The Secret Society Chapter 37

AN: Been having serious problems with this story. Will likely only have 3-4 more chapters before January, which is when I will have enough time to figure out how to finish this story within the next 20-30 chapters without making it a rush job. I intended to make this more like a webnovel (200+ chapters) hence the slow pace, but I will not be able to keep writing it for as long as I planned.

Previous Chapter 

Harry watched the owl disappear in the distance, carrying his reply to Fleur in its talons.

This day had been the worst type of hell. If it hadn’t been necessary to show that nothing was wrong after Snape had pulled him out of the common room in front of everyone, Harry would have holed himself up in his room and studied the Book.

Unfortunately, like most things these days, things weren’t going his way. Instead of studying to bring himself peace of mind before the meeting with Dumbledore, he needed to attend his classes and pretend like everything was fine.

This fooled most into believing that nothing had happened, but of course, Greengrass quickly knew something was wrong. She had been talking about the Room and what her sister wanted, but when Harry couldn’t be bothered to even show a realistic show of interest in the topic, it was obvious something else was weighing on his mind.

Harry had waved off Greengrass’s following questions, and when he got an owl delivering Fleur’s letter, it was a convenient excuse to escape.

“Something interesting to see, Potter?”

Harry stiffened momentarily before looking away from the owl he could no longer see. “Sinclair. What brings you here?”

“I followed you,” She said bluntly, “Who do you keep getting letters from?”

Harry raised his eyebrow, silently asking her if she really expected an answer.

“Right, dumb question,” Sinclair shook her head and muttered, “Might as well get this over with.”

“Over with?” Harry sounded amused, but his hand was ever so slightly closer to his wand.

“What do you want?” Sinclair asked with an intensity Harry had never seen from her, “I pay my debts, and I owe you a big one for the introduction.”

“Debt?” Harry repeated, still sounding amused but this time sincere, “Sinclair, I’m sure you know how debts with me work. This was a favor I offered you because I could. It cost me nothing.”

“Funny,” She was very much not amused, “Let’s stop with the games. I’m sure you already know I was offered the chance to be his apprentice. You know what that means.”

Harry’s eyes lit up, feeling almost as much excitement as he assumed she did. In fact, he didn’t know that she was looked upon this highly by Master Thistledown. All he wanted from that trip was to show Sinclair that she had options other than the purebloods.

However, having her become an apprentice to an esteemed wardmaster was something Harry didn’t dare to dream of. It was too outlandish.

Not only did one need to have extraordinary ability in warding, but the wardmaster also had to be willing to teach their life’s work to someone else. It wasn’t a surprise when many refused to do such a thing.

“You didn’t know,” Sinclair commented when she saw his surprise.

“I didn’t,” Harry confirmed, “Congratulations, Sinclair. No need to worry about this being some type of plot. I wish I could take credit, but do you really think I have any pull with a wardmaster?”

“… I supposed you wouldn’t,” She murmured before gently shaking her head. “So be it, Potter. Remember that I offered you a favor, but you refused me.”

“I won’t hold this over your head,” Harry said while chuckling, “I wish you the best, Sinclair.”

He watched her leave the tower with a growing smile, ecstatic that something was finally going his way. If Sinclair succeeded in fulfilling her potential, holding this over her head would backfire spectacularly for Harry.

It was far better to help Sinclair with whatever she needed. Harry knew with her personality that it would be far better than holding to a favor when she was still a novice.

He took a deep breath before letting it out, suddenly feeling a little better about himself. Exactly what he needed before his little study date with Hermione and Neville. It would be beneficial to not be a gloomy mess in front of those two.

Harry would have preferred to avoid them altogether until he had spoken with Dumbledore, but it wasn’t often that they made sure to corner him before classes started. The severe expressions they sported made him agree with their request to meet them in the library.

After the constant headaches that were presented to him recently, he figured it might be nice to have a problem that was most likely a school-focused issue.

[Break]

“You want to what?” Harry asked blankly, wondering if this was what he had wished for when hoping for a more minor problem.

“We want to create a club to teach real defense against the dark arts. With the tripe that ministry stooge is forcing down our throats, there’s no way we can pass our OWLs.”

Harry wasn’t sure what was more surprising. Hearing Hermione show such disgust to a professor openly, or how eager Longbottom was to go along with this given that he was nodded eagerly beside her.

“… Don’t take this the wrong way, but Longbottom isn’t the best choice,” Harry commented. It wasn’t that the boy was terrible at the subject, but he certainly wasn’t skilled enough for others to be willing to learn from him.

“I’m not that bad,” Neville glared before his shoulders slumped, “Alright, so maybe there are only a few spells that I’m good at casting, but it’s still better than reading that useless book.”

“And it’s not just learning how to cast the necessary spells,” Hermione said earnestly, “I also have a real self-study outlined.”

“I see,” Harry nodded slowly, and he truly did. It was admirable that they were going to such lengths to help students that they were barely acquaintances with. It was not something that he would ever do, but still, it was admirable.

