Chapter Text
"It's weird not having a main quest," Harry opined, as they rode the thestral-pulled carriages up to the castle on their first day of third year.
He kind of thought the semi-corporeal, nearly-skeletal bat horses were regarding him with an odd respect. After the events of the summer, he had witnessed enough death to see the creatures. Not least of which: his own. None of his other friends had the misfortune of being able to see them, so he was trying not to call attention to how much he was staring. At least he'd worked out what the things were once he saw their names the previous year, so he wasn't completely surprised by them.
"I guess I'll just have to make it up on basic quests," he finished his thought after drifting off a bit thinking about the thestrals. He'd done no fewer than four years' worth of main quests the previous year, so he was probably due for a break. Maybe it would be an easy school year for once?
"Surprised you didn't get one for Sirius' trial, mate," Ron suggested.
"I wondered why he didn't bring you to the train," Hermione agreed. Harry had been dropped off to spend the last few days of summer with the Weasleys, and had ridden into King's Cross with them again. The rest of the kids had insisted on it, if for no other reason than that they couldn't figure out how to pack for school without his vault.
"Nah," Harry disagreed. "Everyone thinks that'll be easy. They have Wormtail in custody in Germany. They're just making sure the European aurors have all their reports done so well the Minister can't figure out how to turn it around on a technicality. Sirius should be a free man again by the end of the month."
Ginny, who'd finagled Neville into riding in with Dean and Seamus so she could sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, chimed in with, "Yeah. I heard Dad telling Mum that Minister Fudge doesn't want to believe You-Know-Who came back and that Malfoy and a bunch of other people he didn't know about were Death Eaters. It may take an ICW meeting for the European aurors to make their statements."
"Maybe I shouldn't have blown him up," Harry agreed. "No body, no kill."
"I bet that was wicked," Ron fantasized, having gotten the full blow-by-blow from Harry several times. "Wish we'd been able to go."
"We might have died, Ron," Hermione disagreed. "Harry basically did. And we got level-ups just because we were in the party by the time he got home, so we really got the best of the deal."
"I guess that's true," he agreed. Ron had moved on to wearing Charlie's old robes, as burly as he'd gotten after his last level up. They were pretty sure he'd gotten to Body 20, but until Harry got it they weren't totally sure what it did other than make him the kind of burly-for-a-13-year-old that would give Crabbe and Goyle fits.
Not that they'd seen Crabbe and Goyle yet for Ron to flex at them. Malfoy hadn't made his rounds on the train, though Hermione thought she'd spotted him getting dropped off at King's Cross by his mother. All three of the boys' fathers were in a prison in Eastern Europe waiting for the ICW to decide their fates. Crabbe and Goyle senior had been among the Death Eaters who'd showed up after Voldemort's rebirth. Given the names that Harry had seen over masked heads, probably a lot of Slytherin was going to be extra quiet and not try to make many waves for the year.
Hermione had noticed Malfoy because she was spotting a lot of things since she'd maxed out Perception. Once again, Harry wasn't there yet, so didn't know what the official power description was, but she was quite chuffed at having gotten Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower to 20. Lacking any more mental attributes to focus on, she'd thrown her second increase into Charisma, having seen the easy time it was giving Ron and Lee making friends and influencing people.
And Ginny. The youngest Weasley was still fairly reserved, being the newest member of the group, but when she said something, people listened.
Fred, George, and Lee had just put their level-ups into arbitrary attributes according to their strange plans for diversification. They weren't sure if any of them had hit 20 in anything.
As the four younger Marauders stepped off the carriage to head inside, Harry got a message.
Kingsley Shacklebolt replies: Harry, I have some evidence for you to inspect. I'll bring it to Dumbledore tonight. Expect him to call you up to his office.
Harry groaned and explained as his friends gave him questioning looks, "The headmaster told most of the Order a lot of what I can do. Shacklebolt has decided that means I'm his crime lab. I have to go look at evidence tonight."
