The first week had flown by for me and already I had settled into a routine and learned many important things about how this year was going to go.

My routine basically consisted of waking up in a cold sweat from the nightmares of the graveyard. It seemed like no matter how good I got at occlumency that particular nightmare always slipped through. I would then grab my broom and fly to the grounds before running around the lake. I'd come back and get ready for the day before going to the Great Hall for breakfast. I'd eat and leave as soon as possible so I wouldn't have to deal with people looking at me. The rest of the day was filled with classes. After dinner I would usually wander off to find an unused classroom to practice different spells in. Quidditch hadn't started yet, but it would be soon and then my schedule was going to be even more crazy.

The first thing that I learned in the week though was that Defense was going to be absolutely useless. Dolores Umbridge was a ministry stooge with no teaching ability whatsoever. When asked questions she would simply tell us to refer to our textbooks. I'm also using the word text book very liberally here since the one we were assigned made no mention of how to properly use the spells, but instead gave outlandish examples of when you would use them. In the first lesson we had with her four people had been assigned detention for various reasons.

My personal favorite though was that one of the Ravenclaw girls, Su Li, I think, was given a detention for asking too many questions and not just following the professor's instructions to read silently. Quickly realizing that the class was going to be of no use to me I had used my mirror to contact Sirius and fill him in on what was going on. The conversation that had resulted left me with a lot to think about.

Flashback

I closed the curtains around my four poster and then slipped my wand from its holster before putting a mild sticking charm on them as well as a silencing charm. I really didn't need someone opening my curtains unannounced and finding me talking to a supposed mass murderer.

Once I was sure my spells were up and working properly I pulled the two way mirror from under my pillow. "Sirius, are you there?"

I didn't have to wait long thankfully until I saw Sirius's face show up in the mirror instead of my own reflection.

"I'm here, how's it going kiddo? I didn't expect to be getting a call from you this soon in the year."

I smiled at my godfather knowing he probably thought I was calling because I had gotten in trouble or something. "I'm okay Sirius, and I'm calling because my defense teacher this year is useless. Do you know who Dolores Umbridge is?"

Sirius's normally happy expression left his face to be replaced with one of disgust and loathing. He practically snarled out his next few sentences. "Yeah I've read about that bitch in the Daily Prophet. She's been trying to pass all sorts of discrimination bills in the Wizengamot. She's highly prejudiced and despises everything not 'normal' or 'human'. Don't tell me they are actually letting that woman teach a class?"

I nodded my head while answering him. "Yeah apparently the Minister assigned her to come teach here this year. Personally I think he is just trying to keep an eye on Dumbledore, and me, to make sure nothing crazy is going on. As I'm sure you can guess the woman is terrible though and I won't learn anything unless I study on my own. I was hoping you could send me a good book or two that you have."

Sirius looked thoughtful for a minute before smiling at me, "Don't worry I've got the perfect book to teach you some bloody useful stuff. Hell if I look hard enough I might even be able to find my defense book from school."

"That'd be great! Thanks a lot Sirius I really appreciate you doing this for me. It's just that I know I'm going to need these things someday and the ministry is refusing to allow me to learn them."

"I understand Harry, this is really no trouble." He paused for a moment and looked to be considering something else before he spoke again. "Have you ever thought about learning some offensive magic as opposed to just the defensive side of it?"

I was confused as to what he was talking about. "We do learn offensive magic Sirius, they teach the stunner, disarming charms, blasting hex…"

I didn't get to finish though because Sirius cut me off. "I'm not talking basic spells here. I'm talking about advanced cutting curses that can't be healed with simple spells, bone breaking hexes, mild pain inducing jinxes and the like."

I hesitated and looked at Sirius strangely. For once there was no trace of his normal joking manor, and for lack of a better word he looked completely serious. "Aren't those dark spells though? They all sound like something that death eaters would use on people."

Sirius shook his head at me. "Harry listen closely to what I'm about to say. Those spell all cause pain and possibly death depending on where you hit your opponent or enemy. Just because they have adverse effects does not mean they are dark though. Would you consider those spells dark if they were used to save Emily's life?"

"No, no I wouldn't consider it dark at all. I'm still not sure about learning them though. What's the difference between those spells and the dark arts then?"

"There is no difference in them Harry and that is the point of the matter. Spells are not inherently good or evil. It all comes down to the way the caster uses them and the witch or wizard's intent. That being said most spells that are considered dark arts today are ones that require large amounts of power, are emotion based, and can be incredibly unpredicatable."

I still wasn't one hundred percent sure I liked the idea of learning such dangerous spells, but I asked Sirius if he could send a beginner's book about them as well.

"Certainly, I recommend you go into it with an unprejudiced attitude and if you like it then I can always send more advanced books, if not then you don't have to continue with it. I would never force you to do or learn something you aren't comfortable with. Anyway how is your occlumency coming along?"

That was one thing I had been working on every day since I had gotten back to school. "Well you knew how far I'd gotten by the time I left the station. Now though I can go into this meditation like state and with a little focus I can make my mind into a void. I suppose that's the best way to describe it. It's as if I'm standing in a room with no doors, windows, or lights. The darkness would be almost suffocating except I feel at ease because I know it is my own mind and I control it. Normally this part of the learning would take around four months to come to. I've managed to do it in about a month and a half, but the next part is where it becomes tricky. "

I could tell by Sirius's face that he was intrigued with my progress and the process that I was working on so I continued. "I have to learn to maintain that state of mind subconsciously. It's easy for me to meditate and focus on finding it, but in order to be successful it has to become second nature so that I can pull it up quickly to shield my mind. The book made mentions of being able to hold it up at all times once I become advanced enough, but for now I need to work on it in small bouts. The recommended method was to hold it and then do simple tasks. That's what I'll be working on next and I imagine it will take me a great deal of time to perfect it."

