Fifth Year Rebooted Chapter 5: Harry's Time at Hogwarts, a harry potter fanfic

September 2nd

The Headmaster's Office

The next day was a Saturday, so the four in Dorm 1 met up with two-thirds of Dorm 2 and went to the Great Hall slowly, showing John and Rajiv the castle and explaining some of its peculiarities on the way. Like the poltergeist, the step that trapped one's foot, the moving staircases, and so on.

"So, where's Ron?" Neville asked after a while.

"Still asleep. He came in late. Making rounds, I think," Dean answered. "I don't know if he even noticed he has new dormmates, yet.

Harry wondered fleetingly who would wake Ron now but forgot about it quickly again. Not his problem.

That should become his new mantra he mused, but then went on talking with his dorm mates. It might still be strange to play being a 15-year-old. But it was fun, too. At least for now.

After breakfast, Harry went to the Entrance Hall and soon was met by Sirius, who had come onto the grounds via the Shrieking Shack.

"Good morning, Sirius! Perfect timing. I've been summoned to the headmaster's office at ten."

"Then let's go. And good morning to you, too."

While they walked upstairs, they talked about inconsequential things. They had exchanged all necessary information last night via the mirrors after all.

Soon they knocked on the door to Dumbledore's office and waited patiently in silence for about five minutes.

Does he want to listen in to what we are talking about? Fat chance! Harry thought and leaned against the wall, settling in.

"Enter."

The two entered and found one chair sitting in front of the Headmaster's desk. There also was Snape, lurking in one of the corners, scowling when seeing Sirius.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?" Dumbledore looked honestly surprised.

"Albus, you're slipping. Didn't the wards tell you I arrived?"

"I'm quite busy at the moment, my boy. New school year and all that. But you needn't have come. I just want a short chat with Harry here."

"With Sn… Snape there? Really?"

"Sirius, why the hostility still? You're both grown men."

"That's not an answer to my question. Why do you need Snape present for a short chat with Harry?"

"He and I had a chat before, and he was still in the room. Now, Harry my–"

"Stop, Albus. First of all, if it was a prior appointment then again, why is he still here? If the meeting asks for him, alright. But then there should be more than one chair in front of the desk, shouldn't there?"

Dumbledore frowned, "If so, you can also leave, Sirius. Why don't the both of you do so now?"

"Albus, I'm Harry's magical guardian as you well know. Snape is neither Harry's guardian nor his Head of House. He's his Potions Professor. So, I ask again. Is this meeting about Harry's Potions class?"

"Sirius, stop being so boorish. Why don't you take a seat," Dumbledore conceded, waved his wand, and conjured a chair for Sirius. "I had taken on Harry's guardianship, so I forgot. I'm sorry, my boy. Please sit," he pointed to the chairs, but Sirius and Harry kept standing.

"That would be the second point, which needs addressing. Not that the first has been solved to my satisfaction. As you're not Harry's guardian – and never were – I ask you to address him as you do every other student. - With his surname."

"Sirius, please, don't be ridiculous. Harry doesn't mind, do you?"

Harry, who had been scrutinising the now uncomfortable-looking but silent Severus Snape, started and then answered, "To be honest, I have minded since year one. But you never asked. I don't like getting singled out."

"I'm sorry to hear, my boy. I'll try to do better," Dumbledore looked sad. "Lemon drop?"

Harry looked wide-eyed at his Headmaster, "You know, at Muggle school we were warned about elderly men trying to establish familiarity and offering sweets!"

Snape snorted in surprise and Dumbledore looked curious, "Why ever would they do that?"

Now Snape and Harry looked at the Headmaster incredulously while Sirius and Dumbledore looked clueless. The two half-bloods exchanged astonished looks and Snape opened his mouth for the first time, "It's the behaviour of a certain kind of predator. I'll explain more later, Albus. Just refrain from doing it. Especially with Muggle-raised children."

Sirius looked to Harry, who looked quite serious, and mouthed, "Later."

"If you say so, my… I mean, Severus," the old man answered after seeing Snape wince.

"Now, Ha… Mr. Potter, I wanted to talk to you about your electives. And please sit down."

"Why? We talked about it in Grimmauld Place. Why do you need to once again?" Harry asked.

"It's more comfortable to have our little chat in my office. Why else?"

"You want to talk about my electives because it is more comfortable?" Harry asked incredulously while still standing. "Are you feeling well?"

Snape looked to the side so they could only see his stringy black hair and Sirius sniggered.

"My dear –"

Sirius coughed loudly.

"Mr Potter, I meant… Anyway, yes. I believe you'd also be more comfortable continuing your old electives."

"Do you talk to all students about it, when they want to change their electives?" Sirius asked, looking quite interested.

"If it's necessary," Dumbledore hedged.

"Why do you think it is necessary?" Harry asked.

"Well, my… Mr Potter. Your previous performances in class weren't stellar. I fear the electives you chose this year would be too hard for your meagre abilities."

"Wow. Okay. I'll give you that. I didn't really try to do my best in recent years."

Snape snorted.

Harry added, "But I'm happy to say, I chucked the death weight holding me back. So, I don't see any problems this year."

"You did? How?" Dumbledore looked worried.

"Well, I broke with Ron and Hermione. They were massively holding me back."

"What? No! How can you say that? Miss Granger is most accomplished!"

"Oh, she is."

Dumbledore was getting whiplash from Harry agreeing and disagreeing with him every other sentence, "But you just said she was holding you back."

"She did."

"But…"

"Headmaster, she is accomplished and was holding me back. Her intellectual capabilities don't translate into teaching abilities. It happens," Harry did his best not to look at Snape. "And she wanted to be the one on top. So I let her, except for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Snape muttered something about arrogance.

"You're right, Professor Snape, that sounded arrogant! I don't think I could have surpassed her, even if I had tried. That was the point I was trying to make. I didn't try because of the minute possibility of being better than her."

"And how was Mr Weasley holding you back, Harry?"

"Wow, you call him 'Mr Weasley' in the same sentence as you call me 'Harry'."

"I'm sorry, Mr Potter. Please forgive an old man for forgetting… Now back to my question."

Harry let Dumbledore off the hook for now, "I don't know if you noticed, but Ron Weasley has low self-esteem due to all his smart older brothers and he is inherently lazy. He wouldn't have reacted well if I had gotten better grades than him. So, why bother."

Sirius jumped in, "I told you and Minerva before that I stand by this decision. So, please let it go. You will not win this argument."

"I cannot allow Mr Potter to change electives, Sirius," the old wizard said with much dignity and benign wisdom.

But Sirius didn't fold, "Then we are at an impasse. I'll start the process of removing Harry from Hogwarts to home-school him."

"Sirius!" Dumbledore thundered, losing his patience, but he was interrupted by his Floo, which lit up green.

Molly Weasley stepped out, looking furious.

"Albus! Why did you stop your payment to me from Harry's vaults?"

"My vaults?" Harry asked from behind her, making her nearly fall over, she turned around so quickly.

"Ha… Harry! I didn't see you there."

"That much was quite obvious," Sirius said, frowning. "Now explain what you meant."

"I… Albus!"

"Ha… I mean, Mr Potter, I had your vault pay a small stipend to Molly here for taking care of you during the summers."

"Huh? So, it wasn't out of friendship with Ron that I got invited?" Harry looked sad.

"What? No! Harry, you're like a son to me!" Molly protested.

"Whatever," the sullen teenager was back.

"How much did you get, Molly?"

"I had them transfer 50 Galleons, Sirius."

"Altogether?"

"No! Once a month!" Molly had gotten her energy back it seemed. "It is only proper for Harry's future mother-in-law!"

"What?" Sirius yelped and turned to Harry. "You're betrothed to Ginny?"

Harry, who was gaping as well (but more because of Molly's audacity), said, "No!"

Something in Dumbledore's desk drawer must have gone up in flames as smoke came pouring out of it and Dumbledore quickly cast a fire-distinguishing charm at it.

Harry crowed internally. So Dumbledore had actually drawn up a contract, and his guardian's ignorance and his denial had made it go up in flames. Literally.

"What was that Albus? Did you write up a betrothal contract? Really? How could you! Every time I turn my back, you stab me and Harry in it, it looks like!" Sirius was incensed.

"Sirius…"

"And you paid her 50 Galleons a month? For how long?"

"That's not important right –"

"It sure as hell is! Since when?"

No one answered.

"Well, we will find out soon enough," Sirius said decisively.

A Patronus in the form of a lion flew into the office, saying in Arthur's voice, "Molly, your pantry just caught fire and I couldn't open it! I had to spray it with an Aguamenti. The fire was extinguished, but the pantry is gone. At least its contents are! What was in there? I hope nothing important."

Molly shrieked and ran to the fireplace and disappeared in a puff of green.

Silence settled over the room. Snape still leaned against one wall, Harry and Sirius were standing by the door and Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and was looking through the contents of his drawer, wincing.

But, as if all of this hadn't been enough, a wave of Magic swept through the room, and about a third of the books on the shelves and the pensieve as well as some other trinkets disappeared.

"Nooo!" Dumbledore lost the rest of his composure.

