Chapter 14: Elements

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"In the military, more is not better." - The Art of War

---

Harry stopped as he heard the doors opening. Who would be coming to Hogwarts right now? It was six o'clock, and he was quite sure that the Ministry would more than likely conduct any enquiries by letter or the fireplace.

Deciding that Ron and Hermione could certainly wait for a few extra minutes, Harry turned back, and moved as quickly and quietly as possible to the beginning of corridor, from where the stairs led down to the entrance hall. He stood straight against the wall and out of sight, tilting his head slightly to hear better.

Dumbledore had obviously already greeted whoever it was, and was suggesting that they go to his office if they were to talk further. Harry desperately hoped they wouldn't - there'd be no chance of spying on them then. His hopes were dashed, however, when a woman's voice - very sharp and authoritative - coolly replied that it was a good suggestion. The footsteps sounded again, quieter as they moved on from the tiles to the carpeted stairs.

Ducking into the classroom opposite, Harry hid as the headmaster and the woman - and it sounded like someone else, as well - passed by. Feeling a little guilty that he was running around spying on his mentor, Harry opened the door a crack, and peered through the gap. Dumbledore was on the left, the woman was in the middle, and walking on the woman's right was a man.

The woman had straight white hair, clipped up in a severe manner, though she looked to be in her mid- or late-twenties. She wore an expensive black business suit, looking extremely out of place next to Dumbledore's robes, and walked with an air of formality. The man walked slightly more casually, with his hands in his jeans pockets, and a black t-shirt. Hehad black hair, neatly styled, and Harry wished he could see their faces.

They were both dressed in Muggle clothes, and they didn't look like the Witches and Wizards at the Quidditch World Cup, who had no clue what to wear apart from robes - they seemed perfectly at ease in them, as though they wore these sorts of clothes all the time. Could Dumbledore be dealing with Muggles?

Knowing that wouldn't say anything out of Dumbledore's office, Harry waited until they turned a corner, and then slipped out to make his way up to the Tower. Ron and Hermione had to know about this.

---

"Perhaps they're Aurors or something, and they've just been working undercover in the Muggle world?" Hermione suggested, but Harry shook his head in disagreement.

"No. The woman - I don't know, but all the Aurors I've met take orders from Dumbledore, or at least act really respectful of him. But with the these people, it looked like the woman was the one in charge, and Professor Dumbledore was being respectful of her."

They were in the Gryffindor Common Room, where Ron and Harry were playing chess (Harry was losing miserably, and he decided that he'd have to research some chess moves on the laptop) and Hermione was puzzling over what Harry had just told them about the incident in the entrance hall.

"Maybe they're Squibs, and they were actually living as Muggles," Ron offered.

"That wouldn't explain why Dumbledore was being so humble, though," Hermione pointed out. "Harry, move the Bishop, not the pawn - look, the chess pieces are giving you advice, why not listen to it for once?"

"Because I end up losing anyway!" Harry retorted. "At least if I ignore their advice, I end up losing my way."

Hermione gave a snort that sounded suspiciously like 'Boys', before returning to the reason for their confusion.

"I wonder why they didn't arrive by Floo Powder," she wondered aloud. "I mean, it's not as though there was a whole troop of them arriving - well, as far as we know, anyway."

"I know why!" Ron piped up, after checkmating Harry for the third time in a row. "I was talking to Professor Figg yesterday about the wards they just put up. Apparently such powerful magic needs a while to settle into the school magic, so a lot of magic that has to work on both sides of the wards - like Apparating inside or outside, sending magical messages, Flooing into school, and stuff - none of it works."

Harry recalled this information from 'Shields, Wards and Other Protective Magic' and also remembered that it would take another few days for the wards to completely settle and assimilate themselves with the previous wards.

"Well - that explains why they didn't Floo," he admitted, "but there's still no clue as to who they are."

"Who cares?" Ron pointed out. "It probably has nothing to do with us, and if it did, then I'm sure Dumbledore would tell us, either today or tomorrow. If he doesn't tell us, than it has nothing to with any of us, and it's pointless to worry about it." Hermione looked quite astounded by this.

"That's probably the smartest thing you've said all day," she declared. "Harry, Ron's right. Why bother getting worked up over this, when for all we know, Dumbledore's just arranging to buy some new school equipment?"

"I suppose you're right," Harry granted, still ignoring his chess pieces' yells.

---

At breakfast on Tuesday, there were no notices for Harry to go to the headmaster's office, so the trio were relieved to know it had nothing to do with them - although Harry was still aching to know who the 'Mysterious Possibly-Muggles' were. The decorations for the Great Hall were going to be put up during lessons tomorrow so that they would remain a surprise, which meant that the Hall was still quite bare in the morning.

Hermione and Ron still hadn't found dates for the party tomorrow evening - nor had they asked each other - so it looked like they were going to be closer to Harry and Cho than Harry would have liked.

