Harry slept late the next morning, and only Hermione came up to wake him before breakfast ended getting him out of bed. He took a shower and a pepper-up potion, adding a few more to his belt pouch before heading to the great hall to eat. It was Sunday, and most of the Houses seemed to have slept in as late as Harry.
It turned into a lazy day with everyone. Most of the boys from his year headed outside for a football game since Dean had brought one with him this year. Even Harry played for a bit, at least knowing the basics from playing in school before Hogwarts. He managed to catch Madam Hooch when she was cutting across the pitch and arranged to have the pitch reserved for the Gryffindor team every Wednesday and Friday afternoon; he also posted a notice on the common room board about Quidditch tryouts the next week.
That night, he begged off a late chess game with Ron and went to bed early. He could feel Hermione’s eyes on his retreating back, but he couldn’t fill her in yet, and she knew it. His alarm spell went off late that night, jerking him from a deep sleep. He made sure no one else was up and checked the map before dressing quickly and grabbing his cloak and wand; he had one more thing to do before classes started.
Draco and his mother had told Thorburn everything they knew about the Dark Lord’s plans, and Harry had no intention of leaving the vanishing cabinet there. Kreacher had already bought the matching cabinet from Borgin and Burkes, and Harry intended to have the matching set before dawn.
He paced before the entrance, thinking about exactly what he needed: the room of lost things that would be sealed to all house elves except for his and locked to anyone trying to access it.
“Mathis," he called out once the door was shut behind him and further spelled.
“Here, Master Harry.”
“I need this room sorted by the Potter elves. Anything that truly belongs to Hogwarts needs to be set aside, but everything else is to be listed in a catalog and added to the House storage.”
“We will start at once, Master Harry,” Mathis said, giving a bow and popping away to start work.
“Kreacher, I need you.”
“Yes, Master?” Kreacher said, popping in and giving Harry a low bow.
“I want you to search this room and the items removed from the Chamber of Secrets; I want you to bring any items that feel like the locket to Gold Kris. Don’t touch the items you find yourself. Move them to this trunk and give it to Gold Kris.”
“Yes, Master," he said, taking the warded, lead-lined trunk and popping away to start the search.
Harry turned away to face the door before him; this was going to take some effort. He sank himself into his Occlumency training and started casting. An hour later, he lowered his black wood wand with a groan. The wards were complete, but he was utterly exhausted. He took a pepper up and looked around the room with a sigh. The elves were working quickly, but they had centuries of junk to sort through.
“Mathis?” Harry called out, the older elf popping before him a moment later.
“How can I help you, Master Harry?”
“The room is now sealed to all students, only those over the age of twenty-one may enter. I’ll seal the other side as well when I leave. Keep working, but make the elves take breaks. I don’t want them injuring themselves; there’s bound to be dark items hidden, and they need to be careful.”
“I will see to it, sir." he said with a nod, “What would you like us to do with any dark items we find?”
“For now, put them aside in a labeled trunk. We can bring them to Gringotts later to be disposed of.”
“Yes, Master Harry.”
“Thank you, Mathis. I couldn’t have done this without the Potter elves’ help," he said, giving the elf a tired smile.
******
The next morning, Harry again woke early, groaning softly when he saw it was only six in the morning. He spent a few minutes checking his mental shields before forcing himself to start getting ready for the day. He read on the common room couch until Hermione, Ron, and Neville made it down. They headed together to breakfast, Hermione prodding a yawning Ron along with a frown.
He eyed the mostly empty Slytherin table with a mental sigh. Snape had said that most of the students left were either unwilling to run away and leave younger siblings or parents behind or firmly in the death eater camp. A few had stayed, hoping to keep an eye on the other students and prevent any major situations from arising if they could.
He could understand why so many sorted into Slytherin went looking for protection from the most powerful people they could trust. At the age of eleven, they were sorted into a House most considered dark and were belittled and attacked by everyone around them for years afterward, even graduating couldn’t remove the belief that just by being in a House called dark, they were less than everyone else around them.
They were belittled in everything they did. They were booed by every other house during every Quidditch match. They were blocked from every victory, even when they were about to win the House Cup, the victory was taken from them by Dumbledore, forcing Gryffindor into the lead. They were considered death eaters and dark wizards from age eleven on, and few outside of their own house or family would trust them easily.
