Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 8

Owls and O.W.L.s

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY! HARRY JAMES POTTER! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

The pleasant dream Harry was having was suddenly interrupted by the raged shout a woman had let out just in front of him. He realised that Ginny was curled over him (she had been woken too) and that the woman who was shouting at them was Ginny's mum, Mrs. Weasley.

Every kind of alarm started to sound into the young man's head, who feared, for the first time in his life, that he would not die at the hands of Lord Voldemort, but at the hands of Mrs. Weasley (aided surely by all six Ginny's brothers). Damn, damn, damn, damn, what do I do now? This will be my death, no matter what the prophecy says, he thought.

"Mum! Don't give us such a fright! We were sleeping peacefully until you arrived!" Ginny said, rubbing her eyes.

That moment was chosen by both Ron and Hermione to arrive in the library.

"What's the matter, Mum?" Ron asked.

"The matter is that Mum found us sleeping in an armchair and, obviously, she thought we had been making out or worse!" Ginny replied, angered.

"You.. you haven't, no?" Ron said, his ears starting to redden.

"Of course not!" Harry said. "We just had problems sleeping, we talked for a while and we fell asleep here! We didn't do anything wrong, although your "over-protective brother" senses tell you the contrary!"

Ron didn't know what to say about this and stayed still, which Hermione took advantage of and started pulling him out of the room.

"Ok, I want both of you in the kitchen this very instant," Mrs. Weasley said, the anger in her voice nearly completely replaced by both love and a bit of joy.

"Right-o, Mum," Ginny said. She pulled Harry out of the room, seizing him by his hand.

"Well, at least I've survived the first round of 'Don't go out with our little Ginny' Weasley's rage", Harry said, in a clear attempt of raising up her mood. She punched him playfully on his arm and beamed at him when he hugged her before entering the kitchen.

~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~

Six owls entered through the window of the kitchen: four of them had two big envelopes tied to their legs, and the other two had the envelopes students usually received before a normal year of schooling. Obviously, the former had both the O.W.L.s results for the older teenagers of the group. At the sight of them, Hermione started to tremble nervously, and Ron's efforts to calm her down went unnoticed to her.

All the teenagers untied their post fast and the owls flew out of the kitchen almost instantly. Harry opened the first envelope and read:

Dear Mr Potter,

Here is the list of your O.W.L. results from the schooling year 1995-96.

Subject / Theoretical / Practical / Overall

Ancient Runes / n/a / n/a / n/a

Arithmancy / n/a / n/a / n/a

Astronomy / A / A* / A

Care of Magical Creatures / n/a / O / O

Charms / O / E / O

Defence Against the Dark Arts / O / O+ / O+**

Divination / n/a / A / A

Herbology / E / E / E

History of Magic / P / n/a / P

Potions / O / E / O

Muggle Studies / n/a / n/a / n/a

Transfiguration / E / E / E

Results:

Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable)

Failing grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll)

n/a: non applicable

* Mark curve has been changed to count the distraction caused during the exam.

** Outstanding Plus (O+) for performing at instructor level

For the O.W.L.s, it only counts the Overall results, so you have eight O.W.L.s, out of nine. Special congratulations on the Outstanding Plus, it is the best mark any student has managed to reach in the subject since the establishment of the O.W.L.s, and only two other people have ever managed to get an Outstanding Plus in any subject.

Yours sincerely,

Griselda Marchbanks

Department Head for the Wizarding Examinations Authority.

Smiling, Harry looked at his friends so that he could know what results they had achieved. However, he was surprised to see Hermione and Ron embraced in a very passionate kiss that had sent everybody in the room into a awkward silence. When they broke up, Ron told her, "Hermione, how could you think you wouldn't pass every exam? You had Outstandings in all your exams, even in Astronomy! To think that you were nervous only because you hadn't translated one word correctly in the Ancient Runes exam! I'm proud of you, you know it."

The girl smiled deeply at him. "Let me have a look at your results, Ron. I'm sure they will be great too."

