As usual, Neville was quite sceptic about his ability to learn Occlumency. "You know I'm rubbish at studies, so…"
Hermione wouldn't let him finish. "Neville, you already know you're quite a powerful wizard, also capable of wandless magic, which most adult wizards fear to even try. You're still a bit forgetful, and Occlumency is just what you need to help you with that. Once you start practising Occlumency, your memory will benefit tremendously, I'm sure."
Neville didn't dare hope. "Well, if you say so…"
He still tried his best. It took him some time to find an appropriate mindscape. Nobody was surprised that it looked like a garden. It went quite slowly since neither he nor his "teachers" could spend much time on the subject, being busy with lessons, homework and Quidditch training. Neville, despite his low self-esteem, was proving to be quite a good Occlumens. While it started slowly, almost hesitantly, it advanced nicely. By the time the winter holidays arrived, Neville was able to withstand a Legilimency attack by either Harry or Hermione. He was becoming quite proud of that, but he was even prouder of the fact that he was no longer a forgetful boy. In fact, his memory was becoming almost perfect, like Harry's and Hermione's.
This was also manifested in his schoolwork. He moved from A to E and even to O in some subjects. Even his performance in Potions was greatly improving. But the greatest benefit was his improved confidence, no longer lowered by sub-par performance in class or by forgetfulness.
"Shouldn't we tell Neville some more?" Hermione asked.
Harry gave it a moment of thought. "Not now. It has no impact on the holidays and I think it's better to tell him when we're back from the winter vacation. By then, he will have a chance to further strengthen his Occlumency, making us all safer."
Hermione nodded understandingly before moving to a different subject. "My parents are expecting you to spend the holidays with us. Are you alright with that?"
Harry shrugged. "Wherever you go, I go. Besides, I like your parents. I only hope it's not too much of a burden."
She smiled happily. "It's no burden at all. It would have been much more of a burden had you wanted to stay somewhere else. In that case, I would have needed to fade back and forth each day."
Harry chuckled. It was so good having Hermione in his life!
"I love you so much!" he said.
"And I love you, dear," she answered, her voice full of emotions.
–..–
There was another important event to tackle before the winter vacation, though. It was the first Quidditch game of the year for the Gryffindor team and the first ever for Harry.
He had been warned that the other team – the Slytherins – would not play fairly and act quite violently. After his experience with Dudley and his gang, Harry thought he was prepared well enough for that.
He wasn't ready for his broom to start to misbehave while high in the air. He was sure this wasn't a normal behaviour for such a broom, a quite expensive one, as far as he knew. He suspected that one of the Slytherins was cursing his broom, making it rock him badly and almost causing him to fall.
Well, if the Slytherins were disregarding the rules, so could he. While his wand was tucked deep in the inner pocket of his robe, practically inaccessible while flying, Harry had already mastered wandless casting for many spells, including the sticking charm. He used that charm wandlessly to make sure to keep himself stuck to the broom, no matter how oddly it behaved. That allowed him to slightly relax and think some more about the situation.
Somebody was repeatedly cursing his broom, and that was evident. Well, he could use a shield to protect himself. There were several forms of shields, though. The most useful was just like a warrior's shield – a flat area that deflected spells away. While quite effective, it was unusable for Harry, since he had no idea which direction the spells were coming. A more advanced spell formed a dome around the caster, deflecting curses from all directions. Well, while riding the broom it would probably turn into a sphere. Just like before, he cast the shield wandlessly. It created a transparent sphere around him, practically undetectable by sight, yet very useful in deflecting curses, although slightly more taxing on his magic.
His broom stopped misbehaving as soon as he had the shield in place, allowing Harry to move his concentration back to the game.
Harry couldn't notice from his position, but this caused someone to get frustrated. Quirrell who was the one cursing the broom from the start, couldn't understand why his curses stopped working. He suspected his aim was off. Without even thinking, he stood up to get an unobstructed view of the boy so he could aim more precisely.
Hermione, who was sitting farther back and aside from Quirrell, realized immediately what the stuttering teacher was doing. She didn't know why Harry's broom resumed behaving correctly, but it was clearly evident who was trying to make it misbehave. From her position, she doubted she could aim a stunning spell well enough to stop the man. Instead, she sent a levitation charm. If she missed, nobody would come to harm, but if not – well, nobody could aim a spell while levitated with no solid support.
Her aim was true, but not good enough. Only Quirrell's turban started floating in the air, but that proved to be enough. The man seemed to panic, shouting unintelligibly and trying to grab the floating turban back.
Snape, who was sitting at his side, could no longer tolerate it. He also came to the conclusion that Quirrell was the one cursing Harry. While he had no love for the boy, he had his obligations under oath. He sent a powerful stunner at Quirrell, who fell forward. Only when the stunned man landed on the bleachers in front of him did Snape notice the face on the back of Quirrell's head. He knew who that was and what the cost of intervening could be. Luckily, just as he hadn't seen that face before casting the stunner, he could not be seen by it either.
Hermione moved quickly, arriving at the stunned teacher before even McGonagall could. The headmaster, as was his habit, wasn't attending the first match of the year and couldn't intervene. She straightened herself and let her friendship ring become visible. "This was clearly an attempt to murder Scion Potter. As his close friend, I demand that the DMLE be involved."
