Harry reappeared at platform 9 ¾ by side-along apparition, holding Sirius' arm.
"Why again did we go by side-along apparition instead of walking here or driving your bike, Pa?" He asked, feeling slightly sick.
"Because I wanted to avoid the reporters that were waiting outside the barrier. I really don't understand why they can't understand that we want to keep our privacy. And they are just calling for an incident that will endanger the Statute of Secrecy. So I thought it better to go directly to the platform." Sirius explained.
Discover moreFan fiction communityCartoonsFan fiction forumBooksFan merchandise"Next time let Kreacher or Dobby pop me over. Elf popping is a lot less upsetting to my stomach than apparating." Harry complained putting his hand onto his stomach while looking pale.
"I still don't understand that. I mean the methods are similar. But I think once you are allowed to apparate yourself it will become better. I remember hating side-along apparating and once I could do it by myself it became tolerable." Sirius pondered his hand at his chin.
"I hope you are right. By the way, did you have any success with stopping that ridiculous trial they are setting up for Buckbeak, Hagrid's hippogriff?" Harry wanted to know.
Discover moreComicsWriting workshopsFan community platformFiction writing toolsAnime"No, not yet. I fear we will have to go through the trial. Even if Lucius has been arrested, the initial complaint about Buckbeak being dangerous still stands. The Ministry, more precisely Fudge, will try to look competent for once by investigating the matter. Of course in Fudge's eyes looking competent is taking action that will make him look good without knowing all the facts. I look forward to the day Amelia and Rufus get the Ministry cleaned up." Sirius answered.
"How far are they? You only talk about it in general terms whenever you mention it." Harry asked.
ScienceFiction & Fantasy
Discover moreApp store optimizationAnime & MangaAuthor resourcesStory writing softwareFan fiction books"That's because if anything gets out too soon, it will make their plans much more difficult to achieve. Just know that I don't think Fudge will stay in his position until the summer." Sirius explained.
"Okay, I can understand that. Will you help Hagrid with Buckbeak's trial? You know how he is; he is the nicest man possible, but he isn't suited for speaking in front of masses. And with the prejudices against half-giants like him still going strong, they might rule against Buckbeak just because he is Hagrid's." Harry asked hopefully.
"I will, I promise, Harry. I have watched your memories of the incident and with Lucius being in prison, there will be nobody skilled in rhetoric going against us." Sirius promised.
Discover moreFiction genre guidesFan fiction writingMobile app developmentMobile app marketingMovies"Thanks, Pa. I don't want Hagrid to suffer because some arrogant bastards think they have to prove their superiority complexes on the back of an innocent creature." Harry stated.
"Language, Harry." Sirius admonished him.
Harry was tempted to stick his tongue out at his father, but remembered his manners. They were in a public place and had to behave accordingly. They had spoken in low keys to avoid being overheard and only now walked from the apparition point to the waiting train. The students were boarding the express and most of them were happily exchanging stories about their holidays.
Harry was already looking forward to the weekends. He had read all the books he had found about storm panthers, normal panthers, big cats in general and thanks to his photographic memory had committed everything to memory. After being quizzed about the panthers by his father, Sirius had agreed to begin teaching Harry how to become an animagus from the first weekend of term on.
He had already organized permission from McGonagall for Harry to go home on the weekends for training in family magic. Nobody at school could deny Harry the right to be instructed in his family's magic. Normally that kind of training took place during the holidays and before the child even started at Hogwarts but with Harry being placed in the care of the Dursleys he had much to catch up on. As McGonagall was the deputy headmistress as well as Harry's head of house, they didn't need to involve Dumbledore at all. He would only be told if he found out on his own.
"Hey, Harry!" They heard a girl calling out to them.
Harry turned and saw Melinda Stebbins approaching them.
"Hi, Melinda, how were your holidays?" Harry greeted the fifth year Ravenclaw.
"It was great. And I wanted to thank you. I took your advice regarding house elves to heart and started thanking and being kind to our two elves at home. You won't believe how much they are doing for me now. They think I am the best Mistress they could ever have hoped for. Minny, the female elf, always had fresh flowers placed in my room for me in the mornings and Toggy, the male elf and chef, cooks my favourite foods a lot more often than before. And all that only because I treated them nicely. I can't believe that so many people don't do it. It makes things so much better." She raved.
Harry smiled.
