Draco Malfoy was in trouble, the beating he received at the hands of Longbottom and the mudblood destroying Snape had left him powerless in Slytherin, add to that he hadn't heard from his parents despite the fact he had been sending owls daily since Friday.
Pomfrey had healed him pretty quickly but his godfather didn't look to be leaving the infirmary any time soon, he was going to have to send another owl and not looking forward to explaining to his father how Snape was taken down by a mudblood, at least Longbottom was a proper wizard.
Even Crabbe and Goyle were distancing themselves from him and he would have to keep his wits about him to make it to the end of the week unscathed, thankfully it was end of term on Friday.
....
Snape awoke in a cell and immediately noticed the bandages where his arms ended prematurely; he was going to rip that mudblood's throat out with his teeth.
The ex-potion master felt fear run down his spine, normally when he was this angry he could feel his magic fizzle around his body but there was nothing happening. It was as if there was no magic in his body, trying to raise his occlumency shields brought another shock and a cold sweat to his forehead; he was like an open book.
Snape had spent years perfecting his shields and had reached the point where he could even neutralise the effects of Veritaserum, Dumbledore had better get a move on and arrange his release before the aurors started questioning him.
The death eater was unaware of Dumbledore's new status and that Amelia was en route to his cell with Kingsley, Tonks and a good supply of truth serum.
....
The meeting broke up with Harry and Hermione heading through the château towards their friends and the pool, Dean had finished the t-shirt and held it up for their approval.
Harry put his hand on the shirt and pushed some magic into it, "now that's what I call a t-shirt!" Harry proclaimed.
The rest of them apparently agreed as they stood in awe at the now animated design, showing the Hogwarts express with its wheels turning and smoke belching out the stack. Dumbledore was the driver and as he leaned out the engine a large X appeared over the picture with the words 'taking the P.I.S.S.' superimposed over the design. The back of the shirt proudly proclaimed Potter Institute for Sorcery and Spells.
After Harry cast a duplication spell the unofficial uniform of the institute was born, it would turn heads in Diagon Alley this summer.
....
Albus sat at his desk that was covered in paperwork Minerva would normally have taken care of; it had always been the headmaster's responsibility until he had gladly passed it on to his deputy.
Something caught the attention of the old man and a slight twinkle was back in his eyes for the first time since breakfast. Potter's oath prevented the brat from being a student at Hogwarts, but didn't preclude him from being a contestant.
....
The eight that sat down that night to hear what was actually happening were a sombre group, the Grangers and Remus knew some of it but Harry and Hermione had promised full disclosure tonight. Neville and Luna were fascinated at the two years of extra knowledge and enraged with the Weasleys use of potions while Sirius was compiling a list of those who were going to pay for mistreating his godson.
When they reached the part about meeting with James and Lily, Sirius was in bits. The thought of his godson not wanting to return had the old dog in tears.
When Harry explained the creation of horcruxes Remus felt ill, he knew just how deep into the dark arts one had to delve even to find information on these abominations.
The group cheered up considerably when Hermione informed them that two were already dealt with while a third was safe at Gringotts in their vault and they knew the location, as well as the protection around the others.
"Our plan is to train over the summer while going on treasure hunts with Sirius and Remus to collect and destroy these things." Harry was waiting for questions and Dan didn't disappoint.
"I'm really glad to see you taking help when you attempt to remove these items but how are you going to destroy them?"
"The Basilisk in the chamber of secrets has plenty more fangs than the one it sunk into me, one of the horcruxes is presently stored in Hogwarts as well so we have to figure out an excuse to get us back in there to collect it and harvest the Basilisk."
Neville and Luna were sitting holding hands as the blond asked, "can we stay here this summer and train with you? I don't think my dad would mind too much."
"All taken care of, your father and Neville's gran will be spending some time here over the holidays. We start tomorrow at seven and the first few days will be murder!" Hermione was thinking back and remembering the pain of muscles protesting every movement.
"Remus got us some presents so we wouldn't have to be totally useless in a fight, could we train with you as well?" Emma's question had stumped the teens but they couldn't figure a reason why they shouldn't.
"For the first ten days or so we will be concentrating solely on getting our bodies fitter with perhaps some unarmed combat, your daughter's signature move is taking out peoples knee caps. She figured out that men tend to concentrate on protecting certain other parts of their anatomy leaving the knees an easy target, it certainly worked with that goblin." Harry was glancing admiringly at his now blushing betrothed.
"Is all this physical training really necessary?" Sirius moaned.
"Spoken like a true pureblood Sirius, my beautiful betrothed here could whip your arse in combat, with or without a wand. Our training kept us alive against the best that Voldemort could throw at us."
Sirius just huffed in disbelief before Remus skilfully laid his trap, "I've got fifty gallons on the beautiful brunette!"
Both Dan and Emma offered bets on Hermione beating Sirius, like Remus they had seen their daughter in action.
Sirius knew he was trapped into a contest he couldn't win, even when he beat Hermione where was the kudos in winning against a fourteen year old girl.
He stood up and Hermione walked towards him with her hand held out to shake, Sirius realised his mistake as he was flying through the air, landing heavily on his back before finding Hermione's shoe in gentle contact with his throat while his wand was behind the young witches ear. In less than five seconds she had disabled, disarmed and had him in a position where he would be deceased if she so wished, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Remus came over and helped his embarrassed friend of the floor, "don't worry about it Sirius she would have done the same to me, you should have seen them in Gringotts taking out seven armed goblins without a wand being drawn."
"Purebloods are inherently lazy, they will use either their magic our call on a house elf to accomplish every task, in any kind of prolonged fight our higher fitness levels will give us a major advantage. Death eaters are used to their victims either fleeing or freezing through fear, when you overcome the intimidation and fight back it becomes obvious they're not that powerful or skilful. It doesn't take lot's of magical skill to torture and murder muggles, especially when your favourite curses are unforgivables."
Harry's words made sense to purebloods Neville, Luna and Sirius; they would recall them often in the days that followed when they felt like lying down and resting.
....
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