Harry then looked at Neville, and said, "May I have a look at yours, Neville?"

"Sure! Hand me yours, please," his friend said.

Harry took Neville's letter and read it.

Dear Mr Longbottom,

Here is the list of your O.W.L. results from the schooling year 1995-96.

Subject / Theoretical / Practical / Overall

Ancient Runes / n/a / n/a / n/a

Arithmancy / n/a / n/a / n/a

Astronomy / A / P* / A

Care of Magical Creatures / n/a / E / E

Charms / E / A / E

Defense Against the Dark Arts / E / O / O

Divination / n/a / E / E

Herbology / O / O / O

History of Magic / A / n/a / A

Potions / P / P / P

Muggle Studies / n/a / n/a / n/a

Transfiguration / E / A / E

Results:

Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable)

Failing grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll)

n/a: non applicable

* Mark curve has been changed to count the distraction caused during the exam.

For the O.W.L.s, it only counts the Overall results, so you have eight O.W.L.s out of nine. Congratulations for your Herbology exam, you reached the highest marks this year.

Yours sincerely,

Griselda Marchbanks

Department Head for the Wizarding Examinations Authority.

"Well done, Neville. Even using a wand that was not really yours, you got eight O.W.L.s."

"I have to thank you for the O in DADA. Without your help at the DA, I wouldn't have managed to reach that mark. And you have done it very well too, with the O Plus in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Everybody looked at Neville when the words "O Plus" went out of his mouth. Hermione took nearly instantly the letter from Neville's hands and her jaw fell when she noticed that, indeed, Harry had been the best DADA O.W.L. examined in recorded history. The letter passed through the hands of everybody, and all of them were astonished. The last one was Ginny, and her embrace for congratulating Harry could rival Mrs. Weasley's hugs.

"Well done, Harry!" she said, proud of him. Harry kissed her lightly on her lips and took Ron's letter, which Hermione had left in front of Ron after reading it.

Dear Mr Weasley,

Here is the list of your O.W.L. results from the schooling year 1995-96.

Subject / Theoretical / Practical / Overall

Ancient Runes / n/a / n/a / n/a

Arithmancy / n/a / n/a / n/a

Astronomy / A / A* / A

Care of Magical Creatures / n/a / E / E

Charms / E / E / E

Defense Against the Dark Arts / O / O / O

Divination / n/a / A / A

Herbology / E / E / E

History of Magic / P / n/a / P

Potions / E / E / E

Muggle Studies / n/a / n/a / n/a

Transfiguration / E / E / E

Results:

Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable)

Failing grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll)

n/a: non applicable

* Mark curve has been changed to count the distraction caused during the exam.

For the O.W.L.s, it only counts the Overall results, so you have eight O.W.L.s out of nine.

Yours sincerely,

Griselda Marchbanks

Department Head for the Wizarding Examinations Authority.

"Neat, mate! Eight out of nine! You have more O.W.L.s than the twins put together!"

"Same as Neville, the O in DADA was thanks to you."

Harry blushed a bit, but smiled in spite of it.

"And I don't need to see your letter, Hermione. Since Ron just voiced your marks, congratulations are in the order of things."

"I managed to get highest marks in Arithmancy, History of Magic and Transfiguration, but it's nothing compared to your O Plus, Harry," she admitted.

"Come on! Everybody at school knows that you are the brightest witch in Britain, and maybe in the whole world, so don't downplay your performance, you have the best average mark at O.W.L.s, as far as I know."

"Shall we get a look at Hogwarts' letters?" suggested Neville.

The six teenagers opened their letters at the same time. From Hermione's envelope fell the red and gold Prefect badge, which made her feel very happy. Harry's letter had the Quidditch Captain badge, and when Ron was about to congratulate him, he extracted from his letter a Prefect badge and a Quidditch Captain badge.

"This is strange! How is it possible that both of us have the Captain badge?"

"Maybe McGonagall wants to have us as co-captains. Anyway, I thought it should be Katie, not me or you."

"She told me last year she'd rather not hold the captaincy, with this being her N.E.W.T.s year and all that," Ginny said.