"What just happened?" Harry asked (even if he knew exactly what had caused this and had a hard time containing his glee. Talk about perfect timing!)

"Did you know about this, boy?" The now-standing Headmaster thundered while staring down into Harry's eyes directly. But he only saw images of the events in this office just now.

"Huh?" Harry looked to Sirius without any sign of being cowed.

"That looked like a Ritual of Recall. It seems Albus had things in his office, which didn't belong to him or were lent to him by their owner and should have been returned a long time ago," Sirius explained as if he hadn't told Harry about signing the contract to do just that himself.

"Were those my things?" Harry asked the headmaster.

Dumbledore said nothing. Telling the boy he was just keeping Harry's thing safe might have worked without Sirius being present. Telling the boy to let the order members live in his properties might have worked, without Sirius there, too. So, when the fireplace turned green again and Elphias Doge's face appeared in it, Dumbledore lost his composure and thundered for the third time since Harry had entered his office, "Out! All of you! Get out!"

While they quickly walked the few steps needed to the door, a second wave of magic moved through the room removing a few more books. Just two or three.

But they didn't halt their exit and soon Sirius, Snape, and Harry stood in front of the Gargoyle looking wide-eyed at one another.

"What kind of Ritual is that, Black?" Snape asked.

"The Ritual of Recall returns stolen property to the one doing the recall. Or have the goblins of Gringotts do it for them."

"For a fee."

"Yup."

Snape turned and walked away without saying another word. But a few steps away from them he fell to his knees, clutching his left forearm.

Harry rushed to the man and said, "He is calling you. Shit. That Ritual… I don't know what it did to him. Be careful!" while helping the dark man up to his feet again.

Snape sneered half-heartedly and looked at the Gargoyle, "I'll not tell him right now. He's too angry."

"We will tell Moody, would that work?"

"Yes," The man visibly pulled himself together, squared his shoulders, and rushed off without saying another word.

Sirius in the meantime called his Patronus up and told it, "Find Alastor Moody. When he is alone, tell him, 'Snape was called. He went. Albus is in too bad a mood to be informed at the moment.' If Moody isn't alone, see if Kingsley Shacklebolt is and tell him instead."

The spectre of Padfoot ran off.

"Now what?" Sirius said.

The two looked at each other and Harry said, "Come." And led Sirius to an empty wall on the 7th floor.

The Room of Requirement

While Sirius studied the tapestry with the dancing trolls, Harry called up the Room of Forgotten Things, pulled Sirius into it, and led the now gaping man into the room.

"Woah! What's this, Harry?"

"Hogwarts room for all things lost."

Sirius ran from one thing to the next and pulled out his own Gringotts wallet to stuff it with things.

"This'll start Remus' business and Marauders Enterprise, don't you see?"

Harry blinked and nodded, "You're right! But let's get the Horcrux first and the pilfer the room later, okay?"

"Spoilsport," Sirius huffed but luckily listened and came to Harry and was led into the depths of the Room.

"Look for a white marble bust. The thing I'm looking for is close to it."

An hour later, the Horcrux had been sent to Grobhook and their wallets were filled with paintings, books, some broken furniture, and jewellery. But Harry didn't seem to be in a treasure hunt mood right now, so they soon left the Room of Forgotten Things.

But as soon as they were outside, Harry stopped and once again walked up and down the wall until another door appeared. It looked like one on Grimmauld Place's second floor.

When they entered, it looked like they had been transported to the informal living room in that house.

Sirius looked around and asked, "Huh? Homesick?"

"Hm, maybe? I was asking for a place that guaranteed privacy. Grobhook sent a long letter that I didn't want to read in between all that clutter. You don't have to stay, but I thought…"

"Oh, I want to stay, pup. Go read your letter, I do what I do best. I'll lounge," Sirius draped himself elegantly over a fainting couch and Harry snorted in amusement.

"You can watch the map for Snape's return. He might need medical help," Harry said and handed the marauders map to his godfather.

"Shit, you're right," Sirius took the map, activated it, and tapped it with his wand saying, "Show me Severus Snape."

The map didn't do anything and so the Animagus said, "He's not here yet. But as soon as he enters it will highlight him."

"Good," Harry nodded and opened Grobhook's letter.

Heir Potter,
I'm happy to inform you that the snake is no more, and Peter Pettigrew is in custody. We sprang the trap for the snake Nagini very early this morning when she was out on her daily hunt for snacks. She ate some of the rodents we had stuffed with Muggle rat poison in capsules that would only dissolve when coming in contact with her own poison. It only gave her slight indigestion, but we didn't expect her to die from it. Just make it look as if she did if someone investigated. So, as soon as we could be sure the capsules had dissolved entirely, she was hit with the killing curse, and the Horcrux within was destroyed.
We lay in wait for about two hours until we saw Peter Pettigrew leave Malfoy Manor and transform into a rat. He then started searching – carefully, as we assume he didn't want to get too close to the snake in that form – and he soon found her dead body. He was stunned and we took him into our custody and most of us left with him.
As soon as you send the last Horcrux, we will have destroyed them all, and as anyone was declared to be your hand in this endeavour, Tom Riddle can get defeated now.
Furthermore, yesterday Gringotts started taking the actions we agreed on in August.
1. We stopped all monthly payments implemented by Albus Dumbledore and the traitor Griphook.
2. We ejected all squatters living on your properties. They were surprised and indignant, but when we asked for rental contracts, they couldn't provide them, and they had not paid a Knut since living there. Therefore, all of them had to leave within the hour and were told to expect a bill for renovation work needed and retroactive rental payments. They all packed up and left to contact Albus Dumbledore, I believe.
3. We returned the 82.500 Galleons, Albus Dumbledore had paid himself monthly, as well as all the other amounts of money he had removed from your vaults over the years, which add up to 162.300 Galleons. We also took what Griphook's account didn't yield, after we had removed what he had stolen. So, all in all, your vault is richer by 256.563 Galleons now.
4. I got in contact with Vernon Dursley on the 29th and he paid more than half of their debt to you immediately. We agreed on a plan to refund the rest in the next 20 years that we all can live with. He also signed a contract with us for Gringotts warding his home and doing a health check for the family. We also provided amulets to the Dursleys that help them keep your secrets. Only they, you, and me together can remove them. You need to name proxies, should you not be available.
5. The whole case with Dumbledore made us audit all vaults that had money transferred to his. Many Galleons have been returned. Often the magical folks aren't aware they even own vaults. It was very cleverly and subtly done. Now Gringotts is having an AUDIT. No procedure will remain unquestioned, no vault will stay undisturbed, and no stone will be left unturned now.
6. Dumbledore will get arrested by Gringotts for theft, fraud, and many other misdeeds. If he hasn't come in by Sunday evening, we will come to Hogwarts. He was named 'enemy of the nation' yesterday.
7. The Rituals of Recall for your godfather and you will happen later this morning. We hope it will bring Dumbledore to our doorstep, at last.
8. Please tell the person with mage-sight to come to the edge of the Forbidden Forest at ten tomorrow morning.

Stay strong!
Grobhook – Account Manager of Potter Estate

Harry scrambled to pull out some writing utensils and wrote a quick note.

Grobhook, Dumbledore can call his Phoenix to transport him out of any detainment. I'll write more later. HJP

He quickly pulled out his mailing box, nearly threw the note inside, and closed it quickly.

"Hope he got this in time!" Harry fell back against the backrest of the couch he was sitting on.

Sirius looked at Harry, "What was that about?"

"The goblins are moving in on Dumbledore. They want to arrest him as soon as he enters their bank. Or Sunday evening at the latest here at Hogwarts. Whichever comes first. Anyway, I needed to warn them that he can call Fawkes and that the bird can transport him out of an arrest cell."

"Oh. Well. Hm. It's not even been two hours since we left his office. And I believe he won't leave the castle as long as I'm here."

"True. So what now? Do we wait for them to arrest him? I mean, you said you'd pull me out of Hogwarts – before Hurricane Molly arrived."

Sirius scratched his head, "Hm. We do whatever you wish. If you want to leave, we leave. If you don't, you stay."

Harry nodded, "If Dumbledore stays at Hogwarts, I'll leave for sure. He won't let this rest. But if he's in goblin custody, I think I want to finish my 5th year here. But not the next two. Not sure, though."

"Okay. Hm… Then I believe I'll write a letter to the governors. About the 50 points, the detention in the Forbidden Forest, about the Acromantula colony there. Hm, what else?"

"Well, you can't write about the bullying running rampant in this school. Not with your past."

"Oh, I think it's the other way around. I'll tell them how lax bullying is treated here. As a reformed perpetrator I'm the perfect witness."

"Huh, you're right. No one will expect the bully to exaggerate when they tell their tale to an authority figure. They expect the bully to downplay their misdeeds."

"Exactly."

"Well, then we both write letters. You to the governors, me to Grobhook."

Half an hour later, Sirius glanced at the open map again and said frowning, "Snape's back. He's just within the wards near the gates. But he's not moving."

"Fuck! Kreacher!" Harry hoped that elves could be called to the Room of Requirements.

