166 Chapter 166: Fresh Perspective

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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1 November 1993, Hogwarts

Harry's walk after his spat with his friends did help relax him. There were just so many things swimming around in his head that he needed to really stop and think about what he was doing. He didn't want to go to the Room of Requirements, since his friends might try to follow him there, and he didn't want to stay alone.

The truth was that this year just made him feel stifled. He tried to ignore it by jumping towards the next crisis for him to solve, but it was hard to ignore the constant gazes on his person. His most trusted teachers were always keeping an eye on him during class, his classmates were always giving him wary looks whenever he was around, and even the paintings were always observing him silently. Oh, they weren't good at it at all since they tried to be overly sneaky, but it was the principle of the matter.

However, Harry did have to stifle a laugh when he saw a painting literally hiding behind some furniture to take some discreet glances. But at the end of the day, the conclusion was evident. Dumbledore's plan in Harry's guardianship hearing had partially worked. People were wary of him and looked at him like he was some kind of jungle animal that was a few seconds away from dropping any pretence of civility and just killing them all.

The last Potter did expect that losing his control against Dumbledore in the trial was going to bite him in the ass. After all, the Chief Warlock had lost a lot of support with Harry's revelation. A lot of Progressive houses stopped following Dumbledore's lead during Wizengamot meetings, and there was talk from the ministry about removing his position as the Supreme Mugwump and ambassador of magical Britain. 

His spot as Chief Warlock would have been the same if it wasn't for the fact that the man was literally rebuilding a new magical prison for the ministry, and there was no need for the current administration to antagonize the man who was saving them a fortune. People did grumble slightly about him being 'trusted' enough to build a new wizarding prison, but these voices quickly shut up when the ministry revealed how much the project was going to cost if they hired teams of professional magical builders and warders to create a prison that would probably be worse than whatever the headmaster came up with.

Harry didn't trust the man to not slip a few secret entrances here and there, but he didn't really have an opinion on the matter. In the end, officially, Dumbledore only lost a bit of influence, but Harry's most proud achievement was the fact that he shook the faith that the general populace had on Dumbledore. The ministry did its best to bury the records of the meeting, but there were a few leaks and there was no going back after that.

The Potter scion had been waiting for any sign of reprisal from the man, who seemingly had just decided to stay in his tower and ask everyone he had authority over to observe Harry. Sure, it was stifling, but his invisibility cloak was just on another level. The man probably knew about his meetings with his friends in the Room of Requirements, but Harry always made sure to add a password with every room, like a small keyword at the end of his 'Requirement' to stop anyone else from reproducing his rooms and alter them in any way.

Yet, currently, he didn't care if the paintings observed him and whispered loudly to themselves. He was just going on a walk around the castle to clear his mind. Without even realizing it, he found himself near the Entrance Hall, once more. He looked outside to see the sun shining brightly in the cloudless sky. The weather did not reflect Harry's mood, but it was too good a day to not go outside.

He walked subconsciously towards the Black Lake and started skipping stones. He was throwing with everything he had for what felt like hours, trying to release the aggression he had on them. It was strangely working. His godfather's actions stopped feeling so enraging. The reveal that his mother had killed his father, her own husband, and massacred thousands of people, stopped making his heartache.

He knew that his anger at them wasn't logical. His mother was dead. She had been dead for over a decade, and she was a virtual stranger to him. Yet her actions still affect him today, first with Lupin's obvious obsession over him, and Black trying to kill him. The werewolf definitely had some designs for Harry, ones that he didn't want the young Slytherin to know about, meaning that they weren't good for his health. It probably had to do with him being 'the key', whatever that meant. And Black's motivation to just kill him didn't have to be spoken.

It was tragic, in a way, to see a man reduced to this, to see the madness in his eyes as he turned into a monster in human form. Perhaps there were grains of truths about the Black Madness. Something that he would have to discuss with Arcturus.

The head of the Black family was just another pile on top of the crap that he had to deal with. He didn't know if he should tell him about Sirius' fate. Sirius' death to save his friends was an honourable one. To see his grandson reduced to whatever the Smiling Killer was, it would break Arcturus' heart, and that's not to mention how the man would react. Either the man would be heartbroken, or he would try to save his Grandson, and talk him out of his actions, something that Harry couldn't see going well. Yet, not telling Arcturus about it would be a betrayal of some sort.

The man was his guardian. He had literally made sure that Harry would be well taken care of, that he wouldn't be under the headmaster's control. Harry didn't want to give him information that would cause the man nothing but pain, but perhaps some false hope, that would hurt him a lot more in the long run.

No, he couldn't manipulate him like this. He had to tell Arcturus about his grandson and trust the man to not do anything foolish. Lying and hiding hard truths had done nothing but cause grief in the long run.

With that out of the way, he needed to think about how to deal with Black the next time he came. From his deductions during their fight, Harry came to the conclusion that his former godfather was switching between two dimensions, materializing in either, ending up with some kind of astral form in the other, which explained his intangibility. Perhaps banishing to the other plane would work? He didn't know anything about dimension magic, and he needed to research it. It was definitely something very obscure and not publicly available, but he could probably find a starting point in the forbidden section of the library, or maybe even the Room of Hidden Things, but he would have to search a lot to find any useful information.

Maybe he could use something that would translate into the alternate plane, like some kind of sonic attack or flashbang. It would be a temporary thing at best, but it was better than nothing since his 'ice age' spell was just too draining to be used in the long term.

