Hi,here is the next chapter. Hope you like it. Thanks to all of you that left reviews for the prolog. I honestly didn't expect that many. :)

A Useful Tool

Harry was lying in wait under his invisibility cloak. He had thought hard about Hermione's impossible timetable this year. He wasn't stupid, even if Hermione sometimes implied that, thank you very much. He just didn't show all of his abilities openly. Ten years at the Dursleys taught you that. He knew that something was fishy after having spent two years at Hogwarts. He couldn't say in the magical world, because outside of Hogwarts he didn't have much of an idea how the wizarding world was. But that was something he would remedy now. He had asked around his yearmates, not only those in Gryffindor. Hermione hadn't missed a single of her classes so far in the entire three weeks that they had been back despite the fact that they clashed with each other. The logical conclusion: she used something to be in two places at the same time. It was now just three weeks into the year and he saw how much stress she put onto herself. He thought that she was being stupid again. Why would she not use whatever she had got at the beginning of the year from McGonagall to have more time for her homework and sleeping? He didn't think that it would be impossible. It would just require a bit of organisation on her part.

But that was Hermione. A rule stickler. Well, he wouldn't make the same mistake. He had found a way to replicate a magical object. He was sure it had to be one, because as smart as Hermione might be, returning in time or splitting yourself in two would be too advanced for her to learn if it was a spell. Additionally she wasn't that magically powerful. Her power level was average. He knew that from comparing their spellwork in classes. While Hermione might be faster in getting a new spell, once he had got a spell down his worked better. Right at the moment he should have been in Divination, but skipping one class that was so useless wasn't a problem, especially as he had already told many of his classmates that he was going to change his elective. Having your death predicted every class wasn't fun and Trelawney was a miserable insect in his opinion. Percy didn't tell him about that part of the class. He had only discussed the material that was covered and that had sounded interesting enough.

But then again Percy lived to follow rules and never talked badly about a person in authority, no matter what a git it was. Hell, he even tried to defend Snape, who couldn't teach to save his life. He might be one of the leading Potions masters of Europe, but he was a lousy teacher. He should have asked more about the teachers, but well, it was a lesson learned and this early into the school year he could easily catch up still. It was why he had decided to change now before he was too far behind in material. With his new study mentality he had learned a lot more than in years before without anybody realising it so far. Alone that he used ear plugs in History of Magic and read whatever book caught his fancy helped so much. But if he really wanted to become great he needed one thing and that was more time where he wasn't disturbed. Which led to why he was lying in ambush for his female best friend. He didn't think that anybody would allow him the same device that Hermione had got without a fight. And he didn't want to blow his cover.

Finally Hermione came out of the classroom for Arithmancy. He watched her closely from underneath his invisibility cloak. He knew he was risking detention for skipping, but if he managed to copy Hermione's device to spend time in two places at once, it was well worth it. She walked towards a deserted part of a corridor and took out something from under her robes after checking that she was alone. Harry quickly used a stunning spell on her. He had done a bit of research on useful spells. She fell to the ground, holding something in her hand. Harry walked over and levitated Hermione into an unused classroom. He inspected the object in her hand. It looked like an hourglass on a golden chain. Interesting. So this thing enabled her to manipulate time. Well, he could use its power too. He pulled out a crystal that he had prepared just for this. It had been soaked in a potion that Harry had brewed, based on a recipe he had found in a book in his trust vault. It was really interesting what you could find out when you had two weeks of access to a magical area.

First he had asked the goblins how much money he really had, because he didn't want to spend too much before he graduated and could get a job of his own. Had it been a shock finding out that he was rich. The vault he knew about was only a trust vault that was filled with hundred galleons more each year on his birthday and had got a starting amount of five hundred galleons directly after his birth. His father had set it up to pay for his school expenses and to spend on whatever he liked. The Potter family vault was many times of that and the vault from where his school tuition was paid. Harry was the last descendent of some of the most powerful wizards and witches in Britain's magical history. The stories Florean Fortescue had been able to tell him. The real surprise though had been the real exchange rate from galleons to pounds. Fifty pounds to a galleon made Harry a really wealthy young man with just what he had available until he came of age.

