A New Tournament

by killgore444

A gift from the future provides a little bit of hope in a time of need. OP Harry, Ron and Hermione, but with a plausible background to support it. No bashing, even of disliked characters.

8. Chapter 8 Ramifications

A New Tournament

Chapter 8: Ramifications

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this. All rights reserved to the respective owners of Harry Potter and Stargate: SG1. If I did own any of it, it would have gone very differently.

And probably been not as good.

Summary: A gift from the future provides a little bit of hope in a time of need. OP Harry, Ron and Hermione, but with a plausible background to support it. No bashing, even of disliked characters.

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Over twenty thousand words of story, so I really hope no one complains about the 4,000 words of authors notes. If you don't like the notes, skip them.

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Really sorry about the time since last posting, but like a huge number of other people, I've been caught up in what's going on in Ukraine. The first six months I did nothing but binge watch websites with news about it, and I've given over two thousand dollars to help with various charities (which is pretty much my limit on money to spare), so writing fanfiction was very low priority for the past year. As a result, my normal habit of rereading the chapter twenty to thirty times and adding or changing things to make them flow better (or last ditch attempts to spot spelling/grammar errors) was dropped to about five or six. And most of those were to alternate PoVs at the beginning and end.

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Two alternate PoVs at the end of the chapter, one of them really long. And the second one is a PoV from Stargate:SG1, but probably NOT who you are expecting.

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Dr Phillip Granger was not having a pleasant morning. He'd woken up at five thirty in the morning for his morning run, just like every day since he left the military. Unfortunately, he hadn't even made it out of the house when a strange man, wearing clothes that were at best described as odd, had shown up on his door step.

He hadn't driven there. He had literally shown up on his door step. As in teleported.

It hadn't taken very long for the man to explain that he was a magical law enforcement officer, or a Auror as they were called, and that there had been an… …incident at Hogwarts that involved his daughter. Who was now in their medical wing. He'd quickly woken up his wife, and while she was getting dressed, called their partners at the clinic to let them know Hermione had been injured, and neither he or Emma would be in, and asked them to take their patients for the day.

So here they where, standing outside of the gates to a castle after a gut wrenching trip from a hula hoop after the man double checked to make sure they had their anti-anti-muggle charm tokens with them (they never took them off). Standing next to them was another couple, presumably parents of another student as well as two different Aurors, both watching and watching over them. The other couple had already been here awhile when his wife and him had shown up, and apparently hadn't been escorted here, so were likely magical.

Listening to them 'discuss' things with the Aurors, it was clear that they had known something was wrong without being told by anyone, something about a magical clock, and that they had actually shown up MUCH earlier prepared to help protect the school. But they had not been able to get on the grounds due to the 'Wards' activating and closing the school off. Neither the Aurors or Headmaster felt that it was a good idea to allow anyone in until the grounds had been completely cleared and their identities had been confirmed.

It was several minutes before a rather large fellow approached the gate. He easily topped two meters and had a wild, bushy beard and an almost feral look, except that he also seemed friendly, if cautious at the moment. A quit word in the ear of his wife, imploring her to remain calm and listen to everything said. It was much easier to gather information if you didn't keep interrupting people after all. He was pretty sure Emma wasn't paying any attention to him though.

As the man (giant?) got to the gate, he pulled out a piece of paper and; "Err, hi I suppose. I've been tol' to ask you a few questions, confirm you are who you say you are. Now, Molly, when was the firs' time you got a letter from McGonagall 'bout the twins?"

The redheaded woman looked at the man, and in a rather resigned voice said: "Including their acceptance letter? If not the third day after their first year started. Before you ask, they had somehow managed to sneak tacks onto the chairs at the staff table." It was at this point that Phil finally recognized the other couple as the parents of Hermione's friend Ron that they met shopping for her second year.

The giant then turned to him and Emma; "What did McGonagall transform as a demonstration of magic? And what did she turn it into?"

That had been a rather memorable event Phil thought to himself as Emma spoke up; "She turned a kitchen chair into a lion. May we see our children now?"

With that, the giant man touched the gate and it swung open. Phil assumed the magic recognized him, it would have been horrifying to find out that all someone had to do to open it was touch it. The castle was truly a grand sight, and it was understandable why Hermione loved it so much. She was a history buff he thought, and her school was a beautiful part of history.

As they got closer however, that beauty started to take a darker turn. There were several, thankfully sheet covered, bodies on the grounds. The entrance way seemed demolished, from the inside out, with debris spread out across the grounds at least a hundred meters from the entrance. Large swathes of the ground were charred and grass-less, and one place had what looked like a giant blob of goo, shaped like a oversized scoop of ice cream with another body suspended inside, almost dissolved to it's skeleton and a white mask. More Aurors were walking about, as well as others in different colored robes, taking pictures with old fashioned cameras and doing what Phil assumed was some sort of magical forensics.

Ron's parents clearly recognized the mask as he heard the man mutter 'Death Eater' under his breath even as the woman was looking at the burnt areas and asking how someone could use 'Fiend Fire' on a school with children inside. At the staircase leading up to the front entrance, they could see even more damage, with the doors, and the surrounding stone work, blown off, large cracks in a spiderweb pattern leading out from that destroyed doorway. The balcony at the top step had it's presumably stone railing blown off and several areas looked melted.

Just inside the entrance, they saw someone that could only be Professor Dumbledore based on the way Hermione had described her teachers, his robes, looking as if Liberace had become a wizard, particularly standing out amongst the dismal setting. Turning towards them with a sad and resigned (but thankfully not pitying) look, he spoke; "Mr and Ms Granger, Molly, Arthur, if you'll follow me to the Hospital wing." With that he turned and held up his arm to indicate direction. "I apologize for any abruptness you may have encountered, but under the circumstances, I did not feel like taking any chances with safety."

"What are the circumstances Headmaster? According to our 'Clock', Ron died five times." Ron's father said, making him wonder what exactly was considered normal for the magical world. Evidently Dumbledore seemed to think this was somewhat odd as well from the surprised look he shot Mr Weasley. "It kept jumping between dead and mortal danger for over fifteen minutes. Fred, George and Ginny was at threatened for the same time and jumped to mortal danger at the end, before Ron's hand dropped to injured and the other three dropped back to threatened." He paused to gather himself, "As soon as the hands shifted, I tried to floo here, but the grates were sealed and the outer wards had been brought up. I could see fighting, but couldn't get in to help. Molly had woke up Percy, and then she came here while Percy headed to the office in case the Aurors hadn't been notified."

"Helpful that was." A new person said out of the shadows. A middle aged witch with a Sherlock Holmes style pipe in her mouth stepped into the light. "Albus."

"Amelia, you are of course aware of who Arthur and Molly Weasley are, but this is Doctors Phillip and Emma Granger. They are Hermione's parents." Turning to them; "This is Madam Amelia Bones, head of magical law enforcement for Great Britain." Turning back towards her; "How did questioning Barty go?"

With a glance at the four of them she replied while turning towards the hospital wing herself, but seemed to decide either this was something they should hear, or that it getting out couldn't hurt the case. "Poorly. He has training in Occlumency, which is how he was able to remain undetected posing as Moody, and makes veritserum unreliable, but we did get some things. His father has been arrested for breaking him out of Azkaban, apparently only about a month or two after he chucked him in there to begin with. We recovered the real Moody, thankfully alive, but he's going to be even more paranoid after this. We also figured out what went wrong with his original plan. We owe Dobby and Winky a great deal here."

"They knew what was going on?" The Headmaster asked, and then drew in a breath, "Of course they knew!"

"Actually, from what Barty said, ALL the House Elves knew. They've been actively working against him all weekend. Although Barty has no clue why they didn't inform you or any of the Aurors stationed here. And evidently, both Cedric and one of my Aurors had gotten a warning from Sybill earlier that day, as did Karkaroff and Maxime. So Proudfoot made sure the other Aurors were on extra high alert and Diggory had gotten everyone in Hufflepuff to be on the look out as well. Your guest Headmasters made sure their students were up and somewhat prepared, although we got extremely lucky in that the Death Eaters didn't put much effort going after them as you'd think considering they're out on the grounds. As it stands, virtually all of the Aurors on duty last night reported odd occurrences that led them to be, if not in optimal positions, prevented them from being sub-optimal positions when the Death Eaters made their presence known. And a majority of that can be attributed to House Elves." She said, and after a brief pause with them exchanging a look, asked; "How did it go on your end?"

"I had Minerva contact the board of Governors, to let them know before the Prophet prints the story and to let them know I'll speak with them tomorrow. It's leaving things a little late, but I think the rest of the day will be rather busy. All students and staff have been accounted for, as has all Aurors on site. Miraculously, there was no fatalities among them, and very few serious injuries, all of the injured Aurors have been sent to St Mungos. The only injuries on the student side of things was Harry, Ron and Hermione." The last was said with a look of apology back towards them. "I've gotten memories from almost everyone involved in defending Hogwarts except the children and have spent the last couple of hours reviewing them, if not in great detail, so I have a rough outline of what happened for everyone except Hermione. She refuses to say anything about what happened to her. She did tell Auror Shacklebolt that she will only tell myself, you, Harry, Ron and her parents. Plus one other." Again he said that looking at them, even as he was addressing Madam Bones. "Other than defusing the situation at the entrance to the Gryffindor dormitory, I've spent the rest of the time helping the rest of the staff and Aurors search the castle and grounds for stragglers."

After a brief pause, "I also had to deal with an additional quest that Dobby personally brought in." he added in a subdued voice as he opened the door to what could only be the Hospital wing.

"How did Dobby get…" Madam Bones started to say, but cut off at a shake of Dumbledore's head.

There were about a dozen beds with kids of various ages in them, six visible Aurors, two people who Phil decided had to be school nurses or doctors. And in a separate corner, off by themselves was Hermione laying in a bed and two other boys sitting on the two adjacent beds whispering to each other. Sitting on the bed with Ron was an adult witch listening to them speak to each other. Her presence was clearly not anticipated by Madam Bones or the Weasleys. As both Mr Weasley and Madam Bones sent looks at Dumbledore while Emma and Mrs Weasley hurried over. "As I said," the Headmaster stated, "Dobby brought in an additional quest."

Bones just looked perturbed, but Arthur Weasley looked very uncomfortable with her presence. "Why is she here Albus?" he asked.

"Because your son is facing very serious charges Arthur. I assume Harry asked Dobby to fetch her to help defend Ron from being made a scapegoat by the pureblood elite." The Headmaster stated as they walked over, shock showing on Arthur's face. "Ms Zabini, I believe you know most of us here, these are Ms Granger's parents, Doctors Phillip and Emma Granger. Doctors, this is Ms Zara Zabini. Ms Zabini is the best Barrister in Magical England."

As she stood up to shake their hands, Phil got a close look at her. She was a coldly beautiful woman, with long black hair and a face that seemed set perpetually in a cruelly humorous look of superiority. After shaking his and Arthur's hands, she reached out to Dumbledore. "Professor, my clients were just telling me a most fascinating tale. Did you really give permission to an escaped convict to place all the students under the unforgivables?" Yep, Phil thought, his first impression seemed accurate.

Unperturbed, the Headmaster seemed to fully expect her question. "I gave permission to Professor Alastor Moody to place those of third year and above, who had permission from their guardians, under the imperious curse as a means to help them train to recognize when they, or their friends are under it, and to give them a boost in fighting it off. At no time did I suspect Alastor was being impersonated by someone using polyjuice potion," he replied with a obviously fake smile.

"I take it that is your probable defence of Ron Weasley's actions?" Madam Bones said.

"Well, he was noted by a majority of the students and teachers acting in an unusually hostile manner towards his friends for over a week prior. Correct me if I'm wrong Amelia, but is not lashing out at people one of the signs of being under that curse?"

"It is." Bones answered. "I assume you'll also bring up the fact that Crouch was a known Death Eater, and the… …person Mr Weasley murd… …killed, was in fact spilling secrets of his fellow Death Eaters?"

Now frowning at Bones, Ms Zabini continued, "There are a few additional details, not the least of which that Ms Granger had already stabbed Mr Crabbe with the sword 'Kindness', a Goblin steel blade that has been quenched in basilisk blood, so Crabbe had, at most, a minute or two before a very painful death." Those words caused Phil to look over at his daughter, who seemed flustered at their presence here and her mothers doting.

Phil glanced back at Bones and watched as she processed and a grin started to show on her face. "Fuck it! Works for me!" She finally said much to Zabini's obvious surprise. "Crabbe got off on a defence of being under the affects of the Imperious curse. An obviously fake claim since he seems to have jumped to return to He-who-must-not-be-named's service. That and a hefty bribe to the Minister of the time. So Ron using the same defence has a poetic ring to it. Although don't think for a second a majority of the dark leaning purebloods will go for it. Among many other things, they are also hypocrites. Although I will leap to use anything they do to discredit Ron's defence to reopen their old cases."

Phil was wondering exactly what was going on, but Zabini was smirking at Bones now. "If it helps smooth things over Madam Bones, young Harry has offered to brib… …gift various public institutions an amount equal to what Crabbe offered to help smooth things over and show his remorse all those years ago."

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Harry woke with a start. Something was different. Automatically grabbing his wand, even before his glasses and glancing around, trying to make sense of the curtains and the sounds of people talking and arguing on the other side of them, for a long moment before a rush of memories from the night before hit him. Sitting up quickly he suddenly noticed two additional figures besides Ron and Hermione. One was clearly Dobby, the other was a tallish woman with long black hair and a look of pure amusement on her vaguely familiar face.

Jumping to his feet, but not actually raising his wand, Harry was uncomfortably aware that in his and his friends state, she could already have easily killed them. "Er, hi." he said instead, any shot at eloquence having fled the room long before he woke up. His words must have woken the others, because he saw her gaze shift to them and her smile turn to a slight frown with a look at Ron, and then a sudden slight gasp as Hermione turned to face her.

Shit! Forgot about that. He'd only applied a few basic 'Episkey' spells to close the wounds and stop her from bleeding so the damage was still clearly visible. It was Ron's voice how ever that spoke up next; "Who're you?" He asked in a strained tone of voice that left Harry with little doubt he had his wand pointed at her. Harry however, never glanced away from her.

