A/N: Sorry Guys for the delay. I was working on creating two new story ideas. They both have their first chapters partially done, You will probably see them uploaded soon.

In the previous chapter, our heroes faced the troll which was kinda the boss for the first term. With the troll fight over, there was really very little to write about in the first term. So the main goal in this chapter was to set the scene for the Post Christmas term.

The next chapter will be plot heavy with Lily meeting the Dursleys and Harry going home for Christmas.

I recently read 'Harry Potter the Gem Mage' was very impressed with the Story. Compared to the emotions displayed by the characters there, the characters here seem like dull dolls. I will try to do better next time guys.

Hogwarts Staff Meeting

"How are the newest batch of students turning out? Any rising stars we need to keep an eye on?" Dumbledore began

He nodded to Minerva "Mr Potter -"

"Which one?" interrupted Filius "My Raven or the young Griffin"

"The Raven Potter" she clarified "is an exceptionally talented student. While he does'nt immediately pick up the spells during class. I often find that he has progressed the furthest of all other students when we are done with the spell.

I am suprised he is not a Hufflepuff with the amount of hardwork he puts into learning his spells"

Filius seemed to puff up with pride that one of his students was so highly praised by his rival no less.

Pomona was intrigued. Twice now another professor had recommended this Harry Potter as an exemplary student with the traits of her house. She resolved to keep a closer watch on him in Herbology from now on.

When Dumbledore asked her, She said she would keep an eye on him to see if he had a talent for her subject.

Dumbledore seemed interested that an unknown muggleborn would be mentioned first before The-Boy-Who-Lived

Filius like any proud father began extolling his boys praises. "He is very good in Charms as well. I awarded him 20 Points the other day for mastering the Summoning Charm. He became interested about the charm after seeing me summon my book during class and decided to master the spell for its usefulness."

'Mastering a fourth year charm in first year was impressive indeed' thought Dumbledore 'He also had enough power to be able to slay the troll though Minerva and Filius seem to think it was just luck.'

Severus said "The boy has good knowledge of all the ingredients despite being a Muggleborn. He is also eager to learn. His brewing skills are not quite up to the mark however."

While Severus hated teaching what he called "Dunderheads", he was quite tolerant of his more gifted students. In fact he was actually quite fond of some of his more talented slytherin students such as Catherine Mcnulty and Jeremy Morgan though he strove hard to hide it.

Severus had probably picked up the habit of favoring certain students from Slughorn who had a very affable manner in and out of class. The fact that he did not insult the boy too badly meant the boy had quite a bit of talent at Brewing Potions as well.

Sinistra was similarly pleased about Harry Potter saying that he would be a fine student to teach.

Dumbledore began frowning. He was sure he had an idea of who were the most talented students during the Sorting Ceremony. Minerva had informed him that Miss Granger would be a most excellent student possibly the brightest in her year. So he had arranged for her, Hayden Potter and Ron Weasley to be placed together in Gryffindor where he could easily monitor and influence them. He also manipulated Neville Longbottom in to Gryffindor as he needed a way to influence him in case Hayden wasnt really the child of the prophecy.

Instead of becoming friends with Miss Granger as intended, Hayden and Ron Weasley led a bullying crusade against her. As if that wasnt enough to derail his plans, he watched as a new power entered the field, this child Harry Potter ('How Ironic' he thought privately) was touted to be the next great prodigy after himself.

Unlike the Gryffindors, Dumbledore had no way to influence the boy. Filius like his Goblin Ancestors had firmly declared himself to be neutral in the war against Voldemort. He wouldnt simply let Dumbledore near one of his Ravens without a reason first.

The name 'Harry Potter' also bothered Dumbledore. 'It just cannot be coincidence' Dumbldore thought. 'How could this child have the same name as one of the chidlren of Prophecy?'

He considered the prophecy again. 'A child born at the end of July...the dark lord shall mark him as his equal...Damn Prophecies, always so vague and unclear. A child born at the end of July could mean Neville Longbottom or either of the Potter children. While Hayden Potter was the only one to receive a Phsyical Mark in the form of a scar, the mark could just as easily be psychological or metaphysical, for example one could say Neville himself was marked by what the Dark Lord and his followers did to his parents

So while there was a chance for Neville Longbottom to still be the child of prphecy. Only Harry Potter could clearly be ruled out because the prophecy said that the Dark Lord would mark the child as an equal. Harry was a squib, there was no way he could be Voldemorts equal.

He was sure he did not make a mistake when he declared the boy a squib. James and Lily confirmed that Harry had not performed any accidental magic even at the age of 4 which was well beyond the age at which even the weakest wizard would have performed some form of accidental magic'

Thinking so, he assured himself he had made the right choice. Hayden would definitely grow up. The path before him would require it of him.