Second Harry had bought fitting clothes, breaking his promise to Fudge by going shopping in the muggle world with a credit card supplied by Gringotts. After finding out how much money he had he saw no reason to continue wearing Dudley's old clothes if he didn't need to. Now he felt better than ever before. His self-esteem had also risen. Thanks to Florean he had finally understood just why people were so fascinated with his history. He had decided to no longer hide his scar. He wouldn't flaunt his fame or use it if he didn't need to, but he wouldn't hide anymore either.

Third Harry had decided to take his studies more serious. Florean's stories of his parents and grandparents had impressed Harry. But at school he found himself confronted with a problem. You couldn't take all the classes because it wouldn't fit into a normal timetable. So he had been suspicious of Hermione doing it. Now he had found her way and he would copy it without anybody knowing.

The crystal would copy the magical properties of the object it was placed upon. He had bought it just because he liked the idea. His first thought had been to have his own snitch and magical clock. It was such a useful thing to have that he had got a whole box of crystals for anything that caught his fancy. As the crystals were also used for making pendants that were charmed to detect potions and poisons in food they were cheap and easy to get. And the best part of his plan was that there was no spell involved whatsoever. Just a special crystal, he had bought them together with the ingredients for the potion at the apothecary in Diagon Alley, and a bit of precise brewing. Harry had found out that if he concentrated, which was a lot easier without Snape looming over him, he was quite good at Potions. The crystal glowed violet and then shifted into another hourglass. Mission completed. This would enable him to have a lot of fun and get his studies done better. He levitated Hermione back to the corridor and enervated her. She looked a bit disorientated, but quickly turned the hourglass around and vanished from the spot she had been at.

So that was how you used the thing. Whatever the real name was. Harry copied her action and turned it, but two times. He found himself in the same corridor. He cast a tempus charm and found that he had gone back in time for two hours. So one turn of the hourglass was one hour. Oh the possibilities. First he would avoid getting detention for skipping Divination. Everything else he would plan tonight. He knew that you didn't become a great wizard by simply studying from books, otherwise Hermione would have skipped at least two years already, but if he could get some ideas on what to study and practice that would bring him enormous benefits.

Minerva McGonagall was surprised to find Harry Potter waiting in front of her office after lunch.

"Mr Potter, that's a surprise." She commented.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall. Do you have a moment for me?" He asked.

"Sure, come inside." She said.

Harry nodded and followed her inside.

"Please sit down. Would you like a biscuit?" She asked.

"Thank you, Professor." He said and took one of the chocolate cookies on a plate.

"Now what did you want to talk about, Mr Potter?" She asked.

"I would like to change my elective from Divination to Ancient Runes. I know that the Gryffindor Hufflepuff class isn't at the same time as Divination, but the Ravenclaw Slytherin class is. I wouldn't mind joining them if it gets me out of Divination. I am sick of getting my death predicted each class by Professor Trelawney." Harry stated. "And as we only had three weeks of instructions I am sure that I can catch up with the others. I already have the book as I wasn't sure which class I really wanted to do, but my original plan to try both classes went out of the window when I saw the timetables." Harry explained.

"That's possible, Mr Potter. I will inform Professor Babbling that you will join her class from next Monday on. I will ask her to give you a list of things that her class covered so far. But I expect that you make good on your promise to catch up with the others. I don't want to regret allowing you this, even if I can fully understand your feelings for quitting Divination." She said sternly.

"Thank you, Professor, I won't disappoint you." Harry said smiling.

