Cards and classes

The Christmas break was a lot less fun this year. Remus and James had practically pulled Lily into her study room to help them with the recording function for the marauders map. Harry only saw his parents and Remus around the meals and sometimes in the evening, so it was a good thing that his friends came over a few times. Still, even when they visited they only talked about the monster and the chamber of secrets. Of course, they had no new information so they kept repeating the same arguments to each other. All of them were tempted to think that Ron was innocent, but they had to admit that it was odd that he had been wandering around the hallways on his own while two of the attacks happened. It was a shame that Neville had not noticed if Ron had been in the dormitory while Tracey was attacked.

All their parents were concerned about the same subject, and so Christmas day at Longbottom manor was a rather subdued affair. All together Harry was not really sorry when they had to return to Hogwarts. At least classes and homework would provide some distraction. He had tried to read and do quidditch practice again, just like last year, but it was difficult to concentrate while on your own. His mother apparently also was glad that she could go back to her lessons; Harry heard her apologizing to both James and Remus that she had to go again.

They had very little to show for all the effort that the three of them had invested during the holiday. But a few days into the new year Jack Granger had visited, he had listened to the description of their efforts at Christmas and now suggested simply putting the map in front of a video camera. Remus had immediately apparated towards a nearby muggle village to buy one and they had done a few tests. Apparently the magic of the map was too strong and the video tape only showed very blurry pictures. But at least James and Remus had a new direction for their research. They were still debating if it would be better to 'magic-proof' a muggle video camera or if they should device a magical recording device. In the meanwhile they agreed that whoever manned the central mirror also had 'map-looking duty', but Remus immediately cautioned that it was unlikely to be good enough. After all, Lily had been looking at the map while Justin was attacked and they still did not know who was responsible for it.

— Six weeks later —

Back at school the atmosphere was still quite downhearted. But still, without any new attacks or new clues time flew by pretty quickly due to the routine of lessons and homework. Only halfway February did something unusual happen. Harry and the others were just eating breakfast when Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, entered the great hall together with the other owls. This in itself was not unusual, since Hedwig liked to come and say hello to Harry every now and then, but this time she was carrying a light red envelope. Since Harry always used his mirror to talk with his parents he never really sent or received messages by owl, which meant that Hedwig had a lot of free time. Still, she looked rather proud when she gave him the letter and Harry just had to pet her a bit and feed her some bacon while ignoring the letter.

It was Susan who asked: 'Shouldn't you open the letter Harry?'

Harry shrugged: 'Sure, in a moment. I'll need to pay attention to Hedwig every now and then you know.' The owl proudly ruffled her feathers when Harry said her name.

Susan chuckled: 'Such a boy thing to pay more attention to an owl than to a card.'

'Card? How do you know there is a card inside?' Harry wondered.

'Well, I do not really know it for sure of course. But what else would you expect today?' When she saw Harry's puzzled look she added: 'Oh come on, don't you know what date it is?'

Harry frowned and wondered if he had missed a birthday somehow. But then, if the card was sent to him that would only make sense if it was his own. And he was quite sure that his birthday was not in February. 'It is the fourteenth, right?' Susan nodded and after a few seconds Harry realized: 'Oh wait, valentines day?' He controlled himself just in time before backing away from the card like it was some kind of scary bug. Who on earth would send him a valentine card?

'Well, duh.' Susan smiled, 'Come on, open it!' Next to her Hermione also seemed rather interested in the card, while Neville seemed just as surprised as Harry.

After a few seconds Harry reluctantly reached for the envelop. He turned it over to see if there was a name on it, but although his own name was written on the front there was no sign of the sender. This of course was part of the idea with valentine. He opened the envelop and pulled a sturdy light brown card out of it. On the front were two roses whose stems circled around each other. After a few seconds Harry opened the card, but the only words inside where 'from a secret admirer'.

'Well, that does not really make sense.' Harry commented while showing the words to his friends, 'How on earth am I supposed to know who sent it now?'

'That is part of the fun Harry.' Hermione replied while studying the words like they had a deeper meaning, 'You mean that you have no idea?'

Harry shrugged: 'Nope. Could be anyone.'

'Maybe it was Filch; I've seen him looking at you sometimes.' Seamus helpfully suggested from his other side. He glared at his dorm mate before handing the card to Parvati who seemed ready to snatch it out of his hands anyway. Next to her Lavender also dived forward to study it while she asked: 'Come on Harry, you must have some idea. Don't you recognize the handwriting or something?'

