A/N. Okay, maybe Harry will sound a bit arrogant, but he isn't. He's just explaining something to the three girls, something important.
"Okay class. Today we will practise the Carpe Retractum and the Glacius spell" said professor Martina Estill to her four students. It was a few days after the duelling tournament ended and with extra help from the teachers and some memory absorption sphere's, Ginny, Hermione and Luna stood ready with Harry to take the challenge. Harry was asked by the charms professor to help the new students.
"You will soon enter through that door, where you'll meet other professors who have specific challenges for you all. Just do your best and good luck" Professor Estill moved out of the room where they were and looking at the others, Hermione opened the door towards their first challenge.
She looked in the room and saw Professor Lupin standing there, holding a small letter.
"Hello Professor, what is our challenge?" Asked Hermione as Harry, Luna and Ginny followed Hermione in the room.
"Hello children. I have a small letter with some instructions for you. You need to do this to the letter correctly to proceed. If you fail or don't know the answer, you can ask Harry to help you." Lupin gave them the small letter and left, closing the door where the students had just come through.
"No offence Harry, but I'd rather do this on my own" Said Hermione. She failed to see the looks on Ginny's and Luna's face, as Hermione started to behave as she did at Hogwarts. Like she was the only one with the answer. "Very well, Princess, what does it say?" Asked Harry sarcastically.
He had run the challenge at the end of his first year, and if he knew the professors well enough, then Hermione, Luna and Ginny would have to work together to decipher the code.
"Hermione, what does it say?" Asked Ginny after ten minutes waiting. "I can't read it" Hermione said, as she handed over the piece of paper to Ginny and Luna. Both girls looked at the paper and could only see symbols. Not one letter that they knew was written on it. "How are we going to finish this if we can't read what it says here?" Asked Luna. Harry finally started to laugh.
"Amazing how simple minded you are, you have the basics of the first five years downloaded in your mind. What you do is access that knowledge, and you can read those words. But let me help you with it." Harry took the piece of paper and started to fold it so that it looked like a compass.
"Now you can see that around us are four doors. The door where we came in from and three others. You place this on the floor and then you pull those levers from the wall" said Harry as he pointed at several levers.
"They're stuck" said Ginny as she and Luna tried to move one down. "Yeah. They are. Are you witches or what?" Asked Harry as he pulled his wand at another lever. "Carpe Retractum" Harry said and from his wand a fine silver green thread of magical energy shot towards the lever. It touched the lever and surrounding it like a rope that was wrapped around it. Pulling at his wand, Harry pulled the lever down. "See, piece of cake."
Following Harry's example Ginny, Luna and Hermione all cast the seize and pull charm. Although Hermione needed only two attempts, Luna needed four attempts and Ginny only succeeded after Harry helped her with control of the spell.
The moment that all four levers were down, several blocks of rock fell on marked squares, before from several pipes water began to shoot out. "Come on" shouted Harry as he led the girls to the larger blocks. Climbing on top of them, Harry lifted Ginny, Hermione and Luna on the block. He then started to wait. The girls were slowly starting to panic, and Hermione looked at Harry who sat there looking at them. "Harry, what do we do now?" Asked Hermione, with true fear in her voice.
"Well, the challenge was to use Carpe Retractum and Glacius. We already used one of the spells, maybe you can think of a way to use the other one?" Asked Harry while he looked straight back in Hermione's eyes. Hermione looked at the room, and seeing the pipes carrying the water she got an Idea. "Luna, Ginny cast Glacius on those pipes" Hermione said as she stood and cast her own Glacius charm on one of the pipelines.
"Oh, nice idea." Said Harry. "To bad that it won't work. Those pipes are charmed against the Glacius charm."
"Now you tell us?" Shrieked Hermione as she looked Harry in the eyes. "Well, Yeah. It's funny to see three witches who have the basics of the first five years just downloaded in your mind mucking about, while I and the rest of the school just have to do the hard work and study." Said Harry as he looked back at Hermione. Hermione twisted around, ignoring Harry and looking for a way to prevent their robes from getting wet.
