Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J. K. Rowling, not me.
Dumbledore Answers Harry - Chapter 19 - New Rules
Harry quickly prepared the cups of dirt and water, along with the plate with a candle in the middle, the same as he had for his elemental test. "Ginny, why don't you go first?" he suggested.
She smiled nervously at him. "Thanks, but Hermione is older and should probably…"
"Nonsense," interrupted Hermione, "Age has nothing to do with this test. You should go first."
Ginny smirked at the brunette. "You're nervous, too, aren't you?"
Hermione's face flushed but she didn't say anything.
"Alright. I'll go first this time."
Harry and Hermione backed away to the other side of the room and sat down as Ginny began relaxing herself in preparation. Harry turned off the lights, leaving the room completely dark. When Ginny was ready, she muttered the Latin incantation.
The candle lit, and the trio opened their eyes, directing them toward the soil. As they stared at it, Ginny muttered something else, and the dirt moved out of the cup onto the plate, forming a one-inch tall barrier around the edge of the plate. Once that was complete, she turned her attention to the glass of water. After muttering another Latin incantation, it seemed to jump out of the glass and onto the middle of the plate, surrounding the bottom of the tall candle. The dirt stopped the water from spilling off the plate. Ginny finally looked at the flame and said the last phrase, and it blew out.
The room was pitch black for exactly five seconds until the candle relit. As they watched, the flame grew into the size of a Quaffle, and then went out, leaving them once again in complete darkness.
"Fire," the redhead said with a smile.
"It matches your hair," said Harry.
"And my temper," she said, still grinning. "I know you both were thinking it."
Both Hermione and Harry looked down with guilty expressions on their faces.
"Never," said Hermione, not even trying to appear sincere. The other two chuckled. "I guess it's my turn then?"
They quickly prepared for Hermione's test, and she performed it. The end result was that the dirt started moving. Once they heard something beginning to happen, Harry used his wand to turn the lights back on. The dirt was changing shape, moving into a pile at the center of the plate, where the water still was. As it turned into mud, it molded itself into the size and shape of Hermione's head, and then formed into a mountain. The others watched in awe as the mass of the dirt seemed to grow. It turned into a miniature mountain, until a large crack formed in the center. The rest of the dirt seemed to sink into the crack, and the rest of it separated, reforming the one-inch barrier around the plate. "Earth!" declared Hermione proudly, "I'll be able to cause earthquakes."
"Right underneath Death Eaters," continued Harry happily, "at least the ones Ginny isn't burning to death."
"Or that you haven't turned to ashes and blown away," said Ginny as she giggled.
Harry chuckled a bit. "I've been wondering if I'll be able to fly without a broom when I master air."
Hermione looked thoughtful. "Perhaps, but now's not the time to try that."
"We just need someone who can control water now," said Ginny.
"It's rare enough for someone to control any element," said Hermione. "We should be pleased that we can…"
"I was just kidding, Hermione," said Ginny.
"If I use air properly, I should be able to make water do whatever I want, even cause a tornado eventually."
Hermione nodded in agreement as a smile formed on her lips. "I do believe you're right, Harry. When you put it that way, the air control can double as water control."
"Exactly," said Harry, as a small wind began blowing on the muddy water, causing waves to form.
"Wow!" said Ginny.
"You'd better stop before an accident happens," said Hermione.
Harry shrugged his shoulders as the wind stopped. "I suppose we should check the book to find out what exercises Hermione needs to do for her element. Ginny, I know exactly what you need to do."
After both girls had learned the exercises they needed to perform, they separated to pack for Hogwarts.
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The next day, after heartfelt goodbyes from Sirius, Molly, and Arthur; Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron boarded the Hogwarts Express together. Percy, who was still a prefect, had boarded ahead of time to be early for his meeting. Draco had elected to not return to Hogwarts this year. He still felt that he would be in danger from the Junior Death Eaters for turning his back on his father.
From their closed compartment, Harry wasn't surprised to see Theodore Nott walking around the train, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. He idly wondered how much it would cost to get those two idiots to turn on Nott and beat him up in the Slytherin common room. He was a bit surprised that Nott was already wearing his school robes, but didn't think much about it.
"I wonder what he's so happy about," said Ron, commenting on Nott's expression.
"I don't know," answered Harry, "Maybe his father got one less second under Voldemort's cruciatus curse than Lucius. I think that's how they determine who Tom's favorite is."
"I honestly wonder why anyone would follow someone who tortures them," said Hermione.
"Unfortunately, they do," said Harry seriously.
At that moment, Nott decided to open their door. "Look who it is, the Little-Boy-Who-Lived." Crabbe and Goyle laughed at that like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all grabbed their wands, but Harry stayed in a relaxed position.
