Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Most of them belong to J.K. Rowling. I do own any characters that never appeared in the Harry Potter series.
Chapter 2
Several minutes passed before Harry moved, his mind still in a mess and still trying to understand the whole picture. "Dumbledore just came, told me that I'm going to have lessons during the summer break, can't tell anyone but my girlfriend." He muttered, obviously just coming to terms about what happened. "But I don't have a girlfriend…" At this point, his thoughts automatically shifted to a girl, by the name of Cho Chang. Cho was a year older than he is, studied at the same school, and was very pretty. But another fact was she has just lost her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory when Harry and he took part in the Triwizard Tournament. Images of Cho crying over Cedric slowly floated into his mind one by one... his 4th year leaving feast… his 1st DA (Dumbledore's Army) meeting… in the café during Valentine's Day… "Cho…"
Outside his room, the Dursleys were up and about; Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, Uncle Veron was complaining about the news in the newspaper and Dudley was already playing with his Playstation (a game console for those who don't know). Harry thought that it was already a miracle that the Playstation has lasted the whole six months when he first got it as a Christmas present -- Dudley's toys' lifespan normally only last around one month.
A short rap on the door signaled the arrival of his Aunt. "Get down here for breakfast, boy" Aunt Petunia's shrill voice sounded through the door. "Yes Aunt." Harry climbed out of his bed to look at the mirror, pushed up his hair and rubbed his eyes. His hair, which stuck up at the back, had grown to a length where it covered his eyes, and his scar. Harry was very happy about his hair; he had refused to go for a haircut when Aunt Petunia came after him with her scissors and only 'reminding' her about Mad-eye Moody stopped her from carrying out her will. After ensuring that he didn't looked like he cried, he carried the books that Dumbledore bought to his bookshelf, and then walked downstairs for breakfast.
Life at the Dursleys has taken a big turn for the better ever since he returned from Hogwarts. The biggest change was Dudley; Dudley started treating him like a cousin, no doubt in return for Harry saving his life last year. There were some things that you shared without feeling grateful to the person, and saving his life was one of them. Dudley had caused a big change in Harry's life at Privet Drive, although he still rarely talked to him, he had asked Harry during the first day back whether he wanted anything from his room; Dudley was renovating his room and was going to throw most things out. Harry accepted the offer happily, which got him a few bookshelves, some weights and even a small 15" TV he can watch the news on. Aunt Petunia has also been feeding Harry better now, either because of Dudley or the reception party at the train station Harry didn't know, but he isn't complaining, the food he had been eating was so rich that he had already gain a couple of pounds during the first week, which is rare as he would normally be losing weight during this period of time, but it was also because of the rich food that Harry has been putting the weights Dudley gave him to good use; he spent almost whole days training since the third day and had gained a better built. But another reason contributing to the training was that he found out he was able to sleep much better after a rigorous training session. Uncle Veron however, was still as unhappy as ever with Harry in the house, but the threat he received from Mad-Eye that fateful day seemed to be working and the only times he screamed at Harry was because of Hedwig (Harry's owl) dropping remains of what seems to be small mammals on his lawn.
Breakfast passed normally for Harry, unless you counted the fact of Dudley screaming at Uncle Veron because he finished the peanut butter. After having his full, Harry politely excused himself from the kitchen and went up to his room. As he closed the door, Hedwig flew onto his shoulder and gave a welcoming hoot. "So you're back?" Harry questioned, reaching to scratch her neck. Hedwig gave an answering hoot before flying back on top of his cabinet and buried her head behind her wings. Harry stretched a little before deciding to read a little of the books Dumbledore left him. There were 3 books, namely "Enchantment Magic Full Edition", "Day-to-Day Magic" and lastly "The Magical Books of Magic". As he pulled out "Day-to-Day Magic", a parchment dropped out of it. He picked it up and started reading it.
