A/N: I was going through my reviews and came upon two guest reviews that I missed and I'll just have ti respond to them and hope that they see this. I'll address the two as some context from their review. lawyer and audio reader, so here it goes.
Lawyer: First of all, thank you for your very clear and well presented review. for the most part, I know how courts (at least here in the US, play out procedurally. I know it's not a one for one to my knowledge, and I wasn't really trying to make it feel like a criminal trial, just a case in DEEP inspection because of Harrys status. I can't spend the time to reread my story to fond it, but I'm sure I included the explanation that Harry's hearing had been hijacked by the wizengamot. I will deffinatly reread it, and if I didn't include that, I would certainly update the story to include it as it was meant to be in there. if I decide to include any actual criminal trials in this or my other fics, I will deffinatly be referring back to this reveiw.
audio reader: thank you, I think it's supposed to "he, himself. I'll have to reread it again to make sure and correct it at something soon. I never thought of using the audio reader to check things. thank you for that. I'll have to add that to my methods of editing. 25 points to your house.
"May I have everyone's attention, please?" the headmistress called out and waited a few moments while the chatter in the hall died down.
"I may have wished my first year as headmistress to be a quiet and boring one, but that is not the case. An as-yet-unknown outside influence has called the safety of Hogwarts into question.
With the attack on Mr. Creevey, the Ministry and Board of Governors, decided to continue running this school as best as possible with increased security. Sadly, with the double attack on Mr. Finch-Fletchley and Miss Summers, the Governors and Minister, have had to revise their assumptions. As such, we will hold our mid-term exams three weeks early next week. We are borrowing some proctors from the Wizarding Examination Authority to assist in this endeavor. On Saturday morning, all students will return home for an extended Christmas break."
Murmuring broke out across the hall at this pronouncement. But before any discussions could ensue, Professor McGonagall once again cleared her throat and began to speak.
"I understand some of your reticence about exams without the ability or time to study. The staff of Hogwarts and the Ministerial proctors have decided to, for the first time in Hogwarts' history, make these midterms "open-note," as the Muggles might say.
Students have until Monday to write out a note guide. We have acquired and allotted up to twelve Muggle "notebooks" per student for this purpose. I will hear zero negative words about the use of Muggle paper and supplies in this. Given the short time frame, these are the best way to keep things neat and organized without inundating parchment makers with orders they could not fill in time.
Furthermore, there will now be an increased Auror presence, and there will be lawkeepers acting as guards outside the entrance to all common rooms. To ensure that there are zero nighttime wanderings, should you be caught out of bed after hours, the Minister himself and the Wizengamot have allowed the immediate use of Veritaserum. I must impress upon you the importance of not crossing into their purview. The school will be searched again while you students are away. The Chamber will hopefully be able to be opened in that time as well, so that after the new year, we can resume classes as usual. Now, after breakfast, I should say you all would do best to collect your notebooks from your Head of House. Are there any questions?" McGonagall finished.
Hermione's hand shot up like a bullet, getting a fond smile from the headmistress.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Ma'am, I already have extensive notes from all my classes. Will we be required to use the notebooks, or can we use our pre-written notes if we have already written them?"
"A fair point. I don't think it's right that we punish those students who already have notes written, but I would ask that as a favor to the staff that you and anyone else with notes already written share or help your less-than-prepared peers. If any assistance is given to the students, then I'd say five points for camaraderie would be in order."
After a few more questions, the headmistress was allowed to sit down and start her meal, but that wasn't the end of the show. For as she sat, the doors to the hall burst open, and four teams of law keepers came marching down the aisles between the tables, waving thin, golden things that looked like television aerials. Harry even saw his cousin making the rounds, one of two Aurors that came into the hall. Tonks, after addressing the mead table, made a beeline for Harry.
"Hello, Harry!" called the Metamorph, her hair going through a riot of colors as her mood shifted at the sight of her little cousin, gaining many gawking looks from his classmates.
"Hey, Tonks. What are those golden things?"
The young Auror turned her head to look at the Lawkeeper holding the thing gold rod. "Prodigy probes! They're some of the most powerful and valuable Dark Magic detection equipment. The Board of Governors had to petition the Wizengamot to allow their use in the school. If there's anything Dark here, we'll—" A high-pitched whining filled the air, and Tonks stopped speaking. All the eyes in the hall turned in their places to see what had set it off.
"No," said Ron.
