"!!!"
"HA!"
Harry yelled as he stabbed into the darkness of pre-dawn with his dagger, fully intending to sink his blade to the hilt into the man trying to kill him in his sleep. But when he looked carefully, the only thing he stabbed was the curtain surrounding his bed, and the only sign of life was the four other boys sleeping in the room. Or rather, they HAD been sleeping.
"Wassit Harry?" Seamus slurred as he and the others sat up grogily.
"I could have sworn there was someone standing over me with a knife.... A man with the head of a rat..." Harry told them as he steadied his breathing, returning the knife to its place under his pillow. He then grabbed his wand and used the spell Reparo to fix the curtains he shredded.
It was only then that Harry noticed that he had a guest in his bed.
"Ron, please keep Scabbers out of my bed." He said irritably, immediately blaming the rat for his awakening while gently tossing it back to Ron's bed. Of course, the red head just responded with a snore since he had already gone back to sleep.
Shaking his head at his dorm mate, Harry decided to get up since he was already awake.
The first thing he did was enter his trunk to work his body by training with his weapons. Now Harry was even regularly using his two-handed battle axes and war hammers as well, but only the lighter ones for the moment.
Unfortunately, even with his current level of strength, Harry would still need to use the Bound Weapon spells to fight effectively with two-handed weapons since they had no weight.
After training for a few hours, Harry used the trunk's washroom to clean himself up before heading down to breakfast, finding Hermione waiting for him in the common room.
"You know you don't have to wait for me." Harry told her as they climbed out of the portrait hole.
"I know, but I wanted to discuss the magic theory of Alteration with you."
"..."
The trip down to the Great Hall felt as if it were dragging on as Hermione rapid-fired one question after the other about theory on Alteration, and Harry reluctantly answered right up until they sat down.
"Screyaaa!"
As Harry began eating he looked up to see a pair of owls flying down towards him, one being the usual post owl, while the other was one he didn't recognize.
Both owls landed in front of Harry right as he lifted his goblet out of the way, before the post owl promptly took off after he gave it the usual coins in exchange for the morning paper. After that he turned his attention to the other owl, which had been carrying a decently sized book with a note tucked inside.
~~~
This book is the compilation of every single court case of those convicted of being a Death Eater during You-Know-Who's reign and after his fall. It includes those who were sent to Azkaban, as well as those who were declared innocent or ruled to be under the control of the Imperius curse.
~~~
There was no signature, but Harry knew who it came from after his conversation with Rita the day before. So not only did she keep part of her end regarding his research into Voldemort, but when Harry opened the newspaper he was also greeted by the story she wrote.
The image of Harry standing on the shore of Azkaban while radiating the glow of Stendarr's Aura dominated the front page of the paper, accompanied by the title: THE GOLDEN BOY-WHO-LIVED!
Basically, the article detailed how Harry, known to the world as the Boy-Who-Lived, bravely went to Azkaban to confront the man responsible for selling him and his parents out to Voldemort, Sirius Black. There was even a puff paragraph about Fudge's magnanity in allowing Harry to visit the infamous prison, which was usually something reserved only for the family of inmates that were about to die.
But then, right as their group arrived to the island, the Dementors guarding it suddenly swarmed the boat they were all riding in in an unprovoked attack. An attack aimed directly for the Boy-Who-Lived.
This was where the article deviated from the truth of what happened slightly, as Rita only detailed the brilliant Restoration magic Harry used, and not the power of his Voice. She spoke of how Harry used the brilliant power of the light to fight back against the Dementors, even without a wand, to the point that Harry even slaughtered the majority of them in righteous retaliation. Something no one thought possible.
This led her to speculate that this power may have been what drove Voldemort, referred to as You-Know-Who, to hunt Harry down as a baby and try to kill him. She also speculated that this mysterious power might have been what helped Harry survive the Killing curse as a baby.
After detailing the attack, the story continued on to the next page, where a picture of Sirius dominated it as well as Rita detailed the visit itself.
Starting with them entering the prison after the few remaining Dementors fled from Harry, Rita detailed Sirius's story and the horrible miscarriage of justice that took place with his imprisonment. She didn't speculate that he might have been innocent, but wrote the story as if he were, and that the previous administration falsely arrested him with no investigation into what actually happened. She specifically called out someone called Barty Crouch and his motives in sending Sirius to prison without so much as a trial.
