Hogwarts Year 2

Christmas Break

Christmas break was almost upon Hogwarts and all the students were looking forward to this time off from school, especially Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna. A week before the break Harry asked Luna if she would like to come over to his house and join the trio during the break, she said she would be happy to come over if it was okay with her father. Harry suggested she send an owl to any of them once she found out what her father said, and that he was welcome as well.

The train ride home was pleasant, until Malfoy showed his face in the door of the compartment. It seemed that he just didn't get it, he wasn't welcome. Draco started out by insulting Luna that was as far as he got as Neville placed a zipper on Malfoy's mouth. That was funny enough but it got funnier when one of his bodyguards tried to remove it and did the spell wrong causing boils to appear all over Draco's face. Luna added insult to injury by saying that even Draco should be able to brew the potion to fix the boils once he got home.

Once they arrived at the station they found Augusta Longbottom, Sirius, and Dan Granger waiting for the kids. Luna asked if they would like to meet her dad and then lead the whole crew over to Mr. Lovegood introducing them. While they were all talking Harry noticed that Draco wasn't receiving a very warm welcome as he still had a zipper in place of a mouth and the boils were getting worse. It was then that Harry noticed the elf with the Malfoy family, it was Dobby.

Harry acted like he didn't see the elf and turned to Neville and asked how long the zipper would last, Neville said he wasn't sure since he was so mad at the time he had put a lot of energy into the spell. Harry thought about canceling the spell until he saw Draco pointing at them and Lucius reaching for his wand. Suddenly Malfoy Sr. was thrown backwards for no apparent reason, except Harry saw Dobby hide quickly.

Luna and her dad agreed that they would join Harry and friends two days after Christmas so the kids could exchange gifts and spend some non school time together. Once at home Harry told Sirius about what he had seen on the platform.

~o~o~o~

Ron Weasley was in trouble when his mother found out he had broken his wand and not told anyone, it had been her brother's wand after all. Mr. Weasley said they would just have to find the money to replace the wand or see if it could be repaired when they went to Diagon Alley to finish Christmas shopping.

Mr. Ollivander said he could repair the wand for 3 gallons or sell them a new one for 7 gallons; they left the wand to be repaired. Ginny made sure she got a gift for Hermione and one for Harry since they had been so nice to her and given her so much help with her classes. Ron had been a git as far as help with studies went and in general Ginny thought.

~o~o~o~

It was two days before Christmas when Harry was able to go to Diagon Alley to finish his Christmas shopping. He got Hermione a set of book charms for her bracelet so she could copy more of the books in the library, plus he got her a newly published book on spell creation. For Neville, Harry got a new full service broom kit and a set of teacher edition books on exotic magical plants.

While in the alley Harry made a stop by the bank to talk with Ragnok about getting Luna tested to see if she was the heir of Ravenclaw as he suspected. Harry also wanted to know what exactly he could do as the magical heir of Slytherin. Ragnok told Harry that as the magical heir he controlled any and all magic related to Slytherin, to include any magical devices made using Slytherin magic. That might be handy Harry thought.

Stopping in at the wizarding accessories shop Harry inquired if they had any holsters that would hold two wands and allow the user to select which wand was used, they did and it included the same feathers as the one he had gotten in the states. Harry also picked up a holster that he thought Luna would like as a Christmas present for her. Since Neville and Luna had hit it off so well Neville had confided in Harry that he was picking something up for Luna that was personal and he hoped she would like it. Neville then blushed and said he wasn't very good at picking out presents for girls.

On Christmas morning Harry was awoken by Sirius at the crack of dawn so the two of them could see what presents had arrived overnight. Harry wondered who was the bigger kid him or Sirius as his guardian let out a whoop of delight at the large amount of presents under the tree. Harry had the usual, large amounts of sweets, new Gryffindor scarves, socks, and a surprise present from Ragnok – a new cloak that had an unusual design on it. The design was a combination of the Potter, Gryffindor, and Slytherin crests embroidered on the left chest and the cloak was lined with dragon skin. A note with the cloak said that the dragon skin was specially treated so it was very thin but just as strong as regular dragon skin to repel spells.

