Harry spent most of his time during winter holidays with Hermione. Ron was slowly separating himself, mostly because they were often too busy training with Flitwick and McGonagall, spending time in library studying or training on their own, practicing new spells. Harry shown Hermione the Slytherin's book from Dumbledore and she insisted he try some tricks from it. So they spent many hours in unused classroom, practicing parseltonque spells.
Serpensortia in parseltonque has some advantages against 'normal' serpensortia spell. Apparently parselmouth can manipulate the length and species of conjured snakes. Hermione was grateful since they found about it, because it was less dangerous – Harry could conjure snakes without venom, so even if one bite them, it wouldn't be dangerous. The book also recommended he should often speak to snakes so he would be used to parseltonque and will be able to speak it without snake present.
Harry also found out that he could conjure up to five snakes at once, but it was really draining if he wanted large snakes and not little ones. One spell, which intrigued them the most was incarcerous. This spell in parseltonque instead of ropes conjured large python, which binds the oponent and change the press as Harry wished. It can also bite the opponent in the eye. He knew it was a dark spell, but Hermione agreed with him that Dumbledore must have known about it and gave him the book regardless of the dark nature of the spells.
The rest of the book was focused on magical theory, how to feel and manipulate magic and so on. It was really complicated for a second year, so they left it for another time.
Harry was sitting in his bed. It was the last day of holiday and he was thinking about his year so far. This year was so much better than his first. Last year everything was new for him and he didn't really enjoy it as much as he wanted. This year it was much better. He was getting better in studies and he also made a new friends from other houses. Without Ron constantly with him speaking about evil snakes, bookworm Ravenclaws and useless Hufflepuff it was easier. Harry realized that in some ways, Ron was similar to Malfoy with his bigotry.
Hermione also changed. Her belief in authorities faded a little after two incompetent DADA teachers and she wasn't constantly forcing him to study harder, but that was also because Harry was studying with her all time instead of playing chess to boost Ron's ego.
Harry finished his daily occlumency training. He organized his thoughts and replayed all situations. He realized that occlumency was not only protecting his mind, but also improved his concentration, which helped especially with potions, where Snape was constantly trying to unnerve him with his snide remarks now, when he cannot take points or assign detentions without real proof. He sighed and went to sleep. Thinking about Snape wasn't what he wanted to do in his bed.
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Hogwarts, Great hall
Students came back to Hogwarts after winter holiday and immediately noticed that one teacher was missing. Before anyone can speculate what happened, Dumbledore stood up. "Silence, please." The noise stopped. "With deep sorrow I have to inform you that Professor Lockhart resigned this morning." He said clearly amused with Lockhart's left. "He wants to prepare for his new dangerous adventure." He glanced briefly but pointedly at Hermione and smiled. Then he continued. "Professor Lupin will now take his place. That also means that the dueling club will be canceled as Professor Lupin don't have enough time for both." This brought displeasured murmurs between students. Most of them were happy with Lockhart's resign, but not with canceling the dueling club. Professor Dumbledore held his hand which again silenced the Great hall. "Don't worry, the tournament will still be held after the final exams."
Harry and Hermione looked happy with his last statement. They will have more time without the dueling club and still can win the tournament. "Good job with Lockhart, Hermione. I am willing to bet that you are the reason for his leaving." Said Ron with his mouth full. "Preparing for new dangerous adventure?" Snorted Harry. "He meant buying a new wardrobe or something like that." They snickered and Ron mumbled something that sounded like peksipiski pasternoumi. It was clearly his new favourite "spell".
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History of Magic classroom
Their first lesson of History of Magic was pleasant suprise. Professor Binns came as usual through the blackboard, but he didn't start about goblin rebelions. "Headmaster asked me to change the usual topic of this class. Instead of goblins, we will be talking about more recent events." Said the ghost and sounded dissappointed.
"I guess he really never noticed that nobody is awake during his lessons." Murmured Ron. It was the first time they didn't go to sleep immediately after they sat down.
"We will be talking about the last civil was here at Britain, which ended in 1981. There was a group of terrorists called the Death Eaters led by Tom Marvolo Riddle, later known as Lord Voldermort." Some students shuddered, winced, some paled and the others cringed, while only a few, who knew that Riddle wasn't a pureblood name realized what Binns had really said. "People are afraid to speak his name to this day, so he is called You-Know-Who or He-who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The fear itself is not only because he was one of the most powerful Dark Lord in the history, but also because of the taboo curse supposedly placed on his name. This assumption was never really confirmed." Binns was speaking in his usual monotonous tone, but this time students weren't asleep.
