"As you all know," Snape began the first Potions lesson of the new year, "to get into my class you were required to get an Outstanding on your O.W.L.'s. All those who got Exceeds Expectations or lower will be in Professor Slughorn's class. As a result of this, you will notice that you aren't broken up into two House groups, I expect there to be no issues arising from having students from all Houses within our lessons. You will be brewing Amortentia today, the instructions are on the board."

Once his introduction was done, the class went to gather their ingredients; at this level, everyone was working on their own potions without any assistance from their peers. When going to obtain his ingredients, he saw a very tattered version of the coursebook, picking it up with the intention of throwing it away or depositing it in the library somewhere.

The ingredients were easy enough to find and Harry was back at his cauldron in no time, setting himself to brew the potion within their rather restrictive amount of time.

/_-_^_^-/

At the end of the Potions lesson, Harry stayed back to do something that was long overdue.

"Professor Snape, I wanted to apologise for not attending our sessions last year, I found myself very much stretched thin during the O.W.L.'s, and that's not counting my already extreme number of extracurricular activities and my formation of a club to train Elementals. All of that is to say, I would like to attend lessons at a lesser frequency than my fourth year, but not at the non-existent rate of last year."

"You are of course aware that I did the same during my time at the school, in reference to exams anyway. You need not apologise to me, Mr Potter."

"I will admit that I've neglected to keep up with the mental techniques that you've taught me," Harry acknowledged.

"That won't really make too much of a difference; once the shields have formed they are there permanently, of course, you can manipulate and change them whenever you desire. I shall check your shields if it makes you feel better."

"It would set my mind at ease."

"Legilimens," Snape recited without hesitation.

The two sat there, eyes locked, and Harry could feel the Professor moving around inside his mind.

"Your shields have changed quite dramatically. Where they once were almost identical to Lord Voldemort's shields, they're now more like my own shields. Honestly, I expected them to resemble mine originally, but that obviously didn't happen."

"When I left last year, during Christmas I mean, it was because I had recently had Voldemort's soul removed from my scar and had to undergo treatments to purge the corruption from my mind. He was physically reshaping my mind to become identical to his, literally tearing his way through my grey matter and neurons to force me to think more as he does."

"So the Horcrux is removed?"

"You knew?" Harry demanded to know, immediately angry at the man for keeping information about his health from him.

"I did. Professor Dumbledore specifically asked me not to tell anyone about it, especially you. The Horcrux was acting slowly, we feared that knowledge of its existence would have made it act with more haste. Neither he nor I know how to remove a Horcrux after all."

"That… that makes sense. I apologise for losing my head, do let me know when our next session will be." With that Harry left the room, a bit embarrassed at his anger only a moment ago, though the fact that it didn't continue to build unnaturally reassured him that Voldemort wasn't back within his mind.

Not really having anything else to do, Harry sought out Daphne, wanting to spend some time with her. She was up on the fourth floor studying, and so Harry began to make his way up from the dungeons to meet up with her.

As he walked past the first floor, he heard two Second Years arguing about the pronunciation of a spell, with one insisting that the first syllable was the most emphasised, while the other was adamant that it was the second. Knowing that Daphne wasn't going anywhere, Harry decided to help the pair out by telling them that it was the second syllable.

The look of smug superiority on the face of the first student was priceless, made even more so by his friend's scowl.

When Harry was on the stairs leading from the second to the third floor he was approached by Peeves, who seemed worried about something.

"Have you seen Filches, he isn't anywhere in the castle?"

"I'm sorry to say I haven't, Peeves, do you actually miss him?"

"Now that the Weasley twins have left, he is my only friend here. The only one who will chase me whenever I want."

"You almost killed him a few years back, if it wasn't for me he would have fallen to his death."

"I said I was sorry, he chased me away so I thought we were still friends."

Harry had never seen Peeves upset before, not even slightly. The Poltergeist's sorrow was affecting his visibility, he seemed to be less colourful than normal.

"If I see him I will let him know that you miss him."

"Thanks, Potty," Peeves answered half-heartedly and flew off, most likely searching for Filch somewhere else.

