Neville laughed good-humoredly. "Yeah, I hugged you once today, and I can already tell you that would be counterproductive. Whatever you are, it's like the anti-elf. You just keep your hands to yourself."
"Yeah, well, whatever I am, I'm fairly positive curiosity can kill me," Harry grinned. "I'm dying to know what Malfoy is and why you want to hang around him. I'm not asking though," he added on quickly at the end.
"By sitting between the two of you tonight, my guess is the opposite of you," Neville smiled and gave the portrait the password to enter the tower.
"Huh…" Harry thought about that wondering what the opposite of a dementor was. He had been fairly certain that would be a unicorn after their disastrous meeting, maybe Malfoy was something close to them…? That seemed incredibly unlikely though.
"Now you just need to explain to Ron and Hermione how you got roped into taking Remedial Potions," Neville smirked at Harry who groaned in distress.
Harry was getting low on Essence of Murtlap. Umbridge's detentions hadn't gotten any better, and she always found a reason to give him a detention, even if she had to make it up. More importantly than his wounded hand, Harry was worried that he couldn't keep his dementor instincts in check if he didn't have the excuse of the healing potion to quell his anger at her hurting Jamie. The dementor side of him seemed much more ruthless than the normal Harry side of him from before.
Hermione had been on him, surprisingly supported by Ron and Luna, to lead a DADA study group. After cutting I must not tell lies into his hand over fifty times in his third detention, Harry decided he was in, even if it was just to stick it to Umbridge. It was a side-benefit that the students would be learning something in his opinion. So, he spent the rest of detention focusing on how to start the new club and how to convince Snape to give him more of the healing cream. He figured that Hermione or Luna might be able to brew it, or if he were desperate, maybe he could talk to Malfoy at the next Remedial Potions meeting.
The scary part of being injured was that he was getting hungrier. It seemed his dementor craved more to eat when he was in pain. Harry hadn't lied to Dobby though, he was skimming some of the happiness from his classmates at dinner, unnoticeably to anyone around him, and he hadn't killed either Umbridge or Binns yet. It was a small victory, but he was quite proud of himself all the same. He realized something was different in his personality; he felt freer and like a weight had been lifted from his mind, so even if he seemed to care much less what people thought about him, he was happier than he had been in his memory, and that led him to worry less about the changes he seemed to be undergoing and just enjoy it more.
"First Hogsmeade weekend," Harry told Hermione when he had her open the almost empty jar that evening. "We'll gather people together and talk strategy for the DADA club then."
"You're in?!" Hermione almost squealed in joy.
Harry rolled his eyes towards Ron as they laughed at their overly excited friend. "Sure…whatever. Hey, you think you can help me make some more of this stuff?" He asked, motioning to the jar.
"Already on it," Hermione remarked, causing Harry to hug her to her surprise.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he sighed in immense relief.
"I still haven't figured out how to get her out of the school, so it's the least I can do," Hermione frowned in anger at the teacher who was torturing her friend.
"I'll talk to the twins about spreading the word about the club," Ron said as he stood to go find his brothers.
"I'll tell Luna next time I see her," Harry nodded. "Why anyone would want to listen to me is beyond my understanding though."
"Oh, Harry…" Hermione smiled and rubbed the cream onto his hand. "You'll see. I think you'll be a great teacher."
Harry shrugged and examined his hand. It didn't look as good as it usually did after the cream; it wasn't healing as well. "Yeah, we'll see…" was all he said as he frowned at the bloody words.
October was always one of Harry's favorite months. Hogsmeade weekends started, quidditch games began again, and new classes settled in. If it wasn't for the bloody cursed day of October 31st, then the month was be the absolute best. This year, quidditch was what Harry was looking forward to the most, and he for once didn't mean playing. It was an easy opportunity for the dementor to eat. He understood completely why the horde of dementors crashed the game in his third year now. They had to have had less access to their food source than he did living in the school, and it was an opportunity to eat and not affect any of the students. If only there had been less of them and they hadn't been so focused on him, then he could almost forgive them for the impulse.
As October finally dawned, Harry had also settled into a new routine. He spent his nights with Hedwig and sometimes Dobby for company, either studying up on magical creatures or exploring the forbidden forest or castle. He loved roaming the hallways invisibly. He couldn't resist making faces at the patrolling professors or prefects on occasion, but mostly he stayed away from people. Umbridge was as evil as always, well, getting eviler in his opinion. Hermione finished the new healing cream just before he ran out of Snape's supply, but it wasn't working as well as it had originally. Hermione's guess was because it was a cursed object he was using.
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