Dobby however, decided to try and keep things peaceful. "Dobby being introducing the lady barrister, Miss Zara Zabini. Dobby contacted her about an hour ago to work for the Great Harry Potter and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Dobby be noticing many Aurors swarming Hogwarts, and Harry Potter and his friends have many bad wizards as enemies. And since too many Aurors are being ready to take gold instead of evidence when trying to solve crimes, Dobby be thinking that 'The Trio' be needing a barrister, so Dobby be bringing Miss Zabini right here. And Miss Hermione Granger should be noting, Miss Zara Zabini is being one of the people she should be telling what really happened."

Harry finally took his eyes off Miss Zabini to stare at Dobby, for some reason, his mind hooking on to the way he called them 'The Trio.' Looking back at Miss Zabini just in time to see her hold out her hand. "Greetings Mister Potter, as Dobby said, I'm your Barrister now. Nice work with the curtains by the way, but you do know that the right supersensory charms can see through them correct?"

"The 'Avea Apara' I cast should block that. Being on the inside, we can cast them and see through the curtains, but the dome would stop their spells from seeing in." He replied. "Sorry, but this is somewhat unexpected. Normally when things like this happen, we just get sent to the Headmasters office, so I'm… …We're not used to having to deal with barristers and Aurors."

"Do your adventures normally result in bodies littering the school?" she asked.

"You'd probably be surprised." Ron said causing her to snap her head in his direction, as much in surprise at his actual words as to his tone of utter defeat. "Although, this time, it does seem worse than normal."

""Yes" She said slowly, with growing hesitancy in her voice, "Yes this is definitely worse." Shaking her head, she continued with the same tome she started with. "Now, I assume we are in the Gryffindor common room correct? I've never been here before and Dobby popped me in here directly bypassing everywhere else. So I'll need at least a basic run down of what happened and what your involvement was so I can shatter the plan the ass outside the dome has to arrest you three and blame it all on you."

Harry quickly cast a 'One way wall' charm on the curtains, a spell that makes a wall transparent from one side, and looked around the common room. There was several people in the purple robes of an Auror doing the mysterious work of law enforcement, throughout the world, collecting evidence. Along with them, Harry saw Professor McGonagall, but no students, they must have been sent upstairs to their dorms. It was still dark out the windows, so unless they slept the entire day through, it'd only been a few hours since they'd basically collapsed. Professor McGonagall seemed to be arguing with one particular arrogant looking Auror, so he assumed that was who she was talking about.

"Ok, what do you need to know?"

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"If it helps smooth things over Madam Bones, young Harry has offered to brib… …gift various public institutions an amount equal to what Crabbe offered to help smooth things over and show his remorse all those years ago." Those words, coming from the mouth of Ms Zabini seemed almost musical to Harry. The look on Madam Bone's face was priceless. The look on Mr Granger's was less so. Harry hoped he'd understand when it was explained to him later, he didn't want to cause a schism between Hermione and her parents.

Waking up having Blaise's Mum standing over them had been unnerving. Having to tell her what happened was much more difficult than he thought it'd be. Watching her eviscerate the Auror by the name of Dawlish, who wanted to arrest them and throw them into Azkaban was beautiful, although it became clear she would have failed in the face of his obstinacy without Dumbledore arriving in a, not quite visible, but clearly felt, aura of power. It had been awe inspiring in several ways. First, gone was the kindly old man routine that Dumbledore puts on so people forget just how powerful he is. He entered the common room in a storm of anger at what Dawlish was doing, towering over everyone (even though he was normally not the tallest person there), power flowing out from him in nearly tangible waves, a shimmer, like hot air over pavement, was visible to the naked eye. Some of the Aurors in the room actually dived for cover, and all of them had backed up at Least a step or two, with Dawlish falling over backwards, dropping his wand, and proceeding to scooch back until he hit the edge of the spell dome protecting the Trio and Ms Zabini and was forced to stop.

After what seemed like several minutes of heart stopping tension, but was likely only a few seconds, the aura of power seemed to dissipate into nothingness as if it had never been, and the slightly absent minded and kindly old man act was back, the Headmaster ever so politely 'Suggesting' that maybe Dawlish should go out onto the grounds and help his fellow Aurors search the near forest areas, leaving absolutely no doubt there wasn't even a hint of a suggestion involved.

The look of relieve on the other Aurors faces after he left (fled) was in equal measure amusing and disturbing. The fact that they didn't seem to like Dawlish and were bothered by his actions was good, but that they didn't seem to be willing to interfere wasn't. The Headmaster and Ms Zabini shared a look that seemed to communicate something similar, although he was clearly disturbed and or frustrated at her presence, but only said a single word, "Dobby?" Glancing around, Harry noticed the elf was gone, but Ms Zambini simply nodded. "Very well." He continued, "I believe you three are expected in the hospital wing. Aurors Proudfoot and Tonks shall escort you there."

And with that, he left and presumably, the two named Aurors stepped up to escort them. The male, Proudfoot was an older man of indeterminate racial background, and more than his share of scars. It honestly made Harry wonder how anyone was ever fooled by Lockheart, since it seemed like everyone who ever stood up to darkness had scars. The girl was rather tall, and slightly amusing, even if she was trying to be deadly serious. Hair that seemed to shift from neon blue to dark purple to Weasley orange to snow white to jet black in a slowly spiraling cycle. Her Auror robes appeared several sizes to short, as if she had just had a major growth spurt like Ron. And she was the single clumsiest person Harry had ever met. Harry had to wonder how she had survived traveling up and down Hogwarts staircases for seven years as she seemed too familiar with the layout for her to have attended another school.

All three of the adults were quiet on the way down, and all six of them where watching out for any remaining dangers. Once they arrived at Hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had bustled them over to a set of beds set off to the side away from everyone else. As always, when multiple groups with little previous contact meet, new illnesses spring up and as such, there had been something going around the school since the other two schools showed up so there was several students in beds, as well as two other Aurors on guard duty. She quickly ran some diagnostic spells on them and cast several spells on Hermione having breathed a sigh of relief over her injuries looking far worse than they actually were, although she still looked terrible, although Ron got a confused frown when she checked him. She then got the three of them set up with hospital wing bed clothes via switching spells, told them she'd be back in a bit to deal with Hermoine's scars and stepped aside giving the four of them space to talk.

Ms Zabini rather cheerfully set up a set of anti eavesdropping spells while shooing the two Aurors off to the side so they could talk in private, and even asked Harry to duplicate the one way wall spell on the curtain. After that,she started to question them again, but in much more depth. Were before, she just wanted to know enough to be able to confuse and disrupt Dawlish, now she wanted in depth answers. And many of those answers led to even more questions. And those answers led to even more, and many looks of confusion and outrage from her as well. For instance, a comment she'd made about Lucius Malfoy and their readily apparent distrust of him led to a discussion about their second year and Lockheart, the Diary and the Basilisk, with Harry and Ron making a couple of jabs about how Not-Voldemort/Riddle had tried to weaken Ginny's will by offering to kill off several of her tormentors from Slytherian and her managing to resist. Even going so far as to offer to kill Draco as the Malfoy family have been enemies of the Weasleys for generations.

Since her son Blaise was in Slytherian, this one struck close to home for her. Not that Harry was going to push it, she WAS helping them and the two of them where basing what they said on things Riddle had hinted at, but not outright stated and Ginny herself had alluded to, but again, never directly said. Ms Zabini did add Ginny to her list of clients however, payed for by Harry. It was also clear however, that they didn't have enough time to go over everything in detail, so she tried to keep things on track. Harry had to answer a LOT of questions about the weekend and what he'd been up to. And more importantly HOW since he was supposed to be bound to a short distance from school. His reply that he'd left a part of himself behind had received a raised eyebrow (causing Hermione to mutter a Spock joke), but Harry wasn't about to elaborate on that one.

He also claimed he didn't know the reason why Grindelwald had really helped his Mom when she asked, but did make several allusions to all of the Death Eaters claiming Voldemort was the most fearsome Dark Lord of all time when he never even managed to take over a school much less an entire country, were Grindelwald had managed to take over two thirds of the world and had at one point, dueled every single member of the Archmages Council, five at the time, as well as three of the other four Dark Lords active then. And he was actively fighting a war against all nine of them simultaneously, so Grindelwald really wasn't all that impressed with Voldemort, and maybe, just maybe wanted to tweak his nonexistent nose a little.

Harry wasn't sure if she believed him or not, but she didn't have any other explanation and didn't seem willing to push. He did however tell her about being the heir to the Grindelwald line, again leaving out that he was an actual descendant. He also told her about being Sirius's legal heir and that Lucius Malfoy had been robbing him for over a decade and had somehow convinced the Wizengamot to make Draco the heir and for Narcissa to be the regent. When he mentioned how much money the Goblins said Malfoy owed him, she'd admitted to having him as a client, though stated that she had already decided to drop him over the Basilisk issue, so the loss of his ability to pay her wouldn't be a factor.

Hermoine said that Dobby told her to only tell Harry, Ron, her parents, Dumbledore, Madam Bones and now Ms Zabini what happened and she'd prefer to do it all at once, repeating what she'd told the Aurors upstairs in the common room.

For Ron, she got really in depth, he was her actual client here, and the one who would need the most defence. Not helping this matter was that Harry wasn't sure Ron felt he should be defended, although there was no way in Hell Harry was going to abandon him after just getting him back. Zabini did seem to latch on to fake Moody's class on the Unforgivables, and it was clear that was going to be the case she would make. For all Harry knew, it might have even been true.

During all of this, Harry had been intermittently reading his How To book whenever she was questioning the other two, something that caused all three of them and the two Aurors, to look oddly at him (if for different reasons). Having whispered to it the question on how to do what Dumbledore did upstairs with the aura of power. The Book had responded with the title; How to project and Use a Nimbus of the Archmage. It was surprisingly easy to do, and it's effects were rather nice, if somewhat absurd. At it's base, it was essentially a variant of the Servo Stellas spell, which serves to overpower spells cast after and makes them harder to resist and break. But unlike casting the spell twice, which would only use the best or most powerful casting, the Nimbus was compatible with the spell, as well as the Rune of Power which did something similar. Yeah, he was learning this one. There was also several additional effects, such as the illusion of height and an increase to basic charisma and mental affinity.

This was only eight pages long, so took Harry about fifteen minutes to read it AND absorb the knowledge. For shit's and giggles, he passed the book and glasses to Ron, who gave him a really weird look when he did so, when she stopped asking him questions and went back to questioning Harry. Ron passed them to Hermoine when he was done, having figured out at least something about how the glasses worked at least. Who knows, maybe they're legendary items all purebloods knew about. Of course, he'd asked the book in Alterian so Ms Zabini wouldn't know what he said if she heard, and putting on his old glasses so he could see, he noticed the title was in Alterian, so maybe Ron just figured they were glasses of translation or something.

For her part, Hermoine pulled a notebook out of her purse and started to copy the book and right out notes, then passed them back. She at least seemed to be in a better mood now, finding what the book said highly amusing. It was a couple of hours before Dumbledore showed back up with another lady who Harry was positive was Susan Bones's aunt as well as both Ron and Hermoine's parents. Harry quickly surpressed a twinge of jealousy about the absence of Remus and Sirius even though he new full good and well Sirius couldn't be here at all and Remus would likely be having problems with the Aurors. Unbidden, Dobby's comment about several Aurors seeking gold rather than evidence sprung into mind.

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"I'm sure that that will not be necessary Ms Zabini." Dumbledore answered. That was somewhat of a shame, when he'd been asking questions of the Book about things like practical political assassination and how to get rid of Lucius Malfoy and Snape, bribery had come up several times and Harry had been hoping his first foray into that particular skill set would have someone with actual experience overseeing it. Oh well.

"Now, we do need to go over just what you three have been doing all weekend." Madam Bones said.

"Relevance?" Ms Zabini asked.

With an annoyed look at her Bones replied; "If the fact that they've come into center of an episode that has left over two dozen dead bodies spread throughout Hogwarts isn't enough, how about the fact that there as been a nationwide search for them all weekend?" Her words caused Hermione's parents to look up sharply, evidently THEY hadn't been informed of that. "And in at least Harry's case, that search was extended onto the Continent. So do NOT give us any crap about Relevance Ms Zabini! It's entirely relevant and there is absolutely no way that the Wizengamot is going to allow that to go unquestioned."

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Madam Bones was staring down at the bag she was holding (but not in), holding it as far from her body as she could, a look of terror on her face as she seemed unable to decide if her mouth should remain open or closed and Dumbledore was looking off to the side of the room pinching the bridge of his nose. "How many basilisks did you say was in here again?" she was finally able to get out. Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione's parents, Mr and Mrs Weasley were staring at the bag aghast while Mrs Granger were just looking confused, although Mr Granger was had a look of bemusement on his face as he watched the wizarding adults.

"I'm not really sure." Harry answered, "Well over a hundred, but only about half are full adults, the rest are juveniles. There's also about the same number of young… What do you call child snakes? Anyway, about the same number of babies to children not quite up to juvenile age."

"Um, Harry…" Mr Weasley started before cutting off and rethinking what he was going to say. "Harry, a little over a century ago, there was a group of a little over thirty people who started a group that specialized in killing basilisks. Do you know how how many they killed?"

Harry was saved from having to say something when Mr Granger said "I'm going to guess somewhat less than a hundred from the way you are all looking at the bag."

"Seven Dr Granger." Dumbledore said before looking back at Harry. "Over a twenty year period they killed seven of the things before the four survivors finally gave up, their last mission having killed twelve of their compatriots Harry. If there are indeed over one hundred basilisks, juvenile or not, in that bag Harry, you have very close to doubled the number of basilisks provably killed in the entire recorded history since their creation was invented." Dumbledore seemed to pause before, lips twitching, added, "Of course, the Ministry offers a hundred thousand galleon bounty on any basilisks killed, so…"

"You might have to wait on collecting the prize money Harry." Madam Bones said seeming to finally be coming out of her shock. "The Ministry really doesn't have that much money available to it. Of course that will give Ms Zabini here an additional defence for you since any attempts to go after any of you three can simply be made to look like an attempt to not have to pay up. They'll also try and claim juveniles aren't adults, so should be worth less."

"Does that mean the one I killed down on the chamber will be worth more? It was after all, a thousand years old. And had lived all that time leeching off the ward structure of Hogwarts, so was arguably worse than a normal, if really over sized basilisk."

"That thing really was immense." Ron added. "I really wouldn't be surprised if you were able to walk down it's throat without even being to touch the roof of it's mouth at the time Harry."

"I stabbed it the brain through the roof of it's mouth Ron." Harry replied, "I was able to reach it. Actually, WAS I ever paid for that one? I didn't know about any award, so never thought to ask."

