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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34 More of the not so usual
Herbology classes too were influenced now they studied the subject at NEWT level and it brought with it several changes. There was the same pre-class reading requirement the other subjects had, and Professor Sprout showed them two hitherto secret plots in both the greenhouses and the garden housing the more dangerous plants. But anyone taking Herbology in 6th and 7th year, on both OWL and NEWT level, were each given access to a small greenhouse and garden plot. The students were not really required to start and tend their garden, with the theoretical aspect of the exams good for a possible score of four NEWTs, but anyone thinking of a Mastery needed to have at least one NEWT scored in the practical application of the class.
Professor Sprout continued with allocating each student his or her own plot, explaining the basic rules regarding these private gardens and then gave them the general overview of the coming two years. And as a sign of things to come, they also received their first report assignment. Professor Sprout too stressed her preference to have them work alone on the assignment and gave them the subject they would need to read up on for the next class.
As they were let out of class a little ahead of time, Harry still had a little over two-and-a-half hours before his next class. Hermione on the other hand had a little over half an hour before she was expected in History of Magic after which she'd be free for the day and both Ron and Neville had no further classes on their Tuesday afternoon schedule. They all agreed to meet for lunch at one, giving each of them time to pursue other things beforehand.
Neville stayed behind and discussed his class of advanced Herbology with Professor Sprout while Ron wanted to contact Madame Hooch to schedule the Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs and future training sessions. Hermione joined Harry on his way over to Hagrid. As luck would have it they saw Hagrid returning from inside the forbidden forest as they too made their way over to his hut. Hermione left after a bit of small talk and Harry enjoyed a cup of Hagrid's tea while he recounted the happenings of his summer in more detail. Especially the presence of such varied number of inhabitants in his very own forest had Hagrid enchanted.
Harry on the other hand learned that Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother, had moved to live with a newly founded tribe that consisted of giants that had moved out of their own tribes in search of a more peaceful existence. Madame Maxine, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, the French school of witchcraft and wizardry, had heard of the existence of this new community and had contacted Hagrid with a view to have Grawp join them. The two half-giants had visited and been welcomed into a very peaceful society and Hagrid had felt secure to bring Grawp to live among them as several of the giants around spoke a similar language so Grawp would feel more at home but at the same time still be able to learn more English.
As for Harry's class Hagrid was very easy going with that. As far as Hagrid was concerned Harry was free to join him anytime it suited him. When comparing their schedule however Harry saw he might be able to join with his classmates either on Wednesday or Thursday at 5 but the concept wasn't quite so interesting when Hagrid said the only two students to take the OWL Care of Magical Creatures class were Crabbe and Goyle. They finally agreed that Harry would join in on the Thursday, which was the single period class the two Slytherins were allowed to skip.
After a very leisurely lunch Harry and Ginny were the only two off for a class, in Ginny's case even her first and only class of the day, a double period of DADA. The whole group got up to leave and were joined by Luna who was taking the same DADA class as Ginny. The two girls said their goodbye's as they were off for the classroom on the first floor, the rest continued on up and it wasn't until they made it to the fifth floor east wing stairs that Harry continued on alone along the East wing corridor towards the Arithmancy classroom while the others made their way up to the seventh floor and Gryffindor tower.
He wasn't the first to arrive this time but the three Ravenclaw girls already present had taken a seat on the first row of desks so it still left his favourite spot free. He was very happy to see both Terry Boot and Michael Corner arriving next with the three of them taking seats in the back row as next to arrive was Theodore Nott.
By the time Professor Vector arrived so had the remainder of the class, in total 12 students equally divided in number between the sexes and made up of the mix of one lone Slytherin, two Hufflepuffs, four Gryffindors and five Ravenclaws. Professor Vector herself was an average looking woman in her mid sixties and if asked Harry wouldn't really be able to tell what she'd been wearing or how she looked. The only thing that did make an impression on him was the way her face lit up once she started talking about her subject in more detail.
Once again the class was made up of a mix of people with very varied backgrounds in Arithmancy and for the total novices like Harry and Dean Thomas she had given a very detailed description of what Arithmancy would bring and what the practical applications could be. This was one of the subjects Harry had in fact most looked forward to. From Mr Black and his tuition in the summer he'd picked up a few principles that were handy when building new protective wards or creating charms and spells so Harry was keen to learn as much as possible.
