Chapter 2

Coming home to new friendships

1st September dawned bright and early. Harry had gone to spend the final week at Grimmauld place, to say goodbye to everyone, and especially Sirius. Try as he might, Sirius kept moping around until Harry told him to continue practicing his combat skills and get better. Sirius was the kind of guy who needed to keep moving to be alive. Azkaban had already done a number on his mental health; Harry didn't want him doing anything stupid for kicks. He'd keep in touch with the mirror. The Twins had loved the idea of the mirrors and had taken Sirius' permission to replicate them as a product. Harry had asked them to not release them until the war was done; the tactical advantage should not be shared with the other side.

The Weasleys would in all probability be moving back to the Burrow. Harry had instructed Dobby and Winky to take care of Sirius. The elves at Potter Manor were more than enough to look after all the requirements there, and he wanted someone to keep an eye on his godfather.

Harry had decided to use Dobby to go to the platform. No need for guards and extra scrutiny, or going through the normal side. It was no use waiting for Hermione and Ron; both had barely spoken to Harry since their argument. If they thought he would apologize, they were wrong. He was done playing the doormat. Plus, there was nothing he had done that needed an apology, in his book.

With him came the twins, who had decided to apparate in early this time for some additional publicity on the train, with Lee Jordan's help. Sirius had tried to talk Harry into coming in his Padfoot form, but Harry absolutely refused. Why to take risks? Pettigrew probably had leaked his form to all the Death Eaters, and Fudge would love to get Sirius kissed after the earlier fiasco in a bid for positive press. So nothing doing. The man had been sad about it, but Harry had promised to mirror call him as often as possible, and come visit if he could at Christmas. He'd also sent off Hedwig on a flight; she'd like the exercise.

Moody had spoken with Harry the night before. He'd grown quite close to the half-mad retired auror, even though he'd received countless jinxes and hexes from him in practice. Moody instructed him, as expected, to remain watchful and keep his eyes on the Death Eater crowd (unlike the others, Moody didn't put it past the Death Eaters to get their children to do their dirty work for them). He'd also told him to be careful about his defence professor (a standing joke between the two of them), especially because it was likely to be some Ministry stooge this year. After repeated "Constant Vigilance" and a firm handshake, the man had limped off.

This was the first time (well, leaving 2nd year with the car), that he wouldn't be with Ron. He felt bad, in a way. Even though their paths seemed to be destined to diverge, Ron had been one of his first friends in the Wizarding World. He'd hoped Hermione atleast would have considered his actions in a rational manner, but she was as stubborn as ever. She actually wanted Harry to apologize to her, for his statements regarding her relationship with Ron! While Harry was eternally grateful for her help during the Tournament, that didn't mean he would do whatever they wanted! Hermione's love of authority had put him in enough trouble as it is. He felt bad about the situation, but sometimes taking a stand for oneself came at a high cost.

Luck seemed to favor Harry. Initially, he met Neville on the platform with his grandmother; Augusta seemed impressed with the way he had handled himself at the Trial (he hadn't noticed her there, to be honest). Neville escaped as quickly as he could and the two of them went off to find a compartment. That was where his luck improved. Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Megan Jones joined in. Initially the Hufflepuffs hadn't noticed him, but as Neville was one of their childhood friends (atleast Hannah and Susan's), they came in. It had been a bit awkward initially, what with Harry being connected to Cedric's death and all, but they all internally agreed to keep the conversation away from that topic. Neville broke the ice by bringing up Harry's trial; a major event of gossip like that set Hannah off, and before long the quartet were busy discussing nineteen to the dozen. Speaking about the trial led to discussions about the Ancient Houses, where Neville in particular was curious about how Harry had managed to learn so much about something he'd never seemed to know. The topic of quidditch was heavily discussed, as always, what with Harry being a Seeker and Megan's sister Gwenog being captain of the Harpies.

Susan and Neville had received first hand accounts of the trial from their respective guardians, while Hannah and Megan had received theirs from Susan. They were curious about how Harry had managed to do all that, and quite disappointed when he told them it was merely by reading the law books. They did speak about their summer homework. Everyone was shocked by how much Harry seemed to know about everything, because he hadn't shown such academic prowess before. Only Susan seemed to be able to understand him when it came to defense, while Megan was pretty knowledgeable about Charms. Potions was Hannah's strong suit, while Neville was the acknowledged Herbology expert. He spent some time showing off his Mimbulus Mimbletonia, and discussing its properties eagerly.

