The Half Blood Prince Revealed

Summary :

Harry's summer before sixth year is no different from the others. Around every corner surprises, good and bad, and adventure of all kind await. And it looks like the gods have finally granted Harry a possibility for a nicer life. What will this mean for his 6th year at Hogwarts ?

General Disclaimer :

I am just playing in the sand of JKRowling's literary produced beach and am attempting to build my own sandcastle for others to enjoy.

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29 How time flies when you're having fun

With the weather still in good form that Wednesday afternoon Mrs Weasley took Winky, Beatrice and Blythe along to the Burrow again to pick up any produce from the vegetable garden. Harry and his friends decided to finish their version of the Map of Black Manor and the surrounding area, so they could leave one of the two behind for Remus, Mr Black and the house elves.

Rather than just copying what was on the Manor made map they wanted a fun afternoon romping through the woods in search of beautiful spots. The first part would be a little boring. All they needed to do was play a game of giant connect-the-dots. The square form of the immaculate lawn area close to the house lent itself perfectly for this. Ron, Hermione, Neville and George took position in each of the four corners and all the others were left to do was connect the dots that appeared in the vast blank space. They took turns in playing artist and 'dot' and managed to create quite an accurate image of the garden onto the map.

As they'd been preparing to draw the outside perimeter of the maze Neferti had come to take a closer look at their antics and was mighty interested in the result of their work.

"Harry, will you be doing the forest as well ?"

"That is the plan, Neferti. Would you or the others have objections to that ?"

"Not really, it's your forest after all, but …" She hesitated to continue and Harry was quick to pick up the untold message.

"There are some places that they consider home and as such don't like intruders there. Is that it ?"

Neferti sighed and nodded her head relieved. Harry understood the situation.

"Tell you what. You've seen how we did it to mark certain larger areas, didn't you ?" At Neferti's nod, Harry continued.

"Ask them to mark off their special spots in a similar way for us as we approach, and we'll label that area as their territory. We would appreciate it though if they could guide us a bit through the forest ? Maybe show us some of the more beautiful and dangerous areas there may be around for us, like say a river, or holes in the ground. I'll give them my word that we will never knowingly enter their territory unless there is an emergency. Do you think that would be alright ?"

Neferti's beaming smile said more than the words she uttered and she would be back in the next half hour to start them on their tour.

Harry and his friends in the mean while packed water, fruit juice and snacks in a couple of backpacks with a feather light charm on them and changed to wear decent walking footwear. Remus took the opportunity to demonstrate and teach them the communication spell the Order used a lot. They'd seen it used twice already : once by Remus just before the dementor attack in Diagon Alley, and a little more recent by the Headmaster when Peter Pettigrew was apprehended.

The incantation "expecto patronum internuntius" turned the patronus-defender into a patronus-messenger and since it was a much smaller version of your patronus even people unable to conjure a full bodied patronus could use the messenger spell.

The average wizard or witch would manage to use the spell at short distances. But with practice and depending on the magical power of the caster the spell had the potential to send messages across the country and receive a clear message in return. At the moment Professor Dumbledore was the only known person to be able to communicate at any distance, since his phoenix patronus was able to flash anywhere, just like a real phoenix could.

It was a bit tricky at first to cast as you had to think of the happy memory in order to cast the patronus and almost simultaneous include the desired message and the recipient of that message.

With a little practice the patronus would, after delivering the message, return to the caster as if to say he'd accomplished his mission, or, when an answer was required, the patronus would come back and carry the return message. Remus did explain that this way of messaging took a bit of getting used to but was very useful in certain situations. They agreed they would use the afternoon expedition as a practice round for the spell and Remus would be both caster and recipient so they could experience both sides.

They started out on their excursion in good form. After all, even though Black Manor had everything going for it, they still started to feel a little cooped up.

They started out with only Neferti as their guide and had been walking for a little while when they approached their first target. In what Harry considered a quite densely wooded area they came to a quite large open space.

Neferti told them the unicorns had their place close by so they marked the border of the open area as best as they could and named it Unicorn Field. The appearance of one of the mature unicorns accompanied by the little one Harry had seen earlier, was the sign that the rest of his herd was ready marking their territory.

The next several hours they spent traipsing through the woods marking all kinds of interesting places, some they were sure to visit again. Neferti accompanied them along the way to act as interpreter and the inhabitants of the forest were very generous in showing them some of the prettiest places and indicating areas where trouble could be found.

