The Benefits (cont'd)

by PotterFanDam

One night of drunken sharing and Harry and Daphne think they can move on. But things are never that simple and sometimes you get more than you bargained for.

11. Confessions

I concentrated hard on what I was about to do. Pushing the magic down both of my arms and making sure to stay focused the whole time through as the transformation began to take place. It still amazed me every time I did it that someone could turn a normal human arm into a leg of an entirely different species and feel no pain. I was reshaping bone and muscle yet all there was to show for it was a slight tingling sensation that made my arm buzz until the transformation was complete.

Over all it took me about thirty seconds before I was staring down at two distinctly wolf looking front legs where my arms had been. It made for the strangest sight, but a huge smile broke out on my face as I looked up at Professor McGonagall who was staring at me in awe.

"My word! Mr. Potter this is incredible, you have only been working on the transformation process for three and a half weeks and yet here you are able to simultaneously change two major limbs. It looks like I was correct in that you may be ready to attempt a full transformation before the holiday break after all."

That made my grin grow even larger. There were still two and half weeks left until break, but because of exams I would only be having three more lessons with the professor. "I hope so ma'am. I'm really excited to be able to transform completely. You've said I've taken to this extremely quick, but what did you mean by that? How long does it normally take someone to learn to become an animagus?"

I was genuinely curious and I had never asked Sirius about it because I wanted to surprise him over the holidays by transforming in front of him. "Mr. Potter you have to understand that this is extremely complex magic. Most people would never be able to accomplish it in their lives. The ones who do can take anywhere from a few months to years. You are the first case I have ever heard of where someone could potentially complete the transformation in little more than two months if you count the time we used reading about the theory and doing the revealing process. This coupled with the work you have done in my class leads me to believe you may very well be a transfiguration prodigy or at the very least gifted in the subject."

I made no effort to hide my shock at hearing the high praise from my head of house. "Thank you professor, but I'm not really sure what it means to be a prodigy or gifted even. I can guess that it means I take naturally to this particular field of magic, but is that all it encompasses?"

"Yes and no. To some extent it does mean that you will just have an easier time understanding and casting spells that are based from transfiguration. However with this easier understanding it allows you to also question more of the theory and pave the way for new developments in the field. You have not quite progressed that far yet, but I think that in a few years if you were to be trained right that you could very well be pioneering new breakthroughs in spells and applications of them in the transfiguration field."

I ducked my head to hide the blush that red that tinged my cheeks. I'd never have thought in a million years that I could be as good as the professor was describing but the proof was right in front of me as I looked down again at my arms still turned wolf legs. I focused on turning them back and it went just as smoothly as the transformation earlier. "Well I don't know about all of that Professor but I really like transfiguration. There is so much that can be done with it, and we haven't even started going into the conjuration branch of it. I believe I saw mentions of it in the book for next year when I was in the library but, not much else. May I ask you a few questions about the animagus transformation though? These are things I've been curious about since the beginning but I wanted to try and figure them out on my own first before coming to you."

McGonagall gave me a small smile which had started to happen more and more in our private lessons. "Certainly Mr. Potter. What is it that has you so curious about the transformation?"

"Well when I do transform for the first time, because I'll be changing everything including the brain will it make me have animalistic desires that I need to learn to fight off or will I still have complete control of myself?"

She seemed thoughtful for a minute before answering. "That is a good question indeed. I can only tell you from my own personal experience, but when I transformed for the first time completely I felt none of the desires, as you said, that a cat would have. I felt no need to hunt down a mouse, but you will realize that you gain the animals benefits while you are in that form. For example cats have a very good sense of smell and so when I am in my animagus form I can detect people I am familiar with just by catching a hint of them. Even if they are hidden by a charm or something else."

I was slightly relieved that I wouldn't have to fight off any sudden urges to rip tiny animals to shreds when I saw them. "That is a relief to hear professor. I had worried that it might be a battle at first over the animal conscience and the human conscience for control." I cast a quick tempus to check on the time and found it to be almost ten o'clock. "Oh wow it's a lot later than I thought. I should get going professor, but thank you again for all you've done for me so far. I never would have dreamed of becoming an animagus if you hadn't brought it up."

"It has been my pleasure to teach you this Mr. Potter. It is not often that a student as gifted as you are comes along. I just wish you had shown your potential sooner than this year so that maybe we could have progressed you along much further by now. I do not wish to hold you up from bed too much longer as I know you have a long day of classes tomorrow, but by chance could you tell me how things are going with you and Miss Greengrass?"

I smiled at the mention of Daphne. "Things have actually been going really well Professor. It seems like the general population has gotten over the shock of it and almost no one says anything anymore. There are still those who give us dirty looks now and then, but none of them will step up and do anything about it."

McGonagall nodded her head at that. "That is very good to hear. I am glad you have found someone that makes you so happy Mr. Potter, and I hope you will hold onto her in the dark times we know are coming."

"I plan on it ma'am." I turned to leave at that point but then something else crossed my mind and with a sense of dread I turned around to ask it. "Has Professor Dumbledore been able to find a replacement for Madam Umbridge? I know that Fudge said she would be reinstated as a teacher if one wasn't found before the end of the holidays…"

And for the first time that night McGonagall frowned at me. "Unfortunately no. The headmaster has been unable to locate a suitable replacement as of yet and it looks like that dreadful woman will be getting her job back, but she will be under a lot more supervision from the rest of the teachers and the headmaster. She will also not be allowed to hold any detentions."

I nodded upset with the answer, but it was nothing I hadn't expected. It wasn't like Defense could get much worse than it had been in the last few weeks. Due to not having a professor, the rest of the staff had taken turns filling in the position when they could. While Professor Sprout was very adept at Herbology the woman knew next to nothing about defense and that become very clear only a few minutes into my lesson.

If I had been going to the common room directly it wouldn't have taken me very long to get there, but I had a stop to make before heading upstairs. I took the flights of stairs down until I reached the entrance hall where the four large hour glasses were displayed. Ravenclaw was clearly in the lead this year, but I didn't really care. I had more important things to worry about than some house cup after all. I slipped as quickly and quietly as I could into the alcove closest to the hallway that lead to the dungeons.

I didn't have to wait long before I heard soft footfalls coming from said hallway and I ducked further back into the shadows in case it wasn't who I was expecting. Fortunately Daphne came around the corner and slipped into the alcove only a few seconds later. She moved quickly into my arms and I kissed her softly.

"I'm glad you were able to make it here. I've missed being able to kiss you goodnight." It sounded sappy even to my own ears and I knew by the vicious smirk I received that I would be hearing all about it for a long time.

"Oh Harry why didn't you tell me you were a hopeless romantic? Are you going to write me a poem next describing how much you love me?" And then I watched as she froze and covered her mouth. I looked at her unsure of what to say. Did I love her? We'd only been officially dating for about two months now I suppose, but I knew I had felt something for her since the beginning of the summer. I couldn't say it now though even if I did. She would never believe after making a slip like that. So I decided changing the topic was the next best thing to do.

"Why don't you come spend the night with me? I can sneak you into my dorm and I'll just put some charms on my bed, besides no one disturbs me in the morning anymore."

She looked skeptically at me. "How do you propose to sneak me into the house of the lions? Even a disillusionment charm wouldn't work because the distortion in the air would be clearly visible to anyone paying attention."

I smirked and carefully pulled the invisibility cloak out from inside my school bag that I had been carrying. I wrapped it around myself and Daphne gasped as I disappeared right before her eyes. I took it off and handed it to her. "You can wear that and follow me up."