Rita then puffed up how Fudge, being the magnanimous and wise Minister he was, immediately proclaimed that Sirius would be placed directly under the Ministry's custody as a full investigation was launched to determine the truth of the matter.
"Not bad." Harry said when he finished reading the story, already having known, and expected, Rita to detail some of the ability he displayed during the visit to Azkaban. All she talked about though was his Restoration magic, and not the power of his Voice or the Illusion magic he used afterwards.
"..."
Hermione however was staring pointedly at Harry.
"You didn't tell me about ANY of that." She stated with a pout.
"I didn't really get a chance to." Harry responded as he started buttering a piece of toast, which was pretty much the truth. He and the others all pretty much went to bed right after Harry finished kicking their asses, meaning that no one managed to claim the ten Galleons he offered.
It wasn't just her though, as Harry felt more and more people in the Great Hall looking at him and whispering amongst themselves as news of the article spread. And Harry couldn't help the smirk that threatened to show on his lips.
Harry was raised as a Nord. He valued Nordic traditions and their way of life, and even considered himself one since they were the ones who raised him and gave him his first true home. And the one thing most Nords seek above all else is glory and entrance to Sovngarde.
Though Harry disliked the fame he intitially possessed as the Boy-Who-Lived, as it made him feel more like an animal for people to gawk at, it was another thing entirely when they were discussing his actual feats and abilities.
"Stop pouting already." Harry told Hermione as he continued eating. "I'll give you a lesson on Destruction magic to make up for it later, ok?"
Immediately Hermione perked up at the offer as she started to energetically eat her breakfast.
"Slow down before you choke. I still have to make a quick run to the library beforehand anyways." Harry while shaking his head wryly, being reminded of some of his daughters as he watched her.
Once the duo finished eating, they both headed up to the library so that Harry could see if they had what he was looking for, while Hermione just tagged along because it was the library. When they rounded one of the corners in the corridor though, they almost ran directly into someone.
"Eep!" Professor Quirrel exclaimed when he nearly touched Harry, jumping back like he was a trap rune that primed to explode.
"Professor." Harry said in greeting, already being used to how skittish Quirrel was after just a couple of his classes.
"P-P-P-Potter!" Quirrel stuttered fearfully while clutching the morning paper to his chest. Harry could even see the picture of himself on the front glaring back him with battle-hardened eyes.
"I see you have today's paper. If you like what's in it, then keep me in mind if that vampire you mentioned ever decides to become a problem. I'll even give you a discount in exchange for some lessons in combat magic." Harry readily offered, to which Quirrel promptly fainted on the spot.
"..."
"I don't think I've ever seen someone so pathetic..." Harry muttered while shaking his head in disbelief, walking around the collapsed professor with Hermione following his lead.
"Shouldn't check on him?!" She asked worriedly.
"Nah. It's not as if he's going to get picked off by a Mudcrab or something." Harry said as they entered the library, and he approached the librarian, Madam Prince.
"Excuse me." Harry called to thin, vulture-like woman with sunken cheeks and a hooked nose that truly resembled a beak.
"Yes?" The librarian asked stiffly, eyeing Harry suspiciously as if he planned to burn the place to the ground.
"I was just wondering if you had any books about Pensieves. Especially about making one." Harry said politely, as he knew from Urag gro-Shub just how seriosuly librarians took their charges. He was even called down once because the orc summoned several Atronachs to attack somebody who spilled some mead on one of his books.
"We do, but they are in the restricted section. Naturally, first years are not allowed." The librarian stated irritably, before snapping her head to the side as someone started whispering from somewhere within the shelves.
"I have something to attend to." She stated, before stalking off to go and deal with whoever dared to offend her.
"I'll be right back." Harry said to Hermione suddenly.
"Harry wait-!" Hermione started, but Harry suddenly vanished when she blinked.
"Eh?" The bushy-haired girl uttered as she looked around curiously, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
"Where did he go?" Hermione uttered in confusion.
"Where did who go?"
"!?!"
