Chapter 26 – Horcruxes and Foreign Magic

Fifth year was both better and worse than Harry expected.

His summer had been dreadfully busy between lessons with Augusta, updating the wards and protections of three properties and then capturing Snape to study the Dark Mark. In between all that there was a lot of shopping to do to prepare three students for Hogwarts. Nigel being an absolute brat over the fact he had to wait another year before he could also go to Hogwarts didn't help prevent headaches already throbbing from trying to conduct business at Diagon Alley when the majority of the people there were in a state of terror over the returned Dark Lord.

Amelia Bones was now the Minister of Magic and she had already begun to make sweeping changes. Auror funding and recruitment was up. She and the Ministry were offering remedial classes twice a week to anyone who wished to sign up in order to refresh various defensive skills.

She had also authorized the production and sale of cheap portkeys designed for one-way transport into Auror Headquarters. It was meant to be an escape route if one was attacked by Death Eaters, so in order to purchase a portkey one had to take a vow stating that they were not Death Eaters or unmarked supporters of Voldemort. The portkey makers couldn't keep up with the flood of wizards and witches who wanted a portkey for every member of their families and there was now a waiting list.

On the other hand, Amelia had also begun to make sweeps through the Ministry itself looking for hidden Death Eaters and their supporters. It was currently the height of fashion to wear robes that exposed one's forearms and random veritaserum testing for loyalty was becoming common. In one of the sweeps, Dolores Umbridge had been quickly fired and then moved to a Ministry holding cell for further questioning.

For Harry that was great news. He hadn't been looking forward to another round of avoid the evil High Inquisitor or running an illegal defense class when he should be focused on preparing for OWL's. Hopefully without the added stress and distraction, Ron would also do better on his OWL's. Last time, Ron's grades had been quite abysmal and he had been crushed.

The train ride had been less fun than he'd hoped. For one, Draco had arrived at his compartment in order to mouth off. He hadn't gotten in a single word before Dean, the fifth year prefect, took Slytherin House points for rudeness and attempting to incite a fight. Draco had stormed off in a huff, but the incident led Harry to do some thinking.

In his first life, Ron had been the fifth year prefect. Harry had often suspected that he was given that role as a way to subtly force Harry from Ron and Hermione while encouraging them together. Ron hadn't deserved it after all, as harsh as that might sound. Neville maybe or Dean…but not Ron.

This time around, both Harry and Neville were not under Dumbledore's control and they had just this summer expressed a lack of respect or agreement with him. Neither would have gotten the prefect spot. That Ron didn't either spoke volumes.

Another unpleasant thing happened that day. During the Welcome Feast, Harry was hit with a blast of legilmency from Voldemort that resulted in a horrible headache. While he had eventually learned occlumency, he had never been great at it. He could block the visions, he could keep Voldemort out of his head, but the pain still came in violent waves.

He knew from experience that pain potions would only take the edge off of it, but wouldn't stop it altogether. As soon as the Feast was over, Harry excused himself and went up to the dorm. He quickly changed into pajamas and took half a pain potion, just enough to dull the pain to a throbbing. Then he called for a house elf and requested a cold damp compress and placed it across his forehead and lay back in his bed with the curtains closed, silenced and darkened. He spent most of the night reinforcing his occlumency shields and trying to sleep.

That's what led Harry to his next problem. He still needed to collect the ring, especially before Dumbledore did and ended up getting his hand cursed into painful uselessness. Even more important, he had to find a way to remove the horcrux from his forehead. The only way he knew how to do that was to get hit in the face with the killing curse and hope that he was once again allowed to return to life.

He wasn't sure if that would work without him owning all three Hallows. He had none. Dumbledore had the Elder Wand and had yet to return his father's cloak. The ring was sill hidden away in the Gaunt shack.

He needed to figure out how to at least get the ring and his father's cloak. He also wanted a way to destroy his personal horcrux without having to die. The problem with that was that the information on horcruxes was very rare and considered extremely dark. It wasn't English magic, nor was it Roman magic. Hogwarts really only taught those two things with the occasional dip into a small amount of Druidic or Celtic magic. He had to look elsewhere, but he was uncertain where or even how to start.

To make matters more difficult, classes were very hard this year and the amount of homework was incredible. Ron was a bit miffed when he realized that most of his friends and acquaintances were more interested in study than chess or Quidditch. Harry's advice was for him to make sure that when the clubs restarted that everyone knew he was starting up the chess club again. It had been successful his third year and there was no reason to think it wouldn't be again. That way he'd at least have time scheduled to play each week.

