Harry
"Alina, Daphne, Harry! There are three owls here with your Hogwarts letters," Sirius shouted from kitchen.
"Coming!" the three of them said in unison from the Black family library as they dropped the books they were reading and bolted their way into the kitchen. Sure enough Sirius was right. Perched on the countertops were three large barn owls, all carrying a letter tied to their feet.
"Daphne, yours is the one by the window. Alina, yours is in the middle. Harry you have the last one," Harry's mother told them. Harry ran towards the owl with his letter, probably a little too quickly as it snapped at his fingers when he reached for the letter.
"I'm sorry. I was just excited," he apologized to the owl and fed it a treat from the nearby bowl. His fingers were shaking as he untied the letter and prepared himself mentally to open it. He knew he had not failed any classes; however this did not change the fact that he was still nervous. He had worked so hard his first year and was worried his grades might now reveal that it was all for nothing.
Here goes nothing. He said to himself. He tore the seal on the letter and opened it up to read:
Harry Potter,
Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry
First year End of Term Grade Report
Class Grade Class Rank
History of Magic: O 2
Charms: O 2
Transfiguration: M 1
Potions: E 9
Dark Arts: O 2
Herbology: A 20
Astronomy: M 1
Overall Student Rank: 3
Based off of your grade report you will be allowed to continue your education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as well as advance to second year courses in all of your previous classes.
You will also receive special recognition during the opening ceremony due to your performance and grades. Further information will be given to you during the opening ceremony. Congratulations on earning two 'M' grades along with three 'O' grades, that is quite the achievement.
Your second year class schedule can be found on the second paper in this letter. A list of all the second year supplies has also been added. I and the rest of the Hogwarts staff congratulate you and look forward to seeing you again for your second year.
P.S.
I suggest you do not slack in your studies over the remainder of the summer Mr. Potter. I expect you to be at your peak potential come the first day of classes. Do not disappoint me and make me regret my decision.
Your Head of House,
Minerva McGonagall
Harry read over the letter a few more times in disbelief.
"Well spill it already!" his father shouted next to him.
"I got 'M' ranks in transfiguration and astronomy, 'O' ranks in charms, dark arts, and history of magic, and I got ranked third overall in my year," he announced to his parents still in shock.
"Congratulations Harry!" his father said giving him a hug.
"That is amazing Harry. I never got an 'M' mark until my fourth year! You should be proud," his mother said to him and joined in on the hug. "Let me see the letter," his mother said as she took the letter from him and looked it over with his father.
"Well I see you inherited your potions and herbology genes from your father. Even if you don't find an interest in those classes, Harry, you need to make sure you aren't sacrificing time in those classes for your others. When you get into your higher years it is okay to specialize in certain fields but early on you need to know a little of everything," his mother lectured him.
"I know, mother, I'm sorry," he apologized to her.
"Don't be sorry, Harry. You should truly be happy and proud with yourself. Me, your father, Sirius, Remus, and Hemera would have only dreamed for marks this good our first year," his mother said, wrapping him in another hug.
He couldn't help a smile come to his face upon his mother's words. Although he had gone into Hogwarts wanting to get an 'M' in all of his classes he was proud with his results. Out of all the incredible witches and wizards he had met and seen at Hogwarts during his first year his professors had ranked him in the top three overall, and in the top three in five out of his seven classes.
"I wonder what Minerva means when she writes don't make me regret my decision? Did she tell you something, Harry?" his mother asked him, talking about the last lines in the letter.
"No she didn't. I was actually hoping she had told you both something," he answered. He had also been curious when he read the end of the letter what McGonagall had meant as well. Although the excitement over his grades dominated his feelings of curiosity presently at the moment.
Across the kitchen the Black family was exchanging hugs and words over their letters. Alina looked like she was close to bursting with excitement as she was reading her acceptance letter with Sirius. Harry could understand what she was going through right now, having reacted much the same when he had received his first letter from Hogwarts. Daphne's face was masked in its normal ice as she was discussing her letter with her mother. He wondered how she did.
"Daphne, do you mind if I see your grades?" he asked her as he made his way across the kitchen.
"Only if I get to see yours," Daphne answered coldly.
"Yeah, sure," he said. The two of them exchanged letters and he quickly scrolled through hers to the grade portion:
First year End of Term Grade Report
Class Grade Class Rank
History of Magic: O 3
Charms: O 3
Transfiguration: O 4
Potions: O 2
Dark Arts: E 6
Herbology: O 4
Astronomy: A 10
Overall Student Rank: 4
Daphne had done just as good as he had. Maybe even almost a little better he couldn't help thinking. She was certainly a little more consistent across the boards than he was. She was ranked in the top ten in every one of her classes, and the top five in five of them. Outside of his two 'M' marks she had done just as well in all of her classes and better than him in a few.
