AN: Happy holidays everyone! Hopefully everyone's enjoying a nice holiday. I can't say I am, but it comes with the job. I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter, and you'll have to let me know what you all think. As always, thanks for the support!
Alexandramay - Oh, yeah. Astra is one protective hell hound. Don't fuck with her human. I'm glad you enjoy my more analytical Harry. Reckless Harry can be a bit frustrating at times, and there's just no way this Harry can stay like that when he's got Dora and Mad-Eye drilling common sense and logic into him. You're not wrong though, everyone's got blinders for certain things, and Harry's are certainly his friends and family.
Arctic Wolf Fury - Ha, maybe I should be cheating more. I have always enjoyed that phrase. Maybe I just need to add small blurbs of how the story would go if I was cheating at the end of each chapter? Make them just cheating, but hopefully humorous as hell. Doom puppies have excellent hygiene, so no worries on dementor stuck in the teeth. They smell too bad to let poor Astra deal with that. Yes, Sirius Black is siriusly dangerous and somebody should do something about it. He has no business being that siriusly bad.
Quill will 1981, LadyKitai- Thanks you two! Hopefully I won't disappoint when we get to that point!
scrappy8 - Thanks! Don't mess with Astra.
hushpuppy22 - Glad you enjoy my little Auror inputs. I'm really trying to expand on a lot of weird branches of magic that may not play a huge role, but help expand the worldbuilding a bit. Much more than just England in the world (ironic coming from an American).
IronDuck - First, thanks for your support and a very in depth analysis/comment. I'm glad you like my back and forth between Tonsk and Harry, and I'm going to do my best to keep that going, as well as more back and forth between Harry and his friends. Doom pupper will continue to be involved. Astra's just too much fun.
Your critique is well accepted and noted. I certainly am trying my best to avoid repetition for things that I think are very well known, but it is definitely a risk with a story like this. Chapter length hopefully won't be a huge issue, but I certainly have felt that itch to try and have similarly length chapters. Thankfully, when I was writing, I generally tried to make each chapter 10 pages long, and then now that I've gone back to editing, I've thrown that completely out the window and just try and split based on where I feel the split is best, whether that means some chapters are longer and others a bit shorter, I'm letting the story sort of dictate it.
Thanks for your service. I'm actually currently on active duty at the moment, so I'm in agreement that physical fitness is important, and even more so for a kid who is an athlete and constantly getting into dangerous adventures.
Once again, thanks for the review and the support!
Jet22345 - Thanks, hope this chapter was worth the wait!
Chapter 19
Once again, Harry was a bit sad for the Christmas holidays to end, still very much enjoying having an actual home and family to go home to. Still, he did love Hogwarts and was looking forward to seeing his friends again.
Though, that ended up being a bit of a mixed bag. His first interactions were quite nice.
"Hey, Kate, Leash, Angie," Harry said, seeing his three chaser friends talking on the platform, probably only having gotten there a few minutes before him. He knew that Angelina had been at Katie's for the Christmas holidays.
The three girls turned, already smiling, but then he saw Angelina's jaw drop, Alicia's eyes widened in surprise, and Katie's smile widened, her eyes getting that mischievous look in them that he knew to be wary of, even if he always enjoyed it.
"Harry!" Alicia and Angelina both surged forward and before he knew it, he was fighting off the two eldest girls who were playfully ruffling his hair and pinching his cheeks.
"Leash, Angie, get off!" Harry said with a laugh.
"Awe, how'd you get rid of the glasses?" Angelina asked, grinning.
"Made a deal with my patron," Harry said with a shrug. "Traded some basilisk fangs."
All three girls stared at him with slight disbelief, before they all shook their heads in exasperation.
"Only you could say that so casually," Alicia said with a sigh.
"Still, you look quite handsome without the glasses," Katie said with a wink. "I'll really have to sit with you more at meals, just so I can keep those gorgeous eyes in my sight."
Harry blushed and Katie laughed gleefully.
"Oh, you're still too easy, my dear friend," Katie said, patting his cheek mockingly.
"You do look handsome though," Angelina said fondly. "We're going to have to watch out for women trying to take advantage of you."
"Oh, you'll defend my honor?" Harry asked mock hopefully.
"Of course!" Alicia said, sounding genuinely offended. "Though, I'm not sure we can defend your honor from Katie . . . that might be beyond us."
Angelina nodded morosely, and Katie grinned wickedly, and Harry laughed.
"I'll remember that," he assured them. "Now, how was your holiday?"
The three girls, it seemed, had had a nice holiday, the Bells, Spinnets, and Angelina all coming together for Christmas dinner. While the Johnson's were comfortable, Harry knew that Angelina and her father weren't close and her father only got her things when he felt she needed them . . . so not often. The Bells and the Spinnets both made do. With only having a single income . . . and multiple children, they were far more frugal, even though both Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Spinnet had good jobs, very similar to him and Dora, so Christmas was a few gifts, mostly one nice gift to each other along with whatever their friends gave them, while mostly just being a time to enjoy time with family.
The girls all appreciated his gifts to them, just as he thanked them for his gifts from them, but eventually conversation made it to his broom. While the three girls were understandably awed by him receiving a Firebolt for Christmas, they were also just as concerned at the concept it could have been from Sirius Black, and all merely said they looked forward to seeing the broom when he finally got it back, curse free, and then they all hugged him when he said they could try out his broom when he got it back.
