The schedules were hurriedly handed out before everyone was sent to their dormitories. Classes for the day were cancelled as the castle was searched for Lucius, to make sure he wasn't hiding inside the castle. Since he has a son in Slytherin, special care was taken in searching that dormitory before the Slytherins (minus Draco) were allowed inside. Dumbledore however, had to leave for an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot. After they got over the initial shock of what they'd seen, Harry told Hermione and Ginny about his conversation with Dumbledore the previous evening, starting with how his contact lenses let him catch the Headmaster spying on him. Hermione persuaded Harry to spend most of the day studying, although he did play a few games of chess and exploding snap with Ron. He didn't want to risk going into his trunk with other people watching. He could just imagine what Fred and George would do to the trunk or where they'd put it if they found out he was inside it.

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Harry and Hermione got up early the next morning and exercised. They decided to use the living room of Harry's trunk to do their training. They decided to go in the trunk and study their daily lesson an hour after dinner for an hour, followed by an hour of dueling, followed by an hour of karate. They had only one class (Charms) on Wednesday, so they spent most of that day working on homework, as well as most of the weekend.

They let Ginny know their plans so she could continue practicing with them. They also told Neville and he decided to practice dueling and karate with them. They also invited Ron, who reluctantly agreed to do the dueling practice.

Harry made it a point that they had to practice flying every Saturday as well, pointing out that there's no point in being able to charm a broom if you can't properly fly it away. Reluctantly Hermione agreed. Ron and Ginny were easy to convince to go flying with them. Harry knew she'd have to get comfortable enough on a broomstick to be able to do defensive flying to avoid getting cursed if they were escaping from someone. Harry had actually gotten six muggle brooms to take to school in his trunk so that they could practice charming and uncharming them so that with his Firebolt, he could have enough brooms for one Quidditch team.

Their revised extra study subject schedule was now Sunday-magical travel, Monday-defensive magic, Tuesday-magic potential, Wednesday-wordless-wandless, Thursday-animagi, Friday-advanced charms, Saturday-flying brooms defensively. Occlumency would be studied separately with Dumbledore on whatever days he chose for them (for Harry it was Thursdays after dinner).

They let Sirius know about their plans as well, and he vowed to join in the dueling as often as he could, at least once a week. He also reminded them of the dueling club he was going to start, but knew that Harry's practice was a lot more advanced than the club would be. Whenever they were going to use the trunk, Harry would bring it (shrunk down to the size of a credit card and in his pocket) into Sirius' office (after they made him take a wizard's oath to do no pranks on them regarding the trunk) so no one will find it when they're inside. Hermione was working on learning to make a ward that would protect the trunk from tampering, and was also working on a way to see the outside of the trunk while inside it.

When Harry and Hermione got to breakfast, Dumbledore still wasn't back at the castle. The Daily Prophet that arrived carried a front page article called, 'Fudge Assassinated at Hogwarts: Lucius Malfoy Exposed as Death Eater: by Rita Skeeter.' The article was very uncomplimentary of Fudge, the Ministry, and Dumbledore for letting this happen. It also said that an emergency meeting of the Wizengamet was being held to appoint a new Minister of Magic.

Harry honestly agreed with the reporter that this could have easily been prevented if Fudge had any ability to discern someone's character or the ministry hadn't let Malfoy off all those years ago. He did however think that Lucius' assassination of Fudge was a complete shock to him, so it would've been hard to avoid without having previously arresting Malfoy.

While they were still eating breakfast, McGonagall made an announcement. "I just want you to know that the castle was thoroughly searched, and Lucius Malfoy was not found." Draco, who was at the Slytherin table, smirked in Harry's direction. He didn't realize it, but several teachers noticed. Because of his threat to Harry the previous day, most of the staff was carefully observing him.

McGonagall continued. "Therefore classes will start today. Professor Hagrid also asked me to mention that all of you who witnessed that atrocity yesterday will probably receive a shock the next time you ride the carriages into Hogsmeade. Most of you probably believe that there is nothing but magic pulling them. That assumption is incorrect. They are being pulled by magical creatures known as Thestrals. They are invisible to you unless you have seen someone die. For more information on them, you may consult either the library or Professor Hagrid. Enjoy your breakfast."

"Wow," said Hermione excitedly, "I never dreamed of it! Thestrals! But according to the book I read there are no tame herds. But if they've been pulling the carriages for years, Hagrid must have tamed some. I'll have to ask him how he did it! What?"

