The school year hadn't ended yet, but it might as well have. Harry handed in his last essay that morning in Professor Sprout's class. It was the essay on shrivel figs that Neville had helped him on a few days ago, and Harry had never before anticipated such a good grade in Herbology class. Yes, there were still classes, but for the most part students and teachers alike were biding their time until school ended that very week and they were all sent home on the Hogwarts Express.

The common room was busier than usual at this time of year. The students, who no longer had any assignments to finish, occupied themselves with games, laughter, and general silliness that made the common room a much louder environment. Only Harry was not having as much fun as his friends. The anticipated return to the Dursleys sucked all the enthusiasm out of him. While his friends eagerly waited for their summer vacations, Harry could only hope it would all fly by quickly and he would be back at Hogwarts in no time.

Still, despite the general state of his bad mood, Harry refused to go back on any of the promises he made to himself. And one such promise was to get to know his classmates better. It would do no good for Harry to ignore Neville so soon after striking a somewhat tenuous friendship with him days earlier. So now Harry split up his time a bit more evenly. Instead of devoting all of his free time to his two friends Ron and Hermione, Harry always reserved some of that time for hanging out with Neville Longbottom.

The results were definitely worthwhile. Not only was Neville great company, but he also had a lot of information to share with Harry. Although Harry had grown up like a muggle-born, he was always treated like a half-blood. In other words, this meant that the people around Harry assumed he understood wizarding culture, even though he had not grown up in it.

And though Ron was a pure-blood, and had no doubt been trained by his parents regarding at least the very basics of pure-blood thought and tradition, Ron never shared this wealth of information with Harry. Other things, such as chess or quidditch, were more important to Ron than tradition. But Neville, who had grown up as the scion of the House of Longbottom, Neville, who would eventually inherit the title Lord Longbottom, knew and was willing to share much more about pure-blood tradition.

Which was good, because Harry was also the heir to the House of Potter. And one day, when Harry came of age, he would take on the title of Lord Potter and all the duties that came with it. And right now, Harry had no idea what he would do when that moment came. It was not just a matter of tradition, either. Harry just didn't know how the wizarding government worked.

"There are seven departments in the Ministry of Magic, and each is in charge of something else, but in terms of political power there are two government bodies that are the most important." Neville told Harry as they sat in two plushy red chairs in the Gryffindor commons. "One is the position of Minister of Magic. He has the power to create new laws and decrees. However, the new laws have to be sanctioned, and that brings me to the other important government body, the Wizengamot.

The Wizengamot is a council of roughly 50 members, all of which belong to the elite wizarding society. All of the Ancient and Noble Houses, like Longbottom, Malfoy and Potter house, have seats in the Wizengamot. The Wizengamot members vote on the outcomes of trials, choose whether or not to sanction the Minister of Magic's new laws, they elect the new Minister of Magic to office, and can even vote the current Minister out of office."

"Wait, but Neville, if I have a seat in the Wizengamot how come I've never been in a meeting?"

"Even though you're the heir of Potter house you're too young to attend Wizengamot meetings. Your magical guardian was appointed to hold your seat in your place until you are of age, and to vote in the name of Potter house. It's the same for me, I can't vote yet, but my Gran gets to vote in my name until such a time when I can take on the duties of Lord Longbottom."

"But Neville, how do I know who my magical guardian is or if they are representing my best interests? I mean, I've always lived with the Dursleys and known them to be my guardians. I didn't even know that I had a magical guardian."

"I don't know Harry, but I can ask Gran who is currently holding the Potter seat and she'll probably know."

"I mean, I guess I can leave it for now. It isn't immediately important to me—it's not like I know enough about government or law or tradition to vote accurately even if I wanted to. And even if I did know I wouldn't really be ready to deal with it. I guess what matters more is how my magical guardian hasn't ever been a part of my life, and how they got the power to place me with the Dursleys."

"Look, Harry, I'll ask my Gran about it and I'm nearly positive she'll know the answer. Until then there's nothing to do about this summer, huh?"

"Yeah, and I can't even scare them with magic anymore because they know I can't do it since I'm underage."