His next interactions were not nearly as nice. They started out similarly, with his friends either complimenting his lack of glasses or at least telling him so after they remarked how "weird" it was to see him without glasses. From there though, it didn't go as well.
"You gave up a Firebolt!" Ron exclaimed. "Harry, why the hell would you do that?!"
"It might have been from Black," Harry said glumly.
"There's no way Black walked into Quality Quidditch," Ron scoffed. "Why would you give it up?!" he moaned.
"Dora and I agreed it needed to be stripped down . . ."
"Stripped down! Stripped down!" Ron looked horrified.
"Ronald, it's just a broomstick," Hermione said exasperatedly. "Harry did the right thing. I'm glad that he had the sense to do that."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Harry muttered as the two of them started arguing further about the broomstick.
The next interaction wasn't better.
"A Firebolt . . . a real Firebolt!" Oliver exclaimed in delight. "On my team! I -"
"Oliver," Harry tried to head off his team captain and friend.
"I can't wait to see how it handles," Oliver said, not hearing Harry in the slightest. "I mean, a real Firebolt! This is going to be incredible."
"Oliver, I don't have it."
"What - what?" Oliver said, finally hearing him. "What do you mean? You just said you got one for Christmas!"
"I did, but I had to take it to a cursebreaker to have it stripped down," Harry muttered, and Wood paled.
"S-stripped down? S-s-stripped down!" Oliver blubbered out. "Harry, how could you?! Why?"
"It could have been from Sirius Black," Harry muttered. "There was no note."
"Sirius Black?" Oliver said in confusion.
"Supposedly, he's after me," Harry said grimly.
"But - but, he couldn't have waltzed into Quality Quidditch!" Oliver said and Harry sighed, really having predicted this exact conversation proceeding this way. The conversation didn't get much better from there.
Overall, his return to school was a rather mixed bag, and since Ron and Hermione's fight about the broom became a larger row with Crookshanks trying to eat Scabbers again, things didn't improve.
With Ron, Hermione, and Oliver's attitudes, it was nice when classes started the next day. Despite the weather being absolutely frigid, Care of Magical Creatures ended up being a nice time as Hagrid decided to teach them about fire salamanders, which involved the class spending the entirety of the time gathered around a blazing bonfire observing the little creatures scampering about the crumbling logs.
Harry had a good time in Arithmancy, an enjoyable time in Magical Theory, and a less enjoyable, but still interesting time in Ancient Runes, which were both much better than Divination in Harry's opinion, especially since Trelawney was still telling people that he had a very short life line. Then again, he was starting to think that she was doing it in revenge for Astra.
Still, he certainly didn't hear Ron saying anything good or bad about Wizarding Cultures with Professor Hawkworth. He generally only heard groans about Magical Law with Professor Chester, and even Hermione was intimidated by Professor Tolkein's grasp of languages and his standards for learning them. Overall, he was pretty happy with the electives he chose.
The rest of his classes were also proceeding in the way he expected, but the one thing to be really excited for came at the end of Defense Against the Dark Arts: anti-dementor lessons. He was going to have his first lesson Thursday evening.
**HP**
Wotcher Dora,
First week of classes were good, but I'm sure you'd be more interested to know that I had my first anti-dementor lesson. It was good. Professor Lupin managed to find another boggart, and my boggart is definitely a dementor, so I got to practice on a boggart dementor. We talked about the theory a bit and went over the incantation before we practiced without the boggart. I actually managed to get some silvery wispy gas on my first attempt! Lupin said it was good. Maybe you can confirm for me?
Well, it got rough for a bit. I didn't have a happy enough memory. I definitely had to hear mum, and the second time I even remembered my dad's last words. It's . . . well it's hard. I think part of me likes hearing them, actually hearing their voices, but I also hate the feeling. Is that weird?
I did start getting the hang of it and managed to create a weak barrier that stopped the dementor on my third try. It drained my strength like no other, so I don't think it's very useful yet, but Lupin said it was a really good start.
Afterwards, I managed to get him to tell me a story about my dad during his Hogwarts days. He told me about a prank my dad tried to play on my mum that backfired . . or apparently my mum knew about the prank and countered, meaning my dad found himself in the common room wearing a pretty green dress and high heels. I can't quite picture it, but I can imagine that it was hilarious.
Slytherin beat Ravenclaw, which puts us one step closer to the Quidditch Cup, so we're back to three practices a week. Between Quidditch and anti-dementor lessons (which are extremely draining), I'm going to be busy this term.
Still, I don't think I've got anything on Hermione. Ron's more obsessed by it than me, but neither of us can figure out how she's getting to all her classes. She somehow seems to be able to attend multiple classes at once, but that can't be possible, is it?
Anyways, that's about it for me. Any word on the Firebolt? I know that cursebreaker bloke said it could take a couple weeks, but just thought I'd ask. It would get Oliver off my back. Hope things are going well. Say hi to Kingsley and Lexie for me.
Love,
Harry.
**HP**
What the hell, Tonks!? I don't know if I should hex you or hug you!
I didn't want you to go blabbing to Harry about me struggling with some of the DADA spells! I was coming to you for some help at most or a little bit of venting before I went to Professor Lupin.
Harry came to me after your letter, sat me down, and actually scolded me! He scolded me for not asking him for help in DADA! Then he physically dragged me out of the common room with my brothers laughing to give me a lesson.
