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Chapter 69

Harry was as usual eating his breakfast with Hermione, Ron and the rest of Gryffindor. Honestly, everything had been pretty quiet for a week. The curse breakers were working through what they had taken to calling the room of lost treasures. According to Grandfather Charlus, they had already found some things that were going to boost Hogwart's budget for a few years. The Deatheaters had been pretty quiet. Though Harry was sure it was sure that was a sign that they were preparing for something big.

Harry was busy trying not to tune out Hermione. Hermione was telling them for the eighth or ninth time about the revision schedules she had made for the three of them. Harry understood that Hermione was anxious about their owls. Hermione stressed about their end-of-year tests and they only affected your classes at Hogwarts. Owls were all of that dialled up to eleven. So Harry understood why Hermione was so focused, it didn't mean however that listening to Hermione lecture them on the same thing a dozen times didn't grate on him somewhat and meant he had to fight his natural inclination to tune her out for a bit.

Then suffering was a shout of frustration and anger from down the table and all heads turned towards Neville who had a letter he had just received clenched in his fist. Neville then got up and started to storm out of the room. Harry gave Hermione a quick nod and jumped to his feet before Neville was even halfway to the door and started to jog after him.

Harry didn't catch Neville until he was halfway through the main doors to the castle. "Nev, what's happened!" Harry called.

Neville spun around at Harry's voice and for a fraction of a second looked like he was going to punch Harry before he recognised who it was. "I want to be alone, Harry."

Harry shrugged. "Sorry bud, no can do. You know I'm not going to leave you alone so Parkinson or one of her goons can ambush you. If you want me to stay quiet, fine. But I'm here to listen if you want to talk."

Neville didn't argue, he just started walking. A few minutes later they were in one of the greenhouses and Neville was repotting a devil's snare. Considering Neville had to practically wrestle with the evil plant monster it seemed like a surprisingly good way to blow off steam.

Eventually, as Harry stood their Neville opened up. "One of my family's holdings, a farm that produces magical herbs, was attacked yesterday." His voice was calm but the way he was practically choking the small devil's snare hinted at a few more volatile emotions just below the surface.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Was anyone hurt?" Harry asked.

Neville nodded. "The man who lived on and ran the farm. It looks like he tried to stop them so they killed him." Neville told Harry.

"Were you close?" Harry asked, and Neville shook his head.

"No, not particularly. I met him a few times, talked shop with him a few times. Not that it matters. He was our man. He worked our land, his work provided the gold to pay my tuition. And he died to protect our stock from being stolen. He is our responsibility, but I can't do anything!" Neville actually punched the dirt at that point to try to work his frustrations out.

"Bo you know why they targeted you?" Harry asked, looking in the cupboard for the bruise paste professor Sprout kept because more than one plant in this greenhouse could give you wack and it was looking like Neville was going to need it by the time he was done.

"Albian long-night currents. They are a restricted ingredient used in a lot of necromancy. We are one of the few producers in the country. They stole the last of this year's crop. So they are probably looking to create more inferi." Neville explained.

Harry's eyes went wide. "Please tell me the Aurors already know."

Neville nodded. "Yeah, they were the ones who told gran what had been taken and they definitely know what the darker uses for the plant are."

"Why would you grow a crop like that?" Harry asked genuinely curious. The Longbottoms weren't exactly the type to produce something so dark.

"It's also used in a few medical potions. For example, there is an ointment that removes necrotized flesh that's in the way of healing. Like is when someone is burned badly enough, they have to remove the dead skin before they can start healing. Albian long-night currents help the potion target only what's already dead."

That made sense to Harry. His grandfather had definitely given more than one lecture on how the properties of a potion ingredient can be used for very different reasons in different potions.

"Did he have a family?" Harry asked.

Neville didn't look up from his work. "Wife, two kids and a sister who were all living together. His oldest is dew to start Hogwarts next year."

"Anything I can do to help?" Harry offered.

Not unless you can go back in time or bring people back from the dead." Neville didn't sound flippant but beaten. A part of Harry wished Hermione was here. She was better at this stuff than he was, and it wouldn't have been too weird or awkward for her to give Neville a hug.

The two stayed there together for over an hour while Neville worked through his emotions and Harry worried about the implications of just what Voldemort could be planning to do with another army of Inferi. Whatever it was, considering what he had done with the last one, it couldn't be good.

-ϟϟϟ-

The story hit the Prophet the next day and there was a large double page spread paid for by the ministry on how to spot, and deal with inferi. Unfortunately, at this point, the article was more about managing the level of panic from the public rather than keeping them from panicking.

Even everyone attempting school was panicked until headmaster Greengrass at dinner that evening stood up to inform everyone that the Hogwarts wards would destroy any inferi that tried to cross the boundary. Some people tried to ask what about inferi created inside the wards but they were given assurances that the creation of an inferi wasn't a quick process and it took days of work to prepare a suitable location for the work. This wasn't something someone could just break onto the grounds and do without giving everyone a lot of warning.