Harry, using a bit of misdirection, explained to their group of friends how he and Neville had watched the upgrades to the wards at home. While he refused to go into any detail of how they worked, he pointed out that two of the workers preferred a type of magic that was decidedly not English or Roman in nature. He didn't have to pretend to an interest in other cultures or their magic, it was a very real desire to know. Padma was very excited by his story and thirst for knowledge. She and her sister had spent most of their childhood and large portions of each summer in India. They were tutored each summer, she claimed, and they both had plans for another three years of schooling in India after Hogwarts. Her parents wanted them to be familiar with both types of magic.

Harry was, quite frankly, fascinated with her tales of Indian magic. He had never realized how provincial and isolated most English wizards and witches were. It was true, however. Even the wizarding nations on the continent weren't as provincial. Beauxbaton and Durmstrang taught a mix of ancient Roman, modern English, French, or German and Russian magics.

In the end, Padma offered to get him a copy of the catalogs offered by several Indian bookstores and to help him or answer any questions he might have once he ordered his books. Hermione, Luna, and surprisingly Neville and Susan were also interested and asked for catalogs.

Cho Chang, who Harry and Neville had befriended after the disaster of the World Cup, also heard about Padma's offer and thought it was a wonderful idea. She also wanted some Indian catalogs and offered to get a few Chinese catalogs from stores both here in England as well as a few in China itself.

Luna, who often spent summers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark said that there was also a lot of ancient Norse magic that was ignored by Hogwarts and offered to find catalogs. Ron, not wanting to be left out despite not having a real big desire to learn strange foreign magic, reported that his eldest brother was currently dating Fleur Delacour and offered to ask her to provide them with catalogs to French bookstores or possibly even Egyptian ones if his brother was willing.

Harry was ecstatic and warned Augusta via letter that he was planning on putting a bit of a dent in his trust fund. He made a point of mentioning that most of the Potter Family library had been lost to the war as only a few volumes had been salvaged from the destruction of Godric's Hollow. He also warned that Neville seemed interested in looking for books on exotic plants located around the globe.

The catalogs were a great untapped source of information. Harry started off with ordering dictionaries and volumes that helped translate a language into English or Latin. He didn't speak or read French, Chinese, Hindu or Egyptian, so that was a necessity. From there he tended to focus on books about defense, wards, curses and hexes, magical theory and cursebreaking.

Neville, true to form, ordered a few books on Herbology. Luna ordered a few that focused on magizoology or creatures. Hermione moaned that she couldn't afford one of each and ordered a bunch on a wide range of topics. Madam Pince also got involved once she realized what they were doing and borrowed the catalogs to add a few books to the Hogwarts' library.

The books came in dribs and drabs and Harry both enjoyed and was frustrated by reading through them. He was learning a lot of interesting things that weren't even hinted at by the Hogwarts curriculum, but it wasn't easy having to translate the book only to have to go back and read the translation in order to understand it.

It didn't really help that Voldemort was trying to send him the dreams about the Department of Mysteries and only caused him lots of headaches. At least he didn't have to deal with Snape pounding his brain apart with so-called occlumency lessons.

Chapter 27 – Delightful Discoveries

Harry managed to acquire the ring horcrux on the first Hogsmeade weekend. It wasn't easy and it took longer than he'd hoped, but he managed it. The biggest problem was everyone wanting to know where he'd been.

When he finally got to place the ring in the purifying potion and seal it up behind a dozen locks and wards, Harry counted the hassle as well worth it. The torrent of pranks he ended up playing on the Slytherins in order to cover his excuse that he'd slipped away to Zonko's was the icing on the cake. Neville got a few great shots of the Slytherins at dinner when the flatulence powder kicked in. The one of Draco sitting inside a green cloud of noxious fumes that had erupted from his own arse was immediately blown up to poster size and hung in the Gryffindor Common Room to be snickered at.

A week later when all the Slytherins grew scales, had their noses shift into flattened slits and their tongues grew long with a split tip netted Neville a great photo of Pansy Parkinson bursting into tears and running from the Great Hall. That shot was also enlarged. It hung next to the one of Draco Stinky-Arse Malfoy in the Common Room.

Fun and games tormenting the House of the Snake aside, Harry had a lot on his plate. His homework levels only seemed to raise, a lot of papers and essays to write, practice for the Broom Racing Team and a host of new spells and complex magic to learn. That he was already a master of defense helped immensely with a few of his classes, but not all.

