“Mr. Potter, would you please stay behind?” McGonagall said.

Harry set his bag back down and sat back in his seat. He could see that Sue Li had gotten up to talk with her, and he figured that would take at least a minute or two.

McGonagall probably wanted to speak to him about the DA meeting. It was now Thursday, and she hadn’t made an effort to reach out to him yet. He hadn’t wanted to bug her since she was probably busier than ever with administrative duties since Dumbledore had left the school. He had planned to get Ginny to come with him to speak with her again if she hadn’t reached out to him by the end of the week.

But now she was holding him back, and she did seem to be somewhat back to normal compared to how she’d been on Tuesday. At the very least, she had left Eli alone and conducted class as normal, which was a bit of a relief for Harry. Tuesday had been a little too reminiscent of Potions class with Snape for Harry’s liking, even if he hadn’t been the target.

“We’ll wait for you,” Ron said as he filed out of the class with Hermione and the others.

Harry smiled at him in thanks and shifted in his seat as he waited for Sue to finish speaking with McGonagall.

Finally, she left, and McGonagall beckoned Harry to join her at the front of the room. Harry slung his bag over his shoulder, rose from his seat, and made his way over to her.

“As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I asked you to stay behind so we could discuss the Defense Association meeting on Tuesday, and the future of the meetings,” she said, then stopped.

Harry quickly nodded and said, “I thought so.” He wasn’t sure what else to say, so he didn’t add anything. He hardly wanted to say something that would be embarrassing if she was about to tell him that the club was cancelled or that someone else would be taking over.

After all the reassurances his friends had given him over the past day and a half over how good the meeting had been, he was no longer certain that was where this meeting was going, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to entirely believe it.

“Good. I found myself very pleasantly surprised on Tuesday. Your lesson was very topical and informative; accessible to even the youngest members of your audience, yet novel enough to hold the attention of the older students. And the activity you planned to practice the shield was safe and practical.” She gave him a smile, and Harry reflexively returned it, more shocked than anything else.

“I find myself comfortable with allowing your group to meet at your discretion. All I ask is you give me your lesson plans a day or two in advance so I can have an opportunity to look over it in advance. Unless I speak to you before the meeting, and I don’t see that happening often, you can assume that your lessons are approved,” she concluded.

This was far beyond what Harry had allowed himself to hope for.

“Thank you,” he said, with a grateful look to McGonagall.

She cleared her throat and said, “Yes, well, you certainly proved yourself trustworthy and talented. I see little need to micromanage your efforts.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m sure you have a class to get to.”

The dismissal was clear, so Harry said, “Have a good day.” Then he headed out of the classroom to rejoin his friends, who had waited for him. As he stepped into the hallway, he was bombarded by several questions at once and was unable to understand any of them.

“Guys, one at a time, please,” Harry said over the confusing noise.

Then nobody was saying anything at all. Thankfully, Hermione rolled her eyes after a moment and said, “I assume the gist of what everyone was asking was: what did Professor McGonagall say?”

Harry grinned broadly and said, “She said that we’re approved to keep the club going; all I have to do is submit the lessons ahead of time. She won’t even be attending the meetings anymore.”

Ron slung his arm around Harry’s shoulder. “That’s great, mate!” he exclaimed.

Hermione checked her watch. “We ought to get going or we’ll be late for Herbology,” she said, beginning to move down the corridor.

Ron started walking as soon as she did, but neglected to remove his arm from Harry’s shoulders, choosing, instead, to drag Harry along for the brief moment before Harry started moving too. Harry wouldn’t have minded so much if it wasn’t a bit like a three-legged race trying to walk with Ron like this.

But he wasn’t sure what to say to convey that, and he definitely didn’t want to just shrug Ron’s arm off, so he did his best to walk in step with Ron to minimize their difficulties.

Hermione turned the conversation to discussing the assignment that was due for Herbology, and Harry half-listened to her re-dissect it for the millionth time. He was mostly focused on facilitating his and Ron’s walk.

After Herbology, they went right to lunch, hungry from a period spent wrestling with self-fertilizing shrubs. Harry still had a hard time believing that not only were the dangerous plants kept on the grounds, but the class was asked to care for them.