"You might as well multiclass already so you can go into auror," Ron smirked. They'd been having non-stop discussions about what Harry should take as his second class for the last week, since he was already seventh level and hadn't picked one. "I think Shacklebolt was already in line for replacing Bones or Scrimgeour when they retire, before he got credit for being there at the final fight. You could be his… uh…"
"Protege," Hermione provided the word that he'd been looking for. "Is it older evidence he wants you to look at, or new crimes?" she wondered, lowering her voice since they were walking into the hall near people that weren't read-in. "I'd have thought crime would be down, after Riddle died."
Ginny explained, "I heard Dad talking about that, too. The aurors are so busy investigating all the people they found out were Death Eaters, a bunch of other criminals decided the Ministry would be distracted. So crime is up."
"Fine," Harry sighed, "I guess it's not that hard for me to help. Maybe I'll get to go fight some actual crimes for XP if it's slow around here."
Reply to Kingsley Shacklebolt: I'll be there.
"You're jinxing yourself," Hermione chided as they took their seats around the Gryffindor table. The fifth-year Marauders slid in across from them.
"Is that a new ability?" Fred asked, peering at him. "I don't see any obvious jinxes."
George joked, "Something under your robes, maybe?"
"No, just Harry suggesting he might be bored this year," she corrected.
Lee joked, "You're not tired of the 'may you live in interesting times' curse?"
"I think I have advancement addiction," Harry grinned. "The numbers on my character sheet must go up!"
Before they could talk more, the doors opened to admit the new first-years and everyone quieted to see the sorting. The Hat's song for the year seemed especially jaunty and full of hope, and then a couple-score eleven-year-olds entered the hall.
When Romilda Vane took her place with the Gryffindors and the sorting finished, Dumbledore stood and began his pre-dinner remarks. "I am glad to see all of you returned to Hogwarts and safe. To our new students, I hope that you have an uneventful tenure at our fine educational establishment. Before we begin the feast, I've prepared a few remarks.
"First, let us speak of our new and returning professors. You will likely be as glad as I am that Professor Lupin has consented to return as professor of Defense against the Dark Arts." There was a spread of cheers as most students appreciated the curriculum that Remus had provided the previous year. With Voldemort's death (and the destruction of the cursed Diadem) finally completing Harry's quest on the subject, he was willing to risk that the jinx on the position was finally countered. "And, because our dear Professor Kettleburn has retired (to spend more time with his remaining limbs), I'm thrilled to announce that Care of Magical Creatures shall now be taught by none other than our keeper of the keys and grounds, Rubeus Hagrid."
The applause for that was less than it had been for Lupin, and concentrated on the Gryffindor table. "He should have said!" Harry complained. Neither he, Hermione, nor Ron had elected Care of Magical Creatures. "I guess we can self-study with him after classes." For all that he was sad not to be in Hagrid's class, he expected that Arithmancy, Divination, and Runes would be way more useful to him with his particular array of skills and perks.
"And now the, ah, erumpent in the room," the headmaster continued, once the applause had died down. "I can confirm the rumors. I was there. Lord Voldemort was revived, defeated, and destroyed, all in a very short period of time. I attest it, as do quite a few aurors, both local and from the larger ICW. I'm certain the Daily Prophet will include the details once they feel they have fully validated them. He was in the middle of reorganizing his Death Eaters, and we believe most, if not all, of them were recaptured with his defeat."
All eyes turned toward Slytherin's table, where Malfoy and several of the other students turned slightly red and looked down at their empty golden plates to avoid the accusing gazes of the other students.
"It's not their fault!" someone said, and Harry was surprised to realize that it was him.
He wasn't concerned with Malfoy. But he remembered all the students that had been honestly angry with him when they thought their relatives had died in Azkaban. Some students' relatives had died. The Slytherins' fathers or uncles might have been Death Eaters, but they loved them. And maybe it was just his improved Charisma and Basic Persuasion kicking in, but Harry was tired of the cycle.
