A/N: and here i am again with another chapter with the help form HowInMadeHowie. I have to thank him for his patience with my grammar or word mistakes, as english is not my first language.
Thanks to you readers once again for liking this story so far. Have fun and be safe
Sitting in their compartment on the train to Hogsmeade, Harry talked with his friends about their respective Christmas break. Daphne and Tracey gushed about all the sights they had seen during their Vacation when they were outside because the weather was nice.
"We were in a small country called Monaco, and there were so many boats that the muggles used to go out on the sea that were almost as long as three carriages from this train and double as wide. We were even invited on one of those ships by a business partner of my father and inside it was luxurious. And the food was so good that even the house elves from Hogwarts must work harder to match it. We took some recipes with us and hope that we can bring those to the kitchen in Hogwarts. Hopefully the house elves are open to new ideas. I am sure that the students will be glad to have some variety in their meals." Daphne explained with clear joy about her holiday. Hermione pointed out to Daphne she was likely on a yacht. She explained that yachts are considered luxury ships and muggles are very insistent that they are called yachts. She restricted herself to make a whole presentation about all the different kinds of vessels muggles use to go on the water, as she recognized that if she would do that it would be a bit too excessive. Harry for his part suggested to Daphne that she should talk to the Weasley twins, or he could ask them on her behalf. He suspected they knew where to find the Hogwarts kitchen, as they had always something to eat when they made a victory party after a Quidditch match in their common room.
Hermione listened to Daphne and Tracy's adventure in southern France with obvious curiosity. She wanted to ask her parents to make the next holiday destination be Paris, as she wanted to see the Louvré for herself and learn as much as she could. Suddenly she got the idea to ask Harry if he would come too, but as soon this idea popped in her head, she blushed so furiously that Harry had noticed her red face and asked if she felt all right. Waving her hand dismissively in front of his face, causing the others in the compartment to laugh.
Following the noise, Neville walked with Hannah and Susan through the train to the compartment where Harry and his friend sat together. When Neville asked if they could sit with them, the group all said that they would be happy if they would join and then reminisced for the rest of the train raid about the break.
"I'm sure that Harry was training and studying. Tell me mate, do you know anything besides Quidditch that would be considered 'having fun'?" Neville did not wait for Harry talking about his own Christmas break before he asked this of Harry, who just looked at him and said that training was fun. Being tired after a good workout before you would go to sleep felt good.
"Also, I like to watch movies with others, so when I was not training, I was sitting on the couch and enjoying a movie." Harry leaned back on his seat and was laughing at the flabbergasted faces from his friends that were raised in magical homes, but the ones born into at least one muggel parent knew what he was talking about. Just as Neville wanted to ask what movies were, the door to the compartment opened once again and Luna looked through the door with an empty look in her eyes.
Harry asked her if something was wrong, but she just shook her head and told them that she was looking for her necklace that somehow vanished from her neck. Callie then displayed herself in Harry's glasses and explained to him what he should be asking. "Luna, please listen to me carefully. Did another student stop by the compartment you were in before and came over to you? Did you still have your necklace then?" Harry looked into her eyes, which began to shine with tears as she now knew what had happened. Harry, concluding the signs correctly thanks to Callie, was getting angry and asked Hermione to watch over Luna while he and Neville would go and look for the necklace from the younger girl and bring it back. As they were on the train to Hogwarts, they were allowed to use magic in case it would be needed. Hannah and Susan together with Tracey told the boys that they would go the other way so they could search the train faster after asking Luna how the necklace looked like.
When the five friends had left the compartment, Hermione hugged the young blond trying to calm her down while Daphne was asking herself if she could call Sissi to scan the rest of the train for the missing necklace. But as she did not know that Luna already knew about the other AI's she refrained from it.
"Shhh, calm down Luna. Harry will find your necklace quickly and then bring it back to you. And Neville, who made big advances in his spellcasting would also demand respect when he and Harry told the culprits that the necklace must be returned." At her soothing voice, Luna calmed down a bit and explained that this necklace was a memento from her mother, as it was hers, that she had on almost all the time when Luna was younger.
"My father even told me that my mother had the necklace already when he met her for the first time in Hogwarts. And I am sure that Harry will find it, as Ms. Callie surely does help him as she had seen it too." At the name of Harry's AI, both older girls in the compartment locked at Luna with surprise. At the sudden silence in the compartment Luna looked up with a curious gaze in her bloodshot eyes from her tears. Asking them why they were looking at her like that, Hermione gathered herself and asked the young Ravenclaw who Ms. Callie was. At this, Luna looked at them with even more curiosity and asked them if they did not know Ms. Callie and Ms. Cortana, the friends from Harry and Mr. Wulf.
