Chapter 10 – Return to normalcy

Harry had had a wonderful holiday, for the first time he could remember. He'd learned a lot, which was something he enjoyed, but he also got some sun, while enjoying a beautiful beach in Spain, while Poppy was busy with some stuffy conference about medical procedures and the bureaucracy involved with being a healer. Harry had attended one, as a guest, but had found it less than enlightening, and quite frustrating, when they tried to put him with other kids, and decided to hang out with Beth, who took him to said beach, and indulged in tropical drinks, under an umbrella, in a secluded cove they'd found.

Harry had obviously gone overboard, when he decided to build a sandcastle. For one, he could actually enter the giant structure, and added everything from swinging doors to staircases and functional balconies. Beth had encouraged him, after securing their location, and joined in on the fun. It would not do to be spotted, after all. She'd even taken her seat up to the fourth-floor, and relaxed in a hot-water pool up there, which she'd cleaned using a rune-array that kept water clean, while he continued to add everything from a moat to a drawbridge.

He had exhausted the orb, while he was playing, and went halfway through his own reserves, which he needed to funnel into and through the orb, too, but it was totally worth it, in his opinion, when, in one of his final acts, he added colour to everything, to make it look like he'd built an actual castle. Beth had had the forethought to bring a camera, and they ended up taking a lot of pictures, to show off for Poppy.

Harry had felt a bit of sadness, when he needed to bring the whole thing down, before they left, though. Still, he counted it as a good memory.

The sunburn he'd gotten, not so much. Poppy had taken the opportunity to help him figure out how to fix it, using his model. She liked learnable moments, like that. Harry seldom gave her opportunities like that, and she loved being the stern parental figure, who made him fix it himself, rather than just using a salve she had.

They explored the Spanish magical world, and bought a few books, just for fun. One of them was even one on how brooms were supposed to work. It was in Spanish, but the latest book to Harry's mental collection, a Spanish to English dictionary, had started translating the language for him, after it finished creating a reference table. He couldn't speak the language this way, but he could read it, and make out what people said, after a bit of a delay, for translation.

III-III

When they returned home, it was more fun with learning and sharing ideas. By the time school was meant to start, Harry had basically finished ancient runes, with an eye on a project to turn in to Beth, so that she could see what he could do. She'd predicted that he could achieve mastery, but he'd also spent time on private projects that he didn't tell them about.

He'd not stopped learning about arithmancy, either, though he tended to sneak a bit of work into that subject, at night, before bed, but only after a few games of poker with the hat, which was their current favourite. His system had impressed even him, when he realised it was working on arithmancy for him, automatically, so he was usually just playing catch-up, while he learned as it went. He needed to spend some time testing things that the system came up with, to further his studies and to know how things would work, based on the findings the system was generating, but there was quite a bit of progress there, already. He even had an idea for a self-propagating spell, which would be damn scary if it ever fell into the wrong hands, but which he'd applied the basic version for, when he'd worked on turning the quidditch pitch into a pool.

That secret was firmly hidden in his mind, under multiple protections, though. No chance was he allowing that one to be discovered. He'd actually taken advantage of a flawed spell he'd tried to make, which had had the side-effect of growing, by using ambient magic. It hadn't performed the function he'd wanted, but the building effect was something he'd studied a bit. It turned out that he'd accidentally discovered something that would have been taught in later books, and was warned against, but because he could control his magic in a new way, it wasn't such a risk, and he'd be able to take advantage of it, with the correct mechanisms.

Harry had had time to see his friends, too, usually under supervision, and at the friend's houses. Longbottom Manor was a bit stuffy for Harry, with opulence, but in an ancient style. Hermione's house, however, had a homey feeling, and he'd enjoyed swimming in their pool, and being a kid, with Hermione.

By the time Hogwarts was meant to start again, Harry had bonded more deeply with both Poppy and Beth, and they'd formed a strange sort of family unit. Beth acted like a bratty older sister, to Harry, and Poppy played the part of a strict, but lovable maternal figure, while still treating Beth as a friend. Beth and Harry had redefined their agreement, too. She could now do whatever she wanted, as long as it was kept 'in the family', as it were, and as long as she didn't intend to do harm.

Harry had also finally figured out part of the mental communication. It wasn't perfect yet, with needing to send a sound to another person, which you still needed to speak aloud, but it was better than nothing. There was obviously a bit of a delay, in waiting for replies, because you couldn't hear responses live, at this point, and since it wasn't based in real mental communication, it was still technically slower that writing a message, in the perceived time that the interface allowed, which meant that the sound-based version was seldom used, unless you really wanted to convey emotional inflection, something that was sometimes hard, in writing.

He'd tried to use the Hedwig system to help with that, considering he could sort-of hear, and understand her, but unfortunately, that part was done on her side, and wouldn't work for the application he wanted to achieve.

Still, after the holiday, Poppy needed to be back in Hogwarts, a week early, just like Beth, so Harry had gone with them, and taken up residence in Poppy's chambers, for the week preceding school. That had obviously allowed his inner prankster to shine, since he had the perfect opportunity to explore and find the other houses' common rooms. He'd even gone to explore the no-longer forbidden third floor and finished his mental map.

During this week, Dumbledore decided to visit with Harry a few times. They talked about the holiday, and what they'd done. Dumbledore was light on details, which was normal, and Harry was too, which was expected. Still, they chatted and even laughed a few times. It seemed the old man had had a change of heart and was more than willing to just be a respected elder. He looked through the pictures of Harry's sandcastle, with a bit of awe and wonder, and laughed at hearing Harry had added secret passageways, that he'd forgotten to take pictures of. He even helped Harry learn some transfiguration. He'd loved teaching again, and his plans to resign as headmaster, and return to teaching, became that much more solidified in his head. In just a few short years, he'd be done. He'd wait until Voldemort was properly taken care of first, though.

