Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
Naginator, jafr86, Kyukon, Armacryss, Dark Neko 4000, Penny is wise, errobotter, god of all, Impstar, Danget the critic, Drack-10, Kine X, .owered, Super-Saiyan-3-Vegeta, JPElles, Evil-Overlord, joseph33759, thank you for your reviews, folks!
ElementalMaster16, did some work on the "Beastmaster". The story is now complete, though there still may be some new posts there, depending on what I will think up. So...
Orchamus, if you look a bit into what I wrote as the prophecy, while it was given so much earlier, it still speaks more or less about the same time interval.
fragglemaster, answered you via PM.
Danget the critic, fragglemaster, can you tell me, how you managed to post two reviews to the same chapter, even if they are just a double post?
Maleivius, in a quite an unexpected way she will. You're welcome to try and guess, though.
obsessivegirl73, heh, thanks. As for Harry/Draconica, it will begin in chapter 41. This is official now.
Awsomeness7, not at the moment. But I will still write it. chapter 40, most likely. Yes, that will be in retrospect, but it's still better than nothing, I guess.
freezing1203, true. Harry will be using medical and medicine-related spells as offensive ones.
Akuma-Heika, the second saber is residing inside Gringotts' wall at the moment. I thought, I've covered this... As for the ova-clone situation. I'm not specializing in biology, so it will be hard for me to give you a detailed explanation of what I think had happened there. So, let's cut it to one word: magic. =)

* Author's Note: Sorry for being a week late with my return, but now I'm here, and so there will be weekly updates again. For some time, at least. Also, to the fans of my ongoing Naruto stories, "Pyro" will be updated really soon, with "Konoha's young sage" not long after that. Unfortunately, though, it seems that I'll have to put "the Demon and the Ghost" on the indefinite hiatus due to the lack of ideas. The story isn't dead though. Not at this moment, at least.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 38: Third year begins

By Sunday evening there was student in Gryffindor who wasn't aware that Harry was now dating Katie, and some of the guys had congratulated the young Potter on scoring such a hottie. Oliver Wood, being his usual self, was thinking only about quidditch and as long this relationship didn't interfere with his team's playing he didn't mind it... Of course, there also were those jealous of Harry's apparent luck – namely, that was Ron and some of the older years who wanted Katie as their own – but the green-eyed wizard didn't care about those gits.

The next morning the new couple grew a bit bolder about their relationship, and they went down to the Great hall holding each others' hands. Thankfully, this didn't cause any major incidents, though, Harry was sure, that if Snape or Umbridge saw them like that, he'll lose points for indecent behavior or something like that – those two seemed to have a thing against him...

Just as the breakfast began, the owl post arrived, and many of those present in the Great hall received today's edition of the 'Daily Prophet'. And since the newspaper had the article about how ministry almost got Hogwarts students kissed by dementors, along with the collective lawsuit (and all two hundreds and something signatures under it) printed under it on the third page, there was quite an uproar about it, both among the students and among the professors...

Dolores Umbridge, not taking kindly to the ministry being portrayed in a bad light, tried to ban the 'Daily Prophet', and all other media, from Hogwarts, but she was quickly reminded by Dumbledore, who too didn't look very pleased with what the article was saying, that as she was just a DADA professor, she didn't have authority to do that.

Seeing the reactions of those two to the article, Harry was really glad that Violet send the lawsuit anonymously and it couldn't be easily tracked back to him – or, he was sure, he will be spending the entire year in detentions from the toad-like woman. Or worse...

At the end of the breakfast, just like she always did, professor McGonnagal handed out the timetables to the students of her house. When he got his, the first thing Harry noticed were the fifth periods he now had, as well as the electives that were now there, along with all of the core classes:

Monday: double Potions (S) – lunch – Charms (H) - double Ancient Runes (all).
Tuesday: double Herbology (S) – lunch – Transfiguration (H) – free period – Arithmancy (all).
Wednesday: Care for Magical Creatures (all) – Charms (S) – lunch – double Potions (S).
Thursday: double Transfiguration (R) – lunch – Herbology (H) – double History of Magic (R).
Friday: Transfiguration (H) – Charms (R) – lunch – double DADA (all) – Astronomy (all) at 11 pm.

Aside from double Potions first thing on Mondays, the timetable wasn't that bad, Harry decided. Sure, having five periods a day sounded a bit troublesome, but he was sure that will manage... His further musing about his timetable was interrupted by a happy outcry coming from Ronald Weasley:

"Only Care for creatures on Wednesdays and then it's a free day! It's so cool!" Unfortunately for the redhead, professor McGonnagal decided to bring him back to Earth.

"Mr. Weasley, professor Dumbledore will be tutoring you personally on Wednesdays." She said, while looking pointedly at him. "And if I were you, I'd make sure that I learn as much as I can from him." Ron seemed to shrink in size as he sulked about losing his 'supposed' free day, while several of the less bright younger students – those who blindly believed into him being the chosen one – were mooning about how cool he was to have great Albus Dumbledore teaching him great magics...

