Chapter Twenty Three – Come and Go

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. Me, I'm just a PR professional. I don't profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world. However, its her sandbox and she's left the gate unlatched so we can go in and play a bit. Which, I've done.

Chapter Twenty Three – Come and Go

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-==(oIo)==-

\""/

After finding the others finishing up their own lunch at the Hufflepuff table, Harry said he and Daphne were heading to the club meeting room to make sure things would be ready for later that afternoon.

"Do you mind if I tag along?" asked Hermione.

"Not at all," replied Harry. "And we don't consider it tagging along, either. You're one of us; our group, that is; we like having you a part of us."

After a few moments she softly replied, "Thank you, Harry."

"You're welcome," he simply replied. "By the way, I'm glad to see that Charm for your hair is working well for you. It looks even better than when I cast it upon you."

"Oh," she said a bit more chipper. "I taught it to the girls in my dorm. We do it for each other now. Plus, it's also because I'm now getting that special shampoo and conditioner that Tracey recommended. And, the girls in the dorm all told me to tell you, 'thank you', when it came up again. So, thank you."

With a chuckle, he replied, "Then tell them from me that they're welcome."

The walk up to the third floor was finished in companionable silence.

Reaching the right room, after Harry gave the password, 'Muggletum', they entered.

Harry had with him a couple of sheets of parchment with the list of known magical Houses down to the recognised Houses as they appeared on the large board at the back of the meeting room. He'd left the names of the Heads and Heirs from the lists.

Daphne went into the office and returned with their new ledger on which they'd had the attendees from the first meeting enter their names. There was a lot of room for newer members below.

Harry grabbed one of the desks at the rear of the U-shape and spun it around. Pulling a seat around he sat and placed his list upon it, before drawing out quill and ink. Looking at the list on the wall he didn't notice anything different from the previous week.

Taking care, he then wrote down the names on the vacant spaces for the Heads and Heirs for each House. It amused him when he wrote his own name as Head of House Potter, and again as Heir for House Black with a '(P)' after it for 'presumptive'. Of course, also onto the list went the names for Daphne, Neville, Susan and Hannah. Others from their year cohort were Theodore Nott, Draco Malfoy, Millicent Bulstrode and Ernie MacMillan. Other years that Harry recognised included Cedric Diggory, Marcus Flint, Charlus Warrington, Mungo Bole and Oliver Wood.

Once he was finished, Harry stood, spun the desk and chair back around, and took the list to the front. Offering it to Daphne, he said, "Ever noticed just how many of the Heirs of all these Houses are currently at Hogwarts; especially in our year group?"

"I think you'll find it's because a lot of people went into hiding the last couple of years of Voldemort's reign," said Hermione.

"What would that have to do with it?" asked Daphne.

"Well," blushed Hermione, "They were in hiding and they had nothing better to do - so - they - you know!"

"Oh!" said Daphne, suddenly in understanding. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed before suddenly blushing.

Then the two girls broke into laughter.

Frowning at them, Harry asked, "What?"

"Harry," blushed Daphne again. "They were in hiding, and they had nothing else to do, so they - practiced making babies! I guess, as they wouldn't have had access to the right potions, some of that practice wasn't so much - practice!"

And both girls broke into laughter again.

"Ah!" said Harry, understanding. "You mean to imply they had sex a lot."

"Harry!" both girls squealed.

"You don't have to say it like that!" said Hermione.

"Why not?" asked Harry. "It's completely understandable, after all."

After a few moments to let that sink in, he said, "Plus, many back then didn't have heirs of their own. For the Great Houses to ensure the continuation of their lines, in case Riddle and his Death Eaters killed them, they wanted to ensure they had heirs. I dare say many of those heirs would have also been homed, during that time, in other houses with other families."

"I..." said Daphne. "That actually makes a lot of sense."

"Of course, it does," replied Harry with a shrug. "On top of that you have the whole thing where nature abhors a vacuum. I could almost see where there was a - magical imperative - where heirs were born because magic, itself, wanted to ensure the continuation of the lines.

