Disclaimer: Believe it or not, I STILL don't own Harry Potter *gasp*. I am merely writing this story out of my own amusement and am not making any money off of it. With that said, I don't see any reason for Warner Bros. to sue me.
Harry Potter and the Elements of Magic
Summery: OotP SPOILERS!!! A 6th year fic. Voldemort's quest for the weapon, which is being protected by the order, continues. Strange events start happening at Hogwarts and the students all suspect the new exchange students are to blame, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione know better... (H/Hr, R/OC)
Rating: PG-13 (just in case)
A/N: wow… I got over 30 reviews!!! I am so happy right now you guys wouldn't be able to believe it! I didn't really think I'd get such a huge response but people obviously wanted more so… SECOND CHAPTER!!! I hope you like it. Harry's 16th birthday party, OWL results, and Hermione gets back from vacation.
As for all mechanical errors, spel chequer is my scapegoat. Lol scapegoat is a reeeeally cool word. I just realized that… scapegoat scapegoat scapegoat!!! Ok I'm gonna stop now and start writing!
Chapter 2: Enlightenment, Argument, and Amusement
Harry yawned as he pulled back his bedspread. Another summer at the Dursley's was finally over. He still couldn't believe that he was getting away from the Dursleys so soon. Although this summer in particular had slightly better than usual since the Dursley's treated him a little better than dirt after meeting the order, he was still looking forward to having a proper birthday party. He quickly got dressed and went down to breakfast.
***
It was 12:30 when the Weasleys came. They had somehow borrowed a ministry car and Ron helped Harry load his things into the magically enlarged trunk.
"Got everything, mate?" he asked as they loaded Hedwig into the spacious backseat last.
"I think so," Harry replied while walking back to the house for one last check, "Yep, bye everyone."
The Dursleys didn't even turn a head, not that Harry cared.
***
The first week at the Weasley's passed by quickly and, for the most part, uneventfully. No one brought up Sirius and Harry was very thankful for it. Hermione arrived on Saturday and her vacation was a great contrast to the laziness of Harry and Ron's.
"We went to visit relatives in the U.S. and while we were there we visited Salem as well. The old 17th century muggles were so barbaric! They should have known that they couldn't kill witches by burning them; they were just killing thousands of their own. Needless to say, there isn't as high density of magic people out there but there are still quite a few since it is a rather large country."
"Er… Hermione?" Ron interrupted.
"Yes?"
"Is there anything that you can tell us about your break… without quoting it from a textbook?"
Harry smiled and shook his head. That's my Hermione, he thought.
"Yes in fact there is," she continued coldly, glaring at Ron, " they don't seem to have a problem with V-Voldemort over there."
"What?" Harry and Ron exclaimed in disbelief.
"I know, I could hardly believe it myself when I heard. I bet that's only because V-Voldemort doesn't want to bite off more than he can chew. He probably won't try to take over other continents until he's got Europe under control… and that won't happen with Dumbledore around… Right?"
There was an awkward pause among the three of them.
"Er… actually… there's probably something I should tell you guys…" Harry said rather quietly.
His two best friends looked at him quickly with anxious looks on their faces.
"W-what is it, Harry?" asked Ron.
Harry took a deep breath, "well, you know how Voldemort was after the prophecy at the Department of Mysteries," nods of agreement from Ron and Hermione, he continued, "well, after Neville smashed it, we all thought it was gone forever. But… it turns out that the person who made the prophecy was Professor Trelawney and she told it to Dumbledore who of course told me."
Hermione snorted, "and we believe Trelawney because…?"
"We believe Trelawney because I saw her in Dumbledore's Pensieve and she was acting exactly the same way as she did when she predicted the rise of Voldemort back in our third year and that turned out to be true now didn't it. Well anyway, I won't get into the details of it but basically I have to kill Voldemort or he has to kill me. No ways around it."
"A-are you sure?" asked Hermione, not liking either of the possibilities.
"Yes, I am quite sure. The things that determine who it's about have already happened. I'm just not to thrilled that I'm destined to kill someone… even if he is evil," Harry decided to add an after thought, "unless of course he kills me. I suppose it would be a lot easier that way, just get it over with real—"
"Don't even say that," hissed Hermione whose face was now white with fear.
"Yeah, mate, we all know you can kill the slimy git. You've shown him up before," said Ron in a confident voice though his parchment colored face gave him away.
Harry tried to give an encouraging smile, found it too hard, and gave up halfway through resulting in an unenthusiastic shrug.
