Chapter 8

Round two

...

The summer had been different this year, it seemed like his parents and his brother were tiptoeing around him. This made him sigh, he had no idea why they did this, but at still the same as before, for some reason they were actually more understanding. Still, he would be returning to Nature Academy in a few weeks, of course Mia was starting at Hogwarts and his parents seemed to fuss over her and she ran to him for protection, making him laugh. During the summer Harry realized that Mia was like him, or at least the way he was now,not the way he had been when he was eleven for the first time. She had a temper but could keep her cool, she was witty and cunning enough to put a Slytherin to shame. He knew he would have to have a talk with her about Houses and that it didn't matter what House she was/ended up in. Still he knew she had a good chance of going into Slytherin.

Right now he was in his room, there were two weeks left until school started and letters would be arriving soon. It was early morning and Harry was reading a book when a gay owl flew into his room and placed a letter on his bed. Accepting it, he saw that it was a Nature Academy letter. Opening it, he read the letter and nodded to himself, then he noticed something.

It has been decided that this year a team of Elementals will be sent to Hogwarts along with three teachers. Since you, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley are the most advanced, you have been chosen to go. This is to improve our relations with different schools. Because they think you are a Squib, you will only be attending Herbology, Potions and Astronomy. A room has been assigned to you and your friends for the year, you will be leaving on the train where Professor White, Nightwind and Snoof will meet you...

Everything else seemed to melt away as a grin formed on his face. He was going to attend Hogwarts this year along with Hermione and Ron. He felt like jumping for joy but then spotted a separate piece of parchment.

Harry,

I know you, Hermione and Ron are wondering about this. But I also know that this year will be the worst for Hogwarts with the Basilisk attacks. This way the three of you can fight the Basilisk better than before and prevent attacks as best you can. As for your lessons, do not worry, you are far more advanced then the other students in all your studies, and Professor White, Nightwind and Snoof will make sure to teach you and keep your secret as they have done before. As for your rooms, I chose them and the three of you will be sleeping in the same room like you have since you arrived at Nature Academy. Oh and you won't need to wear the Hogwarts Uniform.

Good luck Harry,

Headmistress of Nature Academy.

Grinning, he put the letter in a book in his trunk then ran downstairs to tell his parents.

"Mom, dad, guess what?" he said, making them look up.

"What is it, Harry?" Lily asked.

"Three students from Nature Academy have been chosen to attend Hogwarts for the year to improve our relations, my team has been chosen to go because we are so advanced in our classes at Nature Academy.," he said brightly, making his parents smile.

"That's great, cub!" Sirius said, making Harry jump a foot in the air and turn around to glare at the man.

"Uncle Siri!" he shouted, making him laugh and ruffle his hair.

"Yeah, kiddo, so what about classes?" he asked, watching Harry as he tried to put his hair back down.

"Professor White, Snoof and Nightwind will be coming with us, we will be attending Astronomy, Herbology and Potions with Hogwarts students because we don't need magic for those classes," he said brightly.

"Oh that's great, Harry!" Lily said enthusiastically "You will finally get to experience life at Hogwarts," she said.

"And prank those Slytherins!" James shouted but was slapped over the head by Lily who glared at him.

After a few more minutes Harry returned to his room and found Mia pacing back and forth in his room.

"Mia, what's wrong?" He asked, sitting down.

"Oh, it's stupid," she grumbled, turning to him.

"It can't be that stupid to have you like this," he said, grinning.

"Well, you see, I'm worried," she whispered. "What if I get sorted into Slytherin?" she asked, making him sigh and shake his head.

"You will always have me, Mia. If you do get sorted into Slytherin then you will have a friend at Hogwarts," he said, making her frown at him.

"I will be there, my team is being sent to Hogwarts for the year to improve school things," he said, waving his hand and making her grin.

"So will you be attending any magical classes?" she asked, making him tense.

"You know I'm a squib, Mia." he said, laughing uncomfortably and rubbing the back of his head.

