A/N : Hey Guys, Sorry for being a week late but I had to stay in hospital due to some medical issues. Now, to answer some reviews.

Now to all those reviewers who had 'Granger rammed down their throats' calm the F down please would you? Like yes chapter 4 is mainly about Hermione. But it is that way because I wanted to make Hermione not a bookworm, know-it-all or a teachers pets. It was a chapter to shape her character, she didn't have friends before Hogwarts, now she has 6 of them and she will be as loyal as Hufflepuff to them not teachers.

Now, I would like to personally acknowledge Sonia 25. I personally doubt your reading skills now, I believe you didn't read the thoughts Hermione was having during that Late night talk scene with Daphne. Yes Daphne will educate her and she will be included in training too, but she will not be teachers pet and yes she will not say every Pureblood custom is wrong. She will listen, understand, research and make an unbiased opinion. And I thought you didn't want to read the story after your "Unfollowing now" comment right after chap 3 but apparently yours is the first review in Chap 4 too.

To all those who were supportive of the chapter and waiting eagerly waiting for update thanks alot you don't know how much that means to me and sorry for delay.

Now that my rant is over, A shout out to my awsome beta Asmodeus Stahl. He is the reason that my writing has improved. Anyone who would like some Percy Jackson fic go to his ID he has some brilliant work there.

I don't own Harry Potter, Every character you recognize belongs to Almighty JKR.

Without further of my chitchat. Enjoy!

September 7th

Hogwarts.

Albus Dumbledore was humming on his way to the conference room on the fifth floor. Today was the first staff meeting after the term had started and he was more or less excited about it. Among all the titles he had been saddled with, 'Headmaster of Hogwarts' was the only one he truly enjoyed having. The world may prefer to call him as Grand Sorcerer or Supreme Mugwump or Chief Warlock Dumbledore, but none of them provided his heart the happiness compared to being called Professor Dumbledore. He yearned to be just Professor Dumbledore.

He pushed all those thoughts out of his mind as he pushed open the doors of the Hogwarts conference room. Inside was a huge ornate table with high back chairs with all of the Hogwarts staff occupying their respective seats. Dumbledore strode towards the table and took his place at the head of the table.

"I now call this meeting in order," said Dumbledore.

It was about 90 minutes later that all the other teachers were gone, only the senior staff remained. They had started by discussing lesson plans for NEWTs and OWLs followed by a brief discussion on all the year groups except for the first years.

"Now, let us talk about the first years," said Albus. "Are there any students with problems?"

"I have one Headmaster," said Flitwick in a mildly sad tone. "I fear Mr.Weasley seems to have developed an obsession with Mr. Potter. He is also very offensive towards Slytherins and slacking off in classes."

"I will talk to him in the orientation session I will have with the first years," said McGonagall with a sigh.

"I see," said Dumbledore with a thoughtful look on his face. "Any other? If not, then how is the batch this year?"

Flitwick beamed at the question, The diminutive charms master knew that this year Ravenclaw truly had the brightest of minds in the first year class. "I must say this year's batch has exceptional potential in them. While the Purebloods and Half-bloods are very talented, the main surprise comes from muggleborns. In Ravenclaw, Michael Corner has very nice wand work. On the other hand, Miss Granger-"

"-is an insufferably curious, who has attached herself to Potter and his ilk," finished Snape snarkily.

"Severus," said Albus with a hint of warning in his voice. Before he could say another word, the diminutive charms master completed his sentence, "I was going to say exceptionally talented in theory work."

"Good," said Albus, finally reaching the topic he wanted. "How is Mr. Potter doing?"

There was much joy about that, but Snape snarled and said, "He thinks he owns the world! Arrogant brat, just like his father. He has a big head and thinks he can get away with everything! He disrespected me during the first potion class, his new follower Miss. Granger attacked Mr.Malfoy in the corridor using the muggle method, nearly dislocating his shoulder. And when Mr.Malfoy wanted retribution in the form of an Honour Duel, Miss Bones and the Potter brat jumped in with their blasted alliance."

Albus rolled his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Snape, infuriating him even further. Before he could say something in the defense of the muggleborn witch, Professor Flitwick stood on his stack of books and started speaking.

"I beg to differ," said Flitwick coldly. "From what I have seen, Mr.Potter, along with his friends, are very well behaved and very talented in magic. In fact, it is an absolute joy to teach that group of first years. Mr.Potter is a prodigy in potions. He answered every question you posed to him, did he not Severus? And after hearing the questions you asked, I must remind you that you were teaching first years not sixth years."

Without allowing anyone to cut him he continued. "Mr. Potter also came to me after his potions class to justify his action. He said that he didn't want to come forward as a know it all but he couldn't let the amount of time Lady Potter spent teaching him about potions go in vain. He also gave the reason about the muggle move on Mr.Malfoy, you and I both know, Severus, that Mr.Malfoy had provoked them to attack with comments on Miss. Granger's blood status and clearly 2 weeks of detention that you gave her is enough for retribution." Flitwick finished the last of the sentence clearly in rage. Snape glared at Flitwick before turning towards the Headmaster.

"So I assume that young Mr.Potter is well rounded in all subjects?" asked Dumbledore.

"While not a prodigy like Mr.Longbottom, Mr.Potter is very good at Transfiguration, he clearly takes after his father. The only problem I have from him is that his handwriting is utterly awful, I just can't make head and tail of what he writes," said McGonagall with a small smile.

"I agree. He is very good at Charms too. His writing is in reality very awful but he said he is working on it." said Flitwick

"Well, sorry to disappoint you all, but he is pants in Herbology. He just doesn't have enough patience and interest in the subject. He clings to Mr. Longbottom for dear life while in Greenhouses," said Professor Sprout with a grimace to everyone's laughter.

Albus cleared his throat. Well, it looked like the child of prophecy is talented in magic. But it was to be expected of course; James and Lily were talented and it would stand to reason that they would train their child well. He didn't have any problem with that. As long as Harry didn't stray in the dark form of magic he had no problem with him.