"Then, after Riddle was destroyed, many couples were driven to reproduce. There were so many killed during the war that repopulation of the magical species was a priority. I bet you'll find there was a baby boom, as the muggles call it, starting from within a year after October 1981. And, starting with next year's cohort, each Hogwarts Year is going to increase in size for a while."

While he was talking, Harry took the parchment with the list of Houses, Heads and Heirs on it, and made over two dozen copies of it.

"That.. explains a lot," said Daphne.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"It explains why there's so many kids running around Diagon Alley these days," replied Daphne. "And, by that, I mean kids younger than us. Even Mother and Father have commented on it."

"It happened all throughout history," said Harry. "After the end of the second world war, there was what the muggles call a baby boom. Even the government got in on the act and encouraged it. They used to say, 'One for him, one for her, and one for Queen and country'. So, they were encouraging new families to have at least three children per couple.

"So many kids were born they had to, first, build new hospitals with large maternity wards; then new schools for the number of kids to be schooled within; then new secondary schools. In later years, these children became known as the 'boomers'.

"Starting twenty years later, on the cusp of the 1970s, it happened again as the children of the first boom married and had children of their own. Plus, as they were children in many cases of above average-sized families, they had large families, too.

"The next generation, the children of the children of the original boom, are all of age to marry right now. That means we can expect an increased growth in population of the muggle world starting from about now."

Hermione piped up and said, "My parents had me in their thirties. That's considered a few years after the norm for muggles. And my parents are children of children born during the war; a few years before the boomers. The collective term for children like me is 'saddler'. That is, I was born during a period between the booms when population growth was quite minimal."

"I expect that's why there's not so many muggleborns coming through Hogwarts, at the moment," said Harry. "A decade ago was a quiet period for - making babies - in the muggle world."

"I need to write this down," said Daphne quite bemused. "Mother's been looking into why there's not so many muggleborns coming through of late. It's part of her research she's doing on behalf of the Ministry and Saint Mungo's. I think this would be considered a 'breakthrough' in her research."

"Alright," said Harry. "We've little to do until the club starts. How about Hermione and I give you a hand writing all this down so you can send it to your Mum?"

"Yes. Please," said Daphne, a little relieved. "I doubt I could properly explain it."

"In the letter I have to write to my parents, anyway," said Hermione, "I'll see if I can ask them to get the summary of records of children's births over the past half a century from the United Kingdom General Registrar Office. They have the records for all births, deaths and marriages as far back as the mid 1800s. It will show the numbers in exact detail."

"The muggles record all that?" asked Daphne.

"Yes," replied Hermione. "From those, together with the numbers they record from emigration and immigration, they have the basis for planning government services into the future. They know how many new homes need to be built; roads and services installed for those new homes; and planning for new hospitals, schools, police stations, fire stations, et cetera. And that's only the beginning of it.

"Once you get into the numbers we're talking about, they can pretty accurately determine how much of each thing they're going to need, and in what areas, for decades to come. Unless, of course, something happens that upsets it, such as a major war, a market crash, or similar."

"Wow!" said Daphne. "I doubt we magicals do anything like that."

"That wouldn't be surprising," said Harry. "I doubt there's a sufficiently large enough number of wizards and witches in Britain to make it worthwhile, yet."

The three then sat down with Harry and Hermione writing down all the things they knew around population growth in muggle Britain over the past half-century. Hermione also used the opportunity to write the letter to her parents with her request.

As she finished, Harry knew he needed Hedwig. She arrived a minute or two later.

"That's quite eerie how she does that," said Hermione.

"Hedwig is Harry's bonded familiar," replied Daphne. "She comes when she knows her bonded has need of her. It's part of the magic of the familiar bond. Harry called to her over their bond link; so, she came."

"On top of that, I also used a rarely performed bonding ritual that allows Hedwig to draw on some of my magic," said Harry. "A normal post owl has a form of magic that allows them to find whomever their package is addressed to. Even if that person is hidden. Plus, certain magics can also be employed to make them deliver only at certain times, such as the magic here at Hogwarts which tells them to deliver as breakfast winds up for the day.

