Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 9

The Four Heads

Three days later, the whole group went to Diagon Alley to buy all the books they would need for the next year. Everybody had gone first to Gringotts, but Harry only wanted to go there to retrieve his mom's charm journals. Then, the group separated; while the Weasleys, the Grangers, the Longbottoms and the Lovegoods went to Madam Malkin's to find new clothes for everybody, Harry - conveniently disguised with his Metamorphmagi abilities -, Sirius and Remus went on an errand to find useful items which could be helpful for him.

Harry's feelings at this moment were of great happiness: his lessons with Fabian were going great, since they would start with Legilimency in the next class; Sirius' lessons with his friends were very nice - the six of them knew which ones would be their Animagus forms, but they hadn't started yet to change their appearances - and Dumbledore was going to start teaching him wandless, wordless and elemental magic the next day; last action of a Death Eater was the attempt of kidnapping of Hermione at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange; and the relationships between Ron and Hermione, and between himself and Ginny were strengthening.

So long, he had found a trunk which was much like old Mad-Eye Moody's one, which he had intended to keep the most important things he had, like the invisibility cloak he had inherited from his father, the Marauder's Map, the journals his mother had written about her invented spells, his genealogical tree, the collection of books about Defense Against the Dark Arts Remus and Sirius had given him last Christmas, among others. He then had used a Shrinking Charm on the trunk so that he could carry it in his pocket.

He had also found a small bookshop, not Flourish and Blotts, which specialized in books about very advanced subjects, like elemental magic, wordless magic and all the things he was studying with Fabian. He bought them, alongside one about magical wards and contracts, and put them into his trunk, since he was intending to read more about what was he going to be able to do in the future, to grasp the concept of all of them and, for the one on magical contracts, to prepare the one he had thought of using for the DA.

By that time, it was time to meet back with the others, who now were going to Flourish and Blotts to buy the school books for everybody. Harry had offered his books to Ginny so that she didn't have to buy battered second-hand ones, and she had accepted them after some convincing arguments from the young man and some hesitation of her parents, but Harry knew they would still feel awkward at what someone would consider 'charity'. Fortunately, they accepted it without consequences, and everybody had their books soon. Their next stops were the apothecary, so that the teenagers (minus Ron and Neville) could get supplies for their Potions classes; to Scrivenshaft, where they bought rolls of parchment for their future essays; and, finally, to the Magical Menagerie, where Harry and Ron bought owl treats, Hermione a few things for Crookshanks, her half-kneazle cat, and Neville some food for his toad Trevor. Harry had been thinking on the lines of finding a present for Ginny's birthday, and he knew she loved animals, so it would be a good start to look here. He was delighted to see his girlfriend was looking with shining eyes to a group of young cats. She was particularly taken by the most little one, which was black and, apparently, had green eyes like Harry's. Taking advantage of the fact that everybody was distracted, he asked the shopkeeper about that cat in particular.

"The black green-eyed cat? It is a male, the only one in a litter of seven cats; the others were female. He is still being fed by his mother, but he will be weaned in one week or so."

Harry smiled. "Could you do me a favour? I'd like to buy him as a present for the girl who is watching the cats, but it is still three weeks until her birthday, so I would like to know if you could try not to sell him to anybody until I came back for him."

"Well, if you paid me half the price he costs, I would gladly do that. Of course, if you decide that you would rather give her another present, I would give you back the money. Consider it as a deposit."

"Great! Could I also pay for everything the cat would need, like the food, a travelling basket, all those?"

"Sure! We have a special sandbox that makes all his droppings disappear magically, a sack of food that lasts more or less one year, some toys for the cat, a basket charmed so that the animal doesn't get sick if you are travelling with him... all those things," the witch said, smiling at him.

"How much money would that cost?"

The witch told him the quantity and Harry, using his special wallet, pulled out half the money she was asking for and paid her, while saying: "I'll come for everything the 10th of August."

"Thanks, and come back soon."

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

While they were leaving the shop, Sirius whispered on Harry's eye, "Buying presents for Gin, aren't you?"

