"EXPECTO PATRONUM"...The wind howled through the Hogwarts grounds as Harry Potter stood, his wand raised high, casting the powerful Patronus Charm. Silver mist erupted from the tip of his wand, taking the shape of a magnificent stag. It charged forward, driving away the hundred Dementors that had surrounded his past self and his godfather SIRIUS BLACK. The darkness lifted, and relief washed over him as he realized they were safe.

In that moment Harry realized that he has performed an extraordinary piece of magic. Thinking back he has performed such incredible Feats of bravery and Magic even before. What was common every time was something or someone he wanted to protect was at stake. He understood that he was at his most powerful when he had something to protect and something to cherish. And that gave him courage to do what he did next. He has started developing feelings for one Hermione Granger at the starting of this Academic Year. As the months passed by his feelings only grew. He understood that he was truly, deeply and madly in love with her. Heart pounding, Harry turned to face Hermione Granger, his best friend and the girl he had secretly developed feelings for and expressed his love for her. "Hermione," he said, his voice trembling with both fear and hope, "I... I care about you. More than just a friend."

Hermione's eyes widened, and for a moment, Harry thought he saw a flicker of something in her expression. But before he could decipher it, she spoke, her voice tinged with regret. "Harry, I appreciate your feelings, I really do. But... I'm seeing someone else. Ron and I have been together for a little while now, and we decided to keep it a secret."

The words hit Harry like a physical blow, and his heart shattered into a million pieces. All those nights he had spent dreaming of a future with Hermione, all the stolen glances and moments shared—it all crumbled to dust. He felt a heaviness settle in his chest, his hopes and dreams torn apart. He wanted to do nothing but sit and cry but they still had to rescue Sirius. So he gathered himself and was about to call her to go to the Dark Tower when something suddenly came to his mind.

" Ron knows about the time Turner doesn't he?" Harry asked in a cold voice. Hermione nodded her head mutely. " and you didn't want to share this piece of information with me? Wanted to have a little secret between you two eh?" Harry said in a accusatory tone. Before Hermione could reply anything he gave her his invisibility cloak and said " wait for me at the entrance of the hospital wing. I will be there after rescuing Sirius,"

When Hermione was shocked and was about to protest Harry said "go" in a voice which brokered no argument. Harry waited till he saw that Sirius black was put in his cell and the road Buckbeak to the window. He cast "alahmora" the unlocking charm and opened the window. He bade a tearful goodbye to his Godfather and his friend Buckbeak. He then rushed to the hospital wing to rejoin Hermione. He's hot but still aching with the pain but he was at least happy that sirius could Escape.

Throughout the aftermath of Sirius Black's escape Harry sank into a deep melancholy. He couldn't help but feel betrayed by his two closest friends. Ron had always been like a brother to him, and Hermione, a confidante. They had kept their relationship a secret, leaving him in the dark. The weight of their deceit crushed him further. As he was lying in his hospital bed amidst the pain and disappointment, a small spark ignited within Harry. The threat of Voldemort loomed large, wormtail on the loose, he realized he couldn't afford to wallow in his own misery. He needed to take control of his life and become the best wizard he could be. He knew he couldn't relay on the adults to protect him. The authorities have failed him previously and have failed him now in case of Sirius. He was absolutely sure that when the time came they would fail again. Moreover talking to Mooney and padfoot he found out that his parents excelled in their studies. James Potter may have been a prankster but he was also the head boy and later in life fought against Voldemort. He wanted to prove that he was there son and has inherited more than their looks. He thought how disappointed they would be if they found out he had such medicore grades.

The next day after being released from hospital, Harry decided to speak with his head of the house to change his electives. He understood that he did a very big mistake by choosing divination. With newfound determination, Harry approached Professor McGonagall, his Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House. He explained his desire to improve his magical skills and excel in his studies and requested to drop his elective divination. Professor McGonagall disagreed but told him he could switch to ancient runes if Professor babbling agreed and asked him to speak with her. Although Harry didn't know much about ancient runes he decided to give it a try thinking anything would be better than having his death predicted on a weekly basis by professor Trelawney. He immediately went to Professor Babbling and asked her if he could join her class. The ancient runes professor gave him the course books for the year and said " you will have to write an exam in the first week after you come back from the summer holidays. If you pass you can sit with your fourth year peers otherwise you will have to sit with 3rd years."