"I am glad you did it and got so much out of it, Melinda." He said.
He was really happy that his peers were starting to change their ways little by little. He knew that changes wouldn't happen quickly. It took time to change ingrained behaviours. But even little things mattered.
"How are the research groups getting along?" Harry asked.
Typically for Ravenclaw house, research teams had been started to investigate laws and traditions that had been written down centuries ago. He knew that the research teams also included some Hufflepuffs.
"Oh, it is going great. We have three groups going now. One is the law research; one is collecting data on all the magical races and one on traditions. We even have three Slytherins in the traditions group while two Gryffindors have joined the magical races group, your friend Hermione Granger is one of them. Each group has at least ten members. Most are Ravenclaws but the law group also has four Hufflepuffs. It is great. I would never have thought that we could all get along so well." She said smiling.
"That's great. Perhaps we can bring the houses into a more tolerable relation. I know there will always be competition between Gryffindor and Slytherin, it's just in the nature of the members, but it would be great if we only competed in academics and sports and otherwise got along." Harry replied.
Sirius kept quiet, only listening to his son and his friend. Obviously the changes Harry had started by just questioning the status quo were starting to take hold. It was encouraging. After all, these children were the leaders of tomorrow.
Harry put his trunk in the luggage rack and waited for his friends to arrive. His father had already said goodbye as he had an errant to run before he met with some of his acquaintances. Harry sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, remembering the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea at Cyprus. He had loved his first ever vacation and was looking forward to the summer holidays. His father had promised to travel to another interesting country with him for three weeks. He was also looking forward to showing Hermione, Neville and Ron the pictures of Greece.
When they had met shortly after he and Sirius had come home after New Year, they hadn't been developed yet. So he had them with him in his trunk to show them at the ride to Hogwarts.
The first one to enter the compartment was Neville.
"Hi, Harry." He greeted.
"Hi, Nev. Everything alright?"
"Yes, you won't believe how proud Gran has been about my prowess at school. And we have been to St. Mungo's to check if there were blocks on my magic as Sirius recommended and they found one on my magic and one on my mind. You can't imagine how much easier it is now to remember things. And spells come easier to me too. The healer gave me permission to practice first and second year spells at home to get used to how much more power I have now.
"I really want to kick the ones who placed those blocks on me. I have been thought to be a squib for most of my childhood because of the block on my magic and had problems at school because my mind wasn't working properly. The healer said that the two blocks were placed by different persons. He could only identify one though; the one who placed the mind block. It seems our esteemed former DADA teacher Lockhart was working for the Ministry once when we were little. In the aftermath of the attack on my parent's home, he must have tried to use a calming spell on me, which resulted in the mind block." Neville growled.
Harry just shook his head irritated. It fit that the incompetent fool had bumbled up another spell. And with his only talent being memory charms, that had been the influence on Neville he had managed to achieve.
"I am sorry for the things you had to go through, but I am really happy that you can now start being yourself. I know how great it feels to not be hindered anymore." Harry admitted.
Neville raised his eyebrow. Harry hadn't told him yet about the blocks on his (Harry's) magic that had been placed by Dumbledore.
"So that is the reason for your changes this year? You have been handicapped as well?" He asked.
"Yes. Sorry, I forgot I hadn't told you yet. I am keeping it secret for now to not get the one who did it suspicious. He could try to do something else to me if he finds out. It will come out at the end of the year at the latest, but any time I can manage to get to evolve is precious for me." Harry explained.
"I understand. I presume Ron and Hermione are the only ones then that know so far?" Neville assumed.
"The twins know too. They found out earlier than Ron and Hermione to be honest. They cornered me about being adopted. They have a tool that shows them where everybody is at the castle and their true names. So me being shown as Harry Potter-Black made them curious." Harry explained.
"I would think so. That fits their personalities. I just wonder how they can keep their calm for their upcoming OWLs like they are." Neville wondered.
"They just have their priorities sorted. But Pa managed to talk them into expanding their efforts. Normally they would have concentrated on the subjects they need for their goal. They want to open a joke shop after school and put Zonko's out of business. They had planned on keeping only Charms, Transfiguration and Defence, they can learn enough about Potions on their own without Snape being the mean git he is all the time." Harry stated.
"I second that statement." Neville piped up throwing his arm in the air, making him and Harry laugh.
The door opened and Hermione and Ron entered their compartment.
