CH 17

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The results of the mini-tournament were presented to the boys before they left the Grendel Goblin Clan in Iceland. Predictably Harry squeaked into the top position despite wanting to underplay his new abilities, but he knew that he couldn't hide them like he wanted. The other two were tied in the second position due to their combined marks, although they did excel in different categories, which helped to prevent bad feelings all around.

They had six years to learn from each other and that had helped Draco confront his own personal demons. He made his final decision two years ago to turn away from his father's choices for him. He was going to refuse to follow the Dark Lord Voldemort and that was something that he wasn't looking forward to telling his father, but he did have the support of two very good friends now.

So, bad feelings would never happen among the three of them for something like winning or losing in a tournament of testing.

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Draco had worked hard to earn his right to apprentice in his chosen field of Potions. The High Elf healer that showed up from time to time in their little compound had done much to help him and his two friends improve their skills related to potions.

Harry and Ron hadn't been looking into learning all that much about potions. However, Draco had dragged their butts around seeking the potions ingredients so often that they had no choice, but to actually learn something in that particular magical field. The blonde made them cut up ingredients with such precision that the two Gryffindors felt that they could do much of it in their sleep.

Luckily they were able to pursue their other interests with their other teachers and both Gryffindors had managed to pull the lone Slytherin out of the potion fumes long enough to get the blonde interested in other things too.

Harry's existing skills with woodworking increased and rounded out solidly. He was comfortable making projects that only took a weekend to do. Anything that took longer depended on what he wanted to make and whether he had the tools on hand. He became adept at making magical staves and wands.

Ron's mineral dousing skills were put to such good use that Henrik had a hard time keeping his hands off of some of the raw gems that the redhead had found. He was good at finding ore too, but not the normal stuff. He consistently found magical ore of different calibres that everyone in the compound was at a loss with what to do with it all.

That's when their goblin teacher in forging, Henrik, suggested that they consult the older books and volumes in the library section of the compound. Draco then remembered the books that he had commanded be brought from Malfoy Manor. It was then that the separate book packages were found addressed to him and the Gryffindors.

Salix had explained that the Librarian Elf of the Manor had left the room for a bit before coming back to gather the requested books from the actual shelves.

Draco chose to give the packages to the named individuals, knowing that the Librarian house-elf, Chaucer, would never let something leave the library unless it had to go. In looking at the books that had been included in his package he knew that he would be leaving a few of them behind.

Ron and Harry had done the same. They'd used what they could to learn some new skills, but left some of those books behind in the compound's library. The books were old and were not really considered Dark or Light magic, but somehow it was better to leave them in a place that is used for general purpose learning rather than someplace like Hogwarts that mainly promoted Light Magic or Durmstrang that promoted Dark Magic.

However, it was their joint training that allowed all three to gain Journeymen status in various fields within the Magical World. Their teachers were acknowledged Masters and, as Severus had pointed out to the fathers of two of the boys, it was accepted practice nowadays to test apprentice equivalency without having to primarily study under one particular Master.

They had Writs, signed, sealed and recorded at several International Guilds and at a couple were for the Journeyman levels in the following: Potions, Healing, Magical Carpentry, Magical Mining, Spell-crafting and Enchanters' Guilds. Most of the Guilds were non-human oriented, as the Humans tended to lean more Potions and Spell use rather than creation, but as always there are exceptions.

They only revealed the Writs for potions because it had been asked of them, but truly Harry and Ron could claim to have been Journeymen a few more fields. However, doing so would just have blown their whole fishing trip cover story. So they had exchanged that sidelong look that only close friends could gain after knowing each other for quite some time and handed over just the Writ acknowledging their Potions Level.

All their Journeyman Writs they had were issued by their respective International Guilds, but their scores and the ones who vouched for their levels were all sealed under the Guild Charters, Secrecy and Magical Preservation Laws.

The only way for anyone to find out who trained the boys, meant the request would have to come from someone with Mastery in that respected field they were making their query. That someone would also have to accept responsibility for continuing the young men's training in the chosen field, even if that someone chose only to instruct them for one year of school.

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Severus arrived at Malfoy Manor shortly after receiving the request to help Lucius with his twisted ankle. He had been able to contact an old friend at the International Potions and Alchemists Guild to get the information he was seeking and execute his acceptance to be responsible for the boys for the remainder of this school year and their next.

He was shocked to learn just who or more specifically what the boys' voucher was, but he couldn't dispute it. He was all the more cheerful about it too because he could in good conscience state that he was willing to oversee the three boys further their Mastery under a one year term condition to begin immediately, not including their summer holidays. He was hoping that they would agree to return to the school two weeks before the start of their seventh year at Hogwarts in order to help him out with the potions required by the school's infirmary.

'I can't wait for all three to take over teaching the younger years,' he thought gleefully. 'I'll have more time to research a few things and hopefully those boys will be able to get the brats to learn the basics better than I ever did.'

He used his code phrase to access the Malfoy Manor's Floo and stepped gracefully through the green-tinged transportation flames. A house-elf appeared to guide him to the Master of the house. He walked through the study doors and noted that the blonde had one leg elevated on an ottoman with his foot and ankle exposed to the cooling air of the room.

"Well, what have you gotten yourself into now Lucius?" Severus asked in a quirky tone, which showed his good mood.

He took out his wand to scan the man's leg and to generally note his level of health. He was glad he didn't have to fight the man to expose the limb because he was able to pull out a salve that would reduce the swelling in the ankle and administer it. He wrapped a bandage securely to the ankle with magic.

"I hardly did anything," Lucius said. "This was Draco's fault."

"Hmm," Severus said. "Use this in the morning and make sure you wrap a bandage securely for your daily routines." He handed a full jar of the salve. "Elevate your leg whenever you're sitting down and use a support when you doing any extended walking. You can use the salve at night too, only without the bandage. A cooling charm will help to reduce the swelling if it feels painful or throbs from too much use. Do all of this and you should be fine in the next three to four days, if it still troubles you after that see a Medi-Wizard or Medi-Witch."