Dumbledore had had a welcome surprise, once he'd started working on getting Sirius freed, in the fact that the occupants of the portraits had all come back, and Fawkes had deigned to look at him, again. Things were feeling much more normal, to the old man, and he had some hope that things were turning around. He'd even had a meeting with Sirius, in which he learned some interesting things, namely, the fact that James Potter and his friends had become animagi. Dumbledore would be spending a lot of time looking for ways to find the rat.

III-III

When the Hogwarts Express showed up, Harry was waiting for his friends. He wasn't standing out in the open, but he wanted to see his friends, and watched until he spotted them, and went to greet them.

"I thought you may already be here." Hermione said, smiling as she hugged him. "Madam Pomphrey needed to be here early, didn't she?" she asked.

"We came back, last week." Harry agreed. "I took the time to explore and stuff. I have the third floor on the map, now, too, along with the locations of the other houses' common rooms."

"Did you find anything interesting?" Neville asked.

"A few." Harry said. "One that looks like it could be interesting, up on the seventh floor. There's a large room up there, but no entrance. I'm guessing it's hidden or needs a special occasion or circumstance to open."

"How do you know it's there?" Neville asked, frowning.

"There's a void there." Harry said. "A space that isn't an outside wall, which will obviously have something." Harry said, shrugging. "I've not tried too hard, since it may have been sealed up, for a reason, but I am curious. If I find no reference to it, I may just end up drilling through the wall, to see for myself."

"Don't damage the school." Hermione reprimanded. "You could get in trouble or expelled."

Harry shrugged, noncommittally. Actually, he really wanted to get in there because he'd found something that worried him.

"They wouldn't throw Harry out." Neville said. "He's got Madam Pomphrey to stand up for him."

"And Professor Babbling." Hermione huffed. She knew Harry. He'd not have wasted the opportunity, and likely already started learning ancient runes from the woman. She was more than a little jealous about that.

"Beth's cool." Harry said, smirking at the girl.

"Beth?" Neville asked.

"Bathsheda doesn't like people calling her 'Bath', for short." Harry chuckled. "So, she encourages 'Beth'. Apparently, people always get it wrong, on their own, so she prefers Professor Babbling, just Babbling, or Beth. I call her that, because she's cool that way."

"Cool." Neville said, smiling. He wasn't the smartest, but he could see Harry was happier, than last year. He was more animated, and friendly. "So, the rest of your holiday was good?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry said, nodding emphatically. "Yours?" he asked. "Any more formal events and stuffy balls?"

"Two." Neville sighed, losing his smile. "Gran must think I'm going to need connections to make it in the magical world, because she stuffed as many social events in as she could."

"What do you expect? She's an old pureblood battle-axe." Harry said, smirking. "Seriously, that woman scares even me. I wouldn't want to face her on a battlefield. She's got a presence. She could likely just command a war to stop, with that imperious look of hers, and they would, and I swear, I once saw that vulture turning its head to look at me."

"It doesn't, supposedly, but I've seen it too." Neville said, shivering. "Freaks me out, when that happens."

"So, does it?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"Yes." Both Harry and Neville said, nodding. They looked at each-other, then, and smiled. Hermione smiled too. She liked her two best friends getting along.

"Where's Trevor?" Harry asked, then.

"I set him up in a greenhouse, back home." Neville said, sighing. "He's getting a bit old, and I read up on toads, after you suggested it. A cold castle is no place for a toad. Gran's considering getting me an owl, to bring next year."

Harry nodded, in understanding, before he turned to Hermione. "And you? Any interesting things?"

"Not much, really." Hermione admitted. "I don't really have friends, back home, so I studied, mostly. I've read through all the schoolbooks and spent the rest of my time on learning… that thing we promised we would." she finished, in a whisper. Occlumency, obviously.

"Any progress, there?" Harry asked.

"I think I'm to the point, where I should be able to detect someone entering my mind…" Hermione said, frowning. "It's not something I can test, though."

"I've got an idea for that." Harry said. The hat would likely not mind checking, which it mentally confirmed. "We'll get to that later, though." he promised.

The friends made it back to the castle, and Harry said hello to a few other friends and acquaintances.

The sorting happened, as was normal, with the hat taking his moment in the spotlight, before the new professor was introduced. Harry already didn't like Lockhart. Just one look at him, and his lie image lit up. He still called them images, but Beth insisted on calling them icons. She'd gone and picked up a book 'Computers for Dummies' and had since started talking about the interface like a computer she needed to program applications for. Harry had obviously added a copy of that into his ever-expanding collection of mental books, for himself to use, and sometimes he slipped, using the computing terminology. He actually suspected that the system was using the information on computers, to encourage such thoughts, but he wasn't certain.

Ginny Weasley, apparently Ron's youngest sibling, was sorted into Gryffindor. The hat had seemed amused, but Harry didn't know why. He'd soon find out, though, when the girl stammered and blushed, when he was around. It seemed she was one of those fans. Harry didn't know, nor would he want to know, if she was also a fanatic, who believed all those story books.

The feast was enjoyed, and pretty soon, people were back in their common rooms, with friends catching up and the first years going to explore their new accommodations. Unfortunately, this meant that Harry couldn't discuss anything private with them, but he wanted to speak to Poppy first, anyway.

They continued talking about their holiday, their plans for the year, and the new professor. Apparently, he was quite famous, and witches everywhere were swooning over the man. Hermione didn't seem immune, either, as she gushed on about the prescribed reading, which was all of his written works. That didn't mean Harry had purchased them. Frankly, after finding out about the 'curse' on DADA, Harry had already made up his mind to study on his own. There were many books on defence, and he'd actually read and copied most of the ones he'd found.

