Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters, those belong to J.K. Rowling.
Rated M For safe, and mature themes - Unsure yet if it will contain 'lemons' since I'd rather not have my story removed. Nor do I know the final pairings yet.
"Out loud"
'Thoughts' / internal thinking
Midnight Gold, the Rise of the Forgotten Lord
Chapter 7: Dogs and Penny
Reposted 30th March 2013
Revised and Beta by Joe Lawyer
Penny couldn't help but have a bounce in her step, as she gracefully headed towards the great hall, already thinking about her role in mentoring the future Lord. If she was successful in cultivating a friendship with the young Mr. Potter, it could only help her get ahead, despite the prejudiced nature of the Ministry of Magic.
Thinking back on the meeting on the train at the start of the school year, and every other encounter she had had with him, it suddenly dawned on her that it wouldn't be easy. After all, he was clearly intelligent and wasn't an individual to be intimidated by rank or position; that much was made clear by him ignoring Percy on the train, and every other first year attempting to give him the cold shoulder for refusing to help them. She had often watched from a corner of the common room as the raven-haired first year played chess, and in less than a month he had gone from being butchered by his friend Padma, to being the one defeating Padma using his own complex and innovative traps.
In addition, she had seen him hanging around with a couple of Slytherins, which demonstrated that he wasn't someone who judged others by how they were labelled. Then again, Ravenclaw generally had the best relationship with the Slytherin population of Hogwarts. He was also strangely more mature than most of his year mates she noted, probably more mature than some fifth years she knew too, who were still messing about like first years, as she remembered Percy's twin brothers. It probably explained his friendship with the Slytherin students; if they were ambitious or sharp they most likely had similar mindsets, since most of the snakes had an upbringing in politics. Otherwise she doubted he would hang around with them, it was clear that he wasn't interested in making friends just for friendship's sake.
All of which was very positive for her, she would just have to tread carefully.
Simply put, she doubted that simply walking up to him and telling him that she would be his tutor for the remainder of the year would result in an immediate teacher/student relationship, a relationship where she would lead, and he would follow. He would test her by pushing her to prove her worth and value to him.
It suddenly dawned on her that it would be much harder than she originally thought; she would need to prepare and come up with some type of pitch.
After all, her head of house had warned her that it would be up to her, and a good Ravenclaw always had some type of plan. Remembering the fact that Harry would be a Lord some day, it was probably for the best that she at least tried to learn something of his family's recent history, so she wouldn't make an utter fool of herself, or screw herself over and ruin her chances by saying the wrong thing.
The problem was where to find such information; 'library,' she instantly concluded realizing that it would contain at least some biographical information on the family. Walking through the near empty corridors, she saw someone she was hoping to avoid, Percy.
Percy had always been nice to her throughout their years at school, or maybe indifferent to her until the start of the previous school year, but clearly something had changed last year and for whatever reasons he had taken it upon himself to 'court' her. Naturally, it was very flattering, and was a welcomed ego boost at the time; after all, Percy was a respectable guy, if not a little stiff. But now she couldn't help but think back on everything she had learnt about magical Britain since the beginning of the year, whilst having images of Percy's mother, who seemed rather pushy and demanding.
"Penny! Wait up!" he called, whilst hurrying over to her.
Mentally groaning at her misfortune, whilst trying to decide what to do about him; despite everything she had learned about the sexist nature of the Ministry, and magical Britain as a whole, she didn't want to end their friendship before knowing where he really stood with his views. She personally put it down to her Ravenclaw curiosity, and need for answers, after all he was nice to her, and had been a good friend. Nevertheless she couldn't help but think of his parents being pureblood, and how his mother Molly held a snobbish attitude towards her, like she wasn't good enough for her precious son. "Percy, how are you today?" she asked, only showing half interest in his presence, as the Gryffindor prefect straightened his robes.
"I am fine, thank you," answering with a smile, "Do you mind if I join you? Since I have a free period for the next hour and a bit," Percy offered in explanation.
Considering her answer before replying, if she allowed him to join her she wouldn't be able to research her target openly, and would be forced to make civilized conversation, but she could always discreetly pump Percy for information on the Potters.
Deciding to give him a hint that she wanted to be alone, "I doubt you would enjoy my company today Percy. I have a long assignment just set by Professor Flitwick, and I need to focus on it, I'll just be a bore," she replied with a hint of coldness.
Percy just smiled, "That's no problem, I am sure I can help you. I've just handed in all my assignments, after all, we prefects need to set an example to our year-mates." He replied pompously, instinctively thrusting out his chest to show his prefect badge, as she resisted rolling her eyes at Percy's self-aggrandizing speech.
