A/N- Hey guys, I am very happy with the amazing reviews I got. Thank you all.

I want you all to suggest a name for the new Order. I am open to suggestions.

This chapter has been edited by Hypergym.

The next morning

Harry woke up, bright eyed, about an hour before dawn. He started pelting his dorm mates with stingers. After being thoroughly peppered, the boys rose growling out their vows to tear apart the one who had disturbed their slumber. They found Harold Peverell with his wand raised and smirking at them.

Ron grumbled, "What is the meaning of this, Harry?"

Harry beamed at him, "Good morning, Ron. I just wanted all of you to enjoy this beautiful morning with me. Won't all of you fine blokes join me for some fresh air and exercise?"

Seamus asked him, "Are you barking mad, mate? It is not even dawn yet."

Dean who had rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, found himself being hoisted by his ankle and yelped. Harry turned to them and said sternly, "I want you all to be ready to go running and come meet me down at the lake in 10 minutes. You fail and you will find yourself hanging upside-down from the highest window of the Gryffindor tower." He released Dean who crumpled onto his bed.

Harry disappeared to the seventh year dorms. A moment later, he ran out being pursued by Lee Jordan. The seventh year had his dreadlocks replaced with a blond poufy hair-style, his eyebrows were thick enough for birds to nest in them, his beard had grown so long that he had to wrap it around himself so that he would not trip over it and he was wearing the very latest in the way of an elegant evening gown. Fred and George followed Lee howling with laughter, while Lee was yelling, "Come back here and undo this, Peverell!"

10 minutes later, the boys from the fifth year dorm, still bleary eyed, reached the Black Lake and started running behind Harry who was going at a brisk pace. Ron and Neville, who had been training all summer under Moody's supervision, were making a good go of it. Dean and Seamus, however, needed some more encouragement.

Harry pulled out his wand and peppered them with more stingers, "GET YOUR REAR IN GEAR! GRANDMOTHER AUGUSTA CAN RUN FASTER THAN THAT!"

Properly motivated, Dean and Seamus started making an honest effort. After two laps, Dean and Seamus were all in. Harry sent them shambling back to the tower.

Ron and Neville lingered. Harry dived into the lake and started swimming accompanied by the giant squid. Neville joined him after sometime but Ron remained at the banks, not willing to risk himself to the perils of black lake.

After an hour more of swimming and other exercises, Ron headed back up to the tower to catch up on his sleep. Neville trod off to the greenhouses. Vikram Joined Harry. They practiced dodging and casting for sometime before Harry took his leave of the defence instructor.

He strode into the Great Hall eyeing the Ravenclaw table with interest. After making sure that there were no ghosts around or worse Peeves, he pulled out his wand and cast some extremely complicated spells across the entire length of the table and returned to the Gryffindor tower feeling satisfied. This prank of his would be remembered in the school for years to come much like when he had come to the school at the start of second year with Ron in the Flying Ford Anglia.

As had become the norm, he went to collect Susan from the Hufflepuff Common Room. He found Hannah already there. As she saw him, she asked frantically, "Did Luna really say that I fancy Neville?"

Harry wanted to laugh at the look on her face, but; preferring to keep his limbs intact, he chose the way Luna said it, "She said that you think he is delicious and he does not pay any attention to you."

Hannah blushed so hard that it looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but not there and muttered, "Oh Merlin... what must he think of me?"

Harry said to her kindly, "Neville is a good bloke but a bit innocent. He needs someone like you who would be possessive of him and keep him grounded. Just give him time and he will come around."

"Sage advice, if I ever heard it", said Susan who had just emerged, "so what spectacle can we expect today, Lord Peverell?" She had started to address him as Lord Peverell when she was trying to make light of the situation or being sarcastic.

Harry grinned at her, "All in a day's work, my lady." He offered his arm to her which she accepted willingly. Like every morning, he escorted her and Hannah to the Gryffindor table. Others soon joined them. As they came to the table, they were keeping an eye on Harry. It was clear that they were all wary of him.

Hermione, who had noted this asked Ron, "Did you boys fight again?"

It was Seamus who answered while wincing, "This one (pointing to Harry) became a drill sergeant today. Peppered us with stingers in the morning and woke us all up. Then he left giving us warning that we better be at the Black Lake in ten minutes unless we wanted him to come after us again. Made us run two laps around the bloody lake."

Hermione turned on Harry, "And why didn't you holler for me and Ginny, or Susan to join on the run?"

He looked at her innocently, "you expect me to enter the Girl's Dormitories?"

Susan snorted, "So the mighty Harold Peverell cannot send us a speaking patronus?"

He mock protested, "And raise all the girls in your dormitories? That's more than my life is worth, Miss Bones."

They kept bantering back and forth all during the breakfast until he was sure that all the students were in the Great Hall. It was all too peaceful when suddenly there was a mighty groaning sound and the Ravenclaw table grew legs and with great effort started walking out of the Great Hall freaking everyone out. A few students tried to follow it, some tried to undo the charm, and some tried to climb atop it but all in vain. McGonagall tried to undo the animation a few times but when it became clear that it required more power, Dumbledore joined her and together they were able to stop it from walking out of the castle. This had caused a huge mess in the Great Hall with food strewn all around, goblets broken as they fell on the floor and a few students had been taken aback and were in hysterics but there were many of them who were laughing, clutching their stomach.

Harry kept indulging himself in breakfast not even looking up but his mental shields were up. Mercifully no one tried to invade his mind in the quest of truth. When he looked up, his friends were giving him looks, Incredulity? Awe? Glare? He could not understand and so paid no attention to it. He found McGonagall looking at him sharply and had to work really hard to not laugh, knowing that would give up the secret. He looked at the time table and smirked. They had double transfiguration today with the claws followed by History of Magic attended by all houses together.