The two classes that had been formed from Binn's single one was a perfect example. Most of the information was new to him and it required a lot of reading and writing. That it was interesting, relevant and far from boring was beside the point. And Professor Murtlap might have been a thousand times nicer and a whole hell of a lot better at actually teaching than Snape, but she was a hard taskmaster and required a lot of work as well. Arithmancy and Runes were difficult subjects to begin with; the added pressure of OWL's only made Harry's respect for Hermione's mind grow now that he realized just how hard those classes were.

On top of all of that, Harry was desperately searching for a way to destroy the horcux in his curse scar while he battled a series of agonizing headaches. He had discovered a new avenue to explore, however, so it was worth the effort. Three of his new books mentioned techniques for meditation that would focus on mental strength, strengthening and expanding his personal well of magic and also forming a deeper and closer connection to his magic. One was Indian and two were Chinese.

Wanting a better and clearer understanding, Harry consulted with Parvati, Padma and Cho in order to make sure his translations were correct. He'd found that sometimes the subtle nuances of words could change their meaning, and he didn't want to mess it up.

By the time Christmas rolled around, Harry realized that the meditation really did help. His occlumency was stronger and firmer and his connection to his magic had grown while he'd been able to begin isolating the horcrux and weakening its hold on him. His Voldemort induced headaches diminished in both frequency and power.

The holidays were a period of joy for Harry. He'd gotten his friends lovely little tokens and as was the habit of the Gryffindor boys of his year, he'd sent out a large selection of charmed and animated greeting cards. He'd gotten a magical toy dragon for Nigel and a magical toy griffin for Polaris. Each toy had to be put together like a puzzle by the recipient before it could be charmed to fly and walk about. Hope had gotten a Chinese robe and sandals. He'd purchased a special lamp for growing plants that required lots of sunlight indoors for Neville.

For himself, Harry had gotten a haul of candy, Zonko products, books and clothing. He also received a pair of racing goggles with the proper vision correction charms, rain repellant charms and unbreakable charms on them from Augusta and a proper set of dueling robes from Sirius.

The best gift of all was a report that they were very close to crafting a ward to guard against the Dark Mark. It was estimated that they would only need a month's more work. That was great news because a few raids here and there had already occurred and people were terrified. It was even better to learn that they had already agreed to offer to place the ward up on buildings for extremely cheap prices once it had been developed. Harry suggested that they develop a sticker with the Dark Mark inside a bright red circle and a slash going through it to put on warded shops so that people would know which stores were safe to flee to if Diagon Alley was attacked.

Eventually, the holidays were over and they all trooped back to Hogwarts. Studying was intense and mid-term tests were given out to all 5th and 7th years so that they could get a handle on what areas they needed to revise the most. Hermione shocked herself with how well she had done, but Ron was horrified by his results. They weren't too bad, but they weren't real good either.

Padma pointed out that the tests were excellent study guides. She said that their old books should be pulled out and reviewed. Even if they only re-read a chapter or two at a time, it would help. Hermione stated that pulling out her old notes in order to organize them or even rewrite them seemed to help as well. Harry agreed with both girls, Ron simply moaned at the extra work.

Harry, afraid that Ron would completely skiv off and that the girls would focus so much on the books that they lost sight of the practical ended up showing everyone the practice drills that he and Neville used. He also showed some of the drills that he did by himself. He pointed out that the OWL's, unlike the mid-term tests, would include a practical portion.

That didn't stop Harry from ordering more things from out of country. He tried to pick some that would augment what he'd already learned both from the defense and warding texts as well as from the meditation and magic strengthening texts. A few gadgets, doo-dads and rare potion ingredients rounded out his list. All in all, he felt he was making progress.

Imagine his surprise when the text called Tantric Magic: the Way of Peace, Love and Enlightenment turned out to be a book on sex magic. Immediately, the book made him aware of something that he'd been trying to ignore, he was a teenaged hormonal boy that had watched as the girls around him went from merely pretty to down right sexy. This was a complication that Harry wasn't ready to deal with just yet. Especially since his fifteen year old body housed the mind and needs of an old man who equated his current peers to be on the same level as the beloved grandchildren he'd left behind in the future.

