Chapter 3
The summer had passed relatively quietly, he had received a few Owls from his friends and had replied to them quickly. The Montague siblings had been sending him boxes of sweets and homemade food, they were convinced that the orphanage didn't feed him enough.
His favourite letters were from Miranda however, she didn't write regularly, and when she did the messages were always short and to the point, however the fact that they arrived at all was a great success to Harry, he would never have expected any correspondence from the incredibly closed off girl. He always replied with long letters, letting her know just how insufferable the Orphanage had become after the magnificence of Hogwarts, and also how tired he became of the constant prattling of the Muggles.
He had finished his homework the day after his exam results came in, O's in everything except Herbology (E) Astronomy (A) and History of Magic (E). He was pleased about this as it gave him time to study the books he had pilfered from the library. Most of them were on Spells, Intermediate Transfiguration and charms, the fifth year texts, made sense to Harry, as did Advanced Defence, which was designed for duellists and his personal favourite so far Charms: More than just making things float which provided suggestion on how ordinary charms could be used in a combat situation.
However, as July ended and August began, Harry's desire to actually practice magic grew whilst his supply of unread books ran out. On August the fifth, when Harry awoke, it was to find two owls sitting on the end of his bed. He blinked tiredly, he sat up and yawned widely. He recognised the first owl, a handsome tawny belonging to Miranda contained a large parcel and a letter.
He relieved the Owl of its parcel and it flew off immediately, not waiting for a reply, the other owl ruffled its feathers importantly, glaring at Harry as he removed its thick letter embossed with the Hogwarts crest. He sighed deeply, slitting open the Hogwarts letter, he browsed what it said.
Dear Mr Potter,
We are pleased to inform you have been accepted into your second year of Magical Education at Hogwarts….
He discarded the first sheet, and looked at the second, a book list. Most of the books on the list he had already read and learned, maybe he could use Transfiguration and charms as a chance to improve his own learning… Not likely considering McGonagall, but still a possibility.
The Parcel from Miranda was interesting to him however. He opened the letter first, it was typically short, and written in his fourth year friend's elegant script.
Dear Harry
I imagine that you will have recently received your Hogwarts letter, therefore if you were interested in shopping together for our things, I would not be opposed and could be found outside Florean Fortescue's at midday tomorrow.
This book is one I would recommend learning, If my suspicions are correct, it will defend you from both Professor Snape and the Headmaster.
Regards
Miranda Rookwood.
Harry resisted the urge to snort ungracefully at the letter, only Miranda would ever write something like that. However he missed his friends (not that she would ever admit they were friends) dry wit and arrogant self-assurance. He would meet her tomorrow.
Turning to the package, he ripped off the brown travel paper to discover a thick and ancient looking book: Defending your mind: The Complete guide to Occlumency. He read through the foreword, and thanked Miranda in his head, If Dumbledore and Snape could truly use the skill legillimency, then learning this skill became imperative and took priority over all his other thought.
The rest of that day was spent trying to learn Occlumency, however he quickly discovered there was a reason the book for this skill was so thick, it was not a skill to learn overnight. The first step required him to clear his mind of any thoughts, which was itself very difficult. Whenever he nearly got there, his brain celebrated and he had to start over.
By the end of the first day he had made no progress, but, he reasoned, he had a month to develop the skill, hopefully that would be enough.
The next day Harry met Miranda just outside Florean Fortescue's. She was sitting in one of the outside booths, a copy of The Daily Prophet elegantly folded over her arm and a steaming cup of white coffee in front of her. Harry took the seat opposite her at 10.55, and she looked up at him with a small smile.
"Good Morning Harry." She offered politely.
"Good Morning, Thank you for the book, I only wish you had shown it to me earlier!" Miranda inclined her head slightly,
"I would have, however your magic wasn't developed enough, I imagine you will find it difficult to manage even now, however I won't show you any of the more interesting spells in my repertoire until you have it mastered." Harry could see the sense in that, she was taking a risk in him every time she showed him something illegal.
"Would you like anything sir?" asked a waiter, and Harry idly ordered a Latté, emptying his money bag completely to pay. Miranda quirked an eyebrow at him with a hint of laughter ghosting over her lips. Harry scowled at her, hiding the conspicuously empty money bag under the table.
They sat in silence for a little while, occasionally breaking it for questions on the others holiday so far, but aside from that it was comfortable quiet. When both had finished their respective drinks, Miranda dabbed her lips with a napkin and stood up, Harry quickly followed suit and the two of them walked over to the large white Marble structure of Gringotts, they stepped up to one of the free tellers, Harry showed his key and was given a new bag of galleons, this one he was told containing 55 Galleons, he didn't comment, grateful for the small increase.