"Because I wanted Hedwig to be better than just that, her bond to me allows her to draw on my magic to perform certain additional feats. For example, she's a lot faster than a normal owl. I don't know how fast, but I'd put it up there with the speed of a falcon. The special harness she wears also protects her from someone wanting to intercept her, to steal mail.

"And the magic also supplies her with a greater than normal intelligence and a longer life span. She knows when someone or something is trying to intercept her, and her increased intelligence aids her in avoiding that sort of thing. For example, if someone tries to set another mail redirection ward against me, she can ignore it if she knows I want her to."

"You think someone would try that sort of thing?" asked Hermione.

"I know they already have, Hermione," he replied. "I know there had to be a mail redirection or refusal ward against post owls on Privett Drive because I never received one item of mail from the wizarding world until I received my Hogwarts letter. The goblins are pretty snarky about it as they were trying to get mail through to me regarding the Potter accounts, and the owls couldn't get through.

"They were the ones who recommended to me to purchase my own owl and to fit it with a Head of House harness. It was my idea to take it to the next step and perform the bonding ritual. I'm very happy with the result."

"Do you think I should get one?" she asked.

Thinking for a bit, Harry sat back considered the various options.

"I'm thinking of a cat," said Daphne. "My parents didn't push it, but I've been thinking of getting a cat for a while now. I don't know what advantages it will have if I perform the bonding ritual, though."

"Something to look into," said Harry. "If you're not thinking of getting one for a while, you've got plenty of time to decide."

"I don't know if I can afford a familiar," said a suddenly sad Hermione.

Harry and Daphne grinned at each other while Hermione had her head down.

"There's no 'affording' of a familiar, in the general sense, Hermione" said Daphne. "While a pet can be a familiar, a familiar is not really a pet. A familiar, in the sense of the relationship between Harry and Hedwig, is more that they're - ummm - well, linked. But that doesn't explain it any better."

"You can't just go into a pet store and buy a familiar," said Harry. "The familial bond occurs naturally - magically. However, you can find your familiar waiting for you in a pet store, just as I found Hedwig in the Owl Emporium waiting for me. I knew she was my familiar because I was drawn to her. And, as soon as our eyes locked together, I knew who she was. I felt it."

"And," said Daphne. "A familiar does not necessarily have to be a toad, or a cat or an owl, which is what you're limited to as pets. It can be any creature, really. It's believed Merlin's familiar was a dragon; Gryffindor's was a Griffin; Slytherin's was a serpent; Ravenclaw's was a raven; and Hufflepuff's was a badger. Hence, the emblems. And, of course, we know that Dumbledore's is a phoenix."

"Is there a spell I can cast to find my familiar?" asked Hermione.

"Not that I'm aware of," replied Daphne while Harry shook his head and shrugged.

"Everything I read in that book," said Harry. "Said that familiars come naturally. However, you can open yourself to accepting a familiar bond by walking through pet shops and allowing your magic to feel one out. See if you can get a chance to go to Diagon Alley, over Christmas, and take a wander through the pet shops, including the Owl Emporium."

"I'm sure things will work out if you have faith, Hermione," said Daphne. "Sometimes, good things can happen when you least expect them to. And, if you feel your magic pulling you into a pet store or somewhere else, allow it to happen; within reason, of course."

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-==(oIo)==-

\""/

At just after 4.00pm people began to filter in. Daphne had the ledger with ink and a quill ready for folks to sign in. And both noticed quite a few new people in the group, who had to write their own names adding them to the bottom of the register.

By the time 4.30pm came around they had filled almost every seat.

At 4.30pm Harry closed the door and said, "Welcome, everyone. It's good to see some new faces among us."

"For those who weren't here last fortnight, this weekend I promised to go over the Houses within Wizarding Britain. What they represent; and who they are."

"Some of you have already heard me tell you about them, especially those of you in First and Second Year Ravenclaw. However, so you're all informed of them, we're covering that information again; plus more.