"I've never seen Peeves concerned about anyone before," a girl on the third floor commented as Harry walked past her.

"It is an odd sight, isn't it."

"I'm Romilda Vane, a fourth-year Gryffindor."

"I'm-"

"Harry Potter, I know who you are," the girl, Romilda, cut him off, something that Harry found off-putting.

"Right, well I have to go now, Romilda." Harry moved to walk away, but was stopped by the Gryffindor girl.

"There's no rush, Harry, you can stay with me for a bit." She had placed her hands on his tie and gotten entirely too close for Harry's liking.

"Urm, listen Romilda, I have a girlfriend who I love, her name is Daphne and she means way too much to me to allow you to-" Romilda interrupted him with a kiss, which Harry immediately broke away from.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" The voice of Daphne sounded behind him, shocking Romilda away from Harry.

"You don't deserve him, he's the Chosen One and the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion. You're nothing compared to him."

"That's rich," Daphne laughed before continuing. "Especially coming from a nasty skank like you. Densaugeo."

At once Romilda's teeth began to lengthen, getting longer and longer, until they resembled walrus tusks more than human teeth. The girl looked to Harry to defend her, though with how angry he was with her she would get no such thing.

"Daphne! That's not very nice," Harry chastised, before whipping out his wand and aiming it at the girl's teeth and charming them to flash in different colours. "Try to at least make things a bit whimsical," he finished, not having any sympathy for the girl who thought she could ruin his relationship. The girl left for the Hospital Wing, not before glaring daggers at both Harry and Daphne.

"For a minute there I thought you were going to tell me off for going too far, the colourful flashing was a nice touch though," Daphne smiled as she hugged her boyfriend.

"You know how much I value loyalty, for her to try to make me disloyal really angered me."

"You took so long getting to me that I had finished studying and decided to come and meet you, I heard you saying lovely things about me and then saw that harlot kissing you. I could imagine what had led to that point and as you heard, I wasn't too impressed with her."

"Did we go a bit too far?" Harry asked her, feeling like he had been cruel.

"Almost definitely, though I'd say she deserved it."

"Maybe. So, what do you want to do for the evening?"

"I was thinking a one-on-one Elemental session. I decided to get some battle clothing and I thought you could be the first person to see me in them."

"Aaaw," Harry joked, earning an eye roll from Daphne.

"They're not cute, they're intimidating."

"Oh," was all Harry could say as they made their way back down to the dungeons.

/_-_^_^_-/

After being pestered by everyone about when they could expect the first group Elemental meeting, Harry had decided to just get it out the way, starting from the basics to help the newest members catch up.

"Welcome to the first Elemental training session of the year, I see we have a few first years with us and you're probably wondering what is going on exactly. In these sessions, you will learn to control the one element that calls to you, be it Fire, Earth, or Water. If you practice hard and often then you will become powerful, but if you don't intend to put in the work then you will never be able to perform the necessary ritual to unlock a greater connection with your personal Element. Those who were with us last year are eligible to go through the Halloween ritual, provided they show their commitment, those who are joining us for the first time will have an opportunity on Beltane, though, with the same stipulations."

The group was already separated into four groups, Earth, Water, Fire, and Unknown. The fourth group was told to copy Elias at the front as he cycled through the Four Elements Dance.

The other three groups would all spread out, with Harry amplifying his voice using his Elemental abilities to carry his voice to everyone.

"Blaise and I will be sending small targets at you all randomly, you will have to stay alert and ready to ensure that you hit the targets. You will not be allowed to use your wands so think of this as a fight for your life after being disarmed."

For the next hour, Harry and Blaise sent targets flying at the crowd, not favouring their friends or targeting those they didn't know. Everyone missed at least one target, resulting in a few small injuries such as bruises and cuts.

All in all, it was a good session, though Harry wished he had more instructors than just Blaise and Elias. When he mentioned this to Professor Lupin, an Earth Elemental and also their Duelling Professor, he reminded Harry that Angelina Johnson was staying back for her eighth year and had never failed to attend last year. Harry asked him to ask her if she would be interested, which the Professor was more than happy to do.