Daphne played with the cloak in her hands for a minute or two before nodding slowly. "Okay I'll need to go back to my dorm and get changed though. Tracey saw me slip out so I'll have to get changed, tell her I'm going to bed, and then use this to sneak back out. Will you wait here for me?"

I made a little shooing gesture with my hands telling her to go. "Hurry though who knows how long I'll be able to keep myself sane without your presence." I received a punch to my arm for the joke, but it was worth it as I saw her tuck the cloak away and disappear back down the hallway to the Slytherin common rooms.

Once I was sure she was gone I reached into my robes and pulled out the old piece of parchment that I had taken to carrying with me everywhere. I tapped my wand on it and muttered the passphrase. The map of the school started to materialize right in front of my eyes and it didn't take me long to locate Daphne's dot. I watched it carefully to make sure she didn't run into any trouble on her way back. I was thankful to find the dot labeled Malfoy was already tucked away in a dorm most likely asleep.

It didn't take her all that long, maybe twenty minutes before the dot was almost back on top of mine, but this time she was already under the invisibility cloak. I tucked the map away and waited for her to make her presence known. It was only another twenty seconds before Daphne's head appeared out of nowhere and she winked at me before disappearing again. I rolled my eyes at her theatrics and started up the stairs at a slow pace so that I knew she wouldn't get separated in case one of the staircases decided to move.

When we had reached the landing below the portrait of the fat lady I spoke softly. "Squeeze my hand so I know you're still here." And sure enough I received a short squeeze a few seconds later. I nodded and made my way up to the portrait whispering the password as I didn't want to give away too much. Once I stepped up and inside I felt another light squeeze on my hand to tell me that Daphne had made it in as well.

Luckily no one in the common room said anything to me or tried to stop me to talk and we were easily able to make it up to the dorms with no problem. It would have looked odd had anyone been awake that I was standing there holding the door open a little longer than strictly necessary, but thankfully no one else was up and about.

I walked over to my bed and drew the curtains shut so that Daphne could get inside and take the cloak off while I got changed for bed. I pulled out an old t-shirt and a pair of sleeping pants and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and put them on. I came out five minutes later and carefully opened the corner of my bed and crawled in.

The sight of Daphne sprawled out in nothing but a very thin, see through purple night gown nearly made my heart stop. I had the bed directly next to the window and the moonlight shining through it fell across her skin giving her an ethereal glow. It took all the will power in the world for me to remember to cast a silencing spell and sticking charm on my curtains. I even went a little extra and did a basic privacy ward that I had learned recently in some of my extra studies.

She raised a hand and made a come here gesture with one of her fingers at me and I was all too happy to oblige. I crawled slowly up the bed and soon found myself straddling her as I leaned down to kiss her lips. I enjoyed it as she ran one of her hands through my hair and the other slipped under my shirt to run along my stomach.

I returned the favor in kind by sliding my hands under her night gown and caressing the soft skin of her thigh. Her eyes fluttered open at the contact so close to her entrance and for a second I thought she might tell me to stop, but one look into her eyes and I saw nothing but passion and desire.

I maneuvered myself to give myself better access to her as she pulled my shirt off and over my head. It wasn't long before my pants were soon discarded to, and we were kissing passionately as we made love for the first time since this whole strange relationship had started last year.

It didn't last long, just like the first time, but it was different in a way. The first time had been driven by a need, pain, and more than a little alcohol. This was softer and gentler though and came from actual feelings for each other.

We were careful to make sure the clothes that had been discarded did not leave the boundaries of the bed. Soon she was curled up against me just like on Halloween night when we had slept together. Except now there was nothing between me and her soft warm skin. I pulled the blanket up over us and kissed the top of her head before whispering goodnight and closing my eyes.

When I woke up the next morning I realized a few things all in rapid succession. The first was that I was pressed up against something very soft and warm. The second was that the thing I was pressed up against was none other than my girlfriend who was naked. The third thing I realized was I was now incredibly turned on as I looked down at the naked girl lying next to me.

I reached for my wand and cast a quick tempus. I let out a groan when I saw that it was already seven o'clock. That meant I only had one hour before class and I still had to shower and get breakfast. I gently shook Daphne to wake her up.

"Daph, we have to get up we have class in an hour."

She mumbled sleepily at first but then rolled over and looked at me. "I don't suppose we could just skip our morning classes then?"

I did a mental review of my schedule for the day and realized I would be having potions. "No I definitely can't skip Potions. Snape has finally started to treat me like I don't exist and I would rather that than the torment he put me through for the past few years."

She sighed but eventually gave in. "Okay well I don't have enough time to change and shower if I walk back to the dungeons since we over slept, so I'm going to have to do that here."

I looked at her like she was crazy. "Daphne how are you going to shower here in a Gryffindor boys dorm room? The whispers and rumors about us just stopped. Do we really want them to start up again?"

She just gave me that smirk of hers before answering. "No one will see me then. I'll use that fancy cloak of yours to sneak into the bathroom and we can just share one of the showers. Then I'll come back here and change in the bed."

I was stopped from arguing further when Daphne leaned up and grabbed the cloak from the spot it had been hanging from by the top of the bed. She wrapped it around her naked body and then rolled out of the bed causing the curtains to flutter only slightly. I pulled my pants on and followed her out. I stopped only for a minute at my trunk to pull out a shirt and a pair of jeans to put on under my robes.

Thankfully it seemed like almost everyone from my dorm was gone already and the only one in bed still was Seamus. We were able to shower and get changed without a hitch and finish just as Seamus was waking up.

I greeted him good morning as I opened the door and let Daphne, who was under the invisibility cloak, go out. Thankfully she had the good sense to bring a bag with all the things she would need for class today as well as her uniform so as soon as we stepped out of the portrait hole and it closed behind us she pulled off the invisibility cloak.

The fat lady gasped in surprise at a person appearing out of nowhere. "Mr. Potter! I am scandalized by your behavior. Did she just come from inside our house?"

Thinking quickly I spoke up. "No she's just been waiting here for me to come out. I gave her the cloak to hide so that no one would give her any trouble for waiting here."

I sighed as that seemed to appease the fat lady and she went back to ignoring us for the moment. Daphne handed me the cloak which I tucked away at the bottom of my bag. Then together we walked down to the great hall to grab a quick breakfast since we only had fifteen minutes before we had to be at the Potion's classroom.

I made it to the classroom with only a minute to spare and Daphne slipped in right behind me. Knowing Snape's policy about being in your seat I quickly ventured to the front and took up my spot next to Neville while Daphne went and sat next to Tracey who gave her a practically predatory smile.

Snape burst into the classroom only seconds later. "Your assignment for the day is on the board. Begin immediately." And I watched as he flicked his wand at the board and the instructions showed up.

I turned to Neville who by this point knew how our agreement worked and was already up and going to gather our ingredients while I set the cauldrons to boiling and copied down the instructions.

The potion we were assigned to make was a Strengthening Solution and would need multiple days to mature. We could only do the first part today and if done right we would have a turquoise colored liquid in the cauldron.

For the next two hours Neville and I worked very diligently and carefully to make sure that there were no mistakes in our potions. Snape had lurked around the classroom a bit stopping to berate Ron occasionally on how terrible his potion was, but had said nothing else.

With just ten minutes left in the lesson I added the ground up griffin claw into my solution and gave it the necessary turns and thankfully the potion turned a blue color that was perhaps only a shade off of turquoise. I placed a stasis charm on my cauldron like it said to do in the instructions and then bottled a sample to turn in. I brought it to the front desk and handed it to Snape.