For the next hour, Harry and Daphne discussed and identified the Houses. They covered the basic history of each, how they interact in society and, from the lists handed out, who the most important people in each house were.

They also covered a little about the betrothal and what it meant, and why betrothal contracts existed from a political standpoint. However, they also went into the normal magic that was related to betrothal contracts.

With the help of volunteers from the club members, both also demonstrated a lot of the formal modes of greeting; how greetings were carried out formally and informally; whether the person or persons visited via floo, apparation or just walked up; if it was in someone's private home or out in public; and quite a few others.

The club members loved it and laughed in the right places. Some even volunteered to make right fools of themselves to highlight errors.

After getting everyone calmed down again and regaining some semblance of control. Harry and Daphne decided to wrap the meeting up.

"So, there you have it," said Harry. "Any questions?"

"So, the Noble and Most Ancient Houses," asked one of the newbies. "They're like, wizarding royalty, yeah?"

"In a way," replied Harry. "You can think of them as equal in rank to Marquessates. Noble and Ancient Houses are on a par with Earldoms; and so forth."

"Then, who is the King or Queen? The Minister?"

"Merlin, no!" replied Daphne. "There hasn't been a person recognised as ruler of magical Britain since Merlin. And, even he refused to be recognised as such."

"What about Gryffindor and the other founders?" asked a second person.

"Godric Gryffindor, Salazaar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff were elevated to the rank of Earls and Countesses, respectively, replied Harry. "However, they lived before there was a recognised ruler of the non-magical realm. Back then the rulers were Dukedoms; and Marquessates did not exist. So Earldoms were the next rank down from ruler of the realm."

"So, it's the Noble and Ancient House of Gryffindor, et cetera?"

"No," replied Daphne. "The rankings of Noble and Most Ancient House and down were not officially recognised until centuries after the passing of the four founders. However, if their heirs were to be discovered, thereby reactivating the House, then I believe they'd be recognised as Noble and Most Ancient, if not something of higher status."

"Higher?" asked the same person.

With a shrug, Daphne replied, "There are some who believe the heir apparent of one of the founders should rightfully be the ruler of magical Britain. The trouble is, no one really knows who the rightful heir actually is. Almost all of the Most Ancient and Ancient Houses can trace their lineage back to at least one, if not more, of the founders.

"The problem then arises in determining who the rightful heir would be from among them. You need to understand that there has been a lot of interfamily marriages among the Great Houses. Even my and Harry's betrothal is an example of that. If someone is actually discovered to be the highest claimant to the title, then that person would become Duke of Magical Britain - the ruler of all. Magical Britain has never been thought of as a kingdom; but has been considered by some historians to be a Duchy. Hence, the title of Duke."

"And no one's ever stepped forward to claim the title?"

"Of course, they have," replied Harry. "The last one to publicly do it was Voldemort. He came forth about twenty years ago making the claim he was the Heir of Slytherin. Based on that claim, he claimed it was his right to rule wizarding Britain. He then used terrorism over the next decade to try to enforce his claim. He, of course, failed in his attempt."

"It is also believed, through common consensus," said Daphne, "that the rightful Heir of the title Duke of Magical Britain will come bearing proof of their right. No one rightly knows what it is - it could be the mythical staff of Merlin; the sword Excalibur - also known as Caledfwlch and Calesvol; the Three Deathly Hallows of the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the True Cloak of Invisibility; or could merely be a true record of blood heritage found through the Inheritance Test the goblins can perform called Primogenitor. No one knows."

After a few more questions, the meeting was about to break up.

As everyone was making their way out, Harry called out, "That's it for this fortnight. I think we've also run over time a little. Next fortnight we'll be discussing the Ministry and the Wizengamot. That'll be real edge of your seat stuff," he joked.

As expected he got a few quiet chuckles.

Harry and Daphne, with the help of the others, were soon able to clear up and lock the meeting room again. They made it down to the Great Hall for Sunday dinner with time to spare.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

After three weeks at Hogwarts for Harry, four for the others, the weeks started to flow by.