Harry nodded and extracted the letter - two letters, in fact - and read the first one.

Dear Mr. Potter,

As you may have seen, both your friend Mr. Ronald Weasley and you have been given the Captaincy of Gryffindor's Quidditch team. I couldn't choose which of you would be more suitable for it - Ms. Katie Bell resigned it before the end of last year - and finally I decided both of you would do great. From what I've heard, Mr. Weasley is good at strategy...

Harry snorted. Good at strategy? Damn, Ron was the best when related to make

strategies, independently if it was for chess, for Quidditch or even for a

good fight! She should have known it since he was the one who won the Giant

Chess game in their first year

... and your ability of leadership should be very good for the team.

I expect that you work hard this year. I want to keep the Cup in my office another year, and I will not tolerate any lax work.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.

"Ron, did you know that she heard you are good at strategy?"

"I'd bet the Queen didn't tell her we lured her into a trap!"

Ginny and Luna were the only ones among the teenagers who didn't chuckle, since they didn't know what they were talking about.

"You will have to fill us in with that later, boys," Sirius said, amused.

"We'll do it, don't worry," Harry said, smiling. Then he started to read the other letter.

Dear Mr. Potter,

In this letter you will find a list of the subjects you will be able to choose for your N.E.W.T.s and the books for those subjects. Remember that the number of subjects you can choose has to be over four and below eight.

Astronomy

Care of Magical Creatures

Charms

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Divination

Herbology

Potions

Transfiguration

You will also be able to choose among these elective subjects:

Advanced Practical Defence *

Magical Legislation

Magical Healing

Practical Potions *

* New subjects

Please send a letter stating which subjects you will choose before August 1st.

List of books:

* Jinxes, Counter-Jinxes and Counter-Counter Jinxes by Terry Tertop (Advanced Practical Defence)

* The Bigger Monster Book of Monsters, by Kim Aera (Care of Magical Creatures)

* Facing the Darkness by Alastor Moody (Defence Against the Dark Arts)

* Compendium of Laws and How to Find Loopholes Where There Aren't by German Cubero (Magical Legislation)

* Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage (Potions)

* Liquids In Your Help by Mafell Pigara (Practical Potions)

* Advanced Transfiguration by Miranda Goshawk (Transfiguration)

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.

"Mad-Eye wrote a book?" Neville said, surprised. "I'd bet the first sentence will be 'Constant vigilance'!" Everybody laughed.

"It's not bad, having all these possibilities for choosing," Harry said, passing the letter to Ginny so that she could have a good look. "What are you going to choose?"

"I think I'll go for Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration and Advanced Practical Defence. Do any of you know what Practical Potions is?" Ron asked.

"It'll be a subject where they teach how to brew potions that are more likely to be used in combat. From what Snape told Dumbledore, he intended to do it as a way of helping our side in this battle. I think that just with having passed the Potions O.W.L. you can enter the subject," Sirius answered

"Well, then I think I'm taking Practical Potions, too. The more we know about how to defend ourselves, the best."

"What are you planning to take, Harry?" Ginny asked, looking proudly at him.

"I'll do the same as Ron, but I'll choose Potions and Magical Healing instead of Herbology and Practical Potions. I'm still going for the Auror position, after all." This earned a few laughs from the adults. "What about you, Hermione, Neville?"

"I'll choose Arithmancy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Advanced Practical Defence and Magical Legislation. That way I'll be able to understand how Fudge managed to make all those stupid Educational Decrees," said Hermione, looking a bit sad because she could only choose eight subjects.

"I'm going for Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration and Advanced Practical Defence. The least I can do is learn how to defend myself better," Neville said

"Very well, boys," Mrs. Weasley said. "I'll talk with Dumbledore so that he can tell us when are we going to be able to go to Diagon Alley to look for your books. Harry, dear, Dumbledore said you would have to go by Floo Network to his office as soon as possible."

