A/N- Hey guys, thanks for the love that you guys are showering at me and this fanfic. I need you all to suggest names for the Harold Snow-leopard Peverell. I hope you all will enjoy this story. I also want you to give some ideas about pairings except for Harry Potter. His is already set in stone.
Rebecca- Thanks for all the awesome reviews that you have given. I am glad that you like reading this fic.
Hypergym- Susan fought for him for the last 4 years, in this story. I think that entitles her to some temper tantrums. Besides he need a witch he fears a little or his head would grow bigger with haughtiness (wink wink)
God of All, Anarion, Sourav- thanks for your reviews.
ObsessedwithHPFanFic- Luckily for us, he cannot get away from him. Besides he is her betrothed meaning she is entitled to it. (wink wink) the practice would do him good when he is bound to her for life.
Hogwarts
Harry reached the dungeons with the Gryffindors to find that the Slytherins were already there. He stood with his back against the wall while listening to his friends. He was anticipating what would happen in this class. For one, Snape would be the same as ever, he believed because he would need to maintain his cover in front of the children of the death eaters. There were too many in his year- and even one slip could betray him as a double agent to Tom. He had seen parents of Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Parkinson and Bulstrode in the graveyard on that fateful night. All of them death eaters who had walked free using the imperious defence and, Harry suspected generous bribes to Fudge. He was surprised that many of the snakes in his year had no connection to death eaters. Greengrass and Davis were known neutrals, Lilith Moon was from the Ancient House of Moon which usually remained above the Wizengamot politics and it was not a part of any of the three factions with the Lord usually doing what he thought would be best for his house. Zabini was the son of Cassandra Zabini, who was infamously referred to as, "the black widow." as she was rumoured to have been married seven times and each of her husbands had died under mysterious circumstances. Zabini often stayed away from any conflict.
He heard Neville say, "I wonder what Snape will be like to us this year?"
Ron optimistic over something which he could foresee whispered, "He will be cordial to us of course seeing that he is a spy for the Order now."
Harry wanted to hex his friend into oblivion. He hastily erected a privacy ward and growled at his friend, "What is the matter with you? Are you trying to get him killed? There are some things that you should never talk about unless you can be absolutely assured of privacy and that's one of them."
It was Hermione who replied, "You are right, Harry. We must be careful about what we are saying especially when we cannot know who is spying on us. Do you have a way to stop others from listening in on our conversation?"
Harry nodded, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I took care of that before I took Ron to task for his loose lips. There is a privacy ward around us."
Hermione gaped in wonder. She knew that privacy wards were not taught below sixth year and Harry who had never studied runes before just did it so quickly that she could not even follow the movements. She said, "You'll have to teach me that one."
Harry tried to look humble but his pleasure was writ large on his face, "Told you I had some very good teachers."
She scoffed, "Which you refuse to tell us about. Must have been some outstanding teacher to teach one who could not differentiate between two runes before the summer."
Neville sensing the tension, tried to diffuse it, "What do you say Harry? Will the dungeon bat be nasty as usual?"
Harry replied thoughtfully, "I do not think he has a choice. Your father is the minister for magic now and your mother will hex him out of existence if he tries to bully you, so I think you can expect some better treatment. But, he can't tip his hand and treat any of the rest of us any better. He has an appearance to maintain before the children of the death eaters lest word find its way back to Voldemort." This was the first time that his friends had not shuddered at his name and he considered that a success, "Either way, we will know shortly."
Daphne was looking towards them and she saw him erecting a privacy ward. Her father had taught it to her as being the heir, she had to be careful in what she spoke at anytime for fear of consequences and had taught her to detect if wards were in place. She was fascinated by this new Harry Potter who could do complicated magic with ease and could not help but imagine herself on his arm. She had been willing to hex Bones this morning after she had seen her draped on his arm but had to swallow her anger.
The door to the dungeon opened and the hook-nosed potions master started to usher the students in. Harry took the privacy ward down and followed the others inside. As they were taking seats in the class, Snape started to speak in his familiar menacing tone, "The head master has asked me to have you sit in pairs by assignment. Something about bolstering House Unity which I do not think will happen but who am I to argue against him? I will call pairs and you will sit accordingly."
He started calling people in pairs and pointing them to tables as he went. "Hermione Granger with Lilith Moon", he pointed to a work-table at the back of the room. "Ronald Weasley with Blaise Zabini", he pointed at a work-table half-way back and to his right. "Seamus Finnigan with Pansy Parkinson", he pointed to a table at the back and to his left. "Millicent Bulstrode with Dean Thomas", he pointed to a table at the back and to his right. "Neville Longbottom with Tracy Davis", He pointed at a table at the front and to his left. "Parvati Patil with Vincent Crabbe", he pointed at a table right in the middle of the class. "Lavender Brown with Gregory Goyle, Ellia Runcorn with Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott with Fay Dunbar", He filled in the tables as he went.
"And Harold Peverell," he sneered, "with Daphne Greengrass", He indicated a table front and centre, right under his hooked nose.
Harry had already anticipated Snape's seating assignment. He also had it in mind to really rub his skill at potion making in the Dungeon Bat's face. So, while other students in the class made their way to their seats, only Harry and Hermione stayed where they were.
He paused for a second after he finished the seating announcements then said, "We haven't got all day. Get to your seats."
The Brownian motion sped up slightly as the students made their way to their new seats and partners. Harry cast a look at Snape and found him looking at Harry with the glare that he seemed to have reserved for him and Neville though there was not loathing in it like the previous years. Daphne joined him at the front and centre table. Harry rose and greeted her with a bow. They both sat with their side to Snape, Harry to his right and Daphne to his left.
When Snape called for their holiday assignments, most of the students held their scrolls up for Snape to summon them. The remaining students lost five points each for their houses and were told to hand them in next class or they would be in detention. For a change, the Slytherins lost points right along with the Gryffindors who did not hand in their work. But, the class was just starting.
With the homework collected and everyone in their assigned seat, he began his OWL year pep-talk. "This is your OWL year which means that many of you will not be returning next year", He gave pointed looks at Neville and Seamus, "only those students who obtain an 'O' will be accepted for my NEWT level studies. I do, however, expect that you will, as a class, maintain the high pass levels which I have come to expect from my students or you shall suffer my displeasure", and he gave pointed looks to Crabbe and Goyle.
"Now, if I have managed to stuff anything into your heads, you will brew this potion", he flicked his wand and the instructions appeared on the board. "It is the Draught of Peace. Begin!"
Harry was inwardly jumping with joy. He could brew The Draught of Peace from memory. This is one of the potions he had most tinkered with while he was studying with the mystics. He pulled out a piece of parchment and, with a tap of his own wand, copied the instructions from the board. Next, he erected an anti-tampering ward to keep "stray" ingredients out of his work area. He scanned down the instructions and quickly realized that this was not the same recipe as the text book contained. Mentally, he gave Snape credit for a good variation. Making up his mind quickly, Harry summoned three cauldrons from his bag and cancelled the shrinking charms on them as they hit the table in front of him. Next, he laid out the ingredients for all three variations: the text-book, Snape's and his own. He had already laid out the time-tables for stirring, adding ingredients and heating all three variants in his head. As he took a look around the room, the other students all had their cauldrons heating and were feverishly chopping and adding ingredients.