As they arrived in the Transfiguration classroom, he inaudibly and wandlessly cast an advanced version of the Homnum Revelio spell which could reveal if there was anyone, man or animal in a room. The results told him that a small animal was hiding behind the door. He mentally smirked. As the other students were entering and he was sure that McGonagall was hiding there, he entered at a run. As he was at the doorway, he somersaulted through the air and could see a blue coloured spell flying through the spot where he would have been if he had entered without looking. He recognised the spell as Animagus Revealing spell incanted as, "animagus revelio" and made the correct guess that perhaps McGonagall had some inkling of the fact that he was an animagus.

None of the other students had noticed the spell but saw him somersaulting through the air and waited to see him punished but McGonagall smirked knowingly at him and reached her table. She started addressing the students, "Today you shall be practicing the switching spell in which you will be paired together and switch one object with another."

She produced a box of wands and dumped it on her table and continued, "Each of you pick up a wand. None of these have a core so they are useless. While you are working in pairs, one of you will switch the wand in your opponent's hand with another object of their choosing and then it will be another's turn."

She produced a list and started calling out names, "Harold Peverell with Padma Patil, Hermione Granger with Stephen Cornfoot, Ronald Weasley with Mandy Brocklehurst, Neville Longbottom with Lisa Turpin, Seamus Finnigan with Sue Li, Dean Thomas with Isobel McDougall, Anthony Goldstein with Fay Dunbar, Michael Corner with Lavender Brown, Terry Boot with Parvati Patil and Elia Runcorn with Oliver Rivers."

As they started to practice, Harry had an easy time against Padma because her aim was off. Her incantation was perfect, her wand movements were precise but her aim was off by a few inches. After a few tries, he realised that she would not be able to do it then he told her, "why don't we take a seat and talk about whatever problem you may be facing."

She reluctantly agreed. The first thing she asked stunned him, "So Harry, how was Takshshila?". He was wordlessly looking at her but then recalled that she was a seer. He decided to tread cautiously around her, "Takshshila was good but I did not know that you were keeping tabs on me, Padma."

She grinned, "Of course not. We were visiting our great-grandfather who teaches there and we happened to hear from him."

In that moment, he realised who would have told Shravya Vahan about his adventures. He asked her, "So, Shravya Vahan is your great-grandfather?"

She shook her head, "No. But now let us talk about the switching spell and why I can't do it right."

Harry told her to cast and watched her wand movement and realised she was waving her wand a little too much which caused the aim to go awry and corrected her accordingly. In a couple of tries, she was able to switch the wand in his hand with a rope that McGonagall had given them. When it was Harry's turn, he casually flicked his wand and her fake wand was replaced with a snake. She yelped and threw the snake away towards McGonagall. McGonagall sternly looked at her, "What was that, Miss Patil?"

She stammered, "Prof... Professor, Harry switched my fake wand with a snake."

The Professor picked up the piece of rope and looked at it casually, "To me it looks like an innocuous piece of rope which I had given to you to practice with."

Harry was employing Occlumency and kept his face impassive but he realised that if he did not put an end to his pranking spree, he would start losing points. The rest of the lesson went quietly but he was again reminded that his year mates needed to be taught.

When he arrived for lunch, the twins were there at the table. They sat on either side of him and George said, "Harry mate, we have realised..."

Fred added, "that we can spend the whole week pranking..."

They both said, "we would never get you."

Fred passed him a little pouch of galleons, "Mate, here are the 100 Galleons we promised."

Grinning, he pocketed the pouch.

The class after lunch was History of Magic which was highly anticipated by the students. Professor Hughes had decided that all the students of fifth year would take her classes together. As such, all the four houses had turned up for the class. Harry was curious about it and wanted to see her reasoning for this exclusive arrangement.

As they entered the old classroom which was used by Professor Binns earlier, they found the room had been transformed. For starters, the lighting was better than it used to be, for another the black board looked to have been replaced and all the benches and desks which had been scribbled upon in the previous years had been replaced by more sophisticated furniture. The walls were covered with tapestries of important wizarding events, portraits of important wars and there was a dedicated frame where the most important events of history were shown.

As they looked around in awe and took their seats around the room, Professor Martha Hughes strode into the room and with a flick of her wand, the curtains over the windows closed and another tap made the projector start. She started addressing the students, "I have had a meeting with the Department of Education after my appointment had been confirmed. I told them that I was not going to teach Goblin Revolts all over again and again to students and gave a detailed description of my course content to them. Suffice to say that under the new administration, Griselda Marchbanks, elder of the Wizengamot and Governor of the Wizarding Examination Authority approved my request. Since it was late and the booklists could not be sent to you in time, I took the liberty of ordering the books for all of you."

She distributed the copies of the book and as was expected, Hermione was feverishly turning the pages trying to take it all in. Professor Hughes started again, "I understand that you may not be as advanced as the book requires but I will teach you all sufficiently to obtain your OWL and go on to NEWT if you so choose."

Harry risked a look around and found that not one of the students had gone to sleep. Perhaps it was a first for the class. Hughes was saying, "As I know, Professor Binns told you all about the history of Wizarding Britain, the formation of the Wizard's council and subsequently the Wizengamot including the Goblin Rebellion. I have divided it in five parts with the first being history of magic in general during the ancient time i.e. before or around Merlin. Second years will be taught about the formation of the Wizarding Council, the International Statute of Secrecy, the establishment of Gringotts, the witch hunting in the middle ages, the third year curriculum will be focused on the goblin revolts, the ban on experimental breeding and a few other prominent events of the 16th and 17th centuries, the fourth year will be taught about the modern history. In the fifth year, you would study History of magic in which you will be taught about the rise and fall of Dark Lords throughout history."