After a huge breakfast, Harry, Sirius, Remus, Rick, and Lucy went to open presents under the tree. Harry received a new pair of dragon hide boots from the elves, dress robes from Lucy, a wand and staff polishing kit from Rick, a set of magic mirrors from Sirius, and a large block of Honeydukes chocolate from Remus. There was a large box left under the tree and Lucy said it was not to be opened until Hermione and Neville arrived as it contained surprises for all three of them.

Two days after Christmas and Harry's friends had started to arrive. The first was Neville, and his grandmother, via the floo, next Hermione and her parents came up in the Granger's car, and finally the Lovegoods to arrive via house-elf (it had been Sirius' idea to ask Gustus to have them brought that way since they didn't have access to the Potter floo). Augusta said she couldn't stay long as today was the meeting between the board and Dumbledore, but she hoped that Neville could stay until she returned. Harry said Neville was welcome anytime and for as long as he wanted to stay. Augusta then asked if maybe Rick could accompany her as a representative of the ICW, Rick said he would be glad to but reminded her that he wasn't supposed to know Harry and company. The two left shortly thereafter.

After Rick and Augusta had left the kids exchanged gifts with each other. Hermione had given books to everyone, Luna gave each of them a year's subscription to, the newspaper her father was the editor and owner of, the Quibbler; Neville gave Harry and Hermione books on Charms and Transfiguration but gave Luna a nice necklace and earring set. Hermione was thrilled with the charms and the book from Harry, Neville said he could use the broom kit and the book on exotic plants was great, Luna was tickled to receive the wand holster – especially when she found out it would prevent her wand from being taken and keep the wand hidden as well.

Then it was time for Lucy to bring out the big box that she had made Harry leave alone. The kids noticed that the box was addressed to Harry, Hermione, and Neville. Once opened, the box was shown to contain presents from Peaks and from Hogwarts. Alana had sent them a set of books on Elementals with a note from Alana:

Harry, Hermione, and Neville – this is the full set of books on Elementals, the only problem is you three have already proved some of it wrong. Way to go! You are all three invited back this summer and I hope you bring more friends, enclosed are four applications (if you need more let me know) for your friends.

The next present was from Grimstead and the note said these were copies of the only books he could find on the use of a staff, since that was a lost art. He hoped the three of them would enjoy them and put them to use. Also included was a set of books on warding.

The third present was from McGonagall and Flitwick and it contained an advanced copy of the most advanced Transfiguration and Charms books, plus a set of books on dueling. Harry felt sorry for Luna as she watched the three open the gifts.

"Luna, I guess you are wondering about all these things. Well, an explanation is in order but you and your dad must swear to keep this a secret for now." Harry said.

"Oh you mean that you are the heir of Gryffindor and Slytherin, plus Lord Potter?" Luna replied.

"How did you know that? This can't be public knowledge and isn't for publication", Harry relied with surprise.

"Oh the nargles told me, you know you can't hide anything from them" Luna continued, "And of course I haven't told my father, he might not understand how a Gryffindor could be the heir of Slytherin".

Harry was shocked at this news, and what were nargles? Harry got Hermione and Neville and the four of them went outside and directly to the stables. Once there Harry asked everyone to have a seat and he would explain some things to Luna, and them.

"First, Luna knows about my titles – all three of them. I've already explained that what she hears and sees has to remain a secret. Now as you figured out I am Lord Potter and Lord Gryffindor, but I'm only the magical heir to Slytherin. Also, Neville Hermione and I have been going to school during the summer in America. Thanks to that we are really ahead of the classes at Hogwarts. All three of us can call, or summon, at least one Elemental. Neville's is an Earth, Hermione's is an Air, and I can call both Air and Fire Elementals. If what I suspect is true then you may be able to call an Elemental also. That is one of the reasons we came out here is to give you a chance to try, the other reason was to explain all this to you", Harry explained.

"Calling an Elemental sounds nice, but I don't know how to do that. I don't think Hogwarts even teaches that", Luna replied.

