Author's Note: First, I posted two chapters this time, so start with the previous offering if you haven't already read it. Second, thank you for reading and reviewing. Third, I let's get right to it
Standard disclaimer about not owning anything; I am so thankful for JKR and all that she did for us. She gave us one of the greatest gifts, and so many people have taken to this site and played brilliantly with her creation. We should have a JKR day and it should be a global holiday!
Harry returned to Hogwarts a different person, which was in large part because he had a completely different mindset. No longer was he bearing the entire weight of his past and carrying the guilt of things that he may have or may not have done correctly.
True, visiting Cedric had been difficult, but he was glad that he had let Charlie talk him into going. He needed the closure of putting what happened behind him and he was subsequently filled with a new determination going forward. Not only was Harry determined to beat Voldemort and avenge what had happened to Cedric, but he wanted to make sure that whatever little part of Cedric that Voldemort had used to gain a new body was not subjected to experience the horrors that that man would undoubtedly commit.
The whole ordeal of visiting St. Mungo's also had brought him closer to both Sirius and Charlie. Harry was long overdue to reconnect with his Godfather and their new relationship emboldened him even further.
And his growing connection with Charlie was, well, Harry wasn't quite sure what they were becoming. It was obvious that he was attracted to the man but Charlie was a great deal older than he was, at least at this stage where a person grew very rapidly during the formative years that Harry currently found himself in.
But he couldn't deny just how easy it was to be in his presence and he found himself thinking about things to tell Charlie in his next letter or the sensation of having the man's hand on his shoulder – and what that did to him when he was alone late at night. It was all very comforting to him while he was on the mend of the tragedy that had befallen Cedric.
However, it was his history with Cedric that made his growing friendship with Charlie just a little bit uncomfortable. It was slightly awkward using someone like Charlie to get over his last boyfriend while at the same time he was beginning to realize that maybe he was starting to fancy Charlie just a little bit.
In the future, if something did end up happening between Charlie and him, would that be okay? How long was appropriate to wait before he moved on?
But Harry was getting ahead of himself with these thoughts as he waited for the other students to arrive. He had taken Sirius up on his offer to apparate directly to Hogwarts after the winter Holiday and was now waiting in the Great Hall.
It was much too soon for him to be thinking about anything happening with Charlie. And Harry had said as much when they had talked before they had gone to see Cedric: Harry needed a friend right now and just a friend. Never mind the age difference.
Besides, Harry wasn't sure that dating anyone was in the cards as long as Voldemort still needed to be taken care of. How could he subject someone to the increased risk that would come with that; he couldn't have another Cedric on his hands. It would kill him.
But, he knew that there would always be risks. As much as he would like to do this alone, he knew that he would need people with him all the way until the end. For one thing, Ron and Hermione would be damn near impossible to convince that he was going to do any of this alone – and he didn't want to think about how stubborn Sirius would be. They knew what was at stake and what the risks were and Harry would just have to let other people make their own informed decisions if they wanted to be a part of it.
Anyways, Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. He really was getting ahead of himself with this thought process. The only thing that he knew for certain was that one day he would have to face Voldemort and that he needed to be as prepared for that confrontation as possible.
He just couldn't spend his time worrying about anything else and decided that he could only deal with things as they came. So, whether he started dating someone else in the future or worrying about letting his friends put themselves in known or unknown danger, Harry would cross that bridge when he came to it.
Even as Harry relaxed at the Gryffindor Table as a result of making that decision, he felt a little lighter inside. Not as weighed down as he had been before. It also happened to coincide with the arrival of the other students who burst through the large and ornately carved doors to the Great Hall and started to take their places at their respective house tables.
Arriving in the middle of the large group were Ron and Hermione, who sat down on either side of him.
"Hello Harry," Hermione reached out to hug him.
"Hermione," Harry responded into her bushy hair when she had her arms around him.
Ron was simply content to tap Harry lightly on the shoulder.
"Mate," he remarked while eyeing his empty plate.
Harry's demeanor was noticeably improved in the presence of his friends. He really did feel quite lucky to have them by his side.
Soon, the food appeared and they all hungrily dug in as they made meaningless side-chatter since they were in public. Their talks about the prophecy and how they were going to plan for that would have to wait until they were alone.
When they were finished, Dumbledore had very little to say about the start of the second half of the year and everyone was soon dismissed back to their houses.
Unlike the first day of the year, in which the fifth-year Prefects were needed to show everyone back to their dorms for the first time, this time it was tradition for the seventh-year Prefects to do so.