"Wait, what do you mean scare them with magic?"

"Last summer I went home and though I didn't actually do any magic, I would say a bunch of nonsense words and wave my arms around and they would think I was performing a spell. This would scare them, and they would mostly leave me alone. But towards the end of the summer, Malfoy's former house elf, Dobby, popped over to my house and warned me not to go to Hogwarts because of the great dangers. He was referring to the Chamber of Secrets, but I didn't know it at the time.

Anyways, when I refused to promise not to go to Hogwarts, Dobby charmed my aunt's fancy cake to fall on top of one of their dinner guests. Moments afterward, an owl came from the Improper Use of Magic office with a warning for me not to use underage magic. Since then, they know that I can't use magic so they just lock up all of my magical stuff—wand, broom, books, everything—and lord their power over me all summer. I have to do chores and often I am not even allowed to leave my room because they don't want to see me. It's very frustrating."

"It must be," said Neville. "Not that I don't get annoyed with my summers either. My Gran, I love her, but she can be very overbearing. But at the end of the day I know she's my Gran and she loves me so I can overlook some of my problems with her. Nobody's perfect."

"I wish I had some relatives left that weren't the Dursleys, some wizarding relatives. Not that I mind them being muggles, it's just that they don't like me because of my magic, so I can never get along with them."

Before Neville could respond, an interruption came in the form of Ron and Hermione. Harry gave Neville a very apologetic glance before heading off with his other friends on a walk around the school grounds.

"Hey Harry, what were you and Neville doing for so long?" Ron asked in a slightly bitter tone. Hermione had not said a word, but Harry could tell she was curious as well.

Harry had to approach this cautiously. On the one hand, Harry did not want to lose his oldest and closest friends. On the other hand, he knew he could not continue being only their friend, and needed to meet and get to know other people as well. From his short time with Neville, Harry could tell he was a very nice guy and would make a great and loyal friend. If Ron and Hermione were true friends, they wouldn't require him to give that up for the sake of their friendship.

"Neville and I were just talking."

"About what?" Hermione asked insistently. "You were talking for a very long time."

Harry knew that if he refused to answer the nosy question both of them would get angry and upset, so he did give Hermione some information, "Just about the wizarding government. Neville's going to be the head of Longbottom house, so his family is involved in wizarding politics."

"How does that make his family involved in the politics?" Hermione asked, brimming with genuine interest and anticipation.

But before Harry could answer, Ron interrupted. "Harry, don't tell me you're interested in all of that pure-blood aristocratic stuff?"

"Neville's family plays a role in the Wizengamot, Hermione, which is like the Wizarding equivalent of Parliament except they also get to rule in trials. The Wizengamot also elects the Minister of Magic, and can pass or veto new laws. The reason Neville's family is a part of this is because the Wizengamot is made up of mostly rich, pure-blooded ancient families. Since Neville will eventually be Lord Longbottom, a few years from now he will get to participate in the Wizengamot.

But Ron, it's not that I'm really interested in pure-blood aristocratic stuff, it's more that this is the way our current government works. This is the way the world we live in now works, and eventually I will have a role in it too. Just like Neville will be Lord Longbottom one day, I will be Lord Potter one day and it's important for me to know how everything works."

"Harry, you'll really be a lord one day?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Well, yeah. I mean, my dad was a pure-blood, and the house of Potter is actually known as the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. When my parents died, I was the only remaining heir of the house of Potter, which means that when I come of age I become Lord Potter."

While Hermione found this all new and interesting (not everyone could say they were best friends with a future lord), Ron grumbled unhappily to himself on the side. Although the Weasleys were pure-blooded, they were not financially sound enough to take part in the Wizengamot. And even if his parents did make more money, only his eldest brother Bill would stand chance to eventually be a Wizengamot member.

Although Ron hated Malfoy's guts, he privately admitted, if only to himself, that Malfoy was right when he said that his parents had more children than they could afford. Bill was born in 1970, two years later came Charlie, four years after that was Percy, two years later Fred and George were born, two years after that came Ron, and then Ginny was born a year later. And as the sixth son, Ron came off worst out of everyone.