"Wow Daphne, these are really good," Harry said to her.
"Yours are too, Harry. But don't think for a second I will let you have a higher rank than me two years in a row. This year it really is on!" Daphne responded.
"Challenge accepted," he replied with a smile. He was happy accepting her challenge. He could use all the extra motivation that he could get going into his second year. His grades and Daphne's challenge only added to the motivation he had started feeling at the beginning of the summer.
After seeing Marik, Fleur, and Viktor perform during the dueling tournament combined with all of the other magic he had experienced so far during his first year he decided that in his second year he would be taking things to a whole new level. His year or age didn't matter. He used that as an excuse to not try and learn advanced or difficult magic during his first year. Marik, Fleur, Viktor, Hermione, Daphne proved that it is very possible to go on and excel beyond your year level though. So this year he would not make the same mistake.
"Okay, well is everyone ready to go to Diagon Alley then? I think Alina is going to explode if we don't hurry up and get her stuff soon," Hemera asked the group. Sure enough Alina was basically bouncing off the walls as she stood there, still looking over her letter. She was definitely more like Sirius than Daphne that was for sure. The large smile on her face that matched his uncles only proved that point more.
"Give me five minutes! I'll be right back!" Harry answered. He quickly ran back to the Black library and grabbed a quill and some paper. He copied his letter from Hogwarts twice and wrote a quick letter to both Hermione and Marik. The three of them had promised after the tournament in France to share their grades as soon as they got them. In truth he and Marik agreed mainly out of fear at what Hermione would do to them if they did not send her their grades. After attaching the letters to Hedwig, and sending the owl off with a treat he made his way back to the group in the kitchen.
"Okay sorry about that. I am ready now," Harry said to the group, out of breath from all the running he had just done.
"Had to write your girlfriend first huh?" Sirius joked.
"Nooo! Why does everyone always say that!" he quickly argued. He couldn't help it when his cheeks blushed.
"Alright the portkey is almost ready. Everyone gather round," his mother announced. The group huddled around a yellow rubber duck on the table.
Of course it is something weird like this. He thought to himself, noticing yet another weird object being used for a portkey.
"Alright everyone grab on," Sirius called out. Harry reached out his hand and grabbed on the other hands at the center of the table. After a few more seconds his body lurched forward and he felt himself being bent and stretched. Before he could get used to the feeling his body returned to normal and his surrounding became recognizable. Diagon Alley!
"Alright Sirius - Hemera, why don't we split up and meet back at the bookshop at noon? The portkey will activate at 12:30," his mother asked.
"Sounds like a plan. Come on my beautiful gals," Sirius said to his family as they turned and headed down the alley.
"Where do you want to start, Harry?" his father asked him.
"Well I was going to say bookstore. . . But I guess let's go get my potions and herbology supplies out of the way. Oh and Hermione's birthday is in the third week of school so I want to get her a birthday present from the potions store too! If that's okay with you two… I saved some of my money to get her one," he replied, answering his father.
"I think that is a great idea. Don't you, James?" his mother said with a suspicious looking smirk to his father.
"Yeah, I do." His father replied, his face lit with a grin too. "Any ideas what you want to get her, Harry?" he asked Harry.
"Yeah, I have some ideas, but I want to see what all they have first," he answered.
"Well let's get going," his mother said and the three of them made their way towards Slug & Jigger's Apothecary.
Altogether his second school shopping trip to Diagon alley felt much less exciting than his first one. He was jealous of Alina for getting to experience this all for the first time. He wished he could go back in time and get to do it all over again. Everything had seemed so much bigger and brighter back then. Now things weren't as exciting when you knew what everything was. As they walked by all the shops along the alley though it was easy to go back and remember the excitement he had back during his trip here last year.
At the first two shops they visited his parents and him had purchased all of his potions and herbology supplies that he would need along with a birthday present for Hermione. He had ended up spending most of his time in the shops looking for Hermione a gift instead of looking for school supplies.
It had taken him a while to decide but in the end he went with the pair of self-cleaning potion flasks. They weren't the most exciting gift in the world but as much potion work as Hermione did he was sure she could get some good use out of them. He was confident that she would like it, and was already anxious to give it to her.