Harry looked at him. "What are you talking about?" he said, although he knew he had been caught red-handed.

"Harry, I was watching you while you asked the shop assistant what to do around that cat your gorgeous girlfriend was looking at a few minutes ago. Be careful, because she will thank you in a very enthusiastic way," Sirius replied, winking at him mischievously. Harry blushed.

"Could you keep it a secret? I want to give her a big surprise, and the less people who know about this, the better."

"My lips are sealed," the Animagus said, smiling. "Come on, I'm sure you will want to have a look at the twins' shop."

At that moment they had reached number 93, Diagon Alley, where Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes stood. Even without the name, it was obvious who the owners were, because the front wall was decorated with various gaudy red adverts which announced to the people what their last inventions were, and behind the glass stood a miniature Portable Swamp, like the one they had used just before leaving Hogwarts.

The big group entered the shop, which was already crowded with young people eager to buy the pranks Fred and George had invented. From what Harry could see, the Skiving Snackboxes were booming, being the Fainting Fancies the most sold among them.

"What I would have given to have one of these while I was at school," Sirius said, impressed.

"Hi, everybody!" the twins said in unison, smiling at everybody. "Welcome to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes! We expect you enjoy our premises!"

Harry, Ron and Sirius started to laugh; the ability they had of talking at the same time was hilarious.

"Ah, Harry! We wanted especially to talk with you," Fred said, recognising him in spite of his changed appearance.

"We would like to share with you how the business is going, since you were our financial supporter..." George continued.

"... and we also wanted to tell you about a very important piece of business we have to do, and we need your help."

"Sure, guys. Would you mind if Sirius was there, too?"

"No," the twins said at the same time.

"Angelina!" Fred said, and the former Gryffindor Chaser appeared next to them. She was wearing the same uniform the twins had, red with two golden yellow 'W's in the front.

"Hi, Harry," she said, smiling.

"Hi, Angelina. Are you working here?"

"Yes, but only for a few months, until I manage to pass Quidditch tryouts for a professional team. Fred, very kindly, offered me a job here, alongside with Alicia."

"Is she here too?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yeah," George said, beaming. "I told her about this during one of our dates, the same as Fred did with Angelina..."

Harry snorted at this; imagining one of the twins with someone who wasn't the other twin should be something worth being seen.

"... and she accepted."

"Angelina, would you mind to watch the shop for a few minutes? The four of us have to discuss a few matters."

"Sure, Fred," she answered, kissing him on his cheek before going to the counter.

"She's a dear," Fred said, directing Harry and Sirius to the back door of the shop, George behind them. Harry saw it was a staircase.

"These stairs lead to the most important places in the building. Our laboratory is in the basement, the office is in the second floor and the flat is in the third," George explained.

"It's a pity we had to use the fourth floor as storage, or we would have given it to Lee for living. He helps us with the paperwork and goes for all the shipments of everything we need for our inventions. Here we are," Fred said, opening one of the doors at the second floor, which said: 'Fred Weasley, Co-Owner'.

"Everybody get a seat, this will take some time," Fred said, sitting behind the table and turning upside down the drawers on his side of it. "Aha! Here is it."

"Harry, we want you to be a silent partner in our business," George said.

Harry was mouth-agape. "You must be kidding."

"No, Harry!" the twins said.

"You financed our business in a moment we hardly could think of it..."

"... you saved us a lot of time and problems..."

"... you have given us a good work on what we like to do..."

"... and we want you to share the profits..."

"... a third of them!"

"No way, men. If I have to take it, five percent."

"Wait a moment. Harry, you are supposed to rise, not to drop," Sirius said, amused.

"What would I do with all that money? From what I saw in my parents' vault, I would hardly need a share in the profits."

"Thirty percent," Fred said.

"Seven-point-five."

"Twenty-five."

"Ten."

"Fifteen; that's our last offer."

Harry sighed. "Okay, guys. I accept that."

"You will only have to sign here, mate." Harry did as Fred told him. "Very well, now you are our partner, and that has a few rights and obligations."