“I mean really, they eat literal flesh! We can’t even keep too many of them next to each other or they will eat each other! It just feels like a safety hazard,” Harry said with emphatic gesticulation.

Ron grinned and said, “You’re just mad that one nibbled on you a bit.”

“And I think that’s a valid thing to be upset about!” Harry insisted.

They were heading up the steps to the castle when Colin Creevey ran up to Ron and Hermione.
“You need to come quick!” he panted urgently. “Louise fell into the lake and we need your help!”

Ron and Hermione exchanged a quick glance, then ran off towards the lake, Colin quickly pulling ahead to more accurately direct them.

“Wonder what it is with people close to Colin falling into the lake,” Harry mused as he, Eli, and Neville watched them go.

Eli and Neville shrugged.

“I think Ron and Hermione have that under control,” said Neville as Ron and Hermione disappeared behind a hill.

Harry backed up a stair step as Eli said, “There’s no use being hungry while we wait for them to sort that out.”

At this, the three of them turned to walk into the castle. They were joined by Ginny in the Entrance Hall, and she decided to join them for lunch. Harry was still catching her up on Ron and Hermione’s location and the reason for the bandage on his wrist when the food appeared on the table.

Conversation ceased while they served themselves and ate. Once the edge had been taken off his hunger, Harry said, “So anyways, I’m just glad Sprout had some Dittany and a bandage on hand so I didn’t have to go to the hospital wing.”

“Wow, Harry, you were happy to avoid the hospital wing? How out of character for you,” Ginny said drily.

Harry shrugged. He wasn’t exactly subtle about avoiding the hospital wing. Eli was looking at him curiously, so Harry quickly shifted his attention to his plate of food. Harry did not want Eli to think too much about his hospital wing avoiding tendencies since Eli was the only one who’d actually managed to see his bruises from the summer.

At the time, Harry had been too preoccupied with other things to really consider that Eli was the only one who had ever seen anything near the full extent of his bruising. Of course, this was also the first time in years Vernon had actually left lasting marks on him, so this was also one of the first times he’d even had bruising for him to worry about hiding.

“So, do you think you’ll be alright for Quidditch practice tomorrow night?” Ginny asked.

Harry startled briefly, unsure what she meant. Then he glanced at his still bandaged wrist as though to confirm that he already knew the answer and said, “Yeah, of course, the plant only nibbled on me a bit.”

“Good, it’s our second practice with the new players; I know Katie, Demelza, and I need a lot of work to get in sync and it’d be sad to have to cancel it,” Ginny said with a relieved smile.

Harry smiled wryly, “I think Oliver Wood would just instantly appear to slaughter me if I cancelled Quidditch for anything short of death.”

Ginny snorted. “Yeah, he probably would.”

Glancing over at Eli, Harry clarified, “Oliver Wood was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain from my first year to my third year, and he was an absolute Quidditch fanatic. He once told me to, and I quote, ‘Catch the snitch, or die trying,’ and I’m reasonably sure he was serious.”

Ginny nodded, “Percy says that rooming with him was one of the more harrowing experiences of his life, and that’s saying something.”

“And he was allowed to have a position of authority?” Eli said skeptically.

“He was damned good at Quidditch, so, worth it,” Harry said. “Anyways, the point is that Quidditch practice is still on as scheduled for after dinner.”

They were soon joined by Ron and Hermione, who wasted no time in telling them all about their rescue of Louise, a fifth year who really ought to have known better by this point, from the lake. Harry supposed that it was good that this had happened now, in September, and not during the winter, when the lake would have been frozen.

Towards the end of their lunch period, Harry realized that this was probably the most convenient chance he’d get to talk to all his friends. Luna was the only one missing, and she could easily be filled in later, so Harry said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you guys if we could meet after dinner today to talk about DA stuff.”

Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Eli all agreed.

“Does anyone have any ideas for where we could meet? The Room of Requirement is a bit out of the way to just have a conversation, so if we could avoid meeting there, that’d be great.” He paused and gave Ron and Hermione a significant look. “Maybe an abandoned classroom?”

“No!” Ron interjected. “We are not getting stuck in another of those goddamned rooms.”

Ginny rolled her eyes as Hermione nodded in emphatic agreement.

“Luckily for you two, I know where we could meet; there’s this room that’s essentially a sitting room on the first floor,” Eli said.

