Albus Dumbledore was leisurely lying in his bed at his office - having three important official positions with a ton of paperwork might seem daunting for an average wizard, but no not for the likes of an archwizard like himself. 

 

Through decades of refining he had quite a few spells running which automatically dealt with any paperwork by filling in the needed details. Another spell of his even shredded incoming information reports or parts of them if it was something redundant or even something which matched his predictions. Now he could simply rest and enjoy some lemon drops.

 

Suddenly an alarm buzzed - the one he sat up for any unexpected and important events - he secretly read all less important information reports during various meetings he was forced to attend - alas even with decades of trying he still could not create a sufficiently convincing clone to fool peoples eyes.

 

Albus simply blinked - yes after decades of practice even such simple acts could suffice for wandless magic, there was no need for arm waving. The single small parchment flew to his arms. He furrowed his brows as he read - it seems Harry will be staying at Weasleys, yet not as soon as he could, but starting from the evening. 

 

It was not the first report he got over the summer concerning the boy - as it concerned the prophecy he just had to flag anything about Harry as important - so even trivial divergences from his predictions triggered his spell alarms.

 

Albus quickly located relevant reports in his mind, looking for why he failed to predict such a thing - he always did this out of habit, constantly refining his prediction spell - after all with each spell improvement he would have more free time.

 

 ‘Ah! I forgot to include his Green Alley studies schedule into my spell’ - A long sigh followed, master occlumens or not, old age simply made forgiving things quite easy.

 

Dumbledore did not mind Harry mingling more in the magical world - until the prophecy was fulfilled he could only die by Tom’s hand, and he knew the most likely ritual his former student would use for revival.

 

Of course he was smart enough to invent a new one, yet in his arrogance he lost his body before even beginning the experimentation. And now he was too scared to lose the ‘life’ he had now, surely Tom would pick a relatively ‘safe’ and proven option.

 

Albus did a complex mental calculation in his head, visual images of planets and stars flying in specific patterns in his mindscape sky, as if time was accelerated. Then furrowed his brows. The necessary celestial bodies alignment needed for such a ritual would happen next year, and will stay valid for a whole week or so - good thing the boy would be at school at that time.

 

He smirked, knowing his former student was sure to arrogantly declare his return - if not to the world, then at least to his closest followers, Severus is bound to bring him the news then.

 

Albus put a fresh lemon drop in his mouth as he relished the taste - he could simply not get enough of them. Then more thoughts rose to his mind - he remembered the boy getting closer to a pair of Slytherin students, one of whom was quite dark.

 

Daphne Greengrass was a lesser concern - Grenngrasses were not followers of dark lord, at least not yet - who knows which side they will join as their younger daughter was currently a fiance of youngest Malfoy. Draco himself on the over hand… 

 

Still it was not good for Harry to mingle with Slytherins, perhaps he would have to intervene and try to bring the boy back, closer to the light side.

---

Harry appeared in the Green Alley study centre with a silent pop - he just had breakfast with Sirius and Dobby - having apparition unlocked really did free up a lot of time.

 

The boy sighed, it will be quite some time till he visits this place again, after the final lessons in the learning centre today he will spend the rest of the summer either at the Burrow with Weasleys  or in a tent near where the Quidditch cup is held.

 

With excited steps he entered the classroom - it seems he was the last one to arrive as Draco and Sue were already inside, their teacher thought had a habit of being late, so the boy just plopped down near Sue.

 

“Hello Sue, Draco” - he turned and nodded to his classmates

 

“Hello Potter” - Draco just grumbled back as usual.

 

“Hey Harry, ready for our rematch?” - Sue on the other hand seemed excited for the upcoming duels today.

 

The boy grinned - “Of course! Our score is 3-3, we will have to break the tie this time around”

 

An amused smile spread on the girl's face as well - “we will see about that, let me remind you that you lost our last duel?”

 

Harry’s smile seemingly dimmed a little - “Do not think that same trick would work again!”

 

A minute of silence followed, before Harry spoke up again.

 

“By the way guys, are you coming to watch the Quidditch World cup next week?”