"Have there been any other problems with First years?" he asked.

"Not really," said Minerva. "As Filius said, Ronald Weasley seems to be obsessed with Harry, though it looks like he is handling it well. He and his friends do have a rebellious streak like their fathers and godfathers, they call themselves the New Marauders."

Snape snarled, but Dumbledore quickly called the meeting to an end. He sighed. Why couldn't Severus get over his petty grudge? He didn't want to deal with Snape making students suffer more than he already does. He had more important things to worry about this year.

Harry and Daphne were lounging in the Ravenclaw common room while Hermione and Susan were serving detention with Snape. Daphne was reading one of her trashy nobles while Harry was reflecting back on his first week of Hogwarts. Their group continued to grow as it seemed that Neville had struck up a friendship with Fay Dunbar, a pureblood Gryffindor first year. Tracy Davis, Blaise Zabini, and, surprisingly, Theodore Nott, three Slytherins first year had also been joining them more and more while in the library for studies.

Though everyone was not there for pure friendship or studies. Ron Weasley had continuously tried to attach himself to the group but his lack of interest in studies and animosity towards Slytherins had caused him to receive some of Daphne's very icy and cold glares and remarks.

Taking up his mum's advice, Harry decided to use Legilimency on the redhead to find out his motivations. Upon entering his mind he was surprised to find no Occlumency shields whatsoever. After a few minutes of non-harmful passive Legilimency, what he found was a memory of a rather fat woman with the same red hair, probably Ron's mother.

Memory Scene

"What if he doesn't end up in Gryffindor?" whined Ron. He didn't want to go to Hogwarts with a task on his head.

"Oh, He will be. Nine generations of Potters have continuously ended up in Gryffindor. You just have to work from there." said the Weasley matriarch.

"And what if he doesn't want to be friends with me?" retorted Ron. It was not like he didn't want to be friends with The Boy-Who-Lived, it was just that he didn't want that extra load of work his mom was saddling him with.

"Ronald" spoke Mrs.Weasley in a stern voice. "He had been locked up in his home for the last 10 years, He will be eager to be friends with you. You just need to be close to him and set a base for Gin-Gin."

Memory End

Harry's first reaction after ending the Legilimency probe was quite weird, to say the least, 'What the bloody hell is a Gin-Gin?' It took him another probe to find out that Gin-Gin was the pet name of Weasley's youngest sibling Ginny Weasley.

While he didn't want to push Ron away just because his mum thought she was the smartest and most cunning witch alive, Daphne didn't share his sentiments. It took all the effort Hermione and he made to calm Daphne's inner Gryffindor who wanted to go out and hex the Weasleys to the moon and beyond. That didn't mean Daphne had decided not to act. Some well placed silent and nasty hexes were used to place the youngest Weasley son in the infirmary.

Their first week of classes in Hogwarts could be summarised in one word for him, and that word was boring. Though being very good in Transfiguration and Charms. his main affinity was in DADA and Potions. and while professor Quirell was very knowledgeable in the subject. His stuttering made the class very slow and annoying. Potions. on the other hand. was an all different matter. Professor Snape had stopped testing his knowledge after the first class but had taken more creative ways to get a rise out of him.

Daphne and Harry were no longer allowed to partner up in Potions class. He had remade the whole seating plan to make sure that Daphne was partnered with Draco and Harry was partnered with Gregory Goyle. While Draco simply pestered Daphne about how forgiving he was and Daphne only needed to maintain distance from Potter and she would get chosen to be betrothed to him. Goyle on the other hand was simply a half-troll. It was clear to Harry that Snape had given him clear instructions to make his potion class as difficult as possible, every mistake that half-troll made Snape deduced points from Ravenclaws.

If it wasn't for the 120 points Harry and Daphne earned in their first week in other classes, all other 'Claws would hate them for the 70 points they lost alone in Potions. Snape had also given Hermione a two-week-long detention for attacking Malfoy along with Susan, who he gave the same punishment for 'Wastage of Ingredients', though they knew it was because she stopped Malfoy from declaring an Honour Duel.

Oh how much he wanted to prank the shit out of Snape and some of Slytherins. Neville had developed a plan to prank the whole Slytherin house but Harry had discarded it on the principle that 3 of the first years were very nice to them, and except for Malfoy, his cronies and some of the upper years, others didn't care about House rivalry or blood supremacy that much. So a better plan was made to prank Malfoy and his gang along with Snape. But the main item he needed to accomplish that plan was out of his reach, for now anyway.

As if reading his mind Daphne looked up from the book and asked "Have you got any ideas about retrieving the Map yet?"

Harry released a frustrated sigh. "I checked every nook and cranny of Filch's office and it's not there." He had checked Filch's office twice under the invisibility cloak but it was clear someone had taken the Marauders Map already.

"Do you think someone who graduated took it with them?" asked Daphne.

"No, the point me spell says it is in the castle and it points towards the Gryffindor Tower," replied Harry, how much he cursed that damn anti-summoning spell on the map.

"So, you think those two have it?"

Harry looked up to look her in the eyes and nodded. The Weasley Twins, Fred and George, were currently Hogwarts' most creative and hilarious pranksters. "The main problem is that until they have that map, my cloak will be useless against them, so I can't sneak up on them."

Corners of Daphne's lips curled upward in a feral smile. "I surely can. Come on, let's go to dinner." Harry knew that smile, that was the smile Daphne gave when she had a good and borderline ruthless idea. He just hoped that Daphne didn't overdo anything just because they were Weasleys.

Dinner was a peaceful affair for everyone. They were joined by Hermione and Susan in front of great hall doors, both grumbling about different ways they wanted to humiliate Snape. Throughout dinner, Daphne kept an eye on Gryffindor table while briefing the plan to Hermione and Harry. As dinner was coming to an end Daphne leaned over to him and whispered "Cast a point me spell now and tell if they have it on them right now."

