced their agreement.
"Good, I believe you have a free period Monday before lunch?" the small man inquired with a broad grin. While he never would confess it in public, he was rather glad that Snape had been shown up a bit. He never liked that braggart much. There was much more to duelling than stupid wand waving and nasty curses.
When both students voiced their confirmation, the man clapped his hands and beamed at them. "Very well, very well - I would propose that we meet every Monday at eleven here in my classroom, and I will try to get your duelling up to speed. Considering what I saw in class from both of you, I believe I might bring you up to junior league entrance level, if you work hard in your spare time," the man offered. Hermione knew that this was a huge amount of trust the diminutive Professor had just placed in them. Even a junior league entrance level would be far ahead of what most Aurors were capable of, and hoping for junior intermediate or maybe regular levels would be pure delusions of grandeur.
It was written in Hogwarts, a History that Professor Flitwick had taken over twenty years of practice to become Master Dueller, after climbing through the junior and dueller ranks, before he retired and turned his sights on to education. With a broad smile, she thanked the man for his trust, and then led Harry out of the room, practically skipping all the way to lunch.
ooOOoo
After lunch and Potions class, Hermione and Harry stayed behind to talk to Slughorn.
"Let me try first," Hermione whispered at Harry, feeling emboldened from their talk with Flitwick. "You are liable to just hex him into submission instead of asking," she told a frowning Harry. But he had to agree - without telling her, of course - that she probably had it right.
Approaching the smiling Professor, Hermione took lead. "Professor Slughorn? Might we ask you a question?"
"Of course, my dear," Slughorn beamed, rubbing his hands, expecting to gain the first of many favours.
"How many Horcruxes has Riddle made?" Hermione asked bluntly. That move was so surprising that even Harry stared at her in shock.
"What? Why? Who?" sputtered Slughorn in reply, his eyes dashing around confused.
"We know that Tom Riddle had asked you back in school about Horcruxes and how many he should make, we need to know the number, in order for Harry to defeat him once and for all," Hermione elaborated on her question.
Slughorn's face went through a dramatic change at this demand. The amiable smile gave way to an enraged glare as the man snarled at them. "Dumbledore sent you, didn't he? I gave him his sodding memory, but he can't leave me be! Now he's even sending students to do his work!"
Hermione instinctively recoiled as the man yelled at them, but continued trying to get the needed information out of him. "Professor, this is important. We need to know how many Riddle might have made."
Slughorn only grew even more enraged at her insistence. "Nothing! I know nothing! And now out! OUT!" He yelled and unceremoniously shoved them out of his classroom, locking the door behind them.
"Okay," Harry chuckled at a mortified looking Hermione. "Now that you tried diplomacy, how about I just hex him into submission?"
Hermione harrumphed and slapped Harry on the arm before she walked away with her head held high, followed by a mercilessly teasing Harry.
***January 10th, early evening, The Burrow***
"Dad? Mother?" the shouts of George and Fred Weasley rang out in the living room, after the flames had spat them out and reverted to their normal orange colour.
"He is out in the shed," Molly told them as she came out of the kitchen to greet her sons. "It's so good to have you here again," she told them, closing in for a hug.
It didn't come to that, as the twins shared a quick glance and a nod before they split up, both apparating away.
Molly Weasley stood a few moments with her mouth wide open and her arms in pre-hug position before she succumbed to anger. What were these two clowns thinking? Not even saying hello and acting like that? She was about to return to the kitchen to use her temper on the bread dough as the door opened again, Arthur entering, followed by Fred, who obviously had fetched him from his stupid shed.
"Fred Weasley!" Molly wound up for a rant, and getting ignored for the second time as Fred just turned and went to the staircase, yelling for his brother to hurry up. Just as she took another deep breath to yell at her brat properly, a pop sounded, and his copy appeared.
"Good, now that Dad is here, we can wrap up this matter," George said in a grave voice, stopping his mother's rant immediately. When her twin sons were serious, usually something very bad had happened.
"Two days ago, we got a letter from our sister, who got slandered quite badly in the piece of filth that wizarding Britain calls a newspaper," Fred started the talk.
"Yes, that was a disgusting piece of lies, thank goodness it was retracted yesterday, our poor Ginny," Arthur agreed. "Merlin knows how bad it has been for her to be the target of such vile gossip," he said with a sorrowful voice, not noticing his wife cringing slightly next to him.
"Sadly, it was very bad," George agreed, "She received dozens of Howlers from people not knowing the truth and not bothering to ask anyone that might actually know what happened" he said with a glance at his mother, who started to grow uncomfortable with the direction this talk was heading.
"She contacted us, asking for a favour and to give you this letter," Fred continued, handing over a letter to his father.
"Sorry, Dad, but we think you'll understand," George sadly said, and with another nod to each other, both apparated away.
Molly immediately took the letter from her husband and ripped it open. Reading it for a few moments, she swooned and sat heavily on a couch, the letter slipping from her hands and onto the ground. Arthur warily picked it up and read it.
ooOOoo
Mother,
Thank you for your loving words. In order to spare you further worry about my person and my actions, and to alleviate your burden of having a scarlet woman like me living under your roof, I have asked my brothers to take me in until such time that I am allowed to live on my own.
They agreed after having read the contents of your loving letter, and should already have removed my few possessions from my former room.
Wishing you a good life,
Your daughter
Hy dad,
I'm sorry, but I can't stand it anymore. I'll stay in contact.
Love you,
Ginny
ooOOoo
Arthur stood like he was petrified as he had finished reading the letter. With an unbelieving stare, he looked at his wife sitting in front of him. "Molly, what have you done now?"
"I, I," Molly sputtered, not knowing what to say.
Her procrastination in responding caused a series of warning bells to go off in Arthur's head. "You didn't send her a Howler over that, Molly?" he asked pleadingly. "Please tell me you didn't!" he begged, but Molly didn't respond to this.
"Merlin! Woman! Can't you use your brain just once before letting your stupid temper take over?" Arthur suddenly exploded. Molly looked in shock at her husband; he hadn't talked to her like this in years!
"Let me guess, you were still mad at her over the incident at the platform, and when the article came out, you just wrote that letter without even thinking once, didn't you?" he continued ranting. "I'm fed up with all of this, Molly! Are you satisfied? You managed to make another child run away from us!"
"Shut up! Not one word, Molly, don't you dare!" he roared as Molly bristled and wanted to say something.