He eyed it critically turning it over and uncorking the vial to sniff it. "Acceptable work Potter. The shade is off but that could be from an old ingredient. Label your cauldron and place it on the shelf off to the right."

Again Snape's new attitude toward me caught me off guard and I felt myself slightly creeped out. I resolved to stay after and find out just what had happened to change his behavior.

Neville finished shortly after and received an acceptable as well and was soon placing his cauldron next to mine. The rest of the class was soon doing the same and cleaning up preparing to leave the dungeons. I worked slow in my cleaning process on purpose and told Neville to not wait up for me. Daphne caught my eyes for a moment to, but I shook my head and mouthed 'later' at her. She nodded and followed Tracey and the other Slytherin girls out the door. Soon it was only myself and Professor Snape left in the classroom.

He looked up when I cleared my throat and approached his desk. "What do you want Potter? I am very busying grading these essays."

"Sir I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but why are you treating me so differently now? In the past you've taken every opportunity to humiliate or ridicule me and now you're just indifferent I guess would be the best word for it."

He put down the quill he had been using to mark the essays and looked at me critically. "Would you rather I go back to the way things were Potter? Do you miss being the center of attention that badly?"

I shook my head. "No sir, it's just I wanted to know if it was something I had done. Or if maybe the headmaster had said something to you."

"Potter it is nothing you have done nor the headmaster. I can see you are going to pester me about this until I answer so you might as well take a seat and tell me what you know about your parents' time here at Hogwarts."

I took a seat and did my best to keep the surprise off my face from such an odd question. I started to answer, but stopped myself to really consider what I knew about my parents' time at Hogwarts. "Well sir, honestly I don't know all that much. I know they were both in Gryffindor like I am. I've been told that my mother was good at charms and my father was excellent in transfiguration. I know that Hagrid mentioned knowing them but I don't know if he met them at school or when he started working with Dumbledore. Other than that I know my dad and his friends were pranksters and liked to cause mayhem around the castle."

I stopped trying to think of anything else and found myself very disappointed when I realized that was all I knew.

Snape raised an eyebrow at me in question. "Is that really all you know Potter? No one has told you anything else about them?" I shook my head and he sighed. "This is going to take longer than I had expected then. Let me start from the beginning for I fear without adequate background you won't grasp the whole concept of what I'm going to tell you."

"I was in school the same time as your parents. I was of course in Slytherin house and extremely proud. I had known your mother before Hogwarts though, and it was I who told her what she was. Despite us being separated by house alliances we maintained our friendship for most of school. Your mother, Lily, was very good at charms, but where she really excelled was in potions. We would pair together in class and were consistently the best brewers."

Snape took a breath and seemed to be collecting his composure while I sat and listened intently soaking in the new information being divulged to me. "After a particular incident I had with your father and his friends your mother came to me trying to comfort me, but I was blinded by my anger and hurt pride. I said some things to her that I can never take back and she never forgave me for. I tried to apologize, but she would avoid me at all costs. It pained me to see her everyday knowing that what I had done had driven her away. She was my first friend…my first love…"

I sat frozen in my chair. Snape had just admitted to loving my mother. That was not at all what I had gone into this expecting to hear. "But sir if you truly loved my mother then why would you treat me the way you have all these years? Surely you would have felt some guilt?"

A wide array of emotions went through Snape's face as I stared at him waiting for an answer. "I did not until recently. I was too angry at your father and his actions towards me. It has been very hard for me to separate you from him as the resemblance is so very close. While your mother and I were very close the opposite was true in regards to your father and his friends. I hated them for what they did to me. You know of the Marauders no doubt, but what you probably don't know is that I was their favorite target. Or that they bullied me from the time it was first discovered that Lily would spend time with me. You do not have to take my word for all of this though. Ask your godfather about the time he nearly got me killed."

If I had thought I couldn't get any more surprises out of this meeting Snape kept proving me wrong. I'd talked quite a bit with Sirius, and never once had he mentioned almost killing Snape. I made a silent vow to ask Sirius about everything I had learned over the holidays. "After I drove your mother away she began to notice your father and soon enough they were dating. I resented him for that. I thought it was unfair that I had been there for so long for her and he had done nothing but tease her for years and yet she had run right to his arms. In seventh year they were head boy and girl and I knew I had lost my chance every time I looked at them. All it did was fuel my anger more and eventually it drove me to him."

I didn't have to ask who him was; obviously Snape was referring to the dark lord. "I don't know what to say sir. I'm sorry my father was a bully to you, but I'm not him. He wasn't there to raise me so I couldn't be like someone I've never met."

"I have come to that realization as well." He hesitated and I wondered what could possibly cause Snape of all people to become nervous. "There is more to this story I have told you and I fear that after I tell you about it you will react very poorly, but still well within your rights."

"I do not know what the headmaster has told you or what you know of why your family was attacked and it is not my place to tell you. However you have the right to know…it was I who overheard a vital piece of information that led him to believe you would be his downfall. Iam the reason your parents were killed. When I learned of the attack he had planned I begged for him to spare your mother, but when he didn't I knew I had to find redemption for my…"

I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to hear anything else. "Stop. Shut up."The commands practically came out as a hiss and I took a perverse delight in the shiver than ran through Snape's body. "All of these years you've been berating me, humiliating me because of something I couldn't control. What my father did to you was not my fault. Yet here you are telling me that it's YOUR fault my parents are dead. That you have been trying to find redemption? Tell me Professor," I practically spat the word "How does bullying the child, orphan, of two people you helped murder redeem you?"

Snape looked down and would not meet my eyes. It felt as if I was the one in charge now and he was nothing but a child in school. I could barely hear him when he finally spoke and had to lean in and strain my ears. "I don't expect you to understand or forgive what I have done, but it is your right to know. It has been eating away at me since that night and I have tried to mask the guilt in bitterness. I went to Dumbledore when I knew what the dark lord had planned. I tried to warn him before the attack, but I was too late to do anything. I will never forgive myself for causing the death of the woman that I had loved."

I watched Snape wallow in his self-pity while I seethed in anger. I couldn't believe it. All this time it had been Snape's fault my family was targeted. If it hadn't been for him then I might still have a mom and a dad to raise me. I wouldn't have had to grow up knowing neglect and abuse at the hands of the Dursleys. Every fiber of my being told me to grab my wand and curse him until he understood the pain I had gone through because of him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. He was a professor and I doubted I would get away with attacking him, but there was something else stopping me to. Never before had I seen Snape show so much emotion. The guilt he felt was real and was slowly consuming him, and a vicious thought came to my mind.

I stood up and got ready to leave but not before throwing one last comment over my shoulder. "I hope you live the rest of your life drowning in the guilt from what you did. Because of you my parents died and I was sentenced to a life in hell with my relatives. I was abused for years until I was finally rescued and able to go to school here. All the pain I've gone through in my life, all the suffering, that is on your shoulders."

I shut the door of the potions classroom behind me with a bang. There were no other students in the hallway at the moment to see me which I was eternally thankful for. All I wanted to do was go back to the dormitory and sit in peace to think about what I'd just learned. Or really I wanted to try and calm myself down, but I still had class to go to after lunch and now I wanted to visit the headmaster.

Snape had told me he had gone to Dumbledore when he knew my family was going to be attacked. I now had all the information I needed to back the old headmaster in a corner and force him to come clean about the prophecy. I could have let it drop and the old Harry would have gotten mad and blown things up most likely, but now all I wanted was to see his face when he was forced to admit he had been lying to me when I asked why Voldemort came after me.

