Disclaimer: I own nothing

Author’s Notes: A huge thanks to those who reviewed. I’ve just about managed to stick to my deadline, but I didn’t manage to fit in everything I had planned into this chapter since it was going on too long. Oh, and a piece of advice to anyone thinking of making a soufflé – stick it in a largeish oven. I lost the top of my soufflé since it puffed up so much. It would have been perfect otherwise.

Chapter Eleven

With the end of the holidays looming, Harry and Padma had called an end to their exploring and had instead huddled up in the secret room they had found – now known as the Room of Requirements thanks to Dobby - as they hurried to finish last minute homework. Harry had found himself surprised at how quickly essays could be written without Ron’s distracting commentary and Hermione’s presence as a continual reminder that he needed to work. Even stranger had been the happenstance of being able to help Padma with her Muggle Studies assignment.

“I might just have to keep you around,” she teased after he patiently explained what exactly a ‘cinema’ was.

He shrugged, slightly embarrassed. Jokingly, he said, “Well maybe we ought to do a trade off between Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies.”

“Deal.” Padma flashed him a smile, her dark eyes glinting beneath thick lashes.

But soon enough the empty hallways began to fill again as students returned for another term and the peaceful quiet that had pervaded Hogwarts over the Christmas period was shattered. The return to normal Hogwarts life seemed complete when, on the Sunday before lessons began, Padma returned to the Ravenclaw table for the evening feast.

“I think it’s probably best if I sit with my housemates now that everyone’s back,” she said with some hesitance as they entered the Great Hall.

Harry nodded stiffly. “You’re probably right.”

“Well then, I better...”

“Yeah.”

Nothing more was said between them and Padma slipped off to join her own house. Harry had been trying to ignore the fact that things might change once school restarted, but watching Padma chat away to her own friends brought home the fact that she had more friends than just him. Friends who she’d known for years instead of a few weeks.

It didn’t help that his own best friends were both preoccupied with other things. Hermione looked like she hadn’t been sleeping well and the beginnings of dark bags were forming under her eyes. All questions concerning her welfare had been dismissed with an increasingly snappy “I’m perfectly fine, thanks” and Harry had decided to leave well alone. Ron, on the other hand, seemed more pensive and quiet. While interactions between him and Ron weren’t exactly strained, it often seemed as though Ron’s mind was elsewhere when they spoke with only Quidditch inciting the red-head’s usual enthusiasm.

Knowing the reason behind his friends’ distant behaviour didn’t help the ever-increasing feeling that they were growing apart. Harry was even startled to realise that he hadn’t told Ron and Hermione about the problems with the Marauder’s Map. As soon as he recognized this oversight he set out to confide in them, but the right moment never seemed to arise.

Lessons began on the Monday and, for the first time, Harry began to resent that in most lessons the different houses didn’t seem to mix as students tended to sit next to their housemates almost exclusively. It meant that, despite sharing both Charms and Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws, Harry never got the chance to speak to Padma. Instead they exchanged looks and, in Padma’s case, an apologetic smile, as they sat on opposite sides of the classroom while the professors droned on.

Talking after dinner also seemed impossible as Angelina had booked the pitch all that week for Quidditch practice. The shortened evenings of winter meant that they were outside as soon as dinner finished and only returned inside when it became too dark to see.

“We can’t rest on our laurels,” said Angelina with a zeal reminiscent of Oliver Wood at the end of a particularly bad practice on Friday evening. It was a freezing cold night and everyone except Angelina wanted to return to the warmth of the castle.

“Laurels! It’s only Hufflepuff.” Propping his shoulder against the wall of the store cupboard, Fred didn’t look too impressed.

Angelina gave him a pointed look. “Need I remind you that Hufflepuff beat us last year?”

Harry felt himself shrink slightly as he remembered his failure to capture the Snitch. Quidditch was one of the only things that came naturally and he didn’t like to dwell on past disappointments.

“Yeah, because a swarm of Dementors decided to play spectator. We all know that pretty-boy-Diggory doesn’t stand a chance this time round.” Fred then turned cajoling. “Come on, Angie, give us some slack. At this rate we’ll all be too exhausted to play. That, and I think I’m developing frostbite.”

Jason butted in then. “I’ve got to agree. I swamped enough with my NEWTs as it is.”  

