Sorry for the wait! I was so busy with the summer holidays; mostly studying for my grade before it starts, and having a writer's block doesn't help much. As always, I am seeking some Beta Readers for my stories, and reviews are welcome. Now, enjoy!

Harry POV

It was very strange that Ron wanted to stay behind in a class, but maybe it was for the better… apart from the fact that Hermione would have a heart attack and say something like someone switched with Ron and was impersonating him. But maybe he was trying to cope with the fact that he wasn't at home for holiday, and it was a fact that for the moment there wasn't so much to do in here apart from study, so if he enjoyed forging it would be good, even if we got a lot of sweat in our body and the fact that we didn't have any moment to go to shower or to remove the sweat by that fact.

But those thoughts were interrupted when I saw the classroom of Alchemy. It was so similar to the dungeons that I felt like Snape would appear from behind one of those cauldrons to start tormenting all the Gryffindor and me. And then, something appeared right behind one of the cauldrons, making me jump in surprise, but then I saw better and saw what I supposed to be the teacher. He was a man, with some ankles in his face, but what it was more surprising was that he was small… ridiculously small for that fact, nearly as small as the dwarf that taught me and Ron the last class, but with less muscle. He smiled at me kindly, and then murmured something before one towel went directly to me.

- "I always have towels for the people who comes here after Forge or one of the physical classes. Let's wait for the rest, but you can go to a cauldron and wait there." – He said kindly, before going to the back, leaving me alone. It appeared that I had a better teacher in Potions this time, so maybe I could learn better the subject, with the fact that I didn't have to be reminded of the sneer or the fact that Snape always looked for a chance to give me detention or remove points to the house. Then, my thoughts were interrupted again by the door opening, showing a large pile of books being held by two hands at the bottom of the pile. It was pretty clear that the only one who could do it was…

- "Need help?" – I asked, and only received as an answer a buff, so I grabbed some books of the top, letting Hermione see in front of her. It wasn't exactly normal for most people, as I could see people behind her watching this with curiosity in their eyes, amused even, but for me and Ron this was normal, as Hermione without a book was as rare as a Weasley without red hair.

- "Just carried away…" – Hermione said, putting her books in the table in front of us, but surely it would be a wonder how she would take all those books again… then it got me that she surely was counting in Ron and me to help her with that… It was like going shopping with a girl, but instead of bags we were taking the books. Well, at least she shared the books with us, if we needed it for our homework, and that was an advantage in a way even if they usually don't like to take their homework seriously, but even then, in this place it was nearly a rule that if you don't do your best, you are being eaten alive, if the numerous students that had mostly fit bodies and always had a weapon in them.

After a while, most people entered, and some of those students grabbed the towels and wiped their sweat before sitting in their place. One could see that they had been working out, as they still had some sweat in them, and they just showed in their way of sitting that they just wanted to rest. It was really different from Hogwarts, as for the fact that most of the students here were directly much older than them, with the fact that it had much people that weren't even human. He just wanted to think that this class would be better than the Potion class, which he supposed it wouldn't be too difficult.

Later that day

The class went well, the teacher was kind and his method of teaching was similar to Potions, except that he checked and corrected the mistakes in a gentle manner, while making sure that nothing happened. It already was a very good improvement, as I felt really relaxed while doing the task, and I am sure that Neville would be grateful about it, if they ever get around in convincing him in taking again something related to Potions. Soon, I went directly with Hermione to Theory of Magic, surely a subject that was the biggest threat of being a boring class, except for Hermione that was ready to learn everything in a moment. I sat in the middle of the class with Hermione, reserving a place for Ron when he came from his free hour.

- "Ey Harry." – Said someone, making me jump, as I looked who talked. It was one of the twins. Who was who still was something that I should work on, but they took it as one of their trademarks jokes.

- "Guess what." – Continued the other twin, in their manner of speech.

- "Our teacher…" – Said Fred

- "Declared…" – Said George

- "A prank war!" – Said the twins together, to the dumbfounded expressions of all the students from Hogwarts. Everyone knew the pranks that the twins came up, and nobody wanted to be in the middle or the victim of a prank of them.