They could.

"Master Harry is… Where are we? This is not Grimmauld Place."

"I'll tell you later. Look at the map Sirius has. The location where Severus Snape collapsed is shown on it. Please go and get him to the goblin healers. He's close to the wards."

Kreacher went to Sirius and studied the map. Sirius pointed at Snape's location on it and the elf nodded and popped off.

"Good thinking, pup. This way is much faster than running out ourselves and levitating him to Poppy."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And the goblins have amazing healers."

"Right. I wonder what happened, though."

"Yeah, me too. Not that he'll ever tell me," Harry pointed at his hair and glasses.

"Hm. If you lost the glasses, he might. Your facial structure isn't like James' at all."

"Yeah, you told me already. You're right. Did you know the glasses only contain window glass now?"

"No!"

Harry chuckled, "Yes, I didn't want people asking too many questions and realising that the goblins healed me."

"Oh! I didn't know goblins could heal a teenager's eyes! Yes, good idea not advertising them being healed. That would have made Albus check on his enchantments on you and so on and so forth."

"Exactly. But now that we're talking about this, I realise I can chuck them as soon as Dumbledore is out of the picture. Even though…" Harry tilted his head back a little and turned his head a little bit, just to rip the glasses off his nose. "Fuck!"

"What is it?"

"I have mage-sight enchanted on the lower part of the glasses. Don't use it in this room! It's trippy. Like being on drugs trippy. I wonder how she could stand being in this room."

"Who?"

"Uh, someone I knew who had mage-sight and she was in here in my lost future. Please don't try to find out who I mean. I shouldn't have said as much as I did. It's not my secret to tell."

"Alright. It's good to learn that the ability isn't dead though! But tell me, how does the rest of Hogwarts look with this enchantment?"

"There's lots of magic everywhere, so I do my best to look through the upper part of the glasses. But it isn't nearly as wild as this room. I had thought the ceiling of the Great Hall would be a riot of colours and forms with mage sight, but there is just one enchantment there. I admit it is a very complicated one, but it can be discerned. Oh, and Dumbledore has mage-sight on his glasses, too. That's why he wears them lowered most of the time."

"So, he knows you do too?"

"Nah, my glasses have been repaired, transfigured, and enchanted in other ways much too often to distinguish between the spells. And I'm wearing a pendant that makes it look as if the spells and potions on me are still active. Well, now I wonder why Moody didn't comment on them?"

"He probably did, but not to us. Albus must have told him some rot about the Greater Good, would be my guess."

"Possible. Or the stuff isn't detectable with mage-sight. Only with the right spells… I think that was it. Dumbledore would have masked them somehow, wouldn't he?"

"I can cast the mage-sight spell on some glasses myself and take a look at you. But not here."

"Yeah. If it hasn't come up during the last month, it probably isn't too important."

"Right. Now what?"

"Now we both go on with our day and see what happens."

"Alright, pup. Does this room let me leave on another floor or make a door open onto the grounds? I don't want to walk all those steps again!"

"Whiny baby! But look, there's another door appearing for you," Harry laughed.

They parted ways with Sirius promising to contact Harry as soon as he was home safely. So Harry waited in the Room for about 20 minutes with the mirror out, until Sirius called him as he had promised.

Harry then asked the room for a door on the second floor and went to the Great Hall to eat lunch with no one the wiser.

Dumbledore wasn't at the High Table.

Dinner

At dinnertime, Harry, his roommates, Dean, and Seamus, were joined by an exhausted-looking girl who hid behind John and whispered desperately, "Hide me!"

John puffed himself up and the others scooted a little, so the slim girl nearly disappeared just in time.

Harry even cast a Notice Me Not charm on her when he saw Hermione rush to the table and call out, "Where is she?"

"Who?" Seamus asked, looking clueless.

"Alberta! She is our new classmate, and it's my responsibility to take care of her!"

"Huh, when one hears you talking about her, she sounds like a pet, not a human being," Dean said, frowning. "Did you treat her like that?"

"No!"

"I bet you did. No wonder Alberta ran away. I would too!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Did you even allow her to make new friends, Hermione? Or did you pull her all over the castle while talking her head off?" shy Neville added, and Harry saw Alberta nod vigorously.

"No! I didn't! And where is Ron? He has to take care of you two!" she pointed at John and Rajiv.

John barked, "Woof."

Dean patted his head and said in a childish voice, "There's a good boy," while Seamus answered Hermione, "They decided they wanted to hang out with us. Not Ron. So leave them be!"

"We'll see about that!" huffed Hermione and stalked toward the High Table to complain. But the teachers had watched the whole episode and had little pity for her plight. They just voiced it much more diplomatically. So in the end, a discouraged Hermione sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table close to the doors to lay in wait for Alberta.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Alberta let out a deep sigh of relief, "Thank you! All of you! She's a nightmare!"

"She is very single-minded, but she means well. I think she never learned how to have friends, actually. She always tries to manage every aspect of a person's life she calls her friend, I think. Like she's their minder," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, that," Alberta nodded. "I want to decide for myself!"

"You need to tell her 'No' in a very decisive, logical, and emotionless way. That works, I've found." Once again Neville surprised everyone with his words. It looked like he had found some Gryffindor courage at last. Maybe, because Luna, the twins, and Harry had decided to help him with his wand problem?

Neville added, "We were a bit mean to her, just now. I just wish some adult would explain it to her!"

"Yeah, as if a grown-up at Hogwarts would care," Dean huffed. He was rather disillusioned by now, being a Muggle-born.

Harry noticed that at the staff table, some teachers had listened in and were looking at one another and then at McGonagall who sat there with her lips pursed. He also noticed that Snape wasn't sitting at the High Table, either. But that was normal for the weekends, so no one commented on it.

"You could always cast the Repello Hermione Granger on your person," Rajiv said thoughtfully to Alberta. "My Mum uses that one to keep her next-door neighbour at bay. You just need to take care not to get too close to her or it'll fail."

The teachers at the High Table winced. They didn't teach that one at Hogwarts, or half the school would use it in some way or other. The Notice-Me-Not charm was a much weaker version that wore off quickly and therefore was much less intervening with life at school.

But it was too late and half the students at the Gryffindor table were practising that spell now and it was spreading to the other tables.

The students quickly learned that it only worked against one individual and not more than one prefect at once, for example. Even a Repello Prefectum didn't work, much to their disappointment.

Rajiv explained that the charm only worked against non-magical groups like Muggles as a whole but wasn't strong enough to distort the awareness of more than one magical person.

Harry shrugged and cast a Repello Tom Riddle on himself. Who knew what that would be good for? He just wondered how it would work. There must be more than one Hermione Granger, or Tom Riddle living in this world. Was it also about intent? It must be, he decided.

When Hermione was told by a gleeful housemate that people were casting a charm repelling her on themselves, she ran out of the Hall sobbing.

Fuck! Harry thought and warred with himself whether he should follow her. No one deserved that. Luckily, Professor Sprout decided that if her colleague didn't do anything, she would and rushed after the girl.

At their table, Rajiv also told them about other uses of that spell. His older sister used it to repel her cheating ex-boyfriend who wanted to win her back, and a cousin of his used it to repel a stalker she couldn't get rid of, but she knew who it was. Many of the older ones listened very interested in that. And Harry mourned that he couldn't repel all of his fans. Hmm, but maybe Rita Skeeter! Well, that was a thought.

"Does that spell still work if someone points out that person?" Harry asked.

"No, that is the downside. And it doesn't make a person forget about you," Rajiv answered.

"So, it works best for my next-door neighbour who isn't really interested in me as a person and is living alone."

"Yup."

"Hmpf. Well, it's better than nothing in a pickle," Harry decided.

Night-time Call

Before Harry went to sleep, he once again cast a silencing charm on his drapes and called Sirius who looked wide awake.

"Good that you're calling me, pup! Severus is here! There's news!"

"Severus? You two are on a first-name basis now? That must be some news! Is he alright?"

"I'm," a deep voice said from somewhere outside of Harry's limited view. He only saw –

"Sirius! Your disguise!" Harry whisper-yelled.

Sirius laughed, "Took you long enough!"

The deep voice of his Potions Professor said, "I have such a pendant to disguise my appearance now as well. Sirius assured me you would keep it quiet. I hope he was right, Mr Potter."

"Sure. No one will know. So, the goblins helped you. That's good to know!"

"They did indeed. Thank you for thinking of them when sending help."

"You're welcome! So, he was angry?"

"Yes, and he had Walden cast the Cruciatus Curse on me much to that man's delight. Sirius and I were just trying to figure out what is wrong with him now. He has lost most or all of his power. He used the last of his magic to call me. It is like he had run dry. Would you care to take a guess as to why that is? We are stumped."

"That's why you're telling me! I wondered. Anyway, I do have a guess. As you and Sirius now know, someone had the goblins cast a Ritual of Recall. Well, that was me."

"So, when you asked Albus if they were your things, you knew?" Snape asked.

"Yup. Anyway, I don't know if I or Dumbledore told you, but Riddle used my blood to resurrect himself. So, what would the Ritual of Recall have done to him if that stolen blood vanished from his veins?"

