Harry would be leaving for Hogwarts in two weeks time and he realized that putting Sirius Black in the crosshairs of the Death Eaters and Dumbledore was a dick move. He decided to see if a fan theory panned out or not. He had sent Kreacher to Azkaban to see if he could get in. If he could, he would be planning to assault the prison and cause them to tighten up security which would safeguard Sirius. He decided to listen to some music while he waited and put Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Such a classic album for him but brand spanking new to this world.
He sat in his favorite chair and listened to Under the Bridge while he practiced the vanishing charm wandlessly. He still couldn't do it silently but he had been able to pull it off wandlessly. Harry had been studying magic tirelessly as soon as he was able to but he had prioritized a few charms and spells which he thought were crucial for any wizard. He had learned the summoning and banishing charms, the unlocking spell, the privacy charm, silencing and scent killing charms, the cutting charm and exploding hex, the stunner and the vanishing charm.
He had practiced those spells until he could point cast them. He did not yell out the words but whispered them and he thought he was adequate with all of them. He had even been able to cast some of them wandlessly. Spellcasting was more difficult than he initially thought but he had learned just like he learned to field strip weapons systems, by repetition.
He was vanishing another toy soldier when Kreacher popped in. "Well, were you able to infiltrate the prison?"
"It was like young master say, House elf can pops in and out. What will young master do now?"
Harry gave a vicious grin. "We prepare for our first search and destroy mission to take place in a few days but first we will need a few things. We will have to ask the Goblins to acquire a few things.
He quickly wrote a letter to Daggertooth to set up a meeting for some business. He had Hedwig fly out immediately. He then started to rough out a plan. A few hours later Hedwig returned with a reply from Daggertooth stating that they could meet in an hour and provided the location for the discreet VIP entrance. He dressed and had Kreacher pop them over to the Alley. Harry in his metamorphed disguise walked around until he found the entrance and was met by Cursebreaker Bailey.
Cursebreaker Bailey was confused to see a blonde child walk up to him and give him a passphrase.
"You know someone once told me that there are no mistakes."
Cursebreaker Bailey shook his surprise off but then smiled because he knew who the blonde boy was. "Yes, I heard they are just happy accidents"
The two laughed and the cursebreaker led him to the entrance of the bank. Once inside he led Harry to Daggertooth's office. Once he had entered the office Harry canceled the disguise and greeted Daggertooth. He then got to it.
"Thank you for seeing me in such short notice Daggertooth, I won't waste your time so I will get right to business. First, as always please bill me for your time. Secondly, I need to acquire a few things and I was hoping you could help me with that."
Daggertooth always appreciated when someone knew the value of time. He was always pleasantly surprised when He spoke with the head of House Potter. "No problem at all Mr Potter. What is it that Gringotts may assist you with today."
Harry smiled and gave his request, "I have a few things some I think would be easy to procure some I don't even know if they exist. First I would like either a tranquilizer gun or bb gun. Next, I have always wondered if there were any type of items or artifacts that could keep a dementor away. If there are I would like three. Lastly, I would like a very discrete information broker."
Daggertooth's eyebrows rose higher and higher the longer the child spoke. once he heard the requests he frowned and asked a few questions. "Mr Potter, We can certainly obtain both guns. I take it because you are a minor you came to us. They will be brought to you within the hour." He then wrote a request down on parchment and submitted into his magical mailbox. "To answer your question, yes there are enchanted items that the Auror guards use to keep the Dementors away, in fact the Wizarding government buys them from the Goblin Nation. We can certainly create them is there anything else you may need along with the usual enchantments?"
"Harry was surprised by the outcome of the question but decided he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "So I can customize the enchanted item by say, adding an enchantment so only the wearer can take it off, or an anti-summoning enchantment or maybe a fidelius to them?"
Daggertooth quirked and eyebrows but then thought about it. "A fidelius has never been attempted on those before but we can certainly ask the Cursebreaker department of the viability."