"That's actually a good point Mr Potter." Ms Zabini said before turning to Madam Bones, "And I assume they'll be no issue with paying Harry for any of the unknown spells he demonstrated or taught people during the battle."

"I had the Ministry deposit it directly into your account at Gringotts Harry. And the defense from the Killing Curse alone has a well known, five million galleon reward for inventing. Any attempt to not pay out would result in riots should it be discovered." Dumbledore answered with a snort as, much to Harry's surprise, Percy Weasley walked into the infirmary and said something to Proudfoot and Tonks.

"When you're examining them," Harry said to Madam Bones, pointing at the bag. "Be careful. They were all under the influence of Felix Felicis. The set up Voldemort had set up actually had the eggs in Felix Felicis when the toad was sitting on them."

It was at that that Percy got to them with Bones not sure if she should address Harry or Percy, who was looking VERY upset, but it was Percy who next spoke, cutting off all other discussion. "Fudge just had Mr Crouch Kissed. Both of them actually. Him and his son."

The simultaneous shouts of outrage and surprise from not just the Weasleys, but Proudfoot, Tonks, Dumbledore and Bones was very loud. "He doesn't actually have the authority to do that does he?" Hermione asked.

"No! No he does not!" Ms Weasley stated.

"Iffy on Junior." Bones said, "He was technically speaking an escaped convict."

"Was he?" Dumbledore asked. "If my memory serves, Barty Crouch Senior remained head of Magical Law enforcement for just under a year after he sent his son there. If he sprung him within that time frame, than Barty might have actually quietly used his legal authority to have him removed."

"If so, than Fudge committed murder." Tonks said out loud. "Actually he committed murder with Barty Senior irregardless, since he hadn't been found guilty by the Wizengamot."

"Kind of like Sirius." Both Harry and Ron muttered together causing all three of the law enforcement to look at them. But before anyone could ask, the Minister chose that moment to enter the infirmary escorted by Dawlish, grins of triumph on their faces.

Before either one of them could say anything however, Bones looked at the other two Aurors. "Proudfoot, Tonks, place the Minister under arrest for the illegal kissing of two untried suspects." She said very loudly so the others Aurors who were standing guard before they arrived would also hear (along with all the other kids in the infirmary).

Fudge immediately began to sputter, but Dawlish got mad enough to get stupid. "The Minister doesn't need the Wizengamot to have convicts Kissed Bones." He said with a sneer. "And you know it. Now stand aside. You're likely to be replaced after this, you don't want to get arrested as well."

"You'll find John," Dumbledore said, "that you are quite incorrect regarding both the authority of the Minister in this regard, but also the status of either of the Crouches regarding being convicts. Indeed, just yesterday, Barty Crouch Senior was a member in high standing of the Wizengamot, I'm quite sure him even standing trial would have been noted in the Prophet, much less the Chief Warlock, myself, being informed."

"DAWLISH!?" A new voice yelled from the doorway as a tall male Auror who reminded Harry very much of a stalking lion entered alongside another black man who was also an Auror, both looking rather perturbed at Dawlish. "What exactly are you doing? You were told to help out on the grounds."

"I'm fulfilling my duty!" Dawlish yelled. "Unlike you lot!"

Harry saw red at that point. With a mental shift to the left, he had just read about, Harry called forth an Nimbus of the Archmage. "Fulfilling an attempt to garner gold from a Death Eater you mean!" Harry growled, voice trembling with thunder looking down at the suddenly small Dawlish. Harry winced at himself, this was far to theatrical for his taste, but it seemed to make his point as everyone else in the room except for Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore all stepped back (Harry saw several of the other students who had been watching things since Percy walked in fall out of their beds).

"Did you think we wouldn't fight back you bloody moron?!" Ron shouted from Harry's right side, his own nimbus sparkling, his already tall form now towering over everyone in the room by a wide margin, smoke twirling from his body and hair waving with the shimmer making it look like flames. Hermione with her own nimbus up was on Harry's left side, but she said nothing, her aura highlighting her scars and hair, giving her a wild, dangerous look.

Dawlish Harry noticed, was once again on the floor, trying to crawl away. At least he was on his back, keeping his eyes on them as he scooched away. Fudge didn't even have that much dignity, crawling away on his knees. Shaking his head, Harry began to understand how people like Voldemort could so look down on other people. With that thought, Harry mentally shifted back to the right, and drew the nimbus back within himself.

Dumbledore summoned the wands from Dawlish and Fudge even as Hermione and Ron withdrew their own auras and handed them to Madam Bones. Slowly, she turned from the three of them and looked back at Dawlish. "Shacklebolt, Tonks! Place the Minister under arrest like I said earlier. Place John Dawlish in holding until we can determine if he had anything to do with the illegal Kissing of two suspects. Irregardless, his days in law enforcement, much less as a Auror, are over. Rufus?"

With a shake of his lions mane, the tall Auror took his wary eyes off Harry and looked at Bones. As Hermione was climbing back into bed, Ron sitting at the foot of her bed and Harry sitting on his own, he began to talk. "We were able to identify that thing we found in the corridor. It was Skeeter. Turns out she was an unregistered animagus, dung beetle to be exact. Appears she got injured, tried to transform and got stuck midway. She then took a piece of falling masonry to the head. Death was likely instantaneous after that, but she was crawling around for sometime before that. The blow to her head was likely NOT an accident. She has a cut on her shoulder consistent with a Sectum Hex. Looks like she had a bag. We suspect she had seen one of the Death Eaters faces, or had been following one of them in bug form when they attacked and he killed her and took any evidence she had had on her before killing her."

"So in addition to everything else, the Prophet will be after us for not protecting their reporters despite the fact that she was illegally using unregistered alternate forms.?" Bones sighed, pinching her nose.

"Oh no Ma'am. They're going to be flying off their collective handles claiming we're lying over the fact that two of their other reporters were wearing Death Eater robes and had wands that showed evidence of using the killing and pain curses."

"Two of them? Any chance of being able to round up all of them as suspects?"

With a smirk, the other man answered, "If it'd been their old chief in charge, then I'd say we do it anyway. But the new guy in charge over there hasn't had enough time to fall under the thumb of Malfoy or his ilk yet, so I'd say let's not give them a reason to speed that up. Especially with the way they've been covering the Malfoy family all weekend, it doesn't seem like Lucy is anywhere close having hooks in him yet. Of course with Moody of all people having been switched out with a fake, and it being a fake that arrested the brat, it's likely the runt will get off."

Harry jerked in surprise at that, Draco got arrested? He glanced over at the other two, surprise clearly visible on their faces as well. "I'll be finished here in a bit, tell everyone I'll hold a Press conference at three this afternoon." Bones said dismissing him.

As he was walking away, Percy looked at her, "If the Minister has been arrested, does that mean his firing me isn't valid?"

"Unfortunately, he actually didn't need a reason to end the employment of anyone at the ministry. I'm pretty sure whoever replaces Crouch will understand why a junior member of his team wouldn't have recognized that he had been replaced and will be willing to hire you back though."

With a look of resignation, Percy nodded. "Actually Percy," Harry began, "You got all outstandings on your NEWTs right?" With a nod from his head Harry pulled a vial of the potion from his pocket. "This is a sample of Felix Felicis I got out of the birdbath Voldemort was using as a basilisk incubator. As you can see, there is shell and scale fragments and maybe other contaminants in it. Any chance you can figure out what affect it'll have on the potion?"

"I'm not a Potions Master Harry." Percy said, with a frown, clearly complimented Harry thought that highly of him, but thinking he had to turn him down.

"True! But I only know two. Professor Dumbledore is clearly to busy, and I have zero trust in Snape."

"Professor Snape!" Dumbledore said.

"I'll call him professor when he acts like one." Harry said. Turning back to Percy, "Anyway, like I said, no trust in Snape. I know you were dating that Ravenclaw girl last year, Penny? And I know you're good at research like most Ravenclaws are, so I'm willing to pay both of you a descent amount if you need to bring her into it. If not, I'm also planning on hiring someone to do research on all the new astronomy discoveries made by muggles in the last couple of years, and what affects they'll have here on Earth in regards to magic. But maybe, just maybe, what affects the planets, including Earth will have on magic performed in space or on other planets within the solar system."

"Planning on building a space ship there Mr Potter?" Mr Granger asked, half in jest, half clearly curious.

"Already have the plans for a gate-ship and the materials. Getting the more specialized equipment for certain parts together now, and have already began construction of the hull. Programming it, and testing it will be an issue, but I'll work that out when I come to it. And if it looks like it'll be a no go on space flight, knowing the affects on magic of all the little planetiods and major meteorites will have will still be worthwhile. Let me know what you need for lab space, I'll work something out."

"Thank you Harry!" Percy said, putting the vial into a pocket on his upper robe, "Neither of us will let you down." With that, Percy walked away, clearly noticing Madam Bones and the Headmasters desire to continue their interrogation.

With a look at Mr and Mrs Weasley, Dumbledore sighed, "Molly, Arthur, I'm going to have to ask you to step away for a bit. Ms Granger has some questions that she needs to answer and she's made it quite clear who she'll answer in front of."

With a nod of their heads, they walked away and Dumbledore cast a series of privacy spells, all of which Harry was surprised he recognized. "Were did you three learn to do that?" he asked, voice gentle but firm. "And if you knew, why haven't you used it before?"

"We didn't know before." Harry answered. We were just really impressed with how you handled Dawlish earlier, so we figured if we could learn how to do that, we'd have a lot fewer problems from people like Malfoy. Well, Draco anyway, Lucy would still make himself be a git."

"So that's what you three were passing each other earlier." Ms Zabini said, reaching down to Hermione's bed and picking up her notebook. "You three were figuring out how to do what the Headmaster did earlier. What language is this? Some of these Runes I recognize, most I don't." She asked, awe coming through in her voice.

Harry wondered if it was the first time she'd shown an honest emotion that wasn't amusement at another persons mistakes. "It's Alterian. The language of Merlin." He answered even as he watched Dumbledore take the notebook and start to look through it. "I have a couple of books written by Marin, daughter of Emrys Myrddin Wyllt and his wife, Marion Myrddin Wyllt nee Caledonensis in my family vault. Together they formed the legend of Merlin."

Harry saw everyone's jaw drop again and smirked. "And why exactly would you have such historically important and valuable documents in your family vault Harry?" Bones asked, edge creeping into her voice.

"Probably because she put them there when she married Ignotus. It was after all, his family vault. And if you think for a second I'm going to give up a family heirloom of that magnitude, you're very much mistaken." Harry said, allowing an edge to creep into his own voice to equal Bones's. "It's so ironic that the individual everyone in the magical world idolizes to the point of deification, to the point that all four houses claim him as a member of their own house despite the fact that he was alive five hundred years before Hogwarts was built, wasn't even a wizard. He was a muggle pretending to be a wizard. The Great and all powerful Merlin, was playing a prank on the entire magical world. A prank his wife, who was in fact a Witch, aided and abetted him in." Harry continued laughing, "According to Marin, her father always maintained that he wasn't even human, but was a race known as Alterian. She wrote her books in the language he taught her. That and Nox, a different race, which he also taught her."

"Ignotus Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"The same one we kind of discussed before Crouch made himself known last night." Harry answered noticing Ron's start of surprise as the name Ignotus clicked with him.

"You have an exceptional lineage Harry." Ms Zambini said, "It's almost a shame I have a son instead of a daughter."

'You have know idea' Harry thought to himself even as he said out loud, "Even though my Great Grandparents, the the parents of Charlus Potter, were a muggle RAF pilot from America and a squib daughter of a dying line?" Harry asked, watching her jerk in surprise. "My Grandfather was adopted into the Potter line by Fleamont and Euphemia Potter after their son Harold had been killed in a German bombing, and that the son of a recently deceased war hero named Lt Harold Potter had been born with magic. His mother was a squib from the line of Ignotus. I believe they always pretended that Charlus was the son of their own son Harold. And any spells to detect lineage would come back with the name Harold Potter now that I think about it."

"Technically speaking Harry," Mr Granger said, "You'd actually be an American citizen then."

Hermione's "DAD!" was simultaneous to Madam Bones groan.

"While this is truly fascinating, and I do mean that. But unfortunately, I have a lot to do at work today and evidently Ms Granger here will only answer me out of all the other law enforcement here. So Hermione, what the hell happened to you."

"Nothing." Hermione said. "Nothing happened, it's all fake. At least for me. Winky and Dobby said that there was bad people making bad people plans and that a lot of good people would die horribly if the wrong things happened. So they devised a plan to make sure that the wrong things didn't happen. But part of that was making the bad people waste time looking for other bad people and to blame these non existent bad people for any interference to their plans. Their words, not mine." Hermione said when she got strange looks. "So I spent the weekend in the hidden library of Rowena Ravenclaw reading her journals and practicing acting the part of a traumatized and abused girl. Hopefully I did a good enough job that anyone working for You-Know-Who will be wasting time trying figure out who kidnapped me rather than spending more time plotting ways to bring down the Ministry."

"All of my injuries were very carefully made to make me look as ragged and pathetic looking as possible when I showed back up. So if you could, don't let on that that's what's going on to anyone at the Ministry." She said, looking directly at Madam Bones.

Harry looked over at the adults and suddenly realized something. They had actually been concerned about them. Harry had fully expected the Grangers and Weasleys to have been concerned about their children, but this was the first time Harry really understood that most of the adults in Harry's life actually cared for him personally. Not just as a student or the friend of their son, but actually CARED what happened to him. To them all.

Ron's sudden exclamation brought Harry's thoughts back to the real world. "That's what Dobby meant! Dobby, he said something about trying to get 'The Boss Lady' to have Nymphy and Kingly to act out an investigation for Missy." He said before looking at Madam Bones and asking "Do you have anyone who could match those names too?"

"Yyyeeesss… Yes I do. If you'll excuse me, in addition to everything else, I now have a pair of Aurors to brief on a completely fake investigation they'll be pretending to run." With that, she turned around and walked away rubbing her forehead. Harry was watching her as Madam Pomfrey handed her what appeared to be a pain relieving potion as she was walking past her. Harry wondered if she even remembered what she was carrying in the bag anymore.

Harry looked back at Dumbledore just as he asked Hermione, "Dobby?"

"I dealt with Winky mostly, but yes, Dobby. Why? I take it he's had other interactions with people other than us three?"

