Here's the twenty fifth chapter, folks!

* Review Response:
kazikamikaze24, B127, orion0905, Jamerz06, thank you for your reviews, folks!

* AN: This chapter hasn't been beta-read.

Disclaimer: "Harry Potter" and "Mahou Shoujou Lyrical Nanoha" belong to their respective owners. No profit is being made. The same goes for any other media that might be used as the sources of ideas and inspiration.

"speaking"
"telepathy"
「Devices speaking」
'thinking'
"spells"

Additional Disclaimer: The authors of this story in no way approve murder as a solution to interpersonal conflicts.

Power of Eclipse
Chapter XXV: Returning to Hogwarts

The last day of August saw Harry receiving a missive from Gringotts. The goblins were reporting their progress on tracing the Jeremiah bloodline through his ancestry and, thus far, managed to determine that it entered the Potter family tree five generations ago when a 'half-blood' witch that was a Jeremiah descendant had married into a then-cadet branch of the House of Potter. Then, apparently, things had happened and the main family branch, as well as the other cadet branch, died out.

Had the contract Harry had signed with Gringotts been all about investigating the Potter family tree, the goblins would have stopped right there. But it was not. It was about investigating his entire ancestry, as far into the past as possible, so the investigation will continue. Of course, since the goblins will be digging deeper into the past, and going through the family trees of their less-important clients now, the progress will also slow down significantly.

The Eclipse Driver didn't particularly care about that though.

~/ *** \~

The next morning saw Harry arriving at Kings Cross. And as soon as he reached the barrier separating the Magical portion of the station from the non-Magical one, something weird happened. The 'gateway' refused to let him through. But it wasn't because it broke or something: according to Zero, someone had placed a spell over it to specifically deny him entry.

Too bad for them, he was an Eclipse Driver.

Eclipse was all about denying other spells. And the enchantments on the archway were much much stronger than whatever piece of Magic that was trying to stop Harry from reaching Platform 9¾, so he didn't even need to target it specifically: the other spells would be able to just tough it out.

And a quick application of his powers later, the annoying little spell untwined itself and faded away. The Magic that made the 'gateway' work took a hit as well, of course, but weathered it quite well and remained fully-functional and stable. So, without wasting any more time, Harry proceeded to the Platform 9¾.

Stepping through the portal, he found himself on the Magical side of Kings Cross. And, much to his displeasure, it was already full of people. Letting out an annoyed sigh, the young Eclipse Driver pushed through the crowd before jumping into the nearest train car.

There were people in there too, but not as many since most students going to Hogwarts and their parents mingled on the platform. Still, it took Harry a few minutes to find an unclaimed compartment to crash in. He then proceeded to lock the compartment door as he would rather not be disturbed. Nothing really fancy as he could barely use wizarding Magic and Eclipse was ill-suited for anything other than fighting, but hopefully this would be enough to tell the other people to go find someplace else to sit.

Yes, taking the whole compartment for himself was very selfish and all, but Harry just didn't care. That, and even with the drugs to minimize psychological effects of Eclipse that the TSAB eggheads had made for him, crowds were still taxing on him. So he'd rather not spend the next eight hours sharing a compartment with a bunch of loud and annoying teenagers. Having to tolerate them during the Welcoming Feast this evening was enough already.

Luckily for him, it looked like the people could get a hint that he didn't want to share space with anyone: quite a few Hogwarts students rattled his compartment's door as they tried to open it, but they all quickly gave up and went away when the locking Charm made it clear they weren't wanted there.

Then, once the clock struck eleven, the train got moving and the students who hadn't claimed a seat for themselves yet hurried to find one. Which, of course, meant that Harry's compartment got quite a few more 'visitors' - all of them somehow kept away by his shoddy spellwork - before the Eclipse Driver finally got to enjoy some peace.

As the Hogwarts Express sped North, Harry got thinking about the turn his life took to after going to Mid-Childa and joining the TSAB. Which, of course, included him obtaining the Divider, and the new strength that came with it.

"Hmmm, Zero, I've been thinking here." He communicated telepathically to his Reactor Plug.