In fact, he'd copied all of the core subjects all the way up to seventh year. A lot of the spells for charms and defence were simple ones that took only understanding and practice to cast, and he hadn't tried them all, but he was sure he could cast most of them, already. He'd already started programming the spells into his spell-system. The hat had started calling it Harry's Grimoire, which was an old word for book of spells, but it also had an occult feel to it. A mystery, which meant it could contain anything. Most people would react with speculation or suspicion, when someone mentioned their Grimoire.

Subjects like herbology were simple to memorize, before class, and he only needed the experience of working with the plants, for him to solidify that knowledge. Astronomy was a learning subject, with memorizing charts, stars and constellations being the most he'd ever needed to do. He cheated with that, though, considering he could just pull up charts from the book, as he wrote the tests. The same thing for History of Magic, really. It wasn't cheating really, because he didn't intend on removing the books. He'd always have access to them, so he reasoned that he'd not need to waste his time studying them.

Transfiguration still needed some understanding, though, because it wasn't as simple as pointing a stick and turning one thing into another. Sometimes you needed to go between living to inanimate, and back, so it was at least more challenging than other subjects, and Harry enjoyed that sort of challenge. Still, with his work on modelling and visualization, he was easily at the top of that class, and usually he ended up doing things correctly on the first try, after taking a bit of time to visualize things completely, still using the interface.

When he was bored, he started working on something he'd only recently thought of. He had access to his memories, neatly sorted, and very easily accessible because of occlumency, and he had access to his interface, something he could use to display and share information. Thus, why could he not show memories to people? Such a thing would be very useful, after all.

That turned out to be a quick and easy trick, though. Considering he'd already figured out how to make sounds connect to people's eardrums, through the use of a model of eardrums and targeted connection system, he'd just needed to figure out how to project his memories onto the interface, which took his intent from him like it was the most natural thing to do. The only problem he had, was that the interface looked where his eyes did, so it moved quite erratically, at times. People don't realise how much their eyes shift, in the act of looking at a scene.

Still, when Lockhart started acting like a buffoon in class, and tried to single Harry out, he'd been able to share that memory with Poppy, who'd taken it upon herself to go talk to the man. Then, she went to talk to Dumbledore. He'd sympathised, but he hadn't been the person to hire the man. That had been the action of the school board. It was not uncommon, considering the fate that often befell the Professors for DADA.

III-III

Harry had spoken to Poppy, and she'd agreed that if he thought Neville and Hermione were ready, that he could introduce them more thoroughly to his system and start teaching them how to use it.

So, that weekend, they were all in Poppy's infirmary, discussing things, and Harry ended up showing them his interface again, and some more of what it could do, but only after Hedwig flew in, delivering the hat, again. It had even asked her for a lift, again. The hat was chuckling on arrival, too, because the headmaster was in his office, this time, when the owl flew in, through a window, and simply went to pick the hat up. Dumbledore had apparently been caught off guard, expecting a letter, or message, from Harry, perhaps. Not for the bird to steal the hat. It did explain how the hat had ended up at their house, over the holiday, though.

The plan with Harry's friends, however, was to show them something specific, first. He set them up with copies of his occlumency system, which he'd also shared with Poppy and Beth, and helped them visualise and produce an image of their magical reserves, which Harry then needed to show them how to control, because the occlumency system could potentially drain them, and they needed to know how to stop that, or how to limit the power it used.

Hermione's volume control was a slider, rather than a knob, and Harry liked it so much, he instantly changed some of his to be the same. The spells he'd programmed, worked better as a knob for him, though, because they were easy to visualise as being both a knob and a button.

Hermione had been amazed at most of this, obviously, and Poppy had needed to take some time explaining why certain magics, like this, were claimed and protected by magic and conditions of use. Obviously, the chance for harming oneself, was tremendous, as had already been proven. There needed to be some sort of protection and overwatch, even though Poppy herself was still reasonably new to it. She did know the dangers, though, and they'd spent a lot of time working on the system.

Poppy had requested that she be the one to monitor Hermione's interface, because she was a girl, and there was always the possibility that she was doing something private, which Harry really didn't want to think about, so he allowed it. He'd be in charge of monitoring Neville.

Poppy would be informing Hermione, in private, that she'd already thought of certain uses, which were meant for women, during certain situations, which she'd already started using for her own comfort and convenience. She'd not shared that with Harry, obviously, because she knew he'd likely understand, not complain, and not want to know. He already knew the physiological differences between men and women, due to his studies into the human body, but he had the information in clinical terms, not the emotional effects that certain things had on women.

Beth obviously already benefitted from those female tricks, and she'd thanked Poppy for the use, more than once, already. Beth was currently contemplating how one would share such a system, without giving all and sundry access to the entire system. Perhaps an item, which has a form of magical storage, which could house a partial system, with specific functionality?

Neville had been mostly mystified by the system, not having heard of, nor seen anything like it. Harry and Hermione had needed to explain certain concepts to him, and Harry had followed some of his examples up by showing memories of those things. That had Hermione salivating at the possibilities of the system. That, and the books. Harry would not be sharing his whole collection with her, though. He'd taken time to build his collection, and he was proud of the achievement. He had no doubt that her collection would quickly grow to rival, and maybe even exceed his own, but he'd felt justified in denying that request, and she'd respected that. She'd spend the next few weeks working on perfecting her own version of the same, which would help her acclimate to the system and how it worked.

Harry had also not explained his automatic referencing system. That was his achievement, too, and he didn't want to share it, simply because he was possessive of the idea, and his unique application.

