Chapter twenty

The headmaster along with all the staff smiled at Harry when Sirius explained the extra idea Harry had for the points given to students. Everyone said they would give an hour to run the shop. They did decide to try it straight away, but open it for every weekend, again only for a couple of hours. Between all of them they would only have to give one hour a month. That would give them time to see how often they needed to open the little shop, and if it ended up popular.

Filius asked if maybe Harry would like to go with his father and Professor Lupin to buy what they would place in their shop that could be exchanged for gifts. Harry liked the idea of buying for Hogwarts. All they needed to do was work out how many points each item would be worth. Something like a broom would be around two hundreds points. A quidditch team t-shirt would be around fifty points. Quills would be twenty points. All the staff gave ideas on what items could be offered in the shop, but since the students could use money, they were going to add more to the shop, like robes or quidditch gear.

'What gave you this idea Harry?' Pomona asked.

'At first it was a shop to buy things. See, since first and second years can't visit Hogsmeade they can't buy things like Honeydukes chocolate, or quills if theirs get broken. I broke so many in my first year since I wasn't used to them that I ended up having to borrow one from Hermione until I could send Hedwig with my order. I didn't even know I could do that until Angelina told me I could owl order things.'

'It's true, so many first and second years often need to send away for quills, or parchment. So you took that idea and figured the point system could work for it,' Filius said.

'Yes, but I also know that not everyone has money they can spare. There is also the part where some students would know they will never be the top five students so they might not bother trying to earn points. If they realised just doing their homework on time they could earn points which they could get a t-shirt of their favourite quidditch team, many would work harder. I know someone like Hermione would prefer to swap her points for books, but we can't have a library size shop to cover everything. This is mainly to help the students but it also helps the staff. They might not have as many students causing trouble, especially if they only need to earn five or ten points to get something they want.'

'You've amazed me Harry. Even though you weren't treated the best by staff and students, here you are coming up with ideas to help not only the students get things they need or want, it helps the staff as well. But you're also showing an intelligence that I never saw before,' Filius said.

Harry sighed but he figured he should explain, 'I used to dumb myself down, deliberately.'

'Harry, you don't have to explain,' Sirius said kindly.

'No, I want to, it might help others, if there are others,' Harry ran his hand through his hair, 'My muggle relatives would use excessive punishment if I did better in school than their son. Dudley was, sorry to say, a lot like Crabbe and Goyle. They made sure no one, neighbours or teachers would believe me if I mentioned this. They also made sure no one would ever want to be my friend. When I got on the Hogwarts Express for the first time I was scared, I was also wondering if I would get everyone asking about my scar. Well, Ron came in, we talked, I realised that he had a lot of second hand things so I relaxed around him. When Ron wanted to skive off work I was scared that if I didn't I would lose my only friend. So I basically fell back on the way I survived my life with the Dursley's,' Harry shrugged but he was looking down at his hands in his lap.

'It was part of Albus' plans. Make Harry's life miserable at his home and here so when the time comes Harry would rather die and join his parents which would help destroy Voldemort, for good. I can't go into all the details but at one time we believed the only way Voldemort would ever be gone for good was if Harry died. Luckily, the unspeakables was able to come up with a solution which saved Harry but also allowed Harry to destroy Voldemort, just like the prophecy said. Harry has a good heart even with how he was treated by his relatives and here. He can't help wanting to help,' Sirius said but his arm was around his son's shoulders.

'At least we now know why you seemed to hold back when we knew you could do more,' Filius said kindly.

'You broke ties with someone who was not a very good influence on you so you are now showing your true potential,' Bathsheba said.

'It will also let us know what to look out for. There are all kinds of abuse, we mostly watch out for physical abuse, but we can see that emotional abuse is just as serious,' Filius said, 'We have been keeping an eye out for anyone we believed might be being bullied. But sometimes the child will hide what is going on at home,' Filius stared at Harry who still had his head down, 'Harry,' Filius waited until the boy looked up, 'It was brave of you to admit what you went through, and we will make sure this information will be kept between us. We will also use it to find any other student who may need help. But I finally understand why you left. Everyone, no matter who it is or how strong they are, sometimes they just say enough. You got to that point so instead of doing what some students will do and lash out by cursing others, you left.'

'There were times I wanted to curse people. But I knew that would make me just as bad as the Dursley's or death eaters. I didn't want to be like that so I decided to get away from everyone. I planned to stay hidden until I was an adult then head overseas and hope I could find a place where I fit in.'

'You fit in here and you've proven that by bringing Hogwarts further than it has in hundreds of years,' Filius said, 'We thank you for all your ideas which is going to make Hogwarts great again. Why don't you go and enjoy the rest of your day.'

'I'll see you later Pup.'

Harry gave everyone a smile, hugged his father then left the tower. As he was walking down through the castle he sensed someone behind him. He turned ready for anything then smiled as he saw Daphne.

'So Harry was punished if he did well in classes. It all makes sense now. I often heard Ron telling Harry they only had to do enough to pass.' Remus said sadly.

'Even though we know Ron is a bit lazy and only does the amount of work that will keep him from repeating a year. We also believe that Albus had a hand in this by making sure Ron and Hermione kept Harry from learning more than the basics. We can't prove any of this but we also believe they were spying on Harry for Albus. With the way Harry was raised he got used to being very observant of the people around him. It was how he avoided some extreme punishment.' Sirius explained.

'That's all changed now so at least Harry won't need to hide who he really is. We have just over an hour before dinner. Let's see if we can figure out how many points it will cost for the items that will be supplied.

By the time Sirius got down to the great hall, he didn't see Harry. He sat at the staff table but kept a look out for his son. It was only a few minutes later that Sirius saw Harry enter the great hall, but he was not alone. Harry was with Daphne Greengrass, and they were holding hands. What surprised Sirius was Harry gave Daphne a small kiss on the lips before they parted ways and went to their individual tables. This is where Harry's idea will help. From the beginning of next year there would be no house tables so Harry and his now girlfriend would be able to sit together during meals.

Sirius looked around the great hall. He saw Ginny Weasley who seemed to be having a go at Ron, but the twins had taken her wand. Sirius knew the youngest Weasley had a crush on Harry, now she would know she will never get a chance with him.

All Sirius wanted was for Harry to have a good life, but also to have people around him that liked him for him and not what they could get out of that friendship. Ever since Harry decided to leave, Sirius wasn't sure if he would ever have Harry in his life. Now they were together, they were family and they were helping to make not only Hogwarts a better place for students and staff, they were also helping the magical world.

As Sirius looked Harry again, he saw him smiling as he stared at the beautiful blond girl at the Slytherin table. But it wasn't just that Harry was smiling that made Sirius happy. It was the look of contented peace that Harry had that told Sirius Harry was finally able to let go of everything that happened to him. Harry could finally be what he always wanted, to be known as Harry, just another student like all the other students at Hogwarts. He wasn't just the boy who lived, and he wasn't just the boy who conquered. He was a fourteen year old teenager who wanted to study, he wanted to fly and he wanted to have a girlfriend, just like any other teenager. Sirius couldn't help smiling at Harry, who was finally getting the life he deserved.

The end:

I wish to thank everyone for reading, and hope I can continue to bring interesting stories for the fans of fanfiction.