As he waited for professor Snape to call them into the classroom, Harry saw that Draconica was still avoiding him, like something bad would happen, should she get too close to him. Her face, schooled into the absolutely neutral expression, betrayed no reason for this. And with how distanced from him she seemed right now, the young Potter just couldn't find it in himself to approach her and ask what was wrong... The green-eyed wizard didn't get a chance to think more about why his friend was avoiding him as the door of the classroom opened, revealing a rather annoyed Potions master.

"Get in." Professor Snape barked, and the students, both from Gryffindor and Slytherin, filed into the classroom, quickly taking their seats – everyone knew that it was better not to annoy Snape further when he was like this. Schooling his features into something that resembled his normal mien, the Hogwarts Potions master began his little speech about what his students will be doing this year. A couple of sentences later the professor was already giving a very brief introduction to the potion they will be brewing today: shrinking solution. "Instructions are on the board. You have until lunch. Begin."

Shaking his head at the lack of proper teaching, Harry put his cauldron on the magical fire and filled it with some water – despite what Snape said on the very first Potions lesson, there was some wand waving involved, even if it was just an augumenti charm to add water into the cauldron. Then the young Potter, following the instructions on the board, began cutting up daisy roots into the small pieces. Since so far his task was mechanical, the young wizard allowed his mind to wander off a bit. So, as he wasn't exactly paying attention to what was going around him, he was a bit startled, when Snape spoke right next to his desk:

"So, Potter,.. tell us, how is it, to be around us, mere mortal? Want your fame back? That was the only thing you had to your name after all." Shaking his head, while silently cursing himself for the lack of awareness, Harry looked up at the man.

"I wish the things were like this from the beginning,.. Sir." Judging by the expression on Snape's face, this was a wrong answer.

"Five points from Gryffindor!" The Potions master barked. Harry, though, didn't show any of the reactions the man was hoping for, so, after several tense moments, Snape went away to bully some other poor soul. And he quickly found his next victim in the form of Ron Weasley, who proved to be far more responsive to the verbal attacks...

~/ *** \~

While third year Gryffindor and Slytherin students were having their first Potions class in the semester, back in London, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge was finishing signing his morning portion of the paperwork and was about to make a brake to have some tea and read his copy of the 'Daily Prophet'. Unfortunately for the man, he wasn't going to have a peaceful teatime, as a fury incarnate – very angry and irritated madam Bones – stormed into his office, her own copy of the newspaper in her hands.

"Fudge!" She roared, as she slammed her copy of the 'Daily Prophet' onto his table on the slew where the article about dementors 'checking' the train was. "What the hell you were thinking? Do you even understand what could have happened because of your foolish orders?"

"Huh? What are you talking 'bout, Amelia?" Cornelius replied, trying to get an idea what the woman in front of him thought he had done wrong. Of course, the article in front of him had all of the clues he needed, but Fudge didn't bother to look at it yet... And because of this, madam Bones only grew angrier with the man.

"Don't Amelia me, Fudge!" She barked. "And you know pretty well what I'm talking about! After all, it was you, who ordered to search the Hogwarts express with a dementor in attempt to catch Black." A small pause. "But I couldn't even think that you will send that beast without a group of aurors to control it. Do you know what could have happened? What if somebody was kissed?" The minister, while now having an idea of what got the head of the DMLE so riled up, still didn't see anything wrong with what he had done: after all he was trying to protect the children of the wizarding Britain from a maniac that Sirius Black was.

"The dementor was given an order, and it followed it. It wouldn't have kissed anyone who didn't deserve it." Amelia Bones was not impressed.

"How stupid are you? Do you really believe that your word is enough to control dementors? And what do you mean by 'who didn't deserve it'? And we need Black alive, so that we can know how he had escaped!" The witch shouted in such a way that Fudge pressed in to his armchair in an attempt to put some distance between her and himself.

"Well, its not like that lying bastard Potter will be missed." What a wrong thing to say...

"That's it!" Madam Bones hissed in a surprisingly collected voice. "I was just going to put you under the investigation for a gross negligence, but now... I'm calling for a vote of no confidence against you the next Wizengamot meeting." And not giving Fudge a chance to reply, she turned around and left his office.

'Damn!' The Minister for Magic thought: today was not his day. The worst thing, while under investigation, he had no authority over DMLE and couldn't order Amelia to stop the investigation, or fire her. And with how incorruptible she was, there was no chance of him bribing his way out of this mess... And the next Wizengamot session was tomorrow. Now Cornelius Fudge felt like crying...

~/ *** \~

Charms passed without any incidents for the young Potter and the rest of the third years: professor Flitwick had them reviewing what they had learned at the end of the previous school year. And the miniature man seemed to be very pleased with how little his students had forgotten.

Once the period ended, the class split into three groups: those who will now have Ancient Runes, those who were going to have Muggle Studies and those who didn't have any electives today. Surprisingly enough, the last group was by far the smallest, while the other two were more or less equal in numbers.

Those, who now had the Study of Ancient Runes, headed to the fifth floor, where professor's

Babbling's classroom was located. The classroom itself was a huge room, and each student was given quite some space, which, apparently was needed during the practical part of the course. On the walls there were various tables of runes and their meanings. There also were several rather ancient stone monoliths with runes carved on them, but all of those stood near professor's table.

