A/N- In this chapter, Harold Peverell will start his fifth year at Hogwarts. Let's see what he has in the store for him. There are many things which would happen eventually but I wrote many things which I felt would take too much space otherwise and contribute majorly to the story.

Thank you RaymondJay, Potter abducted by penguins, Lazymanjones, Anarion, God of All, ObsessedwtihHPFanFic, Hypergym, for the fabulous reviews to this story. I am visibly over-whelmed.

Hogwarts

The students entered the great hall and made their way to the various house tables. Harry's friends entered in a group with Harry taking up the rear. As he made his way to the Gryffindor table, he scanned the faces of the other students. Although his picture had been featured enough in the Daily Prophet since his return, many of the students were amazed at how much he had changed over the summer. Some spotted him looking at them and waved. Harry returned their greetings as he went. Some scowled at him, supporters of Fudge and Voldemort, he thought. And others, particularly the girls were giving him appraising looks. Harry did not give any indication that he noticed, but there were eyes watching him from the head table too. Snape, Dumbledore and the new professor sitting to Dumbledore's right were all watching the reactions of the students as the tall, well-built and lordly teen worked the crowd before he sat down.

He finished making his way to the Gryffindor table. He chose a seat with Fred and George to his left and Neville and Ron to his right, facing the other house tables. The chasers of the quidditch team sat across from him with Hermione directly opposite. It was only then that he realized that Wood had graduated at the end of his third year and Angelina now wore the team captain's badge. There would be try-outs this year. They would need a new keeper at the very least. Of course, with the Triwizard last year, there had been no Quidditch and they had not replaced Wood.

Harry gave the staff table another look. There was Albus Dumbledore sitting in his chair, McGonagall on one side and an unknown face at his other side. Perhaps the new defense instructor? Harry gave him a good look trying to assess him and his capabilities. The man did not look like much but he had learned not to judge a book by its cover. After all the mystics looked like ordinary people and yet they could give even Dumbledore a good run for his money. He noticed two other new teachers at the table. One was a stern looking witch that he did not know. The other wore a kind expression. She had gray eyes and wore her blond hair down, past her shoulders. Sitting down, she looked like she was somewhat shorter than Professor McGonagall. As far as he knew, there were no other posts vacant. He decided not to think about it because Dumbledore would be telling them in a few minutes time anyhow.

He heard Hermione say, "I wonder where Hagrid is?" He watched as Professor Grubbly-Plank sat down in Hagrid's usual spot before he answered. Harry turned to her, "He has gone off to see some blokes who refused to become his friends. Some friends who would make him look small."

Hermione heard him and pondered his words for a few seconds before her eyes spread in wonder, "He has gone to see Giants?" She was whispering but her words were loud enough to be heard by Neville and Ron. Harry glared at her.

Ron who had been listening to every word, choked on his words, "Giants! He is mental, that one."

Harry quickly erected a privacy ward and glared at Ron too, "Can you shout it a little louder, Ron? There might be somebody in the astronomy tower who didn't quite make that out."

Neville sheepishly smiled, "So mate, what is the deal with the Giants?"

Harry started in low whispers, "This is supposed to be a secret. He had gone to try and recruit Giants but they have sided with Voldemort (they shuddered) and now thirty of them are on their way here."

He had heard the mystics talk about Voldemort like he was something nasty stuck to their shoe, but, here people could not help but shudder at the sound of his name. He had a long talk with Harsh about it and knew there was a reason for their fear.

-Flashback starts-

They had been sitting for their nightly session on knowing the intricacies of magic and Harry could not help but ask, "Guruji, why are people afraid to say Voldemort's name?"

Harsh smiled, "Harry, names are powerful things. Fearing a name gives more power to it but similar way derogating a name dispels the mystery around a person. Voldemort represented death, destruction for wizarding population. He killed people mercilessly and wiped out entire bloodlines out of existence. Those wizards who experienced death, carnage and destruction at his hands obviously shudder at his name and if his dark mark appeared atop your home, it was a death omen. To make them lose the fear of his name, you have to bring his real face to the world. Everything about his life that makes him ordinary like others, that has to be told. You can start that with telling people around you to at least use his real name- Tom Riddle which would make him ordinary like others. When he resurfaces, publish whatever you have gathered about him and make him look like an ordinary mortal."

-Flashback ends-

He turned to his friends, "Guys, if you can't call him Voldemort, try calling him Tom Riddle. Calling him 'you-Know-Who', 'He who must not be named' or even worse, 'The Dark Lord', gives him a sense of mystique and feeds into his legend. If you cannot even call him by his name, how can you expect to defeat him?"

They all stayed silent for a while pondering his words until Neville said, "It makes sense to call him Tom Riddle. Calling him Tom Riddle makes him sound like an ordinary bloke."

Hermione who had been looking around turned to Neville, "Umm... am I just seeing things or is Snape trying to kill you with his glare?"

Neville turned to look at Snape and grinned, "He really wants to kill me. If looks could kill, I would be a smoldering pile of ashes by now."

Harry tilted his head toward Neville, "Got something to share mate?"

Neville smiled, "Father sent an owl to Snape to come meet him and met him like a pureblood lord of old. Put on some show of power and mother was there beside him. They reminded him why they were feared as Aurors in their time. As he came they just offered him a seat without saying anything. They made him sweat for 10 minutes without saying anything and then mother laid into him that he had disappointed her by being a bully towards me when she had been kind to him during his school years while father glared at him the entire time and reminded him of all the times he intervened and saved him from the Marauder's pranks. Mother in fact told him that if she was in the prime of her health, she would have shown him why she was feared by others. For good measure, she told him that when she got better, she would have words with him for all the times that he has mistreated me."

Harry winced. He had been on the receiving end of Alice's glare a few times as he had been a regular to Green Hues recently.

Harry looked toward the head table and smirking, said, "Am I seeing things or has Snape done something with his hair?"

The others followed his gaze and attempted to take a surreptitious look at the potions master. Hermione, who had the most trouble with her hair of anyone there, noticed immediately, "It looks like he's had it cut and shampooed. Is that a first?"

Harry said no more about it but he just sat back and enjoyed listening to all the speculation. Before the end of dinner, the entire Gryffindor table would be glancing at Snape and making their comments.

