Harry paused for a moment outside the Great Hall to try and get a hold of his excitement. He didn't want his friends, or anyone else for that matter, to notice that he was excited and link it to the prank that he and Draco were playing on Lockhart.

He clenched his teeth and schooled his face to its normal expression, before walking into the hall and making his way towards the Ravenclaw table. His dorm mates were already there, along with half of the girls in his year, and Harry slid into the seat beside Michael.

"There is no way that the Holyhead Harpies are going to beat the Wigtown Wanderers next week." Michael was telling Terry. "No matter how good of a keeper your sister is."

"You willing to put money on that?" Terry asked him with a grin. "Because I'll put five galleons on my sister winning."

"Five galleons?" Michael exclaimed. "Really? Come on, Terry! There's supporting your sister and then there's being an idiot."

"So that's a no then?" Terry questioned.

"Oh no," Michael shook his head. "I'll take your money! And when I do, I'll laugh in your face!"

Harry grinned at their antics before turning to Rodney who was sitting across from him. "How are your models of Mercury and Venus going for Astronomy?"

Rodney grinned. "Great. I'm almost done. I just need to paint them now. How about you?"

"My Mercury's oval shaped." Harry groaned. "And if I do another layer of clay it's going to be too big."

Rodney grimaced sympathetically. "So you're going to have to shave some off it?"

"I've already done that!" Harry sighed. "That's how it got so oval in the first place – I suck at this."

"Well, I guess there's a first time for everything." Anthony snarked nastily from beside Rodney.

Harry considering making a face at the other boy, but decided to just ignore him. Anthony seemed to become more of a jerk every day.

The next ten minutes felt like the longest ten minutes of Harry's life. It hard knowing that Lockhart's teeth could start falling out any moment, but having no way of knowing when it was going to happen.

It was halfway through dinner that it happened. The prank in itself wasn't particularly dramatic for an audience, after all it was hard to see someone's teeth falling out from a distance, but Lockhart's reaction was dramatic enough to be rewarding.

Lockhart's initial shriek drew the entire hall's attention and Harry watched in amusement as Lockhart became increasingly upset as more and more of his teeth dropped out of his mouth. The other professors didn't seem to know how to react, but Madame Pomfrey stood up and quickly made her way over to Lockhart.

"What's happening?" Sue Li asked from a couple of places to Harry's left. "Why would his teeth be falling out?"

It took exactly a minute for all of Lockhart's teeth to fall out, just as the potion description had promised.

"My tee!" Lockhart shrieked again, though this time his lack of teeth made him hard to understand.

At that moment, orange words appeared on the wall above Lockhart.

"This prank was brought to you by The Marauders' Apprentices." Michael read aloud as Lockhart ran out of the Hall. "I should have known it would be them again. This is like the hair thing all over again."

"It's brilliant!" Terry grinned. "Look at Lockhart. He won't be winning any Most-Charming-Smile awards without any teeth."

"Who do you think the marauders' apprentices are?" Terry asked.

"I don't even know who they marauders are, let alone who their apprentices are." Michael answered him.

"It's probably the Weasley twins." Anthony said pompously.

"I don't think so." Rodney shook his head. "My sister is friends with them and she says it wasn't them."

"What do you think, Harry?" Terry asked.

Harry forced himself to shrug casually. "No idea. It's pretty cool though. I wonder how they did it."

"Pretty cool?" Michael asked disbelievingly. "It's amazing! I wonder what they'll do next."

"Attention please!" Dumbledore's amplified voice rang through the hall. "I do not know who the Marauders' Apprentices are, but whoever you are you should be are that attacks on Hogwarts' Professors will not be tolerated. Any further attacks on Professors will result in the perpetrators immediate expulsion."

"Attacks on Professors?" Michael muttered under his breath. "That's a bit of an over exaggeration isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed lightly, though his stomach was churning nervously. "Normally Dumbledore has a sense of humour."

9-9-9

"Did you hear him?" Draco asked uneasily the next day. "Dumbledore said he'd expel us! Father would be furious."

"He's not going to catch us." Harry reassured him. "Sirius said that Dumbledore threatened that tons of times when he and my dad were pranking at Hogwarts."

"But what if he does?" Draco persisted. "Maybe we should stop, at least stop pranking professors."

