Hogwarts Year 3
Chapter 1
The summer break was only two days old when all four kids got together again, after all Peaks started in a few weeks and they needed to prepare. The foursome had only been outside for an hour when they were requested to come inside to say hello to Amelia and Susan Bones, who had dropped by for a visit at Sirius' request, since he and Amelia were dating. This time the two Bones were prepared and when they removed their robes showed they were wearing jeans and casual muggle shirts. After being polite and greeting Amelia all five of the Hogwarts students went outside the adults thinking to play but in reality to talk.
"Alright you four, now tell me more about being this Heir of Hufflepuff. I haven't even told my aunt about this yet and I really don't like keeping anything from her, and where did Harry and Luna get those rings?" Susan asked in a rush.
Everyone looked at Harry since he was the most knowledgeable about all this. "Well, to answer your question about the rings. You have to go to Gringotts and have a heritage test done, if you pass then you will be given your house ring and gain access to your house vault and any properties belonging to Hufflepuff. You will also find that when you return to Hogwarts the castle itself will welcome you. As the spirit of Hogwarts said at the end of term feast we, the heirs, now control the castle and the wards. It is our responsibility to protect the castle and to keep the wards strong and up to date. As the heir of Gryffindor and Slytherin I have already upgraded some of the wards and Hogwarts has removed all the extra ones placed by previous headmasters that conflicted with the intent of the founders. While it isn't required of you, I would suggest you go to summer school with the four of us and get a head start on your education."
"But how will a month or so help me?" Susan asked.
"Right now even Luna is more advanced than you in charms and transfiguration. Next year she, like the rest of us, will take advanced lessons from McGonagall and Flitwick just as she did this past year. Since Hermione and I have been going longer we will take out OWLs exam this summer. Both professors are aware of our advanced skills but don't know how or why we are so advanced. They do keep it a secret from everyone else at our request. Now that you are a part of our little group we can let you in on some of the secrets we know. The first is something even Hermione and Neville didn't know. That was who the Hufflepuff heir was until Luna brought you in to claim your heritage, Luna and I were the only ones besides Hogwarts who knew. It was because of knowledge provided in the journals of Godric Gryffindor that I was able to get you to reveal your heritage. Hogwarts herself found you but could not reveal your identity to us, but did suggest a way to find you. I had a simple potion slipped into the juice at your table and after you drank it I cast a special spell that unbound your magical core and revealed your identity." Harry continued.
Susan looked at the other four and said, "So that's why my magic went wonky and was hard to understand not too long ago. I thought something was going wrong."
"I'm sorry about that Susan, it was the only way we could think of at the time." said Harry looking slightly ashamed.
Susan gave Harry a half smile and said,"It's OK Harry. Thanks for doing it."
Susan asked about the animagi form Hogwarts had mentioned and Harry suggested that they return to the house and talk with Sirius, Remus, and Amelia about that. Once back inside they explained that Susan was the heir of Hufflepuff, much to the surprise of the adults, and that she needed to go to Gringotts and also learn about animagi forms. Amelia said if they could use the floo she would take Susan to the bank right now, Harry suggested they use his portkey to take the three of them to the secure area set aside by the goblins for important meetings like this. Amelia agreed and more quickly then using the floo they were in Gringotts. It didn't take Ragnok long to confirm Susan's heritage, present her with her ring, and explain everything. Once finished Harry took them back to Potter Manor so they could deal with the animagi portion of Susan's heritage.
While Remus, Lucy, Amelia, and Susan were in the dungeon finding out Susan's form the other four were outside working with their elementals and working on their spells and flying. It was only after Susan was finished in the dungeon that Susan and Amelia were shown about elementals, after a vow to keep it secret, and Susan was given the chance to see if she could call an elemental herself. Susan had close ties to Earth and Water but did not summon any elementals.
Susan and Amelia filled out one of the applications to Peaks to be sent off the next morning to Alana. It was three days later when Susan showed up and said she had gotten her acceptance letter and supply list but some of the things weren't available in Diagon Alley. Harry told her everything was available in the magical shopping center closed to Peaks. The two of them went into the dungeon to practice spells in the safe room, that was where Susan noticed that Harry was using a different wand. Harry explained that he carried two wands, as did the other three, one was registered with the ministry but the other was not since it came from America. Soon after heading to the dungeons Hermione and Neville showed up to practice, the only one missing was Luna but she was busy helping her dad with the next issue of the Quibbler and would not be there for another two to three days.