Harry was getting excited, "Perfect! if it is possible ask them to see if they can. I basically want the same effects on the necklaces that a high end wand holsters would have. Anti-summoning, only the wearer can take it off and invisibility. I think a fidelius would be best but if they can't manage that they can just make it so the wearer can make it invisible."
Daggertooth wrote down the request and sent it of via magical mailbox to the Cursebreakers. "Now for our last piece of business, exactly what type of information are you needing?"
I need information on all known Death Eaters and those that claimed were under the Imperious. If possible any information on Death Eater sympathizers that maybe in the DMLE."
Daggertooth frowned at the request. It was certainly doable but he wondered why the boy would need it. He needed more information, He didn't want The Nation to be implicated in anything untoward. "Mr Potter, your last request could put Gringotts in a difficult position so I must request more information from you so as to determine whether Gringotts will be able to provide that service and of course pricing."
Harry frowned in thought, 'on the one hand I can tell him why I need that info but it could comeback and bite me in the ass or I could just try and find out on my own... I know I'll give half truths.' "As I'm sure you know, I have asked for the people of wizarding Brittain to ask the ministry to question the Death Eaters in Azkaban under Veritaserum. I am just concerned that one of their old friends would get scared and try to off our sources of information before they can give them up. I want to make sure that all the criminals are safe until we can question them."
Daggertooth chewed on that for a moment, he knew that wasn't the whole truth but it was acceptable. "Very well we will get that information compiled and brought over to us along with the other things." Daggertooth then opened up the drawer for the 'inbox' and read over the replies for his requests.
"Well Mr Potter, the guns and boxes of ammunition will come out to 20 galleons, The Cursebreakers stated that they can add the anti-summoning, and other standard holster charms no problem but if you wish to add the Fidelius that shrunken wards stones would be needed and that they would need you for when they place the fidelius since you will be the secret keeper. With all the added enchantments the necklaces would come to 3000 galleons. Lastly, the information you requested will be an additional 1000 galleons and of course for my time thats another 500 galleons. The grand total will be 4520 galleons. would you like that to come out of the Thorne account?"
Harry grimaced, he knew he had enough money for what he needed but he hated spending money. He wondered if there was anything he could trade with the goblins to cut down on gold usage in the future, when he came upon a brilliant idea. "Tell me Daggertooth, how would the Nation like to shame and embarrass the wizarding ministry and one of its biggest assholes."
Daggertooth was caught off guard by the question but he recovered quickly. "The Nation might be interested in such an occurrence. What did you have in mind?"
"Well I have heard that the ministry is currently raiding homes for dark artifacts and a little bird happened to tell me an interesting rumor about a certain blonde's secret hideyhole. What do you think would happen if that information were to be given to say Amelia Bones or maybe the head of the current investigation? Another little bird happened to tell me that a Ministry department head may or may not be holding a not so dead, dead man in his home under the Imperious, hidden under an invisibility cloak with a house elf warden."
Daggertooth couldn't deny he was intrigued these rumors and could definitely see the usefulness of such. "If The Nation were interested in these rumors what would The Nation get out of it?"
Harry smirked inwardly 'looks like sowing chaos is the name of the game.' "Other than entertainment value? Well, I guess not much. These are all rumors and hypotheticals anyways but if someone were to give this information to interested parties it would cause a lot of chaos at the ministry and would give The Nation enough time to plan accordingly and maybe make moves of their own... Of course that's if The Nation were so inclined. I hear nature abhors vacuums more so when it comes to power vacuums."
Daggertooth's eyes were lit up in amusement, the Potter child was making plays and giving The Nation fair warning of possible fall out. He gave a vicious grin and asked, "Hypothetically when would this chaos occur?"
Harry returned the vicious grin with one of his own, "Hypothetically, this would occur in 5 days."
Daggertooth let out a bestial guffaw. His laughter died down as a goblin entered with the items in a box. Harry took the items and placed them in his backpack. He waited for the courier to leave and then gave Daggertooth a cocky smirk, "I believe that is everything I needed, take the gold from my operational account please."
Harry gave a Daggertooth a nod goodbye and left the receiving area where he met Cursebreaker Bailey and was led out of the banks entrance after he had donned his disguise again. He made his way to an out of the way corner of the alley and called Kreacher to pop them back to Grimmauld.