"Very well then, Percy," was her clipped reply as she started walking away with purpose, as Percy lagged behind following her. 'He better not be looking at my ass,' feeling the boy's eyes lingering on her ass, but still feeling slightly flattered at the attention.
Midnight Gold
Harry was currently reading his way through the book his Head-of-House had given him. The book focused on how simple charms could be used for un-intended purposes, such as combat, while giving examples on how combining mundane charms could cause unexpected and sometimes lethal results.
Basically the book was about how simple charms could be turned into combat capable spells for duelling and personal defence. The advantage of this was that clever usage of simple charms required less power, over some more energy expensive duelling styles.
Tactics like using an overpowered cooking charm on an individual would cause serious burns, muscle damage, as well as creating similar, but weaker effects to that of a blood boiling curse. But these simple spells are easy to heal and counter, leaving no long-term damage, and are not illegal to use on another wizard. Another example given was using the water charm coupled with the freezing charm to turn ground to ice. Simply put, the book encourages a devious mind in the cunning usage of overlooked, common spells for devastating effects. They would be especially dangerous when used with silent casting, where your foe wouldn't immediately recognise the danger the spells presented. Furthermore, it enabled Harry to understand why their local charm's master was a highly regarded duelling champion, and respected even by traditional purebloods.
Harry really hoped in the years to come that Professor Flitwick would agree to teach him, even if the style was not as effective for him, because no matter how you look at it, simply being able to learn from a master duellist who relied on skill over direct power would help him develop his own abilities in duelling. Additionally, it would help prepare him for other duellists using similar styles. However his musing was ended when he heard a light tapping sound on his bedroom window.
Making his way over to window, he saw that there was a Gringotts' bank owl trying to get in. Opening the window, the owl quickly flew in and deposited its letter onto his bed before quickly disappearing out of the window.
Breaking the seal, he read the short message contained within.
The previously discussed and agreed upon investments have been made. I also made a number of smaller deals similar to the ones undertaken during the summer. They should prove profitable. I will discuss this further with you on your next scheduled visit to the bank.
May Your Gold Flow and Your Enemies Lie Defeated At Your Feet
Bloodmoon
Senior Account Manager
Smiling at the news as he considered Bloodmoon's message, he thought the goblin was doing his job well, very well. 'I might actually have to give him an extra reward for his good work,' considering how to keep the goblin happy and giving that extra effort for his accounts without his motivations becoming clear.
He had looked over the Potter investment portfolio during the summer holidays and was very interested in reopening the Potter Docklands which had been a major cash cow for his family before the last war, and the Death Eater attacks which had resulted in its destruction after several raids. Along with the redevelopment of the Potter's holdings surrounding the docklands, which could possibly be rented out to new businesses, frankly, it would give London's Diagon Alley some serious competition if redeveloped correctly...and all of it under his and his family's control. The possibilities were endless with a creative mind.
He was considering asking Bloodmoon about it as soon as the current businesses were sorted and fixed, to make preliminary moves to reopening the alley and docks again. He was pretty certain that businesses would return to the area if the right incentives were in place to entice them, such as low rent for a fixed period of time or a percentage of their profits, and prime shop positions on the magical high street.
But first, he would discreetly buy up the old businesses, and any other real-estate in the area he could get a hold of, whilst the land value was still low, before anyone realized his plans for the redevelopment of the area. After all, if anyone found out it would drive up the land value, decreasing the potential for profit. Considering the money he'd be sinking into the place and the political obstacles he'd need to overcome to make it a reality, he wanted to control as much of it as he could before he even started. If everything went well, he could possibly turn the area into a magical cultural center like it was before, whilst lining his pockets with gold.
He knew Bloodmoon would be supportive and more than willing to try; this project could very well triple the yearly revenue flowing into the Potter vaults, improving the goblin's own prominence and position within the bank.
Naturally, he would try to buy a good percentage of the surrounding real estate under the Peverell account to help prevent people from connecting the dots. However, he would have to be careful; he doubted that the other powerful families, who had business interests in Diagon Alley, would take kindly to seeing their profits decrease with the opening of another magical shopping alley.
It would take time, but he was young and he was patient. He just needed to plan out his moves carefully and gather the right set of allies and supporters while taking advantage of every opportunity as it became available.
Noticing the time on the clock, it was time for dinner and he was a growing boy, and growing boys need their food to grow big and strong. Plus, he had agreed to meet Hagrid tonight as well, which he was looking forward to at the prospect of hearing some more stories about his parents and their days at Hogwarts.
Hagrid's Hut
After finishing his dinner, he made his way down the worn stone path to the groundkeeper's hut, as darkness started engulfing the evening sky and the sun steadily set for the evening. The hut was a modest home, but it was clearly warm and friendly like the groundskeeper himself, and had that natural earthly feeling about it.