After lunch Lucy came to collect Susan so she could practice her transformation, Susan refused to allow any of the others to know what her shape was until she was more stable. Besides she didn't like it she kept turning up naked when practicing. Two days before they were to leave for Peaks Susan revealed her form, that of a badger just like the one shown on the Hufflepuff shield and emblem. The others weren't completely surprised since they expected something similar based on their own forms.
The trip to Peaks was an experience for both Susan and Amelia as they had never flown on an airplane before. The group was composed of Harry, Neville, Hermione, Luna, Susan, Lucy, and Amelia; none of the rest of the adults were able to get time off to come. Once again the group was met at the airport by someone from Peaks and driven to Peaks school. Once there Susan and Amelia were taken to see Alana so Amelia could sign all the paperwork while the others put their stuff in their rooms and Lucy put hers in the infirmary since she would be the assistant for the session.
After all the paper work was done Susan found out she would be in the Earth dorm, along with Neville, and was shown her room so she could put her belongings away. Everyone met back up and Lucy, and the others, took the two newbies to visit the magical shopping area to finish getting supplies. Susan asked about getting a second wand but Harry already knew that Grimstead would be at the school again so suggested waiting. Harry needed the practice making wands and knew he would be assisting Grimstead with Susan's new wand, and maybe a staff for both Susan and Luna.
Both Susan and Amelia couldn't get over the items available here in America, some being borderline dark in England. Lucy assured both of them that here things weren't light and dark, but how they were used made the difference. While they were shopping the group ran into one of the people who had tried, and failed, to overcome Harry's wards. Harry was told that they expected another chance again this year and they intended to break the wards this time, Harry laughed and said he would have to ask Alana for permission first before agreeing to that test. When Amelia asked what that was all about Lucy explained that it was a contest, so to speak, between Harry and the MBI. Harry had created such strong wards that even the MBI instructor had been unable to breech them, and that was two years ago. In fact the house used was still there and still posed a challenge for the MBI students. Harry commented that he had a few surprises planned for this year as he was going to add runes to the protection scheme. Amelia and Susan just stared at Harry, and Amelia said if that came about she wanted to be there to see this herself.
With the start of classes everyone received their schedules, Harry was taking Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Runes, Arithmancy, Defense, Mind Magic, and Warding. Hermione was taking the same except she replaced Warding with Spell Crafting. Neville was taking Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Defense, Adv. Herbology, and Occlumency. Luna was taking Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Defense, Herbology, and Spell Crafting. Susan was taking the same as Harry except without Arithmancy, Runes, and Warding, Mind Magic was required for all first through third year students. Of course Susan had extra studies with her head of house for Earth based knowledge.
Harry and Hermione tried to get out of flying classes but Alana said since they had a new instructor she would really appreciate it if they would help out. The new instructor wasn't too happy being assigned student helpers and voiced her opinion loudly, until she saw Harry and Hermione flying. After seeing the two fly she said not another word except to ask if they might show her how they did some of the things she saw them doing.
Neville was asked if he would be willing to help the Herbology instructor, as that instructor was very impressed with Neville's skills and knowledge. So now three of them were teaching assistants. Just as you very rarely saw Harry without Hermione, the same was true with Neville and Susan; Luna told them she wasn't ready for a full-time partner yet. But she did spend time with her friends whenever she could since they taught her more advanced spells and they all helped each other with assignments.
The way Harry and Hermione's schedule was they only had Sundays off from class, the rest had at least part of Saturdays off. Susan was surprised to find out what Mind Magic was all about and that she had to learn wand-less magic to pass the course. She was even more surprised when she was told by Neville that when she learned enough wand-less spells she could use them in animal form, now she was really interested in the class and begged Neville (and anyone else she could) for help.
Classes had only been going on for a few months when Susan realized that the Luna she saw here was very different from the Luna she saw at Hogwarts, this Luna was confident and powerful whereas the Hogwarts Luna was shy and withdrawn and didn't show her power. Susan asked Luna about the change and Luna explained that at Hogwarts she was that way as people tended to ignore her and she was able to learn more of what was going on as they thought she was so "spaced out"; Susan could understand that as she had been guilty of the same attitude towards Luna.