It was Oliver Rivers who asked the question everyone wanted to, "Professor why do we need to study about the dark lords, their rise and fall?"

She looked around the class and found everyone was hanging on her words, "in all these centuries, we have faced a lot of Dark Lords who had their own agenda of world domination and used petty excuses to amass an army of fanatics behind them. Whichever Dark Lord you talk about, they cared more about their personal gain than the objective they sought to achieve. Even the last dark lord had his own agenda and the wizarding sheeple followed him blindly."

Malfoy rose and sneered, "They were imperioused."

She shot a stinging hex at him and icily said to him, "None of you are allowed to speak while I am teaching in the class. Next time I find one of you speaking out of turn, I will hang you upside down from the ramparts of the castle. I and everyone here know just how imperioused they were."

Harry had to smirk at this. Professor Hughes was doing something that he had planned to do anyhow. She was opening the mind of those who would be future leaders of the wizarding world towards the folly of wizard kind, its stupidity and she was not afraid to call out those who had been death eaters but he also feared that she was painting a huge target on her back. He would have to think about it later.

This was the first time that students had not been sleepy after leaving the History of Magic classes and Hermione was perkier than others, "This was the best History of Magic lesson that I have had like ever. While Professor Binns knew history he did not teach us half of those things."

Everyone shared her sentiment but no one chose to speak letting her keep talking. The truth was that this lesson was the best that they had. Harry listened to everything that she said but his mind was on something else.

Hermione went to the library and Ron went with her while Neville followed him to the Gryffindor tower. As they were nearing it, Nearly-headless Nick drifted up to them, "I would not go that way if I were you. Peeves is waiting to topple the bust of Pericles on the next person who happens to go that way."

Harry decided to have a little fun with the Poltergeist. He and Neville were almost upon the place where Peeves was lying in wait and before he could notice them, Harry shot a feather light charm at the bust and then casually walked forward. A second later the bust was going to fall on them and they both caught it and hefted it easily as if it were made of parchment. After securely placing it on the floor, Harry turned to the Poltergeist, "Peeves prank any one you want but do not jeopardise their lives or I will be forced to take action against you."

Peeves blew a raspberry at them and cackled, "Potty Potty Potter!"

Harry sighed and pulling his wand, he waved it in an intricate motion while incanting under his breath and phantom chains appeared in the air with which he tied the poltergeist. Peeves tried to disappear, to vanish the chains or otherwise escape from it but nothing worked. He started bawling, "Potty not fun... Potty not like Peevsie's little joke."

Harry had to laugh at his antics and he turned to the poltergeist, "Promise not to put anyone's life in mortal danger and I will free you otherwise no one can free you from these chains."

Peeves eagerly nodded. Harry flicked his wand and the chains disappeared. Peeves ran from him as if he was being chased by a pack of rabid animals. Neville was looking at the display but chose not to say anything knowing Harry would not tell anything to him.

The next morning

Harry woke up early the next morning. Just like the morning before, he started peppering his classmates with stingers. As they grumbled, he gruffly ordered them to be at the lake in 10 minutes and left. As they arrived at the lake, Harry was there already halfway through his first lap and they joined him. This morning when Dean and Seamus wanted to return to the dorm, Harry stopped them and then with some appreciation from him (read stingers) the boys started doing push-ups. After they could do no more and left, Harry finished his other exercises including swimming and was returning when he found Daphne Greengrass out of the castle. Surprised, he asked her, "Miss Greengrass, what brings you here at this hour of the morning?"

She shrugged, "I woke up early and found that the morning was too beautiful to miss, I came out for a walk. Care to walk with me?"

Since Harry had no other work at that moment, he joined her.

Harry asked her what had been on his mind for a long time, "Miss Greengrass, why did you sneak into the hospital wing that night?"

Daphne inwardly blushed but kept her facial expressions vacant, "First of all call me Daphne. I wish to be your friend and you calling me Miss Greengrass makes me sound like a stranger. To answer your question, I was intrigued by you since I was a child. Something which I guess happened with everyone who was of our age. I grew up reading about the boy-who-lived and there was a book series about your adventures, something that became the favourite bed-time story books for all of us. I knew that you would attend Hogwarts with us and fervently prayed that we would be in the same house. Then you arrived at Hogwarts wearing rags, glasses connected with tape, malnourished and too small for your age. It was like a jolt of reality to all of us. I lost interest but I still wanted to see what kind of person you are. You know, there were so many stories and rumours about you that it was hard to find the truth among them. When I saw you sitting on the stool under the sorting hat, I wanted to know Harry Potter, the orphan who had lived away from the wizarding world and not the boy-who-lived who is a stuff of fantasy."

Harry had been listening intently and was still confused, "It still does not explain why you would sneak into the hospital wing."

She smirked, "Think about it, Peverell. In your first year, you rejected the friendship of Draco Malfoy who was an important student because of his father and family wealth. No one in the house wanted to cross him. While the Greengrass family is powerful in its own right, we do not usually go looking for trouble. I may be in Slytherin but I have never been actively involved in house politics and Malfoy was in the thick of it. so you reject his friendship, then you get on the Quidditch team in your first year, breaking a century old record. Malfoy tries to get you in trouble but it just backfires on him. Then at the end of the year, Slytherin stands to win the House Cup and Dumbledore gives last minute points to the Golden Trio..."

Harry choked, "Golden... what?"