“Wait,” Harry blinked, feeling stupid for not considering this, “Are you two hoping for my involvement?”

“Would you?” Hermione asked hopefully. “It would help convince other Slytherins to join.”

Harry stared at her silently, questioning whether she had lost her mind. “Why would you want my House to join you? That sounds like a way to get caught.”

“Caught?” Neville frowned, “But we’re doing nothing wrong.”

Harry ran his hand through his hair in frustration, wondering how both of them still held such naive views after the life-threatening adventures they went on every year.

“Harry? Is something wrong?”

He stared at Hermione blankly, seeing her give him an identical look as Neville. One that was filled with concern.

“Alright, I guess I should just say this out loud then,” Harry muttered to himself before casting muffliato, “What do you know about Umbridge?”

“She’s a horrible teacher.”

Harry waited for more, but Longbottom seemed to have nothing to add to Hermione’s statement.

“Both of you are hopeless.”

“Hey!”

Harry ignored their protest in unison. “Umbridge is not here to be a teacher. She is here to make sure you aren’t up to anything, Longbottom. That and be a check on Dumbledore, though that part is laughable.”

“What? Why? What did I do?”

Harry gave Longbottom a blank stare before eventually moving it to Hermione. At least she had the decency to bury her face in her hands.

“Again, Longbottom, I question how you are still alive,” Harry drawled, “Just remember, she isn’t here to teach. She is here to keep you in check. If there is anything that will give her a reason to try something, it is a group led by you.”

“Then you do it! She won’t suspect you!”

“Merlin, save me,” Harry rolled his eyes, “I’m already walking a fine line with her. I might as well declare that we are lovers if I start a club that implies her teaching is atrocious.”

“So, we can’t do anything?” Hermione asked, looking like a kicked puppy.

Harry stared, again, before eventually sighing. “You can, but you have to keep it secret. Maybe a loose contract combined with people you can trust. The biggest obstacle I can see is where you’ll meet for this.”

“Oh,” Hermione was disappointed, “I was hoping it would be something anyone could join. Maybe that was too much.”

“Yes, it was,” Harry said bluntly.

Their shoulders slumped in unison, making him feel slightly bad about being the messenger of bad news. Still, this was better than them going through with the stupid plan and having Umbridge fall into even greater delusions of grandeur.

“I guess we have to find someplace hidden,” Hermione mumbled under her breath.

“Maybe the Shrieking Shack?” Neville offered.

“No,” Hermione denied immediately, “It falls outside the castle wards. That would be a dumb idea.”

“Longbottom, forgive me if I’m wrong, but there were rumors of you entering the Chamber of Secrets in our second year. Any truth to that?”

“Oh, er, yeah. I did that,”

Harry suspected that might be the case, but he still did the thing that was far too common in this little get-together they were having. Stare.

He stared at him before holding out his hand. Longbottom eventually shook it with a confused look.

“That’s impressive, Longbottom. It really is.”

“Ah, thanks, Harry,” Neville said with a smile.

“Why don’t you use the Chamber for these meetings?”

“… huh,” Neville tilted his head, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. There was a pretty large space down there. But the body of the basilisk will be an issue. That thing could cover the Great Hall.”

“Basilisk? Great Hall?” Harry repeated with wide eyes, but before he could satisfy his curiosity, a letter landed on the table in front of him.

He recognized the loopy handwriting on the outside of the envelope. He ignored the question from his seatmates and opened it to see a single line.

Password is lemondrop.

[Break]

“So?” Harry broke the long silence.

“So,” Dumbledore repeated.

“Can I assume that I’m not expelled?”

“There is no cause for alarm. You merely acted in accordance with your instincts, which are admirable indeed,” Dumbledore said, twinkling at him, “You have a remarkable talent, Harry.”

“Thankfully, Headmaster,” Harry nodded seriously, “I shudder to think about what might have happened if I wasn’t able to hold them off.”

“Hmm, quite,” Dumbledore nodded sagely. He stood from his seat and said, “The time has come, Mr. Potter. It will be trying on your mind, which will affect your concentration in all other matters.”

Harry clenched his jaw before nodding firmly. He was ready. Or maybe not. It didn’t matter. He would master this.

Dumbledore gazed steadily at him before saying, “You have mastered the basic defenses against the mind arts. Now, remove your ring to ensure no external factors aid you.”

Harry felt his entire being revolt at the thought of removing the ring, showing just how reliant he had become on it. That pushed him into doing it, and thankfully, Dumbledore seemed to know the internal battle he was experiencing and waited patiently.

After Harry carefully slipped the ring into the pocket inside his robes, Dumbledore spoke.

“I shall begin with silent and wandless casting. This is the least powerful form of the attack. You must learn to resist this effortlessly before you can face anything else.”

“Understood, Headmaster,” Harry shoved down his nerves and nodded.

Dumbledore pointed at his forehead, “Prepare yourself, Mr. Potter.”