"Oh, yes Ms Granger, yes he has. If you'll excuse me, I to need to make it look like I'm getting ready for an investigation into the events of your kidnapping in addition to everything else. Perhaps when we're done after this is all over, you'll be kind enough to show me to Ravenclaw's Library. Unless you have recently found out that you are descended from Rowena."

"You'd have to ask Dobby and Winky. They said the only way in or out was through Apparition/disapparition. Hey, Harry, Ron, let's start looking for any secret Rooms Gryffindor or Hufflepuff left."

"For Godric Gryffindor, you need look no further than my office Ms Granger. As for Helga Hufflepuff, if you do find anything, please let me know." With that, Dumbledore turned to walked away but was stopped by Harry.

"Professor?" Harry began, "What school am I competing for?"

The Headmaster turned back and answered, "Rivers End from the States Harry. Why do you ask?"

"It just seems like if I'm representing a different school, I should at least know it's name, and maybe something about. Who knows, not looking like a Hogwarts student might help sooth people over the whole two competitors from one school thing."

"I shall contact my colleague Chief Ironfeather as soon as possible then Harry. If you'll excuse me." With that, he turned and walked away, also snagging a pain relieving potion from Madam Pomfrey as he left.

As soon as the Headmaster was out the door, they were joined by Mr and Mrs Weasley and Madam Pomfrey, who was carrying a suspiciously large number of vials on a tray. This was going to be an even longer day than he'd thought when he woke up.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

It was Tuesday, and the three of them were sitting at the table in the Dining Hall, the students had just now been let out of their dorms. After getting healed, Hermione, who much to the surprise of her parents, had asked to keep the scar on her face as she liked the look. When she'd complained about her missing hair however, Ron had come out of nowhere when he offered to restyle her hair. When everyone just stared at him he responded with; "What? You've all met my brothers right? Fred? George? How to make my hair normal again was one of the first bits of actual magic I learned after I got a wand. I woke up far to many times with my hair turned into a turtle shell or something to not learn that spell."

So Hermione was now sporting a buzz cut on one side of her head, over the scarred side, and the other side had much shorter than her old hair, but still not quit shoulder length hair with a lose wave to it, giving her a very punk look making her joke about getting a tattoo. And since most wizards and witches would get scars removed if they could, it made it seem like she now had a curse scar, giving her a more intimidating look. Emphasis on the word more, she still wasn't exactly all that intimidating even then. At least Harry didn't think so. And it was clear Ron just thought she was cute. Glancing around the infirmary, it was pretty clear everyone else around thought she was however. And since they were behind anti-eavesdropping wards, they didn't know it wasn't really a curse scar. Something to think about Harry thought to himself.

Madam Pomfrey had then insisted that all three of them spend the night, and spent a suspicious amount of time dealing with Ron. Harry suspected he knew what had Poppy so concerned with what her spells were detecting from Ron, but there was no way in hell he was going to tell her that Ron had died several times, and it was only his soul and mind transferring to a duplicate that had saved his life. Ron knew, at least Harry thought he did. Since she hadn't actually been attacked, Hermione's parents had opted to not stay the night, and with a, sort of, stern warning to her to be careful, asked Auror Proudfoot to help them return home, and left with the Weasleys.

So they'd spent the night under the same force dome as the night before, much to the irritation of Madam Pomfrey who had had to resort to using a House Elf to apparate in to give them potions and make sure they actually drank them (Harry suspected that was the only reason she'd actually let them leave in the morning).

It did however give the three of them a chance to really talk. It'd been a difficult talk, but they'd managed. Harry had had fun describing his weekend to them, even if he left out a few details like being biologically related to Gellert Grindelwald. Oddly, Ron was mostly interested in the island with the giant bear, although since Harry demonstrated the metal refilling charm, Ron was probably hoping to end his families poverty. Hermione had, of course, been most interested in his new book collection. Both of them had been staggered with how much money he'd spent on books.

But both of them had been beyond staggered when he told them about THE Book and Glasses. Hermione didn't even accuse him of cheating, as long as he let her use them sometime.

She'd been somewhat less thrilled about the girls however. Ron found her reaction rather funny. But unbidden came the memory of day dreaming about Hermione kissing some of the other girls. And Harry had to wonder if he was just imagining some of the odd looks Hermione had given him when he'd described meeting Vanessa, Joan and Lea. Also unbidden, and less welcome came the thought that the potion was capable of altering peoples preferences.

He'd also described some of the other magic he'd learned, and Harry just knew he was going to be roped into teaching them some of it. Most of it likely. It was Ron however that was most interested in the spell that granted someone the knowledge of fictional characters however, not Hermione. He'd wanted to use it to gain the skills of fictional Archmages from books. Hermione had of course poo poo'd the idea, pointing out that the description flat out stated it wouldn't teach you any spells. Ron's response was; "So, there is a lot of other skills regarding magic that have nothing to do with spells. At least not directly. There's tactics and identification of spells. Even if the spell won't teach you the incantation of a spell, it sounds like it'll teach you what spells actually are out there. Then you can ask the How-To Book to learn the incantations. And that's not even going into knowledge about politics or the hidden places of the world. I wonder if any of the places from books that are hidden by a Fidelius that are real and really hidden by a Fidelius that a character knows about, would the spell grant that knowledge as well?"

"But the spell says it takes total concentration though." Hermione said, "How would you retain the knowledge?"

"Not sure about that part. Maybe a memory-skill engram potion like what we used as kids to learn to read and write." Ron had said. "What? You don't think Mum trusted us to go to a muggle school growing up did you? Can you imagine nine year old Fred and George at a school surrounded by muggle kids with them trying to practice calling up accidental magic at will? How about someone like Malfoy? Talk about a disaster waiting to happen."

Hermione had immediately borrowed the book and glasses to learn how to make memory-skill engram potions while they discussed other characters they could learn. Both Harry and Hermione's knowledge of fictional characters worth while for this was limited however. Hermione just hadn't been interested in that type of books when young, and Harry's uncle and aunt had actively prevented him from reading such useless garbage. And what they did know, wouldn't work do to the engrams only copying memories, not the super powers, even if the spell itself granted the powers.

"Listen to this you two." Hermione said, " 'When making this potion, care must be taken to insure that only the skill or knowledge itself is passed on. Any feelings you have, or stray thoughts you think when extracting the skill to be copied may be present in the potion. Such foreign emotions and thoughts will cause headaches and distress in whoever takes the potion. And, especially in the case of children, cause the imbiber to develop thought patterns similar to the person who's memory has been extracted.' It sounds like this would make someone crazy if done wrong. And might explain some of the really messed up believes of the more die hard pure bloods if they were given these as children that hadn't been purged of stray thoughts or emotions."

"Well." Harry said, "The spell does grant you the knowledge from you're own perspective, so any stray thoughts and emotions would be your own, and not foreign. So as long as we only drink it from our own spell enhanced memories, we should be good. I'd actually rather not have some of these skills be available to anyone else anyway. Except maybe Neville, he was after all, the other person Grindelwald said matched the terms of the prophecy, so getting him up to speed would probably be a good idea. I just wish he'd told me what the prophecy actually said. But he won't tell me until I get my Occlumency up to snuff. So, yeah, we need to get Neville in on some of this at least."

"I agree," Ron said. "You two have any ideas about what characters we could learn from muggle fiction? Pretty much every character in wizarding stories is either based on real people or all have the same skills outside of actual magic spells."

"Well, I'd already thought about people from the tellie who keep space ships repaired, like Star Trek or Star Wars. Even if the fictional skills are complete BS, it translates it into real world equivalents. It was how I was planning on making the space ship I mentioned. Maybe healing the muggle way as well, I'm sure there are plenty of doctors in fiction. The one I'm actually curious about is if the spell can grant the skills of a arcade game character. If so, then I'd like to try someone from Mortal Combat. We'd have to practice the physical movements, but having that level of skill fighting would be handy. And even better, I overheard Dudleys friend mentioning once that almost all the characters in that game have magic. That means when the spell translates the skills, it'll have our own magic worked into the hand to hand skill. And maybe it'll allow us to learn characters from the games the girls showed me. Is a game book close enough to a fiction to be considered?"

Hermione popped up with, "Well, most comic book characters aren't useful, since almost all of them have super powers. But Batman would be good. Not only would we get extreme fighting skills, but he's also a trained investigator, which we seem to spend most of the past years trying to figure out what was really going on, with some highly embarrassing mistakes. So having Sherlock Holmes level detective skills would be nice. We could also learn characters from movies like Jason Bourne, or James Bond, or any of the military action flicks from America about their elite forces. Maybe even learn several different characters who specialize in fighting so we get all of their techniques. We could also try and learn some stories from the alien races Harry mentioned. If they travelled to Earth, then their fictional characters would probably have a pretty good basis for actual space travel, leaving less room for interpretation."

And so it went until late in the night when they finally went to sleep, Ron and Hermione sleeping together without even thinking about it. Harry doubted either of them even realized they did it, and had teased them when they woke up, much to their embarrassment. Although Harry noticed them eyeing each other more then normal, and both kept blushing whenever one of them caught the other looking.

Madam Pomfrey had released them, in a somewhat irritated way, but they were escorted back to Gryffindor Tower by Auror Proudfoot, who had returned sometime in the morning. And who had only answered a few of their questions. No, Minister Fudge wasn't still detained (unfortunately), his allies (those he was a crony too) had got him released, although he was being actively kept out of Law enforcement, and had been told rather bluntly that any more interference would result in Aurors treating him as a direct and immediate threat to themselves and others, and cast spells as such. It was also highly likely that Madam Bones was going to call for an election in the coming session of the Wizengamot.

Yes, Draco Malfoy had been arrested after his belongings had been searched and he'd been found in possession of several very nasty and highly illegal items of a dark and sexual nature. He claimed that they weren't his and he was being set up, but it didn't seem like anyone actually believed him. Harry wasn't so sure about that, he personally didn't think Draco was brave enough to try and use anything like that for fear of it not working and having whoever he tried it on beating the crap out of him. Not that it mattered, fake Moody had been the one who did the search, and it was likely that his father would manage to get him off on that alone.

Why yes, there had in fact been a nation wide search for the three of them all weekend long, thank you very much for showing up safely, or at least somewhat safely. Since Proudfoot hadn't been in a position to hear their interrogation, the only Auror who actually KNEW what they'd been up to was Madam Bones herself, he quickly backtracked on his sarcasm not being sure that they hadn't in fact, been kidnapped and escaped.

No, he didn't know why Hermione's parents hadn't been notified, Ron's had known because his Mum had been there when Hermione had gone missing. Yes there was several articles in the Prophet about them. And finally, yes, Aurors would be stationed at Hogwarts for the remainder of the year. And not just those from the British Ministry either, but some from France and Norway (where Durmstrang was located) would be there as well.

With that, they'd got to the Fat Lady's portrait when it dawned on the trio they didn't know the password. A quick, whispered Expositus however, and the Fat Lady blurted out the password, "Bloody fuc'n 'ell" which Ron repeated in the exact same voice and tone the Fat Lady had used. Proudfoot had been staring at them as they had walked in. Clearly he didn't know that spell.

Inside, they'd been greeted to complete silence for over a minute. It was finally broken when Harry, who'd been looking at each small cluster of people in turn, landed on the second year girls, who'd gone very pale and ran screaming up the stairs to their dorm. Proudfoot snorted at that, and left them to go talk to another Auror who was sitting in the corner, causing Harry to wonder if all four houses were getting guardians, or just Gryffindor.

With a nod from Ron at Neville, and then into their corner, Ron walked away to ask Neville to join them. After they joined Harry and Hermione, Harry cast the privacy spells yet again, and Harry had given Neville a VERY edited account of his weekend. With much focus on what Grindelwald had said about the prophecy. Neville had been truly shocked to find out he was a possible candidate for a prophecy and was very grateful to them over being offered some training from them as soon as they figured things out, and he'd suggested that they offer that training to everyone else in Gryffindor as well. "I know you don't like your fame Harry," he'd said, "but like it or not, you three have become the student leaders in Gryffindor. More so than any of the Prefects or Headboys or Girls have ever been. And you three also clearly have skills everyone here needs. Not just me Harry."

After that, he'd gone back over to talk to Dean and Seamus leaving Harry to ponder what he'd said. The elves had brought breakfast and lunch to the dorms, but Dumbledore's voice had come, and he'd said that Dinner would be served in the Dinning Hall that evening. The first time the students had been let out since Sunday night. And so they'd been escorted to the dining hall by Aurors, and yes, the other three houses did in fact have escorts as well. So did the other two schools as well, although their escorts were wearing different colored robes, so Harry assumed those were the Aurors from France and Norway respectively.

It wasn't even remotely surprising that everyone was staring at him. The Prophet had run several more articles about the battle, and they'd featured heavily. The articles had even been surprisingly accurate for the amount of information the paper actually had, MOSTLY avoiding their usual hearsay or reporting their opinions as if they were facts. So, not surprisingly, the three of them had several empty seats around them.

Once everyone was in and seated, Dumbledore had risen, given a short speech about what had actually happened the night of the attack. Thankfully leaving out most details. Most, not all. Harry and Ron had both received special mentions for demonstrating rare spell combinations and casting techniques as well as knowledge of lost or newly invented spells. They were also given special awards for service to the School and in the protection and defense of their fellow students. All told, the two of them received over four hundred points (which curiously, were the only points on the board), special awards, and a promise that their names would make it into the next update of Hogwarts: A History. Harry could only assume Dumbledore was mad at them for some reason because of that, although he supposed Ron would be happy, it was something no one else in his family had achieved.

Dumbledore had then explained what they had learned from Crouch before he'd been Kissed about putting Harry's name in the Goblet and hexing it so it'd think four schools were competing. Why he wanted that was unknown, at least so Dumbledore claimed. But that extra protection beyond what was originally planned for the contestants would be put in place in case he'd just wanted to hurt or kill the contestants.

He then explained that he'd been in contact with Professor Ironfeather from the United States, and was the head of their Department of Magical Education. And that Professor Ironfeather would be arriving the next Monday along with several students from the States even though Harry was already their chosen Champion. And even though Harry was competing for the School 'Rivers End', it was the U.S.'s head of education and Headmaster of the School 'Cliffside' that would be coming due to strange rules enacted by America's DoMRM.

He then explained that the three Headmasters had decided that, despite the fact that the attackers had mostly ignored the other two schools, and only sent a few people to attack them, that there could be no assurance that that would be the case if there was another attack. As such, the students from the other schools would be moving into guest dorms being set up by the House Elves and that Aurors would be manning the battlements for the remainder of the year.