She smirked, "Golden trio. That is what people called you three. Anyway, you and your friends earned those last minute points and Gryffindor trumps Slytherin by 10 points to win the House Cup for whatever reason. Then the second year, you come to the school in a flying car, which is still talked about and you do not get expelled for it. Petrifications start to happen and Malfoy cannot stomach that you are being given credit for something you are not. Then at the Gryffindor Slytherin match, you fly circles around him in that match with a broken arm and Malfoy becomes unbearable. I had wanted to become your friend in the second year but the way the entire school lined up against you, I could not approach you. Third year, you have a mass murderer after you and then Malfoy gets injured by the Hippogriff. He continues to be a git to you and throughout the year, you keep getting better. Your broom gets destroyed and is replaced by the best broom out there, something that gets his dander up. The entire house is trying to sabotage you and ruin the chances of Gryffindor for the Quidditch Cup so I don't think that any of your friends would have appreciated a snake trying to talk to you or become your friend. Then you already know of the debacle that was 4th year. However at the end of the year I realised that we should do what we want to. I wanted to be your friend and I was worried after I over-heard your friends talking about you being in a magical coma, so I had to enter the Hospital Wing to see that you were alright."

Harry said nothing for a long time, considering all that she said and finally turned to her, "I understand your reasons. Now tell me Daphne, what is the current situation in the Serpent's pit like?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "And why does that interest you, Harry?"

He shrugged, "I want to cut off Voldemort's (she shuddered) support base. Most of the House would stand behind him because they have no option. I have had met some very interesting people over the summer who taught me that we must not divide people by branding them. Just because you are wearing Green and Silver does not make one evil any more than wearing Red and Gold makes one good. It is our choices and the kind of person we are that decides so. I want friends in the serpent's pit who would stand with me when we are fighting for the future of the Wizarding World."

She nodded, "That is one of the reasons that I wanted you to come with me on the Hogsmead Weekend."

He smirked, "What is the fun in that? If we are making a statement by our actions then by all means, you and your friends are welcome for dinner at the Gryffindor house table tonight. You will be well received. However before you do that, please be assured that no harm would come to you for it."

She nodded and as Harry cast the tempus charm (checking the time), he cursed himself, "Got to run, Daphne or a crazy witch is going to flay me alive."

He took off at a run while she leisurely strolled back to the dungeons to find Tracy sitting on her bed, her face lit in anticipation. He ran all the way up the Gryffindor tower and moved like lightning performing his chores. When he used the map to locate Susan, he saw that she was already in the Great Hall. Going down went a lot faster than going up. When he strode into the Great Hall minutes later, he found Susan and Hannah, sitting at the Gryffindor table, talking with his friends.

As he was eating and breakfast was near completion, Neville asked him, "Umm... Harry, are you alright?"

Harry cocked an eye brow at him, "Why do you ask, mate?"

Ron answered, "we have become quite used to seeing some spectacular prank in the Great Hall at breakfast, so we were expecting something you know... big."

Harry scowled, "Have I ever indicated that I did any of those things?"

Nobody said anything after that however Harry decided to let them know of their new guests at the dinner table that evening after the classes. He whispered to them, "Guys meet me on the right side corridor on the third floor where we met Fluffy in our first year, after class. There are things that we need to discuss."

Everyone nodded, except Susan and Hannah who had no idea who Fluffy was. They decided to tail the others when the time came. Luckily, they had single period Charms with the Claws and single period Defence with the Lions thereafter.

In Charms that morning, Professor Flitwick asked them to practice Incendio for half an hour. Harry did it fluently for a few minutes before Flitwick signalled him out and had him cast all the charms that they had learned and then excused him after an hour. Since he had an hour to kill, he helped his other house mates to cast properly.

Defence lesson was next and the class had not even taken out their books this time. They were eagerly waiting for the defence instructor who strode into the class and led them to the practice range that he had set up. As the class made themselves comfortable, he started addressing them, "As I found out last class that most of you have no formal training in defending yourself, I have decided to teach you all the art of shielding today. Shielding comes handy in a duel as you all would agree however there are too many things about shielding that you must know. If your shield is not backed up by all your power, you would need to spend more energy in erecting shield after shield as the basic shields that you know would not be able to hold against spells cast by a wizard more powerful than you. Who will volunteer for this lesson?"

A lot of hands went up and the defence professor called out, "Harold Peverell and Ernie McMillan."

As they both took their positions, he gave his instructions, "Mr. McMillan will cast the most dangerous spell that he knows and Mr. Peverell will shield it. Likewise after Mr. McMillan is able to shatter Mr. Peverell's shield then Mr. Peverell will cast."

Harry stood lazily with his wand at his side. McMillan raised his wand and yelled, "REDUCTO!", and the REDUCTO curse travelled towards him. a split-second before it could impact, Harry flicked his wand and whispered under his breath, "Protego.", and a solid protego was in front of him rendering the reducto ineffective. Ernie started casting the reducto with abandon but he was not able to pierce his shield. After about 20 tries, Vikram told them to stop and instructed Harry to cast. McMillan raised a shield before Harry could cast and Harry had to smile. The defence instructor had not forbidden using shield piercing hexes and Harry sent an over powered shield piercing hex which shattered Ernie's shield. Harry called out to him, "Raise one again, Ernie."

Ernie again raised a shield and this time Harry sent an over powered Bombarda which blasted his shield apart. With a flick of his hand, Harry's wand went back into his arm holster. Vikram was addressing the students, "As you all saw, Mr. Peverell who is more powerful in terms of raw power sent an over-powered Bombarda and Mr. McMillan's shield could not stand against one of them. This is a limitation to the basic shields but they would hold against an average wizard nonetheless."

He called Ronald and Justin and told them to cast at each other and their shields held against each other although Ronald looked more experienced and his endurance was substantially higher.

After demonstrating his point, Vikram set them to practice the shield charm amongst themselves arranging them in pairs. He paired them as he liked irrespective of houses and pitted Neville against Harry whispering, "The way I see it, only you two can stand against each other to any extent and the lesson would have some meaning for you otherwise it would have been a lesson wasted."