"OK, Mrs. Weasley, I'll be back in a few minutes. I have to take a few things from my room." Harry went upstairs, changed his clothes and took his wand, because he knew he would have to use magic in his training. Then he went back to the kitchen and, after kissing Ginny goodbye, he took a pinch of Floo Powder, threw it on the fireplace and stepped in saying "Headmaster's office, Hogwarts!"

~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~

Harry landed precariously on the fireplace of Dumbledore's office, and nearly fell to the floor when he tried to get out.

"Ah, good morning, Harry."

Harry brushed the ashes that stained his glasses and saw that, in front of Professor Dumbledore, a man was sitting down, looking intently at him. He wore a large grey robe which brushed the floor. His hair was black and short, his eyes were of an intense blue; short and straight nose, thin lips, approximately 5'10''. He could be forty or fifty years old, Harry wasn't sure.

"This is my old friend Fabian Jennings. He is the Occlumency master I told you about yesterday, and he will also teach you Legilimency and Mindspeech."

"Good morning, sir."

Good morning, Harry Potter, he heard in his mind. It's nice to meet you in the end.

Harry raised an eyebrow when he noticed Jennings had used Mindspeech to talk with him.

Exactly, Harry. You should try to hide your thoughts better; even people in Australia would have been able to hear you.

Harry snorted at the joke he had made, and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Very well, Harry. It seems you are starting to grasp the idea of Mindspeech. For your lessons, Fabian will go to Grimmauld Place every afternoon at half-past three, unless there is a problem, and you will work two hours with him, but I think it would be a good idea if you had your first lesson here. Before you go back, remind me that I have to give you something. Now," he said, standing up, "I have to check on the Ministry and the school wards. I'll be back in two hours."

And he went through the door. There was a short awkward silence; which was broken by Jennings.

"We should do as Albus asked us, don't you think so, Harry? We will start with Occlumency, since the other two abilities are based on it. When you manage to reach a good ability in it, I will teach you Legilimency, and after that Mindspeech."

"OK, sir," Harry said, nervous. He remembered how awful the lessons with Snape had been.

"Please, don't call me sir, it makes me feel very old," Jennings said, smiling. "Just call me Fabian, or Jennings, the way which suites you better. Now, Albus told me that last year you had lessons with another professor, right?" Harry nodded. "Could you concentrate on those lessons? I feel like I should have a look at them, so that I know from what point I have to teach you."

Harry did as told, and concentrated on all the times Snape had been using Legilimency against him, which had resulted nearly always in a failure.

"I think I will have a talk with Albus about this."

"He knows about what Snape did, er, Fabian."

"I'm sure he didn't notice or mention that Snape not only used brute force to 'teach' you Occlumency, but he destroyed some natural good shields you had there before that. Do you remember that after those lessons you felt worse? That was because the shields weren't there like they had been. I would even say that he did it in purpose so that Voldemort could attack you easier."

"But let's leave that. Now I'm going to teach you properly. First of all, you need to relax yourself. Sit down in the floor and cross your legs," he said, doing it while he was talking. Harry followed him. "Close your eyes and try to organise your mind. Imagine that all your thoughts are kept in boxes or in trunks - whatever you want - and put them in order: one for your friends, various ones for different facts in your life, etc."

The young man did as he was told: he imagined his mind was filled with safe boxes made of titanium - the hardest material he could think of - and inside of them various trunks of different size, all of them labelled with labels: Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, all the Weasley family, Remus, Sirius... all his friends, family members, even his enemies - Voldemort, Malfoy, the Death Eaters... - and did that with all his thoughts. He then

remembered he would need some easily accessible happy thoughts if he had to fight Dementors anytime, so he made some copies of those memories and put them in a separate safe box, which he altered so that it opened if needed but remained closed in any other case. Then he imagined all those safe boxes were in a building made of bricks with poured-in concrete, inner walls made of more titanium and only one door - after all, he wanted to make all those thoughts secure. He opened his eyes and found Fabian in front of him, smiling.

"How much time have I been like this, Fabian?" Harry asked, feeling dizzy.