Harry and Kreacher popped in to the home. He had dinner and he and Kreacher went to the basement to prepare. At 0300 they changed into their ops gear which consisted of dark grey hoodies, cargo pants and combat boots which had been enchanted with mild notice me not charms, silencing charms to cut of the rustle of fabric and footsteps as well as scent blocking charms. They had black balaclavas to cover their faces and collect any stray hairs. Kreacher looked ridiculous with his balaclava because he had cut out earholes, nose hole and enlarged the eyeholes.
Harry had disguised himself as Snake from Metal Gear Solid under his balaclava in case it came off at some point. He also bought an inflatable raft and had shrunk it down and pocketed it. His wand holster was set with his American Wand. The darts had been taken and dumped in Basilisk venom. He and Kreacher had worn their dragon hide gloves for that specific reason. They had loaded the weapons and had shrunk then down along with secured ammo.
They wore their new Dementor reppeling artifacts and he had Kreacher do one last check to see he could pop in and out off the prison. Kreacher popped out and came back soon after. Kreacher was instructed to do a cleaning charm on both of them to rid themselves of any possible evidence and gave each other a resolute nod. Harry put on his Invisibility cloak before both popped into the empty hallway. They silently made their way through the Halway on the look out for guard patrols.
To Harry, Azkaban looked like a less maintained Hogwarts dungeon. It was dark, musty, drafty and cold. They made their way until they got to the maximum security wing. Harry instructed Kreacher to keep a look out at the entrance to the wing. He needed a good look out but he did it for the reason of not wanting to give Kreacher a chance for a change of heart. He was going to take out Bellatrix.
He made his way through the hallway and looked into the cells. The people reminded him of pictures he had seen of patients in old school asylums. He made it to the cell of one Anton Dolohov. Turns out he had been caught in this universe. he opened the slat and took out his dart gun.
He watched as a curious Dolohov went to the window. He aimed at the mans face and pulled the trigger. He heard the hiss and the screech of the man but he fell dead before he could make anymore noises. He unlocked the door and vanished the dart. He would have vanished the corpse too but he was taking a page out of good ole Dubya's book and going with shock and awe.
He continued down the hallway, taking out more and more Death Eaters. He got to the Lestrange boys and took those two out for The Longbottoms. He figured that now he could walk away from the Longbottoms and not feel guilty. Neville is a good kid and he didnt deserve half the shit he got.
He moved to the last of his targets. Bellatrix. He opened the peephole thing and observed Bellatrix longer than all the others. He wanted to see if she was controlled by the Lestrange's via marriage contract or if she was just an evil woman. 'She looks just like a younger Helena Bonham Carter.'
She still looked like a psycho and when he got a chance to look into her eyes he saw the eyes of a psycho fanatic. 'She has the same eyes as the fanatics I had seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.' He waited until she was pressing her face against the bars of the peep hole and shot her. She got it in the throat. She didnt even get a chance to scream. He waited for her to stop twitching before he vanished the dart.
He closed the door. He moved on to the last cell and open the slat. He didnt see Sirius so he figuree that he had heard him as he did his dirty work. He cast his voice changing charm in a whisper. "A message for the mutt from the Prongslet."
Sirius heard the obviously charmed voice say he had a message for him. He still didn't move from his hiding spot so he asked in his hoarse voice, "And what does the Prongslet say?"
Harry smiled, 'well time to find out which Sirius we are gonna be dealing with here.' "First of all, He asks if you betrayed his parents?"
Sirius snarled at the question, "I never betrayed them! James was my brother in all but blood and Lilly... she was one of the best people to ever walk this wretched world. I wasn't the secret keeper, that rat, Peter Pettigrew betrayed us all."
Harry heard the answer and decided to believe him. He wanted to ask if he would side with Dumbledore or Himself but didn't want to in case Dumbledore mind raped him. "Very well, this is the message; Padfoot, you fleabitten mutt you made a grave mistake when you left your Godson behind for revenge. You will have one chance to make this right. You will receive a means to stay safe until we can get you out of here. Do as my agent says and we will get along, disobey and you will never see or hear from your Godson ever again. Do not tell Dumbledore about this conversation. Mischief managed."