Confusing did not begin to cover it. Especially since in many ways he still tended to think of his friends and schoolmates as being married. Ron and Hermione, he and Ginny, Luna and Rolf, etcetera. The fact that he barely spoke to Ginny and avoided her if at all possible didn't change the fact that he still thought that way. It was an ingrained reflex from decades of living.

The decision not to make a decision on that topic yet was the only choice he could really make. Being a teenage boy, at least physically, he figured that the best idea would be to read the text and see if there was anything he could use while taking matters into his own hands, so to speak.

Two weeks later, the book having been read twice and an afternoon spent with his dormmates as Seamus showed off his new magical porn collection that his cousin had sent, Harry decided to give solo Tantric Magic a try. He brewed two of the potions that the text recommended, one an aphrodisiac and the other a lubricant. Then he'd climbed into bed after a long hot shower before he charmed his curtains closed and silenced.

He then enjoyed the longest and best wank of his life, ever. Of both lifetimes, in fact.

The next night he had been treated to a huge Voldemort temper-tantrum. It had laid him out flat in the middle of the Common Room. Ron and Neville had gotten him up quickly enough and dragged him off to his bed. He'd played it off as a prank gone wrong and vowed vengeance on the Slytherins. Cover story in place, he'd spent the rest of the night in agony as Voldemort raged and tossed about curses.

After his head stopped feeling like it'd been kicked by a hippogriff, Harry wondered if Voldemort's anger had been because he'd felt Harry's wank the night before. It stood to reason that if Harry suffered headaches when the Dark Toad was angry, felt hatred or used the unforgiveables, then he would also feel pain when Harry did things. The link was, after all, a two way street.

A vague memory of Dumbledore telling him in his past life that love was his unknown power made him wonder just how literal that was. In his first life, Harry had never had sex or really took the time to wank much before his marriage to Ginny. He'd been too worried about the war, suffered visions and pain or was agonized with the grief of people being killed around him. Not very romantic or arousing.

Willing to test the theory, Harry went through the ritual of a hot shower to relax and then climbed into bed. The main idea that this ritual used was that sexual arousal created energy that could then in turn be channeled through his magic and thus creating more magic to draw upon. This new magic based on sexual energy was only temporary and would fade away with the arousal. However, it could also be focused at the point of climax to supercharge magical spells cast at that instance.

Harry didn't believe he was anywhere skilled enough to be able to focus casting a spell while having an orgasm. He could, however, try to blast that pure Light magic of pleasure and happiness down the link and into Voldemort's brain.

A little over half an hour later, Harry lay panting on his bed, drenched in sweat, lubricant and cum while wearing a huge smile on his face. At that point he knew three things; first of all, he loved wanking, second was that the blast of magic had given Voldemort a sudden migraine of such magnitude that he'd dropped to the ground and begun convulsing, and third, the link between his brain and the horcrux had been weakened.

Chapter 28 – The Power of Love

The revelation that he could so completely affect Voldemort caused a whirlwind of theories and ideas. He began a fairly intensive research project about sex magic, cleansing rituals and purification rituals. The idea that the horcruxes he'd collected could have been weakened while in their storage soaking in a cleansing potion was a brilliant idea. He'd merely wanted to keep them out of others hands and to prevent their dark aura from being a corrupting influence on his magic and his belongings. That it could have made them weaker and their link to Voldemort weaker was a bonus he hadn't expected.

The research didn't convince him to stop his weekly wanks, on the contrary it encouraged him to continue as well as modify the ritual in order to enhance the results. He'd found an old out of the way room that had at one time served as a meeting room for the prefects. With the help of the house elves and a lot of time spent casting spell after spell, the room had been transformed into a space for ritual sexual magic to be performed.

He had then spent an entire weekend carefully drawing a rune-scheme inside of a pentagram on the floor. It was designed to enhance, magnify and focus sexual and magical energy. Harry purchased the ingredients and then made special potions, incense and oils that he would use. He had bought pure white candles that he anointed in herbs and oils and set them about the room.

Finally all was in readiness. He snuck down to the room, stripped naked and coated himself in oil. He then lit the candles and the incense and knelt in the center of the rune-scheme. The main and most important part of this ritual he'd created was the fact that he had to keep up a low and slow chant while wanking. It would help focus the energy and channel it into doing what he wanted; which was to finally sever his link to the horcrux in his head and then send a pulse of purifying and cleansing magic through his mind and body.