It didn't take me long to reach the stone gargoyle statue that blocked the staircase and entrance to the Headmaster's office. I didn't know what the password was so I was forced to ask the gargoyle if it could let the Headmaster know I was there and would like to speak to him. After a few minutes of waiting I had been prepared to just leave and forget about the talk for now, but then the statue began to spiral out of the way revealing the familiar stone steps. In no time I had entered the office and was sitting before the old headmaster who was looking at me happily but also with a small amount of curiosity.

"Harry this is a pleasant surprise! I had not expected you to come seek me out today. What is it that brings you to my office?" He gave me his signature grandfatherly smile and eye twinkle to try and put me at ease.

"You've been lying to me." I kept the accusatory tone out of my voice and made my statement sound like nothing more than a simple fact. It would not due to get angry in this situation and risk exposing myself to a passive Legilems attack from the headmaster.

I watched as the smile dropped from the man's face to be quickly replaced with a frown of confusion that made his eyebrows knit together. "I'm afraid I am not sure what you are referring to Harry. To the best of my knowledge I have never lied to you about anything."

I grudgingly had to admit that the man was good and if I didn't know he was lying I probably would have believed him. "The reason Voldemort attacked me sir. It wasn't random like you told me. Snape told him something that made him come after my family. What was it that Snape told him headmaster?"

Dumbledore aged in front of me. Looking every one of his 150+ years in age. His complexion paled and I knew I had caught him finally. "Harry I assure you I only lied in hopes to protect your innocence and preserve your childhood."

I snorted at that. "My childhood? I had no childhood because of Snape. He told me what he did. Just now in his office he told me how it was his fault. How he only came to you because he felt bad that my mother had died because of him. You've been lying to me to keep me dependent on you. So I'll ask you one more time. Why did Voldemort attack my family?"

The headmaster sighed and I waited to see if he would try to come up with a believable lie. "There was a prophecy made about you and the dark lord Harry. Severus was young and foolish and he overheard part of it when it was being given. He told the dark lord of it in his attempt to gain more power and position among the death eaters. It wasn't until later that he found out whom the prophecy referred to and realized what he had done."

"I don't care to hear you try and excuse the man's actions Headmaster. I want to hear this prophecy. Now."

The old man shook his head sadly at me, but drew his wand and pressed it to his temple. I watched as he extracted a long silvery thread and place it into a vial he had pulled from a drawer of his desk. "You may not believe it now Harry, but I am truly sorry for lying to you. I only wished to keep this burden from you for as long as I could in hopes that you might learn to live and lead a happy life."

He moved around the desk and poured the silver thread into the basin of the pensive. He gave it a quick twirl with his wand and then made a gesture for me to join him. Together we leaned our faces down and into the basin. I felt myself falling for a moment just like the previous year and then it stopped and I found myself once again viewing one of Dumbledore's past memories.

I noticed where we were right away. It was one of the smaller private rooms at the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade. I could see out the window and it was raining and windy. I immediately recognized the woman seated across from the younger looking headmaster.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me. That nutter is the one who gave the prophecy? How can you even be sure it's real then?" Knowing that Trelawney had been the one to doom me somehow made the situation that much funnier for me. All those years she had been predicting my fake death, when in reality she had predicted my real death years ago.

"I to had my doubts about Professor Trelawney at first Harry, but please continue to watch the memory and you will see."

And watch I did. She went through all of her normal bollocks routines with the tea leafs, crystal balls, palm reading, and even some cards. It was clear she was looking to be very much a fraud. The headmaster got up and was politely excusing himself when all of the sudden Trelawney's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her left arm shot out and grabbed a hold of Dumbledore's right.

Then I listened as she recited the words that Sirius had told me only months before. I made sure to look shocked and surprised at the right moments so as to not tip the old man off that I had known about this. Right before the memory faded a door could be heard slamming shut and quick foot falls as someone ran away into the night. Snape. I thought venomously.

When we emerged from the pensive I did not know what to say really. I wasn't surprised or angry but I had to act the part. I settled for giving Dumbledore my best look of loathing.

"You kept this from me all these years. I could have been training for this. Instead I'm going to be like a lamb to a slaughter! There is no way I am going to be able to fight off Voldemort. He has literally decades of experience over me."

Dumbledore gave me a small sad smile. "No Harry you must look closely at the prophecy it speaks of you having a power that Voldemort does not understand. Something with which you will be able to beat him. Do you know what I am referring to?"

This was going to be an amusing answer I could tell already. "No sir I have no idea. I have no special powers."

"You do Harry. You have the ability to love. That is something Voldemort will never understand."

I was right. LOVE? This was pure comic gold. "How is love possibly a power that will stop the dark lord? Could you stop speaking in riddles for once headmaster, or have you not had enough of lying to me?"

I couldn't resist reminding the man that he had indeed lied to me about all of this for a very long time. He flinched at the accusation but still tried to argue his point. "Love is what protected you as a child Harry. Your mother loved you so much she gave her life for you and it created a shield for you. That same shield of love flowed with you until last year when your blood was taken to return the dark lord to his power. The effects have diminished now, but they are still there. You are still protected by your mother's love. Now you can learn to use the love you have for your friends, family, and Ms. Greengrass to defeat Voldemort when the time was right."

I let Dumbledore have his moment and give me his motivational speech, but the more I thought about the lies and things he had done in my past the more I was beginning to feel like a martyr. "Love is not a weapon headmaster. It's not going to be what defeats the dark lord. What am I supposed to do go up and hug him until he burns to death? Since you're so unwilling to help me with this I'll be working on my own I think from now on."

The frown on the headmaster's face deepened drastically at my final statement to him. "Harry you do not have to shoulder this burden alone. There are people who will help you. I will stand by you and do what I can to…"

"I think you've done quite enough already Headmaster. You left me unprepared for my future for all these years. I could have been placed somewhere that would have allowed me to grow up knowing what was expected of me. Instead you condemned me to years of hell living with the Dursleys. If I'm meant to die in this damn war then so be it, but it's sure as hell going to be on my time and alone. I don't need you controlling me anymore."

I moved to leave the office just wanting to get some fresh air and quiet time so that I could think and sort through everything that had happened. As the door slammed shut in front of me it dawned on me that the Headmaster might have other ideas though. I turned to find him standing from his chair and his wand out. He was radiating power and I was immediately reminded that this was the man who had taken down Gellert Grindewald and was largely viewed as the strongest wizard alive.

"We are not done here Harry. You will not shut me out and you will keep what you have learned to yourself for now. If news of this was to get out then Voldemort would have exactly what he wants. He only heard part of the prophecy from Severus and is still attempting to learn of the other half."

I wanted to sneer but the power I could feel and the wand pointed at me forced me to just stare in defiance. "Why should I listen to you? You've done nothing but lie to me and manipulate my life how you see fit."

The headmaster let his wand drop and took a moment to get his emotions back under control. Then he smiled at me and I involuntarily shivered at the hard look in his eyes. "You will do as I say for you do not want news of Ms. Greengrass's current situation to spread quite yet."

I just stared with my mouth agape. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Had the man really just threatened to make it known that Daphne was pregnant? That would endanger her and our future child. I had never had a real reason to hate Dumbledore before this. Dislike maybe. He was a lying, controlling bastard but that didn't mean I would hate him. Now though he had just threatened the safety of my future family.

"Fine. I'll play your bloody game headmaster. Keep in mind though you have just made a very grave mistake. When all of this is over and if I live through it then I'm going to make you regret every threatening my family."

