Harry was upset. While getting his own room had been a significant improvement, he hadn't dared ask for anything more, and of course, he didn't get anything more. While he was now able to avoid the beatings he'd gotten before - honestly, the hat had been right about Slytherin - and with magic on his side, he'd worked out plenty of ways to get through the summer.

It had been very easy picking the lock on Hedwig's cage the muggle way. He made note to keep his skills in mind as he sent her on her way to her nightly flight. He'd quickly had Hedwig send Ron and Hermione quick letters telling them that he'd be away and not to bother sending any letters over the summer.

He had figured out about the blood wards on the house, and had promptly discovered that they no longer existed. Petunia wasn't his blood relative, or at least not close enough of one to keep them up, and so he had pulled some research out and quickly acquired some basic defenses on the house.

When the man from the ministry showed up, Harry found it easy to play innocent. Apparently they'd no idea who actually performed the spell, only that someone had put up a few new wards, and he'd deflected the questions with 'oh, the guy last week with the wand. He said he needed to strengthen the wards'. It had worked like a charm (ha ha), and Harry was off scott-free for the rest of the summer.

Furthermore, Harry had finished his homework for summer during the school year. He knew he wasn't supposed to, but he had no choice; the Dursleys wouldn't have let him do so much as touch his books. He'd been lucky enough to convince them that the broom was only a good luck charm; he had lucked out knowing that Lily, his mother, hadn't shared too much with Petunia.

Dobby was an enigma he hadn't expected. With some traditional Slytherin cunning, however, he'd managed to get away with promising Dobby a few vague promises. He assured his safety, offered Dobby support, and honestly had probably made Dobby's life a million times better by taking off the self-harm hex on him. Really, it was brutal. He'd have to find a way to put Hermione against it.

He was concerned about all of these things, because it made it blatantly obvious that nobody who could change anything was protecting him. His protection charms got much better over the summer, as well as his healing spells and potions, all in the secrecy of his room. He wondered why Dumbledore hadn't ordered anyone to protect him; it was frightening that he'd let so much be at risk with Harry, almost as if he were allowing Harry to position himself for death.

Shopping for the next school year, thank goodness, had already been taken care of. He'd sent Hermione a book during his stay in Diagon Alley - thank goodness he'd saved some floo powder, he didn't have to take it up with the Dursleys this time - since the schools' new teacher was absolute bollocks. He feared for their lives.

He met the school year with reprimands, accusations, and a continually dismal grade in potions. Forget parseltongue being a snake language, no, he had to be the heir to Slytherin.

Which, ironically, he was, though definitely not by blood.

He'd quickly managed to earn supremacy in the Quidditch matches again. With the prat (as he'd come to call Draco) buying brooms, Harry promptly did the same, explaining that while he didn't agree with the prat's tactics, he needed to counter him effectively. They were all top-of-the-line brooms, thank goodness, and now they would be able to compete without being obliterated in the first few matches.

Lockhart's duelling club, as Harry had quickly assessed, were utterly useless. While he quickly withdrew, it was also known that Harry could talk to snakes from rumours floating around. He hated it, but it only got personal when Hermione was petrified as well.

That had eventually led to Ron and himself working through to the Chamber of Secrets. He sympathized heavily with Moaning Myrtle, and so by the time they got there, she let them through without a bit of trouble. Furthermore, he managed to fix Ron's wand after things had calmed down. At least he hadn't done it while Lockhart was around; if no, he would never have obliviated himself.

The basilisk dealt with, the next thing on Harry's list had been freeing Dobby. A bit of cunning here and there, and suddenly Dobby had a sock.

Dobby was a free elf.

A/N: Filler chapter. Things get interesting now...

PS; Sorry it's late, nearly forgot what day it was. I'll try to maintain a 5-day interval between new chapters for regularity.