The Potions Master sat down in a chair across from the blonde man and accepted the tea being handed to him by the hostess of the house. "Thank you," he said and then turned to ask, pointing his teacup in the direction of the bandaged ankle. "How is that Draco's fault?"

"He's the one that programmed the Pork-Key to return me home," the blonde aristocrat said. He took his own cup and then told his wife to leave them. He timed it just right, as Severus was taking a drink when he explained. "He programmed the Port-Key using Goblin magic or at the very least he used their language."

Severus raised an eyebrow and finished swallowing his drink. He ignored the blonde's disappointed look when he didn't spit out his drink. It would take more than that to make the Dumbledore's spy spit out his drink in shock.

"Surely you don't believe that," the dark man said.

"He spelled that parchment using the Goblin tongue," Lucius said, pointing to the letter he had been summoned with.

"Your son is quite adept at learning various languages," Severus said. "Are you sure that he didn't only speak the spell in Gobbledegook? Of course, casting a spell in another language makes the magic untraceable by the Ministry of Magic. You do know that, don't you?"

"Of course I know that," Lucius said with a sneer. "Our lord wouldn't have gotten away with half the things he'd done, if he had used standard Anglo and Latin phrasing, instead of hissing everything in Parseltongue."

Severus could only nod at that.

The two men speculated on the boys' abilities and what they had witnessed. They even discussed whether to let the Dark Lord know about the skills that the boys had displayed and came to the same conclusion of saving it for a useful time.

The Potions Master left a short while later leaving one of his oldest school acquaintances to contemplate on how his son had learned to use the sword with such precision.

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Three weeks later, on a non-Hogsmeade Saturday, the students were busy studying for their respective end of year exams. Some were in the Library, others in the Room of Requirement when they booked it and most were in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

The Hall was used in between meals, as the tables were always filled with water and snacking foods for the ever hungry and growing students. There was also likely to be a Professor or two in there at any given time, so it was just a chance that the Headmaster was present on this day, when a bang reverberated in the room.

Smoke had some of the students coughing and scrambling away before it cleared. Everyone heard a conversation not unlike something that would occur when the Weasley twins had been around, except that these voices were musical and female.

"Something has gone wrong," one voice said.

"Ya think?" The other replied in a snarky tone.

"Stuff it and let's just…" The first voice said.

"Yes, clear the smoke to…" The second replied.

"See where we are…" The first continued.

"I hope we didn't miss it…" The second wished, as the smoke was clearing away now.

"But if something's wrong," the first paused to look around and noted that there were multiple wands pointed in her direction from various young and adult Humans. "Oh dear!"

"What," the second said looking up. "Oh, blast. We're in the wrong Great Hall," she complained in a slightly whining tone.

The Headmaster walked up to the two female High Elves along with Severus. Most of the other Professors were keeping the students away from the two strangers, despite the fact that they were equally curious at how those two could appear inside the school through the wards.

The doors to the Great Hall opened and coming through it was Harry Potter, followed by Ron and Draco. They were dressed in casual clothing unlike the rest of the students. They were wearing leather, carrying backpacks, pouches and several rods of wood sticking out of their belts. They had been in the Forbidden Forest gathering ingredients for their sadistic Potions Master, who'd tasked them to get a 'Just a few thing,' he'd said.

Harry was the first to speak. "Lahki," he said walking up quickly to the shortest elf of the Elvin Kingdom. "I'm pleased to see you, but how did you get here?"

The two elves held up the watches that the boys had gifted them with.

Harry looked at them closely and sucked in a breath. "Dobby," his personal elf popped into the room. "Get me two un-enchanted glass jars with clean sealing lids right now."

"Yes sir," Dobby said popping out and then popping back quickly. He had been the one to fetch them as soon as he sensed something odd within the school and knew that the young men had to come back.

"Put the watches in there quickly," Harry said to the two women. He used his penknife to carve a quick rune on the seals before putting them on the jars. "There that should neutralize the spells on the objects," he said lifting up one of the jars up to the light streaming through the high windows.

Ron was given the second jar and he too was doing his own checking. "This isn't one of mine," he said. He passed it to Draco who did his own type of analysis. "What do you think?"

"It's not of my design either," Draco said. "Let's go check them in full sunlight outside."

The boys agreed and before the Professors or the students could say anything the three young men left with the two female High Elves following behind them offering their own comments and opinion. They had to get out of the school just in case the watches activated while they were in there.

The Headmaster was prevented from speaking to the women by the quick movements of Harry Potter and the two that had come into the Hall with him. It was something, which had secretly amused Severus. 'Serves the old meddler right,' he thought. 'I believe that I'm going to see what's going on. I suspect that one of those women is the boys' Potions voucher that elevated their training level to Journeymen.'

"Severus, where are you going?" The Headmaster asked, watching his young Professor begin to follow the group.

"I'm going to keep an eye them," the Potions Master said. "I'm afraid I must admit that I'm curious about who the two ladies are and how they know Potter." He left as soon as he said that because he didn't want the Headmaster to prevent him from going.

The Headmaster was left standing in the middle of the Great Hall of Hogwarts. The remaining Professors watched the old man frown in confusion and obvious irritation. Quickly making a decision he followed the group, fully determined to find out whose women were and how they were able to appear inside the school. Just before he left, he told the Professor's that a meeting would take place soon and that the students should be returned to the common rooms.

'They're not supposed to be able to do that,' he thought, thinking about the two women Apparating into the school. His frown changed to a scowl. 'I believe that those boys have been given too much leeway, but how to regain control of the Brat-Who-Lived? I've done everything to protect him and now it turns out that he has contacts with the High Elves. We could have gained valuable allies in this fight, but instead he's chosen to befriend them without notifying me. He's needs to be reigned in and soon.'