This was all only possible, due to Harry granting them access, on the condition that it stayed between them. That meant, no using the system in such a way that someone else could notice, or see, with anything that could be traced back to either the system, or him, except in situations of dire need, like emergencies. For everything else, if they could get away with it, go for it.

In fact, Harry wanted them to try and invent new uses, be they benign, or fantastic. They just needed to be careful and learn how to stop anything that they were attempting, before the attempt. There was no instruction manual for this, yet, and learning through experimenting, meant that they would eventually come to different road-blocks, which would just end up teaching them more.

Neville had only really grasped the value of the magic, once Harry shared that year's school books, excluding Lockhart's of course. He had quickly learned to access the books, and then navigate them, without moving a hand, as Harry tended to do. This meant that he could keep a book open, during practical exercises, or while he was brewing a potion. Harry hadn't said it, but Neville had realised how useful such a thing would be during tests. Hermione had realised it, too, but she'd not mentioned anything in front of Poppy. She intended to ask later.

When they had most of the basic functionality down, and Harry and Poppy confirmed that they were at a good starting location, they left, so that they could discuss the really important things.

"I'm copying the entire Hogwarts library!" Hermione exclaimed, as she hugged Harry.

"I'm just glad I can look at the books, during tests." Neville said.

"That's cheating!" Hermione countered.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Why?" Hermione asked, not understanding.

"Why is it cheating?" Harry asked.

"Because if you can just read the answers, why would you ever learn anything?" Hermione said.

"If we have the books with us, always, and can quickly and easily look something up, why would we want to memorise things?" Harry asked. "I'm never going to use astronomy, outside of school. Why would I want to memorise star charts and constellations?"

"The information might be useful later." Hermione said. "You can't just cheat, just because you can get away with it!"

"Of course, I can." Harry said. "And the fact of the matter is, with the occlumency, I'm basically memorizing everything, anyway. The only reason that I keep the books, is because we aren't supposed to memorise every book. We're meant to learn parts of them, as the professors instruct us. I learn more than the professors suggest, and I like having references to other things, because they give me more of an understanding.

"I studied further into herbology, last year, because it helped me with potions. I even have a couple of higher-grade books, because they go into more details. The professors sometimes just tell us to follow instructions, but I need to understand why we do things a certain way, so that I don't stall, when something goes wrong."

"Wait, Occlumency helps you learn?" Neville asked. That was all he really took away from that. He didn't want to understand everything, like Harry and Hermione. Learning more easily would be something he'd enjoy, though.

"It's one of the features of the discipline." Harry said. "As the occlumency program sorts your memories and mind, it will increase your ability to access those memories. I basically have a photographic memory now, but fortunately, only when I want to. I wouldn't want to remember everything that ever happens to me in such vivid detail."

Hermione's eyes had gone wider, as she heard that. Then, she decided to suck it up. If they wanted to cheat, that was their problem. She doubted Neville would do that, if his memory got better.

Neville was all smiles now. Not only had he discovered that he was powerful for a kid his age, due to his magical reserves being above the norm for children his age, but he'd also been handed an easier time with his studies. He had no idea how he'd use this system, but he'd follow Harry's example, and play with it. When he saw something he wanted to be able to do, he'd see if he could add something to the system. He got the idea of images that opened functions, but he would still need a bit of time figuring it out.

"So, what are you two planning on starting on?" Harry asked.

"I'm going to allow more magic into the Occlumency system." Hermione said. "I think it makes sense for Neville and I to let that finish, first, before we do other things. I can see what you meant about keeping this a secret, and I don't want there to ever be a reason for me to lose access to it."

Neville nodded, thinking she was right, but he had another thing he wanted, needed, to do. "Harry, I gave you my word, and I think it's time." he said, as he pulled out his wand. He pointed at his finger, and concentrated, as he touched the wand to his finger. When he lifted the wand, a small bead of blood formed on his finger.

Harry saw that and understood. He did the same.

"For access to the claimed magic of House Potter, I, Neville Longbottom, Heir of House Longbottom, hereby accept Harry Potter, Heir of House Potter, as my brother, in blood." Neville said, as he lifted his finger, and pointed it at Harry, who touched his finger to Neville's and their blood mixed. "May our act of mixing blood, be accepted by magic, as a sign of our friendship, and the loyalty that family should show, in times of peace, and war. His secrets are mine to protect, as I hope he will protect my own."

"I, Harry James Potter, Heir of House Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, hereby accept Neville Longbottom, as an equal, and promise to be his brother, keep his secrets, as he keeps mine, and stand with him in times of peace, and war." Harry said. There was a small feeling of magic, like a spark that had connected Harry and Neville, for a split-second, but nothing was seen. The other two looked at Harry in shock, while he used his wand to fix his finger, and then he did the same for Neville, who was looking at him slack-jawed. "Yeah, that's something I'd like for you two to keep to yourselves, please?" Harry requested.

"Heir of Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff?" Hermione asked. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"I don't think I'm allowed to tell you how that happened." Harry said. "Long story short, Godric Gryffindor is my father's ancestor, and Helga Hufflepuff was my mother's. My mum was a muggleborn, but Helga's family had a few squibs, and that line became muggles, which traces back to my mum."

"So…" Neville said, his eyes still wide. "You're really their descendant, and you're the heir of two founders?" he asked.

"Well, technically, I could also claim Slytherin, because of Voldemort being his descendant, but I'm not doing that anytime soon, because Slytherin's got a stigma I'm trying to stay away from." Harry said.

Neville nodded at that. "Still, I think if people knew you were connected to two founders, it would get you a lot of respect, and likely mean that all the noble houses would want to have their daughters marry you." he said.