After a silent point me spell on Marauder's Map he turned towards Daphne and nodded. Daphne gave a slight squeeze of hand as a reply and looked towards Hermione who also nodded in reply. After dinner ended, the three first-year Ravenclaws lingered behind to lay in wait for two Gryffindors.

As soon as Fred and George Weasley left the great hall, Harry and Daphne rushed behind them with Hermione going to the staff table. The plan was simple enough. Harry would get the other Gryffindors to leave, asking the twins to talk alone and take them to the Library corridor all the while getting followed by Daphne under his Invisibility Cloak. Once near the library, Daphne would hit both of them with the stunning spell. They would then check both of them for the map. Once they had the map, Daphne would stun Harry too before applying confundus charm on both Weasleys to make them think that they were stunned by Malfoy while using the Map.

While this all was going on, Hermione would convince McGonagall to come with her to the library, the excuse was to allow her to check out an upper-year Transfiguration book. Once she and Hermione reach the library corridor, they will find Weasleys and Harry stunned. McGonagall will wake them up solidifying the fact that Harry was stunned with Weasley twins making them think he had nothing to do with the map.

Harry noticed that he had reached near the group of third-year Gryffindors, so he raised his Occlumency shields and said: "Weasleys, I need to have a word with both of you." He then looked around to the other 3 with them and added "Alone."

After a minute of walking towards the library, Harry turned back to see Daphne's Walnut wand sticking out of the air. He gave a small nod which was followed by two quick flashes of red light and thud sound.

He turned around to see Fred and George Weasley lying on the cobblestone floor out like a bulb. Daphne had already started checking one twin so he knelt down and started checking another one.

"I think I found it," said Daphne, picking out an old folded parchment. She passed the parchment to Harry, who carefully unfolded it.

"I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good," said Harry pointing his wand at the parchment. Ink started to spread through the parchment making small dots with people's names on them inside the Map of Hogwarts. Harry and Daphne shared a smile before he saw dots of Minerva McGonagall and Hermione walking towards them.

"Mischief Managed," he said and the ink of the map started to fade. "Now, quickly stun me and confound these two," said Harry as he passed the map back to Daphne.

Daphne sent a silent stunner towards him and he fell like a log. She then turned towards the twins and confounded them into thinking that they were stunned by Draco Malfoy while they were using the map.

Just as she draped the invisibility cloak over her head, Professor McGonagall and Hermione walked around the corner. McGonagall gasped as she neared the 3 fallen students.

"Merlin, What happened here?" asked McGonagall as she cast quick enervates on all of them. Both Gryffindors and Ravenclaw started to stir.

"Mr. Weasleys, Mr.Potter, What happened over here?" asked McGonagall in a stern and no-nonsense voice.

"W-We don't know. We just heard Malfoy yelling a stunning spell at us and before we could move out of the way. We were hit," said Fred shaking his head as if clearing something. To say McGonagall was angry was beyond an understatement.

"Miss Granger, can you escort Mr. Potter to your common room? And make sure he goes to Madam Pomfrey first thing in the morning. You two come with me," said McGonagall, last part with a nod towards the twins.

After they separated on the second floor for Ravenclaw Tower, Hermione quietly said "You can come out now Daph." For a brief moment, there was no movement, Harry and Hermione shared a look, as just a few feet ahead of the brunette, Daphne threw the cloak off her with a loud "RAAAGHHH"

Hermione stumbled backward with a scream before falling on her butt. Daphne guffawed. with Harry following soon. Hermione scowled at both of them before laughing with them.

"I seriously need to start keeping a camera with me all time if you keep giving expressions like that. And, for the record, we are still not even for the charms class one you pulled," said Daphne controlling her laughter.

Hermione looked sheepish at the memory apparently soaking Daphne to bone was not one of the brightest ideas she had. Before she could reply, Harry cut her off, "Okay guys, let's get back to the dorms now. We got the map and I personally don't wanna be dozing off during our flying lessons." With that, he started climbing stairs to the Ravenclaw tower.

Both of the girls groaned, Daphne hated brooms and flying on principle while Hermione was clearly scared of her first broom experience.

Harry was eating his breakfast the next day at the Ravenclaw table when the air in front of him set ablaze in fiery red flames. The flames dropped a note before disappearing. Harry picked up the note and flipped it open to see a note in very neat handwriting.

Harry,

Could you please join me in my office for a small chat after breakfast.

A.D

PS: The password is Licorice Wands.

Harry looked up to see Daphne and Hermione looking at him with curious looks on their faces. He passed the note to them and said, "If I am getting punished because of yesterday, I will tell them you Imperioused me."

"Prat," said Daphne with a light punch on his shoulder.

Harry walked through the corridor in the Headmaster Tower towards the stone gargoyle, which was the entrance guard to the Headmaster's office. As he reached the gargoyle the stone eyes of the sculpture popped open and looked straight at him.

"Licorice Wands," said Harry and the Gargoyle swung to the side revealing a moving spiral staircase, he ascended to the Headmaster's office by stepping onto the moving staircase. Just as he reached the oak door, he knocked twice and heard "Come In" from inside. Harry opened the door and gracefully walked inside.

The first thing he noticed was that Dumbledore's office was very different from Professor Flitwick's office. While the head of Ravenclaw House had a very well arranged, library-style office, Headmaster's office was more like a workshop and by far more interesting. It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of different instruments on shelves and tables. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were acting like snoozing gently in their frames but were looking at him when they thought he wouldn't notice. On the window, there was a tall perch with scarlet Phoenix on it. Harry moved to the Phoenix and started petting it when he heard an old but amused voice that sounded through the room.

"If you are admiring my Phoenix, I hope you don't mind me asking to admire yours?" said Dumbledore from the large throne-like chair behind the ornate ebony wood desk. Harry gave a small smile before mentally calling for Hedwig.

Dumbledore stared in awe as the white bird with black patterns emerged from a pure white fire. He still couldn't fathom how one so young could bond with a Phoenix. But, then again, anyone with a mage sight like his could tell that Harry was anything but an 11-year-old. He made a surreptitious glance towards the boy's forehead and saw there was no scar. Could it be?

