Ch32

"What do you mean we're playing Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin tomorrow?" Harry asked incredulously. "Draco's not sick or injured or anything!"

Oliver Wood coughed. "Actually, my sources tell me that he 'accidentally' cast a reducto on his wrist and since Madam Pomfrey has to regrow several of his bones, he won't be in any shape for the match tomorrow."

"Wow," Harry said almost admiringly. "That…that's dedication. Completely stupid since it's only a little rain and we'll be similarly hampered, but still…Have you ever had all your bones regrown? The fact he'd do that on purpose…Just wow…"

"I know," Wood reluctantly agreed. "If it weren't for the fact that I don't want all of our multi-weather training to be for nothing, I'd suggest you do the same thing."

"…Gotta go," Harry said, sprinting for the relative safety of his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin. I was dealing with a Quidditch fanatic and these things take time."

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down," Remus said coldly.

Harry brightened as he always did at the rare chance to lose house points. "So…that's a point a minute?"

Remus nodded uncertainly.

"So can I use come back in an hour or so? Or hell, Monday? How many points would that be…" Harry trailed off, trying to figure it out.

Remus's lips curled into an unpleasant smile. "Tempting as that may be, I have no inclination to spend time with you outside of class supervising your detention and if I don't then God knows your godfather will probably spend the time taking you to the kitchens or Hogsmeade or something."

"True," Harry conceded. "Are you feeling alright? I mean, you're acting kind of…Oh my God, isn't tonight the-"

"Indeed it is," Remus confirmed, irritated.

"…So you're Professor Snape who my godfather made look like Professor Lupin for whatever reason?" Harry hazarded a guess.

"He thought it would be an 'easier transition' for the students," Snape confirmed dourly. "Now sit down."

"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any records of the topics you have covered so far-" Snape began before Harry interrupted him yet again.

"I have no idea what we're on, but since there isn't any lesson plan, can we take the time to learn about werewolves?"

Snape's eyes widened. "That's an interesting request, Potter. Any particular reason?"

Harry knew Snape was surprised as the older man was obviously half-heartedly trying to get someone to realize about Remus because he was annoyed at having to fill in and because Remus hadn't done anything to stop Sirius acting like a prat and pranking him regularly. Not like Snape wasn't giving as good as he got, but… And it wasn't as if Snape wasn't totally planning on covering it anyway, so why not?

"The widespread ignorance about lycanthropy is appalling. Did you know that people actually believe that werewolves live in the Forbidden Forest and you can run into one at any time or that it's possible to raise a 'werewolf cub' as if it were a pet?" Harry shook his head sadly. "As any Muggle could tell you, werewolves only transform on the full moon."

"But Harry," Hermione protested. "We were about to start hinkypunks!"

"If Professor Lupin wanted you to start hinkypunks today then he should have left a lesson plan," Snape pointed out. "I cannot believe I'm about to say this but…Potter's idea has merit. It is truly a sad state of affairs when Muggles know more about magical creatures than wizards do."

"Let's start with an easy question," Snape said. "Can any of you other than Miss Granger who has most likely memorized the textbook tell me how you distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?"

Dean Thomas, bolstered by the fact that as a Muggleborn he at least understood about the full moon, made use of that fact. "A true wolf is around as a wolf all the time versus the once-a-month werewolf?"

"Anything that we haven't already said?" Snape tried again.

"If we get close enough to see the difference, then doesn't that mean that if it's a werewolf we're screwed anyway?" Harry asked innocently.

"POTTER!" yelled Snape.

"Oh, right, I memorized the textbook. Sorry," Harry apologized.

When no other answers were forthcoming, Snape tutted softly. "I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. Even Lockhart got that across in his book on Werewolves…"

----

"I'm just saying, I don't think I can ever forgive you," Harry said solemnly.

"I said I was sorry!" Cedric insisted. "And it's not like I knew."

"You should have," Harry crossed his arms sullenly. "I mean, for the love of God! Dementors come out of nowhere and swarm the field and I heroically save everyone by casting a kick-ass Patronus and the next thing I knew you had caught the Snitch!"

"I didn't notice they were there," Cedric tried to explain.

"How could you not notice?" Harry asked skeptically.

"There was very poor visibility," Cedric defended.

Harry just stared. "But didn't you wonder about the sudden feeling of hopelessness?"

"I thought it was because you guys were 50 points ahead and the storm was only getting worse," said Cedric.

"Fine, stick to your story. But you and I both know the truth!" Harry said dramatically.