"Only half an hour, Harry. That must mean that, you have very few thoughts - which I doubt - or you worked extra hard and fast."

"The latter, I think. I feel like everything is spinning. Is that normal?"

"Yes. I nearly fainted because of how hard I had to work so that everything was organised. May I have a look at what you have made?"

"Sure. Have fun," the young lad said, smiling, "but don't break anything, please."

He felt like Fabian was stepping in his mind, going to his thoughts bank, and started to look at it in awe and admiration. Harry 'opened' the door so that Fabian could look at the inside, and he noticed the surprise in the older man when he watched all the safe boxes, none of them with a possible clue of what they were hiding. Then Harry smiled mischievously in his mind and 'closed' the door, to trap Fabian into his mind, just when he was trying to go out. That made Fabian be angry at him, and he 'shouted', Damn, Harry, I can't stay here. Although I have to admire your style, it's not very funny for me. We still have to try a few things.

OK, Fabian, Harry snorted while 'opening' the door again. When he felt Fabian was outside, he 'closed' it again and Fabian opened his eyes.

"Well done, Harry. You have made your first step into protecting your mind from Voldemort. Why did you pick that 'bank' idea?"

"I'm Muggleborn, Fabian. For nearly eleven years I have heard about bank security and I thought it would be good to do something like that. Every safe box is made of titanium, whose numerical codes are very well hidden, and the 'bank' is well reinforced against subtle attacks - at least that's what I think."

Fabian started to laugh. "Well, that's a lesson for me. Never to trust a Marauder's son." When Harry raised his eyebrow, like asking him, he said, "My younger brother met your parents when he was attending Hogwarts. He was in Ravenclaw, but he get on well with James, Lily and their friends. I still remember one day that someone had charmed the entrance to the Great Hall so that everybody's robes turned red and gold when they entered. I've never laughed more than when he told me about your parents' antics. When they left

school, I met them in an Order meeting and they told me about the group they formed at school."

"Ok, let's keep it up. I'll try to attack your mind on a subtle way and you will have to stop me from prying into your thoughts. Legilimens!"

Harry noticed the presence in his mind, and he realised he wouldn't go on the 'destroy everything' route Snape used with him, but on a much more subtle way. Fabian was walking around the 'building', trying to find a way to get into it. Harry knew the weakest point was the door, so he concentrated his efforts on protecting it. The first attack came by there, but soon Fabian realised it would not do any good, so he changed tactics: he tried to dig a hole on one of the outer walls. Harry trusted the titanium reinforcements, but the attack managed to break a small hole. Harry hurried to that point and tried to reject his presence. After a short but hard battle, Fabian had to go back, which Harry got advantage from to refill the hole.

"Enough!" Fabian said.

Harry shook his head to recover himself from the hard attack, and stared at the older man, who was beaming at him.

"That's been incredibly good for a first try. Although I managed to make a hole, you refilled it very soon. I was only using the subtler way, but I think you will be able to resist worse attacks. Legilimens!"

Surprised by the sudden attack, Harry barely had time to hide behind the door and close it before Fabian managed to enter. Now he was using a more Snape way to get in, as it proved the fierce digging he was doing on one of the walls. Harry went to that point, but when he arrived Fabian had entered and now he was trying to open one of the safe boxes, the one in which stood his 'Enemies' memories and thoughts. Harry started to push Fabian out back through the hole by grabbing his mind with his mental arm, but he was putting a big resistance against it. While Harry could move him further away from the safe boxes, he wasn't near to the possibility of shoving him out of his mind. Harry tried then another tactic: instead of pushing him, he just had to make him go backwards by feinting he was going to attack him, and it worked. Finally, after a long struggle in which Harry had cornered Fabian against the wall, but far from the hole, he made a void in the wall and surprised Fabian by pushing him out, then refilling both holes at a quick speed.

"Phew, Harry," Fabian said, obviously impressed. "You are doing this greatly! And Severus said you weren't able even to stop him for a few seconds!"

"The organizing thing you suggested me has helped a lot, Fabian," Harry said, slightly proud. "Furthermore, Snape didn't really want to teach me, he just took advantage to torture me with my bad memories."