"Yes, my Lord?" She 'spoke' back.

"Now that I have a Divider, I can get a boost to the strength of my Anti-Magic Field without having to React with you by Engaging the Divider instead. And if I do React with you, it will boost the AMF even more, but you won't be able to support me from, well, outside." He paused for a moment, before finally asking his question: "But is there some way to get a bit of both? To still get some boost to AMF strength from you while still letting you operate independently?" The Strosek was silent for few long seconds before finally answering:

"I cannot give you a definite answer." Zero said. "Unison Devices I'm based on were rare even in the days of Ancient Belka and existing records I have access to do not describe anything like what you're suggesting. And there is no information available about other Stroset Reactor Plugs even existing, though we can presume some modeled after me do." She fell silent for a moment, before saying: "With that said, I do not see anything that would make your idea an outright impossibility."

"So we will have to find the answer ourselves." Harry said with a small sigh. "I guess, we can start looking into that once we are settled at Hogwarts. I don't think the Goblins will be able to finish the job I gave them soon, so we have some time before this mission is over and we need to head back to Mid-Childa."

"That can work." Zero replied.

The two of them spent the rest of the train ride doing some thinking on how Harry's idea might be brought to life. And, of course, they failed to make any actual progress before the Hogwarts Express reached its destination, the Hogsmeade railway station.

As he didn't want to deal with the crowds, Harry waited until most of the students disembarked from the train before finally leaving his compartment and getting off the train himself. And while most of the carriages - pulled by these strange skeletal-horse-like creatures that everyone pretended were invisible - had already departed for the castle, a few were still waiting by the station. Harry ended up picking the one occupied by a lone Ravenclaw student a couple of years older than him. The said boy mercifully didn't strike up a conversation or otherwise bothered him, so the ride to the castle ended up being rather pleasant for the Eclipse Driver.

Upon arriving at the castle, Harry quietly made his way to the Great Hall and, once there, claimed a spot at the end of the Hufflepuff table, away from his housemates.

Some five minutes later all of the returning students were seated and Professor McGonagall led the firsties in. Then, the Sorting began. Harry didn't really pay any attention to who got sorted in which House and absentmindedly clapped along with the rest of the hall whenever the Sorting Hat made its decision.

It took quite a bit of time, but eventually all of the firsties got sorted. And once the last one of them - a Weasley girl - joined her new housemates at the Gryffindor table, the Headmaster stood up and gave one of his brief nonsensical speeches. Then came the best part of the Welcoming Feast: food.

Whatever else one might think of Hogwarts, the cooks there sure knew how to throw a feast.

Eventually, though, the feast came to an end and Dumbledore made a few announcements before sending everyone to the dorms to get a good night's sleep. Harry already knew from the previous year where the Hufflepuff common room was and how to get in there, so he didn't bother waiting for anyone and departed from the Great Hall the moment the Headmaster finished his after-feast speech.

Harry arrived at the dormitories well ahead of other 'Puffs and immediately headed for the room he and his yearmates were assigned. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the very same one they had the previous year. Hell, even his bed was where it used to be.

So, without wasting any time, Harry got in there and closed the bed curtains to separate himself from the rest of the world for the night. Hopefully. The TSAB-made drug did help quite a bit with keeping the (negative) mental effects of the Eclipse Factor in check, but noisy events like the Welcoming Feast still took toll on him.

Even with the drug's help, he'd need to go into the Forbidden Forest and beat up some of the local wildlife real soon if he wanted to avoid snapping and losing his temper with his fellow students. Or even the Professors: Gilderoy Lockhart had rubbed him the wrong way during his introductory speech. If the man was always like that… Harry just knew he would have problems with the man's classes.

"Hey, Potter, you there?" One of his roommates called as he entered the room. The Eclipse Driver responded with an affirmative grunt. "And here we hoped that you were not returning." The boy said then. And this time Harry didn't deign him with a response. And while he had done nothing to get his housemates to like him - and the Quirrell incident at the end of the previous academic year certainly wasn't helping his case - being told to his proverbial face that they'd rather he wasn't there still hurt a little.