"Hi Harry, hi Neville." Hermione said.
"Hi Hermione, hi Ron." Both answered.
"Hey, Ron, how was the tour at Juneur's that your dad took you and the others on?" Harry asked interested.
"It was great. We were shown all the products Juneur has on the market at the moment and got a presentation about the founding of the company. The reasons why Estelle Juneur decided to combine magic and muggle technology. And how she managed to convince the wizards and witches that her products were good for them. They have some kind of Hall of Glory there where all the best-selling products in the history of the company were presented to visitors.
"Dad's office was also pretty interesting. He demonstrated the things he is working on at the moment. As he's inexperienced at his new job, he got three customary muggle items and got the job to combine them with magic so that wizards could use them for their benefit. He had a toaster, a couple of board games and a CD player, something muggles use to play music. It is a lot smaller than the record players I have seen in the wizarding world." Ron told them.
"Yes, I think I saw one at your house last year, right?" Harry asked. "The big and unwieldy one in your living room."
"Yes, until now I thought that was the top of line of inventions that were made in regards to playing music at home. I mean, while our record player is quite old, the one we have has been a present to my grandparents and was high quality, it's still working perfectly and while there may be some fancier looking ones today, the way it is working is still the same." Ron said.
"So your father is happy at his new job?" Neville asked.
"Very happy. He says it has been the best decision he has ever made to start working at JWT. I think Fred and George were very impressed with the things that JWT has come up with over the years and I wouldn't wonder if they tried to get internships over the summer holidays to learn more. From what I heard them talk about they think they could incorporate the muggle technology with prank items they have been planning to develop." Ron told them.
"Wouldn't they need good marks in their OWLs to get considered for internships?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I heard some of the Ravenclaws I work together with in the research group talking about planning to do internships in renown companies and the requirements in the selection process. After all a lot of students would like to do them."
"I don't think that will be a problem for Fred and George. Those two are really smart; they just didn't see the need to excel in their studies yet. With that goal in mind, I think they will surprise everybody." Harry told them grinning.
"You know something, don't you, Harry?" Hermione asked turning towards him.
"Yep. Pa talked to the twins when we visited you at the Burrow, Ron. He made them see that they could do much better if they had more options. It helps that he has been a prankster at school himself and still excelled in his OWLs. None of the pranks he and his friends thought up would have been possible without intense knowledge of magic. But I will give them that the marauders had split up their workload the smart way."
"How did they do that?" Neville wanted to know.
"They decided that it would be a waste of time if they all sat in the same subjects when they had the choice in their electives. So they decided they would each take two subjects but cover all the offered subjects between them. Remus Lupin took Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies, Pa took Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, Dad took Ancient Runes and Arithmancy and Pettigrew took Divination and Muggle Studies. So they all knew what the subjects were about without overworking." Harry explained.
"That's smart. They also had always one of the others with them, except for Pettigrew who was the only one taking Divination." Ron stated.
"Yes, and they had my mom with them in Runes and Arithmancy too. Before sixth year Lupin was the only one of the marauders my mom could stand. Pa told me she thought the others were too immature." Harry added.
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, before Ron seemed to remember something.
"Hey, do you want to test one of the games Dad improved? He gave it to me to test it with my friends. The ride will take some hours and it sounds really interesting." Ron suggested.
"Sure. Which game did he give you?" Hermione asked curiously.
"It's called Cluedo." Ron said.
"Oh I love Cluedo!" Hermione squealed.
Ron looked surprised; then he remembered that it was originally a muggle game.
"Great, then you can help me explain it, Hermione. Well, this version is called the Hogwarts Cluedo. The main intent is to find out which one of the teachers has murdered Mrs Norris." This caused Harry and Neville to snort at the thought. "You have to find out which weapon was used and where the murder has been committed. The board has all the important places of Hogwarts on it, like the Great Hall, the Library, Professor Dumbledore's office and so on."
So they placed the board on the floor and Hermione and Ron took turns explaining the game to Harry and Neville who had never played it before.
They had a lot of fun; the rooms one was visiting were being projected over the board, giving you the impression that your pawn in the game was really there, looking for clues. Some of their friends came visiting and wondered what game they were playing as they had never seen it before.