"Albus will arrive in a few minutes, if that clock works correctly," Fabian said, pointing at one clock which was hanging on the left wall. "I'll ask him to try Legilimency on you, so that you can tell the difference between different wizards."

"Speaking of the devil," Harry answered, because Dumbledore had just entered the room.

"Hello, Harry. How was the lesson, Fabian?"

The wizard launched himself on the tale of what had they been doing during the last two hours.

"When I had first used Legilimency on him, it was very easy to pry on his mind, but now I doubt even the Dark Lord will be able to reach any thought of him. Anyway, I was going to ask you if you would be kind to do it yourself."

"To help him distinguish between different wizards?" Fabian nodded. "Well, I just have to say... Legilimens!" Dumbledore casted on Harry.

This time he had been prepared, and had closed the door to his thoughts and was now watching all the walls to make sure Dumbledore would not be able to enter in his mind.

Unfortunately for him, Dumbledore's methods were different from Fabian's, because Dumbledore didn't make holes on the wall, but on the floor, something Harry didn't realize until he heard the noise that was coming from below him. The lad went to the point he could detect Dumbledore was going to arrive to, and when the hole appeared, Harry started to refill it again at top speed to thwart the Headmaster's efforts. This lasted a few seconds until Harry noticed that now Fabian was trying to do the same as before.

He swore and started to make something very risky: while one part of his mind was concentrated on counteracting Dumbledore, the other half tried to expand the room so that he could thicken the walls without reducing the space in which the safe boxes and him were.

It appeared that he was successing in his effort, because the hole below him was starting to reduce in spite of his divided attention. Then Harry decided to prank the Headmaster by refilling the tunnel he had created, but behind him so that he was trapped hopelessly.

He managed to do it, but at the cost of Fabian being very near of getting inside, so he resumed the thickening-expanding of the walls while trying to trap Dumbledore.

OK, Harry, you win, Fabian said, half-irritated and half-amused. Dumbledore is asking me to ask you to free him from the trap you have set.

Harry did as he was told, nearly unable to control his chuckles, but when everybody was back in their places and both adult wizards had lifted the Legilimency spell, the younger man started to roll with laughter while the older men chuckled.

"That has been incredible, Harry," the Headmaster said, fiercely proud of his protégé. "I did not reach that level of defence until two weeks of intense work. And how did you know trapping me would help?"

"I made something similar to Fabian here while he was exploring my mind, not trying to pry on my thoughts: while he was inside, I closed the front door and didn't let him out. It was just to prank him, but I didn't know it would help me."

"If, while using Legilimency, you get trapped in another person's mind, isolated from your body, you stop having the power to try and pry on the other person's thoughts," Fabian explained. "So that will be an advantage for you: use their ways to get into your mind against them."

Harry whistled. "Imagine if I did that to Voldemort; it would be very helpful!"

"I'm sure that would only work if he was alone against you. If he were with at least one or two Death Eaters who also knew Legilimency, they most probably will attack you to help their master."

"It was a good idea, after all," Fabian said.

"Although you have managed to do it very well, I would like you to keep practising Occlumency with Fabian, at least for a week, until you are able to keep your shields up 24 hours a day. I'm sure that in a few hours you'll start to have a headache, so you should drop them for a while."

"How do I do that?"

"Just try to think of the walls around your safe boxes falling. You can keep the safe boxes, so that you can keep your thoughts organised. Another effect of that organisation is that you will be able to keep your temper better."

"It sounds as if it is an improvement from last year."

"Well, Harry, you should be going now. And before I forget it..." Dumbledore went to the glass cabinet where Godric Gryffindor's sword was and took it. "This is yours, Harry, as the rightful heir of Godric Gryffindor. I have a feeling that you will use this sword at least once more in your life."

"Thanks, Professor."