Sirius nodded along as if agreeing with my assessment of the situation. "You're making quick work though kiddo and I know you'll continue to progress as long as you keep working at it. I have to go for now, but keep me updated when things come up. I'll send those books for you tonight so they should be there in the morning for you. It will be the same deal as with the other book I sent you so don't worry about anyone questioning what you are reading."

I thanked Sirius and promised to keep him up to speed with what was going on before saying goodnight and ending the connection between the mirrors.

End Flashback

That conversation had happened two days ago and true to his word Sirius had sent me the books the very next morning. Ever since then I had been reading through them when I could get some free time and found myself intrigued.

Sirius had sent me his 6th year defense book which covered some advanced shielding techniques that could replace protego, non-verbal casting, inferi and how to dispose of them, and dementors. I briefly glanced over the dementors section, but since I could already cast the patronus most of that part was useless to me. The rest of the book however looked to be very valuable and would put me ahead if I could complete the spells in it.

The other book Sirius had sent along at first had me worried. Just knowing what was inside of it made my skin crawl a little bit. I promised to give the book a fair shot though and had sat down and started to read it. What I didn't expect was to find myself completely fascinated by the spells and curses described inside. Cutting curses that weren't able to be closed unless by the caster, fire whips, hexes that could break an opponent's arm and those only scraped the surface. My old self would have been repulsed by the mere thought of any of those. However my new and improved self was excited at the prospect of being able to learn something that could be useful in a fight.

The final decision was made for me when I remembered my 'duel' with Voldemort. The only spell I had been able to get off was a disarming charm. What the fuck would a disarming charm have done against the most feared dark lord in centuries? Nothing, that's what it would have done; I needed to learn these spells if I wanted to have any chance at surviving long enough to end this war.

My first attempts with the spells had started dismally. I had tried to combine the lessons from both books and perform the offensive spells non-verbally. After two hours of constant failure trying to perform a fire whip I had grown frustrated.

I attempted to use my mediocre at best occlumency to clamp down on my frustration but that didn't work either. Then I tried recalling what I had read and what Sirius had told me. These spells were meant to be emotion based. They weren't like your normal spells where you could cast them off basic emotions and still produce results.

I would need a raw emotion, something stronger than just happiness or sadness. I would need to be able to use rage, hate, possibly love depending on the spell, and even jealousy. Focusing myself on the task at hand once again I concentrated on one emotion. I let the anger I had towards everyone lately build up inside me. Anger at my former best friends for the way they had treated me, anger at Umbridge for her lack of teaching, anger at the ministry for the lies they were spreading, and anger at Voldemort for everyone and everything he had taken from me.

I opened my eyes and with a quick downward slice and a thought of flagrate flagellum a thin strand of fire burst forth from the end of my wand and slashed down onto the top of a desk three feet in front of me. The surprise at my success caused me to lose concentration and the spell to stop working, but the damage was already done. There was now a burn line two inches deep slicing across the whole length of the desk. Little wisps of smoke were still rolling off of it and I couldn't help but smile at my first success with the spells. It wasn't much but now I knew how to advance. I would need to find a way to build my emotions up quicker which I knew would come with the advancement of my occlumency.

It was strange to me how everything I needed to learn seemed to be tying into each other. I practiced the flame whip as well as the bone breaker for another two hours and by the end I was near physical and magical exhaustion. Sweat was dripping from my brow and my arms were limp at my side with my wand already holstered. I had nearly mastered the flame whip and could use it very quickly and effectively to slice through wood and metal (as demonstrated by the desks with legs severed in half). The bone breaker had taken considerably more power and I still wasn't sure I would be able to splinter a bone which was much harder than the wooden legs of the desks, but I was happy with the progress I had made for one evening.

I took a minute to observe the damage I had caused to the room and decided to leave everything the way it was for two reasons. One I was tired as all hell and casting even a few reparos might have been enough to knock me out cold, and two if anyone did happen upon this deserted classroom they would probably just think Peeves had trashed it.

I was eating breakfast the next morning and having a quiet conversation with Neville about how useless defense was turning out to be when the owls swooped into the hall to deliver the mail. I was initially surprised when one of the tawny colored school owls dropped a letter into my lap, but then I remembered the visit that Daphne had paid me on the train. A quick scan of the Slytherin table confirmed my suspicions as I saw her glance at me and nod her head slightly.

I didn't want to risk anyone else seeing what was written down so as subtly as possible I tucked the parchment away into my bag. Neville had seen the whole ordeal though and gave me a strange look.

"Don't you want to open your mail Harry? What if it's something important?"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to lie to Neville, but at the same time I wasn't ready to tell him about what had happened. I chose the best thing I could think of.

"It's from my godfather Nev, I don't want anyone else to accidentally see what he wrote down. I'll read it later when I'm alone." I hoped Neville would get the hint and not bring it up again. Thankfully he did and the boy changed the topic back to our previous discussion of defense.

By the time we finished breakfast we had about an hour left until transfiguration with the Slytherins so I told Neville I would meet him at class and that I was going to the dorms to read my letter. He nodded and walked out the front door in the direction of the greenhouses.

I used every passageway I knew to reach Gryffindor Tower as fast as possible. I wanted as much time to read whatever message Daphne had sent just in case I needed to reply. I lucked out when I got up to my dorm and found that it was empty. I set my bag on top of my trunk and sat on the bed facing the door so I knew that no one could sneak up behind me and read over my shoulder.