They were marking another small clearing in the otherwise dense woodland. The floor was covered with some creeping vine and Remus lost his footing on the uneven surface and twisted his ankle. He fixed the problem in no time, thanks to taking Basic Healing in his NEWT years, but he did suggest they take a break before continuing their walk. Neferti on the other hand was eager to return home and with no further creatures or beings to be found this side of the estate she left them to make their way back alone.

Taking this break as a good testing opportunity of the range of their newly acquired messaging spell Remus was installed in a sunny patch, resting his back against a tree, while the group went off. From ever increasing distances they sent messages to each other and Remus and according to the map Harry consulted every so often they all managed to cover quite a good distance.

Just as they decided to try once more from even greater distance Harry received a message from Remus saying that something was getting close to him. The next moment he heard a shout in the distance and Harry was quick to open the map to see what was happening.

From the corner of his eye he thought he saw movement in the house but he paid it no heed as he saw that Remus and a second person were now moving. Not sure what the little icon was supposed to be he sent a message to the others and hurried over to where Remus and a Griet Grootmens were currently located. Just as Harry threw yet another look at the map to make sure he was still heading in the right direction Remus and the other disappeared off the map.

For a few heart-stopping moments Harry panicked at the idea of losing Remus too, but mercifully reason quickly kicked in. It didn't make sense for the both of them to disappear of the map unless …

Throwing another quick look at the map Harry now saw that one after the other the twins, Ron and Neville too were disappearing. Most likely they had crossed the border of the Black Manor estate and Harry was quick to send his friends messages not to use magic for the time being and included the reason. Harry then set off again in the direction his wand had shown after casting the "Point-me-Remus" spell.

He paused for a moment as he came to a brook, not too wide to cross but he'd have wet feet for sure if he did. He consulted the map and saw Ginny and Luna had met up and just then Luna too disappeared off the map. Sending the question if Luna had just crossed a brook, he then redid the "Point-me-Remus" spell and found Remus to be located to the left of him. He stayed on the Black estate side of the brook and was glad he did, as he was able to hide away in the undergrowth when finally he found Remus and his abductor.

From his safe position behind the bushes he sent his friends another message and the "guide-them-home" spell he'd read about in one of the books and then took the time to observe the situation.

Almost immediately Harry's fears disappeared. For Griet Grootmens at first glance did not pose a threat. With two long blond ponytails fastened with large pink bows hanging on either side of her chubby face and dressed in what Harry could only call kiddie clothes he might have been looking at one of the young girls playing in the park in Little Whinging. What would make this toddler stand out back in Little Whinging was the fact she was probably twice Harry's size !

He continued observing the giant child and what she was doing. Remus must have been knocked out and was propped unceremoniously against a tree. The girl kept fiddling with things and kept up a steady stream of chatter Harry couldn't make out. Ginny, Luna and Hermione made it back quickest and after voicing his suspicions to the girls and some additional observation they agreed with his conclusion. In the young girl's eyes Remus was a doll !

The other boys reappeared mere moments before Remus started to regain consciousness and thus their quickly improvised rescue plan lacked finesse and total success. The obvious glee of the little big girl at the appearance of two other dolls, transfigured from a stick of wood and then enlarged, drew the attention of the girl's frantic father and the group found themselves confronted with a giant ready to defend his precious daughter.

"Papa, kijk ! De mooie poppen dansen." Daddy, look ! The pretty dolls are dancing. Exclaimed the little girl as she saw her father. The man looked around at the scene before him and was quick to realise the danger was not that big.

Somehow Harry was able to communicate a little with the man who didn't speak much English. As Remus was still too groggy to be much help Harry called for Lily and sent off a scribbled message to the headmaster asking for any kind of aid.

While they waited for a response the twins did their best to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. They kept the two dolls animated, now dancing to the tune of a children's song the three witches sang. The little big girl was fascinated and clapping with merriment as her father was watching the whole proceedings with a benign smile on his face.

Lily reappeared, dropped a note for Harry and flashed away again, only to reappear once again a mere minute later with two passengers. Harry immediately recognised the tall form of Hagrid but the blond woman that was with him he'd never seen before. She had quickly cast a Sonorus on herself and was now talking with the giant. Happy to be able to talk to someone he understood the giant man was visibly relaxing as they spoke. The blond woman now turned to Harry to ask what had happened and he explained they presumed that the young girl stumbled upon a dozing Remus and took him along thinking he was a doll. Remus must have been taken by surprise and probably banged his head against a tree at some stage.

While the woman was translating this, Hagrid explained to them that Miss Freija was the new Ancient Runes teacher and had Norwegian ancestors so she knew the language. Harry thought she looked just like he imagined the Scandinavian people to look : tall, slim, blond and blue-eyed. As she was also very pretty and still young – Harry figured she might be in her mid-twenties – this year it might well be the male population of Hogwarts that found themselves in a similar position as the witches had the year Lockhart came.

