I have to start this chapter by being extremely excited at the news recently of the casting calls for the HBO show. I love the original films but I'm often found lamenting bits that have been changed or missed from the books so a long form adaption where you have the scope to include all the plot points and even expand on some is really exciting and I can't wait for the show to air.

Onto the chapter though as we start the School year of 1996-97! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Some dialogue in this chapter is borrowed from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Chapter 9 - The Half-Blood Prince

The first lesson of the year was double Defence Against the Dark Arts, and as usual for that lesson they walked into the classroom to find it completely different to how it had been the year before. The curtains had been drawn and the room was lit only by candlelight, whilst all over the walls were wizarding pictures of people in all kinds of pain or with horrific injuries. Leo winced as he took a seat next to Hermione, and he went to grab his copy of Confronting the Faceless when Professor Snape stated. "I have not asked you to take out your books." Rolling his eyes, Leo dropped his book back in his bag before settling into his seat, watching Professor Snape move to the front of the class. "I wish to speak to you, and I want your fullest attention." He then looked over the class before carrying on. "You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe. Naturally these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work which will be much more advanced."

Leo thought to himself that they were being underestimated, as more than half of the current class had been involved in the DA the year before and a lot of them had already produced corporeal Patronuses. He didn't dare state that out loud however, not wanting the wrath of Snape that had been extremely quick to be thrown at him since the revelations of last Christmas, in his first lesson.

The Professor continued, having set off on a path around the edge of the classroom. "The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible." He sounded enthralled by the subject and Leo felt a shiver run down his spine at the tone that Snape was using. "Your defences must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. These pictures give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse." He pointed to a picture of a witch who was writhing and shrieking in sheer agony. "Feel the Dementor's Kiss." Another picture, this time of a wizard sitting in a huddle, blank eyed and barely breathing as he stared into nothingness. "Or provoke the aggression of an Inferius." This time there was no witch or wizard, just a mess of blood and limbs.

"Has an Inferius been seen then?" Parvati Patil asked in a sort of squeal.

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past." Snape explained. "Which means you would be well advised to assume he might use them again. Now…" He trailed off as he began walking down the other side of the classroom, and Leo was enraptured in the lecture, feeling a similar sort of way as he had done back in the Hog's Head or the Room of Requirement last year listening to Harry. "You are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of a nonverbal spell?" Hermione's hand shot up into the air, but Leo's joined her at a slower pace half a second later. Snape looked between the pair with loathing, waiting for another hand to rise up. When no others joined however, Snape unhappily said. "MacDonald."

He looked apologetically at Hermione, but he began his answer. "Your opponent doesn't know what spell he is facing, though depending on the caster the spell might be underpowered due to your focus going on the act of nonverbally casting instead of the spell itself."

Snape looked at him, deadpan. "I only asked for the advantage, and yet you arrogantly assumed you would continue with a disadvantage." He scolded, leaving Leo recoiling at the unexpected vitriol. "But yes, those who progress to using magic without shouting an incantation will gain an element of surprise in their spellcasting. Not all wizards can do this, of course. It is a question of concentration and mind power which some… lack." His gaze was now on Harry, though Leo thought he saw a brief glance towards himself, though he assumed that was his imagination after being scolded in front of the class. "You will now divide into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."

As the group cleared the tables out the way, Hermione whispered over to him. "That was a good answer, Professor Snape just…"

"Hates Snuffles, yeah." He whispered unhappily, interrupting her. "Do you want to go together?" She nodded, and they took their places opposite from one another. Thankfully Harry had taught them all shield charms early in their DA meetings so Leo was proficient with the spell, but the nonverbal aspect was trickier to get to grips with. He tried a couple of different methods, trying to force the thought down to his arm had no effect, and so he moved onto just imagining a shield, and ended up inside a giant water bubble for his efforts. He was half a meter off the ground when Professor Snape jabbed his wand to burst the bubble, causing Leo to fall to the floor.

"Sorry." Hermione whispered. "Try jinxing me. Just breathe naturally and think the spell calmly."

"I said silence." Snape called from across the room. Leo sighed and nodded, pointing his wand at Hermione and thinking Locomotor Wibbly. At first nothing happened, but as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he tried again, hearing his spell bounce off a shield. Opening his eyes he saw Hermione grinning and nodding, before stopping with wide eyes as she saw Snape behind Leo. "Next time, keep your eyes open. If you are duelling with your eyes closed then you are doomed."