"First, you will have to make some marketing studies in Hogwarts. We plan to employ Ron and Ginny for that part, too, but the more the merrier."

"Second, if you have any ideas about new inventions, tell us. If your ideas are good, we will try to invent them."

"That part includes anything on the defensive way, because the Order is asking us to invent things to help them."

"Third, you will receive every month an owl with all the information about the economics of the business."

"And, last but not least important..."

"... you have unlimited credit in this shop."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course! And you could try to use a few of them at Hogwarts, for promotion and all that."

"Thanks!"

Sirius smiled. "We should go downstairs. Everybody must be waiting for us."

And so they did.

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

Harry was now in the library with all his friends: Ron was playing chess against Neville; Hermione was reading one of the schoolbooks they had recently bought; Harry and Ginny were sitting together and reading the book about wordless magic, in which both were interested; and Luna was stroking Crookshanks and reading the last edition of The Quibbler.

"Nice move, Neville," Ron praised, watching the chessboard. He moved a tower and said: "Check."

"Neville, I don't know why you try to play with him. Nobody has ever been able to win against him since he started Hogwarts," Harry said, cuddling Ginny while she had the book in her hands.

"Harry, you know that I never lose faith in being the first on beating him. Anyway, I always feel that Ron needs a boost on his self-esteem, and this is the best way to do so." Everybody laughed.

Someone knocked on the door, and the six teenagers saw it was Mr. Weasley.

"Harry, would you mind coming to the kitchen for a moment? There is something of great importance I have to talk with you about."

Harry gulped, because he thought it was obvious he wanted to talk about his intentions towards Ginny. "Okay, I'll be there soon." Mr. Weasley smiled and left the doorframe.

"Gin, I have to leave you. If I haven't come back in two hours, start a search party, please."

Ginny smiled at him. "Don't worry, Dad isn't likely to kill you or something like that," she replied giggling. They kissed softly and Harry went out of the library.

When he arrived to the kitchen, he was surprised to see Sirius and Dumbledore there.

"OK, Albus, now that we have Harry here, shall we proceed?" Sirius said.

"Indeed, Sirius," Dumbledore answered. He pulled a book out of one of his pockets and put it on the table, in front of Harry. "Would you be so kind of putting your right hand on the book, Harry?"

Harry, questioning himself what was all this about, did as Dumbledore told him to do, and in the moment he touched the book, a strange feeling travelled through his body, warming him. The book glowed red, and Dumbledore said, in a solemn voice:

"Harry James Potter, do you swear solemnly that you are the one and rightful heir of James Michael Potter, the last heir of the Ancient and Well-Respected House of Potter?"

Somehow, Harry knew what he had to say. "I'm Harry James Potter, the one and rightful heir of James Michael Potter, the last heir of the Ancient and Well-Respected House of Potter."

The book glowed green for a few seconds, and then it stopped doing so.

"That will do," Dumbledore said, smiling.

"I'm sorry if I seem impolite, but what was all this about?" Harry asked.

"Arthur told me the other day that you know about how the Vote of No Confidence works. Well, with this little ritual, in spite of your minority of age, you have become the Magical Head of the House of Potter."

Harry was speechless.

"Pronglet, now you are a very important person, and part of the government of this country. You should have given us some kind of speech on what are you going to do to improve the lives of the voters," Sirius said, mock-seriously.

"Sirius, please, don't laugh at him," Arthur said, smiling. "Or shall I remind you that both of us are Magical Heads?"

"You are Magical Heads, too?" Harry asked to the adults.

"Of course, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Sirius is the Head of the House of Black, Arthur is the Head of the House of Weasley, and, if I weren't the Chief of the Wizengamot, I would be able to act as the Head of the House of Dumbledore. The four of us will have to act in the Vote of No Confidence against Cornelius. If we are lucky, we can try to appoint someone better for the post."

"Madame Bones?" Harry asked, and Dumbledore nodded.

"She would be the best bet. She is very hard-working, strict but kind, and will do everything on her hands to stop this war. And the fact that she is a woman will help both her and us."

"Why?"