Angelina glanced from one face to another. No one offered her any support and she sighed in defeat. “Fine then. I’ll cut down on practices. But don’t blame me if we lose.”

“We won’t,” said George cheerfully.

“No, we’ll just blame Harry.”

“Thanks, guys.”

Fred clapped him on the shoulder. “No thanks are necessary.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“And I was humouring you.”

Harry waved off Fred as the red-head attempted to pat him on the head. He was tired and not in the mood for the twins’ teasing.

“Don’t worry, Harry,” said Katie good-naturedly, sidling up to him as they trudged through the crisp snow on their way back to the castle. “I won’t blame you if we lose.”

“Good to know.”

Something in his voice must have warned her of his lack of humour since she then asked him if everything was OK.

“I’m fine. Just tired, really. I miss the holidays.”

“Don’t we all. I went skiing in the Alps with my parents and older sister. Dad somehow managed to break his wrist and, since everyone knew, Mum couldn’t heal it without it seeming fishy. We were going Muggle, you see. Mum was pretty annoyed but I think Dad quite enjoyed sitting around in the lodge all day. But what about you?”

“I stayed at Hogwarts.”

Katie mocked hitting herself on the head. “You told me that before. I bet it’s different with everyone gone. Bit spooky if you ask me.”

“Yeah,” said Harry in slightly better humour. “By the end, I started wondering whether it was haunted.”

She laughed at him as they stumbled into the Entrance Hall. “Well at least we can sleep in tomorrow. I’m planning on collapsing into bed and not getting up till at least eleven.”

“Lucky you; I’ve still got Astronomy tonight in-” he checked his watch “-just over four hours. All I want to do is sleep.”

She shook her head at him. “You can’t complain; Fridays are the best day for Astronomy since it means you can sleep in the next day. I have it on Tuesday nights and then have to get up for Herbology first thing. You have it easy.”

“Suppose,” he shrugged as they unconsciously walked the quickest route to Gryffindor common room. “I think I’ll have a quick nap and hope I don’t fall asleep as Sinistra goes on about the lunar cycle or whatever the hell it is we’re supposed to be learning about.”

But despite catching two hours of sleep, Harry was still rather groggy when he climbed up the spiral staircase of the circular tower where Astronomy lessons were held. The rest of the fourth year Gryffindors didn’t look any better off as contagious yawning spread through the group.

The Astronomy classroom was found at the east tower’s zenith. A crenellated parapet surrounded the summit of the tower and a vaulted stone ceiling emerging from five points offered some protection from the elements. Telescopes jutted out of the battlements with two seats placed at each station along with a small, oak desk to write on.

The Ravenclaws they shared the class with were already present, though none of them had sat down. Instead their chatter filled up the cold room.

Professor Sinistra was trying, unsuccessfully, to settle the class. “Can everyone sit down now, please?”

Her softly-spoken request was easily ignored as the group of teenagers continued to talk amongst themselves. Hermione’s pointed look at both Ron and Harry ensured their own silence as they drifted towards their usual spot.

“Look, I get that you’re all tired, but the quicker we start, the quicker we finish.” The young professor looked at them in growing frustration as only a few people actually made to sit down. The rest continued to talk, ignoring her entirely.

Harry himself slumped into his usual seat waiting for Neville, his Astronomy partner, to sit next to him. To his right sat Ron and Hermione. He was entertaining himself by watching a clueless Ron fiddle around with the telescope settings when someone gently tapped his shoulder.

He turned around.

“Hi,” said Padma who was nibbling at her lower lip.

He smiled. “Hello.”

“I hope you don’t mind but I sort of asked Parvati if she’d pair with Neville. Is that alright?” Her finely shaped eyebrows were drawn together as she nervously awaited his response.

“That’s great! I mean - of course that’s fine.” He couldn’t help the smile that stretched across his face as Padma sat down on his left. But after a week of trying to talk to her, Harry now found that he couldn’t think of anything to say; his mind was frustratingly blank of interesting things to talk about. Thankfully, Sinistra spared him the momentous task of speaking as she attempted to take control of the class.

“Right, I know I always say how much I don’t like removing house points but if you lot don’t sit down and be quiet I’m going to. This time I mean it.”