"I'm not really looking for a wife, right now." Harry said, smiling lightly. He really didn't know why he would. He was still young, and he didn't care for things like that. Sure, he'd noticed that girls were more than just people, now, but he'd learned enough about physiology, and development, that he understood what hormones meant, and he intended to stay in control of his mind and attractions.

"You're lucky." Neville said. "If my gran knew that I was an heir for something like a founder, she'd use that to get me a good wife, regardless of age, or if I like them." When Hermione frowned at him, he elaborated. "It's tradition, in old families, for parents to arrange marriages. Old blood is respected, so people would think I'm more powerful, or my children would have more potential to be great, and that would have people offer up their daughters, for the possibility of being connected to that blood, or the titles, or the magics that that family may have claimed."

Hermione still frowned. "That's so archaic, though." she said.

"Nobody ever called the wizarding world very advanced, Hermione." Harry said.

She allowed that. She'd been learning about this, from them, and her extra reading. She'd yet to find any books on pureblood customs, besides a few mentions. She had something else to ask, though. "Why did you do that blood, thing, and why didn't I need to?" she asked.

"Well, the magic that Harry is sharing with us, is usually only offered to other people, through something like binding your families together, usually marriage." Neville said. "Normally, the patriarch of a family would be the only one that could choose to share their magics, but since Harry is the only heir, it is his decision, but because I am also an Heir, I could choose to accept his offer, but only if I was serious about forming a binding connection to Harry's house. In cases like that, something like becoming a vassal would work. I can't make that offer, though. Not with my gran in charge of the house, until my majority. I could choose to become a brother, in blood and magic, though. It means the same thing, but it doesn't affect the structure of the house, above me, just myself and my future wife and children."

"Why didn't I need to become a sister?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"Two reasons." Harry said. "Firstly, you're not an heir for a noble family, so if you did it, you'd bring less to the relationship. At least, until you've accrued more knowledge and power, or if you'd claimed something like a powerful magic, yourself. Secondly, you're our only female friend, currently. It would be stupid to have you become my sister, because I might one day like you as more than a friend." he said.

"More?" Hermione asked, as she suddenly blushed.

"Maybe, one day." Harry agreed. "I don't have feelings like that for you, at the moment, but you're a pretty girl, and I'm almost certain that, at least biologically, I'll be attracted to you, at some point."

Neville was now blushing, too, and he looked away.

Hermione couldn't look Harry in the eyes, as her blush just went up. She didn't know if she liked Harry or Neville as more than friends. She'd not even considered it. She didn't know Harry thought she was pretty, though, and she wasn't ready for the easy admission.

"Did I say something weird?" Harry asked, frowning.

Hermione didn't look at him, but she did reply. "Doesn't it embarrass you, to say things like that?" she asked, softly.

"No." Harry said. "Why should it? I'm only stating facts, as I perceive them." He looked at Neville. "Am I wrong? Is Hermione not a pretty girl, or was that just how I saw her? I realise that people find different things attractive, so I accept that I could be biased, here."

"She's not ugly." Neville said, diplomatically. "I… I couldn't tell a girl to her face, that I saw them that way, though." he admitted.

Harry frowned. Then he shrugged, accepting that. "Guess I'm just weird that way, then."

"You really are." Neville agreed, as he looked at Harry again. "But then, brother, I've known that since the day I met you." he added, with a smirk.

Having Neville say that, had an effect on Harry that he'd not expected. His heart-rate increased, and he felt a bit of strange pain, in his chest. He realised that the words had touched him. He'd liked hearing that. "Brother." he repeated, as he smiled.

"Don't go saying that in public." Neville said, his smirk fading to a soft smile. He'd never even considered the possibility that he may have a brother at some point in his life, either. "Let's keep it a secret, for now."

Harry just nodded. It wouldn't be smart for people to find out, and realise why they'd done that.

'Gryffindor and Slytherin were also brothers, in blood.' the hat supplied. 'They didn't always see eye-to-eye, but they were the best of friends, regardless. Godric wasn't the most tactical, but he was magically potent, and Slytherin wasn't magically the strongest, but he had a strategic mind. The one hand washes the other, as it were. In battle, you did not want to face those two. Salazar would set you up, and Godric would knock you down.'

"Apparently Gryffindor and Slytherin were also blood brothers." Harry decided to share. "From what the hat tells me, Slytherin was not evil, as much as cautious."

"The hat?" Hermione asked. They'd used the sorting hat, before they were given access to Harry's magic, but had assumed that they had asked Dumbledore if they could use it.

Harry sighed. He'd forgotten to tell them about that. He did so, then.

III-III

"The Heir of Slytherin?" Harry asked, frowning. It had been a few months, and there had been an attack. It was the day after the Halloween feast, and it was weekend, so they were just catching up and chatting. The caretaker's cat had been petrified, and a message left in blood, the previous evening. "The heir was Voldemort, last time I checked."

"Well, we know it wasn't you." Neville said. "You were with us in the common room, all night." They'd opted to stay with him, when Harry decided to skip. He'd been invited to Sir Nick's five-hundredth Deathday party, but Neville had signalled him to give that one a skip. Rotten food and a bunch of ghosts would likely not make Harry feel better on the anniversary of the day that his parents died.

"Could it be… him?" Hermione asked. "Isn't he… contained? Did he escape?"

Harry frowned. "It could be him." he allowed. He'd obviously told them, once he knew they could keep his secrets. "I mean, there is a possibility, even though we have what's become of his spirit, but I can't tell you some of what I know. It has to do with some things we discovered."

"He can be in two places?" Neville frowned.

"Like I said, I think it's possible." Harry said. "I think it would be best if I went to talk to Aunt Poppy. We were going to wait to work on something, but now I'm thinking sooner is better than later."

"Can we do anything?" Hermione asked.