Admittedly, it was very helpful, and after Harry's scolding and the lesson, he and I had a good talk and I think we are finally coming to a good place where I'm not weird around him (thanks to Occlumency and perspective) and he's going to start talking to me more (you were right. He wants to be friends, but didn't know how to go about it). I will admit, you were also right. He's actually really good at helping me understand and frankly a better teacher than Hermione, so I should have approached him earlier and probably will now ask for his help in other classes.
So . . . I guess thanks, but still, damn you. Also, got any advice for electives? So far everything's been recommended to me.
Cursing you and loving you,
Ginny
P.s That dress prank with Harry was hilarious! He was bright red, but he couldn't stop laughing, saying he had basically asked for it. Not sure what he meant with that, but maybe you'll enlighten me?
**HP**
Wotcher Harry,
I understand your frustrations about the Patronus Charm. It's a bloody hard spell, and the fact that you can do it as well as you can is still impressive. I know you hoped to have it down by now, but you've only been at it a month, so don't let it get you down! You'll certainly be able to hold a dementor off long enough to get to the ground (and knowing you, catch the snitch), and you're getting this time to get to know Lupin better, so that's at least one good thing to come out of this.
I'm sorry to hear that Ron and Hermione are fighting. As much as I like Hermione, I think I have to side with Ron on this one. Hermione needs to apologize for Scabbers likely being eaten by her cat, but I think she's too blinded and overwhelmed by her course load, if everything you've told me is accurate. She really needs to drop some of her courses. I think the most OWLs anyone's ever achieved at one time is fourteen, and she's attempting sixteen, and usually one or two of those courses are things that someone knew of already due to their upbringing, like Muggles with Muggle Studies, or Witches or Wizards with Wizard's Studies. She needs to drop probably four courses, and one of them should definitely be muggle studies, since she could pass the exam for that without the class.
Things are going really well, and I'm getting into the field more with Kingsley, which has been much nicer, not doing paperwork all the time. Kingsley's actually going to come with me to your match on Saturday and Lexie too, so we'll see you then! We're all eager to see the Firebolt in action. Hoping things improve. Keep your head up, watch your back, and give Astra a scratch behind the ears for me.
Love,
Dora
**HP**
"That kid can fly!" Kingsley exclaimed with a grin, and Dora smiled over at him as she scratched behind Astra's ears. "He might even be better than his old man, and that's saying something!"
"He is brilliant," Dora agreed easily, "and gods is he putting that new Firebolt through its paces!"
"I don't know if I've ever seen a Hogwarts age kid fly like that," Lexie marveled. "He'll easily be good enough to play pro. Hell, most of his teammates are fantastic too! I wish we'd had a Quidditch team like this when I was here."
"It looks like it's handling it like a dream," Kingsley said, as they watched Harry for a moment before turning back to focus on the Gryffindor Chasers were dominating the field, effortlessly controlling the quaffle compared to the Ravenclaw Chasers, and while Oliver Wood was having a good game, saving the few attempts at scoring on him, the Ravenclaw Keeper couldn't say the same thing. It was 80 - 0 in Gryffindor's favor.
Dora watched Harry and grinned, having noticed since the start of the game that Harry might have developed his first crush on the rather stunning Ravenclaw Seeker. Whoever the girl was, she was a fair flyer, but she had nothing on Harry, and was mainly trying to stop Harry from getting the snitch rather than trying to catch it herself. Still, she had succeeded in halting Harry twice now.
Dora watched as Harry dived sharply, with the Ravenclaw Seeker following before Harry pulled out of the dive sharply and then she saw him bullet in the direction of the Ravenclaw end of the field. He'd clearly seen the snitch.
"Oh!" screamed the Ravenclaw Seeker, pointing, and Dora, Lexie, and Kingsley all looked towards where she was pointing to see three dementors, looking up towards Harry. Feeling rage that they dared intrude again, Dora reached for her wand, ready to banish them, but before anyone could do anything, Harry had yelled out, "Expecto Patronum!"
To Dora's pride and astonishment, an enormous grim erupted from Harry's wand, rushed towards the three dementors, but instead of driving them off like it should have, it went through them and the three dementors collapsed into a pile on the ground.
"Those are no dementors," Kingsley said with a frown, before he smiled at Dora. "That's one hell of a Patronus though! Kid's going to be a force to be reckoned with one day, with that type of power, talent, and skill."
"Can we just recruit him to the team?" Lexie asked with a tilt of her head. "I'd love to boot Ross off of the team, sleazeball that he is, and I'm sure Harry could learn what he needs and be of value. Certainly more than the egotistical prick we have."
Dora snorted at that and then smiled and nodded in mock agreement which had Kingsley sighing, but not disagreeing just as Harry caught the snitch, ending the match, and was now being engulfed in a team hug, and to her amusement, the normal exuberant kisses on the cheek from the three girls.
"Let's get down there, congratulate him and see what happened with our three fake dementors."
She, Kingsley, Lexie, and Astra moved down to the field, staying behind the rest of the Gryffindors who were mobbing their team, and instead made their way over to where the teachers had already swarmed the three 'dementors'.
Dora scowled, seeing Malfoy in a heap along with three other boys, trying to extricate themselves from their long black robes they'd been using. McGonagall was shouting with an expression of utmost fury on her face.