Daphne was looking at him like he had grown two heads, "Harry, you are really behind. Do you want to get chewed out by Snape?"
Harry smiled at her in response and said, "Don't worry about a thing. I have it all under control."
Harry had done all his prep-work and he was ready to brew. With a quick flick of his wand, Harry set the three kettles heating and animated the stirring ladles. With split-second precision, the ingredients were added and the temperature varied on each cauldron according to his time-table.
Snape came by his desk and sneered, "Three cauldrons, Peverell? What do you think you are doing?"
Without missing a beat or interrupting his motion, Harry responded, "As it happens Professor, the one on my left is straight out of the text-book. The one in the centre is according to your instructions from the black-board today. And the one on my right, is my own variation which counteracts the side effect of somnolence which this potion normally has."
Snape snapped, "Can you read, Peverell? Do the instructions line up with any of the ingredients that you are working with?"
Harry knew that he could give Snape the brush-off, but the longer he kept the professor occupied, the les he could harass the other Gryffindors in the room. He answered, "Yes sir, the potion in the centre cauldron is an exact match. The other two, of course, have many ingredients in common, but will have differing side-effects." His hands were practically a blur as he added the final ingredients. "Now, if I have answered your questions satisfactorily, I really do need to concentrate on what I am doing", he dismissed Snape as he entered the final phase of the brewing.
Snape went ballistic, "Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Peverell."
Harry retorted, "Professor! I have tolerated your bullying and injustice for the last four years, but I will tolerate it no more. I will take this up with the Headmaster and my Head of House. Now, go and give students who need it, your instruction." As Harry made final adjustments to the stirring and temperature of the cauldrons for the next 30 minutes of simmering.
Others were gawking at the bickering in wonder and amazed at how Harry could talk back to a Professor like this. Daphne was getting nervous that it would be bad for her too being his partner but she could do nothing except hope that Snape would not dock points off her too.
Snape gave a murderous look to Harry and thundered, "Detention Peverell. This evening at 9:00, my office."
His work done, Harry could now focus his full attention on the teacher. He folded his arms, stared him straight in the eyes and raised his eyebrows just daring the professor to say one more thing. Snape decided that he was going to make detention rather unpleasant for Mr. Peverell and went off to make other students sweat. With the Dungeon Bat's back turned, Harry made some gestures. The man had offended Harry and he was going to suffer for it.
About 30 minutes later, all three of his potions were emitting silvery vapour and he was inwardly whooping in joy as Snape looked at him dumb-founded while others were gawking at him as if he had grown two heads. He bottled a sample of each in three unbreakable phials and marked each one with his name and which recipe he followed for each one. These, he handed in for marking. Snape accepted the samples with a sneer. Harry had to sigh mentally, "Snape would remain Snape", he thought.
Before he cleaned up, he bottled three more phials of the potion from his own recipe and pocketed them. With a few more waves of his wand, he cleaned up his work area, miniaturized his equipment and stowed it all back in his school bag. His work done for this class, he took a look around the dungeon.
Since the others had not yet finished their potions, he was able to observe how they were doing. He noticed Hermione's potion was emitting a dark silver vapor as compared to the silvery vapour which the instructions said. Perhaps it was a first for him. Daphne's potion was of the silver sheen as it described. Malfoy who generally was deft handed at potions had ruined his and it was emitting black vapour instead of the silver. Ellia Runcorn's was near completion but not as perfect as she would have liked. Ronald's potion surprisingly was emitting faint silver vapour compared to what he usually did when his potions were ruined by adding too much of the ingredients or when he could not follow the instructions. Neville and Tracy were about to finish their potion and theirs were perfect. Perhaps not having Snape breathing down his neck was good for Neville or may be changing his partners had worked wonders for him. Seamus as usual had blown up his cauldron. Milicent was covered in soot and glaring at him. The others were also in various stages of completing their potions and more or less their potions were near completion. When Daphne had bottled her sample, Harry offered to clean up for her, an offer which she accepted with a smile.
The period ended and those who had finished their work handed in their samples. Seamus was given an assignment on the correct use of portable fire and lost ten points for Gryffindor. The other students who had not finished their work or had ruined their potions were given an assignment on the uses of Moonstone. Snape called out to Harry, "Perhaps we should test your potion now, Peverell. Just to be sure that it works the way it should."
Harry knew that the professor meant to test an unproven potion on him, but took a deliberately obtuse meaning, "Of course, you are welcome to do so, Professor. You look a bit stressed. Perhaps it would do you some good." And he ran off to the Great Hall before Snape could take another ten points off of him.
When his friends were able to catch up to him, Hermione asked him, "Why did you run, Harry?"
Harry mock shuddered, "That was the only thing that came to my mind when I thought about the interrogation that would follow after the potions period."
As others processed what he meant and broke into a laugh, she punched him in the arm, "What was that in the potions class? You brewed three potion variations perfectly and you did not even look at a book. How could you do that? To experiment with potions with so many people around? What if it had ended badly for us?"
Harry frowned, "Hermione do you realise that Snape's instructions for brewing these potions are different from the instructions in the book? This is our fifth year in his class and I realized that he never had us use the text book but make us work from his instructions on the black-board every time. So, one variation was straight from the text-book. The second one was Snape's instructions from the black-board. The third was something I came up with while I was studying potions under a master who taught me more in six weeks than our dear Professor Snape has managed to teach me in four years."
Hermione thought about it and went through the instructions from the text books, which she had read in their entirety and the instructions she had followed from the black-board, which she had neatly filed away, in her head, for the last four years. And yes, there were significant differences in most and minor differences in the rest. She realised he was right. Snape always gave them instructions and never told them to follow from the books. May be he had been giving his own instructions. But it gave her more questions to ask, "What did you learn in Potions? You must teach me."
Harry shook his head, "Sorry Hermione. I am not at liberty to teach these things."
She retorted, "Why not? They would not know that you are teaching us these things. Those teachers are not here."
He mentally smirked, "If only you knew."
Before Hermione could ask anything further, Snape glided into the Great Hall, his cloak billowing behind him. He had nearly reached the staff table, when with a sound like stretching rubber, his body grew black fur, webbing grew between his fingers and under his arms, his ears became much larger and pointy, his face grew into a snout with fangs. When the transformation was complete, he had morphed into a giant bat with a ten foot wingspan.
As the Great Hall broke into laughter, McGonagall whipped her wand out and undid his transformation in a second. McGonagall turned to the great hall in general and asked in her scolding tone, "Who dared to do this?"
The great hall had fallen silent under the withering glare of Snape and Harry had pushed up his mental shields to the maximum and was employing Occlumency to morph his expressions into one of confusion and horror. McGonagall turned to the Twins, who were the default mischief makers of the school. But they had just arrived in the great hall and were in such a position that they could not have hexed him without their involvement being known.