"There is something about Voldemort nearly nobody knows really, but you may have noticed it, Harry: Voldemort thinks that women are weak, stupid and all that rubbish."

"In short, he is a male chauvinist," Sirius replied.

"Indeed, Sirius," Dumbledore conceded. "And the fact that he was able to possess Miss Weasley through the diary has only reinforced that idea. So, if Madame Bones is chosen as Minister, Voldemort will think that she is a puppet and will look for the "power behind the throne" to control him like Lucius Malfoy did with Cornelius."

"To sum it up, in six days time, the four of us will go to courtroom one. It would be very useful if you went there disguised, at least in the Atrium. There will be hundreds of journalists and the last thing we want is to attract the attention of You-Know-Who," Mr. Weasley said. "Then you would change back in the courtroom. Nobody out of this house is to know that you are a Metamorphmagus."

"Sounds well."

"You will have to learn a bit about how to behave in this kind of events. Tomorrow, after our class, I'll tell you what you are supposed to do the next day."

"Will I have to do something important on my position of Head of the House of Potter?"

"I have no idea, Pronglet, but I'd bet you will have young witches trying to throw their arms round your neck when they hear about this," Sirius half-joked.

"Having Ginny's will be enough," Harry replied with a faint blush.

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

The next day, Harry went back through the Floo network to Grimmauld Place after his first lesson on wand/wordless magic and of etiquette at half-past one (he had eaten at Hogwarts). Saying he was tired was hardly a statement: he was exhausted after a long morning in which Dumbledore had made him cast spells without pointing with his wand and mouthing the incantations: they had started easily, with Wingardium Leviosa which, in his opinion, had started to work well in his fifth try. It was very hard to cast a spell without the wand and without saying the incantation, but he had picked up the general idea: you had to concentrate on the flowing of your magic inside you instead of on the wand and the words you had to say. It was both exhausting and frustrating if you weren't able to direct your magic towards the intended point.

Harry realised he had done a good job when he felt his magic was 'blowing' under the feather he was using to test his abilities. Dumbledore had praised him for his success and had asked him to do it a few more times until he could do it easily. They made nearly all charms Harry had learned to do until the summoning charm in his fourth year when Dumbledore told him to stop, because he had to learn how to behave in the meeting for the Vote of No Confidence: he learnt the formal language used in those meetings, he heard about the different parts of the meeting, and he repeated to himself until he knew by heart what he had to say to acknowledge his position as the Head of the House of Potter.

He had done his best to keep up with the great torrent of new knowledge that now went over his mind, but he struggled so that he didn't become mad. At least, now he would be able to conduct himself in the upcoming Vote of No Confidence - in five days time, nonetheless - without staying short of words.

Since Dumbledore had asked Fabian to cancel the Legilimency lesson of today, he intended to pass the afternoon with Ginny, talking about the upcoming meeting, about the war and - overall - about themselves. On the contrary of Cho Chang, with whom he only had the Quidditch in common, he could talk with Ginny about a lot of things: Quidditch, their friends, books, their magical abilities, their lives, their love for each other and their fondness of Sirius - whom both felt as a friend and an uncle. They also spent time doing some serious snogging, because they liked it and they thought they didn't hurt anybody.

But first he had to find her. She was not in the kitchen or in the library. He went upstairs to knock on the girls' room door, but Luna told him Ginny was on the roof, and had asked her to tell him that. After thanking Luna, Harry ran upstairs to the roof.

When he arrived, he was surprised to see that someone had charmed the roof so that it resembled a sandy beach. The sun was shining in the sky, but Harry was mesmerised at the sight of his girlfriend.

Ginny was wearing a light blue bikini that left nearly all her body exposed to the action of the sun tanning. She was lying down on the floor, over a towel, and had not realised that now there was somebody else there: Harry walked towards her, trying not to look too much at the feminine body she had, but at her face, covered with sunglasses, making him unable to know if she had her eyes opened or closed - the latter more probably, since the sun was in the direction she was facing.

"Hi, precious," he said, kneeling beside her.