Harry,

I've managed to convince my friends I will be receiving tutoring for transfiguration this coming Friday night. Meet me at six p.m. in the same place we originally met.

D.

It was short simple and directly to the point. The only problem I saw with it was that I would now have to try and remember where that particular room was. I had been purposely trying to get lost last time I had wondered across it (not to mention under a mild compulsion).

I burned the letter so that I knew no one else could come across it and then threw the ashes out of our dorm window. Having destroyed all the evidence I grabbed my bag and started my walk down to the transfiguration classroom. It was another class we would be sharing with the Slytherins and another chance for me to demonstrate my skill.

By the time I got to the class almost everyone was there and Professor McGonagall was just walking out of her office in the back. I looked for the closest seat only to find that the only seat left was next to Blaise Zabini. I didn't have a problem with Blaise; actually I'd never really interacted with him other than the short conversation I had last year on the train when attempting to talk to Daphne.

I sat my bag next to me on the ground and pulled out my book while waiting for the class to start. Neville looked back at me from his seat up front next to Parvarti and mouthed 'sorry', but I just shrugged and smiled letting him know it didn't bother me.

The class started five minutes later with McGonagall going over what we had learned in our first class and then moving into a lecture on the inanimate to animate transfiguration.

I found the lecture to be very interesting and made sure to take decent notes on the key points. Sirius had started showing me spells like the ones McGonagall described in her lecture during the summer, but I hadn't managed to perfect all of them. The key was that you really had to know about the plant or creature you were trying to turn something into. It would be simple enough to turn a mouse into a matchbox because you didn't have to focus on creating living parts. When going the opposite way though, if one didn't focus on creating a working system of body parts they could very well transfigure a creature that was dead or dying.

As a result we wouldn't be starting off work on transfiguring objects into animals until after the holidays according to McGonagall and I found myself disappointed by that. I could understand the reasoning though as most people in this class would take that long to accomplish our first few assignments and then master them.

Today we were being assigned what I deemed as a simple task. All we had to do was turn a quill into a living plant. The incantation was fairly simple and applied to all of inanimate to animate transfiguration. I simply had to point my wand at the object and say 'novo' while keeping a steady image in my head of what exactly I wanted to create.

Keeping everything I had learned in the lecture in mind I took a few minutes to create an image in my mind. I decided to go with something elaborate since I had attempted this charm a couple times before with Sirius and experienced moderate success.

It was hard to concentrate at first with cries of 'novo' all around the room distracting me. I managed to finally drown out the noise and focus on an image of a rose bush. Petunia had made me trim her rose bushes every summer. When I was younger she would refuse to give me gloves so that the thorns would prick and cut me. Thanks to that though I knew every in and out of the bushes.

I could envision the way the routes stemmed from the ground. The long spiny branches were brown for most of the way up, but turned to a green as they approached the head of the flower. Razor sharp nubs protruded at every angle from the branches and were impossible to avoid. The branches would sometimes intertwine with each other and spiral off into a maze of thorns. The flower heads were often vibrant red and bell shaped. That was the image I had in my head as I pointed my wand at the quill I had laid out in front of me and spoke the incantation.

At first nothing happened and I thought I might have gone too advanced and was preparing to try again. Then I saw the quill start to shake though and watched as it seemed to sprout roots that anchored into the table. Blaise who was sitting next to me frowning at his own quill suddenly stopped and watched as the transformation took place.

The bush didn't get very big and paled in comparison to the ones that Petunia had, but I hadn't been actually concentrating on the size. I checked it over and found each and every detail that I had envisioned to be precisely like I remembered.

By this time the rest of the class had noticed and stopped working. I peered around my bush to see that McGonagall was standing at her desk with her mouth slightly open. It was one of the few times I had ever seen the woman display emotion so openly.

The room was so quiet a pin dropping would have probably sounded like a bomb going off. "I think I did it Professor." I said respectfully trying to ease the class back onto track.

McGonagall shook herself and came forward to inspect my plant. "Mr. Potter this is spectacular! Never in my years here have I seen someone do something so advanced so fast. Even your father who was an excellent student couldn't have done this. Take 25 points for Gryffindor and consider yourself excused from the normal essay. However I would like you to write twelve inches on what you did to achieve your results. Everyone else please return to work."

I nodded my head and pulled out a piece of parchment so I could begin to describe how I had envisioned my plant. It took a few minutes, but eventually the classroom was filled with cries of 'Novo' again. As I was writing I watched Blaise from the corner of my eye and saw him attempting the spell with some minor results. I wasn't sure if he would want it or not, but I felt like I should at least ask if he wanted help.

"Would you like some pointers Zabini?" I used his last name mostly out of respect since I didn't know the boy and figured his first name was for his friends only.

I received a hard look from him at first, as if the very thought of taking help from me offended him, but then he sighed and relented. "If you wouldn't mind Potter. I can get it to start changing, but the process won't finish. It will stop and revert back to the damn quill."

I smiled knowing that this was an easy problem I could actually assist with. "So you're doing the spell right then, it's just that your concentration is lacking. Try taking a few deep breaths and closing your eyes to picture the plant you want to create. Not just a general plant, but as much of the detail of it as you can. Once you have a solid image open your eyes and keep focused on the image you made. Then cast the spell."

Blaise did as I told him to and took a few calming breaths before closing his eyes. He took two or three minutes but eventually opened them and then raised his wand deliberately and pointed it at the quill.

"Novo!"

He used perhaps just a tad too much force when speaking, but ultimately the results were the same. His quill began to shift and change until there lay one single dittany leaf in its place. I watched as he carefully picked it up and inspected it. I was amused as he attempted to write with it and black ink still came from the end of the stem.