 

Draco instantly beamed up - “Of course! Thought I do not expect to meet you there Potter, you see as major sponsors of the event, my family have VIP tickets”

 

Harry just returned a smile to the boy - “We will see, how about you Sue?” - he turned to face his friend.

 

“I will pass, my parents are dragging me along to meet some relatives in China, not that I like quidditch that much anyway”

 

“How can you NOT like quidditch?” - Draco’s mouth was agape with disbelief.

 

A quiet pop followed as the professor finally arrived - only three minutes late this time!

 

“Wotcher my pupils! As I mentioned during the last lesson, today we will do our little tournament from the first lesson again! Now come over to draw the lots!”

 

The trio stood up and drew lots - poor Draco was going first, for both rounds. 

 

The blonde boy lamented his luck - he could not say he lacked talent or did not put in enough hard work - he did improve tremendously during this summer, yet those two… They were simply on another level.

 

And yes, only a brief ten minutes later Harry and Sue were getting ready for their rematch. It did not take long for either of them to win against the young Malfoy, who was now sitting besides professor as he watched the duel - yes he did lose twice, but at least he managed to do so more gracefully this time - no lost consciousness, no broken bones, still able to fight if only he could use his spare wand from his holster tied around his calf - yes while the other two were more following the rules, the ambitious Malfoy was preparing more for fights not for simple duels.

 

As Tonks lazily threw a single popcorn into the air, the pair of duelists watched, and only at the moment it touched the floor did they start running and casting spells in quick succession.

 

Various spells by-passed the young boy, as if he knew where they would land - his magic sense did improve tremendously over this summer.

 

But Sue already knew this - she was only rapidly casting the stunners as a distraction, while weaving more complex charms by the side. Simultaneously casting multiple different spells was quite a challenge, but she had to admit, Tonks taught her well.

 

She ducked a pair of desks flying towards her, sidestepped another one, then burned a couple of chairs trying to sneak attack her from the back, she smiled, duels like this were just so thrilling, so exciting!

 

Harry was smiling as well - now the floor turned into swamp - only near the boy, but he already had a strategy to counter this charm - the nearby pieces of demolished desks flew around him and matched his pace - when he took a step he landed not on the swampy floor below but on the levitated wooden boards below him.

 

The boy knew this was not enough - this was how he lost the previous time, and as expected Sue launched a couple of strong fire spells - powerful enough so that his shields were too fragile to stop and his wooden footholds were set on fire. The boy smiled - he still had a few cards he could play.

 

Another wave of his wand later the class was shrouded in thick smoke, Draco rubbed his eyes from irritation - he already was annoyed when those two showed off their skills, but now he could not even see anything to learn something! He glanced at the professor whose eyes looked weird as she continued observing the smoke and enjoying some popcorn as if she could see everything as clear as day. He shuddered in realisation - he remembered seeing those eyes, in fact just yesterday during his potions lessons he read a paragraph about wyverns as he was using their scales for a potion - and it was mentioned that they can see through any obscuring conditions - naturally they could see through fogs as well.

 

Sue on the other hand was having a hard time seeing - her quick thoughts led to a predictable outcome - she took a few steps to the side, not wanting to stay in same place, as she expected Harry to target there - she doubted the boy could see her as well, smoke was a double edged sword after all… 

 

While she backed away she kept shooting random jinxes all over the place, mostly to the location she remembered Harry last being at - above the swamp, while preparing a wind charm at the same time.

 

A moment later the wind blew away the smoke as she warily looked around. Harry was nowhere in sight, then her vision darkened - ‘from above!’ she realised, and quickly side-stepped the falling desk.

 

Various furniture was flying all over the place, now it was Sue who was on the defensive - she had no idea where Harry even was! Until she felt her wand getting out of her grip - ‘when did he!’ - quickly turning around she saw Harry crawling out from behind one of the various pieces of furniture that was part of the attack, both wands in his hands, a cheeky grin on his face.

 

As the boy cancelled the spells and returned her wand, she bowed to him.

 

“That was a fun duel! But how did you change your location so fast in the smoke?”