The trio didn't really concentrate on lessons; they ran through Herbology, zipped through Potions, and then went through Divination as fast as they could without Carnaena catching them checking their watches repeatedly; Levina was unfortunately even better at catching people mess around than McGonagall, thanks to her 20/20 vision.

Finally though, the lessons were over, and at five o'clock, the students were waiting in the Transfiguration classroom for their Animagus lessons. McGonagall turned up right on the minute, looking around the class.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had arrived early so that they could get seats near the front of the room; the Professor, however, motioned everyone to stand up, before she stepped in front of them.

"By the end of the lesson," she announced in her Scottish accent, "I expect you all to have at least changed several inches of yourself. The more magically powerful you are, the more you are likely to be able to change in a shorter space of time. Therefore, Mr Potter for example, who at Basic Auror Training was found to have a power-level in the six-hundreds,' (Harry got more than a few glances at that) 'would find it twice as easy as someone with power in the three-hundreds. Don't worry if you can't alter anything yet - just keep focusing, and it will happen."

The teacher looked around the class again, searching for anyone who wasn't paying attention. "Now, is there anyone who's been practising before this lesson?"

A few people put their hands up - Justin Finch-Fletchley, some sixth-years, one of the seventh-years, and Harry. Hermione looked a little ashamed that she hadn't attempted it. "Did you accomplish anything?" McGonagall asked, and one of the sixth-year's hands went down. Everyone else's stayed up, for which Harry was glad - he would have hated to be the only one who could partially change already.

McGonagall seemed pleased. "Good work," she praised, "Now, for everyone else, I'll be going around and helping you begin the ways we discussed in Transfiguration. Those who've partially Transformed will have an advantage, so you continue as far as you can go, and if you need any help, just call me. Now, spread out and begin."

Harry moved over into the far corner of the front of the room, just beside one of the windows. Spending half a minute to put himself in the right frame of mind, he then told his body to change as far as he had before - the eyes, ears, paws, arms and mane. Feeling quite proud of himself, Harry checked the rest of the class.

Those who hadn't already practised hadn't changed at all yet; Justin had managed to grow fur over the sides of his face, and change his ears, but that was all; the sixth-years had managed to do some more; the seventh-years had managed quite a bit; but really the only person to have accomplished anywhere near the amount was Adrian Delves, a sixth-year Ravenclaw who had changed his arms into seagull wings, and turned his hair to feathers.

Harry now attempted the transformation of the snout. He would need a different skeletal structure for this, but the magic would instantly take care of that - as long as he knew that he would need it, it didn't matter whether he knew the details of exactly how much bigger or smaller, wider or narrower, it would have to be.

Clearing his head of the thought that he must look quite ridiculous, Harry started to focus on the idea of the lion's snout. How would it affect his vision? Well, it was affecting his vision - he was a lion, after all. As soon as logical mind told him that this was quite ridiculous, and he was a human being, Harry quashed it with the comeback that if he was human, why did he have a mane, and slipped a little magic into the suggestion.

'I have a snout,' Harry told himself firmly, 'A lion's snout, with fur, and powerful jaws, and canines and incisors that will tear my prey apart.' There was a tingling sensation, which turned slightly itchy, as Harry's face bulged slowly and painlessly outwards, glossy black fur spreading out over it like rapidly-growing grass.

Knowing that as this would make his body even more certain he was a lion - which meant he wouldn't have to slip it some more magic for the next part - Harry quickly told it that as he had a snout and eyes, ears and mane, then obviously the rest of his head must be that of a lions' as well.

His brain accepted this easily, having still not used up the magic he'd just convinced it with a moment ago, and the rest of his face, moving round to the back of his head, started to tingle and itch as the fur grew there too, and his head started to shift proportions slightly. His snout had now finished, and his teeth were starting to lengthen and sharpen. Harry's eyes moved further apart to keep up with the change in his skull, giving an uncomfortable sensation before they settled. He blinked to make himself used to this new 'almost-180 degrees' part of his vision.

Hermione, he saw, had already managed to make a beautiful white feather-pattern over herself and her clothes - clothes were, of course, part of the Animagus transformation, as for example, Harry's own robe sleeves had changed to become part of the fur on his hands. Ron had his eyes screwed up in concentration, and had also managed to modify his face until it had a long, narrow snout - Harry nearly burst into laughter seeing it. He really looked quite ridiculous, as fur had yet to grow on it, and it was entirely covered in normal human skin.

Harry shifted back to his human form to regain his thoughts, and decided that the next step after the head, neck and arms would be the shoulders, so that he could work down the body. Reverting back to his partially-lion appearance, he made another suggestion to his brain, giving the proposal another hint of magic.

He managed to make his robes fuse painlessly and almost instantly with his skin and grow fur, as well as the tough lion flesh, but he couldn't entirely transform his shoulders; it would obviously need bigger changes to his overall skeleton, unlike with the arms, where he could easily change several bones.