As promised, a few days after the second meeting, Professor Flitwick gave him a book on pretty advanced Charms he wanted him to read. And a second book came only a few days later from Professor McGonagall.

At the third meeting of the etiquette club Daphne had to call a house elf to have extra desks and chairs installed. The inner 'U' was reduced in size with gaps between desks and a second 'U' was installed outside of it with similar gaps. It shortened the meeting by fifteen minutes while it was all sorted out. They now had almost fifty regular attendees. Most from the older year cohorts.

At the end of the meeting Harry told them he was ordering them a book each. This excited the Ravenclaws but did nothing for the Gryffindors. The Hufflepuffs were pretty apathetic to it all.

Harry used the clubroom to practice a lot of the Spells out of the books the two Professors loaned him. However, he couldn't advance into the Hexes due to fear of damaging the room.

Finally, he sat propped against a desk and called for a house elf.

When the little being appeared he asked, "You wouldn't happen to know where in the castle I can go to practice my defensive and offensive spell work, do you? I don't actually want to damage anything, especially if I'm unable to repair it afterwards."

The little elf frowned for a moment before it looked up and brightly replied, "Youse can use the 'Come and Go' room, young master."

"The 'Come and Go' room?" asked Harry. "I've not heard of it."

"Yous must go to the seventh floor, young master," replied the elf. "Stand near the tapes-tree of the one trying to teach trolls to dance. I's shall meet you there."

And without a further word the little elf was gone.

Harry packed his things and was trying to figure out what the elf meant. With his bookbag slung over his shoulder, Harry took one last look around the room, then stepped outside. He pulled the door shut behind himself and locked it.

He quickly made his way up to the seventh floor and was almost there when he finally figured out what the little elf was saying. The tapestry of Barnaby the Barmy.

Making his way to the dead ended corridor, Harry was shortly standing in front of the tapestry. He'd only just arrived when the elf popped in.

With a look of confusion, Harry looked at the elf and said, "There's nothing here, little one."

The elf frowned back and said, "Young master must walk back and forth three times and think of what type of room he wants. A door will appear."

The elf just stood there and watched Harry staring back at him.

With a shake of his head and sigh, thinking about daft house elves, Harry cleared his mind and pictured what he wanted. Once he had the image firmly in his mind, he began to walk up the hallway before turning around again and walking back the other.

On his third pass he didn't notice the door materialising on the blank wall opposite the tapestry. However, when he spun about to walk back the other way, he saw the door. It was tall with a mahogany-like finish and brass fittings.

He looked at the elf in surprise. The elf just gestured for him to enter.

He walked over to the door and opened it. He stepped inside and the little elf followed him in.

Inside, Harry found a long room with what looked to him like some form of target dummies at the other end. The target dummies appeared to each be holding a wand of some form. There was also quite a few innocuous things lying about in various base materials.

Harry looked down at the elf and, pointing at the dummies, asked, "I take it those are for shooting spells at?"

"Yes, young master," replied the elf. "Yous activate thems by issuing commands. Say, 'Training Level One' and they be starting there."

"What happens when I destroy them?" he asked.

"Theys be repaired and replaced," replied the elf. "Is part of the magics of this room."

"And this room can become anything I want?" he asked.

"Yes, young master," replied the elf.

Nodding, Harry said, "Then I thank you for your service today. You may leave with my gratitude."

The elf bowed and simply popped away.

Thinking a bit, Harry walked back out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

He then pictured something else in his mind and began the three time trip along the hallway. When he had finished he spun about and saw a different door in the wall.

Walking up to it he opened it and walked in.

Inside, it was like walking into a tropical rainforest. He could even hear small tropical birds calling from among branches. The room was even quite warm and a touch humid.

Directly in front of him was a cleared path. He walked along it as it bent out of the way. A few moments later, he came across a small clearing. The whole thing was exactly as he pictured in his mind he wanted.

Harry just stood there for a few moments shaking his head. Eventually, he left the room and watched as the door seemed to melt away into the wall.