The professor Bubbling herself, seemed to be working on something when the students filled into the classroom, as she was writing something in her notebook, while several tomes lay opened on her table. And so far she appeared so absorbed in her work that she didn't pay any attention to the students in her classroom...

A couple of minuter later, the second group of students – a mix of Slytherins and Ravenclaws – arrived to the classroom. Draconica, who was also taking this elective, once again took a seat as far away from him as possible, Harry noticed, once again promising himself to find out what was going on with her... But the bell rang and professor Babbling closed her notebook and walked in front of her table to begin the lesson.

"Good afternoon. I'm professor Bathsheda Babbling, and I will be teaching you about the art that the runes are. For the first semester we will be learning runic alphabets..." This caused several students to groan at the prospect of boring lectures. The witch, though, continued her speech like she didn't hear those: "But after that, your lessons will be mostly practical ones." She made a pause, studying the students in her classroom. "Now, before we begin our first lesson, does any of you have any questions?" Hermione (of course) raised her hand. "Yes, ms...?"

"Hermione Granger." The bushy-haired girl introduced herself. "Can you tell us, which runes are we going to study?" Professor Babbling nodded.

"This is a very good question, ms. Granger. First of all, you will learn Nordic and German runic systems, as well as Babylonian cuneiform. In your NEWT classes, I will also teach you Egyptian hieroglyphs and Ural writings." Hermione seemed to have her curiosity satisfied, and with no one else having any questions, professor Babbling began her lesson in which she introduced Elder Futhark runic system to her students...

While her class was quite interesting, by its end, Harry had to agree that having pure theory for the whole semester will be quite boring. But one really did need to know what he or she was working with before attempting to create their first runic array, so...

~/ *** \~

Tuesday was a pretty quite day for Harry. Draconica still did her best to avoid him, though it was becoming clearer to the young wizard that she was doing it not because she suddenly hated him, but because of some of her inner demons... The green-eyed Potter decided that he should give her some time to overcome whatever was 'possessing' her at the moment.

Herbology and Transfiguration today both were kind of a review lessons, like it was the case with the Charms. For Harry, the fourth period was free, while most of his Gryffindor classmates had Divination. The fifth period, though, was Arithmancy.

Having the reputation of the hardest elective course Hogwarts offered, it was the least popular, it seemed – there was only about a dozen of students attending it among the third years... The decorations on the walls of the classroom too weren't doing anything to change that opinion: those were complex calculations and spell charters that none of the third years could hope to understand in the next couple of years... At least, professor Vector was a pretty cheerful and pretty young witch that certainly didn't look like a boring academician, and while the subject she was teaching was indeed very hard, she tried to do her best to make it easier for her students to understand.

On Tuesday evening Harry got an owl from Ernst Schmidt, his proxy for the Potter Wizengamot seat, and in his letter, the wizard wrote about what had happened today. According to Herr Schmidt, today Wizengamot voted on the final details of the '94 quidditch world championship finals that would be held on the British isles. After that, the witches and wizards present were given a big file about the Triwizard tournament that Dumbledore wanted to resurrect during 1994-1995 school year.

Finally, Amelia Bones called a vote of no confidence against Cornelius Fudge. It was seconded by several other Wizengamot members, but somehow – likely because neither Dumbledore's party, nor Lucius Malfoy and his cronies wanted to lose their puppet minister – the man remained in his office...

Even though Harry had a gut feeling that this will bite him in the ass sometime later, in his response to Herr Schmidt, he told the man to study the documents about the tournament, and, if he felt it was all right, to vote for it.

~/ *** \~

While the young lord Potter thought that Hagrid was a good man, he still wasn't sure that letting him teach Care for the Magical Creatures to the younger years was a good idea – the Hogwarts gamekeeper surely didn't know what was and what wasn't dangerous for the children. No, Harry wholeheartedly agreed that hippogriffs were majestic creatures, but to show them to the immature third years on their first lesson? Thanks God no one was foolish enough to go against the instructions, or something truly bad might have happened...

Soon the Friday came, and it was time for their first DADA lesson of the year. And, of course, everyone hoped that this year the professor will be not useless. Unfortunately, the rumors, spread by those who already had had Defense, indicated that, if anything, Umbridge was worse the Lockhart, when it came to teaching. The fact that she, according to the timetable, taught all four houses at the same time only supported those rumors...

When the third years arrived to the classroom, the feeling my had that they won't learn much there only increased: the room was so damn pink and had an abundance of plates with drawn kittens for decorations, making it look nothing like a DADA classroom should.

"Well, good afternoon, class." Professor Umbridge said as she rose from her seat behind the teacher's table. Several students mumbled 'good afternoon' in reply, which didn't satisfy the witch at all. "Tut, tut." She said. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." The class lifelessly chanted back at her.

"There, now." The woman said in a sickly-sweet voice. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please." Many students groaned or at least exchanged gloomy looks.

That's all, folks!
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