Harry pulled out his Elemental rods and explained that all Luna had to do was to take each one and give it a wave, if she had the skill then one of the rods would react and an Elemental would appear. Luna smiled and as she selected the first rod she commented," Oh rather like finding a wand at Olivander's shop then." Luna selected a rod and gave it a wave, a small amount of smoke came out. She tried another rod and a watery shaped girl appeared and bowed to her. Luna was surprised, but didn't appear scared when the Elemental spoke to her in her mind. After a few minutes Luna said the Elemental had told her it couldn't stay long but would come back, if called, in about 6 hours. Hermione explained that Luna had to give permission for the Elemental to leave before it was too weak and that Elementals could understand spoken words. Luna told the "girl" that she could leave whenever she needed to and she would call her again soon.

After the girl had left, Luna tried another rod and got a slight breeze; she tried the last rod and the dirt floor moved a little and several flowers appeared. Harry explained that she had a very slight connection to Earth, but her primary was Water. Hermione commented that now they could call all four Elementals, Earth (for Neville), Water (for Luna), Air (for both her and Harry), and Fire (Harry alone). Hermione went on to explain that Luna needed to think of a name for her Elemental and needed to call her often as the more she interacted with an Elemental the stronger the Elemental became.

Luna asked if they could call their Elementals for her. Harry called Firebeard and Windford, Hermione called Windy, and Neville called Rocky. Luna was amazed at the sizes of the Elementals, Harry's and Hermione's were much larger than they were, while Neville's was only slightly larger than Neville. When Luna commented about the sizes Harry explained that the stronger the elemental the larger it was. Harry went on to say that he and Hermione had been calling theirs for almost two years and Neville for only one.

"Is this how one of you froze that Bludger that attacked Harry?" Luna asked.

"Yes, that was Windy. When I saw that Bludger attacking Harry I called her and she was able to capture it and hold it so Harry could get free of it. None of us saw the second Bludger until it hit Harry though", Hermione explained.

"How do you call them without using one of the rods or your wand?" Luna asked.

It was Neville's turn to explain that after a while you didn't need a wand or rod to call your Elementals. "It becomes almost second nature, also that's why you give your Elemental a name to make it easier to call them. We also need to get you a wand that the Ministry can't track so you can practice at home and not have the Ministry breathing down your neck for 'underage magic'. Harry doesn't have that problem since there are so many adults around the Ministry can't tell who did what, so he can practice more."

Harry said he would let Luna borrow the Rod of Water Elementals so she could call hers at home until it was like Neville said, second nature. But she had to take care of it and keep it out of sight of anyone else not associated with them. Harry went on to say that if Luna's father allowed it, she could come with them this summer to America and get extra training like they did. Luna liked that idea and said she would try and convince her father to let her go if it didn't cost too much. Neville offered to loan her the money if needed and she could take as long as she liked to pay it back if she wanted. This brought a smile to Hermione's face and a wink from Harry.

It was time to head back to the house so the trio released their Elementals and headed back inside. On the way Hermione offered to work with Luna to improve her flying skills if Luna wanted. Luna said she needed help as she just barely got through the flying course at Hogwarts.

Once back at the house Harry asked Luna to get her dad and come to Gringotts with him. Once Luna had her dad Harry used his portkey to take them to the bank. At the bank Harry asked that Luna be tested for her lineage. The test confirmed that Luna was the Ravenclaw heir. Ragnok explained that due to her age she could not have full access to the Ravenclaw vault, but the bank would setup an allowance account for her.

Ragnok then had Luna try on the Ravenclaw ring, it re-sized to fit her finger and she was surrounded by a Blue and Bronze aura briefly. At Hogwarts another door glowed behind a tapestry in the Ravenclaw common-room and a door appeared in Harry's office in the Gryffindor quarters, a door with the crest of Ravenclaw on it. Hogwarts felt the emergence of another heir and was pleased; she now had three heirs accounted for, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

~o~o~o~

Augusta Longbottom and Rick arrived at Hogwarts and were soon joined by the rest of the board. As a group they made their way to Dumbledore's office for the meeting. Mrs. Longbottom called the meeting to order then said, "We are here today to discuss the report made by the ICW inspection team on October 15th of this year. This report was not very favorable and as such we need to decide if we should continue to allow Albus Dumbledore to continue as Headmaster after the present year. Joining us today is Richard Green the representative to the ICW from the US. Mr. Green, do you have anything to add to the report before we begin?"