"An unworthy trick! A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!"
Dora glanced over to where Dumbledore was approaching with a severe look on his face, and deciding she wanted to make sure that Malfoy didn't escape easily, she moved over.
"I have to say I'm deeply disappointed by your actions today," Dumbledore said, staring at the four Slytherins who were all looking at the Headmaster with surly expressions. "You have deeply dishonored your House all in an attempt to sabotage another pupil."
"Not only that, but they have broken the law," Kingsley said, surprising Dora, moving forward, a severe look on his face. The four Slytherins looked at him like he wasn't important.
"Auror Lieutenant Shacklebolt," Dumbledore greeted politely and she watched the four Slytherin's faces morph to ones of fear.
"Dementors are Ministry officials, and impersonating them is a crime," Kingsley said sternly. "Make no mistake boys, if you weren't at Hogwarts, I'd be forced to bring you in for processing. Keep that in mind for the future."
All four boys paled slightly, and Dora knew that their parents possibly being embarrassed at the Ministry because of their children's actions in front of an Auror would lead to far worse punishments at home than the Professors could dole out.
"It's been a long time," a voice said, and Dora turned away from the other Professors to see Professor Remus Lupin.
She had to admit. He was a quite handsome man and was looking quite nice in his teacher's robes.
"It's been a very long time," Dora agreed with a friendly smile. "You're looking good, Professor," she said with a slight teasing tilt to her tone. "Harry's had nothing but great things to say about your class, of course."
Lupin smiled. "Harry's wonderful to teach, and it's been very nice getting to know him. I was . . . irritated to learn about his treatment until he arrived at Hogwarts."
Dora's eyes narrowed slightly. "Harry told you about the Dursleys?"
Lupin shook his head. "No, he mentioned they weren't good to him, and I . . . well I talked to Dumbledore. I wanted some answers."
"Were you told to stay away from him while he was with those awful muggles too?" Dora asked shrewdly, and Lupin grimaced and nodded.
"I was surprised to hear that you had taken him in," Lupin admitted. "I'd heard about your parents . . ."
"And didn't think a nineteen year old could gain custody of a twelve year old," Dora said dryly.
"Something like that," Lupin agreed. "It sounds like you've been a wonderful guardian and older sister to him though, which isn't surprising at all. You were always one of his favorites when he was a baby."
Dora smiled softly, glancing over to where Harry was still dealing with his celebrating housemates.
"I missed him a lot, growing up," Dora said softly. "After my parents passed, I decided I wanted to try and get one member of my family back. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever had, not only for me, but for him too. It's not always easy, but it's definitely worth it."
"That's good," Lupin said smiling. "Well, I just thought I'd say hi. I'll let you and Kingsley go greet the hero of the day. I'm afraid I have some papers to grade."
"It sounds like you have a riveting night ahead of you," Dora said with a smile as he started walking away. "Good luck!"
"I'm rather hurt, Tonksie," Lexie said, sliding up next to her. "No introductions for me to the handsome Professor? At least tell me that you're pursuing?"
Dora snorted. "He's an old family friend, and no I'm not putting in a good word for you, nor am I doing anything about it either."
"Pfft, now I'm just disappointed, love," Lexie said with a shake of her head. "Ah, here comes the one member of your family not disappointing me right now."
Dora turned back to see Harry approaching, and heard Kingsley walk up next to her and Lexie.
"Wotcher, twerp," Dora greeted brightly, and received a hug in return. "You flew great."
"Hey, Dora," Harry greeted before looking at her companions. "Hey Kingsley, Lexie. Glad you could make it out to the match."
"You fly brilliantly," Lexie praised, smiling at him and raising her fist which Harry easily bumped his own against, and Dora grinned as Harry blushed a bit, "and that Patronus was fantastic."
"Indeed," Kingsley said with a broad smile. "I haven't been to a Hogwarts Quidditch match since the year after I graduated, so this was a nice treat and a good trip down memory lane. You fly really well. Reminds me of your dad."
"Thanks," Harry said with an appreciative smile. "I hear you've been beating my sister black and blue around the dueling ring."
Kingsley and Lexie laughed while Dora scowled at Harry. "She's certainly starting to give back as much as she gets. I hear a certain book you gave her has been helping."
"Wow, you're nicer than Mad-Eye is," Harry said mildly, and Dora and Kingsley both laughed at that, well aware of what ex-Auror was like if you didn't meet his expectations. Compliments were few and far between.
"We don't want to keep you away from what's sure to be a jolly good party in the common room," Dora said. "We just wanted to see you real quick."
"Of course," Harry said. "Thanks for coming. Glad you got to see a win on our part."
"And your first true patronus," Dora said with a grin. "I told you that you'd get it eventually."
"And you're always right," Harry said mockingly, but with a twinkle in his eye. "I'm going to head up to the party, but thanks for coming, and I'll write to you soon!"
"Like I said, he's a good kid," Kingsley said, watching Harry walk off. "We might lose him to professional Quidditch though, which would be a real shame."
"I say let him play, and then we recruit him afterwards," Lexie said. "My Arrows could use a bloody good seeker."
Dora snorted. "Everybody wants to recruit Harry to the Aurors. We'll see where he stands in a couple years before we up the recruiting efforts. Though, if we really want to recruit him, we just need to offer him a treacle tart. He'll do pretty much anything for treacle tart."
