Hogwarts

Harry was wisely avoiding everyone's company that day because he knew they were itching to have a go at him. Hermione was the most vocal one and if she hadn't respected authority figures, she would have pummelled him right there in the Great Hall. There were a lot of sixth years who were giving him menacing looks and Harry knew why. Hardly anyone would be happy with being turned into Severus Snape or Sybill Trelawney.

He and all of his associates had decided that they would pass the day away from general populace and to that effect, Daphne had gone with Tracy who had no problem with looking like Martha Hughes. Conrad Du Vant had sat with his friends in Ravenclaw who were welcoming of him while Neville had tagged along with Harry and Susan telling him that he had no other place to go like the dormitories or the library or the mermaid's sanctuary where Hannah's wrath would not reach him. The looks that Hannah was giving him were enough to curdle fresh milk.

Justin however had been welcomed with open arms in the Badger's hole by his friends for a prank well executed with the exception of Smith, of course. Turpin and Boot had no problem returning to the Ravenclaw tower because they knew others in their house would be more interested in knowing the details behind the prank seeing it was great piece of magic. Harry, Susan and Neville had taken refuge in Hagrid's hut for most of the day where the Care of Magical Creatures Professor openly told them that he had been proud of them. He reminded Harry that his father also used to perform such pranks and then would spend days avoiding others while planning more mischief. Sometime during the day, Hermione and Ron had came looking after Harry and Neville and Hagrid had told them that he had not seen Harry since the morning making them go their way.

It was finally late in the night when Harry and Neville had returned to the tower having no other recourse. Being absent from the tower after curfew would have earned them another round of detentions and they were in the mood to enjoy the success of this one before they were put in detention again.

When they reached the fat lady, she beamed at them, "Well! Well! Well! If it isn't the new pranksters in residence?"

Harry asked her cautiously, "What is the mood inside the tower?"

She smiled mysteriously, "You will have to see for yourselves. Just to tell you, I am proud. The twins were getting arrogant after being unchallenged for so long".

As they opened the portrait hole, arms reached out and pulled them both inside. There were life-size photographs in the common room papered on the walls showing students changing. Some other life-sized posters showed Fred and George acting like Dumbledore. There were some other photos and an impromptu party was in progress. There was a large banner in the middle of the common room which read, 'Prank Mage Peverell and Prank Lord Longbottom'.

The twins beamed at them, "Brilliant Harry. It was brilliant. We could not have thought pulling it on all four houses at once. We are glad that you are taking up our legacy".

Harry raised an eyebrow, "And exactly what do you mean by that?"

The twins explained, "The legacy of the Marauders. When we found the map, we had decided to take up the legacy of the marauders. We dubbed ourselves as the new Marauders".

There were many others who came to congratulate them. Ginny had eyed them warily and told them that while she thought it was a good prank which had been enjoyed by everyone but there were some who thought otherwise. There was Dean who congratulated him on the feat while Seamus asked him if there was a prank where he would need the Irish wizard's talents. Harry let Seamus know that he was at the top of the list if Harry needed something blown-up. Several others had also come up to congratulate them or to apply for being part of the next prank. Harry also noticed that Hermione and Ron were being kept engaged by the students so that they would not be able to chastise the duo for the prank. Finally Hermione managed to get free of the grasps of Parvati and Fay and made a beeline for him and Neville where they were talking to the twins.

Harry noticed Hermione coming towards them with a storm in her eyes. He asked the twins, "Do something about her, will you?"

"On it" said George and he stepped forward to offer a butterbeer to Hermione standing in such a way that he covered both of them. Harry took that moment to escape to the dormitories where she could not harass them anymore. They decided to turn in right away or Ron would bite their heads off. Not because they had pranked the students but because they did not include him.

Badger's Hole

Susan had been given the same kind of applause in her common room though not as rowdy as it was in Gryffindor tower. The students had congratulated her for the prank and a couple of them had even asked her to let them in on the next one.

She had been having a great time until Hannah dragged her to the dormitory with other girls following.

After Susan had made herself comfortable on her bed, Hannah started ranting, "What did you think you were doing Susan? You pranked all of us and you even included poor Neville in it. His father is minister and how do you think he will react when he learns of it? Think about how auntie will react when she hears about it. She already had threatened to punish you and you did it again".

Susan had been chuckling, "Exactly how long have you been keeping it all pent up? I know Neville's father is the minister of magic but he knows we are students and we get up to these kinds of shenanigans at times. Hell, he attended Hogwarts at the time of the Marauders and my parents and lived through all of sort of pranks that they pulled. As for Auntie, she loves me real well and would not give any serious punishment".

Hannah mumbled, "We will see when the owl post comes".

Black Town House

Sirius Black had just returned from the ministry to find a Hogwarts Owl sitting patiently on his desk with a letter in its talons and it puzzled him because usually Kreacher could take delivery of a letter when Sirius was not in residence.

He untied the letter and the owl took off. He opened the letter to find the slant cursive hand-writing of Minerva McGonagall.

"Dear Mr. Black

This is to inform you that your son Harold James Peverell has been found guilty for rule-breaking and pranking the whole school at once in concert with several students of other houses.

This letter has been written to you in hopes that you will take corrective action towards him and curb his rule-breaking habits.

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"

There was a post-script to the letter which said, "I know it is a fool's hope that you would rein him in, but the school rules make it my duty to inform you".

The letter was dreadfully lacking on details about what had happened in the school and the way it was written showed that the teachers had been bothered terribly with the act.

He walked to the fireplace, threw in a pinch of floo powder and called, "Moony's lair". A few moments later, Remus Lupin was visible in his office in his manor working on something. At the sound of the floo, he looked up, "Padfoot! Has something happened?"

Sirius adopted a troubled expression, "Moony did I bother you at the wrong time? Were you busy with something?"

Moony waved him off, "Just some paper-work which is almost finished already. What do you need of me?"

Sirius said hesitantly, "It is about Harry. Something has happened and I have no idea about what to do".