Having been exposed to the same threat since first year they all knew how empty it was. But the class did move to settle down and Sinistra was finally able to take the class register.

Their task for the evening was to map out the seas on the Moon’s surface. It was a rather tedious undertaking but it allowed everyone the chance to talk – something that Sinistra, while not fully approving, couldn’t stop.

“I always feel a bit sorry for her,” commented Padma after Seamus Finnigan amused the whole class with an imaginative tale explaining why he didn’t have his homework on hand. Professor Sinistra was the only one not amused since even Hermione was hiding a grin at hearing Seamus’s ludicrous story.

Harry shrugged. Sinistra was a soft touch compared to teachers like McGonagall and Snape, and more than once he’d foregone completing his star charts on the understanding that no detentions were about to be given out.

“But it’s been rather hectic this week, hasn’t it,” said Padma as Harry focused the telescope.

“Yeah. Angelina booked up the Quidditch pitch all this week so we’ve been out there every night practising. She’s getting a bit nervous about our game against Hufflepuff after-” he abruptly cut himself off deciding that he didn’t want to remind Padma about the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match the year before.

“I was wondering why you always disappeared after dinner but I thought it was probably something like that.”

Harry was stopped from replying by someone prodding his right arm. It was a wide-eyed Hermione. “Did you see that?” she asked them both, gesturing at the North Tower that was clearly visible from their position.

“See what?” Harry asked. The North Tower looked the same as always.

“You didn’t see anything?”

“No.” Behind her back, Ron was rolling his eyes at their bushy-haired friend.

Hermione turned to look at Padma. “Did you see it?”

“Sorry, I didn’t see anything either.” Padma was now looking at the nearby tower in concern.

Hermione heaved a sigh. She now looked confused and a touch unsure, her eyes still flickering towards the North Tower. “I was sure...”

“You’re probably just tired,” said Ron. Harry noticed that Ron was patting her hand in some form of reassurance but decided against commenting on it.

“You’re right. I’m just imagining things.” Deciding that she hadn’t seen anything after all, Hermione turned back to noting down the areas on the Moon.

Harry and Padma exchanged bewildered looks before returning to their work. They continued chatting about inconsequential things and slowly the camaraderie they had shared over the holidays returned.

As the end of the lesson neared, Padma turned to him. A look of determination was planted on her features. “Before I forget, I wanted to ask you something.”

Harry grinned. “Yes?”

“I know you’re pretty busy with Quidditch and everything and if you can’t come then I understand entirely. And don’t feel obliged to come if you don’t want to since I won’t be offended or anything. But I think you might like to come because it’s actually really fun even though I know some people think it’s a waste of time and-”

“Padma,” Harry interrupted softly. “What are you talking about?”

She looked baffled for a moment: her mouth slightly open and her eyes showing her confusion. Then she twigged. “Oh right, of course! You have no idea what I’m going on about, do you?”

Harry shook his head in confirmation of this fact. “Nope.”

She gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry. What I was trying ask was: do you want to come to Charms Club? It’s every Wednesday after dinner from six till seven and you get to learn all sorts of really interesting spells. And it’s really fun and I think you’d enjoy it.”

“Er, I don’t really know if I’m free on Wednesdays,” said Harry as he pushed his slipping glasses further up his nose. “Angelina said she’d cut back on Quidditch practices but I don’t know whether I’ll be free then.”

As the smile on her face dimmed somewhat, Harry tried to reassure her. “But if I’m free I’d really like to come.”

Her smile brightened once again. “Great! Just tell me if you’re free and if you are we can meet up after dinner. You’ll really enjoy it, I promise.”

She looked like she was going to continue expounding on the joys of Charms Club when Sinistra called an end to the lesson.

“For homework,” added the young professor as the rustling of bags being packed began, “I want you to complete the labelling of the Moon. If you do have any problems then come and see me, but if not I want it handed in by Wednesday morning at the latest. And if you didn’t give in the essay on the lunar cycle then I expect to see it before dinner tomorrow or I will start handing out detentions. Is that clear, Mr Finnigan?”

“Crystal,” said Seamus with a grin. “Though how I’ll retrieve it from that Leprechaun by tomorrow is different kettle of fish. But I’ll try my hardest for you, Professor.”

