Unveiling Secrets: A New Path for Harry Potter

For the first time, Harry rode the carriages up to the school drawn by the strange, winged, skeletal horses. He shook his head as he slid into a seat next to Pansy and tried not to show any discomfort as Ginny sat on his other side. She pressed a little closer to him than necessary but he kept quiet. Thankfully, the storm had ended by the time the train had reached Hogsmeade. The ride up to the school was silent as everyone was still a bit upset by the Dementor's appearance.

Before long, they had reached the castle. Pansy gave him a brief smile as she separated from the group before reaching the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall pulled Hermione and Harry aside. As an unforeseen, but thoroughly welcome, perk of taking up his head of house, Harry would have his own quarters. This was pleasing on a number of levels. Having a bit of privacy was going to be an obvious plus. Not hearing Ron's awful snoring (or Neville's for that matter) was going to be even better. It would also give Harry a place to meet with either Pansy or Dobby without anyone else knowing, and that could be very important, especially until he was able to have other plans in place for keeping Pansy safe.

He was shortly dismissed by the professor as she had more to discuss with Hermione. On the way to the Great Hall, Harry called for Dobby once he was alone and told the little elf to follow Pansy after the feast was over and make sure she was safe.

He made his way over to a spot next to Ron, ignoring the empty seat next to Ginny at the Gryffindor table. It would have been across from Ron anyway, and Harry had learned that eating with him was a lot easier when you only saw his atrocious manners in your periphery.

The sorting was already underway. Harry clapped politely for the new students, even the Slytherins, of which he noticed Ron did not seem to approve. The last student was a girl named Romilda Vane, who joined Gryffindor. Dumbledore warned everyone about the Dementors stationed around the school and Harry had to force himself not to shake his head at the foolishness of the magical world. There were apparently dozens of these monsters surrounding the school, all to catch one man who shouldn't even have a wand. When, not if, a student was attacked there would hopefully be outrage at whichever moron in the government decided it was a good idea to have soul devouring monstrosities anywhere near children. Unfortunately, Harry knew that his luck meant he would more than likely be the target- the train ride had already proven that- and Harry had absolutely no faith that anyone would care about the next time he was placed in mortal peril. They hadn't cared any of the other times, after all.

He snuck a look over at Pansy, who rolled her eyes at Dumbledore's pitiful warning to avoid the Dementors. He was glad to see her seemingly back to her normal caustic self. It had been a dreadful twenty four hours for her, and Harry was relieved at seeing how she looked now. He would be a lot more relieved if she were in his arms again tonight, but he would have to take what he could get for now. He briefly remembered how much he needed to kill her father but those thoughts were put aside as Dumbledore announced there were two new teachers joining the staff.

Having already met the newest Defense teacher, he noticed Snape scowling even more than usual at Professor Lupin. Harry wondered if there might be some history there as this was clearly much more malice than what he'd seen towards Quirrel two years ago, or even Snape's disgust towards Lockhart the fop last year. The big surprise, though, was that Hagrid was becoming the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Harry was quite pleased for his very large friend. However, he briefly wondered at how Hagrid could have become a licensed teacher. He'd been expelled as a third year student and didn't even have a wand- legally at least, although Harry knew he could do some magic with his umbrella. Then again, was it really any surprise that there might not be such a thing as a teaching license or credential in the magical world? Certainly, Snape had no teaching ability whatsoever. Lockhart had been completely useless. The less said about Binns the ghost, the better.

Finally, the food appeared and Harry found he was much hungrier than usual. Of course, this year he hadn't been nearly starved by the Dursleys. Plus, trying to fight off the Dementors must have worked up an appetite. He was unaware of just how much this summer had changed him. Between Dobby's care, the Potter family magic pouring into him from the ring, and all his hard work, this Harry Potter was much different than the one who had finished his second year. He had gained nearly half a foot over the summer and put on quite a bit of weight. His magic was the real change though. He would learn that soon enough.

Eventually, the feast ended. Harry watched Pansy leave with the rest of the Slytherins and got a knot in his stomach. He hoped that Dobby would be able to protect her. After last night, he was unable to hope that she wouldn't be attacked. His mind wandered as he walked towards the Gryffindor common room. When they finally arrived, he sank into a chair and stared into the fire. He hadn't noticed Ron and Hermione trying to talk to him. He looked up as Hermione was shaking his shoulder.

"What?"

"What's wrong Harry? You've been really out of it since the feast," she said.

"I'm pretty tired. I think I'll call it an early night. See you guys tomorrow."

Harry walked over to a portrait in the corner of the common room. The well dressed wizard raised an eyebrow at him till he raised his hand, showing his family ring. Ron and Hermione were watching him, wondering what was going on, as Harry disappeared through the doorway that the portrait had hidden.