"Genny!" several red heads called throughout the hall, but that was all anyone had time to do before Ginny had been stunned, put into a full body bind, and had conjured ropes wrapped around her. The only thing that could be counted as a positive was that Ginny didn't get hurt as Tonks quickly cast a levitation charm and stopped the first year from hitting the ground. Professor Weasley stormed up, already steaming mad. "What IS the meaning of this? How dare you attack my daughter, you-"
But she was cut off by Tonks. "I'm sorry, Molly, but we have our orders. Any student who sets off the probes is to be apprehended for the safety of the school. I'm sorry, Molly, my hands are tied. I'll get Arthur as soon as I get to the ministry, I promise." Tonks then gave Harry a reassuring half-hug before pulling Ginny behind her with her wand, leaving a stunned and silent hall behind her. Three more students were given the same treatment, all Slytherins—two seventh years and one sixth year.
Not two hours went by before the school was in complete bedlam. Students ran hither and thither, bumping into each other as they scoured the school for information to cram into their notebooks. Hermione, upon deciding not to recreate her extensive note collection, had decided—after the sixth consecutive student asked to borrow a particular chapter of notes for transcription—to post up in the Great Hall where all students could comb through her notes that were spread out across the Gryffindor table under the supervision of at least three teachers so that no student made off with Hermione's notes or destroyed them as Crabbe and Goyle had tried to do, most likely on Malfoy's orders, but Harry didn't have any proof, so he didn't accuse the blond ponce of anything. That stunt had cost Slytherin fifty points in total for trying to sabotage an act of great charity.
They had succeeded in their goal. The potion they "accidentally" spilled on the parchment ate it away like tissue paper in a monsoon, but it was revealed that the parchment on the table was simply a Geminio'd copy of Hermione's notes that was subsequently copied again and laid out for further perusal by the students. Harry had no need to compile new notes either, so instead, he spent the day with Hermione helping Ron and Neville Longbottom compile a workable pile of notes for each subject.
The Aurors and law keepers could even be spotted helping the students from time to time on that first day of panic.
Saturday came, and the Gryffindor trio, joined by Daphne Greengrass and her friend Tracy Davis, had fled to the now-abandoned room that the year previously held Fluffy, Hagrid's giant three-headed dog. Tracy, Ron, and Neville still sat writing diligent notes, but the other trio of Hermione, Daphne, and Harry all sat off to one side as they took a break from studying. As Daphne did what she had said she would, she began to teach the two wizarding etiquette.
"And so, you see, most pureblood wizards find it extremely offensive to be forced to ingest anything related to the non-magical population. That's why we stick with these old traditions and why the heads of the house use 'warlock' as a title. It was originally used to distinguish their families from the non-magical lords of medieval Europe, whom they saw as enemies, especially after the multiple mass 'witch burnings.' This is the most important thing you need to learn: every head of house is a 'warlock [surname].'"
That's not to say we don't have titles in our world. We have three, but they are mainly used during wartime, as they relay the number of houses you have in subservience. There is an archmage who has at least five families sworn to him, a magister who has ten families sworn to him, and an archon who has at least twenty families. These titles haven't been used since the fall of Rome. However, knowing these titles is useless, just added context.
The lesson continued for Harry and Hermione for another ten minutes, focusing on the modes of address for wizarding high society before the small troop spent several hours practicing the spells they had learned or were supposed to learn in all their classes. Lockhart wasn't big on practical demonstrations. And so went Sunday in a like manner, except Daphne and Tracy didn't join them, most likely because they couldn't sneak away from their housemates. The only thing to break the monotony was the reappearance of Smara, who had obviously had cleaning charms cast on her. When they returned to the Gryffindor common room before dinner, they were rather shocked to see Bill there, surrounded by newt Gryffindors all clamoring for different pieces of information. When he spotted Harry, however, he quickly silenced his petitioners and walked over.
"Hey Harry, I'm sorry to bother you while you're studying, but I need to know as soon as possible what you're doing for the holidays?"
"Er, I was just going to spend them at my home in Diagon, or Potter Manor."
"So you've unlocked your family's manor? That's fantastic. Snape thinks there are some old Dark Arts books that might be in your library. Most of the old families have some, but according to the sallow one himself, the only family he knows for certain that has the book has denied him permission to go anywhere near it. He was hoping he could search your library to see if you had a copy."
"And why wouldn't he just ask me himself?"
"Professor Snape is a great potioneer, but a terrible person. He no doubt finds it difficult to ask any favors from the son of a man he so famously hated. So he asked my boss to set the message forward, and then he asked me. So? Will you let Snape into your family library?"
