The Potter Retreat Cycle

by Halkie

As Harry's 15th birthday starts he disappears from London in the middle of the night and is taught to be the man he needs to be. Rating for language and mentions of gore.

Chapter 1: The Potter Retreat Cycle

Harry Potter was lay in the bed at #12 Grimmauld Place counting down the seconds to his fifteenth birthday. He'd been doing this since his eighth birthday after asking his uncle for a watch so he would know when to start cooking their meals and to prevent over-cooking those meals. Vernon, of course, struggled with this decision as it would involve spending money on his nephew. In the end, well-timed meals won out. The reason for this tradition is because the only time he was able to celebrate his birthday was as soon as it started, and it continued because it was tradition and he felt it was his way of starting his birthday right.

With 20 seconds to go and Ron's continuous stream of snores helping him stay awake, Harry started his countdown to midnight but moments later he started to feel magic building, swirling and twisting around him, making his veins burn with something he'd never felt before. Then suddenly with a loud crack and a startled yelp from a gangly redhead Harry Potter was gone.

o~0~o

Harry landed on his face in a much lighter room than he had just come from. In a second he was on his feet with, wand in his hand. Six days earlier his godfather had caught him sleeping with his wand in hand and had told him he's likely to take his head off in his sleep doing such a thing. A few days later he was presented a black family basilisk skin wand holster, stating he "had enough black blood to use one" and not to worry about it as this one along with others was just sitting in the vault. Harry did not want to know how much this would cost.

He started scanning his surroundings for danger when a deep voice complimented him.

"Nice reflexes"

Spinning around he saw a portrait with a handsome, stoic man with a mop of brown hair and hard brown eyes eyeing him critically, and a beautiful woman with black hair and soft blue eyes smiling at him warmly. Noticing there was no danger he turned his attention completely to the painting.

"Who are you and where am I?" Harry said.

The couple seemed to frown at that as if they didn't think that was what he was going to say.

"You should know the answer to both of those questions," The man said, "did James and Lily not tell you this?"

It was Harry's turn to frown. He was not surprised that they knew who his parents were, he was well used to that, but that thought that his parents had ever told him anything he could remember. Thinking for a moment he realised that he couldn't be sure how old these portraits were.

"What do you mean?"

"Your parents, they were supposed to inform you what all of this is and why your here, where you are."

Harry was extremely unsure how to proceed, he'd never had to tell anyone he was an orphan before. "umm, my parents died when I was one."

They both went stiff and the women gasped softly, starting to cry. The man remained stoic as he seemed to simply just lock down all of his emotions, but at the same time, his eyes held something intense. Harry wasn't expecting this. He thought he'd get the usual reactions when the muggles asked about his parents, solemn looks and sympathetic smiles but... these two appeared to be grieving.

After a few moments of silence the man spoke up, his voice cracking for a moment, "well then, I suppose introductions are in order, my name is Charlus Potter, and this is my wife Dorea Potter nee-Black, and we're your grandparents."

o~0~o

At Grimmauld Place, emotions were all over the place. Albus Dumbledore found himself confused, he was worried, of course, Harry was the closest he had to a grandchild. But he couldn't understand the magic at work here, he felt the magic radiating from the boy's bed and the room itself but he did not recognize the magic at work. Sirius Black was busy thinking about how he might have failed to protect his godson once again and that Lily really was gonna kick his arse when she saw him. Molly Weasley was being her usual frantic self, bustling around fretting about Harry in between making meals for everyone as a way of dealing with the stress. She and her son, Ron, made quite the team as he was currently stress eating everything the Weasley mother hen was cooking. Though he did look pale.

Hermione and Ginny were both looking very worried. Hermione was worried that her friend would be harmed wherever he was or worse he was already dead. Ginny was along the same lines but also disappointed though her thoughts held a little more than friendship.

"I'm not sure what to say," The aged headmaster finally spoke up. "What I can tell you is that I do think that he is ok '' At this everyone looked hopeful. "All magic gives off a sort of residue of intent and you can tell why the magic is cast if you know where to look, and this magic seems to have been done with good intent or at least without any malice. However I can not fathom how he just disappeared''. Frustration and confusion was a strange look for the headmaster, who was normally very aware of what was happening. "It is as if he disapparated or took a portkey with how quick he left but with the wards, that should be impossible and the magic residue is much different… stronger"

"But Albus surely the wards can deal with any method taken for leaving, and they are still up for Merlin's sake!" Mrs Weasley said.

"Molly I assure you that wherever Harry is he is in no danger, the magical residue seemed like family magic and I know for a fact Voldemort does not have any"

"That doesn't do much for me Albus," Sirius reprimanded. "I want to know he is safe and have him back here where I can keep him that way"

"I feel the same way Sirius but my hands are tied right now I am at a loss for what to do" The Headmaster said.

Sirius was running his hands through his hair now, racking his brain for a solution.

"Well if he isn't in any danger then he might be able to reply to the letter so why don't we just send one. Hedwig is definitely his familiar. If anyone can find him it's her."

"I know her the best, she's always staying the night at my house so I can send a reply back to harry because I don't have an owl of my own" Hermione said rushing down the stairs to where they keep the owls.

"Hedwig!" Said owl did not take kindly to being shouted at, and she also did not appreciate the string of uninterrupted and indecipherable syllables that came after.

Hedwig did not take kindly to being babbled at but luckily she is a smart owl and completely understood the distraught girl who sometimes kept her warm and fed. After she had written a note on some parchment asking if he was okay and to write back, Hedwig was on her way.

o~0~o

"I probably should have let you down easier than that, sorry I'm just not used to anyone not knowing what happened to my parents, it's quite a well known story." Harry was trying to be sympathetic but the situation still left him with a frown on his face.

The couple took a few minutes to process this information they heard, and come to grips with it. Harry wasn't sure what to do in this situation, he never thought that he would have to console someone over his own parent's deaths. Never mind the fact that they are literally only made of paint and magic, does that mean they have feelings? Do they process emotions in the same way that someone of flesh and blood do? He decided that he would just stay quiet for a while and let them have their silence.

It was his grandmother who finally found her voice

"So my grand-nephew raised you then, Sirius, he was always such a sweetheart at least you had a decent upbringing."

It was almost as if she was begging for it to be true, he almost thought he should lie. It was sad.

"Sirius was framed for the murder of twelve muggles and for facilitating my parent's murders. He spent 12 years in Azkaban."

The looks of utter horror on their faces made him wish he had lied and now he just wished the floor would just swallow him up. He really wasn't used to dealing with this kind of thing.

It was once again a few moments before one of them spoke again.

"What about Alice Longbottom, she was your God-mother," Charlus said " I always liked her, she had good resolve and her husband was also a good man. A good couple that one." His teary smile pushed him further towards lying.

Harry took a few seconds to debate whether or not to tell them, but he could see they thought something was wrong. Likely because of his hesitation. He also wasn't used to lying.

"I found out this year she was tortured to insanity along with her husband shortly after my parents died in an effort to locate Voldemort."

Charlus was now holding his wife while she quietly sobbed into his robe, while he buried his face in her hair, clearly seeking comfort and some sort of sense of stability in the action.

Some time passed and Harry just sat on the floor and waited. Around five minutes later they both regained their composure and, after a few shared words, both turned to look at the young man in front of them.

"It seems you have a long story to tell" Charlus finally said, "how about you start at the beginning, and don't lie, the wards in the room will let us know."

And so he did, he told them how he grew up, his cupboard, his overbearing clothes, his lack of food and the rare slaps his uncle gave him for when he made a mistake or something else that displeased him. He moved on to his school years, speaking of his wonder of the magical world and Voldemort's attempt to steal the stone, him defeating a basilisk, onto his reunion with his godfather and Pettigrew once again escaping. And finally, on to his fourth and hardest year, he went through every task and how he prepared for them, his spat with Ron and the disastrous yule ball. The events of the graveyard were the hardest to get through, but they remained patient and sometimes smiled reassuringly.

By the end, Charlus and Dorea were feeling a large range of emotions. Dorea's motherly instincts were kicking in and she desperately wanted to hug her grandson and tell him it was going to be ok, especially when he talked about his childhood and seeing his parents in the graveyard. The confines of this painting were hard on her.

Charlus, however, was feeling many things, but fury and pride were the strongest. Half of his mind was focused on how his grandson, the heir to the potter line, his own flesh and blood had been degraded, neglected and hurt his whole life and if he were still around...heads would roll. But then he feels pride. He feels pride for his grandson because despite all of this he still seems to be a nice young man. He's proud because instead of giving up and running away he took everything life could throw at him on the chin and is still here, still living. He's proud because he knows that this young man will take the Potter name to new heights and he will make it through this war and anything else that gets in his way.

"I think we should explain what you are doing here," Charlus said "this is what is called the potter retreat, and you'll be here for the next 6 months."

"You should probably start at the beginning this time," Harry said. "I mean there will be people looking for me now and I will go back to Hogwarts soon and... oh shit my trial, if I

don't turn up to my trial they'll snap my wand." He said, suddenly looking like his entire world is crashing around him.

"Nonsense" Dorea said "none of this matters because once Voldemort comes out into the open they wont have time for these trumped up charges. And the way you describe this minister he will probaly be so far up your arse that you get anything you want from him."

"And," Charlus said "you'll be getting a Potter wand if anyone else even tries to touch it the wand will burn their hand off. Much more suitable for you too. And I imagine that you will want to help in the upcoming conflict"

"How can I be a part of this war? I'm 15."

"Yes but that, son, is why you're here. You need to grow and lay the foundation that will become the rest of your life. Potter boys have been becoming men in this castle for over nine-hundred years. You'd be hard pressed to find a better place to learn. Here you will learn how to control your magic and likely go beyond Hogwarts level in around a month and a half, as far as practical magic goes that is. Then you can go around the castle and learn whatever you like. You, of course, will be learning how to fight and essentially stay alive during what's to come."

Harry just nodded and tried to take in what an amazing opportunity he had in front of him, finally he was going to take control of his life.

"So my dad went through this too?"

"Yes although we weren't able to talk about it at the time and I didn't know it was going to happen until after we got married. It's just the way the fidelius works." Dorea explained

"I thought the fidelius charm just hid a location."

"It does," Charlus said, surprised that his grandson knew what a fidelius charm did. "But this is a special charm invented by Signus Potter, the man who created the charm and only published the part you know about to the public. In fact, this very castle is protected by that charm, it's likely the largest fidelius affected area in the world. But we also use an extension of the charm which hides the knowledge in the Potter bloodline and their wives, our wives go through a ritual in order to be able to come here but their husband and children will never find out. Each new arrival has been greeted by their grand-parents, where the castle is explained to them because their parents have only told them they would be going away for six months to a Potter owned castle for a different education and that they can't tell anyone. He is also the man who purchased this castle, set up all the wards and furnished all the rooms along with an excellent library."

"And why did he start all of this?" After so long of only hearing what his parents looked like and that they were "good people", it was refreshing to hear more about his family.

"For several reasons, one is that his son died in a wizarding war because he could not fight properly because he was never taught how to. Another is that he noticed because of vast wealth and lack of a need to work, many children from rich families were becoming soft, always running to their father and asking him to fix everything for them, who in turn would

throw money at the issue because he did the same thing not too long before that. Your ancestor would hate to see future Potter children become like this. "Staying a boy" he called it. He fixed up this place and performed a blood ritual with his two brothers, the last remaining Potters at the time, so that all children of Potter blood and name would be brought here on their fifteenth birthday. He incorporated the fidelius into the ritual to protect the secret. Since then the cycle has stayed strong. Every now and then it is used for something much more important. For example, 500 years ago Lady Myrum Potter gained the status of Battle Mage and defeated 2 dark lords using the skill set that started here and developed throughout her 170 years alive. I myself used it to protect the lands and I eventually was given an order of Merlin".

"I don't know what that is. I think i saw it in one of Professor Dumbledore's letters"

"You are given an order of Merlin by proving yourself worthy to protect the lands from threats, I gained mine after I killed several giants that were about to attack Godric's Hollow, they gave it to me for that and several other acts" Charlus said puffing his chest out, Harry thought that this was clearly a brave man in front of him and excellent with his wand, but he was also quite childish. He was quickly starting to idolise the man, which is something that didn't happen often. If anything he only really idolised Dumbledore. "There are other ways to gain one however. For example, Elijah Macmillan received one for creating the blood replenishing potion a few hundred years ago."

"Was my dad any good at duelling?"

"He was above average, as he was at everything he did really, but I believe he spent most of his time here learning about our family history. Apparently, when it is history, in general, it is extremely boring but when it is about our family history it suddenly becomes "wicked interesting". I think he spent the rest of his time owling his friends. He told us it was about lessons and other general things but his dorm mate Remus let slip one day that the two main topics were pranks and your mother, and that sometimes they crossed paths in the form of scaring away potential suitors, which infuriated your mother to no end," Charlus reminisce with a small smile on his face.

During the few moments he took to reminisce Harry noticed Dorea had just been smiling at him, as if his just being was the best thing she could ask for, it made him feel nice a way he had never felt before.

It was his grandfather's voice that broke him from his thoughts.

"But we're getting off topic, I need to tell you about the different facilities we have here. We have the best training facility that we know about with lifelike training dummies. An extremely extensive library, as big as, if not bigger, than the one at Hogwarts. You also have access to both the Black and Potter family magics which the books for can be summoned through these family spells. We will of course have to give them to you separately, although we both share the other's magic, even in this painting we are unable to teach you the spells for the other family's magic.

