Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor am I attempting to make any personal gain from this story.
Author's Note: Before I begin this chapter I wish to comment on probably the best review I have received to date. Rb2312's review of chapter 8 of this story is well thought out and balanced and contains some good insights. Your assumption is correct, Hermione contacted her parents about spending new years' with Harry and Sirius but they told her to stay at Hogwarts.
I, too, have wondered why Dumbledore never tried to get Hagrid's expulsion overturned. Even assuming he couldn't do anything before being made Headmaster Dumbledore has, none the less, now held that position for well over 20 years and yet still hasn't done anything. Perhaps J K Rowling would care to answer that question?
Second Time Around: Year 2: Chapter 9: The Second Term
The day before Harry was to return to Hogwarts Sirius took him aside. Now that Hagrid had been cleared of any wrongdoing and his expulsion overturned there was no need to keep the diary. Madam Bones had now granted permission for its destruction and had agreed not to enquire too much about how this was to be done. Sirius told Harry she had apparently realised it was a Horcrux and had become very curious about it.
"How much has Madam Bones figured out?" Harry asked. He was both curious and worried by this development.
"Quite a lot, I would say, although I don't think she has realised that there are other Horcruxes. All the same, I wonder if we should tell her the truth."
"Not just yet. I think if you tell her that there is more to the story and that the fewer people who know the truth the better, at least for the moment, then that might give us more time. Tell her that it involves Lord Voldemort and I have reason to suspect he has spies within the Ministry."
"I hope she accepts that. I will say I don't like keeping secrets from her. Madam Bones has been of great help to me since my release and I think she deserves to know exactly what is going on. I will tell her that it was your request that the information is kept confidential; I just hope she accepts it."
Harry, too, was uncomfortable with hiding the truth. He was beginning to realise that he was becoming just like Dumbledore, something he didn't like at all. Harry decided to change topic.
"You know, Sirius, I think we should let Dobby destroy the diary. It was at least in part thanks to him we were able to retrieve it and, in doing so, prove Hagrid was innocent," Harry said.
"Good idea. Dobby," Sirius called.
"Dobby is here master. How may Dobby help?"
"We have decided to offer you the opportunity to take a leading role in stopping Lord Voldemort," Sirius said. "I want you to destroy this diary."
Dobby's tennis ball sized eyes were wide with shock. "Master wants Dobby to destroy the diary?"
"Yes. Take this fang and stab the diary. Do it quickly otherwise it will try to attack you," said Sirius.
Dobby took the fang and looked at the diary, clearly uncertain of what to do.
"Dobby," Sirius said, "I order you to stab the diary."
Dobby drove the fang into the cover. A fountain of ink exploded out of the book, accompanied by a scream. Black smoke billowed up while a tar-like substance burned into plank of wood Sirius had placed it on. Then there was silence. The smoke cleared away and Harry placed the now ruined diary in a bag.
"Thank-you for your help Dobby," Sirius said. "You have done us a great service with your actions here. You have every reason to be proud of what you have done."
"House elves is not supposed to feel proud. We do as our master tells us," Dobby said as he watched Harry and Sirius tidy up their workspace.
"You may go now Dobby. I will take Harry to the station. Please have a light lunch ready for my return. A few sandwiches should suffice," Sirius said before he and Harry headed for the door.
The train ride was uneventful. Harry and Neville returned to the common room where they were met by the Weasleys and Hermione. As soon as they were settled in Ron asked Harry for help with his school work. It turned out he had done next to nothing on any of the assignments.
"You've had the whole holidays to them, Ron. Seriously, it was only about five hours work in total," Harry said.
Hermione agreed entirely with him. "Do them yourself," she said. "They're not that difficult." With that she dragged Harry away to the library to do some independent research with her.
Despite Harry and Hermione refusing to help him, Ron managed to complete the assignments in time for class. Hermione said it showed what he was capable of doing when he put his mind to it; Harry knew Ron had asked Percy for help. Percy had agreed but only if Ron did something for him in return. What this was, Harry really didn't care.
The first weekend after Harry returned to Hogwarts he met with Lisa Turpin. He told her he had arranged private dinner for the two of them in an empty classroom on the 7th floor and that his personal house elf would be serving them. Harry escorted her to the classroom where Kreacher admitted them and pointed to their seats on either side of a small table. The plates, cutlery etc were already there as was a flask of pumpkin juice.
"Um, wow. You really planned this out didn't you?" Lisa said when they were seated. She was wearing jeans, sweater and tennis shoes and possibly felt underdressed in such a formal setting, Harry realised.
"Don't worry about it. I've never been to a formal dinner but this looks about right, though. How you dress isn't important." Harry was dressed in some of the clothes Susan had sorted out for him a year ago but they were still clean and tidy despite their age.
Over the course of their 90 minute dinner Harry and Lisa talked about themselves, what they looked for in others and what they wanted to do with their lives. Although they got on well together both quickly realised they were not a good match. At the end of the evening they agreed to remain friends but not to pursue a relationship. Harry walked Lisa back to the base of the stairs leading to Ravenclaw tower before returning to Gryffindor where Hermione and the Weasleys were waiting.