The werewolf came running to the fireplace, 'Step aside, Sirius. I am coming through".

Moony exited out of the floo, his eyes turning to the shade of amber, "What happened with Harry, Padfoot? Tell me everything at once".

Sirius handed the letter to him, "This came from Hogwarts this evening".

Remus read the letter and glared at Sirius, "He has been caught in a prank that is all. Why did you have to worry me out of my wits?"

Sirius started laughing, "It was funny to see you come running like that. However the letter is woefully short on details and Minnie has written that she has no hopes of me that I would admonish him. Thing is I want to admonish him like Prongs would have".

Remus snorted, "Prongs would have thrown a party in his honour and filled his trust vault to the limit. However I would accept that I am curious what he did this time".

"Let's ask Minnie then" said Sirius and threw a pinch of floo powder in the fireplace and called "Deputy Head Mistress's office, Hogwarts".

A minute later, Minerva's office was in view where she was sitting in a chair.

Sirius said cheekily, "Good evening, Minnie".

She said to him through gritted teeth, "What do you want, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin? How can I serve you?"

"Minnie, I got a letter a few hours ago that my son has been caught in rule-breaking. Can you throw some light on that?"

She told everything in detail about what had happened that day including the choices made year wise for the students.

When she was done telling, Sirius was laughing so hard that Minerva sent a stinger at him irritated. It was only with his quick reflexes that the Marauder escaped harm however the spell fire ended the floo call. Moony had been in the background sitting in an armchair and was laughing uproariously, tears leaking from his eyes and clutching his stomach.

Sirius turned to him, "What a prank, Moony! The lad has outdone himself this time. I cannot even begin to comprehend how he pulled it off. Can you imagine how Snape would have reacted seeing his lookalikes sitting in the great hall and sneering at everyone?"

Lupin who had just managed to control his laughter broke into laughter again.

Sirius however was adopting a sober expression, "I think I will have to send him a howler".

While Messrs. Padfoot and Moony were enjoying the pranks of their son and nephew, owls were flying towards homes of other students who had been his accomplices in crime. Similar letters were delivered to the residences of the rest of the students and the parents had decided to punish their children when they came home for Winter holidays. For now a letter would do.

Great Hall

The next day, Harry received the first howler of his life. He had actually forgotten that letters would be sent to their homes as part of the punishment. He was sitting with Susan and Neville at the Gryffindor Table with the twins and the quidditch team around him. Hannah was still not talking to Neville and Harry was avoiding Ron and Hermione so they figured that the twins would be perfect barriers to save them from the wrath of others.

As the owls started coming in, Harry noticed Hedwig flying straight to him with a horned owl behind her. Hedwig just dropped the red letter before Harry while the other owl landed on the table extending its leg to Susan.

Malfoy who had been watching gleefully shouted, "Look! Peverell has got a Howler!"

A few of the students snickered while George said, "Mate, open it or it will open anyway".

Harry was eyeing the letter warily and was frowning, wondering why Sirius would send a howler to him. He was not exactly the model of disciplined behaviour either. While he was wondering, the letter started smoking then opened by itself.

The Great hall was filled with the voice of Sirius Black, "HARRY, WHAT A PRANK! MERLIN'S BEARD, I AM PROUD. YOU HAVE MADE US PROUD. MOONY MIGHT SEND YOU A LETTER ADMONISHING YOU BUT DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO IT. HE IS JUST PLAYING THE GOOD AUROR BUT HE HAS NOT STOPPED LAUGHING SINCE WE READ THE LETTER".

By the time the howler ended, Harry was chuckling with the others while Malfoy looked like he had swallowed a lemon. Hermione looked furious.

Ron was heard moaning, "He gets a howler and he is applauded for a prank".

Harry then noticed Susan was shaking like a leaf. He asked her with concern, "Sue, what is the matter? What happened?"

She said nothing but extended the letter to him wordlessly. He started reading the letter which obviously was from Amelia Bones.

"Susan Amelia Bones,

I am disappointed, young lady. I am in fact furious that you were involved in a prank. When you snuck off to Godric's Hallow, I decided to let it pass but you have made it a habit. I will see to your fitting punishment when you are home for the winter holidays.

Amelia Susan Bones".

He read the letter and pressed her hands to calm her down, "Sue, I knew this could happen and I had warned you. I am sorry that she is angry with you however if it helps, I will take the blame on myself".

She shook her head, "I will not let you do that. It was me who decided to participate in it and you did not force me. I will face the consequences myself".

Just at that moment, Hector landed before Neville carrying a letter from Alice. Neville was tensed till he finished the letter when his shoulders slumped in relief and he turned to Harry, "Mother says that we are children. We can get involved in a prank or two. It is perfectly okay. She has invited you for a dinner the day we return to London for vacation".

Harry nodded, "Okay" but inwardly he knew Alice would deal with them when they were in front of her rather than shouting herself hoarse from a howler when one could chuck it in fire straight or apply a silencing charm to it and it would be ineffective.

He noticed that Daphne was keeping a distance from him. He wanted to ask what was bothering her but was intercepted by Astoria.

"What do you want, Harry?" she had asked.

"Astoria, why is Daphne being so cold towards everyone?" he asked, curiosity writ large on his face.

"Daph got a letter from father this morning and he was angry with her for two reasons. Firstly for being involved in a prank and secondly for being caught after she had decided to participate in it anyway".

Harry snorted, "He was angry that she participated in a prank on one hand and then angry because she was caught?"

Astoria nodded eagerly, "Mother also had her say. She said that the ice queen had thawed and since then Daphne is trying to act like the Ice Queen again".

"Okay. Do I need to worry about getting threats from Cyrus or Roxanne?"

Astoria replied, "No but I want you to teach me a few tricks. I have a few students to prank".

A week later

Hagrid's idea of detention was to divided them into groups and take them to the edge of the forbidden forest to gather some ingredients for some obscure potions which Snape needed or to perform some other harmless menial tasks and he did not seem to mind if they used magic to do it.

