Chapter Six

The next day Harry woke up bright and early.

He quickly got cleaned up and dressed before leaving the Slytherin dorms.

Hedwig chose that moment to arrive and hand him his wand.

“Thanks girl” Harry said as he gently stroked her feathers and handed over an owl treat.

“Go and get some rest girl you’ve earned it” he said.

He watched as the tired Hedwig flew to the Owlery.

Once she was out of sight he quickly began making his way up to the Room Of Requirement.

There he put himself through an exercise regime trying to whip this body into shape.

Of course to help that along he had put himself on a Potion regime to offset the malnourishment he suffered at the hands of the Dursleys.

He also used a potion that wouldn’t be invented for another couple of years to fix his eyesight.

As such he replaced the lenses in his glasses with plain glass.

He did however make sure to permanently enchant them with a kind of mage sight he could turn on and off.

All it needed was for him to do so is the otherwise innocuous act of pushing them up the bridge of his nose with a single finger.

Lowering them has the adverse effect.

All in all he was quite glad with the enchantments he placed on them.

“Definitely post N.E.W.T level he thought”.

He was just glad he learned a bit about enchanting from George when he stopped to help him in the store post war.

That and the Mage sight charm coming from a book he read in Grimmauld Place.

Thanks to that, when he returned to the Slytherin dorm to shower up after his workout he could see every attempt by his housemates to “put him in his place”.

From there he easily dismantled the magic and used the skills learned in the Academy to investigate the magical signature of who cast whatever curse or hex aimed at him.

He would then match the magical signature to one of his house mates.

With a vicious grin he decided to get a little revenge.

Sure it might be petty but it seems to be the only language they understand in this house.

And so he set off releasing his inner Marauder.

It wasn’t a fair fight really.

Not when you consider he has gone toe to toe against Voldemort.

Next to him a bunch of school kids were barely even a threat.

It was adorable really.

What really mattered however was that they soon learned to leave Harry alone.

It didn’t help that he had an alibi for every prank thanks to his pilfered Time Turner.

And as such nobody had any idea how Harry was doing what he did.

Instead he apparently made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

There Harry ignored the variously brightly coloured housemates glaring at him.

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Instead his attention was taken by Neville who came running over.

“Harry!” his friend yelled excitedly.

“Thank you thank you thank you” he gushed.

He then began talking about how much better his new wand connects to his magic.

“How did you get out of the castle to get it though?” Neville asked.

To which Harry gave him a rather Slytherin smile.

“Ask me no questions Nev and I’ll tell you no lies” he said with a grin.

Nevilles eyes opened wide before he took a deep breath.

“No problem Harry” he said as he grinned back conspiratorially.

“Maybe this is the start of a whole new Neville Longbottom” Harry thought.

He certainly seems more confident.

He didn’t even shrink away when Snape came over to demand he return to his own house table.

Neville did so with a straight back and squared shoulders.

Showing much of the man Harry knew he could be in the future in that moment.

Before he could think much more on it Snape handed over the class schedules.

It was clear he had zero interest in talking to Harry.

“Potter” was all he said.

But even his sneer seemed forced this time around.

Harry however shrugged, not caring about that whatsoever.

In Fact the more uncomfortable the dungeon bat was the better as far as Harry was concerned.

Harry wasn’t sure if Snape was in on the potion plot against him.

But after all the misery he heaped on him last time he was more than willing to make the man suffer somewhat.

Soon enough classes began.

And Harry was absolutely thriving.

He was easily the top student in his year.

His practical work was impeccable.

And the theory wasn’t far behind.

Thanks to the Wit Sharpening and Memory enhancing Potions he was able to recall everything he had read down to the most minute of details.

He also earned extra credit in his written assignments for putting everything in his own words.

Unlike Hermione who regurgitated word for word from the textbooks.

This proved he truly understood the material.

And while everyone praised him to no end (with the obvious exception of Snape that is)

Harry couldn’t help but feel it was undeserved.

In his mind having several years of experience over his peers was quite the advantage.

If anything he was holding himself back so as not to appear “too advanced”

It absolutely sucked having to do each spell with vocalised incantations.

Not to mention the wand movements.

Especially as he had moved onto point casting.

It was all he could do not to fall back into that as a habit.

Only the fact he trained diligently each morning in the Room Of Requirement kept him from doing so.

He also discovered a benefit to being in Slytherin.

And that was that Snape for the most part ignored him.

Sure he still hates him for looking like the guy who beat him in gaining his Mothers affections.

But as he can’t harm Slytherins chances at winning the house cup it meant the former treatment he had for Harry in the last go round was nowhere to be seen.

“I much prefer it this way” Harry thought.

Each day after classes he, Hermione, Neville, and Susan would meet up in the Library.

There they worked through their assignments.

Harry encouraged them to the best of his ability.

It was no surprise that Neville excelled in Herbology.

Hermione in Charms.

And Susan in Transfiguration

And with Harry’s encouragement he had each of them tutor the others in the subjects they were strongest in.

Harry took up tutoring them Potions and Defence lessons.

Thanks to this their study group quickly began rising through the class rankings.

And so they easily became the top four students of their year in only a short amount of time.

Thanks to this others began wanting in.

Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis came to him from Slytherin.

Wayne Hopkins and Hannah Abbot came from Hufflepuff.

Terry Boot and Padma Patil came from Ravenclaw.

And from Gryffindor came Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan.

Ron also made an appearance but seeing Harry and the other “Dirty Snakes” he left in a huff.

Not that Harry minded having nothing to do with the youngest of the Weasley males.

The further he was from their family the better in his opinion.

And thus the study group expanded.

And if Harry’s plans had anything to do with it this group would help mould the Wizarding World for the better.

It might have been almost like how Voldemort first began recruiting from his schoolmates in his youth.

And yet another similarity between them.

But it was something that was required.

And it was all Harry could do not to say it was for the “Greater Good”.