This time nothing stopped me as I threw the door opened and stalked down the staircase. The rest of the day passed quickly thankfully. I had stopped at the kitchens to grab food before heading out to the greenhouse for Herbology. Being paired with Neville for the class certainly made it a lot simpler. I only had to do the smallest of tasks as Neville preferred the harder and more dangerous ones. I had seen Daphne briefly before dinner and we had exchanged a few words and a kiss. She had asked why I had stayed after potions and I had told her I had needed to ask Snape something. She wanted to know what, but we were in to open of a space where anyone could have overheard.

I promised to tell her the next time we had our charms tutoring together and she agreed to that. I left out any mention of my visit with the Headmaster as I didn't want to make her worry anymore about safety.

Before I went to bed I had a brief mirror call to Sirius. I explained to him what had happened with Dumbledore and he looked furious. It took me some time to calm him down and make sure he wouldn't storm the castle and lay into the headmaster. We talked a little bit about what had been going on at Grimmauld Place. The Weasleys were still living there as was Remus. Remus had been going in between jobs per usual, but was just happy to find work when he could.

I went to sleep after doing some meditation and occlumency exercises to sort through the events of the day and clear my mind.

The next morning at breakfast I sat down feeling refreshed and better than I had in a while. I didn't know what it was, but I was just in a good mood. I had gone for a morning run and then showered before coming down and was now wide awake. Neville joined me with Hannah about thirty minutes later. When the mail came I grabbed the Daily Prophet that Hedwig dropped off for me and began to scan for any titles of note. There were still a few further in denouncing me as a madman for claiming Voldemort had returned, but it seemed like they had died down for the most part. I was reading a particularly hilarious one when I felt someone drop onto the bench next to me. I didn't have to look up to know it was Daphne. One smell of her distinct perfume told me it was her. Well that and the raven locks of hair that now fell onto my paper.

"Good morning Daph. What brings you all the way over here?" I said it playfully. She almost never ate meals with me as we were still trying to keep the attention away from our relationship now that the majority of rumors and talking had stopped.

In response to my question she merely handed me a letter. I raised an eyebrow at her before opening the envelope and reading the letter contained within. By the time I was done both of my eyebrows had risen and I looked to Daphne for confirmation that this wasn't a joke.

"They would like to meet you all things considered. Will you come for Christmas dinner with my family Harry?" It was strange to be receiving an invitation to your own home, but I suppose it was the thought that counts. And it made sense that Daphne's parents would want to meet the father of their soon to be born grandchild.

"Sure Daphne I'll come, but do you mind if I bring my guardian I stay with during the summer?" As of yet I hadn't told her that I was living with Sirius, but that was going to have to change now. Besides I was pretty sure I could trust Daphne.

"That shouldn't be a problem Harry. I'll write back and let my parents know. Is it just one guardian or two they'll want to make sure there is enough food?"

I smirked at her. "Just my godfather. I no longer stay with the relatives I told you about."

I watched her eyes widen and pupils dilate, but she wasn't a Slytherin for nothing and managed to keep herself from yelling out anything. "Okay I will let them know. Though I believe you have some explaining to do at our tutoring session tonight."

With all the grace she had been taught growing up I watched as Daphne rose from the bench and strolled back to her table where her owl was patiently sitting and waiting for a reply letter.

Neville spoke up once she was gone. "Well looks like you're occupied for Christmas Harry, but Gran might kill me if I don't invite you over for the New Years at our place. And obviously Daphne and your Godfather are welcome to come."

I smiled at the image of Neville's stern grandmother casting killing curse after killing curse at the boy. "Sure Nev we will be there, but that means next year we're doing one of the holidays at Potter Manor. It's only fair that I host you and your Gran." I cast a glance at Hannah before speaking again. "And of course Hannah is welcome to come as well."

Neville smiled brightly and we continued to discuss our plans for the rest of the holiday break. Apparently Neville and Hannah had arranged to go on a trip together to some mountain cabin that Neville's family owned. I was happy for them and glad to know they would be getting to spend time away together.

It was grim to think about but with the threat of Voldemort out there and another war looming I was just glad to know Neville was talking all the opportunities to be happy and carefree that he could get.

As I stepped into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom after breakfast any good mood I had for the day vanished as I saw who the teacher was. In her horrible pink robes and matching atrocity of a hat stood a smirking Umbridge at the front of the classroom.

"Good morning students. Please take your seat so we may begin today's lesson. As usual there will be no need for wands. Just your books will be required."

I wasn't going to do this. Merlin be damned there was no way I was going to sit through another class of ministry sanctioned bullshit. So I did what any reputable wizard or witch would do and I turned around and walked out of the classroom. Imagine my surprise when I stopped and looked back to see six or seven other students had left with me.

I wasn't surprised to see that Neville and Daphne had followed my lead, but Blaise Zabini was a shock as were Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode. Also standing there were Parvarti and Lavender.

They were all looking at me expectantly. "Umm I don't know why you are all following me, but I only walked out because I can't stand that woman and refuse to be subjected to her 'teaching'." It was the truth and I saw no reason to hide my loathing for a woman who had used a dark object on me.

It wasn't Daphne or Neville who spoke up next, but instead it was Zabini. "Well I think I can speak for everyone here Potter when I say we share your opinion on Umbridge, but we do have OWLs this year so we have to learn DADA somehow and it's no secret you are the best at it in our year…"

He trailed off, but I could hear the unasked question at the end. I sighed knowing that I couldn't really turn them down. What type of person would I be if I let them suffer at the hands of Umbridge? "If you are all really that interested I would be willing to help you review things we've done in past years and a few new spells that might be on the OWLs. We need somewhere to hold the lesson though."

My announcement was met with smiles and smirks all around. Tracey was the next to speak up. "There is a fairly large classroom that is no longer used on the second floor a corridor or two away from Myrtles bathroom. We could probably banish some of the furniture and use that to practice."

I nodded my head glad that I wouldn't have to show anyone else the room of requirement. "Alright sounds good; since we have time we can do our first session now. Tracey will you lead the way?"

The group of eight of us followed Tracey down to the second floor and soon enough we were all inside and I was reviewing with them some of the basics we had covered over the years. It was no secret we had had a string of terrible teachers for the position.

"Since we haven't had a consistent teacher once in our schooling I think it might really help us if we started back at the first year spells and just worked our way forward as long as everyone else agrees." I waited to be met with some form of dissent or outrage at doing such easy spells but all I received were nods of acceptance.

I had everyone pair off and soon we were casting spells back and forth at each other. One would cast five to ten repetitions of the current spell while the other would use a shield charm to absorb them. Then the two would switch. It gave everyone a chance to work on their shielding. I had originally paired with Neville, but eventually I left him to practice on his own on a transfigured dummy so I could observe the others in the room and offer pointers to them.

For the next few hours we worked our way through the first, second, and third year spell curriculum. By the end of our impromptu class everyone had a thin sheen of sweat on their skin and looked to be slightly out of breath from all the casting.

"Well I think that went pretty well. We can do this again anytime we're supposed to have Defense and by the end of the year I'm sure we'll all have the highest scores on our OWLs since merlin knows Umbridge won't teach anyone else a bloody thing." I meant it as a joke, but I knew it was most likely true to. While there may be some Ravenclaws to study on their own and do well the best grades would probably come from people in this little eight person class.