Another three time trip along the hallway and the original mahogany-like door appeared. He walked straight in and dropped his bag onto a chair.

Popping his wand into his hand he approached the training dummies. With a firm voice he called, "Training Level One". Instantly, the training dummies began to move. They were firing low level spells at him with slow wand movements. He ducked them easily before firing a couple of Curses and Hexes right back.

Slowly, he upped the Curses he was throwing, wildly at times, towards the dummies.

Enjoying himself he cast a Stupefy at a dummy and watched it go down. A Blasting Hex at another saw that one smashed.

He then watched as the one he 'stunned' re-righted itself, and the one he significantly damaged faded away before being replaced by another dummy.

He called, "Stop!" And the training dummies halted all movement. He reholstered his wand and stood there for a few moments.

Grinning to himself, he went back to his bookbag, shouldered it, and walked out.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

\""/

After he left the room, Harry dashed downstairs to the Great Hall. When he entered, he looked around for his friends. They were sitting at the Hufflepuff table. He hurried over.

"Where have you been?" hissed Hermione.

Noticing most people seemed to have already eaten a fairly good portion of their main dinner meal, Harry hurried to fill his plate with food he could get down fast. That meant no red meat, and only a little chicken with soft vegetables.

"Let me get this down, and I'll be right with you, Hermione," said Harry.

"We were getting worried about you," she pouted.

"Food first, talk later," said Harry, shovelling food into his mouth.

Though he worried it would make him a little sick to eat too fast, Harry was able to get a fair portion down before the main course was removed and replaced with desserts.

Reaching for the treacle pie, his favourite dessert, Harry said, "I've found the most amazing room up on the seventh floor," he said.

"Oh?" asked Daphne.

Nodding, he replied, "The house elves call it the 'Come and Go' room. I can't really explain it too well but can only say the room is able to transfigure itself into any style you want. Even outdoors."

"That sounds dangerous," frowned Hermione.

With a quick shake of his head, he said, "No, the elves don't think so, at any rate."

"And that's where you've been?" asked Daphne.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "As soon as the meal is over, what say you come with me up there and I show you?"

"Alright, Harry," he heard from the others.

They settled down to finish their dessert and, as soon as they'd eaten their fill, they rose as one and left the Hall. Thankfully, as it wasn't a feast, they didn't have to hang back for Headmaster announcements.

Ascending far slower than he descended, Harry led his friends through one of the hidden passages to get up to the seventh floor that much quicker.

Once in the seventh floor corridor he had them all stand in front of the tapestry.

"Alright," he said. "I now need to walk back and forth in this corridor three times. Then, whatever room I wish for, will appear behind a door that will appear on the opposite wall."

He received some odd looks back that said they generally didn't believe him.

"Trust me," he said. "Now, who wants to come up with an idea for a room?"

"Ummm..." began Susan. "How about - somewhere we can all sit down and talk. Around an open plan combined common room, sort of thing."

"That sounds like a great idea," replied Harry. "Anyone else?"

"No," replied Neville. "Sounds fine to me."

"Alright, then," said Harry. "Watch and observe."

Picturing the concept in his mind, Harry began to walk. He walked back and forth, thinking clearly about what he wanted. On the third pass, the door appeared.

It was the gasps of surprise that made him stop earlier than he thought to. Spinning around, he saw a door had appeared on the wall.

With a grin, he walked over to it and opened it, stepping just inside.

The room looked amazing. It was a reasonably small style common room but was bedecked in all the colours of the four school Houses. Along one wall was a fireplace that jutted into the room, with couches and small armchairs around it in a semi-circle.

There were also windows showing the night sky outside, throw rugs covering the floor, a couple of folded blankets on the back of some chairs, and a couple doors leading off to who knew where.

As he was standing there looking around, first Daphne, and then the others, all walked in after him.

"This is - amazing!" said Hermione in a soft voice.

"I know; right?" said Harry.

"And this room appears, as anything you can want for a room, just by walking past the wall three times thinking about what you want?" she asked.