"Well looks like you almost had it Zabini. You just need to focus for a split second longer and you will have a complete spell." I went back to writing my essay and let Zabini continue to practice with what I had told him.

At the end of the class I handed in my twelve inches of parchment so I wouldn't have any homework. As it stood only Zabini and I had managed to actually complete a transformation with Hermione, Draco, Daphne, Neville, and Tracey all completing partials.

I had packed up my books and was on the way out the door when Ron stepped in front of me. I really didn't want to deal with the hot-headed idiot, but I saw no other way around it since McGonagall had already retreated back into her office.

"What do you want Ron?" I could see out of the corner of my eye that some of the Slytherins had stopped what they were doing to watch the interaction. Great, I really wanted an audience.

"What's wrong with you Potter?! I saw you help that slimy snake! What are you some kind of traitor now? Did you forget that it's people like them who murdered your parents?!" Ron was yelling in my face at this point and I couldn't believe he was so upset over the fact that I had helped Zabini. The absurdity of the situation caught up to me and I couldn't stop myself, I laughed.

"Ron you can't be serious? So I helped him with a spell, how does that make me a traitor? In case you haven't heard of it before its called being friendly and maybe you should try it sometime."

I didn't hate Ron and I wasn't going to stoop to his level of name calling and accusations, but his ignorance was truly astounding.

"You're helping them get better! That way they can attack us when we're not expecting it!" He threw his arms into the air as he said this to emphasize his point. I found all I could do at that point was roll my eyes.

"I highly doubt Zabini is going to come up behind me and hit me with a novo Ron. In fact it wouldn't even work because if you paid attention this is for inanimate to animate and not the reverse. Now if you have no other problems can you move so I can go to lunch please?"

I thought just maybe I might be able to diffuse the situation and get out of it there, but no such luck.

"As a matter of fact I do have a problem. You're my problem. Ever since the end of last year and what happened you've been really pissing me off. First you enter yourself in that damn tournament, which you know I wanted, then you didn't stop me when I made a fool of myself in front of Fleur, and to top it all off you went and got Cedric murde…."

I didn't let him finish his sentence. My wand flicked and with a silent banisher Ron went flying through the open doorway and into the hall. He landed on his arse and his books flew from his bag. I found that I didn't really care at that point. I walked out and bent down so I could speak directly to him.

"Listen really carefully here Ron because I won't repeat this." The crowd had now moved out into the hall and was straining their ears to hear what I was saying. "You know I didn't enter myself in that bloody tournament. They proved that when they caught the impostor Moody. It's not my fault you can't control you and turned into a bloody fool when a pretty girl was around. This last one you are going to want to pay really close attention to. If you ever bring up Cedric again, I won't hesitate to break every bone in your god damn arm. Nod once real slow if you understand." I shoved the tip of my wand into his adams apple to emphasize how serious I was.

Slowly the idiot nodded his head, his eyes wide with fear. I knew I had probably gone overboard, but to hear someone I had once considered a friend accuse me of purposely getting Cedric killed….I had snapped. I kept my wand out in case he decided to try anything else as I walked away. I took notice of the footfalls coming after me and looked over my shoulder to see Neville hurrying to catch up.

Once he was next to me it appeared he forgot what he was going to say or was hesitant to speak.

"Don't worry Neville I'm not going to blow up on you. Just say what it is you want to say." It was true; I wasn't pissed off at him.

"Well I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Ron's an idiot and what he said was out of line. If he tries to get you in trouble for cursing him I'll back you up."

I smiled and thanked Neville for his support. It felt good to know that I had a friend I could rely on all the time and not just when things were good.

"So what do you reckon they are serving for lunch today then?" I changed the topic to try and lighten the mood and it seemed like Neville was gracious for the switch. We discussed possible meal ideas gradually get more and more ridiculous until we reached the Great Hall.

As it turned out lunch was a very simple affair consisting mostly of different meats, breads, cheese, spreads, and vegetables to make your own sandwich.

"What class do we have this afternoon?" I asked Neville in between mouthfuls of my sandwich.

He swallowed his bite and then rummaged in his pocket for the class schedule. The disgusted face he made and the slight groan was all I needed to know.

"So its potions then I assume?"

He nodded and put his head on the table. "Snape is going to kill me if I blow up another cauldron this year."

"Well then pair with me Nev. I'm not the best out there, but as of yet I haven't blown up a cauldron. Even if we have to make our own separate potions you can just watch what I do and copy me."

Neville lifted his head off the table when he heard that. "Thanks Harry! Who knows maybe together we will be able to come up with a potion that gets an acceptable from Snape."

I snorted at that. "I highly doubt it Neville. Snape hates my guts and I don't really know why except that it has something to do with my father. Maybe I should ask Sirius about it one day."

"Yeah it is strange that he has had a thing against you since the very beginning. I mean he only hates me because I blow up at least to cauldrons a year, but you it was just instant."

I pondered on that as I finished off my sandwich and began work on making another one. Snape really had hated me since day one and I never fully understood why. Based off the events in third year and some things Sirius had mentioned I knew it had something to do with my father but not what.

Over the holidays I would question Sirius about it and hopefully get an answer. As I finished making my second sandwich Daphne walked in with Tracey and Blaise. My eyes followed them to their seats but I stopped looking once they sat down in hopes of not drawing attention to me. I looked instead up at the head table and found Dumbledore talking with Hagrid and to my surprise Umbridge talking to Trelawney.

Trelawney was becoming noticeably more and more distressed as Umbridge kept speaking to her and I wondered what the toad could possibly be saying to upset her so much. I pointed it out to Neville, but he just shrugged and told me he didn't know.