"Harry, the pipes are charmed against the Glacius spell, right?" Asked Luna as she looked at the pipes that still were throwing water in the room. "Yes, they are." said Harry as he looked at the blonde girl. "Why do you ask.?"
Luna ignored Harry for the moment as she cast the freezing charm on the jet of water itself that came from the pipe. The water from the pipe froze, and for a moment Hermione looked like she had seen a ghost. "Of course. The pipes are charmed, but the water itself is not" She said, and together with Ginny casted the freezing charm on the jets of water.
"Well done, you bought a few minutes." Said Harry as he pointed at the pipe that Luna had frozen shut. The girls looked at the pipe, and could see small leaks forming, telling them that the frozen water was being thawed by the charms on the pipes. "But now we can think of a way to escape through the doors, or through that" Said Harry as he pointed upwards. The girls followed Harry's arm and saw a hole in the wall, two feet out of reach from them. "How are we going to get there?" Asked Ginny as she recast the freezing charm on the pipes to keep her feet dry. Luna also cast the freezing charm on the water that was already in the room, and the forming ice soon had four arrows pointing at each door. The piece of paper that Harry had placed on the ground now was frozen under the ice, but now the girls could somehow read what it said.
"Place this on the floor, then use Carpe Retractum on the four levers. Then freeze the wet floor, and look for other directions. Be careful, do not forget the freezing charms."
"What? How can we read this?" Asked Hermione. "You know why. Above the water, that language is impossible to read, but under water you can read Atlantic runes." said Harry.
"Atlantic runes?" Luna asked. Harry nodded. "Yeah. Under water or under clear ice, you can now read Atlantic Runes. That is one of the earlier and easier runes. The others are harder, and we are going to work on the Mayan Runes coming year. After that we'll work on Futhark runes and if we're lucky, we'll even work on Runes for wards before we sit our OWL's in two years."
"Two years?" Hermione asked. "You mean that you sit your OWL's at the end of you 7th year here?"
"Yes, The international confederation gives the schools enough room so that they can set their own OWL's. The only rule that every school must follow is that a magical student must have completed their OWL's before they are 17 years of age. If you want to leave school after your OWL's, you are allowed. Only one of two students do that once every three years because they are scouted for the Quidditch teams in the USA." Said Harry as he opened one door. "So that means that I sit for my OWL's when I'm fourteen. And for Ginny and Luna that means that they sit them at thirteen, because of this bond thing that Ginny and I have. Luckily, Ginny and I have both a block placed on our bond, because we would drive each other mad." Said Harry and he dodged the spell that Ginny had thrown. "Harry, stand up and fight like a man" Shouted Ginny as she ran after Harry.
"So Miss Weasley, you want to fight Mister Potter? Do you think that is wise?" Asked a voice from the darkness that was inside the room. Ginny, Luna and Hermione all looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. It was definitely male, and had an accent from someplace that they didn't know.
A wand ignited and by the light of the lumos charm on his wand, Professor De Bruin stepped forward. Ginny, Luna and Hermione all stepped back slightly, as they looked at the man. He was missing several hairs of his eyebrows, and he had some scars from burns on his face.
"A witch or wizard is always prepared for what is to come. Duelling a wizard or witch is no easy task, especially when your opponent is using magic to make copies of himself. Harry has the ability to make a few copies of himself, but that is not your task here" Said The professor as he stood still. He then lifted his arms, and the lights went on. Before them was a teen feel long and seven feet deep hole, crossing the entire room. On the other side, Harry stood waving at them. "Your challenge in this room is simple. You must get to Mister Potter. I'm not telling you how, you just have to. Enjoy" And with those words, the Professor walked through a door that they hadn't seen before.
"Well, are you going to get me, or what?" Asked Harry as he waved again.
"I'll get you Harry" Ginny shouted as she pointed her wand and cast a stinging hex towards Harry. Harry didn't even dodge the hex, as when the hex passed over the hole, a magical barrier was shot up and broke the spell down. "Naught girl, Ginny."Harry taunted. "As you can see, there are several charms up here to protect me from any harm that you cause. Of course, you can use the Carpe Retractum on me, but that is not the challenge. Your challenge starts now." And Harry pushed a large red button, and several pieced of furniture fell into the deep hole.