"If you want, you guys can look into what sort of spell, or effect this petrification thing is." Harry offered. He'd be looking into it, too, but he also knew that Hermione was really good at finding information.

"Right." Hermione said, as she closed her eyes, and started looking through her collection of books. Harry should have known that she would also start making a reference, of some sort, but hers wasn't as automated as his was. She had a list, that she populated manually, with things that she found references for, and of. She closed her eyes, because that way she could put all her focus on her books, and people couldn't see her reading something, from thin air. They just said she was thinking, which most people accepted.

"I'll just stay with Hermione." Neville said, lamely, as Harry waved at him. He'd like to be more useful, but Hermione and Harry were way smarter than himself, and he knew it. His interface hadn't grown, much. He'd started creating a few documents on their normal studies, noting things that he could look into later, but that was basically it. Well, he also did his homework on the interface, first. He found it dead useful, because it was so much faster, than doing things on parchment, and allowed him to copy his homework more easily and neatly.

III-III

"Hey Aunty Poppy." Harry said. "Have you gotten anything, yet?" he asked, walking up to the woman, who was currently inspecting the petrified cat.

"Not so far." Poppy said. "And, hello, Harry." she added. "I've already ruled out potions, but Mrs Norris is very intelligent for a cat. She'd not have taken a potion, without Mr Filch giving it to her. That doesn't rule out a potion applied to her skin, but there's no residue or indication that whatever happened, entered her skin."

"Inhalation?" Harry asked, taking out his wand.

"I'm checking that, now." Poppy said, sending Harry a smile. He'd been learning from her for a while, now, and he was quickly learning, as he normally did. That didn't mean she wasn't proud of him, for starting to think like a healer. After a minute, she shook her head. "No. Whatever this is, wasn't introduced through her lungs, either."

"Let me make a model." Harry suggested, as he opened his interface, and started scanning the cat. It took him only a minute. The cat may be small, but it still had an intricate system, with lungs, veins, nerves and a brain, but Harry had been practicing, and used a bit of knowledge he'd picked up from his healing studies, to make things go faster. "Done." Harry said, as he connected the model to the cat's form, and sent it over to Poppy's interface.

Poppy and Harry both inspected the image.

"Well, she's still alive, at least." Harry pointed out. "Not that I know how, considering there's no blood-flow, nor brain activity. Still, a stasis like this could be useful, if we could reverse it."

"Good thought." Poppy said. "Once we know how this was done, maybe we should consider studying the magic." Her own attempt to create just this sort of stasis had, sadly, failed.

Harry nodded, as he inspected the model, still. "What's that?" Harry asked, as he pointed at the cat's eyes.

"What?" Poppy asked, as she focussed on the cat's eyes.

"These muscles were frozen, in the middle of contracting." Harry said, pointing. "See? The muscle- fibres were shifting, not in a normal rest position."

"That doesn't mean a lot, on its own." Poppy said. "The eye is a precision instrument, with microscopic control and precision."

"And those muscles, there?" Harry asked, pointing at the tail muscles.

"Those, on the other hand, do look like they were still in motion, yes." Poppy agreed.

Harry frowned, as he oriented the model, to be upright. Then he made a line, to point where the cat was looking. "Where was the cat found?" he asked.

"Second floor, near the girl's bathroom. She was hanging on the wall, next to the message." Poppy said.

"No staircases near there, so she was either looking at something on the ground, or she was looking at something really small?" Harry asked. "Was anything else found?"

"No, and we don't have enough information to speculate, considering the cat was moved from wherever she was petrified." Poppy said. "For now, I think it would be best to just carry on as normal. The cat will be revived, when we can make mandrake potion."

"So, only near the end of the year." Harry said, nodding. "Well, unless you import some mandrakes from Argentina, where they are in season, now."

"I doubt the headmaster has it in the budget for something like that." Poppy said. "Maybe if it was a student, though, god forbid."

Harry nodded again. "Though, this does give me an opportunity to try something new." he said.

"What did you have in mind?" Poppy asked, wondering if he'd already come up with something new.

"Oh, I didn't mean to say I have something, but this is the perfect sort of situation, for me to come up with something. Who doesn't love a challenge, after all?" Harry said, smirking at the woman. "Oh, and I should mention, Hermione is trying to figure out what could do this, just so you know. I'll be starting work on trying to see if this is one of the horcruxes, which they actually pointed out to me, without knowing what we do."

"They did?" Poppy asked.

"Beware the Heir, remember?" Harry asked, referring to the literal writing on the wall, where Mrs Norris was found. "The chamber of secrets was Slytherin's secret project, and not even the hat knows where it is. I should know where all the hidden spaces in the school is, but I'm thinking it's time I had the hat connected, while I go look into those spaces, especially the ones close to the second floor."

"Not without me, you don't." Poppy said, sternly. "I know you don't want to give me your map, but if you must play detective, you'll take me with you."

Harry shrugged, as he considered all the information he had. Then he had an idea. "Were you at the Halloween feast?" he asked.

"No." Poppy said. "I was here, taking inventory." She'd thought of inviting him to spend the evening with her, but he'd informed her that his friends would be joining him in skipping the Halloween feast, before she could make the offer. She remembered well what that night meant to him.

"Don't you have a list for that on your interface, yet?" Harry asked.

"I do." Poppy said. "The inventory needs to be checked, anyway, to discover if anything that should be there, is missing." She looked at the boy, then. "Why do you want to know where I was?" she asked.

"Not you." Harry said. "Everyone else. If there's another possessed person in school, and we know where the majority of the student body was, then if we could make a list of missing students, then we've got a short-list of suspects."

"I was there." a voice said, from the door, as the headmaster walked in. He'd been talking to Mister Filch. The man was devastated, due to the attack on his cat. "I think you have a good idea, there. I'll go into the memory and draw up a list."