Harry's thoughts drifted back to his visits at Green Hues. If he said something that Alice did not like, she would do nothing but glare at him with such intensity that his legs would quiver with fright. She equally doted on him though and when he was around, she would shower her love on him. Frank was well, Frank. His ordinary words were cutting enough and he never used any hard word for anyone around him. The way he behaved, Harry was sure that the wizarding world was happy with him being the new Minister for Magic.

Sometime in the past two weeks after Frank had been elected minister Harry had cornered Remus one evening asking him to be his Steward.

-Flash back starts-

Remus was in the library reading a book on duelling when Harry approached him, "Moony, I have something I want to talk with you about."

Remus turned to him, slightly wary and on the alert, "What is the matter Cub?"

Harry's expression turned solemn as if he were hesitating to speak, "I have four houses to manage and some rather specialized business concerns. Being at school full-time and with everything else going on, I can't possibly give them the attention they require. I need a steward to act in my name. That person must be absolutely trustworthy and share my values to do the job properly. It would help that the person I choose also has a vested interest in seeing these particular business ventures succeed. That is why I am approaching you."

Remus smiled, "You want me to find someone who is willing and able to do it?"

Harry gave him a lopsided grin, "No. I want you to be that person. I want to hire you as my Steward."

Remus contemplated this for a moment and then said, "Of course I will help you in any way you ask, Harry."

Harry spent the next two hours with him, outlining how he wanted the businesses and properties to be managed. He filled Remus in on the new wolfsbane potion, the ingredients it requires and where they were to be grown. That the potion was to continue to be sold at a very thin margin, but now the product would be non-toxic and a fraction of the price at which it was being sold earlier. Getting the paperwork done with the ICW to register the altered potion and to get approval for it's general distribution and sale were to be his top priority. He advised him to work with the firm of Tonks, Tonks and Benson to get it done. For now, every werewolf that Remus managed to hire would be given the option to participate in the clinical trial.

At the end of the meeting, Harry passed a parchment to Remus to sign. The werewolf took a look at the terms and blanched, "But Harry, there must be some kind of mistake. I can't possibly accept these terms."

Harry took the contract back and read out, "two-hundred thousand Galleons per annum, a country estate adjoining the main greenhouse plantation, a house elf and an unlimited supply of wolfsbane. I'm sorry, Moony, is that not enough?" he said with a twinkle in his eye and innocuous face.

Remus looked at him wide-eyed, and said, "Harry, I would do this for you as a favour. This is far too much."

Harry slid the parchment back to his friend, "Moony, CEO's of major muggle corporations are paid much more than this. I am asking you to manage several major business concerns and house business on top of that. You will be my face and my representative until I graduate. As such, there is a certain minimum standard of living that I expect you to maintain. This is only a fraction of what these services are worth to me. Please accept this offer and let me know if there is anything else you require for doing the job right. Besides, I do not wish to face my father again and have to tell him that I did not do anything for his best friend who is as good as a brother, when I had the chance." For good measure, Harry cast a non-verbal and wandless compulsion while he was looking his friend in the eye in earnest.

Remus stiffened momentarily, then said, "Very well, Harry. Since you put it that way, I will accept." Then he signed the contract.

Harry beamed at him, "Excellent. I will make a proclamation in the Daily Prophet that you are a steward for Harold Peverell Lord of Peverell, Black, Potter and Rosier."

Since then, Remus had gone to work with a will. The first thing he did was have his elf, Hinksly, see to his wardrobe. Once he had a decent outfit to wear, he had been working non-stop, meeting with Griphook and pouring over reports of family businesses and properties. As it turned out, the Rosier family had a partial interest in the plantations that were growing the aconite and he dumped the shares immediately. They had lifted the stasis charms on all their properties, ordered repairs and updates to properties, dumping bad investments and buying into better ones. It was a long list and it all needed direction.

Then there was all the paperwork involved with getting the new wolfsbane approved. Based on Hary's notes from his initial trial, the ICW granted a patent pending status and approved a three month clinical trial for Harry's variation of the potion. Harry told Remus to gear up for full production based on the assumption that the clinical trial would be successful and that they could go to market immediately at the end of the trial.

Working from Harry's notes, he prepared an article to be published in "Potions Today" the moment that ICW approval was granted. He had also met with Ted Tonks and instructed him to "do whatever it takes" to get the recognition of Harry's Potion and approval for distribution as soon it was humanly possible. Ted had told him that thanks to Lord Peverell's considerable resources that for certain considerations (bribes) the process could be fast-tracked. Remus said that he did not need to know all the details, just try and get it done without outright trampling the law.

There were a number of werewolves who had skills but had become unemployable because they could not afford the price of wolfsbane or the side-effects were more than they could tolerate. Likewise there were a number of businesses owned by his Houses which were hazardous and no other wizard was willingly ready to do those jobs. Remus knew many of them personally and they responded well when he approached them with offers of employment and the new Harry Peverell potion. Thirty had joined his work-force already and word was getting around but it was also a bitter truth that number of such wolves was a handful. Of the total 500 werewolves estimated to be in Wizarding Britain, they were not expecting for more than 80 or so werewolves to accept their offer of employment and unending supply of wolfsbane potion.

-Flash back ends-

Hermione tapped his shoulder and he turned to find the sorting hat finishing its song. He was so lost in his musings that he had missed the whole song and the sorting was starting now. After 100 new students had joined their new house tables, the sorting was at an end. Dumbledore stood and like all previous years, told them to tuck in and dinner started. As dinner proceeded, he caught stares at him from the Slytherin table, particularly Daphne Greengrass. He reminded himself of his promise to have more friends in other houses which he had repeated to himself many times during this summer.

As they finished dinner, Dumbledore stood, "To the new students, Welcome to Hogwarts where I hope you will find the greatest treasure of all- love, friendship, family and acceptance. To our returning students, Welcome back for another year of enlightened learning. Now for some quick notices before you can trot off to your warm beds to forego the wariness of travel. The Forbidden Forests is just that Forbidden. I hope our new students would stay clear of it and some old students would remember well not to go wandering where they do not belong (He gave the twins a distinctly pointed look). Mr. Filch has reminded me for perhaps the thousandth time just this morning that no magic is permitted in the corridors between classes. The list of forbidden products now numbers 472. The complete list is posted outside the door of Mr. Filch's office and may be examined at your leisure. Now I would like to introduce new members of our staff. Please welcome our new Professor Vikram Rana who took his education in the United States and has agreed to teach Defence against the Dark Arts this year. Good luck Professor."

