Disclaimer: HP universe is not, I repeat, not owned by the author. He is playing in the sandbox of JKR.
Harry grinned at his new tutor. He invited her to sit next to him while Hermione was at his other side. They made small talk to break the ice and Harry found that Ms Arms, who had asked to be called just Enyo, was not very old. She was just 25 years of age but had a lot of practical experience while working with the goblins, apparently, curse breaking was more than just waving wands.
Albus Dumbledore knew this woman was trouble as soon as she walked in. He couldn't recognise her from anywhere and when she headed towards Harry, his suspicion was only confirmed. As he saw her chatting with Harry, he went to the Ravenclaw table to make sure he didn't miss any details about the woman.
"Mr Potter, can you introduce your companion to me? Its rare for Hogwarts to have visitors at this hour." Dumbledore said while smiling in his grandfather persona.
"Of course Headmaster. Meet Ms Enyo Arms, my potions tutor. Enyo you already must know Albus Dumbledore." Harry said. Enyo just nodded at Dumbledore and returned to talking with Harry. Dumbledore, seeing how nobody wanted him there, had no choice but to retreat.
"So Enyo, how are we going to manage the classes, will they be held daily or less frequently and where can we have them?" Harry asked in an excited voice.
"Relax Harry, we have much to talk about but not here. I know just the right place for them but first, finish your food." Enyo said smiling at his enthusiasm.
Harry quickly ate his food but had to wait for Hermione to finish hers. He had already decided that he wasn't going to let his friends suffer at the hands of Snape. As the three people left the great hall, two sets of eyes followed them. One belonged to the headmaster of the school, who was already visibly strained at not knowing what was going on about Harry, while the other belonged to a concerned head of house of the two students who left.
Harry was confused. They had been roaming around the school for the past fifteen minutes and had walked passed the great hall again. But as he was going to voice his concern, they stopped in front of a tapestry that he later found was of a wizard called Barnabus the Barmy. Enyo walked in front of the wall opposite it thrice and Harry and Hermione were surprised to say the least that a door appeared.
Enyo gestured them to follow her and as they entered the room, the door behind them disappeared. Three comfortable looking couches were there for them so they sat themselves down.
"Now Mr Potter, and Ms Granger, I know you are confused and I will answer all your questions but after I tell you about everything." Enyo said, understanding how this would be quite extraordinary for an eleven year old.
"Now firstly, let me tell you that along with teaching you potions, I will be teaching you many other 'extra' things. You will learn many defence spells as well as the mind arts. After we find any magical talents that you may have, we will try to develop them."
Harry was floored. Here he was thinking he had to work hard to just find someone to help him against Dumbledore but Gringotts had taken care of everything. He made sure to remember to thank Houndclaw for thinking ahead.
"So Mr Potter, you must also be wondering where we are and why we took such a route here. Well, to be frank, I don't trust Albus Dumbledore and I know you don't too. I wouldn't get it past him to have some way to track us. I have already removed a number of tracking spells off of you both" Enyo said.
This made both Harry and Hermione angry. Harry was already getting used to Dumbledore's manipulations but for Hermione, this was the first time someone in authority had betrayed her. This was the first step to get her out of her habit of worship.
"And as to where we are, we are currently sitting in, probably, the most magical place of the castle. Welcome to the Room of Requirement, the name is self-explanatory. This room becomes literally anything you require. It has been found by numerous children and adults alike but most never find its secret. To find this room, you have to walk in front of the wall out there thrice thinking exactly what you want. For example," Enyo said and then closed her eyes. Slowly a chair materialised in front of them.
Harry and Hermione had their jaws dropped at this. This room was perfect for what they wanted. It was almost too good to be true. These lessons instantly became more exciting by tenfold.
Enyo grinned at them and continued, "Caught on have you. Gringotts don't do things by half. These lessons will also include politics. You will learn about wizarding traditions as well as the Wizengamot which is like the parliament." Hermione grinned at this while Harry groaned. Theory, though easy to learn for him, was never interesting.
They discussed the timings for the lessons. They decided to have classes twice a week at weekends so that they could have them for enough time. At last, they left the room and they walked to the hall.
As they were walking Harry, being the eleven year old he was, asked Enyo a question out of his curiosity, "Enyo, don't take this the wrong way, but how much are these lessons costing me? I mean you are obviously putting yourself in danger considering Dumbledore's involvement."