“Sounds good to me. You can show us how to get there from dinner, right?” Harry asked, just to be sure.

Eli nodded.

“Should we just eat together then?” Ginny asked. “I have History with Luna, so I can invite her to join us then.”

Harry shrugged and nodded; a quick glance around the table showed that the others were in agreement too, so he was glad that this worked out so well. It would be nice to get some input on what direction to take the DA lessons in. He had some ideas from his connection to Voldemort, but he was hoping to make it seem like they were someone else’s idea.

Given their tendency to mother him, he knew that if he mentioned his regular trips to Voldemort’s mind, Hermione and Ron would definitely go into worrying overdrive. And he definitely wanted to avoid worrying them, so this seemed like the best way to avoid having the focus be on how Harry had gotten certain information.

Soon after their conversation had ended, it was time for them to head off to their next classes.

Harry paid close attention to Flitwick’s lecture in Charms to make up for his lack of attention on Tuesday. It was still a bit difficult to pay attention, because they were covering a charm that Harry had already experienced from his wanderings through Voldemort’s mind, but he was able to force himself to manage it.

At least the practical next class ought to be very easy for Harry to ace.

After Charms, they headed down to dinner together. Harry and Ron took the opportunity to dissect the Quidditch practice from the night before, since they hadn’t had a chance to yet. Harry vaguely heard Hermione and Eli begin discussing some theory or another, but he was focused on Ron’s opinions of the Chasers since he was so much better placed to observe them than Harry was.

When they got to the table, they were joined by Ginny and Luna. Ginny quickly inserted herself into the conversation, which then dissolved into bickering. Harry thought it was really funny how Ron could go from a calm and rational discussion on strategies the Chasers ought to try when Ginny was absent, to mindlessly arguing with her as soon as she was there.

Harry figured he could pick Ron’s brain some other time since they did live together. And watching the siblings bicker was peak dinner entertainment, in Harry’s opinion.

Eventually they subsided, and Harry was able to listen to Hermione, Eli, and Luna’s conversation. It was immediately obvious that Luna must have severely derailed whatever they had been talking about before, because he hardly believed that Hermione and Eli would have chosen to discuss the prevalence of the Rotfang Conspiracy.

This conversation topic carried them through to the end of dinner.

“Is everyone ready to go?” Eli said.

Harry nodded and glanced at everyone else’s plates, which were similarly cleared.

They rose from their seats as a group. Eli was clearly leading the way as they filed out of the Great Hall.

“Kinda funny that the new student is the one showing us where to go, huh?” Ron said, after a moment.

“Guess that’s what happens when you actually explore,” Harry said, smirking at Ron and Hermione. Then, before they could say anything, he continued, “The Marauder’s Map let us be lazy about exploring.”

“Yup,” Ginny said, popping the ‘p’.

Ron nudged her with his elbow. “Mum told you not to do that.”

Ginny caught his elbow and shoved it back at him. Then she rolled her eyes at him and said, “It’s not like she’s here, is it?”

Hermione grabbed Ron’s hand and steered him away from Ginny. “I thought Charms was interesting today, wouldn’t you agree, Ron?” she said, too sweetly.

Ron nodded quickly and gave their entwined hands a swing.

Harry hid a laugh at how easily Hermione was able to diffuse Ron, sure that Ron would not appreciate being laughed at.

Then Harry walked into Eli, who had come to a stop. Harry quickly leapt away and apologized. Eli gave him a slightly odd look that Harry could not decipher, then quickly shook it off in favor of opening a door.

Harry slipped through the doorway first and surveyed the comfortable looking room. There were several armchairs arranged in a circle in the middle, and also some comfortably bright overhead lighting. Against the back wall there was an unlit fireplace that Harry thought would be very pleasant in the winter. There were also several landscapes hung up on the walls, along with the portrait of a young woman.

“Here’s the room I found,” Eli announced, as everyone filed in behind him.

“Oooh! You kept your promise!” the portrait said happily.

Eli shifted uncomfortably and said, “Yes, well, you asked me to bring visitors, and we needed somewhere to meet, so.”

“Hi everyone!” the portrait cut in, “I’m Amanda, and I’m a portrait that is tragically stuck in her frame thanks to an incompetent painter.”