Leo nodded, but try as he might when he could see his target the nonverbal aspect was too difficult. Thankfully Professor Snape had moved to a new target, as he called out. "Pathetic, Weasley." Leo looked around to see a purple faced Ron gasp a large breath, as he was evidently holding it to try and cast. "Here, let me show you…"

He turned his wand on Harry quickly, so quickly that the Gryffindor yelled out. "Protego!" And pulled off a shield charm so powerful that Professor Snape flew into a desk.

Leo didn't know whether to be horrified or grin at the sight, but as Professor Snape got back to his feet and brushed himself off he was scowling, and Leo gulped at the sight. "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"

"Yes." Harry stated bluntly.

"Yes Sir." Snape corrected.

And then, Harry said one of the greatest things that Leo had ever heard. "There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor."

Leo unintentionally snorted in laughter, and covered it up with a cough, semi successfully. Thankfully a few others in the class had made noises of their own in either horror or amusement so his own slip was drowned out. Professor Snape's scowl was even greater after the reactions of the class, as he snarled over at Harry. "Detention, Saturday Night, my office. I do not take cheek from anyone, Potter… not even 'the Chosen One'."

The lesson settled down after that as Professor Snape simply began to prowl the room silently, looming over the class like a Dementor. Thankfully Leo didn't leave the lesson having completely failed as he managed to shield a trip jinx silently mere moments before Professor Snape had them pack up and leave, though the talk in the corridors afterwards was expectedly focused solely on the altercation between Harry and Snape.

The sixth-year schedule was such that Leo had another free period after that Defence lesson, and this time he found company with Fay in the Common Room, though his best friend barely even glanced up from her Ancient Runes essay when he greeted her. Sitting down on a separate seat, Leo then asked. "Are you annoyed at me?"

Fay rolled her eyes. "No, Leo." She muttered, keeping her attention on her essay.

"Then what's up?" Leo asked. "I know you well enough to see that it's something."

Sighing, Fay put her parchment to one side. "It's nothing, it's petty…" She trailed off. "It's just always been us; you know? Me, you and Anna. Now you're acting all chummy with Harry and the others and leaving us two out."

Leo felt like he'd taken a punch to the ribs. "I don't mean to leave you out…" He insisted. "I just… how do I explain it. We spent a lot of time together over the summer. My mum is deeply involved in the resistance to You-Know-Who… that sort of thing means we sort of have to become friends, you know? We're stuck there not being able to talk to anyone else about it."

"Why not?" Fay asked. "You can talk to us."

"I can't." Leo sighed. "It's not that I don't want to, it's that I am literally sworn to secrecy by Professor Dumbledore…"

Fay looked at him sadly, though thankfully she didn't push that any further, and instead said. "I just miss us, you know? We were never the popular Gryffindor's, we could keep to ourselves and let the others get into whatever trouble they wanted. Now it seems like you're with them when a few years ago you couldn't wait to be away from Harry."

"I'm not on any side but the one that's trying to stop You-Know-Who." Leo told her. "Things just aren't the same anymore. The things happening out there in the world are affecting things here at Hogwarts, and Harry is… well he's basically family now. My Father is his Godfather and the only decent family he has left by the sound of it."

"You're being dragged into the war by everyone around you." Fay said sadly.

Leo shrugged. "With my parents I never had a chance of staying out of it. But it's not a bad thing, Fay. Fighting for what is right… it shouldn't be something we feel forced to do, it should be natural." He moved over to sit on the sofa beside her, careful not to sit on her homework as he stared into the fireplace. "For a while I wondered why I was put into Gryffindor. I'm not brave like Harry, I liked my lessons and I often enjoyed learning, I believed I should have been in Ravenclaw. This new reality… it's eye opening. It's making me sure of who I am and who I stand for." He took a breath and looked over at Fay, who was staring at him with… some kind of look that he couldn't quite work out. A mix between admiration and pity. To break the tension he nudged her arm with his shoulder. "But I swear I'll make time for us too, you're my best friend, never forget that." Fay nodded, leaning in to rest her head against his shoulder contently. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes when Fay snorted in laughter. "What is it?" Leo asked.

Sitting upright again and grabbing her homework, Fay answered with another question. "If you're best friends with Potter now, can you convince him to put me in the team as a beater?"

He met up with Fay again as the latter was coming away from her first Potions class, and the walk down to dinner was purely her talking about Professor Slughorn's lesson.

"He let us all smell Amortentia before we started brewing." She was saying. "We get to try brewing it later in the year."

"That seems like a terrible idea." Leo shuddered. "Letting a bunch of 16-year-olds run around with love potion…"

Fay shook her head. "It's heavily restricted, any hint of taking it outside the dungeons and you risk expulsion, Professor Slughorn said. It really was a fascinating lesson; I've already learnt a lot more than in anything Professor Snape taught us." They'd arrived at the Entrance Hall at that point and were slowly making their way towards the Great Hall. "Then we got to see a little vial of liquid luck, and that was the prize for brewing the Draught of Living Death. Mine wasn't great, more like a royal blue than pale… but at least it wasn't as bad as Ron Weasley's." She chuckled. "But you'll never guess who won."