(Unbeknownst to Harry, Ron had glanced at their compartment and stormed off when he saw the bubbling discussions)

Things turned sour when the blonde ferret decided to show up with his goons. He was showing off about his Prefect badge and his power to give detentions and what-not. Harry wasn't interested in these childhood games anymore; after facing down Voldemort, arguing with Malfoy seemed a waste of his time. He quietly got up, pushed Malfoy onto his backside, and locked the compartment with magic, also putting a silencing charm in place. Malfoy spouted some obscenities for some time, unknowing that they couldn't hear him, and then walked off, at which point Susan took Harry's arm and gushed "my hero!"

How Harry wished it was real. You see, the witch he'd had a crush on was Susan. He'd always found her kindness endearing, even though they'd only shared a few classes. He'd seen how she seemed to be protective of her friends, and even though she'd been one of the first to believe that he was the Heir of Slytherin, she'd quickly apologized for it when Hermione got petrified. That alone was rare. Most of the students had gone back to behaving as if they hadn't smeared his name or hexed him behind his back. Also, when the entirety of Hufflepuff had been hating on him, he'd heard her telling her friends that he wasn't so bad (another time he hadn't planned to snoop on her, merely go into the Kitchens under his cloak). He felt she was cute, with her auburn hair and tiny dimples. He couldn't very well pursue her last year, what with the Cedric and Triwizard thing, but he'd planned to see if this year he could atleast befriend her.

That was another thing he wanted to do this year, expand his friend circle to all four houses. Even within Gryffindor, he'd never been closer to any but Hermione and Ron, and the quidditch team. Regardless of the fact that he was a Lord, political power didn't just come with having a vote, or due to the fact that he had magical combat prowess.

Political power was about networking. How many people could you talk into doing something?

Look at Hermione. The entire house knew she was smart, but not one cared about SPEW. Why? Her presentation of the topic was bossy, know- it-all vibes; she didn't even know about the symbiotic relationship between House elves and their owners. The more people Harry was able to hold conversations with, the easier it would be to influence them. That and the fact that they would be a lot less willing to jump the gun on him being some evil lord, like in second year. For all his magical and other achievements, it was the fact that he had been Headmaster to thousands of students that made Dumbledore the political force he was today.

Everyone felt at ease asking him to solve their problems because he was approachable to anyone!

According to Charlus, wars were fought as much, if not more, with politics, than with wands. Look at the last one. Even though Voldemort lost to Harry, the Death Eaters like Malfoy got away scot-free, and now occupied even more political power. Their opponents, like the McKinnons, the Prewetts, Potters among others had lost most of theirs. Only Augusta maintained their stance still. Rest had become Dumbledore's stooges, voting whichever way he wanted. Amelia Bones was bound by her position within the Ministry, and thus unable to wield the full weight of their political power. The 'dark' faction had kept passing laws that made it hard for non- purebloods to advance high within the Ministry, kept the other magical races down with their unsavoury laws (specially against werewolves, which Remus had been vocal about), and as could be seen by the Statue of Magical Brethren in the Ministry, perception was still xenophobic. But in the eyes of the world, it was the 'Light' side that won when Voldemort fell to baby Harry.

Less talk about politics and unsavoury matters and more time spent looking at Susan. She really was pretty, huh? The rest of the group seemed to sense the unconscious energy between the two and left them to their own discussion. Poor Megan was really blindsided, as even Neville and Hannah seemed to enjoy talking to each other.

The discussions did change a bit when Hannah went off with Ernie to the Prefect meeting.

That set off another discussion about the Prefect positions and whatnot. All of them agreed that Malfoy as a prefect was a terrible, terrible idea; Susan was apparently friends with Daphne Greengrass, who she hoped was the female prefect. Harry had never spoken to Daphne, but she'd never tried to hex him either, which was odd for a Slytherin. Neville, shockingly, had spoken with her multiple times, as she was pretty good with plants (as in the name). But their hopes were dashed when Hannah returned with the news that Pansy Parkinson was the Slytherin Prefect. Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein were the Ravenclaw prefects. While everyone agreed with Hermione's appointment, with Harry's permission, they'd expressed a bit of shock that Ron got the position. According to Megan, maybe he'd show a bit of responsibility in the future, because he'd never shown any in the past. Harry refused to comment anything with a smile. Just because you made new friends, you didn't go about insulting old ones. Even though he agreed with Megan's assessment.