"Not just a room," replied Harry. "While trying to figure out the limitations of the room, earlier, I thought about an outdoor area in a rainforest in which to have a picnic. It was astonishing and exactly what I was thinking of.

"It had trees, the sound of birds in the tree tops, the weather was quite warm and humid, and everything was real. Real trees, real grass, everything."

"And this is where you've been, this afternoon?" asked Daphne.

"I was originally in the club meeting room," replied Harry. "However, I cannot afford to practice any of the Curses or stronger Hexes in there for fear of damaging something. So, I had a bit of inspiration and decided to call a house elf. It was the house elf that told me to come up to this particular corridor and, once I was up here, what I had to do to make the room appear.

"The room I got had these magical target dummies I could throw spells at. If I damaged them, they were replaced. If I knocked them out they would stay down for a while before getting up again. I was finally able to use some of those Spells in those advanced books Professors Flitwick and McGonagall loaned me. What time it was completely slipped my mind."

"Can we try for something different?" asked Daphne.

"Of course!" said Harry. "But, I think everyone has to leave the room first."

"Maybe..." said Daphne. Suddenly, her demeanour changed and she asked, "Can everyone wish for me to have what I want to appear?"

Surprised, Harry said, "You want to change it while we're in the room?"

"Yes," replied Daphne. "I want to see what happens. If it's even possible."

Susan said, "Alright, then. Everyone wish for what Daphne wants."

Harry concentrated on making Daphne happy by wanting what she wanted. Soon the room blurred. Very quickly everything came back into focus and Harry found himself with the others in the Greengrass Estate parlour.

Looking around, he said, "Wow! That's just - wow!"

"Ummm - where are we now?" asked Hermione.

"This is the parlour of my home," replied Daphne softly with a happy smile. "This is Greengrass Estate."

Harry walked over to where he could see out the French doors through the dining room. Everything seemed so real.

"You live here?" asked Hermione.

Before Daphne could respond, Harry said, "No. This is what it looks like where Daphne - and I, I guess - live. It's a - replica."

"How do you know it's a replica?" asked Hannah.

"If this was the real Greengrass Estate, the house elves would have immediately sensed our presence and arrived. No house elves; therefore, not real."

"Still, it would be nice to be able to come here if I get homesick," said Daphne with a wistful expression.

A few moments later, Daphne said, "Alright, let's see this spell practice room you came up with."

"Alright," said Harry. "Let's see if more than one person can influence things. Everyone focus on a spell crafting or duelling room."

Very quickly the room seemed to blur before it slowly came back into focus. This time the room was similar to how Harry remembered it, but the room was now larger. The dummies were sideways across the room at one end, there were still various objects lying about, but there was also now a small area set up similar to a common room.

"Alright, then," said Harry. "This is different to how it was when I was in here earlier. It's larger, for a start. There's also this whole sitting area." He indicated the lounges and such.

"I think that was me, said Susan. "I wanted somewhere to sit and I was thinking about those chairs in the room earlier."

"And the bookcases over there must belong to me," said Hermione, indicating a selection of books on twinned bookcases beyond the lounge area.

Daphne asked, "Do you think you can show us how the training dummies work, Harry?"

Harry nodded, walked over to one of the couches and dropped off his bookbag. Then he walked to the end of the room across from the training dummies.

"The elf said they work on command," he said before calling out, "Training Level One."

Suddenly, the training dummies began to move and started firing low level Hexes and Curses towards Harry. Harry dodged the first few before he started firing back.

After about thirty seconds he cast a Depulsion Curse at one, causing it to fly backwards and strike the wall, before casting a Stunner at the other, causing it to collapse.

He waited the few seconds for the first one to dematerialise and be replaced with another, and the second to re-erect itself, before he called, "Stop!"

Both dummies immediately froze in place.

Harry turned and grinned at the others who were looking back a little gobsmacked.

"Harry," said Hermione, first to find their voice. "Those last two were at least Third Year spells."

"Yes," replied Harry. "Remember how I told you Professors Flitwick and McGonagall want to give me advanced spell books to work with? To test how much knowledge I can assimilate in a short amount of time? Those two were in those books."