But still it couldnt hurt if he kept an eye on Harry Potter. A boy as brilliant as professors described would probably be lonely and need a guiding figure. Dumbledore may have failed Tom but he had no intention of letting another boy slip into the Darkness.

The week before the End of Term

-Fred and George Weasley's POV-

Fred and George Weasley were not happy with Hayden Potter or their youngest brother. Hayden had a bullying streak a mile wide and was extremely arrogant. When he had found out that Fred and George were the resident Gryffindor pranskters, rather than trying to join them in their pranks, he had confronted them with his heritage as a Marauder and demanded that they follow him. Needless to say, they werent impressed by his attitude.

While they respected the Marauders, they did not respect Hayden as he had done nothing so far to gain their respect. Currently they were setting up a prank for Draco Malfoy from Slytherin but the next prank they had planned would be for Ron and Hayden.

-End-

Harry Potter was limping through the charms corridor. Tonks had heard about him taking on the Troll and decided that he needed a lesson to learn his own limits. She informed him that since he was ready to take on Trolls, She would step up his Defense training before using the it as an excuse to pummel him into the ground for being an idiot.

His Self Defense skills had increased tremendously as well as his instincts for avoiding ambushes as a result of Tonks' vicious training, which was why he immediately jumped out of the way before the glue can could hit him. He then called up a gust of wind to bifurcate the barrage of feathers that sped towards him.

He lifted his wand when he noticed two identical red headed figures running towards him

"Sorry mate, we didnt mean to get you-"

"-we were targetting Malfoy-"

"-since he's a git and-"

"-we were sure that it was him coming through and-"

Harry felt a head ache building up. He kept shifting his head from Fred and George as they kept talking, their voices doubled up and echoed until he raised up his wand in a gesture of surrender. The twins seeing the gesture grinned evilly before continuing.

"Hi, We are the Weasley twins, I am the handsome charming twin-"

"-and I am the roguish dashing twin-"

"-or was it the other way around Fred?"

"I think so George"

They turned to admire each other before agreeing ("You look so handsome brother. Do tell me your secret") . Harry found their behavior quite amusing.

"Either way, we Gred and Forge Weasley at your service" they both said the last sentence together.

Harry laughed at their antics before saying "I am Harry Potter First Year Ravenclaw"

"You are the one that our youngest brother and Hayden keep ranting about in the common room"

Harry's smile disappeared. He knew about the twins and their propensity for pranks and mischief. If they were friends with Hayden, they could make life difficult for him.

Seeing the Harry's expression change at the mention of Hayden and their brother

"Dont worry, we know Hayden and Ron are gits, we wont hold anything they say against you. In fact we were planning on pranking them next after Malfoy. Seeing as we nearly got you in this prank, how about we make it up to you by let you in on it when we prank them?"

"So you guys were trying to prank Malfoy with this set up?" Harry gestured at the Glue and Feather mess on the floor. "Well then I can help you with that but first lets get out of here before Filch finds us."

Harry followed the twins into a passageway hidden behind a tapestry. He had wanted to get back at Malfoy for the trap in the trophy room but he hadnt met the young slytherin after all waited till Malfoy came along.

Harry quickly charmed Malfoys Hair to a deep blue and bronze before linking the charm to Malfoys belt and then cast an Notice-Me-Not charm on it.

Now Malfoy could not dispel the charm on his hair directly, he would have to dispel the charm on the belt first. People would not notice the magic on the belt as it would be under the Notice-Me-Not Charm.

Best of all, Madam Pomfrey would also be unable to do anything about the charm as it wasn't on his hair. Malfoy would now be stuck looking like a Ravenclaw Mascot till the magic on the belt wore off.

Fred and George Weasley were very impressed with the idea and the prank.

"Look Fred, what a fine prankster we have found!"

"Indeed George, Unnoticable Charmed Objects, Definitely a product of a Ravenclaws intelligence.

Seeing this prank is giving me more ideas, Fred. We could have executed that prank last year a lot better if he had charmed the dungbomb under the snape's seat to be unnoticable."

The Weasley twins began discussing a few more of their pranks. Harry laughed very hard when he heard about some of the stories they told.

The Weasley twins swore they would contact him when they came up with a prank for Hayden and Ron before going on their way. Harry decided to return to the Ravenclaw common room. He found Blaise playing chess with Anthony again and began telling them the story of how he met the Weasley twins and how he had pranked Malfoy today.

-Blaise's POV-

Blaise was quite happy as he came down for dinner with Harry that night. Blaise had won the match with Anthony, Anthony was the only person in Ravenclaw who could give him competition. He could beat Harry and Terry easily enough but he often lost more than he won with Anthony.

Then to add to his sense of victory, Harry had come in with the good news of a successful prank against Malfoy. Wonder of Wonders, Harry had even managed to get into the good graces of the Weasley twins.