He was brought out of his reverie by Harry's voice. "Headmaster, what did you want to talk about?"

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said joyfully, his eyes twinkling. "Please sit down. Would you care for a lemon drop?"

Harry took a seat on one of the plush armchairs in front of the headmaster. "No thank you, sir. I don't care for sweets much," he answered. Harry felt a very light Legilimency probe in his mind. It was clear that Dumbledore couldn't resist the urge to use Legilimency on him. Instead of shutting him out of his mind, Harry sent his own passive Legilimency probe in Dumbledore's mind.

They stayed like that for next few minutes when Harry felt the presence in his mind retreating back. Dumbledore chuckled before popping a sherbet lemon in his mouth and said, "Now that we know that we can't enter each other's mind without drawing wands, let's never try that again. But I must say, I seriously underestimated your Occlumency skills."

It looked like Dumbledore was hoping for a reply from him, so when he only responded with a small smile Dumbledore quickly changed the subject "How is Hogwarts so far, Harry?" and with that, they chatted for next half an hour on different topics surrounding education, different subjects in Hogwarts and his class experience so far. They also shared a laugh over the reaction the teachers had over his handwriting. Suddenly, a quill on the desk started buzzing and Dumbledore smiled.

"Ahh, I see it's time for your first flying lessons. Off you go then, I won't keep you from it," said Dumbledore. He bid the aged Headmaster goodbye before making his way to the door, As he twisted open the lock on the door Dumbledore spoke again, but unlike earlier, his voice wasn't cheery and amused, on the contrary, his voice was tired and….. sad.

"Harry, I assume that your parents have already told you about the foolish decision I was adamant about making back when you were attacked. I know that the relation between your parents and myself is irreparable." He sighed before continuing, "But the truth of life is that no one is infallible and I just hope that you don't judge me with their eyes."

Harry turned back and nodded before leaving through the door. Yes, it was true no one was infallible, but just the thought of the living hell his life would have been if Dumbledore had things go his way shot down any hope for a trusting bond they may have in future. Why was he even thinking about it anyway? It was not like he had to answer the aged man for something. They were mere acquaintances for now and if Dumbledore wanted to gain his trust, he would have to pay back in honesty.

Harry made his way towards the entrance hall, where he joined his friends who all had curious looks on their faces but refrained from asking any question. As they started to walk the exit of the entrance hall, Harry felt someone squeeze his hand. He turned to look towards Daphne who had a calculating look on her face.

"What did he want?" asked Daphne with an edge in her tone.

"Nothing much, just some basic chat. I'll go in detail later," replied Harry quietly. Daphne gave a small nod of acknowledgment as they made their way to the assigned area for class, which was near the edge of Quidditch Pitch. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

"I really don't like flying," said Daphne with a sigh.

"Cheer up, Daph, it's not so bad," said Harry as they walked to the grounds. "Just keep calm in the air and you will be fine."

When they reached the place, Harry, Susan, and Neville looked at each other and frowned. Harry crouched and looked at the brooms.

"Why hasn't anyone changed these brooms?" asked Harry exasperated. "They're practically ancient!"

"That is something I wish I could help you with, Mr. Potter," said Madam Hooch. "But unfortunately, the school doesn't have the necessary funds to change them and no one is willing to donate them to the school! Sometimes I wonder what the Board is doing."

Neville had a small smile. From his mother's rants, he knew that the Board was filled with corrupt morons. But thankfully, their term would be over at the end of the year a new Board would be appointed.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws to the right, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins to the left," said Madam Hooch. Once all the first years settled in two parallel lines, she continued again, "Stand by the side of your broomstick, stick out your hand and say 'UP.'"

Half the brooms answered to the call, including Harry, Susan, Neville, Blaise, Daphne, and Malfoy's. Once she taught the remaining how to push a little bit of their magic into the brooms, the rest of the brooms responded too.

"Now, mount your broom and give the handle a slight-" she was cut off mid-sentence by a loud thumping sound coming from the forest. Everyone turned to see Hagrid running at the maximum pace he could achieve, he was running away from…..

"CORNISH PIXIES"

Pandemonium broke loose as the pixies now focused on the group of first years. Madam Hooch drew her wand and started casting stunning spells at the pixies, Harry, and the others also following her lead.

"My pendant," cried Susan, causing everyone's head to snap towards her. She was grabbing her neck at the supposed place of the pendant. Harry knew the importance of that pendent. After the Death Eater attack on Bones Manor in which her parents died, they released Fiendfyre that burned everything to the ground. So, Susan always longed for things related to her parents. The pendant was her mother's, who gave it to Susan after her birth.

His eyes snapped towards the pixie, which was zooming through grounds towards the Forbidden Forest. He mounted the school broom and took off.

"Mr.Potter, where do you think you are going?" asked Madam Hooch in a stern voice. Before she could say anything more, he had already zoomed off towards the pixie.

Harry was like an arrow behind the pixie. As soon as Harry was near enough to catch the pixie, the blasted creature shot upwards like a bullet, with Harry following it. The wind whipped across his face as he raced vertically upwards from the ground, all the while ignoring the screams of protest he heard from the people below him.

As if fate itself was making fun of him, the pixie dropped the pendant as it hurtled towards the Forbidden Forest. He zoomed his broom right behind it at max speed, but when he felt his broom started to shake, he knew that the ancient Comet 140 has reached its speed limit and he needed to slow dow

When he saw the ground rapidly approaching in front of him, Harry reached out his hand and felt his fingers wrap around his chosen target. As soon as his prize was secure in his grasp, he pulled back viciously on the front of his broom, and his feet grazed the grass below him, as he barely managed to avoid hitting the ground.

Harry was just about to raise the fist that held the pendant up in victory, when he suddenly heard McGonagall scream, "MR. POTTER, what do you think you are doing?"