The evening slowly ticked by as Hagrid introduced him to his dog named Fang, and told him stories about his parents.
Finally, after several stories he got around to asking why he named the dog 'Fang', the half-giant replied fondly with an easily smile, "It gives him courage," before patting his loveable dog with a surprising gentleness on its brow.
Chuckling at the half-giant's odd sense of humour, he privately wondered if Hagrid had a policy of giving harmless pets dangerous sounding names, whilst giving highly dangerous creatures simple, unassuming names, like something you would give to hamster or any other family pet.
Listening as the half-giant talked about magical creatures with undisguised passion, he wondered if Hagrid had any other pets or any other creatures of personal interest. Putting down his oversized mug, "Got any other pets of interest?" he enquired, watching as Hagrid stroked Fang gently.
"Only Fluffy, nice dog, really loyal, totally harmless, wouldn't hurt a soul," Hagrid started in explanation whilst taking a gulp of his own drink, "The headmaster asked if he could borrow him for the rest of the year," the groundskeeper explained further with a half smile, as he recalled his pet.
Smiling as the half-giant talked fondly about his pet, his natural curiosity wanted to know what type of animal Fluffy was. Hagrid didn't say, just assumed that he knew what Fluffy was, but he doubted it was a rabbit like the name suggested. It was quite annoying, not getting all the answers possible; it was one of his Ravenclaw traits, the need to know as much as possible; it was like a hunger at times, always demanding. "What type of animal is Fluffy, Hagrid? You didn't say?" Reaching down he pet Fang himself, as the giant of a man had some more mead from his mug.
"Oh, Fluffy is just my favourite three-headed dog, you know a Cerberus right?" He responded in a caring manner, not really paying much attention as he continued to drink, missing Harry's shocked expression as he immediately stopped petting the dog, as he processed the half-giant's statement.
"I didn't realize they were real. I just thought they were fiction from Ancient Greece," He replied quickly, realizing that many fictional stories he had read, may actually have some elements of truth to them. After all, Hagrid had just confirmed the existence of Cerberuses, what else could there be out there? Could there be hydras? It suddenly dawned on him that he would have to spend some time in the library reading up about such magical creatures, to fully find out what was fact and what was myth.
"Nah Harry," shaking his head, his long beard falling into his mug, "Cerberuses have been used for centuries as guard dogs by wizards and witches to guard their treasures. They are far easier to train than other magical creatures, such as dragons. After all, a dragon may just cook you alive," the giant joked, as Harry just listened patiently, before the groundskeeper pressed on in explanation. "Best a Cerberus will do is bite a limb off, or two, you'll just be unlucky if it gets your head, instead of a leg. You just need to know how to train them," he replied taking another gulp of his drink before continuing on.
"Cerberuses are just like normal dogs really, extremely loyal, but they also have extremely sensitive hearing, even more so since they have three pairs of ears." Looking again at Harry before continuing, "You just need to train them from a young age to respond to a set piece of music, so when that instrument is played, the dog calms down and falls right to sleep," he explained with a smile.
"It's a very useful technique for training animals, since most animals have far more sensitive hearing than us. The goblins use a similar technique when training dragons to guard their high security vaults. Of course, then you have to keep it a secret, otherwise anyone can just steal what it's guarding and it would be a rather useless guard dog then, wouldn't it?"
"Sounds interesting, Hagrid," he admitted, storing the information away, "Have you ever considered teaching about magical creatures? You obviously know a lot about them, and have a passion for the material, I'm sure you know a lot of things not mentioned in the textbooks. Things that can only be leant through experience."
"You're right there, Harry, I may just have to ask the headmaster if I can take over in a couple years," the groundskeeper noted, as he thought more about the idea. "It would give me something to do besides grounds-keeping, and being the Master of the Keys," He replied, getting exciting at the idea, before seeing the clock.
"It's getting late Harry, you better head back to your dorm. I'd rather you didn't get a detention for talking with little old me," the half-giant stated whilst chuckling at his pun. Quickly saying goodbye, and agreeing to visit Hagrid again in a couple weeks' time, before making his way back to his room, thinking over what the friendly half-giant had said.
During his way back to the dorms, he unfortunately ran into the bitter caretaker who ranted and made threats. He just ignored the aging man and his cat, pushing them to the back of his mind. After all, he had done nothing wrong, so all of his remarks were worthless, just like a small dog barking, just for the sake of barking.