After Harry had both books and looked eager to learn, for once, the conversation continued.

"Did you say that you're a Parselmouth?" At Harry's nod, Dorea continued "It's just that since it's a Black family gift there is some parsel-magic in the Black family grimoire as well as some books in the family vault. You'll also notice too that there are some healing spells that I could never use because I lacked the ability, and was therefore quite envious. Instead, I just created a few of my own that did the same thing" she finished with a smirk.

"You'll also notice the difference between the two family books," Charlus said "The Potter one does have some offensive borderline dark curses created by your ancestors. But it also has many spells on things like wards and enchantments. The spells to create our training dummies are in there."

"But the Black family magic," Dorea continued, "mainly focuses on dark and very painful and lethal curses. But that isn't the only stuff in there. Like I said, I made some of my own healing spells, during my 20-year career at St. Mungos, that you will find in that book. There are some Black family wards too, granted they are mostly lethal but they still serve to protect instead of attack. I would advise you to wait to read about the curses though, if taken lightly these can be harmful to the casters mental state.

Harry was about to ask more about her healing career when he remembered something she said earlier. "Professor Dumbledore said that the magic left over from the night Voldemort tried to kill me transferred the ability to speak to snakes to me." There was no malice in what he said, nor was he defending anyone. He was just confused.

"I'm not surprised he got that wrong, this isn't widely known and is possibly only known within the Black family, but the way Salazar became the first Parselmouth was through a blood ritual. This ritual gave him, and anyone born from his blood, the ability to speak to snakes. What most won't admit is that the ability is scarce now because of the sheer amount of inbreeding that goes on between the blacks. It doesn't surprise me that you have the ability considering your father married a muggle-born, therefore... your blood, through lack of a better term, is cleaner than any Black's has been in centuries."

Before that conversation could go any further, a snowy white owl swoops through an open window. "Oh hello," Said Charlus. "Smart owl, must have been to get through the wards. And it must have a deep connection with you, Harry, to even be able to tell where you are."

"Quite pretty too" Dorea complimented. Hedwig of course just puffed her chest out importantly and ignored her friend's mutterings of heads already being too big. Both of which made Dorea laugh. "Careful though, it could have something dangerous on it"

"That wouldn't happen," Harry said "Hedwig would never allow herself to bring a letter that would put me in danger. It's likely just as much to do with her pride as an owl as it is to do with her feelings for me." Earning him a glare from his familiar. "No, it will just be from my friends making sure I'm ok." He said untied the letter. Reading through the letter confirmed his prediction.

"Should I just reply saying I'm on "family business?''

"Yes, that is what we have always done," Charlus confirmed.

Harry took a few moments to think and began writing his response.

Dear Order and company,

I am sorry because I do not doubt I have worried you but it appears I have been taken. Do not worry as I am perfectly fine and do not need assistance. I will be away for quite a while and, sorry Hermione and Weasleys and whoever else might be reading this, but I will not be returning to Hogwarts this year, at least not until at the earliest around February. I have no doubt that Hermione is nearly tearing her hair out with frustration from an unanswered

question and Professor Dumbledore is likely quite cross that he can't find me. Hedwig is the only owl that can reach me, yes Headmaster, that does include Fawkes, so communication will be scarce. I'll write when I'm not busy and you can feel free to write if Hedwig visits.

Regards, Harry

Rolling up the letter, tying it to Hedwig's leg and giving her a few strokes, the owl was on her way with his reply.

"Well, I think that that is enough for tonight," His Grandmother said. "Off to bed Harry, big day tomorrow. You'll be getting a new wand and your training will begin. Cindy!"

An elf popped into the room wearing a red apron over a small white dress and some clean white wraps on their feet. "Yes Mistress?"

"Please take my grandson here to his room for the night and could you please retrieve his belongings from... where were you staying?"

"It's under fidelius but there are a bunch of elf heads on the walls and the house elf's name is Kreacher I believe." He said hoping it would help.

Thinking for a moment, she seemed to mouth the Elf's name before Dorea continued "Oh Gosh you're saying there? Please go to 12 Grimmauld Place in London for Harry's things. Good night Harry." Apparently the restrictions of the fidelius wasn't quite as

With a soft *pop* Harry was in a large bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and an adjoining bathroom. "Cindy is happy that new young master is here. Cindy bees lonely here with just other Elf and paintings of old Masters and Mistresses for company."

"Thank you, Cindy, I'm glad to be here," he said with a soft smile, even though he was still unsure about everything, expressing his feelings to this house elf felt cruel.

"Cindy musts be goings now to get Master Harry's things," the little elf said, beaming and popping away.

By the time she came back, Harry was already in bed asleep.

o~0~o

It was 6 AM and several members of the order didn't sleep well that night, as well as Harry's friends. Several people didn't sleep at all. Hermione, one of those who didn't sleep, had been

glancing at the window with Ginny's snoring head in her lap for the last 2 hours when she suddenly saw a white speck flying towards the window.

"Ginny," she said, rousing the younger girl from her sleep. "Hedwig's here!" She shouted, waking Ron, who had been sleeping on the couch opposite, making him fall on the floor, and waking Sirius who had fallen asleep sitting in a chair at the kitchen table only 20 minutes earlier.

Mrs. Weasley immediately came down the stairs, running and floo called the Headmaster. After only a few moments of conversion, Albus Dumbledore was also in the sitting room of Grimmauld Place.

Finally, Hedwig flew through the window and landed on one of the chairs in the living room and stuck her leg out. Once again Hermione was the first to get there but Sirius rapidly snatched the letter out of her hand, quickly unfurled the parchment then read through it. The whole room watched him relax after 10 seconds of reading and then drop the letter on the table, slumping down into a kitchen chair in relief. The rest of the room gathered around Ginny who had picked up the letter, and read.

After everyone had had a chance to see the contents of the letter, Molly went to the kitchen and the Headmaster was currently scanning the letter in his hand with his wand, wonder and confusion clearly etched on to his face. His student appeared to be ok and was clearly safe enough to joke with his friends. But it did not completely alleviate his worries. "Sirius, how many wards are on this house?"

"Around twenty-two I think, why?"

"Because, excluding the wards on this house this letter must have gone through around thirty-eight wards, meaning Harry is in a house with a seemingly impossible amount of wards." Dumbledore said, the confusion still clearly evident on his face.

"What do you mean Professor?" Hermione asked.

"It should not be possible to put that many wards on a single site and weave them together, thirty is where it becomes extremely difficult for people who have years of skill and experience. I thought that Hogwarts had the most in the world, with thirty-four which many would say is impossible but this... well this is remarkable." The aged Headmaster finished, looking at the letter as if it would suddenly form a mouth and unleash its secrets.

"Well, that just means he's safe, and by the sounds of it he is safer there than anywhere else in the world with all those wards. I just want to know what is going on and where he is. And what's this "family business"? I'm the only blood relative he has."

"You're related?" Hermione asked.

"Second cousins," he answered, "his grandmother was my great aunt Dorea. Other than Andromeda, Dorea and my grandfather were the only relatives I actually liked. Even if he was a prick, he was wise and wicked with a wand, he even refused to exile me from the family when my mother begged him to. He came to visit me when I ran away, made me his sole heir, told me that "I am only Black other than my sister with a pair of balls any more".

And I definitely never wanted to be Lord Black before he said that. Aunt Dorea was so proud." He finished with a rare piece of familial affection.

"But Merlin did I hate my mother." He continued "I was shunned the moment I got home in my first year because I was sorted into Gryffindor." To everyone's surprise, he suddenly smiled "Harry actually told me that we are opposites. I came from a family full of Slytherins and was sorted into Gryffindor much to my pleasure and was scared of everyone's reaction. While Harry, came from a family full of Gryffindors and was meant to be in Slytherin but wasn't because he was afraid of people's reactions and hated the idea of sleeping in the same room as Malfoy."

This brought everyone up short.

o~0~o

"Master Harry, it be time for Master Harry's jog."

Eyes fluttering open, he tried to process what the elf was saying. "A what?"

"Yes, Master Harry" Cindy confirmed, "Master Charlus said to tell Master Harry that yous needs to run around the lake twice, and then come and see him once yous is clean." The little elf was now starting to fold his sheets, leaving Harry bare to the morning chill

"Alright, Cindy I'm up." He got up with a groan and walked over to his trunk that Cindy had retrieved the night before and put on a loose pair of shorts and a grey t-shirt that draped over him. Once ready he was about to walk out of the door when Cindy called for him.

"Master Harry why yous be wearing these things"

Unsure, uncomfortable and a little confused, Harry replied, "Well, Cindy, it's all I have to wear"

The little Elf just looked at him like he was stupid for a few seconds. "Cindy has put lots of clothes in Master Harry's wardrobe, they bes changing to fit Master Harry. Not like these clothes yous is wearing right now. Master Harry is a Potter, Potters be wearing good clothes." She finished with pride evident in her voice. "Cindy bes getting rid of young Master's rags now, Master needs to change again"

"Oh, well thanks Cindy I'll just get changed again, I suppose."

Five minutes later found Harry running around a large lake. The lake and the area around it were quite beautiful, the whole property was sectioned off by a layer of trees and you can just make out a tall hedge through the trees to finish off the border. On his run he saw several house elves tending to the grounds around the manor, watering plants, picking weeds, trimming hedges and the like. Due to years of vigorous Quidditch and running from his cousin have left Harry, in his opinion, quite fit. He had the starting of a six pack just showing through and the starting of some muscle on his arms. The issue he was having at the moment though is that he hadn't actually run in properly in a long time and since you only use your chest, arms and some of your upper thighs in Quidditch it left him at a disadvantage. While Quidditch meant that he didn't have much fat in his legs, he also lacked

muscle there and his lung capacity was not the best. This didn't stop him from running as fast as he could around this lake though and around an hour later found Harry, shirt in hand, breathing heavily and sweat dripping off of his face onto the grass below as he walked back towards the front entrance.

A quiet screech to his left broke his silence and thoughts, looking to the source of the sound he saw a grey almost skeletal horse running towards him at about 2 foot tall. Once It reached him it started butting its head against his leg. Up until this point, Harry hadn't moved due to fear that whatever this thing was might bite him, but once he'd decided it meant him no harm he started to stroke the creature's head and watched as it nuzzled itself into his hands.

A second much louder screech brought his attention to a much larger version of his new friend. The new arrival was running towards him looking threatening, deducting that this must be the Mother or Father, Harry quickly panicked. The smaller creature must have sensed his fear because it turned and screeched at the offending creature. They seemed to have a conversation made up of head movements and blinks for a few moments before the larger of the two walked over to Harry and lowered its head down to but against his shoulder.

"Are we ok now?" It just nuzzled further into his hand. "Is this yours?" He said motioning at the young creature currently nuzzling into him. The noise it made next, he took for an affirmative.

For a while he just sat down with the smaller creature between his legs and the parent just laying next to them, watching the two play. After a good ten minutes of scratching and playing, Harry decided it was time to go in for breakfast. Bidding goodbye to his new friends, Harry started towards the castle's front doors. He was met by Cindy with a bowl of porridge and an apple.

"Cindy noticed Master Harry playing with Euphemia. Cindy is glad since her father died a few months ago she has been very sad. Her mother, Ana, now leads the herd in his place."

"What were they?" Harry asked.

"Theys being Thestrals, Master Harry. Very smart creatures but many think theys is bad luck because yous only seeing them if yous seen death. But theys be smart and kind creatures"

"How many Thestrals are here Cindy? How come I didn't see any others?"

"Theres being twenty-seven Thestrals here on the castle grounds, theys were brought here by another potter, but Cindy is not knowing the story, Master Charlus might. Yous not seeing them normally because the herd lives in the small area of trees near the pond. Theys mostly being there but Euphemia likes to explore and Ana is always havings to bring her back."

o~0~o

Once Harry had finished his breakfast he left for the library, where his Grandparents portraits were. The castle seemed quite large and easy to get lost in, but luckily Cindy showed him the way to the library. He would have to go exploring.

Once he arrived in the library he was greeted by Charlus but not Dorea.

"Where's Dorea?" Harry asked.

"It's the tradition for the first morning to be only spent with the Grandfather, just so we can have a talk about your life goals, what you need or want to do, how you are planning to do it and what you need to get it done."

"Well I need to learn to fight and… live to see my 20's."

"Well then you need to continue with the exercise, what lots of people don't know or choose to ignore is that the more fit you are the better your magic flows and the better it flows the easier it is to manipulate it. Also being fit is extremely useful in a fight, you can easily defeat someone when they become slow and fatigued due to the length of the fight and you are still going strong and gaining momentum. There is a gym on the third floor with weights and other things to help you keep fit." Taking a moment to gather his thoughts and run his hands through his hair, something Harry noticed that they have in common. "On the Firth floor inside the training room you will find a portrait of a man called William potter, he was a battle mage and trained many people in the Aurors 500 years ago. He will have a lot to teach you from duelling tactics to how to cast more efficiently which is one of the most important lessons you'll learn here"

"So that's what I need to learn to become? A battle mage?" The very idea seemed to make him nervous, not only because he wasn't sure what one was.

Charlus seemed to eye him critically for a few long moments as if trying to decide whether or not to answer his question.

"No, battle mages are extremely skilled duellists, but the problem with that is they are just duellists. They are very knowledgeable and are able to cast very quickly, but they mainly learn what they need to learn and then either become accomplished in duelling tournaments or they train others. They duel to incapacitate and possibly maim but that's all.