Sirious heard the voice give him the message and was almost brought to his knees by the guilt of his Godson being mad at him for choosing revenge over him. He then felt hopeful at being given one more chance. He decided he would do whatever his Prongslet told him to do.
"You must now come to the the door back facing the door and get on your knees. Do not move or turn around. If you do I will not be able to help you."
Sirius didn't like that he would have to deal with all this but he would do it for the pup. he moved so his back was facing the door and go on his knees. He heard the door open.
Harry opened the door carefully ready to take Sirius out if he tried anything funny. He then pulled out last Dementor reppeling artifact with the fidelius. He slipped the necklace around Sirius' neck and watched to see if it would affect Sirius. If it did then he would let him in on the secret if not he wouldn't say anything until Sirius got out of Azkaban. "I have placed a charm on you to help keep the Dementors away. You will need to work on occlumency to reap its full effects. When you are asked what happened here today answer truthfully except don't mention our little conversation... Also, sorry for this."
Harry then hit Sirius with a stunner before he could say anything he laid Sirius on his cot and walked out and locked the door. He set some self vanishing fireworks to get the guards attention. He went back to the first cell after the entrance into the wing and then met up with Kreacher and they popped back home to put away their gear and to get some sleep. Harry then had Kreacher pop him back to his tent for some sleep.
Harry woke up 10 hours later, he showered and made a quick lunch. He then asked Kreacher to go fetch him the items in his post box in the alley and pick up a copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry made the mistake of giving Kreacher his marching orders in front of Hedwig. She quickly reminded him that she was to be considered for such things.
Harry was still whining from the pain of an angry Hedwig's claws. He promised her some more jobs in the near future. She finally stop badgering him after he promised he would give her a full package of bacon.
Kreacher returned with a letter from Neville and a copy of the paper. He put the letter to the side and opened the paper up.
---
Azkaban Raided By Worried Death Eaters
by Leland Bumblepot
Today the prison of Azkaban was raided by unknown parties but sources in the ministry believe it to be Death Eaters. A few weeks ago, The Boy Who lived, Harry Potter, released a statement asking for the imprisoned Death Eaters to be questioned by the ministry under Veritaserum to name their compatriots.
The ministry was inundated with owls from concerned citizens to have the prisoners questioned. The ministry released a statement asking the citizens to give them some time to organize but before the prisoners could be questioned Azkaban was raided and most of the Death Eater prisoners were silenced by unknown parties.
Anonymous contacts within the DMLE have stated that they have yet to discover how the killers got into the prison undetected and that the prisoners were killed with use of Basilisk venom. It has been speculated that powerful dark magic was used to get into the prison and that due to the rarity and strict sanctions enforced by wizarding governments world wide on Basilisk venom, it was someone of means.
This is of course in the wake of the DMLE raiding homes for dark artifacts. It seems the DMLE and Mr Potter's plead to the ministry have scared the Death Eaters still at large in to action.
Our contacts also state that the parties were scared off by the Dementors before they could eliminate the dark lord's right hand man and betrayer of the Potters, Sirius Black. He has been taken into protective custody and Azkaban has been fortified with more guards. The Ministry and DMLE have yet to release an official statement.
---
Harry read the story and gave a satisfied smile. He was happy that Sirius had been protected and since he had forgotten all about Scabbers he would capture him at school.
He had found a calligraphy stencil at a hobby shop in town and stenciled out three letters. One was a letter to Daggertooth with instructions on on what to do with the other two letters and who to send them to. One of the letters was to Amelia Bones informing her that Barty Crouch Sr. had someone imprisoned in his home under an invisibility cloak with a house elf warden.