- "Wait… how come a teacher enter in a prank war with you two?" – Hermione said, with an expression that was implying that the twins were crazy for doing something to a teacher. But then, a flash happened blinding everyone, and as Hermione recovered, started blushing madly at the twins. I started laughing without be able to stop, as well as the rest of the people inside of the classroom. The twins got a moment to recollect that they were without any clothes in their bodies, before blushing madly and going out of the classroom towards their room.

- "Well, let's see if they react enough to guess that I took their clothes in the trunks too." – Said someone, appearing in the middle of the class, bowing to us. It was a woman that was small, nearly as tall as Flitwick, but was more like a human than the part of a goblin Flitwick had. She was wearing a leather armour, and had some daggers in every part of the armour. Her hair was brown and short, with brown eyes, and it seemed a bit old.

- "Hello everyone, I am Janrath Lightouch, the teacher for some of the subterfuges skills. Also, if someone picks on someone else, be sure to tell me or one of the teachers, be sure that here we don't take lightly things like that, and have a hard hand. That's not to say that we don't know how to enjoy, I like a prank and having someone here to have a prank war is something that I expect to enjoy a lot. If anybody want to help the twins, do it but be careful because you will turn in my objectives." – She said with a grin that was telling very clearly that what happened to the twins was only a warm up, before disappearing with a blink in our part.

- "Well, that was something you don't see in Hogwarts." – I said, while thinking that Ron hadn't been here to watch all of this. Where could he be?

Ron POV

I was actually feeling bad with myself. How could I not see it till now? It was so clear by the way they got the window with iron bars that seemed like a prison, and the six locks in the door with a cat door to let possibly food inside. And to not mention how scrawny Harry is; even if I didn't paid attention until now that he ate a lot less than normal. The only thing was that I never saw any kind of physical damage in him, but the cries that he have at night, possibly because nightmares were frightening, and I didn't know why I didn't even tried to comfort him. And I call myself his best friend? What a joke from my part. Now, I have at least to repay him by doing something, starting by finding Aran. Maybe if I explained my situation, I could try to do some good.

The problem was actually, finding Aran inside the building, since he didn't even said some way to contact him. After a while, I reached a part of the academy that I wasn't sure where I was. It was a hallway with lots of doors, but apart from that there was no way to tell where I was. I continued walking a bit, trying to check some way to see inside of those doors, but almost all of them were closed. Surrendering a bit, I decided to call the last door with some knocks, before I heard the voice of Aran said that I could enter. I opened the door, and my jaw dropped at the sight of the room.

It was far bigger than I thought, since it had a far lot of space in the middle, possibly to do some type of rituals, while having a place to brew potions and a library that surely Hermione would try to read at least twice. It had too a kitchen with some basic utensils and a bedroom. It was by far one of the biggest rooms I could ever see for some private quarters. In a chair in front of a fireplace, I could see Aran, reading a book that had no title I could actually understand.

- "Hello. You are Ronald Weasley, right? You were inside that chamber too." – He said, smiling at me. But after looking at me, he frowned. Surely he got the fact that I wasn't exactly smiling and looking a bit worried. He made a nod, and got up to close the door, muttering an incantation that I couldn't recognise, before putting a hand in my shoulder, guiding me to one of the chairs in front of the fireplace, while sitting himself in another of the chairs.

- "What is the problem?" – He said, while looking at me in the eye. I sighed, trying to recollect everything in my mind. It was actually strange that what I would want to say wasn't going out, I wanted to yell about how I did nothing to help Harry with all his nightmares, with not denouncing the relatives that hurt him. Then, the first thought that made me went to Aran was clear enough.

- "Could you check me for spells first?" – I said, trying to be serious, but I was nearly a breakdown right now, and not one of the good ones that I end up crying, it was something that was near into a rage toward the one who made it impossible to help Harry. Aran looked at me, and nodded, before muttering another incantation. Then, I started glowing, and Aran frowned, as seeing the result positive that I had charms put in me.

- "I suppose that those charms weren't put with your knowledge." – He said, and I nodded. Then, Aran made another incantation and I felt something unlocking inside my mind, as the memories of the nights flooded my mind, where Harry would scream in agony inside by the nightmare he was suffering, or by the noticeable bruises he had each time he sported both the first time I saw him in the train for Hogwarts and when we rescued him from the Dursleys.

