Chapter 34 - Second Year

I was once again in an empty compartment in Hogwarts express making my way towards the school. This year was an important year. This year many important characters in the story would join the school. Most notable of the characters are the Fred and George Weasley and Cedric Diggory. Some others were Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Lee Jordan and Roger Davies. Some future strong members of Slytherin Quidditch team would also begin this year.

The opening feast was the same without any changes and then my second school year began.

My activities for second year were already planned out.

To continue to act and behave like last year in all classes. To score similar results as last year but improve a little bit in practical. Not too much but I want to slowing show power equal to talented students by the 7th year. It would not cause much attention but I needed to be seen as equals by others when I joined the Wizengamot and not looked down upon.

To reach NEWT level in all subjects taught at Hogwarts and try to reach NEWT level in the other subjects too.

To find a way to remove or change my magical signature from spells so that I can prank all the bullies and make sure that it does not lead back to me. With the Weasley twins in town they would take the blame. I did not worry for them as Dumbledore would make sure that his supporters in Gryffindor got off with a few detentions.

The school year passed quietly without any drama. It was the more boring than the last year. I noticed that I had lost the surveillance of both professors and the purebloods. It seemed like that had lost their interest in me. Nott still avoided me which kept the Slytherins from causing trouble for me.

The twins had started pranking this year itself. It looked like they did not waste their earlier years and spent it reading. The pranks they came up with required above 1st year magical knowledge. So I had to be careful and not get caught in any of their pranks. Their main targets were Slytherin so other houses were mostly safe. But this had led to more bullying of Gryffindor by Slytherins in retaliation and that was not good.

I had found a way to change my magical signature while performing spells with a wand. It was a rune chain which can be carved onto a wand which would scramble the magical signature of any spells cast using it making it impossible for it to be traced back to me. I could not carve it on my wand or my parents wands as I did not want to take a risk destroying them. Instead I found a wand which was an average fit for me in Room of Hidden things and decided to carve on that. I decided to carve during this year's holidays and from next year onwards I would cause enough chaos in Hogwarts until people stopped Bullying or the professors took action.

I had finished NEWT level studies in all Hogwarts subjects. I even studied Divination to understand prophecies and understand whether I could kill Voldemort or not and change history.

From my research, I understood that the prophecies are very vague and most of the prophecies do not come true even during the lifetime of the Seer who gave out the prophecy. This can be understood by looking at the number of prophesy spheres which are still lit in the Department of Mysteries and comparing the very few number of true seers born in the world in the past century. So the prophecies do not come into action most of the time. A prophesy told today may only be fulfilled only after a 1000 years in some cases.

The prophecy between Voldemort and Harry Potter came into action only because Dumbledore manipulated some events to make sure that the prophecy came into action. Since this was not the canon world but a dark one, Dumbledore most probably led the potters to their death when he found that he could win the war by sacrificing them. This prophecy may have referred to some other Dark Lord in some other country many years in the future and some other kid who was born at the end of seventh month of some other calendar whose parents had fought the other Dark Lord. That kid would have had the power to vanquish his time's dark lord.

There were many different meanings to the words of the prophecy. This made it foolish to act according to a prophecy. Prophecies were something that always came true so there was no benefit in playing with it. The best thing to do is to hope that none of the Prophecies are about you so that you don't become fate's pawn.

Now that the prophesy was in action, I could not kill Voldemort directly. I had to leave it to fate or I had to manipulate things in such a way that harry indirectly kills Voldemort. The prophecy does not say that Harry kills Riddle just that he has a hand in vanquishing him.

I believe the prophecy was real as otherwise Harry Potter would not have survived his childhood or survive the dangerous Hogwarts years. Any other kid would have died on the cold November night on which he was placed at the doorstep due to hypothermia itself even before all the beatings. Fate was making sure he survived.

Now coming back to my academic achievements of this year. I also reached NEWT level in curse breaking and warding as it was related to Ancient Runes in which was already at NEWT level. I was also NEWT level in Law and languages (French and Spanish) already. All that were left were Healing, Duelling and Alchemy.

I also completely became one with my inner animal during this time but I did not dare undergo the transformation now in school since I did not know if my physical appearance would change after the transformation. I could only do the transformation during holidays and explain any physical changes with a growth spurt.

The DADA teacher this year died. He was an old wizard and there was not much surprise when he died in his sleep near the end of the school year. The curse must have just made his death sooner by a few months.

At the end of the term fest it was Slytherin winning House cup again but Ravenclaws won the Quidditch Cup by some luck.

The train journey was without incident and I reached my house safely. The removal of 4500G from my trust vault was handled by Sherry on my birthday and had been converted into pounds and deposited into my account. It was much better to deposit in the muggle bank as I would gain interest which was not there in Gringotts. I told her to do it every year until my majority even without me reminding or instructing her.