"I mean, you were with Harry last winter, right? So, I guess that you also know that Harry is a Witcher now and has a companion in his glasses?" Luna surprised them even more, so Luna had to explain what she knew about Harry and the other secrets he had already shared with Hermione and Daphne. Hermione thought that she had to talk with Harry later when they were alone and ask him why he did not mention it in his letters to her. She could understand that he would have kept it a secret in case the owl could have been intercepted, but Hedwig was a fast and smart owl, she would not get captured this easily.
While Hermione, Luna and Daphne were talking in the compartment, Susan, Hannah and Tracey were walking to the back end of the train looking for some other students that were laughing about something that was not funny at all. Hannah and Susan were first wondering why Tracey was accompanying them in this, but just a short time later when they were looking into a compartment with some Slytherins in it they were glad that she was talking with them. Because the first word they had heard from them were *stupid mudblood* and Susan was sure that they were talking about someone she knew and almost lost her temper. Tracey stepped up and asked them if they had seen a necklace from a first-year student in a tone that told them to tell the truth. As they had not seen any first year or someone with a necklace, Tracey left the compartment quickly and walked further down the train.
On the other side towards the front, Harry asked Callie if she could use the better sensors to look for the necklace so they could save some time in the search, when they heard some girls laughing with delight about a prank they had pulled. Thinking that it could not hurt to ask them, Harry knocked on the compartment door and waited to be granted access as his good manners demanded of him. Soon after he had knocked, the door opened and a third year, black haired girl with Asian descent opened the door, obviously thinking that the old lady with the trolley could be a bit early today. Surprised to see Harry, her eyes became big when she recognized who was standing in front of her. Harry noticed that she didn't look happy as she should be, if the giggling inside this compartment was any indication.
"Good day to you miss, may I ask if you have seen a necklace from a first year Ravenclaw? It is a small golden chain with some accessories on it. Oh, and if you know her as you are also Ravenclaws according to the colors on your robes, she has blond hair and is about this tall." Harry placed his hand about his chest high. The black-haired girl in front of him was turning towards another girl in the compartment, who was hastily hiding something behind her back. But Callie saw what it was, thanks to her sensors seeing the different heat signatures around them noticing the dark brown-haired girl was hiding the necklace they were looking for. Telling Harry to be subtle about it as they may have found it on the ground, Harry asked the others inside the compartment if they had seen something. He just put enough anger into his tone to give them the idea that he knew that they were hiding what he was looking for.
The dark-haired asian girl walked over to her friend while shaking her head, disappointment for her friend obvious on her face and took the necklace that her friend was trying to hide behind her back. "I told you Marietta that it was a bad idea to steal something from her when she would undoubtedly be looking for it. And as I tried to remind you, Luna Lovegood told us that she was friends with the boy over there in the beginning of the school year, who is by the way Harry Potter. Now I hope I do not have to remind you how good he is in a duel, so you will come with us and apologize to Luna, understood?" the Asian girl reprimanded her friend and pointed to the door.
Harry looked over at the other girls, while Callie whistled about how good this Asian girl had her friends under control. Looking over the database of all the Hogwarts students, she found out that her name was Cho Chang and that she was even the reserve seeker in the Ravenclaw team, but she would be chosen soon if the reports about her skills were any indication. Putting the numbers over each other, Harry was better than her in his reactions while Cedric was faster in a dive, so this girl was at least the third best in this school. But that was not here nor there right now as she left the compartment behind Harry who was leading them towards their target.
When they arrived, Harry opened the door and saw that Hannah, Susan and Tracey were already back and looking at him. He then stepped aside to give the two older girls the room to enter and give their apology to Luna and give her the necklace back. Harry noticed that the brown-haired girl did not sound sincere enough to be serious about her apology, but Cho really was sorry about what had happened and that she did not clear the situation up sooner.