Harry was starting to think that the Houses themselves were doing more harm than good. Yes, they were supposed to support and help each other during your school term, but it had turned into a vicious rivalry between Houses that didn’t end once the students left school. Just look at how his own House treated him at times. Why couldn’t they have mixed House teams for Quidditch or keep track of points by student or year instead of by House?
Harry glanced up with a grin as the mail arrived, holding up an arm for Hedwig to land on and settling her on his shoulder with a piece of bacon to nibble. She’d brought the first edition of his new paper, The Ivory Quill. They were already getting polite warnings and ridiculous fines from the Ministry even before the office had officially opened in Diagon Alley. Harry let his lawyers deal with the fines, and so far, all of them had been dismissed before ever reaching a courtroom.
Maybe he could get the paper to start publishing articles showing the achievements Slytherins had made over the years. Or frame it as showcasing the best achievements in magic, scattering the Slytherins in with other great wizards and witches? It was something to consider.
“I didn’t realize you got the paper, Harry,” Hermione said as she collected her copy of the Daily Prophet from an arriving owl.
“I signed up when I went to Diagon Alley; it’s a new paper that’s supposed to only report what they’re able to fact-check.”
“So they don’t publish opinion pieces?” Hermione asked, looking interested, while several others at the table listened in.
“They do, but they’re clearly labeled as such.” Harry said, skimming the front page, “I’ll let you borrow it if you like?”
“Please, I might have to order a subscription myself. Anything has to be better than this," she said with a hum, frowning as she looked over the current scandals and gossip covering the Prophet’s pages.
“You’d like the legal section; they list all the major legislation that’s been passed in the last month for both Britain and other magical countries.”
“Really?”
“They seem to be trying to publish a little bit of everything. There’s popular culture, articles on how to protect your homes with runic wards, housekeeping articles with popular potions recipes listed, a section on government, travel, and then the current news.”
“My Gran’s complained for years that the Prophet’s nothing but a gossip rag, but there’s been nothing else to read. I’ll have to let her know about it in my next letter.” Neville said, pushing away his plate as McGonagall came by with their schedules.
Harry absently wished that Hermione was still using the time-turner as he reviewed his schedule for the week, he could have used it. He needed to figure out a good time to disappear to work on his projects and training without half the school hunting for him. Add in the changes he wanted to make to the DA lessons, and he was going to have a few free afternoons.
Ancient Runes, a double session of Defense, and double Potions all in one day meant that he’d be too busy to do much this afternoon between class and homework. Tomorrow, he had double sessions of Transfiguration and Herbology. Wednesday was double Charms and double Defense. Thursday was double Herbology and Potions, with Friday full up with double Transfigurations, Charms, and the Quidditch tryouts.
Hermione and Harry packed up and headed to their first class while Ron happily lingered over breakfast since he had a free period until Defense. Professor Babbling gave them both a small smile as they took seats in the front row; they still had about five minutes until the bell. The room stayed mostly empty, with only about ten students arriving to take seats around them.
Harry let his eyes slide over the two Slytherins in class but didn’t let his gaze linger. He readied his quill, paper, and books while they waited on the bell, his mind lingering on what he knew of the two female Slytherins who had refused his protection. Flora Carrow and Tracy Davis had refused to leave their younger siblings alone with their death eater parents. Both hoped to take the children into hiding during the Christmas holidays and, if that failed, to continue passing on House gossip to Snape as long as they were able.
The class went by quickly, with them working on forming runes on a small clay tablet. Harry warded his against breakage and fire damage, earning two points for Gryffindor. They were assigned groups for a project that would be due at midterm, along with an individual project they had to complete by the end of the year. Luck of the draw had Harry in the same group as Carrow and Davis.
They hurried to defense when they were dismissed with their homework, joining the other Gryffindors and Slytherins waiting outside the classroom. Professor Grimaldo Richmond came down the hall five minutes before the bell, entering and leaving the door open for the rest of the students to file in silently behind him. The rooms had been remodeled yet again to match the new teacher, this time with large open windows, several of which were open at the top, letting in a fresh breeze. A small dueling platform sat to one side while the desks were arranged in three rows in a semi-circle, leaving most of the floor open.