"Er… why don't we go inside? Maybe our OWLs have come in…" said Hermione, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," said Ron quickly.
As good of an idea it was, the OWL results were not there. They arrived the next Tuesday morning.
"Ron, Harry, Hermione, OWLs are here," called over breakfast.
Audible groans escaped the recipients as they took their respective letters and Hermione looked so anxious she was on the verge of tears. Harry opened his with trembling hands as he heard the others do the same.
Dear Mr. Harry James Potter,
Enclosed are your OWL results. You will find a list of all course exams you took as well as the respective grade next to it. There is also a list of classes you will be expected to take as well as a list of elective classes that Hogwarts has to offer. Final course selections are to be owled to Hogwarts no later than Thursday July 30th.
Thank you for your cooperation and good luck,
Griselda Marchbanks
Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority
Harry took a deep breath and took out the second sheet of parchment
OWLs for: Harry James Potter
Theory of Charms: E
Practical Charms: E
Theory of Transfiguration: E
Practical Transfiguration: O
Theory of Herbology: O
Practical Herbology: E
Theory of Defense Against the Dark Arts: O
Practical Defense Against the Dark Arts: O
Theory of Potions: O
Practical Potions: O
Care of Magical Creatures: O
Theory of Astronomy: A
Practical Astronomy: D
Divination: T
History of Magic: D
This gives you a total of 12 OWLs.
Harry read and reread the sheet about 10 times in quick succession and he still couldn't believe it.
"I got Os in Potions?" he exclaimed.
"WHAT?" Ron and Hermione both gasped.
"Er… I mean… no offense, Harry, but potions isn't exactly your best subject and an O," Hermione quickly explained.
"Yeah, I don't get it either… it must have something to do with McGonnagal…"
"What would Professor McGonnagal have to do with you getting an O on your Potions OWLs?" asked a perplexed Ron.
"Well… last year in career advice she got in a fight with Umbridge about me being an Auror. She ended up saying that she'd 'assist me in becoming an Auror if it was the last thing she does'…" explained Harry.
"I still don't think that she'd have the authority to change your OWL results… I mean that's a ministry thing isn't it?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, I think Ron's right… I guess you just do a lot better without Snape breathing down your neck constantly…" said Hermione.
"Yeah…" said Harry, "Anyway, how did you guys do?"
"Well,
I think I did alright… I got 15 OWLs. The only thing I didn't pass was
Practical Astronomy… what about you, Ron?"
"Better than I thought… I managed to get an E in theory of and an A in
practical charms… despite the whole mushroom incident… total I got 8… both
charms, practical transfiguration, both DADA, both Herbology, and History of
Magic… I'll never understand how I got that last one…"
"Good job," said Hermione.
"Yeah well… I guess I won be a prefect this year… Harry got 4 more OWLs than
me…" said Ron glumly.
"You don't know that—"
"Yeah, I DO know that, Hermione, perfect Potter always gets everything!" said
Ron rather loudly and he stormed up to his room without another word.
Harry and Hermione stood open-mouthed for several minutes after he left.
"Well," said harry breaking the silence, "he may be able to beat Malfoy one of
these days…"
"Don't say that, Harry. He'll snap out of it soon," said Hermione anxiously.
"Oh, he will. I just hope he does before tonight. I want to be able to sleep in
a bed," said Harry matter-of-factly.
The next time they saw Ron was at dinner that night and he showed no signs of snapping out of it.
"Ron could you pass the potatoes please?" asked Hermione nervously.
Ron passed them without a word. Harry and Hermione exchanged nervous glances and Mrs. Weasley noticed the stiffness.
"So, have you three decided on what classes you will be taking yet?" she asked.
Ron grunted indistinctly.
Hermione started babbling on and on about what classes she was going to take, why she wanted to take them, what she was looking forward to about them, and what she was dreading most.
Harry was mortified. He hadn't put ANY thought into what classes he would take; he hadn't even looked at the course sheet.
Mrs. Weasley seemed to notice that this obviously wasn't the best conversation starter, "does anyone want cake? I want cake. I'll go get it now… would any of you like some as well?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded their heads unenthusiastically while Ginny, ignored until now, looked at the three of them anxiously, "er… what's up you guys?"
Ron gave her the death glare, Hermione looked at her with a look of "lord save me from these maniacs", and Harry's look seemed to say, "Ron's jealous of the boy who is being stalked by Voldemort at this very moment again".
"Ooh. Chill, Ron. Just because Harry got more OWLs than you doesn't mean you should stop talking to him," Ginny pieced together.