"Headmaster." Harry said, nodding at him. "Would you mind if I joined you? I'm assuming you'll be using a pensieve?"

"I will." the headmaster agreed, before nodding and smiling at the boy. "I appreciate the help, too."

"Well, I don't know all the students, and I suspect you'll be better at finding who's missing, but I'd like to see the memory for myself, too." Harry said.

"I won't underestimate your powers of deduction." Dumbledore said. "Not after last year, anyway." He had some news he wanted to share with Harry, anyway. He'd finally made some headway with Sirius's case. The man had been moved from Azkaban, under the guise of needing information from him, and was now being held in a secret, but lower-security facility, still under guard. Madam Bones had ensured to place people she could trust.

"Hermione figured out the stone, last year." Harry pointed out.

"Then, perhaps, now that you've shared your magic with her, she'll be even more helpful to you." Dumbledore said, smiling, and twinkling his eyes at Harry.

"How did you know?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Come now." Dumbledore said. "She suddenly starts getting perfect scores in every subject, tends to close her eyes to 'think', and shows signs of increased recall, a sure sign of occlumency training, and you think I wouldn't make that connection?" he asked, playfully.

"Caught by her own cleverness." Harry said, smirking. "Yeah, I'll give you that one. She and Neville have been given a grant and have been using my magic. The occlumency is obviously to protect my magic. We wouldn't want a certain headmaster, or potions professor to learn my secrets, after all."

"Severus has been reading children's memories?" Dumbledore asked, frowning. He should be reporting when he did that.

"Did I just hear the pot call the kettle black?" Harry asked Poppy.

"I think you did." Poppy said, nodding. "Harry detected you trying to breach his own mind last year, as you'll recall, headmaster." she said, sternly.

"I do ask forgiveness." the headmaster said. "You have to understand, when Harry showed up, and started acting strangely, I couldn't have known that he'd already started performing claimed magic. I just saw the behaviour and wanted to ensure he wasn't being influenced by… the scar." he finished.

Harry nodded at that, accepting it. "Well, that is as good of an excuse as I'll accept." he allowed.

"Severus, on the other hand, still uses legilimency on the students." Poppy said. "It's a violation of their privacy, and against the law." she added.

Dumbledore sighed. "I assure you, Poppy, Professor Snape has my trust. If he's reading the students, it is because he's trying to protect them." he said.

"That does not excuse him." Poppy said. "And if I hear that he's tried to get into Harry's or his friends' minds, one more time, I'll be binding his magic, and calling the Aurors." She'd said it calmly, but her eyes were locked on the headmaster, basically daring him to try her patience. She'd already streamlined the process for blocking someone from using their magic, so she could do that to someone, really quickly now.

Dumbledore nodded, slowly. "I will ensure to inform him." he said. "To be fair, I didn't give him free reign. He shouldn't be using it on everyone, and I doubt he has been. I'll have a talk with him, however, to ensure he knows that he's not to do it on your charge, or his friends, without a valid reason that I can accept." he promised.

Poppy nodded, letting it go. She knew the headmaster trusted the man, and even though he was a difficult person to get along with, she'd seen him protecting students, and had even gotten injured, on occasion, as he protected students, in the past. A few years ago, he'd shielded a student from an exploding cauldron, with his own body. That was the only reason she had to trust him, but it also meant that he couldn't be truly evil, just vindictive, on occasion. It turns out that being good, didn't mean that you had to be nice.

"Can you tell me anything about Mrs Norris?" Dumbledore asked.

"This isn't a potion, or something like that." Harry said. "I've not detected an active curse, which rules out dispelling as a solution, and the model indicates that while the cat is in stasis, she's still alive and likely unbreakable. I'm thinking an external influence, which was applied in an instant, at a distance, if the fact that the petrification stalled her, mid-motion, means anything. The effect is likely also a powerful, permanent one. It's like she's been transfigured into her current form, not that I've heard of a transfiguration that doesn't change anything into something else, but stalls them in place, and suspends them in time, like this."

"Well done, Harry." Poppy said. "Those are exactly my professional findings as well." she added, proudly. They'd discussed most of this, already, but she was proud of her boy for listing all his personal findings correctly and accurately.

Dumbledore smiled at the boy and his guardian. There was definitely something more between them. They were acting like a family, from what he could see. "Any chance you can explain the concept of this, 'model'?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry looked at Poppy and winked. "Sure thing." he said, as he moved things on his interface, and made the model the only thing on it. He moved the interface away from his face, making it stay above the cat, and then he made it visible. "This is a model of the cat." he said. He wiped his hand through the air, and the hair vanished. "This is the same model, without hair." Another wave. "Without skin." – "Without dermis." – "Muscles." – "Arteries." – "Nervous system." he finished.

"This is your magic?" Dumbledore asked, as he inspected the image, truly impressed.

"It's part of it." Harry allowed.

Dumbledore sighed, as he looked at the boy. "You did that on purpose." he accused.

"Of course." Harry said, smirking. He knew the man would just be more curious, after that little bit, and he'd enjoyed doing that to him, if he was honest with himself. "What's the point of claiming magic, if I can't torment someone with little hints?"

"I'm not raising you to be a sadist, Harry." Poppy said, trying to hide her smirk. She knew what he was doing, and frankly, she'd enjoyed it, too. She couldn't do that, herself, since she'd risk her grant, but Harry could. In fact, he was the only one that could.

"No, but you did tell me that my father was a prankster, for a reason." Harry said, smirking at her. "You're not raising me to be an idiot either." he added. He hadn't missed that she'd said something that no adult in their right minds would tell a child. The only conclusion there, was that she wanted him to have fun with more than just work and studying.