"You need to use both the charms we just used and the levitation charm for this obstacle. Good luck" Said Harry as he started to watch.
Hermione started to command Ginny and Luna to grab several pieces of furniture while she would freeze them together. As both younger girls listened Harry started to read some book he got from Professor Lupin about souls and soul bonds. Harry learned in the hour that the girls needed to get one of them across, that the souls of Ginny and him were now so connected with each other that breaking the bond between them would cause instant death. Harry somehow was not surprised about that. His whole life was just like that. Even without Hogwarts and Dumbledore, Harry still faced death. This time it was because Ginny's mother, Molly Weasley. She had returned home while she still was wearing crutches, simply refusing that she needed to stay in bed. Harry had heard from one of the headmistress contacts, that she contacted Dumbledore right away and had taken a third dose of Skele-gro, while she was told to NOT have that dose by Madame Pomfrey.
"Harry?" Ginny asked, as she looked at him. "Yeah?" Asked Harry as he looked up from his book.
Ginny stood there in front of him, but without Luna and Hermione. "Why are they still there?" Harry asked. Then he saw why. The bridge that they had been building was been broken in half. "How is that possible?" Asked Harry as he placed the book back in his robes.
"The bindings between the desks there was not strong enough and Hermione is slowly reaching the end of her magical reserve." said Ginny as she pointed to the broken parts of the bridge.
"Ginny, we're going to make the bridge together and then we'll get them across. For this one I need to teach you the summoning spell, Accio. Listen closely and practice the wand movements just like I do." said Harry and began to teach Ginny the summoning spell.
"Accio Hermione" Ginny shouted as she felt her magic flowing through the room. Ginny's summoning spell was a reaction on a situation where the bridge broke down into several items, and Hermione was just halfway across the bridge. The last several feet, Hermione flew through the air, and collided with Ginny. Harry looked at the two and seeing them both in okay conditions, he focused on Luna. "Luna, There" Harry yelled as he pointed at the side. Luna looked and saw the furniture floating away, under the floor. "Jump on them and get here" Yelled Harry as he stood near the edge. Luna swallowed, nodded and walked back until she hit the back wall. She turned around and ran with high speed towards the gap. She jumped, and would have fell down, if it wasn't for the hand that Harry had given her as he floated above the moving furniture. "How?" Luna asked, hew voice filled with wonder. Harry smiled and, while he held Luna close to him created a blast of wind that brought Luna and him back to the side where Hermione and Ginny were watching them with open eyes. Harry smiled and pressed his hand against a stone, that turned into a door. Harry opened the door and lead the other three in.
"Harry, what made you think to interrupt this challenge?" Asked Alexandra as she spotted the four students. Alan Richards moved past her and took care of Hermione from Ginny and took her through another door, out of sight. Harry ignored the doctor as he looked at the three professors who had been watching the challenges. "The challenge was not only about the charms, was it? It was to see if we could work as a team, If we could rely upon each other. And to see if they were under the influence of Dumbledore. Wasn't it?" Shouted Harry.
Professors Estill, De Bruin and Lupin looked at the headmistress. She sighed. "It's never good to shout at a headmistress or a headmaster, Mister Potter. But you are correct, Since you have that soul of Voldemort removed from your head, you have been more powerful that normal. We don't know why or how, but we intend to find out. Now as for your results. All three of the students are fit to attend the sixth year (third year as wand waving wizards) at Pacific Academy, as you all proved to be advanced enough to cope with the lessons. I would like to speak to miss Granger however, regarding her bossy attitude."
With those words, the headmistress left. Harry, Luna and Ginny looked at each other and started to jump. With help from Harry, did Ginny, Luna and Hermione got in the sixth year at Pacific Academy.
(A/N) What was the important lesson Harry was trying to teach the girls?
Trust in each other.
The way I see it, Great Britain is filled with leaders who take only advice from people who have money.
They don't trust anyone else, except themselves.
Trust is the key to a successful, peaceful future.