Right up until the Easter holidays, R.B.'s activities consisted of using a Dementor as a prop while everyone practiced the Patronus Charm together.
Unfortunately, even by the second-to-last scheduled meeting before the holidays, Hermione was still the only one who could successfully summon a corporeal Patronus while facing a Dementor.
By contrast, the seventh-year Twins and Angelina, as well as the sixth-year Qiu, could only manage shields.
Did that mean Hermione's conviction to protect was particularly strong?
Harry asked Hermione about it in private. Her answer left him feeling a little heavy-hearted.
"Voldemort has returned. Wizards from Muggle families like us will be targeted by him in the future, won't we? To protect Mum and Dad, and to protect more wizards from Muggle families like mine, I have to become stronger," Hermione said.
Harry now understood why Hermione's Patronus was so stable.
At that moment, he simply could not resist quoting a phrase the Ministry of Magic had been putting in the papers frequently lately: "A cut above the rest in moral vision!"
Well, the papers used that phrase to describe Fudge, but Harry felt Fudge did not deserve such words at all. Hermione, however, did.
Professor Gageon had not sought Harry out again during this time, either.
And after what had happened before, Harry had not given any further thought to sitting in on Divination.
For one thing, he felt there was something wrong with Professor Gageon-he was most likely an accomplice of the group who had double-crossed fellow criminals to obtain the other wooden box. Or rather, an accomplice of that fellow Dismask.
For another, after Christmas, the workload in every subject had risen to a whole new level in preparation for the Ordinary Wizarding Levels in a few months.
Even Harry, who counted as a top