Harry growled at Flamel as he was told what he would be doing.

"What do you mean it is my task to gather them?" The fifteen-year-old wizard was not in a good mood, as his godfather had still not awoken from what his Master had done to him five months previous. While his wounds were completely healed according to Madam Pomfrey, his mind and magic were working heavily on something. She suspected that the Elixir was attempting to heal his mind in regards to the Dementor exposure he suffered for over a decade. Exposure that was already mitigated with three years of freedom.

Flamel sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "My apprentice, I thought I was clear. It seems your wayward former classmates have taken it upon themselves to train somewhere in the castle. As it is, you are much more familiar with the castle than I, thus you are to find them."

Harry blew out air in a frustrated sigh before responding," Dumbledore told you that I need to spend more time with people my age didn't he?" At his master's silence, Harry nodded. "Fine. I will find them. It won't be too hard. If they are planning something stupid?"

Nicolas Flamel smiled in a manner that would send shivers down most men's spines. "While you either make sure they don't do it…. Or you make sure they survive it. I have a perfect track record of students under my care surviving it. Do not ruin that my apprentice."

Harry shrugged and turned to move down the hallways. "I hate it when you send me to do your work Master. It is rather annoying." As soon as the door to the Hospital Wing shut again, Nicolas turned back to the bed that Sirius Black was resting on. Nicolas cracked his neck before pressing a finger tip to the man's forehead.

"Now, to find out why you aren't awake when I want you to be Mr. Black." In a subtle pulse of magic, Nicolas dove into Sirius' mind.

It was a momentous occasion for both British Wizard and Goblin kind. For the first time in history, the Goblin Monarch stepped foot in the British Wizarding Ministry of Magic. Zaber smiled cruelly as he thought of his predecessors' reactions to this would be. He was raised on the prospect that the only reason for Goblin royalty to step foot in the Wizard's world would be to conquer it.

As he stepped through the green fires of the Floo, he placed his bare foot upon the white marble of the Minister's office. And instantly, he knew. Goblins were gifted with one of three branches of understanding intuitively. The majority of the Goblin Nation of Britain were gifted with Wequsqueos, the traits that made them great warriors. Able to turn their pain aside, a fierce determination and most importantly magic that reacted well with Goblin Amplification, they were deadly combatants. His brother was one such goblin. A large secondary portion of the Nation were gifted with Miseksqueos, or metal traits. They were the bankers, the forgers the face of the Goblin Nation. However, Zaber was gifted with the third trait. Caokbosqueos, the Makers. They who's blood builds. Zaber was gifted with what most magicals would label psychometry, but the Nation called Prxcgulisqux.

It was where he gained his namesake of Zaber of Prx. Anything he touched with his bare skin, he knew. So, schooling his features to hide his knowledge, Zaber turned towards Cornelius Fudge.

"So tell me Minister Fudge, what plans did you have for my people? For that will greatly modify what I ask for as compensation for my Nation."

Hermione and Ron smiled as the students in front of them practiced the spells that Hermione received in her letter from her pen pal. "That's wonderful! Keep it up you all! Soon, we should be able to keep our families safe if this is the dedication we show!" The bushy-haired woman was ecstatic that her idea, to help tutor the students in offensive magic and to put it to use was supported so widely.

Several Ravenclaws had shown up to their first meeting, as had several Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Ron of course was present, as were Hermione's roommates. The only two people that weren't there that Hermione wish were, was her newest penpal Sara, and Harry.

When she thought of Harry and her new club, she knew as many would know, that he was the best teacher any of them had ever experienced. While McGonagall knew her subject and could teach it excellently, while Flitwick played and experimented with charms and was one of the smartest professors most students had ever met, they were exactly what their titles were. Professors were intelligent and driven by their subjects and their student's relation to them. Harry Potter was a teacher. He taught and didn't bother with anything other than teaching. If Harry was teaching this club, she firmly believed that it would not matter what professor they had for Defense or Magical Combat or whatever it would be called.

She rapidly shielded against a rogue Reducto curse. "Sorry Hermione!" the voice of one of the Twins yelled out as she shook her thoughts away. "Aim better please!" Hermione called over her shoulder as Ron side stepped a Disarming Charm.

Her boyfriend playfully launched a stinging hex in response, and with one spell, turned the partners practicing Reducto, Protego and Expelliarmus into an all out melee.

Her wand flashed into the air and a bang shook the room, pausing all the combatants.