He stood up at his spot at the Gryffindor table. All eyes in the great hall had shifted his way. "Tom Riddle was a half-blood who called himself Lord Voldemort," he continued, not sure whether he felt good feeding the blood purity bias but thinking this was the time to get that fact out. "He put a curse on the people that trusted him. He forced them to come back to him, all the way to Europe, and then cast a spell that almost killed them to get them to fight aurors." That was being overly generous, but maybe it was time to be generous. "I don't know how many of them regretted taking that mark and didn't feel like they had a choice. But our fellow students definitely didn't. They have it bad enough."
He sat down a little awkwardly to show he was done.
"Well said, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore smiled, the white mustaches of his beard bending in pride as he recaptured the eyes of the student body. "Hogwarts is a place of learning for every witch and wizard of Britain. If you go far enough back, we all have relatives that have been involved in the wrong side of historical events. I urge each of you to let the matter rest. What is important is that the specter of yesterday no longer haunts your tomorrows. Take advantage of your opportunity to make your own choices.
"Now, let's eat."
As the food appeared up and down the tables and the feeding frenzy began, it was Hermione that said, "I don't think I could have been that nice."
"Yeah," Ron agreed, a chicken leg in each hand and mouth slightly full. "I would have left Malfoy stewing until at least, like, March."
"Maybe he'll decide to be nice?" Ginny suggested, not believing it after her run-in with Lucius Malfoy.
"Nah, he'll probably try to come after me by winter hols," Harry disagreed. A quest for the dueling club with an italics goal from his Sight suggested as much. "Screw Draco. He abused Dobby as much as his parents did." The newly re-geased house elf had been thrilled to tell Harry stories of his time at Malfoy Manner as he'd settled into the Marauders guildhall at Grimmauld Place. "The others though. Some of them are okay. I…"
He thought of Tom Riddle dying in his own fiendfyre and the horrible power that the game system granted.
"I don't want to have to fight them for real. They'd lose."
There was a long moment as everyone appreciated a look more haunted than any thirteen-year-old should have. Barely a teenager, Harry Potter was the Master of Death. He'd sent two liches into the afterlife, talked briefly to his own dead parents, and was possessed of a power that had created dementors the last time anyone had been serious about testing its limits.
Lee Jordan, Charisma 20 firing on all cylinders, figured out the exact right humor to keep things from becoming grim. "We're still going to get Bagman, though, right?"
Harry smiled, glad at the distraction. "Well, yeah. Sod that guy. I think he's going to try to get me into some tournament he's running next year. Hermione has some ideas…"
"I've been looking into the Goblet of Fire and the Triwizard Tournament," the quantifiably-smartest-witch-of-her-generation said, grinning maliciously. "And if we can control how he bets…"
They gamed out that and several other potential encounters over the next year as they finished dinner, and were about to engage with Fred and George's insistence that they keep Percy from getting too big a head now that he was head boy when all conversation suddenly stopped. Severus Snape had that effect when he descended on a table getting ready to head back to their common room.
SEVERUS SNAPE
Potioneer/Spy, Level 15
[ORDER OF THE PHOENIX,
HOGWARTS STAFF,
EUROPEAN POTIONEERS,
SLYTHERIN (HEAD)]
"Potter. I want to make sure you aren't slacking in my classes," the dour potions professor insisted. He dropped a book in front of Harry. "I expect you in my classroom, detention period, Tuesdays and Fridays." Not waiting for a response, he wafted off, black robes floating in an invisible breeze.
"Some things never change," Ron opined.
"I thought you told him…" Hermione boggled.
"I did!" Harry insisted. He'd managed a few seconds during the debrief with the Order after Voldemort's defeat to explain that his parents had said they missed everyone, especially Sirius and Remus, and that his mother had specifically called out that she'd forgiven "Sev." Snape, still at low health from the dark mark buff that he'd bent to defeating his fellow Death Eaters, had turned even paler than usual and stalked off into the night.
