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Return of an Alpha | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama Warnings: Death, Mild Language Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 409 Summary: For three years, Harry has been Becoming Alpha of Hogwarts. Now another Alpha is returning, bringing with him darkness, chaos, and battle. Watch as sides line up for war, and people and society change. Hitcount: Story Total: 169702; Chapter Total: 3580 Author's Notes: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. |
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Easter passed in such a whirlwind of revising and homework for the fifth years that they felt as if they barely had time to sleep and eat, let alone go to the Room of Requirement to train for half an hour a day like they had asked everyone staying at the school to do. Quills were made so dull that they had to be thrown out, twice, and huge stacks of rolls of parchment sat beside each fifth year, covered in dried black ink. It wasn’t until late afternoon of the last day of break that the fifth years set down their quills and blew on their final essay that they relaxed, finally finished. “Never again,” Theo declared emphatically. “Never again am I doing that much work in a single week!” He was shaking his right hand, which everyone could see was half covered in ink, not that any of theirs were any better. “I’d agree, but we don’t control the homework load at all,” Harry sighed, stuffing his books, essays, and writing supplies into his bag before tossing it onto the ground. He then stood and walked over to the couch in the Slytherin Common Room, collapsing onto it in a heap. “I’m so exhausted from doing all of that work!” “And people say homework can’t kill a person,” Theo muttered darkly. “I feel like my hand is going to fall off!” “We all do, Theo,” Tracey sighed, still sitting at the table covered in crumpled up pieces of parchment and spare quills, empty ink bottles sitting in the middle. “This is probably the part of fifth year that the older students warn us about: Easter Break and onwards.” “If we have to deal with any more of this, I’m going to contemplate taking only three classes next year,” Harry declared from his spot on the couch, Draco and Blaise on the one next to him while Daphne sat leaning against Blaise’s legs. Theo was still sitting next to Tracey, though he looked as if he wanted to join the others. Taking pity on him, Tracey stood and sat on the third couch that made up the triangle they had made at the beginning of the break. He quickly joined her, Harry watching with some amusement but making no comment, knowing Tracey would retaliate by mentioning Ginny. “If only we could take that few,” Draco groaned. “I believe it’s a minimum of five.” “Why do teachers love torturing us so much?” Blaise asked rhetorically, his head hitting the back of the couch. “I don’t know, but I’ll be so relieved when this is over,” Daphne stated. “Oh, are you all finally done?” Astoria asked as she entered the Common Room, making her way towards her sister and friends. She had a bit of a smug look about her as she sat beside Draco, who had quickly scooted over make room, squashing a complaining Blaise. The blond boy ignored Blaise and put an arm around the third year’s shoulders, kissing the top of her head. “Tori, if you don’t stop bragging about your lack of homework over break, we all will make you regret it, even if it means tying Draco up after Stunning him so that he won’t interfere,” Daphne informed her sister without even looking at the young girl. “Tracey and I would be quite willing to help,” Harry added somewhat brightly, his normal energy gone after so much work. Astoria turned to him, and he just raised an eyebrow in challenge, making her gulp as she shook her head quickly, some fear in her eyes. “That’s better.” “Seriously, though, are you all finally done?” Astoria asked, her voice just curious this time, not teasing. “Yes, we’re finally done, Astoria,” Tracey told her with a relieved sigh. Harry would have replied, but he was lying out on the couch with his eyes closed, falling asleep. “Oi! Harry, don’t fall asleep on us!” Tracey called, somehow standing up just enough to grab one of the balled-up pieces of parchment from the table behind her couch to throw at him. It hit him in the face, and he opened his eyes enough to glare at her. “Lay off me, will you?” he groaned. “That Ancient Runes translation took forever! My brain hurts.” “Daphne and I had to do it as well, remember?” Tracey reminded him. “I know how hard it was. That isn’t an excuse for falling asleep.” “Nag your sleeping boyfriend leaning on your shoulder,” Harry muttered in annoyance, turning to face the couch with his back towards Tracey, pulling his glasses off his face to put them in his robes. One of his pockets was charmed not to