"That's not what your aura says," she said, making him look at her in shock then sigh.

"You're an aura reader?" he asked softly, eyes wide with shock.

"Yes and you should be happy I never told mom and dad," she said, shaking her head and glaring at him. "I mean, why are you pretending to be a squib? You and your other friends are all magical like us," she said but was stopped when Harry placed his hand over her mouth.

"Don't speak so loud about it," he hissed with narrowed eyes making Mia's eyes widen in shock. "I guess it's better if I tell you about me and a few other things, after all, you wont stop until I tell you," he said with a sigh. "Come on.," he said, picking up his broom and opening his window.

He climbed on and reached his hand out to her. Mia took it and soon she was seated on his broom with her arms around his waist. With speed that Mia was not used to, he flew off, arriving at the forest and a small lake he had found. When they landed she looked around amazed.

"I never knew this was here," she said.

"I found it a while back, now let me call my friends.," he said and suddenly a phoenix appeared, making her jump.

"You have a bloody phoenix!" she shouted shocked.

"I have a few things you have no idea about, Mia, not even our parents know about them," he said.

"Nieve, please go and get everybody for me," he said and with a trill the phoenix was gone, leaving the two siblings alone.

"Alright Mia, what we are going to tell you has to stay secret and to help you with that I'm going to give you a necklace that repels all mind intruders," he said, making her frown.

"Why would I need that?" she asked.

"Because some people might enter your mind and we don't want that. During the coming year, we will teach you how to protect your mind on your own but until then, never ever take the necklace off," he said.

"Alright," she said with a sigh.

"Good," he said with a nod of his head.

Suddenly a bunch of people appeared, making Mia jump. She recognized a few but not all of them; Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Susan and Neville she recognized, but she had never met the others.

"Potter, why the hell did you call us with her here?" The blond boy asked, glaring.

"She reads auras," he said simply, making the group tense. "But she hasn't told our parents, guys, this is Mia my eldest little sister. Mia, you know most of them but this is Luna Lovegood and Draco Malfoy. Also Draco won't stab me in the back, he is on the side of the light and not every bloody Slytherin is evil," he said with a sigh.

"Alright, nice to meet you both," Mia said brightly.

"Harry, she's just like you," Draco said with a raised eyebrow.

"You think," Harry said raising his eyebrow as well while the others sighed.

"Alright, so I suppose it's story telling time?" Ginny asked, walking over and kissing Harry who kissed back.

"Yeah, it's story telling time.," he said, pulling away.

"Alright people, let's get started!" Luna said brightly.

"Mia, there isn't any way to tell you this except straight forward, our spirits were sent back in time to re-live our lives to make them better and so that we could win the war to come," he said, making her blink.

"What?" she whispered wide-eyed.

"Mia, our minds are 17 years old or actually 28 years old because of the time we spent here," he said while Mia just blinked.

"What?" she asked again, making him sigh.

"Yap, she is so your sister, Potter." Draco said with a sigh.

A few hours later

After telling Mia everything, to say the girl was shocked didn't even come close, she was beyond shocked, she was freaking out. Still, by the time they returned to the Potter Manor she had calmed down and realized that her brother was still her brother. She had accepted the necklace he gave her and then they had started to talk, by the time dinner came, Mia understood much more of what the Grim Reapers were doing. When they arrived at dinner, they found Demeter and Rose glaring at each other.

"Great, another fight," he muttered, making Mia giggle softly.

"We are going to Diagon Alley tomorrow, you two," Lily said brightly, making the two smile.

"Great to hear, mom," Harry said.

"Yeah, really great," Mia said then they both dug into their food with gusto, making Lily blink.

"You guys can slow down a bit," Rose said, looking slightly sick.

"Sorry," They both said at the same time then looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Looking around Diagon Alley, Harry let a grin form on his face. They would, of course, have to separate into groups today.

"I'll go with Mia," Harry said, taking his sister's hand.

