The secret origin of Discord

"Headmaster, I would like to speak with you regarding Mr. Potter." McGonagall told him once the other Heads of House had left the Headmaster's office after their weekly Friday meeting.

"What else has he done, Minerva?" Dumbledore was beginning to regret forcing young Harry to go back to Hogwarts, but he wasn't going to give up on or abandon the boy, not this time. Aside from the fact that the wizarding world still needed Harry Potter, he had no intention of making the same mistake he'd made last year, the one that had led to Harry's incarceration in Azkaban.

"He hasn't done anything else Albus. It's what he might do next that has me concerned, given his actions toward Miss Granger. Not to mention the oath he made her swear that is going to force her to stay away from him or risk losing her magic. I know it was your intention to try and get him to forgive his friends and now that door has been slammed in Miss Granger's face forever." McGonagall told him.

"Not quite, Minerva." Dumbledore told her. "The oath doesn't block Mr. Potter from talking to her and if he does, then it will not cause the loss of Miss Granger's magic. It is possible that we may be able to convince him to release her from the oath he had her swear."

"That will never happen." McGonagall snorted. "It has been almost two months, Headmaster, and I see no signs of his anger diminishing. At best he ignores his fellow students and at his worst he is so contemptuous of them that they want very little to do with him. I don't think your plan is going to work Albus. If it were we should be seeing signs of it by now."

Dumbledore sighed and got up from his desk to stare out the window for a moment. "He just needs time, Minerva."

"How much time and is he to be given this time at the expense of the other students?" McGonagall wanted to know. "Because I must tell you Headmaster the first year Gryffindors will have nothing to do with him. They stay as far away from him as possible and a number of them were quite pleased that they were going to be in the same House as Harry Potter until they met him."

"Has he harmed them?" Dumbledore asked quickly.

"If you mean has he done anything similar to what he did to Miss Granger, then no, but he treats them with outright contempt and they had nothing to do with what happened last year. He is tarring them with the same brush that he has used for the second through seventh year students and they don't deserve that Albus. They are innocent of the wrongdoings of their fellow Gryffindors." McGonagall told him. "I never thought I would ever say this, but it may be in the best interests of all if Mr. Potter were segregated from his fellow Gryffindors, if only for their safety."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm sorry Minerva, but that can't happen. Also I doubt that Mr. Potter will do them any physical harm, unless they first try and harm him. He may be an angry young man, but he still has a strong sense of right and wrong and there are lines even he will not cross."

"What do you call what he did to Miss Granger if not physical harm?" McGonagall couldn't believe how calmly the Headmaster was taking this.

"No it was not," Dumbledore disagreed. "The harm he did was emotional and maybe mental. If he had wanted to, I think Mr. Potter could have easily blinded Miss Granger. He did block her ability to see the written word and for an avid reader like Miss Granger that was far more painful. I do have to agree with Mr. Potter about one thing. Miss Granger is a very stubborn young woman and it is very hard to get her to change her mind about some things. Also she is thoroughly convinced that she knows what's best for those around her and that she has the right to meddle in their lives."

"Hmm," McGonagall mused with her first smile of the evening, "that sounds an awful lot like some one I know."

Dumbledore drew himself up and tried to look affronted, "I have no idea who you could be taking about."

"Are you sure?" McGonagall teased, her grin broadening.

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Dumbledore requested. "As I was saying, all Mr. Potter did was cause Miss Granger severe emotional distress probably equal to what she caused him when she destroyed the photo album containing the only pictures he had of his parents."

"It was far greater surely Albus!" McGonagall protested. "The punishment didn't fit the crime simply for picking up a book off a table."

"But ultimately, I don't think that's what he was punishing her for. I think that was just the trigger. I think he was punishing her for destroying his photo album." Dumbledore countered. "She knew how much those pictures meant to him and she also knew how much it would hurt him to see those pictures destroyed by someone he thought of as his friend. By the same token, Mr. Potter knows how much Miss Granger loves to read and knew how much it would hurt her to not be able to do that."

McGonagall conceded that he was probably right. "I still think his final punishment far outweighed any crime she may have committed. He was Miss Granger's first friend here and I know how much she wanted to make up with him and get that friendship back."

"And that is why he has to stay in the Gryffindor dorms." Dumbledore told her. "He needs to work through his anger at his fellow students and the Wizarding world as a whole and he can't do that if we allow him to hide from us. It is important that young Harry remain in the wizarding world. He is too important to lose."

"You keep saying that Albus, but compared with the future witches and wizard of our world, why is he so important? If this keeps up it is possible that we may lose these students to other schools, if they don't decide to give up their education completely." She pointed out. "Tell me why he is so important."

Dumbledore sighed and met her gaze, the twinkle for once gone from his eyes. "Part of what I am about to tell you is confidential, known only to those in the Department of Mysteries and a few senior members of the Wizengamot. Did you know that the number of new wizards and witches being born is slowly declining and that the Wizarding world is basically stagnant?"

"What are you talking about?" McGonagall knew what the word meant, but didn't see how it related to the current topic under discussion. "I know that because of the deaths caused by the last two Dark Lords that the population of the wizarding world as a whole might be down, but I had no idea the birth rate was going down."

"Inbreeding among wizards and witches has caused the birth rate of magically able children to go down." Albus told her simply. "There are more squibs being born every day."

"Surely the infusion of muggle-borns and half-bloods is able to counter that." McGonagall seemed surprised that things might be as bad as he had indicated.