We finished lunch soon after that and made our way down to the Potion's classroom in an attempt to be early and avoid at least some of Snape's wrath. As per the usual we lined up on one side of the doors and waited while the Slytherins would line up on the other. Zabini, Davis, and Daphne were the next group to arrive followed shortly by Malfoy and Parkinson.

Another five minutes or so went by and Neville and I had pretty much remained silent. The Slytherin group was in a quiet discussion with each other and seemed to take no notice of us. This suited me just fine as I had no interest in having a second conflict for the day. Especially not with Malfoy since he was a prefect and would no doubt use the position against me. In fact I was slightly surprised Ron hadn't used his 'power' over me.

Speaking of little Percy junior. I thought sarcastically to myself as Ron walked up with Hermione and the other Gryffindor girls not far behind.

I was saved from any awkward moment as the doors banged open and Snape's voice called out for us to enter. Carefully we filed in on our normal sides of the classroom. Neville chose to sit next to me at the front desk like we had talked about.

Out of all my classes I knew this would be the hardest to show improvement in since Snape was actually out to get me. However I was confident that with my budding skill in occlumency I would be able to keep a level head and ignore most of his petty barbs at me and my family.

I pulled out the book we had been assigned as well as some parchment so I could copy down the instructions that Snape would undoubtedly reveal on the board in a few moments. I really didn't want to be in the middle of brewing only for the instructions to magically vanish.

Just like I had come to expect once everyone was seated Snape began his speech about a new year and more dangerous potions than the last. He mentioned only four or five times how some of us wouldn't be continuing next year, while looking directly at Neville and me.

"Today you will be working on a very difficult brew. It is what's known as the Draught of Peace. Tell me Mr. Longbottom what is the purpose of this particular potion?"

I cringed a little as Neville visibly paled and began to stutter out an answer. "I-I d-don't know, sir."

Snape sneered at Neville in disgust before his gaze fell on me and turned to a sinister smirk. "Well then maybe your new partner can help you out and enlighten the rest of the class. Tell me, Mr. Potter, what does the Draught of Peace do?"

I had to fight to keep the smirk off my face. For once I actually did know the answer to the question. I had made sure to study the potions book extra this summer knowing how Snape was.

"Sir the draught of peace is used to relieve someone of anxiety, panic, or shock."

Snape's smirk fell and I allowed myself a small smile at being able to ruin the man's attitude, but his smirk quickly came back. "Well it would seem you have learned something after all Potter. Can you perhaps tell me why it is so dangerous?"

I wracked my brain trying to recall what I had read about the brewing process. "Sir, I believe that it's not actually the potion that is dangerous, but a mistake in measuring certain ingredients can change the strength drastically. The book mentions even being able to put someone into an irreversible sleep."

I smiled again as the smirk dropped from his face for the second time. His eyes swept around the room and then came to a rest on someone behind me. "Mr. Weasley, perhaps you think because you are a prefect that you don't need to copy down these important notes. As such I think we'll have you test Mr. Longbottom's potion at the end of class." I could practically hear Ron foaming at the mouth behind me, but somehow he managed to restrain himself from an outburst.

Not getting the reaction he had hoped for Snape turned to the board and flicked his wand to reveal the instructions. "Gather your things and get to work. You have until the end of the class to submit a completed potion to me."

I turned to Neville and noticed the boy was practically shaking. He had gotten more confident from last year, but it seemed like potions was still able to reduce him to a mess of nerves.

"Hey Nev, just calm down. You're going to make mistakes if you stay this nervous. Can you go ahead and grab the ingredients for me to, I'm going to copy down the brewing instructions incase Snape decides to get rid of them half way through the lesson."

Neville turned and looked at me and nodded his head before getting up and heading towards the ingredient cupboard. I set two small flames going and filled mine and Neville's cauldron with water so that it would be at a low simmer when he got back.

Then I took to copying down the instructions on the board. There weren't that many steps listed, but something didn't fit with what I had read. I flipped my book open to the pages about the draught and quickly scanned the brewing notes to find what I was looking for.

It was actually the first bullet that contained the information I needed. After adding the powdered moonstone you were supposed to stir until the potion turned blue. What Snape had left out of the instructions was that there was a specific number of stirs in specific directions to achieve the optimal result. The book clearly stated that seven stirs clockwise and seven stirs to the reverse would produce the best results. I jotted down a note on my parchment of instructions so as to not forget that.

Neville had just gotten back to the station and I helped him separate the ingredients into our two piles. He thanked me for setting his cauldron going and I told him it was no problem.

"Alright Nev, the first thing we need to do is add the powdered moonstone to the simmering water. This should turn it a green color." As I read the instructions Neville did exactly what I said and I was thankful when I saw the water turn from clear to green in my cauldron. I already felt like I had gotten off to a better start than in previous years.

"Next we need to stir exactly seven times clockwise and then seven times counter clockwise to turn the potion to a blue." Again Neville followed along as I read the steps, being careful to keep my voice low so that Snape wouldn't deduct points for disturbing the peace.

Once we had completed the stirring I glanced at my parchment to see what was next. "Alright now we're going to add more powdered moonstone until the potion turns purple. Once it reaches purple don't do anything, let it simmer until it turns pink." Carefully I added more moonstone watching for the change in color to signify that I had added enough. It didn't take much to produce the dark purple mixture and I then sat back to wait for the simmering brew to turn to pink.

Snape was sulking around the room in his usual manner, praising the Slytherins and berating anything the Gryffindors had done. I was surprised he hadn't visited my table yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the man would be breathing down my neck trying to cause a mistake.