However, Harry had his Marauder's Map and invisibility cloak with him and he quietly asked his friends if they wanted to sneak away to the Chamber of Secrets and talk about things.
The trio waited behind the Gryffindor mass that headed up the various staircases and were lingering just slowly enough that no one noticed them fall off the back of the second floor.
It was easy for them to navigate the rest of the way to their destination unseen. Once inside the chamber, they congregated again by the Basilisk.
"That reminds me," Hermione started as she felt the skin of the monstrous creature again.
"Have you decided what you wanted to do with all of this?" She waved her arms gesturing at the beast's form.
Harry moved to walk along the Basilisk.
"I definitely want to see if we can use its skin to make vests and whatnot, that's a definite."
Both Ron and Hermione nodded at Harry's choice. In fact, they agreed wholeheartedly with his decision as they had already discussed it the first time they had all ventured down here.
"And then I don't know how best to go about it, but it would be useful to sell some of it to buy training supplies or fund our side of things. Who knows what provisions we may need."
Hermione got a weird glint in her eye.
"I guess you were right about the next horrible situation that we would fall into."
Her voice had a certain sadness to it, like she felt bad that Harry had been right about their future.
Harry grimaced just a little, but shrugged it off. He would have liked to have been wrong too but at least he knew that they knew what they were getting into.
"But you are right," she said in a stronger voice.
"We should use this to our advantage and make vests, sell some of the parts, and then see what types of potions would be most useful that we could make ourselves."
"Hmm, let's see," Ron said sardonically. "Who do we know that is a world-renowned Potion's Master and would most likely know how things are sold on the black market? That's a tough a one," he finished to the amusement of both Harry and Hermione.
Ron's humor tended to be underappreciated.
"He would be a good person to ask, and he has seemed to taking a liking to you Harry. Well, maybe not a liking as tolerating better than most people he comes into contact with." Hermione added.
Harry thought it was a safe bet. Snape and him had come to an understanding this year on several various topics. Aside from the conversation they had had over his mum, the man had been the first to finally acknowledge that a prophecy existed between himself and the Dark Lord.
"I'll ask him if he can help us," Harry agreed aloud. "Of course, it may sweeten the deal if we pay him in ingredients."
"I can just see his face now," Ron scoffed before doing a reasonable impression of Snape's surprised face by raising one of his eyebrows.
Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics and watched as they continued trying to see who did a better Snape impression. Normally she would not approve of mocking a teacher in any way, shape, or form; however, she was mostly just relieved that they were having this moment together. She had been worried in the beginning of the summer if Harry would ever come out of this and that these moments would never happen again.
But eventually, they all settled down and Ron was able to go over some of his ideas that they could use the space for once the Basilisk was fully removed.
He surprised both of them with a detailed and – in Hermione's opinion – a very well thought out and executed plan.
"Ronald, this is really great," Hermione proclaimed when Ron had finished speaking.
She had noticed him more and more ever since the beginning of the year and found herself being drawn into to the man that he was fast becoming.
"The detail is quite good, and you even started putting together a curriculum." She found that her face was getting redder as she was verging on gushing.
"Yeah, well, I thought, you see," Ron stuttered. He hadn't gotten used to Hermione looking at him in this new and respected manner; subsequently, he really didn't know how to respond to it. Also, there was the small little matter that he had been noticing her more and more as well.
Harry had to stifle a laugh as he watched all of this unfold in front of him. His friends were adorable idiots and he looked forward to when they finally were able to acknowledge their feelings for one another.
"Anyways," Harry moved on, causing the pair to look away from each other with blushed smiles.
"I think we should add in some physical stuff as well. My reflexes from Quidditch are good and have certainly come in handy but I think we should improve our stamina. We may also even want to learn how to use some weapons. That incident with Ron's broken wand from second year always had me wondering what a witch or wizard would do without theirs in a fight."
"Hmm," Hermione thought about Harry's suggestion.
"That is a great idea! Since we aren't really taught how to even duel, it would certainly improve our fighting capabilities even more."
Ron was about to join in when Hermione continued and directed her comment at Harry.
"And stop flinching, Harry. We said that we are by your side in this like we have been by your side since the beginning. I may not like that all of this that is happening but running from it will not solve our problem. So don't feel guilty that Ron and I know full well what we are getting into. I can see that look in your eye Harry Potter and I know what you are thinking."