"It isn't something that is obvious to the naked eye yet," Dumbledore began to explain, "but as head of the Wizengamot among other things, I can get a look at the birth statistics and I did about 40 years ago, when I started noticing, a decrease in the number of witches and wizards attending Hogwarts. I also checked with the Headmasters and headmistresses of other European schools and they were also showing small but steadily declining numbers, more than could be accounted for by the actions of Grindelwald and his followers or even now Voldemort and his followers. Even though the pure bloods will not admit it, muggle-borns and those with a mixed magical heritage far outnumber them and it is among the pure bloods that the decline is the most obvious and the children are some of the weakest magically."

After a few moments pause he continued, "Also except for a few new potions such as the Wolfsbane potion, there have been no magical advances of any kind in the last fifty years or so. It has also been noted that with each generation while our first years start out fairly powerful with the first year spells, but as they progress through their years of school, their power seems to level out by their third year and even at the point where they would normally go through their magical maturity around fifteen or sixteen, their power level doesn't increase all that much. This seems to be the case even for muggle-borns. This trend has been studied for the last twenty years, using records going back over the last one hundred years. There is some speculation among a few members of the Department of Mysteries along with several other departments that more of our kind should be capable of wandless magic given the power levels recorded for them when they start their first year of school. It has also been noted that among the pure-blood families that refuse to even consider marrying muggle-borns or half bloods that the number of Squibs is rising steadily due to inbreeding."

"Do they have any idea what is causing this?" McGonagall was caught up in what she was hearing. She had quickly realized the implications behind the fact that each generation of witches and wizards seemed to be a little weaker than the last.

"Several factors," Dumbledore told her. "Did you know that most muggle-borns, unless they have married into wizarding families or are very clearly powerful, leave the wizarding world within a few years of graduating from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang."

"Why would they want to do that?" McGonagall hadn't been aware of this.

"Discrimination." Dumbledore told her simply. "About a hundred years ago, the Purebloods of the time realizing that the muggle-borns were growing in number and would quickly outnumber them put legislation in place limiting what occupations a muggle-born could do, because they were afraid of losing their power. They managed to lock them out of most positions of power in the Ministry, so they couldn't do anything to make changes." Dumbledore told her. "Some of those who have left the wizarding community here have immigrated to America or Australia where there is very little distinction between muggle-borns and pure-bloods, so they can exercise their full potential. Others have just returned to the muggle world and for those who can not afford it the wizarding world is forced to pay for their re-education to the ways of the muggle world so they can find a job there."

"And nothing has been done to try and reverse these laws?" McGonagall couldn't believe the wizarding community could be so short-sighted.

"Every time someone has recognized what the discrimination of muggle-borns is doing to our world and tried to get legislation enacted to relax or remove those restrictions, the pure bloods step in and block it." Dumbledore shook his head over the sheer stupidity of it. "As for what is causing the magic levels to decline among our students instead of increasing, besides inbreeding, all we have are guesses. All accidental magic is wandless and while usually driven by emotion, it is quite powerful. It might be how our students are taught, the wands themselves, or maybe a combination of both. We are forcing their ability to do wandless magic to follow a path of specific words and gestures to work and for the power they use to flow through the wands instead of flowing the way it wanted to. This probably causes their wandless magical ability to weaken from lack of use if not completely atrophy."

"While all of this is indeed cause for concern," McGonagall put in, "that still doesn't explain why Mr. Potter is so important."

"There are several reasons." Dumbledore told her. "The first being that as the Destroyer of Voldemort, he has a lot of clout and though he doesn't like the idea he is in a position to make changes and even have abolished those laws that prevent the muggle-borns from being able to make any real contributions in our world so they will stay. Not to mention it would be nice to see him get married and settle down with a nice young witch"

"And possibly father some magically powerful children?"

"Yes there is that." Dumbledore agreed, as if the idea only just now occurred to him, but McGonagall wasn't fooled.

"Any other reasons?"

"Just one other, if at some point we can convince him to become a teacher at Hogwarts, he might be able to help our first years begin to harness their wandless magic, which might lead to them getting more powerful magically when they reach magical maturity. Otherwise, according to the best guesses made by those who have been studying this and also taking into account all the powerful wizarding families that were lost during the times of Grindelwald and Voldemort, we have maybe two hundred years before the only thing being born in the wizarding world will be squibs." Dumbledore's expression was grim as he said this.

"So once again we need to get Mr. Potter to become the wizarding world's salvation without telling him why." McGonagall concluded tartly.

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore agreed. "If he knew that the existence of our entire race hinged on him remaining here, given his current level of anger, he would run far and fast and that would be the end of wizardkind."

….
In one of the table of the great hall Harry was reading the latest Daily Prophet.He expected Rita Skeeter to run her own personal smear campaign, especially after he outed her as an animagus. He was willing to bet that she was going to find it much harder to get into places she shouldn't be, given that anti-animagi wards had probably been put up all over the Ministry and anywhere else that someone wanted to keep her out of. He wondered if she would manage to stay out of prison.

The the headline on it said: Boy-Who-Lived Accuses Minster And Ministry Of Corruption! And in a smaller headline: Fudge accused of Knowing about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's return for over a year before announcing it to the public! Actually, Harry reflected, as he skimmed the article, I accused the whole wizarding world of being corrupt, not just the idiot Fudge. They got the second part right though.

Certain sections jumped out at him like: Boy-Who-Lived-And-Destroyed-Voldemort refused to accept the Order of Merlin from Fudge... Minister Fudge accused by Boy-Who-Lived of knowing about the Dark Lord's return since the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament.... Boy-Who-Lived accuses Minister and Ministry of sending more than one innocent person to jail by failing to use all tools at their disposal to get to the truth.