The first night, Hagrid had them walk around the edges to find bowtruckles so he could mark trees fit for wand wood. The wand-maker Ollivanders had been looking for trees which could give him wand wood for new wands and Dumbledore granted his request on account of their age old friendship. They had an enjoyable 2 hours in the forest with the only problem being the snow.

That had also been the night when Harry kissed Susan for the first time. Hagrid had sent them in pairs to look for trees and Harry had conjured blue bell flames for everyone as Pashupati had shown him all those months ago.

They were walking for quite a while in the forest when Harry asked, "Have I ever told you about the time I ended up in a detention in the forbidden forest?"

She eyed him warily, "Don't tell me that you actually ended up here for detention".

He laughed, "We did. It was the time when Hagrid had Norbert".

She asked him curiously, "Who is Norbert?"

"Norbert is a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon".

She squeaked, "There was a freaking dragon in the school?"

Harry chuckled "It would be better if I tell you the entire tale. You see, Hagrid told me at our first meeting that he would like to have a dragon. Sometime during that year, Hagrid met a hooded man in the Hogs Head inn who lost a Dragon's egg to him in a card game. Hagrid was elated to have the egg and started making preparations to hatch it in his hut. We had seen the dragon being hatched and convinced him somehow that he should send the dragon away and it would be in the best interests of everyone, including the dragon. We wrote a letter to Charlie Weasley who was a dragon handler in Romania and he told us that he was sending some of his friends to take the dragon away. Somehow, Malfoy overheard our plans. He then informed Professor McGonagall of it the night we were smuggling the dragon out of the castle. She caught me, Hermione, Neville out of bounds that night. Me and Hermione because we were smuggling it away from the castle. Neville because out of the goodness of his heart, he was coming to warn us about it and also Malfoy because he was also out of bed during curfew hours. Ron was in the hospital wing because the dragon had bitten him on the hand and his hand was swollen. We all lost 50 house points each and got detention".

Realisation dawned on Susan, "That was the time in first year when Gryffindor had lost 150 points in a night?"

He chuckled, "Yes. As it turned out, Filch handed us to Hagrid who took us into the Forbidden forest to look for something that was hunting unicorns. Me and Malfoy came upon a unicorn dead in a clearing and a person was drinking its blood. When it saw me, we tried to run but I tripped over a root and fell on my rump. The being glided towards me perhaps to try and kill me and was almost upon me when one of the centaurs in the forest, I think his name was Firenze, saved me".

Susan had been clutching his arm and her nails were digging into his flesh painfully telling him that she was scared when an owl hooted making them jump and they both realised that they were in the forbidden forest. It was at that moment that some small animal brushed Susan's leg and she jumped in fright and hugged him fiercely. She had buried her face in his robes and it was only when Harry assured her that it was nothing that she dared to raise her face to look into his eyes. In that moment, Harry felt something tugging at his core, a feeling of want, of longing and he had pressed his lips to hers. It was short lived because Neville chose that moment to appear looking for them. He saw the kiss, turned back and said over his shoulder, "Did I come at the wrong time?"

Harry shrugged, "No Neville. It is alright. We were done anyway".

Susan however was cursing Neville's bad timing under her breath.

A reckless Prefect

The second night of detention, Hagrid had them tend to the herd of Hippogriff's that he had bred. It was not a punishment for Harry because he had lot of practice at it and actually loved being near the animals while Neville was indifferent because he had learned to tend to Hippogriffs at the Longbottom Castle since he was a child and perhaps liked it much after Herbology, of course.

Harry also saw that Hagrid had found a mate for Blackstorm. It was a magnificent animal with a variety of colours and his familiar was obviously besotted.

The third night, he had them collect a few ingredients which were needed for some potions. The ingredients would have otherwise cost the school lots of gold and not everything could be found in the greenhouses.

The routine had been the same every night and the detention had passed peacefully. Harry was already planning for the next prank which would take place just before the winter holidays.

In the meantime, he had patched things up with Hermione two days after the prank when she had stopped him in the common room. "Harry, why are you not talking to me?"

"Because I want to keep my limbs intact, Hermione", he had replied.

"You are Incorrigible, you know that" she said rolling her eyes, "you pranked the entire school and you did not include us in it to help you do it?"

Harry was dumb-founded, "Hermione, you are a Prefect. You are expected to stop me from pranks or rule-breaking".

She grinned, "We are allowed to be ourselves at times, Harry. Besides Professor Lupin was a Prefect and yet he was credited to be the brain of the Marauders, so I can do that for you".

Harry nodded in all seriousness, "Okay Hermione, next time I will try to include you in it".

"You better", she had said.

The Room of Requirement

The next session for patronus training had been more successful than the last. Many of them had spent time meditating on their happiest moments and practicing. Many were able to conjure at least an incorporeal patronus. A few managed corporeal ones too.

Harry answered many queries from different students about the charm and how they could cast it easily. He had told everyone that they needed to have happy thoughts. The memory that they chose did not need to be real but they could think of something that would give them infinite happiness and the same feeling could fuel a patronus.

The most intense discussion had been with Hermione because she had been trying hard to conjure a patronus and had not been able to conjure one so far. Harry had to explain to her that a patronus did not just depend on wand waving and incantation as she was doing but it was based on emotions more. One who could relive happiness from their positive memories could conjure one without any effort but for those who looked for logic to go into it would always have trouble conjuring them.

She had tried the charm in all the spare time that she had but it did not work for her. It was only when Ron had taken her aside for a few minutes and they returned with goofy grins on their faces that Hermione had been able to conjure a corporeal patronus with great effort which was an Otter. However she still had problems with the spell and it always took her more than one try to conjure a patronus.

Ron had been able to conjure a patronus which was a Jack Russel Terrier and Harry had ribbed him that his patronus was also chasing Hermione's patronus the same way as he was chasing after her.

In this second session on Patroni, the twins had been able to conjure corporeal patroni. Theirs were identical Magpies. Harry guessed they had no problem with conjuring corporeal patronus because they knew what it meant to be happy. Ginny had conjured an incorporeal patronus in the third session. Harry had no doubts that she would have one before the year ended.