For the rest they were once again given the entire spiel of working solo, the different options they had as to what they might want to achieve and the type of work she expected from them. All in all Harry was quite happy to have added the subject on his curriculum.
After class Harry returned to the seventh floor and up to the headmaster's quarters where the two of them had tea and talked about Harry's surprise of the day before. It didn't take the headmaster long to guide Harry along down to the ground floor level and Harry was surprised to be led along the west wing corridor, an area most students didn't go to. The nearest Harry had been was during the Divination classes with Firenze and even that room was close to the entry hall. Professor Dumbledore stopped in front of a painting depicting a couple seated on a simple wooden bench under an oak tree looking out over a sun drenched rose garden.
"My Lady, kind Lord, this is the young man I spoke about earlier. He is in need of your quarters so he may learn and prepare for his future as heir and head of a mighty family. Have you set a password for him and his friends ?"
"Indeed we have, headmaster. Mr Potter, please advise your friends the password for entry is set at "Potion in Motion"." spoke the man, who'd stood up and walked closer to the edge of the frame, thereby showing off his magnificent attire.
At first glance Harry had mistaken his clothing to be a rather simple cloak worn over a tunic and trousers but as the man had moved into the sunny area of the painting the fabric had lit up and the ornate embroidery had become visible. The dark yellow of both the cloak and tunic turned a brilliant gold and the dark brown of the cloak lining and the trousers were instead a deep red that looked to change colour with every move the man made.
Before Harry had had the time to take in all the details and properly thank the couple the door swung open and Harry was led into a large suite, as truly you could not call it a classroom. There were three sections in the room that was situated in one of the corners of the castle. Although the first section along the west wing housed desks for ten students they were nothing like the simple school desks they'd been using in their regular classes. The second section offered dual aspects to both the north and the west and had armchairs and low side tables scattered around the space, offering seating arrangements for any occasion. The third section along the north wing was a very grand looking potions lab with ten individual workstations, each offering a basic selection of potion ingredients and any out-of-the-ordinary tool they could wish for as well as several reference books. The set up was spacious and luxurious, not to mention very bright and warm compared to the setting of their earlier potion classes down in the dungeons. There was a door leading to a separate room and upon closer inspection Harry learned it was a comparatively small office with just a matching set of desk, chairs and bookcases in some rich reddish brown wood. The different rooms were done in cream, with small gold and red touches, the colours very much like the clothing of the couple on the guarding painting.
Professor Dumbledore explained that there was only one other suite like it in the castle and that the set up would not give anyone cause to complain about the private tuition Harry was given. After all each of the many old families had different traditions when it came to educating the heir of the estate. Some families were inclined to limit the education to those subjects required for the heir to successfully run the family business, Ollivander and their wandmaking being a good example of that. But other families would encourage a more varied knowledge and would teach their heirs from a wide selection of subjects, be it management, potions, charms or warding or any other subject imaginable.
The suite, so the headmaster continued, would also be considered Harry's office away from home and anyone arriving to speak with Harry on business matters would be directed here, as officially no visitors were allowed beyond the ground floor of the school.
What with NEWT potions classes also so varied depending on what level of studying you were willing to put in, each of his friends taking the classes with him would have access to the suite all the time to allow the brewing of those potions that required multiple-day simmering. They left the rooms and Harry took the time to thank the couple for the use of their suite before following the headmaster up again to the sixth floor. Standing on about the same spot as where the stone gargoyle stood a floor up Professor Dumbledore pointed out the painting of two guards, and said, more to the painted guards than at Harry himself :
"The opening password for the Gathering Room of the Defence Association is "Mischief Maker" and can only be used by Mr Harry Potter, Head of the Defence Association."
One of the two guards moved aside as he said "Acknowledged, Headmaster" and the painting cum door swung open to what Harry believed to be the largest room, other than the Great Hall, in the entire castle. To the left large windows were letting in plenty of light and a small portion to that side of the room was dedicated to gaining more knowledge of the more theoretical side of Defence with several desks and plenty of filled up bookcases. To the right and occupying the largest portion of the room were padded walls and what looked like equally well padded floors with oversized cushions scattered around.
All Harry could think to say was "wow" and he heard the headmaster beside him chuckle.
"I'll take that as a sign you like the room ! A little like the Room of Requirement it will provide you with most anything you can think of provided it has to do with DADA of course. Unlike the potions room downstairs, no one will be able to enter unless you are in here. I don't want to create dangerous situation with students sneaking in here unattended. As you can see, there are no supervising paintings here to seek help if needed. As you have also heard the password I just gave is yours alone and even when you are in here no one would be able to use it to get in. That means you'll need to come up with your own password for the students."