As soon as he turned around Harry saw the stern Transfiguration teacher glaring at him, and behind her stood Professors Flitwick and Vector, both levitating the stunned pixies in a cage. Susan, Daphne, and Neville were all standing there, with silly grins plastered across their faces while Hermione and the rest of the first-year class stared at him in awe.

"I can explain, Professor McGonagall," said Susan. "That pixie took my mother's pendant, and Harry went after it to retrieve it."

Despite the anger she was feeling at the moment, at the sight of the pendant in Harry's hand, Minerva McGonagall allowed the briefest of smiles to grace her lips. "Very well, 15 points to Ravenclaw for the protection of a friend's belongings. Now off to castle all of you, I need to see why the pixies attacked in the first place."

When all the first years went on their way to castle gates, McGonagall turned towards her diminutive colleague and gave one of her rare big smiles before asking, "I think you are getting the same idea, Fillius?"

"Indeed I am, and It seems I have a letter to write." came the squeaky reply of the charms master half-goblin.

Fillius Flitwick walked towards the Ravenclaw common room with a letter in his tiny hands. He recognized talent when he saw it in someone, and the event of flying class earlier that day clearly showed that Harry Potter was exceptional on a broom. The maneuvers the first year pulled off on a school's broom was something that many full-grown adults couldn't pull off on top of line brooms.

He wanted to make the boy the new Ravenclaw seeker right then and there, but two things had stopped him from doing that. The first was that no matter how good one person was on a broom, Quidditch positions could only be decided by a fair try out, the second was that to recruit a first year for a Quidditch team, their head of house needed permission from the student guardian. That's why he had rushed to his office after the incident to write to Lord Potter to ask permission for Harry to try out. James was more than happy to reply in affirmative, which was the letter he was holding right now.

He pushed open the door to the common room of the House of Intelligence and walked inside. Everyone's eyes snapped towards their head of the house. He waited for complete silence to take place before he started speaking "Mr. Potter, Mr.Davis, Can I talk to you both for a moment?"

When the first and fifth year walked up to him, he started speaking, "Mr.Potter, this upcoming Saturday is the tryouts for Ravenclaw Quidditch team. After witnessing your expertise on a broom today, you are allowed to try out for any position you deem fit, though I may be correct in assuming that you are best suited for seeker."

Everyone in earshot gasped, if Harry was selected for the position, he would be the youngest official seeker in the past century. Harry's eyes were bulging out from their place. Then a thought crossed through his mind causing him to grimace "Sir, it's not that I don't appreciate the opportunity, but wouldn't it be counted as favoritism?"

Roger Davis, fifth year Ravenclaw, and current Quidditch captain of Ravenclaw replied before the head of the house could "It would be favoritism if you were given the position without holding tryouts. I have seen the memory, Potter, you were great out there. Though, I hope you bring your own broom to tryouts and probably practices."

"Mr.Davis is right, you will have to go through tryouts, just like everyone else. Here is the permission letter from your guardian," said Professor Flitwick, handing him the letter.

After Flitwick left, everyone in the common room gathered around to congratulate him. Everyone who had heard about his performance today knew that the seeker position was probably already his. Harry, on his part, actively avoided the glares and scowls that a group of second-year girls were sending him. For him, the day was going remarkably well.

Amid the thick silence and darkness of midnight, two figures sneaked their way through the dungeons of Hogwarts. As they were about to turn into the next corridor, one of the two figures took out a piece of parchment from his pocket, tapped his wand on it, and said "I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up to No Good."

Ink started to appear on the parchment as it turned into a map of the ancient castle. He studied the map for a moment before turning to his partner, "Nev, Professor Babbling is coming towards us, Get under the cloak."

Both boys wrapped themselves under the invisibility cloak and waited for the Runes Professor to pass them. As Professor Babbling passed by the corridor without even glancing in their direction. They made their way to the false wall which gave way to the Snake Pit and waited for 15 minutes before the bricks started to shift and Theodore Nott came out of the common room and tapped his foot thrice. Harry tapped his own foot three times in response to tell the Nott scion that he was already there

Nott nodded once before turning back and walking in the common room. Harry and Neville followed under the invisibility cloak. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in carved chairs. It was decorated with tapestries featuring the adventures of famous Medieval Slytherins. It had quite a grand atmosphere, but also quite a cold one.

There were very few students, mostly upper years who were still lounging around in the common room. Theo led them to the first years' dormitories and subtly pointed his index finger towards the 1st door in the corridor. Harry responded by a single tap of foot and with that, Theo left for his room.

Harry and Neville moved towards the door Theo had pointed out and took two shrunken cylindrical buckets out of their pocket and started to pour it on the door. After 15 minutes, they saw Tracey walking towards the entrance to the common room and started to follow her. Once out of the Snake Pit they signaled Tracey that they were out and made their way to the Potions Laboratory.

They entered the potion lab to see several potions under self-stirring and stasis charms. Harry recognized some of the Potions as Skin-Knitting potion, Skele-Gro, and blood replenishing potion. He guessed that Snape was brewing all these potions to resupply the Infirmary for upcoming Quidditch matches.

They made their way to the door of Snape's private living quarters and glued it to its hinges. They repeated the same process to the door of the potion labs before leaving for their dorms. Tomorrow was going to be fun, He could already hear the student body cheering on the news that someone had locked Snape in his own office.

His parents made it clear that it was within Snape's power to ask him any question related to Potions, irrespective of the year it was learned, and that he couldn't do anything to change the seating plan either. Lord Greengrass had promised Daphne that he would write to Snape about Draco's behavior towards her, but knowing Snape they had little hope with that.

The next morning three Slytherin first years and their head of the house were missing from breakfast. Everyone in Harry's friend group kept their impassive mask up so as to not arouse any suspicion. It wouldn't be till lunch the professors would realize that the doors were not stuck by a sticking charm but one of the best muggle adhesives. While Snape used his tact and got out using his private floo connection, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't so lucky. Theo and Blaise told them that Dumbledore blew the whole door off its hinges to get the first years out and that when they got in, Crabbe and Goyle had already fainted due to panic while Draco was promising death to whoever had done this to him.