"Arthur! You can't talk to me like that!" Molly hotly tried to object, silencing as if spelled as he turned and glared at her.
"Oh I can, Molly, and I should have done so long ago - I let you run roughshod over our family for too long. This ends now!" he shouted.
"I had to - you know that she is in danger with hanging around Potter! Even Dumbledore says that the boy is turning dark," she ranted back at him.
"I don't give a damn what Dumbledore thinks about that boy. I know Harry, he is a fine lad and he isn't dark, he just doesn't worship the ground Dumbledore walks on. I cannot hold it against the boy that he rebels against a treatment that I wouldn't even submit myself to!" Arthur countered.
"It was for his own good, children have to obey those who know better!" Molly shrieked back.
"I know Molly, you always know better," Arthur sighed. "First Bill went to Egypt to get away from your ranting over his hair and lifestyle, and even now, back in Britain, he only visits at major holidays. Charlie ran away to Romania to tend to dragons instead of staying here, just think about that," he continued to rant, pacing up and down in front of his wife, and showing for the first time in years why he was a department head instead of just a clerk.
"I acknowledge that Percy has been acting like a prat, since the other two at least owl me occasionally," he admitted, "But even the twins got out as soon as they could, and are highly successful with what you always called their useless waste of time. And now our only daughter wants to move out before she even sat her OWLS! That's a new record for you, Molly!"
"I will move into Bill's old room tonight, and will try to talk to them tomorrow to salvage what is possible. And you," he hissed at his wife, "You will start working on your anger management issues. I have some contacts in the ministry where I can get some mind healer to help you to sort them out," he told her.
"Arthur! I won't do that! To even demand such a thing is an insult!" Molly shrieked back.
"You will, or Merlin help me, I will toss you out on your ear, Molly Weasley!" Arthur said with finality, then shaking his head ruefully as he saw his wife getting even more enraged.
"Forget about Bill's room, I'll stay in the office for a week, you can Floo me when you have come to your senses and agree to receive counselling. One week, Molly, and not a day longer," he said, stomped over to the door, grabbed his robe and apparated away, leaving a shell-shocked Molly behind.
***January 11th ***
With a big green flash of fire, the fireplace of Grimmauld Place spat out Harry and Hermione in short order, right on time to join the breakfast there.
Yesterday, three days after their meeting with Dumbledore, Hermione had gotten a visit from Hedwig with a reply from Remus during breakfast. On opening the letter, she found a short note to come over as soon as convenient and possible for some important family business.
They took this request to Professor McGonagall, who agreed to let them leave the next morning, on Saturday, so they didn't lose class time.
Standing here in Black Manor, they barely had time to right themselves up, before Dobby appeared and started banishing the soot off their clothes.
"Remy, the boss is here!" Tonks sang out as she turned the corner from the kitchen. "Hey kids, how are you doing? That was quick, I didn't expect you for a few days, at least," she said as she hugged both in greeting.
"Tonks, you should know that the keyword 'family business' is an instant pass from Hogwarts. They could have been here yesterday if they wanted to, and if I didn't write the 'convenient' clause into it," Remus growled from behind her as he joined them, with the Grangers lining up behind him for the hugs to be distributed.
Finally, they went to the kitchen to resume breakfast, or take a second one, an option Harry chose, but Hermione passed, since she wanted to keep in shape for her man.
"So, what is this ominous family business? Do you know something about the Horcruxes already?" Hermione asked while Harry started filling his plate. Sighing, Hermione took a scone from the platter to nibble on, resolving to eat only half of it, and definitely only this one, at most.
"No, nothing on that front, I have already started going through the few books still left here. The twins are trying to quietly contact Bill about it, but haven't gotten through to him yet. So that's why we needed you - to send us over to the island for the library. If it is as dark as we think, there will be some mention about them in there," Remus said.
"Okay, but you know that this means that you will be stuck there for a while, it will be March until we can come over again to get you back," Hermione answered. "Are you ok with that?"
Tonks snorted at this. "January in Britain or in the Caribbean, tough choice, girl," she laughed, a saying that was echoed by Hermione's mother, as well. "But we don't plan to get marooned there; Remy had an idea to make a way to call our 'Harry taxi'," Tonks completed her speech.
At this, Remus waved his wand and Accio-ed a wrapped bundle from the somewhere in the house, handing it over to Harry. When he tore the wrapping from it, Harry found a hand mirror within. With a shudder in his voice, Harry raised his eyes to look at Remus. "Is that…"
"Sirius's, I heard and found it in a cupboard in his old room when I tested mine. It seems he never had the time to take it with him as he ran off to help you," his mentor replied with no less sorrow in his voice.
Harry was hit by a wave of sorrow as he held that piece of Padfoot's history in hand. It made him feel a bit guilty to already have seemingly forgotten about his Godfather with all the stress he had under lately. Feeling his plight, Hermione wrapped him in a tight hug, which soon was joined by Margret, while Tonks opted for a hand squeeze across the table.
"I changed it so that it would react to 'Harry'. With that, we can stay in contact about the research, and can call you to come and fetch us when necessary, mine answers to 'Remus'" Remus told Harry when the boy had calmed a bit. Harry nodded weakly at that.
"We will also be able to talk to each other without poor Hedwig having to cross Britain twice length-wise to carry the letters," Margret told her daughter fondly.
"It will take some time, but I plan to get another pair for your parents and you, Hermione, so you can stay in touch, too, but for starters, they will use this one while you share Harry's " Remus added, receiving a smile from Hermione as she was positively thrilled at the prospect of talking to her parents regularly.
Right then, Margret remembered something. "Talking about staying in contact, you mentioned that you want to have some friends over to the island next Hogsmeade day; March first, isn't it?" she asked.
"Ah right, the visit - want a sleepover pyjama party, too?" Tonks huffed.
"So you're not in favour, then?" Harry quipped at the sarcastic tone of his chief bodyguard.
"Well, as your security, I do have my doubts about Molly's youngest keeping quiet," Tonks admitted. "We don't want Dumb or Greasy to get that information from out of their heads."
"Well, there is nothing left to be spilled in that cauldron, they already know about the island being in the Caribbean," Harry admitted, earning himself a sharp glare from his bodyguard.
"Why wasn't I told immediately? And how did they find out?" she said, eying the blushing Hermione suspiciously.
"They overheard us talking now and then, and Ginny managed to puzzle it together from a few pieces here and there," Harry told her off, covering for his girlfriend. "She is as sharp as the twins, don't underestimate her!"