By the end of the lesson, Harry had decided to skip the shoulders, and had instead concentrated on growing the sable fur over as much of his body as he could. Hermione, the fast learner as always, had completely covered herself in snow-white feathers, while Ron had managed to turn most of his head into that of a wolf, growing reddish-brown fur that was a silvery white around the muzzle.

"That was brilliant!" Hermione said excitedly as they left the lesson, and the boys thoroughly agreed. "Harry, what are you going to do when you finish your lion form? I mean, you're going to be finished long before anyone else, and I don't suppose it would be very good if people found out you had more than one form..."

Harry hadn't thought about that. "I suppose," he postulated, "that I'll ask Professor McGonagall if she can train me in private - although actually, I don't know whether I want to become all those animals."

Ron looked surprised, so Harry elaborated.

"What I mean is, what need do I have of them? I mean, everyone else is happy with just the one - why should I have any more? It's not as though I'm going to need to change into each of them for every day of my life, or else I'll die. No, I think I'll just stick with the lion, cobra and bat. That way, no-one knows I can change into magical beasts - plus I get the running, slithering, and flying aspects," he grinned, as they reached the Great Hall for supper.

---

They ate well - Harry excluded of course, for he just watched in misery, impatient to get up to the dormitory where Cobbit or Dobby would bring him his own dinner - before returning to Gryffindor Tower, Harry wolfing down his meal and Hermione finishing her Golem leaflets to hand out to those interested in S.P.E.W.

Ron simply practised his chess for the Inter-House Championship against one of the seventh-years.

Deciding that it was a day well spent, Harry went to bed early to make up for any sleep that would be lost for Astronomy, and once he returned from that as well, he slept soundly through the rest of the night.

Voldemort, unfortunately, hadn't been sleeping the previous night. To 'commemorate' his downfall fourteen years ago, he had (or so the Daily Prophet reported on Wednesday morning) slaughtered one of the Muggle-born citizens of Hogsmeade, leaving a Dark Mark over his store and levitating his mangled corpse up just underneath it.

Harry felt quite sick when he saw the photograph of the building and Dark Mark (though the body was missing from the picture); it was the same apothecary that he had bought the herbs and Oxtamed from, and now the store-keeper was dead. This was a terrible tragedy - he was down to only twelve pills, and had been planning to buy more.

Shaking this rather insensitive thought from his mind, Harry finished reading the article, and then passed the paper back to Ron, his day ruined before it had even begun.

---

In History of Magic, Harry quite frankly couldn't give a damn; he was mixed up over the feelings of his crush on Cho, loathing of parties, boredom of History, horror of Voldemort's murder, fear that someone he knew would be next, worry that Leone or the daemon would make a return, hope that the Myrrh Cage would be found, confusion over what exactly that damned dragon was, annoyance at the fact that he now had to exercise and skip the feasts, and the more recent and possibly even greater displeasure that he would have to be very careful how he used his last pills until someone else took over the apothecary.

Suddenly remembering how he'd managed to get himself free of Magical Languages, Harry hit on possibly the most brilliant plan he'd come up with since 'stick the fang in Riddle's diary'. Or the 'summon Firebolt to get past dragon' - whichever you think is more ingenious, really.

Sticking his hand up, Harry took no notice as the class went as amazed as they had when Hermione had asked a question in second year about the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Binns, incredibly managing to see that everyone was suddenly paying attention to something rather than continuing with their eyes glazed over, blinked owlishly.

"Yes, Mr Peters?"

Deciding not to mention that his name was Potter, Harry went straight on to the question. "Professor," he asked, "Is everything we need to know to pass our History of Magic OWL in the textbook? And we don't have to submit any essays, or anything?" The ghost seemed overwhelmed that a student was actually showing interest in the OWL.

"I wrote the textbook specifically for OWL standard," he replied slowly, "containing all the information you'd need to pass. And no, you don't need to submit any work - just finish the exam."

Harry held back a smile. Perhaps this morning would be good after all.

---

At break, Harry couldn't find Dumbledore, so he went to McGonagall's office instead. She looked over her spectacles at him in astonishment as he sat opposite her desk.

"You want to do what?" she asked, as though she couldn't quite believe she'd heard him correctly.

"I'd like to take my History OWL early, like I did with the Language OWL." Harry repeated. "Is it possible?"

The professor opened her mouth, drew a blank, and shut it again. Then she cleared her throat, and attempted to speak once more. "Well - yes, it is possible... but really, are you quite sure? You've been a fairly average student in the subject for all the time you've been here, and you must excuse me if I believe that you'd be even less than that if you didn't have Miss Granger's notes to help you."

"I really think I can do it Professor," Harry insisted. "I've been spending a lot of my free time doing History work to catch up - when I'm not being kidnapped by daemon Summoners, that is - and I think I'm far enough."

McGonagall still looked uncertain. "Well, normally I'd just say no; but since you managed to learn Telepathy and Phoex before the Languages class even started them, and got ninety-three percent on your OWL - I'll talk with the headmaster, and see what I can do for you. I'm not promising anything, mind."

"Thank you, Professor!" Harry said, rising from his seat. "I promise, if I do get to do it, I'll pass."