Bill was first-born, so he never had hand-me-downs. He received all new clothes and all new school books as well. As the second son, Charlie did receive some hand-me-downs, but they were all in pretty new condition and he did get a wand of his very own. But as the hand-me-downs went from one boy to the next, clothes that used to be Bill's and Charlie's used by Percy, than Fred or George, the condition of these items grew worse and worse. And with each additional boy there was less money to go around for getting brand new items. Such that by the time Ron got to go to Hogwarts, he was not only wearing very well-used robes, but he didn't even get his own wand—the wand he was using was Charlie's old one.

Ginny, who was born a year after him, had the best of luck. As the only girl in the family, she got all new clothes. Sure, some of them were from second-hand stores, but they were in much better condition than what Ron got and they fit her perfectly in size (Ron's robes were often too short). Furthermore, with no more old wands to hand out, Ginny got a new wand as well.

The Weasley parents were not bad parents. It was clear that they loved their children. But sometimes they could be a bit selfish. On a younger unattached man Arthur's desire to stay in his favorite job was admirable. But with seven children to provide for, it was selfish of Arthur to turn down the multiple offers for promotions. And as much as Molly loved being a mother, she should have not let her desire for a daughter push her to have seven kids. After all, at some point there's just no way to devote enough individual time to any of them.

And as the sixth boy, not only had Ron gotten the worst supplies out of all his siblings, but he had also ended up in the most difficult place. For all of his brothers had had their great accomplishments already. It was a constant comparison. If he lived up to what his brothers did, he would only be repeating their previous successes. And if he performed worse, than he would be the least successful brother. Ron felt trapped in his position. He wanted to be the best out of all of them, but didn't know how.

Or at least, he didn't completely know how. Ron was the only boy in his family who was friends with Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and that was pretty special. The problem was, although Ron did get attention for being Harry's friend, people inevitably cared more for Harry than him.

And then it became easy to get jealous of Harry, who had the fame, the money, and no family to drag him down. Harry, who would one day be a lord and part of the Wizengamot and could change the world or take part in it, should he so choose.

But even with all of this jealousy, Ron knew that being Harry's friend was preferable to not being his friend at all. For if he wasn't Harry's best friend, Ron would be just another red headed Weasley, just the sixth boy and nothing more. So when he saw Neville encroaching on Harry's time, Ron couldn't help it. He grew jealous.

Harry was not blind to Ron's jealousy and anger. Walking with Ron and Hermione, he could tell that Ron was upset that Harry would be a lord in a few years time. And Harry, who came from quite a different background, could not really understand Ron. For if Harry Potter could trade all of his money, all of his fame, everything, and get his parents back in exchange, Harry would do it in a heartbeat. Harry didn't see competition when he saw all those brothers and one sister. He saw a huge supportive family that would always support and protect Ron. If Harry thought about it too long, he would get jealous too.

But Ron had been Harry's friend for awhile now, and Harry didn't want to lose that friendship over a stupid emotion like jealousy.

"You know, Ron, I bet you can be really great, even though you're not a lord." Harry told Ron as they walked by the lake.

"Yeah, you think, Harry? It's easy for you because you are one, to say 'oh yeah, you'll be really great!'" Ron mimicked Harry in an angry voice, "but I'm not one and I'm going to have to live through that, not you!"

"So you really think you're going to amount to nothing in life because you're not a lord, is that it Ron? Is that what you really think, that you're just going to be a nobody for the rest of your life?"

"Of course not!" Ron bellowed.

"Well that's pretty much what you're telling me. I told you, you could be really great, and you pretty much said, 'no, I won't be'. You know, there's no point in being depressed all the time about what you don't have, that doesn't change anything."

"Oh yeah, what do you know, Harry? It's easy for you to say don't spend all of your time thinking about how you don't have money, and aren't a lord, and aren't famous. That's rich coming from you, Harry. You have all of those things."