"Hi, stranger," she replied, smiling. They kissed for a while and Harry conjured another towel - he was getting good at this thing - so that he could be lying down with her.

"How is that I never heard of this?" Harry asked.

"This morning, I found some kind of switch in the stairs that steer here and I asked Sirius what it did," Ginny said, turning around so that sun tanned her back. "When he said it was something his family used to transform the roof into this beach, I turned it on and put on a bikini I had bought in Diagon Alley when Mum wasn't looking. Do you like it?"

"It suits you perfectly, Gin. In fact, I think I will need a very cold shower to reduce the impression you had caused me," Harry replied, blushing in a very Weasley way.

Ginny only took off her sunglasses, and Harry could tell that she was struggling not to laugh in his face.

"And exactly how much have I impressed you, Mr. Potter?" she said in a seductive tone. If he blushed more, his face would burst in a fire.

"A lot," he admitted.

"Let's see it," she replied, and in a heartbeat she was on top of him, in a way that reminded Harry of the first time they had kissed. Wait a moment, she is doing exactly the same as the first time we kissed, he thought.

When her lips touched his, it was like he was unconscious, because he couldn't register about his surroundings, only Ginny's presence. His tongue started to caress her lips, and she opened them, allowing him to thrust his tongue on her mouth and deepening the kiss. Harry's hands were caressing Ginny's soft back in a way that made her feel like a very valuable treasure for him.

Then, Harry's hands started to move north, to the knot that tied Ginny's bikini on her back, and started to undo it, but when he was on the point of untying it completely...

"Ginny!" someone shouted.

That awoke both youngsters from the frenzy they had been during the last minutes. Harry blushed even more than before, since he felt he had been caught red-handed in the moment he was about to... Calm down, Potter, it won't do any good if you think on that way, he told himself.

The door that connected the roof to the lower floor opened, and Hermione came through it.

"Ah, hi, Harry! I didn't know you were here. Ginny, your mum needs everybody downstairs; she needs help preparing the meal."

"Tell her I'll come downstairs soon," she replied. When Hermione disappeared back into the house, Ginny told Harry: "It's a good thing she appeared, or we would have went very far."

"Yeah. Do you need help to arrive to your room for changing?"

"No, I have them here," she said, pointing to a bag Harry had not seen before. In a heartbeat, she took a shirt and some jeans out of it and was fully clothed.

"We should be going, or Mum will have a fit."

"As you say, my lady," Harry said, offering his arm to her.

Ginny laughed and took his arm, leading him out.

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

"Harry, don't force it too much, just let the magic flow through you... very well... well done!"

Dumbledore was now teaching Harry how to transfigure objects with wandless and wordless magic. Since they had done the same the day before, the young man knew how to handle the magic so that it did what he wanted, but Transfiguration was slightly more difficult than Charms, because it implied a change in the atomic structure of the object, something that had to be treated with delicacy. So far, he had reviewed the first, second and third year of transfiguration spells, and now he was trying to use a Cross-Species Switch Spell, like the one he had learned in his fourth year, just before hearing about the Yule Ball of the Triwizard Championship. He had just managed to transform a chicken into a guinea pig.

"You are improving your magical ability at a very fast rate. This is a very good signal of your power."

"It's a bit exhausting, in spite of it," Harry complained.

"Don't worry about it. When you have practiced enough, you will have to do lots of magic until you are really depleted of magic. Anyway, I would like you to improve your physical condition."

"How? I mean, I can't do some running into Grimmauld Place, unless I go up and down the stairs a lot of times, and for the muscles, I would not have an idea of what to do."

"Well, you could try to buy some gymnastic devices and send them to Sirius' house. I do believe there is a magical shop in Bristol that sells some interesting devices, like Muggle ones, but with some improvements. For example, a Muggle treadmill only has the black rubber strip to run on, but a magical treadmill can change the structure of the place where you are running: you can find hurdles, holes in the ground, and you could find yourself in a desert with cactus, or in the middle of a swamp. I think that the Auror program uses those machines for their trainings."

"Sounds nice," Harry said, smiling.