Harry noticed that none of the reporters made mention of his accusing the wizarding world itself of hypocrisy or the fact that he had told them that he would have left the wizarding world to deal with Voldemort on their own, if it hadn't been for those who couldn't defend themselves against the Dark Lord and the fact that he wanted justice for those the bastard had killed. Most of the sections were practically identical, though some of them contained calls for Fudge's resignation and others wanted an investigation of the Ministry justice system, given that at least four innocent people had been sent to Azkaban in the last hundred years. He doubted anything would come of it, and given the rather convenient way the wizarding world had of ignoring anything that didn't directly affect them, he was fairly sure that innocent people would continue be sent to Azkaban.

At least they won't have to worry about the Dementors now. Harry thought to himself. I wonder if they'll employ regular wizards or try to find something as bad as the Dementors to guard the island.

The only article that reported the happenings at the award ceremony accurately was the Quibbler, but even they'd glossed over Harry's intention to leave the Wizarding world at the end of the year. He guessed they couldn't conceive of any wizard wanting to live in a non-magical world. Well they were going to be in for a rude awakening.

Harry glanced at his watch and sighed, time for Transfiguration. Dumbledork had apparently decided it was time to escalate his attempts to get Harry reintegrated into the Wizarding world, because now in some of the classes they had been assigned a study partner. He'd been given Ginny Weasley as a partner. The way it had been explained in the first class was that it was to help them learn to work together without conflict before getting out in the real world.

The real world indeed! Harry grumbled as he headed to class. These fools know absolutely nothing about the real world.

He was one of the last in class, but that didn't matter to him, he still took a seat on the back row.

Ginny who had gotten a seat at a desk in one of the middle rows, glared angrily at him and gestured for him to join her. Folding his arms, and leaning back against the wall, Harry just stared back at her with an expressionless face. Ginny gestured again, but Harry remained where he was.

Slamming her book shut in a way that would have earned a glare from Hermione for her mistreatment of a book, Ginny grabbed her things and stalked to the back of the classroom.

"Since I was here first, you should have joined me." Ginny growled in a low angry voice.

"And why would I want to do that?" Harry countered flatly.

"I'm your partner for this class, remember?" Ginny stomped her foot under the desk, making sure to bring the heel of her shoe down on Harry's foot.

"Not by my choice," Harry disagreed dryly.

Before Ginny could say anything further, from the front of the room, Professor McGonagall asked, "Is there something you wish to share with the class, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny looked down at the desk and said softly, "no Professor McGonagall."

"Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall wanted to know.

"Do you really want me to answer that, Professor?" Harry inquired with a smirk on his face.

"Only if it concerns this class," McGonagall told him stiffly.

"Then you have answered your own question, ma'am." Harry didn't bother hiding his grin.

Determined not to let him have any more control over her class, Professor McGonagall returned to the front of the classroom and began the lesson.

At the end of class, McGonagall assigned two feet of parchment due by the next class on how to make a transfiguration permanent and the reasons why the spell might fail and each partner was to do only one part of the assignment.

They were in the back of the group that was headed toward the north tower and Divination when Ginny asked. "Do you want to meet in the Library after dinner to do this assignment?"

Harry shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. I have no intention of doing either part of the assignment."

Harry was caught by surprise when he was shoved against the wall by a redheaded shrieking banshee. "I've had it with your attitude!"

He just stared at her not saying a word and that infuriated Ginny even more. Growling, she took out her wand and pointed it at him. "You may not care about your future, but I care about mine. Since you are my partner in Transfiguration, your lack of participation affects my grade and my future. Now you will be in the Library tonight after dinner prepared to study our assignment, or I promise I will make your life a living hell."

"You've already done that, Weasley, remember?" Harry gestured and Ginny was flung against the wall her wand clattering to the ground several feet away. "You and your whole traitorous family condemned me to hell last year. What more do you think you can do? Scream? Cry? Stamp your feet like a little child when she doesn't get her way? Nothing you threaten me with can be worse than what you did to me last year. You owed me your life! I saved yours during your first year here remember? And nearly lost my own in the process when you were stupid enough to write in a cursed diary, instead of talking to your yearmates or your family about your problems of trying to fit in at Hogwarts. Were you really so stupid that you could forget that enchanted objects might just be dangerous? Then once you realised what was happening, you still didn't tell anyone. You were so embarrassed at the thought of me finding out what you'd been doing, or that Tom might tell me you had this infantile crush on me that you stole the diary back, instead of leaving it with me. If it had been left with me, we might have solved the problem before you nearly got yourself killed because of your own damn ego and refusal to get the help you needed to stop it. I could understand a muggle-born making that kind mistake since they wouldn't know that enchanted objects might be dangerous but not someone who had lived in the wizarding world her whole life."

Harry paused for a moment, then got back on track with what he had originally intended to say. "Even with the life debt hanging over your head, instead of trying to help me, or standing by me, you joined the rest of your kind and condemned me without even listening to me. The life debts you and your father owe me will never be repaid, because I won't accept anything from you ever again. What happens I wonder when a life debt goes unpaid for generations? Will your whole family eventually lose its magic? I know that if your father's debt remains unpaid it is passed on to all of his children for one of them to redeem. That's means that you and your children, if you have any, will have two life debts unpaid, not just one. I rather imagine there will eventually be some kind of stigma, if the wizarding world doesn't turn a blind eye to it the way they usually do to most things. Enjoy your life Weasley, may it be long and a total misery."

From her position on the floor, Ginny stared at Harry's back as he stalked away, not toward Divination, but in the opposite direction.