Due to the commotion in the audience, both Snape and McGonagall requested a pause in the game, allowing the deputy headmistress to use the Floo and call the DMLE. Both heads of houses also levitated Quirrell to her office, along with his turban and his wand. Harry joined the group a short while later.
Once Dumbledore was informed, he tried to gloss it all over and send Harry Potter, who had joined the group, away. Harry couldn't accept it.
"This person has intentionally cursed me while I was high in the air. This can only mean that he wished to harm me, Lord Gryffindor, Scion Potter, if not outright kill me, That's clearly an attempted murder and I demand that it be treated as such!" Harry sounded determined.
Dumbledore could do nothing about it. A Lord had precedence over him, even when using his Chief Warlock position. All he could do was sit aside and watch as the Aurors checked Quirrell, noticed the face on the back of his head and informed the DOM of it. They then took testimony from all involved and a few bystanders and also checked the wands of all involved.
Luckily, Hermione had anticipated this. "We can't let them find our wandless abilities. Since I used my wand for the levitation spell, I can use it to cast the sticking and shield charms and another levitation spell. That way, it would look as if I tried to protect you from the curses before targeting the caster."
She used her wand to do just that on some debris, with Harry casting wandless "finite" at each spell. When they reached McGonagall's office, her wand was ready for the inspection.
The game resumed after the Aurors left along with Quirrell. Harry caught the snitch a short while later, giving Gryffindor the victory.
–..–
Harry was informed of the investigation a few days later. The head of the DMLE came to report to him in person. "With the face stuck to the back of his head, this was clearly something we needed to include the DOM in the investigation."
"What's the DOM?" Harry asked. He'd already read a bit about it but neither he nor Hermione were sure they understood it correctly. The information was just too vague.
The stern woman explained. "That's the Department of Mysteries. Its exact duties and responsibilities are not fully understood by those not working for it, but anything that could be dark magic used on others is of interest to them. In this case, the face of the supposedly dead Dark Lord peeking out of the back of Quirrell's head was certainly something that needed further investigation. Still, we first interrogated him under Veritaserum, according to the regulations. He confessed to cursing your broom, intending to make you fall to your death, under commands from his Master. When asked, he stated that his master was the Dark Lord, whom he was glad to host until that person could find a more suitable body."
Harry gasped at that. Madam Bones continued talking, though.
"When told that hosting another soul was actually killing him, he first looked frightened but then said it didn't matter if he could help the Dark Lord return. We then passed him to the DOM. What they did is unknown to me, but they made the other soul tell them how it survived becoming disembodied when the curse reflected from you. They found the method he had used and where he hid whatever he did to not fully die. They intend to probably take care of that before we put Quirrell on trial, where he's sure to be sentenced to the veil. Until then, they bound the 'guest' soul to its host, preventing it from fleeing."
Harry and Hermione were unsure about the significance of the findings. They were only glad that the murder was prevented and the culprit would be punished.
–..–
Harry wasn't surprised to see the Granger couple waiting for them at the train station. They hugged him just as tightly as they hugged Hermione, before looking him over, the same as they did with Hermione.
"You've both grown a bit," Jean noted.
"That's natural, isn't it?" Hermione responded.
Her mother smiled. "It is, yet it's fascinating all the same. I still remember you as a tiny baby, getting tired when only suckling. Then, almost overnight, you became a smart child, and before we could get comfortable with the change, you're suddenly an adolescent and you've already found your mate. You'll experience this too when the time comes."
Dave preferred to stay less emotional. "How was the ride?"
Harry smiled. "It was fine. We stayed with only a few friends and enjoyed it."
Dave smiled. "Having friends to share the ride with is very nice. And how was the rest of the term?"
Harry wasn't sure what he could safely tell. As far as he knew, Hermione hadn't told them of all the dangers they had encountered. "It was fine. The lessons are not too difficult. I think they could teach us much more in the allotted time, yet some students find even this pace quite a bit taxing. Then, some teachers are not as good as I'd like, but we're learning just fine."
That seemed to be enough for the moment. They soon boarded the car to drive home. The end-of-day traffic was heavy enough to force Dave to only focus on his driving and Jean seemed content to just watch the young couple on the back seat.
The children, though, spoke only a bit and then cuddled as close as the seat belt allowed and fell asleep, waking only when Dave parked the car after arriving home.
It was too late to start a meaningful conversation. The young couple only took their luggage to Harry's room and then changed into nightwear, brushed their teeth and descended for a goodnight kiss and hug (from Jean) or only a hug (from Dave).
–..–
Although the children woke up early and came for breakfast, the adults were already in a hurry. Jean still asked, "What are you going to do today?"
Harry answered, "We may go to London. My account manager told us that if my scar would not be healed at school, he could arrange a treatment to rid me of it. He said that the goblins were experts in dealing with curse scars."
"Are you sure you want it removed? It makes you unique, you know," she teased him slightly.
Harry grimaced. "It only brings me attention of the unwanted kind. I'd rather be rid of it for good."
Jean smiled at him. "Well, let us know how it goes. You can call the clinic while we're there, and Hermione knows the number by heart. Now, we must go, or our first patients will be already waiting there."
The children finished breakfast, put on some appropriate clothes, took some money of both kinds and left the house, locking it securely behind them