"Yes, it seems that the report was missing the entry for Magical History. We did monitor that course and were disappointed to find that the only area covered were the Goblin Wars. Our representative was put to sleep by the instructor, who is a ghost, and most of the students were either sleeping or doing work from other classes. Our recommendation to the ICW will be to replace this instructor as soon as possible. We regret this omission and a supplemental report has been forwarded to the ICW, you should receive your copy after the holidays", Rick answered.

Dumbledore's face fell at this news, another teacher to replace. Dumbledore was surprised when McGonagall entered the office and apologized for being late; this did not bode well in his mind he had not known that she had been invited to the meeting. Why would they invite McGonagall if they weren't planning on replacing him at the end of this meeting?

"We will take the report in the same order it was submitted, starting with the records. Professor McGonagall, why is there no forecast information for muggle-born students? It was my understanding that the book updated automatically, should that not be the case please explain why not." Augusta asked.

McGonagall explained that the report didn't mention muggle-born students but half-blood students (students with one magical parent). She went on to say that yes the Book of Students did update automatically, but the book at Hogwarts was a copy of the book in the Ministry and she had no control over that book. As to the muggle-born students they were only added when the child did accidental magic the first time and it was noted by the Ministry.

Next the board went over the review of classes; McGonagall was congratulated on the report on her abilities. They went down the list and the first question was about Care of Magical Creatures and why there were no water creatures studied and why so few flying creatures. Dumbledore said the water creatures required too much special treatment to be practical and the flying creatures were always flying off. Rick jumped in and asked if the Black Lake was not enough to keep some water creatures close by for study. Dumbledore admitted that they had never considered that idea.

The next question was about Divination and why they had an intoxicated instructor and why the amount of incense used was so high. Dumbledore couldn't answer those questions and couldn't explain why he couldn't document a single true prediction by the instructor.

"Dumbledore, why is Prof. Snape still allowed to show favoritism towards his own house? We have had this discussion before and you assured the board that it would be taken care of and the instructor disciplined. And what is that man doing using mind magics on students? That is to stop as of right now and if we hear one more report of that happening then he will be sent to Azkaban as required by law. And I don't think Snape is the only professor using mind magics on students either", Augusta said accusingly.

Next to be discussed was Defense, the only question was what possessed Dumbledore to hire Lockhart anyway? The fact that a second year student out preformed him was appalling. One of the board members suggested that an auror from the DMLE be asked to teach the class and that Lockhart be removed before the end of the holidays. Dumbledore commented that he wasn't sure if that would happen as getting an auror would be very hard on such short notice.

After much discussion the board agreed that Lockhart, Binns, and Trelawney would be replaced with qualified instructors before the next school year, that Snape was to be monitored, by an outside monitoring system, for his teaching methods and removed if they didn't improve, and Dumbledore was warned that his job was on the line. McGonagall asked why Muggle Studies wasn't included in the inspection and Rick told her that it wasn't an ICW course per se, but it was suggested as a one semester study group and should to be taught by a muggle-born or half-blood.

This had been a very bad day for Albus (too many names) Dumbledore, not only did he have to listen to the board tear the school apart but he was now required to do something about Severus' teaching and attitude. Now instead of hiring one instructor he had to find three, maybe four if Severus didn't come around, for the next year. Yes, it was time for a good stiff drink and maybe a large headache potion.

~o~o~o~

Augusta and Rick returned to Potter Manor and told everyone what had occurred with the meeting and the decisions reached by the board. Lucy offered to send Dumbledore calming and headache potions but thought that might not be appropriate. When Neville asked if he could return to Peaks the next summer, Augusta replied "Of course, you have to have a good education from somewhere". Mr. Lovegood had already said Luna could go if she wanted, and she did want to go.

The rest of the break was spent with Luna learning about her Elemental, catching up on her spell work and flying skills. Both Luna and Neville became a regular guest at Potter Manor, Harry spent time at each of his properties and made sure that all the wards were up to date and well charged. He even took his friends to see the dragons and to the sanctuary, where they found out Luna had a connection with most animals. Harry gave Luna one more present; a set of dragon skin armor to wear under her robes, just like Hermione, Neville, and he wore.


A/N: Thanks to Arkenstone007 for pointing out the course I forgot to rate, this error has been corrected in this chapter. Luna is now part of the group and will find Ravenclaw quarters when they get back to school. What do you think of the board's decisions?

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