Tears began filling her eyes as she searched for her wand. She'd wanted to provoke a reaction and she'd gotten one, only it wasn't the one she wanted. While she hadn't pestered Harry over the last two months the way everyone else had and was still doing, Ginny had hoped that time and her quiet supportive presence would ease Harry's anger toward her, but that hadn't happened. Harry had treated her like she didn't exist for the most part. At other times she had the feeling he was thinking he should have left her in the Chamber of Secrets all those years ago. Well she wasn't giving up. He might hate her now, but he was hers and no other witch was going to take him away from her. She'd already had to take steps to discourage several of the more determined and predatory witches from their pursuit of her man.

….

Ginny didn't see Harry again until dinner. He was sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table his attention fixed on the pages of the book he was reading. She started to go over to apologise for her earlier behaviour, but Ron intercepted her.

"Ginny," he hissed, "don't rock the boat right now. According to what I heard from McGonagall the replacement Firebolt will be here tomorrow. We need to give it to him and get him back on the Quidditch team before that game against Slytherin next week. If you make him madder than he is right now, he'll refuse to play and I don't want to see us flattened like we were by them in last year's game that was embarrassing. Not to mention the fact that Draco Malfoy was positively disgusting the way he gloated over the fact that he got the snitch before you."

"What makes you so sure he will want to play Quidditch for Gryffindor?" Ginny asked. "I mean given that he hates our entire House right now, why would you think he would want to help us beat Slytherin?"

"He loves to fly and he loves playing Quidditch. He also hates Malfoy." Ron reminded her. "Even if we can't get him to play Seeker for any of the other games, I'm sure we can convince him to play in the one against Slytherin. And I'm sure that once we've got him back on a broom, he'll want to continue playing and the Quidditch Cup will be ours once more."

Ginny just shook her head at her brother's priorities as she allowed herself to be dragged away. Hermione was right. Ron was Quidditch mad. She was certain that if he were to die tomorrow, Ron's last thoughts probably wouldn't be of his family, they would probably be about the Chuddley Cannons and whether or not they would have a winning season and lamenting the fact he wouldn't be able to see it.

As she ate her dinner, Ginny watched Harry and tried to work out what she was going to say to him so he wouldn't freeze her out again. She would have the man she'd dreamed of having since she was a little girl and had first heard of Harry Potter. Even though she made some mistakes early on, she knew he liked her or rather he had until she had turned against him last year. He just needed to see that this time it would be different. She needed him to see that she'd regretted what had happened last year and her part in it. He had to see that she wouldn't make the same mistakes again and that it was safe for him to trust… no love her because she would never betray him again. She would die before she did that!

….

"Potter," Colin Creevy poked his head into the fifth year dorm.

"What is it Creevy?" Harry looked up from the notebook he was writing in to look at the person who call him. His eyes glow red for a second scaring the boy a bit.

"You're wanted in the Common Room by McGonagall." Collin told him before ducking back out of the doorway.

Sighing Harry put the thick book he was reading and his notebook back into his book bag and took it to the Common Room with him.

As he reached the final stairway that led to the Common Room he saw the room was full of people and level of noise from their conversations sounded like a large hive of bees. A quick check showed him that none of the first years were there only the second through seventh years were waiting there with McGonagall. What was going on now? He tensed, determined to be ready for anything. They weren't going to catch him by surprise like they had last year.

McGonagall seeing him at the top of the stairs called, "Please come down, Mr. Potter. We're all waiting for you."

Sighing, Harry headed down the stairs, wondering what Dumbledore and McGonagall had planned now.

As he was heading down the stairs, Harry saw all the Gryffindors, carefully manoeuvre around until their Head of House was closest to the foot of the stairs and Harry. He smirked at their actions So much for the bravery of Gryffindors.

"What did you want to see me about Professor?" Harry asked as soon as he reached the foot of the stairs.

"Your fellow Gryffindors would like to make a little presentation to you, Mr. Potter." McGonagall told him.

"Oh and what might that be?" Harry folded his arms across his chest, now certain that Dumbledork was trying to manipulate things again.

McGonagall stepped to one side, revealing Ginny who had been concealed behind her. Ginny was holding a broom in her hands and around the handle was tied a red and gold ribbon.

"Harry," Ginny's voice squeaked. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Harry, we your fellow Gryffindors would like to apologise for our behaviour last year and for destroying your possessions and to let you know how sorry we are for what we did. While we can not replace everything that was destroyed, we have gotten together to replace your Firebolt."

She stepped forward and held the broom out to him a slight smile on her face. Her smile faltered when Harry made no move to take it. "Harry, please take it. It is yours."

"And your place on the Quidditch team is waiting for you too!" Ron called from within the crowd behind Ginny.

Harry shook his head. "This isn't mine. The Firebolt I got as a Christmas and birthday gift from my godfather was destroyed last year. This is a guilt offering. I rather imagine that Dumbledore and McGonagall thought of it. I mean I doubt the Gryffindors wouldn't have thought of this themselves, especially given that a Firebolt is a very expensive broom."

"What does it matter who thought of it?" Ginny was beginning to get a little angry. This wasn't going at all like any of them had planned. They had all thought he would be pleased to have his broom back instead he was acting like an ungrateful git. "The point is we all paid for it so we could give it back to you."

Harry looked around the room for a moment and then at the floor before saying. "So this is for me. Mine to do with as I please."

"Yes, Harry," Ginny said pleased that he seemed to be accepting their gift and apology. This time when she handed him the broom he took it.

"So you don’t mind if I do this ." Harry said as he snap the broom in two and set it on fire before dropping it on the ground. Everyone stare at him in shock.

"Why would you want to do that?" Ron shouted. "You need a broom to play Seeker. You can't fly without a broom."

"Who said I wanted to be Seeker? Especially Seeker for this House." Harry shot back meeting Ron's gaze.

"Well you surely don't want Slytherin to win the Quidditch Cup or the House Cup do you?" Ron countered.