It seemed being ignored just made the caretaker even more enraged resulting in Harry finally snapping at the man "You really are a right piece of work aren't you, I have done nothing wrong and yet you are threatening me? You don't even know me, I suggest you pick on someone who can't have you arrested," flashing his Potter family ring at the caretaker. "If you hate your job so much, just quit, otherwise stop your moaning," he stated bluntly as the disgruntled caretaker reddened, either from anger, or shame, but probably shame before continuing his rant.
"Have you ever thought about the reason why you are the victim of so many pranks? It's because you are trying to make our lives miserable. Think about it, I've done nothing wrong, but yet here you are, trying to cause trouble, throwing your weight around like a schoolyard bully, by god it's pathetic," looking at the man with disgust. "What are you? A child? Grow up! If you're not happy here, find another job. Now go back to your office and think about it," dismissing the speechless man in the hallway, like a misbehaving child.
As he was walking he wondered what had suddenly caused him to snap at the man, what had suddenly caused his temper to flare, since normally he would just have weathered the verbal storm.
Thinking about his sudden outburst, it wasn't the first such outburst in recent weeks, and he had been feeling increasingly confident lately. His mind tried to come up with a logical explanation for it. Maybe it was the result of no longer being an unfed, half-starved child finally having extra energy and belief in himself and his own worth now that he was no longer being put down every minute of the day and worked like a slave? Or was it the first signs of puberty?
Next day – Great Hall
Looking around the Great Hall, he watched silently as different groups of students talked amongst themselves. Whilst it may appear a waste of time just watching, it did however provide some valuable insights into the people around him. Who were the natural leaders amongst his peers, and who were the followers, who got along with who based on reading body language and positioning. Not that he could really tell with certainty, but it was still interesting to watch. It was clear that the houses stuck mostly with themselves, rather than mixed openly with another house.
Shifting his gaze over towards the Slytherin table and taking the measure of them, he noticed that the first years were broken into two camps. One was clearly led by Draco Malfoy, who in Harry's personal opinion was a spoiled brat and son of a well known Death Eater, and godson of their resident potions' master. Over the last several weeks, Harry had taken to just ignoring the boy's presence, because frankly it was easier than getting dragged down to the boy's level; plus he wasn't going to waste his valuable time dealing with a bully, unless he started to effect Harry's own efforts.
Fortunately the spoiled brat had taken it upon himself to be Neville's rival and his daily headache instead of Harry's, not that that really surprised him. Logically by Draco trying to best Neville, the famous Boy-Who-Lived, he was trying to raise himself above Neville, and indirectly above the former Dark Lord Voldemort, even if it was stupid and childish and of dubious value even in the school setting.
How often had he heard the two boys exchanging heated insults, he didn't know, it seemed to happen every time they saw each other. Frankly, he was starting to wonder if they would eventually get bored of it, or if they would keep it up for the next seven years. On the other hand, it was very amusing to watch, at least from his point of view; he was sure the other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were just amused by the frequent exchanges in the corridors.
During one such exchange, wands were drawn, resulting in an exchanging of spells. Of course, most were harmless prank spells, with no lasting consequence. However it was amusing watching Neville cast a series of disarming and blinding spells. Padma herself had been impressed until Harry told her what Professor Flitwick had told him about the boy's advanced training.
The 'duel' was very one-sided, as expected, and resulted in the boy's fame and popularity increasing within the Lion ranks. Unfortunately for him it also resulted in Neville losing 40 house points and landing himself in detention for a week, when Professor Snape finally heard about the confrontation. Not that the young lion seemed to care, resulting in Gryffindor falling to third place in points for the House Cup. Naturally, the Deputy Headmistress not to be outdone, or perhaps just to stop her own house falling even further behind Slytherin, removed 50 points in retaliation and put Draco in detention for week with Hogwarts' resident cantankerous caretaker.
The end result was Ravenclaw gaining a comfortable lead of 100 house points over both houses, as the private house war between Gryffindor and Slytherin heated up.
Personally, he found it very amusing how the fighting between the two houses would ensure they both ended up losing in the long run. The Puffs themselves were only 10 to 15 points behind the Lions and the Snakes, so it gave them a good chance to claim second. After all, all it would take was a single good lesson to grab the second place position.
Ravens as a whole were the best prepared, and didn't break the rules as often, so they only ever lost points from potions, and Snape couldn't take too many without his intentions becoming clear and his house suffering from the combined efforts of the staff working to level the playing field.
However, the other snake faction, made up of Daphne, Tracy and Blaise, just stayed in the shadows, rather than being drawn into the ongoing conflict. They were from neutral households, and had business links between their families. He had learnt from Blaise that his family links were primarily in southern Europe, mainly in Italy and Spain, whilst Tracy and Daphne's families had links around the British Isles, and Low Countries.