Miranda was taken to her vault, whilst Harry waited in the foyer and when she returned, the two of them began to shop, Because he had no need to purchase a wand, scales or Telescope like last year, Harry was able to spend far more in the book shop. Thus when he left, his bags were full, in addition to his school purchases, he had added So you think you can duel?, Useful spells every man should know, Taking the fight to the enemy, An introduction to Runes, What you can get from Wards and many more, A most productive session, they went through the Apocathery quickly, and by 1.30 had finished their shopping.
"Lunch Harry?" Miranda asked when his belly has rumbled, Harry nodded as his tummy gave another rumble.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked, eyes looking up and down the street,
"I thought we could go to my apartment, I have plenty of food there for both of us." Harry looked at her in surprise. She had never been forthcoming about her home life, and often denied letting him see her spell journal, so the idea of letting him see her house, which was hers and hers alone, was certainly a milestone in their friendship.
"That uh, that would be lovely Miranda. Thank you." She nodded, distractedly and together the two of them headed down Diagon Alley, they reached Latter Alley, and she took him towards a grand looking four storey house.
"My Apartment is on the fourth floor" she told him as she took him up the steps, when they reached what Harry assumed must be her door, she paused, hand poised on the door knob, but after a few seconds she opened the door to him, revealing her home within.
Harry's immediate reaction was that it was exactly what he had expected. Spartanly decorated, the furnishings and walls were all shades of beige and cream. They had entered into what Harry assumed to be her sitting room, through a door to his right he could see a bedroom, not a thing out of place, and to the left a kitchen. Straight ahead of him were wide open windows, looking out over the shoppers of Diagon Alley and the Muggle world beyond.
"Mistress is Home. Will Mistress and Mistress's Mister be requiring any Lunch from Minny?" came a squeak from the floor in front of Harry, He looked down to see a House elf standing before them,
"Yes Minny. Lunch for two, put something together." Miranda replied carelessly, she walked into her bedroom, calling over her shoulder
"Make yourself comfortable Harry, I'll be back in a moment." Harry walked further into the room, he was about to sit on the sofa when he spotted 3 framed photographs on the Mantelpiece. He studied them for a moment, one was of a beautiful witch with Miranda's Rich blonde hair holding a chubby baby in her arms, laughing at the camera.
The second revealed the same witch wearing a wedding dress, looking up at a handsome man, with high cheek bones and a straight nose, who was evidently her groom. The third picture was a picture of Miranda when she was around four Harry guessed, the beautiful witch was gone but her father was chasing her around the shot as she rode a toy broomstick, Harry smiled at the picture.
He suddenly became aware of Miranda standing behind him, he hastily put the picture down, and turned to face her. Her normally flinty blue eyes had gone soft, and it looked almost unnatural on her face.
"My Parents" she said simply, in all their lessons on conversation, Harry had never learnt how to deal with a situation like this.
"Your Mother was very beautiful." Harry said simply, Miranda smiled at him,
"She was. She died following complications to her second Pregnancy. Neither survived." She swallowed deeply, and for an awful moment Harry thought she would cry.
However she didn't. She pulled herself together, "I'm sorry Harry, you were not supposed to see that." Harry gave her a sincere smile and sat down at the table.
The rest of their lunch they deliberately stayed on very safe topics, never straying from school, summer holidays or learning. Towards the end of the afternoon, She began to instruct Harry in Occlumency, speaking softly to help him clear his mind, he had some success, but could never keep his mind clear for more than a minute or so, the book said not to progress to the next stage until he could stay in that state for 15 minutes at least.
As Harry understood it, to reach the first level of competent Occlumency, he needed to reach four intermediate levels of success, Step one was clearing the mind of all thoughts, step two was compartmentalising his memories, this would stop random bursts of emotion from interrupting his concentration, step three was to focus his conscious thought on one thing, be it a memory or an image, the final step was to maintain this constantly and be able to continue normal behaviour whilst maintaining it indefinitely.
Needless to say it would take a lot of time, especially considering that that was only the first chapter of the book, and there were six chapters. However Harry hoped that it would get easier as his basic knowledge of the mind arts increased, otherwise it could take him years.
The rest of his summer passed quickly, he spent most of his time in deep concentration on the mind arts, and by the first of September had reached stage 3.
He maintained regular communication with all his year mates, whilst Miranda had occasionally sent her Elf, Minny, around with home cooked meals, always denying it in her letters of course, citing the Elf's lack of control as the reason.