Snape turned to Harry glaring at him. Harry knew what Snape was trying to do. He felt a forceful attempt at intrusion on his mind shields and he swatted it down hard. This gave Snape such a shock that he fell to the ground. Harry was glaring at him coldly and Snape shivered for a second.
After sometime when it was clear that the perpetrator could not be found, Snape sat down to lunch. Harry was planning to take Snape's actions up with Dumbledore later.
As the tension in the great hall dissipated, Neville asked him, "umm… mate, why was Snape glaring at you?"
Harry said offhandedly, "Snivellus was trying to enter my mind to see if I had pranked him. I threw him out before he got past the outer most walls."
Hermione was looking at him critically but said nothing. She was noticing the changes in him and could hardly believe that it was the same boy. Earlier he was happy with being mediocre, would not counter what others said and he was a slacker. But ever since he returned, it looked like he was a different person altogether. The way he would duel with Moody making the veteran auror cower before him even with his improved leg, the way he had defeated McGonagall and Flitwick and the pranks that she heard he had done to the Marauders and the twins were sufficient to make her feel uncomfortable. Either Harry Potter had obtained some unseen powers or he had been hiding them all this time. She did not know which was scarier. Then there was the fact that he knew of such things that she had only heard about others doing. He could cast wards when two months ago he knew nothing about runes. He could brew potions as if it were second nature when as recently as last June he bungled them on a regular basis. He could perform complicated spells with ease. He could fight with experts with their own spells. And by his own admission, he was now proficient in occlumency and legilimency. And she had a suspicion that this was not even a fraction of his powers. Her friend had changed too much in the last two months and perhaps by the time the war ended, he would not be recognizable. She had to know what else he could do.
She turned to him and looked at him beseechingly, "Harry, what can you tell us about which potions you can brew? Or what magic you can do?"
Harry sighed, "Hermione, there is a great deal about what I know that I cannot share with you, or anyone else for that matter. What I can tell you is that I can brew any potion that Snape will teach us. I can duel with anyone and defeat them."
Just then a girl drifted up to him and he noticed it was Luna Lovegood, the girl they had met on the train and he felt like he should be wary of her. She said to him in her dreamy voice, "Did you see nargles on your trip? Or a crumple horned snorcack? Daddy thinks that we may have been looking in the wrong place for them."
Harry looked at her and was trying to hide his mirth as he answered, diplomatically, "Hi Luna. I met a large number of creatures that were new to me while I was away. Sad to say, nargles Or the crumple horned snorcack were not among them." Then he suggested, "Perhaps I know them by different names. Do you have drawings or photographs of them?"
She looked at Harry with her very large eyes for a moment, then said, "Sadly, no. Father and I have never sighted a crumple horned snorcack. And although nargles are quite common, they are always invisible."
With a smile, Harry said, "Sorry I can't help you then."
She turned to Hermione who had hidden her face in a book and said, 'Did you know that Ronald fancies you?"
Ronald who had just eaten an egg whole choked on it while Hermione turned red muttering something under her breath. Luna drifted off to her table. Neville started laughing at the other's predicament until Harry glared at him.
After lunch they had double Runes and Divination. Harry and Ron did not yet have permission to take runes and they had both dropped divination, so they had free periods. While Hermione went to runes, Ron headed for the Gryffindor Common Room to get started on the Potions homework. Harry thought that now was as good a time as any to take up Snape's behavior with his head of house, Professor McGonagall and made the trek to her classroom. He found her there, grading the summer assignments.
As he knocked, she was visibly pleased to see him and said jovially, "Please come in, Harry. I have just marked your summer assignment. Outstanding does not even begin to describe it. Where have you been hiding your talents?"
Harry said, "My summer studies have done me a world of good, but that is not why I have come to speak with you, Professor."
Harry took a seat across from her and she said, "I was looking for a way to talk to you without others hearing. Tell me Harry what you have learned in these two months in transfiguration?"
Before he began to answer her, Harry erected a privacy ward and an alert ward at the doorway. She looked visibly impressed. Then Harry began, "Professor, what I have learned must remain a secret. If your mind is secure, I can tell you what I have learned in transfiguration."
She looked at him critically, "Do not worry for my mind Harry. I am an accomplished occlumens but I never took the trouble to learn legilimency."
Harry told her about learning all the transfigurations that she could teach including animation and her eyes were spread in wonder, "And you learned all this in one month?"
He sheepishly smiled, "Yes professor."
She mock-glared at him, 'And exactly why you did not study hard with that motivation in the last four years?'
As he just smiled like a idiot, she asked him what she had been most curious about, "Did they teach you animagus transformation?"
Harry told her the half truth, "They told me all about it including how one becomes an animagus but that is all."
She eagerly replied, "If you want, I can help you become an animagus by obtaining the potion for you and helping you along the way. I daresay that in a year, you will be able to achieve the transformation."
Harry felt bad about rejecting her offer, "I'm sorry, Professor, I have a lot of things on my mind and a lot to learn which takes precedence over this."
She nodded reluctantly, "I understand. It is just that your father was an accomplished wizard and could have done transfiguration mastery if things were normal. I hoped you would become an animagus like him. Now why have you come to visit me when others are in classes?"
Harry retold her all that had transpired in potions class. By the time he was done her nostrils were flared. As it was time for classes, she turned to him, "Come to the Head Master's office at 7:00 this evening. You will not need to do the detention."
Bidding her good- bye, he removed the wards and started roaming around the castle.
He came across Professor Flitwick who beamed at him, "Mr. Peverell, what are you doing out of class at this hour?"
He told him about dropping Divination and the Runes Professor not having replied to McGonagall's query yet. Flitwick invited him to the office for tea and as they sat, the charms master asked him, "How is Dhara?"
Harry was confused, "I beg your pardon, Professor. Who is Dhara?"
The charms master looked at him solemnly for sometime before he spoke again, "The one who taught you charms, Mr. Peverell. I can sense her handiwork when I see it. In my ten championships, I was really threatened only twice and both times by the same woman. She was tall, lithe, brown eyes, black haired and had a rather melodious voice."
As Flitwick gave the description, he could see Achala in his mind. He remembered what she had told him about her past. Perhaps she had been Dhara in her other life. Yet it was not his secret to give. He turned to the Professor, "Sorry Professor. I cannot say that I know any such individual."
Flitwick who had been teaching for the last many decades understood from Harry's mannerisms that he had guessed right but decided not to pry any further. It was not as if Dhara had been a very close friend to him. He was content to know she was alive and well.
He turned to the teen, "So Mr. Peverell, what have you learned this summer apart from sticking your professor in a cage?"
Harry snorted, "It was just one of many things Professor. I cannot tell you my secrets though."
The tiny professor nodded, "I will look forward to more displays of charms from you, Mr. Peverell."
Harry took his leave and went to the Defense professor and accompanied him to the Chamber of Secrets. As they opened the chamber, Harry muttered, "I should have brought my broom with me."
The mystic looked him in wonder, "Are you a mystic or an ordinary wizard, Harry? We can fly down to the chamber. Why would you need a broom?"
Harry was embarrassed at his own stupidity, "You are right, Professor."
