Chapter 76

The Rest of the Year

A/N: For those of you that love long chapters, this one will be for you. I promise that this chapter is going to be at least 12 pages long, for it's going to cover the last 6 months of the school year. I am planning to have each month take up at least 2 pages, so sit back and enjoy. Don't worry, it will make sense, I just want to get done with the third year, I think I have spent enough time in it already, and I am trying to give some time to year 4 also so I can have both done by chapter 100. Please as always, read and review. —Donald

A/N 2: Here's a poll for you. Should I put the story on hiatus once I get done with year 5, if I get it done before the HBP comes out, or should I just keep going. I was thinking about putting it on a short hiatus til it comes out, so I can have year 6 in this story follow cannon, but that's up to you faithful readers. I may have put my own spin on things in this story, but I have followed cannon pretty much, at least for year 1 and 2. I am going to warn you, year 4 is going to be off cannon a bit, in where the tournament is only going to be a background story with the year, I'm thinking that with the way that I have things set up, Harry won't be part of it. Well there's poll two for you, should I still have Harry be part of the Tri-Wizard Tournament in year 4? As always read and review. —Donald

JANUARY

The month of January found the third years going through much more studying and reviewing for upcoming tests and learning. They were reviewing what they had learned the last few months, and having fun in their classes. Potions was even getting more fun since Professor Snape had forgiven the Marauders when they came up to him and apologized for their antics when they were teenagers. This was quite a site, when James, Sirius and Remus came one Friday night for dinner after the new year started. They sat down at the head table at the urging of the headmaster, and they were talking for a bit. All through dinner you could see Professor Snape looking at them with disgust and contempt as if he was saying. "How dare you come to the school again Potter."

When the three of them followed Professor Snape out of the Great Hall that night, James called out. "Hey Severus, can we talk to you for a few minutes please?"

Severus Snape turned towards the man that he had hated from his school days, and sneered. "You have 5 minutes, then I have detentions to go do this night."

James looked him over and saw that Lily was right in that what they had done was completely wrong in their actions against him so many years ago. "Well Severus, we were wondering if you wanted to help us drink a couple of bottles of Ogden's tonight, while we tried to apologize for our actions while we were teenagers. We know now that what we did back then was totally wrong, and Lily would like to have her friend back that she had when she was a teenager." Severus could tell that he was serious about this, and he just nodded, and led them down to his quarters in the dungeons to have a talk and a drink.

Before he left, he yelled into the Great Hall, "all detentions that were with me tonight have been rescheduled for Monday night. Have a good weekend." The students gasped when they heard him say this, but weren't going to argue. There was a great cheer coming from the Great Hall, and Snape was shaking his head as he went down to the dungeons.

The next day found a smiling Professor Snape, Lupin and Black along with a smiling Mr. James Potter as they left the dungeons laughing and having a good old time when they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. No one could tell that they had gone through a case of Ogden's firewhiskey, for Snape had a bunch of anti-hangover potions ready for it. What did surprise everyone in the Hall was when he stood up and announced. "I would like to apologize to all the Gryffindor's, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, for being a unfair teacher, just because I have had a grudge against some people. All detentions with me have been cancelled, and the last 200 points that I have taken from each house have been reinstated." He sat down to the open mouthed stares from the students. There was a loud cheer coming from the whole student body, and a standing ovation for their potions master.

Dumbledore had his constant twinkle, for he was happy that everything had gone well the last night between the Marauders and the Potions Master. "Well it looks like we are going to have something to celebrate today, there will be a unannounced Hogsmeade trip today, with all students being allowed to go today if they would like. All students that are under year 3, will be taken in groups by house by a teacher. Their will also be a celebration tonight of dinner. The house elves will put up a great feast, so make sure your there for it. Thank you and all of you have a great day today." Dumbledore sat down to the applause of all the students. The professors looked at him, and he just smiled. "If you don't want to take a group of student's, I won't force you. I will be taking a group of them myself, and plan on having a great time with them this day."

"Excuse me Headmaster, I know I'm not considered a professor officially, but may I take a group of the students also today?" James was looking like he was going to burst with happiness at having a new friend around here. He knew that Lily and Severus had been friends for years, and that she was sad that James and him didn't get along.

"Of course James, I was going to ask if you would like to teach anyway. I have finally persuaded Professor Binns that he was dead, and he has decided that he was going to go off to his final reward once I found a replacement for the History of Magic position." Dumbledore had a smile on his face when he saw that James was nodding his head in agreement to do so.

