End of a long year

Hours passed in the Room of Requirement before Oz finally woke up and when he did he still felt extremely weak. The materials involved and the fact he unintentionally used dragon-tongue was mostly the reason for the backlash of this ritual.

Slowly picking himself up he walked over to the wand that laid on the floor. This wand would be his new partner from here onwards.

'With this all my tasks for this year are finished...'.

As Oz picked up the wand, he could still feel both parts of his previous wands imbued into this new beast. The wand in comparison to the two formers however was much, much more to his liking. While his connection with his two prior wands were not weak, this wand that combined both seemed to be connected to him even more deeply, even on a bloodline level.

At the beginning of the ritual when Oz dripped blood onto the stone, he thought that dripping blood would serve as an axis for both wands to connect to, creating the array of Wand<->Stone<->Wand but it would seem that every part of the ritual was planned out in order to create a partner that would be tied to you much more deeply than normal.

Pointing the wand forward, Oz casted a couple spells that he could manage right now in his state. Even though the spells he used were weak due to the backlash of the ritual, he could feel the flow of magic was much smoother and the incantation time was far faster.

With this test, Oz was fully satisfied with the wand he had created. While having two wands were cool for the time he had them, it was a crutch in the long run as noted by Dumbledore. The best part about this wand was the fact that it was perfectly balanced between Light and Dark, allowing for spells of both categories to be used to their utmost potential. As for the philosophers stones role in this fusion, Oz hadn't fully understood what the catalyst itself had brought to this newly born wand of his. This was something he'd have to look into in the future.

Oz was extremely elated for a while, looking at his wand in adoration before his mind suddenly snapped back to reality.

'Shit... I'm gonna be late for classes'.

With that thought Oz immediately dashed out of the RoR.

.

"Hmm... It seems Ambrosius is still not here...".

The one lesson Oz had to be late for after an eventful night was a potions lesson. Snape looked around the room with a scowl painted on his face.

"Taplin and Chang, You're usually with that anti-social brat. Any clue where he is?".

Craig and Cho both looked at each other in confusion before replying to the professor. Craig taking the initiative to reply.

"No sir... He's always been a bit secretive with things so we never know what he's up to and only ever see him during our study sessions. Its not like him to miss a lesson though... Maybe he's sick or something?".

Cho reinforced Craig's response with a nod.

"He did look awfully pale the last I saw him".

Snape looked at the two with a cold stare, he could tell they were trying to cover for Oz.

'That boy? Ill? Highly unlikely...'.

Just as Snape was about to start the lesson without Oz, Oz finally turned up at the potion classrooms door. His face look haggard and he was still pale from the backlash he received from the fusion ceremony.

"There you are Ambro-".

Snape stopped mid-sentence when he saw the boys condition. He really was in a bad state.

"You fool, if you're actually ill you should take yourself to the hospital ward not into one of my lessons interrupting me!".

Oz looked at his head of house with a cheeky grin, the successes of last night had put him in a good move alleviating his usually anti-social behaviour.

"I'm fine professor just continue with the lesson".

Oz walked through the potion classroom with a lot of questioning stares pointed at him, eventually sitting down next to Craig.

"What happened to you Ozzy? You always give off an all powerful vibe but right now its like your batteries are out".

Oz gave a small smile to Craig.

"I just had an eventful night, Everything's fine now though".

Cho from across the table gave Oz a questioning stare.

"I heard that Harry was sent to the hospital ward... You also turn up next day to a lesson looking ill, are the situations connected at all?".

Oz looked at Cho slightly exasperated.

'She isn't in ravenclaw for no reason piecing that together so quickly... Ill just go with the story I told Pomfrey'.

"Me and Harry were testing spells in the Slytherin dungeons, both of our spells backlashed at one point leaving us both ill/injured. Harry got the worse end of the stick though...".

Looking in Cho's eyes, it was clear she didn't believe Oz for a second of his story. She eventually sighed just accepting that Oz wasn't going to give the full details. As Oz was talking however, Snape took this opportunity to hit him in the back of the head.

"You turn up late and now talk in the middle of my lessons!? 10 points from Slytherin! and you'll have detention later as well".

Oz heaved a sigh as he accepted his punishment. For the rest of this year he could just take it slow as a normal student.

.

{This parts essentially a mini synopsis of the year}

Weeks passed leading up to the end of the school year. Many things had changed again since the beginning. Oz had met Harry, Hermione and Ron at the beginning of the year on the train and that one meeting changed everything that happened. He saw different groups form from the original work and also saw Harry Potter be placed in Slytherin of all places. He himself also grew exponentially as he gained an Animagus form of a dragon. He even managed to back Dumbledore into a corner, enough for the old man to finally accept him as a non-threat. He even used Rita Skeeter to mess up the Malfoys, Dumbledore and also the goblins in Gringotts that sold his identity as a descendant of Merlin.

He also finally got rid of the Salazar portrait under his rooms fireplace, now leaving him with a nice study which he frequented when he wasn't up for a walk to the RoR.

It was certainly a long year for Oz, but an extremely successful one. What was even better was that he had a clear path ahead now for the summer to come. In addition, he also had a vague idea on what he wanted to do next year at Hogwarts seeing as 'that' would appear.

