Harry had slept for over twelve hours, much too long in his opinion, but he had just fought the most powerful sorcerer in the world, he should feel tired. He was sitting in to Common Room, watching the other student's reactions to him in amusement. Most of the younger years were scared of him and rightly so, the older students seemed to just be cautious of him, which was wise. The students who he knew, his friends from the DA and the Quidditch Team, seemed fairly at ease with him, but a little in awe. Harry could hardly blame them, he had made rather a shocking entrance last night. Harry's keen eyes did not fail to notice the way that Katie Bell was looking at him, or the glare Ginny was giving the older girl, or the jealousy in her eyes; it was going to fun being fought over.
Breakfast that morning was a very interesting affair, as soon as Harry and his entourage, which now included Katie Bell and Lavender Brown, there was a dead silence, as everyone expected Harry to shock and surprise them again; he was not one to disappoint.
"Good morning everyone! I have an announcement to make! Slytherin House has been disbanded, Professor Snape, you will organize the removal of all of your students from the castle, immediately. Enjoy your first day of classes!"
One thing was for sure, Harry really knew how to command silence, no one spoke, no one even could. Not even Snape could speak, and it took rather a lot to shock that man, as Harry knew from experience, he had spent a good deal of time trying, and failing. Most of the Slytherin's were sneering at him, as usual, until Snape began herding them out of the Hall, yelling instructions for them to pack their trunks. The sneers disappeared then, replaced by looks of shock and fear.
Harry almost felt bad about it, almost. Not all of those students deserved to be dismissed, but he simply couldn't take the chance of letting them stay. One did not win wars with hugs and kisses, there was going to be collateral damage, and better them then someone Harry cared about. He knew that he never would have been thinking like this a year ago, but he had learned to ignore his conflicting emotions, and to act on logic, doing what needed to be done, no matter what the concequences.
Katie was giving him the same look as she had last night, causing Harry to smile slightly, causing her to blush. The real kicker came when he noticed that Ginny was giving him the same look, and didn't seem to care that Katie was too, this was getting interesting. In fact, now that Harry looked around, he receiving a lot of similar looks from around the Hall, but not so intense as from those two.
"Oh yes! One more announcement, all Astronomy, Divination, and Potions classes are hereby canceled."
Harry paused, waiting for the explosion, which came in full. Nearly every student took at lease once of those classes, if not two or three, and they were excited at the opportunity to miss them; that was when Harry made his next announcement.
"They will be replaced with dueling and offensive fighting classes, as soon as I find suitable teachers."
Harry sat down to the sound of groans and slight complaining about the new classes, but a few well placed glares from Ron and Hermione soon stopped those. This caused Harry to smile even more, his friends were adapting well to the new situation that he had set up, it wasn't that he wanted them to be stuck-up and haughty, but they did need to at least appear to be in charge, and above everyone else, not because they were rich, but because they were helping him run the show now. Ginny was showing the best aptitude, as she managed to be intimidating, gorgeous, and friendly, all at once. He really was going to have to talk to her, soon.
Harry was also very interest in the way Katie Bell had been looking at him last night, and again this morning, it was not a look that Harry had ever received before in his life, and now here he was receiving it from two very good looking witches, at the same time. The only problem was, there were two of them. Harry was very interested in Ginny, particularly after the last Christmas he had spent at Grimmauld Place, and the fight in the Department of Mysteries, he had a pretty good idea of what he was feeling, though he was certain it was the first time. On the other hand, he had known Katie a lot longer then Ginny, whom he hadn't really been friends with until last year. Katie was older, she was very good looking, and the way that she was looking at him made Harry very glad he was a master at controlling his emotions.
It really quite ridiculous, he could overthrow Dumbledore in a single night, while making plans to take over the entire wizarding world, but being interested in two girls, who were obviously interested in him, seemed more daunting then everything else. Harry was completely torn, did he pursue a long, meaningful relationship with Ginny, or a soon, more physical relationship with Katie? He didn't even have the normal teenage hormones to help him, well he did, but he was far to strong-willed to listen to them, especially in something genuinely important to him, only a fool let his emotions rule him. Snape had taken particular pleasure in burning that mantra into Harry's mind, and frequently testing him on it.
Also weighing on Harry's mind was Ron and Hermione. The problem was that they were his best friends, and he didn't trust that bond as far as he could through it. It Harry's mind, there was no such word as friend, and anyone who thought otherwise was setting themselves up for a fall. The only thing that mattered was family. Family was bond that simply could not be broken, it could be tested, it could even be bent, but it would not break. Harry had never known family, the Dursley's had never been his family, as there was more to it then blood.
If anything, the Weasley's were his family, Remus was his family. The people he could depend on utterly were his real family. He could count on them no matter what, and they would be by his side, he was fiercely loyal to them, and they to him. That was his next task, even before converting the Ministry, he was going to solidify his family. That even solved his problem as to which girl he should pursue. The only snag was Remus, how to incorporate him into the family? And Tonks too, Harry may be a boy, but he was not so thick, especially after this last summer, not to notice the attraction between the two. He was going to have to do something about that, but first to handle his own side of the street.
Classes were a joke for Harry, the only reason he even went was to see how his teachers were adjusting to the change in leadership, and the change in curriculum. Moody had done a perfect job so far, with Snape teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, albeit under Moody's watchful eye, Harry had no doubt that he could soon begin gleaning his army from the student body. Of course he already had a few people in mind, but he wouldn't start the actually selections until they had been put under a bit of pressure, and until he was united with his queen.
Harry had been gently flirting with Ginny at every chance he got that day, which had the redhead in a euphoric high. She had somehow managed to subtly unbutton the top three buttons the top three buttons of her shirt, and Harry had no idea how she had don it without him noticing, though in all fairness he was a bit distracted for the last two. They were walking down to lunch together, Hermione and Ron were meeting with Moody to discuss some of the curriculum changes, when they were accosted by Draco Malfoy. Most anyone would have learned their lesson when forced to relive their worst memories, and learned it well, but Malfoy was considerably dumber then most people. Malfoy was bearing his trademark sneer, though it faultered slightly when he looked over Ginny, and noticed that her shirt was half-way undone. Harry of course noticed this right away, and a quick Stinging Hex to the right place made Malfoy loose all thoughts along those lines, probably for a long time.
"Something you wanted ferret?" asked Ginny with the air of a princess. Harry smiled at this, because he was in fact planning on making her a princess.
"Close your mouth Weasel, that seems to be the only part of you that you can keep shut." sneered Malfoy.
Harry's voice came out as a low growl, he had caught the meaning of Malfoy's words straight off, and no one was going to talk to Ginny like that, especially in his presence. "How many vital organs do you have Ferret? Don't know? I'll have to inform you: first there's the brain, you don't use yours, next the heart, I doubt you have one, then the lungs, the kidneys, the stomach, the liver, and the pancreas." Harry accompanied the naming of each organ with a curse specially designed to affect said body part. Needless to say, by the time Harry was done, Malfoy was nearly uncouncious from pain rivaling the Cruciartus Curse.
The two left Malfoy on the ground, where he belonged, and walked the rest of the way down to the Great Hall, Harry enjoying the view, and Ginny pleased that of all the girls she knew could be with if he said but two words, he wanted her. She had been worried that he might prefer Katie Bell, who was older, more experienced, and more developed then she was, but Ginny should have known that Harry was far too good a person to go for a girl based on sex appeal, which lightened her heart even more, because it meant that he really cared about her. She was going to have to go against ever natural impulse and instinct she had, and actually do something nice for Snape.