“ Is that what you care about the house cup.” He said angrily while letting out a large aura which frightened everyone.” You think I care if this house get the house cup or not. You spent the last year alone bullying me and when I was taken to Azkaban you burn all my things. I saw the way how you all smile as you burn my things. Did you think all you have to is buy me another broom and immediately I forget everything you did. My previous broom was given to me by my godfather and it is only the few things I have left of him and you destroyed it. How you like it if I burn down you house and all you family heirlooms and try to apologize by giving a cheap knockoff. Well how would you like it f I do that.”

When no one answer Harry snap his fingers and disappear from the room leaving a group of scare Gryffindor.

…..
On the Friday before the first Quidditch match of the year, Harry was called out of Potions class by one of the fifth year prefects because Professor McGonagall wanted to see him.

When he appeared in her office doorway, McGonagall ordered, "Come in, Mr. Potter, and close the door behind you."

Harry did as she asked. Then without waiting for an invitation he sat down in front of her desk and waited quite patiently to see why she had summoned him.

"I called you here to undo the spell you placed on Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall placed a cage holding a snow-white ferret on her desk.

"You mean the spell he cast on himself." Harry reminded her with a smile, pleased that Malfoy was still a ferret. He'd always thought the blond Slytherin made a better ferret than a person. "He cast the spell, I merely sent it back to him."

"Well whatever you did to the spell when you returned it to him, has prevented me from undoing the change." McGonagall told him crisply.

"You mean that a Transfiguration Mistress can't undo the spell that Malfoy cast?" Harry glanced at the caged ferret. "Damn Malfoy, you're good!"

The ferret chattered angrily at him.

"I'm not the one who acted without thinking, remember Malfoy?" Harry reminded the angry ferret. "You definitely aren't living up to the qualities of your House, which I believe include cunning and patience. Are you sure you weren't sorted into the wrong house? I mean you are acting more and more like a Gryffindor every day."

If it were possible for a ferret to give someone a death glare, ferret Malfoy managed it.

"Beyond returning the spell to Mr. Malfoy, did you alter it in any way?" McGonagall was fairly certain he had, but wanted to get it confirmed.

There was a pleased look on Harry's face as he contemplated the ferret. "Maybe just a little," he admitted. "Malfoy had intended the change to be permanent. I altered it to give him an out if the spell he'd cast couldn't be undone."

"What kind of out?" McGonagall asked since Malfoy couldn't.

Harry shrugged. "He simply has to admit that he was wrong and truly believe he was in the wrong for attacking me in the Great Hall, not just say it because it will undo the spell."

"Since it is doubtful that Mr. Malfoy will ever admit such a thing, can you undo his spell?" McGonagall wanted to know.

Harry looked at the ferret for a moment his gaze slightly unfocused as if he were seeing something she couldn't. "I could but I won't."

"Why?"

"Because he wouldn't learn anything if I did." Harry told her.

"And what is it he has to learn?" McGonagall inquired.

"He, in fact the whole of the wizarding world, needs to learn that actions have consequences." Harry told her. "For years if not centuries, witches and wizards have attacked each other because of petty things or over their view of how the world should be. What you do to yourselves doesn't matter." Harry's once vibrant green eyes turn red as he continued. "You can totally destroy yourselves for all I care, as long as you don't try and bring others into your fights. The problem is that you don't care about who suffers because of your actions. The last two Dark Lords brought your squabbles out into the muggle world and nearly destroyed it. You also involved or tried to involve other magical creatures in your fights down through the years and then once the battles were over, you broke the promises you made to them or made them pay because they chose the wrong side."

"Those were Deatheaters, Mr. Potter." McGonagall pointed out. "Most wizards are quite content to live and let live with regards to muggles and other magical creatures."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "Did you have Binns for History of Magic, Professor? I mean you can't be that blind to how the wizarding world treats those they consider inferior to themselves. Personally I was amazed at what you can learn about magical history, if you don't have to rely on a Professor who is fixated on the goblin rebellions and is so boring he could put a hyperactive child to sleep for your information. I've learned that up until about 1945 muggle and squib baiting was quite common among the members of the magical community and considered only a minor offence. I personally think that the only reason the Ministry has made it a crime is because of how quickly muggle science have advanced and they've realised just how dangerous the muggles can become if pushed into a corner. In my opinion, I think the ministries want to avoid provoking the muggle people, given that they out-number you by at least a hundred to one. Even with the change in policy though, I've noticed that even when a witch or wizard is caught using their magic against a muggle in a harmful way, they're not really punished. They receive a slap on the wrist and the muggle who was attacked is oblivated so they don't remember the crime perpetrated on them."

He paused for a moment waiting to see if she would comment. When no comment was forthcoming he continued, "I can't help wondering what will happen if a witch or wizard attacks a muggle who can't be oblivated. Will it spell the end of the wizardkind? Will the Ministry order the defenceless muggle killed because they can't block the memory? Or will the Muggle pretend that it worked and then come back to wreak vengeance on the wizarding world because of the actions of one witch or wizard?"

At her expression of disbelief, he told her. "It is entirely possible for them to do so, you know. In the last fifty years muggles have shown they can be quite ingenious when they need to be or there is a great enough threat. I know for a fact that muggle science is working on a way to modify cells to target specific diseases like cancer and AID's, because I've invested in several of them. It wouldn't take much effort to turn that into a weapon of war, if there were a good enough reason and a non-magical person were to get a sample of magical blood. They could probably tailor a disease that would wipe out anyone with magical ability and leave those without magic completely alone and they wouldn't even have to find the places where you live to make sure you are infected by it. All they would have to do is infect a muggle-born and they are fairly easy to find, given that they go to platform 9 and 3/4's every year to go to Hogwarts."

