Chapter 83: Unwanted Questions
On Sunday Harry sent a letter to Remus with Hedwig. He had decided it was time to start helping the werewolf out. He had some fragile information to get to Remus, so the letter he sent was very carefully worded.
Dear Remus,
I managed to finish that project I had been working on. I struggled with it a bit before I was able to cat onto it. Now I don't have any problems with it. I thought maybe I'd be able to help you out with your problem now. My calendar is almost full, but I'm sure I could find the time to help about once a month. We could meet at your old spot.
School's going ok. We had a club meeting on Friday that went pretty well. I start teaching on Tuesday. Quidditch tryouts were yesterday. They went pretty well. I think we have a pretty decent team this year. Not as solid as it has been, but we have a lot of new additions who are bound to improve with some practice. We shouldn't get whomped, at any rate. Let me know if you'll be able to make it this month.
Take care,
Harry
He thought that he did a fairly decent job of disguising the meaning to anyone should they intercept the letter, yet at the same time he didn't imagine Remus would have a terrible time figuring it out.
Harry kept up his morning routine of jogging around the grounds and working out in the room of requirement. Not only was it helping Harry stay in shape, he found it also left him feeling good about himself. He felt refreshed after the routine every morning. Even during the week it left him feeling ready to face the day.
Tuesday morning, Hedwig arrived with the regular owl post during breakfast. Harry excitedly took the parchment and noted who it was from. He stuffed it into his bag deciding he'd read it later. He didn't want anyone else to know what Remus had written.
"Who's the letter from, Harry?" Hermione inquired from across the table.
"Remus," Harry told her simply.
"Oh?" she returned. "Why aren't you reading it? Don't you want to know what it says?"
"I'll read it later," he retorted with a hint of warning in his voice.
If Hermione caught the hint, she didn't acknowledge it. "Why not just read it now? I'm sure we'd all like to know how he's doing. I haven't heard from Professor Lupin in a long time, and I'd like to hear what he has to say."
Harry glared at her sharply. "Then why don't you send him an owl yourself and ask him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked him sardonically.
"It means that some things of mine are private. Just because I get a letter from someone doesn't mean you get to read it. I don't ask you for all the details of the ones you get from your parents. The letters were sent to you, not to me, and I respect that. Apparently asking for the same courtesy is out of the question." He stood from his seat while he was speaking and proceeded to walk out of the hall quickly before their argument went any farther. Hermione could really push his buttons, and he didn't want to end up saying anything he might later regret.
Ginny glared at Hermione from across the table where she had been sitting next to Harry. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" she asked the prefect. "Can't you see that by constantly pushing him to talk you're only pushing him farther away?"
Hermione looked at Ginny sharply. "He can't keep everything bottled up inside. He needs to let us know what's going on."
Ginny just huffed and said, "You are unbelievable." She followed Harry's example and stalked out of the hall leaving a visibly upset Hermione and a flustered Ron in her wake. She caught up with Harry in the hallway and searched her mind for something to say to him. She found nothing that she thought would help so she went with, "Hermione can be a real cow sometimes."
Harry turned around at the sound of her voice, startled to find her there. "Yeah," he said sullenly. "I know she means well, but she just doesn't know when to quit. She thinks that every one needs to deal with their problems by talking about them. And she seems to think that she's the one I should be talking to. I mean, honestly… did she really think that a booklet detailing the five stages of grief was what I needed for my birthday?"
Ginny couldn't help it. She tried valiantly to hold it back, but nothing could have stopped it. She snorted and collapsed in a fit of laughter. She looked up at Harry's face to see him smiling at her as she continued to giggle from the floor. As her shaking subsided and she began breathing regularly again, he offered her a hand up. She gratefully took it, and he hoisted her off the ground with relative ease. "I'm sorry, Harry. I honestly don't know what to tell you. I've tried talking some sense into her, told her to back off and let you come to her, but she's relentless. Once she gets an idea in her head, nothing will stop her."
"Don't I know it," he replied ruefully. He shook his head clear of his thoughts of Hermione and smiled at Ginny again. "Thanks for coming after me, Gin. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome Harry," she replied. "I told you I'll be there for you whenever you might need me, and I meant it. I won't push you for information. I'll just be there whenever you're ready to talk or if you just need some company."
"I don't know what I did to deserve you, but thanks," Harry told her.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Need we go over this again, Potter? If not for the fact that you're a decent bloke and deserve the comfort of a true friend anyway, then the fact that you've saved my life a couple times ought to be reason enough."
He grinned cheekily at her. "Oh, I know. I just enjoy hearing you praise me so."