The other was sent to Arthur Weasley telling him that Lucius Malfoy had a hidden space in his study and maybe a hidden dungeon used to torture innocent muggles and muggleborn. It also suggested that families that were found with dark artifacts be heavily fined. He cast a glamor on Hedwig, Which she did not appreciate, but he had firmly told her either she goes to deliver the letters under glamor or not at all, He told her she was easily recognizable and would not risk her for her pride. She gave in which marked the first argument he had ever won against her. She flew to Gringotts to deliver the letters.
Harry wrote another letter to Ted Tonks, He asked him to pressure The Ministry to safeguard Sirius so he could be questioned. He sat back and got back to his daily routine. He wanted to get better with magic because that was too great a weapon to not be utilized.
The headlines in the following days had caused massive ripples in British Wizarding Society. The First headline had been The arrest of Lucius Malfoy. It seems Arthur's raids had been very thorough in the Malfoy home. The discovery of a hidden compartment with some truly vile dark artifacts in Lucius home had caused him to panic and fire upon the Aurors in front of the Head of the DMLE, Minister and the journalists who had accompanied Fudge to his good friend, a wizard in good standing, Lucius Malfoy.
Upon the arrest of Malfoy senior the search then discovered a hidden torture room in the basement. Lucius was barely able to get out of it. He had paid a hefty fine to the DMLE, Which they used to supplement their dwindling budget. He paid out bribes left and right and called in favors. The Malfoys had felt the sting of the money loss.
They then had to spend more money by giving it to charity to clean up their now sullied reputation. Lucius was so busy doing damage control he had not considered paying to have Sirius killed.
The headlines that followed were just as outrageous as the ones on the Malfoy family. The Ministry had tried to keep a lid on it but information leaked like water through a sieve in that building. The Daily Prophet had discovered that Barty Crouch Sr had been arrested after it was discovered that he had broken his Death Eater son out, put him under an imperious curse and imprisoned him in his home.
This also fueled a rumor that had popped up in the alley one day stating that Sirius Black had never been questioned on his compatriots because he never had a trial. That particular rumor had come up a few times In the pubs and dark alleys of wizarding Brittain.
---
Harry smiled indulgently as he reminisced on his most recent victories and then scowled because he was reminded that he was now in the compartment of the Hogwarts Express and would have to deal with Snape, the youngest Weasley's and Dumbledore.
He truly hated having to be surrounded by kids. He did not want tween drama but he was surrounded by it. Case in point Ron Weasley glaring at him for not wanting to talk Quidditch and opting to read the Art of War. Ginny was sending him stalker glances and trying to, not so subtly get his attention which he ignored. After Hermione's blabbermouth interrogation she had settled down and was reading ahead in charms.
To his surprise Luna had entered their compartment along with Ginny and after her introduction began reading her Quibbler. The silence was obviously starting to get to Ron. He was fortunately saved by Draco Malfoy of all people. He stepped into the Compartment only be stopped by Harry asking about his mother.
All were thrown off by the question. Harry had seen the deliciously sexy milf that is Narcissa Malfoy, on the train station. She looked like a blonde Scarlett Johannsen. She was incredibly sexy but she looked to be less than amused by Lucius and Draco's sneering. It was truly strange because obviously Draco looked nothing like her at all! 'I hope she isn't his mother otherwise as soon as I turn 18 I might get me an 18 year old step son.'
Draco was obviously upset that Harry asked about his mother and took his two goons and left. Harry smirked and went back to his reading. Before Ron or Hermione could get started on their shpeals Luna broke the silence, "That boy has a serious case of wrackspurts. too bad he doesn't have his ears pierced other wise I would have made him radish earrings to keep them away." Three occupants were confused by the statement but one snorted. "I doubt that would have helped. The infestation has probably taken too deep a root."
Luna nodded sadly, "Probably, the poor dear." She then went back to reading her magazine. Ginny was mortified by her friends behavior. she would obviously have to distance herself from her so her Harry wouldn't get embarrassed by her association with Looney. Hermione asked what wrackspurts are. Ron replied, "Dont pay attention to her, its just Looney Lovegood's made up creatures. That whole family is mental."
Harry saw Luna give the slightest flinch at the declaration. "Ron, why would you say something so rude. How is it that you can treat Luna like that and say such offensive things about her family?"