From there the rest of their stops went by in a breeze. Since they did not have to do a lot of shopping this time around they ended up finishing their shopping much quicker than they had last year. All he had left to get was his books for second year so with that they made their way to the bookshop early.
"Harry, wait up before you go running off in the book store," his mother told him as he had already started picking up his pace.
"Yes mother?" he asked, anxious to get to the bookstore.
"Your mother and I are unsure if we will be able to make another trip to Diagon Alley this summer, so for an early birthday present you can pick out an extra book as one of your gifts okay?" his father said.
"Awesome! I know just what I want too!" he shouted in excitement as he gave both of his parents a hug. As soon as he finished giving out hugs he bolted into the store as quickly as he could.
His family had made a few trips to the Black's home over the summer this far due to his mother's work. Both his mother and Daphne's mother worked in the ministry together in a research lab. They weren't allowed to discuss with Harry what they were working on but from what he knew about his mother and Hemera Black it was most likely something to do with charms and transfiguration.
Whatever they were working on apparently they had a heavy workload since it required the two of them to bring a lot of their work home. As a result his mother had been staying over quite a few nights at the Black house and had brought Harry along with her a few times.
At first he had been reluctant to go. Since going to France for the tournament and getting motivation to keep practicing and learning what he could over the summer, he had been making good progress through his family's library. However he was happy he had decided to come along to the Black's house in the end. The Black family library was much larger than his family's after all.
During his stays at the Blacks, Sirius was always kind and funny as usual. Daphne and Alina on the other hand tended to still keep to themselves. Alina much like him during the summer before his first year was reading as many books as she could cram in last minute to prepare herself. As a result besides asking him or Daphne a question now and then she kept to herself. Daphne kept to herself much the same but seemed to be a little nicer to him than she had before. They even managed to have a few good conversations on certain topics of magic. However it almost always ended with her giving him a cold shoulder to something.
He was okay with the two girls leaving him alone though. While he enjoyed discussing magic with them he enjoyed the alone time to study and look for interesting books. For most of June he had been searching for books on advanced transfiguration magic. He found quite a few good books with tons of useful information and spells that Sirius had let him borrow. However, after his trip to watch Marik duel in the tournament he decided to switch gears. The next time he went to the Black library after the tournament he looked for the most complicated and difficult looking magic book he could find.
He knew he was already good at transfiguration and the subject came easy to him. So he would continue working on his animagus, reading ahead, and learning difficult transfiguration spells. However, if he wanted to become a better wizard he needed to be more well-rounded like his mother said. Therefore he had searched for advanced looking magic books in the Black library and for something that was not transfiguration magic. After he had searched through almost half of the entire Black family collection he had finally found the perfect book.
The book was titled Magics of The Mind, and had been his main reading material ever since he had found it. While the book was mainly a collection of journals from various studies done in the wizarding world it did contain two chapters that interested him greatly. The last two chapters of the book were on the types of magic known as occlumency and legilimency.
As soon as he read the two chapters on these types of magic he decided they would be perfect for him to study and research. Since the subjects were both extremely rare, advanced, and complicated types of magic he knew to be able to learn them that he would have to push himself and his magic extremely hard; that and the conversation he had with Dumbledore last year was still in the back of his mind.
Dumbledore told him that Voldemort had been possessing Quirrell. If Dumbledore knew how Voldemort was possessing Quirrell he had not told him. Even if Voldemort had not used these two types of magic to possess Quirrell, Dumbledore had told him to be ready if Voldemort does come after him again in the future. So learning to protect his own mind along with being able to navigate someone else's mind would certainly come in handy down the road if Voldemort showed up again he imagined.
So with all this in mind, no pun intended, he set out looking through the bookstore for any books that might give him further information on the subjects of occlumency and legilimency. Most of the books he found did not have any information on the subject. Occlumency and legilimency were apparently not common types of magic he guessed due to the lack of books on the subjects. It took a good hour of searching before he finally found a dusty old book that contained a few chapters dedicated to learning the subjects. That was good enough for him though.
He dusted the book's cover off and started looking around for his parents. It had apparently taken him longer than he thought to find a book. When he found his parents Sirius and his family were already done with all of their shopping.
"About time, Harry! You must have looked through every book in here," his father joked.
"Did you find anything good?" his mother asked.
"Yes mother," he answered and added his early birthday present to the stack of his second year books.
"Rare Magiks huh? What type of rare magic are we looking to learn, Harry? Nothing dangerous I hope," his mother asked him with piercing eyes that rivaled McGonagall's.