She said it all very matter-of-factly, and there was no chance that Harry would be able to do anything other than agree with her. Hermione was right, as usual.
So he simply nodded and then smiled meekly at them and then Ron waited for the air to settle briefly before he chimed in with what he had been planning on saying.
"And maybe we could increase our muscle mass as well. If we are without our wands, it may get physical and we should learn how to use our body weight."
Both Harry and Hermione agreed with that, and they felt better about having a plan in place to prepare themselves; it helped to take the edge off knowing that they were doing something proactive.
But then the atmosphere calmed somewhat and they discussed how their breaks had gone. Like usual, Hermione and her parents had gone to France for the Holidays.
She described how they had wandered into a small wizarding section in Paris or - as Ron and Harry knew was more likely to have happened – had known it in advance and had led her parents there.
At any rate, it was always interesting to hear about other magical communities and how they were. Also, she always made sure to bring them back little treats, which both Ron and Harry appreciated as she handed them some small chocolates.
They were particularly delicious and changed their flavor the closer that one got to the center.
The group snacked on these as they finished discussing what they had done for the Holidays.
As they were walking back to their dorms, Harry filled them in on his visit to see Cedric. He had kept it light – or as light as he could make such a serious topic – but he didn't want to drag it out right now. Though, he had wanted to tell them since they had been by his side since the beginning.
Both were aware of how difficult the experience must have been for Harry but neither tried pushing Harry for more information than he seemed comfortable sharing. They knew that he would open up to them fully at his own pace.
Still, Hermione wanted to at least make sure that he wasn't in a bad place because of the experience.
"How do you feel now?" she asked while they waited for Harry to call the stairs again to begin their ascent upwards towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
"Better than I thought I would," he said honestly.
"I'm not as weighed down by it anymore. I still feel like I could have done more – and I don't think that that feeling with ever go away – but I am able to look past it easier now. It also is giving me something concrete to fight for: I don't want anyone to experience what I did. We will beat Voldemort," he finished with a determined hopefulness that made Ron and Hermione become not as uncomfortable with hearing that name.
It was true; they were fighting for something and it was important.
"Just know that if you need anything mate, we are here for you." Ron added.
"I know," Harry replied as they entered the bathroom and quietly made their way back to Gryffindor Tower just as curfew started.
The next day marked the beginning of term and Harry was planning on inquiring with Severus about the possibility of him helping them deal with the Basilisk's remains.
However, first Harry needed to get through his other classes, which meant surviving Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Normally, Harry managed to get through that class by retreating inside of his mind since it was blatantly obvious that Umbridge had it out for him. It wasn't like he was missing anything either because the hag never taught anything. Nor was it worthwhile to read that book that she kept having them read to cover up her inadequacies as a teacher.
At certain times, Harry almost wished that Lockhart was back, and that was saying something.
But Umbridge seemed especially sour today as she had seemingly devised a new method to trying to get under Harry's skin. No longer was she content with silence from her class while they read; now she seemed quite interested in calling on students to check up on their progress.
And she had started with Harry.
"Now class, for the second half of the year, we will spend more time preparing for your OWLs. As such, I will be asking questions from time to time to make sure that you can answer them with the same detail that will be required for your exams."
"Let's see," she continued in her sickly sweet voice while her eyes remained fixed on Harry in a predatory manner.
Even when he was only halfway inside of his mindscape, he was still able to follow along with what was going on in the real world. It just made him able to tolerate her better. Now though, he just knew that he wouldn't be able to keep his head down to stay out of further trouble with this woman if this was the way that she was going to handle things.
But before he could think of a way out of this, she decided who she was going to start with.
"Mr. Potter," she said with pure, unadulterated glee.
Harry did his best to turn in her general direction so that she would think that he was acknowledging her without having to look directly at her.
Everyone in the classroom was watching with baited breath, especially Draco Malfoy who couldn't quite keep the grin off his face at the prospect that Harry was going to get into trouble or made to feel uncomfortable. It was so much easier for him to have someone else do his job for him.
"I was wondering if you could describe to me the proper way to deal with a Dementor," she said in an innocent manner.
Hermione was completely flabbergasted and her cheeks started to get red as her head filled with angry things that she would have liked to yell to that despicable hag.
She was just about to get to the point of unleashing a furious diatribe when the soft voice of Harry responded.
"A Patronus Charm is the only thing effective against them."
Ron was grabbing a hold of his desk with unbridled fury at her brazen disregard for what had happened to his friend.
