Harry growled under his breath. "Acting out, sir?" Harry couldn't believe he wanted to blame Sirius and Remus for his acting out. Sure, Harry was setting more things in motion this year, but the fact the man wished to blame his guardians infuriated him. He had heard from Sirius and knew he and Lucius had started to work on the Board of Governors and together were weakening Dumbledore's image.
"Yes, Harry. I know it is you behind the Defence Against the Dark Arts boycott," he said, sending the boy a disappointed look.
"Oh, professor?" "Don't act as though you don't know what I'm talking about. It was you who first started this and now I am being pelted with letters and owls demanding to know why students are not attending their lessons. Your actions have left me in quite a situation, Harry."
"I'm sorry about that professor, that wasn't my intention—" Harry said before being cut off.
"Good, then you will return to your lessons. You must know how important Defence Against the Dark Arts is; you of all people should realise how the Dark arts are evil."
Harry fought to not narrow his eyes. "As I was saying, it wasn't my intention, but I will not be attending Mr. Lockhart's lessons. The man is a fraud."
Albus narrowed his eyes. "Detention, Mr. Potter. Such words have serious consequences. Now, you will return to his lessons or you will find yourself in even more trouble. Do I make myself clear?"
"I'm sorry, headmaster, but I will not," Harry said. "I am happy to sit for the end of year tests now to prove I do not need to attend his so called lessons."
"That is enough. You are a child and you will obey me."
Harry fought to not react. "Actually, professor, if you look up the Hogwarts school rules, you will see that a student can forgo attending a lesson if they have consent for both their Head of House and their guardian. As long as they spend sufficient time self studying the course content with the appropriate materials, the student is allowed to skip a class. I have both, therefore I will not be attending his classes. And as all the materials for his lessons are books, then every other student is able to do the same as long as they have permission."
Albus clenched his teeth to contain his hiss of fury. "I see," he said. 'How dare he? Now I'll have students refusing to go to classes all the time!'
Harry contained his glee at watching the old man lose his cool. "Now, is that all professor?" "Yes, you may go now."
Harry nodded and stood, calmly walking away from the old man.
After the door had closed and Albus felt the wards attached to the guardian let Harry leave, he exploded in anger. The boy was nothing like he was supposed to be! Albus feared that most, if not all, of his compulsions had failed. It seemed like only his magical blocks had remained as the boy did not appear to be overly strong. Picking up a plate, Albus sent it crashing into the wall, the destruction satisfying him momentarily.
A soft trilling caught his attention and Albus waved his wand, dissolving the concealment charm. Inside a magically binding cage was Fawkes. The phoenix had once been his familiar but had slowly stopped listening to him, and now Albus had to resort to caging the bird and binding his power. The golden eyes of the phoenix drilled into him, th e look both condemning and sad.
~
After his meeting with Dumbledore, nothing really exciting happened for Harry. He soon found October was nearing its end and the Halloween feast was fast approaching.
Harry and his friends had once again taken to haunting the library. It was one of the few places in the castle where groups from different Houses could congregate together without issue.
It also helped that every time Ginny would appear, Harry was able to easily lose her in the stacks. He swore the girl was worse than Ron when it came to stalking him. She would pop up out of nowhere and attach herself to his person at random intervals. Draco found it hilarious and kept offering to burn his robes every time Harry managed to escape.
Realising how much time had already past, Harry soon started thinking about Halloween, but more importantly Samhain. Harry was interested in expanding his knowledge of wizarding traditions and customs. He had read a few books before he had been sent back, so he already had a good base of knowledge; however, when he had been arguing with Draco and his friends he realised that while he did know the basics, he didn't actually know much about the actual holiday traditions and how to celebrate them.
Harry knew Samhain was one of the banned holidays - well, not so much as banned, but its original celebration ritual was made illegal. Harry knew it contained blood, so Dumbledore and his Light followers had worked to have it made illegal along with all Blood magic. Now Blood magic was ministry controlled and regulated. Another example of magic Dumbledore deemed unfit for the world alongside Blood magic was Soul magic. Alchemy, the Dark arts, ancient history, spell crafting, wizarding studies, political studies, and magical languages were banned too; all of which had disappeared from the Hogwarts curriculum. Well, Soul magic had never been on there; however, all of the books on the subject had been removed from the library.
Looking up the traditional celebration, Harry found himself intrigued and curious. The ritual itself was beautiful and Harry felt his anger and hatred at the man grow. 'How could he ban something so magical from the world?' The celebration consisted of creating a rune circle, within the centre of which a bowl of purified water is placed. Then all those attending who wanted to reach out to their ancestors and deceased relatives simply added a drop of their blood. Once that is done, the water is set alight and those whose blood is added are able to converse with the dead through visions. Although it is noted as converse, it's not actual conversations which occur, but more visions and feelings. These visions vary in length but once they are over, participants usually feel purified, their magic stronger and more settled.
Reading the passage, Harry growled. How could Dumbledore see this as Dark? Was the man truly so blinded by his fear of Dark magic that he couldn't see the beauty and benefit of such a ritual?
"What's got you scowling?" Neville asked, noticing Harry's face as he finished reading.
"I was just thinking about Samhain and how ridiculous it is that we're unable to celebrate it properly without breaking the law."
"I know. Father and some of his political allies have been trying for years to get the law revoked, but Dumbledore and his goons won't allow it. He says it's Dark magic and allowing people, especially children, will tempt them towards the Dark arts and lead them down a dangerous path," Draco sneered, showing how ludicrous he thought the law was.
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