As the weeks approached the years end, he would stick to a simple daily schedule. Go to lessons and use the RoR or his study to train/learn. Mainly at the moment, he was interested in potions as he noticed his core wasn't going to advance anytime soon. To break into the third step, the step that Dumbledore, Voldemort and Grindelwald were in, he'd need his own catalyst. Oz already knew what he would use as a catalyst for his own growth though it would take some time to prepare.

Oz had reached a level where he could cast most spells with a wand, especially after fusion. After the fusion itself, people started to notice Oz's changed wand as it looked almost bewitching to the eye. Oz offered no explanation and just stated that he had some make some 'improvements'. His wandless spells still needed some work to catch up, Something he could focus on when he had spare time. As for his Animagus form, he sometimes would use the RoR to make a room big enough to fit it and try to get a feel for using the form. At first he found it weird becoming a beast with for limbs and wings however with practice he was able to eventually get to a point where he was mobile.

As for Harry, he made a full recovery and went back to causing hijinks with Daphne, much to Hermione's dismay. Study sessions would still happen including the entire gang up to that point being Oz, Cho, Craig, Harry, Hermione and Daphne. Sometimes during study sessions however, Oz would see a girl stealing looks at him from across the room. As a matter of fact, he'd spotted this girl multiple times throughout the year steal glances. Oz on one session decided to ask everyone what he should do and received mixed responses.

Craig: "Dude she's totally into you! Go and talk to her!".

Cho: "She's probably just bewitched by those purple eyes of--- Nothing!".

Hermione: "Maybe she wants to join our group? After all, our scores have all improved after being tutored by Oz!".

Harry and Daphne both followed up with some ideas of catching her off guard, Daphne leading the conversation as usual.

Hearing all these responses Oz decided to shelf asking these guys anything ever again. As for the girl, he left her alone. Surely she'd approach him at one point and not just keep staring at him...

.

"Oz... are you sure you don't want to come to mine over the summer? I heard last year you were stuck in Diagon alley!".

It was the train journey back to London as the school year had ended finally. Oz looked at Cho who was asking him this question.

"I appreciate the offer Cho but I got some things I want to do... Don't worry, I have enough money to support myself until next term".

Cho let out a small sigh as she accepted that Oz wouldn't budge when his mind was set. Oz turned to his side looking at both Harry and Hermione.

"I was surprised when I heard you'd be staying over Hermione's all summer though Harry! I imagine you'll find it incredibly weird in comparison to your time at that shithole home you had before".

Daphne across from Harry was biting her nails as she said.

"Grrrr... why did that old man pick her household instead of mine...".

Harry looked at Daphne with a grin.

"We can always meet up in the summer Daphne, or at least send letters".

Finishing that sentence he turned to Hermione.

"Thanks again Hermione... Although apparently Vernon's been prosecuted, petunias still there with Dudley and I doubt she'd be happy to see me after putting her husband in jail...".

After news had gotten out about Harry's abuse in the Wizard world, news quickly travelled to the muggle world as some avid fans of Harrys or at least, some witches and wizards who felt bad for the boy took it upon themselves to get Vernon persecuted. Harry only received news of what had happened to Vernon near the end of the year as Dumbledore explained to him that he'd be staying at the Granger's house this summer instead of his own home.

Hermione smiled at Harry as she accepted his thanks.

"Well Dumbledore did request my parents to allow this so there's no need to worry, take my home as yours this summer Harry!".

Oz had also heard of this situation just before leaving Hogwarts. Apparently Dumbledore had approached the Grangers about Harry nearer to the end of the year. Seeing as though it was Dumbledore who arranged it, Oz imagined that the man had put in a number of contingencies in order to make Harrys stay at the Granger's household as safe as possible. Eventually though as the years progressed, summers would become more and more dangerous for Harry. He may eventually have to go back to the Dursleys, unless Oz took it upon himself to protect the boy.

Knowing Dumbledore's obsession for the boy though and the fact that he always held goodwill towards him, albeit sometimes going too far, Oz felt content with this setup and felt that Harry would be in good hands.

Craig finally chimed in on the conversation.

"So where are you even going Oz? You're pretty famous in the wizard world right now... Are you just planning on travelling around or something? That could be dangerous now...".

Oz smiled hearing Craig's worried thoughts.

"I have a set destination don't worry. I'll probably be in Diagon alley for a bit to clean up some... mess first. Ill send letters to you all still during the summer, however if im late on replying just take it as im extremely busy".

The five others in the compartment all looked at each other with slightly confused and aggrieved looks. While they were dying to know what Oz would be up to, it was obvious he wasn't going to tell them.

Looking out the window of the train travelling towards London, Oz had a smile on his face.

'After one stop of Diagon alley, ill be going straight there...'.

Oz touched his ring on his finger as he made a mental note of his destination.

'Stonehenge...'.

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A long chapter to end of Volume 3, A lot happened in this volume and I even took a long break near the end. Before I start the next volume I may try and write a synopsis on Oz's strength.

I tried in this chapter as well to include some more interpersonal relationships however I'm not the best at writing dialogue between characters... hopefully something I can improve on in the future!

Thanks all for reading to this point, The next volume will be shorter than this one but will have a character return after so so long... however the one after is going to be very VERY long with what I have planned before 'that' tournament.