“Welcome to Defense against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Richmond. I rarely take questions in class, Miss Granger." he said, eyeing Hermione until her hand dropped, “I will have posted office hours that I expect you to use should you have any questions or need assistance with a lesson. Now, put up your wands and books. We will be starting this year’s classes with a test to see what you remember from the last few years’ lessons. Going over your records, they seemed rather spotty, and it’s impossible to repair a broken foundation once the manor is complete. You will also be broken up into groups based on ability and given monthly projects and papers to complete; I expect everything to be turned in on the assigned day’s class, no later.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Thick stacks of paper were passed out magically, and Harry was surprised to see questions from even first year listed. The test took the entire lesson, including several short essay questions where they were asked to explain theories in depth or to list multiple spells that could be used for a single result. At the bell, the tests were collected, and Prof. Richmond held them back a moment.
“Please read the first two chapters of your books. There will be a quick quiz on the material assigned at the start of each class. Dismissed.”
“What do you think?” Neville asked as they hurried to get to lunch in the great hall.
“We haven’t really had a lesson yet.” Harry said with a shrug, “He does seem like a more competent teacher, at least.”
“Yes, I liked the analogy of building up a foundation,” Hermione said with a frown, “Heaven knows we’re probably missing things with having a different teacher every year.”
“Did you ever look at the textbooks from ten years ago when our parents went to school?” Harry asked, keeping his voice mild as several Ravenclaws passed them.
“No, should I?” Neville asked with a frown, glancing at Hermione.
“Just for the third year and on in the core subjects. We’ve skipped a ton of spells and things that our parents learned in the same year.”
“Don’t tell her that, Harry!” Ron whined loudly, making several students pause in the hall to see what was causing the commotion, “She’ll have us studying for the international tests as well as our British Newts.”
“Can you take the other exams as well?” Hermione asked, glancing at Harry with a questioning look, which he gave her a bland smile in return.
“If you have the coin.” Neville said with a shrug, “So few students from Britain take the tests since, generally, you have to purchase an international portkey to get to the testing site, and then it might not even be offered in English depending on where it’s being held.”
“So someone could arrange for a testing session in the UK if enough students signed up?” Hermione asked, glancing at Harry.
“If they can pay the testing fees and for someone certified to give the exam.”
“You guys are going to put me off my meal.” Ron groaned, “It’s the first day of classes, can we talk about something else?” Hermione rolled her eyes, but they did switch to safer topics as they found seats.
“I’m posting a notice this afternoon for everyone in the DA to meet in the old charms classroom on the third floor on Saturday. Can you pass the word around as well?” Harry said, dishing himself some salad and grabbing a ham sandwich.
“Are we starting up again?”
“Yeah, but the format’s going to change a bit. I want to meet with sixth and seventh years one day, then first, second, and third years, and a separate class for fourth and fifth years.”
“That’s three sessions a week, Harry.” Hermione pointed out with a frown, “Won’t you be too busy?”
“Once I show everyone what we’re going to be doing, I don’t think many are going to keep attending. The first two weeks are going to be rough.”
“I’ll pass the word around, but I think everyone’s going to show up if you’re opening up the lessons.”
“Wait and see.” Harry said with a grin, “The first meeting’s just for old members.”
They were forced to eat quickly, Ron moaning over the lack of seconds as they hurried down into the dungeons. The Slytherins were already waiting in the hallway when they arrived, Professor Slughorn opening the door a moment later and ushering everyone in.
They were all slightly surprised when Ron paired with Lavender Brown instead of Hermione, but she shrugged and paired with Neville. Harry took a seat in the front next to their potions station and waited to see who would be willing to pair with him. Seamus took a seat next to him with a small smile and started setting up his things.
“Good afternoon, everyone!” Slughorn said, moving to the front of the classroom, “Today, we will be starting on brewing Amortentia. Who can tell me what this potion does?”
Hermione was selected out of the few hands raised, “Amortentia is a love potion, and its use has been banned by the ministry for the last fifty years.”
“Very good, two points to Gryffindor.” Slughorn said with a patronizing smile, “Don’t worry, this potion will not be administered to anyone. You will simply be brewing the potion so that you may learn what it smells like to you personally since its scent changes from person to person.”
He waved his wand, putting the instructions on the board with the page numbers they needed, “Send one person from your table to collect your ingredients, and let’s begin brewing.”