Harry and Neville practiced shielding which was useless anyhow since Harry preferred to dodge or side-step more than shield and Neville too was inclined in that direction. Still they obediently practiced the shield charm so as not to make others suspicious or resentful that they considered it beneath them. Neville was powerful but he was not putting his whole power behind his spells while Harry was using high powered spells just to check Neville's endurance. He was able to stand against Harry for a long time with his shield being shattered after 20 or so spells while Harry was able to keep his shield erected longer. But he noticed that Neville was starting to put more power behind his shields every time. After an hour they were all tired and Vikram dismissed them with a reading assignment to be completed before the next class. While he never allowed a book in class, he was not averse to his students studying between classes.

Daphne's Point of View

When Daphne returned to her dormitory, Tracy was waiting for her. As soon as she saw Daphne she said with mock sternness, "Spill."

Daphne feigned innocence, "What are you talking about, Tracy?"

Tracy glared at her, "I am not an idiot, Daph. You never wake up this early. As it is I saw you getting ready as dawn was breaking and I followed you out of here. I saw you meeting Peverell on the grounds and as I did not want to disturb your meeting, I returned. Now tell me all the juicy details."

Daphne sighed, "It was nothing juicy at all. He just asked about why I had sneaked into the hospital wing in June and asked what the political scenario in the snake pit is like. Oh, he also invited me and my friends to Gryffindor table for dinner this evening, something about making a political statement. So, I guess we are going to brave eating with the Lions this evening."

After that the day had been pretty ordinary and she eagerly waited for the evening.

Third Floor

Harry led his friends to the third floor corridor and as he led them through the door behind which Fluffy had been, he pulled out his wand and cast some wards over the door and then locked the door with a flick of his wand. For good measure, he stunned the portraits in that room.

He conjured a seat for Susan and himself and sat while the others kept standing looking at him. After a few moments, he said, "Are you guys sure you want to remain standing? We might be here for a while."

Hermione pointed out the obvious, "There are no other chairs here, Harry. Are we supposed to sit on the floor?"

Harry looked at Ron and Neville incredulously, "Are you both wizards or not? Where is your Gryffindor chivalry? Your ladies are standing and you blokes cannot conjure chairs for them?"

Hermione and Susan swatted him on the back of the head at the same time, while Ron fumbled with his wand and Neville just stood there, blushing like idiots. After a few seconds, the two boys had conjured four chairs and the meeting began.

Harry looked each one in the eye, "This is a meeting about the upcoming war and forging alliances with students in the school. As you all know Voldemort (only Hannah shuddered) is recruiting people while the general wizarding population does not believe that he is back. Even if Minister Longbottom has started making changes in the ministry and Madam Bones is doing her best to prepare the Aurors, we know that they will outnumber us. As such, in the event that Hogwarts is invaded we will be hard-pressed to defend ourselves from any such attack. I am willing to teach basic defence to students so that they are able to defend themselves and their friends if the need arises. I will be looking for allies in every house and while I can be sure of support from three houses, it is the House of Slytherin which worries me most. The house is not entirely evil and not entirely good but divided. While many of them are children of the Dark families but even some of those do not wish to be forced into the service of the dark side. Some of them are from neutral families and as such, it is my intention to recruit them to stand against Voldemort and be our eyes and ears in the Serpent's pit. To that effect, I have asked Daphne Greengrass with her friend to join us at the Gryffindor table for dinner this evening and I expect none of you will have any issue with it."

He noticed every one's expressions. As he had expected, Ronald was frowning and perhaps he would blow his lid over it. Hermione was thinking about the ramifications of such an alliance and perhaps was leaning towards his decision. Neville was sitting relaxed and Harry knew that he understood the reasons for this decision and was supporting Harry. Hannah was likewise silent and not saying anything but he could not decipher Susan's emotions- anger, jealousy, or scared.

Susan was inwardly fuming. She was not oblivious to what happened around her and she had noticed the looks that Greengrass gave to Harry when she thought no one was looking. Susan did not have one iota of doubt in her mind that Daphne had set her sights on Harry. She understood the need to align the Snakes with them but it did not mean that she had to like it however as Amelia had drummed it into her, sometimes one had to work with those they didn't normally liked. She would watch Daphne and if she felt that the other girl was making a move on her Harry, she would assert her claim. Perhaps the time was not far off when she would have to tell Harold Peverell that he was hers and no one else could lay a claim on him.

Ronald did not say anything despite wanting to remind everyone that Slytherins were all death eaters. Since his family was again sitting upon the Wizengamot and he had found a couple of Slytherins in his family tree, he had realized that they were not all bad. It was a hard egg to swallow but he had to concede that not all of them were evil. Now with a war coming, they would need friends and may be with the initiative Harry was willing to take, they would be able to form some alliance in the Serpent's pit. He decided to just sit and watch for now.

Harry dismissed the meeting soon after that when he realized that none of his friends were going to object. They all proceeded to lunch in the Great Hall. They might not have realised it but they had just conducted the first meeting of the new order which would rise to fight against Voldemort and eventually bring him down.

As they were getting to the Great Hall for Lunch, Harry sighed realizing that today was Friday which meant that Quidditch trials were this evening, something that he had sorely missed for the last year.

At dinner that evening, Harry sat at the end of the table farthest away from the Staff table waiting for Daphne and her friends. Susan sat on his right, Neville on his left with Hannah on Neville's right and Hermione and Ron sat across from him. Daphne entered as dinner was just getting started and made a beeline for the Gryffindor table. Hermione and Ron shifted two spaces down the table and Daphne and Tracy sat in the vacated seats.