"No, I'm not." Poppy said, shamelessly, giving him a small wink.

Dumbledore sighed. He was really pleased with Poppy's progress with the lad, and he'd never object to that, but he would admit, at least, to himself, that he was getting more and more curious about the magic. "Shall we go see that memory?" he asked Harry.

"Let's." Harry said, nodding. "I'll come back here, once I'm done." he added, to Poppy.

Poppy nodded, before making eye-contact with Dumbledore, and giving him a pointed look.

Dumbledore nodded, before he left, with Harry following.

They soon made it to Dumbledore's office. He went to a cupboard, produced the pensieve and they were soon re-watching the memory.

"I'll check over the younger years." Harry said, as he started doing just that. "You've had more time to get to know the older kids."

"Agreed." Dumbledore said.

It took only a minute, for both of them to see something. "There." they both said.

Ginny Weasley was leaving the hall, and they'd both noted it.

"Can you go back?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore complied and rewound the memory. Harry and he both watched her. There was a moment, when she was speaking to another girl, before she closed her eyes, and then, her face changed. There was no emotion on her when they opened, and then she got up and left.

"Does that look like possession to you?" Harry asked.

"It looks like she'd under a compulsion." Dumbledore said, nodding. "Not necessarily possessed, but likely being controlled."

"We have our culprit, then." Harry said, nodding. Dumbledore did something, and they were standing by the bowl again. "So, what's the next step?" he asked.

"That might be an issue." Dumbledore said. "We don't know if this is targeted, or if she is the sole connection, in this case. We can't just assume that she's the only one that's affected. I didn't notice any spells, but that doesn't rule that out, either."

"Then read her thoughts." Harry said. "You've got the ability, and this case looks like it would be the occasion to break the law to protect an innocent."

Dumbledore nodded, agreeing. "Though, it wouldn't be breaking the law, if it is in protection of an innocent. I really need you to believe that Harry. I am not, and have never, tried to harm a student with my actions."

"I do." Harry said, simply. He'd rather not go down the rabbit-hole of pointing certain things out.

Dumbledore nodded at that. "Good." he said. "I'll look into that, this evening, during dinner."

"Just so we're both on the same page, Hermione asked if this could be Voldemort, and I suspect it might, considering the whole 'Beware the Heir' statement. In conjunction with mention of the chamber of secrets, that kind of means that we're dealing with someone connected to Slytherin." Harry said.

"Meaning it could be connected to him." Dumbledore said, nodding.

"Let's get this out in the open, right now." Harry said. "We both suspect a horcrux. Aunt Poppy also tells me you think he made more than one, which is why you think there's one in my scar." He paused there, to make sure the old man was listening. "I am aware, and I have a plan. I'll need time to focus on setting up a way to find any other connections. I think I could find it, given that time, but I can't be expected to give you updates on my every move, so you'll have to get your information from Aunt Poppy. I'll also need the sorting hat, for the next part of my investigation."

"Investigation?" Dumbledore asked, even as he nodded. He knew that Poppy was very protective of him, and she'd insist on being kept updated, so he'd not push, and go to her for updates.

"I have a clue or two, which I intend to follow." Harry said.

Dumbledore sighed, as he considered how to phrase this. "I would, very much, like to be part of your investigation. If the students are in danger, I can't let you go around on your own. I made a promise to protect you Harry, and I intend to keep it."

Harry considered the old man, for a moment, before deciding to share. "The second floor." he said. "I have been working on mapping out the castle, and have found some areas, where I suspect secret locations are located. I know the hat knows most of the secrets of the castle, so I want to take him to the second floor, and point out hidden places to him, so that he could tell me if he knows them. He doesn't know where Salazar put the Chamber of Secrets, so anything I find that he doesn't know, would be good starting points."

Dumbledore nodded at that. Why hadn't he thought of that? "I agree." he said. "You do seem to have a very good starting point. When do you intend to start?" he asked.

"Right after this meeting, actually." Harry said.

Dumbledore frowned, but still, he nodded. If there was a threat to the students, he intended to find it. "Then I'll clear the rest of my day, so that I can go with you." he said.

"Me too, obviously." the hat spoke up, from his normal location.

Harry didn't wait to walk to the hat, and picked him up, before he smirked. He held the hat, looking at it, and sent something through his interface.

"Merlin!" the hat exclaimed. "Is this… Really?!" it asked, excitedly. 'Can I show the headmaster?' it asked, in his head.

Harry just winked at the hat, which suddenly lifted up, floating there, unassisted.

"You can fly?" Dumbledore asked.

"Harry gave me access to his magic." the hat said, proudly, as it started moving. It wasn't very fast, but it would be able to move around the castle, reasonably simply, using this. "This is wonderful! Five hundred points to Gryffindor!" the hat exclaimed, as it started getting used to the simple controls that Harry had sent it. It knew how Harry normally thought, so it could easily connect the system to the image that Harry had sent along with this system.

"It's not really fast, right now, but that is a limitation of this magic." Harry said. "I can't use it, though, because I weigh too much. You weigh just as much as a hat, though, so you should be able to keep using this easily, without putting strain on your available magic."

"Harry, you just made me mobile, for the first time since I was created." the hat said. "For the first time ever, I feel like I could be independent."

"I… don't understand." Dumbledore said, as he watched the hat increasing his speed, and flying higher. "I thought your magic was creating an image?" he asked.

Harry just smirked at the old man, before he turned to the door, and left the office.

Dumbledore sighed. "He won't ever stop shocking me, will he?" he asked.

"Of course not." the hat said, as he started doing lazy loops, while flying past the headmaster, intent on following Harry. "And you'd better get used to it. Come along Albus, before the boy finds something, without you."