Chapter 38: Who needs a quiet end of the year?

If Harry had ever thought Professor Pyrites' lessons had been hard, he was reconsidering now. They were nothing compared to what Moody made him live through. But at the same time he was a little surprised, for while the main theme of everything the man was teaching him did revolve around Occlumency and Legilimency, the way he was getting taught resembled a real defence training much more, including several points of 'How to overpower your enemy best' and 'How to make sure you're safe in the face of an unwanted duel'. Although that, of course, meant that Harry was spending way more time bruised or even unconscious than he liked... And he was wondering if that really had been what Dumbledore had had in mind for this, but... It was still way better than the auror actually invading his mind so he wasn't complaining.

And History of Magic was actually interesting now, with Professor Drakul announcing the day after Harry's first lesson with Moody that their knowledge really was pitiful and that he would try his best to improve that in those last weeks leading to their exams... A difficult job but he did pretty well, when he talked history felt almost alive, especially so when he was beginning to sprinkle some of his own experiences into his explanations. The only weird thing was that he never called anyone by their name except for Neville and a handful of other students spread throughout the years and houses. But he never explained that particular habit so in the end they just got accustomed to it... Also, it was easier than ever to listen attentively and Harry even noticed how Ron of all people was paying attention to the lessons, sometimes even going so far as to scribble something down.

If that wasn't proof that the quality of the class had shot up drastically, Harry didn't know anymore.

Although that didn't mean it got any easier, Professor Drakul was basically flooding them with even more homework that, together with the rest of their classes, piled up even though Harry tried his best to work on them as early as possible... A lot of his time was spent studying now and as such he had to cut his trips to the Room of Requirement short and even in the evenings he could barely talk to Shiva anymore, wanting to catch as much sleep as possible before the chaos that called itself schoolwork continued... He didn't even have time to check out the books about vampirism he had had in mind.

Adding further to their stress was Career's Advice, where students were supposed to sit together with their Head of House and discuss what they wanted to do after school, to make sure they took the right courses for their NEWTs and stuff. Originally planned to happen the first week of this term it had been moved to the third week to let the students get accustomed to their new teachers first, as Career's Advice meetings could happen during class too. Not that Harry cared too much, his was scheduled at the beginning of Divination, so it was a very welcome thing as despite everything that had been happening he still hated that subject with a passion.

A lot of flyers had already been spread throughout the common rooms too and Harry himself had looked through quite a few of them, but it was pretty difficult to think of what he really wanted to do... Because of that he was rather insecure when walking to his own Career's Advice session, but he thought he might just give it a try anyway.

He knocked at the door of Professor McGonagall's office at the scheduled time and was quickly asked in, where the first thing he noticed was that she wasn't alone. In fact, Professor Pyrites was sitting in a corner, a plain, black clipboard in his hands, just like the one he had used when checking their classes.

"Professor?" Harry asked in surprise, not sure if the question was directed at Professor McGonagall or Professor Pyrites, but the latter reacted first.

"No worries about my presence Mr. Potter, I'm just here for statistical purposes, you know? The Ministry likes to be informed about the general gist of what students want to become et cetera... Just ignore me," he explained with an easy smile, making Harry nod after a moment and focus on Professor McGonagall, who didn't look all too happy about that arrangement but kept quiet.

Instead she just gestured to the chair in front of her desk.

"Sit down, Potter," she said while shuffling the pamphlets that were displayed on the table, and after he had done so she continued to speak. "So, as you should know by now this meeting is there to find out what career ideas you might have and help you decide on some suited path, so let me come straight to the point: Have you already thought about what you might want to do after Hogwarts?"

"Well... I had thought... Maybe I could look into warding?" Harry answered hesitatingly, knowing that this choice of career probably wasn't what she expected. And, true enough, she raised her eyebrows.

"Warding?" she asked in surprise, before frowning a little. "With all due respect to your improved grades Potter, but going into that branch requires NEWTs in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and at least 'Exceeded Expectations' grades too. And you elected none of them."

Harry groaned slightly. He knew his choice of electives had been stupid, but this was more than annoying to hear now.

As if sensing his frustration Professor McGonagall relented a little. "Of course, it's possible to learn them on your own, but that requires a lot of work even after your Hogwarts years..." She shook her head a little. "To be honest with you, I would suggest another career. Not that I don't believe you couldn't do it, given enough motivation, but... still. Don't you have anything else you might want to do?"

Harry thought about it, but he really didn't know. Warding sounded neat and he liked Defence in general, but what kind of job description fit that?

Professor McGonagall once again seemed to somehow know what he was thinking, as she changed tactics.

"Alright, let's try a different approach: What subjects were you planning on keeping for you NEWTs?"

