Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!
Sorry for the delay, but I had neither time nor inspiration to finish the chapter the previous week. Thankfully, the next few already have their plot outlined, so if I have time to type them, then you'll have them.

* Review response:
Zikarn Krais, Penny is wise, The Swordslinger, Maleivius, tladar, Danget the critic, god of all, Dericof Diname, Grimjowx, Goldrune09, Zarosian Chaos, JPElles, Penseln, ElementalMaster16, fragglemaster, thank you for your reviews, folks!
killermouze, thanks for noticing the typo.
Awsomeness7, it's more like me not having enough imagination to think those up. Or, maybe, just being too lazy to think'em up. =P
Naginator, Harry doesn't have complete access to Tom's memories. Those that were important to Tom before he was split into the horcrux are easier to access, while those deemed unimportant by him as harder to read for Harry. Plus the list of easily-accessible memories isn't constant, so... I'll have Harry discover who Ron's rat is exactly, but not now.
Shinku Ryuuga, it will be modified and moved to the 4th year, but, yes, I'll rewrite it.
Alphawolfy288, thank you, but I have no need for them THERE. might use later elsewhere, though... But then again, I have ideas for "Beastmaster" 2nd (with a completely different set of beasties to keep Harry happy)... I have enough OC of my own.
1337box, don't watch the movies. Read the books! reading is so much better (even if there are less gals to fantasize about). =)
OverPowered, next chapter, likely.
Also, EVERYONE, Draconica's contract will be nullified in the next two chapter. The one to guess who will have a hand in this and how, gets a virtual cookie =)

* Poll: Looks like Sirius WILL live in this story, but if you disagree with this, you still have a chance to get what you want.

* 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 46: Peaceful days

While he might have had returned to Hogwarts several days before the beginning of the new semester, this did little to help the young Potter get prepared for the rhythm the professors set for their students once the classes resume. And the fact that the said professors seemed to be piling more homework than ever just because didn't help Harry have much free time, not at all. After all, even with the knowledge he had absorbed from the horcrux, he still needed to write his essays down, and those now needed to be at least eight inches long for any subject, save Care for Magical Creatures, that he was taking... Still, somehow the green-eyed wizard managed to still be in the loop about what was going on around him...

Sure, it was good to have Katie back, especially since them once again being more than just quite friendly with each other caused Alicia and Angelina to rethink their current treatment of the young Potter and try to be more friendly with him as well, but... But not everything could be perfect – this was something Harry knew well – and the first 'problem' didn't wait for long before uncovering itself: it looked like Ron's new fame was finally beginning to go to his head. And being invited to the ministry-sponsored Yule ball as the special guest definitely had something to do with this. Sure, the youngest son of the Weasley clan was still nowhere near some blond arrogant Slytherin brats a year under him; and he did last much longer than the young Potter had expected him to, but still... Thankfully, Ron was easy enough to tune out, so his growing ego didn't bother Harry much.

The other 'bad thing' wasn't as easy to ignore, though: apparently, professor Stone left the DADA professor's position to continue his auror training. Sure, madam Bones had sent another auror trainee, a black-haired witch that went by the name of Alexandra Hawkeye, to fill in the spot, but she wasn't as good as professor Stone was, even if she too did know quite a lot about the subject she had to teach... But since the Defense Studies group was running alright, neither Harry nor his friends and associates weren't afraid that this swap of the their DADA professor will be of any great problem for them...

Anyway, all in all, this semester started out pretty well for the young Potter, and he really hoped that the thing would remain like this for the longest time. Unfortunately, with Sirius Black still out there, even if it was now not clear, whether he was a good or bad character there, Harry knew that these peaceful days weren't likely to last long...

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The Astronomy lesson that all four houses had together this Friday night had finally finished and now the students were tiredly walking back to their respective common rooms. And while most of them were already dreaming about their warm and comfortable beds that were waiting for them in the dormitories, some still had other things planned for this night...

Harry's mind was elsewhere as he allowed his legs to carry him back to the Gryffindor common room... Well, this was until he felt a hand gently brush against his own. Turning his head to look at the witch who did this, his eyes landed on Draconica, who, seeing than now she had his attention, tilted her head to the side, silently telling her ...friend that she wanted to speak with him tete-a-tete somewhere. Not seeing anything wrong with this – even thought it was past curfew, he had his invisibility cloak with him, so he won't be caught by professors or prefect patrols – the young Potter nodded. The pair slowed down a bit, letting the rest of their class outdistance them, and once there were no yearmates of theirs behind them, they disappeared into a corridor on the eighth floor. From there it took them barely a minute to find an unlocked an unused classroom, which they could occupy for their 'talk'.

Once they were inside, the blond witch quickly laid some basic wards, mostly just to keep others away from there, on the room's doors. Having finished with this task, she nodded him to sit down in one of the chairs and the young Potter did just that. 'Nica approached him, stopping just a couple of feet away and, cocking her head to the side a bit, looked into his eye.