And finally he'd added that classes would be resuming the next morning, and that starting the next day, students would once again be allowed to roam the castle, but were still not allowed out onto the grounds. With that final statement, he'd sat down and summoned the food.

The House Elves had outdone themselves in the quality of the food and taste, yet it was apparent to everyone who'd been here more than a year, that it wasn't up to their normal feast level. Harry wasn't sure if that was because of the short notice to get ready for a feast, or that they were just super busy helping out around the castle. In either way, there wasn't anywhere near the normal level of variety of choices available, but what they did have was very good.

The three of them were quite while eating, only talking amongst themselves a little. And not talking to anyone else at all. For a change, Ron and Hermione were getting stared at more than Harry. Ron for rather obvious reasons, probably the same reasons he seemed so lost in thought. For Hermione, it was probably as much to do with her new look as to all the rumors about what happened to her he could overhear being bandied about between tables. The super-sensory spells came in really handy. Were normally, the whispers were a persistent and unpleasant background noise, now he could actually hear what was being said, and get an idea of just how bad the rumors actually were.

After a few minutes of this, Harry found the need to firm up his new Occlumency shield he'd been working on. He'd started working on Occlumency Saturday night after he'd got back from Nurmengard, so it'd been more than twenty four hours since he'd read the books on Occlumency and tips on how to build mental structures and memory palaces, so the automatic success provided by the glasses was gone, but it still left him with around two thousand hours worth of practice in using those skills. On the other hand, this WAS the first time he had to USE those skills.

Harry began to firm up the walls on the inside and going over his false world/memory palace. One of the books had talked about the pro's and con's of imagining yourself in the world as apposed to remaining an outside observer looking in. For shit's and giggles, he cast Kage Bunshin no Jutsu on his mental self just to see what would happen, making sure to look around in case it created an actual physical duplicate that he'd need to reabsorb before anyone figured out what was going on. He knew there was no chance no one would notice, not with how much they were being stared at, but if it happened fast enough people wouldn't have a clue what had happened.

It didn't create a physical being, but he did get a second mental self. Now he could get the benefits of both being in the construct and looking in from the outside without the disadvantages. He also figured he shouldn't create more than three or four until he knew what the side affects would be, if any. It was weird already Harry decided. Were as a physical duplicate would only grants it's memories to him when they merged, the mental duplicates all shared instantly and completely. It was like Harry had four brains, all working together and sharing instantly, but each able to think and act independently as well.

While he began to shore up his mental defenses, his three duplicates doubled down on doing what had caused Harry to need to shore up his defenses in the first place, and all cast several super-sensory charms. With three of his duplicates, who all had his full mental capabilities, and didn't have to worry about pretending to not be doing something, being the ones who were paying attention to the surrounding conversations, Harry was quickly running out of reasons he should care about his fellow students. He'd about attacked Cormac McLaggen right then and there when he'd overheard a comment from him about how he'd like to do to Hermione what had been done to her as well.

His head HAD snapped up at that causing everyone around quickly look at him, as if trying to decide if they should dive for cover. He had eyes only for McLaggen at that point however. And he tried to make his dislike and anger at him make itself clear in his stare. It seemed to work, as McLaggen had turned his face down and was staring directly at his food for over a minute before one of his fellow fifth years told him he needed to go sit at the far end of the table alone and not speak to anyone anymore. Or better yet, not speak ever again. As McLaggen was walking away, the general conversation had shifted to; "Holy shit, can he HEAR us?" He made a point of looking at each person who said that as almost every single one of them had looked at him as soon as the said it. Most of them stopped talking after that. Something Harry was sure, was noted by both teachers and Aurors in the Hall.

Meanwhile, he was also working some more on his shield. His mental structure wasn't based on Hogwarts like he figured most of the wizards and witches he was likely to have use Legilimency on him would be using. Something one of the books had actually mentioned as being very common. Instead Harry had based his around an 'Astra Portus' from the Alterian language. In order to access his mind, someone would have to navigate through a forest to find a specific clearing. The forest was based on the the Forbidden Forest however, it being the only forest Harry had ever been in. There was a Hogwarts castle in his memory palace, however it was a trap. Filled with death traps and beasts that would rip intruders apart (kind of like his time here). But most people would just assume they needed to find where in the castle his memories were stored.

In actuality, they'd need to go to the clearing that Snape and Quirrell had been talking in when Harry had been watching during his first year. There, they'd find the Ring and control. Like the castle, most of the six point, seven point as they did still need to figure out the origin point tab as well, addresses led to more traps. It was only dialing a specific seven, or eight point, code that would allow them to access his actual memories however. But even this, Harry was working on, and trying to build up defenses on that end as well in case someone figured it out on chance.

It was kind of funny how close his mental images of the Astra Portus he got from reading and learning the Alterian language was to the show 'Extreme Wormhole' and made him stop eating for a minute or so and ponder that. Was it possible that someone had actually discovered an Astra Portus here on Earth and was using it? And if so, why make such a campy show on the tellie about it? "Hermione, add the characters from the show Wormhole Extreme to our list of characters to learn."

"That stupid thing Harry? Why?"

"It's to similar to an actual Astra Portus to be completely a coincidence." On seeing her and Ron's look of confusion, he remembered that they had only been reading the book in Alterian about fifteen minutes or so and hadn't been under the influence of the potion at the time, so probable didn't know what an Astra Portus was. "Err, I'll explain later ok." He said as he saw a couple of people he didn't want to talk to heading his way.

Surprising, it wasn't Malfoy and his Bookends, Crabbe and Goyle, it was his Bookends and Nott, or the Nutbag as most of his fellow Gryffindor fourth years called him. It was also clear, both from the way they were walking, and an overheard bit of conversation that it was Crabbe who was leading this. Malfoy was apparently still on the outs with his fellow Slytherin, and Nott, while clearly the instigator, wasn't in charge. At least not yet. A glance around using a quickly cast super-sensory charm granting three hundred sixty degree vision from one of his duplicates showed that all of the teachers and Aurors had noticed, and two Aurors and both Snape and McGonagall were getting out of their seats to intervene if necessary.

"You three get lost coming back from the bathroom or something?" Harry asked as they got within talking range.

"You're dead Potter!" Crabbe snarled as they got right next to the table, red faced with rage.

"Funny, you'd think I would have noticed." Harry replied with a smirk, almost hoping he'd try something so he'd have an excuse to punt his ass across the Hall before remembering that his father had just died, and it was clear he was blaming Harry. Which was dumb on several levels. With a groan Harry just said: "Spit it out Crabbe, you're clearly not capable of using your brain." Adding under his breath; "And here I had decided a couple of weeks ago you were the smart one of your group."

Hermione heard him however: "Crabbe? Smart? Harry! Why would you ever think that?"

"He was never around whenever Malfoy got in trouble." Harry responded. "I always envisioned him and Goyle sitting around working Malfoy into a lather and setting him lose on people while claiming that whatever he was going to do required stealth and guile so they needed to stay back. Just a mental image I had. Guess I was wrong." Crabbe was getting more and more red faced, although from the uncomfortable look on Goyle's face, and the suddenly wary glance Nott was giving the other two, Harry thought it might have been closer to the truth than he'd thought.

"I said you're DEAD!" Crabbe screamed and went for his wand. Before he could even try and go for his own, one of his mental duplicates, who had mental versions of his wand already out, had cast Expelliarmus and Crabbe's wand went sailing into Harry's empty hand even as the two Aurors had leapt over and grabbed his arms and pushed his face down into the table.

Crabbe went still with shock, and there was dead silence throughout the Hall. One of the Aurors was looking at him, glancing down at Crabbe's wand in Harry's hand, and back up to Harry's face several times before looking at his partner. "No spell cast, subject was disarmed by intended victim, let him up slowly."

With that Crabbe was slowly let up, his face clearly still shocked at how easily he'd been disarmed, yet despite that, he was still able to get out: "He's no victim. He killed my father."

Ron's "No he didn't you bloody stupid git, I did!" probably didn't actually help, as Crabbe immediately began to struggle again, if only slightly. With a glance at Goyle standing there, Ron continued; "I also killed his father as well! But that's what you get when you come into a school And Start Trying To Kill Kids, JUST FOR SHIT'S AND GIGGLES! How many people died at the hands of your precious father during the last war Crabbe? How many kids? How many tortured? Tortured at the wand tip of your fucking daddy. And for what? So he could get it up for your mum when he got home?"

"Was I under the Imperious curse?" Ron asked, venom dripping from his voice causing Harry to fear that all of Ms Zambini's work was about to be undone. "I honestly have no fucking clue Crabbe. But you see, that's the thing, unlike your piece of shit father, who went crying 'Wa wa wa' to the Ministry about how they were Imperioused into doing bad things, I know it's nearly impossible to tell if you've been hit with it unless it's something so awful, or so opposed to what you'd normally do, such as killing a loved one, which your daddy really had a thing for making people do from what I heard growing up. That's what it takes to know you've been hit with it."

"Everyone tells me I showed all the signs, so yeah, I probably was under the influence since your precious daddy was spilling all the beans to try and save his own skin. Because, like fuck loyalty or anything for your daddy." Ron finished, face every bit as red as Crabbe's was. "Jesus Christ you moron, why the fuck would you even consider attacking any of us, right in front of the teachers and Aurors? Especially since you attacked someone innocent of the crime you claim happened! Did your daddy beat you into submission to the point you still have to follow him now that he's dead?! Or was your daddy's dick that good that you'd take that kind of risk for?"

"RON!" Hermione shout perfectly timed with McGonagall's "MR WEASLEY!"

"You done Ron?" Harry asked, smirking despite how close Ron's comment came to Harry's own upbringing (no dicks though thankfully), Crabbe and Malfoy could bring out the worst in people far to easily. Turning back to the Aurors, "What now? He didn't actually get a spell off, and despite what we all know would have happened if he got his wand out, he CAN say he only intended to threaten me. So what happens?"

"Unfortunately, not much." One of them replied.

"It would be up to his Head of House and the Headmaster!" Snape's voice proceeded his sickly face and rancid hair from behind the Auror. "And with everything that has happened over the weekend, neither of us has much tolerance for imbeciles at the moment." It was weird Harry thought to himself, Snape had his usual look of condensation and contempt, but Harry couldn't tell who it was for at the moment. Harry himself, Ron, the Aurors or his own students, or more likely, all of the above.

When Snape held out his hand to Harry, clearly asking for the wand, Harry pretty automatically began to give it to him. But one of the Aurors reached out and snagged it. "No Severus, I don't think so." Putting the wand into his own pocket, the Auror pushed Crabbe towards a suddenly very hostile Snape. "Vincent Crabbe! You have attempted to attack a fellow student in front of the entire school. Now, do to other things, your attempt failed, but you still attempted it. While we do not have the authority to expel you, we do have the authority to confiscate your wand temporarily. As such, your Head of House will have to give us a list of your classes that require a wand. We'll make sure whoever is guarding those classes will have it, and you'll be granted use of it only for those activities that require it. In a couple of months, say around Christmas, we'll reevaluate your behaviour."

"And just in case it becomes an issue," the other one added. "During all classes, you will be in the closest seat to the professor, and any of these three," he pointed at Harry Ron and Hermione. "Any of these three will be sitting as far from you as possible. If you're caught using another wand, we'll not only snap your wand and expel you, but we'll assume you had hostile, even murderous intent and cast accordingly!" The Auror added, snarling in Crabbe's face. "Oh, also, you're not allowed to wander the castle. After classes, and during any periods you have no classes, you'll be confined to your dorm." The last he added with a smile before waving Snape and Crabbe off, Nott following along like a kicked puppy. Clearly the Auror liked neither Crabbe's father, nor Snape.

But Goyle was still standing there, looking nervous, eyeing the Auror for a moment before turning to face Ron. With a low voice; "Did you really kill my father?"

With a defeated sigh, Ron answered. "Yes. It was in the middle of the fight and…"

"That doesn't matter." Goyle cut Ron off, "But you did kill him?"

"Yes."

"And Bulstrode? Professor Snape told Millicent he had attacked Gryffindor tower and had been found right outside."

"Um, I'm not sure about that one, that could have been either of us. Or the suit of armor or lions Harry summoned."

"Thank you." Goyle said, voice barely above a whisper, relief and gratitude writ large on his face. "Thank you. I'm sure Millicent would thank you as well if she could work up the courage. I…" He cut himself off and stood there for several seconds. "Thank you." And then he turned and walked away, back to his table.

Ron and Hermione's faces were complete shock, and the Aurors "What the fuck?" went unremarked upon. Personally, Harry thought, watching Goyle sit at his table and stare unmoving at his desert, that he had entirely to much in common with Goyle for comfort. And found himself wondering if someone murdered Uncle Vernon, would he feel gratitude as well.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

ProfessorSybill Trelawney was on edge. Something was going to happen, and soon. She could remember when she was a child, sitting on her Grandmothers knee, listening to her try and describe her visions in a way that as a child, she could understand. It hadn't worked then, and in truth, still really didn't work for her even knowing what it was like now. Her Grandmother had patiently explained the difference between a prophecy and the normal way Seers saw the world, how a true prophecy hurt and never made sense. Unlike her normal visions, but those were less reliable or accurate until minutes before they happened.

She knew that Albus didn't believe in prophecy and thought that Divination was a useless class. That all prophecies that were fulfilled were done so simply because people took them serious and acted to fulfill them, completely ignoring the fact that that was a legitimate reason for them to be fulfilled. That if people didn't take them serious enough to act, the prophecy wouldn't be made as the future would be different. He was a great man with out a single doubt. But he had a really annoying habit of always believing he was correct. And Heaven help it if there was a subject that he wasn't good at, he could get more than a little dismissive of it. No one would ever be able to truthfully say that she was dismissive of or didn't believe in Transfiguration. He also thought that most prophecies never got fulfilled, when in reality, every single one had either been fulfilled, or would be fulfilled, even if it was only in a different possibility that had already slipped to the side.