Not far from the castle of Hogwarts, in the dark depths of Forbidden Forest, a shadow-like figure jumped from the ditch towards a group of Unicorns. Unicorns started to run rampant towards the black lake. Seeing an opportunity, the dark hooded figure jumped to the nearest Unicorn sinking his fangs in its neck.

Harry stabbed the chicken piece on his plate with so much force that everyone's head in earshot snapped towards him. The Halloween Feast was in full swing inside the great hall of Hogwarts castle, everyone enjoying the food and engaging in lively chatter except Harry Potter, who was glaring holes and daggers into one Draconis Malfoy.

The rest of September and October had been very fun for him. He had earned his place on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team as the youngest official seeker in the last century. Many people didn't know it, but the Quidditch teams of Hogwarts Houses were officially registered in the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry, meaning that if any player is above 13 and plays on any of Hogwarts house teams, they could be drafted by under 16 national teams.

While the tryouts themselves weren't much of a challenge, the week after the flying lesson was certainly unnerving. Apparently, Cho Chang was the reason why the second and third year Ravenclaw girls were sending him death glares since their first flying lesson. It had gotten worse after Hedwig had appeared in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast with a brand new Nimbus 2000, a gift from his father. Marietta Edgecombe, another second year Ravenclaw had the gall to threaten him to take his name off the tryouts list because he supposedly now had an 'unfair advantage'. Because of all this, Harry had decided to use his old and trusty Nimbus 1600 during the tryouts. Apart from him and Chang, only two other people were trying out for the seeker position.

The tryouts were simple enough that nobody would blame anyone for favoritism. In the first round, 10 snitches were released at once for each flyer and the task was to catch as many as they could in 5 minutes. Harry had caught 10 out of 10, while Chang had caught 7 and got promoted to the second round. The second round was as simple as it could be, a snitch was released, and whoever caught it first while under constant fire from Bludgers had the position bagged. After 3 minutes of intense dodging, Harry spotted a glint of gold right beneath him and went into a full dive at a steep angle with his right hand outstretched trying to catch the snitch. Not surprisingly, his Asian competition followed and dived behind him. He raced at full speed towards the golden snitch, which, at the last moment, leveled itself with the ground and zoomed parallel to it. Harry also pulled up immediately, his feets touching the grass beneath him. As he continued zooming after the snitch, he heard a scream and sickening crunch behind him and knew that Chang had hit the surface hard. He pressed his body against his broom one last time before wrapping his gloved hand around the snitch.

He approached Roger who looked slack-jawed at his performance.

"You could have killed me!" cried a furious Cho Chang, who was being checked by one of the chasers. "What do you think you were doing, diving at such speed?"

"That's the point; the opposing Seeker would not be able to follow me, isn't it?" he replied back, his tone and face emotionless.

"True," said Roger when he regained his wits. "Potter, you made the team. Practices are every day for 2 hours after the classes."

Quidditch practice had been brutal. Davis had cut no slack to them, as he was dead set on winning the Quidditch cup this time. According to him, this year's team was the most well rounded they will ever have.

Even with the pressure of sports, Harry had kept up with his assignment and homework and had also maintained his performance. He had also managed to find his way around Goyle's stupidity. A silent confundus right before every class made the half-troll a decent enough partner. It was clear to them that Snape had guessed that they were the ones to lock him up in his own room, so in the last few weeks Gryffindor had lost 130 points, Hufflepuff had lost 90 points, and Ravenclaw losing 140 points just from first years. If things continued this way, even Godric Gryffindor himself couldn't stop Slytherin from taking the house cup.

Harry was surprised to find out that even though he was standing on top of all other first years in the practical part of studies, there were a few who beat him in the theoretical part. In the results of their first periodic theoretical assessments, Daphne stood in 1st followed by Hermione in 2nd, Draco in 3rd, Padma Patil in 4th, Susan in 5th, Hannah in 6th, Neville and Harry sharing 7th, followed by Fay in 8th, while the other hand practical assessments were clearly monopolized by Harry in 1st, Neville in 2nd, Daphne in 3rd, Draco in 4th, Susan in 5th, followed surprisingly by Michael Corner, another Ravenclaw who had very nice control on his magic, Hermione only got 8th because of her lack practical knowledge about magic.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a chorus of laughter coming from the place where Malfoy was sitting at the Slytherin table. His blood boiled again at the thought of Malfoy, the blonde ferret couldn't stomach the fact that he was beaten by a muggleborn in the exams. During lunch, he had started spouting shit that Hermione must be a bastard child of some pureblood wizard because she was better at theory than him.

Hermione had bolted out of the great hall crying, quickly followed by Daphne and Susan. Neville and Harry were going to hex the shit out of the blonde bigot, but Professor Dumbledore had intervened. Dumbledore had taken 150 points from Slytherins and assigned detentions to Malfoy every day until the Christmas break with McGonagall as a penalty for derogatory language, demeaning a fellow student, and verbal abuse. The whole student body had gasped at that. While they didn't care about points, they knew that the Slytherin Head of the House would balance that in one day and they already were leading by a huge margin. What surprised them was that it was very rare for Dumbledore to punish someone directly, and with such ruthlessness on top of that was just unheard of. Harry and Neville knew that Dumbledore wasn't punishing Malfoy, but in fact, was trying to suppress the open bigotry that had started to run rampant again in Hogwarts with the arrival of Malfoy Heir.

He had not seen Daphne or Hermione since lunch that day. According to Susan, who had returned for Herbology class later, Hermione had still not stopped crying and Daphne was with her in the first-floor girls bathroom.

His head suddenly jerked up when the door to the Great Hall was pushed open by a very frightened looking Professor Quirell who was screaming on top of his lungs.

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS."

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS……..thought you ought to know." With that, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher fainted in front of everyone.