Ron explained how his dad had asked him to test the game with his friends to see if there would be a market for it in Great Britain. Soon many of the other students asked Ron if there was a way that his dad could send more games to Hogwarts as there were precious few games in the wizarding world and with time it got boring to only play the same ones. Ron promised to send his dad an owl.
"Wow, that's great. I never expected that so many would be interested in the game." Ron said writing down the last student's name on a piece of parchment Hermione had given him.
"Well, it is new and it is fun to play." Neville said.
They were still playing and he thought he had solved the case.
"Yes, and all the students and even the adults can identify with the location and the suspects. I think it will be a great success if JWT starts putting it on the market." Harry added, moving his pawn to the Potions Classroom.
"Okay, my guess is it was Snape in the Great Hall, using the exploding mice." He said and took the box where the three cards were kept that had the solution on them.
Harry looked at them and cursed. He had been wrong about the location, the other two had been right. Now he was out of the game.
"Little error on my side." He admitted and handed the dice over to Neville next to him.
Neville threw the dice and moved his pawn into the Library.
"Okay, my turn to guess. And I am pretty sure I have solved this case. It was Snape with exploding mice in the Headmaster's Office." He announced and Harry just gave him the box beaten. He knew it was correct as he had just seen the cards.
"Congratulations, Neville." Hermione said as Neville showed them the three cards.
"Yep, well done, Nev. How did you know the location?" Harry asked.
"Easy, I had two of the cards for locations and got another crossed out by looking at Hermione's when I asked for the Library. And from the way the game went I could eliminate some weapons early on. This game is great. Can we play again?" He asked excitedly, really happy how much easier thinking now came to him.
"We want to play as well." They heard from the door, where Seamus and Dean stood.
"Sure, six is the maximum number of players for one game." Ron said, happy to be able to show off a game his father had modified to his friends.
"Where did you get the game, Ron?" Dean asked.
"My dad is working for JWT now and wanted me to test it with my friends at school. Ginny, Fred and George also have two other games to test them. Dad's bosses thought it would be best to test the games at a school like Hogwarts as the main clientele were children and teenagers." Ron answered.
"Cool, do you think they will be available to the public soon?" Seamus asked knowing what JWT was.
"Well, Dad asked us to have them tested during the next month and report to him how well they were received at school. If the respond is positive, I am quite sure they will be available before the summer holidays start." Ron answered.
"Which games do your siblings have?" Dean asked, knowing most muggle games.
"Ginny has a modified version of a very popular game called Monopoly and the twins have The Game of Life." Ron said.
"And they are going to share them in the common room?" Seamus wanted to know while Harry was handing out the cards after mixing them new and putting the three for the case into the box.
"That's the plan. If the response is positive, we may invite friends from other houses as well."
Dean and Seamus looked happy with that and the six third-year Gryffindors were enjoying their game.
Albus Dumbledore was not a happy man at the moment. The students had returned from the holidays but the main topic between the younger years had been the three games the Weasley siblings had brought with them. From what he had found out, Arthur Weasley had modified some muggle board games for his new job and asked his children to test if they would be accepted by the students. He hated new things that were introduced into the wizarding world.
He wanted to keep things as they were. Only he was allowed to introduce new developments, even if he sometimes needed to 'convince' those who also had a hand in the discovery to keep quiet about them. His work about the 'Twelve Uses of Dragon's Blood' had originally been a partnership with Ivor Dillensby. In the end he had taken the final four uses he had discovered and taken the eight Dillensby had found and put together his work. Of course nobody would believe Dillensby. Why would the great Albus Dumbledore steal somebody else's work after all? To be absolutely sure though, he had placed Dillensby under a compulsion charm to keep quiet.
Now one of the well-known members of British wizarding society had taken a position from which he could probably introduce new things, those damned combinations of muggle technology and magic. He didn't know how those games worked, but they were originally muggle games. It was against the wizarding way to play muggle games. In the years he had been headmaster, he had secretly discouraged muggle inventions in the castle. The purebloods sneered at things that were obviously non magical and not part of traditions. But with games that were magical, even if their origin was muggle, things were different.
And as long as they weren't dangerous to the students, he couldn't forbid them. While he was sure Slytherin house wouldn't accept them, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were sure to like them. Ravenclaw would be curious to find out more about them and then he would have to deal with three houses having them in their common rooms. And if, Merlin forbid, Arthur would come up with games that were educational as well as entertaining, Ravenclaw would be sold.