"We can't stop now!" Harry argued. "Lockhart's an awful professor, if we don't get rid of him we're not going to learn anything this year."

"Well, you might learn how to be a better actor." Draco smirked.

"Shut up." Harry groaned. "Just because you don't have to pretend to be a different creature every single class."

"Lockhart wouldn't dare." Draco said smugly. "If father heard that a professor was making me pretend to be a werewolf…"

Harry grimaced, how we wished he had a dad who would stand up for him. "Yes, well, lucky for some."

"Well, at least you don't have to have to worry about your dad's reaction if you get expelled." Draco pointed out.

"True." Harry grinned. "But we won't get expelled! I promise."

"How do you know Stompy won't tell Dumbledore it was us?" Draco asked.

"He promised he wouldn't." Harry told him.

"So?" Draco asked. "He's a house elf!"

"What does that matter?" Harry asked. "Him being a house elf doesn't mean we can't trust him."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you'd met Dobby." Draco told him.

"You mean your family's really, uh, excitable elf?" Harry asked with a small grin.

"I think the word you're looking for is crazy." Draco said. "He hates us."

"Why don't you just set him free then?" Harry asked.

"On purpose?" Draco asked in obvious horror. "I mean, sure he's crazy, but he doesn't deserve that!"

Harry shrugged. The whole house elves thing still confused him. His muggle upbringing told him that it was slavery and wrong, but the one time he'd mentioned freeing house elves to Stompy, his little house elf friend had been horrified.

"Don't shrug." Draco reprimanded him. "What would my mother say?"

Harry winced as he imagined Cousin Narcissa's disapproving cough. "So, are we going to prank Lockhart again?"

Draco looked worried. "Dumbledore said…"

"He won't catch us." Harry assured him. "And even if he does, do you really think your father will let Dumbledore expel you?"

Draco still didn't look convinced.

"We don't even have to prank Lockhart directly." Harry added. "We could prank his office or something."

Draco's eyes widened in interest. "What were you thinking?"

"We could replace his Witch Weekly Awards with ones that say 'Worst Professor Ever'." Harry suggested.

"What if we put snakes in his office," Draco asked. "You could give them instructions to hide and then come out every hour or something."

Harry grinned. "That sounds awesome! But what if he kills them? I don't want to send the snakes to their death."

Draco snorted. "Lockhart's incompetent. He couldn't kill a worm."

Harry laughed. "True."

9-9-9

The rest of week went by quickly. Harry spent most of the week trying to get his Astronomy models finished on Friday. As far as he was concerned it was the hardest assignment he'd ever been given and he was horrified at the thought that he would be required to repeat the assignment, except with different planets, every month for the rest of term.

He knew his dorm mates were finding his struggle with the assignment amusing, though, with the exception of Anthony, they were nice about it. Rodney even spent Tuesday evening helping him to get his planets to approximately the right shape and size. He certainly wouldn't be earning an Outstanding for them, but he would probably manage to get an Exceeds Expectations.

He and Draco spent their lunchtimes studying for their joint potion experiment on potion antidotes, brainstorming different ways they could prank Lockhart's office or classroom, and ranting about how Dumbledore's muggle-loving ruined Hallows Eve (though that was mostly just Draco).

On Thursday afternoon, Harry met Neville under the big tree by the lake to practise wandless magic again.

"Here's your book." Neville said as they sat down.

"Did you finish it?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Neville shrugged uncomfortably. "Ron started comparing me to Granger."

"Because you read a single book?" Harry asked. "Really?"

"I think it was probably the fact that I was using a dictionary to read it." Neville commented.

Harry still thought it was pretty stupid. Neville was nothing like Granger! Not that he had anything against the girl, even if she had been glaring at him since she found out that he'd beaten her for top of their year.

"Thanks for the notes you took." Neville added. "They were really helpful when I was practising."

"You practised?" Harry was suddenly feeling bad that he hadn't even practised once.

"Sorry, wasn't I supposed to?" Neville asked quickly.

"No, it's fine." Harry answered just as quickly. "It's just that I didn't, I've been really busy with other stuff."

"Oh." Neville was looking nervous. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise." Harry told him. "It's great that you practised. Do you want to go first then?"