"Alright, I'll go with Demeter," James said.

"That leaves me with Rose," Lily said, a frown on her lips at the thought of Harry and Mia alone, but before she could say anything they were gone.

Harry practically dragged Mia to the bookstore because it was better to start there than anywhere else. As they walked in, Harry grabbed two feather light baskets and handed one to Mia, grinning.

"Dad gave me a card that accesses our vaults, I'll show you a few books that you'll need and the books for the school term. Others might seem overkill but they will help you beyond hope and I will help you," He said, grinning and making her grin.

"Alright, lead the way brother-mine," she said, smiling.

they started in the history section, most books were wrong about the boy-who-lived thing and they skipped those . After a few books, Harry started to put some History books in her basket, "The History of the Goblin wars" and "The beginning of the first You-Know-Who war" being two of the books she was going to buy. After that, they went to the Herbology row. There Harry only got a few books, then they went to the Astronomy section and he didn't really spend much time in there. Finally they went to Charms and he really started to pile things in her basket. "List of basic spells every girl should know" was placed in her basket, making her blush but he mumbled something about Ginny saying every girl should have the book. "Charms that are useful in battle but will shock your opponent" was another book placed in her basket followed by books more advanced than the school book. Harry continued on, pulling down a bunch of books for himself, some of which were very advanced. After the Charms section they went to the Transfiguration section and Harry pulled out a few books for her such as "The basic laws of Transfiguration", then she got "Spells that aren't commonly taught in school", and others like that. After the course book they continued down and when that was over went to the Potions sections. There Mia seemed to get more than five books, it seemed like Harry was determined that she knew all she could about Potions. After that though they got books on Magical Creatures, how to identify them and how to defend against them, those three books Harry told her would make everything much easier for her third year if she were to take Care of Magical Creatures. Finally they arrived at the Defense sections. There they seemed to spend the most time but she didn't stop her brother. The first book was "The basics of Defense Against the Dark Arts", after that they seemed to go up in levels and when they got to the far section of the shelf Harry started to pack books into his own basket. After that they went to different sections, Harry sometimes placing different books in her basket. Finally when they were finished, they payed for everything and had them shrunk. After putting them in their pockets, they left for Mia's school uniform; when that was done Harry led her to the Apothecary for all their ingredients.

"It is always better to buy your ingredients separately and not in kits," Harry said, making her frown.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because they put the worst ingredients in the kits and that hurts your potion's effects," he explained, making her frown.

"That isn't right , to sell those ingredients then," Mia said, making Harry smirk.

"Sure it isn't, but it's not like we can stop them, now let's continue," he said, grinning.

Soon after picking up all their ingredients, they left for their other potion supplies and then went to get the rest of their things. When that was done, Harry told her to put her hood on and then led her to the so-called Dark Alley.

Arriving, Harry led her towards a jewelry store and once inside they put their hoods down.

"Harry, why did we come here?" She asked, looking around.

"Well, I think we should change the necklace around your neck into something that you like and something that isn't so obvious, why don't you look around and when you find something you like, tell me. I'm going to look around as well," he said then left her to herself.

Looking around the shop, Mia was overwhelmed by the amount of things it held, most of them were amazing, but what really caught her attention was a beautiful white gold necklace with emerald gems, it was shaped like a leaf.

Harry appeared behind her and smiled when he saw the necklace. He waved the woman behind the counter over and before Mia could say anything, he bought it.

"I'll put all the charms on it for you, OK?" He said, grinning.

"I could have bought it, you know," she said.

"I know," he answered then his hand glowed as he started to put the spells on the pendant, when he was finished he took the other one off and placed that one around her neck. "There we go," Harry said, grinning.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. We should go, one more store to stop at before we meet the others," he said, leading her back into the Dark Alley and to another store. In there, they kept their hoods off as Harry went to the counter.

"How may I help you?" an old man said as he stepped into the store.

"Don't play tricks with me, Cleo, drop the glamours," Harry said, making Mia gape and the old man laugh.