While Ron didn't like that Harry had quit Divination there was little he could do about it. Harry had been contacted by Professor Babbling that evening and had been handed a list with what the class had covered so far. It was manageable. So in the evening Harry learned the things on the list next to doing his homework. Ron didn't notice, but it wasn't the only thing he did. Harry normally excused himself for a few minutes a time to use the time-turner. Thanks to his invisibility cloak he managed without appearing in places where he hadn't been before. He had made a schedule what he would do when. Harry had a lot of questions about the wizarding world and so far he hadn't found the time to look the answers up in the library or do experiments to figure things out because Ron was always nagging him about lazing around or Hermione nagged him about studying more.

Now he could use the extra time he got. He sat in the Arithmancy classes under his invisibility cloak; nobody noticed anything. After the first test sitting hidden in the class he had decided to keep going there as the material learned could be really useful in the future. And he had the time so why not? He had also visited the Muggle Studies class once to see what it was like and had decided that he could do any tests there in his sleep. It was funny to see how wizards had problems understanding even the simplest muggle concepts. Hermione was stupid trying to take the class when it was clearly useless for her. He would simply ask if he could sit the OWL based on the fact that he was muggle raised. He had looked up which exams were the most important ones, namely the OWLs and NEWTs at the end of fifth or seventh year respectively. He didn't need to excel before the OWLs, a good above average grade in all of his classes would do. He could have one or two where he stood out, but the rest he could just blend in with the masses of good, but not outstanding students.

Thus Harry Potter started his journey to becoming one of the most powerful wizards of all times completely unnoticed by his teachers.

The first time Harry used the time-turner, he had by now looked up what the device could be, for something besides his studies was when the first Hogsmeade weekend came around. He couldn't go officially thanks to the Dursleys not signing his permission slip. But that didn't mean there weren't other ways to go. After all, nobody would look out for Harry Potter when he was supposedly in the castle. The one problem were the dementors, but he found a way around them. While they weren't tricked by invisibility cloaks, there was nothing that stopped him using polyjuice potion. The potion needed a month brewing, but it was manageable. One hair stolen from a fourth year student his height and he was set to go. He didn't need to use borrowed clothes to impersonate the other student and he had brewed enough of the potion for a while. He kept a flask with the potion on his person and drank a gulp every hour to keep the transformation up.

They should have thought of that last year when they had looked for the heir of Slytherin in the Slytherin common room. Well, at least the potion he had to drink now, even if it didn't taste much better than before, wasn't as revolting as the Goyle mix he had drunk last year. He had used an unused classroom in a deserted part of the castle. Really, it was stupid that they had used Myrtle's bathroom. There were parts of Hogwarts where nobody came to, except perhaps one of the house elves, but they wouldn't mess with a potion. A simple notice-me-not charm on the room and nobody would find out. The charms he had found while being in time repeat were great. And without Hermione bossing him around it was even fun to read.

He went to all the places in Hogsmeade and bought some things he liked. He didn't have to hide and risk detection; he could simply blend in with the masses. He took a carriage back to the castle, then he used the time-turner to go back to the time when the students had left for the village and started wandering around the castle. He had an unpleasant encounter with Mr Filch and a pleasant one with Professor Lupin who invited him for tea. He also found out why the Professor had prevented that he faced the boggart. Having it explained like that it made sense. But still, he would have liked to have it explained earlier. He had been hurt thinking that his professor didn't think that he could take on a boggart. He also talked about his problems with the dementors and got some answers why they affected him so much.

Thanks to his decision to do better in class he asked about the weaknesses of dementors and how Professor Lupin had driven the one on the train away. He was about to ask if the Professor could teach him the charm, but they were interrupted by Snape who delivered a goblet full of steaming potion. Harry asked about the potion, but the answer was very vague. Well, time for a bit of research.

Harry pondered about the reason that Sirius Black could have had to attack the Fat Lady on Hallowe'en of all days when all students and ghosts were in the Great Hall for the feast. He was lying in his sleeping bag, but sleep eluded him. He simply didn't understand why Black would choose this day. If he watched the school which he would need to to get inside unnoticed, he would have noticed the Hallowe'en decorations all over the school. Hell, the smell of baking pumpkin pies was a dead give away and they had drafted through the school the whole day. Black had been a student here when he was a teenager, so he had to know that bit of information. The idea that he simply lost sense of the date wasn't making sense.