Sinistra just sighed in exasperation. “One day I’m going to test you with a truth potion and then I might finally get the truth for once.”

“But, Professor,” said Seamus with a look of artful innocence, “what makes you think I’m lying?”  

Even Sinistra laughed at that as she waved them away. The resounding reminder of “Before dinner tomorrow, Finnigan” followed the class as they climbed down the stone stairwell and eventually split off into their two respective houses, bidding each other goodnight.

Harry would barely remember the walk back to the Gryffindor tower as weariness swept over him. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

However, a lifetime of early morning starts meant that he woke up before nine. Everyone else in his dorm was fast asleep, their scarlet curtains still drawn shut. But the usual snores that emanated from Neville’s bed were strangely absent.

The Great Hall was also void of life when he went down for breakfast. There was only a scattering of students and several of the professors were absent.

Harry plonked himself down next to Alicia. The Chaser was one of the few students present that he knew relatively well.

“Morning,” she yawned. Her brown hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and a speckle of sleep dusted her eyelashes.

“You look like you could do with some more sleep,” said Harry as he helped himself to some toast.

Alicia grunted. “I wish. Morning detention.”

“On a Saturday?”

“Was supposed to be on Thursday, but McGonagall let me change it to today so it didn’t interfere with practice,” she explained before yawning again.

“That’s a point - do you know when Angelina’s booked the pitch for next week?”

“No idea; I don’t think Angie’s got around to organising it yet. I know Diggory wasn’t happy with us hogging the pitch all week so he’ll probably make a fuss about booking the pitch for this week.”

“Right, well you couldn’t do me a favour and ask Angelina to keep Wednesday Quidditch-free, could you?”

“I’ll ask her, but no guarantees. Why – do you have a detention then?”

“Nah,” said Harry, beginning to get a bit embarrassed though he couldn’t rationalise as to why. “I wanted to go to Charms Club, is all.”

Alicia gave him a sideways glance. “Charms Club? I didn’t realise you were a member.”

“I’m not. It’s just someone asked me to go and well... you know.”

“I didn’t think anyone in your year went. From Gryffindor, at least.” She looked at him in question.

“She’s not in Gryffindor.”

“She?” Alicia was looking at him fully now. “This just gets more and more interesting.”

He started to feel his face warm up. “Don’t you have a detention to go to?”

“I’ve still got a while,” she told him without bothering to look at her watch. “So who is this girl who’s not in Gryffindor and wants you to go to Charms Club?”

“You probably don’t even know her,” he tried to dismiss.

Alicia grinned at him. “I don’t know; I happen to know quite a few people from other houses. Or are you going to force me to guess?”

Harry just glared at her.

“Well I’m going to guess Ravenclaw since you looked in that direction when you first came in. Am I close?”

“I really think you better go to your detention now.”

She pouted as she made to get up. “You’re no fun. But you are right in that I need to get going.”

“Just remember to ask Angelina about Wednesday, will you?”

“Will do,” she promised before bidding him goodbye as she finally walked off to her detention.

He hoped rather than believed that Alicia wouldn’t mention their conversation to anyone else. But all hope was dispelled when Alicia and Angelina, with all too knowing expressions filling their faces, wished him well as he left the Great Hall after dinner on Wednesday.

Waiting in the Entrance Hall by the four giant hourglasses that showed the house point score were Padma and two others that he recognised as Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst.

Padma spotted him first. A smile stretched across her face and she hurriedly waved him over. “This is Mandy,” she said gesturing to the girl standing next to her.

“Hi,” said Mandy lifting a hand in greeting. She was taller than Padma by a few inches and had a slightly bigger build. Her mousy-brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and freckles dusted her nose beneath hazel eyes.

“And Terry.” The brown-haired boy nodded his greetings. He had a lanky frame where his body had yet to match the length of his arms and legs. A ready grin graced his face as he asked Padma whether she was going to introduce her new friend back.

“Stop being an idiot, Terry,” said Mandy before turning to Harry. “I apologise in advance for Terry’s idiocy. He’s under some strange delusion that he’s actually funny.”

“Hey!” He looked to Padma for support.

She raised her hands. “I’m staying out of it.”

“See what I have to put up with,” sighed Terry melodramatically.