Binns continued. "Tom Marvolo Riddle was born in 1926 to a muggle named Tom Riddle and a witch named Merope Gaunt, after she supposedly dosed him with love potion. The Gaunts were descendants of Salazar Slytherin, so he is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin through his mother. His mother died shortly after his birth and he placed in..."
"Wish the Slytherins were here now." Said Ron wistfuly. "I would like to see Malfoy's face when he heard that Voldemort is a half-blood." Added Harry with the same wistful tone as Ron, while Binns was explaining about the orphanage and that Tom Riddle attended the Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945.
"...Albus Dumbledore was the only one who Tom Riddle feared. Many attacks were stopped by him personally, because the Death Eaters didn't really try to duel Dumbledore and ran away after he appeared. In 1978, there was an attack on Hogsmeade village. A duel occurred between Dark Lord and Albus Dumbledore, but after few minutes of fighting, the Dark Lord fled. After 1980, the attacks by Death Eaters continued, but without Voldemort himself. In 1981, he personally attacked Godric's Hollow..." Harry stopped listening. He didn't want to hear it. His parents died, yes, but he didn't really know them. The worst thing for him was that he was left with Dursleys.
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Albus Dumbledore left the Great hall and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. Slytherins were visibly shaken this week. He knew why – he asked Binns to teach about the last war and gave him information about Tom Riddle. Maybe this will save some Slytherins. Yes, Albus Dumbledore planned to kill Voldemort, but that itself won't change the Pureblood bigots. But this could. He knew what the Slytherins were thinking now. Slytherins don't think in the same lines as others. It was not simply about the fact that Voldemort is a half-blood. That will not really affect his ranks. But it was the fact, that two most powerful wizards of this century are half-bloods, that fact could change the prejudices in the wizarding world.
Dumbledore was on his way to the Room of Requirement. He wasn't looking forward for his training, but he had a plan and this was necessary. He stopped in front of the hidden entrance against the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. "I need a room to practice fiendfyre without danger," he thought while pacing back and forth three times. The door appeared. He took a deep breath and entered.
Ten minutes later he left the room, but he didn't cast a single spell. Instead he found very old, thick book about runes. He walked back to his office and started to read.
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Unused classroom, third floor
Harry and Hermione were once again dueling against each other. After ten minutes, Harry won, but it was a close thing. "Good work children!" Squeked Professor Flitwick. "It will be all for today. This really isn't the right day for fighting." Hermione looked quickly at Harry, but he didn't notice anything. They left the unused classroom and started walking to common room, when Flitwick called Harry back for a moment.
"Mr. Potter, the spell is orchideous." He said mysteriously and left confused Harry alone.
"What did he said?" Asked Hermione in front of the Fat Lady.
"Uhm..I don't really understand what he meant by that." Replied Harry, and they entered the common room. They found it empty and realized it was a lunch time, so they decided to change clothes and go to the Great hall. Harry changed his clothes and came back to the common room, where Hermione was already waiting for him. He drew his wand and said "orchideous", just to find out what Flitwick meant by that. To his suprise bouquet of flowers appeared. What was a bigger suprise, Hermione immediately took them and gave him a kiss on his cheek, after she nearly crushed his bones with her "Hermi-hug." Harry of course didn't have a clue what was it about, but he didn't complain. Girls were a little weird, but kisses and hugs were good. Only when they entered the Great hall, he found out it was Valentine's day, and silently thanked professor Flitwick.
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Three students were walking on the grounds towards the wooden hut. It was Harry with Ron and Hermione. They were going to visit their friend, Hagrid. Lately he was often away from Hogwarts and they wanted to know what was going on. They knocked and after a while the door opened and Hagrid's big face appeared. "Oh it's you. Back Fang!" He said to his dog a then he let them in. He asked if they want some tea and they nodded. He drew his wand, waved and the water in the teapot started boiling. Another wave and a plate with his famous rock cakes was levitated in front of them.
They stopped talking a looked at him curiously. "Uhm, Hagrid? Since when you can use a wand freely?" Asked Harry.
Hagrid looked confused. "I didn' tell yeh?" They shook their heads that he didn't. "Perfessor Dumbledore talked to Madame Bones, great man, Dumbledore...an' she sent an auror with veritaserum to interrogate me.. it lasted only a minute and 'hey cleared me..Young Remus is teachin' me now.." He poured them the tea. His famous rock cakes they politely declined.
Harry was interested. "Why exactly were you expelled?"
Hagrid looked slightly uneasy. "Yeh know Harry..there was an incident..in my third year. A girl was killed..and they blamed Aragog.." He stopped and started sobbing. They tried to calm him down.