"No - of course not mother! I'm just hoping to use it to come up with inspiration for end of year projects," he said, somewhat lying.
"Mhmm. Well why don't you take your new book and go wait outside with Daphne and Alina while your father and I wait in line with Hemera and Sirius okay?" his mother said.
"Yes mother. Thank you again for the book," he answered.
"Happy early birthday Harry," his mother replied with a bright smile. Harry took his book out of the bag the cashier had put it into and made his way out of the shop where he found Daphne and Alina sitting at a table.
"Hey guys my mother told me to wait out here with you both," Harry announced to the two girls as he sat down at the table they were sitting at. Daphne ignored him and Alina smiled, but neither one of them said anything back. In an attempt to break the awkward silence he continued. "Sooo Alina, what type of wand chose you?" he asked her.
"Nine inches, black willow wood, and unicorn hair," Alina answered back sounding excited. She took it out of her pocket to show it off to him.
"How many wands did it take to find yours? It took me about seven before I finally got mine," he asked.
"I got mine first try. Ollivander said that was really rare too. What type of wand do you have Harry? I never asked before," she asked him curiously.
"I have an eleven inch, brown holly wood, with a phoenix tail feather core," he answered Alina. "So are you excited for Hogwarts? Do you have a subject you are most interested in?"
"Yeah, I am excited, I'm sure you could tell that I've been ready to go for years now. And I'm not sure, they all seem so interesting. I guess I'm excited to learn charms and dueling though," Alina answered.
"You are only interested in dueling because of the dueling tournament and Marik. A week before then you said that you were going to out-brew me in potions and be the best potions student," Daphne said sharply to her sister.
"That is n…" Alina started to answer as she was blushing back but was interrupted.
"Well if it isn't Hogwarts' two biggest blood traitors. Don't tell me the old man is going to allow another one into the school," Harry recognized the voice immediately as Draco Malfoy's before he even turned around. No one's voice in the world made him angrier than Draco's did.
"Shut it Draco," Daphne shouted from across the table.
"Leave us alone, Malfoy. I have been writing letters to your good friend Hermione all summer. Don't make me add your name in the next one," Harry added and Draco went paler than normal.
"Now, now, now Draco, I turn my back for one second and you go get yourself into trouble," Harry turned to look at the new voice to their conversation. The man was no doubt Draco's father from his appearance. Draco looked like an exact replica of his father just shorter in height and hair length. Harry immediately hated the man to. "Please Draco, don't be rude, introduce me to your friends."
"That's Daphne Black. I don't know who this girl is. And that's Harry Potter," Malfoy announced. Draco spat when he announced his last name.
"Ahh so I finally get to put a face to the names Draco has talked about. Daphne I hope you being sorted into Slytherin means you will take more after your real father rather than Sirius," Draco's father said to Daphne. "And Mr. Potter…" Draco's father started to continue.
"I think it is time for you to leave, Lucius," Harry heard Sirius shout from behind them. Harry turned around to see their parents had emerged from the store. None of them looked happy to see the Malfoys there.
"Of course, Mr. Black. Draco was just introducing me to some of his schoolmates. Come Draco, it smells too much like dog in this part of town," Draco's father walked towards his parents as he and Draco left. Draco's father made it a point to shoulder Sirius as he left. He definitely understood were Draco got his genes from.
"Ugh I hate him so much! I can't believe they are letting him come back to school this year!" Harry shouted in anger.
"Well is everyone ready to go?" his mother changed the topic.
"Yeah!" the three of them at the table answered in unison. Harry was ready to get as far away as he could from Malfoy.
They made their way away from the shops with all of their bags towards the portkey entrance and exit part of Diagon Alley. After they waited a few minutes for the rubber duck to start glowing again everyone grabbed on and they were brought back to the Black house. As soon as they landed he started off towards the room he was staying at to start reading his new book.
"Dinner is in an hour, Harry!" his mother shouted at him as he made his way up the stairs. He ran down the hall and flew into his room slamming the door probably a little too hard as he did so.
"Harry Potter!" a voice from inside his room said causing him to almost jump out of his skin in shock. He turned around quickly frightened to see that it was only Sirius's house elf.
"Jeez Kreacher, you scared me," Harry said as he caught his breath.
"I am not being Kreacher, Mr. Harry Potter Sir. My name is Dobby. Dobby the house elf, Harry Potter Sir. It is an honor to meet you Sir," the house elf said.
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't know Sirius had another house elf. Nice to meet you Dobby. What can I do for you?" He asked the house elf named Dobby who now looked like it had seen a ghost.