"And I guess the other two know as well," Tonks theorised, to which Harry nodded. "So we can be sure that Dumbledore knows about the island already," she concluded.
"We are sure that he does. After all, he promised to stop inquiring about it, which we thought meant he had already known all that was possible, just not the exact location, which he would assume we don't know, either," Hermione added her two Knuts.
"Well, then I would say that there is nothing else left than to have a party," Henry said as he rubbed his hands. "Remus, my boy, I think I shall whip up my special marinade again, if you are game. Us guys must defend our divine right to operate the Barbecue, don't we?" he said with a grin. Remus didn't have to be asked twice, that honey-mustard-secret ingredient mixture's scent on the sizzling meat was a memory he would forever cherish and might even cast a Patronus to.
Tonks took the time to exchange an eye-roll with Margret at their men before she left the 'boys' to their plans and dreams for a party that was still months away, and concentrated on topics closer to home.
"Okay, if we must, though I have some conditions that I want veto on," she started, and then casually threw a couple of pinching jinxes over her shoulder at Remus and Henry, who had tried to mockingly imitate her voice and whispered to Remus about principles, and having different ones, too, if the first set wasn't liked – some joke that Harry didn't really get.
Having her dominance re-established, she continued, ticking off on her fingers. "First, you won't add them to all the wards, but only to the Floo; and you will do this immediately after you two get here, first, and will take them off the list as soon as they have passed through. You will do the same when they leave, waiting until they have left and then remove them before flooing back, comprende?" she closed with a look that dared him to try contradicting her. Harry actually toyed with refusing just for the fun of it, but chickened out of it and just nodded.
As Tonks nodded smugly, Margret piped up with her own thoughts. "You will need the kids to get signed permissions from their parents, stating where their kids would go to, or I doubt the teachers would let them leave," she said, and Hermione nodded in reply and reached into her robe for the parchment she had pocketed before. She had the same thoughts already and had made a preliminary version of the waiver's text already.
"And don't forget that you have to tell Neville and Luna the secret to Grimmauld Place, or they won't be able to Floo here," Remus reminded him from the guys' couch.
ooOOoo
Returning in time for lunch, the two of them were instantly assaulted with questions by Ginny, and Neville, to a lesser extent. Luna was sitting on her table, still, and would go along with whatever they told her anyway.
At the mention of the need of parental approval in writing, Ginny groaned.
"What's wrong, Ginny? You've been not yourself for the last few days," Hermione asked. "Are people still giving you a hard time over the first article?"
"No, that's fine. I just realized that I have no chance to get this permission," the petite redhead sighed.
"Come on, Gin," Harry teased, "Try asking your father instead of your mother - that might work."
"I doubt that," Ginny sighed in return.
"What happened? Didn't you say that he supported you against your mum?" Hermione asked in concern as she laid her hand on the younger witch's arm. Shaking Ginny's arm slightly, she tried to show some support. "Come on, it can't be that bad, can it?" she said in an attempt to lift her spirits.
Ginny had to fight the urge to cringe at this. "Depends. On a scale from one to ten, what would you rate leaving the Burrow and moving in with the twins?"
The sound of Neville's fork hitting the table was the only sound the others made after her confession.
"Is this some kind of prank?" Harry asked cautiously. He knew that Ginny was theoretically capable of saying something like this in jest, and he hoped she just did. Her blush shattered this faint hope. Ginny never blushed when she was lying.
"I... I just couldn't take it anymore," Ginny suddenly sobbed, and Hermione immediately pulled her friend into an embrace. Ginny's breakdown triggered a wake effect on the Gryffindor table. One by one, the students fell silent as they witnessed the girl finally crack under the stress. Harry used his patented glare to remind them that they were part of the problem that caused this stress, making them quickly turn their heads back to their own business, or lunches, in this case. Luna wordlessly rose from the Ravenclaw table and left the Great Hall.
Having something more urgent than dinner to do, the Gryffindor quartet left the Great Hall, meeting Luna behind the doors. Together, they made it into the Gryffindor common room.
"Comfy," Luna commented as she took a look around. "Ravenclaw common room is more like a giant library, without much comfort, only study desks and books."
"Really? What books?" asked Hermione, turning towards the blond girl. "Are they different from the ones in the Library?" she inquired while Harry helped Ginny, who had already calmed down to occasional sniffles, on the couch.
Luna leaned her head to the right as she pondered the question for a moment. "Might as well be, I haven't read all in the Lib…"
"Hermione! Luna! This is not the moment!" Harry hissed.
"Sorry," Hermione squeaked and went back to Ginny's side, Luna joining her, but without being embarrassed one iota.
Harry gave them a slight glare before he began talking to Ginny in soft tones. "What exactly happened, Gin?"
"Mum was so mean all over the break, and then the Prophet, the gossip," Ginny said, pausing for a big sob. "Everybody was so mean, I, I never thought it would be so bad to have people talking behind your back," she admitted. "And those letters - I can't believe I laughed about people getting Howlers, it was so degrading. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole!" she said, punctuating again with a big sniffle.
Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she sat up. "And then Mother's letter!" she spat angrily. To Harry, it was a shock to hear her say this word. She, like every other Weasley - minus Percy - always called Mrs. Weasley 'Mum'. And Harry doubted very much that Ginny had coincidentally pronounced the word 'Mother' just like Percy had done. To Hermione, this was also obvious, her face mirrored the shock on Harry's, and even Neville and Luna understood that this was something serious.
"Do you know what she wrote in that letter, Harry?" Ginny continued, and as he had only heard a few words, like everyone, Harry shook his head, not getting that this was only a rhetorical question.
"I won't repeat it, but if my own mother thinks that badly of me, I found it would be for the best if I removed myself from her home, to spare her the grief and shame," she spat. "I wrote the twins," she said, and Harry wondered briefly why they didn't tell him about this earlier, but resolved that they might have seen it as family business. "They agreed to take me in; they have a small spare room in their flat above the shop. They were so nice, I offered to help them out in summer for free, so I won't be a burden, but they declined, telling me that family was never a burden," she said, smiling for the first time today.
Harry exchanged a short look with Hermione, and got a coy smile and a 'go ahead' nod from her.
"And that is why you will also be welcome at my home, Ginny. Remember, you always said that I was an honorary Weasley brother, and now I make you a honorary Potter sister," he said. For a moment, Ginny stared wide-eyed at him, and then latched onto him with a huge hug, while Hermione smiled at her boyfriend. His 'saving people thing' was so endearing to her.