 

“You forgot I take apparition classes, Sue, I simple popped to another side of the room - all that noise from the fight was loud enough to make my apparition hardly hearable”

 

The girl’s eyes widened in realisation - “I am so  taking apparition classes next year”

 

“Well done, my students! Now Harry, as you have won both fights you can have a match against me if you so desire, so what do you say?”

 

It was hardly a question that needed answering - the black haired boy was excited for a chance against a powerful opponent, that was not Albus Dumbledore - yes he was fed up on losing against the old man.

 

Soon the classroom was cleared of the debris caused by the previous fight and was back in its pristine condition - now Sue was the one who took the role of eating popcorn while Draco was content with just watching the fight - no way he would eat a muggle snack! That was below him.

 

The duel began and Harry began rapidly firing stunners - it was a very quick spell to cast so he now usually started his duels with such probes. 

 

Surprisingly the young professor just stood there, like not even intending to dodge the spell. 

 

“You know, metamorphmagi were actually banned from duelling competitions as it’s just unfair to duel against one”

 

The teacher had an evil grin that the boy did not like one bit, he could feel magic with his senses, yet the professor's wand was still on her wand holder.

 

The boy's stunners just now arrived, yet upon contact with her skin - he could see her standing just fine, then his eyes widened in shock - he caught a glimpse of scales glowing on her skin - the similar scales he saw in triwizard tournament, dragon scales.

 

A blink later he could see Ms. Tonks legs bulging up - as if she was a superhero from a comics book. Then she rushed at him, so fast he hardly had time to dodge.

 

Just moments later, as the teacher backed off, he could no longer feel his wand in his fingers. Glancing at the professor in shock - she was back to her usual appearance, yet had an extra wand in her arm - Harry’s wand!.

 

“And this is why people like me cannot participate in competitions, well at least joining aurors and hit wizards is somewhat easier” - professor was lazily spinning the boy's wand as if doing a pen spinning trick as she looked at the boy with a smug look. The duel was over and it was over so fast.

 

Looking back, Sue and Draco were mouth agape as well - who knew metamorphmagi were such beasts?

---

 

It was already around noon, yet only ‘morning’ for people who loved to sleep late - especially on holidays.

 

Ron Weasly dressed up and went to eat as usual, before his mothers worried voice interrupted him.

 

“Ronald Weasley, have you heard anything from Harry? I figured the boy should be here by now, did I perhaps not use enough of those square things on the letter?”

 

Ron just rolled his eyes - his mother could be overly dramatic at times, then as if just remembering something he fished out a slightly crumpled letter from his pocket.

 

“Yes here, Harry said he would be here by dinner and agreed to stay over with us till Hogwarts!” - his mouth was still full of food, yet his mother was already used to it, somehow understanding every word.

 

Molly Weasley grabbed the letter from her son's hand for a quick read - surprise evident in her eyes, surely she expected the boy to be here by noon at least! The headmaster himself said so!

 

Just moments later their family owl arrived, grabbing another letter from its claws, Molly recognised the handwriting - Albus Dumbledore! She quickly tore open the letter to read its contents - it basically repeated what Harry said, also including a short apology for lateness as the headmaster wrote that he… overslept.

---

“Welcome to the final apparition class, you were all decent this year, I am glad not needing to ‘fix’ any fools that merged with a desk or a rubik’s cube this year. Anyways today is the final lesson, then we will part ways - it should not be too hard for you three, it's just a side-along apparition, not with items but with actual living things. We will start by using those rats from over there, after you get comfortable you can just try it in pairs or all three at once even, well don’t just sit there, go grab a rat!”

 

The students walked over to pick the rats from the box - it might seem gross for muggles, yet as wizards they dealt with even worse things on a regular basis, especially all the weird ingredients during potions classes.

 

The final lesson was going smoothly - apparating together with a rat was hardly a challenge compared to previous lessons material, it was taking another human part that brought trouble to both Draco and Daphne, while they did eventually pick up the skill to drag another person along - only Harry managed to apparate with both of them at once.