allow anything inside of it to break. “What? Theo!” Tracey exclaimed, and Harry heard his fellow fifth year jump, most likely looking around in confusion. Fighting down a snicker, Harry let himself slip off to sleep, too exhausted to stay awake any longer. “Career advice starts next week,” Daphne commented as a Slytherin fifth years sat down for breakfast the first day back from Break. “We meet with Snape, right?” Harry asked, and the others nodded. “He should give us good advice, then.” “Do you have any ideas for what you want to do after school?” Blaise then asked, an eyebrow raised, the others turning to watch for Harry’s answer. Harry had never spoken of any ideas, so he understood his friends’ incredulity. “Yes, I do, in fact, have some ideas for after Hogwarts,” Harry stated. “Just because I haven’t brought them up doesn’t mean I don’t have them.” “So…?” Theo egged, but Harry shook his head. “Oh, no, if you all think like this, then I’m not saying,” Harry told them. “Now, when do I meet with our Head of House?” “Wednesday, Mr. Potter,” the voice of the aforementioned professor said from behind him. “Thank you, Professor,” Harry said, turning to nod at the man, who nodded in return and stalked out of the Great Hall. “They’re doing well with the swords,” Harry commented about a week after Easter break, watching the seventh years go through their various katas with the blades chosen from the wall in the Room of Requirement. “Even only using them once or twice a week until the end of the year, they’ll be good enough to train on their own if they have a training dummy to help them.” “It’s because they’re dedicated and focused,” Ginny said. “Kind of how the two of you were over the summer, or so I’ve been told.” Harry just rolled his eyes, knowing it was Ginny’s way of teasing them. Still, he did have to admit she had a point. He could remember the determination he had felt over the summer after Cedric had died and he had returned from Headquarters of the Order. The pace of his training had picked up, and he learned more in that single month than he ever had before in an entire summer. It appeared the seventh years were doing the same. The most likely reason was the fact that their leaving Hogwarts for good had hit them hard as NEWTs got closer and closer, opening their eyes to the fact that they’d be open to easier attack for more than just two months shortly. They had two months before they left school to begin their lives, which meant a month and a half to train as everyone knew the fifth and seventh years would be too immersed in OWLs and NEWTs to surface long enough to train. In the long run, they’d profit from working so hard now, but they would all begin to regret it in the beginning as their bodies protested, Harry knew, remembering the pain he and Tracey had been in at night. He would recommend using the Room to take a long soak in a bath before returning to their Common Rooms. Otherwise, he’d let them continue at this pace. It would only help them in the future as they fought for their lives. “Come in, Mr. Potter,” the voice of Professor Snape called from the other side of his office door at the time Harry had been assigned to discuss his future career with the man. As Harry went into the office, he caught sight of the toad sitting in the corner on a stood, her clipboard in her arms and a quill held at the ready. Ignoring her for the most part, Harry placed his bag by the side of his normal chair and sat down in it quickly. Professor Snape had a small pile of parchments, each titled with the name of one of Harry’s fellow fifth year Slytherins. The one in front of the Potions Master had Harry’s name on it. “So, Mr. Potter, have you given any thought to what you might like to do after you finish Hogwarts?” Professor Snape asked, and Harry nodded slightly. “Since the notice of these meetings went up, I’ve been told suggestions by many, actually,” Harry said. “Only a few caught my interest at all, and most were only because I wasn’t expecting them. Four ideas stood, out, though, with one of them my own from no one else.” Harry paused and saw his Head of House nod for him to continue. “One suggestion made quite regularly was that I become an Auror,” Harry said, and he heard Umbridge almost choke behind him. “Of course, I understand why they’ve suggested it, but I don’t think it’s the career for me. I don’t really want to spend my entire life chasing down Dark Wizards and upholding the law.” Professor Snape nodded in understanding, his quill scratching something onto the sheet of parchment in front of him, most likely that the idea had caught Harry’s interest but didn’t seem right for him. “Another idea was that I become a professional Seeker, which I admit is an idea I might see myself as doing if another career doesn’t come up for me,” Harry said, remembering his Quidditch Match against Viktor