"As bright as ever, Harry," the man said and suddenly he shimmered to reveal a girl with long purple and black hair. "What can I do for you?" she asked.

"A custom-made wand for my sister here," he said.

"Alrighty then, follow me, girly," Cleo said and Harry smiled at his sister, encouraging her. When they returned a half an hour later Mia was shocked.

"How's your wand ?" he asked.

"Amazing, I have Grim fur in it with Phoenix tears," she said.

"You got more Grim fur?" He asked, shocked.

"No, she has your Grim fur." Cleo answered, making him gape.

"My Grim fur, damn," he whispered. "Well, little sister, let's go," he said after she payed Cleo.

When they arrived outside, they walked out, Harry telling her that she couldn't tell their parents where she had gotten her wand. Now they were going to Ollivander's for the wand she would us at school.

"What is your wand, Harry?" she asked.

"Mine, mine has Grim fur mixed with Werewolf fur and Phoenix blood. That's one of my wands. The other is from Ollivander, it's holly wood with phoenix feather. He doesn't know that it's mine though," he said as they arrived at the wand shop.

Walking in, they were greeted by the old wandmaker and soon it all started. When they left the store, Mia had a brand new wand with a phoenix feather core. Finally finished, they left for the pet store where Mia got a little white kitty. From there they met their parents and went home.

"So, Mia, how did your trip to Diagon Alley go?" Sirius asked, making the girl brighten.

"Harry was very good in leading me around, I got lots of books and good things, too," she said brightly, making Sirius grin.

"That's great to hear, kid, I'm glad your older brother led you around Diagon, I remember the time he scared your mother half to death by disappearing in Diagon Alley," Sirius said with a chuckle. "He ended up exploring all the stores and making great friends with the shop keepers, I finally found him talking with the owner of the ice cream shop, all the while licking a brownie fudge ice cream cone that the man gave him. Apparently Harry had helped a little girl find her mommy," he said, grinning and making Mia laugh.

"Please tell me you're not telling Mia embarrassing stories about me, Uncle Siri." Harry said as he entered the room.

"No, he isn't but you are a hero," Mia said, grinning and making Harry shrug.

"Don't know what you're talking about," he said, pouring himself a glass of orange juice. "So, Sirius, do you know why mom and dad are tiptoeing around me?" he asked.

"Yeah, they think you're jealous of Demeter," Mia said, making Harry grin. [Since when is it Demeter? Wasn't the boy called Harold until now?]

"Jealous, jealous of what? The fame he gets? Why would I want that, I couldn't even have a normal life?" Harry said, shaking his head. "By the way how did you know that?" he asked.

"Overheard mom and dad talking in the library when I sneaked in to get a book," she said, eyeing Sirius who grinned.

"Oh my little marauder...," Sirius said but was stopped by Harry who sniffed.

"She's all grown up," Harry said, making Mia grin.

"You see, Uncle Sirius, Harry here used to sneak into the library all the time, he taught me all I know about sneaking," Mia said, making Sirius blink and look at Harry.

"Even though I can't do your kind of magic, doesn't mean I don't need to understand the stuff. I mean, it's interesting and really the only books to read in this place," he said with a sigh.

"When did you start sneaking in?" Sirius asked.

"Oh I think I was four or five." Harry said, lying smoothly, after all a baby sneaking into the library wasn't really normal.

"Bloody hell, you two are like Marauders," Sirius whispered, eyes wide.

"Why thank you, dear godfather," Harry said with a bow while Mia laughed. "Now, no telling mom and dad" he said, grinning and making Sirius grin.

"Why would I? Nnow, my dears, why don't we start talking about other things like what else have you both been up to?" Sirius asked, making the two Potters grin.

"Oh well, you see, Sirius, a Marauder doesn't do and tell," Harry said then left the kitchen with Mia following behind, which of course made Sirius pout.