"They also have exercise bikes that simulate going uphill and downhill, weight-lifting machines that adapt themselves to the user and some kind of dummies which can be charmed so that they behave like normal fighters would do. They do not have too much demand, so the prices aren't very high."

"When could I go there, so that I can buy them?"

"No, Harry. I can't allow you to go there. It could be dangerous. But you seem to forget that the devices can be bought in a way that would not include a trip to Bristol. You only would have to send your owl to the shop, and the devices could be shrunk and have a Feather-Weight Charm so that the same owl could carry them back. For the payment, I could ask him by the Floo Network the cost and you would only have to send the money with the owl."

"Could you do it now? I feel that the sooner we have the training machines, the best."

"Of course, Harry. Just give me a few minutes." The Headmaster went straight to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder into the fire, while saying; "Wizard Gym Facilities!"

Harry sat down on his chair and waited for Professor Dumbledore to finish his conversation with the shop owner, while the knowledge that wizards had exercise machines too sank into him.

Dumbledore's head re-emerged from the fire to tell Harry; "Each machine costs twenty Galleons, and the dummies are forty Galleons."

"I'll say... four of each machine, and ten dummies. It couldn't hurt that we have more than enough so that everybody in the house is able to use them."

"Wise decision," Dumbledore answered, before putting his head again in the fire and spoke for a few more minutes. Finally he pulled his head out of the fire.

"Everything should be prepared for tonight. I'd recommend you to send your owl with the money as soon as you arrive to Grimmauld Place. It'll be six-hundred and forty galleons."

"Thanks for everything, Professor."

"You are welcome, Harry. Now, just come back to Sirius' house. I'm sure that you will want to tell your friends the good news, as well as prepare yourself for your next lesson with Fabian. By the way, how far are you in the Legilimency lessons?"

"Quite well, according to Fabian. I can get into his mind and pull a good fight, but I am far from being able to reach his thoughts."

"Don't worry about it, Harry. Soon, you will be able to do that and more. I would highly recommend you to help your friends to learn Occlumency. That way, you can teach them and at the same time teach yourself, but don't do anything unless they give you permission."

"Again, thanks, Professor."

"Again, you're welcome."

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

"Wow, mate! What are all these?"

The gymnastic devices had arrived a few minutes ago, and Harry had just reversed the Feather-Weight Charm and the Shrinking Charm they were under so that everything could be transported easily by Hedwig.

"Dumbledore wants us to keep fit, and he recommended all these things. It is supposed that everything has its instructions somewhere. Those are magical treadmills, these are exercise bicycles and those are weight-lifting machines. I'm going to ask Sirius if there is a more spacious room in this house for our new training dummies."

"Do you plan to have a regular timetable for these?" Hermione asked.

"I was planning on two hours a day for each of us. One hour for the machines and another hour for the dummies. That is, if you want to do it."

"Harry, I still remember the battle at the Ministry, and I could tell that Death Eaters don't really do any physical working. If we are better in that part than them, it is a won battle," Neville said, in a very serious tone.

"I'm on it, Harry," Ginny said, proudly.

"Everybody's on it, mate," Ron stated.

"That's good. I had planned on having a physical program for the D.A., and this will help us a lot. Do you want to try these now?"

"Yeah!" the five teenagers said.

"We have to balance our development. Strength won't do any good if we don't have resistance and agility. I think we should do this: Ron and Hermione on the bikes, Luna and Ginny on the treadmills, and Neville and I on the weight-lifting machines, and we rotate every twenty minutes. Don't overexert yourselves, this afternoon we will test the dummies."

"We'll do that, boss," Ginny said, snickering.

While everybody went to the machine Harry had suggested, Sirius and Remus entered the room.

"Hey, since when do we have a gym in the house, Pronglet?" Sirius asked in a good mood.

"I bought all these things yesterday," he said, positioning himself for his training. "Dumbledore suggested it, and now we are starting."

"Do you mind if we join you? It'll be useful, too," Remus said.

"Sure! Choose any machine. The ones Ginny and Luna are using are treadmills, Ron and Hermione are busy with the bikes, and Neville and I are lifting weights."