"If you all want to brawl, that's fine. Expelliarmus and Protego only. Last one standing gets a prize." Hermione smiled as she shifted things up again. Mentally she drafted a letter to her new penpal. Sara would love this; after all she highly encouraged this initiative.

It took Harry less than an half hour to find where the students were congregating thanks to the Marauder's Map. It was a simple matter to swiftly make his way to the room they were in, as it was the same room that he utilized to train after destroying the alchemy room last year, in the deep bowels of the castle.

As he slipped into the room, he had made himself invisible using a charm that Nicolas taught him. He mentally kicked himself slightly for forgetting his Cloak, but he pressed it from his mind as he registered what was occurring.

It was chaos. Several students were unconscious on the edges of the room, while the rest exchanged spell fire in the center of the room. His friends, Hermione and Ron, were dueling against each other and not paying attention to the room at all. A flash of a reductor curse barely missed Denis Carveey's face and Harry tapped the floor once with is wand.

Instantly every single student was ensnared by stone chains that erupted from the floor. As Harry allowed his invisibility spell to fall, he snapped off several renerverates at the various students that were unconscious on the side lines.

As all the students were either awake or restrained, he spoke, his voice a hiss of anger.

"Explain to me why I get reports of students out of bed, and when I investigate, I find them fighting as if it was war?"

Hermione spoke up as the chains all crumbled away. "Sorry, it was my idea. We were practicing some defensive work and well, things got out of hand." She looked down and frowned. She didn't remember how she got goaded into the fight, but she shouldn't have been. She was supposed to be in charge, not fighting her boyfriend under the pretense of a reward.

"I see. Well in that case, instead of getting expelled immediately, you all are coming with me. If you have enough energy to fight each other, you have enough to clean the castle. Start from the entrance hall and move up. When you finish to the third floor, you can head to bed. I suppose you can also use magic." A wave of his wand, and a stag of white mist appeared and bolted upwards. "I have also notified your heads of house. If you want to argue, please. Do so now." Harry's eyes never left Ron and Hermione as he spat the last sentence. Wisely, every student started to move towards the door. As his friends got closer he growled, "Stay put you two."

As the last student other than those three passed through the door, Harry slammed it closed. "You know Hermione. I don't mind if you want to work harder. I don't mind if you want to create study groups to better understand the material. I don't even mind if you are running a club with the previous goals in mind. I do mind however that Denis Carveey was less than an inch from having his brain splattered along that wall by Fred Weasley missing his brother with a reductor!" Harry finally snapped as he pointed to the wall. "I have a major issue with someone I know and trust putting people's lives in danger because she was being stupid!"

"Oi! No need to yell at her! She screwed up yeah, but it's the first time that these meetings have gone that far! We just wanted to know what the magic could do!" Ron yelled as he got between his girlfriend and his best friend.

"Oh, joy! More meetings that could have ended with someone dead! That is the problem! You all don't recognize that this," Harry pulled his wand from the holster on his wrist and gestured meaninglessly ignoring the sparks that rained from the wandtip, "is a deadly weapon. Do you know why there isn't any magic in hallways? Because the wrong spell reacting with another spell hitting the wrong surface can turn the Moving staircases off, can turn the floor into jelly even on the 7th floor! And that is just the objects. Do you know what a Reductor does when it hits something that is alive?"

The two students shook their heads at the apprentice, their eyes wide. Harry was livid and nearly spoke before he took a deep breath and suddenly his face was stoic.

"We are going to the headmaster. You better hope and pray that we don't run into Minerva before we reach that office. Now come." With a turn on his heel, he flicked the door open and gestured them out. As he left the room, he turned the torches out, blanketing the room in darkness once more.

Dumbledore frowned at the memory that Harry asked him to view in the School Penseive. While not a well-known fact, one of the reasons Hogwarts was such a hallowed institution was that Penseive. Recorded in it were memories from each Headmaster and thanks to a tradition started by Albus' predecessor's predecessor, the deputy heads of the school. It was a wonderful library of information, both administratively and academically as several of those memories were of moments of clarity on difficult or obscure subjects. There were even memories from talented students within the Memory Vaults of the Pensieve, students who did the impossible within the walls of Hogwarts. Students such as Sirius Black and James Potter, who handed in memories of their trials to become animagi.

Now, it was home to the memory of the first ever student led militia training session. While Hogwarts had housed militia before, they were never led solely by students. Albus flinched as a Ravenclaw leaned out of the way of a nasty puncture hex and returned fire with a reducto. Harry Potter stood stoically, though if you looked closely, the memory around him was slightly distorted as he unconsciously pressed with his magic.