The room he entered was similar to the Gryffindor common room, although obviously smaller. A fireplace was on the wall to his right as he entered and a couch sat in front of it. He saw a large window and a door leading to what appeared to be a balcony on the wall opposite him but ignored it as he found a door off to the left led to a bedroom. His trunk was already inside, so Harry quickly undressed and got ready for bed.

When he came out of the bathroom, he saw Dobby waiting by his bed.

"How's Pansy?"

"Miss Pansy is fine master Harry sir. Miss Pansy went to her room. Dobby set up wards around her bed, in case any bad witches try to bother miss Pansy."

"Thank you Dobby. I'm worried about her."

"Dobby knows sir. Dobby will watch over master Harry's miss Pansy."

"I'm going to sleep Dobby. You should probably get some rest too. We've both had a stressful couple of days."

"Good night master Harry."

Harry slept like a rock thanks to his exhaustion. The next morning, he enjoyed the privacy of his own bathroom and was earlier than usual to breakfast. Hermione had been up too but she wanted to wait for Ron in the common room. Harry was hungry (and secretly hoping to get a few minutes alone with Pansy if possible) so he told her he'd save them places in the Great Hall.

Once they joined him there, Harry was almost finished eating. Pansy had made it to the Slytherin table earlier than usual as well and he had already snuck a few glances her way. She looked a bit tired, which made him wonder if she didn't sleep well although he also knew that she wasn't much of a morning person either. His thoughts were broken by the class schedules that were being passed out. His first class was going to be Arithmancy, a subject he still wasn't sure about, but at least he'd be in it with Pansy.

Ron grunted something about having Divination first thing in the middle of several bites of food but was too busy eating to notice Hermione's overly full schedule. She seemed to be taking three different classes this morning at 9 AM. Maybe the teachers were even crazier than he thought. He hoped that it wouldn't rub off on his best friend- her brain had helped keep him alive and he really didn't want to lose one of the only people he could rely on.

He excused himself from the table as soon as he saw Pansy getting up to leave. He followed at a discreet distance up the stairs till they were in an empty hallway. Then he ran to her as she spun around and they quickly crashed into a broom closet. She was in his arms, he was kissing her, and all was right in the world.

"I think we might be the first couple in a broom closet this year," she chuckled.

"Are you alright?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "You look kind of tired this morning." The look became a glare. "I, I mean, I was just worried about you last night and hope no one bothered you in the dorms or anything."

"I didn't sleep very well," Pansy said with a chill in her voice.

"I'm sorry."

"Yesterday, you were smart enough not to say I looked tired in the morning."

"You look beautiful this morning too, but last night I didn't get to watch over you. I hate having you so far away here in the castle."

"It would have been nice to sleep in your arms again," she said with a sigh. "I had a nightmare last night."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"No, don't worry." Harry noticed she had a secretive look once again. "Don't let anyone know about us yet."

"Why not?"

"I have something planned."

"I thought we were going to scheme together this year?"

"It's only the first day. I'm the brains, remember Harry?"

"As you wish, milady." He kissed the back of her hand and was rewarded with a giggle before she pulled him into another kiss.

"We shouldn't scheme today anyway. Might need to pay attention to our new classes after all."

"What do you have after Arithmancy?"

"Herbology with the Ravenclaws," she answered with a tone of disgust.

"My condolences. Nothing against Professor Sprout, but I hate gardening, whether its magical or not."

"Me too."

"I've got Transfiguration. I might scream if McGonagall gives us an assignment on the first day."

"I'll be listening for your scream then."

"I'm a bit worried about Care of Magical Creatures this afternoon."

"Why?"

"Well, I like Hagrid a lot, but he has some strange ideas about magical creatures."

"I was surprised when they made him a professor. I know he's your friend but..."

"Yeah, but how is he qualified to teach? I mean, he was expelled from Hogwarts as a third year but now he gets to teach. He doesn't even own a wand. The bigger worry, though, is that I've already seen the types of creatures that Hagrid keeps as pets. Just be ready to get behind me whenever one of his beasts tries to kill us."

"How gallant of you, Lord Potter," she said with a snort.

"I am supposed to be the hero, so I should act like it. Especially towards my girlfriend."

"Well, your girlfriend says we better head towards class before we end up late on our first day."

Harry accepted with a grumble and they soon arrived to Arithmancy a few minutes before the class started. It was mostly Ravenclaws, but Hermione was at an empty table where Harry and Pansy joined her. Professor Vector started the class by going through some basic geometry and algebra, which thankfully Harry mostly remembered. It seemed a strong math background would be helpful and his non-magical math lessons were not so far removed. He wasn't surprised by Hermione's obvious skill but did wonder about how well Pansy seemed to take to the lesson. He would have to try to remember to ask her what sorts of schooling magical children had before coming to Hogwarts.

There was more than enough work in Arithmancy that they wouldn't have had time to scheme even if Pansy had been so inclined that day. The time flew past and soon Harry was off to Transfiguration while Pansy was heading outside to the greenhouses.