Harry didn't bother to conceal the smirk on his face at the sight of McGonagall stunned into silence by his words. Apparently she like the rest of the wizarding world had never considered that muggles could and would find wizardkind and wipe them out if given sufficient reason.

When she remained silent, Harry asked her, "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss with me, Professor? If not then I need to get to my next class. You wouldn't want me to lose any more points for your House now would you."

McGonagall finally managed to recover her voice and said crisply. "I don't know why you are so eager to get to class. According to all your teachers, you just sit there and do nothing."

Harry shrugged. "It gives me something to do while I'm locked up in this prison of yours."

"Hogwarts is not a prison, Mr. Potter!" McGonagall snapped offended. "Hogwarts is a place of learning where students receive the very best education they need to make it in the wizarding world."

"I'm certain that the other inmates would all agree with you about this being an institute of learning but I do not. There is nothing being taught here that I need to learn, unless it is how to betray others." Harry told her coldly. "And I do have express my doubts about the quality of education received here given the teachers I have had in the years I been in this death trap you call a school. If those teachers are an example of the quality education students receive, it's a wonder more of them weren't killed by Moldyshorts."

"How dare you!" McGonagall's anger was clearly visible. "You have no idea what you are talking about! The Headmaster always does his best to insure that the students have the very best teachers available to teach them."

"Then let's look at these teachers shall we." Harry was unphased by her anger. "I can only speak for the past four years of course, but in that time, this supposed exemplary learning institution only had two, count them, two competent DADA teachers; Lupin and the polyjuiced Deatheater, Crouch. The rest were a joke and shouldn't have even been allowed to teach because they all turned out to be tremendous wastes of time and space. No wonder they never lasted more than a year."

"They were the very best available." McGonagall repeated then added, "Until Professor Quirrell met up with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he was an excellent DADA teacher. Professor Lockhart were as well."

"The only thing Professor Lockhart was good at teaching the students was how to preen for the cameras… the stupid fop. He was also good at making the girls and women go gooey-eyed and gooey-brained. Personally I think that Filch would've been a better DADA teacher than Lockhart."

McGonagall said nothing remembering all too well how her fellow female teachers got all mushy at the sight of Lockhart. She had been largely immune to him, having better things to do with her time, especially once the basilisk was let loose.

"Let's move on now to what could be termed the more permanent staff that I have had for classes," Harry continued with an evil grin. "First we have a Potions Professor who for at least the last twenty years loved to terrify the students and favoured his own house so much that only heaven knows how many potential Potions Masters were destroyed by his teaching methods. I won't even mention the grudge he carried over to me because he hated my father."

"That matter has been resolved." McGonagall reminded him. "Snape is no longer teaching here and had die ."

"But not before the damage was done." Harry countered. "There were a number of complaints about his teaching methods, but the Headmaster never removed him."

"And you know very well why at the time he was not removed." McGonagall retorted.

"The Headmaster could have found another kind of work for him to do that would have kept him close and a viable source of information on Moldyshorts." Harry pointed out. "The Headmaster made no attempt to rein him in or force him to change his teaching methods and if he really had cared about the students he would have done so. But as you pointed out, Snape is no longer an issue, thanks to me putting him in his grave."

He held up one finger "Let's now turn our attention to the current Care of Magical Creatures teacher. While I have nothing against Hagrid personally, I can't help wondering how many students who might have had an interest in magical creatures were frightened away, because of the creatures Hagrid chose for them to study. That particular class is both similar and the opposite of Potions, because unless you have a love from the very beginning for large dangerous creatures, it is not a class you want to take. Hagrid is a half-giant, so there is very little that can be a threat to him. Unfortunately he is in love with large and dangerous creatures, and thinks that everyone will see them like he does as harmless puppies and kittens. Instead of starting with small, harmless, nice looking creatures, he brings in the biggest, most dangerous and sometimes the ugliest of creatures to have his students learn about. He needs to learn to gauge his classes to the students he is teaching. In other words a third or fourth year student shouldn't be expected to be able to handle a Hippogriff or a blast ended Skrewt. A sixth or seventh year might be able to, but nothing earlier. Third through fifth years should be exposed to relatively harmless animals like unicorns, then gradually work up to the more dangerous creatures. And don't even get me started on that fraud Trelawney who predicted my death every year I had her class or Binns who is so boring, that it's a wonder no students have died in his classes."

McGonagall looked slightly annoyed at him for pointing out the flaws in the school's teaching staff. "While I will admit we have some problems with a few members of the teaching staff, Hogwarts is internationally renowned for providing the very best magical education a witch or wizard needs to succeed in the magical world."

Harry snorted at this claim. "Yeah I'm sure that being able to turn a porcupine into a pin cushion is really going to help me succeed. I bet it's something I'll be doing every day. Who knows maybe someone will be elected Minister for their ability to do it."

As McGonagall bristled at the implication that her class was a waste of time, Harry continued, "I'm not stupid, I know why Dumbledork forced me to come back and it wasn't to complete my education. He thinks that with time I will forgive my former friends as well as the rest of the wizarding world for what you all did to me last year, but I told him and now I'm telling you, that isn't going to happen. Nothing I learned before I went to Azkaban will be useful once I get out of here, unless it is just how treacherous and backstabbing witches and wizards can be. I learned that lesson the hard way. Like a fool after each occurrence, I expected people to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them, but they didn't. Now I have no intention of allowing wizardkind to betray me again. I am just marking time and taking care of some unfinished business before I can finally leave this school . Once I turn eighteen, no one will be able to force me to do what I don't want to do ever again."

He left her office without waiting for permission to go.