 

“Do you know why Mr. Potter succeeds, while you two fail?” - all three students were listening with attention, one curious Harry and a frustrated duo of Slytherins - “It's simply because he has a larger volume of magic inside him - perhaps it’s talent, perhaps and artefact of that gloomy night, do not worry as magic grows naturally when you age - you will be able to take two people along in your apparition in a couple of years or so.“

 

The class ended with both Slytherins having a sour mood - during previous classes they all seemed to go at roughly the same pace, yet now it appeared Harry had an advantage over them.

---

Daphne was seemingly back in her cheerful mood as they chatted during the scenic tour ride - perhaps the ice-cream Harry bought for them before the ride increased her mood. 

 

They have been using this knight bus for a while now, in fact there were not that many scenic tours they hadn’t taken, another month or so would cover all of them.

 

“By the way, Daphne, I will not be tagging along with you in these rides anymore”

 

“But why?” - sadness was clearly felt in her voice.

 

“I received an invitation to stay over at Weasleys and even travel to the world cup together with them!”

 

“I see” - Daphne looked quite downcast - “I guess we won't be seeing each other until school then, my family won’t be going to spectate the Quidditch cup” 

 

“Don’t look so sad, Daphne, if you want we can meet up before school to catch up, or even share a compartment in the Hogwarts express”

 

Daphne playfully hit the boy’s shoulder - “Who is sad?” - and her voice was back to normal - “I will write to you, don’t forget to write back!”

 

“Of course, you’re a dear friend of mine, I will miss you too!”

 

The boy was already out the bus by this time, missing seeing the beet red face of Daphne - quite redder than usual.

 

“See you!” 

 

He could tell her voice was a bit different than usual, turning around for one last wave, Harry could only catch a glimpse of the bus as it sped off.

 

Then he smacked his head - just realising he was supposed to be at Burrow by now, why did he habitually drop off at Dursleys?

 

He rushed back to his room, then wrote a quick note to his relatives, then simply twisted in place and disappeared with a quiet pop.

---

It was getting late and Molly was getting nervous - what if something happened to the boy? There were no more muggle transports coming nearby, perhaps he was using one of those ‘cars’ or the knight bus?

 

Suddenly she heard a pop - just outside the wards as the boy teleported in - no luggage in hand and casually walked towards the Burrow.

 

“Hello Mrs Weasley, thank you for the invitation, I assume others are inside?”

 

“Yes Harry, but since when do you know apparition? And where is your luggage?”

 

“Ah, I attended a learning centre in Green alley this summer where I learned all about it, I also bought this pocket trunk in Diagon. If you’re curious for more detailsI will tell you all about it over dinner, right now I am starving!”

 

“I am sure you are Harry, those muggles never fed you properly!” - Mrs Weasley chuckled, then led him into the house.

 

The dinner was long as Harry had to retell his summer adventures to the people here - of course he skipped some more sensitive parts, like Sirius - while he knew he could trust most Weasleys, but Percy was seemingly against him during fourth year, he did not want to take any unnecessary risks.

 

He was quite annoyed by his friends' expressions when mentioning Daphne or Draco - clearly Slytherins were hated by Weasleys. so he skipped over their interactions as well, only covering what happened during classes.

 

The discussion led to twins pestering their parents about apparition licences - they seemingly wanted to have theirs for years, yet seeing Harry get one even before his fourth year made them all fired up for theirs - unfortunately there was simply no time left this summer for such a thing - due to upcoming world cup a lot of activities in wizarding world were getting temporarily suspended as ministry was busy with the tournament - and of course tri-wizard cup, though not many people knew such tournament happening.

 

The long dinner ended and Harry finally had a time to catch a breath, finally not being bombarded with questions left and right. He stretched while laying at a bed in Ron’s room, while his friend was giving an exciting speech about the tournament teams. Sure Harry would be excited about it as well, yet he had already heard the same thing two times in the previous loops, so he just kept a polite listening face while he organised the current day events in his mind's library.

 

It did not take long before Ron got tired of speaking, then the boys played quite some matches of wizarding chess - Ron even noted his friend being a bit better than usual - as if he secretly played chess for a year or so, but he did not mind, he always enjoyed the challenge, now he could hold back less.

 

Eventually it got quite late and the duo decided to call it a day and went to sleep.