When I saw Zabini a thought crossed my mind and I called out for him. He stayed behind in the classroom and I waited until everyone had left before talking. "I wanted to ask you something but I didn't want Daphne around to try and filter it. Can you tell me why it seems like your house is more accepting of the relationship Daphne and I have? I don't mean this in a bad way, but I had thought they would be the least accepting considering my…status I guess?"

Zabini looked at me with clear amusement on his face. "It's actually very simple Potter. The members of our house are the most ambitious in the school. They will do anything to gain some type of political foothold, riches, power, fame, eternal glory, etc… So to them they see this relationship between the two of you as a strategic power play for the Greengrass family."

I was confused by that. "What do you mean 'power play'?"

"Like I said it's simple. It's well known throughout the Wizarding families, at least the old ones, that the Potters are an extremely wealthy family. Not only are you wealthy though, but you're line can be traced back to the Perevell family. They are one of the oldest Wizarding families. So to the majority of our house they see this as Daphne using you to gain money and a good family lineage. To my knowledge there has never been a squib in the Potter line."

I smirked and shook my head as Zabini explained it to me. "Okay I guess that makes sense. They'd rather see this as some type of scheme where Daphne is using me rather than have a dissenting snake falling for the Gryffindor golden boy? But you said that's how most people see it. So what of the others?"

It was Zabini's turn to smirk at me. "Good catch on my wording Potter. Maybe Daphne is rubbing off on you a little bit. There are also people who are angry at her, like Malfoy, and see it as a stand against the dark lord. Then there are a few, like me, who see that there is something else going on between you two. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I can see it when you talk or look at each other. There is a secret you two share and that is the real reason for this."

It unnerved me how he was able to dissect part of what was going on between Daphne and me. "I'm not going to confirm or deny anything you've said Zabini. Thank you for telling me though. It certainly clears up a lot of things for me. I'll see you next week."

I strode past him and made my way out of the room. I was only mildly surprised when I saw Daphne waiting for me in the hallway.

"Hey sorry I wanted to ask Zabini some questions." I apologized not knowing if she would be upset I had told her to leave without me.

"That's okay. I figured it was going to be something like that, or you know the other option was that you started to keep for the other team." The playful smirk on her face made me scowl at her.

"Well if I was keeping for the other team then what does that say about you Daph?"

She sniffed at me and turned to walk with her nose purposely pointed upwards. "It says I am taking advantage of your desire to hide your tendencies and forcing you to pay me to keep your secrets after I walked in on you and some other unknown boy."

I gaped at her as we kept walking. "Wait have you really put thought into what you would say if I was keeping for the other team?"

I received no answer except that damn smirk of hers.

"Smirking is not an answer to my question Daph. I would hate to have to pull you into one of the broom closets and do something unsavory to get you to answer me."

If possible her smirk got even bigger. "Is that my punishment for keeping silent? Because I think I might accidently cast a spell on myself then."

I laughed and shook my head at her. "You are incorrigible; you know that right?" She hmm'ed next to me and I took that to mean yes. It wasn't long before we reached the Great Hall and I gave her a light kiss before we went in and separated to go to our house tables.

Lunch was a quiet affair. However I could feel Umbridge glaring at me the whole time and steadfastly refused to look in her direction. Honestly I was surprised she didn't run out of the classroom this morning and cause a scene. I had no doubt that the women wouldn't take the insult lying down, and she would find a way to retaliate somehow.

The last class I had for the day was Transfiguration and I was glad I would at least be learning something that day. I made my way to the classroom with Neville and Hannah since we were sharing the lesson with the Hufflepuffs.

The class went relatively well. We reviewed a little bit at the beginning about inanimate to animate transfiguration before continuing on with our practical work. I had progressed from plants to now changing things into fully functional animals. I received a playful glare from Neville when I had 'accidentally' changed his chair into a python.

Professor McGonagall didn't seem to find it funny either and docked me five points, but I thought it was five points well worth the laugh. As the weeks had progressed almost everyone had managed to make progress with the spell. Even Ron was able to transfigure things into living plants now. He was still far behind everyone else in the class, and I couldn't believe that just last year that probably would have been me. It made me disgusted to realize how much I had slacked off.

There was no homework for the class thankfully and soon we were being dismissed to enjoy our weekend. I spent the couple of hours I had to myself before my tutoring with Daphne in the room of requirement working on some of the spells in the book Sirius had sent me at the beginning of the year.

Out of all of the spells I had learned from it so far I found myself mostly drawn to the fire whip. I don't know why, but I liked the power it gave me. I was bending the fire to my will and I had even started using it in more precise manners. I had found that I could use it like ropes and keep it from burning the victim until I wanted it to. That took immense control but as I progressed with it I could feel myself becoming stronger.

I had cut down on my practicing of the spells because I noticed I was more temperamental after a heavy session with them, and I was doing my best to avoid another situation like what I had done to Ron. It had taken him two weeks for all of the shivers and nervous twitches to finally fade. Part of me felt a pang of guilt for putting him through it, but since then I had no issues with him and he went out of his way to avoid me. It had been cruel but effective.

It was soon enough that I found myself sitting in the Charms classroom waiting for Daphne to show up. She had been making real progress with the Patronus and would probably be able to get a corporeal one before the end of the year. I suppose maybe even sooner than that if she was practicing on her own.

That wasn't the thought at the forefront of my mind at the moment. I had to decide how much I should tell Daphne about the past few days events. I didn't want to be like Dumbledore and lie to her, but I wasn't sure if she really needed to know about Snape being responsible for what had happened to me. It didn't in anyway affect her so I was leaning more towards leaving it out. I was going to have to explain how I had come to live with my godfather, but at least I had already explained to Daphne he was innocent last year.

The doors pushed open and Daphne walked in, but I was surprised by the cold look in her eyes. Before I could say anything though the reason for the look presented itself behind her. Umbridge walked in smirking at me cruelly with Snape and McGonagall flanking her looking like they would rather be anywhere else at the moment.

"Mr. Potter! Just the boy I was looking to find." The false cheer in her voice was instantly grating on my nerves so I used my occlumency to clamp down on my emotions and clear my mind. "When you walked out of my class today I was very disappointed and going to punish you properly, but imagine my surprise when I questioned Ms. Greengrass here about where those students who had left with you went and she told you were training them to fight!"

Daphne whirled around on spot and glared daggers into the woman, but I quickly laid a comforting hand on her arm to make sure she didn't say anything she could be punished for. "Madam Umbridge I'm positive that isn't what Daphne told you. This is just you being petty because I got you in trouble. If you must know what happened today when we left your classroom I would be happy to take this to the headmaster's office and use his pensive to show you the memory. Otherwise you can take me at my word when I tell you I held a revision session with the seven other students who left in an unused second floor classroom."

For some reason the dumb, pompous witch smiled happily at my admission. "So you admit to using magic outside of the classroom? That will be detention for a month Potter! Also for walking out on my…" She didn't get any more out when Snape cleared his throat.

He shared a quick glance with me before sneering at Umbridge. "Madam, if I may, Mr. Potter clearly stated that he did his revision session in a classroom. So therefor he cannot be punished for magic in the halls. You also aren't allowed to assign detentions from what I understand…"

If it hadn't been for the conversation I had had with Snape I might have been more shocked that the man was defending me. As it was McGonagall looked like she might faint and Daphne was having a hard time masking her surprise at the situation.

Umbridge fumed silently for a moment before speaking. "I will not tolerate Mr. Potter running a dueling club in this school so that he can revolt against the ministry!"

My eyebrows shot into my hairline. "I held a revision period where I taught seven other students about first through third year defense spells madam. If the ministry could be taken down by eight Hogwarts students what does that really say about it?"