I kept one eye on my potion while I looked around to see how everyone else was fairing. Most of the Slytherins seemed to be at the same stage as me, but I suppose not having any pressure on them helped with the concentration. The only exceptions were Crabbe and Goyle who had a murky brown liquid in their cauldrons. Snape had noticed this too and subtly vanished their potions before it got out of hand.

I couldn't turn around to actually look at my fellow housemates, but I could hear Hermione silently cursing at Ron for doing something out of turn.

My brew turned to a pink and I began to follow the instructions again. "Next we're going to add the syrup of hellebore until the potion turns turquoise and then let it simmer until it returns to purple." I did that and then grabbed a bag of powdered porcupine quills. "Go ahead and start shaking these up Neville. We're going to need to add them once it turns purple and if we did it right the potion will turn red." Not really sure as to what purpose shaking porcupine quills served I began to do just that. I quickly realized something was happening though as I could see light silver sparks in the bag the more I shook it.

It didn't take long for the potion to simmer and turn to purple. After another minute of shaking I dumped my quills into the cauldron and watched hoping I would get the red shade I was looking for. At first nothing happened, but then a red mist bubbled up from the bottom and spread from the middle to fill my cauldron. I glanced at Neville's to see him getting the same result, but his red wasn't quite the same shade as mine.

"Alright now we stir until the potion turns orange." I glanced at the book to check which direction. "Make sure you go clockwise on this Neville. There isn't a specified amount of stirs just direction."

As it turned out the potion took about sixteen stirs before it turned the orange we were looking for. I made a note on my parchment about how many it should take just in case I had to brew this again on my own. "Well Potter, it would seem you have learned something after all. Halfway through a potion and you actually have something that resembles the correct brew."

I sighed a little knowing that this had been coming, but kept my concentration on the instructions I had written down. It would do no good to respond to Snape's petty jabs and insults just so I could miss a crucial step.

"Thank you sir. I made sure to read my potions book extra this summer. Go ahead and add more porcupine quills Neville. This time the potion should turn a turquoise and then we let it simmer until it turns purple once again."

I could have sworn I saw Snape actually nod at me out of the corner of my eye, but it was so imperceptible that I had no way of knowing for sure. I did notice him however checking over my work and Neville's looking for something to critique, but surprisingly he just walked away after another minute or two. I wasn't the only one who noticed this though as I saw Malfoy look at the man as if he had let him down. By now my potion had turned purple and I was ready to continue. "Alright we only have a few more steps until it's finished so let's not mess this up now." I joked at Neville who was looking much more at ease since the start of class.

"Add powdered unicorn horn until the potion turns pink. Then stir counter clockwise until it turns red before letting it simmer to a purple." Once again being careful to not add too much of the ingredient I carefully poured out the unicorn horn. It took another sixteen stirs to turn the potion red before I once again sat and waited for it to simmer. Some of the Slytherins were finishing up their potions now, and I was pretty sure I could hear Hermione bottling hers up behind me. It was no surprise that Snape was in the middle of berating Dean and Seamus for having an abysmal potion and no skills in the subtle art of brewing.

I watched as Hermione took her labeled vial and set it on Snape's desk before returning back to her seat. He moved to the front of the room and picked it up inspecting it before sneering and setting it back down. He moved behind his desk and pulled out a scroll and quill before making marks on it.

My potion turned purple once again and I started reading off the final steps in the process. "Alright all we have let is to add moonstone until it turns grey, allow it to simmer until orange, and then add the remainder of porcupine quills until it turns a white with blue tint."

Neville nodded his head next to me as he gather up the last of his ingredients. "Thanks a lot for helping me Harry. I never would have been able to do this well if you hadn't been reading it out loud."

I was going to respond when Snape's voice cut through the silence of the dungeon classroom. "You have twenty minutes left to finish your assignment. Your homework for the next class will be to research confusing and befuddlement brews. I expect at least twenty inches on the topic. Mr. Longbottom that will also be five points from Gryffindor for talking when you should be working."

I wanted to say something about the injustice of it seeing as I could see the Slytherins talking amongst each other, but I had learned that all that would do would earn us more lost points and a detention for myself.

It took us ten more minutes to finish our potions and bottle them up. We used a piece of spell-o-tape and wrote our names on the vials so that they could be turned in and graded. Mine had come out almost exactly like the one in the book while Neville's was missing the tint of blue to it. I told him not to worry as it was still very close and probably wouldn't kill Ron.

I bottled up a couple of extra samples in case Snape 'accidentally' dropped mine when I turned it in for grading as he had in past years. As it turned out my fears were unfounded though as the man merely raised an eyebrow at me before picking up the vial and looking it over. He made no comment before setting it down and making marks in his book.

When Neville set his down Snape seemed to light up. "Ah, Mr. Longbottom you managed to complete a potion without endangering the rest of the class. You're coloring is off, but at least you managed to get the light wisps of grey emitting from it. Acceptable work I suppose although I have seen fourth years brew this better. Class may I have your attention. Mr. Weasley please come forth now so we can demonstrate the effects this potion can have."

The last was said in a relaxed and jovial tone, but it was clearly an order and not a suggestion. Ron slowly lifted himself from his chair and made his way down to the front. Not feeling like being anywhere near the center of attention at the moment I carefully slipped by him and back to my own desk so that I could begin cleaning up.

I watched as Ron gulped down Neville's potion and then waited to see what would happen. At first there was nothing, but then Ron's face relaxed and the obvious discomfort and negative attitude he had seemed to melt away. Instead his expression was much more serene and content. I began to wonder if I could use the potion to help me with my night time horrors.

Snape seemed upset that Ron hadn't dropped into a coma though and settled for telling both boys to go away. Class ended shortly after that and only Crabbe and Goyle hadn't turned in a sample. I had no doubt they would still receive higher marks than some of the Gryffindors though.

