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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33 Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

Harry took the remaining time until five to check in with Dobby to make sure Black castle would take to the visit as he wanted and to inform his friends of his unexpected absence for the next hour or so.

At just before five he made his way back to the Headmaster's office and found he was the last to arrive. After the initial pleasantries were over Madame Bones asked Harry about the location and Harry was quick to seize the opportunity.

"You know Azkaban, I'm sure ?"

Madame Bones nodded her agreement and Harry continued.

"Now, there are no dementors around of course, but overall it's a hundred times worse than Azkaban I imagine. You should just experience it for yourself, I think."

And then, as agreed with Mad-Eye, Harry took hold of both Madame Bones and Professor Dumbledore and said the activation phrase "I sentence you to time in Serious Hell Prison" and away they were.

Harry landed left of centre of the Main Hall of Black Castle where he was soon joined by Mad-Eye, Kingsley Shacklebolt and auror John Jones whom Harry had seen twice before at Grimmauld Place. Of Madame Bones and Professor Dumbledore there was no sign. The three men had been looking around and you could tell from their faces they were impressed enough with their surroundings.

John asked after his boss and Harry explained that prisoners would automatically be placed inside their cells and took them to the nearest moving room in the outer hallway. Just like Mr Black had described the room took them down to the lower floor, a ding-sound not unlike in a muggle elevator announcing they'd arrived. He explained about the auror accommodation being located among the cells and the aurors were pleasantly surprised to find these staff quarters extremely well fitted.

Harry's next stop was just a few doors down the hall. At first glance they stopped at an identical door. The tell-tale sign that this was a cell door came from the fact that when standing right in front of it the door looked to be transparent. Inside they could see Madame Bones, seated on a very basic looking chair. Right besides the door a Status Report Parchment listed Madame Bones' full name, her age and a clock counting down the time the prisoner was still locked up for. Both current prisoners had less than a minute to go before they would be released. Another remarkable feature on the Status Report Parchment was the Castle-made list of crimes that the prisoner had committed. With the current list containing crimes like "eating too much chocolate frogs" and "being too chipper early in the morning" Harry explained the crimes had been made up as part of the demonstration but the feature would be fully functional as soon as real prisoners arrived in order to avoid a situation like the wrongful imprisonment of his godfather.

The clearly shaken guinea pig prisoners were released and Dobby immediately appeared with a mug of hot chocolate for both of them. It didn't take long for the beverage to take effect and the two were quick to confirm Harry's earlier comment. Azkaban was a holiday resort compared to Serious Hell Prison.

Mad-Eye popped out to get two further unsuspecting prisoners in the form of two aurors to show Madame Bones and Professor Dumbledore exactly how the system worked and how they had really been seated in their prison cell. Again two Status Report Parchments appeared by the doors and they were able to see the information contained upon it. After their short stay in the cells Mad-Eye escorted the two aurors back to the Ministry to make sure they drank a cup of hot chocolate.

The five remaining at Black Castle made their way up to the Centre Hall to await Mad-Eye's return before taking a tour of the ground floor accommodation and outside space. The Centre Hall's outside wall in glass was a big hit, even for Harry. His previous visit had not prepared him for the views on what was now a sunny afternoon. At first glance there was nothing but the deep blue sea with its constant movement and different colours blue, green, grey and white. But looking closer it became apparent the castle was situated high on top of an island of rocks. The tranquillity of the inner courtyard was contrasted rather impressively by the jagged ruggedness of the drop and lay of the rocky land on the outside.

After looking through the various rooms on the ground floor the group returned to Hogwarts to further discuss the workings of the prison and the practicalities of the hand over.

Since the castle would remain a Black family residence of sorts Dobby, as head house elf, would be in charge of getting more elves but the costs for running the prison like the food bills would be charged to the Ministry. For those awaiting their trial special holding cells would be called into life. Even with better living conditions than the real prison cells these would not be all that pleasant, and the Status Report Parchment would still be displaying the vital statistics of the person inside, a feature that Madame Bones highly appreciated.

It was also decided that as an immediate measure only those Death Eaters in the Ministry holding cells would be relocated but long term plans would be to transfer all prisoners to the new venue, thus making sure that no innocents were currently behind bars.

