“Hermione, wait!” Harry rushed to the cauldron where Hermione stood with a bottle of Murtlap essence in hand. “Won’t that cancel the effects of the powdered snake fangs? And, well, go bang?”

“I stabilized the potion and added salamander blood. Harry, I promise I thought this through.” She pushed a piece of parchment towards him across the table. He studied the mess of arithmancy equations and runes and glanced back at the cauldron, into which Hermione had just added the murtlap essence. As he read, Hermione watched his eyes moving across the paper and realized he understood most, if not all, of what she wrote.

“What is this for?” He pointed to a long calculation that ended with the notation ‘7 7/8 cc’. She looked at where he was pointing.

“That’s where I figured out the stir for after we let this simmer for 48 hours.” She looked up, uncertainty written on her face. “It’s going to be tricky to get it just right.”

“What if we mark the cauldron? At the 7/8 mark? That will make in easier to get it exactly at such a weird number. Couldn’t you have started inventing potions with something simpler? Wait, don’t answer that. I think I read something somewhere…”

An open book appeared on the table next to him. He studied the page for a moment before turning to the simmering orange potion and waving his wand over it in an intricate motion. A green line appeared floating over the rim, to the right of the notch that indicated starting position for stirring. He’s doing spells wordlessly the first time he tries them. One day he could be more powerful than Dumbledore. I wish he could wait to face Voldemort until after he reaches that point, but I don’t think we’ll be that lucky, what with that prophecy… Harry had told her the prophecy about him and Voldemort on the way home last year. As far as she knew, he hadn’t told anyone else yet.

Harry smiled at her and she felt her stomach do a small flip. Stop that. She smiled back and began to put away potion supplies. Harry returned to his Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts book, and she soon joined him on the couch, cracking open an Ancient Runes textbook. The room fit their needs perfectly, with a corner suited to potions brewing, a corner with couches and pillows, and an area for practicing spells. As they sat in a comfortable silence, Hermione lost track of time and was only jolted back to reality by Harry’s yawning several hours later. She glanced at her watch and gasped.

“It’s almost 1:00! We need to get back and get some sleep.” She concentrated and silently summoned Harry’s invisibility cloak and the Marauder’s map from the other side of the room. Behind her, Harry stood and stretched.

“Relax, Maya. It’s Friday, so we can sleep in tomorrow.” They made their way back to Gryffindor tower, and parted ways in the common room. “ ‘Night Hermione.”

“Goodnight.” She watched him disappear up his staircase before heading up to her own bed, where she fell asleep almost immediately.

On Monday after classes, Hermione was waiting in the Room of Requirement for Harry to arrive. Now the room was the large open area that they had used for the DA meetings last year. He hadn’t been sure at first, but Harry had agreed to continue the club, since many students were too nervous in Snape’s class to learn anything, and, as she had pointed out, extra practice never hurt anyone. The doors opened to admit Harry and, to Hermione’s surprise, Draco Malfoy. She raised an eyebrow in question.

“Hi Harry. Draco.” She nodded to the Slytherin boy. He bowed formally and smirked.

“My Lady,” he replied, smirk becoming a grin. Harry laughed out loud at his antics, and Hermione curtsied in return, holding an imaginary skirt. It’s great to see Harry laugh. He and Draco both need to act their age more often, instead of carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. “Having already acquired the approval of your partner, I now must petition you, fair maid”

“Draco, do get to the point,” said Harry, rolling his eyes.

“Alright, here it is. I think that Slytherin should become involved in your little club. A lot of us, especially the younger kids, either oppose the Dark Lord or want to remain neutral, and they need to learn to defend themselves. I’m not bad at DADA myself, and I can help you appeal to people in Slytherin and Ravenclaw, and I can help teach. Will you let me join?” He spoke confidently, but Hermione thought he looked nervous.

“I think it’s a great idea. The meeting doesn’t start for half an hour, so why don’t you round up a couple Slytherin first and second years you think would be interested. I think greater house unity should be a major goal for all of us, but we’ll have to start incorporating the Slytherin members slowly, so that the more… stubborn… don’t feel threatened. Oh, and I was thinking, we should have a symbol, or a crest. I had been thinking we could make pins and members could wear them on their uniforms, since this isn’t a secret anymore. But then again, the Slytherins probably wouldn’t want…” She realized she was rambling from the glazed looks overtaking the boys’ faces. She mock glared at them and Harry grinned sheepishly at her, while Draco just nodded and left, presumably to bring back the new members.

“So what do you think, Maya?”

“I think it’s a step in the right direction, though it has the potential to make our lives more difficult. Some people are just too set in their ways.” She sighed. This had the potential to make things very complicated. Harry surprised her by reaching out and giving her a brief one armed hug.