They shared mutual respect for one another, and would often join him in the library whenever one or the other was present. Daphne's reasoning was simple, and had resulted in her moving up in his mind's ranking. "You are far more preferable company than our housemates," she had said one time. He smiled inwardly at that, but kept his face passive, and said, "Likewise."
He wouldn't call them friends just yet, but they weren't enemies, either. In time they could be allies, or even friends, but like most things of value, it takes time to build trust. Plus, they had common ground being heirs to their own respective houses; hence they all were entering the same world of adult responsibilities, of gathering and forming alliances and learning politics.
Tracy's family wasn't in the same league and standing as her 'friends', but they had close links due to their parents moving within similar social circles and business interests, with similar political views.
Looking over at the Gryffindor table, he saw the quick-tempered Ron Weasley playing chess again. From what he saw the red-head was reasonably good, but Harry expected he could wipe the floor with him now. After all, if he was as over-confident as he was acting, then he would be easy prey to Harry's style of play. But, he would continue to wait and watch, until he was sure he could win, and had something to gain from beating Ron.
Great Hall
The Great Hall was full as always, but she still felt lonely, even with the new friends she had made since arriving at Hogwarts. She had made a number of friends across the houses; however, she still missed her twin sister.
At first she had been happy when they had been sorted into different houses, since before Hogwarts they had always been a pair, both the same in everyone's eyes besides their parents. It had been the first thing everyone had noticed about them, they hadn't been allowed to be truly individuals, both were always given equal credit.
Padma herself took more after her father than her mother; she enjoyed a good book, or discussing theories, or some other type of mental challenge. Her father treated her more like her older brother, than a daughter, maybe that was because if anything happened to her brother then she'd be responsible for the line, not her sister, since she was the eldest of the pair, even if it was only by ten minutes. Whilst Pav took after their mother in her love for beauty, her sister was still smart and sharp; she just had other focuses in life, hence Pav being the more social of the pair. However, she was also the more impulsive and reckless of the pair, and that probably was why she was sorted into Gryffindor.
But now she missed her sister; not being able to always talk, or share her feelings, or just being there had really gotten to her. Both were trying to still be there for each other, but both had different timetables. Pav's friends were nice, but she was treated a bit like an outsider anyways. Her sister tried to get the group to be nice, but she was a Raven and they were Lions and that was that. Now it seemed like there was a barrier between them. The first one in their lives. Even when she sat at their table to talk to her sister she got the cold-shoulder from some of them, like she was diseased or something.
One small blessing had been her close friendship with Harry. He kept her distracted most of time, pushing her to do her best and then helping her when she was stuck, explaining any theories, effectively taking her under his wing, like a brother would. She even fell asleep on him a couple times when they had been reading together, which was extremely embarrassing. It made it easier on her, but he wasn't her twin sister...plus he was cold... not in the sense of body temperature... just in personality.
Hopefully it would get better in time, as soon as they settled down into a routine most likely; hopefully the lions would open up to her, if she sat enough with them. She would have to talk to her sister during the holidays about it; and hopefully they would be able to come up with a plan. Harry had given her some advice, 'We all grow up, and grow apart. It is the natural cycle of the world. Take comfort in knowing that your twin will always be there, no one can ever replace the bond between twins. If you ever truly need her she will be there for you. You just need time to adapt; at least she is still in the same building, not the other side of the world,' her first-year friend said sagely.
Sighing, she picked up a banana from the fruit bowl, before deciding to head back to her room.
Getting up from her seat, only to have her hand grabbed, getting her attention as her eyes fell on a pair of emerald eyes staring into her own hazelnut brown. "Are you ok Padma, you seem upset?" Harry asked his voice containing a surprising amount of concern.
"I'm fine; I just need a bit of peace and quiet for a bit. I'll be in my room reading; will you join me in bit?" she enquired, wondering how he seemed to know that she was upset, since she always thought she was good at hiding her emotions. She knew her sister could due to their connection, thinking it might be a family trait or ability.
"Sure Padma, I will be up in bit, I just want to head up to the library first to find a book, or two on magical creatures. I need a change of pace from reading just charm's theory," he answered with a smirk before pulling her into a light hug, before letting her go.
Padma couldn't help but be a bit embarrassed at the public hug, but it did feel nice to know he was concerned for her, and to notice that she was upset.
Whilst she was walking out of the great hall, she noticed several older students just smiling at her.
Library
Harry had heard rumours about the Cerberus on the 3rd floor, but had dismissed it as utter foolishness. He had only heard of such creatures in fictional stories before talking to Hagrid yesterday. If the creature was as dangerous as he expected then there must be a good reason for having it in a school full of children.
