Harry Potter: Hydrus Black

The fallout from Hydrus releasing the spirits was funny—well, to him and George anyway. Every time Rita wrote an article calling him Dark Lord, the Quibbler would print the exact opposite. The owner of the Quibbler even pointed out that Skeeter had been a spy for Voldemort. He had to wonder why Xenophilius was defending him, after the man turned him and his friends in to the Snatchers. Maybe he was trying to get back into his and Luna's good books. Oh, the immortal teen understood why the man did what he did, but still it was one more person that stabbed him in the back.

These conflicting reporters caused the people to split even further. Rita made the public scared by calling Harry Potter a necromancer. She stated that it was only a matter of time before he took over Diagon Alley with an army of Inferi. Mr. Lovegood reacted by saying that there had been no proof the young hero did anything, and quoted some of the ghost that they were brought here by someone else. The young immortal just let the two reporters battle and went about his business, safe with his new looks.

December came and Hydrus's research was paying off. He kept up his studies and was now proficient in Arithmancy and Runes. He also bought more books to get his A-levels, and was going through those at a pretty fast rate. Self-help books were also bought, on the advice of his counselor, but they were put aside for later.

After a few months of catching up on his studies, he now had the laptop charmed to take books into its database. There were also magical/electronic devices that stored books, but couldn't get on the internet. The teen was shocked at this discovery, since he hadn't seen anything like it in the non-magical market. Frostwell must have been a great inventor.

Hydrus spent many hours downloading books to one of the book-readers and was going to start on the laptop after Christmas break. He'd leave the others for a later date. The charm was simple all you had to do was touch top of the device to the center of the book (or incase of the laptop, touch the book to the top of the screen), incant the spell, and after a few moments the information was stored. It was a relief that he wouldn't have to store all those books in his pocketspace, and with these devices he wouldn't have to look very hard to find any information he needed.

Ron and Hermione were coming to visit him during the break. He had written to Hermione often and was concerned about how she was being treated at Hogwarts, though it did make him feel better about the staff that they seemed to be stepping in more often than they ever had with him. Hermione had told him the many confrontations she had with Pure-bloods, she came out on top, but they were still cause for concern.

The day came for the visit and Hydrus was once again in his Harry Potter persona. He made sure to only keep school books out for their visit. When the Floo flared Ron stepped out and Hermione wasn't far behind. The only reason the redhead was welcome in his house was because he and Hermione were still a couple, much to his displeasure.

"Alright, Harry?" Ron asked as he took one of the empty chairs.

"Alright," he answered as he went to hug his best friend. "How are you, Hermione?"

"Better, thanks," she said returning the hug. She then made her way to the chair next to Ron's and Hydrus took the sofa.

"Have you figured out what to do about your parents?" the younger wizard asked.

"No, I'm still undecided," she answered with a sad tone.

"Oh, sorry, well, whatever you decide, I'll help as much as I can," he offered and then turned to Ron. "How is Quidditch going? Ginny doing alright?"

"She's doing okay, we'd be doing better if you came back," the redhead said with a glare. "Still don't understand why you're hiding."

"Good to hear Ginny's doing a good job," he said sincerely, ignoring the rest, trying his best not to get angry and ruin the visit.

"How are your studies coming along?" Hermione asked quickly sending a pointed look to her boyfriend. They had talked about it before they came, and it was understood that Ron wouldn't harass Harry about returning to the castle.

"Pretty good, actually. George got another calculator to work so that helps a lot." He smiled at her to show he was actually happy that his schoolwork was getting done.

"That's a relief," she sighed and then brightened. "I showed the calculator to Professor Vector, she was very excited about it. I researched it and made a few more for use in classes, I hope you don't mind." She was practically bouncing in her seat.

"Of course I don't mind, that's why I gave it to you in the first place. However, George is selling them in the shop, so you may want to stop making them and point customers his way. There's a patent on them now."

"I'm still mad at you about giving her one. She spends all her time with the Professor or working on her researcher and no time with me," Ron groused, causing the other two to frown at him. The couple had had a few arguments about all her time away from him, until she made it perfectly clear that if he didn't stop she would dump him.

"Oh, hey, I got you two a present," the young immortal said, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Really? I'm sending yours by owl. You should get it sometime next week," Hermione said.

"You didn't have to get me anything," grumbled Ron, since the war money had been tighter, what with the repairs of the Burrow, and the Weasleys didn't buy gifts this year. Everything was supposed to be handmade and this redhead hadn't gotten around to making anything yet.

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