Susan had also been able to cast a corporeal patronus charm in a private lesson after the third session. She later told him that she used their memory of the forest for the charm. Her patronus was a badger and she was proud of it.

Hannah had been able to conjure an incorporeal patronus by now with appreciation from Neville who was also helping her to achieve this.

A few others had been able to conjure corporeal patroni. One was Cho Chang who had a swan. Ernie Macmillan had a boar. Seamus Finnigan's was a fox. Harry was kind of looking forward to see more of his friends successfully conjure patroni.

The meeting

Harry had called a meeting of his chosen friends to ask for help from them. He had chosen Susan, Neville, Ron, Hermione, Hannah, Ernie, Daphne and the twins because they were some of those whom he could trust and were better at casting than others.

The meeting was supposed to be today in the space behind the mirror on the fourth floor and they all arrived one after another. After they were seated, Harry started addressing them, "I have called you all here because I need your assistance. I am happy that you all have progressed quickly and are able to hold your own. I have been pulling my punches when it comes down to it because I have not been getting the same amount of practice as I am used to. I feel like I am getting rusty with lack of serious practice".

Ron asked, "How can we help you, mate?"

"I want you all to duel with me".

"All of us?" Ernie asked, "All of us at once?"

Harry replied off-handedly, "Yes, all of you at once. I will cast while you will defend against me".

The twins asked him, "Mate, are you sure you are not getting a bit ahead of yourself? Sure we know you are powerful but we are too many against you".

Harry replied indifferently, "No, Mates. I am serious about it and do not worry. We are not using lethal spells for Safety's sake".

Hermione made the decision for them, "I do not know about them Harry but I am ready for whatever help you need of me".

When others nodded their assent, he cautioned them, "I would like to remind you all that you cannot tell about anything that you see me doing in these practice sessions. If news were to go out, it would be detrimental to the interests of all of us. Please agree to it only if you think you can face the world and not give me up, even if it is old Tom who is threatening you".

Ernie who knew the barest details about this Tom said to him, "Harry while I do not claim that I know you as well as them but I would not give you up to anyone. We the Macmillans have always stood behind the Potters throughout these centuries and while they do not say that 'where a Potter goes, a Macmillan will follow', the Macmillans and Potters stood together even before the Longbottoms arrived. If you are worried, I would take a magical vow to that effect, if you want".

Such a display of loyalty was enough to convince Harry that none of them would ever give him up. At last everyone agreed that they would help him in whatever way they could. Susan had been quiet during the meeting because she agreed with the decision but did not like it. She knew that the face-off between Harry and Voldemort was unavoidable. Even though she did not wish for him to go off and face that monster, she was not going to stop him from doing what was his duty. She would stand by his side and help him do it. She also had deaths to avenge. The snake faced monster had taken too many people from her and she would be damned if she stood by and let him do it again.

He cheerfully asked them to report to the Room of Requirement that evening for the first practice session.

When the selected students arrived that evening at the Room of Requirement, Harry was already inside and dodging spells from four dummies at once. They all stood watching him dodge the dummies easily. They all had learned dodging in their sessions with him but they realised that they were nowhere near as nimble as him. He was doing it so easily and made it look like a dance. He was not side-stepping or trying the slippery fish and they were all in awe of what he considered simple dodging.

After about 10 minutes, Harry ceased his practice, and noticed the others, "I did not realise that you guys had arrived".

It was Ron who broke the silence, "Wicked! Where did you learn that one?"

Harry chuckled, "It was dodging Ron, plain and simple. With enough practice, agility and speed, anyone can do it".

Hermione spoke, "Not everyone can do it, Harry. May be the senior aurors in the ministry or some professional duel masters can do this but not mere students".

Harry waved her off, "It was practice, plain and simple. However, I want to know if you guys are ready to give me some practice?"

They all nodded and Harry asked them to adopt the stance for dueling. As they did, he pulled his sandalwood wand and took his position, "Now, I am going to take on all of you at once. I want you to defend, dodge or cast the best you can. Your goal is to stop, stun, disarm paralyze the best you can. No lethal spells. I will be doing the same to each of you".

His friends all looked a little incredulous, but they spread out in a semi-circle, leaving enough room for each of them to move and dodge then raised their wands. At first, Harry wanted some practice dodging against live casters. While these were not the mystics but they were the best thing in the present circumstances. When the first volley of spells rushed at him, he neatly side-stepped all the spells making them halt briefly. When his friends realized that he was not casting back and that their spells could not hit him, they picked up the pace and the spells flew at Harry in volleys. It didn't take Harry long to figure out their rhythms and he closed his eyes as he danced, allowing the light from the spells that made its way through his closed eyelids to guide him. He started manoeuvring, pulling his friends out of position. Then a stunner meant for Harry hit Hannah and took her down. The next moment, Ernie took a similar hit. The ones who were still standing conjured shields and repositioned themselves in such a way so they would not hit their friends. Harry opened his eyes and started casting at his top speed, sending spell after spell in all directions. He used a wide variety of hexes, jinxes, charms, transfigurations and animations while he still danced out of the path of every spell. He still had not conjured a shield. He sent a stunner which Fred took on his shield. At almost the same time, Hermione deflected a petrification hex with the same shield she started with. A levicorpus was rustling towards Daphne who had made the mistake of dropping her shield and found herself being hoisted by her ankle. No one else could help her because they were hard pressed to defend themselves from him. As Daphne was being hoisted to the ceiling by her ankle, a shield breaker had shattered Neville's shield. But having enough experience duelling with Harry by now, he had immediately ducked to avoid the stunner which passed through the space where he had been a moment ago. Soon after Neville had ducked, Ronald had decided to risk attacking Harry and had dropped his shield. Before he could cast, his wand was flying across the room to Harry's off-hand. Susan had sent the tickling hex his way which he sent right back at her. She doubled over laughing. George's wand arm was attacked by a dog transfigured from a chair. As Fred tried to defeat the dog, he was taken down by a stunner. Hermione tried to start attacking but in the same moment, Harry's fire whip was roaring through the air making them all duck. While they were all distracted and ducking, she found herself tied in chains while George had lost his wand to the dog having failed to transfigure it back. Harry stunned him too leaving Neville the last one standing. Harry started peppering him with bolts of fire forcing him to hide behind a shield and sent a stunner at him and an incarcerous at the same time. Neville risked slashing the rope which was trying to find him and the stunner took him down finally.