Susan also noticed the difference in Neville, in first year Neville had been shy and withdrawn; now Neville was anything but shy and walked with his head held high as if daring anyone to challenge him. Susan had always been drawn towards Neville but even more so now. When Susan saw the power Neville, not to mention Harry and Hermione, showed with his staff she was very impressed. Neville's power, when he used a staff, seemed to rival Dumbledore's; and she didn't even want to think about Harry's power with a staff.
It was a Sunday and Harry asked Susan to join him in the classroom used for Wards. When they got to the classroom Grimstead was there waiting. Harry explained that it was time for Susan to see what wand cores choose her and what wood choose her for her new wand. Susan's wand turned out to be Red Oak with Granite, and Dragon Heart-string for cores. Susan was even more surprised when it was Harry who made her wand, with the prof. watching. Next Grimstead had Susan try using a staff he had available that contained the same core materials, plus a couple more. The staff responded well, but Grimstead said it needed to be fine tuned a little and had Harry make her a fresh one from scratch. This staff was the same as Susan's wand except it contained a fish scale and her own blood. The professor cast a spell and then told Harry what Runes to add to the staff before sealing it. The addition of the runes would take several days so it would be a week before the staff would be completed.
Next Harry had Luna try a staff, under Grimstead's watchful eye, they found out she too could use one. Grimstead said he would personally create Luna's staff and it too would be ready by the following Sunday, so both girls should not plan on doing anything but working with him, Harry, and Hermione.
In Warding class Harry was given a project, he was to create a set of wards to include Runes that Grimstead would have a hard time bypassing. But Grimstead told him they had to be new wards not a repeat of previous work, it still took anyone much too long to break Harry's wards from two years ago. Harry said it would be hard to think of new wards, but he wanted to include Runes anyway. Grimstead said just don't use the exact same wards from before, change them a little so they were different.
Hermione's Spell Crafting class was a welcome challenge, this was the hardest class she had ever attempted and she loved it. This class combined spells, runes, and Arithmancy, she had to unravel simple spells and find out how they worked then recreate them but make them slightly different than the original. Now Hermione knew why she was required to buy a laptop computer, it took too much paper to do all the computations. Hermione found out if she passed the course then the instructor would upgrade the Arithmancy program so it would do more on its own instead of Hermione having to enter each step correctly.
Luna was taking the same class except at a lower level and had to do all the computations by hand, and that wasn't easy. Luna's mother had died creating a spell so Luna was driven to learn this and to complete her mother's work on her final spell. Luna took advantage of every spare minute the instructor would grant her to ask questions and get help, the instructor said she had not had a student this enthused in a long time and it made her excited she was an instructor.
Even though Neville was supposed to be in fourth year Herbology, he was removed and placed in sixth year Herbology for Professionals. Neville had a challenge also, and he was learning new theories and skills every week in his favorite subject. All five British students were excited and at the top of at least one class each. It was a close call between Harry and Hermione in their Charms and Transfiguration classes, in fact too close to choose a leader.
It was Sunday and all five students showed up to meet Grimstead for the training of Susan and Luna. Grimstead asked why Neville was there and the answer was very frank and straight forward; Neville wanted to learn how to use his staff better, and to be around Susan. The instruction started out as usual with each girl being shown how to claim her staff and activate it. Hermione was told to instruct Luna and Harry would instruct Susan, with Grimstead watching closely and providing guidance as needed. Grimstead said he had full faith in both of his students ability to instruct others in basic staff use.
Susan was the first up. With Harry standing behind her Susan grounded her staff and went through the process of activating her staff. As usual there was the glow of magic, powerful magic, around Susan once the staff activated. But that was as far as Grimstead let the girl go, for now. Next up was Luna. With Hermione standing behind her Luna grounded and activated her staff as instructed. The glow this time was different and Hermione saw quickly why and had Luna flip her staff; now the glow seemed the same as Susan's. Hermione showed Luna how to tell which end was which even before Grimstead said anything.