The boys were in a field quite a distance from the school, but still within the school grounds when Severus found them. The Headmaster had caught up by then too and they watched as the two jars were suspended in mid-air, held up by what they believed to be Ron's levitation charm. The two Gryffindor boys were doing some kind of analysis on the contents using their wands.

The two women and the blonde Slytherin watched the dark Professor in Potions approach and an old man that they weren't sure that they could trust. "Uncle Severus," Draco said in greeting. "Headmaster Dumbledore, I'd like to present to you Healer Amaya and Guardian Lahki from the Elvin Kingdom."

Severus bowed to the ladies, which caused them to smile and giggle a little bit. The Headmaster raised an eyebrow in query, but did nothing else to acknowledge them. "Ladies this is my Godfather, Potions Master Severus Snape and The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore."

Amaya's eyes lit up, ignoring the old bearded Human, she chose to bow in turn to the dark-haired man and stated, "The youngest Potions Master on record at the International Potions and Alchemist's Guild. It is an honour."

"You've heard of me?" He asked, curious about them.

"Of course," Lahki snorted. "Your godson was forever saying 'My Godfather' this and 'Uncle Sev' that during his training. He sounded like you were the originator of all things Potion."

"He's a potions genius," Draco said with a slight pout and crossing his arms. It was the perfect image of a petulant youngster protecting someone he cared about.

"We've known a few geniuses in our time," Amaya said with a smile. "He's hardly the first one."

"He the one we know," Harry said joining them once his analysis of the objects was done. "We haven't met any others yet, other than you, oh great Healer."

"Pish," Amaya said with a waving hand and slight smile. "Don't flatter when you don't mean it?"

"It's the truth," Harry replied with a grin. "Flattering someone is the basest form of lying when done for underhanded purposes, unless someone flatters with sincerity and that's the only way that I know how to do it. Besides you 'are' one of the renowned potions geniuses too, it's just that you've been around a lot longer than the rest." He yelped with a laugh when he received a wallop to the back of his head from Amaya's over protective older sister.

"A compliment like that is not a compliment, ya rascal," Lahki said. "You don't comment on a woman's age no matter her race."

"My most sincere apologies for having offended you, Healer Amaya," Harry said, still grinning unrepentantly. The other two young men were used to the by-play of the two women with Boy-Who-Lived. It was all in good fun, but that had to be ruined by the pointed question of the school's meddling Headmaster.

"A-hem," Dumbledore noised clearing his throat and drawing the attention away from less serious matters. "As good as it is to see you getting along with non-wizards," his tone in saying that sobered everyone up real fast. Even Severus had never heard the old man use 'that' term before or speak with such disdain. It was almost said in the same way and tone that Lucius Malfoy said the word Muggle. "Perhaps either of the two lovely ladies would be willing to explain how they were able to appear inside of Hogwarts' Great Hall, when the wards of this school prevent such magical infiltration, hmm?"

The two High Elf women looked at the old man with raised eyebrows of incredulity and then looked to the three young men that were talking softly amongst each other. "Harry," Lahki said getting the young man's attention and then she ordered. "Answer that man for I refuse to do it."

"Understood," Harry said turning his attention to the two Professors. He lifted the two glass jars in the air using his skill of telekinesis. "The objects inside these jars are Goblin made artefacts that were enchanted by Draco, Ron and Me. They were to be used as watches for the calculation of time in the Elvin Kingdom versus this dimension and specifically to measure the time differences so that the High Elves could come back to visit their students without too much time having passed them by. Also, they were to be used like a Port-Key for arriving at certain places under specific coordinates and conditions."

"That explains a bit about it, Mr. Potter," Albus said. "But they should have been prevented from entering the school by the school's wards."

"Actually it is because they are Goblin made that they can come through," Draco said.

Both Professors said, "WHAT!"

The young Slytherin continued to explain. "The Goblins were the ones that created the foundation wards for the school. It's rare that an artefact made by Goblins is available to Human witches or wizards, but if they are then they can access anyplace that is Goblin warded...unless the wards have been upgraded since the creation of said wards, to prevent Goblin made objects from accessing a location and only Goblins can do those particular upgrades."

"It's in the unrevised edition of Hogwarts: A History," Ron stated. "I don't mean to say that it states clearly in there how to circumvent the wards of the school, but it does say that the initial wards of the school were erected by the Goblin engineers that were engaged to construct the foundations of the building."

"What do you mean by 'unrevised edition'?" Severus asked. "As far as the advertising and the publishing house is concerned under the Magical Publication Law for the United Kingdom, it's mandated to state that all volumes are the most current up-date-version, especially of that particular book."

"Actually the version of 'Hogwarts: A History' sold in Diagon Ally and in any magical market under the UK's Ministry of Magic is the 'Ministry Approved' version," Draco said, doing the finger quotes for emphasis. "Any other version cannot be found unless it already exists in a family's personal library or a copy is obtained from outside sources. It's not illegal to own them, but don't try to purchase one through a regular magical book store that's listed under the UK jurisdiction."

"Are they available through specialist book stores," Lahki asked. She was curious about the production of magical books available to the students for a supposedly 'neutral' school.

"No they are not," Draco answered. "It has to do with how items, like those books are produced and-or are imported. Once they are 'in country' by importation or publication, so-to-speak, any and all books undergo a severe magical census review and any objectionable passages, chapters or what-have-you are magically removed in such a way that no one notices it. Even the stamp, 'Ministry Approved' is spelled and located in such a way that you will barely notice that it's there on the inside front cover, unless you're fully aware of its existence."