He hoped his progress would be enough, he was certain that if someone attempted Legillimency on him he would at least be aware of it, and have time to raise his defences… Hopefully.
As the train pulled out of Platform 9 3/4 on September the 1st, Harry was sat on his own in a compartment near the back of the train, nose stuck in his book on Occlumency, but his mind elsewhere, he was looking forward to returning to Hogwarts, or at least he was looking forward to returning to Slytherin, He had never felt like an outcast in Slytherin as he had the rest of his life.
Before too long, the carriage he was in began to fill up, first Cedric came in and they spoke for a little while, before the Hufflepuff bid his goodbye to return to his friends, as he was leaving, Terrence and Charles came in, both looking thoroughly put out.
"Those bloody twins!" shouted Terrence.
"Good to see you too Higgs, what have Graham and Clara done this time?" Higgs looked at him like he had grown a second head.
"What? Oh, no, not those twins, the Weasely bastards. They've got Filibusters fireworks and thought it'd be hilarious to fire them at passers-by." Harry choked back a laugh at the murderous look on his friends face, but let it go.
Soon after the two had sat down, Olivia and Bonnie Moran walked in.
"Potter, a word if you don't mind." Asked Bonnie, Harry stood up gracefully, and stepped out of the compartment.
"Potter, I'm Slytherins new Captain," Harry smiled at her,
"That's great… Big shoes to fill, literally and figuratively." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Whatever, I think you have a talent, and I plan to exploit it, you did excellent work last year, so I just want to tell you that you should expect the work load to lighten up. Have a nice journey Potter." Harry Sighed, he had thought that being the soft spoken girl that she was, Bonnie would prove to be a calmer captain the Urquhart, however that clearly wasn't the case… maybe the badge was cursed to make the wearer obsessed?
The rest of the journey passed calmly, the rest of their friends arrived, and they spend some time chatting and relaxing before the term began.
Harry had been correct in his belief that all Quidditch captains automatically became crazy. They were three weeks into the term, and Bonnie had already successfully found replacements for the two chaser and beater who had graduated the year before.
Despite there not being a match for another six weeks, Bonnie had them training three days a week, and if there were especially heavy rain or fog, she called in extra practice so they could experience 'adverse scenarios'. Needless to say, Harry was rather unimpressed by her attitude, He wrote her plays, and had described each one to her in detail, so he didn't see why she wanted him present on the pitch each and every practice.
However, aside from Quidditch, Hogwarts life had fallen back into its typical routine: Wake up at 7, shower, breakfast, Class, Break, Class, Lunch, Library with other Second years, Class, Quidditch, Session with Miranda, Supper, Homework, Sleep.
In this way, the days became weeks and the week's months, and before he knew it, Christmas was upon him. He was once again the only second year Slytherin spending the holiday in the castle, but unlike last year, this time he had little fear of being ambushed in the corridors, He had learnt vast amounts of offensive and defensive duelling manoeuvres, as well as having the protection of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and through them, much of Slytherin House.
Thus when Christmas day dawned, Harry was in an unusually cheerful mood, he hummed through his shower, and walked down the steps with a spring in his feet. As he arrived in the common room, it was to find most of the house who had remained, only a dozen or so, waiting in the common room, Harry looked puzzled briefly, before the house noticed his arrival and stood up.
"Come on Potter, we were waiting for you!" Harry grinned, and together, the Slytherins made their way up to the great hall. It was once again splendidly decorated, festoons of Holly and at least 12 enormous Christmas tree's filled the Great Hall. After a lunch that would have filled Hagrid, Harry returned to his room and practiced his Occlumency, he was now nearing starting chapter 3, "How to provide false memories to a Legillimens".
Around lunch time, he descended the steps, to find a pile of presents beneath the large House Christmas tree. Several of the other older Slytherins were already crouched beneath the tree sorting them all into piles.
When Harry received his, he was delighted to find it larger than the year before. He got the usual sweets from Georgia And Honoria, which was expected, he didn't speak to them much, Flint and Higgs had joined together and bought him a year's subscription to The Daily Prophet, From Olivia he got a framed picture that had been taken a few weeks earlier of all the Slytherin Second Years in front of the common room fireplace. Harry smiled as his picture self blushed at something the others said, whilst they all roared with laughter.
The Montagues had bought him a copy pf Gilderoy Lockhart's latest book, Gadding with Ghouls, The man was supposed to be a Defence Expert and Harry was excited to read about his exploits. Finally, from Miranda he received a book called Words are for Wusses: A guide to nonverbal spell casting. He looked over at the blonde and thanked her gratefully, she nodded kindly,
"Read it properly Potter, that's the next stage for your education." Harry grinned at her, and placed the relatively thin book on the pile with the others.