When Harry asked if the Minister had no say in this, Mrs Bones was quick to put Harry's mind at ease. The Wizengamot had, after the defection of the dementors, given the matter in the hands of Mrs Bones in order to facilitate the search and possible solution to their prison problem.

Happy with the outcome of the meeting Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower with a small list of things he needed to do in the next twenty-four hours. Passing through the crowded Gryffindor Common Room he sent a message to his friends to join him in his trunk study in fifteen minutes. Luckily neither Seamus nor Dean were present in the dormitory and Harry was able to instruct Dobby on his share of the jobs to be done : finding more house elves that could take care of Black Castle and its future inhabitants and visiting the stationery shop in Hogsmeade.

When Hermione, Ron and Neville arrived Harry told them about the unexpected dream-vision he'd had during the night and that he'd just spent the time with Professor Dumbledore, Madame Bones and two aurors visiting Black Castle that would become the temporary new prison.

"But what are you going to do during the holidays then, if your house is a prison ?" asked a bewildered Ron.

"Black Castle, Ron, is where the prison will be. Harry said so just now." replied Hermione, clearly stressing the Castle part.

Ron looked bewildered for a moment, and his widening eyes were the only clue as to his sudden realization that there was yet another property Harry had inherited.

"Black Castle was actually the first official residence of the family from before they were officially named Black. It was built to be a prison cum home and combined both muggle and magical building means. It sits on its own large island of rocks in the middle of a sea although I have no clue exactly where that would be. Mr Black lived there until shortly after his wedding and the castle has been empty for the last 300 years or so. I'm not allowed to tell you how exactly it works, but one of the features is a Status Report Parchment that has a detailed list of all the crimes the prisoner has committed, that is made by the castle itself."

Harry continued to describe the castle itself and the living accommodation in some more detail. Harry also took this opportunity to tell them about what he'd come up with as a solution to his earlier dilemma as to what to do about Dean and Seamus with regard to his trunk study and library. His earlier idea to allow his friends unrestricted access to his trunk now seemed a bit unnecessary, what with access to individual study areas within their dormitories. Harry didn't think they'd be too annoyed about his extra special study area within his trunk but would allow them access to the library whenever he was in his study.

By the time they made it down to the Great Hall for dinner they were starved. Used as they were to a quite elaborate tea halfway between lunch and dinner they felt the effect of the passing of nearly seven hours since lunch.

The Hall was nearly full when they arrived but it was obvious from another wave of students entering shortly after them that the last period of the day had only just finished. Soon enough the entire staff table was fully occupied too and it was at this stage that Professor Dumbledore called for attention.

"I do hope you have enjoyed your first day back and am truly sorry to interrupt your dinner but I would like to request that the 5th, 6th, and 7th year students remain in the Main hall after dinner for a short meeting. Thank you."

There was quite a bit of a buzz after the announcement amongst the younger students as they started the guessing game of what the Headmaster might have to say. It took a bit longer than usual for the hall to clear with a few of the fourth year Slytherins trying their best to blend in with their older house mates, and it took three tries from Professor Snape, the last of which was a loud verbal dressing down of said students, before they finally left for their house dormitories.

"Thank you for your time. This won't take too long but I must start by apologising to the students in sixth and seventh year for most will have heard this same explanation only today, or have lived with the old system for the past year, but with most fifth years not really aware of the perks that come with NEWT studying, I do need to take up some of your time with a repeat of this information.

Everyone is aware that once you pass your OWL exams and you enter 6th year there's a huge change in the way you will learn here at Hogwarts, but one of the new aspects of that studying has remained a well-kept secret.

The main change in the way you study after your OWL exams is the preparatory work you need to do before your classes. To this end you need to read ahead of class, and for those classes with a practical aspect attached, even practice the practical. But since some of the material covered in 6th and 7th year can be too tricky or powerful to safely practice in the common room or dormitories, special practice rooms are at the student's disposal. You will most likely all know that the 6th floor North Wing is permanently closed and that is exactly where these practice rooms are situated.

