""Harry Potter and the Orb of Reawakening""

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6--N.E.W.T. Classes::

Students woke up the next morning, feeling slightly relieved than the previous night. The sky has cleared and the sun is shining down at the students through the enchanted ceiling as they eat breakfast. Professor McGonagall was walking up and down the Gryffindor table, passing out schedules. Harry got his schedule, took one look at it, and let out a huge frustrated groan.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked.

"Double N.E.W.T. Potions and Double N.E.W.T. Transfiguration," said Harry. "What about you?"

Ron looked at his schedule, "Double N.E.W.T. Charms Prep., and Double N.E.W.T. Transfiguration."

"I thought you said you didn't pass Transfiguration," Hermione said, examining her own schedule. "Hmm, I got the same lessons as Harry this morning.

"Oh, I passed it alright, I just didn't get an O." Ron said. "And what's with all the double classes?"

Harry studied his schedule, "Funny..., it seems like we only get two classes a day; one before lunch and one after lunch. Plus we only get each class twice in a week.... Oh bummer, we haven't got Defense Against the Dark Arts until Thursday and Friday."

Just then, thousands of owls swooped down at the students for their morning deliveries. A large barn owl swooped down on Hermione, delivering her usual Daily Prophet, the newspaper of the Wizarding community.

"Oh, that's great," she said, looking at the front page, "about time, too!"

"Hermione, what are you talking about?" Ron asked, as he crammed his bacons into his mouth.

"Look at this, The Ministry confirmed earlier today that the one responsible for the mass murder sixteen years ago was not Sirius Black, but instead, Peter Pettigrew, the one who everyone believed to have been murdered. Just a while ago in June, the Ministry informed us that Black was murdered by one of the escaped Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrage, and admitted that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named have indeed returned with the help of Pettigrew... etcetera... Continued coverage on pages 2-4. At least now Sirius may rest in peace, knowing his name is cleared. Oh! Harry..., I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Harry had turned expressionless upon hearing this, with much effort, he managed to smile, "It's okay..., I'm used to his death now. I'm trying to get over it, it's no problem. Ouch!"

Hedwig have been perched on the table for a while, hooting softly to get Harry's attention. When Harry didn't notice her, she got rather mad and pecked Harry on the shoulder, "Oh, hi Hedwig. Sorry, and thanks." He took off the parchment tied to her leg and she took off, flying back to the Owlery.

"It's from Moony!" Harry said.

Dear Harry,

As my assistant for the N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts class, you wouldn't look good if you couldn't assist me. That's why I hope you can look up some of the charms and hexes that we'll be learning this week. I believe you may find a great load of information from the set of books you received the previous Christmas.

I wish to teach the rest of the students defense against Dark creatures for the following few weeks. So I would like you to study the Radiant Charm  and the Shield Charm. I look forward to seeing you guys in the Room of Requirements on Thursday.

Good luck,
Moony

"What is it?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Nothing, just a few things about the D.A. class." Harry said, stuffing the letter into his robes as they walk out of the Great Hall. Ron headed up to the towers for Professor Flitwick's classroom as Harry and Hermione proceed to the dungeons for Potions.

Snape's dungeons was as dark and gloomy as ever, and the classroom looks even bigger and darker than it already is due to the small amount of people; there were only a dozen students. Harry wasn't surprised; Snape's class had always been hard and difficult, and he was surprised that even he passed it.

Snape entered the dungeon a moment later, and all the chit chats silenced away. He stood in front of his desk, eyeing them carefully, his mouth twitched unpleasantly as he laid his eyes on Harry.

"You lot are now in your sixth year of Wizardry, and I assure you, the sixth and seventh year of your years at Hogwarts will be the most difficult years indeed." Everyone had expected a great lecture at the beginning of the lesson.

"You are now entering you N.E.W.T. years, the N.E.W.T. standards are difficult and tiring to learn. If you have not the guts to learn it, get out now." There was a long silence, Snape continued. "This year we will be studying some of the most difficult, as well as dangerous, potions you'll ever come across. I'm sorry to say that those of you already doing poorly in Potions--" he shot a nasty look at Harry, "--will not last long in this class.