The not so thinly veiled insult towards the ministry must have been the breaking point for Umbridge. She rounded on me with anger in her eyes. "You will not insult the ministry of magic Mr. Potter! I think that will be 100 points from Gryff…"

"DOLORES! Calm down this instant or I will be forced to get the headmaster." It was the first time I had seen McGonagall actually yell like that. "Now I fail to see how Mr. Potter insulted the ministry when he repeated only what you said was your fear to get clarification."

It was then that Umbridge finally seemed to realize the whole room was against her and there was no way out of it. "Fine. I'll be having words with Cornelius about your attitudes towards blatant disrespect of those in authority. Also you can expect me to be by and inspect and evaluate your teaching standards Minerva, Severus."

The woman was leaving but McGonagall was the last one who got a parting line. "I think you'll find I am more than adequate with my teaching of how to use a wand. Perhaps I can even give you a demonstration."

The door shut with a bang and we waited for a moment before conversation began. "Mr. Potter while I myself may have some problems with Madam Umbridge's teaching it is required you attend her class. Therefor I will have to assign more detentions for after the holiday break of course."

Snape seemed to be debating on how hard he had to punish Daphne and even though I was angry at the man I did have a slight respect for him standing up for me just moments ago. "Sir none of the other students, Daphne included, would have left if I hadn't encouraged them to. They don't deserve detentions."

Snape's eyes found mine and he seemed to stare at my face for a long time trying to find something. When he was done he turned and looked back at Daphne before speaking. "Five points from Slytherin for being persuaded by a Gryffindor to break school rules. Do not let it happen again."

Then without another word he turned on spot and walked out. McGonagall followed suit after telling me to remember my detention that night after the tutoring was complete.

Daphne and I waited a few minutes and moved the desks to our normal position. I cast a few privacy charms I knew and a silencing and locking spell on the door to ensure at least a little discretion and secrecy.

"So looks like you have some things you need to tell me Harry. Let's just start back at the beginning though. Your godfather is Sirius Black. I recall you saying that he was innocent last year when we met, but how did you come to live with him?"

I sighed resigning myself to telling Daphne about everything. "None of this can leave this room. I told you how I normally live with my relatives who don't like magic. Sirius gave me the chance to live with him this past summer. It was more than I could have ever hoped for. I accepted his offer I spent the last few weeks of the summer there."

Daphne nodded her head at what I told her. "That makes sense, but will you not have to return to your relatives for this summer?"

I shook my head. "I don't care what anyone else says I'm never going back to that place if I don't have to." For a second an image of Emily played across my mind, but I shook it away. She would have moved on and besides what I felt for Daphne now was more than what I had felt for Emily then.

"Okay well I have informed my parents your guardian will be coming with you to dinner, but have not yet told them who it is. I figured it would better to keep the sensitive information out of a letter that could be intercepted."

I had to agree with that assessment. "Thank you for that. I guess I should also tell you what happened with Snape the other day when I stayed after in his class." She nodded slightly and indicated for me to go on. "I'll save you the whole story, but basically Snape told me that he was the reason my family was dead. He had overheard a vital piece of information and ran with it right to Voldemort. That was the reason he attacked my family."

Daphne didn't gasp or looked shocked. It was her years of practice keeping her emotions in check I suppose that helped her out. "Well that is…unexpected…I can't imagine how that makes you feel. All these years and the man responsible for what happened to you was right in front of you. Do you mind me asking what it was that he told the dark lord?"

This was something I had been debating over. I wasn't sure I should burden Daphne with my fate, but I knew she deserved to know what she had gotten herself into. "It was a prophecy. It was about Voldemort and me. Basically it said that only one of us can live and that it has to be one of us to kill the other. No one else can deal the final blow. So that is my fate now."

"So you are what everyone has always thought then."

I looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?"

She snorted at me. "Oh come on Harry. You didn't think people were going to let you sit quietly in the background when he makes himself known again, did you? They are going to be heralding you as the savior. You are the boy-who-lived to them and that means you should naturally save them again. It's just that this time the media might actually be reporting something that was true."

I could hear and see the truth in Daphne's statement and it made me angry. "That's not fair. Even if it is my fate why should they expect that of me? They are grown wizards and witches and I'm still in school!" I wanted desperately to smash something to vent my frustrations but I needed to keep my anger in check as there were still things to tell Daphne.

"Fine. So now you know what you really got yourself into. I wasn't sure if I should tell you the part about the prophecy but I figured you at least had the right to know you might end up with no father to help you raise our child. There is one other thing I have to tell you."

"Please do continue. I'm sure nothing you can tell me now can shock me anymore than what I've already heard. Also if you ever talk about dying and leaving me alone like that again I'll drop you in some dungeon where I can keep an eye on you forever."

It was nice to be wanted and cared about. "Thanks for the concern Daph. Anyway this is a little more unbelievable. I confronted Dumbledore about the prophecy because apparently he had known all along and was refusing to tell me. Well when he finally admitted to lying about it I might have lost my cool and tried to storm out of his office."

"Typical Gryffindor."

I smiled at her. "Yeah well when I did the door slammed shut and Dumbledore told me I wasn't done. He told me that I would be including him in all of my plans for the future. I had told him I was done being his pawn so to speak and doing what he wanted, but then he threatened to reveal your pregnancy if I didn't agree."

Daphne was out of her seat faster than I would have thought possible for someone who was six months pregnant. "He did what?" He voice was practically dripping with acid. "How dare that man threaten the safety of our child. I don't care who he is, or who he thinks he is. I promise you Harry when this is all said and done we are going to find a way to ruin him."

The look in her eyes told me that Daphne had now found a new life goal. "Funny I said something similar to him. Honestly though I don't know if we even have that power. He is viewed as infallible by the general population."

"Leave that to me Harry. He may be viewed that way now, but somewhere along the lines I'm sure he has made a mistake. People in positions like Dumbledore are very rarely get there without doing some less than savory acts on the rise up. You are going to focus your efforts on defeating the dark lord, and I will concentrate on ruining Dumbledore." I gave a little nod of agreement. "Now you have a patronus to help me with so come on."

For the rest of the time before my detention we worked on Daphne's patronus and by the end she had actually managed to form a shimmering dome of mist in front of her. It was weak and most likely wouldn't work for very long but it was progress and Daphne was happy with what she had accomplished so far.

I made my way to the transfiguration classroom without incident after cleaning up the charms classroom and saying goodnight to Daphne. I was excited for my lesson tonight and hoped I was able to make more progress than last time.

Once inside the room I wasted no time in getting ready. I took off my bulky school robe and set it and my bags on the table next to me before coming to stand in front of McGonagall's desk.

She smiled at me. "It seems someone is eager to get started tonight. Very well then Mr. Potter let us begin by going over what you managed last week."

And so the lesson began. At first we talked about what I had done last week and how I had managed the transformation then I ran through it a couple of times to show her that it was not a fluke, and also increase the speed at which I could do it. After an hour I received a nod and was told to change back completely so we could move on.

"Now you will be attempting to change your legs into the back legs of the wolf. If you manage to do this just like you did with the front then I will have you attempt to change all four limbs at once."

I nodded and began to focus on the task that I had been set to. It took me another twenty minutes or so, but eventually I was able to go through the process of transforming the back legs just like I could with the front. I imagine it was easier since I knew what to expect when changing one limb to a leg already.

I worked on the transformation for another ten minutes before McGonagall once again told me to stop.

"I think you have that down. Now let us see if you can manage to get all four to change at the same time."

