The golden egg in Harry's hand gleamed under the open sky. The whole area around the Black Lake was filled with sleet and he held no notion the water was warm for jumping in. It was downright suicidal to jump into any body of water at this time.

But, the advantage of having control over magic is that no more such silly troubles. An average wizard with a minimum repertoire of spells is near god-like to muggles. A few variants of warming charms and repelling charms ensured his body remains warm under the cold depths of the Black Lake.

He unzipped his jacket and wiggled out of it. He also took away his grey sweater as well.

"Uhh… Harry, is this a good idea?" Neville asked awkwardly looking at the large lake sprawled out before them with a hint of fear.

"The message in the Egg cannot be discerned when exposed to air. It needs water as a medium." he explained, stepping out of the pair of Nikes.

"I understand." Neville nodded before eyeing the lake anxiously rubbing his hands. "Don't you think you could have done that in the castle?"

'That'd have been preferable instead I have to do this to ensure a Death Eater prick remains assured of his false victory.' thought Harry. He was sure Moody was watching him from somewhere right now.

"I think the Black Lake is the location for the Second Task." Harry said instead of the truth.

Neville blinked in surprise and stared at the lake with apprehension.

"They'd do that! There is the s..s…squid." Neville stuttered fearfully.

"Oh, come on Neville. The Giant Squid has always been friendly with Hogwarts students." Harry patted Neville on the shoulder as he dived into the lake with the golden egg under his arm.

Harry's head floated out of the lake smiling at Neville. "See. I'm perfectly fine. How about I take a swim to the other end?"

"Can you please don't do that Harry? If something happens to you I won't be able to do anything." Neville stuttered out in fear as he worriedly looked around the lake as if the Squid was about to attack.

"You are in luck then. Nothing is going to happen to me." said Harry, winking at a distraught Neville.

Harry drew a full circle around his head with his wand.

"Bullitus Operculum."

A full air bubble covered his head at which point he submerged underneath the water. The Black Lake as the name suggested looked dark and foggy when he looked outside the cover of his glasses. Looking through the Horus glasses he could see far and deep except for the portions of the lake that were covered with dense seaweed.

Securing his wand on the holster he pried open the egg with his free hand. He beat his legs a bit to keep himself submerged under the water. The melodic voice of the mermen filled his ears.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour – the prospect's black

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Letting out a sigh of relief that the message remained the same, Harry closed the egg when it started to repeat the song once more. He swam back towards the edge of the lake and handed over the egg to a visibly relieved Neville.

Harry climbed over the edge and began applying drying charms all over his body.

"Thank Merlin you're back Harry. For a moment, I thought you drowned."

"You've to learn to fear less Neville. If you fear every time, how will you enjoy the finer aspects of life?"

"I don't know Harry. Swimming in the Black Lake seems pretty fearful to me." said Neville.

Harry shook his head before slipping into his clothes. He cast the shrinking charm on the egg before pocketing it.

"One of these days I'll break you out of your needless fears." said Harry, to which Neville merely shrugged helplessly.

On their way back to the castle, Harry saw a few Muggleborns playing football in a corner.

"Hey, Harry, Neville. You two want to play?" Dean Thomas shouted out.

Harry was a bit surprised by the offer. Of course, the memories he had told him that the original Harry had refused the offer when Dean Thomas had first pitched the idea.

"Sure!" he shouted back thinking this was probably one of the best days.

He was kind of a football fan and he was actually itching to play a game. Plus, it was a fun way to exercise and stay in shape.

"Want to join Neville? Trust me, this is the first step to purge fear out of your body and mind." said Harry turning to his chubby friend.

"Mmm…I'm not so sure. Maybe, I'll just go…"

Neville never got to finish that thought as Harry just dragged Neville over to the game.

"We are playing." shouted Harry as he dragged Neville over to the makeshift football field the boys had constructed.

A few minutes into the game, he was glad to say he was having quite a bit of fun while Neville looked like he was about to drop dead any minute. The field was filled with muggleborns and a few half-bloods from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. It was another venue for socializing. All in all, a productive day.