They spent some time playing card games and what-not. Harry had a lot of fun just being a normal teen for once. Exploding Snap, Gobstones, even a few chess games.

Things did take a dark turn further on. Once she'd sensed that Harry was comfortable in their, Susan requested Harry to tell them about the events of last year, if he was okay with it. Last year, that might have caused Harry to explode in anger and run off. But the summer had been incredible for his mental health. He also knew that they weren't concerned about the gossip so much as about Cedric; he'd been their classmate and friend, the guy everyone in Hufflepuff looked up to.

Unburdening the truth felt freeing, in a way, but it ended with Susan crying into his shirt. Not that he minded, but it was a really sad event.

They didn't talk much, for some time. Obviously, everyone knew about the fact that war had been declared by Harry. Even if Voldemort was hiding, they knew how dangerous a war could get. Susan and Neville had lost family to that monster. The boys decided to leave the girls to change into their school clothes, and also give them a time to regroup. Neville went off one way, while Harry went off in the other direction. When they returned, the girls did the same.

Unbeknownst to Harry, Hannah and Megan had cribbed Susan mercilessly about her 'talks' with Harry, as well as her crying into his shirt. Unlike Harry, they were well aware that Susan had a crush on the green-eyed quidditch devil. They'd even teased her last year for internally supporting a non-Hufflepuff for the Triwizard (inside their dorms only, obviously). Her crush on the boy had only been on the rise, what with his devilish stunts in the Triwizard tournament, his actions in the Wizenagamot (she didn't know whether she'd managed to hide her feelings from her aunt, the way she'd been reacting to her description of the trial), and even more when the next day's Daily Prophet had shown her the clip of Harry looking dashing in his courtroom attire. But in person he looked even better, and she'd loved their discussion. If only they were better friends! Thankfully she'd managed not to blush a lot in front of him, and just act normal. Over the course of their discussion, he'd managed to clear up the fact that his childhood wasn't as described in the story books (something her aunt had always told her), but he didn't say much beyond saying he'd spent it with his muggle relatives. He seemed to be really good at DADA, too, so she'd considered asking him for tutoring.

Group tutoring, mind you; she herself was really good at Defence, usually second or third in class most times, what with the amount of time her aunt spent drilling her. Not that the paranoia was not justified. Much like Harry, she'd lost her parents to the war. But she grew up with Aunt Amelia, whereas Harry grew up with his muggle aunt. She wouldn't mind making a study group for them all. She had friends in all the houses, and it would be a good plan in their OWL year. But that would depend heavily on their new defence professor; although auntie had cryptically remarked that she should be ready for self- study this semester. She'd have to wait and watch.

Post their regrouping, they continued their discussions with other topics. The matter of the study group was proposed and voted upon. The matter of the Golden Trio did come up for discussion; to which Harry said that while they were still friends, they were a bit on the outs for the time being.

Other people came to visit. The Hufflepuff boys, Justin and Ernie, the Ravenclaws Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil among others. Harry received a few shifty looks, but he didn't mind. Thinking back to those events had helped Harry realize that they did look suspicious. Acting angry and blowing up was only going to make people feel that he was hiding something. But there were no confrontations. It seemed that they looked to the girls for cues, particularly Susan; if she was okay with him, they were okay with him. Not that they wouldn't pump Hannah for information once out of Harry's presence. Gossip was very much the nature of the game at Hogwarts.

The Twins came by in a bid to market some of their own products, wherein they spent much time bowing and scraping before Lord Potter, much to the amusement of the others. Many of their products ended up getting interests from the Hufflepuffs, and as far as business was concerned, selling to one Hufflepuff was as good as selling to the entire house.

Before long it was time to get down at Hogsmeade. In place of Hagrid it was Professor Grubbly-Plank, the witch who'd substituted for Hagrid for a time previously. Harry did remember something about Hagrid going to the giants for a foray last year; in a bid to forestall Voldemort's alliance attempts, no doubt.