The weekly wanks that Ron, Dean and Seamus teased him about had done quite a lot to increase his skills and ability to hold off orgasm and let the power build and grow. An hour later, Harry's throat was sore, he was drenched in sweat and the room practically throbbed with power and magic. With one last shudder and tug on his straining cock, Harry tipped over the edge into orgasm as he tried desperately to focus all of the rushing magic into tearing out the horcrux and flushing the taint of dark magic from his body.

He awoke clean and dry and lying in a bed in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey fussed at him, but it was the Headmaster that he was more interested in. When he was finally released, it was only to find himself summoned to Dumbledore's office.

Fawkes, oddly enough, was fascinated with Harry and not in a bad way. It was more that he demanded to be pet and cooed at. It actually made Harry wonder just what sort of magic a Phoenix used if the residual of sex magic got this reaction. On the other hand, being flirted at by a Phoenix was worth it to see Dumbledore relax.

"Well, from Fawkes' reaction, I guess I can assume that the ritual you performed wasn't dark."

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored the dish of lemon drops pushed towards him. "Just the opposite, actually." At Dumbledore's look, Harry waffled. "I don't know if I should trust you, sir."

Dumbledore seemed saddened, but not shocked. "Oh?"

Harry nodded and shrugged. "You look at me and you don't see Harry James, heir to the House of Potter. You see The-Boy-Who-Lived and I think you and Voldemort both believe that I am destined to fight him."

Dumbledore sighed. "I am sorry that you feel I would diminish you by seeing you only as a weapon or tool. The unfortunate thing is that I believe you to be completely correct in your assessment of Voldemort's thoughts. And if he chooses to involve you in his plans, there is little either of us can do but try and foil those plans."

He looked over his glasses at Harry, his eyes intense. "Your ritual, however, created a huge well of magic in the castle. It caught a lot of people's attention and some feared that it might be dangerous…"

The unasked question was clear. Harry quickly attempted to weigh the pros and cons of confessing and finally decided that a partial truth wouldn't hurt.

"My scar," Harry tapped his forehead, "has been entertaining me this past year with periodic migraine headaches. The pattern was easy enough to discern, when Voldemort was feeling extreme emotions or using the unforgivables, the magic and mental energy echoed in the curse scar. Obviously, the scar and the Dark Fool were linked somehow."

Harry shrugged and blushed, a sheepish expression creeping up his face.

"I found out, quite by accident mind you, that I can also affect Voldemort with strong emotions or strong bursts of Light magic. Teenage boys whose friends are willing to share their stack of porn tend to enjoy certain activities."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled madly even as he nodded his head. "Of course. Perfectly natural, if a tad embarrassing."

Harry smirked, "It was less embarrassing than shocking, actually. I discovered my new favorite sport and Voldemort discovered that migraines and convulsions are not pleasant."

"Ah," Harry could feel the amusement radiating from the Headmaster.

"That's like hitting two bludgers with one beater bat, innit? Who could resist the combination of messing up the Dark Toad's day and enjoying a good toss." Harry blinked, realized just who he said that too and blushed fiercely, "Um…sir."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even brighter, "Who indeed."

Harry coughed, blushed some more and cleared his throat. "After a while, I realized that whatever was linking my curse scar to Voldemort was…weakening. I did a little research and cobbled together that ritual in the hopes that it would shatter the link completely. As fun as giving him a headache might be, I don't fancy walking around with him having a little window into my thoughts and feelings. Or my magic."

The Headmaster's face grew serious once again. "And does it feel different now? Can you still sense this…link between you?"

Harry frowned and probed at it with his occlumency a bit. "Well…it is a bit sore, but I think that's from the link being shattered. I don't feel him, but he might have been injured from the ritual and is unconscious or something. I think I'd best wait a few days and just monitor it before assuming it's gone for good."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well. I wish you to keep me apprised if you sense any differences in the scar or if the link to Voldemort revives itself. If so, I can perhaps provide you with other options to try severing it."

One white bushy eyebrow rose up over the half-moon glasses, "Oh…and Harry. Please don't conduct anymore high level rituals outside of a properly shielded room."

Harry left the Headmaster's office blushing brightly, but at least he wasn't in trouble or being accused of performing immoral acts or something. He also felt pretty good physically and magically. And it was surprisingly good to open up to someone about a tiny part of the truth as well as connecting to Dumbledore. They had been close in his first life, but it was different this time. He wasn't under the Headmaster's thumb for one thing and for another there was a saddening lack of trust that went both ways.