Lexie and Kingsley laughed at that.
"Hey, look at the brightside," Kingsley said. "You might get to be his training officer."
"He's already going through mobility workouts with Mad-Eye, and he plans to compete this summer," Dora said. "I'm not sure I'd want to be his training officer. If he keeps those workouts up over the next four years, he'll be thrashing his trainers, not the other way around."
Kingsley laughed. "I might look forward to that too. I'd love to hear Trainee Potter beating up his mentor. He wouldn't be the first, but certainly the first in a very long time."
"I'll mention that to him," Dora said with a smirk. "Maybe it'll keep him going forward."
"We could give him to Norton, or Carlson, or Ross," Lexie almost moaned in glee. "Maybe they'd quit in shame!"
Dora laughed and Kingsley shook his head with a sigh, but again didn't disagree.
"Alright, Tonks, let's get out of here."
**HP**
Harry felt some of the stress leave him as he moved about Hogwarts late at night. He didn't know if it came from Hades' patronage that made him calmer and more comfortable in the dark or if it was his comfort in the dark that helped gain him his patronage, or maybe it was the silence which allowed him to easily clear his mind and push out with his sensing ability, but he enjoyed his night escapades. Sometimes it was to practice his shadow magic and extra practice for sensing, or spend time with Astra, but other times it was simply just to get away from everything, think things through, and find some peace.
Sirius Black was one stressor, but hardly the only one.
Ron and Hermione were driving him insane, both by their actions towards each other and towards him. Ron and Hemione themselves, weren't really talking, Ron still angry about Scabbers disappearing and likely having been eaten by Crookshanks, and Hermione not apologizing.
It didn't help that whatever Harry did, it inevitably drew the opinion of one of the two, which started a new argument. Harry was trying to play peacemaker between the two, but it seemed to backfire, and he felt Dora was right, that Hermione just couldn't really be reasoned with at the moment because she was so overwhelmed with her schedule. Ron on the other hand was unwilling to play nice until Hermione apologized, leaving them in a stalemate. Unfortunately for Hermione, this was a time when he felt Ron wasn't asking for too much.
The most recent argument came after Harry and Ron had returned from a visit with Hagrid to find that another Hogsmeade weekend had been posted. Ron had been all ready for Harry to join again by using the Marauder's Map, but Hermione overheard and told Harry in no uncertain terms that if he went to Hogsmeade, she would tell McGonagall about the map. Of course that got Ron blowing up on Hermione again, despite the fact that Harry had wanted to calmly reason with Hermione.
It was frustrating because Dora didn't mind him going to Hogsmeade. By all accounts, his guardian signed his permission slip, and he should have been allowed to go, if it weren't for the Professors disagreeing.
Harry heard someone approaching, and he quickly used the shadow cloak spell and moved to the side of the corridor. He wanted to roll his eyes as he realized it was Mrs. Norris.
Filch's cat was looking around, probably being able to smell him, but he felt a hint of pride when it was clear that she couldn't see him. He grinned, pulling out his wand, deciding to test one of the newer spells he'd been working on. He thought he had it down, but he hadn't used it yet.
"Tenebris somnum," Harry whispered, pointing his wand at Mrs. Norris who wobbled, and yawned before curling up and falling asleep.
He smiled, happy that the sleep spell worked. It wouldn't do anything to the cat, so he didn't feel bad testing it on Mrs. Norris. Now, he was tempted to use it on Hermione who was looking like she could use some serious sleep. He didn't have that spell perfect, since Mrs. Norris had taken the time to lie down, but still a good first attempt. When perfected, it would almost act like a stunner, but with a longer duration, and pretty much invisible at night.
He turned and started making the journey back to Gryffindor Tower, when another sound of movement forced him to stop. He figured it was Filch looking for Mrs. Norris so he was very surprised when a big black dog came walking into the hallway.
It looked like another grim, like Astra, but he'd never seen another one before, so he wasn't sure if grims came in different breeds or at least seemingly different breeds, since this black dog was clearly not a german shepard like Astra was.
Harry released the spell. The dog's tail wagged and it approached Harry, who smiled and rubbed the dog's head, which caused the dog to wag its tail harder.
'It must be another grim,' Harry thought.
He knew grims were social animals, so it made sense that Astra's presence at the school might attract others. This guy was friendly enough, clearly just exploring the castle. For all Harry knew, there could have always been grims exploring the school, and few realized it. It didn't matter to him. A servant of Hades was always welcome for a visit with him.
If anything, all this proved was that things could wander Hogwarts and the professors didn't know or couldn't stop them, so why was he being stopped from going to Hogsmeade when it likely wasn't accomplishing anything?
It seemed, his mind was made up. He would go to Hogsmeade with Ron, but would wear his invisibility cloak so that nobody would see him, but he was also going to try and talk to Hermione first to see if he could get the looming threat of telling McGonagall off of him.
**HP**
Wotcher Harry,
I must say, getting a letter from a Professor about your misdeeds is a wonderful change of pace for us.
So far, this year you've broken out of Hogwarts twice, played two pranks on the entire school, framing the Weasley twins while you were at it, and that doesn't discount the numerous smaller pranks on various people. I'm actually quite proud of you, especially since I did give you permission to go into Hogsmeade. I mentioned the fact to Lupin, though I suspect he disagrees with my choice, but then again, you're my ward, so MWA HA HA. I'VE GOT YOU MY PRETTY!