"Thank you Headmaster, looks like the Marauders will be teaching the students of Hogwart's now." He smiled down at the students and had a laugh.

Professor McGonagall had a worried look on her face, but knew that Albus knew what he was doing. "Welcome to the staff James, I'm glad to have someone that the students won't fall asleep to in the class." She smiled at the man, and was actually happy that he was going to do this.

"Attention students, I have two other announcements to make today. One, I am glad to announce that Professor Binns has finally figured out that he's dead, and will be going off to his great beyond once I announce who the new History of Magic Professor is. The second announcement is to tell you who your new professor is. I would like to introduce you to the new professor of History of Magic, Professor James Potter." There was an uproar of approval for the new Professor, and of good luck to the former one.

"Well this school year has just gotten more interesting. I think that I'm going to be liking the History of Magic class more now. Now should we get ready to go to Hogsmeade guys?" Harry was smiling at his friends and girlfriend.

The rest of the month went by without any problems, and had been a very happy one for everyone. Harry and his friends introduced Lightning and her mate and foal to both James and Lily, who were surprised to hear about how Harry had come up with the Unicorn. They spent the day with them and had a nice little picnic.

FEBRUARY

February brought on unseasonably warm weather. There was some reports of the former Minister of Magic's actions with Voldemort's former Death Eaters going out after some of the Muggles in Europe. While they weren't as organized as they were when Voldemort ran them, they were still wreaking havoc on both the Magical and Muggle world. Harry was a little worried, but knew that if the Auror's couldn't handle it, then he wouldn't be able to, at least at this time. He decided that he would talk to the headmaster about the possibility of him and the others training for the possibility of a fight in case they came to the school. He also decided that they wouldn't do it until possibly next year.

The middle of February brought around Valentine's day, and a ball for the school. The teens got together with their partners to decide to go to the dance together. The girls were giggling and having fun getting ready for the dance. It was decided that it would be a romantic type where everyone would get all dressed up in a twenty's style clothing. They went down to Hogsmeade the weekend before to get their costumes and have fun. The girls all got their flapper outfits, and the guys got zoot suits for the occasion.

The dance was held on a Saturday night, and the guys were downstairs in the respective Dorm Common rooms waiting for their dates to come down ready for the dance. The guys all looked great in their suits, even tho some of them looked a bit out of sorts, considering that they were pure bloods, or half bloods that weren't sure about what was so big about these muggle clothing. They all had a smile on their faces tho when they saw the girls come down in their outfits.

The dance went quite well, with some of the teachers putting together a big band with some help from people from Hogsmeade and around different areas and the Ministry. The kids were having fun with some of the stranger types of dances.

The rest of the month went with little or no problems. Remus and Sirius started to teach them about Boggarts, and how to defeat them. "When you face a Boggart, you must remember to think of what you fear most, and then think of the most ridiculous thing that you can think of. The spell that you shout at it when you face one is, Ridiculous, and then it will turn into the thing that will have it looking like what you won't have a fear of it anymore." He then told them to line up in front of the box, and then when the first one came up, he opened up the box, and the Boggart came out.

Ron faced the box, and a giant spider came out. Ron was shaking in his shoes when it showed up, and he was stuttering when he saw it. He finally thought of it with tap shoes on and doing a stupid tap dance, and shouted 'ridiculous', and the spider sported tap shoes and started to a silly tap dance, sending everyone into fits of giggles.

"Very good Ron, 10 points to Gryffindor for that. Who's next, let me see. Draco Malfoy, let's see what it is that you fear."

Draco came up and when the Boggart faced him, it turned into Voldemort coming at him to place the Dark Mark on him. He thought of the most silly thing that he could , and shouted, 'ridiculous', with that, Voldemort turned into a little kitten being chased by a big snake.

"Very good Mr. Malfoy, 10 points to Slytherin. Next we will Hermione go at it."

Hermione came forward and faced her worse fear. It was the headmaster telling her that they made a mistake about her, and breaking her wand, then sending her home. She thought of something silly, and shouted the spell. The headmaster turned into a little baby wanting his mommy, and a younger version of McGongall came up and picked him up cuddling him.

"Interesting outcome there Ms. Granger, 10 points to Gryffindor."

The rest of the class went like that and Harry having the class end when a Dementor came out for him, but the Professor stopped it before he could do anything. "Class dismissed, homework is 2 feet of parchment on the different ways to defeat a Boggart.