"Riddle is the Dark Lord? That name came up at your questioning, Sirius, didn't it?"

"Yes, and yes."

"Well, then it was due to the ritual today that he lost his power. It happened shortly before he called me that he – Riddle – fainted momentarily out of the blue I was told. At the same time as part of Albus' books disappeared. Or yours that is."

"Well, fuck me!"

"Mr Potter."

"Oops, sorry. Ahem. Okay, anyway that will work even better now. Everyone can kill him. The things anchoring him are gone so he will not be tethered to this realm anymore. That means, hasta la vista, baby."

"Are you sure he's Harry Potter?" Snape asked Sirius.

Harry winced. He really should rein his adult self in a bit more.

"Yes, he is. There is a reason he sounds like this. But it is a protected secret. But it works in our favour."

"I'm Harry Potter. Just a bit more than that. But I'm Lily Potter's biological son, 100%, body, mind, and soul."

"If you say so… So, you say he is vulnerable now?"

"Yes. And that magical wave two weeks ago was me making the prophecy irrelevant."

"You know of the prophecy?" the deep voice sounded faint.

"Yes. And of your role in it too. But I didn't tell anyone. It wasn't your fault alone. Many people and events led to that tragic outcome."

"What are you two talking about, pup?"

"Please let that topic go, Sirius. It hurts both of us."

"If you say so…" Sirius said with great hesitation.

"Anyway, I gave the whole island permission to be my hand in killing him."

"And then that magical light came out of his chest and moved all over Great Britain."

"Well, that explains that. I had wondered. I thought the Department of Mysteries had done some experiment again."

Sirius chuckled, "That's what everyone thinks and the more they deny it, the more everyone believes it."

"It must be exceptionally frustrating to them," Snape remarked.

They all chuckled quietly.

"But there's something else I wanted to tell you, pup. When we parted ways, I decided to go to Gringotts in the afternoon to ask if Severus was alright. I decided to use the main entrance because people need to get used to seeing me. So, while I was waiting in line, there was a big commotion outside and the doors opened and Albus got dragged in by the guards that were standing in front of the building, as I learned later. And he was yelling for Fawkes, but the bird didn't come," Sirius winked at Harry. "And one of the guards had Albus' wand laying in his open palm, but it was broken or cut in half."

"No!"

"Yes! And then they said he was under arrest, and they recited a long list of crimes and wronged persons and families and institutions like Hogwarts and Gringotts."

Harry had a hard time listening, he was still stuck with the information of the Elder Wand being destroyed.

"Harry?"

"Yes, sorry. That shocked me. But go on."

Sirius looked at him dubiously but complied, "They then put some handcuffs on him and dragged him away into the bank. All the present wizards and witches were just standing there in shock. Me included. It was just so outside of our experience. But after a while one wizard seemed to realise his family name had been included in that list and moved to one of the patiently waiting tellers. No one complained when he just ignored the queue in front of the goblin. It turned out the man had a vault he hadn't known about that Dumbledore had kept hidden from him. That information changed the mood in the bank. Other people remembered hearing their surnames or their grandparents or whatever and rushed to the tellers, all lines and restraint forgotten. The guards had to establish some order again, but they were much gentler about it than with Albus."

"Wow, it must be a real blow to Gringotts's honour to have had the wool pulled over their eyes so thoroughly."

"Yes. It will decrease trust in their institution quite a bit. And with all the money they have to return to the ones Albus stole it from, there might not be enough to cover the Galleons they lost with this."

"Well, hopefully, they'll see it as their punishment for being complacent. They'll probably get as paranoid as Moody now, would be my guess."

"I thought you liked the goblins, pup?"

"I really do like my account manager and Healer Yoda, but the goblin nation as a whole… not so much. At least for now. Maybe that will change in time."

"Huh, alright. Well, I like my account manager, too. And Healer Yoda."

"It seems, the Jedi Master's clone has seen to all of us," the voice from the off commented, sounding amused.

Sirius' head swivelled to the side, showing Harry the man's profile, and gaped, "You know Star Wars?"

A chuckle, "Yes, indeed. I'm surprised that you do, though."

Harry hummed the theme of the Imperial March and Sirius started laughing.

The next few minutes were spent assigning the characters of the films to their group. Harry was told he was Luke, Sirius took Han Solo and Snape complained that he wasn't Harry's father! Poor Remus got the role of Chewbacca, and they were stumped about what to do about Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Princess. They all agreed that Dumbledore couldn't be the Jedi Master and Snape said that Sirius should be Princess Leia since he was the prettiest and he, Snape could be Han Solo.

Harry nearly fell off his bed laughing at the indignant look on Sirius' face and asked, "So we both have a crush on him? Nah."

Now even Snape laughed, "That cast doesn't fit us very well."

"I don't think I've ever heard you laugh," Sirius said in wonderment, looking to the side once more.

"Don't forget, he called you pretty," Harry said grinning.

"What?" Sirius squeaked.

"Very debonair, my dear godfather."

Sirius stuck out his tongue.

"So, back to Gringotts and Dumbledore. They arrested him. This was coming. I wonder how the Ministry and the press will react."

"You knew they would do that?" Sirius asked. "Wow, you had more things going on than you told us."

"I wanted you to react as naturally as possible, sorry."

"It's alright. Did you know about Molly receiving money from your vault?"

"Yes. It was only something over 2000 Galleons. Dumbledore himself stole about a quarter of a million for himself. So, Molly's amount was nothing in comparison and I decided not to bother recalling it. I did with Dumbledore, that's for sure. And I did sign a contract with them to do the Ritual of Recall and the goblins did something else. So, let me ask you, did you get any houseguests on September 1st?"

"How did you know? The poor fellows got ejected from their homes without notice. Some Pure-blood… wait. How do you know about that?"

"Well, the Potter family owns some properties," Harry started.

"Oh no! Don't tell me Dumbledore let them live there rent-free?"

"He sure did. No contract, no rent, no care in keeping the homes in good repair. At least, most of them. They were squatters. And as soon as school started, I had them removed. I didn't want Dumbledore to find out I knew about it before September 1."

"That would have made for one uncomfortable summer even with Albus in Italy."

"Exactly."

"Shit. And now they're squatting here."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault, pup. I think I'll tell them they have until the end of the month to find new lodgings. I'm not a free-for-all hotel."

"Sounds very nice. But I guess they might not have known they lived on someone else's property which Dumbledore had appropriated."

"Every sane person would have asked for a legal document. Even from Albus," Snape injected. "He might waffle about trusting him and all being well, but something like that needs a contract."

"I agree," Harry answered, "And I wouldn't have wanted to be so beholden to someone else."

"Indeed."

"I only learned about stuff like that when I was still the heir of the Black family estate. How do you two know about this?" Sirius asked, astonished.

Harry looked at Sirius incredulously, "Doesn't everyone know?"

Snape answered, "I don't think so. I learned about it in the Muggle world, where it's common sense to ask for an agreement in writing if money is involved. Or a formal handshake in some cases, but that custom is dying out. Anyway, it's still tricky to ask family or friends for a contract when money is involved, but in the case of one's home it's more than okay to ask for one."

Harry nodded.

"You know about Muggle customs?" Sirius asked, confused.

"Black! I mean Sirius! Do you think I'm a Pure-blood?"

"Yes?"

"And how did you think I met Lily Evans before Hogwarts?"

"Uhm."

"Unbelievable."

"But you came to the platform with your mum, who was quite obviously a Pure-blood witch."

"Yes. A Pure-blood witch in second-hand robes. A witch who had been disowned by her family for marrying a Muggle."

"What? Second-hand? Who?"

"Ever heard of Eileen Prince?"

"Yes. That's why we didn't know about the Snape family!"

"How could you guys have been so brilliant on the one hand and so dumb on the other?" Harry asked with great interest.

"In what way were they brilliant?"

"They did invent some rather astonishing new magic. If that idiotic feud my dad started with you was good for one thing, sir, it was that it caused you all to think of new ways to use magic and invent new spells."

"You know of the prophecy, you don't wonder when I say I knew Lily before Hogwarts, you know about our enmity. How?"

"Uh, you already have one of those Gringotts necklaces, right?"

"Indeed."

"I'll commission a secrecy amulet from them. Then I'll tell you."

"Are you sure, pup?"

"Yes. He's on our side 100%. Mum's side. Now tell me, what happened after you watched Dumbledore getting dragged off?"

"Right, we got distracted somehow. Alright, where was I? Uh, I quietly asked after Severus' health when it was my turn and was led to my account manager's office. On the way I ran into a very young-looking Severus Snape, and we started talking. I asked him to come by after he had finished at Gringotts, and we parted ways."

"How come you two didn't snarl at one another as you usually do?"

"I think Sirius was too surprised by my looks and I was too out of it still. Therefore, it was the first real decent conversation we ever had."

"Yes. Most of my hatred is gone. There were some potions in my system still, increasing my hatred for Slytherin and loyalty to Albus. After my checkup at Gringotts, I was going through the motions without any real incentive."