“It’ll all work out. I’d tell you not to worry, but I know I’d be wasting my breath.” They began to discuss the plan for the meeting, and it was only a few minutes before Ron and Ginny arrived.

“Hey guys,” Ron walked over, while Ginny just waved and plopped down on a couch. “Feels weird not to be sneaking around, doesn’t it?”

“I know. I keep expecting Umbridge to show up.” Harry shuddered.

“Speaking of our favorite overgrown toad, has her Quidditch ban been lifted?”

“Yeah, McGonagall made sure of that.”

“Good, ‘cause I’d hate to lose the Cup this year. I mean Ginny’s a good seeker, but you’re the best, and we need her as a chaser.” Hermione left the two boys discussing Quidditch and joined Ginny, Luna, and Neville, who were talking quietly in a corner with some other old DA members who had trickled in. Soon, everyone from last year (except Marietta Edgecombe and Cho) was there, along with many new faces. Patrick was sitting next to Luna, and Hermione thought she heard the word “nargles”. All conversations died, however, when Malfoy arrived with five young Slytherins in tow, and Ron looked ready to kill.

“Okay people listen up!” Harry sensed the tension and began to speak. He’s matured a lot in a year, Hermione mused, not for the first time, watching him take control of the situation. “I think everyone’s here, so we can get started. Welcome back, last year’s members, and hello to everyone else. For those of you who don’t know, this is a practical defense group, and everyone will probably learn some things, including me, and I know we’ll all improve with the practice. As you’ve noticed, a couple of our new members are from Slytherin house. You are all here for the same reason: to learn to defend yourselves. If you have a problem with that, you can leave, but I’d prefer if you kept an open mind and gave them a chance. Okay, divide up, first through third years, fourth and fifth, sixth and seventh. Draco, take the younger ones and practice disarming, and Parvati, you’re good at that, so why don’t you help. Ginny, Luna, why don’t you do stunners with the middle group. Sixth and Seventh years, we’re going to do shielding. Lots and lots of shielding.”

Two hours later they were all exhausted. They ended the day with a mock battle, randomly dividing the group into two sides, and only allowing stunning, shielding, and disarming. That had been Hermione’s idea, and she was pleased that it got all the houses working together. As everyone prepared to leave, she stood on a table.

“All new members, take one of these fake galleons on your way out. They’ll tell you the time and place of the meetings; they won’t be constant, since we have a lot of schedules to work around. Great job today everyone!”

This morning Harry got up early and sat at the window, watching the sun rise over a sea of red and gold leaves. Would his life ever be simple? He was trying to keep the DA running smoothly with the addition of the Slytherins. Slughorn had arrived yesterday, and one class was long enough for Harry to realize that the contemptible excuse for a human being would teach them absolutely nothing. Now he was wasting two hours of every day between DADA and Potions, since, while he actually taught the class better than most of his predecessors, Snape treated Harry like he was stupid. Beside schoolwork, he spent a lot of time in the Room of Requirement studying anything that might help against Voldemort, learning material from classes he wasn’t taking, and brewing potions or practicing spells with Hermione. And she was a problem unto herself. He couldn’t figure out how he felt about her. She was his best friend, but he caught himself becoming angry when she talked to other guys, and watching her when she wouldn’t notice, picking up on little habits, like nibbling the end of a quill, or tucking her hair behind her ears when it didn’t really need it. He didn’t need to add a severely inconvenient crush to his ever-growing list of stresses.

In the evenings, he fell into bed exhausted. He got up in the mornings feeling no better. Nightmares plagued him, images of his parents, Cedric, and Sirius haunting him, and he could never save them as their deaths played over and over again in his dreams. To prevent addiction, Harry only allowed himself Dreamless Sleep potion a couple times a month. He had placed a silencing spell around his bed so that he didn’t disturb anyone if he screamed in the night. Sustaining the habit he had formed at the end of fifth year, every morning he refreshed the glamour charm that hid the physical signs of exhaustion.

Harry turned away from the window. It was still too early to go down to breakfast, so he sat on his bed and slipped into a meditative state. Meditation was as easy for him as breathing, as a result of early accidental magic. He learned quickly that he had to control emotions or there would be consequences, and he wouldn’t like them. His uncle never really beat him, but he grabbed him hard enough to leave bruises, and would slam him into walls “accidentally”, or trip him, or drag him to his cupboard by the hair. When his uncle and aunt weren’t happy, Harry noticed, Dudley became especially malicious, and he had no doubt Vernon and Petunia encouraged their son to make Harry’s life hell. Detaching himself from the real world and constructing a haven of happy memories and imaginings was the only way to get by.

