Note: The contents of the following story are my own original work. The characters, trademarks and associated brands you may recognize from Harry Potter all belong to J. K. Rowling and in no way am I claiming them as my own. In order for you to fully understand a lot of the content of this story, you will need to read 'Three Cheers to Friendship' by Bl00dofthevine, as the stories entwine.

Pre AN: You'll notice that I've changed from the preview a bit, but I think its better… Don't you?

Warnings: Age Restricted: M as of chapter 4, There will be slash in the story, so if you don't like slash - YOU ARE FOREWARNED!! Don't bitch at me about it… Also, there's going to be strong language, crude humour. Etc.

1. Reunion

Christmas Eve: Hogwarts Hall decimated in surprise assault - Dark involvement suspected

The night before last, late on Christmas Eve and after the entire castle had retired to bed, (writes Fay Gossmith, special correspondent for the Daily Prophet) Hogwarts School was broken into by an unidentified intruder.

"It is expected that entry was gained through a hidden passage of some kind, as there are no signs of forced entry through the gates. The centaurs in the forest also report that they did not see anyone entering through the forest." says a distraught Minerva McGonagall, currently headmistress of Hogwarts School. Apparently, however, nobody at the school reports knowledge of any kind of hidden passage into the school. McGonagall, while unable to disclose the whereabouts of such a passage, says that the possibility of its existence is quite plausible, as the castle has been around for very long, and no one can possibly know all its secrets.

A squadron of Aurors and Curse-breakers from the ministry were summoned to the scene by McGonagall upon discovery that the great hall had been entered and sealed from the inside. The suspect/s, however, escaped - how this escape was orchestrated is still a mystery. Comments from the head of the Auror Department - Harry Potter - are yet to be given.

Upon forced entry, the hall was discovered to have been set up for some kind of unnamed dark ritual. Most of the evidence was destroyed. The remaining evidence, or any other details, are as yet undisclosed by the ministry.

Christmas Eve's events are also being linked with the sudden disappearance of a Hogwarts teacher, George Weasley. Should anyone have any leads as to the culprit behind this incident, or the whereabouts of Mr Weasley, we urge you to please send an owl to the ministry's Auror department immediately.

Terrible dark magic is expected to be at play, and the cooperation of everyone at this point is required and expected.

George looked deeply into Fred's eyes. It was true: their original reunion had been interrupted by a Ministry assault, but luckily, the aurors hadn't been on time. Fred was alive, and they had escaped. George had placed a couple of well chosen curses and charms, preventing the ministry from collecting much evidence, before taking the Elvegora manual and running for it. He'd lead Fred out of the hall through a side door, under the invisibility cloak, and they'd escaped through a few useful passages, across the back of the grounds, via the Whomping Willow, and through the Shrieking Shack.

They were now very far away from Hogwarts, in London, in a dingy apartment George had been renting from a muggle family for a few months prior, in preparation.

Fred dropped the copy of the Daily Prophet unceremoniously before saying, "So, you're saying that I've been dead for more than twenty years, since You-Know-Who, and you resurrected me?"

"Yes" George sighed, trying for about the tenth time to explain in better detail. "Don't you remember, that night? Any of it?"

"I… I don't really remember much of anything, really. It's all very vague, like its all behind some kind of veil, and I can't see through it"

"But, you remember me? And Hogwarts?" George asked, quizzical.

"Yes. That's all quite clear. And I remember mom, and Ron and them. I remember Dumbledore… School…" Fred seemed to be racking his memory for anything unusual. "I remember the green flash - that must've been when I… I died?"

"Yes, that's it, Um" George struggled to remember any other important things Fred should remember. "What about Dumbledore dying? Do you remember that?"

"Yeah, I do" Fred said hotly. "Snape killed him. I remember that!"

"Snape was on our side, you know… Dumbledore had Snape kill him, but, he was with us till the end. Harry even named one of his sons after Snape…"

George caught a glimpse of himself in a full length mirror hanging against the door and stopped for a few seconds, marvelling at his youthful appearance. He looked about sixteen, seventeen maybe. Fred looked slightly older than he did, still nineteen like he'd been when he died. For the next part of George's plan, they'd need to give Fred a bit of de-ageing potion too - so they'd both be around sixteen.

"George?"

Snapping out of his short reverie, George said, "Yeah?"

"What now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean" Fred searched for the right way to say it for a few moments. "I mean, what are we going to do now? You know - the ministry's looking for you, and Hogwarts is being investigated, We can't go back to our family, that'd be too weird. Dangerous, probably…"

He looked almost sad.