"If it will help those three, then I don't see a problem with it. Tell him he can come the day after I return home."
"Will do, Harry. Now, if you don't mind, I need to return to this lot. They're about to start panicking, and it's not even N.E.W.T. time yet." Bill rolls his eyes as he backs away into the throng of questioning students.
As Harry and Hermione tossed questions back and forth, Ron's older flame-haired twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley, walked up to the two friends.
"Why, I do find myself wondering what the great Harry Potter and the lovely Granger are doing."
"Well, it does appear that they are studying."
"Well spotted, my less good-looking twin, but what I mean to say is, why are they studying?"
"Ah, that's a fair point, Greg. It seems that they don't really have any competition around here. They'll probably ace tests up to fourth year at this point."
"Don't be stupid," hermione interrupted the grinning twins. "Me and Harry would probably do better at our owls right now that you two will combined."
"Ouch!" the twins said in unison.
"Who knew the kitten had claws that sharp?" asked George.
"What do you two clowns want?" asked Harry.
"Nothing your little heads need to worry about, just stretching and taking a break from our studies," said Fred.
Both the second years snorted in disbelief just as a loud pop sounded, and several columns of multicolored smoke filled the room—thick, billowing blankets of smoke that quickly filled the entire common room to the point you couldn't see a hand in front of your face. As people began to complain, the smoke came together to form words and phrases above the crowd, things like:
"Be stronger than your excuses."
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
"Study, or you shall not pass." and
"You're an idiot. Study harder!"
While also displaying caricatures of wizards reading tiny books with huge magnifying glasses or a wizard holding a staff in front of him, banging it on the nonexistent ground.
The whole room seemed to ease up a bit, and the mood lightened somewhat with the twins' antics. The Sunday afternoon passed into evening, bringing dinner and, after dinner, bedtime and the start of the emergency testing sessions.
Monday and Tuesday brought all of the second-year classes their theory tests, but Wednesday and Thursday were for practicals.
After his theory exams, Harry found himself waiting to be called into the Great Hall to sit his Defense midterm practicals. He was studying and practicing the wand movements for the various spells that he had read from the " Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2." Spells like Flipendo, Verdimillious, Rictusempra, and various other spells that would be shot at a practice dummy, according to the twins anyway. As he waited and others were called, he noticed that no one returned, not even Hermione, which was a shame. He would have liked to ask her how she did but understood that some people would pass back information.
He was jolted back to awareness from his reading when Flitwick, who had opened the door, called out, "Miss Patil, Patil, and Parkinson."
Now he knew he was next. His nerves were starting to come up. He looked next to himself at Oliver Rivers, a quiet Ravenclaw boy whom Harry had never interacted with. He was also pale with nerves.
"Potter, Rivers, Roper," were called when the door opened up again when Harry walked into the Great Hall. After calling good luck to Ron, who was still waiting, Harry saw that the House tables and benches had disappeared and were replaced with three wide sections with one proctor in each section. True to the twins' warning, he was expected to hit a target dummy with the spells they called out, and without fail, he hit the static target with each spell. Flitwick, who was Harry's proctor, called out. The diminutive Charms Master seemed pleased but not surprised by Harry's skill. After a time, he halted his instructions and gestured to the other two, who, to Harry's surprise, had been asked to collect a troop of Cornish Pixies into a cage provided. Harry looked around in silence for his cage, but Flitwick spoke up and explained.
"As you can see, Mr. Potter, the agreed-upon test was to collect Cornish pixies, as had happened in your first class. The headmistress thought it a good test to see how far your class has come. But we were already aware that you and your friend, Miss Granger, had already done this, so we endeavored to find a different test. And so I devised a test taking into account your sporty nature." And the Charms master waved and flicked his wand, and a collection of round cushions appeared on the floor, and different-sized hoops appeared on the wall in a pyramid opposite the cushions.
"The test is simple: put as many cushions through the hoops as you can. The biggest hoops are worth 2 points, the medium size is 4, the small is 6, and that tiny one up at the top of the pyramid is worth 10. The cushions are also points: the lightest cushions at 1 pound are worth 1 point, the mildly heavy cushions at 5 pounds are worth 3, and the heaviest at 10 pounds are worth 5 points. To pass, all you must do is make 100 points before you run out of cushions."
