Harry Potter and the Lighting Lord

Chapter 35

Life at Hogwarts went on as normal. Harry continued to study and practice duelling at a furious rate. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team won the Quidditch cup thanks to Harry's spectacular performances as the team's seeker. The exams approached and Harry and Daphne sailed through them without any problems, although they had heard rumours that Hermione Granger had tried to sit for all the exams and her burned out. It seems even though she couldn't attend classes, she submitted the homework assignments for Muggle Studies and Divination as well, and so much work finally made her crack. Harry shook his head when he heard that; he just couldn't understand the girl's obsessive need to do homework and always be one who knew everything in books. While he understood that knowledge was very important, reading what was given in books and what was reality were different. Granger had already made quite a few enemies by her constant belittling of the magical world, which tended to annoy all of the purebloods and many half-bloods.

The results of the exams came out, and Harry and Daphne were tied for first place (Harry may be far ahead of Daphne in knowledge and duelling, but she was no slouch). Hermione Granger was shocked that she was not the first, even though she had taken more subjects as compared to Harry and Daphne. In fact, Granger had dropped to the fifth spot in their year, something which infuriated the girl.

But what else happened was that Remus Lupin was ousted as a werewolf. There was an uproar about that and Harry was sure that Dumbledore had something to do with it. While he couldn't forgive Remus Lupin for his inaction, maybe they could form a tentative friendship now that the man knew that Dumbledore was only using him. Harry went over and knocked on the door of Lupin's office. When he heard a come in, he entered.

"Hello, Harry" said Lupin in a weird voice. "Come in, take a seat."

Harry looked at the room and shuddered. "Something wrong?" asked Lupin, from where he was packing his stuff.

"Nothing" said Harry stiffly. "It's just the last time I was here, I was molested by Lockhart. And that's not a memory I want to remember."

"I heard that you resigned" said Harry quietly.

Lupin shrugged. "It was better than being booted out. Pretty soon the letters will start to arrive and parents wouldn't want me to be teaching their children. It's better this way" he said.

Harry stayed quiet. "Remus, I hope you realize now that Dumbledore - "

He was interrupted when he heard a growl. Lupin stared at Harry in anger and snarled "How could you, Harry? How could you expose me for being a werewolf? And now, you're trying to pin the blame on Dumbledore, thinking I would spy on him for you, aren't you? Well, if that's your intention, you can forget about it!"

Harry's expression went cold and the temperature dropped. "You think I was the one who exposed you?" he asked quietly. "That I would want you to spy on Dumbledore for me? I don't need you to spy on him for me. You're too blinded to figure out that Dumbledore is using you as his pawn. Once he saw that you were of no use, he exposed you and kicked you out as the Defence teacher. And yet you blame me? I came here hoping to somewhat mend our relationship, at least because of my father's memory. But I've changed my mind. It's just not worth it. And it looks like Sirius has figured out the same as well. Have a good life, Mr Lupin" said Harry, and he walked out of the room.

"I've become soft" he whispered to himself as he walked back to Ravenclaw Tower. "I won't make the same mistake again. I've forgotten the lessons I had learnt at the Dursleys."

After Ravenclaw was once again declared the winner of the House Cup, Harry and Daphne climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express, done with their third year at Hogwarts. Harry was especially happy, as the year had been very peaceful, not to mention he was able to take revenge on many of the students who had targeted him the previous year; all of them were repeatedly pranked and publicly embarrassed throughout the year, courtesy of Harry, Fred and George, the latter two who were more than pleased to help him out. He smiled and looked out of the window of the train. He was finally returning to Potter Castle for the summer.