"I know" said George. "We're going to start a completely new life. We'll be transferring to Hogwarts soon, from America or something, once we've changed ourselves up a bit… We'll need new identities, and we'll have to change the way we look, enough that no one will recognise us" seeing Fred's panicked expression, he added, "It's going to be fun"

The buzzing traffic outside the window of their third storey apartment was becoming increasingly impossible to talk over as the morning progressed, so they simply sat in silence, relishing in each others' presence.

*

When Fred and George entered The Leaky Cauldron that evening (the evening of December 26th), at dusk, they were disguised under long, hooded black cloaks. Fred stopped dead when he saw none other than Lee Jordan, their old school friend, behind the counter. Having been dead two decades, Fred wouldn't know that Lee had bought the old Inn a couple of years earlier.

George grabbed him around the shoulders, leading him past the counter and out back, into Diagon Alley.

They headed straight down the street towards the massive white stone building that housed Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Their first task was to empty George's vault into a new one, and then to take the small fortune which was still resting, untouched, in Fred's vault as well. It was not going to be very easy, seeing as one of them was supposed to be dead, and the other missing.

Approaching the counter, and a goblin right at the far end who didn't look busy, Fred said, "Are you sure you can do this?"

"If you just act natural, yes. Plenty strange, robed characters come in here all the time, no one'll find it suspicious unless we draw attention to ourselves"

It was true, it being almost closing time, that no one paid much attention to them. There were very few people in the bank, and only a handful of goblins still on duty. The goblin they'd approached looked up.

"Yes?"

"We've come to empty two vaults, as well as set up a new account, if you'll be so kind as to help us?" Gorge said.

"Keys?"

"Have them here" Fred said, holding out his hand and dropping both keys onto the counter. George aimed his wand discreetly at the goblin from down his sleeve.

The goblin eyed both keys sceptically in the palm of his hand, raiding an eyebrow. He looked up at them again. "This… can't be. You are Fred and George Weasley?"

"Imperio" George whispered.

The goblin looked dazed for a moment, then got up saying, "Follow me, then"

An hour later, both vaults had been cleared, a new account opened and recorded under the name 'Aiden Crowe', and they were ready to leave.

George deftly, and without drawing any notice to himself, threw the invisibility cloak over the goblin. He silently ordered it to follow them outside - it was still under the Imperius curse - and they lead it outside, around a corner and into a deserted alley packed full of empty wooden crates.

Fred watched, mouth open in shock, as George silenced the goblin with a blinding jet of green light, and then transfigured in into another wooden crate.

"What?" He said, looking from the new crate to Fred.

"You… You killed him" Fred stuttered. "Wasn't there another way?"

"I could have put a memory charm on him, but those can be broken. So no, we had to kill him" Seeing the rather flabbergasted look on Fred's face, he said. "It's a small price to pay - and we've come this far. It won't be much longer now… we won't need to kill anyone else, I hope…"

They set off back to their apartment in the heart of London, where they stayed until the following morning.

*

The goal of their next trip to Diagon Alley was to procure Fred a wand. This trip, however, was cut short before it even began by the arrival of the Daily Prophet, which they had an old Squib from downstairs bringing them every day.

The headline on the front page was:

Gringotts goblin killed by unknown strangers in mysterious break-in

The underlying article described a very vague idea that somebody had obviously entered the Bank in the dead of night, guided by so called 'dark forces', and kidnapped the goblin in question.

"The body of this specific goblin," it read, "was found by an auror in a deserted alleyway, meters away from the Bank. It had been transfigured into a crate"

George looked up from the article at Fred. "How the hell did they find him? No one could possibly have thought to try the crates… I didn't think…"

Fred, however, looked sombre. "What if they check what he'd been up to? The goblin… I mean. If they see it was our accounts he was closing… They'll know about our new accounts… They'll catch us"

"Nah. Gringotts goblins never sign transactions, I've heard Bill criticising them about it. They couldn't trace exactly who'd closed our accounts, I don't think - or the article would probably be a bit clearer, or correct… They're just saying something, so it looks like they have an idea of what happened. I don't think they do, though, and the goblins will hardly let the ministry investigate"

"I hope you're right" Fred said, as he got up to start on breakfast. They'd done a little grocery shopping the previous evening too, so there was food in the apartment.

"Well, we won't go back for a few days. Just in case" George said, going after Fred as he left the small room. Upon entering the living room, however, he found the door open, barred by a tall, young, foreign-looking warlock in dark robes. He had his wand levelled at Fred's chest.

AN: So - That was chapter 1 of part 2. I really hope it's started relatively well, though, the real action won't pick up for a little bit.

Remember, reviews would be appreciated - Let me know what you think!! Ideas, input, anything so I know there's still readers…

Thanks! And don't forget to check out 'Three Cheers to Friendship' by Bl00dofthevine!