If Harry had paid closer attention to Pansy's work, he might have noticed some extra calculations she seemed to be working on.

As she went outside, she looked up at the main sections of the castle. The astronomy tower, one of the highest points in the school, loomed over the third greenhouse.

Her plan was almost ready. She had now decided on the perfect impartial witness to bring it all together.

It seemed that every other Gryffindor in his year was taking Divination, which made Harry shake his head. They were all gloomy when they reached McGonagall's class, something she quickly moved to remedy. Ron's death omen would only be accepted as an excuse for not turning in his assignments if one of Trelawney's predictions actually came true, something McGonagall assured them had never happened before. Harry noticed that Hermione also seemed to have taken the class, which made him start to worry.

Dobby passed him a note before lunch from Pansy asking him for a meeting later in the afternoon, once classes were over for the day.

Care of Magical Creatures started off fairly interesting, as Hagrid introduced hippogriffs. Harry's impromptu ride on Buckbeak was even pretty fun. Then, of course, Malfoy had to screw everything up in his typical obnoxious manner. He began screaming bloody murder about what appeared to be a fairly minor injury, at least by Harry's standards. Before the class could start to panic, Harry's instincts once again kicked in.

"Malfoy, would you stop screaming like a baby and get up? The hippogriff barely touched you, you pussy." He threw in a sarcastic smirk for good measure. And of course, the fool rose to the bait, leaping to his feet.

"How dare you Potter! I'm twice the wizard you are!"

"Well, twice the fool at least. Thank you for proving that you were faking with that pitiful performance." Harry continued to smirk as Draco's face showed the realization that his temper had betrayed him. He began to say something before stopping himself, and Harry was almost certain the first words would have been 'When my father hears of this.'

Hagrid still sent him off to the hospital wing to have Pomfrey check on his scratch, and Harry was quite pleased that the rest of the class had no further problems. Harry knew that Hagrid had dodged a bullet and he stayed behind to warn the large man that Malfoy would almost certainly try to cause problems in the future.

He had surreptitiously watched Pansy during the class, noticing her speaking a bit to the other Slytherin girls. Standing in the far back of the students, she had smiled and winked at him when he dismounted Buckbeak, but otherwise she remained distant in the class. He had to assume this had something to do with whatever she had planned, but he still didn't like it.

Leaving Hagrid's, he made his way towards the greenhouses, wondering why Pansy had picked that spot to meet.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout said, bringing Harry's mind back to his surroundings.

"Hello Professor."

"I heard you had an encounter with a Dementor on the train. Nasty creatures, shouldn't be anywhere near a school full of children," she said as she shook her head. Harry was amazed, here was a witch with some common sense!

"I couldn't agree more. The ministry must be full of idiots to bring those things here. They should have just brought some aurors in. Black doesn't even have a wand, yet they send soul-devouring monsters to where the children of this country learn magic."

"Too true, Mr. Potter"

Their conversation was interrupted by Dobby's sudden appearance.

"Does Master Harry sir have sir's wand?"

"Yeah, I've got it with me," Harry answered pulling it out.

"Good. Dobby brought master's broom."

"My broom. Why?" Harry began looking around. 'Pansy should have been here by now.'

"Someone's up on the Astronomy Tower," Sprout said, drawing Harry's attention upwards.

"Oh God no." The breath went out of him as he grabbed the broom, blasting off as fast as he could.

Pansy saw Dobby's appearance and smiled. The little elf had followed her plan precisely, as she saw him coaxing Harry to draw his wand. She waited until she saw the group look up at her.

"I'm never going back." Harry was already in motion. She jumped.

It was the longest few seconds of his life.

"Arresto Momentum!" he yelled and the amount of magic he put into the spell could have slowed an elephant.

But Harry had no time to notice how much of his power had exploded out to catch Pansy. He ripped through the air, urging his broom to go faster than he ever had before. He changed his angle slightly, going up a bit more. He took both arms off the broom.

The air whipping past her felt amazing as she fell. Here was her freedom filling her outstretched arms. Some small part of her mind knew that she was away from her father now, even if Harry failed. But she knew he wouldn't. Harry had promised her. And that promise filled her with joy as she saw him reaching out to catch her.

Pomona Sprout had spent decades at Hogwarts as either a teacher or student. She knew that Harry Potter was an amazing flyer, but what she saw that day was the most incredible thing she'd ever seen. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw a girl leap from the tower. But before she could react, even to scream in terror, the boy who lived was zooming through the air, determined to make sure that this girl would live too.

He saw her smiling. Every single cell in his body had screamed out in terror, and there she was smiling at him. In the middle of the fall even. But that terror ended as she was once again in his arms. They felt quite a bit more bruised than they had earlier due to the mid-air collision of the two speeding teens.

This time he hadn't failed her. And all was once again right in the world.