"Well," said Daphne, stepping in before Hermione could ask any more questions. "You've clearly got power. Now you need to learn control and - finesse. You need to learn how to aim better and not waste so much energy in your spell casting. We can work on that."

"What about your transfiguration abilities?" asked Hannah.

"Now that's a lot harder," said Harry.

He walked over to one of the shapes made of wood. "Transfiguration, I've found, is far harder than Charms, Curses and the like," he said. "The latter is simply pushing with your magic while making the right gesture with the wand and saying the command.

"Transfiguration, however, is altering the molecular structure of the very material in which you're working; and changing the shape, size, et cetera; all in the one act of spell casting.

"I've not yet been able to do much with that. And it's something I'm going to have to talk with Professor McGonagall about."

He then converted the block of wood into a pretty wonky looking rocking horse. "As you can see," he said, indicating his so-called creation, "I'm pretty pants at it, at the moment."

"Harry," shrilled Susan, "That's bloody impressive! We can't do that!"

"What about the transfigurations we have to do across the rest of the year?" asked Daphne.

"Oh, they're relatively easy," said Harry. "I'm not that good at turning a mouse into a snuff box yet - It still has fur and can sometimes have a tail - but the rest is not that difficult."

"You are not pants at transfiguration," scowled Daphne. "You're just trying to transfigure things that are too large for you, just yet."

Pointing at a poorly cut block of stone, she said, "Can you make that a perfect block shape? Just square it up and see if you can give it a polished surface, for now."

Harry looked at it, thought about it for a few moments, and then cast. What he was left with was an almost perfectly cut stone with smooth sides.

"Now that's impressive," said Neville.

"And it's what I thought," said Daphne. "You were able to do so well doing that because you were able to create a better image in your mind of what it is you wanted to create. You knew how to picture the perfect shape, and you didn't need to change the material of the stone to get it done. So, you ended up very close with what you wanted."

"So," said Harry. "The better the picture the better the result?"

"That's part of it," she replied. "But you also need to understand the properties of the material you want to transfigure it to. To make something of wood, you need to understand that particular type of wood. To make something of marble, you need to understand the properties of marble. And so on."

"Huh!" said Harry. "Thanks, for that."

"Anyway," said Daphne. "We all need to get back to our own common rooms. And some of us have further to go that others."

"Yeah," said Neville. "We'd best be off."

After Harry collected his bag off the chair, the group exited the room. And they watched as the door disappeared.

Harry then said, "Hermione, Neville, you guys head off. I'm going to show the others a shortcut down to the dungeons."

"Alright, Harry," said Hermione. Together they walked back to the grand staircase. Neville and Hermione headed down, but Harry led the other four witches across to the corridor on the other side of the staircase.

"This is a shortcut?" asked Tracey.

"You'll see," replied Harry.

He led them over to the statue in the alcove the Weasley twins showed him a few weeks earlier. Walking into it he found one of the wall sconces and gave it a twist. That opened the hidden passage.

Turning back, he grinned at the girls before walking in and beckoning them to follow.

Daphne was right behind him and hoped the others kept up.

"Lumos!" he called with his wand tip pointed up. When the others did the same he then led them along the passage, down the single flight of stairs and along the remaining part of the passage.

He found the wall where he knew the hidden door was, and gave it a push. It swivelled open.

He stepped out and made sure the hallway was clear, and invoked, "Nox!" to turn his Light Charm off. Then beckoned the others out.

When they were all out he indicated the sconce that needed to be turned ninety degrees to open the passage again.

Walking to the cross corridor he pointed to the left and said, "I think the Slytherin rooms are that way. The grand staircase is the other.

Daphne looked about and said, "Yes, they are."

Then she turned to Harry, kissed him on the cheek and said, "Night!" before walking off to the left with Tracey.

"No kiss from me, Harry," grinned Susan, before she and Hannah went the other way.

Harry quickly returned to the hidden passage, returned to the seventh floor, and made his way from there to the Ravenclaw tower.

_‗_

-==(oIo)==-

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