That afternoon, Harry had a breakthrough, he was in his bedroom, the windows were closed and the room was dark. He was lying on his back, mind fiercely concentrated on his Occlumency, the step he was involved with was forcing his magic into forming a defence around his memories. It wasn't dangerous, nor was it particularly complex. He knew what he was supposed to be doing, but his magic was being uncooperative.
The problem was that whenever he immersed himself in his raw magical power, he got drunk of the exhilaration and almost immediately lost his concentration.
After attempting the stage for what must have been the tenth time that afternoon, Harry finally got it. This was an excellent achievement, as it meant that he would be able to block Legillimens from accessing his mind, whereas before all he could have managed was to be aware of the foreign presence, but be powerless to prevent them.
The Rest of the Holiday progressed slowly, now that Harry had reached an acceptable stage of proficiency in his Occlumency he was no longer working quite so hard at it, concentrating instead on his school work.
The Days melted together, and Harry was slowly gathering a reputation for being somewhat bookish. He spent a large amount of time in the library, studying and pouring over texts, his grades, which had always been excellent, had skyrocketed. When the spring term had begun, nearly all of his teachers had commented on his improved skills.
Whilst his extra studies had helped him in his academics, an unexpected side effect of his skill in the mind arts was that he found his mind clearer and was able to draw up memories and answers far more easily. His friends were jealous of his recent success, but pleased for him, as more and more teachers seemed to be won over by the polite, brilliant if cold child.
As the weeks progressed However, Harry began to grow rather frustrated at the Library, despite the vast number of books available, the actual content which he could learn was frankly limited. Almost two thirds of the books were on History, a subject that whilst interesting, held no special interest to Harry.
It was with in mind therefore, that Harry found himself on a cold spring day in April outside of Professor Snape's office. He breathed in deeply to steady himself, raising his Occlumency shields, before finally raising his hand and knocking on his Housemasters door. There was silence for a moment before
"Enter." Harry twisted the elaborate door knob and entered the confines of Snapes office. The walls were still covered with curious looking Potion ingredients and the lighting was still somewhat poor. However, Harry liked the room, it suited the bat-like professor perfectly.
"What can I do for you Mr Potter?" Harry kept his face straight as he looked at his Housemaster, not in the eye of course. He had thought about his best way of going about this, and had come to the conclusion that Snape was a master of deception and intrigue, an honest approach was more likely to succeed.
"Professor, May I have permission to browse the restricted section of the library please?" Snape's eyebrow rose, he looked surprised at the request, though not angry or displeased which Harry thought could only be a good sign.
"Any why would I grant you this Mr Potter?" Harry smirked mentally. No outright rejection, definitely a good sign.
"Well professor, I have read most of what interests me in the Library, and believe the restricted section will hold what I want to discover now." Snape curled a lip in amusement.
"Mr Potter, the Library contains twenty thousand books, I'm sure you haven't read all of them." Harry raised his chin,
"Sir, Much of the Library is History, a subject I have little interest in!"
"You should have an interest Potter, it's imperative if we are to avoid the pasts mistakes." He paused, looking at Harry intently, as though there were some unspoken message in Snape's words, it passed straight over Harry's head.
"never the less Potter, there are still at least eight thousand books on Spell work and other subjects in the Library, have you read them all?" Harry sighed and shook his head.
"No Professor, I am yet to read up on some topics, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes for example are still relatively unknown to me." Snape nodded slowly.
"Then why not read those subjects, a mind as brilliant as your own should be versed in as many topics of magic as possible. Do not blinker yourself to one branch of magic." Harry nodded his thanks at the compliment, before reaching into his book bag, he withdrew 8 thick tomes and placed them on the desk,
"I will read those books, don't worry professor, but I want to extend my studies in the classes I currently take!" Snape nodded his understanding before looking down at the pile of books.
"An interesting collection Mr Potter, I assume there is a reason behind them, or have you simply decided to leave dust on my desk?"
"Well professor, look, An Anthology of Transfiguration published in 1048, and here, the same book, but published eighty years later, and again a century later." He picked up the last book, "This is the latest issue, published in 1978 and is currently used for an NEWT reference book, the rest of these…"
"Are quite useless Mr Potter, I understand, Nevertheless, I cannot issue a pass for the restricted section unless you have a specific book in mind. Open Passes are extremely rare, used only for students looking for their Mastery." Harry smirked,
"Perhaps If I were to return with a list of books I would like to check out, you would be able to have a look and sign off on it?" Snape smirked at the Slytherin boy,
"An adequate compromise, you may return to me with a list, be warned, I will not blindly release them to you." His tone was warning, but Harry wasn't intimidated. He nodded his thanks, before hurrying up to the Library.