Now, when a student wants to enter one of these practice rooms, he or she has to go to Mr Bob Cratchit's portrait and that man will guide you to the appropriate room. Each practice room houses several portraits of witches and wizards who were exceptional in a particular subject of Hogwarts' curriculum and will be able to help you should you be stuck. The portraits are also there as messengers if ever urgent help should be needed, if something were to go wrong while you practice.

I can hear some of you thinking, so if this is such a well kept secret why tell us now ? The reason is simple enough. We requested additional staff since we knew the first year classes were going to be so much bigger than those of the last decade. Alas, the Ministry refused. This means that most teachers have no means to properly teach these kids the practical aspects of their subjects and consequently, the students will lack important knowledge. Our solution was to open the practice rooms for them, but we also decided to open them to all students. To allow for all these additional rooms nearly the entire sixth floor has now been cordoned off. Mr Cratchit, who is housed in the West Wing stairs on the sixth floor, will still strictly control entry to the practice rooms.

In the fifty odd years this system is in place only two instances have occurred that the portraits have had to call in the help of a teacher to come to the aid of an unfortunate student. Now however, with all these extra students making use of the rooms, we wanted to ask for your additional assistance in this matter. The portraits would not only notify the most suited teacher but also the nearest student of 5th, 6th or 7th year using the practice rooms at the time of an incident. Please rest assured that we do not expect any major disasters from this new system, it is just an additional precaution we wanted to put in place.

Now for the practicalities of the system : we are only going to inform the other students as of next week, giving all of you, and here I'm specifically looking at both 5th and 6th years, to get the feel of the practice rooms before the hordes descend on them. I'll leave you to ponder this. Should you have any questions, please feel free to ask any teacher for assistance. Good evening for now."

The Headmaster left the room, and most students slowly made to return to their respective common rooms. Harry, aware it was now gone 8 already and the old DA was supposed to be meeting, told Ginny who was seated closest he would quickly make his way to the Room of Requirement to activate it for the DA meeting and he discreetly made his way out of the Main Hall.

With all the remaining DA members but one actually in the meeting with the Headmaster Harry knew no one was likely to be waiting for him to arrive, but he still wanted to make sure the secret of how to call for the room remained just that.

After making the required three turns in front of the door Harry opened it to find a roomy but cosy living room, with comfortable couches for seating some twenty people and small side tables scattered in between them. At one end of the room on a large table were several types of juices and glasses available as well as several bowls of crisps, sweets and popcorn. Happy with the result Harry didn't have long to wait for the arrival of his friends and the remaining DA members.

"Good evening all. First of all I'd like to say sorry for keeping you in suspense for the additional day on what's happening with the DA but I didn't think the train was the best place to have this conversation. To cut a long story short : the future of the DA depends on you all."

Harry raised his hand to silence the few that were about to interrupt him.

"I don't think I'm telling a secret when I say that last year was not a very good one for me. The DA and your friendship and support were really what kept me going. So it'll be no surprise either that early on in the summer I'd made up my mind to continue the DA if you were at all interested."

"That's so typically you, Harry ! To even consider thinking that we'd not be interested !" joked Zacharias.

Harry tried to give him a moody look but failed to keep the smile from emerging for very long and a few of the girls gave him a pleased look.

"Anyway," continued Harry, "that's when Professor Dumbledore contacted me on behalf of the Board of Governors.

The DADA scores of last year, as you won't be surprised to hear, were terrible with many a student barely making a passing grade. However the DA members with their fantastic results stood out so much that the governors asked for and received an explanation. The outcome of that talk is that the Headmaster has asked me, us, to continue with the DA …"

Harry had to stop as the old members loudly voiced their approval and agreement. After a few moments that Harry used to take a sip from his tropical fruit juice he was able to continue.

"Yes, well, there's a down side to the story, I'm afraid. The governors would want to open it up for the entire school and especially promote the group among the 2nd and 3rd years of all houses."

Once again Harry had to raise his hands to stop the group from voicing their concerns and objections but he was able to continue quickly enough.

"I know, that idea is ridiculous. But I have a solution that largely depends on your assistance to make it work. The solution that I came up with involves three different sessions. One weekly Junior DA session would be for 2nd and 3rd years. This would mainly allow them to get a little extra supervised practice under their belt and we could teach them a few of the easier spells. The second session or the Teen DA would be for all those 4th year and above that weren't part of the original DA. I'd planned on giving these guys the routine we did last year. And a third session would be the Senior DA, or you guys, with slight revisions but with lots of new material to cover.