Luna took her necklace back and thanked them for their apology but sat back down between Hermione and Daphne while the other two left to go back to their own compartment. Harry closed the door behind them and asked Susan if something happened, as her hair was almost as bushy as Hermione's was. Susan laughed and explained that they came through a corridor where the friend of the Weasley twins had set a joke trap that caused their hair to become so bushy. She then pointed over to Tracey who had a brush in her hand and was taming her hair back to the straight strands they were used to seeing her with. Hannah just had her hair pulled into a bun and patted the seat next to her for Neville to sit down. Harry saw this and thought that now was a good time to ask what was going on with those two.
Neville cleared his throat, as he tried to explain that his grandmother and Hannah's parents had negotiated a betrothal contract with each other. "But do not worry, it does not mean that we must marry each other, it just means that if someone else wants to bind us with another contract it would not be possible to do so. All parties, that includes myself and Hannah, have agreed to the stipulation that if we want to cancel this contract it will be done without any penalties from the other family. The reason we did that was, I was always on good terms with Hannah and her parents while I was growing up. And as another family approached Hannah's parents with the proposition to get her into a binding contract, they declined him but to make sure that nothing would happen to their daughter because of it, her parents approached my grandmother over the Christmas holiday and then we all decided to make this step. This way, even if the other family would try to force the contract to happen through some illegal ways it would not be possible as Hannah is already spoken for. I hope that explains everything to you." Neville took Hannah's hand who smiled at him and sat a bit closer than before.
Hermione looked at them with some sadness in her eyes, but she stayed silent as she could understand why they did that. And as there was a clause to dissolve this contract when one of both her friends would find someone, they would truly love she could still hope that they would become happy whatever would happen.
But Harry had another question, as he wanted to know who would try to get Hannah so early into a marriage contract when she was a half-blood just like he was. "Please do not misunderstand me, you two but as far as I know just some pureblood families would make such contracts at such a young age for their children. And for you two be involved in something that could be called a political move got me worried."
Hermione was wringing her hands nervously while Daphne looked with interest at her behavior. Daphne was thinking the same way like Hermione, but she was also thinking who could make such a proposal to the Abbots, knowing full well that a pureblood would be looked down upon in their society, so she could only name a few families that would do something like that.
The rest of the journey was spent talking about normal things while Hermione explained to the others how she used the time over the Christmas break with her parents. Neville wondered how muggles did all those things without magic; Hannah told him that he should come with her over Easter to see how they celebrated those holidays.
Neville was looking confused and just had to ask, "Wait, you're telling me that muggles believe in a rabbit delivering all those eggs and even that over Christmas a man brings all those gifts in a single night, but they are afraid of magic? I still cannot believe how muggles, or us magicals for that matter, are still so far apart. We live right next to each other, and both ignore the other side of our invisible wall."
Harry was not the only one who was looking at Neville with big eyes for his adult behavior right now. Even Callie was telling Harry that she was thinking that only Harry would be talking like that when they were in their group. Harry had to agree, but almost at the same time Neville was also looking at him with a surprised look in his eyes.
"Really mate, it feels strange to talk like you do sometimes." That caused the others to break out in laughter as the train slowed down because it was arriving at its destination. As soon as they had stopped completely, they left the train and walked up to the carriages that would bring them up to the castle. Harry took a carriage with Hermione, Daphne and Susan, while Luna traveled together with Neville and Hannah up to the castle where Harry knew he still had a mission. But right now, he was wondering how the other students would react when the headmaster tells them that John was away for "family matters" and Ms. Palmer would replace him for the time being. He just hoped that she had learned something about handling students while they were in Kear Mohen.
When they arrived at the castle and walked into the entrance hall, they saw that they still had an hour until before it was time for dinner, so they went to their respective common rooms while Luna walked over to Padme and Cho who were talking with each other. With those two were also a prefect and Professor Flitwick himself. Harry wondered what they were discussing with each other when he noticed the angry look from the professor while he was listening to Padme. Harry just hoped that he was not angry with her when he heard his name called from upstairs, where Ron stood next to his sister. "Hey mate, how was your holiday? Do you want to play chess before dinner?" Ron was now walking down to Harry, his hand outstretched to grab Harry by the arm.
Harry just stepped aside, telling Ron that he could walk himself up and that he wanted to check first if his trunk was back in the dorm room. Luckily they had decided to get his armor into the school with Commander Palmer, as when the unthinkable would happen and it would spill out of his trunk inside his dorm room before he could hide it from the others, preventing them to ask why it was inside his luggage. It was not that he did not trust the house elves to be careful enough, but he just wanted to make sure. When Harry walked past the Ravenclaws and their head of house, he heard a small bit of their discussion, speaking about a suitable punishment for bullying a younger housemate from their house. Harry looked at Luna watching the older students talking about the situation that had happened without a doubt multiple times this year, if Harry could read the signs correctly because Luna looked like she was just between sad and relieved. Harry told Callie to try and record the rest of the conversation just in case he would need it later.