'No.' Harry simply replied. He thought it over for a few seconds, he had to admit that he would like to know who sent the card as well. Eventually he added: 'But I guess I would only recognize Susans or Hermione's handwriting anyway. So that does not really help.'

Hermione looked thoughtful: 'I am sure there is a hint in the card somewhere… I mean, why send it if there was no way to find out who you are?' After a few seconds she added: 'Maybe the roses? Did any girl ever give you roses? Or talk to you about them?'

'I still don't see why it has to be a girl. Filch could like roses.' Seamus interrupted, but no one really paid attention to him. Instead they all looked at Harry, who uncomfortably shifted on his seat a bit. Eventually he said: 'No, I don't think so. Well, Tracey tried to bring me some flowers while I was in the hospital… No roses though, and of course we can be sure it wasn't her.'

That pretty much killed the debate. Harry used the silence to look around the great hall, trying to see if any girl was looking at him. But no one was that obvious. In fact, the only one who seemed to pay him any attention was his mother. For a few seconds he wondered if she was pranking him, but he quickly reasoned that it was not really her style. It would be different if his father or Sirius was sitting at the head table. Most likely his mother just wanted to know who had sent the card to Harry. She was not alone in that, Harry dryly commented to himself while scanning the great hall once again.

— Six weeks later —

At the start of the Easter holiday Harry still had no idea who had sent him a valentine card. And, a bit more important, they also still did not know who was behind the attacks. Although a few weeks ago Lily had told them that Remus and James had finally adapted a video camera to work around magical artifacts, so they were videotaping one of the marauders maps at Lionfire Hall twenty-four hours a day now. This saved everybody else from wasting hours of time looking at the map themselves.

But right now they had another thing to consider. After the last transfiguration class before the Easter holidays McGonagall had handed lists to all her Gryffindor second years. Apparently, they had to choose some extra subjects for next year. There were five subjects on the list; arithmancy, ancient runes, divination, care for magical creatures and muggle studies. And they had to choose two or three. Still, none of them really knew what the five subjects were about, although Harry was reasonably sure that he did not need muggle studies after spending several years on a muggle ground school.

After a long period of fruitless debating he stood up and said: 'I'm going to ask my mother for advice.'

'That's a great idea!' Hermione replied while also standing up, 'I am coming too.'

Neville and Susan also joined and soon enough the four of them walked into Lily's office. She smiled at them and pushed a large stack of paper to the side of the desk before conjuring a few simple chairs: 'Nice to see you four. I really like teaching so far, but I hate correcting home work.'

Neville looked at the huge stack of paper in shock: 'What year is that?'

'Fifth.' Lily replied and when she realised why Neville wanted to know she added: 'OWL years asks for some very large essays. But you still have a few years before you get there.'

'That's why we are here.' Harry replied, and when Lily looked at him in wonder he added: 'We have to choose our elective subjects for next year.'

Lily slapped a hand to her forehead: 'Of course, I totally forgot about it. So, what subject are you going to pick?'

Harry shrugged: 'We are not sure yet. Although I figured muggle studies would not really be useful to me.'

'I was thinking about taking it though.' Susan added.

Lily nodded: 'I think it would be a nice subject for you and Neville. Both of you grew up in the pureblood world and it would be a good thing to learn about the bigger world. But Hermione and Harry know enough about it already.' She looked thoughtful for a few seconds before she continued: 'I guess it would be best to pick the subjects that would help you in your career. But I am not sure if any of you already knows what you want to be after Hogwarts?'

The four kids all looked at each other in turn. After a while Neville hesitantly said: 'I want to do something with herbology I think.'

Lily nodded and replied: 'Then muggle studies might actually be useful for you. Muggles have their own libraries and universities with a lot of information about plants and trees. Of course, they do not know about magical plants, but I am sure they have some interesting information if you'd only learn how to use a computer.'

'A what?' Neville asked, but then he shook his head and continued: 'And beside that? I think we need two or three subjects.'

Lily hesitated: 'I am not sure. Maybe care for magical creatures? It is not really about herbology, but it will help you to get a broader view of the magical environment… or maybe arithmancy to work out formulas on how to use the magical properties of plants? Maybe you should ask your parents as well though, they might have better ideas.'

Neville unconsciously grabbed the mirror under his shirt and nodded: 'Thanks, I will do that.'

'Maybe I should do the same.' Susan frowned: 'I want to do something in the ministry, just like aunt Amelia. Although I do not think the DMLE is really my thing. I like the training in the DA, and I am ready to stand next to you guys when it is needed, but I do not really see myself catching dark wizards for the rest of my life.'