"Now, on your desks you will find a copy of Highly Advanced Standardized Potion Making At the N.E.W.T. Level. This book is for yours to keep, I would like you to go to section one, 'Standard Healing Serums' and study bezoars, the stones most commonly used in Healing potions."

And for the next two hours, the class sat silently reading Highly Advanced Standardized Potion Making At the N.E.W.T. Level and reading about bezoars and the potions that they are most commonly used in. At the end of the period, Snape held them before they are dismissed. "You will each turn in a foot-long essay on the property, uses, and other general information of bezoars, to be handed in next Monday."

Since they only have a two-hour class this morning, they now have an extra hour before lunch. Hermione insisted that they start immediately on their essay, but Harry, on the other hand, was more eager to start with what Professor Lupin had asked him to do. After a few minutes of argument, they each headed their own way.

Harry climbed through the portrait hole and reached the Gryffindor common room, inhabited only by Crookshanks. He searched through his trunk for Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts, the set of books Sirius and Lupin had given him. For the first time, he noticed small words on the box of the set: "Tap the set with your wand and say out loud what you're looking for."

Harry took out his wand from within his robes, tapped the box and said "Radiant Charm!" The twelfth volume shot out of the box, float in midair for a while as the pages flipped over onto the correct page and the book landed itself in Harry's hands. Harry quickly read the passage about Radiant Charm, Stretch your wand out in front of you and say "Radianve!"

"Radianve!" Harry said, and was immediately blinded by a great flash of light, "Nox!" He muttered, and the light died out. What in the world was that? Harry thought to himself. Maybe I did the spell wrong.

He stretched out his hand and tried again, "Radianve!" The flash was more blinding this time, Crookshanks, who had been watching Harry, hissed at him and ran up to the Girls' Dormitory. "NOX!!" Harry screamed and the light died out. He sat down on the squashy armchair next to the fire, massaging his eyes.

The portrait hole opened twelve minutes later and Ron came in. "Harry! Guess what?" He said excitedly, "Flitwick said that I might be able to get transferred to N.E.W.T. Charms!"

"That's great, Ron." Harry said tiredly, having just tried the Radiant Charm once more a minute ago.

"We're learning all these stupid charms that I already know like the Shield Charm and stuff," said Ron. "Hey, what's up with you? Did Snape give you a hard time?"

"No," said Harry, "I'm just tired."

At noon, the two of them climbed through the portrait hole and went down to lunch, where they met the cheerful Hermione, informing them that she has already finished her essay on bezoars. Harry and Ron ate their lunch rather slowly, dreading what sort of N.E.W.T. standard courses McGonagall's giving them. They were pulled away from their pumpkin pies when Hermione exclaimed that they're going to be late if they don't move.

They arrived at McGonagall's classroom with plenty of time to spare. The classroom slowly filled up and as soon as everyone is present, the cat sitting on the desk turned into a stern looking witch.

"Welcome, class," she said, "to N.E.W.T. Standard Transfiguration class. Only those who do exceedingly well in this class may have the chance to take Animagi training next year. I usually do not take students that didn't receive Exceeds Expectations on their O.W.L.s, but it's an exception this year." Harry tried not to look at McGonagall, who was obviously looking at him and Ron.

Like all the rest of the teachers are probably going to do, McGonagall started with a lecture about N.E.W.T. They then spent the rest of the period reviewing the things they've done in the past five years. Professor McGonagall sighed after Ron's fifth failure to vanish his turtle. After Transfigurations, the students have a free hour before dinner. Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed back up the Gryffindor Tower. Harry, having nothing else to do, started on his essay on bezoars, but found it hard to concentrate when Ron is interrupting him every now and then to throw a curse at him so he can practice the Shield Charm.

Harry decided that he'd do his essay later, and helped Ron. They devised a type of game, first Harry would fire a spell at Ron, who would reflect it back with the Shield Charm, then Harry himself would perform the charm and send the spell back at Ron. They were forced to stop by Hermione after Crookshanks was hit by an off-course Disarming spell for the twelfth time.