Krum the year before with a slight grin; it had been fun. “Out of most of the players here at Hogwarts, you’re one of the few I can see going professional,” Professor Snape admitted, “and that’s out of all four Houses. It would be a good idea to keep that in mind as a backup profession if nothing else works out for you.” “Professor, we both know I could get any job I wanted if I showed even a slight bit of interest in it,” Harry sighed. “I’d rather work for my job, though, and earn it on my merits.” “Very true,” Professor Snape agreed, inclining his head slightly. From her corner of the room, Harry could hear Umbridge pretty much choking at their conversation. It wouldn’t surprise him if she interfered with her own opinions soon, especially with his next two ideas. “Anything else?” Professor Snape asked, and Harry nodded quickly. “An idea that has been suggested by others that caught my attention more than even Quidditch was becoming the Defense Professor in a few years after I gain more experience,” Harry said softly, and at that, Umbridge broke. “He cannot become the Defense Professor! His Defense grades are abysmal!” she exclaimed, standing up from her stool, not that it made her any taller. “Besides, what experience does he have in teaching others?” “She does make a good point, Mr. Potter,” Snape said. “What experience do you have in teaching others?” Harry knew he was curious as to why Harry even thought about the idea as they both knew Harry was probably the best in his year, if not the school, at Defense Against the Dark Arts when they had a good teacher. “In past years, when we were required to learn a few spells during Defense, I helped my friends learn the spells,” Harry said. “And last year, for the final task, I spent quite a bit of time looking up spells, learning them on my own with help from my friends, and then teaching them what I’d learned. It helped me to internalize the spells by teaching my friends, so they let me. Their words on my teaching were along the lines of ‘This is the best lesson I’ve had in spells from Defense since we got here.’ Professor Lupin was good for Dark creatures, but he didn’t teach spells in third year.” “And this peaked your interest in teaching others?” Professor Snape asked. “Truthfully, yes,” Harry admitted. “I enjoyed watching some of my friends, like Neville, suddenly get the spells, their faces lighting up. It was very fulfilling and fun.” “Very well,” Professor Snape said. “To be a professor at Hogwarts requires an Outstanding on both your OWLs and NEWTs in the subject as well as Exceeds Expectations on both sets of exams for the classes that have to do with the subject. For Defense this would include Charms, Transfigurations, Care of Magical Creatures, and Potions. “From what your other professors have sent to me about your marks, you’ve got the grades necessary in all of the classes except Defense itself. However, if you prepare, you may find the exams different from the Defense class itself. Your Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration scores are ranging from a high E to a solid O, so you’re fine there. Care of Magical Creatures might be a course you need to study a bit more as you’ve got an E, but it’s wavering at times. Otherwise, you should be fine. “Do you have any other ideas, or is that all?” he finally finished, and Harry blinked at the requirements for becoming a professor, though they all made sense. It took him a moment to clear his mind enough to reply. “I actually had one more idea…” he said slowly. “It was my own, and I haven’t brought it up before, but I don’t really know the requirements for it, so…” Professor Snape nodded in encouragement, though his face remained blank. Only hours spent with the man allowed Harry to see his professor’s curiosity. “Well, I was wondering if it was possible to perhaps be part of the Wizengamot,” Harry admitted softly, and he heard Umbridge choke again while Professor Snape’s face showed true surprise. “I want to make a difference on the Wizarding World, stop the prejudice like I have been here. The Wizengamot is the place to do it, so I want to at least try.” When Harry finished, there was a silence in the office for a full minute before Professor Snape could finally reply. “Mr. Potter, I guess it will please you to know that there are seats in the Wizengamot inherited through generations, and the Potters have one,” he said, and Harry looked up in surprise. “You would have been invited, after finishing school, to join, set a proxy, or sell it to another family who wanted the seat. “As it appears you wish to accept your seat,” — Harry nodded quickly — “I would suggest looking up and purchasing books on the Wizengamot as well as on the various laws. Speaking to your godfather, who grew up surrounded by these sort of politics as Heir to the Black fortune, would not be amiss either.” “Thank