"Quite right," she said with a Cheshire-like smile.
Harry though wasn't as bothered as he should have been by the question. Seeing Cedric over the Holiday had allowed him to reach a healthy place – or as healthy as a place as he could. Besides, he had to go up against Voldemort – so he supposed that he aught to get used to her evil taunts in preparation for what would no doubt happen with Voldemort.
After that, Umbridge moved onto other students, not wanting to be too obvious that she regarded Harry as an awful little child. She had been content with how deflated he had seemed when he had responded to her question and was satisfied with things, for now.
While Umbridge was busy interrogating the other child that she saw as stupid, Harry noticed Ron and Hermione barely keeping it together. He was touched, but didn't want them to get all riled up on his behalf.
He was lucky that Umbridge was berating some poor Gryffindor, whose mother she absolutely loathed, so that he could signal to them.
They didn't calm instantly but he really didn't expect them too; however, they did become noticeable less irate and the rest of the class thankfully passed without any further incidents.
Lunch followed and Harry and his friends sat at the end of their table, where he spent the entire hour sharing with them how he was able to tune Umbitch out. Of course, he had shared Occlumency with them before but he really pressed upon them the importance of learning the art for themselves.
"Especially with what we are going to come up against in the future," he finished. He knew that he had gotten his point across when he saw the hungry look of wanting to learn something new flash in Hermione's eyes.
And Ron, who had really grown into his role as a strategist, was nodding his head fervently in agreement.
Once that was apparently settled, the trio headed down to the dungeons for their double Potions that would round out their day of classes.
As usual, Harry went to join his partner Neville who was busing finalizing his notes for the class. Ever since Harry had mentioned that he might have had a slight learning disorder, he had not been so hard on himself when he didn't immediately get something correct on the first go around.
Also, Harry was trying to help him as best he could and together they were making notable progress. Subsequently, Neville's performance in all of his classes – aside from Herbology, which was largely performance-based – had significantly improved.
Plus, Harry's seemingly improved relationship with Snape had led to the man not being so antagonistic towards the pair during class, which had only further allowed Neville to reach more and more of his potential with each passing class,
Potions had actually become mildly enjoyable for the pair and they were one of the strongest groups and were consistently scoring at an E level.
Today's class was no exception and they were confident that they had earned another top-level grade. Neville had never thought he would be feeling this optimistic about his upcoming O.W.L.s , but he was becoming increasingly confident that he would pass a majority of his classes. And that would make his gran very proud.
When the class was over, Harry took his time putting his supplies away as the class emptied and soon he was the only student left in the classroom.
Snape was at his desk, peering with contempt at some of the more disastrous offerings that had been turned in, when Harry quietly approached.
"Sir," he started.
Snape raised his head and peered at him, raising his eyebrow to indicate that Harry had permission to ask whatever question he wanted to.
"I was wondering if you knew anything about acquiring or selling Basilisk parts," he began as if he were asking Snape about something that was common and innocuous as poppy seeds.
Snape stopped breathing for a fraction of a second as Harry's inquest had caught him off guard.
"Basilisk ingredients?" he reiterated. He had wanted to make sure that he had heard Harry correctly.
"Yes, Professor," Harry said with a small smirk. He would have been lying if he had said that he wasn't finding some amusement in being able to unsettle the Potions Master.
"You see, I stumbled across some parts," he said slowly while bringing a few scales from his bag and depositing them on Snape's desk.
"And I was wondering if you knew how I could go about selling them, or even what potions they could be used in."
Snape's mouth had parted slightly as he stared at one of the most expensive potion ingredients that money could buy.
"I may also have access to other parts as well," he said in a controlled tone, not trusting his face to give way to the smile that wanted to show on his face.
"How?!" Snape said in a very rare slip of decorum on his part.
"And I would certainly be willing to part with some of what I have, as a courtesy to you, of course, for helping me out."
Snape nodded ever so slowly, more shocked by Harry's offering than anything the Dark Lord had ever done in his presence. At least with the Dark Lord he had come to expect pain and torture, but this was something that he just could process. He had never thought he would be able to get his hands on such a rare and precious commodity without losing a body part in the process.
"Thank you so much, Professor," Harry said in a slightly exuberant manner. He then placed a large bolus of skin that they had cut from the night before in front of him, which made the man's eyes widen comically. However, Harry had to stifle a laugh at the shock that crossed every inch of his face after he procured a small vile of venom from his satchel for the professor to keep for his troubles.
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