Neville smiled shyly. "Alright."

Harry watched as Neville closed his eyes and began his breathing patterns. Why hadn't he thought to practise? It was because he was still practising Occlumency every morning, and would be for the foreseeable future, he just hadn't had time. Maybe he should start meditating at night before he went to sleep as well. That way he could practise his Occlumency in the morning and his wandless magic at night.

Watching Neville meditate was really boring and Harry ended up using the time to practise one of the new exercises Takashi had been teaching him during their daily exercise routine. Takashi called them sit-ups and they were apparently good for Quidditch.

It took Neville thirty two minutes to float the twig in front of him and Harry whooped in congratulations.

"You did it, Neville!"

It took Neville a few seconds to open his eyes, but when he did he grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Harry nodded. "You had the twig hovering in front of your nose."

"I can do wandless magic!" Neville exclaimed excitedly. "Nobody will be able to call me a squib again."

"Certainly not."

Neville was beaming. "How long did it take me?"

"Thirty two minutes." Harry told him.

"Seriously?" Neville stared at him in shock. "But that's faster than you."

Harry ignored the jealous twinge in his stomach. Neville deserved this – he'd been practising. "Yeah, congrats."

"Your turn now." Neville told him.

Harry nodded in agreement and adjusted his position so that he was sitting with his legs crossed, before closing his eyes and starting his breathing. In, out, in, out, in…

Once Harry could see his magic, he tried to remember exactly what he had done to make it work the time before. He had concentrated on his magic, and then manipulated it so that it was forced to float the twig. He tried to duplicate the feeling, but his magic was being stubborn.

It took him a few more tries before something changed, but this time Harry knew that he'd levitated the twig even more he heard Neville's exclamation.

Harry concentrated on lowering it again, before pulling himself out of his meditation and opening his eyes.

"How long did I take?" He asked Neville.

"Eighteen minutes!" Neville exclaimed. "That was amazing!"

Harry grinned in satisfaction. "Thanks. Do you want to try again?"

"Are you sure?" Neville asked. "I took almost twice as much time as you, maybe you should have another turn."

"No, you go." Harry argued. "We should take turns."

Neville grinned happily at him before sitting up straighter and closing his eyes. Twenty eight minutes later the twig in front of Neville floated into the air.

"Good job!" Harry grinned. "That was four minutes faster."

"Really?" Neville looked thrilled. "I'm getting better!"

"Of course you are." Harry told him. "Practise makes perfect."

Harry tried again after that, but only managed to shave a minute off his time. It was slightly frustrating, but at the same time he and Neville had already accomplished what many adult wizards couldn't.

"I can't imagine doing it without meditating." Neville commented as they walked back up to the castle for dinner. "How would I even communicate with my magic?"

"Well, we sort of already communicate with our magic when we use ours wands." Harry pointed out. "This will just be different."

"And harder!" Neville added. "It's exhausting. I feel like I've run up multiple flights of stairs or something."

Harry looked at his friend in surprise. He didn't feel tired at all, though he had spent less time trying than Neville had. He wondered whether it was because of the running he did with Takashi. When Takashi had first invited him to go running, he'd told Harry that it would affect his magical stamina – maybe this was what he'd meant.

9-9-9

The next morning, while he and Takashi were running around the lake, Harry brought up the subject.

"You are learning wandless magic?" Takashi asked in surprise.

"Yes." Harry answered. "Neville Longbottom and I both are. But he finds it more exhausting than I do. Is that because of our runs?"

"I am sure that is at least part of it." Takashi told him. "It could also be that your magic is stronger than his."

"Oh." Harry considered that. "Could I invite him to come running with us? We'd have to start running around the Quidditch pitch again."

"Certainly." Takashi agreed easily. "Could I join your wandless magic sessions?"

Harry looked at him in surprise. He'd never considered that his older friend would be interested in joining. "Really?"

"Yes." Takashi confirmed.

"Sure." Harry agreed quickly, before thinking of Neville. "Actually, I should probably ask Neville if it's alright. I'm sure it will be fine though."

"Thank you."

"I can give you a book to start reading though." Harry commented. "Unless you've already read it. Did you read my book on wandless magic?"

"Unfortunately not." Takashi admitted. "I meant to, but then I forgot."