The snag would be that I cannot do these sessions alone and would need, depending on the size of the group, one or two volunteers for each session to help me supervise. Going with 2 assistants per session, and 8 sessions per month, this would mean that each of you would sign up to participate as assistant in one two hour session per month on top of the weekly three hour Senior DA meeting.

And that's it really. If you could let me know if you are willing to help out and join the DA by Friday afternoon that would be great. Then we'd have a week to officially get the group going."

After only a few moments of silence Susan Bones sat a little straighter and said "As far as I'm concerned Harry I don't need the extra time to think about it. I'm in and look forward to it already."

"So am I." came from both Hannah Abbott and Lavender Brown, closely followed by the „And me." from the two Creevey brothers.

"I'm in too," said Terry Boot, "so why don't we do a show of hands to see who's in or not ? It'll be quicker than this !"

Harry just sat looking on all surprised at the outcome, as not two minutes later the entire group had agreed to join in the DA and the assistant's role.

"OK. I think I can take that as a sign you're all eager, right ?" laughed Harry and the others just nodded and joined in the merriment.

"So I guess we can go on to more practical aspects. My schedule is good for Monday, Wednesday and Friday sessions and I had been thinking about Friday as the Senior DA meeting what with that being three hours. Does that fit in with your timetables ?"

There was general nodding until several students shook their heads and told him they had Astronomy classes at ten.

"I've got classes till just before 5 and Astronomy at ten, but if a 7 o'clock start is good, and you stop just before ten, then I'll make it work." said Seamus with some determination.

"Is everyone agreed with that ? We can limit the sessions to just two-and-a-half hours so you'll all have plenty of time to freshen up a bit before your class. With those practice rooms at your disposal you could do a bit of additional practicing when you've got the time and disposition."

The idea met with general approval and they discussed the possible amount of students that would sign up.

"When Professor Dumbledore talked to me about it, actually when I'd just voiced my own concern at the amount of people that might show up, he said that it shouldn't be a problem. Not all students will be interested in the first place and well, I guess now that everyone has these practice rooms at their disposal … Anyway, I've not got them with me, but there's a poster for each Common Room Notice Board. If two of you could put your name on there to act as contact person for your house to answer any queries and take the registrations that would be helpful. I have one of the house elves who will put up the poster in the Slytherin common room with the DADA teacher as contact person at Professor Dumbledore's suggestion."

There was some resistance to have Slytherins join in but Harry was able to put their minds at rest when he mentioned the sign-up sheet and the special charm it would hold.

"Will the meetings be here again ?" asked Justin.

"Actually no, Professor Dumbledore has another room set aside for us but I've yet to see it. But once I have all the names of those interested in the DA I'll draft a letter with clear instructions. Professor McGonagall was going to get me a copy of the class schedules for the school so I can make out which session will suit either of the two groups best. Official deadline for these groups is 15 September, but since I figured we might as well start on the 16th, I'd like a list of registrations by Thursday the 12th, and I'll then get the letters out on the Saturday. Should the numbers be really high though, could you give me a little warning ?"

Harry took a few swallows of his juice before continuing.

"Can we compare schedules for the next few days to see if I meet up with anyone from either house to hand over the poster ? And could you let me have your preference for which of the sessions you'd like to assist in ? That can be based on day of the week or on the group and then I'll come up with a rota of sorts so you'll have an idea of when to present yourselves for duty." smiled Harry.

The group remained in the Room of Requirement for another hour or so, sitting around, catching up on some more news, and in Harry's case finding out he would see Ernie Macmillan for Hufflepuff during Herbology and either Padma Patil, Terry Boot or Michael Corner for Ravenclaw during his only other class on Tuesday of Arithmancy.

With everybody back in their respective house common rooms Harry was off for his trunk study again to set up the last of the arrangements needed to have Black Castle set up as Serious Hell Prison. First of all he read through his grandfather's manual for the trunk to make sure he had the procedure he needed to set up the portal between his study and Black Manor Library down to a tee. Once this was set up successfully he called in the aid of the still impressed and delighted Mr Black to set up an additional feature for both Madame Bones and himself.