Harry was asked to stay back for a few minutes after the rest of the class was dismissed. He told Ron, Draco, Pansy, Dawn and Pansy to go ahead to lunch, and that he would be right down. He gave Hermione a kiss and waited for them to leave the room before going up to the two professors and asking what was up.

"Well Harry, we were thinking that since you have a thing with Dementor's from the looks of your Boggart, we thought we would teach you the Patronus Charm. It's the only spell that will take out both Dementors and Lethifolds. It's a rather easy spell to cast, just a hard one to master. We will start after dinner tonight, so if you would please come to the classroom for an hour directly after dinner, we will begin." Remus smiled at his best friends son, and let him get to his friends for lunch.

Harry agreed to doing this, and went down to his friends at the Great Hall. He told them what was going on, and they agreed that he should go through with learning the spell. They also thought that he could teach those that would want to learn, just in case Fudge decides to come at us with them.

"Looks like they might be agreeing with you Bro, I hope that you learn it fast, I hear that it's a hard spell to master." Dawn smiled at her twin, and gave him a pat on the arm before going back to her lunch.

"Well I'm sure that I can probably handle it, so I'm not worried. On another note, have you noticed that the headmaster has been looking at us rather weirdly Dawn?" Harry looked up at the headmaster just as he was looking at the two of them rather interestingly.

"Yah I know what you mean Harry, but I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. Come on guys, it's time to go to class. We have Charms next, and I don't want to get Professor Flitwick mad at us. At least we have a fairly fun class after that, in that we have History of Magic." She smiled at the thought of her father teaching the class and wondering if he would be more interesting than Professor Binns was.

They went about their classes that day, and Harry picked up the Patronus spell after quite a bit of practice. He learned that his patronus was a stag, which is his fathers ani-magi form. Remus and Sirius were both a bit surprised when that happened, but were happy to tease James about how his son's Patronus was his father's ani-magi form.

The rest of the month went by rather uneventfully, and they all had a good time. Harry and Dawn found out why the headmaster was looking at them with such interest so much, they found out that he was their Great Great Grandfather when he approached them one day.

"Harry Dawn, can I speak to you for a minute please. Your friends can come along also if they would like, for they will find out soon enough if I know enough." They followed him into his office where Lily and James, Molly and Arthur, Remus, Sirius and The Headmaster were waiting for them. "Harry Dawn please sit down, this is something that you will want to be sitting for. I might as well get this over with, I am your Great Great Grandfather on your mothers side. You haven't been told before because she didn't know at the time, and so no one else knew." He smiled at his two students and they all shared a hug along with congratulations on the reacquainting of the family.

They had a quiet amount of work for the rest of the month. They had spent a couple of weekends with their family, both new and old, getting to know each other better. The whole group got together and spend time with the Unicorns in the forest, and had a good time playing with the new ones. Lightning was proud to show off her newest foal to her father and his friends. They named him Mystic after the color of the grey he was. It was a mystical, favorable coloring for the Unicorn's of this area. They were told that only 1 in a million new foals were colored in this way, and the ones that were, were enchanted in a way where they were smarter, and more favored by the Unicorn Gods. It is said that the next one would grow up to be the leader of the Unicorns. They were all proud of Mystic and his family.

MARCH

March was found to come in like a lion, and there was storms coming. They found that they couldn't have their COMC classes outdoors, so Hagrid taught them in the Great Hall with both smaller and bigger creatures. One of the more interesting creatures that they found that they had tho, came when they were able to go outside again. They found that they were facing a Hippogriff named Buckbeak. They were told that they had to approach Buckbeak with caution, and bow to show respect. Harry was one of the only ones that were able to approach him and have him let him ride him.

They found that they were going to have a great day, and great times when they found that they were going to have fairly easy going at tests this year. The professors decided that they would have it easy this year, because next year they were going to be starting getting ready for their OWL'S in their 5th year. They were learning different things about spells and potions for the upcoming years. Professor Snape started teaching them about the different types of healing potions more. He had been asked by Madame Pomphrey to teach them how to make their own healing potions starting in their 3rd year. They were told that they should keep stock of a few healing potions with them at all times.

The students were excited to learn that as of now, the law against underage magic use has been lifted. Minister Weasley had decided that with the threat of the former Minister of Magic out there, that all students should be prepared to defend themselves while out of school. The students received the news through owls from the ministry that morning, as well as learning about it through the Daily Prophet.