That had been it for Ron, he had been upset that Harry hadn't wanted to spend time with him at the burrow over the summer and then he defended Looney! "What is your problem!? First, you think you're too good enough for my family and now you defend Looney?! It's true Looney and her family are mental! Im your best mate and you defend her?!"
Throughout Ron's rant Ginny and Hermione looked flabbergasted. Hermione because she couldnt believe Ron thought so little of Harry and due to Ron's rude behavior. Ginny because her stupid brother was cutting off her avenue to her Harry although she did agree with him.
Harry's eyes narrowed at Ron, outwardly he was silent but inside he was leaping for joy for having a valid excuse to cut ties with the ginger moron. Ron in true Weasley fashion let his temper get the better of him. "You think because you are rich you are better than everyone after I saved your life in the third floor?!"
Harry raised an eyebrow and was inwardly happy that Ron's rant had garnered the attention of the nosy Hogwarts residents. Hermione was going to jump up and defend Harry but he grabbed her hand and held her back.
"Ron, not once have I ever flaunted that I was rich or stated that I was better than anyone, EVER. You say your my best mate but all you have ever done is drag my scholastic achievements down because if I did better than you you would be jealous. That is the same reason you said those awful things to Hermione first year that drove her to the girls washroom and nearly got her killed by that troll.
You don't even show any true repentance for your actions because you constantly belittle her when she tries to help you. She is a far better friend to me than you are. You only use her to copy her work! You say you saved my life in the third corridor, I don't see it that way because you haven't done anything to save my life. You are obnoxious, have terrible table manners, are extremely prejudiced and insecure. Your insecurities have nothing to do with me. I don't like bullies and will not stand here and wait for you to mature enough to get over it! Did you honestly think I didn't know that you talked about me behind my back to our housemates? I know that you drive anyone that tries to befriend me away because of your jealousy and lied to everyone saying I said this or that to distance me from everyone and when you realized I wouldn't let that happen to Hermione you gave in barely tolerate her. I thought that you became my friend because you wanted to not because you wanted to use me or my so called fame!"
At that point the twins had made their way into the compartment and took Ron away before he could dig his hole any deeper.
"We will talk..."
"To ickle Ronniekins about his behavior..."
"Also to give you two time..."
"To cool down. Come on Gin Gin, family meeting."
The twins took the other Weasley's to another compartment and left Harry, Hermione and Luna to themselves. Hermione was aghast at the confrontation and Luna was apologetic. "I did not mean to cause you and your friends trouble, Harry Potter."
Harry sighed and looked at Luna, "It's not your fault Luna. I knew of Ron's behavior and actions but didn't want to believe my first 'friend' would be like that, but now it is obvious he really wasn't a true friend. Friends help each other, they don't act they we he did." He then turned to Hermione, "If you still want to consider him a friend then that is your decision but a true friend would not have treated you as he did and I'm sorry if I ever treated you like that, Hermione."
Hermione was both sad and relieved. She had always thought Ron was a bully but she didn't want to lose Harry's friendship so she put up with the name calling and belittling but now she realized that true friend wouldn't treat her so. "Thank you, Harry. I understand why you said what you did and I think I put up with it because I didnt want to lose your friendship."
"I understand completely, You and him were my first friends ever and I didn't want to lose that but you have to do what is right not what's easy and I had given him enough chances to be a better person but he never took it. I just wish I didn't have to go back and deal with it in the house."
Luna quirked her head and said something that would cause far reaching repercussions for the many people who had plans for the Golden Trio now duo. "Well according to Hogwarts bylaws students can get a one time resorting by the hat."
Both Hermione and Harry widened their eyes in surprise. "What?!" was Hermione's loud response. Luna went on to explain.
---
Harry and Hermione had talked it over and had both decided to get a resortment from the hat. Hermione had still been bullied despite her connection to Harry (Ron of course leading the charge) and Harry didn't want the distractions in the unruly house of the lion. He knew he would get a lot of shit for it and could cause Dumbledore to give him more attention but that was not such a bad thing.