- "I knew… I knew all along that Harry was suffering, but each time I wanted to help him, those charms made me forget…" - I said, trying to explain what happened, and Aran made a sign for me to continue. I breathed a bit, trying to control my emotions, normally I would do a rampage, but now it wasn't exactly the time, Harry needed me right now to be all the logical I could, so not entering into a rage was one of the things I needed to do.

- "Someone wanted Harry to be abused, to be hurt. I don't know who, but the only one that could do it was Albus Dumbledore. It isn't a pleasant thought, thinking that he made plans to guarantee this, but… he had the power in the magical world to make it happen." – I said, trying to even convince myself that it was the only way possible, but then Aran shook his head. I frowned at that… Was I wrong in this?

- "It was a good thinking, but I could detect that the magic wasn't made by a spell with your wands… It was made by someone from this plane, I recognised the spell. I will investigate this matter, and if my deduction are correct, I would like you to come with me. It's important to try to know how it affect everything, and I think that you have a very good mind in your shoulders." – Aran said, smiling at me, and I couldn't stop my smile from surfacing. It was strange being complimented on something that I did, with no references to Harry or Hermione.

- "Uhm… do you have a chess? I think that I could think a bit better." – I said, and Aran raised an eyebrow in what I supposed was surprise, but he nodded and brought a chess with the pieces, organising it with care. I had to say that the chess was beautiful, made with crystal that showed some figures that if I had to play with them in the magic chess, it would be a bit heart-breaking seeing them destroyed.

- "Well, thinking about it, the magical world would have Albus Dumbledore as his King, but I don't think he is the King…"- I started murmuring, while starting moving both set of pieces against each other, while I started replaying everything I knew. How the war ended, how everything went in a peace… Something wasn't… right.

- "Why do you think that?" – Aran asked, while watching me start removing pieces from both set of pieces, but not taking any grand piece for the moment. Then, I made a move, putting the Queen as thought it was another enemy queen of the white set of pieces to make check on the King.

- "Because it targeted Harry directly. Professor Dumbledore act like a King, but his role is a Queen. Had every move except one, with knowledge it's a very powerful piece. But Harry is a King, the way he was set up to be hurt, to be defenceless against his relatives, how all my family didn't do anything to repair that… Not to mention the close encounters with You Know Who, but that I don't know if it enter in those plans." - I said, but then, I moved some more pieces, until I finished putting all the pieces, this time some grand pieces of my part removed, like the bishops and towers.

- "But if the Queen is being an enemy as well… The King is controlled in every part, as well as the other pieces. And there is something not right. Why they would try to harm Harry? I know that he defeated You Know Who when he was a baby, but apart from the Death Eaters and You Know Who, nobody of this plane should try to harm him." – Aran said, while moving along some pieces to simulate some movements. Soon, I started moving the pieces too, starting like a frenetic battle. I started to sweat, trying to guess the next movement as fast as I could, since Aran didn't seemed to stop even a second to move the next piece. Normally, I would start saying that it wasn't just, but this wasn't a conventional chess play after all.

Soon, my part was utterly destroyed except from my king, but the side of Aran was damaged with only a quarter of the pieces in place, except that I won since at the last moment I killed his king. It reminded me the time of the play of chess of Mcgonagall, but at least this time I didn't have to sacrifice myself. Then, Aran killed my King, as if ignoring that I killed his King.

- "Well done. You are very good for your age. But we can do some polishing. Now, come with me, but before that… can you defend yourself?" – Aran asked, but I shook my head, since I didn't have my wand after all… Lockhart had to blow himself up and leaving without his memories. Aran nodded, and went to a place, where he seemed to think something, before catching a staff and handed it to me and I felt how my magic tingle around my hands, connecting with the staff.

- "It's a beginner staff, it should act as a medium for your magic. And it's more resistant so you can hit with it if you can't use your spells. I doubt that there will be a problem, but better to be on the safe side." – Aran said, before starting to go outside. I followed him, holding the staff in my hands, trying to think about everything that recently happened. Before I took hold of my surroundings, I was following Aran inside the same portal that brought us from Hogwarts, and I got to saw the castle. It was the same as always, and the train of Hogwarts wasn't there. I continue to follow Aran, but I could see how there were guards in the castle, armed to the teeth, possibly to avoid problems…

Then, we reached the headmaster office…