For that Harry at least didn't have to think long. "Well... If possible all of them except for Divination and Astronomy." And maybe Care of Magical Creatures, he really wasn't sure if that was what he needed, he was already almost overwhelmed with Shiva and his rare visits to Zephyr... And besides that, most of his meetings with magical creatures as of yet had ended more or less horrible, so... yeah.

Professor McGonagall looked rather surprised for a moment though, before nodding.

"Well, that is favourable then." She pulled out as small, dark folder from below her desk and looked through it for a moment. "Yes, most of your grades seem to fit... To be accepted into the NEWT courses of at least Transfiguration and Charms you will have to achieve at least "Exceeded Expectations" or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level, something you will most probably manage if you keep up your work from this year. I can easily see that you are more than adept in Defence Against the Dark Arts and your Potions and Herbology grades seem satisfactory too. The only subjects you need to take care of are History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures. If you want to continue those you will have to put a bit more work into it, for Professor Grubbly-Plank only accepts students with at least an 'Exceeded Expectations' and while your theoretical work is about the correct level your practical performances seem to rank more into 'Acceptable' range... And regarding History..." She pursed her lips for a moment. "While Professor Drakul is fine with taking anyone who will at least achieve an 'Acceptable' grade your grades from the previous years are... rather abysmal."

Harry looked at the ground, knowing she was totally right. But - to his defence - everyone's grades except for Hermione's were probably on a similar level...

"I'm trying to improve this year," he said as such and she nodded.

"Very well. But let's get back to your career options: With high NEWTs in the core subjects you will have quite a few options available after school. How about auror, for example? Your father has been one, after all," she proposed, but he just grimaced. There was just no way he'd throw his life away like that, he had already experienced enough troubles like that in school for a lifetime, honestly!

"Sorry professor, but I think that's not quite the right path for me," he answered carefully as such. "I know I once wanted to be one, just like my father, but I think I prefer to walk my own way these days..."

She looked at him for a long moment with an unreadable expression before nodding.

"It's your decision of course. Another option you might want to look at would be healer, or maybe teacher?" she proposed and he hummed in thought.

Both choices did sound rather nice too, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to work with people to be honest, especially as those people would most probably only see the Boy-Who-Lived in him, something that didn't sound very appealing.

"Oh, you could also think about pursuing a professional Quidditch career. You are a formidable player, I'm sure there are quite a few teams who would accept you without a problem," she added, almost as an afterthought but with a certain vigour behind her words.

But he already shook his head.

"I don't think that would work out. I mean, I really like flying, but I'm not sure if I would want to play Quidditch professionally... Actually..." He hesitated for a moment, unsure about voicing what he had already been thinking about for a while. But in the end he needed to tell his Head of House anyway, so right now would work too. He took a deep breath. "I want to quit the team next year."

"What?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply and her face morphed into absolute shock. "But why?"

Harry shrugged. "I want to concentrate more on my schoolwork and while Quidditch is a lot of fun all the training sessions cut into my free time a lot..."

"But Potter, you can't quit, I wanted to make you Team Captain next year!" she announced, making him blink in surprise. Did she? On one hand that sounded great, for being a Quidditch Captain meant having rather similar privileges as prefects had, but at the same time it meant even more responsibility and less free time...

"I'm sorry professor," he answered as such, actually honestly sorry but unwilling to change his mind. "I'll do my best against Ravenclaw next month to get the Cup, but after that I'm out... I'm sure you'll find a suitable replacement."

She stared at him, still looking a little shocked, but finally she got herself back under control and nodded slowly.

"Alright, if that's what you want...Should you change your mind up to the beginning of August though please send me an owl, yes?"

"Of course..."

ooo

In the end they decided on nothing really. For himself, Harry would keep the three major choices he had - warder, healer and teacher - in his mind and, depending on his grades and his thoughts about everything after school, would decide on one of them when it was time.

For now, all focus was on the upcoming Quidditch game, taking much time to learn away from him but he was still nervous, knowing that they'd have to get a high win to get the Cup, as Hufflepuff only narrowly beat Slytherin in their match.

He needn't have worried though, for Ravenclaw got crushed. He didn't quite know how, but Ron had finally managed to get his stuff together and been awesome, almost rivalling Wood as he saved Quaffle after Quaffle. In fact he'd been so good, that that horrible 'Weasley is our King' song coming from Slytherin side had been spontaneously reinvented, now functioning almost like a hymn of praise for Ron. And Harry was most definitely happy for his friend, gladly supporting him - while enjoying not being the one in the spotlight for once - and in general being in a great mood.

Until June arrived and with it the last weeks of preparation for the OWLs.