"I know the feeling." Harry laughed. "There are just so many books to read."

Harry had History of Magic with the Gryffindors first and he took the opportunity to discuss the idea with Neville.

"Running?" Neville asked in obvious horror. "You want me to go running?"

"It helps increase your magical stamina." Harry told him. "It'll make our Thursday stuff less tiring for you."

"I'll be so slow." Neville pointed out. "I'll never keep up with you."

"We'll run around the Quidditch Pitch." Harry explained. "That way we can all go at our own speeds."

"Who else will be there?" Neville asked nervously.

"Just you, me, and Takashi Nado." Harry told him. "He's a fifth year. He's actually asked if he can join us Thursdays, but I told him I'd ask you first."

Neville looked surprised. "But he's a fifth year!"

"I know." Harry was surprised too. He'd always presumed that the older boy could already do some wandless magic – he certainly meditated enough.

"And he wants to join us?" Neville asked anxiously.

"He doesn't have to if you don't want him to." Harry told him.

"N-no," Neville stuttered slightly. "It's alright. He should be able to come if he wants."

"Smashing." Harry grinned at him. "And you'll come running with us."

Neville looked resigned. "Alright."

9-9-9

The next day was a Saturday and also Halloween. When Harry and Takashi arrived at the Quidditch Pitch for their run, Neville was already there looking very nervous. They started running soon after and by the end of it, Harry was feeling very sorry for Neville. The boy seemed to be even more unfit than Harry had been when he had started running the year before and by the end of it he was covered in sweat and was so puffed he could barely breath.

Harry was impressed at Neville's commitment though, he'd certainly given it his all.

"Same time tomorrow?" Takashi asked Neville as they made their way to the changing rooms to shower and change.

Neville was too puffed to do anything but nod.

Once they were clean and dressed, Harry told the others to go on without him and went to sit by the lake for a while to think about his parents.

He didn't think about them very often, except to miss their absence whenever one of his friends mentioned their own parents – but even then it was more the concept of parents that he missed rather than his mum and dad. He didn't remember them at all, which he supposed was another thing to be sad about. He hadn't even known that his parents died on Halloween until Sirius had mentioned it in his last letter.

He wondered what it would have been like to grow up with parents. Would they have loved him like the Malfoys loved Draco? He hoped so. They certainly couldn't have been any worse than the Dursleys.

Harry sighed as he stared out across the lake. He felt guilty about how little he felt about the fact that his parents were dead. Was it bad that he wasn't crying about it? Or did his lack of memories about them make it alright?

He sat in the same spot for a few more minutes before standing up and making his way back into the castle. There was no point in trying to make himself sad just because it was the day his parents had died.

9-9-9

The Halloween Feast was the same as it had been the year before, centred entirely on pumpkins and lollies. Harry looked over at the Slytherin table when he entered the Great Hall and was amused to see Draco sneering at the pumpkin centre piece in front of him. Most of the Slytherins were looking similarly disgusted at the muggle decorations.

Lockhart was sitting at the Head Table for the first time since the prank on Monday night and Harry was amused to see that the professor was looking twitchy. He also seemed to checking everything he ate and drank for potions. It gave Harry hope that their next prank might be the one that chased Lockhart from the castle.

When dinner was over, and Harry had finished his third serving of Treacle Tart, he and his year mates joined the crowd of students heading back to their common rooms.

They were only halfway to Ravenclaw Tower when a girl ahead of them screamed loudly and the students in front of them stopped abruptly. Harry winced as he almost walked into the girl in front of him.

Harry stood on his tiptoes and tried to see over the students ahead of them, but there were too many people in front of him and he couldn't see anything. He considered turning around and taking a different route to the Tower, but in the end his curiosity won out. What was happening?

A couple of minutes passed and the students around him became increasingly restless and annoyed. A couple of stories had been passed back through the crowd and none of them seemed remotely plausible. Why would graffiti on the wall create such a traffic jam? And why would anyone decide to kill Mrs. Norris? Harry figured that one was just someone's wishful thinking.

After a few more minutes the crowd started moving again and Harry was surprised to eventually walk through a puddle and see a piece of graffiti on the wall. Why all the fuss about a bit of graffiti and a puddle?

The graffiti was really weird too.

'The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.'

9-9-9