"I had some very well-masked potions in my system as well. Hatred to Gryffindor, and one particularly keyed to James Potter. And one low-level love potion keyed to Lily."

"Wow! That is heavy."

"Indeed. Lily was my best friend, but not my love interest. That was artificial and explains so much."

"Shit! Dumbledore really fucked up all of our lives, didn't he?"

"Indeed."

"Yes."

"Now I wonder what he gave my parents!"

"Fuck!"

"Indeed."

"I want the goblins to charge him with all the potioning he did. That must have been illegal!"

"Good idea, pup. I'll do the same."

"So, what else happened then?"

"Well, I went to my account manager, and he showed me all the things they had recovered through the Ritual. Dung must've had quite the long fingers before I tasked Kreacher to watch him. There were also a lot of books. He told me they disposed of all the hair and blood people had taken without my knowledge and consent."

"Wow!"

"That is why I asked them to do that ritual as well," Snape added.

"That is disturbing! Is there a magical way to hinder people from taking such stuff in the first place?"

"Probably. I'll look through my library, promise."

"Thanks! So, then you went home, and Professor Snape came by later?"

"Yes. And we talked about us being potioned to hate one another and I apologised anyway and we kind of bonded." Sirius shrugged.

"I'm glad to hear this. Oh, and Professor?"

"Yes?"

"Did you do an inheritance test, by any chance? The goblins forgot to do one with me after we found all the inconsistencies in my vaults and enchantments and potions in me."

"I did indeed. That is another topic I need to talk to your dogfather about."

Sirius barked a laugh.

"Ah, good. I just wondered. So, are you Lord Prince now?"

"I'm, but please also keep it to yourself."

"I will."

"Good."

"May I see you in your true form, Professor?"

Sirius frowned, "But... oh! You only see me!"

"Yes, my dear dogfather. I only see your pretty princess face."

"Harry!"

"Sirius!"

"Good night, pup!"

Harry laughed, "Good night, Sirius."

The mirror went dark.

Damn, now I didn't get a look at Snape, Harry thought.

September 3rd

News and Luna Meets Her Teacher

The next morning – a Sunday - the six went down to get breakfast once more. Again, Ron wasn't there, and Harry wondered where the boy had been during dinner and tried to remember if Ron knew about the kitchens already. Harry shrugged and forgot about it again.

At the Gryffindor table, they learned that prefects could call for house-elf service and apparently Ron – who was eating breakfast at the moment – had spent his Saturday lounging in bed and getting his food delivered. Hermione's scolding made everyone aware of the fact. Even the other prefects and the teachers sitting at the High Table.

Dumbledore's place was empty again, but Snape was there, looking as unpleasant and displeased as always.

Some of the teachers looked to McGonagall again who looked frazzled once more and determined to ignore her charges.

"Well, well, well, the weasel's idea of being a prefect is to ignore the duties and enjoy the perks. Who would have thought," Malfoy stood behind Ron and sneered down at the redhead in front of him.

Ron turned around and sprayed Malfoy with half-eaten food while yelling, "Shut up, you snake!"

"Oh, I'm a snake? So that means you're a parselmouth like your famous 'mate'? But wait! He isn't your friend anymore, isn't that correct? Even he has learned better by now."

Ron's face turned tomato-red, and he tried to jump up, but Hermione held him by his arm in an amazing show of strength. So he only made a small funny hop on the bench.

"Let go of me! I'll punch him in the face! That smirky snake-face!"

"20 points from Gryffindor for behaviour unbecoming of a prefect, Mr Weasley," Snape had billowed into the fray.

Harry looked through the lower part of his glasses to see if there was an enchantment on the Potions Master's robes. There wasn't. Wow!

"What about him? He started it!"

"He will not lose points for stating the obvious, Mr Weasley."

"What?"

"How is there still food in your mouth?" Malfoy looked at Ron in disgust. "Didn't your mum teach you to chew, swallow, and then talk?"

"She didn't," Harry muttered to himself.

Unfortunately, everyone heard him, much to the twins' delight, who nodded and said, "Harry's right. Mum never even tried to instil the most basic human behaviour into him."

Even Hermione nodded at that.

Ron was quite taken aback by all the proverbial knives in his back.

"This is too easy," Malfoy whined and walked off to clean his robes and to complain to Pansy about Gryffindors being much too simple targets.

Snape stalked off again and Harry very quietly hummed the Imperial March again, much to John's delight. But luckily only John, who was sitting next to Harry, heard and understood the reference.

"Who's that anyway?" The new 5th-year asked.

"Our Potions Professor. Very tough and a Slytherin to boot. He's the Head of Slytherin House, actually." Harry explained.

"And who is our Head of House?"

"Professor McGonagall. She's the one who called your names at the Sorting Ceremony."

"Ah! I think she introduced herself, but there were too many of us new students and I was standing in the back so I missed it."

There was a fluttering of many wings and a huge parliament of owls descended on them with mail and newspapers.

"More owls than is normal. The Prophet probably expects a high demand today," Neville said thoughtfully.

Harry nodded and bought a Prophet from one of the owls, as did many others, and soon gasps and cries of outrage and glee could be heard.

McGonagall stood up so quickly that her chair fell backwards with a loud clatter. She was as white as a sheet. She then grabbed the paper and rushed out of the side-door the teachers often used.

Harry opened his own edition and blinked. The main article looked mostly normal, but there were colours of red and orange blinking at some side articles and the opinion column.

"What the hell?" he muttered and found an explanation for the colours on the top of the page, red stood for a lie, and orange for an insinuation/half-truth with the best wishes of a group of concerned readers.

They actually got it done and right on time! Harry thought excitedly and looked up to beam at the grinning twins.

People started chattering excitedly and he glimpsed at the main Headline at last.

Dumbledore Arrested by Gringotts
for Theft and Fraud

Yesterday Sirius Black was seen walking along the Alley for the first time since he was declared innocent. So, a reporter from the Prophet followed him [hoping for a comment by the notorious wizard]. Sirius Black went straight into Gringotts and did what every customer of the bank does, he joined a queue. Nothing much happened until a commotion could be heard outside…

[blinking orange]

The rest of the article described the same events Sirius had told Harry about yesterday. It also pointed out that on page 6 all the names and institutions that the goblins had named were listed and that everyone on it should come to the bank.

John gasped loudly next to him, "My family name is on the list! Wow! Do you think he stole from us, too?" he asked all of them. "Merlin!"

"Oh, he stole from my family as well," Neville said surprised. "How come grandmother didn't notice?"

Harry couldn't believe it. Well, no. He could. Maybe he should drag Neville to the goblins too. Hm. That was a thought. And before he looked for a wand.

"When's the first Hogsmeade weekend?" he asked Fred, who blinked at him.

"Wow, that's a random question! I think it's on the first weekend of October. I just remember because it is earlier than usual."

"Thanks," Harry went back to reading the papers and Fred shook his head and looked at the equally baffled George.

The adjusted taboo spell on the paper was working beautifully. Harry beamed internally and began grinning when people started to notice the new feature of the paper they were holding. Many exclamations and discussions started. I wonder how the paper will react to this. Did they even notice, before sending all those extra owls?

Behind him, Luna started talking, "Didn't you need to tell me something, Harry Potter?"

Alberta, who was sitting close by choked, on her morning tea and started coughing violently.

"Will you tell her? Luna and I need to go somewhere, sorry!" Harry called out to his dormmates, took Luna's hand, and rushed outside.

Luckily no one followed them, and they slowed down as soon as they had left the Entrance Hall to go outside, where a slight drizzle was coming down.

Harry cast an umbrella charm and the two of them walked toward the forest.

"If you knew the meeting was now, why didn't you just go?"

"I only knew you needed to tell me something now and I wouldn't have wanted to go alone the first time.

"Oh! Good that you asked then."

"The Nargles told me to. I take the necklace off once in a while, now that I know others can hear them too. It feels so good to know my dad and I aren't the only ones that do."

"I can imagine! So, your dad has mage-sight too, he never learned how to handle it?"

"Yes. He developed it when Mum died. Before only she had it. Her mother had taught her some ways to handle it, but Mummy never had a chance to teach me. It came after her death with me too."

"That is a lot to handle for a little girl! Did someone help you two? The Weasleys? The Diggorys?"

"No, they kept away. I don't know why."

While they were talking, they walked toward the edge of the forest and a few steps inside where a goblin woman awaited them. Harry had always wondered what female goblins looked like and if he just wasn't able to differentiate them. But now he knew he had never seen one before today. The being in front of him clearly was a goblin, but with more delicate features and with many earrings in her pointed ears. Also, a thick braid started on top of her head and nearly went to her waist. And it was pink and had golden metal bands in regular intervals! She also wore the same light brown robes as Healer Yoda did, and one could not really discern any bodily differences.

Harry bowed slightly and Luna curtsied a little. Both of them kept quiet but smiled at the goblin.

"Good morning, children. I'm Rhodochrosite. You must be Harry Potter, and who's this?"

"Good morning. Are you Grobhook's wife?"

"I am indeed."

"Then may I introduce my friend Luna Lovegood?"