The man stood and bowed to the great hall and Harry had a distinct feeling that he should know this man. Before he could say anything, Dumbledore had started speaking again, "there is other news which should be told to the students and while I find it tragic, my deputy has told me otherwise. Professor Binns who has been teaching us History of Magic for all these years decided to move on to his next great adventure and he is replaced by Professor Martha Hughes who has done her mastery in Magical History from Australia."

The stern looking witch who Harry had not recognized stood to the general, heart-felt, cheers and applause of the students. As the cheers died down, Dumbledore was speaking again, "Be warned. I do believe that anyone who skips History of Magic now would be noticed." This drew a general chuckle from the students.

Now, with the air of a naughty child, pulling a truly delightful prank, Dumbledore was speaking again, "I believe that I have saved the best for last. After some discussion with my deputy, we have decided to re-introduce Wizarding Etiquettes as part of our curriculum here at Hogwarts. This class will help students to understand what's and the why's of appropriate conduct in the Wizarding world. As this class is brand-new to most of you, you may see your head-of-house to sign-up for this class. First year students already have this added to their time-tables. We have procured the services of a member of the Ancient House of Lester to fill this new post. Please join me in welcoming Professor Cassandra Lester."

As the witch rose to her feet, Harry could see that her hair fell half way down her back and that she stood about five feet five inches tall. Her robes positively screamed pure-blood and wealthy. She looked around the Great Hall and inclined her head a precise number of degrees to each of the house tables, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and lastly Gryffindor while the students applauded. Then she resumed her seat, pulling her robes under her, just so, as she sat down again.

The announcements and introductions over, Dumbledore declared the welcome feast to be at an end and dismissed the students, citing that they had classes the next day.

Hermione and Ron had to stay back to escort the new students while Harry bade good night to Susan and then went to Gryffindor Tower. He was standing before the portrait of the Fat Lady when he realized that he did not know the new password. Neville came strolling up behind him and said, "It's okay, Harry, I know the new password. And I won't forget this one."

Harry chortled, "you can't forget it anyhow, not since you have organized your mind well enough."

Neville gave her the password, "Mimbulus mimbletonia" and the portrait swung forward to admit them.

As they entered the common room, the students there mobbed Harry, dragging him through the portal. The guys wanted to know all about his workout program while the girls were just trying to get a better look at him. They all wanted to know about what really happened at the third task last June. Harry just wanted to get away to bed, but he also knew that this was a good opportunity to work up more support for the light. He greeted and cheered everyone, without really answering any of their questions. If anyone probed too hard, he quickly found someone else who required his attention. When the first years arrived, he welcomed each one of them to the house and encouraged them to study hard, play hard and bring honour to their house. He impressed them by remembering all their names. During the sorting, he had found that he was able to commit all the names of the new students to memory easily.

When Harry had enough, he made a signal to Neville. Neville grabbed Hermione and asked her to step in and start answering the first year's questions for them. Ron set off a noisy spell near the entry to the girl's dorms. Harry disillusioned himself and took off up the stairs to the boy's dorms while everyone was looking the other way.

Harry entered his dormitory to find Seamus and Dean already there. He turned to Dean, "How was your summer, Dean?"

Dean smiled, "It was very good. Seamus's was a bit rough, however."

He turned to Seamus who muttered, "me mam said that I should be wary of you as the Daily Prophet had published those articles about you."

Neville Arrived just then and immediately snapped, "For which they have already been apologizing for a month now. If you are going to say a word against Harry then I swear by Merlin..."

He could not finish his words as Seamus raised his hands in front of him, "Mate, I told her that I thought those articles were rubbish. That Harry never had a reason to lie like that. She gave me a tongue lashing but I endured it all. When it all became too much, I went to visit Dean."

Harry said to him, "Thanks for sticking up for me, Seamus."

Seamus waved him off, "we may not be best mates but I know you wouldn't make stuff up just to get attention. You're famous enough already."

Harry waited until Ron turned up and then the boys made small talk or played games till it was really late in the night and then retired to sleep.

Ministry of Magic

Frank's first order of business had been to summon the Unspeakables to boost ministry security. The new budget for the DMLE from Department Head Madame Bones had crossed his desk well ahead of schedule. Since the increase had already been ratified by the Wizengamot, he signed-off on it immediately. He did notice, however, that even with the budget they had previously, they weren't making the best use of it. Next up was the tongue lashing he had given to Head Auror Scrimgeour for the laziness and inefficiency of the Aurors. His words however had the desired effect and the Aurors were being run through the ringer the old fashioned way. Scrimgeour had reached out to Moody to ask for help. The old Auror, with his hugely improved prosthetic leg, gladly volunteered to be one holy terror of a drill sergeant for a couple of hours a day and return to active duty. Tonks had complained to him once that she had never been sorer in her entire life than she was under Moody's training. He had been having them run and exercise the muggle way building their endurance saying that the one who would last the longest in a duel would be the one to stay alive. In the end, it was his job to teach them to stay alive.

Frank had kept Percy Weasley as his undersecretary. Even though he had worked for Fudge, the young man was bright, thorough and hard working. He had promoted Arthur Weasley from his office to sub head of another newly created department which was to look into increased activity of dark wizards and their movements along with increased instances of muggle baiting. Frank had also started to work towards getting rid of the corruption that was rampant in the ministry and many of the ministry employees who had entered the ministry with recommendations or influence of their families were on probation subject to their exemplary performance. Another thing which Frank had done was to repeal the horrendous laws which were written during the first wars and treated werewolves as second class citizens. He issued a decree stating that if a werewolf was taking his potion regularly, they could not be discriminated against and they should be treated as ordinary citizens.

With the increased budget, Amelia also had invited applications for Aurors reducing the requirements to E in potions and E in defense considering there had not been many students in the past who had achieved the required O grade in these subjects. Two hundred wizards had responded and about 150 had made the cut to enter the Auror course who hopefully would be trained enough to stand against Voldemort and his death eaters when the battle came. The Order spies had reported that Voldemort had around 150 followers currently and that number was expected to rise sharply when he decided to come out into the open.

Hogwarts, the Next Morning

As always Harry woke up before dawn and remembering his pranking spree, he disappeared to the 7th years dorms and returned a few minutes later, grinning evilly trying to imagine what would happen when the prank would go off.