The groundskeeper had said that they were used to guard treasure by the wizards of old, but why then wasn't it in the bank under the guard of the goblins? Or did the headmaster need regular access to it or something and thus that was untenable?
Now standing, looking at the magical creature section of the imposing library, he realized that it was going to take a while to find the book he needed.
Sighing, Harry began his search. Hopefully it wouldn't be in vain, not noticing the blonde haired Ravenclaw watching him carefully from one of the circular study tables.
Penny PoV
She had only been partly successful in her search for information on the Potter family over the last couple of days, one reason for that was due to having to ditch Percy, who wouldn't take the hint that she wanted to be alone. Then there was the fact that there was no one book to reference, instead she had found a number of references relating to the Potters, but most of those references talked about an individual Potter's role in various historical events rather than the family itself.
Eventually, after several days of searching, she had found an old worn out tome, which contained a short history of the line, along with most other distinguished families in magical Britain's history.
Reading over the aged tome, the Potter family's history was certainly impressive from what she knew about blood lines. The family could be dated back close to eighteen hundred years accurately, but some records suggested close to two thousand years, making them one of the oldest magical families worldwide. Only another couple dozen families spread across Europe could make similar claims accurately, the rest were simply rumour or adopted lines.
Their official history started in the north of England, on the Scottish borders as a part of a druidic sect of wizards, which helped resist the Roman imperial mages' occupation with their non-magical allies.
With the collapse and withdrawal of Imperial Rome, the Potters were left as one of most powerful magical families around, resulting in them carving out their own little kingdom in the north of England, and were one of the '7' Lords of the North. The Lords of the North were a group of 7 magical warlords, who controlled northern England and lower Scotland before the creation of the Wizengamot, and the creation of the modern Ministry of Magic several hundred years later.
For the most part, the Potter family history was similar to the rest of the ancient families dating back to that period, spending most of their time on their own private conflicts and wars trying to increase their own regional power and influence, much like their non-magical counterparts did in the middle ages. With their lands spreading south, they continued absorbing and conquering smaller families and factions as they went. However with the creation of the Wizengamot in the late 12th century, the Potters were welcomed as one of the founding families, and were one of the original ruling 13 charged with trying to maintain stability for wizards as a whole.
This early Wizengamot was mainly responsible for maintaining common laws between wizards, until the Wizengamot finally expanded to include all lords of set station and rank, and the creation of the Ministry of Magic to enforce their collective rulings in the late 14th century. In other words, it was the beginnings of the modern British Ministry of Magic, close to 500 years ago, when the Statute of Secrecy was first introduced to stop persecution from muggles.
The book went on to reveal the major Potters and their historical roles, but the conclusion was that Potters were considered a light-side family in policy and views in general, but were more grey in nature, having no issue with taking up the sword and the wand if need be. With the family motto, 'Death is the last enemy to be conquered.'
Considering the information, it explained a lot about the Potters, and why they ended up fighting against Lord Voldemort. And why the Dark Lord had wanted them dead. They had been a family whose whole history had been fighting one enemy or another for centuries, whether that was a dark lord, or another state. Ultimately resulting in the Dark Lord sending his Death Eaters after them and Harry's parents dying at the hands of the Lestrange family, and another unknown Death Eater who had managed to flee as the Aurors arrived to investigate, only to find Lady Potter dying next to her infant son, with Bellatrix Lestrange unconscious by the door.
The tome didn't go into much detail about what had happened that awful night, but from the short outline it was clear, the Potters had been sold out by one of their closest friends to the Dark Lord, who sent his most trusted and feared lieutenant after them. The tome didn't say any more. She expected that if she wanted to find out any more information, rather than a general overview, she would need to ask Harry himself about his family. Since only the Potters themselves would have a complete family history, or perhaps ask a close historical ally to them.
The Longbottom family was one of their ancient allies, dating back to the '7', but she expected if she asked the young Gryffindor he wouldn't be able to provide any useful additional information, and it would draw attention to her asking about Harry. However, her planning was interrupted as her target walked in and went straight to the magical creature section.
Penny thought this was odd, since that subject wasn't taught until the 3rd year, but there had to be some reason for his interest. Carefully watching the first year from behind her stack of books, whilst considering what to do next; should she introduce herself? Or just continue to watch?
Deciding it would be better to tell him now, so he would be prepared for her tutoring him rather than just surprising him on Wednesday. Taking out a small mirror from her bag, she made the effort of checking herself over and smarting herself up, spending the next several minutes trying to get the right image she wanted to display. But just ended up going for a smart look; if she was going to be tutoring him, she would need to make the impression of being knowledgeable and intelligent.