He did end up with a shock when he saw some skeletal creatures at the carriages, but was quickly reassured by Megan that he was looking at thestrals, who only appeared to those that had witnessed death. Another grim reminder of Cedric's death. Although to think of it, it should have happened following Quirrell's death; maybe the fact that he'd lost consciousness in the pain meant he'd not actually seen Quirrell die.

With entreaties to meet again, they split up to go to their respective house tables.

The Sorting Hat had been particularly wise this year, with a wonderful song about unity

(taken directly from OOTP):

In times of old when I was new

And Hogwarts barely started

The founders of our noble school

Thought never to be parted:

United by a common goal,

They had the selfsame yearning,

To make the world's best magic school

And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach!"

The four good friends decided

And never did they dream that they

Might someday be divided,

For were there such friends anywhere

As Slytherin and Gryffndor?

Unless it was the second pair

Of Huffepuff and Ravenclaw?

So how could it have gone so wrong?

How could such friendships fail?

Why, I was there and so can tell

The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those Whose ancestry is purest."

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those With brave deeds to their name,"

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, And treat them just the same."

These differences caused little strife

When first they came to light,

For each of the four founders had

A House in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,

For instance, Slytherin

Took only pure-blood wizards

Of great cunning, just like him,

And only those of sharpest mind

Were taught by Ravenclaw

While the bravest and the boldest

Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff she took the rest,

And taught them all she knew,

Thus the Houses and their founders

Retained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony

For several happy years,

But then discord crept among us

Feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four,

Had once held up our school,

Now turned upon each other and,

Divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school

Must meet an early end,

What with dueling and with fighting

And the clash of friend on friend

And at last there came a morning

When old Slytherin departed

And though the fighting then died out

He left us quite downhearted.

And never since the founders four

Were whittled down to three

Have the Houses been united

As they once were meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here

And you all know the score:

I sort you into Houses

Because that is what I'm for,

But this year I'll go further,

Listen closely to my song:

Though condemned I am to split you

Still I worry that it's wrong,

Though I must fulfill my duty

And must quarter every year

Still I wonder whether sorting

May not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,

The warning history shows,

For our Hogwarts is in danger

From external, deadly foes

And we must unite inside her

Or we'll crumble from within.

Well, Harry would see what he could do about uniting the houses. He didn't want to fight a war all alone, did he?

It seemed Amelia Bones' message to Susan had been dire indeed. Along with Grubbly-Plank, who was standing in for Hagrid, the pink- cardigan wearing Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge was the only new individual at the staff table. Which meant that another year of a DADA professor out for Harry's head. He hadn't forgotten the angry glare she'd thrown him at the trial; Fudge had managed to send his crony here after all.

After the sorting and the delightful dinner, Umbridge managed to interrupt Dumbledore's address with her "Hem, Hem", and gave a speech of her own, about "putting their trust in the Ministry" and "balancing the old and new". The gist of it was that changes would be coming at Hogwarts, with Umbridge at their head, in all likelihood. Dumbledore's political stocks were at their lowest in decades, and this was apparently an attempt to deprive him of the Headmaster position as well. To Harry, and most of the politically savvy crowd, it was obvious that either age or inefficiency in Hogwarts management would be the vehicle to effect such a change. But only time would tell.

The first years all seemed terrified of Harry, so the Ministry propaganda seemed to still be working. Harry knew that he'd need significant reverses soon. Usually the same students would have been staring at the 'Boy-Who-Lived', and while he didn't like that moniker, good publicity was still better than bad publicity. It was disappointing and frustrating, but Harry managed to calm himself down and not throw a fit.

His former best friends had gone off to guide the first years along. Harry was sure that once the news of his lack of chumminess with the two of them leaked out, there would be even more rumours floating around how they had left him because he went dark, or some such shit. Which would make newer friendships that much harder.

Walking in with Neville, who knew that the password was Mimbulus Mimbletonia, he spent some time in the common room in front of the fire. It was good to let everyone see him. The more time he spent doing normal things, the less rumours would be flying about his supposed exploits. Sure, even in the house of the brave, no one had the courage to directly ask him about events, but he kept getting glances from all corners.