Enyo was nervous. She really liked these two kids. Her lessons had always cost her a lot of trouble and she did all she could to manage in as little fees as possible, still, she lost clients. She replied, "Harry, I am being paid a hundred galleons a month for these lessons."
"What!" Harry said, almost shouting. Enyo braced and consoled herself for the denial that was eminent but never came, "How can you manage in that? I mean that is just about 500 pounds a month. And you must need so much protection."
Enyo smiled at the kid's thoughtfulness, and here she was thinking she was going to lose this job. "Its okay Harry, really. Of course it's difficult sometimes but I manage. And Gringotts give the basic wards to all its cursebreakers."
"But its wrong. I tell you what, I will talk to Houndclaw about this and from now you will be getting at least 500 Galleons a month or what he describes as sufficient. You are our trainer now. We must take care of you too," Harry said earnestly.
"Alright Harry, you win. And that reminds me, this Saturday instead of the lessons, we will be visiting Gringotts. Since you won't have any classes that day it is unlikely someone will note your absence. We have some very important work to do which will really help me plan the schedule for your education." Enyo grinned at them. They quickly reached the great hall and Enyo departed saying her goodbye.
As they went to the great hall which was mostly empty as the breakfast had finished long ago, they just sat down and talked. It seemed that both Gryffindor and Slytherins were having their classes, unlike Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw who were free until the next hour.
The next three days passed too slowly for Harry. He was excited about his Gringotts visit. Hermione too shared his excitement but not as much since she didn't know what she could do there. Little did she know how important would this visit be.
The start of the day was like déjà vu for the duo. As they ate their breakfast in the hall and Enyo arrived wearing her armor. Finishing their breakfast, they left the hall but didn't go to the Room of Requirement. Rather Enyo took them to Flitwick's office where Enyo slipped a piece of parchment inside through the door.
"Can't have your head of house concerned about you, can we?" She asked rhetorically with a grin.
Enyo then led them to the main gates but not before waving her wand discreetly, cancelling many a tracking charms. She took out a piece of rope in front of them and asked them to touch it before touching it herself and saying, "Activate".
Harry felt as if someone had hooked him from the stomach and dragged him through a small hole, forcing and squeezing the life out of him. He soon found himself sprawled on the floor, Hermione in a similar position while Enyo laughed and said, "Never travelled by a portkey right? Don't worry you'll get used to it."
They stood up and found themselves in an office that Harry recognized as Houndclaw's. They took a seat when Enyo offered them and waited for Houndclaw to arrive which took about five minutes.
"Good morning Mr Potter, Ms Granger." Houndclaw said as cheerfully as a goblin could and the duo returned the greeting.
"So Mr Potter, you are in for quite a surprise today I guess. The inheritance test always is entertaining for us. And Ms Granger, I really recommend you trying it too." Houndclaw said.
"But Mr Houndclaw, I am a muggleborn. How would I be an heir to any house?" Hermione asked in a confused voice.
"Firstly it's just Houndclaw. And Ms Granger, think. I know you must have learnt genetics a little. It is our belief that all muggleborns are just people who have long forgotten squibs for ancestors. And I think you will find that today." Houndclaw gave a toothy grin.
Soon a few sheets of parchment and a ritual knife was brought in. Seeing their faces Houndclaw explained, "This is a special type of parchment that Gringotts uses for these tests. You need to put five drops of your blood on it using a ritual knife and the houses will come up by themselves."
Seeing Hermione's queasy look, Harry decided to go first. He took the knife and pricked his thumb. He let the drops of blood fall on the parchment and was surprised to see the cut he made heal by itself.
The parchment came to life as the final drop of blood fell on it. Houndclaw took it and started reading. Slowly his expression showed his own surprise.
Finally, he said, " Mr Potter you don't do things by half it seems. You have been identified as an heir to the houses Slytherin and Gryffindor alike. Also, the Slytherin house was rumoured to have roots in the Peverell house but somehow it never came on the parchment. Today it seems magic has decided for a different outcome."
"You don't gain any considerable wealth from the houses. But what you do get is invaluable knowledge. All three house vaults contain many books that are thought to be lost in time. Many rare tomes that have even rarer arts described in them." As Houndclaw said this, Hermione turned to Harry and did her best puppy dog eyes expression to date. Of course Harry couldn't resist and agreed to let her have a look at them.