Looking around in the empty room, she noticed that the time was perfect. "Harry, maybe you should tell Neville and Luna about your home address? There is no one in sight right now."
Also checking the room, Harry quickly waved his hand - after all, they had seen him do that often enough during their training sessions - and cast a privacy charm. During that, Ginny finally let go of him, and they all settled down in their seats again.
Quickly pulling some parchment, Harry wrote down the address of Black Mansion, holding it out to Neville an Luna. "Read this," he said, waiting for them to have a look at it.
"That's where you live?" Luna asked?
"Part-time," Harry joked as he rose and walked over to the fire, tossing the parchment in and watching it burn completely before he returned to the seat.
They sat there for the rest of the evening, talking, while every other Gryffindor gave them a wide berth, not even complaining about Luna's presence in the room, before retiring for the evening.
ooOOoo
Ginny had just changed into her nightshirt when there was a knock at the door to her dorm. A moment later, Hermione entered and waved Ginny over conspiratorially. Donning robes and following her, Ginny was led into the bathroom. Before she could inquire what this was all about, Hermione had pulled a hand mirror from her own robes and talked to it.
"Fred? George? Are you still there?" she whispered, under the bewildered Ginny's look.
"Of course we are," her brother's voice came from the mirror, which startled Ginny a bit.
"Did you think we would miss a moment of finally getting under your robes?" her other brother teased Hermione, who rolled her eyes at the mirror, her ears turning pinkish at the blatant teasing.
"Why, I think I might be obliged to tell my fiancée about your intentions. He might have a word or two with you about that," Hermione purred at him in a sweet voice, savouring the suddenly slightly panicked look the two pranksters sported.
Without any other word, she pushed the mirror into Ginny's hand, taking a few steps over to the entrance door.
Looking into the mirror, Ginny found not herself, but her two brothers looking back at her.
"Hey there, Snapdragon," Fred teased her. "We heard that you might have a tiny problem regarding a certain permission slip..."
Chapter 25 - The eye of the tiiiiger...
Next Monday, exactly on time, Hermione and Harry stepped into Professor Flitwick's classroom for their first Duelling tutoring.
"Ah! Right, come in, come in," the permanently happy man greeted them as soon as they had entered. Nobody could say that Flitwick wasn't perceptive. Duellers figuratively had to have eyes on the back of their head. There even was a spell to achieve that, but it always caused their aim to weaken as their depth perception suffered from all the input, so it was rarely used.
With a few flicks of his wand, the furniture was shoved to the walls and stacked neatly. Another few flicks made some wards on the floor activate, causing an arena shield to flare to life, in order to shield the rest of the room from spells.
"Now, comrades" Flitwick addressed them as Duellers did among each other while he shed his robes. "I would first like to assess your skill levels before we start working on your forms and tactics. Who would like to dance first? Miss Granger?" he invited the girl into the arena.
Nodding, a bit intimidated, Hermione also shed her outer robes and stepped forward.
"Do not be afraid. I will not use anything worse than a bludgeoning hex," Flitwick chuckled. "You, on the other hand, are not to hold back and give me all you got. Just don't use outright deadly spells, I can cope with anything else, believe me," he told the girl in front of him, which was nearly twice as tall as the Professor, but certainly didn't feel that way.
After bowing to Hermione and receiving a bow in return, Flitwick assumed a dueller's stance. "Ready when you are, Miss Granger. Begin at your leisure," he said, his ever-present jovial smile vanishing from his face as a look of complete concentration took its place.
Acting on her orders, Hermione lashed out with three wordless stunners, spread out to bracket him. Flitwick casually sidestepped the first, and dove under the next one. Hermione kept on pressing forward, sending an expelliarmus at her teacher, followed by animated ropes to bind him.
With a slight smile on his lips, Flitwick twirled under her disarming hex, and used a banisher to send the ropes flying back at her. Because she had just sent another stunner at the man, Hermione had no time to dispel the ropes and had to dodge them.
Harry had been cheering his girlfriend silently on, but he knew that she - and he as well - were clearly out of their league as Flitwick cartwheeled away from Hermione's spell, and sent a salvo of pinching jinxes her way while he did so.
Seeing the flurry of yellow streaks racing towards her, Hermione immediately started on a protego, but a fraction of a second too late. She yelped in pain as one of the spells connected with her thigh before she could raise her shield to block the flurry of spells. She instinctively rubbed the forming bruise, wasting valuable time.
Flitwick meanwhile came to his feet in a twirling motion and tapped his head, slowly fading from sight and started to send a spell chain at Hermione. A stunner, a body bind, a rictusempra and a jelly leg jinx battered her shield, but it held. Hermione replied with an atramentum spell and drew the jet of ink over the general area the spells had come from.
The ink splashed against the walls and floor, and while she missed Flitwick, some splatters had hit him, giving away his position, allowing her to cast a couple of finite spells his way, dodging his return jinxes, but getting clipped by a resizing charm that made her shirtsleeve shrink rapidly, constricting her movement.
Still, she had managed to hit Flitwick, who was slowly fading back into view again as she successfully dispelled his disillusionment charm. Giving her an appreciative nod, Flitwick stopped and waited for the girl to recover and retaliate after she had cancelled the charm on her clothes.
Taking risks, she started sending stunners and bludgeoning hexes at Flitwick, who calmly stood and used a dueller's deflecting shield to bat the attacks away with the wedge of energy around his wand.
For another ten seconds, he let her send spell after spell at him, getting more and more winded, before he suddenly dodged a spell and started casting.
Hermione dodged the first stunner coming her way, and conjured a shield against the banishing charm that followed. Flitwick's next spell went a bit wide to her left, not even touching her shield. He then let off a bit, circling her as both eyed each other warily, and then sent a doublet of banishers at her.
The first one crashed into her shield, sparkling against it and messing with her balance, sending her stumbling a step backwards. The second one was aimed low, and bounced off the floor right before her shield, and slipped through under it, smacking into her shins.
Hermione shrieked as she found her legs pulled away under her. She was sent flying in a spin and suddenly found herself stuck upside down in a huge spider web, facing the wall.