Severus was horrified by the implication of that information. A quick glance to at the Headmaster and that's when he noticed that he old man wasn't as shocked to find out about it, as he was. 'Obviously the Head of the Wizengamot would know about this,' he thought. 'I bet he had something to do with that. A legislation passed or something of that nature, hidden among something else.'

"However, the unrevised edition is how we know that these watches were able to transport our friends here directly into the school without being bounced out by the school's ward," Harry said. He handed the two High-Elves the glass jars and asked, "Have these been out of your sight for any length of time?"

"Not that I know of," Amaya said. "Lahki?"

"I don't wear it to sleep, so it is possible they could have been tampered then," her sister said in a thinking tone. "I know that our father's adviser wanted to analyze them, but you told us that any foreign magic directed at them would destroy them."

"That's true," Ron said. "Any invasive magic to analyze them would result in an explosive force that could conceivably kill someone. Have you had anyone reports on anyone with those levels of injuries?"

"No," Amaya said. "But then if the person who forced the foreign magic into it was a slave then the owner might never have reported it. However we do keep records of any and all deaths related to our slaves or any new requests for replacement servants."

"Slaves," Severus questioned.

"Old war ones," Lahki said waving that concern away. "We freed them, but since they couldn't function outside the parameters of their conditioning, we keep them as servants until they pass on. Most were gifts to the old warring generals, kings or queens and as such it would be an insult to return a gift presented as a peace token." She shrugged, there wasn't more she could say on the subject, but she frowned at the now useless gift in the glass jar. "What should we do with these?"

"I suggest you find out who tampered with them," Harry said. "The return coordinates attached to them do not take you home, but to some other place. I'll write them down for you."

He pulled out a spiral notebook with a natural fibre paper cover that he had made himself. He was testing it in a magical environment because he had discovered during their time Under Mountain that any muggle made books of this nature broke down a lot faster than any made by magical means. So far it was working just fine and the paper had to be thicker for use with any writing medium.

He tore the paper from the book along a pre-determined edge that helped with keeping the paper in one piece. "Here," he said. "This might help you know who to look for, if you know where these would have sent you."

"How will we get back to you," Amaya said. "I don't want Human years to pass us by." Lahki nodded her agreement, as she knew full well that their investigation was going to take some time.

Harry looked at his two companion Potion Journeymen and quirked an eyebrow. Ron looked thoughtful and Draco's hand just clenched around something on inside pocket of his robe.

"Use yours," Ron said knowing why Draco didn't want to submit his watch to give away. He didn't want to give his away either because they had added additional hands and data to theirs.

Harry nodded his understanding and pulled out a similar watch to the two in the jars. "All right," he said. "I understand, but this one needs to be linked to yours."

"That's fine," Ron said.

He pulled his out and the three young men huddled together like three points on a star. They held out their matching watches and spelled them to be linked in such a way that the time measured would be visible by an additional hand that Harry was adding to his watch.

"Four quarters," Draco said.

"Cauldron," Ron said.

Harry nodded at these and said, "Seasonal elements."

"Centre cauldron," Draco said.

"Emergency contact and rescue," Ron said.

"Deal," Harry agreed hissing in Parseltongue and adding his power to the spell. He was the one that needed to do the spell casting because the other two didn't want to let the old man know that their magic had fully settled. They were Synchronus in more ways than one and that too was to be kept a secret for now.

Once done they all turned to the High Elves and knelt in front of them.

Harry was once again chosen as the spokesman and they had already previously agreed to this so it was no surprise to Ron or Draco when he said, "Please accept this as a token of our esteem to you our teachers. Feel free to call upon our skills and magic in times of high need, as the case may be and we will come to you."

"So mote it be," the other two said in perfect synchronization.

Amaya took the token and noticed that it was a plain watch with little cauldrons in faded colours, in the centre and at the three, six, nine and twelve locations of the time piece. It wasn't programmable for transport, but that hardly mattered with the skills that the High Elves had. They could travel wherever they chose to go. It was only a matter of calculating time that was the problem that many High Elves had when they were living in their Kingdom, it was in another dimension after all. This was why the two had been pleased to receive the gifts that they had gotten before the boys finished their time training with the Goblins.

"Thank you," she said in a lilting voice. "You are quite welcome to visit us after you finish your schooling for the year."

"Yes," Lahki said. "We should be able to find the culprit by then and we can plan further training or ingredient hunting, if you like for a part your summer."

"Their last exam for the year is June 13," Severus told the ladies. "They should be free to visit you anytime after that."

"I believe that it will not be possible for Mr. Potter to have that kind of freedom," Albus said. This caused Harry to frown, but he pushed on looking at the young man and said. "I've made arrangements for you to train at an Auror's camp this summer."

"We'll discuss this later Headmaster," Harry said with a scowl in the man's direction. He turned to his Potions Voucher and said with a respectful bow, "If you are in need, send your healing magic into the centre of the watch. The centre cauldron will light up and an alarm will sound here. It will also provide us with a focus to find you in your Kingdom. Just be sure to let them know that we'll show up no matter what."

"We will also do our best to replace the damaged gifts," Ron said with a bow too and Draco copied the two Gryffindors by bowing respectfully too. "It wasn't right for whomever to take your watches and give you something inferior in return."

"Thank you," Lahki said. "We'll leave for now. Can we signal you the same way to let you know that we are coming?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, but only by activating this hand and making sure that it is between these two points." He pointed out halfway point that he'd added. "After two years those points will disappear, as they are markers for our summer time. This additional hand will show the year, month, day and time that it currently is here in this plane or dimension."

"Wonderful," Amaya said. "We'll make sure that appropriate Writs of passage are ready for you, if we do not see you before your last day of school this year."

Lahki and her sister stepped away from the Wizards to ensure that they weren't caught in the travel vortex and winds that they activated in order to return to their home Kingdom. They had the glass jars tied securely to their waists in such a way that if the devices activated in any way while they were in transit, the jars would be released from the person it was tied to without taking the person with them.