you, Professor,” Harry said gratefully. The advice was very welcome. From the corner of the room, Harry could hear Umbridge muttering, “If he becomes part of the Wizengamot and starts to change things, the Wizarding World is doomed to be destroyed.” “Is that all?” Professor Snape asked, and Harry nodded. “Very well, you had best get up to lunch, then, as it’s about to start. And just so you know, Mr. Potter, if you join the Wizengamot, you will have the ability to have two jobs as long as your second job understands the situation.” “Thank you for all the help, Professor,” Harry said with a nod and a small smile, picking up his bag and leaving the room, not looking at the toad at all. “So, how did it go?” Theo asked as Harry sat down at the table in the Great Hall with his friends, who were already eating. “Quite well, I think, though I surprised both Snape and the toad multiple times,” Harry replied with a smug grin. “She was there?” Draco almost demanded while Theo sprayed the other side of the table with soup, fortunately missing any of his friends, and the others turned to stare at Harry. “Oh, yes, wasn’t she there for you?” he asked, and the others shook their heads. “Well, she sat in the back of the office on a stool with her clipboard. Only interrupted us once when I mentioned the idea of becoming a future Defense Professor here. She was outraged at the idea, stating that my marks were abysmal in her class.” The boys were all laughing while the girls were trying to hold in giggles at the idea. “So other than Defense Professor, what other ideas did you talk about?” Astoria asked from beside Draco, and the others stopped laughing at the questioned. “I believe Quidditch came up,” Harry mused, looking up at the enchanted ceiling and tapping his chin as if deep in thought. He knew without looking that Draco, Blaise, and Theo were grinning at the idea. “The Auror Corps also came up, but that was mostly so that the idea was out there, not because I’m really thinking about joining.” Harry continued to stare at the ceiling, his hand now calmly on the table. “Is that all?” Theo demanded, and Harry just watched a cloud slowly move across the ceiling. “Harry?” Tracey asked quietly from beside him, her hand gingerly touching his arm, and he turned to smile gently at her. “There was one more idea, but I’d rather keep it to myself for now,” he told the group, turning to look at his curious friends. “Now come on, I’m starved.” He filled his plate and quickly dug in, knowing he had worried his friends a little as well as upped their curiosity at what other profession might have his attention. Sometime in the future he would tell them, but for now, they didn’t really need to know. “So, are you going to tell us what your fourth idea for the future is?” Sirius asked with a grin when Harry used the mirror to call him the next day. “The others told you with their Journals, didn’t they?” Harry sighed, not really all that surprised. He hadn’t told a single person, not even Ginny or Tracey, what his various ideas for his future were, so they had all been trying to get the ideas out of him for a week. “Yes,” the voice of Samuel said from beyond the view of the mirror, and Harry had to smirk at Sirius’ pout aimed at Samuel. “Sirius, stop pouting at me and talk to your godson unless you want one of us to use the mirror.” The dog Animagus stopped pouting immediately, drawing a laugh from Harry. “Are we going to hear your final idea, now?” Sirius asked, almost begging, as he turned back to the mirror. Harry tapped his chin in thought, trying to decide if it was worth it or not. “Do you all promise not to tell the others if I do?” Harry finally asked, and he heard immediate agreements from six different adults. “Okay, Sirius, show me who else is in the room with you,” he demanded, and the others laughed as Sirius pouted before turning the mirror. On a couch, Harry saw Samuel and Daniella waving, a few books around them. Amelia Bones was sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, paperwork in front of her, though she smiled at him when the mirror was facing her. Remus was sitting in an armchair across from one Nymphadora Tonks, both of them with tea in their hands; they had obviously been talking when he called. “That’s better,” Harry sighed with a grin. “It was a surprise to hear six voices rather than four. Anyway, I was thinking of maybe taking the Potter seat on the Wizengamot.” The other side of the mirror was in complete silence, but Harry had been expecting it and waited out the silence. “Why?” Amelia finally asked, the first to recover. Harry knew she asked because she herself was on the Wizengamot. “If there’s one place to really change the Wizarding World, to bring in new ideals, to perhaps stop prejudice and blood status, it’s there where Half-Bloods are slowly taking over as families are forced to