"I don't have a family. I don't have parents, Ron. And I could spend hours each day thinking about how sad it is that I'm an orphan and how much I wish my parents were alive but that wouldn't achieve anything except for wasting my time. You want to be a lord, Ron? The Weasleys are pure-blooded, all you're missing is money to make it happen. If you spend your time studying and working you could get a job and make money, maybe even enough money to get your own seat or something. And maybe if you work hard enough you can do something really brilliant and be famous too. Sure you're not any of those right now, at thirteen, but then again most people aren't. And if you spend all of your time obsessing over what you don't have it won't happen, either." Harry said.

"But if you apply yourself," he added with a hopeful tone, "you're really smart, and can think strategy very well—otherwise you wouldn't win all of those games of chess. I'm sure one day you really could be great if you work at it."

Ron nearly shouted at Harry but stopped himself. He was hot-tempered, yes, but what Harry was saying did make sense. And it wasn't like Harry had tried to insult him, he had only tried to get him to work harder—and that wasn't so bad. Hermione did that all of the time, and they argued a bit, but never got into full blown fights. So for once in his life Ron decided to be mature. He answered Harry calmly.

"Okay, so what do you think I should do?"

"Well, I think that at the very least you shouldn't take divination. I mean, does telling the future really interest you anyways? Besides, I'm not sure it's such an easy subject. If divination is so imprecise, then it's likely that it is really hard to predict something correctly. Or the professor might not know if you predicted something correctly because it hasn't happened yet and give you a bad grade."

"Harry, a professor wouldn't do that!" Hermione suddenly piped in, scandalized.

"I don't think they'd do it on purpose Hermione, I'm just saying how would they know if it is in the future and hasn't happened yet? They might make a mistake." Harry replied.

"So what should I take instead of Divination?" asked Ron.

"It depends what you find interesting. I suppose you could take muggle studies, that way you could understand some of our muggle references better. Or maybe you'd like Arithmancy since it has a lot of numbers and stuff and that's sort of related to strategy. You might be good at that. Or you could take both. I mean, you could take any other class, really, but I just figured you might be interested in those two."

So you think I should take Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, and muggle studies?"

"You don't have to, but if you want to, then yeah."

"What about you, Harry? What classes are you taking?"

"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."

"That's only two. Why aren't you taking three, if you can?"

"I would if I could but none of the classes interest me. I'm not going to take muggle studies because I grew up the muggle way so I know that stuff. Besides, Professor McGonagall specifically told me not to take that class because I would just be taking it to get an easy pass. That only leaves Care of Magical Creatures, which I don't really want to take. See, I only like the work with creatures we do in defense when we fight them. I don't want to actually care for them."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Ron replied reluctantly.

"Yeah, I think I'll take CoMC, Arithmancy, and muggle studies. Worst case scenario I can always drop the class I like the least."

"Ron!" Hermione yelled, scandalized.

"What? I mean, I'll give it a chance and all but why should I have to suffer through a bad class if there is an option to not take it?"

Harry walked a step behind them as Ron and Hermione bickered. Harry wasn't naïve enough to think that all of Ron's jealousy issues had been resolved in one conversation, but it was a start, nonetheless. And a start was better than nothing. After all, Harry now had a start on dealing with most of his problems, and he certainly felt better. He had started to build a new friendship with Neville, he had started to work harder at school, and now he had started to fix problems in his older friendship with Ron and Hermione. The only problem he had left to deal with now was his stay at the Dursleys.

Yes, Harry had ordered the invisibility backpack, which would allow him to carry all of his most precious belongings to his room with him. But he had not dealt with some of the bigger issues surrounding the Dursleys. The Dursleys always worked him as hard as they could over summer, giving him endless lists of chores to do. That needed to stop—otherwise he wouldn't have time for the schoolwork, even if he did have access to it. Also, the Dursleys never fed Harry quite enough, and for a growing boy like Harry, it was very important to get the necessary nutrients.

Suddenly, Harry knew what he needed to do. Dobby was a free elf now, but he was very loyal to Harry. If Harry called Dobby to him, Dobby would probably be willing to make food for him all summer, and keep Harry from starving.

But before Harry summoned Dobby, he needed to make one stop. Harry bolted down the halls towards the hospital wing.