Things in the dorms were a bit more cool. Apparently Dean and Seamus had spent time discussing him. Seamus in particular seemed to be strongly against Harry; turned out that his mother was one of the Prophet believing crowd and didn't want to send her son back. Harry's first instinct was to be angry, but then, the rational part of him didn't see much wrong with Seamus' assessment. He believed his own mother; nothing wrong with that, was there? Plus even he would have hated to stay at home for no fault of his own. So, without any arguments, he managed to peacefully explain the gist of events. It was only fair to give Seamus a chance to choose. Shining light on the affair was the best thing that could be done. While he was sure that Seamus didn't entirely believe him, it was better than outright antagonism, yeah? He managed to talk the Irish boy into a truce of sorts, with each going their own way. While Harry wanted everyone to believe him, he couldn't manage that by shouting at and fighting with everyone! Certainly not by insulting anyone's mother for believing the country's premier newspaper.

Ron returned a bit later and went to sleep without a word to Harry, so that relationship seemed to be beyond repair. Well, good night it was, and hope for a good year ahead!

After waking up earlier than anyone else, Harry went off for a walk. He may have a house, and Sirius, now, but Hogwarts would always be his first home. The castle, the grassy grounds, the comfortable nooks next to the Lake, the cool air and the comfortable skies, all called welcome to Harry.

On the way back to Gryffindor Tower, he met a waif of a Ravenclaw a year below, named Luna Lovegood. While she did act like an airhead and say the oddest things, Harry was sure there was hidden intelligence there. She did speak about some magical creatures that Harry had never heard of, but then, he'd not spent that many years in the magical world, nor was he the second coming of Newt Scamander! They split off, with Luna going to Ravenclaw tower and Harry going to his own dorm.

The rest of the boys had woken up by the time he climbed up to his dorms. Hermione had been sitting in the common room writing something, and he'd received a nod. So the ice was thawing, in a way. The Weasley Twins had put up a paid volunteer advert onto the notice board; he needed them to remind them to make everything clear to the volunteers. Lucius Malfoy would love to get their family in trouble for dodgy magical creations, and he wasn't the only one.

Even the Gryffindor girls, like Lavender and Parvati, were giving him odd glances; those two he was expecting to be like this, what with their love of intrigue and worship of that fraud Trelawney. Still, he felt that with time, things would get better. There wasn't much evidence he could provide, other than memories, and Fudge had managed to get Crouch Jr. kissed, the idiot.

Angelina came up to him at breakfast, with news about Quidditch captaincy. Well, good for her. She was sharp with her tactics, and planning to go pro, unlike Alicia. Plus, she wouldn't be as bad as Wood the maniac. He did plan on getting her to reduce the amount of practices. 4 of them were in 7th year (the Twins and Alicia alongside Angelina), Katie was in 6th year and Harry was in his OWL year. The only open position was as keeper (he'd go speak to Ron about that, as an olive branch).

Well, until try outs then.

The Prophet didn't have anything major to report, so Harry turned his attention back to the table. The timetable was delivered by McGonagall; Harry was fortunate that his was lighter than usual. No COMC, no Divination; he only needed to meet with Professors Babbling and Vector to discuss their respective OWLs. He would be doing other things during Binn's lecture, and so time management wasn't an issue. Astronomy would mess up his sleep cycle a little, but that was only two nights a week. He'd have to see what kind of stuff Umbridge got up to.

History of Magic was bearable with earmuffs on. Harry managed to read some interesting chapters. History was way more interesting than Binns made it out to be. Harry had begun reading books on history in his spare time, and found an increased interest. When you didn't worry about memorising dates and focused more on the series of events and such, history was as good as most novels.

Snape managed to ruin his mood next class, a double potions lecture, with his usual dark glances. Harry was sitting next to Neville, who was vibrating with every threatening word Snape said on the subject of OWLs! It didn't help that with both of them together, 90% of his menace was focused on one table. Snape did set high standards for NEWT acceptance, though, and Harry would abhor getting anything other than an O! He'd gotten much better at the practical over the summer, and while he wasn't entirely knowledgeable in the theory, he was steadily improving.