It was the night before they would leave for Hogwarts and Harry lay in bed looking out his window. Thoughts of Hogwarts were filling his mind. For the first time in years he would be in Hogwarts for a long period of time. He didn't know if he could stand leaving it for another two years afterwards. Still, thanks to the Headmistress they had a great advantage against the damn diary now, all they had to do was stop it from getting into the wrong hands. Ginny had sent him a letter saying that neither she nor any of her brothers had the book. That was either a bad thing or a good thing. It could mean that Lucius still had the book, that was good but bad at the same time, because the Basilisk wouldn't be let out, or it could mean that some other person had the book. He really hoped Draco would know the answer to the damn thing because it was getting nervewracking.

Suddenly in a burst of snow Nieve appeared with a letter in her beak. Accepting it, he sat up and started to read.

Potter,

Father gave the diary away to some poor first-year girl. I don't know her name but I'd recognize her anywhere. It's going to happen this year, hope you're ready. On another note, if you're going to Hogwarts, does that mean you're trying out for Gryffindor's quidditch team, because there is no way you're not going to Gryffindor?

Draco

"Damn it, another first year, I know it's not Mia because we didn't see Lucius in Diagon Alley, plus it wasn't the day he was there. Hopefully we can get the book before anybody gets hurt," he whispered then started to write a response, then he grinned. "Forgot about Quidditch, I hope they don't mind me playing, after all it's not against the rules for an Elemental to play Quidditch," he whispered.

Draco,

We're ready this year, well except for that minor set back, at least now we can make sure that we at least try and stop all the damn attacks. But if we can't, we need to fight the Basilisk before it gets out of hand and find that book. Thank Merlin we have somebody in every house. Also, yes, I think I will try out for Gryffindor's Quidditch team.

See you tomorrow,

Harry

Sending the letter with Nieve, he went back to his bed and sighed. This year was going to be hell.

"Ah good evening, Professors, I am glad to see you all here, now why don't we begin," Professor Dumbledore said. " This year, as you all know, we are getting three young Elementals. They will only be taking a handful of classes and will be in second year," he continued. "They will be taking Potions, History of Magic and Astronomy because they cannot do our kind of magic."

"Albus, are you sure this is wise ?" Professor Snape asked.

"Yes, I am very sure," the Headmaster said.

Soon the meeting continued, but once it was finished Severus, Minerva and Filius left the room for a meeting of their own. Once in Severus' chambers they all sat down.

"This year is the Basilisk year," Minerva said with a sigh.

"Yes, that damn creature ,we must try and stop it at all cost, but that damn Gryffindor trio never told us where the chamber is or even how to enter it," Severus hissed.

"Let us hope that Demeter Potter is able to figure it out then," Filius said softly, although inside he knew that the boy wouldn't be able to, after all he wasn't the real boy-who-lived and Harry was coming to Hogwarts this year. "We should concentrate on the attacks and how to prevent them or at least stop a death," Filius said comely.

"Yes, I agree, Filius," Minerva said with a nod of her head.

"I doubt that we can make it a rule for everybody to have a mirror in their hands," Severus sneered. "And with that damn fake at Hogwarts, the students will be very vulnerable."

"The Portraits, we can ask them to spy on every hallway," Minerva said.

"No, that can't happen unless you have a portrait on the hallways that are attacked, that you can trust not to tell Albus," Filius said , shaking his head.

"You're right, I'm afraid. Merlin, how can we try to prevent these attacks, have Order members guard the hall ways under invisibility cloaks?" she asked with a frown.

"After the first attack we can ask for aurors to be stationed around the hallways; aurors we trust," Severus said softly. "After all we have Kingsley, Black and Alastor that can go around the school," he said, making the two others nod.

"That is quite a good idea, perhaps we can convince Albus of that," Minerva said with a nod of her head. "Those three along with us will be able to defend the school and hopefully kill that basilisk before it's too late," she said.

"I agree with you, Minerva," Filius said but in his head he decided to tell the Grim Reapers of the plan. They, of course, needed to know.