Soon they arrived in their common room and Harry saw the Weasleys sitting in a corner playing a card game until they noticed that the rest from the Gryffindor house arrived back from their holiday. Harry asked them how their break was, to which George answered him without looking away from their game that they had their fun and played some pranks with the only Slytherin that had stayed behind too. "And the faces from Crabbe and Goyle were almost as funny as Malfoy's when he was hit with the green slime we had created. Luckily Snape did not see us placing it above the entrance to the Slytherin common room." At this small information Harry wanted to know how they knew where the other common rooms are, because as far he knew all the common rooms should be kept secret from the other's houses. But thanks to John he knew that this rule was rather loosely handled as some students even visited their friends in other houses. But as far he really knew, only a small number of students from Slytherin and Gryffindor ever talked with each other friendly enough to even consider visiting them in the other's common room.
When the time for dinner arrived, they walked down to the Great Hall together when Harry heard someone calling his name. He sighted and turned around to look at Malfoy sneering at him, asking him if his Christmas was any good at all. Harry looked at him sternly and decided to play along and said that it was all right. He had enough time to do all his homework and received some gifts from his foster parents and pulled the small pen. As it was golden colored it caused some appreciating reaction, but it seemed that Malfoy knew what it was. When he talked smack about the muggle writing utensil, Harry asked him how often he had to reload his quill in the ink bottle. Malfoy obviously did not know what Harry meant with this question, until Harry told him that with this pen, he could write complete essays without putting his quill inside the ink bottle even once.
"Of course, I know that it is mandatory to do the homework with a quill and ink, as the teachers could use their magic to inspect it quicker this way, but for taking notes this pen is much more beneficial. Now, if you would not be looking down at muggles like your family does, you would know about that." That was seemingly the wrong thing to say, as a spell was flying towards him which he evaded as easily as in the duel they had before the break.
"Mister Malfoy, I already told you that you are not allowed to attack another student in the corridors and doing so in front of the Great Hall just shows that you did not listen to me. 10 points from Slytherin and now go inside, dinner will soon be served." Professor Flitwick and McGonagall walked past them into the Great Hall while the Weasley siblings grinned at the unfortunate event for Malfoy that had taken place. When Professor Snape walked up to them and told the other Slytherins to get a move on, they soon sat down at their respective house tables. Callie scanned the hall with her new sensors and marveled at all the detail she could now see and catalog them; like how often Ron refilled his plate and with what force, not that she could not do that before.
Harry was looking up to the staff table, noting that the commander had removed her own armor before coming to dinner. She now wore some clothes that Harry recognized as the so-called "casual" clothing that the soldiers in the valley outside Kear Mohen used. That meant that she had already found John's office and his equipment, but Harry still wondered how that armor-removal system knew what kind of armor you had on you and also why his armor could be put on and removed normally. Callie wanted to tell him, but her programming shut her up as this was still classified information on the specs from the MJOLNIR armor.
After dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood up from his seat at the head of the Great Hall to welcome the students back to Hogwarts, looking at them with his grandfatherly smile. "And also, as Chief Wulf had to leave for a short while because of a family matter, we have Ms. Palmer as a substitute teacher for the PE training on the weekends or after talking with her about the timing for personal training. Classes will resume tomorrow morning according to your timetable. Now off you go to bed, sleep well and be well rested for the classes ahead." Dumbledore then talked with Palmer about something when she nodded and placed her hand on the side of her head over her ear. Harry wondered why she did that, until he heard her voice through his glasses and Callie pointing at the established contact info from her. Harry understood that Palmer used a radio frequency which only he could receive and used his thoughts to answer, as Callie could relay the message to the commander.
"Recruit Potter, the headmaster wants to talk with you ASAP. Please acknowledge." Harry shook his head as he answered that he was still a child and they were not in the military, in case she had already forgotten. But he will go to the headmaster's office as soon as he has gathered his invisibility cloak to sneak out without the other noticing. Harry saw her nodding to him and told this to the headmaster, who smiled down at Harry as he left the Great Hall with Hermione, Ron and Neville by his side and then told Palmer that she should relay the password to his office to Harry.