He managed to scrape through an E from Snape, largely due to the amount of brewing he'd spent this summer. The Draught of Peace was a tricky potion, and Snape had been disappointed when he wasn't able to criticise Harry's work. He'd immediately taken it out on the next closest victim, Neville; the poor boy was on the point of tears. Harry managed to console him with a bid to study together in their spare time. Snape ignored the other horrible brewers; Goyle, Seamus and even Ron weren't much better than Neville, but escaped.

The next period was free, as he wasn't going to attend Divination. So he went to have a snack and meet his house elf friends in the kitchens. The tiny beings were always eager to feed any hungry mouth, and Harry ended up eating a great lunch. He could have gone to the Great Hall, but he wanted to ask the house elves for some info. As the caretakers of Hogwarts, they were the best source of information on the castle; was there a room where he could study and train magically without outside interference? His plan hit a jackpot when the elves told him about the come-and-go room, which they often used to store miscellaneous items. Harry used the time provided to scout the room and found that he had unearthed a treasure! The room could be whatever he wanted; from a library full of books, to a comfortable office, a training room, a potions kitchen, limited only by his choice of request! The training dummies provided by the room were even better than the ones at Potter Manor, and he could change the speed, accuracy and number of spells being shot at him with thoughts alone! Not real spells, mind you; more of paintball spells.

He wouldn't have minded spending more time there, but unfortunately, the last session of the day was Double Defence. When he entered, most of the class was already inside, as was Umbridge; in her pink cardigan, a black velvet bow covering her head, she looked hideous; the first pink toad in nature, Harry thought to himself. Once class began, the nauseating voice joined in, and all-in-all, Harry began to miss even Lockhart. Atleast the pompous fool had energy and life! Here, she was expecting 'Good Morning Professor Umbridge'.

The 'wands away' led to gloomy looks being shared, and the command to read chapter one of Slinkhard's awful book was as Harry had expected.

That would be that, except Hermione had other plans. She got into a tussle with Umbridge over her class aims, specifically with respect to USING defensive spells. Harry would have been okay with their fight; he certainly wasn't going to learn anything from Umbridge, but the drama ended with Umbridge making insinuations about Harry's 'lies'. But overall, it was good that she'd shown her hand; her plan to not teach any spells would only make everyone, specially the fifth years who were readying for an OWL practical, antagonistic towards her.

She did seem a bit disappointed that Harry hadn't joined the argumentative conversation; maybe she'd been waiting for a chance to give detention? Ugh, the horror of spending time with the pink menace was enough to convince

Harry to shut up. But Harry did want her riled up at him, so he'd been smiling the entire argument. It was a good practice of his growing Occlumency, and a major victory he was able to control himself in face of such insults.

What would be the point of arguing with her? She was a Fudge toady, who also happened to be a blood supremacist. Remus had told him about her efforts to keep magical creatures down. This 'teaching' position was nothing other than an attempt to interfere at Hogwarts, and he didn't want to give her fuel for her campaign. He'd adopt a wait and watch approach, for now. Not that he'd read Slinkhard, mind you; open eyed meditation was one of the exercises he needed to improve his occlumency, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Dinner was a torrid affair. Everyone kept glancing at him with shock and expectation? Oh, they were acting shocked that he hadn't blown up in class? News about Umbridge's abysmal introductory classes were floating about; she'd not taught anyone, even the higher years, any magic at all. Apparently, they believed him even less now: if what he'd said was true, wouldn't he have argued with Umbridge? He desperately needed to change that public perception.

Harry was thinking of the best way for damage control; he needed more of them to believe his word. If not, Voldemort would keep doing damage in hiding; and if he managed to figure out that staying hidden was his best bet, Harry was screwed. Why? Dumbledore had already lost all his positions. All Voldemort needed was slow consolidation of the Ministry and it was done! Fudge wasn't a supporter, but anti- incumbency could help propel one of Voldemort's supporters to the Minister position at a time when election was approaching. Then he could effectively rule Britain without shedding a drop of blood.

Before that, he was sure to break his followers out of Azkaban. He had spoken fondly of them at his rebirth.