Harry didn’t respond to that, because he figured someone else was going to, but then nobody else responded either. Just as he was going to figure out something to say, however, Amanda continued speaking.

“C’mon Eli, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Ah, right,” Eli said, and then proceeded to point at each of them and say their names in turn.

As Harry watched, Amanda followed Eli’s finger as he pointed and mouthed each name. Once they’d all been introduced, she said, “It’s nice to meet you all.”

“I hope you don’t mind if we chat in here for a bit?” Harry asked, just to be sure that they weren’t imposing. She might only have wanted to meet people, not have her space invaded by them, and he wanted to give her a chance to kick them out.

“Oh, please do stay, it’s been ages since I’ve had regular visitors, and it gets rather lonely in my frame.”

Harry flashed a smile at her, then joined the short frenzy of everyone finding seats. Despite the abundance of comfortable chairs, Ron ended up in Hermione’s lap, and Harry didn’t bother to hide his eye roll at this. Once he was settled in his own chair, he glanced over and saw that Ginny was fake vomiting at them. Harry laughed at her antics, but this caught Ron’s attention, meaning Ron looked over and saw Ginny too.

“Real mature, Ginny. Real mature,” Ron said.

Ginny grinned and shrugged.

“So,” Hermione said as she rubbed Ron’s back, “what were we going to talk about?”

Harry scrambled to order his thoughts, but before he could say anything, Neville was talking.

“Uh, before we get started, I was doing some reading for Potions, and I came across this potion called Felix Felicis that makes you extraordinarily lucky, and I just thought that it would be really great if we could have some on hand given everything, you know?”

Harry could certainly use some luck, and so could all his friends, really, if they continued to force their way into things like they had last year.

Eli scoffed, but Hermione said, “I’ve read about that too, but it’s also incredibly expensive, difficult, and time-consuming to brew! I don’t think I’d trust even myself to do it.”

“A potion you can’t brew?” Ron said in an overly-shocked tone. “Don’t let second-year Hermione hear you say that, she’d probably chuck the bottle of Polyjuice Potion she’d just brewed at your head.”

“Polyjuice Potion isn’t all that difficult to brew, though! It’s just easy to misuse, which is why the recipe is kept in the Restricted Section of the library. Felix Felicis is actually dangerous to brew, and you won’t know if you messed up, and wasted all those expensive ingredients, until after the six-month brewing period is over,” Hermione patiently explained.

Harry was disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to get the potion. “Well, it was a nice thought, Neville.”

“Actually, I can brew Felix Felicis,” Eli said.

Harry frowned slightly and turned to glance at Hermione to see how she’d respond.

She looked agitated as she said, “I’m sorry, I just have a hard time believing that.”

Eli spread his hands and said, “I’ll bet I can brew any potion you can think of.”

Now Hermione looked shocked. After a long pause, she said, “Prove it.”

Eli got to his feet and started walking toward the door. “Well, aren’t you coming?”

“Coming where?” Ron asked, somewhat confusedly.

“To the dungeons to watch me prove that I can brew anything,” Eli said, as if it were obvious.

Hermione started shoving at Ron, who had yet to move from her lap. “I get to choose what you brew, and I want to test the sample, too.”

Harry reluctantly got to his feet. The chair he had been sitting in was very comfortable and the dungeons were very far away, especially considering he had an ice cube's chance in hell of understanding what would be happening there.

Eli had shrugged in response to Hermione’s demands, but seemed so confident that, despite Harry’s utmost confidence in Hermione’s abilities, Harry began to wonder if maybe Eli could brew something that Hermione couldn’t.

They quickly made it to the NEWT-level potions lab. It was thankfully empty since it was after dinner and still too early in the school year for students to be stressing outside of class. Hermione made an immediate beeline to the shelf of books in the corner, and then sat down cross-legged in front of it as she pulled down book after book.

“Uh, what’re you doing Hermione?” Ron said, likely because he was the only one brave enough to ask.

“Looking for a relatively fast potion that I can’t brew,” she said distractedly, discarding yet another book.

Harry wandered off to examine the diagrams that Chen must have put up since their last class here on Wednesday. He had just finished looking at the last one, completing his circuit of the lab, when Hermione made a noise of triumph. He immediately walked over to where she was getting to her feet from her spot by the bookshelf.