Mandy lifted her eyes heavenwards. “Come on, we better get going.”

They walked in the opposite direction of the Great Hall, strolling along a corridor to classroom seven. No formal lessons were taught here and so a sense of abandonment lingered with a layer of dust touching the top of the wooden cupboards towards the back of the room.

A few others were already gathered there. Harry recognised Vicky Frobisher from the Quidditch try-outs and two other Gryffindors he knew by sight but couldn’t name. Two seventh years and a small group of fifth years were also present. Looking at the house crests on each of the students’ uniform he noticed that most of them were from Ravenclaw.

The four of them grabbed a row of seats and Harry found himself sitting between Padma and Terry. As they waited for Professor Flitwick to turn up Mandy began chatting to Padma and Harry found himself drawn into a conversation with Terry.

“Don’t you think that it’s a bit strange that despite being in the same year and sharing a few classes we’ve never spoken before?”

Harry shrugged. “Suppose so. I’ve never really thought about it.”

“I hate introductions,” said Terry in a swift change of subject. “If you screw them up it’s almost impossible to retrieve the situation. One bad introduction can change your life forever. But on the other hand you can be introduced to someone, get on perfectly fine and then realise they’re a total git. That’s why I hate them; they give you this false impression that can last a lifetime.”

“That reminds me of my aunt and uncle. They always plan out what they’re going to say to people they’re just meeting. I did ruin it for them once and I still don’t think they’ve forgiven me.”

“Accidental magic?”

“Nah; a pretty manic house-elf didn’t want me to return to Hogwarts for second year and dropped a cake on this woman who was visiting. I was the one got blamed.”

“I’m now going to have to show my Muggle-born ignorance and ask what a ‘house-elf’ is.”

Harry tried his best to explain. It didn’t help that the only house-elf he knew well was Dobby who was a bit of an original. “If you go down to the kitchens then you can see them. They’re really helpful and are always willing to give out some food. The one with the tea cosy on his head is Dobby.”

“Tea cosy?” repeated Terry with slightly raised eyebrows.

“I did say he was a bit manic.”

Flitwick’s entrance put an end to their conversation as everyone quietened down. The dwarf-sized professor bid them all a cheerful hello as he climbed onto his chair and then stood up on it.

“As many of you remember, before Christmas we started on localising different charms. We’ve already covered localising silencing charms and today I thought we’d take a more medicinal route and learn about numbing charms and, if we have time, maybe go over a few basic healing charms.

“Now who can remember what we add on to an incantation when we want to localise it to the feet? Yes, Padma?”

“Pedes.”At her answer, Harry suddenly twigged why he could never hear her footsteps when they had hunted each other out over the holidays.

“Very good. And hands?”

A seventh year answered, “Manus.”

“Arm?”

“Bracchium.”

“Leg?”

“Crurem for leg and crures for legs, plural,” said a seventh year girl wearing a pair of circular-framed glasses.

Flitwick beamed at them and clapped his hands together. “Capital! Now those are just a few specifications you can add. If you ever become a healer you have to learn far, far more. That’s what you’ll be looking forward to, Caitlin.” He looked at the bespectacled seventh year who gave a small, embarrassed smile in return.

“Now can anyone think why localised charms are so useful?”

“They focus the spell so it has longer lasting effects.”

“Yes, very good, Thomas. Anyone else?”

An idea was beginning to form in Harry’s head but he didn’t really wish to put his hand up. The rest of the group had also fallen silent.

“Anyone?” Flitwick peered around before his eyes fell on Harry. Slightly raised eyebrows showed the professor’s surprise at his presence before he asked, “Any ideas, Harry?”

“Would it be harder to dispel?”

Flitwick beamed at him and Harry felt relief that it was unlikely he would have to answer any more questions. “Correct. Can you think why that would be?”

Damn. It was times like this that Harry wished Hermione was around to whisper the answer at him. But today he was on his own and was therefore forced to rely on his own brain. “Would it be because you would need a more specific counter-charm to remove the spell?”

Flitwick nodded at him. “Indeed you are correct. The universal counter-spell -Finite Incantatem - won’t work particularly well on a specified charm. The more specified a charm, the harder it is to counter. That’s the reason why they are used on a regular basis in duelling tournaments.