Walking across the floor of the library, she noticed the first year holding several large books in his arms, whilst inspecting the 3rd one's index for whatever he was looking for. Deciding to make her presence known, she gave a light cough, to make him aware of her.
Looking up from book, Harry turned to face her, giving her his attention, "Yes, can I help you?" his voice laced with annoyance at her interruption.
Penny gave a light smile, hoping to help disarm his hostility towards her. Deciding it may be best to give a quick explanation of her presence before he started ignoring her like he did with Percy on the train, she introduced herself. "Yes, Professor Flitwick tasked me with being the one to monitor your studying for the rest of the school year; I believe he talked to you about this?"
"Yes, he did," Came the quick reply, "But he didn't say who he was considering for the task." He closed the book, before offering his spare hand to her.
Penny just smiled, taking the offered hand while saying "Penelope Clearwater, but you can call me Penny," offering her shorter name, hoping it would help lay the seeds of friendship.
Harry brought the offered hand to his lips and gave a light kiss before lowering it, putting his other hand now free of holding the book on top of her hand, "Harry James Potter, it's a pleasure to meet such a fine lady." He said, offering a smile, quickly disarming her with his unexpected charm and sudden change of attitude, causing her to forget her planned response.
Harry PoV
Deciding it was better to start charming the girl early, if he was going to have to spend the rest of the school year with her watching him. Besides the girl was a Ravenclaw, and fifth year, so chances were she wouldn't be too annoying, and would prove to be rather knowledgeable and useful. Also, having a charmed prefect liking him would be sure to have additional benefits, if he ever decided to take a midnight walk with his dad's cloak.
Plus having an attractive girl liking him would be sure to help keep some of the older guys from annoying him. Especially the carrot-haired Percy who seemed to take it as his own self-appointed task to annoy Harry by throwing his position around and doing on-the-spot inspections of his book bag for banned items. After all, he had seen Percy trying to court the girl on a number of occasions. How better to get back at the ass, than by having the same girl he was charming, put him down?
He couldn't wait to see the carrot haired fool's reaction of having Penny protecting him, as he flashed his best smile.
After all, he couldn't fight Percy directly without drawing too much attention. Rather than having to deal with it himself, far better just to get another person to do it for him. If he was lucky he could spend the next three years using Penny as both a shield and a sword to get back at the guy. After all, the sorting hat would have made him a snake had it not been for the safety of the other students. It seemed sensible to embrace his cunning side, since it seemed foolish to just discard such traits simply because he was sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin.
Still holding the girl's hand waiting for her to respond, he decided to get to work on his self-appointed mission of charming Penny. Plus it would make some good practice since words could be just as deadly as swords, with far longer lasting effects, remembering a muggle saying about the pen being mightier than the sword. Bringing a smile to his face Harry suggested, "Penny, how about we get our books together and head back to the nest, so we can get to know each other better. After all, there's no point waiting until our first tutoring session when we're both free right now?" causing the girl to blush slightly, throwing her off-guard by the unexpected invitation.
She obviously wasn't expecting him to act in such a way, as she failed to respond. Not really surprising considering most first and second years would never act this way towards her. But he was a Lord and it was expected of him to a point. He tucked his books under his arm and led her away to the checkout desk, not waiting for her to agree.
Besides, if he was going to have this working relationship with her for the next year or so, he was going to be the one in control of it, as he had found asserting control early set the tone and structure of the friendship as he pulled the still speechless 5th year along.
Common Room
Upon arriving in the Ravenclaw common room, Harry made the quick decision that it was too busy there for them to have a comfortable chat. He also had to see Padma, after all he had already agreed to meet her. He considered his friend's loneliness. Maybe Penny could be a sister figure for Padma, to help her with not having Pav with her all time. After all, he was a guy, not exactly the best option for girly talks, or outpouring of emotions.
Turning towards Penny he said "Too busy in here for a good chat, follow me," leading her up the stairs like a doll, not waiting for her reply or her agreement. Before going to his room, he knocked on Padma's door and told her what was going on, so she could join them if she was interested.
Padma just waved him off, saying she would be there in a while, after she finished her chapter.
They quickly made themselves comfortable; as Penny went and transfigured the desk chair into something a little more comfortable, similar to the chairs in the common room. The conversation started slow as they were just getting more familiar with each other's presence. Harry took a laid-back approach and allowed Penny to lead the chat.
They discussed most things, while Harry avoided taking too much about his childhood. Penny, however, revealed that she had an older half-brother, five years her senior, who she rarely saw anymore. He was a non-magical like her mother and step-father were, making her the odd one out in the family.
"I understand, it was same with my relatives, they knew I was magical even before I did, they were scared of me, or envious," sharing a little about himself, thereby encouraging her to connect and open up with him.
