Chapter 167 : The Choice of Advanced Paths

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"Thank you, Harry." Ginny stated seriously before nodding once as if to reassure herself and leaving to join her friends. The green eyed wizard looked at her leave unable to process what he had heard. After a few seconds he just smiled and returned to his book. The warm feeling in his chest, the sheer happiness from someone stopping and saying a simple "thank you", didn't leave him for the whole night.

After that incident, school life proceeded unexpectedly smoothly. Even with Pettigrew on the loose, there had been no more life threatening stunts and, as the days flew by, Harry began to fear this was just the calm before the storm. Still, trying not to heed his inner pessimist, the teen tried to make the most out of these calm days. He was making leaps in his studies, finding it much easier to concentrate when he didn't have to face deadly snakes or crazed dark lords like he did the past two years.

His friendship with Neville was deepening with every passing day and that feeling he had first had when they had sat by the lake, that this was the relationship he should have had with his brother, only strengthened. And suddenly, he found himself understanding why Sirius and Remus were always so close, how they could communicate so well with barely saying a word. They were brothers in all that mattered and that had started to be the case with Neville too. Friends are nothing but the family you choose, Severus had said and Harry, for the first time in a great span of years, felt like he really had a brother.

He spent his weekends -while Adrian was somewhere training- helping Severus perfect the Wolfsbane potion. The potions master was ecstatic with the progress he was making, all the ingredients finally falling into place after years of hard work. Sometimes, Harry just let him keep notes on his progress while he sat in the potions master's office in silence and worked on their joined project; by the time of the next Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, the main outline of the memory spheres -they were still working on the name too- was established.

The game had been quite simple and Harry never did admit he almost missed the Snitch because one Cho Chang smiled sweetly at him. No sir! Severus never gave up on trying having him admit it either. Neither did Neville who, having long ago gotten over his once shy nature around his friend, didn't fail to remind him every time Cho was around. A little after the second match of the season another event caught him by surprise; Hermione, tired of always hearing how the Grim was after Adrian, just quit Divination, right in the middle of a lesson. Adrian was still laughing about that; apparently, Professor Trelawney's expression had been a sight. Harry just nodded absently; using a timeturner that often did take its toll on you.

A little before Easter holidays, Harry was approached by his Aritmancy professor; Septima Vector, a witch around forty years old after the class was over. They had just taken a test a few days ago and she seemed eager to discuss his results. Harry approached the professor tentatively; he was certain he had done well in that test…

"Tell me, Mr. Potter, how do you think you did in your last test?" She asked out of the blue; she was always straightforward but Harry didn't expect the question.

"I… um… I think I did well." He stammered. "Why? Was there a problem, professor?" The witch shook her head, smiling slightly; Harry chose to take that as a good sign.

"Problem?" She asked, looking at the teen in front of her carefully. "Yes, there was." Harry froze.

"There was?" He mentally redid all the calculations he could remember from the test; it was elementary stuff which he had covered back when he had first started studying alchemy. Some even before that.

"Yes, there was; I fear you're getting bored in this class, Mr. Potter." Professor Vector stated. Harry's eyes widened a little; that was unexpected.

"Bored?"

"Yes. Your answers were absolutely correct. But you used advanced theory which has definitely not been taught in this class." Harry paled as he realized she was telling the truth; with all the calculations he'd been doing for his studies, the more complicated and much more complete advanced theories of Arithmancy were like second nature to him. "Tell me, Mr. Potter, have you been studying Arithmancy on your own?"

"I have." Harry admitted, his brain working on coming up with a feasible answer as to why he would be studying more. "I just find the subject interesting, Professor; I've been reading on my spare time, studying in the library when I can…" The explanation sounded weak in his ears but seemed to be just what his teacher had been expecting.

"I thought as much, Mr. Potter." She said, smiling wide. "I took the initiative and checked your grades on the other subjects taught in your year and you seem to be doing excellently. You take your studies seriously, I presume." Harry nodded, faintly recalling his mother saying that Professor Vector was a Ravenclaw.

"I do." He confirmed. The Professor smiled brighter.

"Excellent!" She exclaimed, pulling out a parchment from a drawer in her desk. "This," she said, giving the parchment to the startled teenager, "is the program of a class I teach; it's Advanced Atithmancy Studies and it was created some years ago to substitute the normal Aritmancy curriculum for fifth to seventh year students who were far ahead of their classes. Next year the first level will consist of two fifth year students and you, should you chose to join." Harry just stared at her in shock.

"But… I'll be in my fourth year and…"

"And you'll be wasting your time in the regular course." She said. "I'm not forcing you into it, Mr. Potter; I'm just suggesting you think about it. Not even over your Easter holidays." She continued when seeing his thoughtful expression. "You have your whole summer to consider it; if you agree, write me a letter at least a week before school year starts and you'll sit for the test needed on your first week back. Think about it Mr. Potter; this might lead into an early OWL and NEWT exam. One course less to worry about on your fifth and seventh years." That was quite tempting as even one exam less would feel like heaven in the hectic program of the OWL and NEWT years.

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