He watched his fellow teachers and frowned as he saw Septima and Pomona discuss the idea of magical muggle games positively. Minerva got involved in the conversation and told the other two that she would investigate the games and report to them what they were about later. Albus would also ask her to tell him what she had found out. This new development was worrying.
Harry had a nice evening in the common room. He joined Ginny, Katie, Angelina, Alicia and Neville in a game of Monopoly after dinner. Oliver, Ron, Lee, Jennifer Gladen from sixth year, Collin Creevey and Hermione were playing Cluedo and Fred and George had Dean, Parvati and Lavender around them for The Game of Life. The other Gryffindors were assembled watching them play the games. Many of the pureblood students asked about the new games and from where they had got them. Many of them wanted to get their own one after seeing how much fun the others had playing them.
Harry inertly grinned. He just knew the new games would be great sellers. And as Britain was woefully behind the other countries in things to be used for entertainment, he would earn a lot of money as the owner of JWT. Not that he would tell anybody soon. He wanted to be as normal as he could be. To just play board games in the evening after a day of lessons was a great thing.
When they were half an hour into their games, they got a surprise in the form of Professor McGonagall visiting and inquiring about the games, which she had heard about during dinner. The Weasleys told her how they had got the games, what they entailed and how many players could play in one session. Minerva was very impressed with the idea of making muggle board games attractive for wizarding children and saw nothing wrong with the games. She thanked the Weasleys for the information and wished them to have fun playing and not to stay up too long.
Harry had a lot of fun getting Neville broke at Monopoly. Somehow his friend had the worst luck and nearly always visited Harry's Stonehenge and had to pay the rent for staying there. The wizarding version of Monopoly had been set up to represent famous sights of wizarding history. Like in normal Monopoly, you had to collect three places of one category to be able to build buildings. In their case they started with a cottage, which was for normal places. The special places like Stonehenge were different as they multiplied the player's thrown number on the dice with 30, which was the price to pay.
The categories were countries and each country had three sights. Mr Weasley thought the best way to inspire interest in the game for witches and wizards would be if it was done as a kind of world tour. For England for example the places were Diagon Alley, Godric's Hollow and Loch Ness. The cottages built in those places could be rented by tourists. For France there was the French Rue Magique, Notre Dame and Beauxbatons. The other countries were Greece, Kenya, Atlantis, The United States, Australia and Japan.
There were magic specific events that earned or lost them galleons in their accounts. Mr Weasley had thought it more realistic if they kept their money in their Gringotts accounts, so he had added a function that kept an account for each player. The account manager was an animated goblin that informed the player about their options like the real goblins did for wealthy clients.
Special places like the train stations for the muggle Monopoly were exchanged for the Ministry of Magic, St. Mungo's, Hogwarts and Gringotts. The six were having a blast with the girls trying to get Harry and sometimes Neville to abate their debts for a kiss. Needless to say Harry and Neville were blushing madly to the snickers of their spectators if it happened. Well, mostly the three older girls were trying to get away with it; Ginny was too shy for that kind of moves yet.
Percy was still a bit sceptical, but had agreed to watch the new developments before he judged. He still wanted to make career at the Ministry but he also had realized that many of the points Harry had brought up were true. Perhaps he could be successful there while keeping an open mind for problems. If he managed to solve those problems and be recognized for good work, he could go far. After all, Harry Potter was heir of six influential houses and wanted to change the wizarding world for the better. He would be very influential as soon as he took his place in the Wizengamot after turning twenty, the minimum age for taking a family seat.
Percy was sure Sirius Black would be Harry's proxy until that date. The Lord of House Black, who was also the well-respected Comte de Jarjais, had managed to build a power-base with light oriented and neutral families. And he hadn't restricted himself to politicians, he had also approached businessmen. Additionally Harry had the Boldon Empire behind him as the sole heir. Important things he had to keep in mind.
He had until the end of the year, one term to spot the main problems in the educational system, as that was what he knew really well, and point out suggestions for improvement. He had always liked to learn and considering a career in education at the Ministry could work in his favour. After all, the head of the Department of Magical Education, Griselda Marchbanks who also presided the OWL and NEWT exams at Hogwarts, was getting to an age where many decided to enjoy their retirement. And if he found the Ministry wasn't that well-suited for him, he could go into teaching. He had the necessary marks in case an opportunity presented itself.