"See you soon," Lahki said with a wave.

Amaya smiled and said, "You can bring your Professor in Potions with you too. We'll contact you with the particulars soon."

The vortex of wind and light circled the High Elves and shot up into the sky, taking them away from the school grounds.

The students and the Professors were left in the field a little winded from the backlash by the different form of travel that they had just witnessed. "Well," Harry said looking at the other two young men. "Shall we continue our harvesting in the forest? I think that I can still approach a couple of the unicorns, but I believe that I'll use a mediator for that just in case, so maybe the two of you can be looking for something else when I do that."

"All right Harry," Ron said.

He knew full well that his good friend was still 'innocent' enough to get a unicorn to approach him, but they would only do so, if he wasn't surrounded by anyone who was 'experienced'. That left him and Draco out due to the change nature of their relationship. They had other things in the forest to get that were located far enough away from the known unicorn herd.

Draco and Ron headed into the forest quickly, while Harry wished his Professors a good day.

Although Dumbledore was trying to get Harry's attention regarding his summer plans, the Boy-Who-Lived put him off by saying, "This is neither the time nor the place for such a discussion Headmaster and we have to gather potions ingredients for our bear of a Potions Professor," he gave Severus a hidden wink and continued saying. "You know before he docks us more points for not bringing him everything on the monster list he gave us last night."

"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said. "You will be in my office as soon as you finish gathering the ingredients that Severus has asked for. You can let the other two deliver the items and we 'will' discuss your summer training."

Harry shrugged in the irritating way that teenagers had when they didn't like what they were hearing. He took off down the Forbidden Forests path and said, "Yeah, yeah whatever. See ya then."

Professor Snape was hard pressed not to laugh at the blustering Headmaster. He lifted an eyebrow at the boy's attitude and noted the direction that the Gryffindor was heading in. He turned to walk back to the school and barely caught the question from his employer.

"What do you have the boys gathering in the Forest," Albus asked.

"A few things to test their Journeyman status," Severus told him honestly. "I'm already registered as their Master in Potions with the International Potions and Alchemists Guild for the remainder of this year and for their next school year. They need to do the gathering for the classes that they will be instructing next month and at the beginning of their seventh year here. If you'll excuse me, I have a few detentions to oversee in my Potions class."

"Very well Severus," Albus said. "I will summon you to attend the meeting that I will be having with our young Mr. Potter." The Potions Master quirked an eyebrow to ask why and the Headmaster continued on, "I would like to know his progress in those 'Remedial' classes, plus I'll need you to teach him battle potions for part of his summer training."

"I don't believe that young Mr. Potter will accept the plans you're making on his behalf, Albus," Severus told the old man. "I'm afraid that if he gets stubborn your plans will fail, but I will join you once the boys return from the forest."

"I will let you know when they are back inside the school," the Headmaster said walking in another direction and leaving his youngest Professor and Spy behind.

'I wonder what he's planning,' Severus thought making his way down to the dungeons and the waiting youngsters that tested his patience by fouling up in his Potions class. 'I don't think it will work out the way you want old man.'

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(...Damn meddling, interfering old coot...) Harry hissed in Parseltongue. He took a deep breath and choked on the smell of something foul located nearby. His blinked away the tears that were running out of his eyes and then he grinned.

'Perfect,' he thought.

"Dobby," he called for his house-elf. The house-elf popped up and immediately started crying from the powerful scent he smelled. He looked to his young Master, while pinching his nose and hoping that the young man would tell him what he wanted and quickly. "Do I have any of that that 'Foul Out' potion, wash-soap and body cleaner left?"

The house-elf popped away quickly and came back in a full rubber yellow rain suit, galoshes, gloves and gas mask. His voice was high, squeaky and muffled, saying, "Yes Master Harry. You be havin' all that and bubbles too, but you be needin' to make more before next time."

"Thank you Dobby," Harry said. "That will be all." He looked in the direction of the smell, but he had a few other things to gather. He hissed out loud, (...I'm looking for an intermediary to communicate with some of the creatures of the forest...)

(...I'm Standish...) A small snake appeared near his right ankle. (...I will help you for mice...)

(...Deal...) Harry said. (...Negotiations first...)

(...Agreed...) The snake said slithering up to his arm and curling around the Gryffindor's wrist. (...Where to?...)

(...Unicorn herd...) Harry said. (...I'm hoping that they will allow me to comb a few loose hairs out of their tails and manes. I can also pick their hooves, but I'd want some willingly given blood for that because you just never know what they might have stepped in...)

(...Okay...) The little snake hissed in laughter, having smelled the rot nearby. He pointed the direction that Harry was to take in order to meet up with a herd that needed some help with grooming the tangles out of their fine hair. They might possibly be willing to give a blood donation for a cleaning to their hooves.

HPHPHP

Hours later the boys were walking back to the school. One Slytherin and one Gryffindor were walking back at a fair distance from the other Gryffindor Potions Journeyman. It didn't matter about the rare potions ingredients that the Boy-Who-Lived had stumbled across, but it also didn't explain why he hadn't protected himself from the most of rot coming from the corpse he had found.

The local herd or grouping of magical creatures in the area didn't care what happened to their dead. These creatures were semi-sentient and were petitioned just as the others with the little grass snake named Standish helping out with negotiations.

The smell came from a tree of some kind known as Tangle Wood. It had snagged a huge creature in its tentacle like vines and had tried to devour it. Unfortunately the expression about an 'appetite bigger than the stomach' was also true and the plant died before it could finish devouring its meal.

The creature was not common, but it was definitely an unexpected and fortuitous find here in the Forbidden Forest. Harry received permission from the local flora, namely the other Tangle Woods to remove their dead and to haul the rotting carcass away. In doing this, it would allow them to have a young shoot grow in the place of the old dead tree.

