"The moon is the reflection of your heart and moonlight is the twinkle of your love."
There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery. The moon...
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Hermione made no mention of Harry giving Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after her original suggestion. Harry's and Elara's detentions with Umbridge were finally over (they doubted whether the words now etched into the back of their hand would ever fade entirely); Ron had had four more Quidditch practices and not been shouted at during the last two; and all four of them had managed to Vanish their mice in Transfiguration (Hermione and Elara had actually progressed to Vanishing kittens), before the subject was broached again, on a wild, blustery evening at the end of September, when the three of them were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.
''I was wondering,'' Hermione said suddenly, ''whether you'd thought any more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry.''
''Course I have,'' said Harry grumpily, ''can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us--''
''I meant the idea Ron and I had--'' Ron cast her an alarmed, threatening kind of look. She frowned at him, ''--Oh, all right, the idea I had, then--about you and Elara teaching us. That El agreed on.''
Harry did not answer at once. He pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms, because he did not want to say what was in his mind.
He had given the matter a great deal of thought over the past fortnight. Sometimes it seemed an insane idea, just as it had on the night Hermione had proposed it, but at others, he had found himself thinking about the spells that had served him best in his various encounters with Dark creatures and Death Eaters--found himself, in fact, subconsciously planning lessons and Elara also agrees that it is a good idea...
''Well,'' he said slowly, when he could no longer pretend to find Asiatic Anti-Venoms interesting, ''yeah, I--I've thought about it a bit.''
''And?'' said Hermione eagerly.
''I dunno,'' said Harry, playing for time. He looked up at Ron and Elara.
''I am already in it,'' Elara shrugged. ''With you, if you agree.''
''And I thought it was a good idea from the start,'' said Ron, who seemed keener to join in this conversation now that he was sure Harry was not going to start shouting again.
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
''You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?''
''Yes, Harry,'' said Hermione gently, ''but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You and Elara were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you two can produce a Patronus, you both can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said--'
Ron looked round at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck. Rubbing it, he said, ''Yeah? What did Vicky say?''
''Jealous Ron, starting to reboot,'' Elara muttered under her breath.
''Ho ho,'' said Hermione in a bored voice. ''He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang.''