Chapter 29 – Ordinary Wizarding Levels

It wasn't too long after his ritual that Hermione kicked everyone's arse into high gear and everyone began to study during all of their free time. They fell back on the pattern of quizzing each other and drilling together and sharing notes back and forth. As the exam dates got closer, several of them brewed up a few batches of pepper-up potion in order to function on less sleep. Even the Weasley twins let up on pranking as they prepared for their NEWT's.

When the big day finally arrived and they were scheduled for their first OWL, Hermione had needed a calming potion to get through it. Harry merely found it tiring and employed a combination of occlumency and pepper-up for the days and a good strong sleeping potion for at night. Luna and Ginny smirked at them the entire time. On the third day of testing one of the 7th year Ravenclaw's taking his NEWT's went off the rails and hexed half of the 1st and 2nd year students in his House for being too loud and disruptive. It took a combination of Professor Flitwick and Madam Pomfrey to get him straightened out and even after being dosed with a sleeping potion he was still heard to be muttering Silencio over and over.

No matter how traumatizing they were, the OWL's didn't last forever. A huge party rocked each of the four Houses on the last day and then everyone was packed off for home. Poor Draco didn't even get the opportunity to be a prat because Hermione hexed him as soon as he opened their train compartment door. Not to be outdone, the Patil twins, Susan and Luna hexed him as well. Ever practical, Neville levitated his unconscious body out of the way of the door so that it could be closed properly. Draco was left lying in the hallway.

Summer was excellent that year. The ward against the Death Eaters had been extremely popular and in demand. The Manor, the Cottage and the Primary had them added to the ward-schemes. More than half of Diagon Alley had them up, as did the Burrow, Susan's house and the offices of The Wizarding Times.

Surprisingly, Snape requested that he be allowed to stay in his little cell and suggested that the ward research be used to figure out a way to undo the Dark Mark. He wanted to be free of it as it pained him greatly whenever Voldemort summoned the Death Eaters.

Augusta, however, was not one to let a little thing like giant leaps in ward design, the first volleys of a new civil war or the busy schedule of running a large household and a thriving and well known school for magical children to get in the way of molding Harry and Neville into the proper pureblood Patriarchs that they were meant to be. Harry insisting that he was technically a halfblood didn't get him out of her plans.

As such, both boys found themselves in lessons on estate management, financial investing, politics and social obligations; including but not limited to refresher courses in dancing, dining etiquette and traditional wizarding fashions. Some of it was interesting and some of it was dead boring. That Augusta also scheduled several traditional soirées and parties to 'introduce' Harry and Neville to various cliques and members of society didn't really excite either boy. Since Sirius had been dragooned into attending them as well, he wasn't very sympathetic to their plight.

The part of Augusta's plans and lessons that intrigued both of them the most was that she had finally decided that they were mature enough to be allowed to learn of the full extent of the Potter and Longbottom assets. Augusta would still be in control until they had come of age, but that gave them two years to familiarize themselves with the full holdings.

Both families were quite well off. Neither were on the same financial level with the Malfoy, Yeates, or Greengrass families, but then few were. They did, however, match the same financial and social strata of the Parkinson, Black, Bones and Patil families. Directly below them on the wizarding hierarchy one could find the Nott, Wood, Diggory, Goyle, Turpin, Malkin, Dumbledore, Moody, Crouch and Fudge families. Beyond that were families such as Crabbe, Weasley, Flint, Umbridge, Carrow and Prince. Under that were families that were considered to be 'common' as they held little to no influence in either the financial, political or social circles.

The levels were easy enough to understand. The top two levels held influence and power in all three circles; money, politics and social. The differences between these two levels were in the scale. The level below the one that the Potter and Longbottom families enjoyed held influence in two circles while the one under that held influence in one circle. Families that held no influence at all were classed as 'common' instead of being a 'noble' family.

These lessons once again left Harry wishing that they were offered at Hogwarts or at least published in a series of books so that any that wished to learn of it could.

Everyone's plans came to a halt one day in mid-summer. Six owls arrived, four from Hogwarts with everyone's school letters. Nigel was so excited to finally get his invitation that he was bouncing off the walls and being a strange mix of annoying and adorable. The other two owls arrived from the Ministry's Department of Educational Standards. Nervous enough to be pale under his tan, Neville came up with the idea of he and Harry swapping results and reading the other's before their own. Harry didn't mind either way, so he agreed.