“When I was very young and still very new to the world of professional duelling, I was hit by a localised silencing charm to my larynx and couldn’t dispel it since I didn’t know how. It was highly embarrassing but my competitor drew me aside afterwards and told me to look into specified charms. I think he regretted giving me that piece of advice when I faced him again a few years later.” The dwarf-sized professor chuckled at the memory.

“But coming back to the Numbing Charm. The incantation is ‘Torpesco’ followed by a specification of choice and the wand movement is thus.” With his own wand he traced a circle in the air followed by a firm prod. “And now you can practice on each other.”

Terry turned to Harry. “Do you want to go first or should I?”

“You go first.”

Seeing that others were getting up to stand, Harry and Terry followed their example and made their way towards the back of the classroom where the desks had been pushed to one side. They stood facing each other, divided by nearly two metres. Each practised the wand movements and rolled the incantation around on their tongues to get the feel of it before Terry motioned that he wanted a proper attempt.

“Torpesco Crurem!” A dart of light blue energy flew out of Terry’s wand and hit him straight on. Immediately he wobbled and adjusted his stance as his left leg became deadened.

“Any idea what the counter-charm is?” Harry asked, his left arm gripping his leg.

Terry shrugged. “No idea. Flitwick will tell us at some point. You might as well just have a go at me.”

“What’s ‘arm’ again?”

“Bracchium,” answered Terry.

“OK. Torpesco Bracchium!” A dart of magic, this time lime green in colour, cut through the air and hit Terry.

“This feels mega weird,” said Terry who was now holding up his numbed right arm with his left. “It feels all floppy. It’s almost as though someone cut it off since it’s just dead weight.”

“Interestingly enough, that charm was once used for amputation purposes,” said Flitwick who had wandered over to where they stood. “You also get better results when you aim for the specific body part.”

“Er – Professor, how do we un-charm ourselves?”

“Finite followed by whatever body part is charmed. Thankfully, magic is not so difficult to give us a different counter-spell for each different specialised spell. But the wand movements must be the same as the original charm.” He then drifted over to another pair.

“Finite crurem!” A pulse of blue hit his left leg and feeling began to return.

The next quarter of an hour was spent practising the customized charms. After that, Flitwick taught them a few simple healing spells and they practiced cutting themselves and then healing the wound up.

“So what did you think?” Padma asked him as they trundled out of the classroom.

Harry was all enthusiasm. “It was really good! I wish our Charms lessons were like that.”

Charms lessons usually consisted of two-thirds theory, one-third practical. They usually only managed to learn one spell per lesson and even then he sometimes had to work on practising the spell outside of class.

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.” They were back in the Entrance Hall. “Does this mean you’ll come again?”

“Definitely,” Harry assured her. “Barring Quidditch practice, of course.”

“Of course. Also, do you happen to have a free period first thing tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, think so.”

“Well, we’re meeting up in the library then to do some homework. You don’t have to come or anything, but you’re welcome to. I’ll even help out with the Ancient Runes.”

“I’ll be there,” he promised as they came to the corridor where they had to split off.

Padma grinned. “We’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Bye,” waved Mandy.

“It’s nice to know you’re not up-yourself,” said Terry. “I had wondered.”

“Terry!” Padma looked at him in horror while Mandy elbowed the dark-haired boy.

Harry just laughed. “Good to know.”

“Anyway, you’ll have to introduce me to this Dobby. He sounds like a laugh. That and I like the sound of freely-given food.”

“Will do,” said Harry before saying his own goodbyes and splitting off to get back to the Gryffindor common room.

Alicia tried to corner him upon his return. “So how was Charms Club?”

“Good, thanks,” was his only reply as he retreated to where Ron and Hermione were sitting doing their homework.

“Hey,” he said, collapsing onto one of the comfy armchairs.

Hermione looked up from her work long enough to smile at him while Ron gave a more verbal greeting in the form of: “You weren’t gone long. Was it that boring that you left early?”

“No, it was really good actually. You should have come along.”

“And do more work than I actually need to? No thanks.”

Hermione sniffed in disapproval. “Honestly, Ron; I think it’s brilliant that Harry’s taking a more proactive approach to learning.”