~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~***~~~~

That afternoon, Harry was reading one of the books Dumbledore had lent him so that he could learn to create his own spells, after putting away his sword and having a look at the phoenix egg (Hedwig was taking care of it like if it was hers, so he didn't have to be very worried about it). He had seen how many things one should do to invent a spell, but Harry thought it would be great to do all those. He had been thinking for a long time on the lines of a new Shield spell, that could protect better than the Protego, because he still remembered how badly injured Hermione was at the Department of Mysteries because of that purple flame Dolohov had cast.

He had gone along a big part of the book, but although he had been able to think what to do in each phase of the invention, he couldn't do anything due to the fact that he had to use magic and he was still under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. He had resigned to the fact that he would have to wait until he was back at Hogwarts to make everything, so he had decided to write in a parchment everything he had thought about his new spell, but he was interrupted by Sirius, who had knocked on the door

of his bedroom.

"Pronglet, are you busy?"

"No, Sirius, come in."

The Animagus opened the door, and with a questioning look on his face, he said, "Have you been making magic in here?"

"No. I've been reading this book about Spell Crafting, but I didn't do anything about what I had been planning. Why?"

"Because you have just received a letter from Mafalda Hopkirk herself, and she only sends these when a minor has been using magic out of school," Sirius replied, handing him an envelope.

Fearing what the letter would say, Harry opened the envelope and read it:

Dear Mr. Potter,

Due to the events of last year and to the request of Professor Albus Dumbledore, you have been granted with an exception of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.

Do not abuse of this exception, and only use it in necessary situations, or we will have to retire it from you.

Yours faithfully,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use Of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

"Wow, Dumbledore really wants me to practice everything this summer. He has managed to convince Mafalda Hopkirk to except me from the Decree of Restriction."

"Mafalda joined the Order a few months ago, when she realised Fudge had been using all his efforts to shut Albus and you up. It didn't take much to convince her, from what I heard."

"Great! Now I'll be able to create this new Shield Spell I had been thinking of for a long time. May I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"How much would it take to convince the goblins in Gringotts so that I could access my parents' vault? I'd like to have a look at Mum's journals, so that I could see which spells she created and how she made them, to use that as a base."

"Hmmm. That's a good question." Sirius' joyous face was replaced by a pensive one. "I think we should talk with Bill. He is the best non-goblin expert in Gringotts. Since he has been working so much time there, he knows of lots of things related to them, and he has been trying to make the goblins join our side since we heard about Voldemort."

"Is he downstairs?"

"No, he is out on a mission. I'll ask Molly when he is due to come back."

"Thanks. While you do that, I'll try to create my first spell."

Sirius went back downstairs while Harry did as the book said to make the spell. It was a hard work that lasted nearly half an hour, but soon he had developed his new Shield, the Mirror Wall: you pointed your wand to the floor, and while saying Miraculum! you would swing it so that you 'drew' a line on the floor. An invisible wall would rise, and someone trying to hex you would find suddenly that the spell went back to him, but it only worked one way; the Mirror Wall caster would still be able to use spells while the attackers would struggle to avoid both their own spells and the defender spells.

He still had to test it, so that he could know approximately how much time the Mirror Wall lasted and its range of protection, and he had thought of asking Sirius and Remus to help him with his new creation, so he went to the kitchen to find them. When he was about to reach the knob, the door opened and he found himself facing Bill Weasley.

"Hi, Harry! Sirius said you needed my help for something related to your first-security-level vaults," the older man said.

"Hi Bill, and yeah, I would like to have a look there. I think there is something very important in one of my vaults, and I'd like to retrieve it."

"I was just going to Gringotts to report that I had come back, so I will try to kill two birds with a stone and ask if you could have a look there. I had just told Sirius, so I'm just only telling you so that you don't get the news second-handedly."

"Thanks, Bill, it would mean a lot. And, before you go..." Harry closed his eyes, and changed his face so that it could resemble Bill's; the only thing that remained from Harry was the scar.

"Wow, so that is how I would look like if I had that scar!" Bill laughed. "You should change your face back, we don't want Mum have syncope."

"Ok, mate," Harry said, changing back to his usual self. While Bill went out of the building, Harry entered the kitchen and found Sirius and Remus talking animatedly.