It looked more like Black wanting something that was inside Gryffindor Tower which he could get easiest when no students were in there. The question was what exactly was that? It seemed improbable now that he was really after Harry. Had he wanted him his best bet would have been attacking him during the day when all other students were out in Hogsmeade. If Black could get into the school this easily he would have managed to track Harry down during the day. He would only have had to watch the gates from a distance and could have seen that Harry had bid his friends goodbye when they left for the village.

Another good chance would have been when the students left for their common rooms. There were lots of places where you could hide on the way to Gryffindor Tower and shoot a spell at somebody unnoticed. In the chaos of a successful attack on Harry Black would have been able to get away again. So why not use one of those methods when he had been able to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady? That would demand more research. Perhaps his best bet was learning all he could about the man that was Sirius Black. There had to be trial transcripts at the Ministry and those were accesible for the public. Next to that he could ask around with the teachers if they could tell him more about what kind of person Black was and if he had any habits that could be used against him.

Hm, probably Professors McGonagall and Lupin would know most about him, having been his head of house at school and his classmate.

The first Quidditch match of the season was overshadowed by a thunderstorm. Harry didn't like that the Slytherins had cheated their way out of playing and he had no problem announcing that loudly around the school. He called Malfoy a wimp for not being able to get over a scratch from two months ago that had long since been healed by Madam Pomfrey. Harry and the twins had a lot of fun pondering if Malfoy was really cut out to be on a Quidditch team if he couldn't even take a little bit of pain. What if he was hit by a bludger? Would he run to Professor Snape again and complain that he had an ouchie? It caused massive laughter among the other three houses. The Slytherins of course didn't like it at all, but there was nothing they could do. Harry decided that their unsportsmanlike behaviour called for a bit of revenge and he set up some really embarrassing pranks for Malfoy in particular and the Slytherins in general. The git deserved that and more for the mess he had caused to Hagrid and Buckbeak.

So before he had to head out for the match he set up a string of pranks around the entrance to the Slytherin common room. He even overheard a second-year use the password. That would come in handy to prank the Slytherins within their own common room. Right now he only threw some time-delayed potion-filled pebbles into the room. They wouldn't be noticed, but once they had been in there for five hours they would unleash a gas that caused hallucinations. On the door he put a spell that would change the colour of their robes to some neon colours of all shades. Another spell on the walls of the corridor would make them feel the urge to constantly use the loo without being able to succeed there.

He knew it was a bit mean, but most of them deserved it for how they behaved. He wondered how the gits would like being on the other side of being embarrassed. Malfoy got specialized pranks. Harry had mixed a potion that would have Malfoy confess his undying love for Snape. The potion had a time delay of five hours after being taken, so if he put it into Malfoy's drink during breakfast after the match it would be set off. Additionally Malfoy's robes would fall off at the seams when he stood up from his seat after dinner. After all, at that time everybody would be there to see it happen.

For the match Harry had a bad feeling. He thought that something bad would happen. So he mentally went over the possibilities of things that could go wrong. His ideas went from being blown away in the storm and not finding the snitch for hours to being blown into a dementor. He shivered. What if the dementors really appeared? He decided an emergency supply of chocolate was in order. He wouldn't be able to master the patronus charm till the match anyway, so lessening the effects they had on him was his best bet. After all, passing out while you were on your broom was not only embarrassing but also dangerous.

Harry decided that he hated being right. The worst case scenario had happened and had even been massively upped. He really wanted to know why Fate hated him. All the dementors had come to the match. He had put a chocolate ball into his mouth and more by reflex caught the snitch that passed his position. But the monsters were chasing him now. He felt their effects, he put chocolate ball after chocolate ball into his mouth, trying to get back to the ground, but it was no use. They caught up with him and sucked out his happy memories. He heard the woman's, his mother's, screams again and then fell down, knocked out by the overwhelming effects of the beasts.