The mystic immediately flew down the pipe with Harry hovering just below the entrance where he asked the entrance to close before he descended downwards. Since the tunnel was long, he realized he could use it to practice flying and nobody would be able to observe him doing it.
As they entered the main chamber, Harry cast a big incendio with his wands and lit all the torches in their brackets on the walls. He started to examine the walls of the chamber and the serpent heads. He had been thinking that Salazar definitely could not fly down the pipe to the chamber so there must have been some way for easy access to other parts of the castle. He noticed one of the Serpents had a rune engraved on its hood which was absent on others. Curious, he tapped the rune and the snake slid down and a door opened behind it. Harry stepped out of it and realized he was near the room where Dumbledore had told him about Horcruxes.
Excited about his success, he turned to find that the door was gone. He looked carefully and found that there was another rune on this side of the wall and he tapped it but the way did not appear. He sat thinking for sometime before inspiration struck him and he hissed, "Open."
The wall slid up and he was in the chamber again. As he stepped in, the wall was back in its place. The mystic was busy examining the humongous head from which the Basilisk had emerged two years earlier and he raised his hand in a sort of commanding gesture and hissed, "Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of Hogwarts Four."
Nothing happened for a few minutes and then a hissing voice emerged, "Who addresses Salazar Slytherin?"
Harry replied firmly, "I am Harold James Peverell, scion of Potter, favoured one of mother magic and I implore you to grant me access to chambers behind this statue."
The voice answered as if amused, "No one is granted access to the chambers within for the reason that there is nothing beyond this except the Basilisk's nest. With the beast slain, there are no secrets left there."
Harry said nothing more to the statue. He shrugged and relayed to the Defense instructor what the statue had said. The mystic said nothing but set to work, fortifying the chambers to withstand any magical backlash. Harry set to work, cleaning, reinforcing, warding and lighting the chamber. He set up a ward to power the charms he had liberally employed in the chamber and connected the ward to ley line meaning the ward would keep working without being powered from time to time. By the time they were done, the place was clean, dry, well lit and just a bit on the cool side of comfortable. They left after an hour.
As he entered the Great Hall, he saw that some Ravenclaw students were braying at their friends. He chuckled knowing that the twins were probably trying to even the score. He would have to think of some monumental prank to win the war by the next day. He did not want to waste the next few days pranking the hell out of people when there was work to be done. But he needed access to the Slytherin House for that purpose. Perhaps it was time to use his old trusted Invisibility Cloak again.
He remembered that Remus was starting this month's clinical trial for the new wolfsbane potion tomorrow. He hoped to see some positive results from it. He had also put a mail directing ward over him during the summer so that all the mails which were sent to him would be directed to his Steward instead. Remus would deal with most matters himself. Only personal mail which required Harry's attention would be forwarded via Hedwig to Harry in addition to letters he received from his friends and extended family.
Susan had not thrown a tantrum since the morning and he was thankful for it. She had a good heart but she could be bossy at times when she thought he was ignoring her. While Harry had a general dislike for people trying to boss him around, this trait of Susan endeared her to him.
In the evening at 7:00, he went to the gargoyle and realized that McGonagall had not given him the password. The gargoyle noticed him and asked, "I hope you have not just come after slaying another Basilisk or broke some other rule or had another adventure of yours."
He looked at the gargoyle frowning, "What are you talking about?"
The gargoyle opened the staircase for him, "Go up, the head master is waiting for you."
As he knocked on the door, it opened immediately and he could see Snape and McGonagall standing at opposite ends of the room while Dumbledore sat in his chair looking weary, "Come in Harry. I have heard you had some difference of opinion with Severus?"
Harry snorted, "It if were only that simple, Head Master. Professor (he stressed on the word) Snape had it in his mind that I was brewing the wrong potion and when I humbly explained to him that I was doing exactly what he wanted, and in addition, I was also brewing the potion straight out of the text book and my own variant. He took 10 points from Gryffindor. When I protested, he gave me detention."
Dumbledore turned to the potions master, "Severus, this is not the first time that a complaint like this has reached my ears. You should know by now that the point system is to be used to encourage correct behavior from our students. I will not have you use it to bully them. Did you test the Potion that Mr. Peverell submitted to you after class?"
Snape sneered, "He submitted three different potions actually. The one from the text-book responded exactly as that rather inferior blend would be expected to, side-effects and all. The one from the black-board was as good as any I have ever brewed myself. The third one, using his own formulation, was not only effective, but did not have the usual side effect of drowsiness."
By the end of his narrative, McGonagall's eyebrows had climbed to her hairline, while dumbledore's eyes were sparkling. The Headmaster turned to Harry, "Three different formulations? How did you find the time to brew them?"
Harry shrugged, "Headmaster, I brewed them concurrently."
Snape cut in, "He must have cheated somehow. He was not following instructions on the board and the summer assignment he turned in was written by someone else."
Dumbledore looked at Harry, "That is quite a severe charge, Mr. Peverell." Then he turned to Snape, "May I examine this parchment?"
Snape handed the scroll to the Headmaster. He unrolled it, noting the broken Peverell seal on the outside. The first impression of the scroll was neatly arranged rows of a slightly slanted flowing cursive. Extra care had been taken to make the capitals at the beginning of each paragraph into pictures of fantastic beasts or plants. As Dumbledore read down the text, he remarked about how inciteful and accurate it was. At the conclusion, he looked up at Professor Snape, "I could give this work no grade other than an 'O'. What is the problem with it?"
Snape produced another scroll from Harry's work last year. It had crumpled corners. The writing was irregular and blotted. As Dumbledore read down the text, he noted numerous corrections, but, the final product was reasonably correct. Dumbledore looked up and said, "This looks like it would merit an 'E' and I notice that you have given it an 'A'. Is this typical of your marking Severus?"
Snape said snappishly, "That is not the point. The point is that these two papers were obviously not written by the same person and he should get a 'T' and detention for cheating."
Harry, who had been silent all this time said, "Calligraphy is one of the arts I studied over the summer. I can settle the question as to who wrote this parchment in a minute." He picked up a parchment, quill and ink from his Dumbledore's table, dipped and wrote. The flowing script flowed from his quill to the parchment. He wrote three paragraphs on the uses of moonstone, then went back and enhanced the initial capitals. With a wave of his wand, he dried the ink then handed the parchment to Dumbledore. The whole process only took him a minute.
The headmaster took one look at the new parchment and said, "I am satisfied that Mr. Peverell wrote this essay." he said indicating the homework scroll. "In fact, I personally am ready to give this young man an award for most improved student."
Snape, feeling defeat coming on, started grasping at straws. "He transformed me into a giant bat, right in front of the entire school! Attacking a teacher is grounds for expulsion!", he blustered.
Now, Dumbledore's eyes were sparkling with merriment and the corners of his beard were twitching visibly, "Yes, we all saw you turn into a bat. And thanks to Professor McGonagall, that transformation was very brief. No harm done. But, what precisely makes you think that this was Mr. Peverell's doing?"