Grimstead took each of the girls through the exercises for first staff usage and was well satisfied. Then he had Harry, Hermione, and Neville come up as he told the two girls to watch closely but not to try this until they had a year of experience with their staff. Neville was asked if he had learned the Patronus spell yet, when Neville said he had Grimstead told him to cast it. Neville's Patronus was a small dog that lasted a few minutes before disappearing. Grimstead had first Hermione then Harry cast their Patronus, Hermione's was an owl and Harry's was a Phoenix.
Grimstead had Neville do his again but had him use his staff this time; Neville's Patronus appeared but it was a bear, a large bear, that didn't want to leave until Neville told it to. By this time Harry's Phoenix had disappeared,it was now Hermione's turn again. Hermione's new Patronus was still an owl but about five times larger. Once the large owl disappeared, it was Harry's second turn. Grimstead asked everyone to back up a few more feet first, then told Harry to see what he could do. Harry gently grounded his staff and cast the spell, what he got was a dragon! Not just any dragon but a Norwegian Ridgeback and it wasn't a baby either.
Everyone was so busy staring at the silvery dragon that they all jumped when Alana asked who that belonged to, they all pointed at Harry. Alana just laughed and said "I should have known only Harry Potter would have a dragon for his Patronus. Might I suggest that when you take you OWLs you warn the testing staff that your Patronus is too large to fit in a room." Grimstead told her this was Harry's staff Patronus, so as long as Harry used a wand they should be safe. Everyone laughed at that statement, even Harry.
Susan and Luna, spent another hour practicing with their staffs while Grimstead taught Neville more advanced techniques with his staff. By the time the session was over all five kids were tired and it wasn't even lunch time yet. Susan told them that she dreaded the rest of the afternoon as she was supposed to meet with her head of house again, so she was going to take a nap.
It was time for OWLs. Harry didn't feel like he would have any problems, he felt he would pass with at least an Acceptable grade, the lowest passing grade. Hermione would settle for nothing lower that Exceeds Expectations on anything other than Spell Crafting. The written tests were torturous to all the fifth years. When it came time for the practical exams Harry and Hermione were ready to be finished. Harry made one mistake that he was certain of, he used his second wand to cast his Patronus and it wasn't a Phoenix; it was a large snake, a Cobra, and this seemed to scare the tester since she ran out screaming. When Alana found out Harry had run the testing person out of the room she was concerned, until she saw the snake herself and tried to shoot spells at it.
When Hermione found out about Harry's Patronus she had to try her second wand, it was the same owl as with her regular wand. But Luna had been working on her own and found out she too had two wand Patronus, an eagle and a otter and these matched her animal forms too. Susan's Patronus was a Badger, just like her animal form; both Susan and Luna wondered what their staff Patronus would be, but needed to wait until next year to find out.
Unlike the Hogwarts system, Peaks would have their scores before the session ended, and Harry and Hermione were greatly surprised with theirs.
Subject
Harry's Score
Hermione's Score
Charms
O+
O+
Transfiguration
O+
O+
POTIONS
O
O
Herbology
E
E
Defense
O+
O
Warding
O++
Not taken
Runes
O
O
Mind Magic
O
E
Spell Crafting
Not taken
E
Magical History
E
O+
Magical Devices
O
A
Harry had to have his scores explained since he didn't understand the pluses shown. Alana told both Harry and Hermione that the plus meant that they scored higher than what was considered normal for that test. The double plus on Warding was because the testing instructor was still trying to overcome Harry's wards. Susan received Os in all her subjects, this made Amelia happy since they were more advanced classes than at Hogwarts. Luna and Neville both ended the session with Os and A's. None of the kids could complain about grades, even Hermione was satisfied with the A in Magical Devices as she had not expected to take that exam.
Now that summer session was over Susan felt deprived since there would be no extra trip this year to any of the places she had heard about from the others, but her aunt promised to take her to see some of them soon. The one thing Susan, Luna, and Neville missed out on was a special seminar on How to Apparate, which both Harry and Hermione passed and got their international license – which was more respected than the license issued by the MOM in England.
A/N: Well another summer has ended and now Harry and Hermione have their OWLs, remember these are international scores and as such are tougher than the ones back home. What awaits the kids this year at Hogwarts? A change in the wards of Hogwarts is sure to happen given Harry's skill. Sorry, but FanFiction doesn't do tables so it messed up mine with the scores.
Please be kind and comment