Two charmed books would act as the household books allowing Harry and to a certain level Madame Bones also to make adjustments to the general running of the prison to make sure that the prison itself could run smoothly and at the same time the books would keep track of all the prisoners inside the building. It would also be a direct link between Harry and Madame Bones should any changes be required that only the master of the house, Harry himself, was able to make. He made up the package, along with some additional instructions, ready to be sent to Madame Bones in the morning.

After a little extra talk with Mr Black - Harry was surprised to find how much he'd missed the ghost in the last few days - he returned to the study area where he had a talk with Dobby, who was delighted to tell that he'd found two house elves to take up the job of caring for Black Castle.

As Harry returned to his dormitory he scared both Seamus and Dean witless by appearing out of nowhere and it wasn't until Harry told them about the trunk that they saw the still open door to his study inside. Harry explained about the trunk being made for his father and being very much more grown-up than the usual student trunk. He showed them around the study and the interconnecting door to the library and explained they were very welcome to peruse the library if they wanted.

The two young men expressed their understanding of why Harry would prefer to work in this area rather than the dormitory one and thanked him for even considering sharing the library with them.

Just before bed Harry remembered to write two more notes, one to Hagrid asking for the best time to meet up in order to set the time for their class, and one to Professor Dumbledore mentioning that he'd finished his Prison Preparations and asking to meet regarding the DA room.

Tuesday morning, after a very nice, uninterrupted sleep, Harry got up early, and sent both Lily and Hedwig on their way with the notes and package he'd prepared last night. After taking care of his usual morning ablutions he packed up his bag with his gardening tools and protective gloves along with his class book and several pieces of parchment for a morning of Herbology, and even with two hours for lunch, he decided to take along his Arithmancy book and his pre-prepared posters for the DA.

As soon as his friends had joined him in the common room they made their way down to the main hall and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, an added bonus you got from getting up on time. They were finishing their meal when the owls arrived with the mail. Surprisingly two owls made their way to Harry. There was Hedwig carrying two notes, both replies to his own messages, and an unknown owl with a thick letter addressed to "My Boss, Mr Harry J Potter" giving away the sender had to be either Charlotte or her sister in law.

Both owls were given a rasher of bacon for a job well done while Harry got to mentally fill up a few spots in his agenda. He'd be meeting with Hagrid right after Herbology and have tea with the headmaster after Arithmancy.

The letter from Charlotte contained a few unexpected additions. As he opened the envelope two pictures fell out. One had Charlotte, her three kids and another young woman standing in front of a lovely home, waving at him like mad and all wearing wide grins with the inscription on the back "September 1996 – our new home". The second picture was a large room that held two desks and loads of filing cabinets and Harry didn't need to read the inscription to know that was the total sum of his fan-mail in Charlotte's new office!

Much to his surprise the letter also included a list of names, printed on what was clearly muggle paper and most likely generated by computer and the title at the top was what gave away the meaning of the list. Apparently this was the list of those who'd been sending him the most letters in the past fifteen years. A second paper held a time chart that indicated that he received a steady stream of letters throughout the year, but his birthday, Halloween and Christmas saw an awful increase in the amount. Other "peaks" were indicated as being explained by articles in the newspaper reporting a "Harry Potter sighting" or his re-entry into the Wizarding Society, or all the press coverage he'd had in the past few years.

And last but not least there were also four parchments with what were clearly children's drawings. The first one, signed Oscar in a neat print, was a colourful mix of blobs that Harry was able to identify as handprints. The second one was a lovely drawing of the new house. From the name Thomas that was printed in a more wobbly way Harry was able to identify the eldest son of his new administrative assistant as the artist. Two further parchments had the once again neatly written Helen on them and they were both colourful drawings of blobs with sticks that made no sense to Harry.

Charlotte's letter gave further explanation.

Dear Mr Potter,

Thank you so much ! After our meeting at Gringotts my sister in law accompanied me back to our new home to take measurements and decide on colour schemes and the different destinations of the wonderful rooms. We were still in the process of taking all these notes when your house elf Dobby showed up and asked for his instructions.