He left the office feeling quite pleased with himself. Everything they needed for the OWL was inside the book, Binns had said, and as Harry had used a rod to memorise the entire book, there was no chance of failing.

Transfiguration was next, but as the teacher hadn't had any time to ask the headmaster about the OWL yet, it was unlikely he would find out the answer today. At lunch, Harry explained to Ron and Hermione what he wanted to do. "You'd skip History lessons then, wouldn't you?" Ron said, looking impressed. "That would give you an extra - three hours a week spare time?" he asked Harry, who was (dolefully) eating some celery.

Harry nodded. "Of course, I don't know whether I'm going to be allowed to do the OWL, but if I do, then I'll definitely pass. Plus it means that on Friday, I'll only have an hour of Transfiguration in the morning and nothing else for the rest of the day." Ron looked even more dazzled by this.

"Do you think they'll be able to put all the decorations up within two hours?" Hermione asked, changing the subject. "I mean, they're decorating the Hall for the party, right after lunch."

"Of course they'll have enough time." scoffed Ron, "After all, they've got magic and they've already decorated the rest of the school; one room, even as big as this, won't take them two hours. When does the party start?"

"Six o'clock," Harry replied immediately. "So Cho's going to be a bit late; she takes Apparition lessons."

Ron rolled his eyes at how Harry had turned an innocuous question into something to do with Cho Chang, and then left his empty plate as it was time for the trio to get to Care of Magical Creatures.

---

The students weren't allowed into the Great Hall when they returned from lessons; there were of course, a variety of rumours about what was going on inside - some said that the teachers were releasing rats and tarantulas to give a more scary atmosphere, while others said that they were having problems - Flitwick had accidentally been turned into a pumpkin, and was now hovering twelve metres off the floor.

Harry personally believed that the teachers just wanted to keep the decorations a surprise until the feast and party. He, Hermione and Ron spent the time up until six o'clock in the library (which had now been cleared of fog), where they easily finished their Care of Magical Creatures homework.

When the announcement came that the party was about to begin, Harry was (surprisingly) one of last to leap to his feet and make his way downstairs. "Don't you want to see what Cho looks like?" Hermione scolded, dressed in her new kimono-like robes. Harry and Ron had also changed into theirs (Ron was looking particularly satisfied with his scarlet velvet dress robes), and Hermione and Ron were now dragging Harry down the stairs.

"I don't want to go!" Harry wailed as they passed a curious looking portrait.

"Nerves," Hermione informed Ron in a knowledgeable way. "Harry, she's not even going to be there for the first ten minutes, because she has to go from Apparition class to her dormitory to get changed. Just stay in there - will you stop struggling! - have a drink or two to calm yourself, and - oh look, for goodness sake. You can duel You-Know-Who, you can face a daemon, but you can't go out with a girl?"

"I didn't have a choice in the first two matters," Harry muttered, but stopped struggling.

"Well, you were the one who agreed to go out with her," Ron pointed out. "You've been looking forward to this for ages." They reached the Great Hall doors now, and they stepped aside of the crowd in students pouring in, so that Harry could call upon his courage to not fail him.

"Oh, honestly. It's not like she's even in there, right now." Hermione snorted, annoyed. Harry glared at her, which made her shut up, before straightening. Now prepared, the trio followed the last members of the crowd in.

---

The Hall was breathtaking - even more so than most Halloweens; extra care had been put into it, now that there was a party afterwards. Bats chittered from the alcoves, occasionally flying off. The ceiling had been enchanted to look like a full moon, with dark grey clouds occasionally drifting across it.

Black roses hung on vines instead of bushes, entwining gracefully around lights, doors, windows and tables. The candles that floated in pumpkins' mouths were a luminescent blue, not yet lit, and the tables were around the edges of the room, carrying all manner of treats and drinks. The centre of the Hall was the dance floor, where everyone was milling around at the moment, sneaking some of the snacks, and waiting for the band.

Wishing that he'd had his supper now instead of later, Harry avoided looking at the food, and instead watched the stage, where the black roses were climbing up. There was another quarter of a minute of murmurs and chatting, before in a flash, the curtains on the stage swept across, and the candles in the pumpkins lit with an eerie blue light.

Many of the students started whistling and cheering; Harry recognised the Witch who was taking centre stage from one of Seamus' posters - Celestina Warbeck.

"I don't know how Dumbledore managed to book her!" Ron yelled over the tune of 'Magic All Around You'. "She never usually does small gigs like this - it's only big concerts or charity events that she usually does."

Harry nodded to show that he'd heard, but he wasn't really listening to the music; Cho would be here in (he checked his watch) six minutes. Looking around, he saw that Levina was standing over by the door with her arms crossed, watching him. When he gave her a curious look, she pointed to the food table, then at him, then ran a finger across her neck. Harry rolled his eyes and held his hands up. Honestly, he could resist food for a few hours.