"Well met, Luna."

"Well met, Rhodochrosite."

The two beamed at each other.

Soon the two were talking inside a silencing bubble and Harry sat on a trunk of a fallen tree and waited patiently while leaning against a tree trunk and looking up into the leaves that held off all the rain. After a while, he began to ponder the incredibly busy last month he'd had. He had travelled 13 years back in time and changed so much in such a short period...

He remembered how he had awakened at the Dursleys and his absolute astonishment at finding himself there. Only the presence of Hedwig, whom he had desperately missed, as well as her painful nip, made him even consider the possibility of this actually happening to him.

In a way, he still felt like he was dreaming this new reality. At other times the LF felt rather dreamlike, especially now that he had changed so much.

Sitting up straighter, he made a list in his head of the most important alterations until now:

· Dumbledore had gotten arrested by Gringotts.

· Riddle was weakened without Harry's blood in his new body, and he was without magic according to Snape.

· All the Horcruxes had been destroyed.

· Sirius had been exonerated and Pettigrew caught.

· Remus had found his spine and together with Sirius was planning to run Marauder's Enterprises

· Harry had broken with some members of the Weasley family, mainly Molly, Ron and Ginny.

· His friendship with Hermione was dead.

· The twins were shaping up and finishing their education and had found a sponsor in Sirius.

· The Dursleys were in a much better place now (note to self: write to Dudley).

· Hogwarts was due to go through an extensive overhaul because of the additional students and Sirius coming complaint.

· And Harry himself had been physically healed, had fixed his finances with the help of Gringotts, retaken his possessions and properties, and had a family in Sirius and Remus now.

He was sure there was much more, like Luna, Neville, his new classmates, etc.; but those were the first things coming to his mind when thinking about the last month. If he had to summarise it, he would say he had considerably weakened his enemies, found old and new family and friends, and had gotten rid of some dead weight.

Wow. Not bad for one month, right? Harry leaned his head against the trunk of the tree again and relaxed.

Even if he missed being an adult sometimes, he wouldn't want to turn back time. Or forward. Or... gah. No, this was so much better now and so many more people had a chance of surviving.

After an undefined amount of time, Luna tapped his shoulder and said, "Let's go back to the castle and have lunch."

"Huh? Oh, you're finished? Where is Rodycros – what was her name again?"

Luna giggled, "Rhodochrosite, yes we are finished for today, and she has left already."

"Oh, I'm sorry I missed her leaving, I got pulled in by memories."

They walked toward the castle once more. At least it had stopped raining.

"So, can she teach you?"

"Yes! She can and she will. She's amazing and taught me so much already," Luna looked around, "I can dim my sight now or amp it up. It was not really hard to learn after I knew what to do. It's strange seeing the world again as I did when I was younger."

"Wow! I'm glad to hear that. So, will you two meet again?"

"Yes, we will. Every Sunday for now. Thank you for thinking of me. It makes such a difference already."

"You're more than welcome. Will you need me to accompany you next Sunday?"

"Not really, but I wouldn't say no either. It is nice to have to talk to someone while on the way forth and back."

"I'll try to make it happen. It's nice to sit in the woods for a while to think and just be, I must say. I feel refreshed now."

Luna smiled at Harry, "Will you tell me about your lost future sometime?"

"Huh, you know about it?"

"Yes. I saw it when we met in that train compartment. It was obvious even to my untrained eye."

"It is a rather sad story. But we met in that train compartment in my lost future as well. So I made it happen again."

Luna nodded, "Good."

"It is. I just hope all the good things happening now will not cost a terrible price later."

Luna looked at him and said thoughtfully, "I think it's the other way around. The bad things happened first."

"So, there is no dark and horrible future looming over me?"

"Not that I can see."

"That's a relief."

Luna smiled.

Hermoine loses it and Sirius and Harry plan.

As Luna and Harry entered the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, they heard someone screeching loudly. The voice seemed to come from somewhere above. Like the second or third floor.

"–them back! They were mine!"

Some indistinguishable mumbling could be heard answering.

Harry and Luna looked at each other and then inched closer as many other students seemed to have decided to do as well.

"No! You promised them to me! I took them fair and square!" the girl's voice Harry had identified as Hermione yelled. "All of this is useless! I lost the books. I cannot do my Prefect duty properly. Ron doesn't do anything to help me. Everyone is casting that stupid charm to repel me! Harry hates me! And I cannot even go to Professor Dumbledore to complain about it all! He would have understood me!"

Some mumbling answer was heard.

"What do you mean, 'my petty woes don't matter right now'? I'm the smartest witch of the century in Hogwarts! You need to help me! Go get my books back! Now!"

All the students looked wide-eyed at one another, wondering who she was talking to.

But they didn't have to wonder for long as the answer could be heard loud and clear. And everyone recognised the now raised voice of Professor McGonagall, "Miss Granger! You're overstepping every possible boundary right now! Detention! And give me back the prefect badge! I've had enough of you two! What was Albus thinking?"

"Wow," Harry whispered, as did many others.

"No! It's mine! I earned it! You can't take it!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Miss Granger! NOW!"

Harry looked around and saw even some staff members were listening in by now.

Snape looked quite gleeful, and Sprout had a mournful look on her face and was whispering, "I tried."

They heard someone screeching loudly, and then a "Stupefy!" followed by a thump.

The stunned crowd was dead silent and waiting now. It had been McGonagall's voice that had cast the spell.

Soon the woman appeared on top of the stairs and looked down at them with resignation on her face, "Nothing to see, please go to lunch now. – Severus, Pomona, please accompany me to the Hospital Wing. I think Miss Granger is in need of medical attention," with that she turned and went the other route leading to the said wing.

The two teachers went to her, and the students entered the Great Hall, talking loudly about what they had heard right now.

Harry heard, "Wow, she lost it there, huh?", "Glad she isn't a prefect any longer!", "What a nightmare!", and even a "She really is a mudblood, right?"

Fuck, the hyenas are closinging in on her, he thought. But what was that? Was she always this entitled and only lost it now because people were standing up to her for once?

"Hermione Granger needs help," Luna remarked.

"She sure does. Damn."

"Don't feel guilty. This outburst was needed to put her on the path to recovery."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Harry sighed in relief and decided to trust Luna.

Harry spent the afternoon hiding in the Room of Requirement, writing to Dudley, and talking to Sirius via their mirrors where they mourned the fact that Sirius never had the opportunity to needle Molly about Harry's wand holster.

When he was by himself again, Harry started to doubt he could stomach staying in school for months until Christmas.

Sirius hadn't been any help with that decision, saying to Harry he could do whatever he wanted a few days ago.

So, what did he want?

The problem was that he wasn't a 15-year-old boy, and even if his head told him that he needed to connect with his peers, he didn't think he could pretend to be one 24/7.

Gah!

The most important to him at Hogwarts was the contact with a few people he figured. Like the twins, Luna, and Neville to a certain extent.

The twins would finish school this year. Luna ... he needed to ask her opinion, and Neville... Well, they weren't that close, were they?

It looked like he had decided already, he thought. Especially as his identity had spread like wildfire in Gryffindor House and now all the new students were staring at him too. In addition to the old ones.

At least I didn't defeat Riddle in front of everyone in the Great Hall this time. The constant attention that followed was unbearable, he remembered.

But if I leave, I'll stay this nebulous hero figure in their minds.

Harry called Sirius again and shared his thoughts with his godfather/friend/brother.

"Well, why not let them keep that image of a child hero and change your appearance? I mean, if you lost the glasses – that you don't need anymore, anyway – and changed your hair some more, no one would connect you to that legend anymore, right? I mean, you've lost the scar already. Why not leave your forehead free? Or you do that in a few years when people have started to forget the actual person behind the legend..."

"You mean, disappear from sight and from their minds for a while, and then come back with changed looks?"

"Exactly."

"But wouldn't they immediately connect me to that child when they hear my name?"

"True. Hm."

"I don't want to hide. But I could use a different surname in public," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Well, you are my son and heir."

"Hmpf."

Sirius cackled.

"So, I go as Harry Black and change my looks a bit? This way they might connect me to The Boy Who Lived but as I don't fit the image everyone has in their heads, they'll leave me alone?"

"It's worth a try."

"We would need to muzzle the Prophet, though."

"Let Gringotts handle that."

"Good idea!"

They were quiet for a moment.

"So, that's it? I'm leaving Hogwarts?" Harry asked rhetorically.

"Sure looks like it, pup."

"Well, then I need to tell the twins and McGonagall. And some other people. So, it might happen tomorrow, rather than today."

"Just contact me when you're ready to leave, and I'll come get you."

"Huh?"

"You can't officially Apparate right?"

"Oops, true. Will do, or McGonagall will let me use her Floo."

"If you come tomorrow, you can sleep in your bed at Hogwarts one last time."

"Right, been there, done that... well... not really. Huh... I didn't return for my 7th year but finished school remotely after the war in my LF. Well, then. One official last night in my bed here sounds good," Harry said grinning.

Sirius beamed back, "Now I just need to chuck out the squatters until tomorrow."

"Oh dear. How many are there?"