Over an hour later, Snape's marking was distracted again by knocks to his door. "Enter!" he called loudly, and to his lack of Surprise, the Potter boy walked in, head held high, eyes as cold and calculating as ever and a long list of Parchment in his hand. Snape gestured to the list impatiently and Harry passed it to him.
"Let me see, let me see," his eyes scanned the list, his brow rose occasionally, and he smirked at others,
"This is a complicated list Potter, although I am impressed if you think this to be your level of knowledge." Harry shrugged humbly,
"My theory is at this level Professor, my practical work is sadly behind however."
"Understandable, Our Magic develops as our bodies do, do not exert yourself Harry, It would be unwise at this stage of your life." Harry accepted that piece of wisdom, his studies had said practically the same thing.
"Mr Potter, I am prepared to sign off on five books from this list. Once you have finished them, I will consider allowing you more." Harry almost smiled, but nodded demurely.
He took the list back from Snape, and with a quill slowly underlined the five titles he most wanted:
Mind Magic: Develop your Occlumency vol. 2 by Veronica Neurom
Advanced Duelling Practices and their applications by Vindictus Crow
Magical Detection and Concealment Vol. 6 by Octavius Sinistrum
Battle Transfiguration vol. 2 by Phineas Nigellus Black
A Thesis on the enhancement of Wizards through subjugation of Muggle Kind By Gellert Grindlewald
"You are aware Mr Potter, that without already having a strong foundation in Occlumency, the first book on your list would not help you?" He watched his charge intently,
"I understand that without Occlumency the book is useless to me sir, But it's on my list." Snape's eyes bored holes in Harry's skull, and for the first time since the conversation began the two of them made eye contact.
For Harry, this was the first time his Occlumency shields had been tested. He felt the pressure of the Legillimency probe on his shields and to his relief they held steady, Snape's mind probed a little, but withdrew shortly afterwards. Harry stared at the Potions professor impassively.
"10 points to Slytherin Potter, Are you self-taught?"
"Largely Professor, May I have the books on my list?" Snape reviewed the list once more, his eyes lingering on the final entry before he nodded curtly, Harry gave him a final nod of appreciation before heading to the door, he halted when he was on the cusp of leaving,
"Professor, Is it legal to use Legillimency on a minor without permission?"
"No Potter, is that all?"
"Yes Professor, Good Evening." Harry left, allowing a victorious smirk as he looked down at the slip of paper in his hand, which book to take out first?
Bonnie Moran's first year as captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team had gotten off to an auspicious start. Following a triumphant victory over a strong Ravenclaw team in the final, Slytherin had once again taken control of the much prized Quidditch cup, For Bonnie however there was much more than just that to celebrate. She had been approached at the end of the game by the Cork Coyotes. One of the stronger teams in the Irish League, that night therefore there was double to celebrate. The party went on long into the night, and Harry enjoyed the festivities, although he did retire at midnight in order get some sleep for the next day. The first day of the end of year exam was in two days, and Harry was determined to get the best marks possible for himself.
It was perhaps due to his dedication that when Harry left the hall of his last examination that he felt so confident. All of his papers had gone well, and with the notable exception of Astronomy, which he viewed as next to useless, he felt like had quite well. The rest of the summer went by quickly, having no lessons, and the Quidditch cup being over left Harry with very little to do, he spent a few days reading up on his Electives that he could take next year, before eventually deciding on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.
However, despite his boredom of the last two weeks, when Harry got onto the train to head back to London, it was with a great deal of regret, he had once again asked Professor Snape if there was any chance he could spend the summer at Hogwarts, only to be refused once again, therefore when he boarded the train, his thoughts were darkened with anger and resentment about having to return to the Muggles
It was late evening when He eventually made it back to the old brick house on the outskirts of the capital. The Orphanage hadn't changed at all, and for whatever reason this upset him slightly. The Taxi driver helped him remove his trunk from the boot, before driving off.
As Harry entered through the front door, it was to see a tired looking Mrs Phelps at the front desk, she looked up at him, and he spotted dark bags under her eyes. He nodded his head cautiously. She gave no response.
"Welcome back Harry," the old Matron greeted him coldly. Her voice not so subtly hinting that she wished he hadn't returned.
"Mrs Phelps. I trust you are well?" The matron eyed him suspiciously, as though suspecting him of mocking her.