He made his way across to the drinks table, and saw that one of his usual drinks; the Wizarding brand of kiwi-juice that he had taken to. "Thanks Dobby," Harry said quietly, pouring himself a glass.

Not entirely sure whether he wanted Cho to come right now or not at all, he started drinking, and listening to Celestina's next song, 'Your Sweet Summertime'. It didn't sound much like a Halloween song, he thought critically, but no-one else seemed to mind; in fact, Ginny and Ivan were laughing at something over by a huge plate carrying a pyramid of cakes, and it looked like Ron had plucked up the courage to ask Hermione to dance with him.

Masking a smirk as he saw them drift off to the dance floor, someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he spun around. "Cho, h-" he began, but to his astonishment, it was Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter, I'm sorry to interrupt your evening, but the headmaster wants to see you." she said briskly, and began leading him to the exit. Harry followed uncertainly behind, shrugging helplessly as he passed Levina.

'I'll tell Chang you had to go' she mouthed as the pair left, and Harry felt even worse. Now Cho would think that Harry didn't want to go out with her, and had run off to do something else without bothering to tell her.

Leaving the sounds of the students and 'Your Sweet Summertime' behind, Harry found himself trailing behind the teacher and wondering why Dumbledore wanted to see him, but too afraid to ask. As she led him to the gargoyle which guarded the headmaster's office, she said the password ('Wine Gums'), and it moved aside.

"Go on, Potter," she told him, motioning to the staircase within. Harry did so, following it up to the oak door and now being the one to leave the deputy headteacher behind. He knocked on the door, before pushing it open; Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, a twinkle in his eye. "Harry, do sit down," he said, conjuring a high-backed, comfortable chair out of nowhere with a flick of his wand. Fawkes, Harry noticed, wasn't there.

Harry moved forwards, shutting the door behind him and sank into the padded seat of chair facing Dumbledore.

"Now, Harry," he said, lacing his fingers together and peering at Harry over the tops of his half-moon glasses. "Professor McGonagall has told me that you expressed a wish to do your History of Magic OWL early."

A look of relief passed over Harry's face. Not only was this not about someone being killed, or him being targeted for something, but it looked like they were considering his request. "Yes, Professor Dumbledore."

The man looked pleased. "That is most interesting, Harry; the usual requests I get about OWLs is to do them later, not earlier. Now, I have been talking with the board of Governors, and they agree that due to your recent improvement of work to exceptional standards, and taking into consideration your scores on the Language OWL, it would be permissible to allow you to take your History OWL - Friday, at the earliest. Do you still want to?"

Harry couldn't say yes fast enough.

They sorted out the time - Harry would begin the test on Saturday at one o'clock. The exam lasted three and a half hours, and where he would take it in the same room he had gone to for his previous OWL - and Harry was also glad to hear that Mr Whaits would be returning for his exam, rather than someone like Lucius Malfoy.

By the time they'd finished - they also discussed Leone and the daemon a little more, as well as Harry's rather unusual Annumagus ability - it was seven twenty-five, and the Halloween party was meant to end at seven thirty, when the main feast was brought out. Harry made his excuses, and rushed down, taking another ten minutes (to his growing dismay, Peeves had managed to lock several doors, two of which he could have taken for short-cuts).

By the time he made it down, the tables had been brought out to the centre of the room, and two more tables had been added, holding main courses. Plenty of smaller tables for students to sit in groups had been put around the sides of the rooms, and Harry spotted Hermione and Ron sitting at a circular one which would seat three.

"Where's Cho?" he asked Levina, who was still by the door, obviously on 'guard duty'.

"I told her the headmaster wanted to see you. She didn't seem too impressed," Levina shrugged. "She left in a huff when I said you weren't here - she wasn't your type anyway."

Harry felt like flinging himself to the floor and beating the ground with his fists, wailing loudly. Thankfully, he managed to resist this strong and sudden urge. "She left?"

"No, Potter, I was joking. I'm really Chang in disguise. Yes, she left."

Visibly wilting, Harry drifted heavily over to Ron and Hermione, and fell to his seat.

"I take it you heard about Cho, then?" Ron said wisely.

"Left." muttered Harry. Hermione tsked.

"Well, I told you she wasn't the right one for you. I mean, it wasn't as if you'd run off to play Quidditch, for goodness sake. Professor Carnaena told her that McGonagall had taken you to see the headmaster, and she looked as though she were going to have a fit. I mean, honestly. Seriously, I think she just wanted to be seen with you."

"Thanks for Love Advice 101, Hermione, but right now, I'm hungry." Harry grumbled. "Still, if the House Elves made sure to put my drink out, they'll probably have stuck some salad or something, as well."

It turned out that they had, as well as several bowls of fruit, rolls, vegetables, and pasta. Harry, not caring that the food didn't go together, filled a plate with rice, a tuna roll, some tomatoes, and a slice of melon. He grabbed a couple of carrots and added some mashed potato to his bizarre meal to finish with, and made his way back.

Harry glared at him over a spoonful of rice. "I took what looked healthy. I didn't bother taking matching food."