Harry started to flip through the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that the black-bedecked potions professor had dropped on the table. Clearly well-used and old, the book was hard to parse on a quick scan due to all the handwriting in the margins. Every recipe in the NEWT-level textbook featured notes on how to improve the potion. And sometimes more.
THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (MAIN QUEST)
What is the line between friendship, love, and obsession?
O Attend a NEWT-level Potions class
O Learn some of the Half-Blood Prince's spells (0/3)
As the feast ended and the students of Hogwarts began to empty the great hall towards their dorms, Harry Potter sighed.
"Here we go again."
Harry Potter: Mage, Level 7
Agility 20
Body 12
Charisma 12
Finesse 20
Intelligence 12
Perception 12
Willpower 20
Hit Points 190
Endurance 156
Magical Stamina 550
General Skills
Advanced English 9
Basic Acting 3
Basic Athletics 10
Basic Automotive Repair 1
Basic Carpentry 6
Basic Clockwork Repair 4
Basic Computer Use 2
Basic Cooking 8
Basic Creature Harvesting 11
Basic Deception 5
Basic Dodging 13
Basic Drawing 6
Basic First Aid 4
Basic Gardening 8
Basic Guitar 1
Basic Home Repair 6
Basic Instance 3
Basic Locks 9
Basic Martial Arts 5
Basic Money Management 2
Basic Persuasion 8
Basic Sneak 8
Basic Swordfighting 7
Conversational English 20
Conversational French 16
Conversational Greek 20
Conversational Latin 20
Class Skills
Alchemy 4
Art (Magical) 5
Basic Broom Flying 12
NEWT Charms 6
NEWT Combat Magic 6
NEWT Creature Handling 2
NEWT Divination 2
NEWT Enchanting 3
NEWT Muggle Navigation 1
NEWT Plant Defense 2
NEWT Potions 4
NEWT Spellcrafting 3
NEWT Transfiguration 4
Occlumency 3
OWL Charms 20
OWL Combat Magic 20
OWL Creature Handling 20
OWL Divination 20
OWL Enchanting 20
OWL Muggle Navigation 20
OWL Plant Defense 20
OWL Potions 20
OWL Spellcrafting 20
OWL Transfiguration 20
Seeker Broom Flying 8
Special Abilities
Blood Protection
Curse-Scarred
Effortless Dodge
Fey
Mental Fortress
Parseltongue
Perfect Aim
The Potter Hair
The Sight
Wand Magic
Hermione Granger: Mage, Level 5
Agility 10
Body 9
Charisma 11
Finesse 11
Intelligence 20
Perception 20
Willpower 20
Hit Points 140
Endurance 136
Magical Stamina 450
Ron Weasley: Mage, Level 5
Agility 11
Body 20
Charisma 20
Finesse 12
Intelligence 14
Perception 12
Willpower 11
Hit Points 250
Endurance 144
Magical Stamina 360
Fred Weasley: Mage, Level 6
Agility 11
Body 12
Charisma 12
Finesse 11
Intelligence 11
Perception 17
Willpower 18
Hit Points 180
Endurance 144
Magical Stamina 480
George Weasley: Mage, Level 6
Agility 16
Body 12
Charisma 11
Finesse 11
Intelligence 19
Perception 12
Willpower 11
Hit Points 180
Endurance 116
Magical Stamina 410
Lee Jordan: Mage, Level 6
Agility 9
Body 12
Charisma 20
Finesse 11
Intelligence 12
Perception 16
Willpower 12
Hit Points 180
Endurance 120
Magical Stamina 420
Ginevra Weasley: Mage, Level 3
Agility 16
Body 12
Charisma 20
Finesse 9
Intelligence 11
Perception 12
Willpower 8
Hit Points 150
Endurance 92
Magical Stamina 230