"Yes, and so does everyone else," Cedric said slowly, trying to keep calm.

"Here are your winnings, Harry," Luna arrived, Ginny trailing along behind her.

"Winnings?" Cedric asked, surprised. "But you lost the match."

"Harry made Luna bet that he would lose the match due to Dementor intervention and the students – who really should know better than to take a seemingly ridiculous bet from Harry by now – just lost quite a bit of money," Ginny explained.

"Why didn't you do it yourself instead of using a proxy?" Cedric inquired.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Please. The minute I bet against Gryffindor, they'll accuse me of throwing the match."

"But…there were Dementors," Cedric pointed out.

"They would probably accuse Harry of bringing them," Luna said. "I still don't quite understand why Dementors are so pro-Hufflepuff though. I should write an article about it…"

"You should," Harry agreed. "I'll help. So Ginny, since I just heroically saved everyone, does that mean my hero street cred just rose?"

"It might," Ginny said thoughtfully. "If it weren't for the fact that the teachers can probably produce a Patronus as well and you made a lot of money on this."

Harry decided to take the opportunity to be melodramatic. "Why do you hate me when all I give you is love?"

Ginny just rolled her eyes. "Why would you bet on something so ridiculous anyway?"

"My scar told me to," Harry explained.

"Your scar knew there would be Dementors," Ginny repeated.

"No idea, I didn't ask," Harry said breezily.

"Then why'd you do it?" Ginny demanded.

"Becuase I have money to burn?" Harry guessed.

"Why me?" Ginny asked, annoyed.

"Would you mind if I interviewed you for the Quibbler?" Luna asked Cedric.

The Hufflepuff looked surprised. "I guess not. Why, though?"

"It's part of my investigation," Luna told him. "A good reporter never goes into a story with any assumptions so I need to determine if the Dementors were really supporting Hufflepuff in general or if they just like you."

"You think the Dementors like me?" Cedric repeated. "Is that…good?"

"Oh no," Luna shook her head vehemently. "If they like you then they want to take your soul. If you cannot already produce a corporal Patronus like Harry then I recommend you ask Professor Lupin to teach you."

Cedric nodded. "I think I'll do that."

"And of course, there's always the matter of if the Dementors are rebelling against the Ministry of if someone from the Ministry itself sent them. With the great pictures I bought from Colin and Pansy, this may even make the front page!" Luna exclaimed.

"May make?" Harry asked. "What were you planning to put on the front page?"

Luna smiled happily. "It's Norbert's birthday."

----

"Don't you think you're being a little melodramatic?" Harry asked, watching Oliver Wood attempt to drown himself in the sink.

"No," Wood muttered.

"But there's not even enough water in there for you to drown in," Harry pointed out.

Wood's hand reached for the tap.

"Don't you dare," Harry swatted it away. "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to find a Keeper this late in the season? We'd probably have to end up using Ron."

"Is he any good?" Wood asked, still valiantly trying to drown.

Harry shrugged. "He has some real talent but he freezes up when other people are watching, lets them play mind games with him to distract him from the game, and I really don't want to see what would happen if he were on the same team as the twins."

"Point," Oliver acknowledged.

"Besides, who on Earth would be captain?"

"Angelina could do it," Wood suggested.

"Look, I know I'm amazing and all but this is the first time in three years I've lost a match! We won the cup two years running!" Harry reminded him.

"But we lost this match," Oliver sighed.

"I think this falls under the category of 'act of God'," Harry declared. "I mean, I'm good but there's really nothing I can do if Cedric happens to spot the Snitch while I'm in the middle of saving everyone from the Dementors."

Oliver didn't reply.

"Look on the bright side," Harry said cheerfully. "At least we were playing Hufflepuff. If it were Slytherin then I would never hear the end of it from Draco."

----

At the next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Harry peered very carefully into the room before entering it. Yeah, it LOOKED like the teacher standing in the front of the room was Remus, but it had last time, too. The full moon was over with, but Remus would still be out of sorts.

Harry decided to test it out. "Feeling better?" he asked.

"I am, thank you Harry," Remus said.

"I can't believe you left Snape in charge…" Harry said, shaking his head.

"It was either that or Sirius," Remus explained.

"I guess I see your point," Harry admitted. "But still!"

"What happened?" Remus asked, looking concerned.

"You'll see," was all Harry would say.

"Professor Lupin?" Ron asked.

"Yes?" Remus smiled at him.