Both adults chose to try the treadmills and they started to run.

Ginny and Luna were having a bit of fun testing how it worked the treadmill, and they decided to run in a big mixture of everything it had, from dangerous swamps to dry deserts. The red-haired girl especially liked when there was an odd obstacle, like a cactus or even quicksand.

Hermione obviously had not done a lot of exercise in her life, being more a studying person, but her stubbornness and pride made her overcome the weariness she was feeling now. If I do this everyday, it will help me a lot, she continuously reminded herself.

Neville and Harry were struggling with the weights. Although they were magically adapted to the user's strength, it was still difficult to lift them more than ten times in a row. Harry, as a Quidditch player, could do it well, but Neville had a more difficult time, because between his usual clumsiness and the lack of physical life he had had as a wizard had not done a lot of good. The only thing that helped him keep it up was the thought that Harry would need him in the near future and, unconsciously, he wanted to impress a certain blonde girl who was a few metres from him.

Ron was the one who had it easier, having done lots of chores for his mother, especially throwing garden gnomes out of the Burrow's orchard. The fact that he had done it nearly once a week since he was six years old, playing Quidditch with his siblings since his seventh birthday and at school since last year had done a lot to his physique.

After twenty minutes, they switched devices and kept working with their exercises, finishing with another twenty minutes on the last machine.

"God!" Hermione said, leaving the treadmill, the last machine she had been using. "I really need some rest. I'm going to have a shower and then to the library."

"Care if I join you, 'Mione?" asked Ron, who seemed to be less exhausted than her. "If you want, I can help you to go upstairs."

The bushy-haired girl smiled. "Yes, Ron. But I think both of us would need a good shower. Everybody here, in fact."

"Well, if we beat everybody, we will be the first to get free," Ron replied, lifting her with his arms easily and taking her out of the room. Hermione giggled while trying to make Ron let her walk on the ground, but the red-haired boy wouldn't hear anything about it. When they left the room, everybody started to laugh whole-heartedly.

"Oh, my, Ron really knows how to treat a lady," Sirius said, among laughter.

"His lady, you mean, Sirius," Neville replied, rolling on the floor.

"I'm going to the shower, too," Harry said. "I want to be prepared for my lesson with Fabian; it starts in twenty minutes or so."

"OK, Pronglet." "See you later." "Good luck."

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Harry was now in his bedroom reflecting on the last four days. They had been training with the gymnastic devices and the magic dummies, and the thing was going well. They still had to make it a routine so that the efforts started to show, but he could manage to see a few things in his friends; by the end of their last training, none of them was as tired as the first day, and they were slightly stronger, meaning that they could lift heavier weights.

Thanks to the dummies, everybody was also more agile, because since all the teenagers except Harry couldn't use magic, they decided to just practice dodging magic. Harry had told them that not every kind of magic could be repelled by a shield, and that the Unforgivable curses (Imperius, Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra) were not unstoppable; the two latter could be avoided if you managed to put some object, like a boulder, between you and the curse, or just sidestepping it; for the Imperius, you only had to have a strong willpower, like he had demonstrated at the fake Moody's classes two years ago.

His thoughts drifted now to his lessons with Fabian Jennings and Dumbledore. He was starting to have some success with Legilimency, because he had managed yesterday to see a few memories from Fabian, but nothing of real importance. Then Harry had told him what Dumbledore had suggested him to do and Fabian approved it without a doubt: teaching his friends Occlumency would be very good for them, but he should be careful, since they surely wouldn't like him to pry on their privacy.

Harry had also done a lot of things with Dumbledore: he had managed to cast all Defence Against the Dark Arts spells without his wand and without talking. Then Harry had showed him his first self-crafted spells: the Mirror Wall Charm; an offensive spell that provoked the falling of big boulders from the air, which he had called Rock Rain Curse; and the Bed Time Spell (he obviously wanted to show his sense of humour), an improved Stunning Spell that caused the receiver to fall asleep for eight hours, unless his own Alarm Clock Spell was cast on the affected person - not even the most powerful Enervate Charm would work. The Headmaster was really impressed with the hard work Harry had done to craft all the spells, and was pleased to see that they worked very well: he tested the four charms, the two latter on Harry, and told him he was proud of his work.