Thanks to your generosity and his tremendous help we were able to move in late yesterday. What a luxury not having to pack and repack everything three times (like it would be with the kids around). Dobby snapped his fingers and the whole lot seemed to move as if in a dance. Packing was done in fifteen minutes flat !

It wasn't until all was packed up and moved out of our earlier home that the spells there fell and I cannot tell you how I feel realising we lived under those horrible circumstances without even knowing it !

But then, another surprise ! Travelling around with small children is no mean feat, especially if, like in my case, you have no alternative mode of transport like a car. But Paul organised a limousine that drove us from our old home to Ottery-St-Catchpole. The kids were having a ball in that giant car as the owner had transformed part of the car into a downright playground. And by the time we made it there Dobby had unpacked the lot and dinner was served. If moving house was always this nice I'd do it more. Only, this place is heaven so I don't think I'll want to move ever again !

Griphook came by when the kids were all off to bed and produced several helpful lists from the mail-mountain. With this house being muggle-proof or whatever you call it, Karen has been able to install her old computer and we were thinking to use it to keep track of all this information (making it easier to look up addresses and details about people). She has already been able to transfer the information on the timing of your mail (see chart) and has started to make the list of your most ardent writers. Would you please let us know if this is how you envisioned us working or do you have other ideas ? That would be very helpful.

The moment we arrived here in our new home Helen made you a drawing as a thank you and has been insisting we send it to you. But when Thomas heard about the drawing he too wanted to send you one, so that as a result you receive not one but four drawings (while Oscar and Thomas were making theirs, Helen joined in to make you another one).

Oh my, this was supposed to be a quick thank you note and I have been rambling on a bit. That I believe is the result of too much good air and a huge relief at these new happy circumstances I find myself in. Thank you for giving me the thorough mental kicking I needed and the generous and wonderful offer of employment and housing. This family will always be in your debt for saving us.

Regards

Charlotte

Your Administrative Assistant

PS I realised you have no experience with children's drawings and their hidden meaning. Young Thomas is letting you know he really loves the house and garden, baby Oscar just wanted to pet the paper (and lick off the paint). Helen on the other hand painted pictures of your wedding day and the family picnic many years later judging by the eight (or are there nine) kids surrounding you.

Harry nearly choked on the juice he was drinking. Surely she was joking !

Ginny, who was sitting next to him despite not having classes until that afternoon, had picked up the photographs and grinned when reading the inscription "the mailroom" and at first glance just commented on the seemingly nice family in the second picture. But she took a closer look and murmured to herself the place looked familiar. The chart paper was next but didn't hold her attention, the list with names on the other hand made her eyes widen when she realised what it represented and that the person in the lead had written him just over a thousand letters in the past 15 years. She had just picked up the four drawings when Harry had his juice accident and she merely scanned the top one while turning her attention to the boy next to her to see if he needed aid and thus missed the wedding picture she, having been the sort of little girl who would draw similar pictures, would be able to interpret without help.

Harry in the mean time had recovered his wits, of course Charlotte was joking, and he penned two confirmation notes to Hagrid and the headmaster that he sent off with Hedwig, told the other owl it would be some time before he could reply and sent it back home before collecting all of the papers and parchments from Charlotte's letter and putting them away.

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Author's Note :

Hello everybody,

I never thought it would once again be this long before being able to post the next chapter. After my sister passing away last May already it took quite some time and I had good hopes when I posted the previous chapter that life had returned to an albeit slightly slower version of normalcy.

But I've been battling my own small war with a very resisting infection since. Although life started up again after a four week illness, I was still not inclined to read, let alone write. But the wounds are almost healed now (nurses are still dropping by once a day though) and I've finally been able to do some more writing, the result evident in the posting of chapter 35 over on my yahoo group.

I would like to take this opportunity as well to thank all those of you who've added me on your author alert list, or added the story to your favorite or update list. It was much appreciated in those –what felt like extra dark - winter days I was ill. Would love some feedback from you though. If you have any questions about the story, please don't hesitate. For a little extra info and pictures I can recommend my yahoo group (for link see profile page).

cheers

kadedeetje