Harry was standing proudly over his fallen comrades grinning smugly. Ernie and Hannah had been knocked out at the start by friendly fire. Hermione was tied in chains trying to free herself of it with her wand having fallen out of her hand. Neville was stunned and so were the twins. Daphne was hanging by her ankle. Susan was just getting over the effects of the tickling hex that had been reflected back at her. Ron had lost his wand during the fight and had been an easy target for a stunner with no way to raise a shield. After that, Neville had fallen at last.

Harry enervated everyone who had been stunned and freed Hermione of her restraints and released Daphne of the levicorpus jinx. When they all came around, they were flustered that they had been bested by him so easily. Not one of them had got a hit on him and that was when he had not shielded against them.

Daphne broke the silence, "That was incredible casting. Where did you learn that one?"

"Sorry Daphne but trade secrets are just that. It is not something that can be taught. Proprietary magic, you can say".

Proprietary magic was one's personal magic and could not be shared and therefore there was no reason that anyone can pester him to teach it to them except may be Hermione but for once, she was keeping her peace.

While they were all catching their breath, Harry gave them some feedback, "I know that none of you have any real combat experience. Before we go again, there are some things you should know. First is the way that Hannah and Ernie went down. That was friendly fire. Fred and George, you were so intent on trying to hit me that you failed to take into account that you might hit one of your own when I dodged out of the way. This is called tunnel vision. You must pay attention to everybody's position when you are in combat or you just might end up taking out one of your own. Second thing is shields. You never know what kind of spell is coming your way. Shields are great against wide-area spells which are exceedingly difficult to dodge, but they take energy, they can be shattered and they do not protect you against everything. I want to see all of you dodging everything you can. Save your energy. The spell that cannot hit you cannot harm you regardless of what that spell is. George, when an animated transfiguration attacks you, you are better off to try and take control of it or vanish it. Those things cannot be injured and it is nearly impossible to undo the transfiguration if you do not know how it was created. Daphne, you still had your wand until you dropped it trying to keep us all from seeing your bloomers. Next time, hang onto your wand and make a surprise attack on one who may have dismissed you as being out of combat. Ron, for a disarming spell to work, it has to hit you. It doesn't take much to get your wand out of the way by sending your wand in your holster and make the spell useless. The rest of you, sure, put up a shield as a precaution, but dodge and learn to cast around the edge of the shield. You will be a lot less vulnerable that way. Any questions?"

They all sort of looked around at each other and shook their heads. Harry noticed that they had all caught their breath, "Ok, let's do it again. Remember, no lethal spells. We don't need anyone getting hurt".

Neville opened with a bludgeoner which Harry neatly sidestepped. Others were not far behind and soon, he was side stepping stunners, petrifiers, incarcerous and incendio too. They were posing no challenge to him at all because they were only firing at him and not in directions he could go in case he dodged or side-stepped and it made it easy for him to dodge better. He had yet to raise a shield since none of their spells had connected with him. He had side-stepped another volley of spells and was thinking how nothing was connecting with him however in that moment it seemed that some understanding passed between them and they started casting at different angles and one after the other firing in all directions that he could go while side-stepping a spell. Laughing inwardly that finally they were making progress, he raised a reflector shield and sent Ron's spell back at him who was in middle of casting and could not dodge fast enough. As Ron collapsed, Susan had sent a shield breaker at him which he sent at Neville by flicking it off of his wand. As a trained reflex, Neville conjured a shield which immediately shattered under the hex. As Neville's shield failed, Harry flicked Fred's hex at George and George's hex at Fred. As he had expected, they had fired prank spells at him and Fred ended up looking like Headless Nick complete with the ruff around his neck while Fred looked like someone had hit him with Furunculous hex. He sent Hermione's incendio back at her and her cloak caught fire which Susan put out with the aguamenti charm. He sent Hannah's petrification hex at Neville whose attention was distracted by the fire and he paid for it. He reflected Ernie's stunner at Hannah and Hermione's incarcerous at Ernie. Daphne had fired a spell chain of petrification hex, disarming spell and incarcerous of which he dodged the petrification hex, flicked the disarming spell at Susan and the incarcerous back at Daphne. Hermione was the last one standing and she started peppering him with incendio and he kept side stepping, taunting her, telling her that she could not touch him and when she did not realise what he was doing, he sent her stunner back at her and she collapsed.

When he enervated them or released them from their predicament, he raised his wand and asked, "Shall we do it again?"

They practiced twice more and every time Harry came out on top. He still had not needed to perform the slippery fish, raise a shield nor did he cast with both wands. The rest of them were showing some real improvement. The disarming never worked again. There were no more hits from friendly fire and they were dodging more. He had practiced rapid casting and he was sure that it was sufficient for Tom for the first meeting. In the next meeting however, he would show him the dance of death.

Classes were in full swing now with the teachers taking giving them more and more assignments to do. McGonagall was teaching at her leisurely pace as she was used to and managing to get her point across to all of them. She had ensured that all of them had mastered the inanimate conjuration when she had started on Vanishing. Vanishing was in two steps. Firstly they all tried to vanish simple invertebrate organisms and when all the class had been successful in it, she had turned to teach them to vanish more complex organisms. She cautioned them against trying to use it on humans because they were most complex organisms and the spell may not be successful at all or would result in a disaster and both of the scenarios were bad.