He ran four laps around the lake and then sat in meditation. He was concerned for his training. There was nowhere in Hogwarts where he could practice unopposed and unseen. Perhaps it was time to explore the castle but that would have to wait until after classes. He returned to the tower to find Hermione up and reading a book in front of the common room fire and she asked him, "Where were you?"

He shrugged, "I was off to do some exercises. I cannot break my routine after all."

She opened her mouth to say something and closed it. She was seeing the logic in his words. If they did not all keep working out through the school year, they would lose the gains they had made over the summer. She resolved to start her exercises the next morning.

Harry went up stairs to his dorm to find his dorm mates sleeping. Shrugging, he went for a bath knowing that others would be waking up soon.

An hour later, he was dressed and sitting in the great hall. There were only a few other students there, mostly Ravenclaws with only the defense teacher at the staff table. He dug into his breakfast and had almost finished with it when someone sat down opposite him at the table. As he looked up, he found Susan Bones sitting there and glaring at him.

He innocently asked, "What is the matter, Susan?"

She gritted her teeth, "You are a moron, Harry Peverell. Did it not occur to you that may be I was waiting for you to come and meet me outside the Hufflepuff common room?"

Still clueless, he said, "I am sorry, Susan, I don't remember us making a date. Besides, I don't know where the Hufflepuff Common Room is."

She glared at him, "Do you not have a fantastic map of Hogwarts which can tell you in a minute where I am or where my common room is?"

He gaped at her, "How do you know about the map?" The map had been retrieved by Sirius in his Padfoot from the office of Fake Mad-Eye while Harry had been in magical coma and returned to him later.

She smirked, "Messers Moony and Padfoot saw it fit to acquaint me with your little secret."

He sighed, "Fine, I could have found your common room but I still don't recall us setting up a date."

Hermione who had just entered and heard the last part of the conversation, said, "you are really clueless, Harry. You can be really subtle like a pureblood lord when you want to be, but other times you are as dense as a block of wood."

He decided it was not worth it to argue with two witches over something as trivial as this and focused his attention on the food before him and Susan went away stomping her feet in anger. Just at that moment, the twins entered the Great Hall and were trotting towards the Gryffindor table when suddenly, there was a flash and the twin's school robes were changed into intricately worked and beautiful sleeveless gowns and the entire Great Hall burst into laughter. The twins took it all very positively and modelled their dresses to the audience. After they successfully undid the transfigurations perpetrated on their robes, they sat down beside Harry and whispered to him that vengeance would be theirs for all the pranks he had been pulling.

As others joined them and breakfast was winding down, McGonagall approached them and handed him his schedule and he remembered he had to ask her something, "Professor, if it is not a bother to you, can I change from Divination to Ancient Runes?"

She looked at him sharply for sometime before she started speaking, "That would depend on Professor Babbling. But, even if he says no, you may drop Divination and study Runes independently to take the OWLs at the end of your year. I will talk with her and let you know."

Ron made the same request and she told him likewise and as she left, he looked at his amended time table. The time table was messed up as usual but he realized that they were having classes with all the houses as opposed to the usual Gryffindor-Slytherin and Gryffindor-Hufflepuff. The first period was Double transfigurations with the Ravenclaws followed by Charms with the Slytherins then a free period and lastly Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.

Professor McGonagall gave them all a long lecture about the upcoming OWLs and their importance for their careers. After about half an hour, she set them to practice transfiguring one thing into another. She gave them pieces of wood and told them to transfigure it into silver. While it was a hard transfiguration for the students, Harry had no trouble with it. He also realized why McGonagall was asking them to do this. While conjuring was hard and exhausting, transfiguring was easier. If one got into a fight with a werewolf, they could transfigure a piece of wood into a silver dagger and it would kill them all right.

As McGonagall told them to practice doing it, he flicked his wand and lazily transfigured it into a piece of solid silver. Then, just for fun, he re-shaped it into a tortoise and animated the solid silver tortoise to run laps around the table. He looked at McGonagall to find her beaming at him and he looked around to find that they all were gaping at him in wonder. He found that Neville, Hermione and Ron too had finished their transfigurations but their transfigurations were not as neat as his. For the rest of the period, McGonagall gave him different tasks to do which he did with almost no effort.

As they left class, Hermione started asking questions as he had expected she would, "How could you do it so flawlessly? We all had to put in some effort like imagining what we want, put our intent into the spell and you did it like it was not a big deal to you."

He smiled, "Hermione you know I cannot answer your questions. I am not supposed to give my secrets to anyone especially to anyone whose mind can be breached. You have a well organized mind but a legilimens can enter your mind and as it is very organized he would have no trouble sifting through your memories at all."

She whined, "I have tried to find books on Occlumency but they are guarded more tightly than vaults at Gringotts by old pureblood houses and there is not a single book available on the topic in Flourish and Blotts. I wish I had a magical guardian who could give me this information."

He mysteriously whispered to her, "Did you know you may not be a muggle-born but a half-blood or may be a pure-blood?"

She looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean? I am a muggle born. No one in my family was a wizard or a witch."

He smirked, "You do realize that magic has to come from somewhere right?"

Then he launched into a detailed explanation of what Prathimaan (he referred to him as a friend) had told him about magical ancestry, how muggle borns were children of squibs, how children born within 5 generations of their last magical ancestor could be half blood if one of their parents was a squib and pureblood if they were descended from Squibs on both sides within 5 generations and how they would be called muggle born if they were descended more than 5 generations later.

By the time he finished explaining, her face was lit up with anticipation and when he told her that she should go and get a ritual inheritance test done by the Goblins, it looked like she was ready to go running but had to stop when she remembered she was in school.

As they arrived for charms, the professor also talked to them about the importance of OWLs and expected them to do well in the examinations. He set them to practice the impedimenta jinx which Harry, Hermione, Neville and Ron could do with ease and as they were at it, the Slytherins were sweating it out with trying to learn the charm and having difficulties with it. Malfoy was having trouble with stopping the projectiles being hurled at him for sometime before he eventually succeeded. As he looked around grinning, hoping to rub it in the faces of the Lions, he found that the four had finished the work already and were sitting content. Harry decided to have some fun and when no one was looking he, wandlessly shot Crabbe with a cushioning charm and a locomotor charm and sent him gallivanting at Malfoy who used the impedimenta with all his power and Crabbe came to a halt at the last moment before he could make a nasty impact with Malfoy's face. None of them could know who had done it and even if Flitwick checked everyone's wand he would not find out who had done it because Harry did not use his wand.