Her conversation with the giant over for now the blond teacher turned to them and started to fill them in on the giant man's story. He was Geert Grootmens, the eldest son of the chief of his clan. Several clans had fled their home in the fjords of Norway more than a hundred years ago and they had after many travels settled in the huge forest surrounding the Black estate. Shortly after their arrival the wizard owner of the land had found them and after hearing their story had allowed them to stay. The settlement was at a fair distance from the estate itself, but a few times each year Geert or his brother would do the round of the forest to make sure there were no problems. In all these years this was the first time they'd encountered anyone. After hearing this Harry was quick to reassure the giant that as far as he was concerned the giants had nothing to fear and were welcome to stay put.

Geert the giant then indicated he needed to return home, as it would take quite a while with the little girl in tow. He left, his daughter happily clutching her two new dolls in her arms, while issuing an invitation to Miss Freija and friends to visit the settlement anytime they wanted.

Lily came to take Remus up to Hogwarts so Madame Pomfrey could take a proper look at him and Harry suggested aborting the rest of the trip. With the adrenaline rush after the panic now well and truly gone everyone was quick to agree and Harry managed to transport everybody back to the hall in the manor in mere seconds. For most of the party happiness to be back already far outweighed the surprise to find themselves inside but the two teachers from Hogwarts were very impressed. The manor had adjusted itself to accommodate the large presence of Hagrid so they had no problem moving into the kitchen where Dobby was quick to supply them with pots of tea.

The situation was a little awkward at first, Miss Freija was after all a stranger, but Harry thanked her for her help and Hagrid formally introduced them to her so the mood was changing to positive fast.

They were quick to find that the new Ancient Runes teacher was as cheerful as Tonks. She had been born in England from a Norwegian father and a mother from Norwegian descent but had been home schooled both by a tutor and her paternal grandmother and mother. After taking her NEWTs she'd gone to live with her family in Norway for two years and had then taken up private tutoring while going for the Mastery in Ancient Runes. She was now looking forward to explore Hogwarts and what would be her first full time position as a teacher.

With the return of a completely fit Remus and a laden down Mrs Weasley and house elves they too were introduced to the new teacher and only now did Harry learn the full name of Miss Freija Vitkarsdottir.

Having finished with his meeting with the Board of Governors Professor Dumbledore came around to find out the outcome of the situation and was brought up to date with the happenings of the day and they all got a good look at the map of the Black estate grounds.

Late that evening when Harry was all set to go to bed he remembered the one of 150 bottles of dandelion juice that Professor Dumbledore had brought. With Harry and his friends moving to Hogwarts in two weeks, he'd left the other bottles there in the mistaken belief the students themselves would need the juice.

Harry was going to see in the Black library if there was anything that house elves would consider a real treat by way of a thank you for their help. He was just about to enter the library when he heard voices. He stopped to identify the speakers and was surprised to find Professor Dumbledore still around at this late hour.

"… There's no one else but you, Remus, they won't listen to a non-werewolf."

"It will have to wait until September then, Professor. But how will we convince them not to take Voldemort's side ? The minister and his cronies have made life even harder than before and are pushing some of them straight into Voldemort's clutches."

Harry decided to join the discussion. "Remus, Professor, I came down to look up a few things and couldn't help but hear your conversation. Would a privately run project to provide housing, jobs and an excellent free potion be able to convince them ?"

The two men looked up in surprise and Dumbledore replied almost automatically.

"It would be of great help, especially if there are no strings attached to the free potion."

"The only one I can think of would be more of a request to make sure that all known werewolves hear of it and can be helped." replied a solemn looking Harry and he continued to explain the whole plan, how what Sirius had mentioned in his will gave Harry the idea and how, with the invaluable aid of the four other werewolves, Paul Watkins and Griphook, Schmegg and Gringotts they'd progressed that small idea into a big long-term project and the possible start of a whole community.

The two were flabbergasted at the scope of the project as Harry continued to outline the not too distant future of the plans.

"The plan was to start small and expand as per ability but we may make the big announcement sooner rather than later and proceed with the publication as soon as a few key people have been brought in. This month's full moon is too early to have things set up but by next month all should be in place to provide a hundred or maybe even more people of the potion."

Early on Thursday morning as Harry got ready for the day he was still chuckling as he thought of the stunned face of his esteemed Headmaster. After hearing about the project with all its different stages and Harry answering several of their questions, Remus had agreed to go talk to some of the leaders of the werewolf communities already, hopefully accompanied by Elijah or one of the Waverley brothers and offering to share this month's batch of potion with those willing to try it out and if feasible to take them to visit the village-without-name that would house the whole community.