"Who is Aragog Hagrid?" They asked when he calmed down.
"He is an acromantula..my firs' friend..he escaped and I was expelled..I found 'im a place in the forest..but they took 'im away..they took 'em all.." He was sobbing again.
He later calmed down and told them the rest of story. "Tom Riddle?" gasped Harry? "Voldemort framed you?" Voldemort was really evil..thought Harry. He killed a girl and framed Hagrid when he was only fifteen years old.
Hagrid was suprised. "How do yeh know 'is real name?" He asked them curiously. Not many people knew.
"Binns told us. He started teaching about the war...Dumbledore told him to do it.." They quickly changed the topic after that. Hagrid then told them to sign for Care of Magical creatures next year. He didn't tell them why, though and they also hadn't learned why he was so often away.
"What's an acromantula?" Asked Ron when they left. Harry shook his head but Hermione as usual knew the answer. "It's a really big hairy spider. About fifteen feet large." She said in her teacher's tone. "But they are not native in Britain..and it's illegal to have one.."
Harry snorted. "Since when something like that stopped him?" Hermione laughed but Ron shuddered at the thought of fifteen feet large spider.
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Dumbledore was sitting in his office thinking about young Neville Longbottom. After he bought him a new wand, from a boy who barely managed to get acceptable in Defense, Tranfiguration and Charms become a boy who got an EE and O regularly. With his natural ability in Herbology and Snape's improved behavior, he was slowly becoming one of the best students in his year. To think that Neville as a fifth year in the old timeline fought the Death Eaters with unsuitable wand...that was surprising, even with their DA training. Dumbledore was looking forward for the dueling tournament. If the boy will show good skill he could maybe offer him the same training with Flitwick and McGonagall, after he take Harry and Hermione under his wing.
Harry improved significantly too. He was the second best in the year now, after Hermione Granger, of course. He also looked happy most of the time and made friends with people from other houses. The fact he wasn't accused of being the heir of Slytherin and attacking muggleborns surely helped a little. He was berating himself for his past decisions once again. 'Why didn't I just announce that Harry was interrogated and that he isn't the heir of Slytherin or something like that?' He thought.
He finally read the book from the Room of Requirement. It was complicated as hell, but he found what he needed. That was the easiest part of his plan, though. With the rest, he will need to wait for summer. He have a busy summer before him.
Dumbledore was really tired this week. He finished his plan to kill Voldemort, made a plan B, plan C and even a plan D. He didn't really want to take chances. Timeline can be changed already and Voldemort's plans too. He cursed that damned location of the ring. He needed some help with his plans or at least someone to tell him he is doing it right...
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Great hall, second-year dueling tournament
There weren't many people in the Great hall. After all, the tournament for fifth to seventh year was yesterday. But a few higher years and first years wanted to see the Boy-Who-Lived dueling.
After an hour, only four students remained in the tournament. Draco Malfoy, son of the Death Eater. Lucius surely taught him the basics of dueling. Neville Longbottom improved a great deal after he got a new wand and of course, Harry and Hermione who both got a special training. It really wasn't surprising. Next duels were between Neville and Harry while Hermione was against Malfoy. The tournament was limited to light spells, so Malfoy didn't really have a chance against Hermione, though he defeated his previous opponents with ease. Malfoy was good, yes, but Hermione was the brightest witch in her generation and with the training from McGonagall and Flitwick...
Malfoy was mainly using banishing and disarming charms. After a moment of dodging, Hermione conjured birds and sent them to attack him. Malfoy was distracted and Hermione hit him with disarming charm. He was knocked from his feet and his wand flew towards Hermione. He murmured some nasty words about Hermione under his breath, but nobody heard, mainly because there was loud clapping from people who didn't like Malfoy.
Harry already defeated Neville, who was quite tired after his previous duel with Theodore Nott, and was clapping furiously. The final duel was between him and Hermione. Of course, Dumbledore arranged it so that they won't meet before finals. They stood against each other and the duel started. Both agreed not to use all their abilities so they only fired disarming and stunning charms mostly. They were playing with each other for a while, when Harry due to the friendly nature of duel became distracted. He was suddenly thinking about the pride he felt when Hermione defeated Malfoy and that she looked really good with her hair flying all around her...and she hit him with banishing charm. He fled through the air and painfully landed on his back, his wand left his hand as she quickly summoned it.
Dumbledore was watching the duel with interest. The others in the hall couldn't know it, but Hermione with her wild hair looked like young Bellatrix Lestrange. He was thinking about what his sister told him. That she would follow Harry no matter what. She stayed with him even after Mr. Weasley left and she was supposedly in love with him. It was odd. If she was in love with Mr. Weasley, why she stayed with Harry all the time?