Harry wasn't so sure. He himself had already worked out at least two ways around it. The headmaster could make a portkey through the wards and someone carrying an expanded trunk full of undead could bypass the wards. Or similarly, they could come through the floo.

Hermione was particularly worried about the idea that more inferi attacks were imminent. Considering what her start of the summer holidays was, nobody was surprised. Hermione may have come out of that experience physically unharmed but nobody has their home attacked by animated dead body's and comes out of it unaffected. Harry could still remember Hermione trembling in his arms that night after her adrenaline had crashed.

Harry decided that the best solution for this was one he was stealing from Hermione. He dragged Hermione to the library. They spent a few good hours researching inferi and what magic was best against them. They were both happy to learn that the lightning bolt curse was effective against them. Unfortunately, it wasn't recommended for more than one or two inferi compared to fire. There were a few fire spells that were recommended. And they looked them up and copied out all the information for the spells and Hermione called all their friends together to practise the spells.

It took them almost a week of constantly meeting up after class, but by the time they were finished Harry thought any one of them was as ready as they could be to face inferi. Nothing could predict how they would react in the moment when they first saw one. Well, nothing short of meeting one and they weren't going to make one just to practise on. Not even if Parkinson was practically volunteering to be the corpse with how she was glaring at Hermione even weeks after Hermione had knocked her into the chamber of secrets.

Parkinson had made it her mission to push Hermione over the last few weeks. She was smarter than Malfoy had been and so she was a lot more subtle. Parkinson had worked out exactly where the line was that the professors could step in, and she was very careful to not cross it.

Glaring at Hermione, well nobody was going to say that Pansy had to like Hermione and just looking at Hermione wasn't going to hurt her. Saying some iteration of the word frizzy loudly every time Hermione was in earshot, Pansy could just claim to be talking about something else.

Still, Hermione was no stranger to those sorts of tactics. They had been a staple of the junior school she had gone to. Hermione seemed to have the perfect counter. Every time Pansy started, Hermione would launch into a conversation with Harry about how she was begging her parents to get her a pug. Because she found the antics of her cousin's pug so adorable. Actions that always seemed to mirror Pansy in some way. Like how the tiny dog with no power liked to bark at a great Dane from behind a fence.

Of course Hermione's conversations had just as much plausible deniability as Pansy's jabs so the professors were just as incapable of stepping in for Pansy. Harry had a front row seat to a cold War of thinly veiled insults between the two witches and from what he could tell Hermione was hitting harder and it was showing.

January came to an end and with it came the anticipation for a good number of students for valentine's day. Not every student was interested in the holiday. For some, it was because they were too young, for some it was because they were too single, and for some it was because they were too nauseous because of the reminder of Lockhart's valentine debacle.

But Hogwarts was full of teenagers and if there was one staple of teenage drama, it was relationships. Two of Hermione's dorm mates hardly talked about anything else. And at the start of February, it was announced that in light of the regular Hogsmeade trip that weekend they would be hosting a dance.

Nothing as fancy as the Yule ball, but still a formal event. It was being held on the 17th the Saturday after valentine's day the previous Wednesday. But because of that Headmaster Greengrass had arranged for the owner of Gladrags, the robe shop in Hogsmeade, to come to the school the first Saturday of the month so that anyone who wanted to order new robes for the occasion could get measured up and their order placed.

There was also someone coming from the sweetshop so anyone who wanted the opportunity to indulge a sugar addiction or order a favour for asking a witch to the dance could do so. Harry wasn't sure if it was as good as a Hogsmeade visit but he would take what he could get.

Harry chose not to buy chocolates as a gift for Hermione. She would eat them and enjoy them, but there was something she would love more. Harry sent Hedwig to both the florist and to Tomes and Scrolls. The poor owl spent the whole day flying back and forth to the village, loving every second of it as she carried messages between Harry and the shopkeepers. The florist was simple enough. Harry knew what he wanted there. It was the bookshop that had Hedwig making most of the trips as they looked for something special.

Not long before dinner, Harry, armed with a single red rose and a book on elemental magic he was sure Hermione would find fascinating. Harry knew Hermione wanted to go to the dance. She had already said she was going to get a new set of dress robes for the dance. Hermione and he were also dating, so it was natural that they would go together. However, despite both of those things being true when it came time to ask Hermione if she would accompany him to the valentines dance, he couldn't help but get nervous.

He shrank the book and the rose so that he could hide them in his pocket and went to find Hermione. She was in the Gryffindor common room just finishing up a conversation with Lavender and Parvati, presumably so they could go down to dinner. Hermione smiled when she saw him headed her way and when he got there, she pulled him down a little and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey Harry, ready for dinner?" whatever she had been talking to her roommates about had left Hermione in a good mood.