McGonagall shook her head and wondered yet again if the Headmaster might not be too optimistic about their being able to get Harry forgive his friends and be willing to stay in the wizarding world. She knew the Headmaster was right about one thing though, there were so many problems in the wizarding world that given the current divisions would never be resolved, especially with someone like Fudge in power. However if the Daily Prophet was to be believed, Fudge was to face a vote of 'no confidence' in front of the Wizengamot before the end of the year and in interim Minister would be appointed to fill the remainder of Fudge's term which would end in 2000.

….

The day of the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match dawned clear and cold. Everyone agreed it would be good flying weather and nearly every one agreed this was going to be an interesting match, given that the traditional rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin had escalated to fever pitch.

Over the past week, the Gryffindors and Ron Weasley in particular had again been providing a source of entertainment to the other Houses, whether they'd intended to or not. Rumours had been running rampant that the Gryffindors had tried to bribe Potter into becoming their Seeker again by replacing the Firebolt they had burned up the previous year. Apparently they weren't all that confident about their ability to win against Slytherin, even though Malfoy was not playing because he was still a ferret. Rumour also had it that Potter had turned them down flat. There were also reports that the Firebolt he had been given was snap into two and burn.

Weasley had made at least one attempt a day to try and convince Potter to play, usually in-between classes. Potter had begun wearing a badge after the first attempt that either said: I see your mouth moving, but all I hear is blah, blah, blah., or I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. The sight of the badge would make Potter's former best friend go red in the face, but he was so determined that Potter was going to play that Weasley persisted in spite of it.

The question about whether or not Weasley would make a last minute attempt to convince Potter to play, even though he'd had no time to practise was answered for the Ravenclaws as Weasley followed Potter into the great Hall.

He was practically shouting, "Harry, you are a Gryffindor. I can't believe you would want the slimy Slytherins to win the Quidditch cup. It should be ours."

Harry continued to walk away from him until Ron darted forward and grabbed his arm, and swung him around. "For the honor of Gryffindor, we need you to be what you were and are: a superb seeker and the finest one Gryffindor has ever had."

Several members of the other houses moved in to surround the pair, along with a few of the Gryffindors. They all wanted to see the confrontation that had been building for a week now between Potter and Weasley.

Harry jerked his arm free of the weasel's grasp with a growl, and the expression on his face was one of contempt. "I am not a gryffindor!" Harry's voice was cold as ice. "You made that clear last year. Then again, you have a short-term memory since the only thing in your head is food and Quidditch. You said the honor of Gryffindors; don’t make me laugh; Gryffindors have no honor. But then again, why am I not surprised since, at the end of the day, Gryffindors are nothing more than a group of idiots who only care for themselves, which makes it the perfect house for you, the king of idiots.”

Ron's face reddened as he registered the insult. To hell with making up with Potter! he thought to himself, lunging forward. Harry just snapped his fingers, and Ron was thrown to the ground. He tried to get up, but Harry shot lightning at him from his hand. He screamed as the attack hit him. Harry can’t help but smile seeing the person who was responsible for making the last year of his life hell in pain. However, that smile stopped when his hand turned into a claw. He quickly stopped and put the hand in his pocket to hide it before anyone noticed it. Luckily, it seems everyone was too busy looking at Ron to notice the sudden transformation. He quickly concentrates, and he can feel his hand turn back to normal.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, stop this at once!"

Harry turned and saw McGonagall hand push her into the crowd. He then turned and saw that Ron had gotten up.

"Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall decided to start with the prefect. "I expect better behaviour out of a fifth year prefect and yet I find you trying to start a fist fight like a common street thug in the middle of the Great Hall. Why did you feel the need to get into a school yard brawl with your best friend?"

"He's not my friend!" Ron told her hotly, still angry about the insult Harry said to him. "No true friend would said that."

"Well, you've never been a true friend, Weasel. A true friend wouldn't be interested in someone solely for the use that they can make out of them. The only thing about me that ever interested you was being the best friend of the Boy-Who-Lived." Harry countered. "And you turned on me the minute you thought I was trying to take the glory without you or you thought you could gain the spotlight without me in the picture, by denouncing me as an evil, dark wizard. You are no friend, Weasly; you are just a leech, a parasite that latches on to someone, and when they are no use to you, you turn your back on them. I am the biggest fool here to not realize that my so-called friend is nothing more than a parasite."

"Enough!" McGonagall broke in before the fight could start again. "Mr. Weasley, what happened?"

"I was trying to get Potter here to agree to play Seeker today and he insulted me and Gryffindors Honor ." Ron told her.

"Is that essentially correct Mr. Potter?" McGonagall was certain a lot had been left out.

"Essentially," Harry agreed, "but he forgot to mention that I had already turned him down at least fifty or sixty times this week. I told him I had no interest in playing on a team of traitors, but he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."

"Who threw the first punch?" McGonagall wanted to know.

Ron looked back down at the floor and said nothing as Harry told her. "The Weasel did."

McGonagall looked very disappointed. "Twenty points each for fighting. Mr Potter, you will also be serving detention." Harry snorted at this but McGonagall continued. "And you Mr. Weasley will be turning in your Prefect badge for conduct unbecoming a prefect…"

"That's not fair!" Ron interrupted. "He started it!. Why are you punishing me?"

McGonagall glared at him. "Be grateful, I don't remove you from the Gryffindor Quidditch team as well, Mr. Weasley. I notice that you didn't deny throwing the first punch. You need to learn to control your anger, young man. Apparently the time you had spent at Hogwarts hasn't taught you that control and it should have. Life is very rarely fair and you will occasionally encounter things or people who upset you. However you can't continue to act first and think later the way you have been these past seven years, or your chances of earning a decent livelihood will go down considerably once you leave school given that your grades are barely acceptable right now."