She also knew that he didn't think she knew when she had a prophetic vision, but she did. Or more to the point, she'd figure it out within a few hours. She just didn't remember what her prophecies contained. And that was the problem. She'd come out of them confused and a little panicky and not being able to remember where she was or what was going on. But they always left a sort of aftertaste in the back of her mind that was rather distinctive. It was why she drank so much since the herbs Pomona grew in the restricted greenhouse (the one Albus and Minerva pretended didn't exist) didn't do anything to counter it and mushrooms made her sick. Or at least it was one of the reasons. Her sudden desire to get raging drunk to cover up the weird 'not-taste' was in fact one of the ways she'd come to be able to recognize when she'd had one even if it normally took her a couple of hours and several pints (or less of stronger stuff). Although admittedly, there WERE other reasons she drank so much. Not the least of which was the what she saw as the likely future in her normal sight. And as a result, she'd had more and more days over the last several years where she had had more than she should have.

But no one UNDERSTOOD like she did damn it!

She remembered once, shortly before she applied for this job, walking about muggle London and coming across a shop selling Tellies. She'd never been one for muggle studies herself, and hadn't had a clue what she'd been looking at at the time. But it caught her attention strongly enough that she'd actually gone inside and, in all likely hood, made a complete fool of herself asking the muggle salesman questions.

She couldn't help it though. In the window had been a stack of tellies, not playing the same thing, but rather playing several different, but related things that looked similar. She'd told the poor man that she'd buy one of the things if he could tell her where she could find more like that. He hadn't known what she was talking about, he'd said that they were playing different football games. It's a testament to her state of mind of that time that she always remembered his terminology (she even remembered the names of the teams that he pointed out).

He did however tell her about a new art show at a small local art museum featuring a type of art that was even better. And what she saw there was truly astounding. It all had different labels and names, ASCII art, min/macro, whatever it was called, it all featured small things, such as individual letters or even words, bottle caps, small pieces of art, whatever. But when viewed from farther back, one could SEE. Could see what was meant to be seen.

A little over a year and a half later, after the fall of He-who-should-not-be-named, she'd gone back and asked where she could acquire one of those pieces, fully expecting to have to use various spells to confuse and confound the muggles, but had been pleasantly surprised when she'd been told that they'd taken that particular show down, and the various artists had donated their works to be sold as part of a fund raiser. She'd been even more surprised when it turned out the lady was the mother of a muggleborn, and could recognize galleons and was easily able to convert to muggle money.

She was really proud of this art work hanging on her bedroom wall. Up close, it was the words to several different speeches and sayings of a famous muggle leader from the America (unfortunately, it was the only one that hadn't already been sold that she could afford at the time), but as you got further away, you could see an image of what she presumed to be the man, one Abraham Lincoln, until you got far enough back and you couldn't even tell there were words on canvas, it was just a picture of a man with a top hat.

Filius and poor Quirinus (back when he taught Muggle Studies) were the only two other Professors who'd ever seen it, but neither of them had ever asked about it. To her the artwork was about her sight. It was how she SAW things. All of the various possibilities, even the possibilities that weren't actually possible. Whether because someone had already died, never been born, or what have you, she still saw them as possibilities. She could, with some concentration, look in close and follow an individual piece of what she saw, like that old muggle telly, but would lose track of the bigger picture.

The art wasn't a perfect analogy, it wasn't moving like the telly was. But it worked. She could pull her gaze back and see further into the future by watching the pictures all combine into what was the most likely outcome. That outcome being the largest of her minds eye tellies. It wasn't perfect either however. More often than she cared to admit, her mental telly would fall over and be replaced with one that had been one of the smaller ones in the stack, as some event derailed what was the most likely outcome and replaced it.

Sometimes, when those former lead possibilities fell, they landed in such a way as to remain a possibility. Sometimes still in line to still be possible in the future, but normally off to the side and one of the 'Not' possibilities. Other times however, the possibility simply vanished. Like a bit of smoke on a breeze, and she had no idea why there was a difference. Confusing, and more than a little aggravating to be sure, but still relatively easy to deal with. But what happened last Friday however:

THAT!

WAS!

NOT!

NORMAL!

Her internal stack of tellies had completely exploded. ALLpossibilities that had been laid out in front of her that had been possible, were no longer there. Ironically, she could still see possibilities from before Friday that had never actually been possible, those weren't affected, but everything not off sideways in time, but that had been directly forward of her in time, THAT was gone. A cataclysmic forfeiture of Fortuneand what was no longer allowed to be. A conscious decision by an intelligent being or beings of some sort, that had altered the very fabric of time and the tapestry of Fate. Like an angry half-giant child throwing a porcelain plate at a wall, so too was existence smashed, destroying all that was knowable.

The headache from that alone was enough to get her to journey into town to the Hogs Head to visit Albus's brother and get some of the, well, not good, but strong stuff. She'd needed to be able to pass out as Poppy wouldn't give her any more dreamless sleep potions just because Poppy was afraid she was addicted to them. And as nice as Pomona's herbs where, they made her dreams stronger, not weaker.

On the way back to her chambers however, she'd had one of her prophetic visions. There had been an encounter with a rather strange House Elf wearing the most outlandish get up, and then confusion. He'd helped her get back up to her bedroom and had even, against the wishes of Poppy, acquired a few dreamless droughts for her. That had been nice of him, although she thought that the first prophecy she made after 'That Friday' (she didn't consider that Friday despite the fact it was only a couple of hours after) would have been of major importance and should have been witnessed by Albus, or even Minerva or Severus instead of a House Elf. Oh well, she'd had a few others over the next couple of days as well.

There was that encounter with the youngest Greengrass girl, Astoria and her friend and fellow second year Slytherian, Elisabeth Valentine. They'd looked rather confused and unsure how they should react. Even more so than she normally felt after a prophesy, but they were still young and she could relate to how they felt. Then there was that encounter with the School Champion, Cedric and the Auror who had been dragging Diggory to the nearest Professor (that just happened to be her), although that same House Elf had been guiding/directing them into her path, but she was pretty sure he had left before it started. Both Diggory and the Auror had looked scared witless afterwards, so she'd been easy on Diggory and just given him a couple of detentions helping out the Elves in the kitchen for whatever he'd done wrong as an apology to him.

Then there had been the encounter with that stupid turd of a git Igor Karkaroff (she still remembered what he was like when they were students) and the other Headmistress from Beauxbatons, Madame Maxime. That particular prophecy must have been really good, because when she came out of it, Olympe was backed up into the hallway wall, and she had Karkaroff on his knees gasping in pain while she was gripping his arm, his sleeves burned away to reveal that ugly ass scar/brand on his arm. That one, while satisfying on it's own, would have been so much better if she remembered what she told him. As it stood, he had collapsed onto the floor in shock and pain after she had let go of him. They'd both been rather surprised when she offered them a good day before turning around and heading back to her chambers.

There had also been an encounter with Severus in there somewhere as well, but she didn't think whatever she told him had been as catastrophic as he had merely looked annoyed, not scared or outraged. The encounter with the rather infamous Weasley twins had gone rather strangely as well. When she had come too after that one, the two of them had looked a strange mixture of thrilled, angry and subdued and had launched into questioning her about what she had said. When it had become clear she had no idea what they were talking about had asked her if it was bad luck or something to tell a seer what she said in a prophecy or not. That had been rather thoughtful of them, so she was quick to award them thirty points each. Not many people when confronted by prophecy are all that considerate to the Seer, not even Albus.

Honestly, she'd had more prophecies in one weekend than in the five years previous. She was so grateful classes had been halted for a couple of days after the attack. She was sure that if she'd had anymore encounters with students she'd have had even more. As it stood, the couple of extra days gave her a little bit more time to add possibilities to her internal stack of tellies, which seems to decrease the likelihood of a prophecy somewhat for some reason. She wasn't sure why that seemed the case, but she wasn't going to complain as more and more possibilities stacked up in her Mind's Eye and blocked the Path of Prophecy.

Unfortunately, today, the first day back, includes fourth year Divination class. Potter and friends! Well, technically just friend now, but She was still in her visions even if she wasn't in class anymore. Potter! The very last thing she had seen on her old telly stack had been Potter. Older and in rough shape, but unbeaten even as he died. Only it included everyone in the world not just dying, but being erased as if they had never been.

And that terrified her in a way that He-who-must-not-be-named never could.

And the VERY first thing she had seen in her new stack was the SAME vision of Potter, but only Potter. An older Potter, unbeaten, but in the process of dying, surrounded by a globe of light with what looked like tentacles wrapping around him as if to ease his pain and smooth out his path to the afterlife. The old Potter family motto came to her: 'The final enemy to be defeated is Death.' When she'd been young and had read a book about the ancient families she'd thought that particular motto had been rather dumb (not that the Potter family was unique in that or anything). But her grandma had simply sighed and said she'd understand when she was older. She now understood what her Grandma had been trying to say, because that particular motto was making a lot more sense now.

Making Potter and friends so much more terrifying to her was the changed nature of her visions of their future. Where before, she would see visions of them struggling and suffering to destroy He-who-must-not-be-named and his followers. Now she saw them blowing through them like a stiff wind scattering dry leafs, displaying a level of skill in both magical and muggle duelling she never would have believed possible, even if for some reason, they seamed to be backed by none other than Gellert Grindelwald. Only to then face a much more terrifying enemy falling from the sky like the legends of fallen Angels being cast from Heaven and reigning terror upon the Earth. And this was an enemy they NEEDED Potter in order to defeat.

What's more, she knew she was not alone. Even though there was only about a hundred or so people in the entire world capable of seeing truly prophetic visions as opposed to normal divination, but she knew beyond a doubt that every single one of them had shared her vision and was having just as much difficulty with having visions as she was. At least the ones in the current possibility. Normally, a True Seer could enter her mindscape and cast her thoughts out so that other True Seers could see them as a possibility and respond in kind, thus having a conversation with each other, as if being able to edit a show on the telly that they all could see, or however each of them saw the possible futures. None of them where doing this now. Not yet anyway. She figured she'd wait for a week or so before trying herself if no one else did it first. The True Seers in other possibilities knew that something had happened and were talking to each other, but she, along with everyone from this possibility was abstaining for a while.

She turned to the trapdoor wondering not for the first time if it was to late to engage it's secondary destination and leave Hogwarts behind. But no, she couldn't do that. She'd seen what could happen if she didn't at least try and prepare some of them to be able to handle the future. Besides, the wards here were better than nearly anyplace on Earth, and certainly the best of anywhere pleasant to reside.

She felt a little guilty about not telling Albus about her trapdoor. It was a weakness in the school wards and she knew it. But she had never seen a vision of anyone discovering a way to exploit it. She could after all, change the destination the trapdoor lead to at will. How it worked she didn't know, magical theory had never been her strong suit, and she'd barely scraped an acceptable in Charms, but it bypassed the wards without any problems. Before she moved here, she'd had need to use it a few times and had tricked Death Eaters Into climbing through it to get to her. Since she could have a different destination for each side. Each time she'd done this, she'd used her sight to send them somewhere rather dangerous, but varied it each time. Of the five times she'd done this, only one Death Eater had ever returned to England, horribly scarred and broken, the others had simply died.

It was time. With a sigh, she set the two sides to link to each other and become, essentially, a normal physical trapdoor that happened to include a magical rope ladder. Watching the students climb up never got old. With all the stairs in Hogwarts, one would think they'd be in better shape by now. Then 'They' emerged. Potter and Weasley. Both of them subdued but respectful and alert, both moving as if they were the most dangerous people here. A detail that the rest of the class seemed to agree with them on. Both have the gift, and strongly as well. Ron much more so than Harry, but Harry was the strongest in school who didn't have the last name Weasley or Lovegood. All of Ron's brothers and his sister though, were stronger than Harry, even if NONE of them seemed to be using their gift. A detail that infuriated her, but she did her best to hold that in. Little Luna was at least making use of her gift even if she wasn't in her class.

As the class settled into their seats, she cast her mind back to when she was little sitting on her Grandmothers lap listening to Grandmother talk to her, trying to comfort her and shield her eyes from the sinister mist that seemed to be overtaking the memory. 'Listen to me Silly,' Grandmother would say using the nickname for her, 'Sing that little tune you love so much.' And she would, even as the mist would coil around her throat, she would sing for her Grandmother, knowing on some level that Grandmother was simply trying to distract her from what the mist was doing. Pretending to the point that she convinced herself that the words coming out of her mouth were those of her favorite song, she forced herself to relax into her Grandmothers arms, hands covering her ears while turning tear streaked eyes into the shoulder of the only person to ever comfort her when the mist came as hands rubbed her back and soothing murmurs were felt in her chest more than heard, she'd continue to 'Sing' until the lyrics of the song would fly from her mind and she'd fall silent. Then Grandmother would look at her with that sad smile; 'Wake up little Silly, you are needed in the present.'

With a start, she came out of her daydream of a memory into a room that she barely recognized. It was her classroom, there was no doubt about that, but everyone seemed different than when she sat down after they entered. They were all staring at her in shock for some reason. She must have falling asleep and started to snore or something. She shook her head, trying to clear away the last bit of mental fog from waking up and noticed Potter staring at her, anger raging behind brilliant, nearly glowing green eyes, even as plates stacked on shelves began to crack from someones (his) barely contained magic. Ron came to his senses first and grabbed hold of Harry, stepping between him and her and pushing him back towards the trapdoor. "Let it go Harry!" Ron said loudly, "We'll deal with this. Just let it go for now! Please!" He then turned to the rest of the class: "Neville, the trapdoor! No one speaks of this! Do you all understand?!"

The rest of the class gave shocked and mumbled replies of agreement as Longbottom opened the trapdoor for them to descend, Harry gave a snarl of rage before turning and, despite everyone knowing it was impossible, disapparated with a shockingly loud crack that somewhat muffled the shattering porcelain as the plates and teacups all shattered. Ron let out a curse and jumped through the trapdoor, not even bothering with the ladder and could be heard running away, presumably after Harry. Neville sighed as he turned to Seamus and Dean; "I don't suppose you'd be kind enough to gather our stuff would you?" Not waiting for an answer, he then climbed down as well and was shortly heard running away.

At that, the rest of the class turned their attention back towards her. Grimacing at a sudden headache, and knowing she'd need to inform both Albus and Minerva of the behaviour of those three she simply dismissed the class early and made sure that Seamus and Dean actually gathered up their dorm mates things. Why was she so prone to these accursed headaches? She REALLY needed to get a drink. And why did it seem like she had some sort of weird taste stuck in her head? Like a bad tune that will haunt you for hours on end. And why did she have the feeling that that was important for some reason?