"William will be great for you to learn from, he may try to teach you that stunning will always be best but don't let anyone here influence your views on things like this. But make sure you think about it, it's important that you have your own values and beliefs or you just become someone you aren't.

"There have been many "Leaders Of The Light" who have battled Dark Lords but each one of them has had backing from the ministry, as it stands now you will be going into this at a numbers disadvantage so that is how you need to learn how to fight. You need to learn how to survive against all odds and treat every fight like it is the one that could end your life. You need to learn to kill and dish out justice where necessary because by the sounds of your esteemed minister, you won't receive any help from him and he keeps your enemies as friends."

The silence that followed carried on for almost ten minutes and Charlus was beginning to think that maybe he should have waited to tell his grandson all of this, that he should have

eased him into this, that maybe it might have been wiser to let him figure out all of this on his own.

"Ok" Harry finally said.

"Ok?"

"I understand and agree with you, no one else is going to do anything, the ministry is a mockery and is run mostly by the very people who are going to be on the opposite side from me in this war. And if you stun a Death Eater, one of his friends will just wake him up, and even if you put them in prison they will just be broken out again. Death Eaters murder and torture for fun, they need to be put down as justice for what they have done and for my safety and everyone else. The world is much better off without them. I'm not saying that I'm ready to just go out and kill people but I'm open to the necessity of it."

Charlus studied him for a few moments with an expression that Harry couldn't read, just when he was starting to fidget the portrait spoke. "Well, then we need to get started then don't we. First things first, you need your wand. Cindy!" Said Elf pops in. "Take Harry here to the wand shop. I'll meet you up there." And with that, he walked out of his portrait.

Cindy took Harry's hand and he suddenly found himself in a room looking at a wall lined with hundreds of boxes that, he assumed, contained wands. Looking around the room he saw a portrait where a man with sandy blond hair and dull blue, almost grey, eyes were staring at him intently. He was about to ask who he was and introduce himself when his Grandfather walked into the frame.

"Harry this is Vulcanus, he made all the wands you see before you," He said while shaking the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you," The man said with a short bow.

"Hi, I'm Harry." He introduced "I don't want to be rude but how do you know one of these wands will choose me?"

Vulcanus gave a short chuckle. "They always ask that," he muttered. "My dear boy all these wands are the same and you will find that every wand in this room is the same. Ebony, 13 inches with Phoenix feather and Griffin claw."

"But how will I be able to use it properly? I've seen the difference between a chosen wand and a random wand first hand. They don't work the same." He wasn't annoyed, just curious. Harry was trying to keep an open mind during his stay here.

"Each of these wands are very powerful due to the ingredients used but they are different from your average wand. You see, for any of these to work you need to bind yourself to it. Once done only you will be able to use it and your magic will flow through this wand much easier."

"How do I do it?"

"There is a knife over there on the table, pick it up. Now choose a wand from the wall."

Once he had a box he looked inside, after placing the knife beside him, and he had to admit what he saw took his breath away. Inside was a dark wand with small tendrils of wood, wrapping over and under each other woven through most of the wand, stopping just at the tip and below at the very bottom of the wand, engraved in the smooth wood was the phrase "Natus Vincere".

"Now, make a cut in your palm," He did. "Now grab your wand and push your magic through your hand into the wood"

Harry did this and after a few seconds it was almost as if the wand was giving his magic back, he could tell it was his but it felt different. After a minute of their magic swapping, Harry knew he was done. this wand felt completely different, with his old one it felt like his magic could very easily flow through it with barely a thought. But this one, it felt as if it was part of his body, an extension of his magic itself.

"Wow."

o~0~o

It had been a little over a month since Harry had arrived at the castle and he had already progressed to his 7th-year criteria for Hogwarts. Of course, when he told one of the older portraits that they scoffed at him and said that standards have dropped over time, it really made him grateful for the opportunity in front of him. Harry had quickly built up a schedule, first, he would go out on a jog that would take an hour but would increase in distance every week, then he would go and learn from William in the duelling room. The man really knew what he was talking about and Harry had already learned all the basic defence spells and how to minimise their movement and increased his casting in general. Everyday William would give him a new spell to learn and once he was able to cast it William would demand that he cast it one hundred times so that he could cast it as quickly and as accurately as possible. After this, he would go have lunch and then revise theory for around two hours. He would then take his pick of teachers for the afternoon but always made sure that he was well rounded in what he learned, he even found that he had a knack for ancient runes, much to Dorea's joy.

During this time he had really gotten to know Ana and her calf, Euphemia. He had even been allowed to ride on Ana's back around the castle a few times and little Euphemia often tried to join him on his run but her short legs would not be able to run for more than twenty minutes, he often had to carry her for the rest of his run. He of course didn't mind because his run had been getting too easy. Ana always watched when this happened, the ever vigilant mother, which led to her watching their "after run play time" as Dorea called it when Cindy had informed her of Harry's pass time. In fact, the first thing he had ever conjured had been a toy for them to play with and for her to tug on when he wasn't there. Their resident Creature expert had even told him that this should help her with strengthening her teeth.

William was singing nothing but praises for Harry in their lessons. Once he realised that Harry was, at the very least, one of the most powerful students that he had ever had the pleasure of teaching, he really threw himself into the lessons. Making sure that he was learning everything he needed at the best pace he thought the boy could do it at.

"He just soaks everything up like a sponge," William said to Charlus and Dorea one night after Harry had gone to bed. "He's learning at least one spell a day along with its counter-curse if it has one and he can already fight four training dummies at once. Not to mention his power, the lad can hold a mage shield for a minute and a half which is something I don't think I've ever seen anyone do, granted I haven't seen that many people try to hold a Mage shield for an extended period of time. It's strange, I think that his lack of magical general knowledge is highly in his favour, He doesn't think when it comes to casting spells he just acts completely on instinct, which with every duel is getting better and better. I'm not sure how I can improve his training beyond what I'm doing, but I still feel like I'm wasting his potential with what we are doing at the moment. He's getting more powerful every day and when he really gets going in the duels against the dummies, his eyes start glowing. And when taking on four dummies designed to act like mid-level fighters, that is quite a spectacle."

The news of Harry's power had spread through the castle and his tutors were now making him cast silently in everything he did and were offering no help when he was tired or got a cramp in his wrist from casting too long. He clearly had potential and they were not going to throw it away over minor and inconsequential things. Though they did teach some healing spells that would help.

His personal revision sessions were some of his favourite and most informative times, learning spells that Potters have developed. For example, almost 700 years ago there was a blacksmith called Hephaestus Potter who sometimes did contractual work for the Goblins as he was so good at the forge. He had even made some of the swords that are in the armoury from when their use in battle was common. One day when he was pulling something out of the forge, he burnt his arm where his dragon hide gloves ended. He then spent the next two weeks creating a spell that would protect his entire arm but still give the mobility and precision he needed for his smith's work, he ended up with a spell that would create a thick layer of rocks that would cover someone's entire arm and extends onto the shoulder so that he could submerge his entire arm into the forge if need be. The rocks were made of obsidian and would even out around the hand and its finger so that you could use your fingers almost as well as you could as with a normal hand, with a lightweight charm entwined into the spell so that you could actually move your arm.

After reading this he spoke to his Grandfather.

"I think it could be used in a fight," Harry said as he sat with both Charlus and Dorea with a cup of hot chocolate Cindy had provided.

"I agree," Charlus said and then smirked "But do explain in what ways."

Both Harry and Dorea rolled their eyes at this. Over the past month, Charlus had rarely just given Harry answers when it came to things he could figure out within a week. Once he had even sent Harry on a quest for a spell that specifically turns paper into wood, only to be told 2 weeks later that it was all a hoax to "get him thinking". Both Harry and his Grandmother refused to speak with him for the following three days. Dorea the ever loving motherly woman, she always just wanted to tell him anything he asked when he asked.

"Well for one," he started, "If someone gets too close I could probably kill them in one swing but definitely incapacitate them, I also think that I could get away with it being hit by some dark curses and it not crumbling from my arm. I have some theories about the Unforgivables but the main one is that the rocks will explode and I'll have some burns on my arm. I think I can avoid breaking my arm if I interlace a cushioning charm with the spell so that they just bounce harmlessly off of me."

Charlus just smiled and said he approved of his summary and gave him the location of the portrait of Vinci Potter, a female spell creator who had invented the Patronus charm 600 years ago. With her help, he not only altered the spell to his liking but carved the appropriate runes into a stone small enough to fit through a straw with ease and then he inserted into the inside of his left elbow. This was actually a suggestion from Dorea so that he could just push his magic through his arm and the spell would activate. A simple finite is all it took to dispel his arm. He had even, in a moment of teenage zest, changed the colours to extremely dark green, combined with the natural glimmer that the obsidian gives off, his arm looked spectacular.

o~0~o

It was around two and a half months into his stay at the castle that Charlus and Dorea were happy that he was finished with his Hogwarts education. And the Harry that had entered this castle on his fifteenth birthday was not the same one who stood before his Grandparents. He now carried an aura of confidence, his hair now cut short by Cindy, lightning bolt scar clearly showing on his forehead. No longer was he thin and short, two and a half months of vigorous exercise, extra helpings from Cindy and his own magic had made him shoot up a full four inches now standing an intimidating, for his age, five feet and ten inches, his body now broader and more muscular. His once innocent green eyes now had a constant slight glow to them due to his raw power and gave him a look of authority. His magic coupled with his routine had even aged his body a little, making him look closer to seventeen than fifteen. Harry, of course, noticed his new physique only made his confidence grow.

"Now," Charlus started, "while your studies are the most important thing you can do here, there is something that will also require your attention. Just under 700 years ago, six families emerged from the last truly destructive wizarding war to hit Britain, a war that reduced our numbers to under 300 wizards and witches living in Britain. Because of the lack of order in Britain, these families developed the Wizengamot in hopes we might live in peace and have order throughout our islands. These families were the Blacks, the Bones, the Peverells, the Volants, the Ravenclaws and the Potters. The Wizengamot essentially created laws and rules we live by even to this day. Now, several members of the Black and Bones family at the time were critical in the war and saved hundreds of lives, earning them their place among the six.

"The Peverells were always a family that was respected and immediately offered their help to rebuild our nation. The Ravenclaw head of house at the time was of royal blood so she felt obligated to help, leaving her position as Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts, which had been developed 80 years before, and eventually bridged the gap between the school and the Wizengamot. The Volants were actually from the French ministry and were in debt to the

Potters. They communicated between their ministry and the six families which eventually, once more countries got involved, became the ICW.

"To explain the Potters role in this we would have to go back much further to over 1,500 years ago when Magical Rome fell to the Greeks. The fight against the Greeks started and ended with the Greek wizarding clan "Tolmiros" whose leader "Docheio" we are descended from. When magical Rome fell the Tolmiros clan naturally took over both Rome and built a whole new empire. The clan ruled peacefully over Rome for 300 years before passing it on to a new ruler and the rest of the clan, moving on to Norway, helping in a Viking war over there, then on to Egypt to study magic and culture before finally landing in England. As you know it was a little while later that this castle was built and the cycle began. When the Great war started the Potter family decided to once again conquer a nation, using our rapidly built prestige and vast wealth we were able to rally the people of Britain into an army to fight a war that lasted 2 years.

"Now once this war ended the Potters were looked up to by all of Britain and respected by the rest of the 6 as their leading family. When the Wizengamot was instated, the people of Britain started calling the 6's heads of houses "Lords", it was then that the lordship rings were made and new Lords were put into the Wizengamot. Today there are around 42 families on the Wizengamot excluding the families that have been absorbed into other families, like the Peverells being absorbed into the Potter family 500 years ago. These additional Lordships can be revoked but the lordships of the six can never be touched and will be around until the entire Wizengamot falls, but there will always be a Potter to ensure that that won't happen. A lordship ring, while no one is wearing it, is normally stored in Gringotts but, our family magic ensures that if all Potters but one die then it is returned to the remaining Potters finger, if the last Potter has not yet had their stay at this castle then is stored there until their Grandparents think they are ready for the responsibilities.

"A lordship of one of the 6 actually automatically emancipates the person who takes the lordship. Dumbledore has likely not taught you any of this because normally you can't take your Lordship until you are 17, it isn't all that well known that the 6 have an exception to this rule."

10 minutes later, after Harry had asked a few questions about the Wizengamot and the Potter's history in Britain, Harry had the Potter lordship ring on his right ring finger and had 3 new lessons a week.

o~0~o

4 months into his training and William genuinely had no clue what else he could teach Harry. He had taught the lad everything he knew and for the last two days he'd just been training with the dummies for 3 hours a day and devoting the rest of his time to his other pursuits, no one had ever finished 2 months early before. Normally it took 7 months to learn everything he taught, which was essentially how to control your magic and, for those who wanted to learn to fight, he taught how to dual, how to minimise wand and general movements and improve your casting, things like that. This was done quicker than in Hogwarts because they were able to focus on specific subjects and not be slowed down by ones that aren't in the students' interests. Even Charlus took a little over five months to perfect all of his teachings but this was unprecedented. Mr Atrox Potter was teaching him how to recognise the darker

side of magic so he could identify curses in a battle, that man had always been strange. Mr Vinci is making sure he was competent enough for her liking in runes and arithmancy. Dorea has been teaching him politics, Miss Mercurio Potter is teaching him transfiguration, Miss Porem in charms and so on. And he was the only one who felt he had nothing to teach the lad.