"Sure. What about you?" And he offered her his arm.

Hermione took it, and Harry started to lead them through the castle towards the great hall. They were just passing the charms corridor when Harry asked if it was okay if they went somewhere quiet to talk for a minute. Hermione smiled up at him, probably guessing at least some of what he was doing, and nodded her agreement.

Harry lead her into an empty classroom and after reclaiming his arm for a moment, and pulled out the rose and book, restoring them both to their original size. "Hermione, would you like to attend the Valentine's dance with me?" It was a little awkward and, in Hermione's opinion, quite cute.

Hermione took hold of the rose and inhaled its fragrance. "Of course I would love to go to the dance with you." And she stepped right up to his chest, put her arms around her neck and pulled him into a deep kiss.

-ϟϟϟ-

Valentine's Day came and went with little fun. Sure, people sent cards and boxes of chocolate and animated stuffed toys to their sweethearts, but with a dance on Saturday, it felt more like the real Valentine's Day for the students.

Over the next two days, it became clear just how many people had ordered new robes for the dance because parcel after parcel was delivered. Harry barely saw Hermione's before she had shrunk it Thursday morning and stuffed it in her book bag with a smile. "You can see it on Saturday."

Harry saw the opportunity and leaned in and whispered low enough that nobody else would hear, "I'd rather see it on my floor."

For about a quarter of a second Hermione looked confused, then her eyes went wide as she got what he was saying, before her face turned bright red. Then she weakly slapped his arm. "Harry. You can't say things like that here." She hissed at him in a low, quiet voice.

On the Saturday most of the girls in the school seemed to just vanish about an hour after lunch. They all retreated to their dorms to as Dean Thomas put it "doll themselves up for the dance."

Harry played a few rounds of chess with Ron killing time, while Ron killed Harry's chessmen. "So you're going with Susan, wright? Where are you going to meet her?" Harry asked.

"We decided to just meet up at dinner. Maybe not quite as special, but a lot easier." Ron said as his queen decapitated Harry's pawn. The head of the pawn complained to Harry the whole time its body walked over and reached its head before heading to the graveyard.

The dance was going to be held after dinner, so about an hour before dinner, the boys started getting ready. Dean joked that Harry And Ron were dressed like a couple because they were both dressed in green. Ron wapped him in the face with a pillow for his joke and the enter dorm room had a bit of a laugh.

Harry had to admit Dean had a bit of a point. Ron was wearing a dark forest green. Apparently according to Susan, 'red heads look good in green.' And Susan wanted them both in green. Harry likewise was in green because of the opinion 9f his girlfriend. Hermione loved Harry in green because of his eyes.

Harry watched as Hermione came down the girls stairs. She was wearing robes in a blue green colour. Her hair was a cascade of perfect curls that came down over her left shoulder and she was wearing the biggest smile Harry had seen her wear since they went home for Christmas.

Dinner was the same as ever, except for the students. Pretty much every student in third year and up was dressed up looking fancy and a lot of them were sitting in couples instead of their regular friend groups. Ron and Neville had both gone over to the Hufflepuff table to sit with Susan and Hannah. Neville and Hannah had both planned to go to the dance stag and see what happened, but Susan had decided to play matchmaker.

Once everyone was finished with dinner, they were all kicked out of the great Hall. The first and second years were all sent back to their common rooms but everyone else had to wait a little while for the great hall to be remodelled from lunch hall to ball room.

The layout was almost exactly the same as the Yule ball, tables and chairs around the outside with a large open space in the middle for dancing. but the decorations were more fun. The twins' friend Lee Jordan was on the stage where the band had been for the Yule ball and he had two gramophones with truly massive speaker horns and a pile of records. Looked like they had a DJ tonight instead of live music. The lightning instead of candles was about a hundred pink and pale blue golf ball sized orbs of light lazily drifting about ten feet over their heads.

As soon as everyone started walking in, Lee flicked down the needle on one of the gramophones and 'Desire' by the Neck Romancers filled the air. Harry turned to Hermione. "May I have this dance?"

Hermione smiled and nodded at Harry and he'd put her hand out for him to take and lead her out onto the floor.

Charlus was standing off to the side of the hall near the drinks table. He was on of the professors chaperoning the dance. For now he was watching over the drinks to make sure they didn't get any more alcoholic than the butterbeers. There were plenty of students in each of the Houses that would enjoy adding a bottle of vodka to punch. Personally Charlus thought it was pointless the students who wanted to drink would find a way to do so regardless of what the professors did. Maybe if he was in charge he would have had two punch bowls, one with a little alcohol in it and an age line set at maybe fifteen, then just let the students make the choice in a safe monitored environment like this. But he had a job and he wouldn't shirk the responsibility.