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John O'Neill entered the restaurant with a yawn on his face. It was early in the morning in Colorado Springs and the temperature was a balmy thirty seven degrees Fahrenheit, a frost just, sort of, maybe, trying to fade away. He was meeting his 'Old Man', the infamous (in some VERY SMALL circles) Colonel John "Jack" O'Neill and his girlfriend and fellow clone Sammy, and Sammy's progenitor Major Samantha Carter for their semi-monthly get together. He was a little early and hadn't seen the cars of either Sammy's guardians or Jack. Figuring he'd wait at the counter until they showed up he slid up next to an old Indian, or rather old Native American. Jack had long ago figured out that they were normally much less PC than the average white man about it, and in general wouldn't hesitate to start to crack jokes about the names. But the ones who did get uptight about would really get uptight, so in general he tried to keep it PC until he got to know who he was dealing with. Not always easy since, even though he was technically only about a year or so old, he was physically fifteen, but shared the memories of a man who had been old enough to fight in Vietnam, and all that that entailed for his upbringing.

The waitress, who knew him by now, walked over, a Coke already in her hands. "Eating alone John, or waiting for the Colonel?"

"Waiting. But it'll be a table for six today. The Major is also coming and Sammy and her guardians will be here as well." Taking a drink from his glass, "Thanks." Noticing the old Indian giving him an odd look, John held up his hand; "John O'Neill, two L's. Nice to meet ya."

Glancing at his hand just long enough for it to start to get awkward, he finally relented; "John Ironfeather. You've aged well."

"I'm Sorry, what?"

"I'm the Headmaster of a school Mr O'Neill, I'm very good at reading teens and preteens. You are older than you look. But also younger I think. Very unusual. Have you simply had a life that required you to grow up fast, or do you simply enjoy really good genetics and age slowly?"

"I was kidnapped by an alien and experimented on a while ago." John replied, trying to make it sound sarcastic and making his discomfort with this sudden conversation show through. How had this old man figured this out?

The old man was looking at him with his head tilted to the side, his beak like nose giving him a decidedly bird of prey look. A look that was making John feel like a mouse out in the open being looked at by a hawk. That was not a feeling that he was used to. "Do you play poker? I bet you'd be good at it." John was thrown by that strange nonsequitur and it must have shown. "I couldn't spot any tells saying you were lying or truly being sarcastic. So either you have indeed been kidnapped by aliens or you are a master of the Bluff." He said as explanation in a clearly amused voice.

"I'm sorry, but who are you and what are you doing here?" John ground out. This was not going right and he was trying to figure out if Mr Ironfeather was being honest or was part of a leak in the SGC. It wasn't good if anyone outside knew about him or Sammy.

"Professor John Ironfeather, Headmaster of Cliffside boarding school at your service." He said holding his hand out, laughter dancing in his eyes. "As for what I'm doing here, I'm sitting here talking to you and drinking a cup of coffee while I wait for the parents of some of my students to decide if they are going to allow their children to go to Great Britain or not."

Now it was John's turn to stare at the hand for several long moments. "John O'Neill, high school student, hockey champion and alien experiment." He said finally shaking the professors hand. John was about to go on when he noticed someone he recognized and hadn't expected to be there approaching: "Master Sergeant Siler! What are you doing here?"

Siler turned to him with a start as if just now noticing him, making John even more uncomfortable, that meant Siler had been meaning to speak to Ironfeather. "O'Neill? I wasn't expecting you here." Siler said before turning back towards the old man and holding out some documents. Well, at least Siler didn't think he needed to hide this from him. And since Siler knew who he really was, he knew that he likely couldn't take John by himself. "We have some more questions about security at that school in England and about recent events there, but Megan has her heart set on going and can't stop talking about it. Plus, as you mentioned, she'll need to spend at least two semesters at other affiliated schools before she graduates, and you said this counts. You'll be able to get them home for Christmas right?"

"Technically, it's in Scotland, not England. Our rules say students must spend at least one semester each at two different schools. This will only count as one of them." The Professor said as he read through the forms, and John could see that they did appear to be permission forms of some sort. "As for getting them back for Christmas, there is the Yule Ball they have to consider. I'll see if they can bump the date of that to a couple of days before Christmas instead of the night before. Otherwise, you might have to deal with your children wanting to stay for the ball. Sorry, but if I can't convince the other Headmasters to change the day, I can't guarantee anything in that regards. As for safety, I'll be dealing with that personally, but have assurances from Albus of his cooperation with the head of law enforcement there and extra security arrangements being made with the governments of both France and Norway for the tournament. So there will be a lot of security there."

John was no longer thinking that Siler was involved in betraying the SGC, which would have been even worse than when Colonel Makepeace had turned traitor, but was now even more curious as to what was actually going on. Unfortunately, the professor was standing up to take his leave and head back to where John could see several pairs of adults sitting at a large table along with a woman who John was certain was Mrs Siler. Fortune however seemed to be on his side.

"Siler?!" Turning towards the entrance as Siler went to attention, thankfully NOT calling out, John saw his original walking through the door along with the rest of the party. "Mini me." Jack said with a nod towards John.

"Hey old man, you're late." He said to the Colonels irritation, "Jack, meet Professor Ironfeather, Headmaster of the school Master Sergeant Siler's daughter Megan attends. Professor, meet my uncle, Colonel Jack of the Crippled Knee."

Based on the sudden intake of breath from Sammy and her guardians, as well as the coughing fits from both Sam and Siler, there was no way Jack was going to be living this one down any time soon. Glancing at Ironfeather, John noticed that while he was amused, he was also giving them all a piercing look, and he seriously wondered if the good professor could actually read minds. "When you guys are done sergeant, why don't you and your wife join us? It's been a while since I've been allowed on base, and I'd like to hear how everyone is doing from someone other than the second in command." John was really hoping that both Jack and Sam caught the intended meaning of interrogation time.

In the mean time, John intended to have fun at Jacks expense.

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The path to Harry's wish fulfillment chapter 8: [in order]

He wanted undeniable proof that he didn't enter himself in this damn tournament!

Done!

He wanted whoever did enter him DEAD!

Sort of. One of them got Kissed by a Dementor, but he suffered a lot of pain before that (at the hands of his master though).

If that wasn't possible, he wanted a way to acquire the skill and power to WIN this fucking thing!

Three more steps in this direction

He wanted enough respect and fear from people so, like Dumbledore, no one would ever fuck with him like this again!

A few more in this direction as well. Madam Bones at least is firmly there.

political power

He just upgraded this by about five steps, and a few of them he doesn't even know where steps.

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One way wall charm - Unknown incantation that makes a wall transparent from one side. - from Larceny, Lechery, and Luna Lovegood! chapter 51

Servo stellas - Serves to over power spells cast after it. Makes them harder to resist and break. - From 47-The-Long-Harsh-Road chap 31

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John O'Niell is a canon character from SG1. He is the reduced age clone of Colonel John "Jack" O'Niell, created by Loki and experimented on. I did NOT see all the episodes from that season, so I don't know if Sammy is also canon, or a fanon creation, but I've seen several stories, by different writers, that had Major Carter ask Thor to create a reduced age clone of her as well. Unlike John, all of the stories I've seen with Sammy have had her be a few years younger than John and actually have legal guardians assigned to her (both are former members of the SGC and are fully aware of who she really is). Like I said, don't know if that was canon or not, but I'm using it nonetheless.

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People of this story (read carefully, there are some details not mentioned in the story yet, and might not be):

Harry's 3 girlfriends in Flanders New York:

Vanessa Monroe : white, grey and brown eyes, darkish brown wavy hair, a little taller than Harry. sectoral heterochromia in eyes

Joan Fenn [Squib, born of squibs] : white, with golden brown hair, a little shorter than Harry, blue eyes, daughter of Joseph and Mandy Fenn

Lea Ramirez : Mixed race, looks Korean. Mother was half black/Korean, father was Hispanic/Vietnamese. Long straight black hair to below her knees.

Terry and Kevin Monroe, Vanessa's parents and guardian of Joan.

Joseph and Mandy Fenn [dead]

I haven't named Lea's parents yet.

House elves:

Keeter, [m], the head house elf for Harry

Sidor, [f], perfectionest

Grouchen, [m], somewhat grouchy, mostly after dealing with Sidor, crush on Ketty

Ketty, [f], daughter of Keeter and Sidor, named by Harry as a small child when Harry mistook the baby elf for a kitten.

Sileen, [f], still a child, inherited from family that died off a couple of years ago.

Snaggley and Gongon are the former head elves and Bonner is also dead.

Harry's family:

Gellert Grindelwald: Great grandfather [mothers side]

Lotar Enns: [The Death Knight of Dunkirk] Great grandfather [mothers side]

Adelaide (Evensgard) Grindelwald: Great Grand mother, wife of Gellert Grindelward

Annalise (Fein) Enns: Great Grand mother, wife of Lotar Enns

Dennis Enns and Emma (Grindelwald) Enns: Grandparents (mothers side) Both changed their names to Evens [Lily and Petunia's parents] Both are squibs who pretended to be muggles whenever they encounter wizards or witches.

Fleamont and Euphemia Potter: Great, Great Grandparents (Fathers side) They adopted Charlus Potter (as a grandson) after their own son died who had the same name as Charlus's birth father)

Lt Harold Potter and Desmirlda Peveral Potter: Actual Great Grandparents (fathers side). Lt Harold Potter, who shares the same name as a wizard, was a American pilot who joined the RAF at the start of WW2 before the US officially got involved. He was a war hero in the Air War over Britain, and at one point saved the lives of a young lady who was trying to save several children from a strafing run by a German plane. That lady was the last of the Peveral line, and was herself a squib.

Charlus and Dorea Potter: Grandparents [James parents] Charlus Potter and Dorea Black, (much) younger sister of Arcturus Black (who was the Grandfather of Sirius).

Henry Potter [past member of the Potter family, set up Ice Tower]

Together these three make up the legend of Merlin.

Emrys Myrddin Wyllt: [m] Alterian, former ascended, muggle

Marion Caledonensis (Myrddin Wyllt): Wife of Emrys [f] witch

Marin Myrddin Wyllt: Daughter of Emrys and Marion [f] witch

Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell – Three brothers who were the original owners of the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak, respectively.

The Grangers

Phillip [Hermione's Father] Dentist and former member of the S.A.S.

Emma [Hermione's Mother] Dentist

Andrew [Hermione's cousin] active duty in S.A.S.

Others:

Snapsaw of clan Snarlsmite [Harry's account manager]

Keira the Banshee assistant at Madam Walpole's

Saul Croaker, [the head of the Unspeakables]

Zara Zabini [Blaise's mother] Barrister

Professor Octavius [not cannon, from Backwards with purpose part 1] I'm using him as a substitute teacher, like Ms Grubbly-Plank, but for Runes and Arithmancy.

Septima Vector [Arithmancy teacher]

Bathsheda Babbling (ancient runes)

Aurora Sinistra [Astronomy]

Charity Burbage [muggle studies]

Nurse Wainscott [Madam Pomfrey's assistant, hired sometime after Harry's 1st year] {film only} Not a fan of the films, and only ever saw the first three in their entirety, so have no idea who she is in the films, but I like the idea, so I am using the name to create a second (younger) Healer at Hogwarts who Madam Pomfrey is training to replace her when she retires.

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus [Chief Attendant of Magecraft Provisions] {film only [mentioned only]} Like Nurse Wainscott, I have no idea who this person is or what she looks like, but I like the idea of having more staff then is shown in the books (there aren't nearly enough adults there), and this seems like it would be a important job, so I'm using it as well.

I'm also having several other professors who teach regular subjects like reading and writing, languages, math etc, but haven't yet named them. Just assume there about eight or nine other staff members at the head table than are named.

John Ironfeather: Archmage and Headmaster of Cliffside School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Also Secretary of Magical Education in the United States.

Megan Siler, 4th year at Cliffside School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America, and daughter of Master Sergeant Siler of the SGC

The Markum family:

Tracy and Issac (parents)

Mathew (oldest, turns 11 in chap 7)

Eric (second son [10])

Bethany [oldest daughter, 9]

Chad [youngest son, 7]

Deanna and Valery [twins, 5]

Gooey (cat)

Harry's year mates: With the exception of Roger Malone, all the names have been sourced from stuff JKR has said, what was written in the books (most of these names appear in the books), and in one instance, someone got a picture of the name list JKR was holding and enlarged it. What I wasn't sure of, was what houses some of them were, for those I wrote Not Confirmed, but these are their houses for my story. I chose them to keep the five boys, five girls per house thing.

Gryffindor

1]Brown, Lavender

2]Finnigan, Seamus

3]Granger, Hermione

4]Li, Sue

5]Longbottom, Neville

6]Patil, Parvati

7]Perks, Salley-Anne

8]Potter, Harry

9]Thomas, Dean

10]Weasley, Ron

Hufflepuff

1]Abbott, Hannah

2]Bones, Susan

3]Corner, Michael

4]Finch-Fletchley, Justin

5]Hopkins, Wayne

6]Jones, Megan [not confirmed]

7]MacDougal, Isobe [not confirmed] [Morag's twin sister]

8]MacDougal, Morag [not confirmed] [Isobe's twin brother]

9]Rivers, Oliver [not confirmed]

10]Smith, Sally [was originally Georgina] [not confirmed]

Ravenclaw

1]Boot, Terry

2]Brocklehurst, Amanda

3]Cornfoot, Stephen

4]Entwhistle, Kevin

5]Goldstein, Anthony

6]Macmillan, Ernest

7]Patil, Padma

8]Malone, Roger [not confirmed] This is the only one not sure of, may be Michael Corner, but pretty sure he's younger.

9]Moon, Lily [not confirmed]

10]Turpin, Lisa

Slytherin

1]Bulstrode, Millicent

2]Crabbe, Vincent

3]Davis, Tracey

4]Goyle, Gregory

5]Greengrass, Daphne

6]Malfoy, Draco

7]Nott, Theodore

8]Parkinson, Pansey

9]Roper, Sophie [not confirmed]

10]Zabini, Blaise

Smith, Zacharias [a year behind Harry?]

Michael Corner is also a year behind Harry I believe

Demelza Robbins 2 years behind Harry

Romilda Vane 2 years behind Harry

Brynn Dempsey [F] 1 year behind Harry

Thomas, Gary [Was originally Dean's name, I'm using it as Dean's older brother, in 6th year] I've also done away with the nonsense of Dean not being a muggleborn.

Astoria and Ophelia Greengrass

Elisabeth Valentine is in the same year as Astoria [2 behind Harry] and in Slytherian. Ophelia is 2 years ahead of Harry.

Cormac McLaggen – Gryffindor student one year above Harry Potter.