Snape was teaching them one of the potions that he told them would certainly feature on their OWLs. While he was still being evil to them, he was trying to help students in his own twisted way however Harry knew the damage was done and most of his year mates would end up getting an E at best however, if Snape allowed people in his course with E grade next year, there may be hope for some potential future Aurors or Healers.

Flitwick was the most laid back teacher in Hogwarts and he did not create a fuss over what he taught to them. He mostly made them revise what they had learned in the previous years in addition to new things. His classes were the best to talk because there was generally so much chaos in his classes that people could talk without fear of being over-heard. So far he had them revise the banishing charm, the summoning spell, mending charm, Severing Charm and had them learn the locomotion charm, impedimenta jinx, and the growth charm.

Babbling was teaching Runes and Harry was finally coming to terms with the theories which were a major headache for him. He had learned the practical well enough but had only read through the theory enough to help him to learn the concept. Now he was reading the theories and trying to understand what they said or what concept was in them. There were no major theories in Runes yet but there were so many things that he needed to know like translating the runes, listing their uses and other little things. He was trying to enjoy the challenge as much as he could.

He did not need to worry about defense as it was a subject where he could breeze through it on his practical work alone. He knew that there was no way that he would ever score anything below Outstanding in this subject. With so many students performing at the same level, there were going to be a lot of Outstanding grades in this round of OWLs.

History was all about reading but with Martha Hughes as the teacher, it was an enjoyable subject now. Her classes were also helpful in filling the gaps in his education about the history of Avalon and consequently Magical Britain which had been lacking in Rachael's education. Rachael had so little time with him that she was only able to teach him enough so that he would not end up making a fool of himself in the Wizengamot or appear to be an arrogant, self-obsessed pureblood like Lucius Malfoy.

Hagrid had shown them Thestrals and was planning to show them Kelpie next. Wherever he would get hold of one, Harry had no idea. Hermione told him that once Hagrid had had told her that he was trying to acquire a Chimera which was a XXXXX creature. Its eggs were Class-A non-tradeable articles. Harry had shuddered at the mere thought. A chimera was an infernal beast having a lion's head, goat's body and dragon's tail. They were considered to be impossible to slay. In the only instance of Chimera slaying which was known, the wizard who had slain it fell off of his flying horse due to exhaustion and died. Since Professor Silvanus Kettleburn had taught the students about the Chimera when he was the professor, Hagrid was continuing his lessons. Hermione had been able to discourage him telling him that it was a bad idea because it would lead him to presentation before the Committee for Care of Magical Creatures.

Last week he had shown them a Porlock. It was a creature that grew to a height of two feet on average when fully grown and covered in large amount of rough-shaggy hair. It had a large nose, small arms ending in four stubby fingers and walked on two cloven hooves. It was a native of England and Southern Ireland and was a Horse Guard. Harry had often seen one around Blackstorm but it never stayed when Harry tried to approach it. He had also seen them in the stables around Adrishpuram and Pashupati had told him that he had brought them onboard the Marichika about 40 years ago and they had never left. It generally nested in the straw of the stable or in the middle of the herd it was protecting.

He had also shown them Fairy which was fairly dull when it came to Hagrid but they were beautiful little beasts and the students had really liked that class.

Hagrid was going to show them Crups in the coming term and till then, he was making them revise what they had studied in the last two years except for the Blast Ended Skrewts but every student was happy to have nothing to do with those abominations which he had bred for the tournament.

Professor Sprout was the same as ever and taught them of the things that she knew would feature on OWLs or would be more useful for the students to know. She was also teaching a few of her students about the plants which were in the newly made Greenhouse and only a select few of her students from the present OWL class were allowed into it.

A few weeks later

December was halfway through and Harry had told them that he would not be teaching them till the new term as they have had enough for now. The last few weeks had been absolute chaos with pranks happening left and right and surprisingly Harry was not always responsible. It seemed as if some other students in the castle had taken a leaf out of his book and were starting to indulge in pranking.

With Harry already giving them a run for their money and some new unknown variables vying for the position of Prankster in residence, the twins were forced to up their game. They were liberally testing their products on the students when they could. There had been instances when they were put into detention even when they did not do anything.

In addition to the students, Peeves was also trying to contribute to the mayhem. He would often pelt students with dungbombs or with the blowgun that he had come to love so much, There was only concession he had made to Harry and never tried to prank him but was ready to do his bidding lest Harry again tie him into chains. There had been one day in the Great Hall, just after dinner started that Dung Bombs started raining down from the ceiling and going off. Peeves the poltergeist was up there, hovering and cackling like a maniac. Thanks to quick reflexes, Harry had been able to raise a wall around him and his friends before any of the nasty smelling shrapnel had ruined their dinner or fouled their clothes while Bubble-head charms provided fresh air to breathe.

From that time, Harry made it his mission to track down and prank Peeves every chance he got. Once he hexed him with langlock and then stunned him. With Peeves incapacitated, Harry shut him up in a suit of armour. The poltergeist took hours to wake up and get free of the armour. Peeves, being a slow learner immediately set off to find Harry, supposing that he could even the score. This time, Harry bound Peeves in chains and left him in a deserted corridor, where he stayed for two days. After that, the poltergeist became Harry's minion, doing Harry's bidding rather than risking his displeasure.

When Harry told Sirius about it, the marauder could not believe it at first but after showing Peeves obeying him in the communication mirror Sirius had to admit that his pranks were far more phenomenal than his own.

There had also been several instances when he pranked other students. Like one day, he had made all the words disappear from all the books in the library. Harry would have escaped punishment for this one but unfortunately for him, one of the ghosts had seen him and told Dumbledore. Harry had lost 50 points for that and served a detention with Hagrid.

There were many other small incidents which happened but none were pinned on him. He was also careful to earn all the points which he lost because otherwise Gryffindor would have fallen behind. He earned most points with Hagrid for knowing much about creatures while the rest were compensated in Flitwick's classes or Vikram's lessons. McGonagall however never gave him a chance to make up for the lost points and did not let him answer any of the questions she asked.