For a second, every sound in the hall went quiet, then the silence broke with an ear-piercing scream from a Gryffindor second year, and pandemonium broke out. Everyone started running towards the entrance when Dumbledore's voice roared louder than the combined noise made by students.

"SILENCE!"

"Everyone please, do not panic. Prefects stay with and guard the students in the Great Hall. Teachers follow me to the dungeons." The contingent of teachers left the Great Hall towards dungeons, while several seventh years along with the Prefects and Head Boy and Girl started to arrange students year wise on their respective house table.

The doors to the Great Hall banged open again and entered a ragged looking Hagrid. "Wher'r teh professers?" he said looking around.

"They went to deal with the troll in the dungeon," replied the Head Girl.

"But teh troll is roamin' in teh library corridor."

Harry's mind blanked out at those words. 'Daphne, she's in the washroom near the corridor,' was the only thought that crossed through his mind. Daphne was in danger. His eyes snapped towards Susan and Neville, who carried the same grave expression on his face. What should he do? He couldn't get any professor to help them, but he couldn't leave Daphne in trouble. Merlin, if anything happened to her…. No, he had to do something.

He looked at his friends, who, again, had the same determined look on their faces. He nodded once before standing up and started walking towards the door, Neville, and Susan following his lead.

"Potter, What do you think you are doing? Get back to your seat," said Penelope.

"Hermione and Daphne are in the first-floor girls washroom. If Hagrid is right then they are in danger. We are going to warn them." said Harry. His Occlumency shields were working overboard to keep the panic he was feeling from showing.

"Be that as it may, the Headmaster asked us all to stay in the Great Hall and we will follow his instructions," Percy Weasley piped up from where he was blocking Neville's path.

Harry scowled and his eyes glowed a sickly green. He hated Percy Weasley. The git acted like he was an Auror instead of a Prefect. According to Neville, the way he tried to implement rules and discipline in Gryffindor had caused even other Prefects to despise him. Everyone who knew Harry observed him carefully, they knew that he cared for his friends very deeply and especially for Daphne.

"Then why don't some Prefects go to warn them?" asked Harry through gritted teeth. Every Prefect in the hall flinched at that. While trolls were not very dangerous, like dragons or acromantulas, no one would volunteer to go fight one.

Harry let out a mirthless laugh before continuing, "Well then, let us go!" With that, he bolted out of the Great Hall side by side with Neville and Susan.

"Prefects, Stunners and Bodybinds," snarled the Head Boy. In response, several Stunners and Bodybinds raced towards the first years exiting the door. Neville turned back slightly, jabbed his wand forward, and shouted, "Protego Maxima!" A thick wall of light blue magic appeared between them and Prefects absorbing half dozen spells with ease.

Harry raced down the corridor ignoring the spellfire behind him. He had one and only goal right now, to reach the girls washroom as quickly as possible. He wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to Daphne. They turned around the corridor when they were hit by a very pungent smell. Harry rushed to the washroom entrance.

It was a horrible sight, a fully grown troll wreaking havoc while getting hit by spell after spell by Daphne. Twelve feet tall, its skin was dull, granite grey, it's great, lumpy, body was like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredibly bad.

Looking at Daphne made his heart stop. She was limping on her right leg. Her dress was probably ruined by the several wooden shrapnel embedded in her left forearm. Some blood was trickling from her forehead all while she kept up the spellfire. Anyone who looked at her now would say she was going to get magically exhausted if she kept up with the amount of magic she was spending.

As if on autopilot, he drew his Blackthorn wand and fired a blasting hex aimed at the troll's head. The impact of the spell was loud and effective as the beast stumbled and fell backward into the sink.

Daphne's eyes snapped towards him and she sighed a breath of relief as she started to sway a bit. Before she could fall, Harry grabbed her good forearm and enveloped her in a hug.

"Hermione is inside the rubble," was the last thing the blonde said before she passed out from exhaustion. Neville and Susan moved forward and started to levitate the rubble and inside of it was a ragged looking, and unconscious, Hermione Granger. By the odd angle her shoulder was twisted at, they made an educated guess that it might be broken. Susan cast a full body bind on the brunette so she didn't make the damage worse.

As they started to levitate the unconscious Hermione and Daphne out of the devastated washroom, the troll started to stir. "Shite," exclaimed Neville as they rushed to settle the injured down at a safe distance.

"Any ideas what may be able to incapacitate a fully grown mountain troll?" asked Susan as they laid Daphne and Hermione in an alcove behind a row of suits of armor.

"Overpowered spells and physical damage," came the reply from the Boy-Who-Lived as he worked his mind on a furious rate devising a plan to incapacitate the troll.

"Neville, you stay back and start conjuring longswords and arrows and banish them at the bloody thing. Aim for head or chest for incapacitation." He then looked towards the Hufflepuff and continued, "Sue, you on me hit it with the strongest chain you can manage."

Harry and Susan rushed forward while Neville started conjuring. Harry knew that the Gryffindor Transfiguration prodigy had not mastered conjuration, which was hard in the first place to begin, but they all needed to pull some miraculous shit if they wanted to get out of this situation unharmed.

"Susan, overpower your spells but don't exhaust yourself. On my mark. One. Two. Three. Mark." With that, Susan jabbed her wand forward in a wide arc and started casting her strongest spell chain.

"Confringo, Bombarda, Expulso, Reducto." Her spells impacted the troll one after another right in the face, causing it to start bleeding from its nose. Harry was about to follow up with his attack when he saw several arrows and a long sword zoom above his head and hit the troll. While the arrows weren't effective, the sword had lodged itself in the troll's chest.

Harry, seizing the opportunity, aimed for the open wound, and started casting while slashing his wand in the air.

"Diffindo, Defodio, Deprimo, Depulso." The overpowered severing charm, gouging hex, and piercing charm caused the wound to open wide and blood to gush out of it as the banishing hex caused the troll to fall backward in the wall for one final time.