At this point, Harry spoke up again, "Headmaster, this is most serious. He attempted the use of unauthorized passive Legilimency on me. When I detected the attempt, I ejected him, forcefully. That is why he fell down shortly after the bat transformation. As you know, this is highly illegal and could be quite severely punished."
Dumbledore glared at his potions master, "Severus, if Mr. Peverell chooses to press charges against you, there is nothing I can do to stop him. As it is, the points you docked from Gryffindor will be returned. There will be no detention. And you will apologize to Mr. Peverell for attempting to besmirch his character and for attempting to invade his privacy."
Snape looked like he was trying to swallow something and with great difficulty muttered, "Sorry." and headed for the door.
The Headmaster called him back, "Just one moment, Severus". The Dungeon Bat stopped in his tracks and turned back to Dumbledore. Turning to Harry, he continued, "Are you satisfied, Mr. Peverell?"
Harry considered Snape for a moment. He remembered that everyone in the room here is a member of The Order of the Phoenix and he wondered if this had not gone too far already. He asked Dumbledore, "Can we be assured that anything I say here will never leave this room?"
Dumbledore managed to restrain himself from laughing outright before he answered, "Harry, of that you may rest assured."
"Professor Snape, I apologize if I have let this go too far already. I do understand why you must continue to act like the world's biggest git. I commend you on your acting ability. However, if you carry it too far again, I will go through this process, just like any other student. Of course, I will not be pressing any charges, but; be warned. My secrets must remain my own and if I catch you attempting to root around in my head again, the cruciatus curse will seem like a pleasant memory."
Snape gave Harry a look, respect, fear, loathing, hope? He could not tell, "I believe we understand each other Lord Peverell". And he walked out of the room.
When Snape left, McGonagall soon followed him. Harry sat across from Dumbledore. The head master asked him, "Harry why are you called Harold Peverell now?"
Harry inwardly smiled. He knew the headmaster was dying to ask this question of him. He adopted a scholarly demeanour, "Professor, somewhere in India there is a very old school of Magic called the Takshshila School of Magic which is one of the premier institutions of magic in that part of the world. The school is said to sit upon 6 ley-lines and the gates of the school are set at a place which is said to be the site of the most ancient magics. It is said that at that place, Mother Magic is sentient. I was visiting the school with Guruji and was asked to identify myself. It is said that at that place one cannot lie but they would identify themselves as what mother magic has chosen for them. I had declared myself to be Harold James Peverell. Later in a ritual I have had the fortune to gaze upon the face of Mother Magic herself."
He looked at Dumbledore and the older wizard had tears in his eyes, "my boy, you are very fortunate to have seen Mother Magic herself, something that I have not heard about from anyone. This alone is greater than any other magic that you may have learned. I have no doubts in my mind now that when the final confrontation comes; Tom will not be able to withstand you."
Harry asked the Head-Master, "Professor did we find any other horcruxes? Do we have any idea how many are out there now?"
The professor turned solemn, "I believe there are at least three out there. We do not know what they may be but I have a good idea about one of them at least."
Harry asked, "And what is it, Professor?"
The head-master replied, "From a memory that I was able to obtain, I found that Tom had at least two relics of the founders in his possession. One was the locket of Slytherin which has been exorcised of the soul fragment which leaves the other relic- a chalice engraved with the Hufflepuff badger."
"This is an interesting coincidence", Harry thought. He turned to the Professor, "Head Master, the goblins sent me a list of the contents of the vault of Bellatrix Nameless and it contains a silver cup with the Hufflepuff Badger."
The Head Master's enthusiasm was contagious, "What are waiting for? Let's go to Gringotts right now, my boy. It is imperative that we have the cup in our possession."
Harry had to control himself from laughing out loud, "Professor we can go to the Goblins on Saturday when I do not have class and retrieve the prophecy orb while we are at it. In these times, we should not be seen together too much or he may suspect what we are up to."
Dumbledore had to control himself, "What of the catapults, my boy?"
Harry replied, "The goblins have finished manufacturing it and are waiting for my word to deliver it. We will bring it in pieces and smuggle some of them in to assemble it and mount upon the battlements keeping them invisible from others for the time being. I will recruit some students to teach them how to operate it."
Dumbledore smiled at him, "It looks like you will become a true lord in no time. The way you are collecting people behind you, I would be surprised if anyone with goodness in their heart would refuse to follow you."
Harry had no answer to that. He did not want to become a Lord like Dumbledore or Voldemort but he knew that sooner or later, he would end up having an Order of his own.
As they were discussing the upcoming war, someone knocked on the door and as Dumbledore gave leave, Neville Longbottom entered the office. Harry was surprised to see his friend there, "Neville is something the matter? What are you doing here?"
It was Dumbledore who replied, "Mr. Longbottom has agreed to become my apprentice Harry."
Harry beamed at his friend, "Congratulations Neville. But since you hid such news from me, I think I would not relent from pranking you time and again."
Soon thereafter Harry took his leave, sensing that Dumbledore wanted to talk with Neville.
He fetched his notorious invisibility cloak from the Gryffindor tower and carefully made his way to the dungeon entrance of the Slytherin common room. He stood there under his cloak and heard the password from an excitable first year. After about 30 minutes, he entered the house under his invisibility cloak and the common room was mostly deserted except for three seventh years sitting on one of the sofas. Knowing them to belong to dark families and curious, he wandlessly cast a snooping spell at them and sat in a chair listening to them.
Jugson or that he assumed was his name was talking to the other two, "We need to approach Lord Black soon. Only he can save us from going into the service of the Dark Lord."
Everly nodded, "He is powerful and has many allies. He can keep us safe in the coming war."
Dryden asked the other two, "Do you think he would do it without expecting anything in return? He is our liege lord and we have not even acknowledged him as such yet."
Everly replied, "We will offer to work for him in the house, bringing more people to his side and become his eyes and ears in the serpent pit. What more can he want from us?"
Harry smirked hearing them. These three could definitely prove useful to him in his plan for the snakes. He would approach them at the right moment.
He went to the fifth year dorms on the boy's side. Setting up the boys was easy, once he had decided what to do. Getting into the girls dorms would be considerably trickier. He had to defeat the founders' anti-boy wards that protected the girls from unchivalrous and untrustworthy boys like himself. He decided not to take the chance… this time. He returned sometime later imagining the pleasure he would have when the pranks go off.
The next morning
Harry reached the great hall next morning after his exercises and took his seat at the Gryffindor table with Susan in tow. For good measure he had brought his friends with him for the grand spectacle which he knew would be happening.
As they sat for lunch the Slytherins entered in a row one behind the other.
That was when the pranks started. Malfoy who was leading suddenly froze where he stood and a second later, he was dressed like a clown with no hair on his head and his ears grew to five times their normal size. Crabbe was stuck to the floor and no matter what he tried he could not move an inch. Nott was dancing without a pause and even Snape could not finite the jinx. Goyle who was already rotund blew up until he was bigger than a sumo wrestler. Zabini grew two wings which were trying to take flight and he had to catch hold of a table to prevent himself from being airborne. When everyone in the Great Hall had seen the pranks and had a good laugh over it, the victims all went back to normal. Although Snape had been trying all along to terminate the prank spells, he knew that it was not his efforts which restored them.