Dear Harry,
Hope you are fine, I left this note here when Professor McGonagall kindly reminded me that I would mostly forget about some details that I need to tell you. The books here are bought by the school; we have decided to give you these books to reimburse you on the confiscating of your broomstick last year.
Hope that you have a fun time learning them.
Regards,
Albus Dumbledore
His broomstick had been locked up last year by Professor Umbridge, his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor last year, when he had got into a fight after his Quidditch match, and had earned him a life–long ban from playing it again. Thankfully, Dumbledore had been able to lift the ban and had returned Harry his broomstick on the last day of school last year. Harry missed Quidditch lots and couldn't wait to start playing again, but with the official acceptance of Lord Voldemort being back, he wondered whether the Quidditch Cup would still be held in school.
Harry spent the rest of the morning flipping through the 3 books and trying out some of the spells. By lunch, he had already flipped through all 3 books and decided to learn the spells in "Day-to-Day Magic" first. "Enchantment Magic Full Edition" was the most difficult book of the three. He had known from reading the introduction that enchanted magic is one of the hardest branch of the magic, in order to use these spells, the user have to chant some words, normally more then 2 phrases. Modern day wizards have already phrased out this difficult branch of magic, but as Harry read on, he discovered that enchantment spells are very powerful magic, able to match the power of even the most powerful curses. "Day-to-Day Magic", as the title suggests, contains thousands of spells that you may use in your everyday life. He immediately tried out some, which includes moving things around, vanishing rubbish and simple cleaning spells. "The Magical Books of Magic" was to him, the most interesting book of the three; it had only four pages, the first page being the introduction with the topics "Attacks", "Cures" and "Others". Each book has a diagram of a wizard holding a wand and when you mention a spell that you want to learn or a question about what spell to use, the wizard will show you the wand movement and words to use interactively. He tried the book by asking for a spell to repair a broken cup and the book responded by showing him the spell "Reparo", which he already knew. Feeling that the holidays would be very fine indeed, he went down to the kitchen for lunch.
~
For the next couple of days, Harry busied himself by either working out or learning the different spells from the books. He was surprised that he could master most spells each within 5 minutes when he really put his heart into it. His progress was so fast and so remarkable that he wouldn't be surprised if Hermione told him that he had already known more spells then her. He had also found out that some spells don't even need to mutter the words out, all you need to do is to focus on what you want to do and the spell would be performed, but he arrived at the conclusion that it works only on simple spells after he failed trying to enchant the books to fly to him when he called their titles. He had learnt many spells, including some of the difficult ones. Using the most out of his freedom to use magic, he had used magic to clean his room, move things and repacked his trunk. He felt very happy that he was able to fold everything nicely just by flicking his wand and resisted the urge to owl Tonks, who had unsuccessfully tried to do it last year when she helped Harry pack while running away from the Dursleys, that he was able to do it.
A sharp tap on the window woke Harry up from his day-dreaming, he looked to find a large barn owl with a letter tied to its leg waiting outside the window and he walked over to open the window. The owl flew onto his bed and held out a leg for Harry. Harry promptly removed the letter and read:
Dear Mr Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to take the N.E.W.T at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed your O.W.L results.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later then 15 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Harry unfolded the second letter and read:
O.W.L Results:
Charms – Outstanding
Transfiguration – Outstanding
Herbology – Exceeds Expectations
Defense Against the Dark Arts – Outstanding
Potions – Exceeds Expectations
Care of Magical Creatures – Outstanding
Astronomy – Exceeds Expectations
Divination – Acceptable
History of Magic – Exceeds Expectations
Other Results:
Flying - Passed
Possible O.W.Ls - 18
Total O.W.Ls - 12
Total Outstanding Subjects – 4
Total Passes – 9
Subjects Offered:
N.E.W.T Charms
N.E.W.T Transfiguration
N.E.W.T Herbology
N.E.W.T Defense Against the Dark Arts
N.E.W.T Potions
N.E.W.T Care of Magical Creatures
N.E.W.T Astronomy
N.E.W.T Divination
N.E.W.T History of Magic
N.E.W.T Muggle Studies
Compulsory Subjects:
Apparation
Please select a minimum of 5 subjects to a maximum of 8 subjects.