"Sirius, Remus, could you come with me for a moment?" Harry interrupted them. "I need some help here."

"Sure, Pronglet. Come on, Moony, my godson seems to really need us, and we can continue with our discussion later."

"Sure? I'm only sure that when we have come back, both of us will have forgotten what we were talking about." Everybody started to laugh, and Harry led his Godfather and his old Professor to the room where the Black's family tree tapestry stood.

"Sirius, Remus, I need you to test this shield I have invented with my Spell Crafting ability."

"Harry, you can't use magic, you are still a minor." Remus interrupted.

"Calm down, Moony. Mafalda sent a letter saying they are going to except him from the Decree. We imagine that Dumbledore wants him to test his abilities as soon as possible. Ah, Harry, I think we should start with the Animagus classes tomorrow. You should tell your friends so that they are prepared."

"OK, Sirius. For the moment, we will test this. Miraculum!" he said, pointing at the floor and drawing a semicircle around him. "Don't try anything too nasty, this is the first test."

"Stupefy!" Lupin said. Harry stood there, and he saw that the red beam of light rebounded in an invisible shield and went back to the werewolf. The young man smiled, and sent a Tickling charm to Lupin's right side and a Disarming spell to his left: Lupin put himself in front of the former while dodging his own Stunner and started to laugh mercilessly.

"Please... hahaha... stop this... hahaha... I can't do it..."

Sirius was roaring with laughter at what his godson had managed to do, but soon he used a Finite Incantatem on Lupin.

"Wow, Pronglet, you amaze me. I had never seen this kind of shield."

"I have just invented it, remember? Anyway, this is supposed to make nearly all hexes rebound and let you use your own spells. I don't know if it would stand against Unforgivables, but at least I'll be able to protect myself against nearly everything the Death Eaters send me."

"Tarantallegra!" Sirius casted over Harry. This time, the shield didn't stop the charm and the lad found himself dancing at a very high speed.

"Finite Incantatem!" Harry used over himself. His legs stopped to move and he started to think about what had happened.

"It must be that the shield only lasts a minute. Maybe if I pour more magic on it, it will last more time."

"Or maybe is like the Protego charm, which only stops one spell at a time," Lupin suggested.

"No, I'm sure it's only a matter of time, but we could test that too. I'll cast the shield again, and both of you will try to hex me. Use a lot of hexes, but as before do not use something too nasty, please. Miraculum!"

The adults casted Leg Locker Curses, Tickling Charms, Stunners, Disarming Spells... everything rebounded on the shield. Harry had used more magic than the other time, so that he could be sure it would last more time. After five minutes of continuous rebounding, the Mirror Wall fell and Harry was hit with a Stunner that K.O.ed him. Soon, Sirius woke him up.

"Are you OK, Pronglet?"

"I've been worse, Sirius," Harry said, shaking his head to clear his mind.

"It's been very useful. This time it lasted five minutes, and it made everything we used rebound," Lupin stated.

"Do you think we should show it to the Order? It'll be very useful for everybody," Harry said.

"You are right, but I think we should do it in an alternative way. I believe it would not be a good idea if you were the one to show them the charm: some people in the Order could make a mistake and say something about your abilities around wrong ears."

"Why don't I show it to Dumbledore, and then he says he has discovered it in a book or something like that?" Harry asked, thinking. "That way everybody would be able to know about it but nobody would know about my abilities."

"Good idea, Harry! Moony, we are getting old, the youngsters have the best ideas before us," Sirius said, joking.

"Could you show us your... how do you call it?"

"Mirror Wall Charm. Yeah, it is easy to use it. You just have to say Miraculum and then you point at the floor, directing the wand to where you want the wall. The more magic you pour in it, the more time it will last against hexes. And you don't have to worry if you need to attack; it only works one way, like those one-way mirrors Muggles use. I'm going to find Ginny and the others, so that I'm not in the middle of a lost hex," Harry said, laughing and running out of the room before Remus or Sirius could stop him.