Harry and Dean had to almost carry Neville back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Oh, come now Neville. Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that game." said Dean shaking a very tired Neville as they stepped into the common room with the Fat Lady's portrait closing behind their backs.

"I haven't run this much in my entire life." Neville gasped out.

"Don't be a baby." Harry admonished as he helped Neville into a nearby couch.

"What happened to Neville?" asked Hermione barging in with a worried look on her face.

"We just played a bit of football Hermione. Neville's just tired that's all." said Dean.

"He'll be back on his feet in a jiffy." said Harry patting Neville on his shoulder.

After taking a shower he joined the others in the Great Hall for dinner. After that, he was back to the dorms where he spent most of the night reading the notes left by Tom Riddle in the Chamber. There were quite a few interesting curses and wards the budding dark lord was researching. Even so, the rituals interested him far more.

Harry had only scratched the surface and even then, he could see why Voldemort was so powerful the first time around. To enhance wandless magic Tom Riddle had constructed a ritual using the Basilisk scales the Serpent King had shed in the Chamber. There were even some dark rituals that enhanced the bodily prowess of Voldemort using the Basilisk poison and Unicorn blood.

While those were quite interesting there was another ritual that caught his eyes. A ritual that granted unsustained flight for a wizard.

'Now, that's one badass ability to possess.' He thought.

His attention jumped from the notes to Ron who noisily marched into the dorm.

When Ron took note of his presence he just let out a huff and jumped into the bed keeping his face away from Harry.

Harry shrugged and went back to reading. Ever since he made it clear that he was dropping Muggle Studies and Divination Ron had been rather cross with him. The date with Daphne also might be rubbing the red-head the wrong way.

Frankly speaking, he cared not for Ron's opinions. If anything, he preferred where they stood at the present. He often felt like he had a jealous girlfriend with Ron hanging around.

Other boys started to stream in after whatever they were doing in the Common Room.

"You okay Neville?"

"I'm fine Harry. Although, I think I might sleep through the next day." said Neville tiredly, plopping into the bed with a thud.

"Don't worry mate. We'll make sure you get up tomorrow." said Dean

Harry eyed the muggleborn boy curiously. "Hey, Dean. Exactly which days you're playing the game?"

"Planning to join us from now on eh?" Dean asked with his eyes shining with excitement.

"Yeah sure. I was thinking it might be a good idea. I could use some practice. Used to play at my old school but nowadays I'm out of practice."

"Hey, you weren't that bad. We play every Saturday and Sunday from three in the evening." said Dean.

"Huh! Sign me up from now on."

"Sure, Harry." said Dean

Harry nodded and secured the notes back in his trunk which he magically locked and warded. With Voldemort's handwritten notes on dark rituals and some other shady magic in his possession, he didn't feel it safe to let his trunk remain unguarded. So the first thing he did was to learn a suitable ward that could provide a modicum of protection from Sirius.

Ensuring everything was in order, he turned himself in for the night. Closing his eyes he toiled to keep out all his thoughts and emotions as required by a budding Occlumence. Keeping his mind a blank slate he slowly slipped into the state of deep sleep.

XXXXXXX

"Stella Munitione."

Harry looked over to the blackboard where a complicated Anglo-Saxon runic script was drawn in a star formation. A portion of the board suddenly become clear to his eyes and it was filled with explanations for each rune being used.

Runes tend to take a different meaning from time to time. Sometimes a rune can mean nothing and is merely used for numerical significance. Sometimes a rune could be used to heighten a certain position which could be synonymous with the position of a planet or the sun.

"The Sun rune, as you can see, is positioned at the very centre of the star. The six tips on the other hand has runes signifying six planets of our system. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune." said Professor Babbling as she pointed out the specific runes representing these planets.

Interestingly enough, the planets are always represented by Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Harry theorized the runic scripts for planets in other languages are far longer. The Egyptian Hieroglyphs have one specific symbol for each planet.