A= .5 OWL's

EE = 1 OWL

O = 1.5 OWL's

O+ = 2 OWL's

Harry James Potter

Theory / Practical

Charms O O+

Transfiguration EE O

Herbology EE EE

Potions EE O

Wards and Curses O O+

Identifying and Defending Against Dark Magic and Creatures O O

Dueling and Combat Magic O+ O+

Important Events in Magical History A

Important Discoveries and Advances in Magical Theory EE

Divination

Care of Magical Creatures EE O

Arithmancy EE

Ancient Runes EE

Muggle Studies

Astronomy A A

Subtotal OWL's 14.5 / 13.5

Total OWL's 14 OWL's

A= .5 OWL's

EE = 1 OWL

O = 1.5 OWL's

O+ = 2 OWL's

Neville Frank Longbottom

Theory / Practical

Charms EE O

Transfiguration EE EE

Herbology O+ O+

Potions EE O

Wards and Curses O O

Identifying and Defending Against Dark Magic and Creatures EE EE

Dueling and Combat Magic EE O

Important Events in Magical History EE

Important Discoveries and Advances in Magical Theory EE

Divination

Care of Magical Creatures O O

Arithmancy

Ancient Runes O

Muggle Studies EE

Astronomy EE EE

Subtotal OWL's 15.5 / 12.5

Total OWL's 14 OWL's

After they were done, an impatient Augusta demanded to see their results. She was nearly overwhelmed with pride and joy. She immediately floo'd Sirius and insisted he come over right away to see the boy's scores on their OWL's. Needless to say, Longbottom Manor was host to a rather small, but impromptu celebration.

Clearly, Hope and Nigel had a lot to live up to when it came their turn to take the OWL's. Still, it was nice to know that he had scored so much better this time around, even with the distractions of all of his side projects, clubs and Broom Racing. Without any of that mess to deal with, Harry was sure he could have turned those A's into EE's at least and perhaps even have made a few of the EE's into O's. In any event, his OWL scores were nothing to laugh at. Idly, he wondered how Ron and Hermione had done.

Chapter 30 – Sixth Year Begins

The first thing that needed doing to get the Sixth Year started off was to choose which NEWT's classes to take. Both he and Neville had been qualified to take almost everything. Selection would be based more on their interests than a limited list of what they were allowed. Notes from their friends suggested that most of them were in the same situation, although a few had limitations placed on their course selection. As NEWT's were expected to be so difficult, it was traditional that students only take up to seven classes. One could petition for more, but it wasn't recommended.

Harry chose the following; Charms, Transfiguration, Dueling and Combat Magic, Wards and Cursebreaking, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Potions. Neville's class selection was a bit different. He chose; Charms, Transfiguration, Dueling and Combat Magic, Herbology, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes.

Neville announced that he was very seriously considering applying for an apprenticeship or perhaps applying to a MagicalUniversity after Hogwarts. His ultimate goal was to obtain a Mastery in Magical Herbology. Augusta could have burst with pride over her brilliant and talented grandson. Harry's response of a shrug and the words, "Of course he's brilliant, he's a Longbottom," caused a lot of smiles and head nods of agreement from the various distant relatives gathered for tea.

Harry, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do with this lifetime. Being an Auror was out. Been there and done that. Of course he had to finish off Voldemort first, but after that he was unsure. He mentioned that he was hovering between an interest in becoming a professional dueler on the international Dueling Circuit or perhaps becoming a cursebreaker. Sirius' suggestion that he do both, first by dueling and then retiring to the field of cursebreaking afterwards. It was food for thought.

The train ride that year was pretty fun. Hope took the time to introduce her brother Nigel around and Neville turned bright red when Padma obviously decided that she was once again interested in the Longbottom heir and flirted outrageously with him. Poor Neville turned as scarlet as the stripes in his Gryffindor tie.

That Susan Bones seemed to have come to the same conclusion about the Potter heir wasn't nearly as amusing. Harry was caught between the fact that Susan had quite a delightfully curvy figure combined with his intimate knowledge of just how wonderful a warm witch in an amorous mood could be and the fact that he was mentally old enough to be her grandfather. Her fluttering eyelashes and heaving bosom were enough to stiffen a certain part of his anatomy and make it drool. On the other hand, her shy glances and innocent blushes made him want to smack himself for being a randy old perv.

Neville found his flustered and conflicted anxiety to be quite hilarious.

