Harry Potter and the Year After

Chapter Forty-eight: Occlumency Practice

Chapter 48: Occlumency Practice

Harry managed to avoid seeing anyone else for the rest of the day.

When Ginny and Draco went to eat lunch together, Harry went back to his bedroom and, while drunk on firewhiskey, he worked on his Defense homework for Professor Vector for the rest of the evening and well into the night. He could remember every detail from the night before, unfortunately. And when he stopped working, those details would flood back into the forefront of his mind in vivid color. Hermione's breasts hoisted up in her bra... the look on Ron's face... And afterward, accidentally touching Ron's hand... There wasn't enough firewhiskey in the world to forget that.

Harry surprised himself by doing eleven chapters of the thirty available. It helped that he successfully taught himself the charm to make his quill take notes as he read. He remembered Fudge doing that once before besides seeing it in the Pensieve last night.

The next morning, Hermione sat down next to him at breakfast. Harry pretended he didn't notice her while he read the Daily Prophet.

"I know you know I'm here," she said. "I just wanted to know if you'd be available at any point this week to practice Occlumency together. We've been putting it off for far too long."

"Yeah, alright," Harry said without looking up.

"How about tonight?"

Ron sat down on her other side. Dean and Seamus were across from Harry but talking about something that Harry had never heard of, called "Pokey-mon".

"What are you two planning?" Ron asked, helping himself to breakfast.

"Occlumency practice," Hermione answered.

"Oh, yeah, I haven't practiced that at all. Who's my partner again? I forget."

"Luna, I believe," said Hermione. She turned her attention back to Harry, who was still staring down at his newspaper but was no longer reading.

"Oh right."

"I'm busy tonight," said Harry.

"Doing what?" Hermione sipped a cup of tea that she was warming her hands on.

"Er, I have to teach classes all day after Charms and then I have Independent Study with Neville."

"After that then."

"I don't know. Mondays are long for me."

"Well I know you're just as busy every other day of the week too pretty much... so we're meeting tonight after you have class with Neville, agreed?"

"Fine."

"Where shall I meet you?"

"Where would you like to meet me? I'm sure I'll choose wrong without your guidance."

Ron laughed at this.

"Okay, we'll meet in your Defense classroom then," she said, pretending she didn't mind his snarkiness.

"Fine."

"I don't see why I can't just practice with the two of you," Ron said, gazing over at the Ravenclaw table at Luna, who was wearing Spektrespecs and reading an upside-down Quibbler.

"Because that wasn't the assignment Ronald," Hermione said, looking over at him. "Do you want me to set up a meeting time with Luna for you?"

"You'd do that?"