As he came out of charms to go to lunch, he heard someone call him, "Lord Peverell."

He turned to find Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis coming towards him. As they neared him, he bowed, "Heiress Greengrass, Heiress Davis."

Daphne scoffed, "Please leave the formalities for when we are in the Wizengamot."

Harry nodded, "Only if you don't call me Lord Peverell all the time. How can I help you, ladies?"

Tracy winked at him, "While I do not think you can help me in anyway, Daphne may think otherwise."

Daphne scowled and said, "Just wanted to say hello and ask if you are going with someone for next Hogsmead Weekend. If not, would you go with me as a friend?"

Harry was surprised at her straight forwardness and told her that he would require time to consider. Unknown to him, Neville had been listening and was going to let Susan know of this new wrinkle.

As he arrived at lunch and sat down to eat, he cast the detection spell and found that while the food had not been touched, the utensils had been hexed to make him change his appearance right in the middle of the Great Hall. He remembered that Remus had used the same prank on the Twins in the Townhouse at the start of summer after they had fed him the draught of rage. Smirking inwardly that the marauders had joined the twins, he switched his utensils with Hermione, knowing full well that she would take them to task for their misdeeds, and waited for the prank to start.

Hermione returned from the library and as she ate the first morsel, the pranks activated and she started changing appearance. Harry knew exactly what was going on and countered the spells almost the same moment they took effect. Those sitting around him at the table had seen what was happening to Hermione and were trying to rein in their laughter while Fred and George looked mortified. Hermione sat there gritting her teeth and as the prank was countered, she rounded on them while Harry cast a privacy ward around their table so no one would hear what she was saying. She glared at the twins, "How dare you two prank a prefect?"

Fred said seriously, or at least as serious as Fred ever gets, "Sorry Hermione. You were not the intended target of our prank."

"It seems," George said, glancing toward Harry, "that someone is having us all on."

Hermione went ballistic, "I don't care who you were trying to prank! Enough is enough! People should be able to eat in peace! You two will stop it right now, and if you don't, I will write to your mother!"

George gasped, horrified, "No! You wouldn't!"

Fred said, "Why would you bother, it looks like you've been taking lessons from her already."

Harry turned to her, "Hermione, while you may be a prefect with authority to report people for rule-breaking, it is not your place to write a letter to parents of a student telling them about their children's misdeeds at school. It is a prerogative which exclusively belongs to the Head Master and their Head of House. Not you. Even if the Weasley's hold you as dear as their own children, this is not propriety and It will look bad for you in the Wizarding world if you break propriety."

She rounded on him, "I can do it if I wish to, Harry."

He shrugged, "Be my guest then but before you do it, why don't you ask Professor McGonagall about the rules regarding this or better read the Hogwarts Charter if you have not already committed it to memory from start to end."

Herbology with Professor Sprout and the Hufflepuffs was next on the schedule. Harry left lunch a bit early to get to his dorm and retrieve the plants he had brought with him from India. He brought the plants and the notes regarding their care. He was going to give them to Professor Sprout after class. He was sure that they would be helpful in defending the school when the time came.

Herbology class went fine for the most part and as Professor Sprout asked them to select partners from a different house, Harry was immediately singled out by Susan, Neville, Hannah and Ernie. Ernie greeted him pompously and told him that he believed him. The class was not very hard and having worked with these plants and even some more dangerous ones for the past month, he worked very casually with them while Susan glared at him hard. He could not understand her reaction and chose to ignore it while he really wished the mystics taught him to understand a woman and her ways.

As the class wound up, he asked Neville to wait. The rest of the class had gone and they approached the Herbology Professor.

She asked him, "What is the matter, Mr. Peverell? Need any help?"

Harry said, "Professor, recently I was on a tour outside of Wizarding Britain where I saw plants which are not found in the greenhouses here so I thought maybe you would like a sample of them."

Professor Sprout's curiosity was piqued, "Oh! Bring them out then Mr. Peverell. Let's see them."

Harry brought out the five plants and handed her a stack of parchments detailing the care and characteristics of each plant. The notes included things like what soil they prefer, how much sunlight, how much water, fertilizer and most important, what precautions to take when approaching each plant. He could also see that Neville was really eager to get a peek at the stack of parchments. Perhaps Professor Sprout too had noticed this because she offered him the stack of parchments. He read through them while the Professor had her wand out, inspecting the magical cousin of Mimosa Pudica.,and muttering "Interesting!"

When she was done with inspecting the plant, she turned to Harry, "Mr. Peverell, this is an interesting plant which has been developed by someone who had some real skill in herbology. This has an excellent defense mechanism but I noticed that you did not list its uses."

Harry's face turned impassive, "It would be best if that remains a secret Professor. It is a toxin and that is all that anyone needs to know about its uses."

She nodded but said nothing. She inspected the second plant and could not see any special characteristic about it and asked him, "What is special about this one, Mr. Peverell?"

Harry smiled grimly, "Let me show you then Professor."

He planted it and cast an engorgio at it making it increase in size. As they waited, it started emitting trance inducing music and Neville had obliviously started walking towards it when Harry had to swat him on the head to snap him out of it. When he looked at Harry, he pointed his attention towards the plant. A small animal had wandered over from out of the forbidden forest and was approaching the tree. When the animal was within reach of the tree, it fell to the ground, dead. They watched as a tentacle emerged from the plant and drew the animal into a toothy maw which had been hidden in the bowl of the tree. A second later, the animal was gone and the tree looked like an ordinary plant again.

Harry turned to Professor Sprout who had undone his engorgio and stunning the plant had uprooted it. She turned to Harry, "Mr. Peverell, these plants are not normal but very dangerous. This one especially should not be approached without earmuffs on because one would be ensnared in its music. Now if I may ask why you did show them to me and are the others equally dangerous?"

