Chapter - 73 : Strained Alliances part - 3

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The next few days passed by in a haze of schoolwork and inane conversations. It was hard for Harry to be surrounded by children all day long and be expected to act like one of them. He just couldn't properly interest himself in their childish worries and juvenile humour. He found himself missing the company of Sirius, who was the only person he could be himself around, as well as Remus and the Tonks family and even the other Blacks. While they treated him as the young boy he appeared to be, they were at least adults Harry could converse and interact with.

Harry found his schoolwork to be equally tedious. He did his best not to appear overly knowledgeable, but at the same time wanted to be known as a talented wizard. It was a difficult balancing act to maintain and Harry compromised by casting spells perfectly (which wasn't beyond the realm of possibility for a student who'd been taught magic before Hogwarts) while only doing the bare minimum required for his theory and written work.

This quickly lead to Harry being acknowledged as the most talented wizard in the class, though not the most studious, and far surpassing Hermione when it came to performing magic - a state of affairs which irked the girl considerably. At times Harry felt he was being somewhat dishonest by using his prior knowledge, but he soon convinced himself that such guilt was irrational. It wasn't as if it was his fault, after all, and in any case his advantages weren't all-encompassing. Like the rest of his classmates, Harry had to put a lot of effort into attuning his magic to wand-work, even though his greater experience and power allowed him to appear 'gifted' - enough so to even earn a smile and twenty points from McGonagall for a perfectly transfigured matchstick.

He had forgotten most of what he'd learnt in Astronomy and History of Magic, however, so in those classes he wasn't much better off than any other student. Hearing about constellations and Goblin rebellions wasn't any less boring the second time round, and Harry often thought longingly of quitting school entirely. Writing essays again was something he found particularly unpleasant, especially on topics such as muggle violence for their Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

Harry, Hermione and Nott joined the Hufflepuffs Ernie and Susan as well as Neville in the library to work on their homework for Professor Footswitch. It was Harry who had first suggested they work together and the enthusiastic response from the other students had turned it into an informal study group. Nott had invited himself along when he'd heard Harry discussing it with Ernie, probably because he recognised the benefit of studying with the most talented student in their year.

No matter the reason, Nott was warmly welcomed and the six first years settled down in a quiet corner of the Library and as far away from Madame Pince as possible.

"Er, what was the essay question again?" Neville asked, chewing nervously on his fingernails.

"We have to write an analysis of at least five cases of muggles harming magical children over the past two centuries." Hermione fussily began setting out her quill and inkpot so that they were perfectly aligned with her roll of parchment. "I suggest we first look for books in the history section for information on-"

"Hold up," Ernie interrupted. "There's no need to go running for a book. There are five purebloods at this table and I'm sure between us we'll be able to come up with enough examples to be getting on with."

"I can think of several already," Nott agreed.

"Yes, like that case in Dorset where that young witch was attacked by her uncle," said Susan. "My Aunt told me all about it. Though the uncle was a Squib, not a muggle."

Ernie dipped his quill in ink and scribbled a few notes down. "I hardly think that matters, old girl. What does is that the man didn't have magic and was resentful of those who did."

"I wonder if we could make a case against Filch?" Nott wondered. "I mean, only yesterday he threatened to string me up by my ankles just for having mud on my shoes. That sounds like harm to me."

"I think Footswitch is looking for something a bit more serious than stories of cantankerous old caretakers," Susan said in a tone of amusement.

"How about what happened to Dumbledore's sister," Harry suggested.

The other students stared at him.

"Dumbledore has a sister?"

"Well he did, but she died a long time ago," Harry said. "I'm not entirely certain of the details, but I heard she was attacked by muggles as a child. They wanted to force her into doing a spell for them or something, and she became so scared that her magic was permanently damaged. She couldn't control her powers, so she was never able to attend Hogwarts or anything. She died not long after."

"That's terrible!" Neville both looked and sounded particularly stricken, making Harry glance at him in some surprise.

Susan was doubtful. "I've never heard any of that."

"Though it does sound like just the sort of thing muggles would do," Nott said.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Hermione huffed and reached for a book from the stack in front of her. "I'm sure that never happened, nowhere in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century did it mention Dumbledore having a sister - and Susan said herself that it wasn't a muggle who attacked that girl. What we should be focusing on are cases of magical children dying in muggle accidents or bomb attacks or something similar. I'm sure during the London Blitz there must have been a few wizard casualties…"

"I beg your pardon! I think you'll find we know an awful lot more about this sort of thing than you do, Granger," Ernie said. "There've been loads of documented cases of muggles purposefully targeting wizard children."

"Right." Nott shot the muggleborn girl a quelling look. "You can't just brush it all aside."

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