Chapter - 86 : Chilled Secrets part - 3

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"We all know you don't like Dumbledore," Hermione said, "but why would you ignore his summons?"

"Because he just wants to waste my time asking questions he already knows the answers to while subtly trying to poke around in my mind."

"But that's illegal!" Hermione protested.

"It is," Harry agreed. "But this is Dumbledore we're talking about, he believes himself to be above the law."

"You've got a point there, mate," Ron said around a mouthful of mashed turnips.

"So are you going to go?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed desolately. "I might as well get it over with, he'll just keep pestering me until I show up."

"Only you, Potter, would refer to Dumbledore summoning you to his office for important matters as pestering," Draco snorted.

"Thank you, it's a gift."

"So, Harry my boy, I'm sure you're aware of why I've summoned you."

Harry barely held back a sigh of exasperation, sitting in his less than favorite Headmaster's office discussing matters that had already been established was not the way he'd hoped to spend his night.

"I reckon I could hedge a few guesses."

"I'd like to discuss Occlumency lessons with you. You say you don't need them as you are already proficient in defending your mind from outside intrusion." Harry nodded his head in agreement. "Professor Snape confirmed your claims by testing your shields with Legilimency."

"Is there a point to your informing me of events that I'm already aware of?" Harry asked drily. "Believe it or not, I was there for the majority of the conversation between Professor Snape and myself."

"Of course, forgive me, my boy, I'm merely trying to ask if you would allow me to test your skills myself."

Harry's brows rose in amused surprise, the Headmaster actually asking for permission was a pleasant change. "I suppose you may," he acceded.

The Headmaster's attempts at breaching his shields were vastly different from Snape's methods, instead of using brute force to break through his defenses, Dumbledore took several moments to just observe his shields before trying to subtly worm his way through a nonexistent crack, when that effort proved to be fruitless, he focused on a single spot and attempted to hammer his way through. But like Snape`s previous endeavors, his efforts were for naught, Harry's shields were unbreachable.

"I am truly impressed, my boy, may I ask where you learned to erect such commendable shields?"

"You may, that does not, however, mean that I will answer."

"Will you?"

"No."

Dumbledore sighed. "I know that there is some animosity between us," he said, "and I would not be so foolish to believe that I am not, at least partially, to blame. But I was hoping that we could look past our differences and learn to trust each other."

Harry stared blankly at Dumbledore for several moments before snorting in amusement. "Yeah, that's not going to happen, you've wronged me and my family far too many times for me to just let that go."

"My boy-"

"I'm not your anything, so please refrain from calling me as such." Harry stood from his seat. "Are we done here?" he asked.

"Harry-"

"Are we done here, Headmaster?"

"Yes, we are."

"Marvelous." Harry bowed shallowly at the waist, then turned and left the office.

"Today," Harry said, beaming at his enthusiastic third level students, several weeks after his conversation with Dumbledore, "we'll be working purely on defense, but not your average, run of the mill, protego defense. I want you all to give me one every day spell that you could use against Voldemort to prevent him from killing you, if even for one second longer. Miranda," Harry pointed to a third year Ravenclaw, "tell me what you've got, love."

"Um, an Aguamenti or maybe Aqua Erecto?"

"Good, why?"

"Well, if you put enough power behind it, you could hit him with a flood of water, he'd be too busy trying to keep water from going up his nose to worry about shooting a Killing Curse at you."

There was a round of appreciative laughter and Harry smiled in both amusement and approval. "Excellent. Lisa, what have you got?"

For the next ten or so minutes, each student took a turn naming a mundane spell to use against the Dark Lord and his followers and the reasoning behind them. Most every idea was odd, not something one would expect in a duel, and that was exactly what Harry hoped for, to teach his students unconventional spells to catch their opponents off guard.

"All right everyone, you've all had fantastic ideas. Now let's put them to-" Harry froze when he felt something in his pocket heat to uncomfortable temperatures before cooling back down, frowning he reached into his pocket and pulled out his still warm T.A. coin. Where the words Unum Galleon were usually inscribed along the curve of his coin were the large, capitalized letters that spelled out a single word: SNEAK.

"Damn it," he muttered. With only a thought, the Room of Requirement melted into one single room instead of the one main chamber and six antechambers it usually was, the T.A. members and five of the six founders of the group looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened.

Hermione seemed to be the first to notice Harry's agitated state and didn't waste a second before trying to figure out what was wrong. "Harry?" she asked. "What's going on?"

The green eyed Slytherin flipped his coin into her hands. "Someone talked," he said. "Who's absent today?"

There was a bit of confusion as everyone tried to find any missing members, it was several minutes before anyone spoke up.

"Marietta," Cho called over the din of the assembled students. "Marietta's not here today, b-but she wouldn't…"

"Why isn't she here tonight?" Neville asked sharply. "Is she sick?"

"No, no she just said she wanted a night off, said she had a lot of homework to do. She…" Cho's eyes widened in realization.

"She what, Cho?" Harry coaxed softly.

"She tried to persuade me to do the same, she told me not to come to tonight's meeting but I came anyway. Do you think she was trying to warn me off so I wouldn't get in trouble?"

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

http//patreon.com/Kun_kanshi

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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