“It’s a clothing-stain remover potion. It’s one of the most difficult potions to brew, because the brewer has to be perfectly in tune with the inherent rhythm of the potion, and also perfectly time the addition of ingredients to this rhythm. And it only takes an hour to brew,” she explained, still looking pleased with herself.

Harry had no idea what she meant by “inherent rhythm of the potion” and a quick look around showed that neither did any of the others. Well, except for Eli, who had nodded along to her explanation.

“Can I see the recipe?” Eli asked calmly.

Hermione handed him the book, which was still open to the appropriate page. Harry watched as Eli scanned the page, and when he reached the bottom, he nodded and closed the book.

“So, you can’t do it then?” Ron stated, in a tone that implied that he didn’t think it was a question.

“No, I can do it. My school’s specialty was potions,” he added, as an afterthought.

Harry was more grateful than ever that Chen had paired them together. Even if Eli messed this potion up, he’d probably be able to easily manage the ones they brewed in class.

Hermione huffed and pulled out a chair, turning it around to face the brewing station behind it. “You can brew it here,” she said firmly as she sat in the chair.

Eli shrugged and summoned an iron cauldron and a silver stirring rod from the storeroom. He set them down at the station Hermione had designated.

“The recipe doesn’t say to use those materials!” Hermione objected as they landed in front of her.

“I know that they’re the best ones,” Eli said. “There’s a book about the different interactions of cauldrons and stirring rods with potions, and I bet your library has a copy, if you want me to show you later.”

Hermione still looked cross as she said, “I would like that.”

While Eli went to go get ingredients from the cupboard, Harry pulled out a chair from across the aisle to sit in while he watched the proceedings. He was quickly joined by the others in pulling up chairs to watch.

Eli quickly returned with a basket full of all the necessary ingredients. He set the basket down all the way to his left of the station. Then he started pulling the ingredients out one by one, preparing each one as needed before he pulled out the next one.

Harry was mesmerized by the efficiency and confidence of Eli’s actions as he brewed. This, he thought, is what brewing is meant to be. The tranquility of this environment was so far from what he could too-clearly remember from Snape’s classes. This, combined with the difference Chen’s classes were making, made Harry wonder if he could like potions.

Because watching Eli brew was like watching Viktor Krum fly. He was clearly in his element, and Harry wondered if Eli was even fully aware that he was being watched.

By the time Eli’s basket was empty, he had each of the ingredients laid out neatly in a line leading to the cauldron that was all the way to the left of the station. Then Eli paused in his actions and summoned an egg timer from the front of the room. “I’d appreciate it if y’all were quiet while I put it all together. Getting attuned to the potion is hard, and it’d be nice if I didn't have to get reattuned while I’m brewing.”

Ginny and Luna stopped their whispered conversation, but they had been the only ones talking.

With the lab now silent, Eli lit the fire beneath his cauldron and put the first ingredient in. Harry barely recognized half of the ingredients that Eli was using, and the ones Harry did recognize were prepared in unfamiliar ways, so he wasn’t able to take away any knowledge, really.

As Harry thought that, he had to stop himself from snorting in amusement. That was the one thing watching Eli and Snape’s lessons had in common. Harry didn’t learn a single thing from either of them.

Most of the actual brewing passed in a bit of a blur for Harry. Then Eli was suddenly dousing the fire, and Harry was pulled from his thoughts.

“Does anyone have a shirt with an impossible stain?” Eli asked them.

Harry thought of Dudley’s castoffs sitting in his trunk and thought that they probably fit the ticket. “I have a shirt with a stain that the house elves can’t seem to get rid of, does that count?”

“That’s perfect, can you summon it?”

Harry considered just casting Accio to get it, but decided to ask Dobby to retrieve it instead.

“Hey Dobby,” he called into the air, a bit self consciously.

Almost immediately there was the pop of apparition, and Dobby appeared right in front of Harry.

“How can I help you, Master Harry Potter, sir?” Dobby said excitedly, bouncing forward onto the balls of his feet.

Harry glanced at the others. He was still a little reluctant to even admit to having Dudley’s castoffs with him. There was nothing for it though, so he said, “Could you get me one of Dudley’s old shirts from my trunk?”