marry Muggle-borns. I want to do more than just change Hogwarts like I have been. Plus, by the time I get to the Wizengamot and really begin making a difference, I’ll have classmates and other students from Hogwarts from right now also there, willing to help me.” “The leader of the next generation,” he heard Remus say softly. “He has some good points,” Samuel finally said. “Remember, Amelia, each generation has its own leader in the Wizengamot. For the eldest, it’s usually Dumbledore. You are the main one people turn to from our own generation alongside Lucius Malfoy. With how Harry is the leader of his generation at Hogwarts, there’s very little doubt that he’ll be their leader.” “It might be better if Harry just accepts his role and joins the Wizengamot not long after school,” Daniella agreed. “If we get him the proper books and training, he’ll be ready by the time he’s done with school.” “Plus, if Voldemort is gone, there would be no way someone would deny me entrance,” Harry added helpfully, painfully aware that his godfather had yet to say a thing and that the mirror had been purposely turned away from the man once he had declared the idea. “New ideas will be necessary then, and who better than the Boy-Who-Lived to give them?” “I’d welcome you with open arms,” Amelia finally decided with a smile towards the mirror when it faced her. “Knowing how much of a leader you are, I say you’ll make sweeping changes for the better within the first year despite the opposition you’d face.” Harry grinned slightly. “Sirius?” he finally asked softly, and the mirror turned slowly. His godfather’s face was completely blank, his gray eyes without their normal mischievous look in them. “Do you really want to do this, Harry?” he asked, his voice monotonous, and Harry nodded once. “I guess I’ll try my very best to remember the lessons I grew up with, then, and I’ll teach you all I can. The library here should have all the books you need as I brought the entire Black library here, leaving copies at Grimmauld Place.” Harry smiled hesitantly, and Sirius grinned slightly. “I might not have liked having to learn all of this, but I can tell it’s something you really want to do, Pup, so I’m willing to help in any way I can,” his godfather declared, and Harry smiled fully, wishing he could hug his godfather right then. “Let’s discuss getting some of the basic books to you now so that you have something to do when your exams are over or if you just don’t want to study for a while,” Samuel said, an amused grin on his face as Harry groaned at the idea of studying anything at all. Snickers were heard around the Great Hall as Umbridge made her way to the Head Table near the end of April. She glanced this way and that, unable to figure out what everyone was laughing at. Nothing in the mirror had appeared to be off that morning, so why were the students laughing? They had no reason to laugh! At the various tables, friends from all years and Houses began whispering back and forth, asking one another if she knew what was on her face. Most were gathering that she had absolutely no idea about it, and it just made smirks grow and laughter ring louder around the Hall. “Brilliant idea, you three,” George whispered from his table, leaning back on his bench to reach the younger prankster trio as he and Fred exchanged looks. “Quite brilliant,” Fred agreed, leaning back as well. “It didn’t take much to make the potion to mess with her senses and ability to see it.” “Very simple, but sometimes that makes the best sort of prank,” George finished as the twins sat up again. “Wonder how long it will take for someone to tell her she has ink smudged all over her face,” Ginny said with a laugh, looking up at the toad-like woman with amusement. “Oh, probably lunch at the earliest, sometime tomorrow at the latest,” Harry replied with a smirk. The ink smudged on her forehead, cheeks, and chin really did add an interesting effect to the woman, though it didn’t cover up her ugliness. “If someone does, it’ll probably be Filch,” Tracey sighed, but her blue eyes were twinkling with mirth, obviously just as amused as the rest. “’Course,” Harry groaned. “It’s like he’s in love with the toad. They should just get married and leave us alone.” All three sat frozen for a moment, then gagged slightly at the thought before bursting out in laughter of how that would look. AN: Yes, my plan for Harry if he survives the war is for him to be a politician, and no, nothing you tell me will change this. At least I don’t follow the paths of many others who have him take his seat while still at Hogwarts. Any who are in line for the seats on the Wizengamot can only claim them once they’ve finished with school, and it is not mandatory — they may waive it off to a proxy or sell the seat to another magical family if they so wish. |
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