Harry turned to Daphne, "Daphne, let me make the introductions. This is Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley scion of the House of Weasley, Neville Longbottom- heir of House Longbottom, Hannah Abbott- heiress of House Abbott and Susan Bones- Heiress of House Bones. Everyone this is Daphne Greengrass, heiress of House Greengrass and the charming lady accompanying her is Tracy Davis, heiress of House Davis."

As the introductions were being exchanged, Fred and George approached them.

Fred said, "And perhaps we should introduce ourselves seeing ickle Harrykins does not feel the need to do so..."

George added, "We are Gred and Feorge, pranksters extraordinaire."

They together said, "At your service."

Fred turned to Daphne, "Did we not try to change your hair colour in your 2nd year?"

George finished, "And you reversed it on us?"

Tracy laughed while Harry scowled at them, "Minions, leave us."

The twins mock-bowed and went to sit with their friends. Harry realised that everyone in the Great hall including the professors were looking at them intently. Perhaps it was the first time that a snake sat with the lions.

Before they could proceed further, Malfoy who had entered the Great Hall interrupted, "What do you think you are doing here Greengrass? This is not the Slytherin table."

Harry replied to him coldly, "And where is it written cousin that one can only eat at their house table? The Hogwarts charter states clearly that students can sit at other tables during meal times except for the Welcoming and Leaving feast including any other feast which may occur during the year."

Malfoy turned to him while his hand was sliding towards his wand in his robes, "I was not talking to you Peverell."

As he pulled his wand out, he found 5 wands trained on him and his lackeys while Harry just sat there smirking. Before the situation could escalate any further, Professor McGonagall intervened, "What is happening here? Is there a problem Mr. Peverell?"

Harry shook his head, "No problem Professor. Just Draco Malfoy was trying to pull his wand on us."

McGonagall turned to Malfoy, "Mr. Malfoy, if you ever try that again, I will be forced to put you into detention.". She turned to the others, "The same goes for all of you."

Dinner was passing peacefully when Harry found a little Ravenclaw standing near their table and glaring at Daphne. He cautiously asked her, "Is there any problem, Miss..."

The girl gave Daphne a cross look, "Daphne, have you told Lord Peverell about your little sister?"

She turned to Harry, "Hello Lord Peverell. I am Astoria Greengrass, younger daughter of House Greengrass."

He replied kindly, "So Miss Greengrass, why were you glaring at your sister like you want to have some words with her?"

Astoria grinned, "That is between me and her. I just wanted to make your acquaintance, Lord Peverell. I will see you later."

Harry asked Daphne, "Is she always like this?"

Daphne replied, "pretty much". Tracy was inwardly smirking at what Astoria would do to her sister for keeping things from her.

The dinner was spent with them talking about things in general and nothing of substance was discussed. The dinner though had sent a message to the Great Hall. Harry Potter was ready to make new friends, even in the Serpent's pit and Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis were under his protection.

The Quidditch Pitch

Harry was on the quidditch pitch, dressed in his quidditch robes, waiting for the trials to start. He was standing on one side with his broom in one hand. Angelina called to the crowd assembled, "Please form lines. Those who are here for the trials of Beaters get in one line, those for Chasers in another and those for Keepers in a third line."

After they had lined up, she called Harry forward, "I am going to call the chasers and it is your duty to unseat them up there with the twins assisting you at times."

He nodded, satisfied with being given some work. He took to the sky and was followed by Fred and as the trials started, he started hitting bludgers towards those taking the tests. In the first wave, all were unseated almost the moment they began. He kept hitting the Bludger too hard and did not realise his mistake until he knocked Dean Thomas off of his broom when the other boy was about 10 feet off the ground. Dean did not suffer any injuries but it was evident that he would not be participating in the trial anymore.

Whenever his Bludger connected with anyone, it gave them bruised ribs. So at the end of the Chaser trial, there were at least 10 with bruised ribs, two crashed shooting stars, and some very disgruntled looking Lions.

In the trial for beaters, he sat on the side-lines and watched while others tried. The newly elected chasers Ginny Weasley and Demelza Robins were trying to score on the hoops while they tried to bring them down. Ginny flew beautifully, flowing like water in the air and dodged everything that was sent at her by the beaters. Watching her fly, Harry made a mental note to order a Nimbus 2001 in advance for her birthday. The way she was performing, she needed her own broom.

Finally, two beaters were able to stop the chasers from scoring and they were Fay Dunbar and Jack Sloper. The keeper trial had been hard but at last Ronald Weasley had made the cut after he demonstrated that he came from a family of talented quidditch players. This new Ron had intrigued him a lot since he was more confident now and was more tolerant of views opposite than to his own. The only similarity that remained was that he could not help but put his foot in his mouth from time to time. He had been impressive with his feat- perhaps owning a Nimbus 2001 and being an accomplished wizard had made the changes to him.

After being selected, they had a team practice, just to see how well they were playing with each other. The training had been invigorating especially after two months of being away from his broom. While others practiced, he had waltzed around the pitch on his broom practicing all the moves that he knew- the sloth grip roll, the barrel roll, the wronski feint and a few others that he had learned. He wanted to let go of his broom or perform the stunts he had learned aboard the Marichika but he saved them for later, perhaps during a match.

When the other Gryffindors headed back to their tower, Harry left under his cloak for the chamber of secrets to practice his spell casting. Pundariksh was already at the entrance of the chamber waiting for him. As they entered, they started practicing spell casting for an hour during which he tried all the spells that he had learned or had marked for his use. The mystic was efficient in helping him in any way possible. He was grateful to Pundariksh for fortifying the walls to withstand any backlash knowing that his spells otherwise would have collapsed the room easily. He conjured dummies and duelled with them which would keep raining hexes on him and forced him to dodge. After sometime, as they were about to leave the chamber, Harry produced a camera (he had procured one during the last month) and handed it to Pundariksh, "Will you take some pictures for me?"