I'm glad to hear you and Ron made up with Hermione. It sounded like the apologies that were needed were offered all around. Her heart is in the right place even if her emotions and mind aren't quite at the moment. Then again, with her finally dropping Divination, hopefully things will be somewhat easier for her. She still needs to probably drop a couple more classes. I can't believe she's still taking fifteen classes. That's bloody insane. She's bloody insane. Why are you and your friends bloody insane?
Also, I very much want to write a very angry and rather rude letter to Snape for everything he keeps saying to you. I figured I'd ask you first because knowing the git, he'll take my letter out on you, but I'm not sure things can really get much worse between the two of you, so what do you say? Regardless, I am submitting another letter to McGonagall, Dumbledore, and the governors. Snape's attitude and words are so unprofessional.
Now, on to your extra pursuits. I'm very impressed with where you stand, having learned all the third year spells and a handful of fourth and fifth year defensive spells. Keep up the good work! You'll be in tip top shape against your peers this summer. As for your shadow magic? Well, it sounds like you're doing great with it, but if you're stuck, you could always pray to Hades for some guidance, and specifically you should also figure out whether other deities can help you. Your dedication would surely earn favor with Athena, and she could give you a boost in learning and retention capacity which would certainly help with your task.
You might also consider asking Astra. You should remember that she is a creature of shadow and darkness and thus has an intimate understanding and can possibly even do some of the magic you'll be attempting or at least a variation of it. Not sure if her feelings and picture method of communication will help you understand, but you've never seemed to struggle understanding her, so it's food for thought.
I'm glad to hear that your Sensing is coming along. It's been useful for me as well, so thanks again for the book. I've started to use it to sense spells coming my way. It's making it really hard for Kingsley to sneak up on me unless he conceals himself and his magical presence. Now, I just want it to be permanent so I don't really have to think about it. I know you can relate. We'll get there eventually!
On my end, things are going really well. Kingsley's still beating me about the practice room, but I'm definitely getting better, much better. I look at who I would have had as my mentor instead of Kingsley if I hadn't met him early and I know I would not have improved nearly this much under Auror Williams's team. He seems like a good enough auror, but doesn't nearly have the skills, expertise, and frankly patience of Kingsley, and he cares too much about the politics going on. I'm well on track for my studies, so soon after you get home, we're going to celebrate me becoming an Auror First Class, you can bet it.
I did finally get into my first duel, so we are now technically tied for fighting dark wizards in a duel. King and I finally hit a lead and managed to crack down on that potion smuggling ring I briefly mentioned. Three wizards and a witch were smuggling in illegal ingredients from Spain. They all tried to fight when King, myself, Lexie, Knight, Ross, and the hitwizards went for the arrest. One of the wizards knew some nasty dark curses, but we handled them, no issues, and I hit one of the buggers with the advanced stunner I learned in training. Let me tell you, that man will be feeling a headache for a while with how hard he smashed into the wall from my curse.
Anyways, just wanted you to know that you do not hold the dark wizard record in the house anymore. We're tied, and it won't be long before I leave you in the dust, little brother . . . or else!
Hope everything's going great. Ginny's letters have mentioned how helpful you've been so I'm glad you took my advice. Let me know if you need anything, and let me know if you're planning to come home over Easter break.
Love,
Dora
**HP**
Harry laid his head on his pillow, thinking about how much homework had been assigned over their easter holidays, thinking about the Quidditch Cup final approaching, and thinking about how often he and his fellow teammates were dodging ambushes from Slytherins, even though the Gryffindors weren't even playing the Slytherins!.
He closed his eyes and drifted off and before he knew it, he found himself back in a familiar throne room.
"Ah, Harry," Hades greeted with a polite smile, as if this was a normal occurrence. "It's good to see you."
Harry bowed his head respectfully.
"It's an honor, Lord Hades," Harry said. "How can I be of service?"
Hades waived his hand dismissively. "Does a god need a specific reason to meet with his vassal?" Harry blinked in surprise and the god's eyes gleamed. "This meeting is about nothing arduous. I decided to answer your prayers in person and offer some friendly advice. I'd hate to see you miss my deadlines. Your success is admittedly of some value to me."
"Am I under target?" Harry asked a bit worriedly. He felt like he had been making good progress, especially with Mad-Eye basically forcing him to learn things, but if Hades was speaking to him in person, maybe he was wrong.
"Not exactly," Hades replied. "You're exceeding my expectations at this time, which is a credit to your earned favor, but you are soon reaching the most complicated of the rituals and magic, and I will warn you that you may not succeed if you continue as you are."
Harry grimaced, feeling disheartened that he hadn't been going at it right.
"Now, let's discuss your prayers," Hades said leaning forward. "You may seek the aid of other deities, however I have some ground rules. You may seek aid from any deity that will help you accomplish your goal. You may not obtain major patronage from another elemental deity, however I will allow minor patronage from other elemental deities. Patronage from other deities can be as you see fit and as that deity deigns to award, pending it does not interfere with your obligations to me. First and foremost, you are my vassal, and you should remember that."
Harry nodded solemnly, having no desire to anger or insult the first god to favor him and one who had helped him greatly.