"Accio Miss Granger's wand," was the first verbal incantation of the duel so far, and the quiet slap told Hermione that she just had lost that duel. The only relief was that she had chosen standard white cotton knickers today, so at least she didn't lose all her dignity.
ooOOoo
"Now levitate her down slowly," Flitwick told Harry half a minute later, as he started dispelling the web. Slowly, Harry turned his girlfriend upside up and lowered her to the ground. She blushed furiously as Flitwick simply handed her wand back.
"Not bad for a novice, Miss Granger," Flitwick said with his smile back on his lips. "You are powerful, and focussed, but you lack two things to become a great dueller. First, you lack aggression. Although I told you to not hold back, you didn't use anything worse than I did, even when it was evident that I could block all that you sent at me."
"Also," he said with a chuckle, "you lack situational awareness. A proficient dueller would have noticed immediately that I had transfigured the ropes behind you into that net. Or at least grown suspicious as soon as the spell had gone wide. I could just as well have transfigured them into animals to charge you. You must understand that there is more to duelling than exchanging spells."
Harry nodded at this statement, as he understood completely. In the battle of the ministry, he had witnessed what a duel between competent wizards looked like. Every tiny shard of glass or the smallest pebble had become a deadly weapon, a combatant or a shield in that duel, while the wizards still exchanged spells.
Hermione, on the other hand, had only been in fights with Death Eaters. These brutes with white masks were, although educated and more or less capable wizards, little more than rampaging bulls. Their tactic consisted in sending a flurry of dark curses at their targets, without any finesse. In a way, Tonks fought similarly, following Auror doctrine of quickly overwhelming the target with amassed spells, and taking advantage of her physical abilities to not get hit while doing so.
Of course, that was enough in most cases, but against a practiced dueller, they were helpless. Dumbledore, who had been Transfiguration teacher for decades in Hogwarts, had captured all of them in a mere matter of minutes without resorting to anything worse than a stunner.
"Ready, Mister Potter?" The voice of Flitwick pulled Harry out of his reminiscence. With a short nod, he made his way to the duelling arena. He took his spot, bowed to Flitwick, and then took a ready position, waiting for an opening.
"While it is a clever decision not to fight at all, it defeats the purpose of this," Flitwick said after a tense ten seconds into their standoff. Harry nodded curtly, and sent a word- and motionless stunner down the arena. Flitwick reacted far faster than Harry had thought possible, and spun out of the way, returning fire in the same way.
Harry saw the crimson bolt coming his way and bent sideways to dodge under it, sending a banisher in return, which got sidestepped by Flitwick.
The professor immediately started to send a multitude of spells at Harry, all wordless and point-casted, so Harry was left to guess what was coming his way. He immediately started to jump and duck, and finally had to roll to the side as spells came too close. Flitwick changed aim and targeted the point that Harry would end his roll, but Harry had cast a shield as he had to dive, covering himself while getting back onto his feet. Tonks had taught him that lesson the hard way.
Harry held his shield as stunners, banishers and body binds impacted in quick succession. After a few more moments of heavy fire, Flitwick had to ease up a bit to ease the strain, and Harry dove to the side as he noticed a stinging hex coming his way, cancelling his shield and using a serpensortia to distract Flitwick. The man sidestepped the reptile flung at him and simply vanished the cobra, but this small distraction gave Harry the time to regain his footing and get back into the game, sending some spells back at his foe.
As he had done with Hermione, Flitwick just stood, with the same shield as he used against Hermione, and let Harry pour spells at him. Seeing that his attempts were less than useless, Harry used an Archer curse, forcing Flitwick to dodge the physical projectile. Harry didn't have to turn around to know that Hermione was horrified at what he just had done. Her gasp was loud enough.
He followed the man with more of the projectiles, slipping body binds and stunners between, to keep the man on his toes. Flitwick seemed to have a huge advantage in duelling due his body size. His small size and low mass made him a fast twirling shape on the floor, nearly impossible to guess which direction he would move to, raising shields only when unable to dodge, or banishing projectiles when necessary. All the time, he still sent various spells at Harry, and he even diverted his own aim once and used a spell to intercept one of Harry's body binders. Harry, on the other hand, could draw at near limitless reserves, sending high-powered spells at the man without pause.
Flitwick ended this short offense by raising a wall out of the floor and rolling behind it.
Harry immediately sent a reducto at it, shattering half of it, and causing Hermione to shriek in outrage, but Flitwick jumped out of the other side, banishing the rubble at Harry.
Harry dodged the hail of stone coming his way, but had to shield his eyes and cough as the dust cloud enveloped him. Quickly conjuring a gust of wind to disperse the dust, he was hit by one of a series of bludgeoning hexes Flitwick had sent into the cloud in the vague direction of the cough. Hissing in pain, Harry spun with the impact, groaning again as he rolled over his bruised shoulder.
Coming out of the roll onto his knees, he sent a cutting curse into the direction of the incoming fire. His cutting curses came out wider than usual, and the long band of energy forced Flitwick to shield. Harry could practically hear Hermione stomp her leg in protest at his actions.
Flitwick recovered quickly and used a series of various hexes on Harry, of which Harry only identified the body-binding hex and the tarantellagra jinx positively. The fact that he didn't recognize the other spells by their colour made Harry reluctant to find out what nasty things they would cause. One of them barely touched the side of his head and sent a lock of hair flying.
He wasn't sure whether he had actually dodged some spells or they had gone wide, so he used one of his spins to send a reductor behind him in the general direction of where the rubble had landed, and did in fact hit a plant with long vines as it tried to ensnare him. As he had turned back, he was looking at three Flitwicks instead of one. Harry didn't waste a second to send a cloud of ice shards at the tree men, all shielding, but only one shield proved to be solid, and the other two constructs sizzling and failing under the hail, while Harry dodged the three spells coming his way.
Sadly, he had dodged the two illusionary spells, and the real Flitwick hit Harry with another bludgeoner, which hit Harry's hip painfully. The impact toppled the boy, and conversion of momentum converted Harry's spin into a roll over the ground. Clenching his teeth, Harry sent stunners in the general direction of Flitwick as he rolled over the ground.
Flitwick actually laughed out loud as Harry did so, even though he had to shield against the spells, as the boy came up on his knees. Harry took aim and followed up with a huge stunner, which splashed against the Professor's shield, causing it to flicker and the man to stumble slightly under the energy of his spell's impact, momentarily stunned by the unexpected strong spell this far into the duel.