As the mystic agreed, he transformed and the mystic's expression made him grin. The mystic captured some images of his animagus form and then Harry transformed back. He said to the mystic, "Please have them developed and send them to Ambar with a request to register my animagus form from India with the ICW so that no one can find out about it easily."

He also produced a stack of letters which he handed to the mystic and they left the chamber thereafter. Harry decided to take the route to Gryffindor tower in his snow-leopard form. Since he knew his way around the castle, there was no fear that someone would find him. He regally stalked through the shadows to the tower until he ran into her.

Luna Lovegood was roaming the corridors bare footed and her radish ear-rings were missing too. It looked like she was looking for those creatures that she had talked about or something but Harry could not understand why she would be roaming around with her feet bare? As she saw the snow-leopard, she perked up and came to him to pat his head. Harry gave a low growl which she mostly ignored and kept petting him for sometime before she said, "Good Boy Blizz", and went skipping away.

Flummoxed, Harry returned to the tower after transforming back to his human form in an abandoned corridor.

Serpent's pit

As Daphne and Tracy returned to the serpent's pit that night, Draco Malfoy was waiting for her with a few friends of his. As they entered, Draco sneered, "Greengrass, are you trying to betray Slytherin House?"

Daphne calmly answered, "Do you have anything to prove your allegations, Malfoy?"

Draco answered albeit calmly, "You are befriending Harold Peverell who is the enemy of Slytherin House. Are you planning to sell us out to him?"

Daphne inwardly sighed, "Malfoy would remain an imbecile as he always was". Outwardly she adopted the ice-queen mask and said icily to him, "Draco Malfoy while you may think of yourself as his nemesis, you are no more than a fly to him which he can swat anytime. However he is not an enemy of Slytherin House and he has never antagonized any of us except when we gave him trouble."

Draco shouted, "He is the public enemy of the Dark Lord and the Slytherins have always supported him."

Daphne still calmly said, "Since when does your Dark Lord have a claim to Slytherin House? Does anyone even know of his ancestry? I am sure no one names their children as Lord and certainly no family ever has been called Voldemort (everyone gasped or shuddered). So unless you know of his ancestry, please explain to me why we would owe allegiance to him? I distinctly remember that House Greengrass has never done fealty to him unlike some who left his service when he was vanquished by a toddler."

Draco's face went purple, "Don't you dare to speak against my family like that, Greengrass. House of Malfoy is one of the most important houses."

She thought that it was high time that Malfoy was put in his place. She retorted, "House of Greengrass is an Ancient and Most Noble House descended from the Reverent House of Le Fay. We are some of the original families left from the age of War mages unlike yours which fled from France as refugees and may not ever return on pain of death."

Draco drew his wand and was immediately disarmed by one of the older Slytherin prefects, "there will be no duelling in the house. If you want to challenge her then do it the proper way."

After that the students went their way while Everly, Jugson and Dryden approached her. Jugson curtsied before her, "Heiress Greengrass, can we have a word?"

She nodded and Dryden cast a privacy charm around them. Everly started, "Greengrass, as you well know the Houses of Dryden, Everly and Jugson are vassals of House Black. With Harold Peverell becoming the Lord of Black, our loyalties are with him as being our liege lord. We need a way to get into contact with him. As you are his friend, would you introduce us?"

Daphne contemplated this for a second and then asked, "So, you want to change your loyalties to him. Do your families know about your changed allegiance? How can I be sure that you are not planning to capture him or harm him?"

Jugson replied, "We know there are questions that will be asked however we are willing to answer all of these questions if he will listen to us."

She nodded, "I will relay a word to him about it but it is entirely his choice to agree to your proposal or reject it."

Head Master's Office

This morning Harry woke and found that Neville and Ron were already awake with their wands in their hands and welts on their arms He asked Ron, "What are you both doing up this early?"

Ron scowled, "We thought that we would pay you back for all the stingers you peppered us with and woke up half an hour ago but none of our spells have reached you no matter what we did."

Harry laughed, "That would be because I have shielding wards around my bed."

He had been summoned to the Head Master's office as he had reached the Great Hall for breakfast and as he entered, the Head Master asked him enthusiastically, "Had a good week, Harry?"

He grinned widely, "It was probably the best yet, Head Master. For once no one in the castle is trying to kill me or conspire against me."

Dumbledore chuckled, "Let's not jinx it then. I am sure with the pranks and your classes you are having a fantastic week already. Now Harry my boy, I have called you here to talk to you about going to Gringotts. It is imperative that we do not waste more time and retrieve it."

Harry nodded, "I am of the same opinion sir. How are we going to Gringotts?"

The Head master looked at him incredulously, "You can apparate in and out of the castle, you can ride a hippogriff and you are asking me?"

Harry nodded, "All true, Head Master, but, we have to maintain appearances. I am sure Tom's spies are trying to watch everything that we are doing. Wizarding Britain is already preparing for a war and I fear that is enough to make him wary of everyone. You are without doubt the wizard he fears the most while he wants to kill me due to the prophecy."

Albus nodded, "So what do you propose?"

Harry said, "Let's go to Gringotts and then we will decide, Professor."

Dumbledore whistled and Fawkes soared into the air trilling. Dumbledore and Harry caught hold of his tail feathers and a second later, they were standing outside Gringotts. Harry walked into the bank and to a teller, "I am here to see Griphook."

The goblin immediately took them to Griphook's office where the Goblin received them, "Lord Peverell, Chief Warlock Dumbledore."

Harry addressed the goblin, "Griphook, what is the status of the catapults? Are they ready to be taken to Hogwarts?"

The goblin nodded, "Lord Peverell, the catapults have been assembled as you had wished and are ready to be taken to Hogwarts. Do you have people with you who can efficiently operate them or you need to hire some goblins for the task?"