"12 O.W.Ls? Wow!" Harry exclaimed. He was sure that he would get borderline results for potions and astronomy and fail his divination, but yet he passed all subjects, with 4 outstanding subjects. He was continuing congratulating himself on his results when the large barn owl gave a loud hoot. "So I guess Professor McGonagall told you not to go back without my reply? Let's see…" After pondering over the parchment for around one hour (the barn owl was 'talking' to Hedwig), he finally decided to drop Divination and History of Magic (he was thinking about whether to drop Astronomy and take Muggle Studies). He scribed on a piece of parchment his choices and tied it to the barn owl, which gave an assuring hoot and flew out of the window.
Harry was still jumping around in joy; Hedwig was hooting distastefully, when he noticed 2 specks in the sky coming towards him. He calmed down and waited for the owls to arrive. When the first owl arrived, he removed the letter. He opened the letter and found out that it was from Hermione:
Dear Harry,
Hope you are fine. Have you received your results? I had 18 O.W.Ls! All outstanding results! I had decided to continue the subjects I'm taking but not muggle studies, I heard they offer that subject at N.E.W.T level to everyone, but I'm kind of sick of it. And we are going to learn Apparation! It's going to be fun! What subjects are you taking? By the way I'm going to London during the first week of July, are you joining us? Please reply soon – Hermione
"It's expected." Harry chuckled. He would indeed be very surprised if Hermione didn't get the best results. He was about to reply when what he felt was a cannon ball hit his head.
"Pigwidgeon!" Harry reached out to grab the tiny owl and removed the owl. Pigwidgeon then resumed zooming around the room, making such a racket that Uncle Veron's voice came booming from downstairs. "What's with that racket?" Harry grabbed Pigwidgeon and put her with Hedwig, who was looking at the small owl with a very cold look.
"Sorry! It's nothing" Harry shouted downstairs, then proceeded to open the letter, which was from Ron.
Dear Harry,
How are you? Guess what? I had 7 O.W.Ls, 2 Outstandings (Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care for Magical Creatures) and I failed divination. I also failed potions; there goes my dream of being an Auror. Mom forced me to take all the subjects offered to me, which include Muggle Studies and History of Magic. But at least I don't have to see old Snape and Trelawney. What subjects are you taking? I think my Mom is going to speak to Dumbledore about having you here. I'll update you. Reply soon – Ron
Harry chuckled at the letter and was about to start on his replies when someone knocked on the door. Harry opened the door and was surprised to find Dudley there.
"Yes?"
"It's your call." Dudley grunted to him, holding out the phone.
"Mine?" Harry took the phone, closed the door and sat down on his bed.
"Hello?" Harry muttered into the phone, expecting it to be Hermione.
"Harry?"
It was a girl's voice alright, but it wasn't Hermione's voice, it was a sweeter voice that sounded like it wanted to cry. He recognized that voice, it was…
"Cho?"
~
Reposted to reflect changes in O.W.L calculation. 1 Outstanding = 2 O.W.Ls, 1 Exceeds Expectations = 1 O.W.Ls. Harry is supposed to be a near top student in this fic, I mean his parents are top boy and top girl. You get what I meant? Thanks to potter-man for pointing it out.
Second repost to reflect changes in Hermione and Ron's O.W.Ls results… thanks to dweem-angel for pointing it out
Please R/R. I was trying to live up to the 17 positive reviews that I received and I must say it's quite a motivation. Everyone is asking me who Harry will be with and I think I gave the answer at the last line. ^_^ but let's just say ginny is not out of the picture yet. Keep those reviews coming!
pIgLeT dA pIg : I'm not a ger, I'm a guy ^_^ not disappointed I hope
I'm having problems with italic words, anyone care enlighten me how to do it? I'm using Microsoft words Xp. Email me plz