Harry started boiling the water needed in both his and Seamus’ cauldrons while he went to get the ingredients they needed. The potion was easy enough to brew; it just needed exact timing and several temperature changes before and after adding ingredients. Harry let himself get lost in the process when a hissing sound snapped him back to awareness.
He cast a quick stasis spell at his cauldron as Seamus’ potion boiled over, cascading over the desk and both their workspaces. Slughorn hurried over and vanished the mess, revealing Harry’s destroyed potions book and supplies. Seamus had snatched his book out of the way just in time.
“Five points from Gryffindor and detention tonight, Mr. Finnegan,” Slughorn said with a frown, glancing at the destroyed desk. “Mr. Potter, I have some used books on my desk, you may use one until you can owl order a new copy.”
“Thank you, sir,” Harry said, gathering up his book bag and eyeing his destroyed quill and inkwell with a sigh.
“I think a little independent work might help you concentrate, Mr. Finnegan next class, take a seat alone.”
“Yes, sir,” Seamus said, giving Harry a miserable glance.
“Do you mind working alone, Mr. Potter, or would you like to work with another table?”
“No, I can work alone, sir,” Harry said, peeking into his cauldron and hoping it hadn’t been contaminated in turn.
“It looks like your potion is salvageable, quick work with the stasis spell,” Slughorn murmured, levitating Harry’s cauldron to an empty table. “Back to work, everyone, we still have time left for you to complete your brewing.”
Harry left his things at the new desk and went to grab a used book from the stack Slughorn indicated. Seamus was half-heartedly trying to restart his potion, but he’d never manage to finish in the time they had left. Harry took his time making sure that each step was correct and grinned to see the final potion turn clear and sweet smelling as the instructions said. Slughorn wandered the room, giving out advice to those whose potions were not quite right and one or two points to everyone with a perfect potion. He gave Harry a point for a perfect potion but asked him to stay behind a moment after class.
“Mr. Potter, I must ask, have you been studying Occlumency?” Slughorn asked, glancing at the young man before him with a stern glance.
“Yes, Professor, I started taking lessons last year. Is something wrong?” Harry asked, glancing at the suddenly serious expression on the easy-going professor.
“When brewing potions meant to manipulate emotions, an Occlumency practitioner must lower their shields slightly, or the potions will not mature correctly. While your potion is brewed correctly, it will not have the desired effect without exposure to the brewer’s emotional state.”
“I’m sorry, Professor, I didn’t realize.”
“No harm done, Mr. Potter. I just wanted you to realize the error in case you brewed something similar in the future. Now, I believe it’s time for dinner, and your friends are waiting for you." he said, gesturing Harry toward the door as he pulled out his wand and started levitating the ruined desk out of the room.
“Yes, sir, thank you,” Harry said, giving a quick nod and gathering up his things. Neville and Hermione were waiting outside the classroom when he hurried out.
“Is everything alright?” Hermione asked as they started down the hall.
“Yeah, did you know you can’t have Occlumency shields up when brewing emotion-based potions or the potency isn’t right?”
“No, but it does make sense.” Hermione murmured, “Most potions do feed off the brewer’s magic, so it’s possible they could feed off their emotions as well.”
“Do you need to borrow anything for class tomorrow?” Neville asked, “I saw your quill was destroyed along with your book.”
“No, I picked up extra this year in the Alley. Looks like it was a good thing, thanks though,” Harry said with a grin, the extras having come from the manor.
“At least it’s the last class for today.”
“Ron already at dinner?” he asked, shifting his bag.
“Yeah, he and Seamus were off like a shot. I think Seamus wanted to stay and apologize, but he lost his nerve when Ron left.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like he meant to do it, and he has to replace his quill and stuff as well,” Harry said with a shrug, it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it. Sure enough, Seamus grabbed him once dinner was over and apologized, offering to pay for replacing his book.
“I’m really sorry, Harry.”
“It’s okay, Seamus. I know you didn’t mean to do it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay for a new book? I can get my parents to owl order it if you want.”
“No, it’s fine. I had a few books I wanted to owl order anyway, and this gives me an excuse.” Harry offered with a grin.
“You’re turning into a bookworm, mate.” Ron said with a sigh, “Who’s going to play chess with me when you two are buried in your books?”
“Well, maybe you could learn to read a bit more.” Hermione snapped before turning and saying the password to the Fat Lady.