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candace. : Both were needed, but yes, Dooby is very… …Proactive. The potion however, gave him a better idea of what a good plan would be.

Midnight Galaxy 789: Regretfully, I got caught up in the War in Ukraine. As someone who already has a hard time just sitting down and writing, spending 3 or 4 hours a night catching up on the war was a major impediment to writing. It's not however, something that's just going to go away (at least not until Russia leaves Ukraine). Sorry.

Guest: As we never get a canon viewpoint from her, I'd say my characterization was as on-point as any other I've ever seen, and a lot more so than most.

Wirespeed91: Thank you. I try and actively avoid cliches. Or more to the point, turn them into jokes.

As for the measurements, yeah, I've noticed that as well. I used to regularly pick up at a company out of England that had it's employees from there all spend time here in the States. It's from them I learned that Bobbies is only used as slang for police in certain areas, but also that they use a mixture of different types of measurements as well. But they mostly use metric unless they habitually deal with Americans.

Karmic Acumen: [display grin] Funny you should mention that…

I explain what happened to her this chapter, though I mentioned in an early authors notes that while I won't be having the trio time travel more than what a time turner can do, I also mentioned the possibility of going sideways. :)

Loki's Brand: That's actually a pretty neat idea. And certainly fits well with how I envision Hogwarts (who most definitely has a mind of it's own [remember the comment about ASKING Hogwarts for permission}). On the other hand, it's also not likely Harry would have known that at the time. But I'm thinking of adding it to my world building. Thanks.

im1: Thanks!

Khatre: Not really sure what you meant by your review of chapter 5. What does Ghost in the Shell have to do with anything?

As for your review of chapter 3, I actually do agree with it being at least somewhat understandable. What I can't understand is it being more than Hermione or even Harry himself. That's what actually bothers me the most. Ron has every one of his faults enhanced and exaggerated, while the faults of the others are whitewashed and ignored. :(

Kittyranma: Hope I didn't disappoint!

Wynn Silver: Snicker! Dobby has more plans in the works as well. If you read carefully, at least one of the other prophecies Trelawney made (actually 3) was a direct result of Dobby and Winky interfering and directing people towards her. There was a House Elf hidden the entire time, watching her and writing down everything she said so they could get a better idea of what to expect, and modify plans accordingly.

SSasei: Thanks.

MetalArcticScot: What happened to Hermione was ONE of the first things I ever decided about the story before I even came up with a title. Hope you enjoyed the twist. :)

As for why she thought that they were right behind her, that's pretty much what Winky told her.

Gondraxider: Well, sorry to see you go. At least you actually used an actual log in to say what you said, although you somewhat contradict yourself with saying all the things Harry should be grateful to Hermione, but ignoring everything Ron did to help, which is a lot more than you seem to think.

starboy454: Thanks.

SSSra: And a double thanks.

Shivers82: Thanks

wsbenge: Are you SURE the book is destroyed?! :)

: Thank you. I do have a problem with the way everyone treats Ron like garbage, but puts Hermione on a pedestal. As for the Snakes, you're dead on. I do have plans for revealing WHY they are so bad, but not sure if I'm going to be able to work it in or not.

scorched halloween: I mentioned in an earlier chapter that I'm not using the dates commonly used for the stories. Neither series actually ever mentions what year it takes place in. At least that is what I thought when I started to write this story. Someone mentioned to me that when Harry is visiting his parents grave, he reads their year of death. My copy of the book is boxed away from when I moved, so can't confirm if that's true, but don't really have a reason to disbelieve it either. But yes, using different dates. This story is taking place right before O'Niell get's promoted to General. Year doesn't really matter.

Priest: Thank you and I hope I didn't disappoint.

Frankieu: Thanks. I actually came up with the idea of why underage magic is bad a long time ago. It was the only logical reason I could think of to explain why Ron and Draco don't know any more magic than Harry when they show up at Hogwarts. But making there be negative repercussions would definitely make all the pure bloods not allow their children to practice before school.

KittenEyez: Thanks. Yeah, Dobby IS kind of scary when you think about it. Even Mcgonagall is acting like an adult, it's just that she really isn't all that helpful to the Trio in the books, nor good in a fight (she get's sent to St Mungo's by Umbridge in canon), and isn't really useful until DH, and even there, it's rather limited. I always laugh when people talk up her combat ability and disregard Dumbledore's. And I try and remember that it's a kids book, and generally make up reasons why the Adults don't step in (mostly they have NO clue what's going on).

darthjosh2112, anddarthjosh2112: Thank you. It really helps knowing people are actually enjoying the story.

To anyone I missed, thank you for your reviews.

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See you next chapter!

killgore444

"Don't think about the people you're shooting at, think about the people who'll die if you don't."

"Just because the weapon appears obsolete doesn't mean it won't kill you. Ask anyone who's ever taken a bayonet to the guts, a knife to the throat or a rock to the side of the head."

Common sense isn't a blessing, it's a curse. Those few who have it, have to deal with everyone else.

02245 authors rants 54220

Now for the section that has nothing to do with the story, but is just my pet peeves and angry rants. This section is the last, so if you're not interested, don't read it.

That having been said however, a couple of chapters ago, several people started harping about how they weren't interested in American (or other countries) politics and how it didn't affect them. So my question to you is this: With everything going on in the world right now, do you REALLY think American, Russian and Chinese politics don't affect you? There is NO ONE in Europe that isn't affected by American or Russian politics, nor is there anyone in Asia or Australia right now that isn't affected by American or Chinese politics. And there really aren't that many places in Africa or South America that aren't being affected by at least one of them either.

Not that it matters, the topic for my ramblings today only touches on politics. No my topic today is hypocrites. While I'm concentrating on Americans and American topics, who and what I know best, this applies equally across the world.

So, around a year or so ago, I found some links to some online political placement tests. Most of them were complete garbage. When you get a question like "Do you support gun control? And if not, how can you justify allowing children to die?" or "Do you support the murder of babies, or are you pro-life?" It just seems like there might be more than a little Bias in them. That having been said however, there were three of them that were much more even keeled and, if not unbiased, then at least less blatant bias. On those three tests, I came in as center of the road on all three of them. One said I was a Disinterested Democrat, the second said I was a apathetic Republican. Both are technically correct, at least in how I view my political stance as being very moderate in overall views. It was the third test though that was most accurate. It said I was a Radical Moderate, and that on the twenty-nine aspects they were testing on [50 questions per aspect], there was only six that were more than 3% from 50/50. Of those, only one (support for the military) was more than 10% from 50, and even there, it was 39.7% to 60.3% in favor of the military.

Being so middle of the road, it gives me a unique view of the more idiotic beliefs of the two different political ideologies. I can more easily spot the stupidity of both sides and see hypocrites for what they are more easily than other people. Making things more interesting, I love to argue with people, and am willing to argue just about anything, with just about anyone (my boss can end my employment and make it so I can't pay my rent or buy food, so I just nod my head and agree with whatever he says). I am normally willing to take either side of an issue, and argue for or against depending on which side the person I'm arguing with takes. For me, it's less about winning the argument, then forcing the other person to think for themselves instead of spouting TV talking points, and media readiric. I hate it when people have strongly held opinions on a subject, but don't know anything about it except what the biased news outlet of their choice happens to be. Doubly so since those opinions inevitably ends up flat out contradicting other strongly held opinions they spout off on.

Yep, hypicrites the lot of them.

So let's start off with the elephant in the room; Ukraine. Specifically the support, or lack of amongst people. I support Ukraine and the aid we're giving them (not enough) whole hardheartedly, but then I also supported the aid and troops we sent to virtually every hot spot the world over irregardless of who the president was and do not buy into the notion by liberals we went to Iraq for oil. For me, and about 75% of Republicans, there is nothing hypocritical about supporting Ukraine. But for about 25% of Republicans, they've decided that this isn't something we should be doing despite the fact that they supported every single military intervention ever suggested by a Republican President. Likewise, there is a surprisingly large percentage of Democrats who have gone all War Hawk now that it's a Democrat in the Oval office. The VAST majority of whom would never have signed on to military aid for a Republican president.

Nor can we discount the statements about past aid, and it's lack, to Ukraine either. People gloss over the fact that Obama completely ignored the deal the DFL president Bill Clinton made with Ukraine to get them to give up their nukes for the promise of military aid and protection (specifically from Russia) and only allowed blankets and civilian clothing to be sent in their time of need. Many people likewise ignore the fact that it was Trump (still not a fan, don't get me wrong here) who authorized actual military aid to be sent. He did so because Putin insulted the Fuck out of him, but he still did it. They jump on his case about his idiot ball decision to slow aid when he didn't get help trying to proof Russia was aiding the Democrats not the Republicans, but ignore the fact he actually did aid them. Many of the hypocrites actually try and claim he halted the aid Obama authorized. Obama didn't authorize shit.

Hypocrites all of them.

Another, much more controversial topic is whether the government has the authority to make decisions about your body. Most of this is built into the topics of vaccines and abortion. I'm not actually going to state my stance on this, other than to say that my views on whether or not the government has the right and responsibility to make decisions about your health, and body is the same on each topic and not hypocritical. Those who know me, know what my opinion is, those who don't, just pretend I agree with you on whichever category is most important to you, and apply that yes/no answer up and down the list.

That however is rare. The vast majority of Americans seem to be either the type who wants abortions outlawed, but you better not even try and approach them with a vaccine, or the type who believe we should mandate vaccines, even for people who are provably allergic to it, but you damn well better not try and make a decision about their body when it comes to abortion.

Irregardless of what anyone wants to believe, or their opinions on any given matter, the Supreme Court has traditionally upheld the right of the Government to make decisions about your body and health. Abortion was the odd one out until recently. An interview I caught was one with a Republican lawmaker who said he thought that people who didn't get vaccinated where dumb, but he was going to fight for their right to do so simply because it was forcing the pro-vaccine crowd to force through measures that undercut the arguments in favor of abortion. Kind of dickish, but at least he wasn't being a hypocrite about it, and it's not like he tried to hide what he was doing.

A few examples of the Supreme Courts decisions on the Government making regulations about your body and well being:

Vaccine Mandates [upheld several times going all the way back to the Spanish Flu back in the early 1900's]

Drafting men to go kill and die in the military [upheld several times]

Forcing you to pay for insurance [upheld both for Obamacare and drivers licenses]

Forcing dietary restrictions in any government funded or educational institutions [upheld] {Attempts to force restrictions on adults in nongovernmental institutions have never made it out of Congress except in small measures outlawing several specific foods, but those have all been upheld as well}

OSHA regulations on who can work certain jobs (mostly age related, but also physical conditions) [upheld]

Age you can legally drink alcohol [upheld]

Outlawing drugs [upheld, but Congress is slowly doing away with it]

There are hundreds of other examples of the Government having the right to make decisions about your well being, your body, and you're health. To me, the big one is actually the draft. As it not only makes it legal for the Government to throw you into harms way directly, without your consent, but you can actually then be imprisoned, in a military prison no less (way harsher than civilian prisons) or even executed, for the crime of NOT killing someone they tell you to kill. The only thing comparable to this is if the Government said that women below a certain income level, or working certain jobs (such as military or police) HAD to get an abortion. Which is something I'm honestly surprised hasn't been tried by someone yet.

That having been said, the only one that you can really have a different opinion on without being a hypocrite is the Death Penalty. Yes, the Government has the legal right, after a trial for certain crimes, to execute you. The reason I say you can have a different opinion on this and not be a hypocrite is the sheer number of people who have been executed who were proven innocent after the fact. Of course, that only applies if you are of the opinion that the government should be able to determine things about your body. If you don't think they should, I can't see how you can believe they should be allowed to kill you, trial or no trial.

So in all of this we throw in abortion. Until recently, it was the only thing that the government was unable to touch. The only thing that you had total control of your body over. All that the Supreme Court decision did was bring that back into line with every other decision they've ever made about having control of your body (you don't). So, as I said, my opinion on all of those things is the same. Irregardless of what I feel for any given example, my opinion on the Government having the right to make the decision is the same. Way to many people cherry pick any given example though. "The Government has the right to decide on issues I want them to, but not on any I don't want." Seems to be the thought process for all the Hypocrites.

I recently read online someone trying to compare the right to abortion to women's rights in Iran. No matter which side of the issue you stand on, the women in Iran are trying to gain the right to be seen as human and not be killed whenever it's convenient for the men. Women here in the U.S. are trying to make it legal to kill their children whenever it's convenient and claim that they're not human. So a bit of advice to liberals here, stop making this comparison, it's doing more harm to your side than any possible good.

Another issue that attracts lot's of hypocrites on both sides of the isle is gun control. On the one hand, you have the gun nuts who think everyone should have a gun, except for people they don't like. On the other hand, you have the anti-gun nuts who think no one should have a gun, unless it's some one they do like. But in both cases, it's only the people THEY want to have, or not have. No one else is allowed to decide.

Coloring the issue is whether or not you feel the police are trustworthy. The Liberals fall on their face more with this one than conservatives do, simply because most conservatives don't care if the police are trustworthy, they just believe they/you have the right to bare arms. But for liberals, the thinking goes; only the police and military should have guns. But they also claim that the military is corrupt, and the police are scumbags more intent on keeping black men down than anything close to justice.

On the other hand, a unfortunately large number of gun rights activists will hem and haw when asked if black people living in the inner city should be allowed to openly carry as well.

Hypocrites the lot on both sides. I'm actually waiting for some politician to figure out that if the government can mandate you buy/have insurance, then there is nothing preventing a state or city government from mandating that everyone own and/or carry a gun as well. Hell, even if the federal government has done away with the draft, doesn't mean that a State can't draft everyone into the National Guard. Or even just say everyone has to be part of a militia of some sort. There a city governments trying to force people to ride bikes and not drive cars and to make certain foods and drinks illegal to possess in town, so why not say they have to own a gun (and ammunition) and stand ready to defend the town.

As someone who has a halfway house for convicts being released from prison being set up right next door (literally, the house right next to me), my opinion on this is shifting. Before it was mixed, I could see both sides, but would argue either side with just about anyone. Now however, my opinion is shifting to being very pro-gun rights and allowing any self defense measures (they won't even guarantee that they will have finished their sentences instead of being released early).

There are many other issues I wanted to mention (maybe I'll talk about race baiting another time), but the primary site I get my Ukraine news from just updated and I've written a little over 5,000 words of of authors notes, and according to many people, that's BADDDDD! [rolls eyes]

So good luck, and God bless, see you my next update.