After hours of consideration, he has decided to teach him the basics of occlumency. Normally he wouldn't do this because it takes years to be able to keep a competent legilimens out of your mind, but since he had nothing else to teach him and Harry seemed to pick everything else up so this might be worth it, he can always buy some books or come back when he isn't busy when his six months are up.

The young Thestral calf Euphemia, nicknamed Mia by Harry, had grown extremely close to the young Potter and had grown enough so that she came up to his knees and could now trot alongside him the entirety of his run. Ana only came to watch them play a couple times a week, now trusting Harry alone with her calf and trusting her calf to bring itself home. They spent around 20 minutes after every run playing with Harry, him sometimes wandlessly banishing a ball for her to go and fetch. Ana had even let him ride along on her back to take him for a fly. He sometimes asked for a ride at night when he just wanted to think while seeing the ancient castle from the best view possible.

Wandless casting had been a surprise for both him and his teachers. It apparently required a fair amount of power due to the lack of focus that a wand brings, and you can only do spells that simply move objects, anything else cannot be done without a focus, so summoning, banishing and levitation charms were all you could do. The rest were magically impossible. Charlus had told him he once was able to summon his wand in a time of crisis but was not able to do it any other time. Since he had developed his wandless spells he had carried a second potter wand in a Potter wand-holster, made of dragon hide and lined with Griffin claw shavings for extra protection, strapped to his ankle. Ready and available for him to summon in case his first wand is not. His Black family wand was holster still on his wrist with his first wand inside. He had, of course, attempted to try some other basic spells wandlessly but yielded either no results or uncontrollable results when he forced his magic to act. Like impaling his thigh with a needle he was trying to turn into it a matchstick

His lordship classes with Dorea had been going extremely well with his tutor even more driven than he was, Dorea was extremely appalled at the state of corruption even after the first war had ended. The fact that one of her ancestors had helped build the Wizengamot and the current Lords and Minister were spitting on its values angered her. Harry had been keeping her up to date by reading to her, however reluctantly, the important parts of the Daily Prophet. The mere idea you could buy votes completely disturbed her and she couldn't wait for her grandson to walk into that room.

"You're a Potter, a Black and no matter how extinct the line is and that the lordship can not be claimed, you are also the last of the Peverells, no one can doubt your claim to your family seat and ring and no one can not allow you into the Wizengamot. That place is practically your house. You are two of the six if anyone even tries anything, knock them down with force and then tell them to clean your wand as they have dirtied it with their idiocy."

o~0~o

His six months were up and Harry was saying goodbye to his grandparents as he did not know when he would next see them. They had grown quite close over the past months and not seeing them for a while would be difficult.

"We couldn't be prouder of you Harry," his Grandmother tearfully said.

"You are probably the best example of this cycle working there has ever been, you really have turned into a man before my eyes. And it has been an honour to watch you grow"

The lump in his throat preventing him from returning the sentiment he simply nodded his gratitude and grabbed Cindy's offered hand and she popped him to the front gates of Hogwarts.

He hadn't had much communication with his friends during his time away, just a few letters each month, and had thought that a surprise would be appropriate because of how he left, so neither Hermione nor Ron knew that he was arriving today. A quick tempus charm, with his Lord's ring distorting the trace as he wasn't technically in Hogwarts yet, showed that they should be coming down for breakfast in ten minutes. He hoped no one would notice him before he wanted to, unlikely because he was wearing a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, having not been able to go to madam malkins yet and outgrowing his old robes.

After a brisk walk on which he waved to a stunned Hagrid, he ended up at the front door and breakfast had started 10 minutes ago. Excellent, this will be dramatic, he thought sarcastically. Placing a charm on himself so no one saw him until he got to the great hall, he opened the doors.

Harry Potter was finally home.

o~0~o

Harry cancelled his charm and walked through the great halls, scaring an unlucky, passing first year in the process who quickly scuttled over to the Hufflepuff table. The moment he stepped through the doors everyone in the halls went silent and looked him, Harry noticed that there was barely any noise, to begin with, and was about to make a mental note to investigate why people were so quiet when he looked up at the head table and noticed a short, stumpy woman sat in the headmaster's chair, eyeing his clothes with disgust and then quickly masking it behind a fake smile. This must be the Umbridge woman Ron and Hermione wrote about, she finally managed to chase Dumbledore out of the castle, I wonder how recent that is.

"And who might you be, young man," she simpered.

"Harry Potter," he replied.

It was as if Hogwarts had finally found the great hall, whispers and murmurs broke through the silence until Umbridge finally spoke up.

"The ministry has been searching for you for quite some months now if you will just wait here there are people I need to go inform of your arrival," she said, eyes shining with glee, a disgusting smile plastered even further into her face, she waddled over to the

teachers entrance to go and get her friends. Some Aurors no doubt. Maybe even the minister.

Once she'd left the voices grew again and everyone was still looking at him. He looked over to the Gryffindor table in search of his friends but couldn't see them. He was about to walk over and ask his head of house where she was when his senses found a magical core moving towards him at great speeds, it was a little difficult to extend his magic in Hogwarts due to amount of magic there but he could still feel very close round, about two feet in every direction. Realising who it was and only having a moment to react he turned around and grabbed his best friend around the waist and spun her around.

"Harry!" Hermione giggled. When he finally put her down she wrapped her arms around his back and buried her face in his chest. "I've missed you"

"I-" he started but stopped when he felt the dark magic somewhere on her body. Pulling back he started searching for the source, until he found it on the back of her left hand where the words were clearly written into her skin, I must not tell lies.

Realising she'd been found out she dropped her eyes in shame "Harry please d-"

"Who did this to you Hermione?" He said, eyes started to glow, he already knew the answer but he needed her to say it.

She seemed reluctant to give an answer and Harry was afraid he would have to pry it out of her but a glance over his shoulder told him all he needed to know.

o~0~o

Magic has always been too expansive to be completely explained because everytime someone thinks they have a grasp on how it works, a few decades later it is disproven. There is actually very little that we do know for sure. For example, wandless magic only works for movement spells, this ties into the common misconception that wand movements and incantation is not needed for spells. In actuality the wand movements mean a lot, yes they can be minimised so that you can cast quicker but they are needed, whereas the wand movement is where the magic comes from, the incantation has all to do with intent. When you say the incantation to a spell you are telling your magic what you want to happen as, somehow, it understands even what you do not understand, latin. somehow your magic takes the latin words and tries to push through whatever the incantation means. This is why when you have seen the magic done it is easier as your magic can interpret the spell better and the more you perform a spell the easier it is to do for the same reasons. The wand movements simply mould your magic into a format that is better able to carry out the spell, and your incantation is just you pushing and moulding the magic into what you want it to do.

The boundaries on wandless magic can be explained by the difference between movement magic compared to all other types. When casting any spell other than movement magic you are taking magic from your core and then transforming it into something else and hurling it towards your target, whether that be a person, object or anything else. Movement magic works very differently. When you cast the levitation charm for example, you take magic from your core and instead of transforming it you simply command it to lift the object, with the

summoning spell you command your magic to grab something and bring it to you, your magic doesn't change so the moulding that wand movement employs isn't needed and then only requires extra focus until you train your core to be able to perform these spells easily. This is why the first spell that is taught is the levitation charm, it requires almost no magic and very little focus and even starts getting their magical cores used to being used. Once you get past your own mental limitations your intent is the only thing you really need.

The banishing charm takes around the same amount of magic and focus, but the slowing charm aresto momentum requires a lot of magic to perform and only those of massive power are able to perform those spells and even then the focus needed makes it one of the most difficult spells to learn, luckily because it comes directly from your core it becomes much easier with repetition like any other wandless spell. Many tried to expand wandless magic to other spells. A Headmaster of Hogwarts in 1754 even tried to turn a match into a needle, what followed was him casting for 4 hours straight only to put himself into magical exhaustion for two weeks and only managed to give the match a slight silver tint. Similar scenarios are likely happening all the time but the practitioner is too embarrassed to tell anyone.

Even the potters had to submit to this problem. The latest Potter had once tried the same experiment but it only lasted for 20 minutes when his grandmother caught him and proceeded to shout at him for a half-hour straight and refuse to speak to him for the rest of the day.

o~0~o

The Greengrass family has been neutral since 400 years ago when the first Lord Greengrass was inducted into the Wizengamot, and while they weren't as highly respected as the Potters family they did have a respectable amount of political standing, especially in the neutral faction. As several others thought, the Greengrasses are not blood supremacist, in order to appease the dark faction they never marry outside of half-bloods and purebloods. The current Lord Greengrass, Cyrus Greengrass even does lots of business in the muggle world to further the family vault and owns companies in the muggle and wizarding world.

Daphne Greengrass sat in the great hall during breakfast when the new Potter Lord walked in. She had to admit he'd come a long way from the scrawny boy she'd seen in her first year. The disappointment at the sorting sprung to mind, The-Boy-Who-Lived would have been perfect at a political standpoint. He had the love of almost the entire country plus the Potter Lordship, which is arguably the one that brings in the most respect and political clout. But his house placement, clear aversion to Slytherin and his obvious social anxiety would have made it extremely difficult to get close to him. Not that that would have been a simple thing to do in the first place, the war had only ended a decade prior and the neutral family of Greengrass had barely been able to walk their line to appease both the dark and the light side of the war.

The boy before her this morning, however, is something else entirely. From her observations, Harry Potter had not changed much over the past few years and when he didn't turn up for his fifth year she simply thought that with the ministry's involvement with the Prophet and Hogwarts it wasn't necessary to come here. But now she thought that he had most definitely been preparing himself. His new physique and clear confidence that couldn't be arrogance

was a clear testament to that. Her normally blank face was tinted in red at the thoughts rushing through her head. She was about to brush her thoughts aside and think of what her father would say for initiating such a risky relationship without consulting him when his hushed conversation with Granger became much more interesting. His eyes were glowing ever so slightly, the mark of a powerful wizard. She could feel and see the anger and magic pulsating from her classmate. Her Father would definitely want to hear of this.

o~0~o

He had come to Hogwarts to see his friends and converse a little with the Headmaster before going to see Sirius. Now he was standing in the Great Hall trying to reel his magic in, he hadn't wanted to reveal the full extent of his capabilities yet but now his eyes were glowing dimly and the plates and cutlery within close proximity were rattling with students struggling to keep their food off of the floor.

He watched as she tentatively opened her eyes for him and then immediately cast her eyes towards the floor in shame. She shuffled nervously in front of him for a few moments before he pulled her out of the Great Hall. He put him some silencing and notice-me-not charms before he spoke.

"You know you're in trouble don't you?" She nodded and briefly looked at him before averting her eyes but it was long enough to see the tears forming. "Listen 'Mione you know you're extremely important to me and I realise that we haven't exchanged many letters in the last half a year and I realise that it is mostly me and my schedule's fault but this is definitely something that I would make time for Hermione. Bloods quills are illegal for fuck's sake and you're lucky that that won't scar for the moment but much more use and it would have."

She could see his eyes starting to glow again and decided to try and appease him as quickly as possible just in case he went off to go kill the new Headmistress.

"I'm sorry, I thought I could beat her, she kept making comments about my blood and how it wasn't worthy of the parchment it was written on. She just kept pushing me and Ron has been making himself less and less available since you left. You really were the only thing keeping us together..."

Harry lost any anger he had seeing his friend start to sob and could only pull her back into a hug as she cried into his shoulder. It didn't last long as his anger returned and with it came a need to bring justice to those who had harmed his friend. To bring the ugly bitch to her knees and make her beg for her forgiveness only to end her life. Hermione was his family. It wouldn't be the first time he had taken a life, having ventured out of the castle a few times to start from the bottom of Voldemort's network. He had come across some wizards torturing a muggle family, sensing their marks he immediately went in for the kill, laying waste to five wizards in seconds.

Holding his hand out he said, "Cindy, bring me a protection ring please." He had calmed down but his eyes still had a slight glow to them. A ring with a bland and the Potter crest on it appeared in his hand.

"Listen Hermione because Umbridge will be back soon and I need this done before then. This ring will say to everyone that you are under house Potter protection and once that is done most people won't bother you. If they do however I will be allowed to respond in order to protect you in any way that may be needed. If anyone challenges you to a formal dual I will be the one that acts in your stead. If you are ever in trouble just think of me and push your magic through the ring and I'll come running." He could see her about to reject it, likely out of pride but he didn't have time for it so he made sure she wouldn't. Looking her dead in the eyes, he tried to convey how little time they had for this. Instantly her face fell and after a moment she took the ring and put it on.

Smiling at her he transfigured her robes so that a very small Potter crest was on the left breast of her robes, just above the Gryffindor crest. This wasn't done often but the small house crest signified that a muggleborn had been put under the umbrella of a lorded family. He hugged her, kissed her on the cheek and said, "Thank you, we'll get you some new robes so that the crest is permanent but Hermione, this is very important to me, thank you."

They hugged again and departed back to the Great Hall, as soon as they cleared the doors the entire hall went silent again and stared at him. He was about to go and sit at the Gryffindor table when the doors and the head table opened and Umbridge walked in with a massive smile on her face followed by the burly looking men.

"Go sit down," He commanded. She was going to tell him no but started walking back to her seat when he glared at her and flicked his own ring.

He watched her go back to the table and only turned his blank stare to the stout women when she was only a small distance away from him and stopped.

"Mr Potter if you just come with us we'll take you to the ministry and sort out this whole mess that popped up before the school year started hmm? Yes, come along young man, you have caused quite a bit of trouble for us." She said, that gleeful look still firmly on her chubby face.