Harry agreed and took the books. He wanted to ask Hermione for her notes but her rejection the previous evening was still hurting him. He knew it was his own mistake that he took too long to propose but what hurt him more was that both his friends didn't let him know that they were seeing each other. He decided to keep the news that he was switching electives a secret from them but he knew it would be a difficult task as Ron was very nosy. He decided that he needed a different room to study other than the common room or the library. He can't study in his dorm due to Ron always hounding him for a game of chess. As he was leaving from the ancient runes classroom he took one of the rarely used staircases which took him to the 7th floor. There he found an abandoned classroom and decided that this would be his study room. It had been forgotten, covered in a thick layer of dust and filled with forgotten artifacts. Harry cleared the space, lit the torches, and claimed it as his own. He went to Professor babbling and asked for her permission as the room was near her classroom. The professor did not have any objection as the classroom was totally unused.

When Hermione question him where he was the whole morning he answered that he needed some time for himself too clear his head. She understood what he was going through and let him be but reminded him that they had only three and a half months for the final exams. Harry decided that he would do his best and decided to fully Focus on his studies as there were no more immediate threats to his life.

All the hours between classes and late into the night, Harry would immerse himself in his studies. He started with first year spells. He knew that DADA bus is strong point and charms was a closed second. He was doing okay with transfiguration but potions was the subject he was weakest in. History of Magic was a sham but in the less wanted to focus even on that. Care for magical creatures was a mixed bag. While he was quite good in the practical he lacked in theory. He also decided to start a little early on his ancient runes. Herbology was a subject he was neither good nor bad but he knew Nevil is an expert and Harry did not have a problem in asking Nevil for his help. He first decided to go to the library and collect all the required texts from 1st year to 3rd year. It was while he was going through the books he wanted in the library that he found a peculiar book named " rules and regulations for the Muggle born in the magical world". Harry flipped a few pages of the book and found that it had all the rules the muggle born students did not easily know like how magic can be performed even outside of school if they were in a magic rich environment like Diagon alley or Hogsmede or in a wizards house and the ministry would not be able to detect the magic that was performed. Harry really felt bad that he did not know this rule the previous summer otherwise he would have tried a few spells while he was staying at the leaky cauldron. When he was thinking about that something came to his mind. Last year he did not stay the full summer at the Dursley's but the blood Wards the Dumbledore said protected him still got powered up. He wanted to meet with the headmaster and ask him how long he needed to stay at the Dursley's to power the wards before he can leave. He didn't want to stay with them much longer than strictly necessary. After collecting all the books he wanted he left to his sanctuary. There is started with 1st year potions. Started memorizing all the ingredients and started to understand that it was quite similar to Muggle chemistry only that the elements were replaced with magical ingredients. Like how in a Periodic Table the elements are classified depending on their properties, Harry started to classify the magical ingredients into a table depending on their properties. He understood that while there was slight differences and some properties in some ingredients were more potent than in others most ingredients fell into different columns. Once he started seeing potions as an alternative to chemistry he started enjoying it. He felt incredible whenever by looking at the ingredients he would predict the properties of the final output potion and the properties of the actual potion matched with what he predicted. He also did not neglect his spell work. He practiced spells repeatedly, honing his wand work and incantations. Every flick and swish became sharper, his magic responding with greater power and precision after multiple repetitions. Harry clearly understood that there was no use in using more power intensive spells if the same can be achieved by using much simpler spells. He has seen first hand what even simple spells can do when a simple levitation charm performed by a first year student took out a fully grown mountain troll. So Harry stopped underestimating simple spells and practiced them so that he could do them as fast as possible without losing the power.

Once Hermione told Ron that Harry knows about their relationship, they both stopped hiding and started sitting together in the class. Harry feeling awkward about sitting along with them started sitting alone as most others had partners and it was generally the three of them sitting together before all this has happened except in potoins class where he partner with Nevil. Due to sitting alone and not getting nagged by Hermione or having to pace himself to match Ron, Harry's efforts started showing in class. Day After day his performance was improving and by the end of April he was giving Hermione a run for her money. This only increased the competitive nature of Hermione which intern fuel Harry's own competitive nature.