Besides now learning full-time when not in classes Hermione - and by that Ron too - was busy with confiscating all kinds of things that students wanted to sell as 'aids to concentration' like some sort of black-market and Harry was once more glad he didn't have to do that, instead using the time to polish up his knowledge of History of Magic, his weakest subject by far. At least he could cheer Ron up with talks of the latest Quidditch game whenever their workload seemed too dreadful to continue...

ooo

When the OWLs finally arrived, they were rather... anticlimactic, considering all the stress they had went through for them. They had been split in theoretical and practical examinations and in the end, Harry was pretty sure that he had done alright with them all. Even History of Magic hadn't been as horrible as he had feared - although he had spent a lot of time on revising everything - and he was pretty sure that at least in the practical Defence exam he had achieved an "Outstanding". Casting a corporeal Patronus after being asked if he had any other spell he might like to perform probably helped with that though.

Still, it was like a weight as huge as Hogwarts itself had been lifted from his shoulders the moment he walked out of the History of Magic exam - which had been the last - and judging from the expressions of the people around him they felt rather similar. Except for Hermione of course, who frantically tried to find someone to ask if her answers to certain questions had been a little too vague and so on, but... Well, that was rather normal for her.

What was left was a week of relaxing as nothing could be done anymore now until they received their results sometime in July. Even the lessons with Moody had ended for the time being, with the auror explaining to Harry that he would assume that Harry kept up his practise during the summer holidays - at least the mental part - and that he would check at the beginning of the next year if further lessons were necessary. All on Dumbledore's orders, of course... Harry was just glad that most of the Legilimency attacks of the man had been weak ones, to show how Harry could work around it, instead of real attacks. He just had too many secrets he didn't want revealed...

Still, he didn't have to worry about all that for a few months now, so Harry used his newfound free time to retreat back into the Room of Requirements for some time together with Shiva, often joined by Ron and Hermione, to read, talk or in general relax for it seemed that for once in his life nothing weird or horrible seemed to happen at the end of the year...

Of course, life seemed to like proving him wrong.

It was the last day of term, the day of the End of the Year feast for they would take the Hogwarts Express back home the next morning. Harry had already talked to Sirius and Remus and made sure that while he would have to go back to the Dursleys for the time being - they didn't want to go too openly against Dumbledore after all - they would be taking him to Potter Manor the very next day, so everything was set.

He had just been leaving the Room of Requirement for the last time this term - taking the stuff he had left there some time during the year with him to pack it up - when he noticed a movement in the seventh floor corridor.

He wasn't sure if he had seen it correctly, but for a moment... He shook his head. He had thought he had just seen Dahlia, but it couldn't have been. He hadn't had any sort of contact with her after their meeting in Diagon Alley and she had told him herself she was a squib, so... No.

Hurrying through the corridors he made a quick trip to the Gryffindor tower to put away the books he had gathered before excusing himself once again. He wanted to make one last trip to Zephyr for this school year.

When he arrived, the dragon once again had his head on his paws, looking as if resting. But he did open an eye as Harry approached, looking at him calmly.

"Hello Zephyr," Harry greeted politely as Shiva came out from below his robes, repeating his greeting, and the dragon nodded slightly.

"Hello Serpent Speaker and Serpent Queen. What brings you here today?"

"Uh... Well, I wanted to tell you that I won't be able to visit you for the next few months," Harry said, causing the dragon to incline his head.

"Why is that?"

"The school year is over and that means we will be having summer vacation, far away from here, for a little over two months."

"Ah... is that the reason why your big friend, Hagrid, has been looking so sad?"

Harry blinked a few times before frowning.

"What do you mean? Hagrid normally stays here over the holidays as far as I know..."

"I do not know. To me he seemed to behave like he was leaving," the dragon explained. Huh... He needed to speak with Hagrid, then, what meaning there was behind this. Maybe Zephyr had simply misinterpreted Hagrid's actions?

"Anyway, I was wondering..." Harry hesitated for a moment. He hadn't really thought this through, but it had been an idea in his head for a while now and Shiva had agreed to at least ask, for it couldn't hurt. "In case you might get bored over the holidays, I thought maybe you want to visit me? I have a big property in the middle of a huge forest and everything..."

Zephyr looked at him for a moment, making Harry wonder what he thought as it was almost impossible to judge the dragon's mood for him, before giving off a rumbling sound. Was that laughter?

"Thank you for the offer Serpent Speaker, but I do not think it is necessary. Two months are not very much for me, time flows a little different for us dragons I believe. But your kindness is appreciated nonetheless," he explained, making Harry blush a little. He hadn't really thought about it like that...

ooo

He was just on his way back to the castle after some more talking with Zephyr when it happened.

At first, nothing seemed amiss as he hurried along the path between the ancient trees of the Forbidden Forest... Until the first spider jumped out of nowhere, blocking his path and sending him to an abrupt, shocked halt.