She pushed him into the wall and shouted, "You're an arse, Potter." She ran down the hallway and called over her shoulder "I'm off to class. Don't want to be late." Harry laughed as he tried to glare at her retreating form.
....
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Chapter 84: Preparing for the Class
The rest of the day went by more smoothly than breakfast had gone. In DADA and Potions, Harry and Hermione hardly spoke to each other. Harry was mad at Hermione's persistent nagging for information. He hated that she felt like she could treat him as just another mystery to solve. She was mad that Harry was continually shutting her out. But as the day wore on, the tension between them began to dissipate.
Harry read Remus' reply after potions class. He retired to his office as Hermione went to Ancient Runes. As soon as he entered, he sat at his desk and tore open the envelope.
Dear Harry,
That's great. Congratulations. It really means a lot to me that you want to help me so much. I think the old hideout should work fine. You know when to meet me there.
I'm glad to hear that things with your club and Quidditch seem to be going well. You'll have to keep me updated on how your classes go. Teaching can be a rather rewarding experience, as I learned a few years ago. I hope that you enjoy it.
I can't really say anything much about what's going on in a letter for obvious reasons. Perhaps we'll find a chance to talk in person soon.
With Regard,
Remus Lupin
He was eager to see Remus but was weary of the circumstances it would be under. There were still a couple weeks left until the full moon, so he didn't dwell too much on it at the moment. He would have plenty of time to think on it later. Instead, Harry concentrated on his first HA class that night. Since it was the beginner class and he was starting them off where he had started the DA last year, there wasn't much planning to be done. Harry still found himself nervous about the class though. It was a larger group than the DA had been last year with well over 50 members. He hoped that he would be able to advance several of the new members into the intermediate class quickly to even the two classes out a bit.
After dinner, Harry went straight to the Room of Requirement to get everything ready. The room was similar to the one they had used last year, only bigger. A slightly raised small stage stood at the front of the room with a podium on it. As Harry walked up he noticed a whistle sitting there. He slipped it around his neck and began to think about how he would address the class to start. He needed to be authoritative but didn't want to seem unapproachable. It was going to be a very fine line between Professor Potter and Harry. He wouldn't let anyone call him Professor Potter, but that was the name he'd assigned to his HA persona.
As 7:00 drew nearer, students began filing into the room. Harry waited at the podium. He had the contract with him so that he could make sure nobody tried to sneak in that didn't belong in the class. At 7:00 he checked for anyone who hadn't signed, but no red light was seen throughout the room. Harry nodded his approval and began.
"Welcome, all of you, to the first class of the HA. You will all be starting out where the DA started last year with the basics of dueling. It's best to make sure you have the basics down before you move onto anything else. Without the basics, nothing else will really matter." Harry paused to let this information sink in. "With that said, we will begin by practicing expelliarmus."
There were some groans heard from some of the older students at this, but Harry held up a hand to forestall their complaints. "I'll tell you the same thing I told the DA last year: this spell saved my life against Voldemort." The usual gasp at the name swept through the crowd. Harry didn't bother to tell them that it was actually the fact that he and Voldemort had brother wands that had saved his life. What they didn't know couldn't hurt them.
"Those of you who prove to be adept at the spell will be able to quickly move on. But for now, I want everybody to partner up and begin practicing. I want you to trade off casting the spell at each other. I don't want to see any spells but expelliarmus being cast. That means no shields as well. I need to be able to see how powerful your spell is. It won't do any good if you're not able to even rip the wand out of your opponent's hand. Well, go on, pair off."
Harry waited as they followed his orders. "Begin." And they did. Harry walked through the students correcting anyone who needed it. He was happy to note that nobody tried casting any other spells. Several of the older students were only half-heartedly casting the spell. Harry walked over to one such student. Harry thought he was a Ravenclaw 7th year but wasn't sure.
"Let's see you cast that spell on me," Harry said to the boy. He drew his wand and waited as he went through the wand motion and sent the spell flying at Harry. Harry absorbed it and flinched at the impact but kept a tight grip on his wand. "That's one of the weakest spells I've ever felt. You'd have trouble disarming a first year with it. Now when I tell you to cast a spell, I mean cast the spell. Like this:" Harry waved his wand in a flash and shouted, "Expelliarmus."
The Ravenclaw was lifted bodily off the ground and thrown several feet back as his wand flew through the air. Harry reached out a hand and caught the wand as it sailed past. "Do you see the difference? Cast properly, this spell can be extremely helpful. But if you don't put some effort into it, you'll just end up embarrassing yourself. Now continue practicing with your partner." He turned to the rest of the class who had all stopped their own practicing to watch him. "All of you: back to work," he ordered.
....
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