"Harry..." She said quietly, before falling quiet for several long seconds. Finally, she continued. "I know that I liked what we did that night,.. and I'm sure that you liked being one with me as well, but..." Another pause, though shorter than the previous one. "But repeating that is not what I want tonight. I just..." She lowered her head a bit, still maintaining the eye contact. "Just hold me tight for now, alright?" The green-eyed wizard nodded, making the witch smile lightly, before she invited herself to sit sideways in his lap, snuggling into his chest. For the next couple of minutes the two of them sat there in silence... Finally, Harry decided to ask the witch in his lap, what brought this all on:

"Um, 'Nica?.." He whispered, causing the blond witch to raise her head from his chest to look at his face, while also raising her eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Not to sound ungrateful for your trust in me or anything, but... So far you were either keeping your distance from me or just broke down all barriers between us... What brought this night on?" Harry asked. In response Draconica sighed as she closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly.

"I didn't have the best of the holidays, alright?" She said finally and the young Potter decided not to pry any deeper, even if he actually had an idea of what might be the reason for his friend's current mood... Instead, he just held her a little bit closer to himself as she snuggled back into his chest...

The two of them stayed together like this for some time, though when Harry, lulled by the soft breaths of his friend, started dozing off, he decided that maybe it was about time the two of them go back to their respective common rooms for some sleep: while at first it was good to have Draconica in his lap like this, he wasn't sure that come morning he still will be of the same opinion.

"M-mm?" The blond witch moaned sleepily as the young Potter gently shook her awake. "Something happened?" She asked, looking up at his face. The green-eyed wizard shook his head.

"Sorry, but it's getting really late, and..." Harry fell quiet, not sure how to tell her inoffensively that maybe it was about time they parted their ways tonight. Or at least that they got more comfortable should she decided she wanted to continue cuddling with him for the rest of the night: for once he might actually agree to that... Draconica cocked her head to the side, thinking about what he tried to tell her. Pulling her own wand from somewhere in her robes, she cast a quick tempus charm, which showed that it was a bit past midnight already.

"Sorry..." She said finally. "But I was so comfortable... Yet you're probably right, we should head back to our common rooms." With those words she reluctantly extracted herself from his arms and, standing up, straightened her robes.

"Do you want me to escort you back to the Slytherin common rooms?" Harry asked, pulling his invisibility cloak out – he decided that with everything that was going on, he should have it on his person at all times. The blond witch shook her head.

"Thank you, but you don't need to worry about me. I'll be alright" Draconica replied as she undid the wards she had put on the room. The green-eyed wizard just shrugged, deciding that his friend knew better what she wanted... He was about to put his cloak on, when he felt her arms snake around his shoulders. "Thank you for this evening, Harry." She said, giving him a light hug, before disappearing into the now-open door of the classroom. Sighing, the young Potter shook his head, and, finally putting his invisibility cloak on, headed back to the Gryffindor common room, hoping that he didn't land himself into some sort of trouble tonight...

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Thankfully for Harry, no one even noticed that he didn't return with classmates from the Astronomy lesson that Friday night and he himself kept quite about that time he spent with Draconica. Not that something really bad could have happened otherwise, as he no longer was bound by any significant commitment at the moment, but still...

Other than this midnight 'adventure', the first three weeks of January passed rather quietly for the green-eyed wizard. Sure, professor Snape was his usual nasty self towards him or anyone who didn't wear green and silver robes, but this wasn't something outside of normal, so... The fourth week, on the other hand, was rather significant because of the quidditch match between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams. The 'Snakes' won that game, but barely as the other team's chasers had scored quite a few times more than theirs. But this quidditch match was the only outstanding event of the month and once the agiotage about this game died down, Hogwarts returned to that measured rhythm of life it usually had at this time...

The rest of the world too was quiet and didn't produce any news that were interesting to Harry or pretty much anyone else in the castle. Sirius Black was still on the run from the aurors and thus couldn't be put on the trial he was denied all those years ago. Wizengamot, being a group of old and boring politicians it was, too didn't produce any interesting news – how they could be arguing about the standard thickness of cauldron bottoms for months was beyond the young lord Potter.

But these quiet times didn't last forever and by the end of the first week of February the castle was bursting with activity as the students and even professors were preparing for the upcoming St. Valentine's day. But as Harry himself was unattached at the moment, despite his sometimes-extreme closeness with Draconica and his close friendship with Katie, and wasn't really going to try asking either out now, he limited himself to just best wishes on this holiday to both girls in not even anonymous postcards... Too bad the the other girls in the castle, those that still saw him as some sort of a celebrity – even though Dumbledore (rightfully or not) took away the title of the 'chosen one' from him, Harry still was the only known survivor of the infamous killing curse – didn't get the hint that he wasn't interested in them and were making their little 'evil' plans of how to make him theirs. Not that they had even half a chance to succeed...

The weekdays following the st. Valentine's day offered the Hogwarts inhabitants little chance to calm down after the holiday as that Sunday there was going to be the fourth quidditch match of the season: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff – and even though it was still a week away, the student body was already excited about this game.