Harry nodded his understanding as the headmaster asked him about his meeting with the old DA members the night before. Harry informed the headmaster of the enthusiasm of the old DA members at starting up again, and the headmaster told Harry of the change in plans to move only the death eaters in the ministry holding cells to Serious Hell prison, as the first of the Azkaban prisoners would be moved there as they spoke. Those detained in the Ministry holding cells however would only be moved late Wednesday to allow the aurors to set up a trap for those death eaters coming to free their comrades without alerting their accomplice Basil of the changes.
With the two of them fully up to date on the other's news Harry made his way back to Gryffindor tower to start on some of the work he'd already accumulated in the past two days. It involved a lot of reading and note taking and Harry was even now beginning to wonder how he'd be able to keep all his notes in good order. Despite looking through the library at Black Manor before he'd not found any reference to anything useful.
They'd nearly finished their dinner by the time Professor McGonagall came in and she walked over to Harry and handed him a scroll of parchments with the class schedules for the entire school before making her way to the head table for her own dinner.
Later that evening, after a few games of Wizarding Taboo with a group of students from several different grades, Harry looked through the various class schedules and decided to run the Teen DA sessions on the Monday and the Junior DA on Wednesdays. With sessions starting at a quarter to eight it would give everyone plenty of time for dinner even if some of the students had classes until nearly seven and it also gave them a bit of leeway to make sure that everyone was in their common rooms before the ten o'clock curfew.
Breakfast the next morning, it was still only Wednesday, brought news from the Auror offices when the morning papers were delivered. The article revealed Skeeter's status as an illegal animagus, and how she had used her form to spy around and listen in on all kinds of conversations. Mention was also made of her not so friendly use of the memory charm on Madame Malkin and misrepresentation of facts when reporting.
The first class that morning of Charms was pretty much a rerun of the previous NEWT classes Harry had attended so far. Professor Flitwick stressed the importance of regular work, lots of reading and practice, doing the job on your own but not to be afraid to ask for help anyway and once again explained the very different goals each student had while taking this subject.
After the equally mandatory overview of what was to come in the next two years for Charms NEWT classes, their reading assignment for the next session and the round of questions they were free to go a little earlier than usual. Harry walked up to Professor Flitwick to ask a non-charms related question he hoped the tiny professor would be able to help him with.
"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, might I ask for your help already ?"
After a nod from the teacher Harry continued.
"As part of my inheritance I received a complete overview of the estate from the goblins at Gringotts and I discovered that several nifty charms and spells were used on that report that allow you to retrieve information quickly. When Remus explained about the NEWT courses and all the note taking it involves I figured that something similar to those report spells would come in handy to keep track of all my notes. I've scoured the Black library but all I found were some general sorting charms and I wondered if you could perhaps point me in the right direction as to where exactly I would find that kind of helpful spell."
"Ah, yes, Mr Potter, it is quite normal that you didn't find any traces of such charms and spells and I'm afraid I cannot help you either. Most students, actually most wizards never see those spells in action, and if they do, it would be much later in life, or at the earliest just after their 17th birthday when they gain control of the family estate. Your own unusual legal status has given you that knowledge earlier than expected. You will learn about this phenomenon during your Wizarding Society classes, but in short it comes down to the protection of the wizarding professions.
Let me explain this better. The education you receive here at Hogwarts is in fact a very good basis for whatever profession you wish to undertake. However, for most professions you will get additional training once you start your job. If for instance you were to take on a job as a teacher here, the staff would be able to give you some very handy spells and tools that would help you overcome some practical problems during teaching, scoring tests and grading papers. But signing that contract when you join the teaching staff also binds you to not give away these particular teaching secrets to third parties. And that's how it goes for most professions.
The only one able to help you would be an administrative assistant or possibly an accountant and even they would not be able to just tell you, rather provide you with ready made solution, whatever that may be."
"So that's why ! It does make sense that people want to protect their profession, but I never found any reference to why they weren't to be found. I just never thought it could be something like that. Thank you for explaining, Professor."
"My pleasure, Mr Potter."