"Harry grinned and began levitating with Wingardium Leviosa and using Flipendo and every other spell he knew that could send things flying in accurate directions at the cushions. He missed a few times, and the cushions that bounced off the hoops burst into fire and disappeared, but most of the ones he sent flying soared through the hoop he was aiming at and sank through the hoops to become golden bricks that thunked down to the floor below. Finally, at Harry's last five points, he went for some extra credit and pointed his wand at the heaviest cushion and flung it up, up, up, and straight into the tiny hoop at the peak of the pyramid, gaining 15 points."
"Thanks, Professor. You might have thought up a new game we can play around Hogwarts. That was fun," replied Harry.
"Hmm, I shall ask the headmistress. When I was a boy, we had "summer courts"—courts scattered around the campus for students. But the game and the boards fell out of style and into disrepair and were done away with but not replaced with anything. It was fun while it had lasted, even if it was a touch old-fashioned, even in my day."
"What's Summoner's Court, Professor?" asked Harry, genuinely curious.
"Oh, a simple game! You would use Accio to pull heavy spheres toward three differently pointed zones. It was meant to teach control more than any actual competition, but it was still fun to beat your friends."
Harry left the hall with his two fellow testees, very satisfied with his test results, and returned to the common room where he was immediately accosted by his bushy-haired best friend.
"Harry! How did it go? Did you do well? I think I might have messed up my Flipendo, and I tripped while casting Varimillious and hit the dummy's shoulder. I don't know if that will count against me. And then that end test—did you have to catch the pixies, or did they find a unique test like they did for me?" Hermione, always excitable, said this all very quickly and in one breath.
"I think I did well. I made sure to center myself like we learned in the dueling club and gave myself a grounded stance, so I was steadier. And yeah, they gave me a unique test, kind of like basketball. Really, it was fun. What did they have you do?" replied Harry after a second to decipher what Hermione had said.
"Oh, it seemed that it was something similar to your test cushions and hoops?" At Harry's nod, the two went and began last-minute revision for their Transfiguration practical the next day.
"Do you think they'll keep the Quidditch game that was supposed to be this weekend, or will they send us home on Saturday after the tests?"
"I suppose we can ask the headmistress at dinner? I say so now, but I don't think we're allowed to roam around at the moment. We were told to come straight back here after testing."
"True enough, I wish there were something we could do, you know? I know Smara is helping as much as possible, and the staff is as well."
"Harry, I know you want to help, but it's not our job or our place. You are helping come either the weekend or Monday when you'll be opening that giant library your family has to Snape and the Cursebreakers. I don't know much, but I know books on necromantic anything are extremely restricted and hard to find. Even your family might only own one book, if any, that gives even the most basic details on that language."
"Thanks, Hermione. Still, I wonder if any of the Slytherins have any information? This guy is supposed to be his "true heir," right?"
"It's hard to say without going down there and spying on them, hoping someone starts blathering about it, which isn't likely, Harry. I don't think it would be worth the risk."
Harry shrugged in response, not wanting to voice how much he actually wanted to sneak into the Slytherin common room. Instead, he returned to trying to transfigure a flobberworm into various colors and designs.
Early the next morning at breakfast, every adult in the building was once again in an uproar. The reason why became clear as an unfamiliar brown owl swooped down and dropped a letter onto Percy's bacon. Upon the prefect unfolding the letter, he walked over to Ron, who was sitting between the twins, all three staring at their older brother, waiting.
"It's a letter from Father addressed to all of us. It's about Ginny. He says—ah—he says that Ginny has been released from DMLE custody and has been cleared of all wrongdoing. He says that Ginny was possessed by an enchanted diary that was no longer in her possession when she was arrested. Her body is weak, and her mind foggy, but she will recover as the influence of the possession is cleared. He hopes that testing is going well, and he wishes everyone luck. Oh, and he has invited Harry and Hermione over at some point during the break," explained Percy while reading the letter.
"So, so Ginny will be okay? She's not going to Azkaban?" Ron asked thickly.
"It doesn't appear so. I told you all it wasn't just homesickness. We need to look out for each other more." His brothers all agreed with him.
As the day progressed, Harry learned through Oliver Wood that all Quidditch games had been postponed. On top of the bad news about Quidditch, Harry couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched. With the portraits, ghosts, students, and faculty, Harry had gotten used to the sensation, so why it was bothering him now, he could not understand. But a few times in between his tests, he thought he saw a ghost standing at the end of the hallways.
But ghosts can't have red eyes, can they?
well, this was a short one for how much stuff that happened
what happens next, find out next time on dragon bal‐ wait wrong script sorry.