"If you are quite done Madam Umbridge it is my duty as Lord Potter to tell you that Miss Granger is now under my house protection while I cannot act upon your past actions towards her in the way I would like, any future incidents I will deal with personally." As he was speaking his aura returned and she quickly paled while he glared. "Meaning, if you ever touch Miss Granger again or go anywhere near her with a blood quill, I'll remove your head from your neck and hand it over to the centaur herd in the forest, I'm sure they would appreciate it once I explain just who you are."

He could see her face go quickly from white to red and her hand twitch towards her wand. He would love it if she made a move against him in front of so many witnesses, as a Lord he could put her down and the ministry would barely be able to spin it. She must have thought about that herself as after a few moments she fought off her anger and put on a fake smile which was ruined by her still red face.

"Of course Mr-"

"Lord Potter, we are not currently talking about school work so you will address me with my full title, '' He corrected, internally taking great pleasure seeing her glance down to his ring

and start literally shaking in anger. He didn't really care for such formalities but they had their uses.

"Yes well, if you'll just follow us the Minister has been looking forward to having a word with you." Unlikely, he thought, there's probably a Wizengamot meeting convening as we speak.

"Might I ask why there are two Aurors with you?"

"They are here to escort us to the ministry for our own safety. We are important people and as such we get an entourage."

"Madame Umbridge, would you agree that Hogwarts is safe and that there are no threats inside these walls?" At her confused nod, he continued. "Then why do they have their wands out and instead of looking around the room searching for threats, they are instead staring rather intently at me."

Instantly all three ministry workers stiffened and all those in the hall became wary of how close they were to this confrontation. Some students even started trying to shuffle away from the end of their table or stood up and went somewhere further away.

Umbridge seemed to recover from her stupor quite quickly though. "Stun him," she ordered, taking her own wand from her pocket and stepping back behind the Aurors.

The Auror on his left quickly fired a stunning spell at him, wandlessly deflecting it to the one on the right Harry summoned his wand from his wrist holster. He obviously wasn't expecting any kind of resistance because the deflected stunning spell hit him square in the chest and he collapsed to the floor. Pushing his magic through his arm he sidestepped the second stunning spell. What followed was a fight that only lasted ten seconds before the ministry employee was also stunned, the Auror must have been under orders to not hurt him as he had only been casting to stun or bind.

He turned his attention back to the final ministry stooge only to see the sickly yellow light of an unknown curse heading towards him. Without enough time to dodge or conjure he put his left arm up to block the curse, as soon as the curse struck the black rock pain ripped through his arm. He grunted as rocks flew from his arm only to be wandlessly summoned back to him and thrown at Umbridge.

Seeing her unconscious on the floor, he looked at his arm and could see that his theory was proven right. He could feel the malice in that curse as it hurled towards him and if this rock could block that then it would likely work with the torture curse and the killing curse, his arm was covered in lots of nasty burns which he couldn't heal himself with just his wand. Placing cooling and numbing charms on his arm, he conjured a bandage and wrapped it around his entire arm.

"Hermione could you go grab me some burn salve from Pomfrey, please I don't want to leave these three unattended." She didn't even answer, just nodded and ran from the hall.

While she was gone he took the time to inspect Umbridge further there were grazes all over her body and a nasty gash here and there. Vanishing the rocks he started to heal all of the wounds that would cause issues over time. Once he was happy with his work he once again

stunned and then bound all three of them in thick black chains. Turning to see both Hermione and the school healer hurriedly making their way towards him. They must have flooed to another professor's office to get here quicker.

The healer brought her wand up and conjured a dome that would blur the inside to the outside world, giving her privacy.

"Shirt off Potter"

He chuckled at her authoritative commands and vanished his shirt, leaving the bandage in place for her to do as she wished. He chuckled even more when his best friend blushed and looked away. The matron, however, didn't even bat an eye. His chuckles soon stopped however when she removed his charms and the bandages on his arm. Clearly Ignoring his grimace in pain she went to work rubbing the salve into his arm.

"Are you ok Harry?" He looked up to see his best friend clearly concerned.

"It's alright Hermione just pain, Madam Pomfrey has it under control she's an excellent matron. She has even tied for first in class with my grandmother during her healer training."

This caught the matron's attention. Still moving her hands she thought for a moment before smiling. "Dorea Black married Charlus Potter?"

At his grin, she looked down and still smiling muttered about "Potters and their ludicrous stunts and secrets."

Him and Hermione made idle conversation for a few minutes in the Great Hall. Once his arm had taken all of her attention in need she finally noticed the three stunned adults on the floor.

"What will you do with them, Potter"

After pulling his shirt back over his head, he said, "well I imagine that Umbridge was trying to take me to the ministry where a Wizengamot meeting is likely convening now. I'll simply take her there and put her on trial myself." A predatory smile erupted on his face, it was time to rattle some old bones.

o~0~o

There are different types of magic. A better word to use might be "genres" as, while they are different, they are the same on a basic level. Part of it comes with evolution. The magic in a wizard or even a magical creature's body changes over time into something different that suits the user.

For example, 1500 years ago house elves couldn't apparate. Over time they saw what wizards were doing and in an effort to better serve their masters they learnt to do it themselves and then showed it to the rest of their species. At the time they could barely apparate across a house and struggled even more if there were wards. Now because over almost 1500 years they have trained their magic so much, they apparate across most of the country and go through wards they aren't keyed into even if they are bringing people with them. The Potters, as well as some other magicals, have done some research into this.

It seemed that they simply have different magic to wizards. With the help of those possessing mage sight, wizards were able to see that on a small fundamental level their magic was the same, but it was also as if they operated on a different wavelength. The way in which they use their magic was even the same as wizards, well maybe a house elf will be a tad more conservative. It also seemed that they have smaller magical cores on average.

House elves can also seem to be able to find their master, and sometimes if they spend enough time with them, their children, anywhere in the world. They can also see how many people are in their master's home if they spend enough time there. Sometimes they can tell you who they are based on their magic alone.

Goblins don't have much magic to use but have managed over the years to be able to infuse what little magic they have into their weapons to ensure they are always sharp and self-cleaning and also have other magical properties. Veelas, however, are a completely different story. They actually have, on average, a larger magical core than wizards and witches, they simply constantly use it in their allure. They were actually originally held very high in society in Eastern Europe due to their magical power but were eventually seen as sex objects and their allure had to be increased in power so that anyone attempting to assault them could be overwhelmed and the Veela could escape. Over the generations their allure just stayed more concentrated than what it used to be. Their power essentially became wasted on the greed of man and now they only have a barely above average magical core due to their allure's constant drain.

It is entirely possible that anti-apparition wards will have to be upgraded so that when the wizard's way of apparating eventually evolves there is still a defence for it.

o~0~o

Minerva McGonagall had been teaching almost 40 years, starting back in 1956. The past year, however, since a ministry worker had come to take over her home, had been the first time she had been genuinely embarrassed to be working at Hogwarts. The students had been walking through the halls silently with their heads down for months. There was no longer any laughter. No games of exploding snap in the halls. No rambunctious behaviour. She hadn't taken any points in months because the children were behaving so well. And yet it didn't make her happy. It both angered and depressed her.

Her lions had been the worst affected, undoubtedly because that was the house Potter was in. She couldn't bring herself to resent him though. She knew that if he was here he would be getting the brunt of it. Instead, Miss Granger seems to have been the focus of the new Headmistresses ire, likely because of her blood status and affiliation with Mr Potter.

She thought about Albus's removal while she picked at her breakfast. It would likely be even harder on the children now. Looking to her left she saw Umbridge watching the hall's silent eating, the ever-present sickly smile on her face changed to surprise. Looking at the door she saw a very different Harry Potter walk into the great hall, very different but she'll always know that hair. James Potter had always been one of her favourite students after all, not that she'd ever admit it.

o~0~o

After leaving Hermione in the care of the school Matron to get her hand treated in order to prevent pain and scarring, he was making his way to the floo in the Pomfrey's office with his guests in tow. The healers floo being bigger for the transport of patients. He'd been preparing for this for months but was still worried about the outcome, part of him wanted to let slip his aura and possibly scare the spineless Minister onto the backfoot where Harry could press him until the bumbling fool submitted. Now, after his own undersecretary and her entourage had used an incredibly dark spell in front of hundreds of people, on top of that most of them were the young and impressionable children she was there to protect.

Now, however, he had an amazing advantage in that the law was completely on his side in every aspect. He and his Grandmother had been preparing for an uphill battle with obstacles, it seems now that only the obstacles remain. However, Fudge is the type to easily be sent into a stupor and become the bumbling moron that he is so he wasn't the problem they had been planning for. Lucius Malfoy, the Lord Malfoy, presented a much bigger problem. The Malfoys are a family that is only around 350 years old, and since coming from France 150 years ago the Malfoy seat likely holds the least power historically due to its youth. But even if the seat is not hereditary it is the person in that seat commands respect unlike anyone except for the previous Chief Warlock. Lucius has accumulated this power using bribes, threats and in very few cases his very own charm. He is one of the few people with the clout to call an emergency Wizengamot session.

It would be their downfall.

In their view, Harry didn't know that he was even going to the Wizengamot, he still knew nothing of politics and he would already be frazzled and confused by Umbridge and the speed at which he would leave the castle. This would be further cemented by the fact that the Potters had barely touched the Wizengamot in over 300 years.

The tactic was to knock them off balance and turn as many heads as he could while they were confused. Hopefully, the old farts in their plum robes will be so used to an unchallenging life, that when something comes to their attention that is not a law to make their lives easier or something that is extremely inconsequential but takes 9 meetings to come to fruition, when Harry stormed in there, ministry brigade slumped over in mid-air behind him, they will also be much too frazzled in order to come up with a decent thought.

As he walked through the ministry atrium he decided to ponder the effects of the hereditary seat system of the Wizengamot. In parts he agreed with it, the idea that the knowledge of manoeuvring the British political landscape is continuously passed on and those families can only gain knowledge of how to govern the people better. It makes sense. But in practice, it's a shit show. The best way he could describe it is a tall hill of money with the common people at the bottom. The lords will climb and leave the commoners at the bottom and the further they climb the less they can see and understand their problems. It was a cycle that will sadly continue and he couldn't really blame them, they were raised in a sheltered way because their parents were raised in a sheltered way because of their parents. etc.

For example, between the years 1183 and 1197, there were a total of 8 different magical shopping districts, at one point 3 of them were called Diagon Alley and were located very close to each other. This made for very confusing conversations. The ministry wanted it to be called that but could not make a choice as to where they should choose as a permanent

spot. They could only afford to maintain one at the time, Knockturn Alley was meant to expand on Diagon but the large influx of crime has dissuaded the ministry from making another attempt. The Diagon Alley that we know today was eventually set up in 1286 after all the others were shut down, it wasn't much of a loss for the community however, as the present day Diagon Alley has more shops than all of its predecessors combined.

But he understood why they had maintained such a silly amount of districts beyond the standard "our traditions are important" speech. At that time the wizarding world was in constant fluctuation even without the wars that were occurring. The constant changes and advances were good but it led to a sort of nationwide anxiety. Spells that you used on a daily basis were changing. Between the years of 1181-1188, portkeys, the floo and brooms were invented. That unease is one of the reasons that the magical carpet is still banned in the UK. Well, that and the fact that several Lords hold shares in the highest-selling brooms companies.

Hogsmeade was actually a fluke. In 1403 an extremely distressed mother refused to be too far away from the school when her daughter broke her ankle in an accident with a broom. This led to her use of a recently invented magically expanded tent and as the months went on she decided she quite liked the area and decided to push all her money into a shop using her Grandmother's recipes and made a good living for herself and her daughter. Children often opted to walk to the train station so that they could make a purchase. People forgot about the crazy woman who refused to leave and instead remembered a woman with a heart of gold and an excellent singing voice. Sylvie Honeyduke.

It only took another 22 years before Hogsmeade became an official ministry sanctioned village after several other shops popped up in the area.

o~0~o

It took him only 10 minutes to find the Wizengamot chambers. He had seen some pictures and memories of the chamber and not a single thing had changed in the last 70 years at least, a lot more than that if the portraits accounts were accurate. He had to admit that the room was quite beautiful, dark and foreboding, yes, but quite elegant. He would have liked to take in some more of his surroundings but Fudge had finally come out of his stupor that he had been since Harry had entered the room.

For once he couldn't blame the minister for his blustering. He had just walked in with his assistant and 2 Aurors levitated behind him. Well, the Aurors were quite high in the air, Umbridge's head had knocked on a few steps on the way.

"Minister, I would like to report a crime". Harry said, putting on his most concerned face. Despite what his Grandmother said and how much she wanted him to be mature all the time, he was still only 15, and at that age he was allowed to be cheeky and stir the pot a little.

o~0~o

"Mr Potter, is- is that my undersecretary behind you?"

The Minister looked quite faint in Harry's opinion, already off to a good start. He took a moment to look around the room and assess the members present. There were a few faces he recognised from their children at Hogwarts, even one particularly young member who was in their last year when Harry started Hogwarts. Only a few of them were looking at him with any sort of disdain which is a good sign. But even with all of the preparations there is a lot of guesswork in this plan. Charlus had been into the Wizengamot a few times and knew a few members from then but that was over 20 years ago. People have died or stepped down, houses have gone extinct and have been absorbed. It's impossible to estimate the state of this courtroom to any sort of accuracy.