Leo shrugged. "No Snape… did Hermione finally get the credit she deserves in Potions?"

Grinning, Fay shook her head. "Harry. Apparently his Mother was a potions expert. I don't know where he's hidden that talent…"

Leo would find that out not fifteen minutes later whilst halfway through his lunch, a bit put out about the odd look that he had been given from Hermione when they first saw each other. All that was put to one side however when Harry explained about the notes written all over his Potions book and Hermione's ire seemed to have been pushed to the Boy-Who-Lived instead. "I suppose you think I cheated?" Harry asked after his explanation, clearly put out by her expression.

Hermione tutted. "Well it wasn't exactly your own work, was it?"

Ron, however, wasn't put out at all. "He only followed different instructions to ours." The red-head shrugged. "Could have been a catastrophe, couldn't it? But he took a risk and it paid off." He sighed dramatically as he piled his plate with second helpings. "Slughorn could have handed me that book but no, I get the one no-one's ever written on. Puked on by the look of page 52 but…"

"Hang on." Ginny had arrived and had overheard part of the conversation, and she was standing behind Harry with her hands on her hips, not looking pleased at all. "Did I hear right? You've been taking orders from something someone wrote in a book, Harry?"

"No…" Harry trailed off. "It's not…" His voice lowered. "It's not like the diary, it's not sentient, it's just a load of scribbles and notes from someone who was really good at potions." His eyes widened as he stared down at his bag. "What if it's my mum's old textbook?"

Leo shook his head. "The odds on that being the case Harry…" He trailed off, knowing that that would be next to impossible.

"I've never seen her writing." Harry stated coldly, clearly frustrated at the lack of support around him. "Slughorn keeps saying how good she was at potions… if she didn't strictly adhere to the instructions written in the textbook then that might explain it…"

"I'll call Sirius tonight if you like." Leo said quietly. "He'll know your mum's handwriting."

Harry, finally, looked happier at that, though the two women at his side were still uncomfortable. Harry groaned angrily and grabbed the book out of his bag. "Fine, check it! Do whatever if it will get you off my back."

Ginny simply huffed and stormed away, whilst Hermione quickly grabbed the book and hit her wand on the cover. "Specialis Revelio!" She stated confidently, though the grotty old book did nothing.

Harry grabbed it and took a final sip of his drink before dumping it in his bag and swinging that over his shoulder. "Happy?"

"It seems normal…" Hermione trailed; her voice laced in suspicion as she eyed the tome quizzically.

Harry shook his head and got to his feet. "Then back off, Hermione." He said firmly, before running down the table no doubt to try and catch after Ginny, leaving behind an awkward atmosphere at the table.

Given that he had dropped the subject, it seemed like Potions was on Leo's mind more now than it had ever been before because of Harry's used textbook. On that first Monday he had escaped to his dormitory after spending over an hour trying to calm Ginny down explaining that they'd found an inscription in the cover and that it couldn't be Lily Potter's old textbook, something that sent her into a brief panic as she was remembering her first year of school. It came up again when on the first Thursday morning of term as he was walking with Hermione to Arithmancy straight after breakfast, she began to rant on about the book once more.

"It isn't just Potions though… it's spells and other advice for sixth year schooling. Some of the spells don't even look like they're Ministry approved…"

"If you're worried about it, why don't you tell someone?" Leo asked her.

Hermione sighed. "Do you remember in third year, when Harry got his Firebolt?" Leo nodded. "I was worried then too and I went to Professor McGonagall… they didn't speak to me for months. He's already under so much pressure, I don't want to add to that because I don't trust this Half Blood Prince character."

They arrived outside the classroom where the other dozen students were, Anna included. Knowing that they wouldn't get more of a chance to speak about it now, Leo put his hand on her arm soothingly and said. "You've got good instincts, Hermione. If the book truly is dangerous then Harry will come around eventually, I'm sure of it. And if he does decide to be an idiot and do the same as three years ago, well then you won't be on your own."

She didn't look too overjoyed at his words but she nodded anyway in thanks as they went to join Anna, both of their minds more focused on a Potions book than the Arithmancy lesson they were about to attend.

Reviews:

SkepticPrinceArthur: Their believing Harry will certainly cause a few canonical ripples for sure, though it's mainly grief that's bringing them onto his side early.

Lightningscar: If they hadn't been worried sick about where he was, then I'm sure some of those remarks would have come!