The carcass was a magical creature with the unlovely name of 'Stench Horn'. It had the same vague shape as a Rhinoceros, but the horns on its snout emitted a foul stench much like a muggle skunk would in the regular world. They had three horns which contained the musk sacks. The musk itself was a very corrosive substance that stank worse than the initial spray.

The Tangle Tree's roots, vines, tree bark, teeth and even the eyes, which were on the ends of several vines, were the easiest to harvest for potions ingredients. Harry had managed to levitate the attached pair into a clearing that they knew to be relatively safe and then he began to render the animal's carcass quickly, efficiently just like they had learned.

Harry had the other two take care of the Tangle Tree, while he took care of the Stench Horn by himself. It was only when he was handling a few of the last bits that one of the horns, which had been shorn from the body, fell off the carcass. This was probably from the time it messed with the Tangle Wood. It had lost the last of its putrid fluids all over his clothes and shoes. Unfortunately once a Stench Horn is dead their musk scent worsens, especially once it is no longer contained within the skin and bone, but on the plus side it was no longer corrosive. So he didn't have to fear the loss of his clothing.

Harry had just smelled the perfect opportunity to piss off the Headmaster. He sent a silent prayer of forgiveness to the Phoenix that would be sharing the office, but he couldn't help himself. He needed to be petty and rebellious regarding the Headmaster's demands. It wasn't the old man's place to dictate where he resided anymore than it was his business regarding when and where he chose to train for combat.

"Harry," Ron said with an exasperated sound. "Why didn't you protect yourself with some 'Foul-Out Spray'?"

"I have a meeting with the Headmaster," Harry said casting a weak bubble charm of smell protection around him as he approached the school. It was deliberately weak in order to evaporate slowly while he talked with the old man. "He told me that he needed to see me directly after we finished gathering our ingredients. He said that he'd summon Severus, but maybe the two of you could run along ahead and sort of warn him."

"Well we did get a find with the Tangle Wood and the Stench Horn," Draco said. "If you're going straight to your meeting…"

"That's the plan," Harry said. "Can you guys take this with you? It's my share of the ingredients that Professor Snape wanted us to gather. I think I'll just keep this other bag with me for demonstration purposes. See you later." He held out a large satchel that contained the accumulated ingredients that he had gathered, of course he didn't tell them just how successful he had been with the Unicorn Herd. He had kept those ingredients with him too.

Ron took the bag and nodded his head. He and Draco took off to the dungeons quickly, hoping that they would be able to warn their Potions Master about their find and about Harry's plans. However being in proximity of the Stench Horn even when it was being rendered was enough to let the Potions Master know something was up.

The two walked into the room that Snape was using for detention. The man was really good at his job.

"Where on Earth did the two of you find a Stench Horn?" He asked nearly excited by the prospect of new ingredients. He noted their shocked expressions. "I'm glad that the two of you didn't use the Foul-Out Spray, as that would have ruined the precious ingredients, so where is it?"

"Um," Ron said looking at Draco shocked that he had forgotten about the fact that the spray would ruin any ingredients obtained from the beast.

"It's with Potter," Draco said, equally glad that he had forgotten about the spray. He just prayed to Merlin and any other past Witches or Wizards that they still had the proper stuff to clean up with.

"Where is Mr. Potter?" Severus asked.

"He has a meeting with the Headmaster," Ron said.

"He's the one that that found and rendered the Stench Horn," Draco said. His silver-blue eyes were sparking with mischief even though his face was perfectly bland and he adopted a bored stance.

"Alone," Severus asked for clarification, because if that was the case…

'Of course that's the case,' he thought, receiving confirming nods from the other two. "Very well, we'll put your packs in the secure cupboard in my office. You two need to clean your tools and yourselves before we review everything that you've gathered from the forest and how you gathered them."

"Yes sir," they said and followed him.

The five students in detention were near gagging at the smell that wafted from the older students.

"Thank God we didn't have to do that," a small third year Ravenclaw student said.

"Yeah, let's just get this done," a fourth Slytherin agreed. "I don't want to be punished by getting a request for an essay about Stench Horns."

The other three agreed and were subdued when their Professor breezed back into the room and announced that both Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy would oversee the remainder of their detention. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin... that was a deadly combination no matter what they were doing.

"I have a meeting that I've just been called to," he said to the students. "These two will ensure that this classroom remains standing in one piece when I return. You should all be finished by then." He strode out of the room with his robes billowing dramatically behind him.

Ron took one side of the room and Draco took the other. They were fully capable of watching over them and the students did everything they could to stop the older boys from even approaching them. It wasn't that they were afraid of the boys, but that they were too smelly.

"It doesn't matter how we smell," Ron said. "You should concentrate on cutting up those ingredients with precision. You muck it up and I'll make sure that you get those ingredients to use for your next potion."

"The way you cut your ingredients matters," Draco said. "We're dealing with the magical properties of magical ingredients and they are affected by how an ingredient is processed, even by just the basic angle its cut. Now you should all be about finished with your tasks and if not then we'll have to see about getting a couple of ingredient cutting sessions added to your classes just for you and all of your class mates too."

That statement had those students turn back to concentrate on their detention tasks, they were year appropriate, but it was still a messy process. It took them all about another fifteen minutes finish.

"Pack the ingredients properly," Ron said, pointing to the waiting and sanitized glass jars and containers on the counter.

"Clean up your work stations thoroughly," Draco said. "You can only leave after that."

The five detentionees scrambled out of the room once their task was done. That only left the older boys, but they too left to take care of their equipment, to shower, wash their leathers and change clothing. They left their Potions Master a note to summon their personal elves to fetch them, as they didn't know how long the Headmaster's meeting was going to be.