He watched Harry lead Hermione out onto the dance floor and be one of the first couples to start dancing. The two of them were completely oblivious to everyone and everything around them as they moved together. In some ways, Harry was very much like James was at his age. This wasn't one of them. As much as he loved his son Charlus could admit that in his faith year James would have brought the prettiest girl who would have said yes and he would have been the first on the dance floor not in eagerness to dance with his date but so everyone could see how pretty a witch he could pull. It would have been all about image.

This part of Harry Charlus was sure came from Dorea. That yearning for a real human connection and the willingness to do almost anything for the right person. Dorea would have been so proud of Harry for leaving the Slytherins in the chamber of secrets for as long as he could get away with. He'll have probably gotten him a new broom for that and helped him plan revenge.

A flick of Charlus's wand had a small bottle of vodka flying from the sleeve of one student who was about to try to secretly add it to the punch. Charlus examined the bottle. It was a cheap muggle variety. He pocketed the bottle anyway. He would dispose of it later.

As the night went on, the music picked up in tempo and the dancing picked up as well. After about an hour, Harry and Hermione took the opportunity to claim a couple of seats. As Hermione was slipping off the strappy baby stilts she had for shoes to give her aching feet a break, they were joined by Susan and Ron, who had already been seated elsewhere for a few minutes. They sat down and Ron handed Harry and Hermione each a bottle of butter beer. "There you go. You probably need those."

Harry took a pull on his and sighed as the cool liquid soothed his throat. "Thanks mate. I owe you one."

"And you owe me new toes." Hermione joked as one of the straps had been digging into her foot for the last five minutes.

"Harry was about to apologise even though he had managed to avoid stepping on Hermione's feet this time but Susan spoke first. "Don't your shoes have cushioning charms?"

"No, they are muggle shoes." Hermione answered as she switched her feet. "No, they don't have any enchantments."

"So why haven't you added some?" Asked Ron sounding confused.

Hermione blushed with embarrassment. "Because I didn't think about it." And she quickly added some charms to her shoes that would make dancing a lot easier on her feet. They sat around chatting about nothing important for a while. Just enjoying each other's company before returning to the dance floor.

Harry and Hermione were just getting into the next dance when there was a strange interruption. A couple of owls flew into the room bearing letters. One flew to headmaster Greengrass and the other to Charlus.

This caught Harry's attention more than most because he guessed that the only reason the two of them would receive a letter at this time and no one else had to be urgent Wizengamot business. It didn't allay any of Harry's fears when his grandfather ripped open the envelope and as soon as he read the letter all the colour drained from his face. Harry looked over at headmaster Greengrass and saw he was staring at his letter in shock.

Harry watched as Daphne Greengrass tried to speak to her father for answers but her attempt to speak with him seemed to bring him back to his senses and instead of answering her questions he strode up onto the stage. With a quick flick of his finger, the sound of 'the weird sisters - 'keep it twisted' was replaced by an ominous silence.

"Students, I'm sorry to do this, but the rest of the valentine's dance is cancelled. An issue has arisen that will need all of mine and the other professor's attention. Please make your way back to your common rooms and consider yourselves under curfew until the head of your house comes and releases you. I know a lot of you have questions, but unfortunately I have more questions than answers myself at the moment. I will inform everyone what's going on when I have answers to give. Again, I'm sorry about the dance. But good night off you all go.

Harry and Hermione were pulled along in the crowd of people leaving, so Harry didn't have the opportunity to try to get any answers from his grandfather. During the walk back up to the common room, people started to speculate. Some thought Voldemort had declared he was going to attack the school tonight, others thought headmaster Greengrass had been sacked. One person even suggested that there was a new goblin rebellion starting.

Back in the common room, nobody went to bed. Even some of the younger students who hadn't been able to go to the dance and had decided to have an early night had been woken up by their dorm mates and joined the crowd of people waiting for news and speculating.

"It can't just be that Headmaster Greengrass is losing his job." Demelza Robins, a fourth-year girl who shared a dorm with Ginny, said. "Professor Potter also got a letter, but none of the other professors got one. If it was Headmaster Greengrass losing his job, then the heads of house would have gotten letters before professor Potter."

That logic was undeniable, and heads turned to Harry, looking for answers. "I don't know any more than you. I didn't get a chance to talk to my grandfather. I think it may have something to do with the Wizengamot, as they are both sitting warlocks. But that is just a guess." Harry told everyone.

They waited up late for answers, but none came. At Hermione's prompting the prefects started sending the lower years to bed around nine and slowly after that people started to filter out. It was almost one o'clock in the morning when the last few students gave up on waiting for news and went to bed.

They got news the next morning not from the professors but from the newspapers that were delivered around the same time breakfast appeared in the common room.

Voldemort had taken over the Ministry of Magic building.