The trio went down to dinner a short while after where the sixth years were all discussing their individual N.E.W.T. level classes and difficulty of each. After dinner they headed back up to their dormitories, Harry entered the familiar room, paced around it for a while, and got into his four-posters bed, falling asleep instantly.

~~~

Tuesday morning came and Harry and Hermione went to Charms while Ron headed to Herbology with Neville. Like McGonagall, short little Professor Flitwick started off with a lecture and they spent two hours reviewing everything they've learned in the past. They met Ron back in the common room, who informed them that Professor Sprout is teaching them how to recognize and defend themselves against Dark plants.

Harry told Ron and Hermione about Lupin wanting him to practice the Radiant Charm, and the three of them spent a whole hour thinking of ways to protect themselves from being blinded. After lunch Ron went to Care of Magical Creatures while Harry and Hermione return to the dungeons for Potions.

"We will be making the most basic Healing potions today, which involves using tears of phoenixes. You have better not mess up as phoenix tears are extremely valuable and hard to come by." Snape had warned them. And according to Ron during dinner, Hagrid have managed to get a sea serpent into the lake and is using the serpent for study.

Wednesday came and Harry received another owl from Lupin, reminding him to practice the Radiant Charm for tomorrow. Harry, Ron, and Hermione went up to Transfiguration and informed them that they will be learning the Summoning Spell.

"We already know the Summoning Spell," Dean complained loudly, "it's that Accio one."

"If you paid a bit more attention in Professor Flitwick's class, Thomas," McGonagall said, "you will learn that Accio is the Summoning Charm. Now, the Summoning Spell is immensely difficult, as it requires a lot of concentration, so we'll start with something small. You are each to concentrate on a needle. The phrase for Summoning is Appearo, now go on, try it."

McGonagall wasn't kidding, every time when he had successfully summoned a needle, it breaks the moment he picks it up. "You have to concentrate on its structure and every single detail of it!" McGonagall added afterwards. By the end of the lesson, unsurprisingly, only Hermione was able to conjure a perfect needle, earning Gryffindor twenty points.

Hermione had insisted that they practice the Summoning Spell before lunch, but Harry chose to study Radiant Charm a bit more, which was good, for he found something in the book that he had missed the first time. "If not used in a dark area, the Radiant Charm can be harmful the eye. It is advised to use a Veil Charm or a Shield Charm before performing Radiant Charms." Having no idea what a Veil Charm is, Harry used the Shield Charm, and it worked well! Although Harry can still see the great flash of light, he was no longer blinded by it.

During lunch, Ron received a notice that he's been transferred to N.E.W.T. level Charms class, and he accompanied Harry and Hermione to Charms that afternoon, where they are learning the Voice Charm.

"The Voice Charm, if done properly, can make your voice louder or softer depending on the type of Voice Charm you use. However, if it goes wrong, there's a good chance it'll damage your voice permanently, that's why we're practicing them on Muggle microphones first." Harry found the Voice Charm quite easy, he can make his microphone sound so loud, the Professor Flitwick started to pass out ear plugs.

Dinner was thoroughly enjoyable, everyone was looking forward to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class the next day, but Harry was dreading Occlumency. His changed his mind after that night, he had a nightmare, rather, his mind joined with Voldemort again. He was pacing down a long, deserted corridor, hooded figures all around him.

"Free all my servants, and I shall reward each and everyone of you," he said. The dementors lead him to the high security prisons and freed the Death Eaters. "Pathetic, the Ministry is completely pathetic..., did old man Fudge really think that the dementors would stay loyal to him? What an old fool!"

Harry heard himself laugh a cruel laugh, the next thing he knew, he was woken up by Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville.

"Harry, mate, are you alright?" Dean asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Harry said.

"Well, you started laughing all of a sudden, and woke all of us up. We thought you had a dream or something, but your scar... it was..." Nevilled couldn't quite describe what had happened.

"It was burning, mate," Ron continued for him, "and it was so bright I bet it could've be used as a candle."

"That's strange, my scar is prickling but it isn't seriously hurting or anything." Harry said.

"Oh well, it's back to bed then!" Seamus said and he, Dean, and Neville climbed back into their beds.

"Did you..." Ron whispered when he was sure they had fallen asleep.

"Yes," Harry said, "I'll tell you tomorrow." Ron nodded in his bed and fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~