Later that week Harry was told to go to the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore wished to speak to him. The meeting with Dumbledore was a friendly affair in which the headmaster thanked Harry for helping to prove Hagrid was innocent. He was curious about the diary but Harry said it had been destroyed after being thoroughly examined at the Ministry of Magic. Since this was entirely true Harry felt comfortable telling Dumbledore.
January, February and March passed largely without incident, if you don't count Valentine's Day. On 14 February they arrived in the Great Hall to find Lockhart had decorated it in pink. He then announced he had hired a band of Dwarves to deliver Valentine's Day cards throughout the day. He also thanked those students who had sent him Valentine's Day cards. Hermione, it turned out, was one of those students, much to Ron's disgust.
Two Saturdays before Easter Gryffindor played Hufflepuff at Quidditch. The restrictions in place regarding Quidditch training were working for the players of both teams, although Wood was still complaining about them. Weather conditions were good and Harry enjoyed the game. After a little over half an hour Harry caught the snitch thus giving Gryffindor a comfortable win 260 – 70. The following week Slytherin defeated Ravenclaw by a similar margin. The Quidditch cup was all but in Gryffindor's hands and Harry, along with the rest of the team, hoped Wood might relax a little although none of them really expected he would. On the plus side, they had no more training for the remainder of the term, something most of the team appreciated as it gave them more free time.
Later that evening, as Harry was sitting in the common room trying to ignore Colin's attempts to start a conversation with him, Sirius called via the two way mirror. "Hello Sirius, what's happened," Harry asked in reply.
"Can we talk privately? I have some information for you," Sirius said.
"One moment." Harry went to the classroom where he used to meet his pet snake, Sam. "Ok, go ahead, Sirius."
"Madam Bones has asked to meet you after the beginning of the Easter Holidays. She has discovered something about one of her staff and wants to talk over this matter as well as another issue. She won't tell me what the other issue is but I strongly believe it relates to Voldemort."
"That sounds ok. Where will this meeting take place?"
"Here at 12 Grimmauld Place. I will make the final arrangements tomorrow."
"Do you know what the staff member is thought to have done?"
"No. Madam Bones hasn't told me who it is or what they may have done."
"Well, I guess we'll find out at the meeting then. Not much has happened here recently. It's been nice and quiet."
"That's good to hear. I'll pick you up from King's Cross and we'll talk more then, ok?"
"Sounds good. Bye, Sirius."
"Good bye, Harry," Sirius said as the mirror went blank.
A few days before the end of the term Professor McGonagall gathered the second years and informed them that, starting next year, they would be required to choose additional subjects. She explained there were 5 options and they had to choose a minimum of 2. The subjects were: Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Muggle Studies.
"What do you reckon?" Ron asked after they were dismissed. "What subjects should we take?"
"I'm signing up for everything," Hermione said. The others looked at her in surprise.
"Hermione, you are a muggleborn witch. You don't need to take muggle studies," Ron said, sounding astonished.
"I'm not taking divination," Harry said quickly, trying to avoid another argument between his friends.
"Harry, you're a seer. Divination would be perfect for you," Neville said.
"I'm a seer, Trelawney isn't. She relies on guesswork and lucky coincidences, in other words, fortune telling. I think I'll take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, they would seem to be the most useful subjects. I wonder what Care of Magical Creatures is like?"
"You get to work with all sorts of magical creatures, learning how to take care of them, learning about what they eat and how they react, that sort of thing," Ron replied.
Harry signed on for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes; Ron and Neville both signed for Care of Magical Creatures and Divination and Hermione for everything.
Harry was the only member of his close group to be going home for Easter. As such he shared a compartment with Lillian Moon and Sophie Roper, the two Gryffindor girls he still hadn't spent much time with. Lillian was about average height and a little on the chubby side although definitely not fat. Sophie was taller and thinner than her friend. He, along with everybody else in their house, knew the girls liked each other a lot more than they liked boys but they were friendly enough when he'd asked to join them. They spent most of the journey talking about classes. Harry asked why they didn't join in with the study group in the library Saturday afternoon and they said they liked to be together and have some privacy. Harry accepted their explanation and said if they ever wanted a change they were more than welcome.
Sirius picked Harry up and took him straight home where Dobby had their evening meal ready to go. He told Harry that Madam Bones would be there on Tuesday at 10 o'clock for their meeting. Harry asked what he could expect from the meeting and Sirius told him she had realised the diary was just one of a number of Horcrux and was interested to know as much as possible about it. They decided the time was right to tell her the full story, including the fact that they were hunting Horcruxes and had already destroyed others. Most importantly they agreed to enlist her help if possible in obtaining the Horcrux from the Lestrange's vault.
On Tuesday morning Madam Bones floo'ed to Grimmauld Place and, after casting several charms to ensure there were no eavesdroppers listening in, began their meeting.