His efforts were rewarded with a sad smile, one that often appeared when individuals had the common ground of being odd balls. Penny went on and let slip she wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic for a while, but was reconsidering her options.
Revealing a little more about himself, he explained how he wanted to travel the world, and see its many wonders, because he had always been trapped at his aunt's, and had only ever read of the wonders of world. Now he had a chance to see them and more, and he was going to take his chance. Penny agreed that it was something she was interested in as well. As the chat went on, Harry gave Penny a display of his current skills and abilities, only holding a little back. He could tell Penny was rather impressed at his knowledge considering he was only a first year. By the time Penny was fully aware of his talent; it was time for her scheduled patrol of the halls.
When their chat ended, Harry invited her to join him and Padma, whenever she wanted. He knew it would help build-up trust and influence, as they had many things in common at first glance.
After giving a final goodbye, Harry went to talk to Padma since she had failed to show up.
While walking to his friend's room he couldn't help but smile, he had already made a good impression he could tell. Maybe it was due to his advancing skills in the mind arts. He knew being empathic was one of the many benefits of training.
As he got to know her better in the future he would be able to sense her emotions clearer, before being able to easily view her surface thoughts. He couldn't wait until that asshole Percy saw them together. He would be forced to be civil, especially if he wanted to continue to court Penny without looking like a giant ass and jerk to him in front of Penny.
He liked Penny, but the additional incentive of pissing Percy off was so worth the time and effort to encourage their friendship.
Knocking on Padma's door, but getting no response, he tried the door handle only to reveal the sleeping first year comfortably lounging on her bed. He decided to leave her to her dreams, but not before covering her with her bed sheet and putting her books on the table rather letting them get damaged should she roll on top of them or get knocked off the bed.
Silently closing the door, Harry made his way back to his room to read up on magical dogs. He was curious as to what was on the third floor. Now he added two more missions alongside getting ranked number one in end-of-year exams, first, was to find out about the third floor. The second was befriending Penny just to piss Percy off.
Thinking about Penny and Percy's relationship, he couldn't understand why she kept the ass around; they were opposites from what he saw of them. He knew he was being a bit of an ass by using Penny to get at Percy, but he came to a simple conclusion: Percy had started this, with his childish abuse of his position and its powers.
Besides, as far as he was concerned he was a better person than his carrot-haired foe, so why shouldn't he play for keeps with Penny being the prize for the winner? Smiling, he was sure he would win; after all, it was clear Penny was already annoyed with Percy at the moment for whatever reason; he just had to exploit that.
Now it was time to read about Hagrid's three-headed dog and hopefully get an idea of what's really going on.
Next Morning
The next morning Harry woke and did his normal routine before preparing for the day ahead. He was managing to do more push ups and sit ups than before. He also noticed in the mirror that he was starting to look less thin, as he put on weight and muscle. A couple months of good eating and several powerful potions were doing wonders for him and his malnourished and abused body.
Noticing it was still rather early, he decided to spend some time in his mind's codex, and organize his most recent memories as well as adding additional defences to his primitive mindscape that he picked up the last couple of weeks. He even added a magical chess set connected to the door defending his codex. Instead of just having a simple locking charm on the door, he connected it to the chess set. One had to win a game of chess against Harry's mind, before they could see Harry's memories.
He also picked up his book on the mind arts, deciding to reread the section on empathy, wondering just how much this ability was going to develop in the upcoming years. After all, the skill was rather useful in a myriad number of situations, but he would much prefer to be able to consciously control it, rather than having it turn on and off at random, because several times he had been caught off guard by the impressions it provided.
Thinking over everything that had transpired in the last couple of days, he noticed that this was the fifth day in a row that he had woken up early in the morning, after only having about six hours rest. Surely he should be exhausted from waking up early all those days, most of the students weren't even up before seven, but Harry was going to bed between 10 to 12 in the evening and waking up between 4 and 6 the next morning.
Maybe he should talk to someone about this. He had also been feeling increasingly restless of late, but he would wait and see before he went to the school nurse. No point in drawing additional attention to himself at this early juncture.
End of Chapter
Author Note: Remember the mind arts are about being able to view memories and these memories are driven by emotion, that's why controlling one's emotions is a part of the process of locking one's mind in codex and the creation of a mindscape.
And that long-term exposure to individuals allows one to 'read' their emotional state easier, and is the reason why Harry can sense Padma's own emotions since they are close friends. Legilimency, I think, is a twofold process, and that being able to 'read' people starts after developing the mind to a point, i.e., organizing the mind allows the first stages of Legilimency and that starts with developing a degree of uncontrollable empathy or developing telepathy, before resulting in the passive controlled ability of Legilimency over a period of time.