Hermione practically leapt out of her skin as Harry suddenly reappeared right next to her, a new book in his hand that he casually tucked into his bag.
"Did....Did you just steal that?!" She hissed as Harry casually walked out of the library.
"No. I just borrowed it without permission." Harry responded without looking back, leaving Hermione scandalized.
"Harry?!" She exclaimed while grabbing his arm. "How can you do something like that?!"
"Without getting caught, obviously."
"B-but its WRONG! Plus how did you even do it without any noticing?"
"Firstly, I fully plan to return it once I'm done with it, without any damage. Plus I'm sure Albus would have given me unrestricted acces to the Restricted Section if I asked him, so I doubt he'll mind. Secondly, I am quite skilled at relieving people of their stuff without them noticing. I could strip you of everything right down to your knickers, and you wouldn't even notice until a draft hit you."
"..."
Hermione actually paused when she heard that, the image of that exact scenario going through her head before she shuddered violently.
"H-have you actually done that before?" She asked him hesitantly.
"Of course. It was always quite humorous to secretly take a bandit's weapons before I challenged them. There was even this one time when I cleared out the bandits that had taken up residence right next to the property the Jarl granted me, and I secretly stole EVERYTHING their chief was wearing without her noticing. She never even realized until she strutted out in front of her men in the buff."
"..."
Hermione was downright flabbergasted at the image Harry just put in her mind, her entire face burning from the mere thought of the humiliation such a situation entailed.
She was so stunned, that she was actually silent the entire way as Harry led them outside to the shore of the Black Lake, where he noticed a few large tentacles drifting lazily on the surface in the late morning sun.
"Alright, let's begin today's lesson." Harry said to Hermione, drawing her attention back to him as he pulled three identical staves out of his bag that looked different from the Alteration staff she had been working with until now.
"Destruction is different from Alteration in that it is primarily used for direct combat, though there are a few daily uses for it as well. There are several branches of Destruction magic, but the main three that we will be focusing on are flame, frost and shock spells."
As he finished speaking, Harry held one of the staves out in front of him to that it was pointed towards the lake, and used it to produce a steady stream of fire. He then did the same with the other two staves to produce a stream of freezing cold, and a stream of weak lightning.
"The Novice level Destruction spells that we will be focusing on are Flames, Frostbite and Sparks. And while there are specific spells you can learn in the Apprentice, Adept, Expert and Master classes, once you become an Adept you can even start manipulating the spells and altering them to suit your needs. For the time being, I want you to practice with all of them until we figure out which element is your forte." Harry instructed her, handing the staves over to Hermione as she looked at them in awe.
"Which element are you good at?" She asked hesitantly.
"I'm a Master with all of them, but I've always had more affinity with lightning based spells than the other two." Harry said, his hand crackling with purple arcs of electricity.
After that Hermione began to practice with each of the staves, rotating them every few minutes to try them all while Harry started reading the book he (temporarily)stole from the library. Not only did it explain the specifics of Pensieves and their uses, but it also detailed how to make one along with the dangers involved.
Harry couldn't wait to get started.
"Um..." A voice uttered as several people approached, prompting Harry to look up to see Justin, Sally-Anne and a few other Hufflepuffs approaching them, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, and Ernie Macmillan.
"Yes?" Harry replied questioningly.
"What is it you and Hermione are doing Harry?" Sally-Anne asked curiously.
"I'm teaching her how to use some of the magic I know." Harry answered while looking their group over. "Are you curious about it as well?"
"A little bit." Susan answered this time, her eyes shining brightly when Hermione managed to produce a quick burst of flames with the flame staff.
"Alright then." Harry said while closing his book and standing. "I only have a few more staves, so everyone can just alternate between them every few minutes. First, I'll have to give you all an introductory course."
Harry had the Hufflepuff's complete attention as he opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again when he noticed a few more students watching them intently. Mostly Ravenclaws, a few Gryffindors, and even some Slytherins.
"If you're interested, then just come on over. I would rather not keep repeating myself." Harry told them tiredly, and soon he had a literal class gathered in front of him as he gave them a crash course on Destruction magic. Probably the only class in Hogwarts that consisted of students from every single House, and from several different years.