The next week passed in a pretty routine way with a few highlights in between.

It all started on Friday morning when much to everyone's surprise Ron received another letter from Hogwarts. And they didn't have long to wait to hear what it was all about.

"Homework, she's giving us bloody homework to do. Who does she think she is !" came from the disgruntled Ron.

He'd thrown the letter to the table in disgust and Fred, sitting right next to him, saw no reason not to share the contents of his brother's letter with the rest of them.

Dear Mr Weasley,

Welcome to your Sixth Year at Hogwarts and the NEWT level class of "Wizarding Sports : Law and Order".

While active in sports myself my main interest in sports law was the way the referee interpreted those laws and influenced the outcome of the game in progress. However, when my own active years were over I got hooked on the subject that is Wizarding Sports : Law and Order. The way that the clear-cut texts of the Laws and Regulations regarding any Magical Sports can be applied so variedly in the field is what makes this subject so fascinating to me.

In order for me to prepare these courses so as to best suit your interests I would like to assign you two pre-school tasks. Please write in a minimum of ten inches about yourself and your reason for attending this class and send it to me by next Friday 30 August at noon. Furthermore I would like to request that you read chapters one through five in both course books, "Complete Guide to Magical Sports" and "Rules and Regulations in Wizarding Sports", by the time of our first class.

I look forward to receiving your assignment.

Professor Battersby Hartridge

Luna's comment that it could be worse, as in writing several feet worth, got the twins talking of the kind of papers they would be required to write in the next two years, making this one look like a shopping list. Although still grumbling about it by the time breakfast was finished Harry did see Ron scribbling away before morning class was on.

Also on Friday was the start of Remus' second round of the LeBon potion. Joining him for the new potion was an eager Paul Watkins. On Saturday during potions lessons they experienced the difference that working in advance made to their comprehension levels. With the text in their course book yielding a few aspects Harry hadn't heard of before he had looked up the ingredients and new preparation method in advance so Elijah's further explanation made perfect sense and prompted a few questions from Harry that he'd otherwise never have been able to come up with. All in all, Harry felt that this way of studying would suit him much better.

As Sunday was the start of the last week of the summer holiday lunch was a lively affair as the Waverley brothers, Elijah, the whole Weasley clan, Mrs Longbottom, Mr Lovegood and Hermione's parents were present for a last joint meal at Black Manor. Early afternoon as they were still enjoying the last scoops of ice cream dessert an unknown owl brought with it an invitation for Monday tea for Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Luna and Hermione along with Crookshanks to visit Mrs Figg at her new home so Ginny could choose her own kitten. They returned with several new pictures of the whole litter and several too of the beautiful silver grey spotted kneazle kitten that had been named Misty and would arrive in Hogwarts at the end of September.

Another remarkable moment had occurred on Tuesday afternoon when a beautiful male eagle owl had shown up with a special delivery from Florean Fortescue. The library had yielded the personal diary of Mr Black's mother during Harry's search for a special treat for the Hogwarts elves. Noted down in it was a recipe for cucumber ice cream that was supposed to be a delicacy for the elves, but since they were highly allergic to the raw vegetable they were unable to make it themselves. Harry had sent the info and recipe off with the request to make a test batch.

Mr Fortescue's response was to send two large tubs of the finished product accompanied by a letter explaining the curious result he'd had when he explained to his house elves exactly why he wanted to do their job in preparing this particular ice cream. They ended up crying and smiling all at the same time for several hours and Mr Fortescue had generously made a double batch so they too could eat some.

Apparently, so Mr Fortescue had been able to gather, the house elves were under the impression the recipe had been lost several centuries ago. Certain that the Hogwarts elves would be as delighted with this treat he'd gone ahead and production was already in full swing. The four Black Manor elves reacted very much like Mr Fortescue's and Mrs Weasley had had to take over cooking dinner from the near hysterical elves. With delivery of the ice cream for the Hogwarts elves scheduled for Friday Harry decided to warn Professor Dumbledore of the upcoming chaos in the Hogwarts kitchen.

Morning classes continued only until Wednesday as Remus would be off most of the days before the full moon. He had more success than expected when contacting the werewolves as Harry's earlier defense of his werewolf guardian paved the way in showing them the offer was to be trusted. On Thursday morning Remus returned from the full moon night in a happy mood and brought a whole series of pictures of the Village-without-Name where he first explored the area and had later stayed overnight in makeshift accommodation, along with the first time recipients of the LeBon potion.