In front of him an Acromantula towered, easily fifteen feet tall, it's pincers clicking agitatedly. And as if that hadn't been worse enough, even more Acromantulas suddenly appeared left and right, some taller, some smaller than the first one, practically enclosing him.

"You insolent human walked the path through our territory for the last time today," one of them said, it's pincers clicking with every spoken word.

Harry's eyes widened. Their territory? Had Hagrid actually put the dragon into the Acromantula part of the forest?!

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know!" he tried to placate the spiders, pretty sure that he would not be able to fight them all, as he remembered his previous pretty much unsuccessful tries all too well.

"Liar!" one of them said, clicking angrily. "We saw you passing through with Hagrid! He knows where our boundaries lie! But we may not kill him because of Aragog. He never said anything about other meat though..."

The Acromantulas were now slowly advancing all around him and he knew that it didn't matter anymore what he said, they would kill him if he didn't act now.

He let his wand shoot into his hand and ripped it up, casting the first spell he thought might help: "Incendio!"

Fire burst out of the tip of his wand and hit the first Acromantula straight in the face, setting its body hair on flame easily, making it screech in pain and reel back. Which was a good thing, but at the same time it caused the other spiders to attack. Something he probably should have seen coming, but what still caught him by surprise.

One of them grabbed him, raising him up in the air, causing him to wince at its strength. Still, he had at least one spell he knew worked against that.

"Expelliarmus!"

The Acromantula dropped him again and - learning from past mistakes - he tried his best to break his fall as to not hurt his feet again as he still needed those to somehow flee...

Well, the resulting snap at least didn't come from there, but instead a lot of pain shot through his left wrist, making him close his eyes for a short moment as he suppressed a curse.

Sometimes he hated his life...

When he opened his eyes again he quickly had to roll away though, for a spider had positioned itself over him, ready to strike.

As such it just managed to scrape his arm with its pincers, which caused him to scream out in pain nonetheless, doubly so as he supported himself on his probably broken wrist to get up again.

Damn it!

The Acromantula turned around, obviously ready to strike again, but just then Shiva finally managed to emerge from below his robes and shot towards the spider, sinking her fangs into its leg, causing it to collapse.

Immediately Shiva flew to the next spider that was close, giving Harry enough time to come back to his senses - as fast as his pain-clouded mind was allowing it - and cast another Incendio at an Acromantula that was coming too close.

Knowing that normal spells had almost no effect on those creatures he then switched to a spell he had read about a while ago, though back then he had thought he would never have to use it: A darker, stronger variant of the cutting spell, that actually cut through the nearest leg of the Acromantula he had aimed at, causing it to stumble and him to repeat the incantation.

Right now he really didn't care if that was supposed to be dark magic, for it was most definitely saving his behind...

But no matter how many spiders he cut away or tried to incinerate and no matter how many of them Shiva bit as she slithered around him, hissing aggressively and causing the Acromantulas near her to back away, it seemed as if for every spider they killed another took its place, and judging from his fuzzy memory from second year the Acromantula colony was huge... They'd never manage to get away... And Acromantula venom was pretty bad, too... Not as deadly as Basilisk venom of course, but he had still gotten quite a bit of it in his bloodstream it seemed and it was already making its way through his system...

As his eyesight began to blur he heard a roar and suddenly there were bright, scarlet flames all around him as the Acromantulas began to scatter, screeching and clicking in hate and pain but otherwise fleeing.

The last thing Harry saw before his vision went black was a lot of white and a slightly reproachful voice was heard.

"You should have been more careful, Serpent Speaker..."

And the year has already (?) ended... I know this last term was rather rushed, but there wasn't a lot of exciting stuff happening and I thought that canon already explained more than enough about the OWLs, no need to repeat all of that.
I hope you still enjoyed the little insight into how this Harry's Career's Advice worked out in comparison to canon!Harry's. ;)

Next chapter will finally mark the start of summer holidays now! Things will get interesting and I guess a lot of stuff will happen in a short timeframe now... We'll just have to see if that's good or bad for Harry~

Other than that I actually have two small side notes:

1) I changed the summary to the one I proposed last time now. It should fit better with what this story is supposed to become now than with what it originally was planned to be.

2) I know there already were some offerings, but somehow I cannot find them anymore right now, so I thought I'd just ask again: Is there anyone willing to beta read this story? I've been told that especially the latest chapters were rather weak in the spelling/grammar department but it looks like I cannot find as many errors myself as I'd like (English isn't my native tongue after all). So if anyone would be willing feel free to drop me a PM or contact me in another way, I'd very much appreciate it! :)
(Though I don't have much to offer except for 'early access' to the newest chapters I fear, haha...)

Regards, Violet-san