Ron shrugged. "Fair enough."

---

At training, Harry couldn't help but glare at Levina the whole way through, even though he knew it wasn't her fault. He'd given back the used rods now (except the one he used to take information from his own books or the laptop), and tonight she gave him 'Maintenance of the Stiletto and Sword', and 'Alchemical Experimentation'.

"Hmph." he grumbled as thanks, still annoyed that her talk with Cho hadn't made the sixth-year remain and wait for him. "Are we going to release the Unicorn soon?"

"During the Christmas holidays." Levina replied, "when most of the school's gone, so no-one will see us walking around with a Unicorn mare. She's all white now, by the way - much taller than she was, as well."

Harry couldn't help being interested at this information, as he had been the one to find the creature - he pretended not to be, though, deciding he'd ask for more details when he wasn't so upset about Cho's stalking off.

They fought - Harry actually coming close to beating Levina this time - before it was time for him to leave.

---

The next day, as it was the first of November, was the day that the new laws were brought into effect. The students were each given a list of them in the morning, and a large poster with them written on were also pinned to each of the notice boards. Firstly was that Apparition - with a license, of course - was now legal for sixteen year olds, whereas previously it had only been for seventeen year olds.

Secondly, magic could be used out of school by sixteen year olds as well, rather than seventeen; these were the only law changes that affected the students, but there were several others noted. For example, whereas Auror Training usually took three years to complete, it now only took two, and the pass grades for BAT (Basic Auror Training) and AAA (Advanced Auror Achievement) E-Levels had been lowered ten percent, to seventy percent.

There were another few - Aurors, Magical Law Enforcement and Unspeakables had new rights and privileges, but these weren't specified on the sheets of parchment that were handed out.

"Its a pity we can't choose to try for a BAT at the end of the year," Ron sighed. "I mean, we can try for an E-Level in Spell Creation or Ward Creation, but we can't attempt a Basic Auror Training E-Level."

"Technically we could," Harry pointed out. "We'd just write to the Ministry, rather than going through the class and then being given the option." He took another orange and started to peel it. "You know, I think I could actually get used to this 'exercise and eat healthily' thing."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Great. By the time Quidditch season starts, you're going to be a flipping muscle-man."

"I very much doubt it," Hermione put her tuppence worth in. "Ron, isn't the Inter-House Chess Tournament starting on Tuesday? Ron nodded proudly.

"Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff to begin with," he announced. "Which means me against Luke Bowery. He's a seventh year - really tough to beat apparently, thinks about four moves ahead of his opponents."

Harry and Hermione wished him good luck before they finished their breakfast and set off for Charms.

The rest of the day was spent normally, doing lessons and homework; so was Friday (except that it was Basic Auror Training that day, when the Auror Captains had set up an obstacle course on the grounds, which Harry found to be like a mixture of the Tri-Wizard maze and lake rescue; basically they had to get past Beasts such as Red-caps, Hinkypunks, Doxies and Billywigs, at the end of which was a nasty surprise - they each had to fight their way past a ten-foot Acromantula which had been captured from the Forest).

"Now I know why the class was only open to fifth-years and above," Harry grumbled as he nursed a nasty cut, casting an anti-infection spell on it. "Are you all right, Ron?"

Ron was hovering half a foot off the ground - he'd had a nasty reaction to a Billywig sting (he must have been mildly allergic) - and he and Harry could only hope that it wasn't permanent. Thankfully, it wasn't; he finally reached the ground a few hours later, no worse for wear.

Harry had managed to get past the Acromantula quite easily, thanks to what he had memorised from 'Animals, Beasts and Creatures; The ABC Guide', as well as a good aim for his Stunning spells directly at its many eyes, and only gaining the cut on his arm, and a few bruises from some quick dodging. Ron came out a little worse off; not only had he been floating thanks to the Billywig-Sting, the giant spider managed to get a nasty hit on his leg, gashing it open - Captain Marcella had to attend to it with some emergency healing spells.

Ron had defeated the Acromantula in the end though, as had the majority of the others; only Padma Patil hadn't made it past, and was forced to send up sparks, as her Stunning spells weren't used against the eyes, and kept on being repelled. Everyone else made it through though, to their immense relief, and even Padma was being a good sport about herself being the only one not to complete the obstacle course.

---

On Saturday afternoon, Harry made his way up to the classroom that he had taken his Languages exam in, and entered to find Mr Whaits waiting for him at the desk. He would start his History OWL in less than five minutes, but he wasn't at all nervous - he'd done some more revision from the laptop last night, about the first and second world wars, the major Goblin rebellions, the witch-hunts - anything that he had thought might come up.

Mr Whaits seemed to be quite uneasy about Harry's complete lack of anxiety - he kept looking at him curiously, though he didn't question him, and the only thing he said when he gave him the exam booklet was 'Good luck'. The exam, which would take three hours, had no aural section; it was all essay questions and the like.