Harry said grimly, "Professor as you know, Voldemort (she shuddered) has returned and sooner or later, he will turn towards Hogwarts. These plants can be used effectively to kill many of his followers who unknowingly would walk into it. To answer your other question, the other plants are equally dangerous. One of them emits musical notes which can put anyone into a charmed sleep from which they cannot be revived except by Wiggenweld potion. Another is one which remains inert in sunlight but in dark or shadows, touching it bare handed would activate its mechanism and it would spit highly corrosive sap at anyone unfortunate enough to be within ten feet of it. The last one is like Devil's snare but it can work even in sunlight and it can choke a person to death within seconds. To defeat it you would need to destroy its root which is not possible within a few seconds that you have due to its dense foliage."

Sprout said nothing but took the plants in her custody all the while muttering, "These will need a greenhouse for themselves where only NEWT students can touch them and not without me being present all the time."

Knowing they were dismissed, he and Neville returned to the Great Hall and Harry asked what had been on his mind, "Neville mate, why was Susan looking angrily at me?"

Neville grinned, "She was hoping you would ask her out for Hogsmead weekend but you told Daphne that you would consider her offer. Being a good friend to Susan, I relayed this little tidbit to her."

Harry scowled at him, "You will pay for that, Longbottom. I have been pranking everyone mercilessly except you but now it's your turn."

Neville shuddered but said nothing.

As they entered the Great Hall, Harry went to sit at the Hufflepuff table alongside Justin and Ernie. Susan who was still pretending not to notice him looked up and scowled at him, "For what reason does the mighty Harold Peverell deign to grace us with his august presence?"

The others sensing Harry's impending demise, scooted farther from Harry to get out of the blast radius. The way Susan had improved over the summer they thought that Harry might end up looking a bit worse for wear in the seconds to come.

Harry gave her a lopsided grin, "Susan I am sorry for not coming to meet you outside the Hufflepuff Common Room. Let's do a deal. If you want me to do something, please just say it rather than just willing me to do it."

Ernie who was listening to them said sagely, "it never works mate. Woman love subtlety."

Sally Anne Perks who had just taken a seat beside Susan asked him, "You know that how? Had any experience with that, Macmillan?"

Ernie turned to her, "Nobody was talking to you Perks. I was just advising Harry about woman and their eccentricities."

Zacharias Smith who was sitting a few places down the table sneered at Harry, "What are you doing here, Peverell?"

Harry turned to him, "It looks like I am having dinner with my friends, Smith. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

Smith growled, "Do you need a map? You are a Gryffindor. This is the Hufflepuff table."

Hannah snapped at him, "Shut up Zacharias. He is welcome among us if he chooses to dine with us." Zacharias opened his mouth to say something more and Justin elbowed him in the ribs hard, telling him to drop it.

Wayne Hopkins turned to Hannah, "Since when did you become friendly with Peverell? I distinctly remember that you fought your best friend when she stood up for him last year."

Harry could sense that tensions were rising and addressed them, "I do not want you all to fight among yourselves. I just came to see Susan. I will be going now."

He returned to the Gryffindor table and slipped into a seat between the twins, "Hello you two. I hope you are not going to try to prank me again."

The twins laughed good-naturedly. Fred said, "No mate, we can appreciate a good prank when we see one."

George added, "You did best us all the times we tried."

Together they said, "we would rather have a prank war amongst us to see who can prank more students. One week of Pranks and the winner gets 100G."

Harry smiled, "Alright. Now are there any other rules to this competition?"

Fred said, "the only rule is that it must not be life threatening. Also the prank must be at a place where everyone can see it."

Harry grinned, "Well that's easy. You are on."

As he was returning to his dorm, someone called him, "Harry!"

He turned to find Angelina coming to him and said, "Yes Lady Johnson, how may I serve you?".

She rolled her eyes, "You know I liked the older version better. You can save your pure-blood lordy ways for someone who is not your team captain."

He smiled, "Congratulations Angelina. You deserved it."

She beamed, "I was not sure I would get it but McGonagall said that she made this decision after a lot of thought. I have scheduled trials for the team this Friday at 7:00. We are taking trials for Beaters, Chasers and a keeper."

He mulled over her words for a second and said, "We already have three excellent chasers. Why do we need new ones? There are no beaters better than the twins so why would we need new beaters. You did not say anything about a seeker trial though."

She smiled, "I will be gone after this year and so will be the twins. Alicia and Katie also would stay for another year after this then Gryffindor house will need to find replacements. I am trying to find players who can regularly train with us so that we will not have any troubles when they are playing in the main team in event that some of us are tied up in other obligations. Also, there is no one else who can play seeker like you. You can fly circles around us with that broom of yours."

Harry, thinking about being back on the quidditch pitch again, grinned, "I don't know about that, I put on a lot of weight over the summer. I may not be as good as I used to be. But, I will be there at 7:00 on Friday."

Harry went out in the grounds to practice flying without a broom the way the mystics do. The sun had set and the sky was overcast. The only visible light was coming from the windows of the castle. Harry cast a glance at Hagrid's hut, but it was just a darker patch against the trees of the forbidden forest, no sign of life there. As he willed his sight to see in the darkness, the snow leopard answered and the vague, dim shadows resolved themselves into sharp focus. It was then that Harry could see someone zooming about the Quidditch pitch on a broom. Curious to see who would be out flying in the dark, Harry disillusioned himself and began levetating through the air toward the mysterious flyer. With his enhanced night vision, Harry could see that it was Ron on his Nimbus 2001 and doing a good job of it. Harry guessed that Ron was going to try out for the team. He left Ron to it. No need to spoil the surprise or embarrass him.

Harry reflected that his flying practice was going well. He could easily maintain a height of 30 feet now. Although he could achieve some movement, it was nothing like the speed he could obtain on a broom... yet. For now, he knew that if he were to be dismounted mid-air, he could avoid being killed or injured even if nobody was around to help him and that was good enough.

Smiling to himself, he returned to the Common Room and to his dorm. He really needed to see Dumbledore now to find a place to practice his arcane magics.

Serpent's pit

Draco Malfoy had returned to the Slytherin common room in the evening after the sorting and had been mulling over the events which had changed drastically in the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, he had been the heir of Black and commanded respect from others but Harold bloody Peverell had taken it away from him along with humiliating his father in front of the Wizengamot. He had thought that he would teach Peverell a lesson on the train but he had showed him up in front of his lackeys. Then there was the instruction that his father had given him before he boarded the train about establishing his authority in Slytherin house on his own merits so that he would be a favoured one of the Dark Lord because as things were changing, Lucius was afraid that the Malfoy name may not remain in favour for long. The Malfoy name had the backing of the name of Black earlier and was the chief reason that people respected them otherwise there were people who even called them fugitives though he did not know the story behind this. Something about his ancestors fleeing from France was all he had heard.