While Gryffindor had won the match, much to the anger of Slytherin, Harry was like a man possessed from then on. He would learn the damned patronus charm that Professor Lupin had mentioned even if it was the last thing he did. The charm being very advanced be damned. He wouldn't be forced to relive his mother's death over and over again. He used the time-turner whenever he could to look up the charm and practicing it. He hit a road block one day. He had managed to produce white mist so far, but he couldn't get it stronger. The real patronus that he had read about would take a corporeal form, something he considered protective. He decided to ask his Defence teacher about it. After all, he had come a long way already in the two weeks that he had used to practice. He could show off some results already.

Professor Lupin had offered his condolences for his lost broom. It was really bad luck that it had been blown into the Whomping Willow by the storm. While Harry had been caught by a spell from Dumbledore, his broom had been destroyed. Well, he would have to get himself a new one, even if he had liked his old one a lot. They had been through a lot and no matter what Harry cherished each present that he ever got, well except for the non-presents from the Dursleys. He would think which one to get after Christmas. Until then there was no need to hurry. It would start snowing really soon and training wouldn't take place then. Additionally it would be too dark to train in the evenings.

When Harry reached the office of his favourite teacher, he was surprised to find the door already open. He went inside and saw Professor Lupin handing an older student some pieces of parchment. Perhaps an essay considering that it was a Ravenclaw.

"Ah, hello Harry. What can I do for you?" He asked after the other student left.

"Hello, Professor Lupin. I wondered if you could give me some pointers on a spell I have been trying to learn in my free time. I read up on the theory behind it, but I seem to be stuck for now." Harry said.

"Sure. Please show me how far you have come so far." Professor Lupin said kindly.

Harry nodded and called the happy memory he used to the forefront of his mind.

"Expecto Patronum." Harry cried out and a white mist appeared again. It flickered for a while and then went out. "I don't know how to get it further, Professor. I remembered that you told me that this spell was the only way to drive a dementor away and after the last match I don't want to ever have to fear them knocking me out again." Harry explained.

He saw that his teacher was baffled. He clearly hadn't expected that Harry would have got this far on his own.

"That was very impressive, Harry. I wouldn't have thought that a thirteen year old wizard would be able to get this far on his own." Professor Lupin praised Harry. "Well, a reason why you can't proceed farther could be that your memory isn't strong enough. Which one are you using?"

"Well, the time I found out that I was a wizard and would leave the Dursleys for most of the year." Harry answered. "I first used my first ride on a broom, but that didn't get me a result."

"Hm." Professor Lupin said, getting the not spoken message that Harry didn't like his relatives at all. "Perhaps you need an even stronger one. The best patronus is always created if you use your strongest and happiest memory. Something that completely fills you with happiness."

Harry thought about it. What memory would give him those feelings? He couldn't really think of anything. But perhaps it didn't need to be a memory. Perhaps he could simply think of the feeling he needed. What made him happy? Normally he would have said his friends, but recently both his best friends were a bit annoying and he couldn't simply conjure the happiness he needed. Then he came up with a thought. It was a dream that he had had for as long as he could think; the feeling of belonging to a real family; being loved. A soft smile was on his face.

"Expecto Patronum." He called out again and this time the mist was a lot stronger and Harry thought there was some kind of shadow figure inside of it.

The patronus faded out of existence after a while and Harry felt drained.

"Fantastic, Harry. You are really close to getting it." Professor Lupin praised him. "What memory did you use, if I may ask?"

"None. I don't have a memory that would be strong enough for this." Harry admitted. "I simply thought what would make me the happiest if I had it. A real family." He spoke quietly at the end.