Wednesday lunchtime this year proved to be slightly chaotic. Both Neville and Harry had a two hour break before their afternoon Wizarding Society class, but Hermione had a History period right after Charms, and an hour for lunch before she too attended Wizarding Society. Ron on the other hand had his lunch break right after Charms, followed by his solo period of Muggle Studies, a two hour break and then his History of Magic class.
Harry took the opportunity of the long break to answer Charlotte's letter and ask her about the report charms and spells before joining Neville, Ron and Ginny in the Great Hall for lunch. Harry had barely tucked in when the two Weasley siblings got up to go to their classes and Hermione arrived, muttering something not too nice about boring ghosts, sat down next to Harry and continued ranting in a slightly louder voice at how Professor Binns should be banned from teaching since he was so boring while loading her plate with food and Harry couldn't help but laughing out loud.
Quite a few heads turned to look at the astonishing view of a laughing Harry Potter but the boy himself was too busy looking at a blushing Hermione to notice. Hermione in the mean time was blushing just because she'd noticed all the attention and she wanted to find out what had set Harry off.
"Harry, really, what did I say that was so funny ?"
"Hermione, it just struck me as real funny that you, the smartest person at Hogwarts at the moment, bar maybe a few of the teachers, need five years to come to a conclusion that Ron and I, along with the rest of the Hogwarts population, have reached within ten minutes of our first lecture with him !
Hermione looked at him as if he'd just declared that the sky was green instead of blue but then she too grinned. "That's true ! I guess it took Mr Black's storytelling to wise me up." was all she said as the three of them continued their meal.
They made their way up to the fifth floor east wing where they found the classroom door wide open and the woman they assumed to be the teacher was already present. They bade her a good afternoon and took place in the second row in the hope that indeed only a few students would attend the class. As they grabbed their satchels to take out quills, parchment and books the teacher spoke up.
"There is no need to unpack your things just yet. We are awaiting the two other students before we change classrooms."
So when Susan Bones and Daphne Greengrass arrived the teacher lead them out of the classroom, via the main stairs up to the seventh floor and from there, surprisingly, up the Astronomy Tower. Two floors below the actual Astronomy classroom a door appeared that Harry had never seen before but lead into a comfortable yet posh sitting room with a view to die for. Situated near the top of the Astronomy Tower, the tallest of Hogwarts' towers, on a clear day like today you could see for miles in any direction as the room offered a 360 degree view.
The five of them stood around, uncertain as to what to do next. There were six comfortable looking armchairs that offered no possibility to easily take notes, but then again, no other seating was visible. When told to take a seat, they did and found the chairs immediately offered writing tablets to the side.
Now they were seated the teacher started on her version of the first day in class talk. First of all she stressed the fact that the 5th floor east wing location they'd been in was the correct one. Only, for their Wizarding Society class she preferred the setting they were in now and told them to make their way to their current location for future classes. The introductory classes, as well as those for Wizarding Sports, would be held in the other, normal classroom.
The teacher, who reminded Harry of his aunt Marge but with a far sunnier disposition, gave them an overview of what they could expect to learn in the next two years, but also indicated that some subjects could be addressed in more or less detail as per their preference.
"I'm very pleased to find that the class this year represents the entire wizarding world. Not only do we have representatives from the eldest of families, I can also talk about new families, those created by muggleborn wizards and witches. This will allow us to look at the evolution magical families make as they grow and age.
Another bonus for this class is the fact that the five of you are either head or future head of family, which will allow me to give you detailed information on certain aspects of that responsibility."
The teacher, who had introduced herself as Professor Emelyn Battersby–Hartridge before, started with a proper class and had to apologise to Hermione immediately. The first subject they would be dealing with was the family tree, and with Hermione's muggle background she had not been able to produce a personalised one for her. Instead she'd brought one of a family that had died out some 20 years earlier so Hermione could at least do the same exercises as the others.
When Hermione asked if she could use her true family tree, as her uncle had made one for the family some years ago, the teacher was quite taken with the idea to be able to show the difference between muggle genealogy and that of wizards and readily agreed.
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Author's Note :
Hello everybody,
A severe case of gastric flue invaded my home so my original hope to update around Easter was dashed. Hope all goes well now, as my next problem involves MS Office. My old version gave up on me, and I've installed the trial of Office 2007. All went beautifully until I entered my activation key and that didn't work. It leaves me without MS Word at home for the moment while we work out what to do next – don't exactly want to purchase another key – one was expensive enough !
Anyway, I would love some feedback from you. 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