~/ *** \~

Having woken up early the next morning, Harry went to do some physical exercise outside the castle. He needed to keep himself in shape. That, and the Hogwarts grounds were pretty nice. Especially since no one else was there: everyone was still sleeping in the dorms.

Then came breakfast time and, unfortunately, he couldn't really avoid loudly-annoying crowds anymore. At least he wasn't dragged into any of the groups his housemates had formed and could sit alone in peace at the far end of the Hufflepuff table.

At some point during the breakfast, Professor Sprout came down to the table and handed out the timetables. Herbology was the first class this morning, which was quite fine. The young Eclipse Driver couldn't say that it was his favorite subject, but at least there was no wand-waving involved there, thus no need for him to constantly strain and suppress the Anti-Magic Field to get any results. And Professor Sprout was pretty nice. He didn't mind taking her classes.

Herbology was followed by History of Magic, which was essentially a free period as it was taught by a ghost who cared not for what his students did and never gave them any tests. Even after a whole year, Harry had no idea how the grades were given. Not that he really cared.

Afternoon classes were less nice: Transfiguration was just a very hard subject even without the added difficulty that came from the need to keep his AMF suppressed to do anything. As for DADA… Well, normally Harry would've been rather excited as this class was more or less about Magical combat, but this year it was taught by Lockhart, and the man just left a very bad impression on him. It just didn't look like the blond ponce knew the first thing about anything other than inflating his own ego. And since DADA was one of the most important classes in the Hogwarts curriculum, Harry would have to suffer through it several times a week.

At least he didn't have to deal with Lockhart until the final class in the afternoon.

Stopping quickly by the Hufflepuff dormitories to pick his schoolbag, Harry headed for his first class of the day, and… He didn't quite make it to the greenhouses before running into the Hogwarts' newest DADA Professor. The man had decided that he needed to annoy Professor Sprout with something first thing in the morning, but he quickly abandoned her once he spotted his target in the crowd of students.

"Harry." Lockhart called, his large white teeth gleaming in the sunlight as he shook his head. "Harry, Harry, Harry, I've been wanting a word with you. I'm sure your good teacher wouldn't mind it if you're a couple of minutes late." He completely ignored Professor Sprout's scowl saying otherwise. "Now then." Lockhart continued, pulling Harry aside. "I'm actually impressed that you've got the basics down: disappearing from the public's eye to build up a mystery around yourself - that is a smart move to manage your fame - but you can do so much better. And I can teach you. So, what do you say?" He asked as he reached out and grasped Harry's shoulder.

"Let. Go." The Eclipse Driver hissed, his relatively good mood completely gone, replaced by bubbling annoyance and anger.

"Now, now, that is no way to speak to your fans." Lockhart spoke once he recovered from the shock of being 'rejected'. "I know you're a bit popular - all that business with You-Know-Who - though not as much as me, the five-times winner of the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. Still, you need to be friendly with your adoring fans lest they turn sour and start trying to ruin…" The man lectured, completely oblivious to the situation he was putting himself in

"I. Said. Let. Go." The Eclipse Driver growled, his patience with the ponce already completely worn off. That still didn't have the effect he desired so he grabbed Lockhart's wrist and forcefully pulled his hand off himself. While making sure to squeeze, hard - not hard enough to actually break any bones, but enough that the blond fool will be feeling this for a few hours, at the very least.

"Wha-?... Mr. Potter!" Lockhart tried to assert his authority, but Harry didn't care about what he had to say and quickly followed his classmates into the greenhouse. Hopefully, the class would be interesting enough to let him put this …incident out of his mind.

Turns out, Professor Sprout was going to cover mandragoras with them today. A plant that could potentially kill whoever hears its scream. And was at least part-animal too. Probably not something most suited for second year students to work with, but whatever.

And Professor Sprout wanted her students to re-pot the young mandragoras.

They weren't anywhere near as dangerous as fully-grown ones but they were just as active if not more so. Thus, moving them from one pot to another wasn't exactly trivial.