As Harry sat smirking, his friends were looking at him in suspicion. Finally Hermione asked him the question that was on everyone's mind, "Umm… Harry did you do this to them?"
He looked in her eyes and said, "You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?"
Ron said, "Not really. You would use the usual I cannot tell you my secrets excuse you have become fond of."
Harry smirked, "Exactly. Telling things to you like this would be harmful for all of us."
Susan said in a matter-of-fact tone, "These pranks were tasteless and not funny."
Harry shrugged. Susan had a point. These pranks were pretty childish. But, the bet with Fred and George was for quantity, not quality. He looked at his time table and beamed with excitement. The first period was Double Care of Magical Creatures something which he had started to love followed by Double Defense against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff.
As they arrived at the paddocks near Hagrid's Hut, Professor Grubbly-Plank told the class to gather around some trays which contained animals that he recognized at once. The animals reminded him of the night when he was out searching for wand wood and the memory made him smile.
The Professor asked, "Who can tell me about these creatures?"
Hermione and Harry both raised their hand at once. She turned to him, "Yes Mr. Peverell?"
Harry answered, "These are bowtruckles found in trees which have wood fit to be crafted into a wand. They are also called tree guardians. Their favorite food is fairy eggs but they also eat doxie eggs and wood lice. Wand makers offer them their choice food and in return the bowtruckles let them take wand wood from those trees. If anyone tries to take wood from such a tree without appeasing the guardian, it is useless for crafting a wand."
Grubbly-plank smiled, "10 points to Gryffindor, Mr. Peverell."
After that she divided the class into groups to take a bowtruckle and to study it's anatomy and draw a labeled diagram of it. Like potions, she divided them into groups with Harry being paired with Neville, Stephen Cornfoot and Ernie Mcmillan. The other group was of Hermione, Ron, Terry Boot and Sally Smith. The third group was Draco, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle (Draco refused to group with anyone other than Snakes). The fourth group was Seamus, Parvati, Lavender and Wayne Hopkins.
As Harry joined his group and they were working in peace with the bow truckle, he looked up in the air and saw that a very large bird was descending to the ground at a break neck pace. Harry tensed, ready to summon his wand and start casting since the bird was making a beeline for his group. However he relaxed a moment later as his familiar bond started humming and realized that Black Storm had come to Wizarding Britain at last.
As the beast landed, Harry ran towards it whooping with joy and gave a quick bow to the animal which was returned and he flung his arms around his hippogriff reveling in the scent of its fur. After sometime he realized that people were watching him and he turned to see that most of the class was staring open-mouthed at him while the teacher was critically analyzing the beast. She gave a bow to Black Storm and approached him after it was returned and she inspected the beast very carefully, checking his talons, the span of his wings and was elated with what she saw. She patted his flanks very fondly.
She turned to Harry, "Mr. Peverell, is he your familiar?"
Harry enthusiastically replied, "Yes Professor. I met him in the wild and tamed him. We are connected with a familiar bond."
She muttered, "Interesting! Such bonds are not very common these days what with wizards and beasts getting independent of each other. He is a strong animal Mr. Peverell. None at Hogwarts would be able to rival this one."
Harry beamed at her. The rest of the lesson was spent while his friends kept coming to pet the hippogriff and Neville kept eyeing him as if he would be taking the hippogriff for a ride any moment. As they left, Harry dreaded the barrage of questions which would be coming from Hermione but knowing it to be unavoidable, he braced himself.
True to his prediction she started her rapid fire, "Where did the Hippogriff come from Harry? How did you tame it? How do you know so much about beasts now anyway?"
Harry turned to her, "I tamed him in the wild and formed a familiar bond with him like I have with Hedwig. He can hear me when I need him. I got so good with beasts because I was sent to stable duty whenever I was to be punished and the Game Keeper was a beast enthusiast to rival Hagrid, but much more sensible. He taught me a lot about creatures in general."
The next class was Defence against the Dark Arts which Harry had been looking forward to. When they arrived, Vikram strode in the class room saying, "Please keep your books in your bags when you are in my classes because there will be little of book reading while I am teaching. An OWL student is expected to be able to write answer to questions with practical experience and if you cannot do that, there is something very wrong with you."
While others enthusiastically stowed their books in their bags hopeful for the lesson, Hermione scowled but said nothing. Harry was pleased with the approach that the defense instructor was taking. This would teach them things quickly.
Vikram was saying, "Defense against the Dark Arts is a subject only at Hogwarts. It has different names at different places and the curriculum differs accordingly. The first rule of defense is to know your hexes and jinxes. While a jinx may look trivial, it can save your life in a right spot. Even an innocuous spell such as the disarming spell can be useful in case you are trying to escape someone."
Harry was listening interestedly and so was every other student. It was nothing like their previous professors who would teach him a certain topic at a time but he was speaking about the subject in total with such vigour that one could do nothing but listen to him.
He was continuing, "As I have been updated by Professor Lupin, he told you all about dark creatures and ways to tackle them while Professor Moody which I am told he was not, taught you all very interesting things but little in the way of defense. Which one of you can show me the disarming spell?"
Hermione raised her hand. He turned to her, "Yes Ms. Granger. Would you give me a demonstration of the disarming spell?"
She pulled out her wand and cast the spell perfectly and he smiled, "Five points to Gryffindor."
Smith raised his hand, "How can a disarming spell help in a duel, Professor?"
He turned to him, "It is useful if you want to subdue your enemy without killing him in a fight or win over your opponent in a duel without trying to maim or injure them."
Smith sneered, "Even a first year can cast the expelliarmus Professor. What is special about it?"
He smiled, "Alright, let's see. Everyone please vacate your seats."
As the students stood, he flicked his wand and all the desks lined themselves up against the wall leaving the space in the middle of the room vacant and with another flick of his wand, the vacant area was surrounded by wards as are employed around dueling rings. He addressed the class again, "Now I am going to show to Mr. Smith about how expelliarmus can be useful in a duel. Anyone who want to volunteer for the task?"
Harry raised his hand, "I would be happy to demonstrate, Professor."
He beckoned him forward, "Alright Mr. Peverell. Mr. Smith will use non-lethal but dangerous spells on you. You have to defend yourself from him with only the expelliarmus."
Smith glared at him while the mystic whispered to him, "Don't humiliate him… much."
Harry evilly smirked.
Smith cast a reductor at Harry. With an absolute minimum of movement, Harry stepped neatly out of the path of the spell, while, just for fun, he put all of his power behind the Expelliarmus spell he sent back. Smith was knocked back, nearly out of the ring while his wand soared neatly into Harry's outstretched hand.
Smith stood up panting and Harry tossed him his wand and called, "We can do it again, if you want Smith."
Smith took his wand and as he opened his mouth to cast, his wand was already sailing towards Harry. This went on a few more times before Smith realized that Harry was having him on.