Harry grinned: 'Yeah, I can see that. As soon as Voldemort is gone I'd happily leave the next dark lord for somebody else.'

Lily smiled at him but first replied to Susan: 'I think Amelia is definitely the person to talk to if you are thinking about entering the ministry Susan. And Harry, it is not like you always have a choice. Both James and I always thought we would leave the auror corps and head our own way after Voldemort was gone. But then the prophecy happened.'

With a frown Harry realized that he had never thought about what his parents actually wanted. They seemed to be enjoying themselves most of the time, but it was unlikely that their current existence as a sort of magical researchers and fighters would have been their first choice. He asked: 'What would you have done? If you had the chance I mean?'

'I wanted to go into magical research. You know? Devising new spells and things like that.' Lily grinned: 'And James always wanted to go for professional quidditch. In fact, I am sure that if Voldemort somehow dies tomorrow James would be celebrating for a day or so and then he would go and see if Puddlemere United needed him. They did ask him during our seventh year, you know?'

Harry shook his head, his father had never mentioned that to him. After a short silence he said: 'Professional quidditch sounds great, although I am not sure if I am good enough.'

Next to him Susan snorted and Neville dryly replied: 'If you are not good enough they might as well cancel professional quidditch altogether. They won't find any new players.'

Lily smiled again: 'James and Sirius keep telling me you could reach the national team. Still, it would be smart to have a backup option if quidditch does not work out. What else do you like?'

Harry thought about it for a while. He had to admit that he had focused on his upcoming fight with Voldemort and had never really thought about what would happen after he killed that monster. Eventually he said: 'I am not sure. But I really like magic… you know, studying how spells work and how you can use them in different ways. So maybe magical research would work for me too?'

Now Lily simply beamed at him: 'Well, in that case you should definitely take ancient runes and arithmancy. And even if it turns out that magical research is not really your thing those two subjects give you a good basis for many other options. They might even help you with your current problems.' After a short silence where clearly nobody wanted to touch the subject of Voldemort she added, 'It is the same with the other subjects by the way. So, what about you Hermione?'

Hermione shrugged: 'I am not sure to be honest. I would like to be able to help people, so maybe a healer… But then, I felt it was a shame that the wizarding world does not have lawyers for poor people… So maybe I should try and be a lawyer.'

'Both are tough subjects that would require a lot of extra study after Hogwarts.' Lily slowly replied, but when she saw Hermione shrug she smiled again: 'I should have known that would not bother you. I guess that if you want to be a healer you should take arithmancy and ancient runes as well.'

'Then I'd share classes with Harry again.' Hermione smiled.

Lily nodded: 'That's true. But those subjects would not really help you if you picked law in the end. Although, to be fair, neither would the others. So it might be your best choice. Maybe you should also ask your parents for advice though.'

Hermione looked confused: 'But they do not know a thing about arithmancy or the other subjects.'

'True.' Lily agreed, 'But if you told them that you are thinking about either becoming a healer or a lawyer they might help you with that. Beside that, I think they would really appreciate it if you asked them for help on something like this.'

'Oh, of course.' Hermione nodded, 'Why did you only offer two subjects to Harry and Neville? I mean, we are allowed to pick three, and I was actually wondering if I can not do all five.'

Lily laughed: 'I wanted to do that when I was in second year, but I was only allowed three. That was hard enough though, and since you guys still have the DA and all that to worry about I would really advice taking only two electives.'

'Ah, I see.' Hermione nodded thoughtfully, 'Well, I guess I go and talk with my parents then.'

'Of course.' Lily replied, 'I think all of you should. You as well Harry, talk to James I mean. It would be unfair if you only heard my opinion about this.'

They all agreed and quickly walked back to the Gryffindor common room. Once there they all found a quiet spot and contacted their parents. It took James almost a minute to reply with a: 'Hey, sorry about the wait Harry. I was just ehm… visiting the smallest room, and I figured you would have called your mother or mask if it was an emergency.'

Harry grinned: 'It's alright. I just wanted to ask you something.'

James looked surprised: 'Sure, about what?'

'Well, we have to pick our subjects for next year.'

James grinned: 'Ah, and you wanted some advice from the old man? Nice!'

Harry grinned back at him: 'Well, I already asked mum of course.' James predictably pouted and Harry continued: 'But I wanted your opinion as well. What do you think I should do?'

James shrugged: 'It depends on what you want to do after Hogwarts I guess.'

Once again Harry explained about quidditch and magical research. And after James finally stopped his excited rant about Harry playing professional quidditch he suddenly turned serious and asked: 'Are you sure you are not just naming the things that your mother and I wanted to do when we were young?'