The lessons with Sirius were going great, too, now that the six teenagers knew which their Animagus would be; Hermione's was a vixen, Ron's was a tiger, Neville's a bear, Luna's an eagle owl and Ginny's a lioness - the last one made Sirius snicker, since all of them knew one of Harry's forms was a lion. They had also started to change their bodies: they had started slowly, with his non-wand arm, but all of them had had success. Neville was delighted to see his brown-furred claw with brilliant black nails and had nearly run to show it to his grandmother until Sirius told him he should still try to change it back. Fortunately, he was able to do it so in spite of his nervousness.

The train of thoughts he had made him think specifically of his friends, those five friends he was so proud of. They worked and trained very hard with him and supported him in all his efforts (although Hermione didn't see with good eyes that Harry used magic even if he was allowed to) when they could leave him for his own good, just because of the danger he represented; but they didn't even mention the possibility of not being with him every time he needed help.

That of course led him to think of Ginny, the wonderful nearly-fifteen-years-old that had been the biggest source of happiness he had since she kissed him the afternoon after he left the Dursleys forever. He loved her gorgeous long red hair, which resembled a flame that suited her passionate personality very well. Her shiny brown eyes made him forget his surroundings if she was looking into his eyes. And when their lips connected, it was like a force of nature was released, destructive and all-powerful, and electricity crossed their bodies. He reflected too on that moment a few days ago, in which he had nearly stripped her but Hermione had interrupted the snogging session that had led to that.

He then remembered all the letters he had received two days ago related to his position as the Head of the House of Potter. The Ministry's letter said that, as a Magical Head, he would have to take part in the Vote of No Confidence that would be held next day, and he would also be able to vote in the subsequent elections, if Fudge was kicked out of office. He still was a minor of age under the Wizarding Law, but he practically could behave as if he wasn't one; he could use magic out of school, he would be able to act in a Ministry voting, and he could rule his family - although it only comprised him and Dobby, he felt a bit overwhelmed with this. The thing that had shaken him the most was Gringotts' letter.

Essentially, it was a list of all the possessions he had, inherited from all his family or bought by him. His parents' vaults and the one where the trust was held were mentioned. He was impressed to see that he had interests in lots of companies, both magical and Muggle, nearly all of them being bought by his ancestors: he owned part of the Nimbus Company, Zonko's, Weasleys Wizard Wheezes - he had a laugh when he saw he had stock on rival firms -, the Firebolt Company, a few companies with mining interests and - surprisingly - the holding that comprised, among others, the place where his uncle Vernon worked, Grunnings.

But the most surprising thing was a key which was in the envelope. According to the letter, that key opened the vault with the lowest number he had ever seen - vault 3. Harry had asked both Professor Dumbledore and Bill whose was that vault originally, but they only could tell him that vaults 1 and 2 were the Ministry's and Hogwarts' and Bill added that the lowest the number of the vault was, the highest the security was. Harry could tell that it should be a very important person to have a vault next to those two, and he thought it could be the Four Founders. He had asked Dumbledore how they could know that he was their heir - after telling him about his suspicions - and the Headmaster told him that they had registers of all the people who had vaults in there, alongside with special spells that told them who should receive a key; since he was the first person in the world who descended directly from the founders, the spell would have told them to do that.

Dumbledore had promised that he, personally, would escort him to Gringotts to have a look at that vault. His position as the Headmaster of Hogwarts made it very important for him that he could have a look. He had promised Harry that he would not take anything from the vault unless he authorized it - in fact, the vault had a special security system that didn't allow people to take anything from the interior without the express condition that the owner of the vault allowed it. He had planned to do it immediately after the Vote of No Confidence, independently of the result, which everybody hoped would be against Fudge.

Harry closed his eyes then and slowly drifted into a peaceful dreamless sleep.