HPHPHP

Meanwhile Harry strode up to the Headmaster's office after giving the guardian statue his new password. The statue wrinkled its pointed beak as though knowing that the Gryffindor smelled bad, even though it was made of stone and there was a bubble charm protecting the odour leakage... for now.

Harry shrugged and raced up the turning stairs not caring for the slow ride up. He knocked on the door, but instead of waiting for the old man to let him in he breezed in and walked straight up to Fawkes in order to whisper something in the Phoenix's ear. (...You might want to hide in Severus' quarters later on...) He hissed in Parseltongue knowing that the bird would understand him. (...He still has that Puzzle Tree from when he took care of my Sooties and you might not appreciate the odour of these rooms later on...)

Fawkes looked at the young man as though to say 'What are you talking about?', but two words was all it took. (...Stench Horn...)

The Phoenix shuddered and his feathers fluttered at the horrific thought of that. He flashed out and appeared in the safe arms of the Puzzle Tree that had remained as a 'Welcome' roosting stand for visiting Owls. One of Severus' house-elves noted that the bird was there and provided the fiery fugitive with appropriate food and water.

The Headmaster looked on that whole situation with an air of indulgence, but was surprised when his Phoenix left the room. When the young Gryffindor turned to look at him, he noted that there was a look about the young man that didn't sit well with him. However the look was quickly dismissed as a flight of fancy.

"Harry, my boy," Albus began. "Would you care for some tea?"

"No thank you," Harry replied. He looked around the room quickly for the perfect spot to release the unusable horn of the carcass he had just rendered. He never once settled on a particular spot because he didn't want the old man to suspect that he would be the one responsible, but then again he didn't really care.

He placed his bag on the floor near the chair he planned to use and with a smooth, unpractised air he tripped over the bag and spilled its contents. Luckily he knew how to keep everything properly persevered and with his mind he pushed on rolling glass that contained the horn, into the mouse hole he had found. It was lost amongst the others rolling in the same direction, but he quickly called back everything to his pack, except for that one.

His telekinesis ability ensure that the glass container rolled up the inside wall a bit. A sticking charm and lid loosening spell later also ensured that the rotting horn would slowly seep out of the glass container and eventually render the Headmaster's office unusable until the container is found. The Gryffindor made sure that the glass would eventually fall to the ground without breaking in order for it to be found... eventually... perhaps sometime during the summer...

"I'm sorry about that," Harry said sheepishly. "You'll have to excuse me for a moment. The doctor's were forever despairing that I may never have a growth spurt and look what happens when I'm at school." He held out his arms to show the missing inch and half from the length of his robes. "They did warn me that I might become clumsy because of it, however I'm quite glad that it's happening now." He tucked his bag behind his feet and sat down in the chair situated in front of the old man.

There was a knock at the door and Professor Snape walked in, not knowing what to expect.

"Ah, there you are Severus," Dumbledore said. "Good, now we can see how far along young Harry is in his remedial 'potions' studies." He pointed the wand at Harry and said, "Are you ready?"

"Stupid question Headmaster," Harry said. "You don't warn someone that you're going Legilimize before you do it." He sighed, made a full show of trying to organize his thoughts and then nodded his readiness, which wasn't really necessary.

"You're quite right, but you're still learning the skill, so I figured you needed to be notified about it," the Headmaster said. He pointed his wand and just like every other time in the Boy-Who-Lived's mind he was taken to the dark room to muddle his way through. The only difference this time was that Harry was deliberately letting him see a few very inconsequential images of his past, but nothing to tell the old man anything about his family or relations in the Muggle world.

Harry looked at his Potions Professor and said, "This shouldn't take too long."

Severus just hmphed good naturedly, not facing any of the old Headmasters or Headmistresses on the back wall. It wouldn't do to show them how much he had changed with his current association with the Boy-Who-Lived and his two compatriots in Potions.

The portraits on the wall weren't too appreciative of that because it meant that technically they didn't have anything to report to the current Headmaster. All they could see was the two individuals scowling at each other, not knowing that it was a game of finding out who would break away first before the Headmaster returned to the present.

Albus Dumbledore was surprised to find himself in a darkened room of Harry's mind, but was able to view a few memories that the young man had 'allowed' to slip through. They were slightly troubling in the fact that all the memories were linked to the boy's education. It was as though there was no reference in the young man's mind related to his family or the people he had been living with.

Dumbledore paused to reflect on that and realized that he knew that he had placed the boy with a family of some kind, but could not remember their location. It was troubling because he was certain that special wards had been erected around the place, but their presence was no longer felt. He eventually pulled out of the boy's mind with a plan to contemplate on that issue, but as soon as he was out, he forgot about the question of where the boy had been living for the past sixteen years.

"Well," he said pulling both out of their staring contest. "It seems like you still have a ways to go, but from now on I will not warn you, when I'm about to test you."

"Technically, sir, you're not permitted by law to conduct any such test," Harry said. "I have read up on the issue and know that it is illegal for anyone not authorized by the Council of Mind Wizards to do that spell."

"Who will press charges," Dumbledore asked leaning forward, clasping his hands in front of him and eyes twinkling.

Harry grinned and said, "I will."

"Your witnesses," the Headmaster asked as the twinkling gleam in his eyes changed and was not the usual portrayal of his amusement. This look was more calculating.

"You," Harry said twiddling his fingers to activate the bubble release on the one potion ingredient that he had deemed a lost cause back when he was rendering the creature.

Albus' eyebrows rose up and then he had to ask, "How would I be forced to tell the truth?"

"You attack my mind without provocation and you'll end up a mindless boob sitting in a room with our ex-Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lockhart," Harry replied with a grin that was just as unfriendly as Dumbledore's wicked twinkle. "That will be proof enough that my mind has defences despite you having found a few piddling memories." He stood up and was about to grab his bag to leave when the old man told him to sit back down.

Harry looked at him confused and asked, "Why?"