The goal of a wizard who uses runes is always to shorten the script as much as possible. As the volume of the script increases the margin of error also increases. Egyptian Hieroglyphs are the key to shorten any runic scripts and that brings chances of any errors down as well.

"The Stella Munitione is a runic ward used commonly to strengthen buildings from outside attacks. Not just building, they can be used to protect any physical object provided they are placed on the earth."

Hermione had her hand raised the moment Professor Babbling paused her lecture.

"Yes, Miss Granger."

"Why is it that this specific set of runes does not work in the absence of earth professor?" asked Hermione

"Because of the significance of the six planets. The rune draws its power from the earth through the Earth rune. Anything not grounded in Earth is under the jurisdiction of either Jupiter or Neptune. Say that you want an object to be guarded but the object is above a body of water. The ship of Durmstrang school, for example, needs the Neptune rune in place of Earth."

Harry remained a passive participant as he had a long way to go in learning all the runes and understand their uses. He even needed to learn to draw many of them but for the most part, he found the class very interesting. Professor Babbling continued the lecture by describing the different effects when certain portions of the script were to be swapped.

When the bell rang towards the end of the class Harry had not even felt the time pass.

"Mr Potter." Professor Babbling called out to him before he took his leave.

"Professor?"

Professor Babbling handed him a stack of parchment. "These are all the notes that you will find useful."

"Thank you, Professor." Harry accepted the stack of parchment with a nod.

"Right. And as for your tutor meet Miss Davis." Professor Babbling pointed at the thin Slytherin who flashed him a grin from his back.

Harry had some choice words in his mind for choosing a Slytherin. He didn't believe Professor Babbling was blind to the drama going on in Hogwarts but he kept his mouth shut and nodded along.

"I see. I'll be on my way then."

"Off you go, Potter."

Harry turned away from the Ancient Runes Professor and marched out of the classroom.

Outside the classroom Tracey Davis was waiting for him and so was Hermione and Daphne.

"I suppose you are my tutor." said Harry frowning at a beaming Tracey.

"It's funny, isn't it? Who'd have thought Professor Babbling has a sense of humour? Appointing a Slytherin to teach a Gryffindor!" Tracey said, chuckling.

"Very amusing. So, when can we start tutor Davis?" Harry asked.

"Tutor Davis? Just call me Tracey."

"Then you may call me Harry."

Tracey gave him a quick grin before turning to Daphne. " There see…He's not bad."

Now, that won't do. He can't allow the two to think they could be so easily dismissive of him.

"Oh, don't be so sure. I can be very bad when I want to be."

Harry was sure the two Slytherins were reminded of his swift harmless retribution for wearing those silly badges. It was also a subtle message to not screw up his chances to study Ancient Runes.

"Message received." said Tracey, rolling her eyes. "Now, before we can talk about the schedule there is something Daphne has to discuss with you…privately."

The last part was said with Tracey staring pointedly at Hermione.

And that's how Harry found himself in the Astronomy Tower with Daphne Greengrass.

"Alright. Now that we are alone, go ahead."

Harry looked on intently as Daphne fished out an envelope from a pouch under the cover of her cloak.

"A message from my father." said Daphne, handing over the envelope.

After scanning the envelope with a few detection charms he secured it inside his backpack.

"You are paranoid." noted Daphne.

"I prefer the word cautious." said Harry.

He could see Daphne's blue eyes flash with an unknown emotion. It passed away in a blink and she was back to her usual self.

"There is one more issue." said Daphne and this time he picked up the rosy tint on her cheeks. "We need to discuss the colour of our dress robes."

For Harry, this was a major let down and he stared incredulously at Daphne for a moment. It was then he remembered he was dealing with a fourteen-year-old girl. Sometimes, he'd often forget he was surrounded by a bunch of teenagers. Of course, Daphne was going to be interested in dresses rather than some grand secret scheme.

As he feared, a better part of his free time was spent listening to colour schemes suggested by Daphne who he found has a fetish for all things blue. It was an interesting observation he made seeing as the rest of the talk went over his head.