Harry looked in his eyes as the bottom of Nott's robe caught fire. "Do you really want us to start humiliating you guys in the halls again this year," he said with a sigh. "That really gets boring."
"Maybe you won't be able to beat me this year," he said arrogantly. "Did you ever think of that?"
"Truthfully, no. I don't know what your Death Nibbler daddy tried to teach you, but honestly I doubt a squib like you can even…"
"I AM NOT A SQUIB!!!" he shouted, pulling out his wand until something was squirming around underneath his robes near his chest.
Harry heard a strange voice that said, "Hot! Must leave flames!" as Theodore looked down to see his robes were now burning from the waist down.
"Ahh!" he said, glaring at the Gryffindors. "Which one of you did it?"
"I don't know," said Harry, finally reaching for his wand, "but I'll do you a favor." He pointed his wand at the burning Slytherin and said, "Aguamenti." Water began shooting out of his wand at the flames. Soon Hermione, Ginny, and Ron laughingly joined in as Nott became completely drenched.
With his face red, Nott shouted, "This isn't over, Potter!" as he turned around and retreated, with Crabbe and Goyle, who were half-soaked themselves, following closely behind.
As soon as their door was closed again, Harry asked, "Do you think I should have dried them off?" as he used the air like a blow drier on the floor where the Slytherins had occupied. The others were still laughing as someone knocked on the door. Harry looked up and said, "Come on in, Neville."
He had a smile on his face as he asked, "What did you do to Nott?"
Chuckling, they explained that his robes had caught fire, and they were simply putting the fire out. Neville looked at each of them. "Which one of you set him on fire?" After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Come on guys. You can trust me."
Finally Harry spoke. "I suppose so. I did."
"How. You weren't touching your wand."
"I can't say, Neville. It's a secret."
He then looked at Harry as his eyes budged out. "You're an elemental!" he exclaimed while pointing at Harry.
"Quiet!" said Hermione.
"Sorry," he whispered. "So, how do you become one?"
Hermione answered. "You perform a spell that shows if you have any elemental control. If you do, then you practice controlling your element."
"Have any of you taken the test?" he asked, excitedly looking around at the others.
"All but me," answered Ron.
"Why haven't you?"
"I couldn't memorize the incantation in time," said Ron unhappily.
"You'll learn it soon enough, Ron," said Harry, "and then you can take the test."
"Can I take it, too?" asked Neville.
Harry's eyes widened a bit. He didn't really think Neville would be able to control an element. However, he smiled and said, "Sure, why not? We'll get you the incantation to memorize tonight after the feast."
They then chatted for the rest of the trip until it was time to put on their robes. When Neville mentioned Harry's lack of glasses, he simply said he was wearing contact lenses. After the train stopped, they rode the carriages to Hogwarts and sat down at the Gryffindor table for the sorting and feast. Harry noticed a lot fewer Slytherins joined the school this year than usual.
After the feast, Dumbledore gave his start of term notices. After mentioning what Mr. Filch wasn't allowing in the school, he said, "I've no doubt that some of you have read about our new school policies in the Daily Prophet, but for the benefit of those who haven't, I'll explain it. You see, certain happenings of last year brought it to my attention that the school needs more discipline. After meeting with the Board of Governors, this is what we came up with.
"Basically whenever a student is injured, they, along with every witness, will be given veritaserum in front of myself and all the heads of house and asked how they were hurt. If it is found that another student injured them, that student will be brought in and questioned under veritaserum as well. If it was intentional or while harassing the victim, the guilty party will be sent home for the rest of the year and have to retake it if they return, even if the term was almost over. If the injuries are life-threatening, the ministry will be apprised as well, and may choose to prosecute the bully to whatever extent the law allows given the circumstances, especially if they're of age. If they ever do it again, they will be expelled.
"Defense of self or others will never result in punishment again, as long as the culprit either hexed or hit someone first. We'll take pensieve memories of the incident as well." Dumbledore then looked toward Harry with a twinkle in his eyes. "So if you're defending someone, don't hurt the bully after they're down. You may wish to stick with stunning and body-binds that don't actually harm people if possible. However, Hogwarts will allow whatever force is necessary to keep innocent students safe."
There was cheering from three of the four tables when the headmaster finished his speech. The Slytherin bullies looked mad while the other Slytherins looked like they wanted to cheer, but were scared of the bullies."
Harry grinned as he said, "Hopefully, the new policy will make this year a lot easier, but I still want Potter's Army to patrol the halls."
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Please review. Thank you to those who have. I'll be trying to update this story every two weeks.
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