The one most excited about it (at least in the Gryffindor tower) unsurprisingly was Oliver Wood, who going out of his way to ensure that his team will win this match... And while his enthusiasm was admirable, the six other players of the team agreed among themselves that it would have been a bit better if their captain could remember to let them rest at least a little bit before the match, lest they lose simply because they were too tired from all of the training Oliver put them through to play properly.

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Anyhow, something managed to convince Wood to let his players relax on Saturday, so when the Gryffindor team flew onto the pitch, they all were ready for the game with both their minds and their bodies... Their opponents, while not trained into the ground like them, too were well-prepared to do their best today, and for once the Hufflepuff team had pretty good players in it, so the game was going to be interesting and challenging without any questions.

But as Harry was a seeker, the only player of the other team he had to worry about was the Badger's own seeker, Cedric Diggory. The boy was three years older than him and, while he didn't possess the same inherited talent the young Potter did – even if it did sound a bit arrogant, Harry indeed was talented, when it came to flying – he too wasn't someone one could look down on, especially with his hard-working being taken into the consideration... And if he was to be completely honest with himself, the green-eyed Gryffindor would say that Cedric was possibly the strongest seeker at Hogwarts at the moment... But all of these thoughts were blown out of the young Potter's head with madam Hooch's whistle, and now he was concentrating solely on the game he needed to win.

As he was slowly flying circles around the pitch, looking for the tiny golden ball, Harry saw a huge black dog sitting near the edge of the Forbidden forest as it watched the game with far more attention and even understanding than one could expect from a dog. And while the green-eyed teen couldn't be sure about this, the dog looked exactly like the one that had attacked Ron Weasley on that Hogsmeade weekend... Still, as this dog was of no importance for the game he was currently in, Harry decided that he should concentrate of finding the snitch before his opponent does instead.

Continuing flying around the pitch, the young Potter was doing his best to try and spot the highlight of gold that would give the position of the snitch away, but despite the chilly and clear February air, he couldn't see the winged ball anywhere. A quick look at the Hufflepuff seeker revealed it to Harry that Cedric had a similar problem. Oh well, the snitch will show up sooner or later, the green-eyed Gryffindor decided, as he continued slowly flying around the edge of the pitch, looking for the tiny golden ball.

The game was going for almost an hour and a half already, and Gryffindor chasers had scored sixteen goals, thus giving their team the advantage of forty points over their opponents, so for them the things were going OK. The same, though, couldn't be said about Harry as the snitch hadn't shown up anywhere yet, and it was pretty chilly up there: even the mild warming charms he had put on his closes before the beginning of the match weren't helping him much... But the couple of minutes passed and the things changed drastically:

Harry was flying Merlin knows which circle around the pitch as he was looking for the tiny winged ball, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of gold out of the corner of his eye. It looked like the snitch finally decided to show up, and it did it pretty much over the center of the pitch and right between the two seekers that were hunting it... Not wasting any time, the green-eyed Potter launched himself after the golden ball in hopes of catching it before Cedric, who noticed it as well, could do the same.

Almost like it sensed two seekers closing on it, the snitch tried to get away from them, but with how the things were, it just couldn't decide where to fly in order to escape and so it was flapping around where it was first spotted madly. Because of this, it all came down to whose broomstick was faster, and Harry's Nimbus 2000 was a winner there, even if by a relatively small margin...

With the golden snitch held tightly in his hand, the green-eyed Gryffindor slowly descended down onto the pitch to join his teammates that were already there, congratulating each other with the victory. And while his trust broom was on it's way down, Harry felt the urge to look towards the Forbidden forest, where he had seen that black dog earlier. Surprisingly enough, it was still there and, the young Potter thought, he could have being hallucinating, but the dog was cheering for his victory... Shaking his head in order to get rid of those thoughts – they really were giving him a headache – he looked back to where his teammates were cheering for him and waving him...

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Sirius Black, still in his animagus form, was returning to his hiding spot in one of the caves in the mountains that surrounded the Hogsmeade village. Surely, the only Azkaban escapee in history knew that what he did was extremely risky as the auror and dementor patrols that were tasked with capturing him were still hunting after him, but he just wanted to see his godson play too much to actually care about that... And the luck was on his side as he didn't even see any DMLE agent either when he was sneaking onto the Hogwarts territory, or now, as he was sneaking out.

And from what he had seen, the rumors about Harry having inherited James' flying skills were true: the little Prongslet was a born flier. And even if Amos' son was good too, it was Harry, who ended the game in victory for the Gryffindor team by catching the snitch... Yes, Sirius smiled, his godson was cool!

But as good as knowing that the youngest Potter was alright, Sirius also needed to make sure that he himself was alright and not locked away, if he wanted to be a part of his godson's life in any way. So, the grimm animagus, hurried towards the safety of his hideout, while already thinking about what he was going to eat for dinner tonight...

Meanwhile, completely unaware of his godfather's problems (or even of the fact that Sirius Black was his godfather), Harry, along with his teammates and the rest of the house was celebrating their most recent victory over the Hufflepuff quidditch team, while having slightly drunk and lively and cheerful as always Katie sit in his lap.

That's all, folks!
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