The memory ended as Harry tore into his friends, expressing his disgust and Albus felt his heart soar. Ron looked defeated as he walked through the doorway, his expression one of defeat and shock. He, obviously did not think of the consequences. A magic raised magical; he wouldn't be as aware as some about the absolute danger of spells. For him, magic as much a fact of life as breathing.

Ms. Granger on the other hand was not remorseful at all. She actually appeared angry that Harry interrupted the session. Her eyes flashed and her stance took an aggressive tone until Harry started to dress them down. As soon as that occurred, her stance deflated as if she knew that she was unable to continue.

Albus exited the memory and looked at the three- no, two teens and the man who reappeared behind them. Albus wondered when the dark haired man became one as he gazed into the eyes of the Granger girl and sent a soft tendril of his thoughts out to brush against her mind.

Shock flickered in her face as seemingly impenetrable walls defended her mind from his brush-stroke of Legilimency. That shock briefly turned to rage and then carefully fell away as she levied her impressive skills in Occlumency.

"Mr. Weasley, your punishment will shift. You will now be helping Apprentice Potter for the remainder of the year. All free periods will be spent doing as he asks as well as two hours detention with him after dinner every weeknight, baring those nights you have astronomy; which I believe is Wednesdays. You will also serve your first detention this Sunday evening, to create ground rules. You are dismissed." Albus spoke softly, yet sternly; his voice filling the room. Ron stood and nodded. As he walked toward the door, he paused by the door and looked back. The scene he saw would stick with him for the rest of his life.

As he looked over his shoulder, Albus and Harry smiled back at him, knowing what he was about to say. Hermione looked at him coldly, even as his mouth opened, "I am sorry. I didn't want to hurt anyone… I just wanted them to be able to protect themselves. Have a good night." He may have imagined it, but Ron thought he saw Hermione's eyes flash in pride, even though her face was blank as had become the norm recently. The door shut behind him with a soft click.

Hermione steadied herself as Ron left the room after apologizing. She put more effort in maintaining her Occlumency, knowing that the Headmaster had already attempted reading her mind once. As she looked to Harry, her friend's eyes were sharp yet clouded, clear signs that he too was practicing the mental art that her penpal had taught her of. When she discovered that Sara was a muggleborn witch as well, her heart soared. A muggleborn witch that was recommended to her by Rothburg, Sara was a researcher based in America and specializing in mental magics. She studied at Ilvermorny, a member of Thunderbird house, and graduated as the top student of her class. She spoke about how the mind could be organized to increase results of spellcasting, of memory and all sorts of positive benefits.

She spoke to the headmaster as her mind fended off several attacks from him,"So, that was Ron's punishment. What is mine? Just for a mistake, and making sure that our classmates were capable." Her tone was nearly disrespectful.

Albus sighed and finally ceased his brushes against her mind. "Ms. Granger, of the two of you, Mr. Weasley was remorseful at the thought of someone being harmed. You… you seem uncaring. Why is that?"

In the barriers of her mind, shock and disgust rose at the thought of someone like Carveey being hurt because of her, yet swiftly those were tapped down as Sara's advice ran through her mind,"To maintain strong shields, emotions should be compressed to be dealt with at a later date away from danger."

Albus noticed the slight weakening of her shields yet did not exploit it. Instead he spoke," Impressive for one so young to have such mental barriers while being self-taught. Tell me are you aware of the hazards of Occlumency?"

Hermione responded automatically, "There aren't any hazards Headmaster. Once you are a fully realized Occlumens, you have no negative backlash. Learning the art can be dangerous however."

Harry chuckled, drawing the attention of the only Griffindor student in the room. "While accurate…to be a "fully realized" Occlumens takes years Hermione. You aren't even close. You are likely either suppressing your emotions, using mental will power, or allowing someone to repeatedly attack your mind to increase your defenses. Considering you haven't been showing any signs of the latter, and the only people in the school who could do so safely are well accounted for, you are doing the former."

The bushy haired girl huffed and crossed her arms. "So what if I am suppressing? It's a part of the process."

Harry's eyebrows rose in shock. "Who told you that suppression of your emotions was key to Occlumency?"