Hermione, seeing the prospect of inheriting books, braced herself and pricked her finger with the knife, letting the blood fall on another parchment. Houndclaw again read it and his eyebrows rose.
"Well Ms Granger, it seems you'll be getting even more books. You have been deemed an heir of Ravenclaw house and thus inherit more books than all of Mr Potter's books combined." That did it. Hermione fainted on the spot and if it wasn't for Harry's quick reflexes, would have hurt herself.
A click of a finger from Houndclaw brought Hermione back to her senses. A squeal later, both the children asked Houndclaw to continue.
"Mr Potter, Ms Granger now we have to see how to go about your training. It's not easy to take on Albus Dumbledore, both magically and politically, without serious planning. Politics would be taken care of easily, Ms Arms would handle that. Your magical training, on the other hand, requires some testing. We have to measure how powerful you both have the potential to become and which magic would suit you two the best."
Harry and Hermione grinned at the prospect of learning more magic but were slightly nervous in case they didn't have much potential. Houndclaw then asked a goblin to bring the required material for the test which consisted of a big bowl with a swirling white liquid inside.
"Now you two will have to add a single drop of blood and we shall know all about your magic." Houndclaw instructed.
This time Hermione stepped forward first. She added the blood and slowly the liquid in the bowl started rising, its colour changing. After the liquid had stopped rising, the two children marvelled at the sight in front of them.
The liquid, white as it was, now had separated in multiple spheres of many colours. They could literally feel the magic palpable in the room. There was a dark, almost black sphere on one side. While a bigger sphere, about one and a half times the size of the black sphere, was white. There were many golden coloured spheres while small blue specks danced around. Houndclaw whispered a few words and the spheres combined slowly forming numbers.
"You see Ms Granger. The spheres represented your magic. The black sphere was the magic related to the so called dark magic while the white sphere was for the light one. The blue specks showed your higher than average affinity to defensive spells while the golden sphere meant you would have little to no difficulty learning in healing spells." Houndclaw explained. Hermione was quite happy with the result. She had always wanted to help people with their injuries. It came with having doctors for parents.
Houndclaw continued, "The number shows your magical index. It is a rather delicate charm we goblins have made to measure an individuals magic. A muggle has a magical index of zero while a squib may have an index between 0 and 50. Your average wizard has an index of about 200."
Hermione was visibly saddened at this. The sphere showed the number 170. She hated being below average but just held her emotions. Harry was quick to be at her side, saying words of comfort. Houndclaw seeing her reaction quickly explained, " Ms Granger, this is an excellent index. You are still very young and your magic is developing. On general trends, it is seen that your magical index doubles from your age to magical maturation that is seventeen years of age."
Hermione brightened at this. Her smile that came up made Harry happy too. Houndclaw waved his hand and the liquid returned to the bowl turning white again. Harry then went up to repeat the process. The liquid rose up and started to change colours.
In Harry's case, the white and black sphere were almost of the same size. There were two big red and blue spheres, and specks of grey danced around this time.
"You Mr Potter have an equal affinity for light and dark magic it seems. The red sphere shows the offensive magic affinity while the blue one as you know shows defensive magic. It is not a great surprise seeing how your parents were prodigies in their subjects. The grey specks are rare. They show a small affinity to runic magic. It is not a very well researched branch but powerful in its own right." Houndclaw explained and then spoke a few words again.
The spheres joined to show his magical index and as they formed the number, three gasps of surprise echoed through the room. A number 306 glowed brightly.
"M...Mr. Potter, you don't do things by half, do you? You are likely to go down in history with that much magic. I should probably inform you this, we at Gringotts have estimated the magical index of famous wizards. Merlin must have had an index of about 1000, the highest ever seen. The Hogwarts founders would have been in the range of 850 to 900." Houndclaw informed them, their jaws slowly dropping.
"Albus Dumbledore has a documented magical index of 618. The dark lord, we estimate, has an index of about 700." Houndclaw said.
Harry couldn't believe this. He was going to be about as powerful as Dumbledore. And he was not as much behind Voldemort. As his eyes rolled back at his head, only one thought went through his mind before he fainted.
'Why can't I be normal for once, why can't I be just Harry?'
AN: Hey readers! Its been a while I know but exams and fics don't add up well. On a better note, the bashing that follows is easier to write and much more enjoyable. Don't forget to Read and Review