"I would recommend you seek aid from my niece, Athena," Hades said after a moment. "As your guardian and the warrior stated, she can be of great assistance. However, your guardian was also wise to advise you to use your familiar. You and she are bound together. As she grows stronger, so do you, and the same is true in reverse. Beyond that, as a creature of my domain, she has intrinsic abilities with some of the magic you still need to learn, and that doesn't factor in the other things she can teach you. Use her."
"Thank you, my lord," Harry said, grateful for the advice and answers. "I will do as you recommend, and I will make sure I'm on target."
Hades nodded approvingly.
"Continue with what the warrior has planned. He can help you become who you need to be. Perform well in the tournament this summer. Remember that you represent me, and I will be watching. Now, it is time for you to return to your dreams. Farewell, my vassal."
"Farewell, Lord Hades, and thank you," Harry said with a bow.
**HP**
"Dora, why the hell are you wearing Hufflepuff colors?" Harry asked, looking at her with a supreme look of betrayal.
Dora grinned at him in his Quidditch robes. "Why? I have to support my House of course! You might be family, but Houses have no bearing on such things. I'll root for you personally, but I'm afraid to say I'll be hoping for a Hufflepuff Quidditch Cup this year."
Harry just stared at her, and Astra came over and rubbed up against her legs, and she bent down to scratch her ears.
"But the Hufflepuffs aren't even in the running!" Harry protested finally to Dora's amusement.
"Come on, Potter! You can shove her robes back in her face after we've won this bloody thing," Angelina called over, and Harry grinned as Dora laughed.
"Come on, Harry, we have a cup to win and bragging rights to claim," Katie called over as well.
Dora gave him a quick hug and whispered good luck before he ran off to join his team. She waved at the Twins who had evil grins as they stared at her. She suspected her apparel had earned their wrath.
Next to her, Mad-Eye snorted in amusement.
"I think you need to watch your back in the near future, Tonks. Did I teach you nothing about making enemies?"
"Sure you did, Mad-Eye," Dora said easily. "If you're going to deliberately make enemies, hit them hard, fast, and make sure they stay down."
Mad-Eye gave her an approving smile.
"Come on, let's go watch this match!" Dora said, grabbing Mad-Eye's arm and starting to drag him towards the teacher's stands. "The energy is going to be off the charts!"
"I can only imagine what Potter's face looked like," Sprout said with a laugh seeing Dora make her way over to her, while Mad-Eye moved to sit with Dumbledore in the back.
"Oh, he was crushed," Dora said matter of factly. "He might never recover from my betrayal."
Sprout laughed. "I would say that's a good thing, but I must admit that I would rather see Gryffindor win this match and take the Cup. Severus has gotten unbearable with how often his team has won it."
"There's no need to worry," McGonagall said with a smirk as the two teams came marching onto the field. "If I know my lions, Tonks's actions have only riled them up even more. Potter's going to want to ensure that he doesn't have to hear about this match over and over again at home."
"Hey Harry, if you lose this match, you've got an extra two hour session with Mad-Eye!" Dora called down loudly, and she saw Harry's head swing towards her, and she could make out his smile.
"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled the commentator, Lee Jordan. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years -"
Lee's comments were drowned by a tide of 'boos' from the Slytherin end.
"And here comes the Hufflepuff team! Preece, Macavoy, Applebee, O'Flaherty, Rickett, Fleet, and Diggory. It's been a rebuilding year for the Puffs, but the team that Captain Diggory has assembled does show some real promise for the future."
Dora watched the captains shake hands and mount their brooms before Hooch blew the whistle and fourteen brooms rose into the air. Dora watched Harry's previously nervous face melt into one of enjoyment. Flying always did that for him.
"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinnet of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Hufflepuff goal posts. She passes to Johnson, back to Spinnet - oh! Intercepted by Macavoy! Taken by Johnson, back to Gryffindor. She's on the approach! She shoots! SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!
Dora kept her head moving, watching a fairly impressive game of Quidditch. The Hufflefpuffs were playing a largely defensive game, which she thought might have been a bit of a bold move with Harry on the opposing team, since he had the best record at Hogwarts as a Seeker. In addition, the Gryffindor chasers were fantastic together, and she was sure that at least two of them, Johnson and Spinnet, had chances of going pro afterwards if they wanted, and Bell wasn't far behind, and was a year younger, so she still had plenty of time to improve. It was rare to see that level of play on a single Hogwarts team, and it was really a sight to watch.
She glanced around, seeing that the Hufflefpuff beaters were doing a respectable job of protecting their chasers, but they were going up against the Weasley Twins and honestly, the two of them were like living bludgers themselves. Wood was also a much better keeper than the Hufflefpuff keeper, which wasn't helped by how much more the Gryffindors were shooting. The score continued to rise, and it wasn't long before focus was jumping to the Seekers since Diggory was Hufflepuff's only chance of winning the match now that the Gryffindor lead had extended to eighty.
She saw the Hufflepuffs come to the same conclusion and the beaters started focusing their efforts on Harry, but unfortunately for them, Harry's abilities on his Firebolt hadn't been seen as much in the previous match as she was sure the Hufflepuffs would have liked, so as he put on bursts of speed and went through some defensive aerial maneuvers, he was nearly untouchable, and barely affected in his search for the snitch.
Diggory was a stupendous flyer in his own right, but with Harry's superior broom, Dora knew that Diggory needed to see the snitch first and have a sizable lead in order to beat Harry.