"Harry, I'm afraid I 'ave some bad news." Harry raised an eyebrow, "Harry, Cecil is dead." Harry blinked slowly, but gave no further response, she took this as leave to continue,
"Killed 'imself last week, 'ung himself in his bedroom. T' say it's made life complicated is an understatement, child services, NSPCC, the police, the place has been in uproar, I'll be lucky ter keep my job!" if she expected sympathy, she had approached the wrong person, Harry only glared at her from where he stood,
"Why is he dead?" he asked, voice soft, yet ice cold. Mrs Phelps shivered,
"Well, he were always a weedy little one weren't he? When you left ter that school he had noffing to protect him right? It got pretty bad, and when you ignored him last summer, well, he just gave up, nasty business." Harry' eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly,
"Are you suggesting this was my fault Phelps?" he asked slowly,
"Well, not just your fault, but well, you were 'is only friend, and ya' left him, he couldn't protect 'imself right."
Harry returned to his room in a rage. Whilst Harry had never considered himself friends with Cecil, hell, he barely considered the boy human, the boy had been under Harry's protection, and that had to mean something. He had to remind his fellow orphans that he was not to be messed with.
The next two weeks were filled with curious events that effected nearly all the residents of St Hilda's Orphanage. Boys suffered from spontaneous fluctuations in shower temperature, or the stairs became inexplicably wet, causing falls.
At all of these events, Harry Potter had been present, but never close enough to be accused of what was happening, however the entire building had become on edge around the raven haired boy. It didn't take long for Harry to view the situation as being back in the correct social order. Even Mrs Phelps was on edge around him, unnerved by his intensely cold gaze.
It didn't take long for Harry to sink into a pleasant routine. He left his room only for meals and to partake in exercise, which he had started as a way to fill up some of his spare time. He often wrote letters in response to those of his friends, and had enjoyed relatively frequent correspondence with all of his year, as well as Miranda and Cedric.
The summer passed rapidly, three days after his birthday, he received his Hogwarts letter and was pleased to discover that he had come first in his year, with O's in everything except for Astronomy (A) and History of Magic (E). Unlike last year, he got no offer to go shopping with Miranda, and he rather felt she was still uncomfortable over how vulnerable she had become the year before. The Blonde girl was an enigma to Harry, sometimes using him like a confidante, and sometimes cursing him like he was the source of the world's problems.
He supposed that as he was her only friend she expected him to fill all the roles of friendship, whilst at the same time she acted in total denial that they were friends at all, it was a rather frustrating situation for the Raven Haired boy.
He postponed returning to London for most of the Holiday, he had read all the books on his list and thanks to his Occlumency had them practically memorised. Therefore, on the thirty first of august he found himself once again in Diagon Alley, he picked up his galleons and made his first stop Madam Makin's Robes for all occasions, from where he had all his robes extended, He couldn't afford a new set, but the kindly lady inside had worked miracles to get them to reach a more suitable length, after he was finished there, he picked up second hand sets of his school books, before returning to Tom the Barman, thanks to his thrifty shopping he was able to rent one of the cheapest rooms for one night, which suited Harry perfectly.
The next day he arrived early on the Platform and arrived just in time to meet up with Oliva and together they made their way through the barrier, the train wasn't due to set off for another hour, so together Harry, Olivia and Bonnie made their way to a carriage at the back.
"So I understand it's been a Quidditch Filled Summer for you Miss Moran?" Harry asked the Irish seventh year teasingly, she smiled brightly, before launching into a long discussion of how wonderful the professional leagues were, and how she wanted to show Harry some plays that he might like to work into Slytherins match strategy, to which Harry jokingly reminded him that she was the captain and her word was technically law when it came to Quidditch plays.
"Yes Potter. But with your making our match strategy we have never lost, I would be a fool to ignore what you tell me. I am winning the cup, we have won the Quidditch cup every year I've been on the team and I will be damned if we lose it now!" Harry chuckled before promising to do his best.
Not long after that, the rest of the Slytherin third years piled into the carriage, and Bonnie Left to find her friends.
The train set off and the nine friends chatted brightly, catching up on all that they had missed during the summer and suggesting what might happen in the next school year. This whiled away the time most effectively and before long the train was pulling into the station.
The feast passed in typical fashion, Dumbledore gave a short speech introducing the new defence teacher, Professor Parker, a rather odd looking woman, with long auburn hair tied back into a messy ponytail. Harry didn't have high hopes for her lessons.
It became quickly apparent that Harry's initial assessment had been accurate. The woman insisted on telling long winded stories about her own experiences with the creatures they were supposed to be learning about, often the tales ended with her running away from said creature in fear.