"The winner is Hermione Granger!" Announced Remus Lupin. He shook her hand and gave her the price – special wand care kit. Hermione was happy with winning the tournament, but she noticed that Harry was momentarily distracted and that was why she hit him. She was going to have a word or two with him about letting her won so easily.
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Harry entered the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore left him a note to come before the leaving feast. The gargoyle let him in after he told him the password (treacle tart) and he found Dumbledore sitting behind his table smiling at him. "Ah, Harry, come, sit down." He said kindly. "Are you packed already?" Harry nodded hesitantly. "Then I must apologize to you, my boy. I should have told you sooner." Continued Dumbledore slowly. He should indeed told him sooner.
"I am not going back to the Burrow?" Asked Harry surprised and a little disappointed. He was looking forward to flying with Ron and the twins.
Dumbledore shook his head. "No Harry. You will stay here at Hogwarts. This summer the wards around Dursley's house are going to fall and if you stay at the Burrow, the ministry will be notified about it. Last year nobody knew you were there, so you were quite safe, but the wards surrounding the Burrow are not sufficient. It will not be safe for you to return now, when wrong people could find out." He finished with an apologetic smile.
Harry nodded. "I understand, sir. Frankly, everything is better than Dursleys." He said with a small smile, while Dumbledore frowned. There was an uncomfortable silence for a while. "So, what will I do while in here professor?" Asked Harry finally. He was really curious about it. He hoped he won't be the only person staying here. It would be terrifying.
"Don't worry about it my boy," Said Dumbledore reassuringly, "Professor Lupin is also staying here for the summer along with Professor McGonagall. I dare say your summer won't be boring."
"What about you sir? What are you going to do during the summer?" Blurted Harry without thinking. "I am sorry, I should't have asked..." He apologized quickly but Dumbledore only chuckled.
"It's all quite right Harry. If you are interested, meet me in three days..."
After Harry left, Dumbledore sighed. He didn't want Harry at the Burrow, but not for safety measures. He had thought for a long time about it. He knew the Weasleys will go to the Egypt, but he needed Harry to stay in Britain, and more importantly, away from Pettigrew, just in case. Also there was a small chance that the Weasleys could decide not to go to Egypt which could prevent Sirius from escape. It was really complicated.
He knew that in the old timeline, Sirius was in Little Whinging around Harry's birthday. But he was sure it was not his first destination. Announcement about the winner of the Daily Prophet's price was in the middle of July and Sirius escaped a few days after. If he escaped to find and kill Pettigrew, he surely went to the Burrow first. But the announcement came after the Weasleys left, so that was out of question. He then probably went to check on Harry.
He would need to find a solution for this.
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"Harry James Potter!" Harry stared at Hermione, who looked a little scary. They were alone in a corridor near to the Gryffindor tower. What was going on? "Don't look at me like that Harry! I know you let me win that tournament! Why did you do it?" She asked and looked angry even if she wasn't really. Harry winced. He should have known that she noticed his distraction.
"SO?!" Harry didn't know what to say. How could he explain that? He can't really tell her what he was thinking. So he only blushed and murmured something with hope that it will be enough for Hermione. She was getting dangerously close to him. She leaned to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
He was flabbergasted. "Her-Hermione?" He stuttered, but she turned around and quickly ran away. Harry would later wonder how on earth a woman could change her mood so quickly, but much to his dissapointment, he, along with other males all over the world, never did figure out how the woman's mind works.
At the leaving feast they were awkward around each other. Neither of them knew what to do. Dumbledore gave his traditional speech and they were slowly walking through the entrance hall to the carriages. "Uhm, Hermione?" Harry started hesitantly.
"Hmm?" Replied Hermione while looking everywhere but at him.
"I am not going.." She stopped and looked at him with questioning gaze. "I am staying here for the summer. Dumbledore said I am not going back to the Dursleys. Ever." She hugged him tightly and after his promise that he would write to her often, she gave him another small kiss and blushing furiously she entered the carriage.
"Yeah..." said Harry to himself after the carriages left. "Life is good." He started walking to the Professor Lupin's office, widely smiling and humming quietly. He still couldn't believe how his life turned after his left from the Dursleys last summer. No abuse, no starving, no stress during school year, caused by three-headed dogs, baby dragons and Voldemorts trying to kill him. And there was also Hermione...he blushed again at the thought of her soft, warm lips pressed against his. He never felt anything like that before. It was amazing.