To his surprise Professor Lupin seemed to have tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Oh, Harry. I never knew that you were that unhappy at your Aunt's house." He said morosely. "I believed Professor Dumbledore when he said it would be for the best if you grew up there. That you would be safe there and could have a normal childhood. I should have made sure. I'm so sorry."

"What do you mean, Professor?" Harry asked. "Why would you have asked?"

"I was one of your father's best friends at school, Harry. We were a group of four. We were inseparable. We called ourselves the Marauders and had nicknames for each other. Your father's was Prongs, mine was Moony. The other two were Wormtail and Padfoot. Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew and Padfoot Sirius Black." He spat out the last name.

"What? My father was friends with Black? Why is he after me then?" Harry asked surprised.

Professor McGonagall hadn't mentioned that when he had asked her about information on Black to be better prepared to defend himself if he should come across him.

"So you know. It's better that way I think. Well, I guess nobody told you this, but shortly after your parents had you they went into hiding to protect you. Professor Dumbledore had got information that Voldemort would target your family. You were constantly found and so we suspected that we had a spy in our ranks. That means a group that fought against Voldemort under the leadership of Professor Dumbledore. In the end Professor Dumbledore suggested using an ancient charm called the fidelius charm. It hides a secret in the very soul of a person. As long as the person doesn't talk about the secret it can't be found out. That person is called the secret keeper and Sirius Black was your parents' secret keeper. He was the only one that could have given your location away to Voldemort. That's how he could find you that Halloween." Professor Lupin said sadly.

"One of their friends betrayed them?" Harry said choking.

This was a lot to take in. Having one of Voldemort's top followers intending to kill him was one thing, it was something he could understand on some level. Revenge was a strong motivation, but that person being the one responsible for his parents' deaths? That was too much. Especially if he had been one of his father's best friends. Tears flowed out of his eyes and he couldn't stop them.

"Why? Why did he do that?" Harry sobbed, suddenly feeling arms embracing him.

"I don't know, Harry. I asked myself that question over and over again. I never suspected that Sirius could betray James. They were like brothers. More than best friends. But Sirius not only delivered James and Lily to Voldemort, he also killed Peter when he cornered Sirius. He blew up a whole street with one curse and killed Peter and thirteen muggles at once. That's why he was sent to Azkaban." Lupin explained, rubbing Harry's back, trying to calm the grieving boy down.

After that conversation Harry started to work even more. He looked up spells that would be useful to defend himself against Sirius Black, Voldemort and any other Death Eater that could cross his way. Professor Lupin had told him even more about the war and Harry started to really understand why people behaved like they did. Hagrid's descriptions hadn't covered anywhere as much as Professor Lupin's did, because he could tell him exactly how it felt fighting against the Death Eaters, even if Mr Fortescue's had already done a lot to improve Harry's confidence concerning his fame. He used the time-turner to its fullest effect. He did triple the work for his classes, he worked out physically two hours each day, he improved his abilities in brewing massively and read everything that he thought could come in useful. Of course he did that using the invisibility cloak. Once he noticed that he was stressing out, he added more time for sleeping and eating as well. Not to mention an additional day where he just relaxed to not go spare. He didn't know why Hermione didn't do that. There was no one who could control what she did with her time-turner after all. And no Professor who found out that she used it to get her homework done without stressing out or getting enough sleep would fault her. Harry was on double shifts. He had a second bed in an unused classroom, more like a mattress with a pillow and a blanket, but it was enough to get him the sleep he needed.

The months flew by with how busy Harry was. Soon it was time for the students to return home for Christmas. Harry had decided that he would relax during the holidays and only do his set homework. He had noticed that he had nearly run himself into the ground. But it had paid off. He was no longer a scrawny kid, his working out had helped him develop some muscle. Finding the kitchen and getting to know the nice house elves was an important factor in it as they supplied him with the additional food he needed while doing more hours each day. He had also finished the patronus charm. Now after Christmas Professor Lupin would let him face a boggart which would turn into a dementor to test him against an opponent. If he couldn't perform the charm under pressure, he would need to work on it more.