Harry was chuckling at his girlfriend. "That is just so...I don't know...you. You're so adorable when you get passionate to learn something new. Don't ever change." Harry then quickly kissed her.

Ron shook his head and rolled his eyes, wisely deciding not to comment.

"Well," said Harry, "I believe that we've got to get to History of Magic class, and then Hermione and I have Ancient Runes. After lunch we have Potions with O'Brian."

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After a boring lesson on history taught by Professor Binns, Harry and Hermione happily headed off to the Ancient Runes class. The young couple sat together, earning a wink from the teacher. Professor Aruna started the class by saying, "Hello everybody. Welcome to a new year. First of all, I'd like to welcome Harry Potter, who studied the subject during the summer and passed a test on last year's material, to the class."

Some clapped, others glared, and some didn't care. Harry's face turned a bit pink and he waved briefly. The class went on from there, and Harry found it to be much more interesting than divination. He loved the fact that there wasn't any incense burning in the room. The best part was that his death wasn't being predicted. Harry didn't have any difficulties following the material thanks to his studying the previous day. When he told her this, Hermione smiled at him. "You see, studying does help."

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After lunch, which Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate with Neville and Ginny, the fourth years headed to the dungeons for Potions. Neville commented, "This is the first Potions lesson I've ever looked forward to. It's lucky that Snape's too busy to teach, isn't it?"

Harry's evil smirk (and Hermione's blush) lasted only for a second as he said, "Yeah, lucky," but it was enough for Neville to notice.

"What do you know about it?" When they didn't answer, Neville said, "Come on, I won't tell anyone."

"Do you know what happened with Snape?" Ron asked.

Harry motioned them to a corner in the hallway, and his expression became very serious. He whispered, "I blackmailed Dumbledore. I found out Snape was a Death Eater. He's the reason Voldemort targeted my family. Dumbledore believes he's reformed and so he keeps him in the castle for his protection. I threatened to tell that to the press, along with a description of his 'teaching' method."

"Wow," whispered the two boys. They then continued on to class, which was already filling up with people anxious to find out about this new teacher.

The gray-haired witch was already in class, wearing light purple robes. "Hello everyone. I'd like to call attendance so that I can learn your names." Once that was done, she continued. "Today we'll be making...."

She mentioned the potion and made the instructions appear and then began explaining how the ingredients worked together and the more complex of the instructions until Draco raised his hand with an arrogant look. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy."

"I know some people," he looked at Harry, "may need extra help, but can the rest of us just do the assignment and have those who don't understand attend your first year class?" Crabbe and Goyle sniggered beside him.

She got a smirk on her face. "Oh, I see. You're an expert potion maker then?"

"Well, I'm one of the best in the class," he bragged.

"Very well. Bring your supplies to the front and demonstrate making the potion."

"What?" he said, his eyes wide.

"Accio potion," said Professor O'Brian, pointing her wand at him. A sealed bottle of a completed potion floated out of Draco's robes as his eyes went wide.

She did the same thing to Crabbe and Goyle, with the same results, catching them all. She looked very sternly at the three of them. "Professor Black informed me of the way my predecessor favored you, and I suspected you might try something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if Professor Snape made the potion himself so that it wouldn't look like he was fabricating your grades. Fifteen points from Slytherin for each of you. After I'm done speaking, each of you individually will come up and make the potion for me. If you can't produce it, I'll be taking another fifty each! I have no tolerance for cheating! And just to be fair..." She pointed her wand and attempted summoning a potion from every student, but no others were found, and so she continued the lesson.

At the end of the lesson, neither Crabbe nor Goyle had been able to make anything remotely like the assignment, so they each lost another fifty points. Malfoy had made an almost good potion, so he only lost fifteen more points. The grand total of Slytherin points lost was one hundred sixty. They'd only had thirty points so far, so they were at a negative one hundred thirty. Hermione had gained Gryffindor ten points during the lecture for correctly answering a question and another ten for having hers done first and perfectly. Harry got five points for being the second one done with an equally perfect potion. Neville didn't gain any house points, but he managed to make a better potion than Malfoy did without Snape breathing down his neck.

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At dinner, Dumbledore, who appeared worn out, was present. Harry had been hoping for an announcement about the new minister, but none was given. He figured he'd have to wait for tomorrow's newspaper like everybody else.