Now, he was floating on his back in the Great Lake, watching birds swooping overhead, listening to the wind rustle the leaves of the Whomping Willow. All his bad memories were locked away in an imaginary treasure chest beneath the lake, and only the good ones remained on the surface. It was with great reluctance that Harry let the peaceful image fade in order to prepare for class.

Potions was grating on Harry’s nerves unlike any other class. He had begun purposely sabotaging his potions, or brewing something other than what he was supposed to in order to shake Slughorn’s unwanted favor. It wasn’t working.

“Ah, Mr. Potter! A skin regrowth potion! I imagine that would have the same effect as this rash tonic, wouldn’t it? Twenty points to Gryffindor for ingenuity.” As Slughorn walked off, Harry shared a half-amused, half-exasperated look with Hermione. Actually, she was more amused, and he more just annoyed.

“I could have handed him a tube of muggle ointment and he would have said the same thing.” I’m going to go crazy in here. Crazier. This man is going to make me insane.

“Maybe next time you should.”

“You’re taking this whole thing very well.”

“I know you’re capable of achieving the grades on your own. The fact that he shows you such blatant favoritism is just a source of amusement, since it makes you so crazy.”

“You’re a sadist.”

“I know. And look, time for Defense against the Dark Arts.” She grinned evilly at him as she put her books into her bag and slung it over one shoulder.

“But Maya, I don’t wanna go. The teacher’s mean to me.” He gave her his best puppy dog face.

“Too bad. C’mon Potter.” They exited the potions room and made their way up to Snape’s new classroom. Taking their seats in the back, Harry looked towards the front of the room. On the board was the word Patroni. Maybe this class wouldn’t be so bad. He looked to the left and caught Neville’s eye. The normally timid boy looked confident, and grinned at Harry. Glancing around the room, Harry realized almost half this class was composed of DA members. This ought to be fun. I wonder if Snape knows we covered this last year in DA? Probably not. Harry smirked. And even Neville managed to conjure one when we tried with the older years last week…

“Draco, come to the front of the room.” Snape’s voice rang out from the shadows where he had been standing unobserved. I’ve got to learn how to do that. “If any of you read the chapters I assigned, which I doubt, you should understand the theory behind a patronus. Even armed with that knowledge, I doubt many of you will be able to produce a wisp of smoke. Draco will cast a patronus, and then you will each come up in order of the rows you’re sitting in, and attempt to do the same.”

Severus watched with no small amount of pride as his godson cast the spell flawlessly. A silver-white hawk erupted from the end of his wand and circled the room once before fading away. He glanced towards the Potter boy and his Gryffindor clique to see their reaction to Draco’s accomplishment, and to his surprise saw Potter and Draco exchange a small smile. Not only that, but the seating in the room seemed to have changed. Draco was sitting with a mixed group of Slytherins and Ravenclaws, Potter and Granger sat in the middle of a cluster of students from all four houses. Longbottom sat next to a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff discussing Herbology quietly. Something in the dynamics between the houses had changed. How did I miss this? The destruction of house barriers can only be a good thing, especially for Slytherins who will need support in the coming months if they are to deviate from the paths planned by their parents. He glanced again at Draco as he returned to his seat. “Next!”

The number of people who could successfully cast a patronus was astounding. Severus watched in something close to amazement as Longbottom conjured a large barn owl on his second try. Evidently Potter’s little club had done some good after all. After Granger went, it was Potter’s turn. He walked to the front of the room, his face expressionless. And perhaps the Occlumency lessons weren’t entirely wasted either.

“Ah, Mr. Potter. Going to give us the final proof of how identical you are to your father in every way?” he sneered. Severus was surprised yet again by the flicker of sadness and guilt in the boy’s green eyes.

“Expecto patronum!”A silvery light poured from his wand, solidifying into a stag. The stag didn’t move, and after only a second it morphed into a fox. Severus paled. It changed to a snake, and then some sort of bird in quick succession, before shifting again into a dark silver panther. Potter stared at it, eyes wide. The panther opened its mouth wide in a soundless roar before leaping into the air and vanishing. The room was completely silent as Potter turned, and without a word walked out the door. Granger grabbed his bag and her own and ran after him. Looking around, Severus saw that Longbottom and the rest of the DA members were looking at the door as if wanting to follow, and that Draco was among them.

“Class dismissed.” They were gone before the last syllable left his lips. Severus sat heavily in his chair. “Expecto patronum,” he whispered. A silver-grey fox appeared and ran lightly from desktop to desktop around the room before fading away. He closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Then he stood and made his way to the headmaster’s office.

It was later that night, after dinner was over, that Dumbledore sent him to find Potter. The boy was probably somewhere in Gryffindor tower, so he headed to Minerva’s office to enlist her help. As he neared the door, two familiar voices drifted out from inside.