Deciding to use a shield breaker combo, Harry sent an overpowered bone-breaker at the shield, followed closely by a disarming curse. As predicted, the shield failed at the spell, but the blue light of the following spell managed to hit Flitwick. Harry reached out with his free hand to catch the flying wand, as it suddenly reversed its direction. The next thing he noticed was the yellow-orange of a bludgeoning hex filling his vision, knocking him out the hard way.
ooOOoo
"Please hold still, Mister Potter," Flitwick's voice greeted Harry as he regained consciousness and reached for his face. Harry assumed it was the same man who caught and pinned his hand down and hindered Harry to grab his hurting nose. "The spell to set and mend your nose will have run its course in a few seconds, then the pain will fade," the man reassured Harry and slowly released his arm.
Sitting up, Harry shook the cobwebs from his head as the pain indeed faded rapidly. "Damn, that hurt! Couldn't you have used a stunner instead?" he moaned.
Flitwick shook his head in jest. "After you had cast a cutting curse, arrows, a blasting curse and a bone breaker at me, I don't think you are in a position to complain, comrade," the man chuckled, ticking off the curses at one hand while Hermione's eyes narrowed at her prone boyfriend, winding up to tell him off. "Honestly, Harry," was all she could utter in a very indignant tone.
"He did exactly as I asked, Miss Granger," Flitwick interrupted her tirade before it had gained any momentum. At his cheeky grin, Hermione gave Harry an apologetic smile and started casting diagnostic spells at his hip to assess the damage.
"Remember, I told you the same, only you didn't comply with this wish," Flitwick continued while watching Hermione's wand-work with a teacher's eye.
"What happened? I did disarm you, didn't I?" Harry asked from his position on the ground.
"Yes, and being overconfident, you thought this would end our dance and just waited to catch my wand," Flitwick said as he took care of Harry's shoulder as Hermione was still casting healing spells at his hip.
"So you can cast wandless?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Mister Potter, you are aware that I am a Master Dueller?" The small man smiled at the boy lying in front of him, offering him a hand to help him up. "There is a reason this title is earned rarely - clearly you wouldn't be considered a master if something as a simple disarming charm would part you from your wand. Most duellers can at least recall their wands."
Mortified, Harry sputtered a simple "Oh," as he took the hand and came to his feet.
"Oh indeed, Mister Potter. There a reason Professor Snape never taunts me directly - he knows the only way he could defeat me would be to hit me in the back when I'm distracted," Flitwick chuckled. Harry and Hermione both were surprised by that admission which would be the first time that this man had actually slighted Snape, and even boasted a bit.
After clapping his hands, the man drew and deftly flicked his wand to summon three chairs from the stowed away furniture. Climbing into his seat, he waited for the other two to sit down.
"Now," Professor Flitwick began as his trainees were finally seated, "You really surprised me, Mister Potter. Firstly, you are showing impressive stamina when it comes to casting. Most people would be hard-pressed to cast such a number of stunners in such a short time. And that bone-breaking curse was really surprising. Nasty curse, I doubt you found it in the regular Hogwarts library," he let the question linger, although he didn't stop to smile.
With a bit of a flush tinting his face, Harry smiled back. "I had a bit of reading at the place I stayed over the summer," he admitted.
"Oh yes, the vast Black Library. I am quite thankful you spared me of the nastier pieces of magic you might have found there," Flitwick chuckled in return. "Although I hope you might grant me a look into some of the rarer volumes, someday."
Taking the request for what it was, Harry gave a nod in reply. He could trust Flitwick, and the opportunity to train with the man was worth the price.
"Wonderful! Now to your performance. You have quite the instincts and power, Mister Potter, and certainly the drive to win, but like Miss Granger, you lack the imagination to be considered a good dueller. Right now, you are at or approaching Auror level, both, with Mister Potter a bit better, but both of you have to start thinking in more than direct approach magic," Flitwick lectured.
"Take your snake conjuration, for example, Mister Potter. Now that was a quite intelligent move, but why didn't you try something more creative? Look, for instance you could have…"
The rest of the hour, Flitwick told them more and more convoluted ideas and spell schemes, which made the two students question the man's sanity. But maybe you had to be a bit along that road to fight properly. After all, Moody and Dumbledore were also legendary fighters, and both were also known for being way into gaga-land. At least it made them unpredictable.
ooOOoo
"Seriously, who tells the kids about all this stuff," Harry lamented after he found the room occupied, again, this time with a Firsty waiting in line for when it becomes available again.
"We have two dozen of people that know firsthand, due to the DA," Hermione replied as they took the turn back to the staircase. "Given that each one of them has at least 4 friends, we have about 100 people in the second link. In the third, almost all of Hogwarts would know."
"Not that," Harry grumbled as he headed for the first stair that swung their direction. "I mean, why did nobody ever tell us about such things when they were new at Hogwarts!"
ooOOoo
"Ok, folks, since our room of choice has been unavailable for a solid week, now, we need a replacement," Hermione told the others as she lead them into a unused wing in the third floor. When she led them into an room and pulled a trapdoor in the floor open, Neville gave a startled gasp.
"This is the room you discovered in first year?" he said.
"Really? Ron told me about it - he said there were a lot of traps behind it, but he couldn't tell me anything beyond the first few rooms," Ginny babbled.
"Well, he got knocked out in that chess game," Harry allowed.
"So you want to use the rooms the traps were in?" Neville asked.
"Were?" Harry chuckled as he pulled the trapdoor open. Before Neville could question that reply, Hermione produced a jar containing a bluebell flame and dropped it down the hole. Ignoring the slithering sounds from below, first Harry, then Hermione jumped in.
Neville's scared gaze bounced off Luna's lackadaisical face as she simply stepped into the void, so he turned to find help from Ginny.
"I guess that means no one will disturb us there," she said with a shrug, and jumped as well.
ooOOoo
A couple of days later, Hermione found Harry standing near the portrait hole when she came down for breakfast.
"Hey Harry, what's the matter?" she asked as she stepped closer, scanning the bulletin board for new announcements. Following his pointing finger, her gaze fell upon a sign-up list.
"Apparition class? You noticed it just now? That sheet has already been up for all of January."
Harry shot her a stern glance in reply. "I noticed that, thank you very much. I'm simply contemplating whether to sign up or not."
This time, it were Hermione's eyes that sought out Harry's. "And why would you do that? You already know how to apparate. Do you want to practice?" she asked.
"Or just show up," she tried with a big grin when he shook his head in reply.
"I'll show you up if you keep that cheek up," he growled back.