He had noticed that Peverell's circle of friends had grown and included heirs of some very prominent families of the Wizarding World. Not to mention, he had the Light and Neutral Faction at his back. Draco was however still not convinced that Peverell was powerful. He would show him up.

As he entered the serpent's pit, he found that everyone was busy with their own work and hardly anyone even bothered to look up at him unlike the previous years. There were Jugson, Everly and Dryden whose families were vassals of House Black and they used to fawn on him during previous years but today they looked like they were not caring at all.

He called them, "Hey Jugson, why did you not come to see me this morning on the train?"

Jugson sneered at him, "And why would I do that Malfoy?"

Draco snapped at him, "Because I am your superior."

Jugson sarcastically remarked, "Oh really? As I see it, I am in the final year of my education, have more knowledge than you so I am your superior."

Draco shouted, "Don't forget that your family is a vassal of mine! I am and I always will be your superior!"

Everly turned to him, "News Flash Malfoy. The Noble houses of Jugson, Everly and Dryden are not vassals to the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy but to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Last we checked, Harold James Peverell was the Lord of Black and not you. So tell me Malfoy, how are you superior to us?"

Malfoy went into a rage, "You compare me to him? He is a talentless wizard while I am a Malfoy. He cannot match me."

Dryden who usually was very quiet and did not speak unless spoken to turned to Malfoy, "We do not know about everything he has achieved in four years at Hogwarts but he escaped the Dark Lord last year, he survived the Killing Curse at least twice if rumours are to be believed, he became the seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team in his first year despite never having flown a broom, flew circles around you whenever you have played against him, obtained an Outstanding in Defense when the werewolf Remus Lupin taught us, as we have heard he resisted the imperious curse cast by Moody, out flown a dragon and bested Merlin knows what creatures at the bottom of that lake. And, from what we heard, disarmed you and your two goons before you even got your wands out on the train. So, tell me Malfoy what you have done that makes you better than him?"

Malfoy opened his mouth and then closed it. He did it several times while thinking of a suitable reply to Dryden but could not do so. Pansy who saw this rose to his aid and snapped at them, "He is a pureblood whose father sits in the inner circle of the Dark Lord. Can you say the same for yourself?"

The reply came not from the three of them but Theo Nott who smirked evilly, "From what I have heard, Lord Malfoy is falling from grace very fast. He may not remain there for long."

Malfoy turned to Nott and found that most of the house had been looking on the scene with amusement watching him shout like a child. He realized he would have to make an escape before he was ridiculed further but before doing so, he glared at Jugson, Everly and Dryden, "You all will live to regret this day forever."

As he left, Dryden erected a privacy ward and turned to the other two, "You know my family told me to seek out Lord Black and ask for his protection. My family may have been sympathetic to the Dark Lord but they are not willing to involve themselves directly in it."

Jugson agreed, "My family is doing the same. While my father was a marked death eater, after having seen the bloodshed in the last war, he told me to seek Lord Black and ask for his protection for myself and him, if possible. He does not wish to serve the Dark Lord any more but there is no escape from it unless the Dark Lord ceases to exist."

Dryden who had been quiet for a while, said, "We cannot directly approach him though. In the last 4 years he has been treated horribly at our hands. If we go to him now, he might think that it's just a ploy. We will have to seek him out after we can determine that he will treat us fairly."

Unknown to them Daphne was watching them with interest, reading their body language and seemed to know what they were talking about. She intended to approach them after she had established some common ground with Harold Peverell.

The next day, Malfoy had been unbearable after the Gryffindors (or precisely Peverell's friends) had showed them all up during the charms class by mastering the impedimenta before the Slytherins. He wanted the entire house to stand behind him. However, Daphne saw through his act. He was only trying to present himself as the unopposed leader of the Slytherins and the house was divided right now. She needed to present her proposal to Peverell so that she could present a way out for those who did not want to stand behind he-who-must-not-be-named.

Pansy was being insufferable misusing her authority as Prefect and Daphne was forced to wonder if the head master was going senile as he had given the position of Prefect to her and Draco of all people. Those two would further alienate the Slytherins from the rest of the school.

She was sitting on her bed thinking about a way to proceed with the meeting she wanted to have with one Harold James Peverell, when Tracy jumped on her bed, "Still thinking about your raven haired boy wonder Daph? I must accept that he has become more attractive this summer. If you are not making a move then I will."

Daphne glared at her and Tracy raised her hands in a pacifying gesture while grinning at her, "You don't need to go all Ice Queen on me, Daph. I'm just yanking your wand but you really need to make a move. I have seen quite a few witches eyeing him as if he were a tasty dish."

Daphne scowled, "Get your mind out of the gutter, Tracy. As I see it, you still cannot bring yourself to talk to Zabini about your feelings. When are you going to do that?"

Tracy shrugged, "He is happy being a witch's wizard and does not look even look at me. Perhaps he is not the one. I guess I will take a leaf out of your book and look for some decent wizards in other houses where they do not leer at every witch who is kind enough to talk to them."

Daphne sighed, "If you can get your head out of the gutter, let me know how I can approach Harold Peverell? If I do not make a move soon, Malfoy will have most of the house standing behind him."

Tracy gave her an evil smirk, "As I have told you earlier, you need to drag him into a broom cupboard and..."

As Tracy rambled on about what she should do, Daphne put her fingers in her ears and pretended not to be able to hear her.

Next day

It was still an hour before dawn and Harold Peverell dived into the lake to start his morning work-out. As he smoothly slid through the dark water, the giant squid kept pace with him waving a tentacle in time with Harry's strokes. The glow of the pre-dawn was filling the sky as he finished his second lap and strode out of the lake. By the time he had dried off and put on his running gear, the new defense instructor was just finishing his first lap running. As Harry joined him, he cordially said, "Good Morning Mr. Peverell."

Harry responded to him and started running around the perimeter of the lake when the defense instructor asked him, "I have heard you are very good at defense Mr. Peverell. Care to give a demonstration to me?"

Harry, remembering the laps he ran in India said, "Would you fire spells at me while I dodge and run? I need the practice."

With that, the two of them set off around the lake at a dead run. Harry dodged and swerved and leapt, avoiding the professor's hexes while maintaining a terrific pace. By the time he had completed four laps around the lake, dawn was properly in progress.