"Mr. Harry Potter Sir, apologizes to Dobby? What can Sir do for Dobby?" The house elf fell onto its knees and started wailing with tears. "Harry Potter sir is too kind to Dobby," The elf continued crying before it blew its nose into its shirt.
"Uhhh. Dobby, why are you crying? I'm sorry if I offended you," Harry said not sure what was going on.
"Offend Dobby? Dobby has never had a wizard ask what they can do for Dobby. Mr. Harry Potter Sir, is the first to ever say he is sorry Dobby," The house elf continued crying.
"Uhhh. . . Sirius doesn't treat you that bad I'm sure," Harry said.
"Mr. Black is not Dobby's master Sir," Dobby replied.
"Please stop calling me that. Just call me Harry," That seemed to make things worse as the elf started crying harder and began banging its head on a nearby dresser. "Uhhh…" He had no idea what to do. "Well who is your master Dobby? And why are you here?" he asked the house elf trying to get it to stop crying and hitting itself.
"Dobby cannot say who his master is. Dobby is being a bad house elf being here. If Dobby's master found out Dobby was being here Dobby would be punished and then. . ." the house elf gulped loudly. "Killed. But Dobby had to tell Mr. Harry Potter Sir," The house elf picked up a nearby book and started hitting itself in the head with it.
"Dobby stop that! What did you need to tell me?" he asked curiously.
"Dobby needed to tell Mr. Harry Potter sir… Harry… Sir… That he cannot return to Hogwarts this year. It is not safe for him," the house elf said through cries.
"What? Why isn't Hogwarts safe for me?" he shouted at the elf.
"Dobby is bound by magic to not say anymore. Dobby only knows that there is a plan for very very bad things to happen at Hogwarts," the house elf answered.
"Well you have to tell me Dobby! There is no way that I am not going to Hogwarts; all of my friends will be there. Just tell me so I can stop the plan or tell someone," Harry shouted again.
"Harry Potter sir, must not go to Hogwarts or he will be in grave danger…" the house elf continued. He was just about to fire off another question when the room to his door opened.
"Who are you talking to?" Daphne asked from his doorway.
"No one. I was just…" he was too distracted to think of a lie. He looked around to see that the house elf was nowhere to be found in his room.
"I will never understand how someone so weird managed to beat me. Here," Daphne extended out her hand which held some letters. "A post owl just brought these," She handed him the two letters.
"Thanks Daphne," he said to her as he took the letters.
"Hmmpf," was all Daphne responded with as she turned and left his room. Checking around once she left Harry could not find the house elf anywhere. He waited a few minutes to see if it might reappear but it never did.
What was Dobby talking about? Why wouldn't Hogwarts be safe? Would it not be safe for everyone or just him? What was this plan? These questions and a hundred others flooded his mind. He looked down at the letters as he thought all of these things over to see that he had received a letter from both Hermione and Marik. They were most likely about their grades. Should he write back and tell them what Dobby had said? Did he even really know what Dobby had said?
No, he would not tell them. He would just keep an extra eye open. He had chosen not to bother telling them that Voldemort was possessing Quirrell and he would not bother them with this. He cherished his two friends. Telling them that a mad dark wizard may eventually come after him or that a weird house elf told him he couldn't come to school would only risk their friendship with him and make them worry too much. He would not lose his friends.
Why did stuff like this always happen to him? He just wanted to be normal, and enjoy his time at Hogwarts with Hermione and Marik, but between Voldemort and now house elves that was starting to get more difficult. All of this thinking was starting to put him in a bad mood. He needed to just let this go; he had a lot of research to work on tonight and would not let a crazy house elf ruin his progress. In an attempt to distract himself from his thoughts he opened the first letter from Hermione.
Dear Harry,
I apologize for my poor handwriting in this letter but my hands haven't stopped shaking all day! Congratulations on your marks! I am so proud of you! I expected that you would get an 'M' in transfiguration and Astronomy but actually seeing it makes me so happy for you. I don't remember McGonagall saying anything either to you or us this year. Whatever she means by 'her decision' I think it is best that you make sure you are ahead in transfiguration before school starts. If you find out anything more you better write me.
As to your second question France is still going good. We ordered all of my books as soon as we got my class schedule from a wizard shop in Paris. Luckily I still have a few books I haven't read to keep me busy while I wait for them to arrive, although my parents are making it hard to study so far! I saw the Fleur girl from the dueling tournament a few days ago while we were shopping in the city and talked with her for a little while. She is actually really nice and really smart. We didn't get to talk for too long but I can certainly see how she put up that good of a fight with Marik.