But the Wizengamot during any generation is mostly made up of people who will take a back seat approach to politics. Most of the time this is because they are part of a party and their party leader will do most of the speaking on their behalf, but a good chunk of the people here don't want to be and won't speak as that would drag out the session. There is even a heavily bearded old man in the back who seemed to be napping.

"I assume you are talking about the woman behind me, Minister?" When it became apparent that the young man was waiting for an answer the Minister nodded. "Well then this reflects poorly on yourself then minister as this woman just attacked me with a dark curse in front of the entire Hogwarts student body, including several heirs to families of which the heads sit in this very room, and including children as young as eleven." There were several grumblings and a few exclamations amongst the crowd.

"You surely understand why I have brought my attacker in, Minister, if that curse had hit a child then they may have died or at least suffered greatly, scarring them for life. Had that child been the heir to one of the families here then a blood feud may have been started. The murder of one's heir can not go unanswered." He said with nothing more than a concerned face.

The original tactic was to be much more aggressive than this, to force the Minister onto the back foot and then while he reels, to push the rest of the Wizengamot into allowing him to show a memory or be placed under a truth serum. Today's events have pushed things into a different direction than they had originally anticipated and a new angle has presented itself.

The room was a cacophony of voices for a few moments, many Lords and Ladies were expressing their concern, mostly to each other some were chastising the Minister however and a couple voices could be heard asking about their child's welfare. Harry did his best to soothe their concerns over the noise.

Lucius Malfoy seemed to have come off of the backfoot however and was whispering into the Minister's ear. That's fine for the moment, Harry thought, if he doesn't speak then I won't be able to manoeuvre him. Despite his appearance the Minister is still the most powerful person in this room, well on paper that is, it doesn't mean much when you have essentially been collared and led around for several years. And it seems his owner is finally allowing him to speak.

"And what of Aurors Gibbings and Tooly next to Madam Umbridge? It is against ministry law to attack an Auror." Fudge stated with a hint of smugness.

"Madam Umbridge ordered them to stun me, I believe they were quite surprised when I defended myself and I was able to stun them both. Self-defence is legal in any scenario, Minister. I hope that they won't get into any trouble with their boss, they were only doing what they were told." The main goal for now is to pour as much blame onto Umbridge as possible, Harry had no qualms with these aurors and would not wish to see them lose their jobs and potentially be unable to provide for their families. Once it is proven that Harry is telling the truth it will become easier to convince them that Voldemort is back. "If you send some personnel over to Hogwarts now breakfast may still be in session. Only a few interviews would confirm my story, like I said this all happened in front of almost the entire school population."

"Ministry resources should not have to be used for such a ridiculous accusation, besides we are not here to pander to ramblings of a lying child." A large portion of the members were looking at Fudge quite strangely now, some others seemed quite resigned to the Minister's wilful ignorance.

"Oh I apologise, it's just that when Madam Umbridge first approached me I was told that the Minister wished to speak with me. When I arrived at the Ministry I asked where I would find you and was pointed here. I must have interrupted a rather important discussion with so many of you here. I'll wait until you are done and this can be dealt with then." With that said Harry dropped the unconscious bodies in the centre of the room and took a seat in one of the chairs that was by the wall. He knew that they had convened for him but had decided to let the Minister say it, it would look quite arrogant of him to make the assumption that everyone in this room was simply awaiting his arrival.

After a few seconds of silence, with over half of the courtroom staring at him, the Minister finally spoke up.

"We are here to try you Mr. Potter, that is why the Wizengamot has convened today." He had a small smile on his face as he said this, clearly thinking that this gave him the upper hand.

"I don't remember committing any murders or robberies minister, what on earth have I done that justifies this meeting?"

"We are here to investigate the underage magic that you performed last year Mr .Potter"

Expecting this answer, Harry did not wait to respond. "You want to try me for underage magic, an offence that is normally forgiven right away or is done in a small interview by a DMLE official? Today you wish to do this in front of the entire Wizengamot? Not to mention the spell that I used was a Patronus charm, a charm which can not be seen by muggles. I didn't levitate a house Minister, I defended my life against rogue dementors, dementors that are supposed to be under Ministry control I might add. And before you even think of casting any doubts on my story I am more than willing to submit a memory or undergo veritaserum in order to prove my innocence."

"Mr. Potter-"

"I am a Lord of the Wizengamot Minister and you would do well to call me by my title. I have been nothing but respectful since entering the room and I only ask that the same courtesy be

extended to me." The approach would have to change now, it was time to push hard instead of respond. With half of the room already at least unhappy with Fudge bringing them to Harry's side would not be too difficult. "Excuse me but I am simply struggling to believe that you would make such a mockery of this body and waste this many people's time. Is the head of the DMLE here?"

Before Fudge could interrupt a woman with red hair that looked to be in her 50's stood and announced herself as Amelia Bones.

"I apologise you must be a very busy woman," Harry said, "Is the fine for underage magic still 20 galleons?" After receiving a nod he continued. "Then I will go into the department office, fill out the forms and pay the fine after this meeting is adjourned if that is okay with you?" Another tactic, take the power out of Fudge's hands by addressing the problem with someone else. The fact that this was done in front of Fudge himself would also possibly anger the man, which would in turn mean more mistakes on his part, if this meeting ran any further.

"I don't see why not, I will be going down there after this meeting if you would like an escort? We will need an interview from you anyway regarding today's events." The Lady Bones said after a moment of thought. "I will also send some Aurors down to the school to do some interviews of the students and teachers present at the time of the incident" She took a moment to stand and look around the courtroom. "This is now a DMLE investigation, Robards please take these three to a holding cell ready for questioning, I'll handle them myself. Unless there is anything else, Minister, I would like to get back to work."

The whole room was now looking intently and with annoyance at the Minister who was now red in the face trying to sink into his chair, seeming very intent on not looking at Malfoys blank face. After a moment of indecision he bangs his gavel on the desk.

"Meeting adjourned."

o~0~o

Harry was the first to leave the chambers as he was closest to the door. But truth be told he needed a moment to school his face and hide the relief he felt. To Harry this was frankly one of the riskiest things he had ever done, essentially walking into a room that, despite his grandmother's assurances, was a lion's den that he had no power in. Yes, he had two seats in there but he had never sat in them. Yes, he was still technically a minor but the minister would attempt to try him as an adult. There are many dangers in politics and not many of those are readily apparent.

He stood opposite the doors and watched the members float out. Some of them seem disgruntled, likely over having to put on their robes and floo to the ministry only to be sent home just 30 minutes later. The sleeping old man had the right idea by Harry's estimation. Just when he was starting to get worried no one had woken him up, Madam Bones came out of the chambers, her eyes finding him quite quickly.

"Mr Potter, like you said I am quite busy and my working day had barely started when I was called into that… meeting. So I would appreciate it if you match my pace until I hand you

over to someone in my department who can deal with this. After which we can both go about our day?" The department head asked, though Harry knew that it wasn't much of a question. He was proven correct when she barely waited for his nod before she set off walking. Admittedly her pace was quite quick but Harry was far too used to his aunt racing around Waitrose quicker than his small legs could carry him.

He knew he only had a few minutes with this woman and to not speak to her would be a wasted opportunity that his grandmother would be quite cross at him for missing out on. And, unless he is unlucky and this woman is estranged, everyone loves talking about their family.

"Susan is your niece, yes?" Harry asked.

"She is, yes, do you know her? I think she would have mentioned being friends with Harry Potter." This could easily be interpreted as idle chat but Harry recognised that she was cutting off the channel of claiming friendship to Susan as a means to get close to someone of such high standing. Such a shrewd woman.

"Not really." Harry shrugged. "Though I used to stand next to her in herbology, I fancied her for a little while if I'm honest. Though those feelings died down during my fourth year." All true and despite Harry's embarrassment he did not regret divulging his school crush when he saw that his walking companion stuttered in her step. Though she quickly found her gait again.

"Is that so? Well I'm sorry to inform you that she hasn't mentioned you much at home. So I doubt she returned those feelings." She seemed to take amusement in such a trivial teenage tale of unrequited feelings.

"Ah, no matter. Like I said, I'm not all that hung up on it. Though I wouldn't mind if you put in a good word for me." Harry finished with a grin.

"I'll be sure to take that into consideration, Mr Potter." Definitely not happening based on the raised eyebrow.

"Would you believe me to be a worthy suitor Madam Bones? I am aware that you haven't had much of an opportunity to get to know me but you have seen enough to have a sort of… first impression of me. Do you think that I'm a decent sort? An honest person?"

The game was out in the open now. She must have known that Harry was angling for something when he broached the subject, or she was likely used to people trying to gain something from a conversation with her and therefore went into this with that in mind. Either way Harry's questions were quite harmless, but gaging whether such a powerful woman was against you or not was something he needed to do. He wasn't looking for her support, simply hoping she wasn't to be an obstacle. She was silent for several minutes and he was beginning to worry that he had pushed too far and she wouldn't even give him a response.

Just as they approached an archway with the DMLE insignia hanging above it, fashioned out of what appeared to be bronze and hanging from similar coloured chains, Madam Bones finally spoke.

"I think that there is more to you then most know Potter. And I'll be asking my niece to keep a closer eye on you." Before Harry could respond however she barked out a name that he was familiar with and Harry was directed to a desk where a pretty, teal haired woman was sitting. Her head had only risen when her boss had called her and to give a quick glance at the person who had been passed on to her, after which it quickly burrowed back into what appeared to be some parchment work.

"What are you here for lad?"

"That's an interesting hair colour for a witch." Harry said, ignoring her question.

"Your interest is noted, now what can I do for you?"

"You could tell me what prompted such an interesting style of hair, it's cut quite short too which is also uncommon. In fact I don't believe I have ever seen a witch with hair that doesn't reach her shoulders."

"Yes well there is a first time for everything, now can we please move on to why you are here." Harry could tell that the Auror was becoming increasingly irritated, but frankly she still hadn't looked up from her desk which most would consider bad manners and thus thought it a bit appropriate to tug on her chain a little.

"Well that seems like quite a personal question to be asking when you have yet to introduce yourself or even look at me." Harry said, keeping his tone light.

The woman gave a great sigh, put her quill down and lifted her head with her mouth open, no doubt ready with a sarcastic reply, but froze upon seeing who was standing next to her desk. Her mouth gaped for a couple seconds before she gathered her wits.

"Ha- Mr. Potter I-." The young Auror seemingly too shocked to continue her line of thought.

"Tonks, how are you?" Harry asked while he sat down and lowered his voice so that it would be difficult to hear them. "Sorry Madam Bones decided to throw some work at you in the form of myself. But you should really work on your manners, I could have been a distraught victim of a perilous crime." His words sounded harsh but the smile on his face let her know that he was joking. His words seemed to pull him from her stupor however

"Sorry I overslept today and have been catching up since, I think the boss threw you at me as punishment. How are you? You certainly look better than when I last saw you." She said this all while inspecting him, moving his head from side to side making sure that he is ok. When he was at the Order's HQ she seemed to always try to integrate herself in an older sibling capacity with himself and the others. It seemed that this was going to continue. "How come you're in here anyway?"

"I'm doing fine thank you, and I'm here to fill out the forms and pay for use of underage magic."

Tonks smiled. "I'm glad you got that sorted out, I knew it would be alright in the end"

"Thankfully yes, I've missed Hogwarts and I look forward to being back there"

"I'm not sure you will when you find out how it's being run these days, one of my friends has a younger sister that is still there and she says it's horrible." She dropped her voice to an even lower volume. "And I don't think you'll know but Dumbledore is back at headquarters after that bitch finally managed to remove him last week."

"Yes I've some stories myself from Hermione, Ron and the twins even sent me a few letters that mentioned her."

"She came in here a few times before she was appointed to Hogwarts. Always looked at everyone like they were filth, including Bones, wouldn't even talk to you if you weren't a pureblood. I'd hate to think what she would be like around all those kids."

"Well I think nine days might be the shortest amount of time that anyone has ever been head of Hogwarts. Madame Bones seemed quite happy for the opportunity to charge her with everything she can if I read her correctly."

"What are you on about?"

"Well when I went to Hogwarts this morning she attacked me in the great hall in front of everyone." Harry said with a grin, "I brought her to the meeting that they summoned to put me on trial for the underage magic, speaking of which where are those forms?"

The metamorph simply stared at him for a few moments in shock before finally speaking. "Harry you can't just brush over that and try and move on, I need details lad, I'm on the edge of my seat here."

"I'll explain it all later, I'm going to headquarters in a bit, after I go back to school to talk to Ron and Hermione and see how they are."

"Fine I'll leave it for now but you won't start any kind of explanation without me, I get out of here at five and there is a meeting tonight at seven anyway. Make sure you're there for that." She commanded, seemingly content with his nod she pulled some forms from under her desk and started writing in them asking him questions when she couldn't just fill in the blank for him.

o~0~o

After he got lost when an Auror had given him incorrect directions to get to the atrium, Harry manages to floo back to the Hogwarts Infirmary and finds Hermione napping on one of the beds.

Deciding to sit with her for a while he practises his magic, more specifically his use of conjuration. Conjuring a small wall, maybe a couple of feet wide and tall, he transfigures it into a turtle then back into a wall and then into a hedgehog and back into a wall continuing to do this while cycling through different animals all while keeping it levitated in front of him trying to make sure that the wall doesn't up or down. He has of course silenced the area in front of him in case one of the animals makes some noise and wakes his friend.