Harry welcomed the opportunity to have some good practice and a chance to assess the other man's capabilities. As he pulled his wand (Shilpagya"s wand) out and took a stance, the other man pulled out his wand making him stop short. The wand looked familiar to him but before he could say anything, the defense instructor started casting bone breakers, bone exploding hexes and bone crushers at him in a chain and Harry was left to dodge his spells. The defense instructor was very fluent in casting and his speed was amazing. Such speed as he had only seen with the mystics. He started doing the slippery fish dodging every curse being sent his way and was doing it quite proficiently. The other man did not let his barrage of hexes stop for a single moment and Harry reveled in the feeling of some good practice which he had been missing. As the other man faltered for a second, Harry immediately started his own barrage of spells, deliberately using low powered spells or hexes just to keep the other man on his toes who was dodging everything with ease. After about 20 minutes of practice, Harry realized the other man was not an ordinary wizard and he pulled the Acacia wand in his other hand and started casting with both hands making it harder for him to dodge and left with no other avenue, the other man slipped in the slippery fish mode, though he was nowhere as fluent as Vari or Harry. Harry stopped casting and calmly sent his wands back in his holsters and folding his arms across his chest, looked at the other man who was grinning sheepishly.

The other man raised his fist to his chest and intoned, "Dharm aur Maan".

Harry reciprocated the gesture and then asked him, "So unknown to me, a mystic is working as the defense instructor this year. For what reasons are you placed here, Mr. Rana?"

The other man smiled, "My name is Pundariksh but for the purpose of being your defense instructor, I am VIkram Rana. Guruji wanted to make sure that the students of the school are proficient in surviving the oncoming war. Also I am here to help you if you need me."

Harry nodded, "Excellent. I would expect nothing less from Guruji. I am looking for a place to train without people disturbing me all the time. As I am learning my family magic I need a place where there will be no prying eyes and there will be no chance of one of my stray spells accidentally killing someone. If you know of such a place, please let me know."

The other man smiled, "You have the answer to your predicament, Harry. There is the chamber of secrets that none save you can enter. If you would take me there, I will fortify the chamber to withstand any magical damage. There is another place but you will have to find it on your own because it appears when one needs it."

They both practiced some more until the sun was well up. Then Harry headed back up to his dorm to get cleaned up to meet Susan for breakfast.

As he approached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he remembered the prank challenge that the twins had set for him. As he thought about it, he had his first victim- An unsuspecting Neville Longbottom. He had to pay for snitching to Susan. Neville was sitting in front of the common room fire, studying. As Harry passed, he fired some prank spells at Neville and waited for the time when they would go off.

Cleaned up and properly dressed in his school robes, he employed the marauder's map and quickly located a route to the Hufflepuff common room. And, yes, Susan was already there. Something in the back of Harry's mind said, "Never keep a lady waiting.". He quickly tapped his wand to the map saying, "Mischief managed.", and stowed the map back into his robes. There was a wonderful swooping sensation in his chest as he climbed out through the portal and set off at a run for the area near the kitchens.

He reached the barrels all right which flanked the Hufflepuff common room but he had no idea about what to do next. As he stood there looking gormless, Justin emerged from the portal and halted when he saw Harry there.

He asked hesitatingly, "What can I do for you Harry?"

Harry smiled at him, "If it is no bother to you Justin would you please call Susan outside? She is very cross with me and I am hoping to please her with my chivalry."

Justin snorted, "If it were only that easy, mate. I am not helping you. She is more than a handful when she is really angry and right now she wants to have nothing to do with you. Something about being a reckless, fool hardy Gryffindor."

Harry grimaced and thanked the other boy sending him away. As he stood and waited, Hannah emerged and seeing him standing there grinned at him, "Don't worry Harry. She has a temper but it cools off as quickly as it comes."

Just then Susan emerged and was visibly pleased but to maintain appearances, glared at him, "So what do I owe this pleasure Lord Peverell?"

Harry sighed, "Susan, would you give me the honor of being your escort to the Great Hall for breakfast?"

Susan giggled and he offered her his arm. As she wrapped her hand around his bicep, Harry felt about a foot taller. Together they reached the great hall. As soon as they entered, all conversation went silent. Susan asked, "Do you always have this kind of effect, Harry?"

Harry grinned, "May be they are wondering how a git like me got a charming lady like you on his arm?"

She swatted his arm playfully and he dragged her and Hannah to the Gryffindor table. They had not made more than a couple of steps when Neville entered the Great Hall behind them. He started to make his way toward the Gryffindor table when he started tap dancing. As he danced, his hair grew down past his shoulders, two horns sprouted out of his head and he grew a spiked tail for good measure. After a minute of him trying to relieve himself of his predicament, the defense instructor undid the prank spells and Neville reached the Gryffindor table. He whined to Susan, "Look what he did to me Bones. I had to endure this just for being a good friend."

Susan glared at him and he lost it, laughing at the top of his voice while others were trying to conceal their laughter.

Hermione and Ron arrived at that moment and breakfast was proceeding without any trouble. That is, until the owl post started coming in. A snow white owl was among them flying rapidly towards Harry. Seeing Hedwig, he paled but before he could do anything the owl had started attacking him with her talons and he had raised his hands above his head while yelling, "Oww.. Hedwig.. Oww.. no.. Ok Ok I made a mistake.. Oww no..".

After Hedwig was sure that she had chastised her stupid two legged pet enough, she perched on the table and thrust her leg forward at him. He removed the letter and offered her a piece of bacon. The owl glared at him, pecked him on the head once more for good measure and took off.

He had not seen the owl in the last 2 months as when he had arrived at the Black Town House at the start of summer, he knew that he would have no use for her and an owl flying in and out of nowhere would be suspicious. So he had sent her to Hogwarts and kind of forgot about her for all this time.

The letter was a list of the contents of the vault of Bellatrix Nameless which the goblins were sending now. He scanned the list imperiously until his eyes stopped at an item listed there "Silver cup engraved with Hufflepuff Badger". He shelved the information for later use and returned the letter to his bag. He would have to write to them to sell the contents of the Vault later and pay the amount so obtained to Frank as part of the reparations.

He looked at the time table and smirked evilly. They had double Potions in the Dungeons with the snakes the first thing today. This would be interesting.

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