"Seven. Some left already as no one cooks for them. Anyway, I'll just tell them they saved rent money for many years so they could spend some on a room in the Leaky until they found a new abode."

"Well, the goblins will charge them retroactively for that rent so..."

"How is that my problem?"

"True."

"At least Albus cannot come by and badger me now."

"Maybe..."

"What?"

"Maybe Grimmauld's designation as headquarters for the Order has come to an end?"

"Oh! You're right. I'll send a notice to the members and tell them that I'm resigning from the Order and that they need to look for an alternative. That way I have a good reason to chuck them out. And the Fidelius should get broken then too."

Harry started to snigger.

"What?"

"I just imagined those seven squatters moving into the Burrow and expecting service and food from Molly there. Let's see how she likes it then."

Sirius laughed, "I'll suggest it to them as an alternative to the Leaky when they complain."

"Who knows. She might even like it."

"I can picture that. Well, they would deserve one another, right?"

"A match made in heaven."

"Or hell."

They laughed.

Evening

When Harry entered the Great Hall at dinner time, he noticed a scowling Ron sitting at one end of the Gryffindor table without his prefect badge. This made Harry ignore all the staring and move to the other end, where he found his classmates and took a seat next to Rajiv.

"So, he lost his badge as well? Does that mean we have no 5th-year prefects in Gryffindor House anymore?" Harry asked while filling his plate.

"Seems that way," Neville answered. "I wonder who McGonagall will choose now?"

"Where is she anyway? Still in the Hospital Wing?"

They all looked at the High Table where the headmaster's throne and McGonagall's chair were rather empty.

"I don't think so," Seamus answered. "She barged into our dorm room where Ron was just getting served an afternoon snack and ripped the badge off his chest. I think she even tore his robes a bit, and then she said that Ron was no Prefect anymore and took back all of his perks. He was really upset about that."

"I bet," John muttered. "What an entitled arse."

"That's why he isn't wearing his school robes," Harry realised. "Well, McGonagall will probably try to fit all the new students into a manageable schedule. I wonder how they plan to do that. I mean, there are more than a hundred fifty more students in this school than usual now. Can the teachers handle that?"

They all heard someone scoff at the close-by staff table but when they looked, no one seemed to be observing them.

Harry suspected it had been Snape but kept his mouth shut.

Just then the side door opened, and a very harried-looking McGonagall came rushing in and stood behind her chair, clearing her throat.

Everyone was waiting for some more news or maybe some more entertainment, so the Hall went quiet very quickly.

She cast a Sonorous and said, "Thank you. Due to the surprising fact that we have so many more students in this school, which is over the limit of 350, the Charter of Hogwarts demands that we double the number of teachers in this school as well as hire a teacher's assistant for each subject before we can start teaching you."

Cheers and boos branded up from the four student tables.

McGonagall cast a loud bang and said, "Quiet. This means you will have no school tomorrow, but Thursday there will be enough adults present at Hogwarts to start this year's education. Thank you. Finite."

The students sitting close to the Head table heard her say, "There will be a mandatory staff meeting after dinner."

Just then, at the end of the Gryffindor table, Ron jumped up and started vomiting on the student sitting next to him (whom Harry identified as Cormac McLaggen which made him laugh his arse off internally).

There was some quite understandable hubbub as a result but soon everyone was clean again and Ron had run out of the Hall with many jeers following him. The loudest hecklers were his brothers who also high-fived each other for a prank well carried out even if it had taken longer than expected to get sprung.

At the head table, McGonagall only facepalmed and went on eating, so no house points were lost.

"What does she mean, a surprising amount? Ok, it was sometime at the beginning of August that we sent the letter to Hogwarts, but they had some time to prepare, didn't they?" John asked.

Rajiv nodded, "We sent my application as soon as the Foundation contacted us."

Some other students who had listened in agreed wholeheartedly. They had done the same.

"Huh. I thought it was because of the many new students that we had to wait for our Hogwarts letter until the last possible moment," Neville wondered. "I mean, the Alley was packed on August 31st."

"Don't remind me," Seamus groaned. "Mum was impossible that day."

Harry also wondered about this. He knew McGonagall had waited because of the DADA teacher post but hadn't she known about that rule of teacher/student ratio? Probably not, he decided. I wonder if that was the reason Dumbledore stopped the Foundation. To get under that threshold of 350? He could save the money for additional teachers and teacher's assistants that way, right?

Another thought entered his mind and made him stop short. What would it mean for the school if he left tomorrow after this announcement? Even the goblins wouldn't be able to stop the Prophet from blaring it all over the front page.

"Hmpf."

"What is it, Harry?" Neville asked, looking worried.

"I'm just annoyed with the incompetence of the administration of this school."

There was another scoff from the High Table.

Harry narrowed his eyes at Snape who was busy cutting his meat.

"You're right. I wonder where the governors were in all of this," Neville wondered.

"Isn't your grandmother one of them?" Harry had a vague memory of Neville and him talking about that in his LF after leaving Hogwarts.

"No! Don't remind me! Now I'll have to write to her," Neville scowled. "I had planned to play the clueless card."

"Oh, sorry!"

"It's alright. I should probably inform her anyway," Neville said despondently.

"At least she has 'til Christmas to get over it, right?"

At least that thought seemed to cheer Neville up even if Harry was still feeling rather gloomy.

Later, after Harry had gone to bed, he once again silenced his curtains and called Sirius to report this evening's news and his resulting decision to stay a bit longer.

The animagus was a bit sad but also relieved because getting all the people out of his house wasn't an easy job.

Harry suggested he could tell them that Hogwarts was looking for personnel, at least temporarily, and that they should contact McGonagall.

This cheered Sirius up quite a bit and he rushed off to spread the news.

4th of September and the Rest of Harry's time at Hogwarts

Warning: One mildly incestuous joke once again.

The next day was spent lazing about, playing games, and showing the castle to the newcomers.

Students also watched as adults trickled into the castle and were quickly snatched up by a teacher or other and led away.

"Looks like some of them called their protégés for help," Harry commented to the twins who were sitting with him, Lee and his dormmates under the tree by the Black Lake, late Monday afternoon.

All the heads turned, and they watched as Snape and Pomfrey greeted a couple of newcomers at the gates and each one led their new charge towards the gates of the castle.

"Some that arrived earlier today seemed to plan to move in fully. They had their whole household with them. At least it looked like it," Lee added.

"Hmpf, first I can't attend Hogwarts because it's too expensive and now that I'm able to come, my arrival is partly at fault for stopping the school from running. Talk about bad luck," Rajiv groused.

"There, there," John patted Rajiv's head.

The rest laughed.

"I just wonder why the Charter didn't protest that McGonagall had three full-time jobs before," Harry wondered.

"Maybe Dumbledore did something to it?" one of the twins guessed.

"And maybe he planned to do something about this problem as well, but his arrest kept him from doing so?" the other one suggested.

"You know," Harry mused. "You might actually be onto something. I mean, we would have heard about this otherwise from McGonagall during the summer, right?"

"Woah, you all saw her during your holidays?" Seamus exclaimed.

"Yeah, not by choice, believe me." Harry scoffed. "She sometimes came to my godfather's place because they were meeting there because of Voldemort, you know?" Harry ignored the flinches.

Seamus frowned, "To be honest, I don't know. No. Mum believed the Prophet at first but then started questioning the articles after the ones about Black and the inconsistencies. And now with the colouring spells on the paper... So he's really back?"

"Well, I saw his resurrection during the third task last year. So, something came back. And it called itself Lord Voldemort (flinches), but it didn't look exactly human," Harry hedged.

"But why didn't the Aurors investigate this then?"

"Very good question. I mean, a student died, and all the Ministry did was drag me and Dumbledore through the mud."

"Huh. Are you Dumbledore's man then?"

"No. I can agree with him about one thing and not align myself with him, right? I mean, I can even agree with Voldemort (flinches) that the sun rises in the east and that the sky is blue."

"Right," Seamus grew quiet and thoughtful.

During their nightly chat, Sirius and Harry decided that Harry would leave school after the full moon, which was on September 9th this year. So they planned for Harry to return to Grimmauld Place on Sunday, September 10th.

This made Harry think about Remus, and he asked Sirius if the goblins would be able to help their friend.

"Hm. Not with the werewolf curse, I don't think. But maybe with his overall health?"

"I'll write to Grobhook and ask."

"I have a mailbox connected to my manager, too. Let me handle this, pup."

"Ok. So, speaking of Remus. What did he say about all the junk you brought to him from the Room of Requirement?"

"Oh, he loves it! We had to expand the attic. And most of it isn't junk anymore. Even if some of the things needed an individual Reparo Maxima for some reason."

"Like my trunk."

"Huh? Well, Remus thinks that's when the items were keyed to someone and that the bond hadn't been fully broken even if the owner is already dead."

"Oh, that makes sense," Harry exclaimed. "The goblins call it 'de-keying' an item, you know?"

Sirius chuckled, "And we de-decay items again!"

Harry groaned at the bad pun.

"Well, pup. As you're staying at Hogwarts for a few more days, why not ransack that awesome room some more?"