Blaise was a slytherin at heart even if he was sorted into Ravenclaw. As a slytherin, he would always think in terms of gains and losses, he counted the list of advantages to not joining Slytherin in his head.

One, he had completely avoided Malfoy and his ilk, Two, he was now free to make friends with other houses, Slytherin had rather rigid policies on who they were friends with, Three, he wouldnt be targetted by the Weasley monsters with their pranks but the biggest advantage of joining Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin was that he had become friends with Harry.

Harry was powerful, brave and loyal to a fault, Merlin, his friend was Gryffindor enough to rush after a troll to save Longbottom. Blaise knew he was lucky to have as good a friend as Harry.

The only disadvantage to not being in Slytherin was that he couldnt spend as much time with Daphne and Tracey as he had before coming to Hogwarts.

'Still the gains out weigh the losses' Blaise thought as he entered the hall

He looked at the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy with his hair in the Ravenclaw colors. The grin on his face grew wider. Malfoy noticed and scowled back.

'Yes, the Gains most definitely out weigh the Losses' he thought as he leaned over the table to start a conversation with Penelope and Harry over dinner.

-End-

The Day before the End of Term

-Neville Longbottom's POV-

Neville was a bit nervous as he met the others in the library. He was uncomfortable with crowds and the glares the librarian kept sending their way made him feel worse. Still, he now had friends and he wanted to keep up with them.

He saw that the seat near Hermione was empty and sat down there. Everybody was busy talking about their plans for Christmas.

Hermione was going skiing with her parents. Tracey was spending Christmas at Daphne's place. Blaise was going with his mother to italy to visit his grandparents. Susan was spending Christmas with her Aunt as usual.

Neville had no special plans. He was a bit happy about going home to his Greenhouse and spending time with his grandmother (even if she was a bit strict). They would visit his parents in St Mungos on Christmas day. He would miss his friends of course but being away from the crowds of Hogwarts would be good sometimes.

He still had yet to speak to Harry about what he had seen him do to the troll. Neville didnt want to make Harry uncomfortable by bringing up the topic. Harry was his first and closest friend in Hogwarts. Harry and Blaise had fought a troll to save him while Hayden-The-Boy-Who-Lived-Potter and Ron-True-Gryffindor-Weasley had both turned tail and ran away while abandoning him to the Troll. Neville didnt want to push the matter because he didnt want to lose Harry as a friend.

-End-

Harry asked Neville and Blaise to meet after dinner in a secret passageway that night. He had thought about what he was going to say a lot before deciding this approach. He knew he couldn't not give them an explanation, They both were good friends and deserved some portion of the truth.

Blaise was the first to begin "Harry, How did you manage to kill the Troll? They are almost impossible to kill. Most grown wizards would find it difficult kill a troll with a cutting spell like you did."

Blaise already knew part of the answer. His affinity for Spatial-Temporal Magic. Neville didnt know yet. So he focussed on Neville first. After explaining the concept of Magical Abiltiies to Neville. He continued

"I am a Muggleborn but I was taken in by a Pureblood family. My father gifted me a portion of his magic when he adopted me to create a bond between us. I gained an affinity for Spatial-Temporal Magic thanks to this bond.

When the troll attacked, I need a way to stop the troll somehow. None of my spells were working against it and you guys were in danger. So I yelled to attract its attention. When it charged me, I tried to augment the Cutting spell with my affinity to make it fly faster and increase its cutting power. Thankfully it worked and I managed to kill the Troll"

Neville asked him a question "I have never heard of Pureblood family with an ability like yours. What is your family name?"

Blaise added "Yes Harry, I remember you telling us that Potter was your original name and you never changed it to match your adoptive family's name."

Harry smiled. He could answer this question.

"Its not surprising that you havent heard of us really. My family line was quite small and we also left the Kingdom for the States centuries ago. Infact my dad is the last surviving member of the line.

Our family name is Rys. My dad's name is Erebus Moriarty Rys"

Neither Blaise or Neville had heard of his dad. But Hary was okay with that. His 'Dad' didnt want any fame or recognition. He just cared about magic.

His 'dad' researched all forms of magic and then published his findings under pseudonyms in various magazines. For a boy who was called a squib most of his life and who desired to learn and practice magic over everything else, Having a parent who was a magical researcher was like a dream come true.

Having settled things between them. Harry, Blaise and Neville went back to their dorms for the night. They began packing their clothes so tha they could quickly get ready to catch the train tomorrow.

That night Harry drifted off to an easy sleep, He would meet his 'Dad' tomorrow at the station and he needed to be well rested.

A/N:

Thank you Katzztar for pointing out the typo.

Thank you guys for all your positive reviews.

Your reviews are what gives me the confidence to keep writing this story and as well as add new ones.

I am very happy to say that I have uploaded a new story.

It is called the "The Second Soul" and it is available on my profile.

Do check it out, Guys. I hope you all will like it.

Cheers