Hermione refused to answer for a moment, allowing the room to lapse in silence. Finally under Harry's look of pleading, she cracked. "I have been exchanging letters with a woman named Sara Undrage. She is a muggleborn researcher from America who specializes in mind magics. She recommended that I learn Occlumency and gave me some advice about it. "

Albus sighed as the name registered in his head. Instantly he knew what happened. "Ms. Granger, Madam Undrage died three years ago in a vehicular accident."

Hermione shook her head. "No, not possible. I checked. I looked her up, and she had an article published less than three months ago, and an interview concerning the article on the Wireless two months ago." Hermione stood. "If you are just going to lie to me Headmaster, please just decide my punishment and let me go to bed. I have class in the morning."

"You will be punished using the same punishment as Mr. Weasley. However, should your 'club' meet again without a teacher or Apprentice Potter present, I will personally ensure that the rest of your year is spent in class or in a detention Ms. Granger. Am I clear?" Albus grabbed a quill and started to write on the parchment in front of him. His clear dismissal was taken as Hermione responded with a "Yes Headmaster."

"Apprentice Potter, please stay for a moment."

As the door of the office closed Albus stopped writing and instantly vanished the ink on the page. "I believe your friend is either being manipulated or is under someone else's control."

Harry strode forward and started to stroke the phoenix who had sat on his perch silently throughout the meeting. "Well Headmaster, I assume you have reasons for not holding her here and deciding which it is?"

Albus noticed the tense muscles of the Apprentice and sighed. "I can't hold a student under a hunch. Not only that, but her Occlumency is… worrying. No student should be able to create such shields in mere months."

Harry looked over at the headmaster of Hogwarts, "I did Albus. If I remember correctly, Professor Snape was an Occlumens of decent talent at the age of 15, and Master Flamel tells me that you were-"

"Harry, I understand what you are saying. However, you had an advantage in the fact that your shields are protected partially by family magic. Severus and myself started the path to being Occlumens before starting at Hogwarts. The circumstances of this however, are rather different. I was not kidding when I said that Madam Undrage perished in a vehicular accident of some sort three years ago. I remember the day vividly because the woman who was known world wide as Sara Undrage taught here, as a favor for me." Albus stroked his beard. "Sara Undrage was the protectionary alias for the American Magical Sonja Longfellow after the fall of Grindlewald and her subsequent reporting back to the Magical Congress of the United States of America."

Harry paused in his stroking as he rapidly thought of the implications of that information. "How certain are we of Sonja's demise?"

Albus stroked his beard as he responded. "I saw the body myself. Sonja Longfellow, as Sara Undrage, died April 18th, 1993. I attended the funeral. It was why I was absent for a week of your third year."

Harry frowned, "Then who published the article, who did the interview, and who has been corresponding with our resident genius Gryffindor?"

Albus smirked slightly, it being hidden under his beard and mustache. "That my young friend, is exactly what you will be trying to figure out during your time with her. If I am correct, your friend may hold the key to ending two wars in one move." His eyes sparkled with intent, as Harry nodded.

"I'll have to let Nicolas know. Man gets paranoid if I plot anything without him knowing. He flipped when we did the surprise party for him on his birthday." Harry shrugged as he patted Fawkes gently on the head before turning towards the door.

"Just so you know Headmaster, I will likely attend one of their club meetings. I don't foresee them stopping the meetings just because they got caught. Gods above I wouldn't and some of those Gryffindors are worse than me."

Albus just laughed as the door opened and shut behind the dark-haired apprentice.

The days of the weekend passed swiftly, with Harry relaxing and speaking with various professors, students and his master's colleagues in various fields via Owl Post. He was astounded when Nicolas tasked him with the correspondence. He fell into the memory as he walked towards the first detention that he would be proctoring for Ron and Hermione.

"Well, my apprentice, it is important to network. Also, while I am highly knowledgeable in most if not all subjects due to experience, there is no replacing true expertise. Just be clear that you are my apprentice and no one will dismiss you even if you are ignorant of the particulars of their chosen fields." The Alchemist dismissed him with a look as he mixed three different elixir mixtures into a cauldron with one hand and stirred fluidly with his other. It was moments like this, when Harry casually left the workspace, that a normal wizard would be astounded by the prowess of Nicolas Flamel; Harry just found his drama induced grand standing faintly amusing. He knew damn well that Nicolas didn't need to mix the three tonics simultaneously for maximum results. However, he could admit that it looked cool.

He entered the classroom that would be serving as his location for the detentions of his friends. He noticed that absence of those two, as he flicked his wand and cleaned the dust from the surfaces. He smiled as the desk gleamed. It took Dobby three days to fix that desk, and that was after the week it took for Harry to figure out where he was.