While he was rapidly improving in all the subjects ancient runes was a different matter all together. Unlike others who had to study for many years to grasp the knowledge of runes, Harry had an instinctive grasp. When he started reading the runes textbook and finished the first five chapters in just 3 hours and retained all the knowledge he himself was totally shocked. When he later reported the same to Professor babbling she tested him excessively before being shocked herself. " Mr. Potter, what you have is a rare gift. You have a Grasp of ancient runes that many others take a few years to get. While this doesn't make you an expert in the subject it definitely gives you and advantage. I will be looking forward to see how you do in your exam."

Harry genuinely smiled and said " thank you professor." and left the classroom. His dedication and hard work did not go unnoticed. The other students began to take notice of the change in Harry. His improved performances in class turned heads, and his determination to learn and grow inspired others. Slowly, he began to even exceed Hermione, who had always been the top student.

But with this change came a subtle shift in his friendship with Ron. The friction between them grew, fueled by Harry's newfound focus and Ron's unease at being overshadowed. Ron felt left behind, and while he tried to hide it, Harry sensed the strain between them.

Hermione, caught between her loyalty to Ron and her genuine care for Harry, tried to ease the tension. She supported Ron, her boyfriend hurting Harry more in the it all, Harry channeled his pain and heartbreak into his studies. He devoured his textbooks, seeking knowledge beyond the curriculum. Among his many interests, he discovered a fascination with combining ancient runes, an Idea many experts readily dismissed. Determined to catch up to the fourth-year students in the coming year, he embarked on rigorous self-study.

The pain that had consumed him was now transformed into a driving force. Every time he opened a rune book, he found solace in the intricacies of the ancient symbols. The hours spent in the abandoned classroom were filled with the quiet murmurs of incantations and the soft scratching of a quill on parchment.

As the end of the year approached, Harry Potter emerged from the depths of his despair, a changed wizard. His pain had morphed into resilience, his heartbreak into a relentless drive for self-improvement. He had turned his focus inward, using the disappointment and betrayal as fuel to propel him forward.

He met with his head of the house professor McGonagall and requested her to arrange a meeting with the headmaster. He wanted to find out how many days he had to be at Dursley's. McGonagall said she would do what she can to arrange a meeting with the estranged headmaster. Slowly days turned into weeks and into months. The final exams were upon them. After writing his last exam professor McGonagall stopped Harry on his way out. " Mr Potter, the headmaster would like to speak with you now. If you would follow me.."

without waiting for his reply she started walking expecting him to follow. Harry went behind her and as the approach the gargoyle statue guarding the entrance to headmasters door professor McGonagall said " cockroach clusters." The gargoyle spun revealing a spiraling staircase. Harry climbed the stairs and just as he was about to knock the door he heard Dumbledore's voice "come in Harry". Harry smiled and thought " one of these days I am definitely going to find out how he does that and entered the room. The last time he was in this room Dumbledore has said that Voldemort himself transferred some of his powers to Harry on the night he tried to murder him. This time he was hoping for an easier conversation.

Dumbledore jovially said " Harry my boy, how are you doing today? Would you like a lemon drop?"

Harry replied " no thank you sir and I am doing okay."

Dumbledore asked " what was it that you wanted to talk to me about Harry?"

Harry replied " sir last year I have not stayed the full summer vacation at the Dursleys. I just want to find out what is the minimum number of days I have to stay so that the protections will stay intact."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful and replied " two weeks should be more than sufficient but I ask you Harry to not leave them and if you have to do it then please inform me before hand so that I am always aware about your location."

Harry understood why Dumbledore was so concerned about his safety and nodded his head. "I might head to Leaky cauldron professor" he replied after thinking for sometime. " I stayed there last year and don't mind staying their a few days."

Dumbledore noted sagely and said " if there is nothing else Harry my boy you may go. It's a nice day and I don't want you to waste your time talking to a old man."

Harry left to find Ron and Hermione and share the news with them. Even though the relationship between the trio was strained he still considered them his friends. When Harry said what he discussed with Dumbledore Ron immediately said " well mate, I will write to you as soon as I can confirm the tickets for quidditch World Cup. We can all go together."

Harry smiled at the familiar passion Ron held for quidditch and for a moment everything was alright.