After the Hat had sorted the first years, Harry and Hermione stood up which caused a commotion at the Gryffindor table that quickly garnered the attention of the entire feat hall.
"Mr Potter, Ms Granger take your seats! You are interrupting the feast." spoke a stern Scottish professor.
"Professors, Headmaster Hermione and I wish to enact Hogwarts by-laws 435 C under the Hogwarts charter." The hall was silenced for a moment. Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprise and fear. He knew of the by-law and had done his level best to scrub it from recent memory but knew he couldnt stop it once invoked. He stood and looked at both of the students sternly and asked, "Are you sure you would like to invoke the by-law? Do you understand what that entails?"
Dumbledore's comment elicited soft murmurs throughout the hall. Everyone other than three students and the Headmaster wondering what that bylaw was and why it cause such a serious reaction from the usually jovial Headmaster.
Hermione was somewhat taken aback by the Headmaster's reaction and was starting to rethink her decision. She glanced at Harry and he gave her a small confident smile before he turned to the Headmaster. She steeled her resolve and nodded. They both gave a confident, "Yes."
Snape had enough, "Potter! Does your arrogance know no bounds?! Sit down stop your dramatics. Your and the Know It All's need for attention is ridic..."
"Severus! be quiet!" The Headmaster's response had silenced the hall once again. Snape was taken aback by the vehemence behind the statement and the students were taken aback due to the Headmaster finally putting Snape in his place.
McGonagall was lost and starting to lose her temper because she had no idea what the by-law that had invoked meant.
The silence was broken by the forgotten sorting hat, "The by-law has been invoked the resorting of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger will commence. If you would step up and place me on your head, Mr Potter.
Harry squeezed Hermione's hand in reassurance and walked past a now shocked McGonagall. He had released some of his memories outside his occlumency barriers and placed the hat on his head and took a seat on the stool.
"Interesting, The hat said in Harry's mind. Still quite brave and your plans and ambitions would still make Gryffindor and Slytherin good choices for you. Your sense of loyalty to friends and allies would also make you welcome in Helga's house. Your thirst for knowledge to better yourself and prepare for your future also qualify you to be in Rowena's nest. Your second sorting has become more difficult than the first. What would you choose this time?"
Harry's small smirk was hidden but was inwardly happy for the question, "Bravery is good but without knowledge makes one foolhardy or arrogant. Loyalty is a wonderful attribute but without wisdom can make one a slave. Cunning and ambition are both great attributes but without knowledge and wisdom, are useless because you wouldn't know when to act on them so they are most effective. I thought hiding my intellect would make me happy but it has not so I want to correct that mistake. Its not often someone can get a second chance to make a choice with benefit of earned knowledge and wisdom so I choose Ravenclaw."
The hat hummed in thought out loud. "Well reasoned answers to my questions, so better be RAVENCLAW!"
The Ravenclaw table broke into cheers and Harry's robes changed into the blue and bronze of his new house. Before he took off the hat he told the hat that Hermione would most like join him at the Ravenclaw table.
Hermione stepped forward and sat on the stool as Harry was placing the hat on her head the last image she saw before the hat covered her eyes was Harry giving her a reassuring smile and wink.
Harry walked to the Ravenclaw table and was greeted by his new housemates and found a seat next to Luna. He had had barely said hello to her when he heard the hat yell out Ravenclaw once again and was quickly joined by Hermione and her face splitting smile.
After the shocking events, the feast continued and Hermione and Harry were bombarded with greetings and questions from the excited Ravenclaw table. Both were happy Harry because he learned that Ravenclaw's got individual rooms and Hermione because she was accepted among her peers for her intellect and she was there with her best friend. She was so happy she didnt notice the glares directed in her direction by two young gingers in the Gryffindor table. Harry had noticed his stalker and his 'best mate' shooting daggers from their eyes at them. He also noticed McGonagall's sad visage, Flitwick's happy grin, Snape's hateful glare and Dumbledore's focused gaze. 'Let the games begin.' He turned to the head table and gave a satisfied smile.