I was outside the class and told Neville to go ahead and I'd meet him at lunch when Hermione approached me.

"Harry where did you learn to brew like that? You've never been good at it before, and now you're suddenly teaching others to do it?"

To most people it would sound as if she had just been asking a question, but I had known Hermione long enough to pick up on her subtle signs of jealousy.

"I don't know Hermione. I just decided to focus more on my studies this year. I've slacked in the past and I'm not going to anymore. Besides it's not like I have much choice anyway. I don't have anyone to help me with the homework or assignments anymore and honestly I don't need it."

I used the last part to drive home the point that I wouldn't be asking for her assistance or friendship anytime soon. Hermione was persistent though and just didn't take the hint or brushed it off. "Don't be silly Harry, once you apologize for how you've treated Ron and me then I'll be glad to help you again."

I just shook my head. "Hermione, I'm not going to apologize since I haven't done anything wrong. Listen closely to this because I'm done repeating it. I don't need you or Ron to help me with my assignments or classwork. I am more than capable of doing them on my own. Can you even look me in the eye and tell me you aren't jealous or upset that I've been beating you in every class?"

I didn't get a verbal response instead Hermione just looked at the ground and that told me all I would need to know. I walked past her and headed towards the outside knowing I had time before dinner and it would do me some good to relax and think for a while.

I wandered aimlessly towards the lake at first before settling on resting against a tree near the shoreline. The sun was still up and it felt good to have the rays beat down on me as I leaned back and closed my eyes.

Snape's reaction to me had been strange today. Normally he would have made as many insults and comments as possible. I wasn't sure what had caused this sudden and unexpected change in the attitude towards me, but I wasn't going to give the man any reason to return to his previous.

Worrying about Snape sabotaging my potions and grades was one stress I was glad not to have. I had enough on my plate already with my extra studying and worrying about keeping my unborn child a secret.

I knew there was going to be some pretty bad backlash when the news finally broke on that particular topic. Teenage pregnancies were a very taboo topic to begin with. Add in the fact that the mother was a Slytherin and the father was me, the-boy-who-lived, and the word scandal was written all across headlines. It would make my life harder, but then again I was used to dealing with the repercussions and negative opinions. What I didn't know though was how Daphne was going to deal with it. Would she even be safe in her own school house anymore?

Realistically I knew the news was going to come out and probably sooner rather than later (nothing ever stayed secret long in the Wizarding world, especially at school). However I hoped we could put off admitting it for as long as possible.

I let my mind wander to thoughts of what my child was going to be like. Would they look like me? I wondered if they would love flying the way I did. Would the parseltongue pass to them now that it was a part of me? What was their first word going to be?

I had so many questions and I found the more I thought about the more curious and excited I became. I would have a family of my own. Something I had been denied for my whole life, but now I could give to my own child. I promised myself I was going to be there, but to keep that promise I was going to have to kill Voldemort.

That led my thoughts naturally to the things tying the monster to this world. Three horcruxes down but how many were there? I tried hard to focus on thoughts related to them to see if I could pull the memories up. While I wasn't able to get a definitive number I was able to recall the images of certain objects longer than the last time. The first one that came to me was of a golden cup being passed to a faceless woman. I couldn't tell who he'd given it to thanks to the mask, but something about the cup caught my attention. On the side of it there was a golden badger, but it wasn't any badger. This one happened to match the one proudly displayed on the Hogwarts Crest.

The revelation shook me out of my concentrated state and my eyes shot open. It suddenly became very clear to me. Voldemort wanted prizes, things that were valuable that he could flaunt. He was an heir to Slytherin he would naturally feel inclined to believe that the Founder's heirlooms belong to him. It'd already proven true with Slytherin's locket after all. If I could do some research on last known locations of artifacts and heirlooms from the founders I could be one step closer to locating the soul carriers.

Even then though there were bound to be multiple enchantments and curses protecting the horcruxes. I highly doubted Voldemort would leave something so valuable unguarded, even he wasn't that cocky.

So now I knew my next step in bringing an end to the war. I had to locate the artifacts and hope they were the only remaining horcruxes. I cast a tempus to check the time and found I still had a decent amount of time before dinner would be over. Knowing there was nothing I could do right at this moment I decided to just enjoy the last few remaining beams of sun before the dusk would settle in.

When I entered the castle again thirty minutes later the first thing I saw was Ron reprimanding one of the younger years for something. I wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying, but I didn't care all that much to be honest. If Ron wanted to do his job as a prefect and yell at people then by all means he could do it and there was nothing I could do to interfere. If he started to get to out of hand or tried to use his position to get things then I would have no problem telling McGonagall.

Neville had saved me a seat at the end of the table and I thanked him as I sat down. Dinner was more than halfway through by now, but most people were still sitting down talking and laughing. A cough and "hem, hem" from the direction of the head table drew almost ever ones' attention.

Umbridge stood up and cleared her throat again for no reason to which I rolled my eyes at. "Good evening students. I have a few announcements to make regarding new policies and decrees before you all head off to bed." There was a low murmur of disapproval from everyone around. I looked to Dumbledore and the expression on his face told me he already knew about this and there was nothing he could do.

"As of today the ministry has appointed me the Hogwarts High Inquisitor. This is a lofty position which involves me doing routine evaluations of your professors and their teaching habits. If I find them to be unsatisfactory I have the power to have them removed from this school."

The low murmurs had now turned to outright yells and curses. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How did the ministry possibly gain so much control of Hogwarts?

"Also as part of my position I will be creating and enforcing educational decrees. As such my first educational decree will be educational decree number twenty four. All groups, clubs, teams, and associations are hereby disbanded."