Not sure quite what to say to that without offending at least one of his friends, Harry changed the subject. “Right, well, I was wondering whether either of you wanted to do a bit of exploring. It’s just the map was playing up a bit the other day and I wrote to Padfoot, but I haven’t heard anything back yet, so I was thinking maybe we could try and figure it out. What do you think?”

Hermione looked up from her work for the third time. “Sorry, Harry, but Professor Vector set us this really hard number chart yesterday and I’m still trying to figure it out. Besides it’s nearly curfew.”

“Well that’s nothing my cloak can’t handle,” said Harry. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“This is in for before lunchtime tomorrow. I really want to finish it tonight.”

“OK, then,” said Harry, turning to Ron. “What about you?”

“Nah, can’t be bothered. And Dean promised me a game of chess once he’s finished his moon chart. Sinistra’s given him an extra day to hand it in. Apparently told him that he had her sympathies for having to work with Seamus,” he said with a laugh.

Harry laughed as he was meant to before excusing himself to go upstairs. Neville was the only other person in the dormitory and for a moment Harry considered asking him whether he’d want to do a bit of exploring. His mind then reminded him that this was Neville and he abandoned the suggestion.

“How come you’re up here?” asked Harry as he opened up his trunk. Walking around Hogwarts by himself seemed a bit boring and he couldn’t exactly let Neville see the Invisibility Cloak; if Ron could recognise it then he presumed Neville could as well. He figured he might as well do some more Ancient Runes translations to get a bit more up-to-scratch for tomorrow.

Neville stumbled over his words. His cheeks were flooded red and he kept rubbing his hands together as his eyes refused to meet Harry’s. “Er, I was just, um, thinking about having a bit of a sleep. But if you’re coming up here then I can go.” He made to go to the door.

Harry gave him a strange look. “I just came up to get some stuff. I’ll be gone in a bit.”

“Oh, well, in that case...” Neville turned back towards his bedstead.

Harry quickly collected up a piece of parchment and the Ancient Runes book Bill had given him. He shot Neville another strange look before shaking his head and returning to the common room.

Dean had obviously finished off his Astronomy homework since him and Ron were setting up a chess game. The black boy’s face already had a look of resignation before they even began. Ron waved him over to watch but Harry shook his head and instead took a seat by the still furiously working Hermione.

“Look, Harry, I already said I needed to finish this,” snipped Hermione, obviously misinterpreting the sheet of parchment he carried for the Marauder’s Map.

“Actually, I thought I’d do some translations,” Harry told her, lifting up the accompanying textbook for her to see.

“Oh,” was all she said.

“And do you know if anything’s up with Neville? He was acting a bit strangely when I went up to the dorms.”

Hermione gave a careless shrug, still pouring over her work. “He’s probably just getting a bit nervous about Potions tomorrow. Snape did mention that tomorrow’s potion might be a bit volatile, and I know that Neville’s grandmother sent him a letter complaining about the number of cauldrons he’s got through this year.”

“I didn’t think he’d ruined any more than usual,” said Harry, but Hermione was no longer listening.

Pushing thoughts of Neville’s strange behaviour to the back of his mind, Harry began to concentrate on the translation in front of him. He was on chapter ten of sixteen and was translating a debate on who was better, the Romans or the Greeks.

It was slightly irritating that the practical application of Ancient Runes only came in at NEWT level, but he could see why it was important to fully understand the basics of the language first. The structure of the runes was extremely precise and the vocabulary seemed endless. But despite its difficulty, Harry found to his surprise that he actually enjoyed it.  

Thinking about it, he thought that he probably ought to send Bill a note of thanks. He also decided that it might be a good idea to seek out the Ancient Runes professor to ask whether he could sit the third year exam; he doubted he knew enough to face the fourth year test paper.

Two long translations later and he decided to call it a night. He once again traipsed up to the fourth year boys’ dormitories. The curtains had been drawn around Neville’s bed and Harry made a mental note to ask Ron if he’d noticed anything peculiar about Neville.

But at breakfast the next day when Harry was about to mention Neville’s strange behaviour from the night before, an owl dropped the newest version of the Daily Prophet in front of the trio. The thick bold lettering screamed out the headline:

Black’s Attempt to Rally Supporters in Italy Backfires!

“Bloody Hell,” said Ron in quiet disbelief, which, Harry thought to himself, summed it up entirely.