"Do you still want those werewolf essays?" Ron asked.

Remus frowned slightly. "You were supposed to write an essay about werewolves? Did you tell Professor Snape we hadn't covered them yet?"

"I tried to," Hermione huffed. "But he said that if you wanted us to cover Hinkypunks you should have left a lesson plan and Harry suggested studying werewolves."

Harry met Remus's questioning stare and shrugged. "The rampant misconceptions were annoying me. Apparently they annoyed Professor Snape, too, as I heard he made every class he filled in for do an essay."

"Don't worry," Professor Lupin said calmly. "I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."

"But it's due today so we already did it," Seamus pointed out.

"Oh, well since not every class had been assigned it, I can't very well make it an assignment…" Remus looked a bit uncomfortable.

"So in other words, just turn it in to Snape?" Neville asked.

"Why would we do that?" Parvati asked. "He teaches Potions."

"Yeah, but he assigned the essay and if we don't give it to him what do you think will happen to our Potions grades?" Neville asked.

"Not to mention he might appreciate a sign that we think he'd be an okay Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Harry agreed.

"Of course we do! There don't really seem to be any qualifications for the position. Er, sorry Professor," Lavender said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. Now, for the lesson you should have been covering on Friday: Hinkypunks."

----

"So, Hermione, did you find out anything…interesting when you were writing that werewolf essay?" Harry asked his friend as they sat outside by the Black Lake. Or at least that was what Harry thought it was called. Who really knew? Most people referred to it simply as 'the Lake.'

"Snivelly assigned you an essay on werewolves?" Sirius, who had been on his way to Hagrid's, stopped short and stared at them. At Harry's nod, he continued. "Right. This time I think I'm actually going to kill him…"

Hermione looked alarmed by this. "B-because of the essay? Does that mean that Professor Lupin really is a werewolf?"

"She figured it out before, too," Harry mouthed when Hermione wasn't looking.

Reluctantly, Sirius calmed down a little. "Yes. When he was a small child, his father did something to piss off Fenrir Greyback. Greyback, in case you didn't know, is infamous for his savagery and his predication for attacking children, often to get back at their parents."

"But…isn't it dangerous to have a werewolf at school?" Hermione gasped.

"He attended Hogwarts and except for one minor… incident, which was mostly my fault, there were no problems," Sirius explained.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, still looking anxious.

"Someone almost walked in on Professor Lupin when he was transformed. Had he done that, he would have either died or become a werewolf himself for sure," Sirius said, looking vaguely guilty. Probably just for Remus's sake, though, as he would never forgive himself and probably been executed if anything had happened to Snape.

"How do we know that can't happen again?" Hermione demanded.

"Since then the Wolfsbane Potion has been invented," Harry piped up. "Professor Lupin still transforms physically but he doesn't mentally and so therefore it's perfectly safe."

"I suppose if Dumbledore thinks it's okay then it must be safe," Hermione said slowly. Harry had never thought he'd be grateful for Hermione's blind faith and unwavering loyalty to Dumbledore, but… "Although if that's the case, then why would Professor Snape assign us the essay? He must've known that someone could figure it out."

"Snape never liked Professor Lupin," Sirius explained. "But he can't actually tell anyone so he's just hinting at it. It's just so immature it's unbelievable."

"Pot meet kettle," Harry muttered.

----

The only really interesting that that happened in the weeks to follow was the result of Luna and her father's 'investigation' into the circumstances behind the Dementors' appearance. Harry really shouldn't have been surprised by the result, but he was anyway.

"Congratulations, Luna," Harry said. "How in the world did you manage to track the attack back to Dolores Umbridge?"

"A reporter's got to protect her sources, Harry," Luna said solemnly. "I must say, I'm glad that we caught her, though. Endangering schoolchildren because she felt that your influence might be a threat…"

"I know," Harry agreed. "Really horrible thing to do. I wonder what her trial will be like. Fudge insists he didn't know anything about it and I'm actually inclined to believe him. He really doesn't know much of what goes on around him. How did he get to be Minister again?"

"He's easily bribable and Dumbledore didn't want the job?" Luna suggested.

"Ah, right. Still, Madam Bones would probably make a good minister…" Harry mused.

"But then who would be in charge of the Aurors?" Luna asked. "The last thing we need is an incompetent and/or corrupt Auror force."

"Maybe I can be Minister someday," Harry said. "I never really thought about it before that Boggart lesson, but it's an idea."

"I never liked Mondays anyway," Luna said loyally.