Harry hesitated. The thought had crossed his mind. Eventually he replied: 'I do not think so. I really love quidditch. And magic is fascinating. Beside that, I have no idea what else I want to do.'

With a frown James replied: 'I see. Most kids your age want to be an auror when they grow up I think.'

Harry shrugged: 'Well, I don't. I mean, I like what we are doing with the DA. And I want to be able to defend myself. But I just do not really see myself hunting dark wizards for the rest of my life you know. After Voldemort is gone I'd rather focus on something fun.'

'That makes sense I guess.' James admitted, 'Well, there are no subjects that really work for quidditch. So I guess it makes sense to focus on your other option for now. Lily advised arithmancy and ancient runes?'

Harry simply nodded in reply and James looked thoughtful for a while: 'Well, I can not disagree. Care for magical creatures is a fun class, but it is not really going to help you. And you never really seemed to be the type that wanted to work with animals anyway.' Harry nodded in agreement and James continued: 'And most likely you know more about muggles than the muggle studies professor, so never mind that one. And divination is a waste of time anyway.'

Harry frowned: 'What about the prophecy.'

James chuckled: 'Sorry, I should have said: divination is a waste of time if you do not have the gift. You know that Dumbledore scored an outstanding in divination and still totally misinterpreted the prophecy? If you do not have the gift it is a waste of a class. Easy mark to get though, so if you feel overwhelmed by your current subjects already it might be a good idea to take divination instead of runes or arithmancy.'

Harry hesitated for a few seconds. It was true that he sometimes felt that he had barely enough hours in a day. But eventually he said: 'I am sure I can do it. Beside that, those two subjects might be useful against Voldemort as well, right?'

James shrugged: 'I guess so. They are a bit too theoretical to be of direct use in a duel. But they might very well help you out in other situations.' Then he beamed: 'But who really cares, my son is going to be a great seeker anyway! I can't wait to see you fly for Pride of Portree.'

Harry grinned: 'If I am really that good I might as well go for a real team like Puddlemere United.'

'What?' James sputtered, 'You have a lot to learn young padawan!'

'And you have watched too many muggle movies since you got that video system running.' Harry grinned, catching the reference from one of the movie nights at Hermione's place from before Hogwarts.

James shrugged: 'Sirius makes me do it.'

'Yeah, right. Anyway, I should go. It's almost time for dinner.' Harry replied.

'Alright then.' James replied, 'Just make sure to consider your subjects a bit more and then pick a few. They are important, but it is not like they will determine your future or something. If you do not pick care for magical creatures and want to work with them after Hogwarts anyway you will just have to do an extra course after school.'

'Thanks. Goodbye dad.' Harry smiled before swiping his hand over the mirror to break the connection. He was glad that his parents had helped him out a bit, somehow he was quite sure that he would have never thought of picking out arithmancy and ancient runes by himself.

A/N: Bit of a time passing chapter. But not much really happens between Christmas and the chamber in canon as well. So I just picked a few moments and worked on those. Next chapter will see a lot more action :D

So, to reviews again. Only eight this time.

Teufel1987: Oh yeah, now you put it like that it sounds really simple! ;) I am okay with having land mines or a video camera in the magical world, but I am not sure if extended genetic research really has a spot in my fanfiction (if only because I do not know enough about it :D)

Maybe a stupid question, but don't you need a DNA samples of your supposed many times grandmother to test if you are related? I mean, if Lily's or Harry's DNA was tested you need to compare it to someone else to see if there is a relation I think? And with the last known descendants of Slytherin already dead and buried that would be difficult to proof I guess? Well, besides digging up the bodies…

And the same thing with finding the 'parcelmouth' gene. Don't you need samples of known parcelmouths? And with Voldemort unlikely to cooperate I am not sure where they would find them.

MAFITA: Good to hear that you are thinking about it. And I think I found some solutions for both finding the bathroom and opening the gates. I just hope that you and the others will appreciate my solutions :P

The Dark Lord Potter: It could happen. But there are several other candidates as well. All I am willing to say about it right now is that Harry won't end up with an OC.

Frodo: What was clumsy? The whole chapter? I am more than happy with suggestions about how I could have handled that;)

Blue Luver5000: I can't really think of a reason why that fight would not have happened in this timeline. But it is a bit late in the story to have Ron bragging about it…

Snowball1982: You're welcome!

Mwinter1: Thanks, good to know.

Acacia Rose Masen: Your question will be answered next chapter. But good catch about Harry not hearing the voice. He probably was not close enough during any of the attacks so far though.