The two continued to bicker, and Harry went to his room, laughing softly as the fight started its well-worn path. In ten minutes, Ron or Hermione would get fed up and stomp off to fume alone for a while until the next morning, when they would both act like nothing had happened. He’d given up trying to temper Ron’s attitude as long as he wasn’t trying to outright assault the girl; nothing he said seemed to get through to the git, and Hermione could take care of herself if it came down to a fight.
He dug the owl order forms out of his trunk and idly flipped through the used potions book. It was full of handwritten notes and corrections to nearly every potion. Most of the corrections seemed sound from the extra work he’d done over the summer, but he’d have to test the random spells and more obscure potion recipes listed to see if they worked or not.
The rest of the week went by fast; none of his other classes seemed to be very hard, and the homework was quickly done, considering he just had to skim the material he’d already memorized to get it fresh in his mind the night before class. His other classes were much the same as the previous years, but this year, he was ahead of the curriculum thanks to his summer studying. He started mapping out what other spells and projects he wanted to work on in each area since nothing seemed to be much of a challenge.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was shaping up to be a great class. They were currently working on things they should have learned in the last few years that had been skipped, but most of it was given to them as homework or small projects that they were expected to learn on their own. They were focusing in class on nonverbal casting, which was proving hard to master for everyone. So far, only two Slytherins, Harry and Hermione, had managed even the simplest spells.
Friday arrived quickly, and Harry looked out over the crowd gathering on the pitch with a sigh. Many of the newcomers didn’t even have a broom. One group of girls was ogling over the male players in quidditch gear, giggling like mad. It was going to be a long afternoon. Ron arrived late, strutting over like he owned the pitch and earning jeers from the handful of non-Gryffindor students who were watching from the stands.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming to the tryouts for this year’s team. We’ll be trying out for every position,” Harry said, glaring Ron into silence when it looked like he was going to interrupt, “Don’t think you still have a spot just because you played last year. Everyone is expected to do their best and prove that they belong on the team.”
“If you’re in your first year or didn’t bring a broom, take a seat in the stands. We won’t start until you’re seated." he said flatly, waiting to continue until the indicated students had wandered off, “We’re going to be testing in groups depending on position. If you want to try for multiple positions, let your tester know. I’ll be working with the seekers, Ron, you, and Ginny have the beaters and keepers. Katie, you have the chasers. First things first, I want everyone to run a lap of the pitch, if you can’t do that, leave now.” Harry snapped when a wave of grumbling arose.
He ran with the students, encouraging the ones who were flagging and noting those who were not putting in much effort. He sighed to see Ron huffing along, all the extra snacks and meals over the summer were taking its toll on the boy. Most of the gigglers had given up and joined the rest in the stands, at least when they returned to where everyone had left their brooms.
The rest of the two hours went by like a comedy of errors. Flyers collided; there was a pile-up of brooms and one broken comet when one boy flubbed a stunt maneuver with the quaffle. Harry gestured Katie over while Ron and Ginny were still trying out the last of their groups.
“What do you think?" he asked with a sigh, glancing over the exhausted students slumped around the pitch.
“It’s a rough group,” Katie said with a sigh, raking a hand through her hair and redoing her ponytail. “Our best bet for Keeper is still Ron, he at least managed to block a few shots. Ginny’s good for a chaser, she worked well with Demelza Robins.”
“I liked Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote for beaters.”
“Yeah, they need some practice, but they worked well together in the couple plays we tried. Dean Thomas and Cormac McLaggen can be our backups.”
“Alright, let’s make the announcement,” Harry said with a sigh.
“One sec, Harry; what’s going on with Ron? He’s been glaring at you the entire practice.” Katie asked, glancing at the sullen boy.
“He didn’t know I got quidditch captain. He’d been going on all summer about how he was going to be captain, so I didn’t have the heart to tell him. I thought he’d figure it out when he got Prefect, but…”
“He’s been downright unstable lately, fighting with everyone at the smallest issue. Is he going through something at home?”
“I’m not sure, but I think Fred and George are meeting with the rest of the family next weekend. Maybe it’ll be sorted out then.” Harry said with a shrug he’d gotten the letter that morning that the twins had a meeting with Arthur, Charlie, and Bill that Saturday. They hoped to have Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley checked over the next weekend when they went home for the family meeting that was being called.