Still, it wasn't that hard, so Harry's mood did improve a little during the Herbology class. And he had History of Magic next, so he still had some time to cool off before having to deal with Lockhart again…

Thankfully for Harry - and everyone around him - a period of History of Magic was enough to soothe his irritation and Professor McGonagall only did revisiting of the previous year, so Transfiguration wasn't that bad either. He still would need to venture into the Forbidden Forest tonight for some spider slaughter to deal with the Eclipse-induced bloodlust properly, but he should have been able to make it through the day without an incident.

Unless Lockhart did something monumentally annoying and stupid to set his fuze off.

Which, of course, happened. And the first warning sign that Defense Against the Dark Arts would be a disaster was the state the Hufflepuffs found the classroom in. It looked like it was just barely put back together after something had thoroughly trashed it. Lockhart himself didn't look much better and clearly had spent the last twenty or so minutes fixing his looks.

He was also showing carefully-hidden but still observable signs of wrist pains, which made Harry's vindictive side very happy.

And then Lockhart started his first class by giving everyone a test, supposedly to gauge how much they had learned from reading his books. Except, every question on the test was about the man himself. Stuff like his favorite color or his secret ambition. And not a single question asked anything about Magic the man had used during his supposedly-real adventures.

Harry's response to this atrocity was to put his quill down and not write a single word - not even his name - on the parchment. Looking around the classroom, he could see that he was far from the only one to find this 'test' a complete waste of time. Though he appeared to be the only one to actually refuse doing it. Well, whatever.

After half an hour Lockhart collected the tests and started checking them. And had the gall to be very disappointed that so very few people actually cared to memorize random trivia about him from his books. Not even the most bookish of Ravenclaws managed to answered all of the questions correctly - though, apparently, one of the Gryffidors he had taught earlier today had.

"And, now that I know where you stand and what you can learn from me, let's get started!" The blond man announced then. "As you can probably guess, my charming smile, even if it has won me five awards from Witch Weekly, is not how I bested the various beasts and Dark Wizards I have met on my journey 'round the world. So let's turn to the 'Wanderings with Werewolves' and find out how I dealt with the most fearsome Wagga-wagga werewolf in Australia."

What followed next was a dramatic reading of passages from the book, interspersed with the author's comments on what is going on in this scene or that. And still not a single bit of information that would actually be useful in case one ran into a werewolf. Or found themselves in Australia.

This was as far removed from proper combat training under Captain Takamachi, Lieutenant Signum or Zafira as humanly possible. It looked like Harry had absolutely nothing to learn from this man, and, very likely, neither did the others in the classroom.

"And for the next part, I'll need a volunteer." Lockhart announced cheerfully as he finished reading a passage from his book, the one preceding 'his' first encounter with the Wagga-wagga werewolf. "Harry, why don't you come here?"

"No." Harry replied, giving the man a hard glare.

"Don't be like that, Harry." Lockhart continued, seemingly unaffected by the Eclipse Driver's glare. "Everyone's dying to find out how I managed to protect myself from the Wagga-wagga werewolf, and I'm sure you will be able to play the role of the beast pretty well."

"No." Harry repeated, having absolutely no desire to be humiliated like that in front of the class.

"I must insist." The blond buffoon pushed. "And if you keep refusing, Mr. Potter, I will be forced to take points from you." He got just an indifferent shrug in response. "Very well. Ten points from Hufflepuff for refusing to participate in the class, Mr. Potter." And with that Lockhart addressed the class as a whole, asking for another volunteer to play the role of a werewolf.

Even when the reenactment of the dramatic scene from the book finally happened, one still couldn't learn anything useful about defense against Dark creatures. Lockhart didn't name the spell he had used to repel the beast nor did he give any instructions on how one should act in a similar situation.

The class was a complete waste of time.

And being around Lockhart for any length of time was just grating on Harry's nerves. Screw waiting until sundown, he was going to head into the Forbidden Forest as soon as the classes were over!

And he'd rather not step into the DADA classroom while that man was teaching again, if at all possible. He was a bit doubtful he would actually be able to get away with that, but he was certainly going to try: even watching two five-year-olds slap each other in a sandbox could teach more about Defense than listening to Lockhart singing praises to himself.

That's all, folks!
Read and Review!