Anyways! I attached a copy of my marks to the second page. I was surprised at them. I thought for sure you had me in History of magic. We will be traveling over the next week so I won't be able to write that much but when I get back I expect you to write me! I miss you Harry, and cannot wait to see you again when school starts. Happy early birthday by the way. When your mom gives you your presents mine is the one with the blue wrapping paper and the red bow. Don't throw away that bow, I want it back! I hope you like it.
Your friend,
Hermione
Harry couldn't help but smile at Hermione's letter, an effect that seemed to happen every time she wrote him no matter how he was feeling. After he finished the letter he quickly went to the second page to see her marks:
First year End of Term Grade Report
Class Grade Class Rank
History of Magic: M 1
Charms: O 4
Transfiguration: O 3
Potions: M 1
Dark Arts: O 3
Herbology: O 2
Spell Creation: O 3
Overall Student Rank: 2
"Wow!" he said out loud as he looked over her grade report. Hermione had managed to get two 'M' marks, and an 'O' in all of her other classes. She was also ranked in the top five in every one of her classes. As amazing as her grades were he was not surprised at all. Hermione was consistent in every class. He was proud of her he and how well she had done; still he could not help but feel a little jealous at the fact that she had received a better ranking than him. It was just more motivation for next year though.
After finishing with Hermione's letter he opened up and started reading Marik's letter:
Harry,
First off congratulations on your marks. All that hard work and time seems to have paid off. I saw Hermione's report as well and it looks like besides 'her-boring-ology' the three of us managed to snag the 'M' in every course. Plus we are the top three in the school for our year! We need to come up with a badass team name! Your dad and his friends were the marauders right? We need something cool like that for when people talk about the best three students in school! Maybe something like Ose's Obliterators or something. We should be proud and do something to celebrate when we get to school. I am even more excited for the opening ceremony now.
I already wrote to Hermione telling her the same thing so don't worry about writing her comparing notes or anything. I promise that I am not lying when I told you both that I honestly have no idea what happened at the dueling tournament. I did not cast any spell to make what happened happen. One second I was in a sand tornado staring at one of Fleur's oncoming spells, the next I was standing there staring at her body fly across the stage.
I have been researching everything I can though trying to figure out what happened. Unfortunately I can't try to practice it again until school starts, so for now I'm stuck. If you come across anything that might help me figure out what happened let me know. From what you both told me happened it sounds like it was amazing magic and I certainly want to learn how I actually did it. Also if anyone asks, I totally know how I did it!
Anyways this is probably the longest letter I have ever written in my life and my hand hurts. I will try and write again before the summer is done but no promises! My mother said she mailed your mother the birthday present I got for you, so I hope you like it. I look forward to getting the gang back together soon, my parents are driving me crazy! Also, thanks for sending me that book your dad recommended on transfiguration magic. I'm almost done with it! My grades are on the second letter attached.
Your friend,
Marik
Harry turned to the second letter to see Marik's grades:
First year End of Term Grade Report
Class Grade Class Rank
History of Magic: O 4
Charms: M 1
Transfiguration: O 2
Potions: A 10
Dark Arts: M 1
Herbology: A 22
Spell Creation: M 1
Overall Student Rank: 1
"Wow," Harry found himself saying out loud again. Marik had to no surprise been ranked the number one student in their year. He had also managed to beat both Hermione and him by getting three 'M' marks to their two. Harry couldn't help but laugh at Marik's herbology score. Even without doing an end of year project for the class he had still managed to be ranked in the top twenty-five students. Although Hermione's and Daphne's grades were more consistent across the board, Marik's rank at the top was most likely due to his overall ability grade and receiving three 'M' grades.
Marik was right. The three of them should be proud. They had all achieved what they set out to do at the beginning of the year. They had proved to everyone that they were the top three witches and wizards in their class, and they really did need a cool name! No way in hell were they going with Marik's obliterators though. Now they just had to keep their position at the top. That meant that they would have to put even more time and effort into this year.
Harry didn't want to just be complacent with his spot in third place though. He wanted to take first place from Marik and knew that he would have to outwork everyone else in the school to get there, so it was time to start now. He put the two letters on his nightstand and picked up the Rare Magiks book he had just got earlier that day in Diagon Alley. He pulled out all of his notes on occlumency and legilimency from his bag and spread them out over his desk. It was time to start pushing himself and all his magic to the limit, and his new book was the perfect place to start.
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