Hermione took a quick glance around before she leaned in. "You will do what up my cheeks?" she whispered, laughing heartily when his head spun around while his face was trying to set a new record in color density.
For a few moments, his mouth hung open as he tried to come up with a reply, but each time he started, her laughter shot him down before he could utter a single word.
"You'll pay for this," he finally hissed.
Another bright giggle was all he got for his effort, as Hermione leaned in again, brushing against him. "I do hope so, Captain," she whispered.
"Minx!"
"Yours..." replied with a smirk that was definitely not lady-like, and caused a relapse of Harry's pigmentation issues.
"Anyway, why do you want to sign up, then?" she changed the topic, less due to mercy than to the fact that some other Gryffindors were beginning to file in and out of the common room.
"I was hoping to see Malfoy splinch himself," Harry replied, his gaze becoming dreamy. Hermione's jaw almost dropped as he said that, and finally did when he continued speaking, smirking diabolically.
"Maybe I could manage to distract him in the right moment..."
The caress of her fist against his biceps drew him out of his reveries. "Honestly, Harry!" she ranted. "Don't you have better things than this in mind?" she snubbed.
"Honestly, I can't think of many things better than a splinched Malfoy," Harry replied truthfully, and not aware of any shortcoming on his part, with another satisfied smile playing on his lips.
"Maybe things that we used to do in the Room of Requirement?" she whispered, trying to bring her point across.
Harry snorted slightly as she said that. "Well that's a given. But since it's occupied all the time, nothing keeps me from enjoying Malfoy making a fool out of himself."
"Harry, all the sixth years will be at these lessons," Hermione diplomatically said as a group of third years passed them on their way to breakfast.
"So? We don't know who uses the room. It could be anyone," Harry retorted.
"Honestly, do I have to do all the thinking for us?" Hermione sighed, once more checking if they could be overheard, before leaning in. "Don't you realize that with all the sixth year Gryffindors at these lessons, your dorm would be completely empty?" she whispered into his ear, pressing tightly against him.
Harry's reply was a simple "oh", as he sheepishly scratched his neck.
ooOOoo
Over the next weeks, both intensified the duelling portion of their training, and Neville and the girls also improved steadily due to the tutoring. Also, Harry's homework was never done better.
Hermione, after a few appointments with Vector and Babble for her extra credit project, finally managed a breakthrough in her ward project during one of these sessions. Harry considered it a personal breakthrough that he actually understood what she was talking about when she filled him in on it.
All the time, they were in daily contact with their friends and family, a fact that pleased Hermione greatly. She really had missed being able to talk to her parents every day while being away from home. Writing a letter was fine, but talking to someone face-to-face, even over a mirror, was much better.
*** Gryffindor common room, mid February ***
Harry was cuddling with Hermione when he suddenly heard Remus' voice from inside his robes. "Can you talk?"
Hermione shifted slightly in his arms so that she cuddled against his chest. "Not freely," she whispered.
There was a short pause of silence while Remus formulated his message. "We know something, find somewhere you cannot be overheard," he whispered.
"We'll call back quickly, " Hermione spoke as she slid her hand into Harry's robes to deactivate the mirror. She then rose, stretched, and pulled Harry to his feet. None of the other suspected anything ill when she started pulling him to the entrance hole.
"Third floor?" Harry asked while the portrait swung open, but Hermione shook her head.
"We can't be absolutely sure that there isn't anyone eavesdropping on us, remember? I'm still not entirely convinced that Dumbledore hadn't something to watch the rooms installed," she whispered in his ear, her arm slung around his waist. Harry nodded grimly. That argument wasn't settled between them, but he had agreed to cease using wandless magic during training to alleviate her concerns.
Instead, they went for the Room of Requirement, but like always, the Room was in use, already. This time, it was a Ravenclaw boy wearing a groove in the flooring near the door, balancing a few books. Seeing Hermione and Harry approaching, he turned too fast and slipped, his books flying and crashing into the door with a huge thud.
"Sorry… I… You…" the poor boy stammered, blushing profusely as he scrambled on the floor to pick up his books with Hermione's and Harry's help, before suddenly squeaking and taking off in high speed, leaving some books behind.
Hermione looked baffled why the boy was acting that way. "What the hell just happened?" she asked as she turned to Harry, one of the books still in her hand.
"You got yourself a potential stalker," Harry returned sourly as he glared at the corner the boy had just rounded.
Tilting her head, Hermione mulled it a bit over. "Possible. But it's not fair to insult him for having a crush on an older girl. Even you had a thing for Cho and the Chaser girls, Harry."
Harry grimaced at her in reply. "Yeah, but I didn't try to sneak a peek under their shirts like he just did with you!"
"He did WHAT?" Hermione screeched, instinctively covering her neckline with her hands.
"When you picked up that book, I saw him leaning over and blatantly checking you out. If he hadn't turned tail at that, I'd have told him off for his inadequate behaviour and advised him to vacate himself from the premises, only in much less numerous and polite words," Harry told her, while aiming a Cheshire-grin at his now fuming girlfriend.
While Hermione complained about teenage hormones and lack of manners in a series of hisses, Harry suddenly had an idea. Telling Hermione about it, they immediately set off for their new destination.
ooOOoo
"You can talk now, Remus, we are in a secure location," Harry told his Godfather over the mirror.
"Really?" the image replied, slightly squeaky. "The connection is rather bad, where are - WATCH OUT - BEHIND YOU!"
This yell had Harry immediately turning and his hand on his wand, but instead of drawing, Harry started laughing heartily, Hermione joining him with her giggles.
"What? What's wrong? Why are you laughing?" the mirror-Remus demanded to know. From his end, all he could see was a dizzying display of a moving stone wall with some torches, upside down.
"You gave us that huge scare for nothing, Remus. Here is nothing that can harm us," Harry replied, still chuckling.
The image of Remus got replaced by Tonks. "Harry, that didn't look safe - it was huge. How can you be sure it won't hurt you?"
Harry angled his mirror in a way that the creature and the room could be seen easier. "Because I dealt with it four years ago, already." The mirror emitted a series of gasps and a long whistle.
"Wow, that thing is huge. I didn't believe it was that big. If anything, you underestimated its size," Tonks admitted.
"Well, I was a small kid and my glasses weren't the best," Harry agreed, and moved the mirror so that they could get a better view.
"Ok, I give you benefit of the doubt for that, Harry," Tonks replied, still slightly awed as she couldn't take her eyes off the carcass.