He looks up when he hears hurried footsteps from the hall just outside the hospital wing only to see Ron come around the corner a little out of breath and freeze when he sees who was sitting next to Hermione's bed.

Harry puts a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion, gesturing towards Hermione. After vanishing the fox he had just transfigured and dispelling his silencing charm, he waves his wand around Hermione's bed in order to cast one that doesn't allow sound to disturb Hermione from anywhere in the room. When he turns around Ron is carrying a chair over, and once they are both settled the red head begins to speak.

"It's been weird without you around Harry, we've all missed you."

"Sorry I had to leave so suddenly, but I can't say that I regret going." Harry said with a wry smile.

"You seem to be doing ok, can you tell us where you went? The letters you sent were a little vague about it. I didn't want to push you on it."

"I wouldn't have been annoyed with you asking about it, but I can't tell you either way Ron, I'm sorry."

He looked unsatisfied with his answer for a moment but seemingly decided to let it go. "That's ok, Sirius warned me that you might be unable to. That with the way the letter was written, it made sense that it was a secret."

"Where were you at breakfast?"

"I slept in, apparently on the worst day possible. Imagine my face when Seamus told me what I'd missed." Ron grinned.

Harry snorted. "Sorry, next time I'll let you know so that you can grab a good seat"

"Yeah, with plenty of time please so that I can get some snacks beforehand." They shared a smile for a few moments before he spoke again. "But really Harry, I can't thank you enough for getting rid of that chubby bint, I know I wrote about her but you don't know how bad it was with her here. It only got worse after Dumbledore left."

"I can't take all of the credit, her own idiocy played a big part in it. She massively overestimated her influence and strength. But either way it's over with now, you don't have to worry about her anymore."

"Well I bet when you start classes again people in the tower and other houses will be lining up to shake your hand Harry. You… you will be coming back right?"

"That is the plan." Harry answered with a smile, happy to alleviate his friend's worries. The two friends talked for close to 30 minutes, partly complaining about the state of the school the past few months but other things as well, reminiscing about their earlier years, talking about quidditch, but eventually the conversation winded down. "I need to go over to headquarters after this to speak with Professor Dumbledore about my place at the school. I

was gonna go anyway to see Sirius but with the headmaster there I might as well do two things at once."

"Ok I'll let you go then." Ron said, a lot more confident than he was when he first entered the hospital wing. "Make sure you come back though, don't go running off on another adventure without me."

"I'll do my best Ron, stay with Hermione until she wakes up for me and let her know where I've gone?" Content with the nod his friend gives him, Harry leaves the room and makes his way down onto the grounds and out of the gate before apparating away.

o~0~o

He appeared just outside the doorstep to 12 Grimmauld place and took a breath before knocking on the door. He had exchanged a few letters with Sirius during his stay at the castle and felt guilty that Sirius was the one who always waited. Harry had tended to let them pile up on his desk until he couldn't ignore them any longer and answered them all at once. But he was looking forward to seeing him again, as well as Remus and the others. There wasn't any time to pontificate on his own guilt however because he could hear the rattling of someone on the other side of the door.

Harry was surprised when a blonde woman that he didn't recognise around the age of 40 opened the door but she clearly recognised him judging by the way her eyes immediately widened when they met his own and travelled up to his scar.

"Oh! Harry, come in please, come in. I'm glad you're here. I didn't know that you were coming back today."

"I thought a surprise might be nice. I did think about sending a letter but decided this would be more fun," he grinned as he entered the house. It was 6pm now, giving him some time to catch up with Sirius before the meeting. "Sorry I'm not sure what your name is?"

"Emmeline Vance, I work with the order on various odd jobs." She said while shaking his extended hand.

"Harry Potter," he said, shaking her hand. "Odd jobs? Like the plumbing?"

"Nothing like that," Miss Vance chuckled. "More like surveillance, retrieval, transporting, I rarely get into trouble. I save the duelling for the others."

"Oh ok, well It's lovely to meet you but could you please point me in the direction of Sirius. I haven't seen him since I left."

"Ah, well he is normally sleeping at this time, likes an afternoon nap, that one." She smiled sheepishly. "He should be on the third floor, his name is on the door."

Frowning at the idea that his Godfather is taking a nap at six in the afternoon, Harry makes his way upstairs. Once at the bedroom door he knocks twice, when he receives no answer he enters to see Sirius asleep under his covers, snoring with half a bottle of what looks like some Scottish whiskey on the bedside table half empty. Rolling his eyes at the drool dribbling

out of his mouth onto the wet patch on the pillow, Harry fires a stinging hex at the man's rear and smiles when he falls off of the bed with a shout, holding the afflicted area.

"Who the bloody fuck?!" He shouted.

"Who the bloody fuck is sleeping at six in the afternoon?" Harry fired back with a raised eyebrow.

"You can get to f-" Sirius said before registering who had spoken and looking up through squirted eyes and his unkempt fringe. Surging to his feet he hugged the younger man for a few moments before holding him at arm's length. "Harry, let me have a look at you." He grinned. "Merlin it is scary just how much you look like your dad, you look good though Molly will be happy with how much you've grown." Sirius looked his godson in the eyes for a moment, smiling at him. "It's so good to see you. You should have written, we would have given you a proper welcome."

"I thought it would be more fun if I just dropped by."

"More fun for who?" Sirius said with a frown, rubbing at his rear.

"Oh you aren't going to let a little stinging hex ruin my return are you?" Harry asked with a teasing glint in his eyes and a hint of a smile.

"No I don't suppose I will, if only so I can get to enjoy the cake that Molly is bound to make now that you're back."

"You mean a treacle tart?"

"She wouldn't… would she?"

"Mrs Weasley knows what my favourite is."

"But you're only one lad, everyone likes cake. It shouldn't all be about you." The older man declared petulantly.

"Ah, but it's my homecoming, is it not? We aren't celebrating you getting up before 7pm."

"I'll have you know I normally sleep from half-five to half-six in preparation for dinner. I'm still eating a ludicrous amount to get my weight back, after all that food I can barely stay awake at this time. I have already had three fecking meals today, Molly is bound to force a sandwich down me after dinner as well." Sirius stuck his chin in the air but it was clear there was no real annoyance behind his words.

"How are you Sirius? You do look better than when I last saw you."

"I think I'm doing better, Dumbledore has brought Pomfrey over a few times since you left. She says I've been improving. Muscle mass, bone density, all that shite. I'll keep eating my meals, taking my potions and doing my exercises."

It looked like he had been doing those things as well, he didn't look all that fit when compared to an average man but knowing what he looked like two years ago Harry could only be happy for his godfather. He'd given a lot of thought to Sirius during his time at the castle, whether or not he would come back and train with him after all the stories he had heard about Sirius and Harry's own father. They could have watched each other while out there. Maybe even bring Sirius some closure by bringing down Peter. But from his conversations with the man before he left and from the letter they exchanged, one thing is apparent. Sirius is tired. His godfather is tired and scarred and though he hides it well, more than a little scared. And though Harry knew that if he asked Sirius he would spend every minute training to help him, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Harry had mourned the idea of his parents when he was a small child and had to once again address his grief when he came to Hogwarts, but he also never knew them and didn't miss them as much as he wished that they were still here. But it was Sirius who grieved them more than anyone he had seen. As if a piece of him died on halloween all those years ago, no wonder the ministry had thought him to be mad.

"As long as you're getting better, even slowly, that's the important thing." Harry said with an encouraging smile. "I am surprised that they managed to convince your crusty arse to do any exercise."

"It's nothing too strenuous, just some body weight stuff. They told me I'll end up pudgy if I just eat all that food and don't move around. I've been lean my whole life, I don't want to end up looking like a pile of mash."

Harry could only roll his eyes at his godfather's vanity. "Your obsession with your own appearance aside, I'm glad that you are improving."

"An obsession with one's own appearance is just called looking after yourself." Sirius said, chin once again high in the air.

"Well if you were less obsessed then maybe people would be less inclined to think you prefer beater bats over a snitch."

At his godson's raised eyebrow Sirius' smile dropped. "People don't think that, do they? Did Remus say that? He best not be starting that rumour again, it isn't even a prank it's just a lie."

"No one is starting rumours you stupid dog, I'm just pulling your tail."

"You're back five minutes and you're already being a prick, Harry." The older of the two pouted, giving Harry a flick on the side of the head.

"Well atleast I'm back now," Harry countered.

"I suppose there is that. Are you waiting for the meeting to start? I assume you'll want to speak to everyone."

"I'd like to, Tonks told me it's at seven. Do you mind entertaining me until then?"

"Well there's a few stories that you still haven't been told." His godfather told him with a grin.

This was one of the things he had missed the most while at the castle. Sirius was always quite intent on getting the best out of a situation, always trying to make Harry laugh, something he was grateful for. The two of them swapped stories for a while as they waited for the meeting to start, Sirius having gotten into a lot more trouble as a teen made him an interesting listen. But when there was less than ten minutes until the meeting Sirius sent Harry downstairs to wait in the dining room so that he could change out of his sleeping clothes.

As he came down the staircase however he was accosted by the Weasley matron in a hug. Before he could say hello he was held at arm's length and being checked over, his hair being pulled from side to side and his belly being prodded.

"Harry dear, it's lovely to see you again." Molly said after her checks have been done, smiling at the teen. "You look like you've been eating well but you do feel a little thin around your stomach. Not to worry there is some stew with bread and butter in the kitchen for you to eat. I made it while you were upstairs with Sirius."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley I am feeling quite hungry, I haven't eaten properly since breakfast."

"Well how about you nibble on this apple for now, Tonks says that you want to speak to everyone and these meetings can last quite a while." Mrs. Weasley grabbed an apple from a fruit bowl they kept on the dining room table and then took his hand in order to place it in his.

"I'll make sure to finish it before the meeting starts." Harry smiled. "I assume Miss Vance told you I was upstairs?"

"Yes, everyone already knows you're here. Not that you could have kept that quiet, Tonks pretty much shouted it as she came in. Set off that dreadful painting she did, I do wish Albus would just take it down, I think he finds it funny."

"Professor Dumbledore wouldn't subject Sirius to that I don't think. He could probably manage it if he spent some time on it. He's likely very busy Mrs. Weasley."

"I suppose so, I'm just a little unhappy about it all at the moment."

"There's lots to be unhappy about at the moment I think." Harry said with a wry smile. "Have you mentioned it to Professor Flitwick?"

"No… well we haven't had much of a reason to."

"Well if it's ok for him to come to headquarters then I'm sure he'd enjoy the challenge. He always had some project or another while I was at Hogwarts."

"Come to think of it, he did, I'll mention it to Minerva when I see her tonight."

"Hopefully he accepts." Before they could continue their conversation Tonks clapped him on the shoulder.

"Sorry you two but the meeting is starting, best to get good seats before you end up standing for an hour."

Harry ate his apple while he waited for everyone to be seated at the table, there were a few stragglers coming in late mumbling their apologies, including Sirius somehow. Several members gave him curious looks. Finally Dumbledore walked into the room and took his seat at the table which seemed to have been purposefully left there for him.

"Good evening everyone, you all have my apologies for my tardiness, something unavoidable came up that had to be dealt with. Firstly I'd like to welcome back Hestia Jones who is returning to us from the mainland after doing some investigative work there that we will go over at a later date." The professor smiled at a short haired blonde woman then waited for the salutations to quiet down before continuing on. "I would also like to welcome back our young Harry Potter, who has been away from us for some months." Dumbledore seemed especially pleased to have his student back with him. "Harry, if you wouldn't mind sparing me a few minutes of your time after this meeting has concluded I would greatly appreciate it. But before that I'm told that you wish to address the room." The older man smiled invitingly to him and motioned with his hands for him to speak.

Harry stood up and looked around the room for a moment, taking note of the amount of faces that he was not familiar with. "Hello everyone, I'm sorry to say that I don't believe I have met most of the people in this room but I look forward to making your acquaintance at some point, hopefully in the near future. But I'll get to the reason I came here today to speak with you today. Upon my return to Hogwarts this morning I was met by this Umbridge woman who quickly left in order to inform the minister of my arrival. When she came back a few minutes later she was accompanied by two aurors. After I questioned her about the need for Aurors she commanded them to stun me so that I may be taken to the ministry for questioning. During a short duel between the four of us she fired an illegal pain curse at me, all of this happened in the great hall in front of the majority of the student body. She is now under the care of Madam Bones in a cell in the DMLE. I imagine Tonks or Mr. Shacklbolt will be able to tell you more about what happened after that." With his story told, Harry sat down to many surprised mumbles, though several people in the room didn't seem too shocked.

KIngley Shacklebolt stood to address the room. "Amelia placed me on this investigation herself and I was at Hogwarts all day today interviewing students from every year group as well as the teachers who were in the hall at the time. It seems to me that Dolores won't be able to escape a crime of this magnitude. The lords of the Wizengamot are up in arms about this happening in the school. Many are even calling to have you reinstated, professor."

"I won't get my hopes up yet." The older man said with a grin before looking concerned at the deputy headmistress. "Minerva, how are the students?"

The wizened older woman stayed seated while addressing the room. "After Mr. Potter's departure this morning there was bedlam in the school for hours. The upper years were throwing parties that quickly grew out of control." She glanced at a bashful Mrs. Weasley. "And some of the younger students seemed quite scared, seeming to think that Umbridge may return at any moment and start cursing them each in turn. We managed to calm things down by the afternoon but lessons of course had to be cancelled for the day."