His patronus was a stag. Professor Lupin had mumbled Prongs absentmindedly. Had his father been a stag animagus? Harry hadn't asked his teacher yet. He was curious though.

Harry enjoyed simply sitting in the common room, taking walks outside in the snow or visiting Hedwig. His new studies had also taught him a drying charm for his clothes and a general warming charm for them. It helped a lot not freezing in the cold winter weather. He, Ron and Hermione visited Hagrid and asked about Buckbeak. He told them about the hearing next year and how the committee for the disposal of dangerous creatures would be hard to convince. Harry didn't know what to think about this. It wasn't right to have Buckbeak convicted for Malfoy's idiocy. But what could he do? It wasn't as if he had a possibility to show others his memory. Or was there one? That could be possible; after all, he had seen how Tom Riddle had set up Hagrid and Aragog.

He would have to find out. If he could give Hagrid a copy or something of his memories then it would be a lot harder for the committee to simply execute Buckbeak.

Harry noticed that after Hermione had finished her homework for the holidays she relaxed a lot more. She really should use more time to rest. After all, she had all the time she needed. Who cared if she added a few hours for homework or sleeping? But of course he couldn't say anything. She would tell a teacher that he knew or worse, she could suspect that he had a time-turner too and rat him out. She still was too authority loving. He had thought that she had got better after first year, but in second year there had been a bit of a relapse into her belief that books were gospel. And this year was the worst so far.

No, Harry had no delusions that if he slipped up she would force him to hand his time-turner over to Professor McGonagall. So he kept silent and didn't tell her to drop a subject or two or add more time to her days.

Why did Hermione have to be so authority loving? Why didn't she even ask him? Did she think he wouldn't listen to her concerns? How did she dare simply go telling Professor McGonagall that he had got a firebolt behind his back? He knew that she meant well, but that was really low. He didn't care that much about the broom being checked for hexes and curses that could be a danger to him. But he did care that she had betrayed his trust. If she had simply asked him to let the teachers check the broom before he used it he would have agreed. But this really hurt him.

Now Ron and Hermione were at each other's throats all the time. Ron was upset that a new firebolt would be stripped down. For a Quidditch maniac like him that was a deathly sin. On top of that Crookshanks, Hermione's new cat always tried to eat Scabbers. While Harry loved playing Quidditch, he wouldn't go as far as Ron, but for going after his back Harry would ignore Hermione for the time being. Perhaps then she realized how it felt.

Hagrid talked to Harry how the school year was going when Harry brought him some notes on possible defences for Buckbeak's trial. It was the end of January and Harry still mostly ignored Hermione.

"It's going well, Hagrid. I have good grades in all my classes. Especially DADA is great this year. Professor Lupin is a great teacher." Harry said smiling.

"Good to hear. There is something I wanted to talk to you about. What is the matter between you and Hermione?" Hagrid asked seriously. "I didn't think you would abandon a friend over a broom."

"It's not the broom, Hagrid, not for me at least. I know Ron is a bit stupid about that. It's that Hermione broke my trust." Harry said, surprising Hagrid.

"She broke your trust?" Hagrid asked surprised and got a nod from Harry.

"Ron and Hermione are the two people I trusted most in my life. But why couldn't Hermione trust me to listen to her concerns about the broom possibly having been sent by Sirius Black? Did she think that I would be too blind to not care about my safety? Had she told me what she feared and asked me to tell Professor McGonagall myself, I wouldn't ignore her. I am just returning the favour that she ignored my feelings about the matter. I don't insult her or go out of my way to hurt her, but damn, she can't simply do something like that behind my back and expect me to simply take it. It's my life, not hers. She can't simply decide what is best for me and it's time she realizes it before something more drastic happens." Harry explained.