"Hi, Madame Pomfrey" Harry said, peaking his head through the door.

"What have you done to yourself, now, Mr. Potter? There are only two days left until end of term." She said in an exasperated tone.

"I'm not injured, I just have a question for you. I know I'm a bit short for my year and I was hoping if you could give me some recommendations for how to eat better. I'm hoping to gain a few inches over the summer."

"Come in, Mr. Potter. Sit down on the bed."

Harry sat on the bed, his hospital bed, and looked at Madame Pomfrey curiously.

"I'm going to run some exams on you now. They will check if you have any vitamin or nutrient deficiencies. They will also find information about your previous growth cycles, and whether or not they were normal."

With that said, Madame Pomfrey began to wave her wand around his body. The wand flashed different colors and patterns, and then with another spell the data was transferred to paper. Harry didn't know what it said, but Madame Pomfrey was frowning a lot.

"According to this, Mr. Potter, many of your previous growth cycles were stunted as a result of malnutrition."

Looking at Harry's tightlipped face she knew he wouldn't reveal anything. Nevertheless she was resolved to speak with the headmaster later. It would not do for any of their students to be starved over the summers.

"There are potions you can take to fix that. They are called growth potions, and the way they work is they trick the body into going into an old growth cycle again. If you are eating properly the second time around, your body will get the benefit of the growth cycle and you will grow taller. Therefore, if a person who always ate properly took a growth potion, nothing would happen to them. I will give you a potions regiment of the Growth Potions, but I want it to have maximum effect so I'm going to put you on a very specific diet. Based on the nutrient information I got from the body scans I'm going to recommend you eat the foods listed here in these amounts. I want you to go on the diet for two weeks before you start the growth potions, just so that your body can get used to the nutrients before the potions are introduced. I'll also give you some nutrient potions to make up anything that might be missing in the food. Does this sound fine, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for your help."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. Potter. Come by on the last day of school and I'll have all the potions ready for you to pick up."

Harry thanked her again and then went outside once more. In the relative peace and quiet of the grounds by Hagrid's hut, Harry was able to summon Dobby to him without anyone noticing. At first he wasn't sure it would work. He just called Dobby's name loudly, and then, a moment later.

"Harry Potter call Dobby here, sir?"

"Yes, Dobby."

"What can Dobby do for sir?" Dobby said with his high-pitched, expectant voice.

"I was wondering Dobby, I know you're a free elf now, but I was wondering if you could do some work for me over the summer."

"Dobby be honored to work for Harry Potter, sir, only Dobby want paying for his work now, sir." Dobby said this abashedly, as though he was ashamed of this desire.

"That's not a problem Dobby, are ten galleons a week enough?"

"That is too much money, Harry Potter sir, Dobby only accept two galleons a week, sir."

"Okay Dobby, if that is what you want I'll give you two galleons a week." Here, Harry paused for a moment to let Dobby object, but he was silent, so Harry continued. "I need you to make food for me over the summer. I'll go out and buy the ingredients you need to make the food, and I'll need you to make breakfast lunch and dinner for me. I have a list of my dietary needs from Madame Pomfrey—this is the food that she wants me to eat, so that I'll be healthy and it's very important that you make the food that it says to here. I'll also need help getting my chores done at the Dursleys. I'll get a lot of chores, and it will be very important for you to be invisible when you work and not draw attention to yourself, so the muggles won't know that I'm using magic to get the work done. Is that okay?"

"Yes, this is fine with Dobby, sir."

When Harry went to bed that day, he did so with a smile on his face. Everything seemed to be falling into place, and perhaps, finally, he would have a decent summer. With those thoughts on his mind, Harry fell asleep quite easily. No dreams bothered him that night.

Author's Note: Hi everyone. First, I'd like to thank ElDani once again for being my beta and editing my chapter. I would also like to thank all of my reviewers, with a special thanks to ladysavay for suggesting that Harry talk to Neville about the wizarding world. Reviews help me a lot by letting me know what people think of the chapter as well as giving me ideas for the next chapters. Please take the time to leave a few words, since I always wait for some reviews before starting to write the next chapter. Thanks, blaaah92.