Neville fell on his knees as the amount of conjuration had taken a lot out of him. Susan on the other hand was panting hard. Though they had developed their magical cores in the past two years of training, their core was nowhere overdeveloped like Harry's. They enjoyed the silence for a few seconds before a voice exclaimed.

"What in Merlin's name happened here?" asked Professor McGonagall. The normal stern tone that they were familiar with was replaced by a worried tone. Before they could reply Professor Dumbledore, Snape and Flitwick also came running down the corridor.

"Hermione and Daphne were not at the feast today. They were in the girl washroom where Hermione was still crying over the incident at lunch earlier. After all the professors left Hagrid came running in the Great Hall saying there was another troll on the first floor. We ran out of the hall to warn them." Harry took a deep breath as if fortifying himself before continuing "When we arrived, Daphne was already battling the troll, and Hermione was unconscious and covered in rubble. I shot a very overpowered blasting hex right at troll head and it collapsed into sink. It gave us time to levitate Hermione and a now unconscious Daphne out of the washroom. Then the troll woke up again and I, Neville and Susan had to incapacitate it to avoid any further mishaps."

Before any of the professors could ask what he meant by 'incapacitated' it, Snape moved forward and knelt in front of the troll. He drew his wand and started casting some spells, he looked up when the tip of his wand glowed red and said, "It's dead. Excessive bleeding along with major brain damage probably by blasting hexes."

"Very well. Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, and Miss. Bones, it was very brave and loyal of you all to aid a friend in need." He sighed and continued, "But you all did work against the direct instructions given by me, for that 10 points will be deducted from each of your houses."

The faces of three first years fell for a second but brightened up again when they heard Dumbledore continue, "And 30 points to each of you for your bravery, loyalty and most importantly for the level of skill you showed. Not many first-year year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale and Mr.Longbottom, I must individually applaud you for the very brilliant show of Transfiguration. Now all of you will visit the Infirmary. Minerva, Flitwick please lead them to Infirmary."

So it was about four hours later Harry found himself sitting on the bedside chair of Daphne's bed. Madam Propfrey had checked all of them for any possible injury. Hermione's shoulder had been broken along with numerous cuts from the rubble. She had to stay the longest in the Infirmary until her shoulder was perfectly fine and the after-effects of bone knitting potions had passed. Neville and Susan were suffering slight magical exhaustion and had returned to their dorms after drinking a pepper-up potion. Madam Pomfrey had also given both of them a vial of dreamless sleep potion to prevent any nightmares. Daphne had the worst injuries among all of them. She had two broken ribs along with her right forearm, with multiple cuts and bruises and worst of all, magical and physical exhaustion. The least hurt among all of them was Harry himself. While he also had used a huge amount of magic, it didn't even make a dent in his magical core. He smirked at the shocked expression all of his professors and Dumbledore shared when they saw the size of his core. He was given a pepper-up potion and dreamless sleep potion and thrown out of Infirmary.

He had sighed and wrapped his invisibility cloak around himself waiting for professors to leave. Dumbledore was last to leave as Harry was about to enter the infirmary he heard the old Headmaster chuckle.

"Harry, while I applaud your loyalty and care towards your friend, I must advise you not to skip your sleeping time just on a whim. Especially after what happened tonight," said the old Headmaster.

Harry whipped around faster than an eye could blink "How did you know?"

"I will make sure to tell you at our next chatting session." With that, the aged Headmaster had left him to his devices.

His eyes snapped towards the bed when he heard a soft groan and Daphne's eyes fluttered open.

"Harry?" said Daphne as she tried to sit straight back up. She winced at the sharp pain that shot through her body.

"Don't move," Harry chastised her. "You have two broken ribs, your right forearm is more or less shattered, numerous cuts and bruises and a completely depleted magical core."

"How bad is it?" asked the blue-eyed girl. The current situation reminded her of the many times their places were reversed in the past when Harry would suffer from magical exhaustion because of his lack of control of his massive core and she would keep an eye on him until he woke up.

"Well, Let's say you won't be using much magic for the next three to four days," replied Harry.

"Anyone else get hurt? What even happened in the first place?" asked Daphne. Harry sighed and dived into the explanation of everything that happened during dinner.

He was actually amazed at the idea of Daphne going toe to toe with a mountain troll for as long as she did. Even with all their training, at the end of the day, they were just a bunch of 11-year-olds in their first year at Hogwarts. According to Professor Flitwick, they had subdued a troll in the dungeons too, now the question was what were two fully grown mountain trolls were doing in Hogwarts.

How did they get in without the Headmaster or the Deputy Headmistress knowing? Did Dumbledore and McGonagall know about the troll all along? No, that couldn't be the case. From the stories his parents had told him about the measures Dumbledore had taken in the past to protect the students and the school itself, he would not intentionally put students' lives in danger.

No, the way trolls were sent in two opposite directions from the Great Hall, it was as if to create a diversion. But a diversion from what-

"The third-floor corridor," his eyes snapped towards Daphne who had a contemplative look on her face. "It was a diversion by someone to get into the third-floor corridor unnoticed. I know that you also know something really precious is stored in that corridor. Someone is after it. Something very wrong is happening in Hogwarts, Harry, first the pixies-"

"Wait how did the pixies get into this equation?" asked Harry incredulously. Was it possible that healing potions had altered Daphne's intellect??

"You really don't know, do you? The night before our flying lessons, a horde of unicorns stampeded through the pixie colony in the forest. Someone is hunting unicorns, or rather, feeding off their blood would be more exact. Hermione and I saw Hagrid carry a corpse out of the forest a few weeks back, he said it was the third time in the year."

"But who would do such a thing?" whispered Harry, fearing he knew the answer.

"Your guess is as good as mine," replied his blonde friend, confirming his worst fears.

"Shite."

A/N: Sooooo, How was it? I hope you like it.Constructive Criticism is very much appreciated, like what could have been better and where my writing was weak that kinda stuff. But if you like to rant, please don't make effort I won't read it.

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Till next time fellas,