"Well, that's hard to argue with. But I think that you should talk to her and tell her why you are doing it. She is really depressed how you treat her. She only wanted to protect you and overdid it. I can understand your reasoning. I wouldn't like feeling like that either, but she still is your friend and she is too stubborn to admit that she was wrong and that she bit off more than she can chew this year. She is researching material for Buckbeak's trial too and doing all of her classes. She is running herself into the ground with her stupid pride, trying to prove that she can do everything." Hagrid said.

"I won't promise anything, but I can try." Harry said. "If she admits that she has been wrong I will forgive her, but I want a proper apology from her for going behind my back."

Hagrid knew that it was the best he could get right now from the boy.

Harry was very happy about his time-turner when he had to balance Quidditch practice with his normal classes, his additional studies to prepare for when Sirius Black would come for him and a little independent Potions study to see if he could learn how to brew wolfsbane potion for Professor Lupin. He had found out by now what that potion that Snape had delivered was and didn't hate his Defence Professor in the slightest. He was sure that as long as he took his potion he wasn't in any way dangerous. Harry was also fascinated by the idea of becoming an animagus. If his dad had been one, he wanted to become one too. So when Professor McGonagall had ended her class one day he had stayed behind and asked her how one would go about becoming an animagus and how the registering at the Ministry would work. Because, as much as being an unregistered one was exciting, he didn't want the idiots that had Hagrid sent to Azkaban without any proof of him doing anything wrong being after him if it needn't be.

She had informed him that it was a very difficult part of Transfiguration and that it would demand a lot of hard work on his part. The easy part was identifying your inner animal with a potion that would put you into a meditative trance. You would then get an idea of your animal and could work towards becoming it. She told him that it was an offer that NEWT Transfiguration students got and the best managed to finish the transformation by the time they graduated. But there had only been one student managing it before graduating and one two years after. There was a reason that there were only seven animagi this century. Harry told her that he would definitely do his best to get the chance and she had smiled at his enthusiasm. As he wouldn't get far without help becoming an animagus on his own, he postponed that until sixth year. He had more than enough other things that he could spend his time with.

Harry, as he had promised Hagrid, talked to Hermione and told her just why he was put out with her. He had kept her at arm's length for two weeks now and decided it was enough. He told her that he was really disappointed with how she thought that she could simply go behind his back. It had shocked Hermione, but after two days she had apologized to Harry properly and for him that was enough of the matter. Ron was still difficult, especially as Crookshanks seemed to have finally caught Scabbers and eaten the rat. While Harry was sympathetic for Ron's loss, he didn't blame Hermione for her cat much. Crookshanks could be a really nice cat, at least to him. He didn't seem to like Ron much. And Ron had always complained about Scabbers being useless. Still, it was obvious that it hurt Hermione how Ron constantly loudly rubbed in how he thought that she was at fault for Crookshanks eating Scabbers.

Harry decided to stay neutral and not get too involved into their arguments. He consoled both and just hoped that they would soon stop this nonsense. He had more important things to do than watching his two best friends bicker with each other. He normally went to sit and talk with Neville when Ron and Hermione had a row. The shy boy was pretty good company once you got through his shell. As Harry had no intention to become involved in the rows he settled for sitting between the two in classes where there were tables for three or more students in a row and sit with Neville in the others to not have to choose between them. He simply wouldn't do that.

A few days before the match against Ravenclaw Harry got his firebolt back and he was incredibly happy about it. Not nearly as ecstatic as Wood was though. His captain had a mad gleam in his eyes. The Gryffindor Quidditch practice before the match was incredibly good. All moves they tried seemed to work perfectly and for the first time ever Wood had nothing to complain about after practice, he only said that they would flatten Ravenclaw. Though he asked if Harry had solved his dementor problem.

"Don't worry Oliver. I can always produce a corporeal patronus now without dementors being present and most of the time with a boggart dementor. I won't fall of my broom again if they come to the match." Harry assured the Quidditch maniac.

"Good, then nothing will stop us from winning the match." Wood said happily.

And done. Till next time.