"You have absolutely NO authority over who I'm not talking to!" said an irritated Ron.
"Oh please. You can't keep getting in stupid little rows every time Harry one-ups you. You win some, you lose some. Get over it."
Ron was still mumbling angrily to himself when Mrs. Weasley came back into the kitchen.
"I have cake! Anybody want it?"
There was a wave of general agreement from all across the table followed by silence as the cake was devoured.
Unfortunately for Harry, Ron was not over his "stupid little row" by bedtime that night. Despite a rather long and nasty argument with his mother, Ron had succeeded in kicking Harry out of his room.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," said Mrs. Weasley while fixing up the living room couch to form a makeshift bed, "I hate it when Ron gets this way. He's so stubborn sometimes. I would offer you Fred and George's old room but… well… that's Fred and George's old room. You would be taking your life in your hands sleeping in there. Percy's old room would have worked too but when he moved out he locked the door so that even alohamora won't open it. This'll do I suppose."
"It's fine, really," said Harry for what must have been the tenth time that night. He wished he hadn't wrecked the knife Sirius had given him… 'No, I've been through this… I'm not going to think about Sirius,' Harry reminded himself.
He said goodnight to Mrs. Weasley and crawled into the mass of blankets and cushions to find it much more comfortable than he had expected. As tired as he was, he pulled out his OWL results and took out the sheet of elective choices.
Elective Choices for Sixth Year Students
Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts – learn advanced jinxes and counter- jinxes to aide you in dark situations.
Occlumency- `learn to clear your mind in a meditative state and protect it from invasion.
Herbology in Potions—learn how the properties of different plants contribute to potions. An emphasis is placed on healing potions.
Anamagi and Metamorphmagi **a select course** -- those participating in NEWT Preparatory Transfiguration can choose to learn how to turn into an animal at will or, if they have the talent, alter their appearance at will.
The list must have had about twenty options on it but Harry had a feeling which one he would have to be taking: Occlumency. He scanned the rest of the courses ending with,
Muggles and You—learn everything and anything about the social habits of muggles in Europe and how you can avoid offense while working with them.
At the bottom he saw a hastily written letter in familiar loopy handwriting:
Harry,
There is no need for you to take Occlumency as your elective. You will be taking private lessons with me this year; they will end as soon as you master it instead of the entire term as the class does. I have my suggestions for what classes would be useful in your future but I daresay you would like to choose for yourself.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Horrible as it was to have to do Occlumency again, at least he wouldn't have to deal with Snape any more than he had to. NEWT Preparatory Potions would provide plenty of his happy smiling face thank you very much.
With
Occlumency out of the way, there was really only one choice to consider:
Animagi. Harry probably would have chosen it anyway though; he had always
wanted to learn how to do it since he had learned his father had been one.
Despite his slightly worsened feelings towards his dad, Harry still thought
being an animagus was a cool idea. He checked the box next to the course and
put it in the extra envelope provided. He would send Hedwig with it in the
morning.
Ron's bad mood continued all he way to Friday July 31st. he stayed mostly out
of the way while the rest of the group was making preparations for Harry's
birthday party leaving Harry feeling rather awkward. It was Ron who had invited
him after all…
"You really don't have to go through all this trouble, Mrs. Weasley," he said.
"Oh nonsense, Harry, really it'd no trouble at all," she replied shooting up multicolored streamers by the ceiling, "you're like family to all of us, even Ron no matter how mad he might get. He won't stay like this for long though, he never does. He'll cheer up when Fred and George get here."
Harry hesitated, "Fred and George… they aren't bringing any food… are they?"
Molly laughed, "oh no, not that I know of at least… I wouldn't recommend going near anything that has the slightest possibility of being from them though… just in case…"
When the party started around six that night, it seemed as though the whole of Gryffindor Tower, past and present, had shown up. He hung out with Hermione most of the time and they wandered around talking to random people for a while when they finally encountered Fred and George both of whom were sporting their acid green dragon skin jackets again.
"Harry! We were wondering when we'd get to see the birthday boy!" George greeted gleefully.
"Uh oh…"
"Oh don't worry so much, we're not going to torment you THAT much," said Fred.
"As a matter of fact, we would like present you with this as a sign of our fond birthday wishes," said George handing Harry a rather badly wrapped box.
"Thanks," said Harry, quickly taking the gift and hiding it behind his back. Changing the subject he said, "So… how's the store?"