The match continued with the Gryffindor chasers pushing the lead further, despite the Hufflepuff chasers managing to score a few here and there. Finally, she could tell that Harry had seen it as he leaned closer to his broom and zoomed towards the bottom of the Gryffindor goal posts. Diggory was so far away, but he put on a burst of speed to try and catch up, but wasn't getting anywhere close to gaining on Harry.
The Gryffindors were already cheering loudly as Harry went into a steep dive, and grabbed the snitch before pulling out of the dive just in time, his hand with the snitch above his head, a shout of joy and triumph coming from him.
Dora started cheering too, happy for him, and continued cheering all through the Gryffindor hug, and she grinned seeing all three Gryffindor chasers placing kisses on Harry's cheeks and then they watched the awarding of the Quidditch Cup to the Gryffindor team. It had been a great match, and she'd been glad to watch it, and even more glad that nothing had gone wrong. That alone was a rarity for Harry's quidditch career, having had three issues occur due to cursed broomsticks, rogue cursed bludgers, and dementors out of a total of six games he'd played in, what with him being unconscious the last match of his first year, and most of the previous year's season having been canceled. Maybe this was a sign that things were turning around!
**HP**
Harry's euphoria at finally winning the Quidditch Cup lasted at least a week. Even the weather seemed to be celebrating; as June approached, the days became cloudless and sultry, and all anybody felt like doing was strolling onto the grounds and flopping down on the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily across the surface of the lake.
Unfortunately, exams were upon them, so instead of lazing around outside, the students were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully their brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drifted in through the windows. Even Fred and George Weasley had been spotted working; they were about to take their O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Percy was getting ready to take his N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests), the highest qualification Hogwarts offered. As Percy hoped to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needed top grades. He was becoming increasingly edgy, and gave very severe punishments to anybody who disturbed the quiet of the common room in the evenings. In fact, the only person who seemed more anxious than Percy was Hermione, who was still severely overworked, and was somehow attending multiple classes and now would be attending multiple exams at the same time, much to Harry and Ron's continued confusion.
Admittedly, Harry wasn't feeling as nervous for these exams as he had the last time he sat exams after first year. Under Dora's influence, and also as a part of his promise to be safer, he'd taken his studies a lot more seriously and thus had pretty stellar grades in the classes he cared about. He'd even started praying to Athena for guidance, and she'd answered and was making school all that much easier for him by enhancing his retention.
Runes was still not easy for him, but he was doing well in the class, having even written to Mad-Eye a few times for helpful tips and tricks or advice, which the ex-Auror had been more than happy to offer. Katie had also been of great help, being quite good at the subject. Both of their advice came in handy greatly on the exam, which was two hours of translations of both Nordic and Celtic runes. It was two hours that left Harry with a headache, but he was sure he did well . . . not Hermione well . . . but well.
Charms, Transfiguration, Magical Theory, and Arithmancy exams all passed by without incident. Harry was quite good at all four subjects, though he had to give Dora credit for his vast improvement in Transfiguration with Angelina deserving a bit of credit, and Alicia had helped him get better at Charms, which was one of her specialties.
Potions was a bit of a disaster. Harry had improved in the subject slightly, with Penny's advice and the book she gave him, but Snape always made things more difficult, and try as he might, he couldn't get his Confusing Concoction to thicken during the exam, and he could only grimace as Snape, standing watch with an air of vindictive pleasure, scribbled something that looked suspiciously like a zero on his notes before moving on.
Then came Astronomy, which Harry was still only average in followed by History of Magic. History of Magic's exam almost put him to sleep, and he was sure he hadn't done incredible in that exam, but he knew it was still better than he would have done last year, and maybe a bit better than he did as a first year. Honestly, the history that Mad-Eye had gone over with him had seemed interesting, so Harry had long accepted that he did like history as a subject, but despised how Binns taught it. Maybe he'd have to look into some history books of his own?
Care of Magical Creatures ended up being a fairly enjoyable and easy exam where they had to identify the correct food to give to a variety of magical creatures that they'd covered over the year, and then had to simply not anger, injure, or be injured by any of the creatures that were present. Seeing as how, other than the hippogriff, every other creature that Hagrid produced for the exam were fairly docile or pleasant creatures, it was easy, and enjoyable, since it was out in the nice sun.
Harry's last exam ended up being Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a Grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a Hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new Boggart.
"Excellent, Harry," Lupin muttered as Harry climbed out of the trunk, grinning. "Full marks. "
Flushed with his success, Harry hung around to watch Ron and Hermione. Ron did very well until he reached the Hinkypunk, which successfully confused him into sinking waist-high into the quagmire. Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the Boggart in it. After about a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming.
"Hermione!" said Lupin, startled. "What's the matter?"
"P-P-Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh-she said I'd failed everything!"
It took a little while to calm Hermione down. When at last she had regained a grip on herself, she, Harry, and Ron went back to the castle. Ron was still slightly inclined to laugh at Hermione's Boggart, and Harry wasn't too far from joining if it wasn't for the fact he didn't want to make fun of someone's greatest fear.
Still, for Harry, exams were done, and he got to smile and spend some time with his other yearmates and with Ginny, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Fred, George, and play with Astra out in the nice sun while Ron, Hermione, and everyone else in Muggle Studies, Wizarding Studies, and Divination classes studied for their last exams.