“Mr. Potter, I must admit I am surprised and disappointed. You need both of those NEWTs to become an auror, you know.”

“I think my priorities have changed. I’m not sure that I want to fight for the rest of my life, if I live past… well, once Voldemort is dead.”

“Mr. Potter…” McGonagall began, but Severus chose that moment to make his appearance.

“Potter, the headmaster would like to speak with you.” Potter ignored him, and Minerva pursed her lips in displeasure at the interruption.

“Why don’t you discuss your schedule with him while you’re there, Mr. Potter? If he agrees to it, I suppose I cannot object.” She nodded her head to Severus and then the boy before disappearing through the door that led to her classroom. Severus turned and strode down the hallway, back towards the headmaster’s office, Potter following close behind. What, I wonder, was that all about?

As always, Dumbledore knew they had arrived before he got a chance to knock. “Come in!”

“Headmaster,” Severus nodded in greeting.

“Ah, Severus, that was fast. Hello Harry. How has your year been thus far?” Dumbledore smiled at him, eyes twinkling.

“I see your office has recovered.”

“Yes, that. Well, it wasn’t all that difficult to put to rights. I’m very glad you have such control over your magic, or I would still be trying to fix everything.” He glanced at Severus. “You did almost a good a job at destroying all my possessions as Professor Snape did when he was about your age.” Severus glared. Did he have to bring that up? Again? In front of the Potter brat?

“Maybe I shouldn’t have kept the magic contained.” He glared at Dumbledore. The old man’s eyes dimmed a bit.

“Do you blame me for your godfather’s death, Harry?’

“Yes.” The boy sat in I chair in front of the desk. “Along with many others, but not nearly as much as some. There’s enough blame to go around. But that’s not why I’m here, is it?”

“No, it’s not. You, and Professor Snape, are here to discuss what happened in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class earlier today. An interesting occurrence involving your patronus, I believe. Lemon drop?” Both Severus and the teenager beside him shook their heads. Dumbledore blinked and looked at them both carefully before shaking his head and popping a bright yellow piece of candy in his mouth. “Why don’t you give me your account.”

“I cast the spell, thinking about spending time with He… friends.” Severus raised an eyebrow and Dumbledore smiled slightly, but both remained silent. Severus hoped against hope that the boy would glaze over his patronus’s forms, but it was not to be. Potter colored slightly and continued. “It was a stag as always, but then it became a fox, and then a snake, and a bird. It stopped at a panther.”

“Hmmm.” Dumbledore shot Severus a piercing look before focusing on Harry once more. “Will you cast a patronus for me please?” The boy was hesitant, slowly getting to his feet and stepping away from the chair. He took a deep breath and pointed his wand.

“Expecto patronum,” he incanted softly. A silvery panther leapt from his wand and stood in front of him, tail twitching. He waved his wand again and the giant cat disappeared. Sighing, he sat down again and closed his eyes. “Why?”

“I can only theorize that your patronus was previously a stag because you idolized your father, rather than because your characters are so very similar. If you stopped idolizing him at some point last year or this summer, your patronus must have assumed its true form.” Severus started at the headmaster’s words. It wasn’t possible that the scene from the Pensieve could have… Green eyes met his own and quickly looked away. Apparently the way his father had acted really upset the boy. This realization threw doubt on many of Severus’s assumptions about the boy’s character.

“It’s possible.” Potter’s face was once again an emotionless mask. “May I go now, Professor?”

“It seemed that there was something else you wanted to discuss. Would you prefer to wait?” Dumbledore watched the boy with concern.

“Oh! No, we can talk about it now. I’d like permission to drop Divination, Potions, and DADA from my schedule, and add Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.” Dumbledore looked surprised for a moment before again assuming a calm, grandfatherly air. Severus had to speak up.

“You believe that you can cope without two of the most important subject the school offers? Planning to rely on fame to get you through life?” What is the boy thinking? I can’t fault him for dropping Divination, but Potions and Defense?

“I can pass the NEWTS without going to class. I’ll take them now if you want, but I’d prefer to study for the next two years before doing so. I think that in this, maybe you should allow me to make my own decision.” He didn’t acknowledge he heard what Severus said, just stared evenly at Dumbledore with the hint of a challenge in his eyes. The headmaster held his gaze for a long moment before looking away.

“Very well. I will trust you know what you’re doing. Professor McGonagall will give you a revised schedule tomorrow.”

“Thank you Professor. Goodnight.” He nodded at both teachers and quickly exited the office. Severus, unwilling to discuss possible meanings of patroni or to be on the receiving end of a lecture, followed close behind.