Harry kept brainstorming ideas, as he threw one pebble after another into the Black Lake. That was until his Arcane Hearing picked up someone approaching. He didn't bother turning his head, since their song didn't seem inclined to attack, and just threw another pebble, making it skip around half a dozen times on the surface of the lake.

"I didn't know you could do that without magic," a recognizable voice commented.

Harry replied without even turning his head, "It has to do with the shape of the pebble you're throwing. The surface has to hit the water at once to disperse the force and the angle you throw it at, as well as the spin matter a lot. There's this sweet spot that makes the pebble push down the water a little but makes the water act like a solid for a fraction of a second, which makes the pebble skip across. There is magic in it. But you're not interested in that, Neville. So, tell me, why are you here?"

The Slytherin turned towards the boy who lived and raised an eyebrow, making the boy shuffle awkwardly, "Crazy, what happened in Hogsmeade, I mean, huh?"

"Yes. But things worked out in the end."

"At least my grandmother will stop worrying so much about me. She barely let me out of the house last summer."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Her only grandson was in danger from Azkaban escapees that followed the man who killed her son and his wife. What a surprise that she was slightly overbearing."

"Oh, come off it. I was miserable during the entire summer. She didn't even sign my Hogsmeade form. Maybe I have a chance at convincing her, now that Dolohov and Rookwood are back in custody. Did you know that the minister is pushing for them to get the kiss? Greyback too."

The last Potter stiffened at that. The dementor's kiss was serious business. Literally, no one has been sentenced to the kiss since Grindelwald's war and these were people who committed crimes against humanity. Very few people actually researched about what happened during a dementor's kiss, because staying close to them for an extended period of time was just torture and helped induce madness. The only person who studied them extensively was the dark wizard Ekrizidis in the fifteenth century, who often used them as weapons. He was known to be utterly mad, and not in a good way, but he did say that a dementor's kiss sucked the soul out of the victim. Harry didn't know if that was the truth, but it wasn't really worth the risk. Killing them would have been far more merciful and would have achieved the exact same thing for society. His guess would be that it was used as a way to appease and control the dementors, and Fudge was probably doing the same since the monsters had just lost their feeding grounds.

Yet, the conclusion was that Harry's plan was going to either kill people or get their souls sucked out. He had literally handed them like lambs to slaughter. They were awful people, yet Harry couldn't help but feel his stomach sink at the realization.

He didn't trust himself to say anything back to Neville, who just changed the subject, "Oh, Susan and I were wondering if we could have our Rune session early today since we don't have any classes. It's just that we've been learning so much, and you're so much better than Professor Babbling at getting the point across."

"I'm not in the mood for Runes, Neville," Harry simply answered back.

"Ah, yes, your spat with Greengrass, Zabini, and Davis. People have been talking about it. I have to ask, are the rumours true?"

"What rumours? Why are there even rumours? It hasn't even been a day."

Neville let out a cheeky grin, "It's Hogwarts, mate. So, did you get into a fight because your friends refused to become your followers in your rise as the next Dark Lord?"

Harry almost choked out a laugh at that but calmed himself, "Seriously? Of course not. Apparently, I am condescending, and I treat them like children, and they didn't like that."

The boy who lived tilted his head, "But you sort of are… The way you looked down on me was one of the main reasons why I was always mad at you. It's very aggravating, I'll tell you that…"

Harry stiffened slightly, "I guess I've always felt responsible for them."

"And you probably acted like their supervisors. We're all teenagers, we hate supervision. It feels stifling. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't be surprised that they tried to toe the line as much as possible and ended up lashing out. You need to let go first, and they'll be satisfied."

"So, I have to let them do whatever they want?"

Neville winced, "It doesn't sound good. But you trust them, right?"

"Of course, I do."

"Then give them a chance. If they blow it, then you're justified to do whatever you want. If they don't, they you were afraid for nothing."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Where is this wisdom coming from."

Neville stiffened slightly before relaxing. It would have been natural, if it wasn't for the way his song immediately shifted to panic before relaxing into a wary state, like a snake ready to bite an attacker, "I guess I've really grown during the summer. At least, that's what my grandmother said. Now, enough gloomy nonsense. Why don't you teach me how to do that rock-bouncing thing."

They spent the rest of the day just skipping pebbles. It was strangely relaxing not doing it alone. He still observed the boy slightly, but he got nothing else from his Arcane Hearing. Perhaps, he had misheard it?

By the time they had gone back to the castle, the sun was setting, and he had a clear idea about what he should do regarding his friends. When he arrived in the common room, he saw Daphne sitting around nervously. She brightened up the moment she saw him, "Harry, we're so sorry…"

He simply raised his hand to calm her down, "Don't worry about it, Daph. I get it…"

"What?" She simply uttered, looking slightly bewildered.

"You're all growing up and I have been acting like the adult for so long in the group, I've been doing my things on my own for years. I guess it was hard for me to let go a bit. So, yes, I don't mind trusting you with a bit more. But I do have some concessions. You can't do anything like what happened yesterday. I expect the exact same trust from you in case any of you are really over your heads. Sirius would have killed you all without hesitation and you wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. I want you to go talk with Blaise and Tracy and see if you can agree to that. If you don't then I just won't involve you in anything I consider dangerous, but if you do agree, then we can move forward."

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.