Next, the mirror squeaked in Margret's voice. "Amazing how good it still looks. For a certain value of good, anyway," she said, wrinkling her nose. "You said it was four years ago, but it looks as if it were still alive!"
"Hi mum," Harry and Hermione greeted her in chorus. Hermione had to pet Harry's back for doing that, her mother had told her once how much she adored Harry for calling her that so naturally.
"Actually, that's to be expected from such a specimen," Remus was heard. "A basilisk corpse is so dangerous that nothing would or could touch it, not even bacteria. It could lie here for decades before any decay would start, and in that cave, it is far too humid for it to dry out."
"Is it useful for something? I mean we could try harvest stuff for ingredients," Hermione asked eagerly.
"While valuable," Remus admitted," it is not safe to do so without special equipment and lots of experience. The only things relatively easy to harvest are the eyes, fangs and the venom, and none of them is something I would like to have stored in a dorm of children, as all are extremely dangerous and only used for the darkest magics and potions."
"Agreed," Harry said as he fought the shivers at the idea of having something like that in the same room as his dorm mates. "What about the skin? Wouldn't it be good armour?"
"Go ahead and try cutting it," Remus chuckled. "You can't cut it with magic, but it might be possible with special tools made to withstand the corrosive effects. That property would also dissolve all stitches, which means you can't make a suit out of it. Also, it is far too heavy and toxic to be worn by men. Just tanning the hide would take years!"
"Darn, I already had hopes to face the tosser in an invincible set of armour," Harry huffed to the amusement of all present. "Ok, back to business, what did you find out about these Horcruxes?"
"Well, pup; this is what I have so far," the Marauder said, and shuffled through his notes before starting to fill the kids in. "As you know by now from our talks about the Dementors, there are magical methods to meddle with the soul of a person…"
ooOOoo
"Wow," Harry commented as he put the mirror away after the discussion had ended. "You know, being scared of death is one thing, but Tom is definitely going too far."
Hermione shook her head in disgust. "The whole concept of splitting your soul is disgusting. It reminds me of the Dorian Gray stories. It amazes me what lengths he was prepared to go in order to reach his goals."
"I knew he was a killer, but several cold-blooded, planned murders, and rituals to change himself - that's completely off the scale. Just look at the facts: the diary, the locket, the ring, who knows how many more that bastard has made. I grow less and less patient with Slughorn - we need to find out how many are out there, and fast! I just hope Remus is able to find the other ones so that I can finally kick his scaly arse to hell," Harry growled.
"Yeah, that's true. He has to go down," Hermione agreed.
"Speaking of going down," Harry chuckled, his eyebrows wiggling like mad.
For a second, Hermione didn't get it, but when it clicked with her, she couldn't suppress the urge to roll her eyes. "Honestly, Harry. You're thinking of that, down here?" she chided her overeager boyfriend.
"I don't remember you ever complaining before," Harry shrugged and shot her his lopsided killer-grin. "And just think of it. We are undisturbed, no time restriction, and given what enormous gits Salazar and Riddle were, I don't think they ever had a women down here. Except for Riddle, but he brought an eleven year old girl, that doesn't count. So we would be the first, a really historic event, don't you think?" he tried to convince her in jest.
To his surprise, Hermione cocked her head and took a long look around, examining her surroundings. "If your cleaning spells are up to the challenge, and we transfigure a bed and some walls so I don't have to look at that," she said, thumbing at the corpse, "I might agree to go down - in history," she finally said with a smirk and laughed out loud as Harry took a short look at the grimy floor and exchanged his normal wand for his battlewand, eager to comply.
OoOOoo
"Professor? Might I ask you a question? " Hermione exclaimed after Potions class. Slughorn looked slightly wary, but waited for her to come forward. Harry waited at his place, keeping her bag as she did so.
"I'm afraid that I came across rather harsh when we had our last conversation, Professor. I want to apologize for that," Hermione began.
"Apology accepted," Slughorn replied, easing up slightly.
"You know, I was very afraid of the simple concept of a Horcrux, and the idea that Riddle had made multiple is awful," Hermione continued in a shy way.
"That is understandable, those things are vilest dark magic," Slughorn said. "What exactly was the question you wanted to ask?" he tried to switch topic.
"Just think about it - he can return from death multiple times, unless someone manages to find and destroy all of them. But without knowing how many," Hermione soldiered on, before she got interrupted by Slughorn's irate voice.
"Miss Granger! I already told you I know nothing about this. If you are just here to repeat that inquiry, I must demand that you get out of this classroom, immediately," he growled.
"Professor, this is import..." Harry tried, but got cut off, as well.
"You too, Mister Potter. Out. Both of you!" Slughorn snapped.
Hermione tried it once more. "Prof..."
"OUT!" Slughorn yelled, and stormed out of the room himself, into his office.
ooOOoo
Harry knocked at the door, waiting for it to be answered. When the door finally opened, Slughorn came into view. His face immediately hardened as his look fell on them.
"We wouldn't disturb you if it weren't that important, but we really must know," Hermione began.
"I know nothing about this, and I have no time now, as I have a pot on the burner," Slughorn said before he slammed the door shut.
ooOOoo
"Professor?" Hermione asked after class, but Slughorn had already left.
ooOOoo
"Professor? Are you there?" Harry shouted as he continued knocking at the door to Slughorn's door. He left after a few more tries.
ooOOoo
"Professor? Do you have a moment?" Harry said from his position near the door as Slughorn entered the Great Hall.
"Sorry, Mister Potter. If you have any school related questions, please pose them in class, I would like to eat undisturbed," Slughorn replied without looking at him or even slowing down.
Sighing, Harry walked to his usual seat and slumped down next to Hermione. When she gave him a questioning look, he shook his head, frowning.
The end of February was closing in, and their quest to find out how many Horcruxes of Voldemort were around still hadn't gained any ground. With their visit at home only a few weeks away, they had agreed that Remus would try to get as much additional information as he could, now that he had a lead, and that the kids would continue working on Slughorn. That work didn't bear any fruit, yet, and probably never would.
"What exactly do you two want from Slughorn?" Neville asked from across the table, with Ginny listening attentively.
"Mission for Dumbledore," Harry murmured in reply. Neville and Ginny proved to be good friends as they took the explanation at face value and didn't ask any further.
Nonetheless, Hermione was starting to get desperate enough to consider allowing Harry to just beat the information out of the man.