After that Vikram took them to a bigger classroom which was locked in the previous years. In the room, he had made several practice ranges and he started calling names of a list pairing them together- Harold Peverell and Kevin Entwhile, Ronald Weasley and Justin Finch-Fletchley, Neville Longbottom and Zacharias Smith, Dean Thomas and Roger Malone, Seamus Finnigan and Wayne Hopkins, Hermione Granger and Megan Jones, Parvati Patil with Sally Anne-Perks, Lavender Brown with Sally Smith, Fay Dunbar with Hannah Abbott and Ellia Runcorn with Susan Bones.
It became evident pretty soon how bad most of them were at casting. While they all knew the spell and could cast it well enough, most of them could not hit the broad side of a castle. For some of them, the safest place to be was directly in front of their opponent. Some of the stray spells disarmed the wrong person. Harry's opponent mercifully was better at casting than other pairings he could see. Kevin was able to cast his spells with accuracy at him but had only been able to disarm him two times out of five tries that he got. When it was Harry's turn, he merely flicked his wand while looking around the room and whispered the incantation and Kevin was disarmed. Neville was being absolutely brutal to Smith with disarming him every time the other boy tried to cast the expelliarmus. Finally Vikram had to intervene and explain that this was practice meant to teach people to cast expelliarmus correctly and not a duel. Neville reluctantly agreed to let Smith try disarming him. Smith tried it a few times and Neville kept grasping his wand tightly not allowing it to fly out of his hands frustrating Smith. Hermione was being very considerate towards her opponent and was helping her to cast properly and he had to smile. Ron was having no trouble at all having spent the last month learning and even Harry had been surprised at his progress. He disarmed Justin easily and then helped the other boy in correcting his aim while Harry kept practicing with Kevin who was getting a little better. Susan was likewise engaged with Ellia Runcorn disarming her and impressed him with her speed of casting. Hannah Abbott was having troubles with Fay Dunbar and Fay was fairly accomplished. The same story was going on around the class room and Harry saw the mystic sigh. He had a momentous task ahead of him if he wanted to make ready these students to be able to survive the coming war.
As they sat for dinner, Hermione started about the defense lesson and how good it had been. There was unanimous agreement that this was the best lesson of defense they had attended since Remus Lupin. The defense instructor was very patient and gave individual attention to each of them. Harry was smirking at what the mystic could really teach but not to these students. Most of them would not be able to survive the boot camp that he had been put through. He was thinking about his nightly excursion to the Chamber of Secrets so that he could practice his family magic. Luna Lovegood came drifting over from her house table and everyone was on the alert, curious to see what she would do next.
She went straight to Neville and said to him, "Hannah Abbott thinks you are delicious and you do not pay any attention to her."
Harry was trying to control his laughter at Neville's expression as the boy was trying to disappear under the table. Luna went skipping over to the Ravenclaw table.
Neville emerged, he asked, "What was that?"
Harry was snickering and soon everyone around him was laughing at the top of their lungs before Harry could control his laughter and turned to Neville, "May be you should ask Hannah out for the Hogsmead weekend."
Neville blushed and everyone started laughing again.
As he was finishing his dinner, a first year brought him a missive and looked at him in awe, "I have this message for you Lord Peverell."
Harry smiled at the young boy and remembered his name from the sorting, "Steven Ainsworth, aren't you? I had the pleasure of meeting your father just this last august."
The boy proudly replied, "I am Steven Ainsworth, grandson of Lord Ainsworth and heir apparent to the House of Ainsworth."
Harry smiled, "My mistake, Steven. It was your grandfather I met. Please do call me Harry, unless the occasion absolutely calls for formal address. I don't want to feel old before my time."
The boy beamed at him, "Alright Harry." and headed out of the Great Hall.
Harry noted that the boy was wearing Slytherin Robes and smiled to himself. He opened the letter, which was from Vikram.
"Harry,
Meet me at the entrance of the Chamber at 8:00 this night. Use that cloak of yours.
Vikram"
He pocketed the note without any comment and ignored the looks his friends were giving him. As he was leaving dinner, McGonagall stopped him and Ronald, "Mr. Peverell and Mr. Weasley, Professor Babbling has agreed to see you both at 7:00."
As dinner wound up they ran to the Runes Professor's chamber and as they arrived she offered them seats before coming to the point, "Mr. Peverell and Mr. Weasley, Minerva told me about your requests and I must confess I am surprised and not sure if you both can handle the coursework which is advanced for a beginner but she has assured me that you both have been working hard and I should give you a chance before I dismiss you outright. So tell me about your knowledge of Runes and I will then give a simple test to you to determine if you can attend my class."
Ron went first, "Professor my elder brother, Bill who is a curse-breaker at Gringotts, taught me about the seven languages and I have finished three of them. I can recognize their runes and their uses. I know I am a little behind the course but with hard work and some diligence I think I can cover it."
Professor Babbling sat up a bit straighter, "Bill? Do you mean former Head-boy, William Weasley? One of the best students I ever had!", she said with some enthusiasm. "Well", he said, "If he has been tutoring you, perhaps you can handle the work after all. I have a test here." He handed a parchment to Ron. "This will give me a good idea of where you are in your studies. Fill it out, and we shall see."
Ron accepted the parchment and immediately set to work with a will.
The Professor then turned to Harry, "Mr. Peverell, if you would be so kind, please tell me about why you think you can pick up this course today when you have shown no interest in this direction for the last two years."
Harry started, "Professor this summer I had a teacher who taught me the seven languages and another which is not taught here. He told me of the symbols and their uses but this training revolved around the practical use of runes more than the theory part. I can cast all the basic wards as well as some very specialized ones. I can even do some rune clusters."
"Really!", she beamed at Harry, "As your teaching leans more toward the practical, would you please be so kind as to demonstrate a few wards for me?"
"Gladly Professor", Harry answered as he drew his wand and started to work. In the next five minutes, Harry had drawn a privacy ward, an alert ward, a magical detection ward, the anti-tampering ward that he used in potions and a few others that he set up every night before he slept. He finished his demonstration with a repulsion ward and an invisibility ward.
"Mr. Potter," she said, I don't normally teach wards until NEWT level. To satisfy my curiosity, could you perform a few more?"
Harry nodded and held his wand ready.
During the next ten minutes, as she called them out, Harry did the wards for a containment ward, a ward to protect a property, muggle repelling wards and anti-apparition and anti- portkey wards. When he demonstrated all of them easily, she was excited and clapped her hands happily, "I am amazed Mr. Potter. You have surpassed your mother and father and that is something considering they were some of the brightest students of their generation. Your father was like you, storming his way through everything while your mother was of the type to dismantle a problem bit by bit until it was reduced to cinders."
Ron submitted his paper and she graded it. She smiled at him, "Mr. Weasley you can attend the fifth year OWL classes, starting with the next class. You will need to work hard to make a good grade in your OWL however I think that will be easy for you considering that your brothers were equally talented as you."
As they left her office, Harry ran to the entrance of the chamber telling Ron that the defense instructor had called him for a meeting. When he arrived at the other entrance to the chamber, he found Vikram waiting for him there. Together they entered the chamber and Harry conjured two chairs while waiting for the mystic to start speaking.