“Of course I can, Master Harry Potter, sir!” Dobby squeaked. Then he hugged Harry’s lap and disappeared. He was barely gone for a minute before he reappeared, holding one of the better ones. It was still irredeemably stained though, so it was perfect for their needs.

“Thank you, Dobby, this is perfect,” Harry said as he accepted the shirt.

Harry passed the shirt to Eli, and Dobby looked curiously at the ladle of potion Eli had readied.

“Can I stay and watch?” Dobby asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Harry said, before he realized that he should probably have let Eli answer, since he was the one who brewed the potion. A quick glance at Eli showed that he hadn’t reacted though, so Harry thought it was probably fine.

Hermione had been busy inspecting the color and consistency of the potion while Harry had obtained the shirt. Then she sat back down and gestured for Eli to go ahead.

Eli spread the shirt out next to the cauldron and found a particularly nasty stain. Harry decided to get up for a better look, and there was a quick scramble as the others also got up to get a better look. Eli paused while everyone crowded into position, then slowly poured the potion over the stain.

Where the potion touched, the shirt returned to its original forest green. Even after several years of living mostly in the wizarding world, displays of magic like this one still managed to awe Harry. If only because Harry could remember scrubbing at those stains when they had been fresh, and failing miserably. which was how the shirt came to be in his possession.

“Fine,” Hermione said to Eli, “you could probably brew Felix Felicis. Ron, come with me, I wanted to ask that portrait about how she came to be stuck.”

Then she turned on her heel and stalked out of the lab.

“Good job, mate,” Ron said hurriedly as he rushed after Hermione.

Luna followed after both of them at a more sedate pace. “I would like to hear about the portrait too,” she said serenely.

Harry glanced into the cauldron and saw that there was still a lot of the potion left. “Does anyone else have stains to get rid of?”

Eli, Ginny, and Neville all shook their heads.

“Mum tends to cut up anything stained too badly to be cleaned to be used in her quilts,” Ginny said.

Harry paused briefly to see if anyone else would say anything, when they didn’t, he said, “Do you mind if I use the rest of this then? I have a couple other shirts like this.”

“If you don’t, I’ll probably just throw it out anyways,” Eli said.

“Hey Dobby, would you mind getting the rest of Dudley’s shirts?” Harry asked. He was excited to have a chance to have clothes that were at least stain free.

Dobby snapped his fingers, and all the shirts appeared in Harry’s lap.

"Dobby had to first retrieve one shirt before Dobby could summon shirts for Harry Potter," Dobby explained when Harry gave him a confused look.

“Oh, well, thank you,” Harry said, and then began to remove the stains with the potion.

“Well, we know that we have someone with the ability to brew Felix Felicis,” Neville said thoughtfully. “Now we just need the money to buy the ingredients.”

“Well, I won’t be able to help much with that. We don’t even have a valuables to sell off, sadly,” Ginny said with a bit of a laugh. “Of course, if we did, Fred and George would probably have destroyed everything by now, so the outcome would probably be the same either way.”

Valuables. “Grimmauld Place!” Harry exclaimed. His hands were still full of his clothes that he was removing the stains from, so he glanced at Dobby awkwardly over his shoulder and said, “Could you go to Grimmauld Place and bring back everything with monetary value? And, uh, put it in the room where Ron, Hermione, and Luna are talking to the portrait of Amanda.”

Dobby nodded enthusiastically and hugged Harry around the knees again before he departed.

To Eli, Neville, and Ginny, Harry said, “I inherited Grimmauld Place from Sirius, and it’s filled with useless heirlooms that we could sell.”

Harry pushed all the emotions that thinking of Grimmauld Place brought up way back down for now. He definitely did not want to have a breakdown in front of his friends; they'd just be worried, and there was nothing they could do to make it better anyways.

“Oh, are you sure you want to do that, Harry? Those are your things,” Ginny said.

Harry shrugged. “It’s not like Sirius cared about them, and we can sort through them to make sure we don’t get rid of anything important.” He glanced down and saw that he was done removing the stains from the shirts, so he started folding them.

“Well, we should probably go back to that room if Dobby is going to be delivering the things there,” Eli said.

“Right,” Harry said, he looked at the pile of stain-free shirts and shoved them all in his bag, “let’s go then.”