For all that Harry was improving by leaps and bounds, he still was in a terrible position. He couldn't fight against Voldemort's minions single handed, and the major oppositions to Voldemort, viz the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix, were

1. Incompetent

2. Unwilling to fight ( other than Moody, who'd killed Death Eaters before and would do so again)

Dumbledore, he was sure, had trained the Order on forgiveness and sunshine. And the Ministry's combat potential was zilch. According to Moody and Kingsley, under Fudge, budget cuts had been frequent, and the DMLE was only still functioning because Amelia ran a tight ship. The fact that Snape was rejecting NEWT entries for those without O's had also played a part, as there was a large shortage of qualified candidates for both the DMLE and Healer positions (Potions NEWT was a must for both).

The second day was a bit better. Both McGonagall and Flitwick spent atleast 15 minutes of their double periods lecturing them about the importance of their OWLs, before setting them to learning and practicing concepts. The practical part was a special breeze for Harry, who aced it, easily outperforming most of his peers. Hermione had appeared a bit shocked, but it was very reasonable; if she had accepted the chance to practice she might have been on the same level. As far as the summoning charm went, Harry had performed it under greater pressure during the First Task, and he'd been learning how to perform it silently all summer, much to the delight of Flitwick. And Vanishing Spells were interesting, if a bit tricky, but by the end of the first period he'd managed to vanish his snail; McGonagall had done a double take, and, if he wasn't mistaken, there were a few tears at the corner of her eyes along with the brightest smile he'd ever received from her.

Harry took Neville to the library to look up uses of moonstones in potion making, where they met up with the Hufflepuff 5th years. While the boys were a bit iffy about Harry, they ended up setting up a study session for Saturday.

Harry ended up attending COMC in the afternoon. He'd spoken to and been denied permission for optional classes by the new professor, so he had no choice. Even if the OWL was completely separated from the year- work, the practical would be a lot easier. He couldn't wait till Hagrid was back; it would be easier to convince him to accept self study. They ended up studying bowtruckles, which wasn't that bad; what if he needed to gain wand-wood for some reason in the future? Malfoy tried to get into his head about Hagrid's absence and bad teaching, but Harry refused to be baited. The best way to win wars was to deny your enemy what they wanted, according to some Greek philosopher he'd read. Where? Surprisingly, the Potter library had books on Greek philosophy, and Charlus' portrait had even suggested he read some in accompaniment to his Occlumency lessons. Not that, for all his enthusiasm, Hagrid was a good teacher. He'd have to talk to his half- giant friend about better preparation and training. He'd been his first magical friend, after all.

COMC was followed by Herbology. He met Luna at the entrance, wherein the younger Ravenclaws were leaving, and she surprisingly told him she believed about Voldemort. Well, on the funny side, at least one person believed in him. But funnily enough, that led to Ernie Macmillan of all people voicing his support, in front of the other Hufflepuffs no less. Even if it was more due to his family being Dumbledore supporters, but a win was a win.

Not that he hated Dumbledore, mind you. The man had certainly suffered a lot this summer on all fronts because he choose to believe Harry. It was just that his know-it-all attitude and controlling behaviour towards Harry's living with the Dursleys made Harry wary of his actions. That, and his plans were known only to him. Although the old man had stopped interfering in his life ever since the trial, so he'd have to see.

Ernie's message had certainly made Lavender and Seamus to feel a bit of heat, although why they were so hell-bent he didn't know. Seamus still wasn't fully okay with him, but they weren't on fighting terms either.

Harry managed to pair up with Susan, much to his liking. He'd given Neville a push towards Hannah, even though he'd have loved to partner with the herbology expert. Even though the task was tiring and somewhat disgusting, Harry managed it with a smile. They got to discuss their classes as they worked; while the Hufflepuff Ravenclaw class hadn't gone as bad (no Hermione to stir up trouble), everyone was seemingly pissed at Umbridge. And it was only Tuesday so far! Harry didn't know how he would have managed the backbreaking work with the smelly dragon dung without Susan to talk to (funnily, Susan was thinking the same), and they parted with a bid to continue the partnership.

Umbridge had given a few detentions for today, including Ron for arguing with her, among a few others.