The rest of Harry's classes however were progressing well, he was enjoying Runes and Arithmancy, both were very difficult and Arithmancy in particular required his constant attention. The first term for both subjects was simple introduction to the material, the practical application would happen after Christmas.
Harry was also very pleased when both Marcus and Terrence made it onto the Slytherin Quidditch team, they were both passionate about the sport and Harry knew that this was a dream come true for them.
Thus the term progressed, Harry had found a new passion in Runes and spent much of his time reading up on it, and it was time well spent in his opinion.
Slowly the months fell before him, September became October, and then November, and with it came snow, before long it was Christmas day, Harry sat at the Slytherin table enjoying a big lunch, to his left sat Miranda and to his right Bonnie, who had elected to stay at Hogwarts to work on her school work.
The Irish chaser now had to travel to the Cork Coyotes pitch 3 times a week for training, and her academics were suffering because of it. He finished his meal, and the three of them headed back to the common room for the traditional present giving.
Harry got his usual small pile of presents, sweets from Georgia, Olivia gave him a ticket to Bonnies next professional match, and the boys had all banded together to buy him New casual robes. He had been complaining about his lack of a casual wardrobe, and was touched that his friends had been paying attention. Cedric bought him a magical wrist watch that would never break or unwind.
There was nothing as a gift from Miranda, and he turned to her surprised. She grinned before leading him back to their traditional practice classroom. Once inside she gestured to a chair in a somewhat sinister fashion. Harry sat cautiously.
"Potter, for Christmas this year I have taken pity on you, and decided to do what should have happened years ago." Harry was perplexed, especially when she drew her wand.
"Relax Potter, I'm just going to do something about your god awful haircut." Harry chuckled, this was absolutely not what he had expected, but he had never been happy with his hair, and if the blonde knew what she was doing, he wouldn't complain.
The next hour was curious for Harry, he'd never had a magical haircut before, Miranda's wand travelled across his wand, slicing hair off behind it, it was a slow process, but eventually the Beautiful teenage girl seemed pleased with her work. She conjured a large mirror and held it in front of Harry's face. Harry blinked, he looked very different, his usually long untidy hair had been tamed.
Gone was the fringe that had constantly gotten into his eyes, his hair was short, about half an inch long, with the sides and back being ever so slightly shorter than the rest. He looked infinitely more mature, and the shorter look suited his face. Harry had never fancied himself a vain man, but he couldn't help but admit it… He looked good.
As the term continued, several of his friends informed Harry of their approval of his new look, he wore his new robes, and the new hair well, and whenever Miranda heard a compliment about him, she would smirk condescendingly at him.
Shortly after the Christmas Holiday, Harry read about a complex and dangerous piece of magic which could yield enormous results if he pulled it off. It was a method of forcing his magic into his eyes, allowing for him to see if an object was enchanted or whether or not Wards were protecting a certain area. However, the operation was risky, if he put too much magic into it, he would risk blinding himself.
As soon as he read about it, he was eager to try it, however he was not the sort to go into anything without giving it a good deal of thought, he returned to the library to read up on it, he couldn't discover much about it, except that many of the more experienced Aurors had undergone it, and that it had been invented by Dumbledores mentor, Nicholas Flamel.
However, despite the risks, Harry was too tempted, therefore one evening, when Harry and Miranda had been having one of their small Dark art's sessions, Harry had asked for her to watch over him while he tried the spell.
Harry was sat in one of the comfortable chairs he had conjured, Miranda opposite, speaking softly in a gentle voice, as he slowly sank deep within himself. Once he was properly centred, he gathered his magic and pushed it towards his eyes. He met resistance but simply pushed more magic forward, willing the change to occur, however whatever was preventing him succeeding was strong. Harry growled and with a Herculanean effort managed to flood his eyes with magic.
The Pain was intense, but Harry managed to focus and using sheer force of will attempted to bend his magic to his direction.
Almost 15 minutes after he had descended into his consciousness, Miranda heard Harry give a cry, his closed eyes suddenly opened, and a bright white light shone from them. Miranda very nearly panicked, but was unwilling to do anything in case it effected the result of his experiment.
The bright light in his eyes began to dim after a few minutes, but Harry remained unconscious, using a levitation charm, the blonde hurriedly marched him through the corridors to the infirmary, ignoring the few curious people who she passed along the way.
Once inside, Pomphrey immediately bustled over.
"What happened this time?" she asked hurriedly, Miranda shrugged,
"I don't know, but when I found him, he was clutching his head and it appeared his eyes were the source of the problem." The Healer nodded and waved her wand over her charge. Her brow furrowed, and she waved her wand over Harry's face and eyes, whatever she found upset her,
"What a stupid boy!" she muttered angrily, before Hurrying over to the fireplace and floo calling Professor Snape. The bat like professor appeared quickly, and he and Pomphrey began a hushed conversation which Miranda strained to hear.