The Welcoming Feast was delightful and excellent as always. Of course, Neville and Harry might have appreciated it more if they hadn't been in total shock. Nigel, unlike the two of them and Hope, was not sorted into Gryffindor. Instead, the youngest Longbottom had been sorted into Hufflepuff. He had at first seemed crushed, but recovered his happiness much faster than his older siblings and cousin. It could have been the other four Hufflepuff boys that engaged him in conversation or that long time family friend Susan Bones had offered to look out for him personally.

In the end, they came to accept the sorting and reassured Nigel that they didn't have anything against Hufflepuff House. In fact, many of their closest friends were 'Puffs. It was more that they had looked forward to spending time with him in the Common Room. Nigel being in Hufflepuff and separate years meant that they would have far less time to spend with him.

Draco Malfoy, of course, took this as an opportunity to tease and harass the Longbottom children. Harry, not in the mood for petty spitefulness, stepped in and commented, "I thought that Slytherin's were supposed to be cunning and savvy?"

At everyone's blank looks and the attention of most of the Great Hall he continued loudly, "It doesn't seem too cunning to me. I mean, what is the purpose of deliberately alienating and offending 1/4th of the school's population? Especially when you know that more than half of the remaining students would willingly leap to their defense. Is this some obscure plan to make sure everyone realizes that you are an ill-mannered buffoon or did you simply wish to make yourself an outcast with the majority of your peers?"

Draco didn't seem to enjoy being snickered at, talked about or jeered by said peers if his brightly flushed face and his dramatics in turning on his heels and stomping away was any indication.

There were some who had thought Harry was too confrontational and bordering on rude. It was pointed out that his words could be construed as the beginnings of a feud due to their inflammatory nature and public airing. Harry didn't quite care.

With a shrug he simply stated, "I don't rightly care what the spoilt and nasty child of a murdering Death Eater wants or needs. If he desires to raise a wand against me, he'll find himself biting off more than he can chew. To be honest, I found his words to be inflammatory and equal to the start of a feud. He publicly attacked my family with his vile words and I won't stand for that."

Enjoying his public soapbox he continued with, "Helga Hufflepuff was an amazing witch who founded her House on the values of loyalty, hard work, teamwork and cooperation, Light magic and honesty. Nigel should be proud to be a chosen member of her House and the Longbottom and Potter lines are equally proud to call him family. Malfoy's public show of disrespect and cruelty was uncalled for and quite frankly, it was beneath his station."

Hufflepuff House gave him a standing ovation with the majority of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw nodding and clapping in agreement. Surprisingly and encouragingly, a good portion of Slytherin seemed to also be in agreement. Whether that was to avoid being seen to be against so many of their peers and thus alienating themselves, or because they truly agreed with Harry was left up to debate.

Harry's public impromptu speech had some interesting side-effects.

For one thing, Nigel Longbottom immediately became the most instantly recognizable first year since Harry himself. He soon had a large circle of friends from all four Houses. The Gryffindor firsties insisted that he was an honorary Gryff and were more than happy to pass notes and messages to Nigel from his family since they saw him the most by virtue of sharing classes.

The second thing was that Hufflepuff House enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. Recent decades had dimmed their House reputation by being seen as the House of 'duffers' that only got the students not good enough to be sorted elsewhere. Harry was sure that was a Slytherin tactic meant to try and fix their own reputation by dragging down the other Houses. Harry publicly listing their virtues so soon after Cedric Diggory won the Tri-Wizard Tournament was a blatant reminder that there were real and important reasons that a person might or might not be sorted into Hufflepuff.

Thirdly, Susan Bones seemed to be quite enamored of Harry on the train, but after his little speech she was even more determined to win his heart. Harry found himself on the receiving end of giggles, longing gazes and lots of blushes. In truth, she inspired a few delightful wank sessions that only led to Harry feeling guilty and perverted.

The fourth, and possibly the best side-effect, was that the four Houses seemed to be much more unified with fewer incidents of cross-House hexing and sabotage. He could only hope that this wasn't a temporary situation and would be the start of a new trend. Ron wasn't too thrilled with the idea of socializing with Slytherins. Both Harry and Neville pointed out that it was human nature to seek companionship and if the Slytherins didn't find it with Light wizards and witches that they would turn to the Dark as the only other option. Ron didn't seem to agree. He felt that Slytherin equaled Dark Magic and evil. Harry assured him that the vast majority of eleven year olds, the age everyone was sorted at, were not evil or Dark. They turned that way over the course of time. Ron simply raised an eyebrow and changed the subject.