I was exhausted. I had been using more magic than I thought with all of the partial transformations I had been doing. I could feel the sweat on my forehead. I was going to get this down though. I took a few deep breaths and used my occlumency to focus on the task that I had at hand.

Another twenty minutes later and I was still unsuccessful. I let out a growl of frustration as I slammed my fist into the desk next to me after another failure. McGonagall looked at me worried.

"Harry perhaps it would be best if we called it a night. You have probably exerted yourself too much tonight. We can always try again next week. For you to have made this much progress already is astounding."

I shook my head. I would not let this beat me. "Ma'am please just let me try one more time. I know I can do this." I could tell that she wanted to tell me no, but then she gave a slight nod of her head and I smiled.

I took a moment to collect myself and focused once again on what it was I wanted to do. I pushed my magic out slowly this time as opposed to the fast pace I had been using before. There was a tingling in my legs and arms and I felt the magic wash over them gradually, but I kept my eyes firmly shut not wanting to become distracted and falter in the process. A sharp intake of breath from McGonagall was my cue to open my eyes.

She was staring at me in bewilderment and I found myself to be a few feet shorter than I had been previously. I turned my head as much as possible to get a look at how much I had changed.

"You did it Mr. Potter! Well done! That is truly amazing. Please turn yourself back now though as you have paled considerably from the start and I would hate for you to pass out in that form. It might be quite hard to explain."

I concentrated and did what she had told me to. I found myself collapsing to my knees afterwards though and placing my hands on my legs to keep from falling forward even more. I took deep slow breaths to try and calm the dizziness I was experiencing.

"I think I definitely over did it tonight Professor. I don't suppose you have anything to help with magical exhaustion on hand?"

McGonagall gave me a thin lipped smile before going behind her desk and producing a tiny vial of acid green potion. "Pepper-up potion Mr. Potter. Take just a sip and it should be enough to get you to the common room. If you take too much you will be up all night."

I sipped gratefully at the green potion and immediately was awarded with a new sense of energy and alertness. Smoke also started to billow out of my ears, but it didn't last very long. "Thank you ma'am. I'm going to head up now so I don't collapse in the hallway somewhere. I hate to think what Filch or Umbridge might do to me." I shivered a little for added effect.

It didn't take me long to reach the dormitory and I decided against changing into my sleeping clothes instead just stripping down to my boxers and climbing into my bed. I didn't cast any of my usual spells on my curtains afraid that it might cause me to pass out. It wouldn't have mattered though because within seconds of my head hitting the pillow I was out.

Two Weeks Later….

I helped Daphne down from the carriage and Neville helped Hannah. We were making our way to the Express so that it could take us back to the platform where our families would pick us up for the holidays.

As we got settled into our compartment on the train I reflected on the past two weeks. They had been stressful but rewarding nonetheless. I was positive I had gotten top scores in almost every class except maybe Herbology. There really was just no competing with Neville. Potions to I would probably have to concede, but I wasn't too worried about that.

My lessons/detention with McGonagall had finished on a rather spectacular note and she had casually mentioned giving my godfather a nice Christmas surprise for her when I got back. I had smirked and told her I would never dream of doing something like what she was implying.

For most of the train ride we slept. Daphne had stretched out on the bench next to me and rested her head in my lap. Hannah had mimicked her actions while Neville and I made do just leaning back into the comfortable seats. I woke up before Daphne and a silent tempus showed we were still probably twenty minutes from the station.

I occupied myself by running my hands through her hair and just enjoying the softness of it. Neville and Hannah woke up a few minutes later and after exchanging a brief kiss they smiled at me. "It's weird seeing you so happy Harry." Hannah covered her mouth after she spoke and looked away embarrassed.

I frowned at her. "What do you mean Hannah?"

She looked nervous but elaborated anyway. "Well before this year I mean you always had this like unhappy look on your face, or maybe not unhappy, but I don't know it just seemed forced. Now though when you're with Daphne or Neville you just seem content. Like it's a natural happiness." I stared at her blankly. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything."

I reassured her it was fine. "No it's okay. I mean maybe you're right. I have certainly had a lot more to be happy about this year than in the past. Neville and you are good friends to me, and definitely better than the ones I had in the past. Then everything with Daphne happened and you know it's just nice to have people who really seem to care." I left out that I had discovered a lot of bad news this year already to, but even that hadn't been able to bring my happiness down for long.

I looked at Daphne before speaking again. "It's only a few minutes until we get to the station."

And soon enough the train had come to a stop next to platform 9 ¾. I looked out the window as First years who didn't know how to shrink their trunks down yet struggled with the heavy objects as they tried locating their parents in the throng of people. Sirius had promised he would be here in disguise, but hadn't mentioned what he would look like so I took that to mean he would find me. Neville and Hannah got up from their seats.

I wished them both happy holidays and told them I would see them on New Year's as they walked out of the compartment. Then I gently nudged Daphne to wake her and let her know we had reached the platform. She cursed and blamed me for letting her sleep until we got there. She was complaining about having to go out looking like she had just woken up, and I just smiled and laughed at her.

Soon enough the crowd had thinned out and there were only a few people left on the platform. Daphne and I walked off the train and for the first time I got to see what Daphne's family looked like. Daphne was a nearly identical copy of her mother. The woman stood dressed in eloquent robes. Her dark raven hair fell down her back and framed her aristocratic facial features perfectly. She had the same ice blue eyes that Daphne possessed.

Her father stood only a few inches taller than her mother but held himself with an air of importance. He had well-kept brown hair and his eyes were a duller blue. He was well built and looked to be in good shape. Behind them stood a small girl who looked like she would probably be starting Hogwarts in a year or so.

I escorted Daphne to them figuring it was only polite to introduce myself before I met them on Christmas. Daphne held onto my arm lightly as we walked to them. I could feel her father's eyes on me sizing me up.

It was her mother that spoke first. "Daphne it is so good to see you. And you look wonderful this year must be agreeing with you." Then she turned to me. "You must be Mr. Potter. It is a pleasure to finally meet out wonderful host. I am Abigail, Daphne's mother."

She held her hand out to me and remembering what I had learned from the classes in the summer I grasped it lightly and brought the back of it to my lips. "It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Greengrass. I look forward to getting to know you better at Christmas."

"My what a gentleman. You certainly picked a good one Daphne." I blushed a little at the compliment but managed to keep from ducking my head. That was when her father addressed me.

"Hello Mr. Potter I am Lord Cygnus Greengrass. As my wife has mentioned it is a pleasure to finally meet our charitable host." There was just a hint of mocking in his tone, but I could practically hear how he was laughing at how I'd been tricked.

Daphne squeezed my arm lightly, but it wasn't necessary. I wasn't going to fall for her father's attempts to draw me into an argument. "I assure you Lord Greengrass it is my pleasure to finally meet you. Daphne spoke of her family in such high regard when I asked about you." Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man with long brown shaggy hair leaning casually against a pillar. "It has been nice meeting you, but I feel the person who is to accompany to my guardian's house is here. I look forward to seeing you all on Christmas." I turned to Daphne and settled for a hug as I did not wish to draw the ire of her parents by kissing her in front of them.

I carefully made my way over to the man I had spotted and once I was close enough so that no one else could hear I spoke. "Well let's go Sirius. I have to fill you in on what has been going on and also tell you where we are going for Christmas and New Year's."

A look of confusion met my last sentence before he shrugged and grabbed my arm. With a quick twist and a pop we disappeared from the station and landed in the hallway of Grimmauld Place.