"… very depleted magic…" Pomphrey whispered,
"Any idea of a cause?" came Snapes silky voice.
"Some It would appear…. Sight, If I had to hazard a guess" Snape scowled angrily,
"…success?" he asked,
"It would appear so, but…. At least three days is typical." Snape sighed once more.
"Thank you Madam Pomphrey, wake him up, I think this Slytherin and I should have a chat."
Harry awoke quickly, his breathing rate increased and his face frowned. His eyes flickered open, before Harry closed them, opening them slowly, the normally ice cold and blank orbs were now empty. A flicker of fear shot across Harry's face.
"Miranda?" he called out, "Miranda? I… are you there?"
"I'm here Harry, are you alright?"
"I, I can't see Miranda, It's all white." Miranda took his cold hand in hers and squeezed it gently.
"Mr Potter, 10 points from Slytherin for sheer stupidity. And I will expect you to serve detention with me every night for a week after you leave the Hospital Wing." Harry's head shot in the Potions professors' direction.
"Professor Snape?" he asked cautiously
"Indeed." Harry's head fell back against the pillow.
"Is the blindness permanent professor?" he asked, his voice deceptively strong, but it was hard to miss the notes of fear that existed within.
"Somehow Potter, despite your absolute stupidity you actually succeeding in your ridiculous task, you should have full use of your vision within three days." Harry smiled in relief, and Miranda gave a small squeeze to his hand again, then seemed to realise what she was doing and hastily released his hand. Harry chuckled.
"Potter, I should warn you, I have taken a blind eye to you and Miss Rookwood's little practice sessions as you have always shown at least some restraint in your actions, However if you ever do something this monumentally stupid again, I will have you out of this school before you can say Blackmail, am I making myself clear?" Harry looked past Snape and nodded, the potions teacher seemed satisfied and left.
Three days later, Harry had regained practically all of his sight back, it was a blessed relief to no longer be helpless to everything that was going on around him.
That evening was his first detention with professor Snape. At 8 o'clock he knocked on the professors door, and entered when summoned. The hook nosed man was waiting for him, and gestured for Harry to sit.
"Mr Potter, you are top in your year, far ahead of the rest of your peers in terms of magical knowledge and skill, what in Merlins name possessed you to perform such a dangerous task?"
"It looked interesting Professor, I thought the benefits of such a magical tool would be enormous, I knew the risks and deemed them acceptable."
"And what if you were now blind Potter? What then?"
"The risks were acceptable." Snape sighed, he couldn't fault the boy, and Snape had done exactly the same as Potter shortly after leaving Hogwarts.
"Potter, during these detentions, I am going to teach you how to properly use your new talents, It is a process that could take years to master on your own, so you best be prepared to work hard." Harry couldn't believe his luck, and nodded his confirmation at the potions instructor.
Snape hadn't been joking, his sessions had been long and extremely tiring, but now Harry was able to summon his magic sight (for he had no better name for it) at will, it caused a coloured shimmer around the object the spell was cast upon, or if it was a ward, the entire area would light up with a coloured haze.
Harry often walked around the castle, looking at the blue haze that surrounded portraits, or the purple around the moving staircases, it was fascinating, and Harry believed it to be well worth the risk, no one would be able to trick him with a cursed object, or trick him into taking a portkey unwillingly.
Harry's third year passed far quicker than the rest, before Harry knew it, it was the leaving feast and Dumbledore was giving Slytherin the house cup for the sixth year in a row. Slytherin had once again got the Quidditch cup, having narrowly beaten Ravenclaw in a thrilling final two weeks earlier. The Feast wound to a close and the happy Slytherins returned to finish packing for the train.
"Have you heard Harry?" Graham asked, Harry looked up,
"What?"
"Neville Longbottom is supposed to be starting next year" Harry groaned, Longbottoms presence was likely to set tempers flaring up at him yet again, something he had practically stopped in his three years at Hogwarts.
"What a joy, I can't wait" he responded sarcastically.
The train ride was dull for Harry, no one really spoke, and Harry spent most of it with his nose in a book, a few games of Chess were played, but it got boring for the others when they always lost to the Green eyed boy. When they finally reached Kings Cross, it was with a heavy heart, he always missed seeing his friends, and writing to them wasn't the same, especially when he was made to live with the Muggles. He sighed, bid his friends farewell and headed out through the barrier. It was looking like another happy summer.