"Wonderful thank you… aren't you going to open your present?" asked Fred, his voice full of mock hurt.
"Er…" the whole room was watching now, curious what the twins had gotten Harry. He took a deep breath, "ok…"
He opened the box and was extremely grateful that it hadn't exploded in his face. The first thing he pulled out was a rather formal looking birthday card with large curly lettering on the front. He gave a sideways glance towards Fred who gave him a thumbs-up in return.
The moment he opened the card, he wished that he hadn't. It started singing 'Happy Birthday" very loudly and off key. Harry frantically shut the card but it refused to stay closed and kept singing despite his efforts to silence it. As it continued, Harry discovered that it had more creative lyrics as it finished its first verse.
Happy birthday to you
You belong in a zoo
You smell like a monkey
And you look like one too.
By this time the entire house must have been howling but the card kept going.
Happy birthday to you
Gee, what happened to you?
I've got a new boggart
The reflection of you.
Happy birthday to you
I'm afraid that I'm through
I'm just happy to say
Happy birthday to youThe card then shut itself and burst into flames, much like a howler.
"Babbling Birthday Cards, six sickles a piece," said George over the roaring crowd, "now, young Harry, time to open your present."
Harry then pulled out a birthday cupcake. It wasn't really a bad looking cupcake. In fact, it would be quite appetizing if it had been given by anyone besides the twins. Harry stared at the purple icinged dessert apprehensively until he could take it no longer. The sooner I eat the stupid thing, the sooner it'll be over and we can all laugh it off, he thought. With that, Harry tightly shut his eyes and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, chewed just long enough to register that it was chocolate, and swallowed. He stood there feeling rather stupid for several seconds while absolutely nothing happened. And then… and then…
"BOO!" shouted George breaking the silence and causing the already paranoid Harry to jump. To everyone's surprise, he did not come straight back down. He instead kept right on rising up to the ceiling at high speed and hit it with a deafening thud and groans from the crowd before bouncing back down to the ground feeling extremely light-headed.
"And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the Jump for Joy Cupcake. A galleon each for Hogwarts students, a bargain! Don't forget to visit us at ninety-three Diagon Ally and check out our entire new party line INCLUDING the triumphant return of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-Bangs," said Fred.
Hermione, as soon as she was able to stop laughing, kept frantically asking the dazed but laughing Harry if he was ok while shouting furious questions at the hysterical twins including, "how can you do that to your friend?" and "what if he was outside?"
"Hey, you were laughing too," said Ron walking over.
"Yeah well…" she seemed to be at loss for a comeback, "I see you're talking to us again."
"That I am. I figured… his life couldn't be that perfect but I have to admit… that present really was the icing on the cake."
"Haha," said Hermione sarcastically, "it's like a pun or something."
The rest of the party was pretty much a blur to Harry. Hermione explained it by his concussion while Ron remained convinced that Fred and George had put something in that cupcake. Either way, he had a gut feeling that it had gone well and he went to bed that night rather content for the first time in a long while.
A/N: sorry that took so long to write… I'm not used to having to write so much. I'll try to update more quickly. All I have to say is THANK YOU!!!!! You guys are sooo great! 31 reviews *does a demented little Irish jig*!!! I was thinking more like 10… I'm so happy! But you do realize that I now have a new standard for you all so live up to it! AKA REVIEW!!!!!! Hmmm… I hope I'll get more… and now I shall reply to some reviews! (You can skip this if you want… it's probably really boring)
Kim: I know who you are and you should be ashamed of yourself! You haven't even read the 5th book and you're reading a fanfic that is oh so clearly marked for spoilers… tisk tisk and I think that you REALLY exaggerated in your review.
Sulwen of Great Smials: of course he's not dead… never… and no duh Ron and Hermione are gonna get together… but they'll drive each other nuts and break up to pursue more compatible people. *COUGHharryandhermioneforeverCOUGH*
Hermione 'DB' Granger: yeah OC does mean other character… and OC aren't her initials. I shall try 2 put SOME fluff in but not enough for it to be nauseating *gag*
Future Dictator of the World: Good luck with that and if you don't kill me (please don't *cowers in the corner*) can I have a seat of power?
And to all of you, I hope I live up to your expectations… I'll try to get into the actual plot soon.
If you have any questions about the story, I'll e-mail you if I have the answer. I have the main plot down pretty well (I HAVE had it spinning around in my head for the past three years trying to find a time when it would make some sense in accordance to JK's plot) but I'm winging the details as I go along so bear with me.
Coming up next: Diagon Ally!