"Once again Minerva I feel the need to thank you for looking after the school in my absence." Mcgonagall seemed like she wanted to say something in return, but the disgruntled look she had faded away and she simply gave a nod. Harry thought she may believe that The headmaster was ousted too easily, and was simply taking the more peaceful route. "Kinglsey please keep us updated on the status of Dolores. In other news-"

"Let's not let the current topic get away from us. Potter has disappeared for half a year." Mad-eye Moody said from where he stood in a corner of the room, staring at Harry as he spoke. "If any of us did that then questions would be asked, I don't see why the lad should be any different."

Mrs Weasley was the first to speak up. "Alastor you can't honestly think that Harry, of everyone sat at this table… he would even think of… honestly how ridiculous." Most around the table seemed to agree with her as they nodded their heads as the woman struggled to finish her sentence.

"Yes do piss off Mad-eye, I won't have anyone here even thinking that my godson is joining up with that arsehole. I'd sooner kick you all out than let you disparage him any further." Sirius frowned.

"All I'm saying is that the lad needs to be open about where he's been." The scarred man said, his eyes still never leaving Harry's.

The young man refused to look away however. "It's ok Sirius, Mrs. Weasley. Everyone here has a right to be suspicious." Their stare finally broke when turned to address everyone in the room. "Sadly I am unable to say where I was but I can tell you that I have been preparing, trying to become a more competent wizard. I wish I could share with you where I was but I am not exaggerating when I say that I can't."

"A more competent wizard aye? What might that entail then laddie?" The older man said, taking a few steps toward him.

"Well many things but learning how to fight being the one I spent the most time on."

"I've seen that handy work myself down south Potter. Is that what we have to look forward to now? A murderous teenager? What a simple minded brute you've become." Severus Snape spoke up for the first time from his seat on a stool in the entrance to the dining room.

"Severus, I was hoping to have that conversation in private." The headmaster warned with an annoyed look.

"Why ever would you? Everyone should know who they are associating with. The brat murdered-"

"I put down 5 dogs that were attempting to kidnap a young boy and girl in Cornwall. I was under disguise in a small magical district there, looking for a text when I saw 4 men and 1 woman dragging two children towards an apparition point in an alley. When I ran over I felt the mark on their wrist from metres away and decided that they shouldn't be allowed to live. I do not regret my actions and I will not be put under an investigation by you of all people. That mark on your wrist suffocates this whole room with its toxicity. How did you even find

out about that?" The room did go quiet at that. Surprise travelled around the room before other emotions set it. Most notably however, were Mrs. Weasley's sadness, his godfathers look of frustration and Moody's eyes looking him over, as if sizing him up.

The potions master seemed to consider even replying for a moment. "The rat was there, he clearly managed to escape, your notice. Scurried off the moment you sent the first spell out, but not before he heard your voice." He said with a glint of triumph in his eye.

The room went cold, both Sirius and Harry burned with anger and some of the older members seemed more than upset.

"Well hopefully next time I catch him, he won't be able to run."

"I want to see." Mad-eye said.

"I don't mind showing the memory sometime in the headmaster's office."

"Not the memory of you half baked twit, I want to see you fight. Me and you in the basement, there is a space set aside there for duelling."

"What the f-" Sirius shouted.

"Alright then, I wouldn't mind learning from you in such a hands-on capacity Auror Moody." Harry offered respectfully with a smile.

"Aye, I'm sure I could teach you something, it might hurt though." He grinned.

"Well we aren't going to get anything done until this is dealt with." The Headmaster despaired. "Let us adjourn for a short break downstairs, I will officiate this duel." He sighed as he stood up, signalling everyone else to start moving towards the basement, many talking excitedly to each other.

Sirius caught Harry and held him back behind everyone.

"You know other than Dumbledore he might be the best duelist we have, Harry. And a particularly brutal one at that. He isn't above breaking one of your bones in a friendly duel. He did it to me and your father a few times back in the day." He warned.

"Thank you Sirius but I can handle it. Besides, Dumbledore won't allow either of us to seriously harm the other."

The older of the two looked at the younger for a moment before sighing in the defeat. "Well if you have to just keep this in mind, the old man can barely move these days and relies a lot on shielding. I've watched him and Tonks down there a few times."

Harry took this under his belt then nodded, patted Sirius on the shoulder and then started his descent into the basement.

"Come on Potter no fucking about eh? Let's get this over with so Snape can stop shaking in his boots about how much of a psychotic bastard you are."

"I look forward to your tutelage Mr. Moody." Harry said with a slight bow, provoking only a grin from the scot.

"This will be a clean duel gentleman, nothing that Miss Vance will be unable to heal in this room and no wide area spells that we could be caught in on the sidelines." The Headmaster commanded. "We will remember that we are allies and this is only to assess and improve upon each other's skill. Now I will be ready to intervene with a shield if I believe it is needed, when I fire green smoke we will begin, when I fire red smoke the duel will conclude immediately. If one of you is stunned or otherwise rendered incapable then the duel will conclude immediately. Now ready yourselves. "

Harry had spent the last minute stretching his legs, making sure he would be ready to move around quickly for the upcoming bout. While Moody has been tapping his wooden leg on the floor in impatience.

"Begin." The Headmaster called, a small cloud of green smoke exiting his wand and quickly fading away into the ceiling.

Both men quickly sent out spells meant to break the victims bones, Harry stepping to the left to avoid it while Moody simply flicked the spell into the spell harmlessly into the concrete floor. The Auror was not just full of brute force as his character might suggest. A spell of that power coming at that speed would be very difficult to flick away, something Harry was not yet capable of. Deciding to hopefully use his youth and mobility to his own advantage, Harry moved from left to right while casting cutters and stunners with short casting times in an effort to overwhelm his opponent. True to Sirius' advice, the war veteran did not move around much but his shielding is very strong and could hold up to whatever Harry threw at him while also being quick enough to return fire with his own bonebreakers and other various spells.

Harry had to duck under a bludgeoner that would have no doubt broken his nose, before twisting to avoid the thick ropes sent at him. Not wanting to spend too long on the defensive, Harry conjured a wall similar to the ones he practised earlier in the hospital wing and banished it at his opponent. Moody caught it with a blasting curse mid air and Harry used the moment of cover to fire a combination of spells, catching him with a bludgeoner on the hip that clearly hurt him.

They traded spells for nearly five minutes with the rest of the Order watching on. Harry throwing shielding breakers into his combinations constantly to try and break through his defence, only managing to get a few small cuts and scrapes on the older man. Harry however was looking a little worse for wear, he had what felt like a fractured bone in his arm and a trail of blood running down his leg and seeping through his pants from when he had taken a cutting curse to just below his hip where he had just barely not managed to dodge. His only hope was that Moody was very quickly beginning to tire, and while he was in pain, Harry knew he could outlast him.

I just need to focus a little more on defence. Harry thought before a stunner snuck through his shield and struck his shin, sending him spinning to the floor and landing in a heap. Sirius and Emmaline Vance rush over to him, the latter being proficient in healing spells.

"Well that honestly could have gone either way." He said as he walked over with a much more evident limp than before, and paused when everyone turned to look at him in shock. "What are you lot gaping at? The boy did well, sure he looks like shite but if I hadn't managed to scrape him with that cutter and limit his movement then he could have had me by the balls in the next ten minutes." Upon his words everyone took a look at him and noticed his hair was matted with sweat while he breathed quite heavily. "Tonks you should duel the lad, I reckon you would match up quite well." The purple haired Auror didn't know whether or not to be offended by that but settled on a disgruntled mumble.

"I've healed him up from what I can see. Sirius you can revive him now, he might panic upon seeing a not so familiar face first thing after waking up."

After Sirius had cast the spell over his godson, Harry's eyes shot open, before he calmed and remembered where he was. "Morning Harry." Sirius grinned proudly. "That was brilliant."

"I forgot to extend my shield spell across my whole body, didn't I?" Harry said, ignoring the praise.

"Aye lad." Moody said.

"You should listen to your godfather Harry." The Headmaster said. "That really was a well fought bout, in the first few minutes I was unsure who would win. And against Alastor that is no small feat I assure you."

"Harry, Mad-eye brought in my cousin Bellatrix after the war, no one on our side had beaten her in a fight until that point."

"But I was a better looking man back then, Potter, with both my legs. Still you did well enough, there's clear potential in you lad. We can do this anytime you like." He said before limping up the stairs and out of the room while waving his wand over his injuries.

A few of the Order members offered him their own compliments, all of which he simply nodded with a humble half smile, thanking them. Once he was sitting in a chair the Headmaster spoke.

"If I could please have the room with Mr. Potter, I won't keep him long as I believe he may need a shower."

The rest of the Order who hadn't already left filtered out of the room, Sirius being the last to leave, though not before patting him on the back and ruffling his hair, much to the amused annoyance of the teen.

"In my youth, I always found a short nap to be the best remedy for getting stunned unconscious. You tend to wake up very energised." The old man smiled.

Harry wasn't sure if he was intentionally bragging about not being stunned since he was a young man but either way he did feel tired. "Thank you headmaster. I will have one once I'm clean."

His face turned more serious now, in fact Harry couldn't remember ever seeing him look so grave.

"Harry, I need to know why you chose to kill those men in Cornwall last month. I do not wish to make you feel cornered or anything of the like. But it is important that I understand your motive."

The young man took a moment to think about the question. He had of course pondered this philosophy himself and had even revisited it after he had killed those Death Eaters. But he knew that his words would now be judged and picked apart by a man much smarter than him, who already had his own personal philosophy and would not hesitate to question his own.

"I had a lot of time to think when I was away. I thought about my friends, the small amount of family I have left and even the people of magical Britain that I have never even met. I thought about how many of my classmates are missing family members because of people like those men in Cornwall. Good people are dead because there are horrible people out there who seem to be able to get away with it. I became fed up with it all. And then I read in the news about the Azkaban breakout and I came to a conclusion. Sometimes the only way to save the lives and welfare of the many is to rid the world of the few bad people in it."

"But where is the line Harry?"

"The mark Sir. I know you've felt it, I may have an affinity for sensing magic but I know you feel it when you're around them. Those Wizengamot chambers must be so suffocating for you, I was only in there for ten minutes and I hated it there. But good people exist, Professor and I only wish to help them. To try and make sure that they lead full lives, free from the influence of the scum of our world."

The Headmaster saw hate in his students eyes, but hate he believed to be righteous, hate that he knew could make way for hope. A hope that he saw the beginnings of in the young man's words. And hope is something he can work with.

"Harry, I have killed fourteen people in my life. All of which I believe to have been deserving. But their deaths brought me to a place that I didn't like. I was lost in my hatred and their suffering so deep that I almost lost myself. So nearly fifty years ago I took an oath to never take another life in order to never become that person again. I don't say this because I wish for you to take the same oath, in fact several deaths of death eaters happened during the last war at the wand of Alastor and some of the others while I never tried to convince them otherwise. I never ordered it but I did accept it as a necessity. I am just trying to help you understand your actions and maybe help you accept them if needed. I won't try to steer you away from exacting justice in your own way, but I do ask that you don't try to make me act the same way."

Harry took a few moments to ponder his teacher's words. He never thought that this would be a conversation that he would have with him. He'd expected the man to scold him or, worst case, outright banish him from the house. "I understand, Professor, thank you. I really appreciate your acceptance and I will try my best to earn the confidence you have given me." Harry was genuinely touched by his words, being reasoned with instead of told what to

do is a first with the Headmaster in Harry's experience. He knew the meaning behind the words though, he was toeing a moral line and he best not fall on the wrong side.

"Thank you too Harry." He said with a twinkling smile. "Now onto the second subject I wished to talk to you about, your schooling."

"I wish to go back to school Sir, but I was hoping that you would join me." The young man looked hopefully up at the other, older man.

"Well between you and me Harry, the board of governors has already gotten in touch and offered me my position back. I was late to today's meeting because I was with them discussing the conditions of my return."

"That's excellent Sir." Harry beamed.

"I agree, Harry, I do hope Dolores didn't manage to get into my office while I was away. I would hate to have to reorganise my things. I'd just gotten them how I liked them." The man stroked his beard for a moment, a frown of consternation behind it. "Never mind, I would like to offer you weekly lessons with me once you return. With me having less duties these days I seem to have a little more spare time. I would, however, recommend that after your OWLs you only pick five NEWT courses or you may struggle. Be warned young man, I wouldn't go easy on you. Like Alastor said, you have potential and I would not waste it."

Harry was clearly taken aback for a moment but nodded his head in affirmative. "What would we be learning?"

"We would mostly be working on your duelling. However I would take the time to teach you some other advanced theory, maybe even some alchemy if you're so inclined. I have many old texts with spells you may have never heard of and a couple texts that I myself have written. I would do my best to give you a good knowledge of all magics." He said, offering his hand.

"It sounds amazing. I'll do my best to not make you regret this, Sir." Harry could only be humbled by the sheer weight of this offer. And as they shook hands, as much as Harry felt anxious about what was to come, he felt comforted by the opportunity that he was being given. So even with his leg still covered in blood and his arm still aching, he had hope.

o~0~o

AN: Ok I'm giving this another go. This time I have notes and a plan. When I started this fic I was 17 and now I'm 22. My style has changed and with it the direction I want to take this in. Please have faith. This will be 3 chapters long, totalling around 70k words. I have started chapter 2 so please be patient with that. I will hopefully have it up by April. I wrote around 5k words today (1k in chapter 2) but I was feeling extra motivated.