"You're right. The furniture too?"

"Yes! He's discovered quite the market for it in the Muggle world. And we hardly can sell magical books and paintings there."

"True, um... Sirius?"

"Yes, pup?"

"If that spell can repair portraits, would it fix your Mum's portrait's personality too?"

Sirius blinked, "I have no idea. Maybe?"

"Just a thought."

"Well, Remus and I will try this idea tomorrow. That's for sure," Sirius decided.

"Ok, I'll get some more stuff for Marauders Enterprises, and you fix your Mum... That sounds nearly as bad as you gagging her..."

Sirius laughed at Harry's disgusted face and, as it was growing late, they soon ended their call.

The next couple of days were quite fun for the students. They learned that no Hogwarts class was allowed to have more than 25 students in them according to this Charter, which was the reason for the additional teachers and teacher assistants apparently. And seeing an adult flounder about was always fun. At least the staff had managed to find a lot of temporary helpers, so often two were teaching one class until a true teacher could be found.

It also became apparent that no staff member could hold more than one post. So, Flitwick and Snape decided to let go of their Head of House duties and Harry heard through the grapevine that Snape planned to work as the Potions Supplier for Hogwarts once they found a sufficient replacement for him, and that until then Hogwarts had to buy the potions that were needed.

Sprout let go of her teaching duties to concentrate on Hufflepuff House and the Greenhouses. It seems she had found two real replacements easily who were former Hufflepuffs.

For History, McGonagall had hired the author of their book. A very old woman named Bathilda Bagshot. This was rather strange for Harry, who had only ever met her snake-animated corpse in his LF. Anyway, Penelope Clearwater had been hired full-time as the teacher's assistant for History, and there were rumours that Professor Bagshot believed that Penelope would easily make a better History teacher than Binns. People also whispered that the old Lady did have quite a row with the ghost about his teaching abilities and depth of knowledge.

The twins even started a betting pool on when the ghost would leave this plane of existence at last.

Harry also noted that quite a few Order members were busily trying to teach.

At least they don't have any time to stare at me now and aren't loitering in Grimmauld Place, he groused internally.

What was rather unfortunate was that Molly Weasley had also come to 'help', much to her children's and Harry's disgust. But she did a good job teaching the lower years in Charms and the kids seemed to like her.

Harry was just glad that she didn't agree to become the Head of House for Gryffindor. Unfortunately, she came by once in a while anyway to give Doge – their new temporary Head of House – advice he didn't want or need. The man had been a Gryffindor and had apparently gone to school with Dumbledore. Some time at the end of the last century. At least he knew some stuff the Gryffindors should know and taught them. Like how to call for assistance, or a healer, and so on.

McGonagall had decided that the school needed a Deputy more than a Transfiguration teacher and had tasked three former students of hers to teach her subject, which they did quite well.

The only problematic subject was DADA once again, as no one wanted to brave the curse and Dawlish seemed rather unmotivated. But this time Harry didn't take up the slack and let the staff flounder. It wasn't his job to run their school. At least it looked like one subject was allowed to be in dire straits temporarily.

At one point, Harry went to the library to check old issues of the Daily Prophet and see if the taboo was working on those, too. It seemed he wasn't the only one with the idea as he found many other students – mainly Ravenclaws – looking through old editions of the Prophet, reaching back to the founding of the Paper in 1743. It worked! Back to the times all of the first reporters had passed away for sure. So the taboo could stand the passage of time. That's quite powerful, isn't it?

It was now known that Gringotts was able to cast such a spell, even if they didn't admit to casting it on the Prophet, and students were discussing if the unknown spell would work with other publications too.

Right now they were discussing if the spell somehow knew if the author had knowingly lied or distorted the truth, or if only the absolute truth was accepted. That had led to the digging into old editions and they discovered it must be the former.

One Ravenclaw said, "It's better this way, I think. I mean, one could publish a book with things like 'There is a God', 'Reincarnation is a fact'', and other big questions of humanity and one would get a definite answer when the sentence either stayed colourless or blinked red."

Harry went a bit pale at that. He was glad the students had figured out it depended on the author's knowledge whether something was the truth or a lie. Man, that would have been a bit much for a spell that was only developed to fact-check a newspaper.

To distract himself, he looked for the articles Skeeter had written about the Triwizard Tournament and was highly entertained at the rather colourful issues he found.

Other students saw the papers he looked at and many commented that they were some of the most red-blinking ones they had seen so far.

Harry felt quite vindicated, that the whole world would now know that those articles were false.

Harry never found out what had happened with Hermione other than that she had returned to her parents, and they apparently had decided to move to another continent. Harry guessed that it was Australia again and wished Hermione good luck and that Luna had been right and she was getting better. He had Grobhook inform her parents about possible tampering with them and offer Gringotts help. But Grobhook kept their private business private, so Harry didn't know what came of it.

As for Ron, Harry was sure that boy wished he was in Australia sometimes too, as his mother hounded him relentlessly after finding out about the lost prefect badge. It got even worse when it was discovered quite publicly that he had copied Hermione's summer essays verbatim. The only time he had some peace was at the Gryffindor table and in his dorm room. Well, Ron liked to eat and sleep, so Harry had little sympathy for his former friend.

On Wednesday, Harry showed the Room of Requirements to the twins, but not the Room of Hidden Things. If they found that one by themselves, he was okay with it, but he wouldn't make it too easy for them.

The twins were delighted by the possibilities, and it took them a while to calm down and have the talk that Harry wanted.

"So, Harry-kins, why did you bring us here? You said you wanted to talk?" they said and one – Fred? – waggled his eyebrows.

"Well, yes. You see, I'm planning to leave Hogwarts on Sunday and wanted to warn you."

"What? No way! You can't leave us all alone here!"

Harry chuckled, "Yeah, such a hardship. But even the new subjects bore me and... uhm, I'll tell you why when I have commissioned some secret-keeping amulets for you," Harry decided spontaneously.

"Will you tell us why you've changed so much then?"

"Yes."

"Hm. Okay. Well. Uhm. Okay."

Harry blinked. It was rare that the two were at a loss for what to say.

Fred nodded and they said, "Well, we'll leave school then too after the workshops in October and November. Mum being here is quite a hindrance, so we'd rather start with our plans for WWW and home-school ourselves."

Harry beamed, "Please come live at Grimmauld Place then. We'll have a blast!"

The two nodded thoughtfully. The Lab as well as the company was making this decision easy.

"Okay."

Harry threw his fist in the air.

"But Harry, what about Neville's visit to Diagon Alley?"

"Well, you bring him, and we meet there? I do have a disguise that makes me look older and not like myself at all, remember?"

"Yes, when we went to that ci-ne-ma it was called, right? With the... film about Luke and him fighting the Dark," the twins beamed at Harry, who decided maybe Laurel & Hardy or Charlie Chaplin would be better options for getting the Pure-bloods used to the world of cinema.

"So it's settled? On the first Hogsmeade weekend you bring Neville, and we meet on Diagon Alley in front of Ollivanders?"

"Agreed. And we go to Gringotts after. Sometimes Mum's words don't add up. We want to do an inheritance test."

"Good idea, I noticed that too. And Moody reacted funny when we talked about you as kids and your mum. That means I'll wait to do mine then, I don't expect any surprises anyway. – But wait! Neville should get scanned by the goblins first and healed if necessary. His wand should fit him better if we get it afterwards."

"Right. So, we meet in front of Gringotts? What should we call you?"

"Um. How about Will Turner?"

"Good name. Inconspicuous."

"You do know who William Turner is, right?"

"No? Who?"

"Huh. Ok. All the better."

Harry then warned Grobhook about his upcoming withdrawal from Hogwarts and asked him to muzzle the Prophet. He also asked if the Grimoire had been recalled with the rest of his stuff and if he could send it to Grimmauld Place but was told he had to come himself to get it.

Then Harry went about his days for the rest of the week.

On Sunday morning he accompanied Luna to her meeting at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and waited for her by meditating, as he had been rather lax in that regard.

On their way back to the castle, Harry asked, "So, I plan to leave today. Will you be alright?"

Luna nodded, "Yes. Leaving is the right thing for you to do right now. You may return at one point in your life but not as a student."

"Really?"

"Maybe. It's not set in stone."

"Ah good. I don't like predetermined futures."

"Understandable."

"And you? Will you be alright?"

"Yes. I will be. I can tackle the bullying in my house now and we have an amazing new Head who watches out for outsiders like me."

"That's a relief. But if you ever need my help, contact me. Via house-elf, Patronus Charm, letter, the Floo."

Luna giggled, "I will. And as long as the twins stay, I have a direct connection, right?"

Harry nodded as he had given his mirror to the twins just that morning.

"You better hurry if you want to catch McGonagall before lunch."

"Right. Thanks!"

Harry hugged Luna quickly and rushed to his former Head's office.

Once there he knocked and heard a frazzled, "Enter." So, he opened the door and stepped in.

A/N: At some point the story ended after the meeting of Luna and Rhodochrosite. But my muse woke up again, so everything after that I wrote much more recently.