He was also told by Dumbledore that the death eaters were getting brave due to no resistance being offered to them. There were reports of threats to shop owners in Diagon Alley or other places and attacks here or there. A wizard had been killed in Knockturn Alley when he had apparently tried to refuse to sell an artefact to one who threatened him in the name of Voldemort but retaliation had been made by Aurors who had arrested several of Tom's minions. Rufus Scrimgeour was in constant action as head of the Law Enforcement Patrols and tried to be part of every team which was sent into the field.

He had also been apprised of Moody's plan after Yule. The said plan was to be executed at mid-night after Yule celebrations. Moody had chosen the atrium for the skirmish and Croaker had finally developed the wards which would be employed at the ministry entrances. They would prevent death eaters from entering or leaving the place but those wards would not go up until Tom had shown his snake-face in the Atrium of the ministry. There were 50 Aurors ready for the occasion. Moody had not briefed them about the specifics of their mission but only told them that they were being trained as part of special operations such as Minister's security detail, or protecting the head of DMLE or Moody himself.

The plan was that on the chosen day, the Aurors would be in place by the time of the attack. Harry would go to the ministry on the appointed day with Dumbledore where they would take one of the floo entrances in the Atrium and would go towards the department of mysteries in plain sight. One of Voldemort's spies who was a lowly ministry worker and often lurked around the Department of Mysteries would overhear about Harold Peverell coming to pick up something from the Department of Mysteries and he surely would let Tom know of this tid-bit. However once they were inside the entrance to the Department, Harry would hide under his cloak and return to the atrium while Dumbledore would intercede when Tom was finally out and about. He could directly travel to the atrium with Fawkes the phoenix. A few particular sections of the atrium were already put under Fidelius by Moody and it was there that the Aurors would hide in waiting. As soon as Tom Riddle came out into the open, they would step out and engage his forces in duel at Harry's signal. It was also made clear to him that no one except him would engage Tom in a duel however the rest of his minions were free game for the Aurors. Remus Lupin had been added to the contingent under the request of Sirius and recommendation of Frank.

Sirius's job was to lead one of the divisions while one would be handled by the minister himself who was desperate to score another one on old Tom. One of the divisions would be handled by Rufus Scrimgeour who had apprehended several minions of Tom by now and was eager for more action. Moody would be watching over the whole operation and lead one of the divisions. There was another one under Proudfoot who was a Senior Auror and was touted to become the next head of DMLE in case Amelia were to step down or something were to happen to her. Amelia was to stay out of the skirmish and apprehend any who tried to flee. Since the atrium would have anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards up, the only way out was the floo network which would be redirected to take the user to a designated spot where Amelia would be waiting with her wand.

Harry was also told that if he spotted Nagini, he was to decapitate her on sight. Since the great snake was a horcrux, it was unlikely that anything less than a sword of goblin wrought silver could kill her. With Nagini dead and destroyed as a horcrux, that would leave Tom with only one horcrux that was not already in the hands of his enemies and one step closer to death. They knew that they could not kill Tom in this encounter because he still had one of those abominations left, but the purposes of this ambush were to bring him out into the open and to thin the ranks of his followers. While it was not part of the plan, but Harry had decided to use some of his choicest curses on Voldemort and if possible then to trap him and may be throw him through the veil. Even if Tom somehow managed to come back through his last remaining horcrux after that, it would certainly put an end to his mischief for many years.

There had also been a Hogsmeade weekend where his friends had gone to the village to shop for the holidays while Harry and Susan had stayed behind. He had asked her if she wanted to go to the village and she had refused telling him that they could always do their shopping in Diagon Alley when they got home.

Head Master's office

Dumbledore was in thought. The past weeks had been chaos but still entertained everyone quite a bit. The pranks which had been sweeping through the school had done well to uplift the gloomy mood. They had brought laughter and joy which was a welcome diversion in these times from talk of war.

He was also contemplating about the last horcrux which was out of Tom's reach when the gargoyle alerted him to a visitor. Vikram came into his office a few moments later.

"Dumbledore I have news", he said.

"Have you finally had the chance to see Gryffindor's gauntlet for yourself?" he asked eagerly.

"Yes Albus and as I have told you it is not a horcrux. It is secure in a glass cabinet and even the ICW had kind of forgotten about it. The guardians of archives keep it under some really serious protections and it would be a fool's venture to try and steal it. In fact Grand Master Flamel had secured it in the archives and the protections are not broken on it. We had him check it for us".

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose up high on his forehead, "Master Flamel is still alive?"

The mystic chuckled, "Of course he is. He is one of the honorary mystics who never renounced old life and was ineligible for the cloak. Guruji himself sought him out on his island in France".

"But the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed", Albus said, "They told me that they had only enough time to put their affairs in order".

The mystic started laughing, "Albus, he pranked you. Yes the stone which was kept here in the castle was destroyed but honestly you do not think that it was the only one when he himself had made it? He had another which he hid from the world but we knew about. May be there might be more but we do not know about it".

Albus was befuddled. He had in all honesty thought that Flamel had died or was close to death. Since the alchemist was a recluse, Albus had not been able to contact him. To think that he was an honorary mystic was just the icing on the cake, as the muggles say.

"So, it narrows our search to Ravenclaw's diadem which can be the horcrux which we have not been able to find yet. A little piece of information that I have been able to find is that the diadem was not with Rowena when she died. She had lost it years prior to her death and as per her own admission it was her daughter who stole it. The whereabouts of the diadem after it was stolen are not known and I cannot even begin to guess how Tom Riddle was able to find it provided it is the final horcrux", Vikram said.

Dumbledore heard what Vikram told him with rapt attention. He of course had studied Rowena's family tree because he had been fascinated with the diadem and the powers that it was said to contain. Rowena had a daughter who had died sometime before Rowena's death and that was all that was known to him. He would have to look into more places to find where the diadem could be.

"Now Albus, I trust the plans to lure Tom out are in place?", Vikram asked him.

