Harry had not enjoyed classes as much as he did that first day back at Hogwarts. He and Ron were careful to pretend to have difficulties on the spells, 'mastering' them just before the end of class to avoid extra homework. Harry did not have Crouch today, thankfully, but he did have the meeting with Dumbledore to look forward to this evening.
Harry saw a boy approach Ginny during lunch, only to leave disappointed. From the look the boy cast his way, he had an idea what happened. Hermonie had made them some more galleons to use for messaging and Harry felt the one for Ginny heat up in his pocket.
'Asked me out, since you were looking. I told him I was waiting for my brother's best friend to get his head out of his bottom and notice me.'
Harry grinned, that was an accurate description of him the first time around. He sent back something that made Ginny blush and desperately erase the coin before anyone else could see the message. He was quite proud, after as long as they had been together, getting his spouse to blush was becoming a harder and harder achievement. Harry kept an eye on Crouch, doing his best to hide his power. He had long since reached the point where, like Dumbledore, he had an aura of quiet power around himself.
"What can I say, I take after my teacher." Harry smiled softly as he muttered to himself. He made a note to ask Dumbledore for more one-on-one lessons in the coming days. He still had much to learn, after all.
*A-Weasley-Redo*
Angelina watched the others going about their business. She and George had announced to their friends that they had gotten together over the summer. Everyone was excited for them, especially Katie Bell.
"Hey, maybe we can double date once Fred and I get together." Katie had told her in confidence.
Angelia had forgotten about Katie's crush on Fred, and how much she had hurt her partner in crime when she went to the Yule Ball with Fred in her sixth year. Angelina had not told either of the twins about this, other than to give Fred the green light to woo Katie.
Angelina laid her head on George's shoulder as they watched Katie laughing at a joke Fred told her. "I'm glad he is getting a chance at happiness." George told her. "He only asked you to the Ball after Katie told him no. I think he put her on the spot and she blurted out no to cope with her embarrassment."
Angelina smiled and leaned in. "I want to do something else than talk for a bit, George."
The smile her Weasley twin gave her sent golden snitches whizzing around her stomach. "Sounds like an amazing idea."
They got up and rushed off to find a secluded space for a while. Angelina saw Katie giving a longing look at her as they left, guessing that their friend was likely wanting the same thing with Fred.
*A-Weasley-Redo*
Harry headed off towards the dungeons. He needed to come clean to Snape. He had mixed feelings about Severus over the years, but the man would be a problem if he suddenly became good at potions. Ron and Hermoine were currently making friends with Neville and Luna, getting them ready for the Starlights. Harry knocked on the door to Snape's office. The same greasy headed man with a hooked nose that he remembered poked his head out.
"Potter? What brings you to my office?" He asks in suspicion.
"I have a memory I would like to show you, Professor. Part of it, it your own."
*A-Weasley-Redo*
Harry and Snape sat, Pensive between them. Snape had his head in his hands.
"I see. I could throttle Albus for everything that happened, last go round." Harry was not used to hearing Snape's voice lacking the distaste he had for Harry. Then again, he had seen Harry honoring his last request before he died.
"I understand why you chose to show me, rather than tell me. I would have recommended you be sent to Saint Mungos." Snape said as he crossed his arms. "As it is, thank you for not allowing me to die a villain. I deserved it, given the way I treated you. You owed me no favors, Potter."
Harry shook his head. "No, I did. I would have failed, had it not been for you. I might fail yet, should things not go to plan. I needed your help. I need to make sure Crouch had no reason to suspect that I knew the future. If you started accusing me of cheating to get better at potions, well it could ruin the game."
Snape nodded. "Very well. I will continue to gripe about your massive head and lack of basic skills. But… Harry." Harry's heart skipped a beat as his teacher said his first name. "I wanted to see you as Potter's son. To hate you. I'm glad in the end, I saw Lily's son. Kind and selfless, ready to die to save the world. When the final battle comes, I want to be there. To help take the Dark Lord down."
"I would be proud to find at your side, Professor." Harry said, earning a very small smile from Snape.
"Very good, Potter. Now, if anyone asks?"
"I was being chewed out for failing to make todays potion?" Harry hazarded.
"Yes, it was terrible. Don't let the door hit you, on the way out. Merlin knows I don't need any more Potter related paperwork."
Harry grinned as he left the dungeons, one more ally carefully in hand.
*A-Weasley-Redo*
It was late as Harry and Ginny snuck to Dumbledore's office under the cloak. Strictly speaking, they did not need to hide as they walked, as they were invited. However, Harry had spent most of his final year at Hogwarts, invisible. He figured it was likely a good practice to continue, especially given that he now knew the Hallow would not reveal him to Crouch unless he believed it could.
Soon, they arrived at the Gryffin door and spoke the password. The griffin sprung to the side, allowing them to ascend to the office above. The older man was waiting for them, setting some bottles along his desk. They took off the cloak as they reached the top.
"Ah, Harry and Ginny. Welcome. Please, have a seat."
They sat down and Dumbledore joined them in his own high back chair. Harry realized he had missed those twinkling blue eyes as he sat down across from his old teacher.
"So, we have removed all but two of Tom's links to life. Now we need to try and figure out a way to remove the one from you, Harry. You were never prepared to be a vessel though, so your body is ill suited to being a host. I believe, however, if we make a new vessel for the bit of Riddle stuck inside you, it will eagerly jump into the object and can then be destroyed."
Ginny frowned. "Does that mean we will need to kill someone?"
"No, not at all. The murder is part of splitting one's soul. The vessel is created by other spells, none of which are dark in nature. They are similar to spells used on pensives, you see. If I am right, once the vessel is completed, the fragment will jump into the more secure vessel on it's own."
Harry nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. If I lived in a cardboard box and a house became available, I would move into the house, no questions asked. How long will such a object take to prepare?"
Dumbledore looked at a paper covered in his neat handwriting. "Six months." He declared. "Perhaps eight if there is a complication. Given you planned to deal with Tom in June anyways, we will have just enough time. This is a complex process and I'll need to make the vessel safe enough to coax the fragment out, but not so secure that we cannot send it on to the great beyond after it moves. This will take some trial and error. I have picked out an object though."
Dumbledore picked up a set of earrings Harry had never seen before. "Was my mother's. Since there will be no more Dumbledore's after me and my brother passes on, I figured it was not a bad fate for the heirloom."
Ginny nodded. "I think Tom would like that, very much. To know an artifact of his bitterest rival, hid a part of his soul. I think that would be a very effective vessel, Professor."
Harry pulled Ginny against him. He felt his girlfriend gratefully snuggle into his warmth.
"Now, it's time for bed." Dumbledore declared. "Good luck on your work, you two. I will be devoting much of my time to this project. If I get a breakthrough sooner, I will summon you to my office at once."
Harry and Ginny rose and headed off for their beds. Under the invisibility cloak, they shared one long kiss before they separated. Harry could not wait until they didn't have to sneak around again.
A/N: Got the meeting with Dumbledore as well as some other set up done. Next time we will be time skipping to the arrival of the other schools. I hope you are looking forward to that. See you next month! As always, consider checking out my other fics on this site or my original works over at Royal Road. Links are blow. I also stream over at /stormermia if you are interested. I mainly do RPGs. I also update the videos to Youtube, the link to that will be below as well.
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