He took an early dinner and went off to practice in the room of requirement. He'd been assigned a shorter essay by Flitwick than the others due to his excellent cast, but only by five inches. He alternately wrote down the work and practiced his spell-casting. He'd completed the bowtruckle drawing in class itself, thankfully. His schedule was increasingly full; he would have been in serious trouble if he'd gotten detention. How serious he only realised when he got back from the practice. Hermione and Ron were sitting in the common room, and didn't notice him. It turned out that Umbridge was an even bigger problem that he'd have expected. She was making them write with an implement that drew blood! Wasn't that illegal? Ron had tried to argue with him because he didn't raise his voice; whereas Hermione had surprisingly complimented him on his improved anger management. That didn't help Ron's temper any, and he stormed off to the dorms.

Transfiguration continued to be challenging yet doable on Wednesday, but the homework kept coming. Umbridge had tried baiting Harry again, but, mid-occlumency practice as he was, he kept ignoring her, much to her frustration. Ron's hand wasn't healing easily with the normal spells either.

Post classes, Harry either spent time completing homework, reading some philosophy, or learning magic. The room of requirements was turning out to be a godsend.

On Thursday, Harry noticed Ron's dot on the quidditch pitch. Maybe he was practicing for keeper try-outs. Well, he want off to help him, and funnily enough, once he realised Harry wasn't there to make fun of him, Ron actually accepted. Much easier to practice with an opponent, see?

Friday came quicker than ever. Even though it was rainy and gloomy, Angelina's convictions to hold try-outs were firm. He didn't see why she was in such a hurry. Gryffindor was the best placed of the four teams, having lost only a keeper in the intervening period. While Ron was quiet good, he was easily distracted.

There were some other candidates, but they had differing levels of commitment. A guy named McLaggen was particularly idiotic, and he'd missed out majorly for his stupid behaviour.

Harry had requested Angelina to make everyone's life easier by choosing an entire reserve team with two keepers. That way, when the 4 seniors left next year, more experienced heads could easily fill in. They could keep reserve practice only half the time, and only the keeper candidates needed to show up. It ended up with Ron and a girl named Vicky Frobisher (who was involved with the Charms Club) being the two keepers.

But all wasn't sunshine and rainbows. He learnt that Hermione had been knitting woolen items to free house elves! Well, what could he say? Was she even aware of their magical requirements? This was akin to murder. But she looked too tired, and he would speak to her later.

In all the chaos, he'd forgotten to contact Sirius, which he did on Saturday after breakfast. There weren't any classes for two days, so he had two days to rest and catch up with his work. He wanted to see if Susan and the Hufflepuffs were okay with a common study session; teenage boys and their obsession with their crushes and whatnot. He'd already gotten a yes from Neville, so it would be more natural.

They were apparently already planning for one; was he okay if Slytherins were there? She'd invited Daphne, Tracey and Lillian Moon, alongside a few Ravenclaws like Padma, Terry, Anthony…which took their number above 10. They decided to meet in an unused classroom close to the Kitchens that the Hufflepuffs usually used.

Harry enjoyed it immensely. Initially most of them had been a bit uneasy about him, but over time they'd managed to thaw the ice with jokes and intellectual discussions. Each of them had their areas of expertise. Neville and Daphne had Herbology, Terry was adept at Charms, Ernie was great at Transfiguration, Susan and Harry were great at Defence (Harry a lot better at the practical), Padma and Hannah at Potions, while Fay Dunbar was excellent at Astronomy. Their discussions bounced around theory, spell discussions, from subject to subject. It was a fun session.

Post lunch, they met up again for a more practical oriented session. Harry was in huge demand this time around, what with his adept usage of multiple spells crucial for DADA and Charms. Even the Slytherins had warmed up to him by the end. They ended with a plan to make this a permanent affair. Only problem was that meeting up would require all-house co-operation, so only the weekends would be best suited. Also, they all knew that Umbridge wouldn't be too pleased to know about Harry of all people teaching them spells, so they'd decided to keep the news down and find ways to keep it hidden. Keeping things hidden was quiet difficult at Hogwarts.

All in all, a good first week back!

Author's Note:

Shorter than the previous chapter. Am cooking a few ideas, but will see where this story goes. Overwhelmed with the response: 16 followers, multiple favorites? Thanks . I feel good now. Do feel free to give your honest reviews as well.
Also, thanks to Dault3883 Barron Backslash, for his aid in finding a Gwenog/Hestia Jones typo!