Harry found this even easier than the Magical Languages OWL. As there was no aural, he didn't have to worry about the Mermish body language, such as whether the pitch was too high, or if his eyes were closed enough - all he had to do was answer questions like; '2b: Reakk the Ravaging was one of the most influential goblins of 1763. Say whether you agree or disagree, giving reasons for your answer. (14 marks)'.

It took two and a quarter hours to complete the paper, so Harry spent the remaining fifteen minutes going through it and making sure he hadn't misspelled anything, or got the dates of various wars or the names of Wizards, goblins or witch-hunters muddled up with each other.

At four o'clock, Harry handed in his paper, and left to join Ron and Hermione in the library. The pair were studying over in a corner table, and Harry pulled another chair over from a nearby table.

"How did it go?" Ron asked, looking up from his Herbology homework. "Was it easy?"

"Pretty much," admitted Harry. "And you know I'd love to tell you the questions, but I can't."

Ron sighed. "Secrecy spells are so annoying. It's not like you're going to sell copies of the test to the school."

Harry looked at him pointedly. "I can think of some Slytherins who might. And besides, what's the difference between that, and telling your mates?"

Ron opened to his mouth to argue, and then realised he had a point. "Hm. You're right."

"When you're quite finished discussing the merits of cheating," Hermione sniped, "Perhaps you'd like to continue your homework?"

"It's Saturday, 'Mione!" groaned Ron. "It's only got to be in for Tuesday, I can leave it until tomorrow."

Hermione looked as though this were the most shocking thing she had ever heard. "Tomorrow? Last time you said, 'I'll leave it until tomorrow', you only remembered it a week later! Now, get to work."

Harry was quite amused at how Ron immediately scrambled to do her bidding at this small admonishment, and rose. "I'm going to go and practice my lion Animagus form," he told them. "Try and get it a bit further, you know."

Saying goodbye, he left the library and made his way to the classroom he usually used for his transformation. Closing the door behind him, he remembered that the lion figurine was still in his trunk in the dormitory, then decided it didn't matter. He shifted his body to as far as he could go, and then decided to attempt the skin under the fur. This was quite easy, and it took only a hint of magic to get his body to form the tough hide of a lion.

The next thing, he decided were the hind legs. This took much more magic and suggestion - even more than the arms had - as there were more clothes to fuse, and it felt quite strange to Harry for his knees to reverse direction without anything but a mild itching sensation. Although of course, it would be quite strange for your knees to suddenly reverse direction at all, he added mentally.

He had to stop there, to go to Spell Creation classes, where he would begin to learn how to manipulate base magic into the type of spell he wanted, but somehow, all he could think about was how he was going to manage to change his torso into that of a lion, complete with feline organs, veins, blood and muscle.

---

On Monday breaktime, Fred and George were proud to announce their passing Ministry tests and gaining Apparition licenses. "See, ickle Ronnie-kins?" Fred (or possibly George) said smugly, patting Ron on the back in a deliberately patronising manner. "You should have gone for a nice short course like Apparition, instead of a long, hugely useless one like Animagi training." Ron glared at them as they said this.

"How stupid of me to do so. Of course, the fact that Apparition classes are open only to sixth-years and above has nothing to do with it." The twins paused at this piece of information, before shrugging it off.

"Yes, Ronnie. You certainly were stupid." said George (or maybe it was Fred) solemnly. "Still, we'll let you off this time. Brotherly ties and all. Just don't be so daft again, okay?" And with that, they strode off.

"I think they've gone more insane than ever," Ron said amazed, gazing after them. Harry nodded.

"Seems that way to me," he agreed. "It's your move, by the way."

Ron turned back, and moved his Rook, who complimented him on brilliant strategic planning. "Suck up," he grumbled. "Honestly, I can't make a single move without that damn Rook singing my praises."

Harry yawned as he surveyed the chessboard. "I really have to get some more Oxtamed. I'm down to ten pills."

Ron looked a little worried - Harry had given him a few of the tablets when he wanted to stay up to finish homework, and he knew how useful they were. "You could direct-order some," he suggested, "You know, get them delivered by owl-post, straight from the manufacturer."

Harry didn't know why he hadn't thought of this simple, yet brilliant, idea. "Ron, you're a genius!" he exclaimed, pleased. "The company's name is on the label of the bottle; I'll look it up later."

He did so when lessons were over, after Charms was finished but before Amulet Making; using this inspiration during the Amulet class, he drew up the beginning of plans for a bracelet to ward off tiredness, before returning to stitching the backing material of the herb-holder for the Divination focus.

Harry still hadn't got a chance to talk to Cho since the disastrous date the previous Wednesday; he didn't have lessons with her as she was in the year above, he had only spotted her in the corridors once, which was when she late for one of her lessons and she had either not noticed him or ignored him, and as he usually stayed in his dormitory to eat breakfast and lunch, he usually missed her when he came down to his friends. Along with all this, he didn't want to cause a scene at supper if she turned out to want to throw a plate at him or something.