"We still haven't discussed the reason why you're here right now," the Headmaster said. For the time being he elected not to test the boy's defences of his mind, but he was going to be adamant that the boy get training with the Aurors he had selected for the summer. "We need to discuss your summer training, so sit down."

"I'm not going to follow your training plans this summer," Harry said. "I have already made vacation plans for the first time in my life and I will be out of the Country. Therefore your plans will have to be put aside until such a time as I feel I would need to be trained in the skills you believe I need to know."

"Now you listen to me boy," the Headmaster said, standing up to seemingly stoop over his desk, but it was a calculated move to make the young man cower. "I'm your magical guardian and I have the power to see to it that you never graduate from Hogwarts."

Harry sneered at the attempt to make him cower under that particular phrase that used to be a trigger for such a cowering reaction. He picked up his pack, shouldered it and stood up straight. In doing so it showed the Headmaster that he was not someone to be pushed around.

"You sir, are nothing of consequence in my life." Harry took a breath and continued. "You're only the Headmaster of this school and nothing else in relation to me, therefore your threat holds no water. I'm a Potions Journeyman, confirmed and vouched for by a Master in Potions. This is complete and true with a full Writ from the International Potions and Alchemists Guild, which means that I do not 'need' to graduate from Hogwarts in order to have a productive life. Expulsion from this school will not have the result you seem to think it will. Reflect on that before you take any other action. Also, I believe that you should know that I have had full access to all of my accounts and holdings since the beginning of this summer. Your use of No. 12 Grimmauld Place for your clandestine Order of the Phoenix meetings will only continue, if you don't piss me off by trying in any shape or form or make weak attempts to 'guide' my education or training, among other things. Are we clear?"

Harry's eyes were hard chips of the darkest jade. His expression was that of a man firm in his being and rights, not that a young boy that needed to be guided step-by-step.

Severus Snape was surprised at his reaction to what he was witnessing. The Gryffindor had basically told the Headmaster that he had the power to render him ineffectual in the world. Regarding the war effort, he could limit the man's access to the one resource, a secure meeting place for the Order, he needed and it was much needed after the last location was betrayed by Peter Pettigrew. The old location was basically rendered non-magical by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He watched the young man stride towards the door and pull against the magic that had locked it, after the Potions Master had stepped into the room.

Harry looked at the old man, who thought he had won, until the Boy-Who-Lived put his hand on the door and hissed out using German words in Parseltongue, (...Geformtes Metall, Schmiedfertigkeit, annulieren...) (...i...)

The two Professors and all portraits in the room stared at the glow that emerged from under the young man's hand. They all heard a creaking sound, followed by a dripping hiss and then a crash of wood thunking down the stairs and into the room, as the planks of the door fell away because they no longer had any metallic support whatsoever.

Harry looked at the mess he created and shrugged. At least now he was able to leave the room and he really needed to go because the smell was becoming slightly unbearable now. It was that and the fact that he felt gungy. He hadn't been able to go wash up after his work in the forest gathering potions ingredients. He looked back and waved nonchalantly to the Professors, leaving them to wonder how he had dismantled the Headmaster's door.

Professor Snape turned to look at the Headmaster and asked quite casually, "Did you need me for anything further?"

The Headmaster sighed at the loss of control that he believed that Harry had displayed. 'I'm going to have to have Madam Pomfrey give him a physical and mental examination,' he thought. 'Maybe there's a potion that will render the boy more compliant to my direction.' He paused in his thoughts, as something that Harry had told him finally filtered into his conscious thoughts.

"Severus could you look into young Mr. Potter's claim about his Journeyman status with the guild he mentioned," he asked. "I do believe that the young man is exaggerating his accomplishments and I wouldn't want the Guild to come and investigate the boy's false claims."

"I've already done so Headmaster," Severus said, using the Headmaster's title to draw his attention to the fact that this was a serious matter. "Mister Malfoy and Mister Weasley had insisted that I verify their combined to the Journeyman level in Potions too. I investigated all three. That is why I've removed Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy from Hogwarts' potions curriculum. They're going to be in charge of the younger students, specifically year one through three for potions, along with Mr. Weasley. They're technically my responsibility, now, until the end of the year. I'll also have them working for me during their seventh year, provided their other studies will not interfere with the classes that they're going to teach."

"I would like to see a copy of that information attached to all the boys' files," the Headmaster said. "I don't believe that I approved of such alterations to their schedules."

"You didn't need to approve of them," the Potions Master said. "There is the school charter and precedent for such matters. The Deputy Headmistress was the one to approve their altered schedules, as she is the one in charge of making the school's schedules. Copies have been in the boys' files since the end of the holiday break in March."

"Very well," the Headmaster sighed shallowly, as there was a weird smell beginning to permeate his office. He didn't want to take in a deep breath for fear that he'd pass out from the odour. "You're dismissed. We will be discussing young Harry's issue at the next Order meeting."

The Potions Master just nodded, refusing to open his mouth. He left the room and then paused at the broken door. "Did you want me to notify Mr. Filch that you need a replacement door?"

"No, no, Severus," Albus said. "There's no need for you to do that. I believe that I will go down myself, as it seems that I'm might need something from him to aid in clearing the air in here." He paused to look under his desk, in case something of Harry's potions ingredients was still around, but he didn't even spot a glint of glass. "I'll see you at the next meeting."

Severus left quickly before he was asked to seek out the item that was causing the stench in the Headmaster's office. Down the stairs and at the closing of the stone sentinel he grinned darkly and sincerely hoped that the old man wouldn't be able to find the stinking thing until the end of the school year.

HPHPHP

TBC...

(...i...) Geformtes Metall, Schmiedfertigkeit, annulieren - "Molded metal, forgers craft, undo" - literal translation using my favourite translating site - www dot world lingo dot com (remove the spaces and replace the word dot accordingly to test.)