….

The Gryffindor-Slytherin game lasted until evening and probably would have gone on longer if Ginny Weasley hadn't finally caught the snitch. It proved to be a hollow victory for the Gryffindors though because the game had ended in the first tie in Quidditch history with a score of 510 to 510. Usually catching a Snitch gave the team whose Seeker got it the victory, however the World Cup during the summer of Ron's fourth year had proven that wasn't always the case when Krum caught the Snitch but Ireland won the game. Madame Hooch had declared Gryffindor the winners because of Ginny's catching the Snitch, but Slytherins were requesting a rematch since they had been ahead by 150 points until it had been caught and no game was supposed to end in a tie. Madame Hooch had refused. Pointing out that the rules never said that a game couldn't end in a tie, just that it never had before.

Ron, instead of being pleased with Gryffindor's victory over Slytherin, had been spent the better part of the evening snarling at his sister telling her she should have held off long enough for them to get another goal, so they would have been the clear winners. It had taken Ginny cursing him with her favourite curse, the Bat Bogey Hex to get him to shut up. While he was suffering the results of Ginny's hex, Ron spent the evening glaring at Potter, certain that if he had just co-operated, their victory would've been a clear one and not just one won by default because they gotten the Snitch. He wisely kept his thoughts to himself though not wanting to get in any more trouble with McGonagall, Hermione… or Merlin forbid his mother. He winced when he thought of what his mother's reaction would be to his no longer being a prefect.

Hermione had made it clear that she was disappointed that he had lost his Prefect's badge because of a fight over Quidditch. He would have thought she would be on his side given the fight had been with Potter but she hadn't been. She had just told him it was stupid to lose his Prefect status because of a stupid game. Even after all this time she still didn't understand that Quidditch was just as important to him as her books were to her and he realised she probably never would. Just like he would never understand her obsession with books and learning.

He found Hermione's obsessive need to know everything about anything new she encountered very unsettling, especially when she expressed her annoyance because no one else, usually meaning he and Potter, wanted to do the same. They really had very little in common and it had only been their both being friends with Potter that had brought them together in the first place. In fact he was beginning to rethink his idea of asking her to marry him once they got out of school. He cared for her, he really did, but he didn't think he could live with her for the rest of his life.

….
Harry was once again at the shore of the Great Lake meditating. The incident with Ron had greatly worry him. Not because he found it enjoyable to tortured Ron. No what bother him was how his hand transform during the confrontation. He can fell it now. He feel the urge more stronger than ever. His worry had now increased as he feel like he was close to his breaking point.

“ Harry” A voice said causing him to turn and saw it was Luna lovegood. Luna was possibly the only student in Hogwarths he tolerate as during the tri wizard tournament she was the only person who believes him when he said he did not put his name in the goblet and how he heard she did not believe him being a dark lord. It was due to that he didn’t mind her company.

"I'm glad I was finally able to catch up with you." Luna told him as she got closer. "I have something for you."

When she handed over the wrapped present, Harry told her, "Luna, you didn't have to do this."

Luna waited until he had opened the present and was looking at the photos in the album before softly telling him, "I didn't do it… Hagrid did."

Harry looked up startled but smiling. "Hagrid?"

Luna nodded. "He wanted you to have something to remember your family by and asked me to give it to you. He didn't think you would accept it from him."

Harry ran his finger across the moving picture of his parents, Sirius, and Remus before admitting. "I don't hate Hagrid. I'm just not fond of him right now."

Luna gave him an understanding look. "You might want to at least tell him thank you for all the trouble he went to."

Harry nodded before reaching out and giving Luna a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"See you later, Luna, "he said as he began walking away from the shore. He doesn’t know why, but holding the album in his hands and looking at the pictures of his parents, Sirius and Remus, make him feel better. He felt like the urge was weakening somehow. For the first time since he left Azkaban, he smiled. Not the cruel smile or the joyless smile, but the smile of true happiness.

….
Ginny seethed as she saw Harry smile at Luna. It was the kind of smile that lit up his face and reminded Ginny of happier times when he'd smiled at her like that. As if he really cared about her.

When Luna got a hug and kiss from Harry because of the present she'd given him, Ginny saw red. How dare she! Harry is mine! Well she's not going to get away with this! No one takes what's mine!

Pulling her wand out, Ginny conjured a jar with a few live bees in it. She knew from prior conversations that Luna was allergic to bees, though she didn't know just how allergic. Shaking the jar gently to agitate, but not kill the bees, Ginny unscrewed the lid and took it off. Using a levitation spell, she sent the angry bees over to Luna and watched as their landed on her neck.

….
As Harry began walking away in the forest, he immediately felt something was wrong. He doesn’t know why, but he feels like he needs to return as quickly as he can. He quickly ran back to the shores as fast as he could. What he saw shocked him, as it was Luna on the ground. He quickly ran towards her, and check her pulse, and quickly his heart stop. He didn’t feel anything. Luna was dead. He then saw a glimpse of a person with long red hair not far from where he was. He recognized her as Ginny Weasley.

Anger flowed through him like a river. The only decent student in the school was gone. She was possibly the only person in the wizarding world that he cared for, and she was gone. Any control he had over his emotions and over the urge was gone as he felt his anger grow out of control. But he didn’t stop the anger; he didn’t stop the urge. He let them overflow him. He now felt the changes growing stronger. He felt they were almost complete. He can already feel his mind already beginning to chance, but he doesn’t care anymore as the only thing he wants is revenge. His eyes grew red, and his teeth clenched. There was hell to pay, and he knew who was his first of many victims.

The wizarding world had made him suffer, and now he was going to make it suffer in return.