Now I really couldn't believe what I was hearing, did she really just disband all the teams and clubs? What about Quidditch?

"However, they may be reinstated upon a formal request and evaluation by myself. The captains or leaders of these clubs and teams will be required to submit their requests to me no later than one week from this point. Anything received after that will be considered null and void. Are there any questions?"

I had a lot of questions, but kept my mouth shut knowing most of them would have put me straight into detention. Fortunately Fred and George had no such issue with detention.

"Yeah I got a question you toad. Who gave you the right to take away our teams?"

There was a resounding sound of agreement going through the house tables at that question.

Umbridge seemed to turn red as she addressed the twins.

"Messers Weasley! You will not show disrespect to the High Inquisitor. I'll see you both in detention tomorrow night. As for who gave me the power that would be the minister himself."

I snorted at that and I guess it was louder than I thought because suddenly all eyes were focused on me. "Is something funny Mr. Potter?"

Well damn. I had been trying to avoid getting into this, but now she was directly asking me and it would have been rude if I ignored her.

"Well Professor," I emphasized the professor part just to make it known what I really thought. "It's funny that the Minister, who doesn't know his head from his ass, is trying to take control of this school when he can't even run the Ministry."

That did it I thought as the whole hall burst into laughter. Umbridge looked like a tomato now as the blood and rage boiled to her face. "MR. POTTER YOU WILL NOT DISRESPECT THE MINISTER LIKE THAT! DETENTION FOR THE NEXT WEEK WITH ME! YOU CAN START TONIGHT AFTER DINNER!"

I only had so much patience for stupidity and I knew I should have held my comment and bit my tongue but really how bad could the detention be? I heard people complaining about them being terrible, but if the woman tried to make me do anything too stupid I'd either tell her to shove it or inform one of the other professors.

Not having much of an appetite now I grabbed a sandwich and downed my glass of pumpkin juice before making my way out of the hall. I made sure to take my time in reaching the office where I knew Umbridge was probably already waiting for me.

When I knocked on the door I heard a sickly sweet "Come in." from the other side and hesitantly pushed the door open. What I saw made me want to gag. The whole room was decked out in pink and frills. The pictures on the walls were of various cats and she even went so far as to have a separate pink clothed tea table in the corner. Something was really just not right about this woman.

"Ah Mr. Potter. So good of you to finally show up. Don't worry you'll be writing extra lines for the extra time you took in getting here. Now since you want to spout lies about the ministry how about you take a seat and use that quill there to write the sentence "I will not tell lies."

I rolled my eyes since her back was to me. Really? Writing lines was the best punishment she could come up with. "How many lines am I writing?" I asked as I took my seat at the small tea table.

The woman turned around to face me for the first time since I had entered the room and smiled at me sweetly. "Oh just enough for the message to sink in."

I looked at her strangely not really sure what she meant by that. Opting to not ask any more questions I picked up the quill and began to write. The first thing that caught my attention was that as I wrote the back of my hand began to itch. Slowly that itching turned into a burning sensation and then I noticed the color of the lines I was writing. Red. Blood red to be precise. I narrowed my eyes and glared at the woman after I checked the back of my hand to confirm my suspicions.

"What type of joke do you think this is you crazy hag? I'm not going to write lines in my own blood."

Umbridge's face turned up into a nasty smirk. "On the contrary Mr. Potter you are going to write those lines with that quill. Otherwise I will have you expelled from this school."

How stupid did this woman think I was? Was this why no one really ever specified what they did in detention? I didn't know specifically what the quill was, but I would bet almost anything it was illegal and decided to call the bitch on her bluff. "No you won't. Because I'm going to walk out of this room with your quill and go show Headmaster Dumbledore exactly what you had me writing with. I'm sure he will be pleasantly surprised." I rose from my seat and placed the quill in my pocket as I made my way towards the door.

The only warning I had was the hairs on the back of my neck rising as I threw myself to the side to avoid a red jet of light that crashed into the door. I turned on spot and cast a shield spell to intercept another stunner. "You just made a very bad mistake Madam Umbridge. Didn't anyone ever tell you? I'm a lunatic remember? I have visions of Voldemort killing people and coming back to life. What would possess you to attack a lunatic?"

The woman paled as my words set in and her wand dropped for a fraction of a second. It was the only second I needed. I fired a disarming charm with a little extra power behind it and caught her directly in the stomach. I chose not to use one of the more violent curses I had been practicing just in case that came back to bite me. The woman sailed backwards and crashed into her desk. I took the opportunity to escape out of the classroom and run down the corridor.

Using the shortcuts I had learned throughout the years it took me no time at all to make it to the hallway where the gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office was. I didn't know the password but I figured I could reason with the gargoyle.

"I need to see Dumbledore. I don't know if you can understand, but this." Here I held out the quill. "Is an illegal item that a teacher was using on students and I need to report it."

The gargoyle looked me over for a second before inkling its head and then spiraling up revealing a staircase. I quickly made my way up and stopped right before the wooden door. I raised my hand to knock but stopped short when I heard the voice from the other side.

"Come in Harry."

A/N So quite a bit happened in this chapter. To everyone thinking that this will be the end of Umbridge…keep dreaming, Harry won't get an easy year just like that.

To anyone who is wondering about Snape's new found disregard of Harry as opposed it his usual hate, there is a reason for it I promise and that will be revealed in later chapters. That being said, this will be the last chapter I put up for about two weeks since I won't have internet because I'm moving back to the United States finally. Hope you will all read and review and I'll continue to write while I can over these next couple of weeks and hopefully have a chapter or two to post once I have internet again. Cheers!