---

It was Tuesday now however, and it had been nearly a week ago. Finally, after much egging on from - well, himself, as Ron couldn't care less and Hermione didn't want Cho to be with him as she thought the Ravenclaw was only after the fame, Harry plucked up the courage to question a few Ravenclaw girls as to where she was, which led him to Greenhouse Number One, where she was adding fertiliser to several pots of cheeping, blue saplings.

"Hi, Cho," Harry said tentatively, not closing the greenhouse door in case he needed a quick get-away. After all, this was a woman armed with a bag of Hippogriff manure, and possibly severely ped off with him.

She looked up when he entered, and glared daggers at him. "Yes?" she snapped frostily.

Harry resisted the urge to run screaming. "I'm really sorry about what happened last Wednesday..." he began.

---

"What happened to you?" Hermione said in horror, as she surveyed the boy. Harry slapped a piece of Magi-Tape (Guaranteed to heal minor cuts in less than two hours, or your money back!) on his cheek, and scowled.

"Cho wasn't in the mood for apologies."

"Well, I guessed that much." Hermione tutted. "But what exactly did she do?"

"Threw a bunch of plant pots at me," Harry said gloomily. "A couple of them broke; luckily I'd left the door open, so I legged it before she reached the watering can."

Ron disguised a snort of laughter as a cough. "How tragic young love can be," he managed to choke out, holding firm against the hysterical laughter that threatened to burst out.

Harry glowered at him, communicating the fact that it was quite obvious he was trying not to laugh. "Anyway, after that, I'm guessing that I won't be going to the Holiday Ball with her. I mean, honestly," he complained, "it was hardly my fault that I had to go see the headmaster, was it?"

"Well, technically it was," Hermione pointed out. "I mean, you were the one who asked to do your History of Magic OWL early." Seeing Harry's expression of annoyance, she hastily added, "Though you're right, it wasn't your fault that Dumbledore had to speak to you just then."

Harry swept a bit of soil and a leaf off his shoulder, and starting picking the clumps of dirt out of his hair. "I'm going to have a shower," he announced to his not-very-sympathetic friends, still internally lamenting over Cho. "God only knows how I'm going to get this earth out of my robes without a decent cleaning spell."

Still grumbling, he left the Common Room and made his way to the fifth-year Gryffindor boys' showers, which were situated opposite their dormitory. Locking the door, he untied the white leather chain of his Y'Laagrondd necklace, and moved to put it on the shelf. Just as he did so, however, he noticed something on the back of it.

Wondering why he'd never noticed this before, Harry held it close and squinted at it; vertically down the goddess' back was some kind of engraved runic writing - he guessed it was Atlantean.

There were only two of the symbols, quite close together at the top of her spine, just below the neck; they looked like a mix of intricate Chinese or Japanese writing and Viking runes - the top one was like a circle, with four tiny lines coming out of the top, bottom and sides. The one below was much like an 'F', except that the top-left line joined on in a curve to the bottom left. Surprised that he'd never spotted this before, Harry made a mental note to ask Levina what it meant, before putting it on the shelf and returning to the thoughts of a shower.

---

Ron had managed to beat Luke Bowery, the Hufflepuff Chess Champion, for which there was a small party in Gryffindor Tower. "Ron won't be playing again for a long time," Geoffrey Gordon, the seventh-year who was in charge of organising the Gryffindor side of the Chess Tournament, explained to Harry. "It's Slytherins versus Ravenclaw next, and Ron'll go on against whoever wins. I think the next time Ron plays will be -" he checked a small notepad, "the final round on January the sixth, so he has a good while to prepare."

"Yeah, prepare to win!" crowed one of the twins, obviously a little tipsy thanks to the bottles of Ogden's Best Firewhisky that someone had managed to sneak in. The other twin hung back, obviously stuck between the urge to have a drink now he was of age, and the worry of ending up like his brother.

"Mum's going to kill them if she finds out they're drinking," Ron grinned. "Do you have a quill and some parchment on you, mate?"

"Ron," Harry said warningly, but not able to keep the smirk off his face. "That's extremely evil of you."

Ron rolled his eyes and mock-sighed. "I suppose I'll just have to keep it as black-mail material, then. Hold on, I'll go find Colin; he could get some great pictures of them..."

So, half an hour later, when the impromptu party had wound down, and the students were disappearing off to bed (and Ron had paid Colin to get some truly excellent photos of the twin they had worked out was George stumbling around with a large bottle and getting drunker by the minute, and Fred finally giving into his urges, drinking far too much, and ending up vomiting into a hastily transfigured bucket), Harry himself made his way to the dormitory to sleep off some of the Butterbeer that he had finally given in to. He had been off it for a while, unsure whether Levina would approve, but finally decided that just the once wouldn't matter.

As he passed by the dormitory window, Harry could almost have sworn he saw the tiny glimmer of a camp-fire far off within the Forbidden Forest. Shaking his head to try and free himself of the tired hallucinations he was getting from the lack of sleep tonight, he thought nothing more of it.