He smirked, "No Griphook. I have some people who will operate it but I want you to include the manual for operating the machines. Now as to the next business, I am here for the Chalice. Have you realised what it is?"

The goblin nodded, "We know what it is. If we did not understand the severity of the situation, I would have penalised the Lestranges for it however doing that now would put them on alert."

Harry nodded, "Let us not tarry then, Account Manager Griphook. Please fetch the chalice to me."

Griphook pushed a button on his desk and a young goblin entered. Griphook barked orders to him and turned to Harry, "while we wait for the chalice, is there any other business you would like to have taken care of?"

Harry smirked, "As a matter of fact, there is. What happened to those suits of armour I commissioned to be made out of the Basilisk's skin?"

The goblin replied, "They are ready as you had instructed Lord Potter. Since they are made from the skin of a magical beast, there is not much we could do with it but we have added altering charms which would make it fit the body of those who wear them. Would you like to take them with you or do you want us to send them to the recipients?"

He mulled this over for a minute. Then he pulled a piece of parchment from his robe along with a quill and wrote a list of names. He handed the list to Griphook. "I want to send the suits of armour to these people on the list and I want two dozen more suits of the Basilisk skin for which I will send you another list of recipients soon."

The goblin took the list and at that moment, the young goblin returned clutching a box in his hands and handed it to Harry. Harry pulled out his wand and opened the box with a spell. Inside was a beautiful golden cup engraved with the Hufflepuff badger. Harry could feel the evil coming from it. He gingerly handed the box to Dumbledore. He cast a spell or two at it and declared, "This is indeed a Horcrux. Now we are a step closer towards vanquishing Tom."

As they were leaving Gringotts, Harry heard someone call him, "'Arry."

He turned to find a silver haired, blue eyed witch gliding towards him. She hugged him lightly and pecked him on both cheeks, "'Arry, 'ow are you?"

Harry smiled at her, "I am good Miss Delacour. How are you? How come you are in Wizarding Britain?"

She enthusiastically replied, "I joined 'ere to improve my Eenglish. Bill 'as been 'elping me."

She then turned to Dumbledore, "Professor Dumbledore, 'ow are you?"

Dumbledore smiled at her, "I am fine, Miss Delacour."

Harry took their leave with a nudge from Dumbledore and they took the floo from the lobby of Gringotts to the chambers assigned to House Peverell in the Wizengamot. Once in the Ministry, Harry liberally employed charms on himself changing his appearance with his hair turning to blond, his cheek bones high, his eyes steel grey. Thus disguised, he followed Dumbledore to the lowest level of the ministry.

He could see visual distortion of the order guard lurking under a disillusionment spell outside the department of mysteries and passed him nonchalantly. When they entered the department, Croaker met them just inside of the entrance, "Lord Peverell, Chief Warlock."

Harry nodded to him while Dumbledore opened the conversation, "old friend, we are here for the prophecy."

Algernon led them to the Hall of Prophecy and Harry stumbled as he entered the hall. The ambient magic in the hall was over-whelming. Kroaker led them to a shelf and pointed Harry towards a prophecy orb, "Pick that one, Lord Peverell."

Harry looked at the orb which had a slip attached to it, "Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, June 1980."

As Harry picked up the prophecy Kroaker erected a privacy ward around them. While they watched, the chief unspeakable brandished his wand and a replica of the orb was replaced on the shelf. Harry gave him questioning looks and the Chief Unspeakable shrugged, "We are laying down a trap for him to come. Whenever we are ready to bring him into the open, spread the word that you are coming to pick up the orb and when he comes he will be walking into an ambush."

Harry openly smirked, "It is a good plan. We will have to do it soon."

Dumbledore directed his attention to the orb, "Now would be as good a time as any to listen to what the prophecy says, Harry. Tap your wand to it."

Harry pulled his wand and tapped the orb and Sybill Trelawney's voice started emanating from it:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Harry did not say anything for a few minutes but sat in contemplation and then started, "so it means that I will have to kill him if I am to live? Are you sure it does not apply to anyone other than me?"

Dumbledore said gravely, "I believe so, my boy. Your parents had defied Voldemort three times, you were born at the end of the seventh month, and he marked you as his equal when he gave you that scar. The only other possibility was Mr. Longbottom but you are the one in the prophecy since he chose you. And I do not believe it will end without you killing Tom once and for all."

Harry nodded, "Head Master since we have removed the orb now, we can remove the order guard from the prophecy. The unspeakable security should be enough to keep him deluded that the real thing is still here."

Dumbledore nodded and they took a floo to the Black Townhouse from Croaker's office where Sirius met him in the entrance hall. As he saw Harry, he said agitatedly, "Pup, there are some people who say that they are your friends and are here at your invitation."

Harry nodded, "Some associates of mine I called to help me."

Himvat and two other mystics were sitting in the entry hall and Harry this time saluted him, "Dharm aur maan."

As the mystics returned the gesture, Harry levelled his wand at them, "How did Guruji take the masks off those free-loaders?"

The mystic smirked, "He melted the masks off their faces."

Harry sent his wand back into the holster and sat with the mystics for lunch while Dumbledore brought him up to date on what the order was doing. He started with the ministry telling how the ministry was better functioning now, how the revamped administration had won the confidence of the public, increased Auror Patrols, sightings of Aurors in Diagon Alley and other places of prominent importance gave them a sense of security, how Frank had ordered Knockturn Alley to be raided.

When they came to the subject of Knockturn Alley raids, Harry jokingly said, "Damn, it will be bad for business since House Black owns most of the shops down there. Guess I will have to find some honest business owners then."

Everyone chuckled at his statement. As they were done with lunch, Harry presented the Hufflepuff cup to the mystics telling them to get it exorcised and then return it to him at school.

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