The History of Magic class soon became one of the favorites of the students, instead of being the one where everyone slept through it. Professor Potter was an interesting story teller, and everyone learned to love the class. His classes turned to be interesting even more once the students learned that when he was dead, he had learned a whole lot from the famous witches and wizards that they were learning about. He taught them things about the founders that they didn't know, but were fascinated to find out about. They found that while the founders did fight a bit, they were truly friends even after the fall out between Gryffindor and Slytherinn. They also found that Rowena Ravenclaw was not only married to Gryffindor, but was also an elf. There were so many elves back then, that they were around for everyone to know. The descendants of Ravenclaw were elves, but didn't know it. They also found that Helga Hufflepuff was the motherly one of them, and was always seen handing out cookies to her students for merit along with house points. The Hufflepuffs in the class were happy to hear that what they had always heard stories of was actually true.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was turning out to be an interesting one this year. They had started up the dueling club again, and were in the middle of a tournament. Harry was one of the leaders of his year, and having fun with it. He had to face Draco and Hermione still, but didn't really worry about it.

Harry had an interesting duel with Hermione, that ended up with them each casting the Expleriamus spell, and Harry being able to keep a hold of his wand, while Hermione's went sailing into his hand. She granted one wish to Harry for the win, and he took his wish and kissed her completely right there in the middle of the dueling ring, then handed her the wand back. He was going to give it back to her anyway, but the kiss was nice. "Thank you Hermione, that was a great way to celebrate a win. I would have done the same for you if you would have won." He smiled his lopsided grin at her, and gave her another kiss.

"Your welcome Harry, if you thought that was great, wait til you beat Draco." She gave him a wink and went back to the side of the dueling arena to watch the last match. She saw that she had the exact effect on Harry that she was hoping for. He was blushing brighter than any of the Weasley's hair. She blew him a kiss wishing him good luck and sat down. She knew what she was doing in distracting him, but it would make him work harder for the win. She gave a laugh as she saw Pansy tell Draco basically the same thing, and saw Draco blush just as much. The girls knew that they were going to congratulate their respective boyfriends whether they won or not, but just had to get them to thinking. They were going to congratulate them that way for this was for the championship match. This was for first and second place. She smiled as Harry took his place on the podium to start the duel.

"Ok welcome to the final match of the third years in the Dueling tournament. This is for first and second place among the third years. In this corner, weighing in at 140 pounds of muscle from his seeking ability's and training, Harry James Potter-Weasley wearing the Red and Gold Robes. You all may know Harry as a Weasley, but ever since his parents came back to life during the Christmas Season, he has decided to take their last name also." Sirius gave a smile as he said this, and then went on with the introductions.

"And in this corner, weighing in at a swelt 135 pound, in the Silver and Black robes of his house the noble house of Slytherin is known as the Prince of Slytherin, Draco Lucious Malfoy. Draco as you know is the son of Luious and Narcissa Malfoy, and the Seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team."

"Now Duellers, take your position. On the count of three, you will turn, take ten paces and then turn, bow and duel. Remember no unforgivables, and please don't kill each other. Madame Pomphrey has been notified that there might be injuries, and is waiting for either or both of you in the Hospital Wing. Ok, ready set, One . . . Two . . . Three." With that Harry and Draco turned, walked ten paces, turned back towards each other, bowed and started casting spells at each other.

The duel went on for a couple of hours, with neither of the duelist's getting an upper hand on the other. They showed why they were the best in their class. None of the others wanted to face them, for the rest of the classes were there watching, and none of the other matches lasted any where near as long as this one did. They were throwing curses and counter curse and jinxes that were at least a couple years ahead of them in their studies. Draco almost had Harry down, when he cast a Jelly Legs Jinx and Harry didn't put up a shield in time. Luckily for Harry, he was able to cast a counter charm to it before Draco was able to disarm him. Harry cast a Bat Bogey Hex on Draco which actually distracted him long enough for a disarming spell that had Harry win the match. He casts the reverse of the spell on him and they shook hands to the loud applause of the crowd. Hermione and Pansy rushed the stage and after they were given there prizes for winning their respective places in the tournament, they were dragged off to their respective broom closets for a few hours of intense snogging. When the boys and girls went down to breakfast the next day, they each had a smile a mile wide on their faces, and were whistling a tune that no one knew the words to.

A/N3: Ok I know I said that this would encompass the rest of the school year, but it was taking me way to long to write, so I decided to cut it off right here, and do the rest of the school year next chapter. Please read and review, this is one of my longest chapters yet. ---Donald