"Yes, Alastor has seen to it. They are training regularly. The Aurors are being trained to kill if necessary. Other small details are being worked out. I hope that by the time Yule arrives, everything will be in place. I swear that once this is over, I am going to retire and spend the rest of my days in peace. A bloke deserves his rest after having fought three wars and two dark-lords, doesn't he?"

The mystic chuckled, "One can always hope, Albus".

Great Hall

Susan and Harry had just ambled into the Great Hall for lunch without their friends around. Neville and Hannah were off doing who knows what, Hermione was in the library as usual. Ron for once, was ignoring food in favour of his friend. Ernie had finally asked Lilith Moon out a few days ago. Since then he was often in her company at the Slytherin table or the Hufflepuff table. Justin had taken a shine to Megan Jones and they were spending time together. Ginny to his astonishment had started to see Colin Creevey, not that he was opposed to her choices. Only that Colin was a laid-back guy while she had the Weasley temper. Harry shuddered to think that they might be discussing Harry Potter Fan Club business.

"Harry, what do you say about a date?" Susan asked him.

"I would say that I am in favour of the idea, Sue. Do you have something in particular in mind?"

"Lunch in The Three Broom Sticks followed by a stroll around the village sounds lovely to me".

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment, "Getting out of the castle is no problem, nor is evading any teachers or aurors we may happen to encounter along the way. The real problem is evading Sirius and Remus. They are in Hogsmeade and on the lookout for me in particular. They know my magical signature and no disguise will fool them".

Sue grinned impishly, "Well then, that leaves only two options".

Harry put on his lop-sided grin and asked, "And what would they be, Sue?"

She answered, "Either you can admit defeat and stay here where it is safe, or you can go out there and get the drop on them before they can capture us".

"Well then, let's go. We will have to take one of the secret ways out. I do not want people to know that we have escaped".

They went out as if to take a long stroll in the grounds. Then, they took the tunnel under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. Susan was initially reluctant telling him that it was the most haunted building in Wizarding Britain. Harry had the audacity to laugh at her statement.

She had viciously elbowed him in the ribs and he had explained that he laughed because they lived in a magical castle with actual ghosts and what could be more haunted than that. He also told her that the noises were made by Remus during his transformations and when the rumours spread, Dumbledore had encouraged them rather than curbing them.

When they had emerged in the shack, they had found it to be transformed. The walls had new wallpaper. The smashed furniture had all been replaced with desks and chairs. The kitchen had been refitted with a new pot-bellied stove, table, chairs and a full larder. There was a brand-new fireplace, big enough for a man to stand up in too. There was not a speck of dirt in the place. There were also banners with the insignia of the Ministry of Magic on the walls. Harry had been dumb-founded until he found his cousin, Nymphadora Tonks in the shack who told him that the building had been borrowed and re-purposed by the ministry to serve as the Hogsmead Auror outpost and an easy way to reach the school in case there was an attack or something. There was at least one Auror always present in the shack.

When Harry had asked her not to tell on them, she had agreed provided that they returned to the school in less than two hours or she would hunt them down herself. As he was leaving, he noticed that Nymphadora was not her usual exuberant self. Her hair was dull brown (which perhaps was her original colour) instead of the bizarre bright colours she often sported. There was sadness about her which he had not noticed before.

Glamouring themselves, they went to the Three Broomsticks where they sat in a private parlour. After food had arrived and he had cast the usual wards around them, Susan started talking, "Harry have you thought about the trip we were talking about?"

"Yes Sue, I have but we cannot go there till the New Year".

"Why is that?" she asked him. "We will be free of our obligations just after Yule".

Harry stroked his forehead, "Oh right, I have yet to tell you. This year I am hosting the New Year ball. Remus has already sent the invitations to others. I was supposed to invite our friends and I forgot about it".

She nodded, "But we are going for the trip, right?"

"That we are Sue. I just have to decide who we are going to invite for the ride along because no one would come by themselves but bring one with them and that will be a lot of people".

After they finished lunch, they decided that a stroll through the streets of the village would do them some good. It was snowing and the weather was chilly so Susan was kind of hugging him while they roamed the streets.

Susan said suddenly, "That day Longbottom ruined our moment. He could not have chosen a better moment than that".

Harry chuckled, "It was not his fault, Sue. He was just looking out for us however why bring it up now?"

She caught hold of his collar, pulling him towards her and kissed him.

A/N- Hey guys, I cannot even begin to tell you how over-whelmed I am with the reviews that I received. Thank you everyone for those lovely words which encourage me to write more and more for you all.

The excerpt you read in the Author's Note for last chapter belongs to Chapter 42, so I guess you will have to wait till then however you do not need to be sad about it. I promise it will be worth it. Below is a little something for you all.

Sirius had directly engaged Lucius. He saw Lucius, bellowed and ran towards him, "Lucius, today you will pay your reckoning".

Lucius had his wand out and sent a curse at Sirius but the Marauder had side stepped it the moment it approached him. It was a little trick he had learnt after watching Harry do it so many times. While he was not as fluent as him, he could ward off the likes of Lucius Malfoy.

…..

Frank and Alice were standing back to back in the Atrium and fending off three at once. They both had known each other's moves since forever and could communicate through their actions without talking. It was easy enough for them to fight together with three to four at once.

….…

Rufus was fighting two of them and was enjoying it. One of his boys had fallen to a bone breaker and Rufus has stepped in to engage his opponent too. He was fighting with grim determination and as they fought, he kept them on their toes.

...

Moony had already killed one and was fighting two and his power which came to him due to being a werewolf was enough to give him leverage against his enemies. He was casting at faster rate than others and his opponents could not dodge in time.

...

Moody was having the time of his life. He had fought these vermin all his life and had a lot of grudges from past war. He wanted to engage snake-face himself but the lad had taken it on him.

...

As Voldemort stumbled out, Harry roared again, "Taditam" and a lightning-bolt erupted of his wand and would have smite Voldemort but true to his fortitude, the dark lord at the last moment was able to raise a mage-shield which made a horrible sound of "CLANGGG" and the spell was ineffective.