The defense instructor started speaking after sometime, "Harry today's session with your year mates showed me that it will be a tough job to make them ready for war. I fear would not be long away. They are not in prime fitness like you or quick with a wand or their casting is anywhere as fluent as you were at the end of your year. In case Hogwarts is intruded, they would not be able to stand against the followers of that abomination. They will need more time than just a double defense class once a week."
Harry thought about everything that he was saying. He realized that most of it was true. Most of his year mates were not as good as they should be due to the simple fact that they did not have a decent teacher in the past years with the exception of Remus. But, even the werewolf had not emphasized teaching them dueling or fighting.
He turned to the mystic, "What do you have in mind?"
The mystic turned to him, "Harry perhaps it is time that you make your own army. You can take your trusted friends and year mates with you and teach them to fight. It does not need to be anything fancy mind you but enough to help them to survive the oncoming war. These students can use a hand to learn things which they should have learned in the last 4 years. I think you should make this offer and let those come to you who believe in you. There are many who do not believe that anyone can return from the dead but many of them do believe you and if you are able to convince them, they would follow you to the end of the world."
Harry was inclined to refuse but as he considered what the mystic was telling him, he could see that he had a point. However there were problems that he would have to find a solution to before he could start teaching his friends.
He turned to the mystic, "we have many problems which need to be solved before we can start working towards this goal. A place to train for one, who to trust for another and third as to how to approach them."
The mystic smiled, "there is a place in this castle which can be used for this purpose but as I told you earlier, you need to find it by yourself. The only help I can give is that you ask about it to them who know every inch of the castle. You will have to find out who you can trust by yourself but I do not think you need to share everything with everyone but only a select number of people. You will have to ensure that they are loyal to you by yourself. Thirdly you are a pureblood lord who has allies in every house. Approach them and ask them to spread the word."
Harry nodded. Soon Vikram took his leave and Harry pulled his wands (the wand of Sandalwood and Elder wand) to practice his family magics.
The Rosier family magic was mostly dark magic and there were a couple of impressive spells in there but there was nothing which he didn't already know. The first spell that had caught his attention was a cutter which could not be blocked. It was an ingenious spell and was categorized as most lethal. This spell was powerful and he had put it on his list of spells to practice daily. Another was a spell which was devised as a means to counter fiendfyre. It was a spell which would produce a fire equally hot and sentient and if the castor was able and extremely in control of his abilities, he could use this spell to kill other's fiendfyre. There was a Sanskrit variant to it and Harry was practicing it knowing many of the death eaters liked to cast this spell.
The Weber family magic was mostly light but they had some very dangerous and non-lethal spells which could incapacitate anyone and if no assistance was given to them, they would die eventually. There was a spell which would attack the nervous system of an enemy and swell their joints to such extent that the person would not be able to move a finger. Harry had chosen this one because he knew he could use it effortlessly to bring down the number of his enemies.
The Black family magic was mostly dark as he knew and a major part of it was dedicated to parsel magic something which he had already learned. There were a few parsel tongue spells in it which could be used to kill a large number of people at once and he was rather happy for it.
The Potter family magic was more than battle magic. There were also some extra ordinary potioneers in the line and some had been warders. They had lined up ward upon ward at the Potter Castle and it was considered as one of the most secure buildings in the Wizarding World, something to rival Hogwarts in terms of protection but Harry was not planning to use it in the coming war knowing the war will be fought here at Hogwarts. There was a fighting style which could be effective if he had to face a group of wizards alone.
The Peverell magic was the magic of mages. It contained some very ancient magics such as mage sight, battling skills for a mage against a large group of enemies, spells to cause lightning, spells to lay waste to enemies and spells to make the elements do his bidding. He had an inkling that the mystics knew of these magics because Harsh had talked to him about the mages of old, what they could do, and their abilities. He had also shared many memories of his Mage ancestors in battles and Harry had learned those.
He transfigured a block of wood into a large ornate table like the one Dumbledore had in his office and engraved a rune on the underside making it permanent and then similarly made a chair for himself. He produced the pensive that Harsh had given him and placed it on the table with the caskets of memories he had received from the mystics. He had decided to leave them here in the chamber where no one would be able to see them. He started watching a memory of old from Harsh which showed Ignotus Peverell in battle.
The mage was facing what looked like a hundred warriors and he raised his wand (it was a large wand probably 14 inches of Aldar wood and engraved with runes. Ignotus raised the wand to the heavens and chanted. A few seconds later, it started raining fire from the sky burning all his enemies to cinders. There was Harsh beside him chanting the same and together they annihilated the enemies before them in seconds. While it was a great spell, Harry felt that it would not be useful in the battles which he may face. There would be friends and foes involved together and it was hard to differentiate between them to kill only his enemies. There was another spell in another battle which Ignotus was using and it caused a river to erupt and wash away his enemies. He supposed he could use it at the Black Lake to drown his enemies. There was another which brought a storm and while his enemy was distracted, he put them to the sword.
Harsh had shared a lot of memories of the fighting style he had witnessed aboard the Marichika and Harry had started to try to copy it. It was a fascinating piece of wand waving, foot movement and spell casting. Harry was sure that he could learn it soon and with his ability to cast with both hands, this would be even more deadly.
He started practicing this form of combat for sometime before he felt the urge to practice his animagus transformation. He had been doing this when he got the time but had not done that since he had returned to Hogwarts. He disappeared in thin air and appeared in the forbidden forest. He changed into his animagus form and started running around on all fours and even scared a lot of creatures in the forest. He was reveling in the feeling of running in his partial animagus transformation and came to face a wild boar. The boar looked at him warily, getting ready to charge and Harry felt the urge to attack the other animal and kill it. He threw back his head and gave a mighty ROARR! The roar was so loud that birds from nearby trees took flight out of fright. It was then he realized that he had roared. The Boar had already run away after hearing his roar and he transformed back before he reappeared in the chamber and conjured a mirror.
He transformed and waited until he was sure that his transformation was complete then looked into the mirror to find the snow leopard looking back at him. He grinned and the leopard's jaw spread in what he was sure was a grin or something like it. Transforming back, he whooped in joy. He had done it!
As he left, he warded the entrance with a repellent ward, a proximity ward, a notice-me-not ward and a ward to attack anyone who tried to detect it. He had read about some blood magics in the Potter Grimoire and one of them was about a ward which worked on your blood. That is, the ward would only allow access to those whose blood was keyed in it. He cast one such ward below all wards and left feeling content. Sometime during the lesson, he had laid rather very nastic hexes and jinxes at the bathroom entrance of the Chamber so that no one would stumble into it by mistake.
As he entered the common room, he was waylaid by Fred and George who started bowing to him, "Prank Mage Peverell, you have outdone yourself", Fred said.
"We know you did it to the snakes this morning", George said.
"But we did not see you hexing them", Fred added
"Which makes us think", George said.
They spoke together, "that you had entered the serpent's pit."
Harry chortled, "Minions, I am not giving my secret to you."
They both huffed at him but he went to his room and slept peacefully.