Not Who You Think

One

"As you all know, this year is your OWL year," Professor McGonagall began. Harry rested his head on his hands, arms propped up on the desk so that he was still looking at McGonagall at the front of the room.

"This means that at the end of the school year you will be taking your Ordinary Wizarding Levels. These tests are extremely important to your future and I expect each and every one of you to get admirable results. You are all also expected to get at least an Acceptable in Transfiguration ... yes, even you Mr Longbottom." Harry tuned her out as she kept going on about OWLs and tried not to scowl at McGonagalls actions.

Neville was actually quite smart and powerful, especially now that he actually had his own wand, not his father's old one. He just had to dumb himself down, act like he was still using his dad's old wand and pretend that he still had 30% of his core blocked. Ron was in a similar situation, having to act like he didn't care about work and didn't want to try.

Harry tilted his head as he got lost in his thoughts. His situation was the same as Neville's too. His core had been blocked by 50% and, according to Hermione, he shouldn't have been able to cast any magic with only half his magic, let alone perform the feats that he managed, such as a corporeal Patronus. That small piece of information had made him very thankful that he had been entered in the Triwizard Tournament, even with everything that had happened because of the Tournament. Without the Tournament, he wouldn't have become emancipated, meaning he wouldn't have been able to claim his Potter Lordship. And without the Potter Lordship ring, all the spells on him wouldn't have been removed.

Neville had encouraged him to go to Gringotts and claim the ring as soon as possible, after Luna pointed out that, since the tournament rules said only those who were of age could compete, and he was being made to compete, he was being acknowledged as of age, and he was glad he had. The goblins had agreed with his reasoning, as had Lady Magic, and he had been emancipated. As soon as he had accepted responsibilities for House Potter and slid on the ring, the Potter Family Magic had stripped away every piece of magic that had been placed on him by someone who wasn't family and listed them all down. The one he had been most furious about had been the core block, as blocking magic also ended up messing with memory and other things to do with the mind as the magical core and mind are extremely interwoven. But the compulsions to be foolhardy, reckless, submissive to the Dursley's (and didn't that one make him want to scream), and the trust spells linked to Dumbledore and anything Gryffindor were just as bad, as well as the spells that made him suspicious and mistrustful about anything Slytherin.

After seeing all the magic that had been placed on him, and by Dumbledore no less, he had dragged his large friend group to Gringotts at the next chance he got so that they could be tested, as the goblins had a means to do that. The results were just as bad as his. Hermione had trust spells on her to trust authority and Dumbledore above all else and to act like a stuck-up know-it-all, while Ron had compulsions to be lazy in regard to school work and to only care about Quidditch, as well as to allow his jealousy of Harry to cloud his judgment about things.

Ginny had a mind block in place, which had caused all the memories of her first year to be supressed and passed off as not very bad or traumatic. She also had a compulsion to obsess over Harry and try to make him fall for her, which was very concerning for both of them as they regarded each other as siblings. Neville's test had shown that he had spells causing his insecurities to be at the forefront of his mind and to be extremely shy, as well as a 30% core block. Luckily for the group, Fred, George, and Luna were clear, considering how long the rituals to remove all the spells on Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Hermione took, since none of them were old enough to claim any rings/didn't have any rings to claim.

It had been that moment that turned them all away from Dumbledore. None of them could believe what Dumbledore had done and none of them could work out why, even though they had begun to speculate. The only thing they could work out, was that it seemed to be centred around Harry. They had started working in the shadows to undermine Dumbledore, trying to work out what Dumbledore's end goal was, as well as trying to keep Harry alive throughout the Tournament.