Chapter 21 - Fans and Foes
The Daily Prophet, The Quibbler, Witch Weekly, Teen Witch Weekly and other periodicals had jumped all over the story of Harry fighting off the Dementors in Hogsmeade. Since he'd spent the holidays with the Weasleys, he was unaware of how much press coverage that incident had generated. Once again, the magazines in particular had taken that one incident, which was impressive enough by itself, and embroidered on it floridly, going on and on about the "dashing hero of Hogsmeade," his "brilliant green eyes," his "charmingly tousled black hair," the "adorable little dimple" in his chin, his "gorgeous cheekbones," his "massive, masculine shoulders," and his "chivalrous attention to the victims." They even re-ran the hidden camera photos taken of him during the summer, with Casey cropped out of the pictures. The furore these articles created hit Harry during his first morning of classes. The group of fans was following him again, calling out to him, touching him when and where they could. Some of the D.A. members were among the group. He rounded on them angrily.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he snarled, his face stony, his eyes filled with frustration and suppressed rage. He glared at the D.A. members in particular. "If you want to stay in D.A., you'll stop doing this right now, and you'll get the rest of these girls to stop following me."
"Ooooo, look how his eyes flash!" "Hasn't he developed lovely big muscles this term?" "D'you suppose he and that Weasley girl have broken up yet?" "Harry, if I faint, will you catch me?" "Isn't he dreamy?" The annoying comments floated to him even as he distanced himself from the group. He was growling by the time he got to class.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked as he sat down next to her and Ron in Transfiguration.
"I have 'fans' following me around again," Harry snarled. "Some are D.A. members. I threatened to throw them out if they keep following me, and told them they'd better stop those other girls from following me, as well."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Hermione said sympathetically. "Articles about the Dementor attack in Hogsmeade came out during the holidays. They were very. . .um. . .flattering toward you. That's probably what caused this latest fan problem. I didn't want to mention the articles to you while you were at the Weasleys."
"Yeah, and Mum told us not to say a word," Ron added. "She was so angry, she cancelled all her subscriptions and burned the paper and magazines before you and Remus arrived."
"I wish they'd leave me alone," Harry sighed, running his fingers roughly through his already-messy hair. He sighed again as he took out his book, parchment, quill and wand to get ready for class.
"They're just excited because you've been written up in the magazines, Harry," Hermione assured him. "They'll move on to something else soon."
"I hope you're right," he grumbled, "but I won't hold my breath waiting for it to happen."
Professor McGonagall called the class to order. "Today we're going to see how you're doing on your Animagus transformations. Did you all practice over the holidays?" She waited while the class responded, nearly every one with a "Yes, Professor." The only one who didn't answer at all was Harry, who no longer needed to 'practice' his transformations. "Good. Who wants to show me what you can do? Anyone?"
After a few moments of stillness in the room in which nobody responded, Hermione raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"I don't usually have a lot of trouble with these spells, but I can't manage more than a paw no matter how hard I try," she said in frustration. "Is there anything else we can do to help with the transformation?"
"That's an excellent question. Unfortunately, the answer is no. You have to follow the procedure. The vast majority of wizards never learn this transformation at all. I want to give you as good a chance as possible, so we'll keep touching on it from time to time, and I do want you to keep practicing. Don't become frustrated and angry about it. Such emotions block your magic." She took a breath and glanced around the class brightly. "Now then. How many of you can do a paw?" A few hands went up, Hermione's and Harry's included. Ron hung his head. He still hadn't managed to even change the colour of the hair on his hand, much less make it a paw. "How many have managed to do more than a paw?" Only Harry raised his hand. "Mr. Potter. What have you managed to do?" She and Harry had discussed this before class. He was going to reveal one of his forms and tell the class about it.