They spent most of Thursday morning outside and Harry was able to say goodbye to several inhabitants of the Black Manor woods. After lunch it was time to pack their trunks ready for Hogwarts. They would be moving to Grimmauld Place after tea for the remaining two days to allow Harry's many scheduled meetings and visits.

Saying goodbye to both Mr and Uncle Black was harder than Harry had expected even with the near certainty that he would be able to sneak in visits once his trunk-portal was set up. For the first time since entering the wizarding world going to Hogwarts didn't quite stir the same feelings as before.

Once arrived at Grimmauld Place though Harry wasn't given any time to mope as a whole lot of visitors came calling. The eldest Weasley sons joined them for the remainder of the weekend, along with Hermione's parents, Neville's grandmother, Luna's father as well as Tonks and her parents.

And as if that wasn't enough of a crowd a whole slew of Order members, young and old, dropped in and stayed to chat. All in all it was a wonderful yet hectic and busy evening.

Very early Friday morning saw Harry appear in Diagon Alley, ready for the first of the tasks on his to do list.

He would be spending quite some time this morning in either of his two family vaults. Alone for the moment he'd arranged for another visit to the Potter vault so he could have a look around. He was especially keen to look for small ornaments he could display in his trunk-study, and wanted to have a good look also at all the books. Some titles had seemed especially interesting. And last but not least he also hoped to find the small Padfoot necklace that Sirius had gifted him when a baby. When at a quarter past nine a goblin came to escort him to the Black vault he'd still been browsing through the library but he'd found everything he'd been looking for.

At nine thirty Tonks and her parents came down to the Black vault where Harry had still been standing, staring around in wonder. The messy vault he'd visited not two months ago had been thoroughly cleaned and reorganised and it now looked very much like the Potter vault. Shortly after the Tonks family arrived so did Bill Weasley in his capacity as curse breaker for Gringotts. Taking advantage of Harry's presence in the vault he would be looking at all things dangerous and cursed to see what could and needed to be done with them.

Andy, Ted and Tonks had spent an hour browsing and choosing to their heart's content with Andy even able to locate the painting of her father's maternal grandmother wearing exactly the set of jewels that Alphard had wanted her to have. More visitors to the Black vault turned up at ten thirty as Harry also invited Ginny, Hermione and Luna accompanied by Remus so they too could have a look at the many pieces of jewellery in the vault. An awful lot of the newer pieces were close to being gaudy and too ornate but among the older pieces were some fine and simple necklaces to be found that pleased the three young friends to no end. Along with Andy's help they all also choose pieces for Mmes Weasley, Longbottom and Granger. Remus and Bill helped Harry in choosing sets of tiepins, cuff links and watches for Ron and Neville as Professor Dumbledore had hinted at another Yule Ball.

It was so close to midday before they finally emerged from Gringotts into a very crowded Diagon Alley that they decided to have lunch before tackling the shopping. Remus popped to Grimmauld Place to pick up the others. Tom offered them a private room for their lunch but since it was still early enough there wasn't too big a crowd in the pub and they opted instead for the out-of-the-way table in one corner. They enjoyed the superb meal and while they had a limited shopping list mainly consisting of potion ingredients and stationary they didn't spend too much time over their meal.

By the time they were ready to hit the shops Harry had been brought up-to-date on the latest Hogwarts letter that had arrived for Ron that morning. Not homework this time but a letter from Professor McGonagall who was pleased to be able to tell her Quidditch captain that a former Gryffindor student had provided a Quidditch fund for his old House team. The whole team, including a reserve team, was to be equipped with brand new brooms and basic equipment.

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Author's Note :

For those who don't know Dutch or Norwegian this won't make much difference, but for the others I just wanted to point out that I do know about the glaring "mistake" regarding the language. Although I claim the language used is Norwegian, it is in reality Dutch. I needed a mountainous area to 'hide' the existence of the giants, which is highly unlikely in the flat country that is Holland or Flanders where I live. But I also wanted the freedom to understand what I write, something an online translator won't provide. You should try translating a sentence in one program and convert that sentence back to your original language in another and you'll understand what I mean. In the end it does not matter overly much as the amount of Dutch/pseudo Norwegian used is very limited but in the original version there was a lot more conversation going on in Dutch/Norwegian.

Thanks for your continued reading. Would love some feedback from you though. If you have any questions about the story, please don't hesitate.

Have you enjoyed this (and previous) chapter(s) ? You might be interested to know the story is a few chapters further along and offers a little extra info and pictures on my yahoo group (for link see profile page).

cheers

kadedeetje