The desk was where he was leaning when his two friends came into the room hand in hand. They were closed off and as the door shut he realized two things.

One, that his friends and he had drifted apart more than he realized and that two, they had found solace in each other.

They looked around the room, taking in the cracked walls, the cratered blackboard that still spoke of alchemy and the histories of magic. It was Hermione that spoke first," This is where you trained with Cedric isn't it?"

Harry nodded and replied,"Yeah, this is where I first learned about family magic. This is also where I learned who I was and wanted to be. I thought it would be fitting for you to learn here as well."

His face lost some of the eagerness that he had at seeing his friends again. "This room isn't going to be a room of magic this time. It is one of a single question. When is it worth it?"

Harry's mind drifted back towards when he first learned to Crown in this very room. Cedric had asked him the same question, with spellfire. It was in the moment, when it finally clicked. At the time, they were training for the tournament, training to make sure he survived. Yet Cedric wasn't asking him about that.

Harry hoped they would understand faster than he did as he pulled his wand out. Hermione and Ron both looked confused.

"I guess I should be clearer on what I am talking about. In this room, we won't be using magic to solve our issues. You see, I learned in this room, that magic can solve any issue we need it to. However, that isn't the lesson that you two need to learn."

Hermione was silent as she listened. Ron on the other hand, asked a question. "What do you think we need to learn mate?"

"You need to learn when to use magic and when not."

When the two finally walked back to the tower, they were silent and contemplative. Instead of a duel, as Harry learned, they were forced to work through a scenario that Harry had dreamed up. Scenes such as telling a teacher that a student was being tortured, knowing that it would result in their expulsion and the loss of their magic. Choices that forced the concept of "is it worth it?" into their minds.

Once they reached the common room, it was deserted. With a sigh, Ron sat by the dying fire and gently pulled Hermione into his lap.

"What do you think love?" He asked as Hermione's head nuzzled into his neck. He spoke quietly, knowing she could hear every word against his throat.

"He is trying to hammer in what is right verses what is easy." She sighed against his pulse as her eyes fluttered in exhaustion. "It was easy to run that club, but it wasn't right to go about it the way we did. We should have talked to someone, or thought of safety measures. We didn't because we didn't think." The two were quiet. "I didn't think."

Ron kissed her forehead and pulled her tighter to his chest. "Sometimes, we can only learn from our mistakes."

Sonja reread the last line of her missive to her 'pen-pal' as Lord Grindlewald had taken to calling her. With a flourish, she signed it with her old persona, before tapping it twice with her wand. As the parchment glowed a pale yellow she smiled. While her husband was the better of the two at the art of getting what he wanted, she was not a slouch. A few words about how to improve her abilities and some empathy expressed in just the right amount led to her accepting the advice on how to begin the task of Occlumency.

While Sonja knew she would likely suppress only with willpower, the spell she mentioned in her letter would fix that issue. She knew that it was able to be found in the Hogwarts Library, outside of the Restricted section even. One thing about barriers, even those within the mind, was that all shortcuts had negative consequences. For Occlumency, the standard shortcut was to have your mind assaulted repeatedly with the consequence being pain and a weakened defense until the barriers were fully raised. Utilizing the spell to help suppress one's emotion was in fact a curse. Originally used against the clergy during the Witch Hunts, it allowed one to fully suppress any emotion that the caster decided. If used incorrectly... it could result in conditions such as psychopathy, sociopathy, and emotional detachment.

Of course, she mentioned all of that in her letter. It would be wrong of her to guide her pupil without giving as much information as possible. However, she did outline exactly what emotions to never suppress. It would be terrible to have a future General who could not feel any love of their Lord after all.

Carefully, Sonja tipped a small cauldron over the letter, covering it entirely with billowing blue and black smoke. A single drop of ebony liquid splashed onto the letter, making the parchment shudder. In an instant, the potion was absorbed and folded itself neatly.

Sonja stood and grabbing her letter, prepared to mail it on her way to check on her duties.

Being an administrator in government was always such a time consuming task.

AN: Here is the next chapter. Very Hermione and Ron centric. However the tables is set for the end of year 5. Sirius is in a coma, Nicolas is busy trying to fix that, Hermione is talking to Sonja and has been for a bit... and Harry is trying to get them to think while also trying to get information.

As far as updates... honestly, writing is on the back burner. I am merely trying to survive this Hurricane season. Wish me luck!

-Zero